NORTH KOREA WARNS OF WAR WITH SOUTH

Church Organization Refuses To Divulge If Pastors Are On FEMA Payroll
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Monday, February 2, 2009

A large church organization has refused to divulge how many of its pastors are on the FEMA payroll, after a member expressed concerns about religious leaders being used to condition their congregation to accept the declaration of martial law.In a May 2006 story we first broke the shocking news that FEMA was training pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to obey the government in preparation for a declaration of martial law, property and firearm seizures, and forced relocation.Despite debunkers and urban myth websites claiming the story was a hoax, it was confirmed in triplicate by mainstream news outlets over a year later.A KSLA news report confirmed that Clergy Response Teams are being trained by the federal government to “quell dissent” and pacify citizens to obey the government in the event of a declaration of martial law.

Watch the clip below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRIDNQNsUss&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

Concerned about such developments, a member of the California-based Worldwide Church of God, an organization that boasts 64,000 members in 860 congregations in about 90 countries, asked if any of the church’s pastors were involved in the FEMA program.
The head office quickly replied hastily within an hour by telling me, Sorry, that is privileged information, the man states. The reply was in big bold script like I’ve never seen before in emails. I was also a bit put off by the word privileged.I responded to the stated email and reworded my request slightly by demanding, are there ANY of our pastors on the payroll of FEMA , YES or NO. Their first response came after about an hour. But, it has been almost 24 hours and I am still waiting for my church’s second response to my second request,he adds.It seems that church groups are reticent to let slip any information concerning the issue of pastors being trained to help manage a state of martial law following the controversy stirred up by the exposure of the program in 2006.Indeed, the pastors that took a risk by first divulging the information to us were later threatened by Homeland Security and told to keep their mouths shut.With new legislation in Congress pending that will mandate the set-up of a network of FEMA camp facilities to be used to house U.S. citizens in the event of a national emergency, along with the announcement that tens of thousands of active military personnel are to be placed inside the United States under Northcom, partly for purposes of dealing with civil unrest and crowd control, fears about a state of martial law being prepared are no longer the fantasies of paranoid conspiracy theorists, but an all too real possibility as we move towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Volcano erupts near Tokyo raining ash down on city FEB 1,09

TOKYO – A volcano erupted near Tokyo early Monday, spewing a plume of smoke more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) high and raining ash down on parts of the city. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.Mount Asama, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Tokyo, erupted at 1:51 am (0451 GMT) Monday, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency. Chunks of rock from the explosion were found about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) away from the volcano.The agency said volcanic ash fell on nearby areas as well as parts of Tokyo. TV reports showed neighborhoods sprinkled with white flakes.An alert level of three, which urges nearby residents to take caution, was kept in place for a 2.5 mile (4 kilometer) radius. Alert level four advises residents to prepare for evacuation, while level five, the highest, orders evacuation, according to the agency.The last major eruption of Mount Asamo took place in September 2004, the agency said.With 108 active volcanos, Japan is among the most seismically busy countries in the world. The country lies in the Ring of Fire — a series of volcanoes and fault lines that outline the Pacific Ocean.

Geologist: No big energy bursts at Alaska volcano By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 5:47 pm ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Geologists monitoring Alaska's Mount Redoubt say the volcano is rumbling and emitting steam but has shown no dramatic burst of energy in the last 24 hours.Geologist Tina Neal at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said no flyovers were planned for Sunday unless activity increased significantly.Flyovers on Saturday found a quickly growing area of vigorous steaming at the 7,100-foot level on the north side of the mountain.The area is just below a dome that formed the last time Redoubt erupted in 1990.The activity adds to concerns that Redoubt is close to an eruption. An eruption in December 1989 sent an ash cloud 150 miles that flamed out the jet engines of a KLM flight carrying 231 passengers on its way to Anchorage.On the Net:Alaska Volcano Observatory: http://www.avo.alaska.edu Ash hazards: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Snow storms bring London and Paris to standstill
02/02 13:02 CETworld news
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/02/02/2009/snow-storms-bring-london-and-paris-to-standstill/

It has been predicted for more than a week but large parts of London and south-east England have been halted by an unusually heavy snowstorm. The capital has been covered by a thick blanket of snow following one of the largest flurries in almost two decades. It has caused travel chaos with several London Underground lines shut along with bus and train services. Flights to and from all airports are subject to delays or cancellations. Many schools and offices have also been forced to close for the day. The scene was the same in Paris this morning where transport teams were out early to clear and grit frozen roads before rush hour. But that did little to prevent dozens of accidents. Large parts of Belgium, Spain and Italy have also been hit and some forecasters say it may get worse with up to 20 centrimetres expected to fall in some areas of Europe later this week.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

No EU referendum in Iceland under new government
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today FEB 2,09 @ 09:53 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The new Icelandic government is to examine the question of joining the EU and the euro. But the junior partner in the new coalition, the Left Green Movement, says no EU referendum is likely any time soon. The caretaker government - a coalition between the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance and the hard-left Left Green Movement, backed by the centrist Progressive Party - took office on Sunday (1 February) after the previous administration stepped down.The changeover comes amid street protests caused by the economic crisis last month, with the European Commission saying Iceland could join the EU by 2011 if it wants to take shelter in the bloc. The new government has said it will establish a parliamentary committee to examine the question of joining the European Union and whether the euro should be adopted to replace the battered krona. The committee will report on its findings on 15 April ahead of snap general elections on 25 April.But the Left Green Movement has ruled out the possibility of an EU membership referendum in tandem with the April vote, despite such ideas being floated by the Social Democrats in coalition talks.

There won't be any referendum on joining the European Union during the lifetime of this government, Finnur Dellsen, assistant to Left Green Movement party leader Steingrimur Sigfusson, told this website.The 10-member cabinet of the caretaker government is split evenly between both parties, with two non-politicians also appointed to ministerial posts.But the radical Left Green Movement has spiked in popularity following the economic turmoil, while bankers and free-market advocates have become persona non grata.Current polls put the Left Greens at 32.6 percent, with the Independence Party on 22.1 percent and the Social Democrats 19.2 percent, according to Iceland's Frettabladid newspaper.Mr Dellsen said the Left Greens are open to two referendums after the April election - one to allow negotiations with Brussels to begin and a second to allow actual accession when the talks end.But his party would fight on the No side in any campaign, he added, saying there is a democratic deficit and lack of transparency at the heart of the EU, as well as listing worries about social provision. One major issue is workers' rights - we are very concerned about recent European Court of Justice decisions that could prevent unions from taking action to defend these rights, and on the general neo-liberal direction of policies, Mr Dellsen explained. Above all, the country is worried that it would have to surrender management of its unsubsidised but highly successful fisheries to Brussels.Our fisheries in particular have been maintained in a sustainable manner, unlike those of the EU, which has been unable to control overfishing, said Mr Dellsen.Meanwhile, Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir - the country's new prime minister and the world's first openly gay national leader - said one of the government's first moves will be to replace the leadership of the central bank, the Sedlabanki.Despite its left-wing flavour, the government was clear that it would adhere to the programme agreed between the IMF and the outgoing administration, and base itself on a very prudent and responsible policy in economic and fiscal matters, adding however that it will, at the same time, prioritise social values, the principles of sustainable development, women's rights, equality and justice.

REVELATION 9:1-11(THE TRIBULATION CONTINUES)
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Common chemical causes locusts to swarm By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer – Thu Jan 29, 8:15 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A chemical that affects people's moods also can transform easygoing desert locusts into terrifying swarms that ravage the countryside, scientists report. Here we have a solitary and lonely creature, the desert locust. But just give them a little serotonin, and they go and join a gang, observed Malcolm Burrows of the University of Cambridge in England.The brain chemical serotonin has been linked to mood in people. It plays a role in sexual desire, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, too.Under certain conditions, locusts triple the amount of serotonin in their systems, changing the insects from loners to pack animals, Burrows and his co-authors report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.These packs can be devastating. They affect 20 percent of the Earth's land. Last year a swarm nearly four miles long plagued Australia. They also occur in Africa and Asia and have affected the western U.S.Serotonin profoundly influences how we humans behave and interact, said co-author Swidbert Ott of Cambridge, so to find that the same chemical in the brain is what causes a normally shy anti-social insect to gang up in huge groups is amazing.Now that they know what causes the swarming behavior, scientists can begin looking for ways to prevent it.It opens up a whole line of inquiry into what we could to break apart these swarms before they develop, said co-author Stephen M. Rogers, who is affiliated both with Cambridge and the University of Oxford in England.But, he added, you need to get it at an early stage. Once you have several million or billion locusts, there is a limit to what you can do.Calling the report a breakthrough, Paul Anthony Stevenson of Leipzig University in Germany said it harbors considerable potential for finding ways to block swarming. But that will require a lot more research, said Stevenson, who was not part of the research team.

Researchers led by Michael L. Anstey of Oxford were studying the changes in locust behavior and tested them for a variety of chemicals. The only change they found was that when the insects were swarming, they had about three times more serotonin in their systems than when they were living as solitary creatures.So the scientists took some solitary locusts and injected serotonin into them. Sure enough they changed in appearance and flocked together.The Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde transformation took only a few hours.It turns out that locusts produce more serotonin when circumstances force them together and they are stimulated by the sight, smell and touch of many other locusts. This can happen, for example, when drought reduces their food supply and causes locusts to gather at a few remaining sources of food.

Indeed, the scientists found that tickling the insects' back legs for a couple hours could induce the locusts to make more serotonin.Once researchers determined that serotonin causes the change, they gave locusts drugs that blocked serotonin and then exposed them to situations that normally cause swarming. But the change didn't occur.

To actually be able to stop it from happening, that was very exciting, Anstey said.
Now the question is how to target locusts without affecting humans or other animals.
Also part of the research team was Stephen J. Simpson of Oxford and the University of Sydney in Australia. The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of England, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, England's Royal Society and the Australian Research Council Federation. On the Net: Science: http://www.sciencemag.org (This version CORRECTS Web site to http://www.sciencemag.org, sted http://www.science.org.)

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Farmer in central China sick with bird flu Sun Feb 1, 8:33 am ET

BEIJING – A 21-year-old woman in central China has been infected by the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the country's eighth reported case of the disease this year, the Health Ministry said.The woman, a farmer surnamed Shu in the central province of Hunan, fell ill Jan. 23 after handling poultry that died from virus, the ministry said on its Web site late Saturday without giving more details. She was in stable condition and recovering, it said.China has reported seven other cases of H5N1 since January, five of which were fatal.The virulent virus has killed 254 people worldwide since 2003, including 25 in China, according to the World Health Organization.While the disease remains hard for humans to catch, scientists have warned if outbreaks among poultry are not controlled, the virus may mutate into a form more easily passed between people, possibly triggering a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Arsonists hunted as Australian wildfires raze homes Sun Feb 1, 3:25 am ET

SYDNEY, (AFP) – Australian police said Sunday they were hunting arsonists believed to have sparked a wildfire that destroyed at least 29 homes as a blistering heatwave claimed dozens of lives.The blaze is being treated as a suspicious fire and investigators believe it was deliberately lit, police in southeastern Victoria state said.The fire has destroyed homes, property and livestock in the Yinnar, Boolarra, Mirboo North and surrounding areas, the statement said.Firefighters were bringing the inferno under control Sunday after it swept for days through bushland as dry as tinder, but the worst heatwave in a century still posed a threat, officials said.

This is not over yet, Victorian Premier John Brumby told reporters at a firefighters' staging area in the Gippsland town of Churchill.This is still going to be a tough period and we're still going to have to work together to get through it.
Another six fires broke out overnight Saturday and on Sunday and while lightning was believed to be the cause of four of them, arson was suspected in the other two, authorities reported.The government's Australian Institute of Criminology released a report Sunday which said half of the nation's 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberately lit.Milder weather conditions had helped firefighters contain the main fire, which scorched more than 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres), the Country Fire Authority said.Temperatures in Victoria topped 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) for a record-breaking third consecutive day on Friday, but dropped from their sizzling peaks to about 30 degrees Celsius on Sunday.Emergency crews had made good progress on containment lines around the main blaze but unstable winds were still posing a threat, said incident controller Ben Rankin.However, it's good conditions, the best we've had up to date, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.The fire authority confirmed that 29 homes in the Darlimurla and Boolarra areas had been destroyed by the fire since Friday and warned that the figure could rise.The worst heatwave in a century has also been blamed for deaths from heat-related stress in the Victorian state capital Melbourne and the capital of neighbouring South Australia, Adelaide.At least six people have died in Melbourne and more than 500,000 homes and businesses were left without power on Friday night after an electrical substation exploded in the heat.

Power had been restored Sunday.

In Adelaide, at least 35 suspected heat-related deaths were reported after the city sweltered under almost a week of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, including a maximum of 45.7 degrees on Wednesday.While temperatures were forecast to remain below 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in days, officials urged residents to check on their elderly neighbours. We know older people suffer more in the heat, especially those who are already ill with chronic conditions like heart or kidney disease, said state health chief medical officer Paddy Phillips. Homeless people, and those who have homes without fans or air-conditioning, have been offered refuge in an air-conditioned city bus depot.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Israeli Leaders Divided Over Emerging Gaza Deal SUN FEB 1,09

JERUSALEM (AFP)--Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Sunday voiced conflicting views on an emerging Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The two ministers, bitter rivals in the upcoming February 10 election, spoke at the weekly cabinet meeting where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to strike after Gaza militants fired rockets into Israel two weeks after it ended its devastating offensive in Gaza.While Israel refuses to have any dealing with the Islamist group which rejects its right to exist, Barak said Cairo is playing a key role in securing calm in and around the impoverished Palestinian territory.Any thought that we can maintain a calm in the south and more effective action against arms smuggling (from Egypt into Gaza)... without the Egyptians is an illusion detached from reality, Barak said during the cabinet meeting.There isn't and there has never been any intention to reach a deal with Hamas, the defense ministry quoted the Labour party leader as saying.A senior defense official said that Israel was in contact with Egypt, which was brokering an indirect ceasefire deal with Hamas. He refused to give any details on the emerging agreement.We are holding talks on a deal with Egypt and Hamas are talking with the Egyptians separately, he told AFP, requesting anonymity.But Livni, who chairs the centrist Kadima party, rejected any agreement involving Hamas, which Israel and the United States consider a terrorist organization.A deal with Hamas would give it legitimacy and anyone working towards one with Egypt must understand that... I support agreements against Hamas and not with Hamas. We must not hold negotiations on a ceasefire, Livni's ministry quoted her as telling the cabinet.The Israeli discussions came as representatives of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups gathered in Cairo to discuss a Gaza ceasefire.

Egypt has been mediating a truce after Israel and Hamas halted hostilities on January 18, ending a devastating 22-day war that killed more than 1,330 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal on Sunday ruled out any permanent ceasefire until Israel ends a crippling blockade it imposed on Gaza after the Islamists seized power there in June 2007.But the senior Israeli official said that the Jewish state is not ready to adhere to any agreement that has a time limit. We want a deal that will be valid for as long as the sides respect it.Israel has linked the opening of the Gaza border crossings to the release of a captured soldier held by Hamas in the enclave since June 2006. (END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-01-091411ET.

Israel strikes Gaza after militant rocket fire By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:41 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel threatened harsh and disproportionate retaliation after Gaza militants fired at least 10 rockets and mortar shells across the border Sunday and warplanes later bombed the area where Hamas smuggles in weapons from Egypt through tunnels.The flare-up raised the risk of growing violence in the days leading up to Israel's parliamentary elections on Feb. 10.Since an unwritten truce ended Israel's offensive in Gaza two weeks ago, rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas has increased steadily. Israeli retaliation, including brief ground incursions and bombings of rocket launchers and smuggling tunnels, is also intensifying.If there is shooting at residents of the south, there will be an Israeli response that will be harsh and disproportionate by its nature, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet.Israel launched its three-week offensive with the aim of ending years of Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel. It left nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.A late afternoon mortar barrage on the southern Israeli village of Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza border fence, wounded two soldiers and a civilian, the military and rescue services said. Earlier, a rocket landed near a kindergarten, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.Late Sunday, Palestinians reported huge explosions as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the Egypt-Gaza border area, where Hamas operates tunnels to smuggle in weapons, food and other goods, Palestinians said.Israeli aircraft first flew over the area in southern Gaza setting off sonic booms. Residents said hundreds of people who work in the tunnels fled, then waited in the streets of the border city, Rafah, for the attacks to end so they could return.The Israeli military said warplanes attacked six tunnels and also an unspecified Hamas post in northern Gaza. No casualties were reported from any of the bombings.Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said Olmert's threat was an attempt by Israel to find false pretexts to increase its aggression against the people of Gaza.

Hamas has not taken responsibility for the new attacks, which have been claimed by smaller militant groups. But Israel says it holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since seizing power in June 2007, responsible for all attacks coming from there.Israeli defense officials said they had not yet formulated a response to the strikes, but said a return to the offensive — in which Israeli tanks and infantry units penetrated deep into Gaza — was unlikely. Instead, they said Israel would consider airstrikes, including attempts to kill Hamas leaders. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified security matters.Olmert is in the last weeks of his term. He resigned in September over a string of corruption investigations. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, his Kadima Party's chosen successor, failed to put together an alternative government, forcing the upcoming election.

Two candidates for premier — Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Livni — are in the government, competing for credit for last month's bruising Gaza offensive. The third, front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu of the hawkish Likud Party, is sniping from the side.All three candidates to replace Olmert leveled their own threats against Hamas.Livni told the Cabinet meeting that Israel hammered Gaza for three weeks to persuade Palestinian militants to stop their daily rocket barrages.At a certain point, we stopped to see if they had got the very clear message that Israel will not accept fire at its civilians, she said, according to participants who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.With the resumption of the rocket attacks, she said, the response must be harsh and immediate.Barak told the Cabinet that Israel would respond, but called for an end to running off at the mouth about the options, even in an election season, his office said in a statement.

Netanyahu told reporters that Israel must be tough in its response, and then work for removal of the Hamas regime in Gaza, and removal of the threat of rockets (falling) on the suburbs of Tel Aviv.Pre-election polls show Netanyahu with a lead over Livni, and Barak trailing far behind. Both Israel and Hamas have been talking to Egyptian mediators about a long-term truce. Israel wants an end to arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas wants Israel and Egypt to reopen Gaza's borders, which have been virtually sealed since Hamas seized power. Responding to Israel's concerns, U.S. Army engineers arrived at the Gaza-Egypt frontier on Sunday to set up ground-penetrating radar to detect smuggling tunnels, an Egyptian security official said. Inside the Rafah terminal — the gateway between Egypt and Gaza — four army trucks loaded with wooden crates and drills could be seen accompanied by four U.S. Army engineers. The Egyptian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. In Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters he will not hold reconciliation talks with Hamas unless it accepts his authority. The two sides have been divided ever since Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' Fatah forces, which now rule the West Bank. Reconciliation between the factions could make it easier to reach a more lasting solution to the Gaza-Israel conflict.
Associated Press Writer Paul Schemm in Cairo contributed to this report.

FITNA ISLAM
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7961200236915885171&ei=Unl3SYqPApPSjgKmzbilDw&q=fitna

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON FEB 02,2009

09:30 AM -18.87
10:00 AM -117.54
10:30 AM -55.51
11:00 AM -83.23
11:30 AM -94.14
12:00 PM -68.26
12:30 PM -52.01
01:00 PM -18.20
01:30 PM -69.21
02:00 PM -108.64
02:30 PM -115.73
03:00 PM -131.89
03:30 PM -74.31
04:00 PM -64.11 7936.75

S&P 500 825.43 -0.45

NASDAQ 1494.93 +18.01

GOLD 904.70 -23.70

OIL 40.37 -1.31

TSE 300 8606.90 -88.00

CDNX 872.36 -10.27

S&P/TSX/60 518.68 -4.60

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -8.84%
S&P -8.57%
Nasdaq -6.38%
TSX Advances 560,declines 593,unchanged 203,Volume 1,086,549,775.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 392,Declines 346,Unchanged 379,Volume 116,447,310.

Dow -90 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -74 points at high today.
Dow -118 points at low today.
Oil opens at $40.47 today,Gold opens at $917.70 today.
Dow poised to break below January lows (7,909 points).
Europe -2%-3%,drop lead by Financials.
Mattel -16%,reports earnings below expectations.
Mattel International sales -20%,Barbie sales -21%,Hot Wheels -22%.
Rockwell Automation -20%,Earnings below estimate.
Chip sales Sink.
Bankruptcies on the HORIZON.
DECEMBER-JANUARY were typically strong months,not last year though.
FEBRUARY 1 was down 7 of the last 10 years.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -120 points at low today so far.
Dow -33 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,445,declines 2,144,unchanged 96,New Highs 6,New Lows 171.
Volume 2,629,323,708
NASDAQ Advances 1,315,declines 1,303,unchanged 112,New highs 5,New Lows 133.
Volume 901,983,844
TSX Advances 348,declines 616,unchanged 206,Volume 407,344,325.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 198,Declines 268,Unchanged 252,Volume 55,743,955.

JANUARY RETAIL SALES
Macys -6.8%,Saks -17.5%,Kohls -15.6%,Nordstrom -14.1%,JC Penny -11.5%.
FED LOAN SURVEY
-Banks:
-55% tighten credit standards.
-40% reduce size of home equity loans.
-35% trim credit card limits.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -131 points at low today.
Dow -6 points at high today.
Dow -0.80% today Volume 293,324,723.
Dow falls as much 1.7%(131 points)before rebounding.
Dow drops to lowest since NOVEMBER 20,2008.
S&P 500 -0.05% today Volume N/A
Stocks mixed today.
Stocks slump again on Economic data.
Nasdaq +1.22% today Volume 1,881,582,537.

Australia swelters in deadly heatwave - VIDEO,STORY
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/01/02/2009/australia-swelters-in-deadly-heatwave/

World Economic Forum ends amid gloom - VIDEO,STORY
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/01/02/2009/world-economic-forum-ends-amid-gloom/

Op-Ed Contributor A Stimulus Package for the World By ROBERT B. ZOELLICK
Published: January 22, 2009 Washington

WITHIN his first 100 days, President Obama will attend his inaugural global summit meeting: an April gathering of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations in London. The president, with bipartisan backing in Congress, should send an audacious signal of hope. Starting with the United States, Mr. Obama should call for each developed country to pledge 0.7 percent of its stimulus package to a vulnerability fund for assisting developing countries that can’t afford bailouts and deficits.The United States could begin by pledging some $6 billion of its own $825 billion stimulus package — just 4 percent of what was provided to American International Group. With this modest step, the United States would speed up global recovery, help the world’s poor and bolster its foreign policy influence. There is no time to waste. The economic crisis has already pushed an estimated 100 million people back into poverty. Slumping exports have helped imperil the jobs of workers around the world. In many places foreign and domestic investment is frozen. So far we have avoided the currency collapses of 1997 and 1998, but 2009 will be a dangerous year.

The good news is that if Mr. Obama sends the right signal, many countries are likely to contribute to a vulnerability fund. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed interest in the idea. Last year President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called for an increase in aid, and has taken a particular interest in Africa. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany wants to help finance construction projects in poor countries.Japan has already pledged to help the World Bank recapitalize banks in poor countries. Australia and Russia have supported a food vulnerability fund that we created last year. Canada has been increasing its aid; the European Commission has been debating over contributing more assistance. Last year, Saudi Arabia gave an emergency $500 million grant to the World Food Program.Italy, as the host of the Group of 8 industrialized nations finance ministers’ meeting next month, should pave the way for the Group of 20 meeting by making the drive for a vulnerability fund a priority. The World Bank, with the United Nations and regional development banks, could then manage the fund to facilitate fast and flexible aid delivery, backed by safeguards to ensure that the money is well spent.There are three priorities for vulnerability fund investments. First, we need safety net programs that are aligned with the developing country’s ability to put them to good use. Over the past year as food and fuel prices soared, the World Bank worked with United Nations agencies to increase food-for-work programs, seed and fertilizer projects, maternal and child nutrition programs and other assistance. We have committed nearly $1.2 billion for projects like a school meals program for more than 30,000 children in Haiti, a cash-for-work program in Sierra Leone for road work and drainage, and grants for farmers in Rwanda to buy fertilizer. These investments in health, education and nutrition are more than just temporary poverty relief. They are investments in human capital. The vulnerability fund would help expand these modest shock absorbers for the poor.

Second, investments in infrastructure can yield huge benefits. Just look at China, which demonstrated 10 years ago that wisely chosen infrastructure projects can create jobs while building a foundation for productivity and growth. The World Bank is increasing support for such projects to $15 billion a year over the next three years. This includes financing for low-carbon technology projects as well as public-private partnerships that will create jobs while improving the delivery of basic services. Third, the vulnerability fund would help support small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions. Small businesses are the most dynamic and flexible employers, and the best safety net is a job. Small businesses operate where Wall Street, and even Main Street, give way to villages with no streets. The credit contraction squeezes out small businesses and their lenders, while state-owned enterprises and big companies get bailed out. The World Bank has already responded to the global crisis with plans to recapitalize small banks in developing countries, as well as by providing credit lines for microfinance institutions that serve the poorest people. The vulnerability fund would continue these initiatives.

The conventional wisdom is that Congress can’t be bothered with foreign assistance. In reality, prodded by churches, schools and community groups, both Democrats and Republicans have generously backed well-run programs to improve nutrition and fight hunger, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Congress has supported microfinance and small business development worldwide. There is an additional incentive for America to help: building projects abroad are likely to increase demand for American-made equipment.Poor people in Africa should not pay the price for a crisis that originated in America. The total aid from developed countries is about $100 billion a year, a modest sum in light of developing countries’ needs. The United Nations target for aid is 0.7 percent of an economy. The United States contribution is about 0.2 percent, although polls consistently show the American public is willing to contribute much more. Support for a vulnerability fund can help limit the depth and length of the international downturn, prevent the contagion of social unrest and help save a generation from a new poverty trap. For less than 1 percent of America’s stimulus package, President Obama can lead the G-20 in London and reintroduce America to the world. Robert B. Zoellick is the president of the World Bank.

Owen Hembry: Free trade best hope of getting through
4:00AM Monday Jan 26, 2009 By Owen Hembry

John Armstrong: Treasury too busy rearranging deckchairs to judge size of the iceberg .International trade could be key to dragging the global economy out of recession.Boosting trade could help companies make more profit and so encourage them to invest.Employers could start thinking about hiring staff rather than letting them go, consumers would feel more secure about their jobs and start spending money, more tax would be collected and so Governments could fund infrastructure and national projects.

Manufacturers and the high street did not create the economic crisis gripping the world, all roads lead to the failure of the financial system.So on a very simplistic level fix the finance and the world can get back to growing.A successful financial system is an essential tool for companies to invest and grow using access to good quality debt.And so Governments and central banks around the world are desperately trying to get liquidity into the crippled system, pumping in hundreds of billions of dollars, bailing out struggling industries, partly nationalising banks and here in New Zealand giving banks guarantees for retail deposits and wholesale funding.Apart from pumping vast sums of money into the system Governments and central banks are encouraging financial institutions to start lending again, to get the money moving and working rather than seeing all their hard effort simply pool inside risk-averse balance sheets.Global trade could give the institutions some tempting opportunities to open their wallets.The importance of trade was not lost on the leaders of the G20 rich and emerging economies when they met in Washington in November and agreed not to introduce any new protectionism for a year and to try to complete the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks aimed at liberalising international trade by the end of 2008.The trade talks had stalled in July and the pledge to try to get a deal done in only a few weeks was immense considering they started in Doha, Qatar back in 2001 - at which time they were supposed to take three years to complete.

So what happened? Nothing it seems.

In fact just days after the G20 promise Russia raised tariffs on cars and India did the same on steel.Trade Minister Tim Groser, a former World Trade Organisation chairman of agricultural negotiations, says Trade Ministers spectacularly under-achieved.They didn't even turn up in Geneva to try, he says.In fact as far as I know I may have been the only Trade Minister that did.Finance Ministers have done their bit but Groser questions whether Trade Ministers are stepping up to the mark.In fact actions by the European Union last week suggest trade is heading in the opposite direction to freedom.The EU reintroduced export refunds for butter, cheese, whole and skimmed milk powder that had been suspended in June 2007.EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel says the export subsidies, with other measures, will go a long way to stabilising the dairy market. Theirs perhaps, not ours.

Meanwhile, American farmers are lobbying for more support from their Government, with subsidised export scheme available but as yet unused.In times of crisis it's only natural to want to protect your own industries but protectionism can bring short-term benefit at the expense of long-term misery.Trade negotiations require countries to show a willingness to give up something in one area to gain somewhere else.It can't be all win win, but in theory overall everyone is better off.

Unfortunately, it's easier to give something up and pat yourself on the back for the good deed when times are good. When times are bad instinct says raise the drawbridge.
Countries tried to protect their own economies in the 1930s and inadvertently helped turn recession into depression.But we are better informed today, surely that couldn't happen now? A year ago the idea that the world's financial structures could be so precarious would have seemed ludicrous.Protectionism only helps until the next country goes one step further and if that next country was a target export market then you are arguably worse off than if you had done nothing in the first place.

For large trading blocs such as the European Union and the US, with their wealth and vast populations, internal demand can mitigate the external effects of protectionism, at least in the short term.But most countries are relying on the powerful trading blocs to show leadership that will help the wider world and smaller countries, whether wealthy or poor.In this instance Europe has failed the leadership test but the other big economic powers are not far behind.Attention will turn to President Barack Obama for inspiration and fresh leadership but the US economy is under pressure and Republicans are generally more free-trade oriented than Democrats.
It will be interesting to see the US approach.

Riot police clash with protesting Greek farmers
02/02 14:36 CETworld news
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/02/02/2009/riot-police-clash-with-protesting-greek-farmers/

Farmers in Greece have taken to the streets in protest again – this time demanding more financial help from the government over low prices. The standoff in the port of Piraeus, outside Athens, is the latest flashpoint in nearly two weeks of demonstrations by Greek farmers who’ve previously used their tractors to block border crossings and highways for days. Clashes broke out when riot police tried to prevent the farmers from driving their vehicles to the Agriculture Ministry in the capital. At least three people were hurt in the scuffle. The government last month promised 500 million euros in aid for agriculture but many farmers say the amount is far too small.

ECB drawing up bad bank guidelines
ANDREW WILLIS Today FEB 2,09 @ 09:30 CET

The European Central Bank is drawing up guidelines regarding 'bad banks' - financial vehicles that would ring-fence risky assets held by European banks.The concept, currently being considered by a number of EU governments, would allow banks to offload their risky assets into a separate company.It is hoped this would enable banks to start operating normally again and in particular restart lending.The central bank is also working on guidelines for governments such as the UK who have opted for an alternative asset insurance scheme. This latest ECB initiative for a more co-ordinated EU response to the financial crisis is designed to prevent bank support schemes in one member state from creating negative effects in other member states. Last year, a unilateral move by the Irish government to guarantee deposit accounts in Irish banks caused many British savers to move their savings across the Irish Sea. There have also been calls for the ECB to take on a larger supervisory role of the financial sector by those who feel national regulators are ill equipped to deal with today's cross-border financial transactions. The German government is currently fleshing out proposals under which German banks would set up their own individual 'bad banks' to carry assets such as loans to struggling investors. The measure, which appears to have support from both the conservative and social democrat parties in the governing coalition, would prevent the government from being saddled with this further debt.The maintenance of solid public finances is of great concern to many politicians in Germany, already alarmed by the increased debt caused by the €50bn stimulus plan announced by Chancellor Angela Merkel last month.

A European bond?

Italy, meanwhile, currently has a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 100 per cent. Concern over a possible Italian default has pushed money-lenders to demand higher returns on Italian bonds, thus increasing the cost of government borrowing for stimulus projects. Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti has responded by saying he is in favour of a European bond.Now my feeling - I am speaking of a political issue not an economic issue - is ... now we need a union bond, Tremonti said at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos.However, a number of eurozone member states, in particular Germany, are not in favour of the idea, insisting that member states should adhere to the Stability and Growth Pact rules that underpin the eurozone.Personal responsibility for financial policy and the commitment to solid public finances of every member state are a constituent element of the European currency union, German Bundesbank president Axel Weber told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Sunday (1 February).This has always been a German concern and one of the prerequisites for the acceptance of the common currency over here, he said.

Canada sees manufacturers OK with C$ level: report Sat Jan 31, 2:33 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian manufacturers are happier with the current lower level of the Canadian dollar, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in remarks released on Saturday.They are much more comfortable now with our currency where it is, Flaherty said Saturday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos, Switzerland.The Canadian dollar had traded around parity with the U.S. dollar in mid-2008 but now stands at C$1.2294 to the dollar, making the U.S. currency worth 81.34 U.S. cents.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer)

No answer at Davos forum to global meltdown By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:24 am ET

DAVOS, Switzerland – Mired in indecision and uncertainty, the world's foremost gathering of the best and brightest in government and business failed to come up with any new plan to stem, much less reverse, the global financial meltdown.The five-day World Economic Forum in this Swiss alpine resort wrapped up Sunday in the same atmosphere of doom and gloom that it began, with a realization that the depth of the crisis is still unknown and the solution remains elusive.Everybody's lost in Davos, said Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.No one seems to have a clear understanding of how big this crisis is and what we need to do to get out of it. he told AP. My own view is that you really need to do a fundamental reexamination of the whole global system to see what went wrong, and nobody here is yet ready to ask these kinds of fundamental questions in Davos.

There was widespread agreement that there's plenty left to do, starting at the April meeting of leaders of the 20 largest economies in London.Now the hard work begins, the forum's founder, Klaus Schwab, said, calling for a redesign of the global systems of banking, financial regulation and corporate governance.Cautioning that the G20 wouldn't be able to solve all the issues, Schwab announced that in a few weeks the forum would start a Global Redesign Initiative which he said was supported by almost every world leader who attended this year's forum, from China's Premier Wen Jiabao to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.Previous celebrity guests such as Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone and Bono were not invited to this year's forum and the spotlight fell instead, on world leaders like Wen, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the few bankers who showed up.The most talked-about world leader — President Barack Obama — didn't come to Davos, but many here had advice on what he should do on issues ranging from the financial crisis to promoting Mideast peace and dealing with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.Tensions over the recent war in Gaza flared, with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stalking off the stage after a moderator insisted on cutting off his attempt to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres' impassioned defense of Israel's air and ground attack.Business and government leaders blamed the United States for starting the financial crisis that is turning into a global recession.Davos just sort of encapsulates the broader global debate, said Stephen Roach, chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley in Asia and one of the few to warn last year of the global ramifications of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage problem. We're now moving into the ugliest phase of every crisis, the blame game.

Wall Street made mistakes. Regulators made mistakes. Rating agencies made mistakes. Central banks made mistakes. Politicians made mistakes — we all did it, Roach told The Associated Press. So let's be careful that we don't let this blame game get out of hand.Last year at Davos, there was a widespread belief that the major emerging economic powers — China, India, Russia and Brazil — could survive a slowdown or recession in the United States because of their growth potential. But that has proved to be wrong, many said.John Chipman, head of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told the AP that no session in Davos examined the links between the global economic downturn and financial difficulties, and the prospects for geopolitical conflict and conflict resolution.Intuitively, one would think that with the current economic situation, there would be countries whose social stability would be a threat unless they were able to maintain growth levels, he said, citing China as one example.China's Wen forecast 8 percent economic growth this year, and India's trade minister, Kamal Nath, forecast a 7 to 7.5 percent growth rate, but some economic experts here were skeptical that either would be reached.Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the father of microcredit, saw a silver lining in the financial crisis. It's not just disappointment and frustrations, he told AP. This is the greatest moment we have because things need to be changed, it's as simple as that. We don't want to go back to the same normalcy that we're coming from. We will create a new normalcy which will stay and keep on moving and change the world.

Merkel to call EU G-20 meeting in Berlin Sun Feb 1, 12:57 pm ET

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will call a meeting of the European members of the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Berlin later this month to discuss a joint strategy before the April summit in London.Merkel is seeking to improve controls over global financial markets as part of efforts to prevent a future economic crisis. The chancellor has long championed measures to ensure increased transparency and more strict regulations for global finance.Merkel announced plans in her weekend video address to meet Thursday with international economic organizations and call a meeting of the European G-20 members later in February. She did not announce an exact date.The European representatives include Britain, France, Italy, Turkey and the European Union.

France and Germany call summits on financial crisis
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today FEB 2,09 @ 09:27 CET

As the effects of the financial are being increasingly felt in Europe, the leaders of the EU's two biggest nations – German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy – are both to organise extraordinary meetings aiming to deal with the crisis, according to press reports.Ms Merkel will call a meeting of the European members – Britain, France, German, Italy, and the European Union (represented by the EU presidency country and the European Central Bank) – of the Group of 20 industrialised nations in Berlin later this month to discuss common action, before the G20 meeting takes place on 2 April in London, the Associated Press writes.More financial transparency and stricter supervision are among the elements Ms Merkel would like to see.Earlier, during a gathering of the world's business and political leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday, she called for the setting up of an international economic body with powers that would allow it to prevent rather than react to crises.New economic principles should be enshrined in a new charter for a global economic order, the German chancellor said.This may even lead to a UN Economic Council, just as the [UN] Security Council was created after the Second World War, she added.

An extra euro zone meeting?

Meanwhile, Mr Sarkozy is to take an initiative on his own and call for an extraordinary meeting of eurozone countries, according to a report by leading French daily Le Monde in its Sunday edition (1 February).Mr Sarkozy – who chaired the EU until 31 December, when the bloc's rotating presidency was taken over by the Czech Republic – judges that the EU has become invisible.The Czech EU presidency is judged to be too passive, just like the European Commission, which could be a little bit more imaginative, writes Le Monde.The meeting, which would aim at establishing a minimum of budget rigour, could take place in the margin of Ms Merkel's mini-G20 summit in Berlin some time around 22 February.The timing is a bid to reassure partners – notably Germany - that Mr Sarkozy is not using the crisis to promote his own ambitions, according to the paper.The issue is likely to come up during a TV address by Mr Sarkozy on Thursday, and discussed in detail when he meets Ms Merkel in Munich on Saturday (7 February).However, a French presidency spokesman has denied Le Monde's report and told Reuters that an emergency eurozone meeting is not on the agenda of the president.

Street braces for rush of corporate, economic data By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer – Sun Feb 1, 5:55 pm ET

NEW YORK – Wall Street is bracing for yet more reminders this week that the economy is in rotten shape. Companies from networking-gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. to media giant Time Warner Inc. are set to report quarterly results, while a steady stream of economic readings is also due. The most recent numbers from companies and the government haven't been roundly awful, but most have. That is stirring fears the economy's slide isn't slowing.On Friday, Wall Street learned that the economy posted its steepest slowdown in a quarter-century during the final three months of 2008. The 3.8 percent decline in the nation's gross domestic product wasn't as bad as Wall Street had forecast but investors grew worried that the numbers will only worsen.

The stock market is coming off its weakest January on record. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 8.57 percent for the month. The previous record was a 7.04 percent drop in January 1970. The tumble has investors nervous because January often sets the tone for the year.About 75 percent of the time when the S&P ends lower for January it does for the year as well. Some Wall Street veterans say, however, that the market's past behavior is less relevant because the S&P plunged 38.5 percent last year. A drop of that size makes it more likely the market will end 2009 higher, they argue.With January behind them, investors will remain eager this week for any insights companies can offer on the economy. Many companies are now wary of committing to specific forecasts, however. That can leave investors with little to go on.Dow Chemical Co., Marathon Oil Corp., insurer MetLife Inc., Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are expected to report quarterly results this week. Another rush of reports is expected next week before the flow begins to ebb.

Investors are also likely to remain uneasy ahead of the government's January employment report, which is due Friday. Other readings are scheduled throughout the week on home sales, manufacturing, factory orders, and the services sector.The jobs numbers is often the most-anticipated report of the month. Investors forecast the Labor Department data will show a big drop in payrolls.Hopefully it won't be significantly worse than expected, said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research. He said even if the numbers aren't as bad as some investors fear, it might not ultimately instill much confidence in the market. Investors have become so pessimistic they often view any number that's better than expected with skepticism.Companies have been slashing workers. Last week alone, companies announced thousands of new layoffs. The cuts and the scary headlines that follow are prompting consumers to cut their spending. That's a worrisome prospect on Wall Street because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.Investors are looking for any respite from the bad news. Wall Street remains eager to see what steps Washington will take to try to shift the economy's course. President Barack Obama said Saturday he would lower mortgage costs, offer loans to small businesses for creating jobs and restore the flow of credit. Wall Street remains eager to see how he will proceed.The administration is also determining how to use the second half of the $700 billion financial bailout fund.And the Senate's version of the stimulus bill backed by the White House and congressional Democrats is headed to the floor for debate this week. The Senate's bill is nearly $900 billion, while the House bill totaled about $819 billion.

This year I wouldn't expect much from the economy, said Ronald Schwartz, portfolio manager of the RidgeWorth Investment Grade Tax-Exempt Bond Fund. If we can stabilize this year I think that would be a very good accomplishment. And with the stimulus, what the administration is putting in, that's the hope for it.But Roberts said Wall Street is waiting for the government to introduce a more comprehensive approach to fixing the economy's ills. He said Washington will have to help banks deal with the bad assets crippling their balance sheets before lending can resume more normal levels and the economy can improve.It's a difference between triage and long-term care, he said. What people are now looking for is what are we going to do to cure the problem?

Conflicts overshadow talks on African Union's future by Griffin Shea – Sun Feb 1, 3:38 pm ET

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – The African Union opened a summit Sunday officially devoted to developing transport and energy systems, but dominated by conflicts across the region and division over the bloc's future.Only about 20 leaders from the group's 53 members attended the first day-long session, held entirely behind closed doors for a debate about whether the African Union should evolve into an EU-style system for regional governance.Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi led the calls for the AU to create a union government that he believes would boost Africa's international standing, but failed to win many converts among fellow leaders reluctant to relinquish any sovereignty.In a compromise, the summit agreed to transform the African Union Commission, which currently oversees the body, into an AU Authority that would have a broader mandate, the commission's chairman Jean Ping told reporters.In principle, we said the ultimate is the United States of Africa. How we proceed to that ultimate, there are building blocks, Ping told a press conference.We are creating an institution with a bigger mandate, with bigger capacities, which moves us toward the goal of the union government, Ping added, although details of the change are still under discussion.While the main agenda focused on the future of the bloc, the talks were overshadowed by political strife in Somalia and Madagascar, and the fallout from coups in Guinea and Mauritania.Among the most noted leaders present at the summit in the Ethiopian capital was Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was elected the new president of Somalia on Friday.In his inauguration speech in Djibouti, Sheikh Sharif vowed to build an inclusive government, extend a hand to hardline armed groups still opposed to peace talks and bring Somalia back into the regional fold.

The African Union, which has around 3,500 peacekeepers in Somalia, has been pleading with member states and the international community for the support needed to expand the mission to its planned size of 8,000 men.Other conflicts also demanded the summit's attention. With Madagascar's political crisis worsening by the day, Ping warned on the eve of the summit that any unconstitutional change of power will be condemned.Hours after Ping spoke, opposition leader Andry Rajoelina proclaimed himself in charge of the island's affairs, in a shock move escalating his battle against the president's regime.

Madagascar is supposed to host the next AU summit in July.

Adding to its woeful list of long-running conflicts, a military coup in Mauritania in August 2008, another one in Guinea four months later and a thwarted attempt in Guinea Bissau further hindered the continent's political growth.Both Mauritania and Guinea were suspended from the bloc last year.In pre-summit talks on Guinea, the African Union urged the ruling junta to follow through on proposals to hold elections by the end of the year.But on Mauritania, AU talks with the European Union and other partners were delayed by two weeks, barring any immediate hopes for progress.Late Saturday, the continental bloc also called on western powers to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle, after Zimbabwe's opposition agreed to join a unity government later this month. I think that everybody today should help Zimbabwe to rebuild its economy, Ping said ahead of the summit. The global economic crisis also cast a shadow over the summit, with officials expressing concern over how a recession in rich nations will affect poor ones. Ping argued Friday that the financial crisis would divert the international community's attention from funding development to rescuing banking and financial institutions.

New Iceland government promises to fight crisis By Patrick Lannin and Omar R Valdirmarsson – Sun Feb 1, 5:18 pm ET

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – Iceland named an interim center-left government on Sunday which promised to rebuild its shattered economy while cushioning its people from the worst of the crisis.Johanna Sigurdardottir of the Social Democratic Alliance will become Iceland's new prime minister after center-right Geir Haarde stepped down last week following months of protests, the first leader to become a casualty of the global economic crisis.The government asked a parliamentary committee to consider if Iceland should join the European Union, but said coalition parties would not allow the fiercely independent island nation to do so without a referendum.This government's primary objective will be responsible fiscal control, said Sigurdardottir, Iceland's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay leader.First and foremost, we will focus on urgent matters regarding the businesses and homes of this country, Sigurdardottir, 66, told a news conference.

Analysts said the government -- in office only until an election due on April 25 -- would have little room for maneuver in tackling the crisis which hit Iceland when its banks and currency collapsed in the credit crunch.They start with good wishes from everyone, but they do not get any honeymoon because the time is so short and the problems are so big, said Olafur Isleifsson, assistant professor of economics at the University of Reykjavik.But it might help assuage public anger from people facing real hardship after the collapse, which forced Iceland to take a $10 billion International Monetary Fund-led rescue package.The major change is maybe that now you have a government that the Icelandic people will be inclined to trust, said Birgir Gudmundsson, a professor at the University of Akureyri.The coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Party said it would stick to the program agreed with the IMF but concentrate on finding ways to rapidly cut interest rates currently at 18 percent. It will have to negotiate the pace of monetary easing with the IMF.With Left-Green leader Steingrimur Sigfusson as the new finance minister, the government said in a statement it would set up a monetary policy commission to take decisions on interest rates, bank reserves and cash requirements.

CENTRAL BANK BOSSES TO BE REMOVED

It also pledged to take quick action to remove central bank bosses, after the bank and its Governor David Oddsson, a former long-ruling prime minister for Haarde's Independence Party, became a focus of anger for protesters.The nation's banks would come under pressure from the coalition to restart lending, while homeowners left struggling with foreign currency loans made more expensive by the collapse of the Icelandic currency would be given support.In a bid to boost employment and business, the coalition said it would also plan a series of public works.The minority government will have the support of the centrist Progressive Party in the 63-seat parliament.While this government will not decide if Iceland should begin EU entry-talks, the coalition said it would start changing the law to allow it to hold referendums on the issue in future.A parliament committee would deliver a report by April 15 looking at all questions related to the EU including whether or not to seek to join the euro. The parties forming the government agree that membership of the European Union will never be decided upon without a national referendum, the government statement said.

EU membership is expected to be debated in the election. I would think that before the election, every party has to answer the question of how they are going to build Iceland again: is the EU the way or not? said University of Iceland political science research assistant Einar Mar Thorvarsson. Sigurdardottir acted as welfare minister in the previous government. While she will rank as Iceland's first female prime minister, the country has had a woman president.

Barclays’ credit rating downgraded By Francesco Guerrera in New York
Published: February 2 2009 01:26 | Last updated: February 2 2009 01:26

Moody’s on Sunday night downgraded Barclays’ credit ratings, saying it expected the UK bank to record significant further losses on credit-related writedowns.The credit rating agency downgraded Barclays’ long-term debt from Aa1 to Aa3 after reviewing the bank’s prospects in the credit crisis.The credit rating agency added that the potential for further losses outweighed Barclays’ strong franchise and strong deposit base. The downgrade comes a week after Barclays reassured investors that they would make annual profits of £5.3bn. The letter from Marcus Agius, its chairman, and John Varley, chief executive, confirmed the bank would not have to raise fresh capital in spite of taking hefty writedowns in its investment banking operations. The bank’s update helped counter concerns that losses from the credit market turmoil would trigger another round of government capital injections into the sector, and sparked a recovery in UK financial services shares.Shares in Barclays more than doubled last week to close at 106p and Lloyds Banking Group, the newly enlarged UK lender partly owned by the government, rose 80 per cent to 90.7p. The share price of Royal Bank of Scotland more than doubled last week to 22.3p.

Separately, Sandy Weill, Citigroup’s chairman emeritus, said he would stop using the troubled bank’s corporate jet.The move comes days after Citi was forced by the US government to scrap the planned purchase of a corporate jet.Mr Weill, a former chief executive of Citi and still one of the biggest individual shareholders, said he had decided to stop using the jet because he cared about Citi.The Financial Times Limited 2009.

GOP leaders doubt stimulus bill will pass Senate By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer FEB 1,09

WASHINGTON – Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday the massive stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats could go down to defeat if it's not stripped of unnecessary spending and focused more on housing issues and tax cut.The Senate version of the bill, which topped out at nearly $900 billion, is headed to the floor for debate. The House bill totaled about $819 billion and earned no Republican votes, even though it easily passed the Democratic-controlled House. At some point lawmakers will need to compromise on the competing versions.McConnell and other Republicans suggested that the bill needed an overhaul because it doesn't pump enough into the private sector through tax cuts and allows Democrats to go on a spending spree unlikely to jolt the economy. The Republican leader also complained that Democrats had not been as bipartisan in writing the bill as Obama had said he wanted.I think it may be time ... for the president to kind of get a hold of these Democrats in the Senate and the House, who have rather significant majorities, and shake them a little bit and say, Look, let's do this the right way, McConnell said. I can't believe that the president isn't embarrassed about the products that have been produced so far.For his part, Obama said he is confident Republicans will come around to support the final version of the legislation. He and Vice President Joe Biden will meet with congressional leaders at the White House on Monday afternoon.The president repeated what his top aides and officials have been telling reporters in recent days, that the final package would be close to its objectives — to save or create 3 to 4 million jobs — and Republicans would be able to back it.I am confident that by the time we have the final package on the floor that we are going to see substantial support, and people are going to see this is a serious effort. It has no earmarks. We are going to be trimming out things that are not relevant to putting people back to work right now, Obama said.However, he declined to predict how many Senate Republicans might switch parties. Biden, a former senior member of the Senate before his election, similarly declined to offer predictions last week in an interview despite his personal phone calls for former colleagues.

Look, the important thing is getting the thing passed, Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer during a live pre-Super Bowl interview. And I've done extraordinary outreach, I think, to Republicans because they have some good ideas and I want to make sure those ideas are incorporated.Obama also that his administration would announce plans to spend the second $350 billion of a bank bailout after Congress deals with the separate economic recovery plan.Under Obama's plan, strained state budgets would receive a cash infusion, projects for roads and other infrastructure would be funded, and green jobs in the energy sector would be created. In its centerpiece tax cut, single workers would gain $500 and couples $1,000, even if they don't earn enough to owe federal income taxes.Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said he was seeing an erosion of support for the bill and suggested that lawmakers should consider beginning anew.When I say start from scratch, what I mean is that the basic approach of this bill, we believe, is wrong, Kyl said.Among the major changes Kyl said would be needed to gain Republican support in the Senate was the tax rebate for individuals and couples, which he criticized as going to too many people who didn't pay the tax to start with. He also criticized the bill for seeking to create nearly three dozen government programs and giving states far more money than they need.Sen. Dick Durbin, D.-Ill., argued that $1 out of every $3 in the bill goes to tax cuts and defended it as aimed at helping working families. While he contended that Democrats were very open to Republican proposals, he cited only what he said were calls for more money in job-creating public works projects, typically a Democratic priority.Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., characterized the proposal as a spending plan. It's not a stimulus plan. It's temporary, and it's wasteful.Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the bill was designed to help people who have been damaged in the economic meltdown as well as stimulate the economy.I never saw a tax cut fix a bridge. I never saw a tax cut give us more public transportation. The fact is, we need a mix, Frank said.
Durbin and Kyl appeared on Fox News Sunday, DeMint and Frank were on ABC's This Week, and McConnell was on CBS Face the Nation.Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Magnetar observed during outburst thanks to rapid response of INTEGRAL
27 Jan 2009

The quick turn-around time of the INTEGRAL operation teams has enabled rare high-energy observations of a magnetar. The observations, which were performed as a Target of Opportunity, followed indications late last week that this magnetar, the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar, 1E 1547.0-5408, had entered outburst mode. 1E1547.0-5408 is one of only 9 confirmed Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXP) - isolated, young neutron stars with unusually strong magnetic fields (1014G -1015G). Together with Soft Gamma Repeaters they make up a class of celestial object known as magnetars.

1E 1547.0-5408 was first detected by the Einstein X-ray observatory. Subsequent observations by a series of X-ray observatories (ASCA, Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift) have shown it to display the typical characteristics of an AXP. It has exhibited a small number of outbursts over the past few years but at weaker levels than those observed in the past few days.Magnetar active state triggers alerts on several satellites, including INTEGRAL.The first sign that this magnetar had entered a new active burst state came early on Thursday 22 January when the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (GCN 8833) and the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GCN 8835) recorded a number of hard X-ray triggers which were identified as originating from the direction of 1E 1547.0-5408. 15 of the 200 outburst detected by the INTEGRAL ACS on 22 January 2009. Credit: ESA.Volker Beckmann and the team at the INTEGRAL Science Data Centre (ISDC), monitoring the real-time data from the almost omni-directional SPI anti-coincidence system (ACS), which operates as a burst trigger on INTEGRAL, also noticed a significant increase in triggers: almost 200 on 22 January compared to a typical rate of a few per day. The bursts were among the brightest ever recorded by the ACS in the 6 years since INTEGRAL was launched and varied in length from 50ms to 8 seconds. The ACS has a lower energy threshold of 50-150 keV (depending on the individual detector) and an upper threshold of about 100 MeV. Although the ACS cannot localise the position of a burst source the temporal coincidence of some of the bursts with those identified by Swift and Fermi confirmed the source of the burst emission to be 1E 1547.0-5408 (GCN 8837).

Exceptional activity results in public Target of Opportunity

Recognising that this was a rare opportunity to observe close to, and possibly during, an outburst state, Beckmann and other scientists submitted Target of Opportunity requests for immediate observations of this object to the INTEGRAL Science Operations Team. These were received on 22 and 23 January. After careful consideration the ToO was granted by the INTEGRAL Project Scientist, Christoph Winkler, and a 100,000 second observation planned and executed. This ToO began at 15:30:59 on 24 January and continued until the end of the visibility window at 22:14:36 on 25 January. Given the interest expressed by the scientific community in these observations the Project Scientist declared the ToO to be public and all scientific data recorded during this ToO has now been made publicly available from the INTEGRAL Science Data Centre at Geneva. (See the link to ToO data for 1E 1547.0-5408 on the right-hand menu.) Early results: magnetar still active, spectrum measured

A preliminary examination of the data indicates that the magnetar was still in an active phase during the ToO and that it was detected by all X-ray instruments on-board the satellite. Apart from bursts, which occurred during the observation and were again seen by several satellites, it was also possible to determine the X-ray spectrum of this AXP. The spectrum extends up to energies of at least 150 keV and has the signature of processes usually associated with emission of a jet or other non-thermal processes, rather than showing a hot spot on the neutron star’s surface (ATEL 1908). Ring-like halos are seen in Swift images. Credit: ISDC/V. Beckmann. A simultaneous observation of lower energy X-rays by the Swift satellite indicates that the X-ray emission is travelling towards us through dusty regions of our Galaxy causing ring-like halos in the X-ray images (GCN 8848). This allows scientists now not only to study the neutron star itself, but also the interstellar medium of the Milky Way. Further observations of 1E 1547.0-5408 with INTEGRAL are planned for later this week as part of an additional dedicated observation. Contacts: Volker Beckmann, Operations Coordinator, INTEGRAL Science Data Centre Volker.Beckmannunige.ch Christoph Winkler, ESA Integral Project Scientist
christoph.winkleresa.int.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL

DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

WARS AND RUMURS OF WARS.

MATTHEW 24:6
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

MARK 13:7
7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.

North Korea warns of possible war with South Korea By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer – Sun Feb 1, 7:52 pm ET

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned Sunday that South Korea's confrontational policies may trigger a war on the divided peninsula, a message coming two days after the communist country vowed to abandon all peace agreements with its southern neighbor.Relations between the two Koreas have been strained since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office nearly a year ago in Seoul, pledging to take a harder line on the North. Tension heightened Friday when the North said it was ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace accords with South Korea.The tension may lead to an unavoidable military conflict and a war, North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Sunday by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.The policy of confrontation by the South Korean government is the very source of military conflicts and war between the Koreas, it said.The North has accused Lee's government of preparing to stage a war, which South Korea denies. Earlier this month, the North's military declared it adopted an all-out confrontational posture to defeat any southern aggression.In its Friday statement, the North said it would no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South on the west of the peninsula, raising the prospect for a new armed clash in the area — already the scene of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.President Lee sought to downplay the statement and called it not unusual. He indicated his government will wait until the North is ready for talks in good faith.A South Korean Defense Ministry official said Sunday that the country's navy remains on alert along the western sea border. The official — speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy — said the ministry has not detected any unusual movements of the North Korean military.The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty. The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified border, with tens of thousands of troops stationed on both sides.

BC CAN'T EXPLAIN 3 CASES AVIAN BIRD FLU

Friday, January 30, 2009 Broadcast angers Muslims Leaders want radio station to stop airing comments by priest they say defame Muhammad.Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News

SOUTHFIELD -- Muslims and interfaith leaders in Metro Detroit are asking a local radio station owner to discontinue broadcasts in which, they say, a Coptic priest has repeatedly defamed the Prophet Muhammad over the past year. In an Arabic-language broadcast Wednesday on WNZK 680/690 AM, the Rev. Zakariah Boutros said the Muslim prophet Muhammad had engaged in necrophilia and gay sex, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. Boutros has previously come under fire from area Muslims, who say he disparages Islam. The controversial, American-based priest can be heard on purchased time slots on radio stations internationally. His words have stirred controversy in Egypt and Great Britain, and are embraced by a number of bloggers and Web sites that criticize Islam. Amani Mostafa, who hosts the program Questions About Faith on which Boutros spoke Thursday, said Boutros was reading from an Islamic text when he said, over the air, that the Prophet Muhammad slept in the grave of a dead woman and allowed a man to kiss and caress his chest.

I am a former Muslim, said Mostafa, who is now Christian. I know exactly what I am talking about. These are the things we were taught as children. We are quoting the Quran and the Hadiths, and if the Muslims have a problem with that then they have a problem with their own book.Hadiths are Muhammad's saying or writings, as reported by his followers. Muslims say that no such wording appears in the Quran or the Hadiths. If that's their excuse, it's lame, said Dawud Walid, of CAIR, which distributed a national alert Thursday asking Muslims to contact the radio station to express concerns about the broadcast. CAIR also counseled Muslims to be firm but polite. Hostile comments can and will be used to further defame Islam and Muslims.

Sima Birach, who owns the station, said he had received some complaints on Thursday, though he said he did not know how many. In an interview with The Detroit News last summer Birach promised to end the broadcasts, upon the request of interfaith Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups in Metro Detroit. Birach went so far as to put people associated with Boutros's broadcasts on conference calls with this reporter, while he berated them for allowing what some consider hate speech. It's not right, Birach said at the time. It's not fair to use some fake or stupid books to accuse someone's religion. Do you hear me? But on Thursday, Birach said he had since heard from several prominent people in the community, that what Boutros stated in the broadcasts is true. Maybe we need to have more meetings, Birach said, referring to members of the Muslim and interfaith communities. You can reach Gregg Krupa at (313) 222-2359 or gkrupa@detnews.com.

Israeli Envoy Indicates Iran Attack Imminent Foreign Confidential....Is this a case of loose lips ... or a deliberate warning? You decide.
POSTSCRIPT: If the Ambassador screwed up, which is possible, he should be brought home and given a basic media training course, including a few fundamental lessons in journalism. There is no such thing as a private or confidential or off-the-record meeting with a roomful of people, especially when cameras are present. This reporter, who has interviewed and met privately with many heads of state--and nearly every Israeli Prime Minister since the Six-Day War, starting with Golda Meir--would be happy to offer his consulting services.

ISRAEL MIGHT BOMB IRAN - VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznZs-swR9k&eurl=http://israndjer.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

SATAN COMES AGAINST ISRAEL

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

ISRAELS TROUBLE

JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.

DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)

REGEV-PHILLIPS discuss International assult on Israel VIDEO
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129689

VIDEO OF TURKEY WALKING OUT OF TALK OVER GAZA
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/turkish-pm-storms-out-of-gaza-debate-at-davos/14053821
http://videos.actu-monde.com/en/2009/01/sommet-de-davos-video-de-lincident-erdogan-peres-au-sujet-de-gaza/

Turkish Jews fearful of anti-Semitism after Gaza FEB 1,09YNET NEWS

One of largest Jewish communities in Muslim world faces threatening public atmosphere following Operation Cast Lead. I feel worried, sad and scared for myself and for my country's future, which is leaning towards racism, says Jewish journalist.Turkey's centuries-old Jewish community says it is alarmed by anti-Semitism that emerged during protests at Israel's Gaza assault, and is questioning how this reflects its status in the predominantly Muslim republic.

although Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan condemned anti-Semitism, Jews in Turkey and beyond believe the language he employed during the conflict gave some a license to translate their outrage at Israel's action into racial hatred. Heightened anti-Jewish sentiment comes at a time of rising nationalism in Turkey, blamed for the murders of several Christians in the last few years, as hardliners fight against those struggling for a more plural, multi-ethnic society. Some 24,000 Jews live in Turkey, making them one of the world's largest Jewish communities in a Muslim country, and their relations with the state, like those of other minorities, are a litmus test for Turkey's readiness to join the European Union. I feel worried, sad and scared for myself and for my country's future, which is leaning towards racism, Turkish-Jewish academic Leyla Navaro wrote in Radikal newspaper. While Turkey is officially presented as a mosaic of cultures and peoples, Navaro said this was an empty tourist slogan in a country where a rigid definition of Turkishness has been imposed from above since the state's inception in 1923. Turkey's Jewish community, which issued a typically impartial statement as the Gaza conflict began, said it has never seen anything like the anti-Semitism which emerged as public fury over the plight of the Palestinians soared. Intensifying their fear is the fact Jews have been attacked in Turkey before. In November 2003 truck bombs exploded outside two Istanbul synagogues killing 24 people, mainly Muslims. A Turkish cell with links to al Qaeda claimed responsibility. As Turks protested en masse, many with Hamas headbands, placards showing mutilated Palestinian children or baby dolls covered in fake blood, virulently anti-Jewish articles began to appear in some Turkish newspapers, and openly anti-Semitic graffiti became common.

Parents fear taking their children to school
Erdogan called Israel's operations, launched with the aim of ending Hamas' cross-border rocket attacks, a crime against humanity, deploring what he saw as excessive force, and he suggested Israel be barred from the United Nations. His rhetoric shocked Israel, usually a close ally, and has been interpreted by some as an attempt to shore up support ahead of local elections in March with an electorate deeply sympathetic to Palestinians.In a recent open letter to Erdogan a group of five US Jewish organizations told him Turkish Jews felt besieged and threatened, adding: A connection is clearly perceived between the inflammatory denunciation of Israel by Turkish officials and the rise of anti-Semitism.While Turkey's Jewish community says the daubing of a giant swastika opposite Istanbul's Israeli Consulate or the trampling and burning of Jewish symbols is probably the work of extremist provocateurs, it adds it is particularly unnerved by the messages given by the government and the thinking this reflects. One example they give is an Education Ministry decree that schools should hold a silence for the dead children of Gaza. The Education Ministry saw fit to implant the idea in children's heads that Israel is evil. Children of Turkish citizens of Jewish faith who have nothing to do with Gaza are now being targeted by other children, said a community member, who said she was too anxious to be named. Some Jewish parents fear taking their children to school. Turkey's ruling AK Party has Islamist roots and draws its constituency from the pious Anatolian heartland. It has incurred the wrath of the secularist establishment for what critics say is a hidden campaign to Islamize the country of 70million. Although the AK Party has made concessions to minority rights, including a national television station broadcasting in Kurdish, those of non-Muslim faith or non-Turkish heritage say they face discrimination.

500 year presence
Turkey's Jews are mainly the descendants of Sephardi Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition some 500 years ago for the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire. Thousands left amid political instability as the secular Turkish Republic was founded, but those who stayed are active in all walks of life. In Istanbul's historic Galata district, small synagogues nestle alongside mosques and churches in the warren of tiny backstreets. Muslim staff work in a kosher restaurant which has operated for 50 years. But Jewish buildings have long had a police guard and tight security, and people are wary of drawing attention to themselves. An elderly Jewish man smiles as he demonstrates how he hides his Jewish skull cap beneath a flat cap on the street.

The allegations of anti-Semitism have stung the government. Since the 15th century Turkey has been a safe haven for all religious groups... there is not a single case of anti-Semitism in Turkey, Erdogan's foreign policy adviser Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists during a recent briefing on Gaza. Yet repetitions by officials of the Ottoman Empire's welcome to Jews ring hollow to today's community. Am I still indebted because my ancestors were accepted by the Ottoman Sultan? Am I still a guest in this land where I grew up, fulfill my duties as a citizen and actively contribute to its development?, wrote Navaro. The article moved Turkish President Abdullah Gul to assure Navaro he understood her anxieties and was sensitive to them.
We love this country and would not want to be anywhere else, said a Turkish Jewish woman, adding precisely because of this emotional attachment there is such concern for the future. I am trying to keep my faith in the open-minded majority of the Turkish people.

Israel vows disproportionate response to rockets
01/02 13:05 CETworld news
http://www.euronews.net/en/article/01/02/2009/israel-vows-disproportionate-response-to-rockets/

Amid fresh rocket attacks by militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, Israel’s Prime Minister has threatened a disproportionate reponse. There were no casualties from today’s rocket fire into Israel. Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting, just days before a general election, Ehud Olmert took a tough stance. Vowing Israel would act according to new rules, Olmert warned its response would be harsh and disproportionate.The tense situation is also reflected at Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt where security has been tightened in an apparent bid to prevent smuggling to Hamas. The group was sending a delegation to mediator Egypt to discuss permanent ceasefire proposals. Violence has flared sporadically since a truce took hold on Jan 18 at the end of Israel’s Gaza offensive.

World's First Rocket-Proof Torah Study Hall Dedicated in Sderot
by Hillel Fendel FEB 1,09

(IsraelNN.com) The world's first Kassam-proof Beit Midrash (Torah study hall) was dedicated on Thursday, in the presence of dozens of rabbis, students, parents and guests of the Hesder Yeshiva in Sderot.A hesder yeshiva is an Israeli program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces.Sderot Yeshiva Dean Rabbi David Fendel addresses guests, on backdrop of Holy Ark. On dais, from left: MK Orlev, Rabbi Bakshi-Doron, Mr. Adolpho Picciotto, Yaakov Ne'man Israel News Photo: Bnaya F.

Sderot, the Negev city that has been home to the yeshiva for 14 years, has become the symbol of the rocket war that Fatah, Hamas and other Arab terrorists have launched against Israel over the past eight years. Throughout this period, the yeshiva has grown exponentially, and has become an important factor in the strength and resilience of the townspeople.The new building, which stands out impressively above the flat Sderot landscape, is protected against Kassam rockets - but Yeshiva Dean and founder Rabbi David Fendel says this is not a defensive posture: It is rather a display of our determination to build and expand, in the face of whatever threats our enemies present. Hamas wants to turn Sderot into ruins, and we will show them instead that it will grow even bigger and stronger, inspired by the Torah study, community involvement, army service and leadership of our hundreds of students.


Rocket-Protected
The yeshiva dedication on Thursday was described by observers as the convergence of two simultaneous national marches: The drive towards a powerful, safe nation defended by its skillful and motivated army and homefront, and the growth of Torah institutions even in outlying areas.The roof of the Beit Medrash is made of 40 centimeters of poured cement - nearly three times thicker than regular buildings - to withstand a direct rocket hit. In addition, its windows are bullet- and shrapnel-proof, and cement overhangs over every door and window.The Thursday event was attended by a striking array of rabbis and public figures from Israel and the United States. Among them were Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, former Chief Rabbi and Rishon LeTzion Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, and Chief IDF Rabbi Avi Rontzky. Many parents of the yeshiva students from around the country took part as well.The new yeshiva edifice, the dome of which towers over the town, was donated largely by Mr. and Mrs. Adolpho and Bella Picciotto, in memory of their son Avraham who was killed in a car accident at the age of 22. The Picciottos vowed to dedicate 22 new synagogues or yeshivot in various locations, in memory of their son and his 22 years of life.

Public officials included Sderot Mayor David Buskila, Trade Minister Eli Yishai, MKs Zevulun Orlev, Nissan Slomiansky, Yaakov Litzman, and Effie Eitam, and many others. Rabbi Fendel profusely thanked Orlev, Slomiansky and Litzman for their roles in procuring public funding for the yeshiva. Litzman, for instance, as Chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, declared at one point a year ago that he would not facilitate the approval of any budgeting for Sderot defenses unless the Yeshivat Hesder was included as well.Also participating in the day-long festivities and Torah study sessions were Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein of Yeshivat Har Etzion, as well as Rabbis Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg, Avigdor Nebenzahl, Elisha Vishlitzky, Yitzchak David Grossman, and Yeshivat Shaalvim Deans Rabbis Meir Shlesinger and Avraham Avidan.

London: Bomb Gaza Civilians
by Hillel Fendel FEB 1,09

Left-wing television and media personality Yaron London surprised many of his colleagues during the recent war against Hamas by calling for a no-holds-barred military response against the civilian population of Gaza.London first outlined his views in an article in Yediot Acharonot, and then elaborated upon them for clearly-shocked interviewer Razi Barkai on Army Radio.It appears that we have exhausted the options of moderating Hamas fanaticism with measured responses, London wrote, and the time has come to shock the Gaza population with actions that until now have nauseated us - [such a killing the political leadership, causing hunger and thirst in Gaza, blocking off energy sources, causing widespread destruction, and being less discriminating in the killing of civilians. There is no other choice.Asked by Barkai, a veteran left-wing broadcaster in his own right, why there is no choice, London responded, The strategy of modular and gradual pressure has not brought the desired results. We cannot absorb any more Kassams, we cannot fortify the entire south, we cannot take over Gaza because the price will be too heavy, and gradual pressure has only made Hamas and the Gaza population even tougher and more fanatic. I therefore concluded that there are only two remaining options: being extra nice to them, or being extra tough – Barkai interrupts and says, There is a third option: negotiations with Hamas.London: Which will bring what? Barkai: I have no idea, but it is a possibility, at least in theory.London: Negotiations will lead only to a ceasefire, whose duration will be determined solely in accordance with Hamas interests; we will not come out of that period with a greater advantage in terms of arms and weapons…

Asked how he can guarantee that a tougher Israeli offensive will yield the desired results, London said: Experience in past wars shows me that if we are tough enough, then at a certain stage, their standing-power will break… I am referring to both the population and their leadership; they are the same, because the population voted for Hamas. I can’t separate between one who voted for Hamas and a Hamas leader.
Barkai: We will have to deal with very difficult pictures of hungry children –London: Yes.Barkai: and destroyed houses - London: Yes.Barkai: and dead unarmed civilians, etc. How will we be able to deal with this? London: Everyone in Gaza is armed… There is a consensus in Israel that the time has come to take action. We cannot fortify Ashdod, and Netivot, and Sderot, and bear this disgrace.Barkai: There might be thousands of dead? London: I hope not – I hope that one real blow will put an end to this before we get to that.Barkai: Give me an example of such a blow.
London: I don’t want to give an example, but you can go back to history and see.
Barkai: [short pau The only thing I can think of, and that you apparently don’t want to say, is the bombing of cities such as in World War II. London: Right. You don’t need to bomb a whole city; a quarter of a borough should be enough…Barkai finally asked, Tell me, have you undergone an – I don’t want to say ideological crisis because that sounds too high-brow, but perhaps a little crisis—London: My brothers in Sderot are what brought me to this.Barkai uses his trademark phrase: Ki ma? cause what London: Because I can’t take the idea of little frightened girls running around in the streets of Sderot. That’s the whole thing. You can tolerate it for a certain amount of time, like the kibbutzim of the Jordan Valley did, or if it’s only a small amount of terror organizations, or whatever. But when an entire population of 1.5 million [Gaza Arab voted for this Hamas government, then this population has to bear the responsibility. That’s the whole story.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

EUROPE (ESA) COSMIC VISION 2015-2025 (JUPITOR)
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=44037

WORLD GOVERNMENT STORIES - TURKISH FORUM
http://www.turkishforum.com/content/tag/one-world-government/

Hidden Agenda To Take Over The PARTS World 1 to 6 - Norman Dodd
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/01/hidden-agenda-to-take-over-world-1-of-6.html#links

Winter storm wallops St. John's Sunday, February 1, 2009 | 11:03 AM CBC News

A powerful winter storm has brought St. John's and much of eastern Newfoundland to a standstill.Ten centimetres of snow fell Saturday night and Environment Canada meteorologist Kara Pul said 25 more centimetres could be on the ground before the storm ends Sunday evening.Winds were gusting to 60 kilometres an hour in the morning and were expected to hit 100 later in the day.Flights at St. John's International Airport were cancelled or delayed.Many church services were also cancelled, and police were advising motorists to stay off the streets unless absolutely necessary.

Guardsmen cut through fallen trees in ice-caked KY By ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press Writer FEB 1,09

LEITCHFIELD, Ky. – National Guard troops swinging chain saws made their way into isolated Kentucky communities Sunday to check on residents walloped by a winter storm that Gov. Steve Beshear called the biggest natural disaster ever to hit the state.Some 4,600 guardsmen fanned out across Kentucky to distribute food and water, remove fallen trees, go door-to-door in hard-hit areas and provide security in communities that have been evacuated.With high temperatures well into the 40s through the weekend, much of the ice that had clung to buildings, power lines, trees and roads has disappeared. And another winter storm that had been forecast to hit Monday apparently will bypass the state.Hopefully we will dodge the bullet, Beshear said. We're keeping a watchful eye on that.Kentucky was the hardest-hit by the ice storm that paralyzed wide areas from the Ozarks through Appalachia early last week. The storm wrapped a large part of Kentucky in an inch-thick mantle of ice that shattered utility poles, toppled trees and drove thousands from frigid homes to shelters, and the state had a long way to go toward recovery — authorities said it could be weeks before power was restored in some spots.More than 400,000 Kentucky homes and businesses still lacked electricity Sunday, down from more than 700,000, a state record. Officials told those still shivering in dark, unheated homes to seek safe refuge in motels and places with power or generators.

Too many people are trying to tough it out at home, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo said.The storm that began in the Midwest has been blamed or suspected in at least 42 deaths, including nine in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio. Most were blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning.Finding fuel — heating oil along with gas for cars and generators — was a struggle for those trying to tough it out at home. Hospitals and other essential services took priority.In Lone Oak, a tiny community in rural western Kentucky, Angel Wyant has been eking out the days with the heat from a kitchen frier connected to a handheld propane tank.

And a carbon monoxide detector, she pointed out, mindful of the dozens of deaths caused by the storm.The makeshift heater isn't much good when night falls, so Wyant, 32, and her three children have been staying overnight at the home of neighbor Rita Kelly, 53.We huddle around the old wood stove, said Kelly, whose two-bedroom aluminum sided house now shelters six people.Associated Press writers Malcolm C. Knox and Janet Cappiello Blake in Louisville, Ky., John Moreno Gonzales in Lone Oak, Ky., and Bruce Schreiner in Mayfield, Ky., contributed to this report.(This version corrects that 700,000 was the peak outage figure, not Sunday's total.)

In western Ky., still stuck in ice storm's grip By BRUCE SCHREINER and JOHN MORENO GONZALES, Associated Press Writers – Sun Feb 1, 12:40 am ET

AURORA, Ky. – The power had been out since Tuesday at Lakeland Arbor Village, an independent-living community, and some of the food was spoiling, at least the stuff anyone really wanted to eat.I still have some potted meat, but I'm getting kind of tired of it, said resident Ann Smith, 66, wearing a stocking cap that she takes with her to bed.Across Kentucky, the state hardest hit by the deadly ice storm that has hobbled parts of several states for most of a week, people without power spent another day Saturday crammed into the homes of relatives and neighbors who did. Others unable or unwilling to seek shelter awaited sporadic visits from rescuers, and some still hadn't been reached.It wasn't all that bad at Lakeland Arbor Village, near the western shore of Kentucky Lake. Not during the day anyway. Two charcoal grills kept safely outside provided hot sandwiches and a generator hummed away, lighting the community room where several people had gathered, and everybody bundled up.At night, the apartments were pitch black but for candles, lanterns and flashlights that created a soft glow.I'm just trying to stay warm and trying to sleep, said Betty Sanders, 60, who donned extra shirts and socks. It's rough. It's very, very rough.The ice storm had Sanders longing for her old home in Florida.I don't know how much longer I can handle it, she said, her voice shaking despite Smith's efforts to comfort her. I'm not used to this.Dorothy Michaels, 87, wore gloves and had a blanket draped over her in her darkened room, where a battery operated radio gave her the latest updates on the outages. She has stayed in bed from sunset to past sunrise since the storm hit and said her hips and back are aching, on account of her lack of activity.I had a real bad night, she said. I was like whirling dervish. I turned and tossed.

She said her children live out of state, so she plans to ride out the blackout in her small apartment.In many places across the state, the poorest of the poor were doubling up their families in dwellings lucky enough to have propane heat or the $700luxury of a generator. Many were anxious about how they will rebound from the unforeseen expense of keeping their children warm in a place not expected to have power for weeks.At a command center in Reidland, along Interstate 24 about 9 miles outside Paducah, emergency officials and utility crews mapped out where resources should be sent. McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden dispatched one of his deputies to a town called Lone Oak, where he knew lower-income residents would have trouble getting by.There's still no cell service and we're getting calls from relatives who want us to check on them, he said.

He was right.

On rural Clinton Road, people have been hanging frozen meat from porches so it won't go bad. Angel Wyant has been eking out the days with the heat from a kitchen frier connected to a handheld propane tank.And a carbon monoxide detector, she points out, mindful of the dozens of deaths caused by the storm, several through such poisoning.
The makeshift heater isn't much good when night falls, so Wyant, 32, and her three children have been staying overnight at the home of neighbor Rita Kelly, 53. We huddle around the old wood stove, said Kelly, whose two-bedroom aluminum sided house now shelters six people. After days of searching empty shelves, she and her husband bought a generator Saturday and were trying to hook it up themselves so as to avoid the installation fee. We about tapped out of money after buying that thing, Kelly said with a weak smile. Many in Lone Oak, particularly down the more isolated roads, said they never considered going to shelters. Randy Beeler, 52, climbed the roof of his brother Steve Beeler's home to clear away fallen timber. Power was still out in the small clapboard but they planned to ride it out for as long as needed. We just don't ask for much help around here, said the younger Beeler.We're pretty tough.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Experts can't explain 3 B.C. avian flu outbreaks
Updated Sun. Feb. 1 2009 10:54 AM ET The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER -- Three of four of the most recent avian flu outbreaks in Canada have broken out in British Columbia's Fraser Valley but despite years of trying to figure it out, they still can't explain why the valley attracts the virus. In the latest outbreak, 60,000 turkeys were culled on an Abbotsford, B.C., farm last week. Tests so far indicate the virus has not spread to any other poultry producers within a three-kilometre quarantine zone. That wasn't the case in the valley's first outbreak in 2004 when an H7-type flu transformed into a highly contagious strain. Farm after farm was quarantined until finally about 15 million birds -- almost the entire valley poultry population -- was destroyed. The second Fraser Valley outbreak in November 2005 saw two duck farms infected with the H5N2 strain of the virus. In 2007, a highly pathogenic H7N3 strain was found in Saskatchewan on a farm that produced hatching eggs to produce broiler chickens. Experts have difficulty explaining why the Fraser Valley has been hit so often but there are theories. We're on the Pacific flyway so there are lots of birds passing through every year, says Ron Lewis, the chief veterinary officer for British Columbia. And we know wild waterfowl carry a variety of different strains of avian influenza.People can easily walk over the areas where wild waterfowl have been. And we know avian influenza has some capability of aerosol transmission, he says. Lewis and Sandra Stephens, veterinary program specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, suspect the main culprits are the wild birds moving throughout North America and the world on migratory flyways.

Avian influenza virus is prolific and when wild waterfowl have it they shed tremendous numbers of viral particles.All these birds when they get to their summer or wintering grounds they co-mingle, says Stephens. And North American flyways are not completely isolated from others. Although you tend to think of the North American flyways as being separate from Europe and Asia, in fact there is some crossover in the northern breeding grounds, she says. The huge concentration of commercial poultry producers in the Fraser Valley is also a factor in the spread. Any poultry producer faces being exposed to migratory birds. But where we have more concerns are areas like the Fraser Valley or the Niagara Peninsula where there are large concentrations of poultry farms close together, says Stephens. Calvin Breukelman of the B.C. Poultry Association estimates there are about 600 poultry producers in the Fraser Valley in an industry worth close to $1 billion. Such concentration occurred for obvious economic reasons: close access to a large market.

In an ideal world we of course wouldn't have this concentration but it's not ideal and we have to do whatever we can to reduce the impact of that concentration, says Lewis. Perhaps the biggest worry facing producers and the general population is the likelihood of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus that killed hundreds of people in Asia, Africa and Europe occurring here. Lewis suggests it's highly unlikely. In countries where H5N1 occurred there are very close living conditions between poultry and people, he says. We don't have that kind of proximity to wild and commercial ducks co-habiting in many cases that is present in those countries, he says.

Moreover, Lewis says, the intense biosecurity measures introduced in Canada after the 2004 Fraser Valley outbreak are not practised in many of those countries. We now have a mandatory biosecurity program in place for all of the commercially-regulated poultry industry, he says. The industry has achieved a very high level of compliance with those biosecurity protocols, says Lewis, estimating the compliance rate at about 98 per cent of the industry. Initial testing for avian viruses also can now be done in Abbotsford. So we have eliminated the delays in having to ship samples for testing at the federal lab, says Lewis. Poultry producers in the Fraser Valley are still awaiting tests on the latest outbreak determining how contagious the virus may be. It sometimes can take a number of weeks to get the result, says Stephens. The presence of H5 virus has been established but its specificity, or neuraminidase subtype which is the N in the virus name, isn't known yet. That H5 virus was detected in some turkeys on a property owned by two brothers last month. The avian flu has many different sub types with 16 different H's, or hemagglutinin, and nine different N's, meaning there are 144 possible combinations of the flu virus. The virus must be grown in a lab culture and the latest sample has taken longer than expected. Some viruses grow (in a lab culture) more readily than others and there's no way of knowing which virus will grow quicker than another,says Stephens.

FITNA ISLAM
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7961200236915885171&ei=Unl3SYqPApPSjgKmzbilDw&q=fitna

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

FINANCIAL SENSE EDITORIALS
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/quinn/2009/0105.html

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES 20th CENTURY & BEYOND
by James Quinn FEBRUAR 1, 2009

The law of unintended consequences is what happens when a simple system tries to regulate a complex system. The political system is simple. It operates with limited information (rational ignorance), short time horizons, low feedback, and poor and misaligned incentives. Society in contrast is a complex, evolving, high-feedback, incentive-driven system. When a simple system tries to regulate a complex system you often get unintended consequences. Andrew Gelman.Andrew Gelman is dead on. He states that the political system is simple. I’d go a step further and say that lifetime politicians and entrenched government bureaucrats are simple. They show no indication of knowledge or expertise in American history or rational financial theory. The President, Congress, Federal Reserve, and Treasury try mightily to direct our economy. It is an impossible task. With a GDP of $14 trillion, there are thousands of inputs and outputs that feed the system. Their hubris leads them to believe that they are in control and can manipulate the gears of capitalism in a way that will produce their desired outcomes. If a desired outcome occurs, it is simply due to dumb luck. The more likely result of their manipulations of our complex system is a set of bigger problems that never occurred to them. Congress definitely fits Mr. Gelman’s definition of a simple system. I can’t think of a body of people operating with more ignorance than Congress. The information they act upon, is provided by the 17,000 lobbyists that wine and dine them on a daily basis. Corporate lobbyists, PACs, unions, and special interests buy their votes. Their time horizons are less than a few months. They are constantly running for re-election, raising money and handing out goodies to their constituents. The only feedback they care about is their standing in the polls and the amount of money they’ve raised from “donors”. Their incentives are poor and not aligned with the needs of the American people. They are not willing to do what is right for the country because they have no incentive to do so. Their only incentive is to get re-elected by insuring that their district gets as much pork spending as possible. They do this by selling their votes to the highest bidder.

Unintended Consequences of the Last 100 Years

The 20th Century is a laundry list of events that led to unintended consequences.

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by anarchists in 1914 was the fuse that set off World War I by causing various Treaties to cause all the countries of Europe to take sides. All sides envisioned a short painless war. The war lasted 4 years and killed 20 million people, with another 20 million casualties. It also lead to the Russian Revolution of 1917 with Lenin and Marxists gaining control of Russia.

Treaty of Versailles
The harsh terms inflicted upon Germany by the victorious Allies were so ruthless that Germany was unable to meet their reparation obligations without printing currency at tremendous quantities. This eventually led to a hyperinflationary collapse of the German Mark and weakened the Weimer Republic. This eventually led to the rise of Adolph Hitler as dictator and ultimately to the deaths of 70 million people in World War II.

Creation of Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 in order to make bank panics less likely and to manage the nation’s monetary policy. They have created persistent inflation that has caused the U.S. dollar to lose 95% of its value since 1913. Their actions contributed greatly to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Alan Greenspan’s self serving actions, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, led to the recent collapse of the worldwide financial system.

FDR’s New Deal
The programs created during the Roosevelt administration to combat the Great Depression, particularly Social Security, have been on automatic pilot for eight decades. A program whose purpose was to protect poor old people from starving during a Great Depression has morphed into a perceived right of all Americans and has led to an unfunded future liability of $10 Trillion.

Appeasement
As Adolph Hitler was beginning to gain power and started to flaunt the Treaty of Versailles, other European countries could have crushed him as early as 1935. His military was not yet powerful. Hitler became emboldened by his early success and took more aggressive actions with the Rhineland, Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia. The appeasement strategy practiced by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to avoid bloodshed allowed Hitler to gain enough power to bring about the most destructive war in history. Winston Churchill explained the consequences after the war. I cried out but no one would listen and now Europe is devastated…There never was a war easier to win…Not a single shot needed to be fired…But, no one listened.

Manhattan Project
Robert Oppenheimer’s project was to create an atomic bomb before the Germans could invent one. The atomic bomb led to the end of the war in the Pacific as the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His response after the successful test was, Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. It led to the positive development of the nuclear power industry. It also led to an arms race with the Soviet Union which almost led to nuclear war in 1962. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is one of the biggest dangers to world peace today.

Creation of Military Industrial Complex
The United States had no Defense Industry prior to World War II. The rise of this industry was essential to winning World War II. In his Presidential farewell address, President Eisenhower warned about the increasing power of the defense industry. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. His unheeded words have led to the Defense Industry amassing overwhelming power in Washington DC, with spending on defense in the U.S. exceeding $800 billion per year and representing 50% of all the military spending in the world. The U.S. spends as much as the next 43 countries combined.

LBJ’s Great Society
President Lyndon B. Johnson stated his goal in 1964. We are going to assemble the best thought and broadest knowledge from all over the world to find these answers. I intend to establish working groups to prepare a series of conferences and meetings—on the cities, on natural beauty, on the quality of education, and on other emerging challenges. From these studies, we will begin to set our course toward the Great Society. These noble words led to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. The unfunded future liability of Medicare is $61 trillion, six times the unfunded liability of Social Security. The programs did not reduce poverty or improve the healthcare system. The Great Society became the Debt Society. Barrack Obama’s soaring rhetoric is reminiscent of LBJ’s vision. Beware!

Semi-privatization of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
Their purpose was to purchase and securitize mortgages in order to ensure that funds were consistently available to the institutions that lend money to home buyers. LBJ moved them off the government books in order to make his government deficits appear better. The two companies have been compromised for decades by the Democratic Party and were pushed to loosen their standards by politicians like Barney Frank and allowed millions of unqualified buyers to get home mortgages they could never pay off. Both companies have lost tens of billions and are now under the conservatorship of the U.S. government. The likely future liability to the U.S. taxpayer is $200 billion.

Richard Nixon takes U.S. off Gold Standard
After World War II a Gold Standard was established by the Bretton Woods Agreements. Under this system, many countries fixed their exchange rates relative to the US dollar. The US promised to fix the price of gold at $35 per ounce. Implicitly, then, all currencies pegged to the dollar also had a fixed value in terms of gold. Alan Greenspan argued in 1966 that, under the gold standard, a free banking system stands as the protector of an economy's stability and balanced growth… The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit… In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. Under the regime of the French President Charles De Gaulle, France reduced its dollar reserves, trading them for gold from the U.S. government, thereby reducing US economic influence abroad. This together with the fiscal strain of the Vietnam War led President Richard Nixon to eliminate the fixed gold price in 1971. The U.S. dollar has lost 93% of its purchasing power since 1971. The welfare statists have confiscated middle class savings through inflation while being aided and abetted by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve.

China Embraces Capitalism
The process of economic reform began in earnest in 1979, after Chinese leaders concluded that the Soviet-style system that had been in place since the 1950s was making little progress in improving the standard of living for Chinese citizens and also was failing to close the economic gap between China and Western nations. The reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s focused on creating a pricing system and decreasing the role of the state in resource allocations. The reforms of the late 1990s focused on closing unprofitable enterprises and dealing with insolvency in the banking system. After the start of the 21st century, increased focus has been placed on narrowing the gap between rich and poor in China. The huge influx of peasants from the countryside to the cities led to a manufacturing boom in China and the gutting of manufacturing in the United States. The feedback loop of Americans borrowing at low rates and spending on Chinese made goods while China kept buying US Treasuries, which kept U.S. interest rates low, has led to an unsustainable boom that has now gone bust. Allowing this unsustainable trend to grow beyond all reasonableness is now leading to social unrest in China.

Greenspan Put
Alan Greenspan in his role as Federal Reserve Chairman attempted to solve every financial crisis by lowering interest rates and increasing liquidity. It began when he came to the rescue after the stock market crash of 1987. The Fed did the same thing after the Gulf War, the Mexican crisis, the Asian crisis, the LTCM implosion, Y2K, the bursting of the Dot Com bubble, and the 9/11 tragedy. Investors became convinced that Greenspan would always come to the rescue and keep stock prices from falling. This belief caused investors to take much greater risks and led to the colossal overleveraging that took place between 2000 and 2008. The artificial perception of safety led to the worst financial crisis in history. Ben Bernanke is now following in Greenspan’s footsteps.

U.S. Maintains Military Base in Saudi Arabia after Gulf War
Osama Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion, had brought down the mighty superpower of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. During this time frame Iraq invaded Kuwait and Bin Laden met the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and told him not to depend on non-Muslim troops and offered to help defend Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden was rebuffed and publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the US military. After the 1st Gulf War, the U.S. with the support of the Saudi rulers allowed a permanent U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia. This presence led Bin Laden to declare a jihad against the U.S. infidels and eventually led to the 9/11 attack and the War on Terror. This has led to mammoth budget deficits, thousands of unnecessary American and Iraqi deaths, and contributed hugely to the financial crisis of 2008.

9/11 Attack
The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center killed almost 3,000 Americans and provided President Bush with worldwide support to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden and his supporters. The U.S. successfully defeated the Taliban and cornered Bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan. The Bush administration declared a War on Terror, invaded Iraq on false pretenses wasting the lives of 4,500 Americans and damaging the lives of 30,000 Americans who were wounded, wasted $800 billion of borrowed taxpayer money, created the Department of Homeland Security at a cost of $50 billion per year, tortured captives, and has allowed the government to monitor private conversations of Americans without a warrant. An attack by 19 men with knives has led to the decline of the United States stature throughout the world and pushed the U.S. towards bankruptcy. The beacon of freedom has seen its light dim.

SEC takes Deregulation to Heart
Alan Greenspan and the free market ideologues in the Bush administration thought that no regulation was the best policy for the financial markets. They believed that markets would regulate themselves. This led to non-enforcement of existing rules and regulations. The SEC waived the 12 to 1 leverage ratios for the five biggest investment banks. Those banks then leveraged 40 to 1 and collapsed the worldwide financial system. The SEC failed to catch the Enron and Worldcom accounting frauds. The SEC was given indisputable proof that Bernie Madoff was conducting a ponzi scheme as far back as 1999. It ignored the facts and allowed a $50 billion fraud to destroy any remaining trust in the U.S. financial system. The SEC is in the back pocket of Wall Street. Its executives leave the SEC and get million dollar jobs on Wall Street. Non-enforcement of rules is not deregulation it is government corruption and incompetence.

Ignorance, Stupidity, and Hubris

Sociologist Robert K. Merton popularized the concept of unintended consequences in a paper written in 1936. Some possible grounds for the unintended consequences are the world’s complexity, human stupidity, self deception, hubris and biases. Merton’s five possible causes were:

Ignorance (It is impossible to anticipate everything, thereby leading to incomplete analysis) Error (Incorrect analysis of the problem or following habits that worked in the past but may not apply to the current situation) Immediate interest, which may override long-term interests Basic values may require or prohibit certain actions even if the long-term result might be unfavorable (these long-term consequences may eventually cause changes in basic values) Self-defeating prophecy (Fear of some consequence drives people to find solutions before the problem occurs, thus the non-occurrence of the problem is unanticipated) Ignorance, error, and immediate interest sound like a perfect motto for the U.S. Congress, Federal Reserve, and Treasury. When media pundits, pompous economists, self proclaimed experts, and corrupted politicians assure you that they have the solutions to all of our problems they are practicing the most evil form of hubris. The arrogance and self importance of these people is an insult to the intelligence of all Americans. They put their unproven theories into practice by committing trillions of taxpayer funds. They are only concerned about the next election cycle and not about the long-term consequences of their ignorance and ignorance of crucial facts. The accumulation of blunders over the decades by government has led to unintended consequences that could bring down our country. Recent developments will have disturbing consequences for all Americans.

Unintended Consequences of Cheap Oil

When oil reached $147 a barrel in the summer of 2008, panic was setting in among the sages in Congress. Windfall profit taxes on oil companies and government intervention to support alternative energy were the mantra of congressmen and Presidential candidates. Government intervention was going to work its magic. Instead, the markets adjusted rapidly to a worldwide decline in demand and the price plummeted to less than $40 a barrel. This drop has put an additional $200 billion of money back into the pockets of Americans. This was a needed relief in the midst of a grinding recession. The law of supply and demand worked without government intervention. The short-term focus of our politicians and many Americans will likely squander this temporary reprieve.

The pundits concluded that oil reaching $147 a barrel was due to speculators. Once the speculators were forced out, oil prices collapsed. Their view is that this temporary crisis has passed and life will go back to normal. American oil demand declined by 13% in September 2008, but Chinese demand grew by 28%. Auto financing at 0% for five years on SUVs will prevail and all will be well. The ignorance of the true facts by our leaders will lead to a future crisis that will make the current financial crisis seem like a walk in the park. The current economic downturn which has temporarily decreased worldwide demand will end. Oil demand will resume its upward slope, while supply has likely reached its peak. The facts based on exhaustive research by Matt Simmons are:

60% of the world’s oil is consumed by 10% of the world’s population.
America represents 5% of the world’s population and consumes 24% of the world’s oil.
Middle East oil use is growing more rapidly than China’s. China now uses 8 million barrels per day versus 3.5 million barrels per day in 1997. China now consumes 2 barrels per person versus 24 barrels per person in the U.S. The U.S. has 220 million automobiles for 305 million people. China has 32 million cars for 1.3 billion people. Peak supply of 86 million barrels of oil per day has been reached. Demand will grow to 115 million to 125 million barrels per day in the next 20 years.

Source: Perotcharts.com

The price of oil is now dangerously low. There are large amounts of untapped resources in non-traditional places. These include oil sands in Canada, oil shale in the Western U.S., and deep water oil. At $40 a barrel, the cost to extract oil from these sources is greater than the revenue that can be generated. Therefore, all projects in these areas will be stopped or delayed indefinitely. Drilling rigs are being shut down, employees are being laid off, and all expensive deep water projects are being abandoned. Supply has topped out at 86 million barrels per day. Mature oil fields throughout the world are in decline. Projects can take decades to bring on-line. Projects not started today will result in supply shortages in the future.

Source: Perotcharts.com

If the U.S. leaders allow today’s low prices to reduce its sense of urgency regarding energy independence, the consequences will be shocking. The existing energy infrastructure is rusting away. The estimates to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure, that is 80% beyond its original design life, run as high as $100 trillion. The Cantarell oil field in Mexico is collapsing and will lead to Mexico becoming an oil importer in the next five years. The U.S. currently gets 11.1% of our supply from Mexico, almost as much as from Saudi Arabia. Another 30% comes from unstable countries such as Venezuela, Iraq, Nigeria, and Russia. We are not in command of our energy future. By doing nothing today, we insure that $147 oil will seem like a bargain in the not too distant future. An all out effort to implement the Pickens Plan now is necessary to regain the upper hand regarding our energy future. Converting our country to wind power, natural gas, and nuclear power would decrease our dependence on foreign oil and keep $700 billion in the United States rather than transferring it to the Middle East.

Source: Perotcharts.com

Unintended Consequences of 0% Interest Rates
The Gross Domestic Product of the United States is $14.4 trillion. Consumer spending makes up $10.2 trillion or 71% of GDP. Government spending makes up $2.9 trillion, or 20% of GDP. Domestic investment makes up $2.0 trillion, or 14% of GDP. The trade deficit of $700 billion reduces GDP by 5%. President Obama has quite a dilemma in trying to revive this economy. The American consumer has borrowed from their homes and credit cards to fuel a colossal spending spree in the last twenty years. The dilemma is that the U.S. economic growth during the entire Bush administration was a debt induced fraud. From 1953 through 1983, consumption as a percentage of GDP ranged between 61% and 64%. Consumers rarely, if ever, borrowed against their houses. Paying off your mortgage was a goal of all families. A normalized level of consumer spending at 65% of GDP will require consumers to spend at least $1 trillion less per year. Less consumer spending will also contribute to reducing the trade deficit. The Federal Reserve and politicians running our country see a $1 trillion reduction in consumer spending as a disaster. Their positions of power would be in jeopardy. They will do everything in their power to not allow this to happen. The unintended consequences will commence shortly.

Source: Creditwritedowns.com

From the time Alan Greenspan took over as Federal Reserve Chairman in 1987, consumption and household debt rose at a faster rate than the economy. The Greenspan Put was a major contributor to these developments. Everyone knew that Greenspan would lower rates and inject liquidity into the system whenever an economic bump in the road came along. Greenspan’s reduction of the discount rate to 1% in 2003 led to the greatest debt bubble in history that still threatens to bring down the financial system.

Source: Creditwritedowns.com

The entrenched politician rulers of our country who are bought and sold by Big Business lobbyists, the Military Industrial Complex, and Big Media want to preserve the status quo. Their power base depends upon it. Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, depressions were violent and short. Prices for goods and wages adjusted rapidly, which allowed businesses and workers to survive. Having the dollar pegged to gold, limited what the government could do. The Federal Reserve artificially inflated the money supply in the 1920s causing a normal depression to become a Great Depression. Government interference with wage and price controls and government make work projects did not allow the system to fix itself. It took a World War to pull our economy out of the Great Depression.

Source: Perotcharts.com

It’s the End of the World As We Know It
What is required to happen and what will happen, in the next year, will have calamitous consequences for the future of our country. What needs to take place is:

Consumers need to cut back dramatically on consuming. Spending as a percentage of GDP needs to decline to 65%, or by $1 trillion. This would be approximately $3,000 less spending per household per year. Twenty years of consumer debt accumulation must be unwound. This required deleveraging needs to eliminate $2 trillion of household debt. The result will be thousands of retail store closings, mall closings, restaurant closings, and auto dealership closings. The distinction between needs and wants will reveal itself like a sledgehammer. The consumer needs to increase their savings rate from 2% to 10%. This would provide more capital for investment. People who cannot afford the mortgage on their home need to sell or enter foreclosure. When home prices fall far enough, the market will clear the inventory. Lower prices are the only way to eliminate excess supply. Companies that have failed to prepare for this downturn by taking on excessive debt, allowing expenses to soar, and having no clear strategic plan should go bankrupt.

Unemployment will reach 9%. New businesses will be created and Americans will be hired. The Government should make sure that no one starves to death or has to sleep on the streets. The safety net of food stamps and unemployment insurance should be strengthened. The Government’s purpose is to protect its citizens, enforce the laws and maintain the public infrastructure. Our roads are crumbling, we have 156,000 structurally deficient bridges, millions of miles of pipes under our streets are rusting away, and our power grid is antiquated. The job of Government was to maintain these things. They have failed miserably. Why does anyone think a new government infrastructure plan will work? Bridges to nowhere will be everywhere.
Reducing spending dramatically on our military empire would provide funds to support the social safety net that is required during a depression. Congressmen in the pocket of the Defense industry will never allow it to happen. What needs to occur would inflict too much pain for our politician leaders to allow. A violent short depression will be traded for a decade long extended depression. A painful deflationary depression will be converted into a hyperinflationary depression that could threaten the very existence of our country. President elect Obama has begun his finely orchestrated marketing plan to spend $775 billion of borrowed taxpayer money. His rationale for the stimulus package is classic Washington politics -

Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn. That's why we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term. An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. – Laurence J. Peter

Not one economist on the face of the earth predicted the events of 2008. None of Obama’s list of blue chip economists saw a crisis coming and they have no idea how long or deep the current downturn will be. They make weather forecasters look highly accurate in comparison. Most economists are either, sellouts (Lawrence Yun), cheerleaders (Larry Kudlow), ideologues, or academic theoreticians. If Barrack Obama is depending on economists to determine our future, all is lost. Alan Greenspan was an economist. If we had done the opposite of everything he recommended in the last 20 years, the country would be on the right track. President Obama, with the overwhelming support of a Democratic Congress will double down on the trillions already poured down a rat hole by the Bush administration. The scenario that will play out is:

The $775 billion plan will grow to at least $1 trillion as Obama will need to buy off various factions within Congress with pork projects. Congress will approve the 2nd $350 billion tranche of TARP funds. Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi will shovel billions to homeowners who should be foreclosed upon. Billions more will be given to the automakers. GMAC will get more funds from the taxpayer at 8% interest so they can then loan it to subprime borrowers at 0%. This doesn’t sound profitable, but they’ll make it up on volume. TARP funds will be given to commercial developers who foolishly overleveraged, overbuilt, and overpaid for properties. Credit card companies that handed out credit like candy for the last 20 years will see their write-offs triple to over 10% by 2010. The government will give more of your tax dollars to these incompetent bankers so they can send out another 5 million credit card offers to deadbeats. The Federal Reserve will buy mortgage debt and long-term Treasuries to artificially reduce market interest rates. With money market funds paying .25%, senior citizen savers will be forced to take on risk to get a return on their money. Penalizing savers to resuscitate reckless gamblers is the path that Ben Bernanke has chosen. When the Markets decline another 20% in 2009, more senior citizens will see their retirements destroyed by Mr. Bernanke. Consensus among the talking heads on CNBC is that markets will go up in 2009 because they went down so much in 2008. This is what amounts to analysis by business television. The people they interview have a vested financial interest in the market going up. So despite the fact that earnings will collapse in 2009, these pundits are sure the markets will rise. I’d bet against the consensus. Citicorp and JP Morgan will require additional enormous injections of capital from the taxpayer due to their looming credit card and commercial loan losses. The top 10 biggest banks are insolvent. They are being kept alive on life support systems provided by the Federal Reserve and Treasury. All the bankers who didn’t bankrupt their banks should be outraged at this misappropriation of taxpayer capital to incompetent, reckless, immoral, politically connected bankers.

Home prices will drop another 15% in 2009 and will remain depressed until 2015. The market will adjust to its natural equilibrium level despite all government efforts to keep prices artificially elevated. When you can buy a house and rent it out and generate a positive cash flow, houses will be reasonably priced. Despite the immense spending, zero interest rates, and propping up bankrupt financial institutions, consumers will not spend. Economists, bureaucrats and politicians are so focused on models and theories that they have failed to realize that the social mood of the country has changed forever. The poor economic conditions are being caused by the mood change, not vice versa. A return to frugality, saving, and simpler lives will keep a cap on spending for at least the next decade. The sum total of all that has been done and all that will be done will eventually lead to a hyperinflationary bust. The money supply is being expanded too rapidly, fiscal stimulus spending will be borrowed from foreigners, the dollar will fall as foreigners refuse to accept 2% for 10 years, and the Federal Reserve will react too late just like they did when this crisis began. This overstimulation of the economy will lead to a panic out of dollars and into real assets. The government will attempt to control the situation by confiscating gold as they did in the 1930s and Americans will be forced to surrender more liberties. In periods of economic and social upheaval - war, revolution, or dictatorship become possibilities. The average American needs to wake up from their materialistic stupor and understand the risks that lie ahead. An educated concerned citizen is our only defense against tyranny. Orwellian governmental policies will be inflicted upon the populous. Seek out those who are telling the truth. David Walker, Boone Pickens, Ron Paul, Mike Shedlock, Doug Casey, and John Mauldin are among the truth tellers.2009 James Quinn.Bio: James Quinn is a senior director of strategic planning for a major university. These articles reflect the personal views of James Quinn. They do not necessarily represent the views of his employer and are not sponsored or endorsed by his employer. He can be reached at quinnadvisors@comcast.net.

01/29/2009 RICHES AT THE NORTH POLE Russia Unveils Aggressive Arctic Plans
By Matthias Schepp and Gerald Traufetter

In a new national directive, Russia has asserted claims on large sections of the Arctic Ocean. The tone of the document is openly aggressive, prompting fears of increasing international tension over who has the right to exploit the mineral-rich territory.Cold temperatures and boredom are normally the order of the day at Russia's northernmost border post on the Arctic Ocean island of Alexandra Land. Icebergs as big as houses drift past, while old diesel drums stand silent in the dry air.Everybody wants a bit of the Arctic these days. Here, the midnight sun in the Arctic Circle near the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen.Gone are the days when the engines of bombers carrying nuclear warheads droned over Nagurskoye military station. Nowadays, there is only one flight a month to the station, which is home to 30 soldiers, 16 scientists and six meteorologists who report to the FSB, Russia's powerful domestic intelligence service. They live in austere wooden huts, braving the indifference of the Arctic.In September of last year, this ghost station of the Cold War was suddenly returned to the center of geopolitical events, when two dozen government representatives were flown there, including Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. They quickly agreed that the Arctic must become Russia's main strategic base for raw materials. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia, was quick to point out: If we do not become active now, we will simply be forced out.The group of powerful men decided to have a comprehensive strategy prepared for development of the Arctic by 2020. The document will be released this week.Some of the content has already been leaked, revealing an uncompromising tone. It cannot be ruled out that the battle for raw materials will be waged with military means,the explosive document reads.

It seems that Russia, with almost one-third of its territory lying north of the Arctic Circle, is about to prove that the fears of Western nations bordering the Arctic are not unjustified. The nuclear power will soon begin flexing its muscles along the icy shores of its giant realm.The interest of nations bordering the Arctic is growing as polar ice recedes. One week before leaving office, outgoing US President George W. Bush unveiled a strategic plan for the Arctic region. Canada, Denmark and Norway have launched their own initiatives. Even the European Union announced a new polar policy in November.Meanwhile, the government-controlled newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta is preparing Russians for the notion that the fight for the Arctic will be the initial spark for a new division of the world. Artur Chilingarov, a member of the Russia parliament and Moscow's chief ideologue when it comes to conquering the Arctic, puts it this way: We are not prepared to give our Arctic to anyone.Chilingarov -- who in August 2007 used a remote-controlled submarine arm to plant a Russian flag made of titanium on the ocean floor at the North Pole at a depth of 4,261 meters (13,976 feet) -- wants to present evidence to the United Nations within one year that the North Pole belongs to the Russians. His threat to those in the West who disagree is simple: If these rights are not recognized, Russia will withdraw from the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Alexander Dugin, a political scientist and well-known intellectual backer of Moscow's neo-imperial claims to a Greater Russia, becomes so caught up in nationalist fervor that he loses his grasp on biological realities: The purpose of our being lies in the expansion of our space. The shelf belongs to us. Polar bears live there, Russian polar bears. And penguins live there, Russian penguins.

Graphic: Claims to the Arctic Ocean.
Although the Arctic may be somewhat lacking in penguins, Russia's frozen north does contain vast mineral resources. Arctic Russia is already responsible for 11 percent of the country's gross domestic product and 22 percent of its export earnings. The intended expansion of Russia's northern border by at least 150 miles (241 kilometers) and 1.2 million square kilometers (463,000 square miles), an area three times the size of Germany, promises to yield immense natural resource earnings.

INTERACTIVE MAP

SPIEGEL ONLINEStaking Claim to the North Pole: The Arctic and Bordering Nations It was precisely these riches that Russian Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Sergei Donskoy discussed at the Arctic Frontiers conference in the northern Norwegian city of Tromsø, where several hundred scientists, politicians and economic experts came together last week.We hope to find reserves of oil and gas corresponding to about 20 percent of Russian reserves, Donskoy said, outlining Russia's plans for the Arctic.Under that plan, geologists will first study the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. They expect to find at least two to four large oil or gas fields beneath the ocean floor in each of these two seas. According to Russia's environment minister, a petroleum engineer by trade, the fields contain an estimated 3.3 billion tons of oil and up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas.If all goes according to plan, the first gas from the Arctic should begin flowing in 2013 or 2014, says Hervé Madeo, the deputy director of an energy consortium led by Russia's Gazprom that is developing the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea. Of the field, he says: It is one of the largest in the world and unique in Russia.Despite the financial crisis, preparations for drilling are moving forward at a fast pace. The project has too much potential for the global economic downturn to affect it much, Madeo claims.

DPA

A Russia icebreaker in the Arctic Ocean: Moscow has unveiled aggressive new plans to exploit the Arctic's natural resources.The gas field could become the first major milestone in the development of the energy reserves of the north. This prompted Norwegian Rear Admiral Trond Grytting to comment sarcastically in his presentation at the Tromsø conference (entitled From the Cold War to the Hot Arctic): We have lots of natural resources, military personnel and disputed borders in the Arctic. This has never been a recipe for peace.Grytting showed slides of his fleet commander exchanging gestures of friendship with his Russian counterpart. But he also showed the flight paths of Russian reconnaissance planes off the Norwegian coast.The Norwegians are worried about three unresolved territorial disputes with their eastern neighbor, and all it takes is a glance at their radar screens to witness the extent to which the former Red Army is already amplifying its presence in the Arctic Ocean. The Russian doctrine is unmistakable, warns Grytting. The army is supposed to advance the state's goals in the surrounding region.These goals openly call for expansion. As far back as 2001, Russia submitted claims to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), a panel of scientists at the United Nations that will be called upon to make decisions about expanded territorial rights in the Arctic Ocean in the coming years.To support its claims, Russia will have to compile evidence to prove that its own continental shelf extends beyond the 200-nautical-mile zone known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Russian request was denied the first time around, with the CLCS demanding additional geologic evidence.Even many of Chilingarov's fellow Russians doubt whether he will be able to fulfill his ambitious promises to have compiled all the necessary documents and samples before the end of the year. A little bucket of sediment won't be enough, Leopold Lobkovsky of St. Petersburg's Institute of Oceanology said caustically.Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan.

Russia Kirill enthroned as Russian Orthodox Church leader
01/02 12:17 CETworld news

Kirill has been enthroned as the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and of all Russia and as the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The 62-year-old was crowned at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were in attendance along with emissaries from different branches of the Orthodox Church and foreign guests. The new Patriarch was elected to the position following the death of Alexiy II in December. Many in the country believe the new Patriarch will guide the church on a more independent path than Alexiy, as the Church tries to separate itself from the state, following the fall of the Soviet Union. In a spirit of welcome dialogue and cooperation and backed by the constitution, the Church and the state must develop their relationship for the good of the Church, state and people, he said. Pope Benedict welcomed the Church’s choice of Kirill as the new Patriarch. The Vatican sees him as a moderniser who may usher in an improvement in relations between the two churches.

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL Congress sued to remove prez from White House
Defendants had to ensure the Constitution is upheld January 31, 2009
12:00 am Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily

A new lawsuit is challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be president, and this one targets Congress as a defendant for its failure to uphold the constitutional demand to make sure Obama qualified before approving the Electoral College vote that actually designated him as the occupant of the Oval Office. The new case raises many of the same arguments as dozens of other cases that have flooded into courtrooms around the nation since the November election. It is being brought on behalf of Charles F. Kerchner Jr., Lowell T. Patterson, Darrell James Lenormand and Donald H. Nelson Jr. and names as defendants Barack Hussein Obama II, the U.S., Congress, the Senate, House of Representatives and former Vice President Dick Cheney along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Where's the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the natural-born American clause in the Constitution? If you still want to see it, join more than 193,000 others and sign up now! As WND has reported, dozens of lawsuits have been filed over Obama's eligibility to assume the office of the president. Many have been dismissed while others remain pending. The cases, in various ways, have alleged Obama does not meet the natural born citizen clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, which reads, No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.Some of the legal challenges have alleged Obama was not born in Hawaii, as he insists, but in Kenya. Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time. Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born. Several details of Obama's past have added twists to the question of his eligibility and citizenship, including his family's move to Indonesia when he was a child, his travel to Pakistan in the '80s when such travel was forbidden to American citizens and conflicting reports from Obama's family about his place of birth.

Perhaps the most perplexing detail, however, has been Obama's refusal to allow the public release of a signed vault copy of his original birth certificate. The new case was launched in New Jersey, and focuses on the alleged failure in Congress to follow the Constitution. That document, the lawsuit states, provides that Congress must fully qualify the candidate elected by the Electoral College Electors.In provides, the lawsuit said, If the president-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the vice president elect shall act as president until a president shall have qualified.There existed significant public doubt and grievances from plaintiffs and other concerned Americans regarding Obama's eligibility to be president and defendants had the sworn duty to protect and preserve the Constitution and specifically under the 20th Amendment, Section 3, a Constitutional obligation to confirm whether Obama, once the electors elected him, was qualified.Congress is the elected representative of the American people and the people speak and act through them, the lawsuit said. The defendants violated the 20th Amendment by failing to assure that Obama meets the eligibility requirements,the lawsuit said. In the Russian publication Pravda, commentator Mark S. McGrew addressed the subject: The United States Congress is required, under the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, to count the Electoral College votes for president and vice president, ask if any member of Congress objects to the count and hear that Congressman's objection. This is under Title 3, Chapter 1, Section 15, Upon such reading of any such certificate of paper, the president of the Senate shall call for objections, if any,he wrote.

Several of the cases – including those brought by Orly Taitz, Cort Wrotnowski, Leo Donofrio and Philip Berg, already have been discussed in conference at the U.S. Supreme Court, which has failed to have a hearing on any of the merits involved.

Taitz, in fact, is requesting information from the Supreme Court about a meeting eight of its justices held with Obama, a defendant in her case, before the justices reviewed the issues of the case in a private conference. Several of the cases not scheduled for hearings at the Supreme Court still remain active at lower court levels, from which emergency requests to the high court were launched. I know that Mr. Obama is not a constitutionally qualified natural born citizen and is ineligible to assume the office of president of the United States, Berg said in a statement on his ObamaCrimes.com website. Obama knows he is not 'natural born' as he knows where he was born and he knows he was adopted in Indonesia; Obama is an attorney, Harvard Law grad who taught Constitutional law; Obama knows his candidacy is the largest hoax attempted on the citizens of the United States in over 200 years; Obama places our Constitution in a crisis situation; and Obama is in a situation where he can be blackmailed by leaders around the world who know Obama is not qualified, Berg's statement continued. A partial listing and status update for several of the cases surrounding Obama's eligibility to serve as president is below: Philip J. Berg, a Pennsylvania Democrat, demanded that the courts verify Obama's original birth certificate and other documents proving his American citizenship. Berg's latest appeal, requesting an injunction to stop the Electoral College from selecting the 44th president, was denied.Leo Donofrio of New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming Obama's dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court but denied a full hearing.Cort Wrotnowski filed suit against Connecticut's secretary of state, making a similar argument to Donofrio. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court, but was denied a full hearing.Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes headlines a list of people filing a suit in California, in a case handled by the United States Justice Foundation, that asks the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state's 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. The case is pending, and lawyers are seeking the public's support.Chicago attorney Andy Martin sought legal action requiring Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to release Obama's vital statistics record. The case was dismissed by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Bert Ayabe.

Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Electoral College vote in North Carolina until Barack Obama's eligibility could be confirmed, alleging doubt about Obama's citizenship. His case was denied.In Ohio, David M. Neal sued to force the secretary of state to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.In Washington state, Steven Marquis sued the secretary of state seeking a determination on Obama's citizenship. The case was denied.In Georgia, Rev. Tom Terry asked the state Supreme Court to authenticate Obama's birth certificate. His request for an injunction against Georgia's secretary of state was denied by Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.California attorney Orly Taitz has brought a case, Lightfoot vs. Bowen, on behalf of Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate on the ballot with Ron Paul, four electors and two registered voters.Private investigator Douglas Hagmann of HomelandSecurityUS.com reported earlier he found 13 cases challenging Obama's eligibility still active or semi-active. In addition, other cases cited on the RightSideofLife blog as raising questions about Obama's eligibility include: In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.In Washington, L. Charles vs. Obama.In Hawaii, Keyes vs. Lingle, dismissed.WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi had gone to both Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama's birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.The biggest question was why, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists as his campaign has stated, Obama hasn't simply ordered it made available to settle the rumors.The governor's office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii? Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has named two different Hawaii hospitals where Obama could have been born. There have been other allegations that Obama actually was born in Kenya during a time when his father was a British subject. A one point a Kenyan ambassador said Obama's birth place in Kenya already was recognized and honored.

Televangelism empire in chaos over family split
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Sunday, February 1, 2009

(02-01) 00:17 PST Garden Grove, Calif. (AP) --

Once one of the nation's most popular televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life's work crumble.His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. The shimmering, glass-walled megachurch is home to the Hour of Power broadcast, an evangelism staple that's been on the air for more than three decades.The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million worth of its Orange County property to pay off debt. Revenue dropped by nearly $5 million last year, according to a recent letter from the elder Schuller to elite donors. In the letter, Schuller Sr. implored the Eagle's Club members — who supply 30 percent of the church's revenue — for donations and hinted that the show might go off the air without their support.The final months of 2008 were devastating for our ministry, the 82-year-old pastor wrote.The Crystal Cathedral blames the recession for its woes. But it's clear that the elder Schuller's carefully orchestrated leadership transition, planned over a decade, has stumbled badly.It's a problem common to personality driven ministries. Most have collapsed or been greatly diminished after their founders left the pulpit or died.Members often tie their donations to the pastor, not the institution, said Nancy Ammerman, a sociologist of religion at Boston University. Schuller, with a style that blends pop psychology and theology, has a particularly devoted following, she said.Viewers are probably much less likely to give when it's not their preacher they're giving to, she said. There's something about these televised programs where people develop a certain loyalty.Today's increasingly fragmented media landscape is also to blame, said Quentin Schultze, a Calvin College professor who specializes in Christian media.Church-based televangelism led by powerful personalities filled TV in the 1980s, but now only a handful of shows remain, he said. Among the struggling ministries are those of Oral Roberts and the late D. James Kennedy of The Coral Ridge Hour TV show.

I don't see a scenario for maintaining a TV-based megachurch anymore. The days of doing that in the models of Schuller and Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts are over, Schultze said. It's amazing to me that the Hour of Power was able to keep going as long as it did.Through a spokesman, Schuller Sr., his family members and other cathedral officials declined to comment. The younger Schuller, 54, did not respond to an e-mail requesting an interview.The elder Schuller, who called his weekly show America's Television Church, founded his ministry in a drive-in theater after moving to Southern California in 1955.He studied marketing strategies to attract worshippers and preached a feel-good Christianity, describing himself as a possibility thinker and spinning his upbeat style into a 10,000-member church and a broadcast watched by millions worldwide.The church's main sanctuary, the Crystal Cathedral, is a landmark designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, with a spire visible from afar amid Orange County's suburban sprawl. Thousands make the pilgrimage to see where the broadcast is filmed before a live congregation.The Schullers consider the church a family business and the younger Schuller's 2006 appointment was sanctioned by the Crystal Cathedral's parent denomination, the Reformed Church in America.But the church announced on Nov. 29 that Schuller Jr. had resigned as senior pastor, just a month after he was removed from the church's syndicated broadcasts. In a news release, Schuller Sr. said: Robert and I have been struggling as we each have different ideas as to the direction and the vision for this ministry.The church has since instituted a rotating roster of high-profile guest preachers, including Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, the Chicago-area megachurch, and evangelist Luis Palau.Schuller Sr.'s daughters and sons-in-law remain involved in the church, some in key roles. But Juan Carlos Ortiz, the interim senior pastor, hopes to appoint a senior pastor with no ties to the Schuller family within two years.On the church Web site, concerned members and TV fans have posted hundreds of comments protesting the upheaval, with some indicating they have stopped giving or will leave altogether.Several angry viewers have launched petitions to get the younger Schuller back.Melody Mook, a 58-year-old medical transcriptionist from El Paso, Texas, said she stopped her $25 monthly donation and is looking elsewhere for her spiritual needs. She said she dislikes the guest pastors.I feel hurt and confused and I'm not sure that I want to sit and watch when I know there's problems beneath the surface, she said. You feel like you're in somebody else's church every Sunday.Others said they felt betrayed that the Schullers couldn't put God before their family spat.They have not been forthcoming at all, said John Dewart, an insurance agent from New Jersey who's watched for 30 years. Why can't a father and son work together for the glory of God? That's my big question.On the Net:
Crystal Cathedral: www.crystalcathedral.org/