BLESSING OF THE SUN PASSOVER EVE TODAY

TODAY ON THE EVE OF PASSOVER THE ISRAELIS PRAY FOR THE BLESSING OF THE SUN A ONE IN A 28 YEAR EVENT CYCLE.

Here comes the Blessing of the Sun
By David Kalb March 25, 2009 RELIGION NOTEBOOK

NEW YORK (JTA) -- I have this internal iPod in my head that provides theme music for my life. Lately my theme song is Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. Not only is it my theme song, but this year it is the theme song of the entire Jewish people. Why? On the 14th of Nissan (April 8), the morning before erev Pesach (as if we do not have enough to do that day), we will be reciting Birkat Hachamah, the Blessing of the Sun. The blessing, recited every 28 years, marks the time that the sun is in the exact place it was in when the world was created (Brachot 59b).It may seem strange to recite a blessing that relates to the sun since Jewish observance generally is more oriented toward the moon. Rosh chodesh, Judaism’s celebration of each new month, is based on the new moon and creates the foundation for the Jewish calendar.

So why this Blessing of the Sun? What is the importance of celebrating the anniversary of its creation?

The Torah describes the sun’s creation in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, lines 14 to 19. We recite these lines from the Torah as part of the Birkat Hachamah service. In lines 14 and 15, God creates two lights that appear to be equal in strength and are responsible for separating day and night, as well as marking holidays, days and years. The Torah does not name these lights, but one can assume that the light of the night is the moon and the light of the day is the sun.In line 16, however, something happens: The Torah makes a distinction between the lights. God pronounces the light of the day (the sun) to be the greater light and the light of the night (the moon) to be the lesser light.What causes the change from the apparent equality of sun and moon in lines 14-15 to the dominance of the sun in line 16? Why this dominance of the sun when it simply is simply not the case in Judaism? While both the sun and moon play an equal role in separating day and night, the moon as noted plays a more dominant role in marking holidays and determining the calendar. Why, then, does God pronounce the sun to be dominant over the moon? The Rabbis of the Talmud tell us a story intimately connected to these lines from the Torah (Chullin 60b). When the sun and moon were created, the Rabbis tell us, they indeed were equal. But the moon asked God, Is it possible for two kings to utilize the same crown? There cannot be two lights that rule the sky; one must be dominant.

In the story, God seems to have heard the question as a display of the moon’s arrogance and punished the moon by having the moon diminish itself. The moon responded,Is it fitting that because I said a correct thing before You that I must diminish myself? The moon explained that it was not being arrogant and simply was stating a fact: There cannot be two kings.God, heeding the moon’s words, rescinded the punishment and made the moon more dominant than the sun in determining the calendar and holidays. God also instructed the Jewish people to prepare a chaparah, an atonement sacrifice, on God’s behalf. In other words, according to the Talmud, God acknowledged that God committed a sin against the moon. The sacrifice was offered every rosh chodesh and is fulfilled today by offering the Musaf prayer (the additional prayer) on rosh chodesh.Perhaps in telling this story, the Rabbis of the Talmud wished to present a new way of looking at God. The story portrays a God who can commit a sin and do teshuvah (repentance), a startling new way to look at God and, certainly, an awesome model for our own practice of teshuvah.While the Blessing of the Sun marks the anniversary of the creation of the sun, it also may be viewed as the anniversary of this Talmudic story. The Rabbis told the story to embellish the description of the creation of the sun and the moon in the Torah. Their embellishment created a moment in time in which the Jewish people could look at God in a different way. That moment is commemorated by Birkat Hachamah.On a more general level, think about the way the sun renews itself each day. This can be seen as a model for the way we might renew our relationship with God. Every day the sun rises and sets; so, too, every day we need to renew our understanding of God. Birkat Hachamah is a unique extension of this idea. Thus I believe that when we recite Birkat Hachamah, we must strive to renew our understanding of God, to re-envision God.

Let me share what will be going on in my mind -- my internal iPod -- when I recite Birkat Hachamah this year. Recently I met someone who told me that he had experienced a series of tragedies. He could not reconcile these tragedies with his vision of God, a vision in which God is directly involved in the events of the world. This posed a difficult challenge to his faith in God.Asked for guidance, I tried to help this individual re-envision God. I explained that it is possible to envision a God who is not directly involved in the events of the world. This is not to say that the vision of God being directly involved in the events of the world is incorrect; God is infinite. Therefore we are able to, and perhaps need to, utilize as many visions of God as possible.In a vision of God where God is not directly involved in the events of the world, God gives us hope when all we feel is despair, strength when all we feel is weakness and love when all we feel is hate. God gives us these blessings, and with these blessings we have the ability to make miracles happen.As we recite Birkat Hachamah this year, let us use each day’s new light of the sun to continue to look at God in new ways. In so doing, together with God, we renew creation.(David Kalb is the rabbi of Minyan Yavneh on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the head of academic fellowships at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.)

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.

CAROL ON ALEX JONES PRISONPLANET.TV
http://prisonplanet.tv/alex-jones-live.html

THIS MURDERER TORTURED, BEHEADED, MUTILATED AND EVEN ATE THIS MOTHERS SON IN THE 5 HOUR SADISTIC KILLING OF THIS WOMANS SON.THIS GUY WAS DEMON POSSESSED FOR SURE. AND NOW HE MIGHT BE FREED FROM THE LUNNY BIN,INSTEAD OF GETTING THE ELECTRIC CHAIR TO HELL. LISTEN TO ALEX JONES (APR 7,09)AS THE MOTHER WAS ON THE SHOW IN THE LAST HOUR I THINK IT WAS EXPLAINING THE TOTURE AT THE HANDS OF THIS DEMON POSSESSED PERSON.

TIMS LAW
http://www.timslaw.ca/contact-info/

Contact Info
All general inquiries can be made to info@timslaw.ca
Contact Carol de Delley directly… carol@timslaw.ca

Please feel free to make donations to the de Delley Foundation for Life

The de Delley Foundation for Life Scotia Bank enquiries ; 1- 204-985-3776
4910 Roblin Blvd Winnipeg Mb R3R0G7

We will provide a paypal link for donations shortly.Interested in advertising on this site, please email info@timslaw.ca.All money raised will go to the de Delley Foundation for Life, to lobby for legislation that ensures perpetrators of heinous crimes are safely incarcerated away from the general populous.This is not about revenge, rather justice.We encourage all points of view to contribute editorially
All inquiries can be made to info@timslaw.ca

Vigil for bus-tragedy victimNo deliberate taker of life should ever be freed: momBy: Ian Hitchen 28/02/2009 1:00 AM

Carol de Delley fights tears looking at pictures of son Tim McLean at vigil Friday. (TIM SMITH / BRANDON SUN)BRANDON -- With tears in her eyes, Carol de Delley kissed her hand and pressed her fingers to a photograph of her slain son, Tim McLean.It was a tender, vulnerable moment during a candlelight vigil held Friday afternoon to honour her son who was killed on a Greyhound bus near Portage la Prairie last summer.

But minutes earlier, de Delley's voice had been firm as she called for legislative changes to prevent killers who are declared not criminally responsible from being released into the community following a stay in a mental facility.This is what's wrong with the not criminally responsible defence and this is what we need to change, de Delley said during the vigil at Brandon City Hall. I will not allow my son's death to be for nothing.McLean, 22, was stabbed and beheaded aboard a Greyhound bus last July.Vincent Li is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the killing and is scheduled to stand trial in Winnipeg, beginning Tuesday morning.The court is expected to hear from psychologists who reportedly agree Li should be sent to hospital instead of prison.A judge could decide that Li is not criminally responsible (NCR) due to his mental state at the time of the killing.Li would be spared a criminal record and go to a mental health facility.A provincial review board would then examine his case annually to determine if he has responded to treatment well enough to be released into the community.There'd be no minimum period that Li would have to serve in a mental health facility.It's that possibility of release that concerns de Delley, who said she believes that killers should be kept in custody for life, whether they're mentally ill or not.I believe that there should be treatment and punishment, not treat and release,de Delley told about 35 people at the vigil.

Black Tim's Law T-shirts and badges printed with the slogan, Death Penalty for Revenge. Tim's Law for Justice were for sale at the ceremony.The money from their sale is to go to the De Delley Foundation for Life.Tim's Law refers to de Delley's call for legislative changes that would mean anyone who voluntarily takes another person's life would lose their freedom for the rest of their natural life, whether they're declared NCR or not.To that end, she's established the De Delley Foundation for Life to raise money to support lobbying efforts.Friday's vigil was also held to honour McLean, to ensure that he isn't forgotten next week as Li becomes the focus of attention during his trial.De Delley remembered her son as an energetic, adventurous young man who commanded attention when he entered a room. Timothy was probably the most alive person I have ever known,she said.The vigil was held in Brandon because many of McLean's relatives and friends live here.

Mandi Nagy of Brandon was moved to tears at the vigil.

A former co-worker at North American Midway Entertainment, Nagy said she'd known McLean for a couple of years and travelled with him to fairs.She now treasures a picture of him she snapped the last time she saw him.I look at the picture every day now because it brings back those memories and his voice, said Nagy who wore a T-shirt with McLean's picture printed on it.ihitchen@brandonsun.com

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

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.

Italy seeks survivors, prepares to bury quake dead By Deepa Babington and Antonella Cinelli APR 7,09

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) – Rescuers searched by lamplight in freezing temperatures for a second night for survivors of a quake which killed at least 235 people in central Italy, while relatives prepared to bury the first of the dead.Thousands of survivors of Italy's worst quake in three decades passed a fitful night in tent villages as a series of strong aftershocks hit the mountainous region of Abruzzo, hampering rescue efforts and causing at least one more death.The strongest tremor since Monday's quake toppled buildings, including parts of the basilica and the station, as the sun set on the historic mountain city of L'Aquila, which bore the brunt of the disaster in the early hours of Monday.L'Aquila's mayor said the 5.6 magnitude aftershock left one resident dead while in Rome, 100 km (60 miles) to the west, furniture shook in the upper floors of buildings. A 76-year-old Roman man was reported to have died of a heart-attack.In the last two nights, I've slept three hours at most. I feel physically and mentally tired from the lack of sleep and the fear,said Ilaria Ciani, 35, spending the night in a large blue tent at a survivors camp in a sports field near L'Aquila.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has declared a national emergency and sent troops to the area, set up 20 tent camps and 16 field kitchens to provide hot food and accommodation for 14,000 people.Hundreds of emergency workers, many of them volunteers, used mechanical diggers and their bare hands to remove piles of rubble in L'Aquila and nearby villages devastated by the quake.The death toll rose steadily throughout the day but rescuers burst into applause when a 20-year-old girl was found alive 42 hours after the quake in the ruins of a four-storey building.A rescue like this is worth six months work,said Claudio, a fireman from Venice.At least 235 bodies were being stored in a makeshift mortuary at a school for Italy's Finance Police outside L'Aquila, local media reported.The first funeral of a victim was due to take place on Wednesday, in the town of Loreto Aprutino, led by the archbishop of Pescara. Some 1,000 people remain injured, about 100 seriously, and fewer than 50 were missing.

Many of the victims were students at L'Aquila's university. A fireman from the port of Pescara who came to help rescue efforts collapsed in tears after unearthing the body of his stepdaughter, who was studying there.Working by floodlight, rescuers used a crane to gradually dismantle a ruined university dormitory in the hope of finding survivors. As darkness fell, workers dragged out the bodies of two of the four students still missing.

FOREIGN SOLIDARITY

Authorities estimate 17,000 people have lost their homes, leaving them facing a grim Easter weekend. With many local churches badly damaged, people prepared to celebrate the feast in makeshift chapels in the tent villages.Berlusconi, whose government already faces a huge public debt, said he would try to access hundreds of millions of euros in EU disaster funds to rebuild Abruzzo within two years.Shows of solidarity came from home and abroad, with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin among the leaders calling Berlusconi to express sympathy and offer aid.The prime minister has said Italy did not require foreign aid, but opposition leaders have urged him to reconsider, in the first sign of political divisions over the disaster.Italian soccer teams said revenue from this weekend's matches would be sent to help victims. Universities and newspapers throughout the country took collections, while hotels provided thousands of cheap rooms for survivors and rescuers. Officials said the quake would severely affect the region's economy, much of which is based on tourism, agriculture and small, family-run businesses. Police increased their patrols on the streets amid reports of looting of homes and shops. Some residents and experts expressed anger that even supposedly earthquake-proof modern buildings had collapsed.

In California, an earthquake like this one would not have killed a single person, said Franco Barberi, head of a committee assessing quake risks at the Civil Protection Agency.Monday's quake was particularly lethal because it struck shortly after 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) as residents slept. Flattening houses, centuries-old churches and other buildings in 26 cities and towns, it was the worst since November 1980, when some 2,735 people died in southern Italy.(Writing by Daniel Flynn; additional reporting by Rome bureau; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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.

U.S. forecaster lowers Atlantic hurricane prediction AccuWeather By Jim Loney Jim Loney – Tue Apr 7, 5:39 pm ET

MIAMI (Reuters) – Citing cooler seas and the prospect of a weak El Nino, Colorado State University's hurricane team lowered its 2009 Atlantic forecast on Tuesday to 12 tropical storms, of which six could become hurricanes.The research team, founded by storm forecasting pioneer William Gray, said the season could see two major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale. Hurricanes of that magnitude have sustained winds of more than 110 miles per hour (177km per hour).In its December forecast, the CSU team predicted 14 storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes in the 2009 season, which begins on June 1 and lasts six months.The researchers said sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean had cooled in recent months. Hurricanes draw energy from warm sea water, so cooler water could diminish hurricane activity.In addition, the eastern Pacific Ocean could see the current weak La Nina conditions change to neutral, or even weak El Nino, by June, the researchers said. El Nino is a warm water phenomenon that can suppress Atlantic hurricane formation.If El Nino conditions develop for this year's hurricane season, it would tend to increase levels of vertical wind shear and decrease levels of Atlantic hurricane activity,Gray said.Bill Read, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center, downplayed the impact of El Nino, noting there have been active hurricane seasons during similar phases of the El Nino cycle. But he said cooler water could have an influence.Some of my forecasters have pointed out to me that the tropical Atlantic waters at this time of the year this year are somewhat cooler than the last several seasons,he said in an interview with Reuters at the National Hurricane Conference in Austin, Texas. If that continues that may be a more important factor on this season.While disaster management experts say long-range hurricane forecasting helps raise public awareness, many note it is an inexact science. Some forecasters, including the Colorado State team, have been well off target in recent years.Colorado State predicted 15 tropical storms for the 2005 season, but a record 28 formed.You're talking trying to discern weather events from a climate-type forecast. Therein lies a huge difficulty right there,Read said. That science is still in its infancy.

FORECASTS CLOSELY WATCHED

The forecasts are closely watched by energy, commodities and insurance markets, particularly since the devastating 2005 season, when a series of hurricanes rolled through Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields and Hurricane Katrina, the costliest in U.S. history, swamped New Orleans.Colorado State predicted a 31 percent chance that a major hurricane would hit the U.S. Gulf coast this year, compared to a 30 percent long-term average. For the U.S. East Coast, the probability was 32 percent, compared to 31 percent long-term.The 2008 Atlantic season was one of the busiest on record, with 16 tropical storms, of which eight became hurricanes. Five were of Category 3 or higher.Cuba bore the brunt of last season's destructive storms. Three major hurricanes hit the Caribbean island, causing an estimated $10 billion damage.The long-term average for the Atlantic hurricane season is about 10 tropical storms and six hurricanes. But experts said a period of heightened Atlantic hurricane activity started around 1995 and was expected to last 25 to 40 years.London-based Tropical Storm Risk on Monday forecast 15 tropical storms, 7.8 hurricanes and 3.6 major hurricanes.(Additional reporting by Erwin Seba in Austin, Texas, editing by Chris Wilson)

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 WED APR 08,2009

09:30 AM +4.88
10:00 AM +45.16
10:30 AM -3.19
11:00 AM +6.37
11:30 AM +34.49
12:00 PM +42.45
12:30 PM +48.42
01:00 PM +84.34
01:30 PM +79.49
02:00 PM +59.73
02:30 PM +12.90
03:00 PM -1.76
03:30 PM -2.85
04:00 PM +47.55 7837.11

S&P 500 825.16 +9.61

NASDAQ 1590.66 +29.05

GOLD 881.40 -1.90

OIL 49.38 +0.93

TSE 300 8933.81 +109.06

CDNX 950.70 -1.78

S&P/TSX/60 544.59 +7.41

MORNING,NEWS,STATS
GOLD AT OPEN TODAY $887.90.OIL AT OPEN TODAY $48.23.
Dow +30 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -16 points at low today so far.
Dow +99 points at high today so far.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -11.24%
S&P -9.71%
Nasdaq -0.98%
TSX Advances 576,declines 933,unchanged 258,Volume 2,071,293,019.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 306,Declines 429,Unchanged 358,Volume 183,585,966.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -16 points at low today so far.
Dow +99 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,648,declines 934,unchanged 95,New Highs 4,New Lows 44.
Volume 3,243,814,713.
NASDAQ Advances 1,817,declines 788,unchanged 127,New highs 6,New Lows 16.
Volume 1,056,030,816.
TSX Advances 773,declines 555,unchanged 286,Volume 1,236,043,115.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 278,Declines 302,Unchanged 301,Volume 110,295,360.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -38 points at low today so far.
Dow +99 points at high today so far.
Dow +0.61% today,Volume 255,307,389.
S&P +1.18% today,Volume N/A.
Nasdaq +1.86% today,Volume 1,714,707,164.

FROM JEROME CORSI'S RED ALERT America for sale … to China? Leading economist requests dollar protection larger than U.S. homes April 06, 2009 10:54 am Eastern 2009WorldNetDaily

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium online newsletter published by the current No. 1 best-selling author, WND staff writer and columnist. Subscriptions are $99 a year or $9.95 per month for credit card users. Annual subscribers will receive a free autographed copy of The Late Great USA, a book about the careful deceptions of a powerful elite who want to undermine our nation's sovereignty.A high profile Chinese economist has begun circulating a new plan under which the U.S. government would guarantee foreign investments, so foreign nations with large dollar holdings in U.S. Treasury debt could convert that debt into equity to buy and own U.S. assets or invest in the nation's infrastructure without risk of loss, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports. In the process, much of U.S. industry and infrastructure would be sold to the Chinese.

In the Financial Times of London, Yu Qiao, a professor of economics in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsighua University in Beijing, proposed a plan for the U.S. government to guarantee foreign investments in the United States. Corsi noted that while WND has reported that the Internet rumors Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had given China an eminent domain claim on U.S. homes and property were untrue, the plan advanced by Yu Qiao must be interpreted as a proposal the Chinese government wants the U.S. to give serious consideration. Secretary Clinton may not have pledged American homes to China, but the Obama administration may be willing to grant a financial guarantee as an incentive for China to convert U.S. debt into Chinese direct equity investment to establish Chinese ownership in U.S. successful corporations and potentially profitable infrastructure projects,Corsi wrote. The Obama administration is now willing to put the U.S. up for sale to China to induce China to keep financing U.S. government deficit spending.As WND has reported, the U.S. Treasury is preparing to borrow $2.5 trillion this year and another $4 trillion in 2010, an amount that would increase by 65 percent in two years the $10 trillion in national debt accumulated since George Washington was president. WND has also reported the U.S. government faces more than $65 trillion in unfunded Social Security and Medicare benefits scheduled to be paid out largely to baby boomer retirees in coming decades. Foreign nations now hold $1.6 trillion of U.S. government debt, with Asia, including China and Japan, holding half of the outstanding public-owned U.S. Treasury bonds.

China now directly or indirectly holds more than $1.2 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds.

If the U.S. dollar were to collapse under the weight of Obama's trillion dollar budget deficits, holders of U.S. debt could face substantial losses that the Financial Times estimated would devastate Asians' hard-earned wealth and terminate economic globalization.The basic idea is to turn Asian savings, China's in particular, into real business interests rather than let them be used to support U.S. over-consumption,Yu Qiao wrote, reflecting themes commonly suggested by Chinese government officials. Red Alert's author, whose books The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command have topped the New York Times best-sellers list, said the plan to convert Chinese debt to equity investments in the United States could easily add another $1 trillion to outstanding Obama administration guarantees issued in the current economic crisis. Corsi received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in political science in 1972. For nearly 25 years, beginning in 1981, he worked with banks throughout the U.S. and around the world to develop financial services marketing companies to assist banks in establishing broker/dealers and insurance subsidiaries to provide financial planning products and services to their retail customers. In this career, Corsi developed three different third-party financial services marketing firms that reached gross sales levels of $1 billion in annuities and equal volume in mutual funds. In 1999, he began developing Internet-based financial marketing firms, also adapted to work in conjunction with banks. In his 25-year financial services career, Corsi has been a noted financial services speaker and writer, publishing three books and numerous articles in professional financial services journals and magazines.For more information on China's push to acquire U.S. assets and for financial guidance during difficult times, read Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium, online intelligence news source by the WND staff writer, columnist and author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller, The Obama Nation.

Cities Collapsing throughout the USA
The Coming Depression April 7, 2009

With enough abandoned lots to fill the city of San Francisco, Motown is 138 square miles divided between expanses of decay and emptiness and tracts of still-functioning communities and commercial areas. Close to six barren acres of an estimated 17,000 have already been turned into 500 mini- farms,demonstrating the lengths to which planners will go to make land productive.The city, like the automakers, has to shrink to match what’s left, said June Thomas, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.The issue is how,she said.There’s no vision.

People are moving out of the city, trying to find work,said David Martin of Wayne State University’s Urban Safety Program. Those who stay can’t afford to move out.
Property abandonment is getting so bad in Flint that some in government are talking about an extreme measure that was once unthinkable — shutting down portions of the city, officially abandoning them and cutting off police and fire service.[Mayor] Brown said that as more people abandon homes, eating away at the city’s tax base and creating more blight, the city might need to examine shutting down quadrants of the city where we (wouldn’t) provide services.He did not define what that could mean — bulldozing abandoned areas, simply leaving the vacant homes to rot or some other idea entirely.Cul-de-sac neighborhoods once filled with the sound of backyard barbecues and playing children are falling silent. Communities like Elk Grove, Calif., and Windy Ridge, N.C., are slowly turning into ghost towns with overgrown lawns, vacant strip malls and squatters camping in empty homes.In its depth and suddenness, the U.S. economic and financial crisis is shockingly reminiscent of moments we have recently seen in emerging markets (and only in emerging markets): South Korea (1997), Malaysia (1998), Russia and Argentina (time and again).But there’s a deeper and more disturbing similarity: elite business interests—financiers, in the case of the U.S.—played a central role in creating the crisis, making ever-larger gambles, with the implicit backing of the government, until the inevitable collapse. More alarming, they are now using their influence to prevent precisely the sorts of reforms that are needed, and fast, to pull the economy out of its nosedive. The government seems helpless, or unwilling, to act against them.

GM in intense preparations for bankruptcy: source By Chelsea Emery and Soyoung Kim Chelsea Emery And Soyoung Kim – Tue Apr 7, 4:48 pm ET

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp is in intense and earnest preparations for a possible bankruptcy filing, a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters on Tuesday.A plan to split the corporation into a new company made up of the most successful units, and an "old" one of its less-profitable units, is gaining momentum and is seen as the most sensible configuration, said another source familiar with the talks.If the plan goes through, the new GM would be expected to assume some previous creditor debt from bankruptcy proceedings, such as secured debt, said the second source, adding that GM bondholders were likely to lose substantial value in bankruptcy.Certain GM dealer and litigation claims would also be hurt if the new company structure is used as part of a company bankruptcy, said the second source.

The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.GM declined to comment.Shares of GM fell almost 12 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to end at $2.00.GM bonds were mixed in afternoon trading, with GM's benchmark 8.375 percent note up less than 1 cent on the dollar to 11.75 cents, yielding more than 70 percent, versus about 11 cents with a 75 percent yield on Monday, according to MarketAxess data. The bond had slipped in earlier trading.Two other GM notes were slightly lower in late afternoon trading.

OPTIONS FOR GM

GM, operating on $13.4 billion of government loans since the start of the year, has until June 1 to complete a reorganization plan. The government has warned that the alternative would be bankruptcy.The company is under pressure to cut unsecured debt by two-thirds, turn half its remaining payments into a union healthcare trust in the form of equity rather than cash, and reduce hourly wages and benefits to match those paid by foreign automakers.Chrysler, owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, is also facing possible bankruptcy. The automaker has until April 30 to complete an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat.Moody's Investor Service said in a note dated Monday that it maintains its view for a 70 percent risk of bankruptcy for Detroit's three automakers given the difficulty of restructuring out of court.GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson has said the company prefers to restructure out of court but that it could go to court if needed.If a company of this size files for bankruptcy, they have to be preparing for it now as time is running out and bankruptcy becomes more real, said Van Conway, a turnaround expert at Conway MacKenzie.But I think they should attempt to avoid it because emerging out of bankruptcy would be very difficult. Given its very large, global operations and various stakeholders, the process will take a lot longer than what people think,Conway said.

BANKRUPTCY NOT EASY

Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement said on Tuesday that the Canadian government must be prepared for GM or Chrysler to enter bankruptcy protection. Some bankruptcy experts say a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing could help GM reorganize by allowing it to restructure its debt and force changes to contracts with dealers, unions and suppliers. But the process could be disruptive, or derailed, said Patrick Carothers, a partner at Thorp, Reed & Armstrong LLP. For example, if auto-parts makers lose the ability to collect money owed, the industry as a whole could suffer. In addition, GM could lose control over its restructuring as the formation of a new company would be in the hands of a bankruptcy judge, not corporate executives or their advisers. The dangers of a bankruptcy are significant,said Carothers, who has parts suppliers and car dealers as clients.I don't believe a bankruptcy is inevitable. There's still a lot of political pressure to save it.Last month, GM offered bondholders 8 cents on the dollar in cash, 16 cents on the dollar in new unsecured debt, and a 90 percent stake in the automaker, one person with knowledge of the term sheet told Reuters.
(Reporting by Chelsea Emery in New York and Soyoung Kim in Detroit; Additional reporting by Dena Aubin, Walden Siew in New York; Editing by Derek Caney, Matthew Lewis and Toni Reinhold)

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).

Centre-left not set for major gains in EU poll
HONOR MAHONY 07.04.2009 @ 16:17 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The economic crisis is not expected to result in a major swing to the left in the European elections, new statistics predict, while the nature of the European Parliament is expected to be changed by an increase in eastern European politicians in the biggest political group.A new website, using national opinion polls and previous European election results, suggests that the group spread in the EU parliament will remain largely the same after June, with the centre-right EPP in the lead, followed by the socialists and the liberals.Concretely, the EPP is expected to clock in with 249 seats (down from 288), the socialists 209 seats (down from 217) and the liberals 87 seats (down from 100 seats), with the overall parliament downsizing to 736 MEPs from the current 785-strong house.Presenting the research on Tuesday (7 April), Professor Simon Hix, a political scientist at the London School of Economics, said that while the combined forces of the centre-right are currently larger than the combined forces of the centre-left, in the new parliament the centre-left and the centre-right will be evenly balanced.Some socialists have suggested that the ongoing economic crisis, largely seen as being the result of laissez-faire right wing policies, would see them cash in at the ballot boxes in June.However, the research suggests this will not happen due to the predicted results in the EU's six largest member states – Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland, accounting for 56 percent of the seats in the parliament – where the centre-left is not expected to do well.

Less of the protest vote

The prediction means the centre-right will continue to top the results despite the announced defection of the British Conservatives (27 MEPs) to form another party.

Eurosceptic and far-right parties are not expected to profit from the economic discontent among EU citizens, either, and are set to retain their current number of seats (about 45). Meanwhile, Libertas, a pan-European Party campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty, is not expected to gain any seats with citizens voting on issues closer to home, such as the effects of recession.That protest [vote] is going to different parties. Five years ago, it seemed to go more to the anti-Europeans,said the political scientist.The economic crisis is making this even more of a national election than usual as voters look to their governments and ask how are you going to address this economic crisis? As a whole, the London professor predicted that the progressive bloc – in reference to issues such as immigration and the environment - in the parliament would be slightly bigger while the economically liberal bloc would be slightly smaller.

Changing influence of eastern MEPs

Inside the parliament, the politics between groups and MEPs is to be shaken up however. This is due in part to the fact that the EPP is expected to be a lot less German and a lot more Polish something that may change the colour or nature of politics in the EPP.Currently, MEPs from the new member states are marginalised according to the academic, and do not hold many positions of power in the EU assembly, such as committee chairs.Another factor shaking up the way the parliament works is the likely formation of a new group, the European Conservatives, by the British Conservatives. It is expected to host the Czech Civic Democrats and some of the parties of the nationalist UEN group, which is not expected to survive after June.

The European Conservatives are expected to be the fourth biggest group in the parliament with 58 seats, followed by the leftist GUE group with 48 seats (up from the current 41), the Greens with 39 seats (down from 43) while the current eurosceptic Independence/Democracy group is also expected to fizzle out after June, getting only 17 seats, less than the threshold needed to form a political group.

Professor Hix, whose research with Professor Michael Marsh from Trinity College Dublin was commissioned by PR firm Burson-Marsteller, admitted that predicting elections is a pretty mad thing to do and noted that if the average turnout is much lower than in previous years (it reached a low of 45.47% in 2004) everything is up for grabs and his predictions could change enormously.A significantly higher turnout, meanwhile, will likely mean governing parties will do better.The research has already come in for criticism. The UK Independence Party said the figures are skewed and based on false data while the Party of Europea Socialists said it was too early to make predictions about the vote outcome and insisted its aim is to be the biggest group in the parliament.

NKOREA LAUNCH ROOM PICTURE OF MISSLE
http://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kuvat/2009/04/07/north-korea-missile-q07131ew

Iranian nuke plot vaporized in the city: NY banks unwittingly aided in material transfers, says DA BY Melissa Grace DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Tuesday, April 7th 2009, 1:03 PM

The Manhattan district attorney's office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran. This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already,a law enforcement source close to the case said. We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran.Experts say Iran, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appears close to amassing enough nuclear material to make an atom bomb. A United Nations embargo bans Iran from acquiring the high-tech metals needed to make a long-range nuclear weapon a reality. The indictment will outline the financial conspiracy behind 58 different transactions, including shipments of various banned materials from China to Iran between 2006 and late 2008.

Among them:

33,000 pounds of a specialized aluminum alloy used almost exclusively in long-range missile production.
66,000 pounds of tungsten copper plate, which is used in missile guidance systems.
53,900 pounds of maraging steel rods, a superhard metal used in uranium enrichment and to make the casings for nuclear bombs.
The recipient is believed to have been a subsidiary of the Iranian Defense Ministry.
The suspect, who is not believed to be in the U.S., set up four bogus import-export companies that did business with six Iranian shell firms, one source said.

They took elaborate steps to conceal the identity of the shipper and the recipient, the source said. The deals went through several New York banks, which cooperated when the alleged plot was uncovered. The New York banks were completely unaware, the source said. Authorities first stumbled over the scheme seven months ago in an unrelated probe into Iranian money-laundering through Lloyd's, a British bank. In January, Lloyd's paid a $350 million fine to settle accusations it stripped information from Iranian money transfers to New York banks, hiding where the cash came from.Officials said they suspected that money was also used to finance Iran's nuke program.The important thing is to put sunlight on these deals,the law enforcement source said.mgrace@nydailynews.com

Obama praises Islam, calls for Mideast peace By Caren Bohan and Paul de Bendern – Tue Apr 7, 9:07 am ET

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama ended his trip to Muslim Turkey on Tuesday by calling for peace and dialogue with Islam and the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.In his first trip as president to the Muslim world, Obama sought to rebuild ties after anger at the invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and accusations his predecessor George W. Bush was biased in favor of Israel.I came to Turkey because I am deeply committed to rebuilding a relationship between the United States and the people of the Muslim world, one that is grounded in mutual interest and mutual respect, Obama said.I believe we can have a dialogue that is open, honest, vibrant...And I want you to know that I am personally committed to a new chapter of American engagement,he said at a meeting with Turkish youngsters.Obama's visit, in which he said America will never be at war with Islam, marks a strong shift in U.S. policy after his predecessor Bush upset Muslims with his backing for Israel, invasion of Iraq and branding of Iran as part of an axis of evil.
Obama will now need to flesh out, through policies, his promises to engage the Muslim world.

Amr El-Choubaki, an Egyptian political analyst with the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Obama differed fundamentally from Bush's world view and lacked his high-handedness toward Arabs and Muslims.He pleased Muslims with his call to push aggressively for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, in a challenge to the new Israeli government of right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu.I believe that peace in the Middle East is possible. I think it will be based on two states side by side, a Palestinian state and a Jewish state,Obama said.I think in order to achieve that, both sides are going to have to make compromises. I think we have a sense of what those compromises should be and will be. Now what we need is political will and courage on the part of leadership.

HOPE AND CHANGE

Meeting with the youth symbolizes the expectation of hope and change, because the previous administration had a problem with its image in the Muslim world,said Salih Altundere, 23, studying international relations at Bogazici University.Obama rejected critics who said his speech in Prague on nuclear disarmament, his calls for Middle East peace and engagement with Iran were too idealistic.My attitude is that all these things are hard. I am not naive. If it would be easy it would already be done, he said.Moving the ship of state is a slow process. States are like big tankers. They are not like speedboats. You can't just whip them around and go in a new direction. Instead, you slowly move it and eventually you end up in a very different place.

He admitted America had made mistakes.

When it comes to Iraq, I opposed the war in Iraq. I thought it was a bad idea. Now that we're there, I have the responsibility to make sure that, as we bring troops out, that we do so in a careful enough way that you don't see a complete collapse into violence,Obama said.Respecting Muslim sensitivity, he said he would like to wrap up the youth meeting before the call to prayer.(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Ayla Jean Yackley; Alexandra Hudson and Daren Butler; Writing by Paul de Bendern; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Virginia Fusion Center Releases Homegrown Terrorism Document Infowars April 8, 2009 Lori Price of Citizens for a Legitimate Government posts the following:

The Lowlights:

Spanning 39,598 square miles, Virginia has a population of almost 7.5 million residents. Roughly half of these residents are concentrated in the northern Virginia, central Virginia, and Hampton Roads regions. All three of these regions feature ethnically diverse populations with cultural ties to the Middle East, the horn of Africa, Southeast Asia, and other areas heavily impacted by terrorist activities.

Virginia’s network of colleges and universities also represent a potential avenue of entry for terrorist operatives and a possible forum for recruitment of sympathizers.

In addition to reviewing information directly reported to the VFC, surveys were sent to all Virginia local law enforcement agencies to determine the extent of terrorism activities throughout the state. Information of interest included not only event-specific data, but also suspicious traffic stops or activities consistent with pre-operational attack planning. Assessments of the overall threat posed by specific terror and extremist groups or movements were completed utilizing the Project SLEIPNIR: Revised Long Matrix for Criminal Extremism utilized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

OVERVIEW OF TERRORIST AND EXTREMIST DATA IN VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM THREAT
Al-Qa’ida
Al-Shabaab
HAMAS
Hizballah
Jama’at al-Tabligh
Jama’at ul Fuqra
Lashkar-e Tayyiba
Muslim Brotherhood

DOMESTIC TERRORISM THREAT
Anarchist Extremists
Black Separatist Extremists
Homegrown Islamic Extremism
Lone Wolf Extremists
Militia Extremists
Special Interest Extremism
White Nationalist Extremism

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of the 2009 Terrorism Threat Assessment is to convey potential terrorism threats affecting the Commonwealth of Virginia. Terrorism, for the purpose of this report, is defined as politically motivated violence or threat of violence designed to coerce action or to prevent others from taking intended actions. While there is no intelligence that indicates terrorists are currently planning attacks in Virginia, the presence of extremists, evidence of trends linked to terrorism, and the abundance of potential targets, suggests that the potential for Virginia to be targeted remains significant.As with previous years, the threat from terrorist and extremist groups can be categorized as international or domestic threats. Each of these groups holds particular values and political goals and thus represents a different type of threat to Virginia and the U.S. The international terrorism threat to Virginia and the nation as a whole stems from several radical Islamic militant groups. The domestic terrorist threat is comprised of a wide variety of groups, to include special interest groups, anarchists, race-based groups, including black separatists and white supremacists, militias and sovereign citizens, and homegrown extremists.In Virginia, identified activities have been limited primarily to non-violent acts and crimes committed to raise funds to finance group activities. Some activities also relate to criminal endeavors generally used by extremists to further operational planning. The Virginia Fusion Center monitors international, national, and regional trends relating to terrorism and criminal extremism for indicators of emerging activity in the Commonwealth. Terrorism trends of greatest concern in 2009 include terrorism tradecraft, recruitment, and radicalization, terrorist use of technology, and terrorism financing.

As terrorists adapt and evolve to offset existing counterterrorism measures, they have successfully exploited available technology and modified their tactics to ensure successful operations. While several of the trends noted are applicable to all terrorist and extremist groups, increasing linkages are noted to specific critical infrastructure and key resources. As such, this product highlights, where possible, connections noted between groups, their behaviors, and potentially targeted infrastructure.Based on the information gathered, the Commonwealth of Virginia could be potentially targeted for terrorist attack due to its location and proximity to Washington, D.C., its concentration of critical infrastructure, and the amount of extremist activity documented in Virginia. In order to detect and deter terrorist attacks, it is essential that information regarding suspected terrorists and suspicious activity in Virginia be closely monitored and reported in a timely manner. Additionally, it remains important to determine the extent of existing trends and to collect, analyze, and disseminate this information to law enforcement partners in Virginia.

OVERVIEW
The 2009 Terrorism Threat Assessment, in keeping with the Virginia Fusion Center (VFC) mission of integrating threat information from public and private sector agencies to prevent terrorist attacks, is designed to afford law enforcement, homeland security, and policy making officials terrorism threat intelligence of relevance to Virginia. Included in this assessment is an overview of identified groups, individuals, or activities; known or suspected trends; and critical infrastructure or key resources with significant U.S. or Virginia reporting within the past five years. While there is no intelligence that indicates terrorists are planning attacks in Virginia, the abundance of potential targets provides terrorists with many possibilities and opportunities throughout the Commonwealth. Information contained in this Threat Assessment is current as of February 2009 and will be
reviewed and updated on an annual basis. In addressing the terrorism threat to Virginia, it is important to define terrorism and the scope of activities included. Terrorism can be defined as politically motivated violence or threat of violence designed to coerce others into actions they would not otherwise undertake or to refrain from actions they desired to take. Terrorism is generally directed against civilian targets and is intended to produce effects beyond immediate physical damage, to produce long-term psychological repercussions, especially fear, on a particular target audience. For the purposes of this Threat Assessment, terrorism is divided into two categories: international and domestic terrorism. International terrorism involves threats emanating primarily from the international jihad movement, foreign terrorist organizations, and state sponsors of terrorism. Domestic terrorism includes threats from special interest groups, white supremacists, black separatists, and anti-government groups. Terrorism trends included in this assessment are activities, such as recruitment, financing, training, and planning, conducted in furtherance of terrorism.Terrorism remains a threat to Virginia, not only because of its proximity to the nation’s capitol, but also due to the volume of significant infrastructure. Such infrastructure includes military installations such as the Pentagon; two nuclear power plants; and a major East Coast seaport. Virginia is also home to a wide range of transportation sector targets of interest, including interstate highways with high-traffic bridges and tunnels; railways and subways; and aviation and port facilities. While other infrastructure sectors, such as water, energy, and information technology could be targeted, it is also possible that terrorist attention could be directed toward law enforcement at the local, state, and federal levels.

Spanning 39,598 square miles, Virginia has a population of almost 7.5 million residents. Roughly half of these residents are concentrated in the northern Virginia, central Virginia, and Hampton Roads regions. All three of these regions feature ethnically diverse populations with cultural ties to the Middle East, the horn of Africa, Southeast Asia, and other areas heavily impacted by terrorist activities. While the vast majority of these individuals are law-abiding, this ethnic diversity also affords terrorist operatives the opportunity to assimilate easily into society, without arousing suspicion. Virginia’s network of colleges and universities also represent a potential avenue of entry for terrorist operatives and a possible forum for recruitment of sympathizers. Additionally, Virginia’s correctional system remains an attractive venue for recruitment and radicalization relating to terror organizations and hate groups. The VFC has compiled information from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as open sources to create this Threat Assessment. In addition to reviewing information directly reported to the VFC, surveys were sent to all Virginia local law enforcement agencies to determine the extent of terrorism activities throughout the state. Information of interest included not only event-specific data, but also suspicious traffic stops or activities consistent with pre-operational attack planning. Assessments of the overall threat posed by specific terror and extremist groups or movements were completed utilizing the Project Sleipnir: Revised Long Matrix for Criminal Extremism utilized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Although the primary objective of this report is to share valuable terrorism intelligence with public safety agencies in Virginia, a secondary goal is to highlight the types of data needed from local, state, and federal partners of the VFC. While every effort was made to ensure accurate, thorough reporting of the terrorist threat, it is expected that not every incident of possible terrorist activity will be reported or forwarded to the VFC.

Read entire PDF document
http://www.infowars.com/virginia-fusion-center-releases-homegrown-terrorism-document/

I CAN'T BELIEVE BECK CLAIMING HES A CHRISTIAN,YET LIES AND COVERS UP FEMA CAMPS , INCREDIBLE. BECK IS A NEW WORLD ORDER BUY OUT CHRISTIANS LOOKOUT.

BECKS COVERUP OF FEMA CAMPS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vecUYYHUzP0&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l0ivaRmx24&feature=player_embedded
OLI NORTH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug0IL7k3elQ&feature=player_embedded

Glenn Beck’s Lame Attempt to Debunk FEMA Camps
Kurt Nimmo Infowars April 7, 2009

Disinfo operative Glenn Beck’s shabby and comical attempt to “debunk” FEMA camps was theater of the absurd at its most revealing. Recall Beck a few weeks ago trying to bait us with a promise to investigate the camps. He came off as alarmed over the prospect of internment camps and this set the hook. Stay tuned, folks, he teased, we’ll get to the bottom of this.Glenn Beck, the seasoned operative, never intended a serious exposé. He planned to make those of us who know FEMA camps exist look like fools and churls. In order to do this he enlisted the retread James Meigs, editor-in-chief of the washed-up Hearst publication, Popular Mechanics. Back in 2005, Meigs spearheaded an effort to debunk the 9/11 truth movement with a Popular Mechanic cover story. Meigs and his crew of supposed debunkers approached the science of 9/11 very selectively and were more interested in ad hominem attacks leveled against researchers. Meigs concluded his diatribe by stating that those who peddle fantasies that this country encouraged, permitted or actually carried out the attacks are libeling the truth — and disgracing the memories of the thousands who died that day.

Meigs turned his fact checking (through omission) into a book — Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up to the Facts. It was published by Hearst, the media corporation famous for its association with the expression yellow journalism. Hearst told the illustrationist Frederic Remington during the Spanish-American War: You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.Nothing much as changed since 1895.

In the video here, Beck says Meigs heads up the independent group he assigned the task of debunking the conspiracy nuts who believe in the existence of FEMA camps. As evidence the nutters are way out in left field, Meigs dissects a widely discredited video of a Beech Grove, Indiana, Amtrak facility filmed by the Indianapolis attorney Linda Thompson.You may recall Thompson’s earlier video about the government siege and subsequent incineration of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. She made a series of absurd claims about the siege, for instance insisting the BATF and FBI used flame throwers mounted on tanks against the Davidians. It didn’t take long for Soldier of Fortune Magazine to discredit Thompson’s accusations. She mysteriously vanished into the ether after people began asking if she might be a government operative.Meigs and Beck say nothing about this. This footage, which appears in multiple videos on YouTube, is from a documentary filmed 15 years ago,explains Beck’s Fox News web page. Yet today, it’s been viewed nearly 1.5 million times online. The woman who made the video, Linda Thompson, was one of the pioneers of the militia movement in the United States — except she was so extreme, she embarrassed even her fellow militants. Far from a death camp, Beech Grove is the primary maintenance facility for Amtrak’s long-distance trains, overhauling and repairing approximately 700 passenger cars a year. Company officials, who’ve heard these theories for years, welcomed our film crew, and the superintendent of the facility showed us anything we wanted to see.Beck does not bother to mention the fact serious FEMA camp researchers discarded the video years ago. Meigs and Beck are more interested in linking the video to Thompson and the militia movement (created as a scary bogeyman by the corporate media in the 1990s) and connecting that up with the ugly specter of the Timothy McVeigh — the same McVeigh photographed at Camp Grafton, North Dakota (the base specializes in demolitions training) in 1993, a mere 18 months before the Oklahoma City bombing. The FBI insisted he was not in the military at the time.In the second installment of this definitive debunking, Beck and his sidekick Meigs show us a satellite photo of a real concentration camp the conspiracy theorists supposedly claim is a FEMA camp. As Alex Jones called it when the photo was used as a teaser at the close of the first installment the previous evening, the camp is located in North Korea (because only communists operate concentration camps, never mind the forcible relocation and internment of approximately 110,000 Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans by Roosevelt during World War 2, a criminal act lavishly defended by the neocon darling Michelle Malkin, a regular on Fox News).

After “debunking” Camp Grayling, Michigan, where there is a mock camp complete with barbed wire and watch towers for National Guard training, Beck and Meigs begin talking about how the conspiracy theorists are out of touch with reality and refuse to accept the obvious truth there are no camps and our loving government would never do such a thing, not like the evil communists in North Korea (or the evil mullahs in Iran, although our intrepid investigators do not mention the latter).As expected, Beck’s long awaited debunking does not bother to cover more substantial territory and instead relies on old discredited video footage and photos that look good on television.Beck and his protégé completely ignore solid and irrefutable evidence that does not look good on television and might prompt bored viewers to switch over to the Comedy Channel or actually turn off the idiot tube and read a book.No mention of the contract awarded in January of 2006 to Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, to build temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs,(emphasis added) according to Fox News.It was said Rex-84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, was also about rounding up and detaining illegal immigrants. The Rex 84 Program was originally established on the reasoning that if a mass exodus of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA,notes Allen L Roland.In fact, Rex-84 Alpha Explan (as it was also known) was cooked up by FEMA and 34 other federal civil departments and agencies (with a few NATO nations to boot) for the express purpose of detaining large numbers of American citizens.The exercise anticipated civil disturbances, major demonstrations and strikes that would affect continuity of government and/or resource mobilization. To fight subversive activities, there was authorization for the military to implement government ordered movements of civilian populations at state and regional levels, the arrest of certain unidentified segments of the population, and the imposition of martial law,Diana Reynolds writes (The Rise of the National Security State: FEMA and the NSC).No mention of master military contingency plan Operation Garden Plot developed in response to the civil disorders of the 1960s and still operational under the control of the U.S. Northern Command. Garden plot was last activated (as Noble Eagle) to provide military assistance to civil authorities following September 11, 2001. The Pentagon also activated it to restore order during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Operation Garden Plot is the program to control the population.Rex 84, Operation Garden Plot and its sister program Operation Cable Splicer were not enough for the control freaks in government, so in May, 2007, George Bush signed executive new orders NSDP51 (also known as PDD 51) and HSDP20 to replace Rex 84. Bush’s orders established that the executive would take over all state and local governments during a national state of emergency.More recently the National Emergency Centers Act or HR 645 was introduced in Congress. It mandates the establishment of national emergency centers to be located on military installations for the purpose of to providing temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster, according to the bill (see Paul Joseph Watson: New Legislation Authorizes FEMA Camps In U.S.). Ominously, the bill also states that the camps can be used to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security,an open ended mandate which many fear could mean the forced detention of American citizens in the event of widespread rioting after a national emergency or total economic collapse,writes Watson.

None of this was mentioned by Beck or Meigs.

Or did they mention the long list of executive orders establishing draconian mechanisms for martial law and detention and work camps, all in violation of Article 4Section 4 of the United States Constitution (see Establishing martial law in the United States).Finally, Beck and Meigs don’t want you to know about and would certainly never cover the U.S. Army’s Civilian Inmate Labor Program under Army Regulation 210–35.Maybe in the future Glenn Beck will commission another investigation into the existence of not only FEMA camps but the plans formulated by government to impose martial law in the United States.I’m not going to hold my breath in the meantime.

OBAMA INTERNET DICTATOR

I WONDERED WHY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS BEEN WATCHING MY SITE 4 OR 5 TIMES A DAY FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS I HAVE NOTICED,I PRESUME THEY PUT ME UNDER THE MISGUIDED LEGEL THEORIES FOR PUTTING OUT BIBLE TRUTH.We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories,Singleton said.

PROOF AP COMES TO MY SITE TODAYS VISIT SO FAR.

Domain Name ap.org ? (Organization)
IP Address 165.1.60.# (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ISP ASSOCIATED PRESS
Location Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : New Jersey
City : Old Bridge
Lat/Long : 40.3958, -74.3255 (Map)

Language English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System Microsoft WinXP
Browser Internet Explorer 7.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; InfoPath.1)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor Resolution : 1024 x 768
Color Depth : 32 bits

Time of Visit Apr 7 2009 1:43:34 pm
Last Page View Apr 7 2009 1:43:34 pm
Visit Length 0 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL
Visit Entry Page http://israndjer.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://israndjer.blogspot.com/
Out Click
Time Zone UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time Apr 7 2009 1:43:34 pm
Visit Number 142,355

April 6th, 2009 AP cracks down on aggregators. Watch out, Google.
Posted by Sam Diaz @ 1:06 pm Categories: Google, Media

The Associated Press said today that it will sue news aggregators - read: Google - that use its content without permission, another effort to save what’s left of the newspaper industry.The news cooperative didn’t specifically name Google in its statement but resentment has been brewing against Google and other Web aggregators that profit from AP’s content, specifically by placing ads on the portal pages where those stories are indexed and displayed.In a statement, AP Chairman Dean Singleton said the news cooperative would work with portals and other partners who properly license content – and would pursue legal and legislative actions against those who don‘t. We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories,Singleton said.In January, Google pulled the plug on a print-ad project that started in 2006 with 50 newspaper partners and grew to more than 800. The idea was that advertisers could use Google to also place print ads, thus creating a new revenue stream for newspapers and producing more relevant advertising for consumers. Nice try. But in the end, it didn’t work.

The Associated Press held its annual meeting this morning in San Diego, as part of the Newspaper Association of America’s annual convention.Ironically, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is scheduled to deliver the NAA’s closing keynote for the convention and is expected to offer his perspective on newspapers, journalism and Google’s role in the future of the newspaper industry.I wonder if he’ll be introduced by Singleton or greeted with a round of boos from the audience.

Cybersecurity Bill Gives Obama Dictatorial Power Over Internet
Kurt Nimmo Infowars April 6, 2009

As we reported on March 22 when Jay Rockefeller was peddling nonsense about a pimple-faced kid in Latvia taking down the power grid in America with a laptop computer, the current wave of fear-mongering about cyber terrorism is just that — unsubstantiated fear-mongering. Critical networks are largely protected and nightmarish tales of their vulnerability tend to be largely apocryphal, according to Gabriel Weimann, author of Terror on the Internet. Psychological, political, and economic forces have combined to promote the fear of cyberterrorism.Senator Rockefeller declares we’d be better off if the internet was never invented. Indeed, there are political forces are behind Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who declared last month that we would all be better off if the internet was never invented. Rockefeller meant the government would be better off if the internet was never invented. If the internet was never invented, the corporate media would dominate news and information and alternative media restricted to print would have a far more difficult time counter balancing government propaganda. Government and the elite behind it are sincerely worried about the fact increasing numbers of people get their news from alternative media sources on the internet and corporate media newspapers are falling like dominoes. If we fail to take swift action, we, regrettably, risk a cyber-Katrina,said fear-monger Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who is co-sponsoring the bill. We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs – from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records – the list goes on,added Rockefeller. Rockefeller’s bills introduced in the Senate — known as the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 — would create yet another government bureaucracy, the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor. It would report directly to Obama. Rockefeller’s legislation would grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks deemed to be critical to the nation’s infrastructure without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access(see a working draft of the legislation here).

In other words, Obama would have a Cyber Czar in the Commerce Department and the power to shut down the internet. The cybersecurity fraud now in motion will grant the Department of Commerce oversight of critical networks, such as banking records, would grant the government access to potentially incriminating information obtained without cause or warrant, a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition against unlawful search and seizure, Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Mother Jones. The whole thing smells bad to me, writes Larry Seltzer for eWeek. I don’t like the chances of the government improving this situation by taking it over generally, and I definitely don’t like the idea of politicizing this authority by putting it in the direct control of the president.

Obama’s internet agenda is an extension of his effort to impose government control over the private sector. Republicans call this socialism. In a way it is socialism, but not the kind you were told about in high school — it is a socialism devised by the Trilateralists and Council on Foreign Relations. It is a system of control that will be imposed by the bankers and has nothing to do equality for all individuals or a fair or egalitarian method of compensation for workers. Banker socialism is about serfdom and poverty. It should be obvious what is going on here. Not if but when the next false flag attack occurs here in America, the elite will turn off the internet in order to control the flow of information. They will tell us they were forced to do this in order to deny terrorists in caves or driving around with Ron Paul bumper stickers on their cars the ability to sabotage the power grid and banks. Senate bills No. 773 and 778 are about controlling information. The bills have nothing to do with mischievous kids with laptops in Latvia.

Obama ends Europe trip with tour of Istanbul mosque by Sibel Utku Bila – APR 7,09

ISTANBUL (AFP) – US President Barack Obama visited a landmark mosque in Istanbul on Tuesday, following strong messages of US reconciliation with the Islamic world on his maiden trip to a mainly Muslim country.Taking off his shoes as tradition requires, Obama stepped into the 17th-century Sultanahmet Mosque in the ancient heart of Istanbul, accompanied by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid tight security in the area.Two Muslim preachers guided Obama inside the grandiose edifice -- better known as the Blue Mosque for its blue tileworks -- and the president smiled when they showed him a dome scripture mentioning the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein, Obama's middle name, Anatolia news agency reported.In a major speech at the Turkish parliament in Ankara Monday, Obama declared that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam and called Turkey a critical ally,earning himself much praise in a country where his predecessor left the US image in tatters.Obama conquers hearts,the popular Vatan newspaper trumpeted on its front page, while the liberal Taraf said the speech marked the end of the bellicose spirit of September 11.

Following up on his appeal for dialogue and inter-faith understanding, Obama met on Tuesday with Muslim, Christian and Jewish spiritual leaders based in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and the meeting point of Europe and Asia.He combined his visit to the Blue Mosque with a tour of the 6th-century Hagia Sophia church, a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture across the Islamic edifice.The church was converted to a mosque when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul in 1453, and was finally transformed into a museum in the 1930s, still featuring both biblical paintings and Islamic scriptures.

Obama also met with university students before wrapping up his two-day visit to Turkey and his début trip to Europe later on Tuesday.A Turkish security official said a man was detained in Istanbul last week on suspicion he plotted to kill Obama. But police then established the man was mentally disturbed and released him.Since his election, Obama has already won significant popularity in Turkey, a NATO member and a key Muslim ally of the United States, and is keen to improve ties that chilled over the US invasion of neighbouring Iraq in 2003 and former president George W. Bush's policies in the Middle East.A public opinion poll found in February that 39.2 percent of Turks had confidence in Obama, making him the most trusted leader in Turkish eyes.

In 2005, only 9.3 percent said they trusted Bush, giving him only a slight lead over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who had the confidence of 4.6 percent.On Monday, Obama hardened his message in support of Turkey's bid to join the European Union, despite French and German opposition.Turkey and the United States, he said, could set an example to the world by building a model partnership based on democratic values, including respect for religious diversity.In more pointed messages, Obama called on Turkey to step up EU-demanded democracy reforms and broaden the freedoms of non-Muslim minorities and the restive Kurdish community.He urged normalisation of ties with Armenia, while signalling that Washington would not interfere in their dispute on whether the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century was genocide.Obama's decision to include Turkey in his first trip to Europe is largely seen as an effort to keep the country firmly anchored in the West. Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has recently given rise to fears that it is drifting away from the West, forging closer ties with countries such as Iran and Sudan and welcoming leaders of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in Ankara.

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.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

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.

4.9 aftershock hits Italian quake region By MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press Writer Marta Falconi, Associated Press Writer – APR 7,09

L'AQUILA, Italy – A strong aftershock has hit the central Italian region where rescuers are searching for survivors of the country's deadliest earthquake in nearly three decades.The 4.9-magnitude aftershock sent rescue workers and survivors scrambling.They had been working frantically in this central Italian city early Tuesday, scooping through piles of rubble with their hands.Tens of thousands of people left homeless by the powerful 6.3-magnitude quake early Monday slept in makeshift tents that provided little protection against the chilly mountain air. Sscores of survivors lined up for a hot cup of coffee or tea and a brioche.

Rescuers hunt all night for Italy quake survivors By Deepa Babington and Antonella Cinelli APR 6,09

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) – Rescuers searched through the night for survivors of an earthquake that killed more than 150 people in central Italy early on Monday and left thousands of homeless huddled in tent camps and rough shelters.Firemen and emergency workers pulled more than 100 people from the rubble but rain and freezing night-time temperatures into Tuesday complicated the search for survivors in the medieval mountain city of L'Aquila and the devastated surrounding villages.The quake struck shortly after 3.30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. EDT) on Monday, catching residents in their sleep and flattening houses, ancient churches and other buildings in 26 cities and towns.

Aftershocks rattled the area, some 100 km east (60 miles) of Rome in the rugged Abruzzo region, well into the night as thousands of people sheltered in their cars or in tent camps.Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who declared a national emergency and visited the disaster zone, said at least 150 people had been killed and more than 1,500 injured. The civil protection agency put the number of homeless at up to 50,000.

It is a serious disaster. Now we must rebuild and that will require huge sums of money,Berlusconi said, pledging to seek hundreds of million of euros from an EU disaster fund.Rescue workers using powerful floodlights and bulldozers searched for survivors through the night in L'Aquila, freeing some people trapped for more than 20 hours. A fireman recounted how he pulled a boy alive from the mangled remains of his house.All we could see was his head sticking from the rubble, his entire body was buried. We kept digging, picking piece by piece of debris and we finally managed to get him out -- when we did the fatigue was great but so was our joy,he said.Police patrolled houses ripped open by the quake and arrested several people for looting. Thousands of tents were put up in parks and on football pitches to shelter the homeless for the night and hotels on the Adriatic coast were requisitioned.It's been such a hard and long day. Now that we are sitting here in our car it's all beginning to sink in,said L'Aquila resident Piera Colucci as she prepared to sleep in her vehicle.

DON'T GO BACK TO YOUR HOUSE

Berlusconi, whose government is already struggling to find funds to cope with an economic crisis, said his cabinet would provide 30 million euros ($40.60 million) for immediate assistance and vowed to build a new town in L'Aquila in the next two years. He ordered 1,000 troops to the area on Tuesday.Tonight don't go back to your houses, it could be dangerous,Berlusconi told residents on state television.Shaken survivors described the quake striking like a bomb in the night and the anguish of not knowing the fate of loved ones.I only remember this huge rumble and then someone dragged me out, but I don't know what happened to my wife and three-year-old son,said 35-year-old Stefano Esposito.Most of the dead were in L'Aquila, a city of 68,000, where streets were strewn with rubble and old buildings crumbled like straw houses. Some nearby towns were all but destroyed.In the flattened village of Onna, at least 38 people died and more than 40 were missing, according to local civil protection chief Franco Albanesi. Tearful relatives gathered while wooden coffins were placed on communal ground.As messages of condolences poured in from across the world, Italian politicians put aside rivalries and united in mourning. But there was still room for controversy. Weeks before, an Italian scientist predicted a major quake around L'Aquila based on the radon gas found in seismically active areas, but he was reported to police for spreading alarm and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet.For weeks they told us to stay calm, that we could live in our houses, that there was no problem. Now we see what the problem was,one female resident of L'Aquila told state TV.(Writing by Silvia Aloisi and Daniel Flynn; additional reporting by Reuters Rome bureau; editing by Matthew Jones)

Italy muzzled scientist who foresaw quake 06 Apr 2009 11:22:00 GMT
Source: Reuters By Gavin Jones

ROME, April 6 (Reuters) - An Italian scientist predicted a major earthquake around L'Aquila weeks before disaster struck the city on Monday, killing dozens of people, but was reported to authorities for spreading panic among the population. The first tremors in the region were felt in mid-January and continued at regular intervals, creating mounting alarm in the medieval city, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome.

Vans with loudspeakers had driven around the town a month ago telling locals to evacuate their houses after seismologist Gioacchino Giuliani predicted a large quake was on the way, prompting the mayor's anger. Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for spreading alarm and was forced to remove his findings from the Internet. Italy's Civil Protection agency held a meeting of the Major Risks Committee, grouping scientists charged with assessing such risks, in L'Aquila on March 31 to reassure the townspeople. The tremors being felt by the population are part of a typical sequence ... (which is) absolutely normal in a seismic area like the one around L'Aquila,the civil protection agency said in a statement on the eve of that meeting.

It is useful to underline that it is not in any way possible to predict an earthquake,it said, adding that the agency saw no reason for alarm but was nonetheless effecting continuous monitoring and attention. As the media asked questions about the authorities' alleged failure to safeguard the population ahead of the quake, the head of the National Geophysics Institute dismissed Giuliani's predictions. Every time there is an earthquake there are people who claim to have predicted it,he said.As far as I know nobody predicted this earthquake with precision. It is not possible to predict earthquakes.Enzo Boschi said the real problem for Italy was a long-standing failure to take proper precautions despite a history of tragic quakes. We have earthquakes but then we forget and do nothing. It's not in our culture to take precautions or build in an appropriate way in areas where there could be strong earthquakes,he said.

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.

Lieberman rejects foreign 'intervention' in Israeli politics by Marius Schattner APR 7,09

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's hawkish new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told foreign powers on Tuesday to stay out of Israeli politics, in an apparent reference to the flagging Middle East peace process.We have never interfered in the affairs of others, and we expect from others that they not interfere in ours,Lieberman told a meeting of his ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.I do not expect from others that they have a stopwatch in hand and tell Israel when it must produce a responsible political programme,he added.Visiting Turkey on Monday, US President Barack Obama voiced renewed hope that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be resolved on the basis of a two-state solution and urged leaders on both sides for courage to make peace.I believe that peace in the Middle East is possible. I think it will be based on two states side by side,he said.In order to achieve that, both sides are going to have to make compromises. Now what we need is the political will and courage on the part of leadership,he added.The previous two Israeli governments committed themselves to a peace roadmap drafted by the international Quartet of the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations in 2003.Under it, Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state -- a concept new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.

In remarks after taking office last week, Lieberman said Israel was not bound to conduct final settlement negotiations with the Palestinians as agreed at a 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland.The two sides agreed to relaunch the talks on core issues while also implementing the other phases of the roadmap.The talks produced little visible progress before being put on the back-burner in the run-up to the Israeli general election in February.There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference, Lieberman said.Only the roadmap. The Israeli government and the Knesset (parliament) never adopted Annapolis.We will go exactly according to the roadmap,he said. We will never agree to skip any of the stages -- and there are 48 of them -- and go straight to the last stage on negotiations on a permanent agreement.

We will go exactly according to each stage.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Lieberman said we are working on new ideas and that will take a month or two to sort out,adding that Israel would respect agreements it had reached but not mentioning Annapolis.Speaking in Beirut, visiting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said his country would work to convince the Netanyahu government to accept the premise of a Palestinian state.Italy, as a friend of Israel, is keen to see the peace process launched on the basis of the Quartet and the Arab peace initiative, which envision two states with two free and independent peoples, he told journalists. We will work with the cooperation of the European Union and the United States to encourage the new government to move forward on this road. Lieberman's stand has marked a sharp break with his predecessor Tzipi Livni, who had led the Israeli delegation at the renewed negotiations. The Palestinians slammed Lieberman's comments, with a senior aide to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas saying this minister is an obstacle to peace. He will cause harm to Israel first.Earlier on Tuesday, police questioned Lieberman over graft suspicions for the third time since he was sworn in.The former nightclub bouncer had already been quizzed last Thursday and Friday over suspicions of corruption, fraud, money laundering and breach of trust.

Israel tests anti-ballistic missile system By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer APR 7,09

JERUSALEM – Israeli defense officials say the country has successfully tested an anti-missile system designed to protect the country from attack by Iran.Tuesday's intercept of a dummy missile was the latest test of the Arrow system, a U.S.-Israeli joint venture. The officials say the interceptor was an upgraded Arrow II, designed to counter Iran's Shehab ballistic missile.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.Israel believes Iran is developing nuclear weapons that could pose an existential threat to the Jewish state.The Arrow project by Israel Aircraft Industries and Boeing Co. was spurred largely by the failure of the U.S. military's Patriot missiles to intercept Iraqi Scuds in the 1991 Gulf War.

Palestinians, Israel hail Obama remarks Mon Apr 6, 4:09 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority on Monday welcomed US President Barack Obama's renewed support for the Annapolis agreement and the stalled roadmap plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.At the same time, the Israeli government hailed what it said was Obama's commitment to Israel's security.Leading Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat focused instead on the statements by President Obama confirming the principle of a two-state solution.Israel should understand that the track leading to an end of the occupation since 1967 of the Palestinian and Arab territories and to the start of a two-state solution is the only track that can be followed,said Erakat.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman, for his part, said Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to Israel's security and to the pursuit of peace.The government of Israel is committed to both of these goals and will formulate its policies in the near future so as to work closely with the United States towards achieving these common objectives,said Mark Regev.But Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who is close to the right-wing premier, was less positive.

Israel does not take its orders from President Obama. In voting for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli citizens decided not to become the 51st state of the United States,he said in a speech to parliament.Erdan said the government would act in Israel's interests, although Obama was a friend of Israel and the United States an important ally, and whatever happens between us will be the result of a dialogue.In an address to Turkey's parliament on Monday, Obama said the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.His remarks came after Israel's new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said last week that the 2007 Annapolis document did not bind Israel though he did accept the roadmap as the basis for progress.A November 2007 conference in Annapolis, near Washington, relaunched peace negotiations on the basis of the roadmap, although dozens of rounds of talks between Israel and the Palestinians have produced little visible progress.In Washington, the State Department later announced that US special envoy George Mitchell would return to the Middle East next week.Mitchell will travel to the region starting on April 13 and meet officials from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, the Gulf and North Africa, spokesman Robert Wood said.The former US senator and architect of Northern Ireland's peace agreement aims to advance the goal of the two-state solution and comprehensive peace in the region,Wood said.

Israel pledges to work with US for Mideast peace By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 6, 1:27 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration pledged on Monday to work with the United States for Mideast peace, but pointedly avoided any reference to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks or President Barak Obama's goal of a Palestinian state.On Monday in Turkey, Obama said his administration would push for Palestinian state, underlining that Israel and the Palestinians agreed on that goal under the U.S.-backed road map peace plan and during a 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that were supposed to revive the plan.The United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,Obama told the Turkish parliament.That is a goal shared by Palestinians, Israelis, and people of good will around the world. That is a goal that that the parties agreed to in the road map and at Annapolis. And that is a goal that I will actively pursue as president.At the Annapolis conference, Israel and the Palestinians jointly endorsed Palestinian statehood, but that appears to have changed with the entry of Netanyahu's new, hawkish government last week.Netanyahu's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has ridiculed the conference and said its conclusions are not binding on Israel.

Netanyahu has not endorsed creation of a Palestinian state.

Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to Israel's security and to the pursuit of peace,said a brief statement released by Netanyahu's office after Obama's comments.The government of Israel is committed to both of these goals and will formulate its policies in the near future so as to work closely with the United States,the statement said, without mentioning Annapolis or Palestinian statehood.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed Obama's endorsement of a Palestinian state.We hope that the Israeli government will understand that this is the only path to peace,he told The Associated Press.After meeting Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday, international peace envoy Tony Blair was uncharacteristically pessimistic.There is a great deal of skepticism out there at the present time that we can make progress, Blair told reporters.There's a lot of worry, hesitation and concern.Even so, Blair thought Netanyahu would come around to agreeing to a Palestinian state if the right context can be created for peace.Also Monday, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups said they had evidence that Israeli troops attacked Palestinian medics and delayed the evacuation of wounded people during the January offensive in Gaza.Tel Aviv-based Physicians for Human Rights and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society said they had testimonies from 44 people in Gaza, gathered by five international medical experts, and they called for an independent investigation.It was the latest in a string of allegations by rights groups of Israeli violations during the Gaza operation meant to end Palestinian rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups from Gaza.Palestinians say more than 1,400 people were killed during the operation, including more than 900 civilians. The Israeli military says the death toll was lower and that most of the dead were militants.

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 TUE APR 07,2009

09:30 AM -40.50
10:00 AM -155.15
10:30 AM -146.71
11:00 AM -128.07
11:30 AM -148.30
12:00 PM -169.41
12:30 PM -165.74
01:00 PM -154.12
01:30 PM -187.17
02:00 PM -200.79
02:30 PM -198.72
03:00 PM -182.87
03:30 PM -169.57
04:00 PM -186.29 7789.56

S&P 500 815.55 -19.93

NASDAQ 1561.61 -45.10

GOLD 884.00 +11.20

OIL 49.05 -2.00

TSE 300 8831.86 -184.31

CDNX 951.21 -11.96

S&P/TSX/60 537.70 -11.05

MORNING,NEWS,STATS
GOLD AT OPEN TODAY $876.20.OIL AT OPEN TODAY $50.29 .
Dow -121 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -178 points at low today so far.
Dow -40 points at high today so far.
$12.8 TRILLION IN 6 MONTHS TAKEN BY THE ROBBER BANKERS AND FED SO FAR.

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -9.12%
S&P -7.50%
Nasdaq +1.88%
TSX Advances 620,declines 877,unchanged 271,Volume 2,390,300,005.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 323,Declines 434,Unchanged 360,Volume 192,925,740.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -187 points at low today so far.
Dow -40 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 888,declines 2,490,unchanged 99,New Highs 2,New Lows 36.
Volume 2,113,406,012.
NASDAQ Advances 787,declines 1,785,unchanged 135,New highs 6,New Lows 19.
Volume 894,700,688.
TSX Advances 503,declines 804,unchanged 275,Volume 1,182,030,226.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 248,Declines 342,Unchanged 267,Volume 109,613,627.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -206 points at low today so far.
Dow -40 points at high today so far.

World markets stumble amid US bank, earnings fears By LOUISE WATT, Associated Press Writer APR 7,09

LONDON – World stock markets stumbled Tuesday as fresh concerns about banks and upcoming earnings results from U.S. companies led many investors to book profits following a massive global rally in recent weeks.By noon in mainland Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.2 percent to 3,944.70, Germany's DAX dropped 1 percent to 4,304.63, and France's CAC 40 slipped 1.2 percent to 2,896.06.Most major Asian markets suffered losses, tracking overnight selling that pulled Wall Street lower for the first time in five days.Resurgent fears about the banking sector were partly to blame after influential analysts at Calyon Securities warned America's bank losses could exceed Depression-era levels and that government actions might not help as much as expected.A sense of unease also descended on the markets ahead of quarterly earning results that U.S. corporations will release this month, starting Tuesday with aluminum giant Alcoa. The unraveling of IBM Corp.'s $7 billion takeover deal for Sun Microsystems gave markets more reason for caution.In Europe, the EU's statistics agency said economic activity in the countries using the euro currency shrank by 1.6 percent in the final three months of 2008 compared with the previous quarter. That is worse than the Eurostat's preliminary estimate of a 1.5 percent drop in gross domestic product, and economists expect economic activity to keep contracting.We are about to start the earnings season so there is caution ahead of that, said Stephen Pope, chief global markets strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald.Market participation is a bit thin because we're in the run-up to Easter, so movements get a bit exaggerated.

Today is characterized by a defensive mood, a defensive play — just guard your positions, ringfencing any profits you have made in the last few weeks ahead of the kickoff to earnings season,he added.U.S. markets were expected to open lower. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 0.1 percent to 7,841 and Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 1.1 percent to 821.60.After a four-week bull run that's driven some markets higher by 20 percent or more, investors are becoming more skittish as they brace for another round of selling.All the markets have risen sharply in the last few weeks and the markets are overbought, said Peter Lai, investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.Many people are now waiting for news or economic figures as an excuse to take profits, and some of smart funds are already selling.Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed down 25.08 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,832.85 even as the Bank of Japan unveiled new steps to spur lending and corporate financing amid a painful recession. The central bank also announced it was keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a super low 0.1 percent, as was widely expected.Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 69.07 points, or 0.5 percent, to 14,928.97. South Korea's Kospi added 0.2 percent to 1,300.10 in back-and-forth trade.

Australia's key index dropped 1.3 percent as the country's central bank cut its key interest rate by a further quarter percentage point to 3 percent. Markets in Singapore and Malaysia also lost ground while those in Shanghai and Taiwan gained. India was closed for a public holiday.As in the U.S., investors sold down a number of banks across Asia. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. shed 2.5 percent in Tokyo and leading Australian investment bank Macquarie Group tumbled 4.9 percent.Commodity firms also came under pressure. Rio Tinto Group, the world's No. 3 mining company, plunged 10 percent in Sydney after announcing plans to cut more than 700 jobs at Australian mines due to a drop in aluminum demand and prices. There was also market speculation the commodities giant may look to raise capital through new shares should its deal with Aluminum Corp. of China founder.On Monday, the Dow Jones industrials fell 41.74, or 0.5 percent, to 7,975.85 after being down as much as 155 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7.02, or 0.8 percent, to 835.48.Oil fell in European trading as investors mulled whether crude's two-month rally can be sustained while global demand remains weak. Benchmark crude for May delivery fell 67 cents to $50.38 a barrel. The contract fell $1.46 on Monday to settle at $51.05. AP business writer Jeremiah Marquez in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

ECB rejects eastern fast-track to eurozone
VALENTINA POP Today APR 7,09 @ 08:09 CET

The European Central Bank (ECB) on Monday dismissed proposals made by the International Monetary Fund for eastern European member states to adopt the euro even without full membership of the eurozone.This [IMF proposal] is not realistic. The membership for European monetary union has very clear rules and these rules have to be followed. From an economic point of view, it would not be a good signal [for] the confidence . . . towards the euro,Ewald Nowotny, ECB governing council member, told Reuters.The bank was responding to the publication in the Financial Times of a confidential report drafted by the IMF last month as part of a regional anti-crisis strategy for the eastern EU countries. It suggested that the EU should relax euro entry rules for countries like Hungary and Poland so that these countries can join as quasi-members without needing to hold a board seat in the ECB.Eurozone accession is guarded very strictly by the European Commission and the ECB. Countries wishing to adopt the single currency need to keep a low inflation rate, a public deficit of below three percent of gross domestic product and stable exchange rates – all criteria which seem particularly hard to meet amid the current financial and economic crisis. Countries also have to spend two years in a pre-accession phase, called the exchange rate mechanism II.Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, has consistently stressed that countries wishing to adopt the euro may not take short cuts.

The commission on Monday played down the IMF report, saying that it was drafted before the bloc's decision to double the fund for eastern EU members to €50 billion and to bolster IMF lending capacity.Meanwhile, in New York, US billionaire and currency speculator George Soros praised the euro and suggested it was the only solution for troubled eastern European countries.Mr Soros told Reuters Financial Television the euro has been a tremendous advantage to countries that use it and said there was no question of a weaker country dropping out.While the IMF was helping to stabilize struggling eastern Europe, Soros said the Baltic states still face serious problems even as Germany, the euro zone's biggest economy, is becoming more open to offering help.Mr Soros also backed the Chinese idea of replacing the dollar as a world reserve currency, possibly with the IMF's special drawing rights.In the long run, having an international accounting unit other than the dollar may be to our advantage,he said.

Fed expands currency swaps with 4 central banks By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer – Mon Apr 6, 5:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve has expanded credit lines with the central banks of Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and European Union that will provide foreign currency to U.S. banks — if needed.Under currency swap arrangements the Fed provides dollars in exchange for reserves of the other nations' currencies. The Fed has entered into or expanded 14 such agreements since the credit crisis intensified last year, including with the four central banks in Monday's announcement.The new measures provide a reciprocal arrangement: the Fed can now draw on overseas currencies in exchange for dollars.Should the need arise, euro, yen, sterling and Swiss francs would be provided to the Federal Reserve via these additional swap agreements with the relevant central banks,according to the Fed release. Central banks continue to work together and are taking steps as appropriate to foster stability in global financial markets.Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP, a research firm, said the move was mostly precautionary and enables the Fed to provide short-term, emergency credit in foreign currency for U.S. banks that need such currencies to meet overseas obligations.The arrangement also would enable U.S. banks doing business abroad to obtain foreign currency during domestic bank holidays, when overseas banking markets are operating.This is meant as a late-night, last minute stopgap in the case of an emergency, Crandall said. There's no indication that U.S. banks have a structural imbalance in these currencies.The Fed said the expanded credit lines, authorized through Oct. 30, are worth the equivalent of up to $45 billion with the Bank of England, $108 billion with the European Central Bank, $99 billion with the Bank of Japan and $35 billion with the Swiss National Bank.Separately, the Fed said it auctioned $150 billion in short-term loans to banks and other financial institutions under a program that began in late 2007. The program is intended to stabilize the U.S. financial system by increasing the availability of short-term credit.

Stocks fall after 4-week rally; Dow below 8,000 By SARA LEPRO, AP Business Writer Sara Lepro, Ap Business Writer – Mon Apr 6, 5:57 pm ET

NEW YORK – Wall Street pulled back for the first time in five days Monday as investors worried about balance sheets at banks and the quarterly results that businesses will start releasing this week.Investors were also disappointed that talks for IBM Corp.'s $7 billion deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. have stalled — a sign that the market is still not ready to support big mergers.Financial shares sold off after a prominent analyst predicted more losses at banks and said the government's efforts to prop up the ailing industry might not be as effective as hoped.Michael Mayo issued sell ratings on several banks and said in his report that loan losses could exceed levels seen in the Great Depression.The market was already on edge about the coming parade of first-quarter results, which kicks off Tuesday with aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa Inc. Worse-than-expected reports could easily upset the market's recent advance, which brought stocks up more than 20 percent from early March, when they hit their lowest levels in 12 years.You have some skittishness in the market,said Len Blum, managing director at Westwood Capital LLC. We have earnings season up ahead and it's very difficult to predict what that is going to do.

The Dow Jones industrials fell 41.74, or 0.5 percent, to 7,975.85 after being down as much as 155 points.The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7.02, or 0.8 percent, to 835.48, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 15.16, or 0.9 percent, to 1,606.71.

Technology stocks were lower following the IBM-Sun news. Discussions between the technology giants had been in their final stages, but The Associated Press learned that IBM took its offer off the table Sunday after Sun terminated IBM's status as its exclusive negotiating partner.It was unclear whether talks were continuing, or if Sun was trying to find an alternative suitor. Sun shares plunged more than 22 percent, falling $1.93 to $6.56. IBM fell 66 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $101.65.A jump in stocks of defense contractors helped the market pull off its lows. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended halting production of the F-22 fighter jet as he outlined deep cuts to many of the military's biggest weapons programs, but pointed to spending increasing in other areas. Lockheed Martin Corp. jumped $5.97, or 8.9 percent, to $73.28, while Northrop Grumman Corp. rose $3.96, or 9 percent, to $47.94.

Ford Motor Co. jumped 52 cents, or 16 percent, to $3.77 after the company said it retired debt that would reduce what it owed by 38 percent and save millions of dollars in interest costs.Among the biggest decliners in the financial industry were Wells Fargo & Co., which dropped $1.09, or 6.7 percent, to $15.25, and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which fell $1.99, or 5.6 percent, to $33.81. Regional bank stocks also posted big losses.Some traders were also unnerved by a two-week delay in a government program to help banks unload troubled loans from their books, which relies on hedge funds and other private investors buying loans and other assets from banks.On Monday the Treasury Department extended the application deadline for the program to April 24 and relaxed some of the participation criteria to attract a wider pool of investors. The delay was a worrisome signal that the program could be running into problems.The announcement came on the heels of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's warning Sunday that the government could force out bank CEOs following its move a week ago to oust Rick Wagoner as CEO of General Motors Corp.Like banks, GM is also a major recipient of government rescue funds, and Wagoner's dismissal raised widespread speculation that leadership at banks being helped by the government could also be in for changes.Financial stocks largely carried the market's recent rally, as unprecedented government intervention and reassurances from bank CEOs that business is better than expected fed optimism that the economy could be turning around.

On Friday, the Dow rose 39 points to close above the 8,000 mark for the first time in nearly two months, logging a fourth straight week of gains and its best four-week performance since 1933. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.57, or 1.9 percent, to 447.56. More than two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to a light 5.3 billion shares compared with 5.7 billion shares traded Friday. Treasurys mostly fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up to 2.93 percent from 2.90 percent late Friday. The dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies, and gold prices fell to their lowest close in more than two months as demand has waned for safe-haven assets. Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell $1.46 to settle at $51.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.9 percent, while Germany's DAX index fell 0.8 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 1.0 percent as stocks fell on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.2 percent.

Brussels pushes for coherent EU economic foreign policy
HONOR MAHONY 06.04.2009 @ 17:18 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia has urged the bloc to use the financial crisis to develop a common foreign economic policy, urging the union to speak with one voice where money is a key issue, such as in the fight against climate change.Too often the EU's voice on key issues at the global level is fractured and we fail to influence policy debates as effectively as we might said the commissioner Monday (6 April) in a speech on developing an economic foreign policy for Europe.He said that Europe not only has the right but also the responsibility to develop a stronger foreign economic policy as it is the largest economic power in the world, with a high GDP than the US and the world's second most important currency.According to the commissioner, the current financial crisis, which has severely affected EU member states both in and outside the 16-nation eurozone, should give the impetus for a shift in thinking away from an inward perspective towards a global outlook.At the moment, however, national governments have still not fully considered the risks of not doing anything, said Mr Almunia.Of particular importance is having a seat the International Monetary Fund, he noted, with leaders of the G20 nations just last week having agreed to boost the organisations powers and funds.The argument for a single consolidated euro-area chair is quite obvious. Yet, member states concerned jealously guard their seats.He also called on Europe to better coordinate its positions on macroeconomic policy in international groupings such as the G7, G8 and G20, the last of which represents 80 percent of the world's economy.

The European Union went into the G20 last week have spent weeks trying to rally behind a single message. It eventually managed to just before the London meeting, something it heralded as a triumph.The commissioner also pointed to climate change, the biggest economic, political and social future challenge facing the EU, saying that one of the key elements of international discussions in December on brokering a new environment pact will be financing.We will have to be bold in shouldering our part of the financial burden, helping climate change efforts in developing and emerging countries.So far, however, the EU has failed to lead the world on this issue. Although it has set climate targets that are more ambitious than the rest of the world - achieving a cut of 20% in CO2 emissions by 2020 - member states have failed to lend weight to the target by backing it up with financial incentives for poorer countries to do the same.A meeting of EU leaders in March was notable for its postponement of a decision on funding for third world carbon reduction measures and adaptation to climate change, seen as essentially for getting any meaningful reduction in greenhouse gases.In addition, a meeting of EU finance ministers just after the London G20 meeting shows the difficulty of putting Mr Almunia's words on developing an economic foreign policy.At the meeting, there was disagreement about how to tighten up financial regulation, a headline agreement at the G20 meeting the previous day.

US backs Eastern Partnership eyeing energy independence
VALENTINA POP 06.04.2009 @ 16:45 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The Obama administration backs the EU's newest policy towards its eastern neighbours, especially the bloc's bid to reduce its energy dependency on Russia, a senior US diplomat told EUobserver.The Eastern Partnership is a positive sign that things are moving finally in the right direction,deputy assistant secretary of state Matt Bryza said in a phone interview. He added he was pleased to see that EU energy policy is moving more quickly towards diversification of natural gas supplies.

Of course, there's still a strong debate going on in Brussels and some of the larger member states capitals about how to manage a deep dependence and relationship with Russia on gas with the need to diversify. Europe isn't quite yet at a common external energy policy, but Russia's actions this winter helped to accelerate Europe moving in that direction,Mr Bryza said, referring to Gazprom's decision to cut of gas flows to Ukraine and eastern European countries in January.Our European allies can choose their own energy policies, but I think they are moving in the right direction and I see positive signs in terms of the strong outreach to Azerbaijan now, as we witnessed at the Budapest Nabucco summit in January. Also, we see real progress in the development of pipelines in Europe, whether they be larger projects, like the Turkey-Greece-Italy project or Nabucco, or smaller ones, like the interconnections of various European gas transmission and distribution systems. There is an exhilaration of efforts to develop these sorts of projects,the US diplomat noted.Both US president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton praised the project of the Eastern Partnership during an informal EU-US summit in Prague on Sunday, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said on Monday.A Polish-Swedish initiative, the Eastern Partnership aims at improving the EU's political, economic and energy relations with Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

Mr Bryza rejected fears about the feasibility of the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline, aimed at carrying Caspian gas to Europe via Turkey after Azerbaijan - the main supplier - signed a deal with Gazprom last month on selling non-defined quantities of gas to the Russian company.It's not worrying at all. President Ilham Aliev's priority is clearly to produce and export as much gas as possible to Europe as quickly as possible, but at the same time he has to live right next door to Russia, where gas demands are increasing. So he's got to find a way to balance these relations,the US diplomat said.However, he stressed that it was important for Europe to do more, in order to ensure that president Aliev knows Europe is Azerbaijan's strategic partner, and in this context, the Eastern Partnership is a welcome step.Europeans do not just have to prove that they just want Azerbaijan's gas, but they also have to embrace Azerbaijan as a strategic partner in broader ways, not just as a blank face like a post office box from which the gas comes.The EU's envoy to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, traveled to Baku on Monday to meet Azeri officials to discuss the Eastern Partnership and issues concerning the frozen conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, an Azeri region occupied by neighbouring Armenia.

Armenian row

Meanwhile, the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh looked to overshadow president Obama's visit to Turkey, during which Ankara was set to announce a historic protocol with Armenia. Turkey closed its borders to Armenia in 1993, in solidarity with Azerbaijan, whose population is also ethnically Turkic.Despite calls from Ms Clinton and Turkish president Abdullah Gul, Azeri president Ilham Aliev refused to join Mr Obama in Istanbul on Monday for a UN interfaith conference called the Alliance of Civilisations.He also threatened to cut gas supplies to Turkey if Ankara signs the agreement prior to the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh issue.

Coca-Cola buys stake in Innocent drinks Mon Apr 6, 7:34 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – US giant Coca-Cola will take a 30-million-pound minority stake in natural drinks maker Innocent to help it expand into Europe, Innocent said Monday.

The British company, which makes 100-percent fruit smoothies and prides itself on its socially-responsible image, already operates in 13 European countries and has an annual turnover of 100 million pounds.Every promise that Innocent has made -- about making only natural healthy products, pioneering the use of better, socially and environmentally aware ingredients, packaging and production techniques, donating money to charity and having a point of view on the world -- will remain,said Innocent co-founder Richard Reed in a statement.He added: We chose Coca-Cola as an investor because as well as providing the funds which will allow us to increase our investment in the brand both in the UK and internationally, they can help us get our products out to more people in more places.James Quincey, group business unit president for Coca-Cola Europe, said the firm was "delighted" to invest in Innocent, saying: We have long admired their brand, their products and their unique approach to business.

Incoming NATO chief: Confront religious prejudice By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 6, 11:44 am ET

ISTANBUL – The incoming head of NATO called on Monday for a balance between free speech and respect for religious feelings after a dispute over his support for the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad had threatened his appointment.Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who overcame objections from Turkey about his suitability for the alliance top job, said he will pay close attention to religious sensibilities when he becomes NATO secretary-general in August. His stance over the caricatures had angered Muslims around the world.I would never myself depict any religious figure, including the Prophet Muhammad, in a way that could hurt other people's feelings,the former Danish prime minister said at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey.I respect Islam as one of the world's major religions,said Fogh Rasmussen, wearing a sling after dislocating his shoulder in an accident earlier Monday.In 2005, twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.The drawings triggered massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia in early 2006, and rioters torched Danish and other Western embassies and diplomatic missions. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Throughout the crisis, Fogh Rasmussen distanced himself from the cartoons but resisted calls to apologize for them, citing freedom of speech and saying his government could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark's free press.My position was clear before, during and after the crisis,Fogh Rasmussen said.In his speech to the Alliance of Civilizations, a forum sponsored by Turkey and Spain to promote understanding between the Western and Islamic worlds, Fogh Rasmussen said prejudice must be confronted.He said dialogue between cultures and religions should be based on mutual respect and understanding and that all kinds of censorship hamper that process.That's exactly the balance that we have to strike,he said, referring to free speech and respect for religions.On another contentious issue, Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark was continuing a four-year investigation of Turkish claims that Copenhagen-based Roj TV has ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The rebel group has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984 and is considered by Denmark and other Western countries to be a terrorist organization.If sufficient evidence is provided, we will of course do all we can to close this television station, Fogh Rasmussen said. I do hope that the work can be concluded as soon as possible, but it's up to the public prosecutor to decide.

The station has its newsroom and production facilities in Belgium, but transmits its satellite signal to Kurdish viewers via Denmark because it does not have a Belgian broadcasting license. Danish-Turkish relations have long been strained over Kurdish groups based in Denmark.Turkey's Dogan news agency reported that Fogh Rasmussen was injured in his hotel.I had a small accident in my room,said the former Danish prime minister. He joked that he appeared in a condition which might give you a wrong impression of the character of my new job.Associated Press Writer Jan M. Olsen contributed to this report from Copenhagen.

US, EU: North Korea missile threatens neighbors Sun Apr 5, 8:37 am ET

PRAGUE – The United States and the European Union say North Korea's missile launch is a threat to neighbors and demands a response from world nations.A statement from U.S. and EU leaders calls on North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and cease threatening behavior.They said North Korea's development of a ballistic missile capability is aimed at providing it with the ability to threaten countries near and far with weapons of mass destruction.The leaders also said the missile launch demands a response from the international community, including from the U.N. Security Council, to demonstrate that its resolutions cannot be defied with impunity.The Security Council meets later Sunday in New York.

Americans split over military action on NKorea Mon Apr 6, 7:01 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Americans are divided over whether the United States should take military action against North Korea in response to the isolated country's launch of a rocket over the weekend, an opinion poll showed Monday.The CNN Opinion Research Corporation survey found that 51 percent were for military action by the United States against North Korea.The poll was conducted April 3-5 before Pyongyang launched the rocket and respondents were therefore asked about North Korea's plans to launch a missile.North Korea announced Sunday that a long-range rocket had placed into orbit a communications satellite, but South Korea and the US military said a satellite never made it into space. A senior Russian military source also said there were no signs of a satellite.Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, along with other nations, say the launch was a pretext to test a long-range Taepodong-2 missile in violation of United Nations resolutions.In the poll, 52 percent of Americans said they had a very unfavorable opinion of North Korea, while 34 percent said they were mostly unfavorable and only 2 percent said they were very favorable.

Some 25 percent of respondents said North Korea poses an immediate threat to the United States, up from 20 percent in October 2006, after the reclusive regime detonated a nuclear device.But more Americans said the country was not a threat at all,at 17 percent, up from 13 percent in 2006. North Korea is a long-term threat, according to 58 percent of respondents, down from 64 percent in 2006.Respondents were also asked about President Barack Obama's performance, nearly three months into the job, and about the contribution of US allies to the war in Afghanistan.Obama's numbers remained steady, with 66 percent approval ratings, up slightly from the 64 percent he received in mid-March, but significantly down from his 76 percent approval rating in February 7-8, a little over two weeks after his inauguration.Some 30 percent said they disapproved of how he was handling his job as president, down from 34 percent in March but up from the 23 percent he received in early February.

Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of those surveyed -- 78 percent -- said that US allies were not doing enough to help the US military effort in Afghanistan, where the war has been fought for over seven and a half years.Only 20 percent of respondents said US allies were doing enough.The United States has some 38,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan, and has plans to increase the force to about 68,000 by the end of the year. Other foreign countries have about 32,000 troops stationed there.The telephone survey of 1,023 adult Americans had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.