EU-BABEL OF TODAY-ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT(cuttingedge.org picture)
THE MUSLIMS ON FACEBOOK HAVE DESTROYED 1 OF MY COMPUTERS BY INFECTING ME WITH A VIRUS FROM FACEBOOK THE NAMES ON FACEBOOK TO WATCHOUT FOR GIVING VIRUSES ARE I BELIEVE Zulfikar Izul OR HE CHANGED HIS NAME ON THE NEXT POKER TABLE TO Pir Zulfiqar.OR CORKY FROM INDONESIA OR SEBAHA.AS SOON AS I SAT AT A POKER TABLE MUSLIMS CAME SO ITS ONE OR MORE OF THESE MUSLIMS TO WATCH FOR GIVING VIRUSES TO PEOPLE ON FACEBOOK.SO I'M NOT SURE IF THIS OTHER COMPUTER IS INFECTED.IF I NO LONGER PUT STORIES ON MY SITE USE KNOW THE MUSLIMS GOT TOO THIS COMPUTER TO.I NEED PRAYER CHRISTIANS,THESE MUSLIMS THREATEN ME MY FAMILY AND DESTROY MY COMPUTERS SO I CAN NOT GET BIBLE TRUTH OUT.AND I'M ONLY ON A DISABILITY PENSION,I CAN'T AFFORD NEW COMPUTERS.OVIOUSLY THE OWNERS OF FACEBOOK ARE INVOLVED IN THIS DESTROYING OF MY MINISTRY TO LIKE I SAID BEFORE AS WELL AS GOOGLE,MICROSOFT,BELL,YAHOO ETC.WHEN I WENT TO FACEBOOK AFTER I DISCOVERED THE COMPUTER INFECTED FROM THE DAY BEFORE AFTER I TURNED IT ON AND PUT MY STORIES FOR TODAY ON THE SITE THE 2 WORDS FOR ME TO COMPLETE THE TEXT WAS "GRIUS HEARTFELT" AND I ON PURPOSE SPELT THE WORDS WRONG TO GET NEW WORDS AND WHAT CAME UP WAS "REPAID SHALA".SO THESE MUSLIMS AND NEW WORLD ORDER PEOPLE FROM FACEBOOK NOT ONLY DESTROYED MY COMPUTER,BUT THEIR OUVIOUSLY TAKING VIDEO OF ME TO BECAUSE HOW WOULD THEY KNOW I WAS HEARTBROKEN AT THE COMPUTER WHEN I WAS TRYING TO GET IT WORKING.AND I WONDERED WHY WHEN ON REST THAT COMPUTER CAME ON ALL BY ITSELF AND ITS NOT EVEN CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET.SO THEY GAVE ME THE VIRUS WHEN I COPIED MY STORIES TO THAT COMPUTER FOR THE DAY AND THEY OVIOUSLY HAD SOMETHING BUILT IN TO WATCH MY EVERY MOVE ON TAPE SINCE WHO KNOWS HOW LONG.AND NOTICE SHALA SAID HE REPAID ME NOW OVIOUSLY FOR TALKING UP AGAINST THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND RADICAL MUSLIMS.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).
OBAMAS PALS ACORN GET CAUGHT IN CORRUPTION,KILLING TALK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s8w9GEpSzw&feature=player_embedded
BECK VIDEO
http://www.prisonplanet.com/beck-without-fox-news-%e2%80%98we%e2%80%99d-be-done-as-a-republic%e2%80%99.html
OK THE EU ECONOMICALLY IS STARTING TO TAKE CONTROL LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS,IT WANTS TO SANCTION BANKS AROUND THE WORLD.EU to call for sanctions on excessive bank pay By AOIFE WHITE, AP Business Writer – Wed Sep 16, 12:04 pm ETBRUSSELS – European Union leaders plan to urge the world's largest economies on Thursday to threaten sanctions on banks that pay excessive bonuses to executives and traders as part of a promised overhaul of the global financial system.One year after banks across the world faced the worst financial crisis in 70 years, EU nations are eager to impose curbs on banking pay they say can trigger reckless risk-taking.They also want to step up pressure on the United States and China to tackle global warming and commit to cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions at climate change talks later this year in Copenhagen.In a draft statement expected to be approved at Thursday's EU summit in Brussels, leaders of the 27 countries said the Group of 20 meeting of developing and rich nations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 24-25 should set binding rules for how banks reward employees. They want to curb a bonus culture that encouraged banks to take the excessive risks that triggered the financial crisis.The statement, obtained by The Associated Press, also indicates the EU will urge the United States and other countries to keep up stimulus programs that are propping up economic growth and the financial industry. They want to talk about exit strategies now to coordinate how governments should pay back massive public debt when their economies recover.The U.S. doesn't share Europe's zeal to regulate bonuses or to talk about exit strategies, asking instead for tougher global rules that require banks to hold more capital against potential losses. Europeans also want that — but say decisions should be made after the economic crisis has calmed down.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to walk out of the G-20 talks, if other nations don't strike a deal on bonuses.Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said Wednesday that governments need to legislate because banks are going back to business as usual as economies shows signs of recovery.We have some suggestions on how to get a better balance, so that we don't encourage excessive risk taking. We think that was one of the major sources of creating this financial crisis,he said.Huge payoffs to bankers have become a hot-button issue on both sides of the Atlantic as governments stepped in with massive bailouts to prevent banks from collapsing late last year.For instance, New York-based Citigroup Inc., which is now one-third owned by the U.S. government as a result of its bailout, gave 738 of its employees bonuses of at least $1 million each, even after it lost $18.7 billion during the year.EU nations say they want to make sure that bankers' pay is linked to the company's long-term performance and can be clawed back if the business does badly. Pay and bonuses should be set at an appropriate level and made dependent on how the bank performs.
This aims to end so-called guaranteed bonuses,where a banker is paid a set amount that isn't linked to the level of risk in the deals taken on, or how well those investments perform over time.The EU leaders also want to stop stock options being exercised or sold for a certain amount of time, and are calling for far more transparency to require banks to publish more details on pay structures.Bankers worry that the pay rules would put them at a competitive disadvantage in retaining talented employees. France also is concerned about this, demanding a global level playing field that would see other nations follow its moves to curb pay among major banks.The French government this month brought in rules that will withhold at least half of a bonus, to be paid out over three years depending on performance. The government also will refuse to do business with banks that don't toe the line.On climate change, Sweden's Reinfeldt said the EU wants to speed up global talks and is seeking a clearer signal from the United States on its efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.We are worried because some of the initiatives taken so far are not enough to meet the 2 degree Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) target we have agreed upon to limit global warming, he said.Essentially, that means seeking U.S. cash to help developing nations, if Washington can't pledge carbon cuts.
The EU says poor countries need euro100 billion a year to restrict their own emissions and to adapt to a warming climate that could endanger the homes and food supply of billions of people.In Europe, only Britain, France, Germany and Italy are official members of the G-20, but Spain, the Netherlands and EU officials will sit in on the talks. Most of the EU's 27 nations are too small to be invited to the world's new exclusive G-20 economic club.Associated Press writer Constant Brand in Brussels contributed to this story.
PUSH FOR GLOBALISM CONTINUES By Chuck Baldwin
September 15, 2009 NewsWithViews.comWhen George W. Bush was President, he greatly advanced the prospect of integrating the United States with a North American Union (NAU). With no thanks to most Christian conservatives or the mainstream news media, hundreds of thousands of patriotic Americans rallied against this proposal and--at least temporarily--seriously stymied Bush's draconian dream. But if you thought President Barack Obama would be content to let the NAU die a natural death, think again.Reporting for World Net Daily, author/researcher Jerome Corsi recently reported,President Obama is continuing President George W. Bush's effort to advance North American integration with a public-relations makeover calculated to place the program under the radar of public opinion and to deflect concerns about border security and national sovereignty.The Obama administration has rebranded and refocused the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, to advance the Bush administration's agenda of North American integration under the rubric of the North American Leaders Summit,a less controversial banner, according to confidential sources in the U.S. Department of Commerce and State Department who agreed to speak with WND only if their comments were kept off the record.As further evidence of President Obama's determination to continue the Bush policy of a commercial union between countries (or League of Democracies as John McCain called it), Corsi also reported,President Obama has actively backtracked on his campaign promises to renegotiate NAFTA to get provisions more favorable to American workers.
Corsi also wrote,In the Ohio and Pennsylvania Democratic Party primaries, candidate Obama had pledged to renegotiate NAFTA as part of his appeal to workers in the states that have lost manufacturing jobs under the free trade agreements negotiated by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.However, Obama is now viewed as reneging on that campaign promise by appointing University of Chicago economics professor, Austan Goolsbee, as chief economist and staff director of the newly created Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which is chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Obama also appointed Goolsbee to the Council of Economic Advisors, or CEA, which is charged with assisting in the development of White House economic policy, according to Corsi.Readers should know that Goolsbee is a fellow traveler of Robert Pastor, longtime professor at American University. And readers should well remember that Pastor is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and one of the chief promoters and architects of the NAU. Of course, Volcker is also a member of the CFR. In fact, at last count, President Obama has appointed at least 20 members of the CFR to key positions within his cabinet and administration.Back in June of 2006, I interviewed Dr. Corsi regarding Bush's attempts to merge America into a North American Union. To listen to that interview, click here.Ever since the administrations of George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton, one fact remains constant: regardless of petty partisan differences, the push for globalism continues. Both Bush administrations (Republican) and the Clinton and Obama administrations (Democrat) enthusiastically have embraced and endorsed the doctrines and principles of global unification. That equates to more than two decades of determined effort by both Republican and Democratic Presidential administrations to compromise U.S. sovereignty and independence. It also helps explain why neither recent Republican nor Democratic Presidential administrations have had any intention of securing our borders and putting a stop to illegal immigration--and why they all promoted the creation of the NAFTA superhighway.
And just as George W. Bush was willing to betray conservatives and Christians in order to achieve global unification, so, too, Barack Obama is willing to betray union workers and America's tradesmen in order to accomplish the same agenda.When will the American people wake up and realize that for the last twenty years, both major political parties (at the national level) have been co-opted by globalists and internationalists who have no respect or appreciation for U.S. sovereignty, and who desire to create world government? When will they look past party labels and start seeing these globalists for what they really are: traitors to the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and upon which America was established?I urge readers to watch very carefully--and prepare to vigorously resist--as Obama attempts to finalize what his predecessors started: the complete implementation of a North American Union and related globalization. You won't find this information in the mainstream news media, of course. It will take independent writers and reporters to keep us abreast of these developments, and this we fully and faithfully intend to do.In the meantime, know that those of us who believe in an independent and sovereign United States of America still do not have a friend in the White House--political party label notwithstanding.2009 Chuck Baldwin. To learn more about his radio talk show please visit his web site at: www.chuckbaldwinlive.com. When responding, please include your name, city and state. E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com
City council delays giving police new powers for G-20 Tuesday, September 15, 2009 By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-GazettePittsburgh City Council balked at giving final approval today to legislation that could give police new powers in advance of anticipated G-20 Summit protests, putting the matter off until tomorrow.Council members said they have not gotten clear responses from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration to concerns they've had with the proposed ordinance allowing police to cite people for having an array of items if they detect intent to defy a crowd dispersal order.No piece has garnered more controversy in terms of the G-20 than these two public safety pieces,said Councilman Bruce Kraus, referring to both the bill on items and a similar proposal on masks, which was defeated.These bills, in my opinion, have not received resounding support, nor engagement, from the administration.Council was set to cast a final vote on the legislation on items, but instead pushed it back until tomorrow, just eight days before the start of the summit at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The vote to postpone was 7-2, with the two no votes -- Council President Doug Shields and William Peduto -- arguing for voting the matter down entirely.We have laws on the books,said Councilwoman Tonya Payne.If people don't follow the laws, we have law enforcement to deal with that.Before today's action, council removed from the legislation a reference to a defunct assault weapons ban. The inclusion of references to contraband weapon[s] had upset gun rights advocates, who viewed it as a stealth attempt to ban high-powered weapons.
But left in were bans on carrying pipes, handcuffs, chains, carabiners, padlocks, noxious or toxic substances, gas masks, projectile launchers, human or animal waste or blood, rotten eggs, acid, gasoline, gases or sprays, and alcohol if there is intent to use it to thwart crowd control.You can walk Downtown during the G-20 with a gun hidden under your coat, but you will not be allowed to walk around with a piece of PVC pipe,said Mr. Peduto.It's a way to quell speech.Legislation to allow police to cite people for wearing masks or hoods to conceal their identities with the intent of committing a crime got just two yes votes -- from Ricky Burgess and Jim Motznik -- and seven no votes, meaning it is defeated finally. That prompted cheers from audience members who identified themselves as likely protesters during the G-20 Summit next week.First published on September 15, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09258/998194-100.stm#ixzz0RJsMywDH
UNDERSTANDING THE EU MEETING
http://www.24dash.com/news/Central_Government/2009-09-16-Understanding-the-European-Union
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 1000 New EU Laws a YearThe European Scrutiny Committee checks EU Directives on behalf of the British House of Commons.It scrutinises over 1000 documents a year.Each document is a separate EU Directive.Of course the British public are never told what is in these documents.
They come out of the House of Commons as ordinary British laws, and it is impossible for British public ever to discover which laws originated from the European Union.
Posted by Steve Halden.
BARROSO UNVEILS 5 YR PLAN
http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/barroso-unveils-year-plan-2020-horizon/article-185114
BARROSO WARNS OPPONENTS NOT TO WEAKEN EUROPE
http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/barroso-warns-opponents-weaken-europe/article-185480
Barroso elected by Lisbon majority[fr]
Published: Wednesday 16 September 2009The European Parliament today (16 September) gave José Manuel Barroso legitimacy to steer the European Commission for a second five-year term not only under the terms of the current Nice Treaty, but also under the tougher criteria of the Lisbon Treaty, which is still awaiting ratification in Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland.In a secret ballot held during today's plenary in Strasbourg, 382 MEPs voted in favour, 13 more than needed to attain the majority required under the Lisbon Treaty. 219 voted against him amid 117 abstentions. A total of 718 out of all 736 MEPs took part in the vote. Speaking in his native Portuguese just minutes after the vote, Barroso thanked his Socialist prime minister, José Socrates, for the support which made his candidacy possible, and the European Parliament for its enormous confidence in him. He expressed his desire to work for all political parties because his party is Europe.However, he also took time to thank his own political family, the European People's Party (EPP), for having given him strong support ever since the EPP congress in Warsaw, which confirmed his candidacy last April (EurActiv 30/04/09).Congratulating Barroso, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, also affiliated to the EPP, said that according to current procedure he would ask the Council and the Commission to jointly propose members of the next EU executive.
The Socialist and Democrats group (S&D) remained silent immediately after the vote, with only a handful of Portuguese MEPs applauding. Most Socialist MEPs abstained on the advice of Germany's SPD.Speaking to the press, Socialist group leader Martin Schulz stressed that Barroso was not the right candidate,saying this was why his group had overwhelmingly failed to support him. However, he admitted that Barroso had managed to obtain backing from all political groups, including his own. Following the support [for Barroso] of seven socialist prime ministers, I'm not surprised that members of my group have voted for him,Schulz said. But the Socialist chief refuted the view that Barroso had obtained a Lisbon majority thanks to Socialist MEPs. Instead, he said Barroso had won a narrow Lisbon majority thanks to the support of the anti-Lisbon European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group, composed of British Conservatives, Polish MEPs from the Law and Justice party founded by the Kaczynski twins, and the Civil Democratic party of Eurosceptic Czech President Václav Klaus.This was the only group which voted unanimously for him. And I think that a Commission president dependent on anti-Europeans is a weak president, Schulz said.
Snake turned elephant
Schulz blasted what he called Barroso's eulogy of the EPP, and said that his worst fears had come true.Before the vote, [Barroso] was moving like a snake. Now he moves like an elephant,said Schulz, adding that in his view, rather than a representative of the centre-right, Barroso was a political opportunist. I would have expected a candidate for the Commission presidency to tell today the people of Klaus, the people of Kaczynski, the people of [UK Tory leader David] Cameron, the three tendencies which seek to sink the Lisbon Treaty: don't vote for me, I don't want your votes. I swear, he would have obtained a much larger majority. But Barroso is not that kind of man. He grabs all he can get, he has no convictions, and that's what he demonstrated today,the Socialist group leader stated.EPP group leader Joseph Daul opposed this view.If we have a Lisbon majority, it's not only thanks to the conservative votes: there have also been socialist votes,Daul said. He added that the socialists who opposed Barroso had been intelligent enough not to vote against him, but rather to abstain.Asked by EurActiv to comment on Schulz's statement that Barroso would not have obtained a better score if he had kept his distance from the Conservative group, Daul rejected the argument as invalid. He said he had good personal relations with most British Conservatives.Asked if he was aware that the Conservatives were planning to prevent the Lisbon Treaty from being ratified, with Klaus and Kaczynski delaying the final signature (see EurActiv 16/09/09), Daul admitted that he was concerned about the Czech president's tactics.I hope that after 2 October [the second Irish referendum] the two presidents will sign. I'm more concerned with Klaus, and I'm less concerned with the Polish president,he said.
Positions:
Congratulating Barroso on his re-appointment as Commission president by the EU assembly, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said:We are no longer in a political vacuum and President Barroso can start to build on his detailed programme and construct his team of commissioners. The European Parliament has shown that it has teeth. The President for the first time presented me with his written 'political guidelines'. I welcome this as and trust it will be repeated. This represents a new dawn for relations between Parliament and Commission.Our Parliament will play a full role in the hearings of the new commissioners to ensure the strongest possible European Commission. We have also agreed that there will be a new Question Hour every plenary where Mr Barroso will answer questions from MEPs,Buzek added.Speaking to EurActiv, former ALDE group leader Graham Watson said that half of the British Conservatives are pro-European, adding that he cannot speak for the other members of the Conservative and Reformist group. As for the Socialists, Watson stressed that they were in a difficult situation following the EU elections.The Socialists are in a rather unenviable position, as they are still smarting from their defeat in June. Until the socialists have recovered, it will be very difficult to get any sensible majority for a long-term basis, for what we need to do. But the Socalists will recover and things will get better. I think there are signs of that already, because apparently many Socialists voted for Barroso,Watson said.Party of European Socialists (PES) President Poul Rasmussen said: As expected the European Parliament's conservative majority, including eurosceptics, have voted Barroso back in.Now the PES will focus on obtaining maximum influence in upcoming negotiations. The PES is still Europe's second largest political family. For the coherence of Europe, we insist on having the post of High Representative, or if the Lisbon treaty is ratified, the European Council president. We have several excellent candidates for these positions. We will also push for high level PES representation in the European Commission,he said.
Rasmussen added:The PES wants to focus on the matters of real concern for our citizens: on how to ensure we do not have 30 million unemployed in Europe by 2011. We will be a force for proposition of a better way forward for Europe and its people.
ALDE group leader Guy Verhofstadt MEP (Belgium) said the majority behind Barroso was sufficient to give him a strong mandate to lead the European Union in the difficult months ahead. We now expect the newly elected President to live up to his promises to us and be a strong, bold and energetic president who is closely in tune with public opinion, independent of Member States' pressure and proactive in seeking common European action where it is so clearly necessary,he said.In particular we reiterate the need to come forward with an integrated economic recovery strategy that will prevent Europe slipping into a prolonged recession, a European plan to clean up the banks and an ambitious and united position on climate change ahead of the talks in Copenhagen at the end of the year,the Liberal chief added.ALDE also recalls Barroso's commitment to a commissioner for fundamental rights, a review of the structure of financial supervision within three years and a determined effort to establish a sustainable system of own financial resources for the EU budget for the period after 2013,Verhofstadt concluded.Timothy Kirkhope MEP, leader of the UK Conservatives in the European Parliament, said his MEPs had been instrumental in re-electing Barroso.
Far from being marginalised as our political opponents would hope, the votes of Conservative MEPs within our new ECR group were instrumental in the election of Mr Barroso for a second term,he said.Following the vote, it is clear that he has been returned with a solid centre-right and reformist agenda,he added.Whilst not perfect, and whilst we have had disagreements with Mr Barroso in the past, and are bound to again in the future, he was and remains the best man for the job,Kirkhope said.As a new force in the European Parliament with a crucial number of votes, we will continue to play an important part in shaping European politics,he said of the UK Tories.UK Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff, who is president of the Union of European Federalists, said: Mr Barroso has done very well to command the support of an absolute majority of MEPs. His mandate is now refreshed, and he should use it with skill and authority.First, Mr Barroso should go campaigning in Ireland. The Irish referendum on 2 October will decide whether or not Europe can move forward again in the spirit of unity to confront global challenges. It is the decisive and last chance that the EU has to turn itself into a true parliamentary democracy. Failure to win the ratification and early implementation of the Lisbon Treaty will shunt Europe into an impasse,Duff said.Second, the Commission must seize the initiative in preparing the EU to play the leading role at the climate change talks in Copenhagen. The member states will only be coherent if they get an incisive push from the Commission, backed by the European Parliament. The top concern is the level of funding made available by the EU to pay developing countries to adapt their economies to combat global warming. Europe has both a moral and economic need to shoulder a financial burden and to oblige the rest of the industrialised world to follow suit,he said.
Third, the EU's financial system needs radical overhaul. The size and shape of the EU budget should be allowed to grow to match the political demands made upon it. Expenditure should be transferred from national to the EU level where cost efficiency and added value can be guaranteed, or where market failure requires EU intervention. The new system must be buoyant, transparent and accountable. We have to get away from endless rows between net payers and beneficiaries and design a system of own resources which caters for the common interest of the whole Union,he added.Fourth, Mr Barroso must turn his pledge to complete the single market by 2012 into reality. This requires not only a new action plan in the field of financial services and intellectual property, but also shoring up the existing internal market against creeping national protectionism and abuses of the EU's competition and state aid policies,Duff concluded.
White House Mapping Internet Users’ Data For Mass Archives -Status update: Barack Obama is archiving your opinions and personal information
Steve Watson Infowars.net Wednesday, Sept 16, 2009http://www.prisonplanet.com/white-house-mapping-internet-users-data-for-mass-archives.html
If you’re a user of twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube or flickr, and you visit the White House page at any of the sites, you are at risk of having your personal data archived without your consent or knowledge.The Obama White House has sought a private contractor to crawl and archive data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House maintains a presence – for a period of up to eight years.Defenders of the White House actions said the 1978 Presidential Records Act requires that the administration gather the information and that it was justified in taking the additional step, The Washington Times reports.
However, this claim is being disputed by The National Legal and Policy Center, who first exposed the White House plan last month by drawing attention to a 51-page solicitation of bids (PDF).
The solicitation states:
The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP (Executive Office of the President) on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA (Presidential Records Act) maintains a presence,Excerpt from the White House solicitation of bids.The solicitation also states that the White House is already collecting data from social networks via programs and daily screenshots.The NLPC argues that Presidential Records Act does not apply because any comments are pasted onto a third-party Web page and do not constitute official correspondence with the president.The watchdog group also points out that the program is suspicious because it is shrouded in secrecy and the public cost is being withheld.[V]irtually any communication mentioning the president or the administration could become subject to collection and archiving under the act. This is not out of an abundance of caution, but out of an over-abundance of power. President Obama should make sure that this plan goes no further.a statement on the NLPC website reads.The move represents another broken promise of change on behalf of the president who consistently pledged to protect privacy on the Internet during his campaign.
It also comes on the back of recent news that the Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with cookies and other technologies.Recent disclosures under the Freedom Of Information Act also reveal that the federal government has several contracts with social media outlets such as Youtube (Google), Facebook, Myspace and Flickr (Yahoo) that waive rules on monitoring users and permit companies to track visitors to government web sites for advertising purposes.With further news today that Obama is seeking to reauthorize warrantless wiretapping under the PATRIOT Act, and that the DHS plans to supply local fusion centers with military surveillance intelligence, it is clear that the privacy of American citizens continues to be systematically eroded under a regime that was voted in on a promise to scale back such activity.
Peres: UN report mocks history, Israel had to defend itself
Sep. 16, 2009 Shalhevet Zohar , THE JERUSALEM POST President Shimon Peres talks to reporters.President Shimon Peres on Wednesday slammed the Goldstone Commission's report on Operation Cast Lead, saying the report mocks history and fails to distinguish between aggressor and those acting in self-defense.Peres claimed the commission members would not have written such a report, which accuses Israel of war crimes, had their children been living in Sderot, under the constant threat of Hamas rockets.The president blamed Hamas for launching the war, claiming the terror group had committed numerous horrendous war crimes, and stressed that Israel had to defend itself.Hamas carried out attacks against the children of Israel, detonating bombs in city centers, hurting civilians, firing more than 12,000 rockets and mortar shells at innocent civilians with one clear aim - to kill,he wrote in a statement.The report legitimizes terrorism, shooting and killing, while ignoring every state's right and obligation to self-defense, which are clearly anchored in the UN charter, Peres wrote.The president went on to recall Israel's disengagement from Gaza and Hamas's bloody takeover of the Strip.
Israel removed all of its troops and citizens from the Gaza Strip, opened the border crossings and helped construction in the Strip - the Israeli occupation in Gaza ended. But after Israel completed the disengagement from Gaza, a murderous and illegitimate terror group took control over the Strip and threw out the legitimate Fatah leadership.While Hamas continued to fire rockets, Israel used diplomatic efforts, including many appeals to the UN, to bring about a cease fire. Instead of building Gaza and caring for the welfare of its citizens, Hamas built tunnels to attack Israel, cruelly using children and innocent Palestinians to hide terrorists and ammunition,he wrote.The state of Israel had to defend itself, as would any other country in the world, Peres stressed, adding that those who criticized Israel did not propose any other way of stopping the rocket fire.The president recalled how Israel has been criticized for its actions against Hizbullah attacks from Lebanon and Hamas attacks from the Gaza Strip, as well as for building the security barrier in the West Bank to prevent suicide bombers from entering the country.This criticism did not stop the rockets from hitting the South and the North, nor did it stop terrorists from blowing themselves up in our central cities,wrote Peres.The IDF's actions are what have brought economical prosperity to the West Bank and have enabled Gazans to have normal lives again,he concluded.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804585778&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
Is Oil The Next Big Discovery In Israel? SEPT 14,09
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/An oil drilling consortium which includes companies that found billions of dollars in natural gas off the Haifa coast will begin in October to look for black gold in an area along the Dead Sea, according to Delek Group chief executive officer Yitzchak Tshuva.He said that the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) has consented to the drilling after the consortium agreed to invest half a million dollars to protect the rich nature reserves in the area from damage during the exploration.Investors' hopes of finding oil in Israel are based on seismic surveys that estimate that Dead Sea oil reserves are worth nearly half a billion dollars.Delek heads the consortium that earlier this year discovered rich gas reserves approximately 50 miles west of Haifa, and estimates of the value of the gas have more than doubled since the first reports. Tshuva said last month that he foresees Israel becoming self-sufficient in energy in the near future, with the Jewish State possibly becoming an exporter of gas.A discovery of large oil reserves would further an economic revolution in Israel, which has until now been dependent on foreign countries for oil and gas.
The term Dead Sea is a faulty translation of the Hebrew phrase Salt Sea as is written in the Bible. It refers to water that has the densest concentration of salt and other minerals in the world and is found at the lowest point on Earth. Although fish and plant life do not exist in the highly salty waters, its potassium and potash have made the Dead Sea Works one of the world’s largest exporters of the material used for fertilizers.
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.
Tropical Storm Marty stalls off Mexico's coast Wed Sep 16, 4:45 pm ETMIAMI – Tropical Storm Marty has strengthened slightly in the Pacific off Mexico's western coast.The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Marty had winds near 45 mph (75 kph) and was almost stationary on Wednesday. The 13th storm of the Pacific season is expected to strengthen a little more in the next day.The center of the system is located about 325 miles (525 kilometers) south-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Worlds oceans warmest on record this summer Wed Sep 16, 3:40 pm ETWASHINGTON – The world's in hot water. Sea-surface temperatures worldwide have been the hottest on record over the last three months, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday.Ocean temperatures averaged 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the June-August period, 1.04 degree higher than normal for the period.
And for August the world sea-surface average was 62.4 degrees, 1.03 higher than usual, also the warmest for August on record, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center said.The report is based on data back to 1880.The combined land and water temperature worldwide was 61.2 degrees, third warmest on record for the three-month period. For August it was 58.2 degrees, fourth warmest.Climate change has been raising the planet's average temperature steadily in recent decades. All of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1997.On the Net:NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov
SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Found: Firm place to stand outside solar system By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer – Wed Sep 16, 10:08 am ETWASHINGTON – Astronomers have finally found a place outside our solar system where there's a firm place to stand — if only it weren't so broiling hot.As scientists search the skies for life elsewhere, they have found more than 300 planets outside our solar system. But they all have been gas balls or can't be proven to be solid. Now a team of European astronomers has confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet.
Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal.We basically live on a rock ourselves,said co-discoverer Artie Hatzes, director of the Thuringer observatory in Germany.It's as close to something like the Earth that we've found so far. It's just a little too close to its sun.So close that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.It's hot, they're calling it the lava planet,Hatzes said.This is a major discovery in the field of trying to find life elsewhere in the universe, said outside expert Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution. It was the buzz of a conference on finding an Earth-like planet outside our solar system, held in Barcelona, Spain, where the discovery was presented Wednesday morning. The find is also being published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.The planet is called Corot-7b. It was first discovered earlier this year. European scientists then watched it dozens of times to measure its density to prove that it is rocky like Earth. It's in our general neighborhood, circling a star in the winter sky about 500 light-years away. Each light-year is about 6 trillion miles.
Four planets in our solar system are rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.In addition, the planet is about as close to Earth in size as any other planet found outside our solar system. Its radius is only one-and-a-half times bigger than Earth's and it has a mass about five times the Earth's.Now that another rocky planet has been found so close to its own star, it gives scientists more confidence that they'll find more Earth-like planets farther away, where the conditions could be more favorable to life, Boss said.The evidence is becoming overwhelming that we live in a crowded universe,Boss said.On the Net:European Southern Observatory: http://www.eso.org/(This version CORRECTS the spelling of name of observatory's director to Artie Hatzes.)
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
CANADA SWINE FLU SITE
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/default.aspx
FDA approves new swine flu vaccine By Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – Tue Sep 15, 5:17 pm ETWASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration approved the new swine flu vaccine Tuesday, a long-anticipated step as the government works to start mass vaccinations next month. Limited supplies should start trickling out the first week of October — about a week earlier than expected, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Congress. Then about 45 million doses should arrive around Oct. 15, followed by more shipments each week.She said they'll be available at up to 90,000 sites, including schools and clinics, across the U.S. that state health departments have chosen as best at getting the shots out fast.Eventually,we will have enough vaccine available for everyone,Sebelius said. Everyone who wants it, that is.The government has ordered 195 million doses but may order more if there's enough demand, she said. Typically fewer than 100 million Americans seek flu vaccine every year, and it's unclear whether swine flu — what scientists prefer to call the 2009 H1N1 strain — will prompt much more demand. A recent Associated Press-GfK poll found 57 percent of people said they were likely to get it.This year is unusual: Many people will have to line up twice for flu vaccine, once to be inoculated against regular winter flu and a second time for an H1N1 vaccination.The new swine flu seems no more deadly than regular winter flu, which every year kills 36,000 Americans and hospitalizes 200,000. But there's an important difference: This H1N1 strain sickens younger people more frequently than the people over 65 who are the main victims of seasonal flu.So the government wants certain people in line first for the H1N1 vaccinations: Pregnant women; the young, from age 6 months up through age 24; and people younger than 65 who have flu-risky conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease; caregivers of the at-risk, including newborns; and health workers.
The vast majority of people who get swine flu so far are not terribly ill,Sebelius noted, saying most will recover fine at home with some rest and fluids. And they shouldn't race to doctors' offices seeking tests to find out what kind of flu they have — H1N1 or the regular strains that circulate every winter — because treatment is the same.The flu is the flu is the flu right now,Sebelius said.Nor should doctors hand out prescriptions for anti-flu medicines to be used to prevent flu, she added, because "it could make them sicker in the long run.The drugs Tamiflu and Relenza should be used for treatment only, she stressed.Sebelius announced the FDA's approval of vaccine made by four of the expected five manufacturers: CSL Ltd. of Australia, Switzerland's Novartis Vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur of France — which produces flu shots at its Swiftwater, Pa., factory — and Maryland-based MedImmune LLC, which makes the only nasal-spray flu vaccine.London-based GlaxoSmithKline also was expected to supply vaccine. Sebelius said only that a fifth manufacturer's vaccine was expected to be approved soon, pending some final steps.Getting licensing from the FDA means that the vaccine is made properly and meets specific manufacturing and quality standards.What's the right dose? Figuring that out is the job of the National Institutes of Health, which last week announced studies showing that one dose appears to protect adults — and that protection kicks in just eight to 10 days after the shot, faster than scientists had predicted.Studies in children and pregnant women are continuing to settle on the right dose for those populations.
The H1N1 vaccine seems just as safe as the long-used regular flu vaccine, the FDA said, not a surprise as it's made the same way. Side effects include soreness or redness at the injection site, and some fever.The government will keep a sharp eye for any very rare side effects. The last mass vaccination against a different swine flu, in 1976, was marred by reports of the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome; scientists never proved whether that link was real or coincidence.
Eighteen Reasons Why You Should NOT Vaccinate Your Children Against The Flu This Season Bill Sardi Lew Rockwell.com Wednesday, Sept 16th, 2009This year it is more important that you protect your children and loved ones from the flu vaccines than influenza itself. Here are the reasons:
1. This flu is simply another flu. It is not unusually deadly. In fact, the H1N1 swine flu in circulation is less deadly than many other influenza outbreaks. The first 1000 confirmed swine flu cases in Japan and China produced zero deaths. The Centers for Disease Control alleges 36,000 Americans succumb to the flu each year, but so far, since March through August of 2009 (6 months), the swine flu has been attributed to ~500–600 deaths in the US. The swine flu of 2009 has already swept through the Southern Hemisphere’s flu season without alarm. Only exaggerated reports have been issued by the World Health Organization regarding hospitalizations required during the flu season in South American countries. Getting exposed to influenza and developing natural antibodies confers resistance for future flu outbreaks. Artificially boosting antibodies by exposure to flu viruses in vaccines is more problematic than natural exposure. Americans have been exposed to the H1N1 swine flu throughout the summer of 2009 with far fewer deaths and hospitalizations than commonly attributed to the seasonal flu.
2. Health authorities tacitly admit prior flu vaccination programs were of worthless value. This is the first time both season and pandemic flu vaccines will be administered. Both seasonal flu and swine flu vaccines will require two inoculations. This is because single inoculations have failed to produce sufficient antibodies. Very young children and older frail adults, the high-risk groups in the population, may not produce sufficient antibodies in response to the flu vaccine. This is an admission that prior flu vaccines were virtually useless. The same people who brought you the ineffective vaccines in past years are bringing you this year’s new vaccines. Can you trust them this time?
3. In addition to failure to produce sufficient antibodies, this swine flu vaccine is brought to you by the same people who haven’t been able to adequately produce a seasonal flu vaccine that matches the flu strain in circulation. In recent years flu vaccination has been totally worthless because the strains of the flu in circulation did not match the strain of the virus in the vaccines. Authorities claim the prevalent flu strain in circulation in mid-September 2009 is the H1N1 swine flu, which appears to be milder than past seasonal influenza in circulation. If this data is correct, why receive the season flu shot this year?
4. The vaccines will be produced by no less than four different manufacturers, possibly with different additives (called adjuvants) and manufacturing methods. The two flu inoculations may be derived from a multi-dose vial and in a crisis, and in short supply, it will be diluted to provide more doses and then adjuvants must be added to trigger a stronger immune response. Adjuvants are added to vaccines to boost production of antibodies but may trigger autoimmune reactions. Some adjuvants are mercury (thimerosal), aluminum and squalene. Would you permit your children to be injected with lead? Lead is very harmful to the brain. Then why would you sign a consent form for your kids to be injected with mercury, which is even more brain-toxic than lead? Injecting mercury may fry the brains of American kids.
5. This is the first year mock vaccines have been used to gain FDA approval. Mock vaccines are made to gain approval of the manufacturing method and then the prevalent virus strain in circulation is added just days before it is actually placed into use. Don’t subject your children to experimental vaccines. Yes, these vaccines have been tested on healthy kids and adults, but they are not the same vaccines your children will be given. Those children with asthma, allergies, type I diabetes, etc. are at greater risk for side effects. Children below the age of 2 years do not have a sufficient blood–brain barrier developed and are subject to chronic brain infections that emanate into symptoms that are called autism. Toddlers should not be subjected to injected viruses.
6. Over-vaccination is a common practice now in America. American children are subjected to 29 vaccines by the age of two. This means a little bit of disease is being injected into young children continually during their most formative years! Veterinarians have backed off of repeat vaccination in dogs because of observed side effects.
7. Health officials want to vaccinate women during pregnancy, subjecting the fetal brain to an intentional biological assault. A recent study showed exposure flu viruses among women during pregnancy provoke a similar gene expression pattern in the fetus as that seen in autistic children. This is a tacit admission that vaccines, which inject a little bit of influenza into humans, causes autism.
8. Modern medicine has no explanation for autism, despite its continued rise in prevalence. Yet autism is not reported among Amish children who go unvaccinated. Beware the falsehoods of modern medicine.
9. School kids are likely to receive nasally-administered vaccines (Flu-Mist) that require no needle injection. But this form of live vaccine produces viral shedding which will surely be transmitted to family members. What a way to start an epidemic!
10. This triple reassortment virus appears to be man made. The H1N1 swine flu virus of 2009 coincidentally appeared in Mexico on the same week that President Nicolas Sarkozy of France visited Mexican president Felipe Calderon, to announce that France intends to build a multi-million dollar vaccine plant in Mexico. An article written by Ron Maloney of the Seguin, Texas Gazette-Enterprise newspaper announces a rehearsal for a pandemic disaster scheduled for May 2, 2009. The article says: Guadalupe County emergency management and their counterparts around the country are preparing for just such a scenario…This means county health authorities across the U.S. had been preparing a rehearsal for mass vaccinations prior to the announced outbreak in Mexico. Virologists admit this part swine flu/part avian flu/part human flu virus must have taken time to develop. But it somehow wasn’t detected by hundreds of flu monitoring stations across the globe. On April 24, 2009 Dr. John Carlo, Dallas County Medical Director, alludes that the H1N1 strain of the Swine flu as possibly being engineered in a laboratory. He says:This strain of swine influenza that’s been cultured in a laboratory is something that’s not been seen anywhere actually in the United States and the world, so this is actually a new strain of influenza that’s been identified.(Globe & Mail, Canada)
11. Recall the swine flu scare of 1976. In a politically charged atmosphere where Gerald Ford was seeking election to the Presidency, the swine flu suddenly appeared at a military base. Vaccine was produced and millions of Americans were vaccinated. But the vaccine was worse than the disease, causing hundreds of cases of Guillain Barre syndrome and a few deaths. In a replay of the past, the White House is directly involved in promoting the H1N1 2009 swine flu vaccine. The federal government will use federal funds to pay off schools to administer vaccines, promote vaccination via highway billboards and TV advertisements, and conduct military-style mass inoculations in such rapid fashion that if side effects occur, it will be too late. The masses will have been vaccinated already. Over $9 billion has been allotted by the federal government to develop and deliver an unproven and experimental flu vaccine. Don’t be a guinea pig for the government.
12. Researchers are warning that over-use of the flu vaccine and anti-flu drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza can apply genetic pressure on flu viruses and then they are more likely to mutate into a more deadly strain. US health authorities want 70% of the public to be vaccinated against the flu this 2009 season, which is more than double the vaccination percentage of any prior flu season. This would certainly apply greater genetic pressure for the flu to mutate into a more virulent strain.
13. Most seasonal influenza A (H1N1) virus strains tested from the United States and other countries are now resistant to Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Tamiflu has become a nearly worthless drug against seasonal flu. According to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control, among 1148 seasonal flu samples tested, 1143 (99.6%) were resistant to Tamiflu!
14. As the flu season progresses the federal government may coerce or mandate Americans to undergo vaccination. France has already ordered enough vaccine to inoculate their entire population and has announced that vaccination will be mandatory. The US appears to be waiting to announce mandatory vaccination at a later date when it can scare the public into consenting to the vaccine. The federal government is reported to be hiring people to visit homes of unvaccinated children. This sounds like the Biblical account of Pharaoh attempting to eradicate all the young Israelite baby boys. Must we hide our babies now?
15. Public health authorities have cried wolf every flu season to get the public to line up for flu shots. Health authorities repeatedly publish the bogus 36,000 annual flu-related deaths figure to scare the public into getting flu shots. But that figure is based on the combined deaths from pneumonia in the elderly and the flu. Maybe just 5000–6000 or so flu-related deaths occur annually, mostly among individuals with compromised immune systems, the hospitalized, individuals with autoimmune disease or other health problems. As stated above, the swine flu in full force has only resulted in ~500–600 deaths in the first six months in circulation and it is far more dreaded by public health authorities than the seasonal flu. The Centers for Disease Control issues a purchase order for flu vaccines and then serves as the public relations agency to get the public to pay for the vaccines. Out of a population of 325 million Americans, only 100 million doses of flu vaccine have been administered each year and no epidemic has erupted among the unvaccinated.
16. The news media is irresponsible in stirring up unfounded fear over this coming flu season. Just exactly how ethical is it for newspapers to publish reports that a person has died of the swine flu when supposedly thousands die of the flu annually? In the past the news media hasn’t chosen to publicize each and every flu-related death, but this time it has chosen to frighten the public. Why? Examine the chart below. The chart shows that the late flu season of 2009 peaked in week 23 (early June) and has dissipated considerably.
While every childhood flu-related death should be considered tragic, and the number of flu-related pediatric deaths in 2009 is greater than prior flu seasons as a percentage, in real numbers it is not a significant increase. See chart below: According to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control, for week 34 ending August 29, 2009, there were 236 hospitalizations and 37 deaths related to the flu. That would represent just 5 hospitalizations and less than one death per State, which is below the epidemic threshold.
17. Public health officials are irresponsible in their omission of any ways to strengthen immunity against the flu. No options outside of problematic vaccines and anti-flu drugs are offered, despite the fact there is strong evidence that vitamins C and D activate the immune system and the trace mineral selenium prevents the worst form of the disease where the lungs fill up with fluid and literally drown a flu-infected person. The only plausible explanation as to why the flu season typically peaks in winter months is a deficiency of sunlight-produced vitamin D. Protect your family. Arm your immune system with vitamins and trace minerals.
18. Will we ever learn if the flu vaccine this year is deadly in itself? In 1993 the federal government hid a deadly flu vaccine that killed thousands of nursing home patients. It was the first year that flu shots were paid for by Medicare. The vaccine-related mortality was so large that this set back the life expectancy of Americans for the first time since the 1918 Spanish flu! Mortality reports take a year or two to tabulate and the federal government may choose not to reveal the true mortality rate and whether it was related to the flu or the vaccines. You say this couldn’t happen? It did in 1993.
SURE 6 MILLION LIVES SAVED HERE BUT THEN THEY KILL 7 MILLION WITH THE VACCINES DURING THIS CURRENT H1N1 OUTBREAK,THATS REALLY HELPING PEOPLE. HINT, NUDGE,NUDGE,WINK,WINK.New approach could stop 6 million African malaria cases By Kate Kelland – SEPT 16,09LONDON (Reuters) – A third of malaria cases in African babies can be prevented by giving them regular doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected, researchers said on Thursday.Research into intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) found it helped children build better immunity to the disease and reduced the risk of the parasite becoming drug-resistant.
Both of these benefits decrease if treatment is given continuously as a prophylaxis, according to the research, published in The Lancet medical journal.Pedro Alonso from the University of Barcelona, who led a study using data from 8,000 children and infants in Tanzania, Mozambique, Gabon and Ghana, said the research showed IPTi with the medicine sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) could save tens of thousands of lives every year across Africa.If IPTi using SP were expanded to other African countries, 6million cases of malaria could be prevented each year in those most vulnerable to the disease, he told a London teleconference.International policy-makers and heads of national malaria control programs should consider its immediate adoption and integration into existing programs,he said.Malaria is one of the world's most demanding public health problems. It kills around 1 million people a year and of an estimated 247 million cases of malaria in 2006, 86 percent were in Africa.
NO MAGIC BULLETS
Alonso said IPTi was not a magic bullet against malaria, and he and his colleagues also noted that resistance to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, which has been around for 30 years, has spread to many regions of Africa, which could limit the effectiveness of the IPTi using this drug.Alonso said SP costs between 13 and 23 U.S. cents per dose and could be delivered to infants when they attend clinics for routine immunizations.
In April this year British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc started final-stage clinical trials of its malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, in the largest medical experiment ever conducted in Africa involving 16,000 children.Alonso said while excited by the prospect of the vaccine, immunization would not offer a complete solution.
Controlling malaria is not about using one tool or another, he said. It is about using all the tools that we have now, and new tools that we can develop, to reduce the intolerable burden of this disease.David Schellenberg of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said insecticide-treated mosquito nets were a mainstay of prevention.Separately, the U.S. Academy for Educational Development reported on Thursday that a 10-year-long U.S. government funded mosquito net project in Africa had helped deliver 50 million bed nets to people in seven countries for free or at partial cost.The project had also created enough incentives for private companies to decide to invest $88 million to expand their mosquito net businesses, the report said.
Lawyers: alleged Arctic Sea pirates needed help Wed Sep 16, 12:55 pm ETMOSCOW – Lawyers for eight men accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea freighter as it passed through the Baltic Sea said Wednesday their clients are peaceful seamen who were merely practicing maritime skills when their boat ran into trouble.They said the eight defendants who have been charged in a Russian court with abduction and piracy had done nothing wrong and only climbed onto the freighter off Sweden to seek help because their inflatable rubber boat was taking on water.The comments were the latest addition to the saga of the Arctic Sea, whose alleged hijacking, subsequent disappearance and rescue by Russian naval ship prompted wide speculation about the ship's cargo and its destination.Russian authorities have said the freighter, loaded with Finnish timber, was boarded July 24 by armed men, who beat the crew and forced them into submission before leaving in an inflatable boat.
Six days later, the ship disappeared after passing through the English Channel.
The Kremlin then announced on Aug. 17 that a Russian frigate had intercepted it off western Africa, thousands of kilometers from the Algerian port where it was supposed to deliver its load of timber two weeks earlier.A Russian shipping expert and an EU anti-piracy official have speculated that the vessel was carrying clandestine cargo, possibly surface-to-air missiles for Iran or Syria. Russian officials have dismissed the allegations.One of the lawyers, Omar Akhmedov, told reporters that the suspects were practicing navigation in the Baltic Sea when they got lost and their rubber boat began taking on water. They accidentally reached the Arctic Sea and asked for help, he said.Akhmedov said his client, Dmitry Savins, and the others were trying to practice their seafaring skills before applying for job with a Spanish environmental protection company. He wouldn't name the company.Another lawyer, Egon Rusanovs, said that Savins and others were desperate to find new jobs amid high unemployment in the Baltic nations. Most of the eight come from Estonia and Latvia.The eight are being held in Moscow's high-security Lefortovo prison; lawyers argued that keeping the suspects in custody violated Russian law.Meanwhile, Russian investigators who had remained on board the Arctic Sea to inspect it as part of the official investigation, prepared to hand the ship over to authorities of Malta, whose flag the freighter was flying. The federal Investigative Committee said the transfer will take place on the Canary Islands over the next two days.
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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THUR SEPT 17,09,200909:30 AM -8.24
10:00 AM +28.11
10:30 AM +3.70
11:00 AM +28.94
11:30 AM +40.20
12:00 PM +3.35
12:30 PM -2.28
01:00 PM -33.03
01:30 PM -36.05
02:00 PM -13.76
02:30 PM -14.51
03:00 PM +4.23
03:30 PM +12.92
04:00 PM -7.79 9783.92
S&P 500 1065.49 -3.27
NASDAQ 2126.75 -6.40
GOLD 1,015.00 -5.30
OIL 72.48 -0.03
TSE 300 11,528.23 -27.37
CDNX 1272.74 -11.80
S&P/TSX/60 692.83 -0.92
MORNING,NEWS,STATSYEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCEDow +11.57%
S&P +18.32%
Nasdaq +35.26%
TSX Advances 1,044,declines 530,unchanged 215,Volume 653,285,567.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 558,Declines 408,Unchanged 348,Volume 335,467,047.
Dow +1 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -7 points at low today.
Dow +65 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,016.90.OIL opens at $72.09 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATSDow -7 points at low today so far.
Dow +65 points at high today so far.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATSNYSE Advances 1,577,declines 2,080,unchanged 108,New Highs 327,New Lows 86.
Volume 4,276,596,576.
NASDAQ Advances 1,217,declines 1,385,unchanged 111,New highs 138,New Lows 05.
Volume 1,423,795,272.
TSX Advances 614,declines 794,unchanged 222,Volume 351,410,447.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 368,Declines 388,Unchanged 325,Volume 171,351,142.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATSDow -40 points at low today.
Dow +65 points at high today.
Dow -0.08% today Volume 225,454,710.
Nasdaq -0.30% today Volume 2,514,281,935.
S&P 500 -0.31% today Volume N/A
Do they know something we don't? - Insiders sell like there's no tomorrow http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ SEPT 15,09 Can hundreds of stock-selling insiders be wrong? The stock market has mounted an historic rally since it hit a low in March. The S&P 500 is up 55%, as U.S. job losses have slowed and credit markets have stabilized. But against that improving backdrop, one indicator has turned distinctly bearish: Corporate officers and directors have been selling shares at a pace last seen just before the onset of the subprime malaise two years ago.While a wave of insider selling doesn't necessarily foretell a stock market downturn, it suggests that those with the first read on business trends don't believe current stock prices are justified by economic fundamentals.It's not a very complicated story,said Charles Biderman, who runs market research firm Trim Tabs.Insiders know better than you and me. If prices are too high, they sell.Biderman, who says there were $31 worth of insider stock sales in August for every $1 of insider buys, isn't the only one who has taken note. Ben Silverman, director of research at the InsiderScore.com web site that tracks trading action, said insiders are selling at their most aggressive clip since the summer of 2007.Silverman said the orgy of selling is noteworthy because corporate insiders were aggressive buyers of the market's spring dip. The S&P 500 dropped as low as 666 in early March before the recent rally took it back above 1,000.That was a great call,Silverman said.They were buying when prices were low, so it makes sense to look at what they're doing now that prices are higher.
Straightforward trading
In the case of firms such as discount broker TD Ameritrade (AMTD), they are selling with abandon. Chairman Joe Moglia has netted more than $10 million in profits from stock sales since April, by selling shares on each of the last 106 business days, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.A TD Ameritrade spokeswoman said Moglia's sales are being made under a pre-arranged selling plan he filed with the SEC last August. Under that plan, his brokers exercise some options he got eight years ago and sell the underlying shares every day the company's stock price is above a certain level.Moglia's not the only insider selling at TD Ameritrade. The company's founder and former chairman, Joe Ricketts, and his wife Marlene last month sold 5.7 million shares to help fund the family's purchase of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. They owned 16% of the company's stock at last count.Silverman said the TD Ameritrade insider sales don't particularly raise concerns about the company's health, because special circumstances -- the Cubs deal and the pending expiration of Moglia's options -- are evident.He said it's potentially more worrisome when insiders suddenly make big sales without obvious motivating factors.
Fossil (FOSL) CEO Tom Kartsotis has sold $25 million of the watchmaker's stock over the past month. Shares of Fossil have more than doubled since early March. Fossil didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.At video game maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI), CEO Robert Kotick and director Brian Kelly each made more than $10 million last month by selling shares after exercising stock options.While some of Kotick's options were due to expire next year, others weren't due to expire until 2014 in his case and 2012 in Kelly's. The stock sales took place at prices that were about 50% above their 52-week low. Activision didn't respond to a request for comment.Adding to the flurry of stock sales, companies are selling stock to the public at a brisk clip while buybacks have tailed off. All told, U.S. corporations have been net sellers of $105 billion of stock over the past four months, Biderman said.Insiders have managed to cash in on some of those offerings. Healthcare payment administrator Emdeon (EM), for instance, last month raised $155 million in an initial public offering. At the same time, selling shareholders led by private equity investor General Atlantic Partners raised $188 million.Though the wave of selling by insiders doesn't necessarily predict a pullback in their stocks or the market as a whole, it's hard to put a happy spin on the recent trends.The disparity between buyers and sellers right now is vast,said Silverman.That's the beauty of following insider trading -- these guys are talking with their checkbooks.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2009, 3:42 P.M. ET.Gold Prices Keep Climbing By MATT WHITTAKER NEW YORK -- Nearby gold futures extended their record high above $1,000 an ounce Wednesday and the most-active contract pushed toward its own all-time peak, supported by continued U.S. dollar weakness and technical momentum.Inflation-hedge buying on lingering enthusiasm following Tuesday's comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the recession is likely over also boosted gold. Participants were selling the U.S. dollar and buying the metal in anticipation of higher consumer and producer prices down the road.Most-active December gold rose $13.90 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange to settle at $1,020.20 an ounce, its fourth consecutive close in four-digit territory. Meanwhile, thinly traded nearby September futures hit an intraday high of $1,019.80, surpassing the all-time front-month high of $1,014.60, set in March 2008. The most-active futures record of $1,033.90 was also set that month.Positive price sentiment is building as front-month futures continue their longest-ever streak of days above $1,000, with Wednesday marking the first day nearby prices didn't spend any time below that level.With the Fed likely to leave interest rates alone for the time being and participants seeing more of an economic recovery, they are buying gold in anticipation of rising inflation, said Michael Gross, broker and futures analyst with OptionSellers.com.People are buying gold to get out of the dollar,said Andrew Montano, director of precious metals at Scotia Mocatta.The U.S. dollar slipped against its major rivals Wednesday after a fresh show of strength in U.S. manufacturing buoyed stocks and encouraged sellers of low-yielding assets. Shortly after gold closed, the ICE Futures U.S. dollar index was down 0.272 point.
We're seeing a lot of problems with the dollar,a trader said.Gold is often bought and sold inversely with the dollar since the metal is considered a dollar hedge and, more broadly, an alternative currency. Some participants also believe the metal will hold its value more strongly than other assets in times of rising producer and consumer prices.However, the rally is coming amid stagnating gold exchange-traded fund buying and poor jewelry demand from India, the world's largest buyer of the metal for jewelry. Mine supply is also on the rise.It is taking place amid really poor fundamentals,Kitco Metals analyst Jon Nadler said.That's why I'm ready to call it a bubble.Rather, Nadler said speculative funds -- which primarily trade futures for profit rather than obtaining physical product -- are behind the rally as the dollar weakens and participants anticipate rising inflation, despite current data.
Wednesday data showed the U.S. consumer-price index rose 0.4% in August. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 0.1%, as expected. Despite the monthly increase in the overall index, consumer prices were down 1.5% compared to one year ago.On Tuesday, data showed the U.S. producer price index for finished goods rose 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis in August, after falling 0.9% in July. Last month's increase was bigger than the 1% gain predicted by economists. However, PPI was still down 4.3% from August 2008.Meanwhile, the gap between yields on 10-year inflation-linked Treasury securities and nominal bonds, known as the breakeven rate, stood at 1.86 percentage points, a sign that investors expect the inflation rate to average 1.86% over the period -- in line with the Fed's preferred core inflation rate of around 2%. Five-year breakevens stood at 1.37 points Wednesday, implying an even lower inflation rate.That contrasts with consumers' inflation expectations, however: Friday's University of Michigan sentiment survey showed five-year inflation expectations at 2.8%.Inflation-anticipatory dollar-selling has been the pivot point around which the current rallies have orbited, Kitco Metals analyst Jon Nadler said.The metal is continuing its technical breakout after breaching resistance around the $990 level, the trader said.Most-active December gold futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange last week breached $1,000 for the first time in six months. Previously, the contract topped $1,000 and subsequently fell back in March and July 2008 and again in February.You're seeing some follow-through buying now that gold is holding $1,000, said Carlos Sanchez, associate director of research with CPM Group.
Silver futures gained with gold prices. Participants were also purchasing the gray metal -- which is more widely used in industrial applications than is gold -- because of anticipated continued economic recovery.People are speculating that demand is going to pick up,Mr. Gross said.Comex December silver rose 43 cents to settle at $17.43 an ounce.Continued weakness in the U.S. dollar also supported platinum and palladium futures. Nymex October platinum rose $29.80 to $1,350.10 an ounce, while December palladium on the exchange gained $4.25 to $300.50 an ounce.
Higher gold prices also supported the platinum group.It's on the back of gold trying to make a push toward its all-time high,a trader said.Write to Matt Whittaker at matt.whittaker@dowjones.com
Finance for emerging nations key to climate deal: SAfrica Wed Sep 16, 1:14 pm ETCAPE TOWN (AFP) – A finance package footing the bill for developing nations to develop clean energy and adapt to climate change will make or break climate negotiations, coal-reliant South Africa said Wednesday.Africa's most industrialised country said emerging nations and the developed world were still poles apart on how targets should be set to reduce carbon emissions only months away from a crucial climate summit in Copenhagen.We are so far apart that to bring us together is going to be quite a difficult thing, deputy director general of the environment ministry Joanne Yawitch told a parliamentary portfolio committee.She said rich nations had failed to fulfill a legal obligation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to finance efforts to combat climate change in emerging nations.That finance has never been put on the table in any meaningful sense and at the heart of this negotiation is going to be the extent to which there is a meaningful financial package put on the table and what the nature of that financial package is,said Yawitch.South Africa is one of the world's worst offenders when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, but is not legally required to commit to emissions reduction under the Kyoto Protocol international environment treaty.The government has remained firm it will not assent to any definite reduction targets, which will affect economic growth, while developed countries argue it is time for emerging countries to take on legally binding agreements.
Heading to a G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week, the issue of raising finance for climate change has become more urgent.South African Environmental Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told journalists on Tuesday she wants the world's richest nations to come up with the 0.5 percent to one percent of global gross domestic product (200-400 billion dollars) by 2020 it is projected will be needed by developing countries.That is the kind of commitment we need from them. The 400 billion US dollars takes into account funding for both adaptation and mitigation respectively. We need the money as in yesterday,said Sonjica.Yawitch said South Africa was committed to finding new, cleaner ways of fueling its economy, but that with a coal-fired economy, this would take resources the country could not quite muster.Embattled energy giant Eskom has had to defer mostly reneweable energy projects -- nuclear, wind, and concentrated solar power -- due to financial difficulties.If we are going to take this leap into a different way of doing things we are going to need... financing and support.
Zimbabwe to use IMF cash to rebuild infrastructure Wed Sep 16, 8:10 am ETHARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe plans to use 400 million dollars in recently announced IMF support to rebuild the nation's crumbling infrastructure, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Wednesday.But he said the country also needs to attract foreign investment, because most donors are still reluctant to give direct aid to the unity government of long-ruling President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered Zimbabwe about 400 million dollars (272 million euros) in so-called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), part of a 250billion dollar scheme offered to all of its 186 members.But the SDRs are not part of normal loan programmes, which put cash directly into state coffers, tied to strict conditions on its use.To convert the SDRs into hard currency, Zimbabwe would have to find another country to buy them.We have got a vision for that money, Biti told the meeting of mining firms in the capital Harare.The bulk of that money will go towards infrastructure development.It's going to be a long while before Zimbabwe has bilateral aid coming to Zimbabwe. We need to look at foreign direct investments,he said.A lot of friends are still sulking over the unity government, he added. For a long while, we are still on our own.Zimbabwe convened the mining conference to try to lure foreign firms back into the country to revive the troubled industry, which has been hit by power cuts, tough government restrictions and threats of expropriation.Since Biti became finance minister, the government has loosed currency and import restrictions, making it easier for companies to operate.After years of economic contraction, the World Bank predicts Zimbabwe's economy will grow by 3.7 percent this year.
Greenpeace ends protest at Shell oil sands mine By Jeffrey Jones – SEPT 16,09CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Greenpeace activists who occupied mining equipment at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Canadian oil sands project ended their protest on Wednesday after 1-1/2 days and were escorted away without facing charges, the environmental group said.Shell said production at the Muskeg River mine, one of four oil sands projects in northern Alberta, operated at normal rates throughout the day as the demonstrators worked to spread their message that developing the oil sands hampers the fight against global warming.The protest, which began with 25 activists and ended with 15, coincided with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday.Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema said the group was allowed to leave the mine after leaders spoke with company officials and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.The Harper-Obama meeting did not produce the results that climate change activists hoped for.We haven't seen nearly enough concrete commitments from the Harper-Obama meeting that they will move quickly to help the world avert catastrophic climate change,Hudema said.The activists entered the mine, located north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, on Tuesday and locked down a massive dump truck and mining shovel. The company temporarily suspended production at the 155,000 barrel a day site, but resumed operations late in the day.
Hudema said there was a cordial atmosphere between demonstrators and Shell staff at the mine, and both sides stressed they had taken care to ensure the safety of everyone.Shell said it is working hard to improve its environmental performance by developing a carbon capture and storage project for its oil sands operations, and by advocating a Canadian and international carbon cap and trade policy.The Muskeg River mine's other owners are Chevron Corp and Marathon Oil Corp, with 20 percent each. It is one of four major oil sands mining operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.(Additional reporting by Scott Haggett; editing by Peter Galloway and Rob Wilson)
FDIC names first winner in toxic asset program By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer – Wed Sep 16, 2:34 pm ETWASHINGTON – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Wednesday named the first winning bidder under a test of the government's program to back private purchases of toxic mortgage assets and get them off banks' balance sheets.Fort Worth, Texas-based Residential Credit Solutions Inc. is paying $64.2 million for a 50 percent stake in a new company that will have about $1.3 billion in home mortgages from the failed Franklin Bank.The FDIC took over Houston-based Franklin Bank in November. Under the test sale to RCS, the new company will issue a note for $727.8 million to the FDIC. Twelve groups of companies had bid on the assets, the agency said.The program is part of the government's public-private partnership to guarantee private investors' purchases of toxic assets to help banks raise new capital, get credit flowing and aid the economic recovery.The sale is part of the government's so-called Public-Private Investment Program, announced in March by the FDIC, Treasury Department and Federal Reserve as one of the financial recovery measures. The backing for the private investors' purchases is coming from the $700 billion federal bailout fund, with the government matching private investors dollar for dollar and sharing any profits equally.The FDIC said it will analyze the results of the RCS-Franklin Bank sale to determine whether the same process could be used to get toxic assets off the balance sheets of banks that are still open and functioning, as opposed to failed banks.Officials have said that the PPIP will aim to relieve banks of up to $40 billion worth of soured investments tied to mortgages.
The FDIC pilot sale involved actual mortgage loans rather than the related securities.The closing of the RCS sale is expected later this month, the FDIC said, after which the company will manage the portfolio and service the loans under guidelines for modifying distressed mortgages.RCS is a large mortgage servicing company that deals in modifications for troubled home borrowers. The company had no immediate comment Wednesday afternoon.
Stocks jump as industrial production rises By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer - SEPT 16,09NEW YORK – Investors barreled into stocks Wednesday after an upbeat report on industrial production raised hopes that the economy is strengthening.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 108 points to another high for the year as General Electric Co. and International Business Machines Corp. jumped. It was the market's eighth gain in nine days.The promising report from the Federal Reserve on industrial production came a day after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the recession was likely over. Investors have been scooping up stocks for six months in anticipation of a rebound in the economy.The central bank's report that industrial activity surged 0.8 percent in August topped expectations. The Fed also said the improvement in production for July was twice what it had initially reported.The report and rising commodity prices lifted shares of manufacturing companies like aluminum producer Alcoa Inc.Other big gains came from financial stocks, which have been building momentum as they push above certain price levels watched by traders. GE, which has a large financial arm and often trades like a bank stock, jumped for a third day. American Express Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose more than 3 percent.
Money has been flowing into stocks as some professional investors rush to keep with the market's gains and fear being left behind.People are looking to play catch-up at this point," said Christian Bendixen, director of technical research at Bay Crest Partners LLC in New York.The Dow rose 108.30, or 1.1 percent, to 9,791.71, its highest close since Oct. 6, when it ended at 9,956. The index is now up 11.6 percent for the year.The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16.13, or 1.5 percent, to 1,068.76, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 30.51, or 1.5 percent, to 2,133.15.
The advance comes even as analysts warn that stocks are due for a break. The S&P 500 index, the benchmark for many mutual funds, has surged 58 percent since it tumbled to a 12-year low in early March. An extended ascent tends to spook investors, who see it as a sign of indiscriminate buying.Peter Schwartz, principal at Gregory J. Schwartz & Co. in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., expects stocks will rise but not without interruptions.We can't have this trajectory for perpetuity without speed bumps along the way,he said.Jason Pride, director of research at Haverford Investments in Radnor, Pa., would like to see more moderate gains but said the nature of markets is to overdo it.The market can extend its speculation surrounding this economic rebound much longer than people expect,he said.GE jumped $1, or 6.3 percent, to $17, adding to its gain for the week and erasing its loss for the year. The company plans to update analysts on its business Thursday. IBM, which carries more weight in the Dow because of its higher stock price, rose $2.47, or 2.1 percent, to $121.82, its best close of the year.
Alcoa rose 48 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $14.47 after the report on industrial production.Health insurers rose after Sen. Max Baucus of Montana introduced a Finance Committee version of a bill to revamp the nation's health care system. It would require most people to purchase insurance coverage and prevent insurance companies from charging more to people with more serious health problems.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. rose $1.59, or 5.7 percent, to $29.29, while Humana Inc. advanced $1.89, or 4.9 percent, to $40.67.Home builder stocks surged after a builder confidence index from the National Association of Home Builders rose for the third straight month. Beazer Homes USA Inc. jumped 60 cents, or 14.2 percent, to $4.83 and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. rose 41 cents, or 10.3 percent, to $4.41. Newspaper stocks rose following a report from a market research company that signaled advertising spending wasn't eroding as quickly as it had been. Gannett Co., the publisher of USA Today and other papers, advanced 93 cents, or 10.3 percent, to $9.99.The New York Times Co. rose 94 cents, or 11.9 percent, to $8.82. Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.48 percent from 3.46 late Tuesday.The dollar extended its slide and commodities, including gold, rose. Commodities are priced in dollars and become less expensive when the dollar weakens.Oil advanced after the government reported a large drop in crude supplies. Light, sweet crude rose $1.58 to settle at $72.51 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.9 billion shares compared with 6.3 billion Tuesday.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.54, or 2.1 percent, to 617.38.Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.6 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 1.3 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.6 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average added 0.5 percent.
Is Another 9/11 Set To Unfold? No, Something Much Worse Say Experts
http://www.deseretnews.com/ SEPT 15,09Earlier this year, quite by happenstance, I read a book written by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter James B. Stewart.Heart of a Soldier tells the story of two men who, well before it happened, foretold not only of the terrorist attack of 9/11 but also the 1993 bombing in the World Trade Center parking garage that preceded it.One of the men, Rick Rescorla, was chief of security for Morgan Stanley with an office in the World Trade Center. He died on 9/11, but not before he shepherded all but six of Morgan Stanley's 2,700 employees to safety because of a well-prepared and well-executed evacuation plan. He'd have made it out, too, had he not gone back in the building looking for those six.
The other man, Daniel J. Hill, is still alive.With another Sept. 11 approaching I wanted to talk to The Man Who Predicted 9/11.Although the primary focus in Stewart's book is on Rescorla — a bona fide hero for his actions on 9/11 — I found Hill to be an even more fascinating character.It was Hill who converted to Islam as a young U.S. Army paratrooper stationed in Beirut in 1958. It was Hill who learned fluent Arabic. It was Hill who joined the Mujahedeen Freedom Fighters in Afghanistan and fought the Soviet invasion there in the 1980s. It was Hill who personally met Osama bin Laden. It was Hill who used information from Islamic extremists to warn Rescorla that terrorists would use the underground parking garage for a car bomb attack on the World Trade Center. It was Hill who asked the U.S. government to assist him in an assassination attempt on bin Laden in 1998 (the request was rejected). And it was Hill who warned the FBI just weeks before Sept. 11, 2001, that his Mideast contacts told him something big was about to happen in the United States, in New York, Washington, D.C., or Philadelphia — maybe all three.
Through the Internet I managed to contact Hill at his home in Florida. He's 71 now. I asked him if his reputation as a terrorism prognosticator without parallel has changed his life much.Oh, that blew over pretty fast,he said.Most of the people even in my hometown don't know any of that stuff.He didn't want to talk about the past. He wanted to talk about the future.
The very near future.
The man who predicted 9/11 is worried that its sequel is imminent.Muslims that I talk to say things like,America thinks they're safe now. They've forgotten about 9/11.But watch, Daniel. Stay near your TV. It's going to be bigger than 9/11, he said.
Hill said the next terrorist attack will involve suitcase nuclear bombs that will be detonated in small, low-flying two-seater private airplanes manned by men hanging onto the belief that, like the 9/11 hijackers, they are about to die as martyrs and enter paradise.He is not alone in suggesting such a scenario. A 2007 book, The Day of Islam,spells out the details, as do any number of Internet sites about a plot called American Hiroshima.The nukes, he said, will be detonated over New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.I asked Hill, Why now? Eight years from 1993 to 2001, eight years from that 9/11 to this 9/11,he said. Symbolism. They're big on symbolism.Ramadan started two weeks ago Saturday, he said, referring to the Muslim holy month of fasting.It always hits around Ramadan.
Eight years ago, Hill predicted the attack would come on Oct. 16 — almost in the middle of that year's Ramadan (the timing of Ramadan varies from year to year). He was about a month off.I don't know the second, hour or day. I just know they have the means, will, motivation and desire to do it,he said, noting that it's believed that years ago the suitcase nukes, acquired from former USSR operatives, were smuggled into America across the Mexican border.Hill said he has warned the FBI, the CIA and others in government. For the past two years, he's sent out proposals for a book on the subject. All he's gotten back are rejections.To most people, I am a deviant personality,he said.But there's no arguing his credentials.I'm a Muslim,he says.I'm a special ops expert, I'm a terrorist and I've lived among Muslims. I fought the Russians with the same guys we're now fighting in Afghanistan. I met Osama. I volunteered to assassinate him. I know (the enemy) so well because I've worked, slept and prayed alongside them for years. I've become one of them. I know their nature, I know their culture, I know how they think. I can quote the Koran like a Southern Baptist minister can quote the New Testament. I know these are people who do not tire, who do not quit. There are odds this won't happen, but they aren't big odds.I hope you're wrong,I told him.Yeah. I hope so, too,he said.
Syria storing heavy weapons caches near border with Israel in preparation for future conflict http://www.worldtribune.com/ SEPT 15,09Israel has learned that the Syrian military was preparing massive weapons caches near the border with Israel.Officials said the Israeli military has detected Syrian deployment of heavy weapons near the southern border with the Jewish state. They said the Syrian Army was using civilian assets to conceal the rearmament operation.
They are using civilian trucks to bring weapons near the border, Ground Forces Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrachi said.In an address to a military conference on Sept. 2, Mizrachi said the Syrian Army was storing massive amounts of weapons in villages near the Israeli border. He said unmarked trucks were transporting a range of weapons to villages in the Golan Heights.This is why we need to split up our capabilities between a conventional war scenario to one that we are fighting against a non-conventional force,Mizrachi said.Over the last year, Israeli military sources have reported Syrian deployment of troops and heavy weapons in southern Syria near the Israeli border. The sources said Syrian troops, disguised as civilian police, have established positions in dozens of villages as part of an effort to prepare for a future war with Israel.The Syrians have learned from [the Iranian-sponsored] Hizbullah on how to use a civilian shield,a senior officer said.We expect Syria to do the same thing in any next war.On Sept. 9, the Israel Army's Northern Command held a major exercise along the border of Lebanon and Syria that combined air, ground and naval forces. Officials said the exercise sought to determine interoperability amid a range of attack scenarios.In his address to the Latrun Conference on Maneuver in Complex Terrain, co-sponsored by the U.S. Joint Forces Command, Mizrachi, appointed the next head of Central Command, said Israel faced a more dangerous adversaries, particularly Syria. He said the next war would require massive numbers of ground forces.A war cannot be won without moving forces on the ground,Mizrachi said.Even today there are people who believe that it is sufficient to threaten to use the forces but in the Middle East his is not enough. Only a ground maneuver will end the conflict and win the war.
NDP suggests could keep government in power By David Ljunggren – Wed Sep 16, 3:48 pm ETOTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's opposition New Democrats on Wednesday dropped the strongest hint yet that they would keep the minority Conservative government in power if Parliament votes on a non-confidence motion next month.The left-leaning New Democratic Party, which has been among the Conservatives sternest critics, welcomed a promise by the government this week to introduce legislation to boost payments to the unemployed.The Liberals, the biggest opposition party, say they will bring the government down as soon as possible on the grounds it is mismanaging the economic crisis.If all three opposition parties vote in favor of the non-confidence motion, the government will fall and Canada will face its second election in a year and its fourth in just over five years.Senior NDP legislator Thomas Mulcair said the party would study the draft legislation outlining the jobless benefits to see if it contains everything the government said it did.If that is indeed the case, then, of course, we will make sure that what we fought so hard to get -- which is more help for the unemployed -- will flow through as quickly as possible,he told reporters.
Parliament would not hold a final vote on the jobless benefits bill until well after the proposed Liberal non-confidence motion -- suggesting the New Democrats would decide next month to keep the Conservatives in power in the interim.Mulcair said the government had shown movement on the jobless benefits issue but said his party would carefully study the bill: We're not going to buy a pig in a poke.The Conservatives are likely to survive a budget vote this Friday, since the New Democrats and the separatist Bloc Quebecois say they will both vote in favor.We're encouraged that some opposition parties right now are deciding to vote against having an election, Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told reporters in Washington after a visit to the White House.(Liberal leader Michael) Ignatieff seems to continue to be election-hungry. He's clearly not paying attention to what the Canadian people are telling him ... that this is not the time to have an election.
Mulcair declined to say how the NDP would vote on a Liberal non-confidence motion it had not yet seen. The Liberals have promised to present a motion in late September or early October.Opinion polls show support for the New Democrats has fallen steadily in recent weeks and that the party would lose several seats if an election were held now. Mulcair dismissed the idea the NDP would suffer badly in an election this year.An election would cost C$350 million ($300 million) (and) probably wouldn't change anything ... we'd much rather make Parliament work,Mulcair said.The Conservatives won last October's election with a strengthened minority. But, with just 143 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, they must rely on the support of at least one opposition party to remain in power.(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer in Washington; editing by Rob Wilson)
Syrian president in Turkey for talks on Israel By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 16, 2:54 pm ETANKARA, Turkey – Turkey encouraged Syria on Wednesday to think of ways to revive the stalled peace talks with Israel, but the Syrian president said Israel does not appear to be a partner in the process.Syrian President Bashar Assad sat down with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul to consider how to restart the talks.Israel has again showed that it does not want peace, Assad said after the iftar, the dinner that breaks the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.Israel has dynamited all peace negotiations so far, it has massacred people in Lebanon, it has attacked Gaza.He said Israel's presence at the peace table is only virtual,echoing remarks Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem made through an interpreter earlier.On the peace issue, we don't think Israel is present as a partner,al-Moallem said. He accused Israel of maintaining construction of Israeli settlements and continuing its aggression against Gaza.Turkey, which mediated indirect Syrian-Israeli talks last year, has offered to help restart the peace negotiations after they broke off in March when a more hardline Israeli government came to power.
Turkey has also been trying to help defuse a spat between Syria and Iraq triggered by Iraqi allegations that Syria has been used as a launching pad for violence in Baghdad.Security talks held Tuesday by Iraqi and Syrian diplomats in Ankara ended with no agreement, after Syria refused to extradite suspects accused of deadly Baghdad bombings, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.The Iraqi and Syrian foreign ministers plan to meet Thursday in Istanbul. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will also attend.Iraq is demanding Syria hand over two members of Saddam Hussein's now-outlawed Baath Party who are blamed by Iraq for the Aug. 19 truck bombings that killed more than 100people in Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called on the U.N. Security Council to investigate the attacks.Syria rejected Iraq's request, saying it had failed to provide evidence implicating the two suspects.Turkey mediated another Syrian-Iraqi meeting last week in Cairo that ended with the Iraqi foreign minister accusing Syria of fueling sectarian tensions in Iraq and supporting terrorism. Syria denies the charges.Meanwhile, Turkey and Syria on Wednesday bilaterally waived visa requirements in a sign of improving ties, Davutoglu said.Associated Press Writer Gulden Alp in Ankara contributed to this report.
SKorea: Any US-NKorea talks must deal with nukes By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 16, 11:23 am ETSEOUL, South Korea – South Korea said Wednesday any dialogue with North Korea should be firmly based on the goal of ridding the communist regime of nuclear weapons, as the United States considers Pyongyang's long-held desire for direct talks.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek, in charge of ties with Pyongyang, also told the North not to think of winning economic aid or normalizing relations with the United States while holding on to its atomic weapons.Past nuclear negotiations with North Korea ended up offering concessions to the regime while failing to disarm it. Hyun's comments appeared to reflect Seoul's concern that it could be sidelined if U.S.-North Korea talks move dramatically forward.Over the past decade or so, we've seen negotiations with North Korea resuming and stalling numerous times while the standoff kept deteriorating, Hyun told a security forum.We should not forget this lesson from the past. ... Dialogue with North Korea should be faithful to the goal of North Korea's denuclearization.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday direct talks with the North would be worthwhile. They would be the first nuclear negotiations between the two countries since President Barack Obama took office.One of the ways we perhaps can get North Korea to engage is by explaining directly and clearly what the purpose is and what the possible consequences and incentives are,Clinton said.
North Korea has long sought one-on-one contact with Washington in hopes of raising its international profile, but U.S. officials have made clear that any such talks would have to be within the context of efforts to resume six-nation disarmament negotiations involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S.North Korea withdrew from those negotiations in April to protest international criticism of a rocket launch that other nations suspected was a test of long-range missile technology. It then conducted a nuclear test in May, drawing tough new U.N. sanctions on its weapons exports and financial dealings.But it has recently tried to reach out to Seoul and Washington. It freed detained American and South Korean citizens, pledged to resume suspended joint projects with South Korea, and also proposed talks with the U.S.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who has taken a hard line in dealing with North Korea since he took office last year, said Tuesday that the North is making these conciliatory gestures because it feels the pain of U.N. sanctions. Lee also said that Pyongyang has shown no sign of giving up its nuclear weapons.On Wednesday, Hyun echoed Lee's remarks, saying the North is not showing any fundamental change in its position.The government hopes North Korea will normalize relations with the U.S. and Japan and seek economic cooperation,Hyun told the forum.But the North cannot achieve them without giving up nuclear weapons.Also Wednesday, the two Koreas agreed to raise the monthly wages of some 40,000 North Korean workers employed by South Korean companies operating at a joint complex in the North's border city of Kaesong, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.The two sides increased the minimum monthly salary by 5 percent to $57, Lee said.The industrial complex, which combines South Korean capital and technology with cheap North Korean labor, is the most prominent symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.
Also Wednesday, China, the host of the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament, said its president, Hu Jintao, sent a special envoy to Pyongyang.The envoy, Dai Bingguo, met with North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju and discussed bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern,China's official Xinhua News Agency said, without elaborating.Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington and Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.
