“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
(Philippians 4:6)

Be Careful For Nothing

Dear Friends,

Greetings! The word “careful” in the Kings James Version of the Bible is in many other versions of the Bible translated as either 'anxious' or 'worry'. The dictionary describes 'anxious' as “experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome”.

We are instructed in Philippians, chapter four, that we are not to be either worried or anxious concerning either current or future events.

Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, are chapters we have quoted from several times in the past, which you may recall concerning the End Times.

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Matthew 24:3

It is obvious that the prophecies in the book of Matthew could not have been for Jesus' early disciples because they were not going to be here to experience the end of the age. The prophecies could only apply to us “upon whom the ends of the world are come”.

1 Corinthians 10:11.

There are verses in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 which we sometimes do not give the emphasis that they deserve. For instance in Matthew 24, verse six, Jesus said; “Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled.”

In Mark 13, verse seven, Jesus is again quoted as saying; “Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled.”

And in Luke 21, verse nine, Jesus again tells us; “But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified.”

Now, this is not just good advice, or a mindset we may want to consider adapting. This is a direct statement from Jesus Christ on how we are to behave and react when we see these End Time events occur.

How are we to have this mentality of faith? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 We should be reading, studying, and memorizing the Word of God.

If you would like a small booklet of key verses that will help you in difficult times, just write us via the web site and we will be happy to send you one.

Have a great worry free week ahead.

***

WND

TEEN STUNS ANTI-PRAYER SCHOOL WITH 'LORD'S PRAYER'

Crowd goes wild when defiant valedictorian credits God at graduation

CHELSEA SCHILLING

Published: June 5, 2013

In unapologetic defiance of a South Carolina school district's ban on prayer at graduation ceremonies, valedictorian Roy Costner IV shredded his approved speech and rocked the crowd at his high-school commencement - with a reading of the "Lord's Prayer."

The audience went wild June 1 when Costner surprised attendees of the Liberty High School graduation at Clemson's Littlejohn Colliseum with his tribute to the Almighty.

Immediately after he took the stage, Costner explained to the crowd that his original graduation speech had been pre-approved by the administration - but he didn't proceed as they had planned.

"Those that we look up to, they have helped carve and mold us into the young adults that we are today," he said. "I'm so glad that both of my parents led me to the Lord at a young age.

Costner continued, "And I think most of you will understand when I say, 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done: on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us for our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen."

The crowd roared with support.

According to the Christian News Network, Pickens County School District spokesman John Eby said the district has been under attack by anti-prayer activist groups.

"From the ACLU sending FOIA requests to every district in the state this year after the Chesterfield County case, then the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent us a complaint about religion at board meetings and some other issues as well," Eby said.

So the district banned prayer at all school functions, allowing only a moment of silence at graduations. But Costner refused to succumb to atheist threats and harassment.

According to the Washington Times, Eby said no disciplinary action will be taken against Costner.

"The bottom line is, we're not going to punish students for expressing their religious faiths," he said. "He's a graduate now. There's nothing we can do about it, even if we wanted to."

***

The Huffington Post

Gabriele Amorth, Catholic Priest And Exorcist, Says He's Done More Than 160,000 Exorcisms

by Ron Dicker

Posted: 05/31/2013

A Catholic priest claims to have performed more than 160,000 exorcisms.

Now Father Gabriele Amorth wants help from his boss to banish the demons, so he's asking Pope Francis to bestow exorcism privileges to every priest with proper training, The Sunday Times of London reports.

"There's a huge demand," Amorth told the newspaper.

The 88-year-old Amorth, whom the Times called the church's "leading exorcist," said he performed up to 20 exorcisms a day at his peak but has cut back to four a day. The priest said he was inspired to seek the pope's ear when he viewed the pontiff's alleged exorcism of a child after a recent Mass in St. Peter's Square.

According to a TV channel run by Italian bishops, video of the pontiff laying his hands on a disabled young man's head represented an attempt to rid him of the devil.

While the Vatican dismissed the gesture as Francis simply praying for a sick person, the exorcist interpretation has invited more speculation about the Catholic leader, whom an Associated Press report asserted was obsessed with Satan.

Last week the Catholic archdiocese of Madrid reinforced the claim of exorcist leader Amorth that more demon fighters were needed. It said that the one exorcist it had was not enough and planned to train more.

The AP noted that only a bishop-authorized priest can do an exorcism, which involves blessings and "an interrogation of the devil."

***

Hearing On UFO Disclosure

Posted by lamarzulli

June 3, 2013

Commentary & Analysis

by

L. A. Marzulli

The Citizens Hearing on Disclosure, happened a few weeks ago. The event took place in Washington DC and was attended by Ex military personal, congressmen and women, law enforcement, scientist, former astronauts, government officials, and researchers. Dr. Roger Leir, who has been in all of the Watchers films was present as well.

The UFO conversation is being dominated by those who hold to the opinion that the phenomena is truly extraterrestrial in origin. In other words what is manifesting are beings and entities from lets say, Zeta Reticuli or the Pleiades star system. However, there is another explanation that is not being considered and it is the interdimensional hypothesis, which states that these beings are not aliens from other worlds but are powerful entities who, in the words of Jacque Valle, are messengers of deception.

Most of the church is ignorant of what transpired in Washington a few weeks ago, and won't address the phenomena at all. This is unfortunate and in my opinion shows a lack of discernment as well as living with a head-in-the-sand mentality.

There is a cat and mouse game that continues with UFO sightings. They are witnessed, photographed, filmed and seen by thousands of people and the numbers are growing. Yet, for some reason most Christians won't address the phenomena. We are the folks who believe in the virgin birth, two gold coins appearing in fishes mouths, talking donkey's, floating ax heads, staffs which turn into serpents, men who walk on water, rocks that gush water, water turned into wine and finally a dead man rising from a  tomb three days after he died! With that in mind why is it that the church can't seem to cope with the UFO phenomena? We should be at the vanguard not the rear.

UFOs are real, burgeoning and NOT going away and as I have stated before, I believe this is the coming great deception that 2nd Thessalonians speaks of. There will be an apostasy, (The Greek word is Apostasia, which means apostasy) an event which causes men and women to depart -- not the rapture --from what they once believed in.

Look at the picture above. What will you do if you walk out of your house and see that?  How will you react? Will you rebuke first and ask questions later, or will you be overwhelmed by what you are seeing. Will you believe the lie that will be told, that these beings created us, genetically manipulated us, started our civilizations and religions and now, at this critical juncture in history, they have returned to usher us into a time of peace, prosperity, and knowledge.

It's coming folks and those who were gathered in Washington several weeks ago are well aware that disclosure of the UFO presence is only a matter of time.

When I interviewed Cris Putnam on Acceleration Radio last week, he made it clear that the Vatican is well aware of the so-called Alien presence and in fact are awaiting and alien saviour to come.

In closing todays post: Jesus will return to earth to set up his kingdom. So what does that have to do with the UFO phenomena? Everything! He comes here not to some other planet. It would appear, according to the Bible, that earth is unique in the universe for nowhere is there a mention of any other life out there, no matter how much we speculate about it. In fact according to Chuck Missler and others the entire universe may be some sort of holographic construct, with error correcting software embedded in the very fabric of matter. (I don't pretend to understand that for a minute!)

There is a cosmic war going on and I believe our planet is at the center of that war. It is being waged in an unseen dimension but from time to time spills out onto our own planet. Are these UFOs manifestations of that war?  When the Fallen One is cast to earth during the big eviction in the second heaven, is that when full "disclosure" happens, as at that point he has lost the ability to go between dimensions?

In my opinion the UFO phenomena is supernatural and is one of total deception.  No one that I have ever interviewed came away better person from encountering one.  The abduction of 5 year olds and probing their private parts is certainly a crime in every nation on the earth and yet these beings engage in this activity without a second thought to the boy or girl who now has a life long trauma to deal with.

I interviewed a man last week, who was 5 years old when they came and took him.  He now has an implant in his leg.  He has been what is termed a frequent flyer -- a person who is abducted many times -- and after decades is finally coming forward to seek help. We X-rayed the implant and will continue our testing on it and then in the near future conduct its removal. The deception is here, the breeding program is real, we are in the days of Noah.

What has been written will come to pass. What has been foretold will unfold.

(For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12)

***

Full Article

WILL VATICAN DECLARATION OF AN ALIEN SAVIOR SPARK A RELIGIOUS WAR?

WRITTEN BY DR MICHAEL SALLA

JUNE 3, 2013. POSTED IN RELIGION

Exovaticana is both an informative and dangerous book. Informative insofar as the authors, Chris Putnam and Thomas Horn, provide extensive scholarship into the history of the Catholic Church and its evolving position on extraterrestrial life. They claim that the Catholic Church has begun a global dialogue on extraterrestrial life where Pope Francis I will ultimately disclose the former’s existence to the world. Exovaticana is dangerous insofar as Putnam and Horn undergird it with some powerful religious prejudices about the motivations of alien visitors to our world. They claim that biblical scripture is a solid foundation for understanding that aliens are demonic entities who destructively intervened in human history, and are about to return and do so again. In contrast, according to Putnam and Horn, Pope Francis I is preparing to lead the Catholic Church to embrace the returning/visiting aliens as “brothers in Christ” – reflective of the 1950s and 1960s contactee reports of benevolent “space brothers.” Putnam’s and Horn’s Exovaticana portends a future religious war between those accepting visiting extraterrestrials as “brothers in Christ” and those believing them to be returning demons about to enslave us.

(Interesting that the debate is not over whether aliens exist, but as to what is their intent.)

***

WND

SYRIAN REBELS TO CHRISTIANS: FLEE OR DIE!

Report documents strategy by Muslims to impose religious law on nation

BOB UNRUH

Published: June 5, 2013

A new report from a ministry worker who visited a remnant of Syria's Christian community confirms the worst: Rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad for control are imposing Islamic law, giving Christians the choice to flee or die.

The report is from the Religious Freedom Coalition, the faith-based organization run by William J. Murray, author of "My Life Without God."

Murray explained that the report on persecution of Christians in Syria by jihadists was by Martin Janssen, who visited Amman, Jordan, for a prayer walk held for two Syrian church leaders kidnapped by Syrian rebels, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim.

The report, in Dutch, was translated by Mark Durie, an Anglican vicar in Melbourne, Australia, and an associate fellow at the Middle Eastern Forum.

After the prayer walk, Syrian Christian refugees told Janssen they had been attacked by the rebels fighting in Syria, where Christians had been allowed to worship and live under Assad's regime.

The report comes after Republican Sen. John McCain's recent trip to Syria, where he was photographed with two men who, according to Beirut news reports, were involved in kidnapping people from Lebanon just months ago.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., criticized McCain, noting that the "pro-Western people" he visited weren't well vetted.

Durie said the mandate to Christians by the rebels, some of whom have been linked to al-Qaida, is based on the Quran.

"The Christian residents were offered four choices: 1. renounce the 'idolatry' of Christianity and convert to Islam; 2. pay a heavy tribute to the Muslims for the privilege of keeping their heads and their Christian faith (this tribute is known as jizya); 3. be killed; 4. flee for their lives, leaving all their belongings behind."

Durie said some Christians "were killed, some fled, some tried to pay the jizya and found it too heavy a burden to bear after the rebels kept increasing the amount they had to pay, and some were unable to flee or pay, so they converted to Islam to save themselves."

"The scenario reported by Syrian refugees is a re-enactment of the historic fate of Christians across the Middle East," he said. "The Muslim historian Al-Tabari reported that when the Caliph Umar conquered Syria, he gave the following command to his armies: 'Summon the [conquered] people to Allah; those who respond unto your call, accept it [their conversion to Islam] from them, but those who refuse must pay the jizya out of humiliation and lowliness. If they refuse this, it is the sword without leniency.'"

Durie explained Umar was referencing the Quran, which states: "Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the jizya readily, being brought low."

Durie said the policy of subjugating Christians under the yoke of jizya taxation was also based on the teaching of Muhammad who said:

Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. - Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war ... - When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, - invite them to three courses of action. - If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold - yourself from doing them any harm. - Invite them to (accept) Islam; - if they respond to you, accept it from them - and desist from fighting against them .... - If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the jizya. - If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. - If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them." - (Sahih Muslim. The Book of Jihad and Expedition. [Kitab al-Jihad wa'l-Siyar])

Janssen's reported the accounts he was given by Syrian Christians:

Jamil [an elderly man] lived in a village near Idlib where 30 Christian families had always lived peacefully alongside some 200 Sunni families. That changed dramatically in the summer of 2012. One Friday trucks appeared in the village with heavily armed and bearded strangers who did not know anyone in the village. They began to drive through the village with a loud speaker broadcasting the message that their village was now part of an Islamic emirate and Muslim women were henceforth to dress in accordance with the provisions of the Islamic Shariah. Christians were given four choices. They could convert to Islam and renounce their 'idolatry.' If they refused they were allowed to remain on condition that they pay the jizya. This is a special tax that non-Muslims under Islamic law must pay for 'protection.' For Christians who refused there remained two choices: they could leave behind all their property or they would be slain. The word that was used for the latter in Arabic (dhabaha) refers to the ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals.

Janssen said he asked the Syrian Christian how the 30 Christian families in his village had fared.

"He replied that a number of families - including his own family - had initially opted to pay jizya. When the leader of the armed militia in their village, however, noticed that they were able to do this, the amount kept increasing in the following months."

As with almost every Christian family in the village, he eventually fled.

"His land and farm were lost. Some Christian families in his village who were unable to escape or pay the jizya converted to Islam," Janssen said. "To his knowledge, there were no Christians killed in his village, but he had heard other stories from a neighboring village where only three Christian families survived. They were all murdered in the middle of the night."

Janssen also reported the account of Miryam, an Armenian middle-aged woman from Aleppo, Syria.

"Miryam looked at me thoughtfully and said something which remained constantly with me over the following days," he said. "She told me that she had learned last year that a human being has a tremendous ability to adapt to the most difficult conditions. They had to learn to live in Aleppo without water or food, and sometimes no electricity for days on end. They even had to learn to live with the sounds of explosives and gunfire that tore them from sleep at night."

Nevertheless, Janssen continued, "what a man cannot live with is the constant terror that paralyzes him completely: the daily fear that the bus transporting children to their school would be targeted by a suicide attack; the psychological fear that comes over you on Sunday when you go to church knowing there are groups active in your neighborhood who consider it a religious duty to kill as many Christians as possible; and finally the situation that at night you do not dare to go to bed because you have received reports about acquaintances and relatives who were surprised by a rocket that crashed out of nowhere onto their property while they slept; or what can happen when you spend hours in a long line at one of the few bakeries that still make bread."

"Indeed Miryam told me that she never could have imagined that even the simplest of life's activities had suddenly become dangerous."

(These are the rebels the US, UK, etc. are backing.)

***

CNN

Syrian regime takes over crucial city of Qusayr; rebels say war's not over

By Saad Abedine and Holly Yan

June 5, 2013 . This gallery contains the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Hezbollah was essential in helping the Syrian regime seize Qusayr, dissidents say

(CNN) -- Syrian government forces seized control Wednesday of the strategically important border city of Qusayr, which had been the site of nearly seven weeks of fighting.

State-run TV credited an offensive "that led to the annihilation of a number of terrorists," the government's term for rebels.

"Our heroic armed forces are always determined to confront any aggression that our beloved homeland may face in the future," an anchor on Syrian state television said.

The Syrian opposition acknowledged the report.

"Yes, dear brethren, this is a battle that we lost, but the war is not over yet," said the Homs Revolution News, which is associated with the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist network.

One dissident group said Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia backed by Iran and the Syria government, was instrumental in the siege's success.

"Hezbollah fighters took control of Al-Qusayr city after the regime forces covered their night attack with heavy bombing that was carried out by the regime armed forces since last night and continued into the morning," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The loss of what had been a rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border represents a blow to rebels' efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and may portend heightened sectarian tensions.

That echoes what rebels have been predicting for weeks: that a government takeover of Qusayr could lead to a new level of sectarian warfare between Sunnis -- who dominate Syria's population -- and Shiites and Alawites. Al-Assad's family, which has ruled Syria for 42 years, belongs to the Alawite sect.

"If Qusayr falls at the hands of the regime, there is no way to stop the acts of reprisal, and that retribution will (reach) another level," rebel spokesman Col. Abdul Hamid Zakaria told the Al-Arabiya TV network last month.

"This will lead to Shiite and Alawite towns to be completely wiped out of the map."

Indeed, video appeared Wednesday on YouTube showing what the poster said were Free Syrian Army fighters launching rockets at two Shiite villages, inhabited mostly by Assad loyalists, in an overwhelmingly Sunni region in the northeastern province of Aleppo.

Last week, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris of the rebel Free Syrian Army asked the public to "excuse (the) FSA" for any retaliation.

"We are being subjected to genocide conducted by Hezbollah," he told Al Arabiya.

France has said that Hezbollah sent as many as 4,000 fighters to Syria to bolster al-Assad's forces. The Lebanese militants "produced major results," particularly in the battle for Qusayr, said Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics.

Qusayr's importance

Qusayr's location has made it a crucial battleground for regime and rebel forces.

The government's control of the city helps secure a critical link between the capital, Damascus, and Alawite strongholds such as Tartus and Latakia, said Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.

He said the rebels' loss will likely spark a rise in cross-border attacks on Shiite towns in eastern Lebanon, and possible attacks on Hezbollah forces farther inside the country.

FSA Gen. Salim Idriss has said that the Syrian rebels will hunt Hezbollah down in Lebanon and "in hell, if they have to," over the Shiite militia intervention in Syria.

Nasrallah's deputy, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, responded by saying that his party can protect its Shiite supporters in Lebanon and they "will punish the murderers who attack Lebanon's sovereignty."

A Syrian helicopter fired five missiles into Kherbet Dawoud, near the Lebanese town of Arsal, which is largely Sunni and has served as a refuge for a number of people who fled Qusayr; no casualties were reported, the Lebanese Army Information Directorate said Wednesday.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that clashes were occurring in Tripoli between residents of rival areas of the city -- the Bab-al-Tibbaneh neighborhood, which is dominated by Sunnis, and the adjacent Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, which is dominated by Alawites.

"The Syrian conflict is no longer an internal struggle between Assad and the internal opposition," Gerges said. "It's an open-ended war by proxy -- Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, plus Russia and the United States."

Shortly after the Syrian regime seized Qusayr, Iran sent congratulations.

Stark choice for residents

More than 70,000 Syrians -- most of them civilians -- have been killed in the two-year conflict, according to the United Nations.

In Qusayr alone, about 1,500 casualties are reported to be in need of medical care. Some residents escaped the violence by digging holes and hiding in them, refugees told U.N. staff.

Most of those who fled Qusayr to Lebanon are women and children.

"Those we have spoken to say it is unsafe to flee with men, who are at heightened risk of being arrested or killed at checkpoints along the way," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N.'s refugee agency.

Fleming said one woman told the agency that Qusayr residents face a stark choice: "You leave and risk being killed ... or you stay and face a certainty of being killed."

But thousands of residents remain in Qusayr, their futures unknown.

***

world tribune.com

Surge by Iran-Hizbullah-Syria axis stuns Israeli intelligence community

TEL AVIV — Israel’s leadership is concerned about what  the defeat of Sunni rebels by Syrian President Bashar
Assad would mean.

Officials said Israel’s intelligence community was closely following the
Assad offensive against Sunni rebels in the spring of 2013. They said the
community envisioned that a victorious Assad could be emboldened to launch
hostilities against Israel in coordination with Iran and Hizbullah.

“Assad is not going to sit quietly if he wins,” an official said. “He
will take revenge against anybody he feels helped the rebels, and he could
attack us to restore his radical credentials.”

Officials said the community was stunned by the rapid advance of Assad’s
military, backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hizbullah. They said the offensive marked a significant improvement in the capabilities of the Syrian military as well as its coordination with foreign allies.

“If they [Assad forces] continue at this rate, they can wrap up the war
within a few weeks, and leave the north for a later stage,” the official
said.

The community has assessed that the war cemented the coordination
between Assad, IRGC and Hizbullah. Officials said Israel’s military and
intelligence agencies did not rule out that Iran and Syria would form
permanent joint units for war against Israel or Jordan.

On June 6, a Syrian parliamentarian regarded as close to Assad warned
that Damascus was ready for war with Israel. Ahmed Shalash said the Syrian
military has been ordered to fire missiles the next time Israeli warplanes
enters Syrian air space.

“The next time Israel dares to violate Syrian air space, there are
orders to retaliate with missile fire without referring back to the
leadership,” Shalash was quoted as saying by the Saudi-owned Al
Arabiya satellite channel. “They want an open war — let there be an open
war. We don’t have a problem with that.”

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has sought to assuage concerns
over an Assad victory. Ya’alon, a former military chief of staff, said that
as of early June, the Assad regime was in control of no more than 40 percent
of Syria.

But other officials sounded less sanguine. They said the rebels were
collapsing amid a short of equipment, weapons and feuds among commanders.

“Those fighting against Assad are mostly foreigners, paid by Qatar and
Saudi Arabia,” another official said. “There is not much left of the
indigenous rebel movement.”

***

CNN

Top U.S. intel official challenges reports that spy agencies mined Internet data

By Greg Botelho and Matt Smith

June 7, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Director of national intelligence says the reports have "numerous inaccuracies"

NEW: He stresses that, per the law, U.S. citizens and people in U.S. can't be targeted

Washington Post, Guardian report U.S. agencies tapped the servers of tech giants

Facebook, Apple, others say they don't allow direct access to their servers

(CNN) -- America's top intelligence official on Thursday night challenged news reports claiming Facebook posts, Gmail messages and more have been intercepted for years in a vast data-mining operation, saying the reports "contain numerous inaccuracies."

The Guardian, a British newspaper, and the Washington Post reported Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies had access to the central servers of nine of the country's biggest technology firms including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo and Facebook.

The Post reported the program -- called PRISM -- underwent "exponential growth" since its founding in 2007. In fact, the newspaper said the program has become the leading source of raw material for the National Security Agency, the secretive U.S. intelligence operation that monitors electronic communications.

Reports: Slides outline data-mining program

Yet several tech giants whose servers were reportedly ensnared in the program denied any knowledge of it Thursday.

And James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, questioned the Guardian and Post articles in a statement Thursday night.

He referred to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which he noted was recently reauthorized by Congress -- one of the bodies, along with the executive branch and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, with oversight over aspects of intelligence gathering.

Section 702, Clapper added, "is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States."

"It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States," he said in his statement.

While he made no mention of data mining, Clapper did defend the American intelligence effort generally, saying, "Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats."

Clapper also called out the person or people behind "the unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program," saying such apparent leaks are "reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans."

The Post reported that its reporters had been provided a detailed briefing presentation document on the PRISM program.

The program has been running since 2007 and has undergone "exponential growth" since then, the Post reported. It is now the leading source of raw material for the National Security Agency, the secretive U.S. intelligence operation that monitors electronic communications.

According to a briefing slide published by the Guardian, PRISM began with data from Microsoft in 2007. The program began collecting data from Yahoo in 2008 and from Google, Facebook and the message system PalTalk in 2009. YouTube became a source in 2010, Skype and AOL in 2011 and Apple in late 2012, the slide claims.

The NSA declined to comment, but several companies -- many of them using similar language -- denied Thursday any knowledge of such a program.

Microsoft, for instance, said in a statement it only provides user data when legally required and for specific accounts -- adding that "if the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don't participate in it."

Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said the social media giant works to "carefully scrutinize any ... request for compliance" and does not give government agencies "direct access" to its servers.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling offered a similar response -- saying Apple hands over information only when a government agency gets a court order. Dowling added that his company has never heard of PRISM.

"We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully," a Google spokesman said in response to the stories. "From time to time, people allege that we have created a government 'back door' into our systems, but Google does not have a 'back door' for the government to access private user data."

Even with these denials and Clapper's defense, President Barack Obama's administration has come under growing scrutiny in recent days over his record on balancing citizens' right to privacy and the government's efforts to combat terrorism.

That includes news, first reported on Wednesday by the Guardian and commented on by U.S. politicians, that the FBI and National Security Agency have been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans -- specifically Verizon customers and perhaps others -- over a several year period.

Days after taking office in 2009, Obama vowed, "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." But on Thursday, the left-leaning Huffington Post conflated Obama with his predecessor George W. Bush while a New York Times editorial said "the administration has now lost all credibility" when it comes to overreaching in the name of fighting terrorism.

"Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it," the Times' editorial said.

***

Asia Times (Edited from longer article.)

Erdogan risks the 'must go' path

By Pepe Escobar

Is this the Turkish Spring? No, at least not yet. Is Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan the new Mubarak? No, at least not yet.

History keeps warning us it takes just a spark to light a political bonfire. The recent spark in Istanbul was provided by a small group of very young environmentalists organizing a peaceful sit-in, Occupy-style, in Taksim Square to protest the planned destruction of one of the city center's few remaining public green spaces, Gezi park.

Gezi park's destruction follows a globally tested neoliberalism racket; it will be replaced by a simulacrum - in this case a replica of the Ottoman Artillery Barracks - housing, what else, yet another shopping mall. It's crucial to note that the mayor of Istanbul, also from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), owns a retail chain that will make a killing out of the mall. And the man holding the contract for this "redevelopment" is no less than Erdogan's son-in-law.

Predictably harsh police repression led to the protesters being joined by top cadres from Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). And sooner rather than later, the Taksim Square green theme morphed into a Tahrir square-style "Down with the dictator".

By Saturday, Taksim Square was crammed with tens of thousands of people; a multitude had walked across the Bosphorus Bridge from the Asian side of Istanbul, banging pots and pans Argentina 2002 cacerolazo-style, openly trampling the law against pedestrians crossing the bridge. Police duly upgraded the repression to water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas.

The behavior of a mostly cowed Turkish broadcast media was predictably appalling - perhaps not surprising when 76 journalists are in jail accused of supporting "terror" and other unspecified "crimes". This may also be interpreted as a reflection of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization hold over a precious ally - as in "OK, smash a few skulls, but don't kill anybody".

Print media at least exhibited some redeeming features. Hurriyet - a newspaper that used to exercise its critical faculties - recovered some of its dignity by printing headlines such as "Erdogan no longer almighty". Zaman - which is part of the network of the moderate Islamist Gulen movement - showed how worried it is with Erdogan and the AKP's overwhelming power, with editorials condemning his "excessive" behavior and supporting the protesters.

Meanwhile, in the US and the European Union, Ankara has not really been condemned - just the usual, vapid, "concern". Turkey after all is the ultimate CNN poster country; it's totally "on message" in its brand of autocracy-enabling neoliberalism (as are the Gulf Cooperation Council petro-monarchies). To be violently condemned - and threatened with strikes - is the "privilege" of Iran and Syria.

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The European Union Times

Russia Warns Obama: Monsanto

Posted: May 28th, 2013 

[Russia Warns Obama: Monsanto]

The shocking minutes relating to President Putin's meeting this past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders' "extreme outrage" over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing "bee apocalypse" that the Kremlin warns "will most certainly" lead to world war. According to these minutes, released in the Kremlin today by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, of the Russian Federation (MNRE), Putin was so incensed over the Obama regimes refusal to discuss this grave matter that he refused for three hours to even meet with Kerry, who had traveled to Moscow on a scheduled diplomatic mission, but then relented so as to not cause an even greater rift between these two nations.

At the center of this dispute between Russia and the US, this MNRE report says, is the "undisputed evidence" that a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically related to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, are destroying our planets bee population, and which if left unchecked

could destroy our world's ability to grow enough food to feed its population.

So grave has this situation become, the MNRE reports, the full European Commission (EC) this past week instituted a two-year precautionary ban (set to begin on 1 December 2013) on these "bee killing" pesticides following the lead of Switzerland, France, Italy, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine, all of whom had previously banned these most dangerous of genetically altered organisms from being used on the continent.

Two of the most feared neonicotinoids being banned are Actara and Cruiser made by the Swiss global bio-tech seed and pesticide giant Syngenta AG which employs over 26,000 people in over 90 countries and ranks third in total global sales in the commercial agricultural seeds market.

Important to note, this report says, is that Syngenta, (along with bio-tech giants Monsanto, Bayer, Dow and DuPont), now control nearly 100% of the global market for genetically modified pesticides, plants and seeds.

Also, to note about Syngenta, this report continues, is that, in 2012, it was criminally charged, in Germany, for concealing the fact that its genetically modified corn killed cattle, and settled a class-action lawsuit in the US for $105 million after it was discovered they had contaminated the drinking supply of some 52 million Americans in more than 2,000 water districts with its "gender-bending" herbicide Atrazine.

"To how staggeringly frightful this situation is", [the MNRE says], can be seen in the report issued this past March by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) wherein they warned our whole planet is in danger, and as we can, in part, read:--- 'As part of a study on impacts from the world's most widely used class of insecticides, nicotine-like chemicals called neonicotinoids, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called for a ban on their use, as seed treatments and for the suspension of all applications pending an independent review of the products' effects on birds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife'".

"It is clear that these chemicals have the potential to affect entire food chains. The environmental persistence of the neonicotinoids, their propensity for runoff and for groundwater infiltration, and their

cumulative and largely irreversible mode of action in invertebrates raise significant environmental concerns," said Cynthia Palmer, co-author of the report and Pesticides Program Manager for ABC, one of the nation's leading bird conservation organizations.

ABC commissioned world renowned environmental toxicologist Dr. Pierre Mineau to conduct the research. The 100-page report, "The Impact of the Nation's Most Widely Used Insecticides on Birds," reviews 200 studies on neonicotinoids including industry research obtained through the US Freedom of Information Act. The report evaluates the toxicological risk to birds and aquatic systems and includes extensive comparisons with the older pesticides that the neonicotinoids have replaced. The assessment concludes that the neonicotinoids are lethal to birds and to the aquatic systems on which they depend.

"A single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird," Palmer said. "Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the oldest neonicotinoid -- called imidacloprid -- can fatally poison a bird.

And as little as 1/10th of a neonicotinoid-coated corn seed per day during egg-laying season is all that is needed to affect reproduction."

The new report concludes that neonicotinoid contamination levels in both surface- and ground water in the United States and around the world are already beyond the threshold found to kill many aquatic invertebrates."

Quickly following this damning report, the MRNE says, a large group of group of American beekeepers and environmentalists sued the Obama regime over the continued use of these neonicotinoids stating: "We are taking the EPA to court for its failure to protect bees from pesticides.

Despite our best efforts to warn the agency about the problems posed by neonicotinoids, the EPA continued to ignore the clear warning signs of an agricultural system in trouble."

And to how bad the world's agricultural system has really become due to these genetically modified plants, pesticides and seeds, this report continues, can be seen by the EC's proposal this past week, following their ban on neonicotinoids, in which they plan to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with the European Union, and as we can, in part, read: "Europe is rushing towards the good ol days circa 1939, 40... A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to "grow, reproduce or trade" any vegetable seeds that have not been "tested, approved and accepted" by a new EU bureaucracy named the "EU Plant Variety Agency."

It's called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law."

This MRNE report points out that even though this EC action may appear draconian, it is nevertheless necessary in order to purge the continent from continued contamination of these genetically bred "seed monstrosities."

Most perplexing in all of this, the MRNE says, and which led to Putin's anger at the US, has been the Obama regimes efforts to protect pesticide-producer profits over the catastrophic damaging being done to the environment, and as the Guardian News Service detailed in their 2 May article titled "US rejects EU claim of insecticide as prime reason for bee colony collapse" and which, in part, says: "The European Union voted this week for a two-year ban on a class of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, that has been associated with the bees' collapse. The US government report, in contrast, found multiple causes for the collapse of the honeybees."

To the "truer" reason for the Obama regimes protection of these bio-tech giants destroying our world, the MRNE says, can be viewed in the report titled "How did Barack Obama become Monsanto's man in Washington?" and which, in part, says: "After his victory in the 2008 election, Obama filled key posts with Monsanto people, in federal agencies that wield tremendous force in food issues, the USDA and the FDA: At the USDA, as the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center. As deputy commissioner of the FDA, the new food-safety-issues czar, the infamous Michael Taylor, former vice-president for public policy for Monsanto. Taylor had been instrumental in getting approval for Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone."

Even worse, after Russia suspended the import and use of an Monsanto genetically modified corn following a study suggesting a link to breast cancer and organ damage this past September, the Russia Today News Service reported on the Obama regimes response: "The US House of Representatives quietly passed a last-minute addition to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill for 2013 last week - including a provision protecting genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks.

The rider, which is officially known as the Farmer Assurance Provision, has been derided by opponents of biotech lobbying as the "Monsanto Protection Act," as it would strip federal courts of the authority to immediately halt the planting and sale of genetically modified (GMO) seed crop regardless of any consumer health concerns.

The provision, also decried as a "biotech rider," should have gone through the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees for review. Instead, no hearings were held, and the piece was evidently unknown to most

Democrats (who hold the majority in the Senate) prior to its approval as part of HR 993, the short-term funding bill that was approved to avoid a federal government shutdown."

On 26 March, Obama quietly signed this "Monsanto Protection Act" into law thus ensuring the American people have no recourse against this bio-tech giant as they fall ill by the tens of millions, and many millions will surely end up dying in what this MRNE report calls the greatest agricultural apocalypse in human history as over 90% of feral (wild) bee population in the US has already died out, and up to 80% of domestic bees have died out too.

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The Huffington Post

Fake Shops Hide Northern Ireland's Struggling Economy Ahead Of G8 Summit

By Harry Bradford

Posted: 06/01/2013

City councils are attempting to hide the level of economic decay suffered in some Northern Ireland towns by painting fake storefronts on closed-down businesses in anticipation of the G8 economic summit this month.

Around 300,000 pounds of government funds have been invested on sprucing up more than 100 properties in the Northern Ireland county of Fermanagh, which will host the international G8 economic summit June 17-18, The Irish Times reports. Closed storefronts have been painted to resemble working stores, complete with doors that appear open but don't function and two-dimensional goods hanging from the windows, all in an effort to hide the dereliction caused by the economic struggles of the past few years, according to the Irish Times.

"We want to present the county as best as we can and promote it in terms of industry and tourism," local Council Chief Executive Brendan Hegarty told The Irish Times, calling the project a "phenomenal opportunity."

But some locals view the superficial efforts as a wasteful attempt to hide real economic struggles. This particular area in Northern Ireland suffers higher child poverty rates than the rest of the country, ThinkProgress reports. Meanwhile, lost jobs and failed businesses in the fallout from the global financial crisis are recovering at a glacial pace -- economic growth in Northern Ireland is expected to remain under 0.5 percent through 2014, Belfast Telegraph reports.

"No one is fooled," Phil Flanagan, a former owner of a closed butcher shop which has now been papered over to appear as if it's still thriving, told The Telegrpah. "It is like when your mother-in-law is coming to visit and you give the house a tidy up."

Indeed, such attempts to hide harsh economic realities aren't new. In 2010, the U.K. town of North Tyneside painted nearly an entire street with decoy storefronts to hide the effects of recession, the BBC reports.

But not everyone in County Fermanagh views the fake shops negatively. The project has provided a much needed stimulus in the form of jobs for painters and construction workers, according to the BBC.

"The town looks fantastic, it's a good excuse for people to get doing work," one painter said.

(But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:13)

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[Viewer discretion advised.]

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Waking Times (Edited from longer article.)

Inventor of Rotavirus Vaccine Wants To End Parental Exemptions For School Vaccinations

By Dylan Charles

June 3, 2013

Public health officials are routinely failing to inform the public of their right to refuse vaccines in both school and work settings. Greater powers are at work to make mandatory vaccination policies which will allow officials to conduct childhood vaccinations without any parental consent at all. The inventor of the rotavirus vaccine wants all exemptions based on religious or philosophical grounds to end along with informed consent and the freedom to choose.

Paul A. Offit, MD is an American pediatrician who specializes in infectious disease and is also the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. He has stated:

"Children whose parents hold certain religious beliefs shouldn't be afforded less protection than other children. That the commonwealth has allowed children to die from measles, bacterial pneumonia, or leukemia in the name of religion is inexplicable. That it continues to allow such abuse in the face of recent deaths is unconscionable. ... should repeal its religious exemptions for medical neglect. Otherwise, children will continue to suffer and die needlessly."

Offit is a prime example of how mainstream medicine attempt to exert control and how those in positions of influence try to convince the public that the right to choose should not be an option.

Just a few years ago, the pharmaceutical industry, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control allocated millions of dollars in funding to establish vaccine clinics in public schools, causing a huge uproar from concerned parents.

The RAND Corporation, paid by Sanofi Pasteur, outlined how to turn schools into vaccine clinics, which critics claimed will inevitably poison children with multi-dose vaccines.

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CNN

Putin announces split: 'We have different lives'

By Pierre Meilhan and Alla Eshchenko

June 7, 2013

(CNN) -- Vladimir Putin's nearly 30-year marriage has ended, the Russian president and his wife told state-run television in a joint interview.

"This was our joint decision. Our marriage is over," Putin told Russia 24, standing next to Lyudmila Putin, in an interview shown Thursday. "We almost don't see each other. We have different lives."

Lyudmila Putin said the two share a love for their two adult children, but hinted life in the public eye took a toll.

"I don't like to be in public, and it's hard to take (airplane) flights," she said. "We love our children a lot, we are proud of them and see them all the time."

She said that she was grateful for her husband's support and called the split a "civilized divorce."

According to state-run news agency Ria Novosti, a presidential spokesman said divorce papers have not been drawn yet.

The announcement comes after longtime speculation about their relationship, RIA Novosti reported.

Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva in July 1983. Their children, Maria and Yekaterina, were born in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

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