"Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.
(Luke 21:28)
Lift Up Your Heads
Dear Friends,
Greetings. The world is a mess! There is no doubt about that. It seems that more and more people are coming to the realization that these are not normal times in which we are living. As we have said before, as times wax worse it only means that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer, and that "light" of course is Jesus! "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12)
When does Luke 21:28 tell us to lift up our heads?-- When the last seven years are over? Or when the tribulation is over? Or when we see Jesus coming in the clouds? No-- it is when these "Endtime Events" "begin to happen". Jesus doesn't want us looking down when we see the mess the world is in, because most of those in power are not seeking God's wisdom, but are instead listening to Satan or leaning to their own understanding.
"Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8-9) "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
We need to keep our heads lifted up because the day is coming when "He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more." (Micah 4:3)
And finally; "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)
WND
My stars! Is 2nd Coming of Jesus etched in night sky?
'The devil perverts everything God has. There's nothing wrong with biblical astronomy'
Posted: April 18, 2010
By Joe Kovacs
Is it possible the return of Jesus Christ to Earth has been foretold not only in the Bible, but also in the night sky since the creation of the universe?
The constellation known as Bo-otes, or "the Coming One," shows a man with a sickle coming to reap a harvest, and, according to some, is a heavenly sign predicting the return of Jesus to Earth.
A Christian minister who uses NASA tracking of solar and lunar eclipses in his teaching of the great event is now explaining how at least one constellation is an outright declaration of the "Second Coming."
In a new DVD series called "Studies in Our Hebrew Roots," Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., revisits what he and some others believe is the biblical plan of God on display in the physical heavens.
In his videotaped lectures, Biltz focuses on a star called Arcturus, which is mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Job: "Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." (Job 9:9)
If one were to consult a map of the night sky, Arcturus could be found in the "left knee" of a constellation called Bo-otes (often spelled Bootes), meaning "the Coming One," depicted as a warrior coming to harvest, according to Biltz, citing previous research by noted 19th century Bible scholar E.W. Bullinger who wrote "The Witness of the Stars."
Biltz explains the Hebrew word translated as "Arcturus" in Job comes from the same root word found in the Book of Joel discussing the return of Jesus, but is rendered in Joel 3:11 as "assemble."
"The word 'assemble' is the same word that is translated as 'Arcturus' in Job," he said. "So it means the same thing, to assemble, to come. And if you'll notice the word 'come' is 'bo,' which is the name of this constellation: 'Bo-otes.' So this constellation .... He's got a sickle in one hand and a spear in the other. This is a sign of the Messiah who says 'I'm coming.' That's what this constellation is all about, the Coming One. In Revelation it talks about He has a sickle in His hand."
The Book of Revelation states from the apostle John's perspective, "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. ... And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." (Revelation 14:14-16)
NASA says the afterglow of a 2008 gamma ray burst in the Bo-otes constellation is the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe.
Interestingly, on March 19, 2008, a powerful gamma ray burst detected by NASA's Swift satellite in the Bo-otes constellation shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye.
"It was a whopper," said Swift principal investigator Neil Gehrels of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This blows away every gamma ray burst we've seen so far."
NASA said the afterglow "was 2.5 million times more luminous than the most luminous supernova ever recorded, making it the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe."
The sheer brilliance of the event led some Christian analysts to suggest it was an indicator that Jesus would come back soon.
"I believe that this sign in the heavens points to the imminent return of Christ to judge His household," wrote Joseph Herrin of the Georgia-based Heart4God website. "We do live at the end of the age. It has been 6,000 years since Adam and 2,000 years since Christ first appeared. ... This sign in Bootes is another witness, and those who have set themselves apart to follow the Lord can anticipate what is to come."
Others, including Dr. T. L. Marshall of Community Bible Church in Brooksville, Fla., have been promoting the biblical study of the zodiac for years.
"The truth is that almost every ancient civilization stressed the importance of the zodiac," Marshall writes on zodiactruth.com. "But why? Is it just some ancient religion? The answer might surprise you! Are you ready for this? God drew the zodiac.
"God drew the lines in the night sky which connected just the right stars to form just the right pictures which, when taken all together, form just the right story of His incredible grace and mercy, and His amazing plan to save mankind from the curse of sin."
Total lunar eclipses often make the moon appear red
The constellation connection is just part of Biltz's message, as he also goes into an in-depth analysis of how God is signaling his followers through other sky phenomena, as WND first reported two years ago.
Biltz began focusing on the precise times of both solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes called "blood moons" since the moon often takes on a bloody color. He logged onto NASA's eclipse website which provides precision tracking of the celestial events. - - He noted a rare phenomenon of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad. - - He says during this century, tetrads occur at least six times, but what's interesting is that the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs between 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.
Regarding this rare cluster of eclipses in that one-year span, Biltz said: "The religious calendar starts with a total solar eclipse. And then two weeks later on Passover, you have a total lunar eclipse, followed by a solar eclipse on the Feast of Trumpets followed by another total lunar eclipse on Succoth all in 2015. Now is God trying to tell us something? Is He sending any signals? I almost feel like the coach on a baseball team, frantically [waving], 'Will you please steal the base?!'"
Biltz is careful, though, not to say that Jesus is definitely returning between 2014 and 2015.
"I'm not telling you what's gonna happen," he said. "I'm not gonna tell you this is the beginning, the middle, the end or anything of the tribulation. ... All I'm telling you, [is] you can put this in your own theological pipe and smoke it like you want. All I'm saying is God is sending some signals here."
Freedoms Phoenix
Second Coming Of Christ Is A Threat To World Peace According To War College Report -
In a sixty-one page report that he prepared as a monograph for a thesis at the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) and United States General Command and General Staff located at Leavenworth, Kansas, Major Brian L. Stuckert in no uncertain terms has declared that those who believe in "Dispensational Millennialism" (DM), i.e., the literal return of Jesus Christ to this earth to reign on His throne for 1,000 years, to be the enemies of America and totally unsuitable to serve in a leadership capacity in the U.S. military. In fact he even goes further than that. He clearly says that those with these kinds of religious beliefs, spawned by a literal interpretation of the scriptures, are an actual danger to world peace, and will in fact, if allowed to influence "public policy" via the military, bring America to total defeat in the world arena. This report was approved by several high ranking officers including Dr. Tim Challans, PhD., Monograph Director. Challans is a professor at SAMS, a West Point graduate, and the author of Awakening Warrior: Revolution in the Ethics of Warfare. In this book, he not only castigates America for dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also undermines the ethics of our military by writing that army chaplains "should get out of the ethics business in the military."
US Puts World On Fast Track To 'Great War'
By Gerald Celente
4-20-10
KINGSTON, NY, 20 April 2010 -The United States-initiated wars and punitive foreign policies intended to bring hostile regimes to heel, are guaranteed to escalate current wars while turning simmering conflicts into new wars.
The major premise of this Trends Journal® is that the US has put the world on a path that, if not diverted in time, will lead to the first "Great War" of the 21st century.
The "Great War" will not occur by spontaneous combustion. A deadly mix of incendiary policies, deliberate provocations, incessant warfare and widespread "collateral damage" (millions of dead civilians) has brought the world to the brink.
The combination of ingredients is verifiable, irrefutable and willfully concocted by mixologists in the laboratories of power: Presidents, Prime Ministers, Generals, Chief Executive Officers and International Financiers.
This consortium of mad political scientists, rabid war hawks and money junkies-pathologies masked by red-carpet trappings, medal-heavy chests and executive privileges-are leading the world to war.
But it is the mass of individuals who believe in them, and follow them, who will pay the price of war in both money and lives.
The Celente Solution: While the ingredients may all be in place, the outcome is not yet inevitable. The course of history can be changed. This issue of the Trends Journal® analyzes the destructive and incendiary actions and policies that are not being recognized for what they are, and explores the possibilities for averting the "Great War." For all its complexity, the choice is stark: Renaissance or Ruin.
While the world's grievous problems are ostensibly the mainstay of the world's media, to date, no mainstream source is warning about an impending global conflict.
Yahoo News
Army Disinvites Graham To Pentagon Prayer Day -
Evangelist Franklin Graham's invitation to speak at a Pentagon prayer service has been rescinded because his comments about Islam were inappropriate, the Army said Thursday. Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, in 2001 described Islam as evil. More recently, he has said he finds Islam offensive and wants Muslims to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins. Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said Graham's remarks were "not appropriate." "We're an all-inclusive military," Collins said. "We honor all faiths. ... Our message to our service and civilian work force is about the need for diversity and appreciation of all faiths." The Military Religious Freedom Foundation had raised the objection to Graham's appearance, citing his past remarks about Islam. Collins said earlier this week that the invitation to attend the National Day of Prayer event at the Pentagon wasn't from the military but from the Colorado-based National Day of Prayer Task Force, which works with the Pentagon chaplain's office on the prayer event. As co-honorary chair of the task force, Graham was expected to be the lead speaker at the May 6 Pentagon service.
From The Times
Pope urges faithful to do penance as calls for his removal gather force
Richard Owen, Rome
April 16, 2010
The Pope has urged Christians to "do penance" in the face of "world attacks" on the Church over the clerical abuse scandals.
At a Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Vatican for members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission the Pope, who turns 83 tomorrow and is to make a two-day visit to Malta at the weekend, said: "I have to say that we Christians, including in recent times, have often avoided the word penance, which seemed to us too harsh."
He added: "Now, under attack from the world, which talks to us of our sins, we can see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how necessary it is to do penance and thus recognise what is wrong in our lives". He said that "pardon and purification" were the keys to "renewal", which was "the work of divine mercy".
The Pope, who on Monday marks the fifth anniversary of his election, has been asked to meet victims of clerical abuse during his visit to Malta. He has himself been accused of protecting paedophile priests when he was Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982 and, later, as head of doctrine at the Vatican. The Vatican denies this.
Irish Central
Volcano linked to second coming of Christ, claims Irish 'visionary' Joe Coleman
By PATRICK COOPER , IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
April 19, 2010
"Visionary" Joe Coleman, holding cross, at Knock Shrine
Irish spiritual healer Joe Coleman says the Virgin Mary has been back in touch with him and revealed that the volcanic ash cloud currently covering Europe will get worse and is directly related to the second coming of Christ.
Coleman claims that the ash cloud is part of a series of events that will occur before Mary's next scheduled visit to Knock on May 11 at 2 p.m. local time.
Among the other things due to happen are 'crosses in the sky' that will be visible to thousands and "new moons that have never been seen before with the naked eye will be seen."
"I realize that by going public like this I am opening myself up to public ridicule and scorn. Personally I have been shocked by the messages and how strong they have become lately and it pains me to have to make these revelations. However, people will accept the truth of the messages I receive because they will see the proof with their own eyes very shortly," said Coleman. - - "Our Lady, the Blessed Mother of God, uses me simply as a channel. My job is not to convert. My job is to publish the messages. They are being given to the world (through me and, possibly, other visionaries) to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Christ on Earth. The period for preparation will be very short . The messages are not being given to frighten us but to give up ample warning us of the necessity to turn back to our faith in God. People have been given free will and it is up to them whether or not they want to believe in the messages or not.
"In the message I received on Sunday 18th April 2010, Our Lady, warns of a darker cloud across Europe. She also told me that God is extremely angry with the evil action of priests, bishops and cardinals in the Catholic Church and that, unless we convert back to our Faith in Ireland, we will not be able to redeem ourselves in the eyes of God at this very important time."
telegraph.co.uk
Proof that vulcanic ash comes from a Nordic god
By Jeremy Warner
April 16th, 2010
For those who doubt the veracity of my blog yesterday suggesting that the Icelanders had summued up some kind of Nordic god in revenge for Britain's use of strong armed tactics to extract compensation over the Icesave collapse, take a look at the following photograph.
Incredible it may seem, but taken by the Icelandic coast guard a few days back using special cameras, it shows the three main vents of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. If this is not the face of some fallen deity summoned up from the undeworld, I don't know what is.
Haaretz
Lieberman: Jerusalem is our eternal capital, it will never be divided
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the State of Israel and that it will never be divided - "neither directly nor indirectly."
Addressing a group of foreign diplomats at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, the foreign minister quoted a speech made by former prime minister Menachem Begin, explaining that Begin's remarks reflected the connection that Jews around the world feel toward Jerusalem - a connection that still exists today.
"Today," he said, "I stand before you in Jerusalem, and confirm Begin's words: the city will remain our capital and will never be divided."
The New York Times
Judge May Be Kept From Grandson's Bar Mitzvah
By BARRY BEARAK
April 16, 2010
JOHANNESBURG -- For the past few days, many South African Jews have concerned themselves with a question perhaps better put to Talmudic scholars: Is it ever right for protesters to keep a grandfather from his grandson's bar mitzvah?
That grandfather is Richard Goldstone, one of this nation's most eminent jurists and head of a United Nations investigation that said it found evidence of war crimes during Israel's invasion of Gaza. Many of his countrymen not only took issue with the findings, they called the judge a traitor who had sold out his Jewish brethren.
Next month, Judge Goldstone's grandson is to celebrate his bar mitzvah at Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, an Orthodox synagogue in Sandton, a Johannesburg suburb. Ordinarily, this would be nothing but a joyous event, signifying the boy's ascent into manhood.
But Jewish leaders here recently began to speak darkly among themselves of threatened disruptions to the ceremony. Their concerns were taken to the synagogue, and the anxieties of its leadership were then shared with the family.
In an e-mail message on Friday, Judge Goldstone, who is a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center, said, "Because of the threat of protests at my grandson's bar mitzvah, I agreed in discussion with leaders of the Sandton synagogue that in the interests of my grandson, I would not attend the services."
The source of those threats carries an air of mystery. The story was first reported in the South African Jewish Report. No one quoted in the article took responsibility for the threats or reliably pointed a finger elsewhere.
The South African Zionist Federation has been among the most vocal critics of the so-called Goldstone Report on the war in Gaza. On Friday, Moonyeen Castle, the chairwoman of the organization's Western Cape Council, said the anger at Judge Goldstone was so great that it would "result in an almost certain barrage of protesters" on the day of the celebration.
If so, the protesters may have to come from within the synagogue itself. Others would find that the large white building was accessible only by a single narrow street, and private security guards would allow congregants to enter through a zigzag course of yellow iron gates.
But whatever their source, the threats were evidently taken quite seriously. Several Jewish leaders stressed Friday that the decision ultimately rested with the family -- that no one had actually barred the judge from this happy event.
Warren Goldstein, the chief rabbi of South Africa, said he had been involved in discussions about the possible disruptions to the ceremony. A severe critic of the Goldstone Report, he has written that the United Nations has an "anti-Israel agenda," and that the investigation was "merely a cover for a political strategy of delegitimizing Israel."
But on Friday he issued a statement saying that he, like most involved, believed the judge should be allowed to attend: "It is simply a question of decency and compassion to the bar mitzvah boy not to ruin his day."
Judge Goldstone, 71, is certainly no grandpa retreating into retirement. After the end of apartheid, he served on South Africa's highest court until 2003. He was also the chief prosecutor for the United Nations' war crimes tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
In early 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council selected him to lead an investigation into possible violations of international law during the three weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009. He said he was "shocked, as a Jew" to be chosen.
The Goldstone Report, released last September, concluded that, based on the available evidence, both Israel and Hamas had taken actions amounting to war crimes. But the findings focused mostly on the Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel later said, "We face three major strategic challenges: the Iranian nuclear program, rockets aimed at our civilians and Goldstone."
Here in the judge's home country, many Jews suddenly viewed him as a heretic. He was accused of faulty reasoning. He was accused of being co-opted. He was accused of being the worst kind of anti-Semite, a self-hating Jew.
But does that justify keeping him from the bar mitzvah?
"I want to speak as a grandfather," said George Bizos, a well-known lawyer and friend of Mr. Goldstone. "I am shocked that pressure would be put on a grandfather not to attend an important ceremony in his grandson's life. Those applying the pressure ought to hang their heads in shame."
Justice Arthur Chaskalson, who served with Judge Goldstone on South Africa's Constitutional Court, said the threats "reveal a level of bigotry and intolerance meant to shut down any diversity of opinion."
He said he hoped his friend would reconsider -- and come anyway.
Dave Mayers contributed reporting.
The New York Times
Antony Flew, Philosopher and Ex-Atheist, Dies at 87
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: April 16, 2010
Antony Flew, an English philosopher and outspoken atheist who stunned and dismayed the unbelieving faithful when he announced in 2004 that God probably did exist, died April 8 in Reading, England. He was 87 and lived in Reading.
Jackie Nickerson
Antony Flew renounced atheism, coming to see God as the divine watchmaker imagined by deists like Isaac Newton.
His death was confirmed by Roy Abraham Varghese, with whom he wrote "There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind," published in 2007.
Mr. Flew, the son of a Methodist minister, embraced atheism as a teenager. "It just seemed flatly inconsistent to say that the universe was created by an omnipotent and perfectly good being," he told The Sunday Times of London in 2004. "Yet there were evils in abundance which could not be put down to a consequence of human sin."
The rejection of religious faith, he said, was the start of his career as a philosopher.
His philosophical interests were wide. He was an expert on the Scottish philosopher David Hume, about whom he wrote the indispensable "Hume's Philosophy of Belief" (1961). But in more than 30 books he also explored topics as varied as evolutionary ethics, psychic phenomena, logic, education, crime and egalitarianism.
He was best known, however, for his books arguing against the existence of God and for atheistic principles. "Theology and Falsification," a short paper presented to the Socratic Club at Oxford and published in 1950, brought him immediate attention. In a little more than 1,000 words, it argued that the idea of God is philosophically meaningless, since it cannot be falsified -- that is, believers cannot posit an instance that would cause them to deny the existence of God. Genuine assertions, by contrast, can be falsified.
Mr. Flew elaborated his thinking about atheism and religious belief in "God and Philosophy" (1966), "The Presumption of Atheism" (1976) and "Atheistic Humanism" (1993).
In 2004, however, he announced on a DVD titled "Has Science Discovered God?" that research on DNA and what he believed to be inconsistencies in the Darwinian account of evolution had forced him to reconsider his views. DNA research, he said, "has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce life, that intelligence must have been involved."
In "There Is a God" he explained that he now believed in a supreme intelligence, removed from human affairs but responsible for the intricate workings of the universe. In other words, the divine watchmaker imagined by deists like Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.
In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph of London in 2004, he described "the God in whose existence I have belatedly come to believe" as "most emphatically not the eternally rewarding and eternally torturing God of either Christianity or Islam but the God of Aristotle that he would have defined -- had Aristotle actually produced a definition of his (and my) God -- as the first initiating and sustaining cause of the universe."
Natural News
Bayer admits GMO contamination out of control
April 15, 2010
by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
See more at the NN store...(NaturalNews) Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops.
"Even the best practices can't guarantee perfection," said Mark Ferguson, the company's defense lawyer in a recent trial.
Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company's Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from the unapproved rice contaminated more than 30 percent of all rice cropland in the United States.
"Bayer was supposed to be careful," Downing said. "Bayer was not careful and that rice did escape into our commercial rice supplies."
The plaintiffs alleged that in addition to contaminating their fields, Bayer further harmed them financially by undermining their export market. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the widespread rice contamination, important export markets were closed to U.S. producers. A report from Greenpeace International estimates the financial damage of the contamination at between $741 million and $1.3 billion.
Bayer claimed that there was no possible way it could have prevented the contamination, insisting that it followed not only the law but also the best industry practices. The jury disagreed, finding Bayer guilty of carelessness in handling the genetically modified crops. The company was ordered to pay farmers Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter $2 million.
"This is a huge victory, not only for Kenny and me, but for every farmer in America who was harmed by Bayer's LibertyLink rice contamination," Hunter said.
According to Hunter, the company got "the wake-up call they deserved."
Bayer is still being sued by more than 1,000 other farmers from Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
The European Union Times
Russia Reports over 2 million Dead in US As Mysterious Die-Off Accelerates
A most chilling report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Russian Academy of Medical and Technical Science for Prime Minister Putin states that a "mysterious die-off" in the United States has claimed over 2,000,000 lives since 2008 and is "more than likely" linked to a "crossover" plant disease linked to genetically modified grains and foods.
According to these reports this mysterious, and as yet unidentified, lung disease responsible for this mass die-off began during the spring of 2008 in the US agricultural State of Iowa where (very ironically) at least 36 people attending a Lung Association event at the Governors mansion were stricken.
Important to note about Iowa is that it is one of the largest corn producing regions in the World harvesting over 2 billon bushels of this valuable grain farmed on nearly 32 million acres of its farmland, over 99% of which are genetically modified varieties made by the US agricultural giant Monsanto and idententifeid by their trade names of Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603.
Not reported to the American people about these genetically modified corn varieties made by Monsanto was the study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences warning that they were linked to organ damage. Monsanto quickly responded to this study, stating that the research was "based on faulty analytical methods and reasoning and do not call into question the safety findings for these products."
Russian scientists in these reports, however, call Monsanto's claim of their genetically modified Mon 863 corn as being safe for human or animal consumption "totally without validation", a finding supported by the French biomolecular engineering commission, the Commission du Génie Biomoléculaire (CGB) who stated in their report, "with the present data it cannot be concluded that GM corn MON 863 is a safe product."
Further supporting the findings of Russian scientists was Greenpeace International, who in their report titled "MON 863: A chronicle of systematic deception" warned that the campaign to unearth and evaluate data about this most dangerous of genetically modified grains demonstrates, beyond all doubt, that MON863 is unfit for consumption.
Most unfortunately for the American people though, all of these warnings have been ignored by their government masters who have allowed the mass planting of these genetically modified crops to such an extent that in the United States today fully 80% of their corn and 93% of their soybeans are of these dangerous varieties and leading one Russian scientist in these reports to warn that our World is now on the verge of experiencing an ecological disaster of "Biblical proportions".
And according to these reports this ecological disaster is well underway in the United States and supported by American death statistics showing that of the nearly 2.5 million deaths reported by them each year the number of "sudden deaths" has increased to 40% equaling out to over 2 million "mysterious and unexplained" deaths from early 2008 to March, 2010.
Now of these "mysterious and unexplained" American deaths, these reports continue, nearly all of them are lung related and being erroneously documented as being caused by influenza and pneumonia type diseases so as not to panic these peoples, but have, instead, been caused by as an yet unidentified plant virus that has successfully jumped the species barrier to human beings.
Supporting Russian scientists in these conclusions is new research being conducted by the Didier Raoult of the University of the Mediterranean in Marseilles, France, where for the first time in human history a plant virus has been found to cause problems in people.
Russian scientists further claim in these reports that the United States mass vaccination of their population this past year for the supposed H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic was instead a "very clumsy attempt" to stop the spreading of this mysterious lung disease by injecting into these peoples a DNA "fix" to this genetically modified corn, and which by all the evidence available, they state, appears to have failed.
For those wondering how the United States government could ever allow such a monstrous outrage to be committed on their citizens one only need know that over the past 10 years Monsanto has paid over $500 million in bribing those American officials responsible for food safety while at the same time has joined US corporate giants General Electric and Exxon Mobil in not paying any taxes despite the billions in profits they have reaped.
And for those Americans believing that President Obama will protect them from these outrages they couldn't be more mistaken, and as we can read as reported by the Huffington Post News Service in their article titled "You're Appointing Who? Please Obama, Say It's Not So!" and which, in part, says:
"The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar. This is no joke.
Times Online
Militias and firearms lobby fear Barack Obama is trying to take their guns away
Tim Reid, Washington
Pistols hanging from belts, rifles slung over backs, hundreds of firearms activists gathered close to the White House yesterday to declare that President Obama is the extremist, not them.
The protest, the first time that campaigners have openly carried weapons in a US national park, came amid growing fears in Washington -- voiced last week by Bill Clinton -- over the violent anti-Government rhetoric that is spreading across the American heartland.
Equally alarming to many is that the gathering was made up of little-known militia and gun-obsessed organisations that have begun to proliferate since Mr Obama came to power.
One reason for their growing numbers is that they believe the powerful and well-funded National Rifle Association, a powerhouse in expanding the right to bear arms over the past 30 years, has become too mainstream and is not taking on the Obama Administration aggressively enough.
The date of the gathering was also a painful one for gun control and anti-militia groups: it fell on the anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which left 168 dead, and the final confrontation between federal authorities and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, in 1993. Organisers insist that those dates had nothing to do with the protest. Yesterday was chosen, they say, to mark the 1775 battles at Lexington and Concord that began the War of Independence against British rule.
The demonstration was marked by the same rhetoric that has galvanised the Tea Party movement and which crowds hear from Sarah Palin on an almost daily basis: disgust with Mr Obama's agenda, rage at his health reform legislation, Government bailouts, accusations of a socialist White House and an unconstitutional takeover of American life by Washington.
"We are in a war," said Larry Pratt, president of Gunowners of America. "The other side knows they are at war because they started it. They're coming for our freedom, for our money, for our kids, for our property. They're coming for everything because they are socialists."
At the rally were several prominent members of the militia movement, which includes hitherto unknown groups such as Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. They included Mike Vanderboegh, who has advocated throwing bricks through the windows of Democrats who voted for Mr Obama's health reforms. Another, Tom Fernandez, has organised a nationwide alert system to mobilise armed resistance to any government effort to seize firearms.
What alarms Mr Clinton and others is the fear that the antipathy to Mr Obama and his policies could trigger another home-grown atrocity similar to Timothy McVeigh's bomb attack in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Until the September 11 attack, it was the worst act of terrorism on American soil.
Ironically, few protesters credited Mr Obama with signing the Bill that allowed them, for the first time, to carry weapons openly in a federal park. Yesterday's protest was at Gravelly Point, Virginia, on the doorstep of the reviled Government.
Laws guaranteeing the right to bear arms have also been strengthened in several states since Mr Obama took office, and have been bolstered by the US Supreme Court. Yet the militias believe the President wants to take their guns away. Since Inauguration Day, gun sales have risen by 20 per cent and 80 million people in the US now own guns.
TimesOnline
Domestic terrorists as big a threat as al-Qaeda, says FBI head Robert Mueller
Giles Whittell, Washington
Fifteen years after the Oklahoma City bombing, the spectre of domestic terrorism has returned to haunt the Obama Administration, with a warning from the FBI that "home-grown and lone-wolf extremists" now represent as serious a threat as al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
The warning, from the FBI Director, Robert Mueller, came as the former President Clinton drew parallels between the Oklahoma City tragedy and a recent upsurge in anti-government rhetoric, while American television audiences heard Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, describe the "absolute rage" that drove him to plan an attack that killed 168 men, women and children.
An FBI spokesman told The Times yesterday that Mr Mueller was referring to right-wing extremist groups and anti-government militias, as well as American Islamists, in his testimony to the Senate committee that must approve the FBI's $8.3 billion (£5.4 billion) budget.
Last month federal agents arrested nine members of a Christian militia based in Michigan, calling itself the Hutaree. They have been charged with plotting to murder local police with a stash of guns, knives and grenades.
Since the passage of President Obama's health reforms, the FBI has also made arrests in Seattle and San Francisco after death threats were sent to Democratic senators.
"It's one thing to express dissatisfaction with the Government but once you cross the line with a violent threat, that's a violation that we take extremely seriously," Bill Carter, the bureau's spokesman, said.
MailOnline
Could Germany quit euro over Greece crisis?
By Karl West -
16th April 2010
Economic crisis: A Greek flag flies in front of the house of Parliament in Athens. The country was yesterday edging closer to activating a bailout from fellow European Union countries
Germany may be poised to quit the euro to set up a smaller monetary union because of the Greek crisis, according to a leading City economist.
Athens was yesterday edging closer to activating a bailout from fellow European Union countries and the International Monetary Fund, which is due to send teams to the country on Monday.
But Joachim Fels, co-chief global economist at investment bank Morgan Stanley in London, warned the Greek rescue proposal sets a 'bad precedent' for eurozone member states and makes it more likely that the euro area 'degenerates into a zone of fiscal profligacy, currency weakness and higher inflationary pressures'.
Mr Fels suggested Berlin may be 'better off with a harder but smaller currency union'.
He added that 'recent developments significantly raise the long-term risk of a euro break-up' and that a 'scenario where a country or a group of countries want to leave to introduce a stronger currency is more likely than a scenario where a country, like Greece, wants to leave to devalue'.
Though Germany has not officially considered the proposal, Mr Fels' comments reflect the radical options being considered by EU member states as the situation in Greece worsens.
Yesterday Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told his parliament that he was pushing through a painful austerity plan of public sector cost-cutting in order to prevent the country sinking. Athens needs to refinance about £46.4billion of sovereign debt this year, with a big chunk of that due before May 19.
David Mackie, head of European economics at JP Morgan, said: 'Being part of the euro area complicates the situation significantly. We would never underestimate the euro area's inclination to keep kicking the can down the road for as long as possible.'
MailOnline
The image Microsoft doesn't want you to see: Too tired to stay awake, the Chinese workers earning just 34p an hour
By Liz Hull and Lee Sorrell -
17th April 2010
Showing Chinese sweatshop workers slumped over their desks with exhaustion, it is an image that Microsoft won't want the world to see.
Employed for gruelling 15-hour shifts, in appalling conditions and 86f heat, many fall asleep on their stations during their meagre ten-minute breaks.
For as little as 34p an hour, the men and women work six or seven days a week, making computer mice and web cams for the American multinational computer company.
Worn out: Some of the workers making computer accessories for Microsoft at a Chinese factory
This photo and others like it were smuggled out of the KYE Systems factory at Dongguan, China, as part of a three-year investigation by the National Labour Committee, a human rights organisation which campaigns for workers across the globe.
The mostly female workers, aged 18 to 25, work from 7.45am to 10.55pm, sometimes with 1,000 workers crammed into one 105ft by 105ft room.
They are not allowed to talk or listen to music, are forced to eat substandard meals from the factory cafeterias, have no bathroom breaks during their shifts and must clean the toilets as discipline, according to the NLC.
The workers also sleep on site, in factory dormitories, with 14 workers to a room. They must buy their own mattresses and bedding, or else sleep on 28in-wide plywood boards. They 'shower' with a sponge and a bucket.
And many of the workers, because they are young women, are regularly sexually harassed, the NLC claimed.
The organisation said that one worker was even fined for losing his finger while operating a hole punch press.
Microsoft is not the only company to outsource manufacturing to KYE, but it accounts for about 30 per cent of the factory's work, the NLC said. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Foxconn, Acer, Logitech and Asus also use KYE Systems.
Microsoft, which exports much of the hardware made at the factory to America, Europe and Japan, said that it is taking the claims seriously and has begun an investigation.
One employee told the NLC: 'We are like prisoners. It seems like we live only to work - we do not work to live. We do not live a life, only work.'
The NLC's report included an account from one worker whose job consisted entirely of sticking selfadhesive rubber feet to the bottom of Microsoft computer mice.
But the monotony of sitting or standing for 12 hours, applying foot after foot to mouse after mouse, was not the worst of the worker's testimony.
It was the militaristic management and sleep deprivation that affected the worker most. 'I know I can choose not to work overtime, but if I don't work overtime then I am stuck with only 770 Chinese yuan (£72.77p) per month in basic wages,' the worker said.
'This is not nearly enough to support a family. My parents are farmers without jobs. They also do not have pensions.
'I also need to worry about getting married, which requires a lot of money. Therefore, I still push myself to continue working in spite of my exhaustion.
'When I finish my four hours of overtime, I'm extremely tired. At that time, even if someone offered me an extravagant dinner, I'd probably refuse. I just want to sleep.'
Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the NLC, said: 'It sounded like torture - the frantic pace on the assembly line, same motion over and over for the 12 hours or more of work they did.'
Microsoft said it was committed to the 'fair treatment and safety of workers'. A spokesman added: 'We are aware of the NLC report and we have commenced an investigation.
'We take these claims seriously and we will take appropriate remedial measures in regard to any findings of misconduct.'
The Washington Post
Texas city revives paddling as it takes a swat at misbehavior
Texas has bucked a national trend toward eliminating corporal punishment in schools. (Tom Fox/Dallas Morning News)
Most school districts across the country banned paddling of students long ago. Texas sat that trend out. Nearly a quarter of the estimated 225,000 students who received corporal punishment nationwide in 2006, the latest figures available, were from the Lone Star State.
But even by Texas standards, Temple is unusual. The city, a compact railroad hub of 60,000 people, banned the practice and then revived it at the demand of parents who longed for the orderly schools of yesteryear. Without paddling, "there were no consequences for kids," said Steve Wright, who runs a construction business and is Temple's school board president.
Since paddling was brought back to the city's 14 schools by a unanimous board vote in May, behavior at Temple's single high school has changed dramatically, Wright said, even though only one student in the school system has been paddled.
"The discipline problem is much better than it's been in years," Wright said, something he attributed to the new punishment and to other discipline programs schools are trying. Residents of the city's comfortable homes, most of which sport neighborly, worn chairs out front, praise the change.
"There are times when maybe a good crack might not be a bad idea," said Robert Pippin, a custom home builder who sports a goatee and cowboy boots. His son graduated from Temple schools several years ago.
Corporal punishment remains legal in 20 states, mostly in the South, but its use is diminishing. Ohio ended it last year, and a movement for a federal ban is afoot. A House subcommittee held a hearing on the practice Thursday, and its chairman, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), is gearing up for a push to end the practice once and for all. She plans to introduce legislation within weeks.
Miami Herald
Go, Jets
By Dave Barry
I have some news that is going to cause you taxpayers to want to throw down this newspaper and dance the Funky Chicken of Joy.
Here it is: The B-2 "Stealth" bomber can get wet! Hurrah!
In case you're wondering why this is so exciting, let me give you some background. The B-2 is
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. . . a bomber that is invisible to enemy radar because it is made of high-tech "stealthy" materials such as (to judge from the price) caviar. The original mission of the B-2 was to fly from overseas bases deep into the Soviet Union and drop nuclear bombs. Of course there IS no Soviet Union any more, which means that now the mission of the B-2 bomber is . . . The mission is . . . Hang on, it'll come to me . . .
OK, never mind the pesky detail of what the military mission is. The important thing is, the B-2 has demonstrated a breathtaking capability, unmatched in aviation history, to deliver, with pinpoint accuracy, extremely large payloads of taxpayer dollars into the districts of strategic members of Congress. So far the B-2 project has cost us taxpayers $45 billion, which has purchased us 21 bombers, which works out to around $2 billion per bomber, making it the most expensive airplane ever built (bear in mind, however, that it comes with floor mats).
Now here's the problem: The General Accounting Office did a big study of the B-2 bomber, concluding that--I will try to put this in layperson's terms--flying is bad for it. Yes. It turns out that the secret stealthy materials are sensitive to moisture, which as luck would have it (Who could have predicted this?) is plentiful in the atmosphere, so according to the GAO, after the B-2 flies, it tends to need lots of costly repairs.
I can relate to this. I used to own a boat, and whenever I made the stupid mistake of putting it in the actual water, expensive pieces of it would immediately fall off. I wound up deploying my boat permanently on a trailer. Using similar reasoning, the Air Force has decided that, instead of putting the B-2's at bases around the world, it will deploy ALL of them in--get ready for a strategic location--Missouri. Really. That's where the Air Force has special climate-controlled maintenance facilities. So let's just recap the B-2 history:
ORIGINAL IDEA: Station overseas; fly deep into Soviet Union; drop nuclear bombs.
CURRENT ACTUAL USE: Station in Missouri; fly deep into Kansas; get repaired.
So, OK, things have not worked out exactly as planned. But how many of us can honestly say that we have never, in a moment of absentmindedness, purchased an unnecessary weapons system for $45 billion? I didn't think so! Nevertheless, when the GAO report came out, there were a lot of snide remarks from the media about the B-2 bomber not being able to fly in the rain. So in September, the Air Force struck back with a bold strategic move: It flew several dozen reporters and photographers from Washington to Missouri, where they witnessed as a team of airmen--I swear I am not making this bold strategic move up--washed a B-2 bomber.
"This airplane does not melt in water," stated an Air Force official in a quote that I am also not making up. "We do this all the time. We just get out here with the brushes and scrub away."
I don't know about the rest of you taxpayers, but when I read those words, I get a proud feeling deep in my stomach, knowing that there is no way that any enemy of this nation could disable our B-2 bomber fleet by having agents sneak into Missouri and wash the planes.
Despite the fact that the B-2 has been shown to be capable, with proper maintenance, of withstanding moisture, the Pentagon has decided that it does not want to buy any more of these planes. In other words, even our top military experts believe that 21 is a sufficient number of extremely expensive bombers with no apparent function. So guess what a bunch of congresspersons recently tried to do? Right! They tried to have the taxpayers buy nine more! For another $27 billion! Guess why they did this? Right! To enhance the National Security! By which I mean, get themselves re-elected! It doesn't even matter if the B-2 can fly! We could make it entirely out of a fragile type of cheese that spoils on contact with air and has to be completely replaced every 45 minutes! As long as the money gets spent in these congresspersons' districts!
Unfortunately for our National Security, Congress decided to cancel the new B-2's and spend the money on other things. (What, you thought they'd give the money back to YOU?) Nevertheless we can all take comfort in the fact that for many years, we will be paying millions and millions of dollars to maintain the original fleet of Stealth bombers stationed strategically in Missouri, scrubbed and ready to fly out and bomb enemy targets. Or maybe it will turn out to be more cost-effective to fly the enemy targets to Missouri, so our B-2's can bomb them without getting too far from the climate-controlled maintenance facilities. So as a taxpayer, I applaud all the congresspersons who helped make this amazing weapon possible. I hope they get rewarded for their efforts by being taken for lengthy VIP flights on the B-2. In the rain. Strapped to a wing.
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Well, thank God, that we know the day is soon coming when this kind of foolishness will no longer exist. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:9)
The Prince of Peace is soon going to destroy and cast out the prince of this world. (John 12:31) Have you received Jesus, God's Son, as your Saviour so that "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus? (Philippians 4:7) If you have not yet received Jesus as your Saviour you can do so right now by just praying this simple prayer. "Dear Jesus I know I have done wrong in my life and I need your love and forgiveness. I ask you to please come into my life and heart, forgive me my sins and give me eternal life." If you have prayed this prayer you do indeed have eternal life and will live with Jesus forever. If you have any questions regarding eternal life or any other issues we invite you to write us or browse the web site.
Also if you would like to contact one of our Christian mystics with a question you may have that concerns you or others, you are also invited to write.
God bless you with a peaceful week ahead.
Almondtree Productions
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
(Galatians 5:22-23)