“For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah
55:9)
My Ways
Dear Friends,
Greetings! We thought we would start this week with an extract from Chris D. Putnam's recent article “Exo-Vaticana: Ancient Atomism and Extraterrestrial Belief”. We hope you find it as interesting and thought provoking as we at 'People of the Keys' did.
He can and will. (Our title)
In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul delivered his famous sermon on the Areopagus in Athens to a group of Epicureans and Stoics who were curious about his strange new teachings. They called Paul a “babbler,” which in the Greek text reads 'spermologos', an Athenian slang word meaning “one who picks up seeds” . The insult suggested a person who pecks at ideas like a bird pecks at seeds and then spouts them off without fully comprehending what he is saying. Jeering aside, Paul skillfully quoted Greek poets and declared the identity of their “unknown god” as the “God that made the world [kosmos] and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth.”(Acts 17:24). In other words, Paul is arguing for the unmoved mover, the one God who created the entire universe and everything within. Of course, this idea and his preaching of the resurrection of the dead surely brought scorn from the atomist Epicureans. Accordingly, some mocked, others wanted another hearing, and a few came to saving faith in Christ. As Christianity grew, Epicureanism with its many inhabited worlds waned. However, even today, Epicurean ideas appeal to humanists.
Epicureans and Christians maintain a timeless clash of worldview. It is from the pen of a third-century AD Christian, Lactantius, that the “Riddle of Epicurus,” a famous argument against the existence of an all-powerful, benevolent, and providential God (or gods), was preserved:
God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If He wants to and cannot, then He is weak—and this does not apply to God. If He can but does not want to, then He is spiteful—which is equally foreign to God’s nature. If He neither wants to nor can, He is both weak and spiteful, and so not a god. If He wants to and can, which is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come from? Or why does He not eliminate them?
This challenge, broadly known as the problem of evil, inspired two thousand years of apologetics. While an exhaustive answer is beyond the scope of this book, it is enough to say that it is logically possible for God to have morally sufficient reasons for permitting evil. Furthermore, the book of Revelation promises that God will, indeed, one day vanquish evil (Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”).
Taken from Exo-Vaticana: Ancient Atomism and Extraterrestrial Belief
By Cris D. Putnam
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WND EXCLUSIVE
WHAT THE DEVIL? SCIENTISTS TAP POWER OF 'LUCIFER'
'Nobody believes humans are only intelligent life in this galaxy'
Published: 01/20/13
by CHELSEA SCHILLING
It's one of the most powerful and advanced telescopes in the world - and it uses the fierce power of LUCIFER to capture images of planets outside our solar system and peer back toward the beginning of time.
The Large Binocular Telescope, or LBT, perched atop the Mount Graham International Observatory in southeastern Arizona, contains an immensely powerful tool that allows humans to observe the faintest and most distant objects in the heavens.
Those objects can be detected with the help of LUCIFER - a beastly set of super-cooled, near-infrared cameras also known as Large Binocular Telescope Near-infrared Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research.
The first camera, LUCIFER I, was fitted to the telescope in 2010. According to some reports, LUCIFER II is set to be installed as early as this year.
But why did scientists choose the widely known moniker for Satan when naming the instruments?
And what is the Vatican's widely rumored involvement with LUCIFER?
The Large Binocular Telescope on Arizona's Mount Graham houses the LUCIFER infrared camera
Origins of 'Lucifer'
WND contacted German astronomers at the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University who gave LUCIFER its diabolical name.
Professor and astronomer Andreas Quirrenbach, who also identified himself as a Catholic, told WND there's a common misconception about the term "Lucifer."
"The origin of the name is Latin, meaning 'bearer of light,'" Quirrenbach said. "Whereas today most people may associate the name with a mythical fallen angel, who is also frequently identified with the devil, this is by no means the only and also not the original use of the name.
Andreas Quirrenbach
"In fact the designation 'Lucifer' was used in antiquity to designate the 'morning star,' i.e., the planet Venus when it is visible in the morning sky. This is the first use of the name, and so its occurrence in astronomy precedes any religious connotations."
Quirrenbach also told WND, "[T]he only biblical connotation of 'Lucifer' is the astronomical reference to the morning star, which in turn is used to symbolize the Babylonian rulers (probably because the Babylonians identified constellations with gods). The downfall of the morning star is then a powerful picture for the end of Babylonian rule over Israel, as prophesied by Isaiah. Several authors have linked the name 'Lucifer' in the Bible to the devil, but this is due mostly to a misreading of the relevant biblical verses. However, these misreadings have propagated into folklore."
The Bible makes its only mention of Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"
The book of Isaiah was written by the 8th century B.C. prophet Isaiah, who used the Hebrew term "heylel" in the Bible to refer to the angel who became Satan. It wasn't until around 400 A.D. - more than 1,000 years later - that Jerome translated "heylel" as "Lucifer" in the Latin Vulgate.
Mark Biltz
Mark Biltz is founder of El Shaddai Ministries, a Hebrew roots resource and teaching ministry. He told WND that Quirrenbach's argument is based on "false assumptions."
"To begin, there are astronomical references in the Bible from 4,000 years ago," Biltz explained. "Also, when you go from Hebrew to Latin to English, you do lose much in translation."
Biltz confirmed that the literal translation of "heylel" is "morning star," not Lucifer or even Venus, as Quirrenbach suggested. (Biltz noted that the Hebrew word for Venus is, in fact, Nogah.)
"Yet this [Isaiah 14:12] commentary does refer to Satan," he explained. "In Hebrew, every letter is a picture, a word, a number, etc. You can have multiple valid meanings. So yes it can refer to the king of Babylon, and yes it can refer to Satan, and yes it can refer to a morning star.
"There are four layers of meaning: The peshat, which is the plain meaning of the text; the remez, which is a hint at another meaning; a drash, which can be allegorical; and sod, which means a hidden meaning. In the plain meaning of this text, it is referring to Satan.
"Venus is the morning star, and it refers to Yeshua/Jesus."
Biltz also pointed to 2 Peter 1:19, which states, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:"
Biltz explained, "As in Isaiah, Satan wants to be like the most high, so he wants to be the day star but will never measure up. In context, it is plain that Isaiah is referring to Satan."
The devil is in the details
Despite differences in theological interpretation regarding the name "Lucifer," Quirrenbach told WND there is another reason the LUCIFER instruments were given their name.
"There is indeed a hidden dedication, which includes a pun that is far from obvious to outsiders, and which is related to the 'popular' identification of Lucifer with the devil," he said.
Former Prime Minister Erwin Teufel
The lead institution for the construction of the LUCIFER spectrographs is the Observatory of the German State of Baden-Württemberg, which is now part of Heidelberg University, he explained. When a German partnership was formed to join Arizona's Large Binocular Telescope project, funding became problematic. At that point, then-Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Erwin Teufel stepped in and ensured state funding was available.
"Now, as it happens, the name of this governor is Teufel, which is the German word for 'devil,'" Quirrenbach explained. "Again, absolutely no offense to anyone; this is a fairly common name in Germany. So to those familiar with the local state politics in Southwest Germany, it is plainly obvious that the two Lucifer instruments are named in honor of Teufel, who helped the state observatory become a member of the LBT."
He added, "It's as simple (or complicated, as you will) as that. Nobody thought of the possibility that anybody could take offense at the name 'Lucifer.' After all, even if you forget about the completely innocent connotations, as in 'morning star' or 'Saint Lucifer of Sardinia' and just think of evil Lucifer, there are other examples such as an NHL team called the 'New Jersey Devils' that nobody seems to mind."
Technicians install LUCIFER device (Photo: University of Arizona)
Is the Vatican using the 'power of LUCIFER'?
The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, or VATT,
at the Mount Graham International Observatory
Numerous blogs and Internet postings claim the Vatican is part of the LUCIFER project and gave the device its devilish name.
In a twist of irony, LUCIFER's neighbors are Catholic Jesuits at the Vatican's observatory on Mount Graham. The neighboring Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, or VATT, is manned by Jesuit astronomers.
The Vatican observatory's website even features a video titled, "NASA and the Vatican's infrared telescope called Lucifer."
"[T]hey just happen to be our neighbors," Quirrenbach said. "The Jesuit astronomers usually don't use the LBT or its instruments, and they certainly were not involved in picking any names."
However, Tom Horn, co-author of "Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here" and "Exo-Vaticana," told WND he explored the Mount Graham International Observatory in September 2012.
"We did talk to the Jesuit who was on duty at VATT, and we found out that the Vatican Jesuit astronomers can apply to use the LUCIFER device just like anybody else can, and they do," he said.
"When we were in the LBT, we asked the systems engineer, and he said he believes that the Jesuits have, and they certainly can. Any of the members of the consortium that make up the Mount Graham International Observatory have the same opportunities as any of the others do."
Are scientists on Mount Graham hunting for aliens?
In a peculiar twist, Horn also said he spoke with a Jesuit at the Vatican observatory who told him astronomers there are searching for extraterrestrial intelligence and planets inside other solar systems.
"Even the Jesuit priest told us that's the No. 1 thing that they're all searching for right now: other Earth-like planets that might host extraterrestrial intelligence," he said.
"When we went to the VATT, we wanted to talk to the Jesuits face to face. We were actually astonished at how both they and the LBT staff spoke very openly," Horn said. "In fact, they told us that nobody in academia now any longer believes that humans are the only intelligent life on a planet in this galaxy - nobody, none, zero.
"They said that all academia now accepts the fact that it's really just a matter of time having to do with us locating life on other planets - and not just organisms but intelligent life, and maybe intelligent life literally trillions of years ahead of us in terms of their evolution.
Horn added, "It feels like they even know something or they suspect something or they're simply putting themselves in a position in case extraterrestrial life is discovered to be the go-to religious source. Beyond LUCIFER, that was really the deeper reason that we went to Mount Graham."
The Vatican observatory did not return WND's requests for comment about whether Jesuits had located alien life in deep space.
***
BBC
Gilgamesh tomb believed found
Archaeologists in Iraq believe they may have found the lost tomb of King Gilgamesh - the subject of the oldest "book" in history.
29 April 2003
Gilgamesh was believed to be two-thirds god, one-third human
The Epic Of Gilgamesh - written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ - commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which Iraq gets its name.
Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk - including, where the Euphrates once flowed, the last resting place of its famous King.
"I don't want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic," Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian department of Historical Monuments in Munich, told the BBC World Service's Science in Action programme.
Magnetic
In the book - actually a set of inscribed clay tablets - Gilgamesh was described as having been buried under the Euphrates, in a tomb apparently constructed when the waters of the ancient river parted following his death.
"We found just outside the city an area in the middle of the former Euphrates river¿ the remains of such a building which could be interpreted as a burial," Mr Fassbinder said.
"Who can compare with him in kingliness? Who can say, like Gilgamesh, I am king? The Epic Of Gilgamesh"
He said the amazing discovery of the ancient city under the Iraqi desert had been made possible by modern technology.
"By differences in magnetisation in the soil, you can look into the ground," Mr Fassbinder added.
"The difference between mudbricks and sediments in the Euphrates river gives a very detailed structure."
This creates a magnetogram, which is then digitally mapped, effectively giving a town plan of Uruk.
'Venice in the desert'
"The most surprising thing was that we found structures already described by Gilgamesh," Mr Fassbinder stated.
Iraq has long been the site of some of the most important historical finds
"We covered more than 100 hectares. We have found garden structures and field structures as described in the epic, and we found Babylonian houses."
But he said the most astonishing find was an incredibly sophisticated system of canals.
"Very clearly, we can see in the canals some structures showing that flooding destroyed some houses, which means it was a highly developed system.
"[It was] like Venice in the desert."
(Most Bible researchers believe Gilgamesh to be another name for Nimrod - Tower of Babel. Ed.)
***
Fox News
Your DNA can store information from a million CDs, researchers say
Published January 23, 2013
NEW YORK – It can store the information from a million CDs in a space no bigger than your little finger, and could keep it safe for centuries.
Is this some new electronic gadget? Nope. It's DNA.
The genetic material has long held all the information needed to make plants and animals, and now some scientists are saying it could help handle the growing storage needs of today's information society.
Researchers reported Wednesday that they had stored all 154 Shakespeare sonnets, a photo, a scientific paper, and a 26-second sound clip from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. That all fit in a barely visible bit of DNA in a test tube.
The process involved converting the ones and zeroes of digital information into the four-letter alphabet of DNA code. That code was used to create strands of synthetic DNA. Then machines "read" the DNA molecules and recovered the encoded information. That reading process took two weeks, but technological advances are driving that time down, said Ewan Birney of the European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, England. He's an author of a report published online by the journal Nature.
DNA could be useful for keeping huge amounts of information that must be kept for a long time but not retrieved very often, the researchers said. Storing the DNA would be relatively simple, they said: Just put it in a cold, dry and dark place and leave it alone.
The technology might work in the near term for large archives that have to be kept safe for centuries, like national historical records or huge library holdings, said study co-author Nick Goldman of the institute. Maybe in a decade it could become feasible for consumers to store information they want to have around in 50 years, like wedding photos or videos for future grandchildren, Goldman said in an email.
The researchers said they have no intention of putting storage DNA into a living thing, and that it couldn't accidentally become part of the genetic machinery of a living thing because of its coding scheme.
Sriram Kosuri, a Harvard researcher who co-authored a similar report last September, said both papers show advantages of DNA for long-term storage. But because of its technical limitations, "it's not going to replace your hard drive," he said.
Kosuri's co-author, Harvard DNA expert George Church, said the technology could let a person store all of Wikipedia on a fingertip, and all the world's information now stored on disk drives could fit in the palm of the hand.
***
***
DNA
Calendar showing Jesus with beer, cigarette angers Christian bodies
Published: Jan 21, 2013
Place: Pune | Agency: IANSThe calendar published by former Shiv Sena corporator Tanaji D Lonkar has an 'offensive' picture of Jesus Christ.
Christian groups in Maharashtra on Monday took umbrage at a 2013 calendar showing Jesus Christ holding a cigarette and a beer and urged the state government to initiate action.
Stating that their religious sentiments had been "insulted", Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) president Joseph Dias said, "This blasphemous picture has been printed in December and around 30,000 of these offensive copies have already been circulated in the market."
Tanaji D Lonkar, a former Shiv Sena municipal corporator, purportedly published a calendar with the "offensive" picture of Jesus Christ. Lawyers Vikram E Amolik and Pankaj K Bhandari have filed private criminal complaints regarding the calendar before a Pune court and the matter is expected to come up for hearing soon, Dias added.
However, Lonkar has sought to dissociate himself from the issue, saying the printer had downloaded the image from internet. Lonkar said he has withdrawn the calendar.
Pointing out to routine attacks on tribal Christians in Palghar region of Thane over the past few months, Dias added that local radical elements were leading these attacks but nothing has been done despite several complaints. "The government inaction has only created a feeling of insecurity among Christians," Dias said.
While threatening to launch an agitation unless the state government acted immediately and brought the culprits to book, Dias said, "When two girls posted on Facebook on late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's death, the government took immediate action as it was a political issue."
In another instance, a post on social networking website Facebook showing Mother Mary ordering Christ to "clean up" has angered the community. In the post, Mother Mary is depicted saying: "Jesus! Look at this mess! Clean up your room now!"
"When there were objections to the post, the author apologised, but in a very nasty manner using the 'F' word, which made it even worse," CSF president Dias added.
AMERICAN JUDGMENT DAY AND THE FINAL BATTLE FOR PLANET EARTH
By Paul McGuire - January 21, 2013 - NewsWithViews.com
Billions of people on planet Earth do not understand that we are now approaching the final battle for our world and that everything we see happening is connected with that battle. The ancient Greek god, Prometheus gave man fire and the destructive forces of that fire have set the world aflame. The god Prometheus was a type of Lucifer, the temporary prince of this world. Prometheus represented human will and the search for scientific knowledge at all costs. For example, the race for the creation of the atomic bomb and modern Transhumanism represent Prometheus.
Mary Shelley used the term The Modern Prometheus as the subtitle to her novel Frankenstein (1818). Frankenstein was the foreshadowing of the dark side of Transhumanism and genetic engineering.
According to the Biblical account, Lucifer was the most powerful angelic being, and in his lust to be God he led a revolution of one third of the angels in a war against God, so that he could seize God's throne. This multi-dimensional battle began in the Garden of Eden, where the personal God created a man and woman in His image, using His precise DNA code.
The account of Adam and Eve is the story of a male and female who were made in the genetic image of God and contained His DNA. This enabled them to have supernatural powers, and they were the rulers of a paradise called the Garden of Eden. However, they lost their authority to rule and allowed the death force to enter the human race. Lucifer, who Saul Alinksy said was the first radical, was organizing his revolution on planet Earth. Adam and Eve, like America today, chose to listen to the serpent, who was a reptilian creature, and disobeyed the Word of God. Lucifer gained control over their minds, by telling them they would be like gods!
Most people today view the story of Adam and Eve as an overly simplistic story or a fairy tale. Instead, as true believers in the religion of Darwinism, they have placed their faith in the mythological story of macro-evolution, for which there exists no scientific evidence... none! They believe the Universe is a kind of cosmic Las Vegas and that they arrived here by pure random chance. This is the equivalent of finding a cell phone on the beach and saying that after millions of years it just materialized due to the interaction of the winds and the waves.
Lucifer's plan to deceive mankind into not believing in the multi-dimensional nature of the universe has allowed him to enslave mankind under an evil oligarchy, where a tiny pyramid just under the all-seeing eye of Lucifer represents the Luficerian elite of god-men who now rule our planet. The Illumined ones who have passed their secret knowledge down through secret societies for thousands of years laugh at evolution. They know that there is Lucifer, whom they believe is God and they refuse to worship the true God. Lucifer's purpose in establishing the religion of evolution was to destroy people's memory of the true God along with His laws.
This strategy works as long as human beings go along with Lucifer's doctrine, which states that God and His laws do not exist and that there is no such thing as right and wrong...no moral absolutes. This is how Lucifer establishes total control over the human race. Through Luciferian High Priests like Aleister Crowley the Luciferian Doctrine, "Do what thou will," is promoted.
The personal living God is omniscient and can see into the future. This God has a vast army of angels and also has His servants on earth. The personal living God is now in the process of defeating Lucifer, and is sentencing him and his follower into the Great Abyss and creating a New Heaven and New Earth, which will be the second Garden of Eden. If you look carefully at human history, you can see this great war being played out on kind of a chess board. Throughout history God has sent His prophets to give His people knowledge of what is going to happen in the future.
God is a God of love, as well as being holy and righteous. He has chosen to operate within His own system. Throughout human history whenever Lucifer has seduced man to become evil there comes a certain point where God must judge the human race. This happened during the Flood of Noah, when wickedness and violence occurred. In addition, the fallen angels of the B'nai Elohim, had sexual relations with human women, who conceived the hybrid species called the Nephilim.
The existence of the Nephilim was Satan's way of contaminating the DNA that God had placed in man. For God's purpose from the beginning was to create man in His own image. Through this interspecies breeding, Lucifer's DNA was now in the Nephilim. Many people have difficulty accepting this interpretation because they do not understand that the majority of ancient Hebrew scholars warned people of the Nephilim and the B'nai Elohim. In addition, the early church also taught this view. It was only about one hundred years after the early church was born that the church changed this view and created what is called the "Sethite View," which teaches that the sons of God were simply the "goats," or men who had chosen to rebel from God. However, this is not the view of the early church, nor was it the view of the ancient Rabbinic scholars. In addition, the only possible way to understand Noah building the ark, gathering the animal species two by two, and only allowing himself and his family to come aboard is by understanding the need for genetic purification. Noah's Ark is about DNA and the intention of God to destroy the Luciferian DNA of the Nephilim.
Jesus Christ made a very important prophetic statement when He said "As it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be n the days of the Son of Man." Christ was specifically referring to the return of interspecies breeding between the Nephilim DNA and human DNA. Right now in laboratories around the world scientists have managed to get their hands on Nephilim DNA. Perhaps this DNA was obtained from frozen body parts in Antarctica, or discovered in deep underground tunnels under mountains. Hitler, who was a high-level member of secret occult societies like Vril and Thule, believed that a race of super beings had hidden deep under the mountains before the Great Flood. Hitler's goal was to use the "science" of eugenics to breed a master race of god-men. The technology for eugenics was developed by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1920's.
As this Final Battle for the Earth takes place we are now seeing Lucifer's plan for genetically creating god-men after his image. At the core of the Transhumanist movement, cloning and genetic engineering, is the secret goal of creating a race of god-men who will transcend mankind.
As this process starts to unfold we know from Christ's prediction that the judgment of God is coming on planet Earth as it did in the days of Noah. However, God spared Noah and His family. Biblical history is filled with examples of supernatural deliverance of God's people when judgment comes. I am not here to debate the theological issue of the timing of the Rapture, or if there is a Rapture. One thing we do know is that God has promised to deliver His people from the wrath to come. So when this Final Battle for Planet Earth erupts and the most horrific judgments the world has ever seen begin to come upon the Earth, all those who have truly put their trust in Him will find protection. Some of those will be killed and resurrected from the dead.
But before the Final Battle of Planet Earth the question is, "Whose side are you on?" For not to decide is to decide. And time is running out!
The vast majority of people who are serving Satan do not believe in God. They have deluded themselves into thinking they are free. But deep in their hearts they know the truth, for the law of God is written on the hearts of every man or woman alive. They think that if they do not believe in Heaven, Hell, eternity, and judgment, these things do not exist.
Our nation is in the grips of a mass delusion because people believe only what their senses tell them. Tragically, a large percentage of the members of the so-called Christian church hold the same view. Many "Christian" ministers do not communicate the truth of the Bible to their congregations or to society at large. They are not like the Founders of the First Great Awakening such as Jonathan Edwards, who preached two hour sermons like "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God" which had the spiritual power to inspire that great religious movement.
Truth exists apart from whatever belief system we choose. In the Book of Revelation, there is a graphic description of the Great White Throne of Judgment, Heaven, Hell, the Abyss, and the Lake of Fire. You may choose not to believe it, but that does not mean it is not so. If I were to use more contemporary terms, I would describe Hell, as a cosmic prison where the suffering is so intense, that you feel that you are burning alive forever.
The Luciferian elite believe that they are gods. They believe that they can live eternally through Transhumanism and the downloading of human consciousness into new bodies. They believe they can create a scientific salvation with nanotech, artificial intelligence, androids and Transhumanism. Their new world order is a counterfeit of the kingdom of God. Since they believe in Darwinism, then might makes right and they intend to reduce the population of planet earth from seven billion to five hundred million and they are doing that now.
But the final battle is not over yet. There is a coming invasion from an invisible realm, at the Second Coming where the armies of heaven will enter into an Armageddon-conflict with the nations of the earth. At this final battle there will be a cosmic military convergence between the armies of heaven, the armies of the earth and the armies from the Abyss. Human beings, angels, demons, robots, androids and Transhumanist soldiers. Since we have an accurate prophetic record of what will happen in the future, there will one King who triumphs. The King of Kings will bring in the new heaven and new earth. Click here to visit NewsWithViews.com home page.
© 2013 Paul McGuire - All Rights Reserved
Pravda.ru
Trans-humanity and post-Europe: Satanic agenda of US intelligence
By Nicolas Bonnal
16.01.2013
'Yes; is it a science?'
'Yes, there is such a science... but... I confess I can't explain to you what sort of science it is.'
Brothers Karamazov
When I first read the Global Trends redacted by the NIA, I first thought I was reading a bad screenplay for a low-budgeted Sci-Fi movie.
We are no more free citizens in modern nations; for there are no nations and no free citizens. We are just grey and febrile pawns, volatile and nervous ants and cyber-cockroaches - name it as you want - lodging in a big technological concentration camp named the American matrix. An individual will be by no mean himself, for the old Christian subject is dead. For our ruling elites, who always lament the Russian resilience and threaten strangulated Iran, there are no nations, no races, no spirituality and no soul: there is just a cyber-personality in search of an ergonomic perfection and a global network of electronic prisons and ecological surveillance. As foresaw Job, the current man is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon a snare.
Global warming means indeed global warning and more rules and fines and sentences in the western camp, the so-called free world. The progress of science - or labelled so - means that we must improve ourselves in order to match the cold machine of the global western system. Modern technology served mainly to embed the Bentham nightmare of a total panopticon. A regulated and submitted humanity, that has lost any identity or even priority of her own, is such prepared to be managed and even reduced in quantity (too many aged people, too many consumers, etc.) and of course annihilated in quality. Bleak acronym NIA means "negated" in French.
Dostoyevsky again:
There are numbers of them there, hundreds of them underground, with hammers in their hands. Oh, yes, we shall be in chains and there will be no freedom...
The Global Trends of the National Intelligence Agency hint to what French philosopher Deleuze named the modern bad script. For western life is merely a bad dream. It has no roots and propagates no goal, once it has drowned Christianity or Moslem civilization with the artefacts of progress and the most vulgar greed. It seems that the so rich Indian world has been easily neutralized too; thanks may be to the preparative of the British Empire and the role of the cast of Vaishya the West is converting six thousand years of civilization into cash.
Let them talk their proper lines. Our global and post-human dreamers dream so of a global middle-class easily controlled by ruthless elites:
A transnational elite-educated at the same global academic institutions-emerges that leads key nonstate actors (major multinational corporations, universities, and NGOs). A global public opinion consensus among many elites and middle-class citizens on the major challenges-poverty, the environment, anti-corruption, rule-of-law, and peace-form the base of their support and power. Countries do not disappear, but governments increasingly see their role as organizing and orchestrating "hybrid" coalitions of state and nonstate actors which shift depending on the challenge.
Hybrid: how much they enjoy that word! Your future wife, your future kids will be a hybrid of plant, machine and weird reptile! We can make it for you and sell it you!
Even if the data show the contrary they want to undermine as infamous Sutherland uttered what is left of our national identities:
Increasingly, elites in developed countries are likely to consider migration policy as part of an economic growth strategy, particularly as competition grows for highly skilled employees.
The World Bank estimates that a 3-percentage-point increase in the stock of migrants by 2025 would lead to a 0.6-percent increase in global income, a gain of $368 billion, with developing countries and migrants from those countries benefiting more than the natives of high-income countries. This is more than the gains from removing all remaining barriers to free trade.
The nomadic and cybernetic society is led by a pure quantitative agenda: as I already stated before the publication of this incredible documents, Guenon and traditional East have failed where the West had triumphed. But Guenon was right while predicting a reign of the quantity. Read that again:
Years from now I think that historians will see changing immigration and mobility as the foundation for the growing political and technological cooperation. For good or for ill, a cosmopolitan elite with ties to multiple countries has formed: these elites are comfortable working and living in multiple places. Even the less skilled are more mobile, filling in gaps in many aging societies.
Here at least global dreamers tell us the truth: destroying societies by the elites (the dead fish rots by the head as we always have known) and the legions of not so illegal aliens. They cross and crush then peoples and old classes. Brainwashed foreign students of the American universities will confirm this truth if allowed between two shooting parties...
But that's not all. Terminating Asia or 'old Europe' is not enough. The Illuminati agenda of American Intelligence wants more: it doesn't only want anymore Iranians, Russians, Englishmen or Frenchmen: it just wants no human left on the surface of the earth (are we too much ecologically active and threatening any virus or species of mosquito?).
There will be so a cyber-monster or a Hollywood-like Superman who may seduce the new ghost of Hitler but not the heir of Jesus. I quote the full lunatic passage:
As replacement limb technology advances, people may choose to enhance their physical selves as they do with cosmetic surgery today. Future retinal eye implants could enable night vision, and neuro-enhancements could provide superior memory recall or speed of thought. Neuro-pharmaceuticals will allow people to maintain concentration for longer periods of time or enhance their learning abilities. Augmented reality systems can provide enhanced experiences of real-world situations. Combined with advances in robotics, avatars could provide feedback in the form of sensors providing touch and smell as well as aural and visual information to the operator.
But the neuro-something civilization will have a price. What we know in our ruined old western countries is that the modern technoscience with all its gadgets and items has always had an enormous price; even if it doesn't have the so hoped results:
Owing to the high cost of human augmentation, it probably will be available in 15-20 years only to those who are able to pay for it... Moral and ethical challenges to human augmentation are inevitable.
Bringing out the Golem - this legendary monster of the ghetto of Prague- has always been the dream of modern science. Yet it will easier to turn the human being into a machine than to turn the machine into a human being. Ask governor Schwarzenegger or Jean-Claude van Damme!
Brain-machine interfaces in the form of brain-implants are demonstrating that directly bridging the gap between brain and machine is possible. Military organizations are experimenting with a wide range of augmentation technologies, including exoskeletons that allow personnel to carry increased loads and psycho-stimulants that allow personnel to operate for longer periods.
Human augmentation could allow civilian and military people to work more effectively, and in environments that were previously inaccessible. Elderly people may benefit from powered exoskeletons that assist wearers with simple walking and lifting activities, improving the health and quality of life for aging populations. Successful prosthetics probably will be directly integrated with the user's body. Brain-machine interfaces could provide "superhuman" abilities, enhancing strength and speed, as well as providing functions not previously available.
The folly of this ill-written dramatic text shows us at least one thing: America -or whatever means that word now- won't stop here. It has become a printing-machine of dollars and barbarities. God knows if we can be preserved from such an agenda of techno-prisoners consenting to their fate with their distorted brains. Ask Dostoyevsky again, for the Russian genius knows much about God than the Illuminati:
What should I be underground there without God? Rakitin's laughing! If they drive God from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground. One cannot exist in prison without God; it's even more impossible than out of prison.
Nicolas Bonnal
ENE News
Dr. Helen Caldicott: It's terribly alarming what's happening, and the ignorance of the population, and the lies that are being fed to the people.
I've just been in Japan for 10 days doing a speaking tour and I had audiences of 400 people and I'd give them the medical data and statistics about radiation and then it'd turn into a medical consultation. [...]
Indeed many children were reported to have had nose bleeds which means their platelets are low which is a sign of radiation sickness.
And there have been a lot of viral illnesses as well. Of course your immune system is depleted by radiation.
There's little being done to collect the medical data.
Dr. Helen Caldicott: The Fukushima accident will never end. They have no idea how to clean it up because there's never been three nuclear meltdowns in history.
Continually, radioactive elements are being flushed into the Pacific Ocean.
[...] the accident never ends because the food will continue to be radioactive as the plants suck up the radioactive elements from the soil, concentrate it, and then people will eat it -- and that will go on for generations and generations. So nuclear accidents never end.
NDTV
Tokyo: Japan's finance minister Taro Aso said on Monday the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" instead of costing the government money for end-of-life medical care.
Aso, who also doubles as deputy prime minister, reportedly said during a meeting of the National Council on Social Security Reforms: "Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. You cannot sleep well when you think it's all paid by the government.
"This won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die," he said.
"I don't need that kind of care. I will die quickly," he said adding he had left written instructions that his life is not artificially prolonged.
During the meeting, he reportedly referred to "tube people" when talking of patients who cannot feed themselves.
The 72-year-old Aso, a former prime minister, has been in his current job less than a month, but has a long history of planting his foot firmly in his mouth.
In 2001 he triggered a furore by saying a successful country was one where "rich Jews" wanted to live.
After today's mis-step, he tried to backtrack, insisting he had only been talking about his personal wishes when he said the elderly should shuffle off quickly.
"I said what I personally believe, not what the end-of-life medical care system should be," he told reporters.
"It is important that you can spend the final days of your life peacefully."
Aso was born into a blue-blooded industrialist family but his often crude verbal slip-ups stand in marked contrast to his heritage.
He is the grandson of Shigeru Yoshida, one of Japan's most influential prime ministers who helped rebuild the country from the ashes of World War II, and he is married to the daughter of another former premier.
Ageing is a sensitive issue in Japan, one of the world's oldest countries, with almost a quarter of its 128 million people over 60. That figure is expected to rise to 40 per cent within the next half-century.
At the same time a shrinking number of workers are placing further strain on an already groaning social security system, with not enough money going into the pot to support those who depend on it.
WND EXCLUSIVE
HOLLYWOOD ACTOR FLAYED FOR 'SKANKY, SICK' AD
'I felt violated and felt like I was observing evil personified'
Published: 01/23/13
by ANITA CRANE
WASHINGTON – A new advertisement featuring “Necessary Roughness” actor Mehcad Brooks and titled “Happy 40th Anniversary, Baby” celebrates the deaths of an estimated 56 million unborn lost to abortion since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision 40 years ago this week, and is being called “skanky,” “sick” and “disgusting.”
The ad, from the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, comes as hundreds of thousands prepare to attend the March for Life Friday in Washington, D.C.
Brooks, who appears as a philandering athlete on USA Network’s series “Necessary Roughness,” is spiffed up, holding a rose and fondling a glass of liquid. He says, “Hey baby, you think I forgot it?”
In front of a glowing fireplace, he continues, “How could I ever forget our anniversary? All these years. So many people said we’d never make it. They’ve been trying to tear us apart. Take you away. Put limits on you. On me. On us.
“But every time we’ve proven ourselves stronger. Anniversary like this is not something you forget.”
Alveda King, member of the legendary King family, personal counselor to many young women, and director of African American Outreach at Priests for Life, was upset by the spot.
“A young woman in her 20s sent me her reaction and I think it’s so compelling. This young woman wrote: ‘I feel molested after seeing it. Skanky, fitting for what it celebrates, sick. Is he married to abortion?’”
King explained the young lady had watched “Necessary Roughness,” but vowed to never watch it again. King said many others also wrote to her saying they’ll no longer watch the show.
“I felt violated and felt like I was observing evil personified,” said King, whose voice cracked with sorrow. “These abortion people think they can say anything. Women should be outraged. I’m post-abortive and it just brought my emotions to the surface. As an African-American man, Mehcad Brooks should be shielding women from abuse and working to foster new generations of good men.”
Day Gardner, a former Miss Delaware and president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, was equally horrified.
“I found it totally disgusting. It turned my stomach. I thought the whole thing was very demonic because he’s sitting there as a member of the black community and we have the highest abortion rate. As a man, he’s a bad example when the black community has such a problem with its men stepping up to be the fathers their children need. This is so evil and so wrong on many levels.
Think of Planned Parenthood as a health provider? Here’s the real story, in “Planned Bullyhood.”
“Every time he said the word ‘baby,’” Gardner emphasized, “I kept seeing all the babies that were tortured and brutally killed since the Roe v. Wade ruling. More than 55 million children have been killed and this idiot is laughing.”
“In the 40 years since Roe v. Wade was set down, more than 55 million unborn children have been killed while that many mothers were wounded by abortion,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, founder and president of the Susan B. Anthony List, told WND. “Ask the post-abortive women who stood on the steps of the Supreme Court yesterday if the abortion they now painfully regret was sexy or romantic.
“The Center for Reproductive Rights and Mehcad Brooks should be ashamed for attempting to glamorize abortion in this way – women deserve better,” she said.
In fact, Feminists for Life wrote the slogan, “Women deserve better than abortion.”
Lila Rose, whose organization Live Action exposes the abortion chain Planned Parenthood with sting videos, shared the same reaction as her sister activists.
She told WND, “As abortion supporters celebrate Roe as a romantic anniversary, I have to think about the 56 million children who will never celebrate an anniversary with anyone. It’s beyond disrespectful to draw the line with Mehcad Brooks and make a joke out of the violent deaths of millions of unborn children.”
Rose also is disgusted because millions of mothers and fathers mourn the loss of their children to abortion.
“This video represents an all-time low for the pro-abortion movement,” Janet Morana told WND. She’s executive director of Priests for Life, co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and author of the new book “Recall Abortion.”
“It’s misogynistic and exploitive,” said Morana. “Even worse, it’s making a joke of something as serious as abortion. Treating this issue so cavalierly is really insulting, not only to the pro-life movement but to all women. I can’t imagine this will appeal to even the most ardent abortion supporters.”
Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, a founder of New Wave Feminists, went right to Brooks.
“I actually went and commented on this guy’s Facebook, as many in my group are doing, just thanking him for showing us what abortion really is: the selfish and unapologetic exploitation of women.”
As for the real “Jane Roe” toasted by Brooks, Norma McCorvey is now a Catholic pro-lifer who has mourned being used to decriminalize abortion.
In 2005, she petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear McCorvey v. Hill, an effort to expose the fraud in Roe v. Wade and reveal the harmful effects of abortion on women. That same year, after the court rejected her appeal, McCorvey testified before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I am the woman once known as the Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade. But I dislike the name Jane Roe and all that it stands for. I am a real person named Norma McCorvey and I want you to know the horrible and evil things that Roe v. Wade did to me and others. I never got the opportunity to speak for myself in my own court case,” she told the Senate.
“It is like a living hell knowing that you have had a part to play, though in some sense I was just a pawn of the legal system. But I have had to accept my role in the deaths of millions of babies and the destruction of women’s lives,” McCorvey said.
She appears in the movie Doonby,” which will be screened for free in Washington, D.C., before and after the 2013 March for Life.
***
The Telegraph
Prince Harry 'driving wedge between forces and Afghan locals'
Prince Harry's comments comparing the decade-long conflict in Afghanistan with computer games have driven a wedge between international forces and the local population, an Afghan MP has warned.
Prince Harry credited his effectiveness as an Apache gunner to his skill at playing video games. "It's a joy for me because I'm one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think that I'm probably quite useful," he said Photo: JOHN STILLWELL/PA
By Rob Crilly, Zubair Babakarkhail in Kabul
22 Jan 2013
In an interview timed to coincide with his departure after a 20-week tour, the prince described his role as co-pilot of an Apache helicopter, in charge of its weapons systems, firing Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, rockets and a 30-millimetre gun.
"It's a joy for me because I'm one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I'm probably quite useful," he said.
The unguarded comments could prove a headache for President Hamid Karzai, who has staked his reputation on working closely with Nato-led forces and wants the US to station troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of 2014.
Sharifullah Kamawal, a member of the Afghan parliament, warned that the comments had handed the Taliban a propaganda victory.
"This makes the withdrawal process much faster, because for now half of the people say the foreign forces must stay for longer, but if they say these kind of things then more people will want them to go home," he said.
Related Articles
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, said Prince Harry was a "coward" for speaking only after he was out of harm's way.
"This statement is not even worth condemning. It is worse than that," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"To describe the war in Afghanistan as a game demeans anyone - especially a prince, who is supposed to be made of better things."
He added that it exposed the calibre of forces that Nato was able deploy.
"It shows the lack of understanding, of knowledge," he said. "It shows they are unfamiliar with the situation and shows why they are losing."
A Taliban commander in Helmand, where Prince Harry was based, said soldiers from dozens of countries were fighting in Afghanistan. To describe their efforts - and deaths - as part of a game was to show a lack of respect, he said.
"It's not a game. It's very, very real," he said.
***
MailOnline
Rivers on the red planet: Astonishing new pictures reveal a 4mile wide, 900mile long river that once ran across the Martian surface
Huge 'river-like structure' caputured by Mars Express spacecraft and is almost 1,000 feet (300m) deep
Experts say the images show a 'striking resemblance' to areas of Earth affected by glaciation
PUBLISHED: 17 January 2013
They are yet more proof of the red planet's wet past.
The European Space Agency today released an astonishing series of pictures showing the remnants of a huge river than once ran across Mars.
Taken by the ESA's Mars Express, they show Reull Vallis, the 'river-like structure' is believed to have formed when running water flowed in the distant martian past.
This computer-generated image of a river-like feature in the Reull Vallis region of Mars was created using data from the Mars Express spacecraft
The images were taken from data collected in the
Reull Vallis region of Mars, shown here
It cut a steep-sided channel through the Promethei Terra Highlands before running on towards the floor of the vast Hellas basin.
This astonishing structure, which stretches for almost 900 mile (1500 km) across the martian landscape, is flanked by numerous tributaries, one of which can be clearly seen cutting in to the main valley towards the upper (north) side.
Experts say the images show a 'striking resemblance to the morphology found in regions on Earth affected by glaciation'.
'For example, we can see circular step-like structures on the inner walls of the sediment-filled crater in the foreground of the second perspective view,' ESA said.
Planetary scientists think that these may represent former high water or glacial levels, before ice and water sublimated or evaporated away in stages at various times.
The new Mars Express image below shows a region of Reull Vallis at a point where the channel is almost 4 miles (7km) wide and 1,000 feet (300m) deep.
The sides of Reull Vallis are particularly sharp and steep in these images, ESA said, with parallel longitudinal features covering the floor of the channel itself.
The river-like channel is 7 km wide, and a depth of around 300m. It is believed to have been formed by flowing water, which cut through highland terrain and formed smooth plains.
This colour-coded overhead view reveals the depth of the craters and river beds
These structures are believed to be caused by the passage of loose debris and ice during the 'Amazonian' period (which continues to this day) due to glacial flow along the channel.
The structures were formed long after it was originally carved by liquid water during the Hesperian period, which is believed to have ended between 3.5 billion and 1.8 billion years ago.
Similar lineated structures, believed to be rich in ice, can also be found in many of the surrounding craters.
The Mars Express craft was also able to produce this 3D image of the area thanks to its twin cameras
The right (northern) part of the main image is dominated by the Promethei Terra Highlands with their high and soft-rounded mountains shown in these images, rising around 2500 m above the surrounding flat plains.
'The morphology of Reull Vallis suggests it has experienced a diverse and complex history, with analogies seen in glacial activity on Earth.
'These analogies are giving planetary geologists tantalising glimpses of a past on the Red Planet not too dissimilar to events on our own world today.'
The Promethei Terra highlands adjacent to Reull Vallis showing a smooth-topped mountain with a large impact crater in the foreground
***
BBC
Jose Mujica: The world's 'poorest' president
By Vladimir Hernandez
BBC Mundo, Montevideo
14 November 2012
It's a common grumble that politicians' lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president - who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay.
Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside.
This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.
President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.
The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.
This austere lifestyle - and the fact that Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity - has led him to be labelled the poorest president in the world.
"I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice."
"I've lived like this most of my life," he says, sitting on an old chair in his garden, using a cushion favoured by Manuela the dog.
"I can live well with what I have."
His charitable donations - which benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs - mean his salary is roughly in line with the average Uruguayan income of $775 (£485) a month.
In 2010, his annual personal wealth declaration - mandatory for officials in Uruguay - was $1,800 (£1,100), the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.
This year, he added half of his wife's assets - land, tractors and a house - reaching $215,000 (£135,000).
That's still only about two-thirds of Vice-President Danilo Astori's declared wealth, and a third of the figure declared by Mujica's predecessor as president, Tabare Vasquez.
Elected in 2009, Mujica spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group inspired by the Cuban revolution.
He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail. Most of his detention was spent in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy.
Those years in jail, Mujica says, helped shape his outlook on life.
"I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more," he says.
"This is a matter of freedom. If you don't have many possessions then you don't need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself," he says.
"I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice."
The Uruguayan leader made a similar point when he addressed the Rio+20 summit in June this year: "We've been talking all afternoon about sustainable development. To get the masses out of poverty.
"But what are we thinking? Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left?
"Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet."
Mujica accuses most world leaders of having a "blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption, as if the contrary would mean the end of the world".
Mujica could have followed his predecessors into a grand official residence
But however large the gulf between the vegetarian Mujica and these other leaders, he is no more immune than they are to the ups and downs of political life.
"Many sympathise with President Mujica because of how he lives. But this does not stop him for being criticised for how the government is doing," says Ignacio Zuasnabar, a Uruguayan pollster.
The Uruguayan opposition says the country's recent economic prosperity has not resulted in better public services in health and education, and for the first time since Mujica's election in 2009 his popularity has fallen below 50%.
This year he has also been under fire because of two controversial moves. Uruguay's Congress recently passed a bill which legalised abortions for pregnancies up to 12 weeks. Unlike his predecessor, Mujica did not veto it.
Instead, he chose to stay on his wife's farm
He is also supporting a debate on the legalisation of the consumption of cannabis, in a bill that would also give the state the monopoly over its trade.
"Consumption of cannabis is not the most worrying thing, drug-dealing is the real problem," he says.
However, he doesn't have to worry too much about his popularity rating - Uruguayan law means he is not allowed to seek re-election in 2014. Also, at 77, he is likely to retire from politics altogether before long.
When he does, he will be eligible for a state pension - and unlike some other former presidents, he may not find the drop in income too hard to get used to.
***
The Huffington Post
'Drunk Driving' Permits Approved By Irish County Might Let Rural Drivers Imbibe, Drive
By Meredith Bennett-Smith
Posted: 01/22/2013
The Kerry County Council in southwest Ireland has passed a controversial measure that could make it legal for some rural drivers to get behind the wheel after knocking back a few stiff drinks.
While only three council members voted "no" on the proposed legislation, five apparently support the creation of special permits for driving in sparsely populated areas while intoxicated, according to the Guardian.
Nationwide, Ireland has been cracking down on drunken driving, according to Irish news outlet Independent.ie, which reports that drivers are now allowed only 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, "equivalent to drinking less than one pint of beer." But permits proposed in the Kerry measure would allow rural residents to consume "two or three drinks," per the Guardian.
Councillor Danny Healy-Rae , who spearheaded the motion, claimed that citizens drinking and driving in rural areas had "never killed anyone" and argued that the permits would actually help prevent "a lot of them falling into depression," reports Irish news site TheJournal.ie.
Healy-Rae also owns a pub in County Kerry, according to the Guardian.
“A lot of these people are living in isolated rural areas where there’s no public transport of any kind, and they end up at home looking at the four walls, night in and night out, because they don’t want to take the risk of losing their licence,” Healy-Rae told TheJournal.ie.
The website also noted that 12 Kerry councillors were not present at the time of voting, and that seven abstained from voting on the measure.
The council's measure is only the first step for proponents of the plan, however. The council still has to petition Justice Minister Alan Shatter to issue the special permits, reports the Independent.
County Kerry's move prompted harsh criticism from Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority in Ireland.
"It is unthinkable that we would go back to a system that sought to increase our drink-drive limit," Brett told Independent.ie. "We have made substantial progress in Ireland in reducing deaths and injuries on our roads, particularly in rural areas which are hardest hit by road fatalities and injuries."
The BBC reports that alcohol awareness organization Alcohol Action Ireland also moved quickly to condemn Healy-Rae's motion by noting that "almost one in three crash deaths in Ireland is alcohol-related."
Alcohol Action spokesman Conor Cullen disputed Healy-Rae's claim that drunken driving laws are leading to the increased isolation and depression of older, rural Irish citizens.
"It should be noted that the link between alcohol use and suicide has been well established and alcohol will exacerbate, not alleviate any mental health difficulties that a person may be struggling with, such as depression or anxiety," Cullen told the BBC. “Those in rural areas who may be suffering from isolation will not benefit from putting their lives and the lives of the other members of their community at risk by drinking and driving.”
***
Reading the article about the Irish and their fondness for drinking reminded us of the “first miracle” found in the book of John, chapter two.
John 2:1-11
“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”
This got us to wondering, just how much wine did Jesus make. According to two web sites, “Bible Measurements” and “Biblical Proportions: Ancient Systems of Measurement” a firkin is just under nine gallons. We just went ahead and used some simple math to see if we could figure this out.
If there were six water pots with two to three firkins in each one, using Imperial gallons which are slightly larger than US gallons, the minimal amount would be approximately 490.97 gallons and the maximin amount would be 736.46 gallons. Converting gallons to liters you get a range of 654.62 liters to 981.95 liters.
The average wine bottle today that you buy at the store or Off License is 750 ml.
To find out how many bottles of wine Jesus made you divide 654.62 and 981.95 by .750.
That translates to somewhere between approximately 873 bottles in todays terms to 1309 bottles. And this would seem to be after men had “well drunk”. That's a lot of wine!
We tried to find the population of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus and all we could come up with was “small”. (Hope we got this right, if not sorry.)
***
Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions
“And
wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to
shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.”
(Psalm
104:15)