"There is no fear in love."
(1 John 4:18)

No Fear

The Telegraph (Edited from longer article.)

The remarkable rise of mental illness in Britain

By Neil O'Brien Politics

October 30th, 2012

Ed Miliband has been talking about mental illness, arguing that celebrities should stop demeaning the mentally ill. He talked about how it costs our economy tens of billions of pounds a year.

He's right that it's a really important subject, with big economic implications.

Between 1995 and 2005 about half a million extra people registered for Incapacity Benefit (IB) because of a mental illness, taking the total to about 1.1 million. Claims for mental illness grew even faster than other Incapacity Benefit claims.

Since 2005 the numbers claiming incapacity benefits for other reasons have fallen back about 15 per cent, but the numbers claiming for a mental illness have still been inching up - although the big surge has ended.

The combination of those two things means that the proportion of claims for incapacity benefits accounted for by mental illness has gone up and up. In fact it's now mental illness - rather than, say, a bad back or a broken arm - that's now the number one reason why people claim sick benefits.

What else do we know about this huge change in our society? Younger people are much more likely to be incapacitated by mental illness rather than other causes. In fact 60 per cent of young (25-34) men claiming IB or ESA are doing so for a mental illness, compared to 31 per cent of 55-59 year olds.

Looking at specific problems, depression is the most common reason for claiming (accounting for 509,000 claims last year). 128,000 people claimed for an anxiety disorder, and while other big causes were neurosis (56,000) alcoholism (56,000), schizophrenia (53,000), retardation (49,000), severe stress (49,000), and drug abuse (42,000). And people have these problems for a long time. More than a quarter of those claiming IB for depression or anxiety disorders have been claiming for more than 10 years.

And there is a pretty clear geographical link between economic well being and mental health.

All of the above is mostly a description of the problem, and I don't know what the solution is. But mental illness is one of the biggest challenges facing the welfare state, and one which we've only really begun to explore.

If, over time, we could reduce the number of people suffering from mental health problems, it would obviously reduce a lot of real misery. And the problem is now so large that it would also make a real difference to the economy too. The numbers who can't work because of mental health problems (1.1 million) are not much off the total number claiming unemployment benefits (1.5 million), and the mental health charity mind argue that it mental health problems cost the economy £77 billion per year in England alone.

So we're talking serious misery, but serious money too. Hopefully politicians will keep interested, and keep searching for solutions.

A key point is: they see the problem, everybody sees the the problem, but as stated in the article "I don't know what the solution is."

Although the answer is right in front of their eyes, as the following article points out, they refuse to accept the solution.

Huffingtonpost.com

lee.speigel@huffingtonpost.com

More Believe In Space Aliens Than In God According To U.K. Survey

Posted: 10/18/2012

More than 33 million U.K. citizens believe in extraterrestrial life, compared to just over 27 million -- less than half the country -- who believe in God.

That's the result of an online survey of 1,359 adults who were asked a variety of questions ranging from belief in alien visits to Earth, suspicions of UFO cover-ups, belief in extraterrestrials vs. belief in God, and whether or not men actually landed on the moon. The survey was conducted by Opinion Matters.

Oddly enough, or maybe not so, the survey was taken on behalf of "a tie-in with a new video game, "XCOM: Enemy Unknown," it was a legitimate sampling of opinions that can be taken to represent the population of the U.K., according to the agency that conducted the survey."

Also, it is really no surprise that the problem exists more amongst the young with their exposure to the digital world in which many of them live.

Plus the movies, television programs, the secular teaching so common in schools today, interest in the occult, the music, etc. etc. etc. You can probably think of many more influences.

What has all of this done: "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." (Romans 1:28)

The minds of these people became corrupted concerning the faith. They deny God. Those who don't like to retain God in their knowledge eventually take on a reprobate mind.

The same Greek word translated reprobate in the KJV Bible (adokimos, Strong's Concordance Number #G96) is translated as depraved in the NIV version of Romans 1:28, disapproved in the NKJV version of 2Timothy 3:8 and worthless in the NASB version of Titus 1:16.

What do we know about someone who has this kind of mind? We know from Romans 1:28, that the people or nation under discussion did not like to retain God in their knowledge. As a result, God gave them over to this depraved, disapproved and virtually worthless state of mind.

This sounds terrible and it is terrible. The solution without any doubt whatsoever is the "knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ", 2 Peter 3:18. Salvation!

We are going to finish our introduction with just three verses out of many verses concerning this topic:

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in." Isaiah 26:3

And as the article points out "we're talking serious misery." Once again the solution:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

God is Love and He loved us so much that "he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

If you haven't already received Him, receive Him now to find the peace and soundness of mind which is yours for the asking.

He's standing at the door of your heart right now waiting for you to invite Him in, so that He can give you the peace of mind you long for plus eternal life All you have to do to invite Him in is to say a simple prayer. "Dear Jesus, I know I have done wrong and need Your forgiveness. I ask you to please come into my heart, forgive me my sins and give me eternal life". Amen!

"The elimination of fear by faith gives peace of mind and rest to your stomach and vital organs, including rest to your heart and the actual elimination of poisons from the blood which cause illness. In other words, your state of mind can actually poison your body. This science knows and has proven.
Positive attitudes and good thoughts, etc., do definitely have a good effect on both mind and body through the right spiritual attitude. This is why the Scriptures say, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8) Paul says to forget the things that are behind, so you don't worry about the past, and press on to the things that are before. And the Scripture says don't worry about tomorrow.
The two greatest sources of fear & worry are the past & the future--remorse over the past, or fear over the future--and God's Word forbids worry about either! Then for the present He says, "Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
Or man can believe the lies of the Devil and rebel against God and disobey Him and refuse to believe His Word and go their own way and suffer the consequences of violating His mental and spiritual laws, rebellion against which and disobedience to which bring ill health, misery and pain." David Brandt Berg

***

Economic Collapse

18 Startling Quotes About The Incredible Destruction Caused By Hurricane Sandy

Michael Snyder
Oct 31, 2012

It is hard to put into words the absolute devastation that we are seeing along many areas of the east coast right now.  Boats have been washed ashore, homes have been razed, some coastal roads have been essentially destroyed, and large numbers of people are still trapped in their homes by flood waters.  It is being reported that more than 50 people are dead and more than 8 million people along the east coast have lost power. 

Those without power might not get it back for a week or more.  In New York City, an all-time record storm surge of almost 14 feet caused incredible destruction.  It is going to take months for New York City to recover, and along the Jersey coast things are even worse.  Hurricane Sandy really did turn out to be "the worst case scenario" for much of the eastern seaboard.  At this point more than 15,000 flights have been cancelled, and nobody knows when subway service in New York City is going to be restored.  More than 4 million people a day use that subway system, and right now many of the most important tunnels are absolutely flooded with water. Sadly, this crisis is far from over.  The storm formerly known as Hurricane Sandy has moved inland over Pennsylvania where it continues to do a tremendous amount of damage.  The full extent of the destruction caused by this storm will probably not be known for weeks.

We have truly seen some unprecedented things during this storm.  For example, a 168 foot long tanker was driven ashore on Staten Island.  Right now the tanker is sitting on Front Street.

In the beachfront Queens neighborhood of Breezy Point, a massive fire broke out and burned just about everything that was not already flooded.  The blaze destroyed close to 100 homes, and by the end of the fire more than 190 firefighters were battling it.

Some areas in the West Virginia mountains have already had up to 3 feet of snow, and yet it just continues to fall.  When all of that snow starts to melt in a few days, tremendous flooding is anticipated.

The northeast has never seen a storm quite like this, and the ripple effects are going to be felt for years to come.

The following are 18 startling quotes about the incredible destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy...

#1 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

"The devastation on the Jersey Shore is some of the worst we've ever seen. The cost of the storm is incalculable at this point."

#2 MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota

"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night. Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region. It has brought down trees, ripped out power and inundated tunnels, rail yards and bus depots. As of last night, seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded. Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line. The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel. The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel is flooded from end to end and the Queens Midtown Tunnel also took on water and was closed. Six bus garages were disabled by high water. We are assessing the extent of the damage and beginning the process of recovery. Our employees have shown remarkable dedication over the past few days, and I thank them on behalf of every New Yorker. In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now. All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal."

#3 Hoboken, New Jersey Mayor Dawn Zimmer

"The Hudson River came in and filled half of Hoboken like a bathtub"

#4 Little Ferry resident Leo Quigley

"I looked out and the next thing you know, the water just came up through the grates. It came up so quickly you couldn't do anything about it. If you wanted to move your car to higher ground you didn't have enough time"

#5 New Jersey resident Montgomery Dahm

"I mean, there's cars that are just completely underwater in some of the places I would never believe that there would be water."

#6 Mobile home park resident Juan Allen

"I watched a tree crush a guy's house like a wet sponge."

#7 Angela Valenta, mother of 9-year-old Angelo Valenta

"He kept saying, 'Am I going to die?'"

#8 U.S. Representative Bob Turner

"I, along with many other Breezy Point residents, lost our homes last night and I am grateful that my family and I are safe after this destructive storm. I hope you will join me in lending a hand to those who were less fortunate and keep everyone impacted by this storm in your thoughts and prayers."

#9 Long Branch, New Jersey resident David Arnold

"The ocean is in the road, there are trees down everywhere. I've never seen it this bad."

#10 New York resident William Yaeck

"I am looking outside of my sixth-floor apartment, and I see that a new lake has formed in the parking lot adjacent (to) my building"

#11 Motel owner Peter Sandomeno

"There are boats in the street five blocks from the ocean"

#12 West Virginia meteorologist Reed Timmer

"It's 3 feet of heavy snow. It's like concrete"

#13 Maryland State Police dispatcher Bill Wiltson

"It's like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs up here"

#14 Con Edison spokeswoman Sara Banda

"This is the largest storm-related outage in history"

#15 John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at Con Edison

"This will be one for the record books"

#16 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

"Clearly the challenges our city faces in the coming days are enormous"

#17 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

"You want to talk about a situation that gets old very quickly. You are sitting in a house with no power and you can't open the refrigerator"

#18 National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Pollina

"It was an extremely devastating and destructive storm, hopefully one that people will only see once in their lifetime"

So what will this storm ultimately cost the U.S. economy?  Well, Fox News is reporting that the total cost could reach45 billion dollars.  Others estimate that the economic toll may be even higher than that.

But one thing is for certain - at a time when layoffs are already surging, this is definitely not going to help.  The U.S. economy is showing lots of signs of slowing down again, and this storm may have just nudged us even farther in that direction.

Hopefully we will have some time to recover before the next major crisis strikes, but with the election coming up early next week that does not seem too likely.

***

Natural News

Unrest growing among NJ, NY citizens

Mike AdamsNov 2, 2012

The first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the “polite” hours. Residents operate under the illusion that Big Government will soon save them with emergency supplies: food, water, fuel, clothing and more. So they follow the rules and “play nice.”

After about the third day, all those social niceties start to erode. People are hungry and angry. There’s a feeling of desperation and even abandonment. What seemed to be a polite society two days earlier suddenly becomes more sinister. The survival needs of individuals begin to outweigh social boundaries, and what emerges is desperation… even panic.

“Dwindling gasoline supplies are causing frayed nerves as the region endures its third full day with massive power outages.” reports Fox News. “Frustration with gas supplies topped the list of issues causing tensions to boil over in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, the states hardest hit by power outages in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Residents jockeyed for fuel at the few stations still pumping, searched store shelves in vain for batteries, struggled with sporadic cell phone service and found themselves unable to buy necessities at supermarkets.”

State troopers have now been deployed to gas stations in an effort to head off near-riots as citizens lose patience and tempers flare.

On Twitter, fist fights are being reported over fuel shortages. Police have had to draw guns on some people, reports Brietbart.com.

That article includes posts from Twitter users:

You know things are bad when you ask the gas station attendent “when do you think you’re going to get more gas?” and he just laughs at you. – Prede (@predederva) November 1, 2012

Just awful! RT @metrogypsy: Someone just pulled a knife at Greenpoint #gas station as line stretches with hours long wait #gettingrealFAST – Camila Xavier (@camilaxavier) November 1, 2012

Watching the breakdown of society at a gas station on Long Island. #sandysucks – Christina (@wooly_says) November 1, 2012

There are also tweets from some users who are intelligent preppers… like this one from JohnnyRH:

I live in Utah and the people here are big into “prepping”… I have relatives in NJ and just last week we were talking and they thought I was nuts to own guns, store fuel and water and have a generator. Most people are totally blind to what chaos will come with a really large power grid failure over half or all of the country. It will take little more than a week for all hell to break loose and riots will be the norm.

“We’re going to DIE!”

Another report from ABC News reveals the desperation and panic now forming among residents in Staten Island.

“We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” Donna Solli told visiting officials. “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”

The situation is so bad that even the Red Cross is being blamed for not showing up with supplies:

“This is America, not a third world nation. We need food, we need clothing,” Staten Island Borough President Jim Molinaro said today. “My advice to the people of Staten Island is: Don’t donate to the American Red Cross. Put their money elsewhere.” (ABC News)

NBC News reports:

Staten Island officials had some choice words Thursday to describe what they said was a feeble disaster-relief response to people left dying, homeless and hungry in the New York City borough hit particularly hard by Sandy. Staten Island’s top elected official blasted the American Red Cross response as “an absolute disgrace” and went so far as to urge its residents not to donate to the largely volunteer agency.

No gas for a week, no power for two

This situation, by the way, is only going to get FAR WORSE before it gets better. CNBC reports gas shortages will continue for at least a week, possibly longer. That’s seven more days even while desperation has already taken hold on day three!

And power? Con Edison says it will be another 10 days before power is restored to the majority of customers currently in the dark.

As long as the power is out, gas stations can’t pump gas, and that means continued gas shortages. That, in turn, means more desperation, starvation and even panic as residents can’t use vehicles to acquire food and supplies. The American way of life, remember, is almost unimaginable without gasoline. Half the population seems physically incapable of walking anywhere these days, and almost nobody own bicycles anymore.

Things are going to get a lot worse over the next few days

What happens when millions of people packed into high-density cities can’t get food, fuel or electricity?

People get desperate, of course. Desperation is about to set in. In the days ahead, you’re going to see more fights and even weapons brought to bear in real-life survival scenarios. The federal government will predictably fail to reach people with the help they need, and people who neglected to prepare will find themselves in ever-more-desperate circumstances.

This is a time when nearly everybody suddenly realizes gee, it sure would have been smart to have been a prepper.

What’s the value of having emergency food, fuel, a water filter, batteries and a fully loaded Remington shotgun in the hours after a superstorm? Priceless.

Preparedness is the solution

What’s the solution to all this frustration and panic? Preparedness.

If the people of Staten Island or NYC had been prepared for the storm that they knew was approaching, they wouldn’t be in a state of desperation right now!

If they had stored some of their own food, fuel, water and emergency supplies, they wouldn’t be panicked for the Red Cross to show up and save them.

If they had intelligently planned ahead and taken action based on the seven days of dire weather predictions that preceded the storm, they wouldn’t need to beg for big government to bail them out!

The answer to disasters like Sandy is to be a prepper.

Preppers are the new prophets

In the wake of Sandy, preppers suddenly seem like geniuses. While being ridiculed by the rest of the population for as long as we can all remember, preppers are the ones still standing in the aftermath of the storm.

They’re the ones you don’t see on the news, begging for help and panicking over the situation, because the preppers are sitting in their homes, eating their stored food, drinking their filtered water, double-checking their shotgun loads and staying off the streets. Preppers are the ones NOT looting, NOT complaining about the Red Cross, and NOT diving in dumpsters to find food while waiting around for the government to show up and save them.

Preppers are the new prophets. And those who failed to prepare are the new homeless.

***

Tech Crunch

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile Offer Statements On Hurricane Network Issues: No ETA Given

Jordan Crook

Last night Hurricane Sandy rocked the East coast in a way it's never been rocked before. And despite the fact that our mobile carriers did everything conceivable to prepare for and mitigate the damage, many people experienced voice and data outages throughout last night and on into today.

We've received word from the nation's four major carriers on the extent of the service outages and issues.

Verizon reports that several Verizon Central Officers in Lower Manhattan, Queens and Long Island have been flooded by Sandy's fierce storm surge, resulting in a loss of all Verizon services for customers powered by those stations. The big red carrier also seems to have outages in other areas such as Maryland and New Jersey, according to Twitter.

Here's the official word:

"The storm surge from Hurricane Sandy has resulted in flooding at several Verizon Central Offices in Lower Manhattan, Queens, and Long Island causing power failures and rendering back-up power systems at these sites inoperable. While these sites are currently on battery power, the inevitable loss of power requires that all equipment at these sites be powered down to prevent damage. Customers that are served by these central offices will experience a loss of all services including FiOS (voice, internet, video), high speed internet, and telephone services. Some customers may experience intermittent busy signals while attempting to dial 311 service for non-emergency calls. Verizon engineers continue to assess the damage at these locations and we will post updates as additional information is available."

Update: Verizon has sent us an afternoon update, explaining that many of the Verizon facilities in downtown Manhattan are still flooded. They even sent us a picture (below) as proof. They are waiting for power companies to deem certain areas safe before engineers and technicians can make full assessments and repairs, but they are working on it now.

Photo taken at Verizon's 140 West St HQ lobby at 9pm last night, with water as high as three feet.

AT&T is still assessing the situation, but Twitter shows that northern New York and parts of New Jersey are down. For what it's worth, my AT&T wireless service is shoddy at best and I'm in Brooklyn.

Here's the official word:

"As we continue to closely monitor our wireline and wireless networks for service disruptions, we are experiencing some issues in areas heavily impacted by the storm. We are in the initial stages of performing an on-the-ground assessment of our network for damage and crews will be working around the clock to restore service. We are deploying personnel and equipment as soon as it is safe to do so."

Sprint is having pretty widespread issues within the majority of the storm zone, according to Twitter. To their defense, though, customer care does seem to be working hard to respond to everyone.

Update: AT&T has sent out a press release with resources to donate toward the restoration effort. As far as network performance goes, they've said the following:

"We continue to closely monitor our wireline and wireless networks, and are deploying personnel and equipment as soon as it is safe to do so. For more information on our efforts related to Hurricane Sandy, visit www.att.com/aboutus."

Here's Sprint's official response:

"Sprint is experiencing service impacts in the states affected by Hurricane Sandy and the concurrent winter weather conditions, particularly in the New York tri-state area, the Washington, DC metro area, Pennsylvania, and parts of New England. These impacts are due to loss of commercial power, flooding, loss of cell site backhaul connections, site access and damaging debris. Weather and safety conditions are still dire in some areas, but our technicians are assessing the damage and servicing sites as they become known to us and as the areas are deemed safe to enter. Given the on-going weather conditions, we cannot provide a specific number of impacted customers, but we ask that they remain patient at this time and exercise caution in the aftermath of the recent events."

T-Mobile hasn't been very clear yet either, regarding where service is down. It's clear that parts of New York and New Jersey are experiencing problems, says Twitter. We've reached out to T-Mobile and are waiting for an official response.

Update: T-Mobile has responded with their statement.

"Severe high winds and weather conditions continue to affect many areas. Due to the impacts of Sandy, T-Mobile customers may be experiencing service disruptions or an inability to access service in some areas, especially those that were hardest hit by the storm. T-Mobile rapid response engineering teams are assessing the situation and we are moving as quickly as possible."

***

ABC News (Edited from longer article.)

Hurricane Takes Down Big Websites

By JOANNA STERN | ABC News

It was inevitable. With power out along the Eastern Seaboard for millions of people, the data centers and servers powering many websites were also hit, knocking popular websites offline for hours.

The biggest casualty? Datagram, the Internet service provider based in New York City that powers news sites like Gawker.com, Huffingtonpost.com, and Buzzfeed.com. When its servers went down on Monday night due to flooding, the sites it powered went down with it.

"Unfortunately, within a couple hours of the storm hitting Manhattan's shores, the building's entire basement, which houses the building's fuel tank pumps and sump pumps, was completely filled with water and a few feet into the lobby," Datagram said in a statement on its site. "Due to electrical systems being underwater the building was forced to shut down to avoid fire and permanent damage."

As a result Gawker, owner of sites such as Gawker.com, Gizmodo and Jezebel, also went down late last night. "We're continuing to work on our servers and will be back online as soon as is possible. We miss you already. Stay dry," Gawker tweeted from its account last night.

(Something better than a cell phone or the internet, hearing from God. "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Isaiah 30:21)

***

Saving Humanity

Dave Hodges

The Common Sense Show

October 30, 2012

Do you remember when your mother asked you if you would jump off a cliff if everyone else was doing it? It turns out that all of us would have been wise to heed the advice from our mothers as the globalists aren't just encouraging us to jump off a cliff, they are, in fact, pushing us off of the proverbial cliff in a deliberate attempt to fulfill the their mandate which is to eliminate a substantial portion of humanity. Meanwhile, the globalists will be safely tucked away in some underground structure free from the harm that they are perpetrating upon humanity. Sadly, many of our friends and family members are willingly going to their demise without so much as a whimper.

Heretofore, the topic of intentional depopulation was the perceived product of paranoid delusional conspiracy theorists who had too much time on their hands. The most frequent refrain from the unaware is that "they" would never do that. However, the globalists have left an unmistakable paper trail in which their true agenda is exposed.

I have collected a sample of quotes from the global elite, both past and present. And even people who cannot find the courage to abandon their normalcy bias, will have a difficult time denying the disturbing quotes which follow. .

Officials in the United Nations Want You Dead

Surely, the peace loving United Nations, complete with its expressed desire to save the world from any and all evil would stand in line to thwart any expressed threat to inhabitants of this planet, right?  Well, not exactly. The United Nations is permeated with individuals who are Satanically inspired and have repeatedly, on many fronts, have expressed their intent to reduce the world's population by dramatic means, if necessary. Please consider the following quotes:

No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation."
David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations

"The present vast overpopulation, now far beyond the world carrying capacity, cannot be answered by future reductions in the birth rate due to contraception, sterilization and abortion, but must be met in the present by the reduction of numbers presently existing. This must be done by whatever means necessary."

Initiative for the United Nations ECO-92 EARTH CHARTER

"One America burdens the earth much more than twenty Bangladeshes. This is a terrible thing to say in order to stabilize world population, we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it's just as bad not to say it.

 Jacques Cousteau, UNESCO Courier

"A reasonable estimate for an industrialized world society at the present North American material standard of living would be 1 billion. At the more frugal European standard of living, 2 to 3 billion would be possible".

United Nations, Global Biodiversity Assessment

"A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline would  be ideal"

Ted Turner, founder of CNN and major United Nations contributor

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that this pack of Eugenicists are overseeing our elections?  Perhaps the officials at the United Nations stand alone among elite leaders on the planet.

 What About Our Educated Elite?

Although it is painfully obvious that the United Nations elite have a high level of contempt for the average person, surely those people responsible for educating our children will teach the time honored virtues of the United States Constitution. Surely, they will teach their students to develop a healthy respect for American sovereignty so that the genocidal lunatics running the United Nations are unable to put their genocidal schemes into motion. Upon further review, this is not the case as I bring to you the words of those who educate and mold the minds of our young people.

War and famine would not do. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved. AIDS is not an efficient killer because it is too slow. My favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world's population is airborne Ebola (Ebola Reston), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. "We've got airborne diseases with 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that. "You know, the bird flu's good, too. For everyone who survives, he will have to bury nine"

Dr. Eric Pianka University of Texas speaking on the topic of reducing the world's population to an audience on population control.

"A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells, the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people. We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The

operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions".

  Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb

"We have to take away from humans in the long run their reproductive autonomy as the only way to guarantee the advancement of mankind."

Francis Crick, The discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA

It strongly appears that the Eugenicists patrolling corridors of educational institutions possess the same disdain for mankind as do the lunatic officials from the United Nations.

What About the Environmental Elites?

It is apparent that humanity cannot look to the sociopathic leaders of the United Nations and America's top academic leaders for salvation.  But certainly the eco-friendly environmentalists, with their penchant for saving the whales and the spotted owl will ride to the rescue of mankind.  Regrettably, this is also not the case. It seems that the humanitarian spirit of the environmentalists does not apply to any species which possess a collapsible thumb, the power of speech and has a well-developed cerebral cortex. Again, the words of the elite exposes their depopulation agenda.

"If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels."

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Leader of the World Wildlife Fund

"Malthus has been vindicated; reality is finally catching up with Malthus. The Third World is overpopulated, it's an economic mess, and there's no way they could get out of it with this fast-growing population. Our philosophy is: back to the village."

Dr. Arne Schiotz, World Wildlife Fund Director of Conservation

What About Our Government Leaders?

Historically, many Americans believe that they can look to the government to protect them from the evils of the world.  It is clear that our blind trust in our public officials misplaced. Our leaders are not our friends, and have not been for a very long time as evidenced by the following quotes:

"Society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce their kind"
Theodore Roosevelt

"There is a single theme behind all our work - we must reduce population levels. Either governments do it our way, through nice clean methods, or they will get the kinds of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control, it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it...." "Our program in El Salvador didn't work. The infrastructure was not there to support it. There were just too goddamned many people.... To really reduce population, quickly, you have to pull all the males into the fighting and you have to kill significant numbers of fertile age females...." The quickest way to reduce population is through famine, like in Africa, or through disease like the Black Death....
Thomas Ferguson, State Department Office of Population Affairs

"Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries".
Dr. Henry Kissinger

"The world's population needs to be reduced by 50%," and "The elderly are useless eaters"
Dr. Henry Kissinger

"The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes."
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of."
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits."
Obama's science czar John P. Holdren: From Ecoscience

One percent of the population is sociopathic. Here are two clear markers for Sociopaths, discoverable in their behavior patterns: 1) Sociopaths have no conscience. Hence, 2) Sociopaths cannot feel guilt nor remorse, like  ordinary people can.

These are evil people, very evil people. Superficially charming, they are selfish, greedy, unemphathetic, manipulative, and prone to violence and abuse. They steal, cheat, vandalize others property, swindle, and they are pathological liars. They are unconcerned with the feelings of other humans, who are mere objects to be used, and have little or no conscience

A recent book, authored by Martha Stout, in which the material came from released government documents CEO's are three times more likely to be a sociopath than the general population. Politicians are four times more likely to be sociopathic than you and I.  These are the people who seek power and once they obtain that power, they seek absolute power, much to detriment of the soon-to-be extinct members of human race.

What Is Humanity To Do?

If humanity is to preserve itself in its present form, it will be necessary to educate the masses as to the planned perils which lie ahead. The pro-human preservation movement needs bodies, billions and billions of bodies. Yet, the very victims of the coming planned genocide are dumbed down by the schools and propagandized into a false sense of security by the mainstream media which is owned by six global elite corporations who also want you gone.

For humanity to survive, we need to collectively rise from our knees and seize control of the planet's institutions and permanently banish these dangerous sociopaths from their self-anointed

positions of planetary leadership. The first step in gathering the numbers of people which we will need to accomplish this goal, is to educate the human race in as great as numbers as possible. My suggestion would be to forward these quotes to everyone you know and then follow up with one question. Do you think that your status in life is so significant that you and your family will be spared the coming holocaust?  If not, then you better roll up your sleeves and convince as many people as possible that we are in a great deal of danger.

(The only way we are going to get out of this is with Jesus. No uniting is going to do it.

"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22

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

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry,

If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained." 1 Timothy 4:1-3)

***

At NYC's Density, the World's Population Could Live in Texas

Images Courtesy of Tim De Chant, Per Square Mile

It turns out that if you wanted every person in the world to move to Texas, finding room for everyone wouldn't be your biggest problem. A series of maps produced by denisty blog Per Square Mile shows that if the entire world's population- 6.9 billion people- lived at the same density level as New York City, we could all fit within the borders of the Lone Star State.

At Paris levels, we would need Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. If the world lived like Houston, we would take up most of the continental United States: 1,769,085 square miles.

This doesn't mean that the whole world could actually live in Texas, considering the need for farmland, industrial space, and energy production. (Although what if all the roofs generated solar power?) And there's a lot to be said for the benefits of living in the country.

But Per Square Mile's density statistics are thought-provoking. Density is more sustainable than sprawl, and while it might be hard to convince every person on Earth to move to Texas, we could all afford to live a little closer together. (Though we don't have to live like New Yorkers.)

***

The Telegraph

Britain must atone for its sins in Palestine

Ever since the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Britain has denied our people their rights

By Nabeel Shaath

8:59PM GMT 31 Oct 2012

Over the past few weeks, British diplomats have stated that they are doing all they can to discourage Palestine’s bid for “observer state” status in the UN General Assembly. If this is an official British position, then it is reprehensible, yet not all that surprising.

Ninety-five years ago tomorrow, on November 2, 1917, British imperialism in Palestine began when Lord Balfour, the then British foreign secretary and former prime minister, sent a letter to Baron Rothschild, one of the leaders of the Zionist movement. This letter became known as the “Balfour Declaration”.

In that letter, Balfour promised British support for the Zionist programme of establishing a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. This pledge of support was made without consulting the indigenous Christian and Muslim inhabitants of Palestine, the Palestinian people. And it was made before British troops had even conquered the land.

Balfour, on behalf of Britain, promised Palestine – over which Britain had no legal right – to a people who did not even live there (of the very small community of Palestinian Jews in Palestine in 1917, very few were Zionists). And he did so with the worst of intentions: to discourage Jewish immigration to Britain. No wonder Lord Montagu, the only Jewish member of the Cabinet, opposed the declaration.

And yet, just two years earlier, Britain had committed herself to assisting the Arab nations in achieving their independence from the Ottoman Empire. Arab fighters all over the region, including thousands of Palestinians, fought for their freedom, allowing Britain to establish her mandate in Palestine.

From that moment, Palestine became the victim of colonial conspiracies. The Balfour Declaration helped to encourage Zionist immigration into Palestine and away from America and Western Europe. Concomitantly, Britain repressed Palestinian nationalism, which was exemplified by its crushing of the Arab revolt of 1936-1939 and the denial of the right of the Palestinian people to express their will through their own representation. In fact, Britain suppressed Palestinian political representation through a policy of systematic denial of Palestinian political rights.

The dying days of Britain’s rule in Palestine were marked by destruction, blood, and the start of the Palestinian exile, meaning the expulsion of the majority of the Palestinian people against the backdrop of Zionist terrorism. It was not the Palestinians who blew up the King David Hotel, who blew up the British Embassy in Rome, who tried to assassinate Ernest Bevin, Britain’s foreign secretary, and who succeeded in assassinating Lord Moyne, British minister of state in the Middle East. That was the Irgun, an ideological Right-wing group – and the predecessor to Israel’s ruling Likud Party.

The British mandate was supposed to deliver independence to Palestine through the establishment of representative institutions. It was never meant permanently to thwart Palestinian national aspirations. Nor was it ever envisaged that the British mandate would end with a catastrophe in the form of the expulsion of the majority of the Palestinian people from their homeland.

When Britain decided to relinquish Palestine to the UN in 1947, she was well aware that the Zionist movement was well established and equipped, while Palestinians were still healing from the effects of British colonialism during the years of the revolt.

Since the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948, during which approximately two thirds of the Palestinian people, Christians and Muslims, were expelled to become refugees, Britain has not done anything substantially to repair the suffering it has caused to the Palestinians. Britain has not met its historic responsibility. Successive British administrations have avoided repairing this injustice by making statements of goodwill instead of taking actions to end the Israeli occupation and support the Palestinian right to self-determination.

It is unacceptable that today, 65 years after the partition of Palestine, the UK has recognised the state of Israel but not the state of Palestine. It is unacceptable that, having invested large human and economic resources in the development of Palestinian institutions, the UK has not taken the necessary political and diplomatic steps to realise the establishment of a free and independent state of Palestine. Rather than continuing down this path, the UK, more than any other state, should stand behind the Palestinian endeavour towards the fulfilment of their national rights and aspirations, through supporting its application for enhancement of status at the UN.

Some argue that Palestine’s recognition and enhanced status will not immediately end the occupation. None the less, it is a step in the right direction towards a peaceful solution, and it sends a strong message to Israel that the world will no longer tolerate its illegal and oppressive policies. For a country with the historic responsibility that the UK carries towards Palestine, a victim of British colonialism, this should be the least we can expect in order to repair decades of occupation and exile.

Dr Nabeel Shaath is a member of the PLO Political Committee and Fatah Central Committee, and is a former Palestinian foreign minister

***

King World News

Nigel Farage – We Are Headed To A ‘One World Government’

2012/11/01

In an incredibly powerful interview, on October 24, MEP (Member European Parliament) Nigel Farage told King World News, “They even want to get eurozone countries to change their constitutions, to write in their constitutions that they will obey all orders from Brussels.”  Farage also warned “So it is very, very difficult to ignore those voices who have been telling me for 20 years that behind all of this there are a group of people that want to create a one world government … it’s beginning to stare us in the face.”

Farage also discussed gold, but first, here is what he had to say about the ongoing crisis:  “We’ve reached a point in this where, despite the massive economic, political, and social problems that exist within the eurozone, and indeed an argument that the North and the South of Europe are diverging by the day, despite all of that, the political class have got so much the upper hand in Brussels, that, actually, they are moving to more and more extreme tactics.”

“(This is being done) to lock countries in to a new form of government which is so far removed from any concept of liberal democracy that I think it’s quite frightening.  So I really made the point yesterday (in Parliament) that all of these bailouts that we’ve seen, (were designed to have) they (the countries) get put directly under the command and control of the institutions of the European Union.

And frankly, their prime ministers become puppets.  And in terms of the people that want to create the European state, they are delighted.  They would almost like everyone to go bankrupt and then they are really in charge….

“For example, in Ireland recently, the troika, and just to remind people, that is the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the IMF, 50 officials descended upon Dublin.  They went through the books, and they sat down with the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and told him exactly what he must do with spending and with government taxation.

I mean there is almost no point in the people of Ireland going through the process of holding democratic elections anymore when the bureaucrats are totally in control.  And van Rompuy wants to take this a stage further.  He now wants to get all of the members of the eurozone to actually sign, you know sign in blood, binding agreements that say that they will only implement budgets as they are allowed to implement by him.  And if a parliament in any of the eurozone countries was to vote through a budget which was different than that approved by the European institutions, it would be legally struck down.

They even want to get eurozone countries to change their constitutions, to write in their constitutions that they will obey all orders from Brussels.  Now this is just monstrous, and I must say that it’s not just the Europeans on their own.  I mean the IMF in Washington, which of course the US is an 18% shareholder in, they’ve suddenly become part of this great game.

Last week we even saw the Nobel Prize Committee, and they come out supporting the European Union and giving them the Peace Prize.  So it is very, very difficult to ignore those voices, who have been telling me for 20 years that behind all of this there are a group of people that want to create a ‘one world government.’

I’ve tried to ignore those arguments and say, ‘Look, let’s not be too conspiratorial about this.’  But goodness me, it’s beginning to stare us in the face.”

Farage had this to say regarding gold:  “I think just as my view that the eurozone is going to take longer to break down, and that the severe, underlying banking crises that lie behind it may be staved off for a bit longer, I think the moment at which gold reaches the really big peaks that I think it can reach, maybe that’s been deferred a bit.

Maybe it’s going to take longer for all of this to come to a head, but you certainly wouldn’t want to be short of gold, you’d want to be long of gold.  And we’re probably in one of those markets now where you are going to have to display a little bit of patience.

But I do firmly think if you get any dips on gold from here that it should be bought.”

***

The Land Of Not Too Much - David Berg 1976

It was the strangest little dream--there wasn't very much to it. I went over these mountains toward the sea, and it was like paradise, going into another world, and I came back and told you about it how wonderful it was!

And the thing that made it so wonderful was that there wasn't too much of anything--that's the funniest thing! It was just that simple. In that country it was impossible to do too much of anything: You couldn't eat too much, you couldn't drink too much, you couldn't work too much, you couldn't sleep too much, you couldn't go too far.

I remember going over a whole list of things in my dream, but now I can't remember them all, I thought it would be so easy to remember all those. You couldn't see too much, you couldn't hear too much, you couldn't learn too much and you couldn't talk too much. You couldn't play too long, you couldn't run too far or worry too much.

You just couldn't do too much of anything.--and that seemed to solve all the problems. Nobody wanted too much, so nobody had too much, and so nobody fought to get too much or had any fights or wars, 'cause nobody wanted too much or more than the other fellow. Nobody wanted too much of anything, nobody had too much of anything.

There was lots of peace and plenty and safety and happiness, but not too much, just enough for everybody. Everybody had enough to eat and to drink, enough to wear, but not too much. Nobody had too much. The women were very pretty, but they didn't wear too many clothes like they do now. In fact they wore very little but enough--just not too much.

Nobody got too cold or too hungry or too wet or too big or too fat or too small or too weak or too strong. Nobody was too much of anything or had too much of anything or didn't have enough of anything. There's not too much and not too little, there's just enough.

And everybody had the truth, and the truth was that nobody had too much or was too much of anything. And that seemed to solve everybody's problems. I'd found a land where everybody's problems were solved by not having too much of anything, by not being able to do too much or go too much or be too much or not be too much or not go too much and not do too much.

Everything was solved by not too much. So I guess you'd call it "The Land of Not Too Much" where everybody was content with not too much. Nobody wanted too much so everybody had enough and that solved all the problems. Isn't that a funny dream?

The land of not too much! It was such a simple thing, and I was wondering why I hadn't discovered that before! It just seemed to solve everything. Nobody was too good or too bad or too proud or too mean or too much of anything. You couldn't do too much or anything like that--it was just impossible.

It was just impossible to have too much or do too much or go too far or go too fast or anything like that. You just couldn't do or have too much of anything, and so that made everybody happy. So I was so thrilled to have found this land where it solved everybody's problems by nobody having too much and where nothing was too much in the Land of Not Too Much.

It was just over that ridge there toward the sea. Everybody was so happy because nobody had too much or was too much or did too much or said too much in the Land of Not Too Much.

Jesus gave it to me, I didn't think it up. The Land of Not Too Much, isn't that amazing?

I guess the reason everybody had enough was because nobody had too much, and that's why nobody had to work too hard or do too much because everybody did enough, did their share and not too much--it's just that simple!

("Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” Proverbs 30:8-9)

***

The Telegraph

Street lights turned off in their thousands to meet carbon emission targets

Huge swathes of Britain are being plunged into darkness as more and more streetlights are switched off by councils and roads authorities.

Motorway lights to be turned off to cut carbon

Lights on the motorway Photo: ALAMY

Claire Duffin

By Claire Duffin

27 Oct 2012

Lights are being turned off on motorways and major roads, in town centres and residential streets, and on footpaths and cycle ways, as councils try to save money on energy bills and meet carbon emission targets. The switch-off begins as early as 9pm.

They are making the move despite concerns from safety campaigners and the police that it would lead to an increase in road accidents and crime.

The full extent of the blackout can be disclosed following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph - which comes on the day that clocks moved back an hour, making it dark earlier in the evening - and found that:

    3,080 miles of motorways and trunk roads in England are now completely unlit;

    a further 47 miles of motorway now have no lights between midnight and 5am, including one of Britain's busiest stretches of the M1, between Luton and Milton Keynes;

out of 134 councils which responded to a survey, 73% said they had switched off or dimmed some lights or were planning to;

all of England's 27 county councils have turned off or dimmed street lamps in their areas

The vast majority of councils have chosen to turn lights off at night, at times when they say there is less need for them, while others have installed lamps which can be dimmed.

Local authorities say the moves helps reduce energy bills, at a time when energy prices are continuing to rise. Several of the big energy companies have unveiled price hikes in recent weeks, including British Gas, npower and EDF Energy - which this week said it was increasing its standard variable prices for gas and electricity customers by 10%.

Some councils expect to save hundreds of thousands of pounds by turning off lights at night or converting them to dimmer switches.

However some councils admit they may not see savings for another four or five years because of the cost of installing new lights, dimmer switches and complex control systems.

And some councils - as well as the Highways Agency, responsible for motorways and major A roads - say that the lights are being turned off to meet "green" targets to cut carbon emissions, by reducing electricity use.

Critics say that spending money to meet the targets is a poor use of public funds in a time of recession.

The increasing black-out was criticised last night by safety and motoring organisations, who said the economic and environmental benefits were being over-stated and warned that less street lighting would lead to more accidents and more crime.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "The presence of lighting not only reduces the risk of traffic accidents but also their severity. Surveys have show that the public are in favour of street lighting as a way of improving road safety and that, if anything, it needs to be improved in some areas.

"There are economic and environmental reasons why some organisations may wish to reduce the amount of lighting. However there are safety reasons why lighting needs to be available."

Paul McClenaghan, commercial director at Halfords, said: "Poor lighting or none at all can make it very difficult for motorists to see hazards or objects clearly at night. Added to this Government figures show that road accidents increase in the week after the clocks change, so it is clear that extra vigilance is needed at this time of the year, from motorists, cyclists and pedestrians."

Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, said: "We do know that most accidents happen in the dark, its also comforting for people, especially if they arrive back from somewhere in the night, when they have got a late train. There are also suggestions that it increases crime. So it may save money in terms of energy but then you have to look at the cost in terms of security, safety and accidents, it may actually be more. We have even heard that some milkmen are having more trips and falls, so it has had some implications you might not think about.

"Motorway drivers don't like changing situations, from light to dark and dark to light, but I don't think we would argue for no lighting at all. It is extremely comforting for drivers, especially in bad weather."

The switch-off of motorway lights means that 70 per cent of the network is now unlit at night. Sections of the M1, M2, M27, M4, M48, M5, M54, M58, M6, M65 and M66 are now unlit from midnight.

One of the sections of the M1 is a 15-mile stretch from just north of Luton to the outskirts of Milton Keyns, one of the heaviest-used sections of any british road.

The Highways Agency said the full-switch off had saved it £400,000 last year, while reducing carbon emissions, and said it planned further blackouts.

Meanwhile 98 councils said they have switched off or dimmed lights, or planned to in the future.

In Shropshire, 12,500 - 70 per cent of the area's lights - are now switched off between midnight and 5.30am, while Derbyshire County Council plans to turn off 40,000 lights at night. In Lincolnshire, some are turned off from as early as 9pm.

Leicestershire County Council expects to save £800,000 a year in energy bills by adapting one third of the country's 68,000 street lights so that they can be dimmed or turned off at night.

Caerphilly in Wales no longer lights industrial estates overnight and Bradford dims 1,800 of its 58,000 street lights between 9.30pm and 5.30am.

However Worcestershire County Council postponed plans to switch off and dim lights after it found it would cost more money to implement the scheme than it would save. The authority currently pays £2 million a year to run 52,000 street lights but it found that to reduce that bill by £600,000 a year it would need to invest £3.4 million first. It is now running a trial to dim some lights before a final decision is made.

In many areas councils have received complaints from residents.

Caroline Cooney, an actress who complained to Hertfordshire County Council when the lights near her home in Bishop's Stortford were switched off after midnight, said she faced a "black hole" when she returned home from working in the West End of London.

"My street is completely canopied by large tress and I could not see my hand in front of my face," she said.

Mrs Cooney, who appeared in Gregory's Girl and who has also appeared in Casualty, said it was putting people in danger and the council was effectively imposing a "midnight curfew on residents who do not want to take the risk of walking home blind".

"When I came out of the train station it was just like a black hole," she said.

"I simply cannot risk walking home in what is effectively pitch blackness."

However the council told her it could not "provide tailored street lighting for each individual's particular needs".

CNN

Probe of Antarctica's hidden lakes may yield clues to extraterrestrial life

By Tim Hume

October 30, 2012 |

London (CNN) -- A bold project to explore an ancient lake trapped beneath an Antarctic glacier for up to half a million years may reveal the limits at which life can exist.

The British project, run by a consortium of two environmental research centers and eight universities, will involve drilling through 3 km (1.86 miles) of ice in one of the world's most hostile locations to extract water and sediment samples from Lake Ellsworth, situated deep beneath a glacier on the West Antarctic Ice Shelf.

Ellsworth, about 10 km (6.2 miles) long and 2-3 km wide, is one of about 400 subglacial lakes on the frozen continent, which maintain their liquid form due to pressure from above and heat from the Earth below.

Scientists believe some of these isolated lakes could be home to micro-organisms unknown to science, potentially holding secrets to the origins and limits of life on Earth. This knowledge could in turn hold clues about the possible conditions for extraterrestrial life, in locations such as the bodies of water thought to exist beneath the surfaces of icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

"It will help us define where things can live, and that could guide or inform our investigations for life on other planets
"It will help us define where things can live, and that could guide or inform our investigations for life on other planets," said David Pearce, a microbiologist for the British Antarctic Survey.

Scientists do not know what they will discover, but believe they may find bacteria, viruses, single-celled microorganisms and complex cell organisms called eukaryotes.

A less likely, but more scientifically intriguing scenario is that the ancient lake is completely lifeless, going against the prevailing rule that wherever there is water, there is life.

"That in some ways would be more exciting, because it would give us the limits for life as we know if on the earth," said Pearce. "There are even active organisms in clouds."

The project has been 16 years in the making for the University of Bristol's Martin Siegert, the project's principal investigator.

"What we're doing is testing that relationship between life and water in probably the most extreme place that we can," he said.

"These are isolated pockets of water that have been removed from the atmosphere for some time, under complete darkness and quite high pressures, without that common communication with fluid transport or atmospheric transport with the rest of the planet. The buffer is the ice sheet above it."

Siegert said sediment samples from the lake floor should also contain information about the planet's changing climate, including the age of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and the approximate timing and conditions of any previous collapse.

"If we can determine sediments that were deposited before the ice sheet was in place, then we can date that sediment and that can give us an estimation," he said.

Siegert, who named the lake in 2004 after the American polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, has wanted to explore Antarctica's subglacial frontier since 1996.

But it has taken until now to develop the specialized technology the team of engineers and scientists believe will allow them to penetrate the ice sheet without contaminating the pristine waters beneath.

What we're doing is testing that relationship between life and water in probably the most extreme place that we can
Professor Martin Siegert, principal investigator for the Subglacial Lake Ellsworth program

Using space age "clean technology" -- claimed to be as sterile as surgical equipment -- the team will blast through the ice with a hot water drill at a temperature of 90 degrees Celsius.

Using the heat and pressure of the water, the drill will operate for three days to create a 360 mm borehole, which will shrink in diameter by 6 mm an hour as it refreezes. Ice and water from the site will be recycled as drilling fluid, to reduce the potential for contamination. The team will be left with 24 hours to complete the sampling before the borehole -- at 3 km, the deepest ever made using this method -- refreezes.

A titanium probe, which took three years to develop, will be lowered into the borehole, and a small coring device at its tip will be inserted a few centimeters into the lake floor sediment at the bottom.

The probe will then collect 50 ml samples at intervals as it rises, with sensors feeding data back to the team to determine the optimal locations to collect samples.

The first stage of the project took place at the start of the year, when an advance party of engineers braved temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius to tow nearly 70 tonnes of equipment and supplies more than 250 km (155 miles) over deep snow and crevasses through the Ellsworth mountain range to the drilling site. The equipment was "winterized," and fitted with GPS transmitters so it could be relocated later beneath flurries of windblown snow.

The team hopes to begin drilling on December 14 with the first samples brought to the surface by December 18. But treacherous conditions on the ice mean their schedule is at the mercy of the elements. Nevertheless, Siegert is confident of success.

"It's taken us a long time of planning but we are in a wonderful place," he said.

***

McClatchy

African-American ministers criticize Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham, left, escorts his father Billy Graham in this June 16, 2007, photo. | Todd Sumlin/MCT/Chalotte Observer

Michael Gordon | The Charlotte Observer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For the second time during the presidential campaign, a group of African-American ministers in North Carolina has criticized Franklin Graham for challenging the spiritual beliefs of President Barack Obama, accusing the evangelist Monday of promoting a narrow form of Christianity that supports a politically conservative point of view.

Meeting in Charlotte, the group read an open letter to Graham that comes in response to a series of full-page ads that bear a photograph of his father, Billy Graham, and ask voters to elect candidates who support "biblical principles."

In comments to The Charlotte Observer last week, Graham said his 93-year-old father supported the message, which endorses candidates who support the nation of Israel, "the sanctity of life" and "the biblical definition of marriage."

Franklin Graham went on to say that Obama's support for gay marriage and abortion rights challenges "God's standard" and says "it's OK for people to sin."

He said he has cast an early ballot for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose positions "are more in line with the moral teachings that I believe in." During a meeting this month at his home in Montreat, N.C., the elder Graham offered to help Romney " any way I can."

State NAACP President William Barber accused Graham of "being seduced by the sirens of money and power," and of "cherry-picking the easy parts of Christianity" that serve his partisan politics. In doing so, Barber said, Graham has ignored the broader messages of the Bible to help the poor, feed the hungry and treat the sick.

"These texts, Brother Graham, are so primary to our faith tradition but so secondary in your critique," Barber said, surrounded by more than a dozen other ministers. Why do some Christian conservatives "say so little about what God says so much, and so much about what God says so little? To exclude this focus and try to make a claim of concern for Christian values is hollow at best and heretical at worst."

Franklin Graham was returning from a trip to Africa, and was not available for comment. But in a statement Monday night, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said it regretted "that some members of the NAACP find issue with the recent ads."

The ads deal with "biblical values" that Graham has addressed, the statement said.

"Certainly there are any number of topics about which other individuals and organizations in this country feel strongly and may prefer to discuss. We respect their right to use their voices and public forums to do so." Barber said the press conference was not an endorsement of Obama, but a call to use a broader, spiritually based criteria than the one used by the Grahams to evaluate candidates.

The criticism didn't stop there. Dr. Gregory Moss cited the recent decision by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which Franklin Graham heads, to remove a list of so-called religious cults on its website that included Mormonism. Romney is a lifelong Mormon.

Graham said last week that he didn't know that the list existed and said it was not in keeping with the mission of the Graham organization. In addition, he authored a column in the current edition of the association's Decision magazine saying it is OK for Christians to vote for a Mormon candidate.

The cover of the November issue arriving in the mail has campaign buttons that say "Pray" and "Vote," along with this message. "Take a Stand for Biblical Values on Nov. 6."

Graham also heads Samaritan's Purse, a relief agency that responds to disasters worldwide. Its website says the agency plans to offer help in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, now pummeling the East Coast.

As with Barber, Moss spoke directly to Graham.

"We have nothing against the Mormons. This country was founded on religious freedom, and we uphold those freedoms," said Moss, who revealed an Obama T-shirt to his congregation during his Sunday sermon.

"But to change your mind for political expediency lends you hypocritical and morally bankrupt."

Barber was among a group of ministers who met with Franklin Graham this spring after Graham, during an appearance on MSNBC, seemed to question whether Obama is a Christian or a Muslim. He later apologized.

The tone of the Graham political ads surprised historians and longtime Graham watchers. One accused the younger Graham of turning his father into "a mouthpiece of the religious right." A series of similar Graham ads appeared statewide in support of a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to a man and a woman.

Franklin Graham said his father, who turns 94 the day after the Nov. 6 election, had approved both campaigns. "Nobody kidnaps my Daddy ... his mind remains sharp as a razor," Franklin Graham said.

In reading the open letter to the son, however, Barber raised the question of whether the father still speaks for himself.

"If we are wrong, and your dad in his latter years has changed his view of a more democratic, a more inclusive and a more loving world, then let him tell us directly," Barber said.

"If you are misusing your father's legacy, then please cease."

***

RT News

Saudi Arabia to raze Prophet Mohammed's tomb to build larger mosque

Published: 31 October, 2012

Courtyard of the Prophet Mohammed Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Medina (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)

The key Islamic heritage site, including Prophet Mohammed's shrine, is to be bulldozed, as Saudi Arabia plans a $ 6 billion expansion of Medina's holy Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque. However, Muslims remain silent on the possible destruction.

­Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, is planned to start as soon as the annual Hajj pilgrimage comes to a close at the end of November.  

After the reconstruction, the mosque is expected to become the world's largest building, with a capacity for 1.6 million people.

And while the need to expand does exist as more pilgrims are flocking to holy sites every year, nothing has been said on how the project will affect the surroundings of the mosque, also historic sites.

Concerns are growing that the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will come at the price of three of the world's oldest mosques nearby, which hold the tombs of Prophet Mohammed and two of his closest companions, Abu Bakr and Umar. The expansion project which will cost 25 billion SAR (more than US $6 billion) reportedly requires razing holy sites, as old as the seventh century.

The Saudis insist that colossal expansion of both Mecca and Medina is essential to make a way for the growing numbers of pilgrims. Both Mecca and Medina host 12 million visiting pilgrims each year and this number is expected to increase to 17 million by 2025.

Authorities and hotel developers are working hard to keep pace, however, the expansions have cost the oldest cities their historical surroundings as sky scrapers, luxury hotels and shopping malls are being erected amongst Islamic heritage.

A room in a hotel or apartment in a historic area may cost up to $ 500 per night. And that's all in or near Mecca, a place where the Prophet Mohammed insisted all Muslims would be equal.

"They just want to make a lot of money from the super-rich elite pilgrims, but for the poor pilgrims it is getting very expensive and they cannot afford it,"

Dr. Irfan Al Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told RT.

A general view of the Prophet Mohammed Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Medina (AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)

­Jabal Omar complex - a 40 tower ensemble - is being depicted as a new pearl of Mecca. When complete, it will consist of six five star hotels, seven 39 storey residential towers offering 520 restaurants, 4, 360 commercial and retail shops.

But to build this tourist attraction the Saudi authorities destroyed the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress and the hill it stood on.

The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimated that 95 percent of sacred sites and shrines in the two cities have been destroyed in the past twenty years.

The Prophet's birthplace was turned into a library and the house of his first wife, Khadijah, was replaced with a public toilet block.

Also the expansion and development might threaten many locals homes, but so far most Muslims have remained silent on the issue.

"Mecca is a holy sanctuary as stated in the Quran it is no ordinary city. The Muslims remain silent against the Saudi Wahhabi destruction because they fear they will not be allowed to visit the Kindom again," said Dr. Al Alawi.

The fact that there is no reaction on possible destruction has raised talks about hypocrisy because Muslims are turning a blind eye to that their faith people are going to ruin sacred sites.

"Some of the Sunni channels based in the United Kingdom are influenced by Saudi petro dollars and dare not to speak against the destruction, but yet are one of the first to condemn the movie made by non Muslims," Dr. Al Alawi said.

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The Telegraph
Nun's 800 year old chants top charts

A medieval nun is poised to become an unlikely chart star after her liturgical chants were set to music by Madonna's record producer.

By Anita Singh

26 Oct 2012

A series of compositions by Hildegard of Bingen, a Benedictine abbess who died in 1179, have been released as an album.

The producer, Guy Sigsworth, has reworked them to create "ambient remixes". Sigsworth is a classically trained musician known for his work with Madonna, Britney Spears and Seal.

The album, Hildegard, is being released by Decca and industry experts predict it will become a chart success.

Sigsworth worked with Stevie Wishart, a composer who studied medieval music and has long been fascinated by Hildegard's compositions.

Wishart enlisted female singers to perform the works and set the ancient texts to music. She said: "Hildegard's songs have a kind of universality.

"She is fantastic to sing and just an extraordinary composer who wrote over 70 songs. I have not studied a contemporary composer who has songs with such incredible range."

Earlier this month, Hildegard was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI for her "life of holiness and virtue" and for bringing "a woman's insight to the mysteries of faith".

Born in 1098 to a noble German family, Hildegard began seeing religious visions as a young girl and entered a convent at the age of eight. She wrote poems, theological texts and songs, the latter collectively known as the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum.

Her music has been recorded before but but this is the first time it has been produced with such a modern twist.

Geoffrey Norris, the Telegraph's classical music critic, said: "It might not be to purists' taste, but the disc evokes a hypnotic atmosphere. I have a funny feeling that this disc could become a hit."

Decca has high hopes for the recording. A spokesman for the label said: "Hildegard isn't just a straightforward medieval recording. These samples have been reworked to create stunning, ambient remixes."

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Until next week...keep on believing.

Almondtree Productions

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

(Matthew 7:13-14)