“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
(Mark 10:14)

Such Is The Kingdom Of God

Dear Friends,

Greetings!

Almost identical verses, as the one above, can be found in the book of Matthew, chapter 19; “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” It can also be found in Luke 18:16. This concept, the Kingdom of God being likened to little children, must have been very important for it to be stated three times in three different Gospels. We know, of course, that we have simple child-like faith to enter the Kingdom of God. “Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” (Matthew 18:1-5)

If, Jesus, is quoted in three different Gospels as saying the Kingdom of God is like little children, and in receiving this little child in His name, is the same as receiving Him, it then makes sense that our adversary is out to destroy the Kingdom of God, to destroy children, using one of his chief means, abortion. 1Peter 5:8 “...your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:...”

There have been approximately 54,559,615 abortions performed in the United States since it was legalized in 1973. From Yahoo Answers: “It is estimated that about 55 million people died in the European theater during World War II. Globally a total of over 60 million people died in WWII and of those 60 million, more were civilian than soldiers.” The number of abortions in the United States alone, since being legalized in 1973, is very close to the total number of people killed in all of 'World War Two'.How did abortion become legalized in the US?

“On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, handed down two rulings legalizing abortion in America. Prior to these rulings abortion was prohibited in most of the 50 states. In the states where abortion was permitted, such as New York and California, various restrictions had been placed on the reasons for abortion. These restrictions were removed by the 1973 rulings.” Pro-Live Action League

It would now appear that a line has been drawn in the sand with the recent health care bill which has been passed by the current United States administration and congress, as the first two articles below bring out.

“Bishops Prepare for Largest Civil Disobedience Since the 60s” and “DOBSON TO PREZ: I WON'T BOW TO 'WICKED' OBAMACARE 'So come and get me if you must'.”

Let's pray that this will help bring an end to the murder of unborn children. What did evil king Herod do when he felt his kingdom was threatened by a future king, Jesus, he “slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.” (Matthew 2:16)

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30)

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LifeNews.com

Bishops Prepare for Largest Civil Disobedience Since the 60s

by Andrew Bair | Washington, DC

6/3/12

The United States Catholic bishops are readying American Catholics for what may be the largest campaign of civil disobedience since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.

In addition to 12 lawsuits against the Obama Administration including 46 plaintiffs from dioceses, hospitals and universities, the US Catholic bishops will urge Catholics to openly defy the Obama HHS Mandate. In June, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will distribute bulletin inserts nationwide, which reference Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his call for civil disobedience in response to unjust laws.

The USCCB bulletin insert quotes "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in which Dr. King writes, "I would agree with Saint Augustine that 'An unjust law is no law at all.'... A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.  An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law."

The Catholic bishops also note in the document, "Some unjust laws impose such injustices on individuals and organizations that disobeying the laws may be justified. Every effort must be made to repeal them. When fundamental human goods, such as the right of conscience, are at stake, we may need to witness to the truth by resisting the law and incurring its penalties."

The USCCB has organized a two-week campaign called the Fortnight for Freedom, which will extend from June 21st through July 4th to raise awareness about the threats to rights of conscience posed by the HHS mandate. On August 1st, the mandate is scheduled to go into effect.

President Obama indicated at campaign events this past week that despite the filed lawsuits, the administration plans to go ahead with implementing the mandate. "We don't need another political fight about ending a woman's right to choose, or getting rid of Planned Parenthood or taking away affordable birth control," Obama said. "We don't need that. I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same economic opportunities as my sons. We're not turning back the clock. We're not going back there."

Pro-life organizations have warned that the very same authority used by the HHS Secretary under the Obama healthcare law to mandate insurance coverage of contraceptives and sterilizations could also be used to force coverage of surgical abortions.

Recently, the USCCB released a document entitled "Our First, Most Cherished Liberty" in which the bishops emphasized they would not back down from their opposition the HHS Mandate.

The bishops said, "It is a sobering thing to contemplate our government enacting an unjust law. An unjust law cannot be obeyed. In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them. No American desires this. No Catholic welcomes it. But if it should fall upon us, we must discharge it as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith."

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WND

DOBSON TO PREZ: I WON'T BOW TO 'WICKED' OBAMACARE

'So come and get me if you must'

June 6, 2012

by CHELSEA SCHILLING

Dr. James Dobson is taking a defiant stand on Obamacare and issuing a loud and clear message to President Obama: "I WILL NOT pay the surcharge for abortion services. ... So come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow before your wicked regulation."

The evangelical Christian author and founder of Focus on the Family minced no words when he accused Obama of deceiving the American public in his exclusive WND column, "The president's Obamacare lies."

Dobson notes that the president issued the following statement on the night of Sept. 9, 2009, when he gave an address to a joint session of Congress in an effort push members of the House and Senate to pass his health-care bill:

"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up - under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."

However, he said, "The speech was filled with promises and assurances that have proved to be shockingly false, and the president's premise was based on deception."

In numerous speeches,  Obama assured his pro-choice constituency that coverage for abortion would be "job one" within his health-care plan, he noted.

"I knew from deep within my soul that the president was not being truthful about this matter of life and death," Dobson recalled, noting that Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., was so outraged by what he was hearing that he blurted out, "You lie!"

By March 2010, the Obama administration had officially approved the first instance of taxpayer-funded abortions under Obamacare - giving Pennsylvania $160 million to set up a new "high-risk" insurance program under a provision of the legislation in preparation for a $5 billion national roll-out.

"The Big Promise of Sept. 9 had already been abandoned," Dobson lamented.

He also observed that Obama fought language in the legislation that would prohibit federal subsidies for abortion: "This was his plan all along, and pro-life advocates were kept in the dark."

Earlier this year, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius announced an expansion of Section 1303 of the Obamacare law requiring millions of Americans to pay a minimum surcharge for abortion services. The amount to be remitted will be a minimum of $12 per year, but could be much more.

"When an insurance company provides coverage for abortion, it MUST charge all employees an amount sufficient to cover the costs of abortion services, even by those who are horrified at the thought," Dobson explained. "No one can opt out of the provision. That is now written into the law."

Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services has announced that businesses and non-profit organizations - including churches and Christian colleges and universities - must provide free contraceptives and abortion pills with health insurance.

"When Catholic and evangelical church leaders objected strenuously to this assault on religious liberty, the president simply announced an 'accommodation,' requiring insurance companies to pay for the contraceptives," Dobson explained. "Of course, they will pass the expense along to their customers, and employees will all be in the abortion business."

He said President Obama never intended to protect the conscience clause and even canceled President Bush's executive order guaranteeing doctors, nurses and health professionals would not be forced to act against their beliefs.

"Abortion is an integral part of Obamacare, and babies will die because of it," Dobson wrote in his column. "Citizens never had an opportunity to be heard on the matter. The abortion component of the health-care bill will go into effect in January 2013. After that date, you could be forced unwittingly to support the killing of babies."

But Dobson vowed to take a stand against Obama's "wicked" surcharge, come what may:

I want to be very careful regarding what I am about to write now. It will not be said flippantly or with malice, but it will reflect the passion of my heart.

I believe in the rule of law, and it has been my practice since I was in college to respect and honor those in authority over us. It is my desire to do so now. However, this assault on the sanctity of human life takes me where I cannot go. I WILL NOT pay the surcharge for abortion services. The amount of the surcharge is irrelevant. To pay one cent for the killing of babies is egregious to me, and I will do all I can to correct a government that lies to me about its intentions and then tries to coerce my acquiescence with extortion. It would be a violation of my most deeply held convictions to disobey what I consider to be the principles in Scripture. The Creator will not hold us guiltless if we turn a deaf ear to the cries of His innocent babies. So come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow before your wicked regulation.

("In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these." (Jeremiah 2:34))

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Prophecy In The News

Sounds Out of Heaven?

By Gary Stearman

June 1, 2012

Among the many strange phenomena we're watching, a new development has emerged. There is a mystery afoot. Around the world, people have begun to hear strange sounds ... bone-chilling, unexplainable, echoing, resonating, harmonic, crashing, metallic clamoring racket. It has forced many to think again about the coming apocalypse.

All over the world, people are experiencing strange music and noise from the earth and the firmament above. Sometimes, it comes from the sky as droning trumpets that sound notes in the lower to middle registers, but are nevertheless musical in nature. Invariably, as they moan out their somber blasts, people are swept into a state of emotion. Some reports have them thinking of the end of the world ... Judgment Day! Others tell of various listeners swept into a state of foreboding.

That's not all.There are growing numbers of reports on sounds of an entirely different type. These are explosions that come without any warning, are heard for a few days, then fall silent once again. Sometimes, they appear to come from underground. Often, they seem to come from just outside a living room or bedroom wall ... reported to resemble the sound that might result from the head-on crash of two speeding locomotives. They come at so high a volume that they should be heard over long distances. But this is not always the case. Furthermore, though unbelievably loud to the immediate hearers they seldom, if ever, register traces on local seismographs.

Imagine a thud, a roar and the clanking of metal at unbelievably high volume. Residents rush outside, but discover nothing out of the ordinary, nothing at all.

This is an emerging mystery. But it is far more than a simple mystery; it portends a threat of some sort. Aerial trumpets remind one of nothing quite so much as the sound of war. The trumpet, after all, has long been the sound that moves armies into battle. The shofar is the biblical call to judgment each year at Rosh HaShanah. And devastating explosions are, of course, the very essence of battle.

All the mysterious sounds have one thing in common: Sooner or later, listeners report that they find themselves contemplating things supernatural.

This isn't the first time that such sounds have been heard. Particularly in the last three decades of the nineteenth century, strange sounds were reported in the heavens, ranging from explosions to metallic clanging and even "harplike" sounds.

In the current wave, some percipients have reported what sounds like the jumbled voices and music of a distant radio or television set. To date, scientists theorize about "distant sounds," that might somehow be transported to faraway locations due to unusual meteorological conditions.

But what about aerial harps ... or the continuous droning of trumpets? That, of course, would require conditions not known to exist. Nor are there any substantiating seismic events, explosions or head-on collisions. The sounds seem to come out of nowhere.

Trumpet Chorus of Kiev

The trumpets first gained attention on August 11th, 2011, when a video from the apartment district of Kiev, Ukraine, was uploaded to the popular website, YouTube. It was a home video 11 minutes and 28 seconds long, showing the city and the sky. As the camera vainly searched for a source, an eerie trumpet ensemble moaned and blasted an inscrutable message. Its notes range from baritone to bass, repeated in a sighing chorus. It echoed throughout the landscape in a way that suggested origination high above the Earth's surface. Absolutely nothing was observed at any time as the source of the bizarre sounds. As might be expected, the sounds quickly caught the public imagination. Phrases like "end of the world," "Judgment Day" and "the Apocalypse" were quickly heard. Many were reminded of the Seven Trumpets of Revelation, saying that they had never been so frightened in their lives.

Throughout Eastern Europe, similar sounds began to be heard. After that, a week or so later, the western hemisphere began to take part in the chorus. On January 12th, 2012, the sounds were recorded in central Chili. They seemed to play variations on the calls made by the first trumpets.

On January 19th, in Olive Branch, Mississippi, newspaper delivery man William Wilson Smith heard what he called a "chorus of trumpets" that seemed to come from every direction, and to consist of "6 or 7 frequencies." As a part-time audio engineer, he marvelled at their preternatural quality. Like many others, he couldn't help feeling that Judgment Day had arrived, or that Gabriel was blowing his legendary horn, even though that precise expression doesn't occur in Scripture. He remarked that the sounds had made him review his lifestyle.

Then, on Sunday evening, January 22nd, another video surfaced on YouTube, again featuring the mysterious baleful, droning trumpets, this time in the city of Mönchengladbach, Germany. As a young couple playfully took videos of their dog in their living room, they heard the sounds and finally followed them outdoors, after first believing that they were vibrating pipes in the walls. The trumpets were both loud and completely out of the ordinary. Most importantly, the video showed all the signs of being absolutely authentic.

This is very significant, because when any phenomenon goes viral on YouTube, there are instant imitative hoaxes launched by attention seekers. Predictably, these were soon being launched by the dozens. Legitimate recordings of the trumpets were dubbed into faked scenarios by would-be video stars, taking advantage of the natural curiosity that emanates from the strange phenomenon. But serious observers could discern the authentic originals.

Then the phenomenon seemed to move westward into various parts of Canada and the northwestern United States. Canadian lumberjacks and urban residents of Vancouver recorded them, as did citizens in Washington and Oregon.

Still, authentic recordings continued to come from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other European locations, including England. They were all variations of the original strange trumpets. This latter point is important, because for a time, the fake recordings seemed to outnumber the originals. Then, normal, everyday citizens living in a variety of locations recorded several additional choruses of horns, each emanating slightly different musical patterns. They lived in a variety of locations, including Topeka, Kansas and Los Angeles, California.

That, however, was only the beginning. The trumpet choruses began to be blended with other strange sounds, including several reports of mingled conversation and metallic noises, resembling television sets being run at high volume, yet at a great distance. Voices and music could be heard, but not distinguished clearly.

Big Bangs Everywhere

Finally, and continuing at this writing, a new series of spectacular sounds came into being. It consists of loud bangs, booms and explosions. Some are dull thuds; some are tympanic resonations, others are metallic crashes described as sounding exactly like two cars, trucks or even trains colliding head-on.

On March 6th, southeastern Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama residents heard these sounds. No cause was found. March 15th, witnessed another series of loud, crashing sounds. Then they blasted Montello, Wicsonsin.

On March 18th, the city of Clintonville, Wisconsin made the national news when a series of booms with metallic, clanging overtones began to be heard by most of its population. The whole city was upset, as municipal workers scoured the water, sewer and gas systems. All was found to be in perfect condition. Experts were puzzled, then frustrated as all their investigations showed nothing out of order, in spite of the extreme intensity of the sounds.

On March 19th, emergency crews were summoned again as a new round of percussive sounds plagued the city. The booming, clanging sounds took place in the early morning hours, then ceased at daybreak, leaving everyone puzzled. The mystery of these sounds deepened further, when it was discovered that seismic readings remained normal in the area. National media featured their experiences on the evening news. For two weeks, the little town was torn apart by the sounds. Every professional assessment was summarily dismissed for lack of evidence. Earthquakes were eliminated as a cause.

One thing is certain, there is a uniform belief among those who experience the strange hums, choruses and blasts, that they portend some great disaster that is about to befall them. Is there any precedent for such strange happenings? Are people right to expect that these sounds carry a message?

Heavenly Battles

More to the point, can we expect heavenly sounds of various kinds as we approach the day when the Lord finally judges this world? The answer from Scripture comes in a remarkable series of decisive historical events. A good example is found in David's significant victory over the Philistines:

And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley. Therefore David inquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer" (I Chr. 14:13-16).

Actually, both Scripture and history are replete with examples of the Lord's voice being associated with judgment. The prophet Jeremiah spoke about a classic "Day of the Lord" prophecy. Here, in no uncertain terms, we find supernatural sounds from on high associated with the Lord's judgment:

"For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other endoftheearth:theyshallnotbelamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground" (Jer. 25:29-33).

Given the example of these verses, those who have recently been driven to frightened self-examination have had every reason to do so. When God moves in judgment, it is apparently an acoustic event of fearful proportions.

The Law and the Temple

And so it has been from ancient days. At the giving of the Law, the Lord came down upon the top of Mt. Horeb. The gravity of the event is recorded forever, characterizing the voice of the Lord as a gigantic trumpet:

There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice" (Ex. 19:13-19).

Fourteen hundred years later, in the first century, the historian Flavius Josephus wrote of many supernatural disturbances that took place around the time that the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70. A "star resembling a sword" was seen over Jerusalem. It remained in the sky for an entire year.

About a week before Passover, a brilliant light shone down upon the Temple Mount, making it as bright as day. The Temple's huge inner eastern gate, so heavy that it took twenty men to move them, opened of its own accord. Following Passover, the following event was noted:

"Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one-and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius [Iyar], a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appears; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner court of the

temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said, that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'Let us remove hence.'" [Josephus, Wars of the Jews Book VI., v., 2]

In this quote of a famous passage, Josephus reported what we would interpret as angelic activity taking place at the destruction of the Temple. Note that these strange events feature an unusual star and soldiers running to battle in their chariots. One can only imagine the sounds that must have accompanied this battle in the heavens. As the day neared for the Temple's final destruction, the priests there heard something. We're not told exactly what it was, but it was loud, and accompanied by voices of warning.

We know that there is an ongoing war in heaven. Perhaps at critical moments of history, the battle bleeds over into our dimension.

The Barisal Guns

Approaching the modern era of history, we find that there have been several periods of sounds emanating from the heavens. One such was called "The Barisal Guns." In India, Barisal is a small seaport at the mouth of the Ganges River, on the north shore of the Bay of Bengal. In the decade of the 1870s, there were long periods when residents there heard sounds that they described as the firing of distant cannons. No cannons were being fired.

Over a long period of time, these explosions in the heavens sounded with some regularity, and residents became convinced that they were definitely not associated with ordinary, earthly cannon fire. Sometimes they were loud, and at other times, muffled and distant. But they continued for years.

And these sounds weren't the only nineteenth-century reports. Others came from Ireland, the Florida Keys and Australia. All the reports seem to suggest sounds like distant cannons or thunder.

But the current rash of incidents, many of them recorded and replayed, are something entirely different. They are deafening booms described as only a few feet away. Nor are they simple explosions. They are described as complex metallic clanging and crashing, sounding exactly like the crushing destruction of glass and metal.

But who can explain the airborne trumpets? The only precedent for these sounds is found in the Bible, where climactic events are accompanied by the trumpet sounds that are eagerly awaited by many Christians. The resurrection of the righteous dead is signaled by the call of a trumpet:

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (I Cor. 15:52).

And this is no ordinary trumpet. It is literally the voice of God, as can be seen from another description of the rapture, also written by Paul:

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" (I Thess. 4:16).

Everywhere, Bible-believing Christians are eagerly awaiting the sound of the trumpet. Others display an innate knowledge that the sound of the trumpet portends God's judgment. Both beliefs are true. After the departure of the Church, judgment will surely come ... accompanied among other things, by the sound of trumpets. Seven angels will sound them from the heavens.

Perhaps we're now hearing the warm-up chorus ... the rehearsal for the big day. One can only hope that this is the case!

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The Telegraph

Vatileaks: Pope Benedict XVI's butler 'implicates two cardinals' over Vatican leaks

The Pope's butler has implicated at least two cardinals in a network of a moles who stole and leaked confidential documents from the Vatican, according to reports.

Mr Gabriele has been held since May 23 in a 12ft by 12ft room inside the headquarters of the Gendarmerie, the city state's 130-strong police force Photo: AP

By Nick Squires, Rome

06 Jun 2012

Paolo Gabriele, 46, who was arrested two weeks ago after investigators allegedly found a cache of stolen papers in his Vatican apartment, would meet the cardinals and other contacts, including journalists, in bars and cafés just outside the walls of the city state.

If found guilty of stealing the papers and letters, including some apparently taken directly from the desk of Pope Benedict XVI, the valet would lose his Vatican apartment and could be "exiled" from the Holy See, the Italian press reported.

Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, spoke out about the scandal for the first time, saying he was sorry for the pain that the "Vatileaks" affair had caused the 85-year-old German pontiff.

"Certainly I am surprised and profoundly saddened by what I've read of the Vatican affair," Mr Monti, an economist who replaced Silvio Berlusconi in November, told Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family), a Catholic magazine.

"But I also think about the very deep pain that many people are suffering, and of the pain that it has caused to the heart of the Holy Father."

Mr Gabriele, who is married with three children, was interrogated all day on Tuesday by Vatican investigators, in the presence of his two lawyers.

His alleged role in the murky affair is also being probed by a specially-appointed commission of cardinals, all of whom are in their eighties.

The butler had a reputation for being sociable and "loquacious" and had regular meetings with cardinals, monsignors and journalists, the Italian press reported on Wednesday.

But no clear motive has emerged for why he would betray the trust of the Pope and risk his job, his family home and his future as a member of the Pope's inner circle.

Mr Gabriele, who has been allowed to attend Mass in a Vatican chapel, will be interrogated again by Vatican prosecutors, as they try to determine whether there is enough evidence under the city state's penal code to send him to trial.

Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, has insisted that for the moment the butler is the only person being investigated in the scandal, which has provided a rare glimpse into high-level feuds and jockeying for power within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Rome.

The butler, whose job was to attend the Pope first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and to accompany him in his white "Popemobile", risks six years in prison if he is found guilty of "aggravated theft".

He is being held in one of four "secure rooms" inside the headquarters of the Vatican Gendarmerie, the city state's tiny police force.

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The Telegraph

CERN director says LHC will find God Particle by end of the year

The Large Hadron Collider is to be switched off at the end of the year to undergo a major upgrade, but scientists hope to have achieved one of the machine's major goals by the time it does - proving the existence of the so called God Particle.

Dr Rolf-Dieter Heuer said: 'If the Large Hadron Collider continues to work I know we have enough collisions to produce enough signals to identify the Higgs Boson' Photo: Rex

By Louise Gray

02 Jun 2012

Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director of CERN where the LHC is based, said he was confident that by the end of the year it will be possible to say whether the Higgs Boson, the particle which is responsible for giving mass to the universe, exists.

The theoretical particle, nicknamed the God Particle due to its central role it has in explaining modern physics, has never been detected and scientists have been working for decades to prove its existence.

Scientists hope that high energy collisions of particles in the 17 mile underground tunnel at CERN will finally allow them to create the conditions to allow them to spot the elusive Higgs Boson.

Dr Heuer, who was speaking at the Hay Festival, said the LHC is scheduled to be closed down at the end of this year for up to two years in order to carry out upgrades that will increase its power and allow it to continue with more experiments.

For the first time the LHC will also be opened to the public, who will be allowed to walk through the underground tunnel that straddles the French-Swiss border.

Once the existence of Higgs Boson is known, there will be further work to prove its properties and understand the origins of the universe.

Dr Heuer said: "If the Large Hadron Collider continues to work I know we have enough collisions to produce enough signals to identify the Higgs Boson.

"We will know by the end of this year whether it exists or whether it is non-existent. This would be a huge discovery that after 50 years we are able to describe the visible universe.

"We will have taken a big step forward about our knowledge of the physical world. It will help us to understand the creation of the universe."

CERN require a high level of proof and will only announce that the Higgs Boson exists when there is just a one in three million chance they are wrong.

Dr Heuer said the discovery of the Higgs Boson will also help investigations into this wider universe. The visible universe only makes up 5 per cent and the rest is 'dark energy' and 'dark matter'.

He said it was impossible to imagine at this stage how the knowledge of the particle could be applied to practical applications but pointed to previous discoveries have led to developments in medicine and the internet.

"Whatever basic science resolves, at some stage it is of use to society. The problem is we do not know when or where."

The search for the God Particle has proved controversial. Critics feared the Large Hadron Collider could create a massive black hole that would "swallow the Earth".

Religious groups have also questioned the search for a particle at the origins of the universe.

Dr Heuer admitted that "micro black holes" may be created in the Large Hadron Collider but he insisted this was safe as they would decay almost immediately and it could even be good for science as it shows that micro black holes are occurring all the time.

He has had meetings with the Pope and insisted that the interface where science ends and religion or philosophy begins is changing all the time.

("Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6)

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Natural News

TIME Magazine pushes death agenda: Remove feeding tubes from the dying elderly (and get a cash bonus!)

June 07, 2012

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

TIME Magazine is peddling a death agenda propaganda piece with a new issue that features these words on the cover: "HOW TO DIE."

Inside, the magazine promotes a cost-saving death agenda that encourages readers to literally "pull the feeding tubes" from their dying elderly parents, causing them to dehydrate and die. This is explained as a new cost-saving measure that drastically reduces return hospital visits by the elderly... yeah, because dead people don't return to the hospital, of course.

Kill Granny, get a cash bonus!

The article is part of the new soft-sell, hard-kill agenda of the mainstream media which also featured an article on Newsweek Magazine entitled, "The Case for Killing Granny."

The cover of that magazine stated, "Curbing excessive end-of-life care is good for America."

Just as with TIME Magazine, Newsweek is pushing a death agenda that devalues the lives of elderly citizens and actually encourages citizens to have their own parents killed in order to reduce medical costs. In fact, as TIME Magazine says, organizations that embrace these "outcome-based" death panel systems actually receive cash bonuses when they save more money by pulling the plug on granny!

That's the answer to health care in America, you see. It's not about nutritional therapy, using trace minerals to prevent disease, avoiding GMOs and toxic chemicals. Nope, it's about pulling the plug and killing your elders and then convincing yourself that you are compassionate for making sure they die sooner rather than later.

It's trendy to kill your parents off, didn't you know? It's good for the economy! And it's good for society! Death to grandma! For God's sake don't give any water to your dying father, either, because it's better to just let him die from kidney failure. Yep, here's an actual quote from the TIME Magazine story: "Renal failure is a good way to go," the story says. Just dehydrate 'em to death and call it trendy.

When you get old, they'll kill you too

Be careful what you wish for, all you trendies, because sooner or later, you'll be old, too! And if you created a society in which pulling the plug is the socially-acceptable way to kill off all the "useless old people," then don't be surprised when they cut off your feeding tube, too, and you suffer a slow,

painful death while your own children cheer about how socially responsible they are.

(All they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:36)

***

RT News

'End of the world as we know it': Kaspersky warns of cyber-terror apocalypse

Published: 06 June, 2012

RIA Nobvosti/Sergey Guneev

After his eponymously-named lab discovered Flame, "the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed," Eugene Kaspersky believes that the evolving threat of "cyber terrorism" could spell the end of life on Earth as we know it.

­Doomsday scenarios are a common occurrence in 2012, but coming from a steely-eyed realist like Eugene Kaspersky, his calls for a global effort to halt emerging cyber threats should raise alarm bells.

A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against key infrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics he outlined.

"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism, and I'm afraid the game is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt," Kaspersky told reporters at a Tel Aviv University cyber security conference.

"I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it," he warned. "I'm scared, believe me."

His stark warning came soon after researchers at Kaspersky Lab unearthed Flame, possibly the most complex cyber threat ever. While the espionage toolkit infected systems across the Middle East, Iran appears to have been its primary target.

Flame seems to be a continuation of Stuxnet, the revolutionary infrastructure-sabotaging computer worm that made mincemeat of Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz in 2009-2010.

As Flame is capable of recording audio via a microphone, taking screen shots, turning Bluetooth-enabled computers into beacons to download names and phone numbers from other Bluetooth enabled devices, Kaspersky is certain that a nation-station is behind the cyber espionage virus.

While Kaspersky says that the United States, Britain, India, Israel, China and Russia are among the countries capable of developing such software, which he estimates cost $100 million to develop, he did not limit the threat to these states.

"Even those countries that do not yet have the necessary expertise [to create a virus like Flame] can employ engineers or kidnap them, or turn to hackers for help."

Like Stuxnet, Flame attacks Windows operating systems.  Considering this reality, Kaspersky was emphatic: "Software that manages industrial systems or transportation or power grids or air traffic must be based on secure operating systems. Forget about Microsoft, Linux or Unix."

Kaspersky believes the evolution from cyber war to cyber terrorism comes from the indiscriminate nature of cyber weapons. Very much like a modern-day Pandora's Box, Flame and other forms of malware cannot be controlled upon release. Faced with a replicating threat that knows no national boundaries, cyber weapons can take down infrastructure around the world, hurting scores of innocent victims along the way.

Kaspersky believes that it necessary to view cyber weapons with the same seriousness as chemical, biological and even nuclear threats.  Mutually assured destruction should exclude them from the arsenals of nation states.

The apocalyptic scenario he painted is fit for the silver screen.  No surprise then, that it was a film that converted him to the idea that cyber terrorism was a clear and present danger.

By his own admission, Kaspersky watched the 2007 Film Live Free or Die Hard with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other shouting:  "Why are you telling them [how to do this]?"

The film's plot revolves around an NYPD detective played by Bruce Willis, fighting a gang of cyber terrorists who are targeting FBI computer systems.

"Before Die Hard 4.0, the word cyber terrorism was a taboo in my company. It could not be uttered aloud or discussed with the media. I tried to keep the Pandora's Box closed. When the film hit the screens, I canceled that ban," Kaspersky admitted.

***

CNN

U.S. economy heading straight for the cliff

By Amitai Etzioni, Special to CNN

June 5, 2012

Amitai Etzioni contends the stock exchanges could pull back sharply if they anticipate political gridlock.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Experts warn of a drastic hit to U.S. economy if politicians don't avert "fiscal cliff"

U.S. faces scary combination of the mounting debt, tax cut expirations, spending cuts

Amitai Etzioni: We can't afford to wait for after the election to deal with these issues

He says markets, credit agencies often anticipate events, rather than wait for them to happen

Editor's note: Amitai Etzioni is professor of international relations and director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University.

Washington (CNN) -- You do not have to be an investor in the stock market or real estate or looking for a job to be alarmed when several highly regarded observers warn that the United States economy is about to be driven "off the cliff" by increasing debt, the expiration of tax cuts and the prospect of deep spending cuts.

The alarm should concern anyone who cares about our democratic system.

The reason we are getting awfully close to the edge is because the Democrats and Republicans are inclined to pull the steering wheel in opposite directions. Granted, alarms are often sounded, but as we shall see shortly, this time there are strong reasons to fear that our gridlocked political system will prevent us from responding before we go over the edge.

The most authoritative voice speaking out this time is that of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. He stated recently that, "It is very important to say that if no action were to be taken by the fiscal authorities, the size of the fiscal cliff is such that there is, I think, absolutely no chance that the Federal Reserve could or would have any ability whatsoever to offset that effect on the economy."

Mohamed El-Erian, the highly regarded CEO of the investment management firm Pimco, wrote recently in an article in The Washington Post headline "The Fiscal Cliff Cometh" that, "In the next few months, possibly within weeks, markets here and abroad will be looking for signals that our politicians understand the severity of the situation and are able and willing to act appropriately. If clear signals are not forthcoming, markets could react early to the looming trouble, compounding the uncertainties that weigh on the U.S. economy."

The Economist changed the metaphor but not the point.

Under the title "cliff diving," it predicts that Congress is unlikely to pass a "grand bargain" before the end of the year and that "[c]redit-rating agencies may well lose patience" before lawmakers get their act together. This in turn would lead to higher interest rates that might well push the fragile economy into another recession.

The main reason Bernanke and other financial and political observers are worried is that by the end of the year, we will face what might be called a triple witching hour. At that time, the Bush tax cuts will expire and the payroll tax holiday will end. Additionally, Congress has committed itself to cutting spending by about $100 billion next year and more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

If the Bush tax cuts and payroll tax holiday are extended, and Congress wriggles its way out of its commitment to cut spending, the deficit will swell to the point where alarmists see us going the way of Greece.

If the Bush tax cuts and payroll holiday are not extended, and Congress lives up to its commitment to cut spending, the drag on the economy will be severe. The economy is expected to decline by 3.5% to 5% ; that is, it will be pushed back into a serious recession. No wonder some predict "Taxmageddon."

Dealing with this dilemma requires political cooperation between the GOP and the Democrats, between both houses of Congress and the president. Few expect the sides to reach a major deal before the elections. That is, under the best of circumstances, we will come close to the edge of the financial cliff because these matters must be settled by the first of the year, and markets often do not wait for the actual date to tank -- they anticipate.

Assuming we somehow will be spared until the elections -- what will happen after November 6? While that depends on the election results, people should note that the current power setup will be in place until January 20.

Thus, even if Mitt Romney is elected president, Barack Obama will still be in the White House when the master deal must be struck, the Democrats will still have a majority in the Senate, and the GOP will still be able to filibuster and control the House.

Ajay Rajadhyaksha of Barclays Capital aptly described the evolving conditions as "a slow-motion train wreck." Marion Blakey, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, asked, "How do you plan for chaos? It's almost a unique moment in government because there's so much at stake. And there's nothing that inspires confidence that [a congressional deal] will get done."

Political theorists hold that democracies need crises to focus leaders' and voters' minds and get bickering parties to work together to find a solution.

This is not what happened in Greece and may well not be in the cards for several other European nations that are challenged by a similar crisis.

I assume we will do better, but investors may do well to pull in their horns, and citizens ought to tell their representatives in no uncertain terms that the time to act in unison is now -- we can't afford to risk waiting until after the November election.

Fasten your seat belt, because even if it all works out well in the end, it will be a cliffhanger.

***

The Telegraph (Edited from longer article.)

Spain is in 'total emergency', the EU in total denial

After a Spanish exit from the euro, there would be nothing left to exit from.

Greece in turmoil: but its significance has shrinked in comparison to the possibility of a spectacular crash in Spain, the fourth largest economy in the EU Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Janet Daley

02 Jun 2012

I've never actually heard the term "total emergency" before, at least not in the context of global economics. It sounds like the title of a disaster movie. When it is uttered in sober tones by the elder statesman of an advanced democracy to describe his country's financial condition, the effect is rather startling.

The man who delivered this apocalyptic judgment, former Spanish prime minister Felipe González, being a socialist, might be expected to detest austerity programmes that require cuts to government spending. But there seemed to be few disinterested observers of Spain's economy prepared to quibble with his assessment.

Forget Grexit. Greece's teeny, tiny economy is a footnote now. As is Ireland's decision - which seemed more like a sigh of resignation than a plebiscite - to engage in however much self-flagellation the EU gods insist on, for however long it takes. What might have seemed dramatic a week or so ago has now shrivelled in importance by comparison to the realistic possibility of a spectacular crash in the fourth largest economy in the EU. Spexit (and Spanic) are lodged in the lexicon, and have become part of the psychological reality that moves markets. The equivalent of more than £55 billion was withdrawn and transported out of Spain last month - and that was before the country's largest bank was nationalised. No one seems to be kidding himself that the collapse of the Spanish economy could be somehow weathered and overcome, as the default of Greece might be.

There is no talk of firewalls, or of simply letting Spain go, or of the European banking system being re-capitalised to compensate for the losses that it would suffer. Nope. This is it. The cancer has now spread to the vital organs of the EU. Spain is not a peripheral Mediterranean country. It is not an insignificant player in the political project. It is not a marginal going-along-for-the-ride-and-the-free-money passenger on the euro train. Not only is its economy so large as to be indispensable, but its ties with Italy mean that the Italian economy (which is the third largest in the EU) would be fatally compromised by its fall. "Itexit" is almost unpronounceable, so perhaps it's fortunate that it will never be required: after Spexit, there would be nothing left to exit from.

With Spain's "total emergency", the point at which denial and bluster become absurd has been well and truly reached, but this being the EU, the gamesmanship goes on. Still the pointless demands for "decisive action" continue, even though the only action that would possibly constitute a remedy is politically untenable if member states are to maintain any pretence of democratic accountability.

To repeat (sorry, but it does seem necessary) what I have said before on these pages: however much she is beaten about the head by blowhards in Brussels, Rome, London and Washington, Angela Merkel cannot let the ECB (in effect, the Bundesbank) print money to soak up the debts of Spain, Greece or Italy. To do that would not simply be to fly in the face of her own electorate's wishes. (What the hell, you might say - every European political leader is doing that.) It would be to contravene the constitution which was enforced upon Germany by the post-war settlement. In other words, it would be both undemocratic and illegal within the terms of the German nation state which, for all the hokum about European political union, still exists. And there it is.

This is the heart of the irreconcilable contradiction on which the euro is being broken. As everyone has been saying, in order to be viable in the face of market pressures, a genuine currency (as opposed to a pretend one) must have a "lender of last resort" - a true central bank like the US Federal Reserve System. But this is impossible within the EU because the constitutions of member states are not compatible with each other or with the principle of underwriting debt across national boundaries (as the states of the US are under their genuinely federal system). So, either the existing democratic institutions and historical principles of all EU countries must be forcibly reconciled in a Year Zero political reconstruction, or there can never be a monetary union (let alone fiscal union) that will be sustainable. This is where we are.

***

RT News

Are we there yet? 'Greek Drachma' on Bloomberg ticker

Published: 01 June, 2012, 17:04

Image from yfrog.com

Traders around the world have been staring at their Bloomberg screens, hardly believing their eyes. The electronic information platform has been showing details for possible Greek Drachma trading.

The Bloomberg helpdesk described it as "an internal function which is set up to test."

The news comes in the wake of the heated discussions over the future of the euro zone and the membership of Greece. While many experts insist that Greece should leave the Euro and default, some suggest it should remain the union and introduce a parallel currency to the Euro to repay the country's debt.

The Head of the European Investment Bank Werner Hoyer said on Tuesday that Greece will be able to remain a member of the union. "Greece will have the opportunity to solve the huge problems that it is facing. Continuing support from the EU will contribute to this, in case, of course, the very Greeks would want that," Hoyer said.

And a survey at the weekend showed that Greeks prefer to stick to the Euro and not revert to the old drachma.

The Greek Drachma details have now been taken down from the Bloomberg service.

***

MailOnline

Secret mission accomplished: America's mysterious space plane to land after a YEAR in orbit - and no one knows what it did up there

The X-37B has been circling the Earth at 17,000mph and was due to land in California in December

Mission of highly classified robotic plane extended for unknown reasons

Will now land in mid- to late-June

By ROB WAUGH -

UPDATED: 4 June 2012

The U.S Air Force's highly secret unmanned space plane will land in June - ending a year-long mission in orbit.

The experimental Boeing X37-B has been circling Earth at 17,000 miles per hour and was due to land in California in December. It is now expected  to land in mid to late June.

At launch, the space plane was accompanied by staff in biohazard suits, leading to speculation that there were radioactive components on board.

Mystery tour: The mission of the X-37B space plane was extended after it spent nine months orbiting the Earth

The men and women of Team Vandenberg are ready to execute safe landing operations anytime and at a moment's notice,' said Colonel Nina Armagno of the U.S. Air Force's Space Wing.

The plane resembles a mini space shuttle and is the second to fly in space.

It was meant to land in March, but the mission of the X-37B orbital test vehicle was extended - for unknown reasons.

The first one landed last December at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after more than seven months in orbit.

The 29-foot, solar-powered craft had an original mission of 270 days. 

The Air Force said the second mission was to further test the technology but the ultimate purpose has largely remained a mystery.

The vehicle's systems program director, Lieutenant-colonel Tom McIntyre, told the Los Angeles Times in December: 'We initially planned for a nine-month mission. Keeping the X-37 in orbit will provide us with additional experimentation opportunities and allow us to extract the maximum value out of the mission.'

However, many sceptics think that the vehicle's mission is defence or spy-related.

There are rumours circulating that the craft has been kept in space to spy on the new Chinese space station, Tiangong.

However, analysts have pointed out that surveillance would be tricky, since the spacecraft would rush past each other at thousands of metres per second.

And Brian Weeden, from the Secure World Foundation, pointed out to the BBC: 'If the U.S. really wanted to observe Tiangong, it has enough assets to do that without using X-37B.'

Last May, amateur astronomers were able to detect the orbital pattern of the first X-37B which included flyovers of North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, heightening the suspicion that the vehicle was being used for surveillance.

Other industry analysts have speculated that the Air Force is just making use of the X-37B's amazing fuel efficiency and keeping it in space for as long as possible to show off its credentials and protect it from budget cuts.

After all, under budget cuts for 2013 to 2017 proposed by the Obama administration, the office that developed the X-37 will be shut down.

According to X-37B manufacturer Boeing, the space plane operates in low-earth orbit, between 110 and 500 miles above earth. By comparison, the International Space Station orbits at about 220 miles.

The current flight launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in March. 

Enlarge
This computer image shows the space plane re-entering Earth. Although it resembles a small space shuttle it is not designed to carry humans. It's wingspan is a mere 4.5m with a length of 8.9m. It is powered by batteries and solar cells

("For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." Luke 12:2)

("The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Proverbs 15:3)

Antiwar.com

Clinton: Russia Must Embrace Regime Change in Syria

US 'Made It Clear' Russia Must Endorse Regime Change

by Jason Ditz

June 03, 2012

Speaking today from a conference in Stockholm, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she has warned her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that the Russian government has to change its position on Syria.

"My message to the foreign minister was very simple and straightforward," Clinton said, saying that she believes Russia "has to be at the table helping" with the US-backed regime change in Syria.

Naturally this is the exact opposite of the Russian position, as Russia has resisted calls to oust their long-time ally Bashar Assad and expressed concern that NATO nations, France in particular, seem to be using the ongoing unrest in the nation as an excuse for war.

Lavrov reiterated that Russia supports Kofi Annan's peace plan, which involves a ceasefire leading to negotiations. The US has criticized the ceasefire repeatedly, and rebels have demanded that the UN announce and end to it so they could launch attacks more freely.

StratRisks

Russia prepares for war in Syria, army units

Source: NL(Roughly Translated)

Russian Defense Ministry launched an intensive training units for operations abroad, including in Syria. Preparation for combat operations in this country, may lead Pskov 76th air assault division of Airborne, the 15th Brigade combined arms in Samara, as well as special units staffed by the Chechens, who had previously served in the GRU spetsbatalonah "West" and "East" writes, "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", citing anonymous sources in the military.

Pskov Airborne Division - one of the most combat-ready connections in the Russian army, the newspaper notes. Its officers, NCOs and men participated in the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in 1999-2001, in both Chechen wars in 1994-1996 and 1999-2007, and in the war with Georgia in August 2008. 

In 2004, the first division in the Russian army was fully contracted. As for the Chechen soldier, then in 2006-2007 they were initiated by then-Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has successfully carried out peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, reminiscent of "NG".They distinguished themselves in combat operations against Georgia in South Ossetia in August 2008. In addition, preparation for possible action in the Syrian special forces have already passed from the separate brigade of marines Black Sea Fleet. 

They were present at the patrol ship "Smetliviy", which in May, before returning from almost two months of the watch in the Mediterranean Sea, visited the Syrian port of Tartus, where the point of logistics of the Russian Navy. "Smetliviy" returned to Sevastopol on May 31, as reported Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.At the same time Head of Information Management BSF captain Vyacheslav Trukhachev agency said that security is "Sharpness" with the passage of the Straits, and docked in the Syrian port provided a group of anti-terror - a separate brigade of marines BSF. 

A day earlier from the Mediterranean returned to the Russian tanker "Iman" which in Tartus fueling ships of the Russian Navy. In March, nearly burst into an international scandal, when the Syrian opposition in the Arab media rumors spread that the tanker are special forces and attack aircraft the Marine Corps.Europe, even Russia has warned against landing in Syria of its military. 

In rebuttal made by the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They explained that "Iman" performs only the task of logistics and staffed by civilian personnel on board is only a guard unit. But Lavrov added that such "fairy tale" The Syrian opposition - is a clear provocation aimed at disrupting peace in the country to plan a special envoy of UN / LAS General Kofi Annan. 

"Kosovo precedent" and "brilliant initiative" Trust Dmitry Medvedev The representatives of the Russian leadership assured that no troops to send to Syria is not planned. But amid the worsening situation around the country began to fear the Russian press that Russia and the West will be on the verge of armed conflict - as was the case in Kosovo. themselves diplomats, who are still afraid, "the Libyan scenario" in Syria is increasingly remembered the "Kosovo precedent" 1999, when NATO began bombing Yugoslavia without UN authorization. 

This provoked an acute crisis between Russia and the West, which nearly resulted in a direct conflict, when Russian paratroopers occupied the Pristina airport. Now, after 13 years in the West once again talked about the possibility of military operation, bypassing the United Nations, where Russia and China have veto power As permanent members of the Security Council, will block any resolution with this scenario. to the participation of Russian troops outside the country, including in Syria, in addition to the UN resolution, you need a political solution to the Russian leadership. 

Last week, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Bordyuzha said that part of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces in dealing with the Syrian conflict, "it is theoretically possible." However, he stressed that the military in Syria will fall into this hell, because they are fighting with heavy weapons and any interference with the goals of peacekeeping would mean keeping active hostilities. "In Syria, apparently, you need to carry out an operation to enforce peace, first of all militias - said Bordyuzha. - That is, those who are trying to solve political problems by force of arms, not in the constitution of the state." Therefore, he concluded that the initiative to send CSTO forces in Syria - "bright only for politicians."

Neosho, MO -Neosho Daily News

Officials: Get a plan, make a kit, be informed

04/06/2012

By Whitney Saporito Neosho, Mo. -- Emergency response officials seem to agree, the best way to respond to a disaster is to be prepared. Officials from FEMA, the American Red Cross, the Neosho Fire Department and the Shoal Creek Baptist Association gathered Saturday at Walgreens drugstore in Neosho to offer tips to Neosho area residents on how to prepare for the worst. "There are three things: get a plan, make a kit and stay informed," said Rodney Odom, community preparedness specialist with FEMA. Odom provided a FEMA-recommended emergency supply list, which includes staples such as one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, a flashlight and extra batteries, local maps, a whistle to signal for help and a first-aid kit. He said it is also important to develop a plan, such as where a family would meet if separated by a storm. Both Odom and representatives with the American Red Cross provided informational check lists compiled by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Center which details how to be prepared if disaster should strike. The pamphlet suggests creating plans for numerous situations, such as if a storm warning comes when at home or when out on the town. Emergency officials also recommend staying informed by watching weather closely and having a battery operated radio in case the electricity gets knocked out. Expedition Thomas Zeller, with the American Red Cross, said it is also important for those with pets to have a plan for their furry friends.

MSNBC

Green Lantern relaunched as brave, mighty -- and gay

Parallel Earth version of iconic superhero is part of a trend of gay comics characters

By Matt Moore

Green Lantern, one of DC Comics' oldest and enduring heroes no matter what parallel earth he's on, is serving as a beacon for the publisher again, this time as a proud, mighty and openly gay hero.

The change is revealed in the pages of the second issue of "Earth 2" out next week, and comes on the heels of what has been an expansive year for gay and lesbian characters in the pages of comic books from Archie to Marvel and others.

But purists and fans note: This Green Lantern is not the emerald galactic space cop who was, and is, part of the Justice League and has had a history rich in triumph and tragedy.

Instead, said James Robinson, who writes the new series, Alan Scott is the retooled version of the classic Lantern whose first appearance came in the pages of "All-American Comics" No. 16 in July 1940.

Green Lantern is just the latest comic book character to be revealed as gay. Other examples include Archie Comics' Kevin Keller and DC's Batwoman.

And his being gay is not part of some wider story line meant to be exploited or undone down the road, either.

"This was my idea," Robinson explained this week, noting that before DC relaunched all its titles last summer, Alan Scott had a son who was gay.

But given that "Earth 2" features retooled and rebooted characters, Scott is not old enough to have a grown son.

"By making him younger, that son was not going to exist anymore," Robinson said.

"He doesn't come out. He's gay when we see him in issue two," which is due out Wednesday. "He's fearless and he's honest to the point where he realized he was gay and he said 'I'm gay.'"

"It was just meant to be 7/8 -- Alan Scott being a gay member of the team, the Justice Society, that I'll be forming in the pages of 'Earth 2,'" he said. "He's just meant to be part of this big tapestry of characters."

It's also another example of gay and lesbian characters taking more prominent roles in the medium.

Stories from

In May, Marvel Entertainment said super speedster Northstar will marry his longtime boyfriend in the pages of "Astonishing X-Men." DC comics has other gay characters, too, including Kate Kane, the current Batwoman.

And in the pages of Archie Comics, Kevin Keller is one of the gang at Riverdale High School and gay, too.

Some groups have protested the inclusion of gay characters, but Robinson isn't discouraged, noting that being gay is just one aspect to Scott.

"This guy, he's a media mogul, a hero, a dynamic type-A personality and he's gay," Robinson said. "He's a complex character."

***

MailOnline

Will divers finally get to the bottom of the Baltic Sea 'UFO' mystery? Team heads into the abyss to discover the origins of strange, 400-metre 'Millennium Falcon' object

By EDDIE WRENN -

1 June 2012

Since June last year, the strange shape at the bottom of the Baltic Sea has caused so much speculation.

Sonar pictures showed a massive, metallic cylinder with a 60 metre diameter and a 400 metre-long tail resting about 300 feet below the Baltic Sea - and no-one knows what it is.

It must be man-made, or a sonar anomaly - the alternative, perhaps, is that it comes from a universe far, far, away, as its startling likeness to the Millennium Falcon ship from the Star Wars saga implies.

Hopefully an answer is forthcoming, with deep sea divers heading to the shape today to get to the bottom of the matter - and surely it will be an eerie descent as they await to discover the secrets of the deep.

The Ocean Explorer team's sonar pictures show that the object is a massive cylinder with a 60 metre diameter and a 400 metre-long tail deep in the Baltic Sea. A similar disk-shaped object was also found about 200 metres away

Unidentified treasure: Shipwreck divers are perplexed by the oddly-shaped object that they found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea

Deep sea divers, using remote-controlled cameras, are now on their way to the side, ready to find out once and for all what is down there.

A Swedish company named Ocean Explorer discovered the unidentified sunken object using their sonar technology in a secret location in the Baltic Sea, between Sweden and Finland.

Because of a lack of funding and bad timing, they have were not able to pull a team together to see for themselves - just the strange, metallic outline, and a similar disk-shaped object about 200 metres away.

The sonar picture of the unidentified object resembles the famed Star Wars ship the Millennium Falcon

At this point, the story behind the object is anyone's guess.

'We've heard lots of different kinds of explanations, from George Lucas's spaceship - the Millennium Falcon - to "it's some kind of plug to the inner world," like it should be hell down there or something,' said Peter Lindberg, a diver on the team.

Speaking to Fox News, he said: 'We don't know whether it is a natural phenomenon, or an object. We saw it on sonar when we were searching for a wreck from World War I. This circular object just turned up on the monitor.

'We'll be searching the area in a number of ways.

'We'll use sonar to make 3D images of the bottom, the clay bottom, of that part of the sea. We'll send down deep-sea divers too. And a camera robot.

'We'll also take samples from the sea bed and measure them for toxicities and radiation.'

But Benjamin Radford, deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, told the Huffington Post: 'My guess is that they won't find anything. They may just find a large roundish rock.

'"Side-scan sonar is not a photograph and it can create false echoes, so it's not crystal clear what exactly it is that you're recording.

'The object that we're talking about is basically flush with the ocean floor, and side-scan sonar is much less reliable for things like that.'

While the Ocean Explorer team is understandably excited about their potentially earth-shattering find, others are slightly more sceptical and are questioning the accuracy of the sonar technology.

In the past, such technology has confused foreign objects with unusual- but natural - rock formations.

The Baltic Sea is a treasure trove for shipwreck hunters, as an estimated 100,000 objects are thought to line the cold sea's floor.

The company have created a submarine that they hope will appeal to tourists and wannabe shipwreck hunters who will pay to take a trip down to the bottom of the Baltic Sea to see for themselves.

The Baltic Sea is a treasure trove for shipwreck hunters, as an estimated 100,000 objects are thought to line the cold sea's floor.

NY Times

Salt, We Misjudged You

By Gary Taubes,

June 2, 2012 - Oakland, Calif.--

The first time I questioned the conventional wisdom on the nature of a healthy diet, it was almost 40 years ago, and the subject was salt. Researchers were claiming that salt supplementation was unnecessary after strenuous exercise, and this advice was being passed on by health reporters. All I knew was that I had played high school football in suburban Maryland, sweating profusely through double sessions in the swamplike 90-degree days of August. Without salt pills, I couldn't make it through a two-hour practice; I couldn't walk across the parking lot afterward without cramping.

While sports nutritionists have since come around to recommend that we should indeed replenish salt when we sweat it out in physical activity, the message that we should avoid salt at all other times remains strong. Salt consumption is said to raise blood pressure, cause hypertension and increase the risk of premature death. This is why the Department of Agriculture's dietary guidelines still consider salt Public Enemy No. 1, coming before fats, sugars and alcohol. It's why the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested that reducing salt consumption is as critical to long-term health as quitting cigarettes.

And yet, this eat-less-salt argument has been surprisingly controversial--and difficult to defend. Not because the food industry opposes it, but because the actual evidence to support it has always been so weak.

When I spent the better part of a year researching the state of the salt science back in 1998--already a quarter century into the eat-less-salt recommendations--journal editors and public health administrators were still remarkably candid in their assessment of how flimsy the evidence was implicating salt as the cause of hypertension.

"You can say without any shadow of a doubt," as I was told then by Drummond Rennie, an editor for The Journal of the American Medical Association, that the authorities pushing the eat-less-salt message had "made a commitment to salt education that goes way beyond the scientific facts."

While, back then, the evidence merely failed to demonstrate that salt was harmful, the evidence from studies published over the past two years actually suggests that restricting how much salt we eat can increase our likelihood of dying prematurely. Put simply, the possibility has been raised that if we were to eat as little salt as the U.S.D.A. and the C.D.C. recommend, we'd be harming rather than helping ourselves.

WHY have we been told that salt is so deadly? Well, the advice has always sounded reasonable. It has what nutritionists like to call "biological plausibility." Eat more salt and your body retains water to maintain a stable concentration of sodium in your blood. This is why eating salty food tends to make us thirsty: we drink more; we retain water. The result can be a temporary increase in blood pressure, which will persist until our kidneys eliminate both salt and water.

The scientific question is whether this temporary phenomenon translates to chronic problems: if we eat too much salt for years, does it raise our blood pressure, cause hypertension, then strokes, and then kill us prematurely? It makes sense, but it's only a hypothesis. The reason scientists do experiments is to find out if hypotheses are true.

In 1972, when the National Institutes of Health introduced the National High Blood Pressure Education Program to help prevent hypertension, no meaningful experiments had yet been done. The best evidence on the connection between salt and hypertension came from two pieces of research. One was the observation that populations that ate little salt had virtually no hypertension. But those populations didn't eat a lot of things--sugar, for instance--and any one of those could have been the causal factor. The second was a strain of "salt-sensitive" rats that reliably developed hypertension on a high-salt diet. The catch was that "high salt" to these rats was 60 times more than what the average American consumes.

Still, the program was founded to help prevent hypertension, and prevention programs require preventive measures to recommend. Eating less salt seemed to be the only available option at the time, short of losing weight. Although researchers quietly acknowledged that the data were "inconclusive and contradictory" or "inconsistent and contradictory"--two quotes from the cardiologist Jeremiah Stamler, a leading proponent of the eat-less-salt campaign, in 1967 and 1981--publicly, the link between salt and blood pressure was upgraded from hypothesis to fact.

In the years since, the N.I.H. has spent enormous sums of money on studies to test the hypothesis, and those studies have singularly failed to make the evidence any more conclusive. Instead, the organizations advocating salt restriction today--the U.S.D.A., the Institute of Medicine, the C.D.C. and the N.I.H.--all essentially rely on the results from a 30-day trial of salt, the 2001 DASH-Sodium study. It suggested that eating significantly less salt would modestly lower blood pressure; it said nothing about whether this would reduce hypertension, prevent heart disease or lengthen life.

While influential, that trial was just one of many. When researchers have looked at all the relevant trials and tried to make sense of them, they've continued to support Dr. Stamler's "inconsistent and contradictory" assessment. Last year, two such "meta-analyses" were published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international nonprofit organization founded to conduct unbiased reviews of medical evidence. The first of the two reviews concluded that cutting back "the amount of salt eaten reduces blood pressure, but there is insufficient evidence to confirm the predicted reductions in people dying prematurely or suffering cardiovascular disease." The second concluded that "we do not know if low salt diets improve or worsen health outcomes."

The idea that eating less salt can worsen health outcomes may sound bizarre, but it also has biological plausibility and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, too. A 1972 paper in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that the less salt people ate, the higher their levels of a substance secreted by the kidneys, called renin, which set off a physiological cascade of events that seemed to end with an increased risk of heart disease. In this scenario: eat less salt, secrete more renin, get heart disease, die prematurely.

With nearly everyone focused on the supposed benefits of salt restriction, little research was done to look at the potential dangers. But four years ago, Italian researchers began publishing the results from a series of clinical trials, all of which reported that, among patients with heart failure, reducing salt consumption increased the risk of death.

Those trials have been followed by a slew of studies suggesting that reducing sodium to anything like what government policy refers to as a "safe upper limit" is likely to do more harm than good. These covered some 100,000 people in more than 30 countries and showed that salt consumption is remarkably stable among populations over time. In the United States, for instance, it has remained constant for the last 50 years, despite 40 years of the eat-less-salt message. The average salt intake in these populations--what could be called the normal salt intake--was one and a half teaspoons a day, almost 50 percent above what federal agencies consider a safe upper limit for healthy Americans under 50, and more than double what the policy advises for those who aren't so young or healthy. This consistency, between populations and over time, suggests that how much salt we eat is determined by physiological demands, not diet choices.

One could still argue that all these people should reduce their salt intake to prevent hypertension, except for the fact that four of these studies--involving Type 1 diabetics, Type 2 diabetics, healthy Europeans and patients with chronic heart failure--reported that the people eating salt at the lower limit of normal were more likely to have heart disease than those eating smack in the middle of the normal range. Effectively what the 1972 paper would have predicted.

Proponents of the eat-less-salt campaign tend to deal with this contradictory evidence by implying that anyone raising it is a shill for the food industry and doesn't care about saving lives. An N.I.H. administrator told me back in 1998 that to publicly question the science on salt was to play into the hands of the industry. "As long as there are things in the media that say the salt controversy continues," he said, "they win."

When several agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, held a hearing last November to discuss how to go about getting Americans to eat less salt (as opposed to whether or not we should eat less salt), these proponents argued that the latest reports suggesting damage from lower-salt diets should simply be ignored. Lawrence Appel, an epidemiologist and a co-author of the DASH-Sodium trial, said "there is nothing really new." According to the cardiologist Graham MacGregor, who has been promoting low-salt diets since the 1980s, the studies were no more than "a minor irritation that causes us a bit of aggravation."

This attitude that studies that go against prevailing beliefs should be ignored on the basis that, well, they go against prevailing beliefs, has been the norm for the anti-salt campaign for decades. Maybe now the prevailing beliefs should be changed. The British scientist and educator Thomas Huxley, known as Darwin's bulldog for his advocacy of evolution, may have put it best back in 1860. "My business," he wrote, "is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations."

Until next week...keep on believing.

Almondtree Productions

"Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?"
(Luke 14:34)

"Ye are the salt of the earth."
(Matthew 5:13)