February 5, 2012
Declaring War.
Obama Signed Executive Order Declaring War On Iran.
February 5, 2012, President Obama invoked the NDAA, which authorizes the use of military force, and issues an executive order declaring the "threat" of Iran a National Emergency. The video below shows this issuance of President Obama executive order which declares Iran's threat to cut off oil supplies a national emergency.
The executive order directs all government agencies to respond immediately to the threat. It further invokes the authority of the 2012 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) which gives the President the power to launch military action against any nation without the approval of Congress. Ironically, the State of Emergency order also accuses the Iranian central bank of deceptive banking practices.
Big freeze.
No respite from the big freeze for Europe.
Europe’s big freeze has deepened. Fresh snowfalls have swept across parts of the continent, the number of deaths has risen. Authorities in Serbia say three more people have died while a further 8 have lost their lives in Romania taking the total there to 65.
Army police and firefighters were attempting to clear routes to distribute food and water to thousands who were cut off in this latest white deluge.
One villager 77-year-old Elisabeta Dumitrache said, “No leader has come to ask us if we are still alive. It is only today they have sent emergency services to help us out.”
Two hundred and twenty five people were evacuated in Rimini, while there were similar scenes in other parts of Italy where there were fears the heavy snowfall could cause buildings to collapse.
In Trieste at least ten people were injured when winds of more than 130 kilometres per hour lashed the Adriatic port. Up to half the flights from Rome’s Fiumicino airport were cancelled.
The cold snap which has been responsible for the deaths of fourteen people in the last 12 days in France is set to continue for the next 24 hours say forecasters. In Paris freezing conditions led to the cancellation of rugby union’s Six Nations encounter between France and Ireland. It is the first time in 25 years the fixture has been called off.
Arab League.
Arab League set to appeal for international peacekeepers.
Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo are set to call on the U.N. Security Council to send an international peace keeping force to Syria.
Reports say the Arab League also wants tighter implementation of economic sanctions that Arabs imposed last year. Its understood a draft resolution will call for a halt of diplomatic cooperation with Syria. The opposition has called for action too.
“We have asked for the withdrawal of army tanks and security forces from the cities. We are talking about 3,000 soldiers who are well equipped, that would be enough. We have also asked for humanitarian aid agencies to be allowed into Syria,” said Abdel Basig Saida Syrian National Council, opposition.
As part of the Arab initiatives to try and bring an end to the bloodshed in Syria, Tunisia said it would host the first meeting of a, “Friends of Syria,” contact group next week made up of Arab and other states and backed by Western powers.
While the Arab League meeting was in progress there were demonstrations on the streets outside the Egyptian parliament. Our correspondent in Cairo, Mustafa Bag says,
“ During the meeting of the Arab League these people demonstrated in front of the parliament. They are calling for the Syrian ambassador to be expelled from Cairo.”
Germany warns Israel.
Germany warns Israel against Iran attack.
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere
Germany’s Defense Minister has warned Tel Aviv against any military adventurism in Iran amid the escalating anti-Iran war rhetoric by the US and the Israeli regime.
Thomas de Maiziere insisted in a Saturday interview with Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung that the success of such an effort against the Islamic Republic would be highly unlikely.
The German defense minister also cautioned the Israeli regime against “obvious political damages” should it venture on an attack against Iran. Israeli officials have ramped up their war rhetoric over the past few weeks, threatening Iran with military strikes in case the US-led Western sanctions against the country fail to force Tehran into abandoning its civilian nuclear program.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on February 9 that “Israel has a large selection of ways, when the world of international sanctions fails to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program.” Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said if Western sanctions against Iran fail to stop its nuclear program, military action against the country must be placed on its agenda.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claimed on February 2 that there is a strong possibility the Tel Aviv regime will launch an attack on Iran in April, May, or June 2012. Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened Tehran with various ‘military options’ in an attempt to force the Islamic Republic to halt its peaceful nuclear program, which has been closely monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran has fiercely rejected Western publicity that its nuclear program may be diverted to military objectives while insisting that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to pursue nuclear technology for its numerous civilian uses and benefits.
The German defense minister also cautioned the Israeli regime against “obvious political damages” should it venture on an attack against Iran. Israeli officials have ramped up their war rhetoric over the past few weeks, threatening Iran with military strikes in case the US-led Western sanctions against the country fail to force Tehran into abandoning its civilian nuclear program.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on February 9 that “Israel has a large selection of ways, when the world of international sanctions fails to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program.” Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said if Western sanctions against Iran fail to stop its nuclear program, military action against the country must be placed on its agenda.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claimed on February 2 that there is a strong possibility the Tel Aviv regime will launch an attack on Iran in April, May, or June 2012. Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened Tehran with various ‘military options’ in an attempt to force the Islamic Republic to halt its peaceful nuclear program, which has been closely monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran has fiercely rejected Western publicity that its nuclear program may be diverted to military objectives while insisting that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it is entitled to pursue nuclear technology for its numerous civilian uses and benefits.
February 9, 2012
Religious liberty.
Sen. Hatch Slams the White House's
Attack on Religious Freedom.
February 9, 2012 - Sen. Hatch Slams the White House's Attack on Religious Freedom.
Senator Hatch blasts the Obama Administration's attack on religious freedom. Hatch said the decision to mandate preventive services, including birth control and emergency contraception, for health insurance plans violated the landmark law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and further highlighted the constitutional defects of the $2.6 trillion partisan health law.
In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a current member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, blasted the Obama Administration's attack on religious freedom under the Constitution. Hatch said the decision to mandate preventive services, including birth control and emergency contraception, for health insurance plans violated the landmark law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and further highlighted the constitutional defects of the $2.6 trillion partisan health law.
"The administration, rather than side with millions of religious Americans who just want to be left alone to practice their faith, decided to throw in with the most radical of pro-abortion advocates," said Hatch. "They decided to subordinate our central constitutional commitment to religious liberty to a radical agenda that is overtly hostile to these people of faith."
Hatch has long fought to preserve religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution. He was the principal Republican co-sponsor of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, bipartisan legislation that prohibited the federal government from burdening the free exercise religion. The bill brought together a broad spectrum of grassroots and congressional coalitions and was signed into law in 1993.
Hatch continued, "The Constitution and the liberties it protects are supreme -- not the fleeting and politically driven motivations of any particular administration. Yet the Obama administration, as it always does, has turned those priorities upside down. In this administration, politics trumps absolutely everything else, even the Constitution and religious liberty."
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Note:It's scary enough when a country is unwilling to enforce religious freedom, but it's even scarier when a country that has protected religion for over 200 years stops doing so!
The bishops need to excommunicate any "Catholic" that voted against the amendment, if not any Catholic that votes Democrat. This is a whole step down from "Catholics" voting for abortion. That, evil though it is, is voting to let others commit serious sins, of the kind which the Church has always taught that the state should prohibit. This is voting for the state to try and force people to commit sins. It makes my skin crawl to think I might be sharing a pew with someone who thinks I should be punished for practicing the same faith which they claim to hold.
Swine-Flu.
US admiral says Navy forces are prepared to confront Iran.
Greece.
The bishops need to excommunicate any "Catholic" that voted against the amendment, if not any Catholic that votes Democrat. This is a whole step down from "Catholics" voting for abortion. That, evil though it is, is voting to let others commit serious sins, of the kind which the Church has always taught that the state should prohibit. This is voting for the state to try and force people to commit sins. It makes my skin crawl to think I might be sharing a pew with someone who thinks I should be punished for practicing the same faith which they claim to hold.
Swine-Flu.
Mexico’s 2012 Swine-Flu Death Toll Climbs to 81
MEXICO CITY – The AH1N1 flu strain has left a total of 81 deaths in Mexico so far this year, while 3,522 people have been infected with the virus, federal health officials said.
From Jan. 1 until Feb. 9, 2012, there have been 3,882 cases confirmed and 89 deaths from the different types of flu virus, the Health Secretariat said in a statement.
Three seasonal viruses are currently being transmitted in Mexico – AH1N1, AH3N2 and influenza B – but the AH1N1, or swine flu, is the predominant one this year, with 91 percent of the infections and the same percentage of deaths.
By Feb. 3 the secretariat had registered the deaths of 58 people across the country in 2012 from the different types of seasonal flu, which meant the number of fatalities had jumped by 53 percent.
The AH1N1 virus broke out in Mexico between March and April 2009, and locally the alert for the disease was in force up to June 29, 2010, by which time some 1,300 deaths had occurred and more than 70,000 people had contracted the disease.
On another topic, the secretariat noted that since the beginning of winter until Feb. 10, 2012, 41 deaths were registered from different causes associated with the cold weather or attempts to keep warm, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and burns, as well as from different respiratory infections.
From Jan. 1 until Feb. 9, 2012, there have been 3,882 cases confirmed and 89 deaths from the different types of flu virus, the Health Secretariat said in a statement.
Three seasonal viruses are currently being transmitted in Mexico – AH1N1, AH3N2 and influenza B – but the AH1N1, or swine flu, is the predominant one this year, with 91 percent of the infections and the same percentage of deaths.
By Feb. 3 the secretariat had registered the deaths of 58 people across the country in 2012 from the different types of seasonal flu, which meant the number of fatalities had jumped by 53 percent.
The AH1N1 virus broke out in Mexico between March and April 2009, and locally the alert for the disease was in force up to June 29, 2010, by which time some 1,300 deaths had occurred and more than 70,000 people had contracted the disease.
On another topic, the secretariat noted that since the beginning of winter until Feb. 10, 2012, 41 deaths were registered from different causes associated with the cold weather or attempts to keep warm, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and burns, as well as from different respiratory infections.
Militarizing police.
‘US militarizing police force for street battles’
An online columnist says the United States government has militarized its police force to better prepare them for confronting protests in the streets, Press TV reports.
“We’re seeing the militarization of the police force, and they’re doing exactly the same thing they’d be doing in Afghanistan or Iraq,” Allen Roland said on Friday in an interview with Press TV.
“They’re no longer training police for anything else except urban battles because they’re expecting the worst to happen here particularly as the true extent of our economic depravity becomes evident to everyone,” Roland added.
The Occupyarrests.com says the US police have so far arrested at least 6020 Occupy protesters across the United States since the beginning of the movement in September 2011.
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly declared February 6 as a “day of action” in protest at police brutality against Occupy movement protesters.
Oakland police have responded to the Occupy protesters with flash grenades, rubber bullets, tear gas and firing of “non-lethal” weapons.
Late last month, riot police detained more than 500 protesters in Oakland during one of the largest mass arrests since nationwide protests began last year.
Scott Olsen, 24, an Iraq war veteran, suffered a fractured skull and brain swelling after he was hit in the head by a police projectile during the clashes on October 25, 2011.
The Occupy movement emerged after a group of demonstrators gathered in New York's financial district on September 17, 2011 to protest against the unjust distribution of wealth in the country and the excessive influence of big corporations on US policies.
Despite the police crackdown and mass arrests, the Occupy movement has now spread to many major US cities.
Occupy protesters across the US say they will maintain their resistance against authorities and fight for their cause despite the crackdown.
Drones.
New bill to allow 30,000 drones to fill American skies by 2020.
The US Congress has passed a bill which approves government’s deployment of up to 30,000 spy drones in the country’s airspace by 2020, raising serious concerns about the ensuing privacy infringement.
The bill, which facilitates the government use of unmanned spy planes in US airspace, requires the Federal Aviation Administration to rush a plan to get as many drones in the air as possible within nine months.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, which US President Barack Obama is expected to sign, also orders the FAA to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015, The Washington Times reported.
Privacy advocates have protested that the measure will lead to the widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.
“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorney Jennifer Lynch.
The provision in the legislation is the fruit of “a huge push by lawmakers and the defense sector to expand the use of drones” in American airspace, she added.
According to some estimates, the commercial drone market in the United States could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars once the FAA clears their use.
The US has been using the unmanned vehicles for its spy operations and assassination missions worldwide and the strikes have intensified since Obama took office three years ago.
Child poverty.
London suffers worst child poverty rate.
Almost four in ten British children live in London households, where there is just £10 per person per day to cover everything, according to the Campaign to End Child Poverty (ECP).
The charity’s report comes as the Institute of Fiscal Studies estimated the number of British children living below the poverty line will rise by 800,000 by 2020, British media reported.
Despite the rhetoric of politicians, prospects for many of those at the bottom rung of the social ladder in the UK look set to get bleaker rather than brighter as they are hit by a storm of economic challenges, said the report.
In Tower Hamlets, the local authority set to host the 2012 Olympic Games, 52 percent of children live in poverty just a stone’s throw from the riches of the City, while in the borough of Islington, the figure stands at 43 percent, according to the report.
This can be compared to child poverty levels of just seven percent and five percent for the constituencies of Prime Minister David Cameron (Whitney) and his deputy Nick Clegg (Sheffield Hallam) respectively, the report said.
The report paints a good picture of a socially segregated country where children living in the capital are being disproportionately damaged by poverty and inequality.
Meanwhile, in London people also suffer worst from a combination of rising unemployment, increased living costs and welfare cuts.
Childhood poverty in Britain can cause lasting damage, both to individuals and whole communities, the report concluded.
“Living below the poverty line can trap children into a cycle of poor performance at school and reduced job prospects,” explained Sally Copley, UK head of poverty at Save the Children.
“Education is the best route out, but at every stage there is a huge divide between how those from poor backgrounds perform in relation to their peers. Moreover, early years poverty has also been linked with a range of mental and physical health problems, again exacerbating the problem and casting the future of whole generation of Londoners aside”, said Sally Copley.
Protest.
Anti-ACTA Day: Thousands protest across Europe.
Al-Qaeda.
'US backs Al-Qaeda to mutually destroy Syria'
The Arab League is mulling over what further action to take on the crisis in Syria, with reports of escalating violence. Meanwhile, the head of the group's observer mission has resigned - just as a proposal is being considered to again send monitors from the League and the UN to the country. Political analyst Dr Adel Samara says the U.S. and Al-Qaeda have similar goals in Syria.
Firefighters vs Cops.
Firefighters vs Cops:
Striking fire officers soak PM office in Brussels.
Several hundred firefighters have broken through police lines and hosed down the prime minister's office in Brussels to protest the government's tougher retirement plans. Firefighters demand to keep their early retirement age at 58, arguing their arduous job does not allow them to work into their sixties.
Volcano eruption.
Volcano eruption video: Mount Etna spews lava fountains.
Mount Etna volcano on the island of Sicily, Italy, started erupting again on Wednesday, sending flames and sparks into the air, and flows of lava down its slopes. The air space of the nearby Catania-Fontanarossa International Airport reopened after the new eruption phase was over.
February 13, 2012
Iran.
U.S. Navy: Iran prepares suicide bomb boats in Gulf.
By Warda Al-Jawahiry
IRAN- has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said on Sunday.
Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear programme comes under attack.
"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."
"We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear programme," Fox, who heads the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said at a briefing on the fleet's base in the Gulf state of Bahrain.
Iran now has 10 small submarines, he said.
Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy.
But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 1996, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft.
Asked whether the U.S. Navy was prepared for an attack or other trouble in the Gulf, Fox said: "We are very vigilant, we have built a wide range of options to give the president and we are ready... What if it happened tonight? We are ready today."
Iranian officials have threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet to the Gulf through which nearly all of the Middle East's oil sails.
Asked if he took Iran's threats seriously, Fox Said: "Could they make like extremely difficult for us? Yes they could. If we did nothing and they were able to operate without being inhibited, yeah they could close it, but I can't see that we would ever be in that position."
He added that diplomacy should be given priority in resolving the tension.
"So when you hear discussion about all this overheated rhetoric from Iran we really believe that the best way to handle this is with diplomacy... I am absolutely convinced that is the way to go. It is our job to be prepared. We are vigilant."
Contacts between the U.S. Navy and Iranian craft in the Gulf region were routine, Fox said, referring to cases where his sailors helped Iranian ships that were in distress or threatened by pirates.
In addition to commanding the Fifth Fleet, Fox is also the commander of a multinational naval task force charged with ensuring Gulf shipping routes stay open. Although most of its firepower is American, the task force also includes other Western countries and the Gulf Arab states.
The European Union slapped an embargo on Iranian oil last month, which is due to kick in completely by July 1. The United States and EU have both imposed new sanctions on Iran's central bank which make it difficult for countries to pay Tehran for oil and for Iran to pay for the goods it imports. (Editing by Firouz Sedarat and Peter Graff).
Iran.
US admiral says Navy forces are prepared to confront Iran.
The top U.S. Navy official in the Gulf said Sunday he takes Iran’s military capabilities seriously but insists his forces are prepared to confront any Iranian aggression in the region.
Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of the 5th Fleet, told reporters at the naval force’s Bahrain headquarters that the Navy has “built a wide range of potential options to give the president” and is “ready today” to confront any hostile action by Tehran.
He did not outline specifically how the Navy might answer an Iranian strike or an effort to shut the entrance to the Persian Gulf, though any response would likely involve the two U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships cruising the waters off Iran.
Greece.
Greece approves controversial austerity bill.
Greece’s parliament has passed a deeply unpopular austerity bill demanded in return for 130 billion euro bailout to avoid bankruptcy.
The bill will introduce a further round of measures ranging from 15,000 public sector job cuts, to a 20 per cent slash in the minimum wage.
Angry debate and recriminations coloured the hours leading up to the crucial vote which has stretched the cohesiveness of the coalition government to the limit.
The bill will introduce a further round of measures ranging from 15,000 public sector job cuts, to a 20 per cent slash in the minimum wage.
Angry debate and recriminations coloured the hours leading up to the crucial vote which has stretched the cohesiveness of the coalition government to the limit.
February 17, 2012
Religious liberty.
Sen. Hatch Slams the White House's
Attack on Religious Freedom.
February 17, 2012 - Sen. Hatch Slams the White House's Attack on Religious Freedom.
February 20, 2012
Protests.
Veterans For Ron Paul (March On The White House)
The Veterans for Ron Paul 2012White House march was a success, drawing hundreds of veterans and active-duty service members to Washington, D.C., on Monday to show their support for the only veteran in the remaining Republican presidential primary field.
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The President's Day event, dubbed "Ron Paul is the Choice of the Troops," brought veterans and troops from all over the country together in the nation's capital, where they marched from the Washington Monument to the White House in order to protest President Barack Obama's foreign policy and to rally for their chosen presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
About 500 marchers--veterans, active duty troops and their family members--participated in the fully-permitted event, and hundreds more onlookers showed their support without actually marching.
After rallying the afternoon of Feb. 20 on the National Mall, the marchers made their way to Pennsylvania Avenue and the White House, where they stood in a moment of silence, as family members of fallen warriors held their hands on an American flag. They remained silent for one second for each service member that has died in conflict since Obama's inauguration.
The success of the march could be determined by reading the comments on the Veterans for Ron Paul 2012 Facebook page on Tuesday, where many Ron Paul supporters had come forward to relay their reflections on having participating in the event, and to post messages of gratitude and solidarity with those who participated.
Pamela Leffingwell LaBrake, a Ron Paul 2012 supporter from Schenectady, N.Y., couldn't be in Washington, D.C., for the event, but she watched along online and said she was moved nonetheless:
"Watched the live stream yesterday and I don't think there could be a dry eye watching, just amazing," she wrote on the group's Facebook wall. "God Bless our Troops, Veterans and families. Bring them all home."
A number of march participants and Paul supporters stated messages of disappointment that the event was not covered by most mainstream media outlets.
Ron Paul supporter Kellie Swift-Wikel posted the following message: "Today I am both honered and ashamed to be an American and a veteran. Today you/we made history and I am honered that we have that right as American citizens to speak and stand up for what we believe in. However I am ashamed as America as a whole today as to the fact that the media is so biased that they were not there to report the happenings of today after seeing the veterans march for Ron Paul so ignored and unreported to the nation."
But the overall feel of messages left on the Facebook wall was on of positivity and pride in the march's success.
Tacoma, Washington, Ron Paul supporter Christopher A. Rich posted the following: "Getting Ron Paul elected is the first battle worth fighting for in many decades. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all that participated. I work with many AD AF people on the west coast that wish they could have been there. Todays event was historical."
Dr. Ron Paul has become popular with American veterans and active-duty service members because of his unique approach to foreign policy. He believes that America should have a strong military, but that it should not risk lives and waste resources fighting wrong-headed wars.
He has also gained popularity with the veteran/soldier demographic because he is the only remaining member of the Republican presidential primary field this year who has served in the U.S. military. Paul served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and in the U.S. Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968. He later entered private medical practice in obstetrics and gynecology.
The idea that Ron Paul has massive support from veterans seems to be based in some factual evidence, as An internal analysis from the Ron Paul presidential campaign, shows that Paul received more military donations than his Republican rivals and President Barack Obama in the fourth quarter, according to Digital Journal.
The Monday march was the brainchild of Adam Kokesh, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, political commentator and one-time Republican congressional candidate, and Nathan Cox, a U.S. Army veteran, political activist and supporter of Veterans for Ron Paul who first conceived of the event in early January.
The event was followed by an after-party and concert at the Rock N Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C., which will feature performances by Aimee Allen, Jordan Page, Golden State and Rebel INC.
Kokesh described the impetus behind Veterans for Ron Paul's creation during interview with The Washington Times: "We want a commander-in-chief who will be decisive, put America's security first, and only send troops into harm's way with a clear mission. Ron Paul is the only candidate with a pragmatic and principled foreign policy."
Watch a video of the "Ron Paul is the Choice of the Troops" Veterans for Ron Paul 2012 White House march below:
bishop oppose Obama.
2,500 religious leaders, every U.S. bishop oppose Obama mandate.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, February 20, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Family Research Council has released a letter signed by over 2,500 pastors and evangelical leaders protesting the Obama administration’s birth control insurance mandate. They join every Catholic bishop that heads a diocese in the United States in opposition to the mandate.
“This is not a Catholic issue,” Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins said in unveiling the letter at a press conference today. “We will not tolerate any denomination having their religious freedom infringed upon by the government.”
Perkins was accompanied Bishop Harry Jackson, Dr. Richard Land, Pastor Gary Simons, and Star Parker.
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council.
In the letter released by the FRC, the leaders cited the words of Thomas Jefferson in the 1779 Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, a forerunner to the First Amendment, which states: “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical.”
“The vast majority of religious organizations will be required to choose either to violate their consciences or drop their health coverage for employees,” stated the leaders, noting that the mandate is “all the more egregious” for including drugs known to cause abortions such as the “week-after pill” Ella.
“No church should be forced to concede their faith to kneel at the altar of government. And until the administration rights this wrong, we unite with our allies in diverse faith traditions in demanding what George Washington called ‘the invaluable rights of free citizens,’” said Perkins.
The signatories also pointed out that the administration received over 200,000 messages against the mandate during the comments period. The mandate has nonetheless remained in substantially the same form as when it was first proposed last summer.
In addition to the letter’s signatories, every Catholic bishop heading a U.S. diocese, as well as the 65 canonical bishops of the Orthodox Church, has issued a statement condemning the rule. Even the Sisters for Life, a religious order dedicated to fostering respect for life, have said that they too would be forced to pay for abortifacient drugs under the rule and have expressed their opposition.
“It took just three weeks, but every single Catholic Bishop in America has officially condemned the President’s mandate,” said Perkins. “Even though the media has mostly buried this fact, one hundred percent of them oppose the rule that orders faith-based groups to pay for drugs that destroy pregnancies or prevent them. It’s a formidable group, and today, they do not stand alone.
“Every pocket of religious America is linking arms at the front lines of this war on religious freedom.”
American citizens also appear to have turned against the mandate: In a CNN poll last week, American adults said they opposed the rule 50-44 percent.
February 24, 2012
Google.
Google Caves Under Pressure Against Privacy Laws
- NOT ENOUGH!
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS PASSED H.R. 1388 OR 'GIVE' ACT. DEMANDING CITIZENS 18-25 SERVE IN YOUTH CORPS. OR DOMESTIC ARMY SEPERATE FROM OUR MILITARY, BANNING RELIGON,
AND ENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
This bill has already been approved by Congress and the Senate.
The “GIVE”Act, or “Generating Invigorating volunteerism and education” is a lot more then it appears, the H.R. 1388 or the GIVE Act, will force Americans to serve in a Para-Military, domestic Army by Law.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
It should, Hitler forced kids into a youth brigade (S.S.)
The Give Act also makes it illegal for you to Protest, Rally, Boycott, or Speak out Against the Government!!
“Prohibit Organizations from Attemting to Influence legislation; organize or engage in Protest, Petitions, Boycotts, or Strikes and assist, promote, or Deter Union Organizing”.
This bill will destroy the voice of the people.
And so it gets the seal for complete and utter BULL……..
This is accomplished, the ‘ELITE’ have the control like they always have. And America are forced to comply silently. Every FACIST dicator has had youth Brigades. And Americans can’t see where this is going.
See that History is repeating itself, as it always does. This is Americans freedom being destroyed! It’s time to wake up people!
Just because Obama is doing this in America don't you think that we are safe in Australia we are heading that way too.
Gestapo Youth
All great tyrannies work at capturing the minds of the youth. No longer are our children going to be learning survival skills, camping and hunting abilities. Instead they will be training to police and control us.
These are the new Boy Scouts of America, black uniform wearing "authorities". Understand that this is what police states always do before they truly turn the entire system against the public at large. This also serves to condition you to accept roving SS styled police on the streets everywhere.
This is all for you, the average patriotic Australians Coming soon near you. Please see the evidence that is in America.
Don't let the Australian youth become indoctrinated, inform them about this.
Prepare you self to usher in the NEW WORLD ORDER
One Government, One Military, One Currency, One Religion.
Catholic hospitals.
Cardinal George: All Catholic hospitals
will close in two years under HHS mandate.
by Ben Johnson
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, February 27, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George is warning the HHS contraception/abortifacient mandate will close Catholic hospitals and universities or force them to secularize, a process he calls “a form of theft.”
If the regulation is not rescinded, the Catholic Church will be “despoiled of her institutions,” he said in a column printed on CatholicNewWorld, likening the proposed policies to the restrictive “freedom of worship” allowed in the Soviet Union.
“What will happen if the HHS regulations are not rescinded?” he asked. A faithful ministry must choose between selling itself to a non-Catholic group, paying “exorbitant annual fines” until going bankrupt, breaking its ties to the Church’s “moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop,” or closing down.
He urged people to purchase a copy of the Archdiocesan directory “as a souvenir,” pointing to the page containing a list of Catholic hospitals and health care institutions.
“Two Lents from now, unless something changes, that page will be blank.”
Click “like” if you want to end abortion!The Obama administration’s rhetorical shift from supporting “freedom of religion” to “freedom of worship” paralleled an earlier shift in Russia, he said.
“Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union,” Cardinal George said. “You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship—no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice and the works of mercy that flow naturally from a living faith. All of these were co-opted by the government. We fought a long Cold War to defeat that vision of society.”
“The State is making itself into a church,” he stated.
Earlier this month, he wrote in a brief online reflection, “The laws that used to protect us are now being used to weaken and destroy us, and this quite deliberately.”
He sounded a similar alarm about the mandate, condemned by every Catholic bishop, saying its “long-term effect is that the Catholic Church will be stripped of the institutions that are her instruments for public service.”
The administration’s development and promulgation of numerous policies opposed by the Catholic Church and other faithful Christians also appeared to the cardinal to be unprecedented. In an apparent reference to the Obama administration’s appeals to liberal nominal Catholics and administration officials like Joe Biden and Kathleen Sebelius, he wrote, “This is the first time in the history of the United States that a presidential administration has purposely tried to interfere in the internal working of the Catholic Church, playing one group off against another for political gain.”
The church leader, who presides over the archdiocese where the president lives, has led the pro-life opposition to health care coverage for abortion.
Because of increasing state intrusion into Christian affairs, he forecast in 2010, “I expect to die in bed. My successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”
Kill New Born Babies.
Ethicists justify infanticide in major medical journal.
The authors argue that “both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons,” and that because is allowed even when there is no problem with the fetus’ health, ‘killing a newborn should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.’
by Peter Baklinski
MELBOURNE, Australia, – Taking the logic of abortion to its ultimate consequence, two ethicists have argued that “killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be.”
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MELBOURNE, Australia, – Taking the logic of abortion to its ultimate consequence, two ethicists have argued that “killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be.”
Alberto Giubilin, a philosopher from the University of Milan, and Francesca Minerva, an ethicist from the University of Melbourne, have made the case that since both the unborn baby and the newborn do not have the moral status of actual persons and are consequently morally irrelevant, what they call “after-birth abortion” should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is perfectly healthy.
“We claim that killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be. Such circumstances include cases where the newborn has the potential to have an (at least) acceptable life, but the well-being of the family is at risk.”
The article titled, “After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?” appeared online in the Journal Of Medical Ethics last Thursday.
The authors highlight that the justification for “after-birth abortion” is based on the interests of the people involved, not those of the baby.
“If criteria such as the costs (social, psychological, economic) for the potential parents are good enough reasons for having an abortion even when the fetus is healthy, if the moral status of the newborn is the same as that of the infant and if neither has any moral value by virtue of being a potential person, then the same reasons which justify abortion should also justify the killing of the potential person when it is at the stage of a newborn.”
The authors do not say at what stage of development it become morally repugnant to kill a newborn baby but leave the question of when a baby moves from being a potential person to being an actual person to be settled by neurologists and psychologists.
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February 30, 2012
Keiser Report.
Keiser Report: FBI vs Gold Standard 'Extremists' (E248)
