Saturday, December 10, 2011

Newt Tells the Truth About Palestinians

Newt Gingrich told the exact truth about the Palestinian people...mainly that they are an invented people and have never been anything more than a bunch of Arabs.

"Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community," Gingrich said. "And they had a chance to go many places. And for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940's, and I think it's tragic."

Palestinians never had their own state -- they were ruled by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, like most of the Arab world. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in the aftermath of World War I, the British, then a global colonial power, took control of the area, then known as British Mandate Palestine.

During that time, Jews, Muslims and Christians living on the land were identified as "Palestinian."


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/10/gingrich-describes-palestinian-people-as-invented/?intcmp=trending#ixzz1gBJH3uFj

So now that Newt told it how it is....watch for the world to come unglued at his comments.  Remember, the world hates The Truth....especially when it comes to revealing Satan's plans.

Britain Chooses Isolation

The Euro Union got together in one last ditch effort to formulate a plan to stop their break up and Britain decided they just couldn't be a part of it.  Needless to say, Britain is now the odd man out...and it won't be comfortable for them being in Europe anymore.

After the deed was done, some leaders didn't want to shake his hand. French President Nicolas Sarkozy walked right by him, as if he wasn't there.

David Cameron, the British prime minister, had become Europe's outcast.

His sin? Rejecting an invitation to join 26 European partners in a tighter financial alliance to save the euro, making Britain odd man out at a time of deep financial peril, and raising doubts about whether Britain can realistically remain a member of the European Union.

"There is now little point in Britain staying in the EU," said MacShane, who was a minister in Tony Blair's generally pro-Europe Labour Party government. "It is an historic turning point and Britain might as well get out now, as Europe's future will be settled without us."

Unprecedented prosperity has flowed from its single market and its free movement of workers across borders. Integration accelerated in the past two decades with the development of a single currency, but now the euro's survival is under threat as the continent's debt woes spin out of control.

The EU is today so intertwined that even member countries like Britain that do not use the euro would plunge into deep and prolonged recession if the currency broke up. That's a sobering reality that helped persuade 26 of 27 member states to consider big sacrifices of national sovereignty to keep the European dream alive.

Here;  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/britain-chooses-isolation-eu-treaty-15122330

Ahh yes....let's keep that dream alive!  The dream of no more wars, the dream of borrowing money and never having to pay it back, the dream that Germans care as much for Greeks as they care about their own country, the dream that you can control your country when some other central bank controls your currency and essentially your budget.  That's quite a dream!

It appears more and more likely that this dream will ultimately end in a nightmare and maybe Britain saw this and realized they better wake up and get out before the nightmare starts.

We will need to keep watching this situation closely as this WILL affect us all.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

That Can't Happen....This is America!!

Many times in the past years I have mentioned to people in the financial industry that I believe this country could collapse for a variety of reasons.  Many times the response to my comment will be, "Well that can never happen here."  When I ask them why they believe a U.S. collapse could never happen they say, "Because this is America!"

It's almost as if we have been drinking the America Kool-Aid for so long that we have started to believe that we are the biggest, best, richest, freest, most awesome nation on God's green earth....and NOTHING is EVER going to change that.

Really?  Could God take us down if He wills it??

So today I ran across this article quoting Jim Rogers who is a billionaire investor in a bow tie who was being interviewed on Glenn Beck TV.

“Jim, economic collapse with the euro: will that lead to a recession?” asks Glenn Beck.

“That will lead to the end of the world as we know it,” answers Jim Rogers, founder of Rogers International Commodities Index. “That will certainly lead to the end of the world as Washington D.C. knows it. There’s no question about that.”

But who is Jim Rogers and what does he know about the global financial situation?

For those unfamiliar with Beck’s guest, Jim Rogers is a famous American investor who, along with George Soros, founded the Quantum Fund, one of the world’s first international funds. Also, as mentioned above, he is the creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index.

The conversation then turned to the topic of gold and the importance the precious metal may play in the near future.

“Everybody knows what that [gold] is. You’ll be able to sell it, barter it you have to, if it gets this bad,” said Rogers.

But what could create conditions bad enough to force someone to have to barter gold?

A total financial collapse.

Beck asked Rogers to explain difference between a recession, a depression, and the much-feared total collapse.

“Well, a recession is when your neighbor loses his job and a depression is when you lose your job. And collapse is when nobody has a job and there are people foraging in the streets; happened in Argentina 10 years ago, happened in Germany in the early 20s—“

“But it’ll never happen here. This is the United States of America!” Beck interjected.

At that point, for both the host and the guest, trying to keep a straight face became an exercise in futility.

Here;  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/investor-jim-rodgers-gives-dire-warning-on-gbtv-that-will-lead-to-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/

I wonder if Rome, Babylon, or Greece said the same thing before the collapsed, "That could never happen here....we are the Roman Empire!!

The Lord sets up kingdoms and the Lord tears them down.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

No Longer Israel's Ally

If you are not familiar with Caroline Glick then you should be.  She is a conservative writer for the Jerusalem Post and really has a knack for telling it like it is.  Her column from a few days ago is so good that I will post it in it's entirety here.  Pay attention to the last sentence of her article where she clearly says, "Under Obama, the U.S. is no longer Israel's ally."

Of course Bible readers will understand that if the USA is no longer going to be a blessing to Israel.....then the blessings could soon be removed from our country...or we could simply disappear.

With vote tallies in for Egypt's first round of parliamentary elections in it is abundantly clear that Egypt is on the fast track to becoming a totalitarian Islamic state. The first round of voting took place in Egypt's most liberal, cosmopolitan cities. And still the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists received more than 60 percent of the vote. Run-off elections for 52 seats will by all estimates increase their representation.

And then in the months to come, Egyptian voters in the far more Islamist Nile Delta and Sinai will undoubtedly provide the forces of jihadist Islam with an even greater margin of victory.

Until the US-supported overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt served as the anchor of the US alliance system in the Arab world. The Egyptian military is US-armed, US-trained and US-financed. The Suez Canal is among the most vital waterways in the world for the US Navy and the global economy. Due to Mubarak's commitment to stemming the tide of jihadist forces that threatened his regime, under his rule Egypt served as a major counter-terror hub in the US-led war against international jihad.

GIVEN EGYPT'S singular importance to US strategic interests in the Arab world, the Obama administration's response to the calamitous election results has been shocking. Rather than sound the alarm bells, US President Barack Obama has celebrated the results as a victory for "democracy."

Rather than warn Egypt that it will face severe consequences if it completes its Islamist transformation, the Obama administration has turned its guns on the first country that will pay a price for Egypt's Islamic revolution: Israel.

Speaking at the annual policy conclave in Washington sponsored by the leftist Brookings Institute's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hammered Israel, the only real ally the US has left in the Middle East after Mubarak's fall. Clinton felt it necessary - in the name of democracy - to embrace the positions of Israel's radical Left against the majority of Israelis.

The same Secretary of State that has heralded negotiations with the violent, fanatical misogynists of the Taliban; who has extolled Saudi Arabia where women are given ten lashes for driving, and whose State Department trained female-hating Muslim Brotherhood operatives in the lead-up to the current elections in Egypt accused Israel of repressing women's rights. The only state in the region where women are given full rights and legal protections became the focus of Clinton's righteous feminist wrath.

In the IDF, as in the rest of the country, religious coercion is forbidden. Jewish law prohibits men from listening to women's voices in song. And recently, when a group of religious soldiers were presented with an IDF band that featured female vocalists, keeping faith with their Orthodox observance, they walked out of the auditorium. The vocalists were not barred from singing. They were not mistreated. They were simply not listened to.

And as far as Clinton is concerned, this is proof that women in Israel are under attack. Barred by law from forcing their soldiers to spurn their religious obligations, IDF commanders were guilty of crimes against democracy for allowing the troops to exit the hall.

Clinton didn't end her diatribe with the IDF's supposed war against women. She continued her onslaught by proclaiming that Israel is taking a knife to democracy by permitting its legislators to legislate laws that she doesn't like. The legislative initiatives that provoked the ire of the US Secretary of State are the bills now under discussion which seek to curtail the ability of foreign governments to subvert Israel's elected government by funding non-representative, anti-Israel political NGOs like B'Tselem and Peace Now.

In attacking Israel in the way she did, Clinton showed that she holds Israel to a unique standard of behavior. Whereas fellow Western democracies are within their rights when they undertake initiatives like banning Islamic headdresses from the public square, Israel is a criminal state for affording Jewish soldiers freedom of religion. Whereas the Taliban, who enslave women and girls in the most unspeakable fashion are worthy interlocutors, and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which supports universal female genital mutilation is moderate, Israel is an enemy of democracy for seeking to preserve the government's ability to adopt policies that advance the country's interests.

The unique standard to which Clinton holds the Jewish state is the standard of human perfection.

And as far as she is concerned, if Israel is not perfect, then it is unworthy of support. And since Israel, as a nation of mere mortals can never be perfect, it is necessarily always guilty.

CLINTON'S ASSAULT on Israeli democracy and society came a day after Panetta attacked Israel's handling of its strategic challenges. Whereas Clinton attacked Israel's moral fiber, Panetta judged Israel responsible for every negative development in the regional landscape.

Panetta excoriated Israel for not being involved in negotiations with the Palestinians. Israel, he said must make new concessions to the Palestinians in order to convince them of its good faith. If Israel makes such gestures, and the Palestinians and the larger Islamic world spurn them, then Panetta and his friends will side with Israel, he said.

Panetta failed to notice that Israel has already made repeated, unprecedented concessions to the Palestinians and that the Palestinians have pocketed those concessions and refused to negotiate. And he failed to notice that in response to the repeated spurning of its concessions by the Palestinians and the Arab world writ large, rather than stand with Israel, the US and Europe expanded their demands for further Israeli concessions.

Panetta demanded that Israel make renewed gestures as well to appease the Egyptians, Turks and Jordanians. He failed to notice that it was Turkey's Islamist government, not Israel, that took a knife to the Turkish-Israeli strategic alliance.

As for Egypt, rather than recognize the strategic implications for the US and Israel alike of Egypt's transformation into an Islamic state, the US Defense Secretary demanded that Israel ingratiate itself with Egypt's military junta. Thanks in large part to the Obama administration, that junta is now completely beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood.

As for Jordan, again thanks to the US's support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its aligned groups in Libya and Tunisia, the Hashemite regime is seeking to cut a deal with the Jordanian branch of the movement in a bid to save itself from Mubarak's fate. Under these circumstances, there is no gesture that Israel can make to its neighbor to the east that would empower King Abdullah to extol the virtues of peace with the Jewish state.

Then there is Iran, and its nuclear weapons program.

Panetta argued that an Israeli military strike against Iran would lead to regional war. But he failed to mention that a nuclear armed Iran will lead to nuclear proliferation in the Arab world and exponentially increase the prospect of a global nuclear war.

Rather than face the dangers head on, Panetta's message was that the Obama administration would rather accept a nuclear-armed Iran than support an Israeli military strike on Iran to prevent the mullocracy from becoming a nuclear-armed state.

Clinton's and Panetta's virulently anti-Israeli messages resonated in an address about European anti-Semitism given last week by the US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman. Speaking to a Jewish audience, Gutman effectively denied the existence of anti-Semitism in Europe. While attacks against European Jews and Jewish institutions have become a daily occurrence continent-wide, Gutman claimed that non-Muslim anti- Semites are essentially just all-purpose bigots who hate everyone, not just Jews.

As for the Muslims who carry out the vast majority of anti-Jewish attacks in Europe, Gutman claimed they don't have a problem with good Jews like him. They are simply angry because Israel isn't handing over land to the Palestinians quickly enough. If the Jewish state would simply get with Obama's program, according to the US ambassador, Muslim attacks on Jews in Europe would simply disappear.

Gutman of course is not a policymaker. His job is simply to implement Obama's policies and voice the president's beliefs.

But when taken together with Clinton's and Panetta's speeches, Gutman's remarks expose a distressing intellectual and moral trend that clearly dominates the Obama administration's foreign policy discourse. All three speeches share a common rejection of objective reality in favor of a fantasy.

In the administration's fantasy universe, Israel is the only actor on the world stage. Its detractors, whether in the Islamic world or Europe, are mere objects. They are bereft of judgment or responsibility for their actions.

There are two possible explanations for this state of affairs - and they are not mutually exclusive. It is possible that the Obama administration is an ideological echo chamber in which only certain positions are permitted. This prospect is likely given the White House's repeated directives prohibiting government officials from using terms like "jihad," "Islamic terrorism," "Islamist," and "jihadist," to describe jihad, Islamic terrorism, Islamists and jihadists.

 Restrained by ideological thought police that outlaw critical thought about the dominant forces in the Islamic world today, US officials have little choice but to place all the blame for everything that goes wrong on the one society they are free to criticize - Israel.

The second possible explanation for the administration's treatment of Israel is that it is permeated by anti-Semitism. The outsized responsibility and culpability placed on Israel by the likes of Obama, Clinton, Panetta and Gutman is certainly of a piece with classical anti-Semitic behavior.

There is little qualitative difference between accusing Israeli society of destroying democracy for seeking to defend itself against foreign political subversion, and accusing Jews of destroying morality for failing to embrace foreign religious faiths.

So too, there is little qualitative difference between blaming Israel for its isolation in the face of the Islamist takeover of the Arab world, and blaming the Jews for the rise of anti-Semites to power in places like Russia, Germany and Norway.

In truth, from Israel's perspective, it really doesn't make a difference whether these statements and the intellectual climate they represent stem from ideological myopia or from hatred of Jews.

The end result is the same in either case: Under President Obama, the US government has become hostile to Israel's national rights and strategic imperatives. Under Obama, the US is no longer Israel's ally.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Prepare for War

Sounds like China is preparing for war;

China's navy should speed up its development and prepare for warfare, President Hu Jintao has said.

He told military personnel they should "make extended preparations for warfare".

China is locked in territorial disputes with several other nations in the South China Sea. Political tension is also growing with the US, which is seeking to boost its presence in the region.

Here;  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16063607

Sounds like Iran is preparing for war;

An order from Gen Mohammed Ali Jaafari, the commander of the guards, raised the operational readiness status of the country’s forces, initiating preparations for potential external strikes and covert attacks.

Western intelligence officials said the Islamic Republic had initiated plans to disperse long-range missiles, high explosives, artillery and guards units to key defensive positions.
The order was given in response to the mounting international pressure over Iran’s nuclear programme. Preparation for a confrontation has gathered pace following last month’s report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that produced evidence that Iran was actively working to produce nuclear weapons.

Here;  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8936797/Irans-Revolutionary-Guards-prepare-for-war.html

Sounds like Hezbollah is preparing for war;

BEIRUT - Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose backers Syria and Iran are at the center of heightened regional tension, made a rare public appearance on Tuesday marking the Shi'ite Muslim festival of Ashura and said his group was building up its arsenal.
Here;  http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=248319

And Argentina, Israel, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Mexico, Russia...and now Saudi Arabia has said it has no choice but to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran and Israel have them.

Everyone is preparing for WAR!!

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but don't be alarmed", says Jesus.

OK Master...we will do our best to not be alarmed.  The world seems to be on the edge of the abyss but our hope is in You and our joy is ONLY in You.  We will look forward to the UNSEEN treasures you have prepared for us...because the things of this world seem to be growing strangely dim.

End Times for Euro Zone

The latest plan to delay the collapse of the Euro Zone had the stock markets going up....based 100% on the HOPE that someone could fix things.  Don't hold your breath. You can't just borrow billions and then HOPE that someone else comes along and pays back all your debts.... unless a spaceship arrives from Mars bringing bags of money.

-- Italy alone needs 113 billion euros in the first quarter and 300 billion over the full year.

-- European banks need 500 billion euros in the first half of 2012 and 275 billion in the second half.

-- This means they need to raise 230 billion euros per quarter in 2012, versus 132 billion per quarter in 2011.

-- Yet since June 2011, European banks have been only able to raise 17 billion euros, compared to 120 billion in 2010.

Das notes that Europe does not have a liquidity problem that can be solved by cutting the cost of swaps. In other words, you can't just replace private-sector lenders with official lenders such as the ECB, IMF or the Fed.

This incredible scramble for funds is unseemly and should make everyone extremely uncomfortable. These are like loans to a drunk to buy more booze so he can shed the DTs. It's not a solution; it's buying time. 

The world is running out of options unless a spaceship arrives from Mars with more money. The time to fix this is long past, and now we just have to figure out how to live with the consequences. To Das, a line from Shakespeare’s tragedy Richard II, is appropriate: "I wasted time, and now time doth waste me."

Here; http://www.marketwatch.com/story/end-times-for-the-euro-zone-2011-12-07

Wow!!  Did you catch that last sentence about the world running out of options and we need a spaceship to come fix it??  How prophetic is that??

Yes, it's true....the world is running out of options.  As followers of Christ we know that the ONLY thing that is going to fix things is the return of Jesus Christ.  Lord!  Please come quickly!!  We are running out of options!!

Hat tip to Kim H.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Ark of the Covenant in the News

Remember the Ark of the Covenant that has been lost for about 3000 years and was central to Temple worship in Jerusalem during Solomon's reign?

Well, it's now back in the news.

A very British problem of a leaky church roof could be about to give the world the chance to glimpse the legendary Ark of the Covenant.

That's because the claimed home of the iconic relic - a small chapel in Ethiopia - has sprung a leak and so the Ark could now be on the move.

The Ark - which The Bible says holds God's Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai - is said to have been kept in Aksum, in the Chapel of the Tablet, adjacent to St Mary of Zion Church, since the 1960s.

According to the Old Testament, it was first kept in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem for centuries until a Babylonian invasion in the 6th century BC.

No one has been allowed to see the holy object, described in scripture as being made from acacia wood, plated with gold and topped with two golden angels, except one solitary elderly monk, who must watch over the Ark for the remainder of his life, and is never allowed to leave the chapel grounds.

But now the chapel - which was designed by the Ethiopian leader Emperor Hailie Selassie - has had to be covered in a tarpaulin to stop rain getting in.

The water damage could mean the Ark will be moved for the first time in decades giving religious worshippers and adventurers alike a chance to see it.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069765/Ark-Covenant-revealed-leaking-roof-Ethiopian-chapel.html#ixzz1fltSxwrq

Of course we don't know if this is truly THEE Ark....but it is an interesting headline all the same. 

The Jews believe that the Ark will be recovered in the Last Days as the Messiah approaches.

The Muslims believe that the 12th Imam (Mahdi) will recover the Ark when he returns to earth to dominate all non-Muslims and usher in Sharia Law all over the world.

One thing for sure....Billions of people worldwide believe SOMETHING EPIC is going on.  We just need to hold on to the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and stay focused on ETERNAL things...because the temporal things of this earth are passing away and will soon be revealed as the mist that they actually are.  Only the UNSEEN things are real....the SEEN things are temporary.

Hat tip to Tom F.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

$250 Oil

When oil is about $100 per barrel, gasoline costs $3 to $4 per gallon here in America.  So we can only guess that if oil went to $250 per barrel that gasoline would probably cost $7 to $8 dollars a gallon or more.  No doubt if that happened it could crush the anemic economic recovery that so many believe is happening in America....and could very easily shove us off the abyss as it would bring retail and manufacturing prices of goods to a place we have never seen.

So here is the headline for the day;

UPDATE 2-Iran says oil would go over $250 if exports banned

TEHRAN, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Iran warned the West on Sunday any move to block its oil exports would more than double crude prices with devastating consequences on a fragile global economy.

"As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a newspaper interview.

The comments come as Iran strives to contain international reaction to the storming of the British embassy last week, a move which drew immediate condemnation from around the world and may galvanise support for tougher action against Tehran.

Washington and EU countries were already discussing measures to restrict oil exports after the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a report in November with what it said was evidence that Tehran had worked on designing an atom bomb.

Here;  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/04/iran-sanctions-oil-idUSL5E7N404U20111204

It feels a little bit like Iran has the West in checkmate...if we bomb them and attempt to thwart their atomic bomb aspirations....oil goes to $250 when Iran closes the Straight of Hormuz where 40% of the world's oil needs to pass through in oil tanker ships.  If we do nothing and let them get a nuclear bomb then Iran can hold the world hostage with a threat to ignite a nuclear holocaust where ever one of their missiles can reach.

I sure am glad that Jesus Christ has this whole thing under control because it sure seems that mankind is near the end of things in SO many ways.