One Giant Leap Towards War

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – the NoisyRoom – Cross-Posted at AskMarion

My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds. — Neville Chamberlain

Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure — a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon. While today’s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back. — Barack Obama

So much for the US’ non-existent red line and the numerous UN Security Council resolutions that required Iran to halt nuclear enrichment. Now Iran gets six months to finish their nuclear preparations with no sanctions and in fact, with 4.2 billion dollars in additional aid from the US. We are actively funding and assisting with a planned extermination of the Jewish State. In the last great war, we fought against the NAZIs, who allied with radical Islam. This time around, we have switched sides.

I have no love for Bill Kristol, but his quote on this is timely and apropos:

What will the Obama administration’s leading lights say when this becomes obvious? When he sees his grand diplomatic achievement crumbling around him, will Secretary of State John Kerry join his counterpart, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in sighing and exclaiming with pithy eloquence, “Uh-oh”? Will President Barack Obama offer the same apology to the Israelis that he has to Americans who held insurance policies they liked: “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me”? As the implementation of the Iran agreement goes the way of the implementation of Obamacare, will his reaction be to say, “We’re going to have to, obviously, re-market and re-brand”?

The president and his colleagues will presumably say these sorts of things. But of course it will be too late. Congress can legislate to try to make up for the failure of Obama’s assurances about health insurance, and to try to help Americans get their old policies back. But Congress won’t be able to legislate to undo a nuclear Iran. The American people can ignore Obama’s efforts to re-market and re-brand Obamacare, and instead insist on its repeal. But the American people won’t be able to repeal Iran’s nuclear weapons once Iran has them.

Indeed. As the nukes begin to fly, will Obama feign shock and quietly applaud? I believe so, even when the EMPs strike America. His allegiances are to communists and Islamists, not to America. Israel will stand alone and fight it seems. My money is always on God’s people. For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be an American. May God forgive us for what our ruler has wrought.

Video: Barack Obama: Iran Has a Right to Nuclear Energy

Video: UNREAL... Nuclear Deal Includes $4.2 Billion in Aid Relief to Iran

As my friend Maggie Thornton so aptly put it, Obama and the European leaders have just given the green light to Iran to kill the Jews and I might add, attack the US. This will be war in our time, count on it:

Representatives of Iran and Western powers reached an interim deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear program early Sunday morning, after a weekend of intensive talks in Geneva.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “Yes, we have a deal,” as he walked past reporters crowding the hotel lobby where marathon negotiations had taken place over the past five days. Asked if there was a deal, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said “Yes” and gave a thumbs up sign.

Diplomats refused to spell out details of the talks, but a senior Obama administration official said that the West had not conceded an Iranian right to produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in previous negotiations.

The official said the deal included an agreement that Iran would halt progress on its nuclear program, including a plutonium reactor at the Arak facility. The deal also calls on Iran to neutralize its 20-percent-enriched uranium stockpiles. Tehran has also agreed to intrusive inspections under the terms of the deal.

According to a Western diplomat quoted by Reuters, the deal would grant Iran access to $4.2 billion in foreign exchange.

In a statement Sunday morning, US President Barack Obama said the deal opened up a “real opportunity to achieve a peaceful settlement.”

“It won’t be easy,” he said, “and huge challenge remain ahead, but through strong and principled diplomacy, the United States will do our part” to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Obama acknowledged that the deal may be hard to stomach for some of Washington’s allies in the Middle East, saying, Israel and the Gulf countries, “have good reasons to be skeptical.”

The West has been seeking a six-month agreement to partially freeze Iran’s nuclear program while offering Iran incentives through limited sanctions relief. If the interim deal holds, the parties would negotiate final-stage deals to ensure Iran does not build nuclear weapons.

The agreement built on the momentum of the historic dialogue opened during September’s annual UN gathering, which included a 15-minute phone conversation between Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, after three decades of US-Iranian estrangement.

“The Iranian people’s vote for moderation and constructive engagement, plus tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons,” Rouhani said in a statement Sunday morning.

“Agreement in Geneva: first step makes world safer. More work now,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a comment tweeted by the State Department Sunday morning. The statement was retweeted by Rouhani’s account.

Kerry and his counterparts from Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany headed for Geneva Friday after diplomats said Zarif and EU representative Catherine Ashton had made significant progress.

A previous round of talks between Iran and the six world powers ended November 10 with no deal, even after Kerry, Lavrov, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany and a Chinese deputy foreign minister flew in and attempted to bridge differences.

The United States and its negotiating partners had signaled they were ready to ease some sanctions in return for a first-step deal that starts to put limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

They wanted Iran to stop enriching to a level higher than its main stockpile and only a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium as part of such a deal. They also sought to limit overall enrichment, as well as a formulation that would reduce the proliferation danger from the Arak reactor, which, if completed, would produce enough plutonium for up to two weapons.

But they insist that the most severe penalties — on Tehran’s oil exports and banking sector — will remain until the two sides reach a comprehensive agreement to minimize Iran’s nuclear arms-making capacity.

No details on relief offered have been made public. And the US administration has not commented on reports from congressional officials that Obama’s team estimates Iran could get $6-10 billion in benefits over six months for rolling back its nuclear program.

Several US senators — both Democrat and Republican — have voiced displeasure with the parameters of the potential agreement, arguing that the US and its partners are offering too much for something short of a full freeze on uranium enrichment.

Iran evidently got everything they wanted and more, including money to speed along their evil little venture. I expected this and even I am shocked. Iran never even slowed down. They were confident of the outcome, one way or the other. They are on a mission from their God — one for the Mahdi that ends in blood across the globe. It would seem the leaders of the world are cool with that, especially Obama. In fact, Russia is funding two new nuclear power plants as I write this. You knew the Ruskies were behind Iran, right? I’ve stated it enough on this blog. Russia is using Iran to do its dirty work for them and Obama knows it.

And its not just Iran and Russia. China is stepping it up and making a move as well:

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Saturday the United States is “deeply concerned” over China’s move to establish an air defense zone over a string of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

“We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region,” Hagel said in a statement. “This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.”

The Associated Press reports that the Chinese Defense Ministry issued a map showing the new East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, which encompasses what the Chinese call the Diaoyu islands. The move is seen as an aggressive step against Japan, which bought what it calls the Senkaku islands from private owners in 2012. The islands are uninhabited, but are believed to rest near large underwater oil reserves. Taiwan also claims possession of the islands.

Hagel said the map will have no effect on how the United States conducts military operations in the area, and that concerns are being conveyed to China “through diplomatic and military channels.” Hagel also said the United States believes that the Senkaku islands are included as part of Japan in the U.S. Japan Mutual Defense Treaty.

China worries the US, but not enough to actually do anything. It’s all lip service and faux concern. As far as the US is concerned, China can do whatever she wants. After all, she owns us right?

You would never know we are on the brink of war as our dufus Kerry slaps backs and shakes hands with monsters — takes one to know one, I guess:

After Ashton read out a statement on the deal to the cameras at the United Nations in Geneva, ministers appeared elated. Ashton and Kerry hugged each other, and Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shook hands. Minutes later, as the Iranian delegation posed for photos, Zarif and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius approached each other and embraced.

A White House fact sheet detailed what Iran could obtain:

• Potential access to $1.5 billion in revenue from trade in gold and precious metals and the suspension of some sanctions on Iran’s auto sector, and its petrochemical exports;
• Allow purchases of Iranian oil to remain at their currently significantly reduced levels. “$4.2 billion from these sales will be allowed to be transferred in installments if, and as, Iran fulfills its commitments,” the fact sheet said;
• License safety-related repairs and inspections inside Iran for certain Iranian airlines.

Most of the sanctions, Kerry said, would remain in place.

“The approximately $7 billion in relief is a fraction of the costs that Iran will continue to incur during this first phase under the sanctions that will remain in place,” the White House said. “The vast majority of Iran’s approximately $100 billion in foreign exchange holdings are inaccessible or restricted.”

I agree with General Thomas G. McInerney that the US now faces the greatest threat it has seen militarily since 1930:

Video: Gen. Thomas G. McInerney --- Arutz Sheva

The Jew hatred is ratcheting up in the UN and across Europe. You also see it in the knock out games here in the US and in our government. Now, the United Nations has barred Jews from attending a Monday meeting of the United Nations Division of ‘Palestinian’ Rights reports Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon:

The Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust (IHRH), a U.N.-approved NGO group, claims the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights (UNDPR) has unjustly barred 18 pro-Israel Jews from attending a Monday event marking the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”

U.N. security officials initially had granted the Touro Institute credentials permitting 18 Birthright Israel alumni to attend the daylong series of meetings, which will be attended by the U.N.’s most high-level officials.

However, those credentials were quickly revoked at the behest of the UNDPR, according to IHRH officials and e-mails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The incident has sparked a pointed back-and-forth between U.N. officials and IHRH director Anne Bayefsky, who accuses the body of allowing the UNDPR to effectively bar pro-Israel groups from attending major events regarding the Palestinians.

Bayefsky is concerned that this behavior is part of a larger trend by the Palestinians to control the narrative at the U.N. and prevent dissenting voices from being heard.

Bayefsky has registered her concerns with multiple U.S. officials and even U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who has yet to reply.

“This is the face of modern anti-Semitism by the U.N.,” Bayefsky told the Free Beacon when asked about the days-long back-and-forth. “This is the how discrimination works in the real-life operation of the U.N. Where is Ambassador Samantha Power?”

Kerry sold Israel and all of us down the river as Weasel Zippers put it. True that. But this was decided upon long ago. Valerie Jarrett has been holding secret talks with the Iranians (her family is from Iran) for a year. Obama has never been Israel’s friend – he has always been their enemy. And by the way, they lied about these secret negotiations. But that’s okay, they were only lying to the infidels:

WASHINGTON – The United States and Iran secretly engaged in a series of high-level, face-to-face talks over the past year, in a high-stakes diplomatic gamble by the Obama administration that paved the way for the historic deal sealed early Sunday in Geneva aimed at slowing Tehran’s nuclear program, The Associated Press has learned.

The discussions were kept hidden even from America’s closest friends, including its negotiating partners and Israel, until two months ago, and that may explain how the nuclear accord appeared to come together so quickly after years of stalemate and fierce hostility between Iran and the West.

But the secrecy of the talks may also explain some of the tensions between the U.S. and France, which earlier this month balked at a proposed deal, and with Israel, which is furious about the agreement and has angrily denounced the diplomatic outreach to Tehran.

President Barack Obama personally authorized the talks as part of his effort — promised in his first inaugural address — to reach out to a country the State Department designates as the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism.

The talks were held in the Middle Eastern nation of Oman and elsewhere with only a tight circle of people in the know, the AP learned. Since March, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Jake Sullivan, Vice President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser, have met at least five times with Iranian officials.

The last four clandestine meetings, held since Iran’s reform-minded President Hassan Rouhani was inaugurated in August, produced much of the agreement later formally hammered out in negotiations in Geneva among the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran, said three senior administration officials. All spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss by name the highly sensitive diplomatic effort.

The AP was tipped to the first U.S.-Iranian meeting in March shortly after it occurred, but the White House and State Department disputed elements of the account and the AP could not confirm the meeting. The AP learned of further indications of secret diplomacy in the fall and pressed the White House and other officials further. As the Geneva talks appeared to be reaching their conclusion, senior administration officials confirmed to the AP the details of the extensive outreach.

I am sooo freaking tired of the lies. Just bring on the Hunger Games already.

There are those in Congress that are stating this is the best deal we could get. Now, that’s hilarious. It’s the best deal we could get, because Obama arranged it that way, you morons.

Daniel Pipes put it best:

This wretched deal offers one occasion when comparison with Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 is valid. An overeager Western government, blind to the evil cunning of the regime it so much wants to work with, appeases it with concessions that will come back to haunt it. Geneva and Nov. 24 will be remembered along with Munich and Sep. 29.

Barack Obama has made many foreign policy errors in the past five years, but this is the first to rank as a disaster. Along with the health care law, it is one of his worst-ever steps. John Kerry is a too-eager puppy looking for a deal at any price.

With the U.S. government forfeiting its leadership role, the Israelis, Saudis, and perhaps others are left to cope with a bad situation made worse. War has now become a much more likely prospect. Shame on we Americans for re-electing Barack Obama.

As the world charges into the breach of a Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 moment, the US has taken one giant leap towards world war.

Pope Benedict XVI to Resign on 02.28.13 - Who Will Replace him? – Updated

Update: Why the Pope retired For Real: Kevin Annett: European Governance issued an arrest warrant: and Closure and seizure of Vatican assets: Here are all the notices and dates Also See:  Pope Benedict to seek immunity and protection from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on February 23  Being a former Catholic as they were selling, trying to sell, us on the fact the Pope Benedict was retiring due to health reasons and how this was such an honorable thing to do… possibly setting a new precedent for modern times, something just didn’t feel right.  And as usual the church and the ever so complicit and/or lazy U.S. media wasn’t doing their job… at least not the job of being the watchdog for the people.  Ask Marion~ – h/t to MJ and Anne

VATICAN CITY (TheBlaze/AP) — Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign on Feb. 28 because he was simply too infirm to carry on – the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.

TheBlaze: The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope – the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide – requires “both strength of mind and body.”

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he told the cardinals. “I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering.

“However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary – strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

This file picture taken on December 31, 2012 shows Pope Benedict XVI arriving to pray in front of the nativity crib in Saint Peter’s Square after celebrating the Vespers and Te Deum prayers in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI on February 11, 2013 announced he will resign on February 28, a Vatican spokesman told AFP, which will make him the first pope to do so in centuries. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Video: Pope Benedict XVI to Resign

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Benedict called his choice “a decision of great importance for the life of the church.”

The announcement did come as a surprise to many, including New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. He was interviewed about it on the “Today” show and detailed his initial thoughts. He revealed that he wondered at first if it was just a rumor after getting a call from NBC’s Matt Lauer. That quickly gave way to confirmation:

“We did have fair warning, but at the same time since it is something that hasn’t happened in centuries, it always does comes as a surprise,” former Fox News reporter and Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told “Today.”

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn’t have to be observed.

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner – the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

When Benedict was elected pope at age 78 – already the oldest pope elected in nearly 300 years – he had been already planning to retire as the Vatican’s chief orthodoxy watchdog to spend his final years writing in the “peace and quiet” of his native Bavaria.

Contenders to be his successor include Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head of the Vatican’s office for bishops.

Longshots include Dolan. But while Dolan is popular and backs the pope’s conservative line, the general thinking is that the Catholic Church doesn’t need a pope from a “superpower.” You can read TheBlaze’s detailed story on that from when Dolan was first named Cardinal here.

All cardinals under age 80 are allowed to vote in the conclave, the secret meeting held in the Sistine Chapel where cardinals cast ballots to elect a new pope. As per tradition, the ballots are burned after each voting round; black smoke that snakes out of the chimney means no pope has been chosen, while white smoke means a pope has been elected.

Popes are allowed to resign; church law specifies only that the resignation be “freely made and properly manifested.”

Only a handful have done so, however and there’s good reason why it hasn’t become commonplace: Might the existence of two popes – even when one has stepped down – lead to divisions and instability in the church? Might a new resignation precedent lead to pressures on future popes to quit at the slightest hint of infirmity?

Benedict himself raised the possibility of resigning if he were simply too old or sick to continue on in 2010, when he was interviewed for the book “Light of the World.”

“If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign,” Benedict said.

The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had an intimate view as Pope John Paul II, with whom he had worked closely for nearly a quarter-century, suffered through the debilitating end of his papacy.

You can read the full text of the resignation announcement to the Cardinals below:

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

As Pope Benedict XVI prepares his exit, the natural question observers are asking is: Who’s going to replace the pontiff? Speculation is already running rampant, with Irish bookmaker Paddy Power placing online bets on the results of the impending conclave. While there’s no definitive way to tell who will inevitably be selected by the cardinals to succeed Benedict, some key figures are being highlighted as good fits for the job.  One can only wonder if the Pope is suffering from a condition or disease that is more serious than he or the Vatican is saying.  Or is it truly the weight of the ongoing pedophilia trials in America, the changes in the world and demographics in the church, or is the spiritual war heating up needing a younger and stronger Supreme Pontiff?

This morning, TheBlaze reported that, throughout the church’s recent history, papal resignations are virtually non-existent. In fact, Benedict is the first pope in 600 years to abdicate the position and the first known Catholic leader in history to do so for health reasons. Whoever is chosen (we highlight the complex process here) will end up serving with the papal predecessor still living and remaining involved, at least to some degree, in the church — yet another factor that serves as an anomaly.

Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra Matthew Festing stands near Pope Benedict XVI during a mass given to mark the 900th anniversary of the official recognition of the Order of Malta by Pope Pascal II on February 9, 2013 in the Vatican City, Italy. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI addressed over 4,000 members of the Order of Malta who have travelled from across the world to Rome to celebrate this event. The mass was presided over by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Holy See. Credit: Getty Images

Among the Catholic leaders who are being pinpointed by media as potential replacements are Canadian Cardinal Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri of Argentina, among others. These options, alone, show the geographic and ethnic diversity present within the potential pool. But Paddy Power lists many others who the company believes could be under consideration. Here’s what the group says of some of the top contenders’ chances of being selected:

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet is 5/2 market leader to be elected as the next Pope. He is Prefect of the congregation for Bishops which is seen as a powerful position within the Vatican, it seems. According to one of the Paddy Power lads who has his finger on the Catholic pulse, Cardinal Marc has experience of working in Latin in America, is a friend of Benedict and is apparently outgoing and charismatic. [...]

Cardinal Peter Turkson is 7/2 and speaks six languages. The Ghanaian can understand Latin and Greek and has seen plenty of support early doors.

Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria at 7/2. If either Cardinal Francis Arinze or Cardinal Peter Turkson are elected it would be the first time in history there would be a black Pope.

Early steamers in the market are Cardinal Keith O’Brien from Scotland who has been trimmed from 40/1 into 33/1, and Ireland’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who has seen his price slashed from 150/1 in to 80/1.

While many of these names may seem unfamiliar to you (after all, these men are Catholic leaders from across the globe), we’ll take a brief look at at least a few of the key men who are mentioned above and in ongoing media speculation.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet holds a mass in celebration of The Pilgrimage of the Holy Robe at the Cathedral of St Peter on April 13, 2012 in Trier, Germany. The Pilgrimage of the Holy Robe runs from April 13 to May 13, during which hundreds of thousands pilgrims are expected to view the Holy Robe. The robe, said to have been worn by Jesus Christ leading up to his crucifixion, is housed by the cathedral and rarely displayed for public viewing. Credit: Getty Images

Oullet, 68, is the Archbishop of Quebec. Having expressed a hesitation at prospects of being elected pope in the past, it’s unclear whether he would accept the position (it is permissible to decline if one does not feel called to the papacy). Considering that he speaks six languages, Oullet would certainly be an attractive candidate. After all, he’d be able to communicate with a diverse subset of the global populace (see his Business Insider (BI) profile here).

Then there’s Turkson, 64, from Ghana who serves as the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. As BI notes, he’s well-liked among the cardinals, a rising star, an excellent communicator and the face of an emerging church populace in Africa. With Europe and the West the central focus of Catholicism, his election would mean that eyes are also being set on other areas of potential growth across the globe (read more about him here).

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (Photo Credit: AP)

Of course, Oullet and Turkson are only two of the many options for potential replacements. In fact, BI has profiled 17 men who could be chosen for the top spot. Among the names not previously mentioned in this article is Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the 63-year-old Archbishop of New York. Last year, TheBlaze explored whether Dolan could become the first American pope. While such prospects are entirely possible, he isn’t currently faring well on Paddy Power’s web site (however, that’s not indicative of actual success or failure).

While BI doesn’t weigh too fervently either way, the outlet does mention that an American in a heavily-Italian Vatican would be a potentially-bad mix. This would thus be a strike against Dolan’s chances in the eyes of some critics.

Visit BI for all 17 profiles on potential papal replacements. TheBlaze will continue to cover these prospects as we move closer to the conclave.

WND: Seems 'Final pope' authors predicted Benedict would resign

Although a Roman Catholic pope had not stepped down in nearly 600 years, the startling resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was predicted by the co-authors of a book published last spring about a medieval prophecy that the next pontiff will be the last.

In Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here co-authors Tom Horn and Cris Putnam examine St. Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” said to be based on his prophetic vision of the next 112 popes, beginning with Pope Celestine II, who died in 1144. Malachy presented a description of each pope, culminating with the “final pope,” “Peter the Roman,” whose reign would end with the destruction of Rome and judgment.

Horn explained to WND in an interview today that his conclusion Benedict would resign rather than die in the papacy was based not only on St. Malachy but also on a host of historical and current information.

“We took ‘The Prophecy of the Popes,’ we took what was happening in Italian media, and we determined, based on a great deal of information, that Pope Benedict would likely step down, citing health reasons, in 2012 or 2013,” he said.

St. Malachy was an Irish saint and the archbishop of Armagh, who lived from 1094 to 1l48. Malacy described the penultimate pope, which Horn believes is Benedict, as “Gloria Olivae,” or “Glory of the Olive.”

Pope Benedict XVI was not a Benedictine priest, yet he chose the name of Benedict, the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict, which also is known as the Olivetans

The symbol of the Benedictine order includes an olive branch.

Benedict, speaking Monday morning in Latin to a small gathering of cardinals at the Vatican, said that after examining his conscience “before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise” of leading the Roman Catholic Church.

Peter the Roman

Horn and Putnam discuss the evidence pointing to a Benedict resignation on pages 74 and 486 of their April 2012 book, and Horn has made the prediction on a number of radio programs in recent months, including Jan. 13.

Malachy described the last Pope as “Petrus Romanus,” or “Peter the Roman,” writing: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.”

Horn and his co-author have created their own list of 10 candidates to succeed Benedict and become “Peter the Roman.”

Interestingly, a leading candidate is Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, the Cardinal secretary of state, who was born in Romano, Italy. His name could, therefore, be rendered Peter the Roman.

Another Peter on the list is a black African, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, the current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In any case, Horn noted, Catholics believe the pope inhabits the “Petrine office” as a successor of the apostle Peter.

Other candidates on Horn’s list are Francis Arinze, Angelo Scola, Gianfranco Ravasi, Leonardo Sandri, Ennio Antonelli, Jean-Louis Tauran, Christoph Schönborn and Marc Quellet.

In 1880, M. J. O’Brien, a Catholic priest, published in Dublin a book providing a “historical and critical account” of St. Malachy’s prophecies:  An Historical And Critical Account Of The So-Called Prophecy Of St. Malachy: Regarding The Succession Of Popes.

O’Brien believed Malachy was declaring that the reign of the pope identified as Petrus Romanus would culminate with the end of the world and the return of Jesus Christ.

O’Brien describes Malachy’s vision occurring while the saint was in Rome for a month, visiting and praying at the Eternal City’s many historical and holy sites.

The sight of the ruins of Pagan Rome, the tombs of the Apostles, the thought of so many thousands of martyrs, the presence of [Pope] Innocent II, who had been obligated to wander so many years in France and elsewhere on account of the anti-pope Anaclete – all this, I say, filled the mind of St. Malachy with deep and sad reflections and he was forced to cry out in the words of the old prophets: “Usquequo, Domine non misereberis Sion?” – “How long, O Lord! wilt Thou not have mercy on Sion?”

O’Brien continued:

And God answered: “Until the end of the world the Church will be both militant and triumphant. Until the end of time the sufferings of my passion and the mysteries of my cross must be continued on earth, and I shall be with you until the end of the world.” And then was unfolded before the gaze of the holy bishop of Armagh the long line of illustrious pilots who were to guide the storm-tossed bark of Peter until the end.

Malachy gave his manuscript to Innocent II, who was pontiff from 1130 to 1143. The document was placed in the Vatican archives, where it remained unknown until its discovery in 1590.

‘Amazingly accurate’

Through the past 900 years, various critics have questioned the authenticity and the accuracy of St. Malachy’s prophecies, often arguing the methods used by some of his interpreters to apply his epithets to certain popes have been tortuous.

Horn told WND he and Putnam took a critical view of “The Prophecy of the Popes” and determined that the first part of it, the first 70 or so predictions, probably was altered in the late 16th century.

“It appears that somebody had altered the original medieval document from 1590 backward to promote a particular cardinal to the College of Cardinals to be the fulfillment of what at that time was still a secret list of popes,” Horn explained.

An advocate for Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli, Horn said, likely “tinkered with the document to make it look like it was pointing toward Simoncelli.”

In “Petrus Romanus,” Horn said, he and Putnam “disregard everything pre-1595, as partly or fully tainted.”

After 1595, however, “The Prophecy of the Popes” was open to public scrutiny.

A modern version of Malachy’s prophecies was published in 1969 by Archbishop H. E. Cardinale, the Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg.

Cardinale wrote “it is fair to say the vast majority of Malachy’s predictions about successive Popes is amazingly accurate – always remembering that he gives only a minimum of information.”

Horn noted Benedict’s brother, Georg Ratzinger, also a priest, suggested last year that the pontiff might retire at age 85, arguing Catholic law would allow for him to step down if his health wouldn’t allow him to continue.

Benedict, himself, made a case for papal resignation in a book-length interview, “Light of the World.”

Asked if he thought it appropriate for a pope to retire, he said, “If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.”

Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here: For more than 800 years scholars have pointed to the dark augury having to do with “the last Pope.” The prophecy, taken from St. Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” is among a list of verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic popes from Pope Celestine II to the final pope, “Peter the Roman,” whose reign would end in the destruction of Rome. First published in 1595, the prophecies were attributed to St. Malachy by a Benedictine historian named Arnold de Wyon, who recorded them in his book, "Lignum Vitæ." Tradition holds that Malachy had been called to Rome by Pope Innocent II, and while there, he experienced the vision of the future popes, including the last one, which he wrote down in a series of cryptic phrases. According to the prophecy, the next pope (following Benedict XVI) is to be the final pontiff, Petrus Romanus or Peter the Roman. The idea by some Catholics that the next pope on St. Malachy’s list heralds the beginning of “great apostasy” followed by “great tribulation” sets the stage for the imminent unfolding of apocalyptic events, something many non-Catholics would agree with. This would give rise to a false prophet, who according to the book of Revelation leads the world’s religious communities into embracing a political leader known as Antichrist. In recent history, several Catholic priests – some deceased now – have been surprisingly outspoken on what they have seen as this inevitable danger rising from within the ranks of Catholicism as a result of secret satanic “Illuminati-Masonic” influences. These priests claim secret knowledge of an multinational power elite and occult hierarchy operating behind supranatural and global political machinations. Among this secret society are sinister false Catholic infiltrators who understand that, as the Roman Catholic Church represents one-sixth of the world’s population and over half of all Christians, it is indispensable for controlling future global elements in matters of church and state and the fulfillment of a diabolical plan they call “Alta Vendetta,” which is set to assume control of the papacy and to help the False Prophet deceive the world’s faithful (including Catholics) into worshipping Antichrist. As stated by Dr. Michael Lake on the front cover, Catholic and evangelical scholars have dreaded this moment for centuries. Unfortunately, as readers will learn, time for avoiding Peter the Roman just ran out.

This is a developing story. Updates will be added.

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Technorati Tags: Catholics,Pope,Roman Catholic Church,religion,tradition,Rome,the Vatican,health,prophecy

Dancing on the Global Fiscal Cliff

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – The NoisyRoom

And the depths of chaos beckon while the financial sands beneath our feet shift into oblivion. Today, we offer you a metaphor salad to describe the current progress of the financial apocalypse. Yep, more happy news from the economic war front.

To say we are skating on thin ice globally as well as here in the US is an understatement of epic proportions. It’s the new and improved walking dead economies – it’s the end of the economic banking world and I feel fine. In fact, it should leave all of us breathless.

While Wall Street manipulates the hell out of the markets and bankers play games with our future (and they have butter fingers by the way), we are told to chill… everything is under control and we are in a slow recovery. Black is white; up is down. And by the way, I have a bridge that is to die for — just sign here. Never mind the second Great Depression taking place. Pardon moi if confidence is in the toilet these days and if we don’t believe the powers that be any more. We’re fickle that way.

It was claimed that MF Global was a freak – that it would never happen again. That is until PFGBest came along and made lightning strike twice in the same spot. What? Nothing to see here sheeple… Quick, invest, invest, invest! From The Economic Collapse:

PFGBest is a brokerage firm in Cedar Falls, Iowa that mostly handles agricultural futures.

All hell broke loose when the National Futures Association discovered that a bank account that was supposed to be holding 225 million dollars of customer funds was only holding about 5 million dollars instead.

So where is the other 220 million dollars?

That is a very good question.

Of course it is not a promising sign that the head of PFGBest tried to commit suicide when this news came out.

Next, we were told a wave of city bankruptcies would NEVER occur in the US, we nodded and smiled like idiots and said that we believed the weasel politicians. California is turning into Greece at an alarming rate with three cities in the last 2 weeks going toes up and many more to follow — first came Stockton, then Mammoth Lakes and now San Bernardino. Just nod some more if you get it now. From The Los Angeles Times:

The city’s fiscal crisis has been years in the making, compounded by the nation’s crushing recession and exacerbated by escalating pension costs, lucrative labor agreements, Sacramento’s raid on redevelopment funds and a city reserve that is tapped out, officials said.

And this is not unique to California. It’s happening all over the US, you just don’t see it in the press because it makes Obama look bad. Take a long, hard look at Scranton, Pennsylvania where all city employees were just put on minimum wage. They wouldn’t raise taxes (who would want to?), so the mayor reduced wages. He had to do something because they are BROKE.

We were told to have faith in global interest rates, that they couldn’t possibly be manipulated by insiders — that is until the LIBOR scandal. Whoops! In fact, watch this scandal… it will literally rock the world and bring economies to their knees. Count on it. If financial dreamers dream, then it’s nightmares all around. Welcome to global collusion. More from The Economic Collapse:

It turns out that banksters have been colluding to fix global interest rates for years.

“Liborgate” is being called the biggest financial scandal in history. Libor is important because it is one of the key benchmarks used to set prices for hundreds of trillions of dollars of loans, securities and derivatives.

British banking giant Barclays has already admitted that they were involved in manipulating Libor.

Barclays has already agreed to pay $453 million in fines to British and U.S. authorities.

But the truth is that it would have been totally impossible for Barclays to have manipulated Libor by themselves.

So who else was involved?

The Wall Street Journal puts it this way:

At stake is both the integrity of the world’s financial system and the credibility of the U.K. authorities to police it. Long before the current scandal, many European policy makers had concluded that London during the boom was the Wild West, whose loose standards are a threat to European financial stability. The Libor scandal suggests U.S. regulators have reached similar conclusions. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. regulatory body that first started investigating rate-fixing, left little doubt how seriously it regards the abuses it uncovered.

Get the hell out of the system, right now. Don’t stubbornly stand on the deck of a fiscal Titanic as it sinks. Head for the lifeboats and nix the suicide folks.

We were also told that Greece was an anomaly. Just another twist of fate — couldn’t happen again. Until Spain that is, who looks an awful like a repeat of Greece only worse. And as has been foretold on this blog over and over, it’s a chain reaction and more catastrophe to follow and soon. It’s summertime in Fiscal Hell, don’tcha know.

Don’t let the austerity they are pushing in Greece fool you. It consists of taxes that no one can pay if they want to continue eating. It does reduce spending and government bennies, but it is too little too late. Europe is on the way down, big time. Spain will make Greece look like a walk in the fricking park. Again from The Economic Collapse:

Can anyone still possibly deny that Spain is going down the exact same road that Greece has gone?

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is proposing a huge slate of tough austerity measures including a 3 point increase in the Value Added Tax on goods and services. If that 3 point hike is implemented, the Value Added Tax will rise to 21 percent.

Could you imagine going to the store and paying a 21 percent sales tax?

Ouch.

Rajoy is promising that these measures will get Spain back on the right track.

Of course we have already seen how well such austerity measures have worked in Greece.

The unemployment rate in Spain is already up to 24.4 percent, and now these austerity measures will slow the economy down even more.

No wonder there is rioting in the streets. You can see high quality footage of the rioting that has been going on in Spain this week right here. At one point police were seen firing rubber bullets at the protesters.

But of course the citizens of Spain could not live way above their means forever. At some point every debt bubble ends, and when that happens the results are often incredibly painful.

You are looking into America’s not-too-distant future. Truth be told, if the Obama administration was honest about our unemployment rate, it would read over 15% and personally, I think it is closer to 23 or 24%.

So, as we gleefully dance ever closer to the global fiscal cliff — and a crumbling cliff at that — maybe just maybe we should actually look at what is going on around us globally and locally here in the US. It’s not just finances, it’s morality, ethics, our culture — the whole ball of wax and we are coming undone quickly. As a nation, we need to fall to our knees and declare a covenant with God and fast or we will realize a reckoning few can envision. Thus endeth the lesson.

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Could 2012 Be America's Last Presidential Election?

This is scary!!!

A little extreme, but not totally unbelievable.

I’ve asked this question to a number of people and most of them respond as if I were crazy for asking.  They tell me that this is America, land of the free and that there will always be elections. I tell them that we are no longer the land of the free and that if Obama gets re-elected in 2012, that this just may be America’s last election.

In the past three years, the Obama administration has been very carefully crafting the nation for a political take over by his Marxist regime and this isn’t just my opinion. Popular radio talk show host Michael Savage is the son of Russian immigrants and is very familiar with Soviet and European history. Savage warned his listeners this week saying, “I have to tell you that if this man, God forbid, is the next president of the United States, we’re going to be living in something along the lines of – people say Europe. I don’t believe it’s going to be like Europe – I think it will be closer to Chavez’s South American dictatorship.

“This is the most corrupt, incompetent, dangerous tyrannical administration in American history. It’s not politics as usual. It’s not just Democrats versus Republicans. Obama has a long history of being at odds with American values and with America itself and the core principles of this country. They don’t want government-sponsored opinions.  They only want government – sponsored ‘Pravda.’  That’s exactly what the government-media complex tells you on a daily basis – nothing but the government-media complex party line. Pay attention. Your freedom may be at stake.”

Over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told a small group of people in an Iowa coffee house that, “Barack Obama is not incompetent, ladies and gentleman. He knows exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. He sees America differently than you see America . [Obama] has gone out of his way to divide this country in a way I haven’t seen since the Great Depression when Franklin Roosevelt went around to divide this country. That’s his hero. What makes America great [in Obama’s mind is that] the government takes money from somebody and gives it to somebody else. No, that’s what makes America... France .” With his control over the Executive and Judicial branches of the government, the stage is set for a complete takeover of the government. Think about it.

Since taking office, instead of helping the economy, Obama has purposely escalated the economic crisis by plunging the country into unprecedented debt. He has a number of programs that are designed to go into effect in January 2013, just in time for his second term of office. The economic burden and increased taxes on everyone will be enough to cause the final economic collapse of the country. As soon as that happens, Obama declares Martial Law and assumes dictatorial control of the nation.

The Department of Justice has already been subverting federal laws to strip us of a number of freedoms. The Supreme Court and many of the other federal courts have been seeded with socialistic liberal judges that will rule in Obama’s favor on virtually anything, thus ending constitutional rule and law.

He’s already changing the face of America’s military. Allowing homosexuals to openly serve along with changing the retirement program is causing many conservative military leaders to resign commissions and leave the military. Some Pentagon officials are also noting that an increase in the enlistment of radical Muslims into the US military where they get all the training they need on weapons and defense systems. We have no idea how many of them there are in the armed forces or in what positions they may hold.

Obama has been wielding executive powers this past year as if he were already a dictator. When Congress is not doing his bidding, he simply bypasses them and used an executive order to accomplish it anyway. This has set the stage for his disbandment of Congress. He would not be the first world leader to take control of a nation and disband the legislative branch of government.

He has been effectively using the media to anesthetize the public to the dangers he poses. Like a patient being prepped for surgery, people are numb to the changes and won’t have a clue what took place until they wake up in recovery and realize that free America has been removed and replaced with a regime that may parallel those of Stalin, Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, Chavez and Castro.

For the sake of our children and grandchildren, I earnestly pray that we are spared from what seems a certain future and that Obama is overwhelmingly defeated in 2012. Otherwise, heaven help us

h/t to Deonia Copeland

Carnaval (Mardi Gras) Parade in Germany

Karnival or Fasching (Mardi Gras in the cold) Parade in Germany

A picture is worth a thousand words…  Well here are seven.

These floats from last year were part of the annual Carnival Parade in Germany, watched by an estimated 3 million people in 3 German cities including Dusseldorf.

With our controlled press, it is interesting to see that German citizens seem to know more about the U.S. political system and environment than the majority of citizens on the streets of America …  No topics are off limit. 

So in reality, socialistic Europe appears to me less politically correct and more open to speaking out than the supposed land of the free… so when did that happen?  (They are also a bit less inhibited about many things.)

Karnival kicks off every year on the 11th Day of the 11th Month at 11:11… This year it was 11/11/11 at 11:11 it ends the night before Ash Wednesday with the onset of Lent.

There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation.

One is by the sword. The other is by debt.

…John Adams 1826

h/t to Deonia Copeland

Nigel Farage: This is How Dictatorship Begins

Video: Nigel Farage: This is How Dictatorship Begins

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage MEP is interviewed by Claudio Messora of Byoblu.com (Italy) - aired 25 November 2011

Member States:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom

Italy’s welfare minister cries while announcing cuts

Monday, 05 December 2011

Italian Welfare Minister Elsa Fornero starts crying as she speaks during a news conference on the new austerity package. (Reuters)

By REUTERS
ROME

Italy’s welfare minister Elsa Fornero was reduced to tears at a press conference as she outlined tough reforms to pensions contained in the government’s plan to regain control of strained public finances and help solve Europe’s debt crisis.

Under the austerity plan unveiled on Sunday, Italy will raise the minimum pension age for women and men to 66 by 2018, and will scrap annual inflation adjustments for many pensions.

“We had to... and it cost us a lot psychologically... ask for a...” Fornero said, but was unable to complete her sentence as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Prime Minister Mario Monti finished the sentence for her, speaking the word “sacrifice” that she’d been unable say.

Monti has unveiled a 30 billion euro ($51.7 billion) package of austerity measures, raising taxes and increasing the pension age in a drive to shore up Italy’s strained finances and stave off a crisis that threatens to overwhelm the euro zone.

Packed into a single emergency decree which comes into effect before formal parliamentary approval, the measures followed growing pressure for sweeping measures to restore confidence in the euro zone’s third-largest economy.

Monti said the package, divided between 20 billion euros of budget measures over 2012-14 and a further 10 billion euros in measures to boost growth, was painful but necessary.

“We have had to share the sacrifices, but we have made great efforts to share them fairly,” he told a news conference, in which he said he had renounced his own salary as prime minister and economy minister.

The measures come before one of the most crucial weeks since the creation of the single currency more than a decade ago, with European leaders due to meet on Thursday and Friday in Brussels to try to agree a broader rescue plan for the bloc.

Source: Al Arabiya News – English

American should be asking herself… when is this us?  It will be us if we do not oust Obama and the Progressives!

Related:  The Right Planet – Soros And The Euro

The True Elephant In The Room Appears: Trillions In Commercial And Industrial Loans To Europe's Insolvent Countries

July 18, 2011

With the market's attention over the past year exclusively focused on bank holdings of insolvent European sovereign debt, which as is now well known had been declining for months, many if not all forgot that banks also have credit exposure via far simpler conduits: retail and commercial debt. And as an analysis of the full disclosure in the EBA's second stress test exposes, banks are on the hook for literally trillions in various plain-vanilla commercial and retail loans to individuals and businesses. WSJ's David Enrich summarizes it best: "Friday's test results shed light on another potential problem for Europe's banks: huge piles of residential mortgages, small-business loans, corporate debt and commercial real-estate loans to institutions and individuals from ailing countries. As those economies struggle, the odds of rising defaults grow." Oops.

From the WSJ:

Banks tend to be holding far greater quantities of those commercial and retail loans than they are of sovereign debt, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of disclosures accompanying the stress tests.

This year's stress tests represent the first time there has been a uniform way to measure this exposure. Until now, banks have disclosed their portfolios of loans to customers in troubled countries on a piecemeal basis. That made it virtually impossible to aggregate data across the industry or to compare different institutions.

"The country-by-country exposure [data] is better than any data we've seen before," said Alastair Ryan, a London-based banking analyst with UBS AG. "It's giving me more things to be fearful of," Mr. Ryan added, referring to the disclosures of some banks' large holdings of loans to customers in troubled countries.

After Spanish and Italian banks, France's banks appear to be the most exposed. As of Dec. 31, its four largest banks—BNP Paribas SA, Crédit Agricole SA, BPCE Group and Société Générale SA—were holding a total of nearly €300 billion, or about $425 billion, in loans and other debt issued to institutions and individuals in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, the countries that are among Europe's most troubled. That is largely a result of some of the French banks having big retail- and commercial-banking operations in Greece, Italy and Spain.

The French banks' portfolios of commercial and retail loans in those countries dwarf their holdings of sovereign debt.
For example, the four banks have a total of about €51 billion of loans to Spanish customers, according to the Journal's analysis.

Here is how this latest elephant looks like in chart format:

Germany, so far represented as a stalwart of investment prudence (despite its Landsbanken being decimated and on a constant lifeline by the CDO scammery of our own investment banks back in 2005-2006), is among the most impaired:

The dozen German banks that disclosed their stress-test results were exposed to €174 billion of commercial and retail loans to Greek, Irish, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish borrowers as of Dec. 31. They are holding an additional €70 billion of sovereign debt issued by those countries, according to SNL.
More than half of the German banks' loan exposures are concentrated in the country's two biggest lenders, Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG. Deutsche Bank alone is holding nearly €80 billion of loans in those countries, including €7.5 billion of residential mortgages in Spain. Deutsche, which passed the stress tests with a 6.5% capital ratio under the EBA's worst-case scenario, said Friday that it "feels well prepared" to hit its capital targets.

Naturally, it is no secret that the second Stress Test was nothing but another attempt at redirection:

While the tests did consider the impact of an economic downturn on banks' portfolios of loans and nonsovereign debt in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, many critics complained that the tests were overly benign. For example, the EBA's worst-case scenario for Portugal envisioned an 11.6% unemployment rate this year, rising to 12.9% in 2011. The unemployment rate there is currently 12.4%.
The stress-test figures actually understate some banks' holdings of loans in certain troubled countries. That is because the European Banking Authority required banks to disclose their loan holdings in countries only if they represent more than 5% of the bank's total loan exposures.
As a result, some banks opted not to disclose details of their loan portfolios.

Once again, just like in the case of Spain's LaMancha region lying outright about its deficit, "out of left field" discoveries such as this will keep reappearing until the full kit and caboodle of tens of trillions in impaired exposure finally hits the market. Of course, at that point nothing, not even the Fed's unlimited FX swap lines will do much if anything to help.

Source: Zero Hedge

Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate

President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic “recovery” appearing more and more elusive, his timing couldn’t be worse.

Geert Cleared!

Video:  Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders cleared of hate speech

Right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, tried for 'inciting hatred and discrimination', has been cleared of all charges. He had reportedly described Islam as 'a fascist religion that allows terrorism' and called for the Koran to be banned. Wilders insisted his comments were not directed at Muslim believers but at Islam - and they formed a legitimate political debate. The verdict was broadcast live on Dutch TV. 

Related Video: Austrian  Member  of  Parliament  Goes  Ballistic  on  Muslim  Hypocrisy

Embracing Sharia(h) law for a vote…  It is perhaps time we take heed…

Another

Two Republican Presidential candidates have embraced sharia Islam. Their names are Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty.

At the recent Republican Presidential debate held in New Hampshire on June 13, 2011 the issue of shariah law came up. CNN.com reports Candidate Herman Cain said:

“I don’t believe in Sharia law in American courts, I believe in American laws in American courts, period. There have been instances in New Jersey, there was an instance in Oklahoma , where Muslims did try to influence court decisions with Sharia law, I was simply saying, very emphatically, American laws in American courts.”

A recent study by the Center for Security Policy backs up the comments made by Mr. Cain and found shariah law was used in recent court cases in 23 states.

So how did the other candidates respond to this fact?

According to CNN.com:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who spoke next, appeared to brush aside Cain’s concerns about Sharia and his suspicions of American Muslims. “Of course, we're not going to have Sharia law applied in U.S. courts. That's never going to happen,” Romney said. "We have a Constitution and we follow the law.” Romney then appeared to defend American Muslims, even if he didn’t mention them specifically.

This is interesting because Politico reports that in November 2007 Mitt Romney said:

As [Mansoor] Ijaz recounted the exchange in an opinion piece in Tuesday’s Christian Science Monitor, “I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his Cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that ‘jihadism’ is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today. “He answered, ‘ ... based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a Cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration,’” Ijaz wrote.

So what has changed?

I just received a video from Dick Morris. In this video commentary, Mr. Morris talks about Tim Pawlenty & Sharia Law. Mr. Morris criticized Pawlenty for a Sharia compliant housing loan program in Minnesota. Former Governor Pawlenty accused Mr. Morris as being "reckless" "offensive" and "absolutely crazy".

Please watch Mr. Morris's rebuttal.

As Newt Gingrich said at the debate:

“I'm in favor of saying to people, 'If you're not prepared to be loyal to the United States, you will not serve in my administration, period. ' We did this in dealing with the Nazis and we did this in dealing with the communists, and it was controversial both times, and both times we discovered after a while, there are some genuinely bad people who would like to infiltrate our country. And we have got to have the guts to stand up and say no.”

The use of Sharia law in American courts is a valid issue that must be debated during the Republican primary race and in the general election. Islamists will do everything they can to demonize those who speak out by calling them Islamaphobes. This is the same tactic that Communists use today calling those who speak out MaCarthyites.

To silence debate on Sharia Islam is to surrender to those who have demonstrated the clear intent, will and capacity to destroy America.

Center for Security Policy: New Study Finds Shariah (Sharia) Law Involved in Court Cases in 23 U.S. States  -  Wake Up America!

Dogs… Pets – Beyond Traditional Islam

Man’s Best Friend in Shariah’s Cruel Crosshairs

Tyson Plant Drops Labor Day for Muslim Holiday

Joys of Muslim Women

Pamela Geller on Fox Business:  Mainstreaming Sharia and Islamic Gender Apartheid

Check Out Honor Killings In America

Video: Care for Female Victims of Acid Attacks 

Muslim “Children of a Lesser God”

THE GLOBALISTS’ TAKEOVER OF AMERICA: Part 2 – DE-INDUSTRIALIZE AMERICA

Noisy Room:  THE GLOBALISTS’ TAKEOVER OF AMERICA: Part 2 – DE-INDUSTRIALIZE AMERICA

By: AJ

Entice large American corporations into the UN Global Compact and the de-industrialization of America becomes a reality in short order. A selection of the corporations who are already members of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which is now part of the UN Global Compact, can be found HERE.

The UN Global Compact was initiated in 2000 and has been accelerating since 2010, no doubt due to support provided by President Obama and George Soros. The goal of the UN Global Compact is to create public-private and global-local partnerships. Basically, this means “globalizing” private corporations so that they will operate at the behest and direction of the international rulers (i.e. global elites), not the US government and certainly not based on American consumer demand.

In other words, American corporations that join the UN Global Compact will follow the dictates of Global Governance (i.e. the New World Order) not America’s free market system.

As described in the April 4, 2011, 4-page PDF found HERE, the UN Global Compact stays true to the global elite’s goal of controlling absolutely everything by incorporating “two related global issue platforms: Caring for Climate and the CEO Water Mandate.”

“The voluntary and demand driven nature of the initiative calls for a multi-centric governance framework enabling participant ownership, supporting accountability mechanisms, and advancing intergovernmental oversight.

Understanding how Global Compact governance is exercised, and why it is exercised in this particular way, requires appreciating (a) the institutional context in which the initiative is embedded, (b) its underlying operational context, and (c) the changing context of sustainability itself. These three contextual dimensions of Global Compact governance have evolved significantly over the last decade and thus need to be vetted against their historic background.

The initiating speech… was translated into an institutional innovation which aimed at deepening the interdependencies between the United Nations, the business community, NGOs [Non-Government Organizations], and labor. With Secretary-General Ban’s tenure starting in 2007 and him chairing the Global Compact Leaders Summit in the same year, the Global Compact moved into its next phase.

To conclude, context matters when thinking about Global Compact governance. As the Global Compact blends public and private actors, it also combines legitimacy from both spheres. While public legitimacy rests on intergovernmental support, private legitimacy relates to participants’ implementation accountability… The governance framework was (and still is) significantly shaped by the initiative’s institutional and operational context as well as the context of the larger sustainability movement that the Global Compact is an important part of. Contexts, however, change and so do the needs of governance (in this sense history matters as well).”

Ask yourself how Americans benefit when our corporations become part of the UN Global Compact. Under the dictates of the global elites, do you think this will strengthen or weaken America? Will it create more jobs in America? Or will it create more jobs in other countries? Obama’s embrace of the “international community” and his stated references to us as “global citizens” begs the question… is this why he hasn’t focused on jobs for the tens of millions of unemployed American citizens?

Notice that General Electric (GE) and AT&T are on the list of corporations who joined the UN Global Contract. Is it a coincidence that they paid nothing – zero, nada, zilch – in federal taxes for 2010? Seems Obama made them a deal they couldn’t refuse. And we’re all aware that Obama appointed Jeffery Immelt (GE’s CEO) as his Green Jobs Czar.

While President Obama and his union comrades attempt to guide the majority of Americans toward the class-warfare red herring, Obama’s been cozying up to the leaders of large corporations for a reason. We’re all aware of his cozy relationship with the CEO’s of Google and Facebook.

Take a stroll down Wall Street and ask a few of the movers and shakers if they support President Obama. Ask the CEO of Goldman Sachs if he supports President Obama. The answer will be a resounding “YES.” The Finance Reform bill, passed by the 111th Congress, seals up government control of America’s financial institutions, but it only scratches the surface of the scope and depth of the global takeover of American industry.

Notice that Monsanto is on the UN Global Contract list. The Food Safety Act, passed by the 111th Congress, gives our government control of America’s food supply and Monsanto is positioned to carry out the global elite’s orders. As we speak, Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s Regulatory Czar, is creating regulations which will prohibit Americans from growing food or having gardens on their property. Also, George Soros has been buying up grain elevators and is now the third largest holder of America’s grain elevators.

The cast of globalists who serve on the UN Global Compact Board…

· Charles O. Holliday – It’s no coincidence that in April of 2010, Bank of America appointed a new progressive globalist Board Chairman, Charles O. Holliday Jr… just in time for the UN to unveil their Global Compact Board Members at the Leaders Summit in June 2010. Charles O. Holliday Jr., former Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, serves as the U.S. representative on the Board.

· Philip Jennings, UNI Global Union

· Antonio Penalosa, International Organization of Employers

· Manfred Warda, International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and GeneralWorkers’ Unions

· Jean-Guy Carrier, International Chamber of Commerce

· Habiba Al Marashi, Emirates Environmental Group

· Oded Grajew, Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility

· Julia Marton-Lefevre, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Last but not least, Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, President and CEO of Brazil’s Petrobras, the corporation that Obama and George Soros gave billions of dollars to assist their oil development. George Soros invested his own money, but Barack Obama gave $2 Billion of our tax dollars to assist Brazil in creating jobs and maximizing their oil production at the expense of hard working American citizens.

Enticing American businesses into the UN Global Compact will be beneficial to other countries and a detriment to America. Innovation starts here, through which America has become the most prosperous nation on the planet and employees – yes, “workers” – have thrived in their ability to provide for their families and enjoy modern conveniences that people in other countries do not.

What benefit is there to placing American businesses under global governance led by the global elites? There’s no benefit whatsoever for America. The purpose is to de-industrialize America by ensuring our corporate giants operate elsewhere.

When President Obama said he would fundamentally transform America, he wasn’t kidding. This kind of transformation will change the lives of all Americans in the worst possible way.

Reference: THE GLOBALISTS’ TAKEOVER OF AMERICA: Part 1 – COLLAPSE THE ECONOMY

Add to this the EU’s Unraveling… which Preps for a Global Currency

**  Also, Did you know that our debt now increases by $2billion dollars ever 12 hours… $4billion dollars a day???  **