Floatin' Powa News Service: How the Mighty Have Fallen!

30 Seconds to Mars
Fallen

"Why are you here?
Are you listening?
Can you hear what
I am saying?"

Remember the height from which you have fallen! Turn and do Teshuvah, do the things you did at first. If you do not turn and do Teshuvah, I will come to you myself and remove your Menorah from its place.
~ Jewsus in Revelation 2:5

The Unbearable Lightlessness of Exigency:

Media barron Rupert Murdoch issued an urgent internal communication late Monday, warning his staff: "We are in the midst of a phase of history in which nations will be redefined and their futures fundamentally altered."

Obama to pour nearly $1 billion into Gaza

Hamas stages rally in Gaza in solidarity with Jerusalem Christians
Jewsus sees you, MFers.

'Hamas letter' still in Jerusalem

A letter to President Barack Obama, reportedly from a top member of Hamas, is yet to be brought to the United States and is in the hands of US diplomats in Jerusalem, the White House said Monday.

The letter was passed to Democratic Senator John Kerry by a United Nations official in Gaza who did not tell him it was from Hamas, the veteran lawmaker's office said last week.

Kerry in turn, passed the letter, which the New York Times reported was from Hamas deputy foreign minister Ahmed Yousef, to the US consulate in Jerusalem, where it remains.

"As I understand it, some letter was passed -- conflicting reports from whom -- to Senator Kerry, and that letter is with the consulate in Jerusalem," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The cover-up on Durban II's anti-Semitic agenda

On Friday, State Department officials and a member of the American Durban II delegation claimed the United States had worked actively to oppose efforts to brand Israel as racist in the committee drafting a Durban II declaration. The trouble is that they didn't.

Anti-Israel Hamasshole Hugger to be named new US intel chief
Not fah nuttin, but: I found Bush's embrace of FATAH just as craven & vile. There really is no difference between making covenant with Fatah and making covenant with Hamas as far as I am concerned. Just remember, Fatah was once ARAFAT's PLO, mmkay? OK.

In the Change, My Ass! Department, enter Dennis Ross:

Dennis B. Ross (born November 26, 1948) is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush, the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton, and is currently a special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

As envoy and chief negotiator under both Republican and Democratic presidents, Ross was integral in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process during his tenure. For more than twelve years, Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and in dealing directly with the negotiations.

Ross was responsible in both the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations for exploring ways to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As an architect of the peace process, he helped the Israelis and Palestinians in reaching the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and brokered the Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron in 1997. He facilitated the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace and also worked on talks between Israel and Syria.

Ross "will provide to the Secretary and senior State Department officials strategic advice and perspective on the region" and "coordinate with senior officials in the development and formulation of new policy approaches," State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said in a statement.

Geert Wilders: "The Europeans Are Dhimmis... They Are Big Fat Cowards"
ULULULULULULULULULU! Geert Akbar!
Here's a spin special for you, daddy-o ~ Honky Style!
MWAH!

Wayne Cochran
Some-a Your Sweet Sweet Love

Iran invited by Italy to Afghanistan meeting

Iran said on Monday it had been invited by Group of Eight president Italy to an international meeting on Afghanistan, which is also expected to be attended by Tehran's old foe the United States.

Ucch, "Tehran's old foe"? Who writes this shit? Dhimmis named Fredrik Dahl, apparently.

Iran to host OIC conference

Tehran will host the second conference of the Organization of the Islamic Conference health ministers on March 1-4, the Iranian television reported.

The meeting will be held under the slogan of “Equal Medical Services Among Islamic Ummah,” Iranian Health Ministry International Relations Department Director Muhammad Huseyn Niknam said.

[THIS SPACE OPEN FOR PUNCHLINES]

Seven Iranians Charged With Spying for Israel

Turkey sees itself as Iraq’s door to Europe

US soldiers shot dead by Iraqi Policemen

Total (FRANCE) says no imminent deal on Iranian gas field

Iraq invites France to build nuclear reactor

IAEA says Iran cooperating despite "reporting error"
OHHHHHhhh keedokee,then! ~zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz~

HOLY LEAF WILL SAVE AMERICA
Let's ROLL, mah pleebles!

China Changes Calculus for Petro-Rulers

Vladimir Putin faces rising anger from within Russian army

A growing number of disgruntled servicemen, including senior officers, are making contact with Russian opposition groups for the first time since he came to power in 2000.

Russia to respond to militarization of Arctic

Russia is ready to respond to attempts to militarize the Arctic region, the Interfax news agency reported Monday citing the chief of the general staff.

"We want to see in general how far the region will be militarized and we will act accordingly," Gen. Nikolai Makarov was quoted by as saying during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last month that military activity has been steadily increasing in the Arctic.

Russia "will respond" to military moves in Arctic

Russia said on Monday it was watching the extent of militarization in the Arctic as global warming makes potentially valuable resources in the polar region more accessible and would plan its strategy accordingly.

Russia has already staked its claim to a majority of the Arctic waters, which it shares with four NATO countries and planted a Russian flag on the seabed under the North Pole 18 months ago to reinforce its position.

"Overall, we are looking at how far the region will be militarized. Depending on that, we'll then decide what to do," Interfax news agency quoted General Nikolai Makarov, the head of Russia's General Staff, as saying during a visit to Abu Dhabi.

Makarov was in the United Arab Emirates for an international arms fair.

Jewsus Save Us!

Gazprom's European Web

The Kremlin is throwing money around in Central Asia

TURKMENISTAN: Russian Co's win gas development contracts

Iran to finalize Turkmenistan gas field development contract

Turkmenistan proclaims Day of Diplomats
[insert me cackling like a madwoman here]

Tajik President to visit Moscow on Feb. 24

Kazakhstan could delay JV with Gazprom over crisis

One dead in blast at Romanian nuclear defense plant

Los Alamos computer thefts prompt DOE security check at nuclear lab

NASA Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit

Kim Jong-il raises stakes with missile threat

Obama's Housing Bailout Draws Comparisons to McCain's Plan

President Obama's $275 billion housing bailout plan, aimed at halting mortgage foreclosures, is drawing comparisons to a proposal championed last year by John McCain.

Ya don't say!

Unexpectedly Assertive!

In an unexpectedly assertive joint statement, the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and federal bank regulatory agencies announced that the government might end up demanding a direct ownership stake in major banks after they undergo a tough evaluation of their strength, which is to begin shortly.

THE FED: Text of Bernanke's testimony

US Slips on Economic Freedom Index
I can't imagine why

AIG wants mo' money

5 Billion Dolla Smart Grid Buildin' Gubbmint Pepco gunnin' for mo' money too:

PG&E, Pepco Join Funding Battle in Round Two of Stimulus Fight

President Barack Obama all but endorsed Xcel Energy Inc.’s project to upgrade its power distribution network. In Denver last week to sign the $787 billion federal stimulus package, Obama touted the company’s effort in nearby Boulder, which he said is “on pace to be the world’s first smart-grid city.”

Even with the president’s nod, Xcel faces a fight if it wants some of the $4.5 billion of government aid allotted for high-technology power systems.

“There’s going to be competition for that money,” said William Gausman, a senior vice president at Washington-based Pepco Holdings Inc., which is deploying its own smart grid across the District of Columbia and three states.

Mmmhmmm.

Raytheon Wins $173 Million Army Award

SG-FLIR is a core infrared sensor supporting fire control and surveillance on several U.S. Army ground combat systems, according to Raytheon. The award also includes foreign military sales to Iraqi and Egyptian forces to provide thermal receiver upgrades for M1 Abrams tanks.

UAE signs deal w/ Raytheon for 224 anti-aircraft missiles

UAE seen buying Lockheed, Boeing military planes

UAE signs $820mn in defense deals

Raytheon has productive partnership with UAE companies
No doubt!

Franz Ferdinand
The Fallen

"Walk among us.
Oh, if you judge us...
We're all damned"

The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

~ Lamentations 5:16

WFRL: You can learn a lot from Lydia ~

Groucho Marx
Lydia The Tattooed Lady
From "At the Circus"

Floatin' Powa News Service: For The Instructor, The Rule of War ~

The Prophet Zimmy
Talkin' WWIII Blues

DEAD SEA SCROLLS ~ THE WAR SCROLL

For the Instructor, the Rule of the War:

The first attack of the Sons of Light shall be undertaken against the forces of the Sons of Darkness, the army of Belial: the troops of Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Amalekites, Philistia, and the troops of the Kittim of Asshur.

Supporting them are those who have violated the covenant.

The sons of Levi, the sons of Judah, and the sons of Benjamin, those exiled to the wilderness, shall fight against them with [missing] against all their troops, when the exiles of the Sons of Light return from the Wilderness of the Peoples to camp in the Wilderness of Jerusalem.

Then after the battle they shall go up from that place and the king of the Kittim shall enter into Egypt. In his time he shall go forth with great wrath to do battle against the kings of the north, and in his anger he shall set out to destroy and eliminate the strength of Israel. Then there shall be a time of salvation for the People of God, and a time of dominion for all the men of His forces, and eternal annihilation for all the forces of Belial.

There shall be great panic among the sons of Japheth, Assyria shall fall with no one to come to his aid, and the supremacy of the Kittim shall cease that wickedness be overcome without a remnant. There shall be no survivors of all the Sons of Darkness.

[SNIP]

ASSHUR, KING OF THE ASSYRIAN GODS

PA: US okays Hamas-Fatah government

The Obama administration has given the Palestinian Authority a "green light" to talk to Hamas about forming a Palestinian unity government, a PA official in Ramallah said over the weekend. PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh appeared together prior to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.

The official said that Washington had also given Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the go-ahead to resume his efforts to achieve reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. "The new administration has a different policy than that of [former US president] George W. Bush," the official told The Jerusalem Post. "The administration of President Barack Obama believes that a Hamas-Fatah government is good for stability.

US plans "substantial" pledge at Gaza meeting

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to announce a "substantial" pledge of U.S. aid for Gaza and the Palestinian Authority at a donors' meeting in Egypt next week, a State Department official said on Monday.

Hamas claims PLO/FATAH spies for Israel

Israel replaces envoy to Egypt talks, Hamas irate
Hamas is irate. LOL! In other news, ice is cold.

Raytheon says UAE to buy advanced missiles

Islamic Jihad leader condemns Israeli plans for Jerusalem
In other news, fire is hot!

OIC Welcomes the US Decision to Participate in Durban II

He further added that the decision to enable the United States representation in the conference would be a move in the right direction. He also expressed that the decision would be widely perceived by the Muslim world as a credible signal of the new US Administrations goodwill and desire to introduce a fresh, fair and objective approach to the issues related to human rights and Middle East peace process as well as to rejuvenate the United States positive image throughout the Muslim nations.

The OIC Secretary General Ihsanoglu further emphasized that the Durban II Review Conference should not be perceived as a gathering of the UN member states to criticize specifically Israel. The Review Conference should rather be perceived as an expression of the global communitys growing concern over acts of discrimination, intolerance and incitement to hatred.

Durban II draft document 'getting worse

Besides issues relating to Israel, the draft has problematic paragraphs regarding free speech, defamation of religion and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, he said.

OIC chief meets Iraq PM in Baghdad

U.S. closing bases in Iraq

Turkish officials invite Obama to Alliance of Civilizations meeting

A member of a Turkish parliamentary delegation has been holding a series of talks in Washington D.C..

Iran: Tests on Nuclear Power Plant to Begin This Week

Iran to "pre-commission" Bushehr nuclear power plant

Turkey to transfer Iranian gas to Europe
Bad Vlad will not have it.

Former German chancellor urges Iran-US talks

German's Schroeder backs int'l nuclear consortium in Iran

EU’s energy insecurity

EU Foreign Ministers Discuss "Eastern Partnership"

Crude Oil: OPEC is looking vulnerable

China prepares to buy up foreign oil companies

Hillary Clinton Visits Her Communist Masters In Beijing

Beijing and Obama

China and U.S. breathe sigh of relief: Economy more important than human rights

For Mrs. Clinton, human rights will no longer be the main issue. In exchange, Beijing has decided to continue buying U.S. Treasury bonds, in order to support the American economy. China's official media have defined the visit of Hillary Clinton as "a relief," because the new U.S. secretary of state has set aside the question of human rights, and talked instead about the economies of the two countries.

China Daily commented that "if the point of Hillary Rodham Clinton's maiden voyage overseas in her new role as United States secretary of state was to assure and reassure, she made it."

Chinese officials trained to handle social unrest
Well isn't that a reassuring relief.....

China to heed Clinton's call on buying US bonds

Christians in China's Earthquake Disaster Areas Raided by Police

The households are believed to have been raided because of the help they received from Christians.

Hong Kong eyes Islamic finance products

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is finalizing new tax laws which would facilitate the introduction of Islamic finance on a par with equivalent conventional products, and there is a strong possibility that the Hong Kong Airport Authority (HKAA) will issue the debut quasi-sovereign Sukuk from the island enclave during 2009.

Communists hail Soviet army at Moscow protest

Greece sweet talks US but marries Moscow

Gazprom’s Energy Imperium

Armed robbers heist $1.2M in Russia

Why is Russia bribing Kyrgyzstan?

Turkmenistan to sign two big contracts with leading Russian companies

Turkmenistan to increase cooperation with UN

Turkmenistan to export gas to Iran

Popeapalooza 2009: The Laodicea Tour

The pope's stop at the Hussein bin Talal Mosque in Amman will be his second visit to a Muslim place of worship since becoming pope in 2005, said Rifat Bader, a Catholic priest in Jordan who is the spokesman for the Jordanian leg of the pope's Holy Land tour. In 2006, Benedict prayed at Turkey's famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

"He will also meet there with Muslim leaders and religious scholars at the mosque, underlining the coexistence between religions," Bader told The Associated Press.

Because you are neither hot or cold, but lukewarm, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
~ Jewsus in Rev 3

Dr. Doom Sez: Nationalize 'Em

Mr. Roubini tells me that bank nationalization "is something the partisans would have regarded as anathema a few weeks ago. But when I and others put it in the context of the Swedish approach [of the 1990s] -- i.e. you take banks over, you clean them up, and you sell them in rapid order to the private sector -- it's clear that it's temporary. No one's in favor of a permanent government takeover of the financial system."

No, no, no...silly Doomster.... you are not in favor of a permanent government takeover. But there are no end of very powerful no ones that are....

Sen. Dodd On Nationalizing Banks

US regulators eye more bank capital, common equity


Plan to nationalise American banks

Banking on the Brink

Bonds sink on Citi nationalization talk

NYT Obamaganda Department's Obligatory Plouffe Piece

U.S. nuclear supercarrier sent to fight Somali pirates

Internet Safety Act: Imposes data retention laws

...federal law makers have proposed that the surfing habits of Internet users be retained for a period of two years

Homo Stultus Hubrisicus Maximus Sez:
Science is just one gene away from defeating religion
LOL! OK... Here's the worldview "tell" from just the headline - This staggering moron and everyone like him sees science as being in an aggressive revolutionary war against religion, which it must "defeat" and destroy. In other words, they are waging Scihad. Okeedokee then, Docta Al Bin Killya Von Shmatty! Bring it on!

More Biblical seals unearthed in Jerusalem dig

A routine archeological excavation ahead of private construction in an Arab neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem has uncovered a series of seal impressions from the reign of the Biblical King Hezekiah nearly 3,000 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.

Archaeologists unearth relics from eras of First and Second Temples

5.8 between Indonesia and Philippines

Sky Show Tonight: Green "Two-Tailed" Comet Arrives

The Prophet Zimmy
Masters of War

Teach Your Children Well ~ children’s books burn courtesy of the federal government:

Hat Tip: Irving Berlin's Monkey

Crosby Stills & Nash
Teach Your Children Well


The New Book Banning
Children’s books burn, courtesy of the federal government
By Walter Olson
12 February 2009

It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute. Merchants, thrift stores, and booksellers may be at risk if they sell older volumes, or even give them away, without first subjecting them to testing—at prohibitive expense. Many used-book sellers, consignment stores, Goodwill outlets, and the like have accordingly begun to refuse new donations of pre-1985 volumes, yank existing ones off their shelves, and in some cases discard them en masse.

The problem is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), passed by Congress last summer after the panic over lead paint on toys from China. Among its other provisions, CPSIA imposed tough new limits on lead in any products intended for use by children aged 12 or under, and made those limits retroactive: that is, goods manufactured before the law passed cannot be sold on the used market (even in garage sales or on eBay) if they don’t conform. The law has hit thrift stores particularly hard, since many children’s products have long included lead-containing (if harmless) components: zippers, snaps, and clasps on garments and backpacks; skateboards, bicycles, and countless other products containing metal alloy; rhinestones and beads in decorations; and so forth. Combine this measure with a new ban (also retroactive) on playthings and child-care articles that contain plastic-softening chemicals known as phthalates, and suddenly tens of millions of commonly encountered children’s items have become unlawful to resell, presumably destined for landfills when their owners discard them. Penalties under the law are strict and can include $100,000 fines and prison time, regardless of whether any child is harmed.

Not until 1985 did it become unlawful to use lead pigments in the inks, dyes, and paints used in children’s books. Before then—and perhaps particularly in the great age of children’s-book illustration that lasted through the early twentieth century—the use of such pigments was not uncommon, and testing can still detect lead residues in books today. This doesn’t mean that the books pose any hazard to children. While lead poisoning from other sources, such as paint in old houses, remains a serious public health problem in some communities, no one seems to have been able to produce a single instance in which an American child has been made ill by the lead in old book illustrations—not surprisingly, since unlike poorly maintained wall paint, book pigments do not tend to flake off in large lead-laden chips for toddlers to put into their mouths.

At any rate, CPSIA’s major provisions went into effect on February 10. The day before, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published guidelines telling thrift stores, as well as other resellers and distributors of used goods, what they could safely keep selling and what they should consider rejecting or subjecting to (expensive) lead testing. Confirming earlier reports, the document advised that only “ordinary” children’s books (that is, made entirely of paper, with no toylike plastic or metal elements) printed after 1985 could be placed in the safe category. Older books were pointedly left off the safe list; the commission did allow an exception for vintage collectibles whose age, price, or rarity suggested that they would most likely be used by adult collectors, rather than given to children.

Since the law became effective the very next day, there was no time to waste in putting this advice into practice. A commenter at Etsy, the large handicrafts and vintage-goods site, observed how things worked at one store:

I just came back from my local thrift store with tears in my eyes! I watched as boxes and boxes of children’s books were thrown into the garbage! Today was the deadline and I just can’t believe it! Every book they had on the shelves prior to 1985 was destroyed! I managed to grab a 1967 edition of “The Outsiders” from the top of the box, but so many!

People who deal in children’s books for a livelihood now face unpleasant choices. Valorie Jacobsen of Clinton, Wisconsin, who owns a small used-book store and has sold over the Internet since 1995, commented at my blog, Overlawyered: “Our bookstore is the sole means of income for our family, and we currently have over 7,000 books catalogued. In our children’s department, 35 percent of our picture books and 65 percent of our chapter books were printed before 1985.” Jacobsen has contacted the CPSC and her congressional representatives for guidance, but to no avail. “We cannot simply discard a wealth of our culture’s nineteenth and twentieth children’s literature over this,” she writes. She remains defiant, if wary: “I was willing to resist the censorship of 1984 and the Fire Department of Fahrenheit 451 long before I became a bookseller, so I’d love to run a black market in quality children’s books—but at the same time it’s not like the CPSC has never destroyed a small, harmless company before.”

Jacobsen also worries that any temporary forbearance on the part of the CPSC, which has said that it does not plan a reseller crackdown any time soon in the absence of evidence of risk, could be abrogated without notice in the future. For one thing, new commissioners appointed by the Obama administration are expected to show less sympathy in regulating business than the current commission. In addition, the 50 state attorneys general have been empowered to enforce the law on their own, and frequently take much more aggressive legal positions than those of the federal government, sometimes teaming with private lawyers who capture a share of fines imposed.

Seizing on the “collectible” loophole, commenter Carol Baicker-McGee declared: “If nothing happens to change this law soon, I promise I will spend whatever money and devote whatever space I can to buying up these older books. I’ll be happy to label myself a collector (and I’m subversive enough to leave the books lying around where kids might ‘accidentally’ read them).” But this strategy, aside from its overtones of furtive evasion, will provide limited legal help to sellers. Under the law, they’re liable if their products will commonly be understood as intended for children’s use, even if not labeled as such.

A further question is what to do about public libraries, which daily expose children under 12 to pre-1985 editions of Anne of Green Gables, Beatrix Potter, Baden-Powell’s scouting guides, and other deadly hazards. The blogger Design Loft carefully examines some of the costs of CPSIA-proofing pre-1985 library holdings; they are, not surprisingly, utterly prohibitive. The American Library Association spent months warning about the law’s implications, but its concerns fell on deaf ears in Congress (which, in this week’s stimulus bill, refused to consider an amendment by Republican senator Jim DeMint to reform CPSIA). The ALA now apparently intends to take the position that the law does not apply to libraries unless it hears otherwise. One can hardly blame it for this stance, but it’s far from clear that it will prevail. For one thing, the law bans the “distribution” of forbidden items, whether or not for profit. In addition, most libraries regularly raise money through book sales, and will now need to consider excluding older children’s titles from those sales. One CPSC commissioner, Thomas Moore, has already called for libraries to “sequester” some undefinedly large fraction of pre-1985 books until more is known about their risks.

The threat to old books has surfaced so quickly in recent weeks that the elite press still seems unaware of it. The wider pattern of CPSIA’s disruptive irrationality and threat to small businesses has been covered reasonably well by the local press around the country. Some papers have investigated particular aspects of the law—the Los Angeles Times has tracked its menace to the garment industry, and the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal the general plight of thrift stores—but almost no one has cared to consider the law’s broad array of unintended consequences, let alone ask what went wrong in the near-unanimous rush to passage of this feel-good law.

The New York Times, which last year vigorously cheered the passage of CPSIA in both its news and editorial columns, occupies a class by itself in almost completely ignoring the law’s wrenching effects as its effective date has arrived. The Times used to cover the book business, as well as apparel, retailing, and product design, to name a few of the sectors hit hard by CPSIA. Yet the paper has remained entirely silent on the law in recent weeks, aside from one brief wire-service item and a post on the paper’s automotive blog, Wheels, about the law’s effect on children’s dirt bikes (now forced off the market). On Wednesday, the Times ran an editorial solemnly condemning “book banning”; on inspection, the editorial turned out to praise an ACLU lawsuit against a school district that had removed a library book from the shelves because of its allegedly over-favorable view of Castro’s Cuba. In any wider and more systematic prospect of book banning, the paper has shown no interest.

Whatever the future of new media may hold, ours will be a poorer world if we begin to lose (or “sequester” from children) the millions of books published before our own era. They serve as a path into history, literature, and imagination for kids everywhere. They link the generations by enabling parents to pass on the stories and discoveries in which they delighted as children. Their illustrations open up worlds far removed from what kids are likely to see on the video or TV screen. Could we really be on the verge of losing all of this? And if this is what government protection of our kids means, shouldn’t we be thinking instead about protecting our kids from the government?

Walter Olson is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and has covered CPSIA in depth at his blog, Overlawyered.

Der Königgreatzer March

(Nazi Book Burning March)

WFRL: DJ Akak Spins ~

Kansas
Can I Tell You?

Can I tell you something?
Got to tell you one thing ~
If you expect the freedom
That you say is yours,
Prove that you deserve it.
Help us to preserve it.

Or being free will just be

Words and nothing more

Sunday Night Cartoon: Hollywood Steps Out

Hollywood Steps Out
Merrie Melodies ~ 1941

Floatin' Powa News Service: Repent, Walpurgis!

Procol Harum
Repent, Walpurgis ~ Live, 1971

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
Repent and live!
~ Ezekiel 18:32

Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht) is a traditional religious holiday celebrated by Roman Catholics, as well as Pagans and Satanists,^[1] on April 30 or May 1 in large parts of Central and Northern Europe.^[2]

Historically Walpurgisnacht is derived from various Pagan spring customs. In the Norse tradition, Walpurgisnacht is considered the "Enclosure of the Fallen".^[3] It commemorates the time when Odin died to retrieve the knowledge of the runes, and the night is said to be a time of weakness in the boundary between the living and the dead. Bonfires were built to keep away the dead and chaotic spirits that were said to walk among the living then.^[4] This is followed by the return of light and the sun as celebrated during May Day.

Saint Walpurga herself was a niece of Saint Boniface and, according to legend, a daughter of the Saxon prince St. Richard. Together with her brothers she travelled to Franconia, Germany, where she became a nun and lived in the convent of Heidenheim, which was founded by her brother Willibald. Walpurga died of an illness shortly after moving the mortal remains of her brother,^[5] Saint Winibald on 25 February 779. She is therefore listed in the Roman Martyrology under 25 February. Her relics were transferred on 1 May so that she might be buried beside Willibald, and that day carries her name in, for example, the Finnish and Swedish calendars.^{[6] [5]}.

Should GOD reward you on your terms, then,
when you refuse to repent?
You must decide, not I ~
So.... tell me what you know.
~ Job 34:33

Obama's Pick for Intel Chief: "Support of Israel Is Not a U.S. Interest"

I will bless those those who bless thee (ISRAEL), and curse those who curse thee.
~ Genesis 12:3

Gird yer loins, America.

Ex-German chancellor, in Iran, says "Holocaust a fact"
The fact that this even needed to be said, and that saying it is furthermore headline worthy, is immensely chilling... and telling.

Schröder's Teheran visit kicks up storm

Iran tells Schroeder 'impossible' to stop nuclear plan

Larijani: Depriving Iran of nuclear technology impossible
Even if we were trying.

Iran Offers To Stop Attacking Troops In Iraq In Exchange For Nuclear Deal

Bahrain bans Iranian ships from its waters

Hamas sentences accused "Israel collaborator" to death by firing squad

"Will they not return to Egypt
and will not Assyria rule over them
because they refuse to repent?
~ Hosea 11:5

Antisemitism rises in Ukraine

France's envoy to Israel plans Iran trip

EU presidency condemns Israel's planned settlement construction

"The European Union urgently calls on Israel to reconsider the settlement's planned construction, which would be in violation of international law; run counter to the Roadmap; and is against commitments made by Israel to the Palestinians and the international community" in 2007 in Annapolis, the United States, said a statement issued by the EU's Czech presidency.

The last statesman in Marxist Europe
Oh yea? See above. So...... is he is, or is he ain't?

...and if that nation I warned repents of its evil,
then I will relent
and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
~ Jeremiah 18:8

Obama eyes Indonesia as key US ally
Naturally, Barry Sotero!

US, China to Broaden Dialogue on Economy, Security

Clinton: China Must Continue to Invest in US Bonds

Fannie Mae Rescue Hindered as Asians Seek Guarantee

China, taking advantage of global recession, goes on a buying spree

China, Venezuela bolster 'strategic fund' for development

Russia's attitude and response to the sinking of a Chinese cargo ship in Russian waters is unacceptable, Beijing's foreign ministry says. ...

I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness, saying,
"What have I done?"
Each pursues his own course,
like a horse charging into battle.
~ Jeremiah 8:6

Venezuela's Chavez signs amendment to end limits

Bolivian president gives ultimatum to France's Total

Bolivian President Evo Morales, armed with new backing from Russia's OAO Gazprom, has given France's Total SA an ultimatum to fulfill its investment obligations in his nation's natural gas industry or face punitive action by the state.

Turkey excluded from Nabucco intergovernmental agreement

GAZPROM IN ASIA | GAZPROMNATION

Poker-Faced, Russia Flaunts Its Afghan Card

US offer to Russia on missiles

Gates told a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Krakow, Poland, that the US would review the project "in the context of our relationship with both Poland and the Czech Republic, our relationship with the Nato alliance ... and also in the context of our relationship with the Russians".

"The fact is, with the economic crisis, Afghanistan and Iraq, the administration has not yet reviewed where it is on a whole range of issues, including relationships with allies, the missile defence programme, the relationship with the Russians," Gates told reporters.

He added: "These things are all, in many respects, tied together."

Indeed they are.

Shell To Continue Partnership With Gazprom

Russia amends decree to facilitate nuclear exports

Russia guarantees $415 million in defence sector loans

Gas crisis looms again in Ukraine


Georgia Offers Sideburns and a Disco Beat as Payback for a War
...it is a cruel and unusual punishment!

O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces like flint
and refused to repent.
~ Jeremiah 5:3

Germany: EU backs "blanket financial regulation"

Swiss Weigh Bank Secrecy Options Amid UBS Deal

The Honor Of God: Economic Fascism

We are now seeing what hard-core liberals always predicted would happen: the economic convergence of the two systems, USA and USSR. The system of economic convergence is fascism. That was what the liberals always wanted, but called it something else: “economic democracy” or “the government-business alliance.”

Stimulus Spin War Escalates

Roubini to Obama: "Make haste slowly" on bank nationalization

US DOLLAR: IMPACT OF BANK NATIONALIZATION

This is he who was spoken of
through the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one calling in the desert,
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
~ John the B. in Matthew 3, quoting Isaiah 40:3

Sky Show Tuesday: Green "Two Tailed" Comet Coming

UK: Parents told: avoid morality in sex lessons

Communist Goals, 1963:

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

CHECK!

Atheists preach with evangelical fervour

Slick Willie Jonesin' For Hopium

Biden swears in Panetta at CIA

Villagers Beat Official Over Quake Relief

Farmers in earthquake-devastated southwest China beat a village chief and clashed with police this week after they claimed they were cheated out of quake relief
subsidies, state media said.

5.2 in China

5.3 in Indonesia

Poll: Obama More Popular Than Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Put together?

This is what the Sovereign LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it."
~ Isaiah 30:15

Procol Harum
Repent, Walpurgis ~ Album Cut