Joh 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me,
the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem,
worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 You
worship what you do not know; we
know what we worship, for salvation is of the [spiritual] Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the
true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is
seeking such to worship Him.
1Co 10:19 What am I saying then? That an idol is
anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?
1Co 10:20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles
sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to
have fellowship with demons.
1Co 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the
cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of
demons.
Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just
as you were called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
Eph 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.
Mat 7:13
"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because
narrow is the gate
Mat 7:14
and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few
who find it.
Mat 7:15
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Mal 4:4
"Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in
Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments.
Mal 4:5
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the LORD.
Mal 4:6
And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the
hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with
a curse.
Mat 24:14 And this
gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the
nations, and then the end will come.
Mat 24:21
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the
beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22
And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for
the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
Ecc 1:15 What
is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.
2Pe 2:22
But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "a dog
returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her
wallowing in the mire."
Joh 17:1
Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:
"Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may
glorify You,
Joh 17:2
as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
Joh 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may
know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Joh 6:44
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
Act 4:12
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Rev 5:1 And I saw
in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside
and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
Rev 5:2
Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is
worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?"
Rev 5:3
And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open
the scroll, or to look at it.
Rev 5:4 So
I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to
look at it.
Rev 5:5
But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to
loose its seven seals."
Rev 5:6
And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four
living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of
God sent out into all the earth.
Rev 5:7
Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on
the throne.
Rev 5:8
Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden
bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Rev 5:9
And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the
scroll, And to open its seals; For You
were slain, And have redeemed us to
God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
Rev 5:10
And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the
earth."
Rev 5:11
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne,
the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
Rev 5:12
saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To
receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and
blessing!"
Rev 5:13
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the
earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
"Blessing and honor and glory and
power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and
ever!"
Rev 5:14
Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the
twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
Heb 6:4
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and
have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
Heb 6:5
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Heb 6:6 if
they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for
themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Jer 30:1
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 30:2 "Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel,
saying: 'Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.
Jer 30:3 For behold, the days are coming,' says the
LORD, 'that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,' says
the LORD. 'And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their
fathers, and they shall possess it.' "
Jer 30:4 Now these are the words that the Lord
spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
Jer 30:5 "For thus says the LORD: 'We have heard
a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace.
Jer 30:6 Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in
labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins
Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale?
Jer 30:7
Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And
it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.
Jer 30:8 'For it shall come to pass in that day,' Says
the LORD of hosts, 'That I will break his yoke from your neck, And will
burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them.
Jer 30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, And
David their king, Whom I will raise up for them.
Jer 30:10 'Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,'
says the LORD, 'Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from
afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have
rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid.
Jer 30:11 For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to
save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.'
Jer 30:12 "For thus says the LORD: 'Your
affliction is incurable, Your wound is severe.
Jer 30:13 There is no one to plead your cause,
That you may be bound up; You have no healing medicines.
Jer 30:14 All your lovers have forgotten you; They do
not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the
chastisement of a cruel one, For the multitude of your iniquities, Because
your sins have increased.
Jer 30:15 Why do you cry about your affliction? Your
sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, Because
your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.
Jer 30:16 'Therefore all those who devour you shall be
devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
Those who plunder you shall become plunder, And all who prey upon you I will
make a prey.
Jer 30:17 For I will restore health to you And heal you
of your wounds,' says the LORD, 'Because they called you an outcast saying:
"This is Zion; No one seeks her." '
Jer 30:18 "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will
bring back the captivity of Jacob's tents, And have mercy on his dwelling
places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, And the palace shall remain
according to its own plan.
Jer 30:19 Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving
And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not
diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
Jer 30:20 Their children also shall be as before, And
their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all who
oppress them.
Jer 30:21 Their nobles shall be from among them, And
their governor shall come from their midst; Then I will cause him to draw near,
And he shall approach Me; For who is this who pledged his heart to approach
Me?' says the LORD.
Jer 30:22 'You shall be My people, And I will be your
God.' "
Jer 30:23 Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD— Goes forth
with fury, A continuing whirlwind; It will fall violently on the head of the
wicked.
Jer 30:24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not return
until He has done it, And until He has performed the intents of His heart. In
the latter days you will consider it.
Mat 15:1
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus,
saying,
Mat 15:2 "Why
do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash
their hands when they eat bread."
Mat 15:3
He answered and said to them, "Why
do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
Mat 15:4 For God commanded, saying, 'Honor Your Father
And Your Mother'; And, 'He Who Curses Father Or Mother, Let Him Be Put To Death.'
Mat 15:5
But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever
profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"—
Mat 15:6
then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
Mat 15:7
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
Mat 15:8 'These
People Draw Near To Me With Their Mouth, And Honor Me With Their Lips, But
Their Heart Is Far From Me.
Mat 15:9 And
In Vain They Worship Me, Teaching As Doctrines The Commandments Of Men.' "
Mat 15:10
When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them,
"Hear and understand:
Mat 15:11
Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the
mouth, this defiles a man."
Mat 15:12
Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the
Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
Mat 15:13
But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has
not planted will be uprooted.
Mat 15:14
Let them alone. They are blind
leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a
ditch."
Jas 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed. The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Pro 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the
righteous.
Isa 1:15
When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even
though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Pro 3:32
For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD, But His
secret counsel is with the upright.
Pro 15:8
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But
the prayer of the upright is His delight.
Pro 15:9
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But He loves
him who follows righteousness.
Psa 34:15
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are
open to their cry.
Psa 34:16
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, To cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth.
Psa 34:17 The
righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their
troubles.
Psa 34:18
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such
as have a contrite spirit.
Psa 34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers
him out of them all.
Psa 34:20
He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
Psa 34:21
Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be
condemned.
Psa 34:22
The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust
in Him shall be condemned.
Pro 3:33
The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He
blesses the home of the just.
Pro 3:34
Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.
Pro 3:35
The wise shall inherit glory, But shame shall be the legacy of fools.
Righteousness, righteousness, righteousness! No one will ever come near God who has not
repented of his evil deeds and turned to righteousness.
Mat 21:42
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The
stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Mat 21:43 This
was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes' ? "Therefore I say
to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing
the fruits of it.
Mat 21:44
And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it
falls, it will grind him to powder."
Mat 21:45
Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they
perceived that He was speaking of them. But
when they sought to lay hands on Him,
Mat 21:46
they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.
Joh 16:1
"These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to
stumble.
Joh 16:2
They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that
whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.
Joh 16:3
And these things they will do to you because they have not known the
Father nor Me.
Joh 16:4
But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may
remember that I told you of them. "And these things I did not say to you
at the beginning, because I was with you.
Joh 16:20
Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the
world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned
into joy.
Rev 17:1
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked
with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great
harlot who sits on many waters,
Rev 17:2
with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her
fornication."
Rev 17:3
So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of
abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
Rev 17:5
And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 I
saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
Rev 17:7
But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the
mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven
heads and the ten horns.
Rev 17:8
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the
bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will
marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of
the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Gen 18:20
And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah
is great,
Gen 18:21 and
because their sin is very grave, I will
go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry
against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."
Gen 18:22
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham
still stood before the LORD. And Abraham
came near and said,
Gen 18:23
"Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Gen 18:24
Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also
destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in
it?
Gen 18:25
Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous
with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from
You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Gen 18:26
So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the
city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."
Gen 18:27
Then Abraham answered and said, "Indeed now, I who am but
dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord:
Gen 18:28
Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy
all of the city for lack of five?" So He said, "If I find
there forty-five, I will not destroy it."
Gen 18:29
And he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose there should be
forty found there?" So He said, "I will not do it for the sake
of forty."
Gen 18:30
Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose
thirty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not do it
if I find thirty there."
Gen 18:31 And he said, "Indeed now, I have taken it
upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?"
So He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty."
Gen 18:32
Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once
more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said, "I will not
destroy it for the sake of ten."
Gen 18:33
So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with
Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
Mat 13:19
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it,
then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
This is he who received seed by the wayside.
Mat 13:20
But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the
word and immediately receives it with joy;
Mat 13:21
yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when
tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Mat 13:22
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and
the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he
becomes unfruitful.
Mat 13:23
But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and
understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty."
“Floods, fires hold states
under siege”
“Floods in Brisbane, storms
in Sydney, fires in Victoria and WA”
“QUEENSLAND could face another cyclone in 30 to 60
days as part of the monsoon cycle.
ABOUT 1500 Bundaberg residents will awaken in
evacuation centres.
QLD Premier Campbell Newman says army is on stand by
and Bundaberg should prepare for worse flooding than 2010-2011
As the impact of the massive storm spreads from
Queensland, more than 1500 people have been told to evacuate their homes in
Lismore, Ulmarra, Cowper and Brushgrove in northern NSW, with warnings of
flooding as rivers peak throughout today.
The NSW State Emergency Service says the focus will be on the south of the state today, with a severe weather warning issued for Sydney, the Hunter and Central Coast, Illawarra and the south coast.
In Queensland, four people have been killed by the floods, including a three-year-old boy who was hit by a falling tree in Brisbane's north on Monday, while thousands around the state have been forced to evacuate their homes. The others were a motorcyclist whose body was pulled from a creek south of Brisbane, an 81-year-old man whose body was found near Bundaberg, and a 27-year-old man who tried to cross a flooded creek near Gympie. [Two more bodies were found a day later – a 25 year and a 35 year old who were swept in a swollen river].
Police confirm a person is missing in waters of flooded Kedron Brook in Brisbane's north.
More than 2000 homes are underwater in the worst-affected city, Bundaberg, where the Burnett River is expected to hit its peak tonight. About 167,000 homes are currently still without power in the southeast of the state after 50,000 properties were reconnected overnight. Four hundred Energex crews will work through Tuesday to restore more homes and are hopeful improved weather conditions will assist their efforts. The Brisbane River was expected to peak at 2.5 metres.
In Bundaberg, authorities are preparing to evacuate scores of hospital patients, where 2000 properties have flooded. Ten high-care patients have already been moved, with about 190 others to follow today, Queensland disaster managers say. The defence force and the Royal Flying Doctor Service will be involved in the operation, with patients to be sent to Brisbane hospitals.
The Burnett River is raging amid a record flood, and is expected to climb to 10 metres over the next few days. That's about two metres higher than the 2010/11 flood.
The widespread disaster, triggered by heavy rainfall and wind from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, comes two years after floods devastated much of the same areas of Queensland, resulting in 35 deaths.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has attempted to reassure residents of the affected areas that the overall flooding won't be as severe as in 2011, but concedes that local flooding is worse in some parts of the state. But with the disaster affecting most of central and southeast Queensland, he said the government had to be careful where it placed emergency resources.
"Once again, sadly Queensland is facing a major disaster crisis," the premier said.
"(But) this state and its people will rise to the challenge. Together we will get through this."
Opposition leader Tony Abbott was impressed with efforts made in the Queensland floods.
SOUTHERN NSW is being told to prepare for driving rain and 100km winds as ex-tropical cyclone Oswald sparks evacuations in the state's north and continues to isolate more than 2000 others and devastate Queensland.
The flood crisis has extended into northern NSW as the state feels effects of ex-cyclone Oswald.
There has already been flooding in some low-lying suburbs in Sydney and that's expected to worsen as the morning rolls on. The Manly ferries had a hard time seeing the swells in the Sydney Harbour.
Meanwhile in Grafton in northern NSW, parts of the town was issued an evacuation warning overnight with the Clarence River expected to cause major flooding when it peaks near eight metres at around 9am today. Massive ocean waves crash over the rock wall at Coffs Harbour marina.
''The Clarence River flood peak at Lilydale was 20.94 metres at midnight. This is close to the 1954 flood peak of 21 metres,'' the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said.
The Pacific Highway in NSW is now closed between Grafton and Ballina due to flooding, the Transport Management Centre said in a statement today.
Motorists are being advised to delay all non-essential travel between Queensland and New South Wales, with the Bruxner Highway expected to close later in the day.
Julia Gillard tours fire ravaged Gippsland, in Victoria
Prime Minister Julia Gillard warns that fire threats
are still a real possibility and for people to take care in flood waters across
Queensland.
A watch-and-act warning remains in place for a 1600-hectare fire burning on the southern side of Violet Town, about 170 kilometres north of Melbourne.
A state control centre spokesman said milder weather had reduced the fire and allowed firefighters to work on creating containment lines, with no immediate threat to towns.
"The fire condition has reduced due to moderate conditions," the spokesman said.
Shepparton Incident Control Centre public information officer Alex Caughey said six aircraft, 255 firefighters and 60 vehicles were working on the blaze in difficult terrain.
Firefighters were also working on two controlled fires at Harrietville near Mount Feathertop in the northeast, and another fire in Gippsland, to the southeast, that has already destroyed homes while burning through almost 70,000 hectares.
"We're trying to rest crews where we can with these milder conditions but still work on those containment lines to consolidate them," the state control centre spokesman said.
Ms Gillard and Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu on Monday visited the towns of Seaton and Heyfield, where the Gippsland bushfire destroyed more than 20 homes and claimed the life of an 84-year-old man earlier this month.
Ms Gillard urged communities to be prepared and vigilant.
"I've also been here, too, to say to this community that we are thinking of them," Ms Gillard told reporters. "We are yet to face what could be the worst of the bushfire season. Often in Victoria the weather in February is at its hottest and most dangerous," she said.
Ms Gillard said the fire was not out but only contained.
"I'd be asking people here in Victoria and around the nation to recognise that the bushfire risk is not over and people do need to be prepared and need to be very careful."
Premier Ted Baillieu thanked the volunteers and firefighters for their hard work.
"This fire has a long way to go. We have some dangerous weeks in front of us, and we will maintain all the effort we possibly can," he said.
IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, a bushfire threatening homes had been contained last night, but firefighters warned it was not yet under control.
It had burned out 40 hectares in the southern part of Ambergate, in the city of Busselton, with authorities saying the cause of the blaze was suspicious.
DFES says the fire was contained but there was the potential for it to jump containment lines and affect nearby properties. It was moving slowly in a northwesterly direction towards the intersection of Ambergate Road and Edwards Road.
In a separate blaze, homes and plantations are being threatened by a bushfire burning about 900 kilometres north of Perth.
A watch and act alert has been issued for people in Miaboolya Road, Bibbawarra Road, North River Road and surrounding areas in the northeastern part of Carnarvon, on the state's north coast.
DFES said the fire, which started on Monday morning, could affect plantations along North River Road. Residents were advised to put their bushfire survival plan into action.” (Nathan Paull, Miranda Forster, AAP/Herald Sun, January 29, 2013)
It all started with unprecedented fires in Tasmania
earlier in the month. You may have seen
them, for they had been on television screens all over the world.
After Tasmania, fires flared in all states in temperatures
that reached C46 degrees in Sydney and even higher in other parts of the
country. They burned out of control for
weeks from the Northern Territory to South Australia, and from NSW to Western
Australia. The whole continent was alight in a scene that must have been
visible from out of space. Then the
Queensland fires were replaced by catastrophic floods.
It would be remiss of us if we did not point out some
of the reasons for heaven’s wrath. For God
not only knows of what is happening down here on earth, but sanctions these
things too.
Amo 3:6 If
a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not
the LORD have done it?
Amo 3:7
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His
servants the prophets.
Where are the prophets to whom the
LORD has revealed His secrets? When the
LORD reveals His secrets, He does not expect them to keep them in their bosoms,
but to cry aloud the sins of their people so that they may be spared painful
consequences.
Isa 58:1 "Cry
aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their
transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.
Isa 58:2
Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that
did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of
Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.
Isa 58:3
'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen? Why
have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?' "In fact, in the day
of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.
Isa 58:4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to
strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this
day, To make your voice heard on high.
Isa 58:5
Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is
it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and
ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6
"Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds
of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And
that you break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is
it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your
house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isa 58:8
Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall
spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of
the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Isa 58:9
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He
will say, 'Here I am.' "If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
Isa 58:10 If
you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your
light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the
noonday.
Isa 58:11
The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a
spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Isa 58:12
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise
up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of
the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Isa 58:13 "If you turn away your foot from the
Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a
delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not
doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own
words,
Isa 58:14 Then you shall delight yourself in the
LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you
with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken."
For years we have drawn attention to
our leaders that they were going in the wrong direction, and while the Prime
Minister took note and stood firm on the one issue that has preoccupied the
media and the political class recently, refusing to change the definition of
marriage, her fellow Labor premiers in Queensland and Tasmania succumbed to the
pressure and passed legislation approving “homosexual marriages”.
We have nothing more to say; the
facts speak for themselves, except to point out that people pay for the sins of
their leaders as much as for their own sins and the sins of other people.
How Christmas
sneaked into becoming a Holy Day
Every year, the western world celebrates Christmas with
great pomp and expenditure, a Holy Day which has now entered the consciousness
of the entire world.
Much has been said and written about Christmas, and we’ve
had a good share of it, but the fact that it has nothing to do with Jesus
Christ does not seem to bother its traditional supporters.
The Bible deliberately obscures the day and date of Jesus’
birth, indicating that it has no importance to the Gospel of salvation. Jesus Christ Himself never mentioned or
celebrated it, His apostles never celebrated it, and the early Churches of God
never celebrated it either.
What Jesus Christ emphasized instead, and what His Apostles
commemorated, was not the day of His birth, but the day of His death. This is how Jesus Christ said they should
observe it.
Mat 26:26
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it,
and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My
body." Then He took the cup,
Mat 26:27
and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from
it, all of you.
Mat 26:28
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins.
Mat 26:29
But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on
until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
Mat 26:30
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
And here is how the Apostles and the early
Churches of God commemorated it.
1Co 11:1 Imitate
me, just as I also imitate Christ.
1Co 11:17
Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you
come together not for the better but for the worse.
1Co 11:18
For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there
are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you,
1Co 11:19
that those who are approved may be recognized among you.
1Co 11:20
Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the
Lord's Supper.
1Co 11:21
For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and
one is hungry and another is drunk.
1Co 11:22
What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the
church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this?
1Co 11:23
I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I
also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He
was betrayed took bread;
1Co 11:24
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take,
eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of
Me."
1Co 11:25
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper,
saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as
you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often
1Co 11:26
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death
till He comes.
1Co 11:27
Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink
of the cup.
1Co 11:29
For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks
judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Co 11:30
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31
For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
1Co 11:32
But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be
condemned with the world.
1Co 11:33
Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one
another.
1Co 11:34
But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for
judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
They observed the Passover at the time
and manner in which Jesus Christ commanded them.
The Passover was one of seven Holy Days
that God gave to Moses. The others are:
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Day of Atonement, Feast of Trumpets,
Feast of Tabernacles; and of course, the weekly Sabbath. Jesus Christ did not change these Holy
Days. The Apostles and the early
Churches of God simply continued the tradition of the Old Testament, but
without animal sacrifices.
All of God’s Holy Days are important, and
they all have their special meaning, but the Passover stands out above them
all. For the Israel of old, it was the
day of their freedom from Egyptian slavery.
It was right for them to call it a celebration. The Passover of the New Testament, however,
has a different meaning: it signifies our freedom from sin, and Jesus Christ
wanted us to remember how we obtained it.
We commemorate this event, not celebrate it, an event of solemn occasion
in which we emotionally relive the trauma of crucifixion that Jesus Christ endured
for us. This is why we observe the Passover
somewhat differently than the Jews.
Jesus’ crucifixion occurred in the year 33
AD. The Synoptic Gospels are eye
witnesses’ accounts of that event. The
Gospel of Luke, however, was written about two and a half decades later. Now
let us compare Mathew’s account, which we quoted above, with that of Luke.
Luk 22:14
When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.
Luk 22:15
Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
Luk 22:16
for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in
the kingdom of God."
Luk 22:17
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and
divide it among yourselves; for I say to you,
Luk 22:18
I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God
comes."
Luk 22:19
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it
to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in
remembrance of Me."
Luk 22:20
Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This
cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
Luk 22:21
But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.
Luk 22:22
And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that
man by whom He is betrayed!"
Now although these accounts were written
decades apart, and the authors probably never met each other, you can see how
similar they are. Why is this important?
Because it shows that the Passover was part of the vernacular and tradition of
the early Churches of God.
Why is this not part of the vernacular
and tradition of today’s Christendom?
The book of Revelation, which speaks of
seven Churches of God and their trials and tribulations, was given to Apostle
John, the youngest of the Apostles, in about the year 90 AD. He was an old man by then, and none of the
other Apostles were around anymore.
Now why did Jesus Christ withhold the
Revelation from His other Apostles?
Because if they had seen what would happen to the Churches which they
had established they would have been mortified.
Remarkably, neither the Church in
Jerusalem nor the one in Rome are mentioned among the seven Churches of God. Instead, seven little towns or localities are
mentioned: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and
Laodicea, which you would have a hard time locating on today’s maps.
It would be good if we could give you the
details and descriptions of all Churches, but you can read them in the Bible
for yourselves, as space is always at a premium with us. We will give you just two of them, The
Churches in Ephesus and Pergamos. There is a good reason for that; pay careful
attention to their details.
Rev 2:1 "To
the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the
seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden
lampstands:
Rev 2:2
"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot
bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles
and are not, and have found them liars;
Rev 2:3
and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My
name's sake and have
Rev 2:4
not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you
have left your first love.
Rev 2:5
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first
works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its
place—unless you repent.
Rev 2:6
But this you have, that you hate
the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the Paradise of God." '
Rev 2:12
"And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, 'These things
says He who has the sharp
Rev 2:13
two-edged sword: "I know your works, and where you dwell, where
Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My
faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was
killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Rev 2:14
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who
hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before
the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual
immorality. Thus,
Rev 2:15 you
also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16
Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them
with the sword of
Rev 2:17
My mouth. "He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I
will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone,
and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."
'
The two Churches have something in common
– the presence of the Nicolaitans in their midst.
And who were the Nicolaitans? You will not find them anywhere else in the
Bible, or indeed in the history book of that time. And yet, they were widespread in the Middle
East and in the Roman world. They were
not called Nicolaitans, but practitioners of the mysteries of Mithras and Sol
Invictus. Here is a quote from the
Wikipedia.
“All Roman religions, including the
Mithraic Mysteries, were non-exclusive. That is, none belonged exclusively to a
one cult alone. Rather, the Roman attitude to religion was intensely pragmatic;
in the belief that what was good for others could also be good for oneself,
almost everyone belonged to multiple cults. This was also the case for the
Mithraic Mysteries, and Mithraic temples are replete with references and
dedications to other Roman gods. The Mithraic mysteries was in essence an
astrological cult, and accordingly the most common are the other Roman gods
that appear in Mithraic iconography are those associated with astronomical
bodies: the Sun (Sol/Helios) and the Moon (Luna/Selene) which appear on
numerous Mithraic altar pieces. Not as commonly, but still frequent, are the
appearances of Mercury, Venus, Mars, various Jupiters, Uranus, and Saturn.
Non-astrological Roman figures that often appear in Mithraic contexts are
Oceanus, Tellus, and Juno. Besides Mithras, two other names originally from Zoroastrianism
also appear: Arimanius (via Middle Iranian Ahriman from Avestan Angra Mainyu)
appears four times, and Oromasdes (via Middle Iranian Ormazd from Avestan Ahura
Mazda) appears once. As is also the case for Mithras, there is not enough
evidence from which to infer the characteristics of the figures behind the
adopted names (that Arimanius is a deus in the Mithraic inscriptions
should not be construed to imply that Arimanius was a god in the modern sense.
In Roman religion every supernatural entity – both good and evil – is a deus).
(. . .)
“One of the reasons why the Mithraic
mysteries is mistakenly assumed to have been important is the early/mid-19th
century confusion of Mithras with Sol Invictus, who is a different Roman god. Although Mithras does carry the epithet
"Sol Invictus" (meaning "invincible sun") in many 3rd and
4th century inscriptions, the god Sol Invictus is a figure in his own
right, a figure of classical Roman religion, with whom many other gods
(including Mithras) were associated. There is no reason whatsoever to
identify Sol Invictus as Mithras; in Mithraic art they are two distinct
figures. Also contributing to the error is a mid-19th century remark by Ernest
Renan, in which the French philosopher supposed that the world would have been
Mithraic if Christianity had not prevailed. This gross exaggeration excited the
public fancy, which henceforth began to attribute all sorts of
"borrowings" in Christianity to the Mithraic Mysteries. Among the
most commonplace is the notion that Christmas was originally a Mithraic
festival of Mithras. But there is no evidence whatsoever for any kind of
festival of Mithras, leave alone a public one that supposedly occurred at the
end of December. The origin of the idea that Mithras might have something to do
with the Winter Solstice (21 December in the modern Gregorian calendar, 25
December in the Roman calendar) likewise derives from the confusion with Sol
Invictus; it is Sol Invictus, not
Mithras, whose public festival was celebrated on 25 December.” (Wikipedia - Mithras Mythoogy)
This would also explain why the Romans imposed
Sunday as a day of worship instead of the Sabbath.
Now whether it was Mithras or Sol Invictus
(the invincible Sun) that were celebrated on December 25, the fact remains that
this was not a Christian Holy Day. History is not clear when December 25 became
associated with St Nicholas and Christmas, but since Jesus Christ mentioned the
Nicolaitans so early in the History of His Churches tells us that it became a
problem as early as the end of the first century AD, almost immediately after
the demise of the original Apostles.
What we know for sure is that by the beginning of the fourth century AD,
the Roman pagan celebrations had been transferred wholesale onto the
Christianity which was imposed upon the Roman Empire.
Here are some excerpts from an article titled, “Passover versus Easter, Sabbath versus Sunday” that we published in The Christian Herald No 16.
“It is at the
Council of Nicaea in 325 that these questions were decided in favour of Easter
and Sunday. This is how the Orthodox
Church justifies that decision. It is a lengthy quote, but an important one,
for it shows how similar the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are on this
matter. It also shows us how faulty
their reasoning is.
“The First
Ecumenical Synod and the Feast of Pascha “...not with the Jews” by
Archimandrite Sergius”
“THE VERY REVEREND SERGIUS, former Assistant Professor at the Theological Acadaemy in Sofia, Bulgaria, is the spiritual Father of the Russian Convent of the Holy Protection in Sofia, which is under the Omophorion of Bishop Photii of Triaditza, the sole Hierarch of the True (Old Calendar) Orthodox Church of Bulgaria and himself a former Assistant Professor at the University of Sofia. Father Sergius was dismissed from his academic post when he refused to accept the revised New, or Papal, Calendar, on the occasion of its introduction into the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He is rightly considered a confessor of the Faith by traditionalist Bulgarian believers.
“OF LATE, a number of Orthodox theologians and clergymen have contended that the proscription against celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord, Pascha (known in the Western world by the pagan term “Easter”), “with the Jews” is unknown and not, indeed, as the Orthodox Church has always taught, an actual decree of the First Ecumenical Synod convened in Nicaea in 325 A.D. This innovative claim is based on the argument that the Acts of this council have not been preserved and that the twenty extant Canons of the Synod do not mention the celebration of Pascha. In fact, however, in both the epistle of St. Constantine the Great to those Bishops who were unable to attend the Synod, as well as the letter sent by the Synod to the Church of Alexandria, there are relevant—albeit, indirect—data to be found in the specific agreements between the Synod and the Christians of the Eastern domains with regard to the common celebration of Pascha by all Christians.
“Unfortunately,
theologians of an ecumenical bent have precipitated from the evidence offered
by these sources a simple affirmation that all Christians must celebrate Pascha
at the same time, ignoring the question of a specific day. Likewise, they
intentionally distort the explicit prohibition of the first Canon of the Synod
held in Antioch in 341—that is, that the
Christian Pascha must not be celebrated at the same time as the Jewish Passover. * * *
“Volume XIV,
“The late date of Pascha in 387 prompted
St. John Chrysostomos, while he was still a Presbyter in Antioch, to deliver
three sermons “Against the Jews” in the autumn of 386. Out of ignorance, many
Christians in that city celebrated Pascha simultaneously with the Jewish
Passover. On this account, they began Great Lent earlier than the correctly
appointed time. In order to correct them, St. John Chrysostomos invokes the
decree issued by the Synod in Nicaea in this regard: “More than three hundred
Fathers, assembled in the land of Bythinia (at Nicaea), decreed this [that is,
that Pascha must not be celebrated simultaneously with the Jewish Passover—author’s
note], and you dishonor them in this way. You convict them either of
ignorance, as if they were unaware of what they were appointing, or of
cowardice, as if they knew the truth, but only by pretense, and betrayed it.
This is the implication, if you do not respect their decree. Great wisdom and
manliness are evidenced in all of the Acts of the Synod.... Beware,
then, of what you do, for you are bringing accusation against a great many wise
and manly Fathers. If Christ is found among the two or three [St.
“How forceful, indeed, are the words that St. John Chrysostomos uses to chastise the Christian “Judaizers,” and this not only for celebrating Pascha simultaneously with the Jewish Passover, but for “fasting with the Jews”—an infraction, incidentally, also explicitly forbidden by the seventieth Apostolic canon: “Whosoever fasts with the Jews or celebrates with them...should be excommunicated!” (Third Sermon Against the Jews, Migne, Patrologia Grae-ca, Vol. XLVIII, col. 865).
This text is in the original. Only the underlining is ours. We have to specify this because there are many inserts which are said to be by the author – the author of the article who used ancient sources to prove his point, not us.
Now, neither this author, nor those of
the ancient texts have realized that in taking issue with the Jews they had
taken issue with the Bible – the very Word of God. It was not the Jews’ Bible, but God’s
Bible. The Jews were merely His
messengers. The fact that they have
proved unworthy of their mission does not change this fact. Apostle Paul, who in other respects was very
critical of the Jews, acknowledged them as the official carriers of God’s
“oracles” (Rom.3:2).
Now did you
notice how often those so-called ‘Church Fathers’ referred to the Bible when
they discussed the important topic of Pascha [the Passover]? None!
Their critics however, referred to it twice. Yet the Passover is the most important Holy
Day in both the Jewish
Now who do present day spiritual leaders of Christianity obey, Jesus Christ and His Apostles, or the ‘Church Fathers’ who committed the ultimate betrayal of turning their backs on the Bible?
They imposed pagan beliefs and pagan Holy Days upon ‘Christianity’ which had nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and forbade the observance of the true Holy Days which Christians had been observing until the Romans forbade it.
The Passover is by far the most important Christian Holy Day, the one which Jesus Christ gave specific instructions on how to be observed, yet most Christians have never even heard of it, let alone observe it correctly and at the right time.
There is Scriptural evidence that all of God’s Holy Days – all the ‘oracles’ that God gave to Moses – are essential Holy Days for Christians. (See The Christian Heralds Nos 4, 11 and 16 for a detailed analysis of this topic). Let us now summarize what happened at the Council of Nicaea.
1) Christians were forbidden from Judaizing – keeping God’s Holy Days with the Jews: the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Day of Atonement, Feast of Trumpets, Feast of Tabernacles and the Sabbaths. Instead, they were made to observe the Day of the Sun, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, various saint days, birthdays, national days, etc, which are not mentioned in the Bible, and which have nothing to do with Jesus Christ.
Christ was not born at Christmas, and was not resurrected at Easter. Easter comes from Ishtar, a pagan goddess. The Romans, and the Middle Eastern peoples, had been observing her day for millennia before Christianity.
Even if Jesus Christ was born at Christmas and resurrected at Easter, these would not be true Holy Days for the simple reason that God has never changed His Holy Days and never will. He has not given human beings the prerogatives to choose for themselves what Holy Days they observe.
God’s Holy Days are set in stone and will be observed in the Millennium Kingdom and the Kingdom of God forever. Observing them is a matter of discipline and obedience to God and His Word. And remember, Jesus Christ was the Word of God at the moment of creation.
Joh 1:1 In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 He
was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that
was made.
Joh 1:4 In
Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it.
God’s Holy Days show Him who are His people and who are not, for the Sabbaths are the signs that distinguish the true believers from the rest of humanity. The enemies of God changed Sabbath observance with Sunday observance, thus separating the elect of God from their heavenly Father.
2) Mainstream Christianity calls the gathering of bishops in 325, ‘the Apostolic Council of Nicaea’. It was nothing of a kind. The Apostles of Jesus Christ were long since dead, and no other people could be appointed to similar positions. Those who acquired such titles afterwards did it on spurious grounds.
3) What happened at the Council of Nicaea was not that Christianity was imposed upon the Roman Empire, but that pagan doctrines and pagan holy days were imposed upon Christianity. The effect was that true Christianity was forced to go underground, from where it resurfaced more than twelve hundred years later, after the Protestant Reformation. Whenever true Christians tried to do so during the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church burned them, chopped their heads, and martyred them, forcing the rest to take refuge again underground. This is what the Bible says of the sacrifices the people of God had to make for their beliefs.
Heb 11:13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims
Heb 11:14
on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they
seek a homeland.
Heb 11:15
And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they
had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
Heb 11:16
But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city
for them.
Heb 11:35
Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured,
not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
Heb 11:36
Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains
and imprisonment.
Heb 11:37
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with
the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented— of whom the
Heb 11:38
world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in
dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39
And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not
receive the promise,
Heb 11:40
God having provided something better for us, that they should not be
made perfect apart from us.
These days true Christians have to contend with a triple whammy: trials at the hands of mainstream churches who stick to the old pagan holy days, trials at the hands of fundamentalist churches who observe Holy Days not as the early Christians did but as the Jews do these days, and trials at the hands of other religions who are hostile to them in many places around the world.
How much proof must one bring to show that Christmas and Easter are not true Christian Holy Days, and that observing them brings people not blessings but the wrath of God? Statistics show that at Christmas time there is a spike in all sorts of crimes around the world. What better message from God than that is not a Holy Day sanctioned by Him?
It so happens that a close scrutiny of the Scriptures gives us a fairly accurate time of Jesus’ birth, and that did not happen in December. Pay close attention to the following passage from the Gospel of Luke.
Luk
1:24 Now after those days his wife
Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying,
Luk
1:25 "Thus the Lord has dealt with
me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among
people."
Luk
1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of
Galilee named Nazareth,
Luk
1:27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
David. The virgin's name was Mary.
Luk
1:28 And having come in, the angel said
to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women!"
Luk
1:29 But when she saw him, she
was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.
Luk
1:30 Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Luk 1:31 And behold, you will conceive
in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.
Luk
1:32 He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
father David.
Luk
1:33 And He will reign over the house of
Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
Luk
1:34 Then Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
Luk
1:35 And the angel answered and said to
her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born
will be called the Son of God.
Luk 1:36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has
also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her
who was called barren.
Luk 1:37
For with God nothing will be impossible."
Luk 1:38
Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to
me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Luk 1:39
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste,
to a city of Judah,
Luk 1:40
and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
Luk 1:41
And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the
babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Luk 1:42
Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are
you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
Luk 1:43
But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord
should come to me?
Luk 1:44
For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears,
the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
Three verses, which we
highlighted, from Luke’s Gospel give us the time of the birth of both John the
Baptist and Jesus Christ. Here they are
again.
Luk
1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
Luk
1:27 to a virgin betrothed to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was
Mary.
Luk 1:36
Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old
age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
So in
the sixth month, Elisabeth was six months pregnant with the boy who would be
known as John the Baptist when Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The sixth month in the Jewish lunar calendar
is Elul, or August in the solar Roman calendar.
Now
if Jesus Christ was conceived in the month of August,
could He have been born in December? From
August to December are only four months.
Human pregnancy lasts nine months, and nine months from August brings us
to the spring month of May, in most likelihood to the days of Passover and the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. (Notes on the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were provided
by C. Fedbag of Perfect
Calendar Living).
So then if Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, what has it to do with? Let us hear Cardinal Pell on this matter.
“OVER the years
Christmas celebrations in Australia have changed less than in many other
countries. Catholic Mass
attendance has dropped spectacularly during my lifetime from about 50 per cent
each Sunday in the 1950s to 16-18 per cent in Sydney these days. This pattern
is not repeated at Christmas when congregations are often two or three times
their usual size as the "C and E" (Christmas and Easter) Catholics
regain their traditional practices. Many will attend Mass at Christmas, even
more than at Easter.
While the modern Santa Claus was rolled
out by Coca-Cola in the 1930s, he is loosely based on St Nicholas, a fourth- or
fifth-century bishop who paid a dowry of three bags of gold to save three women
from prostitution. For Australian Anglos, most Christmas celebrations are a
continuation of what was done in England, but the Christmas tree is a German
custom taken to Britain by Prince Albert in the late 19th century . . .
Has Christmas become more commercialised?
Living standards are higher, reflected in the presents. Such gifts remind us to
be generous and of God's goodness to us.” (Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of
Sydney, The Sunday Telegraph, December
23, 2012)
Not only does this high Catholic prelate, who may become
Pope one day, admit that Christmas has nothing to do with the birth Jesus
Christ, but like all the preachers of his ilk, bemoans the fact that this ‘Holy
Day’ has been commercialized.
And if this is a late invention, why do Catholics mount
repulsive idolatrous cribs in front of their Churches around the world in
December, supposedly depicting Virgin Mary and the newly born Babe?
As we’ve said before: there is nothing like the Catholic ‘truth’.
Sunday is not a Sabbath of God
In the book of Leviticus, God gave Moses the seven
Holy Days, or Feasts, which He expects His people to observe, “throughout their
generations”.
Lev 23:1
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2
"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of
the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are
My feasts.
Lev 23:3
'Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of
solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is
the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
So the first Holy Day is the weekly Sabbath. God put it at the head of His list of Holy
Days. The New Testament is full of
references to the Sabbath as a day of worship. Then God went on.
Lev 23:4
'These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you
shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Lev 23:5
On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is
the LORD's Passover.
Lev 23:6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of
Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7
On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no
customary work on it.
Lev 23:8
But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days.
The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary
work on it.' "
The Israelites were to make offerings
by fire during these Feasts, but in the New Testament we no longer need to do
that. Jesus Christ offered Himself for
the world and instituted new ‘offerings’ – prayer, fasting, meditation and
genuine worship of the true God.
Psa 40:6
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
Psa 40:7
Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is
written of me.
Heb 10:1
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they
offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
Heb 10:2
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers,
once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
Heb 10:3
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
Heb 10:4
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could
take away sins.
Heb 10:5
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and
offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.
Heb 10:6
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7
Then I said, 'Behold, I have come— in the volume of the book it is
written of Me— to do Your will, O God.' "
Heb 10:8
Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and
offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are
offered according to the law),
Heb 10:9
Then he said, "behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He
takes away the first that He may establish the second.
Heb 10:10
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the
same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Heb 10:12
But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down at the right hand of God,
Heb 10:13
from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
Heb 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being
sanctified.
Heb 10:15
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
Heb 10:16
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will
write them,"
heb 10:17
Then he adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember
no more."
Heb 10:18 Now where there is remission of these, there
is no longer an offering for sin.
Heb 10:19
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood
of Jesus,
Heb 10:20
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil,
that is, His flesh,
Heb 10:21 and having
a High Priest over the house of God,
Heb 10:22
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water.
Heb 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for
He who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:24
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
Heb 10:25
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the
manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you
see the Day approaching.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, [Talking of animal sacrifices
in the New Testament is a willful sin].
Heb 10:27
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation
which will devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28
Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:29
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy
who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Our celebrations and commemorations are
vastly different from those of the Jews, though we observe them at the same
time. Apostle Paul approved of them,
observed them, and sent his followers to the Jews to know the time of their
observance.
Rom 3:1
What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of
circumcision?
Rom 3:2
Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of
God.
Now back to Leviticus.
Lev 23:5
On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is
the LORD's Passover.
Lev 23:6
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of
Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7
On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no
customary work on it.
Lev 23:8
But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days.
The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary
work on it.' "
Here we have two distinct Holy Days,
each observed in its own way, but which are intrinsically linked – the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Lev 23:9
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:10
"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come
into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a
sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
Lev 23:11
He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf;
on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Lev 23:15
'And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from
the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall
be completed.
Lev 23:16
Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall
offer a new grain offering to the LORD.
Lev 23:21
And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy
convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a
statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
This is the Pentecost,
the Holy Day in which the disciples of Jesus Christ received the Holy
Spirit.
Act 2:1
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord
in one place.
Act 2:2
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one
sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5
And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation
under heaven.
Act 2:6 And
when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused,
because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
Act 2:7
Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another,
"Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
Act 2:8
And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we
were born?
Act 2:9
Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea
and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Act 2:10
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene,
visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
Act 2:11
Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful
works of God."
Act 2:12
So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
"Whatever could this mean?"
What did it mean? It meant that they
needed to speak the language of the people to which they would go to preach the
Gospel of salvation. We do not need to
speak multiple languages. We have
witnessed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world in English. The fact that we have had visitors to our web
site from 130 countries tells us that English is now a universal language and enough
for this purpose.
The disciples of Jesus Christ are the
first fruits to God, just as the first produce of the land were offered on the Temple
altar of the Old Testament.
Lev 23:23
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:24
"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on
the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
Lev 23:25
You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an
offering made by fire to the LORD.' "
This Holy Day is the Feast of Trumpets.
Lev 23:26
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Also the tenth day of
this seventh month
Lev 23:27 shall
be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall
afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.
Lev 23:28
And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of
Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Lev 23:29
For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day
shall be cut off from his people.
Lev 23:30
And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will
destroy from among his people.
Lev 23:31
You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:32
It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall
afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from
evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath."
Ten days after the Feast of Trumpets, is the Day
of Atonement – a day in which all people are required to fast for 24
hours. Five days later comes the last
Holy Day of the year: the Feast of
Tabernacles which lasts for eight days. It is a time of celebration and
gratitude to God for the harvest of the year.
Lev 23:33
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:34
"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'The fifteenth day of
this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven
days to the LORD.
Lev 23:35
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do
no customary work on it.
Lev 23:36
For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On
the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an
offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and
you shall do no customary work on it.
Lev 23:37 'These are the feasts of the LORD
which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an
offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a
sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—
Lev 23:38 besides the Sabbaths of the LORD,
besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill
offerings which you give to the LORD.
Lev 23:39 'Also on
the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of
the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the
first day there shall be a Sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a
Sabbath-rest.
These then are the seven Holy Days that God said
would remain “forever, throughout your generations”. (Lev. 23;21).
The Sabbaths, Passover, Feast of Unleavened
Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of
Tabernacles. Jesus Christ kept them, the Apostles kept them, and the early
Churches of God kept them.
When did Christianity switch from these Holy Days
to Sunday, Easter, Christmas, and whatever other holy days they are observing
these days? Today’s preachers will have
much to answer to Jesus Christ when He returns to this earth. He left no doubt how He will deal with them.
Mat 7:21
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Mat 7:22
Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
Mat 7:23
And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you
who practice lawlessness!'
And what is the will of the
Father? Here it is again so you won’t
forget it.
Lev 23:37
'These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to
be holy convocations . . .
Lev 23:38
besides the Sabbaths of the LORD . . .
Lev 23:31 .
. . [They] shall be a statute
forever throughout your generations.
No
“Alternative Explanations” to the Bible
A few years ago, as I was witnessing the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and delivering God’s prophetic messages to the world, I came across a
“Church of God” that gave itself the epithet “Born to Win”. I soon discovered that this was one of the
Churches that had sprung up from the collapse of the Worldwide Church of God
after the death of its founder - H W Armstrong.
Throughout the time that he led that Church, H W
Armstrong claimed that he had restored the “true Gospel of the Kingdom of God”,
a Gospel which, according to him, had disappeared from the world for no less
than nineteen hundred years. If he were right, it would mean that no Church of
God existed in the world from the time of the Apostles until he appeared on the
scene and established, or re-established, the “one and only true Church of God
in the world”.
No one seems to have taken him to task about that claim
or prove otherwise, which should not have been too hard considering that he
changed every major doctrine of the New Testament, and contradicted even Jesus
Christ who said that He would never leave nor forsake His Church.
Heb
13:5 Let your conduct be without
covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself
has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Heb
13:6 So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What
can man do to me?"
Heb
13:7 Remember those who rule over you,
who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the
outcome of their conduct.
Heb
13:8 Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
In the early chapters of Revelation, which the
glorified Christ gave to Apostle John, we find the story of seven Churches of
God. From the context of their settings,
descriptions, and problems they faced in the world, it is clear that they
transcend their geographical location and represent seven stages or eras in the
life of God’s Churches. Conveniently H W
Armstrong ignored six of these Churches and settled for one that looked the most
advantageous; the one that he thought would give him the best
opportunities. That was the Philadelphia
Church of God (Rev. 3:7-13), which he said was none other than his Worldwide
Church of God.
Some four and a half decades ago, not long after I
escaped from the Iron Curtain of the communist world, I was captivated by his
claims and became an enthusiastic member of his Church.
It was my fortune, or misfortune depending on which way
one looks at it, to have an inquisitive mind and a great desire for
knowledge. From my early years I loved
books, but none captivated me as much as the Bible. I took to it as ducks to
water as the proverb goes. Not surprisingly, the deeper I looked into it the
more discrepancies I found between what H W Armstrong was preaching and what
the Apostles of Jesus Christ believed and preached. The difference between his Church and the
Churches of God of the Apostles was as much as heaven is from earth. The result
was inevitable: I did not last long in that Church.
I won’t dwell on the circumstances under which I
parted company with the WCG, as I have written about it before, but what I will
say here is that true to form, like all fundamentalist Churches, when one
leaves their fold they inflict on him or her the worst possible pain and
inconvenience. They say that since they
are no longer part of God’s “elect”, and had gone after Satan, they deserve
everything they get. They do that also as
an example to others who might think of following suit. What happened to me at that time reminded me
of Job’s predicament:
Job
1:21 "Naked I came from my mother's
womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken
away; Blessed be the name of the LORD."
Gone was the injunction of the apostles that people
who err must be treated not as enemies but as brethren in need of correction
and be brought back into the fold as soon as possible.
2Co
2:6 This punishment which was
inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man,
2Co
2:7 so that, on the contrary, you ought
rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed
up with too much sorrow.
2Co
2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your
love to him.
Or the statement of Jesus Christ that one must be
given opportunity to answer for himself before the elders and before the
Church.
Mat
18:10 "Take heed that you do not
despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels
always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Mat
18:11 For the Son of Man has come to
save that which was lost.
Mat
18:12 "What do you think? If a man
has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the
ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?
Mat
18:13 And if he should find it,
assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the
ninety-nine that did not go astray.
Mat
18:14 Even so it is not the will of your
Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Mat
18:15 "Moreover if your brother
sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he
hears you, you have gained your brother.
Mat
18:16 But if he will not hear, take with
you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established.'
Mat
18:17 And if he refuses to hear them,
tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let
him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
If they had done that the congregation would have
heard of their false doctrines, so they isolated those who were disfellowshipped
as quickly as possible. But what did Jesus Christ say?
Mat 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11
"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all
kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Mat 5:12
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in
heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
And the apostles:
Rom 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
1Co 2:9
But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have
entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
At that time I could not see how being expelled from
the Church, robbed of everything, thrown out of my own flat, and left destitute
in the street in the cold of Canadian winter would work out for my good, but
their heartlessness and disregard for the Scriptures reinforced my belief that
far from being “the one and only true Church of God in the world”, that was
anything but a Church of God. That
realization saved me from becoming embittered, as was the case with a number of
people who contacted me shortly afterwards who had heard of my case. I was living in Toronto, Canada, in those
days, and was pleasantly surprised when someone from Vancouver, on the other
side of the country, contacted me and asked me to join them. He was part of a network of support of
disaffiliated members. However, when he
started ranting not against the hypocrites of the WCG but against the Bible,
telling me that it was a collection of uninspired books, I decided to have nothing
to do with him and his associates. It became evident to me that he deserved to
be put out of that Church, or any Church.
He could not see the difference between the hypocrites who preached the
Bible for gain, and the genuine servants of God who do an honest job. As Apostle Paul said:
Php 1:15
Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from
goodwill:
Php 1:16
The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing
to add affliction to my chains;
Php 1:17
but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense
of the gospel.
Php 1:18
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in
truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
At no time did I lose faith in God and in His Word,
not the least because I had done nothing that could remotely be considered a sin
in the eyes of God. Drawing attention to
doctrinal errors was not a sin, or even a minor mistake; if anything this is a
duty of all believing people.
Jas
5:19 Brethren, if anyone among you
wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
Jas
5:20 let him know that he who turns a
sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a
multitude of sins.
If you know of someone who had wandered from the truth
and you do not tell him about it, it becomes a sin for you. And that is true even of members of your own
family.
Eze 3:17
"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel;
therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me:
Eze 3:18
When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no
warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life,
that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will
require at your hand.
Eze 3:19
Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness,
nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered
your soul.
Eze 3:20
"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness
and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die;
because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his
righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will
require at your hand.
Eze 3:21
Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous
should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took
warning; also you will have delivered your soul."
Eze 18:1
The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,
Eze 18:2
"What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of
Israel, saying: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth
are set on edge'?
Eze 18:3
"As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you shall no
longer use this proverb in Israel.
Eze 18:4
"Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the
soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
Eze 18:5
But if a man is just And does what is lawful and right;
Eze 18:6
If he has not eaten on the mountains, Nor lifted up his eyes to the
idols of the house of Israel, Nor defiled his neighbor's wife, Nor approached a
woman during her impurity;
Eze 18:7
If he has not oppressed anyone, But has restored to the debtor
his pledge; Has robbed no one by violence, But has given his bread to
the hungry And covered the naked with clothing;
Eze 18:8
If he has not exacted usury Nor taken any increase, But has
withdrawn his hand from iniquity And executed true judgment between man
and man;
Eze 18:9 If
he has walked in My statutes— And kept My judgments faithfully— He is
just; He shall surely live!" Says the Lord GOD.
Eze 18:10
"If he begets a son who is a robber Or a shedder of blood, Who
does any of these things
Eze 18:11
And does none of those duties, But has eaten on the mountains Or
defiled his neighbor's wife;
Eze 18:12
If he has oppressed the poor and needy, Robbed by violence, Not restored
the pledge, Lifted his eyes to the idols, Or committed abomination;
Eze 18:13
If he has exacted usury Or taken increase— Shall he then live? He shall
not live! If he has done any of these abominations, He shall surely die; His
blood shall be upon him.
Eze 18:14
"If, however, he begets a son Who sees all the sins which
his father has done, And considers but does not do likewise;
Eze 18:15 Who
has not eaten on the mountains, Nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house
of Israel, Nor defiled his neighbor's wife;
Eze 18:16
Has not oppressed anyone, Nor withheld a pledge, Nor robbed by violence,
But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with
clothing;
Eze 18:17 Who
has withdrawn his hand from the poor And not received usury or increase,
But has executed My judgments And walked in My statutes He shall not die for
the iniquity of his father; He shall surely live!
Eze 18:18
"As for his father, Because he cruelly oppressed, Robbed his
brother by violence, And did what is not good among his people, Behold,
he shall die for his iniquity.
Eze 18:19
"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the
father?' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My
statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.
Eze 18:20
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the
father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
himself.
Eze 18:21
"But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has
committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall
surely live; he shall not die.
Eze 18:22
None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered
against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.
Eze 18:23
Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the
Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
Eze 18:24
"But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and
commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man
does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be
remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin
which he has committed, because of them he shall die.
As time passed, and I continued with my Bible study, I
came to the realization that Herbert W Armstrong was right when he said that he
had resurrected a Gospel that was missing from the world for nineteen hundred
years, and that his Church was indeed the Philadelphia Church of God. The implications were enormous. I realized then that I was involved in a
battle that transcended the mere expulsion of one man from a local Church; I
was involved in an end time cosmic battle that pitted the forces of good
against the forces of evil, and I was a pawn in that battle. No one had noticed, or sought an explanation,
of what appears to be a conundrum in the description of the Philadelphia Church
of God. Let us have a look at it.
Rev
3:7 "And to the angel of the church
in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true,
"He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and
no one opens":
Rev
3:8 "I know your works. See, I have
set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little
strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Rev
3:9 Indeed I will make those of
the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I
will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved
you.
Rev
3:10 Because you have kept My command to
persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon
the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Rev
3:11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold
fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
Rev
3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a
pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on
him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem,
which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My
new name.
Rev
3:13 "He who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches." '
There is much that can be said about this passage, but
we will concentrate on just two points.
1.
Who
are those who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, and are in fact a
‘synagogue of Satan’ inside the Philadelphia Church? (Bear in mind that Jesus
Christ called His followers ‘Jews’ not Christians. For Him the true Jews were those of faith not
of blood).
2.
And
who is he on whom Jesus Christ will write the name of the Father, His own name,
and the name of the New Jerusalem? (The New Jerusalem being His Church and
bride).
When Jesus Christ was in the world, He accused the
Jews of His day of being children of the Devil. Notice how the desire to kill
and lack of faith turns people into children of the Devil.
Joh
8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's
descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
Joh
8:38 I speak what I have seen with My
Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."
Joh
8:39 They answered and said to Him,
"Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were
Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
Joh
8:40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man
who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
Joh
8:41 You do the deeds of your
father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we
have one Father—God."
Joh
8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God
were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God;
nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
Joh
8:43 Why do you not understand My
speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
Joh
8:44 You are of your father the
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a
liar and the father of it.
Joh
8:45 But because I tell the truth, you
do not believe Me.
Now just so that there is no misunderstanding, not all Jews were
children of the Devil. Jesus had twelve
apostles and hundreds of disciples from among the Jews. Later, thousands more converted to His
religion.
Act 2:36
"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has
made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Act 2:37
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to
Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall
we do?"
Act 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let
every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Act 2:39
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar
off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
Act 2:40
And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying,
"Be saved from this perverse generation."
Act 2:41
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day
about three thousand souls were added to them.
What changed people from being hostile to Jesus into fervent
followers? The Holy Spirit!
Act 1:4
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to
depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father,
"which," He said, "you have heard from Me;
Act 1:5
for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Act 1:6
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying,
"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
Act 1:7
And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons
which the Father has put in His own authority.
Act 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth."
Act 1:9
Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken
up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Without the Holy Spirit no one could come to Him.
Joh 6:44
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
Rom 8:8 So
then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not
His.
As soon as the Holy Spirit became available to the world, Jews and
Gentiles converted to Jesus Christ and to the New Testament by the
thousands. When the Holy Spirit arrives
it enables humans to keep the Commandments of God and to believe the
Scriptures.
Joh 14:15
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Joh 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He
may abide with you forever—
Joh 14:17
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in
you.
Joh 14:18
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:22
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will
manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
Joh 14:23
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep
My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home
with him.
Joh 14:24
He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you
hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
Joh 14:25
"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.
Joh 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,
He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I
said to you.
Joh 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives
do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Joh 14:28
You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to
you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the
Father,' for My Father is greater than I.
Joh 14:29
"And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to
pass, you may believe.
Joh 14:30
I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is
coming, and he has nothing in Me.
Joh 14:31
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father
gave Me commandment, so I do.
Joh 16:1 "These things I have spoken to you, that
you should not be made to stumble.
Joh 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes,
the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God
service.
Joh 16:3 And these things they will do to you because
they have not known the Father nor Me.
Joh 16:4 But these things I have told you, that when
the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. "And these
things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Joh 16:5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me,
and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'
Joh 16:6 But because I have said these things to you,
sorrow has filled your heart.
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to
your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not
come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Joh 16:8 And when He has come, He will convict the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
Joh 16:10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father
and you see Me no more;
Joh 16:11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world
is judged.
Joh 16:12 "I still have many things to say to you,
but you cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has
come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what
is Mine and declare it to you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father has are Mine.
Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
Coming back to the question of the synagogue of Satan in the Philadelphia Church of God, Apostle Paul gave us more details of what turns people into children of the Devil and thus makes them a synagogue of Satan.
1Ti
4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that
in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving
spirits and doctrines of demons,
1Ti
4:2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having
their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
1Ti
4:3 forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with
thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
1Ti
4:4 For every creature of God is
good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;
1Ti
4:5 for it is sanctified by the word of
God and prayer.
1Ti
4:6 If you instruct the brethren in
these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the
words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
In the latter times, people will turn from the true Gospel to a false one that includes restrictions on interracial marriages and dietary laws which had become redundant in the New Testament. Another practice that turns people into false Christians is the doctrine of circumcision. Jesus’ Apostles had to contend with Pharisaical Jews who went among the Gentiles trying to establish a following for themselves by preaching circumcision and the Law of Moses.
Act 15:1 And certain men
came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Act 15:2 Therefore, when Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined
that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to
the apostles and elders, about this question.
Act 15:3 So, being sent on
their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing
the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren.
Act 15:4 And when they had come
to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders;
and they reported all things that God had done with them.
Act 15:5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying,
"It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep
the law of Moses."
Act 15:6 Now the apostles and
elders came together to consider this matter.
Act 15:7 And when there had
been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you
know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles
should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Act 15:8 So God, who knows the
heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He
Act 15:9 did to us, and
made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10 Now therefore, why do
you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11 But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner
as they."
Act 15:12 Then all the
multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many
miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.
Act 15:13 And after they had
become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to
me:
Act 15:14 Simon has declared
how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His
name.
Act 15:15 And with this the
words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
Act 15:16 'After this I will
return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will
rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
Act 15:17 so that the rest of
mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
says the LORD who does all these things.'
Act 15:18 "Known to God
from eternity are all His works.
Act 15:19 Therefore I judge
that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to
God,
Act 15:20 but that we write to
them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from
things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21 For Moses has had
throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in
the synagogues every Sabbath."
Act 15:22 Then it pleased the
apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own
company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also
named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
Act 15:23 They wrote this letter
by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of
the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.
Act 15:24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you
with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised
and keep the law"—to whom we gave no such commandment—
Act 15:25 it seemed good to us,
being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved
Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26 men who have risked
their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27 We have therefore
sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth.
Act 15:28 For it seemed good to
the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things:
Act 15:29 that you abstain from things offered to
idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you
keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
This is the gospel that H W Armstrong resurrected after nineteen hundred years. Not the Gospel of the New Testament, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of His Apostles, but the Gospel of the Old Testament, cloaked in the colors of the New Testament. A Gospel the Apostles had fought against. One that included interdiction on interracial marriages, dietary laws, circumcision, tithing, keeping the Holy Days in the manner of the Jews, and other aspects of the Law of Moses.
What the Pharisees could not achieve in their time, Herbert W Armstrong achieved in our time. He did it because there were no longer any Apostles or people imbued with the Holy Spirit to stand up to him and expose his false premises, false preaching and false doctrines.
In his hay day, he used to travel the world visiting leaders with expensive gifts, behaving more like a King than a preacher. I once sent him a letter, advising him that it would be more appropriate for him to take a Bible under arms and preach from it rather than just make courtesy visits with expensive gifts. I hoped that as a servant of Jesus Christ, which I thought he was, he would take my advice in the Spirit in which it was intended and accept my correction with humility and kindness. But instead, his hirelings expelled me from the Church very unceremoniously at their first opportunity.
Years later, when I drew their attention to the fact that they were not following the Scriptures by treating people who were expelled as enemies and not as brethren that needed correction, they sent out letters inviting them all back; they never sent me one.
To this day, Armstrong’s disciples are still making a great virtue of his visits to world leaders, claiming that they show what a great man he was. And who are the ‘great’ men that he visited? Minor figures or petty dictators such as Marcos of the Philippines, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt, Yitzhak Rabin of Israel, Ceausescu of Romania, and I don’t know if he visited any other, but these are the ones that had been touted by his disciples. What no one seems to have noticed is that all those leaders died unnatural violent deaths shortly afterwards. God was telling the world: beware of this man for he brings you nothing but devastation.
Everything H W Armstrong preached and stood for identified him as the ‘worthless shepherd” of the prophet Zechariah, ("Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye; his arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded" Zec 11:17), and his Church as the ‘synagogue of Satan’ within the Philadelphia Church of God.
In light of
this discovery, my expulsion from the WCG took on an entirely new meaning. I
then understood that this was a blessing I disguise and that in truth, “all things work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom
8:28).
Had I remained in that Church, and accepted their preaching unhesitatingly and unquestioningly, I would have been like all their other brainwashed members, but being freed from the doctrines and strictures of that ‘synagogue of Satan’, my mind opened up to an extraordinary array of new revelations.
I was greatly puzzled at first, for I did not know what to do with them, or what God expected of me.
Now even though nearly two decades had passed since I parted company with the WCG, my heart was still on that Church, hoping beyond hope that somehow they would come to their senses, acknowledge their errors, and be willing to listen to my insights. But it was not to be; they just would not change.
I could not think of any other Church that could possibly accept my preaching and help me deliver God’s prophetic messages to the world. And since the matter was getting rather urgent, and I could see the world unmistakably heading towards catastrophe, I decided to go about it alone. And alone I have been ever since, except with my partner who supported me. And so, in 1990 the first edition of The Christian Herald made its appearance. What happened to me and my family after that, I wrote in other editions and I will not go over it again here; sufficient to say that for the next seven years things were rather easier, for I had a job and an income, but when a car accident forced me into an early retirement things became very difficult. Nevertheless, this work could not remain unfinished. So I put my house on the market and kept going. The advent of the internet helped us greatly. Previously, it used to be very costly sending out large envelopes with Newsletters and The Christian Herald to all nations, but now we deal with them via the internet.
The world will stand condemned one day that it was left to a man of ‘little strength’ and ‘clothed in sackcloth’, as the Scriptures put it, to save it from ‘utter destruction’. And because it did not listen to him, but to the pompous creatures that go around the world with false gospels, it will face hard consequences. And I am not referring here to just H W Armstrong, but to a whole array of preachers, and to one who acquired God’s title of ‘Holy Father’ and mesmerized the world with his false preaching and idolatry.
Those who think that God’s warnings of ‘utter destruction’ unless the world turns back from its current path are mere words, are gravely mistaken. This world is now at the very edge of a bottomless precipice. Truly, the world has entered the early stages of the end-time Great Tribulation.
But, as Jesus said, those things will take the world by surprise, just as the Flood of Noah did; and not because people have not been told, but because they did not believe. And they did not believe because they did not have the Holy Spirit. And they did not have the Holy Spirit because they did not believed the one who could have facilitated them receiving Him, but believed the likes of H W Armstrong who committed the ultimate blasphemy by turning the Holy Spirit into an ‘it” (See TCH 5).
It astonishes us that the Satanists of the WCG and its remnant Churches, who know of these things, instead of repenting and turning around from their evil ways, had become our fiercest opponents, throwing enormous resources into combating us. It must rancor them that in spite of their efforts, this work is now advancing at a dizzying speed.
Going back to the “Born to Win, Church of God” that I
mentioned earlier, when we sent them our Newsletter,
I added, ‘one could never win with the Devil’.
A lady replied and said, “What do you mean? Could you be more
specific?” I said, “You are preaching
and practicing ‘doctrines of demons’”, and quoted the passage from Apostle
Paul’s first epistle to Timothy (4:1-6).
She came back a few days later and said, “We are following an
alternative explanation to that passage”.
An ‘alternative explanation’! What exactly does that mean – that the New
Testament approves of ‘doctrines of demons’? Had they forgotten what happened
when Adam and Eve accepted Satan’s ‘alternative explanation’ to the Word of
God? Or had they never read the
Scriptures which tell us that there are no alternatives to the Bible?
Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just
as you were called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
Eph 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.
Or those passages that warn people never to tamper
with the Bible or they will receive the worst of God’s punishments?
Rev 22:18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to
him the plagues that are written in this book; and if
Rev 22:19 anyone takes away from the words of the book
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the
holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Our messages are not ‘alternative explanations’ of the Bible, but the true Gospel of Jesus Christ obtained with the price of blood. This is why when we quote the Bible we give entire passages not just the reference to them, so that even those who do not have a Bible, or are not in the position to open one, could see what God’s will is and the warnings He has inscribed in the Scriptures for this wayward world.
We have proven more than once that many of the references our competitors give are not true, are misleading or outright misquotations. This is how false preachers have led the world astray and created a breach between God and His creation.
Make no mistake about it: this world is in the hands of powerful hostile forces which are determined to annihilate it before it reaches the Millennium Kingdom of Jesus Christ. And why would they want to do that? Because they know that they will not be part of that Kingdom and if they are not part of it they don’t want anyone else to be part of it either.
Remember the warnings of the Apostles. Virtually everyone who has contributed to the New Testament has had something to say about the enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is just an example from Apostle Paul.
Php 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and
note those who so walk, as you have us for a
Php 3:18 pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told
you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ:
Php 3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is
their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—
Php 3:20 who set their mind on earthly things. For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ,
Php 3:21 who will transform our lowly body that it may
be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able
even to subdue all things to Himself.
Regarding the second point that we mentioned above, “who is he on whom Jesus Christ will write the name of the Father, His own name, and the name of the New Jerusalem on him?”, we think the answer should have become self-evident by now. We have nothing more to add to it.
………………………..
Newsletter 25 (10/12)
Friends and Leaders Around the
World: Greetings
It is
that time of the year when we inform you of the publication of another edition
of The Christian Herald on the worldwide web. An increasing number of people, now from
upwards of eighty countries, do not need this reminder; they come to our web
site on their own volition by the thousands every month.
We must
be doing something right and worthwhile to attract people from all corners of
the earth.
The
more they know us, the more faithfully they come to us and the more they want
from us.
You may
have noticed that for the last few years we have been publishing two editions
per annum instead of one. We have been
asked to write in larger fonts, and not to cram too much information in one
edition. Two editions per annum instead
of one is our answer those requests.
It has
not escaped our readers that our predictions of the last two decades are now
being fulfilled in front of their own eyes.
Does this make us happy? It would
if this matter was not so serious. For
nothing less is at stake now than the very survival of humanity. Jesus Christ once said:
Mat
24:11 Then many false prophets will rise
up and deceive many.
Mat
24:12 And because lawlessness will
abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Mat
24:13 But he who endures to the end
shall be saved.
Mat
24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then
the end will come.
All
these and more are much too obvious in the world at present, including the fact
that the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached in all the world via The
Christian Herald, even though the world is unaware of it or unwilling to
acknowledge it. And what are the
consequences of this willing ignorance?
Mat 24:21 For then there will be Great Tribulation,
such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor
ever shall be. And unless those days
were shortened,
Mat
24:22 no flesh would be saved;
but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
Mat
24:38 For as in the days before the
flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until
the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came
Mat
24:39 and took them all away, so also
will the coming of the Son of Man be.
With
the publication of every new edition, we bring a little more light on the
implication of times in which we live, and the dire consequences of not paying
attention to God’s messages. Truly the
world is on the verge of this worldwide catastrophe. God is still speaking to this world through
His people. So don’t miss The
Christian Herald No 26, now on line at this web site: www.thechristianherald.info
In the
service of Jesus Christ,
Grigore
Sbarcea
Coordinator
A.O.C.F.
Addendum (11/12)
About
half way through the process of sending out our Newsletter 25 to
the world, we are forced once again to write an addendum to it. Channel Seven TV presented a program about
the cult of Nabiru whose adherents are preparing for an Apocalyptic end to this
world on December 21, 2012. (Current
Affairs, Oct. 21, 2012)
And on
what did they base their belief? On a
Maya calendar that, supposedly, predicted this event hundreds or thousands of
years ago. Channel Seven went on to show
underground caverns full of reserves of food, water and other life necessities
for those who hope to survive the Apocalypse.
In the
end, Channel Seven concluded that there is nothing to worry about, that this is
a myth like many others which have cropped up in the course of history. But if that is the case, why give it such a
widespread audience?
A myth
it is indeed, except that it comes at a time when the world is in danger of a
Great Tribulation that threatens to wipe out all life on earth. We do not preach that this will happen on
December 21, 2012, for as Jesus Christ said, no one knows the day and hour of
that calamity except God Himself. What
we do know is that it will take humanity by surprise, even though God’s people
would have warned humanity about it loud and clear.
Now why
are television broadcasters so interested in fringe groups whose beliefs they
consider myths, yet they would never touch a work like ours? Well, for two reasons:
One:
because these kinds of programs cater for a mass audience that thrives on short
life stories which titillate rather than inform; programs which they then often
repeat if they prove popular.
Two:
because our predictions are fact not myth.
They cannot be dismissed lightly when they had proven true so many
times. Let us give you just a few
examples.
1) At a time when the whole of the Christian
fundamentalist world was looking to the Jews, urging them build a new Temple in
Jerusalem in order for Jesus Christ to return to this world, we said that no
such Temple will be built because no Temple is needed for that event to take
place. Two decades later, no new Temple
had been built, and it is sure that before they even lay the corner stone,
Jesus Christ will stand on the Mount of Olives.
Zec
14:4 And in that day His feet will stand
on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of
Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large
valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward
the south.
Jesus
Christ will stand triumphantly on the Mount of Olives, where they crucified
Him, not in any new Temple in Jerusalem.
Israel’s geography will be completely changed on that occasion and only
then will a new Temple be built in Jerusalem, based on the plans that God gave to
the prophet Ezekiel (Chapters 40-48).
2) Our nemeses of the Worldwide
Church of God said that Germany would become such a great world power as to
trample Brittan and America under feet, then take them captive and remove them
to the Middle East, to their ancestral lands.
Incredibly, the Churches that arose from the disintegration of that
Church still preach this fallacy.
In the
face of this falsehood, we told them that it is not Germany but Russia that
will rise from the ashes of the USSR and play a major role in the end-time
Great Tribulation. We even predicted the
man who would trigger that calamity before he even appeared on the scene. We cannot go into those details now, the
matter has become too delicate, but we have spelt it out clearly in the early
editions of our magazines.
3) At a time when the Worldwide
Church of God was abuzz with the notion that its two leaders Herbert W
Armstrong and his son Garber Ted were the Two Witnesses of Revelation, I told
them that that was not true. Their circumstances and preaching did not match
those of the Two Witnesses. The two men
died in disgrace, at each other’s throats, but we are yet to receive an apology
from their embittered disciples.
These
and many more of our predictions have come true; some are being fulfilled these
days, but our nemeses do not accept these facts, do not understand and do not
believe because:
Dan 12:4 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and
seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall increase."
Dan 12:10 Many shall be purified, made white, and
refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall
understand, but the wise shall understand.
This is what makes this work different from
any other, and why people ought to take note of what we say, for truly this is
not our work but a prophetic work of God.
G.S.
……………………..
THE CHRISTIAN HOLY DAYS
FOR THE YEARS 2013 - 2015
|
|
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
The
Passover (Pesach
– Nissan 14) Unlike the Jews, who used
to kill the Passover lamb “at the twilight” of Nissan 14 (meaning in the
evening towards Nissan 15), we, Christians, observe the Passover when our
“Lamb” – Jesus Christ – was sacrificed. That happened on the afternoon
of Nissan 14, before the twilight of Nissan 14, meaning that we keep it a
little earlier than the Jews. We commemorate His death, not His supper,
which occurred the previous evening, as some churches do; the time when His
body was broken, not when He broke the symbolic bread. |
|
25
March |
14 April |
4 April
|
Days of Unleavened Bread (Nissan 15 – 21) On the first and seventh days there shall
be holy convocations. No customary work shall be done
on these days. |
|
26 Mar. – 1
April |
15 April – 21 April |
5April – 11April |
Pentecost (Shavuot – Sivan 6) |
|
15
May |
4 June |
24 May
|
Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah – Tishri 1) |
|
5
Sept. |
25 Sept. |
14 Sept.
|
Day of Atonement (Yom
Kippur – Tishri 10) |
|
14
Sept. |
4 Oct |
23 Sept. |
Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth – Tishri 15 – 22) On the first and the eighth days there
shall be holy convocations. No
customary work shall be
done on these
days. |
|
19 Oct. – 26 Oct. |
9 Oct. – 16 Oct. |
28 Sept. – 5 Oct. |
Yes, children should partake of the Lord’s Supper
Among the myriad of contentious
emails we have had to deal with, was one which purported to clarify the
question of whether children should partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is what they said:
“Should children partake of the Lord’s
Supper? The Lord’s Supper is an act of
remembering, a commemorative event.
Every time we take the Lord’s Supper we remember the price Jesus Christ
paid for us on that cross. He took upon
Himself the judgment that God would have given us. He gave His body to be
destroyed (the broken bread), and for the forgiveness of our sins He poured out
His blood (the wine symbolizes this fact).
At the Lord’s Supper, we meditate over what happened at Golgotha,
remembering that these events were experienced personally by Jesus Christ on our
behalf, and in so doing He wiped out our guilt on that cross. Our attitude must
be one of gratitude, the Holy Scriptures are warning us to beware not to take
the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, but to receive it with reverence and
humility. In this context, the term
‘unworthy’ means not to take the Supper unaware of its significance. For this reason, people who have not been
born again should not partake of this Super.”
(Received on Feb. 15, 2007)
First of all, these people think that they
have been ‘born again’ when every indication is that they do not have the Holy
Spirit. We have reason to believe that
this is a Sunday observing church, and no such church could ever have the Holy
Spirit. Even many Sabbatarian churches
do not have the Holy Spirit these days, let alone those who observe the Day of
the Sun.
Second, the Lord’s Supper, or Passover as
it should be more correctly called, is one of seven biblical Holy Days. You keep them all, or you keep none, which is
what Sunday observing churches have been doing for millennia anyway.
Third, the Passover must be observed once a
year at the right time, not willy-nilly every time there is a gathering for a
religious service. It loses its significance if you do it that way. Since
Sunday observing churches know nothing of God’s calendar – a lunar calendar, as
opposed to the Roman solar calendar – it means that whatever they observe
cannot be the Passover.
Fourth, the apostles made no distinction between
people who were born again and those who were not born again. They merely said that people must not receive
the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. Some of those who claim to be born
again are further away from God than many worldly people. Why do you think Jesus Christ said that many
are called but few are chosen? The chosen come from among the called out ones,
those who think that they are born again.
Human beings cannot know a worthy person
from an unworthy one, unless he is obviously a boisterous drunkard or sinner.
Only God knows that. If they know that they are unworthy, and still partake of
the Lord’s Supper, let it be upon their own head. Let them be responsible before Jesus Christ,
and let not humans be judges of that. If
people want to partake of the Lord’s Supper, even strangers, they should not be
prevented from doing so. The only
requirement being that they observe the solemnity of the occasion. And that
goes for children too.
What greater joy could parents have than to
see their children quietly participate and take in the meaning of such an
important memorial? I can assure you
that Jesus Christ would not turn children away from commemorating His
sacrifice. In fact, I would suggest that
if you have relatives, friends, or neighbours whom you think are worthy of it,
who may benefit from it, and might be willing to participate in it in the
appropriate manner, invite them along.
And no, there is no washing of feet on that occasion. Those who know
that they are going to have their feet washed, scrub them thoroughly before
hand, so that exercise becomes nothing more than an exercise in futility.
Jesus Christ gave us an example that we may
live by it in the real world, not only when we commemorate His sacrifice.
State of the World (2013)
Society and Culture
ANYONE who happens to be a regular on the toddler
party circuit can confirm that pass the parcel is not what it used to be.
Contrary to the rules of old, where convention dictated that only a few - or
perhaps merely one - of the paper layers unwrapped would unearth a prize, it
has gradually been decreed that every single child must win a toy.
Leaving a friend's birthday celebration
laden down with cake and a lolly bag is no longer enough with parents now
pressured to comply with the ludicrous notion that no partygoer should emerge
from a game empty-handed.
Who would have thought missing out on the
acquirement of yet another soon-to-be-forgotten plastic trinket is grounds for
sustaining childhood trauma? And so, desperately trying to uphold the mantra
that "everyone's a winner!", the average three-year-old's birthday
party now resembles behind the scenes at APEC, with organisers running around
with reams of paper as they frantically co-ordinate proceedings. Ensuring the music just happens to stop at
precisely the right moment so as to pair suitable gifts to each and every one
of the pint-sized guests at a co-ed gathering isn't a task for the faint of
heart. That even the most innocuous of activities has been stripped of its
sense of competition is an indication of the well-intentioned but absurd
hypothesis that children must be shielded from disappointment of any kind. If
we don't credit our children for having sufficient resilience to rebound from
the short-lived anguish of a peer winning a friendly game, then how are we to
equip them to cope with the genuine heartaches of life ahead? To those about to start nodding in furious
agreement that modern children have it far too good and tut-tutting how it's
time to bring back corporal punishment, I'm afraid I must now disappoint you.
Unlike the management of a certain Sydney shopping centre, I'm not advocating a
return to the days of the archaic maxim that children be seen and not
heard. Needless meddling in party games
aside, most of the changes that have occurred in parenting with each passing
generation have been for the better. From the increased social acceptance of a
father's involvement to opening lines of communication between parent and
offspring, the constant revising of child-rearing practices should be applauded.
Nurturing self-esteem in a child is vital,
and shielding them from anger, violence and the other not-so-nice realities of
the grown-up world where possible is admirable. But I can't be the only one who
wonders why, as a society, we seems to lurch from one parenting extreme to the
other. Surely there's a happy medium to be found between the view that children
deserve a smack behind the ears for so much as raising their voice and the
philosophy that every thing a child says and does must remain beyond reproach.
Confidence is an indispensable trait and it is a lucky child who grows up in a
home in which they are instilled with a sense of self-belief. But we have all
encountered adults who might have been far better off if only they had been
defeated at pass the parcel a little more often in their formative years.
A failure to gently break it to a child
sometime before they graduate high school that things will not always go their
way only leads to delusions of grandeur and an unsustainable sense of
self-entitlement. So it's hardly
surprising that a new study by American researchers has found parents who
shower their children with self-esteem boosting commentary are doing them a
disservice, with undeserved compliments preventing a child from accurately
sizing up their capabilities.
Personally I have never subscribed to the
simplistic yet popular cry of "I turned out fine" as a means of
excusing a few of the more regrettable aspects of childhoods past. There are certain traumatic experiences from
which a child should, wherever possible, be spared. But of all the childhood
scars there are, I am willing to wager not a single one can be traced to a
failure to unwrap a small toy during a game of pass the parcel. (Sarrah Le Marquand, The
Daily Telegraph, Feb. 21, 2013).
WITH
three children under 12 and a husband-child who loves stunt cars, stunt
motorbikes, stunt Robosauruses and stunt beer, I am an old hand at navigating
my way around Sydney's Royal Easter Show.
Today's show
outing is vastly different to the rarified adventures of my youth. In the 1970s, my beloved aunt and uncle would
pack a picnic and me into their immaculate Holden HR Premier for the two-hour
drive from the south coast to the traditional showgrounds at Moore Park. Once
at the show, the three of us would proceed to spend almost an entire day
evaluating the girth and splendour of the magnificent Illawarra dairy cow. A
couple of bob might be found for a chairlift ride over the cattle judging
enclosure. We were a proud dairy clan, after all. A furtive glance at the beef
cattle was permitted but not encouraged. We'd admire the milking equipment and
produce exhibits, buy a few 5c or 10c showbags and go.
Today's Royal
Easter Show is a marathon of spending, spooring, spinning and spewing. For a
parent with young children, it's a day of sweat and tears in which ambitious
goals are set, checkpoints established, hydration levels carefully monitored
and victory ultimately measured by the size of the towering pile of showbags,
unused coupons and overpriced toys and the severity of the heartburn, sunburn
and blisters. So exhausting is it, we go
only every second year to guard against Easter Show fatigue and promote maximum
excitement. So to have as much fun as I do, here are my top tips:
GO
EARLY AND PARK ILLEGALLY
IF you can
get there by the 9am opening time, park as close to the back entrance as
possible for a fast getaway.
No one wants
to schlep 4km to a parked car in a dark paddock at the back of Homebush at
9.30pm with three exhausted kids, 30 showbags, an arsenal of glow-in-the-dark
princess swords and a goldfish in water in a bag. Believe me, I've done it.
STOP
JUST SHORT OF TATTOOING PERSONAL DETAILS ON YOUR CHILDREN
IN fear of
losing my kids, I write both mother and father's mobile phone numbers in large
black permanent marker on all children's exposed arms (and hope show-loving
paedophiles aren't following us writing down our details).
Then we have
a little brainwashing session about what to do if one gets lost. It begins
with: "I'll point out the Lost Persons and Police offices when we get
there and these will be our rendezvous points if we become separated." By 4pm it's: "If you can't find the Lost
Persons office, go to the Beer and Wine Garden. I'll save you a stool."
DRESS
COMFORTABLY CASUAL AND ADOPT ONE BRIGHT COLOUR AS YOUR STANDARD
EACH parent
is to be equipped with a half-filled backpack, ensuring enough room for loot
and treasure as well as packing a fully charged mobile phone. Packs should contain: light, warm jackets for
everyone; a camera so you don't end up spending $100 on photos of your children
cuddling baby lambs; sunscreen, hats, Band-Aids, Panadol, pre-moistened hand
wipes and just one bottle of water. You'll accumulate drinks all day long.
Don't take food. Everything is there. If you have a child in nappies, leave
them at home. It's hard work finding a change table at the show and there are
enough flies and animal waste there already. No need to take your own.
HIT
THE FIRST COUPON BOOTH YOU SEE AND BUY TWICE AS MANY RIDE COUPONS AS YOU THINK
YOU'LL NEED WITH three kids, 50 coupons can last about 30
minutes (three for the Big Slide, seven for the Rock Star).
Truly, $95
for 110 vouchers is not excessive for a family of thrill-seekers.
GO
HARD FROM 9AM TO 11AM ON RIDES
THE place is
virtually empty during these hours. By 11am the queues are building and you'll
be ready for a sit down.
SUGAR
BABIES By 11am,
you're searching for shade and coffee for the grown-ups, and food for the kids.
Don't loiter. The objective now is to get into the pavilions before noon, when
shade is in high demand. Head to the back corner of the show site and hit the
baby animal pavilions for the next hour before the critters have started
calling their lawyers and filing abuse claims.
HERE
PIGGY PIGGY WHILE
there are stunning nutritional options at the show these days - sushi, buttered
corn on the cob, Asian cuisine, gozleme, sandwiches, wraps - it's wondrous
fatty treats that capture kids' imaginations and why not? I tend to steer the
kids towards the healthy food options at this sitting - pizza, tacos and pies
acceptable - and tell them to hold out for the Chip on a Stick at 4pm. Fat tops
sugar on show day - less sticky on the outside, sets like concrete on the
inside.
Worth
considering on rides.
LUNCH
IN THE SHADE CLAIM
a seat out of the sun to eat lunch. The rodeo arena or woodchopping pavilion
are perfect. Alternatively, go and watch the Flying Pigs or the Flyball Super
Challenge and resist your children's pleas to buy a border collie. They're not
all geniuses. Certainly my border-poodle's only known talents lie in scaling
fences, chewing the edges of brand-new towels, eating seatbelts in cars, hiding
the cat's bowl and barking from midnight to 2am. Even the dog trainer despairs.
Get a
goldfish in a bag instead - see point one.
SPLIT
UP
BY now the
littlest members of the family are starting to show the strain while older kids
are looking for thrills. An eternally youthful husband is a plus at this time
as Dad volunteers to take the bigger kids to the Coca-Cola Carnival, leaving
Mum free to take the under-fives to the younger Kids Carnival area, located on
the opposite side of the showground.
THE
MUM RIDE
BY 5pm it's
time for a parental break. It's taken me 25 years to find the Sydney Royal Beer
and Wine Garden at the show (also the De Costi Oyster and Wine Bar and the
humble Saloon), but once found, these fine exhibits will never be neglected
again. Add a Chip on A Stick or high-fat treat for the kids from a nearby
vendor. Everyone wins and, if lucky, you'll be serenaded by a genuine C&W
singer with a devastating life-story told in ballad.
TIME
TO CALL IT
BY 5pm, with
the light starting to fade, it's time for a final once-around the pavilions
(cattle, horses, district produce) before heading to the showbags and home. The brave will push on to the 9pm fireworks
something my family has managed only once.
More rides
will help lift flagging kids' energy and the best part of an hour can be wasted
in the showbag pavilion getting the kids to make sensible choices with their
spending budgets.
THE
LAST HOORAH
NIGHTFALL
brings the fatigue that can lead to bad choices. Don't waste $18 on a
high-quality helium balloon now as it will invariably later escape your
clutches in the dark when you're packing the exhausted and distraught
four-year-old and her loot into the car. My daughter still asks about the Nemo
balloon she lost five years ago. One more push? Hit the 8pm arena
spectacular for pyrotechnics and show Darcy's Quest. Then flee. (Annette
Sharp, The
Sunday Telegraph, March 31,
2013)
Jury system is great but needs an
overhaul
I'M a jury duty dodger. I'm not particularly proud of
side-stepping my civic duty, but I was excused by the sheriff three times last
year. There, I said it. I'm not particularly proud of side-stepping
my civic duty, but I was excused by the sheriff three times last year. It
wasn't that I couldn't be bothered or that I didn't get a perverse thrill out
of the notion of standing in judgment over someone else. In fact, I kind of
liked the idea. Bring on a prison sentence, I say (if they were guilty of
course). But the timing just wasn't right. On each occasion, I asked to be
excused for legitimate reasons - at least I think they were. I was called at an
extremely busy time for News Ltd and, as editor, I couldn't afford to be away.
I also felt uncomfortable - and still do - sitting on a jury in a court case
being covered by a reporter who reports to me.
Added to that is the very real likelihood of having
some prior and prejudicial knowledge of a case that had already received media
attention. My explanations were accepted but what I learned last year was that
sitting on a jury may be your civic duty but it can take its toll. One of the
summons I received was for a 26-week trial. Another, 18 weeks. There are
well-documented cases of jury members who lost their jobs, fell into financial
difficulty or suffered family problems because they were sitting on long
trials. One female juror tells us she was on a three-month armed hold-up trial
and during that time she went to work from 5am to 9am, went to jury duty and then
went back to work between 5pm and 9pm. Her employer, a major retailer had no
other employees to fill the gap. Many small traders in particular are not
designed to cope with the disappearance of a key staff member, especially for
long periods of time. The end result, of course, is that juries are populated
by people who have more time and that can taint the sample in a process that is
built on the expectation that a cross-section of fair-minded people will make
the call on another's guilt or innocence.
There are key areas that need to be addressed in finding a solution to
the problem; the burden of meeting the expenses of the jury system has to be
shifted from the employer and employee, the courts have to be less tied up in
red tape which slows down justice and lawyers must end delaying tactics that
unnecessarily drag out trials. Juries remain the fairest system of delivering
justice but unless the process is not streamlined to cater for a broader
selection of working people it remains open to criticism. (Mick Carroll
(Editor), The Sunday Telegraph, March
03, 2013)
Girls out-smart boys MOVE over geek boys, time-poor women are embracing technology ahead of
their male counterparts for everyday tasks from maintaining the family's social
network to online banking. Researchers
found that today's women were three times more likely than men to use a
smartphone as a way to bank online. The national survey of 1500 people
conducted by Westpac found that nearly half of women said they could not do
without social media while only about 22 per cent of men felt the same way. More than three out of four women said
technology had made it easier to save time and money, manage finances and
connect with others. Nearly a third of women under 30 used their
smartphone for online banking compared with 5 per cent of women aged 40 or
older, while 86 per cent of working women used a smartphone compared with 58
per cent of stay-at-home women. Social
analyst Mark McCrindle said the results supported previous research that found
communication through social media was a key driver in the love affair women
have with technology. "It's no surprise that women are early adopters of
these apps and excited users of them because women are juggling more roles than
men generally speaking," he said. "Their minds are more networked,
rather than the structural compartmentalisation of the male brain." Hairdresser Lyndle Bryan said she's become so
reliant on her smartphone for work and catching up with friends, she feels lost
when she doesn't have her mobile within easy reach. "I have major
separation anxiety," she said. "I think about all the things I could
be doing on it." Ms Bryan, owner of Hair On the Move 2U, uses her
smartphone dozens of times a day to take calls from clients, book appointments,
send and receive emails, check her business' Facebook profile and manage her
banking. Rod Chester and Laura Speranza,
The Sunday Telegraph, March 03, 2013)
No control as kids go feral at school
CHILDREN as young as five are bringing drugs to class
and attacking fellow pupils with make-shift weapons as they run wild in primary
schools across the state. Police were
called to NSW primary schools on more than 40 occasions for violent or
dangerous behaviour during term three last year - with many more incidents
being dealt with by teachers.
According to a detailed 310-page report, Incident
Reporting in Schools, primary teachers also logged 116 incidents with the
Department of Education's School Safety and Response Hotline in the first three
terms of 2012.
In some of the worst incidents, primary students were
caught with prescription drugs and cannabis, stealing, mak- ing bomb threats
and assaulting teachers. Most of the reported incidents took place in western Sydney,
followed by the Hunter/Central Coast region and Sydney's southwest. In one of
the most concerning incidents, a Year 2 student from a Central Coast primary
school took a large knife out of his bag in August, claiming his sister was
going to use it to "fix someone up with it".
In another event in the New England area, a Year 3 male
held a pair of scissors to the throat of another Year 3 boy, while a Year 2
student on the mid north coast held scissors to his teacher's throat and
threatened to kill her. And a Year 6 male from a Dubbo school
allegedly held a replica pistol to the head of another student in August and
threatened to kill her, while in western Sydney, a Year 6 male was suspended
after he took to the PA system to announce that he had a bomb in his pants.
The department took action on all the incidents by
either issuing short and long suspensions, contacting the police or developing
intervention plans. "NSW public
schools are overwhelmingly safe places for the students and the staff who work
and learn in them," a departmental spokesman said. "Violence and anti-social behaviour are
not tolerated at school. Any student involved in violence, in bringing a weapon
or illegal drugs to school, or who engages in criminal behaviour at school is
suspended and their parents are notified. "Following an incident, the
principal notifies the NSW Police Force and the School Safety and Response
Hotline so that support and advice can be provided to assist the school with the
management of the incident." Public
Schools Principals Forum chairwoman Cheryl McBride said the spate of aggressive
and bad behaviour was a concern, but maintained it was only a very small number
of children who engaged in such activities. "It may be a minority but even
60 schools per term sounds like a lot," Ms McBride said. She said it was
important for teachers to differentiate between innocent and serious incidents
before lodging complaints with the department.
(Briana Domjen, The Sunday Telegraph, March 03, 2013)
Poor Hilary has royal message lost
in rush to shout her down
If you didn't know who Hilary Mantel was before now, all you need to
know is that she's a big, fat, barren, feminist turncoat. That is, if you
believe what you read in the tabloids. Mantel's sin was to give a speech about
the British monarchy at the British Museum in which she made mention of Our
Kate - or is it Their Catherine - Middleton.
''Aren't they nice to look at?'' Mantel said about the monarchy. ''Some
people find them endearing; some pity them for their precarious situation;
everybody stares at them, and however airy the enclosure they inhabit, it's
still a cage . . . I'm asking us to back off and not be brutes.'' The speech, published in the London Review
of Books, provided a cogent and beautifully expressed analysis of the way
the media, the public and the royal family both objectifies and crucifies its
members - particularly those with vaginas. (Yes, she dares to imply that royal
women have vaginas.) Never ones for
restraint and civility, the British press transformed her speech into a
girl-on-girl catfight between the ugly, barren Mantel and the beautiful,
pregnant Duchess of Cambridge. The
Daily Mail, for example, likened Mantel's speech to a ''boxing match
setting Muhammad Ali at the height of his powers against Victoria Beckham at
her most undernourished''. Note the dog whistle about beauty and weight.
Even the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, bought tickets to the
bitch-slapping showdown by calling Mantel's comments ''completely misguided and
completely wrong''. Hardly a shining
example of the media's research and investigative skills, this storm in a
teacup was caused by a mere 600 or so words out of a 5600-word speech.
''I saw Kate becoming a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung,''
the Booker Prize-winning author Mantel said. ''In those days she was a
shop-window mannequin, with no personality of her own, entirely defined by what
she wore. These days she is a mother-to-be, and draped in another set of
threadbare attributions.''
This is not an attack on the duchess but rather a criticism of the role
which we have all squeezed her into. In fact, if we weren't all addicted to the
salacious royal gossip, the media may in fact have realised that Mantel is
defending and protecting Kate - suggesting that she is capable of more than
sweet smiles, deference and providing womb services. In 2013 it is scandalous that we are all
apparently fine with a tertiary-educated, worldly and mature duchess with no
power to express herself other than via her choice of fashion. It is curious
how people have so spectacularly missed the point of Mantel's speech.
The issue here is not about ''poor Kate'' at all. Just as Mantel
criticises commentary about the monarchy for being ''empty of content, mouthed
rather than spoken'', the same criticism can be levelled at the reporting of
debates between women. In the era of
''go-girl'' feminism the act of one woman disagreeing with another becomes the
story. If one woman is older and fatter, then so much the better. Then we can
reduce the exchange of ideas to a jealous row between Snow White and her ugly
stepmother. Forcing all women to ''play
nice and get along'' and crucifying them for their non-compliance discredits
their ideas by way of distraction. Just like Kate, it turns us all into jointed
dolls with plastic smiles. (Kasey Edwards, The Telegraph, Feb. 21, 2013)
There is no such thing as bad language any more. In a
film now in our cinemas, the wonderful Maggie Smith, playing the part of an
ultimate paragon of ladyness, tells three of her co-actors to f--- off. The
effect on one of those so addressed, Billy Connolly, was not noticeable, but
Tom Courtenay raised an ironic eyebrow while Pauline Collins reeled in horror;
in the polite Manuka cinema, which does not show films that attract anyone
under 50, there was a noticeable intake of breath, including my own. But the sad truth is that, if one excepts
those who watch afternoon films at Manuka, most people are no longer shocked by
bad language. Psychologists have even suggested that it can be beneficial: if
you bang your head when you are under the house, for example, they tell us that
an expletive helps to relieve stress. This shows how out of touch psychologists
are because the reason you banged your head was because someone - mentioning no
names - had left the laundry hanging there to dry.
It is true that when you finally get to within 10
metres of the green, only to top your little pitch-and-run, it may help to say
a rude word under your breath. However, in this case, a word beginning with 's'
is more appropriate, what we call the s-word. At the Murrumbidgee course, where
they have ducks to provide large black quantities of the material suggested by
the s-word, it comes readily to mind. The f-word should not be so used because
it has no relevance to golf if one can forget about the former world No.
1. It is true that the s-word lacks the
sophistication and the multilingual etymology of the f-word, which has the
added advantage that it can be employed as verb, past participle (-ed), present
participle (-ing), noun, interjection or several other parts of speech.
Nowadays, however, it tends to be used mostly as a filler by people with
limited vocabulary and in books written by Roddy Doyle. There is a word that is sometimes confused
with the f-word, in which the broad 'u' is replaced by the slender 'e' and has
a different meaning altogether. It is much used by Irish people and as such I
feel qualified to write about it. It means to steal or to nick and should be
regarded almost respectable like bloody or bastard in this country. By the way,
the eloquent Irish, always sensitive to onomatopoeia, add an extra 'e' to the
s-word, which makes it more expressive, properly evocative of wet farmyards in
winter. I believe that much bad language
is due to laziness, an inability to think up a good insult. When someone cuts
in front of you to take your parking spot, you should not drive around the
parking lot fuming in sentences full of f and s-words. Instead you should calm
down and ask yourself what Winston Churchill or Paul Keating would say. You
could even combine the two of them: ''Madam, I may be drunk, but you are all
tip and no iceberg.''
There is now an iPhone app that provides Keating mal
mots to suit every occasion. Instead of referring to the full-back of your
local team as a f---ing waste of space, how much more interesting to describe
him as a ''dessicated coconut'' or compare him to ''a lizard on a rock - alive
but looking dead''. It may be difficult to think up one on the spur of the
moment, safely surrounded by hundreds of supporters who agree with you, so the
app could be very useful. It should be pointed out that the app uses an
algorithm that searches through various Keatingisms and combines them in a way
that it - the algorithm - thinks works well. The result can be off-putting and
may not always be as intended. The former prime minister once described the
opposition leader as ''a gutless spiv, an intellectual rust bucket''. Try as
you may to combine those words in a different way to form some other meaning,
it would be difficult to imagine an improvement on the Keating original. The
same applies to his retort to an honourable member from Western Australia:
''You boxhead, you are flat out counting past 10.'' I imagine the algorithm might come up with
something like ''you gutless boxhead, you flat-out spiv counting past rust
buckets'' but that hardly improves on PJK. Still, at 99c, you can't say it is
daylight robbery, and to return to my original complaint about bad language, it
might even replace the f and s-words, with or without an 'e'. (Frank
O'Shea, Canberra Times, Jan. 16,
2013)
LONDON: A city council in England plans to
scrap male and female public toilets in favour of ''gender neutral'' facilities
so as not to alienate the transgender community. Toilets in Brighton will be designed to be
shared by adults and children and will not feature the words ''Men'' or
''Ladies'' but instead will show symbols indicating they can be used by people
of any sex or age. The move was described as ''political correctness gone
barmy'' by opponents, who said the vast majority of residents would prefer
single-sex toilets. Brighton and Hove
city council disclosed in emails that it wished to promote the term ''gender
neutral'' and build facilities that were open to all, regardless of gender. It
believes such facilities will be more accessible for those who do not identify
with the ''male-female binary''. Work is due to start this week on a block that
will include four new toilets and a cafe. Images depicting a man, a woman and a
child will be fitted to the toilet doors.
''This does seem to be a case of
unnecessary bureaucracy and political correctness,'' said Lynda Hyde, a Tory
councillor in the ward in which the block is being built. ''Local residents,
particularly women with children, would much prefer to use separate facilities
as, apart from anything else, it is safer.
''If male/female symbols rather than text are used on the toilet then
this avoids any confusion, so why is the council muddying the waters by
insisting they are called 'gender neutral', which will mean nothing to most
people?'' The £140,000 ($210,000)
refurbishment of the toilets on Rottingdean seafront is being funded jointly by
Rottingdean parish council and the city council.
Cr Hyde said she understood the city
council planned to gradually phase out all male and female toilets in order to
cater for the minority group. The move
follows the establishment of a working group to examine problems faced by
transgender residents. Last year, the Trans Equality Scrutiny Panel recommended
that titles such as Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms be banned so as not to offend the
community. The Green Party deputy
leader, Phelim MacCafferty, backed the proposal, saying: ''Trans people aren't
necessarily male or female and sometimes they don't want to be defined by their
gender.'' The lesbian, gay and
transgender population in Brighton is estimated to be about 40,000. (Victoria
Ward, Telegraph (London), Feb. 19,
2013)
Why the Golden Globes lack gloss
Johnny Depp with host Ricky Gervais at the 2011 Golden
Globes. Picture: Paul Drinkwater/AP Source: AP
In Hollywood, nothing is as it seems. Style triumphs
over substance. Fantasy becomes reality. And even its most lauded institutions
are built on a house of cards. Of this, there is no better example than the
Golden Globes.
On January 13, the world's biggest stars will flounce
down the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The acclaimed nominees (Helen
Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis) will rub shoulders with the popular ones (Jon Hamm,
Tina Fey), and their peers will earnestly applaud, congratulate and pay
tribute, whether they mean it or not.
Here in Australia, audiences will be gunning for Naomi
Watts, nominated for a best actress (drama) Globe for her role in The
Impossible. Yet what Hollywood insiders know, but pretend they don't, is that
in movie land, the Golden Globes are considered something of a joke. They may be part of the holy trinity of
Hollywood awards nights with the Academy and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) awards,
but even in the smoke-and-mirrors world of Tinsel Town, the Globes lack
credibility.
About 5000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture and
Arts and Science vote for the Oscars, and 2100 members of the Screen Actors
Guild vote for the SAGs. They are all movie-industry professionals. In
contrast, just 92 mostly freelance journalists vote for the Globes. They are
all members of the tight-knit Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), but
none is employed by a major foreign newspaper or magazine. Although the Academy
ensures its awards are beyond reproach _ not even a quote from a critic is
allowed to accompany a screening DVD sent to a voter _ the HFPA is
reportedly nowhere near as rigorous.
In fact, over the past few decades members of the press
association have been beset by allegations of accepting, and even demanding,
studio largesse, and have occasionally been accused of letting the largesse
influence their voting.
In 1981, actress Pia Zadora won New Star of the Year,
despite her performance in Butterfly being panned, amid allegations her
casino-owner husband invited HFPA members to Las Vegas for a weekend before the
award was handed out. Then, the
association denied members were flown to Las Vegas and said the
allegations were drummed up by a jealous domestic press.
In 1999, foreign press members were sent Cartier
watches by Sharon Stone, but returned them.
Studios often have two marketing junkets for press, one
for HFPA members, and one for everyone else. The HFPA will be treated to cocktail
parties with the big names, while other journalists attend press conferences.
David Poland, from Hollywood website Movie City News,
says actors are well aware of their role in courting the HFPA. But awards and
globally televised publicity are worth the effort. "They are selling their
brand to a group that takes it all very personally," he says. "I have
never spoken to a single person, and I talk on and off the record, to hundreds
of actors and directors every year, who doesn't joke about the crazy demands of
the HFPA. "But it's seen as a stepping stone, and they are pros."
In 2011, a joke made by Globes host Ricky Gervais
went over the heads of many watching the telecast but would have been clearly
understood by every member of the audience, especially the HFPA. He was
referring to the nomination of The Tourist for best picture, musical or comedy,
after it was given the thumbs down by many critics. "I'd like to crush this ridiculous
rumour that the only reason The Tourist was nominated was so that the foreign
press could hang out with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie," Gervais said.
"That was not the only reason; they also accepted bribes."
That year, the HFPA was sued by its former PR man,
Michael Russell, for lost salary. In his suit, he accused the organisation of
fraud and corrupt practices. The allegations included accepting money,
holidays and gifts from studios in exchange for nominating their films;
selling media credentials and red carpet space; and attempting to bury stories
critical of the HFPA. The HFPA counter-sued, saying Russell's comments were
wrong, saying: "Without a shred of evidence, (Russell) manufactured a
fanciful tale of Hollywood intrigue that harkens back to the early days of rock
'n' roll radio, with its colourful reference to payola."
The HFPA and its two Australian members failed to
respond to Insider's requests for comment. Despite the allegations, the Globes remain a
big deal in Hollywood given they are held before the Academy Awards and
marketed as a bellwether, even though critics question their success rate. "Because
the Golden Globes give out two best film awards (one for drama and one for
musical or comedy), they double their chances of being a predictor," said
Tim Gray from Variety magazine.
"(Since 2004), one of their films has gone on to
win the Oscar 33 per cent of the time."
Most films nominated at the Globes these days have been critically
acclaimed and go on to do well at the Oscars, even if they don't always win
statuettes. The other factor that turned the Globes into an event Hollywood
takes seriously was a television deal with NBC, of which Gray says: "The
studios supply the stars to the Golden Globes, and because the stars are there,
it gains credibility, and because it has credibility, studios supply the stars.
It's a cycle of Hollywood self-love." (Jordan Baker, The Sunday Telegraph, Jan. 6, 2013)
THE boyfriend of a 23-year-old woman who died after
a brutal gang rape on a New Delhi bus has spoken out for the first time about
the savage attack that has sparked protests across the country and his own
trauma over his inability to save her.
The 28-year-old man, who suffered a
fractured leg and other injuries in the attack, has been deeply traumatised and
is at his parents' home in rural northern India where he is taking time out
from his job at a software firm in New Delhi.
"What can I say? The cruelty I saw
should not be seen ever. I tried to fight against the men but later I begged
them again and again to leave her," he told AFP in an interview by phone
from Gorakhpur, a town in Uttar Pradesh state.
On December 16, the couple had been out to watch a movie and decided to
get into a private bus when several rickshaws had refused to drive them back to
the victim's home in a New Delhi suburb. Once in the bus, he was attacked and
his girlfriend was gang-raped by six allegedly drunk men, including the driver,
who also violated her with an iron bar causing immense internal damage that
would lead to her death last weekend.
The horrifying crime has appalled India
and brought simmering anger about widespread crime against women to the boil
amid angry calls for better protection by police and changed social attitudes. The boyfriend, who asked not to be named,
also recounted how passers-by had failed to come to their rescue after they
were thrown out of the moving vehicle at the end of their nearly hour-long
ordeal. He was also critical of police
for failing to be sensitive to his and his girlfriend's mental condition and
also raised questions about the emergency care given in the public hospital
where she was admitted. "A
passer-by found us (after the attack), but he did not even give my friend his
jacket. We waited for the police to come and save us," he said.
The police have since arrested six
suspects for the crime – five men and a minor believed to be aged 17 -- who
were charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in a city court on Thursday. "I was not very confident about getting
into the bus but my friend was running late, so we got into it. This was the
biggest mistake I made and after that everything went out of control," he
said. The driver of the bus then made lewd remarks and his accomplices joined him
"to taunt" the couple, the boyfriend said. He said he told the driver to stop the bus,
but by then his accomplices had locked the two doors.
"They hit me with a small stick and
dragged my friend to a seat near the driver's cabin," he said. After that the "driver and the other men
raped my friend and hit her in the worst possible ways in the most private
parts of her body". "I cannot tell you what I feel when I think of
it. I shiver in pain," he said. He
said the police who came to their rescue took his girlfriend to a government
hospital, but failed to take into account his injuries and mental trauma.
"I was treated like an object by the
police....they wanted all the help to solve the case even before getting me the
right treatment. Nobody witnessed the trauma I suffered," he said. (Sunday Telegraph, Jan. 6, 2013)
Lawyer claims police manipulating rape case. Indian lawyer Mohan Lal Sharma says the proceedings in the Indian rape case are being manipulated by police. Five accused of gang rape in Dehli were read charges as lawyers bickered and media were sent out of the court room.
The lawyer representing three of the men charged with
the gang rape and murder of a medical student aboard a moving bus in New Delhi
has blamed the victims for the assault, saying he has never heard of a
"respected lady" being raped in India. Manohar Lal Sharma said his
clients will plead not guilty to all charges tomorrow when they make their next
court appearance. His comments come as Indians have reacted with outrage to the
opinions of politicians and a religious preacher who have accused westernized
women of inviting sexual assaults. Sharma said the male companion of the
murdered 23-year-old was "wholly responsible" for the incident as the
unmarried couple should not have been on the streets at night.
"Until today I have not seen a single
incident or example of rape with a respected lady," Sharma said in an
interview at a cafe outside the Supreme Court in India's capital. "Even an
underworld don would not like to touch a girl with respect."
Sharma's comments highlight frequently
aired attitudes toward women in India. Activists say reporting of sex crimes
and police investigations of rape are hindered by a tendency to blame the
victim for not following the traditional, conservative social roles ascribed to
women. "This is the mentality which most Indian men are suffering from
unfortunately," said Ranjana Kumari, director for the New Delhi-based
Centre for Social Research. "That is the mindset that has been
perpetrating this crime because they justify it indirectly, you asked for it so
it is your responsibility."
'Chant God's Name'
A spiritual guru, Asharam, sparked an
outcry earlier this week when he said the New Delhi victim was equally
responsible and should have "chanted God's name and fallen at the feet of
the attackers" to stop the assault. Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the
pro-Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that underpins the country's main
opposition political party, said rapes only occur in Indian cities, not in its
villages, because women there adopt western lifestyles. Sharma said the man and
woman should not have been traveling back late in the evening and making their
journey on public transport. He also it was the man's responsibility to protect
the woman and that he had failed in his duty. "The man has broken the
faith of the woman," Sharma said. "If a man fails to protect the
woman, or she has a single doubt about his failure to protect her, the woman
will never go with that man."
Sharma, 56, a Supreme Court lawyer for the
last two decades, says that his clients are innocent.
Courtroom Chaos
"This is a very complicated case and
the matter has not been solved yet," he said. Police have said they have
DNA evidence linking all six to the crime. Ram Singh, the driver of the bus and
the alleged ringleader, is struggling to communicate and fluctuating between
crying and laughing, Sharma said. Sharma, who has also been appointed to
represent Singh's brother Mukesh and Akshay Kumar Singh, who is unrelated,
plans to challenge police over their handling of the evidence.
Sharma's appointment comes after chaotic
scenes on Jan. 7 that forced the magistrate to order a private hearing over
concerns for the safety of the accused. Sharma was one of two lawyers denounced
by other advocates for volunteering to represent the defendants. Arguments and
scuffles over his offer led the magistrate to order the court room be cleared
and future sessions to be held behind closed doors. The gang rape of the woman
on Dec. 16 provoked a sustained and charged debate about the safety of women in
the world's biggest democracy. The brutality of the crime and allegations by a
male friend of the victim that it took police 45 minutes to respond to calls
outraged the nation.
Three Illiterate
The attack on the woman and her friend,
which led to her death almost two weeks later, forced the government to address
demands for swifter justice, safer streets and heavier sentences in rape cases.
India's top court on Jan. 4 began considering demands for faster trials and the
suspension of lawmakers accused of sex crimes. Sharma said he met the
defendants for the first time on Jan. 7 for 15 minutes and was due to talk with
them again today. The three defendants he is representing put their thumb
prints on forms appointing Sharma as their lawyer because they are illiterate,
according to a copy of the documents given to Bloomberg News. Five of the six
accused will be tried for abduction, rape and murder, among other charges,
government prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said Jan. 6. The other, said to be a
juvenile, has been appearing before a separate judicial panel.
The male friend of the woman who was
repeatedly raped and brutalized aboard the bus last month has recounted the two-hour
attack which ended with the couple being thrown on to the roadside, ignored by
passersby and argued over by police.
Rape Trap
In a Jan. 4 interview with the Zee News
television channel, the man, who along with the rape victim hasn't been
officially identified, described how they were lured on to the bus operating
illegally on the night of Dec. 16 as they returned home from a movie theater in
a southern neighborhood of the Indian capital.
The six men aboard the bus, "which had tinted windows and curtains,
had laid a trap for us," he told the channel. "They beat us up, hit
us with an iron rod, snatched our clothes and belongings and threw us off the
bus on a deserted stretch." The woman, who was flown to Singapore for
medical treatment, died in the hospital Dec. 29. Sharma says there are number of discrepancies
in the police's version of the events, which he will reveal in court. The only
example he was willing to give is the failure of the police almost three weeks
after the attack to determine whether one of the accused is a juvenile. Sharma
criticized the lawyers of a local district association who have said no
advocates should represent the accused. "These people are just seeking
revenge," Sharma said. "They are not seeking justice. A defendant has
a right to a lawyer, this is a basic principle of a modern society." (Bloomberg/SMH, Jan. 10, 2013)
When Ireland’s Food Standards Authority announced that
it had found beef products sold by popular food brands contaminated with horsemeat,
it was the start of a scandal that spread around Europe and to parts of Asia.
“We found with one product that about one third horse
DNA in it which was just, you know an incredible finding. And we double checked
and we triple checked because we understood that if we were to go out public
with such a story, it was going to have quite an effect.” Alan Reilly, CEO, Food Standards Authority.
Many Europeans are happy to eat horse and in some
countries it’s considered a bit of delicacy, but consumers in the UK and
Ireland were upset and angry. What many
didn’t realise, though, is where a lot of the horsemeat was coming from, and
why.
“Nobody cared and that’s the bottom line in this whole
story, nobody cared. Nobody bothered asking the question, where are all the
Irish horses going?”
Stephen Philpott, Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
One man, animal rights activist Stephen Philpott knew
the answer because for the previous couple of years he’d been running a
surveillance operation on gangs smuggling thousands of unwanted Irish horses
across the border for illegal slaughter.
He’s uncovered a criminal conspiracy that’s netted millions, and
seriously undermined consumer confidence in processed food.
Tragically, the abandoned horses are an unexpected and
little reported consequence of the global financial crisis. As Campbell finds,
when Ireland’s economy was booming and the housing bubble was at its biggest,
every Irish builder bought a horse and joined a racing syndicate. When the bubble burst, the animals were the
first thing to go – dumped and left to fend for themselves in parks, fields and
by the side of the road. It wasn’t long
before criminal gangs got in on the action. One whistleblower who is now in
fear of his life tells Campbell horses too weak to travel were routinely
drugged to make sure they arrived at the abattoir still alive – where they were
then killed and their meat illegally entered the food chain. (Eric Campbell, ABC Foreign Correspondent,
Broadcast: March 26, 2013)
Courting Cowardice [on gay marriage]
As the arguments unfurled in Tuesday’s case on same-sex
marriage, the Supreme Court justices sounded more and more cranky. Things were
moving too fast for them. How could the
nine, cloistered behind velvety rose curtains, marble pillars and archaic
customs, possibly assess the potential effects of gay marriage? They’re not
psychics, after all.
“Same-sex marriage is very new,” Justice Samuel Alito
whinged, noting that “it may turn out to be a good thing; it may turn out not
to be a good thing.” If the standard is that marriage always has to be “a good
thing,” would heterosexuals pass?
“But you want us to step in and render a decision,”
Alito continued, “based on an assessment of the effects of this institution,
which is newer than cellphones or the Internet? I mean, we do not have the
ability to see the future.” Swing
Justice Anthony Kennedy grumbled about “uncharted waters,” and the
fuddy-duddies seemed to be looking for excuses not to make a sweeping ruling.
Their questions reflected a unanimous craven impulse: How do we get out of
this? This court is plenty bold imposing bad decisions on the country, like
anointing W. president or allowing unlimited money to flow covertly into
campaigns. But given a chance to make a bold decision putting them on the
right, and popular, side of history, they squirm.
“Same-sex couples have every other right,” Chief
Justice John Roberts said, sounding inane for a big brain. “It’s just about the
label in this case.” He continued, “If you tell a child that somebody has to be
their friend, I suppose you can force the child to say, ‘This is my friend,’
but it changes the definition of what it means to be a friend.”
Donald Verrilli Jr., the U.S. solicitor general arguing
on the side of same-sex marriage, told the justices, “There is a cost to
waiting.” He recalled that the argument by opponents of interracial marriage in
Loving v. Virginia in 1967 was to delay because “the social science is still
uncertain about how biracial children will fare in this world.” The wisdom of the Warren court is reflected
two miles away, where a biracial child is faring pretty well in his second term
in the Oval Office.
The American Academy of Pediatrics last week announced
its support for same-sex marriage, citing evidence that children of gays and
lesbians do better when the couples marry. It may take another case, even
another court, to legitimize same-sex marriage nationally, but the country has
moved on. An ABC/Washington Post poll showed that 81 percent of Americans under
30 approve of gay marriage. Every time you blink, another lawmaker comes out of
the closet on supporting the issue.
Charles Cooper, the lawyer for the proponents of Prop
8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, was tied in knots, failing to
articulate any harm that could come from gay marriage and admitting that no
other form of discrimination against gay people was justified. His argument,
that marriage should be reserved for those who procreate, is ludicrous. Sonia Sotomayor
was married and didn’t have kids. Clarence and Ginny Thomas did not have kids.
Chief Justice Roberts’s two kids are adopted. Should their marriages have been
banned? What about George and Martha Washington? They only procreated a
country.
As Justice Stephen Breyer pointed out to Cooper,
“Couples that aren’t gay but can’t have children get married all the time.”
Justice Elena Kagan wondered if Cooper thought couples
over the age of 55 wanting to get married should be refused licenses. Straining
to amuse, Justice Antonin Scalia chimed in: “I suppose we could have a
questionnaire at the marriage desk when people come in to get the marriage —
you know, ‘Are you fertile or are you not fertile?’ ”
Scalia didn’t elaborate on his comment in December at
Princeton: “If we cannot have moral feeling against homosexuality, can we have
it against murder?” Cooper replied that
a 55-year-old man would still be fertile, which was a non sequitur, given that
he hails marriage as a bulwark against “irresponsible procreative conduct
outside of marriage.”
He said that California should “hit the pause button”
while “the experiment” of gay marriage matures. And he urged that we not
refocus “the definition of marriage away from the raising of children and to
the emotional needs and desires of adults.” Did he miss the last few Me
Decades? The fusty legal discussion
inside was a vivid contrast with the lusty rally outside. There were some
offensive signs directed at gays, but the vibrant crowd was overwhelmingly pro
same-sex marriage. One woman summed it up nicely in a placard reading “Gays
have the right to be as miserable as I make my husband.” The only emotional
moment in court was when Justice Kennedy brought up the possible “legal injury”
to 40,000 children in California who live with same-sex parents. “They want
their parents to have full recognition and full status,” he told Cooper. “The
voice of those children is important in this case, don’t you think?” While Justice Alito can’t see into the future,
most Americans can. If this court doesn’t reject bigotry, history will reject
this court. (Maureen Dowd, International Herald
Tribune, March 26, 2013)
Our Comment:
It is extraordinary how the gay marriage
juggernaut has silenced the millions of Americans who call themselves
Christians. This would have been the
time for them, and especially for their leaders, to stand up and speak out
against this abominable sin that has brought annihilation to cities and nations
in the past. But not a voice was heard
from any of them. They left this agenda
to the homosexual lobby who berated the judges for dragging their feet in
legalizing their “right” to “gay marriage”.
America is facing extreme danger after
embracing a president who called gay people his “brothers and sisters”, and has
a spiritual master who calls on God to “damn America”. And damn He will.
Americans cannot blame anyone else for
what is coming their way. They elected their leaders.
Here is a reminder of the Scriptures that
their leaders had forgotten.
2Pe 2:4 For if God did not
spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them
into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
2Pe 2:5 and did not spare the
ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
2Pe 2:6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example
to those who afterward would live ungodly;
2Pe 2:7 and delivered righteous
Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
2Pe 2:8 (for that righteous
man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day
by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—
2Pe 2:9 then the Lord knows how
to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under
punishment for the day of judgment.
Science and the Environment
Breaking Free of the Cellphone Carrier Conspiracy
Would you speak up if you were overbilled for a meal?
Would you complain if you paid for a book from Amazon.com that never arrived?
Or what if you had to keep making monthly mortgage payments even after your loan was fully
repaid?
Well, guess what? If you’re like most people, you’re
participating in exactly that kind of rip-off right now. It’s the Great
Cellphone Subsidy Con. When you buy a
cellphone — an iPhone or Android phone, let’s say — you pay $200. Now, the real price for
that sophisticated piece of electronics is around $600. But Verizon, AT&T
and Sprint are very thoughtful. They subsidize the phone. Your $200 is a down
payment. You pay off the remaining $400 over the course of your two-year
contract.
It’s just like buying a house or a car: you put some
cash down and pay the rest in installments. Right?
Wrong. Here’s the difference: Once you’ve finished
paying off your handset, your monthly bill doesn’t go down. You keep
reimbursing the cellphone company as though you still owed it. Forever. And speaking of the two-year contract, why
aren’t you outraged about that? What other service in modern life locks you in
for two years? Home phone service? Cable TV service? Internet? Magazine
subscriptions? Baby sitter? Lawn maintenance? In any other industry, you can
switch to a rival if you ever become unhappy. Companies have to work for your
loyalty. But not in the cellphone
industry. If you try to leave your cellphone carrier before two years are up,
you’re slapped with a penalty of hundreds of dollars.
If you’re not outraged by those rip-offs, maybe it’s
because you think you’re helpless. All of the Big Four carriers follow the same
rules, so, you know — what are you gonna do? Last week, the landscape changed. T-Mobile
violated the unwritten conspiracy code of cellphone carriers. It admitted that
the emperors have no clothes. John J. Legere, T-Mobile’s chief executive, took
to the stage not only to expose the usurious schemes, but to announce that it
wouldn’t be playing those games anymore.
It was a Steve Jobs moment: when somebody got so fed up
with the shoddy way some business is being run (say, phone design or selling
music) that he reinvented it, disruptively. At the new T-Mobile, the Great Cellphone
Subsidy Con is over. You can buy your phone outright, if you like — an iPhone 5
is $580, a Samsung Galaxy S III is $550. Or you can treat it like a car or a
house: pay $100 for the phone now, and pay off the rest over time, $20 a month.
That may sound like the existing phone
subsidy con, but it’s different in a few big ways. You pay only what the phone
really costs. You don’t pay interest, and you stop paying when you’ve paid for
the phone; in other words, your monthly bill will drop by $20 a month, just as
it should. (You can also pay it off sooner, if you like. If you have a good
month and want to put, say, $70 toward your phone payoff, that’s fine.)
T-Mobile doesn’t care what phone you use, either; if it
works on T-Mobile’s network, you can use it. And why not? Why shouldn’t you buy
one phone you really love, and use it freely as you hop from carrier to
carrier? Would you buy a car that uses only one brand of gas? Yet another
radical change: There are no more yearly contracts at T-Mobile. You can leave
at any time. “If we suck this month, drop us,” said Mr. Legere. “Go somewhere
else.” In the new T-Mobile world, there
are only three plans.
All come with unlimited phone calls, unlimited texts,
free tethering (which allows your laptop to get online via your phone) and
unlimited Internet. The only difference among the plans is how much high-speed
wireless Internet you get each month: 500 megabytes ($50 a month), 2 gigabytes
($60) or unlimited ($70). After you’ve
burned through that much data, your Internet speed drops to 2G speeds for the
rest of the month — suitable for e-mail or pulling up a Web page, but much too
slow for video. You can upgrade your plan for a given month, if you like, but
the point is, you’ll never be penalized. In other words, T-Mobile’s new program
has also eliminated the overage charge. Over
time, these plans can save you a huge amount of money compared with T-Mobile’s
larger rivals. For a plan that matches T-Mobile’s $60 plan, Verizon would
charge you $100 a month. Over two years, you’d pay $960 more. For a plan that matches T-Mobile’s $70 plan,
Sprint would charge you $110 a month. Over two years, once again, you’d pay
$960 more.
AT&T doesn’t have any plans that match T-Mobile’s
exactly, but you get the idea. AT&T’s $85 plan gives you 1 gigabyte of data
a month — half what you get with T-Mobile’s $60 plan. Furthermore, Verizon and AT&T don’t offer
the “unlimited slower Internet” option after you’ve eaten up your monthly data
allotment. Instead, they just slap you with a steep per-gigabyte overage fee
($15 a gigabyte). Weirdly, T-Mobile’s
press announcement left out what may be the biggest, best news of all: T-Mobile
is the first major carrier to eliminate the ridiculous, unnecessary,
airtime-eating, 15 seconds of prerecorded instructions that you hear when you
want to leave a message. (“To page this person, press 5 ... When you have
finished recording, you may hang up.”) When you call a T-Mobile customer, you
go right to the beep. Someone should organize a parade.
This all sounds wonderful. But sooner or later, we have
to acknowledge the elephant in the room: T-Mobile can afford to be the
disrupter because it’s in last place. It has the fewest customers and the
smallest network coverage of any of the Big Four in the United States. It can
take risks because it has nothing to lose. Part of T-Mobile’s problem is that it’s famous
for not offering the iPhone and not offering the fastest kind of Internet
network, known as 4G LTE. Fortunately,
the company is tackling both of those drawbacks. On April 12, it will offer the
iPhone 5 — with a feature nobody else has, in fact, called HD Voice. It offers
supersharp voice quality when you’re calling another phone that has HD Voice. The company has also managed to buy, merge and
lobby its way into ownership of more spectrum — expensive, very limited
cellular frequencies — that will allow it to install LTE networks at last. The
company says that it will have 100 million Americans covered by LTE signal by
summer, and 200 million covered by year’s end. As long as T-Mobile had a sad little network
running no-name phones, it wouldn’t matter what its policies were. But once T-Mobile’s network and phones become
contenders, its much more fair, transparent, logical policies will suddenly
matter. Those practices will have teeth. The other carriers will have to start
paying attention. And they should. The
Great Cellphone Subsidy Con is indefensible no matter how you slice it — why
should you keep paying the carrier for the price of a phone you’ve fully
repaid? — and the two-year contract is an anticompetitive, anti-innovation
greed machine. Those practices should stomp right across your outrage
threshold. If T-Mobile’s crazy, way-out
plan succeeds, those practices may just go away. And that’s why, even if you
have no intention of becoming a T-Mobile customer — maybe there’s no coverage
where you live, or maybe you’re already locked into a two-year contract — you
should pay attention. One of the four emperors has now put on real clothes. The
question is, will the others follow suit.
(David Pogue, New York Times, April 3, 2013)
I'm not a climate scientist per se, but I
am a senior Australian scientist (biologist) with interests and expertise in
environmental science. Reading Miranda Devine's piece ( ''Bring it on, Labor,
pull that trigger'', August 15-16), it occurred to me that in the climate change
debate there are serious misconceptions about the way science actually works.
So let's shift the context from climate change to medicine. Your health declines. You see 10 specialists
and nine tell you that you have a serious, complex medical condition that
requires surgery. The 10th says you are
fine and there is no need to do anything. You follow the advice of the 10th and
do nothing for a year. Your health does not improve. You go back to see the
specialists, and nine tell you that the condition is worse and you need the
surgery urgently. The 10th still says you don't need to do anything and in fact
argues that the condition is not real. What would you do?
This is exactly the state of play in
climate science. The vast majority of specialists in the field say we have a
major problem, that it is caused by humans, and it is probably getting worse.
This is not the same as ''proof''. It is difficult if not impossible to
''prove'' complex environmental (or many other) scientific theories. Climate
change science is not a high school geometry problem. Instead what happens is that evidence is
gathered that supports a theory, alternative explanations are considered and
discounted on the evidence, and a consensus view emerges. As a consequence of
this process the overall consensus on human-induced climate change is now quite
strong among experts in the field. Thus comments by Senator Fielding or others
of like mind who deny climate change, or the need for us to act, on the basis
that ''the science is unproven'' or ''science does not work by consensus'' are
misleading. They do not reflect how most science actually works.
I suspect my comments may actually be used
to argue against the reality of climate change (''Senior scientist says climate
change not proven!''). In response I go back to my parable. Your health or even
your life is on the line and nine of 10 specialists propose a diagnosis and
subsequent course of action. What would you do? (Professor Peter Steinberg, SMH,
August 17, 2009)
We should use our UN position to press for urgent
global action: 'Science is telling us that extreme weather events now happen
more often.' In South Australia for a
summer break, I saw an advertised opportunity for a game of golf at the famous
Royal Adelaide Golf Club. So I put my name down to play on Monday, January 7.
In hindsight, it was probably not a smart move; the
temperature in the shade reached 41 degrees as I finished my round in the
blazing Adelaide sun. Wary of the risks of dehydration, I had consumed four
litres of water and sports drinks on the course. I was still able to empty two
of the largest glasses the clubhouse bar could provide as I recovered from the
experience. Of course, it has always
been hot in Adelaide in summer. There have been days over 40 degrees every year
since we abandoned the old Fahrenheit scale that gave us more impressive
readings of over 100 degrees. Tasmania is recovering from dreadful fires and
the heatwave in New South Wales is producing bushfire conditions described as
catastrophic. Again, there have been bad bushfire seasons in the past. No one
extreme event is by itself an indication of climate change. However, we should
recognise that the overall pattern of more frequent and more severe extreme
events is exactly what climate scientists have been warning about for 25
years. When I wrote Living in the
Hothouse in 2005, the publisher put a striking picture of the 2003 Canberra
fires on the cover. He explained his thinking to me. The science is telling us
that such events, historically happening once in 100 years, would now happen
much more often. That is what global warming is doing. It is increasing the
probability of extreme events such as the 2009 Victorian Black Saturday fires
or the current conditions in NSW. For
decades now, the insurance industry has recognised the reality of climate
change and its costs. As one executive told me at the 1997 Kyoto conference:
''We see the evidence in the red ink on our balance sheet, the result of
rapidly increasing property insurance payouts.'' In 1997, most commercial sectors were in
denial about climate change, as the fossil fuel industries and their political
supporters still are. But those who collect hard data on the consequences of
extreme events already knew what was happening.
As Australia recovers from the events of last week, we
face a future of increasing average temperatures and more severe extreme
events: heatwaves, bushfires, cyclones, floods. It is getting harder to accept the
obfuscation and delaying tactics of the fossil fuel interests and their
supporters. Some are still saying they doubt the science, even though it has
been correctly predicting what would happen for 25 years. It is a question of risk. Even if we thought
there was still some doubt about the science, how much should we be prepared to
gamble on the hope that it might be wrong? Nobody would get into a car if they
knew there was a 90 per cent chance its brakes or steering would fail and risk
their life. Few would be prepared to accept a 10 per cent chance. Even the
prime minister warned people in Tasmania of the likely consequences of failing
to take concerted action to slow climate change. But we don't yet have a policy
response that reflects the urgency of the situation.
We now have a modest price on releasing greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere, but it should be increased to a level that would
drive investment into clean energy supply technologies. We have a target of
getting 20 per cent of our electricity from renewables by 2020, but we could do
much more with policies to support solar and wind energy. We aim to reduce our
national greenhouse gas pollution by a totally inadequate 5 per cent by 2020,
whereas we should have a target that reflects the urgency of the situation. We
are still exporting hundreds of millions of tonnes of coal and planning to open
new large export coal mines, as if we just didn't know that the coal will be
burnt and accelerate climate change. A visitor from another galaxy would conclude
that we just did not understand the risks we are taking, as if we were all too
stupid to have listened to our best atmospheric scientists. We are now on the
UN Security Council, an opportunity to influence global events. As well as
getting our own house in order, we should be urging the world to respond. We
face a bleak future otherwise. (Ian Lowe,
SMH/National Times, January 14, 2013). Emeritus
Professor Ian Lowe is president of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Climate Commission Summary Statement: The Earth continues to warm
(Feb. 25, 2013)
Key points: (1) The Earth
continues to warm strongly. Scientists assess this based on long term
observations of the heat content of the ocean, the air temperature (an indicator
of the heat content of the atmosphere), and the amount of heat absorbed by the
land, glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice.
(2) Understanding changes in climate requires data over long time
periods, at least 30 years and preferably much longer.
(3) The best measure of global warming is ocean heat content as it
absorbs nearly 90% of additional heat trapped by greenhouse gases. Global ocean
heat content has increased substantially over the last 40 years, and the
strongly upward trend has continued through the most recent decade up to the
present.
(4) Singling out short term trends in air temperature to imply that
global warming is not occurring is incorrect and misleading. There has been significant confusion in the
press in recent months about whether the Earth is continuing to warm. In late
2012 the UK Met Office, which is similar to the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology, released updated data regarding the short‐term forecast of global air temperature. It found that: “Global
average temperature is expected to remain between 0.28 °C and 0.59 °C (90%
confidence range) above the long‐term (1971‐2000) average during the period 2013‐2017, with values most likely to be about
0.43 °C higher than average.” This
prompted some commentators to report that global warming had stopped. This
seriously misrepresents both what the Met Office found and what is actually
happening.
This briefing corrects the confusion and confirms that the Earth is
continuing to warm at an alarming rate.
1. How do we know the Earth is warming?
Global average air temperature near the surface is only one of many
indicators that climate scientists use to determine the state of the Earth’s
climate system. A good analogy is your family doctor, who uses a wide range of
measurements – not just your temperature – to determine the state of your
health. While surface air temperature is
the indicator that we experience in our day to day lives, climate scientists
use a wide range of other indicators that also show the state of the climate
system. These include:
Ocean heat content (see Figure 2 below); Sea surface temperature; Sea‐level rise; Sea ice cover; Global snow
cover; Mass of land‐based glaciers;
Mass of polar ice sheets; Species migrations; Tree‐line changes. All of these
factors must be considered over a long time frame, usually over 30 years (and
preferably much longer), to accurately assess the long‐term change in climate, as distinct from natural variability. While
all of these indicators show their own modes of variability and regional variations,
taken together at the global scale, they paint a clear picture of a strongly
warming Earth, with a trend that continues to the present.
2. What is the most important indicator that the Earth is
warming?
Greenhouse gases act as a blanket trapping additional heat energy at
the Earth’s surface and in the lower atmosphere. This is a natural phenomenon,
and the physics are very well understood. As human activities add more
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, more heat is being trapped at the Earth’s
surface. The first step in understanding climate change is to understand where
this additional heat goes. The vast majority of the extra heat does not go into
the atmosphere and thus raise the air
temperature but rather into the ocean. Here is the budget for where
the extra heat goes (Table 1):
Table 1: Where the extra heat goes.
(Source: IPCC 2007). Compartment of the Earth’s surface Percentage: Oceans: 89.3; Atmosphere: 3.1; Land: 4.8: Glaciers/ice caps (continental): 1.4; Greenland ice sheet: 0.1; Antarctic
ice sheets: 0.4; Arctic sea ice: 0.9; Total 100.0. As shown in Table 1, the single best measure
of whether the Earth is warming is the change in heat content of the ocean.
This is shown in Figure 1, which is the latest available analysis taking the long
term trend up to 2009. Note that over the last 40 years the heat content of the
ocean has increased substantially, and the strongly upward trend has continued
through to the most recently available data.
Figure 1: The increase in total
ocean heat content from the surface to 2000 m, based on running five year
analyses, from 1957 to 2009. Reference period is 1955–2006. Vertical bars
represent +/–2 standard deviations about the five‐year estimate. Caption refers to red line only. Source: Levitus, S., Yarosh, E. S., Zweng, M.
M., Antonov, J. I., Boyer, T. P., Baranova, O. K., Garcia, H. E., et al.
(2012). World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change (0–2000),
1955–2010. Geophysical Research Letters, m. doi:10.1029/2012GL051106
3. What does the air temperature record actually show?
The air absorbs approximately 3% of the additional heat trapped by
greenhouse gases. Over the last 50 years
global air temperature has been increasing. Some years are cooler and some years are hotter than others, however, the
long term trend is up. Over the last 50 years every decade has been warmer than
the one before it, including the 2000‐2009 decade. In
fact, 2000‐2009 was the hottest decade since records
began and stands out on the temperature record. Air temperature is influenced
by climate change, as well as by natural factors such as changes in incoming
solar radiation, volcanoes and patterns of variability such as the El Niño
Southern Oscillation (ENSO). On shorter time frames – annually, a few years, or
up to a decade or two, these natural factors are important influences on the
global average temperature and can mask the underlying, long‐term trend due to the increasing greenhouse
gas concentrations. ENSO is one of the most important of these. El Niño years
are warmer than average while La Niña years are cooler. This is why climate
scientists take a long “time series” – spanning many decades – to examine the
underlying trend in temperature and separate out the variability “noise” from
the longer term trend (the signal”). The
Met Office temperature prediction for 2013‐2017 is essentially a prediction of the short term effects of natural
factors and has little to do with the longer‐term temperature trend.
Scientists look to see whether the underlying warming trend re‐appears when the masking effects of natural
factors are accounted for. The adjusted temperature record is shown in Figure
2. The answer is obvious. When the
masking effects of natural factors are removed, the underlying trend of rising
air temperature comes through loud and clear right up to the present.
Figure 2: Global average temperature
record adjusted for changes in incoming solar radiation, aerosols from large
volcanoes, and the warming/cooling from ENSO events. Source: Foster, G., &
Rahmstorf, S. (2011). Global temperature evolution 1979– 2010. Environmental
Research Letters, 6(4), 044022.
Retrieved from http://stacks.iop.org/1748–9326/6/i=4/a=044022
4. What is the long term future trend in global air
temperature?
There may be periods of years up to a decade or two where the long‐term trend is masked by natural factors,
but the long term trend will continue to be rising air temperature, along with
rising ocean heat content, and further loss of snow and ice. The extent of this
warming of the planet will depend, for a
large part, on the further amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the
atmosphere from human activities.
References: Foster, G., & Rahmstorf, S. (2011).
Global temperature evolution 1979– 2010. Environmental Research Letters, 6(4), 044022. Retrieved
from http://stacks.iop.org/1748–9326/6/i=4/a=044022.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Climate
Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the
Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Eds: Solomon S., Qin,
D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K., Tignor, M.M.B., Miller, H.L. Jr and Chen, Z.)
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA. 996 pp.
Levitus, S., Yarosh, E. S., Zweng, M. M., Antonov, J. I., Boyer, T. P.,
Baranova, O. K., Garcia, H. E., et al.
(2012). World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change
(0–2000), 1955–2010. Geophysical
Research Letters, m. doi:10.1029/2012GL051106.
World Meteorological Organization (2012). Provisional statement on the
status of the global climate. 2011:
world’s 10th warmest year, warmest year with La Niña on record, second‐lowest Arctic sea ice extent . www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press
_ releases/gcs _ 2011 _ en.html
There are
certainly huge amounts of oil locked up in shale formations worldwide. In the
United States alone, the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales contain up to 700 billion
barrels, and the Green River shale under Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah has a
whopping 2 trillion barrels. However, only a tiny fraction of this total is
recoverable. For Bakken (in Montana and North Dakota) and Eagle Ford (in
Texas), which account for most of the current surge in U.S. oil production, the
estimated recoverable fraction ranges from 1 to 2 percent. Though all of these
deposits are loosely referred to as “shale oil,” Bakken and Eagle Ford oil is
more precisely called “tight oil,” because it is actual, fluid oil that is
trapped in the pores of shale, and it can be liberated by fracturing the rock
to allow the oil to flow. In contrast, the hydrocarbon in the Green River shale
is not really oil at all but a waxy substance that must be cooked at around 500
degrees Celsius to turn it into flowing oil. The technology for extracting oil
from deposits like the Green River shale is far more challenging
than what is required to tap into tight oil,
and it has never been profitably implemented at any significant scale. There is
thus no credible estimate of how much oil can be recovered from the Green River
formation. At the high end of the estimates,
predicted production from Bakken and Eagle Ford together amounts to perhaps a
two-year oil supply for the United States at 2011 consumption rates. That's
significant but not a game-changer. Even if it were to prove possible to
achieve production rates comparable to those of Saudi Arabia, that would only
mean that we would deplete the resource faster and bring on an oil crash
sooner.
What would it
take to ramp up production to such high levels? Technological developments have
made it possible to tap into tight oil, but these are not the same kinds of
technological developments that have given us ever more powerful computers and
cellphones at ever declining prices. Oil production technology is giving us
ever more expensive oil with ever diminishing returns for the ever increasing
effort that needs to be invested. According to the statistics presented by J.
David Hughes at the AGU session, we are now drilling 25,000 wells per year just
to bring production back to the levels of the year 2000, when we were drilling
only 5,000 wells per year. Worse, the days are long gone when you could stick a
pitchfork in the ground and get a gusher that would produce for years. The new
wells are expensive (on the order of $10 million each in the Bakken) but give
out rapidly, as shown in the following figure from Hughes' talk illustrating
the typical production curve.
Tight oil is
headed for a Red Queen's race, where you have to keep drilling and drilling and drilling just to keep
your production in the same place. At several million dollars a pop, that adds
up to a big annual investment, and eventually you run out of places to put new
wells. The following figure, also from Hughes' talk, shows that if you try to
increase production by drilling wells faster, you just wind up running out of
oil sooner.
Current total
U.S. oil production is about 6 million barrels per day. By way of comparison,
Saudi production is currently running at 9.5 million barrels per day. To exceed
Saudi production, new oil from tight-oil sources would have to more than offset
declining production from existing wells. It is clear that even if we do manage
somehow to temporarily exceed Saudi production rates, the party is not going to
last very long. High oil prices may make
it profitable to recover more oil from unconventional deposits, but ultimately
physics rules. In his talk at the AGU session, Charles A.S. Hall pointed out
that the energy return on investment—the amount of energy you get out of a well
vs. the energy needed to produce the oil—has been getting steadily worse over
time. As long as there is some net energy gain and some profit to be made,
drilling may go ahead, but the benefits to the energy supply deteriorate at the
same time as the collateral damage to climate (in the form of increased carbon
dioxide emissions per barrel of oil produced) goes up. The market is not laying the foundations for
an era of unending oil-based prosperity. The market is pushing inexorably
toward investment in expensive technologies to extract the last drop of profit
through faster depletion of a resource that's guaranteed to run out. If we're
going to invest in expensive energy technologies, it would be better to pick
long-term winners rather than guaranteed losers.
The flaws in
the abundance narrative for fracked natural gas are much the same as for tight
oil, so I won't belabor the point. Certainly, the current natural gas glut has
played a welcome role in the reduced growth rate of U.S. carbon dioxide
emissions, and the climate benefits of switching from coal to natural gas are abundantly clear. But gas, too,
is in a Red Queen's race, and it can't be counted on
to last out the next few decades, let alone the century of abundance predicted
by some boosters. Temporarily cheap
and abundant gas buys us some respite—which we should be using to put
decarbonized energy systems in place. It will only do us good if we use this
transitional period wisely. We won't be much better off in the long run if
cheap gas only succeeds in killing off the nascent renewables industry and the
development of next-generation nuclear power.
Does all the
new American oil give us yet another way to fry ourselves? At 0.1159 metric
tons of carbon per barrel of oil, the oil in Bakken and Eagle Ford amounts to a
carbon pool of 81 gigatons, and the Green River shale adds up to 232 gigatons.
Given that burning an additional 500 gigatons
of fossil fuel carbon is sufficient to commit the Earth to a practically
irreversible warming of 2 degrees Celsius, these are scary numbers. However, if
oil analysts such as those speaking at the American Geophysical Union are
right, almost all of this oil will remain inaccessible. In that case,
coal—which certainly contains enough carbon to bring us to the danger level and
probably much beyond—remains the clear and present threat to the climate, and
the fight to leave as much coal as possible in the ground remains the front
line in the battle to protect the climate. This does not mean the threat posed
by the carbon pool in unconventional oil can be completely ignored. The case
against oil abundance seems persuasive, but I'd hate to bet the planet against
the ingenuity of future oil engineers, which is why I feel that some rearguard
actions that inhibit development of unconventional oil are warranted, notably
in the case of the Keystone XL pipeline,
which taps into Canada's Athabasca oil sands.
False hopes for an unending age of oil abundance provide an excuse to
put off the hard decisions we need to make in order to smooth the road to a
sustainable energy future. If oil cornucopians like Leonardo Maugeri are wrong,
then the end of oil and gas is not many decades off (a few would say this is true for coal as well), and so
even without bringing climate change into the picture, it is necessary to begin
planning for new energy sources. Economists offer up a rosy picture in which
gradually rising prices call into being some combination of increased
production and resource substitution, but the resource depletion endgame does
not always work this way. The story of Wisconsin white pine timber depletion,
recounted in William Cronan's book Nature's Metropolis,
should give us pause:
The
manufacturer's acute seasonal need for short-term credit drove them to the one
market where they knew they could get quick cash, even if it meant that they
were forever selling lumber at lower prices than they liked. Under such
circumstances, the only way they could keep up with costs was to cut more
trees, contributing still further to the overproduction and saturated markets
that had created low prices in the first place. Chicago thus became the focal
point of a vicious circle: Undercapitalization caused overproduction, which in
turn kept prices low and accelerated the destruction of the northern forest. The
Lumberman
summed up the problem by attributing it to “so many men … striving to carry on
a larger business than their capital will warrant” and, as a result, having to
turn natural capital into liquid capital merely to survive. “The only
reasonable explanation of this paradoxical state of affairs,” the Lumberman's editors wrote, “is
that the mill men … are using up their capital, as it exists in the form of
stumpage, for no other end than simply keep themselves in business.” This description is eerily similar to the
last-gasp scenario described in Chris Nelder's article on the oil endgame, “The Last Sip.” Whales were driven
to the brink of extinction before petroleum replaced whale oil, and we may well
fry our planet—and bankrupt ourselves while doing so—before we're finally
forced to kick the fossil fuel habit. It will be hard to muster the resources
to develop replacements for fossil fuel energy if we wait until both the
economy and climate are in ruins. We are in for a hard landing if we don't use
our current prosperity to pave the way for a secure energy and climate future.
(Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, Slate.com, Feb. 6, 2013)
Snow falls in the Middle East as at least eight killed
by fierce winter storms
THE fiercest winter storm to hit the Mideast in years
has brought a rare 30cms of snow to Jordan, caused fatal accidents in Lebanon
and the West Bank, and disrupted traffic on the Suez Canal in Egypt. At least
eight people have died across the region.
In Lebanon, the Red Cross said storm-related accidents killed six people
over the past two days. Several drowned after slipping into rivers from flooded
roads, one person froze to death and another died after his car went off a
slippery road, according to George Kettaneh, Operations Director for the
Lebanese Red Cross.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, a Palestinian
official said two West Bank women drowned after their car was caught in a flash
flood on Tuesday. Nablus Deputy Governor Annan Atirah said the women abandoned
their vehicle after it got stuck on a flooded road, and their bodies were
apparently swept away by surging waters. Their driver was hospitalised in
critical condition. In the Gaza Strip,
civil defence spokesman Mohammed al-Haj Yousef said storms cut electricity to
thousands of Palestinian homes and rescuers were sent to evacuate dozens of
people.
Parts of Israel were bracing for snow a day after the
military was forced to send helicopters and rubber dinghies to rescue residents
stranded by floodwaters. In Jerusalem, streets were mostly empty as light snow
began to stick on Wednesday night. School was cancelled for the next day
because of the weather, which Israeli meteorologists said was the stormiest in
a decade.
The unusual weather over the past few days hit
vulnerable Syrian refugees living in tent camps very hard, particularly some
50,000 sheltering in the Zaatari camp in Jordan's northern desert. Torrential
rains over four days have flooded some 200 tents and forced women and infants
to evacuate in temperatures that dipped below freezing at night, whipping wind
and lashing rain. "It's been
freezing cold and constant rain for the past four days," lamented Ahmad
Tobara, 44, who evacuated his tent when its shafts submerged in flood water in
Zaatari. A camp spokesman said that by
Wednesday, some 1500 refugees had been displaced within the camp and were now
living in mobile homes normally used for schools. Weather officials said winds
exceeded 70km/h and the rain left 70cm of water on the streets. The storm
dumped at least 30cm of snow on many parts of Jordan and was accompanied by
lashing wind, lightning and thunder. It shut schools, stranded motorists and
delayed international flights, Jordanian weatherman Mohammed Samawi said. The
unusually heavy snowfall blocked streets in the capital Amman and isolated
remote villages, prompting warnings from authorities for people to stay home as
snow plows tried to reopen clogged roads. It forced at least 400 families to
evacuate their homes and move to government shelters overnight. Samawi called it the "fiercest storm to
hit the Mideast in the month of January in at least 30 years." The
snowstorm followed four days of torrential rain, which caused flooding in many
areas across the country.
In Lebanon, several days of winds and heavy rain along
the coast and record snow in the mountains caused power outages across the
country, blocked traffic and shut down mountain passes. Later Wednesday, snow
is forecast at altitudes higher than 200 metres, while rain that has already
flooded suburbs of the capital, Beirut, should continue.
In Egypt, rare downpours, strong winds and low
visibility disrupted Suez Canal operations over the past three days and also
led to the closure of several ports. The number of ships moving through the
Suez Canal had fallen by half because of poor visibility, the official MENA
news agency reported. A canal official said that by Wednesday, operations had
returned to normal. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorised to brief reporters.
MENA also reported 10 fishermen went missing after
their boat capsized near Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean.
Stormy weather sparked widespread flooding, prompting
chaos on the roads and a nationwide school closure in Lebanon.
In Syria, where a civil war is raging, snow was piling
up in and around the capital, Damascus. Officials said many villages in central
Homs province and along the southern border with Israel have been cut off after
heavy snowfall. Torrential rains are expected over the next three days with
temperatures around freezing. Some 2.5
million people within Syria have been displaced in fighting that has stretched
on for nearly two years now. From: AP / The Telegraph, Jan. 10, 2013)
BEIJING:
The Chinese government issues warnings advising people to stay indoors
as pollution levels rise to dangerous levels.
A blanket of toxic air that has blocked out the sun across most of north
China is dominating social media and looming as a serious political challenge.
Visibility was reduced to a few hundred metres for much of the weekend in the
Chinese capital and many of the city's 20 million went online to vent their
fury about ''apocalyptic'' and ''post-apocalyptic'' conditions. The Beijing
News covered the story with the headline ''Blown the Charts'', showing that
several air monitoring stations were recording levels higher than their indexes
could cope with. Even the Communist
Party's staid official mouthpiece, The People's Daily, headed a page
four article on Sunday with ''What's Going on With the Air?'' Monitors at the
United States embassy in the suburb of Liangmaqiao, in Beijing's inner east,
said the concentration of airborne PM 2.5 particulates reached 886 micrograms
per cubic metre at 8pm on Saturday, believed to be the highest since it began
measuring in 2008. Readings above 300 are classed as ''hazardous'' by US
environmental standards. These PM 2.5 particulates, 2.5 microns in diameter or
smaller, are considered the most harmful to health because they can penetrate
easily into human tissue.
''I can tell you the machine is working
properly,'' US embassy spokesman Nolan Backhouse said. The US embassy pollution
monitor is published on a Twitter feed, which is blocked by censors in China,
but is picked up and placed on several popular Chinese websites and iPhone
applications. Beijing temporarily boosted its air quality for the 2008 Olympics
including by improving vehicle emissions standards, banning coal stoves and
shifting heavy industry to poorer parts of the country. But many of those gains
appear to have been offset by an explosion in the numbers of cars on the roads.
Air pollution was the top-ranking story on the country's most popular news
portals, and Chinese weather reports said cold, moist and windless atmospheric
conditions could keep pollution at high levels until Tuesday. (John Garnaut, SMH, January 14, 2013)
Economics
ECONOMIST John Hewson,
architect of the GST, has predicted the world faces economic gloom for possibly
more than a decade. Dr Hewson, who led the federal Liberal Party in
the 1990s after having worked as an economist for the Reserve Bank of
Australia, the International Monetary Fund and Treasury, also warned that
Australia's heavy reliance on the Chinese economy was unhealthy, reports the Herald Sun.
"It doesn't make good governance at all to be so deeply in debt to
China," he said. "Our minerals boom can evaporate and in any case
that boom is not of much benefit to the economy generally." Dr Hewson said
"profits from mining are largely going offshore and are not staying
onshore". "One day, China will
stop paying high prices for commodities, like Japan and Korea did before
them."
He recommended Australia "diversify
to other parts of the world, such as the Arab world".
On global economic volatility, Dr Hewson
said he had never seen a "more uncertain set of factors before".
"I believe we are in for a fairly difficult period for the next five or 10
or more years," he said at an Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and
Industry function in Melbourne last Friday night. "The chances of a credit squeeze like
the one in 2008 is not high, but there is a risk of one," Dr Hewson said,
describing the current global volatility as worse than the Depression of the
1930s.
For Australia, he forecast "very flat
economic growth for a decade or two" and a real chance that the European
banking sector's problems could land Down Under. "It's a systemic problem and it can
spread internationally, and that is where Australian banks can hit the
wall." He said the spiralling sovereign debt crisis had led to people losing
confidence in governments' ability to deal with major issues. "The failure of governments at all
levels, whether it is the bureaucrats or politicians, has diminished their
ability to govern in their own right," Dr Hewson said.
"That is why you see unity and coalition
governments springing up everywhere, from the UK to Australia and this week in
Greece, with Italy being next." (Olga Galacho, Herald Sun, November 14, 2011)
How they must bleed for us. In 2012, the world's 100
richest people became $230 billion richer. They are now worth $1.8 trillion:
just less than the entire output of Britain.
This is not the result of chance. The rise in their fortunes is the
direct result of policies. Here are a few: the reduction of tax rates and tax
enforcement; governments' refusal to recoup a decent share of revenues from
minerals and land; the privatisation of public assets and the creation of a
toll-booth economy; wage liberalisation and the destruction of collective
bargaining. The policies that made the
global monarchs so rich are the policies squeezing everyone else. This is not
what the theory predicted. Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and their disciples
- in a thousand business schools, the International Monetary Fund , the World
Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and just about
every modern government - have argued that the less governments tax the rich,
defend workers and redistribute wealth, the more prosperous everyone will be.
Any attempt to reduce inequality would damage the efficiency of the market,
impeding the rising tide that lifts all boats. The apostles have conducted a
30-year global experiment, and the results are now in. Total failure. Before I go on, I should point out that I
don't believe perpetual economic growth is either sustainable or desirable. But
if growth is your aim - an aim to which every government claims to subscribe -
you couldn't make a bigger mess of it than by releasing the super-rich from the
constraints of democracy. Last year's
annual report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development should
have been an obituary for the neoliberal model developed by Hayek and Friedman
and their disciples. It shows unequivocally that their policies have created
the opposite outcomes to those they predicted. As neoliberal policies (cutting
taxes for the rich, privatising state assets, deregulating labour, reducing
social security) began to bite from the 1980s onwards, growth rates started to
fall and unemployment to rise.
The remarkable growth in the rich nations during the
'50s, '60s and '70s was made possible by the destruction of the wealth and
power of the elite, as a result of the 1930s Great Depression and World War II.
Their embarrassment gave the other 99 per cent an unprecedented chance to
demand redistribution, state spending and social security, all of which
stimulated demand. Neoliberalism was an
attempt to turn back these reforms. Lavishly funded by millionaires, its
advocates were amazingly successful - politically. Economically they flopped. Throughout OECD countries, taxation has
become more regressive: the rich pay less, the poor pay more. The result, the
neoliberals claimed, would be that economic efficiency and investment would
rise, enriching everyone. The opposite occurred. As taxes on the rich and on
business diminished, the spending power of the state and poorer people fell,
and demand contracted. Investment rates declined, in step with companies'
expectations of growth.
The neoliberals also insisted unrestrained inequality
in incomes and flexible wages would reduce unemployment. But throughout the
rich world inequality and unemployment have soared. The recent jump in
unemployment in most developed countries - worse than in any previous recession
of the past three decades - was preceded by the lowest level of wages as a
share of gross domestic product since World War II. Bang goes the theory. It
failed for the same obvious reason; low wages suppress demand, which suppresses
employment. As wages stagnated, people supplemented their income with debt.
Rising debt fed the deregulated banks. We are all aware of the consequences.
The greater inequality becomes, the UN report finds, the less stable the
economy and the lower its rates of growth. The policies with which neoliberal
governments seek to reduce their deficits and stimulate their economies are
counter-productive.
In Britain, where I live, the impending reduction of
the top rate of income tax (from 50 per cent to 45 per cent) will not boost
government revenue or private enterprise, but it will enrich the speculators
who tanked the economy. Goldman Sachs and other banks are thinking of delaying
bonus payments to take advantage of it. A welfare bill approved by Parliament
last week will not help to clear the deficit or stimulate employment. It will
reduce demand, suppressing economic recovery. The same goes for capping public
sector pay. ''Relearning some old lessons about fairness and participation,''
the UN says, ''is the only way to eventually overcome the crisis and pursue a path
of sustainable economic development.''
As I say, I have no dog in this race, except a belief that no one, in
this sea of riches, should have to be poor. But staring dumbfounded at the
lessons unlearned in the West, it strikes me that the entire structure of
neoliberal thought is a fraud. The demands of the ultra-rich have been dressed
up as sophisticated economic theory and applied regardless of the outcome. The
complete failure of this world-scale experiment is no impediment to its
repetition. This has nothing to do with economics. It has everything to do with
power. (George Monbiot, Guardian/The
Canberra Times, Jan. 16, 2013)
US boss insults France's 'so-called workers' French workers have hit back at scathing
comments made about them by Maurice Taylor, the CEO of US tyre company Titan
International.
PARIS: The head of the US tyre maker Titan
International has fired a broadside at French ''so-called workers'', claiming
they ''work only three hours a day'' and his company would be ''stupid'' to
take over a factory in the country.
The letter from Titan's chairman and chief executive,
Maurice Taylor, to France's Industry Minister, Arnaud Montebourg, reignited a
heated debate over French productivity and waning competitiveness.
The letter in the financial daily newspaper Les
Echos from ''The Grizz'', as Mr Taylor is known, is unabashed: ''The French
workforce gets paid high wages but work only three hours. They get one hour for
breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told the French union
workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!''
Titan
Tire Corporation President Maury Taylor has written a stinging letter to the
French government, blasting the French work ethic saying workers waste time
talking. Mr Montebourg had floated the
idea that Titan, which makes agricultural tyres, might take over a Goodyear
factory in Amiens, threatened with closure.
The communist-backed CGT union, France's largest, strongly opposed a
Titan takeover last year. Mr Montebourg had hoped to rekindle the company's
interest but admitted defeat this month.
''Sir, your letter says you want Titan to start a discussion,'' Mr
Taylor said. ''How stupid do you think we are? Titan is the one with the money
and the talent to produce tyres. What does the crazy union have? It has the
French government. The French farmer wants cheap tyres. He doesn't care if
those tyres come from China or India or if those tyres are subsidised.
''Titan is going to buy Chinese or Indian tyres, pay less than €1
($1.30) an hour to workers and export all the tyres that France needs,'' he
said. ''In five years, Michelin won't be producing tyres in France. You can
keep your so-called workers.''
(Henry Samuel, SMH, Feb. 22, 2013
National
Gang crime crackdown
... Prime Minister plans to hunt down ganglords.
CRIMINALS face the seizure of luxury cars, houses and
cash assets under a national blitz to fight gang-related crime.
Julia Gillard today announced a new taskforce to crack
down on gangs as she searches for a political circuit-breaker.
The taskforce will tackle sophisticated gang operations
involved in weapons trading and drug dealing, which has resulted in shootings
in Melbourne and Sydney. ''It means that they are moving a lot of money around
and it means that their activities span the borders of any one state,'' Ms
Gillard said. Ms Gillard says it's modeled on the FBI's Violent Gangs Safe
Street Taskforce, which has made 55,000 arrests in the US since 2001.
''These are new measures to try and make sure we are
combating the gangs and guns on our streets,'' the PM said.
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare and Australian
Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus lined up to confirm the new $64 million
taskforce, including state and federal police.
The idea is the brainchild of the AFP Commissioner who advised the
Gillard government the best way to fight gang-related crime was to ensure state
and federal agencies were working more closely together. Cyber investigators will be deployed to search
Centrelink and Tax Office records of suspected criminals.
Strike teams will join the AFP's Criminal Assets
Confiscation Taskforce to seize assets purchased with crime proceeds.
"Money creates power in the criminal underworld
and if police have more power to seize assets it will shift that balance,"
Mr Clare told The Sunday Telegraph. "The
more power police have to seize their cars, their cash, their jet skis and
their houses will make a real difference.
"People don't care which level of government is responsible for
what - they just want this problem addressed." Strike teams will be established in Sydney,
Melbourne and Brisbane with liaison officers also appointed in Adelaide, Darwin
and Perth. Based on the FBI's Violent
Gang Safe Street Taskforce model that was responsible for 55,000 arrests in the
US from 2001, it will include 70 members from the AFP, state police forces, the
Australian Crime Commission, Customs, the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship, the Tax Office and Centrelink.
The decision follows a wave of gun-related crime across
Australia, including shootings in suburban streets.
"People are very worried and with good reason.
When there's a shooting in your street or in your neighbourhood people are very
worried," Mr Clare said. The Prime
Minister called Premier Barry O'Farrell last night to inform him of the
formation of the taskforce. Mr Clare, who holds the western Sydney seat of
Blaxland on a margin of 12 per cent, said
Labor faced a tough challenge across Australia. Last week, The Sunday Telegraph published
secret union polling suggesting double-digit swings that would mean the
previously safe seat of Werriwa falls to the Liberals on September 14.
A ReachTEL automated robot poll yesterday suggested a
wipe-out in western Sydney with Werriwa, Chifley, Blaxland and Higher Education
Minister Chris Bowen's seat of McMahon at risk unless the party switched to
Kevin Rudd.
Mr Clare insisted the gang-related crime taskforce was
not a political stunt but a recommendation of the AFP.
He said the next step would be national laws on
unexplained wealth, a move that has run into political turbulence with state
governments. And he pointed to last week's record seizure of 585kg of the drug
ice, worth about $438 million, in an operation involving federal and NSW police
as an example of what could be done.
Mr Clare said the strike teams would be supported by
physical and technical surveillance teams in Sydney and Melbourne. They will
collect and share intelligence on the activities of gang members.
NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher said the state had
been calling for federal assistance to tackle the problem of gangs and drugs
for a long time and he was glad Canberra had acknowledged the issue. But he
said there had been minimal consultation and the states remained in the dark
about the details. ''I got a phone call last night ... my Queensland
counterpart got a phone call very late last night. I don't think the Victorians
even got a phone call,'' he said.
Mr Gallacher said $64 million wasn't a lot when spread
among the states and territories over four years.
''If they're restricting it to just to a small number
of states, then clearly we're going to have a problem, because if you're going
to secure the nation you don't put a security door on your front door and leave
the back door wide open,'' he said.
'If it's serious in terms of providing intel to the NSW
police, then obviously we would welcome that. ''But the biggest gift the
Federal Government can give to every state is reinvestment of money to customs
to stop the drugs and guns getting into the country in the first place.'' Commissioners
from the states and territories will discuss it at a meeting next week, he
said.
The national taskforce will be based on the model used
in Taskforce Polaris which was established in 2010 to the Federal Government
established Taskforce Polaris to investigate organised crime on the waterfront
in Sydney. Involving officers from the
AFP, the New South Wales Police Force as well as officers from Customs, the
Australian Crime Commission and the New South Wales Crime Commission, it is the
model for the new gang-related crime taskforce. investigations have already led
to 34 arrests, 154 charges and the seizure of 12 tonnes of illicit substances
seized. (The Sunday Times, March 3, 2013)
PRIME Minister Julia
Gillard's taxpayer-subsidised private car has been caught eight times in six
months for traffic offences, but who was behind the wheel?
The offences were listed in official
documents detailing MPs' expenses over a six-month period last year and tabled
in Parliament. While other MPs say how the fines were incurred and by whom, Ms
Gillard's office referred inquiries to Special Minister of State Gary Gray,
whose office passed the matter to the Finance and Deregulation Department. The
department has requested an application under Freedom of Information laws
before it will reveal the details. Under parliamentary entitlement guidelines,
MPs are entitled to a private vehicle in addition to use of a ComCar and hire
cars.
The rules also allow nominated staff and
family members to drive the cars. The
fines listed in the latest departmental expense documents - which lists MPs'
claims to July, 2012 - show they were issued between December 2, 2011, and
March 10 last year. MPs must pay the fines out of their own pocket, together
with a $25 departmental processing fee per fine.
A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard said:
"Where incurred, traffic infringement notices are paid by the person responsible
with no cost to the taxpayer. The infringements have been paid in full."
Two years ago, Ms Gillard's
private-plated, taxpayer-funded car was snapped twice in six months by police.
Ms Gillard said at the time that her
partner Tim Mathieson had accepted responsibility for the infringements, which
included speeding and going through a red light. But the Prime Minister was far
from top of the list in the number of fines her office racked up. Former Labor
attorney-general Robert McClelland copped 13 fines. He was unavailable for
comment. Both Education Minister Peter Garrett and Opposition immigration
spokesman Scott Morrison were fined for failing to pay tolls. Both blamed
faulty toll tags. Opposition tourism
spokesman Bob Baldwin blamed a staffer for collecting most of his five fines.
"I do over 80,000km a year in my car,
but most of those were speeding fines from a staff member who kept getting
pinged in the same spot," he said. "One speeding fine was probably
mine." ( Linda Silmalis,
Sunday Mail (SA), Jan. 5, 2013)
The ticking Budget debt bomb:
Gillard's gift to Oz
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan /
Pic: Ray Strange Source: The Daily Telegraph
ONE of the nation's top financiers yesterday joined the
debate on the country's rising debt level - describing it as dangerously high.
Government debt levels forecast to blow out by 80 per cent to $165 billion in
this term alone - $14,000 for every working Australian. "It just shouldn't be this high,"
said Mr Oliver, who said the government hadn't taken advantage of the
decade-long resources boom. "If you
take Ireland for example, it has had a similar level of public debt to
Australia in 2007 and only six years later, debt is over 100 per cent of
GDP." The Federal Government has
deliberately stalled negotiations over school funding reform in order to win an
"education election".
JULIA Gillard has failed to rule out if Labor will raid
super funds in the May budget, while Tony Abbott has vowed to leave
it untouched. After The Daily Telegraph
yesterday cited Bank of America Merrill Lynch research forecasting net debt
would rise by $21 billion in the May Budget, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott last
night went on the attack: "My fear, and the growing fear of the Australian
public, is that the government will try to solve its problems by increasing
your problems.
"We have a prime minister that is mortgaging your
future to secure her future."
A $21 billion hit to debt in the Budget would take
total net debt to $164.3 billion, from $143.3 billion forecast in the mid-year
budget review released in October - an increase of about 83 per cent from $89.5
billion since Labor retained office in 2010.
Market Economics managing director Stephen Koukoulas, a former adviser
to Ms Gillard, last night said Labor had made the choice to support local jobs
during the global financial crisis.
"The fact is Australia's net debt is dramatically lower than the
net debt levels for every single major advanced economy," he said.
A spokesman for Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury last
night described the BOA report as "misleading" because it didn't take
into account the $160 billion hit to revenues during the 2008-09 GFC, when the
government accrued debt to stop the economy going into recession. Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said Labor should
be comparing its performance with those of developed, commodity-exporting
countries with balance sheets in the black, such as Chile, Sweden, Finland and
Norway.
Comment: Gillard leaves a legacy of debt
Australian
taxpayers should be very afraid. This
fiscal inept federal Labor government is about to bring down its latest and
hopefully last Budget by the “World’s Best Treasurer”. Look forward to lots of big budget
announcements, more middle-class welfare and big promises, but just remember we
have recorded debt and promises that will be funded by borrowed money,
accumulating record interest repayments, to be left for future generations to
pay. What a legacy the Gillard government will leave, should they lose the next
election. (Janice Russell, Malua Bay)
THERE is nothing so dangerous as somebody with
nothing to lose.
And so the nation should have a lot to
fear from the Gillard government in its current kamikaze state.
All but the most deluded Labor MPs know
that the party is heading for a landslide defeat of epic proportions.
It is the political equivalent of being
hit by an asteroid.
Wayne Swan has one more budget before he
and his colleagues are consigned to electoral oblivion. Already he has been
forced to abandon his much vaunted surplus because of his botched mining tax -
first going for a blatant cash grab to distract attention from the dumped ETS
in 2010 and then swinging back so far the other way that the mining tax mach II
has effectively failed to raise any revenue whatsoever. And so having tried and failed to raid the
cookie jar of the resources boom, the Treasurer has now turned his attention to
Australians' superannuation savings. You can almost see the dollar signs in his
eyes.
The fact that this move is even being
contemplated is emblematic of all that is wrong with the Labor government and
tells us why it has seen a mass exodus ahead of its inevitable plunge to the
ocean floor. Firstly, as rebel statesman
Simon Crean told the Financial Review, it is a trashing of Labor's own legacy.
The party that created Australia's landmark compulsory superannuation
contribution scheme - the Snowy Hydro of its day - is now picking it apart one
thread at a time.
The second problem is that, by targeting
the contributions of higher income earners and then working down to whatever
threshhold it needs to make ends meet - as the government is tipped to do - it
sends a clear message that is is still fixated by the undergraduate "class
war" mentality that has both failed to recapture its working class base
while at the same time estranging middle-class and aspirational voters. But then again, who cares? Not only will Ms
Gillard lose government in September but Mr Swan will likely lose his seat.
Their political careers are over and the flailing and backflipping all over
Labor's core policy beliefs mean they do not even have a legacy to
preserve. In short, they have nothing to
lose by raiding what's left of the Treasury coffers with the zeal of wanted
bushrangers. Indeed, there will no doubt be a school of thought within the
party that they should bleed the war chest dry so as to starve Tony Abbott of
funds in his first years in office. On
that note we can offer them at least this consolation: So generous, vague and
uncosted are the Opposition Leader's promises thus far - not least his pie in
the sky maternity leave proposal - that he will have quite enough trouble
funding them without Labor torching the village on the way out. And so we urge the government to put the
national interest ahead of its own political interests in framing next month's
budget. Think of the long-term future of our country. Yes, Labor is to be defeated but it can still
be defeated with dignity and have history remember that it at least did one
thing right. (The Daily Telegraph, March
27, 2013)
Boats will blow out immigration
budget
SRI Lanka's navy says it has seized a fishing trawler
carrying at least 97 asylum seekers on their way to Australia.
A surge in boat arrivals will almost certainly blow out
the immigration budget with a second rescue of asylum seekers on an overcrowded
boat. A pregnant asylum seeker deemed a
security risk by ASIO was offered free domestic help and childcare while
another detainee has had drooping eyelids fixed by taxpayers. An array of non urgent medical treatment
provided to detainees has been revealed including a suspected war criminal who
had his impacted wisdom teeth removed at no cost to him. Details of treatment were contained in
Ombudsman's reports on long term detainees and come as the government announced
the latest asylum boat detected yesterday had 147 passengers on board, the biggest
arrival since October last year.
Most of the detainees who have been given everything
from free glasses and orthotics to dietary counselling to combat high
cholesterol, have been rejected as refugees and are exhausting appeals or have
received a negative ASIO security assessment. In August last year immigration official
offered the pregnant 33-year-old, whose third son was born in January, free
"domestic assistance, occasional childcare support and assistance with
(her daily) routine" on the advice of an occupational therapist and a
psychologist. The woman, who had attended ante-natal appointments at Fairfield
Hospital while living in residential housing in the Villawood complex, rejected
the offer. She and her two sons arrived by boat in May 2010 and were in
community detention, where she married her husband in April last year, until
her release was revoked in April after ASIO delivered an adverse security
assessment. A 27-year-old Tamil Tiger
had his impacted wisdom teeth extracted in June at Whyalla in South Australia,
two months after he complained of dental pain.
He has been in detention since arriving by boat in December 2009 and was
rejected as a refugee after Department of Immigration officials found
"serious reasons for considering (the man) had committed a war crime or a
crime against humanity."
A Department spokesman declined to comment on the man's
case.The 38-year-old with drooping eyelids overstayed a business visa before
being rejected as a refugee, prompting attempts to remove him. While he has been in detention in Sydney, the
man has had three rounds of surgery between December 2009 and January 2011 to
correct his eyelids. A Department
spokeswoman said surgery was never provided for "purely cosmetic
reasons." Other cases include a
35-year-old with two wives who has been treated for everything from hearing
problems to reflux and insomnia since arriving by boat in 2009. "These cases, especially that of that of
a suspected war criminal will do more than test the patience of the Australian
public," Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said. A spokeswoman
for the Department of Immigration said it had a "non delegable duty of
care" to ensure the health and welfare of detainees and that care "is
funded by the Australian Government." She said treatment had to be clinically
recommended by "health professionals such as GPs, dentists and medical
specialists." Meanwhile, the
government is reportedly considering a plan to move families out of community
detention onto bridging visas to save money in the May budget. Families would be treated the same as single
asylum seekers who receive about $440 a fortnight and some rent assistance to
live in the community. Prime Minister Julia Gillard would only say yesterday
that a decision had not been taken. (Gemma Jones, The Telegraph, March 28,
2013)
There's more to Ellen
DeGeneres' popularity in Australia than our obsession with celebrity
culture.
What is about Ellen? Stars can't get enough. From her contribution to the gay community, to her knack for getting hips shaking, Aussie stars on her Melbourne party red carpet had no shortage of reasons for loving Ellen DeGeneres.
When American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres
appeared in Sydney and Melbourne this week, she was greeted with scenes of mass
hysteria. Hundreds of fans camped
overnight to get a good position. Thousands more queued for hours, undeterred
by the baking heat. When DeGeneres stepped on stage, the crowd roared and waved
and conveyed their adoration with enormous banners. This would have been unthinkable a generation
ago. Back then, public pandemonium was the preserve of teenage ABBA fans.
Australians, as a general rule, did not lose their minds over daytime TV hosts.
Only in America was such unabashed public fandom acceptable. That notion was put to rest when Oprah
Winfrey stood on set in 2010 and declared – in her shouty, vowel-heavy manner –
"We're! Going! To! AUSTRALI-YAAAAAAAAAH!"
Her studio audience practically wet themselves with
excitement. That was nothing, however, compared to the reaction on our shores.
Grown-ups chucked sickies to scream at her in public. Local celebrities fell
over themselves to be seen with her. Hugh Jackman even risked his life to make
a memorable entrance. But why? What is
it about Ellen, Oprah and their peers that makes otherwise rational people
behave like the front three rows at a One Direction concert?
The popularity of their TV programs doesn't fully
explain it. Daytime TV, after all, has relatively small audiences. Local
(evening) talk show host Rove McManus had more viewers than Winfrey and
DeGeneres combined in his heyday, but would never have matched their huge public
turnouts.
The fact these hosts are American plays a greater
role. The Logie Awards, for instance, just wouldn't be the same without a
bewildered US celebrity being couriered in to validate its existence. The
Voice wouldn't be as popular without its international coaches. Indeed, we
only bestow the honourable title "Our" on movie stars such as Nicole
Kidman, who are successful enough to live somewhere else. As celebrity culture becomes more pervasive,
influencing even our political discourse, fame becomes an increasingly valuable
currency. Simply having a high profile is something to strive for and applaud,
regardless of how it's achieved. At
least, that's the view of older generations: those who look askance at the
crowds Winfrey and DeGeneres attract, dismissing their noisy affection as
brash, unseemly and vacuous in the extreme. It's also the view of
self-consciously alternative types who reward their favourite artists with
understated "respect". (Because displaying actual enthusiasm is lame.)
Except there's something off about both points of
view. Older generations might not have screamed and waved at TV stars – but
they were prone to over-the-top reactions to visiting royals and
popes. Personally, I'd rather salute a
down-to-earth comedian who promotes social equality. And it's refreshing to see DeGeneres win
mainstream appeal. Twenty years ago, her popularity would have hinged on her
physical appearance. Fifty years ago, it would have depended on her being stereotypically
feminine and uncontroversial, giggling at men's jokes instead of cracking her
own. Instead, she's cultivated a wide
fan base simply by being herself: a middle-aged, married gay woman who gets
about in jeans and sneakers and makes people laugh. She does not obsess over
her appearance or put herself down publicly. She treats her guests with
irreverence and good humour. Sometimes, she's serious, such as when she fights
for marriage equality. Sometimes, she's not, such as when she does her funny
dance on TV. Her motto is "be kind to one another", a creed by which
she seems to live.
People of all backgrounds – young and old, male and
female, gay and straight – seem to like her. There's much to celebrate about
this fact, without it being viewed as a harbinger of cultural decline. Not everyone who turned out to see DeGeneres
in Australia is a celebrity-worshipping daytime TV addict. For many, it was
nothing more than a few hours of fun. Perhaps there's nothing more complicated
to it than that. (Michael
Lallo, SMH, March 28, 2013)
Houso rorters shown the door
PUBLIC housing freeloaders who "inherited"
leases from their parents will be kicked out and forced to fork out for private
rentals as part of a major state government shake-up of tenancy rules. The move is aimed at addressing the state's
public housing crisis by freeing up properties occupied by freeloaders to offer
to some of the 55,479 people on the waiting list.
From the end of March, when a tenant has to leave their
home, the children, younger spouses and other people approved to live in the
home will no longer be able to inherit the public housing tenancy. The
government hopes its tough new rules will break the cycle of public housing in
some families by forcing offspring tenants to effectively re-qualify for a
home.
Housing NSW believes there are hundreds of cases of
children who have taken over a property by default despite being able-bodied
and capable of earning an income. The government will introduce a tough new
succession of tenancy policy to ensure only those in desperate need stay on. The changes, to come into effect later this
month, will not apply to residents over 55 or legal guardians of a minor. Family
and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said public housing was not a life
long benefits that parents could pass on to their children.
"I have taken a close look at the practice of what
is called succession of tenancy," she said. "Under this policy,
currently when a parent has to leave their public housing home, for example to
go into a nursing home, their able bodied children can take over the public
housing lease and stay there for life. "Public housing is meant to be a
hand up, not a life-long benefit which parents can pass to their children. "This
is not fair." The government last
year cracked down on people on the waiting list, removing those who did not
stay in touch, only to resurface back into their original position in the
queue. It also released details of waiting lists times in others states and
territories to allow those in need of housing to move interstate. The
department has also identified 1300 people who have been living in public
housing for free. They will soon be charged rent. A further 1600 who have been
suspected of freeloading are under investigation. Ms Goward said tenants who
inherited a property but no longer fit the criteria to stay on would be given
six months to find a private rental. (Linda
Silmalis, The Sunday Telegraph, March 03, 2013)
No fair go for older workers
HUNDREDS of thousands of older Australians say they
want to work and are actively looking for a job but are not being given a fair
go by employers. Mature-age applicants
say companies and recruitment agencies are secretly implementing age limits on
new employees and ignoring decades of work experience in favour of younger job
seekers with university qualifications.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has been forced to intervene in
84 reported cases of age discrimination, with research revealing one third of
workers aged 55-plus had been silent victims. An ARC Centre of Excellence in
Population Ageing Research report found there were approximately 320,000
unemployed Australians aged 55 and over who wanted a job but had been
discouraged from applying by poor experiences during the application process. The centre's senior research fellow Rafal
Chomik said age discrimination by employers was a significant barrier to the
retention and new employment of mature-age workers - and the economy was
missing out on the benefits. An increase in mature-age participation rates by
just 5 per cent would contribute about $30 billion to the economy every year,
his study found. "The barriers that lead to their inactivity come at a
high cost of foregone potential," Mr Chomik said. "This is despite the value of older
workers, their mature judgment, their reliability and loyalty and the fact that
business can benefit from workers that resemble their client
demographic.".
A survey by the Financial Services Council showed one
in three older workers had experienced discrimination in the workplace at a
time when they were finding it hard to build the superannuation they needed for
retirement. The council's chief
executive John Brogden said attitudes towards older workers needed to change. "We
need to end the concept of full-time work followed by full-time
retirement," Mr Brogden said. The
Fair Work Ombudsman's most recent figures show there were 1040 discrimination
complaints, including 84 relating to age discrimination, in the 2011-12
financial year. The cases were deemed so
serious they were escalated to a full investigation by Fair Work inspectors
after an initial assessment. Out-of-work plumber Paul Green, 62, said he had
discovered two large companies had a no-recruitment policy for people aged over
30 and 40 respectively during his two-year search for a job. "The government should name and shame
the companies who blatantly ignore the age discrimination laws," Mr Green
said. "I was kidding myself into thinking with my experience and
qualifications I would secure another job." Australian Bureau of
Statistics report into unemployment numbers found one in four people aged 55 to
59 had faced difficulty applying for jobs but still had hopes of finding stable
employment. The figure rose to 46 per
cent for people aged 60-64. (Laura
Speranza, The Sunday Telegraph, March 02, 2013)
Suggestions elsewhere in the media that
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's attitude to the print media resembles
that of Josef Stalin serve as a memory jogger to the last time Labor confronted
the newspapers in Australia. The year was 1944 and the Soviet Union, led by the
totalitarian dictator Stalin, was an ally in the war against the Axis powers.
Quite a few members of the left do not
much like the media and oppose a free press. Arthur Calwell, who was appointed
information minister in John Curtin's Labor government in September 1943, was a
life-long, left-wing media hater. He was wont to rail against what he termed
''the harlots of the press''. By the
time Calwell made it into the cabinet, the immediate threat to Australia had
passed and both Japan and Germany were experiencing setbacks. Nevertheless, he
saw this as a time to increase censorship of newspapers, then the principal
means of communicating news. Calwell, and his departmental head Edmund Bonney,
decided to exercise censorship not only with respect to military secrets but
also concerning what they regarded as public morale. The intrusion of censorship into the area of
morale led inevitably to a situation when Calwell and Bonney were deciding on
whether or not political news and comment could be published. The full story is
told in Paul Hasluck's official history, The Government and the People:
1942-1945. The matter came to a head in April 1944 when Frank Packer's Daily
Telegraph was suppressed for publishing blank columns where censored
sections had been deleted. Packer was supported by Warwick Fairfax's Sydney
Morning Herald. Both papers were suppressed on April 17, 1944.
Calwell's actions were taken to the High
Court. Chief Justice Sir John Latham suggested a conference which could resolve
the tension between the minister and the press. In May the Curtin government
accepted that, in future, ''censorship shall be imposed exclusively for reasons
of defence security''. Calwell and Bonney were thwarted in their effort to
regulate the media for political reasons.
It is no secret that some members of the Rudd and Gillard governments
regard some News Limited papers - particularly The Australian and The
Daily Telegraph - as having been unfair in their political reporting. John
Howard and some of his colleagues held a similar view about The Australian's
handling of the AWB wheat-for-food controversy concerning Iraq. However, Howard
did not see this as a reason to strike against News Limited. In any event, his
government's decline was not due to criticism in the News Limited publications
and he understood this. Labor's recent
problems are not due to News Limited. They turn essentially on its attempts to
impose an unpopular emissions trading scheme, or carbon tax, and its policy
approach to asylum seekers. However, Conroy and some of his colleagues are
determined to punish News Limited. His proposed legislation has had the
unintended consequence of rallying other media companies to oppose the
governments' approach - since the proposed restrictions on press freedom affect
virtually every business in the fold. The
legislation is complicated. Special attention has turned on Conroy's intention
to appoint a public interest media advocate who would be chosen by the
government and who would have substantial powers with respect to media
ownership and media standards. The
concept of deciding the ''public interest'' in a democracy is all but
impossible. The nature of representative government is that there are competing
interests which are resolved in a non-violent manner.
It was much the same with the Prime
Minister's interview published by Fairfax Media on Monday. Julia Gillard told
journalist Michael Gordon on no fewer than three occasions that the government
is serving ''the national interest''.
It is true that there are some matters
which invariably equate with the national interest. Most notably, national
security. However, the Prime Minister of a minority government has little
standing to claim that her interpretation of the national interest is correct
and rival interpretations are simply wrong.
In democratic politics, citizens genuinely disagree on what constitutes
the national interest and/or the public interest with respect to political, economic
and social matters. There are some Australians who agree that newspapers should
be subjected to greater regulation by a government-appointed public interest
media advocate. Others regard such an approach as involving excessive
regulation at best and a degree of Stalinism at worst. Labor's attempt at controlling the newspapers
failed in the mid-1940s because, even in wartime, a majority of Australians
wanted their political news as unfiltered as possible. Conroy's approach is not
identical to Calwell's. What the two Labor politicians have in common is belief
in regulation and a dislike of sections of the print media. (Gerard
Henderson, (executive director of The Sydney Institute), National Times, March 19, 2013)
Wilbur Street, Greenacre? I remember it
well. I remember riding my bike around Wilbur Street, and when I ran away from
home at 10 I hid in the corner telephone box. I used to catch the bus to
Lakemba when I missed the one from Roberts Road. Never a soul to be seen. Roberts Road. We (the neighbourhood kids from
Wilbur Street to Chaseling Street) used to play tennis on Roberts Road. All our
street games were played on Roberts Road. We grew up on Roberts Road. Now it's
a six-lane highway of murderous intent. Roberts
Park? Sure. That's where I used to play rugby league football for St John's
Lakemba under-10s. Garry Hughes played
five-eighth and I played on the wing and Grahame Hughes was ball boy. We always
had runaway victories there and we won the premiership – that was 1962. I can't
remember any shootings at the time, but I believe it was the scene of one or
two recently. Nouriel Park, Greenacre?
Yes, that's where I played in the under-9s for the Greenacre Soccer Club and
trained every Monday afternoon. We were undefeated champions and KO winners.
The year was 1961. Can't remember any rapes happening there – only cut legs and
the odd broken limb. I believe it was the scene of a horrific rape a few years
ago.
Lakemba? Sure, that's where we went to the
Saturday matinee at the Odeon every week and watched such pearls as the Three
Stooges, Jerry Lewis and Ben Hur. We
always bought chips and scallops at the Greek fish and chips shop waiting for
the bus, and a small Coke, if we could afford it. This was even before supermarkets,
or traffic lights, on Punchbowl Road.
I remember Mr Hodgkins, the local produce
store owner warning us of the terrors of the supermarkets while he neatly
wrapped the quarter pound of butter he had just sliced. I worked for him for a
while delivering his junk mail – sorry, advertising leaflets – and working for
five shillings twice a week after school.
Greenacre was my home, but it has changed. Some say for the better.
Multiculturalism was the justification of all things hard to accept. My parents
reflected stereotypical attitudes of the time – all foreigners
were "wogs", unless they were Asian. Asians were "dirty",
they would say. It's easy to say you
grow out of such perverse racism, but not entirely. There are scars. Even as I
tried to reason with my mother as a university student, I knew I was tainted,
possibly forever. When you see your
homeland, which was what Greenacre was, turned into a minefield, or a
battlefield, or a refuge of drug dealers, criminals, drive-by shooters and
terror – you find yourself in a quandary. It's all part and parcel of the
greater good, of the New Australia, of the emergence of alternative cultures –
it's just a settling-in process. Whatever
the apologists say, it's traumatic to read about the new Greenacre where I had
my roots. It's tragic to see things go so wrong.
The police are powerless. I've seen it
first-hand. They are harassed and intimidated for simply doing their job. The
Premier says we can have confidence in the police to apprehend the culprits of
a recent murder in Wilbur Street. Even if they do, which is unlikely, as the
local residents live in permanent fear of reprisals, can they stop the next
shooting and the next?
Soon Greenacre/Lakemba will be an enclave
of little Lebanon, with all the worst features transported from a failed
country to a new one, one still proud of its tolerance. I am told time and
again that tolerance is not weakness. A bit like saying appeasement is not
weakness. But I'm growing more sceptical.
That was my home – the place where I simply couldn't imagine living
anywhere else once – transformed to the place where I could never imagine
living again. I suppose once my generation dies out, everything the place once
was dies too. And good for that, some would say. For me, I moved to a safe haven on the north
side – looking back not in anger, but in disbelief. (Peter Roberts, SMH, March 18, 2013)
Peter Roberts has written an article, for
this paper, about a suburb he used to know. It's Greenacre, which he evokes in
the wistful terms of the good old days, you know, before them pesky Arabs
brought crime to Sydney, or as he puts it "...all the worst features
transported from a failed country to a new one". He refers to the transformation of his once
peaceful suburb as a "battlefield", a soon-to-be Little Lebanon, if
it isn't already. And there's the usual rhetoric about tolerance equalling
weakness and past generations dying out.
Blah blah – we've all seen and heard it a thousand times before.
Depressingly, articles of this nature are increasingly common, and
distressingly, they're given further prominence on national stages such as The
Sydney Morning Herald. I have so
many problems with this, I don't even know where to start. Maybe I should begin
with the blatant blanket racism, or the implication that murder and rape are
part and parcel of "other" cultures – we didn't have it before; it
came in with them. Or maybe I should
call it out for the lazy thinking it exemplifies. I could even talk about the
stunning lack of personal responsibility attributed to the criminal actions of
ethnic or indigenous people. When we commit crimes, it's a horrible symbol of
entrenched, cultural failures that all good people should fear. But when a white
man commits a crime, he's alone, isolated in his faults. Not a sign of a broken
system – how could he be? This is why Arabs are Islamic terrorists and Andrew
Breivik is just a murderer.
But we've heard all of this before, too –
the pendulum swinging between those lacking the capability for critical thought
and preferring instead the certainty of absolutism, and the rebuttals from the
leftist hippies crying out "No, we're all good, really, you're just
racist". Which is to say that no one ever says anything that matters and
the cycle continues. I'd talk about the people in the middle but I haven't
heard from them, and you're not likely to either. Which leaves you with me: I apologise in
advance. Let's talk about my upbringing, shall we? Like Peter, I grew up in
Sydney's West, albeit much further out. I grew up on the streets of Liverpool,
in the suburbs of Casula, Lurnea and Prestons. For the first decade of my life,
I lived with my aunty, and on her street alone, we had four Tongan kids, two
Aboriginals, a couple of Greeks, a few Italians, us Lebs and several Aussies.
In the surrounding streets, there were a few more of each, plus a couple of
Asian and Samoan boys thrown in the mix.
Our group ranged between the ages of 6 and 12, since the majority were
older brothers forced to have their younger brothers with them. We roamed the
streets together. We played touch and tackle footy on the concrete together. We
broke in to our school together, on weekends, and played tag on the roof, above
the walkways. We were delinquents, the whole multicultural lot of us. No racial
hostility or angst between us. In fact, I wasn't properly aware of racism until
high school. But my point is this: we
came from a range of different cultures, nestled in the Great White Bosom of
Australian culture, and we walked together as juvenile delinquents. It wasn't
ever a question of race, of not being raised in the right way. Rather, we were poor (mostly) or lower-middle
class, and we were bored, uneducated louts. Socio-economic difficulties are at
the heart of this issue, but that's such an unsexy thing to say. We're talking
about disenfranchised youths who are seen as "other", who are pushed
to the outer, and who struggle to stay engaged in school. These are the people
that become enmeshed in the easy way out – in drugs, and bad behaviour.
I speak from experience. Most of those
lovely kids I knew? I don't know them any more. They've been in and out of
jail, stabbed, punched, beaten down, put in comas, killed. Some of them had
kids together while still teenagers. Some few, I'm sure – I hope – broke
through. I certainly did, thanks to books, thanks to reading. My Aussie
step-dad bet me $10 that I couldn't finish a book and I was determined to prove
him wrong, so I read it.
It was King Arthur and His Knights of
the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green. I haven't stopped reading since.
Unlike Peter Roberts, I didn't just leave.
I don't look back on it and sneer. I still go back to my aunty's house once a
week (if I can). I still walk those streets and alleys. I catch the same bus
and see the same hard-working bus drivers and store owners, the same neighbours
still doing their thing. The problem isn't just the state of our public
education; isn't just that our commitment to it needs to be reaffirmed –
regardless of the financial cost – it's also a fundamental failure in community.
Not just on account of the white man pointing a finger
at everyone else and saying "they're the problem", but also on
account of the people that make it, the people like me, that leave and never
look back. We need to approach our problems as one, recognising personal
accountability and reaffirming our communal dedication to education, to moving
forward.
I'm reminded of the Cronulla Riots, specifically the
day after, when I stood in front of the school assembly with my best friend and
school captain, Glenn, and we each said a few words about the problems we
faced, about the community we had and wanted to retain. It's too easy and too sensational to
blanket-label one group, one culture, or a whole bunch of them. It's too easy
to draw a dividing line in the sand and walk away. It's so much harder to stay,
acknowledge the difficulties you face, and work together to fix them. The funny
thing about Casula, about Lurnea and Prestons, and yes, even Greenacre, is that
they still stand precisely because people – not statistics, not criminals – but
people, live and work there. (Omar Sakr, March 19, 2013)
International
Khamenei: Iran Will
'Annihilate' Tel Aviv, Haifa
Iran will "annihilate" the Israeli cities of
Tel Aviv and Haifa if it comes under attack by the Jewish state, "supreme
leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Thursday.
"Every now and then the leaders of the Zionist
regime threaten Iran with a military attack," Khamenei said in a live
televised speech from the northeastern city of Mashhad, referring to
Israel. "They should know that if
they commit such a blunder, the Islamic republic will annihilate Tel Aviv and
Haifa," he said, according to the AFP news agency.
On Wednesday, Khamenei urged the Iranian people to
stand up to mounting Western sanctions as the country marked the beginning of
the Persian New Year. If Iranians show
more "readiness" to face Western pressure, the next 12 months will be
a "political and economic epoch" for the country, Khamenei said in a
recorded message on state television, according to AFP. The year will be filled with
"development, activity and dexterity," he vowed in the message aired
shortly after Iranians celebrated the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, marking the
transition of winter to spring. He
warned, however, that "it does not mean that the enmity of enemies will
subside," alluding to Western opposition to Iran's nuclear program and
harsh sanctions against the economy of the Islamic republic. The ailing economy, which has long struggled
with high inflation and unemployment, was further buffeted in 2012 by
increasingly severe US and EU sanctions targeting its vital oil and financial
sectors. Iran's currency, the rial, has
lost nearly two thirds of its value since late 2011. However, Khamenei claimed that such
hindrances had enabled Iran to gain "dexterity" in battling the
sanctions, maintaining the regime was making progress despite such woes. (Rachel Hirshfeld, IsraelNationalNews.com, March, 21, 2013)
OVER the years, Americans
have come to discount statements on Israel and Zionism by Iran's President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Repetition has rendered them unremarkable.
Israel must be "wiped off the
map." Zionism is a "germ of corruption" that "will be wiped
off the face of the earth." It is a "cancer cell" that must be
"removed from the body." The Zionist regime is "heading toward
annihilation." "They should know that they are nearing the last days
of their lives." "Israel is destined for destruction and will soon
disappear."
One is tempted to add: blah, blah, blah.
It is easy to dismiss this rhetoric as being designed for domestic consumption.
And soon after Iran's June election, Ahmadinejad will be out of a job -
history's single most persuasive argument in favour of term limits. But the problem is this: Ahmadinejad's
language is not exceptional within the Iranian regime.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, has also referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumour."
"The perpetual subject of Iran," he has explained, "is the
elimination of Israel from the region." "There is only one solution
to the Middle East problem, namely the annihilation and destruction of the Jewish
state." In recent weeks, Khamenei has promised, if the Iranian nuclear
program is attacked, to "level down Tel Aviv and Haifa."
Senior Iranian military leaders,
presidential advisers and religious authorities can be quoted endlessly in a
similar vein. Zionists are "microbes" and "bacteria" and a
"cancerous growth." "Jews are very filthy people," who are
responsible for spreading disease and drug abuse. There is a religious duty to
"fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of
the Hidden Imam will be met." Such
arguments are deeply embedded in the Iranian regime - as a statement of
mission, an organising principle. This won't be changed by a single election. It is possible to overplay such rhetoric. The
Iranian government is not simply an irrational, apocalyptic cult. It may
eventually respond to sanctions. It is sometimes necessary for America to
engage in diplomacy with very nasty people.
But it is possible to underplay this language as well. It is not merely
hate speech. It has the hallmarks of incitement to genocide: the dehumanisation
of a targeted group and the use of code words to cover genocidal intent. (In
Rwanda, Tutsis were described as "snakes" and "cockroaches"
who should be sent "down the river." The rivers were eventually
clogged with corpses.)
One interesting theoretical question: Is
such Iranian rhetoric a crime under the Genocide Convention of 1948 - to which
Iran is a signatory - which forbids the "direct and public incitement to
commit genocide"? The language of Iranian leaders is certainly direct and
public. When forced to defend themselves, they often claim (unpersuasively)
that their target is Zionists rather than Jews. But in the determination of
genocidal intent, this doesn't matter. Genocide can be directed against any
group - racial, ethnic, religious or national.
Yet the (rather thin) case law on incitement to genocide also requires
an imminent threat of violence from the audience. In the Iranian case, the threat
comes from government action - providing long-range missiles to Hamas or (down
the road) the use of nuclear weapons.
In any event, a prosecution of Iranian
officials for incitement to genocide is an exceedingly theoretical prospect,
since it would require a referral from the United Nations Security Council -
something Russia and China would not entertain.
But Iranian incitement should not be
glossed over. It is not common, culturally excusable or normal among nations.
"How many other states do we know," asks Michael Abramowitz, director
of the Center for Genocide Prevention at the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, "that talk about other human beings in the way the Iranian
leadership speaks of Israelis and Jews? They are conditioning generations of
young people in their own country and the broader Middle East to think of Jews
as subhuman, which makes acts of terror by groups like Hamas and Hezbollah seem
more thinkable." Several years ago,
during an Iranian military parade, a Shahab-3 missile was decorated with the
banner: "Israel must be uprooted and wiped from [the pages of]
history." This can't be reasonably construed as a vivid political
metaphor. It is the depiction of a twisted ideal, broadly shared within the
Iranian regime. And it is one reason that President Barack Obama is right to
draw his red line. Such a banner must never hang on an Iranian nuclear weapon.
(Michael Gerson, The Australian, April
05, 2013)
In a move to purge the Russian parliament
of even the faintest of contrarian voices, legislative leaders have accused an
opposition politician of treason and demanded an ethics investigation, saying
that the legislator had used a visit to Washington this month to urge the US to
meddle in Russia's internal affairs. The
accused politician, Dmitry Gudkov, is one of just two members of the State Duma
who are leading supporters of the Russian political opposition and who, since
December 2011, have taken part in the large street protests in Moscow calling
for the ouster of President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, Mr Gudkov was expelled from his party, Just Russia. Just Russia is one of three minority parties
in the Parliament, which is controlled by United Russia, the party that
nominated Mr Putin for president. The
other opposition politician, Ilya Ponomarev, quit Just Russia this week in
solidarity with Mr Gudkov. For now, they remain independent members of the
Duma. But the accusations of treason against Mr Gudkov, 33, are seen as a clear
precursor to an effort to strip him of his seat. Mr Gudkov visited the US this month, where he
participated in a panel discussion held by Freedom House, a non-profit group
that works to promote democracy. While he criticised Mr Putin's government and
the Duma itself, Mr Gudkov went out of his way to stress that the political
opposition was working only in Russia's interests. A letter demanding an investigation of Mr
Gudkov was signed by politicians from all the factions in the Duma, including
the Communist Party and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party. It said: ''We
believe that Gudkov's statements are effectively tantamount to calls for illegal
acts that violate the sovereignty of the Russian state.'' (David Herszenhorn, SMH, March 17, 2013)
North Korea’s talk is all war
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un yesterday told his
troops to be ready for “all-out war” and instructed them to “make the first
gunfire” if tensions with South Korea boil over. He also promised a “great advance” over the
border between the two nations, shortly after the North announced that it had
abandoned its peace treaty with the South.
The pariah state has launched a new round of war-like
rhetoric in anger over tough new sanctions imposed on it. The UN Security Council this week voted to
impose the fresh round of sanctions targeting North Korea’s economy and
leadership in the wake of the country’s third nuclear test. Now the country has announced it is
cancelling all non-aggression pacts with its southern neighbour, closing its
hotline with Seoul, and shutting their shared border point.
North Korea, which threatened a pre-emptive nuclear
strike on the US, has said it will retaliate with “crushing strikes” if enemies
intrude into its territory “even an inch and fire even a single shell”. South and North Korea agreed in a 1992 joint
declaration not to produce, test or use nuclear weapons. North Korea has since conducted three nuclear
tests.
Phongyang is renowned for its bellicose rhetoric, but
the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns of a
border clash with both North and South planning major military exercises next
week.
Responding, White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said:
“North Korea’s threats are not helpful. We consistently called on North Korea
to improve its relations with its neighbours, including South Korea.” “As a legal matter, no party to the armistice
can unilaterally terminate or alter the terms of the Armistice Agreement,”
Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
North Korea television yesterday showed Kim Jong-un
laying preparations for “all-out war”.
US to fast-track cyber weapons
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is accelerating efforts to develop a new
generation of cyber weapons capable of disrupting enemy military networks, even
when those networks are not connected to the internet, US officials say.
The possibility of a confrontation with Iran or Syria has highlighted
for American military planners the value of cyber weapons that can be used
against an enemy whose most important targets, such as air defence systems, do
not rely on internet-based networks. But adapting such cyber weapons can take months
or even years of arduous technical work.
When US military planners were looking for ways to disable Libya's air
defence system before NATO aerial attacks last year, they discussed using cyber
technology. But the idea was quickly dismissed because there was no effective
option available, said serving and former US officials. They estimated that crafting a cyber weapon
would have taken about a year.
Last year, to speed up the development of cyber weapons, as well as
defensive technology, $US500 million ($472 million) over five years was placed
into the budget of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, one of the
Defence Department's premier research organisations. The agency has launched new cyber-development
initiatives, including a ''fast-track'' program. Pentagon officials were developing a
congressionally mandated strategy for the rapid acquisition of cyber weapons
that can keep pace with threats and technology.
(Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, March 20, 2012)
There was some expectation when the
opposition reformed itself into a new group, when the military, the rebels
reformed themselves into a more coherent group, that that would somehow pay off
for them, that there would be some more weapons delivered, maybe some more aid
that will come directly through the opposition movement, to bolster their
position inside the country. So far,
that hasn't happened. And that's been particularly a bitter pill for the rebels
to swallow. Many of the rebel commanders
were complaining that the arms had actually slowed down to almost a full stop.
And what they are fighting with is what they can amass by taking over military
bases inside Syria. (PBS Newshour,
Jan. 4, 2013)
THE Obama administration
has been quietly assisting a rapid expansion of clandestine arms deliveries
from Arab governments to the Syrian rebels. The CIA has been helping
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan to acquire large amounts of weaponry from
third-party countries and to determine which rebel groups should receive the
arms after they have been shipped through Turkey. US defence sources said the
agency was ensuring the weapons were channelled through the rebels' recently
formed Supreme Military Command to prevent them falling into the hands of
jihadist groups. The disclosure follows
reports that the US and some of its European allies are secretly training rebel
fighters at military camps in Jordan and that the CIA has stepped up its
intelligence-sharing with moderate opposition groups. It suggests that Washington is sharply
increasing its support for the mainstream rebels to hasten the downfall of the
Assad regime, counter the rise of extremist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and
end a two-year-old conflict that has generated the world's worst humanitarian
crisis. However, US officials insisted
that Washington's policy of giving only non-lethal aid to the opposition had
not changed. The increased flow of arms
appears to have helped the rebels to make advances on the ground in recent
months. Yesterday, they managed to fire mortars into Ummayad Square in the
heart of Damascus, killing at least two people and wounding others.
However, the risk is that Russia and Iran
will retaliate by stepping up their military support for the embattled regime.
In Baghdad this week, US Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraq's
government to stop Iranian aircraft using its airspace to deliver military
equipment to Damascus. The Arab arms
deliveries began in January last year when two Qatari Air Force C130 transport
aircraft landed in Istanbul, according to flight data obtained by The New York
Times.
The Qatari flights came from the al-Udeid
airbase, which is also a US Air Force command and logistics hub. They gathered
pace after last November's US presidential election, with the Saudis and
Jordanians joining the effort as the northern winter arrived and thousands of
Syrian refugees fled to neighbouring countries.
To date, the three Arab countries are believed
to have sent more than 160 plane-loads of weaponry, with most of the flights
landing at Esenboga airport near the Turkish capital, Ankara. From there the
Turkish government has overseen the delivery of the arms into Syria, fixing
transmitters to the trucks so their movements could be monitored.
"A conservative estimate of the
payload of these flights would be 3500 tons of military equipment," Hugh
Griffiths, who monitors arms transfers for the Stockholm International Peace
Institute, told The New York Times. A former US official called the arms
shipments a "cataract of weaponry".
The CIA refused to comment on its role but has reportedly helped the
three governments to procure the arms from other countries, including a large
consignment that Saudi Arabia purchased from Croatia and supplied to rebels in
southern Syria via Jordan. The agency is also said to have vetted rebel groups
to make sure weapons do not fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.
US officials argued that Arab governments
were going to arm the rebels anyway, so it was better to assist the effort so
that the administration could exert some influence on what type of weapons were
delivered, and to whom. It is particularly concerned about anti-aircraft
missiles falling into the hands of jihadists.
A report yesterday from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of
War urged the administration to be more pro-active in helping to arm the
rebels.
"The current policy of inaction
carries much more risk," it said. "This policy has not prevented
extremists from acquiring arms. Instead, it has prevented more moderate forces
from acquiring arms and consolidating their authority while allowing more
extremist forces to develop their own independent sources of support that are
less easily monitored."
SAWRAN, Syria — The United States and other
international donors are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on
humanitarian aid for Syrians afflicted by the civil war. But here in the
rebel-controlled north, where the deprivation is most acute, that money has
bought mostly anger and resentment: the vast majority of aid is going to
territory controlled by President Bashar al-Assad, and the small amount
reaching opposition-held areas is all but invisible. Rebels argue that the
humanitarian assistance is in effect helping Mr. Assad survive the war of
attrition. “Aid is a weapon,” said Omar Baylasani, a rebel commander from
Idlib, speaking during a visit to a Turkish border town. “Food supply is the
winning card in the hands of the regime.” The biggest obstacle blocking aid from
rebel-held areas is the United Nations requirement that its relief agencies follow
Mr. Assad’s rules — which limit access to opposition territory — as long as the
international assembly recognizes his government. The United Nations agencies
are the main conduit for international aid, including most of the total of $385
million that Washington has directed to the cause in 2012 and 2013. That means that while internally displaced
Syrians living in government-controlled areas are cared for in United
Nations-run camps, with standard shelter and basic utilities, the many who have
fled into opposition territory are plagued by shortages of food, fuel, blankets
and medicine. At a civilian medical clinic here in the rebel-held countryside
north of Aleppo, the 15 doctors kick out their hundreds of patients each day at
4 p.m. because there is no fuel or power to keep the lights on. The lack of foreign aid “is a catastrophe,”
said Saed Bakur Abu Yahia, the clinic’s director. “We get nothing, ” he said,
bundled in a winter jacket and rubbing his hands for warmth as he sat in his office.
The United States has done more than any other country
to circumvent the United Nations, but its efforts remain unknown to most
Syrians. Washington is funneling about $60 million — about $10 million in 2012,
and about $50 million in 2013 — through independent nonprofit groups to deliver
flour, food baskets, blankets and medicine to the most stable
opposition-controlled territory (one group said it reached most of Aleppo
Province, but not yet Idlib). The nonprofit groups insist on keeping their work
and their American donors a secret to protect staff members still working in
Damascus under Mr. Assad. “Our
humanitarian assistance, $385 million to date, is making a difference,” said
one United States diplomat involved in Syria policy, speaking anonymously
because of the sensitivity of international politics around the aid. “But we
can’t talk about it.” The result is
deepening cynicism and anger toward the West among precisely those Syrians the
United States and its allies say they are trying to assist and befriend, a
disappointment and frustration to those in Washington who hoped to win favor
among the opposition. In interviews,
dozens of Syrians living in rebel-held territory in the provinces of Aleppo and
Idlib insisted that their towns had received no Western aid and groused about
“empty promises.” Only a few most directly involved in aid distribution
acknowledged recent visits from international nonprofit groups, and those with
knowledge of the meetings insisted that the names of the aid groups remain
confidential. Even the Syrians most involved in the Western effort expressed
frustration. “We believe we are owed an explanation over where this money is
going, but every time we ask, we can’t get an answer,” said Ghassan Hitto, who
runs the aid coordination arm of the Western-backed Syrian National Council. He
estimated that as much as 60 percent of the Syrian population lives outside the
Assad government’s control and thus beyond the reach of most aid. It is an
assessment that is impossible to confirm but feasible because of the heavy
population of the rebel-controlled north.
United Nations officials acknowledge the problem. But they say they have
few alternatives while the United Nations recognizes the government, which is
unlikely to change as long as Russia supports Mr. Assad.
“The government, whether you like it or not, is still
the government,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (David D. Kirkpatrick, International Herald Tribune,
March 8, 2013)
Netanyahu: I Will Attack Iran
Alone if Necessary
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised on Monday
that by the time his next term as Prime Minister is over, Iran will not have a
nuclear weapons program. Speaking to Channel 2, Netanyahu said that if
it is necessary, he will lead an independent Israeli attack against Iran, even
without the support of the United States.
“When former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared
the establishment of the State of Israel, was it with the consent of the Americans? When former
Prime Minister Menachem Begin bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, was that with
the consent of the Americans?” asked Netanyahu.
“If there someone here who, as Prime Minister of Israel, cannot act on
things that are fundamental to the
State, to its future and to its security and depends only on approval of
others, he does not deserve to lead,” said Netanyahu. “When we didn’t have a
state, when we didn’t have an army, and when someone threatened to destroy us
and then actually annihilated us, we went and pleaded with others,” he said.
“Today we don’t plead, we prepare.”
The interview with Netanyahu was a follow-up to an
investigative report on Sunday which said that he and Defense Minister Ehud
Barak ordered the military and intelligence service to prepare for a military strike on Iran in 2010. According to the report, the two met stiff
opposition from then-IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and then-Head of Mossad Meir
Dagan. Responding to accusations by Dagan that he and Barak were trying to
'steal' a war, Netanyahu clarified that “the responsibility ultimately lies
with the Prime Minister.” Barak also
responded to the report and said that contrary to the claims by Ashkenazi and
Dagan, the order that was given to them did not mean that they should go to
war. At
the same time he clarified
that, “The assumption that says that if the Chief of Staff does not recommend
doing something means that you cannot decide to do it – is baseless. The Chief
of Staff builds the operational capacity, he should tell us professionally if
he thinks it can be done or not, and he can also even make a recommendation, but ultimately it can be carried out even
against his recommendation.” Netanyahu's
predecessor, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, also gave an interview to Channel
2 and attacked Netanyahu over his threat to attack Iran without the support
of the Americans.
"What is this talk about us being the ones to
decide alone about our fate and not take anyone else into account?” said
Olmert. “Someone please explain to me exactly with what planes we’ll attack if
we decide to attack alone contrary to the opinion of others? Will it be
aircraft we created here? With which bombs we will bomb? With bombs we made?
And if we find that we are missing something, who will we ask for it? Those in
the face of whom we spit today? The one that we have done everything to ensure
that he will not be president of the United States?” Netanyahu's responded to Olmert's remarks and
said, “What I’m hearing now is that we have to actually say, 'In this matter
that threatens our future, we are giving the keys to the Americans. You decide
whether to eliminate the threat that threatens our very existence.’ That’s not
my approach. My approach says that if others can do it, all the better, but if
there is no alternative and we are with our backs to the wall, we will do what
we need to do to protect ourselves.” (
Elad Benari, IsraelNationalNews.com,
June 11, 2012)
Iran Warns of Strait of
Hormuz Closure If US Chooses 'War'
Iran asserted on Thursday that the United
States has no other options to pressure the regime over its nuclear program,
other than war, and it is chooses to embark upon such a path, Tehran would have
no qualms about closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, its envoy to Baghdad
told AFP on
Thursday. Ambassador Hassan Danaie-Far
insisted that Tehran retained the right to close the Strait of Hormuz, through
which a third of the world's traded oil passes, in response to any aggression,
military or otherwise. "What else (US President Barack) Mr.
Obama can do?" Danaie-Far told
AFP through an Iranian embassy translator. "The only remaining
card on the table is war. Is it to their benefit? Is it to the benefit of the
world? Is it to the benefit of the region?" He added that if Iran faced a
"problem," it would be within its rights "to react and to defend
itself." Asked if it could try to close off the strait, Danaie-Far
replied: "If there is some movement and action from our enemies, including
US, against us, as a part of natural reaction, that may happen." "Everybody would be a loser in that
case," he added. When asked if only
military or other types of pressure could warrant such a move, he told the news
agency, "It can include all of them."
Iran frequently conducts missile tests and
maneuvers to stress its military capabilities, and has repeatedly threatened to
close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic should it be attacked. Washington has warned Tehran that any attempt
to close the strait would be viewed as a "red line" and grounds for United States military action. Iran regularly denounces the regional
presence of foreign forces, including American, particularly those stationed in
the Gulf and maintains that the security of the region must be ensured "by regional
countries." (Rachel Hirshfeld, IsraelNationalNews.com,
Jan. 25, 2013)
Russian Foreign Minister
Warns Against Strike in Iran
Attacking Iran's nuclear
facilities "a very dangerous idea," says Russian FM Sergei Lavrov.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on
Wednesday warned against the idea of strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities,
RIA Novosti
reports. The remarks were made after
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a speech
given after he was reelected for a third term, said that one of
the principles of his new coalition would be preventing Iran from getting a
nuclear bomb. “Attempts to prepare and
carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are a very dangerous idea,” RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as
having said at a press conference in
Moscow.
“We hope that these ideas and statements
will not be realized,” he added. Addressing the talks between Iran and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Lavrov said that the Iranians to
speed up the proceedings.
"The Iranians said they wanted to
sign an agreement. We believe they can do it a little faster than they have so
far," said Lavrov. The IAEA and Iran have been holding talks over the
atomic agency’s request to access sites where it believes the Islamic Republic
has been conducting nuclear weapons tests. Another
round of talks was held last week but no deal was
reached, as diplomats briefed afterwards voiced skepticism that
more talks next month could bridge the differences. The United States, Israel
and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran
rejects the allegations, arguing that it is entitled to develop and acquire
nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Russia has said it will scuttle any UN
Security Council resolution which could be interpreted as allowing military
action against Iran. Netanyahu told
visiting U.S. Senators last week that “history will not forgive those
who do not stop Iran's nuclear program,” adding that “a nuclear Iran is the
problem of the world.”
In November Netanyahu indicated that by the time his
next term as Prime Minister is over, Iran will not have a nuclear weapons
program, stressing that if it is
necessary, he will lead an independent Israeli attack against Iran, even without the support of
the United States. (Elad Benari, IsraelNationalNews.com,
Jan. 24, 2013)
Russia Launches Surprise
Military Exercise in Black Sea
Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised
his defense minister in the wee hours of Thursday morning last week with an
order for surprise military drills to test battle readiness in the Black
Sea. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was awakened at 4:00 a.m. local time
with sealed orders to activate 7,000 troops, 36 ships, up to 20 fighter jets and helicopters and 50
pieces of artillery. Aviation, paratroopers and special forces are involved
in the exercises, which were
launched immediately according to Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said “We
are talking about major exercises, intended as a check,” according to Russian
news agencies. “According to
international practice, exercises involving up to 7,000 people do not require
us to inform our partners in advance,” Peskov noted. He added that the
drills would take place on three military test ranges on Russian territory and
are expected to last about a week. Russia
has been heavily involved in protecting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad from
international ire at the United Nations Security Council, but as Assad's grip
on power has increasingly weakened, and fragmented rebel forces gain control
over more territory in the country, Moscow has begun to quietly evacuate
its citizens from Damascus and surrounds. Likewise Putin has joined discussions
over what may become of Syria's lethal arsenal of chemical weapons of mass
destruction, a rising concern in the international community.
The Black Sea is a strategic waterway
bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and connects to the Atlantic
Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and two straits known as the
Turkish Straits – the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The Bosphorus Strait,
which flows through the middle of Turkey, connects it to the Sea of Marmara. The
Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the
Mediterranean, which separate eastern Europe and western Asia. Countries
with shoreline along the Black Sea include Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria and
Romania, in addition to Russia.
Late last year Turkey requested -- and received --
authorization to deploy a number of batteries of Patriot missile defense
systems along its border with Syria. The batteries, contributed by NATO allies
that included the United States, were installed in January 2013. (Chana Ya'ar, IsraelNationalNews.com, March 31, 2013)
'Israel Spies on Russian
Fleet Off Syrian Coast' According to a report in The Sunday Times, Israel used espionage
equipment it planted off the Syrian coast to monitor Russian naval movements in
the Mediterranean Sea. The
devices, which were discovered earlier this month by
fishermen on Ant Island, were reportedly planted by commandoes of the
IDF’s “Flotilla 13”-- or in Hebrew “Sheyetet 13” elite naval unit. The commandoes allegedly visited the island
via German-manufactured Dolphin class submarines, armed with nuclear cruise
missile capabilities, at least twice previously in order to gather
information on the local terrain and plant the equipment.
Earlier this month Syria’s state television
released photographs of the
devices Damascus said were designed to photograph, register and transfer
classified information. The footage
showed a camera, six large batteries, cables and transmitters, along with fake
rocks used to camouflage the equipment.
According to the report, the equipment was planted on an uninhabited
island in the Mediterranean, opposite to the Syrian port city of Tartus, near a
Russian naval base.
The Sunday Times, citing a report on
Lebanon’s Al-Manar television
station, said that the gear could be used to track the movements of Russian
warships and relay the pictures in real time.
It is unknown how long the equipment was
in use before it was uncovered. A senior
Syrian security official told The Times that the spying gear was “highly
intricate,” adding that the devises could have been used to track the Syrian
military.
Syria is engulfed in a civil war that
erupted nearly two years ago, and which has already resulted in the death of
other 70,000 people, according to figures released by the United Nations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor
did not comment on the report of the spy equipment earlier this month. "We will not be dragged into the Syrian
civil war. Not on the verbal or propaganda battlefield, nor on the real
one," he said. (IsraelNationalNews.com, Martch 31,
2013)
Schaeuble has served as German Chancellor
Angela Merkel's main ally in Berlin in plotting an austerity-driven course to
resolve the eurozone debt crisis as well as greater political integration of
the bloc.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, a
Conservative, said last month that he still supports British membership of the
EU but cannot accept the "status quo" and wants a "new
settlement" that involves repatriating some powers. He has so far avoided
offering a clear "in-out" referendum despite strong pressure for
clarity on the issue from his party. Tensions flared last month when Cameron
opposed a new trillion-euro ($A1.25 trillion) EU budget for the next seven
years, saying it was unacceptable to increase spending at a time when many
countries were taking austerity measures at home. A recent poll in the UK's
Observer newspaper found 56 per cent of Britons surveyed would vote to leave
the EU given the chance. (AAP, December
23, 2012)
Five Million Dutch have a
Satanic View of Israel
Ebert Foundation Study: 39% of Dutch believe Israel is
exterminating Palestinian Arabs. Yesterday,
the major Dutch news site Dagelijkse Standaard published an article by
Israeli anti-Semitism expert Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld in which he wrote that
there are currently more people with neo-Nazi views in the Netherlands than the
number of Dutch collaborators with the Nazis during the Second World War. Gerstenfeld
wrote: “At least five million Dutch have a satanic view of Israel. This can be
concluded from a study undertaken by the University of Bielefeld for the German Social Democrat Friedrich
Ebert Foundation in 2011. This study was ignored in the Netherlands.
"The study’s authors asked people if they believe
that Israel is conducting an extermination war against the Palestinian Arabs.
About 39% of the Dutch polled answered in the affirmative. "Already in 2003 in a Euro barometer
study, it was asked which countries are dangers to world peace. Israel came in
second place after Iran. This was the opinion held by 59% of the Europeans. In
the Netherlands, the percentage was the highest at 74%.”
Gerstenfeld added: “With such a diabolical opinion of
the Jewish state, millions of Dutchmen are thus back in the Middle Ages
mentally. Today, there are more Dutchmen with this insane viewpoint than the
number of Nazis in the Netherlands during the Second World War. " At present these views are largely
latent, as were Dutch Nazi views before the war. Today there is actually more
hostility against Jews than before the Second World War in the Netherlands. But
if the atmosphere is ripe, violence can increase, as has happened in the past.” Most talkbacks to the article supported it,
but some were anti-Semitic in nature and even promoted Holocaust revisionism. When contacted by Arutz Sheva,
Gerstenfeld said, “This is just one of many disparate and worrisome
developments in the Netherlands of the last years as far as Jews and Israel are
concerned. There are frequent attacks on ritual slaughter (shechita) and circumcision. These are mainly aimed at Muslims, however
the Jews suffer collateral damage as a result.
"There is the recent TV broadcast in which Dutch-Turkish youths praised Hitler and the Holocaust and say that they picked
up these views from their friends. "Left-wing
groups held an offensive Kristallnacht ceremony in which they did not mention
current and widespread Muslim anti-Semitism.
"A few days ago, a higher court fined an observant Jew who didn’t
carry his identity card with him
on the Sabbath, even after a lower court had found him not guilty. "In
addition, another higher court overturned the judgment of a lower court which
forbade a ceremony by the municipality at the local cemetery of Nazi Germany’s
soldiers in the village of Vorden last year. The municipality intends to hold
such a ceremony this year on May 4th which is Dutch National Memorial Day.” (IsraelNationalNews.com,
March 7, 2013)
US steps up efforts to protect its trade secrets
Washington: The Obama administration warned on Wednesday it would launch new efforts
to persuade China and other countries to halt the theft of billions of dollars'
worth of US trade secrets. The threat to place offender countries on a watch
list and other steps are part of a broader effort by the administration to
co-ordinate with other nations to fight the growing theft of intellectual
property. ''State sponsored trade-secret theft … embattles our status as world
leader in innovation,'' Victoria Espinel, the White House co-ordinator of
intellectual-property enforcement, said at a strategy roll-out.
The new effort comes amid heightened attention to the
issue of cyber-espionage directed at commercial targets, especially by China. This
week, the cyber security firm Mandiant issued a report accusing the Chinese
government of massive hacking campaigns against US targets and the President,
Barack Obama, recently issued an executive order aimed at better securing the
computer networks of critical industries such as energy. On Wednesday, China's state-owned news agency
said Mandiant's claims that the nation's military was behind global cyber
attacks were ''full of loopholes''. It was ''highly unlikely'' anyone could
trace where attacks originated from because hackers hid behind a network of
proxies, Xinhua news agency said.
''It is beyond belief that a firm specialised in the
field of cyber security could be so indiscreetly desperate as to jump to a
conclusion so full of loopholes,'' Xinhua said. The claims ''will only tarnish
the image and reputation of the company making them, as well as that of the
US''. Within the past year, Mr Obama, the Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, and
then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton have raised economic cyber-espionage
with their Chinese counterparts.
''Our message is quite clear: the protection of
intellectual property and trade secrets is critical to all intellectual
property rights holders, whether they be from the United States or whether they
be from Chinese companies or other companies around the world,'' Robert
Hormats, the under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the
environment, said. Though China is regarded as the most aggressive actor, Mr
Hormats said other countries are guilty as well. He cited Russia and India as
two countries active in the theft of intellectual property. While officials
said they are concerned about traditional means for stealing commercial
secrets, through tactics such as recruiting current or former employees, they
said cyberspace is an increasingly important avenue for espionage. ''A hacker in China can acquire source code
from a software company in Virginia without leaving his or her desk,'' the
Attorney-General, Eric Holder, said. He said the Justice Department has made
prosecution of trade-secret theft a top priority. The department is seeking to
bring cases of economic cyber-espionage that officials hope will deter foreign
governments from hacking US company networks. Plans also call for federal law
enforcement to pursue stronger agreements with foreign counterparts to pursue investigations
in their own countries.
Jason Healey, the director of the Atlantic Council's
cyber statecraft initiative, called for more specific steps, such as denial of
visas to officials from foreign companies that benefit from the theft of US
trade secrets and blacklisting the firms from US government contracts. (Ellen
Nakashima, SMH, The Washington Post,
Bloomberg, Feb. 22, 2013)
Obama Visit Enters Third and
Final Day
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday enters the third and final day of his trip
to Israel.
Shortly before 9:00 a.m., Obama is scheduled to visit
the gravesites of Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, and
former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. He will place a wreath at both
tombs. At 9:35, the President will visit
the Yad Vashem Holocaust institute, and at 10:50 he will hold yet another
meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
After he meets Netanyahu, Obama will visit the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem. At 3:30 p.m. he will bid farewell to Israel in a state ceremony at
the Ben Gurion Airport. From there he will take off to Jordan, where he will
meet King Abdullah II.
On Thursday, President Obama and Prime Minister
Netanyahu toured the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel which is ranked among the world’s leading
art and archaeology museums.
The presidential delegation visited specifically the
permanent Shrine of the Book exhibition.
Obama then travelled to Ramallah, where he met with
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. At a press conference with Abbas, Obama stressed that the PA
should not impose preconditions on negotiations with Israel, as it has done for
years. The President said that the two state solution was the best way to end
the conflict. Obama did not condemn construction in Judea and Samaria, but
did say that it was an "obstacle" holding up the peace process.
Obama then returned to Jerusalem, where he gave a speech in front of hundreds of students. During
the speech, the President once again called for the two-state solution, adding
that “Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is
counterproductive to the cause of peace.”
Improvising at times and receiving warm applause throughout his
speech, Obama eventually reached the point at which he called on
Israelis to put pressure on their own government. "Political leaders do not take risks if their people do not
push them to take risks," he said. "You must create the change that
you want to see. Your voices must be louder than those who would drown out
hope."
Obama’s second day in Israel concluded with a festive
dinner at the residence of President Shimon Peres.
Before the dinner, Peres bestowed the President's Medal upon Obama. The medal
was given to Obama for his unique contribution to Israel's security. This is the first time in which an honorary
decoration is bestowed by an Israeli president upon a president who is still
serving in office. Peres received the U.S. President's Medal of Freedom from
Obama last year.
The gala dinner at the President's Residence included
the prime minister and his wife, various representatives of the Israeli public
and senior members of the U.S. administration.
(Elad Benari, IsraelNationalNews.com,
March 22, 2013)
A Baby is Stoned for Being an
"Occupier"
The "occupation" terminology has lethal
results. A two-year-old Jewish girl
named Adele, who lives in the "settlement" of Ariel, is fighting for
her life, and her mother and two sisters are severely injured. The truck
driving in front of the Bitons was attacked with stones during
Palestinian Arab riots that erupted in Judea and Samaria ahead of Obama’s
visit. The driver stopped short and Adele's mother, whose vision was blocked by
the width of the truck, hit the back of the vehicle. A week earlier, an old Israeli man was
shot near Kedumim. In 2011, Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan were killed
when their car overturned after being pelted with boulders. The Fogel family is
already legend in the pantheon of Israel's victims of terrorism. Who is responsible for this? The Western
"symbolic violence against the Jews" is to blame, as Shmuel Trigano
called it in a recent essay. The Israelis must be burn in effigy, he said,
before being physically slaughtered on the streets.
The same week as the terror attack
against the Bitons, a 8,000-word New
York Times magazine cover story justified Palestinian
Arab terrorism and called for another Intifafa.
“If there is a third Intifada, we want to
be the ones who started it: One village in the West Bank tests the limits of
unarmed resistance”. The NYT's abominable cover
shows the faces of eight Palestinian residents involved in the Nabi Saleh's
false myth, which presents the Palestinian Intifada as a battle between IDF
soldiers and Arab kids. The goal of the 8,000-word article is to angelize and
exculpate Arab terrorism and stimulate the ever increasing Arab expectations.
After all, weren't these Arabs just fighting against "the occupation"?
Weren't they?
Palestinian apologists and their
supporters at the New York
Times like to assert that such horrific acts are desperate
expressions of “frustration” against Israel’s policies. But today, 97% of the Arabs living in Judea
and Samaria are governed by the Palestinian Authority. In practical terms, they
manage their own lives independently. The Palestinian Arabs have a parliament
and government, voted in by the Palestinian electorate in elections.
As a new Yesha's booklet prepared for
Obama's visit explains, the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria carry an orange
identity card with the emblem of the PA on it. They can be issued a Palestinian
passport, receive a
driver’s license from the Palestinian Ministry of Transportation, send their
children to Palestinian-run schools, receive medical treatment from the Palestinian
health-care system, be sentenced by or receive legal aid from the PA judicial
system, and also acquire building permits in Areas A and B from the Palestinian
Housing Ministry. They lack authority in
only two areas: security and foreign affairs, because if granted to the
Palestinians, these powers would specifically endanger Israeli civilians.
Another example of symbolic violence
against the Jews is the elevation of the assassin of Israeli minister Rehavam
Zeevi by the French mayor of Bezons, the latest proof of Europe’s self
professed anti-Semitism. Another example is Europe’s boycott of Israeli goods
(why didn't Shimon Peres, in his recent address to the Europan
Parliament, criticize the racist policy promoted by Europe’s
governments?). By far the worst is
Barack Obama's speech in Jerusalem, where he spoke in front of an idiotic
Israeli parterre: “See the world through the eyes of Palestinians”. And
"peace must not be made through occupation".
This is Obama's carte blanche to murder
the Jews. What will be the effect of Obama’s words in the mind of an
Arab in Nablus and Gaza? It is an invitation to “liberate” the territory
stolen by the Jews. Obama said it clearly: for him, there is no Eretz
Israel. It was explained to the Israeli
judges by Akim Awad, the Arab who slaughtered the Fogels in Itamar: "I am
a person like you, I have no mental condition, I never had a serious illness.
My only illness is the Israeli occupation".
“Obama
has targeted the "settlers" as a group, as a dangerous
"other", charging them with being "violent". When these five Jews from
the same Israeli family were killed in their own beds, a famous Italian priest,
Mario Cornioli, wrote - immediately after the massacre - a subliminal
justification of the killings: "What is Itamar? An illegal Israeli colony
built on stolen land". This is also what Obama said in Jerusalem.
Adopting tactics reminiscent of the
way some anti-Semitic regimes abroad handled their Jewish problem, Obama has
targeted the "settlers" as a group, as a dangerous "other",
charging them with being "violent".
Israeli writer and Holocaust survivor Aharon Appelfeld begins his story
"Badenheim 1939" thus: “Spring returned to Badenheim. Bells were
ringing in the country church near the town, and primeval shadows drew back
into the forest”. The primeval shadows of hatred linger in the forests, while
the bells of denial are ringing out their silence across Europe and the West.
The New York Times’ publications,
the European Union’s protocols and Barack Obama’s rhetoric, which all together
foment the blood libel and the dark lie of the occupation, must be denounced
for what these really are: a burlesque masquerade of anti-Semitism which is
meant to facilitate the killing of the Jews.
It is symbolic violence against Israel which opens the doors
to real violence. That’s why a little Israeli girl named Adele Biton is
now fighting for her life. Because this victim of terror has been turned into a
"symbol of occupation". It is
the West which arms the Palestinian hand. But it is the Israeli
establishment that helps anti-Semites drown the Jews in this dark lake of
lies. (Giulio Meotti,
IsraelNationalNews.com, March 24, 2013)
One hundred refugees perish
on voyage ALMOST 100 dead asylum seekers headed for Australia
were thrown overboard one by one by starving shipmates - and new Immigration
Minister Brendan O'Connor admits he has no short-term solution to slow down the
influx of boats. Mr O'Connor said 98
Burmese refugees died terrible deaths as they drifted without food. Their boat
was found off Sri Lanka this week. He admitted there had probably been other
deaths in similar circumstances. The Sri
Lankan navy released shocking photographs of some of the 32 emaciated
survivors, who ran out of food 21 days ago and had been at sea for two months. "People floating around, people
emaciated and 100 people might have perished. It just has to end," Mr
O'Connor said. "It was nowhere near (Australia), I am advised it (the boat)
was on its way here. A lot of people are just disappearing, out of sight, out
of mind. Boats disappearing. It is very hard to put a number on it. Too
many."
An Afghan man has been sentenced to six years' jail for
organising an asylum seeker boat that sank en route to Christmas Island,
killing 90. Despite declaring "we
should never allow people smugglers to determine who we take in as
refugees" and that "there are no Oskar Schindlers" in the people
smuggling trade, Mr O'Connor admitted stopping boats would not be done quickly.
But the government would continue to work through Houston panel
recommendations, he said.
Australia has seen more than 33,000 people arrive since
Labor was elected in November 2007, and dismantled the Howard government's
Pacific Solution, which Mr O'Connor claimed would also have failed in the
existing circumstances. He said boat
arrivals were a "constant pressure" for governments. "This
cannot be done overnight, it can only be done over time," he said.
"Anyone who says they can stop the boats will have to eat a lot of words
if they're ever put into a position to have to do it."
He was critical of a lack of co-operation from the
Coalition but has yet to make contact with opposition immigration spokesman
Scott Morrison. Mr O'Connor was also yet
to speak with his counterparts in Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka but planned
to. He said he was focusing on building permanent camps in Nauru and PNG. A
migrant himself, Mr O'Connor's first memory of Australia was in a Nissen hut in
a migrant hostel with his Irish parents and siblings. His parents migrated to
Australia in the late 1960s. Mr O'Connor
said it was not "right" or "safe" for people to come by
boat: "If I can do anything to reduce that, I will." He rushed from East Timor to Christmas Island
on the day of the 2010 boat tragedy and comforted rescuers as they described
seeing women clinging to their babies rather than taking ropes to save
themselves. "I saw things I wouldn't want to see again," he said.
"If anyone tells me it is just a line you don't want to endanger people's
lives, it's not just a line."
(Gemma Jones, The Daily Telegraph, Feb. 21, 2013)
Health
10 Reasons to kick-start your day with Lemon and Water
Packed with antioxidants
and other health benefits, a glass of water with the juice of half a lemon
revitalises the body and mind.
1. Supports the immune system
The juice of half a lemon in a
glass of water is rich in vitamin C, which helps boost the immune system and
assists the body in fighting colds and flu.
Nutritionist Michele Chevalley Hedge says lemon also enhances the body’s
ability to absorb iron, an important nutrient for a healthy immune system. ”Vitamin C may increase non-heme iron
bioavailability fourfold,” Chevalley Hedge says. ”This refers to iron availability in the body
from non-meat sources.”
2. Aids digestion
As lemon juice is similar in
atomic structure to the stomach’s digestive juices, it has a positive effect on
the gastrointestinal tract. It helps
cleanse the bowel by flushing out waste more efficiently and stimulates the
release of gastric juices, which aid digestion.
The digestive qualities of lemon juice can also help relieve symptoms of
indigestion, heartburn and bloating.
3. Repairs skin
Lemons are great for combating
skin aging, Chevalley Hedge says. ”We
know that lemons are rich in vitamin C and that is really what creates collagen
synthesis, which is wonderful in terms of keeping wrinkles at bay,” she
says. Vitamin C is required in the
synthesis of amono acids into collagen and the job of collagen and connective
tissue is to hold things tight and protect our skin tissue.”
4. Reduces
appetite
Lemons contain pectin, a soluble
fibre commonly found in citrus fruits.
Pectin helps stave off hunger as the fibre creates a feeling of
fullness, which results in the suppression
of hunger cravings. By feeling fuller for longer, you’re less likely to
snack or make poor food choices.
5. Balances PH
levels.
Lemons are one of the most
alkalising foods for the body and a good pH level is essential as too much
acidity in the body can be inflamatory.
”Lemon water is very alkalising and most of us have acidic bodies,”
Chevalley Hedge says. ”Educated foodies
still think of lemons as being acidic when they are quite alkalising.”
6. Cleanse the
urinary tract
Lemon juice is a diuretic, meaning
it encourages the production of urine.
As a result, toxins are released at a faster rate, helping to purify the
system and keep it healthy. Lemon juice
can also change the pH level of the urinary tract which discourages the
proliferation of bad bacteria.
7. Freshens
breath
The antiseptic qualities in lemon
juice help kill off bad bacteria in the mouth by acting as a disinfectant. A glass of lemon water is also a healthier
morning wake-you-up than cofee. While
there vis no evidence-based research on
lemon water’s optimal temperature, Chevalley Hedge recommends drinking it at
room temperature. ”Most health
professionals agree room temperature is closer to your own body’s temperature
and seems to calm the digestive system,” she says.
If you’re concerned about the acid
harming tooth enamel, rinse your mouth with water afterwards. ”You would have to drink copious amounts of
lemon water to strip the enamel,” Chevalley Hedge says.
8. Protects
overall health
High levels of potassium in lemons
can help brain and nerve functioning and control blood pressure. Lemon water can also ward off stress and
depression, which have been linked to low levels of potassium. Lemons also contain vitamin P, which improves
capillary permeability and overall blood flow.
9. Promotes healing
Ascorbic acid, vitamin C, promotes
wound healing in the body and is an important nutrient in maintaining healthy
bones, tissue and cartilage. It also
calms inflamation in the body.
”Vitamin C travels through the
body, neutralising any free radicals,” Chevalley Hedge says. ”Free radicals can interact with the healthy
cells of the body, damaging them and their membranes and causing inflamation.”
10. Detoxifies
the liver
Lemon water acts as a liver
cleanser by assisting in detoxification. It purifies and stimulates the liver
by encouraging the production of the bile, an acid required for digestion.
Lemon water can also help control excess bile flow, decrease the amount of
phlegm produced by the body and assist in disolving gallstones. (bodyandsoul.com.au,
April 7, 2013)
THEY are chemicals found
in common products in every home in the country - and they have been linked to
a host of medical conditions including cancer, asthma, birth defects,
infertility and autism.
Global health chiefs yesterday warned the
compounds, used in everything from toys, cosmetics and credit cards to
sunglasses, electronics and car dashboards, have serious implications for
health. Experts at the World Health
Organisation identified more than 800 chemicals they said might need to be
banned. They can be found in baby
bottles, food containers, Teflon-coated saucepans and pesticides. They also may
be present in household cleaners, building materials, paints, paper, clothing
and lawn and garden supplies. WHO said
it was reasonable to suspect chemical substances called phthalates harmed
female fertility and were linked to the rising rates of childhood illnesses
including leukaemia. Also under
suspicion was bisphenol A, which is found in a host of daily items including
tin cans and sunglasses. WHO said the
chemicals could disrupt the endocrine system in humans that regulates hormonal
processes, metabolism, growth and development, sleep and mood.
The report said there was evidence
endocrine-related diseases like genital malformations, behavioural disorders,
breast, prostate and ovarian cancer were all on the rise. Other
endocrine-related diseases like diabetes and obesity were also increasing and
up to 40 per cent of men in some countries have low semen quality. "Close to 800 chemicals are known or
suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, hormone
synthesis or hormone conversion," the report said. "The speed with
which the increase in disease incidence has occurred in recent decades rules
out genetic factors as the sole plausible explanation." The report calls
for studies to determine the impact of the chemicals, which are often not
tested before they are released on to the market. It suggested governments
should consider banning more of the chemicals. The chemicals enter the
environment mainly through industrial and urban discharges, agricultural
run-off and the burning of waste. Humans
can ingest the chemicals from food, water and particles in the air. (Sue
Dunlevy, The Daily Telegraph, Feb.
21, 2013)
AUSTRALIANS are leading
the global campaign against tobacco. We have the strongest legislative
framework in the world to reduce the harmful effects of smoking, with
restrictions on how tobacco is sold, packaged, stored and displayed. In 1994,
you could smoke non-stop on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. Now it
is illegal to smoke in your car if a child is on board. Alarmingly, the contrast in regulation
between tobacco and synthetic cannabis could not be greater.
Laws restricting
synthetic cannabis are enacted at a snail’s pace compared to the development of
fake weed.
Your local tobacconist
can’t display a price list larger than the sub-heading above for tobacco, yet
can sell unidentified bags of plant matter and psychoactive chemicals that are
subject to no consumer protection and cause significant harm to users. Why is the Cancer Council NSW interested in
this issue? Because we know that the
smoked form of cannabis contains at least 50 of the same carcinogens as
tobacco. But there is very little understanding of the impact of smoking
synthetic forms of cannabis. Any plant matter that is burnt and inhaled is a
risk and the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre advises that
little, if any, data exists about the side effects, adverse reactions,
long-term damage, or dependence potential of synthetic cannabis. In 2010,
around 1.9million Australians aged 14 years or older reported using cannabis in
the previous 12 months, including 9.1per cent of the NSW adult population.
However, most organic cannabis use is occasional at once or twice per year.
Contrast this with revelations that local tobacconists are enjoying a spike in
business of up to 400 packets per day and it seems that these users are far
from ‘‘occasional’’. This is because
these types of products are designed to create addiction and are often mixed
with tobacco to ensure users are exposed to the nicotine that drives
dependence. This could effectively
create the next cohort of people addicted to smoking, which kills 15,500
Australians per year. On July 8, 2011, the NSW government banned seven
synthetic cannabinoids under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985. On the
same day, the Therapeutic Goods Administration scheduled eight synthetic
cannabinoids. Later that month, the South Australian government banned
seventeen synthetic cannabinoids. And
herein lies the problem for policy makers. By banning individual substances, a
cat-and-mouse game has developed where each year dozens of new classes of
chemicals are created to avoid the restrictions.
This legal loophole is
being exploited by retailers in the Hunter Region to cash in on the science of
cannabinoid development and the dependence elicited in users. The justification provided by local suppliers
that consumers are to blame for the harmful effects of the substance is the
point where the farcical irony of the situation turns more sinister, and it
suggests two things. Firstly, the idea that consumers need to ‘‘exert self
control’’ implies that there is in fact a right way and a wrong way to smoke
carcinogens into your blood stream. Secondly, the concept that if used
‘‘properly’’ the drug is not harmful is simply not true. Proponents of
legalising cannabis will point to the problems with the synthetic form to argue
that the prohibition of the organic drug has failed. Reforming the legal
framework of cannabis is a broader public debate, however, as it stands the
current situation of legal purgatory means the community has access to the
compound without any regulatory framework.
Even if all synthetic cannabis was legal (and I’m certainly not
proposing that option), it would need to be approved by the TGA and regulated
protections for consumers would be in place. It is important not to confuse
synthetic cannabis with cannabis-based medicines being trialled for people
with cancer or multiple sclerosis, such as Sativex. Cancer Council NSW
acknowledges that cannabis may be of medical benefit to cancer patients and
supports clinical trials delivered via oral spray. Smoking is a particularly harmful route of
cannabis administration and fake weed is not a clinical trial for
medicinal marijuana. The government needs to enact law that delivers the full
intention of the 2011 amendment and ban all forms of synthetic drug that is
smoked to deliver an effect similar to organic cannabis. It is the outcome on
individuals and on our community that is important to protect against, not
simply the molecules. The NSW inquiry
into synthetic cannabis needs to future-proof the legislation, and can start by
banning substances based on effect, or by placing the responsibility with the
retailer to prove the safety of new products before they can be sold. Policy
makers should ensure suppliers and retailers are forced to exert self-control.
(Shayne Connell, Newcastle
Herald, Feb. 18, 2013)
Cut back on processed meat and
live longer
Meals containing too much processed meat
such as cheap ham, bacon and sausages could shorten your life, a large-scale
study has found. The Europe-wide
analysis of the diets and medical histories of almost half a million men and
women linked processed meat to deaths from cancer and heart disease and
suggested it could be to blame for about one in 30 deaths.
The researchers suggested a limit of no
more than 20 grams a day of processed meat – the equivalent of one rasher of
chap bacon. (bodyandsoul.com.au, March 31, 2013)
AUSTRALIANS are being urged to choose the
right kind of fats, cut down on sugary drinks and avoid adding salt to food, in
new national dietary guidelines. The
National Health and Medical Research Guidelines are the most authoritative
source of information on nutrition, a reference for health professionals,
policy makers and educators and the subject of intense debate and lobbying by
the food industry, health campaigners and academics. For the latest version, the first update in a
decade, researchers reviewed 55,000 pieces of scientific research and modelled
about 100 dietary patterns.
Much of the advice is little-changed from
the 2003 version, with people encouraged to eat plenty of vegetables and fruit,
wholegrain foods and legumes, lean meats and fish and reduced-fat dairy
products. But the latest guidelines mark a change of emphasis on fat, with a
move away from calls to cut fat intake, and a distinction between foods
containing mainly unhealthy saturated fats such as butter and cream and those
containing mainly beneficial polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as
olive or canola oil, nut butters and pastes and avocados. The shift was
welcomed by the Heart Foundation, which said while it was important for people
to reduce their intake of bad fats, they should replace these with good fats. ''People
should not cut all fats from their diet,'' foundation chief executive Lyn
Roberts said.
''It's good to eat some health-ier fats
and oils such as canola oil, nuts and fish, as they provide essential nutrients
for heart health and protect against disease,'' Dr Roberts said. The council
resisted calls to make beneficial fats a separate food group. The chairwoman of
the dietary guidelines working committee, Amanda Lee, said the committee had
decided against this because it thought this would be confusing, given healthy
fats could be found in foods such as meats and avocados, which belonged in
other groups. The guidelines take a stronger line on foods containing added
sugar. While the 2003 guidelines said people should ''take care to consume only
moderate amounts'' of these foods, the new guidelines urge people to ''limit''
their intake of sweetened soft drinks and lollies. Rosemary Stanton, a public
health nutritionist who also served on the committee, said this had been driven
by stronger evidence about the link between sugary drinks and weight gain. The advice on salt has also been toughened,
from ''choose foods low in salt'' to urging people to limit their intake of
foods containing added salt, reading labels to choose lower sodium products,
and not adding salt in cooking or at the table. The council says 60 per cent of
Australian adults and 25 per cent of children are overweight or obese and, if
trends continue, by 2025, 83 per cent of men and 75 per cent of women over the
age of 20 will be overweight or obese.
(Dan Harrison, Sydney Morning
Herald, Feb. 19, 2013)
Exercise: do this 4 times a week to protect your brain
Here is another reason to get moving – and
ensure your kids are doing the same: exercise helps prevent dementia while
increasing brain power in later life by up to a third, a UK study has found.
And the more you do it from an early age, the better.
In a 40-year study,
more than 9000 people were questioned about their exercise levels and asked to
complete memory, attention and learning tests at regular age intervals. Participants who exercised weekly throughout
their lives performed better on the tests at the age of 50 than those who
exercised two to three times a month or less.
Four times a week from childhood was the magic number. Men who notched
up this much exercise, had lost a third less of their brain power by 50 than
men who did no exercise, while women had lost a quarter less. (bodyandsoul.com.au, March 31, 2013)
AN Australian-led
international research team has discovered a gene associated with the most
common form of epilepsy, a discovery which will help with diagnosis and the
development of treatments.
Through genetic counselling, it will help
people plan a family, says lead researcher Professor Ingrid Scheffer of the
University of Melbourne. Two per cent of
people have epilepsy and most do not know the cause of their condition. The
research will help some of those with the most common form, focal epilepsy, discover
the underlying cause.
Prof Scheffer says a gene test will help
in cases where everything else in the brain looks normal. "It will give
you a cause. That has important implications in terms of genetic counselling
and managing the risk to your own offspring."
A small proportion of people with the gene
also have psychiatric or autism spectrum disorders, says Prof Scheffer, a
senior principal research fellow at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and
Mental Health. "Therefore genetic
counselling is even more important. "Knowing the gene means people can go
forward and get pregnant and have proper medical assistance to ensure their
baby does not have the disorder." Prof Scheffer says 90 families took part
in the study, which was conducted in partnership with Associate Professor
Leanne Dibbens from the University of South Australia. One of the participants, 25-year-old Vicky,
is battling to digest the implications of the discovery. "This puts the
possibility of children into my thoughts for the first time," says the
Melbourne administration assistant, who does not want her full name disclosed.
"This opens so many doors for people who want to have children. "I
don't know how this makes me feel. It is still a bit fresh. The possibility of
children is a major U-turn for me."
Scientists in Europe and Canada also worked on the research, which is
published in the April 1 issue of the journal Nature Genetics. (Clifford
Fram, AAP/Sunday Telegraph, April 01, 2013)
A self-confessed paedophile who sexually abused
several boys in Sydney is being harboured by a leading Los Angeles Jewish
welfare group. The man, who is being
investigated by NSW detectives over several sexual assaults at Bondi's Yeshiva
school in the 1980s, has been shielded from exposure and scrutiny by Jewish
Family Service of Los Angeles.
The service, more than 150 years old, provides
medical, housing, food, counselling, educational and family support services. Emails obtained from US sources show that
since mid-2011 its board members have been aware of the man's sexual abuse
history in Australia but have not reported him to authorities in Sydney or the
US. In an email to the man in November
2011, Debbie Fox, executive director of the Los Angeles organisation, refers to
phone calls to board members about his activities in Sydney. ''I have no idea how anyone found out - but
calls are coming daily from many sources. So far, we've been protecting
you.'' The revelation that a big Jewish
organisation in the US is protecting a known paedophile comes at a time when
orthodox communities around the world are being challenged about their
historical preference for handling of child sex abuse cases internally rather
than involving the police. The man is central to the controversy surrounding
Bondi's Yeshiva community and some of Australia's most senior rabbis. Emails
show the Jewish Family Service conducted an ''evaluation'' of the man, who is
not being named for legal reasons, to see if he was still a risk to children.
The evaluation included assessments by doctors and psychologists, and the man
undertaking a lie detector test. In her
email, Ms Fox expressed frustration at how long the man was taking to complete
the process, writing ''we have NEVER had any evaluation take nearly this long.
''For your security - you must complete it and we must get the evaluation
report and recommendations,'' she wrote.
It is believed the man did not pass the evaluation and remains under strict
controls to prevent his being with children unsupervised. Ms Fox did not
respond to questions. The emails show the man's history as a sexual abuser has
not been made known to most members of the Jewish community he mixes with in
LA. Close members of his family in Australia and the US are also understood to
be unaware of his past. It was revealed
this year during a recent conversation with one of his victims that the man
admitted to regular and serious sexual abuse of several boys in the 1980s. NSW police are understood to have a recording
of this conversation. In it, the man says Yeshiva's spiritual leader Rabbi
Pinchus Feldman confronted him about a sexual abuse incident in the
mid-1980s. In February, Rabbi Feldman
released a statement saying he had no recollection of anyone confessing to
child sexual abuse 25 years ago and that he encouraged anyone with knowledge of
such crimes to go to the police. The man
who admitted to sexually abusing boys at Yeshiva left Sydney to find a wife in
Los Angeles. But after a few weeks he returned to Sydney and continued sexually
abusing boys. He eventually settled in Los Angeles. The head of the Organisation of Rabbis of
Australasia, Moshe Gutnick, said last month that he had received an anonymous
phone call about 25 years ago from a boy who claimed to have been sexually
abused by the man. Rabbi Gutnick said, with hindsight, he should
have alerted police. But he had told senior leaders of the Yeshiva community. (Richard Baker, SMH, April 10, 2013)
Israel Planning to Build Holy Temple, Claims PA
Official
"The construction of the false Temple on the
Temple Mount is closer than ever before," claims an official with the
Al-Aqsa Mosque. The head of manuscripts
at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Najeh Bkeirat, has accused Israel of trying to
"Judaize" the Temple Mount by building a new Holy Temple. Speaking on January 4 to the Palestine
journal, which is affiliated with the Hamas terrorist group, Bkeirat claimed
that "the construction of the false Temple is closer than ever
before." Bkeirat claimed in the
interview that an analysis of Jerusalem's development plans finds there is an
intention to Judaize the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and within this framework build the
Temple on its ruins and to then reduce the number of Arab residents in the city. In order to deal with the "danger"
of such a move, he called to increase the Muslim presence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque
and hold educational programs in it, in addition to public
relations activities
about the importance of the mosque and the other Islamic holy places in
Jerusalem. Arabs continuously accuse
Israel of "Judaizing" the Temple Mount, sometimes resorting to
ridiculous propaganda such as accusing Israel of using chemicals to erode the foundations of the mosque in order to cause it to collapse.
The Popular Resistance Committees
terrorist organization has
threatened Israel that any harm to the Al-Aqsa mosque would “open the gates of hell against the
Zionist enemy.” Meanwhile the Waqf,
which was left in charge of the Temple Mount following Jerusalem’s
reunification in 1967, has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the Jewish
holy site. The decision to leave the Temple Mount in the hands of the Waqf was
made by then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.
At the entrance to the Temple Mount, a Waqf sign says, “The Al-Aqsa
Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property”. Police, in an
attempt to appease the Waqf, discriminate against Jews. They limit the number
of Jewish worshippers allowed on the Temple Mount at one time in order to prevent
conflict with Muslim worshippers. They often close
the Mount to Jews in response to Muslim riots – despite evidence that
Muslim riots have been planned in advance for the
specific purpose of forcing Jews out. A
recent report by archaeologists found that the Waqf is continuing
to destroy Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount in a
direct violation of a ruling by the Supreme Court. (Elad Benari,
IsraelNationalNews.com, Jan. 9, 2013)
Head of Catholic Sect Calls Jews 'Enemies of Church'
Vatican reaffirms its
commitment to dialogue with Jews after head of a traditionalist breakaway group
called them "enemies of the Church." The Vatican reaffirmed its commitment to dialogue with
the Jewish people after the head of a traditionalist breakaway group
called Jews "enemies of the Church" in a late December video,
which is currently circulating on YouTube. Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the
traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), said on Dec. 28 that "the
enemies of the Church: the Jews, the Masons, the modernists" were opposing the
group's reconciliation with the Church.
Chief spokesman for the Vatican, Rev.
Federico Lombardi, on Monday called Fellay’s comment "meaningless"
and "unacceptable.” "Both Pope
Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II personally engaged in dialogue
with Jews," he said, noting their visits to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Lombardi declined to comment on the potential impact of Fellay's words on the
dialogue between the Vatican and the SSPX breakaway group. In a statement, the
American branch of the SSPX
dismissed the “false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech” made against
the group, maintaining that the SSPX leader used the word “enemies” as a
“religious concept,” referring to “any group or religious sect which opposes
the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation
of souls.” Mark Weitzman, Director of
Government Affairs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights
organization that combats anti-Semitism, said, “Bishop Fellay’s description of
Jews as ‘enemies’ amply proves once again the deep rooted anti-Semitism that
lies at the heart of the SSPX’s theology.”
“Despite all of the group’s efforts to present a
cleansed public face, their teaching of hate still seeps to the surface,” he
added. “Instead of blaming their traditional bogeymen of Jews and Masons for
their problems with the Church, and accusing these enemies of being responsible
for subverting the Church through the Vatican II, which shifted the relationship
between Catholics and Jews into a positive direction in 1965, they would be
better served by acknowledging the teachings of Vatican II and cleansing their
theology of the bigotry that it espouses." (Rachel Hirshfeld, IsraelNationalNews.com, Jan. 8, 2013)
Report: Alarming Rise in Anti-Semitic Incidents in the
World
A report on anti-Semitic trends in 2012
that was prepared by the Ministry of Information and Diaspora indicates
that in the past year there has been “an alarming rise in the number of
terrorist attacks and attempted attacks against Jewish targets and an
escalation in violent incidents against Jews throughout the world.” The report will be presented by Information
and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein during Sunday’s weekly cabinet
meeting. The report finds that in the
past year there has been a rise in the number of terrorist acts and attempted
attacks against Jewish targets, primarily by groups which identify with radical
Islam and the extreme right. At the same time, the report found,
there has also been an increase in the number of street attacks and incidents
of verbal and physical violence against Jews, in Europe as well as in the U.S.,
Canada and Australia. The report includes an extensive review of the different
anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place around the world, as well as of
expressions of hatred and racism on the internet and the trends in anti-Semitic
discourse in the public and political spheres. The report, which is being
presented for the fourth year in a row, is based on data from the Kantor Center
for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at the Tel Aviv University, headed
by Prof. Dina Porat. This year’s report
opens with a discussion of the terror
attack at the Otzar HaTorah Jewish school in Toulouse, France,
where four Jews were murdered last March.
"The attack on the school in Toulouse
was a painful reminder of the danger of terrorism that is hovering over Jewish
communities, both on the part of radical Islam and the extreme right,"
states the report, which indicates that the attack in Toulouse provoked Islamic
elements to increase their activities against Jewish targets. Data published in
late October found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents that occurred in
France since the beginning of 2012 was higher by 45% compared to the same
period last year. The report states that
a number of serious incidents, such as desecrations of memorials, cemeteries
and property associated with Jewish communities in Russia, Venezuela, Belgium,
Austria and many other countries were recorded in 2012. In fact, states the
report, “In Germany a Jewish cemetery is vandalized almost every week.” In eastern Europe, according to the report,
an increase was recorded in violent activities of groups identified with the
extreme right. A specific mention is made of Hungary where, the report says, the recent anti-Semitic statements made by members of the
far right Jobbik party are causing concern that these statements will be
translated into violence against Jews.
The report also warns against the rise to
power of extremists in Greece and the
Ukraine, and states that "the year 2012 was marked by the strengthening of
political parties with anti-Semitic attitudes, which among other things
combined anti-Semitic propaganda and incitement against Jews as part of
internal politics.”
Regarding anti-Semitism in the Arab and Muslim world, the report states that no significant change was recorded last year and that, contrary to all expectations, there were fewer reactions to Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense than there were during operation Cast Lead in December of 2008. This, according to the report, is “probably due to the fact that the operation lasted only a few days, the number of victims on the Palestinian side was relatively low, and public opinion in the Arab world was directed to problems in Syria and Egypt.” According to Minister Edelstein, the data in the report show that there is no connection between the policy of the Israeli government and anti-Semitism in the world. “An analysis of the report clearly shows that the thesis that one policy or another of the State Israel is an incentive to an increase or decrease in the number of anti-Semitic incidents is fundamentally unrealistic,” he said. “One can see that during Operation Pillar of Defense, and immediately afterwards, there was no sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents. There is no doubt that behind the phenomena of anti-Semitism are also policies of anti-Zionism and de-legitimization of the State of Israel, but no policy of the State of Israel will affect or reduce these effects of racial hatred toward Jews.” (Elad Benari, IsraelNationalNews.com, Jan. 27, 2013)