This Sabbath evening begins the Festival of Lights (Jesus kept it - the Feast of the Dedication - John 10:22) and is a perfect time to remember the Temple Mount and how it will again soon graciously host a House of Prayer for All Peoples.
Taking a stand for the Temple Mount!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Assertiveness (The European External Action Service)
Newsletter 2009/12/08 - Assertiveness
BERLIN/BRUSSELS/LONDON (Own report) - Berlin is insisting on access to essential posts in the European External Action Service (EEAS). According to news reports, the German government is demanding that the post of EEAS General Secretary be given to a German. Leading personnel from the Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry are being suggested. The general secretary heads the administration and is second only to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, who is considered to be very weak, meaning that a German EEAS general secretary would have a free hand. The structuring of the EEAS is one of Berlin's most essential objectives since the Lisbon Treaty took effect, reinforcing the EU on its path toward becoming a world power. As was expressed in Berlin's foreign ministry, the basic features of the new administration must be institutionalized by April 2010, so that the British Conservatives, expected to be the victors of the next parliamentary elections in the spring of 2010, will not be able to have any influence. They are capable of putting up serious resistance to German hegemonic policy.
more
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56305
BERLIN/BRUSSELS/LONDON (Own report) - Berlin is insisting on access to essential posts in the European External Action Service (EEAS). According to news reports, the German government is demanding that the post of EEAS General Secretary be given to a German. Leading personnel from the Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry are being suggested. The general secretary heads the administration and is second only to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, who is considered to be very weak, meaning that a German EEAS general secretary would have a free hand. The structuring of the EEAS is one of Berlin's most essential objectives since the Lisbon Treaty took effect, reinforcing the EU on its path toward becoming a world power. As was expressed in Berlin's foreign ministry, the basic features of the new administration must be institutionalized by April 2010, so that the British Conservatives, expected to be the victors of the next parliamentary elections in the spring of 2010, will not be able to have any influence. They are capable of putting up serious resistance to German hegemonic policy.
more
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56305
German tool enforces Sunday for Rome
Germany Upholds Sunday Closing Laws · December 09, 2009
On December 1, 2009, the same day that the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution went into force, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, the highest court in Germany “ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a 2006 Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping.” Hailed as a victory for the Catholic and Lutheran Churches, the ruling takes effect January 1, 2010. Berlin must align its Sunday laws with the constitutional law institutionalizing Sunday as a day of rest and religious improvement.
Since 1919 Germany has had Sunday rest enshrined in its basic law as a day of rest and “spiritual elevation.” “Yet many of Germany’s 16 states have already made some exceptions, allowing stores to open a few Sundays a year…” But “in 2006 the German capital gave the green light for retailers to open on 10 Sundays a year, including the four Advent Sundays preceding Christmas.
“However, Germany’s Constitutional Court has now upheld a complaint made by the country’s Catholic and Protestant [or Lutheran] churches,” wrote SpiegelOnline, “based on a clause in the German constitution that Sunday should be a day of rest and ‘spiritual elevation.’
“The court on Tuesday decided in favor of the churches, saying that Sunday opening should not take place four weeks in a row. The ruling will not affect shopping this December, but would come into force next year. However, the ruling did not overturn completely the principle of limited Sunday store opening.
“The Protestant Bishop of Berlin, Markus Droege, characterized the weekly day of rest as a ‘cultural and social achievement,’” said The Christian Telegraph. ‘Katrin Goering-Eckardt, President of the Protestant Church’s General Synod, also welcomed the court decision. She described the day of rest as a ‘Christian gift to society as a whole.’’ Alois Glueck, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics, welcomed the fact that the Constitutional Court has called a halt to a ‘total commercialization of life as a whole.’ Great cultures have days of rest, stated the veteran politician of the Bavarian Christian Social Union.”
“The labor unions had joined the churches in their campaign to ring-fence Sunday as a day off for the nation. However, their focus was not on protecting the right to practice religion, but rather on protecting workers in the retail sector from having to work on Sundays, sometimes the only day they might get to spend with other members of their family.”
Please note that Sunday closing laws are the issue, though they overlap with Sunday Rest laws, and eventually with Sunday worship laws. Nevertheless, the court ruled against the liberalized law in Berlin because of spiritual reasons and sided with the churches. “‘Legal protection measures must recognize Sundays and public holidays as days of rest from work,’ said Hans-Juergen Papier, president of the Constitutional Court. “
Furthermore, the recent papal encyclical on the economy specifically called upon the trade unions to help society respect workers rights. Now the trade unions join the church once again, as they did in the papal attempt to include Sunday rest laws in the EU’s working time directive last year, to push worker’s rights as a reason to enforce Sunday closing laws.
“The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began.—Letter 200, 1903.” Country Living, page 10.
Many arguments were given in support of the courts decision in the newspapers. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote:
“The great diversity of working lives brings with it the fact that members of a single family are forced into different and sometimes incompatible working hours. If the state does not use some of its regulatory power to give a dependable rhythm to at least one free day — and that is still Sunday — then the family faces the threat of being pulled further apart. If they have no time with each other and for each other, then the formal notion of belonging together loses value… The fact that in the face of growing commercialization and fewer jobs hardly any employee ever dares to ask for a free Saturday, led the labor unions to join the churches in their campaign — with noticeable success.”
Die Welt wrote:
“The churches have argued correctly that employees in the retail sector are not given the possibility of organizing their Advent Sundays according to Christian principles: going to church, being involved in the community, singing and reading aloud. It is part of religious freedom to be able to do these things.”
“The judges did not just endorse the division of time marked by Christianity, but also the necessity for this division. There is no ambiguity about this weekly rhythm… It is good to have free time together, it helps us to live as the social beings that we are.”
Notice that this argument is a religious argument in favor of Sunday closing laws. Note also that Die Welt acknowledges that the churches are right in their argument and that before the court they argued the time established by the Roman Catholic Church, and followed by most other churches as the religious day of rest.
Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote:
“…The ruling is humane. It is an act in favor of the public spirit. … Those who regularly go shopping on Sundays today will have to work regularly on Sundays tomorrow. It may sound old fashioned but it is still correct: Sunday is Sunday because it is unlike other days… Sunday is more than just a day off for individuals. It that were so, then it wouldn’t matter if someone took a day off on Tuesday or Thursday. It is a day to synchronize society, that is what makes it so important. Without Sunday, every day would be a working day and a fixed point in the week would disappear. Of course there can be exceptions, there have always been particular professions who work on Sundays. But when the exception becomes the rule, then the commercialization of Sundays will not end at the department stores.”
“The court has given everyone the right to a day off on Sundays. You don’t have to take it. Everyone can do what they like with it. But it is good to have it.”
Actually, you can’t do whatever you like to do in Germany. For instance, you can’t go shopping. Note the argument that Sunday synchronizes society. That is actually a very good argument, but not for Sunday. That is exactly what the Sabbath of the Lord is supposed to do. But by transferring the day to Sunday since the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the Roman Catholic Church as changed the law of God and put a human law in its place. No matter how venerated, no matter how noble the arguments may sound, no matter how hoary with age, Rome’s Sunday rest is still a human replacement for the law of God. Most arguments in favor of Sunday closing, or Sunday rest, and probably Sunday worship, when they are promoted, are arguments that should be used to support the Sabbath, except for those that would enforce a day of rest and worship. After all, God does allow each individual freedom of choice. But Rome tries to force her will on societies and individual’s regardless of their free choice.
The Financial Times Deutschland wrote:
“The ruling by the Constitutional Court has revived the emotional debate about opening hours of shops on Sundays. That alone is annoying. But even more annoying is that with its strong emphasis on the religiously based day of rest on Sunday, it is in interfering in individual and economic freedom.”
The Financial Times Deutschland has it right on this point, particularly when you consider what Rome ultimately wants to accomplish. She can never enforce a Sunday worship law, unless she first enforces a Sunday closing law, and a Sunday rest law, all of which abrogate religious liberty.
“Without a doubt the freedom to practise religion is of great value,” continued the Financial Times, “However, in an increasingly secular society with more and more individualized rhythms of living, it seems an anachronism for the country’s highest court to use retail of all things to save the day of rest.”
Die Tageszeitung, a Berlin paper, wrote:
“Sunday as a day off is a great gift. The treadmill is closed for 24 hours. The court has given relaxation, rest and ‘spiritual elevation’ precedence over the thirst for profit and the right to a consumer fix.
Note that the court gave precedence to the religious element in its ruling over the freedom to do other non-religious things. This is an argument that will arise again.
Please keep in mind that it is the churches in Germany, both Catholic and Protestant that complained in court that constitutional and specifically religious Sunday laws were being violated. It should not go unnoticed by students of prophecy what Rome’s real agenda is in any country where she gains power. In countries that already have Sunday closing laws, Rome presses to enforce them. In countries where there are no constitutional Sunday laws, like in the United States, she will have more work to do. But her agenda is clear. Germany does not have separation of church and state. In other words, there is only a certain level of toleration for those that do not agree with those laws. One day that toleration could become less so.
Germany is the largest and most populous state of the EU and has a lot of influence on the direction that the EU travels. It could be said that “as Germany goes, so goes the EU.” Rome’s agenda is to resurrect the old Holy Roman Empire. This includes her religion. This step by the German high court should be seen as one step further toward meeting that goal. Now that the EU superstate is in place, and now that it has its constitution, we will see more of Rome, the protestant churches and the trade unions working together to press to increase the Sunday laws in the European Union. December 1, 2009 was a very important day for the Roman Catholic Church and for students of Bible prophecy. The deadly wound is almost healed. See Revelation 13:3, 8, 15-17.
SpiegelOnline Article
Christian Telegraph Article
DW World Article
Shopping Hours
History of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany
History of the Weimar Constitution
English Text of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany
English Text of Article 139 of the Extracts appended to the “Basic Law” from the Weimar Constitution
Vatican Caritas in Veritate Encyclical
************
Herbert W. Armstrong warned for years that a German-dominated Europe would be a tool for Rome and enforce their doctrines.
Germany makes pagan Sunday official
On December 1, 2009, the same day that the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution went into force, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, the highest court in Germany “ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a 2006 Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping.” Hailed as a victory for the Catholic and Lutheran Churches, the ruling takes effect January 1, 2010. Berlin must align its Sunday laws with the constitutional law institutionalizing Sunday as a day of rest and religious improvement.
Since 1919 Germany has had Sunday rest enshrined in its basic law as a day of rest and “spiritual elevation.” “Yet many of Germany’s 16 states have already made some exceptions, allowing stores to open a few Sundays a year…” But “in 2006 the German capital gave the green light for retailers to open on 10 Sundays a year, including the four Advent Sundays preceding Christmas.
“However, Germany’s Constitutional Court has now upheld a complaint made by the country’s Catholic and Protestant [or Lutheran] churches,” wrote SpiegelOnline, “based on a clause in the German constitution that Sunday should be a day of rest and ‘spiritual elevation.’
“The court on Tuesday decided in favor of the churches, saying that Sunday opening should not take place four weeks in a row. The ruling will not affect shopping this December, but would come into force next year. However, the ruling did not overturn completely the principle of limited Sunday store opening.
“The Protestant Bishop of Berlin, Markus Droege, characterized the weekly day of rest as a ‘cultural and social achievement,’” said The Christian Telegraph. ‘Katrin Goering-Eckardt, President of the Protestant Church’s General Synod, also welcomed the court decision. She described the day of rest as a ‘Christian gift to society as a whole.’’ Alois Glueck, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics, welcomed the fact that the Constitutional Court has called a halt to a ‘total commercialization of life as a whole.’ Great cultures have days of rest, stated the veteran politician of the Bavarian Christian Social Union.”
“The labor unions had joined the churches in their campaign to ring-fence Sunday as a day off for the nation. However, their focus was not on protecting the right to practice religion, but rather on protecting workers in the retail sector from having to work on Sundays, sometimes the only day they might get to spend with other members of their family.”
Please note that Sunday closing laws are the issue, though they overlap with Sunday Rest laws, and eventually with Sunday worship laws. Nevertheless, the court ruled against the liberalized law in Berlin because of spiritual reasons and sided with the churches. “‘Legal protection measures must recognize Sundays and public holidays as days of rest from work,’ said Hans-Juergen Papier, president of the Constitutional Court. “
Furthermore, the recent papal encyclical on the economy specifically called upon the trade unions to help society respect workers rights. Now the trade unions join the church once again, as they did in the papal attempt to include Sunday rest laws in the EU’s working time directive last year, to push worker’s rights as a reason to enforce Sunday closing laws.
“The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began.—Letter 200, 1903.” Country Living, page 10.
Many arguments were given in support of the courts decision in the newspapers. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote:
“The great diversity of working lives brings with it the fact that members of a single family are forced into different and sometimes incompatible working hours. If the state does not use some of its regulatory power to give a dependable rhythm to at least one free day — and that is still Sunday — then the family faces the threat of being pulled further apart. If they have no time with each other and for each other, then the formal notion of belonging together loses value… The fact that in the face of growing commercialization and fewer jobs hardly any employee ever dares to ask for a free Saturday, led the labor unions to join the churches in their campaign — with noticeable success.”
Die Welt wrote:
“The churches have argued correctly that employees in the retail sector are not given the possibility of organizing their Advent Sundays according to Christian principles: going to church, being involved in the community, singing and reading aloud. It is part of religious freedom to be able to do these things.”
“The judges did not just endorse the division of time marked by Christianity, but also the necessity for this division. There is no ambiguity about this weekly rhythm… It is good to have free time together, it helps us to live as the social beings that we are.”
Notice that this argument is a religious argument in favor of Sunday closing laws. Note also that Die Welt acknowledges that the churches are right in their argument and that before the court they argued the time established by the Roman Catholic Church, and followed by most other churches as the religious day of rest.
Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote:
“…The ruling is humane. It is an act in favor of the public spirit. … Those who regularly go shopping on Sundays today will have to work regularly on Sundays tomorrow. It may sound old fashioned but it is still correct: Sunday is Sunday because it is unlike other days… Sunday is more than just a day off for individuals. It that were so, then it wouldn’t matter if someone took a day off on Tuesday or Thursday. It is a day to synchronize society, that is what makes it so important. Without Sunday, every day would be a working day and a fixed point in the week would disappear. Of course there can be exceptions, there have always been particular professions who work on Sundays. But when the exception becomes the rule, then the commercialization of Sundays will not end at the department stores.”
“The court has given everyone the right to a day off on Sundays. You don’t have to take it. Everyone can do what they like with it. But it is good to have it.”
Actually, you can’t do whatever you like to do in Germany. For instance, you can’t go shopping. Note the argument that Sunday synchronizes society. That is actually a very good argument, but not for Sunday. That is exactly what the Sabbath of the Lord is supposed to do. But by transferring the day to Sunday since the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the Roman Catholic Church as changed the law of God and put a human law in its place. No matter how venerated, no matter how noble the arguments may sound, no matter how hoary with age, Rome’s Sunday rest is still a human replacement for the law of God. Most arguments in favor of Sunday closing, or Sunday rest, and probably Sunday worship, when they are promoted, are arguments that should be used to support the Sabbath, except for those that would enforce a day of rest and worship. After all, God does allow each individual freedom of choice. But Rome tries to force her will on societies and individual’s regardless of their free choice.
The Financial Times Deutschland wrote:
“The ruling by the Constitutional Court has revived the emotional debate about opening hours of shops on Sundays. That alone is annoying. But even more annoying is that with its strong emphasis on the religiously based day of rest on Sunday, it is in interfering in individual and economic freedom.”
The Financial Times Deutschland has it right on this point, particularly when you consider what Rome ultimately wants to accomplish. She can never enforce a Sunday worship law, unless she first enforces a Sunday closing law, and a Sunday rest law, all of which abrogate religious liberty.
“Without a doubt the freedom to practise religion is of great value,” continued the Financial Times, “However, in an increasingly secular society with more and more individualized rhythms of living, it seems an anachronism for the country’s highest court to use retail of all things to save the day of rest.”
Die Tageszeitung, a Berlin paper, wrote:
“Sunday as a day off is a great gift. The treadmill is closed for 24 hours. The court has given relaxation, rest and ‘spiritual elevation’ precedence over the thirst for profit and the right to a consumer fix.
Note that the court gave precedence to the religious element in its ruling over the freedom to do other non-religious things. This is an argument that will arise again.
Please keep in mind that it is the churches in Germany, both Catholic and Protestant that complained in court that constitutional and specifically religious Sunday laws were being violated. It should not go unnoticed by students of prophecy what Rome’s real agenda is in any country where she gains power. In countries that already have Sunday closing laws, Rome presses to enforce them. In countries where there are no constitutional Sunday laws, like in the United States, she will have more work to do. But her agenda is clear. Germany does not have separation of church and state. In other words, there is only a certain level of toleration for those that do not agree with those laws. One day that toleration could become less so.
Germany is the largest and most populous state of the EU and has a lot of influence on the direction that the EU travels. It could be said that “as Germany goes, so goes the EU.” Rome’s agenda is to resurrect the old Holy Roman Empire. This includes her religion. This step by the German high court should be seen as one step further toward meeting that goal. Now that the EU superstate is in place, and now that it has its constitution, we will see more of Rome, the protestant churches and the trade unions working together to press to increase the Sunday laws in the European Union. December 1, 2009 was a very important day for the Roman Catholic Church and for students of Bible prophecy. The deadly wound is almost healed. See Revelation 13:3, 8, 15-17.
SpiegelOnline Article
Christian Telegraph Article
DW World Article
Shopping Hours
History of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany
History of the Weimar Constitution
English Text of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany
English Text of Article 139 of the Extracts appended to the “Basic Law” from the Weimar Constitution
Vatican Caritas in Veritate Encyclical
************
Herbert W. Armstrong warned for years that a German-dominated Europe would be a tool for Rome and enforce their doctrines.
Germany makes pagan Sunday official
Shameful Noahides
Josias commented on Noahide nonsense -
Noahides do not only live moral lives, but also keep kosher and do what they are told in the Bible, unlike Christians who pray to a man who told them that "laws are for the lawless" which is first of all a logical loop, and secondly if people were to lead immoral Christian lives as long as they pray to be saved, I do not think the Creator would like that very much.
************
Noahides are in no man's land, fail to keep the biblical Sabbath and festivals in spirit and in truth (and some religious Jews speak against any "Gentile" keeping them), and feel smug about it - some even going all the way to Jerusalem to get some mortal men's approval!
Christians don't pray to a man, and no wonder you fail to recognize Yahshua as the Son of Man if you're as careless with the Word as you are with what Shaul/Paul said:
1 Timothy 1
8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
Yahshua upheld the Law and the Prophets and made them even more binding, magnifying their meaning as prophesied, including the spirit or intent as well as the letter of the law:
Matthew 5:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Those traditional "Christians" who lie and hypocritically say the law is done away, or any other such nonsense, are rebuked by the plain truth of the Bible:
1 John 2:4
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
"The law is done away" - don't you believe it!
We're to love and obey God, enabling the Holy Spirit to write the law upon the tablets of our hearts and minds, while trusting in the Passover Lamb's blood to keep us covered, the Suffering Servant who offered atonement on our behalf, since no man can save himself by his "good works." Our righteousness is of Him, as Isaiah foretold:
Isaiah 45:24-30
24 He shall say,
‘ Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.
To Him [Yahshua] men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him [Yahshua].
25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified [covered by the Blood], and shall glory [in His righteousness, not self-righteousness].’
May God grant you repentance that you may be ashamed that you were misled to oppose Yahshua and go and sin no more, receiving the pardon and the power to overcome daily.
Noahides do not only live moral lives, but also keep kosher and do what they are told in the Bible, unlike Christians who pray to a man who told them that "laws are for the lawless" which is first of all a logical loop, and secondly if people were to lead immoral Christian lives as long as they pray to be saved, I do not think the Creator would like that very much.
************
Noahides are in no man's land, fail to keep the biblical Sabbath and festivals in spirit and in truth (and some religious Jews speak against any "Gentile" keeping them), and feel smug about it - some even going all the way to Jerusalem to get some mortal men's approval!
Christians don't pray to a man, and no wonder you fail to recognize Yahshua as the Son of Man if you're as careless with the Word as you are with what Shaul/Paul said:
1 Timothy 1
8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
Yahshua upheld the Law and the Prophets and made them even more binding, magnifying their meaning as prophesied, including the spirit or intent as well as the letter of the law:
Matthew 5:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Those traditional "Christians" who lie and hypocritically say the law is done away, or any other such nonsense, are rebuked by the plain truth of the Bible:
1 John 2:4
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
"The law is done away" - don't you believe it!
We're to love and obey God, enabling the Holy Spirit to write the law upon the tablets of our hearts and minds, while trusting in the Passover Lamb's blood to keep us covered, the Suffering Servant who offered atonement on our behalf, since no man can save himself by his "good works." Our righteousness is of Him, as Isaiah foretold:
Isaiah 45:24-30
24 He shall say,
‘ Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.
To Him [Yahshua] men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him [Yahshua].
25 In the LORD all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified [covered by the Blood], and shall glory [in His righteousness, not self-righteousness].’
May God grant you repentance that you may be ashamed that you were misled to oppose Yahshua and go and sin no more, receiving the pardon and the power to overcome daily.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Precious symbol of Hanukkah
Latkes and Lights
They'd left everything behind escaping the Nazis, including their precious symbol of Hanukkah.
By Gina Klonoff, Las Vegas, Nevada
read more
************
The Menorah represents the Third Temple that Jews should be motivated, energized, to build. Thankfully, the Temple Mount Faithful and the Temple Institute work toward this holy goal and project - they don't just eat latkes, they serve as lights.
They'd left everything behind escaping the Nazis, including their precious symbol of Hanukkah.
By Gina Klonoff, Las Vegas, Nevada
read more
************
The Menorah represents the Third Temple that Jews should be motivated, energized, to build. Thankfully, the Temple Mount Faithful and the Temple Institute work toward this holy goal and project - they don't just eat latkes, they serve as lights.
Quirky Jews?
Re: I'm not a terrorist
David, are the Temple Mount Faithful the same group Armstrong described as quirky Jews who wanted to rebuild the temple, or was he talking about some other group?
RayMerk1
************
I do remember something about some group of Jews who allegedly came to Mr. Armstrong by night for support and he felt it was political and didn't help. It's sad how some are so far removed from the Promised Land of Israel and fail to remember the Law of Moses - which includes God's command for Israel to build the Temple.
God commands Israel to build Temple
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
Gerald Flurry has gone mad over his music hall!
How should Christians view efforts to build the Temple?
David, are the Temple Mount Faithful the same group Armstrong described as quirky Jews who wanted to rebuild the temple, or was he talking about some other group?
RayMerk1
************
I do remember something about some group of Jews who allegedly came to Mr. Armstrong by night for support and he felt it was political and didn't help. It's sad how some are so far removed from the Promised Land of Israel and fail to remember the Law of Moses - which includes God's command for Israel to build the Temple.
God commands Israel to build Temple
The Temple Mount Faithful is not a terrorist organization! (Although Gerald Flurry and Stephen Flurry strongly insinuate it is, to their shame)
Gerald Flurry has gone mad over his music hall!
How should Christians view efforts to build the Temple?
Gerald Flurry has gone mad over his music hall!
Gerald Flurry, cultic pastor general of the Philadelphia Church of God, is exposed in this disturbing excerpt from his sermon transcript of November 3, 2007 (that he complained to have removed from this site) where he vainly attempts to justify his massive spending in Edmond, Oklahoma - squandering millions in his own backyard - by pretending his music hall is God's House, the temple of God!
You don't need any "special revelation" to read and believe the Bible that clearly shows God's House on Earth has always been in Jerusalem - not elsewhere like Mormons and others mislead.
Gerald Flurry foolishly attempts to spiritualize everything away when it comes to the holy temple of God that will be built in Jerusalem. The least he could do is encourage the Jews to fulfill their responsibility to build God's House - the Embassy of the Eternal - in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount and stop equating Edmond with Jerusalem! What chutzpah! What madness!
Third Temple
Where's the Temple On the Temple Mount?
Third Temple Coming Soon to Jerusalem!
The Temple of God in Holy Jerusalem
It’s all about family and looking to the Father and the Son and having them right in your front yard (chuckle) and your backyard right there where you do your work from headquarters and it-He’s right there in spirit. That’s something to get excited about. How much is that house going to impact you brethren and me? It’s gonna to build our faith and I tell you I believe we could see already I didn’t get to talk with Mr. Locher about this but I think I can already see a growth in websites, income after that fabulous Feast of Tabernacles and all the wonderful offerings we got there.(emphasis mine)
And, if you see, we have a challenge like that and we have our minds on God’s house where He’s gonna live right here with us, it surely has to help our faith to grow. It means we’re going to have more growth, more healings, more blessings, there just gonna to be everywhere, for us to see and hopefully a lot of people in the world. And that building will be like the crown...of all of our buildings. But think about this brethren: God, the God from that third heaven is gonna come down here and He’s gonna live here in spirit. And He’s gonna get our minds focused more on Him and what is coming, and I mean coming oh so fast...
It-ooooooh we could think about human beings to come here and live, but what about have God the Father and Jesus Christ here. How much does that physical-is that physical house going to affect our spiritual house?
...God gives us NEW REVELATION ALL THE TIME!!! HE’S SPEAKING TO HIS CHURCH!! THAT’S GOD DOING THAT. GOD IS SPEAKING TO US GIVING US HIS MESSAGE AND NOW WE’RE GONNA HAVE THE HONOR TO BUILD A HOUSE for God to dwell in on this campus. And I tell ya brethren, that certainly bodes well for the future of this great work of God and let’s all realize and thank God for the honor of being a part of it.
You don't need any "special revelation" to read and believe the Bible that clearly shows God's House on Earth has always been in Jerusalem - not elsewhere like Mormons and others mislead.
Gerald Flurry foolishly attempts to spiritualize everything away when it comes to the holy temple of God that will be built in Jerusalem. The least he could do is encourage the Jews to fulfill their responsibility to build God's House - the Embassy of the Eternal - in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount and stop equating Edmond with Jerusalem! What chutzpah! What madness!
Third Temple
Where's the Temple On the Temple Mount?
Third Temple Coming Soon to Jerusalem!
The Temple of God in Holy Jerusalem
The PCG and Fox 25
Reporter Nick Winkler, of Fox 25 in Oklahoma City, presented a special report on the Philadelphia Church of God that aired Nov. 24 and Nov. 25.
I found the special report on the PCG, all things considered, unusually fair and balanced and commend Nick Winkler and Fox News for it, since the Sabbath-keeping Church of God members have always been highly skeptical of such reporters and cynical about such programs.
You can watch the Fox News' videos for yourself and see what you think:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
I'm pleased Fox News made mention of my book and name and showed them on my Philadelphia Church of God blog, having interviewed me as a former PCG member who was disfellowshipped for writing Beyond Babylon and who strongly disagrees with how Pastor General Gerald Flurry is squandering tithe money in Edmond, Oklahoma instead of going all out to share the plain truth of the Bible, our warning message, with the world in a powerful way that such money makes possible.
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
David Ben-Ariel: I was basically put out..
Reporter Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church for writing a book [Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall] without the Church's approval and says all that money [15 million Art Center on their Edmond, Oklahoma site] could be better spent spreading God's Word differently...
David Ben-Ariel: Hopefully, they'll stop spending their money in Edmond, Oklahoma and use it to become a household word with our teachings and let that become known.
*****************
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
Nick Winkler: Before Jesus Christ returns...
David Ben-Ariel: Violence, WWIII...yes, there will be lots of violence.
Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church but still defends its tithing practices...
David Ben-Ariel: Again, it's voluntary but it's understood if you're a Church of God member you will tithe and you'll want to.
********************
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
Here's an excerpt from Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion) that reveals the PCG ministers' initial response to Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, and how Gerald Flurry's fomer right-hand man, PCG minister Dennis Leap, shamefully insisted on playing politics:
What's BEWILDERING to me is the different responses I've received from several of God's ministers who have read Beyond Babylon -- towards it and me -- before and after Dennis Leap's PARTIAL review! (Malachi 2:9).
When I faithfully sent a computer disk with my book on it to minister Wayne Turgeon, he graciously read all of it and responded:
"Oh, how I admire those with both the ability to write as well as the courage to put down their ideas on paper! I felt that you have a very gripping style of writing that uses twists and slants of words or phrases to make your point. I looked up every scripture you referenced and it became clear that you have really spent a lot of time in your Bible. Being Jewish, I think, gives you an added perspective that I could never have... Much of what you have written is not 'new revelation' as I'm sure that you'd readily agree... It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
What does he mean it's not his place to determine if what I wrote is true or not? God holds every INDIVIDUAL responsible to prayerfully determine whether something is of God or not! How did we prove Malachi's Message was biblical? Did we rely solely on our minister's evaluation? Worldwide all over again?
Mind you, unlike Mr. Armstrong's lengthy manuscript of close to 300 typed pages, Beyond Babylon is only 1/2 that size, literally! I suggested Gerald Flurry read the first and last chapters. Mr. Turgeon told me Flurry returned it to him, saying something like, "He's always sending us stuff."
I have written short letters to the point, like correcting him about Mount Hermon and Mount Carmel after he continued to confuse the two in several articles. I'm familiar with them because I've been blessed to have lived next to both of them. Mr. Turgeon also wrote that I was a little "too radical" for Mr. Flurry and wondered what I'd said or done that had given him that impression. I explained it's because I took exception to his careless condemnation of those religious Jews who want the Temple built as "extremists." I wrote that it's extremist for secular, humanist Jews to oppose converting the Promised Land into a Holy Land!
Flurry was surprised and had also written against the STRONG EMOTIONS some feel over Jerusalem and Israel. How could God use someone so distant over there?! Some of us have a GOD-GIVEN LOVE for Jerusalem and a genuine passion for Judah that's most personal; we're not a stranger in OUR Homeland! (Psalms 102:14; Ps. 137; Isaiah 62). That's not "radical," it's BIBLICAL!
Minister Carl Craven also read Beyond Babylon and acknowledged it as biblical. He said he hadn't looked up every Scripture, but was sure if he had they'd also be used correctly. I commented that I know it's biblical, but that I was just waiting for headquarters to prove that to themselves as well. He expressed an understanding of how it's difficult to be patient meanwhile.
When Dennis Leap did call, it was to instruct me to STAY HOME FROM SABBATH SERVICES while he looked at the book! I didn't recall such an unusual request being made of Mr. Armstrong, and recognized it went against "innocent until proven guilty," but obliged with the hope of returning soon (John 7:51).
"Prophesy Not!"
After some time, I called Mr. Leap. He said he'd read PARTS of the book, and that it wasn't important whether Mr. Flurry had read it or not (even though I'd been led to believe he'd pass it on to him). He stated, "You use some pretty strong language in there," to which I replied, "But it's biblical, isn't it?" "Well, yes, but...". He also noted, like Mr. Turgeon, that most of it is what we already teach. I agreed and said that that should serve as a GOOD SIGN, but that the NEW REVELATION about the Two Witnesses and Europe is firmly built upon that foundation.
Dennis Leap found it difficult to accept that a LAY MEMBER would write such a book. He admitted Flurry had received bits of revelation from lay members, but NEVER a whole book! I didn't want to be judged by precedent, but by whether or not what I'd written is biblical. If I was in error, then it was his duty to clearly show me where FROM THE BIBLE, like Aquilla and Priscilla helped improve Apollos' understanding (Acts 18:26).
I was informed if I wanted to return to services, I would have to forget Beyond Babylon, act like a "regular lay member," and basically deny that it was from God! Like Mr. Armstrong, I had PROVEN what I'd written to be TRUE. Actually, Leap didn't say that it wasn't or attempt to refute it!
I told Mr. Leap I didn't want to play politics. By his insistence that I must be a MINISTER to write such a book, he was still looking to MEN OF STATURE! And since I'm not one, he was demanding that I "PROPHESY NOT!" (Amos 2:12).
He got very angry when I mentioned this and said he was severing all ties between the PCG and myself, and that I wasn't to claim any association with the PCG. He said I was now free to go and do whatever I felt God would have me to do with BB and not worry whether or not he or Mr. Flurry had read it! When I expressed the hope of reconciliation, he retorted we could when I repented. Of what? OBEYING GOD RATHER THAN MAN? Is that "rebellion?"
Mr. Armstrong WASN'T an ordained minister either when he wrote what he felt GOD would have him to share! The Identity Doctrine also wasn't so much new truth, as a new way of presenting it. I'm sure glad he didn't let those two points stop him! Aren't you? So I was UNJUSTLY DISFELLOWSHIPPED for believing God used me to write a book, and MARKED for exposing the facts about Mr. Leap's folly!
************************************
Read Beyond Babylon for yourself. You can read Beyond Babylon for FREE on my Beyond Babylon blog!
Beyond Babylon
CONTENTS
Introduction
Survival Guaranteed
Why National Defeat?
Truth or Consequences
Victims of Tradition
Europe's Fate
Jesus and the Jews
Elijah's Key Role
I found the special report on the PCG, all things considered, unusually fair and balanced and commend Nick Winkler and Fox News for it, since the Sabbath-keeping Church of God members have always been highly skeptical of such reporters and cynical about such programs.
You can watch the Fox News' videos for yourself and see what you think:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
I'm pleased Fox News made mention of my book and name and showed them on my Philadelphia Church of God blog, having interviewed me as a former PCG member who was disfellowshipped for writing Beyond Babylon and who strongly disagrees with how Pastor General Gerald Flurry is squandering tithe money in Edmond, Oklahoma instead of going all out to share the plain truth of the Bible, our warning message, with the world in a powerful way that such money makes possible.
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part One
David Ben-Ariel: I was basically put out..
Reporter Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church for writing a book [Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall] without the Church's approval and says all that money [15 million Art Center on their Edmond, Oklahoma site] could be better spent spreading God's Word differently...
David Ben-Ariel: Hopefully, they'll stop spending their money in Edmond, Oklahoma and use it to become a household word with our teachings and let that become known.
*****************
Fox 25, Oklahoma City, Special Report:
Philadelphia Church of God: Part Two
Nick Winkler: Before Jesus Christ returns...
David Ben-Ariel: Violence, WWIII...yes, there will be lots of violence.
Nick Winkler: Former PCG member David Ben-Ariel says he was kicked out of the Church but still defends its tithing practices...
David Ben-Ariel: Again, it's voluntary but it's understood if you're a Church of God member you will tithe and you'll want to.
********************
PCG: Carrying on "Business as Usual"
If you truly saw what is coming on this Earth, and had a vision of tomorrow, you would know that the Gathering Storm darkens as you sip champagne and boast that you're rich and in need of nothing, woefully ignorant that the Two Witnesses will soon be wearing sackcloth and fasting, not wining and dining at black tie dinners!
Here's an excerpt from Philadelphia Church of God Leads Laodicean Era (Conclusion) that reveals the PCG ministers' initial response to Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, and how Gerald Flurry's fomer right-hand man, PCG minister Dennis Leap, shamefully insisted on playing politics:
What's BEWILDERING to me is the different responses I've received from several of God's ministers who have read Beyond Babylon -- towards it and me -- before and after Dennis Leap's PARTIAL review! (Malachi 2:9).
When I faithfully sent a computer disk with my book on it to minister Wayne Turgeon, he graciously read all of it and responded:
"Oh, how I admire those with both the ability to write as well as the courage to put down their ideas on paper! I felt that you have a very gripping style of writing that uses twists and slants of words or phrases to make your point. I looked up every scripture you referenced and it became clear that you have really spent a lot of time in your Bible. Being Jewish, I think, gives you an added perspective that I could never have... Much of what you have written is not 'new revelation' as I'm sure that you'd readily agree... It's certainly not my place to determine if what you believe God has shown you is true or not, but would you mind presenting Mr. Flurry with an abbreviated version of what you feel is inspired... as I highly doubt that he would have time to read your whole book."
What does he mean it's not his place to determine if what I wrote is true or not? God holds every INDIVIDUAL responsible to prayerfully determine whether something is of God or not! How did we prove Malachi's Message was biblical? Did we rely solely on our minister's evaluation? Worldwide all over again?
Mind you, unlike Mr. Armstrong's lengthy manuscript of close to 300 typed pages, Beyond Babylon is only 1/2 that size, literally! I suggested Gerald Flurry read the first and last chapters. Mr. Turgeon told me Flurry returned it to him, saying something like, "He's always sending us stuff."
I have written short letters to the point, like correcting him about Mount Hermon and Mount Carmel after he continued to confuse the two in several articles. I'm familiar with them because I've been blessed to have lived next to both of them. Mr. Turgeon also wrote that I was a little "too radical" for Mr. Flurry and wondered what I'd said or done that had given him that impression. I explained it's because I took exception to his careless condemnation of those religious Jews who want the Temple built as "extremists." I wrote that it's extremist for secular, humanist Jews to oppose converting the Promised Land into a Holy Land!
Flurry was surprised and had also written against the STRONG EMOTIONS some feel over Jerusalem and Israel. How could God use someone so distant over there?! Some of us have a GOD-GIVEN LOVE for Jerusalem and a genuine passion for Judah that's most personal; we're not a stranger in OUR Homeland! (Psalms 102:14; Ps. 137; Isaiah 62). That's not "radical," it's BIBLICAL!
Minister Carl Craven also read Beyond Babylon and acknowledged it as biblical. He said he hadn't looked up every Scripture, but was sure if he had they'd also be used correctly. I commented that I know it's biblical, but that I was just waiting for headquarters to prove that to themselves as well. He expressed an understanding of how it's difficult to be patient meanwhile.
When Dennis Leap did call, it was to instruct me to STAY HOME FROM SABBATH SERVICES while he looked at the book! I didn't recall such an unusual request being made of Mr. Armstrong, and recognized it went against "innocent until proven guilty," but obliged with the hope of returning soon (John 7:51).
"Prophesy Not!"
After some time, I called Mr. Leap. He said he'd read PARTS of the book, and that it wasn't important whether Mr. Flurry had read it or not (even though I'd been led to believe he'd pass it on to him). He stated, "You use some pretty strong language in there," to which I replied, "But it's biblical, isn't it?" "Well, yes, but...". He also noted, like Mr. Turgeon, that most of it is what we already teach. I agreed and said that that should serve as a GOOD SIGN, but that the NEW REVELATION about the Two Witnesses and Europe is firmly built upon that foundation.
Dennis Leap found it difficult to accept that a LAY MEMBER would write such a book. He admitted Flurry had received bits of revelation from lay members, but NEVER a whole book! I didn't want to be judged by precedent, but by whether or not what I'd written is biblical. If I was in error, then it was his duty to clearly show me where FROM THE BIBLE, like Aquilla and Priscilla helped improve Apollos' understanding (Acts 18:26).
I was informed if I wanted to return to services, I would have to forget Beyond Babylon, act like a "regular lay member," and basically deny that it was from God! Like Mr. Armstrong, I had PROVEN what I'd written to be TRUE. Actually, Leap didn't say that it wasn't or attempt to refute it!
I told Mr. Leap I didn't want to play politics. By his insistence that I must be a MINISTER to write such a book, he was still looking to MEN OF STATURE! And since I'm not one, he was demanding that I "PROPHESY NOT!" (Amos 2:12).
He got very angry when I mentioned this and said he was severing all ties between the PCG and myself, and that I wasn't to claim any association with the PCG. He said I was now free to go and do whatever I felt God would have me to do with BB and not worry whether or not he or Mr. Flurry had read it! When I expressed the hope of reconciliation, he retorted we could when I repented. Of what? OBEYING GOD RATHER THAN MAN? Is that "rebellion?"
Mr. Armstrong WASN'T an ordained minister either when he wrote what he felt GOD would have him to share! The Identity Doctrine also wasn't so much new truth, as a new way of presenting it. I'm sure glad he didn't let those two points stop him! Aren't you? So I was UNJUSTLY DISFELLOWSHIPPED for believing God used me to write a book, and MARKED for exposing the facts about Mr. Leap's folly!
************************************
Read Beyond Babylon for yourself. You can read Beyond Babylon for FREE on my Beyond Babylon blog!
Beyond Babylon
CONTENTS
Introduction
Survival Guaranteed
Why National Defeat?
Truth or Consequences
Victims of Tradition
Europe's Fate
Jesus and the Jews
Elijah's Key Role
Rome to return Jewish Temple treasures?
Israel won't surrender Christian sites to Vatican
Foreign Ministry delegation departs for Vatican, says won't let Catholics take control of Last Supper, other holy sites more»
************
Don't believe a word of it!
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
-Otto von Bismarck
Warning Jews about the pope's plans for Jerusalem: Rome's dream will become Jerusalem's NIGHTMARE!
Articles and video warning Jews about the pope:
Pope's Evil Eye on Jerusalem! (You Tube video)
The Vatican plot against Jerusalem exposed!
Israel must reject Vatican overtures for peace or lose Jerusalem!
Christian-Zionist Response to Shimon Peres' AIPAC speech
The Vatican Must Return the Temple Treasures
Will the pope act like Belshazzar or Cyrus?
Will Rome learn from history and receive instruction from the Bible or harden their hearts and be destroyed like pharaoh and Babylon?
Foreign Ministry delegation departs for Vatican, says won't let Catholics take control of Last Supper, other holy sites more»
************
Don't believe a word of it!
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
-Otto von Bismarck
Warning Jews about the pope's plans for Jerusalem: Rome's dream will become Jerusalem's NIGHTMARE!
Articles and video warning Jews about the pope:
Pope's Evil Eye on Jerusalem! (You Tube video)
The Vatican plot against Jerusalem exposed!
Israel must reject Vatican overtures for peace or lose Jerusalem!
Christian-Zionist Response to Shimon Peres' AIPAC speech
The Vatican Must Return the Temple Treasures
Will the pope act like Belshazzar or Cyrus?
Will Rome learn from history and receive instruction from the Bible or harden their hearts and be destroyed like pharaoh and Babylon?
Indian Warns Islam Will Burn Churches
Rajesh commented on Manchester surrenders to Islam without a fight?"
You said absolutely.. We Indians are already suffering a lot.. and we will have to suffer till the end of the world until Islam lives. Brits and Europeans, you still have time to act, stop importing Asians and Middle East, North African people (especially you know who I am talking about).
Otherwise, one day they will burn all your churches.. I dont want you people to suffer like us......
************
Rajesh, thank you for your warning. I doubt the politically correct indoctrinated, self-hating people of white color, will listen and learn and turn from such destructive ways and save our nations from the curse of Islam and such self-righteous tolerance that will be the death of us all!
Behind the Veil of Islam
Ohio Mosque Promotes Murder!
Toledo, Islam, and Terrorists
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
You said absolutely.. We Indians are already suffering a lot.. and we will have to suffer till the end of the world until Islam lives. Brits and Europeans, you still have time to act, stop importing Asians and Middle East, North African people (especially you know who I am talking about).
Otherwise, one day they will burn all your churches.. I dont want you people to suffer like us......
************
Rajesh, thank you for your warning. I doubt the politically correct indoctrinated, self-hating people of white color, will listen and learn and turn from such destructive ways and save our nations from the curse of Islam and such self-righteous tolerance that will be the death of us all!
Behind the Veil of Islam
Ohio Mosque Promotes Murder!
Toledo, Islam, and Terrorists
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The German Ethnic Model (IV) (Secessionists in Catalonia)
Newsletter 2009/12/02 - The German Ethnic Model (IV)
BARCELONA/BERLIN (Own report) - Catalonian secessionists are progressing toward the ethnic dismantlement of Spain with referendums to be held in 161 cities and communities. Scheduled for mid-December, referendums will be held in one-sixth of Catalonia's municipalities on a - non-binding for now - resolution on secession from Spain and the founding an independent country. Secessionists in other parts of the country - the Basque Region and Galicia - are carefully watching what happens. The referendums are providing new impetus to the German strategy of restructuring Europe along ethnic lines. The Federal Republic of Germany provided Catalonian secessionism relevant support over the past few years, most recently, two years ago in the framework of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Berlin's foreign policy front organizations have long since catalogued the Catalan as a "Volksgruppe" (an ethnic entity) justifying eligibility to special rights. Catalan secessionists are being spoken of in the same breath as other ethnic minorities demanding similar autonomous rights, including the Bretons in France and the Welsh in Great Britain.
more
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56304
BARCELONA/BERLIN (Own report) - Catalonian secessionists are progressing toward the ethnic dismantlement of Spain with referendums to be held in 161 cities and communities. Scheduled for mid-December, referendums will be held in one-sixth of Catalonia's municipalities on a - non-binding for now - resolution on secession from Spain and the founding an independent country. Secessionists in other parts of the country - the Basque Region and Galicia - are carefully watching what happens. The referendums are providing new impetus to the German strategy of restructuring Europe along ethnic lines. The Federal Republic of Germany provided Catalonian secessionism relevant support over the past few years, most recently, two years ago in the framework of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Berlin's foreign policy front organizations have long since catalogued the Catalan as a "Volksgruppe" (an ethnic entity) justifying eligibility to special rights. Catalan secessionists are being spoken of in the same breath as other ethnic minorities demanding similar autonomous rights, including the Bretons in France and the Welsh in Great Britain.
more
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56304
Bride, Father Arrested for Crime of Moving Lips on Temple Mount
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) A Jewish bride and her father were arrested on the Temple Mount the day before her wedding, after an Arab policeman claimed he saw the father muttering prayers and the bride nodding her head.
The father and daughter were being taken around the site on Wednesday morning by her brother Eli, a volunteer who conducts regular tours at the Temple Mount, when suddenly they were accosted by the Jerusalem policeman.
“We were in the northern part, and I was showing them the archaeological evidence when suddenly a police officer came over to us, Mahmoud Hativ was his name, and h claimed that my father had muttered prayers. “We tried to argue with him and said it wasn’t true, but he said, ‘You can’t fool me,’ and insisted that my father had prayed,” Eli told Israel National News.
“My sister was just standing there silently, not moving at all. She didn’t say a word. It was her first time at the Mount. Other cops came over, Mahmoud said that she had also been involved, and they decided to arrest them both,” he continued. “He let me go right away, because he couldn’t make any claim against me.” His sister and father were taken to the Kishla police station near the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.
‘Lack of Will to Exercise Israeli Sovereignty’
“The fact that a father comes to the holiest place of the Jewish people and can be arrested simply for allegedly moving his lips is an outrage,” Eli said.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the holy sites of all religions have to be protected and respected – that explicitly includes the rights of Jews on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem police continue to ignore that ruling.”
Asked if he believes U.S. pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinian Authority had anything to do with the incident, Eli said, ‘No. It is a result of the lack of will of the Jerusalem police to exercise Israeli sovereignty over the Jewish holy places in Jerusalem, not U.S. pressure on Israel. It is unheard of to arrest someone just for praying in their own religion. In the U.S. that wouldn’t fly. There is no public place in the U.S. where a Jew could not pray. It is unfortunate, and sad.”
The family, which immigrated to Israel from New York in 1996, lives in Beit Shemesh.
‘Police Misled Them to Sign Confession’
The two were held for several hours. At approximately 11:30 a.m., the two were ordered to sign a declaration which they were told said they would promise not to return to the Temple Mount for 15 days.
However, the father, who spoke with Israel National News from the courtyard of the police station while waiting to be questioned by the police commander, said that further examination of the paper showed they had been misinformed. The declaration actually said that they were confessing to have violated a law about disturbing the public order.
It was also made equally clear that if they did not sign the paper, they might not be freed for hours – perhaps not even in time for the young woman to make it to her own wedding.
Officers at Jaffa Gate Station Mocked the Bride
“The police officers talked very improperly to my daughter. She was very upset – in tears – and they ridiculed her. ‘What’s the matter, are you baby?’ they mocked her.” Her father immediately fired back, “That’s how you talk to someone?”
The father said that the officer in charge threatened to keep them longer in response. “Be careful,” the cop warned. “If you talk to me that way, I can keep you here for a few more hours.”
read more
************
This is what you deserve! Of course this whole situation, the latest episode, is an outrage. But it is to be expected when Jews and Israelis insanely tolerate the Muslim occuption of their ALLEGED most holy site. Supposedly it's the third most holy site to the Muslims and yet they care more for it than most Jews and Israelis! Under a proper Jewish government and leaders, there would be no dogs to bark at Jews upon the Temple Mount. Your choice.
Jews Must Demand Rights to Temple Mount
During a 1995 Root and Branch lecture in Jerusalem, Professor Nahum Rakover, author and then Deputy Attorney General of Israel, publicly agreed with me that it isn't illegal for Christians or Jews to pray upon the Temple Mount, even though it is forcibly prevented by the police.
Restore Israeli Sovereignty Over Temple Mount
The Wakf, the militant Muslim authority that oversees Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site and Islam's alleged third holiest site (following Mecca and Medina) continue to show blatant disregard for Jewish, Christian and biblical history and non-Muslim sensitivities.
A House of Prayer For All Peoples?
Jewish guards prevent Christians and Jews from exercising their religious right to pray on the Temple Mount? That's right! Only Muslims have unlimited access to Judaism's most holy site. Only the Koran is permitted within. The Tanach (Jewish Scripture, known to much of the world as the "Old Testament") and Christian Scriptures (the New Testament) are forbidden. Yet Israel claims to respect the religious rights of all people.
Taking a stand for the Temple Mount!
(IsraelNN.com) A Jewish bride and her father were arrested on the Temple Mount the day before her wedding, after an Arab policeman claimed he saw the father muttering prayers and the bride nodding her head.
The father and daughter were being taken around the site on Wednesday morning by her brother Eli, a volunteer who conducts regular tours at the Temple Mount, when suddenly they were accosted by the Jerusalem policeman.
“We were in the northern part, and I was showing them the archaeological evidence when suddenly a police officer came over to us, Mahmoud Hativ was his name, and h claimed that my father had muttered prayers. “We tried to argue with him and said it wasn’t true, but he said, ‘You can’t fool me,’ and insisted that my father had prayed,” Eli told Israel National News.
“My sister was just standing there silently, not moving at all. She didn’t say a word. It was her first time at the Mount. Other cops came over, Mahmoud said that she had also been involved, and they decided to arrest them both,” he continued. “He let me go right away, because he couldn’t make any claim against me.” His sister and father were taken to the Kishla police station near the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.
‘Lack of Will to Exercise Israeli Sovereignty’
“The fact that a father comes to the holiest place of the Jewish people and can be arrested simply for allegedly moving his lips is an outrage,” Eli said.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the holy sites of all religions have to be protected and respected – that explicitly includes the rights of Jews on the Temple Mount. Jerusalem police continue to ignore that ruling.”
Asked if he believes U.S. pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinian Authority had anything to do with the incident, Eli said, ‘No. It is a result of the lack of will of the Jerusalem police to exercise Israeli sovereignty over the Jewish holy places in Jerusalem, not U.S. pressure on Israel. It is unheard of to arrest someone just for praying in their own religion. In the U.S. that wouldn’t fly. There is no public place in the U.S. where a Jew could not pray. It is unfortunate, and sad.”
The family, which immigrated to Israel from New York in 1996, lives in Beit Shemesh.
‘Police Misled Them to Sign Confession’
The two were held for several hours. At approximately 11:30 a.m., the two were ordered to sign a declaration which they were told said they would promise not to return to the Temple Mount for 15 days.
However, the father, who spoke with Israel National News from the courtyard of the police station while waiting to be questioned by the police commander, said that further examination of the paper showed they had been misinformed. The declaration actually said that they were confessing to have violated a law about disturbing the public order.
It was also made equally clear that if they did not sign the paper, they might not be freed for hours – perhaps not even in time for the young woman to make it to her own wedding.
Officers at Jaffa Gate Station Mocked the Bride
“The police officers talked very improperly to my daughter. She was very upset – in tears – and they ridiculed her. ‘What’s the matter, are you baby?’ they mocked her.” Her father immediately fired back, “That’s how you talk to someone?”
The father said that the officer in charge threatened to keep them longer in response. “Be careful,” the cop warned. “If you talk to me that way, I can keep you here for a few more hours.”
read more
************
This is what you deserve! Of course this whole situation, the latest episode, is an outrage. But it is to be expected when Jews and Israelis insanely tolerate the Muslim occuption of their ALLEGED most holy site. Supposedly it's the third most holy site to the Muslims and yet they care more for it than most Jews and Israelis! Under a proper Jewish government and leaders, there would be no dogs to bark at Jews upon the Temple Mount. Your choice.
Jews Must Demand Rights to Temple Mount
During a 1995 Root and Branch lecture in Jerusalem, Professor Nahum Rakover, author and then Deputy Attorney General of Israel, publicly agreed with me that it isn't illegal for Christians or Jews to pray upon the Temple Mount, even though it is forcibly prevented by the police.
Restore Israeli Sovereignty Over Temple Mount
The Wakf, the militant Muslim authority that oversees Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site and Islam's alleged third holiest site (following Mecca and Medina) continue to show blatant disregard for Jewish, Christian and biblical history and non-Muslim sensitivities.
A House of Prayer For All Peoples?
Jewish guards prevent Christians and Jews from exercising their religious right to pray on the Temple Mount? That's right! Only Muslims have unlimited access to Judaism's most holy site. Only the Koran is permitted within. The Tanach (Jewish Scripture, known to much of the world as the "Old Testament") and Christian Scriptures (the New Testament) are forbidden. Yet Israel claims to respect the religious rights of all people.
Taking a stand for the Temple Mount!
Open Europe press summary: 9 December 2009
Europe
EU civil servants threaten to strike next Monday over 3.7% pay rise
De Standaard reports that civil servants in the European Council, which form part of the EU's 38,000 civil servants, have threatened to strike to demand a wage increase of 3.7%. It would potentially take place next Monday morning at the entrance of the European Council building at Place Schuman in Brussels. They have called on their colleagues from the European Commission and the European Parliament to join them.
The article notes that fifteen EU member states, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, have blocked the planned rise in salaries, pensions and other allowances, but suggests that it looks likely that national governments will have to agree to the pay rise, because they are contractually bound to the agreement and could likely lose the case if it went to the European Court of Justice. Trade unions are demanding that member states "respect the rules".
The member states are resisting because the wages of national civil servants are being frozen or cut. The national governments claim that because of the economic crisis, an exceptional clause in the civil servants' statute should enter into force. The clause states that "in times of serious and sudden deterioration of the economic and social situation" in the EU, the Commission can impose a new wage proposal.
In an article in El Mundo, Brussels correspondent María Ramírez speaks to Franceso Lanniello, who has 38 years of experience working at the Commission and is President of the trade union, Renovation and Democracy. Mr Lanniello defends the strikes saying, "The fact that they lower our salaries will not help raise anything...this money has already been put aside, it will end up being lost in the EU budget and will go on milk quotas."
El Mundo Standaard Standaard 2 Le Monde OE blog
Spanish Europe Minister: EU now has a "real Foreign Minister"
Spain has said that the main goal during its EU Presidency - to commence on 1 January - is to get the bloc's new 10-year economic strategy agreed, EUobserver reports. The current strategy, known as the Lisbon Agenda, expires next year, and Spain wants tougher measures to ensure that member states meet their targets. "The new strategy should be based not only on targets ...but on governance," Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's Minister for European affairs, said.
He also said Spain will push for a more ambitious social agenda in order to "close the gap between Europe and the people", including pushing through the new anti-Discrimination Directive. Mr Lopez Garrido said the Spanish Presidency is going to put together an action plan for implementing the 'Stockholm Programme' for freedom - a series of far-reaching proposal in justice and home affairs. The Stockholm Programme is due to be adopted at the 10-11 December EU summit.
The Spanish will also have as a priority to convert the EU into "a genuine global player." In particular, Spain wants to finalise the European External Action Service - which according to Garrido "could be the brightest, strongest diplomatic service in the world" - before April. He also said that for the first time, the EU now has "a real Foreign Minister".
Meanwhile, the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog notes that the Spanish EU Presidency, "wishes to resurrect the cult of secrecy that marked the beginning of Community cooperation", citing the fact that the Spanish government is pressing for more secretive Council meetings. It says the Presidency will exclude the press from 'informal' ministerial meetings, to allow European leaders to freely negotiate.
Traditionally, the 'informal' meetings were an opportunity for EU ministers to meet to get to know each other, particularly whenever a new country took up the rotating EU Presidency. However, notes Quatremer, over time they became more and more formal and ministers began to take important decisions about the agenda for the coming months, despite still being called 'informal' meetings, and the media were slowly allowed more access. However, the Spanish government has said it wants to end the press conferences and media access to the meetings, even though policy will still be decided there.
EUobserver EurActiv Coulisses de Bruxelles The Parliament Open Europe research
PA reports that Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet in Brussels ahead of tomorrow's European Council summit, after a mooted Sarkozy visit to London for talks was dropped last Friday.
No link
Cameron: EU using crisis to pursue "massive land grab in terms of regulation"
At a conference yesterday, David Cameron vowed to fight against what he called the European Union's "land grab" on Britain's "precious" financial-services industry, in the wake of a series of proposals for more EU supervision and regulation of the financial markets. "You don't have to be some wide-eyed Euro-skeptic to realize that Europe tends to use these sorts of events for the opportunity of a massive land grab in terms of regulation" and some politicians in Europe have "always had their eyes on the City of London," Cameron said.
WSJ WSJ 2 Times
Dutch Parliament calls for government to oppose EU-wide tax on SMEs
The Dutch Parliament has called on the Dutch government to oppose Commission plans for an EU-wide tax on SMEs, according to Nu.nl. The article reports that "taxes which are being levied throughout the whole EU, should make the European Union more 'visible' to the population", but the article quotes Dutch MP Harry Van Bommel objecting to the proposed tax saying: "this will not create more support for the EU, but only less".
Nu.nl Telecompaper
Greece debt rating falls to 10 year low
Ratings agency Fitch yesterday cut Greece's long-term debt to BBB+ from A minus. It marked the first time in 10 years that the country has seen its rating pushed below an A grade. The agency said: "The weak credibility of fiscal institutions and the policy framework ... exacerbated by uncertainty over the prospects for a balanced and sustained economic recovery." It said the medium-term outlook was negative. The Guardian reports that within minutes of the decision becoming public knowledge, the Greek stock exchange began to tumble, with shares falling by 6%.
The Irish Independent reports that interest rates on the national debts of Ireland, Britain, Spain, Italy and Portugal all rose yesterday following the news. EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: "A difficult situation in one euro-area member state is a matter of common concern for the euro area as a whole. It is clear that Greece faces very substantial economic and fiscal challenges ... but more measures are required".
Guardian Irish Times Irish Independent EUobserver BBC AFP FT Alphaville Le Figaro Handelsblatt
Michel Barnier to face EP grilling to test ability to set aside national interest
The FT reports that, at European Parliament hearings next month to confirm incoming EU Commissioners, new Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier will be grilled over how he intends to resolve the accounting dispute between the EU and the US. Continental banks, for example, are hostile to "fair value" - or mark-to-marketing accounting. He will also be questioned on plans to bring down the costs of securities market trading in Europe and increase transparency through improvements on the clearing and settlement side. Both issues have divided Europe's financial services sector and will test Mr Barnier's willingness to set aside national interests as an EU Commissioner, according to the article.
Spain's Joaquin Almunia, who becomes Competition Commissioner, will also be grilled over how he plans to better separate the Commission's legislative, executive and investigative powers in the antitrust area - and whether he will consider a new, independent "European Cartel Office" to handle the implementation of competition rules.
Irish Independent Times FT
Iain Martin: Europe could end up making a significant difference in an election
In the WSJ, Iain Martin argues: "It might suit the Conservative leadership to pretend the EU is a subject of marginal interest. It could be anything but by polling day. Even if Europe ends up not impacting on the outcome of the election, the related question of party management afterward has the potential to upend a Cameron government with a nonexistent or small majority."
Meanwhile writing in the Times Daniel Finkelstein suggests that the notion that the Conservative poll lead is being undermined by its core vote turning to UK is mistaken: "The Tory vote dipped slightly in The Times Populus poll published yesterday, but UKIP stayed steady...UKIP is the reddest of red herrings."
WSJ WSJ 2 Times
Leaked draft agreement throws Copenhagen summit into "disarray"
The Guardian reports that the Copenhagen climate change talks are in "disarray" following the leak of draft documents, the so-called 'Danish text', that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations. The text is a draft proposal for the final political agreement that should be signed by national leaders next week.
The agreement was worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark. The agreement would hand effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank and depart from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. Instead, developing countries would commit to curbing emissions by 2020 in return for as yet unspecified amounts of financial assistance from the developed world.
Guardian Guardian 2 EUobserver EUobserver 2 EurActiv FT FT 2
The Irish Times reports that Romania's biggest opposition party is demanding a re-run of Sunday's presidential election, after filing allegations of widespread vote fraud with the country's constitutional court.
Irish Times Le Monde
Three Irish women are to bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, saying that the ban on abortion in Ireland violates the European Convention on Human Rights. After today's hearing, the final ruling is expected next year.
BBC
In an interview with El País, Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission says, "The crisis would have buried Europe if it wasn't for the welfare state: it forms the basis for the EU and the EU reinforces it. Social democracy has a problem with globalisation...Today it is more difficult to find new mechanisms to balance the state and market. They can only be supranational, and thus social democracy is European."
El País
The WSJ reports on the EU's rules on protection for regional products, such as Parma ham, and notes that it is illegal to make Stilton cheese in Stilton, because the protected name cheese can only be made at six creameries in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
WSJ
European Voice reports that talks between the EU and Norway over fishing quotas for 2010 broke down yesterday, with disagreement over the rights of Norwegian vessels to catch mackerel in EU waters the main reason for failing to reach an agreement, according to Norwegian officials.
European Voice
The BBC reports that EU ministers have called for Jerusalem to serve as the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state as part of a negotiated peace, but dropped an earlier reference stating explicitly that East Jerusalem should be the capital of a Palestinian state.
BBC Al Jazeera El Mundo
The FT reports that the Greek Cypriot-led government of Cyprus yesterday placed new obstacles in the way of Turkey's EU accession bid, declaring that it would not permit the start of accession talks in five policy areas unless Turkey changed its stance on the Cyprus dispute.
FT
Open Europe is an independent think tank campaigning for radical reform of the EU. For information on our research, events and other activities, please visit our website: openeurope.org.uk or call us on 0207 197 2333.
EU civil servants threaten to strike next Monday over 3.7% pay rise
De Standaard reports that civil servants in the European Council, which form part of the EU's 38,000 civil servants, have threatened to strike to demand a wage increase of 3.7%. It would potentially take place next Monday morning at the entrance of the European Council building at Place Schuman in Brussels. They have called on their colleagues from the European Commission and the European Parliament to join them.
The article notes that fifteen EU member states, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, have blocked the planned rise in salaries, pensions and other allowances, but suggests that it looks likely that national governments will have to agree to the pay rise, because they are contractually bound to the agreement and could likely lose the case if it went to the European Court of Justice. Trade unions are demanding that member states "respect the rules".
The member states are resisting because the wages of national civil servants are being frozen or cut. The national governments claim that because of the economic crisis, an exceptional clause in the civil servants' statute should enter into force. The clause states that "in times of serious and sudden deterioration of the economic and social situation" in the EU, the Commission can impose a new wage proposal.
In an article in El Mundo, Brussels correspondent María Ramírez speaks to Franceso Lanniello, who has 38 years of experience working at the Commission and is President of the trade union, Renovation and Democracy. Mr Lanniello defends the strikes saying, "The fact that they lower our salaries will not help raise anything...this money has already been put aside, it will end up being lost in the EU budget and will go on milk quotas."
El Mundo Standaard Standaard 2 Le Monde OE blog
Spanish Europe Minister: EU now has a "real Foreign Minister"
Spain has said that the main goal during its EU Presidency - to commence on 1 January - is to get the bloc's new 10-year economic strategy agreed, EUobserver reports. The current strategy, known as the Lisbon Agenda, expires next year, and Spain wants tougher measures to ensure that member states meet their targets. "The new strategy should be based not only on targets ...but on governance," Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's Minister for European affairs, said.
He also said Spain will push for a more ambitious social agenda in order to "close the gap between Europe and the people", including pushing through the new anti-Discrimination Directive. Mr Lopez Garrido said the Spanish Presidency is going to put together an action plan for implementing the 'Stockholm Programme' for freedom - a series of far-reaching proposal in justice and home affairs. The Stockholm Programme is due to be adopted at the 10-11 December EU summit.
The Spanish will also have as a priority to convert the EU into "a genuine global player." In particular, Spain wants to finalise the European External Action Service - which according to Garrido "could be the brightest, strongest diplomatic service in the world" - before April. He also said that for the first time, the EU now has "a real Foreign Minister".
Meanwhile, the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog notes that the Spanish EU Presidency, "wishes to resurrect the cult of secrecy that marked the beginning of Community cooperation", citing the fact that the Spanish government is pressing for more secretive Council meetings. It says the Presidency will exclude the press from 'informal' ministerial meetings, to allow European leaders to freely negotiate.
Traditionally, the 'informal' meetings were an opportunity for EU ministers to meet to get to know each other, particularly whenever a new country took up the rotating EU Presidency. However, notes Quatremer, over time they became more and more formal and ministers began to take important decisions about the agenda for the coming months, despite still being called 'informal' meetings, and the media were slowly allowed more access. However, the Spanish government has said it wants to end the press conferences and media access to the meetings, even though policy will still be decided there.
EUobserver EurActiv Coulisses de Bruxelles The Parliament Open Europe research
PA reports that Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet in Brussels ahead of tomorrow's European Council summit, after a mooted Sarkozy visit to London for talks was dropped last Friday.
No link
Cameron: EU using crisis to pursue "massive land grab in terms of regulation"
At a conference yesterday, David Cameron vowed to fight against what he called the European Union's "land grab" on Britain's "precious" financial-services industry, in the wake of a series of proposals for more EU supervision and regulation of the financial markets. "You don't have to be some wide-eyed Euro-skeptic to realize that Europe tends to use these sorts of events for the opportunity of a massive land grab in terms of regulation" and some politicians in Europe have "always had their eyes on the City of London," Cameron said.
WSJ WSJ 2 Times
Dutch Parliament calls for government to oppose EU-wide tax on SMEs
The Dutch Parliament has called on the Dutch government to oppose Commission plans for an EU-wide tax on SMEs, according to Nu.nl. The article reports that "taxes which are being levied throughout the whole EU, should make the European Union more 'visible' to the population", but the article quotes Dutch MP Harry Van Bommel objecting to the proposed tax saying: "this will not create more support for the EU, but only less".
Nu.nl Telecompaper
Greece debt rating falls to 10 year low
Ratings agency Fitch yesterday cut Greece's long-term debt to BBB+ from A minus. It marked the first time in 10 years that the country has seen its rating pushed below an A grade. The agency said: "The weak credibility of fiscal institutions and the policy framework ... exacerbated by uncertainty over the prospects for a balanced and sustained economic recovery." It said the medium-term outlook was negative. The Guardian reports that within minutes of the decision becoming public knowledge, the Greek stock exchange began to tumble, with shares falling by 6%.
The Irish Independent reports that interest rates on the national debts of Ireland, Britain, Spain, Italy and Portugal all rose yesterday following the news. EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: "A difficult situation in one euro-area member state is a matter of common concern for the euro area as a whole. It is clear that Greece faces very substantial economic and fiscal challenges ... but more measures are required".
Guardian Irish Times Irish Independent EUobserver BBC AFP FT Alphaville Le Figaro Handelsblatt
Michel Barnier to face EP grilling to test ability to set aside national interest
The FT reports that, at European Parliament hearings next month to confirm incoming EU Commissioners, new Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier will be grilled over how he intends to resolve the accounting dispute between the EU and the US. Continental banks, for example, are hostile to "fair value" - or mark-to-marketing accounting. He will also be questioned on plans to bring down the costs of securities market trading in Europe and increase transparency through improvements on the clearing and settlement side. Both issues have divided Europe's financial services sector and will test Mr Barnier's willingness to set aside national interests as an EU Commissioner, according to the article.
Spain's Joaquin Almunia, who becomes Competition Commissioner, will also be grilled over how he plans to better separate the Commission's legislative, executive and investigative powers in the antitrust area - and whether he will consider a new, independent "European Cartel Office" to handle the implementation of competition rules.
Irish Independent Times FT
Iain Martin: Europe could end up making a significant difference in an election
In the WSJ, Iain Martin argues: "It might suit the Conservative leadership to pretend the EU is a subject of marginal interest. It could be anything but by polling day. Even if Europe ends up not impacting on the outcome of the election, the related question of party management afterward has the potential to upend a Cameron government with a nonexistent or small majority."
Meanwhile writing in the Times Daniel Finkelstein suggests that the notion that the Conservative poll lead is being undermined by its core vote turning to UK is mistaken: "The Tory vote dipped slightly in The Times Populus poll published yesterday, but UKIP stayed steady...UKIP is the reddest of red herrings."
WSJ WSJ 2 Times
Leaked draft agreement throws Copenhagen summit into "disarray"
The Guardian reports that the Copenhagen climate change talks are in "disarray" following the leak of draft documents, the so-called 'Danish text', that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations. The text is a draft proposal for the final political agreement that should be signed by national leaders next week.
The agreement was worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark. The agreement would hand effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank and depart from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. Instead, developing countries would commit to curbing emissions by 2020 in return for as yet unspecified amounts of financial assistance from the developed world.
Guardian Guardian 2 EUobserver EUobserver 2 EurActiv FT FT 2
The Irish Times reports that Romania's biggest opposition party is demanding a re-run of Sunday's presidential election, after filing allegations of widespread vote fraud with the country's constitutional court.
Irish Times Le Monde
Three Irish women are to bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, saying that the ban on abortion in Ireland violates the European Convention on Human Rights. After today's hearing, the final ruling is expected next year.
BBC
In an interview with El País, Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission says, "The crisis would have buried Europe if it wasn't for the welfare state: it forms the basis for the EU and the EU reinforces it. Social democracy has a problem with globalisation...Today it is more difficult to find new mechanisms to balance the state and market. They can only be supranational, and thus social democracy is European."
El País
The WSJ reports on the EU's rules on protection for regional products, such as Parma ham, and notes that it is illegal to make Stilton cheese in Stilton, because the protected name cheese can only be made at six creameries in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
WSJ
European Voice reports that talks between the EU and Norway over fishing quotas for 2010 broke down yesterday, with disagreement over the rights of Norwegian vessels to catch mackerel in EU waters the main reason for failing to reach an agreement, according to Norwegian officials.
European Voice
The BBC reports that EU ministers have called for Jerusalem to serve as the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state as part of a negotiated peace, but dropped an earlier reference stating explicitly that East Jerusalem should be the capital of a Palestinian state.
BBC Al Jazeera El Mundo
The FT reports that the Greek Cypriot-led government of Cyprus yesterday placed new obstacles in the way of Turkey's EU accession bid, declaring that it would not permit the start of accession talks in five policy areas unless Turkey changed its stance on the Cyprus dispute.
FT
Open Europe is an independent think tank campaigning for radical reform of the EU. For information on our research, events and other activities, please visit our website: openeurope.org.uk or call us on 0207 197 2333.
Tiger Woods and Christian Adultery
Tiger Woods & the high cost of adultery
IT has come to light in recent weeks that one of the most recognizable people on the planet, golf phenomenon Tiger Woods, has had numerous extra-marital affairs. Woods, since he came on to the golf scene in his teens has always maintained a squeaky clean image of wholesomeness. He has surrounded himself with the best handlers who always positioned Woods as the epitome of excellence on and off the golf course. Five years ago he married a former Swedish model, Elin Nordegren and the couple have a daughter and son together. They have always been promoted as the ideal family.
Read more
************
Most folks don't know what they have until it's gone, whether it's family, friends, health, marriage, or whatever good thing you can think of and the devastating sin of adultery often blows it all away.
As a "recovering homosexual" (who wishes to God I could have been straight with a beloved wife and children, as mentioned within God and the Gays), it angers me how those who are blessed to have a heterosexual drive often fail to remain faithful to their spouse and betray their family and hurt themselves and everybody around them. There is forgiveness, not to be taken lightly since it comes at such a high price - the death of the Passover Lamb of God (not Easter rabbit) - but forgiveness doesn't mean the offended partner must remain married to one who has selfishly broken their vows and destroyed trust. I'm sure all these issues will be addressed but would hope at least a few would consider the spiritual applications of the holy commandment against adultery.
It's past time we recognize how those who engage in pagan practices, who indulge in baptized paganism, who wallow in the mire of whitewashed heathen customs pretending to be Christian (like the Roman Catholic holidays of Christmas and Easter) are guilty of spiritual adultery. Like the deceitfulness of "cheating," too many professing Christians remain in denial of their sins of spiritual adultery and will suffer severe consequences for such dishonesty. We're to confess and forsake our sins, to FORSAKE BABYLON - not stay stuck in the muck of traditional bondage, so help us God!
Christmas is adultery!
"Christians" in denial
Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees!
Christian Reprobates?
A Nation of Drunks and Whores
IT has come to light in recent weeks that one of the most recognizable people on the planet, golf phenomenon Tiger Woods, has had numerous extra-marital affairs. Woods, since he came on to the golf scene in his teens has always maintained a squeaky clean image of wholesomeness. He has surrounded himself with the best handlers who always positioned Woods as the epitome of excellence on and off the golf course. Five years ago he married a former Swedish model, Elin Nordegren and the couple have a daughter and son together. They have always been promoted as the ideal family.
Read more
************
Most folks don't know what they have until it's gone, whether it's family, friends, health, marriage, or whatever good thing you can think of and the devastating sin of adultery often blows it all away.
As a "recovering homosexual" (who wishes to God I could have been straight with a beloved wife and children, as mentioned within God and the Gays), it angers me how those who are blessed to have a heterosexual drive often fail to remain faithful to their spouse and betray their family and hurt themselves and everybody around them. There is forgiveness, not to be taken lightly since it comes at such a high price - the death of the Passover Lamb of God (not Easter rabbit) - but forgiveness doesn't mean the offended partner must remain married to one who has selfishly broken their vows and destroyed trust. I'm sure all these issues will be addressed but would hope at least a few would consider the spiritual applications of the holy commandment against adultery.
It's past time we recognize how those who engage in pagan practices, who indulge in baptized paganism, who wallow in the mire of whitewashed heathen customs pretending to be Christian (like the Roman Catholic holidays of Christmas and Easter) are guilty of spiritual adultery. Like the deceitfulness of "cheating," too many professing Christians remain in denial of their sins of spiritual adultery and will suffer severe consequences for such dishonesty. We're to confess and forsake our sins, to FORSAKE BABYLON - not stay stuck in the muck of traditional bondage, so help us God!
Christmas is adultery!
"Christians" in denial
Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees!
Christian Reprobates?
A Nation of Drunks and Whores
Kenyan-born Obama is a tyrant!
Emperor Obama
"No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law, and no courts are bound to enforce it."
-- American Jurisprudence, 2nd Edition
Source: 16 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177, late 2d, Sec 256
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/American.Jurisprudence,.2nd.Edition.Quote.CA29
"If the legislature clearly misinterprets a Constitutional provision, the frequent repetition of the wrong will not create a right."
-- Amos v. Mosley
Source: 77 SO 619. Also see Kingsley v. Metril, 99 NW 1044
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Amos.v..Mosley.Quote.CA1E
"The three aims of the tyrant are, one, the humiliation of his subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire against anybody; two, the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant is not to be overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another -- and this is the reason why tyrants are at war with the good; they are under the idea that their power is endangered by them, not only because they will not be ruled despotically, but also because they are too loyal to one another and to other men, and do not inform against one another or against other men -- three, the tyrant desires that all his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny if they are powerless."
-- Aristotle
Source: Politics, Book V Chapter 11.
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Aristotle.Quote.CA42
Emperor Obama
"No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law, and no courts are bound to enforce it."
-- American Jurisprudence, 2nd Edition
Source: 16 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177, late 2d, Sec 256
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/American.Jurisprudence,.2nd.Edition.Quote.CA29
"If the legislature clearly misinterprets a Constitutional provision, the frequent repetition of the wrong will not create a right."
-- Amos v. Mosley
Source: 77 SO 619. Also see Kingsley v. Metril, 99 NW 1044
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Amos.v..Mosley.Quote.CA1E
"The three aims of the tyrant are, one, the humiliation of his subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire against anybody; two, the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant is not to be overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another -- and this is the reason why tyrants are at war with the good; they are under the idea that their power is endangered by them, not only because they will not be ruled despotically, but also because they are too loyal to one another and to other men, and do not inform against one another or against other men -- three, the tyrant desires that all his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny if they are powerless."
-- Aristotle
Source: Politics, Book V Chapter 11.
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Aristotle.Quote.CA42
Emperor Obama
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Learn Hebrew and Move to Israel!
Re: From Toledo to Jerusalem
Thanks for this amazing and inspiring post. So many Jews are reluctant to learn Hebrew and move to Israel, preferring instead to remain in lands that persecute and hate them. Yet many Christians who believe the Hebrew Bible, and devote their lives to learning these things, cannot emigrate to Israel. If you believe the Hebrew Bible and love the God of Israel, then you should love Israel.
- Hebrew Scholar
Thanks for this amazing and inspiring post. So many Jews are reluctant to learn Hebrew and move to Israel, preferring instead to remain in lands that persecute and hate them. Yet many Christians who believe the Hebrew Bible, and devote their lives to learning these things, cannot emigrate to Israel. If you believe the Hebrew Bible and love the God of Israel, then you should love Israel.
- Hebrew Scholar
No Gilad Shalit, No Mosque!
Internet Campaign: 'No Gilad, No Mosque'
by Hana Levi Julian
A new campaign has been launched across the Internet to close the Al Aksa mosque to Muslim worshippers until Hamas terrorists return kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held in captivity since his abduction near the Kerem Shalom crossing on June 25, 2006.
A petition has been making the rounds, calling on the Israeli police to close the Temple Mount to Muslims until Shalit is released without preconditions. The campaign, which is being carried out under the banner, "Without Gilad, There is No Mosque" was initiated by Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who spoke with Arutz Sheva about the project.
"The Temple Mount is our heart of hearts, and an IDF soldier rotting for three years in a hovel without a minimum of basic rights is also in our hearts. The only thing that we can do to hurt the Muslim public is to block their access to the Temple Mount," Glick said, adding that he hopes the pressure from the entire Muslim world will force Hamas to free Shalit in order to reopen the Mount.
"We will have to take measures that hurt the Muslim public," he said, adding that he is not concerned about the possibility the idea may cause riots in Jerusalem. "Why aren't they worried over the idea of kidnapping a soldier?" he asked.
Glick said he is aware the chances are slim that his proposal will be implemented, or even be heard by government ministers. "I am speaking to the people of Israel and not to the government of Israel. We want to connect the people of Israel with the Temple Mount -- to raise our consciousness."
read more
Sign the petition!
http://www.atzuma.co.il/hamikdash/1000/
I signed it:
Israel must restore the Temple Mount as the Temple Mount, releasing it from captivity, and release Gilad from captivity. It's in their power to do so!
by Hana Levi Julian
A new campaign has been launched across the Internet to close the Al Aksa mosque to Muslim worshippers until Hamas terrorists return kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held in captivity since his abduction near the Kerem Shalom crossing on June 25, 2006.
A petition has been making the rounds, calling on the Israeli police to close the Temple Mount to Muslims until Shalit is released without preconditions. The campaign, which is being carried out under the banner, "Without Gilad, There is No Mosque" was initiated by Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who spoke with Arutz Sheva about the project.
"The Temple Mount is our heart of hearts, and an IDF soldier rotting for three years in a hovel without a minimum of basic rights is also in our hearts. The only thing that we can do to hurt the Muslim public is to block their access to the Temple Mount," Glick said, adding that he hopes the pressure from the entire Muslim world will force Hamas to free Shalit in order to reopen the Mount.
"We will have to take measures that hurt the Muslim public," he said, adding that he is not concerned about the possibility the idea may cause riots in Jerusalem. "Why aren't they worried over the idea of kidnapping a soldier?" he asked.
Glick said he is aware the chances are slim that his proposal will be implemented, or even be heard by government ministers. "I am speaking to the people of Israel and not to the government of Israel. We want to connect the people of Israel with the Temple Mount -- to raise our consciousness."
read more
Sign the petition!
http://www.atzuma.co.il/hamikdash/1000/
I signed it:
Israel must restore the Temple Mount as the Temple Mount, releasing it from captivity, and release Gilad from captivity. It's in their power to do so!
Taking a stand for the Temple Mount!
On many political and religious forums I post and participate on (just google David Ben-Ariel and see for yourself!), there are a rotten few, stooges, who foolishly aid and abet the Nazi-Muslim occupation of Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, and the Bolsheviks who enable them to flout Israeli law against religious discrimination daily as they trample the rights of Christians and Jews in Jerusalem. They are disinformation queens that I dethrone. This is typical of their hateful modus operandi:
And you're still a terrorist, an international criminal
Exhibit A of the old "shoot the messenger" syndrome! A terrorist? What a drama queen! The plain truth continues to terrorize those living a lie, who always make wild accusations, hysterical charges, never offering any documentation to back up what they say (because they don't have any whatsoever), shamefully engaging in disinformation, but always presenting me with an opportunity to shed light on the subject, exposing their darkness and desperation:
and banned for life from ever entering Israel again as long as you live
O ye of little faith! What proof do you have for such hysterical charges? For such wild accusations? NONE! We see right through you and your world of darkness. Won't you let the truth set you free? My unjust deportation from Israel was due to highlighting the plight of the Temple Mount suffering under Nazi Muslim occupation in an article published in Jerusalem (and now read around the world), even though the Israeli authorities lied and said it was about an "expired visa." Regardless, the Israeli authorities informed Senator Mike DeWine (R - Ohio) that I would be "eligible" to return in 2005 on a tourist visa. So much for your hateful nonsense!
Israel sets date for 2005
Due to personal business, family, friends and extensive travels in the United States of America the Beautiful, I haven't returned to Israel yet to visit the 8 kibbutzim I've served on as a volunteer (due to my God-given love of the Jews), to visit the grave of my holocaust-survivor/kibbutz mother Miriam Weiss, to see the Holy Land of Israel God knows I love so much, and especially the most holy site on Earth: the Temple Mount. In God's good time I shall return, as we're assured by the words of the Prophet: Zion shall be redeemed with justice.
Thank you for being a useful idiot and providing me this opportunity to again set the record straight. I know you've proven you don't care to be "confused" with the facts, but honest and objective folks will see what you refuse to see, blinded by your murderous and unwarranted hatred of those who love God, the Bible and Israel. Shame on you!
Still At Large!
Exposing the German-Vatican Plot to Occupy Jerusalem
Blow up the mosques or an expired visa?
And you're still a terrorist, an international criminal
Exhibit A of the old "shoot the messenger" syndrome! A terrorist? What a drama queen! The plain truth continues to terrorize those living a lie, who always make wild accusations, hysterical charges, never offering any documentation to back up what they say (because they don't have any whatsoever), shamefully engaging in disinformation, but always presenting me with an opportunity to shed light on the subject, exposing their darkness and desperation:
and banned for life from ever entering Israel again as long as you live
O ye of little faith! What proof do you have for such hysterical charges? For such wild accusations? NONE! We see right through you and your world of darkness. Won't you let the truth set you free? My unjust deportation from Israel was due to highlighting the plight of the Temple Mount suffering under Nazi Muslim occupation in an article published in Jerusalem (and now read around the world), even though the Israeli authorities lied and said it was about an "expired visa." Regardless, the Israeli authorities informed Senator Mike DeWine (R - Ohio) that I would be "eligible" to return in 2005 on a tourist visa. So much for your hateful nonsense!
Israel sets date for 2005
Due to personal business, family, friends and extensive travels in the United States of America the Beautiful, I haven't returned to Israel yet to visit the 8 kibbutzim I've served on as a volunteer (due to my God-given love of the Jews), to visit the grave of my holocaust-survivor/kibbutz mother Miriam Weiss, to see the Holy Land of Israel God knows I love so much, and especially the most holy site on Earth: the Temple Mount. In God's good time I shall return, as we're assured by the words of the Prophet: Zion shall be redeemed with justice.
Thank you for being a useful idiot and providing me this opportunity to again set the record straight. I know you've proven you don't care to be "confused" with the facts, but honest and objective folks will see what you refuse to see, blinded by your murderous and unwarranted hatred of those who love God, the Bible and Israel. Shame on you!
Still At Large!
Exposing the German-Vatican Plot to Occupy Jerusalem
Blow up the mosques or an expired visa?
The Bush-Obama War
Now it's Barack Obama's war. After campaigning against "George Bush's War" in the Middle East, Obama has escalated that war. By transferring thousands of America's forces from Iraq to Afghanistan, and by sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, the liberal Democrat has demonstrated that his administration is not so different from that of his "conservative" Republican predecessor...
The Bush-Obama War
by Chuck Baldwin
The Bush-Obama War
by Chuck Baldwin
Monday, December 7, 2009
"Christians" in denial
Yahshua condemns those who prefer their religious traditions over the holy commandments of God. Like a traditional "Christian" Pharisee, you refuse to see how the PRINCIPLES of Jeremiah against literal and spiritual idolatry apply to your TRADTIONAL Churchianity. Yahshua condemns your unclean kind for choosing your idolatrous traditions over the holy commandments of God.
Mark 7
"Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!... 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Pagan Christmas, pagan Easter, pagan SUNday, all are idolatrous traditions that counterfeit Christians, apostate Christians, reprobate Christians, stuck in the muck of Babylon, entangled in the bondage of their religious lies, keep instead of the holy commandments and example of Yahshua in refusing to mix and match, adulterate the truth of God with pagan error, deceitfully whitewashing pagan holidays and trying to pass them off to the world as "Christian."
God isn't fooled by whitewashed paganism, paganism in Christian wrapping, and neither are those who are honest with themselves, the Bible and history. Won't you let the plain truth set you free from your traditional bondage? Won't you stop misrepresenting Christ and Christianity with your traditional religious lies and blatant dishonesty that folks clearly see through and are disgusted by such deceitfulness? The pagans are more honest than your unclean Christians who remain in denial! Shame.
Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
Mark 7
"Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!... 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Pagan Christmas, pagan Easter, pagan SUNday, all are idolatrous traditions that counterfeit Christians, apostate Christians, reprobate Christians, stuck in the muck of Babylon, entangled in the bondage of their religious lies, keep instead of the holy commandments and example of Yahshua in refusing to mix and match, adulterate the truth of God with pagan error, deceitfully whitewashing pagan holidays and trying to pass them off to the world as "Christian."
God isn't fooled by whitewashed paganism, paganism in Christian wrapping, and neither are those who are honest with themselves, the Bible and history. Won't you let the plain truth set you free from your traditional bondage? Won't you stop misrepresenting Christ and Christianity with your traditional religious lies and blatant dishonesty that folks clearly see through and are disgusted by such deceitfulness? The pagans are more honest than your unclean Christians who remain in denial! Shame.
Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
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