Laurence Vance: Warmongering vs. the Sanctity of Life

Warmongering vs. the Sanctity of Life
Lew Rockwell.com - Laurence M. Vance

Pro-life Hypocrisy

Churches all across America observed Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on January 24. Literature was passed out on the evils of abortion. Sermons were preached on the sin of abortion. The 1973 Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe v. Wade was denounced. The immorality of being a doctor who performs abortions was proclaimed. The horrors of partial-birth abortion were explained. Testimonies were read of women who regretted having abortions and doctors who felt guilty in having performed them. Prayers were made on behalf of women contemplating having an abortion. Gruesome pictures of abortions gone awry were shown. Calls were made for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. Planned Parenthood was singled out for special condemnation. Yet, nary a word was said about the ongoing slaughter of innocents that is funded by the U.S. government.

Although I sympathize with the pro-life cause, believing with Ron Paul that "a fetus is a human life deserving of legal protection, and that the right to life is the foundation of any moral society," I must point out that many pro-lifers are hypocrites with a warped view of what it means to be pro-life.

Do adults have the same right to life as unborn children? Do foreigners have the same right to life as unborn American babies? Many pro-lifers don't think so. It is hypocrisy in the highest degree to talk about the sanctity of life, the evils of abortion, the horrors of partial-birth abortion, and to vocally claim that one is pro-life, but then turn around and show contempt for, or indifference to, the lives of adults and foreigners. Are the lives of unborn children more valuable than the lives of adults? Are the lives of unborn American babies more valuable than the lives of foreigners?

Absent from most churches on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday was any reference to the slaughter of tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans in unjust, unconstitutional, immoral wars instigated by the United States. U.S. soldiers have now been fighting in Iraq for seven years. They have been fighting in Afghanistan even longer. Countless numbers of Iraqis and Afghans have been killed by American bombs and bullets in senseless wars of imperialism and occupation. Thousands of U.S. soldiers died in vain thanks to the lies of the Bush administration. Hundreds more have died under the Obama administration thanks to the president's failure to bring the troops home from Iraq as promised and the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Do U.S. soldiers have a right not to have to give their life in vain?

It is never moral to kill someone and destroy his property unless one is acting in self-defense. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are anything but self-defense. The United States invaded sovereign countries thousands of miles away that had not attacked us. Before the United States invaded Afghanistan, not one American had been killed by an Afghan. And before the United States invaded Iraq, not one American had been killed by an Iraqi since the previous time we invaded Iraq. But have not Afghans and Iraqis killed, injured, or maimed thousands of U.S. soldiers? Of course they have. The sobering truth is that Americans would do the same thing to foreign troops that invaded our soil. We can call the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq regime change, spreading democracy, nation building, or even retaliation for the 9/11 attacks, but we certainly cannot call them wars of self-defense.

The idea is ludicrous, of course, that the invasion, occupation, and destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq were in retaliation for, or even a legitimate response to, the 9/11 attacks. None of the hijackers were from those countries. In fact, most of the hijackers were from our ally, Saudi Arabia. And as Ron Paul has pointed out over and over again, the departure of the United States from the noninterventionist foreign policy of the Founding Fathers in not interfering militarily, financially, or covertly in the internal affairs of other nations is an important reason 9/11 occurred. It is an arrogant, aggressive, interventionist U.S. foreign policy that serves to recruit terrorists and increase the hatred of foreigners toward the United States. The majority of Osama bin Laden's venom is directed at the West for aggression, oppression, and exploitation of Muslim lands and peoples, not because he, like President Bush driveled, "hates our freedoms."

Over twice as many U.S. soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq than people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. About 250 times as many Afghans and Iraqis have now died than people who died on 9/11. Yet, pro-lifers who support these wars consider an American doctor in a white coat a murderer if he kills an unborn baby, but an American soldier in a uniform a hero if he kills a foreigner.

It is time for pro-lifers to start being consistent. War is the greatest destroyer of religion, morality, and decency. War is the greatest destroyer of families and young lives. Foreigners who are no threat to this country should have the same right to life as babies in the wombs of American mothers. The right to life of U.S. soldiers should not so needlessly be put in jeopardy. May the next Sanctity of Human Life Sunday recognize the right to life of all people, American and foreign, child and adult.

This originally appeared at Campaign for Liberty.

January 26, 2010

Laurence M. Vance writes from Pensacola, FL. He is the author of Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State and The Revolution that Wasn't. His newest book is Rethinking the Good War. Visit his website.

Copyright © 2010 Campaign for Liberty

The Best of Laurence M. Vance

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CIVICS NEWS Comment:

Vance added the following comment after the above article was published:

This astute reader of my “Warmongering vs. the Sanctity of Life” points out what his pastor failed to mention on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday:

Thank you very much for your recent article “Warmongering vs. the sanctity of Life.” Our pastor was one of those who took up the pro-life theme in his sermon. I have the highest regard for our pastor, and his message, based on Ps. 139:13-24, was certainly very helpful in showing us why we should abhor abortion and how God is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. Sadly, though, his message on Sanctity of Life Day had only as its focus those who are killed in the womb. In fact, he mentioned a rather curious statistic in his introduction: that only 1.3 million Americans (I assumed he meant embers of the military) have died in all of our nation’s wars over the 235 years of our history, whereas 50 million infants have been aborted since Roe v. Wade. What he failed to mention is how many innocents have died at the hands of the U.S. military during those 235 years. I would be curious to know what that figure would be. Regardless of what it is, it’s a glaring omission, as though American infants are the only ones who count when it comes to determining how many innocents have died at the hands of our government.

Vance also adds this comment:

A critic of my article “Warmongering vs. the Sanctity of Life” tries to justify the deaths of foreign adults by asking: “How many unborn babies have performed terrorist acts against the U.S. and our allies?” Well, how many Iraqis and Afghans killed by the U.S. military performed terrorist acts against the U.S. or our allies before we invaded their countries? The actual perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks perished in their airplanes. Is there anyone in Iraq or Afghanistan directly responsible for the 9/11 attacks? Yes, there are some, perhaps many, in Iraq and Afghanistan who are glad the attacks happened, and especially because of U.S. foreign policy before and since then, but that does not make them worthy of death by Predator drone attack.

The sad reality of widespread and historic rape in the military

A series of posts on the Lew Rockwell.com Blog reminds me of how insane it would be to use the term "Christian nation" in reference to the U.S. Government and especially to the U.S. military. The first one simply reports this sad story from NPR:

1/3RD OF WOMEN IN US MILITARY RAPED

According to NPR, “In 2003, a survey of female veterans found that 30 percent said they were raped in the military. A 2004 study of veterans who were seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder found that 71 percent of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving. And a 1995 study of female veterans of the Gulf and earlier wars, found that 90 percent had been sexually
harassed.”

Another study concluded that 90% of all women serving are sexually harassed. Another one estimates that 90% of all the rapes do not get reported, despite supposedly easier ways to report the crime with confidentiality since 2005. Either way, this appears to be an epidemic that needs to be dealt with. An online discussion from a former soldier whose identity is being protected had this to say, “At least a rape ends. It’s the day-to-day degradation that eats at you. None of my friends who were raped on active duty reported it. Or if we tried, we were told to shut up for ‘morale.’ Working with your rapist on a daily basis isn’t a lot of fun, believe me.”

Laurence Vance then responds with this commentary:

"Regarding the high number of rapes and sexual assaults in the military, why aren’t pastors, elders, priests, bishops, deacons, and ministers yelling at the top of their lungs from their pulpits for all Christian women to stay out of the military? It’s bad enough when Christian men and anyone else join the military, but what is it going to take for Christian women to stay out of the military? Sexual assault by a recruiter before they even get in? Oh, I’m sorry, that has already
happened many times."

Vance also adds,

Our “allies” in World War II—the Soviets—evidently didn’t think too kindly of the Jews they liberated from Auschwitz or perhaps they wouldn’t have raped some of them. Just as U.S. soldiers raped 3,500 French women after D-Day, just as U.S.
soldiers raped some Iraqi prisoners, just as U.S. soldiers raped thousands of southern women during the so-called Civil War, and just as U.S. soldiers rape each other. At least the U.S. soldiers in Hawaii known as the three minute men paid for their sex during World War II.

Put your nuclear bomb back in its place

"Put your nuclear bomb back in its place. For those who draw the nuke will die by the nuke."

I wonder if Jesus would like to say something along those lines to the Christian leaders in America today. You know, the ones who actively support American possession and use of nuclear weapons whil eat the same time demanding that violent economic sanctions be put on civilians who happen to live in a country (Iran) that they think might be developing nuclear weapons. They have taken it upon themselves to conclude that the people of Iran must pay for what they suspect about the government that rules those people, yet they won't take even peaceful means to speak against the U.S. government's weapons of mass destruction.

Well, unfortunately they were at it again this past week. "Christian Leaders for a Nuclear Free Iran" are again urging Congress to impose coercive economic sanctions on the "nation" of Iran. Total war is that which is waged on innocent civilians, and since economic sanctions affect primarily the civilian population, these Christian leaders are calling for indiscriminate economic siege upon the people of Iran. This should be abhorrent even to the Christian advocate of so-called "just" wars.

As a side note, these are also many of the same Christian leaders who teach that Christians owe nearly-unconditional submission bordering on worship to the government--the institution that they believe to be practically the "march of God on earth," intended to enforce the law of God at gunpoint. Given this fact, I presume that they mean that only the Israeli and the D.C. regimes are governments to which Christians should render such adoration and submission, as they stage this on-going rebellion against the Iranian government. Is it really possible to so honor and submit to one government that is "instituted by God" yet then turn around and so dishonor and rebel against another government that can claim equally to be instituted of God?

Related:
-Do we believe in life and freedom of conscience or not?
-Christians call for impoverishing Persian families
-The "Wipe Israel off the Map" Hoax
-Why Not Crippling Sanctions for Israel and the US?
-Iranians don't "hate us because we have freedom"

I don't believe in Osama bin Laden

The timing and the content of these supposed bin Laden tapes are just too perfect. What do you think? If you doubt they're capable of this kind of thing, don't forget the fat bin Laden that they tried to pass off as Osama confessing to 9/11.

See Prison Planet's recent articles:
--Bin Laden’s Impeccable Timing Boosts Obama Ahead Of Stat of the Union Address
--“Bin Laden” Tape: Pathetic Attempt To Bolster Crumbling Global Warming Scam

"The Sharp Dressed Man Who Aided Mutallab Onto Flight 253 Was a U.S. Government Agent"

As I previously posted, the government's story on the attempted Christmas bombing had major holes in it. Wayne Madsen's sources are even saying that it was an attempted false flag operation. Well, here's the latest from key witness of the events, Detroit attorney, Kurt Haskell.

Nobel Peace Price winner to spend seized money on WMD arsenal

War is peace in the distorted reality of the kingdoms of this world. And apparently, so is stockpiling more weapons of mass destruction. This headline out of the UK Daily Mail is not a joke: 'Nobel Peace Prize-winner Barack Obama ups spending on nuclear weapons to even more than George Bush'.

Raw Story reports:

“I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of [nuclear] weapons, and seeks a world without them,” President Barack Obama claimed during his first State of the Union speech.

“To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades.”

Yet, in the budget the Obama White House will send to Congress on Monday, the administration proposes a 10 percent spending increase on the nation’s nuclear weapons budget, bringing the total to roughly $7 billion, according to McClatchy Newspapers.

Bloomberg News Ponders a Banking Conspiracy

Bloomberg News Ponders a Banking Conspiracy
Lew Rockwell.com Blog - David Kramer - January 29, 2010 10:21 PM

I guess we One World Government conspiracy theorists are starting to make a dent in the MSM when one of their own reporters begins to consider the possibility of a banksters’ conspiracy:

SECRET BANKING CABAL EMERGES FROM AIG SHADOWS

The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc., you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all. Wednesday’s hearing described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little oversight by the public or elected officials. We’re talking about the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose role as the most influential part of the federal-reserve system — apart from the matter of AIG’s bailout — deserves further congressional scrutiny.

As Representative Marcy Kaptur [A Democrat, by the way] told Geithner at the hearing: “A lot of people think that the president of the New York Fed works for the U.S. government. But in fact you work for the private banks that elected you.”

The one question I’ve been asking lately is this: Will the United States’ banksters-owned central bank collapse right before or right after the dollar is replaced with the North American Amero—making the central bank obsolete, only to be replaced by an even bigger North American bank that will also be owned and operated by the banksters?

[Thanks to Matthew Peter Christodoulou]

My audio interview at RLTV on the Trijicon gun sights

I was honored to recently join Michael Peabody, a courageous defender of religious liberty, for a podcast interview--a first for me. We discussed the controversy over the Bible verses being stamped on gun sights. Check it out at his great website, ReligiousLiberty.TV. It's only 7 minutes long, and don't miss the bumper music at the end. Thanks for having me, Michael!

Good News

I applaud Trijicon for ending the practice of stamping Bible verse references on the weapons that they sell to the military. Way to go! You're taking steps to clarify for the world that the name of Jesus is not going to be used to support America's wars of aggression.

Now I challenge Trijicon to take the next step and stop feeding the imperial machine with implements of death and destruction, to stop profiting from enormous arms contracts with the most powerful empire in world history.

Disavow militarism and nationalism and go the whole way in embracing the Kingdom of God. It will be the best decision you ever make.

The state depends on moral relativism

Pirates and Emperors: Bill Clinton Updates Augustine
Lew Rockwell.com Blog - William Grigg - January 22, 2010 01:27 PM

St. Augustine famously pointed out in The City of God (book IV , chapter 4) that “governments” and criminal syndicates are in exactly the same racket:

“Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a vast scale? What are criminal gangs but petty kingdoms?

A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention. If this villainy wins so many recruits from the ranks of the demoralized that it acquires territory, establishes a base, captures cities and subdues peoples, it then openly arrogates to itself the title of `kingdom,’ which is conferred on it in the eyes of the world, not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity.

For it was a witty and a truthful rejoinder which was given by a captured pirate to Alexander the Great. The king asked the fellow, `What is your idea, in infesting the sea?’ And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, `The same as yours, in
infesting the earth! But because I do it with a tiny craft, I’m called a pirate; because you have a mighty navy, you’re called an emperor.”

Displaying uncharacteristic concision — and most likely without conscious intent — Bill Clinton offered a splendid summary of Augustine’s insight, updated for contemporary affairs.

During an interview published in the December 2009 issue of Foreign Policy magazine (which, like Foreign Affairs, is a journal written by and for the Power Elite, in which they extol their own supposed wisdom and goodness), Clinton helpfully defines terrorism as “killing and robbery and coercion by people who do not have state authority and go beyond national borders.”

By reverse-engineering this definition we learn that “killing and robbery and coercion” carried out with “state authority” isn’t terrorism; it’s public policy. We can also infer that the “war on terror” is not meant to bring an end to such violence, but rather intended to bring it within the compass of proper “authority.” That matter, in turn, is defined to suit the interests of whatever robber band happens to be dominant in global affairs.

The consistently insightful Chris Floyd, who brought this quote to my attention, adds another key element to the equation:

“Only those states which by their cheerful acceptance of America’s benevolent guidance and abiding friendship have proven themselves worthy can legitimately exercise their authority to kill, rob and coerce. All others must forbear — or else be branded `rogue states,’ purveyors of `state terror,’ which in turn makes them eligible for `the path of action.’”

No such thing as a Christian military

Excellent commentary on the Trijicon "spiritually transformed weapons" issue by Stephen Carson:

I’ve been thinking a lot about a contemporary Christian impulse to have Christians in every area of life. At least some of this comes from a laudable motivation to see Christians not artificially separate the sacred and secular aspects of life. Just as Christians should be missionaries as unto the Lord, so should Christians be filmmakers and artists and so forth as unto the Lord. Francis Schaeffer is, at least in part, one of the key influences in this area.

Unfortunately, this impulse has often been unguided by discernment as to what callings are appropriate for Christians. As Laurence jokes, “Should a Christian stripper tattoo John 3:16 on her naked body to get whoever sees it to look up the verse and read it?”

Unfortunately, Laurence’s joke is only a hair away from the truth. There are now “Christian” romance novels and “Christian” imperial stormtroopers. Something is deeply wrong with taking whatever is being done by anyone, slapping Christian on the front of it and considering that something glorious has been accomplished. Not all things should be done by Christians. Some in the early church accepted martyrdom rather than serve the Roman Empire. I don’t see a lot of modern American Christians making that stand.

The subject that Carson brings up in the above commentary is an important one. In chapter two of The Way, the Truth, and the Sword, I made sure to clarify for readers that Christianity should not a compartmentalized sector of life. The the Kingdom of God, if practiced by all, would work as yeast in the dough to reform all facets of society and human life. We should work for the redemption of all social spheres. But Carson makes a good point that some spheres are Satanic by their nature and cannot be Christian. The state and its military cannot be reformed and Christianized any more than the pornography industry can. Yes, government can be relatively good (see Part III of the book), but it cannot be Christian. Why? Government is force, and Jesus' Kingdom rests upon the opposite--non-violence, servitude and love. Matthew 20:25-28 reads,

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

The true political spectrum

This very helpful political spectrum was posted at the Lew Rockwell.com Blog. It is sadly very accurate. I hope you enjoy it:

Democrats: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Republicans: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Liberals: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Conservatives: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Fascists: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Socialists: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Communists: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Nazis: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare

The true political spectrum has zero government on one end and total government on the other end--in other words, anarchy versus authoritarianism. Not left versus right, liberal versus conservative, Democrat versus Republican or fascists/Nazis versus socialists/Communists.

The struggle for political ideas is the struggle for liberty of conscience and property versus the various manifestations of statism listed above, all of which violently rob humanity of that which was endowed by their Creator. To the extent that government must exist, it should be devoted solely to the protection of life and property through the punishing of criminal aggression.

This is "change" on detention policy?

Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely
Peter Finn - Washington Post - Friday, January 22nd, 2010

A Justice Department-led task force has concluded that nearly 50 of the 196 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be held indefinitely without trial under the laws of war, according to Obama administration officials.

The task force’s findings represent the first time that the administration has clarified how many detainees it considers too dangerous to release but unprosecutable because officials fear trials could compromise intelligence-gathering and because detainees could challenge evidence obtained through coercion.

Human rights advocates have bemoaned the administration’s failure to fulfill President Obama’s promise last January to close the Guantanamo Bay facility within a year as well as its reliance on indefinite detention, a mechanism devised during George W. Bush’s administration that they deem unconstitutional.

“There is no statutory regime in America that allows us to hold people without charge or trial indefinitely,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. [...]

Cities should be destroyed, dams should be blown up through sabotage

CIVICS NEWS Comment: While exposing this great social evil is an important thing, let us not lose sight of the fact that the human beings endorsing insane genocidal policies are victims of deception, themeslves. We should hate their ideology, but love them and show them a better way. The below article does a great job of exposing the global population reduction plan, but is lacking in reaching out to its advocates in a loving posture. I post the article for purposes of informing readers, not to endorse the tone of the article.

NASA Global Warming Alarmist Endorses Book That Calls For Mass Genocide
Dr James Hansen: Eco-fascist author who wrote that industrial civilization should be destroyed “has it right”

Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet.com - Friday, January 22, 2010

Prominent NASA global warming alarmist Dr. James Hansen has endorsed an eco-fascist book that calls for cities to be razed to the ground, industrial civilization to be destroyed and genocidal population reduction measures to be implemented in the name of preventing climate change.

Hansen, who was back in the news today commenting on a NASA press release that claims the last decade was the warmest on record, said that Keith Farnish, author of a new book called Time’s Up, is correct in calling for acts of sabotage and environmental terrorism in blowing up dams and demolishing cities in order to return the planet to the agrarian age.

Hansen is a key figure in the global warming movement, for it was his 1988 with testimony to a US Senate committee chaired by Al Gore that really got the ball rolling for the elite in their mission to hijack the environmental movement and promote apocalyptic fears of climate change as a means of seizing absolute power over humanity.

Author Farnish “believes – as the Hon Sir Jonathon Porritt does – that mankind is a blot on the landscape and that breeding (or for that matter, existence) should be discouraged,” writes James Delingpole.

“The only way to prevent global ecological collapse and thus ensure the survival of humanity is to rid the world of Industrial Civilization,” writes Farnish, adding that “people will die in huge numbers when civilization collapses”.

Farnish echoes similar talking points to those featured in White House science czar John Holdren’s Ecoscience textbook, which called for a “planetary regime” to carry out forced abortions and mandatory sterilization procedures, as well as drugging the water supply, in an effort to cull the human surplus.

Farnish explains his desire to see rampant population reduction in the name of saving the planet.

“In short, the greatest immediate risk to the population living in the conditions created by Industrial Civilization is the population itself. Civilization has created the perfect conditions for a terrible tragedy on the kind of scale never seen before in the history of humanity. That is one reason for there to be fewer people,” he writes.

And how is the collapse of industrial civilization to be achieved? By indiscriminate acts of sabotage and eco-terrorism.

“Unloading essentially means the removal of an existing burden: for instance, removing grazing domesticated animals, razing cities to the ground, blowing up dams and switching off the greenhouse gas emissions machine. The process of ecological unloading is an accumulation of many of the things I have already explained in this chapter, along with an (almost certainly necessary) element of sabotage,” writes Farnish.

But surely the respected and authoritative individuals we have been told by the media to trust when it comes to the science behind global warming would rebuke such outlandish, deranged and extreme methods of addressing climate change?

“Keith Farnish has it right: time has practically run out, and the ’system’ is the problem,” wrote Dr. James Hansen on the Amazon website. “Governments are under the thumb of fossil fuel special interests – they will not look after our and the planet’s well-being until we force them to do so, and that is going to require enormous effort.

It has also come to light that Hansen wasn’t even asked to comment on Farnish’s book, he freely volunteered his opinion. “Just to put the quote into context, it was indeed spontaneous from James and surprised me a little at first,” wrote author Farnish on the Yahoo Answers website.

“It’s an important thing to remember when we talk about AGW: many of the activist-scientists pushing it passionately want the earth to be getting hotter and it for it to be largely man’s fault. These watermelons certainly don’t want the opposite to be true, because then they wouldn’t have the excuse they so desperately need to destroy the capitalist system and take us all back to the agrarian age,” comments Delingpole.

The entire climate change takeover is being spearheaded by self-hating psychotics who want to impose a global one child policy in the name of curbing overpopulation. As we have vehemently proven, the overpopulation hype is a debunked myth with no basis in reality. The real reason global eugenicists want to implement such policies, along with taxing the life-giving gas carbon dioxide, is because it would give them absolute control over every single aspect of our lives – a control freak’s utopia.

The propagandistic method of depicting humans as the enemy is perfectly tailored to this agenda, because it elicits the response of making people call for their own kind to be regulated, controlled, and even killed under the contrived pretext of preventing an ecological apocalypse.

This approach was again evident in a recent United Nations sponsored poster campaign which depicted humans as evil horror movie monsters intent on slaughtering wildlife and killing the earth.

The global elite resolved to take this approach back in 1991 when the Club of Rome, a powerful globalist NGO committed to limiting growth and ushering in a post-industrial society, said in their report, The First Global Revolution, “In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…. All these dangers are caused by human intervention… The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.”

Genocidal psychotics are now trying to obtain the power to carry out the kind of nihilistic blueprint for terror Farnish outlines in his book in pursuit of their “post-industrial society”. What makes it all the more galling is that these eco-fascists present their lunacy in such a reasonable and sober tone. In reality, although they try to characterize humanity as a virus upon the planet, the only real cancer upon the earth is their virulently neo-fascist doctrine of warped environmentalism and population control.

The only real threat to humanity’s survival is not climate change, which has naturally occurred for eons since the very incarnation of planet earth, but the insane, self-destructive and monstrous plans to “solve” the issue being proposed by eco-fascists like Farnish and endorsed by people in prominent positions of influence like Hansen.

Bushbama's Big Government

Great CNN clip. The era of big government is not over.

Disclaimer: I don't believe government was successful in the areas CNN claims.

Spiritually transformed killing machines of Christ

Scott Ritsema
CIVICS NEWS
January 19, 2010



As if there weren't enough instances where the American Empire is associated with the faith of Jesus (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for starters) another sad story has leaked into the media (see ABC story here), this time about Bible verses being inscribed on the sights of high-powered military-issued rifles. Yes, you read that correctly.

The Michigan company, Trijicon, which has been awarded with Pentagon contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars, produces the rifle sights with Bible verse references stamped on them, and they stand by the practice--largely without challenge from the Christian community.

Company spokespersons have defended the practice; however, the ABC expose did not ask them about the shocking irony of putting Bible references from Jesus who preached non-violence on a weapon whose sole purpose it is to maim and kill those who Christ commanded us to love and serve. Unfortunately, ABC is left to do the job of exposing this, as there have not been Christian voices speaking against this practice, even though it tragically provides a Christian veneer for the aggressive, imperial violence that is taking place overseas.

The media rightly focuses on the unconstitutional nature of the practice of stamping Bible messages on state-issued weapons. Indeed this is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment--the state should not be supporting a religion. Also, ABC reports on the concerns that if America's wars are soaked in Christian language, then the Islamic world will perceive the wars as religious crusades.

These are very real and pertinent concerns. However, the focus on the constitutionality of the practice and the concern about enraging an Islamic enemy misses the point and dodges the most insidious aspect of the scandal.

The biggest problem with this--from a Christian point of view--is that it misrepresents Jesus. Where Christ should be preached from a posture of loving servitude, through this practice his name is being associated with warfare and killing. Where his Kingdom of love is supposed to transcend human governments, the U.S. government is once again baptized as the march of God on earth. It's time for Trijicon to remove the Bible verses from the rifle sights. I humbly ask them to please reconsider the kind of distorted picture of God they are painting for the world. Does Jesus, who called on his followers to love their enemies, really sanction the military occupation of Afghanistan?

One former Air Force officer tells of soldiers who've blown the whistle on their commanders who have called the weapons "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ." What a sad view of Christianity that is being presented to the world. Firearms of Jesus Christ? Jesus is the one who told Peter to put his sword back in its place, and whose sacrificial death has inspired countless non-violent martyrs to do the same. High-powered military arms are in no way "of Jesus Christ." Stamping a Bible verse on an instrument of gruesome death and destruction does not make it "spiritually transformed."

I hope that Christian leaders speak against this practice, as it represents just another form of legitimizing the Empire under the cloak of pseudo-Christian trappings.

I pray that Christians would show the light of truth to the world that God is a God of love, and that he calls his children to live in a way that is best for them--in non-violence, non-coercion, peace, servitude, and love.

Obama's Martial Law, Dictatorial Powers

PDD 51 & New Executive Order Give Obama Dictator Power
Last roadblocks to martial law in the United States eliminated



Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet.com - Monday, January 18, 2010

An Obama executive order that creates a council of state governors who will work with the feds to expand military involvement in domestic security, together with PDD 51, a Bush era executive order that gives the President dictatorial power in times of national emergency, eliminate the last roadblocks to declaring martial law in the United States.

The new order, which is entitled Establishment of the Council of Governors (PDF), creates a body of ten state governors directly appointed by Obama who will work with the federal government to help advance the “synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States”.

The governors will liaise with officials from Northcom, Homeland Security, the National Guard as well as DoD officials from the Pentagon “in order to strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State governments,” according to the executive order.

The exective order combines seamlessly with Presidential Decision Directive 51 to hand Obama dictator status in times of declared, and not necessarily genuine, national emergency.

In May 2007, former President George W. Bush sparked much alarm by openly declaring himself to be a dictator in the event of a national emergency under provisions that effectively nullify the U.S. constitution, but such an infrastructure has been in place for over 70 years and this merely represented a re-authorization of martial law powers.

Legislation signed on May 9, 2007, declares that in the event of a “catastrophic event”, the President can take total control over the government and the country, bypassing all other levels of government at the state, federal, local, territorial and tribal levels, and thus ensuring total unprecedented dictatorial power.

The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which also places the Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of domestic “security”, was signed earlier without the approval or oversight of Congress and seemingly supercedes the National Emergency Act which allows the president to declare a national emergency but also requires that Congress have the authority to “modify, rescind, or render dormant” such emergency authority if it believes the president has acted inappropriately.

Journalist Jerome Corsi, who studied the directive, also states that it makes no reference to Congress and “its language appears to negate any requirement that the president submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists.”

In July 2007, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D – OR) was asked by his constituents to see what was contained within the classified portion of the White House’s plan for operating the government after a terrorist attack.

Since DeFazio also sits on the Homeland Security Committee and has clearance to view classified material, the request would have appeared to be routine, but the Congressman was unceremoniously denied all access to view the documents, and the White House wouldn’t even give an excuse as to why he was barred.

“I just can’t believe they’re going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack,” DeFazio told the Oregonian.

“We’re talking about the continuity of the government of the United States of America,” DeFazio says. “I would think that would be relevant to any member of Congress, let alone a member of the Homeland Security Committee.”

“Maybe the people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right,” DeFazio concluded.

These new powers have now been handed over to President Obama, allowing him, along with a body of councillors personally selected by him, to declare martial law without there necessarily being a genuine national emergency, greasing the skids for U.S. troops and National Guard to conduct domestic policing of the American people.

In October 2008, Northcom, a Unified Combatant Command of the United States military based out of Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, was assigned the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team returning from Iraq. An alarming September 8 Army Times report which was later denied after it sparked controversy stated that the troops would be used by Northcom to deal with “civil unrest and crowd control” in the aftermath of a national emergency.

The Obama executive order states that governors will help advise the feds on National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.

The fact that the order further blurs the lines between state and federal power, as well as greasing the skids for more military involvement in domestic affairs has stoked fears that Obama may be laying the groundwork for his promised “national civilian security force”.

Conservatives and libertarians responded to the announcement by expressing their suspicion that Obama is preparing to give governors their marching orders in targeting “anti-government” types that have long been characterized as a terrorist threat by the feds in numerous reports stretching back over a decade. [...]

Swine flu scandal to undergo investigation

What has been called the “greatest medical scandal of the century” will be investigated in Europe. Steve Watson reports:

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a 47 nation body encompassing democratically elected members of parliament, has begun hearings to investigate whether the H1N1 swine flu pandemic was falsified or exaggerated in an attempt to profit from vaccine sales.

Read the rest of his article here.

Haiti and the Righteousness of God, by Michael Peabody

Comment: As a Seventh Day Adventist, Michael Peabody advances the doctrine that the nature of Hell is quite different from that envisioned in popular culture (also see here). This is not the majority view among Christians (yet), so it's sure to develop some good discussion. He gets into the subject in the later part of the article, but the main reason I post this fine article is because of its relation to the subject of Haiti. Check out his great website, ReligiousLiberty.TV. It is so sad that the George Carlin view of God is so prominent even among Christians. To say the least, it's worth re-thinking.

Haiti and the Righteousness of God
By Michael D. Peabody - ReligiousLiberty.TV

In 1999, comedian George Carlin wrote, “Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you.”

I thought about Carlin’s statement as I watched a clip of Pat Robertson blaming this week’s earthquake in Haiti on a mythical pact that the people of Haiti supposedly made with the Devil in order to become independent of France over two centuries ago. ““[E]ver since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor,” Robertson said.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time that Pat Robertson or other preachers acting under the guise of Christianity twisted history and theology in order to explain various tragic events. Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Jerry Falwell had this to say, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.’”

After the December 26, 2004 Indonesian tsunami, John MacLeod, a minister in the First Presbyterian Church of Scotland, wrote, “Some of the places most affected by this tsunami attracted pleasure-seekers from all over the world. It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord's Day, the day that God has set apart to be observed the world over by a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days.”

After a massive tragedy, it is human nature to try to find out why it happened. They must have done something wrong, after all, they reason, isn’t everything pre-ordained by God?

This finger pointing was an approach that Christ Himself repeatedly rejected, whether it had to do with blaming a man’s parents for blindness, tyrannical oppression, or other disaster. In Luke 13:1-5 (NIV), we read the following exchange:

"Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

There is no magic formula for avoiding tragedy, and no way that we can assign blame. Instead, we need to focus on our own lives before we start placing blame on others. “"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eventually point out your brother’s eye goober, but be sure that you don’t hit him in the face with the big stick in your eye when you turn to look at him.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of perverting the good news of Jesus Christ by making Him look like an arbitrary tyrant intent on destroying people who have offended Him. Many people struggle through their faith or leave altogether when they can’t explain why bad things happen to good people or why a “loving” God would willingly torture people throughout eternity.

Jonathan Edwards terrified a generation of New Englanders when he preached in 1741, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire. . . . You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder” (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).

Theology along these lines, not found in the Bible, would explain why so many American Christians actively support torture or a preliminary attack on Iran. It explains the push for the death penalty against homosexuals in Uganda. It provided the framework for the Inquisition and cleansing of “heresy” throughout the middle ages. If God is just, and is our example, then why shouldn’t Christians seek to do His dirty work on earth? If forces of evil are going to be tortured in hell, why not send them there early and prevent them from leading the innocent astray?

This doctrine of eternal torture in hell violates principles that most decent human beings hold themselves to – it involves disproportionate punishment and invokes the cognitive dissonance of eternal bliss with the knowledge that another is undergoing eternal torment.

If God was like this, George Carlin’s sense of dark irony would be well-placed. The universe would have two sides, a bright living room where angels float on clouds, and a basement so evil that it would exceed the worst that Satan himself could conceive.

But is that really the character of God? No.

One of the biggest contributions that Seventh-day Adventism has made to Christianity is the rediscovery of the Biblical doctrine that hell is not eternal torment. There are many complete explanations of the Biblical research behind this position online (click here for a good place to start). Essentially Adventists believe that “the wicked . . . shall be destroyed forever” (Psalm 92:7), and that those who accept Christ can, “according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

So what does this have to do with religious liberty? Many of the strongest challenges to freedom of conscience and religious liberty on a global basis come from those who do not understand the reality of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and instead make Him out to be a tyrant. They consider themselves His deputies.

Only when Christians begin to understand the truth of the gospel can they begin to see how important it is to tell the truth the consistency of His character and the all sufficient power of His love. “If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,'" (John 8:31,32).

If you want to help the people of Haiti...

Adventist Development and Relief Angency (ADRA)--rated as a top notch Christian relief organization--is working to help the Haitian people with medical care, food and water. They've pledged a million dollars, and they arrived in Haiti today to get to work.

Here is their web page where you can give toward the Haiti relief effort. Let's be the church. We should be able to raise a million dollars in a heartbeat; if you haven't given to another organization, this is a great opportunity.

It's times like these where the body of Christ shows the world what God is like. Let's be his hands and feet.

Putting Haitian poverty in an historical context

The Monsters in DC vs. Haiti
Lew Rockwell.com Blog - Lew Rockwell - January 14, 2010 10:12 AM

Writes John Seiler:

We should remember that Haiti’s economy was wrecked by the 1990 sanctions imposed by President George H.W. Bush, then by President Clinton’s 1994 invasion, which re-established the commie Aristide in power. Pat Robertson blames Haiti’s problems on some distant “pact with the devil.” The real problem is the destruction of that poor country’s economy by Robertson’s favorite demon, the U.S. government. The earthquake would have killed thousands of people no matter what. But if the country had been left alone, there would be much more prosperity, including stronger buildings that would not have fallen down on their inhabitants.

Indeed, there has been consistent US intervention in Haiti for more for than a century. Wilson invaded that country to block long-time German business investment, and reward US banks. It was not until Hoover that the US troops were withdrawn, to be replaced by “Good Neighbor” control under FDR. Indeed, the US was openly in charge of Haitian government fianances until 1947. Is there any doubt that the warmonger Obama will now turn Haiti into even more of a colonial dependency, perhaps opening a US base there to threaten Venezuela and any other independence-minded Latin country? Banks and other federal businesses who pay off the right officials will benefit too. Can’t let any opportunity for fascist-corporate expansion go unexploited, as Rahm Emmanuel said of crises. See, as usual, Rothbard.

When Conservatives Loved the Palestinians (Hint: it was before the arrival of the religious right)

When Conservatives Loved the Palestinians
Sans Everything - February 25 - 2008

War propaganda often rests on the myth of eternal enmity: the current enemy must be portrayed as perennially and irredeemably vile. George Orwell aptly limned this mindset in his novel 1984: “Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.” During the two world wars, Anglo-American historians wrote many a book arguing that Germans have always been stinkers from the Gothic barbarians and autocratic Frederick the Great to the amoral Bismarck and psychotic Hitler. This whole literature of eternal Teutonic villainy was conveniently forgotten when West Germany became a pillar of NATO.

Reading the conservative press now you would think that Arabs and Muslims have always and everywhere been the enemies of Western civilization. We’re invited to imagine that the current troubles in Afghanistan and Iraq are just the most recent manifestation of a clash of civilizations that goes back to Mohammed, the Crusades, and the conquest of Constantinople.
Yet within the lifetime of our parents, conservatives were surprisingly pro-Arab. This was particularly true of the most salient issue in the Middle East, the Palestinian refugee problem. As surprising as this may sound, the mainstream consensus view of American conservatives from the late 1940s until well into the late 1960s was that the Palestinians had been deeply wronged by Israel and deserved restorative justice.

Consider Regnery Publishing. Founded in 1947 by Henry Regnery, it was the premier publishing house of the postwar conservative renaissance, issuing classic books by William F. Buckley, Russell Kirk, Willmoore Kendall, James Burnham and many other writers. During this period it also published a steady stream of books championing Arab culture and sympathetically describing the plight of the Palestinians. These books included Nejla Izzeddin’s The Arab World (1953), Alfred M. Lilienthal’s What Price Israel (1953), Freda Utley’s Will the Middle East Go West? (1957), Per-Olow Anderson’s They are Human Too (1957), and Ethel Mannin’s Road to Beersheeba (England: 1963; America: 1964). Anderson’s book was a collection of photographs taken at Palestinian refugee camps, Mannin’s volume a novel about Palestinian refugees. Utley’s book uttered a sentiment typical for these books: “freedom and justice for Israel depend on freedom and justice for the Arabs.” [...]

Yes, of course, block the sun. Why didn't I think of that?

Do you remember that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns tries to block out the sun? Well it looks like that was a foreshadowing of something real. In the midst of a twelve-year-long span of even temperatures (and even a bit of cooling), concerns about the warming of the globe have reached such heights that they are considering spraying stuff in the air to reflect back the rays of the sun. Some evidence suggests they're already doing it. No, this is not a joke. What is a joke to normal people, relegated to comedy cartoons, is serious business to the global geo-engineers who will have their way with the planet.

“Peace” Prize Winner Obama Demands Record War Chest

“Peace” Prize Winner Obama Demands Record War Chest
Second year running Obama demands more for illegal wars

Steve Watson & Paul Watson - Prisonplanet.com - Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010



Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama is to request a record defense budget for 2011 in order to expand the war in Afghanistan and continue the conflict in Iraq, according to military officials.

Obama will ask Congress for an extra $33 billion in addition to a record breaking $708 billion to swell the Defense Department’s coffers next year.

Defense spending will top $700 billion for the first time military sources revealed to the AP, after commanders were briefed on the figures, in addition to projected budgets through 2015, earlier this week at the Pentagon.

The bulk of the war chest will be used to acquire more Predator and Reaper pilotless drones, which have been used in missile attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The additional war dollars will also go towards funding the deployment of close to 40,000 new troops Obama ordered to Afghanistan last year.

The president’s Quadrennial Defense Review will be officially delivered to Congress on February 1st.

It will mark the second year running that the president has significantly increased war spending.

Obama’s election promise to bring “change” to Washington and reverse the juggernaut of rampant militarism, endless wars and occupations has proven to be nothing more than a cruel hoax.

Obama has beefed the U.S. military role in Pakistan beyond that pursued by the Bush administration and expanded the covert war run by the Central Intelligence Agency inside Pakistan, with an increase in missile attacks by drone aircraft.

Despite public pronouncements by Obama that a plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq is in progress, the details of the agreement actually establish a permanent presence of a sizable occupying force in perpetuity.

Obama has also promised that U.S. forces will begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in July 2011, but his defense advisers have set no time limit for the war there.

The combined number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has now reached a higher level under Obama than existed under the Bush administration at any point between 2003 and 2008.

At the height of the Bush administration’s 2007 “surge” in Iraq, there were 26,000 US troops in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq, a total of 186,000.

According to DoD figures cited by The Washington Post last October, there are now around 189,000 and rising deployed in total. There are now 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, over double the amount deployed there when Bush left office.

As the Post points out, these figures are also misleadingly low because the number of support troops, at least 13,000, has simply not been announced or noted, despite their authorization and deployment by the Pentagon.

The perpetuation of the illegal occupation of Iraq, the expansion of the fallacy based war in Afghanistan, as well as increased faceless attacks in Pakistan, heightened belligerence towards Iran and refusal to address a strategy to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sum up Obama’s foreign policy during his first year in office.

How in anyone’s mind can such behavior constitute a move towards peace?

Cointelpro were dispatched to counter "conspiracy theories"

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:19-21

This is a fascinating article posted at Prison Planet.com, explaining how government agents have been dispatched to various online sources, disguised as ordinary folks, in order to implant their messages in a blatant effort at widespread online government propaganda. The humorous part of it is that any information which counters the Official Government Orthodoxy is labeled as "conspiracy theory" and not permitted in polite company. These particular government "information" agents were sent out to infiltrate and oppose so-called "conspiracy theorists."

Of course, it's not just the Internet where the government engages in information warfare. This and this archive are also filled with a wealth of information that indicts the state and its allies for its continual spying, lying, and media manipulation. Put not your trust in princes or the princes' media.

The mentality of Satan's kingdoms of this world

C. S. Lewis on Reasons of State
Lew Rockwell.com Blog - Stephen Carson - January 13, 2010 08:53 PM

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sorts of people who congratulate themselves on being the far-sighted ones who “make the tough choices” and know that “If you want to make an omelet you have to be willing to break a few eggs.”

C. S. Lewis had this sort of person nailed in his depiction of Queen Jadis in The Magician’s Nephew (from The Chronicles of Narnia). In this passage, she has just told the story of how she killed everyone but herself with a magic, “The Deplorable Word”:

“Then I spoke the Deplorable Word. A moment later I was the only living thing beneath the sun.”

“But the people?” gasped Digory.

“What people, boy?” asked the Queen.

“All the ordinary people,” said Polly, “who’d never done you any harm. And the women, and the children, and the animals.”

“Don’t you understand?” said the Queen (still speaking to Digory). “I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they there for but to do my will?”

“It was rather hard luck on them, all the same,” said he.

“I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State? You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people is not wrong in a great Queen such as I. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. Ours is a high and lonely destiny.”

Grieving, not blaming

By now I'm sure you've heard about the sad news of the horrific situation in Haiti. I trust that our God of love is grieving right now over the pain and suffering of these poor people, as I'm sure you are. The death and destruction should be seen not as an "act of God", but as the outworking of a fallen world that is under the dominion of Satan.

I might expand this further later when I have some time, but I have to say something loudly and clearly to the world. Pat Robertson does not speak for the church, for Jesus, for the body of Christ. It's troubling to the Christian to hear this man chime in (as he often does following a major disaster) saying that the victims had it coming. In this latest instance, he has implied that those suffering in Haiti are currently being punished for a "pact with the devil" that Hatian leaders made 200 years ago. Again, please don't associate this man's words with those of Jesus. Please don't associate his worldview with the kingdom of God. Please understand that God doesn't specialize in sending earthquakes, hurricanes, and terrorist attacks to go after people he doesn't like.

Robertson also stated in the same show that the collapse of their buildings might be a "blessing in disguise" so that they can rebuild. This represents an absurd economic fallacy, but more importantly it is just embarrassing to hear a prominent Christian leader say such an untimely and inappropriate thing in the midst of the suffering of the people. While people are missing, trapped, and dying in the heaps of the rubble, Robertson is talking about how this could be good for the economy. Unbelievable. Again, mine is just one small Christian voice that is working to disassociate Pat Robertson's comments from the religion of Jesus.

Pat, I love you as a child of God and as a brother. Please stop this sort of foolishness.

Give to Caesar your naked body?

The reader might be wondering why I haven't been posting news/commentary on the controversy over the air port naked body scanners. The reason is that an image is worth a thousand words, and in this case I refuse to post images of what the government gawkers will be looking at when you, your spouse, and your children stand in their naked body scanners. To fully tell this story would require the posting of the images. I regret coming across the images, myself, as it is 100% pornography. These scanners really do reveal a clear image of your naked body. It is definitely important to know what it is that they are looking at, but it is not healthy to the soul of a man to look upon it for himself.

Words cannot describe how absurd it is that the state would claim the right to virtually disrobe any American they want. Short of physical abuse, is this not the most invasive privacy violation imaginable?

In the comedy movie, Airplane, it was a joke that the men at the security checkpoint could check out the beautiful women as they stepped unknowingly through the strip-searching cameras under the gaze of the perverted officers. But now, what was once so absurd that it was relegated to slap-stick comedy has become a reality in the deluded world in which we must live.

This is just another example of why the state is so far from the kingdom of God. They are in the process of stealing $1 billion from Americans in order to pursue this great pornographic agenda, because, in Obama's words, "we are at war." Kill your enemies. Kill their families. And stip search your friends.

What God created for the exclusive intimacy of marriage has now become the government's business. If now your naked body is the government's business, what isn't their business?

So what is a Christian to do in this situation? Jesus said, "give to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God's." He said this in reference to paying taxes. In other words, if Caesar wants to claim your taxes, those coins with his inscription and image on them, then go ahead and pay him his silly taxes, because you've got more important things to worry about. But that which bears God's image--your very person--give to God.

For each Christian the point at which submission to Caesar's demands ends and non-violent civil disobedience begins is a personal decision. This line in the sand will vary for each believer. For me, the naked body scanners are asking us to give to Caesar that which rightly belongs to God. I think that it would be wrong for a Christian to bear all for one of Caesar's enforcers. I will not comply.

TSA funding airport mind-reading scanners

TSA funding airport mind-reading scanners
Daniel Tencer - Raw Story - Saturday, January 9th, 2010



Amid the media furor over the attempted Christmas Day attacks and a renewed political focus on enhancing airport security, attention is turning to a technological advancement that will have civil rights activists — or, for that matter, anyone with a secret –seriously worried: Mind-reading machines.

“As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer’s head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year,” AP’s Michael Tarm reports.

Tarm focuses on an Israeli company called WeCU Technologies (as in “we see you”), which is building a system that would turn airport waiting areas into arenas for Pavlovian behavioral tests:

The system … projects images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize, company CEO Ehud Givon said.

The logic is that people can’t help reacting, even if only subtly, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. If you strolled through an airport and saw a picture of your mother, Givon explained, you couldn’t help but respond.

The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing, he said. The WeCU system would use humans to do some of the observing but would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate.

Homeland Security officials have long been keen on Israeli counter-terror technologies, given the country’s extensive experience with terrorism and its reputation for having some of the most effective security systems in the world.

According to numerous news reports, WeCU has received two grants, from the US Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, for their research. Raw Story was unable to determine how much money WeCU received from the US government, but regulatory filings show the company spent at least $60,000 on lobbying in Washington in 2006 and 2007.

WeCU has already developed a prototype model of the mind-reading technology, which, according to an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has already been demonstrated to government security officials in the US, Germany and Israel. It was evidently from that demonstration that US agencies decided to fund the project.

“It sounds like science fiction,” WeCU CEO Ehud Givon told the Jerusalem Post. “But I can assure you that the technology is very real. We have accuracy rates that are higher than 95 percent.”

Supporters of mind-reading technology argue that it would reduce waiting lines at security checkpoints and reduce the hassle for travelers. But the risks to personal privacy inherent in mind-reading technologies are self-evident. AP reports:

Some critics have expressed horror at the approach, calling it Orwellian and akin to “brain fingerprinting.”

For civil libertarians, attempting to read a person’s thoughts comes uncomfortably close to the future world depicted in the movie “Minority Report,” where a policeman played by Tom Cruise targets people for “pre-crimes,” or merely thinking about breaking the law.

WeCU’s technology is by no means the only mind-reading security system in development today. Another Israeli company, Suspect Detection Systems, has developed a technology that reads a person’s “hostile intent” by measuring bodily responses, through the person’s hand, while being asked questions. That system was field-tested at the Knoxville, Tennessee, airport last summer.

Between 2005 and 2006, SDS received $460,000 in grants from the TSA and the science directorate of Homeland Security.

The company appears to have ramped up its public relations in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt.

“A simple five minute automated interrogation during the Visa application process, or at the airport security checkpoint, would have most assuredly exposed the evil intention of Christmas terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before he ever boarded,” SDS CEO Shabtai Shoval said in a press release.

But while these methods are still in development, other behavior-detection technologies, that have less to do directly with reading minds, are on the cusp of being ready for deployment. The Department of Homeland Security has given the green light to FAST, or Future Attribute Screening Technology, which uses a combination of biometric scanners to measure a person’s pulse, breathing, pupil dilation and other signals that can determine “hostile intent.”

While FAST isn’t quite as intrusive as the WeCU system, it appears to be much closer to implementation, with field testing of the $20-million technology set to begin in 2011.

Remember those C-Span health care "negotiations"?

(Not that government officials can legitimately and morally "negotiate" with other peoples' money, but that's beside the point...)

Remember this post: "Remind me not to do business at Obama's "bank""? Well, here's another example of Obama's empty promises. I feel sorry for those sincere people who put their hope in Obama's change.



And don't forget about the very thorough indictment of the Obama administration in Alex Jones' The Obama Deception. Whether the subject is rendition, detention, lobbyists, Iraq, transparency, etc., etc., etc., it's amazing that anybody would consider this administration to have any credibility at all.

Not proud to be an American

Prison Planet reports:

A war reporter who was detained, interrogated and handcuffed at Seattle airport for refusing to answer personal questions about his income has warned that Americans need to start standing up to TSA thugs because entering the country is now a more stifling experience than some of the worst police states on the planet.

“No country has ever treated me so badly,” Michael Yon wrote in a Facebook message. "Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect that can be expected from our border bullies.”

Recall also that the U.S. of A. is one of the top three most hated nations in the world.

And recall that Privacy International ranked the U.S. in the lowest category of privacy rights, just behind Malaysia, Russia, and China.

I hope and pray that the reputation of Jesus doesn't rise or fall with the reputation of the American government. Now, more than ever, Christians need to disassociate our faith from the actions of this government. If you've ever heard yourself say "America is a Christian nation," now would be a good time to break the habit.

Al Qaeda, the CIA, Islam, and Christianity

In the following clip, Ron Paul talks about Obama's Bush foreign policy. He even dares to indicate where al Qaeda came from (CIA roots) and what motivates them. I really like his comment that there is a radical, violent sector of "Christianity" just as there is in Islam. The violent Christians have the veneer of legitimacy, of course, because they're in America. But aggressive violence is aggressive violence, regardless of the religion or the institution through which it is expressed. Come to think of it, the Christian should consider "Christian" violence to be even more repelling than Islamic violence, because it so mischaracterizes the faith of Jesus and the character of God.

I Love Obama, Bush, and Terrorists

Scott Ritsema
CIVICS NEWS
January 4, 2010

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

I love Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and terrorists.

Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, this website is still devoted to opposing the evils of the state with the goal of urging Christians to look to Jesus and his kingdom of love as opposed to the coercive, nationalistic and violent kingdoms of this world.

But if the central purpose of this website is to testify that God is love, then it must not be forgotten that even the people who oppress, kill, torture, and mischaracterize our Lord are still human beings, and are therefore made in the image of God to be objects of His love.

God is still pursuing them. And if God loves them, then I want to love them. And as I think about it more, I really do love them. I don’t love what they do, but then again, I don’t always love what I do.

But wouldn’t it be hypocritical to preach that we should love our enemies, while never voicing or demonstrating love for our opponents? I want to experience the full reality of the Kingdom of love that Jesus offers us.

So…

I love neo-con militarists. I love liberal socialists.

I love the members of the religious right even at their worst, when they are completely misrepresenting God to the world, turning people away from Christ because of a false picture of God that they are painting. I really…still…love them. I confess to misrepresenting God in my own life.

I love the members of the banking elite who rob the population blind. I love the Federal Reserve and its institutionalized plunder and continual counterfeiting. I hate their actions, as God does, but I love them, as God does.

I love the members of the shadow government and those dark corporate and government intelligence assets that engage in some of the worst crimes known to man. If 9/11 was indeed an inside job, I love those who carried it out. I love those Islamic extremists who support and believe in engaging in terrorist attacks. I love those Western military and intelligence agents who carry out false flag operations and who start imperial wars based on lies and staged provocations.

I love the globalists who want to kill masses of human beings as a part of their new world order population reduction agenda. Their agenda is satanic, but I pray that they will be delivered from their ideology of self-hate and hate of humanity.

Wherever there are human beings plotting and engaging in evil, I love you. Because God loves you. Wherever there are people attaching the name "Christian" to certain theological doctrines, government policies, and political ideologies that paint God in a bad light, driving people away from their savior, I love you. Because God loves you.

I invite you to experience something better. You don’t need to live the way you’re living. There is a better way. God created you as an object of love. You see, God is triune, or three-in-one; He is an inter-loving relationship of self-sacrificing oneness. In other words, God is love. So, God wanted to pour out his love on others (since love, by its nature, cannot be selfishly contained). God created you in order to love you. He created you so that you can experience the peace and happiness of being in unity with your Creator. Even though you reject his love (as we all have done and continue to do), he still loves you. There is nothing you could do that could make him love you any less. The Father even loves his enemies. Jesus died for his enemies.

So, if God feels this way about his enemies, how could I feel any less than pure love for every human being, even those whose actions I most adamantly detest? God is trying to reach all of his lost children who have rejected his love. I want to play a part in that.

And so I pray that Obama, Bush, every terrorist, the leaders of Israel, the president of Iran, the religious right, the socialists, and every human being on the planet would experience God’s love. I pray that because I love them, and I want them to experience God as I have.

A God who brings peace, joy and happiness to life.

A God who can bring you to the point of loving even your enemies.

A God who drives out all hate and resentment, anxiety and bitterness, jealousy and insecurity, and who brings perfect peace to the heart.

God loves Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and terrorists. And that’s why I do, too.