There are significant outflows of deposits now in Spain and they won’t start coming back until people are sure they’re safe and that Spain is secure
Spanish banks, already hooked on cheap European Central Bank loans, are hemorrhaging deposits as the government debates whether to seek a bailout.
Households and companies drained 26-billion euros (US$34-billion) from Spanish bank accounts in July, driving the ratio of loans to deposits among lenders to 187% from 183% in December and 182% a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Bank of Spain. Shrinking deposits undermine the ability of banks to support economic growth by lending to companies and consumers.
“There are significant outflows of deposits now in Spain and they won’t start coming back until people are sure they’re safe and that Spain is secure,” said Simon Maughan, a financial strategist at Olivetree Securities Ltd. in London.
Spain’s financial industry is already backstopped by Europe to the tune of 100-billion euros, and is reliant on 412-billion euros of gross borrowings from the ECB. Investors demand 423 basis points more to own CaixaBank SA bonds maturing in 2015 than German bunds of similar maturity, up from a premium of about 384 when the bonds were sold in January.
Bond markets have reopened for Spanish banks after ECB President Mario Draghi pledged to help bring down government borrowing costs. Banco Santander SA led a return to wholesale debt markets last month when it sold 2-billion euros of senior unsecured bonds in the first sale by a Spanish bank in more than five months. Santander paid 390 basis points more than the benchmark swap rate, compared with a 250 basis-point premium on five-year bonds that the bank sold in March.
Ratio Requirements
Governments must first seek wider help from Europe’s rescue mechanism before the ECB will buy bonds. Moreover, the terms of Portugal’s May 2011 bailout require its banks to achieve a loan- to-deposit ratio of 120% by the end of 2014, while Ireland’s deal demands a ratio of 122.5% by 2013. No such provision was included in the July memorandum of understanding for Spain’s bank bailout.
“The first consequence of a lower loan-to-deposit ratio being set is that you have to identify chunks of assets to sell and that inevitably leads to haircuts and capital implications,” said Eamonn Hughes, an analyst at Dublin-based Goodbody Securities. “It also forces you to pay up for deposits, as we have seen in the Irish case.”
Imposing a loan-to-deposit target for Spanish lenders may mean they would have to reduce lending by 14% to 24%, Daragh Quinn and Duncan Farr, analysts Nomura International, wrote in a report published Monday. “The need to strengthen customer funding could also see the emergence of a deposit war, putting additional pressure on revenues, which are already likely to suffer from the low interest rate environment,” they said.
Record Outflow
Scrutiny of customer fund outflows at Spanish banks has intensified since the ECB said Aug. 28 that so-called private sector deposits shrank by 74-billion euros, or 4.7%, in July, the biggest drop on record. The ECB data include items such as deposits by securitization funds that banks say they don’t rely on for financing their business.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA said in a Sept. 4 report that a decline in securitization funds deposits helped explain the drop as banks substituted them by issuing covered bonds to discount at the ECB. Household and company deposits are stable once the practice of banks using instruments such as commercial paper to raise funds is taken into account. The loans-to-deposit ratio for BBVA’s Spanish business is 167%, according to the bank’s own data.
Accelerated Decline
Figures from Spain’s banking association showed deposits for Santander’s Spanish business dropped 6.3% in July from June, while BBVA’s slumped 7.1%, said the association, known as AEB.
Santander said the decline in July was partly due to a drop in repurchase agreements. BBVA spokesman Paul Tobin also attributed the bank’s deposit slide to repos, saying the data cited by AEB was for its operations in Spain, Portugal and the wholesale business elsewhere in Europe and New York.
There is “a clear underlying trend of accelerating deposit decline,” Nomura’s Quinn wrote in a Sept. 4 report. Term deposits by households fell 6.9% in July from a year earlier, while those of companies fell 24%, which “points to continued deposit declines in the future,” he said.
Replacing cheap ECB funding with cash raised on the bond market may mean lower profit margins for banks, said Alvaro Serrano and Sara Minelli, London-based analysts at Morgan Stanley, in a Sept. 12 report.
Growth Implications
About 86% of Bankinter SA’s estimated 2013 profits derive from its ability to borrow cheaply from the ECB, the analysts said, with Banco Popular Espanol SA dependent on central bank funds for about 79% of earnings. Meanwhile, Bank of Spain data shows lenders are offering higher deposit rates to attract cash, with interest rates on account for as long as one year climbing to 2.5% in July, the highest level since March.
Declining deposits may inflict more damage on the Spanish economy if the seepage of the most reliable source of funding further dries up credit, said Maughan at Olivetree. The International Monetary Fund predicts Spain’s economy will contract 1.7% this year and 1.2% in 2013.
“If deposits are falling, then the only option for Spanish banks to bring down their loans to deposit ratio is to cut back on the loans side,” Maughan said. “Does that sound like a good idea?”
Christian News Network
Five years ago, Israeli fighter jets destroyed a nuclear installation in Syria. According to an Oct. 6 2007 news report in The Spectator, a "very senior British ministerial source" retrospectively assessed the surgical strike as a white-knuckle gamble. "If people had known how close we came to world war three that day there'd have been mass panic_. [Prime Minister] Gordon [Brown] really would have been dealing with the bloody Book of Revelation and Armageddon," he told the paper.
Why was the Syrian strike so risky? The unidentified minister didn't share any classified details, but in his 2011 book How The End Begins, investigative journalist Ron Rosebaum notes the former Soviet Union has the same satellite surveillance capability as the U.S., "and would have picked up on the Israeli jets takeoff and-in the context of threats and counterthreats exchanged between Iran and Israel over the Iranian nuclear weapons program-they may well have warned the Iranians, with whom they have murky military and nuclear ties, that a potential Israeli attack on their nuclear facilities was underway. The Russians could easily have fired off an electronic warning to the Israelis not to attack Iran-and/or Syria-and implicitly or explicitly threatened "severe consequences' or some other euphemism for putting nukes on the table."
Russia has let the U.S. know it will not stand idly by if NATO forces lead a land invasion of Syria under the pretext of humanitarian intervention. Russia and China are economic/political allies of Iran. In a world that has reverted to a crazy quilt of alliances resembling pre-First World War Europe, it wouldn't take much for conventional warfare to shade into unconventional annihilation, a point Rosenbaum makes with insistence.
Yet for the past two decades, the possibility of atomic war sparked by any of the Nuclear Nine (The U.S., the U.K., Russia, China, Pakistan, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea) has been overshadowed by other mass fears, from global warming to bird flu to underwear/shoe bombers to-ironically-Iran's nascent nuclear program.
Whenever government officials begin severing diplomatic connections-as last week, when Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird huffed and puffed and blew the doors closed on the Canadian embassy in Tehran and the Iranian embassy in Toronto-the paranoiac thinking goes up on all sides while the odds against humanity's long-term survival goes down another notch.
Baird and his boss would do well to remember the wisdom of Winston Churchill: "to jaw-jaw is always better than war-war."
U.S. president Barack Obama should take note as well, considering his enthusiasm for using unmanned drones for missile attacks from Pakistan to Yemen to Afghanistan. According to a recent report in The New York Times, Obama holds what insiders call "Terror Tuesday meetings"-regular get-togethers with his national security team to select who is to be assassinated by drone.
Destabilizing Pakistan by default or design is not a good strategic move. The most worrisome scenario of all doesn't involve a uranium-enriched Iran, but a nuclear exchange between long-term enemies Pakistan and India. This wouldn't just kill millions outright, it would also cripple global agriculture and precipitate planetary economic collapse, according to Scientific American.
The 1962 Cuban missile crisis isn't the only time the world has close to atomic Armageddon. Throughout the Cold War there were at least six documented incidents of mistaken signals that nearly resulted in nukes flying between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. A flight of geese was the source in one incident, a Norwegian missile launch in another, and a rising moon in another.
Military signals can be notoriously ambiguous, and the difficulty of interpretation grows when geopolitical tensions are high. In 1983, Soviet sensors misinterpreted sunlight reflected from high-altitude clouds as an ICBM launch from the U.S. The only thing that saved civilization was the last-minute decision of Lieut. Stanislav Petrov to refuse instructions to push the button.
That long-standing acronym of nuclear deterrence, "MAD"-Mutually Assured Destruction-is a bang-on descriptor of world leaders' insane persistence in playing atomic chicken, especially given past events involving mistaken signals.
The words of Albert Einstein still ring true: "The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparallel catastrophe."
www.geoffolson.com
Read more: http://www.vancourier.com/Nuclear+Armageddon+remains+possibility+patchwork+political+landscape/7231925/story.html#ixzz26pkneSMA
Two of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes erupted on Saturday, prompting the government to issue warnings to populations living near the affected mountains.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Sunday that new eruption started at Lokon in North Sulawesi and Gamalama at Ternate in North Maluku.
Lokon generated a 1,500-meter high ash plume and violent strombolian (low-level) activity with some lava flow, while Gamalama produced a shower of ashes that covered the nearby city.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for BNPB, said on Sunday that Lokon, located in North Sulawesi’s Tomohon area, erupted at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The explosion from the eruption shattered windows of the command post built to monitor the activities of the volcano, he said.
The agency, Sutopo said, had issued warnings to local administrations to prepare precautionary measures, and called on people to remain alert.
“The residents don’t have to be evacuated but they must not do any activities within the range of five kilometers from the volcano,” Sutopo said.
He said that the BNPB had asked the Tomohon administration to raise the awareness of residents.
Meanwhile, the Gamalama spurt sent ashes into the air for about 15 minutes at 11 p.m., before the wind carried the ashes toward the North Maluku capital of Ternate. “The ashes came down on the city, decreasing visibility to only 50 meters,” Sutopo said.
He said BNPB’s local branch went to the affected area and set up four stations to help people in the event of a larger eruption. “Here also, we don’t see any need to evacuate people. But we will stay on high alert,” the official said.
Lokon has erupted several times previously, with an explosion in July 2011 forcing more than 5,200 people to be evacuated.
The eruption created huge clouds of ash as high as 3,500 meters.
Lokon’s last deadly eruption was in 1991, when a Swiss tourist was killed.
Last December, Gamalama erupted, resulting in four villagers being killed and dozens others being hospitalized. About 1,000 residents were forced to evacuate.
The Indonesian archipelago has dozens of active volcanoes and straddles major tectonic fault lines known as the “Ring of Fire” between the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Earlier this month, there was volcanic activity at Lampung’s Anak Krakatau.
Jakarta Globe
VIENNA — Iran’s nuclear chief said Monday that “terrorists and saboteurs” might have infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency in an effort to derail his nation’s atomic program. He also said his country’s nuclear facilities could now survive enemy attack.
In an unprecedentedly harsh attack on the integrity of the UN organization and its probe of allegations that Tehran is striving to make nuclear arms, Fereydoun Abbasi spoke of a recent explosion at a particularly sensitive Iranian enrichment facility.
“Terrorists and saboteurs might have intruded the agency and might be making decisions covertly,” Abbasi said, in a speech to an IAEA conference in Vienna. Citing what he said was an example of sabotage last month at an underground enrichment plant, he said IAEA inspectors arrived to inspect it shortly after power lines were blown up.
Abbasi said that the explosion had caused the power supply to the Fordo facility to stop. ”Does this visit (by IAEA inspectors) have any connection to that detonation?” he asked.
Abbasi’s comments were the first mention of the alleged sabotage attack. He did not elaborate on the damage caused. Iran has repeatedly accused the US and Israel of trying to sabotage its nuclear program, by killing scientists, sending viruses into its computer systems and other actions.
The enrichment facility at Fordo, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Tehran, is of particular concern to Israel because it is buried deep into a mountainside to protect it from attack.
Abbasi also attacked Israel’s nuclear program in his comments to the IAEA’s 155-nation general conference, saying that “the Zionist regime’s nuclear weapons constitute a threat to international peace and security.”
He denied that the Islamic Republic was seeking to develop a nuclear bomb, saying that “to liberate Palestine from the hands of the Zionist occupiers, there is no need to use nuclear weapons. The solution is democracy and holding a referendum among the original inhabitants of Palestine.”
Iran has often warned that any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities would trigger a devastating response, and on Monday Abbasi suggested that even such a strike would not succeed in slowing down his country’s nuclear program. He said without elaboration that experts have “devised certain ways through which nuclear facilities remain intact under missile attacks and raids.”
Abbasi rebuked the United States at the meeting, reflecting Iran’s determination to continue defying international pressure aimed at curbing its nuclear program and nudging it toward cooperation with the IAEA inspection.
The unyielding speech underlined concerns raised by Israeli leaders who say that both diplomatic efforts and economic penalties have failed to move Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been urging the US administration to set “red lines” that, if crossed by Iran, would trigger US-led military action.
In the past week, Netanyahu has urged President Barack Obama and other world leaders to state clearly at what point Iran would face a military attack. But Obama and his top aides, who repeatedly say all options remain on the table, have pointed to shared US-Israeli intelligence that suggests Iran hasn’t decided yet whether to build a bomb despite pursuing the technology. They argue that, were Iran to begin speeding toward a bomb, there would still be time for action beyond toughened sanctions already in place.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Tehran “poses a threat not just to Israel but to the whole world.”
Despite her strong criticism of Iran, she also said political solutions “have not been exhausted” when it comes to negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear advances, and urged the international community to continue down the avenue of diplomacy and dialogue.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear arms, and Abbasi, an Iranian vice president whom the agency suspects may have been involved in nuclear weapons research, again insisted on Monday that his country’s nuclear program is aimed only at making reactor fuel and doing medical research.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran … has always opposed and will always denounce the manufacture and use of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.
Tehran has long dismissed suspicions that it may re-engineer its uranium enrichment program from making reactor fuel to produce nuclear warheads and says accusations that it has worked secretly on nuclear arms are based on fabricated US and Israeli intelligence. It also frequently accuses the IAEA of anti-Iran bias in its push to ensure that all of Tehran’s nuclear activities are peaceful. But Abbasi’s comments Monday were the harshest attack to date on the agency itself.
Abbasi said that anti-Iran elements are helped by the agency, even when it reports what it sees “truthfully and with absolute honesty,” because “this information is easily accessible to saboteurs and terrorists through IAEA reports.”
However, Iran now can “ward off threats by targeting … cyber-attacks, industrial sabotage and use of explosives,” he said, without elaborating.
Abbasi said US pressure on Iran is the equivalent of an attack on all developing nations’ nuclear rights. He called US-led sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and financial transactions “the ugly face of colonization and modern slavery.”
“A state which has used nuclear weapons is not eligible to be present at the Board of Governors,” he said, questioning the right of the United States to sit on the 35-nation IAEA board that makes agency policy.
Meanwhile, statements critical of Iran on Monday were voiced in more traditional terms similar to that heard at previous IAEA meetings.
US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu accused Tehran of continuing “a decade-long pattern of evasion regarding questions over the nature of its nuclear program, including those related to possible military dimensions of its nuclear activities.”
A European Union statement warned of “deep concerns about possible military dimensions” to Iran’s nuclear program.
IAEA head Yukiya Amano said Monday that the independent body would hold further talks with nuclear talks with Iran “despite the lack of progress so far,” in an effort to clarify its concerns about the regime’s illicit atomic program.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu Sunday, and he was to meet EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday as the IAEA talks continue.
Israel Times
Joseph Herrin (09-13-2012)
George Washington - U.S. Capitol Building Ceremony
(Click on Any Image to View Larger)
Look closely at the image above. George Washington appears in full Masonic regalia as the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol building was laid in an elaborate ceremony. The above painting is a historically accurate depiction of the Freemason’s cornerstone laying ceremony that took place on September 18,1793 in Washington, D.C. as the construction of the U.S. Capitol building was begun. Note to the right are three men bearing corn, oil, and wine. These are poured atop the cornerstone as part of an offering to the god of Freemasonry. The identity of this god is clearly revealed in the following passage of Scripture where the prophet Hosea has recorded the words of Yahweh.
Hosea 2:8
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
KJV
Every major building in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, was dedicated with the laying of the cornerstone in a Masonic ritual. In every occurrence, the Freemasons, many of whom were Congressmen, Presidents, and other national leaders, offered up corn, oil, and wine as part of the ceremony.
Specific words are recited at each cornerstone laying ceremony. Following is that portion of the ritual relating to the corn, wine and oil. As you read it, keep in mind that the one referred to as Supreme Grand Architect, Supreme Ruler of the World, and Almighty God is known to the author of these rites to be Satan.
The Deputy Grand Master receives from the Grand Marshal the vessel containing Corn, and spreads the corn upon the stone, saying:
DEPUTY GRAND MASTER: May the health of the workman employed in this undertaking be preserved to them, and the Supreme Grand Architect bless and prosper their labors.
ALL BRETHREN: So mote it be.
The Grand Senior Warden then receives from the Grand Marshal the vessel containing wine, and pours the wine upon the stone, saying:
GRAND SENIOR WARDEN: May plenty be showered down upon the people of this State, and may the blessing of the bounteous Giver of all things attend their philanthropic undertakings.
ALL BRETHREN: So mote it be.
The Grand Junior Warden then receives the vessel containing Oil and pours the oil upon the stone, saying:
GRAND JUNIOR WARDEN: May the Supreme Ruler of the World (Note that this is an exact restating of Christ’s description of Satan) preserve the people in peace, and vouchsafe to them the enjoyment of every blessing.
GRAND MASTER: May the Corn of nourishment, the Wine of Refreshment, the Oil of Joy, and all the necessaries of life abound among men throughout the world, and may the blessing of Almighty God be upon this undertaking, and may this structure here to be erected be preserved to the latest ages in order that it may promote the useful purpose for which it is designed
ALL BRETHREN: So mote it be.
The words “So mote it be” may be familiar to some as a phrase used by Satanists, witches, and modern pagans. Following is an excerpt from a website explaining its usage.
Occultist Aleister Crowley used "So mote it be" in some of his writings, and claimed it to be an ancient and magical phrase, but it's possible he borrowed it from the Masons. In Freemasonry, "So mote it be" is the equivalent of "Amen" or "As God wills it to be." Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, was also known to have Masonic connections, although there's some question about whether or not he was a Master Mason as he claimed to be. Regardless, it's no surprise that the phrase turns up in contemporary Pagan practice, considering the influence that the Masons had on both Gardner and Crowley.
In modern Wiccan traditions, the phrase often appears as a way of wrapping up a ritual or magical working. It's basically a way of saying, "And so it shall be."
[Source: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/glossary/g/SoMoteItBe.htm]
In the book of the prophet Isaiah we find a passage where Yahweh pronounces judgment upon Babylon. Mentioned in the passage is the sorceries and dark arts of Babylon, including the various incantations and astrology. In ancient times kings consulted astrologers to determine appointed times for their various actions, for going to war, or to prophesy the outcome of some event. The stars were studied closely that their influences might bring success to the endeavors in which men and nations committed themselves. Yahweh speaks the following to those who put confidence in such things.
Isaiah 47:12-13
Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may cause trembling. You are wearied with your many counsels; Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
It would surprise many people, particularly Americans, and Christians in the United States, to learn that the practices of Babylon are not extinct. In fact, they have been practiced by the founders of this nation and continue to this very hour. Those who guide the counsels of America have consulted with the stars, and no significant work has been undertaken without first doing so. The practices of Babylon have been preserved by Satan and carried forward by secret societies, foremost of which in America has been Freemasonry.
David Ovason in his insightful and exceptionally well documented book The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital has demonstrated quite convincingly that Washington, D.C. was designed as a Masonic city. Ovason is writing from the viewpoint of a man much learned in the esoteric rites and symbols of ancient mysteries. Ovason is an teacher of astrology by trade, understanding the ancient practice of casting horoscopes to determine auspicious days in which nation’s would begin new works. His understanding of arcane lore is revealed in his book.
Not surprising is the fact that Ovason is not a Christian. What did strike me as surprising was to learn that Ovason was not a Freemason when he wrote this book. However, he received such warm encouragement from some top Freemasons in America when his book was published, that he afterwards became one.
In his book on the secret architecture of Washington, D.C., Ovason explains the significance of casting a horoscope to determine the optimal time for beginning various works such as laying the cornerstone for important national buildings. Ovason writes the following:
The formal laying of a cornerstone was no new thing, even in America. It was already a ritual sanctified by Masonic tradition, a throwback to an age when it was believed that all human activities were overseen by the gods. In essence, the cornerstone ceremonial was designed not only to gain the approval of the spiritual beings, but also to ensure that these were content that the building was being brought into the world at the right time. That is one reason why it was commonplace for those designing cornerstone rituals to examine the time of the ceremonial in the light of astrology.
[Source: David Ovason, The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital]
Although Ovason has discovered none of the horoscopes that were cast to determine the dates on which events took place in the Nation’s Capital, he has examined the dates and times and drawn up the horoscopes himself. His conclusion is that “We must assume that whoever was directing the planning of Washington, D.C... had a considerable knowledge of astrology...”
Ovason goes on to explain, “The building of the federal city began formally April 15, 1791, when a number of Masons gathered together in Alexandria. Their purpose was the enacting of a Masonic ceremonial laying of the first marker stone for the new city, which would soon be called Washington.”
The architect chosen to design the White House was James Hoban. David Ovason writes, “The date when Hoban became a Mason is not on record, but in the year following the laying of the cornerstone for the President’s House he would become Worshipful Master of Georgetown Lodge No. 9.”
On October 13, 1792, the Freemasons held a cornerstone laying ceremony for the President’s House, later to be called the White House. The following quotation from the Charleston City Gazette, November 15, 1792 provides an eyewitness account of the ceremony.
“On Saturday the 13th inst. The first stone was laid in the south-west corner of the president’s house, in the city of Washington, by the Free Masons of Georgetown and its vicinity, who assembled on the occasion. The procession was formed at the Fountain Inn, Georgetown... The ceremony was performed by brother Casaneva, master of the lodge, who delivered an oration well adapted to the occasion.”
Ovason describes the horoscope drawn up for the day the Masonic cornerstone ceremony for the President’s House was laid.
“In the arch of the skies on the day the foundation stone for the White House was laid, there was a most interesting conjunction. Shortly before noon, the moon had entered the same degree as the Dragon’s Head (a node of the moon). Both planet and node were in 23 degrees of Virgo.”
Let me take a moment to define what is meant by “a node of the moon.” The lunar nodes describe two areas in the heavens where the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersects with the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. At least as far back as Medieval times, these points of intersection, the lunar nodes, have been called the Dragon’s Head, and the Dragon’s Tail. Following is a graphic that demonstrates this concept.
Note the direction of travel of the moon. Traveling counter clockwise from the point marked “Ascending Node” is the Dragon’s Head. From the “Descending Node” is the Dragon’s Tail. Although Virgo has great relevance for the Federal city, I want to focus on the Dragon’s Head, which is referred to by the Latin name Caput draconis. Ovason points out that the Latin Caput, meaning “head,” is the root of the English words capital, and capitol.
It is noteworthy when the President’s House is attended by a Masonic cornerstone laying ceremony at a moment when the influence of the Dragon’s Head is observed in the heavens. The Dragon’s Head’s influence is seen again the following year. On September 6, 1793, the first Federal Masonic Lodge in the nation is formed. This is Federal Lodge No. 15, and James Hoban, the architect of the White House, is appointed as Worshipful Master. Ovason writes, “One presumes that the Lodge had been formed precisely to ensure that a Federal group would attend the cornerstone ceremony (for the Capitol building), which had been widely advertised in Maryland and Columbia.”
(Note that the year 1793 is also the 18th year of American independence, 18 being 6+6+6.)
Symbol for Dragon’s Head and Tail - Nodes of the Moon
Ovason drew up a horoscope for the date on which this Federal Lodge was granted its charter. He states:
“I imagine that the petition must have been presented shortly after teatime, when the Moon was still in Virgo. That meant that the chart had three planets (Sun, Moon, and Mercury) in Virgo, along with the Dragon’s Head, the Caput draconis.”
Even as we observed that “the headquarters of the American revolution” was a building called the Green Dragon Tavern, we find that the influence of the dragon continues to have great significance in the founding of the nation’s capital city, its chief buildings, and the first Federal Lodge of Freemasonry.
The laying of the Capitol building cornerstone was a major event, widely publicized, and attended by a great crowd of people. According to Ovason and other sources, the event included the roasting of a 500 pound ox. This is reminiscent of ancient sacrifices to Baal.
I Kings 18:25
So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god...”
Once more Ovason provides insight into the horoscope cast for the date of the Capitol building dedication.
“Shortly before midday, Jupiter was rising in Scorpio (Jupiter also was rising on the day that the first marker stone was ceremonially placed in the capital city.)... In the Capitol chart, however, there is emphasis on Virgo which, with good reason, we have begun to expect in horoscopes relating to the federal city. The Sun and Mercury are in Virgo, as is the Dragon’s Head.”
Skipping forward some 55 years we arrive at the date in which the cornerstone for the Washington Monument was laid, July 4, 1848. Ovason provides the following insight.
“As I have indicated, probably one reason why the Masons chose to lay the stone in the afternoon was because they wished to allow the all-important Virgo to become operative in the chart. Shortly before lunchtime on that day, the Moon went into Virgo.
In fact, there was another Virgoan influence in this chart which might be missed by someone not familiar with the workings of astrology. The all-important Dragon’s Head in the 1848 chart is in 25 degrees of Virgo.
Remarkably, during the morning of September 18, 1793, when the Capitol building was founded, the Sun was also passing through this same degree of Virgo. This could scarcely be accidental - it must have been arranged for astrological reasons by the Masons. Both placings - and hence, both charts - point to something of profound importance.
According to medieval Arab astrologers (who excelled in star lore), this degree had a particular importance: it marked that point in the zodiac where the Moon was thought to promote the greatest happiness and well being. We must presume, then, that the intention behind the choice of moment was that this beneficial influence would be transmitted into Washington, D.C.”
Summarizing this astrological information, the Dragon’s Head is a node of the Moon. The Moon represented in the figure of the Dragon’s Head was exerting its greatest influence at precisely the moment of the cornerstone ceremonies for the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Thus the influence of the Dragon’s Head was transmitted into Washington, D.C..
Approximately fifteen years ago I first became aware of the Satanic/Masonic design of Washington, D.C. through excerpts from the book Rulers of Evil by Tupper Saussy. I came across images and commentary from his book on the Internet. Tupper Saussy demonstrated that the street plan, and locations of key buildings in the capital city were laid down with great deliberation to form occult symbols. Among these symbols are the Masonic Compass and Square.
Masonic Compass and Square
Washington, D.C. Streets
You can see the Square and Compass, the head of the compass resting on the Capitol building. What I want to particularly focus on is the Pentagram that rests upon the White House. Following is another view of this image.
Note that the bottom point of this pentagram rests directly upon the White House. The inverted five pointed star is a symbol of Satan, often referred to as Baphomet, or the Goathead of Mendes.
Goathead of Mendes - The Devil
According to occultic/Satanic doctrine, the upper four points of the Goathead(left) represent the four elements of the world, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. The bottom fifth point represents the spirit of Lucifer. In the above photocopy of the Goathead Pentagram, the fifth point extends down into the mind of the goat, who represents Lucifer.
[Source: www.freemasonrywatch.com]
The point representing the spirit of Lucifer rests directly upon the White House. Note also in this image the fly in the center of the star. One of the names for Satan is Beelzebub, which is translated “Lord of the Flies.”
Matthew 12:26-27
And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
Looking again at the image of the Goathead of Mendes, note that there is a candle atop the inverted star. The candle represents illumination, enlightenment, the wisdom that Lucifer the light bearer pretends to bring to mankind. What is very revelatory is that the flame of the candle when overlaid upon the map of Washington, D.C. falls directly upon the House of the Temple, the headquarters for Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the United States.
House of the Temple - Washington, D.C.
Note the flame, or sunburst on the front of this building behind the pillars. This corresponds to the flame at the top of the candle on the image of the goathead. Everywhere one turns they find the marks of Freemasonry upon the capital city of the United States. It is truly a city whose design and construction was carried forth by Freemasons under the inspiration of Satan. The Dragon’s head has found a resting spot in this city, and the government that resides there.
Ovason recounts time and again how key events in the nation’s history were coordinated with the influences of the heavens. One of the most common recurring themes in the astrological charts for significant dates in American history is the influence of Caput draconis.
“The chart for the first Continental Congress, which met at 10:00 A.M. on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia, is outstanding for several astrological reasons. First of all, there is scarcely any equivocation about its timing or date. Secondly, the event it marks had a very distinctive consequence for the history of the United States...
The emphasis of the chart is in Virgo: no fewer than four planets and one nodal point are in the sign, with the Sun exactly upon the Dragon’s Head, in trine to Jupiter. At ten in the morning Venus was exactly upon the mid-heaven. All in all, this is a very beneficial chart.”
Satan has deceived myriads to believe that he is a bringer of good things to mankind. From his first offering of the forbidden fruit to Eve, he has masqueraded as a beneficent being, and millions continue to be deceived to this day. David Ovason speaks of the heavenly symbol of the Dragon’s Head commenting on its benefit to mankind. The Freemasons embrace the image of the dragon as their own. It has previously been observed that the HEADquarters of the American Revolution was the Masonic owned Green Dragon Tavern. Now it is revealed that the Masons perform rites under the astrological influence of the Dragon’s Head.
Satan’s masquerade as a bringer of good gifts to mankind is further observed in his guise as Prometheus, the bringer of secrets to mankind. A statue of Prometheus is on display at Rockefeller Center.
Under Prometheus is seen the Zodiac, linking once more the influence of the heavens to the success of the American nation.
In the plans to revolt against the King of England laid down by Freemasons in the Green Dragon Tavern whose upper floor served as a Lodge of Masonry; in the execution of the War of Independence by generals who were Freemasons; in the selection of a Freemason as the first President, and his oath of office being administered by the head of Freemasonry in New York State; in the Masonic street design of the capital city and its numerous official buildings; in the myriad of Masonic cornerstone laying ceremonies conducted with care under the influence of the stars and heavenly bodies, America was founded to serve a chief role in Satan’s plan to bring all the world under his dominion.
Before judging the vast number of men who have been involved at all levels of Freemasonry, decrying their blindness in joining such a wicked enterprise that is at its heart Luciferian, consider how Christianity has been deceived in embracing the idea that America is a Christian nation. There has been a great lack of discernment all around. Yet in this late hour Yahweh would have His elect to wake up and cast off all delusion.
America is in a large sense a modern incarnation of Babylon. Her leaders have continued to make offerings of corn, oil and wine to Baal. She has her court astrologers, her sorcerers, her magicians (wise ones), who plan their way according to the influence of the heavens. The end of America can be no different than that of Babylon. Read again the words of Yahweh spoken through the prophet Isaiah.
Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may cause trembling. You are wearied with your many counsels; Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
The US and Japan have agreed to set up a second missile defence system on Japanese soil in an effort to counter the ballistic missile threat from North Korea, officials say.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta made the announcement in Tokyo with Japan's defence minister.
But the exact location of the system has not yet been determined.
While both sides insist the system is not aimed at China, analysts say the decision is bound to anger Beijing.
Mr Panetta's trip comes amid fresh tensions between Japan and China over disputed islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, after Japan sealed a deal to buy three of the islands.
Japan and the US have worked on a joint missile defence system over the years. This new system would enable Japanese ships to cover other parts of the region, officials say.
"[It] will enhance the alliance's ability to defend Japan, our forward deployed forces and the US homeland from a ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea," Mr Panetta said.
In April, North Korea conducted a failed long-range rocket launch that it said was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit. Critics said the launch was a disguised test of missile technology, banned under UN resolutions.
Mr Panetta also discussed with Japanese Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto the deployment of US Osprey aircraft to Okinawa, which has angered local residents concerned about safety.
Mr Panetta is on a week-long tour of Asia that includes China and New Zealand.
BBC
