Thursday, September 13, 2012
Federal Reserve to pump more money into the economy
The US central bank has announced it will resume its policy of pumping more money into the economy via so-called quantitative easing.
The Federal Reserve said it will buy "additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40bn per month".
The central bank also said it could increase the size of its purchases if the economy does not improve.
The economy is a pivotal issue in this year's US presidential election.
Interest rates in the US have been close to zero for several years now, and the Fed againt kept them at below 0.25%.
"The committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labour market conditions," said the Fed, led by chairman Ben Bernanke.
US stocks, which had been little changed, gained after the announcement. The benchmark Dow Jones average was 0.7% higher.Two rounds
The US central bank has tried to support the economy by quantitative easing - buying $2.3tn (£1.4tn) in bonds in two rounds.
The Fed calls such measures "asset purchases", where the central bank buys bonds to keep the long-term cost of borrowing down. The last round of asset purchases ended last year.
Mortgage-backed securities are debt backed by loans made to homeowners.
The unemployment rate in the US has been above 8% since January 2009, but the current 8.1% is down from the recent high of 10% in October 2009.
"To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the committee expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens," the Fed said.
The Fed also confirmed that its $267bn (£170bn) programme to reduce long-term borrowing costs for firms and households would continue for the rest of the year.
In a move dubbed "Operation Twist", the central bank buys longer-term bonds from retail lenders and swaps them for shorter-term bonds.
BBC
Is the Chinese economy finally going to crash this year?
For decades, experts have been predicting a crash in China.
They warned that the centrally planned, export-dependent economy, could not sustain itself year after year.
But through multiple crises, China has motored along, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the process.
But things appear to be different this time. Corporate profits are tanking, and the Shanghai Composite is at the same levels it was during the depths of the 2008-2009 crash. A hard landing has hit the corporate sector.
And many are questioning whether policymakers are really in control of the slowdown this time, or if the economy is in fact heading for a hard landing i.e. four straight quarters of below 5% growth.
Financial Post
Russia’s Mistrals will be rapid response ships
The Russian Navy is to get four French-designed amphibious assault ships of the Mistral class.
The first two, The Vladivostok and The Sevastopol, are to be built in France. The rest are to be built in Russia. The Vladivostok is already under construction in Saint-Nazaire.
‘We don’t need another unarmed transport ship’
These are words by Russian Admirals who would have their Mistrals armed with something more that several French-installed large-caliber machine guns and Simbad portable anti-aircraft missiles. They say they envisage encounters with superior naval forces and want stronger ant-aircraft and anti-sub weapons installed on their Mistral ships.
The likeliest anti-sub weapon to be chosen is Russia’s Paket-NK. This small underwater shell shooter can also be used to destroy enemy torpedoes.
Mistral’s air wing
Each of the first two Mistral ships will be carrying 16 Russian-made helicopters – 8 Kamov-52K gunships and 8 Kamov-29 military transport craft. However, in the ship’s useful lifetime of 40 years, radically new aircraft are likely to occupy its deck space.
Mistral: what for?
The answer is as follows: these cutting-edge warships, the likes of which have never before been operated by the Russian Navy, will be used for spearheading expeditionary naval operations.
For instance, a Mistral in Russian hands would have made for a much quicker and smoother evacuation of Russian nationals from Libya.
Russia’s Mistrals, together with other naval forces, would also form the proverbial club that should add persuasion to soft diplomatic talk.
Voice of Russia
Europe must become 'federation of states', Barroso says
In a speech to the European Parliament, the head of the bloc's executive, President Jose Manuel Barroso, said he was not calling for a European "superstate", but said the EU would always be less than the sum of its parts unless the union was deepened.
"Let's not be afraid of the words: We will need to move towards a federation of nation states. This is our political horizon. This is what must guide our work in the years to come," he said in his annual "state of the union" address.
"A democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems, through the sharing of sovereignty in a way that each country and its citizens are better equipped to control their own destiny."
While there may be enthusiasm in some European capitals for such a move, it is a vision that is likely to rankle in countries such as Britain, where there is strong opposition to the idea of more powers being devolved to Brussels.
With concerns already deep about a two-speed Europe between those countries with better growth prospects and those that are growing barely at all, and tensions between the 17 countries in the eurozone and the 10 others that do not use the single currency, a drive towards a federal Europe could lead to more complex divisions across the continent.
In the mid 2000s, an effort to draw up a constitution for the EU was ultimately defeated after voters in several traditionally pro-European states rejected it in referendums.
Barroso said that in an age of globalisation, the EU would struggle to compete unless it was prepared to pool its sovereignty and act as one.
"I said a federation of nation states because in these turbulent times, we should not leave the defence of the nation just to the nationalists and populists," he said. "I believe in a Europe where people are proud of their nations but also proud to be European."
Some members of the European Parliament, including committed pro-Europeans such as former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, immediately spoke out against Barroso's call, saying the EU needed to deepen the structure already in place, not become a federation of nation states.
Barroso said his vision would require another overhaul of the EU's treaty - the fundamental set of laws that govern how the European Union is managed. Changing the EU treaty has happened in the past, but it is a complex and lengthy process that often raises tensions among member states.
Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister who has led the European Commission since 2004, said his office would flesh out proposals for the future shape of the EU, including the legal changes required to become a federation, before mid-2014.
In the meantime, he called for "broad debate" across Europe and its citizens about how the continent planned to recast itself and what attributes it would need to compete with its major trading partners such as China and the United States deep into the 21st century.
"Many will say that this is too ambitious, that it is not realistic," he said. "But let me ask you this - is it realistic to go on like we have been doing? Is it realistic to see more than 50pc of young people without jobs in some of our member states?
"The realistic way forward is the way that makes us stronger and more united. Realism is to put our ambition at the level of our challenges."
The Telegraph
Dragon Flood Dragon's Brew The Boston Tea Party
Joseph Herrin (09-11-2012)
Freemasons Dressed as Mohawk Indians Dumping Tea into Boston Harbor
(Click on any image to view larger)
In this post I will demonstrate the manner in which historical accounts of America’s founding as a nation have been fraudulently reported resulting in a false history that hides the influence of Satan and Freemasonry in its inception. No American history book would be complete without an account of what is popularly called The Boston Tea Party. Following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia website that provides historical information on this event.
The Boston Tea Party (referred to in its time simply as "the destruction of the tea" or by other informal names and not celebrated until half a century later,) was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, a city in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party]
I would have you note two things in particular in the above paragraph. The dumping of British tea into Boston Harbor is ascribed to a group known as the Sons of Liberty, and no mention is made of Freemasons. The entire article is silent regarding the involvement of Freemasons. Doing a search on the same Wikipedia site to discover who the Sons of Liberty were, we are provided the following information.
The Sons of Liberty were made up of American patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists from the usurpations by the British government after 1766. They are best known for undertaking the Boston Tea Party in 1773, which led to the Intolerable Acts (an intense crackdown by the British government), and a counter-mobilization by the Patriots that led directly to the American Revolutionary War in 1775.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Liberty]
Once more there is no mention of the involvement of Freemasons in this group. This is in keeping with the history books used in the public schools in which I was educated. As a child I was led to believe that the Boston Tea Party was a spontaneous event by a group of American colonists who were incensed at oppressive taxation imposed by the King of England. The history books led one to believe this was a grass roots movement, and that there was no central group involved in its planning and execution.
The truth is the men who participated in the Boston Tea Party were largely, if not entirely, members of St. Andrews (Masonic) Lodge of Boston. The event was planned and organized at the Green Dragon Tavern which was purchased by St. Andrews Masonic Lodge in 1764. The lower floor of the two story building was used as a public tavern. The upper floor was the Lodge’s meeting hall.
Green Dragon Tavern
Note the inscription at the bottom of this drawing. It states, “Where we met to plan the consignment of a few shiploads of tea. Dec 16 1773.” It is signed by the artist who was evidently a Freemason and member of St. Andrews Lodge. Note specifically the square and compass of Freemasonry in the upper left corner. This drawing is signed and dated with the same year.
To be fair, there are other articles on Wikipedia that make mention of the role of Freemasons in the Boston Tea Party, though these articles are somewhat obscure. For example, Thomas White was an American patriot who took part in this event, and later served with George Washington (also a Freemason) in the American Revolution. The following statement is found in the short article located on Wikipedia under the listing Thomas White.
On December 16, 1773, members of the St. Andrew's Lodge and others boarded British vessels disguised as Indians, and threw shipments of tea into the harbor to protest the Tea Act. Thomas White was among the participants.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_White_(patriot)#Boston_Tea_Party]
The Green Dragon Tavern took its name from the emblem of a dragon that was mounted over the entrance. The dragon was formed from copper, and due to weathering it had turned green. Following is what the dragon design looked like.
Dragon Emblem
The Green Dragon Tavern was also referred to in its day as the “Freemason Arms.” Although American history books frequently make mention of the role of the Green Dragon Tavern in the formation of the nation, its Masonic ownership, and the lodge that met upstairs, is largely ignored. Daniel Webster, a leading American statesmen who lived from 1782-1852, and served as a senator for the state of Massachusetts, referred to the Green Dragon Tavern as “the headquarters of the American Revolution,” a statement that has been echoed by numerous historians.
The association with Freemasonry and the Green Dragon is not merely circumstantial. The men who met there to plan the revolution were not a random group of colonialists who found the tavern to be a convenient meeting place. These men were to a great degree Freemasons, and many of them members of St. Andrews Lodge. Among the members were John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Joseph Warren (Master of the Lodge, killed in 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill).
Is it not of great importance to know that the headquarters of the American Revolution was a building owned by Freemasons and in which a Masonic lodge held their meetings? Why is such an important detail not deemed pertinent to the discussion of America’s foundation? Is it not significant that Freemasonry is Luciferian in its doctrines and the symbol for Satan is a dragon?
Revelation 20:2
And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan...
There were only two emblems over the entrance to the Green Dragon Tavern. One was the dragon itself. The second was the square and compass of Freemasonry. It is fitting that these symbols should be found together. What type of plans should a Christian anticipate to come out of a lodge of Freemasonry that meets in a building named after a dragon? How about plans for a rebellion? Rebellion, after all, is the nature of Satan. He was the first rebel, instigating a revolt against the King of Heaven, the Creator of all things.
Revelation 12:7-9
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
In this building in Boston bearing the emblem of the dragon there was another rebellion planned that also led to war. The immediate outworking of these plans involved theft, death, and destruction. These are not things that Christ counsels the saints to engage in. Such actions are in keeping with Satan. In the Gospels Christ provides the following description of Satan.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
What was planned in the Green Dragon was the theft of several shiploads of East India Tea, and the destruction of that tea as it was dumped into the harbor. The result was to unify Americans in a war against the British Crown that caused the death of thousands of individuals on both sides of the conflict. In the Green Dragon plans were laid to “kill, steal, and destroy.”
I have often found that Christians are so propagandized to associate America and its form of government with Christianity that they fail to consider whether rebellion against the King of England was something that God would initiate. The Bible in fact testifies that Yahweh hates rebellion.
I Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.
The Scriptures have much to say regarding Yahweh’s view of rebellion. The Jewish religious leaders sought to persuade the Roman authorities to crucify Christ by falsely charging Him with rebellion against the King (Caesar). When Pilate examined Christ he concluded that there was no basis for the charges. Christ was not a rebel, nor one to incite rebellion among His followers.
Luke 23:14
“You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.”
How remarkable then that Satan has persuaded millions of Christians in America that Christ was the Author of the rebellion against the King of England. Christ’s counsel to the church is quite contrary to that which was given in the house of the Green Dragon.
I Peter 2:13-15
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Some would protest that the King of England was unjust in his actions, and America was a long way from England. Peter wrote the words above in the time of the Roman Empire. The Emperors of Rome were evil men. They also ruled over lands and people’s far from the nation of their origin. Neither distance, nor injustice has any bearing on Christ’s counsel. He would have Christians to honor the powers that be, rather than inciting the church to rebellion against them. The apostle Peter continues with the following counsel.
I Peter 2:18-21
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps...
Christ bore up patiently when He was falsely accused and condemned by the Jewish leaders and the Roman government. He did not rebel. He uttered no threats. He went meekly as a sheep to be slaughtered. Like a lamb before the shearers He was silent, and He has left us commandment to follow His example.
There were among the citizens of the American colonies those who believed it was wrong to rebel against the King of England. Some objected based upon doctrinal grounds knowing the example of Christ and commandment of Scripture. Such ones were branded as traitors by the American patriots. Some were persecuted and many ended up fleeing to Canada, or other lands belonging to the British commonwealth, to avoid the persecution of the rebellious plan fomented by Satan in the lodges of Freemasonry.
It is little reported today that there was a great division among the citizens of the thirteen original colonies of America regarding the act of entering into rebellion against the king. At no time during the American Revolutionary War did those in favor of rebellion against the King reach or exceed fifty percent of the population. It is estimated that 15 - 20 percent of the population declared themselves as loyalists to the King. Approximately 40 percent of the population of the original thirteen colonies declared themselves to be neutral. Only 40-45 percent were ever in favor of rebellion.
[Data Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalist_(American_Revolution)]
People of God, it is necessary to examine carefully the claims and historical accounts of America’s founding as a nation. It should be asked, “If America is a ‘Christian nation’ why was she birthed in a rebellion that was planned and executed largely by Freemasons, the headquarters for this rebellion being owned by a Masonic lodge and bearing the emblem and name of the dragon?” Do these things bear the marks of a work of Christ, the Lamb of God?
The seeds of the American Revolution were first observed in the Stamp Tax Rebellion which led to the Boston Tea Party. Was it the counsel of Christ for the citizens of the British colonies to rebel by refusing to pay taxes to the King of England? We are not left without answers to such questions. The Bible is very practical in its counsel. In it is found instructions regarding the attitude and actions of Christians toward the monarchs who rule the nations in which they dwell. Christians are exhorted, not only because of the wrath of the king, but in order to maintain a good conscience, to pay the taxes levied against them and to not resist the established authorities.
Romans 13:1-7
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
The event known as the Boston Tea Party was not a Christian act under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It was an act of Freemasons under the influence of Satan. The Spirit of Satan is one of rebellion against authority. Observe how this attitude is manifested in that document known as The Declaration of Independence.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation...:
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions...
A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
[End Quotation]
Under whose influence, Christ’s or Satan’s, was this document written? It is ever the practice of rebels to give justification for their actions to make it appear that the casting off of authority is both reasonable and justified. It is not the counsel of Yahweh that His people do so, however. Peter states, “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.”
It is insightful to compare this document to a passage from the book of Isaiah that describes Satan’s rebellion against God.
Isaiah 14:12-14
How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart,
'I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.'
As we look at these two declarations side by side, we observe the two sides of rebellion. Eighteen times Thomas Jefferson wrote the charge “He has,” this being 6+6+6. Five times we find Satan declaring what he will do in defiance of the will of God. For every overt act of rebellion there is a corresponding justification. “He has..., so I will.”
Those who judge righteously will conclude that the Freemasons who took counsel inside the Green Dragon Tavern were inspired by Lucifer, the original rebel. The Mason who is ignorant of the identity of the true god of the Lodge is without excuse. The Scriptures describe Satan as “the dragon” and this emblem and name was attached to the HEADquarters in which the rebellion was planned. The actions were also those of Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy. In contrast, Christ counseled His disciples to a very different response to the injustices they experience in this world.
Matthew 5:38-45
“You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
The apostle Paul echoed this counsel of Christ when he wrote to the saints in Rome.
Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Paul further advised that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” They are not gun and bullet and sword. He stated that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual forces of wickedness in high places.” This too is in harmony with the words of Christ.
John 18:36
Yahshua answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."
Those who are born of the Spirit of Christ become citizens of a heavenly kingdom.
Philippians 3:20
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Yahshua Christ.
As a child of God you are an alien and a stranger in this world. It is great error for the Christian to become embroiled in the affairs of this world. Those who do so do not perceive the vanity of seeking to transform mankind through carnal methods. II Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Controversies of taxation pertaining to kings and governments should matter not one whit to the Christian. Our lives on this earth are not given to us that we might pursue “life, liberty, and happiness.” They are given to us that we might be perfected as sons of God as we follow Christ down an afflicted path, daily taking up our cross to follow Him.
The beliefs, practices and prejudices of Americans (Christian and non-Christian) are often formed by events that they have no knowledge of, or have been deceived about. These things can be as mundane as the reason that Americans drink coffee and the English drink tea. Did you know this American habit is traceable back to the Green Dragon Tavern? The lower level of the Green Dragon was a public meeting house where tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages were served. British as well as American colonialists, Tories as well as Patriots, all were known to gather in this popular watering hole.
When the crisis of American independence began, and particularly after the Boston Tea Party, any who drank tea in the tavern were branded as Tories (British loyalists) where as those who ordered coffee were recognized as American Patriots. The practice spread from there until a bias developed for drinking coffee rather than tea.
Yet, some of the biases, thoughts and beliefs of Americans are not so trivial. Satan has done a diabolical work by getting millions of Christians in America to celebrate rebellion. The casting off of authority, and the deplorable lack of honor among American society is a great tragedy and source of much unrighteousness. What we believe impacts our lives in both subtle and overt ways. Satan has deceived many into honoring actions of rebellion of which he was the author.
Let us cast off the deceit of the enemy and begin to judge with righteous judgment.
Freemasons Dressed as Mohawk Indians Dumping Tea into Boston Harbor
(Click on any image to view larger)
In this post I will demonstrate the manner in which historical accounts of America’s founding as a nation have been fraudulently reported resulting in a false history that hides the influence of Satan and Freemasonry in its inception. No American history book would be complete without an account of what is popularly called The Boston Tea Party. Following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia website that provides historical information on this event.
The Boston Tea Party (referred to in its time simply as "the destruction of the tea" or by other informal names and not celebrated until half a century later,) was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, a city in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party]
I would have you note two things in particular in the above paragraph. The dumping of British tea into Boston Harbor is ascribed to a group known as the Sons of Liberty, and no mention is made of Freemasons. The entire article is silent regarding the involvement of Freemasons. Doing a search on the same Wikipedia site to discover who the Sons of Liberty were, we are provided the following information.
The Sons of Liberty were made up of American patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists from the usurpations by the British government after 1766. They are best known for undertaking the Boston Tea Party in 1773, which led to the Intolerable Acts (an intense crackdown by the British government), and a counter-mobilization by the Patriots that led directly to the American Revolutionary War in 1775.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Liberty]
Once more there is no mention of the involvement of Freemasons in this group. This is in keeping with the history books used in the public schools in which I was educated. As a child I was led to believe that the Boston Tea Party was a spontaneous event by a group of American colonists who were incensed at oppressive taxation imposed by the King of England. The history books led one to believe this was a grass roots movement, and that there was no central group involved in its planning and execution.
The truth is the men who participated in the Boston Tea Party were largely, if not entirely, members of St. Andrews (Masonic) Lodge of Boston. The event was planned and organized at the Green Dragon Tavern which was purchased by St. Andrews Masonic Lodge in 1764. The lower floor of the two story building was used as a public tavern. The upper floor was the Lodge’s meeting hall.
Green Dragon Tavern
Note the inscription at the bottom of this drawing. It states, “Where we met to plan the consignment of a few shiploads of tea. Dec 16 1773.” It is signed by the artist who was evidently a Freemason and member of St. Andrews Lodge. Note specifically the square and compass of Freemasonry in the upper left corner. This drawing is signed and dated with the same year.
To be fair, there are other articles on Wikipedia that make mention of the role of Freemasons in the Boston Tea Party, though these articles are somewhat obscure. For example, Thomas White was an American patriot who took part in this event, and later served with George Washington (also a Freemason) in the American Revolution. The following statement is found in the short article located on Wikipedia under the listing Thomas White.
On December 16, 1773, members of the St. Andrew's Lodge and others boarded British vessels disguised as Indians, and threw shipments of tea into the harbor to protest the Tea Act. Thomas White was among the participants.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_White_(patriot)#Boston_Tea_Party]
The Green Dragon Tavern took its name from the emblem of a dragon that was mounted over the entrance. The dragon was formed from copper, and due to weathering it had turned green. Following is what the dragon design looked like.
Dragon Emblem
The Green Dragon Tavern was also referred to in its day as the “Freemason Arms.” Although American history books frequently make mention of the role of the Green Dragon Tavern in the formation of the nation, its Masonic ownership, and the lodge that met upstairs, is largely ignored. Daniel Webster, a leading American statesmen who lived from 1782-1852, and served as a senator for the state of Massachusetts, referred to the Green Dragon Tavern as “the headquarters of the American Revolution,” a statement that has been echoed by numerous historians.
The association with Freemasonry and the Green Dragon is not merely circumstantial. The men who met there to plan the revolution were not a random group of colonialists who found the tavern to be a convenient meeting place. These men were to a great degree Freemasons, and many of them members of St. Andrews Lodge. Among the members were John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Joseph Warren (Master of the Lodge, killed in 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill).
Is it not of great importance to know that the headquarters of the American Revolution was a building owned by Freemasons and in which a Masonic lodge held their meetings? Why is such an important detail not deemed pertinent to the discussion of America’s foundation? Is it not significant that Freemasonry is Luciferian in its doctrines and the symbol for Satan is a dragon?
Revelation 20:2
And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan...
There were only two emblems over the entrance to the Green Dragon Tavern. One was the dragon itself. The second was the square and compass of Freemasonry. It is fitting that these symbols should be found together. What type of plans should a Christian anticipate to come out of a lodge of Freemasonry that meets in a building named after a dragon? How about plans for a rebellion? Rebellion, after all, is the nature of Satan. He was the first rebel, instigating a revolt against the King of Heaven, the Creator of all things.
Revelation 12:7-9
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
In this building in Boston bearing the emblem of the dragon there was another rebellion planned that also led to war. The immediate outworking of these plans involved theft, death, and destruction. These are not things that Christ counsels the saints to engage in. Such actions are in keeping with Satan. In the Gospels Christ provides the following description of Satan.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
What was planned in the Green Dragon was the theft of several shiploads of East India Tea, and the destruction of that tea as it was dumped into the harbor. The result was to unify Americans in a war against the British Crown that caused the death of thousands of individuals on both sides of the conflict. In the Green Dragon plans were laid to “kill, steal, and destroy.”
I have often found that Christians are so propagandized to associate America and its form of government with Christianity that they fail to consider whether rebellion against the King of England was something that God would initiate. The Bible in fact testifies that Yahweh hates rebellion.
I Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.
The Scriptures have much to say regarding Yahweh’s view of rebellion. The Jewish religious leaders sought to persuade the Roman authorities to crucify Christ by falsely charging Him with rebellion against the King (Caesar). When Pilate examined Christ he concluded that there was no basis for the charges. Christ was not a rebel, nor one to incite rebellion among His followers.
Luke 23:14
“You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him.”
How remarkable then that Satan has persuaded millions of Christians in America that Christ was the Author of the rebellion against the King of England. Christ’s counsel to the church is quite contrary to that which was given in the house of the Green Dragon.
I Peter 2:13-15
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Some would protest that the King of England was unjust in his actions, and America was a long way from England. Peter wrote the words above in the time of the Roman Empire. The Emperors of Rome were evil men. They also ruled over lands and people’s far from the nation of their origin. Neither distance, nor injustice has any bearing on Christ’s counsel. He would have Christians to honor the powers that be, rather than inciting the church to rebellion against them. The apostle Peter continues with the following counsel.
I Peter 2:18-21
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps...
Christ bore up patiently when He was falsely accused and condemned by the Jewish leaders and the Roman government. He did not rebel. He uttered no threats. He went meekly as a sheep to be slaughtered. Like a lamb before the shearers He was silent, and He has left us commandment to follow His example.
There were among the citizens of the American colonies those who believed it was wrong to rebel against the King of England. Some objected based upon doctrinal grounds knowing the example of Christ and commandment of Scripture. Such ones were branded as traitors by the American patriots. Some were persecuted and many ended up fleeing to Canada, or other lands belonging to the British commonwealth, to avoid the persecution of the rebellious plan fomented by Satan in the lodges of Freemasonry.
It is little reported today that there was a great division among the citizens of the thirteen original colonies of America regarding the act of entering into rebellion against the king. At no time during the American Revolutionary War did those in favor of rebellion against the King reach or exceed fifty percent of the population. It is estimated that 15 - 20 percent of the population declared themselves as loyalists to the King. Approximately 40 percent of the population of the original thirteen colonies declared themselves to be neutral. Only 40-45 percent were ever in favor of rebellion.
[Data Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalist_(American_Revolution)]
People of God, it is necessary to examine carefully the claims and historical accounts of America’s founding as a nation. It should be asked, “If America is a ‘Christian nation’ why was she birthed in a rebellion that was planned and executed largely by Freemasons, the headquarters for this rebellion being owned by a Masonic lodge and bearing the emblem and name of the dragon?” Do these things bear the marks of a work of Christ, the Lamb of God?
The seeds of the American Revolution were first observed in the Stamp Tax Rebellion which led to the Boston Tea Party. Was it the counsel of Christ for the citizens of the British colonies to rebel by refusing to pay taxes to the King of England? We are not left without answers to such questions. The Bible is very practical in its counsel. In it is found instructions regarding the attitude and actions of Christians toward the monarchs who rule the nations in which they dwell. Christians are exhorted, not only because of the wrath of the king, but in order to maintain a good conscience, to pay the taxes levied against them and to not resist the established authorities.
Romans 13:1-7
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
The event known as the Boston Tea Party was not a Christian act under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It was an act of Freemasons under the influence of Satan. The Spirit of Satan is one of rebellion against authority. Observe how this attitude is manifested in that document known as The Declaration of Independence.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation...:
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions...
A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
[End Quotation]
Under whose influence, Christ’s or Satan’s, was this document written? It is ever the practice of rebels to give justification for their actions to make it appear that the casting off of authority is both reasonable and justified. It is not the counsel of Yahweh that His people do so, however. Peter states, “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.”
It is insightful to compare this document to a passage from the book of Isaiah that describes Satan’s rebellion against God.
Isaiah 14:12-14
How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart,
'I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.'
As we look at these two declarations side by side, we observe the two sides of rebellion. Eighteen times Thomas Jefferson wrote the charge “He has,” this being 6+6+6. Five times we find Satan declaring what he will do in defiance of the will of God. For every overt act of rebellion there is a corresponding justification. “He has..., so I will.”
Those who judge righteously will conclude that the Freemasons who took counsel inside the Green Dragon Tavern were inspired by Lucifer, the original rebel. The Mason who is ignorant of the identity of the true god of the Lodge is without excuse. The Scriptures describe Satan as “the dragon” and this emblem and name was attached to the HEADquarters in which the rebellion was planned. The actions were also those of Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy. In contrast, Christ counseled His disciples to a very different response to the injustices they experience in this world.
Matthew 5:38-45
“You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
The apostle Paul echoed this counsel of Christ when he wrote to the saints in Rome.
Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Paul further advised that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” They are not gun and bullet and sword. He stated that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual forces of wickedness in high places.” This too is in harmony with the words of Christ.
John 18:36
Yahshua answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."
Those who are born of the Spirit of Christ become citizens of a heavenly kingdom.
Philippians 3:20
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Yahshua Christ.
As a child of God you are an alien and a stranger in this world. It is great error for the Christian to become embroiled in the affairs of this world. Those who do so do not perceive the vanity of seeking to transform mankind through carnal methods. II Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Controversies of taxation pertaining to kings and governments should matter not one whit to the Christian. Our lives on this earth are not given to us that we might pursue “life, liberty, and happiness.” They are given to us that we might be perfected as sons of God as we follow Christ down an afflicted path, daily taking up our cross to follow Him.
The beliefs, practices and prejudices of Americans (Christian and non-Christian) are often formed by events that they have no knowledge of, or have been deceived about. These things can be as mundane as the reason that Americans drink coffee and the English drink tea. Did you know this American habit is traceable back to the Green Dragon Tavern? The lower level of the Green Dragon was a public meeting house where tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages were served. British as well as American colonialists, Tories as well as Patriots, all were known to gather in this popular watering hole.
When the crisis of American independence began, and particularly after the Boston Tea Party, any who drank tea in the tavern were branded as Tories (British loyalists) where as those who ordered coffee were recognized as American Patriots. The practice spread from there until a bias developed for drinking coffee rather than tea.
Yet, some of the biases, thoughts and beliefs of Americans are not so trivial. Satan has done a diabolical work by getting millions of Christians in America to celebrate rebellion. The casting off of authority, and the deplorable lack of honor among American society is a great tragedy and source of much unrighteousness. What we believe impacts our lives in both subtle and overt ways. Satan has deceived many into honoring actions of rebellion of which he was the author.
Let us cast off the deceit of the enemy and begin to judge with righteous judgment.
Joseph Herrin
Syrian Air Defenses Are First Targets if No-Fly Zone Established
Applying Libyan treatment
WASHINGTON — Rebels fighting Syrian government forces have been urging the West to establish a no-fly zone over the country, but are getting little international support.
Western defense experts see difficulties in a no-fly mission, including troubles securing the skies over Syria, as Syrian air defenses must first be destroyed.
A no-fly zone is defined as airspace in which certain aircraft, especially military ones - such as warplanes and helicopter gunships - are forbidden to fly.
During the past 20 years, international coalitions have imposed and enforced no-fly zones over Bosnia for two years in the mid-1990s, and over northern and southern Iraq spanning the years 1991 to 2003. And just last year, NATO was involved for seven months in an air campaign that supported rebels fighting to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Now rebels fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are calling for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria, but are getting scant global backing.
Syrian air defenses
Analysts said a difficult first step in implementing a no-fly zone would be to destroy the Syrian government’s air defense systems.
Retired Navy Captain Ben Renda, who flew aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone over northern Iraq in the late 1990s, said there are questions about the effectiveness of those Syrian defenses.
“There is a discussion about how robust Syrian IADs really are - the integrated air defenses,” he said. “How good the radars are? How good the surface-to-air missiles are and the anti-aircraft artillery systems? Are they integrated into the radars for detection and tracking? But in any case, regardless of what those fine points are, Syria is obviously much more capable than Libya,” said Renda.
Analysts said the bulk of Syria’s air defenses are either older Soviet models or more modern Russian systems. Moscow has been selling weapons to Damascus for decades.
Sean O’Connor, a military expert who writes for the British defense publicationJane’s, said many of Syria’s air defenses are fixed installations.
“Their main strength is simply the fact they have a lot of individual positions all over the country - mostly in the western half of the country,” he said, “because that is where most of the population is and that’s obviously where most of the threat to them would come from, be it from Israel in the south, Turkey in the north or from anyone trying to approach from the Mediterranean.”
Paul Smyth, a British defense expert and a former Royal Air Force navigator in a squadron that patrolled the no-fly zone in southern Iraq in the 1990s, said Syria also has more adaptable air defense weapons.
“The more modern, post-Soviet era, but still built in Russia, things like the SA-10, you are looking at mobile weapons, which are pretty capable and therefore a real concern because they have that combination of being able to move around the battlefield, and so pose a very direct threat to friendly air operations,” he said.
Syrian air power upgraded
Smyth also said over the years, Syria has upgraded its air defense systems, learning from its mistakes.
“You look at 2003 and again in 2007, the Israelis mounted surprise raids - one near Damascus in 2003 and another against an alleged nuclear facility in 2007. They did the raids ‘in and out’ without loss,” he said. “And no doubt that would have encouraged the Syrian air defense system to become a little bit better at what they do. And of course, although we may get mixed reports as to how good they are in reality, we can’t ignore the fact that only a couple of months ago, they shot down a Turkish air force jet, obviously off the coast,” said Smyth.
Defense analysts said concerns about the ability of the Syrian military in general and the air defense system in particular are one of the reasons why the international community has not fully supported the Syrian opposition groups.
VOA
Muslim Brotherhood Refuses to Condemn Attack on US Embassy
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in Egypt denounced the anti-Islam movie that reportedly served as a catalyst for the Islamist storming of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt and the murder of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.
Secretary General of the Muslim Brotherhood Mahmud Hussein on Wednesday called for protests to be held on Friday throughout Egypt against the movie.
He stopped short of condemning the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The protests staged by radical Islamists in Egypt and Libya were reportedly sparked by an anti-Islam movie that depicts the prophet Muhammad in a disparaging way. The film was made by Israeli-American filmmaker Sam Bacile.
Bacile made the film entitled, “Innocence of Muslims” during the summer of 2011, and its trailer was posted on YouTube in July of this year. It was later dubbed into Egyptian Arabic.
In response, the Muslim Brotherhood calls, “for peaceful protests on Friday outside all the main mosques in all of Egypt’s provinces to denounce offences to religion and to the Prophet,” said Hussein.
The official statement from the FJP on Tuesday also makes no mention of either the attacks on the US Embassy in Cairo or the Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
“The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) expresses strong condemnation of the film produced and promoted by US Coptic Christian individuals, which deals serious insults to the Prophet Mohammed,” according to the official statement.
“The party considers the film a racist crime and a failed attempt to provoke sectarian strife between the two elements of the nation: Muslims and Christians,” the FJP said.
“The FJP affirms that both elements of the Egyptian people – Christians and Muslims – have been and will always be united in the face of such despicable attempts that seek to foment conflict in this homeland, and to throw it in a deep abyss, a never-ending spiral of violence.”
On Tuesday, radical Islamists stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, tore down the American flag, and replaced with a black flag that reads, “There is no god but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger.”
In the Libyan city of Benghazi, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens along with three other personnel were killed during an attack on the U.S. Consulate.
CNSnews
U.S. Life unsustainable after an electromagnetic pulse attack for 70 to 90 percent of the population.
WASHINGTON – Congress today was told that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t identified an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, event as a serious national security threat to the nation’s grid system even though testimony revealed it could making living in the United States “unsustainable” for 70 to 90 percent of the population.
And the few billion dollars it would cost to harden systems against such an occurrence is hardly the tens of billions or hundreds of billions it could cost to repair the damage.
Brandon Wales, director of the DHS Homeland Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center, was unable to give a cost breakdown so that Congress would know how much money needs to be provided by the federal government in view of the tremendous costs of such hardening defenses that the private utilities would incur.
He, along with other witnesses from the federal government, testified on the consequences of either a natural or man-made EMP event on the national grid before the House Homeland Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies.
Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz, who is on the House Armed Services Committee, also testified that the military is highly vulnerable to an EMP event, since it relies some 99 percent on the national grid to accomplish its functions.
Franks is sponsor of H.R. 668, known as the Shield Act, which provides authority to protect transformers.
“The potential threat is damage to the transformers” either from a solar storm or the effects of an electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude nuclear explosion.
The legislation has passed the House of Representatives, but no action is planned at this writing in the U.S. Senate.
At the time the legislation was introduced in February 2011, Franks said that it was vital to secure the high-voltage electrical infrastructure from lethal damage.
“The threat of an electromagnetic pulse weapon represents the single greatest asymmetric capability that could fall into the hands of American enemies,” Franks warned at the time.
“Should a nuclear weapon from a rogue state such as Iran be detonated in Earth’s atmosphere at a sufficient height above the continental United States, the blast of electromagnetic energy could immediately cripple America’s electric power grid.
“Currently, the vast majority of the United States’ infrastructure is unsecured and exposed,” he said.
Franks said that an EMP blast could disable “so large a swath of American technology that between 70 percent to 90 percent of the United States’ population could become unsustainable.”
Franks also referred to the prospect that some of the most intense solar storms are expected to hit Earth by next year, according to scientists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Academy of Sciences.
Natural EMP events happen during solar storms, which are predicted to reach their 11-year cyclical peak during 2013.
He said that the United States may have no more than 30 minutes to know the accuracy of where an intense solar storm could strike or what the severity of that storm will be, even though satellites do give some 24 hours of warning that such a storm is heading toward Earth. And then, only one in three times such a storm may be severe.
The problem for industry, Franks acknowledged, is not knowing whether to go to the expense of shutting down the national grid system – an action that would have to be taken since the system hasn’t been hardened sufficiently to handle either an intense solar storm and certainly not the pulse effect of a much worse high altitude nuclear explosion.
Franks said, however, that private industry has provided no evidence that the national grid would not be subjected to a catastrophic EMP event.
Rep. Dan Lungren, chairman of the subcommittee, acknowledged that the private utilities are beholden to their shareholders and rate payers and should have concerns about their capital investments. For that reason, Lungren then wondered why the local utilities aren’t taking more seriously the effects of an EMP event.
Franks said that there is a certain “push-back” by the private utilities in that they don’t find the threat to be all that serious.
For the most part, the utilities have taken some action to harden against a lightning strike which doesn’t have the intensity of a pulse either from an intense solar storm or a high altitude nuclear explosion.
“The potential liability is off the charts,” Franks warned.
The Arizona congressman pointed out that despite the military’s efforts to harden its systems, it still may be unprepared for an intense EMP event. The military for the most part has begun hardening its systems but, on the civilian side, it is unprepared.
In saying that the civilian side is unprepared for such an event, Franks confirmed that the military is 99 percent dependent on civilian sources of electricity, making the military ultimately vulnerable.
“The military is in a no-win situation,” he said, “since the military doesn’t have a say in hardening the civilian grid. It could be done at minimal cost” compared to overall government spending.
“Worst case scenario is so bad,” Franks said, “that we must prevent it at all costs.”
Michael Aimone who is the director of Business Enterprise Integration in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, told the subcommittee that the Defense Department similarly is concerned about the military dependency on the civilian grid and is experimenting with “mini-grids” that can kick into action should the main grid collapse.
These mini-grids would work critical operations without an interruption, so long as there is fuel to run the generators. He added that his job is to locate that source of fuel to be used by these mini-grids should the national grid be affected by an EMP event.
Joseph McClellan, director of the Office of Electric Reliability in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, sounded similar warnings of private utility unpreparedness to handle a catastrophic EMP event, saying that the effects would be widespread on the national grid system.
He pointed out that the FERC is charged with developing reliability standards, but only industry can identify and implement those standards. He added that the federal government lacks authority to impose mandatory requirements on the private utilities to harden their grid systems.
In his prepared testimony, McClellan said that the FERC is considering actions to address national security threats to the reliability of the U.S. transmission and power system from an EMP “which undergirds our government and economy and helps ensure the health and welfare of our citizens.”
He pointed out that the commission’s jurisdiction is limited to the “bulk power system” under the Federal Power Act and excludes local distribution facilities.
The FPA also excludes all of Alaska and Hawaii, as well as any federal facilities located in these states.
In addition, it excludes all local distribution facilities, including those facilities connected to the defense infrastructure.
He added that his authority excludes some transmission, including virtually all of the grid facilities in certain large cities such as New York.
This has the effect, McClelland said, of “precluding commission action to mitigate cyber or other national security threats to reliability that involve such facilities and major population areas.”
McClelland made it clear that the challenge will be in getting local electrical distribution facilities to take the threat of an EMP seriously and put up the capital investment.
“The question is how to do that,” he said.
WND
Anti-US Violence Spreads Across Mideast
Anti-American violence is spreading across the Middle East, with mobs rioting at US missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.
Hundreds of protesters rioted outside the U.S. embassy in Tunisia on Wednesday night. Police in the capital of Tunis were forced to fire teargas canisters at the mob when some 300 rioters stormed the American embassy compound. The rioters, however, were pushed back. Up to that point, the demonstration had been relatively peaceful, with demonstrators brandishing black and white Salafi Muslim banners.
Throughout the Middle East, United States embassies have been warning American citizens to avoid crowded places, and to “remain alert at all times.” Even demonstrations that appear to be peaceful “can turn suddenly violent,” the embassy alert warned citizens living in Arab countries throughout the region.
In Morocco, considered a “moderate” Arab nation with few radical Islamist leanings, hundreds of protesters gathered in Casablanca, the nation's largest city. Demonstrators torched American flags outside the U.S. Consulate, according to anAFP reporter, chanting anti-Obama and anti-American slogans. No violence was reported. The mostly young protesters, who reportedly gathered via a call through Internet social networks, were heavily contained by Moroccan police.
They, like protesters throughout the Middle East, used the excuse of their rage over an amateur video produced in the U.S. that had made news as an “profane insult to the Prophet Mohammed,” the founder of Islam, as the justification for the riots. Some used it as an excuse for violence.
In Libya, rage over the film's "insult to Islam" was used as the excuse for what appears to have been a full-scale Al Qaeda-linked terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the grisly murder of America's Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three American diplomats.
The obscure video, produced by a man named Sam Bacile, allegedly a pseudonym, was released at least six months ago and had escaped notice by the Islamic world. Entitled "Innocence of Muslims," it made news after being translated into Arabic with a trailer posted onto YouTube a few days prior to the 11th anniversary of the “9/11” Al Qaeda terror attack on America.
Angry demonstrators also protested at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan, where an embassy official who requested anonymity said, “I do believe it was a few hundred. Our compound was not breached.”
Staff at the embassy in Khartoum met with three of the protesters, who delivered written demands from a group called “Sudanese Youth.” The official said “They were asking for an immediate apology, removal of the YouTube video,” and expressed anger at Florida-based Pastor Terry Jones, a controversial Christian cleric reported to be associated with the video. However, it has subsequently been reported that Jones has had nothing to do with the film, other than possibly promoting it.
Israel National News
Russian Navy to have drones
In 1989, it was decided that it would be inexpedient to solve special tasks by manned subs, and the military has argued that subversive and anti-subversive tasks should better be handled by robots. Unmanned apparatuses can tackle and solve a wide range of tasks dealing with purely military targets, as well as civilian ones, says Vladimir Sherbakov, a Naval expert. Tape.
“Such tasks include the inspection of a particular section of the sea bed, objects on the sea bed,when the use of divers or manned subs is inappropriate, dangerous, or expensive. The blowing up of enemy ships and submarines, as well as installations at ports and bases and several other tricky tasks, can be done by robots”, said Vladimir Sherbakov.
“Some experts however believe that torpedoes and mines can be more effective in the destruction of naval ships. They say that the use of subs to detect mine fields is unavoidable. Developing this aspect requires money and a high level of surveillance equipment. In the future, the Navy, the civilian and other Departments connected to the use of the Seas and Oceans will not develop normally without these devices. This is confirmed by the fact that Russia and other developed countries are presently busy creating and using unmanned submarines”, stressed Vladimir Sherbakov.
The U.S., Israel, France, Britain, Sweden and Japan are all engaged in developing their unmanned subs. Some countries create them for military purposes, some to promote diving in the gas and oil fields, while still others are developing theirs for police and anti-terror warfare.
Russia is using the technology to deal with accidents at gas pipeline drilling wells, at submarine facilities, as well as in searches for sunken ships. The creation of unmanned subs is a world wide phenomenon.
The Voice of Russia
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