IT’S NOT JUST EUROPE; AS MANY AS 16 CALIFORNIA COUNTIES MAY SEEK SECESSION FROM THE STATE

Frustrated with their representation in government, residents in two of California’s northern counties are heading to the polls to decide whether they should consider seceding from the state. As Reuters reports, campaigns in both Del Norte and Tehama counties are underway to convince residents that permanently separating from California is in their best interests. 

As many as 16 counties in northern California could potentially join the movement, AP reports, though official secession would require approval by the state legislature as well as the US Congress. If they all decide to seek separation, the counties would make up about a quarter of California’s territory…”We have the water, forests, timber, we have the minerals. We have unspoiled agricultural land. We would be the wealthy state if we were allowed to go back and use our natural resources ourselves.”

As RT reports, residents in two of California’s northern counties are heading to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether they should consider seceding from the state.

According to Reuters, campaigns in both Del Norte and Tehama counties are underway to convince residents that permanently separating from California is in their best interests. By supporting the measures at the ballot box, supporters would be pushing local officials to continue efforts to combine parts of northern California with parts of southern Oregon into the nation’s 51st state.

The new state would be called Jefferson, as a tribute to Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who once believed that parts of the Western United States could form a freestanding republic.

If the measures are approved, local lawmakers would join other counties and continue to try and generate momentum for secession. Already, four counties – Glenn, Modoc, Siskiyou, and Yuba – have voted to join the effort, while others are waiting for the results in Del Norte and Tehama before taking action.

As noted by the Associated Press, as many as 16 counties in northern California could potentially join the movement, though official secession would require approval by the state legislature as well as the US Congress. If they all decide to seek separation, the counties would make up about a quarter of California’s territory.

Despite their size, however, the disgruntled counties only contain a small percentage of California’s inhabitants – Del Norte, for example, is home to just 28,000 of the state’s 38 million-strong population. Fed up with the way California allocates representatives – lawmakers are delegated based on population – secession supporter and organizer Aaron Funk sees the ballot as a way forward.

“We have 11 counties up here that share one state senator,” he told the AP, noting that the greater Los Angeles area and San Francisco Bay have far more. “Essentially, we have no representation whatsoever.”

The measure faces opposition, however, from groups who worry about how Jefferson would be able to support itself financially, especially since many of its residents are poor and unemployed. California already supplies most of the funding for infrastructure and education, and most of the large swathes of land are owned by the federal government – something that would remain the same even if Jefferson were to become a state.

“We have the water, forests, timber, we have the minerals. We have unspoiled agricultural land,” added Funk to the AP. “We would be the wealthy state if we were allowed to go back and use our natural resources ourselves.”

Still, the explanations don’t add up for opposing groups in Del Norte, who fear that approving a measure that calls for secession would simply result in lawmakers using their time debating the creation of Jefferson instead of fixing real problems.

While headlines are made across the pond as the wealthier nations’ citizens seek secession from the poorer nations’ demands… (and the poorer nations’ citizens seek to leave the pressures of the richer nations’ demands) it seems the same under-current is growing in America.

Credit to Info Wars

Water Wars Fulfilling Bible Prophecy

The Turkish government has in an apparent act of aggression, recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis that has dropped the water level in Lake Assad by about six meters. This development has left millions of Syrians without drinking water or electricity, and threatens Iraq with similar consequences.

Al - Akhbar.com reported that in so doing, the Turkish government violated international norms. A source for the publication warned that “a further drop of one additional meter would put the dam out of service.” Meanwhile, water supplies in auxiliary reservoirs are said to be close to being depleted and were expected to run out of water completely in a matter of hours.

According to Al-Akhbar sources, losing water supplies in the dam means that the silt in the lake will dry off which would pressure its structure, subjecting it to fissures and eventually total collapse – hence making it crucial to shut down the dam. However that action would only further aggravate the situation, hence alternatives such as activating dormant thermal plants are being considered although it seems certain that they would be inadequate to solve the problem, unless the Turkish government takes the decision to resume pumping Euphrates water.

That process, if resumed, would still take about a month to return water to its normal levels. In that period, the suffering of the people depending on these water supplies is expected to be severe.

What prompted the action by Turkey in the first place, against fellow Muslim nations? Al - Akhbar.com explains that this is a historical conflict. The Euphrates River has historically been at the center of a conflict between Turkey on the one hand and both Syria and Iraq on the other. Turkey insists on considering the Euphrates a “trans-boundary river” and not an “international river,” hence it is “not subject to international laws.”

In 1987, a temporary agreement between Syria and Turkey was signed to share the water supplies of the Euphrates during the period when the basin of the Ataturk Dam was being filled. In virtue of the agreement, Turkey pledged to provide an annual level of over 500 cubic meters of water a second on the Turkish-Syrian borders, until reaching a final agreement about sharing the water supplies of the river between the three countries. In 1994, Syria registered the agreement at the United Nations to guarantee the minimum amount of Iraq and Syria’s right to the water from the Euphrates River.

Apparently however it’s not only Turkey that has the “switch” to dry up the Euphrates: drought in Syria, and misuse of Euphrates waters in Iraq, are also considered to be significant factors that could dry up the Euphrates without Turkish intervention. This conclusion is not based on conjecture but historical proof: this actually did happen in July 2009 as reported by the New York Times.

These other contributory causes towards the drying up of the Euphrates were corroborated more recently. In February of 2013, PressTv.com in an article titled ‘Tigris and Euphrates basins drying up, study shows’ reported: “Scientists… found during a seven-year period beginning in 2003 that parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of total stored freshwater,” NASA and the University of California, Irvine said in a joint press release. The researchers said about 60 percent of the loss is due to “pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs.”

Jay Famiglietti, the principal investigator of the study and a hydrologist and professor at the University of California, Irvine, stated that the decline rate intensified especially after a drought in 2007: “The rate was especially striking after the 2007 drought. Meanwhile, demand for freshwater continues to rise, and the region does not coordinate its water management because of different interpretations of international laws.”

Daniel Pipes in his blog Daniel Pipes.org explains that Turkish government ability to completely stop Euphrates waters from leaving Turkey and flowing into Syria is a feat made possible by the enormous reservoir behind its Atatürk Dam.

What is significant about this is that Turkey could at will, use its technological control of the Atatürk Dam to quickly and easily dry up the flow of the Euphrates in order to achieve military advantages, such as allowing military troops and trucks to cross over the Euphrates on dry land. The Bible prophesied that in the last days, this would actually happen:

Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. (Revelation 9:13-16).

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared (Revelation 16:12).

Revelation Now.net explained: “What is even more telling is the drying up of the river allows a mobile infantry the ability to march directly to Israel.” It follows that an enemy country of Israel like Turkey would for example be happy to assist and join the aggressor “King of the East” marching towards Israel by allowing them easy passage over dry Euphrates land with their troops and tanks.

So who are these “Kings of the East” spoken of in Revelations 16? Bible scholars seem to agree that this refers to modern day China. Revelations 9:16 talks of an army 200,000,000 strong: Only China is said to have the capacity to fulfill this quota in our generation and fulfill the scriptures as prophesied.

One such scholar, Dr. Couch in an article for Scofield Prophecy Studies expounds: “The Euphrates has always been seen as a geographical and political divide in the Middle East. Though it ran almost through the middle of ancient Babylon, it was seen as a barrier from forces that might descend upon the Middle East, Africa, or Eastern Europe, bringing the barbarian nations from the Far East.

One view is that this is a way of describing in the end times the movement of the forces of that region, i.e. all the Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Iraq who would conspire to come against Israel in the final days. But a more prominent view would say these "kings" are the heads of state for nations further to the East, India and/or China. India has never been an aggressor power that attempted to break out of the Indian Continent, though that is not impossible in an end time scenario.

But the more plausible answer would be that these kings represent China…This power from the East is probably this great force coming from China. While we want to be careful and avoid being dogmatic on this, all signs are leading to this as a possibility. Today, China could field an army of more than 300,000,000 men! She is now the leading producing nation even above both America and Japan. China's buildup of forces is taking place at an alarming rate. She is working toward a full submarine force and also desiring to build aircraft carriers that will give her complete mobility around the world.”

No matter how the Euphrates will dry up at the command of the angel pouring out the 6th vial, the “Kings of the East” are going to come across it. Yet again, we can see how the stage has finally been fully set for the fulfillment of the end-time Bible prophecies of Revelation 9 and 16, also referred to in Daniel 11:40-45.And as Jesus said: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28).


Credit to prophecynewswatch.com

Europe Officially Enters The "Monetary Twilight Zone"

Goodbye ZIRP, hello NIRP. Today's decision by the ECB to officially lower the deposit facility rate to negative (as in you pay the bank to hold your deposits) is shocking, but not surprising: we previewed just this outcome precisely two years ago in "Europe's "Monetary Twilight Zone" Neutron Bomb: NIRP"

Here is what we wrote in June 2012 about Europe's unprecedented NIRP monetary experiment.

Just because ZIRP is so 2009 (and will be until the end of central planning as the Fed can not afford to hike rates ever again), the ECB is now contemplating something far more drastic: charging depositors for the privilege of holding money. Enter NIRP, akaNegative Interest Rate Policy.

Bloomberg reports that "European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is contemplating taking interest rates into a twilight zone shunned by the Federal Reserve. while cutting ECB rates may boost confidence, stimulate lending and foster growth, it could also involve reducing the bank’s deposit rate to zero or even lower. Once an obstacle for policy makers because it risks hurting the money markets they’re trying to revive, cutting the deposit rate from 0.25 percent is no longer a taboo, two euro-area central bank officials said on June 15... “The European recession is worsening, the ECB has to do more,” said Julian Callow, chief European economist at Barclays Capital in London, who forecasts rates will be cut at the ECB’s next policy meeting on July 5. “A negative deposit rate is something they need to consider but taking it to zero as a first step is more likely.” Should Draghi elect to cut the deposit rate to zero or lower, he’ll be entering territory few policy makers have dared to venture.Sweden’s Riksbank in July 2009 became the world’s first central bank to charge financial institutions for the money they deposited with it overnight."

There is only one problem when comparing the Riksbank with the ECB: at €747 billion in deposits parked at the ECB as of yesterday, the ECB is currently paying out 0.25% on this balance, a move which may or may not be a reason for the depositor banks, primarily of North European extraction, to keep their money parked in Frankfurt. However, once this money has to pay to stay, it is certain that nearly $1 trillion in deposit cash, currently in electronic format, would flood the market. What happens next is unknown: the ECB hopes that this liquidity flood will be contained. The reality will be vastly different. One thing is certain:inflating the debt is the only way out for the status quo. The only question is what format it will take.

More from Bloomberg:

“It won’t help the prospect of a functioning money market because banks won’t be compensated for the risk they’re taking,” said Orlando Green, a fixed-income strategist at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank in London. It would make more sense to lower the benchmark rate, thus reducing the interest banks pay on ECB loans, and keep the deposit rate where it is, Green said.

The ECB has lent banks more than 1 trillion euros in three- year loans, with the interest determined by the average of the benchmark rate over that period. Societe Generale SA estimates that cutting the key rate by 50 basis points would save banks 5 billion euros a year.

The deposit rate traditionally moves in tandem with the benchmark, which policy makers kept at a record low of 1 percent on June 6. Draghi said “a few” officials called for a cut, fueling speculation the bank could act next month.

Sadly, because all this is merely operating in the confines of a broken system, just as the LTRO provides a brief respite only to commence crushing banks such as Monte Paschi, so any further intervention by the ECB will only lead to a faster unwind of an unstable system.

Other institutions have opted against such a move. The Fed started paying interest on deposits to help keep the federal funds rate near its target in October 2008 and has reimbursed banks with 0.25 percent on required and excess reserve balances since December that year.

Some Fed policy makers last August argued that reducing the rate could be helpful in easing financial conditions. While they discussed doing so in September, many expressed concern that such a move “risked costly disruptions to money markets and to the intermediation of credit,” the Fed said in minutes published on Oct. 12.

The Bank of Japan (8301) introduced a Complementary Deposit Facility in October 2008 to provide financial institutions with liquidity and stabilize markets, and has kept the interest it pays for the funds at 0.1 percent since then. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa told reporters on May 23 there would be “large demerits” to reducing the deposit rate because it could lead to a decline in money-market trading.

It gets worse: by trying to help banks, the ECB will actually be impairng them:

“If the ECB cut the deposit rate, it would take an important profit opportunity away from banks,” said Tobias Blattner, an economist at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe in London. By doing so, the ECB would also be “encouraging banks to lend to the real economy” even though “there’s hardly any demand for credit,” he said. Blattner predicts the ECB will cut its benchmark and leave the deposit rate at 0.25 percent.

ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said on Feb. 19 that market interest rates of zero or lower “can result in a credit contraction.”

That’s because banks, trying to preserve their deposit bases by paying customers a reasonable interest rate, may reduce lending to companies and households because the return is too low and invest in higher-yielding assets instead.

Finally kiss money markets - which together with Repos are one of the core components of shadow banking - goodbye:

“A deposit rate at zero will be of particular support to banks in southern Europe because it could help encourage some flow of credit,” said Callow. “A negative deposit rate can be damaging for money markets.”

Negative rates would destroy the business model for money- market funds, which would face the prospect of paying to invest, said Societe Generale economist Klaus Baader.

“But the ECB doesn’t set policy to keep alive certain parts of the financial sector,” he said. “Policy makers want to show that they haven’t exhausted their options yet.”

Credit to Zero Hedge 

The End of Freedom, Privacy and Safety In America

From the moment you leave your home in the morning till the time you return home at night, you are under constant surveillance. And once you return home, your computer, television and smart meter is gathering information on you. Have most of you even considered how far this is going to go? Have you contemplated the future implications of the total loss of freedom, privacy and safety in America?

No, this is not your typical “The NSA is spying on me from space and reading my every email”. We already know that is happening, however, most of choose to ignore these unwarranted and illegal intrusions into our daily lives by telling ourselves that it is OK because “I have nothing to hide”.

What most of us remain in denial about is the fact that by living under the Police State Surveillance Grid, we are allowing unelected bureaucrats working for the elite, to gain the ability to reach into every area of our lives. And with regard to the lives of our children, they have grown up in a time in history when they think this is normal (and legal).

In this article, I have selected few small examples of topical news items which became public on the same day which are representative of how far the average American has slipped into the abyss of total enslavement.

Your Child At School

The unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education has called safeguarding children’s privacy a priority, according to Secretary Anne Duncan as noted in a recent video chat. To put it bluntly, Secretary Duncan is not telling the truth.

In my experiences as an educator, I came to respect and fear the law we all refer to as Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which tells educators and administrators that any unwarranted disclosure of student information is a federal offense and one can lose their job for any violations. What most educators do not know is the fact that FERPA gives school districts the right to share student information with private companies “to further educational goals”. This is opening up a can of worms.

Furthering educational goals means that a database profile has been constructed by educational vendors and this information will follow each student through their entire educational career and beyond. The Department of Education has total access to your child’s records. Do they share this information with the NSA? Will the gathered information be made available to prospective employers? Nobody is asking and answering these questions. One thing we can be sure of is that our children’s educational information will be entered into the ongoing web of information being gathered on every individual for the purpose of constructing a set of matrices which are designed to predict future behavior. When one carries this practice out to the extreme, it could form a basis to classify people. Future classifications need not be racial as it was in Nazi Germany (e.g. Jews, Gypsies, etc.), it could simply divide people into two camps, compliant to the state or not compliant to the state. If one thinks this last conclusion is nonsense, then please enlighten the rest of us as to why anyone would need to. or be allowed to data-mine our children.

Before you think the claim that your child’s evolving personal matrix of information would never be used against them at some future date, we should first consider what Politico has uncovered with regard to the loss of student privacy.

In a new investigative series, Politico is claiming the technology is so advanced in the classroom that an outside observer will know when your child takes a quiz, plays a game, turns the page on a text and will know every word the child writes. Politico has concluded that these behaviors indicate that our children are being data-mined. The video on the on Politico page is enlightening and troubling.

Personality Profiling By the Secret Service

The Secret Service is purchasing software in order to spy on social media participants in real time. In a recent Secret Service work order, the agency claims they will have access to an informational tool that is capable of collecting emotions of Internet users, old Twitter messages, and possesscapabilities to engage in the ability to detect sarcasm. This automated technology will “synthesize large sets of social media data” and “identify statistical pattern analysis” among other objectives, officials said.

Why does the government care about personal sarcasm in social media? The short answer is that they don’t. It does not take a rocket scientist to conclude that this technology has a broad spectrum capability and the appropriately named Secret Service has the capacity to detect much more than personal sarcasm. This looks like a beta test for monitoring social media for various trends like, perhaps, anti-government sentiment, harboring excessive thoughts about free speech, gun rights and the Constitution as well as other “inappropriate” attitudes. I apologize, but after reading about this new capability, the words “Red List” and “Blue List” come to mind. My paranoia gets a boost of realism when we consider this development within the context of surrounding behavior such as what we witnessed a few years ago at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when employees were required to report behaviors and attitudes of coworkers which might not be reflective DHS values and mission goals.

Big Brother Can Even Deny Bathroom Breaks

An unidentified teacher has implemented a behavioral modification system at Mill Plain Elementary in Vancouver, WA that gave students fake money to spend at a class auction at the end of the year. Bathroom breaks were added to the system as a way to cut back on disruptions during class. Someone forgot to tell these educators that eight and nine year old children have a tendency to take rules very literally.

Merchon Ortega told Fox News that her daughter had an accident after a teacher denied her a bathroom break. Ortega told the Fox reporter that her daughter chose to not to use the restroom and ended up urinating on herself. School officials deny any wrongdoing despite the fact that two more parents have filed complaints. I wonder what effect that urinating on oneself has on the motivation to learn the three R’s?

Does this authoritarian based insanity really need any further elaboration?

Removing the Right to Self-Defense

President Obama has never publicly stated that he intends on confiscating all guns from American citizens. However, actions do speak louder than words. A recent Department of Justice (DOJ) memo reveals that Obama is considering implementing measures which would result in national gun ban.

The DOJ document states that “a gun ban will not work without mandatory gun confiscation.” It also says universal background checks “won’t work without requiring national gun registration.” Subsequently, the document went on to state that “Background checks could provide a first step to control, and eventually outlaw firearms”.

Is it really necessary to remind all of you about the historical precedent related to the extreme dangers of the consequences to gun confiscation? TheUniversity of Hawaii actually teaches a class on this topic. Mao, Stalin, Hitler, et al., all confiscated guns before murdering a collective 260 million people in the 20th century.

The Obama Administration Asserts the Right to Murder Americans

A Defense Apartment document , entitled Defense Support of Civil Authorities (Directive 3025.18), emanating from the Obama Administration justifies the President’s authority for attacks on American citizens. Interestingly, this story was originally run by the Washington Times at this linkhttp://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/28/inside-the-ring-directive-outlines-/. This story has been scrubbed from the Washington Times website in a very interesting application of damage control.

This is the smoking gun which proves what many have been saying for years, the President is asserting the authority to murder American citizens without following the due process of law.

Obama’s supporters may assert that this action may be necessary to quell large riots and demonstrations are. However, these are not the only conditions under which this authority could be used by the President.

It gives the President the power to order military forces to quell “large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.” The directive also extends the same authority to kill mass numbers of Americans to military commanders when “authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation.” In other words, our military has been granted the authority to be judge, jury and executioner. The directive further states, “Federal action, including the use of federal military forces, is authorized when necessary to protect the federal property or functions.”

If one ever wondered why local police have been provided military grade weapons by DHS, this document justifies the practice. This document also provides for the ability to deploy the military in cases of a flu outbreak. I think that even the most ardent Obama supporter would have a difficult time justifying this action.

Conclusion

These are news items which appeared in the media on one day. These stories represent a miniscule cross-section of how the trampling of our Constitutional rights have impacted our daily lives. Our privacy, freedom, safety and even our right to self-defense have been removed by this administration.

Five years ago you would often hear the phrase “Out Constitution is on life support”. The patient has died and we now exist at the whim of the state.
Credit to Common Sense

Kerry in Beirut promotes US engagement with pro-Iranian Hizballah terrorists, after Hamas

Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Beirut Wednesday June 4 was part and parcel of the new turn in Obama administration policy, which is to start engaging directly with Arab governments backed by pro-Iranian terrorist organizations like the Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian Hamas. The first visit to Beirut in five years by a US secretary of state came two days after Washington rushed to accept and continue funding the Hamas-backed Palestinian government installed in Ramallah.

On his arrival in Lebanon, Kerry made some awkward comments:

"We do not recognize the government of Palestine – that would mean we recognize a state." He added that the US will continue to work with the new Palestinian unity government "as we need to" and will monitor daily its policies to ensure it "doesn't cross the line."

A leading member of the Lebanese government is Hizballah, which is classied in the US as a terrorist organization. By talking with prime minister Tammam Salam, Kerry articulated the new rule: Washington will maintain ties with a government, whether in Beirut or Ramallah, so long as it “doesn’t cross the line.”
At the same time, the US Secretary delivered into the hands of the Lebanese government a half billion dollar check for the Syrian refugees sheltering in Lebanon, ignoring the fact that its member, Hizballah, has crossed many lines by fighting for President Bashar Assad in the Syria civil war, and the death and destruction Hizballah helped inflict had put those refugees to flight.
But Kerry avoided defining the lines that must not be crossed and saying how the administration would respond if they were.

Talking to journalists later, Kerry himself crossed a line to new ground, when he said:

"Iran, Russia and Hizballah must engage in a legitimate effort to bring this war to an end,”

This was the first time a US Secretary of State has explicitly invited Hizballah, whose forces are fighting in Syrian under Iranian command, to be part of the quest for a political resolution of the Syrian war and accepted the Moscow-Tehran-Beirut axis as a critical partner in this effort. Up until now, Kerry insisted in leaving Iran and Hizballah out of US discussions with Moscow on the Syrian crisis.

Senior sources in Jerusalem sharply criticized Washington’s embrace of the most violent and radical of Middle East terrorist organizations. They saw no difference between the openness to Iran and Hizballah exhibited by Kerry in Beirut and the administration's readiness to do business with the Palestinian unity government backed to the hilt by Hamas.

According to those sources, by Thursday morning June 5, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had determined to go head-on against the new Obama administration line with a confrontation in the US Congress over its support for the Palestinian unity government.

Netanyahu will seek, with the aid of the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby, to get a law passed banning the continued transfer of US financial aid of approximately $500,000 a year to the Ramallah government, over its backing by the Hamas terrorist organization.
DEBKAfile's sources in Washington don’t expect this move to succeed. Even if the both houses of Congress enact such legislation - and that is doubtful - the president has enough legal and administrative resources to circumvent it.



Credit to DEBKAfile

THE PULPITS ARE SILENT

By Coach Dave Daubenmire
June 5, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

"For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" -Jeremiah 5:26-31

Despite what the political parties would like you to believe, the problem in America is not the politicians, it is the pulpits. I hate to break the news to you, but most of America's pulpits are filled with cowardly men. They are a shame to the Christ they claim to serve.

Harsh words, aren't they? Not the type of thing that will make any friends in this "cheap-Grace" culture in which we live. But that's okay. I'm not looking to make friends.

I am about fed-up with what I see. How did we ever get such man-pleasing leaders? All that our fore-fathers held dear is being destroyed before our very eyes and hardly a peep from the pulpit. They don't want to hear it. It's the pulpiteers that I am talking about. They are concerned with being " too harsh", they tell me that "Jesus is in control," that they are not "called" to fight evil and that "we should pray for our enemies."

Where have these guys come from? What we need is a return of the Voice of God thundering through the prophets standing in America's pulpits. Not the prissy Purpose Driven drivel passing as the Gospel today. The feminized-preachers of today cannot hold a candle to those who ushered in The Great Awakening which led to the American Revolution, and the abolition of slavery -- two world-changing events spearheaded by the pulpit.

Listen to the message of America's premiere preachers today. Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven Life have infiltrated the Church. Over 400,000 pastors have attended his conferences and over 40 million of his books have been sold. Wikipedia tells us "Since September 2002, over 30,000 congregations, corporations, and sports teams across the United States have participated in a "40 Days of Purpose" emphasis. A May 2005 survey of American pastors and ministers conducted by George Barna asked Christian leaders to identify what books were the most influential on their lives and ministries." The Purpose Driven Life was the most frequent response. Today's Christians are more familiar with the words of Warren than the Words of Jesus. Thousands of America's churches have used it in their Bible studies and thousands of preachers preach Warren's message.

Joel Osteen was voted Most Influential Christian in 2006. His preaching style focuses on "the goodness of God rather than sin." He is a self-described "Life-coach" and "thinks that there are probably others better qualified, or more gifted for explaining Bible verses. Osteen explains that he tries to teach Biblical principles in a simple way, emphasizing the power of love and a positive attitude." Wikipedia. "Presently, Osteen and several Lakewood Church team members travel across the nation, presenting programs in large stadiums to a paying public." He has sold millions of books to millions of feel-good Christians.

While our nation is killing babies, our schools are indoctrinating Christian-kids in Secular Humanism, and "Truth has fallen in the streets," our preachers are attending church-growth seminars, using 'self-help' books to supplement the Bible, and chasing after the butts and bucks. They are fiddling while the nation burns, building their church rather than Christ's Kingdom.

• Public schools are destroying the faith of Christian children.
• Legislation is introduced to remove the rights of parents.
• Children are taught they came from apes.
• Millions of children are "medicated" to control their behavior.

…and the pulpits are silent

• Gambling is promoted to pay for schools.
• Precious babies are being murdered in the womb.
• Planned Parenthood kills babies with our tax dollars.
• Judges make laws.

…and the pulpits are silent

• Tolerance trumps Truth.
• Homosexual sodomy is granted legal protection.
• The institution of marriage is crumbling.
• Obama says the Sermon on the Mount justifies gay marriage.

…and the ppulpits are silent

• Government has replaced God as defender and provider.
• Faith-based initiatives invite the government into the Church.
• The IRS muzzles the voice of the Church.
• Taxes are levied to do the work of the Church.

…and the pulpits are silent

• The Church locks arms with compassionate-conservatism.
• Children's service agencies separate family members.
• Self-help books replace the Bible.
• A Purpose Driven Life is elevated above dying to self.

…and the pulpits are silent

• G.W. Bush says Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
• The Constitution is ignored.
• Pagans pray to open a session of Congress.
• Our elected officials lie and steal.

…and the pulpits are silent

• Private property is stolen by government.
• Mother Earth is protected more than Father God is exalted.
• Illegal aliens over-run our borders.
• The American Presidency is more anti-Christian than any Whitehouse in history.
• The entertainment industry celebrates and promotes debauchery.



…and the pulpits are silent

Half The Country Makes Less Than $27,520 A Year And 15 Other Signs The Middle Class Is Dying

If you make more than $27,520 a year at your job, you are doing better than half the country is.  But you don't have to take my word for it, you can check out the latest wage statistics from the Social Security administrationright here.  

But of course $27,520 a year will not allow you to live "the American Dream" in this day and age.  After taxes, that breaks down to a good bit less than $2,000 a month.  You can't realistically pay a mortgage, make a car payment, afford health insurance and provide food, clothing and everything else your family needs for that much money.  That is one of the reasons why both parents are working in most families today. 

 In fact, sometimes both parents are working multiple jobs in a desperate attempt to make ends meet.  Over the years, the cost of living has risen steadily but our paychecks have not.  This has resulted in a steady erosion of the middle class.  Once upon a time, most American families could afford a nice home, a couple of cars and a nice vacation every year.  When I was growing up, it seemed like almost everyone was middle class.  But now "the American Dream" is out of reach for more Americans than ever, and the middle class is dying right in front of our eyes.

One of the things that was great about America in the post-World War II era was that we developed a large, thriving middle class.  Until recent times, it always seemed like there were plenty of good jobs for people that were willing to be responsible and work hard.  That was one of the big reasons why people wanted to come here from all over the world.  They wanted to have a chance to live "the American Dream" too.

But now the American Dream is becoming a mirage for most people.  No matter how hard they try, they just can't seem to achieve it.

And here are some hard numbers to back that assertion up.  The following are 15 more signs that the middle class is dying...

#1 According to a brand new CNN poll, 59 percent of Americans believe that it has become impossible for most people to achieve the American Dream...

The American Dream is impossible to achieve in this country.

So say nearly 6 in 10 people who responded to CNNMoney's American Dream Poll, conducted by ORC International. They feel the dream -- however they define it -- is out of reach.

Young adults, age 18 to 34, are most likely to feel the dream is unattainable, with 63% saying it's impossible. This age group has suffered in the wake of the Great Recession, finding it hard to get good jobs.

#2 More Americans than ever believe that homeownership is not a key to long-term wealth and prosperity...

The great American Dream is dying. Even though many Americans still desire to own a home, they are losing faith in homeownership as a key to prosperity.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans, or 64%, believe they are less likely to build wealth by buying a home today than they were 20 or 30 years ago, according to a survey sponsored by non-profit MacArthur Foundation. And nearly 43% said buying a home is no longer a good long-term investment.

#3 Overall, the rate of homeownership in the United States has fallenfor eight years in a row, and it has now dropped to the lowest levelin 19 years.

#4 52 percent of Americans cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now...

"Over half of Americans (52%) have had to make at least one major sacrifice in order to cover their rent or mortgage over the last three years, according to the “How Housing Matters Survey,” which was commissioned by the nonprofit John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and carried out by Hart Research Associates. These sacrifices include getting a second job, deferring saving for retirement, cutting back on health care, running up credit card debt, or even moving to a less safe neighborhood or one with worse schools."

#5 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 36 percent of Americans under the age of 35 own a home.  That is the lowest level that has ever been measured.

#6 Right now, approximately one out of every six men in the United States that are in their prime working years (25 to 54) do not have a job.

#7 The labor force participation rate for Americans from the age of 25 to the age of 29 has fallen to an all-time record low.

#8 The number of working age Americans that are not employed has increased by 27 million since the year 2000.

#9 According to the government's own numbers, about 20 percent of the families in the entire country do not have a single member that is employed at this point.

#10 This may sound crazy, but 25 percent of all American adults do not even have a single penny saved up for retirement.

#11 As I noted in one recent article, total consumer credit in the United States has increased by 22 percent over the past three years, and 56 percent of all Americans have "subprime credit" at this point.

#12 Major retailers are shutting down stores at the fastest pace that we have seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

#13 It is hard to believe, but more than one out of every five children in the United States is living in poverty in 2014.

#14 According to one recent report, there are 49 million Americansthat are dealing with food insecurity right now.

#15 Overall, the U.S. poverty rate is up more than 30 percent since 1966.  It looks like LBJ's war on poverty didn't work out too well after all.

Sadly, it does not appear that there is much hope on the horizon for the middle class.  More good jobs are being shipped out of the countryand are being lost to technology every single day, and our politicians seem convinced that "business as usual" is the right course of action for our nation.

Unless something dramatic happens, it is going to become increasingly difficult to eke out a middle class existence as a "worker bee" in American society.  The truth is that most big companies these days do not have any loyalty to their workers and really do not care what ends up happening to them.

To thrive in this kind of environment, new and different thinking is required.  The paradigm of "go to college, get a job, stay loyal and retire after 30 years" has been shattered.  The business world is more unstable now than it has been during any point in the post-World War II era, and we are all going to have to adjust.

So what advice would you give to people that are struggling out there right now?  Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below…

Credit to economic collapse

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7 In 10 Americans Believe The Crisis Is Not Over and Worst Is Yet To Come... 52% Can't Afford Their Homes

For all the talk about a recovery, pundits, especially those who peddle expensive newsletters, continue to forget one key distinction of the New Normal: there are those for whom the recovery has never been stronger, well under 10% of the population, i.e., the already wealthy whose net worth is allocated in financial assets. And then there is everyone else, that vast majority of Americans, who not only have not benefited by the Fed's relentless balance sheet expansion and accompanying asset reflation but whose incomes just posted the first decline in real terms since 2012.

It is this latter segment that should be concerned by a recent survey conducted by the MacArthur Foundation titled "How Housing Matters".

According to the survey during the past three years, over half of all U.S. adults (52%) have had to make at least one sacrifice in order to cover their rent or mortgage. Such sacrifices included getting an additional job, deferring saving for retirement, cutting back on health care and healthy foods, running up credit card debt, or moving to a less safe neighborhood or one with worse schools.

More disturbing, the survey also found that while there are some indicators that the American public’s views about the housing crisis are shifting toward the positive, large proportions of the public are not feeling the relief: seven in 10 (70%) believe we are still in the middle of the crisis or that the worst is yet to come. 

And no, it is not just the high school graduates who are desperate: a whopping 60% of college grads agree: the worst is yet to come (perhaps after looking at their student loan balances).

Some more facts.

As MarketWatch reports, "although mortgage rates are still quite low, down payments, poor credit and tighter lending standards remain three of the biggest hurdles for buying a home, especially among young people, Blomquist says. “The slow jobs recovery for young adults has made it harder for them to save and to get a mortgage.” Some 84% of young people are delaying major life decisions due to the poor economy, according to a 2013 survey by Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit think tank based in Arlington, Va."

What’s more, at least 15% of American homeowners (or residents of 78 counties across the country) were living in housing markets where the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home requires more than 30% of the monthly median household income — long considered the maximum for rent/mortgage repayments. Housing costs above that threshold are “unaffordable by historic standards,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at real estate data firm RealtyTrac. In New York county/Manhattan, mortgage payments represent 77% of the median income and in San Francisco County represents 70%.

As a result of a broken economy and lack of good job opportunities the "American dream" is now on its last legs: more than half of Americans, or 54%, believe that buying a home has become less appealing than it once was while some 43% of respondents have indicated that it is no longer the case that owning a home is “an excellent long-term investment and one of the best ways for people to build wealth and assets." Even as seven in 10 renters (70%) aspire to owning a home, high proportions (58%) believe that “renters can be just as successful as owners at achieving the American Dream.”

Why not: as long as one is able to delude themselves that renting the American Dream is "good enough."

And the biggest disconnect between the abovementioned pundits, all of whom most likely have lucrative jobs that pay 6 or 7 figure incomes:while economists and housing experts say the housing crisis is behind us, large proportions of the American people are not feeling the relief.  Very high proportions of the public (70%) continue to believe that we are still in the midst of the housing crisis (51%) or that the worst is yet to come (19%). Only 25% believe “the housing crisis is pretty much over.” The public in 2014 is only slightly more optimistic than it was one year ago, when 77% believed we were still in the middle of the crisis or that the worst was yet to come.  More than two in five adults (42%) believe the housing market today continues to be a serious problem.

The biggest irony is that for most, the biggest culprit for the current economic fiasco, the US government, is the only entity that can help in the existing economic predicament:

Americans believe that government can and should be doing more to improve housing affordability for both renters and owners. Indeed, most do not think that either homeownership or renting should take priority. Rather, solid majorities want the federal government to invest in both equally.

Stupidity aside, we hope that this clarifies the perpetually nagging question: why is there is no retail participation in this Fed-engineered, centrally-planned rally. The simple answer: people just don't have the disposable income to chase stocks at record highs. The not so simple answer: people's faith in US capital markets, just like their economic well-being, is slowly being eroded at the expense of the wealthiest 1% of US society, which, as Piketty correctly observes (if incorrectly diagnoses ways to fix) has never been richer.

Credit to Zero Hedge