The only Escape from Obama's New World Order

Before I explain I want to assure you that there is only one way to escape the what is about to come upon those who dwell on the Earth. That escape is what most Christians understand to be the Rapture. This is an event, for those who do not understand, that is described all throughout the bible. It is in fact the main theme of scripture. It is the whole reason for all that has taken place in creation or that will take place going forward. If you are not aware of it, I beg that you become aware of it because there is solid proof that this event may be as early as May or June of 2010. No I do not know the day or the hour, but I do know the signs and, though many Christians don't believe them, they are here.

Now I call it Obama's New World Order only to draw you in I am afraid. It really is not something that belongs to Obama. He is simply another vessel in a long line of vessels that the devil is using to bring about what God has said will come. The best way I know of to get a good understanding of what we are facing is through youtube. Their are many videos on there that will educate you.

However, as in all things you must discern them and find the proper balance of information. There are even some sites that I am sure you should not watch. It is recommended by God's word and by every anointed pastor I have ever heard that you pray before searching. Humans cannot find the truth outside of prayer. They might find some truth and get all swelled in the head thinking they can do it but believe me the word of God is proved to be the Word of God through fulfilled prophecy and the Word says humble yourself before the mighty hand of God and that God resists the proud. Don't be fooled. If Satan tempted Jesus then we to are vulnerable. Our only hope is in the Holy ghost. He is the key to our escape and He only answers to faith in Jesus.

For a complete description of what I am about to say please go to www.tkic.piczo.com

In prophecy we are told in Daniel 9:26,27 that a prince of the people that destroyed the temple and the sanctuary will make a covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he will stop the sacrifice and oblation and for the overspreading of abomination he will make it desolate.

I need to explain this scripture for those who don't understand it before I can go on so please be patient.

This prince of the people is a key to following the signs for when the rapture will take place. This covenant was signed on Jan 1/2007. The people who destroyed the city and the sanctuary were the Roman soldiers in 70 AD, almost 2000 years ago. Therefore the prince who shall come has to be somehow related to the Roman Empire. He is therefore not the President of the USA any other person that cannot be directly related to the Roman Empire.

Now most teachers on this area of prophecy believe that the European Union is the same entity as the Roman Empire only with a new title. The original 7 nations in the European Union covered almost the same lands as the Roman Empire. The philosophy behind the EU is almost the same philosophy behind the Roman Empire. Daniels interpretation of the dream in Daniel 2 tells us that the Roman Empire was an iron rule and that the final Nation will be a rule of iron and clay. If we look at Revelation 13 we find 2 beasts. The first matches the description of Daniel 7s 10 nations, however the second beast in Revelation 13:11 has 2 horns. This is the clay part of the toes in Daniel 2s dream. This clay is the USA with a partner which I believe will prove to be Canada. The EU has 10 ruling nations and 17 tag along nations. In America we now have the North American Union created by President Bush behind the backs of the people. As a tag along nation we have Mexico.

This second beast exercises all of the power of the first beast in his presence. The USA does this in the presence of the EU. The second beast causes all both small and great to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. Motorola, an American company, has developed the virochip for implanting in every man woman and child by which they can control the populace. They are planning to use it. At present it is only voluntary.  Canada is one of the worlds leaders in robotics. This second beast makes an image of one of the kings in the first beast and causes it to be able to talk. There is no other entity than the North American Union that matches so well with Revelation 13 second beast.
Now concerning the one week covenant (count each day for a year and we have 7 years), if the prince must come out of the EU then we have a match. First let me exhort a little. It has been taught by many that this covenant will be a 7 year peace treaty simply based on the verse "when they cry peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them". This verse does not tell us that there will be a peace treaty. It has been taken out of context and has been used to blind many Christians from the fact that the covenant has already been signed.
Joveir Solana worked with many Middle East leaders for years and managed to make agreements with them that would financially guarantee their stability in the future. This was a great undertaking for the EU and therefore would require a budget. The budget that they work with has a 7 year term and was due to begin anew on Jan 01/2007. On that date Solana made a quick trip with very little fan fare and signed the papers to guarantee these agreements for 7 years with a midterm reevaluation to take place sometime this year 2010.

We have a seven year covenant literally confirmed  by a head of the EU. The word prince in Daniel 9:26 can be translated commander, chief, prince, noble, captain or governor. Solana has since given up the office he held at the time the covenant was signed but before he gave it up he set forth declaration # 666. In this declaration the acting High Representative of the EU has the power to take control of the whole 27 state EU if he or she believes it is an emergency situation.

Now I understand that there are many in the body of believers that are convinced that there is to be a rapture before the 7 year covenant is signed. To These I would recommend you search the scriptures to prove your beliefs. I have done so as have many other Christians, and have never found concrete evidence of this so called pre-tribulation rapture. I will now try to help you understand that it does not exist in the manner that it has been taught.
The first teaching that must be understood is that of the 7 year tribulation. This teaching is not found in scripture and has been used along with the lie of the peace treaty to cloud Christians understanding of the rapture. It is very simple really. We have suffered tribulation as Christians since the resurrection of Christ but the theme we are facing is the great tribulation. This is only spoken of 4 times in scripture. In Mathew 24:15 we are told to watch for the abomination that causes desolation. According to Daniel this abomination is placed in the temple or on the pinnacle of the temple in the midst of the 7 year covenant. The great tribulation follows this event and therefore it is not 7 year tribulation but 3 1/2 year tribulation. The same can be said about the great tribulation of Luke 21. Revelation tells us that we can be found worthy to escape the tribulation and another scripture reveals those who have come out of great tribulation. None of these point to the 7 years.

Now the first teaching I will deal with is the idea that Revelations 4 reveals a pre seven year rapture. It is said that the church is not mentioned after this verse so it cannot be here on Earth. That is the first big leap of context jumping. Scripture does not say the church is not here after this event and it was not the church that was called up in verse one but John and nowhere in the bible is John ever a symbol of the church. Case closed.

Then there is Thessalonians 2 where the man of sin is revealed only after the church is removed. It is said by many that the man of sin is revealed when he signs the peace treaty. First, there doesn't have to be a 7 year peace treaty, not that there won't be a peace treaty of some sort, but scripture does not say there is. Then where in this chapter does it say this is the same man who makes the covenant or that he is revealed when he makes the covenant. You can believe he does if you wish but scripture doesn't say so.

Then there is the Jewish wedding where the bride is supposedly wisped away by the groom 7 days before the feast. This could be true but where does it say so in the bible. It is the bible that we were given to lead us not the Jewish customs.

All this being said let me explain what I am sure the Lord has shown me in scripture.

I believe that there are 2 raptures for the church. One that takes Christians in the midst of the 7 years and one near the end of the 7 years.

Let me explain because therein lies the only possible escape from the New World Order. Bear in mind that the midst of the week or 7 years will be some time in may of this year 2010. Don't know the day or the hour but the signs point in this direction.

In first Corinthians 15:51-54 we are told that we will be changed in a moment , in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Cast down every high thought and imagination that exalts itself above that and get free of the confusion. It is that simple.

There is a great trumpet in Mathew 24:31 that sounds after the abomination which is at the midst of the 7 years; there is a trumpet that sounds in Revelation 11:15 after the 2 witnesses finish their testimony and are raptured at the end of the 7 years. It is simple. Can the LAST trumpet sound before these mentioned? No! So cast down the imaginations and be free.

Now there are 2 scriptures that fly in the face of this. One is in first Thessalonians 5:9 where we are not destined to wrath and the other is in Revelation 3:10 where we are told that if we keep the word of his patience he will keep us from the hour of temptation that comes upon the world to try them that dwell in the world. This hour of temptation is the temptation to receive the mark so we can feed our children.

So where is this mid 7 year rapture? It is found in Revelation 12. It is the child that is caught up. Notice that in Revelation 2 those who overcome the spirit of Jezebel (the false prophet) are given a rod of iron to rule the nations just as Jesus received? The woman is clothed in the sun which is symbolic of light. We are to study prophecy as light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and Jesus arises in our heart. Now this woman has the moon under her feet which is symbolic of where she walks, in darkness (sin). The crown of twelve stars are the 12 apostles who are part of our foundation of which Jesus is the chief corner stone. So then the woman is that part of the church who believe in Jesus but are walking in all manner of sin from pride, fornication, idolatry to religion. The child are those Christians who are walking in obedience to Christ at the time required in the midst of the 7 years.

Notice they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. Notice that the woman remains in the wilderness for 3 1/2 years and notice that the remainder of her seed keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy.

This is not talking about Israel, it is talking about the church. Do you want to escape those things that are about to come upon the children of disobedience? Then make it right with God and get filled with the Holy Ghost. The time is short. He will make a way. If you reach out to him in agreement with scripture and not religion, He will reach out to you.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/20156/The_only_Escape_from_Obamas_New_World_Order.html

The Charleston Gazette -- Kooks: The wild bunch

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Conservative Canadian editor Jonathan Kay attended the U.S. Tea Party convention in Nashville, not as a news reporter but as a paying participant. While most American reporters focused on Sarah Palin's speech, Kay says he was amazed by the number of "unhinged paranoiacs" at the assembly.
In a Newsweek report titled "Black Helicopters Over Nashville," the managing editor of Canada's National Post recounts how he was repelled by "toxic fantasies being spewed from the podium."
For example, Texas radio host Alex Jones claimed that Barack Obama's presidency is a plot by leaders of the New World Order to "con the American people into accepting global slavery." Kay continued:
"According to this dark vision, America's 21st-century traumas signal the coming of a great political cataclysm, in which a false prophet such as Barack Obama will upend American sovereignty and render the country into a godless, one-world, socialist dictatorship run by the United Nations from its offices in Manhattan."
Judge Roy Moore -- who was removed in Alabama for illegally installing a huge Ten Commandments monument in his courthouse, and now is a GOP candidate for governor -- warned the Nashville gathering of "a U.N. guard stationed in every house."
Another Tea Party figure warned that "Washington, D.C., liberals had engineered the financial crash so they could destroy the value of the U.S. dollar, pay off America's debts with worthless paper, and then create a new currency called the Amero that would be used in a newly created North American Currency Union with Canada and Mexico."
Various "birthers" at the convention contended that Obama was born in Kenya, thus fails to meet the Constitution's requirement that the president must be a "natural born citizen."
Meanwhile, Tuesday's New York Times contained a long analysis of oddball extremists among the hodgepodge of Tea Party leaders -- including armed "militia" crackpots. One female organizer expressed fears of "another civil war." The paper added:
"In Indiana, Richard Behney, a Republican Senate candidate, told Tea Party supporters what he would do if the 2010 elections did not produce result to his liking: 'I'm cleaning my guns and getting ready for the big show. And I'm serious about that, and I bet you are too."
The lily-white Tea Party movement seems laced with unspoken racial prejudice against America's first black president, the Times noted. Barack Obama is endlessly depicted as "not one of us" and even as an African witch doctor. He's called an agent of the New World Order, covertly bringing "socialist tyranny" to America through plots such as universal health care.
No wonder Alice Moore, who caused Kanawha County's 1974 uprising against "godless textbooks," became a Tea Party participant at Nashville.
This movement is sort of a wing of the Republican Party. The GOP national committee created a Web page urging supporters to mail teabags and send electronic teabag pictures to Democratic leaders. Later, the page was removed.
Heaven help America. Even Bill O'Reilly, the dean of Fox News conservatives, was moved to say:
"Some of these Tea Party people are nuts. They are. They're crazy. I mean, we sent Jesse Watters down there, and he puts the number at about 10 percent who are just loons, out of their mind."

http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/Editorials/201002190459 

Job market improvement may be slowing, data show

Job market's improvement may be slowing as economy struggles to make gains


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Layoffs aren't slowing as fast as some analysts had expected.
That was the message Thursday in a government report that the number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week. Jobless claims rose by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 473,000.
The increase followed a drop of 41,000 in the previous week. The earlier figure had raised hopes that the job market was improving steadily.
The four-week average for claims dipped 1,500 to 467,500, near the lows at the end of last year. The average smooths out week-to-week volatility. But many economists say the four-week average would need to fall consistently below 425,000 to signal that the economy is close to generating net job gains. The economy has lost 8.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
Further evidence that the pace of the economic recovery is slowing was a private research group's forecast of economic activity. The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose for a 10th straight month in January, but the rate of increase is easing. The index is designed to forecast activity in the next three to six months.
Many economists have raised concern that growth will stagnate this year as government support programs wind down and unemployment remains high.
The key message from the leading indicators is that the recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s is plodding ahead -- "stumbling at times, but it is moving forward," said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Analysts say the closing of businesses and government offices last week because of snowstorms might have prevented some newly unemployed workers from filing their initial claims for unemployment benefits.
The figures were collected as the government also was gathering information for the February report on the unemployment rate and employer payrolls. The severe weather may distort those figures, too, economists said. That could make it hard to get an accurate picture of the job market for several weeks.
Even so, some analysts said the latest figures are a cautionary signal.
"At least for the moment, the trend in layoffs seems at best to have leveled off -- and perhaps to have begun a renewed increase," Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics, wrote in a research note.
Manufacturing has been among the few pockets of strength in the economy. But many other industries in the much larger service sector remain weak.
"Strong manufacturing is not enough to support the labor market as a whole, it seems," said Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics.
A third report Thursday said wholesale prices shot up at double the expected pace in January. But the surprising surge was viewed as a temporary blip and not a signal of sustained inflation. The Labor Department said wholesale prices rose 1.4 percent. But most of the increase was due to a jump in gasoline prices, which surged 11.5 percent.
Core inflation at the wholesale level, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.3 percent. But that, too, was due mainly to a single volatile category: light trucks.
Over the past 12 months, core prices at the wholesale level have risen a moderate 1 percent. Most economists say inflation is unlikely to become a threat any time soon because of downward pressures on wages and prices from layoffs and fear of further job losses.
Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the prolonged recession has acted to dampen a broad range of prices. He noted that a year ago, core wholesale prices were rising at 12-month rates that were as high as 4.2 percent, compared with the 1 percent increase currently.
Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up 4.6 percent, the largest 12-month increase since a 5.2 percent rise in the 12 months ending in October 2008. But the price pressures are coming primarily from big increases in the cost of energy.
Food prices rose 0.4 percent in January following a 1.3 percent jump in December. Last month, the price increases came in meat, up 3 percent, processed poultry, up 2.3 percent and milk products, which rose 1.7 percent.
The absence of inflation pressures has allowed the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low in an effort to spur economic growth.
The central bank released the minutes of its Jan. 26-27 meeting on Wednesday. At that meeting, Fed officials kept the target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge on overnight loans, at zero to 0.25 percent, where it has been since December 2008. They repeated their pledge to keep rates "exceptionally low" for an "extended period."
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested last week that the Fed was still months away from raising rates.
Many private economists believe that the Fed's first rate increase will not come until the second half of this year. And some believe the central bank could keep rates unchanged for the entire year, given the absence of inflation and what they believe will be a sluggish recovery.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Job-market-improvement-may-be-apf-2019761162.html?x=0

A Familiar Pattern: “Anarchists” Disrupt Peaceful Protest in Vancouver

Once again, so-called “anarchists,” clad in black with their faces masked, have engaged in violent protest and property destruction, this time in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics.
“A loosely organized group of ‘thugs’ from central Canada promoting anarchy were among 200 anti-Olympic protesters who marched through downtown Vancouver Saturday, smashing plate glass windows at Hudson’s Bay and TD bank, overturning newspaper boxes and assaulting bystanders, police say. They used spray paint on cars and transit buses, tore down signs and threw about road construction barricades as they marched down the street,” reports CTV.



In 2007, Canadian cops were caught red-handed posing as anarchists during a North American Union summit in Montebello, Quebec. “Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North American leaders’ summit,” the Toronto Star reported. “Such accusations have been made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged ‘agents provocateurs’ have been caught on camera.”
Photographs released showed the supposed “anarchists” wearing the same boots as the police arresting them. “Protest organizers on Wednesday played the video for the media at a news conference in Ottawa. One of the organizers, union leader Dave Coles, explained that one reason protesters knew the men’s true identities was because they were wearing the same boots as other police officers,” CBC News reported on August 23, 2007.
“Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protest at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que.” The police refused additional comment.
In Pittsburgh during the G20 in September, police agents provocateurs were exposed during a march against police brutality.
In the aftermath of “anarchist” violence during the London G20 in April, 2009, British MP Tom Brake called for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite violence. “When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, ‘There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,’” Brake The Guardian on May 10.

Following a now well established pattern, demonstrations against the 2010 Olympics were peaceful until the “anarchists” arrived. “The protest remained peaceful until about 30 minutes before the Opening Ceremonies,” The Province reports today. “Some protesters began throwing large traffic pylons, eggs, broken flagpoles, bags of vinegar and potatoes at officers. There was also pushing within the crowd.”

“According to police, some of the demonstrators are from out of province and are here to promote anarchy.”
“Police said Saturday’s event involved protesters from other parts of Canada and the United States,” Reuters added.
Canadian officials, however, were successful in preventing independent journalists from entering the country. On February 11, Chicago Indymedia reported on the detention and deportation of several journalists at the Canadian border. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security apparently worked in tandem with the Canadians to prevent the journalists from entering the country.
Canadian police went out of their way to intimidate activists prior to the Olympics. “For months now, police have been knocking on the doors of known activists and tracking them down in their neighborhoods to ‘chat’ about their Olympic protest plans,” The Vancouver Sun reported last July.
The Vancouver city council enacted bylaws providing sweeping discretionary powers to Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Manager Penny Ballem to do whatever is “warranted,” “necessary or desirable” to ensure the Olympics’ “safety and security” and “protection of commercial rights,” according to the newspaper.
The bylaws authorized police to search people, install closed circuit cameras, confiscate megaphones and “anything that makes noise,” and prohibit anyone who would “cause any disturbance or nuisance interfering with the enjoyment of entertainment on city land by other persons.”
Despite these draconian restrictions and the interrogation of activists by police, the anarchists slipped through the police state net and were allowed to destroy property as the media and police looked on.

 http://www.prisonplanet.com/a-familiar-pattern-%E2%80%9Canarchists%E2%80%9D-disrupt-peaceful-protest-in-vancouver.html

United, but not with Europe

The good news is that from Asia to the Americas, an increasing number of countries are coming together to create unions inspired by the EU. And the bad news? In the long term these entities may overshadow the EU on the world stage, worries Polish weekly Wprost.

Four times the population of the EU's 27 member states, a surface area of 14 million square kilometres and a GDP of more than USD6 trillion: these are the characteristics of the free-trade bloc formed on 1st January by China and the countries of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which include Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

In uniting with the ten-member trade bloc, Beijing has sent a clear message that it has embraced a policy of joining forces with its neighbours rather than one of perpetuating competition between them. In 2013, the China-ASEAN group may be enlarged to included Japan, South Korea, Australia and — in the event of the resolution of its long-standing conflict with China — even Taiwan. In the next 20 to 30 years, the most powerful political union of all time will be established in Asia, where the free trade bloc will pave the way for customs and monetary union, points out Professor Krzysztof Rybinski of the Warsaw School of Economics.

An economic counterweight

At the same time, Experts are wondering about the potential impact of the single economic space between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, which was also launched on 1st January. For the time being, the trio of countries that are also members of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) only forms a customs union. The stated objective of constituting "a counterweight" to the EU ought to attract more former members of the Soviet Union. However, the current context, which is characterized by the lack of a long-term action plan for the bloc and the obstacles of unfavourable tax systems and unyielding bureaucracy, is likely to remain a major impediment to the development of trade within the EAEC.

Even if there is no real competition from the EAEC, the European Union cannot afford to rest on its laurels at a time when the EU economy increasingly resembles an athlete who has replaced a weight training programme with a regimen of happy meals. In recent years, Europe has registered a negative balance of trade, and consistently buys more than it sells. And the contrast between Europe's enormous GDP of USD19 trillion and the decline in economic growth in the Union (approximately 0.5%  in 2009, as opposed to 3% in 2006) is a clear sign of a bleak outlook for the future. At the root of this malaise is a failure to focus on the priority of economic development which has largely been sidelined by the project of political integration.

NAFTA GDP is catching up with EU

Nonetheless, the initial success of the EU has inspired other regions of the world to create their own unions. For the most part, these will not exert any real power for several decades to come, but they have already begun to appropriate a share of markets that used to be the sole preserve of Europe. According to the International Monetary Fund, Europe's share of global GDP is set to decline from 30% to 25% by 2014. In terms of GDP, NAFTA — which includes the US, Mexico and Canada — already rivals the EU, but the NAFTA economy is developing at a faster pace, even in the throes of the economic crisis. The strength of the US-led customs union resides not only in the harmonisation of tariffs, but also in a policy of reciprocal investment between member countries.

Notwithstanding the tensions created by US immigration policy, which remains opposed to the free circulation of labour, NAFTA will likely pave the way for an American economic union, and at some point in the future it is likely adopt a common currency: the "amero." To date, the accession of South American countries to NAFTA has not been possible for the simple reason that they already form part of their own powerful economic union. As early as 1969, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia founded the Andean Community, which in 2008 participated, along with Mercosur (led by Brazil and Argentina), in the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), designed to unite all of Latin America in a structure similar to the EU. UNASUR will certainly need time before it becomes a serious contender. A fact highlighted by the regular recurrence of economic crises in South America, although Brazil remains a powerful country with a reliable economic policy, says Krzysztof Rybinski.

Islamic finance, a new global player

Africa is also beset by economic crisis. Agricultural subsidies in the EU and NAFTA continue to constitute an effective barrier for African exports, and the extremely low level of external trade is further hampered by the lack of technology and huge levels of debt. Today, hope for the Africa is mainly focused on the flow of business from India and China, which have invested USD80 billion in the continent in recent years, and the EU would do well to adopt a similar policy of providing support in the form of business know-how instead of restricting its intervention to the sending of convoys of humanitarian aid.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is increasingly becoming a global player. If its members decide to invest revenues from oil sales in financial and technologies and institutions, their economies will no longer depend on raw materials and could dominate other economies in the region. As for the initiative to develop an Islamic banking system aligned with Shariah law, the benefits of GCC (such as the stabilization of the financial system, notably through a ban on usury) have yet to be proven. Perhaps these measures will constitute a wholly new value on an international scale?

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/186661-united-not-europe

2 strikes, one foul and a hit

Some bills have merit, others a waste

It can be easy to get discouraged by the S.C. Statehouse.

Consider House bill 4455, which orders Congress to withdraw from any activity that would create a "North American Union" of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Obviously, there is no "North American Union," nor any plan to create one - unless you also believe the moon landing was faked.

The bill also describes "planned NAFTA superhighways," which are another conspiracy-theorist fantasy, according to FactCheck.org, The Washington Post and a host of other independent, credible organizations. The resolution comes from Republican state Rep. Mike Pitts of Laurens, who also gave us the sales-tax holiday on guns. Now we know why he thinks we need them.

How about House bill 4457, introduced the same day last week by Democratic state Rep. Bill Bowers of Hampton? In what has to be the year's biggest affront to the public's right to know so far, Bowers proposes not only exempting public officials' "personal" e-mails from the state's open-records law, but actually punishing anyone who discloses them with fines or jail time. Want to know if your lawmaker has been exchanging notes with lobbyists? Under Bowers' bill, it'd be pointless to even ask - those e-mails might be "personal."

State law is already too weak in this area, with a loophole allowing the government to withhold information that could create an "unreasonable invasion of personal privacy." It's intended to protect private data such as individuals' Social Security numbers, but Gov. Mark Sanford successfully exploited this provision last summer to avoid turning over whole documents that might have determined whether he arranged a 2008 Commerce Department trip to Argentina as a pretense for a meeting with his lover. Apparently, Bowers wants to turn Sanford's escape hatch into an official evacuation route.

Another proposal that has been hotly debated in both Columbia and the Lowcountry is tax incentives for the developers who plan to build the 1.5 million-square-foot Okatie Crossings "shopping center and luxury outlet mall." Using the tax money that major new commercial developments expect to generate is reasonable in theory - it's been successful in the Grand Strand, for example - and the Jasper County project, unlike the two bills above, at least deserved debate.

The question, however, is whether the Okatie project would generate new jobs of statewide significance. The $100 million incentive bill has already cleared its Senate committee, but we hope the Horry and Georgetown delegations will fight on the full floor to hang on to any tax revenue Okatie generates for use in out-of-state tourism advertising.

A spot of genuine good news is welcome indeed. Seemingly out of the blue, Sen. Dick Elliott of North Myrtle Beach tacked an amendment onto the Myrtle Beach 1-percent sales-tax provision that mandates public disclosure of all the money received and spent every three months. The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce had already made a pretty good start at this voluntarily, but state and local lawmakers should never have allowed it to be a volunteer effort in the first place. By writing the disclosure requirement into law, Elliott has ensured the public will have insight into how its money is being spent. We hope the House of Representatives will pass it quickly.
http://www.thesunnews.com/opinion/story/1308674.html

A new generation of North American citizens

The North American Forum on Integration (NAFI) was created in 2002, and is one of many think tanks pushing for closer continental ties.

In 2005, NAFI organized the Triumvirate, a North American model parliament which meets once a year. The exercise brings together university students from the U.S., Mexico and Canada with participants assigned the roles of legislators, journalists or lobbyists. Over the years, the mock parliament has debated and drafted resolutions on such key issues as trade corridors, immigration, NAFTA’s Chapter 11, along with the creation of a North American investment fund and a customs union.

Infowars reported that last year’s Triumvirate gathering was cancelled due to the swine flu pandemic scare.

The Triumvirate 2010 will be held in Querétaro, Mexico. A description on its website states that, “This 5th edition will gather a hundred university students from Mexico, the United States and Canada to participate, from May 30th to June 4th, 2010, in an international negotiation exercise in which they will simulate a parliamentary meeting.” Some of the main objectives of the Triumvirate event include, “To allow participants to familiarize themselves with the functioning of democratic institutions as well as North American political, economic, environmental and social realities; to develop the participants’ sense of belonging to North America [and] to increase intercultural exchanges and promote the creation of academia networks.”

This year’s delegates will address such topics as making smart borders more efficient, managing transboundary water in North America, as well as countering human trafficking and consolidating North American governance. While the model legislature is seen as an opportunity for students to better understand the political process and the challenges facing the continent, in many ways it mirrors actual efforts to further integrate the three countries. This includes the vision of a real functioning North American parliament similar to the European Union (EU) model.

In a 2008 article, journalist Steve Watson described the mock parliament as “another example of an overarching movement on behalf of globalist business leaders and politicians to merge the three nations of North America into an EU like federation.” He added, “Integration meetings such as the NAFI Triumvirate are simulations of the exact practices currently being undertaken by the SPP and its offshoot organizations. The NAFI Triumvirate is designed to familiarize ‘future Canadian, American and Mexican leaders’ with the processes involved in such practices.”

Watson also pointed out that missing from the whole activity is any simulated opposition to the agenda being presented. The reality is that not all issues need to be addressed in a bilateral, trilateral or global fashion as some are best solved at a local, state and national level. It is important to learn about other countries and instill a sense of cooperation, but the Triumvirate exercise appears to be aimed at indoctrinating students to view themselves as North American citizens as opposed to Americans, Canadians or Mexicans.

Many of the recommendations from the 2005 report, Building a North American Community became part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) agenda and the push for deep integration. The policy paper advocated the creation of a network of centers for North American studies. It recommended that “the three governments open a competition and provide grants to universities in each of the three countries to promote courses, education and research on North America and assist elementary and secondary schools in teaching about North America.” The report also recommended developing “teacher exchange training programs for elementary and secondary school teachers. This would assist in removing language barriers and give some students a greater sense of a North American identity.”

In his article The Future of North America, Robert Pastor, one of the leading proponents of continental integration proclaimed, “To educate a new generation of students to think North American, each country should begin by supporting a dozen centers for North American studies. Each center should educate students, undertake research, and foster exchanges with other North American universities for both students and faculty.”

The Center for North American Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., “was established to educate a new generation of students, to promote policy debate among the governments and the public, and to undertake research on ideas for a continental future.”

Arizona State University has also created the North American Center for Transborder Studies whose mission “is to advance greater understanding of border and trilateral issues in North America by supporting scholars who contribute to the development of innovative theory and actionable policy analysis regarding these issues.”

The North American Integration and Development Center based at the University of California, Los Angeles, “seeks to build linkages among a wide variety of institutions, organizations, and community groups in order to promote North American integration.”

These various centers, along with other initiatives are part of the ongoing efforts to further condition and train a new generation into accepting a North American consciousness.

The ideology of globalization is deeply embedded in the corporate structure, mass media, government, as well as in the whole educational system. Together they are working to shape the minds of the next generation. Students at all levels are being indoctrinated to conform to universal values and standards. Under a new global order, there is no room for nationalism or individuality. Increasingly, it is special interest groups, multinational corporations, think tanks, and other nongovernmental organizations who are pulling the strings of power. National sovereignty remains one of the last obstacles to the full implementation of a North American Union and global government.

Dana Gabriel is an activist and independent researcher. He writes about trade, globalization, sovereignty, as well as other issues. Contact: beyourownleader@hotmail.com. Visit his blog site at beyourownleader.blogspot.com.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5557.shtml

There Is some Budget Good News, but It Is Actually Really Bad News

The  Office of Management and Budget has released the President’s FY2011 budget and the Congressional Budget Office has released its semi-annual Budget and Economic Outlook. Much of the coverage of these documents has focused on deficit numbers. This is not a trivial concern, particularly since the Bush-Obama policies of bigger government have dramatically boosted red ink.

But the most important numbers in the budget documents are the estimates of what is happening to government spending. The good news is that burden of government spending is projected to decline over the next few years from about 25 percent of GDP to less than 23 percent of GDP.
That’s the good news.


The bad news is that federal government outlays only consumed 18.2 percent of economic output when Bush took office. In other words, notwithstanding the good news cited above, the size and scope of government has increased dramatically since 2001. The worse news is that the long-run spending forecasts show a cataclysmic expansion in the burden of government. The “optimistic” estimate is that the federal government will consume more than 30 percent of GDP by 2050 and 40 percent of GDP by 2080.

http://biggovernment.com/2010/02/01/there-is-some-budget-good-news-but-it-is-actually-really-bad-news/