Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Sheikh Salah: Netanyahu May Set Mideast on Fire
Oct 3rd, 2009
Daily NewsYnet News - Sharon Roffe-Ofir
Categories: The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

Islamic leader: PM a political madman, Arabs will become martyrs to protect al-Aqsa

Should Muslims have to choose between renouncing the al-Aqsa Mosque and becoming martyrs they will choose the latter, the leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch told followers Friday.

"Should the State of Israel make us choose…we will clearly choose to be martyrs," said Sheikh Raed Salah in the annual al-Aqsa convention in Umm al-Fahm. "We are a nation that does not give up, we will die and win; the al-Aqsa Mosque is not a matter that can be given up on, and we shall win, God willing."

Art's Commentary...... This attitude of the Palestinians is at the very heart of the problem of rebuilding the Temple. The problem will be overcome by Antichrist when he comes on the scene.

Rep. Boehner Accuses Obama of Subverting Constitution
Oct 3rd, 2009
Daily NewsNewsmax.com - Jim Meyers and David A. Patten
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

House Minority Leader John Boehner is accusing President Obama of subverting and circumventing the Constitution by appointing so-called czars who are not subject to Senate confirmation or scrutiny.

In a wide-ranging interview with Newsmax.TV on Thursday, the Ohio Republican discussed issues ranging from healthcare reform to President Obama’s refusal to engage the GOP leadership in bipartisanship.

But Boehner’s most pointed comments came when Newsmax.TV's Ashley Martella asked whether he is concerned that Obama has appointed so many czars – special advisers or envoys who have relatively few restrictions on their authority or salary – most of whom do not have to win confirmation in the Senate, as Cabinet secretaries do.

"I think this whole issue has gotten way out of control in terms of the number of czars that he has and advisers around him," Boehner said.

While acknowledging that Obama has a right to domestic and international policy advisers, he contends that the president crossed the line with his czar appointments.

"He clearly is circumventing the Constitution, in my view, and I think the heat continues to build on the administration to deal with this," Boehner told Newsmax. "It's one thing to have domestic policy advisers or international policy advisers, but to have this many people at the White House who have really more control than the Cabinet secretaries, I think is a subversion of the Constitution."

Since taking office, the Obama administration has appointed about 33 of the so-called "czars," although the precise number depends on the definition used. Some czar positions, such as the cyber security czar, have been created but not filled.

Though past administrations have used czars — the most famous being the drug czar — Obama appears to have carved out much wider policy and executive roles for his appointees. So far only two of his czar appointments passed through the Senate's constitutional advice-and-consent confirmation procedure.

Obama’s czars are well compensated with six-figure salaries, and many of their budgets are buried within Cabinet or executive branch budgets. Of major concern to Congress are the unconfirmed czars who operate beyond Congressional oversight and appear to have authority beyond even that of some Cabinet secretaries, at least in their special fields of expertise. Health-reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle and global-warming czar Carol Browner are two examples.

There is little doubt many of the czars wield enormous power. The czar appointments have raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, including among some Democrats. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., wrote Obama a letter warning: “The rapid and easy accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate confirmed officials.”

Senate Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin also have expressed misgivings.

Obama has appointed six special envoys who act as czars internationally. Obama's foreign-policy czars have not been confirmed by the Senate.

Afghanistan-Pakistan Czar Richard Holbrooke and Mideast Peace Czar George Mitchell both technically report to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to the State Department. But press reports suggest they can bypass her easily by communicating directly with the White House.

Some Republican members of Congress have gone so far as to suggest that the czars represent establishment of a "parallel government."

The use of such czars has come back to haunt Obama. His choice for the "green jobs" czar post, Van Jones, resigned after a spate of inflammatory remarks, as well as his participation in "9/11 truther" activities that seek to somehow blame former President George W. Bush for the 9/11 attacks. This drew criticism that some czars have not gone through the proper vetting that occurs during Senate confirmation.

Boehner has other major concerns that transcend the czars. The Ohio Republican also took aim at Democratic proposals for healthcare reform and said the United States needs to reform medical malpractice laws to deal with the "healthcare junksuit lottery" prevalent today. He wondered how Democrats could say "with a straight face" that they're protecting Medicare.

G7 Finance Chiefs to Meet Amid Recovery Concern
Oct 3rd, 2009
Daily NewsAFP
Categories: Today's Headlines

Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven richest world economies gathered in Istanbul for talks on the economic crisis as doubts swirled about the health of the global economy.

The meeting in Turkey’s biggest city comes after the United States — the world’s biggest economy — reported higher than expected unemployment figures and a setback in the recovery of its battered manufacturing sector.

US President Barack Obama on Friday said the job losses were “a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts.”

“We’re going to need to grind out this recovery step by step,” he added.

In a blow to hopes of imminent recovery, official US data showed job losses accelerated to 263,000 in September, pushing the unemployment rate to a new 26-year high of 9.8 percent amid the worst global recession since World War II.

The IMF has said that a tentative global economic recovery has begun but has also warned that the economic crisis is not yet over as the financial sector remains weak and unemployment in many countries continues to rise.

Europe meanwhile put pressure on the United States to support a weak dollar.

“Everyone needs a strong dollar,” French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Friday ahead of the G7 talks taking place in the run-up to annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Tuesday and Wednesday in Istanbul.

The G7 finance chiefs were to discuss “the next steps and implementation” of a roadmap agreed at the G20 summit last week for recovery from the worst recession since World War II, a US Treasury official said earlier.

Signs of recovery have pushed down the value of the dollar, which is traditionally seen on currency markets as a safe haven in tough economic times and whose status as the world’s main reserve currency has been questioned.

The dollar was trading at 1.4572 to the euro in New York late on Friday.

The current state of the dollar has led some experts to conclude that Washington is allowing the currency to lose value as a way of boosting US exports by making them cheaper — a tactic that would weaken European exports.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has sought to dampen these fears, saying recently that “a strong dollar is very important” to the US economy.

“Excessive volatility and disorderly movement in exchange rates has adverse implications for economic and financial stability,” European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet warned earlier this week.

Trichet is set to attend the Istanbul talks, along with finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 members: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

This grouping of rich global economies has now been eclipsed by the G20 which includes major emerging markets such as Brazil, China, India and Russia.

Leaders at a G20 summit in the US city of Pittsburgh last week agreed the wider grouping was the main forum for international economic cooperation.

Stressing the decline of the G7, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn disparaged the group in an interview on Friday.

“The old G7 — I was about to say the late G7,” the former French Socialist finance minister told news television network France 24.

G7 meetings were “a bit without substance” and “floating in the clouds with communiques which no longer interest anyone,” he added.

The US Treasury official however said the G7 remained “a valuable format for finance ministers” by bringing together “the largest creditors in the system.”

Though the meeting on Saturday is of the G7, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is expected to participate. The G7 meeting will also be the first for the new Japanese finance minister, Hirohisa Fujii.

Clinton Issues Holiday Greetings to Muslims, not Jews
Oct 3rd, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Maayana Miskin
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

 
Both Jews and Muslims celebrated holidays in September 2009. However, the United States Consulate in Jerusalem – America's representative in Israel's capital – chose to focus entirely on Islam this year, while ignoring the Jewish holidays of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur completely.

The Consulate's website features Eid il-Fitr greetings from U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Consul General Daniel Rubinstein. Its staff was involved in Ramadan celebrations in Jenin and Shechem, and hosted a meal in Jericho for the Muslim holiday of Iftar.

Clinton's greeting was published on September 19 – the first day of Rosh HaShana. However, no mention was made of the Jewish holiday.

All three holiday wishes from American leaders to Muslims were apolitical, and focused on messages such as “personal reflection” and “charity.” In contrast, President Obama's Rosh HaShana greeting, which is not on the site, included a brief promotion of his Israel-Palestinian Authority peace plan.

Snub Follows Admission that Consulate Caters to PA

The High Holidays snub follows an admission in August that the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem views itself as America's representative to the PA, while the embassy in Tel Aviv is seen as the representative to Israel. Consulate staff explained that they are “the principal representation to the Palestinian Authority” in an email to a Jewish American concerned by the lack of balance in consulate events.

The admission angered many American citizens in Israel. America's apparent recognition of the PA's claim to rights in Jerusalem was seen as a slap in the face, particularly because America takes care not to recognize Israeli rights in the capital city despite more than 40 years of Israeli sovereignty in the greater Jerusalem area.

The U.S. has repeatedly declined to move its embassy to Jerusalem, the seat of Israel's government, and American citizens born in Jerusalem are not registered as having been born in Israel.

Embassy Ignores Judaism as Well

While admitting that U.S. representatives in Jerusalem cater to the PA, consulate staff defended that decision by pointing to the Tel Aviv embassy as the existing representative to Israel. However, the Tel Aviv embassy website provides no mention of the major Jewish holidays in September and October.

The only mention of any autumn holidays, Jewish or Muslim, appears in the form of a video from a dinner hosted at the Ambassador's residence in celebration of Iftar.

'robust Sequence' of Earthquakes Shake Eastern California
Oct 3rd, 2009
Daily NewsAP
Categories: Today's Headlines

Earthquakes up to magnitude 5.2 struck Friday evening in a remote area of eastern California that was been shaken by a sequence of temblors a day earlier.

Inyo County sheriff's dispatcher Carol Drew said no damage or injuries were reported, but the department received several calls about the quakes.

The quakes' epicenters were just southeast of the town of Lone Pine in the arid Owens Valley below the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, about 180 miles north of Los Angeles.

"It's a very robust sequence," said California Institute of Technology seismologist Anthony Guarino.

The 5.2 quake occurred at 6:15 p.m. at a very shallow depth and was preceded by tremors of 4.7 and 4.9 in a six-minute span, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Guarino said most California quakes are six to 10 miles deep, but the biggest quake was centered less than a kilometer beneath the earth's surface, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's measurements.

This means more intense shaking felt over a wider area and maybe even a visible crack in the ground, he said.

The sequence was followed by more than a dozen smaller quakes including three in the magnitude-4 range.

About 3 a.m. Thursday, a magnitude-5 earthquake occurred in the same area. Dozens of mostly tiny aftershocks have followed. A magnitude 5 quake is capable of causing considerable damage.

Guarino said the tremors were likely on a strike-slip fault, with two blocks of earth sliding past each other.