Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Syria Tried to Disable Israel’s Water System – Israeli Official
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Straight after Israel’s air strike over Damascus on May 5, the Syrian government tried to disable the computers regulating Haifa’s water system, Prof. Yitzhak Ben Israel, head of the National Research and Development Council, revealed Saturday. The attempt failed. Turning to the Iranian nuclear program, Ben Israel dismissed the notion of a red line since, he said, the Iranians are already only months away from the capacity to build a nuclear bomb.

Pope Francis Promises Redemption for ‘Good Atheists’
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newsexaminer.com
Categories: Commentary;False Doctrine

Pope Francis tells Christians the “Blood of Christ” promises redemption for everyone engaged in good works, including atheists.

"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists."

"We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there."

Francis emphasized the importance of "doing good" as a principle that unites all humanity, saying “All people are called to do good and not evil.”

Francis argued that atheists should be seen as good people if they do good works.

Editors Note.....This is a set-up for a church the will embrace the whole world.

Majority Now Say Gay Sex, Unwed Births, are Morally Ok
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newsthechristianpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Moral Decline

A Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans now believe that sexual relations between two men or two women, and unmarried women having a baby, are morally acceptable.

In the new survey, 59 percent of American adults answered that gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable, a 19 percentage point increase since 2001 when only 40 percent said it was morally acceptable.

Sixty percent of respondents said that having a baby outside of marriage was morally acceptable, a 15 percentage point increase since 2002 when only 45 percent said it was morally acceptable.

Of the 20 issues which Gallup asked about their moral acceptability, same-sex sexual relations and unwed pregnancies saw the greatest increases. They were also the only issues which changed from a minority to a majority of the country finding them morally acceptable over the past decade.

The other large increases in moral acceptability were: sex between an unmarried man and woman went from 53 to 63 percent, divorce went from 59 to 63 percent, and medical research using stem cells from human embryos went from 52 to 60 percent.

The only large decline in moral acceptability was for medical testing on animals, which went from 65 to 56 percent. 

The moral acceptability of abortion remained the same as it was in 2001, at 42 percent. There was little change in the moral acceptability of pornography (31 percent), gambling (64 percent), buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur (59 percent), and the death penalty (62 percent).

At six percent, married men and women having an affair had the lowest number of those saying it was morally acceptable.

Little Ice Age on the Way? Snowfall in Montana in Late May
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsMTN News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Widespread issues with telephone service across Montana Thursday are leading to NorthWestern Energy customers to experience delays and other issues in contacting customer service representatives about outages and other service issues.

Cold and wet, and in some cases snowy weather, has led to heavy call volumes. NorthWestern asks customers to be patient when calling to report service issues.

NorthWestern customers can call (888) 467-2669 to report outages, downed lines or other issues related to electric or natural-gas service. It is unclear how the long the telephone issues might last. NorthWestern apologizes for the delays and is working with telephone carriers to resolve the issues. The company is also reminds customers to stay away from downed power lines and to report them as quickly as possible.

MISSOULA – The calendar may say May 23, but Mother Nature doesn’t agree!

A strong cold front has move across Western and Northwestern Montana, leaving, snow, power outages and poor road conditions in it wake.
The Montana Department of Transportation reports that there’s been a rock slide and a truck crash on Flint Creek Pass.
Meanwhile, downed trees and scattered power outages are being reported in the Whitefish, Columbia Falls and West Glacier areas.

Let the Headlines Speak
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

China, Switzerland sign off on preliminary free trade deal
China has signed the framework for a free trade deal with Switzerland - a deal which could become Beijing's first with a major Western economy. China's Premier Li Keqiang said the landmark agreement underscored Beijing's growing openness to the world.  

Arrests as tensions rise over Woolwich killing
Concern grew Saturday that the slaying of a British soldier by attackers who claimed they were acting to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas has prompted a swell in anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain.  

2 men arrested after flight from Pakistan diverted in UK airspace
Police arrested two men Friday on suspicion of endangering an aircraft after a flight from Pakistan to the United Kingdom was diverted to Stansted Airport, outside of London.  

Blistering heat wave leads to violent protests in India
A blistering heat wave has swept across most parts of north and western India, causing massive electricity cuts and leading angry residents to protest and even attack power company officials and property.  

6.8-magnitude quake hits Sea of Okhotsk
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the Sea of Okhotsk at 10:56 p.m. Friday (Beijing Time), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. The epicenter, with a depth of 630 km, was monitored at about 52.2 degrees north latitude and 151.6 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement.  

Hezbollah, Syria government forces push for advance in Qusair
Syrian government forces and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah launched a fierce campaign to seize more rebel territory in the border town of Qusair on Saturday, sources on both sides of the conflict said. Rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad said additional tanks and artillery had been deployed around opposition-held territory in Qusair, a Syrian town close to the Lebanese border.  

The Legality Of Israeli Settlements
As a result of criticism, the Church of Scotland has agreed to change its controversial report of its committee which called for political action, including boycotts and disinvestment in Israel, because of “illegal settlements in the occupied territories.” Though the Church has made clear that it has never challenged the right of Israel to exist, it has raised once again two issues: the claim of Israel to possess particular territory by the establishment of settlements; and the concerns faced by Palestinians in the “occupied Palestinian territories.”  

Feds fight ruling on access to morning-after pill in New York
Department of Justice lawyers filed court papers Friday again asking a federal appeals court to delay lifting age restrictions and prescription requirements on an emergency contraceptive popularly known as the morning-after pill.  

Obama's drone rules leave unanswered questions
President Barack Obama left plenty of ambiguity in new policy guidelines that he says will restrict how and when the U.S. can launch targeted drone strikes, leaving himself significant power over how and when the weapons can be deployed.  

Report: US traces cyber attack wave to Iran
American officials and corporate security experts examining a new wave of potentially destructive computer attacks striking American corporations, especially energy firms, say they have tracked the attacks back to Iran, the New York Times reported on Friday.  

Kerry Calls for “Hard Decisions” in Israel - While Hizballah-al Qaeda Forces Build Up in Syria
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

After spending 48 hours in Jerusalem and Ramallah, trying to talk Israeli and Palestinian leaders into reviving the long-stalled Middle East peace process, US Secretary of State John Kerry’s exit line Friday, May 24, was: “We’re getting toward a time now when hard decisions need to be made.”
That was all he had to say about Israel's comments on US proposals on the subject as unworkable and the Palestinian view that American ideas were still unformed and conditions for reviving talks non-existent.
In any case, the Syrian crisis hurtling forward heedless of its disastrous potential for its neighbors is fully exercising their leaders’ attention at this time and confronting them with much more urgent “hard decisions.”
The Secretary himself had just come from a Friends of Syria meeting Thursday in Amman, which was attended by a sparse 11 members compared with the original 80. The meeting ended with a demand that the international conference on Syria, which Kerry is trying to convene in Geneva in the first week of June in partnership with Russia, will not accept Assad regime representatives with blood on their hands.
Moscow took exception to this demand Friday by means of a Russian Foreign Ministry statement that Syria has agreed in principle to participate in the conference, but obstacles to a date were still raised by the Syrian opposition.
It can’t therefore be said that Washington and Moscow see eye to eye on the key issues of Syrian representation at the conference they are jointly sponsoring.

The US still insists that Bashar Assad must go before a political solution can be broached, while Russia continues to champion and arm him.

The most conspicuous feature of Kerry’s current Middle East tour is the strong dichotomy between his public statements and mission and the events taking place in the real world around him.   
debkafile analysts assign this gap between the Secretary’s perceptions and reality to US President Barack Obama’s own evasiveness on the “hard decisions” he needs to take for determining the level of US involvement in the acute crises shaking this highly volatile region.

This was evident in the speech he delivered  Thursday, March 23, in which he stressed the effort to pull the United States away from its inclusive “post 9/11 war on terror” and “return to normalcy.”

He said “lethal force [such as drones] will only be used against targets who pose a continuing imminent threat to Americans.”
Obama’s message was totally unrelated to the rising militancy of the two most virulent Islamic terrorist movements of the present day.

As he spoke, Al Qaeda, on the one hand, and the Lebanese Shiite Hizballah, on the other, continued to pour fighting strength into Syria and feed the flames of a calamitous civil war which has claimed more than 80,000 lives in a little more than two years.  
Our military sources report that Hizballah brigades are forming up with the Syrian army for their next decisive battle, after their al-Qusayr victory, for the capture of the northern city of Homs; Al Qaeda jihadis are streaming across the border from Iraq to cement rebel control of the Deir a-Zor region of eastern Syria.

The aggressive actions of both Hizballah and al Qaeda in Syria are outside the bounds of the US president’s revised objectives for the US war on terror – hence, the rationale for US non-involvement in any part of the Syrian conflict.
At the same time, both these movements are at war, declared or undeclared, on Israel, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Their destabilizing impact extends to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah too.
In terms of timing and immediacy, therefore, the ”hard decisions” John Kerry called for are right outside the current Middle East context. Israel’s leaders must decide urgently how to address Syria’s headlong descent into more bloodshed at a time that Iran, Russia, Al Qaeda and Hizballah are in charge of events.

The initiative led by the US Secretary of State and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for an international conference to hammer out a political solution for the Syrian crisis in no way slowed its momentum.
Israel’s leaders might perhaps best be advised to prioritize attention to determining how best to handle the perils looming from Syria ahead of Kerry’s bid for a return to talks with the Palestinians.

Israeli General Warns Air Force will Strike Syrian Weapons Facilities If Nation Collapses
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Washington Free Beacon - Abraham Rabinovich
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

JERUSALEM — Israel’s air force commander, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, said yesterday that the sudden collapse of Syria would oblige Israel to undertake a massive attack “within hours.”

Missions would include the demolition of the vast stores of conventional and unconventional weapons in Syria to prevent their falling into the hands of militants, he said.

“If Syria collapses tomorrow we could find ourselves in the thick of it — very fast and in great numbers (of planes),” he said during a security conference at the Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in Herzliya. “There is an immense arsenal parked there, just waiting to be looted. It could spread with each gust of wind and you will find yourself having to act very fast.”

Eshel said the Assad regime could fall at any moment and many groups were eager to lay their hands on its weapon stockpiles.

Unlike the month-long cross-border war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia in 2006, in which Israel used only a small portion of its air strength, the air force would this time use every plane at its disposal in order to achieve its operational goals in a matter of days, he said.

These goals include opening a path for the ground army to advance on targets across the northern border.

Rhetoric in Israel has escalated in recent days with unusual intensity following statements by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Syria would no longer ignore Israel’s air attacks inside Syria on weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Additionally, the Syrian government took responsibility this week for firing at an Israeli jeep in the Golan Heights. The attack was seen as an attempt to restore injured national pride. Israel said its return fire killed three Syrian soldiers.

Officials in Jerusalem have warned that Israel might be drawn into the Syrian civil war despite its stated desire to stay on the sidelines. If war breaks out, the officials warned, Israeli cities would this time be on the front line.

“The question is no longer whether rockets will be fired at densely populated areas in Israel,” Home Front Minister Gilad Erdan was quoted as saying in the Times of Israel and elsewhere Tuesday. “The question is when it will happen.”

Maj. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg, in charge of Home Front Command, said Israeli cities would be subjected in the next war to an unprecedented barrage of missiles. It was “a certainty,” he said, that Israel would be hit with large warheads in a confrontation that would test the mettle of the civilian sector.

However, he warned Hezbollah and Syria that they would pay a heavy price for any such attack.

“Israel possesses far greater destructive power than our enemies,” he said, according to Israeli media reports. “And I would advise them to weigh the odds once more before warming up the engines.”

IRS’s Lerner Had History of Harassment, Inappropriate Religious Inquiries At FEC
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsMARK HEMINGWAY
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Perhaps no other IRS official is more intimately associated with the tax agency’s growing scandal than Lois Lerner, director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division. Since admitting the IRS harassed hundreds of conservative and Tea Party groups for over two years, Lerner has been criticized for a number of untruths—including the revelation that she apparently lied about planting a question at an American Bar Association conference where she first publicly acknowledged IRS misconduct.

Still, Lerner has her defenders in the government and the media. Shortly after the scandal broke, The Daily Beast  published an article headlined “IRS Scandal’s Central Figure, Lois Lerner, Described as ‘Apolitical.’” Insisting Lerner, and the IRS more broadly, were not not politically motivated has been a central contention of those trying to minimize the impact of the scandal.

Lerner was appointed head of the FEC's enforcement division in 1986 and stayed in that position until 2001. In the late 1990s, the FEC launched an onerous investigation of the Christian Coalition, ultimately costing the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours in lost work. The investigation was notable because the FEC alleged that the Christian Coalition was coordinating issue advocacy expenditures with a number of candidates for office. Aside from lacking proof this was happening, it was an open question whether the FEC had the authority to bring these charges. 

James Bopp Jr., who was lead counsel for the Christian Coalition at the time, tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD the Christian Coalition investigation was egregious and uncalled for. "We felt we were being singled out, because when you handle a case with 81 depositions you have a pretty good argument you're getting special treatment. Eighty-one depositions! Eighty-one! From Ralph Reed's former part-time secretary to George H.W. Bush. It was mind blowing," he said.

The trouble with this defense is that, prior to joining the IRS, Lerner’s tenure as head of the Enforcement Office at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was marked by what appears to be politically motivated harassment of conservative groups.

Hizballah Assad is Serious About An Anti - Israel Golan Front
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Hizballah Dep. Secy Sheikh Naim Qassem says President Bashar Assad is serious about opening a front against Israel from the Golan. It only remains to be done. “Syria has the capabilities for this," he said. "But if necessary, we’ll help.” Qassem also warned Europe against the drive of some members to list Hizballah’s military arm as a terrorist organization.

Gay Marriage Could Stop Christians Becoming Teachers or Doctors
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

They are calling on MPs to make urgent amendments to the Government’s same-sex marriage bill, which will be debated on Monday, to protect Christians and others with traditional views from being punished in the workplace for their beliefs. 

Otherwise, it could have a “chilling effect” on young people’s career choices, deterring many from going into public service or charities in case they are branded homophobic for speaking about their beliefs, they fear. 

The call comes in a letter to The Daily Telegraph signed by an informal grouping of Christian leaders ranging from the second most senior Roman Catholic cleric in England and Wales to Anglican vicars and independent evangelical pastors. 

It follows an unprecedented letter from more than 500 imams accusing the Government of attacking “the cornerstone of family life”. 

Young people, will be forced to “choose between their conscience and their career”, the church leaders write. 

Unless it is amended, the bill will “cause pain for many, without tackling prejudice against the few”, they add. 

The call echoes concerns raised by the Church of England in a briefing to MPs last week. 

It follows a series of cases in which people who voiced traditional beliefs to colleagues or asked to opt out of activities on what they saw as grounds of conscience were deemed to be breaching equalities rules preventing discrimination against gay people. 

Adrian Smith, a housing trust worker from Trafford, Greater Manchester, was demoted from his managerial post after mentioning in a Facebook discussion that he thought churches should not stage gay weddings. He later won a High Court challenge but has not been reinstated. 

The church leaders say that the Smith case shows there is a need for explicit protections for traditionalists working in the public sector to be written into law. 

If not, they say many young people will simply choose other career paths, depriving the country of major pool of talent. 

The letter signed by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Rev Peter Smith, and the directors of “Co-Mission” an Anglican-led group of newly formed congregations and the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches. 

Other clerics who have signed include the Rev Vaughan Roberts, a prominent Oxford evangelical who recently disclosed that he “struggles with unwanted same-sex attraction”. 

Together the signatories calculate that their congregations include 150,000 people of whom at least a third are young people. 

“These young people, from teenagers to 30-year olds, will suffer discrimination, and will face new risks to their career and future,” they write. 

“If the Bill passes into law without much clearer protections for freedom of speech and freedom of belief, teachers, and public sector workers will have to choose between their conscience and their career; many will be deterred from a public service career and from charity involvement.” 

They say that the so-called “public sector equality duty” which imposes a legal duty on public bodies to promote equal rights for gay people and eliminate discrimination is being used to prevent Christians and others speaking about their beliefs. 

A clause of the 1996 Education Act also requires schools to teach children the nature and meaning” of marriage – something the church leaders say could force Christians to go against their conscience once the bill is law. 

The Rev Charlie Skrine, of St Helen's, Bishopsgate, in London, said: "The young people I minister to share none of the homophobia that may have been present in earlier generations, but many of them have deep convictions of conscience about marriage that come from their own reading of the Bible. 

“These young people have real reasons to worry about their future if the bill is passed without significant amendments to protect their freedom of speech and freedom of belief. 

“The bill seeks to protect the consciences of vicars, but many public professions will be weakened if these young people are deterred from entering them for fear of legal action and discrimination if they express a biblical view of marriage.” 

The Church of England briefing note argues that a short amendment to the Equality Act could be made to make clear that expressing a traditional view marriage should not be viewed as discrimination.  

France’s Growing Islamist Problem
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newsfrontpagemag.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The reaction to a recent Muslim robbery of a priest in France is a sad indication of where the country is headed. A Catholic official pointed out, “If it had been an imam or rabbi, he [the Interior Minister] would already been on the spot.” This is no surprise, as Socialist President Hollande’s pandering to the Muslim population played a large role in his election.

The incident began when four Muslims surrounded the priest and told him to hand over his cell phone. One thief knocked him unconscious. The attack may have been motivated by criminality and not jihad, but the two are part of a common trend.

There are over 750 government-designated “Sensitive Urban Zones” in France, referred to as “No-Go Zones” by Dr. Daniel Pipes. About 5 million Muslims live in these areas of France where law enforcement doesn’t exercise decisive control. When the authorities do have to step in, a violent backlash quickly arises. There are many videos of Muslim worshippers holding illegal prayers in the streets when their mosques overflow without any response from police.

On New Year’s, about 1,200 cars were set on fire and police clashed with residents in the Muslim-majority districts of Strasbourg and Mulhouse. In August, a two-day rampage was sparked when a Muslim was arrested for driving without a license around the time of a funeral. Massive riots have broken out in these no-go zones because of the hostility to reasonable law enforcement. Over half of the French prison population is Muslim, where many are radicalized.

A lack of integration is the most common factor in Islamic terrorists. These unassimilated areas are not just breeding grounds for criminals, but for extremism as well—particularly when foreign Islamist governments and organizations get involved.

The Saudi Arabia-based Muslim World League, described by Andrew McCarthy as “the Muslim Brotherhood’s principal vehicle for the international propagation of Islamic supremacist ideology,” is helping finance the construction of 200 new mosques. The French Council of the Muslim Faith wants to eventually double the 2,500 mosques in the country.

Qatar, the supposed U.S. “ally” that subsidizes the Muslim Brotherhood, is also active in France’s Muslim community. It is financing mosques and the Union of Islamic Organizations in France, the Muslim Brotherhood’s main branch there. It demands the government to pass a law against “Islamophobia.” The Qatari government is also investing $65 million in the suburbs where over 1 million Muslim immigrants live.

This isn’t purely an act of humanitarianism or a business investment. The Qatari constitution is based on Sharia Law. The Christians in Qatar, almost 6% of the population, are allowed to practice their faith but cannot proselytize to Muslims. Hypocritically, Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani publicly pledged in December 2011 to “spare no effort” to proselytize the Islamic teachings of Muhammad al-Wahhab, the founder of what is often called “Wahhabism.”

In 2011, a secret French intelligence report warned of extremist trends in the city of Marseille, thanks to “self-appointed” and charismatic imams. Only a “relatively low” number of the 250,000 Muslims living there support violent jihad, but “Islamic fundamentalism has progressed to the point where it has won over the majority of the Muslim population.”

French President Sarkozy was not afraid to challenge the Islamist trend, even if it opened him up to false charges of “Islamophobia” and bigotry. In the months leading up to the election, his government instituted new requirements for citizenship, including language fluency, passing tests on history and culture and pledges of allegiance to “French values.”

On the one hand, Soeren Kern, who has closely watched the underreported Islamist trends in France, said Hollande’s victory over Sarkozy was “the first time that Muslims have determined the outcome of a presidential election in a major western European country; it is a preview of things to come.”

Hollande’s government has endorsed 150 new mosque projects including a mega-mosque in Paris that was touted as a step towards “progressively building a French Islam.” Hollande also promised to grant amnesty to all 400,000 illegal Muslim immigrants and to modify the laws so non-citizen Muslim residents can vote in the municipal elections in 2014.

On the other hand, Hollande’s government has taken some action to encourage assimilation.

In August 2012, the French government re-designated 15 of the no-go zones as “Priority Security Zones.” Soeren Kern reported that this was part of a plan to reassert authority over the most crime-ridden zones. Aware of the resistance ahead, the French government deployed riot police, detectives and intelligence personnel. If the campaign is successful, another 40 of the no-go zones will become “Priority Security Zones.”

The Islamist trend in France must be reversed. Pew found that the current 6.5 million-strong Muslim population in France, which is 7% of the population, will grow to about 10.3% by 2030. That’s nowhere near a majority, but it’s enough to swing elections, politically Balkanize the country and create a cesspool for criminals and terrorists.

7 Things About the Mainstream Media That They Do not Want You to Know
May 25th, 2013
Daily Newstheeconomiccollpaseblog
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Have you ever wondered who controls the mainstream media? In America today, we are more "connected" than ever. The average American watches 153 hours of television a month, and we also spend countless hours watching movies, playing video games, listening to music, reading books and surfing the Internet. 

If someone could control the production of all of that media, that would make them immensely powerful. They would literally be in a position to tell people what to think. Well, what if I told you that there are just six enormous media conglomerates that combine to produce about 90 percent of all the media that Americans consume. Would that alarm you? It should alarm you. 

The truth is that our attitudes, opinions and beliefs are greatly shaped by what we allow into our minds. After all, they don't call it "programming" for no reason. Even those of us that realize that we are connected to "the matrix" probably greatly underestimate the tremendous influence that the media has over us. 

We live at a time when it is absolutely imperative to think for ourselves, but most Americans are being absolutely overwhelmed with information and seem more than content to let others do their thinking for them. Sadly, this is greatly contributing to the downfall of our society.

And of course the mainstream media desperately does not want you to look at "the man behind the curtain". They just want you to stay plugged into the "programming" that they are feeding you without asking any questions.

Fortunately, a growing minority of Americans are waking up and are starting to reject the mainstream media. An increasing number of people are beginning to recognize that the mainstream media is the mouthpiece of the establishment and that it is promoting the agenda of the establishment.

So why is the mainstream media so bad? The following are 7 things about the mainstream media that they do not want you to know...

#1 The Mainstream Media Has Very Deep Ties To The Establishment

Did you know that the president of CBS and the president of ABC both have brothers that are top officials in the Obama administration?

The big news networks have developed an almost incestuous relationship with the federal government in recent years. But of course the same could be said of the relationship that the media has with the big corporations that own stock in their parent companies and that advertise on their networks.

This is one of the reasons why we very rarely ever see any hard hitting stories on the big networks anymore. The flow of information through the corporate-dominated media is very tightly controlled, and there are a lot of gatekeepers that make sure that the "wrong stories" don't get put out to the public. As a result, many of the "big stories" that have come out in recent years were originally broken by the alternative media.

#2 The Mainstream Media Gets Things Wrong Very Frequently

Even prominent members of the mainstream media admit that this is the case. For example, during a recent speech at Quinnipiac University CBS anchor Scott Pelley confessed that journalists in the mainstream media "are getting big stories wrong, over and over again"...

"Let me take the first arrow: During our coverage of Newtown, I sat on my set and I reported that Nancy Lanza was a teacher at the school. And that her son had attacked her classroom. It's a hell of a story, but it was dead wrong. Now, I was the managing editor, I made the decision to go ahead with that and I did, and that's what I said, and I was absolutely wrong. So let me just take the first arrow here."

#3 The American Public Does Not Consider The Media To Be Very Trustworthy

Trust in the mainstream media has definitely been slipping. In fact, a Gallup poll taken last year found that distrust of the media had reached an all-time high. According to that poll, 60 percent of Americans "have little or no trust" that the media is reporting the news accurately.

A separate Rasmussen Reports survey found that only 6 percent of all Americans consider the news media to be "very trustworthy".

Hopefully this trend will accelerate and a lot more people will stop trusting the media blindly.

#4 The Mainstream Media And The Politicians That They Worship Hate The Fact That They Cannot Control Internet News Sites

In the old days, the mainstream media had a virtual monopoly on the news. But these days, anyone with an Internet connection can put up a news site, and this is driving the establishment absolutely bonkers.

For example, Barack Obama is known to have a great dislike for the alternative media. The following is from a recent WND(World Net Daily) article...

NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd says President Obama was making it “clear” at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend how he feels about the rise of Internet news sites like Politico, Buzzfeed and … well, WND.

“He hates it.”

Appearing on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning following Saturday night’s media, politics and celebrity soiree, Todd explained the president’s disdain for independent online news sources was showing during his speech.

“It did seem … I thought his pot shots, joke-wise, and then the serious stuff about the Internet, the rise of the Internet media and social media and all that stuff – he hates it, OK? He hates this part of the media,” Todd said. 

“He really thinks that the, sort of, the buzzification – this isn’t just about Buzzfeed or Politico and all this stuff – he thinks that sort of coverage of political media has hurt political discourse. He hates it. And I think he was just trying to make that clear last night.”

#5 The Mainstream Media Is Extremely Liberal

When it comes to politics, the mainstream media is far more liberal than the general population is.

For example, one survey found that 41 percent of American voters believe that the average reporter is more liberal than they are, while only 18 percent believe that the average reporter is more conservative than they are.

A very disturbing UCLA study on media bias discovered that the vast majority of media outlets are "left of center"...

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS’ “Evening News,” The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

And even MSNBC has confirmed the liberal bias of the media. According to MSNBC, mainstream journalists are far more likely to donate their own money to Democrats than they are to Republicans...

MSNBC.com identified 143 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 16 gave to Republicans. Two gave to both parties.

#6 Six Mammoth Media Corporations Produce About 90 Percent Of The Media That Americans Consume

As I mentioned at the top of this article, there are six giant media behemoths that control almost all of the media that we consume. These corporate giants own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, video game makers, music labels and even many of our favorite websites.

The media ownership chart posted below originally comes from a previous article that I authored entitled "Who Owns The Media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations That Control Almost Everything We Watch, Hear And Read", but it has been updated to reflect some of the latest information. The power that these companies have is so vast that it is hard to put into words...

Time Warner - CNN - Home Box Office (HBO) - Time Inc. - Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. - Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. - CW Network (partial ownership) - TMZ - New Line Cinema - Time Warner Cable - Cinemax
Cartoon Network - TBS - TNT - America Online - MapQuest - Moviefone - Castle Rock - Sports Illustrated -
Fortune - Marie Claire - DC Comics - People Magazine - Walt Disney
ABC Television Network - Disney Publishing - ESPN Inc. - Disney Channel - The History Channel - SOAPnet
A&E - Lifetime - Buena Vista Home Entertainment - Buena Vista Theatrical Productions - Buena Vista Records
Disney Records - Hollywood Records - Miramax Films - Touchstone Pictures - Walt Disney Pictures
Pixar Animation Studios - 277 Radio Stations - Buena Vista Games - Hyperion Books - Viacom
Paramount Pictures - Paramount Home Entertainment - Black Entertainment Television (BET) - Comedy Central
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#7 The American People Are Absolutely Addicted To The Mainstream Media

The average American watches 153 hours of television a month. When you allow that much information to be downloaded into your brain, it is going to have a dramatic impact on how you think.

Americans are more "connected" than they ever have been before. This is especially true of our kids. They are constantly on one sort of electronic device or another. The following is a brief excerpt from a recent article by Daniel Taylor...

According to a 2010 LA Times report, young people spend on average 53 hours a week watching TV, playing video games, and sitting at the computer.

Facebook users spend about 15 hours a month on the social networking site.

People are walking – and driving – blindly while texting, sometimes walking into fountains and even falling off cliffs. 

If that Los Angeles Times report is true, that means that our young people are spending more than 200 hours a month connected to the media.

But we are only awake for about 480 hours a month.

When it comes to influencing the American people, nobody has more power than the big media companies do.

And until we can break this sick addiction to the mainstream media and get people to start thinking for themselves, we will never see widespread changes in our society. 

As long as people are being "programmed" by the mainstream media, they will continue to express the opinions, attitudes and beliefs that have been downloaded into their minds.

'Gay' Activists Want Much More from Boy Scouts
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Delegates to the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Thursday (May 23) approved new membership guidelines which open the ranks of the organization to homosexual members. Young men who openly claim to be homosexual may now participate as Scouts.

The historic vote by the Boy Scouts of America’s National Council Thursday to allow openly homosexual youth in the program but exclude homosexual adult leaders has left people on both sides of the issue unhappy.

California Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara says that despite the vote, he will continue to push a resolution that would revoke the BSA’s tax-exempt status “to ensure that discrimination in any form does not exist – not in our state, not on our dime.”

The homosexual-rights group GLAAD said it and other like-minded activist groups will now encourage “gay” youth to participate in the Boy Scouts. But spokesman Ross Murray said “the ban on gay adult leaders is still a major barrier for many families and organizations.”

He hopes, the Washington Post reported, that as homosexual youth “demonstrate their dedication to the program, hopefully it can change the culture of the organization from the inside.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of members of the BSA who actively opposed the policy change says it is considering forming an alternative scouting organization.

“Many Americans around the country will find it difficult to support the Boy Scouts of America after this decision,” said John Stemberger, founder of OnMyHonor.Net. “Despite this setback, we will look to the future.”

Stemberger said his group will meet with likeminded organizations, parents and BSA members next month in Louisville, Ky., to discuss the creation of a “new character development organization for boys.”

“We grieve today, not because we are faced with leaving Scouting, but because the Boy Scouts of America has left us,” Stemberger said.

“Its leadership has turned its back on 103 years of abiding by a mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices,” he said. “Instead, it is embarking on a pathway of social experimentation that we believe will place at risk the very youth the organization is entrusted to serve, while rendering as hollow the tenets of the Scout Oath.”

Stemberger said his group welcomes public comments as it develops its plans, via email at Contact@OnMyHonor.Net

The Assemblies of God and the Southern Baptist Convention are among the church denominations that already have formed their own Scouts-like organizations.

The BSA said Thursday the resolution to change the membership policy was approved by 61 percent of the approximately 1,400 Boy Scout leaders from across the nation who voted at the organization’s annual conference in Grapevine, Texas.

In a statement issued after the vote, the BSA said the resolution “reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting.”

The policy change is effective Jan. 1, 2014, “allowing the transition time needed to communicate and implement this policy to its approximately 116,000 Scouting units.”

Responding to the vote, the Family Research Council “expressed deep disappointment at the Boy Scouts of America.”

“Sadly, the Boy Scouts’ legacy of producing great leaders has become yet another casualty of moral compromise,” said FRC President Tony Perkins. “Unfortunately, Boy Scout delegates capitulated to strong-arm tactics and abandoned the timeless values that have served the organization well for more than 100 years.”

Perkins said the delegates “succumbed to a concerted and manipulative effort by the national BSA leadership despite the BSA’s own survey showing 61 percent of its members in opposition to changing the policy.”

The new policy, devised after an extensive survey of BSA members, is a revision of a proposal issued in January that would have allowed local troops to decide whether or not to accept openly homosexual members and leaders.

The Scouts count more than 2.7 million members and more than 1 million volunteers.

The BSA said it has “no plans for further review on this matter.”

“The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue,” the statement said.

The BSA said that while “people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting.”

The BSA’s decision to propose a change in policy, as WND reported, coincided with a sudden drop in major corporate funding that began last summer after a “gay”-rights blogger for the Huffington Post published a collaborative report that named the donors and chastised them for violating their own policy of not discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

Stemberger has contended that a change in the membership policy would “gut a major percentage of human capital in the BSA and utterly devastate the program financially, socially and legally.”

He has called the policy change “logically incoherent and morally and ethically inconsistent.”

“Opening the Boy Scouts to boys who openly proclaim being sexually attracted to other boys and/or openly identify themselves as ‘gay’ will inevitably create an increase of boy-on-boy sexual contact,” said Stemberger in an open letter to the voting Scout leaders.

He says internal estimates by the BSA project an estimated $44 million of lost annual revenue if the policy is changed.

He points to BSA’s own “Voice of the Scout” surveys that indicate tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of parents, scoutmasters and scouts would leave the program if the proposal were adopted.

A member of the National Council previously told WND a decision to change the policy would prompt a mass exodus at all levels of the organization.

Last July, after a thorough two-year study, an 11-member committee of professional scout executives and adult volunteers unanimously concluded the policy of not allowing open homosexuals should be maintained.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of the Scout organization to exclude homosexuals, because the behavior violated the core values of the private organization.

'Assad Has Enough Sarin to Wipe Out Damascus'
May 25th, 2013
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has enough of the nerve gas sarin to "eradicate the whole of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo," a former Syrian chemical weapons scientist told Al Jazeera on Friday.

"If the regime is to fire a Scud-B with a chemical warhead filled with sarin, the missile would create a chemical cloud in the atmosphere that is 3km long and 500m wide, which could be fatal to all people under it," the scientist, that asked to remain anonymous, said.

The scientist told Al Jazeera that Syria's chemical weapons stockpile includes 700 tons of sarin gas as well as an unspecified quantity of mustard gas, at least 3,000 aerial bombs that could be fitted with chemical warheads and more than 100 chemical warheads for Scud missiles. He dispelled assessments by Western intelligence that Syria has tabun nerve gas.

Despite that, the scientist that fled Syria claimed that the Assad regime will only unleash its chemical stockpiles if it "no longer cares about the world knowing."

He told Al Jazeera that the Assad regime used sarin gas in small quantities to stop rebel advances in four towns in the suburbs of Damascus, in Aleppo's Sheikj Maksoud district, in Idlib's Saraqeb town and in Homs' al-Khalidiyeh district.

"The intention was to incapacitate rebels and force them out of strategic areas, while keeping the deaths among their ranks limited," he said.

Despite that, he cast doubt on reports that sarin gas was used by the Assad regime in Khan al-Assal in Aleppo on March 19, saying the gas has no smell, while medics reported a disgusting smell at the attack site.

The scientist added that the Assad regime has experimented with mixing different gases in order to make it harder to identify chemical weapons use.

"When opposition activists report different kinds of symptoms resulting from the different gases, it becomes hard to believe them. Some opposition fighters report a burning sensation in the eyes, raising the question as to whether this was tear gas or nerve gas," he told Al Jazeera.

The scientist said plans to use chemical weapons against rebel forces were not formed before December 2012, after his supervisor was kidnapped by the Assad regime in order to find ways to stabilize sarin in small munitions like cannon shells.

The scientist formerly worked at the chemistry institute of the Center for Scientific Studies and Research (CSSR), Syria’s main agency for the development and enhancement of weaponry, that was reportedly hit by Israeli air raids in February.

He was told by the regime that the chemical weapons stockpile was amassed as self-defense against Israel. "It was our dogma that we were creating the equivalent of Israel’s nuclear weapons. Never were we told that the weapons could be used inside the country," he said.

According to the scientist, there are around 9,000 employees at CSSR, 6,000 of them working in rocket development and 3000 in chemical weapons development. These scientists work with two secret army units, 451 and 452, that handle the chemical weapons and secure them.

The scientist also revealed that infrastructure and equipment to produce sarin was provided to Syria by the former West Germany, and that Armenian specialists trained in the Soviet Union aided in the production of VX in the 1990s.