Infinite Unknown

- Pope Signals Won’t Be Intimidated By Abuse Critics (New York Times):

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, facing one of the gravest crises of his pontificate as a sexual abuse scandal sweeps the Church, indicated Sunday that his faith would give him the courage not to be intimidated by critics.

Oh, really?:

- Pope uses popemobile for first time on a Palm Sunday (France24)

(AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI, under fire as the Roman Catholic Church grapples with snowballing paedophilia scandals, used the popemobile for the first time on a Palm Sunday for his traditional outing in St Peter’s Square.

The 82-year-old pope, appearing in good health, used the iconic white vehicle to criss-cross the sun-drenched square, waving to tens of thousands of pilgrims. In previous years he has carried out the tradition on foot.

Security concerns may also have prompted the decision to use the popemobile, the white bulletproof vehicle introduced for Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II.

What faith???

Continue reading »

Tags: Abuse, Catholic Church, Church, Global News, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, scandal, Vatican

Appeal for Mongolian herders after cold kills livestock

Mongolia has been hit by unusually severe winter weather

The International Red Cross has appealed for help for thousands of Mongolian herders who have lost their livestock because of extreme cold.

The Red Cross said that millions of animals had perished during the country’s hardest winter in years.

It says it needs over $900,000 (£603,000) to provide emergency assistance to the worst-hit families and restock herds.

A BBC correspondent says those animals who survived are running out of food.

In recent months temperatures in Mongolia have dropped below -40C.

Local residents call it a “dzud” – a severe winter following a very dry summer, which has left reserves of fodder low. Continue reading »

Tags: Environment, Mongolia, Red Cross, Weather, Winter

… and and all other EU citizens.

Europol: Millions of Britons face being snooped on by a new European agency

MILLIONS of Britons face being snooped on by a new European intelligence agency which has been handed frightening powers to pry into our lives.

Europol can access personal information on anyone – including their political opinions and sexual preferences – if it suspects, rightly or wrongly, that they may be involved in any “preparatory act” which could lead to criminal activity.

The vagueness of the Hague-based force’s remit sparked furious protests yesterday with critics warning that the EU snoopers threaten our right to free speech.

It is understood the agency will concentrate on anyone thought “xenophobic” or likely to commit a crime involving the environment, computers or motor vehicles.

This could include covert monitoring of people who deny the existence of climate change or speak out on controversial issues.

Paul Nuttall, chairman of the UK Independence Party, said: “I am horrified. We thought Gordon Brown’s Big Brother state was bad enough but at least we are going to kick him out in May. These guys we cannot sack until we leave the EU.”

James Welch, legal director of campaign group Liberty, said: “We have huge concerns that Europol appears to have been given powers to hold very sensitive information and to investigate matters that aren’t even crimes in this country. Any extension of police powers at any level needs to be properly debated and scrutinised.”

Until January 1, Europol was a police office funded by various states to help tackle international organised crime. But it has been reborn as the official criminal intelligence-gathering arm of the EU and Brussels has vastly increased its powers. Continue reading »

Tags: 1984, Civil liberties, EU, Europe, Europol, George Orwell, Global News, Government, Home Office, New World Order, Police, Police State, Politics, Privacy, Society

Dozens of soldiers who took part in experiment in early 1990s aimed at determining efficacy of Anthrax vaccine demand $80,000 each in damages. ‘Physical harm was passed down to our children,’ plaintiff says

Sixty-four former IDF soldiers are suing the Defense Ministry for NIS 18 million ($4.8 million) over what they claim is damage caused to them during Anthrax vaccine experiments in the early 1990s.

The experiments, which were meant to determine the efficacy of an Anthrax vaccine, were carried out in light of what was then defined at the time as the “strategic threat of a surprise biological attack facing Israel.”

Nicknamed “Omer 2,” the experiments included 716 IDF soldiers picked out of a pool of 4,000.

The lawsuit, filed with the Petah Tikva District Court, is based on the principle according to which anyone who decides to take part in an experiment must do so willingly and after considering the risks involved.

As part of the lawsuit the soldiers are demanding that the state reveal the ingredients of the serum that was given to them, in addition to NIS 300,000 (about $80,000) in damages to each plaintiff for mental anguish and emotional distress resulting from the involuntary use of one’s body and medical negligence.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs cited an Israel Medical Association (IMA) report according to which the experiments were unjustifiable. Continue reading »

Tags: Anthrax, Government, Guinea pigs, Health, Israel, lawsuit, Medical Experiments, Military, Politics, Vaccination, Vaccine

See also:

- EU Chief Vows To Run The Economies Of All EU Members From Brussels

- Lisbon Treaty: Now EU Takes Charge Of Britain

- EU President Herman Van Rompuy Announces 2009 as ‘First Year of Global Governance’

- Climategate: Hacked emails include calls for ‘Earth Government’ as foundation of new world order, splitting of America

The EU President has NOT been elected. Herman Van Rompuy was appointed by the heads of the 27 EU member states.

Germany and France have tabled controversial plans to create an “economic government of the European Union” to police financial policy across the continent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the summit of European Union leaders in Brussels

They have put Herman Van Rompuy, the EU President, in charge of a special task force to examine “all options possible” to prevent another crisis like the one caused by the Greek meltdown.

His mission will be to draw up a master-plan for the best way to oversee and enforce economic targets set in Brussels as a key part of a bail-out package for Greece.

The options he will consider include the creation of an “economic government” by the by the end of the year. Continue reading »

Tags: Angela Merkel, Bailout, Economy, EU, Europe, France, Germany, Global News, Government, Greece, Herman Van Rompuy, Lisbon Treaty, New World Order, Nicolas Sarkozy, Politics

States Seeking Cash Hope to Expand Taxes to Services

A LITTLE OFF THE TOP Michigan residents may have to pay a 5.5 percent tax for haircuts. States across the nation are considering similar taxes on services to solve their budget problems.

In the scramble to find something, anything, to generate more revenue, states are considering new taxes on virtually everything: garbage pickup, dating services, bowling night, haircuts, even clowns.

A Michigan proposal would lower the sales tax but make it broader, levying it on over 100 additional types of services like haircuts, including those at Chaltraw’s Barber Shop in Standish, where Al Marden awaited his turn.

“It’s hard enough doing what we do,” grumbled John Luke, a plumber in the Philadelphia suburbs. His services would, for the first time, come with an added tax if the governor has his way.

Opponents of imposing taxes on services like funerals, legal advice, helicopter rides and dry cleaning argue that this push comes as businesses are barely clinging to life and can ill afford to see customers further put off by new taxes. This is especially true, they say, in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, where some of the most sweeping proposals are being considered this spring.

But this is also a period of economic gloom for states. Pension funds are in the red, federal stimulus help will soon vanish, and revenues from traditional sources like income and property taxes are slumping ever lower, with few elected officials willing to risk voter wrath by raising them. Continue reading »

Tags: Government, Politics, Taxes, Taxpayers, U.S.

Papal embassy officials told in 1993, says man abused by former monsignor

Former Monsignor Bernard Prince, right, befriended Pope John Paul II.

An Ontario victim of a pedophile priest who later became a top Vatican official says the Vatican knew of allegations against the priest years before he was convicted.

The priest, former Monsignor Bernard Prince, was convicted in 2008 of molesting 13 young boys between 1964 and 1984. Most of the incidents occurred in the Killaloe area, near Pembroke in eastern Ontario. He was defrocked last year.

Prince was appointed to a top Vatican job in Rome in 1991 – the year after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke learned of sex abuse allegations – says the victim, who can’t be identified because of a court publication ban on identifying him. The victim says in 1993 the Apostolic Nunciature in Ottawa – the Vatican’s embassy – was notified of the allegations.

Yet Prince remained secretary general of the Vatican’s Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith until his retirement in 2004.

“The Apostolic Nuncio in Ottawa was aware of the allegations,” says the victim, referring to the Vatican’s ambassador at the time, Archbishop Carlo Curis.

“They did nothing about it,” the victim alleges, referring to Vatican officials. “In fact, they just continued to cover him up.” Continue reading »

Tags: Abuse, Catholic Church, Church, Crime, Global News, Religion, scandal, Society, Vatican

There are highlights of the draft budget proposed by the European Parliament for its own building programme:

• €40 million for new office space in Brussels to accommodate the 150 new staff members and 66 contract staff
• €586 million to renovate and extend the European Parliament building in Luxembourg (you didn’t know that the European Parliament had a building in Luxembourg as well as Brussels and Strasbourg, did you?)
• €80 million to provide an additional office for each MEP for the accommodation of a third or fourth assistant
• €10 million for a second creche in Brussels
• €20 million for a “House of European History”

Although the member states are working to constrain their expenditure, one item in their national budgets keeps rising: contributions to the EU budget. Recession? What recession? Continue reading »

Tags: EU, Europe, Politics, Taxpayers

Data came from the global network of Argo floats in the oceans

The Gulf Stream does not appear to be slowing down, say US scientists who have used satellites to monitor tell-tale changes in the height of the sea.

Confirming work by other scientists using different methodologies, they found dramatic short-term variability but no longer-term trend.

A slow-down – dramatised in the movie The Day After Tomorrow – is projected by some models of climate change.

The research is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The stream is a key process in the climate of western Europe, bringing heat northwards from the tropics and keeping countries such as the UK 4-6C warmer than they would otherwise be.

It forms part of a larger movement of water, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which is itself one component of the global thermohaline system of currents.

Between 2002 and 2009, the team says, there was no trend discernible – just a lot of variability on short timescales.

The Atlantic overturning circulation is still an important player in today’s climate Josh Willis, Nasa

The satellite record going back to 1993 did suggest a small increase in flow, although the researchers cannot be sure it is significant.

“The changes we’re seeing in overturning strength are probably part of a natural cycle,” said Josh Willis from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. Continue reading »

Tags: Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Gulf Stream, Science

AND NOW …. CAPITAL CONTROLS!

Now that is a DICTATORSHIP!

Gerald Celente – ‘The No.1 Trend Forecaster’ – is correct:

- Gerald Celente: This time they will close the Banks & Wall Street (03/27/10)

‘Fascism is coming to America’

Actually one should flee such a country, if possible, or immediately change the government.

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer country. On March 18, with very little pomp and circumstance, president Obama passed the most recent stimulus act, the $17.5 billion Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (H.R. 2487), brilliantly goalseeked by the administration’s millionaire cronies to abbreviate as HIRE.

As it was merely the latest in an endless stream of acts destined to expand the government payroll to infinity, nobody cared about it, or actually read it.

Because if anyone had read it, the act would have been known as the Capital Controls Act, as one of the lesser, but infinitely more important provisions on page 27, known as Offset Provisions – Subtitle A-Foreign Account Tax Compliance, institutes just that.

In brief, the Provision requires that foreign banks not only withhold 30% of all outgoing capital flows (likely remitting the collection promptly back to the US Treasury) but also disclose the full details of non-exempt account-holders to the US and the IRS.

And should this provision be deemed illegal by a given foreign nation’s domestic laws (think Switzerland), well the foreign financial institution is required to close the account. It’s the law.

If you thought you could move your capital to the non-sequestration safety of non-US financial institutions, sorry you lose – the law now says so. Capital Controls are now here and are now fully enforced by the law.

Let’s parse through the just passed law, which has been mentioned by exactly zero mainstream media outlets.

Here is the default new state of capital outflows: Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Dictatorship, Economy, Global News, Gold, Government, IRS, New World Order, Obama administration, Politics, U.S.