Dear Ron,
The News In Review newsletter is a service
provided
by Understand The Times that
is a compilation of the news articles
previously posted
on our site . Understand The Times does not
endorse these events but rather is
showing the church the current events.
The
purpose of posting these articles is to warn the church of deception from a
Biblical perspective.
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January 14 - John Paul II's beatification approved for May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Comment from Understand the Times:
Is
the past pope really a saint or is he just a man who put his
pants on just like any other man? Why is it that people are
obsessed with following men? In the Bible, a saint is any
person who places their trust in Jesus alone. The pope's
motto was to "trust in Mary." So should this make him a
saint?
Mary,
the mother of Jesus, was Mary the mother of Jesus. She bore
the Savior but she is not the Savior. It seems that Roman
Catholicism is a religion built on the ideas of men who
follow a man and not Jesus. If the Roman Catholic hierarchy
makes Pope John Paul II a saint, they will have made a
serious mistake.
The much-anticipated
beatification of Pope John Paul II will take place on May 1, the Sunday
after Easter, the Vatican announced.
The healing of a
French nun with Parkinson's disease is
to go down in history as the miracle that made John Paul II a "blessed."
The title is given to martyrs
and other Christians to whom a miracle has been officially attributed,
thus bringing them one step closer to sainthood.
In what
some have called "record time," the Pope's cause
was seemingly expedited through the trials to prove his sainthood. Fr.
Lombardi admitted that the cause for the Pope was "facilitated"
because of his "great fame of sanctity."
The staff at St.
Peter's Basilica is already preparing for what is sure to be a grand
occasion, drawing pilgrims from all
over the globe. Workers are already cleaning the
mosaics in the Chapel of St. Sebastian, just next to Michelangelo's
Pietà, where the soon-to-be "blessed's" body will lie.
John Paul II's body will be taken from the crypt
below and set below the chapel's altar.
Read Full Article ....
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February 18 - Churches Open Doors to Muslim Worship
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Christianity Uniting With Other Religions
They see it as their Christian duty.
But others disagree, saying it
extends the hand of fellowship where it was never intended to go.
Two Protestant
churches are taking some heat from critics
for opening their church buildings to Muslims needing places
to worship because their own facilities were either too
small, or under construction.
Heartsong Church in
Cordova, Tenn., let members of the Memphis
Islamic Center hold
Ramadan
prayers there last September. And Aldersgate United Methodist
Church in Alexandria, Va., allows the Islamic
Circle of North America to hold regular Friday prayers in their
building while their new mosque is being built.
Diane Bechtol of
Aldersgate says this is something
Christians are called to do: Be neighborly and develop relationships
- even those who don't share your beliefs.
But Dr. Alex
McFarland, a Christian theologian and radio talk show host, charged
these churches "have crossed the line from respect and tolerance, to
... affirmation and endorsement. "We as the
church are called to show love, we're called to help.
But to let a building simultaneously be used
for the activities of a mosque and also the activities of Jesus
Christ, it's just incompatible. And I think it's one more example of
political correctness and hyper-tolerance gone awry."
Elsanousi is
National Community Outreach Director of the Islamic Society of North
America. He says "allowing people the freedom
of worship is respectful and strengthens the relationship."
That trend may continue as the
Muslim population across the U.S. continues to grow.
Mosque construction is at an
all-time high. As of September, there were 1,897
mosques in the United States, a 57 percent increase since 2000.
McFarland says
the groups run the risk of creating something
called "Chrislam" - a combination of the two faiths that essentially
ignores the big white elephant in the room: the exclusive claims of
both Christianity and Islam.
Read Full Article....
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News Alert - February 16 - Saddleback's Rick Warren to host ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Article: One World Government
Comment from
Understand the Times:
A
commentary regarding the coming great meeting with Tony Blair and Rick
Warren, March 6, 2011, will be published soon on Lighthouse Trails' website
and written by Roger Oakland. For now, it can be said, this alliance is what
it is.
Anyone with half a clue should be able to discern that there is no
gospel in doing good, and that Rick Warren's peace plan is the one found
in the Bible regarding the last days that sets up the Antichrist. Warren
and Blair both seem to be bent on working with the pope in order to
establish the Kingdom along with Glen Beck, Sarah Palin and some in
Calvary Chapel who believe that the American Founding Fathers were
Christians and therefore America is a Christian nation.
Such nonsense is being promoted by people
like David Barton who is toted by some as the savior of America.
Warren and Blair along with
the President of Rwanda are on the same board to establish the first
Purpose Drive nation. It will not be long now until they will be
establishing the 666 plan to establish the New World Order, the One
World Religion and the One World Economy.
Former British
Prime Minister Tony Blair will
appear with Pastor Rick Warren at
Saddleback Church in March, the mega
church pastor announced to his
congregation.
"Write this
down: March 6," Warren told his
congregation over the weekend.
"We will hold the next Civil
Forum and
present the annual International
PEACE medal. My guest will be
former Prime Minister Tony
Blair."
"We're going
to ... talk about spiritual
emptiness, corrupt leadership,
extreme poverty, pandemic
diseases, and illiteracy and
education.
These are
the five problems the PEACE Plan
is designed to (address),"
Warren told
his congregation.
The PEACE
plan was established by Warren
in 2005 as
a program of local and
international missionary aid.
The acronym stands for:
Plant churches, Equip
servant leaders, Assist the
poor, Care for the sick, and
Educate the next generation.
Warren also
is expected
to award the former Prime
Minister with Saddleback
Church's International Medal of
PEACE. The award is given to
individuals who exemplify
outstanding contributions toward
alleviating the issues addressed
by the PEACE plan,
Warren said.
The event is
an element of the church's
seventh Civil Forum. Saddleback
launched its Civil Forum in
2008. The forums - intended to
promote personal responsibility,
social civility and spiritual
maturity -
feature world leaders in
science, religion, health,
business, education, the arts,
entertainment and government,
according to the forum's
website.
Read Full Article ....
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February 19 - 'WE ARE A CHURCH ON FIRE': Eucharistic Adoration transforms Acushnet parish
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Comment from Understand
the Times:
If you ever wanted an example of
heretical "Christian" doctrine", the following article takes the cake.
It is tragic that some people are so gullible to believe the kinds of
things that are being shoved down their throats in the name of Christ.
Jesus foretold that this strong delusion would be occurring as one of
the signs that we are in the last days. The last days are upon us. God
forbid if biblical Christians don't stand up and warn those who are
being deluded.
A little church in a small town, St. Francis Xavier Catholic
Church was facing tough times. Today, St. Francis Xavier is
one of the most vibrant parishes in the diocese with
standing-room only Masses, confessional lines, a busload of
parishioners participating in the March for Life, and an
abundance of freewill donations that will make them
debt-free by April.
"Jesus
is on the property," said Mary Cardoza, the
spark that inflamed the parish.
"We are a church on fire."
It was on a group pilgrimage to the Divine Mercy Chapel in
Stockbridge, where she had a life-changing experience. A
message board of activities listed
"Eucharistic Adoration".
"What's Adoration?" she asked the group.
"Jesus is really in the
Eucharist," they answered. "But what do you
do?" she asked. "You talk to
Him," they said.
"Okay, so I go in there, kneel down and something happens - a
spiritual experience. I'm on fire for an hour,'
she said." I knew without a
doubt Jesus was in the Eucharist. He was real. We were
connected."
"Personally, I think Adoration is the best kept secret,"
she told them. "I give Him all my problems; He
gives me answers. I give Him all my fears; He gives me peace
beyond any human understanding. I give Him my tears; He gives me
joy. If you're looking for a
place to refuel with God's graces to get through another hectic
week, then Adoration is the place to be."
"Monsignor looked at me and said,
'Adoration in an exit hall? Put Jesus in the church,'" recalled
Cardoza. "He loves Jesus with his whole heart and soul, and he
loves his people. He puts
Eucharist first and makes it the center, which brought the
people back. As soon as he put Jesus in the church, Adoration
exploded."
"Adoration has improved
every aspect of my life, one of which is that my marriage
has been restored," said Charbonneau.
"I'm no longer in a state of constant worry about situations
I have no control over. I don't know what the future holds,
but I find great comfort in knowing the One who does."
Read Full Article ....
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February 19 - RODENTS EVERYWHERE
Article: One World Government
Comment from Understand
the Times:
For those CC pastors who believe
that America is a Christian nation founded by Christian Founding
Fathers, this article should be a wake up call. America is about as
Christian as the pope is a Protestant. Speaking of the pope, he has
a plan to set up a One World Religion and the President of the USA
has a plan to have the USA join the New World Order and the One
World Economy.
By the way, Canada is not better.
Nor are the European nations. It is time to wake up and smell the
roses.
What the United States
has become is the United States Corporation.
This corporation is not led by the president. He is but the
agent and so are so many members of the House and Senate in
both parties who are part
of the tentacles of a mammoth octopus of international
corporate, political and financial interests that have long
planned to restructure the entire economies of nations into
a world order of countries without borders.
The realistic fact is that the congress is so corrupted
because lobbyists represent corporate, financial,
international and other special interests through bribery.
They have more influence than any Heritage Foundation or Tea
Party group. The result of
this corruption destroys national sovereignty and
independence to a point that only chaos can soon follow and
the beacon on the hill is in the process of collapsing into
the grubby hands of those who desire to restructure it.
So who really runs this country and the
leadership of our Government both in the House of
Representatives, the Senate and the Oval Office?
The controllers are centered in Europe
and the strategists are centered in the Bilderberg Group.
The imbedded old money still is in the hands of the
monarchists whose intrigues are linked to money and power
and the formulators are central bankers with power to
destroy any plan, any democratic republic that would get in
the way of world government of their choosing.
To gain some perspective of how the President Obama fits the
plans for the New World Order, Henry Kissinger, a key elder
along with David Rockefeller of the Bilderberg remarked that
global upheaval presents 'great opportunity' posted January
6, 2009. "The president elect is coming into office at a
moment when there is upheaval in many parts of the world
simultaneously" He continued: You have India, Pakistan; you
have the jihadist movement. So he can't really say there is
one problem, that it's the most important one, but can give
new impetus to American foreign policy partly because
the reception of him is so
extraordinary around the world. His task will be to develop
an overall strategy for America in this period when, in
reality, a new world order can be created. It's a great
opportunity; it isn't just a crisis."
The organization that carries out the strategies of the
Bilderberg meetings is the
Council on Foreign Relations whose members are in both
political parties in congress and at every key management
level within the hierarchy of our government. It is in the
Military at the highest levels. It is evident that those who
subscribe to the objective of world government are selected
for promotion to the highest positions.
General Powell is a blatant example.
Read Full Article ....
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February 20 - Superbug named New Delhi to make westerners afraid of offshore medical tourism
Article: Miscellaneous
Comment from
Understand the Times:
Medical mania is one more way that a New World
Order can control people with propaganda. Propaganda is the way you can
control the masses. This is what to expect in these days in which we
live that can be understood in light of the Bible.
The industry of western medicine is
steeped in corruption, dishonesty and dirty tricks. One
of those dirty tricks became apparent recently when it
was revealed that
a superbug
discovered by western researchers was given the name
"New Delhi" in order to make westerners fearful of
medical tourism in India.
Medical
tourism, you see, is hurting the profits of western
hospitals and medical clinics who vastly overcharge for
their services. By traveling to India or other
countries, patients from western nations can receive
virtually identical medical care at a small fraction of
the price normally charged in America or other western
nations. But the
conventional medical industry cannot tolerate people
having a free choice about much of anything, so they
engage in dirty tricks to scare people into buying
health care services at monopolistic prices.
One of the more recent dirty tricks
involves the discovery of a drug-resistant superbug in
several UK patients. Because some of those patients (but
not all) had traveled to India,
the UK researcher decided to disparage India's medical
tourism industry and name the superbug "New Delhi." Or,
more specifically, "New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1
(NDM-1)."
The name of this superbug was chosen
to link "superbug" with "India" and "medical tourism,"
thereby scaring people away from even thinking of
traveling to India for medical tourism.
Does anyone seriously think Horton would have allowed
a superbug to be named "London"
without considering the implications? Of course not. So
why would he use the name "New Delhi" which is the
geopolitical equivalent?
So there you have it: A
superbug named to discredit medical tourism, a weak
apology from a medical journal editor but no action to
change the name. So this superbug will continue to be
called "New Delhi" and it will continue to discredit the
entire nation of India which, of course, was the whole
idea to begin with.
Read Full Article ....
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February 19 - Megan Quinn: Visiting minister separates Jesus from Christ
Article: Unbiblical Christianity
Robin Meyers
wants people to stop
worshipping Christ -- and he is not afraid to say so.
Meyers is not
anti-religion, and he is not an atheist. In
fact, he's a United Church of
Christ minister and published author on
religious and political topics. When he visits Boulder this
weekend, he will explain his polarizing view.
In his recent book,
Meyers argues that Jesus, as a human, was
a perfect example of kindness, love and selflessness. Yet
today's view centers around Christ -- a divine being born of a
virgin who was resurrected from the dead. The
dogmatic shift has diverted Christians' gaze from compassion to
condemnation and sin, he said.
"We are looking for a teacher, not a
savior," he wrote in his recent book,
"Saving Jesus From the Church: How
to Stop Worshipping Christ and Following Jesus."
Meyers is known
for his criticism of evangelical
Christianity's focus on salvation. He says that Christians do
not need to believe in Jesus' ascension into heaven, birth of a
virgin mother or position as the son of God. Instead, he says
Christians can strengthen their faith by following Jesus'
actions as outlined in the Bible -- not by following rhetoric he
believes was created by the church to punish sin.
Alan Johnson, a United
Church of Christ minister who has known Meyers for 20 years,
said Meyers' approach is fresh
and insightful. Johnson believes that the
Bible shows Jesus' compassion and generosity as a guide for how
others should live their lives.
Read Full Article ....
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February 22 - Get ready for a 'global Katrina': Biggest ever solar storm could cause power cuts which last for MONTHS
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
The
world is overdue a ferocious 'space storm' that could knock out
communications satellites, ground aircraft and trigger blackouts - causing
hundreds of billions of pounds of damage, scientists
say.
Astronomers today warned
that
mankind is
now more vulnerable to a major solar storm than at any time in history - and
that the planet should prepare for a global Katrina-style disaster.
A massive eruption of the
sun would save waves of radiation and charged
particles to Earth, damaging the satellite systems used for synchronising
computers, airline navigation and phone networks.
If the storm is powerful
enough it could even crash stock markets and cause
power cuts that last weeks or months, experts told the American
Association for the Advancement of Science.
The chances of a disruption from space are getting
stronger because the sun is entering the most active period of its 11 to
12-year natural cycle.
Professor Sir John
Beddington, the government's chief scientific adviser, said:
'The
issue of space weather has got to be taken seriously. We've had a relatively
quiet period of space weather - but we can't expect that quiet period to
continue.
'At the same time over
that period the potential vulnerability of
our systems has increased dramatically, whether it is the smart grid in our
electricity systems or the ubiquitous use of GPS in just about everything we
use these days.
Read Full Article....
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February 24 - Gas prices expected to hit $1.20 a litre today
Article: Miscellaneous
The
volatile situation in Libya and popular uprisings in the Middle East are
being blamed for a sharp rise in gas and
oil prices in the past 48 hours.
After gas prices at the
pump rose 1.8 cents on Wednesday, they were expected
to rise another 3.6 cents today, bringing the price of regular unleaded to
$1.20 cents a litre. The price of crude oil is
at a two and a half year high at $98.10 US per barrel. For every $1 increase
in the price of crude, gas prices go up 0.6 cents.
The
spike in gas prices is caused by stock market speculators in crude oil
futures creating unnecessary panic because of the unrest in Libya,
experts say.
Canada imports no oil
from Libya and oil reserves in Canada are at a 10-year
high, so the speculators are fueling an artificial situation as the per
barrel price of oil approaches the $100 US per barrel mark.
Economists are warning
that if the price of crude oil continues to
rise, it will sharply impact the world economy and bring an abrupt halt to
the modest gains made in many countries since the 2009 recession.
Read Full Article ....
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February 24 - Syria's nuclear prowess underestimated
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Satellite photographs
indicate Syria has resumed construction of
nuclear facilities since a reactor was bombed by Israel in September 2007,
officials said.
Additionally, Syria's nuclear program was
considerably more advanced than previously believed, a
report by the Institute for Science and International Security said.
Syria has refused to let the International Atomic
Energy Agency inspect the site near the town of Marj as
Sultan near Damascus. "With no substantial cooperation from Syria, the
IAEA's director-general should clearly conclude that
Syria may have egregiously violated its safeguards agreement and call for a
special inspection of these four sites," a report released by ISIS
said.
The report said
the facility's current use is unknown.
Ynetnews.com reported when inspectors visited the bombed al-Kibar
site in May 2008 they found traces of
uranium, indicating the reactor there was near completion.
Read Full Article ....
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February 18 - Destructive cyber attack inevitable: NSA chief
Article: Miscellaneous
The US National
Security Agency (NSA) chief on Thursday urged top computer security
specialists to harden the nation's critical
infrastructure against inevitable destructive cyber attacks.
"This is an important time," NSA and Cyber
Command director Gen. Keith Alexander said during a presentation at a
premier RSA Conference in
San Francisco.
"Most of the destructive tools being
developed haven't been used; we need to use this window of opportunity to
develop defenses."
Two days earlier, Deputy Secretary of Defense
William Lynn gave a similar warning, saying
the capability clearly exists for malicious software
to cause real-world damage at
power plants,
water supplies
and other vital points.
"Few weapons in the
history of warfare, once created, have gone unused," Lynn said during
a speech at RSA. "It is possible to imagine
attacks on military networks or critical infrastructure-like our
transportation system and energy sector-that cause severe economic damage,
physical destruction, or even loss of life."
"I believe
we have the talent to build cyber security that protects our civil liberties
and privacy," he said.
"We can and must do both."
Read Full Aricle ....
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February 20 - Extremist cleric to lead White House protest calling for Muslims to 'rise up and establish Islamic state in America'
Article: Miscellaneous
A hardline
Muslim cleric who sparked anger across the U.S. with his
anti-American comments in a television interview this month
is to hold a protest outside the White
House.
British
extremist Anjem Choudary - who once said
'the flag of Islam will fly over the White House' - has
announced he will lead a
demonstration calling on Muslims to establish the Sharia law
across America.
The rally,
planned for March 3, is to take place just weeks after his
on-screen row with Fox News presenter Sean Hannity. Mr Choudary,
43, called Americans 'the biggest
criminals in the world today.' The former leader of
outlawed group Islam4UK told the Daily Star
'we expect thousands to come out and
support us.'
Mr Choudary
told the newspaper: 'The event is a rally,
a call for the Sharia, a call for the Muslims to rise up and
establish the Islamic state in America.'
'It is only right the call is made in the heart of
Western civilization in front of the biggest pharaoh that
exists today, which is Barack Obama.'
He added: 'I
think the American people's hearts and minds
are open to receive Islam as an
alternative way of life. We expect thousands to come out and
Read Full Article ....
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February 24 - Supreme Court Immunizes Vaccine Makers Against Lawsuits
Article: Miscellaneous
In a 6-2 decision, the
Supreme Court voted
to protect pharmaceutical
companies from liability when their vaccines cause
debilitating injuries and death.
The high court majority
considers vaccines "unavoidably unsafe" and was
worried about drug makers being sued and obligated
to compensate their vaccine victims. Instead of
opting to protect children, the Supreme Court chose
to safeguard the financial interests of the
multi-billion dollar vaccine industry.
The ruling was a defeat for Hannah Bruesewitz,
who suffered from a severe
brain injury, developmental delays, and a lifelong
seizure disorder after receiving a mandated DPT
vaccine. She was denied compensation by the
U.S. Court of Claims, which administers the federal
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
After being rejected by
the U.S. Court of Claims (following several years of
adversarial litigation), Hannah's attorneys sued in
civil court, providing evidence that the DPT vaccine
manufacturer, Wyeth-Lederle,
had the technology to produce
a less reactive, purified pertussis vaccine but
declined to do so. However, the
Supreme Court has
now declared that justice cannot be sought in
American courtrooms.
According to Barbara Loe Fisher
of the
National Vaccine Information Center,
"This is a sad day for all
Americans forced by law to use
dozens of doses of
vaccines
or be barred from school or health insurance or
employment. The only leverage left to
American consumers to ensure that vaccines with the
fewest health risks are produced is to oppose
vaccine mandates and work to defend vaccine
exemptions in all public health laws."
Read Full Article ....
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February 23 - Gates Foundation controls media through massive journalism grants
Article: Miscellaneous
Most major newspapers and media outlets in the
world are owned by a handful of multinational
corporate giants, who
together control the content of what is
distributed to the masses. But a recent
report in The Seattle Times
questions the influence
the world's most powerful foundation, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), has on the
media as well. The
foundation donates billions of dollars every
year to fund "advocacy and policy" programs, and
much of this
money ends up being distributed as direct
payments to
media outlets
who advocate for the foundation's interests.
While much of what the BMGF
does and says is wrapped in philanthropic
language and problem-solving rhetoric, many of
its policies, including
its support of mass
vaccination
and genetically-modified organisms (GMO),
present a clear conflict of interest when the
foundation's dollars get mixed up in what is
ideally supposed to be unbiased
journalism.
And many are now questioning
how
severely these payoffs are influencing the
media's handling of important and controversial
issues.
According
to the Seattle Times report, BMGF
donates millions every
year to media groups like ABC, The Guardian,
The
New York Times, PBS, and even The
Seattle Times. BMGF also spends
millions of dollars
training journalists in how to properly advocate
for foundation interests, and craft media
messages in such a way as to further the
foundation's agendas. So rather than presenting
news, many BMGF-funded journalists now present
carefully-crafted BMFG talking points to viewers
and readers.
Well, concerning BMGF's open
endorsement of widespread vaccinations in
developing nations, for instance,
Bill Gates late last year
explained how the vaccination agenda is part of
an overall plan to reduce the world's population
(http://www.naturalnews.com/029911_v...).
This fact alone
shows that BMGF's goals
are not exactly benign.
Then, there is BMGF's
promotion of GMOs, and its
close alliance with biotechnology giant
Monsanto.
BMGF has allied with Monsanto on many occasions,
including recently purchasing 500,000 shares of
stock in Monsanto's experimental vaccine
nanotechnology, supporting the development of
genetically-modified mosquitoes (http://www.naturalnews.com/030940_B...),
and funding efforts to
spread Monsanto's GM
seeds
throughout developing Africa in order to
allegedly solve hunger and starvation (http://www.naturalnews.com/029071_B...).
"We're not dealing with a lively discussion
among players," he emphasized.
"We're
dealing with one gigantic entity ... that seems
to be very skilled at promoting its agenda."
Read Full Article ....
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February 20 - 6 Charts Which Prove That Central Banks All Over The Globe Are Recklessly Printing Money
Article: Miscellaneous
Comment from Understand the Times:
Printing money by central
banks of various nations is part of the plan to wipe
out the world economy and to make precious metals as
the standard. This means that the US dollar and the
Canadian dollar will some day become as valuable as
toilet paper - maybe less valuable if that is all
you have to use for you know what.
If
the U.S. dollar is being devalued so rapidly, then why
does it sometimes increase in value against other global
currencies? Well, it is because
everybody is recklessly printing money now. The 6
charts which you are about to see below prove this. The
truth is that it is not just the U.S. Federal Reserve
which has been printing money like there is no
tomorrow. Out of control money printing has also been
happening in the UK, in the EU, in Japan, in China and
in India. There are times when one particular global
currency will fall faster than the others, but
the reality is that they are all being rapidly devalued.
Unfortunately, this is a recipe for a global economic
nightmare.
Paper money is no longer
considered to be safe. All over the
globe investors are watching all
of the reckless money printing that has been going on
and they are becoming alarmed. An increasing number of
investors and financial institutions are putting their
wealth into hard assets that are real and tangible in an
effort to preserve their wealth.
These charts show how central
banks all over the globe have been recklessly printing
money. Over the last 30 years virtually the entire
world has developed a great love affair with fiat
currency....So
is everyone printing money?
Read Full Article ....
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February 22 - A new food crisis is on our plates
Article: Signs Of The Last Tmes
Comment from Understand the Times:
Food prices that
are out of control are manipulated by those in
control. Those in control, control not only the food
prices but also the cost of producing the food and
what farmers get for their produce
The world has entered a new food crisis. Prices have
surged, contributing to unrest in the Arab world.
The president of the World Bank,
the former US deputy secretary of state Bob Zoellick,
last week warned that
global food prices are at
"dangerous levels."
It's part
two of the crisis that started in 2007-08, which led
to food riots in 18 countries. Prices in 2008
reached their highest since 1845, in
inflation-adjusted terms, according to the
Economist magazine's index, before slumping.
The crisis seemed to have solved itself.
But
last month, global food prices
actually broke the record,
according to the experts at the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organisation. Over the past year
the price of corn has risen 52
per cent, wheat 49 per cent and soybeans 28 per
cent.
Rising food prices have pushed
an extra 44 million people into poverty in the past
seven months, according to the
World Bank. It's even being felt in the rich world.
In Australia, the opposition hopes to capitalise on
it: "The year will begin and end with Australian
families facing an ever-rising cost of living," the
Liberal Party's Joe Hockey said in a speech last
week.
Alarmed at spiking food
prices, a score of countries, including big food
suppliers such as Russia and Ukraine,
have banned food exports to
make sure they can feed their own people first.
At the same time, the British
government's chief scientific officer, Sir John
Beddington, declared that "the
case for urgent action in the global food system is
now compelling".
There are old and new
problems. The most glaring of the old include
protectionism in the richest
countries. The European Union spends about $365
billion every year subsidising uneconomic farmers
and shutting out food exports. The US and Japan are
almost as bad. Then there is poverty:
1 billion people who
subsist on $1 a day cannot afford to buy food.
There are three new problems.
One is the "financialisation"
of food. Big investors have come to treat the major
traded commodities - including food - as instruments
of portfolio investment and speculation. Another new
problem is biofuels. Some 40 per cent of the US corn
crop, enough to feed 350 million people, goes to
make fuel for cars. A third new problem - or perhaps
just a recurring one - is extreme weather. If this
is just cyclical, it will pass. If it's climate
change, it will not.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
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Roger Oakland
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