What goes around come around

What goes around come around

1 Samuel 8

1  And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
2  Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer–sheba.
3  And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.4  Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
6  But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.

7  And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee...9  Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

10  And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
11  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
19  Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
20  That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

Matthew 13

1  The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
2  And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3  And he spake many things unto them in parables...

10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Mark 15:1-

 And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and t he whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
2  And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.3  And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
4  And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.

5  But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
6  Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
7  And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
8  And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.
9  But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
10  For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
11  But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.12  And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
13  And they cried out again, Crucify him.
14  Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
15  And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

They said "Give us a King"  And things got worse.

They said "Give us Barabbas". And things got worse.

We said, "Give us Barrack" -- Twice!

Do we, as a people, turn aside after lucre, and take bribes, and pervert judgment?

Have we, as a people, forsaken God, and served other gods?

Have the people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed?

What goes around will come again.

Think about it...

Something smells

There is some fishy about the debates. In the fisrt one Romney tore Obama a new one. Obama look like a school boy in the men's locker room. In the second one, Romney let up on him, big time, it was like he didn't want Obama the look bad. In the third on, there really was nothing to distinguished  them, one way or the other. They both are using the same play book. And that is it. To them it is game, or so they think. they have both got so much money, they can't spend it all, and they both think we will give them the best the world has to offer for as long as they live. But fate and The Lord may well have other plans.

Although the debate was officially on foreign policy, or the lack there-of, there was considerable talk about the economy. CNNMoney reports that the DOW continues its slide. 

 "A sell-off on Wall Street gained momentum Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 220 points after three Dow components issued disappointing earnings and forecasts.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq shed between 0.9% and 1.4%. Even with the sharp declines, all three indexes are still up between 7% and 14% this year."

Both the candidates have plans to fix the economy after the election. This situation have been in the making for at least thirty years. My question is: Why did you wait so long?

According Reuters:  "Insecurity blights Libya, where militias still call the shots a year after they toppled Muammar Gaddafi, keeping foreign investors wary and clouding the oil-producing country's future.
Last month's attack on the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, in which U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died, underlined the fragility of a state struggling to emerge from the legacy of Gaddafi's 42-year rule."

In my opinion WND is a good read, but always, always, always fact check, before you believe anything you read on the web. That said, WND is reporting this:  "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton communicate with the dead spirit of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt just this week?"...
...This is not the first time a connection between Hillary Clinton and Eleanor Roosevelt has been made.

Author Bob Woodward claimed in his 1996 book “The Choice” that Hillary engaged in imaginary conversations with Mrs. Roosevelt as well as Mahatma Gandhi as a therapeutic exercise.

And while she was campaigning for president in 2007, then-Sen. Clinton said she found inspiration in the words of Roosevelt...

And  Hillary Clinton is not the only one:  Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House, claimed she heard from the spirits of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul at the White House.

And in 2009, WND reported on a study indicating Democrats are far more in touch with the dead than Republicans, and they also visit fortunetellers more often.

The Bible has plenty to say about communicating with the dead and dabbling with mediums, psychics, fortunetellers, witchcraft, astrology and characters such as the devil and his wicked.

The candidate and Israel

People are buzzing about the debates last night. I don't know if that will do any good. Most people have made up their minds, at this point. I suspect that most of the buzz is for the buzzers satisfaction, but everything help, some people may change their mind once the news gets though that thick bone

There is an interesting article by Dan Calic Ynet News:

Obama only 'talks the talk'
It's time US leader stops expecting Israel to make all the 'bold sacrifices' for peace
Have you heard the saying "talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk?" Simply put it means someone talks about things, but their words do not translate into action.
  This exemplifies President Obama when it comes to Israel. For example, throughout his administration he has promoted the so-called two state solution. Time after time he eloquently lauds the dreams and aspirations of the Palestinian people living in their own state side by side a secure Jewish state of Israel.

It's here http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4292661,00.html

And Shoula Romano Horing says this:

  Romney is good for Israel
Statements given in private show Republican candidate truly understands Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A secretly taped video of the Republican presidential candidate which was recently released shows how great a friend Romney will be to Israel if elected.

Voters cannot judge public statements by presidential candidates because they have the inclination to lie about their true intentions. Everyone remembers the infamous open microphone incident in which President Obama and French President Sarkozy were overheard in a private conversation ridiculing as a "liar" Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at a G20 summit last November. This is why it was refreshing to read that, contrary to Obama statements given in private, Romney in private truly understands the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and is sympathetic to Israel’s security concerns.

The full article is hereL http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4289059,00.html

Tomatoes, and bottles. shoes,.. Ohh, my!

Egyptians pelt Clinton with tomatoes, chant ‘Monica’

Hillary Clinton has been welcomed in Egypt by locals greeting her motorcade with tomatoes, shoes and water bottles. Rallying protesters showed awareness with US domestic policy history, chanting “Monica, Monica”.

­The two-day visit by the US secretary of state to Egypt ended in scandal when the convoy she was driving in from the newly-opened American consulate in the Mediterranean port of Alexandria was attacked by local citizens chanting anti-American slogans.

The protests against Clinton’s visit to Egypt started on Saturday when the US secretary of state met with Egypt's new President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist protégée of the Muslim Brotherhood.

During her visit to Egypt, the US Secretary of State also met with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council of Egypt that currently holds power in the country.

Clinton urged the Egyptian military to transfer power in full to the newly-elected president, who was sworn in two weeks ago.

 Morsi has vowed to win the release of an Egyptian cleric jailed by the U.S. for planning the first attack on New York's World Trade Center.

Omar Abdel-Rahman, "the blind sheikh," is serving a life sentence in a federal prison for his role in the 1993 bombing that killed six people in lower Manhattan, Omar Abdel Rahman, and others.

Rahman was jailed in Egypt for allegedly helping to inspire the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. He entered the U.S. in 1990. One of his followers was convicted of gun possession, though acquitted of murder, after the assassination of Jewish leader Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York in 1990.

The U.S. government prosecuted Rahman for conspiracy in connection with the February 1993 World Trade Center attack. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1996. He is presently incarcerated at the Butner federal facility in North Carolina.

Despite the hostility displayed the Egypts and Morsi's apparent conflict to our national interest, the U.S. is pressing forward with 1.3 billion and 2.5 million in economic aid, fueling a growing suspicion that the Obama administration harbors a secret, pro-Islamist agenda.

But Mrs. Clinton did not stop there, France-Afghanistan-Japan-Mongolia-Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia-Egypt-Israel... Thirteen days, nine countries. That's got to be record!

Meanwhile according to The Jerusalem Post:

"Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center, charged the US-sponsored Global Counterterrorism Forum of deliberately excluding Israel from a second meeting of the group that took place in Spain last week.

In a strongly worded letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Hier wrote that “when there was criticism following your announcement of the creation of the Global Counterterrorism Forum, which excluded Israel, I accepted the administration’s assurances that a way would be found to involve Israel. But after reading the Victims of Terrorism comments from the undersecretary of civilian security democracy and human rights, I’m prepared to believe that Israel is being left out intentionally...”
"...In June, the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s first formal meeting in Istanbul excluded Israel and invited countries with a history of sponsoring radical Islamic ideology.

A telling example was the presence of Saudi Arabia at the meeting. The kingdom’s government embraces and spreads the radical Wahhabist ideology to which many terrorists adhere."

'nough said.

Are you? 

The Book of Life

This old world is getting too mean for me. Mean and Godless. Oh, there are plenty of gods around, and if you did not know the One True God, you might pick one that suits your fancy, but then you would be doomed to hell. It will be harder and harder to pick the One True God as time goes on, I reckon. That is one reason to come to him early, and the sooner the better.
        I have been reading about The Book of Life. It is mentions six or seven times in the Bible (5 times in Revelation) so it must be important to understand it. There are other books the record every person that ever lived, and what they have did, good or bad. And I think all those names were originally in The Book of Life too. The books will opened at the White Throne of Judgement and is not in The Book of Life, you are out of luck.
        Adam and Eve sinned agains God and they, and their offspring, were cursed. I don't know much about generational curses. What little I know was gleaned from the folks on TV who want to sell you a bit of cloth or some oil, or some other gimmick. I tell you, Jesus is the only way, and He's all you need.
        Anyway… Sin is the transgression on the law, and Adam and Eve could not cut it. And then Moses gave the Israelites the ten commandments and they could not obey them, either. So God gave the Israelites 613 commandments though the Old Testament, and they could not obey them either.
        The truth of the matter is that not a single one on us can cut it. We all are not worthy. So Jesus had to come and die on the cross for our sins. His blood on the cross covers our sins. And He gave us a free gift: Ever lasting life, if we just will come and claim it. Sometime time in our lifetime we all must make the decision to take the free gift or reject it. That decision will determine whether we spend eternity in Heaven or hell, so is not to taken lightly.
        If we choose to reject Jesus our names are blotted of The Book of Life. What an awful thing!
        Take me advice. Choose life… And do it now!

Are you ready?

Mid-East Madness?

Ashton announces suspension of Iran nuclear talks

High-level nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers fizzled Tuesday, creating increased opportunity for Israel to use the setback to argue military force is the only way to stop Tehran from developing atomic arms.
As she announced the indefinite pause in negotiations, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said they could be resumed — but only if a low-level July 3 meeting of technical experts in Istanbul finds enough common ground to warrant such a step.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/talks-with-iran-are-being-suspended-downgraded/

Meanwhile, according to CCN:

Time is running out for a diplomatic solution to Western concerns about Iran's nuclear program, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday in an interview with CNN.
He said Iran continues to flout the United Nations and world leaders by pushing forward with work on its nuclear program - including, he said, work on a nuclear weapon. But he said Iranian leaders would be making a costly mistake in believing the threat of military action is an empty one.

And:

Terror Rocket Barrage: Four Hurt, One Seriously
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis under siege by Gaza terrorists, 44 rockets counted since midnight.
Four people were hurt, one of them seriously, in a terror rocket strike on the Hof Ashkelon Local Authority Tuesday night. The Maariv website says the injured Israelis are Border Policemen, and that the seriously injured man is an officer.
Forty-four terrorist rockets slammed into southern Israel between midnight and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Most rockets were of the short range Kassam type but three Grad Katyushas were fired at Netivot.
No casualties were reported but the incessant rocket fire has placed hundreds of thousands of Israeli under siege since yesterday.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157032#.T-EjKY48HmY

And about Syria;

 Obama failed to secure the support of Putin for regime change in Syria. The US president had been seeking Putin's help in trying to persuade Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power and leave the country. A joint statement issued after their meeting said simply that the Syrian people should independently and democratically be allowed to decide their own future, but there was no joint call for Assad to stand down, as the White House has been urging.  

And on Debca News:

Middle East military tensions around Syria shot up again Monday, June 18, with the news reported by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars that a joint Russian-Chinese-Iranian exercise is to take place in Syria.
It was described as “the biggest of its kind ever staged in the Middle East” with 90,000 personnel, 400 air planes and 900 tanks taking part.
As part of its preparations, Beijing is reported to have asked Egyptian authorities to permit the passage through the Suez Canal in late June of 12 naval ships heading for the Syrian port of Tartus, where Moscow maintains a naval and marine base.

But:

MOSCOW, June 19 (Reuters) - Russia and Syria on Tuesday denied an Iranian media report that Syria would host Russian, Chinese and Iranian military forces for joint exercises.
Iranian news agency Fars said 90,000 troops and hundreds of ships, tanks and warplanes from the four countries would take part in the war games on land and sea in Syria soon.
The Russian Defence Ministry called such reports "disinformation" and the Russian news agency Interfax quoted an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying it was not true.

And more:

The IDF has deployed Armored forces near the Israel-Egypt border, moving tanks closer to the fence, Ynet has learned. The unusual move followed Monday's terror attack on defense contractor crews building the new security fence. The attack claimed the life of Said Phashpashe, 36, from Haifa. Golani soldiers who were scrambled to the area killed two terrorists.  

With so many things going on, somebody is going to make a boo-boo...

Are you ready?

'Avant, black-browes'.

 'Avant, black-browes'.

This phrase originates in Cervantes' Don Quixote, or at least in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation - Cervantes Saavedra's History of Don Quixote:

"You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."

The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some fruits of solitude, 1693:

For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality, an Atheist against Idolatry, a Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer against Forgery, and a Drunkard against Intemperance, is for the Pot to call the Kettle black.

In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to William Penn to satisfy a debt the king owed to Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn immediately sailed to America and his first step on American soil took place in New Castle in 1682.

Penn was a Quaker, and he founded Pennsylvania. Among Penn's legacies was the unwillingness to force a Quaker majority upon Pennsylvania, allowing his state to develop into a successful “melting pot”. In addition, Thomas Jefferson and the founding Fathers adapted Penn’s theory of an amendable constitution and his vision that “all men are equal under God” in forming the federal government following the American Revolution.

But what of this “Pot calling the Kettle black”? 

Well, the USA and the Russia government are both customers of Russia arms trafficker Rosoboronexport to buy attack helicopters for Syria and Afghanistan, respectively. The circumstances are decidedly different. 

I don’t see anything wrong with our Secretary of State calling Russia to account in its dealings with Syria and Rosoboronexport, but Russia has always been an ally and suppler to Syria, so that is no surprise. 

And the US is doing the same in Afghanistan and this is no surprise, either.

If memory serves, the US backed the for-runners of the Taliban in what some called a proxy war against the USSR and the Afghan government in years gone passed. Now regimes have changed, and the US is friends with the Afghan government and Russia, and the Taliban is the enemy. But things could change in a matter of days, seemingly on the whim of a fickle politico. 

But it’s not actually whimsical at all. The Apostle Paul explains better than I could:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole amour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6-12)   

Are you ready?

Dinosaurs passing wind may have caused climate change

Now here’s something you don’t see every day.

Huge plant-eating dinosaurs may have produced enough greenhouse gas by breaking wind to alter the Earth's climate, research suggests.
Like huge cows, the mighty sauropods would have generated enormous quantities of methane.

Sauropods, recognisable by their long necks and tails, were widespread around 150 million years ago.

They included some of the largest animals to walk the Earth, such as Diplodocus, which measured 150 feet and weighed up to 45 tonnes.

Scientists believe that, just as in cows, methane-producing bacteria aided the digestion of sauropods by fermenting their plant food.

''A simple mathematical model suggests that the microbes living in sauropod dinosaurs may have produced enough methane to have an important effect on the Mesozoic climate,'' said study leader Dr Dave Wilkinson, from Liverpool John Moores University.
''Indeed, our calculations suggest that these dinosaurs could have produced more methane than all modern sources - both natural and man-made - put together.''

The research is published today in the journal Current Biology.

Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, with a stronger ability to trap heat.

Dr Wilkinson and colleague Professor Graeme Ruxton, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, began to wonder about Mesozoic methane while investigating sauropod ecology.

Research on a range of modern species has allowed experts to predict how much methane is likely to be generated by animals of different sizes.

The key factor is the total mass of the animal.

Medium-sized sauropods weighed about 20 tonnes and lived in herds of up to a few tens of individuals per square kilometre.

Global methane emissions from the animals would have amounted to around 472 million tonnes per year, the scientists calculated.

The figure is comparable to total natural and man-made methane emissions today. Before the start of the industrial age, about 150 years ago, methane emissions were around 181 million tonnes per year.

Modern ruminant animals, including cows, goats, and giraffes, together produce 45 to 90 million tonnes of methane.

Sauropods alone may have been responsible for an atmospheric methane concentration of one to two parts per million (ppm), said the scientists.

In the warm, wet Mesozoic, forest fires and leaking natural gasfields could have added another four parts per million.

''Thus, a Mesozoic methane mixing ratio of six to eight ppm seems very plausible,'' the scientists wrote.

''The Mesozoic trend to sauropod gigantism led to the evolution of immense microbial vats unequalled in modern land animals. Methane was probably important in Mesozoic greenhouse warming.

''Our simple proof-of-concept model suggests greenhouse warming by sauropod megaherbivores could have been significant in sustaining warm climates.''
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/dinosaurs/9250032/Dinosaurs-passing-wind-may-have-caused-climate-change.html

Egypt Designates Israel Its Top Enemy — Obama Restores Military Aid | FrontPage Magazine

Egypt Designates Israel Its Top Enemy — Obama Restores Military Aid | FrontPage Magazine

Egypt Designates Israel Its Top Enemy

Egypt’s parliament, which is dominated by two pro-Sharia Islamic supremacist groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, voted unanimously last Monday to expel Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, and signaled that the Camp David Accords would soon be a thing of the past: Egypt, the parliamentarians declared, would “never” be Israel’s ally. In fact, Israel was Egypt’s “number one enemy.” And how did Barack Obama respond to this egregious trampling upon the agreement that has kept an uneasy peace between Israel and Egypt for thirty years? By announcing a resumption of military aid to Egypt.

1979 peace accords

1979 peace accords

Hamas and The Muslim Brotherhood don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist, so any talk about the Camp David Accords is hot air, anyway.

From the Jerusalem Post

Former US President Jimmy Carter said Thursday, after meeting Egypt's military rulers and political parties, that he expected Egypt's new government to focus more than the previous leadership on Palestinian rights as highlighted under the 1979 peace accords.

Haarets:

Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns met Mohamed Morsi, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), in Washington's highest level outreach to the Islamist group as part of a series of meetings with Egyptian political figures in Cairo, the State Department said. "From our perspective it was an opportunity to hear from them and to reinforce our expectation that all the major parties will support human rights, tolerance, rights of women and will also uphold Egypt's existing international obligations," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.  

From the WIKi on the peace accord:

Following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, and the subsequent strong showing of Islamist parties in Egypt's parliamentary elections, the Deputy chief of Egypt's largest party, the Muslim brotherhood, has said that they will not recognize Israel's right to exist, the treaty is non-binding, and will be put to a referendum.

Oklahoma and Islamic law

 I wonder why I have seen this in the US media? Maybe it’s because they going gaga over the Republican politco’s antics. The forian press have gotten much at picking up stories that our own press ignores.

This is from the BBC

The US state of Oklahoma has been stopped from introducing a amendment to its constitution, stopping courts from considering Islamic law in judgements.
A federal court of appeals upheld a district judge's decision to block the implementation of the amendment.
The ban on Islamic law was approved by 70% of voters in a referendum in 2010.
But it was challenged by a Muslim community leader who said the amendment violated his constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Obama administration will expel Venezuela's consul general

According to The Australian News the Obama administration will expel Venezuela's consul general in Miami after allegations surfaced that she discussed possible cyber-attacks on US soil while she was stationed at her country's embassy in Mexico. The State Department said it had declared the diplomat, Livia Acosta Noguera, persona non grata and given her until Tuesday to leave the country.
In other news Yahoo News is reporting that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismissed a U.S. warning to avoid close ties with Iran on Sunday, denouncing what he said was Washington's attempt to dominate the world as he welcomed the Iranian president to the Latin American nation. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived at the start of a tour to shore up support from the region's leftist leaders, as tough new Western sanctions aim to isolate the Islamic republic and target its vital oil exports.
In April 2009 at President Obama’s meeting with the heads of South American countries Venezuelan President Hugo presented President Obama with a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" . Obama posed for a photograph with Chavez, shook his hand, and accepted the book.
The book offers a critique of the consequences of 500 years of European and U.S. colonization of Latin America.

President call for fasting and prayer

I came across this on the Rapture Forums. It kind of shoot a hole in the argument that the early founders of this nation were godless men of opportunity, preying on a hapless populous.

I think it is more appropriate in this day and age than it was when it was written. 

Proclamation Appointing a National Fast DayWashington, D.C.
March 30, 1863
Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and signed by Lincoln on March 30, one month before the fast day was observed.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.
And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.