Thursday, November 17, 2011

Baconlube is Real! Where’s the Fatwa?

Most important new product of the century.

New post on Fellowship of the Minds

Baconlube is Real! Where's the Fatwa?

by lowtechgrannie

It started as an April Fools joke; but, it's no joke now.

You've always been a lover of bacon. Now you can be a bacon lover, with baconlube™, the world's first bacon-flavored personal lubricant and massage oil.

http://www.baconlube.com/

I can think of a lot of National Security applications for this new product. Just imagine if airlines distributed little samples of Baconlube at the ticket counter and everyone in the airport smelled like bacon. LOL!

LTG

lowtechgrannie | November 17, 2011 at 10:18 am | Tags: bacon, baconlube, pork | Categories: Humor | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-aGe

Comment

See all comments

Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/baconlube-is-real-wheres-the-fatwa/

Thanks for flying with

WordPress.com

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Fwd: New Post at [HillBuzz.org]

----------
To: ads@hillbuzz.org

HillBuzz.org has posted a new item, 'Why Mitt Romney Will Lose in Iowa: and Why
Ron Paul Will Win'

You may view the latest post at
http://hillbuzz.org/why-mitt-romney-will-lose-in-iowa-and-why-ron-paul-will-win-96257

You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.

Best regards,
HillBuzz.org
ads@hillbuzz.org

Fwd: [New post] Sliding Toward the Individual Health Insurance Mandate: An Absurdist Analysis

--------

New post on ThinkMarkets

Sliding Toward the Individual Health Insurance Mandate: An Absurdist Analysis

by Mario Rizzo

by Mario Rizzo

I am not an expert in US Constitutional law, but I am not totally uniformed either. And yet (or because of this) I was shocked to see the completely crazy "analysis" that appeared, as an opinion piece, in the Wednesday, November 16th issue of the New York Times. The author is the anti-trust and health law scholar Einer R. Elhauge of the Harvard Law School. I am somewhat relieved to find that he is not a constitutional law expert either.

Nevertheless, the article is notable for how casually it treats the legal issues. Read more of this post

Mario Rizzo | November 17, 2011 at 10:42 am | Tags: individual mandates, Obamacare | Categories: Insurance, medical care, US Constitution | URL: http://wp.me/pmseG-1iI

Comment See all comments

Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://thinkmarkets.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/sliding-toward-the-individual-health-insurance-mandate-an-absurdist-analysis/

Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

Fwd: Tea Paryt Debt Commission hearing TODAY!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tabitha Hale
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Subject: Tea Paryt Debt Commission hearing TODAY!
To: Bruce <majors.bruce@gmail.com>

Use this area to offer a short teaser of your email's content. Text here will show in the preview area of some email clients.
Is this email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser.

The Tea Party Debt Commission hearing is today!

The Tea Party Debt Commission has spent the last three months traveling the country asking thousands of grassroots activists to come up with ways to cut the budget. The results are HUGE. Don't miss this historic joint hearing where Tea Party activists will share the findings of the Tea Party Debt Commission directly with legislators.

Where
CSPAN-3 and C-SPAN.org.
When
TODAY at 2pm EST
Who
FreedomWorks, 12 Tea Party Debt Commissioners, RSC Chairman Jim Jordan (OH-4), Senator Mike Lee (UT), Senator Rand Paul (KY), Congressman Jeff Flake (AZ-6), Congressman Paul Broun (GA-10), Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8), Congressman Michael Burgess (TX-26) and Congressman Steve King (IA-5).

Dueling Debt Commissions

Washington, D.C: House and Senate members will join over 200 tea party leaders from across the country for the Tea Party Debt Commission joint hearing this Thursday, Nov. 17th from 2-4pm ET in Senate Russell hearing room 325. Commissioners will testify for approx. 30 minutes, followed by Q&A from legislators.

Following Up: Interview Opportunities

If you'd like to chat with Dean Clancy or another Debt Commission expert, please email me at thale@freedomworks.org and let me know! Also, we're happy to promote any coverage, so let me know if you do write about it and I'll ink it on our site and tweet it out.

Help us Tweet?

We'd apprecite any online traction on this. The official hashtag is #TPDC. Here are a couple things to Tweet out!

RT @FreedomWorks: The Tea Party Debt Commission hearing is today at 2pm ET! Watch here: http://cs.pn/gglqcM #TPDC

RT @FreedomWorks: #OWS is melting down. Meanwhile, tea partiers are presenting their budget to Congress. 2pm ET http://cs.pn/gglqcM #TPDC
follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend
Copyright © 2011 FreedomWorks, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you have opted in.
Our mailing address is:
FreedomWorks
400 N Capitol NW
Suite 765
Washington, DC 20001
Add us to your address book
unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences | view email in browser

Fwd: [I-S] The next financial crisis will be hellish, and it’s on its way - Yahoo! News

---------

http://news.yahoo.com/next-financial-crisis-hellish-way-204303737.html

The next financial crisis will be hellish, and it's on its way

"There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner," says hedge fund legend Mark Mobius, "because we haven't solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis."

We're raising our alert status for the next financial crisis. We already raised it last week after spreads on U.S. credit default swaps started blowing out. We raised it again after seeing the remarks of Mr. Mobius, chief of the $50 billion emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management.

Speaking in Tokyo, he pointed to derivatives, the financial hairball of futures, options, and swaps in which nearly all the world's major banks are tangled up.

Estimates on the amount of derivatives out there worldwide vary. An oft-heard estimate is $600 trillion. That squares with Mobius' guess of 10 times the world's annual GDP. "Are the derivatives regulated?" asks Mobius. "No. Are you still getting growth in derivatives? Yes."

In other words, something along the lines of securitized mortgages is lurking out there, ready to trigger another crisis as in 2007-08.

What could it be? We'll offer up a good guess, one the market is discounting.

Seldom does a stock index rise so much, for so little reason, as the Dow did on the open Tuesday morning: 115 Dow points on a rumor that Greece is going to get a second bailout.

Let's step back for a moment: The Greek crisis is first and foremost about the German and French banks that were foolish enough to lend money to Greece in the first place. What sort of derivative contracts tied to Greek debt are they sitting on? What worldwide mayhem would ensue if Greece didn't pay back 100 centimes on the euro?

That's a rhetorical question, since the balance sheets of European banks are even more opaque than American ones. Whatever the actual answer, it's scary enough that the European Central Bank has refused to entertain any talk about the holders of Greek sovereign debt taking a haircut, even in the form of Greece stretching out its payments.

That was the preferred solution among German leaders. But it seems the ECB is about to get its way. Greece will likely get another bailout — 30 billion euros on top of the 110 billion euro bailout it got a year ago.

It will accomplish nothing. Going deeper into hock is never a good way to get out of debt. And at some point, this exercise in kicking the can has to stop. When it does, you get your next financial crisis.

And what of the derivatives sitting on the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve? Here's another factor behind our heightened state of alert.

"Through quantitative easing efforts alone," says Euro Pacific Capital's Michael Pento, "Ben Bernanke has added $1.8 trillion of longer-term GSE debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS)."

Think about that for a moment. The Fed's entire balance sheet totaled around $800 billion before the 2008 crash, nearly all of it Treasuries. Now the Fed holds more than double that amount in mortgage derivatives alone, junk that the banks needed to clear off their own balance sheets.

"As the size of the Fed's balance sheet ballooned," continues Mr. Pento, "the dollar amount of capital held at the Fed has remained fairly constant. Today, the Fed has $52.5 billion of capital backing a $2.7 trillion balance sheet.

"Prior to the bursting of the credit bubble, the public was shocked to learn that our biggest investment banks were levered 30-to-1. When asset values fell, those banks were quickly wiped out. But now the Fed is holding many of the same types of assets and is levered 51-to-1! If the value of their portfolio were to fall by just 2%, the Fed itself would be wiped out."

Mr. Pento's and Mr. Mobius' views line up with our own, which we laid out during interviews on our trip to China this month.

An Eye on the Next Financial Crisis by Addison Wiggin originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning.

__._,_.___
Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
Messages in this topic (1)
Recent Activity:

New Members 1

Visit Your Group
Report any problems, suggestions or abuse to Individual-Sovereignty-owner@yahoogroups.com

MARKETPLACE

Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now.

<http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=90f3e840-1136-11e1-b93b-d78d1db1037c&T=1c92tkgrm%2fX%3d1321546185%2fE%3d1705303292%2fR%3dgroups%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d2.1%2fW%3dH%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d1564548709%2fH%3dY29udGVudD0iUG9kY2FzdHM7TWVzc2FnZV9Cb2FyZHM7TmV3cztHbztGaW5hbmNlO1RWO0V2ZW50cztQZW9wbGU7WWVsbG93X1BhZ2VzO01hcHM7IiBkaXNhYmxlc2h1ZmZsaW5nPSIxIiBzZXJ2ZUlkPSI5MGYzZTg0MC0xMTM2LTExZTEtYjkzYi1kNzhkMWRiMTAzN2MiIHNpdGVJZD0iNDQ1MjU1MSIgdFN0bXA9IjEzMjE1NDYxODU1NjM4NzgiIA--%2fQ%3d-1%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d9C238962&U=13cevaofq%2fN%3daKAHHNj8fbQ-%2fC%3d493064.14543979.14562481.13298430%2fD%3dMKP1%2fB%3d6060255%2fV%3d1>
<http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/yg/logo/us.gif>
Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
.
<http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=2420737/grpspId=1705303292/msgId=253385/stime=1321546185/nc1=5758219/nc2=3848621/nc3=4507179>
__,_._,___

Re: Liz Warren "before you hear ridiculous attack ads"

She chaired the oversight of the 2008 U.S. banking bailout .... that's
all I want to know about her

know the enemy

On Nov 17, 10:57 am, GregfromBoston <greg.vinc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> You started it girl!
>
> Twice

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

How the Plummeting Price of Cocaine Fueled the Nationwide Drop in Violent Crime

Urban Wonk
How the Plummeting Price of Cocaine Fueled the Nationwide Drop in Violent Crime
Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones
Nov 11, 2011

Starting in the mid-1990s, major American cities began a radical transformation. Years of high violent crime rates, thefts, robberies, and inner-city decay suddenly started to turn around. Crime rates didn't just hold steady, they began falling faster than they went up. This trend appeared in practically every post-industrial American city, simultaneously.

"The drop of crime in the 1990s affected all geographic areas and demographic groups," Steven D. Levitt wrote in his landmark paper on the subject, Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s, and elucidated further in the best-selling book Freakonomics. "It was so unanticipated that it was widely dismissed as temporary or illusory long after it had begun." He went on to tie the drop to the legalization of abortion 20 years earlier, dismissing police tactics as a cause because they failed to explain the universality and unexpectedness of the change. Alfred Blumstein's The Crime Drop in America pinned the cause of crime solely on the crack epidemic but gave the credit for its disappearance to those self-same policing strategies.

Plenty of other theories have been offered to account for the double-digit decrease in violence, from the advent of "broken windows" policies, three strikes laws, changing demographics, gun control laws, and the increasing prevalence of cellphones to an upturn in the economy and cultural shifts in American society. Some of these theories have been disproven outright while others require a healthy dose of assumption to turn correlation into causation. But much less attention has been paid to another likely culprit: the collapse of the U.S. cocaine market.

• • • • •

Cocaine was the driving force behind the majority of drug-related violence throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. It was the main target of the federal War on Drugs and was the highest profit drug trade overall. In 1988, the American cocaine market was valued at almost $140 billion dollars, over 2 percent of U.S. GDP. The violence that surrounded its distribution and sale pushed the murder rate to its highest point in America's history (between 8-10 per 100,000 residents from 1981-1991), turned economically impoverished cities like Baltimore, Detroit, Trenton and Gary, Indiana, into international murder capitals, and made America the most violent industrialized nation in the world.

Then in 1994, the crime rate dropped off a cliff. The number of homicides would plummet drastically, dropping almost 50 percent in less than ten years. The same would go for every garden variety of violent crime on down to petty theft. The same year as the sharp decline in crime, cocaine prices hit an all-time low. According to the DEA's System to Retrieve Information on Drug Evidence (STRIDE) data, the price per gram of cocaine bottomed out in 1994 at around $147 (calculated in 2003 dollars), the lowest it had been since statistics became available.

Something was wrong. If anything, cocaine prices should have been skyrocketing. One of the DEA's stated objectives for the War on Drugs was to make drugs more expensive and therefore harder to access for the individual user. To get there, the DEA pursued a number of strategies: large drug busts, heavier penalties on importers and producers, and limiting access to the materials used in drug production. Even while many of those tactics produced big successes, cocaine prices still went down, not up, and crime plummeted right alongside.

In 1993, the DEA worked with the Colombian government to finally take down the Medellín drug cartel operating out of Bogota, which, at one point, was bringing in $60 million a day in drug profits. In 1994, DEA seizures brought in over 75,000 kgs of cocaine, the largest yearly haul at the time. From 1995 to 1996, they would arrest the entire hierarchy of the Cali Cartel, "the wealthiest and most powerful international criminal organization" and "the most significant enforcement action taken against organized crime leaders since the Appalachian Gangster Raid in 1957," according to the DEA's own description of the case.

The Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act (CDTA) of 1988 gave the DEA the power to regulate chemicals and industrial machinery used in the processing of cocaine and methamphetamine by South American and U.S. drug manufacturers. A similar agreement reached that year through the U.N. Convention Against Illicit Drug Traffic helped stem the tide of international drug trafficking. In 1993, the Domestic Chemical Diversion and Control Act (DCDCA) tightened up restrictions even further, closing loopholes on various chemicals that squeaked through the CDTA regulations. In 2008, drug researchers for the University of California at Santa Cruz found that "[The DCDCA triggered] probably the largest 'supply' shock that has occurred in any illegal drug market in the United States."

But despite drug busts and stricter regulations, cocaine prices kept declining. In fact, prices have been declining since before the War on Drugs even began. An Atlantic story from 2007 noted that the price per gram for cocaine had gone from an average of around $600 in the early 1980s to less than $200 in the mid 1990s, and was down to as little as $20 per gram with ever-increasing purity. In some instances, illegal drug prices spiked in the wake of a large drug bust or the dismantling of a cartel, but the larger trend has been markedly downward. That's due in large part to the ingenuity of drug importers, who only got more sophisticated in their ability to bypass border security and avoid arrest following a significant bust, ultimately bringing in more product with time. That growing supply resulted in more competition between dealers who started supplying a higher purity product, at a lower cost, to win over consumers.

But it's not only a growing supply of product that led to the collapse of the cocaine market. Newfound competition in the form of locally-produced methamphetamines and prescription narcotics would continue to drive business away from cocaine and the inner city to the suburbs and exurbs.

• • • • •

Prior to the 1990s, most methamphetamine came from Mexico via large, industrial chemical operations. The passage of laws like DCDCA hampered that industrial production, but it also pushed drug manufacturers to find alternate sources. Asia soon became a larger source for equipment and chemicals. More importantly, during this same time period home-grown meth labs appeared all over the country, as the process for cooking meth with over-the-counter allergy medicines was perfected and shared.

The advent of improvised "shake 'n' bake" or "coffee pot" methods of methamphetamine production meant that meth could be processed in hotel rooms and basements, without the dangers of border crossings, with fewer middle men, and with a higher return for the producers. Anybody with a recipe and sufficient amounts of cold medicine and benzyl chloride could become a meth entrepreneur. It was a dangerous process that could lead to chemical explosions, but the return on investment was far greater than before. Meth sold just under the street price of cocaine and became popular in new, non-urban markets that were left untouched by the crack epidemic, away from the world of inner-city police enforcement.

The ensuing toll that meth would take on peoples' lives in the Midwest and Northwest would almost rival that of cocaine in the inner cities during the 1980s. The Department of Heath and Human Services Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), which tracks drug treatment center admission rates, shows an increase of over 100 percent in methamphetamine use in New Orleans, Seattle, and St. Louis, and a 200 percent increase in Minneapolis. DEA seizures of methamphetamines would almost triple from 1994-2007. In 2005, the National Drug Intelligence Center labeled meth as "the primary drug threat to the Pacific Region." The price dropped below that of cocaine and the purity tripled. Yet even in states hit hard by the meth epidemic like Oregon, felonies declined to a rate not seen since the 1960s. Crimes related to methamphetamine may have increased, but overall statewide numbers for everything from property crime, robbery, and assault all decreased.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical opiates began to see a renaissance. Oxycontin was approved by the FDA in 1995 and quickly became an illicit recreational drug under the colloquialism "hillbilly heroin." According to Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) stats from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), emergency room visits related to pharmaceutical opiates like Oxycontin and Oxycodone increased ten-fold from 1994 to 2007. Sales of Oxycontin in 2001 hit $1 billion a year. The market was being flooded from every angle.

All of this competition would most affect the foot soldiers in the cocaine trade, between whom the majority of inner-city violence occurred. Thanks to the work of Sudhir Venkatesh on the underground markets of the Chicago's urban poor, we know that drug gangs are highly organized and stratified. Those at the bottom selling on street corners make very little. Most only sell drugs part-time as a means of supplementing income. Few sellers pull in substantial earnings. In a study of Washington, D.C. dealers, Venkatesh found "25 percent of the sample sold drugs no more than once a week, and these people reported monthly net earnings from the drug trade of just $50 a month." The basic conclusion is that the lack of financial opportunities in the ghetto and the promise of climbing the gang's organizational ladder kept small-time dealers accepting low wages.

And there's the missing piece in the DEA's theory. Once the margin of profit for dealing small amounts of crack cocaine disappeared, being part of the drug trade was no longer worth the persistent threat of violence or the stiff criminal penalties. A 70 percent drop in cocaine prices like the one that occurred in the mid 1990s combined with competition from decentralized sources for methamphetamines and prescription narcotics would completely eliminate the minimum wage drug dealer as a viable profession.

The same goes for turf wars, which Venkatesh saw as the source of the majority of inner-city violence. He saw the life of a drug dealer as relatively violence-free up until territory conflicts with other gangs ensued. Without the high value of cocaine as a commodity, the incentive for protracted gang wars would dwindle as well as eliminate the economy for the illegal weapons, drive-by shootings, and mercenary "warriors" needed to help defend prime dealing locations. Without profit to fight over, Vankatesh thought that "gang violence would likely return to pre-crack levels."

This also explains why there's never been a large upswing in crime related to methamphetamine use. As long as production costs stay below that of cocaine's already cut-rate asking price, the demand to be on the business end is low. If the financial incentive is low, the trade-off for entering a life of crime is low. At a certain point the decision matrix for entering a life of drug-related crime collapses for all but those with no other alternate financial sources or for those with a personal interest in the craft.

• • • • •

Even though cocaine use would slowly decline, general drug use would continue unabated. DAWN statistics show that emergency room visits for illicit drug abuse increased substantially from 1994 to 2009, climbing from 449,964 to 973,000. Including narcotic analgesics like Oxycontin in that calculation increases the difference by over 50,000 visits. DEA seizures of cocaine shipments would spike to 117,000 kgs in 2007, indicating that bulk shipments hadn't subsided. Essentially, people were still buying and using drugs in ever greater quantities.

To this day, America's prison population and drug consumption remain the largest in the world. Cocaine has declined in popularity, but America's appetite for drugs of every variety is still voracious. Drug arrests have quadrupled over the last 40 years and more than four-fifths of those are for possession. That number continues to climb while the number of arrests for sale and manufacturing peaked in 1995. Even though crime overall has plummeted, people are still getting arrested at alarming rates. When limiting the focus to minority populations, the numbers are even more drastic.

This contradicts one of the central tenets of the War on Drugs, which is that the psychopharmacological effects of drug use lead to criminal behavior. Most studies show that it's in fact the competition of an unregulated market that encourages the majority of violent crime. This concept was evidenced during the prohibition era in the 1920s, a time that coincided with an increase in crime, corruption, and contempt for law.

As a counter-example, drug use in Mexico is relatively low, approximately 2 percent, whereas in America it hovers around 8 percent. Yet, violence there is at an all-time high. The market and the crime surrounding the trade might have crashed in the U.S., but the death toll has only increased South of the border ever since that region inherited the title of lead cocaine importer. Currently valued at over $3 billion annually, the Mexican cocaine market shows no signs of subsiding, and as long as such a high-valued market exists, violence will most likely follow.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2011/11/cocaine-plummeting-price-nationwide-drop-violent-crime/474/

Liz Warren "before you hear ridiculous attack ads"

You started it girl!

Twice

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

CBS execs need a beating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-wwbrihlXts

so, why would CBS shortchange Ron Paul?
easy answer - the Chairman, Leslie Moonves is the nephew of of David
Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. The President, Nancy
Tellem, is a jewish attorney married to a high profile jewish sports
agent.

yes ... the truth does hurt sometimes

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

United States Constitutional Militias: Back To Grass Roots!

New post on Political Vel Craft

United States Constitutional Militias: Back To Grass Roots!

by Volubrjotr

Jeffrey Immelt Of General Electric Is The Media Mogul Maniac For Obama And Obama For The British Monarchy. Cornell University Law State's Constitutional Militias Buy More Firearms In 3 Months, Than What It Takes To Outfit The Entire Chinese And Indian Armies Combined! Ultimate power over the militia is not delegated to the United States by the Constitution [...]

Vacation in . . . North Korea????

New post on Fellowship of the Minds

Vacation in . . . North Korea????

by sage_brush

It's probably not an idea that pops into most Americans' minds - with good reason.

By Keith B. Richburg, Published: November 15

PYONGYANG, North Korea — This reclusive and secretive country is now officially open for business — the tourism business, that is.
It has mountains, rivers, waterfalls and pine forests. Pyongyang, the capital, boasts 70 parks, water so clean you can drink from the tap, wide boulevards uncluttered by traffic or neon signs, beautiful traffic policewomen at nearly empty intersections, and a plethora of soaring monuments and memorials.

Just don't bring your cellphone or BlackBerry, don't try to send an e-mail, don't plan to stroll down a street, and never try to talk to strangers or take pictures of ordinary people. None of that is allowed.

This is North Korea's unusual experiment in opening its door a tiny crack — allowing foreign tour groups, their cash and investors into the country, but under strict admonition to restrict movement and to avoid even the most casual contact with daily life.

The vast majority of North Koreans are cut off from e-mail, the Internet, cellphones and almost every other form of contact with the outside world. Most days, there are just two government-run television channels — not on all day — with a third on weekends showing old Chinese movies. Opening this isolated country to tourists means risking the government's near-total control over every aspect of what average citizens here can see, read, watch or hear.

But a limited opening is now part of the government's plan. North Korea has been hit by U.N. and U.S. sanctions imposed because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Its economy is shrinking by some estimates, and the United Nations is projecting severe food shortages. So the country is looking to tourism — particularly from neighboring China — as a potential source of new revenue.

Washington Post Article here.

There is one potentially huge benefit to this scheme. North Koreans hungry for the Gospel, may be able to receive it through Christians that would undoubtedly travel there for just that reason. Right now, the only religion that may be practiced in North Korea is "Juche." Emperor worship mandated by law.

NORTH KOREA RELIGION

Today, Juche is no longer just an ideology, but a full-fledged religion that worships Kim Il Sung as god, and his son, Kim Jong Il as the son of god. In 2005, David Hawke, the respected human rights investigator, interviewed 40 North Korean escapees about religion in North Korea. Here are some of their responses about North Korea's religion:
"Juche is the only religion North Korean people can have."

"We learned that there were two lives: one is the physical life and the other is the political life. We were taught that political life was forever along with the leaders and the Party. Therefore, I believed that my political life was more important than my physical life."

"According to party covenant, Article 1, section 1, all North Koreans are required to worship Kim Il Sung with all our heart and might, even after his death. We have to venerate the pictures and status of Kim Il Sung."

"We must hang [Kim Il Sung's] pictures. The pictures indicate that Kim Il Sung is god, as we hang the pictures for the purpose of reminding ourselves that we depend on him."

"Hanging portraits of Kim's family is compulsory for every household. The portraits must be hung on the best wall of every home, and nothing else can be hung under the portraits. Families with high loyalty to the Party bow down under the portraits even when nobody is watching."

Read more here.

Although the desire for money is behind this campaign - I believe it will benefit the North Koreans in ways that are not material. Once the Gospel is preached to the entire world. . .

And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:14

sage

sage_brush | November 16, 2011 at 3:52 pm | Tags: Emperor Worship, Jesus Christ, Juche, North Korea | Categories: Bible, Culture War, God, Inspirational, persecution | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-aFe

Comment

See all comments

Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/vacation-in-north-korea/

Thanks for flying with

WordPress.com

Oh, this is rich! British Muslim, ‘Baroness’ Sayeeda Warsi, says, “Muslims are incapable of wrong-doing because Islam is perfect”

So I tell the Baroness this: I do an instant convert to Islam, shoot you dead, and it is all ok because as a Muslim I can do no wrong as I am perfect. Hmmm. I should run for congress.

New post on Bare Naked Islam

Oh, this is rich! British Muslim, 'Baroness' Sayeeda Warsi, says, "Muslims are incapable of wrong-doing because Islam is perfect"

by barenakedislam

What she's saying essentially is that 'extremists' aren't Muslims. As soon as a Muslim does a bad thing, he ceases to be a Muslim and becomes, in Warsi's view, merely a 'generic extremist.' UK GUARDIAN via Islam vs Europe The Guardian's recent interview with Baroness Warsi, Britain's first ever female Muslim member of the Cabinet, was [...]

Re: Cars Burned in Anti-Jewish Rampage in Brooklyn .....

Can Al Sharpton prove his where abouts? How bout Mr. Hymietown?

On Nov 13, 11:39 pm, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
> --- Cars Burned in Anti-Jewish Rampage in Brooklyn .....
> To:
>
> 6. Cars Burned in Anti-Jewish Rampage in Brooklyn
> by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
> Anti-Semitic vandals went on a rampage in Brooklyn before dawn Friday,
> burning Jewish-owned cars and scrawling swastikas in a Jewish area.
>
> The latest hate attacks followed by only several hours an announcement by
> police that they caught one man who was responsible for hate attacks
> earlier this week on two libraries and a synagogue.
>
> A Jaguar, BMW and Lexus were set n fire on Friday, and "KKK" -- Ku Klux
> Klan – was written on a red van in addition to hate slogans and swastikas
> scrawled on benches.
>
> "The violence – I'm calling it violence when you blow up three cars – adds
> a sickening dimension to this type of anti-Semitism," said New York state
> delegate and area resident Dov Hikind.
>
> "We walk down Ocean Parkway every single week" on the way to synagogue," he
> told New York media. "All I could think about was my mother sitting on a
> bench with a swastika scrawled on it. She survived Auschwitz."
>
> The Midwood area, where the arson took place, and Borough Park, are
> populated by one of the largest number of Holocaust survivors outside of
> Israel.
>
> "The fact that this most recent attack came on the heels of the 73rd
> anniversary of Kristallnacht may or may not be a coincidence," Mayor
> Michael R. Bloomberg said. "The NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is actively
> investigating the twisted person or people who attacked cars, benches, and
> a sidewalk on a block of Ocean Parkway early this morning."
>
> Earlier on Friday, police had said they arrested a man who painted
> swastikas on two libraries, a church and synagogue.
>
> __._,_.___
> Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
> Messages in this topic (1)
> Recent Activity:
>
> New Members 1
>
> Visit Your Group
> Subscribe: libertarian-alliance-forum-subscr...@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: libertarian-alliance-forum-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com
>
> NB - The Libertarian Alliance does not necessarily approve of the above
> message.
> MARKETPLACE
>
> Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get
> the Yahoo! Toolbar now.
>
> <http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=440fd3fe-0e43-11e1-a19b-abd0f1d87907&T=1c1...
>
> <http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/yg/logo/us.gif>
> Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
> .
> <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=2237128/grpspId=1705060169...
>
> __,_._,___

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Re: Fwd: [I-S] OWS Protester: In a Few Days You’re Going to See What a Molotov Cocktail Can Do to Macy’s

OWS Protester: In a Few Days You're Going to See What a Molotov
Cocktail
Can Do to Macy's
--
and we'll get to see their blood on the streets of NYC
didn't the nigger in the video learn anything from Rodney King? 53
people died and thousands more were injured

On Nov 17, 4:39 am, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ----------
>
> OWS Protester: In a Few Days You're Going to See What a Molotov Cocktail
> Can Do to Macy's
>
> http://conservativebyte.com/2011/11/ows-protester-in-a-few-days-you%e...
>
> Posted on November 16, 2011 by Conservative Byte
>
> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw></mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw></mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw></mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw>
>
> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.2&disp=emb&zw>
>
> Just in time for the Thanksgiving Day parade! The headlined quote comes at
> about a minute in, but there is plenty more of the sort of "non-violent"
> talk OWS has become known for leading up to this point.
>
> "On the 17th, we going to burn New York City to the f-cking ground.
>
> …
>
> Ain't no more talking, They got guns we got bodies. They got bricks we got
> rocks. Let's see what they got.
>
> [Young man in the background] They got missiles, we got bombs.
>
> I want them…I want them to make that decision so they can see…in a few days
> you going to see what a molotov cocktail can do to Macy's."
>
> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw></mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw></mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw></mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=133af185fca05d45&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw>
>
> __._,_.___
> Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
> Messages in this topic (1)
> Recent Activity:
>
> New Members 1
>
> Visit Your Group
> Report any problems, suggestions or abuse to
> Individual-Sovereignty-ow...@yahoogroups.com
>
> MARKETPLACE
>
> Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get
> the Yahoo! Toolbar now.
>
> <http://us.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=b992f034-10b9-11e1-8b89-57b2e6fe997e&T=1c9...
>
> <http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/yg/logo/us.gif>
> Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
> .
> <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=2420737/grpspId=1705303292...
>
> __,_._,___

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

I publicly announce full support of BoXilai

In public and in private I must fully support BoXilai．In private，my
grandfather and Boyibo were acquainted with each other during the Anti-
Japanese war，my grandfather was persecuted in the Cultural Revolution，
was released and restored to working by Boyibo．In public，BoXilai is
the only one leader in China nowadays who willing to do something for
the people， only one leader of the people trust，also the only one
leader of people support．

This is the first time public voice that I have been persecuted over
three years since 2008．Because I follow after freedom and democracy，
criticize the Government serious problems in the work，especially in
the financial field ：case of sale Chinese banking，case of rigged the
stock market and illegal created stock warrants，case of Bank of
Beijing illegal issued 100 million original shares and illegal listed，
and so on，therefore offended HuJintao WenJiabao and other vested
interest groups．

I was detained on criminal charge of "inciting subversion of state
power" in 2008，after labeled mental illness，jailed in Beijing
Municipal Public Security Bureau Forced Treatment Management
Department psychiatric section (Beijing AnKang hospital)，jailed 186
days totals．Then told me and my parents when released，can no publish
democratic article again，can not criticize the government again，can
not expose the crimes of Bank of Beijing again，otherwise is fall ill
again，will be re-jailed into Forced Treatment Management Department，
and that is long-term detention．

My grandfathers went through fire and water to seize state power，my
fathers sweat and shed blood to guard the country，to me is the third
generation then was persecuted as political refugee by HuJintao
WenJiabao and other vested interest groups，lawless deprived my
political rights，civil rights of safeguard the National law，and
subsistence rights——the first human rights of The Communist Party has
repeatedly advertised．

After three years I didn't publicly voice，didn't attend any activities，
just non-publicly sent article apply for political asylum by e-mail，
everyone has forgotten me，but the powers of traitor Mafia-like
corruption rogue of led by HuJintao WenJiabao haven't forgotten me and
my family，they always monitor my home．In Early 2009，after I sent out
apply for political asylum，the powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption
rogue of led by HuJintao WenJiabao detected it，In order to prevent me
going abroad to disclose their rule evil，they brutally crippled my
elder sister．More than two years，the Public Security Bureau，Health
Bureau，the Court，judicial expertise institutions，hospitals complicit
collective falsified evidence and delayed time，divulged secret
information to the perpetrator，shielded the perpetrator to escape，did
not assume any criminal liability and civil liability，Beijing's
doctors did not give my sister to do surgery，then my sister has not
obtained surgical treatment so far，leading to my sister necrosis of
femoral head，lost the labor ability．

The powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue of led by HuJintao
WenJiabao thought that still cannot completely trap my family in China，
then stole my name disseminating terror information on the Internet，
attempt to slander me as terrorist．I always think my arena in China，
one year later will enormous changes，it doesn't matter to go abroad or
not，perhaps being trapped in China could more help my uncle bo．

BoXilai is the only one leader nowadays who willing to do something
for the people，but was banished to Chongqing，how can serve the
national people? He bravely chose combat corruption and crime
crackdown that other leaders are afraid to do，Chinese people see some
light for brilliant victories．but Chongqing is too small，and the
powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue is formidable，in a voice
of opposition by the backstage of the powers of traitor Mafia-like
corruption rogue，combat corruption and crime crackdown can not go on
further．BoXilai how to continue to lead the national people? Then sing
song，singing and dance is one of the main tasks of the party and
Government organs and State-owned enterprises and institutions，day
after day to sing，month after month to sing，year after year to sing，
workplaces park street are singing．Others sing all right，BoXilai
singing is not good， immediately the powers of traitor Mafia-like
corruption rogue that touched the interests by combat corruption and
crime crackdown slandered he want to back up again the Cultural
Revolution．The Chinese people have progressed，won't do the low level
Cultural Revolution any more．The reason that the powers of traitor
Mafia-like corruption rogue slander BoXilai is afraid of Chinese
people are mobilized to deprive of their illegal interests，the voice
attack BoXilai major from Beijing because the backstage of the powers
of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue all at Beijing．

Want to achieve victory of combat corruption and crime crackdown in
China must first win victory of combat corruption and crime crackdown
in Beijing．But it is not anyone does that combat corruption and crime
crackdown at Beijing，the deeply involved social and political factors
network of the powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue in
Beijing is collusion between the upper and lower，none officials who
have the courage and the will and the incentive dare against them，
review whole China only I can do．Yes，my short-term goal is the mayor
of Beijing．

Beijing also some officials faked formidable justice high profile
combat corruption and crime crackdown on stage，but as close as
brothers with the powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue under
stage，the more combat corruption and crime crackdown， the powers of
traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue in Beijing more rampant．For ten
years，I and my family have been continuously suffering brutally
persecution from the powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue of
led by HuJintao WenJiabao since I began to expose illegal criminal
behavior of Bank of Beijing and follow after freedom and democracy，
they killed one person in my family，crippled one person in my family，
wounded two person in my family，life-long persecution to my whole
family．At present Beijing Mafia-like dare open extortion and
intimidation my family，they clamor that you family is repression
object，not protected by the Communist Government，we can bully you
family we want，nobody hinders．The powers of traitor Mafia-like
corruption rogue of led by HuJintao WenJiabao use public authority
owed blood debts to my family，I will use the law blood for blood．I am
the only one who have the courage and the will and the incentive
utterly destroy the powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption rogue in
Beijing．

My first shot that combat corruption and crime crackdown at Beijing is
to make the Mafia-like，corruption，illegal listed Bank of Beijing
delisting and bankruptcy，refer to article Bank of Beijing bankruptcy
will bring enormous benefits．Bank of Beijing baby shareholders event
is China's first major case，100 million original shares of Bank of
Beijing illegal issued to more than 500 descendants of Chinese
dignitaries，this is HuJintao WenJiabao made GSP in order to buy
support from dignitaries，and thus the trader WangQishan became vice-
premier．Bank of Beijing bankruptcy will lead to China's political
crisis and financial crisis，chain reaction is a large number of senior
officials of central and Beijing Municipal out of power，vacate senior
positions especially monetary authorities top jobs，arrange patriotic
clean and fair person for the new leadership．

Since the song is not to sing，BoXilai would be better to listen to
public opinion concern about the financial problems，dealing with
oversupply and illegal listed on stock market，rigged the stock market
and illegal created stock warrants，sale Chinese banking and transport
people's wealth to foreign，certainly can gain fully support of
hundreds of millions investors and the 1.3 billion Chinese people．My
grandfather together with Boyibo attacked against Japanese fascist in
Jin Ji Lu Yu base area during Anti-Japanese War，now I'd like to
jointly BoXilai destroy the powers of traitor Mafia-like corruption
rogue in China，cooperation to build a new China．

Democratic and righteous people team up，look at the world who can
be against．

Ran Zheng
October 1，2011
Room 1607，Building No．3，No．50 Waiguandongjie Street，
Chaoyang District，Beijing，China
Zip Code：100011
Mobile：13121575528
Blog：www.zhengran6.blogspot.com
E-mail：zhengran99@gmail.com zhengran66@hotmail.com

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.