After Election, Church Has Work To Do

There is so much more that needs to be said about this election. Where is God in all this? Did God not hear our prayers or realize that tens of thousands fasted and prayed over the last 40 days? Or is this somehow God’s judgment against America?

As Christians we have our work cut out for us. The demographics are shifting. Those who believe biblical principles are becoming the minority. We are in a democracy where the majority rules. Those who favor gambling, abortion, any sort of sexual practice, debauchery of every type actually see us as extremists to be feared are gaining every day.
Meanwhile, there is a remnant in America who love Jesus. But they seem more interested in jumping and shouting and “having church” than being salt and light.

But it isn’t just the charismatics who are complacent. I attended a “God and country” rally last Sunday at a large Baptist church. A lot of money was spent to put on the rally and others like it around Florida. It was supposedly an area-wide rally, but there were just a couple of hundred people.
That Baptist church could have filled the building just with its own congregation. And it was just preaching to those already committed to the conservative cause. I doubt any votes were changed by the rally. Not many in Orlando even knew the rally happened.

Maybe things will get so bad in America that the body of Christ will finally wake up. But will it be too late by then? Is it too late now? I feel as if we’re at a point it will take a miracle of God to turn things around.

Meanwhile, we must still be salt and light. God’s Word is still true no matter who is in the White House or who has control of Congress. People still need the Savior. We need a radical revival in this nation.
And it’s not just so one political party can be in power. It is so hearts will be changed; lives changed and a majority of our fellow countryman are energized to get this country back on the right track.

After Election, Church Has Work To Do

Can Texas Secede? Judge Napolitano says yes - YouTube

Can Texas Secede? Judge Napolitano says yes - YouTube

Texas Petition to Secede Reaches Threshold for Obama Comment - ABC News

A petition for Texas to secede from the union, submitted to the White House, reached the number of signatures needed to draw comment from the Obama administration today.

The petition appeared on a section of the White House website called "We the People" that invites users with a U.S. zip code to submit or sign petitions about policy changes they would like to see. A petition must reach 25,000 signatures within 30 days for the administration to comment on it.

The petition to "Peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government," was submitted on Friday of last week. Just three days later, it zoomed past the 25,000 mark at 3:22 p.m. today and kept going.

In order to sign a petition, users must register with the site using a valid email address and entering their zip code. The site's terms of participation indicates it has mechanisms in place to block spam, but it does not say anything about verifying zip codes or state residency.


Texas Petition to Secede Reaches Threshold for Obama Comment - ABC News

Biometric Data-Gathering Sets Off a Privacy Debate

“PLEASE put your hand on the scanner,” a receptionist at a doctor’s office at New York University Langone Medical Center said to me recently, pointing to a small plastic device on the counter between us. “I need to take a palm scan for your file.” 
Biometric Data-Gathering Sets Off a Privacy Debate - NYTimes.com

Helena hospital installing hand scanner ID device

HELENA - Patients at St. Peter's Hospital and clinics will soon have the option of enrolling in a new identification system which eliminates the need to provide photo ID at each appointment or hospital visit.

Patient Secure is currently used by 200 hospitals across the nation. The system scans the patient's vein pattern of their right hand which is then fed into a computer.

St. Peter's Hospital is hoping to secure the identity of its patients by implementing a new hand-scanning system.

Patient Access director Kolene Gardner explained, "What this is, it's a biometric scan of your palm. Your palm is the same from the time you are born until you pass."


Helena hospital installing hand scanner ID device | KPAX.com | Missoula, Montana

Synthetic skin: The artificial material that can heal itself (and could be used on fragile mobile phone screens) | Mail Online

Synthetic skin: The artificial material that can heal itself (and could be used on fragile mobile phone screens) | Mail Online

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Magnitude 6 4 earthquake strikes Gulf of Alaska

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Magnitude 6 4 earthquake strikes Gulf of Alaska

Here come the humanoids. There go U.S. jobs

TUCSON, Ariz.--Rethink Robotics founder Rodney Brooks took to the stage at the Techonomy conference here to talk about the wonders of his new robot, Baxter, which is designed to work on factory floors doing dull and necessary tasks. He costs just $25,000 and works for what amounts to $4 an hour.
Baxter is a step forward in robotics with mass potential. It has a face and sensors to tell it when people are near. It's about as close to a humanoid robot as we can get, and Brooks said it's just the beginning.

"Within 10 years, we're going to see humanoid robots," said Brooks, who was a co-founder of iRobot, maker of iRoomba, the vacuum cleaner robot.



Here come the humanoids. There go U.S. jobs | Internet & Media - CNET News

UPS stops funding Boy Scouts due to group’s anti-gay policies | GlobalPost

The UPS Foundation has decided to stop giving charitable grants to the Boy Scouts of America until the group lifts its ban on gays and lesbians joining the organization as scouts and scout leaders, the Associated Press reported.
The UPS Foundation donated $150,000 to the Boy Scouts in 2010, according to the AP.

This past July, following a two-year review of its rules, a Boy Scouts committee chose to continue the group’s policy of excluding gay members, prompting criticism from civil rights groups and some current and former scouts.

UPS stops funding Boy Scouts due to group’s anti-gay policies | GlobalPost

Church Demolished: Russia's Fading Religious Freedom

(Note:  in the city of Moscow, Pastor Rick Renner has built a tremendous and powerful church that is seeing people saved every week....they have 5 services on Sunday.....let us pray for many people to be reached all throughout Russia in the time that is left for laboring.  If Pastor Renner's church is ever shut down, we will know that the darkness has truly finished descending on Russia.)

A recent nighttime raid and destruction of an evangelical church outside Moscow raised concerns that religious freedom is fading in Russia.

That's because police simply watched as dozens of men with heavy machinery demolished the Holy Trinity Pentecostal congregation.

Some fear its part of a threatening pattern against Russia's evangelical Christians.

Church Demolished: Russia's Fading Religious Freedom

Bahrain police fire tear gas to disperse Shi'ites: witnesses | Reuters

The island country has been volatile since majority Shi'ite Muslims began protesting last year against what they say is widespread discrimination, a charge the Sunni-led government denies.

Shi'ite leaders had called for people to turn out to support Sheikh Issa Qassim in his village of Diraz, west of the capital Manama, after the government warned clerics not to criticize the government or incite violence.

Bahraini authorities were not immediately available to comment on Friday. But the call for mass prayers appeared to flout a ban on rallies and protests announced by the interior ministry last month.

Riot police prevented media and non-residents from reaching Diraz on Friday morning, blocking off all roads and highways. Some arrests were made, witnesses said.


Bahrain police fire tear gas to disperse Shi'ites: witnesses | Reuters

Alabama Governor to Block State Health Exchange? – Tenth Amendment Center Blog

On Nov. 6, Alabama voters chose to nullify the federal government’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obama-Care.  Opponents of this move – including most of the local media – tried to paint a picture of “federal trumps state”, and “this is a lost cause”, but the voters held true and passed Amendment 6, nullifying health care mandates.
I checked local news sources for backlash and found a press release from Alabama Governor Robert Bentley.  It reads in part…

“The worst piece of legislation that has ever been passed in my lifetime by Congress is this quote ‘Affordable Health Care Act,’” he said. “It is not affordable and it is not health care. It is the worst — ah, I said that. I don’t have to say it twice.”
“They have made a mistake in the bill,” he said. “When they wrote the bill, they only talked about state exchanges. So if I refuse — like a lot of conservative governors are doing — to set up a state exchange, then it’s going to throw a monkey wrench in all of the stuff that’s going on. And I’m telling you folks, the states may be the last great hope — to be the firewall — against the implementation of this health care bill.”

It appears Gov. Bentley is not swayed by the SCOTUS decision at all.  He stands with his people and stands up for the 10th Amendment.

To continue reading:

Alabama Governor to Block State Health Exchange? – Tenth Amendment Center Blog

RadsDocDancer: Dr. Richard Amerling: Physicians’ Declaration of Independence

Dr. Richard Amerling: Physicians’ Declaration of Independence

In resistance to the tyrannical oppression of America's preening Monarch, King Obama I,  and the imminent destruction of  the medical profession and the doctor-patient relationship by legions of federal bureaucratic over-lords under ObamaCare, Dr. Richard Amerling of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons has eloquently  penned the  Physicians’ Declaration of Independence :

"When in the Course of Human Events, it becomes necessary for one Profession to dissolve the Financial Arrangements which have connected them with Medicare, Medicaid, assorted Health Maintenance Organizations, and diverse Third Party Payers and to assume among the other Professions of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 To continue reading....

RadsDocDancer: Dr. Richard Amerling: Physicians’ Declaration of Independence

Ancient Roman Giant Found—Oldest Complete Skeleton With Gigantism

It's no tall tale—the first complete ancient skeleton of a person with gigantism has been discovered near Rome, a new study says.

At 6 feet, 8 inches (202 centimeters) tall, the man would have been a giant in third-century A.D. Rome, where men averaged about 5 and a half feet (167 centimeters) tall. By contrast, today's tallest man measures 8 feet, 3 inches (251 centimeters).

Finding such skeletons is rare, because gigantism itself is extremely rare, today affecting about three people in a million worldwide. The condition begins in childhood, when a malfunctioning pituitary gland causes abnormally growth.

Ancient Roman Giant Found—Oldest Complete Skeleton With Gigantism

Texas Megachurch Pastor Says Obama Will 'Pave Way' for Antichrist

A Texas megachurch pastor recently claimed that President Barack Obama's re-election victory would lead to the rise of the Antichrist.

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, made remarks on Sunday before the election that should Obama win, his victory would lead to the reign of the Antichrist.
"I want you to hear me tonight, I am not saying that President Obama is the Antichrist, I am not saying that at all. One reason I know he's not the Antichrist is the Antichrist is going to have much higher poll numbers when he comes," said Jeffress.
"President Obama is not the Antichrist. But what I am saying is this: the course he is choosing to lead our nation is paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist."

Read more at

Texas Megachurch Pastor Says Obama Will 'Pave Way' for Antichrist

Space-station commander controls Lego robot on Earth with futuristic network| PC World Magazine New Zealand

 Late last month in Germany, a robot made its first moves on Earth under commands from an orbiting spacecraft.

Though that may sound ominous, it doesn't represent an impending threat to humankind. The robot was made of Lego, and it only traversed a European Space Agency test facility. The commands were sent by Sunita Williams, commander of the 33rd expedition of the International Space Station. The ESA-led experiment may have helped lay the groundwork for future expeditions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.


Space-station commander controls Lego robot on Earth with futuristic network| PC World Magazine New Zealand

Global row as UN body vies for internet control - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A global row has broken out over who should control and profit from the internet, after a draft proposal by a United Nations body was published online.

The little-known UN body, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), is pushing to regulate the internet, and has suggested a range of reforms which would potentially stifle free speech and make users pay extra to use things like Skype and email.

Australia and the United States have already signalled their concerns about the plan, which experts say could allow countries to shut down the internet if they felt sensitive information might be made public.

Global row as UN body vies for internet control - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

33,000 tons of quake debris to reach N. America by June 2013－ 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Environment Ministry said Friday it is expecting around 33,000 tons of debris washed away by tsunamis caused by the March 2011 earthquake in northeastern Japan to reach the western coast of North America by next June, slightly revising its earlier estimate made seven months ago.

The movement of the debris is now found to be slower than initially predicted, the agency said, following its analysis of more recent data including the ocean current and wind direction through June. Its April estimate said 41,300 tons would move across the Pacific by February 2013.

33,000 tons of quake debris to reach N. America by June 2013－ 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞)

Evangelical on Election: America Adopted Evil; It's OK to Grieve

Mat Staver, an evangelical who defends religious liberty, marriage and the sanctity of life in legal matters, is genuinely concerned about the soul of America following Tuesday's election – so much so that he believes it's appropriate to grieve.

"The event we have just witnessed was far more than a general election – it was a referendum on the soul of America," he wrote in a statement Thursday. "We grieve today like we have lost a friend or a close relative. Millions of Americans looked evil in the eye and adopted it."

After Americans voted to give President Barack Obama a second term - Obama won both the Electoral College and the popular vote - Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, concluded that the soul of America is sick.
Four years ago, Americans did not know much about Obama when they elected him as the first black U.S. president in 2008.

Read more at

Evangelical on Election: America Adopted Evil; It's OK to Grieve

Newsweek cover depicts Obama as Napoleonic, calls GOP old, white, history - National Elections | Examiner.com

Newsweek, the magazine that once depicted Obama as "god of all things," released the cover of its Obama victory edition on Thursday, depicting the president as a conquering general complete with sword and uniform while portraying the Republican Party as "old, white" and "history."

Newsweek apparently wasn't content with a racist message that discriminates against the elderly. Emblazoned on the cover is the caption: "The Obama Conquest."


Newsweek cover depicts Obama as Napoleonic, calls GOP old, white, history - National Elections | Examiner.com

Alec Baldwin Says 2012 Is End of ‘White, Middle Aged, Christian, Male Dominance’ | TheBlaze.com

Alec Baldwin might play high-flying conservative executive Jack Donaghy on the hit show “30 Rock,” but don’t let that fool you – the actor himself is an acid-tongued liberal. And with a recent tweet, Baldwin has simultaneously reminded us just how sharp his tongue can be and how shrill his liberalism can be.

Tweeting at former actress and current conservative pundit Janine Turner, Baldwin took his turn as the most recent liberal to gloat over the victory of President Barack Obama. However, Baldwin’s reason for this gloating may strike some as more than a little odd.

Alec Baldwin Says 2012 Is End of ‘White, Middle Aged, Christian, Male Dominance’ | TheBlaze.com

Remembrance Sunday: The traumas of war that haunt us still - Telegraph

For thousands of families, the poignancy of Remembrance Sunday has its source in a private grief that reaches down through generations. For my family this has certainly been true, but it was a long time before I began to understand it.

The first stories ever told to me were about my grandfather Gordon and the First World War. As I sat beside my grandmother in her little flat, she would tell me how, early in 1917, Gordon had led a small company of men through the wire and up to the opposite lines. On the edge of a German trench something had exploded under him, and he was knocked face down into the mud. Later, after the raid, a search party had gone out at night, but in the wreckage and darkness the men hadn’t been able to find any trace of him. My grandfather was reported missing, presumed dead. He was 23 years old.

Remembrance Sunday: The traumas of war that haunt us still - Telegraph

Shirley: Medical device tax will impact jobs and costs » Ventura County Star

Boston Scientific anticipates $100 million in additional taxes next year, with layoffs to follow. Medtronic estimates a $175 million loss in 2013 and will cut 1,000 workers. Stryker plans 1,170 job cuts.

Other medical manufacturers will follow: Smith & Nephew, with 770 layoffs; Abbott Labs, 700; Covidien, 595; Kinetic Concepts, 427; St. Jude Medical, 300; Welch Allyn 275; and Hill Rom, 200.

In January, medical device manufacturers in the U.S. will be asked to take a 2.3 percent hit to their bottom line in the form of a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices, part of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Read more:

Shirley: Medical device tax will impact jobs and costs » Ventura County Star

Obama's woman in Tehran - Israel News, Ynetnews

A Chicago lawyer is the key player behind the secret talks between the US and Iran. Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. A close friend of Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett is assisting the US government communicate behind the scenes with the representatives of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Jarret, who was born in the Iranian city of Shiraz, is a senior advisor to US President Barack Obama. 


Obama's woman in Tehran - Israel News, Ynetnews

Louisiana IDs face Jan. 15 federal Real ID Act deadline | The Town Talk | thetowntalk.com

 SHREVEPORT, La. -- Beginning in January, Louisiana residents may be unable to use their state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards to take domestic flights or enter federal courthouses and other federally secured buildings.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has set Jan. 15 as the deadline for states to comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law passed in 2005 that has been modified over the years as many states refused — or were unable — to comply with the original law.

The act sets in place security standards for identification cards issued by states and stipulates protocols state agencies must adhere to when residents apply for identification.

Louisiana IDs face Jan. 15 federal Real ID Act deadline | The Town Talk | thetowntalk.com

Voters in 2 states 1st to back same-sex marriage

While Barack Obama’s re-election drew the spotlight Tuesday night, causes championed by his Democratic Party also made history gains in statewide initiatives.

Maryland and Maine became the first states in which voters chose to legalize same-sex marriage while Washington state and Colorado appear to have become the first to pass measures legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.


Voters in 2 states 1st to back same-sex marriage

Barack Obama wins reelection: Mid East faces nuclear Iran, Brotherhood grip

Barack Obama has won re-election as President of the United States, according to all the projections of the Nov. 6 vote - albeit ahead of the final count of ballots. The prospect of another four years of Obama in the White House fills some Middle East nations, including the Persian Gulf and Israel, with trepidation.

They envisage a foreign policy that continues to focus on hitching US influence in the Muslim world – Sunni and Shiite alike – on to a wagon led by Iran as the first Islamic Shite Muslim nuclear power and the sponsorship of Muslim Brotherhood rule of Sunni Arab nations.

For Israel, this policy translates bleakly into American backing for the two most forbidding ideological foes it has faced in all its 63 years: Iran, whose leaders call openly for Israel’s extinction - even from the UN platform – although this is achievable only by nuclear aggression; and the hostile Muslim Brotherhood.


Barack Obama wins reelection: Mid East faces nuclear Iran, Brotherhood grip

The Ron Paul Revolution Moves to Congress

 Wednesday, 07 November 2012 08:59

The Ron Paul Revolution Moves to Congress

Written by  Thomas R. Eddlem

Libertarian-leaning Republican Congressman Ron Paul lost his bid for the Republican presidential nomination this year, but a number of his acolytes ran for Congress as Republicans and won November 6. Is Congress the real location of the growing “Ron Paul revolution”?

After a candidate loses an election, it's rare that the candidate's movement continues as a “revolution.” Nobody talks about a John McCain revolution, and even a day after the Mitt Romney defeat for president, nobody's talking about a Mitt Romney movement that will continue after his candidacy. But Representative Ron Paul, a 12-term Texas congressman who is retiring in January, always said his campaign was about ideas instead of personalities. In making endorsements for the U.S. House of Representatives, the former obstetrician played the role of king-maker, winning an astonishing eight of 11

The Ron Paul Revolution Moves to Congress

In Egypt streets, Islamists throw weight around | Reuters

 
(Reuters) - Mohamed Talaat didn't like the fact Christian music was being played at a party to promote interfaith harmony in the Egyptian town of Minya south of Cairo, so together with a group of like-minded Islamist hardliners, he showed up to put a stop to it.

It was simply un-Islamic to broadcast Christian songs, Talaat explained.
"Egypt is Islamic and so we all have to accept Islamic rules to halt any strife," he said by telephone.

Four months since Egypt elected veteran Muslim Brotherhood politician Mohamed Mursi as president, human rights activists say hardliners are trying to impose Islamist ways on society.

Although reliable data on social trends is hard to find in Egypt, many people believe that cases of religious intimidation have increased.

"There is no doubt that the rate of strange and violent practices by strict Islamists has increased tremendously since the election of Mursi," said Gamal Eid, founder of The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a human rights group.
"We have in a few months seen many more of such incidents than we have seen in years before Mursi," he said.

In Egypt streets, Islamists throw weight around | Reuters

Colorado, Washington first states to legalize recreational pot | Reuters

Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use on Tuesday in defiance of federal law, setting the stage for a possible showdown with the Obama administration.
But another ballot measure to remove criminal penalties for personal possession and cultivation of recreational cannabis was defeated in Oregon, where significantly less money and campaign organization was devoted to the cause.
Supporters of a Colorado constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana were the first to declare victory, and opponents conceded defeat, after returns showed the measure garnering nearly 53 percent of the vote versus 47 percent against.

"Colorado will no longer have laws that steer people toward using alcohol, and adults will be free to use marijuana instead if that is what they prefer. And we will be better off as a society because of it," said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Colorado pro-legalization campaign.


Colorado, Washington first states to legalize recreational pot | Reuters

A Warning to Moral Conservatives

If Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Michael Barone and others are right and Mitt Romney is our next president, we moral conservatives cannot take our foot off the gas.

We cannot let up in our advocacy for life and family. We cannot relax or shift into neutral as if some great victory has already been won. To do so would be to make a fatal mistake, and four years from now we will be kicking ourselves again, vowing once more not to sell our souls to the Republican Party, claiming that this time we have learned our lesson, only to repeat the cycle four years hence.

But being forewarned is being fore-equipped, and that negative scenario does not have to unfold. Instead, if we do our job and urge the president to do his, calling him to account at every point and offering positive support, whether he fails or succeeds, our mission will continue unabated. In fact, the more he fails, the more will we realize that the responsibility for moral and social change falls on us, not on him.


A Warning to Moral Conservatives

In Case You Missed It: Real ID Act could bring real changes

Beginning in January, Louisiana residents may be unable to use their state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards to take domestic flights or enter federally secured buildings such as the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Shreveport.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has set a hard deadline of Jan. 15 for states to comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law passed in 2005 that has been modified over the years as many states refused — or were unable — to comply with the original law.


The act sets in place security standards for identification cards issued by states and stipulates protocols state agencies must adhere to when residents apply for identification.


The law only affects state identification cards and driver’s licenses, not other official forms of identification.



In Case You Missed It: Real ID Act could bring real changes | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com

Sunday protests planned in Kuwait despite government warning | Reuters

(Reuters) - The opposition in Kuwait will press ahead with a march on Sunday to protest against new voting rules despite the government warning it will not tolerate unsanctioned demonstrations, an activist said.
The OPEC member and U.S. ally said on Saturday it had not authorized any protests and the prime minister warned police could use force if the authorities felt the Gulf Arab state was under serious threat.
Kuwait has avoided the kind of mass pro-democracy unrest seen in other Arab countries, but tensions have mounted between the elected parliament and the government, which is dominated by the Al-Sabah ruling family.



Sunday protests planned in Kuwait despite government warning | Reuters

Signs Of The Times: Extremist Imam To Hold Fundraiser In Florida For America’s First Muslim College « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

What is equally as outlandish here is the fact that an institution of ‘higher learning’ – whose own ideology is entirely based upon the absurd irrationalities of a man who believed in the health benefits of drinking camel urine, who believed that Jews were descendants of apes and pigs and who believed that the earth was flat – is also providing a course offering ‘a comprehensive overview’ of logic …
By Ryan Mauro, Radical Islam – “A fundraiser will be held for Zaytuna College, America’s first Muslim college, at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, November 3. The featured speaker is one of Zaytuna’s founders, Imam Zaid Shakir, an Islamist cleric whose extremism has been repeatedly documented by RadicalIslam.org. The lecture is free of charge, but tickets for the dinner reception afterwards are $50.



Signs Of The Times: Extremist Imam To Hold Fundraiser In Florida For America’s First Muslim College « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

Guess who U.S. Muslims are voting for

Nearly half of 600 Muslim-American citizens polled who plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election believe parodies of Muhammad should be prosecuted criminally in the U.S., and one in eight say the offense is so serious violators should face the death penalty.

The results came in a groundbreaking scientific poll for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies. It was taken Oct. 22-26 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percentage points.

The poll also found 40 percent of Muslims in America believe they should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Shariah standards.
And the big winner among Muslim-Americans in the presidential election is Barack Obama, the poll found. More than 72 percent said they are definitely supporting Obama, and another 8.5 percent are leaning that direction. Only 11 percent are for Romney.


Guess who U.S. Muslims are voting for

France kicks out devout Imam who called for jihad, Jewish genocide and corporal punishment of woman - Atlas Shrugs

"The imam of a mosque in Paris deported to Tunisia" 20 Minutes, France (thanks to Jean)

Google translate: SAFETY - is accused of "violent jihad valued, uttering anti-Semitic remarks and justified the use of violence and corporal punishment against women" ...

Mohamed Hammami was eventually expelled. The imam of the mosque Omar, located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, was deported Wednesday to Tunisia , where he is a national, announced Manuel Valls a statement.
The Interior Minister considers that the charges against Mohamed Hammami "particularly serious" "He made comments openly hostile to the values ​​of the Republic. He valued violent jihad, uttering anti-Semitic remarks and justified the use of violence and corporal punishment against women, "says the statement.

France kicks out devout Imam who called for jihad, Jewish genocide and corporal punishment of woman - Atlas Shrugs

Limited Open Carry Comes to Oklahoma

 On Thursday of this week, the state of Oklahoma will take an important step on the slow return to a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. A new law comes into effect on November 1 that allows those citizens who have concealed carry permits to openly carry a firearm.

Limited Open Carry Comes to Oklahoma

White House won't oppose new challenge to 2010 healthcare law | Reuters

The Obama administration on Wednesday cleared the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit that challenges the 2010 healthcare overhaul on religious grounds, including a claim that it helps fund abortions.
Liberty University, a Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia, had challenged the individual mandate, which required Americans to obtain insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, and a mandate requiring big employers to provide coverage for workers.



White House won't oppose new challenge to 2010 healthcare law | Reuters

Russia warns West on Syria | The Australian

RUSSIA has warned that the "bloodbath" in Syria will continue if the West sticks to its demand for President Bashar al-Assad's ouster. 
 
"If the position of our partners remains the departure of this leader who they do not like, the bloodbath will continue," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.

The nearly 20-month conflict in Syria has killed 36,000 people according to activists.

Fabius also said France and Russia failed to bridge their differences over Assad's role in any future transition government.


Russia warns West on Syria | The Australian

In Race for World's Fastest Supercomputer, U.S. Lab Deploys an Energy-Efficient Titan

 The power of Titan, a supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, is akin to each of the world’s 7 billion people being able to carry out 3 million calculations per second.


In a breakthrough that harnesses video-game technology for solving science's most complex mysteries, a U.S. government laboratory today deployed Titan—the fastest, most powerful, and most energy-efficient of a new generation of supercomputers that breach the bounds of "central processing unit" computing.
The Titan system at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is a leading contender to top the industry's official list of the world's fastest supercomputers, to be announced next month in Salt Lake City. It can handle 20,000 trillion calculations each second—a speed of 20 petaflops, which puts it neck-and-neck with the U.S. government computer in California that has led the closely watched TOP500 list since June.
In Race for World's Fastest Supercomputer, U.S. Lab Deploys an Energy-Efficient Titan

Terrorist pipeline continues to flow from Minn. to Somalia | Minnesota Public Radio News

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Four years after federal authorities in the Twin Cities began investigating homegrown recruitment for the terrorist group al-Shabab, at least two additional men slipped away to Somalia as recently as July.

Federal authorities believe the Minneapolis men joined the group and are still in the East African nation.

The FBI's confirmation this week that a terrorist conduit continues to flow from Minnesota to Somalia perplexes members of Minnesota's Somali community, who have watched with dismay as young men have disappeared.

FAMILY STUNNED
Among those missing is 19-year-old Mohamed Osman, who once called a leafy little cul-de-sac in south Minneapolis home.

Inside his family's two-story house, Osman's older cousin, Jamal Salim, recalled when the family realized that Osman, who graduated last year from Southwest High School, was missing.

"One day we're at home, like, 'Where is Mohamed?' " Salim said. "It's been two days, and we're thinking he's out with friends. The parents are going crazy. They think he's got arrested or something."

Salim said Osman's mother didn't realize her son was in Somalia until she received a visit from the FBI. Salim said his aunt was stunned.

Terrorist pipeline continues to flow from Minn. to Somalia | Minnesota Public Radio News

Bulgaria: Thirteen Muslim scholars, imams and teachers on trial for preaching jihad, al-Qaeda links, preaching against democracy - Atlas Shrugs

Bulgaria, whose population of 7.4 million is 80-percent Christian Orthodox, also has the highest percentage of native Muslims in the European Union, at about 13 percent.

They include Turks, Muslim Roma and Pomaks, like the accused, whose Christian ancestors were forced to convert to Islam during the country's Ottoman domination between the 14th and 19th century. The Pomaks are the most devout of the three subgroups, minority experts said.

Most experts also warned that, regardless of its outcome, the trial risks raising tensions between Bulgaria's Christian majority and the Muslim minority, who have lived together quietly since the fall of communism in 1989.

Yes, the trial will raise tensions. Thirteen Muslim leaders preaching hatred of the Infidels and the need to subjugate them under Islamic rule -- that doesn't raise tensions. Only trying them does.


Bulgaria: Thirteen Muslim scholars, imams and teachers on trial for preaching jihad, al-Qaeda links, preaching against democracy - Atlas Shrugs

Christians persecuted throughout the world - Telegraph

 

Imagine the unspeakable fury that would erupt across the Islamic world if a Christian-led government in Khartoum had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese Muslims over the past 30 years. Or if Christian gunmen were firebombing mosques in Iraq during Friday prayers. Or if Muslim girls in Indonesia had been abducted and beheaded on their way to school, because of their faith.

Such horrors are barely thinkable, of course. But they have all occurred in reverse, with Christians falling victim to Islamist aggression. Only two days ago, a suicide bomber crashed a jeep laden with explosives into a packed Catholic church in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 100. The tragedy bore the imprint of numerous similar attacks by Boko Haram (which roughly translates as “Western education is sinful”), an exceptionally bloodthirsty militant group.

Other notable trouble spots include Egypt, where 600,000 Copts – more than the entire population of Manchester – have emigrated since the 1980s in the face of harassment or outright oppression.

Christians persecuted throughout the world - Telegraph

Israeli grandma’s shocking WWII secrets revealed in ‘The Flat’

As Arnon Goldfinger’s new documentary, “The Flat,” opens, the filmmaker and his family are cleaning out the Tel Aviv apartment of his German-born grandmother, where she lived for decades until her death at 98. What for most families would be an emotional but uneventful process takes a sharp turn for the Goldfingers, however, as they find photographs and newspaper articles that reveal a disturbing, previously unknown chapter in the family’s past.

Goldfinger’s grandparents, who never quite blended into Israeli society, retained close ties not only to the country of their birth, but also to a German couple whose unsettling identity is revealed early in the film. The discovery sparks a five-year journey that Goldfinger records with his camera, slowly uncovering the story for himself, his mother and the world.

Israeli grandma’s shocking WWII secrets revealed in ‘The Flat’ | The Times of Israel

Non-lethal microwave-blasting missile knocks out electronics (Wired UK)

 
Boeing has successfully tested a non-lethal, microwave-blasting missile that knocks out electronics, instigating a collective shudder from technology apocalypse theorists the world over.

Somewhere over the Western Utah desert on 16 October, Boeing's Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile (CHAMP) knocked out all seven of its targets within an hour, including a two-story building. The system works a little like the electromagnetic pulse in The Matrix, which knocks out the sentinels -- the real-world high-power compact microwave pulse system in CHAMP was developed by Raytheon Ktech.

Non-lethal microwave-blasting missile knocks out electronics (Wired UK)

'Three parent embryos' created from human eggs - Telegraph

Embryos containing DNA from three parents have been created from human eggs for the first time in a breakthrough for a therapy which could eradicate a host of rare genetic disorders.

Eggs containing DNA from two women were fertilised and grown into healthy embryos in a lab experiment by researchers from Oregon Health & Science University in the US.

The technique is designed for women who have mutations in tiny structures known as mitochondria, which can result in a range of devastating conditions including muscular dystrophy.

It involves taking chromosomes from the mother's egg, which carry 99.8 per cent of her DNA, and placing them in a donor egg which has healthy mitochondria but has had its own chromosomes removed.

The eggs were fertilised by sperm and almost half developed into healthy embryos. The resulting children would have inherited 99.8 per cent of their DNA from their parents, but also a tiny fraction from the donor.

'Three parent embryos' created from human eggs - Telegraph

Lawmaker urges feds to monitor Hezbollah in Mexico | Fox News

 

 Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) says the mounting evidence of a Hezbollah presence in Mexico is being ignored by the Department of Homeland Security.
"I don't have a lot of faith in the Department of Homeland Security," said Myrick. "They should be looking at these groups in Mexico much more closely."

Lawmaker urges feds to monitor Hezbollah in Mexico | Fox News

Nigel Farage On The Total Subjugation Of Europe | ZeroHedge

Forget black swans, Nigel Farage is rapidly turning himself into the black sheep of the EU Parliament with his constant stream of truthiness and honest pragmatism. It seems the broadly nodding-donkeys that fill the chamber remain cognitively dissonant to any and everything in the real world - hanging instead on the next soundbite from Van Rompuy or Barroso on how well things are going, or how the crisis is 'almost' over. If only the Germans would bless them all with their money. In one his plainest-speaking rants, Farage provides clarity to his 'peers' on just exactly what the bailouts of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and soon to be Spain and Italy are actually about - the "total subjugation of the states to a completely undemocratic structure in Brussels." Is it any wonder Samaras and crew - while happy to accept cash and make promises - are pulling away from yet another (this time is the last time) Troika-driven austerity push? "The euro-zone is in a very dark place; economically, socially, and politically."


Nigel Farage On The Total Subjugation Of Europe | ZeroHedge

The Night of the long knives ... without the knives - Atlas Shrugs

The arrest of over 53 people yesterday in the UK is the beginning of the end for the once-great Britain.

The Night of the long knives ... without the knives - Atlas Shrugs

National Heritage Areas: The Land Grabs Continue

 
Nineteen counties in Southern Virginia are being included in a proposed Heritage Area called The Crooked Road National Heritage Area. The excuse for this new federal land control program is that it will honor and bring nationwide attention to the rich musical heritage of the area that was home to such famous acts as the June Carter Family. Plans call for a 300 mile Heritage Corridor that will connect nine major heritage venues and more than 50 affiliated music venues. Tourism and economic growth are the promises.

It all sounds so American until you begin to look at the details, including documents not open to the public, refusal to announce the plan to those in the affected area, and a hoard of federal agencies and special interest groups ready to suck up the tax dollars.

In desperation, local activists and scared property owners asked me to journey to the area and give them the facts on the dangers of National Heritage Areas. Below is what I told them.
National Heritage Areas: The Land Grabs Continue

Government Welfare Payments Top $1 Trillion for the First Time

In response to a request from the Senate Budget Committee, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reported that federal welfare spending reached three-quarters of a trillion dollars last year. When added to what the states spent on welfare, another $300 billion, total government welfare payments in 2011 hit $1.03 trillion. More unnerving is that the report from the CRS didn't include spending on Social Security or Medicare.

Putting it all together, federal spending on welfare greatly exceeded spending on the military ($540 billion), Social Security ($725 billion), Medicare ($480 billion) as well as the Departments of Justice ($31 billion), Transportation ($77 billion) and Education ($65 billion).


Government Welfare Payments Top $1 Trillion for the First Time

International monitors at US polling spots

Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week to raise their fears about what they say are systematic efforts to suppress minority voters likely to vote for President Obama. 

The observers, from countries such as Germany, France, Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, will observe voting at polling places and other political activity. 

International monitors at US polling spots draw criticism from voter fraud groups - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com

Islamic Immigration to Increase in America | Islam vs the West | Limits to Growth

Islamic Immigration to Increase in America

Persons concerned about the survival of Western Civilization watch Europe’s degradation with alarm, as hostile Muslims use intimidation and violence to destroy freedom of speech, individual rights and women’s equality.
Those freedoms are increasingly under assault in America too; one example is the woman who suggested Everyone Draw Mohammed Day was forced into hiding by Muslim death threats.
As terror analyst Walid Phares noted last fall, “According to open-source reports, between 2001 and 2008, U.S. agencies stopped one or two terror attempts a year. However, from 2009 until today, the government has been uncovering one or two cases a month, a troubling growth in jihadi activities.”
The prudent thing for Washington to do would be to stop Muslim immigration entirely, since there is no right to immigrate, and national security is endangered by the historically adversarial group.



Islamic Immigration to Increase in America | Islam vs the West | Limits to Growth

"The Demographic War', another article: America Must Suspend Immigration From Muslim Majority Nations

By Bryan Fischer, Renew America – “Andy McCarthy and others have strongly suggested that we must suspend the practice of allowing Muslims from Muslim-majority nations around the world to immigrate to the United States. I agree with them.

The reason is very simple: it’s necessary for our national security and indeed may be necessary for our very survival.

A case in point, as Robert Spencer points out in FrontPage magazine: Quazi Mohammad Rexwanul Ahsan Nafis, arrested this week for trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. He was here on a student visa from Bangladesh, which is about 90% Muslim.



America Must Suspend Immigration From Muslim Majority Nations ‘For Our National Security … For Our Very Survival’ « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

Turkish schoolbooks denounce Darwin, Einstein as 'Jews' - Atlas Shrugs

"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers." Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan 
(Obama's friend)

Turkish schoolbooks denounce Darwin, Einstein as 'Jews' - Atlas Shrugs

Turkish schoolchildren in Istanbul received a series of books denouncing scientific figures, including one denying the theory of evolution and describing Charles Darwin as a big-nosed Jew, the Financial Times reported Friday.

According to the paper, the books were distributed last week to hundreds of students in the Maltepe district of Turkey's capital after the government-affiliated local education authority approved their content.

The book on Darwin reportedly states that the evolutionary biologist “Had two problems: First he was a Jew; second, he hated his prominent forehead, big nose and misshapen teeth.”

Darwin was not Jewish.

A separate book on Albert Einstein reportedly describes the physicist as “filthy and slovenly” and accuses him of eating soap. “The sad part is during that time the Gestapo was putting Jews into ovens and making them into soap,” the book adds.

Eritrea: 17 Christians Arrested And Taken To Unknown Location

Eritrean security arrested 17 Christians in Emba-Derho on Wednesday, October 10. The arrest took place after the house, where the believers were gathered, was searched. Among the group were five married women who have children.

Emba-Derho is approximately 14 km from the capital Asmara. The families were taking part in a ‘prayer and fasting’ program at a fellow believers’ house when security officers interrupted the meeting. Everyone present was arrested and taken to an unknown location.

According to an eye-witness, the believers were beaten by the officers who marched them to the main road where a military truck waited. Women were heard crying and pleading for mercy.

Eritrea: 17 Christians Arrested And Taken To Unknown Location After Gathering Together For Prayer And Fasting « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

"The Demographic War"

Several years ago, I acquired a DVD entitled, "Demographic Winter"...about the depopulating of European nations....

Demographics pertains to population numbers and groups.

Rather than waging war with weapons (but that is starting now also), Islam has been waging a "Demographic War" in Europe, America and other nations they intend to make a part of "Dar Al Islam".... The House of Islam.

This paragraph from the article linked below tells the details of how this war is being waged:

According to a recent report of the US Pew Center, Islam is already ‘the fastest-growing religion in Europe,’ where the number of Muslims has tripled over the past 30 years. One third of all European children will be born to Muslim families by 2025.
Demography is the most important symptom of exhaustion: without a cradle, you can’t sustain a civilization.


‘De-Christianization’: European Muslims Turn Churches Into Mosques, ‘We’re Here To Stay … Convert To Islam, And You Will Find Peace’ « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

Also, here is a link to the Documentary, "Demographic Winter"
Demographic Winter

‘De-Christianization’: European Muslims Turn Churches Into Mosques,

 By Giulio Meotti, INN – “Bouchra Ismaili, a Rotterdam city councilman: ‘Listen up, crazy freaks, we’re here to stay. You’re the foreigners here, with Allah on my side I’m not afraid of anything. Take my advice: convert to Islam, and you will find peace’.

The Middle East is full of churches turned into Islamic sites, like the Umayyad in Damascus, the Ibn Tulun in Cairo and the cathedral of St. Sophia in Instanbul.
In Hevron and on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the Muslims built their sites on the Jewish ones.

A sad prophecy of the writer Emile Cioran once cast a sinister prophecy on Europe: ‘The French will not wake up until Notre Dame becomes a mosque’.
This is now a reality. But unlike the Middle East, where non-Muslim sites were razed or violently converted to Islam, in Europe this process is voluntary.
The church of Saint-Eloi in the French region of Vierzon will soon become a mosque. The diocese of Bourges has put on sale the church and a Muslim organization, l’Association des Marocains, made the most generous offer to buy the site.

‘De-Christianization’: European Muslims Turn Churches Into Mosques, ‘We’re Here To Stay … Convert To Islam, And You Will Find Peace’ « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

The United Nations and the Future of Global Governance - Council on Foreign Relations

 From the mouth of the beast:

The sixty-seventh UN General Assembly, now under way, is expected to address issues like the rule of law at the national and international level, and the Palestinian Authority's bid for non-member state recognition. Four experts recently contributed their thoughts about the role of the United Nations and the future of global governance to this expert roundup.
The United Nations and the Future of Global Governance - Council on Foreign Relations

Reduction in Social Security Payroll Taxes Due to Expire

 

 

Though the presidential campaigns of both candidates have spent a lot of time focusing on the economy, neither candidate has addressed a pressing issue that is set to impact 163 million workers in 2013: an automatic tax increase. CNS News writes, "A temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes is due to expire at the end of the year and hardly anyone in 

Washington is pushing to extend it."

 

In 2010, the U.S. Congress cut the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for 2011 as part of a compromise between the president and congressional Republicans. At the end of 2011, Republicans argued that the revenue loss from the tax cut was not offset by spending cuts as it was supposed to be, but an extension was narrowly passed.

 

According to the Tax Policy Center, the payroll tax cut reduced taxes for working families by approximately $934 per year, but has also cost the federal government around $120 billion a year.

However, when that tax cut expires this year, no one in the White House is going to push for another extension.

Reduction in Social Security Payroll Taxes Due to Expire

Russia says it will not renew arms agreement with U.S.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will not renew a decades-old agreement with Washington on dismantling nuclear and chemical weapons when it expires next year, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The death of the 1991 agreement, which had been renewed twice, is the latest in a series of hitches in relations between the United States and Russia and casts doubt on the future of the much-vaunted "reset" in relations between the Cold War-era foes.

"The basis of the program is an agreement of 1991 which, by virtue of the time when it was conceived, the way it was worked out and prepared, does not meet very high standards. The agreement doesn't satisfy us, especially considering new realities," Interfax quoted him as saying.

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, a veteran disarmament campaigner, was in Moscow in August to push for the renewal of the program, known as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which he helped launch.

The project, intended to dismantle nuclear and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union, was last ratified by Russia in 2006 and is due to expire in 2013. Aides said it had resulted in the deactivation of more than 7,650 strategic warheads.

Ryabkov said that Russia now had the finances to carry out its own programs and that Moscow was interested in continuing partnerships in third countries.


Russia says it will not renew arms agreement with U.S. - Yahoo! News Canada

Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril

“It means that it’s harder for consumers to buy used products and harder for them to sell them,” said Jonathan Bland, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Association for Research Libraries. “This has huge consumer impact on all consumer groups.” 

Another likely result is that it would hit you financially because the copyright holder would now want a piece of that sale. 

It could be your personal electronic devices or the family jewels that have been passed down from your great-grandparents who immigrated from Spain. It could be a book that was written by an American writer but printed and bound overseas or an Italian painter’s artwork. 

It has implications for a variety of wide-ranging U.S. entities including libraries, musicians, museums and even resale juggernauts eBay and Craigslist. U.S. libraries, for example, carry some 200 million books from foreign publishers.

“It would be absurd to say anything manufactured abroad can’t be bought or sold here,” said Marvin Ammori, a First Amendment lawyer and Schwartz Fellow at the New American Foundation who specializes in technology issues.

Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril - Jennifer Waters's Consumer Confidential - MarketWatch

Lawmakers claim administration opening door to Gitmo transfer with Illinois prison buy | Fox News

The Obama administration plans to buy an Illinois prison that at one point was considered for housing Guantanamo prisoners -- with Republican lawmakers now claiming the purchase would open the door for ultimately carrying out the Guantanamo transfer.
Administration officials, though, denied that they were looking for a new home for Guantanamo inmates. They insisted the decision to buy Thomson Correctional Center, an under-used state prison 150 miles west of Chicago, was a move to alleviate overcrowding and create jobs in the process.

Lawmakers claim administration opening door to Gitmo transfer with Illinois prison buy | Fox News

100 million Nigerians to be registered in new biometrics database

October 1, 2012 - 

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) of Nigeria announced a proposal to register 100 million Nigerians in its recently introduced biometric database system within a period of 30 months.

NIMC Director General Chris Oneyemenam, said in an interview with newspaper Leadership, that the proposed project will require Nigerians, who are 16 years and above, to participate in the biometric registration that involves capturing and enrolling all detailed information of an individual.

The participants will then be issued a National Identity Number (NIN) and a National Smart Card, which will integrate and harmonize a variety of important databases including driver’s licence, voter’s registration, sim registration, and online banking.

100 million Nigerians to be registered in new biometrics database | BiometricUpdate.com

Travel without boarding pass

Boarding passes may soon be passé — thanks to biometric self-boarding, bag drops and ‘bagtrac’ applications

Travel without boarding pass | GulfNews.com

Alaska: Real ID Act sows confusion, privacy concerns

October 03, 2012

Brooks Hays

 

Alaska drivers' licenses may not be accepted at airport security checkpoints and elsewhere if the Real ID Act of 2005 goes into effect next year as expected.
As the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports, employees at the local Division of Motor Vehicles had been warning ID-seekers that Alaska air travelers would seen need to show passports. A DMV official told the paper that staffers have since been instructed to stop offering that advice – but it may be sound nonetheless.

The Real ID Act attempts to strengthen and standardize the state photo ID process across the country. The law requires states to use digital photographs and machine-readable technology such as magnetic strips or bar codes, and to verify birth certificates when issuing licenses.

The agency has granted numerous extensions to states slow to come on board with the new requirements, but in March, DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy David Heyman said his agency had “no plans to extend" the current January 15^th deadline.

Real ID has proven quite unpopular, even for a federal mandate. As many as seven states have made little to no progress on Real ID Act compliance, including Alaska. Half of all state legislative bodies have formally come out against the law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most accuse the federal government of overstepping its bounds, and argue that the law is an unfunded mandate.

Earlier this year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) predicted that DHS, in the face of such strong opposition, would simply "declare every state materially compliant based on their independent actions to improve security (even the states that have opted out)." And as another ACLU article pointed out, DHS has already watered down its implementation guidelines.

GIMBY | Blog | Real ID Act sows confusion, privacy concerns

Judge dismisses St. Louis suit challenging health care law's contraception mandate : Stltoday

A federal judge in St. Louis has dismissed a claim that the 2010 health care reform law’s contraception mandate violates an employer’s religious freedom. It is believed to be the first decision on the merits among more than two dozen such lawsuits across the country.

O’Brien Industrial Holdings, owned by Frank O’Brien, a devout Catholic, filed notice Monday of appeal.

The law requires coverage of prescription birth control pills and implants at no cost to enrollees in all private health insurance policies, starting in 2013.
U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson ruled late Friday that the “regulations do not impose a ‘substantial burden’ on either Frank O’Brien or OIH, and do not violate (their) rights.”

O’Brien’s lawyer, Francis Manion, said he thinks Jackson’s ruling is “not well-supported by the law or logic.” He added, “Court of appeals, here we go.”


Judge dismisses St. Louis suit challenging health care law's contraception mandate : Stltoday

More states could join California's ban on gay teen 'conversion' therapy | CTV News

(No matter how much legislation gets passed preventing the deliverance of young people from this spirit, God is able to reach the heart and deliver them directly...let's continue to sow the Word of deliverance into them and see their heart reach out to the Lord - AW)

Gay rights advocates are making plans to get other states to join California in banning psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight, even as opponents prepared Monday to sue to overturn the first law in the nation to take aim at the practice.

After months of intense lobbying, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill late Saturday that prohibits licensed mental health professionals from using so-called reparative or conversion therapies with clients under age 18. Brown called the therapies "quackery" that "have no basis in science or medicine."
Two New Jersey lawmakers already are drafting similar legislation, while groups that helped get the California law passed are sharing research, witnesses and talking points with counterparts in other gay-friendly states, said Geoff Kors, senior legislative and policy strategist for the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights.

"There are lots of folks today who are looking at this, now that the governor has signed it," Kors said. "We'll be reaching out to all the state (gay rights) groups, especially in states that have had success passing LGBT rights legislation."
The law only applies to licensed therapists, not ministers or lay people who counsel teens to resist same-sex attractions.

Two Christian legal groups, meanwhile, said they would sue in federal court in Sacramento to prevent the law from taking effect on Jan. 1.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/more-states-could-join-california-s-ban-on-gay-teen-conversion-therapy-1.979414#ixzz28A87WuoM

More states could join California's ban on gay teen 'conversion' therapy | CTV News