“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu
Author: Jeff Fenske Page 603 of 615
World Affairs Brief, August 22, 2008. Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief.
THE NEW COLD WAR: RUSSIA TESTING THE LIMITS AND FINDING NO RESISTANCE
The US under the globalist Bush regime has been all too eager to threaten and invade nations that can’t hit back. Now, faced with a defiant Russia occupying Georgia, the US is all talk and no action. After years of dealing with the Soviets in the cold war, the West should have learned one core lesson: the Russians only respect force–not words, not treaties, not agreements, only power. It was the same with Hitler–the West aided and abetted his aggression by monetary investments in his armaments industry and purposely keeping their own military forces weak so they had every excuse not to confront Hitler militarily when they could. Only when Hitler was too strong to stop, did the West declare war, with all its disastrous results (for innocent parties on both sides). It is happening all over again, and for the same globalist purposes–to force the world into new and more restrictive globalist legal structures, antithetical to liberty and national sovereignty. This week, I’ll explain more in detail how the current crisis will eventually lead to a larger war.
From: Mercola.com
Eating broccoli could reverse the damage that diabetes inflicts on heart blood vessels. The key is most likely a compound in the vegetable called sulforaphane.
Sulforaphane encourages production of enzymes that protect the blood vessels, and reduces the number of molecules that cause cell damage — known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) — by up to 73 percent.
People with diabetes are up to five times more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes — both of which are linked to damaged blood vessels.
From: True Health
Nuked food is the common term for irradiated food – food which is exposed to high level radiation for the purpose of sterilizing it. This high level radiation penetrates the food which, as anyone who has paid attention in chemistry knows, raises the energy level of the atoms and molecules which the food is composed of. This results in myriad “free radicals” – atoms which have lost an outer electron due to having absorbed a shot of higher energy.
And instead of being chemically neutral, such an atom has now become strongly attractive. This will break and re-arrange many chemicals bonds in the atoms, molecules and chemical compounds of the cells of the food under radiation. So much so that the cellular processes of any micro-organisms in the food are disrupted, and the micro-organisms in the food are killed. …
The idea is that the radiation dissipates, and things return to normal. But we have come to know and understand that free radicals form stable compounds that are different from the original chemical compounds, and that the free radicals and the altered compounds are harmful to us in many, many ways – among them a trigger for heart diseases and cancer.
Read Entire Article
The globalists are trying to create European-type unions on every continent that will then be merged together into the prophesied one-world government.
From: The Australian
KEVIN Rudd wants to spearhead the creation of an Asia-Pacific Union similar to the European Union by 2020 and has appointed veteran diplomat Richard Woolcott – one of his mentors – as a special envoy to lobby regional leaders over the body.
The Prime Minister said last night that the union, adding India to the 21-member APEC grouping, would encompass a regional free-trade agreement and provide a crucial venue for co-operation on issues such as terrorism and long-term energy and resource security.
And he outlined his plans for his visits to Japan and Indonesia next week, saying he would explore greater defence co-operation between Australia, Japan and the US – an approach that had been championed by John Howard.
Speaking in Sydney last night to the Asia Society Australasia Centre, the Mandarin-speaking Mr Rudd said global power and influence was shifting towards the Asia-Pacific region and that Australia must drive the creation of a new global architecture for the Asia-Pacific century.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqQ2TEQhoy8]
A tribute to the employees of Northwest Airlines. Many of the pictures are courtesy of Airliners.net, song sung by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.
From: Washington Post, Lloy Ball, Tattoos and Capricious Youth
The U.S. men’s volleyball team has its share of characters, but media folks aren’t going there after this month’s events. I spent a few minutes with longtime setter Lloy Ball last week….
If you’ve followed the team’s history, you remember that Ball was previously depicted as the bad boy of indoor volleyball: the “Satan” nickname, the “Boo-yah!” screams after successful spikes, his fish face that he called “The Grouper,” the “Anger is a Gift” tattoo that came from Rage Against the Machine lyrics. An “in-your-face, tattooed Generation X’er,” one newspaper called him during the ’96 Games, and virtually every story had a similar theme.
[…]
And what about the ‘Anger is a Gift” thing?
Yeah, uh…capricious youth? Back in ’96 for some reason I thought I needed to be somewhat upset to play well. Luckily it only took me 12 years to figure out that that’s not true. And to have the devil on your arm does not bode well when you go to church with your mom on Christmas, I can tell you. But, you know, live and learn.
So you don’t play angry any more?
Not so much. I mean, it takes someone across the net saying REALLY bad things to me in a language I understand to get too upset.
Really? Does that go on?
Oh yeah, yeah. You’ll see it when we play Italy. You know, a lot of us just aren’t real fond of each other. We play against each other on the national teams but also in club ball a lot of times. I’ve had a REAL good couple of years in club ball, so I’m not real popular with some of em, and I’ve on occasion let them know that I’m a little better than they are sometimes, and they take offense at that and start yelling at me through the net. In Italian, most of ’em.
Related: Cyclist Mimicks His Devil Tattoo
From: Ask Mars Venus
Recently, the Parents Television Council (PTC) accused broadcast networks of “cheating” on real relationships. PTC says their study, titled “Happily Never After: How Hollywood Favors Adultery and Promiscuity Over Marital Intimacy on Prime Time Broadcast TV,” found the following:
- Sex between married couples is portrayed as “boring, burdensome, or nonexistent.”
- Extramarital sex is depicted as positive.
- Verbal references to nonmarital sex during prime time outnumber references to marital sex nearly 3 to 1. AND, scenes that implied sex between unmarried partners outnumbered similar scenes between married couples 4 to 1.
OK, yeah, we admit it. Married sex on TV is ho-hum. Two people who love each other having a cozy, adoring lovefest aren’t why most viewers tune into the daytime and nighttime dramas. But why? Would it make us uncomfortable to watch two characters actually celebrate their union? Or are we drawn to the more salacious entertainment because, like the shoot ‘em ups and mythological masterpieces on the big screen, they’re not anything we’ll ever get close to in our real lives?
The PTC is saying that they aren’t suggesting we go back to the Leave It to Beaver days, but they do believe the TV networks have gone overboard in an effort to shock audiences.
Here are some more intriguing stats from the study:
- ABC had the most references to marital sex but they were mostly negative. Their references to nonmarital sex were almost universally positive. (Grey’s Anatomy,anyone?)
- NBC had as many depictions of adults having sex with minors (good grief) as there were scenes that implied or depicted sex between married couples.
- In 24.5 hours of programming, Fox only had one reference to marital sex, but they had 18 references to nonmarital sex and five references to adultery.
- Sexual behaviors previously off-limits to broadcast TV now get regular mentions. References to incest, prostitution, partner swapping, pedophilia, threesomes, bestiality, and necrophilia combined outnumbered references to sex in marriage on NBC by a ratio of 27 to 1.
From: AsiaOne
Scientists in Singapore have read the tea leaves, and found that a cuppa of the brew is good for the brain.
The four-year study adds to the literature on tea’s long-touted virtues. Moreover, any type of tea will do just fine.
The main finding is that tea slows down brain-cell degeneration and thus keeps the mind sharp into old age, said Professor Ng Tze Pin from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) psychological medicine department.
It was found that catechins, a natural compound in tea, protect brain cells from damaging protein build-up over the years, maintaining the brain’s cognitive capability.
Moreover, the caffeine in tea, unlike that in coffee, contains the natural protein theanine, which counters the normal side effects of caffeine such as raised blood pressure, headaches and tiredness.
Brain-cell degeneration, caused by a combination of loss of nerve cells, predisposed genes, small strokes and increased levels of harmful protein build-up, often leads to dementia.
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”
– Judy Garland
From: WorldNetDaily
Editor’s Note: The descriptions and video of China’s fur industry in this story will be disturbing to some readers.
The newest controversy over exports from China has caused nightmares for researchers documenting the abuse inflicted on animals bred and raised in tiny cages and then skinned alive for their fur.
WND has reported multiple times on problems with exports from China, with poison found in pajamas, consumers warned against using ginger, an alert about the dangers from China’s pickled vegetables and even the dangers from honey and fireworks.
Now comes word from an extended investigation into the fur trade that China is estimated to produce approximately 85 percent of the world’s fur products – and it has virtually no regulations or rules for the treatment of the animals.
According to Mark Rissi, a spokesman for Swiss Animal Protection, which has documented abuse of animals raised for their fur as early as 1983, the China project has been going on for several years.
The organization’s report has been made available online, with dramatic images and descriptions that researchers found more than disturbing.
“As animals are considered objects in China, there is little or no awareness for the suffering of these sentient beings,” Rissi told WND from his European base of operations via e-mail. “The cruelty found was beyond our expectations, and it was hard to document without interfering. It caused nightmares to the team, especially in the editing room, because the scenes had to be replayed and replayed to be edited from six hours down to 20 minutes.”
I can’t find a video online that fully shows the degree of support Tony had from his fans and competitors during this first ever 900, but this shows us glimpses.
His competitors were slapping their skateboards on the ramp and actually laying their hands on him, hoping and praying that Tony would succeed!!!
When I saw Tony’s unedited attempts on TV, I was stunned, thinking this is how completely we should be supporting each other, wishing each other well in real life. And especially, this is how people who call themselves ‘Christians’ should be rooting each other on! Let’s do it!
No enemies — an example of what is to come!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967fAzRRLnQ]
Related:
Travis Pastrana’s Appretiation of Colin McRae’s Heart to Give [1968-2007]
Nastia Liukin, WINNER, Wishing her fiercest competitor WELL: “I admire her with ALL of My HEART”
From: The Guardian
Four American Christians are staging a sit-in at a Chinese airport, which they refuse to leave until the authorities return 315 Bibles they were trying to bring into the country.
The group – from Vision Beyond Borders – spent the night sleeping on couches at Kunming airport in southern Yunnan Province after customs officials removed the Chinese language bibles from their luggage.
The bibles were printed in Indonesia, transferred to Thailand and transported to Kunming in duffel bags by the Wyoming-based group which distributes bibles around the world.
Pat Klein, one of the members of the group, told reporters that he was bringing the books into China because his contacts in the Chinese Christian community were unable to get hold of sufficient copies.
From: Anchorage Daily News, Gloomy summer headed toward infamy — CHILLY: Anchorage could hit 65 degrees for fewest days on record, July 24th, 2008
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say.
Right now the so-called summer of ’08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.
That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.
This year, however — with the summer more than half over — there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. …
In the Matanuska Valley on Wednesday snow dusted the Chugach. On the Kenai Peninsula, rain was raising Six-Mile River to flood levels and rafting trips had to be canceled. …
Unless we get 10 more days of 60-degree or warmer temperatures, we’re going to break the dismal 1971 record of only 46 such days, a possibility too awful to contemplate. …
• 70-degree days. So far this summer there have been two. Usually there are 15. Last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 49.
• 75-degree days. So far this summer there’ve been zero. Usually there are four. It may be hard to remember, but last year there were 21. In 2004 there were 23.
Read Entire Article with Chart
Related: Global Cooling: Alaskan Glaciers Grow For First Time In 250 Years
From: The Register
Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the “North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer”. Others predicted that the entire “polar ice cap would disappear this summer”.
The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. Yet there is, however, something odd going on with the ice data.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado released an alarming graph on August 11, showing that Arctic ice was rapidly disappearing, back towards last year’s record minimum. Their data shows Arctic sea ice extent only 10 per cent greater than this date in 2007, and the second lowest on record. Here’s a smaller version of the graph:
[…]
The problem is that this graph does not appear to be correct. Other data sources show Arctic ice having made a nice recovery this summer. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center data shows 2008 ice nearly identical to 2002, 2005 and 2006. Maps of Arctic ice extent are readily available from several sources, including the University of Illinois, which keeps a daily archive for the last 30 years. A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. (2008 is a leap year, so the dates are offset by one.)
From: PrisonPlanet
Following the end of the Sun’s most active period in over 11,000 years, the last 10 years have displayed a clear cooling trend as temperatures post-1998 leveled out and are now plummeting.
China recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels and Britain suffered its coldest April in decades as late-blooming daffodils were pounded with hail and snow on an almost daily basis. The British summer has also left many yearning for global warming, with temperatures in June and July rarely struggling to get over 16 degrees and on one occasion even dropping as low as 9 degrees in the middle of the afternoon.
“Summer heat continues in short supply, continuing a trend that has dominated much of the 21st Century’s opening decade,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008. That’s by far the fewest 90-degree temperatures in the opening nine years of any decade on record here since 1930.”
The reason? Sunspot activity has dwindled. There have only been a handful of days in the past two months where any sunspot activity has been observed and over 400 spotless days have been recorded in the current solar cycle.
“The sun’s surface has been fairly blank for the last couple of years, and that has some worried that it may be entering another Maunder minimum, the sun’s 50-year abstinence from sunspots, which some scientists have linked to the Little Ice Age of the 17th century,” reports one science blog.
Long-time man-made global warming advocates NASA assure us that significant sunspot activity will return in 2012, but a recent a paper on recent solar trends by William Livingston and Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, predicts that sunspots will all but vanish after 2015.
Since the sun, and not carbon dioxide, is the principle driver of climate change, a dearth of sunspot activity would herald a repeat of the Maunder Minimum, the name given to the period roughly from 1645 to 1715, when sunspots became exceedingly rare and contributed to the onset of the Little Ice Age during which Europe and North America were hit by bitterly cold winters and the Thames river in London completely froze.
Forecasts of a sharp cooling trend are backed by the UK’s Armagh Observatory, which has been observing solar activity for over 200 years.
The observatory notes that solar cycles 21 and 22, which were characterized by being short and intense in their activity, led to the natural global warming observed in the 80’s and 90’s.
“Cycle 23, which hasn’t finished yet, looks like it will be long (at least 12 to 13 years) and cycle 24, which has still to start, looks like it will be exceptionally weak,” writes one observatory scientist.
“Based on the past Armagh measurements, this suggests that over the next two decades, global temperatures may fall by about 2 degrees C — that is, to a level lower than any we have seen in the last 100 years….“Temperatures have already fallen by about 0.5 degrees C over the past 12 months and, if this is only the start of it, it would be a serious concern,” concludes David Watt.
Sun’s Power Hits New Low, May Endanger Earth?
Lack of Sunspots Causing a Global Cooling Phase
Anchorage’s ‘Summer’ of 2008 Record: Only 2 Days Above 69 Degrees
New Sunspots Suggest “We are Not Stuck in a Permanent Solar Minimum”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQEc3ejHIaM]
Denver officials weren’t planning to reveal details about where activists would be detained in the event of mass arrests during the Democratic National Convention until after the event had started, but those plans were quickly dashed this week when CBS 4News reporter Rick Sallinger not only revealed that protesters would be locked up in a city-owned warehouse, but he also obtained clear video footage inside the facility, a building that includes barbed wire-topped cages and signs warning of stun-gun use.
Related: DNC Warehouse “Concentration Camp” Uncovered By Reporters
From: InfoWars
The success of the Bush Regime’s propaganda, lies, and deception with gullible and inattentive Americans since 9/11 has made it difficult for intelligent, aware people to be optimistic about the future of the United States. For almost 8 years the US media has served as Ministry of Propaganda for a war criminal regime. Americans incapable of thinking for themselves, reading between the lines, or accessing foreign media on the Internet have been brainwashed.
As the Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, said, it is easy to deceive a people. You just tell them they have been attacked and wave the flag.
It certainly worked with Americans.
The gullibility and unconcern of the American people has had many victims. There are 1.25 million dead Iraqis. There are 4 million displaced Iraqis. No one knows how many are maimed and orphaned.
Transcribed by Jeff Fenske from CBS’ Today: Today’s Olympic Moment, 8/15/08
“Today’s Olympic Moment is about two young gymnasts who are the best the world has to offer — and not just when they’re performing, either.
Last night, Americans, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson knew their toughest competition for the individual gold in gymnastics was each other. Yet these roomates at the Games didn’t root for the other to fail. They cheered each other on every step of the way. …
Then the moment of truth: Nastia Liukin, Olympic gold medalist; Shawn Johnson, right behind her with the silver — the grace they displayed, making them both champions in the eyes of the world.”
______________
From: WHOtv.com
Shawn Johnson’s teammate, friend, and roommate in Beijing ended the night with the gold medal. Nastia Liukin finished just six-tenths ahead of Shawn in the point standings. Nastia landed her vault, but scored lower than expected. That put her in tenth place after the first round. But after that, Nastia performed one of the most difficult routines on the uneven bars, and nailed it.
Nastia delivers strong performances on both the beam and floor exercise. It wasn’t until Shawn wrapped up her floor routine that Nastia knew the gold medal would be hers. The Soviet-born gymnast says she knows that Shawn is her biggest competitor.
“We’re both incredibly strong athletes and gymnasts and she won Worlds last year, and… She’s a phenomenal athlete and I couldn’t speak any more highly of her. I admire her with all my heart. It’s been amazing and it’s been a great journey, and it’s been a really cool ending,” says Liukin.
Related:
Travis Pastrana’s Appretiation of Colin McRae’s Heart to Give [1968-2007]
Posted with permission from:
World Affairs Brief, August 15, 2008. Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief
PROVOCATION AND AGGRESSION IN GEORGIA–SORTING IT OUT
Every war has its superficial cause that is fed to the public but underlying this is usually a myriad of complex ulterior motives and agendas that are the real cause. This week I’ll help you sort out what has been going on historically in Georgia and what the major powers are up to in the current conflict. There are a variety of rash predictions flooding the internet about this conflict being a trigger for World War III. It is not, but it is part of a long term strategy by the West to slowly expose the public to Russian aggressive intentions–ironically, after spending decades covering for Russia and playing as if she is our ally. This will eventually lead to an all-out war between Russia/China and the West, but it is still a few years away since the enemy’s various forces are not ready yet. The West provoked this Russian attack and temporary occupation of Georgia, but Russia wasn’t innocent either. Putin had put in position large land, air, and naval forces surrounding Georgia just waiting for an excuse to invade. Now that they are in, they’re going to be slow getting out.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Georgia has always been a thorn in the southern side of Russia ever since the Russian empire and especially during the years of Soviet oppression. Thanks to my Balkan correspondent, Ivan Simic, for providing me with some of this essential background material, and also to the historical perspective of A. Heneen on iReport.com.
From: The Daily Page
I would be a lot more excited about the summer Olympics if the host country weren’t fielding teams of athletes who are essentially forced laborers. Talk about taking the fun out of sports.
Yang Wenjun, a gold medalist in flatwater canoeing, told The New York Times recently that he longs to quit, but can’t. The Chinese government refused to let him retire after he won his gold medal in 2004, threatening to cut off the income he and his poor, rice-farming parents live on. Yang’s situation is typical.
The system of government-run Chinese sports schools takes children as young as 6 years old from their parents and trains them in their chosen sports, forgoing regular education. Stars are pushed to compete through injury, denied rest and medical care, and put through a grueling training regimen.
“Every time I think about him training, I feel so sad that my heart hurts,” Yang’s mother told the Times. “For him, and for me, there is so much pain.”
Another gold medalist, 10-meter platform diver Hu Jia, is training for the Beijing Olympics despite a detached retina that threatens to blind him. Hu’s father, like Yang’s mother, hasn’t seen his son more than once or twice a year since he was a little boy. He says if he’d known what his son’s life would be like, he’d have never let him compete.
Parents of Olympic champions filled with anguish and remorse over their children’s lives don’t make for the heartwarming “up close and personal” stories favored by the games’ corporate sponsors. In fact, the whole totalitarian-country-in-the-spotlight theme is a bit of a buzz kill.
“A true friend never gets in your way
unless you happen to be going down.”
– Arnold Glasow
From: The Shop WND
By Constantine C. Menges Ph.D.
In a book that is certain to be as controversial as it is meticulously researched, a former special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs and senior official of the Central Intelligence Agency shows that the U.S. could be headed toward a nuclear face-off with communist China within four years. And it definitively reveals how China is steadily pursuing a stealthy, systematic strategy to attain geopolitical and economic dominance first in Asia and Eurasia, then possibly globally, within the next twenty. Using recently declassified documents, statements by Russian and Chinese leaders largely overlooked in the Western media, and groundbreaking analysis and investigative work, Menges explains China’s plan thoroughly, exposing:
|
Did you know China… |
From: Prison Planet
China picked a ‘cute’ nine-year-old girl to mime at its Olympic opening ceremony after deciding a seven-year-old with a ‘flawless’ voice was not pretty enough to perform.
Lin Miaoke, in her angelic red dress and pigtails, captivated the world last Friday as she ’sang’ the national anthem during its £20million opening for the Games.
But it has now been revealed the voice heard by billions both in Beijing and around the globe was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was banned for her crooked teeth.
In yet another example of fakery at the Games, China pre-recorded Yang singing Paean to the Motherland but chose her rival to lip-synch before the public.