Doing "a Maggy": Scott Walker in the Iron Lady's footsteps

WaPo: "Rubicon: A river in Wisconsin", by Charles Krauthammer

The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity. At the federal level, President Obama's budget makes clear that Democrats are determined to do nothing about the debt crisis, while House Republicans have announced that beyond their proposed cuts in discretionary spending, their April budget will actually propose real entitlement reform. Simultaneously, in Wisconsin and other states, Republican governors are taking on unsustainable, fiscally ruinous pension and health-care obligations, while Democrats are full-throated in support of the public-employee unions crying, "Hell, no."

A choice, not an echo: Democrats desperately defending the status quo; Republicans charging the barricades.

Wisconsin is the epicenter. It began with economic issues. When Gov. Scott Walker proposed that state workers contribute more to their pension and health-care benefits, he started a revolution. Teachers called in sick. Schools closed. Demonstrators massed at the capitol. Democratic senators fled the state to paralyze the Legislature.

Unfortunately for them, that telegenic faux-Cairo scene drew national attention to the dispute - and to the sweetheart deals the public-sector unions had negotiated for themselves for years. They were contributing a fifth of a penny on a dollar of wages to their pensions and one-fourth what private-sector workers pay for health insurance. (...) >>>

Feb. 25, 2011
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The French are 'at it' again. Sarko's turn to tame the beast -

Telegraph: "Protesters to hit France en masse"

Airport staff, bus and train drivers, teachers, postal workers and armoured truck drivers who stock cash machines will join refinery workers and others in a day of nationwide strikes against Mr Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age.

Fuel shortages will worsen as refinery strikes go into an eighth day, and the authorities will be alert for any escalation of sporadic violence on Monday in some cities, with small groups of troublemakers torching vehicles and scuffling with police. (...) >>>

Oct. 19, 2010
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Meantime in the home country... While calling for legislation to raise the legal threshold for triggering a strike London Mayor, Boris Johnson in his conference speech today is following Maggy Thatcher's footsteps -

CYBERBORISJOHNSON: "UNION BOSSES LOSE IT AS BORIS LAYS IT ON THE LINE"

Union bosses have gone absolutely beserk, and are seething with rage at the brutal honesty of Boris Johnson’s analysis of the transport strike in today’s Daily Telegraph. They say the truth hurts. In this instance, the truth hit all the strikers with such a karmic smack in the kisser than they ran squeaking to David Cameron like sissies, telling him to intervene, like a bunch of snivelling little girls. Geez! Is big bad Boris making you cry? (...) Boris said: “This is a nakedly political strike. It has nothing whatever to do with health and safety – nor have the union leaderships raised any such fears in the course of the negotiations. (...) >>>

Oct. 4, 2010
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Greek unions, tamed at last ... but it's a terribly close shave at a very high price -

FoxBusiness: "Greek Union, Employers Groups Clinch 3-year Wage Pact"

Greece's private sector umbrella union GSEE and the country's major employers' groups reached a three-year wage pact Thursday that freezes wages and pegs future increases to euro zone inflation. According to a statement by GSEE, Greek workers will get no salary increase this year, and will only see rises of roughly 1.5% in 2011 and 1.7% in 2012. Those increases, to be set each year on July 1, will be based on the prevailing euro zone inflation rate. Greece currently has an inflation rate hovering around 5% and has seen price increases traditionally outpace those of the rest of Europe.

As such, the agreement will translate into an effective loss in purchasing power for most Greek workers.The agreement comes after months of on-again, off-again negotiations that coincided with Greece's economic crisis and which forced the government earlier this year to seek an EUR110 billion loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Under the terms of that loan deal, Greece has cut worker protections, slashed public sector wages and extra month bonuses, while also cutting pensions across the board. (...) >>>

Jul 15, 2010
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EU chief delivers stark warning to unions -

MailOnline: "Nightmare vision for Europe as EU chief warns 'democracy could disappear' in Greece, Spain and Portugal"

Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned. In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money. The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds. (...) >>>

June 15, 2010
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Day of union violence, 3 dead -

Demotix: "Austerity protests turn violent in Greece"

Mass rallies organised to protests the austerity measures introduced by the Greek government following EU-IMF bailout deal turn into riots. (...) In Athens three people died after the bank in the entrance to their office block was firebombed. (...) >>>

May 5, 2010
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Greek CP can't pass up a good crisis -

We must assume the unions have no qualms about their endless demands, which in the end has caused this crisis - in the photo: KKE, the Communist Party of Greece trying to trigger a pan European revolution, seriously -

Telegraph: "Greek protestors unfurl banners on Acropolis"

Greek protesters have unfurled banners over the walls of the Acropolis attacking new austerity measures imposed as a condition of an international bailout. (...) >>>

May 4, 2010
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This May Day item while Greece is in turmoil is more about the usual anarchistic violence then anything else (I'll replace it ASAP), but it's a reminder that - if the Socialist PASOK Government is to clean up its own mess dating back to 2003 - they'll have to do a Maggy sooner rather than later. Greece's unions are the UK miners on steroids -

Reuters: "Greek police fire tear gas in May Day protest clash"

May 1, 2010
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Europe versus the welfare state Ponzi schemes -

Margaret Thatcher via last.fm

PJM: "European Welfare State Model under Strain as Labor Tensions Rise", by Soeren Kern

Europe has been hit by a wave of industrial and social unrest in recent days and weeks, as workers across the continent push back against efforts to cut government spending and drive down wages. The uncoordinated strikes and protests, which have taken place in at least a dozen European countries and have threatened to paralyze much of the continent, may be a harbinger of more unrest to come. With much of Europe in or just barely out of recession and many millions of Europeans out of work and collecting welfare checks, governments large and small are scrambling to fix gaping budget holes in an effort to stave off financial disaster.

In Spain, for example, the government spent twice as much as it took in during 2009, with unemployment benefits constituting the largest single component of government expenditures. Many other European countries are in a similar bind. Indeed, with millions of long-term unemployed Europeans on track to becoming permanent wards of the state, the European social model is under strain as never before. (...) even if European publics are in denial about the future viability of the European social welfare state, a growing number of European governments seem to be acknowledging, albeit reluctantly, that their social and economic model is unsustainable. Strange, then, that many Americans view the European model as something to emulate rather than avoid. What follows is a brief summary of some of the strikes and protest movements to hit Europe in recent days (...) >>>

Feb. 28, 2010
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Performing "a Maggy" in France, at your peril!

Our friends the French have finally managed to cross the fine line separating demonstration and striking rights from criminal behavior. It was a matter of time. It probably has something to do with the Rousseau inspired brand of revolutionary zeal, which goes along with a mentality in which 'the end justifies the means'.

Below is a link to a story of union members threatening to blow up a factory'; Dutch newspaper De Pers (no English language article as yet available) has it that: "French workers at a Michelin factory and an American manufacturer of cigarette paper Tuesday and Wednesday took several managers hostage. All were released shortly afterwards."

The Car Connection: "New Tactic For Unions On Strike: Threaten To Blow Up Factory"

Now a few members of GCT, the French auto workers union, have come up with a new and novel technique to keep their jobs--or at least to get a better buyout. They're threatening to blow up their workplace if they don't. French partsmaker New Fabris declared bankruptcy in April and closed altogether in mid-June, meaning its employees will receive unemployment payments but no severance money.

Last week, several dozen of its 360 workers occupied the company's parts plant outside Chatellerault, in the southwest of France. The factory is thought to contain about $5 million of parts and machinery. The strikers want 30,000 Euros (roughly $42,000) each from New Fabris clients Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroen to walk away from the threat. Both companies say it is not their responsibility to take care of their suppliers' workers. (...) >>>

July 23, 2009
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... the following are excerpts from a comprehensive article - for complete appreciation we recommend reading it in its entirety ...

WSJ: "Obama Is the Anti-Thatcher", by Andrew Wilson


The Democratic Party Convention in Denver has been called political theater, but it was really a masquerade ball. Again and again, speakers invoked the language of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan -- stressing the value of hard work and responsibility for self and family -- while advancing a set of pro-union and collectivist economic policies. If today's Democrats had their way, they would put the United States in the same approximate position as pre-Thatcher Britain, when the streets of London were choked with garbage because of a strike by sanitation workers and Britain was known around the world as "the sick man of Europe." (...)

When Mrs. Thatcher became Britain's prime minister in 1979, she assumed leadership of a country that had been devastated by several decades of ruinous economic and social policies. This was due to the same aversion to competition and international trade, and the same misplaced faith in the ability of government to act as the engine of progress and the guarantor of jobs. (...) One has to wonder who Mr. Obama thinks he is to suppose he'd be able to make so many correct calls in directing investment flows in one industry after the next while sitting in the White House. (...) The Labour Party politicians in Britain who came to power at the end of World War II shared the same enthusiasm for government direction and micromanagement of the economy. Like the Democratic Party of today, the Labour Party of yesteryear was obsessed with the issue of job security and fearful of competition from abroad. (...)

In revitalizing the British economy, Mrs. Thatcher lightened regulation, reduced trade barriers, privatized a raft of publicly owned companies, lowered taxes (especially for the most highly taxed, which is to say those at higher income levels), and went to battle against the powerful trade-union bosses in order to establish greater democracy within the unions. She outlawed the closed shop and required ballots before strikes and ballots in the election of trade-union leaders. One thing she did not do was to set a goal of full employment -- insisting that "jobs (in a free society) depend not on government but upon satisfying customers."

Contra Mr. Obama, she also stated: "The fact is that in a market economy government does not -- and cannot -- know where jobs will come from: If it did know, all those interventionist policies for 'picking winners' and 'backing success' would not have picked losers and compounded failure." (...) If, under an Obama presidency, the unions succeed in organizing Wal-Mart -- now the biggest target in their sights -- it will have one entirely predictable result: not the protection of jobs but the destruction of jobs by slowing or stopping Wal-Mart's growth. Nor will it help U.S. consumers if Wal-Mart is forced to hang out new signs saying "Everyday High Prices." >>>

Updated: 4th Sep 2008
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Times Online: "Weakened Gordon Brown gives in to union demands - Concessions on minimum wage and time off" (cartoon by Peter Brookes)

Gordon Brown has caved in to unions, allowing a series of concessions - including an extension of the minimum wage - in a move that sent shudders through the business community. Coming days after Labour’s humiliating defeat in the Glasgow East by-election, it also puts pressure on the Prime Minister’s weakened position. Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, hailed the deal as a return to Labour’s “core values”. (...) Business leaders gave warning that the measures, which include new rights to time off, would hit companies’ ability to compete during an economic downturn. Changes to the minimum wage in particular could cost businesses an extra £88 million a year.

The party also agreed to extend parental leave and to impose new limits on private contractors to the Health Service. (...) Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the CBI, said: “During an economic slowdown business can’t bear the burden of increased regulation. The flexibility of Britain’s labour market is an important competitive advantage.” >>>

Updated: 27th July 2008
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Spiegel Online Int'l: "Massive Strikes ahead of Greek Pension Reform Vote" - Hat tip: Phantis

With a critical pension reform vote set for Thursday, millions of workers walked off the job in Greece to protest the plan. Thousands rallied in both Athens and Thessaloniki. Greece was hamstrung Wednesday as millions of workers walked off the job to protest pension reforms being considered by the country's conservative government. Around 10,000 people gathered in central Athens at a rally to protest a bill that would re-structure Greece's debt-ridden pension scheme. (...) >>>

Updated: 19th Mar 2008
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...Progressives - so conservative!

Reuters: "Greek unions walk out over pension reform bill" - Hat tip: Phantis

Greek public transport halted, flights were disrupted and public services shut down during a three-hour walkout on Wednesday by unions opposing a pension reform bill they say hurts their benefits. Private and public sector workers walked off the job at 1000 GMT. State carrier Olympic airlines scrapped seven flights and rescheduled three so workers could take part in the strike action. Lawyers, doctors, port workers and engineers joined in. (...) >>> ... photos of bargage heaps will follow ...

Updated: 12th Mar 2008
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The Wall Street Journal: "French Street Fight"

Congested streets and idle trains are a familiar sight in France. But the huge transport strike, which paralyzed the country for over a week, could be one of the (...) >>>

Related articles by Zemanta

• Europe at Work - A Vision on Working Time (slideshare.net)

The following items provide some background to the dossier

- Telegraph: "David Cameron vows to repeat Thatcher's attack on unions"

- Palgrave: "The Politics of the Thatcher Revolution - An Interpretation of British Politics 1979 - 1990", by Geoffrey K. Fry

- ConservativeHome: "David Cameron to invoke the spirit of Thatcher in challenging the vested interests in the unions - and the big banks, with a bank tax"

- Iain Macwhirter Now and Then: "Margaret Thatcher. My Part In Her Downfall"

Terror in Greece: Sect of Revolutionaries on terror list

Breitbart: "US adds left-wing Greek group to terror list" (AFP)

The US State Department on Thursday added a left-wing Greek group, the Sect of Revolutionaries, to its list of terrorist organizations, saying it poses a threat to US national security. Washington said the group, known by the Greek acronym SE, now faces a raft of restrictions and financial sanctions.

"This action will help stem the flow of finances to SE by blocking all property subject to US jurisdiction in which SE has an interest and prohibiting all transactions by US persons with the organization," the State Department said in a statement.

It said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton singled out the Sect of Revolutionaries "because the organization's indiscriminate terrorist activities threaten the national security of the United States." "SE is a Greek terrorist organization that uses violence to try to provoke a revolution and overthrow the Greek government," the statement said.

Washington cited the murders of a police officer and a journalist, as well as two recent shooting attacks for which the group has claimed responsibility. Daniel Benjamin, the Department of State's Coordinator for Counterterrorism, said the move shows US solidarity with Greece in fighting a surge in left-wing extremism. (...) >>>

Feb. 24, 2011
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A launching pad to Europe -

IAN: "Radical Islamic subversion in Greece", by Ioannis Michaletos

A well known hypothesis in the European and American security circles is that the region of Southeastern Europe, including the Eurozone country Greece, is on the verge of a full-scale radical Islamic subversion process which is being facilitated by myriad Islamic-originating groups aiming to gain a strong foothold in Europe.

A recent revelation by the infamous Wiki leaks US Dept of State telegrams, showed that already since 2009, the ex-Ambassador of US in Athens, Mr. Daniel Speckhard, has noted the danger of the creation of extremist Islamic cells in Greece and the use of the country as a traverse point of terrorists from the Middle East to other European countries. (...) >>>

Jan. 30, 2011
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5 domestic terror case studies -

Int'l Analyst Netwerk: "Greek domestic terrorism: Case studies of past attacks", by Ioannis Michaletos

The following short case studies examine several terrorist attacks by Greek domestic groups in Athens over the past 20 years. Each attack is being described in two parts with data derived from open sources material. The Greek domestic terrorist groups are active in the country since the mid-70's and although quite a few groups have been disbanded, some still operate and manage to attack. (...) >>>

Dec. 29, 2010
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No Marx brothers here -

Yesterday, November 17, marks the beginning of winter in Athens. It is also the day the uprising at the Polytechnic University against the military junta in 1973 is commemorated. It would appear an inter-Marxist war has erupted between socialists and anarchists. Demotix pictures a grim showing:

Demotix: "Athens Polytechnic uprising Commemoration"

About 30,000 people marched today in Athens to commemorate the Athens Polytechnic uprising against the Greek military junta on 17th November 1973. Minor clashes occurred and 60 people were arrested. Athens, Greece. 17/11/2010

The Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-american and anti-imperialist revolt and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November 17 after a series of events starting with a tank crashing through the gates of the Polytechnic. (...) >>>

Nov. 18, 2010
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The bombing campaign against embassies

Also suspect packages found at the Embassy of Bulgaria. Yesterday at Netherlands Embassy -

The Gazette: "Bomb goes off at Swiss Embassy in Athens, no injuries"

A bomb went off on Tuesday at the Swiss embassy in Athens but there were no immediate reports of injuries, Greek police officials said.

"A small bomb exploded at the Swiss embassy in Athens, there was no warning call," said a police official speaking under condition he not be identified. "We have no reports of injuries so far." >>>

Nov. 2, 2010
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Anarchy strikes the court -

RealClearWorld: "Bomb explodes inside Greek courthouse, 1 wounded", Costas Kantouris

A powerful bomb exploded inside a courthouse in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Friday, sending smoke billowing in the building and wounding one person. It was the second bombing in two days — after a blast Thursday outside a jail in Athens that also wounded one person — raising concern that a recent crackdown on Greek militant groups could spur a new series of attacks. (...)

The attack came less than a day after a powerful bomb exploded Thursday night outside Greece's largest prison, Korydallos, in the Greek capital, Athens. One woman was slightly injured in that blast, cut by flying glass. That blast had also been preceded by a warning call to a newspaper. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack, but suspicion fell on radical Greek militant groups that have stepped up attacks in recent years and have been targeted in a recent police crack down.

Last month, authorities arrested and charged six people with membership of Greece's most active militant left wing group. The Revolutionary Struggle organization fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the U.S. embassy in Athens in 2007, causing no injuries. Several suspected members of that group are being held at Korydallos on pretrial detention. >>>

May 14, 2010
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A counter terror coup -

Athens News Agency: "Terrorism investigation"

Counter-terrorism police were continuing on Sunday a major coordinated operation and house searches in Attica prefecture and the periphery launched at dawn the previous day, while at least six people have been taken in for questioning and developments expected, according to police sources. The sources said that the operation marked the opening of a new chapter in the issue of terrorism, and would be extensive, with continuous developments expected. At least six people, among them one or two women, who are believed to be members of a terrorist group, were currently being interrogated by counter-terrorism police. (...) >>>

Apr 11, 2010
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Just as some anarchist den of morons claims responsibility for last week's blasts, an immigrant mother and two children, who thought to escape the violence in Afghanistan, are the victims of another blast targetting the Greek state -

NYT: "Leftist Guerrilla Group Claims Athens Bomb Attacks"

Greek guerrilla group claimed responsibility Monday for three bomb attacks in Athens last week which caused minor damage but no injuries. The Fire Conspiracy Cells group said it was behind the explosions Saturday outside a police detention centre and the home of a leading member of the Pakistani community.

The group also said it set off a home-made bomb which damaged the office of the ultra nationalist group Golden Dawn in central Athens Friday, according to the police and a statement posted on the Internet. The Fire Conspiracy Cells claimed responsibility in January for a small blast outside parliament and a more powerful explosion late last year which wrecked the ground floor of the National Insurance building. (...) >>>

Mar 29, 2010
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Deutsche Welle: "Bomb explodes outside Greek parliament"

A bomb has exploded outside Greece's parliament in the heart of Athens. Police believe a leftist guerrilla group is responsible for the attack. (...) >>>

Jan. 10, 2010
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Related:

- "The Wild Fires of Pyro Terrorism"

To archive >>>

Nuke Alert: Syria nuking up again

WSJ: "Second Suspected Syria Nuclear Site Is Found"

A second suspected nuclear installation has been identified in Syria, according to commercial satellite photos, providing new evidence that Damascus may have been pursuing atomic weapons before a 2007 Israeli military strike.

The publishing Wednesday of the photos by Washington's Institute for Science and International Security could increase pressure on the United Nations to demand expansive new inspections of suspect Syrian facilities during a March board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency. (...) >>>

Feb. 24, 2011
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Over 30 countries breaching Iran sanctions -

Haaretz: "WikiLeaks: Iran developing nuclear bomb with help of more than 30 countries"

Iran has been developing contacts in more than 30 countries to acquire technology, equipment and raw materials needed to build a nuclear bomb, a Norwegian newspaper said on Sunday, citing U.S. diplomatic cables. Aftenposten said that according to the cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, more than 350 Iranian companies and organizations were involved in the pursuit of nuclear and missile technology between 2006 and 2010. (...) >>>

Jan. 16, 2011
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Headed for a show down -

Haaretz: "Saudis to let IDF use airspace to attack Iran"

Saudi Arabia has indicated to Israel that it would not protest use of its airspace by Israeli fighter jets in the event the government resolves to launch a military assault against Iran, according to a report which appeared in the British newspaper The Sunday Times. The Prime Minister's office issued a statement in response Sunday morning, saying that "the Sunday Times report is fundamentally false and completely baseless." According to The Sunday Times, Mossad chief Meir Dagan held secret meetings with Saudi officials, who gave their tacit approval to Israel's use of the kingdom's airspace. (...) The report also quoted John Bolton (...) said Arab leaders have privately expressed trepidation at the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. "None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn't trumpet it as a big success," Bolton told The Sunday Times. (...) >>>

July 5, 2009
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Caroline is very worried, and it shows! Her analysis is spot on: as the Israeli raid on the Syrian Nuke/Nork" has proved there are no separate Tehran, Amman, and Pyongyang issues, since this is one single axis. Seriously, while this is headed for a show down, the Great Zero's National Security Advisor is in London negotiating the Israeli settlements! This administration has serious priority issues!

PJTV: "Iranian Missles and the Middle East Peace Process"

Caroline Glick talking to Joe Hicks (video)

May 28, 2009

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Yahoo!News: "Report: North Korea restarts nuclear plant"

A strident North Korea has reportedly restarted a weapons-grade nuclear plant and staged a mass rally to celebrate its second nuclear test as world powers, including allies China and Russia, moved Wednesday to punish the isolated communist regime. The North also announced that South Korea's decision to participate in an international program aimed at stemming the flow of weapons of mass destruction was equal to a "declaration of war." Pyongyang said through its official news agency that it would respond with military action if the South tried to stop or search any of its ships. South Korea decided to join the program, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative, after Monday's nuclear test. (...) >>>

May 27, 2009
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CNN's Mike Chinoy (no URL available) is of the opinion these Nork tests must be seen in the light that A. underlings are keen to prove their loyalty to the ailing, dear leader and, B. the ailing, dear leader is trying to get the attention of the American dear leader, so as to enforce bilateral talks:

CNN: "North Korea's second nuclear test stirs outrage"

May 25, 2009
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Related:

- "Israeli Raid on Syrian Nuke/Nork"
- "Persian Power Play"

To archive >>>

Emergence (pomo) Church: the Trojan horse

Apprising Ministries: "POSTMODERN LIBERALISM PITS JESUS AGAINST THE BIBLE"

Unfortunately, we’re living in a time of growing spiritual blindness as Jesus sends 1 Peter 4:17 judgments against the visible Christian church; this darkness is why mainstream evangelicalism would make such a foolish decision to embrace the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church with its quasi-universalism in a new version of postmodern Progressive Christian theology under their spiritual circus “big tent” of empty Emergence Christianity. Apprising Ministries brings you the following words of warning circa 1985 by Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989), a renowned defender of what he so often referred to as “the historic orthodox Christian faith.”

Concerning the methodology of liberalism aka modern theology that was used to take over the dead and dying mainline denominations Martin, a former adherent to liberal theology, said:

There is a progression that takes place in liberal theology: It begins with a corrupt bibliology, a corrupt view of the nature and the inspiration of Scripture. They have a corrupt theology because once you are picking and choosing from the Bible what you want, your theology has to suffer from it, because your human reason is corrupt… every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn’t a single exception. (...) >>>

Feb. 19, 2011
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Gospel according to the Left -

American Vision: "The Left’s Change of Heart Concerning Jesus"

You know when the Left is in trouble: They start praying to Jesus. Well, not exactly praying the way we Christians understand it. The leftist’s prayer is rather trying to recruit Jesus to their agenda and goals, not really ask Jesus what He wishes.

This is what Mehdi Hasan has done in his article, “What Would Jesus Do?” in the New Statesman. Hasan is the senior politics editor of the New Statesman; and the New Statesman is a British left-wing magazine founded by members of the Fabian Society back in 1913. Yes, the same Fabian Society that has adopted for its emblem a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Socialists seem quite eager these days to embrace Jesus. It seems like some religion might not hurt socialism after all. (...) >>>

Dec. 23, 2010
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Deconstructing Christianity -

PJM: "The Leftist World Council of Churches and the Jews - The empty-church clergy now says that references to the Israelites of the Bible are only metaphoric references", by Abraham H. Miller

Get used to it my fellow Jews, the World Council of Churches hate you. These empty-church clergy with their theology that turns Jesus into a mere symbol, they hate you. Even though they have rewritten Jesus as symbol and transformed the Bible to metaphor, your existence is the greatest obstacle to their newest version of replacement theology. Why are you still here among them?

This is why the World Council of Churches (the “Bern Perspective“) in 2008 translated even your history into a metaphor. The World Council of Churches now says that references to the Israelites of the Bible are only metaphoric references.

No Israelites, no Jesus, no temple, no wailing wall, no relationship between you and the land of your ancestors. Unable to exterminate you, they now have declared you a bastardized people, a people without lineage, without ancestors. You are no longer the people of the Bible. You are the people who have stolen the metaphoric and ethereal references of the newly interpreted book of allegories. (...) >>>

Dec. 15, 2010
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News for Pomo -

Greg Koukl is a Aristotlean (non-contradictory) philosopher who doesn't take kindly to the postmodern premise of "many truths" (we are in his debt) -

Stand to Reason/Solid Ground: "Author's Foreword", by Greg Koukl (PDF)

“Do you take the Bible literally?” is a question frequently asked about biblical interpretation. I answer that I try to take the Bible with the precision the particular biblical writer intended. I take the words at their plain meaning unless the writer has signaled me to do otherwise. When you think about it, this is the basic rule we apply to everything we read, whether novels, newspapers, periodicals, or poems. Ironically, Evangelicals who pride themselves on “taking the bible literally” often feel comfortable fleeing the plain, literal sense of a passage whenever “the Spirit leads.” (...) When verses can have different meanings for different people based on Holy Spirit “promptings,” it begins to undermine the truth of the “faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). [to them] There are as many “truths” as there are readers. That’s why I’ve devoted this issue of Solid Ground Enhanced to offering a biblical argument against this practice (...) >>>

May 5, 2010
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It's the 'new monasticism' now! -

NCR: "In Search of the Emerging Church" (series)

Dec. 29, 2009
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Middle East Forum: "Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?", by Raymond Ibrahim

"There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur'an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam."[1] So announces former nun and self-professed "freelance monotheist," Karen Armstrong. This quote sums up the single most influential argument currently serving to deflect the accusation that Islam is inherently violent and intolerant: All monotheistic religions, proponents of such an argument say, and not just Islam, have their fair share of violent and intolerant scriptures, as well as bloody histories. Thus, whenever Islam's sacred scriptures—the Qur'an first, followed by the reports on the words and deeds of Muhammad (the Hadith)—are highlighted as demonstrative of the religion's innate bellicosity, the immediate rejoinder is that other scriptures, specifically those of Judeo-Christianity, are as riddled with violent passages. More often than not, this argument puts an end to any discussion (...) If this is how Christians behaved—who are commanded to love, bless, and do good to their enemies who hate, curse, and persecute them—how much more can be expected of Muslims who, while sharing the same violent tendencies, are further commanded by the Deity to attack, kill, and plunder nonbelievers? >>>

June 8, 2009
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It's all about Narcissistic little me and my sentimentality - what I 'feeeel' must be true and so to hell with doctrine (no matter, it's all about demoralization anyway so who cares) ...

WND: "Emergent church leader says 'gay' can be biblical lifestyle - Cutting-edge Christianity debates: Should we accept homosexuality?"
One of the key leaders of today's most cutting-edge church movement has opened an Internet discussion on the issue of same-sex marriage with the bold proclamation that he believes "gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer" individuals can and should live out their sexuality in – and blessed by – the Christian church. "I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (as least as much as any of us can!)," writes author and church leader Tony Jones, "and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state."
Jones is an author and former youth pastor who holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also the national coordinator of Emergent Village, a loosely-formed friendship of churches that derive their descriptive name from having "emerged" from postmodernism to take the gospel of Jesus Christ into a post-Christian culture. (...) Jones writes, "all the time I could feel myself drifting toward acceptance that gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am."(...) >>>

Nov 23, 2008
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To archive >>>