America’s Historical Moment–Obama Declared Democratic Presidential Candidate
As it was reported on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.
In a remarkable and unusually strong speech on Wednesday morning at a vast annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC), Obama presented himself as a tough candidate and vowed unwavering support for Israel, coupled with a willingness to use everything within his power–a phrase that he repeated loudly three times to add emphasis–to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He also stated that America must take the lead in dealing with Iran, as Europe has failed to bring about any acceptable solutions.
AFP added the following in its article of June 4:
“Barack Obama said Wednesday that Jerusalem must remain the ‘undivided’ capital of Israel… Obama said in the strikingly pro-Israel speech that the US bond with the Jewish state was ‘unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable for ever,’ adding he was speaking from his heart as a ‘true friend’ of Israel… Obama warned Islamist movement Hamas must renounce violence, pledged to stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself at the United Nations and to provide the Jewish state the means to guarantee its security… ‘There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations.'”
In its article of June 4, USA Today quoted the following additional comment from Obama’s speech: “…’let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel. Sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation.'”
Will European-American Relationships Improve Under a New U.S. President?
Many German commentators and newspapers don’t think so.
Deutsche Welle published the following comment on June 3:
“Lots has been written about the world’s infatuation with Obama, here and elsewhere. With Obama’s candidacy assured, however, how he is perceived by an international audience and what is expected of him becomes more important… A lucid analysis of Obama’s international role and its possible problems offers Constanze Stelzenmüller of the German Marshall Fund of the United States: Entitled The Dalai Obama, Stelzenmüller writes that Germans’ high hopes for an Obama victory are not unfounded, but they may still be disappointed…
“Even if Obama defeats McCain and becomes President, the end of the euphoria is foreseeable writes Stelzenmüller. ‘Obama will call on the help of Germany and the rest of Europe to combat authoritarian regimes worldwide. Iran, NATO in Afghanistan, engagement on Europe’s borders, diplomacy in the Middle East, and perhaps stabilization assistance in Iraq. As an idealist, Obama hopes his appeal to Europe’s sense of responsibility, but if that fails, he must continue as a realist – without Europe.'”
Other German newspapers agree with this assessment. Der Spiegel Online stated the following on June 5, 2008:
“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
“‘America is ready for a change and possibly even for a historic transformation … But regardless who gets elected president in November, the change is not going to be as earth-shattering as people expect… In terms of foreign policy, there won’t be a major shift under McCain or Obama — not even a rapid withdrawal of American soldiers from Iraq…’
“In the Hamburg weekly newspaper Die Zeit, journalist Josef Joffe writes: ‘The zeitgeist is blowing for Obama — even if not as strongly in Asia, Africa and Latin America as it is in Western Europe. But an optical illusion may be influencing our opinions: the comforting idea that the real problem is George W. Bush and not America. Out with cowboys and in with change and hope, and then we’ll be able to love America once again.’
“‘So, why is this a mental delusion? First, because anti-Americanism is older than the younger Bush. Second, because Obama (probably) comes, but the superpower stays. America, this modern steam hammer of a nation, is fundamentally a destroyer.
“‘In Old Europe, we’d prefer to take things a bit easier — and, no wonder, after all the catastrophes of the 20th century. And that’s why we don’t want (what former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder once described in his election campaign as) “American conditions.” We also don’t want any American demands about reinforcing the military in Afghanistan or hard sanctions against Iran or civilian assistance in Iraq, which both Obama and McCain would request.'”
2008–Already Deadliest Tornado Year Since 1998
The Associated Press reported on May 28:
“With the year not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service. Also, this year’s storms seem to be unusually powerful. But like someone who has lost all his worldly possessions to a whirlwind, meteorologists cannot explain exactly why this is happening…
“And it’s not just more storms. The strongest of those storms — those in the 136-to-200 mph range — have been more prevalent than normal, and lately they seem to be hitting populated areas more…
“Global warming cannot really explain what is happening… While higher temperatures could increase the number of thunderstorms, which are needed to trigger tornadoes, they also would tend to push the storm systems too far north to form some twisters…”
Islamic Terrorists Envision Devastation of America After Nuclear Attack
The Daily Mail wrote on May 30:
“Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead. This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb.
“The computer-generated image below was posted on an Islamic extremists’ website yesterday.
“It appeared as rumours swept the Internet that the FBI was warning that an Al Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use weapons of mass destruction to attack the West… One message with the Washington picture said: ‘The next strike’s in the heart of America…’… Last night FBI sources said Al Qaeda was desperate to get its hands on a weapon of mass destruction, be it nuclear, chemical, or biological…”
U.S. Invasion of Iraq Has Failed–Why?
USA Today reported on May 28:
“Too often during this current occupation, Iraqis have been treated as mere pawns in a geopolitical game between the United States and the Baathists or the jihadists. We have surged our military forces and poured billions into the reconstruction but have made relatively little effort to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis by involving them in a common endeavor.
“Instead, we’ve conveyed the sense that the United States is in Iraq for its own interests and not those of the Iraqis. We fight the terrorists there so we don’t fight them here, we say. That may or may not be so, but… democracies are built not by the force of arms or a flood of dollars, but by an active demonstration of faith in the common bonds of humanity.”
Chuck Hagel: “New Great Leaders Will Arrive”
On June 3, Der Spiegel Online published an interview with U.S. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. We are bringing you the following excerpts from the interview:
“We invaded Iraq, we are occupying Iraq and we have made Iraq dependent on us. By our actions we have done terrible damage to our own country and undermined our interests in the world… Our first moral obligation is to our own people whom we keep sending back to Iraq again and again. Four-thousand US soldiers have given their lives, over 30,000 have been wounded, many seriously. I just got an e-mail today from the father of a helicopter pilot. His son is going back to Iraq for the fifth time. That is not acceptable…
“We need to get out [of Iraq], but responsibly. Much depends on how we are going to engage Iran. That spills over into the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. It spills over into Lebanon. It spills over into the relationship with Syria. We need a regional strategy, and in my view that means a permanent Middle East conference in which all Middle East nations participate. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more difficult it becomes to implement such a process. Many of the Arab nations don’t trust us…
“What has American involvement accomplished so far? The Middle East is as combustible and as complicated as it has ever been. Our policy has been disastrous.. We have to use our economic and also our cultural strength. Trust is the crucial currency in international relations. We willfully diminished the value of this currency and we now have to rebuild it. Trust is more important than anything else…
“A strong America is in the interest of the world. I often meet with foreign leaders and they know that the world is more dangerous when America is stumbling, bumbling and weak. America should lead, but through consensus and common interests…
“We are the greatest debtor nation in the world. We have an enormous trade deficit… you cannot continue to spend $600 billion a year that you do not have. We are spending $3 billion a week in Iraq alone…
“Today, I don’t see any great global leaders of the stature of Reagan, Kohl, Mitterand and Thatcher. They were important, whether you agreed with them or not. But as [former German Chancellor Helmut] Schmidt also told me in my office, there will come a time when we will find those new leaders again.”
Think the U.S. Economy Is Bad? It Will Get MUCH Worse!
The New York Times wrote on June 1:
“Struggling as we are with the housing bust, the credit crunch, shrinking consumption, rising unemployment and faltering business investment, we can be forgiven for thinking that all the big shoes have dropped. There is another one up there, however, and it is about to come down.
“State and city governments have yet to shrink the economy; indeed, they have even managed to prop it up. They have quietly maintained their spending at pre-crisis levels even as they warn of numerous cutbacks forced on them by declining tax revenues. The cutbacks, however, are written into budgets for a fiscal year that begins on July 1, a month away. In the meantime the states and cities, often drawing on rainy-day savings, have carried their share of the load for the national economy.
“That share is gigantic. At $1.8 trillion annually in a $14 trillion economy, the states and municipalities spend almost twice as much as the federal government, including the cost of the Iraq war. When librarians, lifeguards, teachers, transit workers, road repair crews and health care workers disappear, or airport and school construction is halted, the economy trembles. None of that, or very little, has happened so far, not even in California, despite a significant decline in tax revenue.
“’We are looking at a $4 billion cut to public schools and deep cuts that will result in thousands of Californians losing their health care,’ said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, offering a preview of coming hardships. ‘But the reality is we have not pulled money off the streets yet.’
“Quite the opposite, the states and municipalities have increased their spending in recent quarters, bolstering the nation’s meager economic growth. Over the past year, they have added $40 billion to their outlays, even allowing for scattered spending freezes and a few cutbacks in advance of July 1. Total employment has also risen. But when the current fiscal year ends in 30 days (or in the fall for many municipalities), state and city spending will fall, along with employment — slowly at first and then quite noticeably after the next president takes office.”
New Law on Global Warming Would Create Giant Tax, Critics Say
The Associated Press reported on June 3:
“The Senate began what is expected to be a weeklong, contentious debate Monday over legislation to combat global warming by mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases… The Senate measure, which has wide Democratic and some Republican support, would cap U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, cutting them by 18 percent by 2020 and by two-thirds by mid-century. It would specifically target refineries, power plants, factories and transportation for 70 percent reductions…
“Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called it ‘a giant tax on virtually every aspect of the economy,’ and accused Democrats of being ‘laughably out of touch’ in taking up the bill when the country is reeling from $4 a gallon gasoline and other high energy costs. President Bush said at a White House event that the measure amounted to ‘a huge spending bill fueled by tax increases’ and that it ‘would impose roughly $6 trillion in new costs on the American economy.'”
Myanmar’s Military Junta Prevents Aid for Their People
The Associated Press reported on June 3:
“More than 1 million people still don’t have adequate food, water or shelter a month after a devastating cyclone swept through Myanmar, and it’s not clear what the military junta is doing to help them, the United Nations said Tuesday.
“Humanitarian groups say they continue to face hurdles from Myanmar’s military government in sending disaster experts and vital equipment into the country. As a result, only a trickle of aid is reaching the storm’s estimated 2.4 million survivors, leaving many without even basic relief. Aid groups are unable to provide 1.3 million survivors with sufficient food and clean water, while trying to prevent a second wave of deaths from malnutrition and disease, the U.N. said in its latest assessment report…
“Myanmar’s xenophobic military regime left survivors to largely fend for themselves. It barred foreigners from the delta until last week and refused entry to U.S. and French aid-laden naval vessels, which have been idling off the country’s coast.”
AFP added on June 4:
“US warships laden with supplies for Myanmar’s cyclone victims will sail away after the junta refused their help, even as aid workers Wednesday pleaded for more help… The United Nations estimates that of the 2.4 million survivors in need of food and shelter, 1.1 million have received no foreign aid.”
Worldwide Food Price Crisis
AFP wrote on June 3:
“UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for a huge rise in food production Tuesday as world leaders opened a summit on the food price crisis that threatens hunger, poverty and conflict worldwide…
“Prices have doubled in three years, according to the World Bank, sparking riots in Egypt and Haiti and in many African nations. Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all imposed food export restrictions. Rising use of biofuels, trade restrictions, increased demand from Asia to serve changing diets, poor harvests and increasing transport costs have all been blamed for the price rise.
“World Bank President Robert Zoellick has said two billion people across the world are struggling with high food prices, and 100 million extra people in poor countries may be pushed into poverty by the crisis… Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda urged fellow leaders to release excess stockpiles of food to ease shortages in poorer countries, offering more than 300,000 tonnes of imported rice held by Japan.”
Worldwide Fuel Crisis
The Independet wrote on May 31:
“All around the world, in a multitude of ways, the soaring price of oil is hurting rich and poor alike…
“The number of Britons in ‘fuel poverty’ – 10 per cent of their income goes on energy – is thought to have reached four million… Malaysia has told petrol stations to stop selling fuel to Singapore-registered cars…
“Africa is at the sharp end of the oil shock and the inter-related surge in food prices. With millions living on the tiny margin between subsistence and starvation, fuel costs can quickly become a matter of life and death… There are also growing fears that rapidly increasing fuel prices could have a knock-on effect for aid agencies in countries such as Ethiopia, which are struggling to pay for fuel. This week the Red Cross said in its annual report that rising oil and food costs would mean it now needs much more money than last year just to keep the same level of aid distribution. Africa remains the largest area of Red Cross spending, accounting for 45 per cent of the field budget in 2007…
“In Egypt, petrol prices have risen by as much as 40 per cent in a year. Yemen has been rocked by riots in the south, which is home to only a fifth of its 22 million population but produces 80 per cent of the country’s oil. Young men and separatists, angry that very little of the nation’s oil wealth has trickled down to ordinary people in the south, have been protesting since April, raising concerns that Islamic militants could exploit the unrest in the notoriously fractious country…
“In Gaza this week, where fuel shortages have long been a major source of seething discontent due to rationing by Israel and Hamas, Palestinians were forced to fill their cars with olive oil instead of diesel… Iran is acutely vulnerable to rises in fuel prices because, despite being the world’s second largest producer, it is still forced to import about 40 per cent of its petrol because of a lack of refining facilities. Protests last year over fuel prices brought in rationing, which is still in place in Tehran and other major Iranian cities.”
Germans Don’t Want Darwin Questioned
Deutsche Welle reported on June 4:
“A Swiss firm has announced plans to construct a ‘Genesis Land’ in the Heidelberg area. But local politicians and theologians don’t like the prospect of becoming home to an anti-Darwin amusement park… According to the developers’ plans, Genesis Land would feature a ‘life-sized’ Noah’s arch, a ride simulating the Biblical Flood and a 3-D animated retelling of the New Testament… The project’s Web site says it aims to ‘communicate Biblical history and a Biblical message in a modern, experience oriented way.’…
“But religious and political representatives from the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg are less than enthusiastic… ‘A project like this only gets in the way of our attempts to spread the faith,’ Hansjörg Hemminger, the Wuerttemberg Protestant Church’s Spokesman on World Views told the newspaper Die Welt.
“Civic planners, too, are against Genesis Land. ‘Such a project isn’t going to get any support from us,’ Raban von der Malsburg, the official in charge of construction in Heidelberg, told the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung newspaper. Christoph Trinemeier, the director of a regional association, shares the belief that creationism wouldn’t enhance the area’s reputation. ‘Scientists from the entire world live and do research at the most modern level in our region,’ he said to the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung as grounds for opposing Genesis Land.
“But the project is still very much in the planning stage and may never become reality.”
The Theory of Evolution is wrong. Our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution–a Fairy Tale for Adults” proves from Scripture, WHY it is a human fabrication, without any scientific basis whatsoever. Please watch in this regard our latest StandingWatch program, “Is There Life on Mars?” View it on StandingWatch or Google Video or YouTube.
Tissue from Dead People to Create Cloned Stem Cells
On June 1, 2008, The Sunday Times wrote the following:
“Scientists [in the UK] are to be permitted to use tissue from dead people to create cloned human stem cells for research, under a legal change put forward by the government. Health ministers have proposed that laboratories should be allowed to use stored human tissue to create cloned embryonic stem cells without the explicit consent of the tissue donor. This would allow research to be done on tissue donated for medical research as long as 30 years ago. Scientists would also be able to use cells from people who have died since they donated their tissue or who cannot be contacted. Many laboratories have banks of stored tissue which act as DNA libraries…”
“Hate Crimes” in Canada…
WorldNetDaily reported on June 5 about hate crimes in Canada:
“A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal ‘hate crimes’ law for quoting from the Bible, and he’s being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report.
“Pete Vere, a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist, has reported on the prosecution of Father Alphonse de Valk, a pro-life activist known across Canada, by the Canadian Human Rights Commission – ‘a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it’ – at CatholicExchange.com. ‘What was Father de Valk’s alleged “hate act”?’ Vere wrote.
“‘Father defended the [Catholic] Church’s teaching on marriage during Canada’s same-sex ‘marriage’ debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of who are non-Catholics and non-Christians – Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman,’ he wrote.
“The new case comes just as columnist and author Mark Steyn, and Maclean’s magazine which published an excerpt from his ‘America Alone’ book, are on trial before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for similar ‘offenses.’… That case revolves around Joseph’s claims the defendants depicted Muslims as ‘a violent people’ with a religion that is ‘violent.'”
… and in Britain…
The Telegraph reported on June 2, 2008:
“A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a ‘hate crime’ and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that ‘no-go areas’ for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities…
“The preachers, both ministers in Birmingham, were handing out leaflets on Alum Rock Road in February when they started talking to four Asian youths. A police community support officer… interrupted the conversation and began questioning the ministers about their beliefs. They said when the officer realised they were American, although both have lived in Britain for many years, he launched a tirade against President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“[One of the ministers] said: ‘I told him that this had nothing to do with the gospel we were preaching but he became very aggressive. He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam… West Midlands Police, who refused to apologise, said the incident had been ‘fully investigated’ and the officer would be given training in understanding hate crime and communication.”
… and in Continental Europe
The Associated Press reported on June 3:
“Brigitte Bardot was convicted Tuesday of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying France. A Paris court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen siren and animal rights campaigner. The court also ordered Bardot to pay $1,555 in damages to… [a] leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP…
“In [a] December 2006 letter to Sarkozy, now the president, Bardot said France is ‘tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts.’ Bardot, 73, was referring to the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir, celebrated by slaughtering sheep.
“French anti-racism laws prevent inciting hatred and discrimination on racial or religious… grounds. Bardot had been convicted four times previously for inciting racial hatred.”
These laws are on the books in many parts of Europe. Since they are prohibiting “inciting discrimination on religious grounds,” the time is drawing nearer when religious organizations will be prosecuted in Europe for teaching the Biblical truth about “orthodox Christianity” and especially the history and the prophesied future of Babylon the Great and the woman riding the scarlet-colored beast, as mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18.
For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”
