The 'YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ' Of the Week : "Obama: ‘World Is More Stable than It Was Five Years Ago’," - by Andrew Johnson; September 24, 2013 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/359368/obama-world-more-stable-it-was-five-years-ago-andrew-johnson " ... Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, President Obama justified the NSA’s spying programs, arguing they have helped to stabilize the world in the five years since he took office. “As a result of this work, and the cooperation of its allies and partners, the world is more stable than it was five years ago,” the president said on Tuesday morning.[Mr. John's commentary: "Astronomers scramble to figure out which world he's talking about!"]
URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
NEWS FLASH: "Syrian Rebels Execute Christian Villagers," - CBNNews.com, September 12, 2013; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/Syrian-Rebels-Execute-Christian-Villagers/ - Syrian rebel fighters apparently executed three Christians fleeing the fighting in Maaloula this week, Britain's Sky News reported. Hundreds of Christians held a funeral in Damascus for the men, who were cousins. Sky News reports the men were trying to escape the Christian town of Maaloula, which has been under attack by rebel troops. The men reportedly were killed by forces with the al Qaeda linked Jabha al-Nour. Mourners say two of the victims had their throats cut and another was shot. Most of the mourners are also refugees from Maaloula, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. [PRAY for the Christians throughout Syria who face greater persecution should rebels, particularly Islamists along the line of the Muslim Brotherhood, end up in charge of the country.]
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: "Syrian Christians Brace for Strike, Ask for Prayer," - by Gary Lane, August 31, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/Syrian-Christians-Brace-for-Strike-Ask-for-Prayer/"As Syrians brace themselves for a possible U.S. military attack, many of the county's Christians are praying for divine intervention. They say military action against the Assad regime will only bring them greater hardship and suffering and they're asking Christians worldwide to pray that God intervenes to bring peace to their nation. They believe the collective prayers of Christians around the world could reverse an escalating conflict..."
[EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST- Update on Kenneth Bae: "US Ready to Bargain with N. Korea for Bae's Release,"- CBNNews.com, Aug 14, 2013 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/S-Ready-to-Bargain-with-N-Korea-for-Baes-Release/ - The United States is willing to engage North Korea to secure the release of imprisoned American Christian Kenneth Bae. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is "willing to consider a number of different options" to bring him home.In a video recently released by a North Korean newspaper, Bae requested the United States send a high-ranking official to North Korea to seek his pardon. It is unclear if he spoke of his own volition in the video. Bae, 45, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for sharing his faith. He suffers health problems such as diabetes and is currently hospitalized.[PRAY for 1) God's healing of and presence with Pastor Bae, 2) His earliest release by the North Korean government, and 3) God's comfort for his family and friends.]
Vigils Mark One Year Imprisonment of Pastor Saeed - CBNNews.com, Thursday, September 26, 2013 - Today marks one-year that American pastor Saeed Abedini has been held in an Iranian prison. He is serving an eight-year sentence because of his Christian faith. It has been a year of torment as he has suffered beatings, physical pain from untreated medical conditions, and separation from his wife and two children... The suffering has not dampened his passion for Jesus. Pastor Abedini has led more than 30 prisoners to Christ during his time in prison. This afternoon, thousands of Americans from coast to coast will pray for his release. Events will be held in 40 states at capitols, city halls, parks and churches. Thousands more will join from 15 nations around the world
The 'YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ' Of the Week : "Obama: ‘World Is More Stable than It Was Five Years Ago’," - by Andrew Johnson; September 24, 2013 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/359368/obama-world-more-stable-it-was-five-years-ago-andrew-johnson " ... Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, President Obama justified the NSA’s spying programs, arguing they have helped to stabilize the world in the five years since he took office. “As a result of this work, and the cooperation of its allies and partners, the world is more stable than it was five years ago,” the president said on Tuesday morning.[Mr. John's commentary: "Astronomers scramble to figure out which world he's talking about!"]
URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
NEWS FLASH: "Syrian Rebels Execute Christian Villagers," - CBNNews.com, September 12, 2013; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/Syrian-Rebels-Execute-Christian-Villagers/ - Syrian rebel fighters apparently executed three Christians fleeing the fighting in Maaloula this week, Britain's Sky News reported. Hundreds of Christians held a funeral in Damascus for the men, who were cousins. Sky News reports the men were trying to escape the Christian town of Maaloula, which has been under attack by rebel troops. The men reportedly were killed by forces with the al Qaeda linked Jabha al-Nour. Mourners say two of the victims had their throats cut and another was shot. Most of the mourners are also refugees from Maaloula, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. [PRAY for the Christians throughout Syria who face greater persecution should rebels, particularly Islamists along the line of the Muslim Brotherhood, end up in charge of the country.]
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: "Syrian Christians Brace for Strike, Ask for Prayer," - by Gary Lane, August 31, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/Syrian-Christians-Brace-for-Strike-Ask-for-Prayer/"As Syrians brace themselves for a possible U.S. military attack, many of the county's Christians are praying for divine intervention. They say military action against the Assad regime will only bring them greater hardship and suffering and they're asking Christians worldwide to pray that God intervenes to bring peace to their nation. They believe the collective prayers of Christians around the world could reverse an escalating conflict..."
PRAY: - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- BOLDly (Beside Our Leaders Daily) for leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
Go to SaveSaeed.org to sign a petition over 600,000 others asking for his immediate release.
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"UN REPORT TAKES THE STEAM OUT OF “CLIMATE CHANGE,”- by: John Hayward, 9/20/2013 http://www.humanevents.com/2013/09/20/un-report-takes-the-steam-out-of-climate-change/--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released a report that doesn’t find much evidence of “climate change” or “global warming” based on human activity, but nevertheless rushes to assure readers that the problem is still serious. Not so fast, says the Heartland Institute and the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change it supports:
“Whereas the reports of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warn of a dangerous human effect on climate, NIPCC concludes the human effect is likely to be small relative to natural variability, and whatever small warming is likely to occur will produce benefits as well as costs,” the non-governmental panel announced, rolling out a hefty report with a succinct “summary for policymakers” to back up their claim.In essence, the NIPCC is calling shenanigans on the United Nations panel, accusing them of “departing from proper scientific methodology.”
Global climate models produce meaningful results only if we assume we already know perfectly how the global climate works, and most climate scientists say we do not (Bray and von Storch, 2010). Moreover, it is widely recognized that climate models are not designed to produce predictions of future climate but rather what-if projections of many alternative possible futures (Trenberth, 2009). Postulates, commonly defined as “something suggested or assumed as true as the basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief,” can stimulate relevant observations or experiments but more often are merely assertions that are difficult or impossible to test (Kahneman, 2011). Observations in science are useful primarily to falsify hypotheses and cannot prove one is correct (Popper, 1965, p. vii).
The defense against this criticism amounts to a despairing cry that we can’t afford to follow the scientific method when it comes to climate change, because the problem is so potentially severe that we don’t have time to find out if it’s real. That’s a “sociological precept, rather than a scientific one,” as the NIPCC points out. I would add that it’s also a very useful vehicle for grabbing political power and money. Also, it’s pretty rich to hear the people who constantly claim they’ve got science on their side frankly admit that they do not, but it doesn’t matter, because if you just bend and twist the data enough, you can pretend the “crisis” they’ve been warning about still exists, and we must spare no expense to avoid it.
Looking at the very same data the United Nations used, the NIPCC finds that none of the “climate change” models or predictions have panned out, the minimal temperature fluctuations observed throughout the industrial era are consistent with natural climate variations, and the global climate hasn’t warmed significantly during the last 16 years, even though plenty of Demon Carbon has been created by human activity.
Like a growing number of serious climate scientists, the NIPCC sees a higher possibility of global cooling over the coming decades, which may or may not be a good thing, but clearly has nothing to do with the Church of Global Warming’s dogma about air-conditioner emissions turning the Earth into a huge TastyBake oven. Furthermore, if natural global cooling is a bad thing, there might not be much the human race can do about it… outside of doing everything the Church of Global Warming has inflicted billions of dollars in economic damage trying to halt, that is. Perhaps Miami will name its first outdoor ice-skating rink after Al Gore.
The report is unsparing in its critique of global-warming activists: "The hypothesis of human-caused global warming comes up short not merely of “full scientific certainty” but of reasonable certainty or even plausibility. The weight of evidence now leans heavily against the theory. Invoking the precautionary principle does not lower the required threshold for evidence to be regarded as valid nor does it answer the most important questions about the causes and consequences of climate change. Scientific principles acknowledge the supremacy of experiment and observation and do not bow to instinctive feelings of alarm nor claims of a supposed scientific 'consensus' " (Legates et al., 2013).
Doubtless the response to this report will involve a great deal of caterwauling about the Heartland Institute, the agenda of the NIPCC, evil special interests, and so forth, none of which addresses the content of the report. Besides, it’s absolutely comical to pretend the climate-change fanatics aren’t motivated by special interests, greed, and political agendas. The amount of money they stand to lose from the collapse of their man-made global warming con job is astronomical. Gigantic fortunes and political careers are at stake.
There’s a lot more evidence to question the integrity of the global-warming crowd than their critics. As luck would have it, the Associated Press broke some news today about pressure on the U.N. researchers from various governments to hide embarrassing data pertaining to that mysterious 16-year-and-counting “pause” in global warming. Politicians are not eager to lose an irrefutable demand for power and control - do what we say or you want the Earth to die, you’re no better than a Holocaust denier. By all means, let’s have a nice little chat about which side of this debate has greater incentives to distort and misinterpret the data.
Another bit of low comedy at the expense of the global-warming faithful comes from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was asked if those super-expensive job-crushing global warming regulations were affecting any of the 26 indicators the agency laid out to measure our planetary climate crisis. She bubbled out a lot of bureaucratic nonsense about the importance of global leadership… but no, she couldn’t say that any of these regulations has actually done a blessed thing to combat global warming.
Reams of taxpayer dollars, spent to no measurable effect other than making politicians and bureaucrats feel good about themselves. Lovely. We really should have brought the global warming fraudsters up on criminal charges a long time ago. They’ve gotten away with the crime of the century. But if we’re not going to put them behind bars, or at least make them repay the money they appropriated, we can at least swat them off the world stage with a rolled-up temperature chart.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
