New Hampshire Democratic State House candidate Keith Halloran wrote on Facebook that he wishes former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin had been on board the flight on which former Republican Sen. Ted Stevens was killed. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs recently called "crazy" members of his own party who criticize the man who occupies the Oval Office. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada recently said, "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay? Do I need to say more?" And so, party politics continues to play the role of divider of Americans. In his 1796 farewell address, George Washington warned against political parties. He said, "One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection." He said these are "destructive" and of fatal tendency" — as we see all too well … By Bill Koenig Washington, D.C., and the neighboring areas have been pummeled over the past nine months by three record-setting snowstorms, record-setting heat, a record-setting earthquake, and four large power outages in the past six weeks due to major storms. Dec. 18-19, 2009, Feb. 5-6 and Feb. 9-10, 2010: Major snow storms dropped record-setting amounts of snow and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. July 6-7: Netanyahu is in Washington to meet with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — and then heads to New York City. July 6- 7: Washington, D.C., and New York City experience record 100-degree heat. July 15: D.C. Court votes 5-4 against voters' right to vote on same-sex unions (LifeSite News): In a 5-4 decision, the D.C. Court of Appeals held today that the residents of Washington, D.C., do not have the right to vote on the issue of same-sex "marriage," and that allowing a vote on the issue would amount to allowing "discrimination." The decision is the latest in a lengthy battle by Stand 4 Marriage DC, a coalition of the federal district's religious leaders led by Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church, to put the issue of gay "marriage" to a vote by the people. July 16: Washington, D.C., earthquake at 5:04 am (CBS News): An earthquake shook residents awake in the area, rattling windows and jostling dishes but apparently causing no serious damage. And while Californians might scoff at the 3.6-magnitude quake, Susan Potter, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said it was the strongest to hit within 30 miles of D.C. since they began keeping records in 1974. The quake hit at 5:04 a.m. EDT; was centered in Rockville, Md.; and was felt in Washington, D.C., southern Maryland, northern Virginia and outlying areas. Eighteen days of violent storms rock the Washington, D.C., area. July 25: Storm cuts power to 300,000 in D.C. area (The Washington Post) Thunderstorms pummeled the D.C. area Sunday, claiming at least one life and leaving more than 300,000 homes without power, The Washington Examiner reported. Pepco said more than 266,000 customers were affected, and Dominion had more than 71,000 outages early Sunday evening. The number of power outages across the Washington region declined sharply overnight. Pepco's tally dropped from about 75,000 Tuesday night to about 31,300 Wednesday, July 29: New storm causes additional power outages to 300,000 (Pepco) Washington, D.C. – Another series of thunderstorms tore through the nation's capital early this afternoon, causing more damage to the electric system and another wave of power outages. Crews from five states and the District of Columbia, who already were restoring service following Sunday's violent storm, wrapped this new series of outages into the effort. Crews had restored service to the vast majority of customers from Sunday's storm before this latest series of storms hit. Earlier today, the number of Pepco customers out of service had been reduced from a peak of 301,000 to about 6,000. August 5: Pepco begins service restoration following violent August storm outages to 72,000 customers Washington, D.C. - Pepco crews have restored power to nearly 12,000 customers and are working to return service to some 60,000 customers without electric service. This afternoon's fast-moving storm that packed winds of up to 60 miles an hour swept mainly through the heart of the District of Columbia and into Prince George's County. The violent storm struck a significant blow leaving tens of thousands of people in the entire Washington Metropolitan Region without electric service. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for eastern Prince George's County and Anne Arundel County, Md. August 11: George Mitchell: 'We see eye-to-eye on direct talks' (The Jerusalem Post) US envoy George Mitchell entered a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss advancing direct talks with the Palestinians. "We see eye to eye on the need to open up direct talks with the Palestinians," Mitchell said about Netanyahu in comments made before the meeting. Netanyahu and Mitchell Call for Direct Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks August. 12: Netanyahu rejects peace talks based on 1967 borders Prime minister rebuffs Palestinian 'precondition' as talks with US envoy George Mitchell end in failure. August. 12: Intense storms catch Washington, D.C., region off-guard, more intense storm possible this afternoon, over 100,000 without power More than 100,000 people are without power in the Washington area after thunderstorms swept through the region, quickly dumping large amounts of rain. The rain began Thursday morning around 7 a.m., and the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning in effect until just before 9 a.m. Powerful storms rolling through the metro area have brought down trees and power lines, flooded roads and Metro stations and left drivers stuck in high water. "At one point we had over 800 lightning strikes," said ABC 7 Meteorologist Chris Naille. ABC 7 Chief Meteorologist Doug Hill said weather trackers reported the rain coming down at a rate of 4 to 5 inches an hour. "These are terrifically intense thunderstorms," Hill said.The storms packed wind gusts up to 67 mph and included half-inch to three-quarter-inch hail. Koenig's perspective: The Washington, D.C. area, has become a target area of violent and even unpredictable record-setting weather events as the Obama Administration and the Democratic majority in the House and Senate push an immoral agenda, while Obama keeps pressing for peace talks in Israel. ——— The Israeli-Hezbollah War Is Inevitable (Elias Youssef Bejjani) Bio: Elias Bejjani is the chairman for both the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) and the Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF), founder and president of the Canadian Phoenician Club, and publisher and webmaster of the websites for the LCCC and the CLHRF. Mr. Bejjani has been a political commentator and columnist for a number of news lines in Canada and a key activist on the subject of Lebanese Canadian affairs. He runs and owns the Phoenician News line (news around the clock covering Lebanese issues) in eight Canadian cities. Mr. Bejjani worked with the Ministry of Public Health in Kuwait for 23 years in different positions related to his vocation as a health care specialist. He has been in Canada since 1986 — working as a health care specialist. The following is an excerpt from Bejjani's article. There are more details at this link: Bejjani article Most Middle East analysts and political observers are more than sure that the war between Israel and the West on one side; and Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas and Iran on the other front is inevitable. Its occurrence has become just a matter of time. The Middle East is in the eye of the storm and, apparently, no one can avert the confrontation that has become necessary for the agendas of all parties involved. According to observers, the predisposing factors that build for a war are precipitating in the Middle East. Ali Hmade, the renowned Lebanese political analyst, shed light on some of these factors in his last Tuesday's column published in An Nahar Beirut Daily. Meanwhile, other American, European, Arab and Israeli analysts have written extensively on these tensions and added other pivotal factors to the Israeli-Hezbollah war formula. "The US should work to avoid another Hezbollah-Israel conflict, but could benefit from preemptive military action in Lebanon …" according to Israel's former ambassador to Washington. A report authored by Daniel Kurtzer, written for the US Council on Foreign Relations,warns that Hezbollah's proliferating weapons stockpile could bring Israeli aggression to far outweigh the bombardment of Beirut and southern areas during the 2006 summer war. "Hizbullah has steadily rearmed in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 1701," Kurtzer wrote. "Israel could decide the security threat posed by Hezbollah has reached intolerable levels and take preemptive military action." The confirmation made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen to the NBC network: "The United States has a viable military plan to attack Iran and its nuclear facilities, though such a strike probably a bad idea." Mullen has often warned that a strike against Iran would have serious and unpredictable ripple effects around the Middle East. At the same time, he has said that Iran developing a nuclear weapon is unacceptable. The International Crisis Group (ICG) is warning about a devastating Middle East war. A new Israel-Lebanon conflict is likely to be far more violent, inflict greater damage to civilian and government infrastructure, and lead to the direct embroilment of other regional actors, warned a new report released by the ICG. "A new conflict will also likely affect greater parts of the country, especially the Bekaa Valley, and will not be isolated to the south or the Shiite areas of Beirut which were systematically targeted in 2006," said the report entitled "Drums of War: Israel and the 'Axis of Resistance.'" The Lebanese Government is advised to take immediate steps to significantly increase troop numbers in the south and to improve the range and quality of military training and equipment available to its troops as a bulwark against a slide to war. Although conflict is far from imminent and many inhibiting factors continue to prevent the escalation of menacing rhetoric on both sides, the political roots — which led to the outbreak of the 2006 war — remain unaddressed and the regional situation could prove explosive. The ongoing Iranian threats to burn Israel and set the whole Middle East ablaze if Iran's nuclear facilities are attacked by either the US or Israel. "If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none," threatened the deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Yadollah Javani. "Tehran will burn down Tel Aviv" in response to any attack, said Mohammed Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. Bejjani Summary: Based on all of the above facts, and on many other factors, another devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah that could also involve Hamas, Syria and Iran seems to be inevitable. Sadly, Lebanon is again going to be a battlefield in this coming war. Hopefully, this time Israel — backed by the Western and moderate Arab countries — will push Hezbollah out of Lebanon as it did in 1982 with the PLO. The region deserves a lasting peace that cannot be achieved while Hezbollah holds the Lebanese people hostage, Syria breeds and exports terrorists while oppressing its own people, Hamas enslaves the residents of Gaza residents by aborting all peace initiatives with Israel, and Iran endeavors to own a nuclear bomb with dreams of reviving the Persian Empire by terrorism and mass destruction. History tells us that peace prevails only in the aftermath of wars. This is what happened after the world wars. Once again, peace will be the fruit of the coming Middle East war if Israel, the West, and moderate Arab countries stand tall and courageously execute a well-planned war to defeat the "Axis of Evil" countries and their terrorist proxies. Koenig's perspective: Elias Bejjani, a Lebanese, is very well respected and connected inside of Lebanon. The Psalm 83 nations and Syria are taking their positions. ————— Is Russia Experiencing the Consequences of Its Recent Activities that Would Endanger Israel? Russia's recent activities with nations that are a direct threat to Israel's existence have been followed by an enormous political, financial, agricultural and humanitarian crisis in Russia. In May, Russian President Medvedev made deals with Israel's enemies Turkey and Syria, called for Hamas to be included in peace talks, and his country voted against tough sanctions on Iran and is providing them with nuclear technology. Now Russia is experiencing a 1,000-year drought, major fires, life-threatening smog, economic disruption and a massive wheat crop failure that has cost an estimated $17 billion to date in the early stage of the crisis. Medvedev: Include Hamas in Talks (The Jerusalem Post) Article link – May 12, 2010 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the United States on Wednesday to actively work to achieve peace in the Mideast with the support of other nations and hinted that no one should be excluded from the peace process, including Hamas. His comment appeared to indicate Moscow's willingness to become an active Middle East mediator. On Tuesday, during a visit to Syria, Medvedev said Israeli-Arab tensions threaten to draw the Middle East into a new catastrophe, adding Moscow's weight to a diplomatic push to ease antagonism between Israel and Syria. "The United States must be active and other nations must contribute," Medvedev told a joint news conference in Ankara with Turkish President Abdullah Gul. Medvedev said no one should be excluded from the Mideast peace process, a clear reference to exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal who met with the Russian president in Damascus on Tuesday. "We have to include all conflicting parties and not exclude anyone from this process," Medvedev said. "We are facing a human tragedy in Gaza, so that there is need for more efforts, even though we can't solve all problems," Medvedev said. Medvedev also said Iran must "adopt a constructive approach in some way," as the US and its allies rally for new UN sanctions against Teheran regarding its nuclear program. Iran has denied charges that it is secretly building nuclear weapons. "The Mideast must be a region cleared from nuclear weapons," Medvedev said. "The use of nuclear weapons in the region would be a disaster." Medvedev said Russia would hold talks with Iran and Israel on the issue. On Tuesday, Russia urged Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and open up its long-established but unannounced nuclear arsenal to the UN monitoring agency. Russia Expands Involvement in Turkey: Nuclear Plant, Oil and Business Later Wednesday, Turkey and Russia were to sign a series of cooperation agreements in trade and tourism, including the lifting of entry visas in a bid to further bring the former Cold War-era rivals closer. Medvedev and Gul vowed to triple the bilateral trade volume to around US$100 billion in the next five years. Turkey, a US ally, served as NATO's foremost base during the Cold War but has seen a relationship rapidly develop with Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. Gul said several new energy projects are on the agenda, including a pipeline that could pump Russian oil from Turkey's Black Sea coast to the Mediterranean and construction of its first nuclear power plant with Russian help. Quarter of Russia's Grain Crops Lost in Drought, Medvedev Says A quarter of Russia's grain crops have been lost in the recent drought, leaving many farms on the brink of bankruptcy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday, according to Russian news agencies. The government should prevent increases in the price of grain and fodder, which will eventually affect the prices of food products like flour, bread, meat and milk, Medvedev said at a government agricultural meeting in the southern Russian region of Rostov. Large parts of Russia have suffered this summer from excessive heat, drought and a spate of wildfires that has also created stifling smoke and smog. Hundreds have died in the combined disasters. Alexander Frolov, who heads the Russian meteorological service Roshydromet, said this week that virtually no rain is forecast in Russia this month. The situation is so bad in some regions that there is "no reason" to start planting winter crops, Frolov said. Roshydromet forecasts a 30 percent drop in Russia's harvests due to the drought, he said. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has already announced a ban on grain exports that will begin Aug. 15 and could last until Dec. 31, based on uncertainty over this year's farm production. Some regions won't be sowing winter grain at all this year, he said. The fires burning in the remaining four regions of western and central Russia are still intense, however, with tens of thousands of firefighters deployed there. ———— Attorney John Haller on the Proposition 8 decision: I fear that too many have no idea the implications that are coming the church's way as a result of this ruling. It will NOT be limited to the issue of marriage. It is going to affect everything. It Already Is: Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Plants Flag for Gay Rights Proposition 8 law.com article link: Key paragraphs: Chief Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling on Proposition 8 has gay rights advocates seeing it as a game changer for legal battles beyond the right to marry. As they digest the import of Walker's decision and look ahead to litigation outside the grand prize of marriage, they're focused on two main aspects of Walker's 136-page decision: its conclusion that "the evidence presented at trial shows that gays and lesbians are the type of minority that strict scrutiny was designed to protect" and its extensive findings of fact, which they say could help their cause in pending state and federal cases as well as in the court of public opinion. Walker's holding on strict scrutiny is the argument gay rights lawyers have been making in courts across the country, and has implications for the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, adoption restrictions and other challenged policies. "Any other rule that denies rights or otherwise mistreats people on the basis of sex orientation — such as Florida's anti-gay adoption law — any and all of them should be subjected to strict scrutiny," said Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel and marriage project director for Lambda Legal. Advocates are also excited about the way that Walker tied together discrimination on the basis of both sex and sexual orientation … Conservative legal scholars envision problems if, or when, Walker's reasoning is applied beyond gay rights cases. If Walker's treatment of sexual orientation as a suspect classification stands, said John Eastman, a professor at Chapman University School of Law, it "could have some pretty profound impacts." Once you describe marriage as a fundamental right, he said, it would be difficult for a judge to rule against a polygamist. "Think about other restrictions on the right to marry that are in our law that probably don't meet strict scrutiny," he said, citing minimum age requirements for marriage and the prohibition on first cousins marrying. M. Edward Whelan III, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., sees other troubles ahead. He pointed, for example, to where Walker found that Prop 8 is essentially based on the idea that "same-sex couples simply are not as good as opposite-sex couples." What Walker is saying, Whelan said, is that those who oppose same-sex marriage "are irrational bigots." That holding, he warned, could be used to justify the punishment of such "irrational bigots" through the denial of government money or the right to adopt. Whelan is correct to a point. It won't stop there. It won't. You know that, and I know that. ——— The Stunning Decline of Barack Obama: 10 Key Reasons Why the Obama Presidency Is in Meltdown - Telegraph-UK article link The Obama Presidency Increasingly Resembles a Modern-Day Ancien Régime: Extravagant and Out of Touch with the American People - Telegraph-UK article link Food The current wheat rally — the fastest in almost 40 years — could transform into a full-blown price spiral, spilling over to other crops such as corn and pushing up retail prices worldwide … Last Thursday, wheat in Chicago traded at nearly $8 a bushel, after rallying by 80 percent since mid-June. The 2007-2008 crisis, the first in three decades, saw the cost of agricultural commodities surge to record highs and riots in countries from Haiti to Bangladesh. It pushed wheat prices to an all-time high of more than $13 a bushel in the United States. (Financial Times) Iraq Foreign Policy magazine says President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric urging him to persuade the country's squabbling political leaders to form a new government … There was no immediate comment from the White House. Iraq has remained plagued by political deadlock since March parliamentary elections in which no party won enough seats to form a majority. Two leading groups have each been trying to form a ruling coalition. Obama's reported appeal comes as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw from Iraq, and amid continuing insurgent violence. (Voice of America) As the US plans to turn its duties over to the American-trained security forces in Iraq, the nation's security is on shaky ground … Iraq's military chief says that without a US presence, the Iraqi forces won't be able to fully fend for themselves before 2020. The army is almost up to the job, the police are hit-and-miss, and the Kurdish militia is nowhere close to ready. Bombings still happen almost daily across Iraq, often targeting the security forces.Drive-by shootings and kidnappings are common. And even after the US spent $22 billion training and equipping the forces since 2004, many of the problems that have long plagued the army and police remain unresolved. (Washington Times) Al-Qaida in Iraq has begun offering cash to lure back former Sunni allies angry over the government's failure to give them jobs and pay their salaries on time … Sunni tribesmen and Iraqi officials say the recruitment drive adds to worries that the terror network is attempting a comeback after the deaths of its two top leaders in April. The political stalemate in Baghdad is entering its sixth month after inconclusive elections, just as theUS military is rapidly drawing down its forces. Al-Qaida's strategy is to provoke the Shiite majority into launching revenge attacks — a development that could re-ignite open warfare, split the Iraqi security forces along sectarian lines and cement al-Qaida's leadership role among Sunnis. (The Associated Press) National Security The US Senate has dropped a House-approved plan that would prepare America to defend itself from an attack from any electromagnetic pulse source … CongressmanRoscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) says this is "unfortunate." The concern is that nuclear detonation from 25 to 250 miles above the US could decimate the nation's electric grid, essentially transporting America instantly back to an era of mechanical machines and agriculture. One estimate suggested an effective attack could kill 90 percent of Americans. Bartlett explained that the danger also comes from naturally occurring EMP signals from sources such as a solar storm. (WorldNetDaily) By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst Ten members of International Assistance Mission, a Christian organization that has provided medical care to remote parts of Afghanistan via short-term missions for 44 years, were summarily executed by the Taliban while returning to Kabul. Six of the group were Americans. Because they were medical personnel doing charity work, they had no security, no weapons and no armed guards. In claiming responsibility for the executions, a Taliban spokesman told the Associated Press that they killed the missionaries because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity." A spokesman for the mission, however, said that while the organization is Christian, it does not proselytize. This tragedy underscores the prophetic persecution that is coming to America. So long as Americans count Islam as a religion rather than the totalitarian political system it is, Islamic colonization of the United States will continue to advance rapidly. In its wake will be persecution beyond anything any American has ever experienced. The federal government refuses to secure the border with Mexico, allowing thousands of undocumented Islamic colonists in each year. Christian denominations embrace Islam through "interfaith dialogue." And many Americans just fail to see the danger of Islamic encroachment on American society. But persecution is coming. Politicians and the public alike refuse to recognize that Islam is not a religion and that it should not fall under First Amendment protection. The Founding Fathers knew the First Commandment specified "no other gods." Religious freedom meant the ability to worship God freely without government interference. Islam's holy book, the Koran, instructs Muslims to kill infidels, unbelievers, Jews and Christians. This alone is the doctrine of the political system of Islam. It is an enemy to any nation. Its antithesis to God's people was prophesied in Genesis 16:12 (NKJV) when an angel of the Lord said that Ishmael "will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him." Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by me." This is the central doctrine of Christianity. Anything else is a false religion, no matter how nice your Muslim neighbor is. And a false religion is of satan. Jesus warned of satan's wiles in John 10:10, "The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." And that is exactly what the Koran instructs its followers to do to anyone who is not Muslim. Jesus also warned Christians in John 15:20, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Persecution is coming. It will be swift and brutal as it was for the brave martyrs in Afghanistan. It will be even swifter, if God's people continue to embrace Islam in this nation.
William KoenigExecutive Summary
Inside the White House —
Washington, DC, and the neighboring areas continue to be pummeled by record-setting events … Specific reasons why an Israeli-Hezbollah War is inevitable … Is Russia experiencing major consequences for its recent activities that would greatly endanger Israel? … Attorney John Haller on California's Proposition 8 decision … The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown … The Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime: extravagant and out of touch with the American peopleNews Briefs —
Food prices could soar in light of wheat shortages … Obama sends secret letter to cleric calling for unity in Iraq … Iraq's security shaky as US plans to pull out … Al Qaeda on the rebound in Iraq … Senate drops plan to protect electric grid from EMP attackConnecting the Dots —
Prophetic America: The coming persecutionExecutive Summary
Inside the White House
News Briefs
Connecting the Dots —
Prophetic America: The coming persecution
"Koenig's Eye View from the White House" is a subscription-based news report. No part of this publication may be re-transmitted or reproduced without the editor's written consent.
Copyright 2009-2010. All Rights Reserved.
Contact: comments@watch.org
Web Site: http://watch.org/
Saturday, 14 August 2010
August 13, 2010
Visit our web site: Watch.org
Koenig International News, P.O. Box 9124, McLean, VA 22102
Posts
