Evidence of the reckless driving this yields can be found everywhere in Britain today. In fact, by American conservative standards, Britain is a horror show, or, put more constructively, a canary in the coal mine. “Reforms” that would result in bloody protest in America are newspaper filler here. Just in the last week, British papers have been full of stories about a policeman who used Britain’s omnipresent security cameras to monitor his cheating wife. They are supposed to be used as part of the criminalization of eating while you drive. The government is seeking the ability to disseminate health, tax, and other personal records to whatever agencies, public or private, it chooses. A new pilot program has officials knocking on doors to make sure citizens are managing their leftovers properly. Of course, Britain’s socialized medicine churns out a new cautionary tale every day. Meanwhile, a new study has found that in much of England, 60 percent to 70 percent of economic output comes directly from the government.
In the year 2012, from the earth's perspective, the sun will align with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in a rare astronomical phenomenon for the first time in 26,000 years. Some believe this period of time brings with it an increasing time of danger. The Mayan astronomers chose the beginning of their famous long count calendar in 3114 BC and end it on the winter solstice of December 21st, 2012.(Transribed from history video)But it's not just the Mayans that see turmoil in the future.
Japan headed for its worst postwar recession as factory output slumped an unprecedented 9.6 percent in December, unemployment surged and households cut spending.
The drop in production eclipsed the previous record of 8.5 percent set only a month earlier, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. The jobless rate soared to 4.4 percent from 3.9 percent, the biggest jump in 41 years.
This week, outgoing center right Prime Minister Geir Haarde tendered his resignation following weeks of regular protests by Iceland citizens angry about the government's inability to handle the country's economic troubles. Protests that resulted in a violent clash with police for the first time in Iceland since 1949.France & Germany: Riots are escalating as pressure mounts on leaders to provide solution.
Mr Ryder, speaking as strikes involving hundreds of thousands of workers erupted across France and Germany, told The Times: “We are on the road to serious social instability, which could be extremely dangerous in some countries to democracy itself.”Britain: In the UK, government sources say shorter hours would be preferable to mass unemployment: Britain is facing return of three-day week
France: France Hit by National Strike on Black Thursday
The prospect of the three-day week returned to haunt Britain yesterday as it emerged that ministers are considering paying firms to cut hours in order to survive the recession.
Tens of thousands of businesses are already planning to scale back working hours this year in an effort to stay afloat. But as the country comes to terms with the reality of a recession, it emerged that the Government is looking at compensating employees, through their firms – thereby drawing comparisons with the shutdowns of the 1970s.
Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected at more than 200 rallies to call on President Nicolas Sarkozy to do more to protect jobs and wages.
Three-quarters of people and all the main trade unions support the day of industrial action.
The protesters are demonstrating against the worsening economic climate and rising unemployment in France and at what they believe to be the government's poor handling of the crisis.
"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no power as yet but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." (Rev. 17:12-13)
Drastic problems like the current economic tumult can lead to drastic solutions. People want immediate action, not principles and platitudes. The leaders most likely to act decisively are those who have no objection to trampling on the rights of others to accomplish their agendas. They get things done, but at a high cost to the freedom and rights of others.In the end they reward those who provide the support they need to keep themselves in power. They call themselves benefactors and statesmen. History sees them as despots and tyrants.
* $850 billion destimulus package -- I refuse to call this a stimulus. The idea here is that if the government spends and borrows and prints nearly $1 trillion we all get jobs and get rich. It’s the Bolivia economic model. Probability of passage 80%
* Forced union rules -- Get rid of secret ballots for elections to unionize factories and plants. So much for democracy. This is the payback for the $400 million the union bosses spent to elect Democrats. Probability of passage 50%
* Hillary Health Care – Obama wants a new version of government run health care. And why not? Socialized health care has worked so well in Canada and the U.K. Just don’t get sick. – Probability of passage 50%
* Cap and trade energy tax – This is the mother of all tax hikes, $1.2 trillion over the next decade. The greenies and their patron saint Al Gore are drooling for this new tax because it will cripple American industry and our manufacturing capacity. Good bye jobs but this is the price we pay for our environmental crimes of the last half-century. Probability of passage 50%
* Soak the rich -- Mr. Obama wants to raise the income tax, the capital gains tax, the dividend tax, and the payroll tax. That’s all. But only the rich – that is people who create jobs, take risks, start businesses, work hard, etc. – will pay. So half of all income taxes will be paid by 1% of Americans. Yes, that’s fair. Probability of passage 50%.
* Don’t drill, don’t drill, don’t drill. Barack Obama is likely to seek a law reinstating bans on offshore drilling for oil and gas in the outer continental shelf, Alaska, and in the oil shale rich states out west. Wow, that’s a great way to create jobs! And a great way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. NOT! Probability of passage 75%
* Fairness doctrine -- To make sure all of this liberal big government agenda isn't derailed by the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, the Democrats want to pass the "Fairness doctrine," to make sure that they get equal time on the radio and TV. Have these people ever heard of NPR and Katie Couric? Probability of passage 50%
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
Protesters gather in Reykjavik as members of parliament gathered for their first session of the new year. Photograph: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP
While Barack Obama was being sworn in to office on Capitol Hill yesterday, the people of Iceland were starting the first revolution in the history of the republic. The word "revolution" might sound a bit of an overstatement, but given the calm temperament that usually prevails in Icelandic politics, the unfolding events represent, at the very least, a revolution in political activism.
Four months after the collapse of Iceland's entire financial system, no one has accepted any responsibility. Our currency has lost more than half its value, rampant inflation has already eaten up most people's savings, property values have dropped by more than a third and unemployment is reaching levels never seen before in the life of our young republic. (The complete article can be found here.)
It was founded by the pilgrims who decided to leave their own country, which didn't encourage freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the individual. So they migrated to an uncivilized land inhabited only by savages. The rock where they landed was to become a national shrine - and one of the most famous monuments in the world.
They drove off the natives, built rude shelters and houses of worship, meanwhile setting aside a special day to give thanks.
These pilgrims - all stern, austere men - believed in their God, but they also believed in work. They established schools under religious leaders that, in a way, became the first public, free education in the world.
Through hard, determined labor they forged a colony while the rest of the world chuckled.
But the pilgrims persevered. Intolerant of wrongdoing, they used gallows to punish criminals. In their day-to-day activities they had no patience for the weak and degenerate, who, if pampered, become the cancer of a nation.
Shortly, these pilgrims engaged in trade and commerce as their community grew. In the process, they became moderately prosperous.
Other colonists came and established other communities. And some of the noblest words ever written began to surface. Facades of our modern government buildings bear some of the legends written back then: "liberty," "justice," "freedom of worship.
Then one of the older nations sent tax agents to exploit the colonists. Alarmed, the colonists sent their greatest men as representatives to a general assembly, choosing a gentleman farmer as their leader. He united them and shook off the shackles of oppression as they won the fight against the "old world" and became a strong nation. That farmer is known as the "father of his country." Today, a famous U.S. city is named after him.
The new nation formed two houses of government. The more powerful was the Senate, whose members could be elected only if they were men of probity [integrity], honor, patriotism, and religion. The nation became a republic, though it is a republic no longer.
Ultimately, a civil war divided the fledgling country. Its leader, who tried to keep the republic united, was assassinated in the shadow of government buildings.
Eventually, many of the nations senators became ambitious for power. They began to make deals with leaders of important factions.
And the republic now became entangled in alliances with foreign nations. The alliances brought wars; the wars brought taxes. But the citizens didn't seem to mind. War, after all, also increased trade and industry. And, besides, the new taxes affected only the rich.
Farmers rebelled, sending petitions for subsidies, price supports. Government, wanting support for its own schemes, bought up the surplus crops and stored them in warehouses, where they rotted. Not to be outdone, industrialists were next to ask for tax benefits.
Finally, the government became all powerful. It guaranteed to protect the people from all forces of nature. And taxation grew and grew. Bureaucracy thrived as free housing, fiee food, free entertainment came next. The middle class declined under the added tax burdens. Crime became so commonplace that it was dangerous to walk the streets at night.
A crippled man led the nation into more wars and foreign entanglements. Patriots became known as radicals.
A general, who had been victimized by the government, pleaded with the nation to remember her past, to return to honor, to decent government, to the principles ofthe founding fathers. The people scoffed, and he died, bitterly thinking his anguished thoughts.
An honest senator dared to speak out for a halt to foreign subversion and to constant foreign aid and draining away from the people's money. The public at large recoiled, branding him a reactionary.
The nation fell deeper into debt. It joined a league of the world with enemies that exploited her. She increased taxes to send her wheat to those enemies. And she devalued her currency, substituting base materials for precious metals in her coins.
She became allied with powerful barbarians in still another stupid war. She sent "experts" to school the barbarians in the latest scientific discoveries.
The nation was now totally corrupt. Its middle class was finally dead. The barbarians moved in... and took over. And they destroyed the civilizations. That nation's name?
Ancient Rome.
Identification notes:
The pilgrim's rock - Foundation of the Temple of Jupiter
The gentleman farmer - Cincinatus
The assassinated leader - Julius Caesar
The general - Marc Anthony
The honest senator - Cicero
Author unknown
"For I know that the Lord is great and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth. In the seas and in all deep places He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries." Psalm 135: 5-7.
You may have heard a little about the Mayans 2012 prediction. BUT who really were the Mayans? AND why is this such a big deal?
No one knows for sure how they did it but they were very accurate in their methods. As in VERY accurate, they estimated that a year was longer than 365 days rather 365.242036 days, which is slightly more accurate than the 365.2425 days of the Gregorian calendar we use today. Bear in mind they calculated this around 1000 BC, well before anyone else. The Mayans had different types of calenders: long count, divine, civil, and short among others. They had a 13 day week. The calender that arouses the curiosity is the long calender. 
Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.
and knowledge shall increase." (Daniel 12:4)
Two signs given to Daniel to identify the end of times were the rapid increase in travel and knowledge---at an exponential rate.
There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish...it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.
Marcus Aurelius (Gladiator)
If all else fails, the Earth will almost certainly come to an end in about 5 billion years when it falls into the expanding sun.
