Last Thursday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) targeted an amendment by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would force the State Department to determine how many actual Palestinian refugees – not their children, relatives, friends, or distant relations – are being served by US tax dollars. Leahy was upset because he knew, as most supporters of the Palestinian cause do, that the number of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from Israel during the 1948 war of annihilation launched by the Arabs against Israel is far smaller than the number of Palestinians now claiming redress. “Frankly, Mr. Chairman, as a member of this committee, I always look at what is in the United States’ interest first and foremost,” he said on the Senate floor. “And this would hurt the United States’ interests. It may give a momentary advantage to one side or the other after we spend all that money, but it hurts the United States’ interests.” His inflection was clear – he was implying that those who support the Kirk Amendment are more interested in Israel’s interests than in those of the United States.

That implication is that anyone who supports Israel is not an American patriot. And that is a charge that has been aimed over and over at Israel supporters by the far left of late, from Media Matters’ MJ Rosenberg, who uses the white supremacist term “Israel firster” to smear those who support Israel, to Think Progress bloggers, who have used the same language.

Christians, Jews to unite against Islam?

The Coliseum, where thousands upon thousands of "Judaeis" have been massacred by the Roman emperors, became for one night an arena for alliance between Christians and Jews against “odium fidei,” or religious hatred.
Last Wednesday in Rome, Jewish leaders for the first time rallied alongside Christians in a candlelit vigil to denounce the attacks in the Middle East and Africa. It was “interfaith” or “ecumenical” dialogue at its best. Forget the theological questions, which remain unsolvable. There is an urgent mutual solidarity about the single most defining issue of our time: religious freedom.
 It is about the right to life of Jews and Christians in an Islamicized Middle East. Speaking at the Coliseum, Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni slammed Western “indifference” surrounding the massacre of minorities in the Middle East.

Jewish eschatology contains many references to an alliance between Esau (Rome, the Christian West) and his father-in-law Ishmael (Islam) against the Jewish people. Historically, it has proven to be correct.
In the Islamic world, Jews paid racist taxes, had to wear an article of clothing that set them apart from Muslims, were prohibited from building synagogues, were required by law to take a subservient role in business partnerships with Muslims and were, by law, second-class citizens. It was the “golden age.”
In the Christian world, Jews could not own land, lived in ghettos, occupied only certain niches in the economy and were despised as the “killers of Christ." Yet today, Christians and Jews both live under the shadow of Islamic fundamentalism; in a world threatened by jihad, they are true partners.
A new report from one of the world's most respected NGO, Open Doors, shines a spotlight on the oppression of Christians in Muslim lands. It addresses the diminution, subjugation, emasculation, conversion, massacre and deportation of the indigenous Christians who came under the rule of Muhammad’s faithful.
The survey demolishes the mainstream media’s obfuscation. With the only exception being North Korea, an atheistic nightmare where 70,000 Christians are held in ghastly camps, 9 of the 10 worst persecutors of Christians are Islamic countries (Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan.) Of the 50 countries on the Open Doors’ list, 35 are Muslim (the Palestinian Authority is listed, but not Israel.)
Islamic groups recently issued an ultimatum to the Christians in Nigeria: “You have three days to leave, or you’ll die.” Over 13,750 Christians have already been killed in Nigeria since the introduction of Sharia laws in 2001. Some 500 Christians have been slaughtered since last December and 300 churches have been demolished.
Israel a Christian haven Islam’s supersessionary doctrine catalyzes destruction, oppression and hemorrhaging of Christians in eastern lands. While there were moments of laxity in applying this domination, Islam did not recoil from razing churches in ancient Damascus and slaughtering Christians in the Sub-Saharan plateau, inflicting atrocities in Aleppo or Mesopotamia.
While the West is now endlessly focused on “Islamophobia,” a potential genocidal Christianophobia is spreading through Islamic lands. And as the rally in the Coliseum has clearly shown, it pairs up with another kind of hatred: Judeophobia.

Today there is only one country in the Middle East in which Christian numbers are not declining but continues to increase: Israel. The Jewish State hosts a multitude of Christian creeds, confessions and cultures.

Meanwhile, Yasser Arafat and Ahmed Yassin, Ayatollah Khomeini and Hassan Nasrallah, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama bin Laden relentlessly linked the wanton murder of Jews with the liquidation of Christianity. They don’t see Jerusalem as an urban terrain of conflict, but as a sweeping religious symbol of historical significance.
This week, the Coliseum catalyzed the two most important litmus tests we are facing today: The dormant anti-Jewish genocidal demons lurking in the shadows of the Middle East and of the civilized veneer of the West, and the invisible eastern Christians who are going extinct. After the Rome rally, the Jews should expect the same Christian solidarity next time that a rocket hits a school in Ashkelon or a settler family is slaughtered in the hills of Samaria.
Christians should see Israel as the first line of Western defense in the battle for non-Muslim survival and prosperity in the world. The sagacious American author Eric Hoffer, longshoreman-philosopher from San Francisco, gave voice to a profound and tragic Holocaust-related 20th-century truth: “I have a premonition that will not leave me, as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us.”

The time is finished’: Religious sect erects billboards in Toronto ahead of the ‘transformation’




A billboard on Bloor Street West in Toronto shows Jose Luis De Jesus. The sect leader's followers believe he is the incarnated Christ

ST. CATHARINES, ONT. — Doris Rosado watches her teenage daughters, Ninette and Kiara Mongrut, get the numbers “666” tattooed on their wrists, beaming with pride. The number typically conjures up biblical symbolism tied to the Antichrist, but this St. Catharines, Ont., family belongs to a obscure Christian sect for which “666” is a positive symbol of their group’s messianic leader.

“They wanted to do it,” Ms. Rosado, 45, said at the St. Catharines tattoo parlour where her daughters were inked. “But now it’s more important because we’re counting down… I’m so proud.”

For this family, and other members of Growing in Grace International, these tattoos are a way of demonstrating their faith as true believers of Jose de Luis de Jesus — who they fervently believe is the second coming of Jesus Christ — before a day of reckoning they believe will wipe out most of humanity.





The group, which they say has branches in five Canadian cities and members in more than 130 countries, believes that on June 30 (or July 1 across the international dateline), their Texas-based leader and his followers will be transformed, said Alex Poessy, the group’s bishop in Canada.

To spread the word, Growing in Grace put up billboards in Toronto this week featuring Mr. de Jesus.

“That day, the body of Jose de Luis de Jesus, who is a human like you and me, his flesh is going to be immortal…. He’s going to be living forever. And that will happen to him, but also his followers.”



All those that are not believers are going to be destroyed.”

Growing in Grace International is not the first to prognosticate that the so-called end of the world will come this year. The Mayan calendar famously picks Dec. 21, 2012.



Courtesy of The Government of God

Jose Luis De Jesus, leader of Growing in Grace International

But Mr. de Jesus also predicts that the “transformation” will endow him, and his loyal followers, with superpowers, such as the ability to fly and walk through walls, said Axel Cooley, the bishop’s daughter.

“[We can] run and not get tired. Go through fire and not get burned…. I could be talking to you right now, and then I could go through that wall. So, you’ll know there is a difference,” Cooley said.

The global economy will collapse as currency markets “fail” and governments around the world will be forced to resign. These predictions are based on biblical passages, she adds.

“The world’s not going to end. What is going to end is the system…. All the governments and the currencies will fall. The new government of the 666 will take over,” she said.

The group’s billboards feature a picture of Mr. de Jesus, with such messages as “666, number of wisdom” or “Countdown to the transformation June 30, 2012.” The group is eyeing billboard locations in Ottawa and Kitchener as well, she said. Growing in Grace has also put up billboards in at least 10 countries, including the U.S., Brazil and Puerto Rico, Ms. Cooley said.

Mr. de Jesus, whom followers lovingly call “Dad,” had a vision in 1973 while living in Massachusetts of two angels coming to him. “The body of Christ manifested in Jose de Luis de Jesus, and all of a sudden, that’s when he knew,” Ms. Cooley said.

By 1986, he founded Growing in Grace, or Cresciendo en Gracia, in 1986 in Puerto Rico. His teachings are based on the writings of the Apostle Paul, Ms. Cooley says.

The group has come under fire and accused of being a cult.

Regina Albarracin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., whose son Alvaro became estranged from his family after he joined Growing in Grace, said its members are “brainwashed.”






What kind of people believe this kind of stuff ?

Questions have also been raised about the funds flowing from followers into Growing in Grace’s coffers.

The church had been paying $144,000 a year in alimony to de Jesus’ first wife, considering it part of his salary, according to a 2007 article in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Also, donations from followers in Colombia went to a Colombian bank account in Jose Luis de Jesus’ name, the Sun-Sentinel reported. De Jesus said the Colombian bishop controlled the money earmarked for churches there. However, he also said some of the money went to de Jesus’ wife, including about $60,000 for a condominium.

Canadian member Ana Guevara, 20, brushes the cult claims off.

“All our lives have been enriched with this…. If we were a cult, then I guess we’re a pretty awesome cult. Because it’s teaching you how to live happy. How to live in a good mood,” says Ms. Guevara, whose family is also part of Growing in Grace.

The group has roughly 200 members in Canada, including branches in Toronto, St. Catharines, Montreal and Calgary. Its newest branch is in Vancouver, which officially opened in March, Mr. Poessy said.

Ontario Growing in Grace members congregate in hotel conference rooms for what they call “tracings.” During a tracing in January in Niagara Falls, a few dozen members sat in rows of padded chairs facing a screen. The sermon-like Spanish broadcast was streamed live online, beaming in images from other members’ gatherings around the world. Members listened to speakers and sang along with the hymns.

“We’re the ones who will live eternally,” they sang in Spanish.

Usually, Mr. de Jesus addresses his followers during the tracings. But on April 22, his 66th birthday, he gave his last speech before retreating from public view.

In a video posted on YouTube and on their website, cegenglish.com, Mr. de Jesus called for his followers to enter into the final countdown until, he says, their government will come into power. “A government where we will govern everything with a perfect order. This is my last farewell for you. The time is finished… We will see each other soon in Armageddon.”

Dr. Lorne Dawson, a University of Waterloo sociologist and religious studies professor who specializes in new religious movements, says that when a religious group sets a deadline, it is a sign that the “movement is starting to run into trouble.

“It’s a strong indicator that their authority is slipping, they’re losing followers, not acquiring followers at a level that they used to … and nothing galvanizes a group and galvanizes attention like a new mention of an apocalypse.”

Last year, California preacher and evangelical broadcaster Harold Camping infamously said that the world would end on May 21, 2011. When the day passed without incident — after many of his followers sold off all their belongings — Mr. Camping apologized for the faulty predictions, and subsequently retired.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have prophesied that the world would end eight times, as recently as 1975. The Church Universal and Triumphant, a new age religious group from the U.S., forecast that nuclear war would strike in 1990, says Dr. Dawson.

Even after their prophecies failed, such groups continued to survive at a similar level, or become even stronger, he said. “The leader will quickly come up with an explanation, rationalize, and that rationalization will be spread quickly to all of the membership … and gear them up for another prophecy down the line,” Dr. Dawson said.

Common explanations include blaming the members who doubted, or that the prophecy happened on another spiritual plane, he added.

Growing in Grace members, however, insist their prediction will come true, and their transformation is on its way.

They cite recent erratic weather patterns and global economic woes as signs that change is afoot.

“We are sure that it’s going to happen,” said Mr. Poessy.

The U.S. military has become expert at controlling urban populations in Iraq – but why is the Department of Homeland Security building similar capabilities here?

Unfortunately, the federal government’s war on freedom is a subject still dominated mostly by conspiracy theorists, end-of-the-worlders, and yes, crackpots who hold highly marginal and dismissible views. Fortunately, some of that is changing with the rise of “smart preppers.”

I think most people concerned about liberty would appreciate an honest, probative look at actual plans and initiatives that federal authorities are now developing in earnest. Not wild conclusions based on dark conspiracy theories that make most rational people roll their eyes. But a careful assessment of what Uncle Sam and his legions of high-tech crony capitalists are actually building and developing.

In this case, what’s on the table for scrutiny is nothing less than the creation of a national population surveillance and control grid.

Mushrooming Government Capabilities to Control Society

This is sadly a subject that is so big, wide, and dynamic that in many cases, even members of Congress do not understand the extent of bureaucratic planning to control our lives. Or that the Department of Homeland Security’s big-picture plans, tactics, and technology are based on population control tactics originally developed and used in Iraq.

For example, airport screening bureaucrats, whose authority Americans are being conditioned to accept without question, are no longer limited to airports. The Transportation Security Administration and many other agencies are expanding airport-screening technologies and systems to cover all forms of ground transportation. Complete with traveler checkpoints and individualized tracking of cars, trains, telephones, and computers.

Understanding what Big Brother has in mind for us all could well matter to you. After all, there are some quite extreme options being offered by rather expensive repatriation services. Their solutions range from renouncing your citizenship, to moving out of the country, to getting a second passport, to simply evacuating your wealth from the jurisdiction of an all-powerful central government that has slipped the leash of the Constitution.

Do We Really Want Population Control Tactics Forged in Iraq Used Here at Home?

Perhaps all these advances in population control learned in Iraq – establishing checkpoints, round-up intelligence collection, and the tracking of individuals’ movements – are appropriate to a military occupation.

But one has to wonder why so many James Bond toys and tactics are being actively evaluated, tested, adapted, and funded for domestic use by the Department of Homeland Security. And distributed to all manner of government agencies, even on a local level, as more and more now have (or are seeking) arrest and detention powers.

Here’s what I believe is driving the process: The Pentagon has nine years of bloody urban warfare under its belt in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they did battle not so much against an organized, uniformed, standing army as in prior conflicts, but against freelance warriors (including women and children) dressed as and living among civilians. In coping with that mess, the U.S. military has worked closely with high-tech private companies to develop advanced surveillance and tracking tactics designed to quell hostile urban and rural areas.

A New Breed of High-Tech Crony Capitalists
Get Rich by Feeding Off Our Freedoms

With the wind-down of the Afghan and Iraq conflicts, these same legions of high-tech companies were at risk of not having a reason to exist, and worse, of losing their biggest source of taxpayer-guaranteed profit. Unfortunately, these are very well connected interests. And like all lobbies, they need a huge new mission to justify their existence and expand.

Enter the Department of Homeland Security – which has put numerous high-tech companies that helped the military set up population control systems in Iraq to work doing the same thing here at home.

Perhaps most disturbingly, DHS is creating an artificial domestic market for all this new technology – aggressively making grants to local law enforcement agencies designed to get them into the domestic intelligence collection business (Fusion Centers) as well as militarize local police departments with the latest shiny new crowd control equipment.

The end result is the birth of an iron triangle of powerful interests that are heavily vested in unprecedented levels of federally directed policing of the general public. Kinda like the ethanol scandal, except in this case we are being robbed of our freedoms, not just our tax dollars.

Crony Capitalist Trade Shows Sell Government Surveillance Technologies

A recent Wall Street Journal story, “High Tech Surveillance Comes to Small Towns,” notes the proliferation of high-tech trade shows that cater to the urgent central planning agenda of the federal government, especially Homeland Security. These citizen-tracking technology expos are attracting numerous small town local police departments – many of which are flush with DHS grant money and a long shopping list for the most advanced and prestigious new military weapons being made available to them.

High-tech companies selling these intrusive surveillance and crowd control technologies do so at secretive conferences that are closed to the media. The Journal reports that small sheriffs’ departments are particularly enthusiastic about the most popular training sessions offered by these trade show organizers, such as “Online Social Media and Internet Investigations” and “Exploiting Computer and Mobile Vulnerabilities for Electronic Surveillance.”

You may have even noticed that many local law enforcement departments around the country are already engaged in major “mission creep” to justify their new surveillance capabilities. They are proactively looking for extremist or criminal activity on Internet trading forums, such as Craigslist.

Lessons from Iraq on Urban Conflict Being Misapplied Domestically

The re-focusing of the “War on Terror’s” highest tech innovations against American citizens is the worst form of crony capitalism. And the most dangerous of all. Because the alliance of high-tech companies working in cahoots with the political class is helping to spawn an advanced national population control grid that Uncle Sam’s armies of stodgy bureaucrats could never have created on their own.

For example, new FOIA documents show TSA is planning a national campaign to expand Mobile Body Scanners to train stations and all forms of ground transportation. Part of a broader TSA program to expand road and highway test checkpoints throughout the country.

The agency’s so-called VIPR (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) system is part of a federal program known as “Checkpoint USA,” where federal VIPR teams “screen” travelers.

Take a Look at Just Some of the New Toys in Big Brother’s Tool Box

Here is a rundown of a few of the other James Bond toys and tactics being pushed by federal bureaucrats:

Car makers are being “encouraged” to install black-box tracking systems in all new cars.

Some $31 billion has been spent since 2003 to create “mini-CIA” domestic “Fusion Centers” – where local police monitor the political activities of private citizens, then send that data to Washington. Considering that “constitutionalist” and “patriots” are identified in federal documents as possible terror threats who should be watched, these fusion centers are a genuine cause for concern.

Major grants are going to local police departments for license plate readers to track autos (and by extension, their operators) automatically.

Thuggish tactics… FDA unleashes undercover operations to bring off-the-grid rural farming communities such as the Amish to heel – under the pretense of curbing raw milk sales across state lines.

New portable facial-analysis lie detectors – some units are based on thermal imaging technology – are being developed for wider use as in a national checkpoint system.

Feds are pushing so-called “smart meters” to replace traditional electric meters to monitor, analyze, and yes, control how families use power. Ideal for electricity rationing scenarios and monitoring power usage levels that exceed some bureaucrat’s notion of how much we should be allowed to use.

A new suitcase-sized cellphone crashing device is being perfected for distribution to local law enforcement – the system can shut down protestors’ phones and disable cell cameras.

Local police departments are now getting the Mobile Utility Surveillance Tower (MUST) – an armored surveillance command post designed to cope with hostile urban crowds.

Notably, the Homeland Security Department is rolling out freedom-threatening technologies and initiatives for deployment nationwide, including:

Grants to local governments for “FBI Mobile,” a portable biometric data collection system first deployed by the military to create IDs for urban-war-zone residents.

Covert naked-body scanners for checking out the general public on U.S. streets, a product being developed by Rapiscan Systems.

A fleet of roving backscatter scanning vans for expansion to all forms of ground travel.

Military-developed, next-generation Taser systems capable of stunning and incapacitating large numbers of protesters.

Active Denial System (ADS) “Pain Ray” for use here at home.

Shockwave Area Denial System, which can taser citizens within 100-meter ranges.

Laser Blinding Dazzler system, which causes temporary blindness in protestors.

Mass-deployed sedatives to incapacitate crowds.

Screaming Microwave system and ear-splitting noise machines for crowd control throughout the U.S.

Of course, it makes perfect sense that Washington’s central planners would look to one of the few remaining functional sectors of government that still has some credibility – the U.S. military. That said, why do U.S. civil authorities need draconian infrastructure here in the continental U.S.? After all, while our country is quite argumentative, it has traditionally been a model of domestic tranquility, save for such epic social upheaval during the Civil War and 1968.

Troubling New Controls the Government Is Developing

The now infamous Internet “off-switch, for example, is embodied in a popular piece of legislation that formalizes parallel regulatory efforts, the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act.” Speaking for so many in the political class was Senator Joseph Lieberman, who longingly asked: “China can shut down the Internet, why can’t we?”

Then we have the federal government’s regulatory initiatives to create an “identity ecosystem” in which each Internet user would be assigned a central file number by the innocuous sounding Commerce Department. (Far less fuss from many civil libertarians when told government-issued Internet identities are only being established to enhance web commerce by making security more reliable.)

In effect, the government would be granted new power to certify anyone who uses the Internet. Or not certify them – as though they are on a no-fly list.

Backdoor Restrictions on Second Amendment Rights

Firearms sales have been booming as we all know. Federal attempts at direct gun control and confiscation have been defeated time and time again. So now the gun grabbers rationalize that the Second Amendment does nothing to protect your right to buy ammo.

Federal regulators have been very busy making ammunition harder to get and more expensive. The Ammunition Accountability Act, now under consideration in 18 states as part of a broader federally driven regulatory effort, would make all ammunition traceable – an attempt by the political class to limit what they see as the threat posed by private firearms.

Put another way, the government is angling to regulate the ammunition market, and you know what that means. So if you have a gun, you may want to buy an ammo reload kit while you still can. Off the grid ammo? That’s what we have come to!

Two Curious Developments Which Should Concern Us All

I should add that there have been two recent key developments of great concern. The first is a recent FBI press conference. Agent Casey Carty, an FBI supervisory special agent, postulated in February that anti-government activists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States.

Reuters quoted the FBI as saying that local police departments are inundating the agency for special tactics training on dealing with the so-called ”sovereign citizen” movement.

Of course, Reuters also noted the miniscule number of actual attacks by “sovereign citizen” adherents. It’s made many observers wonder why our government has suddenly chosen to define opponents of taxes and regulations as extremists. (Actually, there is a bit of a disturbing trend over the past few years in which high government officials and many agencies have issued documents essentially branding people who believe in limited government as dangerous extremists).

Yet Another Very Recent Power-Grab!

Then we have passage of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which has a sneaky provision. It subjects U.S. citizens directly to military arrest and detention. Elements are systematically being put into place to create a national population surveillance and control grid with the potential for instant activation. It could go into full effect in any national emergency.

The still incomplete national grid system is far more complicated than the few points I brought out in this story. But, suffice it to say, we are reaching a point soon where we will be only one emergency, one “triggering event” away from seeing what happens when the whole apparatus is activated for the first time.

Today in a world of hate against the church, Gods people, there is a movement to suppress the word of God and bring in a new way of thinking that excludes God. What was right is now wrong. What was wrong is now right, people have become dependent on others instead of being self sufficient . There is no more of the independent thinking that brought this country to the heights that it enjoys now. It says in the last days that people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, without natural affection.

Ask yourself, does that describe the world around us right now? For those who say that its always been this way, here are some statistics,

Record 5.4 Million Sign Up For Disability...

Food Stamp Rolls Explode By 70%...

One Nation Under Debt With Endless Debt Slavery For All

#1 In 2011, the National Institutes of Health spent $592,527 on a study that sought to figure out once and for all why chimpanzees throw poop. #2 The National Institutes of Health has spent more than 5 million dollars on a website called Sex pulse that is targeted at "men who use the Internet to seek sex with men".  According to Fox News, the website "includes pornographic images of homosexual sex as well as naked and scantily clad men" and features "a Space Invaders-style interactive game that uses a penis-shaped blaster to shoot down gay epithets."

#3 The General Services Administration spent $822,751 on a "training conference" for 300 west coast employees at the M Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

The following is how the Washington Post described some of the wasteful expenses that happened during this "conference"....

Among the “excessive, wasteful and in some cases impermissible” spending the inspector general documented: $5,600 for three semi-private catered in-room parties and $44 per person daily breakfasts; $75,000 for a “team-building” exercise — the goal was to build a bicycle; $146,000 on catered food and drinks; and $6,325 on commemorative coins in velvet boxes to reward all participants for their work on stimulus projects. The $31,208 “networking” reception featured a $19-per-person arsenal cheese display and $7,000 of sushi. At the conference’s closing-night dinner, employees received “yearbooks” with their pictures, at a cost of $8,130.

You can see some stunning pictures of GSA employees living the high life in Las Vegas right here.

#4 Do you remember a few days ago when credit rating agency Egan Jones downgraded U.S. government debt from AA+ to AA?  Well, someone in the federal government apparently did not like that at all.  According to Zero Hedge, the SEC plans to file charges against Egan Jones for "misstatements" on a regulatory application with the SEC.

Normally, the SEC does not go after anyone.  After all, when is the last time a major banker went to prison?

No, the truth is that the SEC is usually just a huge waste of taxpayer money.  According to ABC News, one investigation found that 17 senior SEC officials had been regularly viewing pornography while at work.  While the American people were paying their salaries, this is what senior SEC officials were busy doing....

One senior attorney at SEC headquarters in Washington spent up to eight hours a day accessing Internet porn, according to the report, which has yet to be released. When he filled all the space on his government computer with pornographic images, he downloaded more to CDs and DVDs that accumulated in boxes in his offices.

An SEC accountant attempted to access porn websites 1,800 times in a two-week period and had 600 pornographic images on her computer hard drive.

Another SEC accountant used his SEC-issued computer to upload his own sexually explicit videos onto porn websites he joined.

And another SEC accountant attempted to access porn sites 16,000 times in a single month.

#5 According to InformationWeek, the federal government is spending "millions of dollars" to train Asian call center workers.

#6 If you can believe it, the federal government has actually spent $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

#7 The U.S. Agency for International Development spent 10 million dollars to create a version of "Sesame Street" for Pakistani television.

#8 The Obama administration has plans to spend between 16 and 20 million dollars to help students from Indonesia get master's degrees.

#9 The National Science Foundation spent $198,000 on a University of California-Riverside study that explored "motivations, expectations and goal pursuit in social media." One of the questions the study sought an answer to was the following: "Do unhappy people spend more time on Twitter or Facebook?"

#10 The federal government actually has spent $175,587 "to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior".

#11 In 2011, $147,138 was given to the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan.  Their best magic trick is making U.S. taxpayer dollars disappear.

#12 The federal government recently spent $74,000 to help Michigan "increase awareness about the role Michigan plays in the production of trees and poinsettias."

#13 In 2011, the federal government gave $550,000 toward the making of a documentary about how rock and roll contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union.

#14 The National Institutes of Health has contributed $55,382 toward a study of "hookah smoking habits" in the country of Jordan.

#15 The federal government gave $606,000 to researchers at Columbia University to study how heterosexuals use the Internet to find love.

#16 A total of $133,277 was recently given to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games for video game preservation.  The International Center for the History of Electronic Games says that it "collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and connect with each other, including across boundaries of culture and geography."

#17 The federal government has given approximately $3 million to researchers at the University of California at Irvine to fund their research into video games such as World of Warcraft.

#18 In 2011, the National Science Foundation gave one team of researchers $149,990 to create a video game called "RapidGuppy" for cell phones and other mobile devices.

#19 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once handed researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.

#20 In 2011, $936,818 was spent developing an online soap opera entitled "Diary of a Single Mom".  The show "chronicles the lives and challenges of three single mothers and their families trying to get ahead despite obstacles that all single mothers face, such as childcare, healthcare, education, and finances."

#21 The federal government once shelled out $2.6 million to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly.

#22 Last year, the federal government spent $96,000 to buy iPads for kindergarten students in Maine.

#23 The U.S. Postal Service once spent $13,500 for a single dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

#24 In 2011, the Air Force Academy completed work on an outdoor worship area for pagans and Wiccans.  The worship area consists of "a small Stonehenge-like circle of boulders with [a] propane fire pit" and it cost $51,474 to build.  The worship area is "for the handful of current or future cadets whose religions fall under the broad category of 'Earth-based', which includes Wiccans, druids and pagans."  At this point, that only includes 3 current students at the Air Force Academy.

#25 The National Institutes of Health once gave researchers $400,000 to study why gay men in Argentina engage in risky sexual behavior when they are drunk.

#26 The National Institutes of Health once gave researchers $442,340 to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam.

#27 The National Institutes of Health once spent $800,000 in "stimulus funds" to study the impact of a "genital-washing program" on men in South Africa.

#28 The National Science Foundation recently spent $200,000 on a study that examined how voters react when politicians change their stances on climate change.

#29 The federal government recently spent $484,000 to help build a Mellow Mushroom pizzeria in Arlington, Texas.

#30 At this point, China is holding over a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt.  But that didn't stop the United States from sending 17.8 million dollars in foreign aid to China in 2011.

Do you feel good about paying your federal taxes after reading all of those examples of wasteful government spending?

All over America, middle class families are scratching and clawing in an effort to survive in this economy, and the oppressive levels of taxation imposed on those families certainly does not make things any easier for them.

It is tremendously immoral for the federal government to take money out of the hands of hard working families and spend it on such ridiculous things.

12 Christians in Iran await verdicts after Easter Sunday apostasy trial

Twelve Christians stood trial Easter Sunday in Iran, where they were called “apostates” in a courtroom and tried on multiple charges, according to sources close to Iran’s Christian community.  

The Christians had been acquitted on the same charges, including “crimes against the order,” a year ago in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea. The group was first arrested when authorities found them drinking wine while taking communion, according to sources.

“It ultimately illustrates that being a Christian is illegal in Iran. No matter how clear or how open a pastor and a church may be, Christians are being brought to trial just for being Christian,” said Jason DeMars, director of the Present Truth Ministries advocacy group who is in daily contact with the Evangelical Christian community in Iran.

No verdict has yet been issued in the case.

The attorney for the group, prominent human rights advocate Mohammad Ali Dadkhah -- who also represents Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian pastor charged with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity -- was not able to attend Sunday’s court appearance, according to sources who said his flight from Tehran was fogged in. The 12 represented themselves to the judge.

"Their defense was that they were performing religious rituals that are protected by law," DeMars said.

Though the Iranian constitution grants protection to religious minorities born into religions, such as Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews, over the last year and a half individuals in these minority communities have reported increased pressure and clashes with government officials and Revolutionary Guards as their influence continues to mount throughout the country.

But converting, or more specifically, the act of turning from Islam, can be punishable by death. To leave the Islamic faith or to attempt to convert others away from the faith warrants capital punishment under Shariah Law.

Among the 12 are community leader the Rev. Matthias Haghnejad and his wife, Anahita Khadeimi. The others are Mahmoud Khosh-Hal and his wife, Hava Saadetmend, Amir Goldoust, Mina Goldoust, Zhaina Bahremand, Fatemah Modir-Nouri, Mehrdad Habibzade, Milad Radef, Behzad Taalipasand and Amin Pishkar.

They stood trial in a court in Rasht, the same province where Nadarkhani was charged and has been held for more than two years.

This latest crackdown comes as a surprise since Iran’s regime had scaled back after coming under international pressure regarding the case of Nadarkhani over the last few months.

Nadarkhani, now 34, converted to Christianity at 19 and came under the regime’s radar a few times as a result of his participation in his church and Christian community. He was arrested once and released and then arrested again in 2009 and found guilty of apostasy.

The court gave Nadarkhani a chance to recant and return to Islam, but he refused. In February, he was sentenced to death, and the news of this verdict brought about heavy international backlash against the regime.

As advocacy groups across the globe continue to petition for his release, Nadarkhani is being held in prison and the execution order still remains.  

This most recent probe on Iran’s Christian community and subsequent trial on the Easter holiday come as the Christian community, particularly those converted from Islam, reports a surge in government retaliation coinciding with a growing popularity in conversions to Christianity.

“There are a lot of people who are disgruntled with the government and many for comfort and peace in their lives are turning to Christianity. That’s a threat to the regime,” DeMars said.  “The more people who turn from Islam, the fewer people the regime has on its side.”

Presently, there are more than 100,000 Evangelical Christians in Iran, according to conservative estimates. Many believe that number is significantly higher, as there is no accurate way to account for underground churches.