Archbishop of Canterbury: 'I could have done more'

BBC News, 8 September 2012

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• Profile: Dr Rowan Williams
• Bishops issue 'frustrates' Church
• Archbishop of Canterbury to quit

Rowan Williams stands down
in December

The Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested he did too little to prevent the Anglican Church splitting over homosexuality.

Dr Williams, who retires in December after 10 years, told the Daily Telegraph he could have engaged sooner with US bishops over gay ordinations.

The "problem" with the job was that the "demands of the communion have grown and are growing", he said.

He suggested a "presidential figure" could be appointed to share duties.

The BBC's Robert Piggot said deep divisions had dogged Dr Williams' leadership of the Anglican communion.

The Telegraph interview was his most candid acceptance of personal blame for the rift over homosexuality, he added.

Dr Williams said that during his 10-year tenure he had "at various points, disappointed both conservatives and liberals".

"Most of them are quite willing to say so quite loudly," he added. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury has
expressed remorse on the split in the
Anglican Church over homosexuality

One of the biggest crises he had faced was the split between traditionalists and liberals over the ordination in the US of the first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson.

"Thinking back over things I don't think I've got right over the last 10 years, I think it might have helped a lot if I'd gone sooner to the United States when things began to get difficult about the ordination of gay bishops, and engaged more directly with the American House of Bishops," he said.

He added: "I think the problem though, is that the demands of the communion, the administrative demands of the communion, have grown and are growing."

He said he thought it would be necessary in the future to "think about how that load is spread".

'Civic equality'

Of a possible new presidential role - someone "who can travel more readily" - he said the Archbishop of Canterbury should remain as the "head" of the Anglican communion and should keep "a primacy of honour".

But there should be "less a sense that the archbishop is expected to sort everything".

He admitted the Church had been "wrong" in the past over its approach to homosexuality.

"We've not exactly been on the forefront of pressing for civic equality for homosexual people and we were wrong about that," he said.

But he said legalising gay marriage would lead to a "tangle" between the Church and the government.

He said future monarchs may not have as strong a personal faith as the Queen but this need not weaken the links between the Church and the crown.

"As far as I can see, Prince Charles is a person of enormous personal interest in the spiritual life, in some of these big issues of symbolism which he's spoken about and written about very interestingly," he said.

"But [he is] probably a little more quizzical, let's say, about the institution of the Church of England."

And he called for more Christians to get involved in politics.

He said "people of faith" must do more "to encourage our own folk to be a bit more willing to go into politics and get their hands dirty".

Related Articles:

Rowan Williams resigns as archbishop of Canterbury

Cardinal Carlo Martini says Church '200 years behind'

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.)

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

ECB agrees to buy unlimited bonds to boost euro

Deutsche Welle, 6 September 2012

The European Central Bank has unveiled a new bond-buying program in yet another attempt to ease the eurozone's debt crisis. DW has spoken with several experts about the latest move's significance.

The European Central Bank has agreed to a new program to purchase potentially unlimited bonds of fiscally challenged countries in the eurozone in a bid to regain control of interest rates and lower borrowing costs.

Pledging to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, ECB President Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday (06.09.2012) that the new plan, with no set limit, would address the "unfounded fears" of investors about the euro's survival and serve as "a fully effective backstop to prevent potentially destructive scenarios." 

Draghi said the plan will create a
backdrop to secure to euro

Draghi said the plan, officially called Monetary Outright Transactions, was strictly within the ECB's mandate to maintain financial stability. But, in the same breath, he underscored the need for governments to continue with deficit reduction plans and labor market reforms.

Addicted to bond buying

Countries that wish to benefit from the scheme must request a bailout from one of the eurozone's two rescue funds, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) or the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to ensure they continue reforms.

In a related move, the ECB decided to keep interest rates on hold, leaving its main rate unchanged at 0.75 percent.

The decisions, Draghi said, were also prompted by economic contraction; the ECB expects the eurozone economy to shrink by 0.4 percent this year.

Weidmann was a key voice against
the ECB bond-buying plan

Draghi was able to win the support of all but one of the ECB council's members - Jens Weidmann, the president of the German Bundesbank, who voiced stiff resistance to bond buying. Weidmann has said he believes the ECB bond-buying scheme could become an "addictive drug" for governments unwilling to carry out painful reforms. He is also worried that it could trigger inflation.

Experts have mixed views on the new scheme.

"Draghi is very capable and his latest move is the right thing to do," said Thomas Kirchmaier from the London School of Economics. "Some people worry about inflation, but that's clearly a non-issue. Inflation rates in the eurozone are low, and we're actually seeing a degree of deflation."

Sterilizing the money supply 

Inflation is a major worry in Germany

Clemens Fuest with the Said Business School at Oxford University agreed that inflation isn't a concern in the short term but warned it could become one in the long term if the ECB cannot "sterilize" the bonds. Sterilization is a step taken by central banks to avoid an increase in the money supply - and consequently in inflation.

"This could happen if countries get used to selling bonds to the ECB and running high deficits," he said. "Then we would have a situation that could lead to inflation."

Benedicta Marzinotto with the European think tank Bruegel said she believes sterilization will give a lift to the euro. "If the ECB doesn't sterilize, there is more risk of inflation," she said.

Fuest also pointed to legal questions about the ECB bond-buying move and how the central bank interprets the various statutes that give it the leeway to pursue such action. 

The ECB's plan is to shore up the euro

"The ECB is selling this as a 'must' move but it's not evident to me that the currency union would fall apart or disaster would strike if the bank didn't do this," he said.

Reflecting Bundesbank concerns, Johann Eckhoff with the Institute for Economic Policy at Cologne University warned that the new ECB scheme could reduce pressure on countries to reduce their debt.

"We could have the effect of some countries not meeting agreed conditions and the others having to give in, as we do with Greece," he said. "The pressure to damn debt is reduced here, and that's dangerous."

Related Article:

Europe still most competitive region in the world

Brussels suffers from lobbying excess

Deutsche Welle, 5 Sept. 2012

The organization Lobbycontrol is lobbying for more control on lobbying in the European Union. It's produced a new guide to the city, pointing out where undercover lobbyists hide.

Policy in Europe is increasingly being made in Brussels, rather than in the individual states. One way of measuring the development is to look at the number of lobbyists in Brussels. According to Graham Watson, a British Liberal Member of the European Parliament (MEP), "If you look at the number of lobbyists we have here in Brussels - more lobbyists than we have in Washington - they recognize the powers that are wielded here, and we've got to do something to make sure that our citizens understand this as well."

The official figures are almost ten years old. Even then, there were already between 15,000 and 30,000 lobbyists in the corridors of the EU. There are almost certainly more now. Nobody knows exactly: there is a lobbyists' register, but registration is voluntary.

Nina Katzemich of Lobbycontrol says that has to change. She wants to see more transparency and control of the situation. She's not opposed to lobbyists, but she does think the balance needs to be restored.

"The lobbyists here in Brussels always talk about a market of interests in which everyone can promote their own interests," she told DW. "But that's not how it is. Especially in Brussels, it's the lobbyists with the biggest budgets who have the best chance of getting their views heard."

As a result, she argues, the big business lobby groups are much better represented than organizations working for the public good.

Lobbies are most effective under cover 

The lobbyists know their way around
the EU buildings

Nina Katzemich and her colleague Timo Lange have invited members of the press on a tour of the European district in Brussels to show how and where the lobbies work. They both say the lobbies are most effective when they don't like lobbies. Neutral-sounding think-tanks may well turn out to be disguised lobby organizations, financed by specific companies. The way influence may be applied on members of the European Parliament can also be complex and indirect.

But it certainly works. Timo Lange points to the failure of a plan by the European Commission to introduce a traffic-light-style color-coding for food products.

"The food industry mobilized a billion euros to stop the traffic light for food," he says. And right now, with the financial crisis, the banks and their lobbyists are working hard to prevent tougher control of their business.

From commission to consultancy

Lobbycontrol is particularly critical of the conflict of interest that arises when recent commissioners promptly move into the business world.

"Five of the 13 commissioners in the last commission have lucrative jobs in private business," notes Katzemich. Well-financed lobbyists can thus gain "a direct view into the EU bureaucracy, insider information, and direct contact with senior positions in the EU bureaucracy."

Following massive criticism, the Commission has decided to extend the waiting time for former commissioners before they can go into business from one year to 18 months. Lobbycontrol would like to see three years - and would like to see the ban extended so that it does not only apply to the field in which the former commissioner was working.

A declared lobbyist 

The chemical industry can be sure its
views are well represented

So how do the lobbyists themselves react to the accusations made against them? Andreas Ogrinz admits that he's a lobbyist for the German chemical industry employers' federation, but he sees lobbying as a legitimate way to represent interests.

He complains that critics are one-sided: "Environmental lobbyists are also lobbyists," he told DW. "That's sometimes lost sight of in the debate. It's not just industry or employers who have interests; it's also environmentalists or human rights organizations."

But Ogrinz agrees with Lobbycontrol that there's a need for transparency for lobbyists. And he does see moral limits to their work: "For example, if you invite an MEP for a trip or give him a present, that is clearly trying to win influence illegitimately. I don't see that as lobbying - that's corruption."

Ogrinz is probably the kind of lobbyist with whom Lobbycontrol has few problems. Its main target is undercover lobbying, and there the methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated. It needs an expert to be able to decipher the real meaning of the organization names on the doors of the office blocks in Brussels.

Europe still most competitive region in the world

Deutsche Welle, 5 Sept 2012

Six European nations are in the top ten of the world's most competitive countries, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. That's a sruprise, given the protracted eurozone crisis.

Switzerland, Singapore and Finland lead the table of the world's most competitive nations, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) released on Wednesday.

The top-ten list is still clearly dominated by countries in northern and western Europe - and that despite an ongoing debt crisis in the euro area. Besides Switzerland and Finland, Sweden is also in the top ten, taking fourth position, followed by the Netherlands in fifth, Germany in sixth and Britain in eighth place.

Compared to last year, Denmark dropped from eighth to 12th, and France from 18th to 21st. Austria rose slightly, from 19th to 16th. 

Germany's export strength contributes
to its competitiveness

There's no good news from crisis-stricken southern Europe, though. Italy ranks 42nd, Spain takes 36th and Portugal 49th place, and Greece drops another six positions to end up in 96th.

It remains to be seen for how much longer Europe as a whole can hold its ground with several economic indicators pointing downwards across the continent. Ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday lowered the European Union's credit rating outlook from "stable" to "negative" in yet another sign that the debt crisis is far from over and looks certain to impact the real economy even more in the months ahead.

US taking another dip

The United States loses ground in the WEF report for the fourth consecutive year, dipping to seventh place from 5th in 2011. The US is still able to score with a magnitude of innovative companies, top-notch universities and the world's biggest single market. But industry's trust in the country's institutions and policy makers is waning, the study indicates.

The WEF's ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for 144 nations that was developed by scientists at Columbia University and first used in 2004. The GCI comprises 12 sub indices which, among other things, gauge a nation's infrastructure, its macroeconomic stability, health standards, basic education, labor market developments and technology levels.

Heterogeneous emerging nations

The report suggest some of the
steam has left China's economy

The WEF's results incorporate figures from publicly accessible statistical data and opinion polls which the World Economic Forum and its partner institutions conduct each year.

For a couple of years, emerging nations were steadily moving up the table, but this trend seems to have come to an end. China moved down three positions to 29th place. India also dipped three notches, ending in 59th position. And Russia took 67th place, down from 66th last year. Only Brazil managed to improve its rating, ending in 48th position as compared to 53rd in 2011.

Why I had no choice but to spurn Tony Blair

I couldn't sit with someone who justified the invasion of Iraq with a lie

The Guardian, The Observer, Desmond Tutu, Sunday 2 September 2012

Desmond Tutu: pulled out of a seminar which Tony Blair was scheduled
to attend. Photograph: Str/REUTERS

The immorality of the United States and Great Britain's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, premised on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history.

Instead of recognising that the world we lived in, with increasingly sophisticated communications, transportations and weapons systems necessitated sophisticated leadership that would bring the global family together, the then-leaders of the US and UK fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand – with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us.

If leaders may lie, then who should tell the truth? Days before George W Bush and TonyBlair ordered the invasion of Iraq, I called the White House and spoke to Condoleezza Rice, who was then national security adviser, to urge that United Nations weapons inspectors be given more time to confirm or deny the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Should they be able to confirm finding such weapons, I argued, dismantling the threat would have the support of virtually the entire world. Ms Rice demurred, saying there was too much risk and the president would not postpone any longer.

On what grounds do we decide that Robert Mugabe should go the International Criminal Court, Tony Blair should join the international speakers' circuit, bin Laden should be assassinated, but Iraq should be invaded, not because it possesses weapons of mass destruction, as Mr Bush's chief supporter, Mr Blair, confessed last week, but in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein?

The cost of the decision to rid Iraq of its by-all-accounts despotic and murderous leader has been staggering, beginning in Iraq itself. Last year, an average of 6.5 people died there each day in suicide attacks and vehicle bombs, according to the Iraqi Body Count project. More than 110,000 Iraqis have died in the conflict since 2003 and millions have been displaced. By the end of last year, nearly 4,500 American soldiers had been killed and more than 32,000 wounded.

On these grounds alone, in a consistent world, those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in the Hague.

But even greater costs have been exacted beyond the killing fields, in the hardened hearts and minds of members of the human family across the world.

Has the potential for terrorist attacks decreased? To what extent have we succeeded in bringing the so-called Muslim and Judeo-Christian worlds closer together, in sowing the seeds of understanding and hope?

Leadership and morality are indivisible. Good leaders are the custodians of morality. The question is not whether Saddam Hussein was good or bad or how many of his people he massacred. The point is that Mr Bush and Mr Blair should not have allowed themselves to stoop to his immoral level.

If it is acceptable for leaders to take drastic action on the basis of a lie, without an acknowledgement or an apology when they are found out, what should we teach our children?

My appeal to Mr Blair is not to talk about leadership, but to demonstrate it. You are a member of our family, God's family. You are made for goodness, for honesty, for morality, for love; so are our brothers and sisters in Iraq, in the US, in Syria, in Israel and Iran.

I did not deem it appropriate to have this discussion at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg last week. As the date drew nearer, I felt an increasingly profound sense of discomfort about attending a summit on "leadership" with Mr Blair. I extend my humblest and sincerest apologies to Discovery, the summit organisers, the speakers and delegates for the lateness of my decision not to attend.

Related Article:

Desmond Tutu expresses outrage at failing politicians in South Africa

Jews, Muslims hold dialogue after Rabbi attack

Deutsche Welle, 4 Sept 2012

This week, Jewish and Muslim leaders from across Europe will meet in Paris to discuss interreligious issues. The recent attack on a Berlin Rabbi is likely to feature high on the agenda.

"If there is an attack on a mosque or a synagogue, if a Muslim or a Jew is being attacked, then it is our duty to stand up and make our protest heard." Those are the words that Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, will use to welcome the participants of the "Second Gathering of Jewish and Muslim Leaders" in Paris.

Eighty leading Muslim and Jewish figures from 18 different European countries plan to discuss mutual issues of concern at their meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday (04. - 05. 09 2012). The focus will not just be on the ongoing debate in Germany about the religious circumcision of baby boys, and the ban that some countries have implemented on kosher or halal butchering. 

Many Jews in Berlin already hide
 their yarmulke under a hat

The attack on Rabbi Daniel Alter and his 6-year-old daughter in Berlin last week has added another dimension to the meeting. As a consequence, the issues of discrimination, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia will play a larger role in the conference's agenda.

"Yesterday it was the Jews, today it is the Muslims and tomorrow it might be the Christians," Kantor said.

'We don't need a lesson'

The social circumstances surrounding the assault in Berlin are potentially explosive. Although the attackers have not yet been caught, the police seem to be looking for people described as "Arab." Should this be confirmed, it might lead to heated debate among the Jewish and Muslim participants at the Paris meeting.

A small taste of the potential for conflict came via an exchange between the chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, and by Ali Kizilkaya, head of the German Coordinating Council of Muslims. Graumann had in response to the attacks called upon Muslims to engage more in the fight against anti-Semitism. Kizilkaya rejected this in a newspaper interview saying that "we don't need a lesson."

Berlin's new Synagogue. According to what's known so far, the attack on
 the Berlin Rabbi took place because he was wearing his yarmulke

Anti-Semitism in Germany

Should it indeed be confirmed that the attackers were Muslim Germans with so-called migrant backgrounds, the problem of German anti-Semitism would have yet another facet of complexity: Violent anti-Semitism committed by Muslim perpetrators with religious motives is culturally and historically not a genuinely German phenomenon. But if the attackers indeed grew up in Germany, it'll beg the question whether German education and society failed in raising these young people. 

"We have to make sure that a Jew can
 wear his yarmulke," says Wowereit

According to what's known so far, the attack on the Berlin Rabbi took place because Alter was wearing his yarmulke and could therefore be singled out as a Jew. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit used the yarmulke as a metaphor after the attack.

"We have to make sure that a Jew can wear his yarmulke and that others can wear their turban," Wowereit said.

Many Jews are already hiding their yarmulkes under a hat or don't wear them in public to begin with as they fear they'll be recognized as Jews. But having to hide the yarmulke is unacceptable, said Graumann of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. "I will not permit, that we can only practice Judaism behind closed doors."

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"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."

(Religions – Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

9. It can be no other way—simply, this is the physics that governs life in this universe. As Earth continues apace into successively higher planes, nothing with low vibrations in any form—physical bodies, subversive plans, theft, dishonesty, unjust laws and imprisonment, bigotry, cruel customs and deeds—can survive.

10. Moving on, no, it will not be quite like religions being “totally discarded and replaced by universal laws in the Golden Age.” When the truths come forth that science and spirit are one and the same and that religious dogmas were originated by early leaders of church and state to control the masses, people whose consciousness has risen beyond the constraints of third density will adhere to the spiritual aspects of their respective religions and the devised, controlling aspects will fall by the wayside.

11. One of the truths to come forth is that Zionism, which by dark intent has been made synonymous with Judaism, actually is a bellicose political movement within the Illuminati, and its aim for more than six decades has been to create conflict and instability in the entire Middle East. Zionists, who have wielded powerful influence within and behind major governments and their military forces, do NOT represent the Jewish peoples in Israel or anywhere else. And, like all other Illuminati factions, they have been committed to that cabal’s goal of global domination.

12. Although Semites are of diverse national origins and religions, the Zionists have been successful in convincing many that “anti-Semitic” is exclusively prejudice against the Jewish peoples and opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself from its “enemies.” By means of that blatant distortion, they obtained not only world sympathy, but also massive defense funding from Israel’s allies, most especially the United States, all of which served to increase the Illuminati’s vast profits from their industrial-military machine.

13. In addition to controlling the masses through dogmatic teachings, religions have served the dark purpose of divisiveness to such an extent that it resulted in centuries of trauma and bloodshed. Witness the Crusades, wars between Catholics and Protestants, pogroms against Jews, executions of “blasphemous” individuals who refused to “recant.”  (Read More …)

Cardinal Carlo Martini says Church '200 years behind'

BBC News, 1 September 2012

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Cardinal Martini's body is lying
in state in Milan Cathedral

Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini has described the Roman Catholic Church as being "200 years behind" the times.

The cardinal died on Friday, aged 85.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has published his last interview, recorded in August, in which he said: "The Church is tired... our prayer rooms are empty."

Martini, once tipped as a future pope, urged the Church to recognise its errors and to embark on a radical path of change, beginning with the Pope.

Thousands of people have been filing past his coffin at Milan's cathedral, where he was archbishop for more than 20 years.

The cardinal, who had retired from the post in 2002, suffering from Parkinson's Disease, is to be buried on Monday.

'Old culture'

Martini, a popular figure with liberal stances on many issues, commanded great respect from both Pope John Paul II and his successor Pope Benedict XVI.

The cardinal - a member of the Jesuit religious order - was often critical in his writings and comments on Church teaching, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

He was a courageous and outspoken figure during the years he headed Europe's largest Catholic diocese, our correspondent says.

In his last interview, given to a fellow Jesuit priest less than a month ago and published the day after his death, the cardinal made sweeping criticisms of the Catholic Church.

Catholics lacked confidence in the Church, he said. "Our culture has grown old, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our religious rites and the vestments we wear are pompous."

Unless the Church adopted a more generous attitude towards divorced persons, it will lose the allegiance of future generations, the cardinal added. The question, he said, is not whether divorced couples can receive holy communion, but how the Church can help complex family situations.

And the advice he leaves behind to conquer the tiredness of the Church was a "radical transformation, beginning with the Pope and his bishops".

"The child sex scandals oblige us to undertake a journey of transformation," Cardinal Martini says, referring to the child sex abuse that has rocked the Catholic Church in the past few years.

He was not afraid, our correspondent adds, to speak his mind on matters that the Vatican sometimes considered taboo, including the use of condoms to fight Aids and the role of women in the Church.

In 2008, for example, he criticised the Church's prohibition of birth control, saying the stance had likely driven many faithful away, and publicly stated in 2006 that condoms could "in some situations, be a lesser evil".

Related Articles:

Cardinal Carlo Martini says Church '200 years behind' (Video) - New

60 Mins: The Archbishop of Dublin challenges the Church

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.)

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

Secret royal veto powers over new laws to be exposed

Information commissioner orders release of guide to how Queen and Prince Charles must be consulted before laws are passed

guardian.co.uk, Robert Booth, Friday 31 August 2012

Prince Charles views work on a property bought by the Duchy of Cornwall

 which, along with the Queen, must be consulted before laws are passed to

 ensure they don’t adversely affect their private interests. Photograph: Tim 

Graham/Getty Images

A little-known power enjoyed by the Queen and Prince of Wales to alter new laws is due to be exposed after the government lost a legal battle to keep details of its application private.

The information commissioner has ruled that the Cabinet Office must publish an internal Whitehall guide to the way the senior royals are consulted before legislation is introduced to ensure it does not harm their private interests.

The application of the controversial veto was revealed by the Guardian last year and has been described by constitutional lawyers as "a royal nuclear deterrent". Some believe it may underpin the influence Prince Charles appears to wield in Whitehall over pet issues ranging from architecture to healthcare.

A judgment issued last week by the deputy information commissioner, Graham Smith, means the Cabinet Office has until 25 September to release the confidential internal manual. It details how the consent of "The Crown and The Duchy of Cornwall" is obtained before bills are passed into law and what criteria ministers apply before asking the royals to amend draft laws. If it fails to do so it could face high court action.

In the past two parliamentary sessions Charles has been asked to consent to at least 12 draft bills on everything from wreck removals to co-operative societies. Between 2007 and 2009 he was consulted on bills relating to coroners, economic development and construction, marine and coastal access, housing and regeneration, energy and planning. In Charles's case, the little-known power stems from his role as the head of the £700m Duchy of Cornwall estate, which provides his £17m-a-year private income.

The government battled to keep the manual secret, claiming publication would breach legal professional privilege, and a spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office said it was still deciding whether to challenge the ruling at the information tribunal.

Lord Berkeley, a Labour peer who was told to seek Charles's consent on a marine navigation bill, said the commissioner's decision was "absolutely right". He said publication could shed light on a little-known procedure that allows the prince and the Queen "to fiddle around with bills to make sure they don't affect their private interests".

"People will start thinking, what the hell is going on?" he said. "We are in the 21st century, not the 18th century and it is crazy to think they are even trying to do this. The royal family should give up this special privilege and we should all obey the law of the land. Just because they have private estates, private incomes and land from several centuries ago doesn't mean they should have the right to interfere."

The latest crack in the edifice of secrecy around Charles's influence on public life came after a legal scholar, John Kirkhope, asked for Whitehall's internal manuals on consulting the royals. He said it was "clearly in the public interest that citizens understand how laws are made and applied as well as the circumstances in which the Duchy of Cornwall is consulted".

Kirkhope was researching a university thesis about the legal status of the duchy and wanted to know how ministers decided whether new laws affected the "hereditary revenues, personal property of the Duke [Charles] or other interests".

The Duchy of Cornwall runs farms and industrial property, builds houses and acts as a landlord as well as taking responsibility for large areas of the natural environment in south-west England. Its interests often overlap with Charles's own in areas such as town planning where past interventions in public debate have seen the prince accused of abusing his influence to distort the democratic process.

In 2009 Charles caused a storm when he stepped into the public planning debate for the Chelsea Barracks housing development designed by Richard Rogers. He privately complained to the site's owner, the prime minister of Qatar, that the design was "a gigantic experiment with the very soul of our capital city". Rogers was promptly sacked and the scheme redrawn in line with the prince's tastes.

Kirkhope said evidence he had gathered suggested the process of seeking royal consent for draft bills was not a mere formality. "The correspondence indicates that the effects of the bills are explained to the royal household, including the Duchy of Cornwall, discussions ensue and if necessary changes are made to proposed legislation," he said. "Departments of state have fought to avoid releasing correspondence which gives some hint of how the process works and the Cabinet Office has resisted releasing details of the guidance which determines whether the prince as Duke of Cornwall is consulted in the first place.

"As a citizen of this country I have a proper interest in ensuring the process by which laws are made should be transparent and that those who are given special privileges should be accountable. That is demonstrably not the case with regard to the Duchy of Cornwall."

Earlier in August Kirkhope forced the government to release edited emails showing how the Ministry of Justice consulted Buckingham Palace in 2008 and 2009 over the detail of the apprenticeships bill and how it would affect the Queen "in her personal capacity". As an employer of 1,200 staff the royal household stood to be affected, along with thousands of other employers. The civil servants wanted to know "Her Majesty's intentions in relation to the bill" before its second reading in the House of Commons.

One email refers to a note from the Queen's solicitors, Farrer and Co, "setting out his instructions in relation to the application of the apprenticeships bill to Her Majesty in her personal capacity".

The official states: "I understand from our discussion today that it might not be possible for what they want to happen without there being express provision in the bill".

It echoes correspondence released last year in which a minister wrote to the prince's office requesting his consent to a new planning bill because it was "capable of applying to ... [the] Prince of Wales' private interests".

Buckingham Palace and Clarence House released a joint statement in response to the information commissioner's ruling. "The royal household understands that the Cabinet Office is considering the information commissioner's decision and next step," it said. "It would not be a matter for the royal household to challenge any decision."