Sunday, April 13, 2014

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders

 OBAMA GOD HEARD THE CRIES OF HIS PEOPLE 


Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. 6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.
8 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. 9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.
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Survivor from first Fort Hood tragedy denied 10 min. with Obama; fundraiser was more important

Survivor from first Fort Hood tragedy denied 10 min. with Obama; fundraiser was more important

April 13, 2014 by 15 Comments
Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford
Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford
Photo: www.derwesten.de
When President Obama visited Fort Hood on Wednesday to pay his respects to the victims of the most recent shooting, a survivor of the 2009 rampage requested 10 minutes of his time. His request was denied.
Retired Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford has been an articulate voice for the victims of the 2009 shooting frenzy that killed 13 and injured 32 others.
Lunsford, who was shot seven times during the incident, wrote Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, saying,
according to ABC News:
As you may know, the President and high-ranking members of the military promised me, my family and the other Fort Hood terror attack survivors that the federal government would ‘make them whole.’ After more than four and one-half years, however, the government has yet to make good on this promise. We believe that if the President could hear, first-hand, our plight and our mistreatment at the hands of his bureaucracy, that he would take the steps needed to set things right. Therefore, we ask for ten minutes of his time.
The government has classified the 2009 shooting as workplace violence, despite compelling evidence it was a terror attack.
According to ABC News, the White House responded to Lunsford’s request by saying:
After receiving your letter yesterday, and consulting with the White House Counsel’s office, we forwarded your letter to the Departments of Justice and Defense, who are leading the government’s efforts to ensure the victims of the 2009 shooting receive the justice and benefits they deserve. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet your specific request for a meeting with the President yesterday.
Two hours after Wednesday’s memorial at Fort Hood, the president joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at a Democratic fundraiser in Houston.
Watch the “Nightline Investigates” report from ABC News, then check out, “Marathon bombing survivor leaves NBC set in tears; calls Meet the Press ‘cowardice, dishonorable’.”
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Ken Salazar today pledged to create four Renewable Energy Coordination Offices, one each in California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona, along with smaller renewable energy teams in New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Oregon.

Press Release


Secretary Salazar Pledges to Open Four Renewable Energy Permitting Offices, Create Renewable Energy Teams


most likey the next land grabs   05/05/2009


Contact: Frank Quimby,
(202) 208-6416

CHICAGO - To expedite production of renewable energy on public lands while protecting land, water, and wildlife, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today pledged to create four Renewable Energy Coordination Offices, one each in California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona, along with smaller renewable energy teams in New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Oregon.
"At no time in our history has the need for a new energy policy been so urgent," Salazar told members of the American Wind Energy Association at the WINDPOWER 2009 Conference - the largest annual wind energy industry event in the United States.
"We import more than two-thirds of our oil, costing us hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Unemployment is at eight and a half percent. Carbon emissions are rising. Our national security is threatened. And countries like China and India are ready to cash in by leading the global clean energy economy."
"We must lead the clean energy revolution," Salazar said. "With millions of new jobs at stake, this is an opportunity America can't afford to miss."
The renewable energy offices and teams, which will cut red tape by expediting applications, processing, reviews and permitting of renewable energy projects, are one of several initiatives President Obama's has taken in his first 100 days "to open our doors to wise, responsible renewable energy production on our public lands," Salazar noted. Interior is investing $41 million through the President's economic recovery plan to facilitate a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of renewables on Bureau of Land Management land.
There is strong interest in renewable energy projects from partners in the private sector and this investment will help Interior swiftly complete reviews on the most ready-to-go renewable energy projects. Interior's Bureau of Land Management has a backlog of some 200 solar energy applications and more than 25 wind project applications in western states. Another 200 locations have been identified where applicants would like to begin site testing for future wind projects.
Interior also has resolved long-standing federal jurisdictional questions with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, enabling the Department to establish the final regulations to facilitate offshore renewable energy development. Companies with proposed projects finally have the certainty of a logical permitting process. Dozens of applications to build offshore wind farms, which were stacked up or stuck in red tape, can now move forward.
If the nation fully pursues its potential for wind energy on land and offshore, Salazar estimated, wind can generate as much as 20 percent of U.S. domestic electricity by 2030 and create a quarter-million jobs in the process. Salazar estimated that of the wind projects currently proposed on Bureau of Land Management lands, almost 1,400 megawatts of new capacity will be ready for construction by the end of 2010 - enough to power more than 400,000 homes. He also estimated that more than 6,000 megawatts of proposed solar power capacity - mostly in California, Arizona, and New Mexico - will be ready to go in the same time frame. That is enough to power 1.8 million homes.
With the economic recovery plan investments, Interior also will be able to complete the reviews and permits for several new transmission projects so they can be ready for construction by 2010. This new transmission infrastructure can be part of a new national electrical supergrid that can help move this clean power not just to the closest load center, but back and forth across the country to areas of highest demand.
As steward of one-fifth of the nation's land and 1.7 billion acres of ocean, Interior has long had a mandate to support responsible oil, gas, and coal development. Producing these conventional resources on public lands must and will continue. And Interior will continue to find better ways to develop and use these resources, including through carbon capture and sequestration and other advanced coal technologies, Salazar said.
But the Department now is also opening the way for solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal projects in appropriate areas of our public lands. Americans have an estimated 206 gigawatts of wind energy potential on public lands in the West. An estimated 2,900 gigawatts of solar energy potential in the southwest. And an estimated 1,000 gigawatts of wind energy potential in waters off the Atlantic coast alone.
A clean energy economy also means new jobs and economic development for rural America, Salazar noted. "Rural communities are on the leading edge of the renewable energy frontier. In Colorado, where I'm from, we're adding thousands of jobs at new wind turbine manufacturing plants in places like Pueblo, Brighton, and Windsor. Ranchers across the eastern plains are earning extra money as wind farms spring to life. And in my native San Luis Valley - one of the poorest areas of the country - a new solar farm has brought hope for a brighter economic future."
Secretary's remarks are at http://www.doi.gov/secretary/speeches/050509_speech.html



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IRS Target: Scandal Pointing To Obama

Posted on April 12, 2014
Obama_WhiteHouse
Was there ever any doubt that Obama started this scandal?
Check it out:
The president of the grassroots organization at the center of the recent IRS scandal says she believes the rabbit trail will lead to the “highest offices in the land.”
Former IRS official Lois Lerner may soon be facing a contempt of Congress citation and even criminal prosecution for her role in directing unlawful scrutiny toward conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status, but the biggest bombshell of the week is the revelation that Lerner’s office shared sensitive tax information with the top Democrat on the committee investigating the scandal.
However, True the Vote President Catherine Englebrecht said even this development is only one step in discovering just how high this goes in the Obama administration.
This week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee revealed an email chain showing the IRS passed along confidential information from True the Vote to the office of Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.
Cummings then launched his own investigation of the group through his position on the committee, even though the committee cannot lawfully investigate a private organization.

Continue Reading on www.wnd.com ...

Read more at http://conservativebyte.com/2014/04/irs-target-scandal-pointing-obama/#I225RYhAWIdkWkXU.99
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Leaked Memo Uncovers Obama Administration Land Grab

Leaked Memo Uncovers Obama Administration Land Grab

by TPO O\'Halloran on April 13, 2014
Submitted by: Veronica Coffin
Notforsale2
By Shawn Martini
Senator Jim DeMint took to the pages of the Washington Post this morning to raise the alarm about a planned, 10 million acre Western land grab by the Obama administration.
A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue that’s essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.
President Obama could enact the plans in this memo with just the stroke of a pen, without any input from the communities affected by it.
The leaked document lists 17 sites in 11 states that could be designated as national monuments through the federal Antiquities Act. Over 380,000 acres in Colorado are designated in the memo under the heading “Prospective Conservation Designation.”
The memo was leaked by a Department of Interior official to Utah Congressman Bob Bishop.
According to the memo, around 380,000 acres of BLM and private land in Colorado would be subject to a “conservation designation” under the National Monument designation of the 1906 Antiquities Act. The Vermillion Basin, northwest of Craig, and the Alpine Triangle near Ouray are listed in the memo. This designation would close the areas off to multi-use activities including, mining, hunting, grazing, oil and gas development and other recreational activities.
The Vermillion Basin in Northwest Colorado may be closed to multiple use activities and oil and gas development.
“President Obama spoke last month at his State of the Union address about the need to use America’s natural resources. It does not make much sense to recognize the need to put America’s vast stores of energy resources to use, and then work to limit access to them. Especially in this economy,” said Alan Foutz, President of Colorado Farm Bureau.
The memo shows that the goal of the designations is to limit multiple use activities and the potential development from oil and gas companies. It says all kinds of animals would be better off under the designation, like the coyotes, badgers, prairie dogs, elk, deer and pronghorn.
“”Deer and elk populations are thriving and we in Colorado don’t need help from the federal government in order to manage them effectively,” added Foutz.
Citing the “unique landscape” and “scenic qualities” the memo notes that the vermillion basin is “currently under threat of oil and gas development, which will forever alter the region.”
Deer and elk are thriving all over Colorado, living happily alongside oil and gas development.
In Nevada, the Obama administration might make another monument in the Heart of the Great Basin because it, supposedly, is a “center of climate change scientific research.”
Interior staffers also note in the report that the Alpine Triangle carries about 25,000 acres of patented mining claims that could be used to support backcountry cabins and second home development, which would “threaten the landscape.”

A Potential Fix

Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) is introducing legislation, H.R. 4716 , with Congressman Mike Coffman (CO-06) that would safeguard Colorado from arbitrary presidential monument designations and ensure that all future national monument designations only occur through an open and transparent process that includes input from local officials, residents, and stakeholders.
“Colorado has a rich supply of natural energy that if used responsibly can provide high paying jobs and reduce energy costs. But this Administration just doesn’t get it. It seems President Obama and Secretary Salazar would rather lock up our valuable Western resources than help lower energy costs and create jobs. At the very least, they owe it to the people of Colorado to discuss their agenda in an open manner,” said Congressman Lamborn.
“This legislation will help ensure that any decision to further restrict access to valuable natural resources is done so with the full input and knowledge of the people of Colorado. Congressman Lamborn and I call on the entire Colorado delegation to support this bill. It will ensure that the people of Colorado have a voice in what happens in our state,” explained Mr. Coffman.
In 1950, Congress passed a law that prohibited the future establishment of national monuments in Wyoming except as authorized by Congress. H.R.4716 is modeled after this legislation but inserts Colorado in the place of Wyoming.
Over the last forty years, the federal government has spent nearly $13 billion adding hundreds of thousands of acres to the federal estate. In fact, an area larger than the size of Florida has been added to federal lands since John F. Kennedy was president.

Past Indiscretions

President Carter used his National Monument “proclamation authority” to offset the perceived damage from the construction of the Trans Alaska pipeline.
Congressman Bishop says that he released the document because he does not want to see another land grab like what happened under previous administration.
Several past presidents have made gratuitous use of the National Monuments designation to give back-room favors to their environmentalist supporters. The law allowed Former President Clinton to single-handedly create 19 new national monuments, expand three others and prohibit recreational use over 5.9 million acres without ever consulting anyone.
He unilaterally closed the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah to oil and gas development, without ever consulting the public or state, local and federal officials. Prior to the designation, the 135,000 acre region was responsible for producing 65,000 barrels of oil a year. The designation even sparked a Supreme Court case.
President Jimmy Carter used the executive to lock up more land than any other president; all in the name of “conservation.” He took more than 50 million acres in Alaska despite heavy opposition from the state.
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U.S. "Chose to Stay Silent" on Muslim Persecution of Christians: November 2013 thats because obama useing our tax dollars funding his terrorist tio kill

U.S. "Chose to Stay Silent" on Muslim Persecution of Christians: November 2013

by Raymond Ibrahim
February 12, 2014 at 4:30 am
A Christian college professor in India was finally acquitted of all blasphemy charges, although is still missing an arm -- cut off by a group of men, following accusations that some of his exams contained offensive questions about Islam's prophet Muhammad.
According to the founder of the Maspero Union, an activist movement in Egypt, targeting Christians in the context of seizing their money and their property is seen "as a religious duty."
The rise of endemic Christian persecution in the Middle East was noted in November when Roman Catholic Pope Francis declared "We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians" and stressed the importance of "the universal right to lead a dignified life and freely practice one's own faith" after meeting with patriarchs from Syria, Iran, and Iraq -- all countries where Christian minorities are under attack.
Powers best placed to do something about the plight of Mideast Christians, however —namely, the U.S. administration—made it clear that they would do nothing, even when well-leveraged to do so.
In November, the wife of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been imprisoned in Iran for over a year for practicing Christianity, said she and her family were devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not even try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran's nuclear program.
"The talks over Iran's nuclear program were seen by his [Abedini's] family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release," said Fox News. "But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini's status was not on the table during those talks."
"I don't think we have any more leverage," said Abedini's wife. "We now have to consider other avenues and having other countries speak out because our country, when we could have used our leverage, chose to stay silent."
The rest of November's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity:
Islamic Attacks on Christian Places of Worship
Lebanon: An unidentified attacker firebombed the reception area of the newly built Christian cathedral of the town's patron Saint, Mar Zakhya. Despite the loud boom heard in the town's main square, there was limited damage; some building material used for the building process of the cathedral was destroyed. Although Lebanon was a Christian-majority country in the mid-20th century, today it is roughly 60% Muslim, 40% Christian.
Sudan: Police and security forces used a truck and two Land Cruisers to batter down the fence around Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, before breaking into the church and beating and arresting the Christians present, as Muslim onlookers shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is Greater!"). The government, which has been destroying or taking over church buildings in retaliation to the secession of the mainly Christian South Sudan in July 2011, is believed to be behind the move, on the pretext that parts of the church's property actually belong to a Muslim business investor.
Syria: Nine children were killed and 27 people wounded after Islamic rebels targeted and fired mortar rounds at the St. John of Damascus Christian School and its school bus. Also, the aftermath of the rebel invasion and occupation of the city of Qamishli in the northeast near the Turkish border included, among other atrocities, such as beheadings, churches bombed, abductions and rapes, beheading Christians, and their clergy, as well as the destruction of all Christian icons in the local church and the theft of the church's most prized possession, a reportedly two-thousand year-old icon of the face of Christ.
Turkey: Historically the oldest Christian place of worship in Istanbul, the ancient monastery of San Giovanni in Studion founded in 462, currently classified as a museum, is now going to serve as a mosque. This would be the third ancient Christian building and heritage site set to be transformed into a mosque. Earlier it was announced that the ancient churches of Hagia Sophia (St. Sophia) in Trabzon and in Iznik would also be turned into mosques.
Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism
India: TJ Joseph, a Christian college professor, was finally acquitted of all blasphemy charges, although he is still missing an arm. Back in 2010 he had his right hand and part of his arm cut off by a group of men, following accusations that some of his exams contained offensive questions about Islam's prophet Muhammad. Although he had apologized, after he was mutilated, his college also fired him. According to one source: the most serious aspects of this episode "was the attitude of the police, who registered the complaint against him and also arrested him, and of the institution, which has suspended him from duty. Fortunately, the Mahatma Gandhi University, to which Newman College is affiliated, revoked the decision of the school authorities and has offered him his job back."
Iran: The fate of Hossein Saketi Aramsari, a Christian known as "Stephen" among his friends, remained unknown. Iran's secret police arrested him in July 2013, on suspicion that he was engaging in "evangelistic activities." According to sources, apparently to increase pressure on him, authorities transferred him from one jail to another; he has also been in solitary confinement. Then, in October, a judge of the local Revolutionary Court "officially charged him with doing evangelism." It is believed that he is currently held in the same prison where Benham Irani, another Christian "prisoner of conscience" is being held, abused, and refused medical treatment, also on the charge of proselytizing. Explaining this rise in crackdowns on evangelizing, Mohabat News said, "Conversion of youth and their families has become a major concern for the Iranian security authorities and Islamic leaders." Separately, a former Muslim and drug addict, Armin Davoodi -- who had twice attempted to commit suicide before he converted to Christianity at a rehabilitation center (at the hands of another former Muslim and formerly drug-addicted woman, who had earlier become Christian) -- was, according to those close to him, falsely convicted of selling drugs in the facility, severely beaten, and sentenced to prison, after authorities learned that he had begun to proselytize in the rehabilitation center. Police also temporarily arrested his parents at their home and confiscated his personal belongings, including the Bibles he used to take to the rehabilitation center. Relatives with strong government connections were able to get him released under many conditions, including the requirement that he state in writing that Christians had misled him into the faith and that he would never again go to a church or talk to other Muslims about the Gospel, and that if he did, he would be executed by the state. He agreed to their proposal and has since fled.
Pakistan: Blasphemy cases against Christians have reached an all-time high. Four such cases were reported in November; a number, according to activists, four times higher than the monthly average recorded over the past two years. Activists and clergy further stressed that the overwhelming majority of blasphemy accusations are being used as "instruments of revenge" against Christians, as a sure way to see them get punished for whatever real or imagined grievance the accusing Muslims might have. Separately, Younis Masih, a 35-year-old Christian who had been imprisoned and sentenced to death on blasphemy charges since 2005, was finally released after judges decreed he did not blaspheme Islam. He and his family are still in hiding, as some Muslims are still seeking to kill him despite his being cleared of the blasphemy charge. According to Masih: "I have four children and I have no job, no one is helping me. I live with the fear of being killed." In the words of his lawyer: "Christians in Pakistan fear threats, attacks, violence, discrimination and hatred. The law of blasphemy is always a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads: Their life is not safe even after their release from prison."
Somalia: A Muslim convert to Christianity living in Mogadishu was killed by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading the faith. Two men armed with pistols shot Abdikhani Hassan, 35, seven times as he approached his home, after he closed his pharmacy. He is survived by his wife, who is pregnant, and five children ranging in age from 3 to 12. He and his wife converted to Christianity in 2000. Before killing him, one of the assailants told a neighbor, "We have information that Hassan is spreading wrong religion to our people, and we are looking for him." According to a source, "The men who murdered Abdikhani [Hassan] are suspected to be Al Shabaab militia," the Somali wing of al-Qaeda which has vowed to "cleanse" the country of any Christian presence.
Turkey: A Christian pastor was reportedly arrested on charges of organizing human trafficking and prostitution. The Christian community of Agape (or "Brotherly Love") Church, where Orhan Picaklar, 42, is pastor, insists that he is innocent, and that "the allegations are entirely instrumental, as the Pastor was under observation for suspected 'illegal missionary activity.'" Later, the church where the Agape community meets was damaged by vandals, even though the congregation had obtained the formal status of "association" in 2005: as with other Christian communities in Turkey, the government does not grant official recognition of "church" to new communities.
Dhimmitude
Central African Republic: At least 450,000 Christians have fled their homes in the 80% Christian-majority nation since the Islamic takeover in March 2013. Then, Seleka—a coalition of local and foreign Arabic-speaking Islamic militias—seized control of the capital, Bangui, in an orgy of violence, bloodshed, and rape, against Christians. As one analyst put it, "But Seleka does not rape, loot and kill indiscriminately. Rather, Seleka attacks Christians and spares Muslims, causing traditional community trust to evaporate, and creating a sectarian tinderbox." Christians, however, who make the majority of the African nation, are fighting back, leading to an extremely volatile situation. Christian Bishop Albert Vanbuel stated, "a rebellion of religious extremism with evil intentions, characterized by profanation and planned destruction of religious buildings, especially Catholic and Protestant churches" is now in power.
Egypt: Three months after the Egyptian military liberated Delga from Muslim Brotherhood supporters and sympathizers—who were forcing Christians to pay jizya, or tribute [tax], to stay alive—they continued to terrorize Christians in other towns across Egypt. Especially throughout regions in Upper Egypt, such as Minya, extortionists using the threat of kidnap, torture and murder seized money, land and other property from Christians. One Copt was tied by his kidnappers as they repeatedly shot an automatic rifle next to his ear. According to the Morning Star News, "Besides the emotional damage he suffered, the shockwaves exiting the rifle combined with the muzzle blast shattered the Christian's eardrums and burned his face. The Copt begged his family to gather the ransom money, and eventually they paid the kidnappers some 50,000 Egyptian pounds (US$7,260). He returned to his family shattered and unable to speak of the ordeal until recently." According to the founder of the Maspero Union, an activist movement that played an important role in mobilizing the June 30 Revolution, targeting Christians in the context of seizing their money and property is seen "as a religious duty." The director of a human rights organization in Upper Egypt said, "This past month alone, we had nine cases of kidnapping in Minya, and they all paid their ransom, which was between 100,000 and 250,000 Egyptian pounds [US$14,500 to $36,300] for each case." Separately in Minya, after a Coptic boy was accused of being in a relationship with a Muslim girl, "Muslims burnt down the house of the boy's father and an adjacent house."
Nigeria: After kidnapping a teenage Christian girl named Hajja, members of the Boko Haram terrorist organization kept her as a slave, eventually putting a knife to her throat and offering her one of two choices: convert to Islam or die. "If I cried, they beat me. If I spoke, they beat me. They told me I must become a Muslim but I refused again and again… They were about to slaughter me and one of them begged me not to resist and just before I had my throat slit I relented. They put a veil on me and made me read from the Koran." According to Reuters, "She ceremonially converted to Islam, cooked for the men, carried ammunition during an attack on a police outpost and was about to be married to one of the insurgents before she managed to engineer a dramatic escape. She says she was not raped." Recounting how her captors used her to lure people into traps, the 19-year-old told Reuters, and "They took them back to a cave and tied them up. They cut their throats, one at a time. I thought my heart would burst out of my chest, because I was the bait." Among those who did the slaughtering was the Muslim wife of a leader, the only other woman in the band of jihadi terrorists. Separately, a Baptist high school principal and some teachers were beaten to a "pulp" and "state of coma" at the hands of "unknown persons," who used axes, among other weapons. The reason was that the school had earlier sent home a female student for wearing a veil, or Islamic hijab, while on school premises. Finally, over 70 Christians were killed by what were described as "Islamic extremists": Boko Haram terrorists killed 34 Christians in Borno State, while "Muslim herdsmen" slaughtered 37 Christians, injured dozens, and looted and destroyed their homes, in coordinated attacks on four Plateau State villages.
Pakistan: An entire Christian community has been forced to flee a Lyarni neighborhood known as the "slaughter house," due to the endemic killings, rapes of young girls, thefts, drug dealing, and extortions. Before surrounding Muslims began their incursions, the residential area was 90% Christian, 10% Hindu, with four churches and three temples. "It is almost empty now," said an elder of a Christian family. "We all are separated now. We won't be reunited again." "A lot of the families have left the compound since 2008, after their daughters were kidnapped and raped," said another community elder. "No one knows where they have gone." He recalled an incident when a teenage girl, who was dancing at her brother's wedding, was kidnapped. "Her parents, brother and relatives cried and appealed to the kidnappers but they didn't listen," he narrated. "She was dishonoured and was left outside the compound the next morning. That family was never seen in the city again."
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic proportions. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1) To document that which the mainstream media often seems to fail to report.
2) To suggest that such persecution is not random but systematic.
These accounts span different ethnicities, languages, and locations.
Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War in Christians (published by Regnery in cooperation with Gatestone Institute, April 2013).
Previous reports
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Obama’s Kill List

Obama’s Kill List

kill listby Stephen Lendman


Obama heads an administration Murder, Inc. agenda. He appointed himself judge, jury and executioner.
He targets anyone, anywhere for any reason or none at all. US citizens are vulnerable like foreign nationals.
Murdering them in cold blood is one Obama signature away. Drones are his weapon of choice. They’re instruments of state terror. They target alleged enemies half a world away or nearby.
Rule of law principles don’t matter. Obama makes his own rules. Despots govern this way. He operates like the worst of them. He does so with technological ease.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) says Obama’s kill list mocks due process and habeas rights.
It circumvents judicial review. It gives presidents diktat power. It permits cold-blooded murder on their say. CCR executive director Vince Warren said earlier:
“The law prohibits the government from killing without trial or conviction other than in the face of an imminent threat that leaves no time for deliberation or due process.”
“That the government adds people to kill lists after a bureaucratic process and leaves them on the lists for months at a time flies in the face of the Constitution and international law.”
ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said earlier:
“A program that authorizes killing US citizens, without judicial oversight, due process or disclosed standards is unconstitutional, unlawful and un-American.”
We don’t sentence people to prison on the basis of secret criteria, and we certainly shouldn’t sentence them to death that way.”
“It is not enough for the executive branch to say ‘trust us’ – we have seen that backfire in the past and we should learn from those mistakes.”
On February 10, AP headlined “Obama Officials Weigh Drone Attack on US Suspect.”
At issue is an unnamed US citizen/suspected Al Qaeda member. US officials allege he plans attacking US targets.
Under so-called stricter drone killing guidelines, Obama weighs how to kill him. Judicial fairness isn’t a problem. It’s making murder look legitimate by sanitizing it.
Justice Department officials haven’t yet “buil(t) a case against him,” said AP. “Four US officials said (he’s) in a country that refuses US military action on its soil and has proved unable to go after him.”
So-called new policy guidelines created a “conundrum for the White House,” said AP. Allegedly they permit Pentagon murder only. CIA hit men are restricted to foreign nationals.
Two US officials called the suspect an Al Qaeda “facilitator.” They allege he’s “directly responsible for deadly attacks against US citizens overseas…”
They claim he plans more attacks with improvised explosive devices. They said he’s well guarded in a “fairly remote location.”
Unilateral attempts by US forces to capture him allegedly would be risky. Politically more-so than by predator drone attacks.
White House press secretary Jay Carney refused to comment. He cited Obama’s May 2013 counterterrorism speech, saying:
“When a US citizen goes abroad to wage war against America and is actively plotting to kill US citizens, and when neither the United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team.”
Lethal force is allegedly restricted to “to prevent(ing) or stop(ping) attacks against US persons, and even then, only when capture is not feasible and no other reasonable alternatives exist to address the threat effectively,” he added.
Targeted suspects must pose “a continuing, imminent threat to US persons.” AP said it constitutes “the legal definition of catching someone in the act of plotting a lethal attack.”
US guidelines aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Catching someone in the act of plotting murder is what US officials claim.
The chasm between administration allegations and truth is big enough to fire multiple/side-by-side Hellfire missiles through.
What Obama says and does is world’s apart. He subverts international, constitutional and US statute law provisions.
Bill of Rights protections prohibits “depriv(ing) (anyone) of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
UN Charter provisions permit lethal force only in Security Council-authorized self defense. Nothing less is permissible.
Magna Carta principles date from 1215. They’ve stood the test of time. They affirm people rights.
They included due process, habeas, and others free societies take for granted. They mandate limited government power.
Obama operates by his own rules. He invents them to fit policy. He uses them unjustifiably. He does so to justify murder.
AP didn’t reveal the country’s name allegedly hosting the so-called American Al Qaeda.
Major media reports suggest it’s Pakistan. Why is hard to imagine. Drone warfare targets suspects Washington wants eliminated there regularly.
US officials said naming the country would compromise ongoing counterterrorism operations. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
They’re not authorized to discuss murder by drone policy publicly, they said. They don’t want Obama embarrassed more than already.
Justice Department, Pentagon and CIA officials declined to comment. Amnesty International said “little changed since last year, when it comes to government secrecy over killings.”
“The policy is still the stuff of official secrecy and speculation, when it should be a matter of open debate and explicit constraints.”
Since 2009, Obama killed four Americans abroad. Murder by drones eliminated them. They include Anwar al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, Jude Kenan Mohammed, and al-Awlaki’s teenage son, Abdulrahman. Allegedly only al-Awlaki senior was intentional.
Hina Shamsi heads the ACLU’s national Security Project. “The government’s killing program has gone far beyond what the law permits, and it is based on secret evidence and legal interpretations,” she said.
“The targeted killing of an American being considered right now shows the inherent danger of a killing program based on vague and shifting legal standards, which has made it disturbingly easy for the government to operate outside the law.”
Targeted administration killing operates with virtually no oversight. Rule of law principles remain inviolable. According to Shamsi:
“Outside of armed conflict zones, the Constitution and international law prohibit the use of lethal force unless it is used as a last resort against a concrete, specific, and imminent threat of grave harm.”
“Even in the context of an armed conflict against an armed group, the government may use lethal force only against individuals who are directly participating in hostilities against the United States.”
Relying “heavily on limited and apparently unreliable intelligence only heightens our concerns about a disastrous program in which people have been wrongly killed and injured.”
Drones kill indiscriminately. Mostly noncombatant civilians are affected. People living in targeted areas are terrorized.
Few high-value targets are eliminated. Drones are instruments of state terror. Killing is extrajudicial.
Obama decides who dies, where and when. Human lives don’t matter. Or fundamental rule of law principles.
Francis Boyle calls drone attacks “murders, assassinations, and extrajudicial executions.”
They constitute “a grave violation of international human rights law, the laws of countries where attacks take place, and US domestic law.”
They raise “serious problems of discriminating between civilians and insurgents engaged in armed conflict.”
Killing noncombatants “raises the issue of war crimes accountability.” Drones murder nameless, faceless people.
US citizens are as vulnerable as foreign nationals. US-style democracy subverts its own principles. Imagine a nation calling itself civilized operating extrajudicially.
Imagine calling it the right thing to do. Imagine getting away with murder with impunity. Imagine authorizing it as official US policy.
Imagine a swastika replacing the stars and stripes. Imagine it already there.

About the Author: Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. He writes for MoneyNewsNow.com and VeteransToday.com.
He is also author of the celebrated books “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity” and “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War“.
Lendman also hosts his own blog at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
He is host of a progressive radio show with cutting-edge discussions and distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
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god says to obama let my people go


22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.


21 And the Lord told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go. 22 Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’”

 

 

Habakkuk 2

New Living Translation (NLT)
2 I will climb up to my watchtower
    and stand at my guardpost.
There I will wait to see what the Lord says
    and how he[a] will answer my complaint.

The Lord’s Second Reply

2 Then the Lord said to me,
“Write my answer plainly on tablets,
    so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.
3 This vision is for a future time.
    It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.
If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,
    for it will surely take place.
    It will not be delayed.
4 “Look at the proud!
    They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked.
    But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.[b]
5 Wealth[c] is treacherous,
    and the arrogant are never at rest.
They open their mouths as wide as the grave,[d]
    and like death, they are never satisfied.
In their greed they have gathered up many nations
    and swallowed many peoples.
6 “But soon their captives will taunt them.
    They will mock them, saying,
‘What sorrow awaits you thieves!
    Now you will get what you deserve!
You’ve become rich by extortion,
    but how much longer can this go on?’
7 Suddenly, your debtors will take action.
    They will turn on you and take all you have,
    while you stand trembling and helpless.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
    now all the survivors will plunder you.
You committed murder throughout the countryside
    and filled the towns with violence.
9 “What sorrow awaits you who build big houses
    with money gained dishonestly!
You believe your wealth will buy security,
    putting your family’s nest beyond the reach of danger.
10 But by the murders you committed,
    you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives.
11 The very stones in the walls cry out against you,
    and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.
12 “What sorrow awaits you who build cities
    with money gained through murder and corruption!
13 Has not the Lord of Heaven’s Armies promised
    that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes?
They work so hard,
    but all in vain!
14 For as the waters fill the sea,
    the earth will be filled with an awareness
    of the glory of the Lord.
15 “What sorrow awaits you who make your neighbors drunk!
    You force your cup on them
    so you can gloat over their shameful nakedness.
16 But soon it will be your turn to be disgraced.
    Come, drink and be exposed![e]
Drink from the cup of the Lord’s judgment,
    and all your glory will be turned to shame.
17 You cut down the forests of Lebanon.
    Now you will be cut down.
You destroyed the wild animals,
    so now their terror will be yours.
You committed murder throughout the countryside
    and filled the towns with violence.
18 “What good is an idol carved by man,
    or a cast image that deceives you?
How foolish to trust in your own creation—
    a god that can’t even talk!
19 What sorrow awaits you who say to wooden idols,
    ‘Wake up and save us!’
To speechless stone images you say,
    ‘Rise up and teach us!’
    Can an idol tell you what to do?
They may be overlaid with gold and silver,
    but they are lifeless inside.
20 But the Lord is in his holy Temple.
    Let all the earth be silent before him.”

Footnotes:

  1. 2:1 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads I.
  2. 2:3b-4 Greek version reads If the vision is delayed, wait patiently, / for it will surely come and not delay. / 4 I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. / But the righteous person will live by my faith. Compare Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:37-38.
  3. 2:5a As in Dead Sea Scroll 1QpHab; other Hebrew manuscripts read Wine.
  4. 2:5b Hebrew as Sheol.
  5. 2:16 Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek and Syriac versions read and stagger!

Habakkuk 2

King James Version (KJV)
2 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.
11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.



Ezekiel 34 (New Living Translation)

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Ezekiel 34

New Living Translation (NLT)

The Shepherds of Israel

34 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. 6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. 9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.

The Good Shepherd

11 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. 12 I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. 13 I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live. 14 Yes, I will give them good pastureland on the high hills of Israel. There they will lie down in pleasant places and feed in the lush pastures of the hills. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!
17 “And as for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to his people: I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you to keep the best of the pastures for yourselves? Must you also trample down the rest? Isn’t it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Why must my flock eat what you have trampled down and drink water you have fouled?
20 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will surely judge between the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep. 21 For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands. 22 So I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be abused. I will judge between one animal of the flock and another. 23 And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among my people. I, the Lord, have spoken!

The Lord’s Covenant of Peace

25 “I will make a covenant of peace with my people and drive away the dangerous animals from the land. Then they will be able to camp safely in the wildest places and sleep in the woods without fear. 26 I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. 27 The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord. 28 They will no longer be prey for other nations, and wild animals will no longer devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will frighten them.
29 “And I will make their land famous for its crops, so my people will never again suffer from famines or the insults of foreign nations. 30 In this way, they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them. And they will know that they, the people of Israel, are my people, says the Sovereign Lord. 31 You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture. You are my people, and I am your God. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”










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American Wind Energy Association, Chicago, Illinois

Remarks to the American Wind Energy Association

05/05/2009

American Wind Energy Association, Chicago, Illinois


Good morning!  Welcome to the Windy City.  Welcome to the new energy frontier!
It is good to be here today with you who are helping build America’s clean energy economy.
Thanks to Denise Bode and the American Wind Energy Association for your leadership.
You are all engaged in a great project of remaking America.

It is a project upon which our nation’s competitiveness, our security, and our prosperity depend.
A project that will help us build a strong and stable foundation for our economy to grow again….
A project in which you have a partner in the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and – for the first time ever – in the United States Department of the Interior!   
As managers of one-fifth of the nation’s land and 1.7 billion acres of ocean it is time the Department of the Interior change how we do business and open our doors to wise, responsible renewable energy production on our public lands.
For at no time in our history has the need for a new energy policy been so urgent.
We import more than two-thirds of our oil, costing us hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
Unemployment is at eight and a half percent.
Carbon emissions are rising.
Our national security is threatened.
And countries like China and India are ready to cash in by leading the global clean energy economy.
With millions of new jobs at stake, this is an opportunity America can’t afford to miss.   We must lead the clean energy revolution, and with your help, we will spark it in the coming months by passing comprehensive energy legislation that lifts our nation’s production of renewable energy and helps secure our energy future!
You know well what a clean energy economy means for our future.
In Colorado, where I’m from, we’re adding thousands of jobs at new wind turbine manufacturing plants in places like Pueblo, Brighton, and Windsor.  Ranchers across the eastern plains are earning extra money as wind farms spring to life.  And in my native San Luis Valley – one of the poorest areas of the country – a new solar farm has brought hope for a brighter economic future.
For years, this Rural America was a Forgotten America, left out of Washington’s priorities, and with fewer and fewer options for economic growth.
Now, rural communities are on the leading edge of the renewable energy frontier.  And it’s not just the big wind turbines that you see sprouting up, it’s also in the small wind systems that farmers and ranchers are using to help power their operations.  I was proud to work with many of you to create that small wind tax credit when I served in the Senate.  Thank you for your support of that initiative!  
From coast to coast, the clean energy revolution is gaining steam.   In a little over a year, the number of jobs in the U.S. wind industry has grown by more than 75%.
It's estimated that if we fully pursue our potential for wind energy on land and offshore, wind can generate as much as 20 percent of our electricity by 2030 and create a quarter-million jobs in the process.  As President Obama has said:  it's a win-win.  Good for the environment, great for the economy.
To be sure, presidents since Richard Nixon have talked about energy independence, but the American people have seen few results.  In four decades, our dependence on foreign oil has doubled.
So Americans rightly want to know how this time will be different.  How will President Obama make good on his promise to repower America and reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil?
In large measure, the answer lies where no one before has thought to look: in the vast deserts, plains, forests and oceans that belong to every American but which, until now, have largely been unexplored for their vast renewable energy potential.
The clean energy potential on America’s public lands is staggering.  Americans have an estimated 206 gigawatts of wind energy potential on public lands in the West.  An estimated 2,900 gigawatts of solar energy potential in the southwest.  And an estimated 1,000 gigawatts of wind energy potential in waters off the Atlantic coast alone.
These American landscapes, with their unharnessed renewable energy potential, are part of the new energy frontier for President Obama.
To wisely develop these resources, the Department of the Interior has already begun to open its doors to good ideas for large-scale renewable energy projects that protect our land, water, and wildlife.
We have, for example, done something in the first 100 days that should have been completed years ago.  And that is to finally establish rules of the road for offshore wind development!
Dozens of applications to build offshore wind farms are currently stacked up or stuck in red tape.  But with this framework, and by working with Chairman Wellinghoff to clear up federal jurisdictional questions between our FERC and DOI, companies with proposed projects finally have the certainty of a logical permitting process.
It is a huge step forward that allows us to move ahead with developing America’s unbridled offshore renewable energy potential.  I believe we can surpass Denmark, which produces almost 20 percent of its electricity through wind power, and lead the world in offshore wind production.
The Department of the Interior is also changing how it does business onshore.
The agency has long had a mandate to support responsible oil, gas, and coal development, but we are now also opening the way for solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal projects in appropriate areas of our public lands.
And there is strong interest from partners in the private sector.  Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has a backlog of some 200 solar energy applications and more than 25 wind project applications in western states.  There are another 200 locations where applicants would like to begin site testing for future wind projects.
But the backlog in permits is just not acceptable.
These are engineering jobs that would be created if we approved a solar project in the desert.  These are construction jobs that would be created if we approved a new wind farm on the High Plains.  But with no permit, there is no project.  And with no project, no new jobs.
That is why Interior is investing $41 million through the President’s economic recovery plan to facilitate a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of renewables on public lands.
It is also why President Obama’s budget for 2010 will propose to create four Renewable Energy Coordination Offices in California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Arizona, along with smaller renewable energy teams in New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Oregon.
These investments will help us swiftly complete reviews on the most ready-to-go projects.
We believe that of the wind projects currently proposed on BLM lands, almost 1,400 megawatts of new capacity will be ready for construction by the end of 2010.  That is enough to power more than 400,000 homes.
We also believe that of the solar projects currently proposed, more than 6,000 megawatts of new capacity – mostly in California, Arizona, and New Mexico - will be ready to go in the same time frame.  That is around enough to power 1.8 million homes.
We must be thoughtful, though, in how we develop this new energy frontier, and take care not to damage our landscapes, wildlife, or traditional ways of life.
For this reason, Interior is working with states, stakeholders, local communities, and other federal agencies to maximize renewable energy production while minimizing impacts to the environment.
The zones we identify in the Nevada desert, for example, will have high solar energy potential, be close to transmission lines, and away from environmentally sensitive areas, national parks and wilderness areas.
We are also assigning high priority to completing the appropriate environmental review and permitting of transmission corridors and right-of-way applications that are necessary to deliver renewable energy to consumers.
We have to connect the sun of the deserts and the wind of the plains with the places where people live.
With the investments we are making through the President’s economic recovery plan, we believe we’ll be able to complete the reviews and permits for several new transmission projects so they can be ready for construction by 2010.  We may have 1500 new kilovolts of transmission ready for construction in California.  Close to 900 new kilovolts in Idaho.  1,000 in Nevada. And more in Montana and Wyoming.
This new transmission infrastructure can be part of a new national electrical supergrid that can help move this clean power not just to the closest load center, but back and forth across the country to areas of highest demand.
Yes, President Obama and I believe that exploring and developing America’s new energy frontier will help us power our clean energy economy.  But it will also transform our relationship with the American landscape.
Producing oil, gas, and coal on our public lands must and will continue.  And we will continue to find better ways to develop and use these resources, including through carbon capture and sequestration and other advanced coal technologies.
But with wise renewable energy development we can also move beyond the old divisions that defined our management of public lands for the last century: beyond extraction against protection; beyond energy versus the environment.
In harnessing renewable resources we act as stewards of our lands – like farmers who harvest abundant supplies but protect the resources that will sustain us for generations.
It is the same balance my parents and grandparents taught me on the lands my family has farmed and ranched for five generations.  It is the balance we should aspire to in our policies for our nation’s lands and for our energy future.
Of course, the path into the new energy frontier will, at times, feel steep.
And naysayers will cry out that our country is not up to the challenge.
We have heard voices like these before.  They rise each time our country determines to remake itself for a new era.
Against President Lincoln and the transcontinental railroad.
Against President Eisenhower’s vision for an interstate highway system.
Against President Kennedy when he set our sights on the moon.
But to stand still while the world rushes ahead is a perilous and temporary comfort.
We cannot accept that the new energy frontier is too far, or the road too rough.  For the urgency of the problem – and the speed at which our world is changing – gives us no choice but to transform a moment of crisis into a foundation for lasting economic growth.
We will succeed in this project of remaking America.
We will succeed because our spirit fuels our determination and gives us hope that we can fulfill America’s great promise.
We will succeed because President Obama and I will do all we can to support the innovation and entrepreneurship that will repower our nation.
Together we will recover.  Together we will rebuild.  And together our economy will lead the world once again.
Thank you.



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