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  • What’s Up with the Bear…

    I know we are all wrapped up in the holiday festivities… I am no
    exception… things are crazy busy around here!  But it is usually when the nation
    is the most busy and preoccupied that interesting things around the
    globe begin to happen!  So I am still keeping my eyes open.  These
    headlines grabbed my eye this week…. I wonder what Russia is up to?
    Interesting!


      Bee

    Russian “Traitor Bill”

    “New legislation backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would allow
    Russian authorities to label any government critic a traitor—a move
    that rights activists said Wednesday was a chilling throwback to times
    of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

    The bill, which is expected to become law, would expanded the
    definition of treason to include damaging Russia’s constitutional
    order, sovereignty or territorial integrity. That, rights activists
    said, would essentially let authorities interpret any act against state
    as treason—a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

    Activists said that would catapult Russia’s justice system back to the
    times of Stalin’s purges, calling it “legislation in the spirit of
    Stalin and Hitler.”

    Read the rest here:

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D954K4Q80&show_article=1

    Russia gave Lebanon ten MiG fighter jets yesterday in a deal to boost defense cooperation.


    The MiG29 Fulcrum fighters would be provided free to Lebanon under an
    agreement on military-technical assistance, the head of Russia’s
    defense cooperation service said. Mikhail Dmitryev said that the jets
    would come from Russia’s existing stock.

    Read the rest here:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5360865.ece

    Russian Warships nearby and U.S. doesn’t care

    WASHINGTON – Russian warships have been plying the waters off Venezuela
    and Panama in recent weeks and are now heading for Cuba, but U.S.
    officials are not so much wringing their hands as yawning.

    Asked about a Russian warship transiting the Panama Canal earlier this
    month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — who saw the ship while
    crossing the canal last week — told The Associated Press: “I guess
    they’re on R&R. It’s fine.”

    The Pentagon, while puzzled by the Russians’ actions, also is taking a
    ho-hum attitude. The U.S. military commander for the region, Adm. James
    Stavridis, head of the U.S. Southern Command, said that from his
    vantage point, there is no reason to be concerned about the Russian
    naval activity.

    “They pose no military threat to the U.S.,” Stavridis said in an e-mail to the AP on Tuesday.

    It was the first such passage by a Russian or Soviet warship since World War II.

    Read the rest here:

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_russian_warships

  • Don’t Forget…

    Tonight the full moon will be the closest it will be to the earth until the year 2016!  Also… it is the annual Geminid meteor shower… (if you can see any meteors for the brightness of the moon that is.)

    Blessings, Bee

  • Finally…
    I found a link that works! This is the original J.C. Penney site… after the intro you have to select “see what life is like in the Dog House”.
    Whew… Bee

    Beware of the Dog House!!

    Wow… this thing was HILARIOUS.  It is actually a J.C. Penney ad…
    and it is a little lengthy, (that is why I didn’t just embed it here.)  But if you all have not seen this, you really need to for a good belly
    laugh!
    Love, Bee


  • Great Conjunction Photos


    Below is one of the photos I took, (which I was
    actually disappointed with.)  But make sure and check out the
    incredible photos from all over the world at the SpaceWeather link
    below! 
    Remember in Europe, Venus actually
    moved behind the moon and peeked out
    on the other side which made for some  very dramatic shots!  (There is
    a video of this happening in Italy on the web site.  Last time I looked it was on Pg. 4.)

    Enjoy! Bee

    http://www.spaceweather.com/conjunctions/gallery_01dec08_page6.htm?PHPSESSID=ttf80ul279f7qlc2l38bgg05j5

  • World Government Around the Corner

    Wow… now it is not just right wing Christians who are seeing this
    thing!  It is as plain as the nose on your face… (or the verse on the
    page!) Check out the article below from the Financial Times.  These may
    be the days when we will see prophecy fulfilled and scripture come
    alive! We had best be in the Word… know it… absorb it… and watch
    for it!

    Bee

    And Now for a World Government

    By Gideon Rachman

     




    I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to
    take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the
    sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the
    formation of some sort of world government is plausible.




    A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between
    nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed
    by a body of laws.
    The European Union has already set up a continental
    government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a
    supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil
    service and the ability to deploy military force.




    So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might.




    First, it is increasingly clear that the most difficult issues facing
    national governments are international in nature: there is global
    warming, a global financial crisis and a “global war on terror”.




    Second, it could be done. The transport and communications revolutions
    have shrunk the world so that, as Geoffrey Blainey, an eminent
    Australian historian, has written: “For the first time in human
    history, world government of some sort is now possible.” Mr Blainey
    foresees an attempt to form a world government at some point in the
    next two centuries, which is an unusually long time horizon for the
    average newspaper column.




    But – the third point – a change in the political atmosphere suggests
    that “global governance” could come much sooner than that. The
    financial crisis and climate change are pushing national governments
    towards global solutions, even in countries such as China and the US
    that are traditionally fierce guardians of national sovereignty.




    Barack Obama, America’s president-in-waiting, does not share the Bush
    administration’s disdain for international agreements and treaties.
    In
    his book, The Audacity of Hope, he argued that: “When the world’s sole
    superpower willingly restrains its power and abides by internationally
    agreed-upon standards of conduct, it sends a message that these are
    rules worth following.”
    The importance that Mr Obama attaches to the UN
    is shown by the fact that he has appointed Susan Rice, one of his
    closest aides, as America’s ambassador to the UN, and given her a seat
    in the cabinet.




    A taste of the ideas doing the rounds in Obama circles is offered by a
    recent report from the
    Managing Global Insecurity project, whose small
    US advisory group includes John Podesta, the man heading Mr Obama’s
    transition team and Strobe Talbott, the president of the Brookings
    Institution, from which Ms Rice has just emerged.




    The MGI report argues for the creation of a UN high commissioner for
    counter-terrorist activity, a legally binding climate-change agreement
    negotiated under the auspices of the UN and the creation of a
    50,000-strong UN peacekeeping force. Once countries had pledged troops
    to this reserve army, the UN would have first call upon them.




    These are the kind of ideas that get people reaching for their rifles
    in America’s talk-radio heartland. Aware of the political sensitivity
    of its ideas, the MGI report opts for soothing language. It emphasises
    the need for American leadership and uses the term, “responsible
    sovereignty” – when calling for international co-operation – rather
    than the more radical-sounding phrase favoured in Europe,
    “shared
    sovereignty”
    . It also talks about “global governance” rather than world
    government.




    But some European thinkers think that they recognise what is going on.

    Jacques Attali, an adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France,
    argues that: “Global governance is just a euphemism for global
    government.” As far as he is concerned, some form of global government
    cannot come too soon. Mr Attali believes that the “core of the
    international financial crisis is that we have global financial markets
    and no global rule of law”.




    So, it seems, everything is in place. For the first time since homo
    sapiens began to doodle on cave walls, there is an argument, an
    opportunity and a means to make serious steps towards a world
    government.




    But let us not get carried away. While it seems feasible that some sort
    of world government might emerge over the next century, any push for
    “global governance” in the here and now will be a painful, slow process.




    There are good and bad reasons for this. The bad reason is a lack of
    will and determination on the part of national, political leaders who –
    while they might like to talk about “a planet in peril” – are
    ultimately still much more focused on their next election, at home.




    But this “problem” also hints at a more welcome reason why making
    progress on global governance will be slow sledding. Even in the EU –
    the heartland of law-based international government – the idea remains
    unpopular. The EU has suffered a series of humiliating defeats in
    referendums, when plans for “ever closer union” have been referred to
    the voters. In general, the Union has progressed fastest when
    far-reaching deals have been agreed by technocrats and politicians –
    and then pushed through without direct reference to the voters.
    International governance tends to be effective, only when it is
    anti-democratic.




    The world’s most pressing political problems may indeed be
    international in nature, but the average citizen’s political identity
    remains stubbornly local. Until somebody cracks this problem, that plan
    for world government may have to stay locked away in a safe at the UN.




    Article Source:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7a03e5b6-c541-11dd-b516-000077b07658.html

  • Something Beautiful

    Just thought I would share something while I am trying to relax and recuperate…..

    I love the art of Andrew Wyeth and found this beautiful slide show of
    his paintings set to one of my favorite songs, (which I can’t remember
    the name of… but I would make my daughter play it on the piano for me
    all time.)

    Relax and Enjoy, Bee

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnj_MBfSZKs&feature=related


  • Out sick!


    I do have a photo of the astro conjunction… but I will have to wait to post… my head is like concrete… UGG
    Love, Bee

  • A Note About This Years
    Best Astronomical Conjunction!
    For Friends in Europe…..

    “The great conjunction offers something extra to Europeans. For more
    than an hour on Monday evening, the crescent Moon will actually eclipse
    Venus.
    Astronomers call such an event a “lunar occultation.” Venus
    emerging from the dark edge of the Moon is a remarkably beautiful
    sight.  Sky watchers across Europe will be able to see this happen.

    When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look south.  Beaming
    through the twilight is one of the prettiest things you’ll ever see–a
    tight three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon. 
    The event is visible from all parts of the world, even from
    light-polluted cities.  People in New York and Hong Kong will see it
    just as clearly as astronomers watching from remote mountaintops. Only
    cloudy weather or a midnight sun (sorry Antarctica!) can spoil the show.”

    http://spaceweather.com

  • Walmart
    & the Meaning of Christmas

    The story below has a familiar ring to it in an odd sort of way…………  
    (My comments following the story excerpt.)
    Love, Bee

    P.S. The analogy is not perfect by a long shot, but it was close enough to cause me to stop and think.

    Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede

    A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of
    shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday
    morning, police and witnesses said.

    The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to
    hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened
    at 5 a.m.

    Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He
    fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and
    around him.

    “He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker.
    “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in
    front of me. They took me down too…I literally had to fight people
    off my back.”…..

    Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past
    emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk’s life.

    “They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. “People were still coming through.”

    Only a few stopped.

    “They’re savages,” said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. “It’s sad. It’s terrible.”

    http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

    Can you imagine it is Christmas morning and someone is looking at a
    particular gift under the tree. It is the one that was purchased at
    Walmart that fateful day when an innocent man was murdered by an insane
    crowd. He was the keeper of the door and his bruised and trampled body
    had allowed them access to that very gift…. and the whole thing
    happened on a Friday. It was the Friday after which people were
    gathered together with their families for a holiday supper of thanks, (and that was the last supper this man ate with his family and friends.)

    The incredible guilt that person must feel as they gaze at that gift
    under the tree… if they choose to feel at all… the blood of that
    man is on their hands. They would never have enough money to pay for
    what that gift really cost!


    Doesn’t that story sound kind of familiar?
    Think back… way way back.

    And Christmas is only the beginning.
    Your gift is waiting…
    at the foot of an old rugged tree.

    Wise men still seek Him!!!


  • Best Conjunction of the Year!

    I hope it is clear out here this weekend… because I would like for us to try and get a photo of this one!    Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon will all be nestled up together into a neat isosceles  triangle so that they would all hide under your thumb held at arms length!

    Try not to miss it!   Monday December 1st is the  day they will be the closest but the planets will be moving closer and closer together all this week!

    Love, Bee