Romans 13 Invoked at Los Angeles Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast 2010

Romans 13 Invoked at Los Angeles Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast 2010
SoCal Martial Law Alerts
February 13, 2010

LOS ANGELES – Before a crowd of about 1200 faithful, two prominent evangelical Christian leaders invoked Romans Chapter 13 at the 37th Annual Los Angeles Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast held today at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Keith Phillips, Founder and President of World Impact, Inc., a Christian missionary organization which ministers to under-privileged children in 11 American cities, managed to work the following propaganda into his introductory remarks:

”Romans Chapter 13 commands Christians to pray for those in authority over them. ”

Moments later, Dr. Jack Hayford, who is best known as the Founding Pastor of The Church On The Way mega-church in Van Nuys, California, echoed Dr. Phillips’ earlier propaganda as he prayed for Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa:

”Let the comfort and care of your spirit attend him, as we together – on not only this day – obey your command to pray for those in authority and to commit ourselves to on-goingly doing the same.”

Which sounds innocuous enough at first blush, and yet the 13th Chapter in the book (or letter) of Romans in the Christian Bible is notorious for having been used by pastors in Nazi Germany during World War II at the behest of then-Chancellor Adolf Hitler to pre-empt opposition to, and overthrow of, his government. Under Hitler’s regime, Christian congregations were taught by their pastors the official, state-sanctioned interpretation of Romans 13, which was: To unquestioningly submit to the “governing authorities” who were alleged to be “chosen” and “placed” in their positions by God Himself. (A doctrine which, as history has shown, makes it astonishingly easy for a tyrannical psychopath to run a country – and everyone in it – into the ground.)

More and more, the above-mentioned teaching is heard being preached from pulpits all across America ever since the formation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) so-called Clergy Response Teams (see: Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent" During Martial Law).

For instance, on October 27th, 2008, Dr. George O. Wood, Assemblies of God General Superintendent said of Romans 13 and submission to authorities:

“Although we voted, nothing happens without God’s permissive will. He allows us to choose good or evil and, in a democracy, the government he gives us is the one we choose. Sometimes our vote results in leaders who fail us and they become a means of God’s judgment; other times leaders follow after God’s heart and they become a means of God’s blessing. “



On February 1st, 2009, Pastor Gary Luallin of Southside Christian Church Disciples Of Christ in Jacksonville, Florida, preached to his congregation:

“Our forefathers had some serious problems with this passage. Serious problems with this passage. They decided to rebel against King George of England. Why? Because they didn’t feel like their taxes were getting them what they should be getting them. They weren’t being represented. Right? What’s this passage say about that? Who are they rebelling against? Let’s read it again, guys. It’s right there. Do you understand? You rebel against the authorities, you rebel against God. That’s what the text said.”



On April 26, 2009, Pastor Brooks Simpson of Grace Community Church in North Liberty, Iowa:

“Do you realize that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, the son of God, is actually subject to a pagan authority? If anybody would have the right to say, ‘Time out. You’re a moron. I’m the righteous son of God. I don’t have to submit to you, because you’re a poor leader,’ it would be Jesus in John 19. Would it not? But he doesn’t pull that card, because he understands that what Paul is speaking here is a divinely-revealed truth. ‘Pilate, the reason you’re in authority here is because my father has given you that authority. Yes, you are unjust. Yes, you are corrupt. And you’re going to turn me over to be crucified, not because that’s what justice demands, but because you want to appease the mob.’ So, this doesn’t apply just to the godly leaders that we love and that hold our value system and uphold our views, but it applies to all leaders, everywhere in all forms of government.” (emphasis added)



Unlike Dr. Wood and Pastors Luallin and Simpson – leaders who appear to be twisting the Romans 13 passage to fit a dubious political agenda – Doctors Phillips and Hayford apparently haven’t even read the Scripture passage they so enthusiastically “quoted,” since the words: “Command,” “pray,” and “leader” do not occur in Romans 13 at all.

While there certainly does not seem to be any specific Bible scripture prohibiting congregants from praying for their leaders, conversely, there also does not appear to be a specific Bible verse, or passage “commanding” the faithful to pray for their leaders.

Regardless, one has to wonder why Doctors Phillips and Hayford would even feign to quote (or rather: grossly misquote) the politically-charged and overly-abused Romans 13 passage during a prayer breakfast that, according to Dr. Phillips, “is not a political event?” And, further, why would they do so during such an economically-challenged period of American history, especially when Congress was recently threatened with martial law?

Why the Eurosceptics were right all along

The abstract principle of national sovereignty has been made very real by this crisis.

German chancellor Angela Merkel. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

The Eurosceptics are in the ascendancy. They may be mostly Tories, but they have been proven right. In previous recessions, the troubled eurozone countries -- Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain -- would have eased their economic problems by devaluing the currency, printing money (now called "quantitative easing") and cutting interest rates. These levers are no longer available, so they have no alternatives to immediate cuts in public spending, together with steeply rising unemployment, falls in wages and drastic reductions in benefits.

Thus, as the Eurosceptics warned, a single currency leads to loss of sovereignty, which sounds like an abstract idea until you get a crisis like this. It applies even to the more economically successful countries. If the eurozone is to survive, Germany may have to keep rates lower than it might wish, risking inflation. Eventually, like Greece, it will have to accept greater EU control over public spending levels. Neither country can run a wholly independent fiscal policy within the eurozone, any more than Cardiff or London can within the sterling zone.

You could argue that, with proper democratic controls, a single European treasury would be good for everybody. But the pro-Europeans never made that argument, preferring to insist that the loss of sovereignty was an illusion.

Claims Conf. Fraud Put At $350,000; No Survivor Funds Bilked

The Claims Conference fired three employees last week who allegedly approved more than 100 fraudulent Holocaust-era claims — filed primarily by Russians now living in Brooklyn — that bilked the German government out of more than $350,000, The Jewish Week has learned.

A federal investigation has reportedly been launched but it is not known if the employees, one of whom was the supervisor of the Hardship Fund, were complicit in the fraud. The Claims Conference declined to reveal their names.

“The German government was defrauded,” said Gregory Schneider, the Claims Conference’s executive vice president. “No money was taken from Holocaust survivors. ... This was done by very sophisticated persons or a group whose aim it was to defraud. And the fact that it is connected with the Holocaust makes it even more disgusting.”

Julius Berman, chairman of the Claims Conference, said he was “outraged that anyone would engage in a fraud of what we consider holy money.”

Schneider said the dismissals came last Thursday, a little more than two months after two of 10 employees processing Hardship Fund claims brought fraudulent documents to him. Two different claimants submitted them two weeks apart.

“I was unwilling to accept within a space of two weeks that this was a coincidence,” he said. “So within 72 hours of those claims being brought to me we hired an outside party to confirm my suspicions. They began to document what we thought was fraud going on.”

He said the information gathered in a forensic audit by the law firm of Proskauer Rose was subsequently turned over to the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara. Bharara’s spokeswoman, Yusill Scribner, said only: “It is the office policy not to confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”

Schneider said he also directed that neither the New York office nor the other processing offices in Germany and Israel pay Hardship Fund claims in December, January and February while the investigation proceeded. Thus, he said, about 4,500 claims have gone unpaid.

The law firm found that the fraud was limited to the Hardship Fund and to the New York office, Schneider said. He said Brooklyn residents claiming to be survivors from the former Soviet Union submitted most of the fraudulent claims, although some applications were also sent from other parts of the United States. He said it is “too early” to know how many fraudulent claims had been paid, but he put the number at “likely more than 100.”

Schneider said he has now directed that all pending Hardship Funds claims from the German and Israeli offices be paid this month. There are 1,500 pending claims in New York and Schneider said those that have been verified are also to be paid in coming days; he declined to say if additional fraudulent claims had been filed since November.

Each verified claimant receives a onetime payment from the government of Germany if he or she was forced to flee to the East during the Holocaust and was then compelled to remain in Soviet bloc countries after the war. By the time they were able to migrate to the West, the deadline to file for German reparations had ended.

But in negotiations in 1980 with the Claims Conference, which is formally known as the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Germany agreed to pay each of them a flat $3,500 under the newly created Hardship Fund that to date has paid more than $940 million.

In the last 12 months alone, payments were made to about 92,000 survivors worldwide.

In the last two years, there has been a surge in Hardship Fund applications because Germany broadened the eligibility criteria to include Jews who were in Leningrad at any time during the Nazis’ 900-day siege of the city from September 1941 through January 1944, or fled from Leningrad during those years; Germany paid 7,000 claims in 2008 and 18,000 last year.

There is no deadline for filing an application, and those who were previously rejected because they did not meet all German government criteria may file a second application.

“The tremendous expansion of the program made it easier for the fraud to be perpetuated,” Schneider said. “There were so many more claims filed that a few doctored documents could slip through.”

Applicants must submit proof of their birth date and place of birth as part of the qualification process. It was those documents that were found to have been fraudulent, Schneider said. In addition, all claimants must sign their application and have it notarized.

“We believe beyond a doubt that we were defrauded and a victim of a crime,” Schneider said. “We have cooperated in every possible way with the authorities.”

Berman, the Claims Conference chairman, has formed a three-member task force headed by Sheldon Rudoff to recommend what measures to take to “ensure that no fraudulent claims slip through the cracks again,” Schneider said.

Under the current process, three separate people — a caseworker, the supervisor and a person in another country — must approve each application.

“I’m angry and upset,” Schneider said. “The fact that some thugs perpetrated a fraud will not deter the Claims Conference from making sure survivors live their final years with some dignity as we pursue a measure of justice for them.”

Detroit schools offer class in how to work at Walmart

Walmart has been widely condemned for offering its employees only low-paying, dead end jobs. Even President Obama criticized Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign for having served on Walmart's board and stated that the firm ought to pay "a living wage."

In inner-city Detroit, however, where the unemployment rate is estimated at an astonishing 50%, the prospect of a Walmart job may appear far more attractive.

Four inner-city Detroit high schools have decided that employment with Walmart is an opportunity worth training their students to pursue. The schools have teamed up with the giant merchandiser to offer a for-credit class in job-readiness training that also includes entry-level after-school jobs.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the principal at one of the schools optimistically suggested that "the program will allow students an opportunity to earn money and to be exposed to people from different cultures -- since all of the stores are in the suburbs."

The announcement of the program outraged Donna Stern, the Midwest coordinator for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). "They’re going to train students to be subservient workers" she told the Free Press. "This is not why parents send them to school."

Detroit area schools have cooperated on projects with Walmart in the past. Last summer, Walmart sponsored a letter-writing contest in which students could win classroom supplies, and at Christmas Walmart donated presents to needy students in a Detroit suburb.

Neither of those acts of corporate generosity, however, carried the same racial overtones as training inner-city students for a career as suburban Walmart store clerks. The fact may be that Detroit's schools are now desperate enough to accept help wherever they can find it.

The school district has been running badly in the red, and though emergency financial manager Robert Bobb has already closed 29 schools as a cost-cutting measure, it was reported this week that "the 84,000-student Detroit Public Schools could face additional layoffs and about 40 more school closings."

Detroit's teachers have also been chafing at a contract accepted by their union that forces them to make involuntary long-term loans to the school district out of their paychecks. A Detroit Federation of Teachers union meeting on Thursday broke down in chaos after members tried to put the question of recalling the union president on the agenda.

Florida Snow Could Mean Snow in All 50 States at Once

There could be snow on the ground in all 50 states simultaneously by the end of the week in what would be a weather oddity.

KOTV reports Patrick Marsh, a student employee at the NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, is currently trying to collect photos of snow on the ground in all 50 states.

Marsh says Florida is the only state without snow on the ground at this point, but he said two to four inches of snow is forecast today in some parts of the state.

There is currently even snow on some of the mountain tops in Hawaii.

Marsh says this afternoon, he's going to begin asking for photos of the snow from all 50 states.

If that happens, he says he'll put them into a Google Earth map and make a "snow snapshot of America."

Issuer of 79.9% Interest Rate Credit Card Defends Its Product

APR Shocks Many, but Issuer Says They Are Pricing for the Risk

If you have bad credit in the new era of credit card regulation, be prepared to pay -- dearly -- for the privilege of using credit. That's the message underlying recent credit card offers that feature jaw-dropping interest rates of up to 79.9 percent.

The sky-high rates may be a sign of things to come in the market for so-called subprime credit cards as issuers who lend to the riskiest of borrowers try to figure out how to stay in business and comply with the new credit card reform law.

"We need to price our product based on the risk associated with this market and allow the customer to make the decision whether they want the product or not," according to a statement issued by Miles Beacom, CEO of Premier Bankcard, the South Dakota credit card marketer that mailed test offers in September and October featuring 79.9 percent and 59.9 percent annual percentage rates (APRs) on cards with $300 credit limits. Premier markets credit cards issued by First Premier Bank.

Yes, It's Legal

A national bank charging 79.9 percent interest on a credit card is legal -- as long as the issuer fully discloses the terms as required by the federal Truth in Lending Act. Still, the high rate has been met with shock across the country because it is so much higher than prevailing APRs and penatly interest rates. The CreditCards.com Weekly Rate report national average for bad credit credit cards was 14.15 percent on Feb. 12.

The high interest rate offers may add urgency to an ongoing debate on Capitol Hill over reinstituting nationwide usury rates that cap credit card interest rates. On Dec. 11, a lawmaker introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to cap credit card rates at 16 percent -- the latest attempt among several in recent years to limit rates. The powerful and well-financed banking lobby has successfully quashed those efforts.

Credit counselors warn consumers to be sure they read the fine print of these new offers and seek advice about other options before signing up for the cards.

"Anyone who feels they have no choice but to get one of these should get help from a credit counselor," advises Sandy Shore, a counselor with Novadebt, a New Jersey-based consumer credit counseling agency. "There are other alternatives, like a debit card or even a secured card. The counselor can give the consumer other ways to reestablish their credit, depending on their circumstances."

Law Limits Upfront Fees

New restrictions in the Credit CARD Act of 2009 limit the upfront fees credit card issuers can charge on subprime accounts. The low-credit, high-cost cards, known as fee harvesting credit cards, are issued to people with bad credit or no credit history and feature credit limits of $500 or less. Issuers typically charge a slew of fees at the outset to compensate for the risk of lending to people with poor repayment histories. Starting Feb. 22, 2010, the law will limit upfront fees to no more than 25 percent of the available credit on the account.

As a result, subprime credit card marketers are testing the waters with offers that essentially shift the pricing on their products from upfront fees to high interest rates.

The First Premier card's test offer featured a $75 upfront fee -- exactly 25 percent of the card's credit limit, as the new law mandates. "Because of the new regulations that limit the fees on a credit card to 25 percent of a credit card's line, we will need to shift the premium from upfront fees on risk to the interest rate," Beacom says. "We have to be able to price the product to offset the risk."

In December, the bank's regular Gold card, as advertised on its Web site, include a 9.9 percent APR and the following upfront fees: $29 account setup fee, $95 one-time program fee, $48 annual fee and a $7 monthly servicing fee.

"There's 70 million people out there who have been identified with problem credit," says Beacom, adding those are people with FICO scores lower than 640. "These are people who have had problems with their credit in the past."

He likened people with bad credit to bad automobile drivers who must pay higher auto insurance premiums if they want to continue driving. "These are people who have had those same accidents or speeding tickets with their credit."

He adds: "It's going to be very difficult for these individuals to obtain credit after February."

Prior to the credit crunch, a subprime borrower might take eight to 16 months to build a good enough credit record to qualify for lower interest rates on prime cards. Today, however, because the prime lenders have dramatically tightenend their credit standards, it could take 16 to 24 months or longer to build their credit.

Competitive Market Changes

In addition to Premier, the Nevada-based Credit One Bank has also mailed out offers featuring different fee structures, according to Andrew Davidson, senior vice president of Mintel Comperemedia, a Chicago direct-mail research consulting firm. Mintel is tracking how credit card offers are changing in light of the credit card law restrictions. "The indication here is that the subprime issuers are looking at ways to work within the new law," Davidson says. "Some suggest they will stop operating in that space, but the reality is there are always going to be people who need to establish credit and rebuild their credit."

He notes that while many credit card issuers scaled back direct mail card offers during the recession, "First Premier has consistently been mailing during the downturn." The reason: Demand is high among people with bad credit. "If they can work around these laws so that they can have a business model that works, they can continue to have a successful operation," Davidson adds.

One of First Premier's competitors in the subprime credit card market, CompuCredit, apparently could not find a model that worked for them while complying with the new law. Under fire from consumer advocates, facing lawsuits and mounting losses, CompuCredit decided to stop marketing the high-fee cards to bad-credit consumers.

Credit One's Platinum Visa card offer mailed in August 2009 featured a 23.9 percent APR and a range of annual fees that were card law compliant, that is, no more than 25 percent of the credit limit on the card, according to Mintel.

An spokeswoman for HSBC, another marketer of subprime cards, said it has no plans for testing. Premier's Beacom says the new regulations may make it impossible for subprime issuers to continue to make money in that high-risk niche market.

"The cost of funding for these products is very difficult these days," he says, noting that his competitors are also testing different product offerings. "One, many or maybe all" of the subprime issuers could go out of business, he says.

Beacom says it's too early to tell if the 79.9 percent card offers will last. It normally takes them nine to 12 months to analyze the results of a test product.

Customers who sign up for the high-interest card and want to back out can get full refunds and close the accounts, Beacom says.

"From our initial research we know that 83 percent of the people who accepted the offer are fully aware of the interest rate they are receiving and the purpose of the credit card to help re-establish credit. If anyone accepts the offer and didn't fully understand it or no longer wants it they can take advantage of our full refund of fees policy."

Response to 79.9% Offer 'Phenomenal'

Has First Premier gotten any takers on the 79.9 percent cards? Beacom called the response "phenomenal," adding 2 percent of people receiving the offers have applied for the cards. Their normal response rates is 1 percent to 1.2 percent, he says. "It's double what our normal product was."

Shore, the New Jersey credit counselor, urged consumers not to jump at the first high-interest offer they receive. "I would caution anyone who is considering a card like this to wait. Other credit card issuers will be adjusting their products and there may be better alternatives coming out," Shore says.

"No one should be shocked at the interest rate on [the First Premier] card," Shore notes. "These cards are being marketed to consumers with very poor credit. The APR is actually much lower than the old subprime cards because the fees are much less."

In other words, when you added up all the fees on the old cards, they're the dollar equivalent of a huge interest rate on the amount borrowed. (For example, $250 in fees on a $300 credit limit would amount to an 83 percent interest rate.)

"If someone wants to take a chance on a card like this, they should use it only as a convenience and pay the whole thing off when the bill comes," Shore adds. "Many consumers who have credit that poor do not have good credit habits and are likely to carry balances."

Beacom from Premier says the astronomic interest rate will only affect revolvers -- people who do not pay their entire balances off each month. "People pay it off every month, they pay no interest," he adds.

Those getting the offer have a choice, Beacom says.

"If everything is fully disclosed, if they want it fine, if they don't want it fine," he adds."People should be able to make that decision rather than the government cutting off access and saying they know best."

"Our goal is really to keep these lines controlled because these are people who have had problems in the past," Beacom says. "It's really to help build up the discipline without them getting into credit trouble again."

"Whether it works or not, time will tell," he adds.

USA accidentally admits that Iran has no nuclear weapons program

The White House on Thursday said Iran's declaration of producing first stock of enriched uranium for a research reactor was based "on politics", and "not on physics."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Iran had produced the first stock of 20 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz enrichment facility.

But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs cast doubt on Ahmadinejad's announcement.

"The Iranian nuclear program has undergone a series of problems throughout the year," Gibbs said. "We do not believe they have the capability to enrich to the degree to which they now say they are enriching."

After potential suppliers failed to provide fuel for Tehran's research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients, Iran announced Tuesday it had started enriching uranium to the level of less than 20 percent.

The announcement prompted President Barack Obama to threaten Iran with “significant regime of sanctions.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran could not wait for Western countries to "waste time" as the Tehran research reactor ran out of fuel.

He said a fuel swap with Western countries did not require Iran to relinquish other ways of supplying the fuel.