Recent Earthquakes Increase Concerns

Introduction

Recent earthquakes, especially in "the ring of fire," have many geologists thinking something significant is happening within the earth. Of course, earthquake activity is one of the prominent signs given as warning of the nearness of the last days and Jesus' Second Coming. This newsletter starts with three articles related to recent earthquakes. Then there are two articles about droughts and their potential effects on food availability - which could suggest the possibility of famine - something most of us have never experienced. The next two articles are just more suggestions that there is a major financial crisis coming. News from Israel points to more contention over the hotly-contested site of the temple mount. A report about the United Nations shows its close ties to the Vatican. And finally, Bill Clinton is suggesting that an alien invasion might be just what this world needs to unite this fractured world.

Note that I am simply sharing items of interest. That does not imply that I agree with everything presented.

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars ... nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes ..." (Matt 24:6-7)

12 Signs That Something Big Is Happening to the Earth's Crust Under North and South America
By: Michael Snyder / The Economic Sense Blog.com / March 30, 2014

"Why are fault lines and volcanoes all over North and South America suddenly waking up? Are we moving into a time when major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will become much more common? For the past several decades, we have been extremely fortunate to have experienced a period of extremely low seismic activity along the west coast of the United States. You see, the west coast lies right along the infamous Ring of Fire. Approximately 75 percent of all the volcanoes in the world are on the Ring of Fire, and approximately 90 percent of all global earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. Scientists tell us that it is inevitable that 'the Big One' will hit California someday, but people have gotten very apathetic about this because things have been so quiet out there for so many years. Well, now it appears that things are changing in a big way -- and not just along the California coast. The following are 12 signs that something big is happening to the earth's crust under North and South America ...."

Scientists Assure US that the Recent Earthquakes On the Ring of Fire Are Not Related
By: Michael Snyder / The SurvivalPlaceBlog.com / April 5, 2014

"We just had a tsunami-triggering 8.2 earthquake off of Chile's north coast, a 5.8 earthquake off the coast of Panama, a 5.1 earthquake in southern California, and a dormant volcano in Peru has awakened for the first time in 40 years, but scientists assure us that none of these events are related and that we don't have anything to be concerned about.

"Even though all of these events took place on the Ring of Fire, which is the most seismically-active area of the entire planet, the 'experts' promise us that 'the odds are overwhelming' that they are not related to one another. So do you believe them?

"And another 'scientist', Robert Muir-Wood, tells us that there is 'no evidence' that activity in one area of the Ring of Fire can affect activity in another area of the Ring of Fire.

"For those that are not familiar with the Ring of Fire, it is basically a giant ring around the Pacific Ocean. It contains approximately 75 percent of the volcanoes in the world, and approximately 90 percent of all earthquakes occur inside of it. Here is some more about the Ring of Fire from a recent Global Post article ....

"Known as the Ring of Fire, its fault lines run up the entire western coast of the Americas, from Patagonia to Alaska, and then heading southward again below the eastern Pacific, eventually ending between Asia and Australia. Of the 10 most powerful quakes listed by the US Geological Survey (USGS), all but one took place around the Ring of Fire. That accurately reflects the numbers, with 90 percent of all the world's tremblers taking place here. The Ring of Fire is also home to most of the world's active volcanoes.

"People were becoming extremely worried, because during the month of March there were hundreds of significant earthquakes along the coast of Chile. The concern was that this was leading up to something big. And sure enough, a massive 8.2 earthquake struck the other night."

Oklahoma Earthquake Risk Prompts Rare Warning
Live Science by Becky Oskin 5/5/2014

Mile for mile, there are almost as many earthquakes rattling Oklahoma as California this year. This major increase in seismic shaking led to a rare earthquake warning today (May 5) from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

In a joint statement, the agencies said the risk of a damaging earthquake - one larger than magnitude 5.0 - has significantly increased in central Oklahoma.

Geologists don't know when or where the state's next big earthquake will strike, nor will they put a number on the increased risk. "We haven't seen this before in Oklahoma, so we had some concerns about putting a specific number on the chances of it," Robert Williams, a research geophysicist with the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program in Golden, Colorado, told Live Science. "But we know from other cases around the world that if you have an increasing number of small earthquakes, the chances of a larger one will go up."

That's why earthquakes of magnitude 5 and larger are more frequent in states such as California and Alaska, where thousands of smaller temblors hit every year.

This is the first time the USGS has issued an earthquake warning for a state east of the Rockies, Williams said. Such seismic hazard assessments are more typically issued for Western states following large quakes, to warn residents of the risk of damaging aftershocks, he said.

The geological agencies took action after the rate of earthquakes in Oklahoma outpaced that of even California for the first few months of 2014. (California regained the lead in April.)

"The rate of earthquakes increased dramatically in March and April," Williams said. "That alerted us to examine this further and put out this advisory statement."

While Oklahoma's buildings can withstand light earthquakes, the damage from a magnitude-5 temblor could be widespread. Oklahoma's last major earthquake was in November 2011, when a magnitude-5.6 earthquake centered near Prague, Oklahoma, destroyed 14 homes and injured at least two people.

"Building owners and government officials should have a special concern for older, unreinforced brick structures, which are vulnerable to serious damage during sufficient shaking," Bill Leith, a USGS senior science adviser for earthquakes and geologic hazards, said in the joint statement.

While scientists haven't ruled out natural causes for the increase, many researchers suspect the deep injection wells used for the disposal of fracking wastewater could be causing the earthquake activity. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting oil and gas by cracking open underground rock.

Ongoing studies have found a link between Oklahoma's high-volume wastewater injection wells and regions with an uptick in recent earthquakes.

Ray's note: Interesting that is seems possible that these are man-made earthquakes. We are doing it to ourselves.

Drought likely to push up prices of lettuce, avocados, grapes and broccoli the most
By Russ Parsons 5/1/2014

We can all expect to pay more for our food if the current drought in California continues. That's been well reported. But a new study shows that some items will be more affected than others. If you like avocados, grapes, lettuce and tomatoes, the news is not good.

A study by Arizona State University agribusiness professor Timothy Richards set out to find which crops were likely to be most sensitive to the drought, and how much their prices might increase.

Though almost all crops would probably suffer if the drought continues, some will be more affected than others because they demand more water. Also, some will see bigger price increases than others because they are market basket mainstays for which there aren't easy alternatives.

Richards' study found that nine popular items - avocados, berries, broccoli, grapes, lettuce, melons, peppers, tomatoes and packaged salads - would see the biggest jumps in prices.

He predicted a possible 34% increase in the price of lettuce and a 28% increase for avocados. "People are the least price-sensitive when it comes to those items, and they’re more willing to pay what it takes to get them."

Other produce items expected to see higher prices include broccoli (as much as 22%), grapes (21%), tomatoes (19%), melons (18%), berries and peppers (14%) and packaged salad mixes (13%).

Richards' study is based on the assumption that the continuing drought would result in the fallowing of 500,000 to 1 million acres of farmland next year.

Produce prices are already rising, even without that worst-case scenario. According to the Labor Department's consumer price index, fruit and vegetable prices have increased almost 1% a month for the last two months.

All of California Is Now Under Drought Conditions, and That's Bad News for All of Us
Consumers will feel the effect soon as food prices are expected to skyrocket. April 30, 2014

For the first time in 15 years, all of the Golden State suffers from a water shortage, and while that's very bad for the region, it may also send food prices skyrocketing throughout the country.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly map of drought conditions produced jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Agriculture, and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says that the entire state suffers from conditions ranging from "abnormally dry" to "exceptional drought." The heavy-population centers all suffer from "extreme drought" or "exceptional drought." The latter designation, also known as a D4, being the most critical.

It has also been reported that all of the state's reservoir levels are low, with one, the San Antonio Reservoir, which is in Alameda County and serves the Bay Area, being essentially dry since winter. Other reservoirs are reported to be near half capacity, and others are at less than half capacity.

The drought is hitting the farm industry and its workers particularly hard. The Central Valley, one of the world's richest food-producing regions, is up against what geologists are calling the 500-year drought. Fresno County, the heart of the Central Valley's San Joaquin Valley farm belt-and the number one farming county in the nation-may lose up to a quarter of its orchards and fields this year for lack of water. Growers in Shasta Valley were expected to have only enough water to irrigate what equals a single irrigation on about half of their acreage.

The state's farmers will leave about 800,000 acres idle this year, according to estimates by the California Farm Water Coalition, which will negatively impact the state's entire economy. As a result, consumers can be expected to pay more at the grocery store for a wide range of staple foods. The Department of Agriculture warns that “major impacts from the drought in California have the potential to result in food price inflation above the historical average."

Schiff: We're Heading For A Crisis Worse Than 2007
By Peter Schiff / MoneyMorning.com / March 26, 2014

Washington is engaged in a massive 'campaign' to make Americans believe the economy is in recovery. But in reality the United States is at the brink of a devastating economic crash that will cause catastrophic market losses and impoverish millions.

"That's according to Peter Schiff, the best-selling author and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, who delivered his frightening warning to investors in a recent interview on CCTV.

"The problem with politicians is they don't want to level with the voters and tell them how bad the economy really is and what the cure for the disease is," Schiff said.

The "'disease" Schiff refers to is a toxic combination of our massive $17.2 trillion debt and the Fed's continued devaluing of the dollar through its controversial 7-year long "easing" program.

The Fed is currently purchasing $65 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds, a form of stimulus.

President Obama and like-minded politicians claim this stimulus has pushed the economy forward, boosting GDP and keeping inflation low.

But Schiff says "it's another lie."

Whole Eastern World Rebelling Against the Dollar -- Jim Willie
By: Greg Hunter / USA Watchdog.com / April 6, 2014

Financial newsletter writer Dr. Jim Willie thinks 2014 will be a pivotal year for the U.S. Dr. Willie says, 'We're going to end this year with no resemblance to the beginning. We spent a lot of years trying to hold this thing together. The whole system broke in 2007 and 2008 with the subprime mortgages. I was saying before that we've got the entire U.S. economy depending on the housing bubble and the mortgage finance bubble, and when that breaks, the system is going to break.

'In the following couple of years, it continued to break. What did we do? We went to zero percent interest rates and made it pretty clear it's forever. We did bond monetization, QE. I love QE, it makes it sound like CPR. It's death. It's hyper-monetary inflation. It's what Nazi Germany did ... it wrecked everything. These are desperation measures to hold it together because the system is broken.'

On gold and silver prices, Dr. Willie predicts, 'They are going to move it to $5,000 to $7,000 an ounce, and silver $200 to $400 per ounce.'

"In closing, Dr. Willie predicts, 'I think you are going to see, by the end of this year, that the dollar is mortally wounded and Treasury bonds regarded as toxic paper.'"

Rabbis Issue United Call to Establish Synagogue on Temple Mount
By: Moshe Cohen / Israel National News.com / March 30, 2014

"A wide ranging group of rabbis from the National Religious camp have written a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advocating the construction of a synagogue on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

Among the rabbis are those considered religiously 'conservative' and who have avoided making public calls for prayers on the Temple Mount until now--

"Also signing the letter were prominent Religious Zionist figures Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Eliyahu Zinni, and Rabbi Haim Cohen.

"The letter was also signed by many professors, educators, and professionals; it was authored and delivered by the Amutat Yishai organization, which advocates building a synagogue on an area of the Temple Mount that many rabbis agree Jews are allowed to ascend to.

"The fiercest opposition to the proposal in the past has come from Muslim authorities and Islamist groups, most notably the Islamic Waqf authority which administers the site. Muslim extremists regularly issue threats against Jewish visits to the Mount, and Jews are forbidden from praying at their holiest site by authorities in order to avoid offending Muslim sensibilities in the Al Aqsa Mosque complex.

"Late last year a bill was tabled pushing for equal prayer rights for Jews on the Temple Mount -- sparking fury from Muslim MKs."

UN states it has the 'same goals' as the Vatican
May 09, 2014, VATICAN CITY (Reuters)

In an interview published Wednesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said the United Nations and the Holy See have the "same goals and ideas."

The UN chief, who is to meet Pope Francis on Friday, said he was grateful to be able to meet the Holy Father for a second time (the two first met in April last year). This year, he noted they will meet "in the context" of a summit of heads of UN agencies taking place this week in Rome.

"I thank him for the time that he will dedicate to us," he said, according to the Italian newspaper Il Velino. "The United Nations and the Holy See have the same goals and the same ideas," he added.

Secretary-General, at New York Ecumenical Service, Stresses Special Role of Religious Leaders as Standard-bearers of Reason, Respect

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's remarks at the Church of the Holy Family in New York:

Whether priest or lama, rabbi or imam, you are all standard-bearers of reason and respect within and among religious traditions.

People everywhere look to religious leaders for guidance, support and direction. We need religious leaders in all parts of the world to help lead the way in promoting tolerance, seeking forgiveness, healing divisions and building mutual understanding and mutual respect. This pursuit is rooted in all faith traditions and it is needed now more than ever. We need voices of moderation and calm everywhere to make themselves heard...

Almost 50 years ago, Pope Paul VI delivered a sermon here at this very ecumenical service. He said, "The work of peace is not restricted to one religious belief, it is the work and duty of every human person, regardless of ... religious conviction."

That remains our mission - our obligation - and our calling. Lastly, I sincerely hope that under the leadership of the President of the General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, we will be united and able to address all the challenges we are facing. Let us strive together to advance our common humanity and shared future.

Faith-based Organizations Can Help Deliver United Nations Message for Renewed Cooperation to Tackle Climate Change, Other Crises, Secretary-General Says

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's message, delivered by Under-Secretary-General Vijay Nambiar, Chef de Cabinet, to the Ninth Annual Orthodox Prayer Service for the United Nations Community, presided over by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in New York, today, 26 October:

I send greetings to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and to all the participants in this annual prayer service.

As a secular organization, the United Nations has no common religion. But as humanitarians we, too, like all major faiths, work on behalf of the weak, the disadvantaged, and those who are vulnerable to violence, disease and disaster. And we share the same ethical foundation: a belief in the inherent dignity of all individuals.

If ever there were a time for unity among religions and peoples, it is now. We must be united in purpose, united in action ...

Let us work together for a safer, healthier more equitable future for all.

Bill Clinton: An Alien Invasion "May Be The Only Way To Unite This Increasingly Divided World"
By Michael Snyder, on April 6th, 2014

Would contact with a race of aliens be enough to fully unite humanity? Would it cause all of us to drop our bitter quarrels and come together as one? That is apparently what former president Bill Clinton believes. On Jimmy Kimmel Live the other night, Clinton said that an alien invasion "may be the only way to unite this increasingly divided world of ours". He also said that "if we were visited someday, I wouldn't be surprised". So does he know something that the rest of us don't? And why is he sharing this now? In recent years, the general public has been primed for the possibility of contact with aliens. There has been an endless barrage of books, movies, television shows and video games that portray human contact with extraterrestrials. It has gotten to the point where even some of the most hardcore skeptics in our society seem quite eager to embrace the possibility of extraterrestrial contact. Is this a good thing, or could the truth be that we are being set up for a great deception of historic proportions?

Appearances by major political figures on late night talk shows are usually highly scripted. So it seemed odd that Jimmy Kimmel would ask Bill Clinton about UFOs. Is that something that Clinton actually wanted to talk about? When Kimmel asked his questions, Clinton seemed quite prepared with his answers. Among other things, he told Kimmel that "the differences among people of Earth would seem small" if we were to be suddenly confronted with contact by extraterrestrials...

The former president said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Wednesday that an invasion by extraterrestrials might be the best way to unite the fractious countries of our war-wracked planet.

"It may be the only way to unite this increasingly divided world of ours ... think about all the differences among people of Earth would seem small if we feel threatened by a space invader. That's the whole theory of 'Independence Day,'" he said, referring to the hit 1996 sci-fi disaster flick.

"Everybody gets together and makes nice."

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

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