United Nations Declaration (Articles 1 - 30):

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Incoming UN chief names three women to top posts

Incoming UN chief names three women to top posts
Nigerian Minister of the Environment Amina Mohammed, seen in 2015, will be the UN's number two official (AFP Photo/Mireya ACIERTO)

Sustainable Development
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)


The Declaration of Human Freedom

Archangel Michael (Via Steve Beckow), Feb. 19, 2011

Every being is a divine and eternal soul living in a temporal body. Every being was alive before birth and will live after death.

Every soul enters into physical life for the purpose of experience and education, that it may, in the course of many lifetimes, learn its true identity as a fragment of the Divine.

Life itself is a constant process of spiritual evolution and unfoldment, based on free choice, that continues until such time as we realize our true nature and return to the Divine from which we came.

No soul enters life to serve another, except by choice, but to serve its own purpose and that of the Divine from which it came.

All life is governed by natural and universal laws which precede and outweigh the laws of humanity. These laws, such as the law of karma, the law of attraction, and the law of free will, are decreed by God to order existence and assist each person to achieve life’s purpose.

No government can or should survive that derives its existence from the enforced submission of its people or that denies its people their basic rights and freedoms.

Life is a movement from one existence to another, in varied venues throughout the universe and in other universes and dimensions of existence. We are not alone in the universe but share it with other civilizations, most of them peace-loving, many of whom are more advanced than we are, some of whom can be seen with our eyes and some of whom cannot.

The evidence of our five senses is not the final arbiter of existence. Humans are spiritual as well as physical entities and the spiritual side of life transcends the physical. God is a Spirit and the final touchstone of God’s Truth is not physical but spiritual. The Truth is to be found within.

God is one and, because of this, souls are one. They form a unity. They are meant to live in peace and harmony together in a “common unity” or community. The use of force to settle affairs runs contrary to natural law. Every person should have the right to conduct his or her own affairs without force, as long as his or her choices do not harm another.

No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give.

Every person shall retain the ability to think, speak, and act as they choose, as long as they not harm another. Every person has the right to choose, study and practice the education and career of their choice without interference, provided they not harm another.

No one has the right to kill another. No one has the right to steal from another. No one has the right to force himself or herself upon another in any way.

Any government that harms its citizens, deprives them of their property or rights without their consent, or makes offensive war upon its neighbors, no matter how it misrepresents the situation, has lost its legitimacy. No government may govern without the consent of its people. All governments are tasked with seeing to the wellbeing of their citizens. Any government which forces its citizens to see to its own wellbeing without attending to theirs has lost its legitimacy.

Men and women are meant to live fulfilling lives, free of want, wherever they wish and under the conditions they desire, providing their choices do not harm another and are humanly attainable.

Children are meant to live lives under the beneficent protection of all, free of exploitation, with unhindered access to the necessities of life, education, and health care.

All forms of exploitation, oppression, and persecution run counter to universal and natural law. All disagreements are meant to be resolved amicably.

Any human law that runs counter to natural and universal law is invalid and should not survive. The enactment or enforcement of human law that runs counter to natural and universal law brings consequences that cannot be escaped, in this life or another. While one may escape temporal justice, one does not escape divine justice.

All outcomes are to the greater glory of God and to God do we look for the fulfillment of our needs and for love, peace, and wisdom. So let it be. Aum/Amen.


Pope Francis arrives for historic first US visit

Pope Francis arrives for historic first US visit
Pope Francis laughs alongside US President Barack Obama upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, on September 22, 2015, on the start of a 3-day trip to Washington (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)


Today's doodle in the U.S. celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech on its 50th anniversary (28 Aug 2013)

'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'

'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'
The White House released this image, of the building colored like the rainbow flag, on Facebook following the supreme court’s ruling. Photograph: Facebook

Same-sex marriage around the world

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

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Merkel says Turkey media crackdown 'highly alarming'

Merkel says Turkey media crackdown 'highly alarming'
Reporters Without Borders labels Erdogan as 'enemy of press freedom'

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Court orders Fed to release bailout documents

Reuters, Grant McCool and Jonathan Stempel, Fri Mar 19, 2010 5:25pm EDT

Then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy Geithner in the Treasury Department Cash Room, October 14, 2008. (Credit: Reuters/Hyungwon Kang)

(Reuters) - In a significant victory for news media, a federal appeals court said the Federal Reserve must disclose records on emergency lending programs to banks bailed out by the government in the financial crisis.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the Fed to release details of programs it adopted starting in late 2007 to shore up the financial system and forestall a complete meltdown of global financial markets.

Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, and News Corp's Fox News Network sought details of the central bank's actions under the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which requires government agencies to make documents public.

The Fed argued against disclosure, citing an exemption that it said lets federal agencies keep secret various trade secrets and commercial or financial information.

It also said allowing disclosure of participants in the programs and the collateral they posted could cause "competitive and reputational harm," perhaps triggering bank runs, and impede the central bank's ability "to effectively manage the current, and any future, financial crisis."

Writing for a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs said, however, that to give the Fed power to deny disclosure because it thinks it best to do so "would undermine the basic policy that disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective of.

"If the Board believes such an exemption would better serve the national interest," he added, "it should ask Congress to amend the statute."

Bloomberg had won its case at the district court level, while Fox News had lost its case. The Second Circuit threw out the ruling against Fox, and ordered a lower court judge to decide what materials must be disclosed.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said the rulings will help shed light on the Fed, which he called "the least transparent institution" in government, as lawmakers debate how far to overhaul the financial regulatory system.

"We don't know how much was shoveled out of the back door of the Federal Reserve Board and to whom," Dorgan, chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, said in a telephone interview. "Finally, we will be able to get some sense of who got the money, some of the biggest institutions in the country, how much and how they used it."

FED DISAPPOINTED, MEDIA PLEASED

Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith said the central bank is reviewing the decision and weighing options for reconsideration or appeal. An appeal could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Clearing House Association, a group of major U.S. and European banks, said it was disappointed with the decision. It said the court did not reach the "fundamental issue" of whether disclosure would have competitively harmed banks, general counsel Paul Saltzman said in a statement.

"I don't think it will be do or die for the Fed's ability to put emergency programs into place," said Robert Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Cumberland Advisors Inc in Sarasota, Florida, and a former Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta head of research. "It will force the Fed to be more forthright and transparent to the public about the terms and conditions."

Bloomberg sued to obtain records of Fed actions to shore up the financial system starting in late 2007, including the March 2008 sale of Bear Stearns Cos to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

It sought information about loans conducted at the Fed's discount window, the primary dealer credit facility, the term securities lending facility and the term auction facility.

The discount window is the program through which the 12 Federal Reserve Banks make short-term loans.

"We're completely thrilled about the decision," said Amanda Bennett, executive editor of projects and investigations at Bloomberg News, in an interview.

"The transparency of Federal Reserve Board decision making is something the American public has a right to," she said. "The argument that it could harm the market is largely theoretical. Markets get in trouble not when people know too much about what is going on, but know too little."

In a separate statement, Kevin Magee, an executive vice president of Fox Business Network, said, "We are pleased that this information is finally, and rightfully, going to be made available to the American public."

Reuters is part of a group of media organizations that submitted a brief to the appeals court supporting Bloomberg.

PLAUSIBLE DEFENSE

The media's principal argument included that the public interest in disclosure trumped any potential risk of harm to borrowers, and that the identity of those borrowers was itself not confidential.

Jacobs wrote that the Fed and Clearing House set forth "plausible, and forcefully made" arguments that disclosure "would harm the banks that borrowed (by disclosing their prior distress) and the banking system as a whole (because banks under stress may hesitate to seek relief or rescue)."

But he said the disclosure sought would not cause Federal Reserve banks "the kind of harm contemplated by the 'privileged or confidential' requirement" of an exemption from FOIA."

"It's important information for the markets to know," said Kenneth Thomas, a Miami banking consultant who said he has made several hundred FOIA requests to the Fed alone. "When we know what the Fed did in this case, market participants will have a better idea what the Fed will and won't do the next time."

Eisenbeis, the former Atlanta Fed official, said banks "might be more resistant to participate in some programs if they know their participation is going to be made public."

But he added: "If your firm is in trouble, and going to the Fed is your last opportunity to get out, you'll do it."

Bennett said Bloomberg called the Fed after Friday's decision came down to again request the material sought. "There is still a great deal to be learned," she said.

Clearing House members include the ABN Amro Bank NV unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Bank of America Corp, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan, UBS AG, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co.

The cases are Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System et al and Fox News Network LLC v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Nos. 09-4083, 09-4097 and 09-3795.

(Reporting by Grant McCool and Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Andre Grenon, Steve Orlofsky and Matthew Lewis)

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