Category Archives: Religion

the Rapture index

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 Rapture Index, getcha rapture on!

This looks to be about as accurate as those “arrival/departure” listings at airports, but it’s better than nothing. Until I get my own set of finely-calibrated Swiss stigmata, I’ll just have to bookmark The Rapture Index, your handy-dandy guide to the approaching End of Days.

Today’s forecast is for continued instability, with an expected average Rapture Score of 158 with lows of 151 and highs of 159, which reminds me of the Hard Drug Report (was it Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie?); for the weekend flurries of cocaine are forecast, with highs where you think you’re superman and lows where you’re depressed and impotent.

Let’s go to the snapshot, shall we:

You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we’re moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture. 

Rapture Index of 85 and Below: Slow prophetic activity 
Rapture Index of 85 to 110:     Moderate prophetic activity 
Rapture Index of 110 to 145:    Heavy prophetic activity  
Rapture Index above 145:        Fasten your seat belts 
I begin to like this guy. He may be a religious nutter, but he's
the kind of religious nutter I'd like to have by my side at the end.

2003 High 177  2004 High 157 2005 High 161 2006 High 159
2003 Low  133  2004 Low  135 2005 Low  143 2006 Low  151

Record High 182        Record Low 57 
24 Sept 01              12 Dec 93

COMMENTS ON ACTIVE CATEGORIES
  02 Occult     The lack of activity has downgraded this category.
 03 Satanism:     Satanism is reported to be flourishing in Russia 
04 Unemployment:     The US job market shows signs of improvement.
05 Inflation:     Higher inflation has rattled the stock market. 
06 Interest Rates:     Federal Reserve raises the core interest rate to 4.75%
07 The Economy     The economies of The U.S. and Japan show healthy growth.
08 Oil Supply/Price     The price of oil climbs to around $70 per barrel.
09 Debt and Trade:     The U.S. federal and trade deficits hit new highs.
11 Leadership     During the past few weeks, several end-time categories have
 become locked in a holding patern.

CNN lays the smackdown on Israeli flack

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I may just have to start watching again. They haven’t had any steel in their broadcasts since the Clinton administration. God knows how I missed this, because it’s a week old, but it’s a beautiful example of the mainstream media actually demanding an explanation and not settling for flackery. This is not a talking head, ladies and gentlemen, this is a reporter!

Coexist

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Coexist

From Tima, via Cold Desert. In Lebanese war blogger news, Ahmad reports that there have been attempts to hack into his blog account; it’s quite obvious that, since the enemies of truth can’t win with logic or facts, they’ve resorted to crime.

article o’ the day: Israel and the art of sophistry

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John McCarthy, yoFrom John McCarthy in the Independent, which I really should read more often. Why in god’s name the home page is made to look as trashy as it is, is a mystery. If it didn’t look so US Weekly, I might actually read the damn thing.

I was pointed to the article over on the BoJo flamewar by Wobbly. And you thought they were extinct, didn’t you?

In any case, there is an interesting amount of debate going on in the press, and this is an article I keep coming back to. Well worth reading, if only for the information that Israel kidnapped two Palestinians the day before the kidnapping of Corporal Shalit, the official excuse for the current war.

In Tony Blair‘s speech in Los Angeles last Tuesday, he said he was sickened by what was happening in Lebanon but went on to effectively absolve Israel of responsibility for the devastation there. He urged: “Just for a moment, put yourself in Israel’s place.”

In that one phrase, our Prime Minister summed up everything that is wrong with our policy for the Middle East.

And before you accuse the author of mindless anti-Semitism and knee-jerk pro-Palestinianism, check the bio notes:

John McCarthy was kidnapped in Lebanon in 1986 and held for five years

John McCarthy makes the cover of Time

Israeli pilots deliberately ignoring orders to hit civilian targets

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Lebanese flag, as redrawn lately 

Israeli pilots ‘deliberately miss’ targets. From the Observer.

Fliers admit aborting raids on civilian targets as concern grows over the reliability of intelligence

Inigo Gilmore at Hatzor Air Base, Israel
Sunday August 6, 2006
The Observer
At least two Israeli fighter pilots have deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon as disquiet grows in the military about flawed intelligence, The Observer has learnt. Sources say the pilots were worried that targets had been wrongly identified as Hizbollah facilities.
…
As international outrage over civilian deaths grows, the spotlight is increasingly turning on Israeli air operations. The Observer has learnt that one senior commander who has been involved in the air attacks in Lebanon has already raised concerns that some of the air force’s actions might be considered ‘war crimes’.

The tide is definitely turning. The BoJo flamewar is over, a ceasefire is on the table, France is ready to send in peacekeepers, and even Harper admits that Israel may have been a bit “extra-vigorous”.