H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 38, in Today's News 08.31.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. It certainly would be interesting to know the identities of the directors and brain trust behind the swine-flu-scare campaign.

Whoever they are, they have thought this effort out very carefully. They devised a detailed schedule, thought through all the possible objections, made assignments to many key personnel, and have issued an almost daily stream of media releases on various aspects of their campaign.

Today's media release is designed to convince the public that there can be no substitute for the directors' precious swine-flu vaccine. The Tribune Newspapers carried an article today by one Shari Roan, "Misuse of flu treatment alarming."

The lead paragraph: "Indiscriminate use of anti-viral medications to prevent and treat influenza could ease the way for drug-resistant strains of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, to emerge, public health officials warn -- making the fight against a pandemic that much harder."

In other words, if you take a medication other than the vaccine you will actually be making the pandemic worse!!!! [These people have no shame. They will use any argument, true or false, to stampede the public into getting their shots.]

Also note: the long-expected announcement that the swine flu virus has mutated to something more dangerous is hinted at in this release. The public officials' warning actually lays the basis for blaming the public (!) for a mutation. [They have no shame.]

******

President Alvaro Uribe of Columbia is playing his part and earning some much-needed brownie points from the cryptocracy. His office announced today that he has swine flu, and that they are contacting other South American governments whose leaders attended a summit last week with the Colombian leader.

The idea here is to persuade the Latin American governments to shape up and be an enthusiastic part of the panic campaign.

Get this paragraph from the Associated Press, "Uribe, 57, is not considered a high-risk patient and will continue working from his computer, officials said. Public Health director Giberto Alvarez said there is no need to put Uribe in isolation."

So, in other words he is not seriously ill, but nonetheless all the South American governments are told to be on alert!!

No details are given on the illness. Is it sniffles or is it more involved? Also, it is not revealed how they know it is swine flu; it is just asserted.

So, you can be forgiven, if you believe that this is all a sham, designed to continue the stream of warnings that everyone, that is everyone, should get their vaccinations. 

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 37, in Today's News 08.28.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. We are now at the stage in the scare campaign when reporters and editors begin falling over themselves to please the cryptocracy and the directors of the swine flu panic.

Today the Associated Press released an article, "H1N1 flu on rise on college campuses." In this article we learn:

--Georgia Tech has had 150 suspected cases (out of 20,000 students)[less than 1%].

--University of Kansas has had almost 200 students with flulike symptoms. [Even a smaller percentage of the student body.]

--University of Alabama had more than 50 [51?] cases of flu reported.

--Texas Christian University had [a whopping] 10 students diagnosed. 

And that's it. That's what justifies a headline about swine flu on the rise on college campuses! A more accurate headline would have been 'normal flu rates at four colleges.'

The reportage is ridiculous because:

--No actual cases of swine flu have been reported!!! All we get is 'suspected cases', 'flulike symptoms,' and cases of everyday flu.

--The normal rate of flu at the beginning of the school year is not reported and compared to this year's. 

--There is no reportage about whether anyone actually became seriously ill, or whether all this is just sniffles.

Expect more 'reports' like this one in the coming days. Independent investigative journalism is a thing of the past. Now journalism is simply a reporting of what the cryptocracy and their employees want reported.

*******

The scare campaign directors took a little longer than expected to try to scare the daylight out of pregnant women. 

To enhance and give credibility to the directors' warning, the directors brought in a spokesperson for the American College of Nurse-Midwives to say pregnant women should get the vaccine. Presumably women would be more likely to believe someone from an organization with that name, who says, "By not getting the flu yourself, you are going to protect your children better."

In other words, 'you are being a horrible mother who doesn't care for your kids if you don't get the flu vaccine; and moreover, your kids will be infected with this terrible flu.' Pure demagogy and scare/panic tactics.

The delay in the announcement was probably due to finding a suitable spokesperson and then briefing her on the allegedly dire consequences for pregnant women to not receive the vaccine.

Health Care, in Today's News 08.27.09

Health Care. Is there anything that can shake the leadership of American Catholicism out of its lethargy?

One of the great Church contributions to humanity, compassionate health care, is under unprecedented attack. The cryptocracy is doing everything it can to replace compassionate health care with rationing, cost-cutting and government intervention.

Are the Church leaders going to say nothing except 'don't fund abortions'? (Even their words on abortion imply that the Obama legislation is okay if no funding for abortion is included.)

The virtual silence of the leaders of American Catholicism in response to the attack on compassionate health care has to be one of the Church's greater scandals. One looks for a way to shake them and shout in their ear that a proud legacy of the Church is in danger and that the world's people and the faithful will suffer accordingly.

Today's Wall Street Journal has an opinion piece, "Obama's Health Rationer-in-Chief," by Betsy McCaughey, the chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. McCaughey's article summarizes the views of President Obama's health advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. (He is the brother of Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, and the son of an Israeli terrorist.)

McCaughey's discussion is informative and needs to be read and studied in the widest possible audience. 

She warns, "Dr. Emanuel is part of a school of thought that redefines a physician's duty, insisting that it includes working for the greater good of society instead of focusing only on a patient's needs."

She notes that Emanuel believes, "True reform must include redefining doctors' ethical obligations." [!!!] "...Dr Emanuel blames the hippocratic oath for the 'overuse' of medical care." [Emphasis added.]

"In numerous writings, Dr. Emanuel chastises physicians for thinking only about their patient's needs...Dr. Emanuel believes doctors should serve two masters, the patient and society, and that medical students should be trained 'to provide socially sustainable cost-effective-care.' "

"Dr. Emanuel argues that to make such decisions [about medical treatment], the focus cannot be only on the worth of the individual. He proposes adding the communitarian perspective to ensure that medical resources will be allocated in a way that keeps society going..."

Do the leaders of American Catholicism care about this? Dr. Emanuel and the Obama administration are pushing to make money the criterion for providing health care, instead of the present criterion that every single human life has value and should receive appropriate medical care. The implementation of Dr. Emanuel plan's will make the government the decision-maker with rationing of health care becoming a sure way to reduce costs. The government thus becomes God-like with the power to make life and death decisions.

Do the Church leaders recognize any of this as being the same themes that the Church has faced from Christ's time throughout history? Instead of Christ's message, his opponents, then and now, have proposed materialism (money) instead of spiritual meaning, becoming like God instead of surrendering to God, consideration of human predicaments according to rules (traditions in Jesus' time) instead of compassionate love for all, etc, etc.

This attack is BIG. It requires from Catholicism a mobilization of the faithful, an education of the faithful into what is at stake, a drive of near-constant prayer, actions that demonstrate the seriousness and power of the millions of the faithful, and so on.

Will the Bishops and the spokesmen for Catholic organizations wake up in time?

The moment is now to bombard heaven with prayers for the enlightenment of those who have the responsibility to defend Catholic legacy.

General Motors, in Today's News 08.27.09

General Motors. General Motors cars placed exactly zero (nada, nothing, zip) cars in the list of the top ten cars bought in the 'cash for clunkers' program. In addition, General Motors sold about a staggering 14% of all cars bought in the program.

Interpreting the figures, one has to conclude that virtually no one wants GM products.

And the central planners in the Obama administration think they can solve this problem with a flurry of legal, administrative and cost-cutting machinations! Fat chance!!

The only solution to GM's problems is the same as it was before the Obama intervention: produce autos that the public wants.

The only way to produce same is hard and imaginative work over years and years. Do the central planners and the Obama administration have the patience (and the money) to see it through? We will see.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 36, in Today's News 08.26.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Yesterday the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology projected that one-half of the American public could be infected by swine flu. They stated that this number was not a prediction, only a projection.

Today, newspaper articles appeared that stated the one-half projection as fact, or as close to fact as one can be. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared on NBC's Today show as well throwing around as many frightening numbers as possible.

This is how the cryptocracy works. They have a 'scientific' study announce some wild figures as a projection. Then the media and various spokespeople ignore the nuance and describe the situation in as terrifying terms as they can get away with.

All this for a virus that is not serious at all.

Sebelius' main purpose on the Today show was to defuse any school closings for flu reasons. Earlier the flu-scare-campaign directors had beat the drums for closing schools at the first sign of sniffles. Then someone told them that they were setting up a social catastrophe by having kids home and parents home to look after them. The country would have come to a halt for most of the fall and/or winter.

So now the directors are having to re-cover ground to make sure no one follows their original instructions. Being in this situation is yet another stupidity by the directors of the scare campaign.  

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 35, in Today's News 08.25.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. The scare campaign directors are bringing out the big guns as their drive prepares for the fall launch.

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued a report Monday which projects as many as 90,000 deaths from H1N1. (!!!!) They also think that it is 'plausible' that 60 to 120 million Americans - 20% to 40% of the U.S. population - could become infected. [!!!] And get this: up to 1.8 million needing hospital care.

As with the calculations from the Center for Disease Control, no basis for the estimate is given. For all we know, they just picked the numbers out of the air.

Again, all this is for a virus that is not very serious. Even the panel report admits this. Quoting from a WSJ article on the report today, "As many as half of the U.S. population could be infected, including many who wouldn't develop any symptoms [!!!!], the panel said, and the vast majority of those infected wouldn't become seriously ill." [!!!!!!] [Emphasis added.]

This enormous and unprecedented swine flu campaign had to be planned a long time ago with assignments and deadlines handed out to the various players. Any one who has participated in the writing of a report in committee knows it takes far longer than this panel took to create a report. And so they must have started well before the swine flu campaign was announced.

******

The following one-paragraph story came out of Atlanta today. Atlanta is the home of the CDC and one of the central planning sites for the scare campaign.

"It will likely be Thanksgiving before a significant number of Americans who get the swine flu vaccine are protected, health officials said Monday. Roughly 50 million doses of vaccine are expected to be available by mid-October. But for those who get initial doses right away, that will only mark the beginning of the process that will take five or more weeks."

This is a major screw-up by the directors of the scare campaign. They planned for months this fall's big drive to panic everyone into getting their vaccination. And now, guess what, there won't be enough vaccine. The cryptocracy leaders can only shake their heads in disbelief at the incompetence of those planning the campaign. The planners are in danger of undermining all their efforts by not having enough vaccine. What a joke these people are!!!

Also, did any of them think through the enormity of the administrative task of keeping track who has received the first shot and is ready for a second? Someone gets a shot and five weeks later when it is time for a second, this person may be hundreds of mile away. Who keeps track of this and authorizes the second shot? 

And what about the person who gets a seasonal flu shot and then shows up for their second swine flu shot believing they already had the swine shot number one. Someone will have to records of this person's vaccination history, and someone will have to spend time convincing him or her that he or she needs shot number one.

Or what the person who has the first shot and then shows up a week later for the second. Someone will have to have this person's records handy, and then someone will have to explain the whole procedure to him or her, wasting precious time.

This is a nightmare that only a bureaucrat sitting behind a desk could dream up.

Obama, in Today's News 08.25.09

Obama. Jonathan Weisman has a commentary in today's Wall Street Journal on the controversy created by Attorney General Halder's appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate CIA handling of terror suspects. His lead paragraph is of interest:

"President Barack Obama is battling to save his health-care plan, fortify the war effort in Afghanistan, restart Middle East peace negotiations, lay the groundwork for sanctions against Iran, close the Guantanamo Bay prison, bring the U.S. into global climate-change effort, and end a global recession."

Weisman's point is that Obama has enough on his plate already without the Halder controversy. He quotes influential people in government to the same effect.

Weisman's list is a little padded with some not-so-important tasks. But the picture he paints is accurate. Obama faces far too many problems to make progress on any of them. Plus his credibility among the American public is plummeting.

Axelrod, Emanuel, Summers and the rest of Team Obama better get moving if they want this presidency to float. The next few months will be quite interesting!!!

Bernanke, in Today's News 08.25.09

Bernanke. Wall Street Journal page one headline: "Obama to Reappoint Bernanke as Fed Chief."

The Obama team was decidedly against reappointment as of a couple of months ago. They put great pressure on Bernanke to join their team, or go. And now they commit to continuing with him.

That means that Bernanke may have made some deal to do as Obama wants. If so we will never know the details. Another explanation that is probably more likely is the Obama team may have decided they do not need another controversy, given all the crises and problems they face from Afghanistan to health care.

Health Care, in Today's News 08.24.09

Health Care. The fight is pretty much over on the health care legislation. The proponents have thrown in the towel. The battle is now about a rear-guard action to somehow slip in some basic step that will get the ball rolling on cost-cutting and government intervention as a basis for health care.

Senator Joe Lieberman, who speaks for the bank owners as well as anyone, appeared on one of the weekend talk shows to say that Obama tried valiantly to fix health care, "...but he took it on at a very difficult time that was not of his making. In other words, we're in a recession."

Senator Richard Lugar agreed, saying, "I would advise the president that the bringing up of the health-care situation in the midst of recession, the unemployment problems that Sen. Lieberman described, was a mistake. And therefore he ought to postpone the decision." !!!

The cryptocracy mis-calculated. They thought that the crisis atmosphere created by them in the economy would be a good time to change health care. After all their standard operation procedure is to create a crisis and then profit from it, by making changes they want and pocketing the profit. They figured people would be more amenable to change in the middle of a crisis.

They figured wrong. The whole thing tended to backfire on them. The public became better educated about what was really occurring and decided to do something about it.

So, the cryptocracy is retreating to regroup their forces for another day.

But, beware of the last minute maneuvers to get some part of Obama's program passed. Listen to Lieberman: "There's no reason we have to do it all now, but we do have to get started. And I think the place to start is cost, health delivery reform and insurance market reforms."

In other words, Lieberman thinks the place to start is by passing the entire Obama program. But, it's just words at this point. He is just setting the table for the effort to salvage something.

Obama will not have much time to devote to saving his health care legislation with Afghanistan blowing up in his face.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 34, in Today's News 08.21.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. One of the underlying aims of the ridiculous swine flu scare campaign came to light today.

The Associated Press released an article today by Lauran Neergaard titled "Children, parents called key to curb flu." The lead paragraph: "New research says the best way to protect society's most vulnerable from the flu is to vaccinate school age children and their parents."

"But Thursday's study, in the journal Science, says vaccinating students should be a priority every year [!!!!!!] because school-age children are influenza's prime spreaders and their parents are the virus' bridge to the rest of the community." [Emphasis added.]

The cryptocracy's goal all along in the scare campaign has been to accustom the population to receive 'vaccination' shots regularly without protest. What better way to train the public than to get the kids and their young parents used to their annual shot. As they become older the ritual will spread throughout society.

One can only speculate on why this goal is so important to the cryptocracy. But, certainly with the advance in tranquilizing drugs it can not be far from their minds that they could sedate the entire population. A drugged population would be not be resistant to (they might even be 'happy' about) the plans of the world rulers.

*********

Today's segment of the population who received their orders on what to do in this fall's swine flu events was the institutes of higher learning. 

Again, someone higher up told the campaign directors that they had gone too far when they urged a couple of months ago that campuses should close at the first sign of flu. Now they say students should be isolated and campuses left open.

In their usual arrogant way they neglect to mention that this orientation is a change. Nor do they explain why the change occurred. They can't explain, of course, because if they did, it would give the whole secret game away.

What segment of the population will the campaign directors target tomorrow? Surprisingly, they haven't yet attempted in the current instructions to scare the daylights out of pregnant women.  

Health Care, in Today's News 08.20.09

Health Care. The absence of Catholic spokesmen and a Catholic point of view in the debates over health care continues to be amazing and scandalous.

The Bishops seem to limit themselves to making comments and proposals about abortion. Of course this is worthy, but far, far from being an adequate intervention into an important national debate that affects all Catholic faithful.

One Catholic contribution to the discussion is worth reading because it is so awful. Bishop Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa has composed a letter to his diocese, Voice Your Concern Over Health Care Reform, which then appeared on the Catholic News Agency web site.

On and on Bishop Nickless goes about whether health care is a 'political right'. He pontificates on health care being a matter of prudential judgement. He discusses spreading the cost over the maximum number of people. If you can work yur way through it, he seems to be saying that Catholic health care is better, which is good but.....see below.

If this guy is a Bishop there is no wonder why the Church is doing so badly.

Nowhere does Bishop Nickless make reference to the legacy of the Church as the initiator and developer of compassionate health care. This several hundred year history of one of the Church's greatest contributions to humanity never makes it into his 'discussion,' except obliquely and certainly not specifically.

Moreover, Bishop Nickless seems oblivious to what is actually happening. The great idea of compassionate health care is being challenged and perhaps overthrown by the advocates of cost-cutting and government intervention as the basis for health care. In other words, all that the Church accomplished in the world of health care is about to be overturned.

Does Bishop Nickless care? Does he even know what the stakes are? Does he really think that his academic thoughts on whether health care is 'natural right' is of any use at all in a situation where action is required? Does he realize that the loss of compassionate health care will be a significant weakening of the Church?

Is Bishop Nickless the kind of Catholic priest that the seminaries are now producing? Are priests now supposed to be academic pontificators instead of being leaders of men? If so, Heaven help us!!!

Where are the Catholic clergy and spokesmen in the mold of Joan of Arc who know how to defend what the Church stands for? 

The Church will not survive in its present form unless someone steps forward and says enough to the attacks on the Church, its priesthood, its legacy, and its history.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 33, in Today's News 08.20.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Today is the day that the directors of the scare campaign around swine flu tell businesses what to do. 

They've toned it down from their directives a couple of months ago. Then they were talking about businesses going on crash programs to counter the threat and about the need to close businesses down.

Today, they are stressing that employees should stay home if they have the flu.

It must be remembered that this flu has caused very few problems. Most people experience mild symptoms. One victim with swine flu played a game of major league soccer!

It would seem that the scare campaign directors are relying heavily on the power of suggestion. For months they have been drumming away on the danger of swine flu. So it can be counted on that a certain number, who are afflicted, will talk themselves into being very sick, just because they believe that is what is supposed to happen. 

Without the publicity this bug would be no more noticed than every day flu.

*****

The planners of this campaign to stampede people into accepting vaccine shots without protest screwed up a bit. Government officials said today that only about 45 million doses of H1N1 vaccine will be available by October 15. This number is not nearly the amount that is needed to carry out the planners' ambitious goals.

In addition, the testing of the vaccine will not be completed until the time the first batch of the vaccine is available. This testing has been rushed, superficial, and completely inadequate. The public would be well-advised to avoid the shots.

Iraq, in Today's News 08.20.09

Iraq. Today's Wall Street Journal page one headline: 'Deadly Blasts Test Iraq's Grip, Explosions in Baghdad Kill 95, Challenging Security Amid U.S. Pullback From Cities"

First Afghanistan, now Iraq is slipping away from Obama. If he sticks to his campaign promises to withdraw U.S. forces he will surely face a humiliating defeat. He may anyway.

Times are not so great for Obama currently. He is on the verge of debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq, his national health plan has polarized the nation and is in danger of not passing, and then there is Hillary who, oh so subtly, is undermining him by talking about her issues.

By the way, falling into these messes is not what the cryptocracy expected from Obama. Team Obama better get moving very fast.

Health Care, in Today's News 08.19.09

Health Care. Mark Steyn has an excellent commentary on 'death panels' and 'panels' in general. If his themes were to be picked up in the health care debate, it would clarify the issues.

Today's Wall Street Journal has an opinion piece, "Obama Care Is All About Rationing," by Martin Feldstein, a member of the WSJ's board of contributors. The first half or so of the article is very good, but then he drops into how to reduce health spending.

From the good part: "The President has emphasized the importance of limiting services to 'health care that works'...That [approach] could morph over time into a cost-control mechanism of the sort proposed by Sen. Tom Daschle, Mr. Obama's original choice for White House health czar. Comparative effectiveness could become the vehicle for deciding whether each method of treatment provides enough of an improvement in health care to justify its cost."

He hits on the key aim of the cryptocracy, which is to somehow take away health decisions from each individual. The goal is to subordinate all health decisions to some sort of cost-cutting criterion. The article describes how England does it.

This goal is the sine qua non for the cryptocracy. They must have cost-cutting as the basis of medical treatment to ensure that their profits are not eaten away by rising health costs.

The cryptocracy will do almost anything to achieve this goal. There will be lots of maneuvering and compromises and demagogy in the next period of time over what the health legislation should look like. But the cryptocracy must somehow get its foot in the door on cost-cutting, and their employees in the national legislature will be doing their best to meet that need.

By the way, the cryptocracy cannot be too pleased with Obama right now. Instituting cost-cutting in health care was one of his principle assignments. He was selected by them to be the candidate in part because they thought he could pull it off. And now he has bungled it, perhaps irretrievably.

Also, it is interesting that the Democrats are leading the charge on cost-cutting, which is usually the Republicans' schtick. Of course, the Republicans could never have gotten this far with similar legislation. So, the cynical cryptocracy simply has the party with the most credibility currently carry out its dirty work.

Afghanistan, in Today's News 08.19.09

Afghanistan. The page one central headline in today's Wall Street Journal: "Taliban Besiege Kabul."

The media angle on this is: the Taliban is trying to disrupt the Afghan elections scheduled for tomorrow. This statement, of course, is true. But it also media spin to divert attention from the drastic change in the relationship of forces that has occurred in Afghanistan in recent weeks. The Taliban is now able to call the shots and the United States is rapidly losing control.

The first Merriam-Webster definition of "besiege", by the way, is: "to surround with enemy forces." [!!!!!]

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 32, in Today's News 08.17.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. The big push to stampeded school-age children and their young parents into lining up for their swine flu shots is about to begin.

There was a slight lull in the drumbeat for the swine-flu campaign recently as the directors re-thought some of their plans, such as keeping schools open instead of closing them. But now the drive to implement the plans begins.

The media is playing their assigned role by pouring out the news-articles on the school vaccination program. The Associated Press on August 17 issued a long article on the plans in various school districts. For example, "In South Carolina 'there will be a massive [!!] attempt to use schools as vaccination centers,' said state Superintendent Jim Rex." (Rex, by the way, will be receiving a load of brownie points from the swine-flu campaign directors for his enthusiastic support of their plans.) [Emphasis added.]

Of interest: "Some big states, like California, Ohio and Massachusetts, are focusing on those [prevention] steps and not on vaccination, because they don't know how much vaccine the federal government will send or when it will arrive." This is a major screw-up by the national directors of this campaign. They failed to ensure that there would be enough vaccine to carry out their ambitious plans.

Also, "Boston has decided against in-school vaccinations because an attempt at regular winter flu inoculation at a middle school last year flopped..." The Boston experience will be repeated in many places this fall. It is an unusual administrative task to keep track of who has had what shots, etc., and most schools are ill-equipped to perform this task successfully. Another screw-up.

Critical commentators on this campaign are calling this 'voluntary' vaccination program mandatory. And that is exactly the intent of those planning these vaccinations.

Every one is getting in on the act. The National Association of County and City Heath Officials ran an online seminar last week on how to run school flu vaccinations.

The August 18 Wall Street Journal ran a large spread on page D1 on swine flu. Here' an important quote: "'What we are seeing looks very much like seasonal flu to far,' Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said earlier this month. Most people suffer unpleasant but not life-threatening symptoms such as fever, body aches, sore throat and runny nose." And so here we have the same old conundrum: why is an unprecedented vaccination campaign being organized for something that is not serious at all? Is there something else involved? Like a planned effort to train the public to accept inoculations without question.

Also, the WSJ, interestingly, reports a public concern about the safety of the vaccine. A well-founded concern, one might add. The testing of this vaccine is late and superficial. (Another screw-up by the directors.) Among the worries about the vaccine include actually getting the flu from the vaccine, the presence of thimerosal which contains mercury, and a side-effect of Guillain-Barre' Syndrome. Hundreds of people developed this side-effect in the 1976 vaccine campaign.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny of the web site PandemicFluOnline.com recommends refusing the vaccination. She has a petition against the vaccine on her web site. Other material is also available.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 31, in Today's News 08.14.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Mark Anderson has an excellent article, "Forced Vaccination Program for Swine Flu in the Works?", in the August 24, 2009 edition of the American Free Press. The AFP may be accessed at www.americanfreepress.net.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny has started an informative and action-oriented web site on the swine flu fraud. Be sure to visit PandemicFluOnline.com.

Hillary Clinton, in Today's News 08.15.09

Hillary Clinton. Hillary seems to be calling in some of her chits. The August 15 edition of the Wall Street Journal has a long (~50 inches) powder-puff interview with Clinton by a member of the WSJ editorial board.

Obama's decline in popularity does not go unnoticed by Clinton. Her efforts at the moment are designed to ensure that her star rises as Obama's fades. Her 'diplomatic' tour of Africa and a high profile with the media are the hallmarks of this suddenly public Hillary.

Obama cannot be pleased by Hillary trying to steal the spotlight especially when he needs all the help he can get right now to bolster his standing in the public.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 30, in Today's News 08.14.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Prepare for the onslaught of celebrity victims of swine flu. Today we have Landon Donovan of the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. He said he tested positive for H1N1.

"I haven't felt that way in a game in a long time," Donovan told SI [SI.Com] "I just felt lethargic, slow. I didn't feel normal."

And so we see here that a person with swine flu was able to compete in a major soccer game. His top complaint seems to be that he "didn't feel normal."

Swine flu, you will recall, has been reason the cryptocracy has launched an unprecedented campaign to inoculate everyone. It doesn't add up, though. Why should everyone get inoculated against a bug that only makes you feel not normal?

Health Care, in Today's News 08.14.09

Health Care. In sorting out the current health care legislation it is important to remember that the cryptocracy favors almost anything so long as it cuts costs. The bank owners and others in the cryptocracy ruling structures deeply resent that all this money is being spent on health care when it could go to so much better use in their pockets.

The health care battle is not between the liberals and conservatives. As with most issues a false public consciousness prevents the citizenry from realizing the real enemy of health care. The true battle is between the overwhelming mass of the public versus the insignificantly small cryptocracy rulers. The true battle is between compassionate medical care and care ruled by cost-cutting.

The most amazing aspect of the current turmoil is the near complete absence of the voice of Catholicism. The Church was the original care-giver centuries ago. It was the force that built up the hospitals and compassionate health care for all the needy. 

And now here we are in the twenty-first century. One of the most significant debates on health care in a long time is occurring in the United States. The legislation under question will almost certainly accelerate the 'de-compassion-ization' of medical care. 

And the Church leaders have nothing to say? They don't feel an obligation to defend the legacy of compassionate health care that the Church brought into the world?

The Church leaders' silence, let alone not leading a campaign for compassionate health care, is a scandal. Their abstention will weaken the Church whether the leaders know it or not. Do the Church leaders feel any remorse? Probably not. They are so far gone, they don't even know that they should be doing something big right now. 

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 29, in Today's News 08.13.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Associated Press headline: "Swine flu on the rise for U.S. troops in Iraq". The article has twelve inches of copy!! It goes on and on about the details of swine flu in Iraq. 

And somewhere in the middle of the article: "'None [!!] have been significantly ill [!!]. None have required hospitalization or evacuation,' [!!] Col. Michael Eisenhower, chief of clinical operations in Iraq, told the Associated Press..." [Emphasis added.]

So, an illness that made no one significantly ill merits a major news article by the AP. It makes no sense.  Unless you know that the cryptocracy word is out to sensationalize any event that involves H1N1 flu.

Hillary Clinton, in Today's News 08.11.09

Hillary Clinton. The foot-in-mouth Secretary of State. Once again Clinton has shot off her mouth and created all kinds of problems for the White House. This time in the Congo where she brusquely dismissed a student questioner. 

Once again her handlers and the Presidential office have had to scurry around in order to sort her remarks out and give them a better spin. Plus special efforts have to be made to undo the damage.

Obama has frozen Clinton out of the big foreign policy issues that his administration is dealing with. Instead, they have Clinton running around the world on second and third rate issues, and even these she is messing up.

Obama must be peeved, but on some reflection he may realize that all the Clinton mis-steps will help him. Clinton is not part of the Obama team. She is only in the Secretary of State office to appease her and her husband. Obama would be quite happy to get rid of her.

And so the opportunity to remove her as a discredited diplomat grows with each Clinton gaff. How's the old saying go? Give her enough rope to hang herself.

Afghanistan, in Today's News 08.11.09

Afghanistan. This should be a good one! 

Today's Wall Street Journal: "The Afghan and U.S. governments have launched a new effort to enlist tribal fighters from many of the country's most violent provinces in the war against the Taliban..."

The United States military command believes this tactic worked in Iraq (dubious) and it certainly did not in Vietnam. The tactic has been tried before in Afghanistan with miserable results.

"The new initiative doesn't mark the first time U.S. and Afghan officials have tried to enlist the country's tribes in the fight against the Taliban. In a few instances, tribal militias were formed in specific parts of the country but were disbanded after they were deemed ineffective. In some cases, the militias turned to criminal activity or took part in tribal feuds." (!!)

And, so does the military command think it will be any different this time?

Sometimes one has to conclude that these people live in a dream world with no feel or understanding for the actual world in front of them.

As it stands, this latest enlisting of tribal fighters is nothing more than busy-work designed to look like something is being done. It shows the bankruptcy of the American intervention. 

Afghanistan, in Today's News 08.10.09

Afghanistan. Anyone who has followed the fiasco-in-the-making in Afghanistan will not be surprised by today's front page headline in the Wall Street Journal: "Taliban Now Winning".

First paragraph, "The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgents spiritual home."

"The coming deployments are...[General Stanley] McChrystal's strategy for Afghanistan, which puts a premium on safeguarding the Afghan population rather than hunting down militants."

Several comments:

---The U.S. cannot win this engagement. It has been eight years since the first shock-and-awe attack put the U.S. in Afghanistan. The relationship of forces has steadily declined for the U.S. influence ever since. Now the Taliban is mounting significant and sophisticated attacks resulting in a higher rate of casualties for the American forces. Anyone familiar with trend lines can see where all this is headed.

---The U.S. experience is a repeat of the Russian debacle in Afghanistan a couple of decades ago, only in a little slower motion.  Even the American command is aware of the parallel. "'How many people do you bring in before the Afghans say, 'You're acting like the Russians'?' said one senior military official..."

---The US will soon have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan; NATO has an additional 30,000 troops. The Afghan army is to be boosted to 240,000 from 135,000 and the Afghan police to 160,000 from 82,000. Estimates vary, but some think it will take 250,000 American troops to control the situation. Clearly this 'deployment' is rapidly becoming a Vietnam-type mobilization. Did the American people sign-on for this level of engagement?

---The talk about 'safeguarding the Afghan population' is code for protecting the current American-installed regime. The US also wants to keep Afghan citizens from joining the Taliban. This style of 'protection' was tried in Vietnam with disastrous results, which is just about what can be expected in Afghanistan.

---The 'safeguarding the Afghan population' is an indirect acknowledgement by the American command that the Taliban is reaching the Afghan population. Such a development is ominous indeed for the 'allies.'

---The US involvement in Afghanistan has nothing to do with American interests. The US is simply doing a favor to Israel by engaging Islam militants so that they will be less likely to attack Israel. The favor has now turned into a quite significant drain on funds and troops. One can witness the slow draining of American credibility as the war goes down the tubes.

---Israel, for its part, could care less about American prospects. It is quite happy to have the US engaged in Afghanistan and if the US stays engaged, all the better. Israel's interest are to keep any potential threats against Israel from actually exercising that threat.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 28, in Today's News 08.08.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Wall Street Journal today, page A5: "The federal government recommended Friday that schools close for swine-flu outbreaks only under limited circumstances..."

"Because children easily spread infections, keeping them out of school helps control contagion in the community. The benefits of sending kids home, however, have to be weighed against social disruption, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] said."

Someone among the scare campaign directors blinked. The realization has dawned that the CDC and government plans will cause massive societal problems. 

The flu campaign plans included closing of schools at the first sign of infection, closing of businesses for the same reason, screening people off planes, etc. Someone realized that this scenario was a social catastrophe in the making. Shutting down society is clearly not in the cryptocracy's interest and it is especially too steep a price to pay to condition the public to accept inoculations without resistance.

And so, the planners and the CDC backed off. "They [CDC] reversed course and urged schools to remain open." They now recommend that schools only be closed if there are many infected students. The decision to close will not be made by the affected school officials, but by authorities higher up in the command structure who better know what the CDC wants to do.

**********

The WSJ article has an interesting quote: "'If the virus does not increase in its severity, we are unlikely to recommend widespread or prolonged school closures,' said Thomas Farley, current New York City health commissioner..."

There is a pretty good chance that Farley is among the cognizzati for the scare campaign. When he makes a public statement that includes speculation that the virus will not morph into something more serious, you can be sure that the central planners of the campaign are thinking about not pulling the increased severity trigger.

We will see. But it is apparent that the central directors are re-thinking the campaign they so carefully planned. Cooler heads may have told them that they had gone too far.

General Motors, in Today's News 08.07.09

General Motors. General Motors has four cars in the top ten that are being traded-in under the 'cash for clunkers' program. It has one in the top ten being sold, and that one is number ten; that is, dead last. In other words, the public is dumping their GM cars and not replacing them with another GM car.

This data is what the central planners neglected to take into consideration in their drive to make GM profitable. The government board that is transforming General Motors figured that if they broke up GM, put in a new board, hired a no-nonsense board chairman, and instituted an 'accountability' system, then all would be well. GM would be making money in no time.

The only problem is the products produced by GM are, with a couple of exceptions, not desired by the public. The central planners can make all the managerial changes they want, but it still won't change this reality. 

The only way for GM to turn around is to bring out some autos that inspire the public. This unavoidable fact is exactly the same problem that the old GM faced. Solving the quality/inspiration problem will require years of work. New model cars just don't pop off the assembly line.

And so the bureaucrats great plans are heading toward achieving very little. They will try to get around their dilemma with advertising and public relations in an effort to change the opinions of the public about the GM products.

It won't work. The old GM tried to convince the public to buy their products in many, many different ways over the years. But the public was and is too smart for these smug bureaucrats. They have and will see through all the razzle-dazzle.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 27, in Today's News 08.06.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. The media reported last week that two shots of vaccines would be required this fall, one for seasonal flu and one for H1N1 (Swine) flu.

Now it turns out this projection wasn't quite correct. It will actually take THREE shots, one for seasonal flu and two for H1N1!!

One wonders if scare campaign directors know what they are doing. The whole purpose of the cryptocracy's H1N1 scare campaign is to condition the public to accept these inoculations without resistance. And yet the directors have managed to make their task all the more difficult. First, they don't have enough vaccine to meet the beginning stages of their schedule. Second, the approval of the vaccine will not happen until well into the schedule. And now, third, they have to convince the American public to receive not just one shot, but two!!

Economic Crisis, in Today's News 08.04.09

Economic Crisis. Read these quotes, they're important in understanding the economic crisis. From today's Wall Street Journal, page one, "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top U.S. financial regulators in an expletive-laced critique last Friday as frustration grows over the Obama administration's faltering plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulations..."

"...the plan has been criticized by the financial-services industry, as well as by financial regulators wary of encroachment on their turf."

"Friday's roughly hour-long meeting was described as unusual, not only because Mr. Geithner's repeated use of obscenities, but because of the aggressive posture he took with officials from federal agencies generally considered independent of the White House."

"Mr. Geithner, without singling out officials, raised concerns about regulators who questioned the wisdom of giving the Federal Reserve more power to oversee the financial system."

One of the cryptocracy's central goals to be accomplished in the wake of the economic crisis they precipitated was to empower the Federal Reserve as the THE regulator of the financial world. This power-grab by the owners of the world's banks was chutzpah exemplified. 

And now the cryptocracy must be realizing that they didn't create a big enough crisis, because they have not intimidated the regulatory bureaucracy and the leaders of the financial world enough to go along with the cryptocracy's objective.

One of the rules of the modern political world is never underestimate the staying power of an established bureaucracy. And that is exactly what the cryptocracy did.

The frustration must be extreme as shown by the behavior of the otherwise mild-mannered Geithner. He is one of the central employees of the cryptocracy. His assignment is to manage the change-over in the regulatory world. His unsual performance at the meeting stems from the pressure his employers are putting on him to accomplish his assignment which is in danger of slipping away.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 26, in Today's News 08.03.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. Hooray for the common sense of the American people!!! An Associated Press-GfK poll reveals that "56 percent of Americans aren't worried that they or their family will catch swine flu."

Moreover, "...only a third of people say they're very likely to get vaccinated themselves once shots arrive."

And, "A solid minority -- a third of adults and a little more than one in four parents -- opposes swine flu vaccination."

And, "Two-thirds of people are concerned the new vaccine might bring side effects."

The mighty efforts of the cryptocracy's agents in the Centers for Disease Control and other groups to scare the American people have hardly made a dent.

This is wonderful news and a tribute to the public's ability to see through a sham and a scam.

The cryptocracy, of course, will draw quite different conclusions from this poll. They are probably now realizing that they have not done enough to scare people. Expect new efforts from the scare campaign directors to attempt to terrify the public. One likely step is an announcement that the H1N1 (Swine) Flu has morphed into a more dangerous bug.

******

By the way, get a load of this from the AP article on their poll: "Get ready for a confusing fall. The regular winter flu is expected to make its usual rounds -- infecting up to one in five Americans and killing 36,000 -- at the same time swine flu spreads. But it will take two separate vaccinations [!!!] to protect against both kinds." (Emphasis added.)

And this, "...the last mass vaccination against swine flu, in 1976, was marred by reports of a rare paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome..."

Just remember that the projected H1N1 (Swine) Flu vaccine has not been tested and has not been proved to be safe without side effects. In fact the scare campaign directors are contemplating going ahead with the vaccination program without approval of the flu vaccine.  

And who are the first targets (read 'guinea pigs') for vaccination? Why, pregnant women, of course.

Afghanistan, in Today's News 08.03.09

Afghanistan. Do you think the average American is aware that there are over 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan?

It is doubtful because the media does its best to hide the fact. Every once in a while the real story bursts through, as for example, today's Wall Street Journal.

WSJ page A7: "The number of U.S. soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan has more than doubled in the past year to 62,000; there are another 39,000 troops from North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies."

And how is this massive presence faring? "The bloody opening to August [nine soldiers killed, six Americans] came after the most lethal month for the coalition in the neary eight-year Afghanistan campaign. In July, 75 foreign troops were killed, more than 40 of them Americans."

Does anyone remember the Russian debacle in Afghanistan a decade or two ago? Does anyone see a similarity in today's picture?

The "allies" have little hope of success in Afghanistan. Is there a reporter somewhere in the world who will point this out?

H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update No 25, in Today's News 08.03.09

H1N1 (Swine) Flu. The drumbeat for the H1N1 flu scare campaign has eased up a bit in the last week or so. And it almost seems that some common sense is being exercised.

But, don't be fooled, the underlying reality of the cryptocracy's project remains.

Last week the Centers for Disease Control announced that pregnant women would be the top priority in receiving the new vaccine. On the surface this seems very sensible.

What lies behind the announcement is mismanagement by the scare campaign directors. They had their effort to panic the population all mapped out and scheduled. Then they noticed a couple of problems: 1) there wasn't going to be enough of the vaccine to begin their campaign; 2) the vaccine they will have will not have been approved as safe until a month or two later.

The original idea was to target young students because they (and their parents) are the most easily stampeded into accepting the necessity of the vaccine shots. But there was not going to be enough vaccine to accomplish this task at the beginning.

And so back to the drawing board. The game plan now calls for targeting pregnant mothers-to-be first. This is a difficult starting point for the scare campaign directors, but they had little choice given the initial shortage of vaccine.

It is difficult because most women are reluctant to eat or drink or receive shots that might harm their baby. This is a powerful obstacle to overcome, especially since their doctors often share their reluctance. But the CDC and others plan to plow ahead with conference calls to doctors, a media push, and other pressure to get the doctors to bend.

The push to vaccinate mothers-to-be is especially irresponsible because the vaccine has not been approved as healthy, effective and without side-effects. The CDC and others are, in effect, asking pregnant women to become guinea pigs.

Pregnant women already have enough anxieties. Now the CDC has added an excruciating new one. 

The CDC and others directing this scare campaign are just plain evil. There is no other word for it.

What Did Jesus Say about the Rabbis' Predecessors? Part Six: Pharisees' Confrontations with Jesus

[Previous parts of this series may be accessed as follows:

Part One: Why Did Jesus Appear?

Part Two: The Sermon on the Mount

Part Three: Matthew 23

Part Four: The Tyranny of the Pharisees

Part Five: The Parables of Jesus]

Parables enabled Jesus to bring His message to His followers without directly attacking the Pharisees. Jesus tried to avoid unnecessary conflicts with the Pharisees so he could have adequate time to educate His followers. 

Many occasions occurred, though, when the Pharisees forced a confrontation with Jesus. These events often resulted in the Pharisees threatening to kill Jesus and/or Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees' betrayal of their responsibility as priests. 

The confrontations do not seem to receive much mention in the Church today. Some of the encounters are mined for universal truths. But the entire three years of Jesus' ministry are filled with one confrontation after another between Jesus and the Pharisees. This rich history would seem to be a prime tool for educating the faithful, especially today in a world that increasingly follows Pharisaic/Talmudic precepts.

The Pharisees decided fairly early in Jesus' public life to kill Him. The confrontations that followed that decision were one long attempt by the Pharisees to trap Jesus into saying or doing something that the Pharisees could use to justify their murder of Christ. Jesus, however, parried all the Pharisees' thrusts until His time arrived. 

The following descriptions of some of the encounters demonstrates the Pharisees' intent and Jesus' response.

Assassination Attempt. Followers of the Pharisees tried to kill Jesus in Nazareth early in His ministry. Jesus had read in the temple from Isaiah “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” and then told the temple attendees that the scripture had been fulfilled in their hearing that day. Luke describes the resulting tumult, “When they [Pharisees and temple attendees] heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.  And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.  But passing through the midst of them he went away.”  (Luke 4:16-30)

Eating Grain on a Sabbath.   The Pharisees being rigidly legalistic and without compassion criticized Jesus because his disciples plucked ears of grain and ate them on the Sabbath. Jesus pointed out the Pharisees' hypocrisy, reminding them that the priests ate on the Sabbath and were guiltless.  He concluded by saying, “If you had known what this means, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless [his disciples].  For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath.”  (Matthew 12:7-8)  (Luke 6:1-5)

Disciples Don’t Wash Hands. The Pharisees complained that Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands when they ate. Jesus in His reply is intended to show how the Pharisees' criticism stems from attaching greater importance to their man-made rules over the word of God, “And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” This confrontation involved the central issue between Jesus and the Pharisees: should one follow the commandment of God or the traditions of the Pharisees? Jesus went on to further warn the Pharisees, “…there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”    (Mark 7:1-24)

Pharisees Want a Sign. The Pharisees were always trying to catch Jesus in a difficult position. In this case they demanded a sign from Jesus. Attempting to butter Jesus up they said ingenuously , “Teacher [!!], we wish to see a sign from you.” Jesus answered sharply, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign;  but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” He told how Nineveh repented after hearing Jonah, and “behold something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:38-41)  (Mark 7:11-13)  (Luke 11:29-32)

On another occasion the Pharisees again asked for a sign (Matthew 16). In this instance Jesus mocked them by saying they can tell the weather by observing the sky, but they are unable to interpret the signs of the times.  In other words, the Pharisees were unable to see the Son of God who stood right before them.

Does Jesus Pay Taxes?  The Pharisees wanted to compromise Jesus by showing that He was beholden to tax collectors. They hoped to catch Peter in this trap by inveigling him to say that Jesus paid taxes.  Jesus told Peter that the sons of the kings of the earth are free from toll or tribute.  But, He stymied the Pharisees' trick by telling Peter find a coin in the mouth of a fish which could then be used for the tax.

On another occasion the Pharisees again tried to flatter Jesus by saying, “Teacher we know that you are true, [!!!!]…Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”  Jesus, fully aware of their malefic intent, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?”  He asked for a coin, examined it, asked if the image was Caesars, and said, famously, “Render therefore to Caesar that things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  The Pharisees were speechless.  (Matthew 22:15-22)  (Luke 20:19-26)

Forgive Sins?  When “a woman of the city, who was a sinner” anointed him with ointment at a Pharisee dinner party, the Pharisee host said, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Jesus attacked him directly and told a parable about forgiveness.  He then turned to the Pharisee and said, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Did this direct lesson have any effect on the Pharisees? Their response, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”  In other words, they missed the point entirely. It should also be noted that the Pharisee committed gross and insulting violations of common courtesy in those times by not offering water, a kiss, and ointment.  (Luke 7:36-50)

Eats with Tax Collectors and Sinners. When Jesus ate at Matthew’s (the tax collector) home, the Pharisees confronted His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus’ subsequent reply is well known, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’  For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Matthew 9:10-13)  (Luke 5:29-32)

On another occasion the Pharisees said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” In reply Jesus told several parables including the prodigal son. Luke then relates, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him.” Jesus then said very directly, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Jesus never minced words with the Pharisees; He told them exactly where they stood in the Kingdom of God. (Luke 15:1- 16:18)

Lawyers. In Luke’s version of the Matthew 23 a lawyer (Pharisee) said, “Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.” Jesus replied, “Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers…Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:45-54)

Healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus healed a withered hand on the Sabbath inside a synagogue.  Inevitably the Pharisees asked him, “Is it lawful to heal of the Sabbath?”  Jesus must have been weary of such foolishness, but he said to them that “…it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”  He explained that even the Pharisees would probably save a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath.  (Matthew 12:9-14)  (Luke 6:6-11)

In another healing episode in a synagogue on a sabbath Jesus healed a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years.  The ruler of the synagogue, said the healing should not be done on a Sabbath.  Jesus answered, “You hypocrites!  Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it?  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”  (Luke 13:10-17)

On another occasion Jesus healed a man with dropsy at the house of a Pharisee.  First He asked them if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees were silent.  After the healing He asked which of them would not pull an ox or an ass out of a well on a Sabbaath day.  The Pharisees remained silent.  (Luke 14:1-6)

John records that Jesus healed a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  The Pharisees were unimpressed because the healing had a occurred on a Sabbath. Jesus answered, “My Father is working still [on the Sabbath], and I am working.”  (John 5:2-18)

On another occasion John reports Jesus said, “If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?”   (John 7:14-24)

Divorce?   The Pharisees, attempting once again to trap Jesus and to gain self-justification, asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”  The Pharisees' tradition permitted such divorce. The question was designed to prove that Jesus was outside the law. Jesus trumped them by quoting scripture and concludes by saying, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”  The Pharisees appealed to Moses, but Jesus told them that Moses allowed divorce because of the Pharisees' predecessors hardness of heart.  (Matthew 19:3-9)  (Mark 10:2-12)

By What Authority. The Pharisees, outraged by Jesus’ feats, including cleansing the temple, confronted Him and asked by what authority He was doing such things. The plan was to trap Him, hoping He would say ‘by the father’ so that they could charge Him with blasphemy. But Jesus was well aware of the Pharisees' incessant attempts to discredit Him. He simply asked the Pharisees a question about the baptisms performed by John (from heaven or men?). The Pharisees feared to answer one way or the other. Jesus told them that if they wouldn’t answer, He would not either.  (Mark11:27-33)  (Luke 20:1-8)

What is the Greatest Commandment?  A scribe tried to catch Jesus in an error by asking Him which commandment is first of all. The Pharisees had hundreds of commandments and rules which the scribes recorded. The object was to beguile Jesus into picking the wrong one. Jesus however, said, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There are no other commandments greater than these.”  His questioner was left with nothing to say except that Jesus was correct.  (Mark 12:28-34)

Disciples Don’t Fast. John the Baptist’s followers reflected the Pharisees' accusations at one point by asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”  Jesus explained to them and made a point to the Pharisees, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast.”   (Luke 5:33-39)

Miracles by Beezelbub. The Pharisees could not find a way to belittle Jesus when Jesus drove out demons. So they charged, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Jesus made fun of their ridiculous charge, by pointing out thatif Beelzebub is casting out his own demons how will his house stand? Then He pointed out to them that if it is by the Spirit of God that he is casting out demons, “… then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” He then gave the ultimate warning to the Pharisees by saying, “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven…either in this age or in the age to come”  (Matthew 12:22-32)  (Mark 3:22-27)  If the Pharisees had any sense they would have trembled at such words, but they were adept at not seeing what was in front of them and in constructing fantastic rationalizations.

Invitees to a Banquet. Jesus counters the unctuousness of the Pharisees by explaining basic humility at a banquet to them. He told them that one should let others sit in the places of honor. And if they want to be blessed they should be generous and invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind to their banquets. To illustrate His point He told the parable about the man who gave a banquet but each of his friends made an excuse for not attending. The man then invited the downtrodden from the street to his banquet. (Luke 14:15-24)

Rich Questioner.  Jesus answered a question from a ruler (Pharisee) that having fulfilled God’s commandments he should now sell all that he has, distribute his wealth to the poor, and follow Jesus. The questioner had the Pharisee weakness of loving money. Dejected that he would have to give up his wealth to fulfill what Jesus asked of him, he went away.  (Luke 18:18-30)

Zacchaeus. This cordial encounter had a forceful lesson for the Pharisees. Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus received Him joyfully. The Pharisees complained that Jesus was in a house of a sinner. Zachaeus declared at the banquet that he would give half his goods to the poor. Moreover, he said that if he had defrauded anyone he would restore it fourfold. Jesus said salvation had come to Zachaeus’ house. The Pharisees and everyone else could not have missed the lesson of the prerequisites of salvation that eluded the Pharisees.   

The morale of Jesus’ observation of the Widow’s pence had a similar lesson for the Pharisees.

Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee, was sympathetic to Jesus, but his encounter with Jesus indicated the lack of understanding among the Pharisees. First of all, Jesus was not impressed that Nicodemus came to see Him at night when few would see Nicodemus arrive or leave. Jesus tried to explain being born in the holy spirit, but Nicodemus could not comprehend what Jesus was saying. Jesus finally said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things.”  (John 3:1-15)

Eat My Flesh. The Pharisees also had no idea what Jesus was talking about when he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Pharisees were so focused on the worldly that they seemed to be incapable of spiritual, abstract or symbolic thought. Thus they could only see what Jesus said in its surface meaning. The only meaning they could give to Jesus' words was literal. One almost suspects that Jesus deliberately tried to provoke the Pharisees in this incident.      (John 6:35-71)

Adulteress.   In this prominent confrontation the Pharisees brought an adulteress before Jesus with the intent of forcing Him to condemn her to stoning as the Pharisees' laws required. Jesus stopped the Pharisees’ maneuver by saying that anyone without sin should cast the first stone. No one qualified, and the crowd dispersed. Jesus' words had underlined their tyranny and lack of forgiveness.  (John 8:1-11)

Witness to Self. The Pharisees accused Jesus of bearing witness to himself making his testimony untrue. Jesus’ response, “I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.” Exhibiting no understanding of what Jesus said they asked, “Where is your Father?” Did Jesus laugh at them? It is not recorded.  (John 8:12-20)

The confrontation continued when Jesus told the Pharisees that they do what they heard from their father (meaning the devil).  The reply, “Abraham is our father.”  Jesus pointed out, “If your were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God; this is not what Abraham did.” Again the Pharisees missed the point in their response.  Jesus finally said (in exasperation?) the following, which is worth quoting at length because it provides His fundamental assessment of what had happened to those who had been chosen to be God's priests. 

“Why do you not understand what I say?  It is because you cannot hear my word.  Your are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But, because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.  Which of you convict me of sin?  If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?  He, who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (!!!)  (John 8:31-47)

Before Abraham, I Am.   The next stage of this confrontation proceeds from the Pharisees' disbelief when Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.”  Their response was that Abraham died and is Jesus therefore greater than Abraham? Jesus' answer brought them to the point of trying to stone Him when He stated, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw and was glad…Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  (John 8:48-59)

Blind Man Healed on the Sabbath.  Chapter 9 of John details a prolonged and often risible confrontation between the Pharisees and a blind man healed by Jesus on the Sabbath. Jesus concluded the event by saying so that the Pharisees could hear, “For judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” John reports the Pharisees response: “The Jews took up stones again to stone him.”.  (John 9:1-41)

I Am the Good Sheppard. Jesus told the Pharisees that the sheep would not follow the voice of a stranger (the Pharisees), but would only respond to the voice of their sheppard.  “I am the good Sheppard.  I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father…”.  (John 10:1-30)

Attempt at Stoning. The Pharisees tried to stone him for his good sheppard remarks. Jesus asked, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” The Pharisees said the stoning was because of the blasphemy of making himself out to be God. Jesus then stumped them by saying, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” He elaborated by pointing out, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”  This remark led the Pharisees to try to arrest Him, but He escaped.  (John 10:22-39)

Arrest.  The Pharisees sent an armed detachment with Judas to arrest Jesus.   Jesus acted with compassion and circumspection throughout the encounter. He readily identified himself and offered no resistance. He made the point that he had been preaching everyday in the temple, yet they choose to come after him with clubs and swords at night, as if going after a robber. When one of his disciples drew his sword and cut off the ear of the slave of the high Pharisee priest, Jesus ordered a stop to the struggle.  (Matthew 26:36-56) (Mark 14:32-52)  (Luke 22:47-71)

Trial. The trial of Jesus was a farce. It was not even a show trial, a form perfected in the Soviet Union 1900 years later. The Pharisees tried to bring evidence against Jesus but the witnesses’ stories did not confirm one another. Finally, Jesus, who had remained non-responsive to their taunts and provocations, admitted that He is the Son of God.  Jesus knew that the Pharisees would accuse him of blasphemy because of His declaration, and they did. (John 10:18)   

Crucifixion. Even on the cross Jesus still had a confrontation with the Pharisees, who came to the scene to say, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it up in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” The Pharisees joked among themselves with short-sighted delight, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Of course when Jesus did save Himself and built up the temple of His body in three days, it did not make believers of the Pharisees. They only invented new rationalizations and promoted their fabricated story to explain the empty tomb.

On the cross Jesus made his famous compassionate statement, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” This statement appears to be mainly for the benefit of the Roman executioners and the people of Jerusalem. Forgiveness was  undoubtedly available to the Pharisees if they repented. Jesus’ request for forgiveness however does not seem to be for the Pharisees because the Pharisees surely did know what they were doing. Their comments in the previous paragraph so indicate.  (Matthew 27:32-54)  (Mark 15:21-39)