The last video listed does not have very good pictures but you hear when the tornado hits a building where people inside are filming. The sounds are just horrible and a cold feeling went through my body just listening to it.
Joplin, Missouri tornado damage from the air
Tornado damage of Joplin, Missouri. Aerial coverage courtesy of Bruce Taylor
This deadly storm went from funnel clouds in Galena, KS to a large tornado just west of Joplin. This video from the KSNF tower camera shows the birth of this deadly tornado. I am only posting this video because the station lost power and more than likely does not have this footage. You can see the storm start to vacuum up the power lines as it moved from west to east. It appears the worst damage in Joplin is from the 10th to 32nd streets across the entire city. Home Depot, St. Johns Regional Hospital, Academy, Wal-Mart, Caterpillar, a few of the businesses that are totally destroyed. Total devastation… please pray for the city…
Joplin, MO Tornado – Atleast 24 Dead – May 22, 2011
Tornado May 22nd 2011 Joplin MO
This is what happend on May 22nd 2011 When a F4 Tornado ripped through Joplin Missouri
Aerial View Of Joplin
Ok Redcross was wrong on the 70% But I still can’t believe all the Trolls that are worried about a number instead of the deaths and homes lost. My mind cannot wrap around that!
MASSIVE TORNADO HITS HOSPITAL IN JOPLIN MISSOURI
A tornado has level parts of Joplin Missouri – BREAKING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First Person video of Joplin MO tornado 5/22/11
The video i took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out , then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of how intense the storm was. The tornado hits at around 1:20 seconds.
Emergency workers wait for medical team
** CORRECTS DATE TO May 23 **Emergency workers wait for a medical team after finding a body in a tornado ravaged car in Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 23, 2011.A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses
Emergency worker searches Walmart store
** CORRECTS DATE TO May 23 **An emergency worker searches a Walmart store that was severely damaged by a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 23, 2011.A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses.
Emergency worker searches Walmart store
** CORRECTS DATE TO May 23 ** An emergency worker searches a Walmart store that was severely damaged by a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 23, 2011.A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses
Destructive Joplin Missouri Torando On May 22, 2011 a destructive and sadly a deadly tornado tore through the town of Joplin, MO. Here is video of the tornado entering the southwest side of town. Filmed by TornadoVideos.net Basehunters Colt Forney, Isaac Pato, Kevin Rolfs, and Scott Peake. Good Morning America: Joplin, Missouri Tornado Video: Storm […]
Destroyed helicopter lies on its side A destroyed helicopter lies on its side in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornadomoved through much of the city, damaging the hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses Emergency personnel walk Emergency personnel walk through […]
The last video listed does not have very good pictures but you hear when the tornado hits a building where people inside are filming. The sounds are just horrible and a cold feeling went through my body just listening to it. Joplin, Missouri tornado damage from the air Tornado damage of Joplin, Missouri. Aerial coverage […]
Volunteer firefighters William Jackson Volunteer firefighters William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, center, from Oklahoma, and Johnny Ward of Joplin look through the wreckage of a home whereit was feared a pregnant woman as feared to be trapped following a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through […]
Fox News reported today: Rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars Monday in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that blasted much of this Missouri town off the map and slammed straight into its hospital. At least 116 people died, making it the nation’s deadliest single tornado in nearly […]
Volunteer firefighters William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, center, from Oklahoma, and Johnny Ward of Joplin look through the wreckage of a home whereit was feared a pregnant woman as feared to be trapped following a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses. The three did not find anyone during their search
A good friend of mine works for Home Depot and he has several stores he is responsible for and the Home Depot in Joplin is one of them. He took off early this morning for Joplin because the Joplin store was devestated. Below is the Associated Press report from this morning:
By KURT VOIGT and ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press Kurt Voigt And Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press – 4 mins ago
JOPLIN, Mo. – A massive tornado that tore through the southwest Missouri city of Joplin killed at least 89 people, but authorities warned that the death toll could climb Monday as search and rescuers continued their work at sunrise.
City manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday’s storm. Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly six miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town, adding that tornado sirens gave residents about a 20-minute warning before the tornado touched down on the city’s west side.
Much of the city’s south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.
Fire chief Mitch Randles estimated that 25 to 30 percent of the city was damaged, and said his own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people some 160 miles south of Kansas City.
“It cut the city in half,” Randles said.
An unknown number of people were injured in the storm, and officials said patients were scattered to any nearby hospitals that could take them.
Authorities planned to conduct a door-to-door search of the damaged area Monday morning, but were expected to move gingerly around downed power lines, jagged debris and a series of gas leaks that caused fires around the city overnight.
“We will recover and come back stronger than we are today,” Rohr said defiantly of his city’s future.
Early Monday, Gov. Jay Nixon said fires from gas leaks still burned across the city.
“It’s a very, very precarious situation,” Nixon told CNN. “It’s going to be a stark view as people see dawn rise in Joplin, Missouri.”
Residents said the damage was breathtaking in scope.
“You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. That’s really what it looked like,” said Kerry Sachetta, the principal of a flattened Joplin High School. “I couldn’t even make out the side of the building. It was total devastation in my view. I just couldn’t believe what I saw.”
The same storm system that produced the Joplin tornado spawned twisters along a broad swath of the Midwest, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. At least one person was killed in Minneapolis. But the devastation in Missouri was the worst of the day, eerily reminiscent the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month.
Sunday’s storm in Joplin hit a hospital packed with patients and a commercial area including a Home Depot construction store, numerous smaller businesses and restaurants and a grocery store. Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammer said an estimated 2,000 buildings were damaged.
Among the worst-hit locations in Joplin was St. John’s Regional Medical Center. The staff had just a few moments’ notice to hustle patients into hallways before the storm struck the nine-story building, blowing out hundreds of windows and leaving the facility useless.
In the parking lot, a helicopter lay crushed on its side, its rotors torn apart and windows smashed. Nearby, a pile of cars lay crumpled into a single mass of twisted metal. Matt Sheffer dodged downed power lines, trees and closed streets to make it to his dental office across from the hospital. Rubble littered a flattened lot where a pharmacy, gas station and some doctor’s offices once stood.
“My office is totally gone. Probably for two to three blocks, it’s just leveled,” he said. “The building that my office was in was not flimsy. It was 30 years old and two layers of brick. It was very sturdy and well built.”
St. John’s patients were evacuated to other hospitals in the region, said Cora Scott, a spokeswoman for the medical center’s sister hospital in Springfield.
Early Monday morning, floodlights from a temporary triage facility lit what remained of the hospital that once held as many 367 patients. Police officers could be seen combing the surrounding area for bodies.
Miranda Lewis, a spokeswoman for St. John’s, was at home when the tornado sirens began going off. By early Monday, she still had no details on any deaths or injuries suffered at the hospital in the tornado strike, although she had seen the damaged building.
“It’s like what you see someplace else, honestly,” Lewis said. “That’s a terrible way to say it, but you don’t recognize what’s across the street.
“I had seen it on television, but until you’re standing right here and see the devastation, you can’t believe it.”
Michael Spencer, a national Red Cross spokesman who also assisted in the aftermath of a tornado that devastated nearby Pierce City in 2003, was also stunned.
“I’ve been to about 75 disasters, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this before,” Spencer said. “You don’t typically see metal structures and metal frames torn apart, and that’s what you see here.”
Triage centers and shelters setup around the city quickly filled to capacity. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, nurses and other emergency workers from across the region were treating critically injured patients.
At another makeshift unit at a Lowe’s home improvement store, wooden planks served as beds. Outside, ambulances and fire trucks waited for calls. During one stretch after midnight Monday, emergency vehicles were scrambling nearly every two minutes.
Winds from the storm carried debris up to 60 miles away, with medical records, X-rays, insulation and other items falling to the ground in Greene County, said Larry Woods, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.
Travel through and around Joplin was difficult, with Interstate 44 shut down and streets clogged with emergency vehicles and the wreckage of buildings.
Emergency management officials rushed heavy equipment to Joplin to help lift debris and clear the way for search and recovery operations. Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency, and President Barack Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with state and local agencies.
Jeff Lehr, a reporter for the Joplin Globe, said he was upstairs in his home when the storm hit but was able to make his way to a basement closet.
“There was a loud huffing noise, my windows started popping. I had to get downstairs, glass was flying. I opened a closet and pulled myself into it,” he told The Associated Press. “Then you could hear everything go. It tore the roof off my house, everybody’s house. I came outside and there was nothing left.”
An aching helplessness settled over residents, many of whom could only wander the wreckage bereft and wondering about the fate of loved ones.
Justin Gibson, 30, huddled with three relatives outside the tangled debris field of what remained of a Home Depot. He pointed to a black pickup that had been tossed into the store’s ruins and said it belonged to his roommate’s brother. “He was last seen here with his two little girls,” ages 4 and 5, Gibson said.
“We’ve been trying to get ahold of him since the tornado happened,” Gibson said, adding his own house had been leveled.
“It’s just gone. Everything in that neighborhood is gone. The high school, the churches, the grocery store. I can’t get ahold of my ex-wife to see how my kids are,” he said, referring to his three children, ranging in age from 4 months to 5 years.
“I don’t know the extent of this yet,” Gibson said, “but I know I’ll have friends and family dead.”
Minneapolis city spokeswoman Sara Dietrich said the death there was confirmed by the Hennepin County medical examiner. She had no other immediate details. Only two of the 29 people injured there were hurt critically.
Though the damage covered several blocks in Minneapolis, it appeared few houses were totally demolished. Much of the damage was to roofs, front porches that had been sheared away, or smaller items such as fences and basketball goals.
In Wisconsin, the mayor of La Crosse declared a state of emergency Sunday after a powerful storm tore roofs from homes and littered streets and lawns with downed trees and debris.
Additional storms were predicted across the southern Plains through Thursday morning.
An advisory from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said warm weather Monday could fuel instability in advance of another weather system. A few tornadoes, some strong, could occur — starting in Oklahoma and southern Kansas in the afternoon and in North Texas in the late afternoon.
___
Associated Press writers Jim Salter in Joplin; Heather Hollingsworth, Dana Fields, Chris Clark and Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo.; Todd Richmond in La Crosse, Wis.; Chris Williams and Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis; and Kelly Kissel in Little Rock contributed to this report.
Hospital workers walk away in Joplin, Mo
Hospital workers walk away from the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city,damaging the hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses
MASSIVE TORNADO HITS HOSPITAL IN JOPLIN MISSOURI
A tornado has level parts of Joplin Missouri – BREAKING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Destructive Joplin Missouri Torando On May 22, 2011 a destructive and sadly a deadly tornado tore through the town of Joplin, MO. Here is video of the tornado entering the southwest side of town. Filmed by TornadoVideos.net Basehunters Colt Forney, Isaac Pato, Kevin Rolfs, and Scott Peake. Good Morning America: Joplin, Missouri Tornado Video: Storm […]
Destroyed helicopter lies on its side A destroyed helicopter lies on its side in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornadomoved through much of the city, damaging the hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses Emergency personnel walk Emergency personnel walk through […]
The last video listed does not have very good pictures but you hear when the tornado hits a building where people inside are filming. The sounds are just horrible and a cold feeling went through my body just listening to it. Joplin, Missouri tornado damage from the air Tornado damage of Joplin, Missouri. Aerial coverage […]
Volunteer firefighters William Jackson Volunteer firefighters William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, center, from Oklahoma, and Johnny Ward of Joplin look through the wreckage of a home whereit was feared a pregnant woman as feared to be trapped following a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through […]
Fox News reported today: Rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars Monday in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that blasted much of this Missouri town off the map and slammed straight into its hospital. At least 116 people died, making it the nation’s deadliest single tornado in nearly […]
The Debt Bomb: A Decade of DC Spending is Driving America Closer to an Economic Apocalypse
Alexis Garcia reports on America’s exploding debt. Experts blame entitlements like Social Security and government spending. But what is the solution? Can we raise taxes without crushing the economy and the middle class? Does Obama really want to lower the debt, or does he support continued deficit spending? See interviews with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Brian Riedl, Jason Peuquet and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK).
Top congressional Republicans said on Sunday they would be open to a compromise on healthcare costs, one of the biggest stumbling blocks in a deal to get the United States’ debt under control.
Representative Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, said he would “absolutely” be willing to negotiate with Democrats, who have hammered his plan to scale back government-run health plans for the poor and the elderly.
With Ryan’s plan headed for likely defeat in the Democratic-controlled Senate, that chamber’s top Republican said it was time for “an adult conversation” on ways to keep healthcare costs under control.
“Let’s just stipulate that nobody is trying to throw Grandma off the cliff,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Health reform is a top sticking point as the two sides try to hash out a budget deal that would give lawmakers political cover to back an increase in the country’s borrowing authority.
And as the 2012 election season gets underway, it is shaping up to be a top campaign issue as well.
Ryan’s proposal to partially privatize the Medicare health plan for the elderly has already imperiled the presidential hopes of one Republican, Newt Gingrich, who faced a fierce conservative backlash last week after he described it as “right-wing social engineering.”
Polls show that Ryan’s proposed changes are unpopular with voters, and McConnell said he is not urging his fellow Republicans to support it when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week.
“We have other budgets that Republicans are pushing,” McConnell said. “We’re not going to be able to coalesce behind just one.”
The United States reached its $14.3 trillion debt limit last week, and the Treasury Department says it can stave off a default until early August.
Experts say a default would push the country back into recession and roil markets across the globe.
Republicans and some Democrats say they won’t back a ceiling increase that does not include steps to rein in the debt load, which has more than doubled over the past decade.
In talks led by Vice President Joe Biden, top lawmakers have agreed to at least $150 billion in spending cuts, but that is far short of the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that outside experts say is needed to stabilize the debt over a 10-year span.
On healthcare, the two sides are separated by a gulf of trillions of dollars. Ryan’s plan would save $2.2 trillion by scaling back Medicaid, the government-run health plan for the poor, and repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health reform program, the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Obama, in turn, has proposed saving $480 billion by accelerating reforms in the program — a non-starter for Republicans who insist it must be repealed.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Ryan said compromise was possible — reversing an earlier stance that a deal on healthcare would not be reachable until after the election.
“Of course, absolutely,” Ryan said, when asked if he would be open to negotiation. “Of course we would, this is the legislative process. But let me be clear: We are the only ones who have put out a plan.”
Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen, a participant in the Biden talks, said Washington could find savings by lowering the price the government pays for prescription drugs, rather than scaling back benefits for patients.
Van Hollen repeated Democrats’ contention that any debt-reduction plan requires higher taxes, saying Republicans’ reluctance to consider them forced Ryan to push his unpopular cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
“You can’t do it with a one-sided, lopsided approach,” he said on “Meet the Press.”
McConnell declined to say on Fox whether more tax revenue would be part of a final deal, but later in the day he reiterated his firm anti-tax stance.
“There will be no tax increases in connection with raising the debt ceiling. We’re talking about spending reductions,” he said in a prepared statement.
A Predictable Benefit That Provides Economic Security. The centerpiece of the new Social Security system involves a gradual transition to a flat benefit that pays retirees who qualify for a full Social Security check. This amount is well above the income level that the Census Bureau says an American over the age of 65 needs to avoid poverty.
Thus, the new system will guarantee that no retiree falls into poverty because of insufficient income. Under today’s system, retirees can pay Social Security taxes for 35 years and still receive a benefit that is below the poverty level. Some of these seniors are forced to go on welfare. The new system corrects this serious flaw.
The flat benefit will be the equivalent of about $1,200 per month in 2010 dollars when the reform is complete. This is both higher than today’s average Social Security retirement benefit payment ($1,164 per month) and well above the 2009 poverty level for a single adult over age 65 ($857 per month). To ensure that future retirees do not slip back into poverty, the flat benefit level will be indexed for wage growth.
Slow Transition to the New Flat Benefit. The new flat benefit will be phased in slowly. Current retirees and those who are close to retirement will see only a minimal change in the basic design of their benefits. Those with a significantly longer time before retirement, who have more flexibility in planning their future, will see larger changes in their benefits. Workers born after 1985 will come under the new flat Social Security benefit system when they retire.
GOP lawmaker and Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann says President Obama has defined his Middle East policy: “blame Israel first.”
Supporters of Israel are expressing outrage over President Barack Obama’s call yesterday that Israel give back territory it gained when attacked by Arabs in the 1967 war. Obama’s demand came as he prepares to meet today (Friday) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
Obama urged that a Palestinian state be based on 1967 borders — before the Six Day War in which Israel governed East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. The president also pressed Israel to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority and the “unity government” the PA has formed with the terrorist group Hamas.
In an exclusive interview, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) tells OneNewsNow she is grieved with Obama’s position.
“I think this is a gross error on the part of President Obama,” she states bluntly. “He’s indicated that his philosophy in his doctrine toward Israel is to blame Israel first. For the president to come out now and stand on the side of the Palestinian state, and to stand on the side of returning to the 1967 borders, is nothing more than a betrayal of our friend Israel.”
In a statement released late Thursday in Jerusalem, Netanyahu called the 1967 lines “indefensible.”
Noting the scheduled meeting between Obama and Netanyahu, Bachmann has little doubt how the president’s remarks will sit with the prime minister.
“To do this the day before [Netanyahu] comes to the United States is clearly a slap in the face and an insult to [him],” says the conservative congresswoman. “It is clear from the Bible — and from many people in the United States who believe that God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel…that President Obama is not standing with many Americans across the United States who embrace a pro-Israel policy.”
If the president’s 1967 border proposal were to be implemented, Israel would lose holy sites such as the Western Wall, King David’s Tomb, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Garden Tomb.
Listen to the entire interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann
More reaction below … Do you mostly agree with Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, or Mitt Romney about President Obama’s comments on Israel? Vote in our poll
Author and radio host Janet Parshall says when it comes to President Obama’s call for Israel to return to its 1967 borders, one’s heart has to beat a little faster.
“It’s like, wow, are we really as a nation starting to turn our back on Israel?” she asks. “And in the big picture of scripture, this might explain why America is never identified in scripture. Do we lose our way because we’ve lost our soul when it comes to supporting the nation of Israel? I don’t know, but it’s got my attention.” Parshall made her comments today on American Family Radio ‘s “Today’s Issues” program.
And Dan Celia of “Financial Issues” says the administration is continually trying to make friends with the Islamic nations of the world — something he says all for naught. “Let me just speak to the president for a moment, because I’m sure he’s listening,” Celia said today on American Family Radio. “They hate America. I know that you want them to love you, but as long as you are the so-called leader of this nation, they hate you, too.”
May 22, 2011 – 9:42 am
Categories: Uncategorized|Comments Off on Candidate #8 Michele Bachmann , Republican Presidential Hopefuls (“Obama…a betrayal of our friend Israel.″ ,Part 3)
Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has put his return to making movies on hold after details of his affair wih former household staffer Mildred Baena emerged. As Reliable Source reported:
Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Thursday he’s putting his showbiz career on hold, amid massive upheaval of his personal life and public image. The ex-guv had planned to return to movies, lining up a couple “Terminator” sequels and another drama, “Cry Macho,” in recent weeks.
Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife, who separated from the actor earlier this month, has retained a prominent attorney, sparking rumors of an impending divorce. As AP explained:
When Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated earlier this month, neither was talking divorce. That may have changed, however, after he revealed Monday that he fathered a now 13-year-old son with the family housekeeper and never told his wife until this year.
People magazine reported this week that Shriver has retained prominent Los Angeles divorce attorney Laura Wasser. If the Kennedy heiress and former network TV anchor goes ahead with a divorce, several prominent attorneys say, she is likely to cash in big.
“It seems to me that he has gratuitously embarrassed her. This should greatly enhance settlement negotiations,” said Atlanta attorney John Mayoue, who has represented Chris Rock in a paternity suit, baseball star David Justice in his split with actress Halle Berry, and other celebrities.
Although California is a no-fault divorce state, meaning her husband’s actions technically can’t be used against him in court, the reality, attorneys say, is that it will be.
“Every judge would know about what happened, and I think would hold it against him,” said attorney Robert Nachshin, who has represented the ex-wives of a who’s who of entertainers that includes Will Smith, Rod Stewart and John Ritter. “Judges are human beings, and Maria will definitely be the sympathetic spouse.”
Shriver declined to discuss the affair when she attended the taping of Oprah Winfrey’s farewell show on Tuesday. As AP reported:
Maria Shriver didn’t address revelations that her husband fathered a child with another woman when she appeared at Oprah Winfrey’s farewell show on Tuesday.
Shriver, the TV journalist and Kennedy heiress, walked onstage wearing a sparkly blue dress with Winfrey’s best friend Gayle King. Earlier in the day it was revealed her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, fathered a child with a woman on his household staff more than a decade ago.
In a statement Shriver called it a “painful and heartbreaking time.” Last week, Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced they had separated.
But on Tuesday evening Shriver focused on Winfrey. “You have given me love, support, wisdom and most of all the truth,” Shriver said to applause as Winfrey responded, “the truth.”
Harold Camping, 89, the California evangelical broadcaster who predicts that Judgment Day will come on May 21, 2011, is seen in this still image from video during an interview at Family Stations Inc. offices in Oakland, California May 16, 2011. The U.S. evangelical Christian broadcaster predicting that Judgment Day will come on Saturday says he expects to stay close to a TV or radio to monitor the unfolding apocalypse. The head of the Christian radio network Family Stations Inc says that he is sure an earthquake will shake the Earth on May 21, sweeping true believers to heaven and leaving others behind to be engulfed in the world’s destruction over a few months
Harold Camping needs to publicly apologize for being wrong about his doomsday prediction and leading people astray, said a Southern Baptist leader.
The California radio broadcaster’s wrong prediction about the rapture and the end of the world reflected poorly on Christians, said Ed Stetzer, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s missiologist in residence.
Stetzer issued a series of tweets about Camping’s eschatological prediction on Saturday, among which one noted that there was no earthquake in New Zealand after 6 p.m.
“Harold Camping, pls update http://www.family.radio.com w/your repentance statement & instructions to your now-broke followers,” Stetzer tweeted.
An hour later he tweeted again, “6pm here in Turkey. I’m standing at the Temple of Athena waiting for the Rapture. Nothing happened. ;-)”
For months, followers of the 89-year-old Camping, who previously wrongly predicted the rapture would occur in September 1994, have been warning that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. Supporters would hold placards on busy streets in major cities that read: “Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”
Family Radio, a non-profit Christian radio network headed by Camping, was the name seen on the placards, bus ads, billboards and in media coverage on the May 21 prediction.
But surprisingly, many within the California-based radio network do not believe that the first phase of the end of the world begins Saturday.
“I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on, and I plan on being here next week,” a receptionist identified as Esther at the group’s headquarters in Oakland, Calif., told CNNMoney.
Esther said some of her co-workers who believe in Camping’s prediction had bought expensive cars or taken their families on vacation ahead of May 21.
In New York, follower Robert Fitzpatrick, 60, spent his entire $140,000 life savings on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads at bus stops warning about May 21. The ads read: “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”
Another Camping follower, 27-year-old Adrienne Martinez, was planning to go to medical school but decided not to after listening to Family Radio. Martinez and her husband, Joel, had lived in New York City but a year ago quit their jobs and moved to Orlando. They spent their time reading the Bible and distributing tracts, according to NPR. They have a two-year-old daughter and a second child due next month.
“We budgeted everything so that, on May 21, we won’t have anything left,” Adrienne said to NPR.
While some of Camping’s listeners are all-in when it comes to his rapture prediction, Family Radio’s Esther estimates that 80 percent of her co-workers don’t believe their own boss about May 21, according to CNNMoney.
The receptionist is still scheduling appointments for her co-workers after Saturday.
Family Radio has about 350 paid staff working to run 66 radio stations across the nation. The network’s financial documents, according to CNNMoney, shows that it received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. But Camping, according to documents, has not been paid a penny from the contributions. He has worked as a volunteer at Family Radio.
I love the Book of Daniel and have spent a lot of time studying it. I hate to see it misinterpreted!
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Here are the other posts I had on this same subject:
Yahoo News reported this morning: It’s hard to feel bad for someone whose doomsday predictions caused so much anxiety, but 89-year-old Harold Camping’s recent admission that he’s “flabbergasted” the world didn’t end last weekend sounds somewhat pitiful. “It has been a really tough weekend,” Camping said Sunday, after emerging from his Alameda, California home […]
(Photo: Reuters/Reuters TV) Harold Camping, 89, the California evangelical broadcaster who predicts that Judgment Day will come on May 21, 2011, is seen in this still image from video during an interview at Family Stations Inc. offices in Oakland, California May 16, 2011. The U.S. evangelical Christian broadcaster predicting that Judgment Day will come on […]
I am a Christian and I do believe Jesus is coming back. In fact, at noon today in Little Rock, the skies got dark and it looked like it was midnight. I am sure the Harold Camping followers were expecting something like this. However, it is 2:53pm now and the skies are much brighter. […]
I love the Book of Daniel and have spent a lot of time studying it. I noticed a gentleman making a lot of copies of his notes on the Book of Daniel, and I asked what he was studying. That man was Edgar Whisenant and he began to tell me that he knew the […]
By Justin Berton | SFGate.com For about 10 years I knew a man by the name of Edgar C. Whisenant in Little Rock. He gave me some material to read and I told him that it was wrong to predict the exact date and time of Christ second coming and he got quite mad when I asserted […]
Possible 2012 presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to a group of small business owners on the economy during a visit to Meetze plumbing in Irmo, S.C. Saturday May, 21, 2011
Jim Davenport wrote for the Associated Press on May 21:
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina wasn’t kind to Mitt Romney in 2008, but the ex-Massachusetts governor and presidential contender is hoping for a better fate in this Southern bellwether in 2012.
He made his first trip to the state since forming a presidential exploratory committee, plying a crowd with mustard-based barbecue and boiled peanuts, photo ops with cute kids and meeting with business owners carping about jobless benefits and illegal immigration. He left with a pair of endorsements from state legislators.
If nothing else, the mustard-based barbecue was a bold choice in a state with loyalties split mostly between mustard- and vinegar-based concoctions.
A crowd of about 40 in a hot warehouse stacked with plumbing supplies cheered when he said it was time for politicians to spend less time thinking about getting re-elected and more time on “thinking about how to get the country on the right track and put Americans back to work.”
These are relatively easy times for Romney.
He hasn’t formally entered the race though he’s regarded as the frontrunner. He’s raising cash faster than likely opponents and gets to choose when to engage them. He’s finessing the perception of his big liability: the Massachusetts health care law that Obama credits as the template for the national health care system Republicans abhor.
Saturday was a soft-opening of sorts in a state that beat Romney up in 2008. He spent loads of cash and time here, but bailed days before the first-in-the-South primary’s polls opened and he knew he couldn’t win.
In 2008, Romney positioned himself early as the one to beat, building a campaign rivaled only by Arizona Sen. John McCain’s as the state’s best financed, staffed and endorsed. Romney earned endorsements from U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Bob Jones, the now-retired chancellor of Christian fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville.
But questions about Romney’s Mormon faith dogged him. He couldn’t persuade religious conservatives to look beyond their skepticism over that or his reversals on social issues such as abortion and gay rights.
Warren Tompkins, a Columbia political consultant on Romney’s 2008 campaign, said the campaign team was “never sure how to deal with it. Hopefully, they will not repeat that mistake.”
McCain won the state, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed many of the Christian and social conservatives. Romney’s team fled to Florida, a richer delegate prize, when polling days before the South Carolina vote showed that Romney wouldn’t win or even come in second.
Romney has a single staffer working in South Carolina, David Raad, who knows religion is certain to come up again, particularly if Jon Huntsman, Utah’s former governor and a fellow Mormon, enters the race as expected.
“I’m sure that people will consider religion in this race,” Raad said, but he added: “We hope to get back to the issues that matter to a lot of Americans.”
The economy is what Romney emphasized Saturday. He met privately with about 30 business owners in nearby Chapin before the town hall and barbecue buffet at the plumbing business.
Romney said he’d spoken with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, one of his backers in 2008.
She has told candidates they have to address the fight between the National Labor Relations Board and Boeing Co. over a plant expansion in North Charleston. The federal agency’s complaint says the aircraft maker’s move was a response to union strikes and a violation of law.
Romney said the NLRB was taking away South Carolina’s ability to compete for jobs.
“How in the world can the president justify the federal government taking power from South Carolina and not allowing South Carolina to compete on a fair and level playing field,” Romney said. “It’s simply unexcusable.”
Kevin Meetze, the plumbing company owner, said his top concern was too-generous unemployment benefits. South Carolina legislators are considering cutting the maximum jobless benefits workers can get from 26 weeks to 20 weeks. Meanwhile, Meetze said extended federal benefits are a problem.
“We’ve been hiring for the past couple of years during this recession, but it’s hard to get people to come to work when they’re making a pretty decent salary off the government,” Meetze said.
When asked about moves to curtail state benefits, Romney said that was a state issue he wouldn’t address.
Romney, who’s expected to enter the race in the coming weeks, has laid more groundwork than others in a state where Republicans brag that they’ve picked the winner of the GOP nomination contest for 30 years.
In last year’s elections, his political action committees poured more than $86,000 into campaigns, including $63,000 to Gov. Nikki Haley’s campaign.
She supported Romney last time when she was in the Legislature, but is remaining neutral so far. Her endorsement would be a major prize.
Romney came away with endorsements from Rep. Nathan Ballentine, an Irmo Republican who was Haley’s state House colleague and remains a close ally, as well as from state Rep. Chip Huggins of Columbia.
Meanwhile, a fundraising group with ties to President Barack Obama launched a television ad against Romney in South Carolina in advance of his visit.
The ad by Priorities USA Action, which was founded by two former top aides in the Obama White House, criticizes Romney for supporting a House GOP budget plan that would privatize Medicare for future retirees.
Romney says he generally supports the proposal offered by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan but details of what he will offer will be different.
“The Ryan plan and my plan are on the same page. We have the same objectives. My plan is different than his — it’s not identical,” Romney said.
David John, a Senior research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains his position on Social Security as it relates to taxes and health care. He suggests it would be a good solution for the government to raise the age of retirement.
Over the next 75 years, the program has promised to pay $7.8 trillion more in benefits than it will receive in payroll taxes. The only way that future retirees can collect all of the benefits promised to them is to make their children and grandchildren pay massive amounts of additional taxes.
Heritage proposes to solve these problems and strengthen the Social Security system by tightening its benefits and returning it to its original purpose: a guarantee that older Americans won’t fall into poverty. Heritage proposes to make Social Security “real insurance” for Americans as they reach retirement.
This reform means that Social Security’s promises in the future will change in several ways:
Social Security will gradually be transformed from an “income replacement” system back to its original purpose of guaranteeing seniors freedom from fear of poverty and assuring a decent retirement income. This means that Social Security benefits will evolve over time into a flat payment to those who work more than 35 years—a flat payment that is sufficient to keep them out of poverty throughout their retirement.
Because the new Social Security is a real insurance system, designed to protect seniors from poverty, retirees with high incomes from sources other than Social Security will receive a smaller check, and very affluent seniors will receive no check. This transparent way of income-adjusting benefit checks will replace the method used today, whereby the checks of even modest-income seniors are taxed and thus reduced.
To help make up the difference between the new Social Security benefit and what workers may desire for a more comfortable retirement, our plan will create greater incentives for workers of all income levels to save more for retirement. These savings will supplement their Social Security and create a more secure retirement.
Americans live much longer than they used to. While this is good news, it means that they are spending a much higher proportion of their lives in retirement. Regrettably, these longer retirements play a major role in Social Security’s financial problems. For this reason, the Social Security retirement ages will be raised gradually and then indexed to life expectancy. This will create a more reasonable balance between the number of years a person works and the number of years one receives Social Security benefits.
To encourage people to stay in the workforce longer, those who work beyond full retirement age will receive a higher level of after-tax income during the period when they are not claiming benefits.
This new Social Security system is reasonable, predictable, and affordable. It focuses resources on those who need the most help while providing complete protection against poverty for all seniors who qualify for full benefits.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
On May 11, 2011, I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:
Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner. I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.
Therefore, I went to the website and sent this email below:
International Assistance Programs Agency/Program Funding Level Savings % Decrease International Aid $0 $24.343 B 100% The people of the United States are some of the most generous individuals anywhere in the world. When a tsunami hit Indonesia and an earthquake hit Haiti in recent years, Americans opened their wallets and hearts to help provide assistance to those in need. Taxpayer dollars spent on official development assistance (ODA) have been wasted through a failed assistance giving model. The ODA model gives funding in a top-down format without feedback or accountability of how the funds are used. In some developing countries, aid is horded by top officials without reaching those most in need. Instead of giving countries a hand up, we continue to give them handouts, leaving them welfare dependent. Private-sector trade and investment are the best combination of development countries need to improve their financial standing.
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The problem with social security
David John, a Senior research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explains his position on Social Security as it relates to taxes and health care. He suggests it would be a good solution for the government to raise the age of retirement.
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The Debt Bomb: A Decade of DC Spending is Driving America Closer to an Economic Apocalypse
Alexis Garcia reports on America’s exploding debt. Experts blame entitlements like Social Security and government spending. But what is the solution? Can we raise taxes without crushing the economy and the middle class? Does Obama really want to lower the debt, or does he support continued deficit spending? See interviews with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Brian Riedl, Jason Peuquet and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK).
