Remember when children were an economic asset? No, you probably don’t, because that was back in the 1800s, when kids labored on farms and in factories and kicked in a few pennies to help cover the family expenses. “The more [children] you had, the better off you were,” Jennifer Senior, author of the new book All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood, LINK

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN senior medical correspondent: Yakima Valley, Washington, a horrible medical mystery has unfolded — An alarming rate of birth defects. Sara Barron, a nurse in the region and was the first to report cases of anencephaly, babies born with much of their brain and skull missing.
Barron: “I was just stunned. 3 in a couple month period of time, that’s unheard of, and they’re such tragic, terrible outcomes.”LINK

For the first time in nearly a century, a married priest has been ordained by the Maronite Catholic Church in the United States — and his wife and daughter were on hand to support him.

Wissam Akiki was welcomed by hundreds of supporters during a ceremony Thursday night at St. Raymond’s Maronite Cathedral in St. Louis. He called it a “historic day” and said he had been given two great blessings: marriage to his wife of 10 years, Manal, and “the dream to serve the Lord thanks and church as a priest.” LINK

The Roman Catholic Church is enjoying some of its best press in decades, and hundreds of thousands of alienated Catholics are returning, thanks in large part to the new, and in some cases revolutionary, leadership of Pope Francis. LINK

The severity of California’s current drought has been realized by the release of two NASA pictures of Folsom Lake and the desolation it has suffered in just two and a half years.
The reservoir, located northeast of Sacremento, California, can be seen almost full on July 20, 2011, measuring a capacity of 97 percent. But in a shot taken just last month, the lake had a capacity of just 17 percent. LINK

Today Catholic Pope Francis Bergoglio was named as the chief defendant in a child trafficking case involving Catholic orphans. Pope Francis will be asked to defend his role in child trafficking during Argentine’s 1970s Junta Dirty War. This case of orphaned children from missing political prisoners was set for trial on March 31 2014 in a Brussels international court. 

Another bout of painfully cold Arctic air is on its way to the northern United States, reviving talk of what has become popularly known as the “polar vortex.” By Thursday, temperatures will have dropped to as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius) below the average temperature for this time of the year, meteorologists say, LINK

Is Pope Francis taking steps that are laying the groundwork for the emergence of a one world religion?  If that question sounds quite bizarre to you, I urge you to read the rest of this article.  We live at a time when globalization is advancing rapidly.  The global economy is more integrated than it has ever been before, and with each passing year new economic treaties tie us even more closely together.  And “global governance” (as the elite like to call it) is also steadily gaining ground. LINK

With their vivid colours and swirling shapes, the northern lights are already considered one of the most magical sights to see. But this might just be the most enchanting sight yet – the image of a dragon’s head appearing as the Northern Lights dance across the night sky.  The ghostly shape of the mythical creature was formed out of swathes of green as the lights appeared in the Arctic Circle. LINK

Editor’s Note: One of the key trends we’ve seen over the last ten years is an unabated rise in prices for essential goods that include food, energy and other commodities. This year, as was the case in the 1930′s, we’ve seen quite a significant change in the weather. LINK

This Is Not A Mosquito!! Look closely………………..Incredible

Is this a mosquito? No. It’s an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government. It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone. It can land on you, and it may have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin. LINK

“The Catholic and Charismatic Renewal is the hope of the Church,” exclaims Anglican Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer, before a group of cheering followers at the Kenneth Copeland Ministries.   Palmer said those words are from the Vatican. Before playing the video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, Palmer told the crowd,  “When my wife saw that she could be Catholic, and Charismatic, and Evangelical, and Pentecostal, and it was absolutely accepted in the Catholic Church, she said that she would like to reconnect her roots with the Catholic culture. So she did.” LINK

Israel could be entering the final stages of negotiations to turn over control of Mount Zion to the Vatican, according to a report by Israel National News.According to the online news source, a secretive meeting took place this week between the Jerusalem Municipality, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Tourism and senior Catholic officials.

During the meeting, the Catholic delegation reportedly pressed Israel to follow through on a years-old proposal to give the Church control over the compound that houses the traditional “Hall of the Last Supper.”