Bush calls on Congress to lift oil drilling ban
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25674571/
WASHINGTON - Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday promised to lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president.
But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well to lift its own drilling ban. There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by the first President Bush in 1990.
“When Congress lifts the legislative ban, I will lift the executive prohibition,” Bush said in a statement in the Rose Garden.
The president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.
"The only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress," Bush said. "Now the ball is squarely in Congress' court."
Bush criticized Congress for failing to lift its own ban on offshore drilling.
"For years, my administration has been calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production," Bush said. "Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal. And now Americans are paying at the pump."
The issue of offshore drilling has been debated by Congress in each of several rounds of deliberation over national energy policy, which culminated in passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition that has barred energy companies from waters along both the East and West coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. A succession of presidents, from Bush's father -- George H.W. Bush -- to Bill Clinton, have sided against drilling in these waters, as has Congress each year for 27 years. Their goal has to been to protect beaches and coastal states' tourism economies.
But since oil prices have surged above $140 a barrel in recent months, the White House believes that the political mood may have shifted since Congress last took up the idea of lifting the drilling ban. A poll last month by the Pew Research Center found that 47 percent of respondents said energy exploration and drilling were a top priority – up from 35 percent in February. Other polls have also found increased popular support for expanded drilling since oil prices have surged.
The bid for expanded drilling has also gained momentum last month when the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, said that states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to permit drilling in their coastal waters. Offshore drilling had been opposed by his predecessor, former Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother.
Given its proximity to existing oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico, and the pipelines and other infrastructure already in place in the region, Florida offers some of the more promising lease prospects for new oil development.
Bush's proposal echoes a call by Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, to open the Outer Continental Shelf for exploration. Democrat Barack Obama has opposed the idea and instead argued for helping consumers with a second economic stimulus package including energy rebates, as well as stepped up efforts to develop alternative fuels and more fuel-efficient automobiles.
"If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "But most experts, even within the Bush administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years."
Congressional Democrats Monday renewed opposition to lifting the drilling moratorium, accusing the president of hoping the U.S. can drill its way out a problem.
"Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of Big Oil," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "The Bush plan is a hoax. It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence. It just gives millions more acres to the same companies that are sitting on nearly 68 million acres of public lands and coastal areas."
"This proposal is something you'd expect from an oil company CEO, not the president of the United States," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment Committee. "The president is taking special-interest government to a new level and threatening our thriving coastal economy."
It’s not clear how much oil and natural gas lie offshore in areas currently covered by the drilling ban. In any case, it would be years before new production would be brought online, offering no short-term relief to high gasoline prices. Bust also called for a streamlined permitting process to help speed construction of new refining capacity in the U.S.
Bush said offshore drilling could yield up to 18 billion barrels of oil over time, although it would take years for production to start. Bush also says offshore drilling would take pressure off prices over time. In addition, the president has proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, lifting restrictions on oil shale leasing in the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and easing the regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other lawmakers have backed legislation to allow offshore exploration. Their measure would pursue other ways to expand energy sources, too.
"Now the only thing standing between consumers at the pump and the increased American energy they are demanding is the Democrat leadership in Congress," McConnell said. "We should act and act now."
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called Bush's move "a very important signal" and said his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, should drop his opposition to offshore drilling.
Environmental groups repeated their opposition to expanding offshore drilling.
"President Bush has once again ignored the wise precedent set by his father and taken reckless action that has neither hope of reducing gas prices nor concern for long-term consequences," said Gene Karpinski, president of The League of Conservation Voters.
Asked if Bush's action alone will lead to more oil drilling, White House press secretary Dana Perino said, "In terms of allowing more exploration to go forward? No, it does not."
McCain Camp Mocks Obama for ‘Refining’ Iraq Position on Web Site
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/15/mccain-camp-mocks-obama-for-refining-iraq-position-on-web-site/
John McCain’s campaign criticized Barack Obama Tuesday for “refining” his Iraq position on his campaign Web site, as McCain said his general election rival is “directly contradicting” himself on the war.
The New York Daily News first reported that the Obama campaign stripped a line on his site that said the troop surge “is not working.”
The Web page now describes an “improved security situation” in Iraq, and no longer lists the subhead, “The Surge,” as part of a section titled, “The Problem.”
That subhead has been renamed, “Inadequate Security and Political Progress in Iraq.”
Like the old entry, the site still states that hundreds of Americans have died since the implementation of the surge and that the Iraqi government has made negligible political progress.
Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor told FOX News it was a standard update to reflect new circumstances in Iraq, in advance of the major policy speech the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee gave in Washington, D.C., Tuesday.
He said McCain’s campaign has also changed its Web entry on economic matters like the Alternative Minimum Tax, and that it would be foolish for the Obama campaign not to update its own site. He said the update does not diminish Obama’s belief that the surge is a tactical maneuver within the context of a massive strategic blunder.
Obama made that point in his speech Tuesday, saying that while the troop surge led to reduced violence, it has cost billions and allowed Al Qaeda to fester in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But McCain said at a town hall meeting that Obama is reversing to tout the merits of the surge he once opposed.
“Flip-floppers all over the world are enraged,” McCain said, without mentioning his own Web site alterations, or Obama’s. “It is pretty clear that Senator Obama is … directly contradicting the statements that he made concerning the surge and the war in Iraq for a long period of time. And today we know Senator Obama was wrong. The surge has succeeded.”
McCain’s campaign also accused Obama of “refining” his withdrawal position by taking out a line on his Web site that said Obama “will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.”
The Web site now says, “Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his secretary of defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government.”
The site still says that he wants to remove all brigades by the summer of 2010 — a plan he restated during his address Tuesday.
“Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months,” his Web site says.
Obama would end Iraq war refocus on anti-terror policy targeting Pakistan
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5437
US Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama Tuesday, July 15, said the top of his to-do list if he wins the race to the White House would be to pull US troops out of Iraq as soon as possible - within 16 months - and redeploy two combat brigades to fight the real threats to America, al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Taliban controls parts of Afghanistan; Al Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan, he stressed, adding: “Make no mistake: we can't succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy.”
In a major foreign policy speech, Obama said: If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned.
"We must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights."
On another key issue, the senator said:“We cannot tolerate nuclear weapons in the hands of nations that support terror. Preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons potential and access by terrorists to nuclear weapons is a vital national security interest of the United States.”
Obama pledged to use all tools not to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. He also said he would invest $150bn over the next 10 years to end America's dependence on foreign oil.
The Democratic candidate begins a Middle East tour including Iraq, Afghanistan. Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month.
Some 72 percent of the 1,119 adults surveyed by telephone in the July 10-13 ABC News/Washington Post poll said Republican candidate Senator John McCain would be a good commander in chief. Only 48 percent thought the same of Obama.
Poll Finds Racial Divisions on Obama's Candidacy
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/race_relations_obama/2008/07/15/113208.html
Barack Obama's status as the first black presidential candidate of a major political party has not influenced the perception of race relations in this country, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
Majorities of both whites and blacks agree the country is ready for a black president, but the consensus seems to ends there.
The perceptions of Illinois Sen. Obama and his Republican challenger, Arizona Sen. John McCain, break along racial lines. The survey found that more than 80 percent of blacks said they had a favorable opinion of Obama, whose historic effort generated high levels of enthusiasm among blacks. But among whites, only about 30 percent said they viewed him favorably, the Times/CBS poll found.
Whites had a more positive view of the state of race relations than blacks, the survey found.
More than half of whites, 55 percent, said relations are good, a finding that was virtually unchanged from a survey conducted in 2000. But only 29 percent of blacks said the same thing, also about the same as eight years ago.
About a third of whites and almost twice as many blacks said relations are bad, about the same numbers for both groups who felt that way in 2000.
The latest results come as both candidates head into the final months of a groundbreaking campaign in which the race issue has been ever present.
Obama, the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas, would become the nation's first black president if elected on Nov. 4.
The race issue has followed Obama throughout the campaign -- from the videos showing his former pastor's condemnations of the U.S. and its policies, to a speech on race that he gave in Philadelphia to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's recent allegation that Obama was talking down to black people by urging them -- black men in particular -- to take more responsibility for their actions.
About two thirds of whites and roughly the same percentage of blacks feel that America is ready for a black president.
Overall, 31 percent of voters say race relations will improve if Obama is elected, a view supported by nearly half of black voters, 47 percent. But fewer whites, 29 percent, predict improvement in race relations during an Obama administration.
Among Hispanics, Obama has the edge over McCain.
He is viewed favorably by more than half of Hispanics, 53 percent, while McCain is viewed favorably by less than one-fourth, 23 percent. And on the issue of immigration, one-fourth of Hispanics said they have "a lot" of confidence in Obama's handling of the issue, compared to 14 percent for McCain.
The survey of 1,796 adults, including 297 blacks and 246 Hispanics, was conducted July 7-14. The overall survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; larger for subgroups.
Anti-Obama Bloggers Question Why Google Froze Their Accounts
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382452,00.html
Some bloggers opposed to Barack Obama say they suspect Obama's supporters — with the assistance of Google — may have tried to censor them when the Internet giant froze their Web sites for five days last month.
Seven blogs run by Democrats who oppose Obama’s nomination for the presidency were incorrectly flagged as spam sites by Blogger, the hosting service Google has owned since 2003. Google says it was an automated response from a spam filter.
But the bloggers believe that Web surfers who support Obama took advantage of a loophole in Blogger’s system that allows readers to report spam blogs, the artificial Web sites that abound on the Internet and are used to promote other sites.
"It appears that [Blogger's] policy can be manipulated by people determined to shut down the free exchange of ideas," said Carissa Snedeker, whose blog, BlueLyon, was among those that were frozen.
"It’s unusual — I’ve never heard of similar blogs of the same nature being shut down like that," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the tech site SearchEngineLand.com.
Google said in a press release that the blogs were blocked because an automatic spam filter had locked on to those seven Web sites.
"We believe this may have been caused by mass spam e-mails mentioning the ‘Just Say No Deal’ network of [anti-Obama] blogs, which in turn caused our system to classify the blog addresses mentioned in the e-mails as spam," Google wrote, referring to a coalition of disaffected Democrats who oppose Obama's candidacy.
Blogger quarantined the seven anti-Obama blogs on June 25 while it conducted a review, a process that took five days and made it impossible for the bloggers to write posts on the weekend of a joint event held by Obama and Hillary Clinton.
"Blogger’s 'guilty until proven innocent' approach is appalling," wrote blogger GeekLove on her site, Come a Long Way. She said she felt silenced by the freeze.
"The conclusion that many of us came to was that we were specifically targeted by some over-enthusiastic Obama supporters," Snedeker said.
The bloggers believe it's part of a larger campaign to evict them from left-wing sites like the Huffington Post and DailyKos.
Google says the bloggers' suspicions are unfounded. "Politics had absolutely nothing to do with this — it was a spam issue," Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich told FOXNews.com.
Sullivan said he would have expected more blogs to get shut down if there had been a concerted effort to stop anti-Obama sites.
"I think that there’s something weird, in general, that all these were shut down," he said, "but why, exactly, is uncertain."
As a result, all seven bloggers opened accounts with WordPress, a rival blog-hosting site, hoping to avoid such problems. The other affected blogs are Hillary or Bust, McCain Democrats, NObama Blog, The Political Lizard and Reflections in Tyme.
Google said it was addressing the issue and "constantly evaluating our policies and technology to reduce the number of false positives caught by our spam filters."
"We have restored posting rights to the affected blogs," it wrote, "and it is very important to us that Blogger remain a tool for political debate and free expression."
Snedeker wrote on her blog that she wasn’t satisfied with Google's gesture.
"How’s about a little benefit of the doubt for the next set of bloggers that get caught in your 'automated spam detection' maze?" she wrote.
Mike Baker: Obama's Plan to Change the World
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,383301,00.html
I just finished watching what was billed as a “major foreign policy speech” by Senator Obama. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t intended to watch the speech, preferring instead to read the transcripts anytime either candidate, but particularly Obama, delivers a speech. Reading the text of the speech seems to be more satisfying and enlightening than watching the actual delivery. It’s also part of my survival strategy.
I worry about falling under Obama’s spell if I spend too much time actually gazing at him while he talks. It’s an irrational fear I suppose, but I’m afraid that if I watch too many of his speeches, one day I’ll wake up and be one of those Obamatrons that I currently spend all my daylight hours trying to avoid.
Once that happens I’ll be doomed to walk the Earth muttering about change and new political landscapes. I’ll spend hours each day attending reeducation camp where I’ll realize the evils of free markets and personal responsibility and extol the glories of big government. My evenings will be spent writing a liberal blog with a hip name like crunchypolitiking.org and editing my Facebook page, adding other Obamatrons as friends til’ my social network exceeds the population of China.
As with all good zombie scenarios, we Obamatrons will feed off of the Unchanged, those who, for reasons unknown to science and pollsters, are immune to Obama’s incantations. I suspect that someone, possibly looking a lot like the late Charlton Heston, will eventually discover an antidote allowing Obamatrons to become human again. Each Obamatron will have to receive a series of painful shots of reality, administered over a period of four years… but eventually the zombie nation will be defeated. That is my nightmare.
But back to the beginning. I watched this morning’s major foreign policy speech by Obama because it was the only thing playing on the little seatback television on my airline flight to New York City. Other passengers, really lucky passengers, had some 36 channels to choose from and spent the flight surfing from Spongebob to ESPN to the History Channel. My television on the other hand refused to play anything other than a news channel which at that moment was busy showing Obama’s speech.
Lucky for me, after the speech came a panel of experts who excitedly dissected the speech, explaining to my simple mind what it was that had been said and how I should feel about it. This completely removed the need for me to do any thinking, which of course feeds right into my zombie theory.
Life kept getting better as, after the panel, I was treated to a Democratic Senator extolling the virtues of Obama’s speech, followed by a Republican Senator who explained we would all go to hell in a handbasket if we left foreign policy up to Obama.
Finally, because God has quite the sense of humor, the only working channel on my television replayed a highlights reel of the speech while a pollster quizzed a roomful of Obamatrons about their reactions to his statements. I’m not sure when I actively started wishing for an emergency water landing, but it was sometime during the pollster’s segment.
Never has a flight seemed so long. On the positive side though, I now have a better understanding of what Obama will do for us during his first term as president. I have this understanding because I made a list of things that he said he’ll do during his first four years. Let’s review:
1. End the war in Iraq.
2. Ensure the Iraqi army and police can take care of things on their own.
3. Bring together all of Iraq’s neighbors in a coalition to help Iraq.
4. Get all the Arab nations to open embassies in Baghdad.
5. Defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
6. Make the Pakistani Government take responsibility for extremism and clean up the mess along the border.
7. Take care of Bin Ladin if we find him in Pakistan, by golly.
8. Increase non-military aid to Pakistan but only if they clean up the mess.
9. Increase aid to Afghanistan so they can be happy.
10. Double U.S. foreign assistance by the year 2012 to make Africa, the Middle East and Asia happy.
11. Solve the Iran situation.
12. Make the U.N. “more perfect.”
13. Get China to work with us on important issues.
14. Improve relations with all the people of the world.
15. Gather up all the loose and non-secured nuclear materials around the world to keep them away from evil-doers.
16. End U.S. dependence on oil.
17. Save the world by preventing the dangerous effects of climate change.
I may, or may not, have included all the really big ticket items, I was having a hard time focusing as the speech went on. Honestly, at first I was skeptical… lot’s of promises to do really difficult things and no explanation as to how they would be accomplished, except for occasionally mentioning a billion here or there in additional spending.
Of course, promising to make the world an excellent place and to solve all the messy problems is what politicians do. Obama shouldn’t be held to a different standard just because he and the Obamatrons position him as a new kind of guy devoid of the usual political grandstanding. You know, I was just about to type 'What a load of crap,' when something kept me from reaching for the PWB’s trademark phrase. Odd.
So as I watched the senator’s Christmas list to Santa grow during the course of his speech, I found myself thinking “huh, that’s some list.” I have deep thoughts like that on occasion. But instead of my usual scoffing, which in all honesty can sometimes be a little irritating according to people in my scoff zone, I admit to being somewhat impressed with the sheer scope of the promise-a-thon I was watching.
This wasn’t the usual litany of items that we’re accustomed to seeing like “If elected I’ll work with our allies to resolve crisis X” or “In my first term I’ll announce an initiative to develop Project Y." By the way, while I can’t provide specific details, there really is a crisis X and it’s not good.
No, Obama was delivering something else entirely. Item #17 above is a good example… I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a candidate say he would save the planet during his first term. That’s some pretty cool stuff, especially if he wears a cape and some boots while stopping the impact of climate change. I’ll stop short of saying he should wear his underpants outside his trousers. It is the office of the President after all.
Item #16, ending our dependence on oil…excellent. I may be mistaken, but I thought I heard him say that “I’ll” end the tyranny of oil and break the kung-fu grip of OPEC on us all. Part of that plan is to spend $15 billion dollars a year on an initiative to develop alternative fuel sources. And I thought I heard him say we’d reduce our emissions by 80 percent at some point. How can you not get behind that kind of emissions reduction?
He almost lost me for a moment with item #12. He called the U.N. “imperfect” but then said he’d work to make it “more perfect." Personally, if I was the candidate, I’d simply say I’d work to make it less of an ineffective, fraud-ridden, radical leaning tool of countries that actively dislike the U.S. But “more perfect” is another way to put it I suppose.
It all started making sense to me round about the third time I watched the highlights from the speech. I’m not sure what I was thinking before, but you can’t argue with a list of planned achievements like that. I mean, who doesn’t want peace in the Middle East, a happy Afghanistan, a Pakistan that really takes the extremist problem seriously, freedom from the tyranny of oil, a safe world free of loose nukes, the love and respect of the global community and polar bears.
I know I do. Change, that’s what I’m talking about. Living in a new political landscape where red and blue states disappear and we all pull together for the common good. It’s all coming together now. Not sure why I couldn’t see it before.
I’d write more but me and some of my new friends are late for our camp class on socialized medicine.
Till next week, stay safe.
Congress warned: U.S. risks 'catastrophe' in EMP attack
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=69280
A top scientist today warned the House Armed Services Committee America remains vulnerable to a "catastrophe" from a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack that could be launched with plausible deniability by hostile rogue nations or terrorists.
William R. Graham, chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack and the former national science adviser to President Reagan, testified before the committee while presenting a sobering new report on "one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences."
It is the first report from the commission since 2004 and identifies vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructures, "which are essential to both our civilian and military capabilities."
Not taking the steps necessary to reduce the threat in the next three to five years "can both invite and reward attack," Graham told the committee.
The scariest and most threatening kind of EMP attack is initiated by the detonation of a nuclear weapon at high altitude in the range of 25 to 250 miles above the Earth's surface. The immediate effects of EMP are disruption of, and damage to, electronic systems and electrical infrastructure. Such a detonation over the middle of the continental U.S. "has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures that support the fabric of U.S. society and the ability of the United States and Western nations to project influence and military power," said Graham.
"Several potential adversaries have the capability to attack the United States with a high-altitude nuclear weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse, and others appear to be pursuing efforts to obtain that capability," said Graham. "A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication. For example, an adversary would not have to have long-range ballistic missiles to conduct an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the U.S. coast using a short- or medium-range missile to loft a nuclear warhead to high altitude. Terrorists sponsored by a rogue state could attempt to execute such an attack without revealing the identity of the perpetrators. Iran, the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism, has practiced launching a mobile ballistic missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shahab-III, a test mode consistent with EMP attack, and described the tests as successful. Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States. While the commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots."
Graham reminded the committee even smaller nuclear weapons can create massive EMP effects over wide geographic areas. He also pointed out that United Nations investigators recently found that "the design for an advanced nuclear weapon, miniaturized to fit on ballistic missiles currently in the inventory of Iran, North Korea and other potentially hostile states, was in the possession of Swiss criminals affiliated with the A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network."
Theoretically, an EMP attack is devastating because of the unprecedented cascading failures of major infrastructures that could result. Because of America's heavy reliance on electricity and electronics, the impact would be far worse than on a country less advanced technologically. Graham and the commission see the potential for failure in the financial system, the system of distribution for food and water, medical care and trade and production.
"The recovery of any one of the key national infrastructures is dependent upon the recovery of others," he said. "The longer the outage, the more problematic and uncertain the recovery will be. It is possible for the functional outages to become mutually reinforcing until at some point the degradation of infrastructure could have irreversible effects on the country's ability to support its population."
Graham took the EMP debate out of the realm of science fiction by reminding the committee that as recently as May 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Russian leaders threatened a U.S. congressional delegation with the specter of such an attack that would paralyze the U.S.
He also quoted James J. Shinn, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security, who two weeks ago told the same House committee that China's arms buildup includes exotic experiments with electromagnetic weapons that can devastate electronics with bursts of energy similar to those produced by a nuclear blast.
"The consequence of EMP is that you destroy the communications network," Shinn said. "And we are, as you know, and as the Chinese know, heavily dependent on sophisticated communications, satellite communications, in the conduct of our forces. And so, whether it's from an EMP or it's some kind of a coordinated [anti-satellite] effort, we could be in a very bad place if the Chinese enhanced their capability in this area."
Graham says terrorists who get their hands on one or a few unsophisticated nuclear weapons might well calculate they could get the most bang for their buck from attempting an EMP attack.
Recovery from a widespread EMP attack could take months or years, Graham warned. The fact that key components of the U.S. electrical grid are not even manufactured in America and must be ordered a year in advance from foreign suppliers suggests just how complicated and time-consuming recovery might be. The high state of automation within America's utilities further complicates recovery. There just might not be sufficient trained manpower available to get the job done in a timely way.
"The commission's view is that the federal government does not today have sufficient human and physical assets for reliably assessing and managing EMP threats," said Graham. "The commission reviewed current national capabilities to understand and to manage the effects of EMP and concluded that the U.S. is rapidly losing the technical competence and facilities that it needs in the government, the national laboratories and the industrial community."
Graham said it's not too late for Congress to take the bull by the horns and take the steps necessary to prepare for the threat – and thereby reduce it.
"A serious national commitment to address the threat of an EMP attack can lead to a national posture that would significantly reduce the payoff for such an attack and allow the United States to recover from EMP, and from other threats, man-made and natural, to the critical infrastructures," said Graham.
Graham's predecessor as chairman of the commission had equally tough words on the impact of the EMP threat.
"Their effects on systems and infrastructures dependent on electricity and electronics could be sufficiently ruinous as to qualify as catastrophic to the nation," Lowell Wood, acting chairman of the commission, told members of Congress in 2005.
The commission's previous report went so far as to suggest, in its opening sentence, that an EMP attack "might result in the defeat of our military forces."
Gun Saint Society Declares Supreme Court Second Amendment Decision a Secular and Religious Blockbuster for Right of Self-Defense
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07391.shtml
ARLINGTON, Va., July 8 (christiansunite.com) -- "Last month's historic Supreme Court gun rights decision is a blockbuster development for the right of individual self-defense in religious as well as secular spheres of interest," John M. Snyder, Founder-Chairman of the St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc. declared here today.
"All of the Justices who voted in the 5-4 majority for individual gun rights are Catholic," Snyder noted. "In the United States, institutional Catholic Church leaders have been on the wrong side of the right to arms for self-defense issue. The Social Development and World Peace Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops supports prohibition of the importation, manufacture, sale, possession and use of handguns. Individual clergy, including bishops, also have gone off the deep end on this issue. Let them listen to the solid gun rights majority of Catholic Supreme Court Justices. Let them consider that the right to life does not end with birth but continues throughout natural life and includes the right to self- defense and the right to arms for self-defense."
In the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court ruled 5-4 June 26 that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. "This repudiates the contention that the Amendment refers merely to a so-called 'collective right,'" Snyder said. "The Court nullified a ban on the possession of an operable handgun in one's home. The individual right to keep and bear arms includes the individual right to keep and bear handguns. It's a definitive statement in favor of the right to use handguns for self-defense."
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion. Joining him were Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
The international, interdenominational Society honors St. Gabriel Possenti, a seminarian who used handguns in 1860 to rescue villagers of Isola del Gran Sasso, Italy from a gang of terrorizing marauders. Possenti died two years later. Pope Benedict XV canonized him in 1920. The Society advocates Possenti's Vatican designation as Patron of Handgunners. It emphasizes historical, philosophical and theological aspects of legitimate self-defense.
The weapons of World War III
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69079
Did the Chinese military cause the largest blackout in the history of North America?
That is the assertion of Tim Bennett, the former president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, who says U.S. intelligence officials confirmed to him the People's Liberation Army gained access to a network that controlled electric power systems serving the northeastern U.S. in 2003, according to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Some 50 million people were affected by the 9,300-square-mile blackout that hit parts of New York, Canada, Michigan and Ohio.
The official explanation for the power outage was that overgrown trees came into contact with strained high-voltage lines in Ohio. But the story of this possible skirmish in the "electromagnetic spectrum" is widely whispered about in defense and intelligence circles. It is referred to by some as the first battle of World War III – a conflict to be fought asymmetrically in cyberspace and with weapons that might seem like science fiction.
The Moscow newspaper Zavtra reported only a week ago that Russia has developed "special powerful electromagnetic impulse generators that may be used in design of new type radars and as a basis of electromagnetic weapons that will render enemy electronics inoperable."
"The U.S. Army is convinced meanwhile that the Russians have already designed 'kinetic weapons' and 'directed energy weapons' (apparently lasers) for ASAT warfare," the article continued. "In any event, the Americans suspect that the recent episode with the Chinese laser that damaged an American spysat became possible precisely because Moscow had made this technology available to China."
The superweapons being developed for the next global conflict began coming into sharper focus last winter when China destroyed one of its own aging, low-Earth-orbit weather satellites while it was circling at an altitude of 500 miles, using a ground-based, direct ascent anti-satellite weapon.
This year, the U.S., using its sea-based Aegis missile defense system, shot down a disabled American intelligence satellite at 100 or so miles altitude as it tumbled uncontrollably toward the planet.
The Defense Department says China is developing non-kinetic means of attacking satellites, such as jamming and blinding, and using lasers, microwave, particle beam and electromagnetic pulse weapons.
Cyber-warfare, one of the proven strengths of the Chinese military, can also be used as an anti-satellite capability. In congressional testimony this year, the director of national intelligence stated, "Counter-command, control and sensor systems, to include communications satellite jammers and ASAT weapons, are among Beijing's highest military priorities."
Bennett, meanwhile, told the National Journal he believes Chinese cyber-hackers were also responsible for another U.S. blackout last February in Florida – one that affected 3 million customers.
Bennett told the National Journal he decided to speak publicly about the incidents to point out that security for the nation's critical electronic infrastructures is weak and to emphasize that government and company officials haven't sufficiently acknowledged these vulnerabilities.
The Stage Is Set: Will We Ask For Destruction Or Plead For Mercy?
http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/full.php?news=17562
It’s been just over 7 months since I was moved to write the commentary "The Stage Is Set: Will It Be Judgment Or Destruction?" following the announcement of the U.S. sponsored Annapolis peace conference, which was yet another attempt by man and this world to broker peace between the state of Israel and the Palestinians.
To quickly recap, in that piece we had established that God is the one who establishes nations and He is the one who takes them down (Daniel 2:20-21). When a nation rebels against God, He responds first by raising up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance.
These are not people with supernatural knowledge of the future. They are simply those who have the spiritual gift of discernment to see where a nation is missing God’s mark. In other words, they know how to apply the Scriptures to current events.
Their sole purpose is to bring glory to God by demonstrating that His Word is pure, perfect, and 100% accurate. Their sole hope is that others who remain in the dark will finally recognize their need for Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
In other words, in the end times there will be people who are prophetically gifted to recognize the correspondence between Bible prophecies and world events. I firmly believe that God has placed people like this exactly where they are supposed to be at exactly the right time so that they can have an impact for Him by replacing the seeds of doubt with the seeds of faith within their own specific sphere of influence.
If a nation refuses to listen to these prophetic voices, God will then send remedial judgments. That is to say that God will do what He has to in order to get our attention. Deuteronomy 28 lists the many forms that these judgments can take, which includes economic failure, rebellion of youth, an epidemic of divorce, confusion in government, foreign domination, and military defeat. The chapter also mentions natural disasters like drought, crop failure, and pestilence.
Sometimes God uses signs of nature to underline the importance of major events. More often, He uses signs of nature as remedial judgments to call nations to repentance. He has always spoken to the world through signs of nature. One example that comes readily to mind is the birth of Jesus when God placed a special light in the heavens. Another is when Jesus was crucified and the earth experienced three hours of darkness and a major earthquake.
Do all natural catastrophes represent remedial judgments of God? No - most are just the products of the natural processes of our weather systems in a fallen world. How then can we determine when a natural calamity is a remedial judgment?
One important factor is the timing of the event as it relates to the sins of the nation. Another factor is the magnitude of the event. Remedial judgments are designed to have great shock value in order to capture people’s attention and force them to think with an eternal perspective. The most important factor is God’s Spirit witnessing to the spirits of those to whom He has given the gift of prophecy. They will be motivated to speak forth with a united voice.
We also established the fact that the Holy Bible provides us with many signs we are to watch for that will signal the soon return of Jesus Christ. One sign in and of itself is not a big deal. Throughout the years, people have often felt as if they were living in the end times based on world events.
The difference between then and now?
Never before, in the span of human history, have so many specific signs occurred or have they been occurring at the same time to make the fulfillment of those end-times prophecies possible! That is why we have more reason to believe that ours is the generation that will see the return of Jesus Christ when compared to all others before us.
Why is this a key distinction? Because Jesus Himself said the signs of the times would be like "birth pangs" (Matthew 24:8) describing the end times by referring to them in a way that all cultures and peoples can understand – that birth is imminent when the frequency and magnitude of the labor pains of pregnancy increase.
While the signs related to Israel are the most important since they tell us where we are on God’s prophetic timepiece, the headlines from the past 7 months cannot be ignored especially given these spiritual certainties.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES: JUDGMENTS
A casual reading of any of the media’s news reports over the past several months since that Annapolis meeting should raise some eyebrows.
As one New York Times piece recently summarized,
Mother Nature goes to extremes in the summer, spoiling the gif of good weather with hurricanes, heat waves, fires and floods. This year she started early. On May 2, Cyclone Nargis laid waste to large parts of Myanmar. According to the latest counts, the disaster left 2.4 million people destitute, more than 50,000 missing and at least 84,000 dead.
On May 12, China’s Sichuan Province suffered an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. China’s state media reported that more than 5 million people lost their homes; an estimated 80,000 people, many of them children, were killed.
Consider the U.S. in June: Iowa experienced a deluge of historic proportions, with large-scale crop destruction spiking the cost of food and raising fears of an inflationary spiral.
California, where the driest two months of spring on record turned grass and brush into kindling, endured more than 1,000 wildfires and braced for more to come.
On the East Coast, more than 30 people perished during the kind of heat wave that usually comes in July or August.
Earlier this month, Natural News reported that natural disasters are up more than 400% in the last 20 years! Natural disasters are increasing in frequency, ravaging the world, our country, and even our own homes.
These events follow a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable, and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people.
The article concluded that global warming is the culprit, but are we really so sure? The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works along with several oceanographic and satellite-based studies counter that the planet is actually cooling!
Whether the Earth is warming or cooling (an entirely separate debate and discussion), I believe the Bible gives us the correct answer to all of this weather upheaval – God is speaking to us.
CAN WE TAKE MORE JUDGMENT WITH A SIDE OF DESTRUCTION PLEASE?
Many people will continue to laugh and call these coincidences, but Christians do not believe in coincidence. God is sovereign. He is in control. Everything happens for a reason.
Is it mere coincidence that all of these forces of nature continue to increase in their intensity and frequency as we the people continue to increase in our intensity and frequency our attempts at eliminating any and all traces of God from the public as well as the private arenas?
I mean, first it was Annapolis. We ignored every single warning in the Bible about dividing God’s Holy Land and negatively impacting His people. We continue to try and secure peace between Israel and her enemies to this day.
Next, it was the political primary season and many so-called Christians treated the political candidates (Obama, Romney, and Huckabee come to mind) with reverence and as if they were our nation’s savior who has finally come to save us and lead us into a brave new world. The sheer arrogance of it all has been maddening! Worse is that the sentiments continue to this day with magazine features asking if Obama is the Messiah.
Most recently, the issue has been gay marriage as many people throughout this country seem to be willing to allow the holy institution of marriage to be defiled by a few zealous lawmakers and courts. It’s not hurting anyone so what’s the big deal, right? Wrong!
It all seems like a pretty clear parallel to me. We continue to sin and thumb our noses at God despite His attempts to get our attention and to get us to repent and change our ways. Out of pure love and concern we should be thankful that He is slow to anger and merciful, but how much longer can we get away with this kind of living?
Still not convinced?
Forget about the natural disasters and environmental changes for a moment. Let’s look at other ways that God might be trying to get our attention and how He might be speaking to us.
Famines and drought come to mind. Were you aware of the fact that mothers and fathers in Haiti have been forced to feed their children mud-pies? No, not the kind you find at your local grocery store, but the kind you use dirt and mud to make?
"So what! It’s not my problem! It’s not that bad here!" you say? Aside from the fact that you just showed yourself to be cold and uncaring (another prophetic sign that Jesus talked about in 2 Timothy 3:2), consider the impact that the recent floods in the Midwest could have on our nation’s food supply.
If that doesn’t do the trick, consider the impact that using corn crops for biofuels is having on global markets as supply and demand forces prices to new record heights. Wait, I forgot! We have to make some kind of a sacrifice to our god Mother Earth in the name of Environmentalism and "Being Green" so I guess doing this has to be allowed; it’s acceptable.
Ok, let us take a quick look at another case of supply and demand forcing prices to new record heights – gas and fuel costs.
Am I the only one who finds it strange that one of the major news stories in these first 7 months of 2008 has been the national and global economy, which seemed to take center stage soon after the smiles and handshakes at Annapolis took place?
Forget about the fuel and gas prices! I could also focus our attention on the credit and mortgage crises as well. Our economy is in shambles and the dollar continues to weaken.
Sadly, I fear that none of this will have any impact for if we had only repented and asked for forgiveness 7 months ago then perhaps we would find ourselves in a completely different situation today. Instead, we were content with just going about our business as usual.
Whether you want to believe it or not, God is on His throne. He is in control. He cannot be mocked. He will not tolerate the division of His holy land. Nor will He tolerate gross immorality that mocks everything that is moral and decent.
God loves our nation. He has blessed us more than any other nation. His Word says that to those to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:47-48). His Word also says He disciplines those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:7).
Another thing His Word makes clear is that when He sends discipline, the fundamental purpose is never to punish. Instead, the purpose is to call us to repentance so that we might be saved.
Here’s how the prophet Isaiah expressed it: "When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9).
Our God is truly a God of amazing grace and mercy. Even when He pours out His wrath, He does so hoping that it will provoke repentance so that people can be saved.
WILL WE ASK FOR DESTRUCTION OR PLEASE FOR MERCY?
I am moved to pen this follow-up today – nearly 7 months later – because it seems that many of us are still unwilling to face the facts and make a decision that will have eternal consequences.
We as a nation have set ourselves against God. Before we were merely tempting Him to move us from judgment to destruction – a bad enough place to be as a nation. Today, it seems as though we welcome his judgment with opens arms and daring Him to send His destruction.
After all, if these really are His judgments what do we have to fear? That was the worst of it? No problem. We survived what He threw at us and if He feels we deserve punishment well then bring it on! Who is He to tell us that we are right or wrong?
If that is how you feel about things I hate to break it to you, but you are sadly mistaken. You cannot even begin to imagine the type of utter destruction and suffering that would befall this country if God’s protective hands weren’t upon us all this time. I pray that the Lord uses this piece to speak to your heart because that is where souls are won – not in the head, but in the heart.
Our God is so merciful. He has been patiently sending us one wake-up call after another because He never pours out His wrath without warning.
Make no mistake, several wake-up calls from God have been given. It is imperative that you don’t just simply roll over and hit the snooze button - again – in response to this wake-up call.
I pray that this time we’ll have the heartfelt desire to want to change our ways, repent and refocus our hearts and minds on what’s truly a worthwhile pursuit: A relationship and life with our Lord and Savior.
I ended that first piece several months ago by writing, "The rest of us will wait with baited breath for the resulting spiritual response that looms over us. The only question that remains is whether or not God will send us judgment or destruction."
Today, I end this piece by stating that I believe we are already experiencing judgment at this very moment.
The only question that remains is whether or not we are ignorant and arrogant enough to ask for destruction or smart and humble enough to plead for mercy.
Americans Identify What They Consider “Holy” Books
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=302
As the United States becomes a more pluralistic nation, it would be expected that a broader base of books would be accepted by increasing numbers of adults as "sacred literature" or "holy books." A new survey by The Barna Group discovered that about two-dozen such books were listed by a national sample of 1003 adults. However, only four books were listed by at least 1% of the public, and just one book was deemed to be sacred or holy by at least 5% of the public.
The Bible Stands Alone
The only book listed by at least 5% was the Bible, which was named as a holy book by 84% of the public. Although the same percentage of respondents (84%) described themselves as Christian, one out of every 14 of them (7%) did not consider the Bible to be sacred literature, while nearly two out of every five adults who do not consider themselves to be Christian (38%) categorized the Bible as holy.
Three-quarters or more of most subgroups of the population listed the Bible as a holy book. The only exceptions were Asians (just 54% mentioned the Bible); people associated with non-Christian faith groups (59% of whom listed the Bible); atheists and agnostics (30%); and people who describe themselves as "mostly liberal" on social and political issues (69%).
Men are much less likely than women to consider the Bible to be sacred literature (78% versus 90%, respectively). There was an even larger gap between political liberals (69%) and conservatives (93%). People under the age of 40 were notably less likely than older Americans to accept the Bible as holy (77% versus 90%, including only 67% of the adults ages 18 to 23), and downscale individuals were more likely than upscale adults to do so (88% versus 77%).
There were substantial differences based upon ethnicity as well. Whites and Hispanics held the middle ground, with 83% claiming the Bible to be sacred, while blacks (96%) and Asians (54%) were at the opposite ends of the opinion continuum on this matter.
Other Sacred Literature
Although two dozen documents were named by respondents as constituting sacred literature, only three other books were labeled as such by at least 1% of the public. Those included the Koran (deemed a holy book by 4%); the Book of Mormon (3%); and the Torah (2%). Muslims, whose holy book is the Koran, represent about one-half of one percent of the nation’s population. Mormons, who include the Book of Mormon as one of their sacred texts, are roughly 2% of America. Jews, who include the Torah among their holy documents, are also about 2% of the adult public.
Among the books listed by one-half of one percent but less than 1% were the Bhagavad Gita (revered by Hindus), the Talmud (a Jewish text), and Teachings of the Buddha (which is esteemed by Buddhists).
Various volumes were named by less than one-half of one percent. Those included literature embraced by various eastern faiths such as Analects, I Ching, Tao Te Ching, and Ramayana; several Hebrew works including the Ketuvim, The Prophets, and Tanakh; and the Mormon scripture known as Doctrine and Covenants. In addition, several other books were mentioned: Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard, Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler, Secret Book by Rhonda Byrne, and Quiet Strength by football coach Tony Dungy.
The people group most likely to say that there are no holy books at all were the nation’s second-largest faith group, the Skeptics (i.e., atheists and agnostics), 52% of whom denied the existence of sacred literature. Other groups containing substantial proportions of people who said no holy books exist were liberals (18%), upscale individuals (16%), men (13%), people from non-Christian faith groups (13%), residents of the West (13%), adults not registered to vote (12%), and people under 40 (12%).
How Christians View Sacred Literature
Upon exploring the different segments within the Christian community, several patterns were revealed.
Evangelicals were an all-or-nothing segment: 99% said the Bible is sacred literature, and 1% said there is no sacred literature. No other books were listed by the group.
Non-evangelical born again Christians were slightly more accepting. Overall, 96% identified the Bible, 3% said the Book of Mormon, 3% said the Koran, 1% named the Torah, and 3% listed a variety of other books. One percent said holy books do not exist.
Notional Christians were the most open-minded. While 87% included the Bible, 6% said the Koran, 2% identified the Torah, 1% said the Book of Mormon, and 3% indicated there were other books as well. Surprisingly, 7% said there are no sacred books at all.
Catholics and Protestants were generally similar; none of the differences were statistically significant. Furthermore, there were no statistically reliable differences between those who attend a house church and those aligned with a conventional church.
Thoughts about Views on Holy Books
People’s responses demonstrate America’s singular connection to Christianity, according to George Barna, the researcher of faith trends who directed the study.
"Most Americans consider the Bible to be the word of God - and do not believe any other document fits that description. People associated with other faiths are much more likely to view the Bible as sacred literature than Christians are to view any other document to be holy," Barna noted.
"The groups most likely to consider books besides the Bible to be sacred are those who tend to be the most experimental in spirituality: adults under 25, residents of the West, and liberals. Although most American adults are only moderately committed to Christianity and to the church they attend most often, they have no inclination to embrace anything besides the Bible as sacred, especially if it originated from a different faith tradition. Christians may not know much of what’s in the Bible, but they are not at all likely to investigate the religious books of other faiths or to refer to them as holy."
Judge Roy Moore and Foundation for Moral Law File Brief Defending Distribution of Gideon Bibles in Missouri School District
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07381.shtml
WASHINGTON, (christiansunite.com) -- Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and attorneys with the Foundation for Moral Law argued in an amicus curiae brief filed today that Gideons International's 30-year tradition of distributing Bibles to fifth-grade students in the South Iron R-1 School District in Missouri did not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In this case, Roark v. South Iron R-1 School District, after the American Civil Liberties Union sued, a Missouri federal district court ordered the schools to stop allowing the Gideons to distribute Bibles, even though any other outside group may distribute material to the students. The South Iron School District is now appealing the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.
Judge Roy Moore commented on this important case:
"For a school district to allow the Gideons to distribute Bibles to fifth-graders is no more an establishment of religion than for a school to require the parents of such children to pay for school lunches with money marked 'In God We Trust.' The South Iron school policy allows others to distribute materials, so why should the Gideons be singled out for mistreatment?'??
Just as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week'??to uphold our right to keep and bear arms under the Second'??Amendment, so should the Eighth Circuit uphold our right to acknowledge that faith upon which our Country began under the First Amendment."
For at least 30 years, Gideons International has offered free Bibles to fifth-grade students in the classrooms of the South Iron R-1 School District. After the ACLU sued to stop it, the school district enacted a new policy that expressly allows any outside group, including the Gideons, to distribute literature in front of the administrative offices or in the cafeteria. Neither practice satisfied the trial court, which ruled that the school district must lock its doors to Gideon Bibles because they violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Foundation explains in its brief, however, that the Establishment Clause only prohibits laws "respecting an establishment of religion." In this case, no student is forced to read or even take a Bible, and the school district's policies allowing the distribution of religious texts do not officially "establish" any "religion," as those words were understood when the First Amendment was ratified. The U.S. Supreme Court last week in District of Columbia v. Heller interpreted the words of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to uphold the original meaning of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms." Likewise, the Foundation urges the 8th Circuit to return to the words of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, reverse the lower court, and once again permit Gideon Bibles to reach fifth-graders at South Iron schools.
New Book Boldly Confronts the Christian's Greatest Battle
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07383.shtml
COLDWATER, Mich., (christiansunite.com) -- Dwight Hall, president of Remnant Publications, has just announced its widely anticipated release of The Christian Art of War, the newest and perhaps most spiritually challenging work ever presented by Pastor Ivor Myers.
Says Hall, "Anyone who has ever taken up the cross of Christ realizes that the walk of faith is a fierce battle and a very long march. This book provides help and encouragement for the weary warrior. Not only does it give the skills we all need to walk a victorious life, readers will simply be astonished at the unique and challenging object lessons he presents on almost every page."
In The Christian Art of War, Myers uncovers the secrets of lasting victory in the fight of faith. First, he convincingly challenges the notion that Christians can be passive civilians in a time of spiritual warfare. Then he arms readers as soldiers in the army of Christ, training them to master their greatest foe... the enemy within.
Myers uses a refreshing but always biblical approach to share the powerful lessons he's learned that helped him conquer his worst enemy. By applying military strategy, combat-training techniques, and even the laws of nature and the animal kingdom, he offers real hope and change for Christians being bombarded with a gospel that requires nothing of them, and therefore offering little in return.
Says Myers, "Whether you struggle with pornography, impure thoughts, drug addictions, or any other sin that burdens your heart, The Christian Art of War will give you tremendous hope. The lessons will teach you to work courageously with the Lord and to become 'more than conquerors.'"
Ivor Myers was a member of the hip-hop group The Boogiemonsters, who appeared on programs such as Soul Train, BET, and in magazines like Vibe and Rolling Stones. The group was on its way to stardom, recording their first album with EMI Records, when Myers was introduced to the gospel. After eye-opening revelations, he left the industry behind. He is now involved full time in the Lord's work, helping thousands fully realize the faith of Jesus Christ.
For more information about The Christian Art of War and to order copies, contact Remnant Publications at 517.279.1304. You can also visit www.RemnantPublications.com or write to 649 E. Chicago Road - Coldwater, MI 49036.
Pastor wants Christians to join worldwide dress rehearsal for Christ's return with Feasts of Trumpets "Day of Shouting"
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68578
An American pastor who made news in April by studying NASA's eclipse calendar to speculate on the return of Jesus Christ to Earth is now planning a worldwide blast of trumpets this fall to get God's attention.
Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., is organizing the global "Day of Shouting" for the evening of Sept. 29, marking the annual biblical holiday known as the Feast of Trumpets.
The event is still in its early planning stages, with Blitz posting this invitation on his website:
You know how at sporting events they have "the wave" where one group starts it and then it cycles all the way around back to the beginning? Do you remember how at the year 2000 they showed on television all the New Year celebrations going on around the world as the new millennium began? ...
Let's have an around the world shofar assembly in every time zone on the Feast of Trumpets at sunset announcing to Messiah we are awake and anxiously anticipating His return. What a dress rehearsal! Won't that stir His heart?
We will list on our website all the cities in the different time zones that are participating and hopefully we can get people from every tongue, tribe and nation participating as we join in proclaiming Yeshua (Jesus) as our coming King!
A shofar is a trumpet-like instrument made from the horn of a ram or other biblically clean animal, and was sounded not only at the new year and new moons, but also as a call to wake up and repent.
Trumpet blasts are common in both the Old and New Testaments, including:
* A trumpet was sounded for a long duration when God met Moses and the ancient Israelites at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:19)
* There was shouting and trumpet blasts when God brought down the walls of the ancient city of Jericho. (Joshua 6:20)
* The apostle Paul spoke of the last trumpet blast when believers will be resurrected and given immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:52)
Participants in the 2008 trumpet wave are asked to include the name of "the King" so people can shout it during the event. Besides Jesus, many have posted names such as Master, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God and Yeshua ha Meshiach (Jesus the Messiah).
Since announcing his plan, Biltz told WND, "The response has been phenomenal with people responding from Arabic countries as well as Asia, Europe, Africa and America."
Indeed, a chart of time zones and participants on his website shows residents in many time zones already signing up.
"Very happy to be part of this," writes Dawn Piper of Durban, South Africa. "Maranatha!"
Trevia Jimenez of Brooklyn, N.Y. said, "This is so cool. You go, Pastor Mark!"
As WND previously reported, Biltz, a minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity, suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus.
"God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," he said. "The reason we need to be watching is because He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays."
Sign up for Pastor Mark's Feast of Trumpets Wave at:
http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/thewave.html
Man sues church for injuries after claiming spirit of God forced him to fall
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/10/america/NA-ODD-US-Felled-By-Spirit.php
A man says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshipping.
Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay $2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.
Matt Lincoln says he is suing after the church's insurance company denied his claim for medical bills.
The 57-year-old has had two surgeries since the June 2007 injury but still feels pain in his back and legs.
He says he was asking God to have "a real experience" while praying.
Lincoln says he has fallen from the force of the spirit before but has always been caught by someone.
Lawyers for the church say other congregants saw him on the floor laughing after his fall. They say he failed to look out for his own safety.
Hundreds of Worldwide Marriage Encounter Couples Sign Proclamation Supporting a Lifetime Commitment to Marriage
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07392.shtml
ONTARIO, Calif., (christiansunite.com) -- Over 850 Worldwide Marriage Encounter couples made a strong statement here promising a lifetime commitment to their marriages. The couples signed a banner at the Ontario Convention Center which also affirmed their belief in traditional marriage between a man and a woman.
The words "Forever Yours" were written in large print at the top of the banner. Thousands of participants at the convention squeezed into the very large convention lobby to participate in the signing.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter couples were meeting in Ontario to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this grass roots movement that has spread to 90 countries.
The event saw a turnout of about 2,000 people from all over the world, including 850 married couples, 250 children, 70 priests and several bishops from the San Diego and San Bernardino dioceses.
"This is a way for us to reinforce the permanence of our marriage vows and the sanctity of the sacrament of matrimony," said Tony & Cathy Witczak and Fr. Emile Frische, the United States leadership team of Worldwide Marriage Encounter. The very large 5 foot by 8 foot banner also included a statement supporting the sacrament of Holy Orders.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends start on a Friday evening and end on Sunday afternoon. Participants hear presentations by a couple and a priest and later write their thoughts and feelings to share in the privacy of their room. There is no group discussion. Weekends are held in various locations, including hotels and retreat centers.
There is a cost for the weekend, but in the 40 year history of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, no couple has ever been turned away from attending a weekend because of lack of money.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter is a non-profit organization and all donations from the weekend are used to continue offering additional weekends throughout the country and the world.
Married couples who want to learn more about making their "good marriages, better" can find Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends that are presented all over the United States.
It was only a matter of time - Gay Man Files $70M Suit Against Bible Publishers Over 'Homosexual' Verses
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080710/gay-man-files-70m-suit-against-bible-publishers-over-homosexual-verses.htm
A homosexual man has filed a $70 million lawsuit against Bible publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson, alleging that their version of the Bible that refers to homosexuality as a sin violates his constitutional rights and has caused him emotional distress.
Bradley LaShawn Fowler, an ex-con turned author, filed the federal suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday, the same day a judge refused to appoint him a lawyer for his suit against Thomas Nelson, The Grand Rapids Press reported.
"The Court has some very genuine concerns about the nature and efficacy of these claims," the judge wrote.
Fowler, who is representing himself in both cases, claims that Zondervan manipulated Scripture by using the term "homosexuals" in 1 Corinthians 6:9 of their 1982 and 1987 revised edition Bibles. He also contends that the reference to homosexuality were deleted by the publisher in later versions without informing the public.
He alleges that since the older Kings James Version containing the term "homosexuals" is used by his family pastor, he has been outcast by his family.
The 39-year-old is suing the Grand Rapids publisher for compensation of 20 years of "emotional duress and mental instability," he told WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids.
In a hand-written suit, Fowler lists all sorts of charges against Zondervan including malicious negligence, strict liability, malice, libel, and violating his civil rights. He filed a suit in June against Tennessee-based publisher Thomas Nelson on similar grounds. He's seeking $60 million from Zondervan and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing.
Zondervan issued a statement to The Christian Post that said they do not discuss ongoing litigation. The company's spokesperson Tara Powers, however, pointed out that they only publish Bibles, not translate them.
"Since Zondervan does not translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations we publish, we are not in a position to comment on the merits of how a word should or should not be translated," said Powers.
"We rely on the scholarly judgment of the highly respected and credible translation committees behind each translation and never alter the text of the translations we are licensed to publish. We only publish credible translations produced by credible biblical scholars," she noted.
According to Fowler, Zondervan has 20 days to respond to the claims listed.
Former Abortion Patients Repent
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07389.shtml
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada, (christiansunite.com) -- The following is an open letter to: The Deputy Secretary, The Chancellery, The Advisory Council, Governor General Michaelle Jean, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and fellow Canadians;
FORMER ABORTION PATIENTS denounce MORGENTALER's award; asking for the termination of the Order of Canada based on his conduct on taking the lives of over 100,000 pre-born Canadians as reported by him.
The Morgentaler abortion industry is not doing the majority of women, or Canadians a favor by exterminating their preborn children, future teachers, nurses, doctors, technicians, police officers, military personnel, firemen, tradesmen, musicians and retail workers etc. Therefore he should not receive the Order of Canada for such an atrocity.
"Most of us never wanted an abortion, but we were pressured into it, and it was never a 'medical necessity' as we were healthy women ignorantly using abortion as a form of birth control," states Denise Mountenay Founder/President of Canada Silent No More. "We believed that if the government allowed it, and the doctors did it, that it must be okay. Many of us were lied to about fetal development being told it was 'just a clump of tissue.' However, when we learned that our tiny babies had a beating heart by 3 weeks, arms, legs, fingers and toes by 8 weeks, we were devastated."
Canada Silent No More is collecting declarations from women hurt and injured by legal abortion for possible lawsuits against abortion doctors for irreversible damages and for never having "informed consent" on all of the risk factors. Eph. 5:11, Prov. 31:8, Rev. 12:11 "We were never told about the mountain of studies linking Breast Cancer to induced abortion since 1957(*) We were never informed that induced legal abortion would cause deep sorrow, remorse and guilt. We weren't told it could cause depression, suicidal thoughts, self-loathing, sleeping, eating and anxiety disorders, that some of us would have irreparable cervical and uterine damage and scarring (*). We were never informed about the 48 studies linking pre-term births in subsequent pregnancies, miscarriages, and for some who would abort the only baby they could ever have..." states Mountenay. (*)
"We have the Good News that women can be forgiven and set free; this will become a huge evangelistic outreach for this unreached people group. We want to expose the lies and rhetoric of the abortion industry and make abortion unthinkable. We regrettably have sacrificed the lives of our children. The choice ought to be made on whether to have sex or not, with whom and when...but once conception takes place...it is a baby!" stresses Mountenay. Over 300 preborn children are aborted in Canada daily, and there has been a population dirge and work shortage for decades.
Approximately 10% of women suffer immediate complications, of which about 2% are life threatening. (*) We get calls from women injured physically and emotionally and who suffer in silence with the guilt, deep sorrow and grief of abortion. Many women experience mental health problems after their abortions. Research confirms that women who abort are SIX TIMES more likely to commit or attempt suicide afterwards. Women who abort are also SIX TIMES more likely to turn to substance abuse and self destructive behavior. A 1997 Finnish record based Study found that women who aborted were almost FOUR TIMES more likely to die in the following year, than women who gave birth to their babies. (*) It can affect their bonding with born children, because one is alive, and the other one isn't...it can affect her sexually, because abortion is connected to sex. (*) It is certainly not a "safe" procedure according to the studies www.afterabortion.org and www.abortionbreastcancer.com.
Abortion is not 'real health care' for pregnant women. WE ARE A VOICE FOR OUR CHILDREN ABORTED IN THIS NATION, and we emphatically urge the Deputy Secretary to terminate this award to Morgentaler immediately.
SINCERELY,
DENISE MOUNTENAY
CANADA SILENT NO MORE
FOUNDER/PRESIDENT
Together for Life Ministries,
107 DISCOVERY AVE.
On the Front Lines: Pregnancy Center Diverts More Than Two Million Dollars From the Abortion Industry in Las Vegas, NV
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07386.shtml
LAS VEGAS, (christiansunite.com) -- With God, nothing is impossible! Since opening our doors Mid-December 2004, more than 3,700 babies' lives have been saved from abortion through one pregnancy center, First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas, NV! In just over 3 years, more than two million dollars has been diverted from the abortion industry in Las Vegas!
Endorsed by Focus on the Family, we quickly became one of the busiest pregnancy centers in the nation. In the year 2007 alone, by God's grace, First Choice shared the Good News with more than 2,800 women, performed more than 1,300 free ultrasound exams, and helped to save more than 1,400 babies' lives!
Location, location, location! First Choice is located a couple hundred feet from what is believed to be the busiest abortion clinic in southern Nevada, sharing the same private cul-de-sac. God's plan is always strategic! A Christian mission, we effectively joined the battle for the unborn, right on the front lines.
Small beginnings paved the way for great things. Today, we humbly watch God multiply our time, talent, love and resources as He saves more than 100 babies' lives - each month - through First Choice! Through the grace of God, many prayers, partners and the efforts of First Choice, the abortion industry has been dramatically impacted!
What is it like "On the Front Lines?" It is miraculous, amazing, awesome and fast-paced; fulfilling and sometimes heart-wrenching, but always filled with God's love and mercy. We are told frequently by visitors, both clients and fellow pro-life supporters, that there is a noticeable "Presence" when one enters our center. "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord.
Setting a new standard, as other pregnancy centers send their own staff to train at First Choice Pregnancy Services, God is impacting the nation through one center. Our personnel know and pray, "Nothing is too difficult or too wonderful for You, God!" Stationed "On the Front Lines," we humbly watch as God continues to perform mighty exploits on behalf of the unborn!
A Call to Arms - Statement from the Presbyterian Lay Committee's Board of Directors
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07396.shtml
LENOIR, N.C., (christiansunite.com) -- The 218th PCUSA General Assembly waged a frontal assault on Biblical Christianity. The assembly disregarded historic Reformed standards, undermined its Constitution and failed to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with its actions.
In San Jose, commissioners pleaded with the General Assembly not to push congregations beyond their tipping point. For many, the tipping point was passed two years ago when the General Assembly, by approval of the Peace, Unity and Purity report (PUP), made compliance with our Constitution optional. For many more, it was crossed this year at the 218th General Assembly when Biblical standards were discarded and "the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints" was rejected.
Specific actions taken by this assembly that violate the faith and life of Biblical Christianity include:
Initiated a process to revise the Heidelberg Catechism (written in 1562, adopted by the General Assembly and ratified by the PCUSA in 1967) to delete the Bible's prohibition against homosexuality.
Called for yet another vote by presbyteries to delete our constitutional standard that requires fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and chastity in singleness.
Nullified all previous proscriptions against sexual behavior outside the covenant of marriage by a new Authoritative Interpretation, which attempts to overrule the recent PJC decision in respect to the PUP report.
Stood silent while a homosexual wedding was performed at a General Assembly related event, in flagrant violation of the PCUSA Constitution and the clear dictates of God's Word.
Ignoring its declaration that "to be Presbyterian is to be ecumenical," alleged without any supporting documentation that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church encourages congregations to leave the PCUSA, and sought action against the EPC.
Authorized the creation of a $2 million legal war chest to litigate against churches of good conscience which seek to transfer to other Reformed denominations with their property.
While signs of life dwindle within the institution called the PCUSA, the heart of faith beats powerfully among many congregations. Therefore, we urge the sessions of faithful congregations to take the following actions:
Form alliances with like-minded churches in your presbytery. There is strength in numbers. A call to arms is a call to unite.
Restrict all mission and per capita gifts to ministries that are trusted by your congregation, and do not send undesignated money in any form to denominational entities, boards or agencies.
Be prepared to defend the property rights of your congregation against claims of ownership by the PCUSA.
The PCUSA has jettisoned the solid rock of Biblical authority and morals and is now floundering in the sea of cultural relativity. In desperation, it lays claim to the property of congregations that love the Word of God more than denominational loyalty.
In its final hours, and after having established a fund to facilitate lawsuits against local churches, the General Assembly counseled presbyteries to seek alternatives to civil court litigation and treat congregations with "pastoral concern and gracious witness." The Presbyterian Lay Committee encourages presbyteries to abide by this counsel.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee is available to all Presbyterians and will continue to stand with faithful congregations that strive to honor the Reformed tradition by their commitment to Scripture and by unashamedly proclaiming the undiluted Gospel of Jesus Christ.
CoG for Life Asks Medical Profession & Pro-Life Families: 'Just Say no to New Aborted Fetal Vaccine'
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07393.shtml
TENNESSEE, (christiansunite.com) -- Children of God for Life is calling on the Medical Profession to "just say no" to the newly US licensed aborted fetal vaccine, Pentacel, made by Sanofi Pasteur. On June 26th the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended the vaccine be added to the immunization schedule for children, despite the fact that moral alternatives have been used in the US for years.
"We find it strange that the ACIP would recommend Pentacel in particular when children are already receiving untainted versions of these vaccines in their routine series of shots", said Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for Children of God for Life.
Pentacel is a combination vaccine of Diptheria, Pertussis, Tetanus (DTaP) plus HiB and Polio. The polio portion of the vaccine uses aborted fetal cell line MRC-5, taken from the lung tissue of an electively aborted 14-week gestation baby.
"If a 5 in 1 vaccine is desired, why not recommend the ethical version, Pediarix, by Glaxo SmithKline?" Vinnedge wanted to know. "The only difference between the two is that Pediarix protects against Hepatitis-B instead of HiB. Doctors using Pediarix today give separate shots for HiB. With Pentacel they will still have to give separate shots for Hepatitis-B so its not like Pentacel is reducing the number of injections."
Vinnedge noted the push for Pentacel by the ACIP seems like a financial plug for Sanofi Pasteur, since sales of the vaccine may be lagging in both the US and Canada. Last year Canadian Physicians for Life successfully lobbied for access to Pediacel, a European version identical to Pentacel, except it does not use aborted fetal cell lines.
In May 2006, the Catholic Medical Association issued a formal statement noting that, "When alternative vaccines are available, they must be used in place of those produced by immoral means." Likewise, the Christian Medical and Dental Association have repeatedly called on the industry to stop using aborted fetal cell lines in vaccine production.
"It is our hope that physicians will simply continue purchasing the competing products they have used for years", Ms Vinnedge added. "The only way these drug companies will get the message is when their bottom line suffers and in the case of Pentacel, we certainly hope it will."
'Planned Parenthood is Racist' -- Operation Save America Press Conference
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07388.shtml
ATLANTA, (christiansunite.com) -- Operation Rescue/Operation Save America will hold a press conference and signing of the Emancipation Proclamation for the Unborn. Although President Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free one slave, it changed the character of a nation. Today we will sign another proclamation that will change a nation. We will no longer accept the killing of innocent children, boys and girls, black and white. We will no longer tolerate the racism that lurks within Planned Parenthood.
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson will speak against the racism of Planned Parenthood.
"It is time for the black community to wake up and come out of its denial. True racism is the attack on the black unborn baby, started by Margaret Sanger and carried out by the liberal elite in this country. The solution to this problem is a strong belief in the Creator, strong families, and self-respect." -- Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson
"More black persons die through abortion each week than the KKK murdered in its entire history. Tiny black boys and girls have a dream--life." -- Rev. Flip Benham, Director, Operation Save America.
Operation Save America Press Conference
12:00 Noon, Monday, July 14
Planned Parenthood of Georgia
75 Piedmont Ave. NE, Atlanta
Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation for the Pre- born Child
Woodruff Park, Auburn Ave. NE & Peachtree St NE, Atlanta
For more information or to Schedule interviews with Rev. Peterson or Rev. Benham contact Pat McEwen at 321-431-3962.
Black Churches Gather to Promote Abortion and Homosexuality
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=32158
Members and leaders from black churches gathered at Howard University School of Divinity this week to discuss sexuality, including how to make churches inclusive for homosexuals and what they say is the failure of federally funded abstinence-only education programs.
A program of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), a nationwide coalition of religious groups trying to advance abortion rights, the 12th annual National Black Church Summit on Sexuality featured speeches by the majority whip of the U.S. House, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders.
Workshops at the three-day event included “Pastoral Care and Reproductive Health Counseling,” which focused on “engaging women and families confronted with issues related to healthcare and reproductive health choices” – and included an introduction to churches on “how to provide a pregnant woman with all available information about their options – parenthood, adoption and pregnancy termination.”
In the “Speaking Truth to Power” workshop, attendees were taught how to lobby Congress to end funding of abstinence-only programs in favor of funding for “comprehensive sex education.”
The Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, president and CEO of RCRC, told Cybercast News Service that teaching abstinence isn’t enough to help stop the rise of teenage pregnancies in the black community.
When asked by Cybercast News Service, Veazey said he disagrees with statistics cited by black church leaders who oppose abortion, which say that African-Americans represent 13 percent of the U.S. population, but 36 percent of the abortions performed annually.
“They talk about abortion, and I tell them ‘you are the ones who believe in the fetus, you all worship the fetus, and then when the baby really gets here you all abort them,’” Veazey said.
“I say you abort them every time I drive through southeast Washington, where there’s a lack of health care, lack of housing, lack of opportunity. Some of those kids are aborted walking around. And do you know where they go when they are aborted? They go to jail. They go to the criminal justice system. They go to drugs. But these are the same kids that they were so anxious to bring here.
“I am totally committed to a woman’s right to choose, there’s no question,” Veazey said. “I believe a woman is a moral agent and she should make that decision based on her religious beliefs and conscience without interference from government.”
YouTube Replaces Censored Video
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07395.shtml
FRONT ROYAL, Va., (christiansunite.com) -- Following a wave of complaints from pro-lifers, YouTube has restored both the Spanish and English versions of a pro-life video that was censored from their website several days ago on false grounds.
The video, edited and posted by the Catholic News Agency, shows PRI affiliate Carlos Polo in conversation with pro-abortion activist Eve Reinhardt. Reinhardt had obtained an interview with Polo by assuring him that she was impartial and balanced. Polo, however, discovered that she was affiliated very closely with a hard-left, pro-abortion documentary project, entitled The Decency Gap. Polo brought his own cameraman to the interview and confronted Reinhardt, accusing her of deliberately misleading him.
Shortly after this video was posted, the website for The Decency Gap vanished, and the video was taken down by YouTube. YouTube cited vague "terms of use violations" as their reason for censoring the video.
According to David Uebbing, senior editor of CNA, they were never contacted in any way by YouTube throughout this entire episode, although he is glad to see that the video has been reposted.
"CNA is glad to see that the various pro-abortion groups who are exposed by this video did not prevail in the end," Uebbing said to PRI. "The Decency Gap and its affiliates need to be held accountable for their true aims and I'm happy to see that YouTube agreed to restore our video."
The video is entitled "The Decency Gap" / Eve Reinhardt, and can be found at this URL: youtube.com/watch?v=wMHNY_EAXPw
The Population Research Institute (PRI) was founded in 1989 by Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, PhD and is dedicated to: (1) ending human rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning", (2) opposing outdated social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of overpopulation, (3) informing the public about the social and economic benefits of moderate population growth, and (4) promoting pro-natal and pro-family attitudes and policies worldwide. Steven Mosher is the author of numerous books, including A Mother's Ordeal, available in 11 languages.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Hands First Amendment Victory to Orange County-Based Center for Bio-Ethical Reform
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07379.shtml
LOS ANGELES, (christiansunite.com) -- A federal appellate panel ruled Wednesday that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department violated the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform's (CBR) free speech rights when two CBR associates were forced to move a mobile billboard display of enlarged photos of early-term aborted fetuses away from a Rancho Palos Verdes middle school campus.
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), a non-profit pro-life educational foundation, sued the LA County Sheriff's Department and an assistant principal at Dodson Middle School, claiming civil rights and First Amendment violations. The mobile billboard truck was part of the group's Reproductive Choice Campaign, which seeks to "expose as many people as possible to the realities of abortion."
The Thomas More Law Center, based in Ann Arbor, MI, represented CBR.
CBR Statement
We are grateful to God for granting the Founding Fathers the wisdom to create appellate courts which can rectify the mistakes of trial court judges. In this case, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals almost totally reversed the trial judge on almost every issue. This is a huge win for the First Amendment. This is an even larger win for middle school and high school students who are being lied to about abortion and who will now learn the truth as our billboard trucks drive past their schools displaying large aborted baby photos.
The First Amendment means nothing if it doesn't mean the right to show people things they don't want to see. It is frightening to realize that our children are being taught their most basic Constitutional rights by teachers who either don't understand the Constitution, or don't respect it. This legal victory will also teach the students at Dodson Middle School important lessons about the Constitution.
The ultimate irony concerning attempts by teachers to censor our display of aborted baby photos is that those same teachers rightly realize the importance of showing their students equally horrifying photos of black people being beaten to their knees or even lynched for merely trying to register to vote. There are some realities which can not be adequately communicated with words alone. Students who are old enough to have an abortion are old enough to see an abortion. -- Gregg Cunningham, Executive Director, Center for Bio-Ethical Reform
Massachusetts Senate Votes to Repeal Law Barring Out-of-State Gay Couples From Marrying
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,383221,00.html
BOSTON — Gay couples from across America are one step closer to a Massachusetts wedding.
The Massachusetts Senate voted Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law used to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying here. The law prohibits couples from obtaining marriage licenses if they could not legally wed in their home states.
After Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriages in 2004, then-Gov. Mitt Romney ordered town clerks to enforce the little-known law and deny licenses to out of state couples.
Critics, including Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, the state's first black governor, said the 95-year-old statute carries a racist taint and needs to be repealed.
The law dates to a time when the majority of states still outlawed interracial marriages. Opponents said the law was designed to smooth relations with those states. Massachusetts has allowed interracial marriages since 1843.
Dianne Wilkerson, the Massachusetts Senate's lone black member, said the vote was long overdue to kill the law, which she called "evil."
"This is one of the most pernicious statutes on our books," said Wilkerson. "In some respects this bill puts the final nail in the coffin of those dark days."
The bill passed on a voice vote.
Opponents of gay marriage said there's no evidence the 1913 law has a racist heritage. They said keeping the law in place is key to preventing gay marriage from spreading to other states, many of which have passed laws or amended their constitution to bar same-sex marriage.
"The Massachusetts Senate has no right to infringe on the internal issues of how other states define marriage, but that's exactly what they voted today to do," said Kris Mineau, president of Massachusetts Family Institute.
The House is also expected to vote on the repeal later this week.
An analysis released by the state Office of Housing and Economic Development found repealing the law would draw thousands of couples to Massachusetts, boosting the economy by $111 million, creating 330 jobs and generating $5 million in taxes and fees over three years.
The study assumes New York would provide the largest number of gay couples — more than 21,000 couples — with New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine bringing the total to more than 30,000 in the first three years after the ban was lifted.
Another factor driving the repeal effort in Massachusetts is California's recent embrace of same-sex marriage.
California has no residency requirement to obtain a marriage license.
It's a Sick, Sick World - Prepping Kids for Sex Change
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=8125&print=1
He has been called “demonic,” “barbaric,” and has been compared to Nazi doctors. And when you read about his work, it is easy to see why Americans are so outraged. Dr. Norman Spack is a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Not long ago, he opened a clinic for what he terms “transgendered” children. Incredibly, he is giving kids as young as seven drugs that delay the onset of puberty—the first step in sex-change surgery when they are older.
Spack injects children with hormone-blocking drugs to prevent them from developing secondary sexual characteristics, like breasts or facial hair. The idea is to give them a few more years to make up their minds if they want to be male—or female.
When these kids hit their teen years, they are given the option of taking cross-hormones for a few years—which will allow them to develop the characteristics of the opposite sex. Tragically, the treatment will condemn these teenagers to lifelong infertility.
Spack appears to think that that is a reasonable trade-off for teens who feel they are trapped in the body of the opposite sex: After all, the cross-hormone treatments will make it easier for them to “pass” as the opposite sex. For instance, men will not grow as tall as they normally would, nor will they develop beards or Adam’s apples.
In a fawning article about Spack, the Boston Globe referred to his treatment of gender-confused children as “modern medical care.” Medical care, my eye! This is medical mayhem. It is unconscionable.
Dr. Paul McHugh, a distinguished professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, agrees: He says that treating these children with hormones “does considerable harm, and it compounds their confusion. Trying to delay puberty or change someone’s gender,” he added, “is a rejection of the lawfulness of nature.”
Dr. McHugh knows what he is talking about. He and psychiatrist Jon Myer studied men who received sex-change operations at Johns Hopkins. His conclusion? “That Hopkins was fundamentally cooperating with a mental illness.” Better, McHugh thought, to concentrate on fixing their minds instead of taking the more drastic step of changing their sex.
Thanks to the research of Myer and others, this practice was stopped at Johns Hopkins. And it became possible to begin to make sense of the mental disorders that were driving the request for the surgeries.
So why are doctors like Spack altering young bodies instead of treating confused minds?
The answer is that many doctors have embraced the modern teaching that sexual identity, rather than being biologically determined, is a preference or a choice. According to this, people should be allowed to choose whatever sex they want to be.
But both science and the Bible teach otherwise: God created us male and female in His image. Shots and surgeries and politically correct teachings cannot alter this fundamental truth.
Tragically, some parents are now buying into this false teaching—and allowing their children to undergo destructive treatments.
You and I need to be spreading the word that legitimate treatment is available for people suffering from gender confusion—and it is a treatment that does not sacrifice the well-being of children to the political agendas of adults.
Oprah’s unorthodox gospel comes under scrutiny
http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/oprahs_unorthodox_gospel_comes_under_scrutiny1/
Oprah Winfrey has become a catalyst for a new journalistic project and increasing news coverage by conservative Christians questioning and criticizing her spiritual beliefs.
Some evangelical Christians have voiced alarm that Winfrey is introducing the 46 million viewers who watch her each week to nontraditional spirituality they don't condone.
In May, two dozen Christian newspapers pooled their resources to publish an article titled "Oprah's `gospel'" that prompted higher readership and more letters to the editor than any story some of the individual papers had ever published.
In a first-of-its-kind venture, the evangelical newspapers hired Colorado writer and editor Steve Rabey to write the story.
"For some Christians who have considered themselves part of Oprah's electronic family, her sins against evangelical orthodoxy have increased in number and seriousness," Rabey said.
In recent months, Southern Baptist newspaper editors also have written editorials declaring "It's time for Christians to `just say no' to the big `O'" and calling her a source of "foolish twitter and twaddle." And Charisma, a prominent charismatic and Pentecostal magazine, ran a story in its July issue with the headline "Oprah's Strange New Gospel.'"
Lamar Keener, publisher of the Christian Examiner regional newspapers in California, came up with the idea to work with a dozen "mom and pop" publishers to address Winfrey's theology.
"Our point is we want our readers to be aware that what she is teaching does not represent traditional, historical Christianity, according to the Scriptures," said Keener, who also is president of the Evangelical Press Association.
Twenty-three monthly papers from across the country and Canada published the story and distributed 500,000 copies to churches, Christian bookstores, doughnut shops and other outlets.
Keener was inspired after viewing a video titled "The Church of Oprah Exposed," which has had more than 7.2 million hits on YouTube.
"It's taking actual clips off programs," Keener said. "That's what got my attention."
One of Winfrey's quotes highlighted in the story is her belief that "there couldn't possibly be just one way" to God.
"One of the mistakes that human beings make is believing that there is only one way to live," Winfrey said.
A spokesman for Winfrey's Harpo Productions said the celebrity is a Christian.
"Oprah was raised Baptist and has stated many, many times that she is a Christian and that she believes in only one God," said the spokesman, who asked not to be named. "She has also said, `I'm a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way, but I don't believe it's the only way, with 6 billion people on the planet.'"
The spokesman noted Winfrey is hardly alone; 70 percent of Americans said "many religions can lead to eternal life" in a recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Part of the evangelicals' concern stems from Winfrey's recent embrace of Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" as the first spiritual book she included in her hugely popular book club. In the July issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, she said the book's advice on "putting the ego in check" had a "profound impact" on her.
"Spirit to me is the essence of who we are," she said. "That essence doesn't require any particular belief. It just is."
Charisma editor J. Lee Grady said Winfrey's recent discussions of hypnotism on her show may have prompted more people to question her views.
He has long thought Winfrey did not embrace "an orthodox belief in Jesus Christ," but he thinks other Christians may just be starting to draw that conclusion, sparked in part by what they learn about her on the Internet.
"There's definitely an alarm because so many people watch her, that she could lead people into New Age belief or deception," he said.
Religion writer Marcia Nelson, author of "The Gospel According to Oprah," said criticism of Winfrey by conservative Christians dates to 1998 when she included a spiritual emphasis on her TV show.
"Back then she got pretty much lambasted the way she is being lambasted now, for telling us what to believe and telling us the wrong thing to believe in, according to conservative Christians," said Nelson.
But Nelson, who studied a year of Winfrey's shows, differs with those who call Winfrey's spiritual ideas "New Age." She says Winfrey would be more related to the "New Thought" movement, which is more mainstream, focusing on positive thinking as a spiritual tool rather than crystals, for example.
"I absolutely regard her as a Christian but ... she's one of those capacious Christians," Nelson said.
Analysts Say More Banks Will Fail
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/business/14bank.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, federal regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year.
But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which one could be next?
The nation’s banks are in far less danger than they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 federally insured institutions went under during the savings-and-loan crisis. The debacle, the greatest collapse of American financial institutions since the Depression, prompted a government bailout that cost taxpayers about $125 billion.
But the troubles are growing so rapidly at some small and midsize banks that as many as 150 out of the 7,500 banks nationwide could fail over the next 12 to 18 months, analysts say. Other lenders are likely to shut branches or seek mergers.
“Everybody is drawing up lists, trying to figure out who the next bank is, No. 1, and No. 2, how many of them are there,” said Richard X. Bove, the banking analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann, who released a list of troubled banks over the weekend. “And No. 3, from the standpoint of Washington, how badly is it going to affect the economy?”
Many investors are on edge after federal regulators seized the California lender, IndyMac Bank, one of the nation’s largest savings and loans, last week. With $32 billion in assets, IndyMac, a spinoff of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, was the biggest American lender to fail in more than two decades.
Now, as the Bush administration grapples with the crisis at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a rush of earnings reports in the coming days and weeks from some of the nation’s largest financial companies are likely to provide more gloomy reminders about the sorry state of the industry.
The future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is vital to the banks, savings and loans and credit unions, which own $1.3 trillion of securities issued or guaranteed by the two mortgage companies. If the mortgage giants ever defaulted on those obligations, banks might be forced to raise billions of dollars in additional capital.
The large institutions set to report results this week, including Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, are in no danger of failing, but some are expected to report more multibillion-dollar write-offs.
But time may be running out for some small and midsize lenders. They vary in size and location, but their common woe is the collapsed real estate market and souring mortgage loans. Most of these banks are far smaller than the industry giants that have drawn so much scrutiny from regulators and investors.
Still, only six lenders have failed so far this year, including IndyMac. In 1994, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation listed 575 banks that it considered to be troubled. As of this spring, the agency was worried about just 90 banks. That number may go up in August, when the government releases an updated list.
“Failed banks are a lagging indicator, not a leading indicator,” said William Isaac, who was chairman of the F.D.I.C. in the early 1980s and is now the chairman of the Secura Group, a finance consulting firm in Virginia. “So you will see more troubled, more failed banks this year.”
And yet IndyMac, one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, was not on the government’s troubled bank list this spring — an indication that other troubled banks may be below the radar.
The F.D.I.C. has $53 billion set aside to reimburse consumers for deposits lost at failed banks. IndyMac will eat up $4 billion to $8 billion of that fund, the agency estimates, and that could force it to raise more money from the banks that it insures.
The agency does not disclose which banks it thinks are troubled. But analysts are circulating their own lists, and short sellers — investors who bet against stocks — are piling on. In recent weeks, the share prices of some regional banks, like the BankUnited Financial Corporation, in Florida, and the Downey Financial Corporation, in California, have stumbled hard amid concern about their financial health. A BankUnited spokeswoman said the lender had largely avoided risky subprime loans.
In his “Who Is Next?” report over the weekend, Mr. Bove listed the fraction of loans at banks that are nonperforming, meaning, for example, that the assets have been foreclosed on or that payments are 90 days past due. He came up with what he called a danger zone, which was a percentage above 5 percent. Seven banks fell in this category.
An important issue for the regional and community banks will be whether they have managed to sell their riskiest loans to Wall Street firms.
And the government may have fewer failures than in the past because private investment funds might buy some troubled lenders. Regulators are considering rule changes that would allow private equity firms to buy larger shares of banks, and several prominent investors, like Wilbur Ross, have raised funds to leap in.
Are You Ready for the Next Disaster?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06wwln-idealab-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin
Mother Nature goes to extremes in the summer, spoiling the gift of good weather with hurricanes, heat waves, fires and floods. This year she started early. On May 2, Cyclone Nargis laid waste to large parts of Myanmar. According to the latest counts, the disaster left 2.4 million people destitute, more than 50,000 missing and at least 84,000 dead. On May 12, China’s Sichuan Province suffered an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. China’s state media reported that more than five million people lost their homes; an estimated 80,000 people, many of them children, were killed.
Wealthy nations are much better protected from the so-called natural hazards, but by no means have they been spared this year. Consider the U.S. in June: Iowa experienced a deluge of historic proportions, with large-scale crop destruction spiking the cost of food and raising fears of an inflationary spiral. California, where the driest two months of spring on record turned grass and brush into kindling, endured more than 1,000 wildfires and braced for more to come. On the East Coast, more than 30 people perished during the kind of heat wave that usually comes in July or August.
Is there anything we can do to avert such dangers? These days, of course, extreme weather is only one of the many perils we face. Terrorist attacks or technological accidents involving nuclear weapons; pandemic diseases that cannot be cured; comets and asteroids that could wipe out the human race. We live in an age of risk assessment and risk analysis, when doomsday scenarios have become daily anxieties, and planning for improbable but world-changing events has become a focus of disaster policy.
Now, with disaster season upon us and renewed jitters about a pre-election terrorist attack, government officials and nonprofits are urging us to plan for the next catastrophe. The Council for Excellence in Government offers an online R.Q. test to measure your “readiness quotient.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is promoting a range of “Cities Readiness Initiatives” for public-health emergencies. And the White House has pledged to “foster a Culture of Preparedness that permeates all levels of society,” so that families, businesses and government agencies make emergency planning an everyday concern.
Historically, however, public-preparedness campaigns have proved to be even less successful than the current administration’s attempts at disaster relief. The obstacles are formidable. Disaster psychology tells us that few of us judge the risk of prospective hazards accurately, or take sensible precautions even if we do. We may believe that something terrible will happen in our nation or even our in city, but we tend to think it won’t touch us directly. Moreover, we’re often skeptical of official advice about public safety.
Consider the cold war. During the 1950s, that golden age of trust, compliance and conformity, the federal government encouraged communities to develop civil-defense programs to reduce the harm from prospective military attacks. According to Irwin Redlener, author of “Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now,” surveys at the time showed that although nearly two-thirds of Americans thought that nuclear war was possible, only 4.5 percent of U.S. citizens participated in civil-defense programs, and 6.5 percent “said they would follow instructions of civil-defense wardens” in an attack. Nineteen percent “said they did not know what they would do or they would do nothing.”
Even when people live in close proximity to major hazards, they may not take an interest in preparedness. In the 1970s, the sociologist Peter Rossi reported that in California, where he did an influential study of nine disaster-prone communities, “earthquakes are seen to be substantially less serious” than inflation, welfare, crime and even pornography. This, he wrote, was a “truly stunning result.”
All of this, of course, predates 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, pivotal moments in America’s relationship to disasters and emergency planning. Or were they? In July and October 2005, the N.Y.U. Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response found that 50 percent of survey respondents reported their preparedness level as “about the same” after 9/11 as it was before, while 4 percent said they were either “somewhat less prepared” or “much less prepared.” A second study showed that Americans responded to Katrina by losing confidence in the government’s ability to assist in crises and losing interest in their own.
New Yorkers were no exception. According to another N.Y.U. survey conducted in 2006, 50 percent of residents said they have an emergency supply kit in their homes, yet only one-third of those with kits had enough food and water to last three days. More than half the respondents said that, if they had to evacuate, they would drive or take a taxi, despite frequent warnings about gridlock. Some 36 percent said they have no household emergency plan whatsoever and no way to reunite with family or friends during a crisis.
What prevents us from preparing for disasters? Some of the reasons are readily apparent. Bad advice and false alarms discourage all of us from listening to authorities; the government’s calls for us to build atomic shelters or heed code-orange alerts have done more harm than good. For the poor, scrambling to make it through the small crises of everyday life is far more urgent than planning for a possible emergency, and investing time in preparedness efforts seems relatively unimportant. For everyone, there are opportunity costs involved in preparing yourself and your family for a catastrophe that’s unlikely to happen.
But the puzzle persists. The great majority of us believe that there are things we can do to reduce our vulnerability (and our family’s too), and we have enough time and money to do them. So what’s keeping us?
Rather than speculate, in 2006 I organized a series of focus groups and interviews with New York City residents (some prepared, some unprepared, some who were here on 9/11, some who arrived after). One major concern I heard was that there are simply too many things to worry about. Participants complained about having to prepare for too many specific disaster possibilities and in turn feeling overwhelmed, if not helpless. Their list of disasters was daunting: another terrorist attack, perhaps a dirty bomb that would require evacuation, or an assault on the subways. An infectious disease. A heat wave leading to prolonged power outages (like the regional one in 2003, or the Queens outage of 2006). A hurricane.
The problem, some said, is that each situation requires a different survival strategy. It’s hard to keep track of all the details without turning yourself into a survivalist and scaring off your family and friends. If there’s a heat wave, for instance, we’re told to drink plenty of water, check up on neighbors and go to cooling centers. If there’s smallpox or avian flu, we should avoid social contact. If there’s a dirty bomb and we’re fortunate enough to be far from the detonation, we evacuate. Wait — maybe we hunker down?
This leads to another issue. If megadisaster strikes, many people worry that they won’t have access to reliable information on how to protect themselves. After Katrina, there is widespread distrust of government officials and (despite their fine performance in New Orleans) of many in the media too. There’s also the question of whether communications channels will be open. Land lines, mobile-phone networks and Internet connections have failed during recent crises. Televisions and computers are useless when the power is out. Not everyone owns a battery-operated radio, and those who do can’t be confident that their local stations have reporters on hand to guide them out of harm’s way.
Beyond that, many people simply don’t want to live in a culture of preparedness. The notion is off-putting, and downright scary for some, because it seems to place fear and defensiveness at the center of our public and private lives. Careful planning means dwelling on the uncomfortable topics of our own mortality, the vulnerability of our loved ones and the fragility of our planet, and there’s a psychological price to be paid for that.
It’s little wonder that we are loath to acknowledge the hazards we face. It’s easier to hope for good luck. But with the threats of climate change, violent weather, unconventional warfare and uncontrollable diseases lurking everywhere, it’s hard to maintain a rational case against basic preparedness. We can (and should) argue about the excesses of our new homeland-security policies, but isn’t developing a household emergency plan something all of us can (and should) do?
Improving disaster preparedness is not merely a personal matter. Despite recent government blunders, there are many ways that public agencies and nongovernmental organizations can help. Start with the basics. A home emergency kit should not be a luxury item. The Department of Homeland Security, now the poster child for wasteful spending, could work with groups like the Red Cross to distribute subsidized emergency supplies to the poor. It could also do more to train and support the cash-strapped local organizations that protect vulnerable people on an everyday basis, because (as we learned in New Orleans) when disaster strikes, their ability to maintain operations will determine the fate of those most at risk. In San Francisco, the Fritz Institute recently developed the path-breaking BayPrep program, which helps local social-service agencies measure their disaster preparedness and become more disaster-resilient. It should be a national model, not a local exception contingent upon philanthropic financing, as it is today.
We must also recognize that community organization is essential for disaster preparation. The two deadliest recent U.S. environmental disasters, Katrina and the 1995 Chicago heat wave, highlighted the vulnerability of socially isolated people, for whom the safe house becomes a tomb. Efforts to build strong, durable connections among neighbors, local organizations, businesses and government agencies will help improve community resilience in crises of all kinds. Here, reputation to the contrary, New Yorkers are exemplary. Consider the way they supported one another on 9/11 and during the blackout of 2003. Or the fact that participants in my focus groups, even those who were reluctant to prepare on their own, said they believed that they’ll be able to rely on co-workers, neighbors and fellow citizens when the next disaster strikes. When everyone has reason to feel this way, we’ll be more secure than we are today.
Honey bee crisis could lead to higher food prices
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080626/ap_on_go_co/sick_bees
Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday.
"No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent.
About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.
In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists do not know how many bees have died; beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year. It was 31 percent for 2007, said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of the Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service.
"If there are no bees, there is no way for our nation's farmers to continue to grow the high quality, nutritious foods our country relies on," said Democratic Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California, chairman of the horticulture and organic agriculture panel. "This is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore."
Food prices have gone up 83 percent in three years, according to the World Bank.
Edward R. Flanagan, who raises blueberries in Milbridge, Maine, said he could be forced to increase prices tenfold or go out of business without the beekeeping industry. "Every one of those berries owes its existence to the crazy, neurotic dancing of a honey bee from flower to flower," he said.
The cause behind the disorder remains unknown. Possible explanations include pesticides; a new parasite or pathogen; and the combination of immune-suppressing stresses such as poor nutrition, limited or contaminated water supplies and the need to move bees long distances for pollination.
Ice cream maker Haagen-Dazs and natural personal care products company Burt's Bees have pledged money for research and begun efforts to help save the bees.
The problem affects about 40 percent of Haagen-Dazs' 73 flavors, including banana split and chocolate peanut butter, because ingredients such as almonds, cherries and strawberries rely on honey bees for pollination.
Katty Pien, brand director for Haagen-Dazs, said those ingredients could become too scarce or expensive if bees keep dying. It could force the company to discontinue some of its most popular flavors, Pien said.
Haagen-Dazs has developed a new limited-time flavor, vanilla honey bee, and will use some of the proceeds for research on the disorder. Burt's Bees has introduced Colony Collapse Disorder Lip Balm to "soften your lips while saving honeybees."
The House Appropriations Committee approved $780,000 on Thursday for research on the disorder and $10 million for bee research. The money awaits approval by the full House and Senate.
Islamic nations demand for anti-'defamation' law could affect Christians
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=69163
Dozens of nations dominated by Islam are pressing the United Nations to adopt an anti-"defamation" plan that would make Christians criminals under international law, according to a United States organization that has launched a campaign to defend freedom of religion worldwide.
"Around the world, Christians are being increasingly targeted, and even persecuted, for their religious beliefs. Now, one of the largest organizations in the United Nations is pushing to make a bad situation even worse by promoting anti-Christian bigotry," the American Center for Law & Justice said yesterday in announcing its petition drive.
The discrimination is "wrapped in the guise of a U.N. resolution called 'Combating Defamation of Religions,'" the announcement said. "We must put an immediate end to this most recent, dangerous attack on faith that attempts to criminalize Christianity."
The "anti-defamation" plan has been submitted to the U.N. repeatedly since about 1999, starting out as a plan to ban "defamation" of Islam and later changed to refer to "religions," officials said. It is being pushed by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference nations, which has adopted the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, "which states that all rights are subject to sharia law, and makes sharia law the only source of reference for human rights."
The ACLJ petition, which is to be delivered to the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, already had collected more than 23,000 names in just a brief online existence.
The ACLJ's European division, the European Center for Law & Justice, also has launched its work on the issue. It submitted arguments last month to the U.N. in opposition to the proposal to institute sharia-based standards around the globe.
"The position of the ECLJ in regards to the issue of 'defamation of religion' resolutions, as they have been introduced at the U.N. Human Rights Council and General Assembly, is that they are in direct violation of international law concerning the rights to freedom of religion and expression," the organization's brief said.
"The 'defamation of religion' resolutions establish as the primary focus and concern the protection of ideas and religions generally, rather than protecting the rights of individuals to practice their religion, which is the chief purpose of international religious freedom law."
"Furthermore, 'defamation of religion' replaces the existing objective criterion of limitations on speech where there is an intent to incite hatred or violence against religious believers with a subjective criterion that considers whether the religion or its believers feel offended by the speech," the group continued.
Interestingly, in nations following Islam, the present practice is to use such laws to protect Islam and to attack religious minorities with penalties up to and including execution, the brief noted.
"What should be most disconcerting to the international community is that laws based on the concept of 'defamation of religion' actually help to create a climate of violence," the argument explained.
For example, just two months ago an Afghanistan court following Islam sentenced to death a 23-year-old apprentice journalist who had downloaded an article from an Iranian website and brought it to his class, the ECLJ said. Other instances include:
* Award-winning author Mark Steyn has been summoned to appear before two Canadian Human Rights Commissions of vague allegations of "subjecting Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt" for comments in his book, "America Alone," the group said.
* In Pakistan, 15 people were accused of blasphemy against Islam during the first four months of 2008, the organization said.
* Another Pakistani man sentenced to life in prison for desecrating the Quran was jailed for six years before being acquitted of the charge.
* In Saudi Arabia a teacher was sentenced to three years in prison plus 300 lashes "for expressing his views in a classroom."
* In the United Kingdom, police announced plans to arrest a blogger for "anti-Muslim" statements.
* In the United States, a plaintiff sued his Internet service provider for refusing "to prevent participants in an online chat room from posting or submitting harassing comments that blasphemed and defamed plaintiff's Islamic religion."
The ECLJ said, "The implementation of domestic laws to combat defamation of religion in many OIC countries reveals a selective and arbitrary enforcement toward religious minorities, who are often Christians. Those violations are frequently punishable by the death penalty."
The newest "anti-defamation" plan was submitted in March. It specifically cites a declaration "adopted by the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers" at a meeting in Islamabad "which condemned the growing trend of Islamophobia and systematic discrimination against adherents of Islam."
It also cites the dictates from the OIC meeting in Dakar, "in which the Organization expressed concern at the systematically negative stereotyping of Muslims and Islam and other divine religions."
It goes on to cite a wide range of other practices that "target" Islam, but does not mention any other religions, and urges all nations to provide "adequate protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from the defamation of any religion."
According to published reports, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights' 53 members voted to adopt the resolution earlier this year, with opposition from the United States and the European Union.
At the time, Cuba's delegate, Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez, said: "Islam has been the subject of very deep campaign of defamation."
"They're attempting to pass a sinister resolution that is nothing more than blatant religious bigotry," the ACLJ said in its promotion of its petition. "This is very important to understand. This radical proposal would outlaw Christianity … it would make the proclamation of your faith an international crime."
"In his recent dissent on the Supreme Court's ruling on Guantanamo Bay, Justice Scalia said, 'America is at war with radical Islamists.' Never has this rung more true than today. Never have Christians been more targeted for their religious beliefs. And never have we faced a more dangerous threat than the one posed by the OIC," the ACLJ said.
The U.S. State Department also has found the proposal unpalatable.
"This resolution is incomplete inasmuch as it fails to address the situation of all religions," said the statement from Leonard Leo. "We believe that such inclusive language would have furthered the objective of promoting religious freedom. We also believe that any resolution on this topic must include mention of the need to change educational systems that promote hatred of other religions, as well as the problem of state-sponsored media that negatively targets any one religion."
World's youth more religious than reputed
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/worlds.youth.more.religious.than.reputed/20533.htm
An international study on religion has revealed that the world's teenagers and young adults are much more religious than people think.
Crossing 21 nations, the Bertelsmann Stiftung's study surveyed 21,000 individuals to produce the most extensive and detailed comparative study on the significance of religion in the main cultures of the world.
Worldwide, more than four out of five young adults (85 per cent) are religious and almost half (44 per cent) are deeply religious. Only 13 per cent have no appreciation for God or faith in general.
However, there are large differences between individual countries and among the various denominations, the study found. Whereas young adults in Islamic states and developing countries in particular are deeply religious, young Christians in Europe especially are comparatively unreligious. For example, 80 per cent of all young Protestants outside of Europe are deeply religious and 18 per cent are religious, compared to just seven per cent of young Protestants in Europe who are deeply religious, and 25 per cent can only be classified as nominal members of their church.
The study found a similar picture with young Catholics. Although the proportion of deeply religious Catholics in Europe is 25 per cent, outside Europe this figure is 68 per cent. Only a third of young people in Eastern Europe and Russia have been christened, and most young people have no connection at all to faith and the Church. Only 13 per cent are deeply religious.
The study also revealed that a third of the young adults surveyed worldwide (35 per cent) who regard themselves as not belonging to a denomination nonetheless identified themselves as religious.
Religious practice
The diverging picture of the religiousness of young people in different countries and denominations is also reflected in their religious practices. Ninety per cent of young adults in devout countries such as Nigeria and Guatemala pray at least once a day, and three out of four of the respondents in countries such as India, Morocco and Turkey do likewise.
In contrast, daily prayer is no longer common practice among young Europeans. In France, just nine per cent of young adults pray daily, in Russia the figure is eight per cent and in Austria only around seven per cent.
The great exception among the Western industrialised countries is the United States. What is true for adults in the US also applies to the younger generation: there are many more religious people here than in most other Western countries, the study found. Fifty-seven per cent of young Americans say that they pray daily. The free-church and Pentecostal Protestants in the US are almost all religious, with almost 90 per cent deeply religious.
Pious elderly - lukewarm youth?
"The perception that young people are less religious than their parents and grandparents is typically Western European and does not correspond to the reality worldwide," the Foundation said.
Young adults in developing countries and Islamic states are no less religious than other adults. In Morocco, around 99 per cent believe in God and life after death. In Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria this figure is 90 per cent, and in Israel, Indonesia and Italy it is 80 per cent.
The countries where the younger population is less concerned with religious faith are almost all in the Western cultural sphere extending from Australia to Spain. However, there are opposing trends here too.
In the United Kingdom, for example, the younger population is turning to religion more frequently than the older population. And young Israelis are significantly more religious than their parents.
Dr Martin Rieger, project leader of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Religion Monitor concludes: "The assumption that religious belief is dwindling continuously from generation to generation is clearly refuted by our worldwide surveys - even in many industrialised nations."
Politics is a private matter - sex isn't always
The Bertelsmann Stiftung's study also demonstrated a connection between the religious orientation of young people and their attitudes to politics and sexuality.
Religion has no influence on the political views of most Europeans and "Westerners". This also applies to most of the religious young people outside of Europe, albeit not so stringently. The answers were not quite so clear-cut on the issue of sex and relationships. Most young religious Europeans view sex as a private matter and only a minority believe that their religious beliefs influence their sexual relationships.
Religious considerations have an impact on the love lives of just seven per cent of young Protestants in Europe, 12 per cent of Orthodox believers and 14 per cent of Catholics. However, the picture outside of Europe is quite different: here, no less than 67 per cent of Protestants and 68 per cent of free-church Protestants see a connection between their religious beliefs and sexuality. Catholics outside of Europe are more emancipated in this respect. Only around half (52 per cent) say that their personal faith affects their own sexuality.
Heckler interrupts Gene Robinson’s sermon
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/heckler.interrupts.gene.robinsons.sermon/20453.htm
A protester forced openly gay US Bishop Gene Robinson to pause his sermon at a west London church on Sunday.
“How sad and how discouraging that the Anglican Communion would be tearing itself apart because two men…,” Bishop Robinson said before a man stood up in the congregation and interrupted the Bishop’s sentence with “because of heretics like you sir”.
“You preach the Gospel but you depart from it,” the heckler shouted at Bishop Robinson.
The Bishop became the centre of the row over homosexuality in the Anglican Communion after being consecrated by the US Episcopal Church as the Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. He added fuel to the flames by marrying his partner of 20 years, Mark Andrew, in June.
The heckler shouted at the Bishop, who halted his sermon during the man’s protest, to “repent” as the congregation started to clap hands, reports the BBC.
Other clergy asked the congregation to sing a hymn before the man was escorted out of St Mary’s Church, Putney[...]
Anglicans to Catholics: Ready or Not, Here we Come - Anglicans Ready For Exodus Over Approving Women Bishops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08070717.html
"There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome," an Anglican bishop told the Sunday Telegraph this weekend, after it was revealed that a group of "senior" bishops from the Church of England has been in secret negotiations with the highest levels of the Vatican to discuss the current crisis in Anglicanism over the acceptance of homosexuality and female bishops. Bishops from both the Church of England's "evangelical" or protestant and "high" or "Catholic" wings are said to have been involved in the talks that some believe may presage a mass return of Anglicans to the Catholic fold.
Meanwhile, the news has just been released that the General Synod of the Church of England voted tonight to accept the consecration of women as bishops, a move that is likely to result in the exodus of a large number of clergy and a permanent split in the Church that is the officially established religion under British law. The ongoing dissolution of the Church of England, of which Queen Elizabeth is the head, may result in significant constitutional and legal changes to the make-up of Britain. Some fear that it may result in Britain becoming officially a secular nation.
The news comes just days before the start of the Lambeth Conference, the once-in-ten-years gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world set for July 16 to August 4. This year's conference is being boycotted by many bishops over support by the liberalised western Anglican leadership for acceptance of homosexuality. Thus far, five out of the total of 38 Anglican primates and a large number of territorial bishops have said they will not attend. An alternate conference of traditionally Christian Anglican bishops and laity met in June in Jerusalem to discuss ways forward.
Some at the General Synod had suggested the creation of "super bishops" in an extra-geographical diocese who would have jurisdiction over those members of the Church who refuse to accept female bishops. It is not known now whether this arrangement will be honoured. Anglican officials are expected to draw up legislation to bring in women bishops by 2014 at the earliest, Ruth Gledhill reports in the Times.
In anticipation of the move to consecrate female bishops, more than 1,300 clergy, including 11 serving bishops, have written to the archbishops of Canterbury and York saying they will leave the Church of England if women are consecrated bishops.
While women have been raised to the Anglican episcopate in the US, the Church of England has only ordained female diocesan clergy. Three sitting diocesan bishops have also written to the Archbishop of Canterbury supporting the threat and two other bishops have said they are preparing to leave the Church.
Gledhill quotes the Rev. Prebendary David Houlding, a leading Anglo-Catholic, who said, "It's getting worse - it's going downhill very badly."
"It's quite clear there is a pincer movement and we are being squeezed out. We are being pushed by a particular liberal agenda and we are going to have women bishops at the exclusion of any other view."
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, while favouring some accommodation towards the traditionalists, said, "I am deeply unhappy with schemes or solutions which involve the structural humiliation of women, who are elected to the episcopate and end up haggling about the limits to their authority."
The news that a group of "senior" Anglican bishops are in talks with Rome during the crisis came as a surprise to representatives of the Catholic Church of England and Wales, attending the Synod as observers. Gledhill reported that Monsignor Andrew Faley, ecumenical officer of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, had "no information" that such talks had taken place. The Telegraph reports that the Rowan Williams was also not told of the talks that are reported to have been with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's highest doctrinal authority after the Pope himself.
The talks come with a backdrop of a difficult history. In 1992, when the Church of England voted to ordain female clergy, a similar crisis ensued in which a large number of Anglican ministers applied to Rome to create a provision to retain the traditional Anglican style of worship but seek communion with the See of Rome. At that time, under Pope John Paul II, some "Anglican Use" parishes were established in the US, but the episcopate of the Catholic Church of England and Wales obstructed the solution. Hopes were dashed when the Catholic bishops of England and Wales announced that converts would only be accepted individually, not en masse, and there would be no provision made for the retention of 500 year-old Anglican liturgical traditions.
It was noted that the heavily liberalised Catholic leadership did not relish the thought of a massive influx of doctrinally and liturgically traditional and highly educated clergy into their midst.
But since the election of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made unprecedented moves to reconcile traditionalists in the Catholic Church, and who was strongly supportive of the Anglican traditionalists before his election, hope has been revived that a path may be cleared.
Damien Thompson, a 'blogger for the Telegraph and editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald, wrote, "The Pope's closest advisers are not in a mood to allow the bishops the same freedom this time. They are already cross at the poor English response to the Motu Proprio liberating the Latin liturgy - and have conveyed their displeasure to the relevant bishops in no uncertain terms."
"The Anglican traditionalists know that they cannot trust a Catholic bishop not to shop them to Rowan Williams. So the liberal RC hierarchy has been - quite properly - kept in the dark."
Pastor disguises himself as a tramp to teach his own churchgoers a lesson
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033988/Priest-disguises-tramp-teach-churchgoers-lesson.html
When Reverend Rigby wanted to teach his congregation a lesson about being kind to others he came up with a rather colourful way of demonstrating his point.
As the 70 churchgoers turned up for their regular Sunday morning service at the Methodist church in Prestatyn, north Wales they found a scruffy tramp sitting in the church porch.
Stinking of beer and dressed in filthy clothes, the disgusted churchgoers did their best to ignore him as they filed past.
This task was made even harder when the unwanted guest joined them on the pews, surrounded with syringes and drinking from a can of lager.
They were therefore astounded - and perhaps more than a little embarrassed - when the ‘tramp’ threw off his scruffy clothes, removed his wig and revealed himself as their minister, Rev Rigby.
Rev Rigby pulled the stunt to remind the congregation about a passage in the Bible when Jesus’ disciples failing to recognise him because of the way he was dressed.
Rev Rigby said: ‘I went to great lengths to be as convincing as possible.
‘I didn’t shave for three days, made my hands and face dirty and drew on tattoos.
I’ bought some scruffy clothes at a charity shop, ripped the trousers, and put on a straggly wig and thick, broken glasses.
‘I then splashed lager over my clothes so I was stinking. I looked in the mirror before the service and I didn't recognise myself.’
Rev Rigby, who was a police officer for 15 years before being ordained 20 years ago, has tricked congregations in the same way at his previous parishes in London and Newport, South Wales.
He said: ‘I didn’t say a word the whole time because I thought someone would recognise my voice.
‘It was interesting to see the reaction from people - I was totally ignored.
‘It showed that we don’t recognise God at work and in each other.’
He said: "In other places I was given as much as £4.50, a packet of biscuits and a blanket - but in Prestatyn I got nothing.
‘I told the congregation they are a stingy lot.
‘Everyone was amazed and later complimented me on my acting skill, though some said I had made them feel terrible.’
Senior church member John Sproston was one of the first to arrive at the service to see the ‘tramp’ on the doorstep.
He said: ‘I think everyone was a bit worried, but when he came into church I thought “Hallelujah”.
‘We were all aghast when he took off his wig because he was very convincing.
Pray to Allah in Class or Get Detention
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031784/Schoolboys-punished-detention-refusing-kneel-pray-Allah.html
Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.
Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.
They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights.
One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far.
"I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer.
"Making them pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.
"I don't want this to look as if I have a problem with the school because I am generally very happy with it."
Another parent Karen Williams said: "I am absolutely furious my daughter was made to take part in it and I don't find it acceptable.
"I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.
"But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'.
"Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right.
"They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."
"My daughter and a lot of other mothers are furious about their children being made to kneel on the floor and pray to Islam. If they didn't do it they were given detention.
"I am not racist, I've been friendly with an Indian for 30 years. I've also been to a Muslim wedding where it was explained to me that alcohol would not be served and I respected that.
"But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."
Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard and they were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy headmaster Keith Plant said: "It's difficult to know at the moment whether this was part of the curriculum or not. I am not an RE teacher, I am an English teacher.
"At the moment it is our enterprise week and many of our members of staff are away.
"The particular member of staff you need to speak to isn't around. I think that it is a shame that so many parents have got in touch with the Press before coming to me.
"I have spoken to the teacher and she has articulately given me her version of events, but that is all I can give you at the moment."
A statement from Cheshire County Council on behalf of the school read: "The headteacher David Black contacted this authority immediately complaints were received.
"Enquiries are being made into the circumstances as a matter of urgency and all parents will be informed accordingly.
"Educating children in the beliefs of different faith is part of the diversity curriculum on the basis that knowledge is essential to understanding.
"We accept that such teaching is to be conducted with some sense of sensitivity."
Big Brother Fears In UK as Google Street View Comes To Town
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1031861/Big-Brother-The-Google-cars-photograph-EVERY-door-Britain.html
Plans by Google to photograph millions of British homes and publish them online have been condemned as a 'gross invasion of privacy'.
The internet giant's StreetView website will allow anyone in the world to type in a UK address or postcode and instantly see a 360-degree picture of the street.
It will include close-ups of buildings, cars and people. Critics say the site is a 'burglar's charter' that makes it easy for criminals to check out potential victims.
The pictures also show people leaving and entering hospitals, health clinics, adult shops and hotels. Although their faces are deliberately blurred, many could still be recognised by their clothing and hair colour.
The site was launched in major American cities last year.
Google has confirmed it is now in the process of photographing Britain as part of the Street View project.
Cars emblazoned with the company's logo and carrying massive 360-degree cameras have been spotted circling the streets of British cities in recent weeks.
The data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's office, is so concerned about StreetView that it has written to Google demanding privacy guarantees.
A Google spokeswoman said: 'Google works hard to make sure that our products respect both users' expectations of privacy, and local privacy laws, in each country in which they are launched. Google Maps Street View is no exception.'
StreetView is designed to complement Google Earth, a collection of satellite pictures that covers every square mile of the globe.
Google Earth has come under fire for the level of detail in its overhead pictures, which have become enormously popular.
The pictures don't just show which homes have swimming pools or tennis courts, they can reveal the model and colour of cars, whether gardens have furniture and even sunbathers lying outside.
Critics say the site can be used by burglars planning escape routes from homes and by terrorists looking for military bases.
The site has even been used by teenagers arranging unauthorised swimming parties in unoccupied homes.
Users of the new StreetView website can either browse maps of towns before clicking on a street view, or type in an address or postcode.
By clicking on arrows on the screen, users will feel like they are walking down the street and will be able to look right, left or behind them during their virtual tour.
The images show which homes belong to wealthy owners, which have easy access for burglars, which have expensive cars parked outside and which have alarm boxes.
And although the pictures are not 'live' - they will be updated once every few years - the website has also raised concerns about people photographed by the roving cameras.
In America, its launch has provoked complaints about intrusions into privacy.
One image, since removed, showed a woman accidentally exposing her underwear as she got out of a car in an American city street. The scene was captured by a passing camera car and posted online without her permission.
Other StreetViews show two men gazing at a woman as she bends over in the street, a man apparently entering an adult book store, a man apparently scaling a security fence, and two women sunbathing on the lawn of Stanford University campus.
Internet experts in America are waiting for the first high-profile lawsuit from someone photographed in a compromising or embarrassing position.
The Information Commissioner's Office said Google would have to avoid showing people's faces. A spokesman said: 'There is a risk that StreetView could identify individuals alongside their place of work or places they are visiting.
'In most instances this will not have a serious impact on people's privacy, however identifying an individual outside some premises, for instance health clinics and hospitals, could raise serious privacy issues.
'For this reason we would expect Google to take measures to ensure privacy rights are not infringed, for example blurring all images of individuals to ensure privacy rights are maintained. We are contacting Google to discuss the issue in further detail.'
The campaign group Privacy International warned that the website could be a massive invasion of privacy. It is to lodge a formal complaint with Google unless the company can guarantee that number plates and faces will be blurred.
Director Simon Davies said: 'Google has made similar privacy assurances in the past and nothing has come of them.'
Paul Gilbert, a media lawyer at London law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said taking pictures at street level and joining them up to create a map did not breach privacy laws in the UK.
'However, if the pictures captured the inside of a person's house by taking a photograph through the window, then the homeowner may be justified in claiming a breach of privacy,' he said.
It believes StreetView will be popular with tourists picking holiday destinations, housebuyers wanting to explore neighbourhoods, and shoppers trying to find stores.
It wants to encourage businesses to include links to the site on their own homepages.
Google said all faces were blurred automatically by its software, but refused to say whether number plates would also be disguised.
A spokesman said: 'We will not launch in UK until we are comfortable StreetView complies with local law, including law relating to the display of images of individuals. We will use technology, like face-blurring, and operational controls, such as image removal tools, so StreetView remains useful and in keeping with local norms wherever it is available.'
Anyone who thinks their face is recognisable can email Google and ask to have the image disguised, he said.
In Britain, anyone is allowed to take a picture of a house or a street and put it on the Internet. But if some pictures show the inside of someone's house, even inadvertently, then homeowners could show their privacy has been breached under common law.
Similarly, we are legally entitled to take pictures of people, even complete strangers, and post them on the Internet. But if a man is photographed walking past an adult store - but not going in - giving the wrong impression that he is a customer, then the image could defame his character.
Tony Blair Cancels Gaza Visit After Israeli Intel Uncovers Plot to Kill Him
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382667,00.html
On Tuesday, Mideast envoy Tony Blair called off what would have been the first visit of a top Western diplomat to Hamas-ruled Gaza, after Israel's Shin Bet security service received "pinpointed and imminent" intelligence that there was going to be an assassination attempt on his life.
The Shin Bet security service said it had received "information that Palestinians were planning to attack Blair in Gaza, so the relevant services alerted him to the fact."
They say the information about the attack was "detailed and credible." Militants planned to attack Blair's convey with explosives while he was traveling in Gaza.
Blair's visit Tuesday was to have included a tour of a Gaza waste-water project and meetings with traders and U.N. officials, but not with leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized Gaza by force more than a year ago.
Still, Hamas had made security arrangements for Blair, setting up checkpoints in areas he was expected to tour, banning cars from using roads, and lining streets with black-clad policemen carrying AK-47s.
Since the Hamas takeover, Gaza has been virtually sealed off from the world by Israel and Egypt, a policy that has received tacit international backing.
Blair has said in recent weeks that a new policy toward Gaza needs to be developed, pointing to the growing suffering of Gaza's people, but has not offered a plan. The options are limited because much of the international community considers Hamas a terrorist group and has shunned its government.
Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, said the envoy called off the visit "due to a specific security threat which would have made it irresponsible to proceed, not just for those visiting but also the local community."
"He looks forward to being able to go to Gaza again in the future and will of course in the meantime continue to work to improve the conditions for the people there," Doyle added.
Hamas Government Spokesman Taher Nunu denied there were any security threats against Blair. "Gaza is still open for all visitors, to break the siege and see the extent of suffering here," he said.
Although the once lawless Gaza has been mostly pacified under Hamas' stern rule, there are still shadowy extremist Muslim groups in the territory. On an Islamist forum popular with Gaza residents, some users slammed Blair's expected visit, but there were no direct threats of violence against him. Those comments were later removed from the Web site.
A key stop on Blair's trip would have been a northern Gaza waste water project being built with international funds. The Mideast envoy had not been expected to meet officials from Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., EU and Israel.
"We are very disappointed," said John Ging, Gaza director of the U.N. agency in charge of aiding Palestinian refugees.
Blair, a former British prime minister, is trying to revive the struggling Palestinian economy to lay the groundwork for a future independent Palestinian state.
He represents the Mideast Quartet — the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — which is trying to push the Palestinians and Israel toward a peace agreement.
Blair also canceled a Tuesday visit to Sderot, a town in southern Israel which is the frequent target of rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
In October of 2003, U.S. officials were in Gaza interviewing potential Fulbright Scholars when their convey was attacked with explosives. Three security guards riding in an armored vehicle were killed. Since that incident no American officials are supposed to go into Gaza.
Will "Club Med" lead the way to peace in the Middle East?
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/0712/1215787862249.html
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called tomorrow's Paris Summit for the Mediterranean "The best news for peace in the Middle East."
Before the summit even started, the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner declared the gathering "a historic success". Speaking in Egypt, Ireland's foreign minister Micheál Martin called the meeting "an important initiative, and one we support strongly".
For the first time, all states with a Mediterranean shoreline will gather, along with the EU 27, under the glass dome of the Grand Palais in central Paris. Forty-one of the 44 heads of state and government who were invited will attend - itself no small feat. The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert will sit in the same room with Arab leaders, who may nonetheless refuse to be photographed with him.
The biggest diplomatic coup for Sarkozy - one that is far from certain - would be a bi-lateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit between Olmert and the Syrian president Bachar al-Assad.
The invitation to Assad has been the most controversial aspect of the summit, because the Syrian leader is suspected of complicity in the 2005 assassination of the Lebanese leader Rafik al-Hariri, and has imprisoned hundreds of his political opponents.
The former president Jacques Chirac and French blue helmets (58 of whose comrades were killed in a 1983 attack linked to Damascus) have protested against Sarkozy's rehabilitation of Assad. The Lebanese community in Paris last night demonstrated against his visit.
Sarkozy justifies inviting Assad on the grounds that Syria recently resumed 'back-channel' negotiations with Israel via Turkey, and Syria agreed to the Doha accord that enabled Lebanon to elect a president.
Finally, Sarkozy argues, by engaging with Syria, Europe can lure Assad away from his Iranian allies. Despite high-blown talk of peace, the projects to be discussed during the afternoon-long summit are concrete, and have no immediate bearing on the Israeli-Arab conflict.
There is consensus on cleaning up the Mediterranean, which is in danger of becoming a dead sea within 15 years. But earlier agreements, in 1978 and 2005, have not reduced pollution. Two-thirds of coastal cities dump untreated sewage into its waters.
The assembled leaders are also expected to discuss the distribution of water resources, student exchanges, solar energy, "sea highways" to replace lorry routes along the coast and civil defence for natural disasters.
Ambitious as this may seem, the summit is a far cry from the "Mediterranean Union" that Sarkozy promised during his election campaign.
The union was the brainchild of his special advisor and speech-writer Henri Guaino. In Toulon in February 2007, Sarkozy said he wanted "to be the president of a France that will set the Mediterranean on the path of its reunification, after 12 centuries of division . . ." He wanted "to achieve a new Renaissance . . . undertake with this project a policy of civilisation as envisioned by the philosophers of the Enlightenment."
In Tangiers last October, Sarkozy said: "Within every man and woman who lives on the shores of the Mediterranean sleeps the memory, nostalgia, for the unity lost 15 centuries ago."
Not since the Italian dictator Mussolini revived the ancient Roman concept of Mare Nostrum ("our sea" in Latin) has a politician held such high ambitions for the Mediterranean.
But Sarkozy forgot to consult his European partners. The German chancellor Angela Merkel objected to Sarkozy's desire to relegate EU members without a Mediterranean shoreline to "observer" status, and saw the plan as a French attempt to create a 19th century-style zone of influence.
Tension over the Mediterranean plan came to a head in Hanover on March 3rd, where Merkel refused to allow the creation of a Mediterranean "union" to rival the EU.
At the EU Council in mid-March, Sarkozy was forced to downgrade his project to "a new impetus to the process inaugurated at Barcelona in 1995".
The Barcelona 'Euromed' partnership was supposed to build on the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords, which floundered and died. Euromed has little to show for some €5 billion in EU aid to southern Mediterranean countries.
Sarkozy managed to salvage some institutional features of his original plan: a rotating two-year co-presidency to be shared by one northern and one southern country; bi-annual summits and a permanent secretariat for the "Union for the Mediterranean".
France and Egypt will be the first co-presidents. Jealous of its prerogatives, the European Commission takes a dim view of the secretariat, which could be based in Tunis, Cairo or Rabat.
Spain has agreed to allow France to remove the name "Barcelona" from the project's name, on condition that Barcelona host the secretariat.
Israeli cabinet okays Hizballah prisoner exchange over security services’ objections
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5436
The ministers approved the exchange by 22 to 3 Tuesday, July 15, over the objections of Israeli security chiefs, who stated Hizballah had cheated on its promised report on the fate of the Israeli navigator Ron Arad, taken prisoner in Lebanon 22 years ago and never heard of since. They recommended rejecting the swap since Hizballah had provided nothing new and therefore not kept to its side of the bargain. Three ministers, Zeev Boim, Daniel Friedman and Ronnie Bar-On, voted against the exchange.
Objections were filed against the release of five Hizballah operatives, including Samir Kuntar, the convicted Nahariya murderer, who previous Israeli governments had pledged to release only against solid information on Arad.
The family of Eliahu Shahar, the policeman who was one of Kuntar’s victims, unsuccessfully petitioned the High Court against his release.
The other four Hizballah terrorists were taken prisoner in the 2006 war.
President Shimon Peres formally signed their pardons after the cabinet’s decision.
The families of three men who disappeared in action at the Sultan Yakub battle in Lebanon 26 years ago have added their protest.
Hizballah is committed to hand over the two Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, whose cross-border kidnap triggered the 2006 Lebanon War. Hizballah has never revealed if they were alive or dead.
Israel handed over the information in its possession about three Iranian diplomats and a journalist believed killed in the 1982 Lebanon War. The Red Cross trucks will also transfer to Hizballah at the Rosh Hanikra Israel-Lebanese border crossing the coffins of 200 Lebanese and Palestinians exhumed from Israel’s cemetery for fallen enemy combatants.
Hizballah is trying to present the prisoner exchange as a major victory achieved for Lebanon and not just a sectarian affair. They are wrapping the celebrations they are staging round with national trappings.
Sixth corruption probe against PM Ehud Olmert
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5424
Following the two-hour police interrogation of prime minister Ehud Olmert at his Jerusalem home, Friday, July 11, the Justice ministry and Police jointly announced their investigation had been widened beyond the Talansky case.
Last month, the American businessman Morris Talanksy testified to handing Olmert $150,000 in envelopes during the ten years he served as Jerusalem Mayor and Industry Minister.
Olmert and his agents are now suspected of fraudulently obtaining the costs of each of his foreign trips on official business simultaneously from several public bodies and individuals, including the state. This suspected multiple funding scam was handled by Olmert’s travel agency, which billed each source separately as though it was the sole fund provider.
After deducting the real travel costs, the agency would transfer the balance to a special private account in Ehud Olmert’s name. He would draw on this account to finance his private trips and those of his family.
He is therefore suspected of pocketing fraudulently acquired moneys for his private use, a charge which state attorney Menahem Mazuz ordered investigated in several foreign countries in early June.
Olmert was questioned Friday for the third time in a widening corruption scandal that has led his Kadima party to hold a primary by September at the latest to force him out of office. He is not bound by law to step down before he is indicted.
Talansky appears before the Israeli district court for a second time on July 17 where he faces cross-examination by Olmert’s attorneys.
Assad pours icy water on Olmert-Sarkozy-Abbas upbeat peace show
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5432
French president Nicolas Sarkozy organized a jovial photo-op with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to launch his Mediterranean union debut in Paris Sunday, July 13, attended by 40 leaders.
The first sour note came from Syrian president Bashar Assad, who was reinstated by Sarkozy’s invitation on the international stage. He and foreign minister Walid Mualem walked out as Olmert entered to the hall to deliver a speech. Earlier, Assad had his security men jostle Israel correspondents and TV cameras out of his way as he swept past. And he firmly rejected Sarkozy’s effort to arrange a meeting with the Israeli prime minister and announced that peace with Israel could take another two years.
This reply followed Olmert’s optimistic statement to reporters: “We have never been as close to an accord as we are today.”
Abbas and Sarkozy beamed their approval of Olmert’s statement and co-chairman Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called on Israel and the Palestinians to work harder for a peace deal to pave the way for a Palestinian state.
Behind the bonhomie, DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report that Abbas’ Fatah and its rival, the rejectionist Palestinian Hamas, have never been so close to a peace accord as they are today, largely due to the efforts of Mubarak himself. Success in this effort would write finis to the US-sponsored Palestinian peace track with Israel.
This is the real purpose of the lengthy talks the Hamas delegations from Gaza and Damascus have been holding in Cairo. According to our sources, the rival factions have covered considerable ground:
1. Hamas has agreed to relinquish its rule of the Gaza Strip and accept a government manned by nonpartisan technocrats.
2. Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the date subject to the Hamas proviso that it is admitted to the Palestinian Liberation Organization leadership under a major structural reform.
3. Hamas and Fatah have agreed to Egyptian military forces’ deployment in the Gaza Strip to organize and train Palestinian security and intelligence bodies.
Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, Hamas and Egypt agreed to leave Israel out in the cold and present the Palestinian reunion as a fait accompli. They reckoned that Israel would swallow the deal if captive Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit were freed. In any case, the prime minister Olmert is not expected to survive the corruption scandals gathering over his head.
The Palestinians groups and Cairo are moving forward as though George W. Bush, whose two-state solution was one of the high points of his international policy, had already left the White House.
A senior Abbas adviser, Yasser Abd Rabbo said in Ramallah last Thursday that A senior Abbas adviser, Yasser Abd Rabbo said in Ramallah last Thursday that his faction is seriously considering putting peace talks with Israel on ice.
Israeli may lose citizenship for aiding terror, treason - new bill
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5433
Monday, July 14, the Knesset interior committee Monday approved a bill ahead of second and third reading penalizing individuals guilty of aiding terror, terrorist organization membership, espionage and treason with loss of Israeli citizenship or permanent residency. The minister of interior would make this decision on the strength of a district court ruling. The bill, tabled by Likud MK Gilead Erdan two weeks after Jerusalem resident Taysir Dwayat used a bulldozer to kill three people in a terrorist attack, was strongly opposed by Arab legislators.
Galilee Liberation group claims injuring two Israeli police at Jerusalem Old City Gate
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5427
The Galilee Liberation Brigades claimed the latest Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem, in which a gunman shot two Israel Border Police guards at the Old City’s Lions’ Gate just before midnight on July 11 and vanished in the nearby ancient Muslim cemetery. Both, seriously hurt, returned fire but failed to stop him. One policeman took a head wound; the second was shot in the chest. The assailant apparently aware of the video camera overhead covered his face.
Police commissioner Dudi Cohen said he saw no links in the six Palestinian lone-wolf attacks in Jerusalem this year, costing 12 Israeli lives - any more than he did after a lone assailant murdered eight students at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva last March. The police also dismiss the Hizballah-sponsored Galilee Liberation Brigades which claimed previous attacks as non-existent.
In the last outrage it claimed earlier this month, a Jerusalem Palestinian used a bulldozer to mow down cars and pedestrians on the capital’s Jaffa Street, killing three people before he was overpowered and shot dead.
Cohen admitted only that none of the assailants have been caught.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources brings six connecting links to police attention:
1. They all occurred in Jerusalem; none anywhere else in Israel.
2. They were carried out by Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. The last assailant has not been identified, but his escape in pitch dark through the fairly wild terrain of the Kidron Valley outside the Old City’s eastern wall indicates he too was a local, who may well turn up for work with an Israeli firm next week as though nothing was amiss.
3. Some clandestine center in Jerusalem is evidently recruiting, directing, arming and guiding these solo killers to target. This center is undoubtedly under orders from a larger terrorist headquarters outside the city or even the country.
4. All the assailants were ready to confront Israeli security forces and die in action, which makes them suicide killers.
5. None of the attacks had advance warning - first, because the Shin Bet internal security service is still not on top of the Jerusalem terrorist organization operating under cover among the city’s quarter of a million Palestinian residents; and second, because police chiefs are obstructing their own inquiry by refusing to see the connections in an obvious series.
6. It started on January 24 and 26, when a border policeman was killed and three injured outside the Shoefat district in northern Jerusalem.
That attack was carried out by a lone killer who, like the Lions Gate gunman, targeted a regular Israeli police sentry contingent in a part of the city inhabited or claimed by Palestinians.
The security cameras which recorded the attack at Lions’ Gate, the main entry to Temple Mount and one of the most sensitive points in Jerusalem, should have raised the alarm at the police command and control center, but obviously did not.
Our counter-terror sources stress that the Jerusalem police must change its ways. To foil future attacks it will have to take a leaf out of the army’s proactive preventive operations on the West Bank, by varying sentry deployments, posting them in unexpected places and hiding ambush teams at potential targets. Checkpoints thrown up without warning are effective traps for terrorists.
The Olmert government must make up its mind about whether or not to demolish the homes of two known assailants, who were suicides and whose addresses are known. Deterrence is a policy; uncertainty is not.
Will Israel Strike Iran?
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27392&s=rcmp
In a recent piece for the Washington Post, Israeli commentator Yossi Melman writes: “No decision to attack Iran has been made in Israel” and it is “a matter of at least one year” before any decision will be made.
Melman’s words seem enough to convince the editorial staffs of publications like the Post and the Nation. But sources inside the U.S. intelligence and Defense communities are telling us, there is an increasing “probability” that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) will soon strike Iranian nuclear facilities. The strikes -- if they take place -- will be far more extensive than that which occurred during the strike against Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility in 1981. The new strikes will target much more than just the nuclear sites. The extent to which America will or will not provide support will depend on multiple variables. And the strikes will not be over in a single night.
“To hit the number of targets the Israelis need to hit with their force structure would require several days,” Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney (U.S. Air Force, ret.), former assistant vice chief of staff of the Air Force, tells HUMAN EVENTS. “If they did it in a night -- with, say, 100 airplanes -- they’d probably inflict significant damage to Bushehr and other facilities, but it would be more difficult to hit the deep bunkers at Natanz.”
But, McInerney adds, the problems associated with an air campaign that goes beyond 24 hours is “it becomes more difficult politically because you’ve got to have more people complicit in terms of airspace requirements, etc.”
Nevertheless, a multi-phased campaign lasting several days is what the current plan looks like according to analysts and insiders.
One intelligence community source tells us, “The campaign will last more than a few days, perhaps up to a week or more.” And it looks as if the operational green-light will be given at some point within the next few months before any window of opportunity closes that would prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon (a reality that could come to pass within six months to a year -- perhaps sooner in a crash-building program -- according to a MEMRI interview with International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Dr. Muhammad El-Baradei).
One former Defense Department official says he believes a strike against Iran’s developing nuclear infrastructure might be “a bad idea because of Iranian national pride in the program: it's likely to strengthen the regime without accomplishing any strategic objective.”
He adds, “The only way to deal with these guys is to hit the regime itself, hard, and leave the nukes alone for the moment.”
Others say hitting the nuke sites is part of a much broader plan that will facilitate regime change.
“It’s not just the nuclear sites,” Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely (U.S. Army, ret.), former deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Forces Pacific, tells HUMAN EVENTS. “It’s regime target sites.”
According to Vallely, the approximately 75 regime targets on the tier-one targeting list -- updated daily -- includes Iran’s command-and-control, the country’s air defense network, the various Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units and positions, as well as the nuclear sites. There are many targets beyond those on the tier-one list.
Without getting into specifics, the current plan calls for a “takedown” that may be supported by U.S. air and naval forces in the both the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighters and refueling tankers will be running back-and-forth through U.S. Central Command–controlled air corridors. Mossad agents and Iranian (anti-government) operatives will help coordinate the strikes from the ground. Meanwhile, home-based Israeli ground forces (with helicopter support) will reinforce defenses in northern Israel and on the Golan Heights; prepared for the possibility of defensive cross-border operations against Hizballah in southern Lebanon and perhaps operations inside Syria along geographic points where -- in recent weeks -- two Syrian mechanized-infantry divisions have been reinforced. Other Israeli ground and air assets will reinforce Gaza positions.
If the Iranians -- in retaliation for strikes against their facilities -- make a move against American forces in the region, or if they try to shut down the Strait of Hormuz (the strategically vital waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman) as they have threatened to do, U.S. forces will “unleash hell and more than complement what the Israelis are doing,” says Vallely.
McInerney says, “The Iranians may try to shut down the Strait, but they are deathly afraid that we’ll get involved.”
An intelligence source says, “Iran’s provoking the Americans into the game is exactly what Israel wants, because overwhelming U.S. airpower would be able to finish the job in very short order.”
McInerney agrees, adding, “That’s why I believe if the targets are going to be hit, we need to be the ones to do it.”
Some experts contend such a strike “must be” before the U.S. presidential elections because the Israelis know that any operation prior to the elections would give plausible deniability to either one of the American presidential candidates. After the election, it would be difficult for the president-elect to deny knowing because of the access and leverage held by a president-elect. Others say it may be after the election, but before the inauguration because if Barack Obama is elected the Israelis fear he would not support any form of military action against Iran, whereas the Israelis are confident in both John McCain’s support of Israel and in his willingness to use military force -- either directly or indirectly -- in support of Israel.
In a recent article for Middle East Times I explained how Iran's frequent threatening of Israel and the United States, its covert operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, its recent military-political victories in Lebanon (through its proxy army, Hizballah), a newly signed defense pact with Syria, and -- most important -- its nuclear ambitions; may be forcing the West's hand.
During the first week in June, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly told Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that "influential nations should get ready for a world minus the U.S." We know Ahmadinejad frequently threatens to "wipe Israel off the map," Moreover, his surrogate deputies, like Hizballah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, often call for the "deaths" of America and Israel.
The same week Ahmadinejad made his comments to Fukuda, the IAF conducted a massive military air-exercise over the Mediterranean, flying and refueling over a distance roughly equal to that which would be required in a strike against Iran.
Israel isn’t just saber-rattling. “The only one thing worse than Israel’s having to launch an attack against Tehran's nuclear facilities is an Iranian nuclear bomb,” Brig. Gen. Dieter Farwick (German Army, ret.), the former director of Germany's military intelligence office and the current editor-in-chief of World Security Network, tells HUMAN EVENTS. “An Iranian nuclear bomb would trigger a nuclear arms race in the broader Middle East. Still any attack against Iran should remain a last resort; and timely, limited negotiations should be given a last chance."
Closed-door negotiations are continuing. But so is Iran’s nuclear program, its president’s threats, and an uncertain American political landscape: Which is why -- in Israel’s mind -- chances, opportunities, and certainly time may be running out.
The big question remains: if Israel with it’s current force structure attacks Iran with only a nod -- and very little direct support -- from the U.S., can the Jewish state pull it off successfully.
“Yes, but the timing of this thing is important,” says Vallely. “The Israelis know that politically they have to do it this year, because they and we don’t know who is going to be the U.S. president next year. They also know this thing has to be done as a regime change. If they want this to be successful -- and they do -- they can’t just go in and only take out the nuke sites.”
The stakes for Israel go beyond any operational success or failure; for as IAF Col. Ziv Levy told Bob Simon in a 60 Minutes interview earlier this year, Israel cannot lose: “The first war we lose, Israel will cease to exist.”
Jews, Persians at Swords' Points
http://www.metimes.com/Opinion/2008/07/11/jews_persians_at_swords_points/8987/
Iranian missile tests sent shock waves across the Middle East this past week, with the clerical regime's spokesmen leaving no doubt the demonstration was aimed squarely at Israel. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Ali Shirazi, threatened to "burn" Tel Aviv while IRGC Commander Mohammed Ali-Jafari's comments took aim directly at Israel's nuclear facilities at Dimona.
Iran's Great Prophet III military exercises were touted as a reaction to Israel's own war games of June, during which over 100 Israeli Defense Force F-15's and F-16's, supported by aerial refueling tankers, demonstrated their ability to cover the distance between Israel and Iran's key uranium enrichment center at Natanz.
What had been a simmering international issue centered on Iran's refusal to halt its nuclear weapons program while spewing a steady stream of bellicose rhetoric at the State of Israel thus burst onto the world scene with the suddenly very real possibility that war could erupt between the two in a matter of weeks or months. Television screens filled with fuzzy images of Shahab-3 long- and medium-range missiles exploding in clouds of dust and searing white trails were provided courtesy of Iranian TV.
According to official Iranian accounts, one of these missiles was reported to be an upgraded Shahab-3, with a new and longer range of 1,250 miles —more than enough to reach Tel Aviv from the deserts of western Iran. Whatever the veracity of Iran's missile claims, still being validated by Western intelligence services, the point was made: Iran and Israel may be on the brink of the unthinkable —Armageddon.
It has not always been this way. Jews and Persians have, in fact, millennia of cordial relations between them; it is only in the past three decades that the relationship has turned deadly.
The historical presence of a small Jewish minority in Iran dates to the Babylonian captivity of biblical times: when Cyrus the Great freed the captive Jewish people, not all chose to return home.
At the 1948 formation of the State of Israel, there were some 100,000 Jews living in Iran — a factor that must have figured to some extent in the quick establishment of good relations with the shah by Israel's first national leadership.
Over the next quarter century, this Jewish community in Iran prospered as they played an important role in the economic and cultural life of the country. A good fit in economic and trade matters saw a steady exchange of Iranian oil in return for Israeli technical expertise in agricultural areas and high quality military hardware for the shah's rapidly modernizing armed forces. The development of Israel's nuclear weapons program, discreet but hardly a secret, aroused no evident concern in the shah's Iran.
Strains of anti-Semitism, historically an integral element of Islamic jihadi ideology in general, had begun to expand anew in the first part of the 20th century. As the Zionist movement developed from 19th century dreams into the reality of fulfillment with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, key figures such as Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, stoked latent Arab hatred of Jews as he joined forces with Adolf Hitler's Nazi war machine.
But when Holocaust survivors actually succeeded in re-constituting the Jewish homeland, in one fell swoop, Jews achieved the impossible: they cast off their dhimmi status and established a modern nation state on land Muslims considered sacred (the waqf).
And while Iran's deeply conservative Shiite clergy did not automatically share the Arab world's resentment against the upstart Jewish nation, their own seething hostility toward the rule of the Pahlavi Dynasty, at once secular and repressive, had turned outward against the shah's friends and allies long before the 1979 revolution.
The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was among a minority of Iran's deeply traditional Shiite marjas who absorbed and nurtured the virulent anti-Semitic motifs that eddied up from early Koranic references, certain German political philosophers such as Martin Heidegger, and the full-fledged poison of Nazi ideology.
Khomeini's mentor, the Ayatollah Abol-Shassem Kahsani, an intensely anti-Semitic cleric himself, also played a defining role.
Of course, it's not just anti-Semitism that fuels today's enmity between Iran and Israel. Largely a creation of European Jews whose long centuries of exile steeped them in the thinking and values of Western civilization, today's State of Israel is also an outpost of modern, secular, democratic, civil society — which, of course, makes it anathema to the tradition-bound mores of an Islamic society hearkening back to the seventh century.
So it was that when Khomeini took power in his 1979 coup d'etat, tens of thousands of Iran's Jews fled to Israel, Israel's key world ally (the United States) became the Great Satan, and relations between the two countries took a nosedive.
Today, Iran's theocracy is seized with a millennialist fervor that harnesses the bitter resentments of its IRGC Iraq war survivors to spearhead its 21st century geo-strategic ambitions. The theological inspiration draws from belief in the return of the Disappeared 12th Imam (or Mahdi), who is expected to return to earth in time of great chaos and strife to usher in the Day of Judgment and preside over 1,000 years of peace and justice. The Shahab-3 missiles project the more earthly ambitions of a would-be nuclear power.
The lines are drawn; Iran and Israel are at swords' points. The implications for the United States and the world are incalculable. What is not known is what are Israel's ultimate red lines, what is the final tipping point that could spell the difference between militaristic posturing and war. Jews and Persians have never fought a war. They needn't now if tolerance and reason can somehow triumph over blind faith in thrall to seventh century zeal.
OPEC Warns War With Iran Would Cause 'Unlimited' Oil Price Hike
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/10/business/opec.php
The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an "unlimited" increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group's members would be unable to make up the lost production.
"We really cannot replace Iran's production - it's not feasible to replace it," Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the OPEC secretary general, said during an interview.
Iran, the second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia, produces about 4 million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide production of close to 87 million barrels. The country has been locked in a lengthy dispute with Western countries over its nuclear ambitions.
In recent weeks, the price of oil has risen higher on speculation that Israel could be preparing to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. The saber-rattling intensified this week with missile tests by Iran. That has further shaken oil markets because of concerns that any conflict with Iran could disrupt oil shipments from the Gulf region.
"The prices would go unlimited," Badri said during the interview, referring to the effect of a military conflict. "I can't give you a number."
Analysts said the timing of Badri's remarks was noteworthy, given that the idea of an attack on Iran has been around for years. In addition, an attack on Iran would probably not specifically target oil facilities, said Johannes Benigni, managing director of JBC, an oil research and consulting firm in Vienna.
"Perhaps OPEC wants to say to the Americans in particular that there would be an economic price to be paid for an attack on Iran," said Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. "Gulf leaders also know that if a war broke out, the situation of some Gulf states also would become more uncomfortable and could have political difficulties for them domestically," he said, noting that some have their own Shia minorities.
Badri, a former oil executive who has headed the oil industry in Libya and also served as deputy prime minister of that country, called for a peaceful solution. He also suggested that an additional military conflict in the Middle East, besides the ongoing conflict in Iraq, would be severe and long-lasting.
"If something happened there, nobody would be able to solve it," he said.
The United States, Israel and other Western countries say Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran says the program is only for civilian purposes.
Badri said that current geopolitical tensions were among the principal reasons why oil prices were so high.
He said that a shortfall in refining capacity and a weak dollar were other factors, and he reiterated OPEC's position that speculation on oil markets probably was the most important.
But he said that reserves of oil were plentiful and that worries about scarcity were misplaced.
Proven reserves of conventional oil worldwide rose slightly to about 1.205 trillion barrels in 2007 from 1.195 trillion barrels in 2006, according to one of two annual reports issued by OPEC on Thursday.
Supplies from Russia and Norway and other nations outside the 13-member OPEC are expected to keep growing, helped by technologies like turning gas and coal into liquid fuel and extracting oil from tar sands and shale.
Even so, Badri sought to assuage concerns about a supply shock, saying that OPEC members already were investing $160 billion in new production capacity up to 2012.
But he said additional investment in future production capacity could be limited, potentially sharpening a dispute with consuming nations about whether sufficient steps are being taken to meet demand over the next decade.
The International Energy Agency, an energy monitor based in Paris and financed by industrialized nations, warned in its annual medium term report this month that oil supplies would remain tight over the next few years, despite the record-high prices. The IEA noted low spare capacity from OPEC, among other factors. It said that prices were high mostly because of fast-growing demand from rapidly industrializing countries like China, rather than because of market speculation.
On Tuesday, leaders of the Group of 8 economic powers warned that surging oil prices could be a key factor undermining world growth and called on petroleum suppliers to increase production and refining and to increase investment in oil exploration and output over the medium term.
Some analysts have predicted that oil prices could reach $200 a barrel this year as oil consumption continues to rise rapidly while supplies lag.
Saudi Arabia has said it would raise output in July. But OPEC has not officially increased output since a meeting last September. The next meeting of the group is in September. Badri said it was too early to say whether OPEC would raise output then.
OPEC also reported Thursday that economic growth in emerging markets would ensure that consumption worldwide increased annually by 1.3 million barrels a day to 92.3 million barrels by 2012, 102.2 million barrels by 2020, and 113 million barrels per day by 2030. The figure for 2030 represented a downward revision of the expected oil demand, by four million barrels a day, from the previous year's outlook.
OPEC officials said that improving recovery and production processes would continue to enable efficient recovery of hydrocarbons. But because of the diverse sources of liquid fuels coming from sources like natural gas and coal, total demand for crude oil pumped from wells would not exceed 82 million barrels a day by 2030.
Total withdrawing from Iran
Total, the French oil giant, has decided to back away from planned investments in Iran because of political uncertainty, a company official said Thursday, David Jolly reported from Paris.
Total's withdrawal from Iran, including a planned huge gas project in the South Pars field, makes it the last major Western oil company to give up on Iran amid pressure from Washington.
"We think that under current conditions it is not possible in Iran just now," Patricia Marie, a spokeswoman for Total, said.
High military tension over Iranian presence on strategic Lebanese peak
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5434
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Israel has placed its military and air forces on its northern borders on high alert after Iran and Syria ignored Jerusalem’s warning, relayed to Washington, that the continued presence of Iranian, Syrian and Hizballah officers on the strategic Lebanese Sannine peak may spark a military clash.
Monday, July 14, two days ahead of the prisoner swap with Hizballah, Israel’s army spokesmen disclosed that Iranian officers had assumed command of Hizballah’s fighting units.
Our military sources report that the disclosure, which further fueled the cross-border tension, referred to the Iranian officers in command of Hizballah teams atop the 7,800-foot Mt. Sannine peak, whence they can monitor and menace US Sixth Fleet movements in the eastern Mediterranean and Israeli Air Force flights.
Iranian officers have also been attached to Hizballah’s anti-air, surface, and shore-to-ship missile units across Lebanon.
All Israel’s military, police and security contingents are also on the ready in case of trouble flaring immediately after Israel and Hizballah exchange prisoners Wednesday. They estimate that once the exchange is out of the way, Hizballah will unleash a cross-border assault and terrorist action inside Israel, its promised revenge for the killing of their military commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus last February for which they blame Israel.
Israel’s restraint against Hamas’ missiles campaign from Gaza, despite repeated threats, has left Hizballah and Tehran unmoved by its warning on Lebanon.
The electrical vibes on the Israel-Lebanese border have not reached Paris or impacted President Nicolas Sarkozy’s drive, encouraged by the Bush administration, to end Bashar Assad’s international isolation and so cut him away from his alliance with Iran and ties with Hizballah.
The very opposite process is racing fast forward in the Middle East. In Lebanon, Syria and Iran are operating in close sync to carve Lebanon up between them and seize strategic locations - fully exploiting the willful blindness of Paris and Washington.
Iranian Early Warning Station, Anti-Air Base on Lebanese Peak
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1357
In the past few weeks, Hizballah at the behest of Iran and Syria has commandeered the 7,800-foot Mt. Sannine, a strategic asset capable of determining the outcome of the next war, as DEBKA-Net-Weekly 356 revealed.
Radar-guided missile positions and an early warning station have since been deployed on its summit, which are capable of monitoring and threatening US Sixth Fleet movements in the eastern Mediterranean and Israel Air Force flights.
This development was serious enough for Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak to repeat three times in as many days that the IDF is keeping a close watch on events in the northern front, especially the deepening ties between Syria and the Lebanese Hizballah. Barak travels to Washington this week.
Mt. Sannine, which dominates the roads connecting Beirut and Damascus, is one of the most prized strategic assets in the region. It was fought over for years by Syria and Israel, both seeking to control this ideal vantage point for an early warning station to command the eastern Mediterranean, the northern half of Israel and the Damascus region.
Its takeover on behalf of Tehran places Israeli security at a grave disadvantage. This topic is expected to figure large in the talks French president Nicolas Sarkozy holds with visiting Syrian ruler Bashar Assad this week.
DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal that military movements carried out in the last two weeks by Hizballah in conjunction with Tehran and Damascus can only be interpreted as preparations for war. Lebanese sources have been saying openly that Syria, Iran and Hizballah are now in position for a new Middle East confrontation.
This development was kept under tight wraps by prime minister Ehud Olmert, the defense and foreign ministers and the chief of staff. Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.
Senior IDF officers told DEBKAfile: If the new military facts on the ground in Lebanon are allowed to stay in place, the next war Hizballah launches with Syria and Iran will find Israel’s ground, sea and air forces at a grave strategic disadvantage.
Yet there are no signs of Israel’s policy-makers budging.
Olmert and Livni took off for Paris Saturday night July 12 to attend the French president’s Mediterranean conference.
Our Middle East sources report that Sarkozy promised US president George W. Bush and Olmert to take up the belligerent movements in Lebanon with Assad and the Lebanese president Michel Sleiman. But political sources stress that the Olmert government’s custom of referring Israel’s military problems to external addresses is no longer working, neither for the Iranian nuclear issue nor the mounting threats posed by the Shiite Hizballah and Palestinian Hamas.
Iran and Syria have meanwhile acted on the political front to establish a radical government in Beirut dominated by two terrorist groups under their control, as DEBKAfile reported Friday, July 11.
New Beirut government restores Syrian sway over Lebanon
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5425
The majority bloc headed by the incumbent Fouad Siniora holds 16 portfolios in the new Lebanese government, the opposition led by Hizballah - 11. President Michel Sleiman exercised his prerogative to name three ministers.
This lineup represents the national accord reached in Qatar earlier this year to end Lebanon’s political crisis. But the numbers, DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources note, add up to the radicalization of the new administration and its domination by two terrorist groups.
The pro-Iranian Hizballah-led opposition has gained veto power and Damascus has solidified its grip on Lebanon’s center of power - both through the Shiite-led bloc and through a first-time cabinet member, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party – the SSNP, which is dedicated to a Greater Syria.
Tehran and Damascus have succeeded in thrusting aside American and French bids for influence.
According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, the shadowy SSNP was Syrian intelligence’s favorite terrorist arm in Lebanon for assassinations, attempted coups and bombings. Its operatives often worked with Hizballah (especially its military chief Imad Mughniyeh) and were believed implicated in the US embassy bombings in Beirut of 1982 and 1984.
The first known female suicide bomber in terrorist history was a SSNP operative who detonated a truck bomb which killed two Israel soldiers in 1985. Another member was accused of assassinating Lebanese president Beshar Gemayel in 1982.
The SSNP leader at the time, appointed by Damascus, was Ali Qanso, who now takes a seat in the new Lebanese government as minister of state.
The same Lebanese party also holds one seat in the Syrian parliament, having been granted legal standing by President Bashar Assad in 2005. The SSNP is now Syria’s largest party after the ruling Baath, while also represented in the Beirut government. It is thus faithful to its Greater Syria tenet which names Lebanon “Western Syria” and the Mediterranean the "Syrian Sea."
More fist-shaking from Ahmadinejad
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5430
"Before the enemies touch the trigger, Iran's armed forces will cut off their hands," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, Sunday, July 13. He spoke in the wake of the test-fire of a long-range ballistic missile that Tehran says can reach Israel and a war maneuver.
"This is only a small part of Iran's defense capabilities and in future we will unveil more of our defense capabilities if necessary," Ahmadinejad said.
Iran’s TV interrupts broadcast to announce second batch of ballistic missile tests
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5422
Iran test-fired more long-range ballistic missiles in the Gulf Thursday, July 10, the day after its launch of 10 missiles including the Shehab-3, which is capable of delivering a one-ton payload over Tel Aviv. The second round was announced by Tehran state TV on Day Three of the Great Prophet war games.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the 20 missiles of assorted ranges tested so far (including the Fajar and Zelzal series) were put on show to convince the United States and Israel that Iran has enough missiles and launchers to keep on firing on consecutive days.
This was more posture than reality. In fact, only one 2,000-km range Shehab-3 was actually test-fired. However, accentuating the Gulf as the location of the second day’s tests, instead of an inland desert location like the first, raises the threat level. It was Tehran’s answer to the bland comments delivered Wednesday by US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns that Washington is not nearing a military confrontation with Iran and that Tehran’s response to the latest six-power incentives package makes it possible to keep diplomacy going.
Iran clearly prefers to continue talking from a position of strength and flexed military muscles.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Wednesday. "The Iranians should stop the development of ballistic missiles, which could be used as a delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon, immediately."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged the US will defend its interests and its allies. The US has enhanced its security presence in the Gulf and “we take our obligations to help our allies defend themselves very seriously and no one should be confused about that.”
Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama said the missile tests showed the US needs to pursue direct and aggressive diplomacy backed by “tougher sanctions.” His rival Senator John McCain said the missile firings mean “Iran continues to threaten the security of their neighbors.” But he was sure that European allies are ready to impose financial and trade sanctions that “can be effective in modifying Iranian behavior.”
Iran considers mandatory execution for apostasy - Christian converts face death penalty
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69158
A plan is being discussed by lawmakers in Iran that would require the death penalty for anyone who leaves Islam for Christianity or someone who promotes such a conversion even on the Internet, according to a new report from Compass Direct News.
Those discussions of a penal code that was drafted earlier this year bring urgency to situations such as the two men arrested recently and under interrogation for that very crime, the report said.
The report said Iranian authorities arrested a number of converts to Christianity in the city of Shiraz about two months ago on suspicion of "apostasy."
Arash Bandari, 44, and Mahmood Matin, 52, were arrested at the time along with 13 other Muslim converts to Christianity. But while the other 13 were told they have a court case pending and then released, Bandari and Matin have been held ever since.
The 13 who have been released have not been told of any specific charges, but they report the nature of their questioning gives them reason to think the allegations may include apostasy and political crimes.
The other two, Bandari and Matin, have been held almost incommunicado. Matin's wife was able to see him for several minutes on June 24, when the prisoner told his wife "there had been a misunderstanding and that he could not teach Christianity any more," Compass reported.
"They are pushing me to tell them that I am connected to a church outside Iran and that I am receiving a salary, but I told them that I am doing it on my own," he said, according to a Compass source whose identity was concealed.
Compass noted that under the existing sharia laws in Iran, the death penalty is available for the crime of apostasy, but not required.
The proposal, however, would change that.
"If passed, the penal code drafted last January would require execution of any Muslim who converts to Christianity," Compass said. Such punishments could not be "changed, reduced or annulled."
"Many believe that the government intends to use the proposed penal code to clamp down on the surge in conversions in Iran over the last few years. Commentators have called the surge a 'mass exodus' from Islam, which in its Iranian Shiite version imposes harsh limitations on lifestyle and personal freedoms," Compass reported.
Iran's Members of Parliament voted only a week ago to discuss the plan as a priority, according to Agence France-Press, which described the proposal as to "toughen punishment for harming mental security in society."
Alarmingly, the report also documented that the death penalty would be imposed for "establishing weblogs and sites promotion corruption, prostitution and apostasy."
"Over the last few years, the Internet and media such as television have been conduits of information on Christianity and are feared as sources of 'corruption' of the Iranian people," Compass reported. "The Internet is widely used in Iran despite restricted access for thousands of websites with 'immoral' content or content – including Christian ones – deemed as insulting religion and promoting political dissent."
Executions in Iran totaled 317 in 2007, up from 177 in 2006, and human rights groups say such punishments are excessive. Tehran insists death is an "effective deterrent," according to AFP.
"Christians in particular have suffered persecution in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. No converts to Christianity have been convicted of 'apostasy' since international pressure forced officials to drop the death sentence of Christian convert Mehdi Dibaj in 1994. But in the years following the convert's release, Dibaj and four other Protestant pastors, including converts and those working with converts, have been brutally murdered," Compass said.
The attackers in those cases never have been brought to justice.
Rice says US will defend Israel/Gulf as Iran tests missiles
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080710/D91R7N000.html
Condoleezza Rice flexed America's muscles in the Middle East Thursday, forcefully warning Iran the U.S. won't ignore threats and will take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf. A fresh Iranian missile test prompted a show of force from Israel as well.
Rice said Iran's leaders should understand that Washington won't dismiss provocations from Tehran and has the ability to counter them. "I don't think the Iranians are too confused, either, about the capability and the power of the United States to do exactly that," she said.
Though the White House has repeatedly asserted it prefers diplomacy to war, Rice used some of the administration's most direct language yet to make clear the U.S. is strengthening its military presence to counter Iran in the strategic Gulf region and is prepared to use force. She also referred to U.S. arms sales to Gulf allies and military aid to Israel as protections against any threat from Iran.
"We take very, very strongly our obligation to help our allies defend themselves, and no one should be confused about that," Rice said in Tbilisi, Georgia, before returning to Washington from a trip to Eastern Europe.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, noted Iranian testing of a longer-range missile, representing a "capability that raises the ante in the long run in that part of the world."
Asked on a trip to Afghanistan whether the U. S. had strengthened its position, he said, "We have a very robust presence in that part of the world, have had for some time, and we're robust enough to be able to adjust constantly, which is what we do, and we also try not to be very predictive about where we go and when we go and what we do there."
Rice's remarks were part of a rising rhetorical and strategic face-off between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other. The posturing has raised concerns worldwide about a possible shooting war.
The most likely scenario for that would be an Israeli strike to reduce or eliminate the threat that Iran could soon field a nuclear weapon. Israel could theoretically launch an air strike against one or more of Iran's known nuclear sites and at least set back the timetable for a bomb.
Israel has announced no such intention, although neither it nor its U.S. protector will rule out the possibility and Israel has sent multiple signals that it is ready to defend itself.
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said his country "proved in the past that it won't hesitate to act when its vital security interests are at stake."
Also Thursday, Israel displayed its latest spy plane in what defense officials said was a show of strength in response to Iranian war games and missile tests. Last month, Israel's military sent warplanes over the eastern Mediterranean for a large military exercise that U.S. officials described as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's atomic project.
Iran's latest testing was announced hours after Rice spoke on Thursday. Wednesday's tests were conducted at the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which up to 40 percent of the world's oil passes. Oil prices rose Thursday after the new announcement.
A U.S. official said analysts had determined Tehran launched seven ballistic missiles and two rockets on the first night. But it appeared that only one weapon - an anti-ship missile - was launched on the second night, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the ongoing intelligence analysis.
Whatever the military importance of the testing, Iran has sharply stepped up its warnings of retaliation if attacked. This week, a top official of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Ali Shirazi, warned Tel Aviv would be "set on fire" in any Iranian retaliation.
Rice said the U.S. preparations, along with a planned missile shield she was in Europe this week to advance, "are all elements of America's intention and determination to prevent Iran from threatening our interests or the interests of our friends and allies."
The proposed shield "will make it more difficult for Iran to threaten and be bellicose and say terrible things," Rice said, because with the shield in place, "their missiles won't work." The shield is a largely untested work in progress, and the proposed defense system from Eastern Europe is at least four years off.
Rice spoke at a press conference with Georgia's U.S.-backed president at the close of a three-day trip to Eastern Europe that highlighted the troubled U.S. relationship with Russia.
Unlike Iran, a U.S. adversary for nearly 30 years, Russia is a partner if not an ally, and American and Russian leaders and diplomats meet regularly. The largest disputes concern Russian attitudes and expectations for territory the old Soviet Union once held outright or controlled from afar.
That's the case with Georgia, a former Soviet republic that accuses its larger neighbor of encouraging separatist movements born out of the Soviet breakup.
"I'm not going to try to judge Russian motives, I'm only concerned about the actions at this point," Rice said. She said Russia should help instead of hurt prospects for a peaceful settlement of Georgia's dispute with separatists in the breakaway province of Abkhazia.
Rally in Support of Coptic Christians in Egypt
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07397.shtml
MEDIA ADVISORY, (christiansunite.com) -- Coptic Organizations in America along with activists from Egypt, the Middle East, Europe and the United states, will conduct a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House on Wednesday July 16, 2008, from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm. The purpose is to convey, to world's opinion and international human rights organizations, recent incidents of persecution, discrimination and marginalization inflicted on Coptic Christians of Egypt by the Egyptian government and Muslim extremists.
The Copts of Egypt are the largest Christian minority in the Middle East. They number about 15% of Egypt's population of 80 million. Not a month passes by without their churches, homes and businesses being attacked. According to a study made by Ibn Khaldoun Research Center in Cairo, over 240 major attacks against the Copts took place during the period from 1972- 2003. Magdy Khalil, a writer and researcher, estimates that as a result of these attacks more than 4000 Copts were killed or injured. This, in addition to damages to Coptic properties that could exceed hundreds of millions of dollars, during the last three decades alone. Hundreds of Coptic girls are abducted and forced to embrace Islam while security forces act as accomplices and helpers of the criminals.
During the last few weeks, the extremists attacked a jewelry store owned by Copts killing four Copts. The extremists also attacked Abu Fana Coptic monastery injuring many monks and kidnapping three. The abducted monks were tortured, while they were ordered to announce abandoning their Christian faith and embracing Islam. In Fayoum, Muslim extremists attacked homes and businesses owned by Coptic Christians. A Coptic Christian man was killed by Muslims in the town of Dafash, governorate of Minia, in the southern part of Egypt.
We call on the American and International Media, human rights organizations and all freedom loving people to join our demonstration in an effort to send a message to the Egyptian government to stop persecuting the Copts and take responsibility in providing adequate protection for them.
Insurgents breached a US base in Afghanistan to kill 9 US soldiers
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5431
A NATO official reported that a huge wave of insurgents attacked the small American Combat Outpost in Dara-I-Pech district of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan Friday and Saturday, July 11 and 12, in one of the biggest battles of the war with the greatest loss of US troops. Another 15 NATO soldiers were injured. The attackers launched a concerted attempt to overrun the small base from several sides and got inside. This enabled them to inflict high casualties. After the breach, US troops fought back, backed by Apache helicopters, leaving at least 40 insurgents dead.
A police official from neighboring Nuristan Province, Ghulam Farooq, reported Hezb-i-Islami militia forces, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are in the area as well as Taliban. Arab, Chechen and Pakistani fighters are among the combatants.
Deadly fighting was reported in several parts of Afghanistan Sunday. US figures for attacks in the eastern border area are currently running around 40 per cent higher than last year.
In the southern province of Uruzgan, a suicide bomber killed 24 people in the crowded Deh Rawood bazaar by crashing a motorbike into a police convoy. Many children were among the dead.
The June figure for NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan passed the death toll for Western forces in Iraq for the second consecutive month.
Karzai calls Pakistan intelligence “biggest terrorism exporter in the world
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5435
In his harshest attack on Pakistan yet, Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused the ISI intelligence agency of being behind the latest upsurge of Taliban attacks and scores of deaths. His statement was issued after Afghan cabinet members met in Kabul Tuesday, July 15, on the increasing instability in the country.
Afghanistan will boycott upcoming meetings with Pakistan.
The statement denounced Pakistan's intelligence agency and military as having become “the biggest exporter of terrorism and extremism to the world, particularly Afghanistan," said the statement, pointing to a string of deadly attacks in recent weeks including the Kandahar jailbreak and attack on the Indian embassy.
Friday, July 11, hundreds of terrorists stormed a military outpost in the Kunar province, near Pakistan, leaving nine US soldiers dead and 15 wounded.
"It was a well-organized attack, it was a ferocious attack," said a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Captain Mike Finney. US officials have said Pakistan allows Taliban and Al-Qaeda to regroup in its tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
But Pakistan rejects charges of supporting terrorists and says it is doing what it can to stop them.
Congressman McCaul Urges Musharraf to Free American Children Held in Islamic Institution
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07394.shtml
AUSTIN (christiansunite.com) - In a face to face meeting in Islamabad, Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) urged Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to help free two American citizens from an Islamic religious institution in the Middle East - the type which have been directly linked to the spawn of anti-American terrorism in the region that is the front line of the global war on terror. In their July 4 meeting President Musharraf assured Rep. McCaul that the teenagers would be released. The US Ambassador to Pakistanalso gave assurances that they would be released, as early as this week.
"This demonstrates why we need to focus our resources on the epicenter of the war on terror in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region," said Rep. McCaul. "The madrassas come to America and recruit children to indoctrinate them into Islamic extremism."
"These American boys should be released immediately. Pakistan has a policy to exclude foreigners from these madrassas including Americans. However, the policy has failed so far."
Within hours of Congressman McCaul's meeting with President Musharraf, Pakistan's new civilian government announced it would continue Musharraf's madrassas' reform policy which includes expulsion of foreign students, registration with the federal government, control of their funding and standardization of their curricula.
Noor Elahi Khan, 17, and Mahboob Elahi Khan, 16, of Atlanta,GA, are being held at the Jamia Binoria Institute in Karachi, recognized by both the U.S. and Pakistani governments as one of the most radical madrassas in Pakistan. Exit visas issued by the Pakistani government are holding up their departure. The boys enrolled in Binoria in August 2004, and have expressed the desire to leave Pakistan since their arrival. Despite attempts to free these children, and Pakistan's policy that madrassas must expel any foreign students, including Americans, Mufti Muhammad Naeem, the head and founder of the Binoria madrassa, continues to hold these Americans in a show of political strength against the government.
According to Naeem, the Khans are among 80 Americans enrolled in his madrassa. It is believed that there are 600 American boys being educated in 22 madrassas inPakistan. The sole curriculum is to memorize the Koran. Well into their high school years the Khans have been denied a formal education.
TIES TO TERROR
Madrassas have come under intense international scrutiny for their anti-Western sentiment and links to terrorism since 9/11, and since the London subway bombings three years ago today, July 7, 2005. Three of the four suicide bombers who carried out the London plot were British nationals of Pakistani descent. Two attended madrassas inPakistan. The Binoria madrassa is known to recruit Americans most aggressively. It prominently displays a banner supporting the Taliban. And it is documented that Osama bin Laden spoke to students at Binoria before the 9/11 attacks.
While these religious schools purport to serve a purpose and educate Islamic children, great concern has grown over the increasing number of "political" madrassas. They mass-produce extremists with a political agenda, including a narrow view of society and no tolerance of Western culture. They radicalize Muslims and are seminaries for jihad.
"Most disturbing is that Americans and other westerners who are trained in these madrassas to hate America, have unfettered access to the United States. They leave the madrassas with intent to come back home to spread their message of hatred toward our country. Worst case they intend to kill us," Congressman McCaul said.
"The 9/11 terrorists had to work to infiltrate the United States to plan their attack. These madrassas are creating a new breed of terrorist that can come back to our country, work in our businesses, live next door, and teach our children with no questions asked. They are potential time bombs planted in our communities waiting to explode."
BACKGROUND
Documentary filmmaker Imran Raza, who is of Pakistani descent, discovered the Khans in the Binoria madrassa in 2005. He embarked on his documentary "Karachi Kids", www.karachikids.com, immediately after the London subway bombings. Raza has spearheaded the effort to remove the Khans from Binoria and bring them back to America.
Congressman McCaul just returned from an official visit to the Middle East with U.S. Representatives Gene Green and Henry Cuellar. They also visited wounded U.S.military personnel at LandstuhlMedical Center in Ramstein, Germany. And they toured the front line of the war on terror with U.S. troops in Afghanistan charged with rooting out Taliban and al Qaeda terrorist cells which have sought safe haven in that region.
Congressman McCaul is a member of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees. Before he was elected to Congress, McCaul served as chief of Counter-Terrorism and National Security in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Texas, and led the Joint Terrorism Task Force charged with detecting, deterring and preventing terrorist activity.
Chomsky speaks on Iraqi oil
http://www.iraqoilreport.com/2008/07/08/chomsky-speaks-on-iraqi-oil/
The deal just taking shape between Iraq’s Oil Ministry and four Western oil companies raises critical questions about the nature of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq — questions that should certainly be addressed by presidential candidates and seriously discussed in the United States, and of course in occupied Iraq, where it appears that the population has little if any role in determining the future of their country, writes Noam Chomsky.
The Jerusalem-based intelligence-reporting agency, DEBKAfile said oil prices suddenly slumped Tuesday, July 8 under the impact of the secret American-Iranian talks embarked on last month to solve burning issues by diplomatic engagement.
These talks between the US and Iranian delegations, representing President George W. Bush and Iranian supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have yielded ad hoc understandings on controversial issues. One is an agreement not to allow the price of oil to rocket past $150 the barrel.
The former Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim Bahr Al-Aloom declared that the infrastructure of the Iraqi oil sector is the worst ever among the oil producing countries and is not commensurate with the potential of Iraq’s oil.
He added: “we have not been able so far to begin the process of reconstruction in the required form, what makes us very cautious and concerned about the prospects for future development of the foundations would not allow the process capable of maintaining and developing the sector.” He called for a “sound basis of policies that oil be able to develop the infrastructure sector, to ensure the utilization of its revenue in the reconstruction of the country,” Iraq Directory reported.
Reuters reports that the Iraqi army has formed a new battalion that aims to cut the time taken to repair damaged oil pipelines by half.
Iraq’s hundreds of miles of oil pipelines have often come under attack by insurgents seeking to disrupt the flow of Iraq’s main export, and also by criminals siphoning off oil for sale on the black market.
The Engineer Infrastructure Battalion comprises engineers who will go to damaged pipelines, which carry oil to refineries for domestic use, to neighboring Turkey and also to the port city of Basra for export.
Even though Iraqis, enjoying a degree of civil safety these days after years of terror, still endure long gas lines in a country brimming with oil, hope is on the horizon. The government is opening six major oil fields and two natural gas fields to development by foreign firms. There’s talk of an achievable 60 percent increase from current production levels. That would mean more oil for the world and more revenue for the government, already set to take in $70 billion this year.
Americans can cheer that. A richer Iraq can be expected to pay more of its own way as it rebuilds. More oil on the world market — maybe even the prospect of it — helps to lower prices, The News & Observer of North Carolina writes.
The Gulf Times says Crescent Petroleum, the United Arab Emirates-based oil and gas company, along with its affiliate Dana Gas, will start producing gas from northern Iraq’s Kurdistan fields in early August, a company executive has said.
“We will start producing 75mn cu ft of gas a day within weeks and will increase to 150mn cubic feet gradually, reaching 300mn cu ft by early 2009,” Crescent’s executive director Majid Jafar said.
86 secular Turks charged in alleged coup plot
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25670277/
ANKARA, Turkey - Prosecutors indicted 86 hardline secular Turks Monday on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots to topple the Islamic-rooted government, a chief prosecutor said.
Aykut Cengiz Engin said the 86 include at least one former general, along with journalists, academicians and businessmen. They were charged with either forming or being a member of a terrorist organization or with provoking an armed uprising with the aim of bringing down Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
The suspects allegedly crafted plans to create chaos that would provoke a military coup and in turn topple Erdogan. Many believe the prime minister is eroding Turkey’s secular laws and making too many concessions to Christian and Kurdish minorities as part of the nation’s bid to join the European Union.
Struggle between government, secular groups
The indictment is seen as the latest episode in an ongoing power struggle between the government and secular groups supported by the military and other state institutions, including the judiciary and some trade groups. They accuse the government of attempting to raise Islam’s profile in Turkey.
A court must now decide within two weeks whether to open the case.
Turkey’s military, which staged three coups in the past, has criticized the government for allegedly eroding the secular system. But the top brass is believed to have controlled hawks within its ranks by occasionally issuing harsh statements against the government to appease them.
Without the backing of the military command, analysts say it is extremely difficult for retired generals to stage a coup and such attempts in the past have always failed. The military itself has always returned power to civilians after restoring order following the coups.
But the alleged plots reveal dimensions of the uneasiness and animosity felt toward the government and if confirmed would prove an attempt to overthrow the government, even as the government spearheaded efforts to strengthen democracy on the way to the EU.
The coup plots are being taken seriously because two previous army takeovers in Turkey — in 1960 and 1980 — were preceded by periods of civil strife.
The suspects were detained as part of an investigation after police uncovered a cache of hand grenades at the house of a retired noncommissioned officer in Istanbul last summer.
Renegade agents within the state
The investigation was deepened after Erdogan vowed to crack down on shadowy “deep state” gangs — networks of renegade agents within the state, driven by hardline nationalism, who may be taking the law into their own hands to target perceived enemies.
Three prosecutors have unveiled what they say is an intriguing net of ties between members of a hardline secularist and nationalist group, called “Ergenekon,” which takes its name from a legendary plain in Central Asia, from which Turks are believed to have emerged.
The prosecutor said the group is allegedly behind the 2006 attacks on the administrative court and the pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper, which infuriated secularists and led to protests against the government.
Engin said the 2,455-page indictment also accuse suspects of possessing explosives and arms as well as obtaining classified documents and provoking military disobedience.
The prosecutor said an additional indictment is being prepared against a dozen more people, including two senior retired generals, who were arrested in early July for their alleged ties to the group.
Erdogan’s government is facing possible closure by the Constitutional Court for alleged anti-secular activity. The country’s prosecutor also wants Erdogan and 70 other party members banned from joining a political party for five years.
The government’s attempt to permit Islamic-style head scarves at universities — which the Constitutional Court last month ruled was against the secular constitution — was the main pillar of the case against the party.
Erdogan’s party, formed in 2001 by politicians who once belonged to Turkey’s Islamic movement, denies it has an Islamic agenda.
Pastors Attacked, Accused of Forcible Conversion in India
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07387.shtml
(christiansunite.com) - Pastor Murugan (65) was beaten by Hindu militants who ambushed him and two other believers while returning home from a prayer meeting in Moodalpalya, Karnataka on June 24. The other two managed to flee and escape any harm.
The militants accused the pastor of forcibly converting people and "spoiling the minds of the children" and took him to the local police station where he was detained.
On June 26, Hindu militants barged into the home of a local believer in Hubli, Karnataka, shouted curses at the Christians gathered for a prayer meeting and beat Pastor Vinod Talakere. They dragged the pastor and another believer to the local police station where the men were detained on accusations of forcibly converting people and kidnapping local girls and enrol ling them in Bible college.
Pray for the release of these pastors. Ask God to bless their ministry and the work of other Christians spreading the Gospel in India.
For more information on persecution in India, go to www.persecution.net/country/india.htm.
Nepal finally opening up to Gospel, says GFA missionary
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/nepal.finally.opening.up.to.gospel.says.gfa.missionary/20510.htm
The world’s formerly only official Hindu country is now open to the preaching of the Gospel, a Christian missionary working there declared joyfully this past weekend.
Christians were reportedly arrested and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel in Nepal, speaker Narayan Sharma, Gospel for Asia’s Nepal country leader, said at the GFA “Renewing Your Passion” Conference in Dallas, Texas, on Friday. He recounted when he himself was arrested and put into a dungeon-like prison cell because he shared his faith.
“In all this darkness, there was no imagination that the country would ever be open,” Sharma said.
But in April, Nepal held its first election for a new legislative assembly, and in May lawmakers legally abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic. The king was previously considered to be a god. Newly elected officials also promised to allow religious freedom in the government.
Now, Gospel programmes are aired over the same government-owned radio stations that used to carry reports of Christians being arrested, Sharma said.
“The Bible says that after the night, joy comes in the morning, and morning has come to Nepal!” Sharma told the audience of more than 1,000 people.
Missionaries from Burma, Sri Lanka, India and the United States also spoke.
The Burmese missionary recounted how locals saw the heart of God when missionaries and volunteers brought them food and supplies after the recent cyclone disaster.
“Buddha did nothing while we were suffering. But your Jesus loves us,” the missionary recalled a family telling him. “Now every Sunday they are coming to church and worshipping the Lord,” he added.
Following a message about the importance of prayer, GFA leaders and attendees held a late-night prayer vigil on Saturday.
GFA says it has 16,500 native missionaries working in 11 south Asian countries.
The “Renewing Your Passion Conference” began on Friday with GFA president and greetings from founder KP Yohannan and ended on Sunday.
Uzbek Christian Detained on Terrorism Charges
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07382.shtml
(christiansunite.com) - On June 14, eight police officers claiming to be conducting an identity check raided the home of Jandos Kuandikov in Nukus, Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, where several Christians were gathered to prepare for a wedding.
Kuandikov was not home at the time, but when he returned he asked the police for a warrant authorizing their action. None was provided. Police demanded statements that a religious meeting was not being conducted but the family refused. Police then accused Kuandikov of being a terrorist and Wahhabi (a form of Islam found predominantly in Saudi Arabia).
The police continued their search and interrogation throughout the day and then took several of those present to the police station. All but one, Aimurat Khayburahmanov, were eventually released. At last report, Khayburahmanov remained in detention on false charges of terrorism.
Pray that Uzbek Christians will be able to bless and pray for those who falsely accuse them (Luke 6:28). Pray that Aimurat Khayburahmanov will be released.
For more information on the persecution of Christians in Uzbekistan, go to www.persecution.net/country/uzbekistan.htm.
Persecuted Christians in Ukraine praise God in spite of hardships
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/persecuted.christians.in.ukraine.praise.god.in.spite.of.hardships/20502.htm
Church persecution in Eastern Europe causes problems for Christians attempting to reach out with the Good News of Jesus in practical ways. Yet they continue their difficult ministry whilst acknowledging that God is in control.
Following a recent arson attack in the Ukraine, Pastor Peter Bevz of the Baptist Church in Chernigov said, "Last Monday the entrance door of our House of Prayer at the mission was burnt by someone at night. 'They have cast fire into thy sanctuary...,'"
"This week is very busy with preparations for the children’s camp. Some members of our team leave tomorrow to set up the camp. We praise God for Siloam’s willingness to support the camp again this year."
Siloam Christian Ministries supports camps for disadvantaged children and young people in Eastern Europe and Portugal.
UK Director Richard Norton said, "In spite of persecution in different parts of Eastern Europe, we are grateful that children’s camps are still able to operate. They are a vital way to provide a secure yet relaxed environment.
"Also, the spiritual ethos encourages children and young people to choose a Christian lifestyle over options such as drug abuse and child prostitution."
Heilongjiang House Church Persecuted in Coordinated Effort by Chinese Federal Agencies
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07390.shtml
HEILONGJIANG, China, (christiansunite.com) -- China Aid Association was informed that on July 2, 2008, house church member, Jiao Chunbao, was detained in Hegang city, Heilongjiang Province. Jiao, also a house church Missionary, was on his way to a worship service when he was intercepted by more than 20 government officers and policemen.
The officials then forcibly escorted Jiao to the local police station. Jiao was told that his Church was banned from meeting, and threatened that if meetings continued he would be re- arrested and placed in detention.
Two female church members were also taken to the police station and questioned. This instance of house church persecution was carried out in joint effort by local government officials, Bureau of Religious Affairs, the Christian "two associations" and the local police station.
The incident is yet another example of the degeneration in human rights and religious freedoms in China as the Beijing Olympic Games draw near.
To voice your concern over these issues please contact:
Chinese Embassy in Washington DC
Address: 2201 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 338-6688, (202)5889760
Fax: (202) 588-9760
China detains two 'underground' priests - group
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/china.detains.two.underground.priests.group/20479.htm
Two Catholic priests in China's "underground" church have been detained for over a month after trying to join a pilgrimage, an overseas group said, as the government seeks to quell protest threats before the Olympics.
Zhang Jianlin and Zhang Li, priests from near Zhangjiakou city in Hebei province, next to Beijing, sought to join thousands of other Catholics on the annual pilgrimage on May 24 to the Our Lady of Sheshan shrine near Shanghai, the Connecticut-based Cardinal Kung Foundation said in an email on Monday.
"Both priests disappeared while they were in the hands of Chinese authorities," said the Foundation, which is highly critical of Chinese state restrictions on religion. "There has been no news on these two priests since their arrests."
China is preparing to host the Beijing Olympic Games that start on August 8. The government says citizens can practice religion in state-registered settings and has vowed Games visitors will be free to worship.
But wary authorities have also been seeking to stamp out signs of unrest, including dissent from religious believers critical of state controls.
China's 8 to 12 million Catholics are divided between a state-sanctioned church and an underground church that rejects government ties.
Members of the state-approved church also honour the Pope as a spiritual authority, but the government restricts formal contacts with Rome, which has had no diplomatic ties with Beijing since 1951.
Hebei, where the two missing priests come from, is an epicentre of the underground church. The two men were going to Sheshan, where the popular pilgrimage was this year restricted by strict police checks.
Police and government offices in Xuanhua District, Zhangjiakou, where the priests come from, refused to answer questions about them or said they had no knowledge of the case.
"Nobody would be detained unless they were suspected of violating the law," said an officer from the district public security office. She refused to give her name.
Pope Benedict, who has made improving relations with China a main goal of his pontificate, has said the Beijing Olympics would be "of great value to humanity".
He will send a Hong Kong bishop to represent the Church at the Olympics opening ceremony but no diplomatic breakthrough with China is imminent, a senior Vatican official said last week.
China Prepares Olympic Bible Giveaway
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/07/07/china-prepares-olympic-bible-giveaway/?mod=googlenews_wsj
China has gone one step further to dispel concerns that Olympic athletes would be barred from bringing Bibles with them to China this summer. It is now preparing to give away tens of thousands of Christian texts in Beijing and other Olympic co-host cities.
Athletes and visitors alike will be able to obtain free copies of the Bible, New Testament and booklets with the four Gospels during the Games next month, the China Daily reports.
Li Chunrong, general manager of China’s main Bible printer, said that 30,000 bilingual (Chinese-English) copies of the New Testament are being printed for distribution during the Games, according to the report. Li also said that the Beijing Christian Council has ordered 10,000 Bibles for athletes, media and others who will stay at the Olympic Village.
In addition, 50,000 bilingual (Chinese and English) copies of a pamphlet with the four Gospels have been printed. The booklet’s cover (pictured right) will feature the Olympic rings and the “running man” logo of the Beijing Games.
“This is especially significant (because) as far as I know, this is the first time an Olympics logo will be used on a religious booklet,” Rev. Xu Xiaohong, who oversees publications for the China Christian Council, told China Daily. “The Olympic spirit and the spirit of living a ‘purpose-driven life’ that Christians believe in come together in the combination.”
Still, there are no plans to put Bibles in hotel rooms, said Xu.
China Aid Association Inaugurates Fax Advocacy Campaign
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07385.shtml
MEDIA ADVISORY, (christiansunite.com) -- In a new campaign aimed to bring awareness of religious persecution to the business and industry sector, China Aid Association has begun a fax advocacy campaign today. The campaign is focused on holding businesses accountable for their actions in regards to corporate social responsibility.
The initial campaign will focus on Beijing bookstore owner and house church leader, Shi Weihan. In January of 2008, Beijing resident Shi Weihan was arrested under suspicion of printing illegal Christian material. He has been illegally held in a detention center in Beijing for more than three months without receiving formal charges or trial. Shi's family members were prohibited from visiting him while in detention. The family was also restricted from delivering diabetes medication to Shi who has suffered seriously from the disease for some time.
1,161 foreign invested companies within Beijing will be faxed first hand accurate information concerning Shi Weihan and his case. The companies' leaders are urged to take action as part of their corporate social responsibility contract. Companies include:
578 American companies, 442 Japanese companies, 90 German companies, 35 French and 16 Russian owned companies.
It is CAA's hope that the corporate and business centers within Beijing will respond to local authorities inquiring about the situation, encouraging them to treat Shi in a more humane manor and even call for his unconditional release.
As persecution continues to increase with the approach of the Beijing Olympics, it is time for the corporate and business world to stand against human rights violations and take responsibility for their community. China Aid Association will be quick and accurate to report both the action and inaction of the companies who receive word of persecutions within their areas of influence.
Situation is Still Dire for Neglected Cyclone Victims in Burma, Says Christian Freedom International
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07384.shtml
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich., (christiansunite.com) -- Christian Freedom International (CFI), a Michigan-based humanitarian organization, is reporting that thousands of storm victims in Burma are still in desperate need of relief aid, nearly two months after Cyclone Nargis ripped through the southeast Asian country.
Nargis touched down in Burma's Irawaddy region in the early morning hours of May 3, 2008, bringing 120- mile an hour winds that left thousands of people dead or homeless, and an unprecedented trail of destruction in the already impoverished nation. To date, the government's official death toll from the storm has reached over 84,000, with 53,000 more still considered missing.
Burma's military government, which is known for an extensive history of human rights abuses and a vicious ethnic cleansing campaign against its Karen and Karenni population, was the subject of sharp criticism after the cyclone for its initial refusal to allow international relief aid into the country. But despite recent claims from ASEAN officials that most of the survivors' needs are now being met and that the crisis appears to be stabilizing, many local victims have reported to indigenous CFI workers that they have yet to receive aid from either the Burmese government or any foreign relief agencies. And even as dozens of communities continue to struggle for survival without the most basic of necessities, the junta has reportedly threatened to begin confiscating land from residents who don't resume rice production soon.
Christian Freedom International, an organization that has worked actively in Burma on behalf of persecuted Christians and provided firsthand testimony about the effects of the junta's brutality since 1998, began distributing relief aid in the country through a network of local pastors, underground churches, and a team of backpack medics in the days immediately following the storm. Even as other humanitarian agencies waited for permission to enter the region, CFI had already begun wiring funds for emergency supplies to key contacts in the country, who then delivered essential items such as food, clothing, medical supplies and clean drinking water in storm-affected areas.
With most other foreign aid still seemingly under the junta's strict control, CFI remains as one of the few organizations making a difference for storm victims who have been left to fend for themselves in Burma. CFI president Jim Jacobson, who recently traveled to the region to oversee the relief effort, is urging Americans to donate funds for more emergency supplies, including fishing and mosquito nets, water purifiers, clothing, food, medicine, and building materials to reconstruct homes. Funds are also urgently needed to purchase tractors to help with rice production, as well as to support the scores of children who have been left orphaned by the cyclone -- children who may otherwise face recruitment by the junta and forcibly sent to government "indoctrination" schools.
To donate to the cyclone relief effort, or to learn more about CFI's work in Burma, call 1-800-323-2273 or visit www.christianfreedom.org.
UN pulls back staff from Darfur
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7506242.stm
The United Nations is pulling back some non-essential staff deployed in Sudan's restive Darfur region.
It says the decision comes after recent violence and as a precaution after an international prosecutor accused Sudan's president of genocide.
Judges at the International Criminal Court have still to decide if there are reasonable grounds to issue an arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir.
Mr Bashir is quoted by Reuters as saying the accusations are lies.
On 8 July, seven Unamid peacekeepers were killed and 22 injured, seven critically, when they were attacked by heavily armed militia in northern Darfur.
A UN peacekeeping official told the BBC News website the decision to move non-essential UN staff temporarily to locations out of the country - many to Entebbe in Uganda - had been taken after that incident, and as a prudent measure in anticipation of possible Sudanese reaction to the prosecutor's announcement that he is seeking a warrant against Mr Bashir.
In the US, the White House said President George W Bush was "gravely concerned" by increased insecurity in Darfur and the impact it is having civilians and aid workers.
His spokeswoman said that the government of Sudan needed to live up to its commitment to provide increased security to humanitarian envoys.
As of May this year, the joint UN-African Union Darfur mission, Unamid, included nearly 9,600 uniformed personnel and about 1,300 civilian staff, both international and local.
It is not clear how many will be withdrawn. But Gen Martin Luther Agwai, Unamid force commander, said the peacekeepers would maintain their unit strength and would not stop patrolling.
We will continue to protect the UN personnel and UN facilities that are here and we will continue to help the humanitarian organisations to continue to do their job of rendering humanitarian services to the people in Darfur," Gen Agwai said.
A Sudanese official told the BBC that he had been informed by Unamid the evacuation would begin on Tuesday.
"This is a unilateral decision which the Sudanese government was not involved in," Mr Mutrif Seddeek told the BBC.
While clarifying that the ICC is an independent body over which it has no influence, the UN is nevertheless bracing itself for possible increased difficulties in western Sudan, the BBC's David Bamford reports.
But it is continuing to run, alongside other NGOs, large-scale humanitarian operations there and has thousands of peacekeepers in place, our correspondent notes.
Security Council attempts
Sudan's president was accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
He told judges at The Hague that Mr Bashir bore criminal responsibility for alleged atrocities committed over the past five years.
Sudan has refused to hand over two suspects who Mr Moreno-Ocampo charged last year, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb.
It has also labelled Mr Moreno-Ocampo a criminal, and warned that any indictment could stall peace talks and cause mayhem in Sudan.
Sudanese cabinet minister al-Samani al-Wasila told the BBC the accusations were "politically motivated".
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the United Nations in New York says that Mr Ocampo was asked by the UN Security Council to investigate the killings in Darfur - and this means the 15-member body also has the power to suspend his work on the case for a year.
Behind the scenes, our correspondent says, Sudan has been lobbying China, Russia and African nations on the Security Council to see if it can win the nine votes needed to pass a resolution to do that.
It would be difficult for countries which recognise the ICC, like the Europeans, to vote to stop the prosecutor's work, as this would seem to undermine the court, she says.
But if there is a widespread feeling at the UN that Mr Ocampo's charges against Mr Bashir are destabilising Sudan, then the mood could change, our correspondent concludes.
Some 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur since 2003 while more than two million people have fled their homes, the UN estimates.
Sudan's government denies mobilising Arab Janjaweed militias to attack black African civilians in Darfur since rebels took up arms in 2003.
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