Obama Refuses to Answer Birth Certificate Lawsuit
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_birth_certificate/2008/10/24/143882.html
A Pennsylvania lawsuit alleging that Barack Obama is not a “natural-born citizen” of the United States took an unusual twist this week, after a federally mandated deadline requiring Obama’s lawyers to produce a “vault” copy of his birth certificate expired with no response from Obama or his lawyers.
The lawsuit, filed by former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Philip J. Berg — a self-avowed supporter of Hillary Clinton — alleges that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is thus “ineligible” to run for president of the United States. It demands that Obama’s lawyers produce a copy of his original birth certificate to prove that he is a natural-born U.S. citizen.
Berg's suit and allegations have set off a wave of Internet buzz and rumors, though Obama could easily have put the matter to rest by providing the federal court with the basic documentation proving he is eligible to take the oath of a president. But Obama has apparently decided to deny the court and the public that documentation.
The Constitution provides that any U.S. citizen is eligible to become president if the person is 35 years of age or older and is a natural-born citizen; that is, born in the territorial United States.
By failing to respond to the Request for Admissions and Request for the Production of Documents within 30 days, Obama has “admitted” that he was born in Kenya, Berg stated this week in new court filings.
Berg released a long list of “admissions” he submitted to Obama’s lawyers on Sept. 15, and asked that they produce documents relating to Obama’s place of birth and citizenship.
Instead of responding, lawyers for Obama and the DNC asked the court to dismiss the case. But Judge R. Barclay Surrick of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has issued no ruling in the case that would have given Obama’s lawyers more time.
“There are lots of legal ways to stonewall,” a well-placed Republican attorney told Newsmax, who was not authorized to comment officially on the case. “But failing to respond is not one of them.”
“The first thing they teach you in law school,” he added, “is don’t put a complaint like this in a drawer. That’s how a nuisance case can become a problem.”
The 30-day deadline for defendants to comply with a discovery request is set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures.
“It all comes down to the fact that there's nothing from the other side,” Berg said after he filed a motion on Thursday for summary judgment.
“The admissions are there. By not filing the answers or objections, the defense has admitted everything. [Obama] admits he was born in Kenya. He admits he was adopted in Indonesia. He admits that the documentation posted online is a phony. And he admits that he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president of the United States.”
In a contentious case, lawyers on both sides will haggle over the production of documents, and will frequently go beyond the deadlines, several lawyers told Newsmax.
“The rules are more often complied with in the breech rather than the observance,” a senior trial attorney who has close ties to the Democrat Party, but is not involved in the current case, told Newsmax.
“Lawyers frequently do not return telephone calls or meet discovery deadlines because of sheer inadvertence. Therefore, we do not consider a failure to respond as a ‘violation,’” he said.
Allegations surrounding Obama’s place of birth have been swirling for months. Earlier this year, the Obama campaign sought to put down the rumors by making available a computer-generated Certification of Live Birth, issued in 2007 by the State of Hawaii. [See the Certification of Live Birth go to: http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate ]
Respected conservative blogger Ed Morrissey called the Berg lawsuit a “conspiracy theory” that had been put to rest by the Obama campaign over the summer but ”has arisen like a zombie yet again to suck the credibility out of the conservative blogosphere.”
However, the 2007 document produced by the Obama campaign omits key information that normally appears on birth certificates in the United States, including the name of the hospital where he was born, the size and weight of the baby, and sometimes the name of the doctor who delivered him.
In addition, the critics of the 2007 document note that Obama's father is described as “African,” a term used today. The formal language in official documents at the time — 1961 — would have identified his race as “Negro” or “Colored.”
The Web site snarkybytes.com has produced a vault copy of a Hawaii Certificate of Live Birth from 1963, issued by the Hawaii Department of Health. [See the vault copy go to: http://snarkybytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/hawaii-birth-certificate-1963.jpg ]
In addition to naming the hospital and more details about the baby, the 1963 vault copy also includes the “usual residence of the mother,” and the “usual occupation” of the father. None of this information appears on the 2007 Live Birth certificate produced by the Obama campaign.
Berg has been a perennial political candidate in Pennsylvania, having run in Democrat primaries for attorney general, lieutenant governor, governor, and other offices without success. He served as deputy attorney general of the State of Pennsylvania from 1972-1980.
His credibility was tarnished by work he did for the far-left “9/11 for the Truth” campaign, which alleged in a federal lawsuit that the collapse of the twin towers in New York was caused by “controlled demolition” ordered by the president of the United States.
Nevertheless, in recent weeks, lawsuits have been filed in seven additional states demanding that Barack Obama produce an original vault copy of his birth certificate, to dispel the rumors that he is not a natural-born United States citizen.
The latest suits have been filed in state and federal courts in Hawaii, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Connecticut to compel Obama to release his birth records.
Lawsuits in Washington and Georgia are seeking state superior courts to force the states’ secretary of state, as the chief state elections officer, to require Obama to produce original birth records from Hawaii, or else decertify him as a candidate for the presidency.
Ironically, Obama mentions his birth certificate in passing on Page 26 of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams of My Father.” “I discovered this article, folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms, when I was in high school,” he wrote.
Lawyers for Obama and the DNC did not return calls for comment on the current status of the case, or explain why the Obama campaign did not simply put to rest the whole controversy by releasing the birth certificate that Obama apparently cherished as a teenager.
In the past, questions about Sen. John McCain's legal status have arisen. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone at a U.S. Army hospital. McCain had legal experts vet his constitutional qualifications, and he also disclosed a copy of his birth certificate.
Iranian Speaker: Iran Prefers Obama as President
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/iran_obama_larijani/2008/10/24/143934.html
Iranian parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Wednesday that Iran would prefer Democrat Barack Obama in the White House next year. Larijani also dismissed any idea that the U.S. would attack Iran.
"We are leaning more in favor of Barack Obama because he is more flexbile and rational, even though we know American policy will not change that much," Larijani said at a press conference during a visit to Bahrain.
How to deal with Iran and the crisis over its nuclear drive has been one of the foreign policy issues in the Nov. 4 race for the White House between Obama and Republican John McCain.
Larijani, a leading figure in the conservative camp in Iran, also said the United States was too busy dealing with the global financial crisis to consider waging an attack on Iran.
"The risk was low before," he said. "But now I am 100% certain that the United States will not unleash a war against Iran. The economic crisis has cost the United States $1.4 trillion and Washington is working to resolve its internal problems and not a war."
Washington severed ties with Iran in 1980 in the wake of the Islamic revolution. U.S. President George W. Bush famously denounced the country as part of an "axis of evil".
Tensions have mounted over Iran's nuclear program, which many Western countries believe is a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons, although this is vehemently denied by Tehran.
Christian Right Intensifies Attacks on Obama
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/christian_right_attacks/2008/10/24/143945.html
-- Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts. All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family Action.
The imagined look into the future is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists who are trying to paint Obama in the worst possible terms as the campaign heads into the final stretch and polls show the Democrat ahead.
Although hard-edge attacks are common late in campaigns, the tenor of the strikes against Obama illustrate just how worried conservative Christian activists are about what should happen to their causes and influence if Democrats seize control of both Congress and the White House.
"It looks like, walks like, talks like and smells like desperation to me," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston, an Obama supporter who backed President Bush in the past two elections. The Methodist pastor called the 2012 letter "false and ridiculous." He said it showed that some Christian conservative leaders fear that Obama's faith-based appeals to voters are working.
Like other political advocacy groups, Christian right groups often raise worries about an election's consequences to mobilize voters. In the early 1980s, for example, direct mail from the Moral Majority warned that Congress would turn a blind eye to "smut peddlers" dangling pornography to children.
"Everyone uses fear in the last part of a campaign, but evangelicals are especially theologically prone to those sorts of arguments," said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University political scientist. "There's a long tradition of predicting doom and gloom."
But the tone this election year is sharper than usual and the volume has turned up as Nov. 4 nears.
Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication, titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End If Obama is Elected."
Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms."
Separately, a group called the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has posted a series of videos on its site and on YouTube called "7 Reasons Barack Obama is not a Christian."
The commission accuses Obama of "subtle diabolical deceit" in saying he is Christian, while he believes that people can be saved through other faiths.
But among the strongest pieces this year is Focus on the Family Action's letter which has been posted on the group's Web site and making the e-mail rounds. Signed by "A Christian from 2012," it claims a series of events could logically happen based on the group's interpretation of Obama's record, Democratic Party positions, recent court rulings and other trends.
Among the claims:
_ A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to "hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys." (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).
_ A series of domestic and international disasters based on Obama's "reluctance to send troops overseas." That includes terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that kill hundreds, Russia occupying the Baltic states and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and al-Qaida overwhelming Iraq.
_ Nationalized health care with long lines for surgery and no access to hospitals for people over 80.
The goal was to "articulate the big picture," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of public policy for Focus on the Family Action. "If it is a doomsday picture, then it's a realistic picture," she said.
One of the clear targets is younger evangelicals who might be considering Obama. The letter posits that young evangelicals provide the margin that let Obama defeat John McCain. But Margaret Feinberg, a Denver-area evangelical author, predicted failure.
"Young evangelicals are tired _ like most people at this point in the election _ and rhetoric which is fear-based, strong-arms the listener, and states opinion as fact will only polarize rather than further the informed, balanced discussion that younger voters are hungry for," she said.
In an interview, Strang said there are fewer state ballot measures to motivate conservative voters this election year and that the financial meltdown is distracting some voters from the abortion issue. But he said a last-minute push by conservative Christians in 2004 was key to Bush's re-election and predicted they could play the same role in 2008.
Kim Conger, a political scientist at Iowa State University, said a late push for evangelical voters did help Bush in 2004, "but it is a very different thing than getting people excited about John McCain," even with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick.
Phil Burress, head of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, said the dynamics were quite different in 2004, when conservative Christians spent some energy calling Democrat John Kerry a flip-flopper but were mostly motivated by enthusiasm for George W. Bush.
Now, there is less excitement about McCain than fear of an Obama presidency, Burress said.
"This reminds me of when I was a school kid, when I had to go out in the hall and bury my head in my hands because of the atom bomb," he said.
Two Heritage Experts Allege Liberal Vote Fraud
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/vote_fraud_liberal_/2008/10/24/143895.html
The U.S. election process is under siege from liberal election officials trying to wrestle it away from the electorate, two political experts say.
Hans von Spakovsky, a Georgia lawyer and Bush appointee to the Justice Department, and Roman Buhler, a Virginia lawyer, Republican activist, and party consultant, alleged pervasive polling place shenanigans in a recent Heritage Foundation radio blog. The problems no longer can be written off as merely “a pesky problem created by the fringe left,” as the Obama campaign claims, Spakovsky said.
They also criticized Sen. Barack Obama’s ostensibly tenuous relationship with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), saying instead that he has had a close relationship with ACORN for many years.
The panelists cited numerous cases in which they said Democratically controlled election boards subverted and ignored federal and state mandates requiring accountability in the voting process. They cited ACORN organizers’ missteps in Missouri, Nevada, and Ohio as prime examples, but they said schemes also are under way in several other states, including Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana.
The Heritage Foundation headliners are no strangers to controversy in keeping tabs on elections. Buhler has drawn fire from the mainstream press for criticizing Democrats’ ignoring voter registration laws. Von Spakovsky, an expert on voter integrity issues and the Bush administration’s point man in the Justice Department, drew the ire of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and CNN political analyst Jeffrey Toobin in 2006 for supporting photo IDs for voters and questioning the validity of felons on Georgia’s voter lists.
Kennedy told the Associated Press that requiring photo ID’s hurt black voters. Toobin accused von Spakovsky in “The New Yorker” magazine of secretly targeting black voters to gain a Republican advantage in Georgia.
The truth is vastly different, said von Spakovsky, who said he was interested only in protecting the system from schemes taking advantage of lax voter registration laws.
Democrats passed the 1994 National Voter Registration Act, popularly known as the "Motor Voter Act,” he said. That initiative remains the root cause of voter irregularities in the nation’s presidential elections.
In 1993, Congress succinctly stated the aims of the well-intentioned law, including to “protect the integrity of the electoral process” and to “to ensure that accurate and current voter registration rolls are maintained.”
However, Republican skeptics quickly dubbed it the “Auto Fraudo” law because it stripped most efforts at accountability during the registration process, Buhler said.
By way of example, Buhler cited St. Louis, where ACORN and similar community action organizations allegedly have subverted the streamlined registration system during the past two decades. Although only one of many large cities where voter fraud has been documented, it is perhaps the best example of a system that has run amok, he said.
In 1994, ACORN in St. Louis was investigated after the successful election to legalize gambling in Missouri revealed it had submitted hundreds of fraudulent voter registration cards to the city election board. Rural voters, outnumbered by the last-minute, inner-city voter registration drive, lost the hotly contested referendum after defeating a similar measure in a April election when ACORN wasn’t involved. No one was indicted.
During the 2001 Missouri gubernatorial election, Republicans claimed that their candidate, Bob Holden, narrowly lost the election because of Democratic malfeasance at the polls.
In light of the charges, St. Louis Election Board officials examined 29,500 registration cards that came in shortly before the deadline for the Nov. 7 election after discovering that most of 3,800 cards submitted during the February primary were bogus. Hundreds of general registrations proved to be phony, too, though no charges were pursued.
After the 2006 general election, eight ACORN organizers in St. Louis were convicted of voter fraud for submitting hundreds of phony registration cards. This year in Kansas City, Mo., four ACORN organizers have been indicted for voter fraud, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigation ACORN in connection with irregularities that surfaced in September and early October.
Concerns about the integrity of national elections go beyond irregular registration practices, Buhler said. For instance, Democrats killed a law this year that would have ensured that all military absentee ballots would be sent home via Express Mail instead of languishing for three weeks via regular mail. The Democrats sided with the postal service union, which opposed the measure.
"They clearly don't want the military to vote," Buhler said.
"The conservative movement has been what Americans look to when they think of political integrity," Buhler said. "Democrats were the party of Chicago and the Daleys. We must convince people that it is the left that breaks the law, and that they haven't changed."
The Dangers of a Diminished America
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html
In the 1930s, isolationism and protectionism spurred the rise of fascism.
With the global financial system in serious trouble, is America's geostrategic dominance likely to diminish? If so, what would that mean?
One immediate implication of the crisis that began on Wall Street and spread across the world is that the primary instruments of U.S. foreign policy will be crimped. The next president will face an entirely new and adverse fiscal position. Estimates of this year's federal budget deficit already show that it has jumped $237 billion from last year, to $407 billion. With families and businesses hurting, there will be calls for various and expensive domestic relief programs.
In the face of this onrushing river of red ink, both Barack Obama and John McCain have been reluctant to lay out what portions of their programmatic wish list they might defer or delete. Only Joe Biden has suggested a possible reduction -- foreign aid. This would be one of the few popular cuts, but in budgetary terms it is a mere grain of sand. Still, Sen. Biden's comment hints at where we may be headed: toward a major reduction in America's world role, and perhaps even a new era of financially-induced isolationism.
Pressures to cut defense spending, and to dodge the cost of waging two wars, already intense before this crisis, are likely to mount. Despite the success of the surge, the war in Iraq remains deeply unpopular. Precipitous withdrawal -- attractive to a sizable swath of the electorate before the financial implosion -- might well become even more popular with annual war bills running in the hundreds of billions.
Protectionist sentiments are sure to grow stronger as jobs disappear in the coming slowdown. Even before our current woes, calls to save jobs by restricting imports had begun to gather support among many Democrats and some Republicans. In a prolonged recession, gale-force winds of protectionism will blow.
Then there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world's financial architecture. For decades now, Americans have enjoyed the advantages of being at the center of that system. The worldwide use of the dollar, and the stability of our economy, among other things, made it easier for us to run huge budget deficits, as we counted on foreigners to pick up the tab by buying dollar-denominated assets as a safe haven. Will this be possible in the future?
Meanwhile, traditional foreign-policy challenges are multiplying. The threat from al Qaeda and Islamic terrorist affiliates has not been extinguished. Iran and North Korea are continuing on their bellicose paths, while Pakistan and Afghanistan are progressing smartly down the road to chaos. Russia's new militancy and China's seemingly relentless rise also give cause for concern.
If America now tries to pull back from the world stage, it will leave a dangerous power vacuum. The stabilizing effects of our presence in Asia, our continuing commitment to Europe, and our position as defender of last resort for Middle East energy sources and supply lines could all be placed at risk.
In such a scenario there are shades of the 1930s, when global trade and finance ground nearly to a halt, the peaceful democracies failed to cooperate, and aggressive powers led by the remorseless fanatics who rose up on the crest of economic disaster exploited their divisions. Today we run the risk that rogue states may choose to become ever more reckless with their nuclear toys, just at our moment of maximum vulnerability.
The aftershocks of the financial crisis will almost certainly rock our principal strategic competitors even harder than they will rock us. The dramatic free fall of the Russian stock market has demonstrated the fragility of a state whose economic performance hinges on high oil prices, now driven down by the global slowdown. China is perhaps even more fragile, its economic growth depending heavily on foreign investment and access to foreign markets. Both will now be constricted, inflicting economic pain and perhaps even sparking unrest in a country where political legitimacy rests on progress in the long march to prosperity.
None of this is good news if the authoritarian leaders of these countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures.
As for our democratic friends, the present crisis comes when many European nations are struggling to deal with decades of anemic growth, sclerotic governance and an impending demographic crisis. Despite its past dynamism, Japan faces similar challenges. India is still in the early stages of its emergence as a world economic and geopolitical power.
What does this all mean? There is no substitute for America on the world stage. The choice we have before us is between the potentially disastrous effects of disengagement and the stiff price tag of continued American leadership.
Are we up for the task? The American economy has historically demonstrated remarkable resilience. Our market-oriented ideology, entrepreneurial culture, flexible institutions and favorable demographic profile should serve us well in whatever trials lie ahead.
The American people, too, have shown reserves of resolve when properly led. But experience after the Cold War era -- poorly articulated and executed policies, divisive domestic debates and rising anti-Americanism in at least some parts of the world -- appear to have left these reserves diminished.
A recent survey by the Chicago Council on World Affairs found that 36% of respondents agreed that the U.S. should "stay out of world affairs," the highest number recorded since this question was first asked in 1947. The economic crisis could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
In the past, the American political process has managed to yield up remarkable leaders when they were most needed. As voters go to the polls in the shadow of an impending world crisis, they need to ask themselves which candidate -- based upon intellect, courage, past experience and personal testing -- is most likely to rise to an occasion as grave as the one we now face.
Hard times have some flirting with survivalism
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27244465/
Atash Hagmahani is not waiting for the stock market to recover. The former high-tech professional turned urban survivalist has already moved his money into safer investments: Rice and beans, for starters.
“I hoard food,” says Hagmahani, 44, estimating that he has enough to last his family a year or two. “I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“People keep asking when this (economic crisis) is going to clear up,” says Hagmahani, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that he be identified only by this pseudonym, which he uses for his survivalist blog, or by his first name, Rob.
The answer, he predicts, is that the country is entering what he calls a “Greater Depression.” “Maybe they jolly well better get used to the change in lifestyle.”
Hagmahani is not alone in concluding that desperate times call for serious preparations.
With foreclosure rates running rampant, financial institutions teetering and falling, prices for many goods and services climbing, and jobs being slashed, many Americans are making preparations for worse times ahead. For some, that means cutting spending and saving more. For others, it means taking a step into survivalism, once regarded solely as the province of religious End-of-Timers, sci-fi fans and extremists.
That often manifests itself as a desire to secure basic emergency resources — what survival guru Jim Wesley Rawles describes as “beans, bullets and Band-Aids.”
Rawles, speaking by phone from an “undisclosed location” somewhere between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains, said he has seen traffic on his Web site, SurvivalBlog.com, explode in the last year.
Getting ready for ‘TEOTWAWKI’
“There are a lot more people — a lot more eager people — who are trying to get themselves squared away logistically,” said Rawles, who lectures and writes books on preparing for and surviving “TEOTWAWKI” — The End Of The World As We Know It.
Rawles, a self-described Christian conservative, said most of his readers had similar backgrounds when he started his blog in 2005. But he said that as the financial crisis has unfolded — particularly when oil prices began to soar — he started hearing from a much broader segment of the population.
“Now it’s the entire political spectrum — far right, far left and everything in between,” said Rawles. “I’m getting over 200 e-mails from readers a day. Now it is quite apparent how many more liberals are writing. Same concerns, different outlook. Greens, for instance, put less emphasis on self-defense and guns.”
Buoyed by an industry that flourishes when others languish, his site also is attracting record advertising revenue. The offerings include “secure, off-grid” mountain retreats, firearms training, home schooling aids, gold, freeze-dried food and water filtration systems.
Long-lasting food in demand
Others more directly embedded in the survival industry say they, too, are seeing the biggest surge of orders since the run-up to Y2K, when angst surged over whether computers would survive the dawn of a new millennium.
“I’m getting slammed with big orders,” said Kurt Wilson, a distributor of freeze-dried foods and other provisions with decades-long shelf life, like canned meat, cheese and butter.
“I have customers who were spending 200 bucks a month now spending $5,000 to $8,000,” Wilson said from his warehouse in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. “I get little old ladies calling up, stocking up for their grandchildren.”
Wilson, who also has an online radio show called the Armchair Survivalist, said one of his new clients is a New York interior designer who specializes in outfitting cramped Manhattan apartments with hidden food storage units that double as tasteful furnishings.
Richard Mankemyer, general manager of the Survival Center, in McKenna, Wash. said he too is swamped.
“There are a lot more people interested in being prepared, stocking up and being on their own for extended periods of time, as we’ve been advising,” he said. Among them are businesses, he said, including a major Northwest corporation that recently spent “tens of thousands of dollars” to stock up on shelf-stable foods for its executives. He would not identify the company, but he said he urged the officials to stock up for its other employees as well.
Not just for the ‘Planet X’ crowd
Also reporting an uptick in business is Utah Shelter Systems, which makes underground dwellings designed for surviving the aftermath of a biological or nuclear attack.
“I think the economy certainly is part of it,” Sharon Packer, part owner of the Salt Lake City company, said of the surge in orders this year. “Anytime we become vulnerable, our risk of a terrorist attacks increases.”
She emphasizes that most people who purchase the shelters, which run between $40,000 and $50,000, are wealthy professionals interested in hedging their bets.
“Every once in awhile I have people who are concerned about Planet X or little green men, but they are usually not our clients,” she says.
A less surprising indication of the public nervousness about the recent financial turmoil can be found in gold brokerages and coin shops around the country. Many say that demand for gold and silver has been off the charts in recent months — a clear measure of concerns about the U.S. dollar and the soundness of the economy as a whole.
“We’re seeing absolutely unprecedented demand,” said Peter Grant, gold broker and analyst at USA Gold in Denver. “We’re seeing the full gamut … from high net worth (clients) to people looking at just a couple of ounces at a time.”
Preparing for a ‘major paradigm shift’
Seattle survivalist Hagmahani sees such commodity hoarding as just a partial measure for weathering a financial crisis.
On his blog, mutuallyassuredsurvival.com, he advises people to prepare for a “major paradigm shift” that will, in a decade, leave the U.S. with a Third World economy.
The $700 billion government financial bailout, in his view, only ensures a crisis that cannot be avoided after unbridled lending and spending.
“One of the most frightening possibilities is the banking system freezing up,” he said. “... Our remittance system is almost entirely through the banking system. … Without ATMs, you can’t get groceries, you can’t get paid… Is that a possibility? Yes.”
So Hagmahani, whose pen name is derived from the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, is focused on procuring and stashing away enough food to last his family — himself, his wife and three kids — up to two years.
He said he began his preparations after witnessing the burst of the high-tech bubble in 2001, paying off the family’s debt, moving his assets away from stocks into safer investments, including, he implies, some precious metals and offshore accounts.
In the last three or four years, he has led his clan away from what he calls their former “yuppyish lifestyle.” They no longer eat out, cook most meals from scratch, and rarely drive their one car. They also are all learning practical skills — such as sewing, nursing and wielding a gun for self-defense.
“One thing I’m adamant about is that each of the kids needs real skills; they can’t just be a pencil pusher,” says Hagmahani of 19-year-old Hans, Sofia, 14, and Erik, 12. “You might get lucky and get a cushy job, but you might not. You need high-tech skills and low-tech skills for dealing with a systemic breakdown.”
Looking for farmland in South America
In addition to shifting some of his high-tech windfall into safe havens, Hagmahani is looking into buying farmland in South America — a last-ditch destination should the economic crisis become a catastrophe.
At the same time, he wants to be a model for others who want to be prepared. And he has his fans, relatively mainstream Americans who are worried by what they see and hear on the evening news.
“I didn’t want to be the crazy aunt in the attic,” said Susan Oakes, a fan of Hagmahani’s Internet site. She started worrying about the state of the economy a few years ago. “I started reading more and trying to find people who were credible, and not the tinfoil hat group…. trying to figure out what I could do,” she said.
To save money, she combined households with her two daughters’ families in eastern Washington state. She cashed out of some of her savings and bought gold, and then started to garden on their half-acre plot. She has stockpiled staples and learned to can her fruits and vegetables. She now has enough, she believes, to last her family for six months and to have some left for charity, which she expects to be in high demand.
But Oakes said she finds no comfort in being well-prepared for what she fears is coming.
“We’re in deep doo-doo,” she said. “I honestly believe the government thinks we’re idiots. … I get that they can’t come out and say ‘the sky is falling’ but it is.”
Palin: My faith, God have been mocked
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/palin.my.faith.god.have.been.mocked/21704.htm
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the political darling of many Christian conservative voters, said her faith and God have been mocked during the presidential campaign – and there is not much she can do about it.
“Faith and God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart,” said Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network.
"People would misconstrue and spin anything that has to do with my faith or anybody else's and turn it into something to be mocked. That's very sad," she said.
Just a few weeks after her nomination, a cartoon on The Washington Post website poked fun at Palin and her ties to Pentecostalism. In the cartoon, Palin is illustrated talking on the phone in an incomprehensible language, or in tongues – as the cartoonist meant it to be understood.
The next slide shows “God” in heaven holding a phone saying he cannot understand the gibberish being spouted by “some dam’ right wing politician”.
In the wake of such attacks on her faith, the Republican vice presidential nominee remains resolute. “I won’t … whine or complain about it,” she said.
She was quick to add that no one could convince her that her faith is not good for her and her family.
Prior to being on the Republican ticket, Palin was little known outside of the remote state of Alaska. The mother of five, including an infant with Down syndrome, has since taken the nation by storm becoming one of the most talked about vice presidential candidates in history.
The political left denigrate her as inexperienced, unqualified and too divisive, while the right, for the most part but with exceptions, have seen her as a champion of values issues.
She has been outspoken on her opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and has led the attack on what she calls Obama’s extreme pro-choice views.
“It’s so, so far left that it’s way out of the mainstream,” she said. “I think he’s in some sense succeeded in trying to package up, and pretty-up some of his policies to make them look mainstream even on abortion.”
Showing her support for a federal marriage amendment, Palin said, "I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that's where we would go because I don't support gay marriage."
Her position on marriage is a break with Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, who has said he believes states should be left to define what marriage is.
Despite strong support from key constituents of the Republican Party, Palin might not be enough to save the Republican ticket against its Democratic rival.
The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows that Obama is leading McCain by 11 percentage points, 52 per cent to 41 per cent.
In response, the unflappable Palin said, "When they see numbers that show us a bit down in the polls, for John McCain and for me it's invigorating," she says. "It's inspiriting. It makes us work even harder."
Also responding to an earlier Washington Post story about angry supporters at a Palin rally in Florida, the Alaska governor said she would call them out on threatening comments against her opponent.
"What we have heard through some mainstream media is that folks have hollered out some atrocious and unacceptable things like 'kill him,'" Palin said. "If I ever were to hear that standing up there at the podium with the mic, I would call them out on that, and I would tell these people, no, that's unacceptable."
Currently, both campaigns are hitting the road and throwing successive rallies in the final stretch of election season with voting day two weeks away.
With Both Presidential Candidates Closed Mouth About Obscenity Law Enforcement, Will Either VP Candidate Now Speak Up?
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07726.shtml
NEW YORK, (christiansunite.com) -- Yesterday, Morality in Media President Robert Peters sent the following letter to VP Candidates Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden:
I am writing to ask you to make public your position regarding enforcement of federal obscenity laws. The American people deserve to know where the PRESIDENTIAL candidates stand on this vital issue; but to date Senators McCain and Obama have been closed-mouth about obscenity law enforcement.
There are federal laws that prohibit distribution of obscene materials in interstate commerce. In recent decades Congress has also strengthened these laws on several occasions, including an amendment in 1996 to clarify that use of an interactive computer service to transport obscene materials is prohibited.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that enforcement of obscenity laws does not violate the First Amendment. The Court has also recognized that there are "legitimate governmental interests" at stake in stemming the tide of obscene materials, "even assuming it is feasible to" shield children from it. These include protecting public safety, public morality and family life and maintaining a decent society.
It is of course no secret that the United States has failed miserably at protecting children from exposure to hardcore "adult" pornography. The Internet in particular is awash with such material, and much of it is available to minors without cost or proof of age. Surveys also indicate that large numbers of children have been inadvertently exposed to Internet pornography or have sought it out.
Under President Clinton, the Justice Department rarely enforced obscenity laws. Under President Bush, there has been more enforcement but not enough to stem what is now a floodtide of obscene materials. It is our hope that the next President will do all in his constitutional power to ensue that the Justice Department vigorously enforces obscenity laws. According to the results of a national opinion poll commissioned by Morality in Media and conducted by Harris Interactive in April 2008 (see enclosed Release), 75% of adult Americans will support him if he does.
I understand that there are many pressing issues facing our nation, but evidence abounds that hardcore pornography, among other things, debases women, ruins marriages, corrupts children, and contributes to sexual exploitation of children, sexual trafficking, and forcible rape.
The choice our nation now faces is to wage war against obscenity or succumb to it. The hour is late.
Catholics Applaud Bishops for Clarifying Church's Teaching on Voting to Stop Abortion Holocaust
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07723.shtml
DALLAS, (christiansunite.com) -- The Ad Hoc Committee in Support of the Bishops in Dallas and Fort Worth enthusiastically thanks Bishop Farrell and Bishop Vann for their Joint Statement to the Faithful about being properly formed in the clear and unambiguous teaching on life issues pertaining to voting.
Spokesperson Sue Cyr said, "Many Catholics don't understand the teaching of the Church on weighing the gravity of 3,500 babies killed every day by abortion. Fifty babies are killed every day in Dallas! We need to offer help to these women in need, not give them the option to kill their precious babies. The fifty million babies that we Americans have aborted during the past 35 years, and the continued daily killing, far outweighs the legitimate concerns of the economy, healthcare, the war and other issues.
"We applaud Bishop Farrell and Bishop Vann for speaking out about the moral necessity for Catholics to vote pro-life, along with the other 40 bishops who have made statements in their dioceses around the nation."
Following are excerpts from Bishop Farrell's and Bishop Vann's statement:
Catholic teaching clearly states that "to vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or 'abortion rights' when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil - and, therefore, morally impermissible."
"We cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion - while not the 'only issue' - it is the defining moral issue, not only today, but of the last 35 years." "As Catholics we are morally obligated to pray, to act, and to vote to abolish the evil of abortion in America..."
"... there are no 'truly grave moral' or 'proportionate' reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year." "... not all issues have the same moral equivalence. Some issues involve 'intrinsic evils'; that is, they can never under any circumstance or condition be morally justified." "They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned."
The Bishops conclude by saying, "With the knowledge of the Church's teaching on these grave matters, it is incumbent upon each of us as Catholics to educate ourselves on where the candidates running for office stand on these issues, particularly those involving intrinsic evils."
Speaking for the Ad Hoc Committee in Support of the Bishops, as Catholics, in educating ourselves, here is what we find:
Republican Party Platform on Abortion
"Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."
Democratic Party Platform on Abortion
"The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right."
The Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, promised (July 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood) that his "first act as president" would be to sign into law the Freedom of Choice Act, which goes beyond Roe v. Wade, to overturn all regulations on abortion, and to substantially increase taxpayer funded abortions.
To read the Bishops' entire Joint Statement, go to www.cathdal.org or www.fwdioc.org.
No Prosecution, No Justice: DA Refuses to Charge Abortionist for Violent Attack
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07725.shtml
SANTA ANA, Calif., (christiansunite.com) -- The Orange County District Attorney's office has notified a pro-lifer that it will not prosecute abortionist Howard Pfupajena for violently attacking him outside a Santa Ana abortion clinic on August 2, 2008.
The victim of the violent attack, who only wants to be known as Tim, was outside the Clinica Medica Para La Mujer abortion mill offering help to pregnant women when Pfupanjena attacked him. Tim was stuck repeatedly, fell to the ground, and was choked by Pfupanjena, because Tim had attempted to take his picture.
Tim sought medical treatment for lacerations and severe muscle pain after the attack.
"It is shocking that Pfupajena is not going to be charged for violently attacking and injuring an innocent man," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "This decision sends the dangerous message that it is okay to attack a pro- lifer because you will not be held accountable. Given the recent rash of attacks on pro-lifers across the nation, the Orange County DA's office has made an irresponsible decision that places people wishing to minister outside of abortion clinics at further risk."
Other legal remedies are being explored.
Recent violence against pro-lifers appears to be escalating. Last weekend, a 72-year old woman was attacked and knocked to the ground outside an abortion clinic in Nebraska. A group of pro-life teens were attacked and wrongly arrested while protesting at the Democratic National Convention in Colorado in August. Other recent attacks include incidents of vehicular assault and a stink-bomb attack on pro-lifers in Kansas.
The abortion mill where the Pfupanjena incident took place is part of a chain of clinics that are in trouble with the law. Owner Bertha Bugarin was arrested and charged with 18 felonies in two counties for committing abortions without a medical license. She is currently awaiting trial and her Chula Vista abortion mill has closed.
Another abortionist in the chain, Laurence Reich, was arrested earlier this year for continuing to do abortions after having surrendered his medical license due to a second conviction of having committed sex crimes against his abortion patients.
The abortionist who claims to be the new owner of the abortion chain, Nolan Jones, has a long history of Medical Board discipline for sloppy abortions and other offenses. At last report, he was homeless and living inside his abortion clinics.
NJ Hotels Offer Abortion Discounts
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07731.shtml
CHERRY HILL, NJ, (christiansunite.com) -- An abortion clinic that performs abortions up to the sixth month of pregnancy has worked out an arrangement with two area hotels to provide substantially discounted room rates for women seeking abortions.
Based on reports from local citizens participating in the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil outside the Cherry Hill Women's Center, New Jersey Right to Life has confirmed that the Clarion Hotel in Cherry Hill offers a reduced rate of $59 for a room originally priced at $109 to those women who provide a receipt from the clinic that says they have to stay overnight. In addition, the Quality Inn in Maple Shade offers a discounted rate of $74.95 for a room originally priced at $99.99 and a free breakfast of eggs and pancakes for women who present a stamped pamphlet from the clinic.
Good Counsel Homes, a Catholic agency that assists homeless pregnant women, recently cancelled its banquet at the Clarion upon learning of the hotel's arrangement with the abortion clinic.
Marie Tasy, Executive Director of New Jersey Right to Life said, "This experience shows us that the Legislature needs to act immediately to place a parental notification constitutional amendment on the ballot without delay." Many of the girls going to Cherry Hill Women's Center are minors from both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Often minor girls become pregnant from adult men who prey on the inexperience of teenage girls. "The Cherry Hill Women's Center has a track record of aggressive advertisement in the Pennsylvania market to intentionally lure pregnant minor girls to the NJ abortion clinic in order to evade Pennsylvania's parental consent laws," said Tasy, who also urged Congress to pass a pending bill prohibiting such interstate abortion schemes.
"We now learn that area hotels may actually be complicit in circumventing a neighboring state's law, usurping parental rights, and consequently aiding and abetting the sexual predators of minors by offering these discounts." The State of NJ needs to take immediate action to stop these abuses from occurring by enacting legislation to place a parental notification constitutional amendment on the ballot as soon as possible. All legislators who oppose these measures should be held accountable by the parents of the minor girls who have endured harm at the hands of the unregulated and unscrupulous abortion industry. With each passing day, more young lives are being placed at risk," said Tasy.
Cherry Hill Women's Center performs many methods of abortion which result in the violent killing of innocent unborn babies. One of the methods, used at 20 or more weeks, is injection of the dangerous drug digoxin directly into the baby's heart to kill the baby. If digoxin is accidentally injected into the bloodstream of a woman or young girl, it can cause infection and death. Local pro-lifers who have spoken to women exiting the clinic report that many women and minor girls are alone, crying and in extreme pain, but are nonetheless discharged from the clinic after the digoxin injection. They are instructed to return the next day so the abortionist can deliver the dead baby. The clinic refers these women to the area hotels which provide discounted rates.
In 2007, two NJ abortion clinics were shut down for infection control violations and filthy conditions. Metropolitan Medical Center in Englewood, NJ was temporarily shut down for a month after a five year inspection lapse by the NJ Department of Health. Alternatives Abortion Clinic in Atlantic City permanently closed its doors after a six year inspection which uncovered multiple infection control and health violations. NJ Public Advocate Ronald Chen refused New Jersey Right to Life's request to protect women in NJ from the no-show health inspections.
VoteYesForLife.com Takes Legal Action Against Opposition Over False TV Advertising
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07729.shtml
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota, (christiansunite.com) -- The VoteYesForLife.com campaign heldg a press conference Monday, October 20th at 12:30 p.m. at Spring Hill Suites by Marriott (4304 West Empire Place, next to Empire Mall) to announce the legal action being taken to remove TV ads being run by a pro-abortion group. The ads make patently false claims about Measure 11. Specifically, the libelous ads falsely claim that if Measure 11 passes, government will be involved in deciding if a woman could have an abortion when faced with medical conditions that present a risk to her health. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The ads are patently false. Sections 4 and 5 of Measure 11 clearly indicate that those decisions are left up to the physician's judgment. Measure 11 is clearly written. It took 8 months for 11 legal experts to write the proposed law. The legal experts gave special attention to these extremely rare cases to protect doctors when the life and health of the mother is at risk. Several doctors have signed affidavits as part of this action stating the ads are completely false.
Dr. Yvonne Seger, a Sioux Falls OBGYN is also very supportive of Measure 11. "The law is clear and it will not affect the way doctors currently practice medicine," she assured. Dr. Jane Gaetze, another OBGYN, stated, "Diabetes, hypertension and cancer are all clearly covered in the context of Measure 11. The claims on the ad are completely false."
"The pro-abortionists are not debating the law on its goal of ending abortion as a form of birth control. They know they will lose that debate with the people of South Dakota ," said Brandi Gruis with VoteYesForLife.com. "They are not arguing that abortion should be used as a means of birth control because they know that the people of South Dakota want to end the use of abortion as birth control. As a result, they are attempting to confuse the voting public by picking out highly technical issues, and misrepresenting the facts concerning those issues, believing that the people won't know that they are not telling the truth. That practice is unethical and we are acting to bring it to an end," she said.
"The fact is, 97% of abortions being done in our state are done for no medical reason at all and many women are having repeat abortions. Measure 11 is designed to stop those abortions, while leaving very clear exceptions for rare cases of rape and incest and to protect the life and health of the mother," she said. For more information, call 605.271.7581.
Yes on Prop. 8 Launches Campaign Theme for Latinos: 'Family is Sacred - Protect Children's Education'
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07730.shtml
SACRAMENTO, (christiansunite.com) -- ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8 today released a campaign theme targeting Latinos in California, "Family is Sacred: Protect Children's Education," aimed to inform Latino parents about the serious consequences California's children will face if the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling is not overturned by enacting Proposition 8. California's state Education Code (Section 51890) requires that teachers instruct children as young as kindergarteners about marriage. Proposition 8 protects children from being taught in California public schools that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage.
The Latino vote will be critical in the November 4 election. Latino voters in California have previously gone to the polls against same-sex marriage. In 2000, more than 70 percent of Latinos supported Proposition 22, which formally defined marriage between a man and a woman.
"It is crucial to educate the Latino community about the importance of Proposition 8 and the serious consequences children will face if it is defeated," said Frank Schubert, Yes on 8 Co- Campaign Manager. "Proposition 8 protects our children from being taught in public schools about 'same-sex marriage' as has already happened in Massachusetts. We're talking about seven and eight year old children being exposed to gay marriage in the schools, including being read a book, 'King and King,' that tells a story of a prince who marries another prince rather than a princess. Our opponents want Californians to think that gay marriage is only about two loving adults, but the Supreme Court's ruling has profound consequences for all Californians, not the least of which is what kids will be taught in public schools."
To address that issue, Yes on 8 released last week a Spanish-language television ad highlighting the Massachusetts incident and the book, 'King and King.' The ad is airing on the top Hispanic broadcast stations statewide. In addition, Yes on 8 has created a 1-800 toll-free line and has information available in Spanish on their Web site to effectively inform Spanish-speaking Latinos about Proposition 8.
"There is nothing that is more sacred and valued to Latinos than their families," said Schubert. "Latino parents need to know that the consequences their children will face if Proposition 8 is defeated are serious and real. Instructing young children about same-sex marriage in school undermines the rights of parents to approach this subject with their children on their own timetable and according to their family's values and beliefs, religious or otherwise."
The consequences affecting children of the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling are already taking place. In the same week that the No on 8 campaign launched an ad that labeled as "lies" claims that same-sex marriage would be taught in schools to young children, a first grade class in San Francisco was taken to City Hall as part of a school- sponsored trip to a gay wedding last Friday. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the first graders were taken away from their studies to attend the wedding of their teacher and her lesbian partner.
The public school field trip demonstrates that the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize same- sex marriage has real consequences for children and society overall. The field trip underscores the Yes on 8 campaign's message that unless Prop. 8 passes, children will be taught about same-sex marriage in public schools. "Not only can it happen, it has already happened," Schubert said.
Two PCUSA presbyteries reject pro-gay clergy measure
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/two.pcusa.presbyteries.reject.progay.clergy.measure/21718.htm
WASHINGTON, USA - Two regional bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have rejected a proposed amendment that would allow non-celibate gays and lesbians to be ordained.
Majorities in the Presbyteries of Central Washington in Washington state and Palo Duro in Texas voted against the measure on Oct. 18. They were among the first, out of the denomination's 173 presbyteries, to vote on the controversial amendment.
In June, the General Assembly – PC(USA)'s highest governing body – approved an overture that would delete a requirement that clergy live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness" and replace it with language that would not single out a sexual conduct standard.
The proposal must be approved by a majority of the denomination's presbyteries within the next year.
Church conservatives gathered last week to organise support against the amendment and push for its defeat.
"We are living in the midst of a once great denomination that is now in ruins," said Terry Schlossberg, a leader of the Presbyterian Coalition, an alliance of more than a dozen renewal groups within the PC(USA), according to the Presbyterian News Service. "The challenge of rebuilding is before us and rubble is the stuff we are given for the rebuilding project."
Urging Presbyterians at the Coalition's annual gathering to vote against the amendment, Schlossberg said they must stand strong against the prevailing trend of a sexually immoral age and keep the current ordination language that she believes is rooted in Scripture.
"We did not invent sexual moral standards. They were handed to us as the design and good purpose for our lives by the one who dwells at the centre," she said, according to PNS.
The current fidelity/chastity standard, she added, is "a clear line of demarcation between the church and an unbelieving world."
While debates on gay and lesbian clergy have continued for decades within the PC(USA), Schlossberg reminded like-minded conservatives that the denomination's presbyteries had overwhelmingly rejected and defeated similar amendments in 1997 and 2000.
"[T]his vote does not discourage us because we keep losing. No. Actually we keep winning this vote and we have done that by a wider margin each time we vote," she said.
This year is just another opportunity – an opportunity for "the church to bear witness to her faith in the Holy Spirit’s power to forgive and receive the repentant sinner and day-by-day to expect the most extreme of makeovers to create a new person in the very image of Christ," the Presbyterian Coalition leader highlighted.
"We must go faithfully and constantly into this vote, well prepared and determined to deliver a stronger vote than the last time around," Schlossberg stated, as reported by PNS.
Last month, two PC(USA) ministers drafted an open theological declaration to confront the denomination with what they believe were "multiple errors" from this past summer's General Assembly. The Rev. Albert Rhodes Stuart of Highland Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock, Pa., and Patrick McElroy of Park United Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pa., released the declaration to take a stand for God's Word.
Christian Reality TV Shows Burst on to the Scene
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081021/christian-reality-tv-shows-burst-on-to-the-scene_page2.htm
Many say Christian entertainment is a good couple of years behind mainstream entertainment, with some placing Christian radio behind by about five years and others even claiming that Christian media in general is more than a decade behind.
“I've always been frustrated by Christian media, which at best has lagged 10 years behind the mainstream and is often 30-40 years behind,” says Christian author and musician Jay L. Young of San Antonio, Texas. “Even the good media tends to be just ‘on par’ with mainstream media and true trailblazing is either excessively rare or (more likely) never gets a fair shake in the Christian marketing establishment.”
The latest example of this is the emergence of several Christian reality TV programs that have hit the Web and the airwaves in recent weeks.
Though reality television has been around as early as the 1940s and exploded in popularity globally starting in the early 2000s, a wellspring of Christian reality programs including “THEDRIVEtv,” “The Uprising,” and “Revolve: Rockin’ The Road” is just now entering the picture.
Debuts for the above-mentioned programs were in July, last Thursday, and last Friday, respectively.
All three programs target Christian youth and look to impact them with a positive message through exciting adventures and live, unrehearsed ministry.
"With the success of unscripted drama reality shows like The Hills and Keeping Up with the Kardashians, it's clear that television viewers connect with real life dramatic-in-nature programming,” commented Brad Siegel, vice chairman of Gospel Music Channel, which created “Revolve.”
“We wanted to create a show that was unique and aligned with our network's vision of inspiring, uplifting and entertaining through music,” he added in a public announcement.
Meanwhile, pro-skateboarder Jay Haizlip said it’s clear that there is a desperate need for a series like “The Uprising,” which follows him and two other pro-skaters as they spread the Gospel.
“People are struggling with real issues like alcohol and drug addiction, stints in jail, abuse, and problems with parents,” he said after ministering to people across the world. “We’re going to offer them hope through this show and let them know that God is on their side.”
In “The Uprising,” Haizlip and fellow skateboarders Christian Hosoi and Brian Sumner comb skate parks, backyard pools, and other hangouts in an effort to spread the Gospel. The series was birthed out of Haizlip’s The Sanctuary Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., where he serves as senior pastor, and his “The Uprising is Here” events, which bring pro skateboarders, live music, and the faith message to young people across the country. The events feature Hosoi and Sumner, as well as other pro-skateboarders.
According to Haizlip, every episode of “The Uprising” will be filled with light, energy, excitement, and most of all, purpose.
“This isn’t your grandmother’s Christian TV,” said Hosoi. “This is in-your-face modern day evangelism that gets down in the dirt with people to help them wrestle through their issues.”
In addition to a faith message, “The Uprising” also will showcase skate tricks and events and feature appearances by other pro-skaters like Paul Rodriguez, Chad Tim Tim, Ray Barbee, Jereme Rogers, Josh Harmony, and more.
“Revolve,” meanwhile, also has its share of Christian professionals – but mostly from the Christian music industry.
The series, which premiered Friday, follows the cast and crew of The Revolve Tour as they travel the country, hitting cities with weekend events geared toward teen girls and talking to teens along the way about tough topics like dating, tattoos and everyday challenges.
As four friends – two guys and two gals – trek across America, hitting nine different Christian music festivals, “Revolve” captures their collective quest to maintain spiritual peace and discipline amid logistical challenges, self goals, and inevitable relationship struggles.
In the first episode of the five-episode series, the two male members engaged in a conversation about tattoos and piercings with Christian rocker Krystal Meyers, who joined the group for the series premiere.
Also hopping on the foursome’s tour bus for the first episode were Hawk Nelson, Group 1 Crew and Ayiesha Woods. The group also met up with Natalie Grant at a Revolve “All Access” event.
“Revolve … gives our young viewers a cast they can relate to and music they love,” said Gospel Music Channel’s Siegel.
Then, there is THEDRIVEtv, which is presenting “fundamental issues” in a motivational and easy to understand manner both on screen and off.
The new reality show, which is airing in over 170 countries, captures the adventures of four young men – Chris, Kyle, Steve, and Aaron – as they take a “reality” road trip across the United States.
During each episode, the hosts meet unique people and discover the local “flavor” of the location, focusing on relevant issues for today’s generation, including love, self esteem, community, and social justice.
“It’s what ‘reality TV’ should be – relevant, reflective, real,” said Troy Miller, COO of the NRB Network, in an endorsement.
Miller described the four hosts as “media missionaries who bring the message of Christ to young viewers in a language they understand.”
“In a time when immorality and irreverence dominate the airwaves, The Drive TV takes a higher road,” he added.
What’s unique about the show is that the hosts have made themselves available to speak at churches and special events.
“Even though THEDRIVEtv is a reality tv show, the heart of it does not begin and end on a TV screen,” say the producers of the show. “The guys from THEDRIVEtv are available for speaking engagements. They love to share the message of THEDRIVEtv and the powerful experiences they had on the road."
“Young people are impacted by their message delivered through stories of their exciting adventure, original music, and personal ministry,” they add.
Only time will tell whether Christian reality shows will draw large followings as have their mainstream counterparts, such as “Survivor,” “American Idol,” “Dancing With The Stars,” and "Fear Factor."
But with Christian music closing the gap on mainstream music and Christian movies such as “Fireproof” ranking among the weekend box office’s top ten for three consecutive weeks, producers of the latest series are optimistic about the potential of Christian reality TV.
"Unlike the majority of reality television, 'The Uprising' isn’t based on a contest or produced in any kind of artificial environment," says producer Nathaniel Calnin of Steelroots, which partnered with Haizlip and his team to launch "The Uprising."
"It’s truly reality in the sense that we’re capturing scenarios that would happen regardless of a camera being there to tape it," he told The Christian Post. "These guys are out there praying for people and talking about Jesus in places that would make most of us feel uncomfortable. Whether Christian or not, I think viewers will find that compelling."
Christian author Young, meanwhile, is hoping for Christian media not only to mimic the success of their mainstream counterparts and close in the years-long gap, but to make radical changes.
"So yeah, nothing would make me happier than to see a full revolution in Christian media in my lifetime," he says. "Lord knows it's not that there's a lack of talent."
'Third Jesus' Author to Discuss 'What Jesus Really Taught' in Web Series
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081015/-third-jesus-author-to-discuss-what-jesus-really-taught-in-web-series.htm
The author of controversial book The Third Jesus will be discussing “what Jesus really taught” and how it can be applied in today’s world through a six-part Web series that will be aired by an equally controversial group.
The online radio series is set to begin Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET, according to Paula Coppel, vice president of Communications at Unity School of Christianity in Unity Village, Mo. Unity School of Christianity and its affiliated organizations, like author Deepak Chopra, have been criticized for their belief that Jesus was only a man who attained a higher mental state, among other controversial ideas.
"We came up with the idea for this series after Oprah Winfrey's successful webcasts last spring with Eckhart Tolle on his book ‘A New Earth,'" said Coppel in a released statement, referring to another book that has drawn criticism from the conservative Christian community.
“The Web series contends that Jesus was not trying to start a new religion, nor was he aiming his teachings at some people and not others,” Coppel added. “He was pointing the way for all of us to experience the awakening that he himself had experienced."
According to Chopra, there is not one Jesus, but three.
“First there is the historical Jesus, the man who lived more than two thousand years ago and whose teachings are the foundation of Christian theology and thought,” he explains in his book. “Next there is Jesus, the Son of God, who has come to embody an institutional religion with specific dogma, a priesthood, and devout believers.”
Then there is the “third Jesus,” says Chopra, “the cosmic Christ, the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in his name.”
“He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment," the author contends.
Since the release of The Third Jesus earlier this year, a number of heated debates have flared up amid its rising popularity. While some say the book is helpful in deepening understanding of how God works in the world, others are quick to criticize it for undermining the credibility of the gospels and asserting that the orthodox version of Christianity is nothing more than a sham.
“It is obvious that when Chopra approaches the New Testament he is so blinded by his New Age ‘light’ that he can only see that which supports it,” wrote Kelly Boggs, editor of the Baptist Message, the newspaper of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, in a column appearing in Baptist Press.
“As such, he cherry picks quotes of Jesus and twists them to fit his New Age version of a ‘third Jesus,’” added Boggs, who argues that “Chopra’s ‘third Jesus’ is no Jesus at all.”
“He is nothing more than the figment of a New Age imagination.”
The upcoming Web series will feature in-depth discussions between Chopra and series host, the Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell, founding minister of The Unity Center in San Diego.
Craig-Purcell sees the series as especially appealing to those who consider themselves "spiritual more than religious" as well as "Christians with questions."
Her organization, however, and the several other Unity groups founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore have been criticized for a number of teachings that conflict with orthodox Christianity, including the belief in reincarnation and the denial of heaven and hell’s existence.
Putting a New Face on Church and Politics
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/469995.aspx
CBNNews.com - PORTLAND, Oregon - One interesting difference about this year's election campaign is how much the Democratic Party is reaching out to Evangelicals.
What's giving it hope? Well, a new type of church is filling up with thousands of young Evangelicals who don't look, live, or vote like your stereotypical Christian.
It's called the Emerging Church and you can often find members living and worshipping in more liberal leaning cities like San Francisco, Seattle or Portland, Oregon.
The Emerging Church
Portland writer Tom Krattenmaker has written about the Emerging Church for USA Today.
He said its members often identify with the "post-modern" outlook, which he said is characterized by, "Ambiguity, decentralized authority, not being super-sure about everything all the time."
Krattenmaker quoted a fan of the Emerging Church who described its typical members as, ".backpack-lugging, Birkenstock-wearing, vegetarian, left-leaning Christians."
But there's no organized Emerging Church movement, so congregations who might be identified as part of the Emerging Church aren't always sure they are or aren't.
Jason Simmonds, an associate pastor at Portland's Mosaic Church, reflects that uncertainty:
"We're seeing people in Portland who resist maybe the more traditional church who are becoming a part of our community and are finding Jesus here. So if that makes us Emerging, then yeah, okay."
A documentary from Dr. Charles Stanley's Family Net Television explored the post-modern outlook that can often be found in those who might be attracted to the Emerging Church.
In the film The Changing Face of Worship: The Church in a Postmodern World, Christian pop singer Rebecca James narrated and said, "We live in an age where many people no longer believe in absolute truth."
And they have a problem with authoritarian, establishment churches.
In the documentary, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle's Mars Hill Church, an Emerging Church, reflected that attitude, saying, "It's important to understand religion, but apart from Jesus, religion is silly and a waste of time. The most important thing is Jesus."
In Portland, Pastor Simmonds told CBN News, "We need to be Jesus' representatives outside the Church and not just expect people to come to us, because the Church doesn't have that sort of credibility."
All Are Welcome
Simmonds believes the Body of Christ has to be much more open to all sorts of people.
He said of Mosaic, "Hopefully if you come in with big tattoos and stuff you feel like you can have a home here."
"We don't put up any expectations that you get cleaned up and you dress in a certain way and you get your life together and then come check out what we're about," Mosaic's lead pastor, Tim Osborn, said.
The Emerging Church tries to make it particularly easy for outsiders to fit in. Rather than just offering Bible studies and church services, Mosaic has a number of what they call "Connect Groups," just centered on fun activities, like the Young Ladies Group that gathers for Happy Hour on Fridays.
Kellen Jordan came to Portland and Mosaic alone and wanted to get to know other young women, so she organized the group. "The agenda is simply to get to know each other and hang out and have fun."
Jordan talked about other Connect Groups: "There's a biking group. There's a knitting group. There's a swing dance group."
An outdoors Connect group was heading off to snowshoe in the nearby snowy Cascade Mountains when CBN News visited Mosaic.
Knocking Down Stereotypes
But the Emerging Church is about much more than just fun and games.
It's serious about showing a different face to the world than that of the stereotypical conservative church.
Writer Tom Krattenmaker said, "They'll tell you that they believe that this wonderful faith of Christianity has been hijacked by a political movement they think that is wrong, and they're trying to model the faith in a different way."
Like Emerging Church members who've moved out of their homes into poor neighborhoods to be living witnesses there. One couple who did this in a Texas town told Krattenmaker that's part of "the ethos of downward mobility."
In Portland, Pastor Osborn had high praise for two Mosaic couples who moved from comfy middle class homes into a poor part of Portland: "They're giving up a lot to be there, but they're being missionaries in their community."
And while they put a high premium on serving the poor, Krattenmaker said Emerging Churches place very little emphasis on social issues that many other churches consider high priority: "You won't hear them saying a lot about abortion and homosexuality."
They say concentrating on such divisive issues doesn't cut it in the 21st century. Because for post-moderns, it's hard to judge people, cut them off for being wrong or dismiss them as sinners.
Simmonds said, "To emerging generations, I think relationships trump a lot of other things, including truth sometimes."
Krattenmaker said that leads some conservative Christian leaders to blast Emerging Churches, accusing them of, ".sacrificing truth for the sake of being relevant and hip and palatable and popular."
But is It Biblical?
Perhaps with its emphasis on the young and the hip and the trendy, the Emerging Church movement has found a way to take the Body of Christ into the 21st century. But is it biblical?
Christian radio's John MacArthur doesn't think so.
The conservative pastor said on a broadcast titled What's so Dangerous about the Emerging Church? that the post-moderns' outlook, embrace of ambiguity and refusal to sometimes take hard stands gives license to sin.
MacArthur stated in that broadcast, "Then you can be a member of the church if you're a homosexual, if you're overweight or if you like chocolate, and it's all the same. You can live anyway you want to live. Ambiguity is wonderful if you want to sin without any guilt."
But Mosaic's Jordan says at least the Emerging Churches she knows adhere to high biblical standards. For instance, she said Mosaic believes "the Bible is the Word of God. It is the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life."
Pastor Simmonds agreed, saying, "We do believe the Bible's true and those kinds of things."
And Jordan said of her pastors, "Everything that they teach and put out there for their congregation is very much Bible-based and it's not 'choose your own way.'"
So in many ways, these emerging Evangelicals share many characteristics with their more conservative fellow Christians.
But many are different politically. And that could lead to some interesting election results in the ranks of Evangelicals this year.
The 'how-to' plan to criminalize Christianity
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78339
A growing movement that experts believe could end up in the criminalization of Christianity in the United States is being exposed in a new documentary being prepared for airing on October 26, officials at Coral Ridge Ministries have announced.
"Hate Crime Laws" is a half-hour exposé that shows how Christians in America, Canada, Australia, and Sweden have been arrested and prosecuted for expressing opinions that are rooted in the Bible regarding homosexual conduct, Islam or other topics about which Scriptures express clear teachings.
"On the surface, hate crime laws might sound like a good idea," said Jerry Newcombe, of Coral Ridge, who hosts the special. "After all, none of us advocates hatred or violence against another person. But if you look below the surface, suddenly you realize that these laws are really thought crime laws."
The program will air on The Coral Ridge Hour time slot and local airing times are available online.
WND has reported previously on hate crimes plans at the local level. In Colorado, for example, Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law earlier this year a plan that analysts believe effectively bans publication of the Bible in the state. The gender "anti-discrimination" law bans publication of statements that can be perceived as being negative toward those individuals choosing alternative sexual lifestyles.
WND also has reported when family groups with alarm have warned constituents about pending plans in Congress to institutionalize nationwide such laws.
Pro-homosexual advocates long have sought such a law, but opponents fear it would be used to crack down on those who maintain a biblical perspective that condemns homosexuality as sin. Observers note it would criminalize speech and thought, since other criminal actions already are addressed with current statutes.
Canada already has an aggressive "hate crimes" law, and there authorities have gone so far as to tell a Christian pastor he must recant his faith because of the legislation that bans statements that can be "perceived" as condemning another person.
Some states already have similar statutes, too, and in New Mexico, a photography company run by two Christians was fined $6,600 by the state for declining to provide services to a lesbian couple setting up a lookalike "marriage" ceremony.
The documentary cites the New Mexico case, as well as others.
"Canadian youth pastor Stephen Boissoin wrote a letter to the editor in 2002 criticizing homosexual activism and offering compassion and hope for people trapped by homosexuality. A human rights tribunal took notice and slapped him with a $5,000 fine, ordered him to apologize in writing, and snuffed out his free speech rights by placing a prior restraint on his public expression of any 'disparaging' opinions about homosexuality," Coral Ridge officials said.
"In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green spoke out against homosexual conduct in a 2003 sermon and was prosecuted for 'hate speech,'" the announcement continued.
In Australia, all it took to bring two ministers into a courtroom on charges of vilifying Islam was a seminar in their own church about Muslim beliefs.
The late Coral Ridge founder D. James Kennedy repeatedly had warned such developments would endanger Americans' civil rights.
"This will silence churches, which is their great desire – that churches ... may not be able to say anything negative about homosexuality," he said in an earlier presentation.
An online presentatiion on the issue features Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
"Homosexuals know they must silence the church in this country, and that's what's behind this," he warns.
Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute, also appears.
The goal, he said, is the "criminalization of Christianity. If you say traditional morality is now a form of hate and bigotry, and bring the full weight of the government, you have criminalized basic Christian moral doctrine."
Other guests include Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel; and Tristan Emmanuel, a Presbyterian minister who resigned from the pulpit to found the Equipping Christians for the Public Square Centre.
Opponents of such actions note the deceptiveness of some of the proposals. In Colorado, for example, "Section 8 of the bill makes it a crime to publish or distribute anything that is deemed a 'discrimination' against the homosexual and transsexual lifestyle," according to the Christian Family Alliance.
Mark Hotaling, executive director for the Alliance, said initially supporters and even some opponents of the bill explained that there was an exception for churches and church organizations. However, lawmakers then attached to the bill a state "safety clause" which is supposed to deal with laws that are fundamental to protecting the lives of residents.
That, he said, simply stripped away any potential allowances for churches and church groups.
"Anyone who claims that there's an exception for churches really doesn't know the ins and outs of the bill," Hotaling told WND.
"So the religious exemption is purely window dressing and very deceptive," he said. "The Word of God literally now is banned, and that's a legitimate slam-dunk First Amendment issue there."
President Bush has fended off at least one federal plan by deciding it was unnecessary and promising a veto if Congress would pass it.
TV Couple Seeks to Put God First, Network Edits Out References to Him
http://www.charismamag.com/cms/news/archives/101508.php
Kate Gosselin and her husband, Jon, can’t stop TLC from editing prayers and references to God out of their hit reality TV series, Jon & Kate Plus 8. But the couple still manages to share their faith with viewers.
“There are many times that we pray, and there are many times we make reference to God,” said Gosselin, whose book, Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving With Twins and Sextuplets, released Tuesday. “It is many times edited out, which is [TLC’s] prerogative. We had a really hard time with that at first, and challenged them about it. “But then the e-mails starting coming in where it would say, ‘We knew you were Christians when we went to your Web site, and we were right.’”
Debuting in April 2007, the Gosselins’ show is the most watched program on TLC and chronicles their atypical life in central Pennsylvania, raising sextuplets—Aaden, Joel, Leah, Alexis, Collin and Hannah—plus twin daughters—Cara and Mady—who are now 4 and 7-1/2 years old, respectively.
“We don’t have editing rights one way or another,” said Gosselin, 33, whose family attends an Assemblies of God church. “If you edited all of our faith out of it and just saw a family—who through thick and through thin is sticking together in marriage—we always say that is so much better than what you’re going to see on TV anywhere else nowadays.”
She noted that God has used the show to make a spiritual impact on fans, including a woman who contacted her family earlier this year because her daughter had ovarian cancer and her dying wish was to talk to Gosselin.
“I felt very insecure about calling her,” Gosselin recalled. “She was a young mom, same age as me, and she had two young kids. I fought it for a few days. … I knew that God was telling me, ‘You must call her, you have no choice, you need to.’
“And so one night, I talked to her,” she added. “I was so inspired by her. She was an amazing woman who found humor in everything. … As she laid on her deathbed, I was able to lead her to the Lord that night. I knew I needed to do it and she was very accepting. She went to heaven less than 24 hour later.”
Gosselin stayed in touch with the woman’s mother, who ended up taking care of her daughter’s small children. “A few months later, the grandmother called me, and the 7 year-old found out that he was dying of cancer,” she recounted. “It’s so horribly awful, and he passed away this summer.
“I was able to lead him as well as the grandmother to the Lord. I never would have met them any other way, and that is how God chooses to use us. Three people coming to the Lord through our show is all worth it.”
The Gosselin family are media darlings, appearing on Dr. Phil, the Today show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning America. Zondervan released the Gosselins’ book, Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving With Twins and Sextuplets. Meanwhile, the couple speaks in churches—a ministry that has increased with the growing popularity of Jon & Kate. But having a reality show also means the Gosselins seem to live in a fishbowl.
“If you’ve seen our show, anytime that I lose my temper, I just don’t like to see it,” Gosselin said. “It’s hard, but we’re being real, and that was the goal of our show. … It’s an amazing story that we have eight healthy, beautiful children, but it’s not all hearts and flowers and happy, smiley, giggly all the time. I don’t care what family you are. That is not real. If that’s what you’re seeing, it’s not real all the time.”
Having up to eight TV crewmembers filming at their house for sometimes 12 hours also presents spiritual challenges for the family. “The greatest challenge is putting God first all the time, our family second and not allowing work or the demands of the show to tear us apart,” said Gosselin, who has been called “the busiest mom in America.”
“I firmly believe that the enemy’s main goal is to rip us apart as a family,” she continued. “We have felt ourselves being pulled that way because critical people—Christians included—will say: ‘[The show] will tear your family apart. Why are you doing this?’
“And our answer to that is, ‘We believe this is where God wants us to be, what God wants us to do.’ It is a daily struggle, but any job would be. We assess each situation, asking God for His help in each decision. We will keep our eyes on Him, although we are not perfect.”
Real Time Advanced Video Increases Spying Capabilities
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101901572.html?nav=rss_print/asection
Real-time streaming video of Iraqi and Afghan battle areas taken from thousands of feet in the air can follow actions of people on the ground as they dig, shake hands, exchange objects and kiss each other goodbye.
The video is sent from unmanned and manned aircraft to intelligence analysts at ground stations in the United States and abroad. They watch video in real time of people getting in and out of cars, loading trunks, dropping things or picking them up. They can even see vehicles accelerate, slow down, move together or make U-turns.
"The dynamics of an urban insurgency have resulted in a rapid increase in the number of activities visible in the video field of view," according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Although the exploits of the Predator, the Global Hawk and other airborne collectors of information have been widely publicized, there are few authoritative descriptions of what they can see on the ground.
But some insights into the capabilities of the Predator and other aircraft can be drawn from a DARPA paper that describes the tasks of a contractor that will develop a method of indexing and rapidly finding video from archived aerial surveillance tapes collected over past years.
"The U.S. military and intelligence communities have an ever increasing need to monitor live video feeds and search large volumes of archived video data for activities of interest due to the rapid growth in development and fielding of motion video systems," according to the DARPA paper, which was written in March but released last month.
Last month, Kitware, a small software company with offices in New York and North Carolina, teamed up with 19 other companies and universities and won the $6.7 million first phase of the DARPA contract, which is not expected to be completed before 2011.
During the Cold War, satellites and aircraft took still pictures that intelligence analysts reviewed one frame at a time to identify the locations of missile silos, airplane hangars, submarine pens and factories, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an expert in space and intelligence matters.
"Now with new full-motion video intelligence techniques, we are looking at people and their behavior in public," he said.
The resolution capability of the video systems ranges from four inches to a foot, depending on the collector and environmental conditions at the time, according to the DARPA paper. The video itself is also shaped by the angle to the ground from which it is shot, although there are 3-D capabilities that allow viewers on the ground to manipulate videos of objects so they can see them from different vantage points.
Systems also exist that allow tracking, moving-target detection of objects under forest or other cover and determination of exact geographic location. Development is underway of systems that allow recognition of faces and gait -- in other words, human identification.
Currently, because there are so many activities or objects to be watched for hints of suspicious behavior, "more analysts . . . watch the same, real-time video stream simultaneously," according to DARPA. "If any of the given activities or objects are spotted, the analyst issues an alert to the proper authorities."
Future collection systems are expected to provide even more imagery, cover areas greater than 16 square miles and make it more difficult "for a limited number of analysts to effectively monitor and scrutinize all potential activities within the streaming field of view," DARPA wrote.
Today's volume of intelligence data, beyond just streaming video, already "makes it very difficult to detect specific events in real time and too time intensive to search archived video," the DARPA paper said. The effort underway is designed to find a way to index similar activity, then search and retrieve it from archives. The proposed new system should be able to analyze real-time streaming video as it is received in a ground station and match it on command to archived video from more than one video library.
One notion, described by DARPA, would be that an analyst with a standing alert to watch for U-turning cars could employ the new system to quickly match a real-time event with archived clips of cars making such turns before an attack.
Company develops Ink-based RFID Tags - first step to a RFID enabled Tattoo?
http://www.rfidnews.org/2008/10/17/kovio-launches-silicon-ink-based-tag-and-platform
California-based Kovio Inc. has unveiled a silicon ink-based RFID tag and an accompanying RFID platform. The first products based on the patented technology are printed silicon HF integrated circuits (PICs) with 128 bits of printed read-only memory, which will serve as the foundation for a low-cost HF RFID tag family.
Kovio’s new product was announced during a presentation by the company’s CEO, Amir Mashkoori, at an EPC Connection 2008 event. “The platform will enable new opportunities for advertisers, retailers, consumer packaged good manufacturers, and system integrators to provide instantaneous and contextual experiences to everyone who interacts, uses and purchases everyday consumer goods,” said Mashkoori. The company believes the silicon ink-based products, which are the first of their kind, will enable the development of affordable item-level RFID intelligence solutions for various developing RFID markets.
Kovio’s technology platform is based on combining silicon inks and graphics printing technology. This enables the fabrication of silicon devices over large areas and on flexible substrates at a lower cost than conventional silicon technology. Kovio also claims its additive printed silicon technology is significantly cleaner and more resource-efficient than conventional silicon technology. The printed silicon platform facilitates item-level intelligence beyond identification through the integration of printed sensors and displays.
U.S. Moves to Get Albania, Croatia into NATO
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/470444.aspx
CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - The United States is taking another step toward getting formerly communist Albania and Croatia folded into the NATO alliance.
President Bush planned to meet Friday with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and sign so-called accession protocols paving the way for the two Balkan countries' final membership in the military alliance.
"The president has supported NATO enlargement as part of an important vision of a Europe that would be whole, free and at peace," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
"The invitation to join NATO is recognition of a country's achievements on the path to prosperity and peace. And in return, NATO membership promises the security and stability of that country going forward."
The White House invited to the signing ceremony about 160 lawmakers, members of the diplomatic corps, the U.S. ambassadors to Albania and Croatia, and members of Albanian-American and Croatian-American groups.
NATO leaders agreed at a summit earlier this year in Romania to invite Albania and Croatia into the alliance. However, the alliance rebuffed U.S. attempts to begin the process of inviting Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, to join. Despite strong U.S. backing to bring them in, Germany, France and some other alliance members opposed the move, fearing it would provoke Russia.
The idea of NATO enlargement on its doorstep has irked the Russians.
Ties between Russia and NATO members have been further strained by the Georgia-Russia conflict. The war erupted in August when Georgia launched an attack to regain control of South Ossetia, which broke from Georgian control in the early 1990s. Russian forces swiftly repelled the attack and drove deep into Georgia.
Albania and Croatia will be eligible to join NATO when all 26 allies have ratified the accession protocols. Slovakia and Hungary have ratified them to date. NATO officials hope Albania and Croatia will be able to participate as full members at next year's summit.
UK looks to extend powers of surveillance with mobile phone registration
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4969312.ece
Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance.
Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase. Privacy campaigners fear it marks the latest government move to create a surveillance society.
A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say.
The move is targeted at monitoring the owners of Britain’s estimated 40m prepaid mobile phones. They can be purchased with cash by customers who do not wish to give their names, addresses or credit card details.
The pay-as-you-go phones are popular with criminals and terrorists because their anonymity shields their activities from the authorities. But they are also used by thousands of law-abiding citizens who wish to communicate in private.
The move aims to close a loophole in plans being drawn up by GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, to create a huge database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.
The “Big Brother” database would have limited value to police and MI5 if it did not store details of the ownership of more than half the mobile phones in the country.
Contingency planning for such a move is already thought to be under way at Vodafone, where 72% of its 18.5m UK customers use pay-as-you-go.
The office of Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said it anticipated that a compulsory mobile phone register would be unveiled as part of a law which ministers would announce next year.
“With regards to the database that would contain details of all mobile users, including pay-as-you-go, we would expect that this information would be included in the database proposed in the draft Communications Data Bill,” a spokeswoman said.
Simon Davies, of Privacy International, said he understood that several mobile phone firms had discussed the proposed database in talks with government officials.
As The Sunday Times revealed earlier this month, GCHQ has already been provided with up to £1 billion to work on the pilot stage of the Big Brother database, which will see thousands of “black boxes” installed on communications lines provided by Vodafone and BT as part of a pilot interception programme.
The proposals have sparked a fierce backlash inside Whitehall. Senior officials in the Home Office have privately warned that the database scheme is impractical, disproportionate and potentially unlawful. The revolt last week forced Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, to delay announcing plans for the database until next year.
Interpol Details Plans For Global Biometric Facial Scan Database
http://www.infowars.net/articles/october2008/201008facial.htm
Global security authorities are to push for a huge biometric facial scan database of international travelers so they can cross-check everyone against a database of terror suspects, international criminals and fugitives.
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, is planning to expand its role into the mass screening of passengers moving around the world by creating a face recognition database to catch wanted suspects, reports the London Guardian.
The database will hold the records of every citizen who has ever traveled in and out of the virtually every country in the world, representing intelligence agency style bulk interception of information and sounding alarm bells for civil liberties groups.
Two months ago we reported on the moves underway to phase out passport control officers at airports and replace them with biometric face scanning cameras. The automated face recognition gates match passengers to a digital image stored on a microchip in the new e-passports.
Interpol wants a facial database to be linked into this technology and used in conjunction with its already existing fingerprint and DNA databases, according to Mark Branchflower, head of Interpol's fingerprint unit.
We have previously noted that the vast array of databases currently being employed by intelligence agencies, government and law enforcement agencies worldwide were designed to be linked together in a system which will tie in the management and control of all facets of life for citizens to one central hub.
Earlier this year we reported on the announcement of a vast intelligence program to establish a global biometric database known as "Server in the Sky" that will collate and provide an " International Information Consortium" with access to the biometric measurements and personal information of citizens across the globe in the name of fighting the "war on terror".
As reported by the London Guardian, the plan is being formulated by the FBI with the cooperation of the home offices and law enforcement agencies of American allies. The technology is being supplied by the US defense company Northrop Grumman.
Furthermore, the use of such technology, as we have already seen, will not be limited to the passport control office.
A 2007 British government report muted an extensive upgrade to cctv systems all across the country to incorporate facial scanning technology. The report suggested a central database of every camera and a network allowing access to it could be beneficial.
In the US there are several schemes that use Facial Recognition Technology in conjunction with Federal agencies, tying the technology to traditional documents such as drivers licenses, passports and credit cards.
A biometric face recognition system has already been approved in China and is expected to be used at airports, customs entrances, banks, post offices, residential areas and other public places in the near future.
Other proposals include placing the cameras in every seat on aircraft and installing software to try and automatically detect terrorists or other dangers caused by passengers.
We are assured that cigarette vending machines will employ the technology in order to enforce smoking laws. Similarly, supermarkets in the UK have already started trialing the technology with the justification being a crackdown on underage drinking.
In Japan facial scanning cameras are being installed in train and bus stations to replace tickets in a move to make the individual features of the face a "unique bar code" as part of an antiterrorism and anticrime initiative.
Police in Tokyo are also asking home and shop owners to mount the cameras outside their properties. "Police investigating an incident in the neighborhood would have access to these images." according to reports.
Cell phones and computers are now also being produced with face scanning cameras.
Jewish Graves Vandalized in Romanina
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/470551.aspx
CBNNews.com - BUCHAREST, Romania - Romanian officials reported Thursday that 200 graves and 100 monuments were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in southern Bucharest.
Paul Schwartz, spokesman for Romania's small Jewish community of 6,000 mostly elderly Jews, called the desecration "the worst act of vandalism in the nation in recent times."
In a press statement, Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu said Romania condemns the vandalism of the cemetery and all other anti-Semitic, xenophobic and racist acts.
Anti-Semitic Literature at German Book Fair
Meanwhile, earlier this week, the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote a letter to Germany's Frankfurt Book Fair director, pointing out that for the sixth consecutive year, the event has served as a venue for dispensing anti-Semitic literature.
Though organizers of the book fair vowed to scrutinize the content of books more closely, the phenomenon continues.
In past years, the Iranian and Syrian booths carried books with anti-Semitic content. At this year's fair, several Turkish booths offered conspiracy books alleging that Jews are the real leaders of Turkey, the U.S. and Iraqi Kurdistan.
In an official booth of the Turkish government, several publications claimed that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and Bulent Arinc, co-founder of the country's Justice and Development party, all had Jewish roots.
Book covers featured photos of the three Turkish leaders surrounded by Stars of David.
"Hit a Jew Day"
In a separate incident in the States, students at a St. Louis middle school face punishment for hitting Jewish classmates in what was dubbed, "Hit a Jew Day."
The incident, which took place in Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield, Missouri, was an outgrowth of "Spirit Week."
It began with "Hug a Friend Day," then "High Five Day," followed by "Hit a Tall Person Day," and wound up with "Hit a Jew Day."
According to school district officials, only a small group of children were directly involved, but others taunted from the sidelines, egging on their classmates.
"There is a mix of sadness and outrage," district spokesman Paul Tandy said. "The concern is that a lot of kids knew about it and they didn't take action or say anything," he said.
World ill-prepared for next flu pandemic: UN
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUMphp3DVUGam1PKiUGro0hIKpuA
Despite widespread awareness of the risks of the next flu pandemic, the world needs to drastically improve cooperation in preparing for what would be a major global crisis, a UN report said Tuesday.
The report by the United Nations and the World Bank said that while most countries are planning for a flu pandemic, the worry was that "many plans have not been tested and may well fail once the next influenza pandemic starts."
"Coming on the heels of a World Bank study suggesting that the economic cost of a pandemic could top a staggering three trillion dollars, this continuing lack of preparedness remains a cause of concern," it noted.
According to the World Bank, a flu pandemic of moderate intensity could cut global gross domestic product by two percent, while a severe flu pandemic would slash global gross domestic product by nearly five percent, or more than three trillion dollars.
The report said that even a mild flu pandemic might kill 1.4 million people worldwide, while the death toll from a severe global outbreak could reach 70 million.
"Considering that pandemic preparedness was largely unaddressed by the world's nations three years ago, the widespread awareness and action seen today is a major achievement," said David Nabarro, a Briton who is the UN System influenza coordinator.
"But more needs to be done to ensure that we are ready for this kind of major global crisis," he added.
He made the remarks ahead of an international ministerial conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza scheduled for Friday to Sunday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The parley is to review global progress and plan future efforts for pandemic preparedness and bird flu control.
No countries reported new infections of their poultry by the H5N1 bird flu virus in the first nine months of 2008, as compared with four in the same period last year, the UN report said.
Nabarro noted that the bird flu virus was entrenched only in two countries: Egypt and Indonesia.
The study also pointed out that only 20 countries which have previously reported infections experienced outbreaks between January and September 2008, down from 25 in the same period last year.
It added that to date 245 people have died of bird flu.
"The pace of sporadic human infections and deaths from H5N1 has slowed since last year, with 28 confirmed deaths in 2008 compared to 59 in 2007, but the threat of an influenza pandemic remains," it added.
The UN is coordinating a drive by governments, donors, international agencies and corporations to stop the spread of bird flu while preparing for a fast-spreading human influenza pandemic.
There have been three such pandemics in the past century.
Closer global integration needed: Blair
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=828e0810-21f2-4dcd-95d1-7616398857fe
MONTREAL - Any impulse to retreat from a globalized economic system would be exactly the wrong response to the current worldwide financial crisis, warns former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair.
Blair - whose successor, Gordon Brown, is being hailed as the architect of a financial rescue plan largely copied in the U.S. and other industrial nations - told the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal that the crisis demonstrates the need for closer global integration, not less.
Those who would pull back from global trade and financial flows are taking the wrong lesson from the banking and credit tumult, Blair said, because globalization is "a fact, not driven by governments, but by people." The challenge facing governments is to make it work better, he said.
Blair asked a rhetorical question: "Why is it that irresponsible lending in one area suddenly produces a convulsion in the world economy?" Because, he answered, all countries are now so closely linked that it isn't realistic to imagine withdrawing from the risks and benefits of globalization.
However, unlike some commentators who focus on the need for internationally co-ordinated regulatory constraints on business, Blair also pointed to the dangers of too much regulation.
There must clearly be globally synchronized financial regulation "where there is systemic risk," Blair said, referring to the kinds of risks that can go beyond one bank or institution to endanger the whole financial system. A recent example was the collapse of Lehman Bros., a leading U.S. investment bank, which triggered a collapse in confidence that bank obligations would be honoured and greatly worsened stresses on financial institutions.
However, Blair insisted that such new regulation must not be so heavy-handed that it stifles the entrepreneurship that he described as the heart of any successful economy.
Blair's comments about the financial crisis were part of a broader perspective on a more closely knit world in which, he warned, no serious challenge, from climate change to terrorism, can be dealt with successfully without close international co-operation.
Partnered with the theme of global interdependence was one of power shifting inevitably toward Asia, leaving the big Western powers with a limited window of opportunity to help define the nature of a new world order.
"Power is shifting East, and shifting East fast," Blair said.
He noted that in meetings with Chinese leaders during this summer's Olympic Games, he learned that China is now building more power stations than have been created in Europe since the Second World War and planning to open no fewer than 70 new international airports. India will soon be in a position to achieve similar spectacular growth, he said.
The lesson of this gigantic power shift, Blair said, is that the West can no longer dominate the world through sheer economic and military strength.
Instead of dictating, it must seek to persuade through the power of universal values: freedom, democracy and justice.
And to be persuasive in enshrining such values in global institutions, it must be true to them - working harder, for instance, to solve the problems of disease, hunger and poverty in the poorest nations.
Brown, who is now the official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a group including the United Nations, the U.S, the U.K. and Russia, offered another example from his current work.
If there were to be a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said, this would be the most powerful influence imaginable in creating healthier relations between the West and the Islamic world.
Brown was speaking at Montreal's Palais des congres, at an event sponsored by the TD Bank Financial Group.
Middle East quartet may meet soon - Russia's Lavrov
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-36064620081020
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators may meet in early November with Israeli and Palestinian participation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
The so-called Quartet of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations has been attempting to breath life into the stalled peace process.
"It would be natural that such a meeting should be held in the Middle East region. At the present time, the conversation is to conduct this meeting in the first half of November," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
Lavrov said the meeting would take place at ministerial level, Interfax quoted him as saying. Lavrov is on an official visit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Armenia.
Israeli and Palestinian diplomats have been attempting to negotiate a peace deal that could be finalised before U.S. President George W. Bush steps down in January, though both sides now doubt an agreement can be reached in this timeframe.
During the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 26, the Quartet issued a statement saying it favoured holding an international meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in Moscow next year.
EU's Solana targets deal with Syria next year
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iY0Myfr2LVY8B_bGRDeM4dv1954w
DAMASCUS (AFP) — EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana held talks on Thursday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the Middle East peace process and regional issues, highlighting improved ties between them.
Solana and Assad discussed bolstering links between Syria and the European Union and they agreed "to pursue consultations on regional and international issues," official news agency SANA said.
"Syrian-European ties continue to make progress," Solana said, according to SANA. He voiced hope that both sides might next year sign an "association" agreement.
The EU has signed such a deal with other Mediterranean countries in a bid to pave the way for the creation of a free trade agreement in 2010.
Solana said the EU "strongly supports" the Middle east peace process and is trying to play a constructive role," SANA reported.
"The EU totally backs the indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel," he said. Since May, Syria has been engaged in indirect peace talks with Israel under Turkish mediation.
SANA quoted Assad as saying Europe's "role in the peace process is important and essential.
"Peace guarantees security and stability to the people of the region and this reflects positively on Europe and the world."
Solana's visit to Damascus is his first since March 2007, when his trip signaled a resumption of EU contacts with Damascus frozen after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese figures blamed Syria for the murder but Damascus has repeatedly denied any involvement.
In March 2007, Solana urged Syria, the former powerbroker in Lebanon, to help ease a protracted crisis in Lebanon.
His return to Damascus comes after Syria and Lebanon formally established diplomatic ties on October 15, for the first time since independence 60 years ago.
Speaking to reporters after his talks with Assad, the EU diplomat praised the "importance of developments which recently occurred in Lebanon," namely the setting up of diplomatic ties between Beirut and Damascus, SANA reported.
Ultraconservative Islam on rise in Mideast
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/19/ultraconservative-islam-on-rise-in-mideast/
The Muslim call to prayer fills the halls of a Cairo computer shopping center, followed immediately by the click of locking doors as the young, bearded tech salesmen close shop and line up in rows to pray.
Business grinding to a halt for daily prayers is not unusual in conservative Saudi Arabia, but until recently it was rare in the Egyptian capital, especially in affluent commercial districts like Mohandiseen, where the mall is located.
But nearly the entire three-story mall is made up of computer stores run by Salafis, an ultraconservative Islamic movement that has grown dramatically across the Middle East in recent years.
"We all pray together," said Yasser Mandi, a salesman at the Nour el-Hoda computer store. "When we know someone who is good and prays, we invite them to open a shop here in this mall." Even the name of Mandi's store is religious, meaning "Light of Guidance."
Critics worry that the rise of Salafists in Egypt, as well as in other Arab countries such as Jordan and Lebanon, will crowd out the more liberal and tolerant version of Islam long practiced there. They also warn that the doctrine is only a few shades away from that of violent groups like al-Qaida _ that it effectively preaches "Yes to jihad, just not now."
In the broad spectrum of Islamic thought, Salafism is on the extreme conservative end. Saudi Arabia's puritanical Wahhabi interpretation is considered its forerunner, and Saudi preachers on satellite TV and the Internet have been key to its Salafism's spread.
Salafist groups are gaining in numbers and influence across the Middle East. In Jordan, a Salafist was chosen as head of the old-guard opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood. In Kuwait, Salafists were elected to parliament and are leading the resistance to any change they believe threatens traditional Islamic values.
The gains for Salafists are part of a trend of turning back to conservatism and religion after nationalism and democratic reform failed to fulfill promises to improve people's lives. Egypt has been at the forefront of change in both directions, toward liberalization in the 1950s and '60s and back to conservatism more recently.
The growth of Salafism is visible in dress. In many parts of Cairo women wear the "niqab," a veil which shows at most the eyes rather than the "hijab" scarf that merely covers the hair. The men grow their beards long and often shave off mustaches, a style said to imitate the Prophet Muhammad.
The word "salafi" in Arabic means "ancestor," harking back to a supposedly purer form of Islam said to have been practiced by Muhammad and his companions in the 7th century. Salafism preaches strict segregation of the sexes and resists any innovation in religion or adoption of Western ways seen as immoral.
"When you are filled with stress and uncertainty, black and white is very good, it's very easy to manage," said Selma Cook, an Australian convert to Islam who for more than a decade described herself as a Salafi.
"They want to make sure everything is authentic," said Cook, who has moved away from Salafist thought but still works for Hoda, a Cairo-based Salafi satellite channel.
In most of the region, Salafism has been a purely social movement calling for an ultraconservative lifestyle. Most Salafis shun politics _ in fact, many argue that Islamic parties like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinians' Hamas are too willing to compromise their religion for political gain.
Its preachers often glorify martyrdom and jihad _ or holy war _ but always with the caveat that Muslims should not launch jihad until their leaders call for it. The idea is that the decision to overturn the political order is up to God, not the average citizen.
But critics warn that Salafis could easily slide into violence. In North Africa, some already have _ the Algerian Salafi Group for Call and Combat has allied itself with al-Qaida and is blamed for bombings and other attacks. Small pockets of Salafis in northern Lebanon and Gaza have also taken up weapons and formed jihadi-style groups.
"I am afraid that this Salafism may be transferred to be a jihadi Salafism, especially with the current hard socio-economic conditions in Egypt," says Khalil El-Anani, a visiting scholar at Washington's Brookings Institution.
The Salafi way contrasts with the Islam long practiced in Egypt. Here the population is religious but with a relatively liberal slant. Traditionally, Egyptian men and women mix rather freely and Islamic doctrine has been influenced by local, traditional practices and an easygoing attitude to moral foibles.
But Salafism has proved highly adaptable, appealing to Egypt's wealthy businessmen, the middle class and even the urban poor _ cutting across class in an otherwise rigidly hierarchical society.
In Cairo's wealthy enclaves of Maadi and Nasr City, robed, upper-class Salafis drive BMWs to their engineering firms, while their wives stay inside large homes surrounded by servants and children.
Sara Soliman and her businessman husband, Ahmed el-Shafei, both received the best education Egypt had to offer, first at a German-run school, then at the elite American University in Cairo. But they have now chosen the Salafi path.
"We were losing our identity. Our identity is Islamic," 27-year-old Soliman said from behind an all-covering black niqab as she sat with her husband in a Maadi restaurant.
"In our (social) class, none of us are brought up to be strongly practicing," added el-Shafei, also 27, in American-accented English, a legacy of a U.S. boyhood. Now, he and his wife said, they live Islam as "a whole way of life," rather than just a set of obligations such as daily prayers and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
A dozen satellite TV channels, most Saudi-funded, are perhaps Salafism's most effective vehicle. They feature conservative preachers, call-in advice shows and discussion programs on proper Islamic behavior.
Cairo's many Salafist mosques are packed on Fridays. Outside Shaeriyah mosque, a bookstall featured dozens of cassettes by Mohammed Hasaan, a prolific conservative preacher who sermonizes on the necessity of jihad and the injustices inflicted on Muslims.
Alongside the cassettes, a book titled "The Sinful Behaviors of Women" displayed lipstick, playing cards, perfumes and cell phones on the cover. Another was titled "The Excesses of American Hubris."
Critics of Salafism say it has spread so quickly in part because the Egyptian and Saudi governments encouraged it as an apolitical, nonviolent alternative to hard-line jihadi groups.
These critics warn that the governments are playing with fire _ that Salafism creates an environment that breeds extremism. Al-Qaida continues to try to draw Salafists into jihad, and its No. 2, the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri, praised Salafists in an Internet statement in April, urging them to take up arms.
"The Salafi line is not that jihad is not a good thing, it is just not a good thing right now," said Richard Gauvain, a lecturer in comparative religion at the American University in Cairo.
The Salafis' talk of eventual jihad focuses on fighting Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, not on overthrowing pro-U.S. Arab governments denounced by al-Qaida. Most Salafi clerics preach loyalty to their countries' rulers and some sharply denounce al-Qaida.
Egypt, with Saudi help, sought to rehabilitate jailed Islamic militants, in part by providing them with Salafi books. Critics say President Hosni Mubarak's government sees the Salafists as a counterweight to the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.
The political quietism of the Salafis and their injunctions to always obey the ruler are too good an opportunity for established Arab rulers to pass up, said novelist Alaa Aswani, one of the most prominent critics of rising conservatism in Egypt.
"That was a kind of Christmas present for the dictators because now they can rule with both the army and the religion," he said.
The new wave of conservatism is not inevitable, Aswani maintains, noting that his books _ including his most popular, "The Yacoubian Building" _ have risque themes and condemnations of conservatives, and yet are best-sellers in Egypt.
"The battle is not over, because Egypt is too big to be fitting in this very, very little, very small vision of a religion," he said.
Barak: Israel giving serious thought to Saudi peace plan
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1029855.html
Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak said Sunday that Israeli leaders have been discussing pursuing a comprehensive Saudi peace plan, an initiative touted by the moderate Arab elements across the Middle East.
Barak told Army Radio on Sunday that with individual negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians making little headway, it may be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region.
"There is room in the Israeli coalition for the Saudi initiative," he said. "We have a mutual interest with moderate Arab elements on the issues of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas."
The defense minister President Shimon Peres is in agreement with such consideration and he has spoken about the matter with Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni about the matter as well.
While outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has welcomed the Saudi plan, he and other leaders want to keep small parts of the territories captured in 1967.
Israel also objects to language in the Saudi plan that appears to endorse a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees to lands inside Israel. Israel says a massive influx of Palestinians would destroy the country's Jewish character.
Peres proposed merging Israel's various peace talks into one track last month at the United Nations. In a speech to the General Assembly, he called on Saudi King Abdullah to further his initiative. He has since been pushing the idea in meeting with Israeli, Arab and Western officials, his office said.
In Sunday's interview, Barak said he was in full agreement with Peres, and had discussed the peace plan with Livni as well.
"I had the impression that there is indeed an openness to explore any path, including this one," he said of his talks with Livni.
Barak said Israel had to tread lightly, though, so as not to appear to be coming from a position of patronage to the entire Arab world.
"We are one of the players and it is proper that we introduce an initiative," he said. Livni's office refused to comment on her talks with Barak.
The Saudi peace initiative was first proposed in 2002. It offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat noted that pursuing the Saudi peace initiative did not necessarily undermine the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians and he encouraged Israel to pursue this track.
"I think Israel should have done this since 2002. It is the most strategic initiative that came from the Arab world since 1948," he said. "I urge them to revisit this initiative and to go with it because it will shorten the way to peace."
Arab foreign ministers reendorsed the proposal at an Arab League summit in Damascus in March. The ratification included the declaration that advancement of the plans would depend on whether Israel fulfills its commitment to international agreements.
"The continuation by the Arab side to present the Arab peace initiative is tied to Israel executing its commitments in the framework of international resolutions to achieve peace in the region," a Damascus declaration said.
Arab officials have said that withdrawing the peace plan is not an option and in public they have not proposed alternatives.
Mubarak: Blame Hamas, not Egypt, over Schalit
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017599427&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak defended his government's mediation efforts to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit at a private meeting with President Shimon Peres Thursday at this Sinai resort, where the two affirmed the need for a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
The Egyptian president, who greeted Peres at the airport and brought several members of his cabinet with him, said the meeting had been constructive, while Peres called the talks "good and deep."
The two elder statesmen focused on Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, the four-month truce between Gaza terrorists and the Jewish state, and "lifting the siege" on the residents of Gaza, Mubarak said. He told journalists Egypt's efforts had succeeded in securing the truce in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt, he added, was continuing to exert efforts to release both Schalit and Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
Asked whether the inability to free Schalit reflected a failure on the part of Egyptian mediation efforts, Mubarak strongly defended his country's involvement in the issue.
"We have not failed. If there was a failure, it's a failure on the other side," he said, apparently referring to Hamas, which has been holding Schalit for more than two years. "And the Israeli side knows full well that we are working for the release of Schalit."
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said Thursday that although there were some governmental voices expressing frustration with Egypt for not being able to mediate a deal for Schalit, this was not the consensus.
One of those critical of Egypt's efforts told The Jerusalem Post that Egypt could, if it wanted to, give Hamas an ultimatum and say that if Schalit were not released, Egypt would ensure that the tunnels from Egypt to Gaza were closed.
"Hamas is living off those tunnels," the source said. "That is how supplies are getting in, and if the tunnels were closed, their situation would be much worse. Egypt could be doing much more."
But a senior Foreign Ministry official said the ministry had no grievance against Cairo in the handling of the matter, and that Egyptian officials had said lately that the problem was that Hamas did not consider it in their interest to make a deal for Schalit at this time.
Following Thursday's meeting, Mubarak also said that the Middle East was going through a number of crises and facing new tensions, making it even more important to bring about a full, comprehensive peace to establish stability and security in the region.
Egypt and the other 21 states of the Arab League have endorsed a plan which offers Israel recognition by the Arab world in exchange for lands captured during the 1967 war.
Peres said he supported the idea of the Arab peace initiative to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the region. While there have been difficulties in negotiating with the Palestinians, he said, a comprehensive approach would help to further resolve the Palestinian issue.
"We are conducting negotiations with the Palestinians," Peres said. "Not all problems have been resolved, but the differences of opinion have diminished considerably, and this inspires optimism."
Peres added that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is in the process of forming a new coalition government and could become the next prime minister, was fully aware of the range of issues he had brought up.
Egyptian officials welcomed Thursday's meeting, noting that while the two leaders had met before, the timing was particularly significant.
"This is an opportunity to find out more about the Israeli position at a crucial juncture," said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki in a phone interview Thursday.
Israel, he said, "will soon have a new government, the United States will usher in a new administration, and rival Palestinian factions have agreed to conduct talks in November in Cairo. Arabs have a peace initiative, and Israel is finally recognizing the need for such an initiative and the need to deal on the basis of such an initiative with the Arab world. This is a welcome development."
Zaki said the Arab initiative offered Israel a clear way out of the conflict.
"It tells Israel that you give up territory, you give back Arab [land], Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese; you give them back their rights and all of the Arab countries will normalize their relations with you and you will become a full-fledged member of this region," he said.
As for Schalit, Zaki said that Egypt had offered its assistance and both parties had expressed their desire for Egypt to continue its role. In order for a deal to be reached, "each side" should show more flexibility, he said, declining to elaborate. "We have to be able to finish this issue as soon as we can."
Some Egyptian analysts say the Peres-Mubarak meeting might even help boost the long-stalled peace process.
In addition to the prospect of new governments in America and Israel, Labor leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently indicated his support of the Arab peace initiative, and Israel is conducting indirect negotiations with Syria.
"If we add the road map, the Annapolis conference, and the Arab initiative, we have good ingredients to launch the process," said Abdel Monem Said Aly, director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "After the American elections early next year, it should not be delayed. This meeting between Mr. Peres and Mr. Mubarak - the two eldest and wisest politicians in the Middle East - with this material in hand, it could be helpful to the peace process."
Egypt drafts Palestinian unity paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49J6JZ20081020?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
Egypt on Monday called on rival Palestinian factions to form a unity government and restructure their security forces in a bid to end hostilities that have undermined efforts to reach a statehood deal.
Cairo presented a four-page proposal, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and Islamist Hamas, outlining steps the groups should take to end their power struggle.
Egypt also said Abbas should continue peace talks with Israel but that any deal needs approval from a national referendum or the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which it said should be restructured to include all factions, including Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction.
Egypt drafted the proposal after a series of talks with 13 Palestinian factions and it will be discussed when the groups meet again in Cairo on November 9.
Previous Arab-led initiatives have failed to reconcile the bitter rivals and initial reactions by the groups cast doubt on whether any deal can be reached.
The Egyptian proposal calls for the immediate formation of a Palestinian unity government and an agreement on when to hold national elections.
A previous unity government collapsed after Hamas routed Fatah forces to take control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Abbas sacked the Hamas-led government and appointed a Western-backed administration in the occupied West Bank where Fatah holds sway.
The groups also disagree on when to hold new elections with Fatah calling for both presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in 2010 and Hamas saying Abbas's term ends in January 2009. Cairo's proposal calls for simultaneous elections.
Egypt said that Hamas and Fatah security forces, which have frequently fought each other, should be removed from factional politics and be operated at a national level.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas would accept the proposal "after some amendments are made and some clarifications are given" without giving any details.
Fatah officials said they accept the Egyptian proposal but ask for the two additions. They said any transitional government should be committed to past PLO agreements, a demand routinely rejected by Hamas, and that Abbas and the PLO remain solely responsible for holding peace talks with Israel.
Israel mulling non-aggression treaty with Lebanon
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1029933.html
The Foreign Ministry is examining an initiative aimed at reaching a long-term non-belligerence pact with Lebanon to prevent renewed fighting along the northern border.
The initiative was first revealed two weeks ago during a strategic discussion over the future of the Middle East peace process that was held as part of the ministry's evaluation of regional developments.
The evaluation is the first of its kind, and was initiated by ministry director-general Aharon Abramovich, and later supported by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Livni's close advisers and senior ministry officials participated in the discussion. Given the officials' close relationship with Livni, the evaluation's recommendations are likely to turn into official policy should she succeed in forming a government.
Eran Etzion, the head of the Foreign Ministry's political planning section, said a full peace agreement with Lebanon can only come in the wake of a similar deal with Syria. Still, he said, Israel can try to advance on a separate political track with Lebanon, the end result of which could be a long-term non-belligerence pact.
The agreement would be signed by both governments, and its focus would be a reciprocal agreement on the route of the border between the two countries. The deal would include a solution to the dispute over the Shaba Farms border area and the divided village of Ghajar, as well as a number of small border adjustments demanded by Lebanon.
The recommendation would provide for a coordination apparatus between the Israel Defense Forces and the Lebanese army, as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) over border patrols and other monitoring activities.
Israel is expected to ask Lebanon to significantly reduce Hezbollah's weapons stores, and to extend the Lebanese army's authority across the entire country, with a special emphasis on the area south of the Litani River, which is the closest area to Israel. In return, an agreement would have to be reached over Israeli over flights in Lebanese airspace.
The discussion also dealt with the Syrian and Palestinian diplomatic tracks, and officials present argued over which track should receive first priority.
Those in favor of dealing with Syria first agreed that the only tenable option on that track would involve negotiations over a final-status agreement with an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Supporters of this strategy said an agreement with Syria would be easier to reach than with the Palestinians, the chances for its success are greater and the strategic dividend Israel would receive is bigger. They also said such a deal would greatly change the balance of power in the region by removing the threat posed to Israel by the Syrian army, placing distance between Damascus and Iran and possibly engendering a deal with Lebanon.
Supporters of the "Palestinians first" strategy argued, however, that without solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jerusalem will be unable to advance peace talks with even a single moderate Arab state.
One official subscribing to this view said, "Every Arab person we talk to says the central issue that bothers him, and that they give priority to over everything else, is the Palestinian issue."
Christian leader urges Islamic control of Temple Mount
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78736
A top Christian Palestinian leader here yesterday urged Islamic control of the Temple Mount while claiming Israel was threatening the site's famous Al Aqsa Mosque.
"Regarding threats against the Al Aqsa Mosque from fanatic Jews, what is threatening you is threatening Christians. One who is attacking you is attacking Christians. We are one family and one people, and we belong to the Palestinian national cause," said Attallah Hanna, archbishop of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Church is regarded by Orthodox Christians as one of the most important churches in Christendom. It has 100,000 Christians followers in the Holy Land and is also one of the largest landowners in Israel.
Hanna was speaking to Islamic leaders yesterday gathered at the Al Aqsa Mosque.
He went on to urge the Waqf, the Mount's Muslim custodians, to "keep fighting and protect Jerusalem." He thanked them for maintaining the Mount as a sacred Islamic site.
His claim of Jewish threats to the mosque are not grounded in reality. Islamic leaders routinely use non-existent Jewish threats to the Temple Mount to incite followers against Israel.
Hanna himself is closely aligned with the Palestinian cause. He was previously dismissed from his church position after Israel accused him of directly aiding terror organizations. He has held public solidarity meetings with leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and appears regularly on Palestinian television urging children to engage in suicide attacks.
Holiest site
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. The First Jewish Temple was built there by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.
The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's shechina or "presence" dwelt. All Jewish holidays centered on worship at the Temple. The Jewish Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place for the Jewish people.
According to the Talmud, the world was created from the foundation stone of the Temple Mount. The site is believed to be the biblical Mount Moriah, the location where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Jewish tradition holds Mashiach, or the Jewish Messiah, will return and rebuild the third and final Temple on the Mount in Jerusalem.
The Kotel, or Western Wall, is the one part of the Temple Mount that survived the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans and stands today in Jerusalem.
Throughout all notorious Jewish exiles, thorough documentation shows the Jews never gave up their hope of returning to Jerusalem and re-establishing their Temple. To this day, Jews worldwide pray facing the Western Wall, while Muslims turn their backs away from the Temple Mount and pray toward Mecca.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph.
About 100 years ago, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem became associated with the place Muslims came to believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jerusalem, however, is not mentioned in the Quran.
Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque," and from a rock there ascended to heaven to receive revelations from Allah that became part of the Quran.
Palestinians today claim exclusivity over the Temple Mount, and Palestinian leaders routinely deny Jewish historic connection to the site, but historically, Muslims did not claim the Al Aqsa Mosque as their third holiest site and admitted the Jewish Temples existed.
According to research by Israeli author Shmuel Berkovits, Islam previously disregarded Jerusalem. He points out in his book "How Dreadful Is this Place!" that Muhammad was said to loathe Jerusalem and what it stood for. Berkovits wrote that Muhammad made a point of eliminating pagan sites of worship and sanctifying only one place – the Kaaba in Mecca – to signify the unity of God.
As late as the 14th century, Islamic scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, whose writings influenced the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, ruled that sacred Islamic sites are to be found only in the Arabian Peninsula and that "in Jerusalem, there is not a place one calls sacred, and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron."
It wasn't until the late 19th century – incidentally when Jews started immigrating to Palestine – that some Muslim scholars began claiming Muhammad tied his horse to the Western Wall and associated Muhammad's purported night journey with the Temple Mount. A,pa.A guide to the Temple Mount by the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem published in 1925 listed the Mount as the site of Solomon's Temple. The Temple Institute acquired a copy of the official 1925 "Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif," which states on page 4, "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord.'"
Palestinian murders Israeli octogenarian, injures border guard in Jerusalem suburb
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5671
The assailant stabbed a Police Border Guardsman who found him loitering around schools on Vardinon Street at the center of the southern Jerusalem suburb of Gilo. He then set upon 86-year old Avraham Ozri, a local resident, who died of his injuries later in hospital. A bystander wrestled the assailant to the ground after the injured policeman shot him and handed him into custody.
Riots greeted police and Shin Bet officers who arrived later at the terrorist’s village near the West Bank town of Bethlehem to search for accomplices. Eight Palestinians were injured in clashes and several arrested.
Family Says Stabbing Victim 'Salt of the Earth'
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/470560.aspx
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Friends and family of Avraham Ozeri, 86, who died after being stabbed yesterday in Jerusalem, described him as "the salt of the earth."
"My father was a man whom everyone loved and who never wronged a single person," said the victim's son, Amos.
Ozeri, who was widowed 10 years ago, was on his way home after doing some errands when 20-year-old Mohammed al-Badan stabbed him in the chest.
Al-Badan, a resident of the Arab village of Tekoa near Bethlehem, had been approached by policeman Daniel Motza and his female partner, Officer Elmadan, for a routine check when he pulled out a large knife and attacked the male officer before fleeing, stabbing Ozeri on his way.
While Elmadan radioed for help, Motza managed to shoot the attacker as he fled. Two civilians gave chase, catching up and holding him at gunpoint until reinforcements arrived.
Al-Badan is recovering from moderate wounds at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.
Later, an IDF unit, which entered Tekoa to investigate near the al-Badan's home, found themselves under attack by an estimated at 125 rioters.
Hamas officials called the attack a "natural response" to Israeli aggression and efforts to make Jerusalem more Jewish.
Thursday's incident is the eighth attack in recent months in the nation's capital.
Israel: 'We're in the midst of preparing the home front for war'
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1222017555413
According to Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, the country is in one of the most complicated and dangerous periods of its history. And though he does not believe that Israel can be "wiped off the map," in spite of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats, he is increasingly concerned about the current political instability here, which he blames for delays in projects he deems essential, such as the revamping of the Home Front.
This week Vilnai gave The Jerusalem Post a lengthy interview, during which he covered a wide range of topics, from Labor's coalition talks with Kadima, to how Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is a target, to the danger of holding public demonstrations calling for the release of Gilad Schalit.
The former deputy chief of General Staff and deputy commander of the elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal, says that the IDF is at a most critical juncture. It is the only military in the world, he explains, that needs to be ready at any given moment to fight a guerrilla war in Lebanon, a terror war in the West Bank and a conventional war with Syria, and confront a possible existential threat from Iran.
Since taking up his post just over a year ago, Vilnai, 64, has been immersed in establishing the National Emergency Administration (NEA), which he founded to coordinate among all of the various emergency services, in the event of a missile onslaught. This is necessary, he says, because one of the problems encountered during the Second Lebanon War was that the cabinet had to meet several times to discuss how to get food to shelters in the North. But "the cabinet needs to run the war."
How do you view Israel's current strategic position in the Middle East?
There are existential threats today coming from farther away. The additional complication when dealing with Islamic radical terror is that the war is not just against terrorists, but against a population. In Gaza, you can hit Hamas, but it does not hurt Hamas, since the people there support Hamas. This is the same in Lebanon, where the civilian population supports Hizbullah. This makes the conflict much more complicated. As a result, what is needed is a combined military-diplomatic solution, as well as alliances with other countries.
Is there still a conventional threat?
It exists, and we need to prepare for it, so we can retain capabilities required for war with Syria, like on Yom Kippur exactly 35 years ago. We also need to retain the ability to fight Hizbullah and Iran over the horizon. Today, we need to know how to do different things [simultaneously], and this is difficult challenge. I can't remember such a complicated period in my 40 years in the defense establishment.
What poses the greatest threat?
The state of Israel. Establishing a new government is necessary for stability. The fact that the government changes every two years weakens us. A ministry that starts everything from scratch every two years cannot get anything done.
Are there ongoing processes in the Defense Ministry that will be harmed in the event that general elections are held now?
The change in regime harms and weakens us, and I believe it is of the utmost importance to continue with the same government today.
We are in the midst of preparing the home front for war and this is something that the government has spoken about for decades, but never dealt with or regulated properly. If we change the leadership of the Defense Ministry, I don't know what will happen. If we don't continue what we have been doing here for another two years, it will all go to waste.
What, for example?
The NEA and the annual home front exercises we started. I fear that if we aren't here, everything will go back to the way it was in the beginning. We need continuity.
What is the concept behind the NEA?
The responsibility for the home front has always been in the hands of the municipalities or the local and regional councils, but for years they shirked this responsibility. The concept behind the NEA is for the government offices and services to assist them. The IDF, Israel Police, Fire and Rescue Service, Magen David Adom, the Interior, Welfare and Health ministries will all work for the mayors and regional council heads to make sure that life continues, even during wartime.
The cabinet does not need to meet to discuss food distribution to bomb shelters. A mayor with the right assistance can do this on his or her own.
What will the next war look like?
The home front will be the main front of the war, whether it is missiles from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or Iran.
Can Israel live with a nuclear Iran?
Israel has the strong advantage of being a resilient nation which has been through wars - and an intifada with buses blowing up. We know how to soldier on like no other country in the world.
I don't believe that Israel can just disappear from the map. There were times like that in the 1950s, when we were a young and small nation. I don't accept the definition of Iran as an existential threat in the sense that Israel will disappear. I do, however, believe that we can get hit and be weakened. They can try to hit us hard, and the IDF is the only military in the world that cannot afford to lose even a single war, since doing so would be a dramatic change in the state of Israel.
But the Iranian threat is not just our problem, but that of the entire free world. I was in Germany for a meeting last week and told people there that Iran should be their main focus. We need an economic siege on Iran. There are not only military solutions to threats.
Is there time for sanctions to work?
Time is against us, but I have no doubt that strong and serious sanctions could work. If the entire free world decides to stop the economic flow to Iran, it will have the desired effect. Iran is a country that is connected to the world, not like Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
Nevertheless, can Israel live alongside a nuclear Iran?
As a rule, we can't allow Iran to obtain this capability. Currently, we need to invest all our efforts in preventing it from achieving that capability. We are doing this and the US is doing this, but the entire world is not with us.
When you say we can't allow Iran to achieve nuclear capability, is military force one option for preventing it?
Everything needs to be seriously deliberated. I am not in favor of making warlike declarations, but I think that everything needs to be considered, so we can determine the right course of action. Military force has always been a continuation of diplomacy by other means. This was said by [Prussian military theorist Carl von] Clausewitz.
Why does the world not join the economic campaign against Iran?
Everyone thinks the threat is not against them. They also think in the short term, and look at the profits they are making from deals with Iran, and they think what is happening there will not affect them.
How much time is there?
I believe that 2009 and 2010 will be the critical years. There may be more time, but I think there is less. Two years is a short time for what we are dealing with.
What is going on with the gas masks?
There is a budget disagreement with the Treasury. Most of the masks have already been refurbished, and there is a plan for a civilian company to return them to people at home. However, we will not distribute to everyone at once. We will start with threatened areas - like the North and the center - and then move to other parts of the country. We had hoped to start in January, but did not receive the necessary budget. We went to the cabinet, and are waiting for the money. Hopefully, we will start to distribute in 2009.
Do we really need gas masks?
Yes. We need a protective room and a mask. This issue was studied by the NEA, and it was decided that this is the right protective envelope. We need them against capabilities that are in Syrian and Iranian hands. It is fairly easy to obtain this type of non-conventional capability, and the moment they know we have a protective envelope, they will think twice before using this capability. This serves as a deterrent against them.
Can there really be peace with Syria?
We need to break the axis of evil. It can be broken militarily, but the talks with Syria are meant to do this as well. Syria needs to cut off its ties with Iran. This is our condition, and this is the most important element. But it is not something that will happen immediately.
We saw other Syrian intentions with the nuclear facility that the air force destroyed last September.
I don't know what type of facility you are taking about, but that is why I said we need both elements - military and diplomatic.
It has been two years since the war in Lebanon, and Hizbullah is still building up weapons. Is there a possibility of another war?
They are scared of a war, and while they pretend to be heroic, Nasrallah has for the past two years been holed up inside a bunker.
Why? Is he a target?
Of course he is. He is an enemy of Israel, and he sees what happens to Israel's enemies. Hizbullah does not want another war. It doesn't want a repeat of the destruction we caused in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut. Hizbullah understands it cannot survive another war and grasps what our power is.
Hamas, too, is amassing weapons. What is happening with the Gaza cease-fire?
They are building up all the time. The question we need to ask is what the significance of the cease-fire is where the smuggling is concerned. The answer is that they are smuggling the same amount today as they were before the cease-fire.
The Egyptians are slowly improving their capabilities, and recently arrested Beduin in the Sinai who are connected to the tunnel industry. The Egyptians are an integral part of the Middle East, and peace with it has immense strategic importance for Israel. We would never have had contact with Hamas without the Egyptians.
That is why I thought there was no reason for the cease-fire not to succeed. There were many on the Palestinian side who wanted to end it, but they understand the importance, and if there is not a breakdown, there is no reason not to keep it going.
Do they have weaponry that they did not have before?
There is no doubt that they have extended their rocket range. If, before, they could fire a rocket 10 km., they can now reach 20 km. But they cannot defeat us with missiles. We will not let them expand their military capability, and we may need to use military force to stop this.
Israeli air force planning answer for missile war
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_israel0614_10_16.asp
The Israel Air Force has been preparing for massive missile strikes by Iran and Syria.
Officials said the air force has sought to enhance capabilities that would enable fighter-jets to take off and land during missile and rocket strikes from such countries as Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
They said the air force began the planning effort soon after the Hizbullah war in 2006, which paralyzed at least one major base.
"We believe that our air bases would be a key target in any war," an official said.
The air force has been testing material that would enable aircraft to take off from damaged runways. Officials said the military has procured an unidentified non-asphalt substance that could restore destroyed runways within minutes.
"The tests were successful and would allow combat aircraft to take-off and land even under terrible conditions," the official said.
Officials said the air force has determined that Hizbullah and Hamas would coordinate in an effort to paralyze bases throughout the country. They said Hizbullah would target northern air bases and Hamas would fire extended-range rockets toward bases south of Tel Aviv as well as in the Negev desert.
Another Israeli option has been the procurement of a vertical takeoff variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, known as the F-35B. Under the option, the air force would procure about 10 such aircraft to ensure rapid response to any missile strike on the Jewish state.
Officials said Israel's F-15I fighter-jet would serve as the most important element in any counter-strike. The air force has acquired a system that enables the F-15I — the most powerful aircraft in the Israeli fleet -- to launch several precision-guided weapons simultaneously.
Top Iran officials recommend preemptive strike against Israel
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1030279.html
Senior Tehran officials are recommending a preemptive strike against Israel to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear reactors, a senior Islamic Republic official told foreign diplomats two weeks ago in London.
The official, Dr. Seyed G. Safavi, said recent threats by Israeli authorities strengthened this position, but that as of yet, a preemptive strike has not been integrated into Iranian policy.
Safavi is head of the Research Institute of Strategic Studies in Tehran, and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The institute is directly affiliated with Khamenei's office and with the Revolutionary Guards, and advises both on foreign policy issues.
Safavi is also the brother of Yahya Rahim Safavi, who was the head of the Revolutionary Guards until a year ago and now is an adviser to Khamenei, and holds significant influence on security matters in the Iranian government.
An Israeli political official said senior Jerusalem officials were shown Safavi's remarks, which are considered highly sensitive. The source said the briefing in London dealt with a number of issues, primarily a potential Israeli attack on an Iranian reactor.
Safavi said a small, experienced group of officials is lobbying for a preemptive strike against Israel. "The recent Israeli declarations and harsh rhetoric on a strike against Iran put ammunition in these individuals' hands," he said.
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said in June that Israel would be forced to strike the Iranian nuclear reactor if Tehran continues to pursue its uranium enrichment program.
Safavi said Tehran recently drafted a new policy for responding to an Israeli or American attack on its nuclear facilities. While the previous policy called for attacks against Israel and American interests in the Middle East and beyond, the new policy is to target Israel alone.
He added that many Revolutionary Guard leaders want to respond to a U.S. attack on Iranian soil by striking Israel, as they believe Israel would be partner to any U.S. action.
Safavi said that Iran's nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes only, and that Khamenei recently released a fatwa against the use of weapons of mass destruction, though the contents of that religious ruling have not yet been publicized.
Regarding dialogue with the United States and the West, Safavi said Iran's decision would be influenced by the results of the U.S. presidential elections next month, as well as by the Iranian presidential elections in June and the economic situation in the Islamic Republic.
Safavi also said that a victory by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would pave the way for dialogue with Washington, while a John McCain presidency would bolster Iran's extreme right, which opposes dialogue. If conditions are favorable following the U.S. election, he said, Iran could draw back from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declaration that "the nuclear case is closed," and put it back on the agenda.
Safavi said he believed that U.S. sanctions on Iran have run their course, and that there would be no point in strengthening them. Tehran would therefore demand "firm and significant" U.S. measures in return for stopping uranium enrichment. He also said Ahmadinejad is not guaranteed victory in the June 2009 elections, particularly given the dire economic situation in Iran. Still, Iranian experts believe his only real competition is former president Mohammad Khatami, who has not yet joined the race.
Safavi said the inflation rate in Iran is similar to that before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but that unrest among civilians today is not as strong. This is because the current government uses oil revenues to help the poor, he said.
Large-scale Iranian Air force exercise simulates attack on Israel
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5651
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the drill in northern Iran, is Tehran’s rejoinder to Israel’s big aerial maneuver last June.
Then, more than 100 Israeli fighter-bombers went through their paces over the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, roughly the same distance from Israel as Iran.
Tehran’s media claim the exercise will test its air force’s ability to fly to Israel and back without refueling.
The exercise will also test the US-made FBX-T band anti-missile radar system delivered in September and installed at the IAF Nevatim air base in the Negev. The Iranians say they will be practicing their “state-of-the-art military equipment and flight tactics,” meaning an attempt to jam US and Israeli electronics and radar.
According to Iranian media, the entire range of Iran's fighter fleet will take part, including US-made F-4, F-5, F-7 and F-14 fighters and domestic Saegheh fighters. Mid-air refueling will be provided by Boeing 707 aerial tankers.
In mid-August, Iran's Air Force chief, Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, maintained that its antiquated fighter jet fleet had been overhauled and upgraded to fly distances of 3,000 kilometers without refueling. That would be more than double the distance between Iran and Israel.
That is why Tabriz, in Azerbaijan, at the northwestern corner of Iran, was picked as the starting point of the exercise. The official communiqué said the planes would be flying from air fields in Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz and Hamadan and Dezful.
Our military sources say that this means that the entire maneuver will take place over Iran and not venture out its air space. The planes will have to fly to Tabriz from bases in the south near the Pakistan border in order to replicate the more than 1,200 km distance between Iran and Israel.
The Iranian Air force also aims at deploying more than 100 warplanes for the exercise, matching the number Israel used in its maneuver four months ago.
Tehran has timed this large-scale drill for just weeks before the US presidential election on Nov. 4, in response to speculation rife in the West that Israel may use the window between the US election and the swearing-in of the new president in January for an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.
The Iranians aim to show they have a first and second strike capability - not just with ballistic missiles but also by aerial attack.
Financial Crisis Sparks Anti-Semitism
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/470484.aspx
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Blaming Jews for economic woes is far from a new phenomenon, so it's not surprising that the recent global financial crisis has unleashed a fresh round of anti-Semitism, no less lethal than it's been in the past.
Islamic terror groups - such as Hamas and Hezbollah - blamed Israel and the West for financial downturns worldwide.
"We see it as Allah's punishment for the criminals (U.S. and its Western allies)," Gaza-based Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh said.
"Nothing is more unjust than occupying an Islamic state. Nothing is more unjust than keeping the Palestinian people under occupation for over 60 years," he said.
Haniyeh, who may soon reunite with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, has never accepted Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. He has never envisioned two states living side-by-side in peace.
Even a cursory glance at the history of the modern State of Israel reveals the Jews' desire over the years to live in peace with their Arab neighbors.
But Islam wants no part of it.
Teheran-based Islamists said Zionist Jews intend to control the economy worldwide, pointing to Jews holding prominent positions in some of the world's largest financial institutions.
Many of these Jewish men have been targeted with hate mail by bloggers, Internet message boards and conspiracy theorists.
"The age-old canards about Jews and money are always just beneath the surface," Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman said in a report issued just after Wall Street's financial meltdown began.
"As we witnessed after 9/11, whenever there is trouble or uncertainty in the economy or world events, Jews become the scapegoats, and ugly anti-Semitic canards are given new life," he said.
Foxman said some Web sites "have gone so far as to resurrect Nazi-era propaganda, e.g., 'The Jewish Problem' or 'The Final Solution Two?'" - a reference to Adolph Hitler's rhetoric.
But what's really at the base of Jew hatred?
It's not just the financial crunch that looses the deep-seated, centuries-old animosity toward Jews.
What is it about Jews that fosters such hatred and why are evangelical Christians among the few genuine supporters of Israel and the Jewish people?
The answer is both simple and complex.
God chose the Jews as His covenant people - not because they had anything particular to recommend them. In fact, He Himself calls them "stubborn and stiff-necked." Nonetheless, He set them apart, called them to be a light to the nations.
And it is this very fact of being set apart - with different traditions, holidays, language and sometimes even clothing - that spawns the hatred.
The exponential growth of anti-Semitism in recent years should come as no surprise to those who believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.
Everyday we hear of wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places, pestilences, and famine.
And we're seeing Jerusalem becoming a "cup of trembling," with Muslims laying claim to the city that has been part of Jewish life for millennia.
We can take much comfort - and abide in the peace "that passes all understanding" - when we remember that God will do everything He has promised.
Israel and the Jewish people have a glorious future, beautifully foretold in Scripture.
At some point, maybe when the world least expects it, the God of Israel will arise to save His people. That's a fact that no economic crisis or hate-mongering can change.
Has the financial meltdown defused military options on Iran?
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49K6Q920081021
The global financial crisis has eclipsed Western jitters over Iran's nuclear program and may have put paid to the possibility of the United States or Israel resorting to preemptive military strikes.
To bomb Iranian sites now, diplomats and analysts say, would risk triggering an even more intolerable tumult should Tehran choke off oil exports -- something neither U.S. President George W. Bush nor his imminent successor looks likely to countenance.
With the U.N. Security Council in stalemate after Russia and China balked at initiatives to pass a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, Western powers may be forced to focus on diplomatic engagement and economic incentives instead.
That would leave Israel, which has vowed to deny Iran the means to threaten its existence, with a stark choice between launching unilateral attacks and being branded a warmonger or accepting the prospect of an arch-enemy with nuclear weaponry.
"We have made it clear that an offensive option against Iran is not something we want contemplated at this time," said a U.S. diplomat who has had extensive dealings with Israel.
Some analysts suggest Israel could strike after the November 4 U.S. election but before Barack Obama or John McCain becomes president in January, to avoid alienating American voters while capitalizing on the parting largesse of the Bush White House.
Yet there are already signals of a softening in Washington's hard line on Iran, which insists its atomic ambitions are peaceful -- for example, a State Department proposal to open an interests section in Tehran, perhaps as early as next month.
Sam Gardiner, a retired U.S. air force colonel who runs wargames for government agencies, said the banking meltdown and non-Middle Eastern crises such as the Russian-Georgian conflict and escalating American operations against al Qaeda targets on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border had overhauled American agendas.
Whether the new president is the conciliatory Obama or more hawkish McCain, he will inherit foreign policy priorities that stress containment or cooperation on Iran, Gardiner said.
"The consensus among American decision-makers is that bombing Iran is not the path to pursue right now. I see players being more and more cautious about the consequences to fragile economies of an oil spike," Gardiner said.
U.S. military commanders have long voiced misgivings about the idea of opening a front with Iran that would sap the resources of their protracted campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BLOOD AND OIL
Though they have the planes needed for massive bombing runs, the Americans' budgets, gutted by government bank bailouts, may find it hard to fund a new war -- especially if ground troops are dragged in or if Iran responds by stoking Iraq's insurgency.
"It stands to reason that it (an offensive against Iran) would be expensive, and they (U.S. forces) are already doing a lot," said Mark Stoker, a defense economist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
One effect of the international money woes has been the sudden slashing of oil costs by more than half from their July peak of $147 a barrel. It is a silver lining for those who want to curb Iran, the world's fourth-biggest producer of crude.
"We always thought that the best way to show up (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad would be for oil prices to get cut dramatically," said a European government official.
Like Bush, Obama and McCain have said military force should remain an option. Some experts argue that Iran, low on oil profits, is now be especially vulnerable to effective air strikes and unlikely to mount any major retaliation.
But Gardiner predicted the next White House would opt first of all to toughen up sanctions -- say, by restricting Iran's refined fuel imports -- ideally with Russia coaxed on board.
Few experts see Israel wanting to be blamed abroad for single-handedly driving oil costs back up or drawing Iranian reprisals against U.S. or Sunni Arab assets in the Gulf.
"A direct attack on Iran would be costly. There are other ways of putting a price tag on their nuclear policy. It's not an all-or-nothing, 'strike or appease' situation," said an Israeli diplomat.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has dismissed calls by some of his cabinet colleagues for a unilateral attack on Iran as "megalomania," saying on September 29 that Israel must "act within the envelope of the international system."
That, diplomats said, referred to the Olmert government's lobbying of foreign powers while sustaining the specter of war via media leaks about Israeli military readiness to hit Iran.
Olmert's heir-apparent, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, may prove to be even more gun-shy. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last year that she had privately voiced doubts whether a nuclear-armed Iran could threaten the survival of Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal.
Iran Holding American Student in Prison
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/470540.aspx
CBNNews.com - CAIRO, Egypt -- An American university student in Iran to visit family and research women's rights has been arrested and held in prison for more than a week, rights group Amnesty International said.
Esha Momeni, a student at California State University, Northridge, was driving on a highway in Tehran when she was stopped by authorities who said they were traffic police, the London-based Amnesty said.
Arrested for Traffic Offense?
Iranian officials said Momeni was arrested Oct. 15 for a traffic offense. But Amnesty said in a statement Tuesday she was taken to her family's home where her computer and other materials related to her research on the Iranian women's movement were confiscated.
Momeni, who is a member of the California branch of Change for Equality - an Iranian women's rights group - was later taken to Evin prison, the Tehran facility notorious for holding political prisoners, Amnesty said.
Her family was told by an Iranian court on Monday that her case was still being investigated, and no details would be released until after the probe was completed, Amnesty said.
Iranian judicial officials have not commented on the case and no other details were immediately available in Iran.
The university is calling for her release.
"Anyone who values knowledge and the role of academic inquiry in shedding light on the human condition should be concerned," said the university's president Jolene Koester.
State Department Seeking More Information
In Washington, the State Department said it was aware of reports of Momeni's arrest and was seeking more information.
"We stand with all those in Iran who are working for universal human rights and justice in their countries," deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Wednesday.
Momeni was aware of the risks of her work, said Melissa Wall, her thesis adviser and director of the university's mass communications graduate program.
"We talked about the dangers," Wall said. "But in the end, it was her decision to go. She was interested in communicating to Americans a broader image of Iranian women. She has a lovely presence, she smiled a lot."
Momeni was nearing the scheduled end of her stay when she was arrested, Wall said.
Amnesty's Change for Equality Campaign
Amnesty said dozens of other activists and supporters have been arrested in Iran in connection with their activities with the Change for Equality campaign, launched by Iranian women activists in September 2006.
The campaign is seeking to collect a million signatures in support of changing laws that deny women in Iran equal rights in matters such as divorce and court testimonies.
Momeni's arrest comes about a year after several Iranian-Americans accused of stirring up a revolution were released from Evin prison after spending months in detention. All four denied the accusations.
Iraqi Christian: We took only our souls
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/iraqi.christian.we.took.only.our.souls/21656.htm
Thousands of Iraqi Christians living in the northern city of Mosul fled for their lives this past week, many leaving behind everything and, as one refugee put it, taking “only our souls”.
At least 744 Christian families, or about 3,750 people, fled the city dubbed by US and Iraqi commanders as the last urban stronghold of Al-Qaeda for refuge with relatives in churches and at Christian centres in several towns and villages to the north and east of Mosul, according to the UK-based persecution watchdog ministry, Barnabas Fund. Some are even sleeping in their cars.
These displaced Iraqi Christians are said to be in desperate need of food, clothing, bedding, personal hygiene items and other basic necessities.
“We left everything behind us. We took only our souls,” said Ni’ma Noail, 50, a civil servant who was forced by the violence to abandon his home in Mosul and is now living in a church, according to Barnabas Fund.
The US condemned the attacks on Tuesday attacks on Iraqis, including those against Christians in Mosul.
"The terrorist groups responsible for these attacks have shown again that their enemy is the Iraqi civilian population," the US embassy said in a statement. "They are seeking to create divisions among Iraqi communities and undermine the progress Iraq is making in building an inclusive, democratic and prosperous society."
Mosul, the capital of Ninewa province, is home to the second-largest Christian community in Iraq, after Baghdad. Many Christians from Baghdad and Basra have fled to the north for safety in recent years.
The original city of Mosul lies on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank. Mosul contains the tombs of several Old Testament prophets, including Jonah and Nahum.
Last week’s mass exodus from Mosul was triggered by the heightened violence targeted at Christians recently. More than a dozen Christians were murdered in the last two weeks alone, including three people within a 24 hour period last Tuesday.
Bullet-riddled bodies of Christians killed by unknown assailants were found in several different neighbourhoods in the city. The latest death was of a Christian music store owner shot dead on Sunday.
Gunmen stormed into his store in the eastern part of the city, killing him and wounding his teenage nephew, a police officer reported Monday, according to The Associated Press.
Also, leaflets have been distributed in Mosul threatening Christians with death unless they converted to Islam or paid the Islamic jizya tax for non-Muslims, Barnabas Fund reported.
“The situation in Iraq is extremely grave. Sunni Muslim extremists are moving north, now that they have successfully managed to intimidate and drive out most of the Christians from the cities of Basra in the south and Baghdad in the centre of Iraq,” said Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of Barnabas Fund.
He appealed to the Iraqi Government and the US army to quickly intervene to “prevent the elimination of the indigenous Christian community” in Iraq.
“I also appeal to Christians around the world to help meet the practical needs of their Iraqi brothers and sisters at this time through the ministry of Barnabas Fund,” said Sookhdeo, a former Muslim and an expert on jihadist ideology.
The “major displacement”, as the governor of Ninewa province calls it, follows news that the Iraqi Parliament recently voted to drop a clause in its new provincial election law which had previously prevented the marginalisation of the Christian voice in Iraq by reserving seats on Provincial Councils for Christians and other minorities.
Some Iraqi Christians accuse the government of trying to push the remaining Christians to leave Iraq.
"They want us to feel that we are no longer Iraqis,” worshipper Afram Razzaq-Allah said after a services at a Catholic church in Baghdad, according to AP.
Since the US-led Iraq war in 2003, more than 200 Christians have been killed, dozens of churches bombed, and more than half the Iraqi Christian population has left the country.
UN special representative Staffan de Mistura expressed concern Monday about the rising violence targeted at Christians in recent days, and has called for the Parliament to reinstate Article 50.
SAT-7's Iraqi viewers appeal for prayer
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/sat7s.iraqi.viewers.appeal.for.prayer/21668.htm
Iraqi Christians have been texting SAT-7 requesting urgent prayer amid a wave of violence that is forcing thousands to flee from their homes.
According to reports, at least seven Iraqi Christians have been killed in recent days and as many as 8,000 Iraqi Christians have fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul due to severe pressure from extremists.
Other reports have stated that Christian homes have been bombed and leaflets passed around threatening Christians with death unless they convert to Islam or pay a jizya tax that marks them as second-class citizens.
One message translated from Arabic read, “Please pray for Christians in Iraq because they are killing all the Christians that are walking in Mosul.”
Another wrote, “In the name of Jesus pray for Christians in Nineveh province. We’re under the weight of killings and displacement.”
SAT-7 said it is placing on its screen special messages calling for increased prayer for Iraqi Christians. It has also placed a message in Arabic on its website from Archbishop Youhana Ibrahim, Head of the Syrian Orthodox Church and SAT-7 Board member asking for urgent prayer.
The Archbishop says in his message, “This is a heartfelt call of brotherly love, spurred by the teachings from heaven, to put an end to the horrifying massacre of Christians in Iraq. Let us maintain the right to co-exist together in the same homeland.”
SAT-7 has also received an email from a pastor in Iraq, who has hosted programmes on the channel, saying, “We’re sending an S.O.S prayer so the terrorists who think what they’re doing is for God will wake up and know the real God. We’re also praying that Christians will get closer to Jesus. And for the many families who have lost loved ones , houses and money, to never forget that, no matter what we lose, we’ll still have the places Jesus is preparing for us in Heaven.”
The pastor went on to say that many Christians in Iraq are asking for others to join them in three days of prayer and fasting for the situation.
Government officials have stated that they are sending in additional police to help with the situation. SAT-7 is very concerned about Christians living in Iraq, especially in Mosul, and will continue to ask viewers to pray for the situation until it improves.
Afghanistan: Tributes paid to slain Christian aid worker
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/afghanistan.tributes.paid.to.slain.christian.aid.worker/21696.htm
Tributes have been paid to a Christian aid worker shot dead in Afghanistan on Monday.
Gayle Williams, 34, was shot and killed as she walked to the offices of the charity she volunteered for, Serve Afghanistan. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the killing.
“She was a person who always loved the Afghans and was dedicated to serving those who are disabled. Needless to say we are all in shock,” said the charity in a statement.
Ms Williams, a British South African, had worked for nearly two years in Kandahar and Kabul on projects to integrate disabled people into mainstream education and improve their prospects.
“Gayle will be remembered as one of the inspiring people of the world who truly put others before herself,” said Serve Afghanistan.
“She was killed violently while caring for the most forgotten people in the world; the poor and the disabled.
“She herself would not regret taking the risk of working in Afghanistan. She was where she wanted to be – holding out a helping hand to those in need.”
Taliban to Christians: You Are Being Watched
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/470510.aspx
CBNNews.com - Taliban gunmen are warning Christians in Kabul that they are being watched.
The London Independent reports the warning comes after a Christian aid worker was killed Monday on her way home from work.
Taliban gunman say they killed 34-year-old Gayle Williams, because she was converting people away from Islam.
A police spokesman in Kabul says they are trying to protect Christians and warning them to "be vigilant."
Proselytizing is against the law in Afganistan.
Other Christian missionaries and charities have faced severe hostility there.
Update: Christians continue to be maligned and attacked in Orissa, India
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07727.shtml
(christiansunite.com) - Hindu militants continue to malign Christians for the murder of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and target them in widespread violence that began in late August in Orissa, India.
Maoist groups have claimed responsibility for the murder and, on October 6, three Maoist individuals were arrested in connection with the crime. However, a Hindu militant group recently released a document that allegedly implicates the Christians: a copy of the minutes from a pastoral council meeting held in Kandhamal district in May during which the militants claim a plan to assassinate Swami was discussed. The pastoral council has vehemently denied the accuracy of the minutes, and claim that their signatures on the document were forged.
Remember your brothers and sisters in India in your prayers. Ask God to give strength to those who suffer for His sake. Pray for peace in this terror-stricken region.
For more information on the plight of Christians in India, go to www.persecution.net/india.htm. To watch a BBC video report about attacks on Christians in Orissa, go to news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7670747.stm.
‘Christianity is part of our national heritage,’ says Indian PM
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christianity.is.part.of.our.national.heritage.says.indian.pm/21700.htm
Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh attempted to reassure Christians of their place in India when he met the head of the World Council of Churches on Saturday.
“Christianity is part of our national heritage,” Dr Singh told WCC General Secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia.
Kobia told reporters after the meeting that he was “extremely pleased” to hear this assertion from the Prime Minister, according to a WCC report.
The Indian Government has come under fire for its handling of a wave of attacks on Christians in Orissa state and other parts of the country, triggered by the killing of a Hindu leader in August.
The government was criticised for failing to prevent Hindu extremists from going on the rampage in the last few months, killing at least 54 Christians and burning down Christian homes, churches and schools. Tens of thousands of Christians were forced to flee from their homes to makeshift camps and forests.
"I conveyed to the prime minister the international Christian community's concern over the situation in Orissa and other areas," Kobia later told the media.
"We want the government to guarantee peace in order to instil confidence so that Christians may return to their villages and live there without fear," Kobia added.
Dr Singh said the government was working to “restore normalcy” and curb attacks on Christians, which make up just over two per cent of India’s population. He also assured the WCC leader that steps would be taken to restore the confidence of the Christian community, pointing to their protection under the Indian constitution.
Around 6,000 troops have been deployed to keep the peace in Orissa’s Kandhamal district, where around 20 per cent of the half million people who live there are Christian.
Christianity’s roots in India go back to the first century, when the apostle Thomas is believed to have arrived in Kerala in the year 52.
Malaysians Warned Not to Question Islam
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081019/malaysians-warned-not-to-question-islam.htm
An influential council of Malaysia's state rulers has warned people not to question the supremacy of Islam or the special privileges enjoyed by the country's ethnic Malay majority.
Racial and religious tensions have increased in the past year as minorities have become more vocal in their complaints about an affirmative action program that they say unfairly favors Malays. They also complain that their religious rights are being ignored.
In an unprecedented comment on current affairs, the sultans of nine states did not directly accuse the Chinese and Indian minorities of stoking anti-Malay feelings, but said recent statements and forums "held by certain quarters" had "caused provocation and uneasiness among the people."
Questioning the special position of Malays "can lead to disunity and racial strife that can undermine the peace and harmony," the state rulers said in a statement.
The warning underscores the social tensions in Malaysia, where Muslim Malays are about 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people. Chinese and Indians, who are mostly non-Muslims, comprise a third of the population and friction among the three ethnic groups is always below the surface.
The lengthy statement issued Thursday night follows a two-day meeting of the sultans, known as the Conference of Rulers. The hereditary sultans, who are Muslim Malays, occupy ceremonial offices but wield considerable moral authority among Malays.
"It (the warning) is quite unprecedented and I think it is coming in response to what the country is facing — what the rulers perceive as the fracturing of racial harmony," said Tricia Yeoh of Center for Policy Research think-tank.
Last month, an ethnic Chinese opposition lawmaker was accused by a Malay newspaper of being anti-Islam. She was detained by police for a few days but no charges were filed. In August, lawyers were forced to abandon a conference on religious conversion after protesters stormed the forum.
The statement reiterates the supremacy of Islam, the special position of the Malays and the guarantee to protect minority rights — all enshrined in Malaysia's constitution.
"Non-Malays should not harbour any apprehension or worry over their genuine rights because these rights are guaranteed," the statement said.
Son of Pastor Bike Zhang in Critical Condition after Severe Beating from PSB Officials
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07732.shtml
BEIJING, (christiansunite.com) -- ChinaAid has learned that Zhang Jian, the elder son of Pastor "Bike" Zhang Mingxuan, was severely beaten by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials while at home with his mother, Xie Fenglan, in Beijing on October 16.
Xie Fenglan testified that at about noon Beijing time, 15 Beijing PSB officers entered their residence and secured the exits before severely beating Zhang Jian with iron bars for 25 minutes. As Zhang Jian lay bleeding profusely, his mother called an ambulance, but the receptionist told her that a higher government authority gave a directive not to dispatch any ambulance to rescue her son because he is related to Pastor Bike Zhang. Zhang Jian's mother then called her younger son, Zhang Chuang, who rushed to the house where he was also beaten by the same authorities.
After some time, a personal friend of the Zhang family was able to take Zhang Jian to the Beijing Min Hang (Aviation) Hospital emergency room where Zhang Jian remains now. His doctor said Zhang Jian's right eye may lose sight forever because of the severe damage resulting from the repeated beating. Pastor Bike Zhang, who was traveling in Yunnan province at the time, is currently unable to be contacted. It is assumed that he has been detained by authorities.
Photo: Bike Zhang and his elder son Zhang Jian
Pastor Bike Zhang's wife, Xie Fenglan, was kicked out of her legally rented apartment, located at Room 206-102 at the Beijing Olympic Garden apartments, after her elder son Zhang Jian was sent to the hospital. The family's furniture was thrown into the street. Government authorities ordered all hotels in Beijing not to host her so she is now residing at Dr. Fan Yafeng's home. Dr. Fan, a house church leader in Beijing, is an internationally renowned Chinese Constitutional law scholar and rights defender.
ChinaAid strongly condemns the unjust and criminal actions of the Chinese government. The brutal and unprovoked assaults on innocent civilians are acts of desperation and cowardice of a regime that has continued to ignore basic human rights and freedoms despite outcries from the international community. These reprehensible acts by the Chinese government should serve as a reminder to the international community that the Communist Party of China is only interested in self-preservation and will gladly sacrifice its own citizens' freedoms in order to maintain its corrupt power.
During the past 22 years, Pastor Bike and his family members have been arrested, beaten and evicted from their home numerous times because of their Christian faith, yet he and his family continue to serve the house church Christians in Beijing. ChinaAid is standing with the Zhang family and will continue to send out updates on their situation.
Contact Zhang Jian's mother, Xie Fenglan, for an interview at +86-10-62547185.
Voice your concern for this incident by contacting:
Chinese Embassy in Washington DC
2201 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.,
Washington D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 338- 6688, (202)5889760
Fax: (202) 588-9760
Christians in Algeria face jail for 'blasphemy'
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christians.in.algeria.face.jail.for.blasphemy/21719.htm
AIN TURK, ALGERIA - Three Christians in Algeria face three years in prison and a 500 euro fine for allegedly committing blasphemy against Islam.
At a court hearing in Ain Turk, Algeria, Youssef Ourahmane, Rachid Seghir and Hamid Ramdani were accused by the public prosecutor of “insulting Islam, its prophet and threatening the former professing Christian that complained against them”.
The three men were given their sentence of three years in prison and a 500 euro fine earlier in the year by a lower court. However they were not present when their sentences were pronounced and they made an appeal on 15 July 2008. The appeal court then postponed their hearing to 21 October 2008, reports International Christian Concern (ICC).
The case was raised with the help of a fourth man, Shamouma Al-Aid, who converted to Christianity from Islam for a short time, and attended a Bible school.
However, according to Compass Direct News, Al-Aid continued his relationship with radical Muslims during his time as a Christian before “re-converting” back to Islam.
Al-Aid claims that the three men insulted both Islam and the prophet Mohammed and that they threatened him when he “re-converted” to Islam.
After hearing the arguments of both parties the judge scheduled 29 October as the date on which the case would be decided.
Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, said, “As a member of the international community, the Algerian government has the obligation to respect the freedom of religion of its Christian minorities. It is time for Algerian officials to carry out their obligations by ceasing to interfere with freedom of worship of the country’s Christian minorities.”
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