Ohio's Taxpayer-Financed Terror-Fest

Just a week after I revealed that an event is currently scheduled to be held at the Ohio State Capitol later this month featuring a known HAMAS operative with multiple immediate connections to designated terrorists (“HAMAS in the House”), new details have emerged that not only are taxpayers partially footing the bill for the event, but yet another speaker at the event also has multiple terror ties.According to a flier for the “Many Faces of Islam” conference (a copy of which is posted at Central Ohioans Against Terrorism), the event is being co-sponsored by the Ohio Humanities Council (OHC), an organization that receives virtually all of its funding through government grants. According to the group’s most recent IRS Form 990, it received $903,715 from direct government contributions and only $27,819 from private sources during the 2005 fiscal year. OHC receives most of its funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as the state affiliate of the national organization. Inquiries about how much taxpayer money OHC is providing for the “Many Faces of Islam” event have not yet received a reply.As I reported last week, one of the featured speakers at “The Many Faces of Islam” conference to be held on October 28th in the Ohio Statehouse atrium is HAMAS operative Anisa Abd El Fattah. Fattah is past president of the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). According to a February 1993 New York Times article, convicted HAMAS terrorist operative and former UASR employee, Mohammed Salah, told federal authorities that UASR served as “the political command of HAMAS in the United States,” and UASR was founded by Specially Designated Global Terrorist Mousa abu Marzook. Fattah also co-authored two books with current HAMAS spokesman Ahmed Yousef, and served as a longtime consultant to convicted terror leader Abdurahman Alamoudi’s American Muslim Council (AMC).Another speaker, Robert D. Crane, also held positions with UASR and Alamoudi’s AMC, in addition to the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which provided initial funding for convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian’s World Islam and Studies Enterprise (WISE) at the University of South Florida.But according to other press reports yet another listed speaker for the upcoming conference, Dr. Zilfiqar Ali Shah, has also worked for organizations that have been closed by the U.S. government for terrorist support activities. Shah is the past president of the Islamic Circle of North America and the former Southeast Asia director for KindHearts, a Toledo, Ohio-based charity closed by federal authorities in February 2006 for financing terrorist organizations.In his role as Southeast Asia director for KindHearts, Shah established a partnership with the Al-Khidmat Foundation, the charitable arm of the Jammat-i-Islami in Pakistan. But Al-Khidmat also played a critical role in the formation of Al-Qaeda, as Steve Schippert of TheatsWatch explains:While the al-Khidmat Foundation is described as a “welfare organisation run by the hard-line Islamist party Jamaat-i-Islami,” it is far from that. It is the Maktab al-Khidmat, the group founded in 1980 by Usama bin Laden’s mentor and ideological inspiration, Abdullah Azzam. Its primary purpose was then and is now to serve as “a support organization for Arab volunteers for the jihad in Afghanistan” and elsewhere today. Usama bin Laden financed this group from its inception. It is from this group that al-Qaeda sprang to life in 1989.And as Joe Kaufman has reported here at FrontPage, “The Two Faces of Zulfiqar Ali Shah,” an event organized by Khan for his Universal Heritage Foundation, which ostensibly was dedicated “to promote a greater understanding and respect for and among people of all faiths, colors, and gender,” for its inaugural event he invited Shaikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais, the chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, who had called for the murder of “Jews, Christians, and Americans.” Al-Sudais had also described Jews as “the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the killers of prophets, and the grandsons of monkeys and pigs.” Due to Kaufman’s exposure of the event, Al-Sudais’ appearance was cancelled.Shah has also has made his own shocking statements that question his pretended “interfaith” image. As reported by IslamOnline (run by Specially Designated Global Terror Yousef Al-Qaradawi), during a June 2001 meeting of Muslim leaders in Chicago, Khan said:If we are unable to stop the Jews now, their next stop is Yathrib (The Prophet's city of Medina), where the Jews used to live until their expulsion by Prophet Muhammad. That's the pinnacle of their motives.Kaufman notes elsewhere that in his position with KindHearts, Khan promoted their efforts and conducted fundraising in association with groups operating openly with Al-Qaeda:Prior to the organization's closure, Shah went on a ten day KindHearts tour - through more than ten cities - with members of Tablighi Jamaat, a Pakistani organization that The New York Times described as a "recruitment" center for Al-Qaeda. The Tablighi members were Junaid Jamshed and Saeed Anwar. During this tour, KindHearts claimed to have raised $1.5 million.After the shuttering of KindHearts, Khan took up a new position with the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, which prompted the local establishment media to investigate his background. In a May 2006 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Questions arise about Muslim scholar,” Khan defended his statement about Jews wanting to take over the city of Medina as a “joke” and denied knowing the extremist statements of Al-Sudais prior to inviting him to speak and the terror connections to KindHearts – connections that Khan himself helped establish.With at least three of the four speakers scheduled to appear at the “Many Faces of Islam” event at the Ohio Statehouse having multiple connections to extremism and terrorism, it’s hard to believe that the primary sponsoring organization, the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio (IACO), was unaware of the highly controversial backgrounds of these individuals. In fact, it seems they were especially chosen for their very narrow understanding of Islam, which raises the question of why a publicly-funded organization like OHC would lend its weight and financial support to such an event. Because of the highly partisan nature of the speakers, it is highly doubtful that the conference will better help anyone better understand of Islam.It seems more appropriate that the October terror-fest at the Ohio Statehouse should be renamed, “The Many Faces of Islamic Extremism.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1D23B497-6919-40BB-AE9F-7D8445BB6796

As in the days of Noah....

Egypt frees top Hamas terrorist

Egypt on Sunday released a Hamas terrorist wanted by Israel for his involvement in numerous attacks against Israelis, reported The Jerusalem Post.Nahor Massoud fled to Egypt more than a year ago. He was later incarcerated without trial at the request of the Palestinian Authority.Media commentators linked the release to rumors of secret prisoner exchange talks between Israel and Hamas, which is holding an Israeli soldier captive in the Gaza Strip. Massoud was one of over 1,000 terrorists Hamas demanded be set free in exchange for Corporal Gilad Shalit.Palestinian sources said Massoud's newfound freedom was also a sign of further rapprochement between Egypt and Hamas.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=14287

As in the days of Noah....

ALIYAH WATCH:Nuclear Iran will deter aliyah, warns lawmaker

Israeli lawmaker Ephraim Sneh (Labor) on Sunday warned that a nuclear Iran poses an existential threat to the Jewish state and the Zionist dream even if it never actually uses the weapons.In a meeting with supporters at Labor Party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Sneh explained that a nuclear Iran would pose such a grave threat that Jewish immigration to Israel would all but come to a halt, reported The Jerusalem Post.Sneh recounted that during a recent trip to the US, American Jewish leaders told him flat out that if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, members of their community will stop coming to Israel out of fear."It is not necessary for Iran to actually destroy Israel with weapons, they can destroy it with the threat... Iran could destroy the Zionist dream," stressed the retired general. Sneh said that Israel would have to make a final decision on how to deal with the Iranian threat in the coming year.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=14293

As in the days of Noah...

SECRET BELIEVERS....

To read more about this and other news regarding the persecuted church worldwide go to:

http://persecuted-church.blogspot.com/2007/10/christians-to-pray-for-secret-believers.html

As in the days of Noah....

Merciful Unto All That Call Upon Him....

"For thou ,Lord,art good and ready to forgive;and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee...
In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee:for thou wilt answer me."
Psalm 86:5,7

LAND FULL of VIOLENCE:Murders Rise, Defying Overall Crime Drop In N.J.

TRENTON-New Jersey's murder rate rose for a third straight year in 2006, while overall crime was down 2 percent compared to 2005, according to crime statistics released Tuesday. Some 427 people were killed last year, up from 418 the prior year and 392 in 2004, according to the state police's annual compilation of crime, the Uniform Crime Report.A gun was used to kill about two of every three murder victims, the report shows. Drug or gang violence accounted for 45 of the killings, or 11 percent of the total-a number unchanged from the prior year.Gov. Jon S. Corzine and Attorney General Anne Milgram last week unveiled new initiatives designed to reduce New Jersey's escalating murder rate, and to combat gang-related violence.Tuesday's report underscores the need for the new strategy, Milgram said."We must be aggressive in adopting intelligence-led policing to reduce the number of gun crimes and murders," she said. "We also need stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession."Overall, New Jersey was safer last year than in 2005, with violent crime down 1 percent and nonviolent crime down 2 percent.However, bias crimes rose last year to 825 incidents, up from 792 in 2005.The crime report is based on information provided by municipal, county and state police agencies and encompasses offenses from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2006.

http://wcbstv.com/local/new.jersey.murder.2.375518.html

As in the days of Noah....

A Gog-Magog Rift Rising?

In Bible prophecy, as recorded in Ezekiel 38 & 39, a battle is going to take place in the prophetic future most refer to as the Gog-Magog attack on Israel. The nations most believe will be participants in this future attack are as follows, all of them taken from Ezekiel's prophecy:
Magog - Most agree this is a reference to Russia.
Meshech - Most associate this with modern day Turkey, ancient Anatolia, but some say it refers to the Moscow area.
Tubal - Most associate this with modern day Turkey, ancient Anatolia.
Persia - modern Iran
Ethiopia
Libya
Gomer - eastern Europe or Turkey
Togarmah - southeastern Europe or Turkey
For a long time, as I have strived to document to the best of my ability based solely on Ezekiel's prophecy, it has been my expectation that something is going to happen to move Turkey from its typical role as an ally of the West and place it where prophecy sees it being, potentially in the not-too-distant future. Needless to say, evidence is mounting this is coming to pass.Turkey's relationship with the West has suffered greatly of late due to some of the European Union's most influential and outspoken leaders, French president Nicholas Sarkozy being one example, openly stating they have concerns about Turkey becoming a member of the European Union - a goal Turkey has sought for some time now with roadblocks being commonplace in the process.The following are headlines all of which I observed in the news. They are all dated October 11th:
Solana warns Turkey against military incursion in Iraq (EUObserver)
Turkey dismayed at US vote on Armenian genocide (EUObserver)
Turkey threatens repercussions for U.S. (Yahoo News)
Israel braces as US-Turkey crisis erupts (Jerusalem Post)
If you are unfamiliar with these news stories, read up on them via the links provided as these events are setting the stage for the future Gog-Magog alliance to become a reality, potentially very soon.In a nutshell, the West is upset with Turkey and Turkey is more than a little upset with the West. And Israel? Israel correctly realizes that anything that poisons Turkey's relationship with the West may send shockwaves its way as well!
The following is an excerpt from the Jerusalem Post article linked above (emphasis added mine):
Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US Thursday as already-strained relations frayed further following a congressional committee vote recognizing the Armenian genocide.
The move could be indicative of further Turkish steps away from the US and have a ripple effect on Turkish-Israeli relations. Both the US and Israel view the secular Islamic state as a crucial Middle East ally and strategic bulwark in their fight against radical forces in the region. Nearly a week later, tensions seem every bit as high as last week. The BBC is reporting the following, in part:
"Baghdad has called for "urgent negotiations" over Turkey's threat to carry out cross-border raids against Kurdish rebels."And...
"Iraq signed a counter-terrorism pact with Turkey last month, but opposes any military incursion into its territory.The US has also warned Ankara against ordering any incursions into Iraq."
The bottom line? A rift is growing where Turkey's relationship with the West and, potentially, Israel is concerned as well .Perhaps the rift that seems to be rising before our very eyes has Gog-Magog written all over it!Who would've guessed, right? With every passing day, the prophetic picture becomes more clear.
by Michael G. Mickey

http://rapturealert.blogspot.com/2007/10/gog-magog-rift-rising.html

As in the days of Noah....

Ahmadinejad has 'blossoming friendships' with U.S. religious left, says Christian activist

A United Methodist renewal advocate, reacting to what he describes as [[[the warm reception that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received from the religious left during his recent visit to New York, ]]]says [[[there's a "blossoming friendship" between theologians and Iran's controversial leader]]].Mark Tooley directs the United Methodist Committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) in Washington, DC. He recently wrote a column in the Weekly Standard about [[[a meeting between Ahmadinejad and 150 church officials at the United Methodist Women's Church Center for the United Nations.]]] That meeting, he says, was touted as a [[["time of dialogue and prayerful reflection among the children of Abraham."]]]"There is a blossoming friendship going on between American religious and church officials and Iran's apocalyptic radical president," he says. [[["The church officials say they want to avert any major conflict between Iran and the U.S., and they profess to be peacemakers. ]]]( SIGH.....)But in this process of ostensible peacemaking, they seem to want to minimize the Iranian president's very ugly threat against Israel and the U.S."In his column, Tooley writes that Ahmadinejad came away from the meeting knowing that he has[[[[ "reliable American friends who will oppose any strong policies aimed at his regime, while expressing limited concern about his intemperate plans" ]]]]toward the U.S. and Israel.{{{{{"It's very odd how the religious left in America often fawns towards or apologizes for the transgressions of radical Islam, given that radical Islam of course is very hostile to much of what the religious left stands for in terms of women's rights and gay rights,"}}}}} says the IRD spokesman. {{{{{"But the continuum seems to be that the religious left sympathizes with any movement or foreign governments that are hostile to the U.S."}}}}}He says the Mennonite Central Committee was one sponsor of this latest "bridge building" along with Jim Wallis' Sojourners, Pax Christi, the World Council of Churches, the Church of the Brethren, and the American Friends Service Committee (a Quakers organization).

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/ahmadinejad_has_blossoming_fri.php

PS:I think it's the "religious"left...yes...I think it's proper....They are religious but NOT SAVED....If they were, their eyes would be opened to the TRUTH in all matters of life and they would have the common sense and the wisdom and the DISCERNMENT to know the difference between evil and good....

As in the days of Noah....

Islamic expert: 'Absurd' for Muslims to claim Islam on equal footing with Christianity

One of America's foremost experts on Islam says it's absolutely absurd that a group of Muslims would try to claim a moral equivalency between Christianity and Islam. The claim was made in a letter calling for dialogue between the two religions.Recently 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam signed a letter pleading with Christian leaders that the "survival of the world" is at stake if Christians and Muslims do not make peace with each other. The Muslims called on Christians "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions," with the scholars stressing the importance of spelling out the similarities between the Bible and the Koran.But Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, says it is absurd to put Islam on an equal footing with Christianity. "Christianity does not contain a doctrine or theology or legal system that teaches that believers should wage war against unbelievers-but Islam does contain that," he notes.Spencer claims that any attempt to show that Muslims and Christians share "violence and intransigence" toward unbelievers misrepresents both religious groups. "So to pretend that they are on an equal basis and equally responsible for modern religious violence is indeed absurd," he adds.However, he predicts liberal theologians will welcome the letter from the Islamic scholars. "Liberal Christians will eat it up and will say this is just the kind of thing that we need, just the kind of thing that we have been hoping for," he says. "And they will try to establish dialogue-but this dialogue, as is often the case with such groups, will be based on false pretenses," he asserts.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/islamic_expert_absurd_for_musl.php

As in the days of Noah....

DECEPTION WATCH:Ottawa Anglicans approve 'same-sex' blessings

An official with the Anglican Communion Network says he's disappointed but not surprised that Anglicans in Ottawa approved the blessing of homosexual "marriages" this past weekend.In June, the Anglican Church of Canada ruled that same-sex blessings do not violate core doctrine and then refused to allow local dioceses to decide for themselves how to handle the issue. The weekend vote means the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa is the first in Canada to consider the matter since that meeting of the national church.The Anglican Journal quotes Ottawa Bishop John Chapman as saying the approved motion is only "a recommendation" and is not binding on the diocese or on the bishop. He also noted that approval of the motion does not mean that clergy can now bless same-sex couples. The vote was 177-97 in favor.Daryl Fenton is chief operating officer with the Anglican Communion Network, a Pennsylvania-based group of conservative Anglican pastors and laypersons. He argues that leaders of the Anglican Church in Canada and the Episcopal Church in America are ignoring scripture. "If you choose to reject God's Word, you're in effect rejecting God himself. So we see it as nothing but a terribly misguided, failed, and sinful strategy," he states.According to Fenton, many conservatives throughout the Anglican Church in Canada have broken from the liberal group. He asserts that the Canadian group Anglican Essentials, for example, holds fast to the faith that was delivered from the Apostles and uses scripture to determine what is true and what is revealed as the "norms" for Christian life.Fenton believes the Anglican Church in Canada will continue to fracture over the homosexual issue, much like its American counterpart, the Episcopal Church, has done. The diocese of Montreal is expected to debate a similar motion concerning same-sex blessings at its annual meeting next week.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/ottawa_anglicans_approve_sames.php

As in the days of Noah....

Bauer blasts Rice for comments re: establishment of Palestinian state

A pro-family activist and former presidential activist is very concerned about recent comments from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that creation of a Palestinian state is a key U.S. interest."Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice told a news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "The United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future-not just of Palestinians and Israelis, but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests," she said.Rice's visit to Ramallah, in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, was part of her mission to create common ground ahead of a planned international peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, next month. But Gary Bauer of American Values says once again, this is all about Israeli concessions with nothing in return."I'm very concerned about Secretary Rice's statements and the pressure that is building up on Israel," Bauer shares. "And that pressure, that build-up, is being led, unfortunately, by our State Department and by the Bush administration to force or pressure Israel into making further concessions of land and their own security."Bauer explains why he is concerned."They want half of Jerusalem, which would be a disaster for Israel. They want an end to the wall that protects Israel. They want to be able to return millions of Palestinians into Israel, which would mean demographic suicide for Israel," he states.The American Values leader also says he is concerned about the consequences a Palestinian state would have on the United States."The scripture is clear," Bauer asserts, referencing Genesis 12:3. "God says 'He who blesses Israel I will bless, and he who curses Israel I will curse'-and I want the United States to be on the right side when it comes to the land of Israel, the nation of Israel, and God’s promises to the Israeli people," he says.Bauer says the idea of a Palestinian state is a "mistake." particularly at a time when there is such a growth of Islamic radicalism throughout the Middle East.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/bauer_blasts_rice_for_comments.php

As in the days of Noah....

Cairo is daunted from freezing Hamas smuggling through Sinai by fear of combined Hamas-al Qaeda terror in Egyptian towns

This was how Cairo explained to Washington its failure to act on Israel’s bitter complaints against the heavy traffic of arms, explosives, missiles and fighters crossing Sinai into Gaza on behalf of Hamas, Jihad and al Qaeda.US officials checking on Israel’s complaints found Cairo’s answer extremely disquieting.In the first place, Egypt was leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza's borders, recanting on responsibility for border security with Gaza, which it assumed under accords brokered in 2005 by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Furthermore, Cairo was admitting for the first time that cooperation between Hamas and the Egyptian al Qaeda cells planted in the Gaza Strip and Sinai was close enough to afford Hamas access to Egyptian cities for hitting back at restraints on its smuggling activities. According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, Egyptian security services are afraid of attacks in Cairo and Alexandria, as well as the Suez Canal cities of Port Said and Ismailia, where al Qaeda maintains broad networks.Our military sources note Egypt’s security chiefs have a far healthier respect for Hamas’ true strength and perniciousness than the Israeli government. Rather than confront the Palestinian Islamists, Cairo has lifted its military siege on the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule since June and opted out of the US-Israeli-European anti-Hamas boycott.Israeli military officers serving in the region term the new situation “a security catastrophe” and warn that the Negev population and the army will eventually pay a heavy price for today’s negligence.The Olmert government has so far opted for diplomatic pressure on Cairo through Washington. Egypt has now shut that door.In the last two weeks, the volume of smuggled materiel entering Gaza has increased dramatically, comprising thousands of guns, hundreds of different types of missiles and hundreds of tons of explosives. Egypt let 85 Hamas fighters return to Gaza after training in Iran.The end of the Eid festival and Ramadan this week is expected to release a fresh outburst of violence on two fronts. Some of the incoming hardware may be funneled to the West Bank for suicide attacks in Israel and operations to overthrow Mahmoud Abbas’ government and prime minister Salam Fayyed in time to sabotage the international peace conference US Secretary Rice is trying to set up next month.
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4676

As in the days of Noah....

US works on alternative to Turkey supply route to Iraq

The US military is looking for a second route to supply troops in Iraq in case Turkey shuts its borders in reprisal for possible adoption of a resolution on genocide in Armenia, a Pentagon official said Tuesday."There is planning going on," a Pentagon official said privately. "It's just looking at what other options are available because there are serious operational impacts" if the Turks deny passage of US military supplies bound for Iraq.The White House Monday urged Turkey to show "restraint" as Ankara moved closer to a possible incursion against Kurdish rebels sheltering in northern Iraq that could further complicate the Iraq war.Under strong public pressure for the Iraq War, the White House is concerned a Turkish incursion might upset one of the few areas in Iraq enjoying relative stability and spread to nearby countries home to ethnic Kurds.Ankara's saber rattling also comes at a time of tense US-Turkish relations over a pending vote in the House of Representatives for a resolution calling World War I mass killings of Armenians by Turkey's Ottoman Empire a genocide.Flatly refusing the term and strongly opposed to the US resolution, Turkey has threatened to withdraw its logistical support for the Iraq War if US lawmakers approve the measure.Fearing the loss of Turkey's Incirclik airbase, which provides a crucial staging ground for US supplies headed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House has urged House speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bring the resolution to a vote.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071016180553.cg5j9c9x&show_article=1&catnum=0

As in the days of Noah....

RCC WATCH:Suit Dismissed Against Mexican Cardinal

LOS ANGELES-A judge dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday against Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who had been accused of conspiring with Roman Catholic officials in the United States to transfer a priest accused of sexual abuse between the two countries.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle found Rivera could not be held accountable in a U.S. court [[[[because the plaintiff didn't have enough evidence against him,]]]] said Mike Finnegan, the plaintiff's attorney.[[[["It was a legal technicality," he said. "It didn't reach any of the merits of the case and it didn't get to the key issues in the case, which is Cardinal Rivera's complicity in sending (the priest) to the United States as a child molester."]]]] Michael Cypers, an attorney representing the cardinal in Los Angeles, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Plaintiff Joaquin Aguilar Mendez, 26, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that Rivera, who was then a bishop in Puebla state, [[[knew that the priest had molested children when he sent him to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. ]]]The priest, Aguilar Rivera, is no relation to the cardinal or the plaintiff.In a declaration filed in February, the cardinal said he sent a letter to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1987 warning him that the priest had "homosexual problems." A spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese has said the U.S. cardinal never received it.The priest fled to Mexico after he was accused of sexual abuse in Los Angeles and before police could begin an investigation. He has since been charged in California with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child.The priest continued to serve in Mexico. The plaintiff, now 26, filed a lawsuit about a year ago alleging that the priest raped him in his room at the rectory when he was about 12 years old. The boy was told by the priest to keep quiet about what happened or his siblings would suffer the same abuse, according to the lawsuit.While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify people who allege sexual abuse, Mendez chose to come forward with his story.[[[[The priest's whereabouts are currently unknown,]]]] Finnegan said.Mahony, the Los Angeles cardinal, settled his portion of the lawsuit in July when the archdiocese agreed to pay more than 500 alleged victims of sex abuse $660 million, archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said.Any allegations of conspiracy against Mahony are outrageous, he added."We maintain that it was a ridiculous charge of conspiracy.The decision doesn't change our opinion that this was an absolutely [[[spurious lawsuit,"]]] Tamberg said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SAGCRG0&show_article=1&catnum=0
PS:IT is so SHAMEFUL that the RCC keeps HELPING their own pedophiles by moving them around instead of bringing them to justice....Spurious lawsuit...????
The RCC once more shows us all what really is all about....If you belong to it....LEAVE TODAY,RUN AWAY as far AWAY as you can from it....RUN TO JESUS!!!
Go ahead call me hateful....but then show me biblical proof that what they believe is "BIBLICAL".....
As in the days of Noah....

Organizing a Muslim Left

Ali Eteraz, a Muslim-American lawyer and blogger, has been writing a series of provocative articles on his vision for reform in the Islamic world. The latest is posted at the Guardian of London site today, and focuses on the creation of branch of the Islamic world centered on Western political liberalism:
I recommend creating a viable and well organised Muslim left. It would be an intra-religious movement as opposed to a universalist one (though obviously it doesn’t shun allies). It would be a cousin of the international left, but in a Muslim garb. Just as the Muslim right found Islamic means to justify the destructive ideas from the enlightenment (Fascism, Marxism, totalitarianism, evangelical religion), the Muslim left should find Islamic means to justify the positive ones (anti-foundationalism, pragmatism, autonomy, tolerance) …
Muslim leftism is the only thing that will assure that Islam’s individualist revolution doesn’t take an even darker turn than it already has. Some in the Muslim right like to insist that they are moderate and ready for pluralism. That might be a bit of wishful thinking. Without a potent Muslim left, the right will not have an adequate check, nor any incentive to make accommodations. This is because political systems that rest on religious supremacism rarely make compromises. We know this from America. We know it from the third world as well. After more than two decades the Iranian right has failed to move significantly towards the centre. If unchallenged, better should not be expected from the Egyptian, Pakistani, or Gulf nations equivalents.
Food for thought — or, as some of the commenters on the Guardian site seem to think, ripe for the picking. “Instead of propping up Mubarak, the bin Sauds, the king of Jordan etc etc we actually support democracy in the Middle East,” writes one going by the handle of Hotbed. “So Muslims actually get to vote for governments to create the kinds of societies they wish to inhabit.“It’s entirely possible that this exercise will create a bearded transnational menace. But at least this will give us an idea of what Muslims actually think, rather than their constantly being ventriloquised by right-wing Islamists and lefty journalists like your good self.”

By Tobin Harshaw

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/organizing-a-muslim-left/index.html?ex=1350273600&en=2fe8414d552abcee&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

As in the days of Noah....

Oil Hits New Record on Supply Concerns

NEW YORK-Oil futures rallied to a new record over $88 a barrel Tuesday on concerns about disruptions in Middle Eastern crude supplies and a growing view that domestic supplies aren't sufficient to meet fourth-quarter demand.Traders are concerned that a Turkish incursion into Iraq in search of Kurdish rebels could disrupt crude supplies from northern Iraq.''Whenever there is any escalation in political tensions in the Middle East, oil markets become concerned,'' said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. ''There is production and there are pipelines that people worry may be affected if there are any issues in Iraq.''Turkey's prime minister on Tuesday said Monday's decision to ask Parliament for permission to pursue Kurdish rebels into Iraq was not a sign Turkish forces will act immediately.The Middle East tensions add to supply concerns that have been stoked in recent days by reports from the Energy Department, the International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries suggesting oil supplies are flat or falling as demand is growing.Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $1.94 to $87.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday after rising as high as $88.20 earlier, a trading record.Many analysts argue that the supply and demand fundamentals don't support oil in the high $80 range, and believe speculative investing is the real culprit behind high oil prices. And as long as investors are willing to keep buying, prices will keep rising.''It still doesn't act like a market that has placed a high,'' said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Ill.Also Tuesday, November gasoline rose 2.51 cents to $2.1826 a gallon on the Nymex, while heating oil futures rose 2.86 cents to $2.3358 a gallon. Natural gas for November rose 3.7 cents to $7.482 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, November Brent crude rose $1.54 to $84.29 a barrel.Retail gas prices have not kept pace with oil's recent rally into record territory, as many analysts had expected. At the pump, the average national price of a gallon of gas rose 0.2 cent overnight to $2.759 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices are 53 cents higher than a year ago, but have fallen over the last month. That could change, however, now that oil is again on the rise.''Consumers will now see higher prices at the pump in the coming months and weeks,'' said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global UK Ltd.Despite oil's gains, some analysts think domestic oil supplies are rising. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, expect the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration to report Wednesday that crude supplies grew by 1 million barrels last week.Gasoline inventories are also expected to have grown by 1 million barrels, while inventories of distillates, which include heating oil, likely fell by 400,000 barrels.Refinery activity likely rose by 0.4 percentage point to 88.2 percent of capacity, the analysts predict.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Oil-Prices.html?_r=1&ex=1350273600&en=5f5a9b99d5fb70fc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

As in the days of Noah....

EU confident of wrapping up treaty

Only a few issues involving Austria, Bulgaria, Italy and Poland remain to be cleared up before the European Union achieves a long-sought deal on modernising its institutions, EU officials and diplomats said on Tuesday. They expressed confidence that a two-day summit in Lisbon on Thursday and Friday would wrap up the EU’s “reform treaty”, setting the stage for a more self-confident, less introspective phase of EU activity. The treaty, successor to a doomed EU constitutional treaty rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005, must still be ratified by all 27 member states to come into effect in 2009.There is some concern in European capitals that the sudden political difficulties of Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, could imperil British ratification of the treaty. However, many EU governments hold the view that Britain, with its opt-outs from judicial and police co-operation and from the treaty’s charter of fundamental rights, has little to complain about in terms of threatened sovereignty.Ahead of Lisbon, most EU governments regard points of disagreement as small compared with the difficulties that have turned previous summits into diplomatic battlegrounds. “There is no reason, no excuse not to come to an agreement this week in Lisbon,” José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said in Berlin on Monday.Poland, which holds a general election on Sunday, is likely to extract concessions on demands that underline its reputation as the most assertive of the ex-communist countries in the EU.Poland’s first demand is that the European Court of Justice should have an extra advocate-general, or senior court official, to give the EU’s east European member states representation.The second demand is to entrench the right of outvoted countries to delay EU decisions for at least a few months, as allowed since 1994 under the so-called Ioannina compromise. Poland wants this right included in the treaty’s official text or to obtain more clarity on the legal status of the compromise.Austria wants to set quotas for foreign students.Italy’s objection that it will lose parity with France and the UK in a reallocation of European parliament seats may be dealt with by December, diplomats said.Last, Bulgaria’s insistence on its right to use the word “evro” for the euro – resisted by the European Central Bank – is being shunted to one side as a temporary “linguistic-technical problem”.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aaa2d79e-7c05-11dc-be7e-0000779fd2ac.html

As in the days of Noah....

Vietnam, Libya, Burkina Faso among new UNSC members

Vietnam and Libya, which had been formerly regarded as foes of the United States, as well as Burkina Faso were among three of the five new non-permanent members elected Tuesday by the General Assembly to serve out their new terms beginning next January.Vietnam, which was unopposed for the one vacant Asian seat, has never been elected to the 15-member Security Council before and will join China and Indonesia at a critical time when pressing issues, such as the handling of Myanmar, are particularly relevant to the regional players.The country was endorsed by the regional group and is replacing outgoing Qatar having garnered 183 votes of support.In addition to being members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement, Vietnam has also expressed its interest in reform of the council, including pushing for more efficient working methods, the interests of developing countries and the wider participation of non-permanent members.From the African bloc, Libya, which last served in 1976-1977, and Burkina Faso were the two unopposed candidates, although until September Mauritania was also in the running, but dropped its candidacy with the understanding that Libya would support its candidature in 2012-2013.Burkina Faso with its 185 votes and Libya, that was backed by 178 votes, are both replacing outgoing Ghana and Congo whose terms expire at the end of the year.Even though Vietnam remains a Communist country, its relationship with the United States has greatly improved since 1975 when the last of the American diplomats left by helicopter as Hanoi's troops moved in to end the war and the two countries began diplomatic ties in 1995.Libya has also recently taken positive steps in improving its ties with the international community, having played a key role in mediating to help solve the Darfur conflict.The country is scheduled to host talks at the end of the month.In recent months Libya also released five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had been held since 1999 and accused of infecting in the country children with HIV.The remaining slots for Eastern Europe and Latin America, however, were contested. In the first round of the secret ballot voting The Czech Republic received 91 votes while Croatia by received 95votes. Costa Rica received 116 votes and the Dominican Republican 72. A two- third majority is necessary for any candidate to be backed for the post.In addition to Congo, Ghana and Qatar, Peru and Slovakia will finish out their terms on Dec. 31.As the other non permanent members, Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa, will remain on the council for one more year.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SAEHVO3&show_article=1&catnum=0

As in the days of Noah....

PESTILENCE WATCH:Teen Who Contracted Staph Infection Dies

BEDFORD, Va.-A high school student who was hospitalized for more than a week with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection has died, and [[[officials shut down 21 schools for cleaning to keep the illness from spreading.]]]Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School, died Monday after being diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, his mother said."I want people to know how sick it made my son," Veronica Bonds said.Staph infections, including the serious MRSA strain, have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, according to health and education officials.MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound.Bedford Superintendent James Blevins said at a news conference Tuesday that the schools will be closed for cleaning Wednesday.Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where athletes—perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions—share sports equipment. Ashton Bonds played football last year but was not playing this season.Ashton went to Bedford Memorial Hospital on Oct. 4 after complaining of pain in his side, his mother said. He was sent home after doctors ruled out appendicitis, but was readmitted three days later and transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.Last week doctors diagnosed Ashton with a MRSA infection that had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscles around his heart. Early Thursday morning, Ashton had to be sedated and put on a ventilator. He was about to undergo surgery to drain the infection from his lungs when doctors detected a blood clot near his heart. Bonds said the clot was inoperable.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SAESD82&show_article=1&catnum=0

As in the days of Noah....

Chinese Communists Hold Private Talks

BEIJING-China's ruling Communist Party offered the media a rare glimpse of two rising political stars Tuesday, giving them a chance to show themselves as self-effacing, businesslike and worthy for promotion to the senior leadership.The public appearances by Li Keqiang and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a major party congress were likely no coincidence, given the secretive party's penchant for carefully stage-managed public events. It came as senior party members held closed-door discussions on appointments to the Politburo Standing Committee, the inner sanctum of power.Li, the 52-year-old party head of the industrial province of Liaoning, and Xi, the 54-year-old party chief in the commercial heart of Shanghai, met separately with rank-and-file congress members, with foreign and state-run Chinese media on hand."My main mission at present is to work, but also to learn while working," said Li, animatedly gesturing in a dark gray suit as he answered questions from reporters while meeting with other delegates from Liaoning in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.On the other side of the cavernous building with Shanghai delegates, Xi, looking like the CEO of a major corporation, said the city had yet to live up to Beijing's expectations."We have yet to achieve everything the center has required of us."The brief encounters were telling, if not revealing.The party congress, held once every five years, sets broad policy goals and apportions senior leadership posts. At the top of this congress's agenda is the promotion of several officials in their 50s to replace 64-year-old President Hu Jintao and other leaders when they step down five years from now.Li and Xi are said to be leading contenders. Li, an associate of Hu's since the two worked together in the Communist Youth League 25 years ago, is said to be Hu's favorite but is facing resistance from other powerful party leaders. Xi, the son of a revolutionary veteran, is a compromise candidate, liked for his competence and a heritage of political reliability.Their political fates likely will not be known until Sunday or Monday, when the congress closes and Hu escorts the new leadership for a brief appearance before the media.Both Li and Xi were careful to make reference to Hu or his policies, while avoiding discussion of personal questions.Asked about his greatest accomplishments in office, Li gave Beijing the credit. "Liaoning's achievements, I think, have come through the party center's leadership and the hard work of all our province's people toiling together," he said.Xi, whose predecessor in Shanghai was toppled in a corruption scandal, was even more cautious, promising to use Hu's "theory of scientific development and bring it to its full fruition."The catchphrase refers to Hu's signature policy of spreading economic growth more evenly to ease a growing rich-poor gap and the protests and social tensions that it has ignited.Being an anointed successor was once perilous in Chinese communist politics. Revolutionary leader Mao Zedong cashiered two, one dying in a plane crash, the other under arrest. Reform architect Deng Xiaoping tried to create more order, forcing aging leaders to retire and appointing a series of younger officials in the 1980s, two of whom he fired.Deng engineered Hu's ascent into the Politburo Standing Committee in giving him an air of legitimacy that he carefully nurtured until being appointed in 2002.Still, discussion of promotions or personnel issues remains fraught with danger in an authoritarian system where advancement is based on avoiding mistakes and cultivating older leaders.While speculation on the Internet and among Beijing's political classes abounds about the new leadership lineup, the current congress is meant to show the party as unified under Hu.Chinese newspapers, all of them state-run, carried virtually the same front page photos of Hu delivering the conference's opening address on Monday beneath banner headlines in patriotic red ink. Another rising star touted for higher office on Monday summarily dismissed a question from a reporter about his chances of joining the leadership."That is baseless," said Jiangsu province party chief Li Yuanchao, 56."Like a colleague of mine said, that's rumor, and since it's rumor, I won't respond to it."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SAEVFO0&show_article=1&catnum=0

As in the days of Noah....

Possible new marine species found in Celebes Sea

MANILA-A swimming sea cucumber, a Nemo-like orange fish and a worm with tentacles sprouting from its head are among dozens of possible new species found during a survey of the Celebes Sea, researchers said Tuesday.A team of US and Filipino scientists plunged up to five kilometres (three miles) underwater in early October in an area that has been isolated by rising sea levels and may have spawned sea life not found elsewhere.They collected between 50 and 100 potentially undiscovered species of marine invertebrates and fishes. "These waters are the richest biological regions of the world but have been largely unexplored," said expedition leader, Larry Madin, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.The survey was conducted by Woods Hole, National Geographic and Filipino scientists at the Coral Triangle, bodies of water bounded by the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia that are known to contain the world's richest biodiversity in shallow water marine species.It will take a few more weeks of study of the deepwater sea life samples before they can be declared new species, Madin said during a video presentation of the findings in Manila.Among the more unusual finds were an orange-tinged sea cucumber that uproots itself from the seabed and swims using flaps on its transparent body, and a worm with tentacles coming out of its head and transparent paddle fins growing all over its tan body."We don't know what this is," Madin said of the worm. "It might be something big."Of the fish collected, a tiny, angular orange one with a puckered yellow mouth looked like the main character in the animated Hollywood film "Finding Nemo," Madin said.The team also collected various types of deepwater jellyfish, predatory eels and single-celled organisms-as well as piles of household garbage.The area holds promise for more discoveries, Madin said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071016/sc_afp/philippinesenvironmentusanimalmarine

As in the days of Noah....

Myanmar jails alleged protesters

YANGON-Closed courts have sentenced five Myanmar protesters, all members of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, to long jail terms, relatives said on Tuesday.Those sentenced in Rakhine state, 250 miles northwest of Yangon, included 85-year-old Kyaw Khine who relatives said was not even in town during the protests against 45 years of military rule put down ruthlessly by the army.Kyaw Khine, chairman of the Taunggok NLD, was jailed for seven and a half years on Monday, they said.
Ko Min Aung, an NLD official from the same town, received the same sentence following his arrest in Taunggok on his return home from a meeting at party headquarters in Yangon on October 13."Ko Min Aung was sentenced to seven and a half years and Sein Kyaw to five years after a closed trial in Thandwe today," Ko Min Aung's wife told Reuters by telephone.NLD members Tun Kyi and Than Pe were sentenced to four and a half years in Thandwe last week and Sein Kyaw, the NLD chairman in Gwa Township, was taken to Thandwe to face the close trial on Tuesday, the relatives and friends said.The closed trials were held despite appeals from abroad for the release of thousands of people arrested when the junta sent in the army to end huge demonstrations which began as small protests against fuel price rises in August and escalated as Buddhist monks joined in.Arrests are still going on in nightly raids and state-run media have said opposition to the generals' "seven-step path to democracy," which critics say would leave them in charge, would not be tolerated.United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, now touring Asia seeking a common approach to persuading the generals to compromise with Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the last 18 years in detention, appealed on Monday for the arrests to stop.On the same day, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper showed no sign the junta was prepared to relent, despite strongman Than Shwe agreeing to meet Suu Kyi if she gave up key positions."We will not deviate from our path," the newspaper said in a commentary."Those who sincerely want to hold hands with us are welcome," it said. "We will get rid of the barriers and obstacles on the way."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071016/ts_nm/myanmar_sentences_dc

As in the days of Noah....

Mom accused of neglect for teaching own kids:Describes litany of harassment, intimidation at public district

A Missouri public school is pursuing a complaint against a mother for withdrawing her son and daughter from the school and teaching them at home, after an apparent threat to the daughter's life at the school.The case involves Moberly, Mo., mother Anita Nicoli, who withdrew her daughter and a son from Moberly Middle School recently after what she has described as a two-year campaign of intimidation by other students.The breaking point came when another student, who allegedly had harassed and assaulted her daughter, drew a picture of herself holding a gun and pointing it directly at Nicoli's daughter. The picture was passed around among students, she said.But she now has been cited in a complaint filed by the school after she withdrew two of her children.Multiple telephone messages left with officials at the school district were not returned. But Nicoli told WND that she is accused of "educational neglect" by social services, based on a complaint from the school. The incident that she perceived as a threat was especially egregious, she told WND, because the student who drew the picture showed it to her daughter, and then other students saw it as well. One student told a teacher, who took the picture. But Nicoli said when she found out and wanted a copy of the offending picture to pursue a complaint, the school told her it had been lost. Drawings of weapons in schools aren't new. In fact, WND reported just weeks ago that a 13-year-old in an Arizona school was suspended for three days for drawing a sketch of a gun, even without any targeted individual.In that case, according to a report by KPHO-TV in Phoenix, the principal at Payne Junior High School kept the actual drawing, and officials with the Chandler Unified School District declined to release any information about the situation.But the student's mother said he was just "doodling."

To read more go to:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58162

As in the days of Noah....

Christian group apologizes for pro-life message

A Christian organization that provides motivational speakers to high schools has apologized to a school after one speaker made comments that could have been interpreted as opposing abortion and support heterosexual relationships.The speaker is Tina Marie, an actress who is available for such events through Premiere Speakers. She spoke recently in several Minnesota schools under the auspices of Youth for Christ. "The issue … was that the speaker indicated a pro-life stance when it came to the abortion issue, and when it came to homosexuality and/or the gay issue, she could have been interpreted [[[[as an anti-gay stance," ]]]]Bob Poe, a spokesman for the YFC office, told WND. "Although she did not say directly either one of those statements, by her examples and inference that would have been logical," he said.Poe said he wrote to the school to address the concerns, while Willmar High School Principal Rob Anderson was writing to parents to apologize for The actress, who has experience as an international speaker, host, reporter, author and emcee, has appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "The Young and the Restless," "Lizzie McQuire" and others. She worked for eight years in feature films and television shows and realized during that time how the media "twists the truth."Now as a National Speakers Association member, she wants to share the truth with teens and their parents.During her visit to Willmar, she asked students to listen to song lyrics, and consider their message. She also said actors and musicians often won't let their own children watch or listen to the things they are trying to sell to others' children, according to a report in the Morris, Minn., newspaper.But the report in the Sun-Tribune said Tina Marie told the students one-third of their generation has been aborted, and she suggested boys who wear low-hanging pants may be seen as homosexuals.YFC, which has worked for 20 years bringing motivational speakers to Minnesota schools, agrees biblically with her opposition to abortion and homosexuality. But Poe said that wasn't supposed to be the topic of the address to students."We have never taken speakers into the school system to deal with those issues," he told WND. "I think we would rather that the speakers we bring to schools not deal with topics that are controversial, that the school desires to remain neutral about, although as YFC, an organization, we are pro-life and pro-heterosexual."Poe said he's never before worked with a speaker who broached such subjects in the past while they give assigned talks on issues such as racism, bullying, drug abuse and alcohol abuse."I know these people [in the community]. I've lived with these people for years. They have kids' best at heart. Unfortunately, we're in a system that allows one individual to cause a lot of pain," he said.[[[["We respect the separation the school needs to have from the church world," he said. He said he refunded the money Willmar schools paid for the program. Marie's comments, which he defined as having "crossed the line."]]]]

To read more go to:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58156

PS:IF Mr.POE doesn't have the boldness tostand up for whta the bible stands for,he has no bussiness being the spolesman or the head of any TRUE christian organization....The problem is that now here in America a lot of people consider themselves CHRISTIANS and they have no idea what to be a TRUE christian is anymore.....PITIFUL example of the COMPROMISE in which many so called "Christian Organizations" have falled in....

As in the days of Noah...

Christmas lights under threat

Britain could be facing a bleak mid-winter as the cost of following health and safety rules is forcing councils to consider scrapping Christmas lights, business leaders have warned.Stringent new regulations and increased insurance premiums have pushed the price of a modest festive display to as much as £25,000, and out of the reach of many town budgets.This year councils must use a pressure gauge to individually test every bolt holding a cable or light fitting to a wall.Only fully insured professionals can hang the lights and workers must use expensive hydraulic platforms to do the job because ladders are not deemed safe. Stephen Alambritis, from the Federation of Small Businesses, is warning that the country is heading for a “Christmas blackout”.He said: “It is a very sad state of affairs. The festive period is looking darker and bleaker year on year.“Towns everywhere are facing the prospect of no Christmas lights - because councils simply can’t afford the insurance.“Christmas lights excite consumers, they create the ambiance of the season and make them want to go onto the high street.“But we are increasingly concerned about what the threat to festive displays means for high street sales.”Traders in Clevedon, near Bristol, have decided to go without their festive illuminations after spending the whole year raising £3,000 themselves.Bob Hughes, chairman of the local traders’ association said: “If we need to put anchorage onto any building to hang the lights from, it needs to be 'pull-tested’.“And if any of the anchorage points cause damage to the buildings, then the association has to take responsibility for that, which we cannot do.”Officials in Bodmin, Cornwall, also say they have abandoned their display because it will cost £1,200 in training fees, wages and equipment hire for two workmen to test all 150 bolts in a cherry-picker.In Sandwell, Worcestershire, traders have been told lights cannot be hung across the widths of roads, because of fears the cable may break.And in Dereham, Norfolk, local traders have been forced to appeal to the public to help them raise funds to cover the £10,000 cost of the insurance and lights.A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers said: “Because we live in an increasingly litigious culture the cost of the liability cover is constantly increasing.”Traders in Elgin near Aberdeen in Scotland, have got round the problem by keeping the lights up all year round - because they cost £25,000 to put up and take down.The Local Government Association have admitted many councils will have no choice but to forget about Christmas lights.A spokesman said: “There is only a certain amount of money in the pot and it is understandable authorities are wondering if it could be spent better elsewhere.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/12/nxmas112.xml

As in the days of Noah....

Rice: Now Is Time for Palestinian State

RAMALLAH, West Bank-Saying the time is now for a Palestinian state, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday prodded Israel and the Palestinians to agree at a U.S.-sponsored conference this fall on how and when to start formal peace talks.In one of her strongest statements yet on the issue, Rice declared that creation of a Palestinian state is a key U.S. interest and urged the two sides to drop contentious demands and reach consensus on a substantive joint statement ahead of the international conference."Frankly, it's time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice told a news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who she saw on the second of a four-day intense Middle East shuttle diplomacy mission."The United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests," she said."That's really a message that I think only I can deliver," Rice said, explaining her mission to prepare for the conference to be held in Annapolis, Md. as early as late November.The secretary is facing daunting challenges in trying to bring the two sides close enough to make the conference worthwhile.Rice, who expects to return to the region at least once before the conference takes place, played down the chances for any breakthroughs before she traveled here.Rice met with Israeli officials on Sunday and will see both sides again on Wednesday after visiting Egypt on Tuesday and finally traveling to London to meet Jordan's King Abdullah II in a bid to build support for the meeting among skeptical Arab nations.In her talks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, she is seeking to bridge wide gaps between Israel and the Palestinians over the declaration to be endorsed in Annapolis that President Bush hopes will lead to negotiations for a final settlement of the long-running conflict.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he does not see the document as a prerequisite for the conference. He wants it as vague as possible on critical so-called "final status issues" like the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of disputed Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees.The Palestinians, meanwhile, have said they will not attend the conference without a document that contains details on these matters as well as a specific timeline for their resolution. Arab states share the Palestinian concerns."No doubt that before we go to (the conference), the document will be ready," said Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the West Bank since the militant Hamas movement seized control of the Gaza Strip in June."The negotiations should not be open-ended, but subject to a certain time period," he added.Standing next to Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Rice insisted the conference will be "serious and substantive." "We frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said in the first public confirmation from a U.S. official that Washington has chosen the Maryland capital as the venue for the meeting.Speaking to reporters at her Jerusalem hotel after seeing Abbas, Rice declined to reveal her private discussions with Israeli and Palestinian officials but suggested that neither side would get its way in their demands for the joint statement."I am not certain that a timetable that says we have to complete X by Y time is where we want to go," she said when asked about the Palestinian demand for deadlines."We're talking about ways to demonstrate continued momentum if and when they begin formal negotiations but we haven't come to any conclusions at this point," Rice said.She also said the joint statement "does not have to be detailed in order to be serious (or) substantive."At the same time, she said that despite Israeli reservations, the document would have to include references to the final status issues."If it's going to address the establishment of a Palestinian state, then it has to address core issues," Rice said. "You do have to have enough that is concrete so that people know that we're not just starting out with the general principle that everyone would like to have a Palestinian state."She also defended the plan for the conference, which some critics believe Bush called prematurely when he announced in July that it would be held in the fall - a year before the next presidential elections."I understand as well as anybody that there are risks to announcing a meeting and then doing the hard work to get it prepared," Rice said. But the other side of that ... something had to spark their active and intensive engagement, something had to spark the region to take advantage of what was a slowly opening historic opportunity."Palestinian officials had expressed disappointment with Rice's less-than-optimistic comments on Sunday and in her meeting with Abbas she sought to reassure the Palestinians of the U.S. commitment to peace."We have come a long way," she said. "We have got quite a long way to go, but we are not going to tire until I have given it my last ounce of energy and my last moment in office."Also Monday, the Israeli and Palestinian teams charged with drafting the pre-conference document were to meet in Jerusalem, Qureia's office said. The teams had met only once before.At the same time, Olmert hinted Monday that he is ready to share control of Jerusalem, saying for the first time that Israel could do without controlling some of the holy city's outlying Arab neighborhoods.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071015/D8S9QPSO0.html

As in the days of Noah....

Rabbis urge: 'Save Jerusalem!':Leaders slam Olmert for 'willingness to divide Judaism's capital'

TEL AVIV-A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis yesterday called on Jews worldwide to speak out against what rabbinic leaders called the "crime of dividing Jerusalem as proposed by the current Israeli government." The move follows a flurry of media reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is contemplating handing over sections of Jerusalem to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.Yesterday Olmert hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a speech whether it was "really necessary" to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital.At a Tel Aviv press conference yesterday, leaders of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, including some of Israel's most prominent Jewish leaders, urged Jews worldwide to speak out."We must scream and protest not only to go through the motions, but maybe our protest will bring another one in its chain and awaken the public," said RCP leader Rabbi David Drukman, the rabbinic leader of the Kiryat Motzkin Israeli community."It pains us to see that there is no public outcry against this; everyone is complacent,"Drukman said at the press conference. Rabbi Meir Horowitz, leader of the Hassidic Bostoner community and a U.S. citizen, addressed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly:"Madam Secretary, we request that you convey to President Bush and to the leaders of the civilized world that although Jerusalem is also holy to the three great faiths of the world, for the Jewish people it is our only holy city; therefore, no one can expect the Jewish people to forgo the central theme and focus of their religion."Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Shreiber, who was the rabbinic leader of Kfar Darom, one of the largest Gaza Strip Jewish communities evacuated by Israel in 2005, pointed out that while most Jewish expulsions throughout history were perpetuated by non-Jews, he was "stunned" the Jewish state would "expel their brothers from their homes."Meir Porush, a nationalist Knesset Member, called Jerusalem "the soul of the nation and just like a man cannot live without a soul, so we cannot live without Jerusalem."Rabbi Gerlitzky, chairman of the Rabbinical Congress, commented, "It has been several months now that the government has been discussing dividing Jerusalem, but it was done quietly behind our back. Now when it came out in the open, there is no outcry. I feel as though the public has been sprayed with some kind of sleeping gas."A Rabbinic Congress resolution, passed at yesterday's meeting, urged the Olmert government to "come back to your senses.""The Congress calls on the government to abandon the 'land for peace' formula. It never worked in the past, it doesn’t work now and will never work in the future. This formula is obsolete, outdated, leads to bloodshed."The rabbis' statements followed a speech yesterday in which Olmert asked whether it was "really necessary" for Israel to control Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.Last week, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.Ramon reportedly wrote in a letter published by the Israeli media that under his plan, "The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian."Knesset Member Otniel Schneller, a Kadima party colleague of Olmert and Ramon known for his close relationship to the prime minister, claimed the plan violated Kadima's platform.But WND first reported in 2006 it was Schneller who first floated a Kadima plan for dividing Jerusalem."The Old City, Mount Scopus, the Mount of Olives, the City of David, Sheikh Jarra will remain in our hands, but [regarding] Kafr Akeb, Abu-Ram, Shuafat, Hizma, Abu-Zaim, Abu-Tur, Abu Dis, in the future, when the Palestinian state is established, they will become its capital," said Schneller at the small Jerusalem debate in May 2006, covered by WND.Days later, Schneller gave an interview to the AP in which he stated "We will not divide Jerusalem, we will share it."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58169

As in the days of Noah...

Ban on 'Mom' and 'Dad' sparks call for exodus:'Public districts no longer are safe environment for children'

A call is being issued to Christians who have been engaged in the culture wars in California's schools to abandon the system, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a ban on "discriminatory bias" against homosexuals and others with alternative sexual lifestyles."We're calling upon every California parent to pull their child out of California's public school system," Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, told WND."The so-called 'public schools' are no longer a safe emotional environment for children. Under the new law, schoolchildren as young as kindergarten will be sexually indoctrinated and introduced to homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality, over the protests of parents, teachers and even school districts," he said.The law at issue went through the California legislature as SB 777, and now bans in school texts and activities any discriminatory bias against those who have chosen alternative sexual lifestyles, Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for Capitol Resource Institute, said.There are no similar protections for students with traditional or conservative lifestyles and beliefs, however. Offenders will face the wrath of the state Department of Education, up to and including lawsuits."SB 777 will result in reverse discrimination against students with religious and traditional family values. These students have lost their voice as the direct result of Gov. Schwarzenegger's unbelievable decision. The terms 'mom and dad' or 'husband and wife' could promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured. "Parents want the assurance that when their children go to school they will learn the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic – not social indoctrination regarding alternative sexual lifestyles. Now that SB 777 is law, schools will in fact become indoctrination centers for sexual experimentation," she said.Karen England, chief of CRI, told WND that the law is not a list of banned words, including "mom" and "dad." But she said the requirement is that the law bans discriminatory bias and the effect will be to ban such terminology."Having 'mom' and 'dad' promotes a discriminatory bias. You have to either get rid of 'mom' and 'dad' or include everything when talking about [parental issues]," she said. "They [promoters of sexual alternative lifestyles] do consider that discriminatory.""There will be no exemptions to this indoctrination," Thomasson told WND. "Private schools and homeschool will be the only sanctuary left for parents in California who love their children and want to protect their sexual innocence."He posted on his website examples of situations he expects to see developing in California schools, under the new requirements:

*"Please turn to Chapter 10, entitled Famous Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people. History tells us that great Americans such as Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln were gay and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was lesbian. It's likely that even prominent biblical personas were gay, such as King David of Israel and the Apostle Paul. Until this year, the sexual identities of these and other historical figures have been denied by discriminatory textbooks that reflected adversely on LGBT people by ignoring their existence."
*"Children, our new picture book has arrived. This is a fantastic story called Daddy's Wedding. It teaches us that no relationship is bad. See the two men dressed in tuxedos, like they're at a wedding? Daddy's Wedding tells us that two men can love each other and even get married…"
*"Class, for our contemporary social studies' new No-Discriminatory-Bias component, we have a special speaker this afternoon. He will share his amazing story of growing up as a male trapped in a female's body."
*"Here in our boys' sex education assembly, you need to know that puberty means growing facial hair, a deeper voice and a growth spurt when you're in junior high. If you're comfortable with those changes, great. But we're required by law to tell you some of you may have a different future. Some of you may feel more comfortable with girls and feel like a girl inside…"

To read more go to:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58154

As in the days of Noah....