Obama's agenda? 'Hate crimes' law: White House site posts priority for special protection for 'gays'

President Obama had not even finished his inaugural address today before his agenda was posted on the WhiteHouse website, where he promised to "overturn" the Supreme Court's precedents on discrimination claims and to demand new laws requiring employers to provide special protections for homosexuals and others with "gender" issues.Second on the list of priorities is Obama's demand for federal "hate crimes" laws, which opponents fear could be used to make basic Christian beliefs subject to federal penalties and prohibitions as already has happened in other nations.The agenda was posted as Obama's technical team took over operation of the formal White House website from the Bush administration.Civil rights was listed first under Obama's "entire agenda," and under that the first item was to "Combat Employment Discrimination." In wording that appeared to be copied from sections of his campaign website, the new administration stated, "President Obama and Vice President Biden will work to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination. They will also pass the Fair Pay Act, to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression."In 2007, the Supreme Court concluded that a federal civil rights law that sets a 180-day deadline for employees to allege they were paid less because of their sex, race, national origin or religion is valid.At the time, Justice Samuel Alito concluded employers would have trouble defending against claims that could come from employment actions "that are long past."A federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which would demand employers provide supportive treatment for cross-dressers, transgenders and people who engage in other sexual lifestyles, has failed so far in Congress.Observers, however, say Bush's opposition has led to the failure of "hate crimes" legislation that could be used to ban Christians' citation of biblical condemnation of homosexuality.Bush had stated that such provisions probably were unconstitutional and certainly unnecessary.But second on Obama's agenda was the aim of expanding "hate crimes" statutes."President Obama and Vice President Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section,"the agenda says. Other high priorities are to end deceptive voting practices and end racial profiling, but Obama's agenda then returns to the issue of special support for homosexuality.It cites a statement Obama made in 2007:"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."The White House site then elaborates on Obama's plans to give the "gay" community many of its longstanding demands.Obama, the website says, already has "cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law."Further, he "supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity."Moving even further, the website promotes Obama's desire for "full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples."In addition, the agenda declares a "need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100-plus federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions."The website also promises a repeal of the "don't ask-don't tell" policy that bans open homosexuals in the U.S. military and an expansion of adoption "rights" for homosexuals.As WND reported, Congress already is making preparations to meet some of Obama's demands. Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas has proposed a federal "hate crimes" bill that is feared by Christians as a potential bludgeon against basic biblical teachings.The proposal had been stymied during the Bush administration by the president's threat of a veto. In a statement at the time, the Bush administration said the plan was "unnecessary and constitutionally questionable.""The administration favors strong criminal penalties for violent crime, including crimes based on personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion, or national origin. However … if [then plan at that time] were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," the White House said at the time.But the Jackson-Lee plan, the "David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009," now already has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary for the 2009 Congress.On her website, Jackson-Lee states "hate crimes" are so much worse than ordinary crimes because of their impact."A random act of violence resulting in injury or even death is a tragic event that devastates the lives of the victim and their family, but the intentional selection and beating or murder of an individual because of who they are terrorizes an entire community and sometimes the nation," she warns.Many states already have "hate crimes" legislation. A couple running a photography studio in New Mexico faced thousands of dollars in fines for their decision not to provide photography services to a pair of lesbians because of the Christian beliefs of the studio owners.In Pennsylvania, a 75-year-old grandmother was threatened with prison for advocating a biblical perspective of homosexuality.Internationally, Christians in several nations have been penalized for stating a biblically based condemnation of homosexuality.Former White House insider Chuck Colson, in his Breakpoint commentary, has called such proposals "Thought Crimes" plans."It's about outlawing peaceful speech – speech that asserts that homosexual behavior is morally wrong," he said.Critics have said "hate crimes" laws actually criminalize thought because they demand enhanced penalties because of the "perception" of the victim by the perpetrator. A mugger, for example, who attacks a victim while screaming an epithet denoting a race or sexual preference could get a much more significant penalty than a mugger who attacks a victim but doesn't say anything.Jackson-Lee also has proposed a companion piece of legislation that would "provide support services for victims of hate crimes."The measure been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary as well as the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, Oversight and others.It allows victims of "hate crimes" to take federally authorized family and medical leave and collect unemployment insurance, creates grants for housing for such victims and provides counseling and "related assistance."Well down in the long list of provisions in the second plan is an attempt to "establish and operate a national clearinghouse and resource center for information and statistics relating to … hate crimes."The "clearinghouse" would be run by "a private nonprofit organization," according to the legislation.Matt Barber, chief of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel, has spoken out repeatedly in opposition to the idea."The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law," he said. "Hate crimes legislation is … [a] violation of the Fourteenth Amendment in that it elevates one class of citizen based upon their chosen sexual behaviors above other people."Coral Ridge Ministries, launched by the late D. James Kennedy, has published a book on the issue by John Aman, which says such laws put into doubt "the future of religious liberty and freedom of speech for Christians."

By Bob Unruh

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86633

As in the days of Noah....

Obama's Inaugural Speech: Part I

PS:I posted only the first part of his speech.It is all contained in 5 videos.You can just click on the video and it will take you to the rest of it.

As in the days of Noah...

Inauguration: Barack Obama Sworn in As 44th President

Poet Alexander at Inauguration

"Poet" Elizabeth Alexander read a "poem" after President Barack Obama took the oath of office during Tuesday's inauguration ceremony...

PS:She may be a "poet"alright...but to be honest with you,her part in the inauguration could have been something that they could have marked off their program....Just go to her website....It is wacky ....Her "poem" made absolutely no sense at all and was ridiculous to say the least...WhenI thought it couldn't get worse...it DID...!!!!!!!!
As in the days of Noah....

Obama:"U.S. also country of Muslims, nonbelievers": Echoes past remarks in which he said America 'no longer a Christian nation'

Echoing his previous declaration that the U.S. is "no longer a Christian nation," President Barack Obama today in his inaugural address affirmed America is a nation of many faiths that includes Muslims and "nonbelievers.""For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus-and nonbelievers," Obama stated during his speech before a crowd estimated by security officials at about 1.8 million.He continued: "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."Obama's statements about an inclusive country were strikingly similar to remarks he made twice in 2007 in which he went further and stated the U.S. is "no longer Christian." At that time, some took issue with his pronouncement, fearing the declarations indicated his intention to reorient the U.S. away from its traditional Judeo-Christian values.During a June 2007 speech available on Youtube, Obama stated, "Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers." In that speech, Obama took aim at the "Christian Right" for "hijacking" religion and using it to divide the nation:"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked. Part of it's because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us," he said.Asked last year to clarify his remarks, Obama repeated them to the Christian Broadcast Network: "I think that the right might worry a bit more about the dangers of sectarianism. Whatever we once were, we're no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers," Obama wrote in an e-mail to CBN News senior national correspondent David Brody."We should acknowledge this and realize that when we're formulating policies from the statehouse to the Senate floor to the White House, we've got to work to translate our reasoning into values that are accessible to every one of our citizens, not just members of our own faith community," wrote Obama.Obama clarified his statement about the "Christian Right.""My intention was to contrast the heated partisan rhetoric of a distinct minority of Christian leaders with the vast majority of evangelical Christians-conservatives included-who believe that hate has no place in our politics."When you have pastors and television pundits who appear to explicitly coordinate with one political party; when you're implying that your fellow Americans are traitors, terrorist sympathizers or akin to the devil himself; then I think you're attempting to hijack the faith of those who follow you for your own personal or political ends," wrote Obama.Obama's speech declaring the U.S. "no longer Christian" was originally met with little fanfare. But it was recirculated this summer during the presidential campaign.A television commercial that aired in South Dakota by a group calling itself the Coalition Against Anti-Christian Rhetoric juxtaposed the audio of Obama's "no longer Christian" statement over images of the presidential candidate dressed in Somali garb and a picture of him with his hands rested below his waist while other politicians place their hands over their hearts during the Pledge of Allegiance."It's time for people to take a stand against Barack Hussein Obama," declares the voiceover on the commercial.The Gateway Pundit blog took notice of Obama's speech 2007 about the U.S. being a nation also for Muslims and non-believers. "This won't play well in the Bible Belt," commented the blog in a posting.Obama's campaign had utilized faith as a central theme. The candidate's Christianity and his former membership in the controversial Trinity United Church of Christ led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright were much scrutinized.His comment about the "Christian Right" echoed similar statements made by Merrill A. McPeak, Obama's military adviser and national campaign co-chairman. As WND reported, in a 2003 interview with The Oregonian newspaper, McPeak apparently compared evangelical Christians to the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah.The Oregonian interviewer asked McPeak whether "there's an element within Hamas, Hezbollah, that doesn't want Israel to exist at all and always will be there?"McPeak responded by comparing the two terror groups to "radical" Oregonians."There's an element in Oregon, you know, that's always going to be radical in some pernicious way, and likely to clothe it in religious garments, so it makes it harder to attack," he said. "So there's craziness all over the place."

By Aaron Klein

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86639

As in the days of Noah...

Al Qaeda Group Bungled Test of Unconventional Weapon

An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Qaeda's leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official."We don't know if this is biological or chemical," the official said.The story was first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, which said the Al Qaeda operatives died after being infected with a strain of bubonic plague, the disease that killed a third of Europe's population in the 14th century.But the intelligence official dismissed that claim.

By Eli Lake, Washington Times
Click here for more on this story from the Washington Times.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480864,00.html

As in the days of Noah....

Security Threat Closes U.S. Consulate in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates-The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi has announced that its consulate in the neighboring city of Dubai will be closed Wednesday due to security information provided by authorities. The embassy announcement says the consulate-located in the Dubai World Trade Center-will be closed for American citizen services and visa interviews. The statement doesn't elaborate on the nature of the security information.Dubai and Abu Dhabi are part of a confederation of seven city-states making up the United Arab Emirates. The country is a close U.S. ally.Dubai is a major financial center in the Middle East and home to large numbers of expatriates from around the world.

By AP http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480946,00.html

As in the days of Noah....

Gay Rights Supporters Protest at Warren's Megachurch

Gay rights advocates gathered outside of Rick Warren’s megachurch on Sunday to protest President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to pick the evangelical pastor to deliver the invocation at his inauguration on Tuesday.About 100 demonstrators lined the streets leading to the Saddleback Church campus in Lake Forest, Calif., waving rainbow flags and signs while chanting “equal rights,” according to the Los Angeles Times.“President-elect Obama made a huge misjudgment,” said one protestor, Jenny Mirmak of Irvine, Calif. “The Democratic Party has always counted on the gay and lesbian community for their votes, then thrown them under the bus once they get elected.”Obama received strong backlash from the gay community and its supporters after it was announced in late December that Warren, who had publicly supported the anti-gay marriage measure Proposition 8, would give the prayer at the historic inaugural ceremony.Some had called the decision a “slap” in the face to the gay community, especially since Obama had campaigned promising greater rights to the group.Rick Warren has also been under a firestorm of criticism for not only supporting Proposition 8, but also for comparing homosexuality with incest and bestiality in a recent interview.“They have the right to protest, but as Christians we have the right to believe what we want to believe,” responded Kathy Cox, a member of Saddleback Church, to the protestors on Sunday.Saddleback is one of the largest churches in the nation and draws some 22,000 people each weekend.Amid backlash from the gay community, Obama has defended his pick by saying that America is about diversity and is made up of people with different opinions. Both Obama and Warren said that they hope to be able to show America that people with contrasting views can get along and show civility towards one another.In the past, Warren also picked up heavy criticism from conservatives when he invited Obama to speak at his church’s HIV/AIDS conference. Warren had ignored the protest and welcomed the pro-abortion rights senator to the church’s stage to speak nonetheless.
Last year, during the presidential race between Obama and Republican candidate John McCain, Warren again invited Obama to his church for a civil forum about issues that evangelicals care about.Warren is scheduled to give the invocation Tuesday morning, which will be followed by a performance by Aretha Franklin, the swearing-in of vice president-elect Joseph Biden, a performance by Yo-Yo Ma, and the swearing in of President-elect Barack Obama.
By Jennifer Riley
Christian Post Reporter
http://christianpost.com/Society/Church-state/2009/01/gay-rights-supporters-protest-at-warren-s-megachurch-19/index.html
As in the days of Noah....

Rick Warren Gives Inauguration Invocation

OBAMA'S INAUGURATION:"Elizabeth Alexander:The Unpoet"

Barack Obama has undercut any claims of meritocracy with at least one choice: the woman who will delivering his inaugural poem. Aside from the fact that she has known Obama since they worked together at the University of Chicago, one is hard-pressed to find a rationale for this honor. Only the fourth poet to participate in a presidential inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander is no Robert Frost, nor even Maya Angelou. Alexander is an unpoet who arranges words into impenetrable jumbles flecked with juvenile imagery, inappropriate word choice, an obsessive PC view of race and "gender," a dubious take on miscegenation, and an occasional desire to kill whitey. Perhaps she will regale her national audience with her observations on motherhood, which she writes:
Isfunky, isleaky, isa soggy, bloody crotch, issharp jets of breast milk shot straight across the room,is gaudy, mustard-colored poop...

She proceeds to display a fascination with bodily fluids and functions consistent with an eighth grade locker room:
the baby farts,we laugh. The baby burps, we smile, say “Yes.”The baby poops, his whole body stiffens,then steam heat floods the pipes....The spirit lives in your squirts and coos.Your noises and fluids are what you do.She questions the baby's feeding patterns with adolescent non-language. ("Three feedings? Hunh.")

Then she turns her attention to her discarded placenta, calling it a "mammoth giblet":
The midwife presents it on a platter.We do not eat, have no Tupperwareto take it home and sanctify a tree.Instead, we marvel at my cast-off meat,the almost-pulsing slab, bloody mesa,what lived moments ago, and now has died.

Eventually, she writes of the tenderness of motherhood, addressing her beloved child as:
my whelp, my cub, my seapup.In the days before you smile at meor call me Mama or love me,love is all tit, all wheat-smelling milk, humid crook of the arm

Alexander includes dream sequences of her obstetrician spending the night before the birth with her family, writing the doctor "looks like a loaf of whole wheat bread."She dreams her child's head pops off and she has to put it back on. Then she sees:
All of my aunties chatting like crows on a line,all of my aunties on electric breast pumps,the double kind, one for each exhausted tit.

She uses the word "tit" only twice in this poem but employs "funky" three times; she could write lyrics for Lipps Inc. For a profession so dependent on the use of language, Alexander is notable for her inappropriate use of same. David Horowitz has written about her misuse of the Greek word "chroma."She also misuses "caesuras" and confuses the medical discipline of "Neonatology" with new motherhood. Such confusion is not limited to the written word; the golden-tongued poet told an unflinching audience at the Cambridge Forum, "I first read Jet Magazine...before I could read." More concerning than her transgressions against the English (and Greek and Latin) language(s) is Alexander's all-encompassing focus on race, though so often drowned in pretentious doublespeak. She told the Cambridge Forum she sees poetry as a means to help blacks "envision what we are not meant to envision," such as "real and enactable black power." Her body of work reflects her choice to "meditate" on "a new-fashioned race pride." Alexander insisted in her prose anthology The Black Interior, "black thought and life rarely go uninterrupted by the violent gougings of racism...."

...Obama's may be the first inauguration to have a twelve-bar ditty about infant excrement or submerging racists's internal organs in formaldehyde.Or perhaps she will rise to the occasion and deliver something less offensive, even something inspiring. As Yogi Berra once said, "Predictions are hard, especially about the future." But predictions arise from assessments of observable data, and nothing in her career of affluent oppression, professional victimhood, obsessive racial self-analysis, or conjoining of redefined words masquerading as poetry indicates she will. She is not the voice of a nation's culture. She is a left-wing Floyd R. Turbo filtered through academia. She confuses loquacious self-absorption with sagacious eloquence. In light of Obama's campaign, she may be the perfect choice after all.

By Ben Johnson

To read more go to:

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=368944FA-5FDC-4E02-85F1-6E1F6F71653B

PS:IF this woman is a "POET" anybody can write poetry...believe me...I watched the entire thing...it was painful....I still dont know what in the world was she trying to say and what did it had--if anything--to do with the inauguration day....Gosh...SO HELP US GOD.....

As in the days of Noah....

How Conservatives Should Celebrate the Inauguration

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."
Barack Obama, Victory Speech, November 4, 2008
Yesterday was Martin Luther King's birthday, which is America's only national holiday to honor an American citizen. The day before, which was Sunday, the incoming Obama administration staged an Inauguration Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial around the theme "We Are One," which was also the theme of his presidential campaign.As several of the speakers-including the president-elect-noted,the Lincoln Memorial was the site of Martin Luther King's historic civil rights march and his famous dream for the American future.The president-elect reiterated that dream-that Americans would judge each other by the content of their character and not their racial or ethnic identity. Today America welcomes Barack Obama as the first black president in its 232-year history.
How should conservatives think about these events?
First we have to recognize and then understand that whatever happens in the Obama presidency, this Inauguration Day is a watershed moment in the history of America and a remarkable event in the history of nations, and thus a cause for all of us who love this country, conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican, to celebrate.Second, in order to do this as conservatives-as conservatives who have been through the culture wars-we need to get past the mixed feelings we will inevitably have as the nation marks its progress in moving away from the racial divisions and divisiveness of the past. These feelings come not from resistance to the change, but from the knowledge that this celebration should have taken place decades ago and that its delay was not least because our opponents saw political advantage in playing the race card against us and making us its slandered targets.If we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday at a time of presidential inaugurals, this is thanks to Ronald Reagan who created the holiday, and not to the Democratic Congress of the Carter years, which rejected it.If Americans now have accepted an African American to lead their country in war and peace that is in part because an hysterically maligned Republican made two African Americans his secretaries of state. And if, after the passage of the Civil Rights Acts, race has continued to be a divisive factor in our politics over the last 40 years that is because the generation of Sharpton and Jackson and their liberal supporters have made it so. What conservatives need to recognize in getting past these feelings (and therefore to celebrate) is that because of this political reality,it is only they themselves who could end it.Third,as conservatives who embrace the institutions our founders created we need to separate the two roles of the presidency-symbolic and political.Today the symbolic role takes precedence and we need to appreciate the specific aspects of that symbolism in the new presidency of Barack Obama, and put aside our anticipations of the policies he may later put in place.There will be time enough for that....

By David Horowitz

To read more go to:

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=168D778B-BB43-4090-BBD1-515F0B003F7B

As in the days of Noah...

China activist 'disappears before Obama reception'...

BEIJING-A Chinese activist who made his name as a grassroots organiser has disappeared, his son said on Tuesday, claiming authorities did not want his father to attend a U.S. consulate reception to mark Barack Obama's inauguration.Yao Lifa, a well-known advocate of free elections from Hubei province in central China, was due to attend the reception held by the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, the provincial capital.But Yao disappeared Sunday in Beijing, failing to turn up at a meeting with friends there, his son Yao Yao told Reuters. Yao Lifa also failed to use a train ticket he had bought to take him to Wuhan Monday.Yao Yao said his father appears to have been detained by local authorities but also said he has no idea of his father's whereabouts. Yao Lifa's mobile phone had a ring tone when called, but nobody answered repeated calls."He's often been informally detained by officials from Qianjiang before, and I think it's the same this time," said Yao Yao, the son."I think they did not like him going to the Obama inauguration reception."In a phone conversation with a Reuters reporter last month, Yao Lifa said he felt inspired by the election of Obama. He had earlier visited the United States on a State Department-sponsored learning program.Yao Lifa, 50, a school official in the small city of Qianjiang, achieved nationwide celebrity as a fast-talking and tireless advocate of democratic votes, winning himself a place on the local Communist Party-controlled assembly.But Yao Lifa's campaigning and mobilisation of disaffected farmers irked officials.Under a shadow of official disfavour, he failed to win re-election but threw himself into a life of organising other independent candidates.He also signed the "Charter 08" petition issued last month demanding democratic political reform, which has pitted hundreds of dissidents and rights advocates against the Party. One of the organisers of the petition, Liu Xiaobo, is detained by police...

To read more go to:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50J2CL20090120

As in the days of Noah...

Kenyans Celebrate Obama's Presidency

Nick Otieno, a 27-year-old Kenyan who lives without running water or electricity in Nairobi's Kibera slum, hopes Obama can help develop the area. (Tiffany Wilson)

NAIROBI,Kenya-Americans aren't the only ones celebrating Barack Obama's new job.They're hailing the new president in Kenya, too, embracing the American-born son of a Kenyan man as one of their own."I feel so great because he's one of us, he's like a brother to us," said Nick Otieno, 27, proudly displaying his Barack Obama t-shirt as he stood above a pile of dusty trash.One of nearly a million Kenyans who live in Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum, Otieno has no running water or electricity, but he owns two Obama shirts. He knows the date Obama will enter office, and already has his plans in order. "We shall be celebrating the whole day and the whole night because that day we shall be sure that [Obama] is now the president," he said.For Otieno, Obama's victory is personal: he is a Luo, a member of the tribe of Obama's father. Much of Obama's family still lives in Kenya, and Obama's Kenyan grandmother will be attending his inauguration."He's a Luo and Luos are so much proud of him," said Otieno, who sees Luo traits in Obama's speech and character. "Everything he does, he does the same way the Luos do things."Members of the tribe living in Kibera expect much from Obama.A mother whose child's distended belly protruded from an unbuttoned shirt said she hoped Obama would "bring us food."A man loitering in the shade said he wanted more jobs in Kenya.Otieno was more specific. He said he hopes Obama will work with Kenya's prime minister to bring infrastructure to Kibera. With running water, electric lines and garbage removal, Otieno sees the potential for a better life there, even if the slum's corrugated metal roofs and flimsy wooden walls never change."It is something the government has promised for a very long time and it has never come to pass," he said.Forty-six percent of Kenyans live in poverty, but Obama's success half a world away is a source of inspiration. "When we look at our lives and we look at where he came from...it really motivates us to do better...to be sure that one day even one of us can become one just like he is," said Otieno.Nairobi's streets reflect the influence of their new icon. "Kenyans for Obama" bumper stickers festoon the cars that ply the roads, and many of the colorful matatu minibuses that crowd the streets carry images of Obama's face inside the halo of a $100 bill. A Barack Obama "Man of the Year" billboard hovers above a busy hilltop.Down in Kibera slum, the stench of burning garbage and unwashed bodies hangs in the air, and aged goods are sold in a rotted-out marketplace. Americans are generally unwelcome, but mention of Obama's name works a uniform charm.Residents say they are proud of the first black man ever elected president of the United States, and many stop to speak about the man they consider a native son. "I am happy, I am looking forward to a better kind of world through Obama's presidency," said a woman, Nthenya, who carried her infant child on her back."We expect much from him as far as Kenyan life is concerned-even us, the people who are staying in the slums here in Kibera," said Otieno.But others say Kenyans have to rise out of their own rubble."I don't believe in handouts," said Michael Omolo Ombok, a 36-year-old who runs a car service in Nairobi. Unlike many of his fellow Kenyans, Ombok says he is not looking to the next president for help."I don't believe Obama has a responsibility to make my life better... There's no manna that will fall from heaven now that Obama is president."Members of Kenya's middle class say the value of Obama's presidency lies elsewhere. "I don't believe that we should depend on Obama 100 percent because he's the president of the United States of America," said Ombok. "What we should do is just take it as a way of being optimistic, working more and believing that if Obama can do it-everybody can do it." When Obama enters the White House Tuesday, priceless artwork will surround him.Bodyguards will shield him. Chefs will cook for him. Decorators will cushion him in comfort.Half a world away, a 27-year-old man living amid rubbish, wearing a T-shirt bearing Obama's image, will celebrate.

By Tiffany Wilson--FOXNews.com
Tiffany Wilson is a correspondent with Palestra.net, a FOX News content partner.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/19/kenyans-celebrate-obamas-presidency/

As in the days of Noah....

Statue of Obama Unveiled in Hong Kong

A waxwork of US President-elect Barack Obama went on display in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The life-size figure was unveiled at Madame Tussauds' Hong Kong exhibition...

Celebrations Take Place Worldwide for Obama's Inauguration

Guests stand together with a wax figure depicting U.S. President-elect Barack Obama at Madame Tussauds, a waxworks museum, Tuesday Jan. 20, 2009 in Shanghai, China.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

French businessman Jean-Jacques Attisso shows cans of his "Obama soda" in a Paris suburb. From stock traders to battle-weary soldiers to everyday citizens glued to their television screens, the world was awaiting Barack Obama's swearing-in Tuesday and the dawn of a new era of US leadership.(AFP/File/Mehdi Fedouach)

Large video screens are seen on the main highway in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th U.S. president later in the day. Obama, the son of an economist from Kenya, is wildly popular across Africa.(AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

LONDON-A world made weary by war, recession, joblessness and fear shed its collective burden Tuesday to celebrate the arrival of a new American president. Bulls and goats were slaughtered for feasts in Kenya and caterers prepared for black-tie balls in the capitals of Europe.From Kenya and Indonesia, where Barack Obama has family ties, to areas around the world, Obama represented a volcanic explosion of hope for better days ahead.The ascendance of the first African-American to the presidency of the United States was heralded as marking a new era of tolerance and possibility.It was a reflection of Obama's sprawling, complex family tree that villages in places as diverse as Ireland and Kenya held special parties to celebrate their link to the new president.An Irish village called Moneygall covered itself in red, white and blue bunting Tuesday in honor of Obama's connections, via a great-great-great grandfather named Fulmouth Kearney who emigrated to the United States in 1850. Road signs read "Moneygall welcomes our President, Barack Obama."They also baked a special round fruitcake, locally called a "brack," to sell for the occasion-and put pictures of Obama on the wrapping.In Kenya, feasts were being prepared, beer with Obama's name on it put out and movie screens erected so neighbors could join together for the moment, a year after their own elections were marred by ethnic violence."Our election in Kenya really had problems with ethnicity...America has shown that this doesn't have to be that big a problem," said Dr. Joseph Osoo, who runs a clinic in one of Kenya's biggest slums."Kenyan are very happy because their son is going to be the leader of America," he said.Obama's themes were echoed throughout the world. At the United Nations complex overlooking the Danube River in Vienna, Austria, someone wrote "YES, WE CAN!" in giant block letters in the snow.U.N. workers peered down at the message from their office windows."It's a mystery who did it," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency.It was a day when America's rich musical heritage, often reflecting the freedom struggle of African-Americans, was embraced worldwide.In Sweden, African-American singer Cyndee Peters was hosting a show named "A Gala for Obama," featuring dozens of Swedish soul, jazz, hip-hop, gospel, folk and blues artists."Obama fever is all over the whole world, " said Peters, 62, who grew up in North Carolina and New York. "I was congratulated by I don't know how many Swedes after the election. I think what he stands for needs to be celebrated.""No one is doing their favorite songs or greatest hits," Peters added. "We're doing songs about hope."In London, Americans could get free admission to Madame Tussaud's waxworks to see the new figure of Obama, and Queen Elizabeth II sent the new president a personal message of support. Parties were scheduled in dozens of venues, from ritzy hotels to local sports bars.Louise Darko from Atlanta was standing on line to be photographed with the Obama waxwork. She was thrilled with Obama's inauguration because of the difficulties her great-grandfather faced when he was one of the first blacks to attend university in the American south."Now when I tell my children you can grow up to be anything, I really mean it," said Darko, 44. "In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, where Obama spent four years as a young boy, students from his former school swayed and spun in bright, traditional costumes representing Indonesia's ethnically diverse tropical islands.Old classmates gathered to watch his speech at the Menteng 1 elementary school, where he is fondly remembered as a chubby kid called Barry."I'm proud that the next president is someone who I have shared time with," said Rully Dasaad, a fellow Boy Scout with Obama."It was a crucial time for children our age, it is when we learned tolerance, sharing, pluralism, acceptance and respect of difference in cultures and religions."In the Japanese town of Obama, hula dancers performed-Obama was born in Hawaii, and hula is popular in Japan. Businesses pumped out Barack Obama sweet bean cakes, chopsticks, T-shirts, fish burgers, neck ties and noodles.Many across the Middle East heralded the inauguration but expressed reservations about how much Obama will actually change U.S. policy in a region where anti-American sentiment spiked during George W. Bush's administration.Those doubts have become more pronounced in recent weeks with the devastating Gaza offensive by U.S. ally Israel that killed over 1,250 Palestinians.But Obama still retains a great deal of goodwill in the Middle East for having a Muslim father.Saleh al-Mohaisen, who runs a jewelry store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said he was "overjoyed" when Obama was elected."I felt that he could understand Arab suffering," he said.Al-Mohaisen said Obama's failure to denounce Israel's Gaza offensive made him more wary of the new leader, but not enough to change his opinion."I love him despite his silence," he said. "I feel we share the same blood."

By AP

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/20/celebrations-place-worldwide-obamas-inauguration/

As in the days of Noah....

IAF strike Kassam launchers in gaza

IAF planes struck a Kassam rocket launcher in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening,hours after two incidents of gunfire and mortar shell fire were reported against IDF troops in the area. The strike was the first of the kind since Israel unilaterally implement a cease-fire at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday.Earlier in the day, Gaza gunmen fired at IDF patrols in two separate incidents that marked the first violations of the cease-fire declared Sunday by Hamas.No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the two incidents, which took place near the Kissufim border crossing, in central Gaza, and in southern Gaza.IDF troops returned fire following one of the attacks.Earlier Tuesday, security forces backtracked on their report that Gaza terrorists had fired a mortar shell at southern Israel.Police had first reported Tuesday morning that at least one shell had hit the Sdot Negev region.The IDF said later that a warning siren that went off was a false alarm. Meanwhile, the IDF was preparing to withdraw its remaining troops from Gaza. Defense officials estimated that the army would pull the troops out by the time Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday.
AP contributed to this report

By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292915656&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

As in the days of Noah....

Gaza gunmen fire at IDF patrols in 1st cease-fire violations

Gaza gunmen fired at IDF patrols on Tuesday afternoon in two separate incidents that mark the first violations of the cease-fire declared Sunday by Hamas.No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the two incidents, which took place near the Kissufim border crossing, in central Gaza, and in southern Gaza.IDF troops returned fire following one of the attacks.Earlier Tuesday, security forces backtracked on their report that Gaza terrorists had fired a mortar shell at southern Israel.Police had first reported Tuesday morning that at least one shell had hit the Sdot Negev region.The IDF said later that a warning siren that went off was a false alarm.Meanwhile, the IDF was preparing to withdraw its remaining troops from Gaza. Defense officials estimated that the army would pull the troops out by the time Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday.
AP contributed to this report

To watch the following video,click on the link below:

Mashaal says Hamas disappointed at lack of support from Arab and Muslim world

By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292915656&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

As in the days of Noah....

Hamas holds victory rallies as UN chief tours Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip-The U.N. chief inspected the devastation wrought by Israel's onslaught in Gaza on Tuesday, leading a moment of silence at the smoldering U.N. headquarters, as the territory's militant Hamas rulers, triumphant at having survived, held victory rallies amid the ruins.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, appearing stern and saddened at a ceremony at the burned out U.N. headquarters in Gaza, demanded an Israeli investigation into strikes on United Nations facilities.Ban asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence for victims of the offensive, who included nearly 40 Palestinians who had sought refuge at a U.N. school shelled by Israel."It has been especially troubling and heartbreaking for me as secretary-general that I couldn't end this faster," he said. He warned the truce is fragile, and called on Israel and Hamas to "exercise maximum restraint and nurture the cease-fire."Thousands of Hamas supporters thronged a square outside the remains of the parliament building in Gaza City, which was heavily damaged in an Israeli airstrike at the outset of the war. Two men hoisted a sign in carefully scripted Hebrew reading,"The resistance will be victorious,Israel has been defeated. "Israel and Hamas both ceased fire on Sunday, after an offensive that claimed the lives of some 1,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and 13 Israelis. The last of Israel's ground troops were expected to pull out of Gaza on Tuesday if the quiet holds, defense officials said.In a sign the militant group remained in control in Gaza, Hamas security teams in uniforms patrolled Gaza City."With full trust and full confidence I say the Palestinian people and the heroic resistance have won this battle," Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, said Monday. "Hamas today is stronger than any time before....The loser is the occupation." Thousands of Hamas supporters turned out to celebrate in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, raising their forefingers in the air as a sign of the their loyalty to the militant group, and waving the movement's iconic green flag. Bearded organizers in yellow vests kept the crowd in order and pro-Hamas music blared from loudspeakers.Around 800 people showed up for a pro-Hamas demonstration in the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, the site of heavy fighting."For us, this was a victory," said Mohammed Abu Awad, 24, a university student.But the owner of a coffee stand located near the Gaza City rally criticized the festivities, given the steep Palestinian death toll."We can't talk about real victory because there were thousands of martyrs and we didn't liberate anything," said Jawdat Abu Nahel. "It's no time for a parade."

By BEN HUBBARD and ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

As in the days of Noah...

Hamas Inauguration

Barack Obama isn’t wasting any time making an impression: he has selected the leader of a group that has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case to present a prayer during his inauguration festivities.Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), will offer a prayer at the National Cathedral Tuesday.Superficially, Obama’s choice is understandable: Ingrid Mattson is a Canadian convert to Islam who has carefully cultivated the image of a moderate spokesperson.Yet her organization’s record is not entirely clean.Federal prosecutors last summer rejected claims that ISNA was unfairly named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. And ISNA has even admitted ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, complaining only that the government’s evidence for those ties came from old documents, but offering no proof that the organization had reversed course. In a memorandum on the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy in the United States, a Muslim Brotherhood operative named ISNA as an allied organization in what it called “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”What’s more, in a CNN chat room on October 18, 2001, Mattson offered a subtle defense of Osama bin Laden. She avowed that “only a small number of Muslims throughout the world would support Osama bin Laden’s tactics.” (Emphasis added.)Tactics alone? Is that the only problem with Osama? Does she, then, hold to his goals? Mattson even suggested that “a larger number” of Muslims share bin Laden’s grievances, and that he was popular because the leaders of Islamic countries had failed their people: Muslims, she said, “turned to Osama bin Laden as a spokesperson…because they feel that no one else, including their own leaders, has spoken for them.” This disquietingly echoes the jihadist critique of secular regimes in Muslim countries such as Egypt and Pakistan: jihadists label such regimes illegitimate and apostate because they do not implement Islamic law in its fullness.In 2002 she even asserted that in countries that were not functioning democracies, “‘extremism’ might seem to be the only rational choice, because extreme actions are the only actions that seem to have an effect.” This again gives the impression that bin Laden’s goals were laudable, and that he was driven by desperation to illegitimate actions in pursuit of a legitimate goal.Mattson explained during the CNN chat that “Islam allows force to be used by legitimate authorities, to protect people, and to protect Muslim states, just as all nation states in the world permit themselves to use force to protect their security and interests. Again, the problem of individual Muslims taking up arms, becoming vigilantes, in a way, is related to their frustration with the lack of leadership on the part of their own government.” This implies that if the governments of Muslim countries had been waging jihad to protect Muslim states, Osama bin Laden wouldn’t have had to do so. Here again she implies that bin Laden’s goals are sound, only his means are questionable.Mattson again reinforced the impression that she endorsed al-Qaeda’s goals, if not its means, when she referred (also in the CNN chat) to the “overthrowing of the caliphate” in the 1920s as “a plan of European powers for many years,” and claimed that “this deprived the Muslim world of a stable and centralized authority, and much of the chaos that we’re living in today is the result of that.” This does appear to be an endorsement of the jihadist goal of reestablishing the caliphate and uniting Muslims under its authority in a supranational state which could then, according to Islamic law, legitimately wage offensive jihad warfare against non-Muslim states.Mattson also excused the virulent and violent Wahhabi movement in Islam, terming it “a reform movement that began 200 years ago to rid Islamic societies of cultural practices and rigid interpretation that had acquired over the centuries.” Mattson thus suggests that Wahhabism was a legitimate reform within Islam, asserting that “it really was analogous to the European Protestant Reformation” and noting that “the Saudi scholars who are Wahhabi have denounced terrorism and denounced in particular the acts of September 11” – but never mentioning the abundant evidence that high-placed Saudis have continued to support and finance global jihad terrorism.Yet while curiously silent about the excesses and violence of Wahhabism, Mattson blamed the decline of the Islamic world on the West:“Well, the decline began with the colonization of the Muslim world by European powers. One of the first things the colonialists did was to dismantle the institutions of what we could call civil society. The Muslim world has until now not recovered from that dismemberment of its society.”In reality, the colonial period did not begin until the 18th and 19th centuries, and would not have been able to begin at all had the Islamic world not already been in a period of steep cultural and military decline. Historian Philip K. Hitti describes the decline of Islamic thought as beginning far earlier than the era of European colonialism, saying that “the whole Arab world had by the beginning of the thirteenth century lost the intellectual hegemony it had maintained since the eighth.”
Mattson has also tried to set Jews and Christians against once another. Speaking at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in March 2007, Mattson said:“Right-wing Christians are very risky allies for American Jews, because they [the Christians] are really anti-Semitic. They do not like Jews.” Yet Mattson would be hard-pressed to produce any anti-Semitic statement from Christians who support Israel – any statement, in other words, comparable to an article posted at IslamOnline, “Jews as Depicted In the Qur’an,” which concludes:After this clear explanation, we would like to note that these are but some of the most famous traits of the Jews as described in the Qur’an. They have revolted against the Divine ordinances, distorted what has been revealed to them and invented new teachings which, they claimed, were much more better than what has been recorded in the Torah. It was for these traits that they found no warm reception in all countries where they tried to reside. Rather, they would either be driven out or live in isolation. It was Almighty Allah who placed on them His Wrath and made them den of humiliation due to their transgression. Almighty Allah told us that He’d send to them people who’d pour on them rain of severe punishment that would last till the Day of Resurrection. All this gives us glad tidings of the coming victory of Muslims over them once Muslims stick to strong faith and belief in Allah and adopt the modern means of technology. What is Mattson doing to combat these attitudes within the Islamic community? She never addresses them.If Ingrid Mattson truly intends to be a voice for reform and moderation within the Islamic community in North America, and to reassure those who are justifiably alarmed by Obama’s invitation to her, she should explain her troublesome statements – especially those that apparently portray Osama bin Laden in a favorable light. She should also explain ISNA’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and confront honestly the elements of Islamic teaching that jihadists use to justify violence and make recruits among peaceful Muslims. Unless and until she does these things and others that would conclusively demonstrate her moderation, non-Muslims are justified in being appalled at Obama’s choice.
By Robert Spencer
---------------------
Robert Spencer is a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of seven books, eight monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including the New York Times Bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His new book is Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs.
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=91FE16A6-5394-4855-905A-7FB24FBDCF7B
As in the days of Noah...

Gaza's traumatised children

Arabs:Israel ammo in Gaza had depleted uranium

VIENNA, Austria-Arab nations accused Israel on Monday of blasting Gaza with ammunition containing depleted uranium and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate reports that traces of it had been found in victims of the shelling.In a letter on behalf of Arab ambassadors accredited in Austria, Prince Mansour Al-Saoud, the Saudi Ambassador, expressed "our deep concern regarding the information...that traces of depleted uranium have been found in Palestinian victims."A final draft of the letter was made available to The Associated Press on Monday. It urgently requested IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "carry out a radiological and physical assessment in order to verify the presence of depleted uranium in the weaponry used by Israel...in the Gaza Strip."Officials at the Israeli mission to the IAEA said they were in no position to comment without having seen the letter.IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming confirmed receipt of the letter and said a response might be issued later in the day.The letter-which spoke of "medical and media sources" as the origin of its allegations-appeared to be alluding to health concerns related to depleted uranium but the effects of exposure to the substance are unclear.An IAEA article on the issue says that while the substance "is assumed to be potentially carcinogenic ... the lack of evidence for a definite cancer risk in studies over many decades is significant and should put the results of assessments in perspective."Still, says the article, "there is a risk of developing cancer from exposure to radiation emitted by ... depleted uranium. This risk is assumed to be proportional to the dose received."It is not the first time Israel has been accused of using ordnance containing depleted uranium, which makes shells and bombs harder and increases their penetrating power. The Israeli army declined comment. But the U.S. and NATO have used uranium-depleted rounds in Bosnia and Iraq.According to the World Health Organization, the weapons are lightly radioactive, though "under most circumstances, use of DU will make a negligible contribution to the overall natural background levels of uranium in the environment."But researchers have suspected depleted uranium may be behind a range of chronic symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War. Some of the symptoms include memory and thinking problems, debilitating fatigue, severe muscle and joint pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and rashes.Syria, which is being investigated by the Vienna-based agency for alleged secret nuclear activities, says traces of uranium found by IAEA experts at a site bombed by Israel jets Sept. 6, 2007 likely came from bombs or missiles used by the Israelis.The Israelis have denied using such weaponry in that raid, and on Monday two diplomats accredited to the IAEA and familiar with its Syria investigations told the AP that the agency has virtually ruled out Israeli munitions as the source of the uranium. They asked for anonymity for discussing confidential information.The IAEA investigation is based in part on intelligence from the U.S., Israel and a third, unidentified country, alleging that the bombed site was a nearly completed nuclear reactor built with North Korean help and meant to produce plutonium — which can be used as the payload of nuclear weapons.The uranium traces were revealed by an analysis of environmental samples collected by IAEA experts during a visit to the site, in a remote part of the Syrian desert. Since that initial trip in June 2008, Syria has refused or deflected requests for follow up inspections both to the site and others allegedly linked to it.
By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_israel_gaza
As in the days of Noah....

Hamas warning as Israel withdraws

Hamas fighters seek to restore order in Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip-Uniformed Hamas security teams emerged on Gaza City's streets Monday as leaders of the Islamic militant group vowed to restore order in the shattered Palestinian territory after a three-week pummeling by the Israeli military.Hamas proclaimed it won a great victory over the Jewish state-a view that appeared greatly exaggerated-and the task of reconstruction faced deep uncertainty because of the fear of renewed fighting and Israel's control over border crossings.Cars and pedestrians again clogged streets. Donkey carts hauled produce and firewood past rubble and broken glass. The parliament building and other targets of Israeli attacks were piles of debris, while orange and olive groves on the edge of town were flattened. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to travel to Gaza on Tuesday to inspect damage and visit U.N. facilities hit in the fighting. Ban did not scheduled meetings with officials from Hamas, whose government is not internationally recognized.Israelis hope Gaza's civilians, who suffered heavily in the fighting that ended Sunday, will blame their militant rulers for provoking the Israeli assault with rocket attacks on southern Israel. Hamas, however, raced to capitalize on anger toward Israel and sought to show it remains unbowed and firmly in command of the Mediterranean coastal strip."We are still ready and capable of firing more rockets. We are developing the range of our rockets and the enemy will face more, and our rockets will hit new targets, God willing," said Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas' military wing.Despite the defiance, Gaza's Iran-backed leadership is likely to focus for now on assisting a traumatized population rather than re-igniting a full-blown conflict that could bring more misery to the area's 1.4 million people.The high visibility of uniformed Hamas police stood in contrast to the furtive movements of Hamas fighters in civilian clothing who confronted or tried to evade the Israeli onslaught that began Dec. 27. Some have suspected the Islamic group was in disarray, but even some Israeli observers have acknowledged that the tightly knit organization remains largely intact."We've had orders to be back, make sure everything goes well," said a Hamas police officer who gave only his first name, Mahmoud.In a sign of lingering tension, Israeli warships off the northern Gaza coast fired sporadic rounds of heavy bullets at beaches through the afternoon. An Israeli, meanwhile, was critically wounded in a shooting attack near a West Bank settlement blamed by police on "terrorists."Israel and Hamas declared separate cease-fires Sunday.

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writers

To read more go to:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

As in the days of Noah...

Witches Sweep D.C. Clean for Obama

A group of "magical and spiritual progressives" joined together on Monday in Washington to sweep the town clean and welcome President-elect Obama and his administration to the White House...

PS:This is just what America needed....right...?Well now it is in the open and it is just a drop of what is happening in darkness as BHO is inaugurated...After all he carries a little lord hanuman in his pocket for good luck....
As in the days of Noah....

UN:Hundreds of Millions Needed for Gaza Aid

UNITED NATIONS-Hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid will be needed immediately to help Gaza's 1.4 million people and billions of dollars will be required to rebuild its shattered buildings and infrastructure, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Monday.John Holmes said some neighborhoods have been almost totally destroyed, there are huge medical and food needs, sewage is flowing in some streets, and unexploded ordnance is posing a big problem. While 100,000 people had their running water restored on Sunday, 400,000 still have no water, electricity is available for less than half the day, and 100,000 people are displaced from their homes, Holmes said."It may not be very clear who actually won this conflict, if such a concept means anything in Gaza, but I think it's pretty clear who lost and that was the civilian population of Gaza..."Holmes told reporters at U.N. headquarters.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said over the weekend that he was sending a U.N. team to assess the humanitarian needs and wanted a report in 10 days so the U.N. can issue an emergency appeal for funds.Speaking to reporters at U.N. headquarters, Holmes said U.N. staff in Gaza are already trying "to find out as much as they can about how great the damage is and how great the needs are."Asked to estimate the costs, Holmes said he couldn't give exact figures until the assessments are completed."I think on the purely humanitarian and early recovery side...it will be hundreds of million of dollars," he said, "and no doubt the overall reconstruction costs will be numbered in billions of dollars, but I wouldn't want to put a figure on it beyond that."He welcomed a $1 billion pledge to Gaza's reconstruction from Saudi Arabia.Holmes stressed, however, that to successfully rebuild Gaza, the current "temporary and fragile cease-fire" must be transformed into a permanent and durable truce, with all border crossings opened to allow full access for humanitarian staff and to revive the economy.As for initial assessments since the temporary cease-fires, Holmes said,"a total of 50 U.N. facilities, by our calculation, have been damaged during the hostilities so we have a huge amount of reconstruction of our own."He said there is also "enormous strain on hospitals and medical facilities, not least because 21 medical facilities were damaged during the fighting."John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, told reporters by videolink that about 20,000 people who had taken refuge at U.N. shelters were expected to stay in their own homes Monday night."This leaves us with well over 35,000 in our shelters tonight," he said."These shelters are schools, and this will be an urgent priority for us to deal with so that we can resume our education program."
By AP
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480789,00.html
As in the days of Noah.....

Withdrawal from Gaza:Ambassador Dan Gillerman reacts to the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

Hamas announces own ceasefire terms

Obama's former pastor gives sermon...

WASHINGTON-Barack Obama's controversial former pastor,the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, says the lesson in Obama's rise to the White House is that black people shouldn't limit themselves-or allow others to.Wright was Obama's longtime pastor in Chicago before Obama cut ties last year during the presidential campaign. Obama's decision followed the uproar caused by some of Wright's videotaped sermons. In them, Wright criticized the U.S. and blamed it for the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.Wright delivered his sermon Sunday during church services at Howard University in Washington.

By AP

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/18/rev-wright-dont-let-race-pin/

As in the days of Noah...

Plague has swept through al Qaeda terror training camp,killing 40...

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror-the BLACK DEATH.At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells-or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.One security source said: “This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.“It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”Black Death comes in various forms.Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.It can be in the body for more than a week-highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.
Deadly...the plague bacteria causes horrific symptoms
The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces-hoping the plague did not go with them.A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”AQLIM boss Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents. Training camps are also based in Morocco,Tunisia and Nigeria.AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41. Attacks across Algeria last year killed at least 70 people.In an interview last July, Droudkal boasted his cell was in constant contact with other al-Qaeda “brothers”.
By ALEX WEST
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2146286.ece
As in the days of Noah....

OBAMA CULT WATCH:Cosmetic procedures pick up prior to Obama inauguration

To heck with Champagne,break out the Botox.It's inauguration party time.Washington, D.C.-area cosmetic dermatologists, and skin experts in other major cities, say despite the sagging economy, requests for quickie cosmetic fixes, such as Botox and microdermabrasion, have picked up during the last few weeks as people pretty-up for inaugural fetes."We have been absolutely swamped since the election with people desiring rejuvenation procedures for the upcoming inauguration," says Washington, D.C., cosmetic dermatologist Tina Alster."My normal load for cosmetic procedures has doubled, except for hyaluronic acid fillers-Perlane and Restylane-which have almost tripled," reports cosmetic and laser surgeon Hema Sundaram, who runs two offices in the Washington, D.C., area.Despite a 2008 survey released last week by The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery that revealed almost 96% of cosmetic surgeons were concerned about the economic downturn and that 79% had already felt its effects, many patients, like interior designer Jan Lynch, 59, says tough times haven't put the breaks on her preparations."My motivation is to look the very best I can for such a historical event.I've flown in to D.C. from California for this," says Lynch, who will attend the swearing-in ceremony as well as a black-tie ball with her husband.Lynch says she stopped by Sundaram's office this weekend for cosmetic treatment, which included Botox and hyaluronic acid fillers.Sundaram's patients include men, but are mostly women over 35 who include Washington socialites, professionals in politics who will work and mingle socially with the Obamas, and others attending satellite inauguration events. Journalists, politicians, lobbyists and lawyers are among Alster's clientele."They have all come in at once," she says.The trend isn't only occurring inside the Beltway, according to skin experts in other cities.Cosmetic dermatologist Jeffrey Dover, of Chestnut Hill, Mass., a Boston suburb, says inauguration-bound patients have been "queuing up" at his office."They're asking for no-downtime procedures to look their best for the festivities."Leslie Baumann, director of the Cosmetic Medicine and Research Institute at the University of Miami, in Miami, Fla., says, "We were swamped this week. Some were going to the inauguration in D.C. But I saw many going to inauguration parties in Miami."Many are men in their 50s and 60s, Baumann says.New York City cosmetic dermatologist Cheryl Karcher says she's seen an upswing in inauguration-related business at her Park Avenue practice in recent weeks, too. Karcher says she treated one group of young women planning to travel together. "That was fun. They all got peels, Botox, fillers."

By Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-01-18-Obamainauguration-cosmeticprocedures_N.htm

PS:Sometimes I think some people in our country live in an alternate reality....

As in the days of Noah...

Obama Fervor Draws Passionate Pilgrimage of Crowds and Celebrities to Nation’s Capital

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PS:I'm already tired of hearing about these "celebrations"that will cost more than 150 million U$S at a moment when the nation is financially in the worst crisis ever...But of course,those who voted for him are loving it....They better enjoy it,cause wednesday morning they'll have to go back to work like everybody else,and then...let's see if BHO will fill their tanks and pay their mortgages....

As in the days of Noah...

"Obama 'a major step' for humanity":Canada governor general

Barack Obama's historic arrival at the White House Tuesday is "a major step" for of all humanity, Canada's Haitian-born Governor General Michaelle Jean said Sunday on an official visit to the poor Carribean nation.Jean told reporters Sunday that she thought Haitians would be deeply affected by "this new chapter being written" in the United States.Jean, who moved to Canada at age 11, said the story of Obama's rise to the US presidency is a part of a "continual story of empowerment."The election of African American "is a major step not only for the USA, not only for the world's black population, but also for humanity,"she added."I think that without having met and talked to Mr. Obama, he knows very well Haiti's story,"she said.What happened in Haiti, where in 1804 the country's black African and creole population freed itself from slavery by overthrowing the colonial regime, was similar to Obama's election experience, in that Haiti's revolution was also "in the name of freedom, equality and fraternity,"she said.During her visit, Jean "will undertake a program of events that will strengthen the ties Canada has with Haiti, a central component of Canada's re-engagement in the Americas," said a statement read by Prime Minister Stephen Harper before her departure.Haiti, the largest recipient of Canadian aid in the Americas, is still recovering after being pummeled by three hurricanes and a tropical storm in 2008 that left some 800 dead and caused widespread flooding.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.bba62bd218f799e94906f4d58bd66a93.611&show_article=1

As in the days of Noah...