Sarkozy 'owes Algeria apology'

Algiers - An influential Algerian war veterans' leader was quoted as saying on Thursday that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, due to visit Algeria next week, was not welcome until he apologised for the colonial past.Sarkozy was due to visit the oil and gas exporting country, France's main Africa trade partner, to lobby for French business and seek to deepen France's often uneasy ties with a country of increasing importance to European energy security.The dates were expected to be announced later on Thursday.Mohamed Said Abadou, secretary-general of the influential National Organisation of Fighters, which represented veterans of the 1954-62 independence war, was quoted as saying by El Khabar newspaper: "As the National Organisation of Fighters we, say that Sarkozy is not welcome in Algeria ... and we won't turn the page with France until we get an apology."
Bouteflika 'knows our position'
He said: "They don't want to admit their crimes against our people ... Civil society in France is innocent, but we are speaking of the government, the state and the French parliament."Abadou, a former government minister, did not have the status of a state official in his current post, but his organisation wielded power in all parts of the administration because veterans were seen as revolutionary heroes.The newspaper also quoted Abadou as saying President Abdelaziz Bouteflika "knows our positions very well with regard to the French government and state".
Algeria was invaded by France in 1830 and became a colony with more than one million French settlers. A war begun in 1954 by Algerian fighters cost hundreds of thousands of lives - Algiers said 1.5 million - before it led to independence in 1962.The road to normal relations had been bumpy. In 2005, Bouteflika called on France to apologise for crimes committed during colonial rule. French authorities responded by calling for "mutual respect".Earlier this week, Algeria's Minister of War Veterans Mohamed Cherif Abbas said of Sarkozy's visit: "It's a courtesy visit, nothing more, which aims to maintain existing relations while we wait to see what the future has in store."

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2229774,00.html

As in the days of Noah...

A GREAT HIGH PRIEST.......

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest,that is passed into the heavens,Jesus the Son of God,let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;but was in all points tempted like as we are,yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,that we may obtain mercy,and find grace to help in time of need."
HEBREWS 4:14-16

Cyclone Sidr toll to top 4 000

Dhaka - The final toll from Cyclone Sidr was likely to be more than 4 000 as hundreds of fishermen are still missing in Bangladesh, the army said on Thursday.Lieutenant Colonel Faruque Hussain, giving updated figures, said 3 256 bodies had been found and that 880 people were missing and feared dead.Officials had earlier confirmed more than 3 400 deaths with 1 700 missing."Most of the missing persons are fishermen. We fear that most of them are dead as we did not receive any information of them taking shelter," he said.Sidr struck on November 15, smashing into the coast before cutting a swathe through the southern and central districts.About 360 000 people have been left homeless with about 4.7 million people affected.The government is working with agencies and donor countries to deliver relief to thousands of survivors and has received pledges of more than 470 million dollars in aid.The storm was the second most powerful cyclone to hit the disaster-prone country since records began.Half a million people died in a 1970 cyclone, while a cyclonic tidal wave in 1991 killed about 138 000.An early-warning system and a network of cyclone shelters introduced after the 1970 disaster is credited with saving many lives both this time and in 1991.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2229821,00.html

As in the days of Noah....

After Annapolis: PA Television Erases Israel From Map

Just one day after the Annapolis conference at which the PA recognized the State of Israel's right to exist in peace and security, the PA's official television station screened a map that shows a Palestinian state in place of Israel. U.S. President George Bush, at the conference on Tuesday, read aloud the summit's agreed-upon joint statement, which declares, "In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, we agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty. "However, Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) report that just a day later, "Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority continues to paint a picture for its people of a world without Israel."Specifically, PMW reports that an information clip produced a while ago by the PA's Central Bureau of Statistics was rebroadcast on Wednesday on Abbas-controlled PA television. The clip shows a map in which the Land of Israel is painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag, symbolizing the replacement of Israel by a Palestinian state.The Palestinian entity depicted as replacing Israel includes all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, though not the Golan Heights.The depiction of all of Israel as "Palestine" is not coincidental, PMW reports, "and is part of a formal, systematic educational approach throughout the Palestinian Authority. This uniform message of a world without Israel is repeated in school books, children's programs, crossword puzzles, video clips, formal symbols, school and street names, etc. The picture painted for the Palestinian population, both verbally and visually, is of a world without Israel."PMW concludes: "The fact that this campaign continues before the ink on the Annapolis agreement is even dry appears to contradict the central promise of the Palestinians at the Annapolis conference: that Israel has a right to exist."

Man-in-the-Street Also Hates Israel

The television clip appears to be loyal to widespread public opinion on the PA street. PA forces were forced to put down anti-Israel and anti-Annapolis rallies in several cities this week, and one protestor was even shot and killed. The protestors stated that Abbas has no right to make "concessions" regarding Jerusalem, refugees and the like in the name of the Palestinian people, and that any deal he makes with Israel will not be binding.In Hevron, PA security forces killed a demonstrator, injured dozens, and arrested 29 when using force to disperse a mass protest. PA forces also dispersed large protests in Ramallah, Shechem (Nablus), and Bethlehem, making several arrests.In Hamas-controlled Gaza, the protests were much more intense, and hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Gaza City, emphasizing the importance of the "right of return" for millions of Arabs and their descendants, the "liberation" of Jerusalem, the retention of "every inch of Palestinian land" and “the path of resistance and jihad,” i.e., terrorism.

by Hillel Fendel

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

As in the days of Noah....

Messages from Heaven Now Online

Messages from Heaven is a video production about the frequently occurring Mary apparitions. This is a powerful film and is now available online. You can view it by clicking here. As Faith Undone points out, the Eucharistic Adoration is connected to the emerging church. For a compelling, documented critique of the significance of these apparitions in light of Bible prophecy, also read Another Jesus: the eucharistic christ and the new evangelization.

From: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/

As in the days of Noah....

CHRISTIAN LEADERS BETRAY CHRIST FOR WORLD PEACE

Once again, leaders from the so-called "church growth movement" are demonstrating for us the Hegelian Dialectic - that transformational Marxist process of compromise and consensus made famous by Georg William Friedreich Hegel which seeks to rid the world of its divisive absolutes in the interest of global peace and unity.Here's the formula: Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis
The Christian Post reported the following in a November 23rd article titled, Christian Leaders Invite Muslims to Love God, Neighbors Together:
Christian leaders across denominational lines responded to the unprecedented open letter signed last month by 138 representative Muslim leaders with their own letter, calling on the two Abrahamic faiths to love God and neighbors together.
The key word here is "together."
To begin with, nowhere in scripture are Christians instructed to unite with other religions and their deities to do anything. Such a plan doesn't display a love for God at all, but only a disregard for Him and His only begotten Son.
Among other things, the dialectic process redefines "love" to mean tolerance instead of obedience, and calls Christianity and Islam "Abrahamic faiths" as if the two groups have some moral obligation to unite under a god of common ground.
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." - James 4:4
The Bible is uncompromisingly clear on this issue both in 2nd Corinthians 6:14-17, where we are specifically commanded to not yoke ourselves with unbelievers, and again in Ephesians 5:11, where we are instructed to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."
Jesus Himself said: "He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth." (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23)
How then can Christians join Muslims to love God together and not be an abomination before Him? We're talking about two entirely different "Gods" here - not the same God with differing names. And that's the big lie hidden in this global agenda. By swapping love letters with Muslims, these "Christian leaders" endeavor to legitimize the illegitimate by setting aside the whole counsel of God for Results & Relationships.
Jesus Christ is not the Son of Allah; and to even imply that He is by claiming to love the same "God" as Muslims is not only being dangerously deceitful - it's blasphemy!
But that's what the Hegelian Dialectic does to the Christian faith - it unites opposites and enemies under a guise of goodness - all at the Lord's expense; and that is and always has been the modus operandi of the "church growth movement" - to mingle the sheep with the goats until they are indistinguishable.
Christianity (thesis) + Islam (antithesis) = One World Religion (synthesis)
It should come as no surprise to the readers of my column that two of the reported signers of this letter who "share the sentiments" of Muslim leaders are none other than pastors Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame, and the seeker-sensitive Bill Hybels from Willow Creek Community Church.
The CP article went on to say:
"Peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians stand as one of the central challenges of this century, and perhaps of the whole present epoch," wrote the Christian leaders.
I thought the Great Commission was our central challenge as Christians - to love God and our neighbor by faithfully and obediently proclaiming His Gospel - to preach the cross - to call sinners to repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ!
Have we now abandoned that for an ecumenical Plan B to world peace?
"If we can achieve religious peace between these two religious communities, peace in the world will clearly be easier to attain."
But Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword" which is the Word of God that divides us, not just from the strange fire of other religions, but oftentimes from our own beloved family members.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." - Matthew 10:35-36
By Paul Proctor
To read more go to:
http://www.newswithviews.com/PaulProctor/proctor137.htm


As in the days of Noah....

DECEPTION WATCH:Mysticism and Politics Converge at Saddleback

According to an Orange County Register article, Rick Warren's conference on AIDS (taking place this week) is attended by one thousand people and 100 speakers. With a wide array of speakers including Hillary Clinton who spoke on Wednesday, the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church at Saddleback has drawn much media attention. Secular and Christian media alike are reporting on the event. The Register article capsulizes the focus: "AIDS can be defeated by leadership. That is the resounding message of Pastor Rick Warren and his wife Kay."[[[In fact, leadership is a resounding message throughout the ecumenical, contemplative, emerging communities of Christianity today. In essence, the leadership message says that if we can develop strong leaders, then the world's ills will be solved because these strong leaders will keep all the followers (the rest of humanity) in place. The masses will be controlled by these top-notch Purpose Driven, mystically influenced leaders. Such an indictment may sound harsh to some.]]] After all, Rick Warren is doing so many good works, right? But if the leaders he is training are driven and motivated by an energy that is New Age and occultic (as we will show below), then how can this be truly godly leadership. And how can such leadership defeat AIDS and the five global giants that Rick Warren talks about in his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan? To know whether Warren's leadership model is going to produce godly leaders, it is necessary to look at those he turns to for training leaders. To put it bluntly, many who are doing the training are New Agers, mystics, and those who work toward a kingdom of this world where man is divine and one with all. Strong words? Yes, but desperate ones. Many believers watch in shock and dismay, as leader after leader, church after church, and ministry after ministry are dancing to the tune of spiritual formation (a "safe" word for a mystical spirituality that ultimately negates the very Gospel of Jesus Christ because of its panentheistic nature). Now the facts. The following time line will give solid documentation as to who Rick Warren looks to for leadership training. And by taking a glimpse at these leaders below, you will get a glimpse of the leadership of tomorrow. Rick Warren has seen each of these men as vital to LEADERSHIP TRAINING or SERVANT LEADERSHIP as often termed.

1995 - Richard Foster and Dallas Willard - Purpose Driven Church (p. 126)

1995 - Leonard Sweet - Choice Voices for Church Leaders (Tides of Change audio)

1997 - Robert Schuller - Leadership Institute

1997 - C. Peter Wagner NAR

2002 - Brother Lawrence - Purpose Driven Life (pp. 86-89)

2002 - Bernie Siegel - Purpose Driven Life (pp. 30-31)

2003 - Dan Kimball - Warren writes foreword with Brian McLaren in Kimball's book, The Emerging Church

2003 - Bruce Wilkinson - Shared "God's Dream" at Saddleback one week after presenting it at Crystal Cathedral to Robert Schuller - (November 2003)

2003 - Ken Blanchard - Saddleback (November 03)

2004 - Ken Blanchard -Preaching and Purpose Driven Life Training Workshop for Chaplains - Saddleback

2005 - Ken Blanchard (Warren endorses his book, Lead Like Jesus)

2005 - Peter Drucker - Pew Forum on Religion - "Peter Drucker ... he's my mentor. I've spent 20 years under his tutelage learning about leadership from him."

2007 - Ken Blanchard speaks at Saddleback (November 07)2007 - Hillary Clinton at Saddleback (November 07)

Spring 2008 - Leonard Sweet scheduled to speak at the Saddleback Wired Conference

For more information:

Transcripts and Audios of RW

Rick Warren Teams Up With New Ager Leonard Sweet

Reinventing Jesus Christ

Rick Warren and Leonard Sweet Riding the Tides of Change in the Midst of Mysticism

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=896&more=1&c=1

As in the days of Noah....

Massachusetts Spanking Ban Would Criminalize Good Parents Warns Family Group

SACRAMENTO, CA-Yesterday morning on Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, Campaign for Children and Families President Randy Thomasson debated Rep. Jay Kaufman, whose bill to ban spanking was heard yesterday in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. House Bill 3922 states "it shall be unlawful" for a parent to provide corporal punishment to their own children. Taking direct aim at good parents who occasionally spank to correct rebellion, the bill specifically bans "the willful infliction of physical pain," even temporary pain to a child's buttocks. "This bill equates loving, corrective discipline with hateful, harmful abuse," said Thomasson, who earlier this year helped lead the opposition to a similar California bill by Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber. "Appropriate spanking is not 'beating' or 'abusing' a child, which is a ridiculous and offensive comparison," continued Thomasson. "When appropriate spanking is lovingly administered, it greatly helps a disobedient youngster to become a well-adjusted adult who respects authority. But the lack of parental discipline and a philosophy of permissiveness can produce a rebellious, compulsive teenager. There are untold numbers of Americans who testify that being spanked has made them a better person in life -- I'm one of them." "We already have enough legitimate laws prohibiting physical abuse of children, and this proposal is certainly not one of them," added Thompson. "Some parents spank and some parents don't, and that's their right as parents. Government regulation of parents' discipline wipes out the right of parents to raise their own children. This is wrong. God gave children to parents, not to the state," he concluded.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/

As in the days of Noah...

Study Ties Long Life to Fatherhood

Research based on World War I draft cards suggests men with large families tend to live longer than others."We were surprised that having more than three children is beneficial to longevity-based on previous studies by other authors, and common sense, quite the opposite could be expected," said study co-author Leonid Gavrilov, who conducted the study with his wife, Natalia Gavrilova, both of the University of Chicago's Center on Aging.The research, reported in The Washington Post, also suggests that keeping trim and working the farm helped men of the 20th century live longer.Compared to childless men of the same age, a 30-year-old man in 1917 who had one to three children had a 61 percent increased chance of living past a century, the data showed. However, a man's chances for extreme longevity almost tripled if he had fathered four or more children by age 30."The results seem to indicate that these WWI-era men had a positive outlook on life and the future," said Jenny Tyree, associate marriage analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "They chose to invest in the lives of their children, and, ultimately, it was an investment with a great return. "Other research indicates that married men and women are physically and emotionally healthier than singles. Marriage and children may be one of the few guaranteed health investments a man can make."
FOR MORE INFORMATION

A Focus on the Family report shows the younger generation is seeking happy marriages and families.

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000006010.cfm

As in the days of Noah...

THE WORD OF GOD IS QUICK AND POWERFUL...

"For the word of God is quick,and powerful,and sharper than any twoedged sword,piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,and of the joints and marrow,and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight:but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."
HEBREWS 4:12-13

KNOWLEDGE SHALL INCREASE:Skin ageing 'reversed' in mice

Scientists have reversed the effects of ageing on the skin of mice by blocking the action of a specific protein.In two-year old mice, Californian researchers found that they could rejuvenate skin to look more youthful.Further analysis published in the journal Genes and Development showed the skin had the same genetic profile as the skin of newborn mice.The team said the research would most likely lead to treatments to improve healing in older human patients.They stressed it was unlikely to be a potential "fountain of youth" but could help older people heal as quickly from injury as they did when they were younger.The protein in question - NF-kappa-B - is thhought to play a role in numerous aspects of ageing.It acts as a regulator, causing a wide range of other genes to be more or less active.Lead researcher, Dr Howard Chang, from the Stanford School of Medicine in California, said the findings supported the theory that ageing is the result of specific genetic changes rather than accumulated wear and tear.And that it is possible to reverse those genetic changes later in life.
Regulation
Previous studies have identified several genes which play a part in the ageing process.Dr Chang and colleagues spotted that the one thing the genes had in common was that they were regulated by NF-kappa-B, which can either make them more or less active.By blocking the protein in older mice for two weeks, they found the skin was thicker and more cells appeared to be dividing, much like the skin of a younger mouse.And the same genes were active as in the skin of newborn mice.It is unclear whether the effects are long-lasting and the protein has also been implicated in cancer and regulation of the immune system."We found a pretty striking reversal to that of the young skin," Dr Chang said.But he added any application in humans was likely to be on a short-term basis because of other effects of blocking the protein."You might get a longer lifespan but at the expense of something else," he said.Nina Goad from the British Association of Dermatologists said: "Targeting of gene therapy to skin is still very difficult but this may provide some new avenues of research that will be of value to wound healing, following skin trauma or disfiguring skin cancer surgery."However, the researchers' caveats about the unforeseen consequences of manipulating genes that play a role in many cells are most important and add a strong element of caution."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7119552.stm

As in the days of Noah...

ISLAMIC CRAZE WATCH:Taslima Nasreen removes comment

Controversial Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen has said she will withdraw some "controversial" lines from one of her books.[[[The lines are from Dwikhondito (Split into two) which, some Muslim groups say, are derogatory to Islam.]]]The book was banned by the government in India's West Bengal state where a quarter of the population is Muslim.There have been violent protests against Ms Nasreen by Muslims in West Bengal's capital, Calcutta, recently.[[[She has been moved from one city to another in the last few days for her own safety after these protests and is now lodged in a safe house in the capital, Delhi.
The Indian government has pledged to continue to host and protect Ms Nasreen.]]]But External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament that India expected its guest to behave as one.
'Upset'
Ms Nasreen told TV channels on Friday that she would be dropping some lines from Dwikhondito, her 2003 autobiography.She said she had not wanted to "hurt anybody's religious sentiments" while writing the book."Now that some people in India have said they are upset with what I have said, I have decided to drop the controversial portions of the book and have told the publisher to take necessary action," Ms Nasreen said. "After these portions are removed, I think there will be no more scope for controversy and all the tension so far caused should die down."Leading writers in Bengal have welcomed Ms Nasreen's move."It is a clever and a timely move. It is not a surrender to the fundamentalists but a compromise to tackle the present situation where Muslims across the board are feeling upset ," said Abul Bashar. Shirshendu Mukherjee said Ms Nasreen's move should "assuage ruffled sentiments".
However, noted painter Shuvaprassana said Ms Nasreen had compromised by withdrawing the lines."This is a compromise that she has been forced into for the sake of getting refuge. But if she can drop two pages to get refuge in India, she can drop three pages and go back to Bangladesh," he said.
Death threats
Critics have accused the writer of calling for the Koran to be changed to give women greater rights, something she denies.Ms Nasreen fled Bangladesh in the early 1990s after death threats and has spent the last three years in Calcutta after a long stay in Europe.Last week, after the riots in Calcutta, Ms Nasreen was flown out of Calcutta in a special plane to Delhi from where she was taken to Jaipur in the western state of Rajasthan.A day later, she was brought to Delhi where she spent a couple of nights in the Rajasthan government's guest house.On Tuesday, she was moved again, this time to a safe house at an undisclosed location in Delhi.Taslima Nasreen's Indian visa is valid until March 2008.In August this year, she was giving a lecture in the southern city of Hyderabad when she was attacked by Muslims who said they had been upset by her remarks on the Prophet Muhammad and the Koran.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7120473.stm

As in the days of Noah....

PESTILENCE WATCH:AIDS in Africa: Behavior change leads to HIV decline

UGANDA-HIV prevalence has now declined in seven countries hit hard by AIDS, and two experts from Harvard University attribute the progress to behavioral changes such as an increase in abstinence and partner reduction rather than to widely-touted condom distribution."In every case, a few years before we notice prevalence going down, we see that the proportion of men and women who report having more than one sex partner in the past year goes down significantly," Edward Green, a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Baptist Press."In almost all cases, we've seen the rate of premarital sex going down significantly. And condom use can either go up or down or stay the same. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference," Green said from Uganda, where he was conducting more research.The seven countries that have shown signs of declining infection rates include Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and urban Zambia, Ethiopia, Haiti and Malawi, Green said.Foreign donors continue to push condom distribution and AIDS testing as prevention methods while disputing the effectiveness of the ABC method that has seen so much success in Uganda and elsewhere, Green said. The method teaches abstinence, being faithful to one partner and using condoms in high-risk situations."The major donors are putting all this money into condom promotion, HIV testing, treating STDs and trying to develop microbicides -- which have not shown to be effective," he said. "All of these much-touted interventions have not been shown to have any impact in generalized epidemics in Africa."The sad thing is that even in Uganda, the national AIDS program has been largely redesigned by foreign donors to no longer emphasize the messages that were successful in reducing Uganda's epidemic -- faithfulness and partner reduction, and abstinence for young people. "Condoms have had impact in certain high-risk groups, such as prostitutes in Thailand and Cambodia. But condoms have not had an impact in any general population or in any country where HIV is mostly in the general population, such as most of those in Sub-Saharan Africa," Green said. Allison Herling Ruark, a research fellow with the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, told Baptist Press that foreign donors often refuse to believe that abstinence and faithfulness messages work and instead contend that behavior is ingrained and efforts to change it are futile."I think people just aren't aware that there's good evidence of behavior changes," Ruark said. "Even in Uganda where those changes happened 20 years ago and they're so well-known, they're not always as well known as they should be. "People often think it's difficult to measure behavioral changes, but we really don't think it is. You can ask people questions about their sexual behavior, and you can look at trends over time," she said. "We have been doing this for condom use for many years."Organizations that distribute condoms or provide treatment for sexually transmitted infections are easily able to keep a numerical tab of their efforts, Ruark noted, whereas the links between informational messages and behavior change are more challenging to substantiate.

To read more go to:

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=26930

As in the days of Noah....

END TIMES WEATHER:Improving Drought Forecasts

November 30, 2007: From the deserts of the American southwest to the pine forests of the Deep South, drought-weary residents have one thing on their minds: "I wish it would rain!"
Technically, what they should be wishing for is "more streamflow," says Dr. Ashutosh Limaye, a hydrologist at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Alabama.Streamflow is a term used by water management specialists to mean, very simply, the amount of water in streams and rivers. Areas of drought have reduced streamflow, and experts believe they can better forecast droughts by studying this key indicator of dry conditions "Streamflow is always changing, from day to day and even minute to minute, for a wide variety of reasons: evaporation from the soil and from bodies of water, runoff from rainfall and snowmelt, transpiration by plants and trees, and other natural and human influences," he explains. National Weather Service River Forecast Centers have to consider all of these factors when they forecast streamflow."If we can help forecasters estimate any of these elements more accurately, they can better predict drought conditions months in advance," says Dr. Limaye. "These predictions are critical because they influence important decisions about measures like withholding water in reservoirs and restricting water use."When Limaye's team asked National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials, including Dr. Mike Smith of the Office of Hydrologic Development, specifically how NASA could help them improve streamflow forecasts, the officials pinpointed one thing-clouds.Why clouds? "Because most of the water that falls on the ground goes up in evaporation, evaporation is a huge component of the total surface water," explains Limaye. "So it's important to get those numbers right. Clouds affect radiation, which has a big influence on evaporation."National Weather Service cloud cover estimates from the 1960s to the 1990s went like this: A trained technician literally walked outside, tilted his or her head back, eyeballed the sky like an old farmer, and rated the cloud cover on a 1-8 scale.In the 90s, these manual observations were replaced by a device called a "ceilometer," part of the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), which has a laser beam that aims at the sky. Returns from this beam are used to detect clouds."Believe it or not, this newer method is not nearly as accurate as people just looking up," says Dr. Limaye. "The ceilometer can only detect clouds up to 12,000 feet. If there are no low clouds to block the view, you and I can see way over 20,000 feet, up to where the wispy Cirrus clouds are floating. And Cirrus clouds way up high, even patchy ones, can influence the radiation that drives evaporation."This is where Dr. Limaye's team can help. NASA scientists use satellite instruments to scan the Earth's surface for things like vegetation cover, ground temperature, and other variables of interest. Normally, these researchers would view clouds as noise contaminating the signal they are trying to view. In short, clouds get in the way. "But one person's noise is another person's signal," says Limaye. "We can use the cloud cover data. In fact, it's exactly what NOAA wants to see."One NASA satellite instrument called MODIS, short for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, can detect clouds all the way up to the top of the atmosphere. NOAA's ASOS can only see clouds up to 12,000 feet and lacks MODIS's precision. ASOS, though, records cloud data continuously, providing a picture of what happened throughout the day, while MODIS passes overhead only twice per day. It made perfect sense to Limaye's team to let the two tools work in concert and complement one another, each filling in what the other lacked."Together these tools produce much better radiation estimates than either can do alone," says Limaye. "We'll be able to reestablish what the National Weather Service lost when they stopped using manual observations for cloud cover."Preliminary analyses show that MODIS cloud data make evaporation estimates 25% more accurate. Now researchers are analyzing how adding the NASA data improves the actual streamflow estimates that rely on those evaporation estimates. Those numbers will be available soon.After all that, do you think they could do something to make it rain?

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/30nov_streamflow.htm?list948733

As in the days of Noah....

No end to Israeli fight against Palestinian assaults on Gaza-Israel border fence

Twenty armed Palestinians were killed this week before they reached firing positions on the border or managed to cross over. Our military sources report they were killed by Golani Brigade troops, who drove into the Gaza Strip and intercepted Hamas gunmen heading for the fence. Among them was a three-man Hamas mortar crew on its way to shell Kerem Shalom.Hamas has been massing mortar units at the northern and southern ends of the Gaza Strip and pounding Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom and IDF bases and patrols at the rate of 20 rounds a day. The Palestinian death toll also include two terrorists who were prevented from planting bombs on the fence.Chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi approved deeper IDF counter-terror thrusts into the Gaza Strip up to 3 km, to ward off the increasingly aggressive Palestinian battering on the fence and escalating cross-border mortar and missile attacks. He made the decision during a tour earlier Wednesday of the Gaza front. Ashkenazi inspected the civilian locations living under attack and was briefed by OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant.Senior officers of the command explained, according to DEBKAfile’s military sources, that his decision will have little effect on the dire security situation. Israeli forces operate inside the Gaza Strip by night and when they pull out at dawn, Hamas and allied terrorists simply return to their border positions. Although during the day, the Israeli Air Force pursues Palestinian attackers, even the surveillance drones patrolling the fence cannot pick up every move in this massive Hamas-led Palestinian offensive. The chief of staff’s latest decisions are therefore no better than makeshift measures that fall short of winning the battle for the fence or making southwestern Israel secure.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4819

As in the days of Noah....

Two surfaced Iranian Kilo-class submarines spotted in Persian Gulf by US warship

The USS Vicksburg cruiser tracked and photographed the Iranian Russian-designed diesel-electric attack subs some weeks ago. There was no communication between them. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that this was the first time US warships have run into a par of surfaced Iranian subs.Wednesday, Nov. 28, Iranian Navy commander Adm. Habibollah Sayyari claimed it was expanding its sub fleet, including a new home-built small submarine called Ghadir, equipped with sonar-evading technology.He said the new craft would “give a crushing answer to enemies when needed, thanks to domestically-made equipment.” They can fire missiles to hit Israel, the admiral claimed.Tehran media said Iran's two domestically built submarines can fire missiles and torpedoes simultaneously, but gave no information on the weapons' ranges. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Iran must therefore have recently received systems for firing missiles from subs underwater, instead of shooting them from torpedo tubes as before. Officials have also been boasting for some weeks of their underwater crafts’ new capability to reach remote targets, including the Israeli coast.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4822

As in the days of Noah....

Deal for Lebanese army chief Gen. Suleiman’s appointment as president was hatched behind American backs at Annapolis

Our Middle East sources reveal that Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal and Syrian dep. foreign minister Faisal Mekdad quietly finalized the deal at the Middle East conference in Maryland on Nov. 27 - unbeknownst to President George W. Bush, who was fully engaged with the Israeli-Palestinians peace process. Inviting Syria to the meeting had been intended by Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy to buy Damascus off from installing another puppet in Beirut.The conference was a washout for its main goal. If as a result, the Lebanese presidential candidate Washington and Paris vetoed and who is bitterly opposed by Israel wins the vote in parliament on Dec. 7, Annapolis will turn out to be a triumph for Damascus and let-down for Bush, Sarkozy and Olmert.To arrest Lebanon’s slide back into Syria’s arms, the US and France are working had to save the pro-Western Fouad Siniora’s government, but have no guarantee of success.DEBKAfile reports: Gen. Michel Suleiman, 59, was chosen by Syrian military intelligence to head the Lebanese army in 1999 when Lebanon was under Syrian occupation. He has family, including a sister, living in Damascus. In the 2006 war with Israel, Suleiman cooperated with the Hizballah. It was he who allowed the Iran-backed Shiite terrorists to use the Lebanese army’s coastal radar station outside Beirut to aim the C-802 missiles which damaged an off-shore Israeli missile ship on July 15.After the war, Gen. Suleiman let Hizballah use army trucks to transport smuggled Syrian and Iranian arms into the county in defiance of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution. Instead of policing south Lebanon along with UNIFIL to prevent Hizballah’s post-war re-establishment and re-armament in the South, the national army was used to shelter the Shiite group’s operations to restore its strength.Saudi ambassador to Beirut Abdul Aziz Khoja announced Thursday that his government would back the general’s candidacy if he has a consensus of all Lebanon’s rival factions.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4821

As in the days of Noah....

LET US ENTER INTO HIS REST........

"For he that is entered into his rest,he also hath ceased from his own works,as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."
HEBREWS 4:10-11

Powerful quake shakes Caribbean,one dead

To read these news go to:

http://quakewatch.blogspot.com/2007/11/powerful-quake-shakes-caribbean-one.html

As in the days of Noah....

Olmert warns of 'end of Israel'

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said failure to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians would spell the end of the State of Israel.He warned of a "South African-style struggle" which Israel would lose if a Palestinian state was not established. Mr Olmert was returning from the Annapolis conference in the US where he and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to launch formal peace talks.The two leaders set a goal of reaching a peace deal with US support in 2008.US President George W Bush called Annapolis, the first substantive Arab-Israeli peace talks in seven years, a "hopeful beginning" for Mid-East peace.Mr Olmert said it was not the first time he had articulated his fears about the demographic threat to Israel as a Jewish state from a faster growing Palestinian population.He made similar comments in 2003 when justifying the failed strategy of unilateral withdrawals from Israeli-occupied land which holds large Palestinian populations."If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished," Mr Olmert is quoted saying in Haaretz newspaper.
New monitor
After the ceremonies at Annapolis and the White House, the US appointed former Nato commander Gen James Jones as its new Middle East envoy.Among his tasks will be to monitor how the Israelis and Palestinians live up to the security commitments made under the relaunched international peace plan known as the roadmap, which forms the basis for the negotiations."Building security in the Middle East is the surest path to making peace in the Middle East," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said of his appointment."Gen Jones is the best individual to lead our efforts in this essential endeavour."Mr Bush promised to use American power "to help you as you come up with the necessary decisions to lay out a Palestinian state that will live side-by-side in peace with Israel".According to the agreement, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders will meet every other week and teams of negotiators led by a joint steering committee will meet on 12 December. Last year's Palestinian parliamentary election winner Hamas - which does not recognise Israel and has been shunned by the US and Israel as a terrorist organisation - immediately rejected Annapolis as a "failure".There have been angry protests in the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, and the West Bank since the summit.Expectations had been low as representatives of more than 40 countries and international agencies gathered in Annapolis ahead of Tuesday's conference.But in a joint statement concluded with only minutes to spare before the conference formally opened, the two sides agreed to launch negotiations for a treaty "resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception".Both sides have said those "core issues" will include the thorny so-called "final-status issues" - the future of Jerusalem, borders, water, refugees and settlements - which have scuppered previous attempts at a peace deal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7118937.stm

As in the days of Noah...

Castro Says He Warned Chavez About US

HAVANA-Fidel Castro said Friday he has warned Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to watch out for U.S.-backed assassination attempts, telling his close friend and socialist ally to avoid open-top vehicles that could be targeted by snipers.The 81-year-old Castro said Venezuela is facing "a world tyranny" as voters decide Sunday on constitutional changes that would give Chavez unchecked power to further transform the South American country into a socialist state. "The empire has created conditions conducive to violence and internecine conflicts" in Venezuela, Castro wrote in an essay published in Cuba's two leading official newspapers, referring to the U.S.Castro has not been seen in public since emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede power to his younger brother Raul in July 2006. Since then, no foreign head of state has visited the ailing revolutionary more than Chavez, who was last in Cuba less than two weeks ago."On Chavez's recent visit last Nov. 21, I seriously discussed with him the risks of assassination as he is constantly out in the open in convertible vehicles," wrote Castro, who himself survived dozens of CIA-backed attempts on his life since leading the Cuban revolution in Castro noted his own experience as a combatant trained in the use of automatic weapons with telescopic sights.The Cuban leader said the U.S. should consider that if Chavez were killed or a civil war broke out in Venezuela, the world economy would "blow up" because of the importance of that country's huge oil reserves.His comments came a day after more than 100,000 people flooded Venezuela's streets to oppose 69 proposed constitutional changes to the nation's 1999 constitution that would, among other things, create forms of communal property, eliminate presidential term limits, and increase presidential authority.Critics claim the reforms would give Chavez dictatorial power. The Venezuelan president, who has for weeks denounced vague, U.S.-backed plans to destabilize his government, counters that the revisions are necessary to give the public a greater voice in government.Castro said threats against Chavez will not end with Sunday's vote."A victory of the 'yes' vote on Dec. 2 would not be enough. The weeks and months following that date may very well prove to be extremely tough for many countries, Cuba for one," he wrote.Venezuela has been instrumental in Cuba's recovery after the collapse of the Soviet bloc brought the island to the brink of economic collapse in the early 1990s.Chavez's government sends nearly 100,000 daily barrels of oil per day to Cuba in exchange for social service assistance. Castro said Friday that trade between both countries has now reached $7 billion annually.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T84G8O0&show_article=1

As in the days of Noah...

Violent protests after monks arrested at motorcycle shop

Monks and animal herders rampaged through a remote Himalayan town, smashing government offices, cars and shops owned by Han Chinese, after police arrested and reportedly beat three Buddhist monks.Chinese officials said that the monks had tried to rob a motorcycle maintenance shop in Paingar, a remote Tibetan town, but Tibetan sources said that the shopkeeper, who was not arrested, had lashed out at the monks. The contradictory accounts expose the rivalry in the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region, where the majority of Tibetans owe their allegiance to the exiled Dalai Lama rather than to the Communist Party leaders in Beijing.After the arrest of the monks on November 19 hundreds of herders gathered at the Public Security Bureau in Naqu region to demand their release. Officials said that nearly 200 people, including monks, were involved in the violence after police refused to release them. When the police began to film the riot to collect evidence the crowds became even more enraged. One Tibet source said: “The herdsmen were very agitated, they wouldn’t let the police film them.”To restore order 800 paramilitary police were sent in, the area was sealed off and telephone links were cut. Seven people were arrested, including two of the monks accused of robbery and five others charged with fanning the riot a day later.The incident is the latest sign of discontent in Tibet, where a heavy-handed security presence and an increasing population of ethnic Han Chinese migrants have stirred resentment among the Tibetan majority.Protests broke out in a largely Tibetan area in August after authorities arrested a man at a horse racing festival who led the crowd in chanting slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959. Rongyal Adrak, 53, was found guilty last month of subversion and of inciting separatism, crimes that could lead to life imprisonment.Most Tibetans say that they yearn for the return of the Dalai Lama but talks between his representatives and the Chinese Government have made no progress.The extent of the anger about the international profile of the exiled leader has been highlighted by the chill cast over China’s relations with Germany after Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, received him in Septem-ber.China has since cancelled two sets of meetings with German officials, including talks on human rights.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article2971272.ece

As in the days of Noah....

DNA checks at abortion clinic accused of flushing foetuses down the drain

Police investigating four abortion clinics in Barcelona used frequently by British women have been{{{{ horrified to find purpose-built machines attached to the drains that were used to crush foetuses.}}}}[[[[The clinics allegedly performed illegal abortions on women into their eighth month of pregnancy.]]]]Police have arrested Carlos MorÍn, the Peruvian head of the clinics, his wife and four other colleagues after a lawsuit by a Christian organisation, e-Cristians. Mr MorÍn reportedly has refused to answer police questions.[[[[[Because they were so loud, the machines-which fed into public drains-were switched on only during the early hours of the day to avoid drawing attention to the illegal arrangement, police sources said. Officers gathering evidence at the clinics this week have been testing the machines and drains for traces of DNA, which may be matched with that of past clients, according to reports.]]]]]Under Spanish law, abortions can be carried out only in cases of rape, if there is a risk to the mother’s physical or mental health or in cases of severe foetal malformation, and then only until the 22nd week of pregnancy.The clinics under investigation-Ginemedex, Barnamedic, EMECE and TCB-advertised throughout Europe and are thought to have had a large number of British women as clients.Three years ago the publicly funded British Pregnancy Advisory Service was found to be referring women beyond the 24-week legal limit in Britain to Ginemedex, the clinic where the foetus-disposal machine was allegedly found this week.[[[[At the time Ann Furedi, the service’s chief executive, defended its policy, saying that it would be “morally reprehensible” not to help women to get treatment. ]]]](1)Yesterday Ms Furedi said that BPAS did not refer British women to the Spanish clinic but continued to give out its number.“If any of these clinics were to be found to be working [outside] their country’s law, we would cease to inform women about their existence,” she told The Times, adding: [[[“My understanding is that this latest action [against the Spanish clinics] was triggered by a Christian fundamentalist group.”]]]A public inquiry was begun in 2004 by John Reid, then the Health Minister. However, the Chief Medical Officer decided ultimately to take no action. “Whilst BPAS can be criticised for giving out the number of the Spanish clinic too readily, and not giving appropriate advice to women, on the available evidence BPAS has not broken any law,” he concluded.News of the latest police findings in Barcelona has shocked Spaniards. The conservative ABC newspaper yesterday described what the police had found as {{{{“a set of horrors more usually associated with Nazi extermination camps”. The operation, it said, “has uncovered a entire homicide industry that should shame any developed society”}}}}.Last year a Danish television documentary filmed Mr MorÍn offering an abortion to a woman in her seventh month of pregnancy. He gave the undercover journalist a form stating that she suffered from a mental disorder, dispensing with the need to get a certificate from another two doctors.“We put a toxin in [the baby’s] heart that causes instant death,” he explained, saying that the procedure would cost €4,000 (£2,860). Police phone taps have reportedly gathered evidence of abortions being practiced at the clinics in the eighth month of pregnancy.There has been a steady rise in the number of abortions performed in Spain since it was partially legalised in 1985. About 90,000 are currently performed each year and many experts doubt that they are all legal.Mirentxu Corcoy, a law professsor at Barcelona University, said recently that 90 per cent of the abortions practised in the northeastern region of Catalonia “were on the outer fringes of legality”.The British Government has said that it wants a new set of guidelines for approving late abortions when there is a risk that the child would be seriously handicapped. Opponents of abortion said that because there is no definition of abnormality some abortions have been carried out on trivial medical grounds, such as cleft palates. In reply to a cross-party committee of MPs who rejected calls for the publication of a list of abnormalities, the Government said that it would ask the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for new guidelines.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2971379.ece
PS:Doctors and nurses that perform abortions,should have their licences removed-revoked and should be eligible for death penaly or life in prison without parole;the mother that aborts and the father that allows that child to be murdered cause it's INCONVENIENT should suffer the same fate.....they are no different to the Nazis that exterminated people everyday in persecution camps during WWII.
Ms Furedi said on (1) that it would be morally reprehensible not to help the woman get treatment????????Are u joking me????Treatment of what???????So now the treatment for an unwanted child is just murder??????
Amazing how our society is so perverted and twisted and is no different from the society Noah lived in before the Flood....
Truly we keep offering MOLOCH its sacrifices,and our societies are not different to Hitler's utopia....
THIS WHOLE THING IS SICKENING.......

As in the days of Noah....

China Nuclear Power Poised for Export in `Self-Reliance' Bid

China, its safety reputation tattered by lead paint in toys, cancer-causing chemicals in seafood and antifreeze ingredients in toothpaste, is gearing up to become the world's biggest producer and operator of nuclear plants.The country plans to build about 30 new reactors by 2020, at a cost totaling 450 billion yuan ($61 billion). It could add as many as 300 in time, according to an official from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.Deals signed this year with Westinghouse Electric Co. and Areva SA will put the Chinese in position to copy the latest technology. Its biggest threat may be as a competitor in selling the $3 billion to $5 billion nuclear plants at home and abroad. China's atomic industry may follow the copy-and-compete blueprint laid out by local makers of cars, drugs and coal-fired power plants."The driving force is self-reliance,'' said Howard Bruschi, 67, Westinghouse's former chief technology officer, who two decades ago helped spearhead the company's efforts to get a foothold in China."I don't kid myself that they want to make their own designs and develop them and export them.''The country of 1.3 billion people needs clean sources of electricity to fuel the fastest-growing major economy. At the same time, as China is poised to pass the U.S. as the world's biggest producer of gases that contribute to global warming, it's under pressure to curb emissions. A new round of United Nations-sponsored talks on climate change opens next week on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Reactor, Uranium Sales
The Chinese nuclear program took another step forward Nov. 26 when Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive officer of Paris-based Areva, signed an 8 billion-euro ($12 billion) contract to sell two new European pressurized water reactors, or EPRs, and a long-term supply of uranium to China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao stood at the table.In July, Monroeville, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse clinched a $5.3 billion deal with China's State Nuclear Power Technology Co. and partners to build four of its new AP1000 reactors. The contract was the company's first for a nuclear reactor since 1987 and its first in China.Officials of both Western companies said they agreed to transfer technology to local suppliers, meaning China will be able to become a discount competitor. Chinese officials themselves cite Western criteria-safety and cost-for deciding whether Westinghouse's model will become a blueprint for future plants.
'Wait and See'
"In principle, the absorbed, redeveloped AP1000 technology from Westinghouse will be the dominant technology for China's future nuclear industry development,'' said Yu Zhuoping, a State Nuclear Power Technology adviser."But we need to wait and see the real costs, safety, reliability and operational performances of these four reactors before making further conclusions.''That position contrasts with China's safety record in other industries. In nuclear power, international manufacturers are using China as a proving ground to demonstrate to potential U.S. customers that new reactors are safer than older designs. What's more, Chinese suppliers may help make nuclear power competitive with cheaper energy sources such as coal and natural gas by bringing down the price of components."In the Western world, we talk about nuclear renaissance, but in China it's not a renaissance,'' said Gavin Liu, Westinghouse China's chief representative."They're working on the nuclear project on a day-to-day basis, accelerating the whole development process. It's important to build the first AP1000, no matter where we build it, and China's market demand puts it into the best position.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aSpqDJ5SWe28&refer=exclusive

As in the days of Noah...

District disavows sponsorship of 'gay' event:Parent had challenged support for AIDS Day program

Potential litigation over a school district's involvement with an "event" that just a year earlier was called a "prayer" service has been headed off with an agreement for officials to renounce any sponsorship or affiliation with the AIDS Day program, according to a lawyer involved in the case."The Dec. 2 event [is] not sponsored by the school district. It is being organized and promoted by certain student clubs and individual students who have an interested in the world-wide AIDS issue," said a letter from the Murrietta Valley Unified School District to attorney Richard Ackerman as part of a settlement over the dispute.The district earlier had issued on its website an announcement about the event at St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Temecula.The agenda shows the event it is to be opened with "remarks" from Rev. Benita Ramsey. It also showed a religious presentation would follow. "Students from several school clubs will take part in the event including the Gay Straight Alliance, Black Student Union, Ballet Folklorico, Si Si Puede, MVHS Dance and members of the MVHS Choir, Temecula Valley Choir and Riverside City College Choir," the school said.The district announcement provided a contact name and number for Murrieta Valley High School teacher Mary Byun-Kallevig.Such publicity drew the attention of Richard Ackerman, of the Pro-Family Law Center, who suggested to the district a separation of the school from the "event," especially in light of the fact the district previously had tried to stifle Christian students' speech with a code that imposed a penalty of expulsion for students who said something that made someone feel bad."It appears rather obvious to our office that this is an abject violation of separation of church and state constitutional policy," Ackerman's letter to the district said."If you do not take immediate action to remedy the appearance of M.V.S.D's endorsement of St. Catherine's theology and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, we will take immediate action to restrain any further support of this event."He noted the same event in 2006 was advertised as starting with a "prayer service."Ackerman also pointed out Byun-Kallevig "is the acting supervisor for the Murrieta Valley High School Gay Straight Alliance, a district-sanctioned school cub for students" which receives economic and other support from the school.Ramsey, he said, is "a clergy person associated with the Inland Valley Unit Fellowship of Christ Church and is known to be a public religious figure… Pastor Ramsey also serves as a director of the Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance, whose stated purpose includes, 'The Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance is a support organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth and their families…' "Ackerman had suggested that the district either withdraw its support for the event, or admit that it will "openly support all student clubs/club supervisors, and whatever lawful activities they wish to involve themselves in. If Christian or other clubs wish to invite other students to church services and the like, this is completely permissible and the District will take no action to interfere with evangelism on campus by clubs and their supervisors."The district opted to withdraw its sponsorship."I also assure you that the District has not and will not authorize the use of its name in connection with the event. Moreover, the MVHS has been put on notice of this position," the letter from school officials said.Ackerman confirmed to WND the district, in fact, had removed its promotion of the event from the school website, so he had withdrawn the paperwork that would have called for a court hearing on the issue today.Ackerman had elaborated on the earlier dispute with the district, in which officials considered a policy that could cause students to be expelled for "rejecting" each other, for sharing "unpleasant stories" about each other – even if true – or for associating with like-minded peers in groups if others feel "left out.""This is a brutal affront to the First Amendment," Ackerman said at the time. "Students have a right to associate with each other and should not be punished for dividing themselves into groups that allow individuals to better relate to each other."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58958

As in the days of Noah...

THE PROMISE OF REST........

"Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief
Again he limiteth a certain day,saying in David,To day after so long a time;as it is said,To day if ye will hear his voice,harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest,then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
HEBREWS 4:6-9

Ethiopia-Eritrea commission ends, border unresolved

AMSTERDAM-An international commission charged with setting the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea dissolved itself on Friday, leaving the two states who fought a border war that killed some 70,000 people to work it out alone.Thousands died in World War One-style trench warfare in the 1998-2000 clash between the Horn of Africa neighbours and, according to the United Nations, the two sides have again amassed thousands of troops and artillery at the frontier.The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, part of Permanent Court of Arbitration, fulfilled its mandate of determining the border in 2002. But a deadline for the two states to demarcate the boundary expired on Friday, with neither complying."Until such time as the boundary is finally demarcated, the delimitation decision of 13 April 2002 continues as the only valid legal description of the boundary," the commission said in a statement on Friday. Tensions between the countries have ratcheted up in recent weeks with the approach of the deadline to physically mark the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontier.Asmara and Addis Ababa have been at odds over the border since the boundary commission gave Eritrea the key town of Badme in 2002.Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi dismissed the commission's deadline and called its demarcation ruling "legal nonsense", but tried to allay concerns that a new border war could break out."We will never, ever go to war with Eritrea, unless there is full scale invasion," Meles said on Thursday."I do not think that the Eritrean government would launch a full scale invasion, because it would be suicidal for them."Last November, the commission said it was fed up by the lack of progress with the border and gave both nations one year to make moves to mark the frontier or it would fix it on international maps.The United Nations and the United States have urged both countries to show restraint.On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Ethiopia next week for meetings on the conflicts in the region.Rice is scheduled to meet leaders from the African Great Lakes region- Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda-in Addis Ababa on Dec. 5.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L3048408.htm

As in the days of Noah...

U.N. plans 6-month Bangladesh operation

DHAKA-The United Nations food agency has unveiled a $52 million, six-month plan to provide emergency aid to 2.2 million Bangladeshis affected by the killer cyclone.The aim is to avoid a repeat of the surge in malnutrition rates that typically follows a cyclone in Bangladesh, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday in a statement.Cyclone Sidr, which hit the impoverished South Asian country on Nov. 15 with winds of 250 kph (155 mph) and a 5-foot tidal surge, killed about 3,500 people, left thousands missing or injured, and displaced 2 million."This time, WFP will start longer-term distributions to families with hopes of preventing increases in malnutrition throughout the region," said Josette Sheeran, the agency's executive director.The emergency operation would follow the just-completed U.N. assessment that found roughly 4.7 million people living in the worst affected areas with 2.2 million needing immediate food assistance, the WFP said."While immediate food aid such as high energy biscuits continue to be rushed into the cyclone-hit areas, WFP is now ready to begin a longer-term, more comprehensive food assistance programme that will get nutritious foods directly to the children who need it the most," said WFP Bangladesh Representative Douglas Broderick.Despite intensified relief efforts, supervised by the Bangladesh army and helped by the U.S. navy and helicopters, many survivors in remote areas had yet to receive food and water, reporters said.Bangladesh's army-backed interim government has said no one would be left out of the relief effort.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DHA332313.htm

As in the days of Noah...

SIGN of the TIMES:Teen suicide spurs war on child prostitution

ATLANTA-At the age of 15, Samantha Walker was lured into prostitution on the streets of Toledo, Ohio, then taken against her will to Atlanta.What makes her story different from thousands of others is that she testified against one of the men who paid for sex with her, helping to send him to prison.But just weeks after the trial she took an overdose of drugs she was taking for depression and died at the age of 18.More than 300,000 children are being sexually exploited in the United States, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania.
Many of them end up in Atlanta, which authorities say has become a hub for prostitution in part because its busy airport makes it a destination for men seeking sex.Where in the past pimps advertised the girls who worked for them on the walls of men's rest rooms or on street corners, these days they use online bulletin boards like craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org/).Customers set up liaisons after seeing girls on the sites, and then pay the girl or the pimp directly on the street, according to the Atlanta Police Vice Department.Solomon Gort, a married man with two children, a white-collar job and a home in Atlanta's suburbs, offered Walker's pimp $50 for oral sex with her in June 2004.

To read more go to:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0736630420071128

As in the days of Noah...

JIHAD WATCH:Detroit man pleads guilty in bid to aid Hezbollah

DETROIT-A Detroit-area man on Thursday pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges after a failed 1998 attempt to deliver global positioning systems and night-vision goggles to Hezbollah in Lebanon.Fawzi Assi, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization under U.S. law, federal prosecutors said.The guilty plea marked the latest twist one of the first prosecutions under a 1996 U.S. law that made it illegal to provide money or other aid to terrorists groups as defined by the U.S. government.The U.S. State Department designated Hezbollah a terrorist group in 1997.Assi, who has been held in federal prison for the past three and a half years, now faces up to a 10-year prison term and a fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors said.Assi was stopped in July 1998 when he attempted to board a flight from Detroit to Lebanon with two Boeing Co-manufactured global positioning system kits, night vision goggles and a thermal-imaging camera.In his plea, Assi said he was attempting to deliver the equipment to a person in Lebanon who he knew was buying the gear for Hezbollah. In an earlier hearing, FBI agents testified that Assi had told them during questioning that he supported Hezbollah's goal of driving Israel out of southern Lebanon.Assi fled to Lebanon shortly after his arrest in 1998. He returned to the United States and surrendered to authorities in May 2004."Anyone who gives money, technology or other material support to any terrorist organization will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy said in a statement.Assi's lawyer, James Thomas, could not be reached for comment. As part of the plea deal with prosecutors, Thomas recommended that Assi be sentenced to between three and four years in federal prison.At the time of his arrest, Assi, a naturalized U.S. citizen who came to the United States in 1978, was an engineer with Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Co.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2924245920071130?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

As in the days of Noah....

CULTURE of DEATH:Grand jury cleared to investigate abortionist

The state Supreme Court in Kansas has ordered a citizen-initiated grand jury to move forward with its work investigating allegations of illegal abortions by George Tiller, who runs a late-term abortion business in Wichita.Tiller already is facing 19 criminal charges filed by Attorney General Paul Morrison alleging violations of a state law that bans abortions on viable babies after 22 weeks gestation, charges that resulted from a lengthy investigation conducted by former Attorney General Phill Kline.The grand jury, which under Kansas law can be ordered to investigate an issue based on a citizen petition as in this case, is being asked to investigate Tiller for conducting illegal late-term abortions over the past four years."We are very happy that the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled to follow the law and allow the grand jury to move forward,' said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman."This is a victory for the rule of law, for the people of Kansas, and for the late-term pre-born babies that laws have been enacted to protect. As the grand jury investigation of Tiller moves forward, we pray for justice to be done."Tiller has pleaded not guilty to the 19 counts filed by Morrison, and had gone to court to ask for an exemption to the state law setting up grand juries in Kansas. But the high court rejected those arguments."On Oct. 19, 2007, George M. Tiller commenced this original action in mandamus with a petition that … c hallenged the legality of grand jury proceedings which were scheduled to commence on Oct. 30. 2007," the court's conclusion, written by Chief Justice Kay McFarland, said. "Oct. Oct. 26, 2007, this court granted the motion to stay the grand jury proceedings, until further order…""Having considered the petition, responses, and the record before us, the Court determines that petitioner has not established entitlement to the relief sought and that … the petition should be and is hereby denied, and the case is dismissed. Accordingly, the stay of the grand jury proceedings is lifted…"According to the 19 charges filed by Morrison, Tiller failed to follow Kansas late-term abortion law and substantiate the need for such procedures with a second independent opinion.Kansas law bans late-term abortions past 22 weeks gestation, a developmental milestone recognized as viability in Kansas law. Narrow exceptions to the law are if the woman's life is in danger, or if the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. An opinion issued by former Attorney General Carla Stovall, an abortion supporter, allowed mental health risks to be included as a "major bodily function" under the law, but only if the risk was "substantial and irreversible."But in those cases a second opinion from a physician not financially connected to the first is required.Tiller had been the subject of a multi-year investigation by Kline, who filed 30 criminal counts against him. However, the charges were dismissed by a judge with connections to Tiller's lawyers on the request of a prosecutor who also had connections to the other players in the case.Then Kline appointed a special independent prosecutor to handle the case, but, as WND reported, the special prosecutor was fired by Morrison as soon as he took office early in 2007.Newman told WND the ruling guarantees that 15 citizens of Kansas serving on a grand jury be able to request and hear evidence on allegations of criminal activity, and make their recommendation.Just weeks earlier, Operation Rescue also had filed a complaint with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts alleging Tiller and an employee violated state law when teenager Michelle Armesto had a late-term abortion at Tiller's clinic in 2003, a procedure that was begun before she signed any consent forms.Armesto was the woman who provided startling testimony before a state legislative committee investigating late-term abortions recently when she related that her abortion procedure was begun before she signed any paperwork, or had any of the evaluations required by state law.She also did not know that the abortionists had concluded her baby was "non-viable," a determination that exempted them from certain state requirements."She had no idea that they [abortionists] had declared her baby non-viable," Operation Rescue spokeswoman Cheryl Sullenger told WND, until she recently obtained her medical records. Sullenger said the unborn child's mother was a healthy 18-year-old at the time of the abortion, and there had been virtually no indications of any health problems.Newman noted this is the second complaint filed with the KSBHA against Tiller. A document from October 2006 alleges Tiller and abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus had an illegal financial affiliation that they formed in order to perform abortions past viability. Operation Rescue said that complaint now is being reviewed by a Peer Review Board.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58955

As in the days of Noah....