Traditional values challenged in unusual alliance to combat disease
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third of a three-part series based on an interview with Rick Warren at his Saddleback Church in Southern California, which he and his wife of 30 years, Kay, founded in 1980 with one family. In part one, Warren responded to critics among his fellows evangelical travelers. In part two the senior pastor – called by Newsweek one of "15 People Who Make America Great" – discussed his fame, his unconventional approach to ministry and his visit last year with Syrian leader Bashar Assad. In part three today, he responds to concerns about the pitfalls of partnering with government and his massive AIDS initiative.
By Art Moore
Kay Warren embraces HIV patient at conclusion of Saddleback Church's 'Global Summit on AIDS and the Church' (WND photo)
LAKE FOREST, Calif. – When Rick Warren takes on a problem, the scale often seems limited only by the size of the planet. Five years ago, his wife, Kay, responded to a sobering magazine article about the plight of 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa, and now their 22,000-strong Saddleback Church in upscale Orange County, California, has completed its third annual ...   more »

Budget amendment 'threatens' border security plan
By Jerome R. Corsi
Steve Elliott, the president of Grassfire, says he still wants to know, "Where's the fence?"
Elliott, in a telephone interview, told WND an amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, for the Department of Homeland Security 2008 budget would gut the already-approved Secure Fence Act, which was adopted with the promise hundreds of miles of physical fencing would help secure the U.S. border with Mexico.
But the budget bill now in a conference committee contains the Hutchinson amendment, and Elliott says it simply would drop the requirement for the security project.
"After the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006, millions of Americans had a right to expect a double-layer fence would be built along our border with Mexico," Elliott said.
"Now, if the Hutchison amendment gets signed into law that fence is never going to be built," he said.
Elliott said the language of the amendment from Hutchison (S. Amdt. 2466) specifically would exempt the Department of Homeland Security from having to build any fence at all.
The Hutchison amendment reads, in part, " … nothing in this paragraph shall ...   more »

By Michael Howe
The Bush administration continues to push forward with its controversial project allowing Mexican trucks to move freely on U.S. roads despite strong protests from both chambers of Congress, where legislation is pending.
"Congress has stated clearly that it believes going forward with such a program, without the information needed to assure safety on American roads, is not safe," said Barry Piatt, spokesman for Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
Dorgan successfully amended the Senate Transportation Appropriations Bill to include language to stop the Mexican Truck Demonstration Program, hoping the Bush administration would respond.
However, even though the House and Senate agreed to retain the language, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, is continuing with the program.
According to the conference report on the House bill, HR 3074, issued Nov. 13, "None of the funds made available under this Act may be used to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico."
The bill, however, awaits approval by both the full House and the full Senate.
Jenny Tallheimer, spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, told WND, "At this ...   more »

Muslim hero breaks up train beating
BY MELISSA GRACE 
Maria Parsheva and boyfriend Walter Adler were assaulted on Q train after they wished their attackers Happy Chanukah. 
Hassan Askari (r.) came to their rescue. He got black eye for his troubles.
The Good Samaritan who tried to stop the Christmas-versus-Chanukah subway beating has two black eyes and a sore nose - but no regrets.
"I did what I thought was right," said Hassan Askari, 20. "I did the best that I could to help."
Askari, a Bangladeshi Muslim studying at Berkeley College in Manhattan, was on a Q train headed to Brooklyn late Friday when he came to the aid of young women confronted by a group of 10 thugs.
Fearful for the women's safety, he pushed one of the men away - and was then pounced on by the group, he said.
"They grabbed me and punched and beat me up," Askari said.
"They punched me first. I didn't get a chance to punch him back."
Askari, all of 5-feet-7 and 140 pounds, said he was left with a swollen face.
He said he didn't go to the doctor because he's too busy working two waiter jobs and doesn't ...   more »

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- The Green Bay City Council president paid for a nativity scene to be put up at City Hall after learning of an anti-religion group's protest of one in Peshtigo.
Council president Chad Fradette told a city committee he elieved the U.S. Constitution upholds citizens' right to display symbols of their religious beliefs on publicly owned property as long as they are not paid for with tax money and other faiths aren't excluded.
The committee approved the nativity scene 4-1 Tuesday night.
"So now the Freedom From Religion Foundation can pick on somebody a little larger than Peshtigo," Fradette told the committee.
The foundation, the nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics, objected lst week to a nativity display in a Peshtigo city park, saying it was illegal to erect it on public property and use tax money to light it. Peshtigo is about 40 miles northeast of Green Bay.
On Wednesday, the group sent a letter to Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt objecting to the display as "inherently religious" and a violation of the separation of church and state.
"Displaying a creche on the city hall building conveys the message that the City Council endorses ...   more »

Hamas Television program seeks liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Two children have made an appearance on Hamas Television's children's show called "Liberate" to exhort a liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and to promise to "wipe out" Zionists.
The new video captured from Hamas Television is being made available by the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and publicizes media reports throughout the Middle East.
MEMRI also has a web page that is devoted to Al-Aqsa television clips.
Young boy on Hamas television tells audience how to "rescue" the Al-Aqsa Mosque "from the shackles of the Zionist entity."
The boy, in the Dec. 3, 2007, appearance, launches the message:
"My beloved brothers, as you know, today the Al-Aqsa Mosque is crying out: 'Where are the people of the frontline, the Palestinian people?' Yes, my dear brothers, that is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The subject of our lesson today is Jerusalem, to where your Prophet made his nocturnal journey - the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he says.
"Yes, my beloved brothers, as you know today, and as you knew yesterday and the day before, the Al-Aqsa Mosque has fallen into oppressing and malicious hands, the hands of those who ...   more »

Russia and Iran reached an agreement Thursday on a schedule for finishing construction of the Bushehr nuclear plant, which plays a central role in the international tensions over Iran's nuclear program, Russian news agencies reported.
The United States and other critics have long protested construction of the US$1 billion (€680,000) plant, saying it would give Iran cover for developing a nuclear weapons program.
Construction at the plant has been sporadically delayed amid disputes between Iran and Russia over payment, fuel delivery and other issues. But Russia has remained opposed to a US-led push for international sanctions against Iran for allegedly seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Original Source

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WASHINGTON, December 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  Yesterday, the U.S. House passed a resolution recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith by a vote of 372 to 9. Nine members voted against the resolution, ten refused to support it by voting "present," and 40 others members did not vote.
All but two of the representatives voting "present" or against the Christmas Resolution voted in favor of a resolution recognizing Ramadan, which passed by a 376-0 vote in October. The Ramadan Resolution stated that the House "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world...expresses friendship and support for Muslims...acknowledges the onset of Ramadan...and conveys its respect to Muslims...rejects hatred, bigotry, and violence directed against Muslims...commends Muslims... who have privately and publicly rejected interpretations and movements of Islam that justify and encourage hatred, violence, and terror".
The Christmas Resolution uses similar language, stating that the House recognizes "the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world...expresses continued support for Christians...acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith...acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of ...   more »

Tuesday, December 11
 We all know the Nintendo Wii is one of the hot, hard-to-find holiday toys this year, but another must-have toy may surprise you -- a talking Jesus doll.
The doll is flying off  toy store shelves. Most Wal-Marts are totally sold out and Target says they only have a very limited supply left.
One2Believe manufactures faith-based action figures and they said there won't be any more Jesus doll deliveries before the end of the year.
Original Source

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CECIL B. DEMILLE should be proud. A satellite image of the parting of the Red Sea has confirmed that the boiling wall of water he depicted in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments was right on the mark.
Look at the satellite picture and you can see Moses and the Israelites scurrying into the corridor formed by the sea's bisected waters. The Egyptian army, minutes from obliteration, is just out of shot.
The picture appears to have been plucked directly from Google Earth. It's a fake, of course, part of a project called God's Eye View created by the Glue Society, the Sydney art and design collective whose melted ice-cream van won the People's Choice Award at last year's Sculpture By The Sea. The other pictures in the set show the crucifixion, Noah's Ark and the Garden of Eden.
The images caused a sensation when they went on display at an art fair in Miami recently. Each set costs $US36,000, and two have been sold to collectors from London and New York.
The Glue Society's co-founder, Jonathan Kneebone, said God's Eye View was not intended to be a theological statement. "Art has always depicted religious events and this is simply ...   more »