By Kelly J. Stigliano
CBN.com – I remembered the feeling of days long ago, before my Christian conversion, when I got high; a feeling of lethargy, as if my arms weighed 50 pounds each. I could actually feel the blood course through my veins. I could feel my heart beating without touching my chest. Suddenly things would get very quiet, and my vision centered in more and more as my peripheral vision narrowed.
Yes, I remembered the feeling. I was feeling it again, but now I was on sugar, not illegal drugs.
Every time I had my blood sugar checked, the results said I had a perfect balance. Then why did my post-sugar experiences rival my previously private pill-popping parties?
Amid a myriad of Web sites, books, and medical reports, I learned that refined carbohydrates (like white flour), as well as refined sugar, convert into blood sugar. In me, they created an emergency situation that I often ignored.
The basics of what sugar does to the body go like this: We eat and the food is changed into sugar, which then enters the bloodstream. As the blood sugar level begins to rise, the pancreas sends insulin into the bloodstream. The ...   more »

Ethiopia entered the third millennium seven years after the rest of the world Wednesday, amid lavish celebrations, religious fervor and messages of hope from the troubled country's leaders.
As the giant countdown board in central Addis Ababa flashed the year 2000 at midnight (2100 GMT), thousands of faithful from all over Ethiopia -- which follows a unique slightly modified Julian calendar -- gathered in churches.
"I hope that I get cured permanently from my illness and continue doing the job that I have," said 32-year-old Leul Tesfasellasie, as hundreds lined up to be healed by holy waters at the capital's Entoto Mariam church.
"Everyone here hopes for a cure on the new year," he said.
So does Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who voiced his hope the new millennium would herald a new era of prosperity for the Horn of Africa nation, which has been mired in conflict and poverty.
"The last few centuries of the millennium have not been as glorious," Meles said at an official ceremony attended by several other heads of state. "Every generation of Ethiopians during those centuries has paid in blood to maintain our independence."
"We have came from being one of the most advanced nations ...   more »

Meanwhile, NORAD, USNORTHCOM on alert for U.N. meetings
By Jerome R. Corsi
Pre-flight for F-16 prior to multi-aircraft exercise at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina (USAF)
Contrary to rumors surrounding the Air Combat Command's stand-down of all 100,000 active-duty airmen ordered for tomorrow, the U.S. will not be devoid of fighter aircraft to protect the nation.
Michael Kucharek, spokesman for NORAD and USNORTHCOM, told WND the stand-down does not include the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves assigned to NORAD.
About 70 percent of the aircraft involved in NORAD alerts are Air National Guard or Air Force Reserves aircraft, according to Kucharek.
Meanwhile, NORAD and USNORTHCOM will be on alert status Sept. 24 when the U.N. convenes a high-level meeting on climate change and the following day when the General Assembly begins its 62nd Session in New York City.
The stand-down Friday was ordered by Gen. Ronald Keys to conduct a command-wide review of operations, safety procedures and checklists after the Aug. 30 incident at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, according to the Air Force Times.
At Minot, six cruise missiles with nuclear warheads were loaded onto a B-52H and flown to Barksdale Air Force ...   more »

By Akilah Johnson
FORT LAUDERDALE
Broward County's Hebrew-language charter school can again teach Hebrew -- finally.
The curriculum of the Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood was unanimously approved by the Broward School Board on Tuesday, ending debate over whether Hebrew can be taught without also promoting a religion. At the center of the debate: The taxpayer-funded school's curriculum.
The dispute came to a head last month when the School Board ordered the kindergarten through eighth grade school to temporarily stop teaching Hebrew out of concern the charter school would be in violation of the federally established separation between religion and government.
At first, Ben Gamla operators refused to stop teaching Hebrew, but relented a day later.
So for the past month, students studied reading, writing, arithmetic and Israeli geography but not Hebrew while an expert hired by the School Distict scrutinized the school's curriculum.
Tuesday's approval comes with stipulations. Ben Gamla must submit its lesson plans to the district each month for approval. District and Ben Gamla staff must also undergo religious studies. The courses are intended to help educators understand the difference between teaching students about religion and teaching in a way that promotes religion
Original Source
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WASHINGTON -- Weapons of mass destruction, small boats packed with explosives and Islamic radicalization are the greatest terrorist threats facing the country, top U.S. security officials said Monday on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The officials told Congress the country is much better prepared to face terror threats than it was then, but that terrorists' desire to attack the United States remains strong — an assertion that has yet to be fully accepted by the American public, according to a new poll.
"The enemy is not standing still. They are constantly revising their tactics and adapting their strategy and their capabilities," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "And if we stand still — or worse yet, if we retreat — we are going to be handing them an advantage that we dare not see them hold."
He said the threat of a USS Cole-type attack on U.S. ports — where a small boat packed with explosives detonates in a harbor — is one of his top concerns.
And while the department's goal is to keep nuclear weapons from entering the country, he said it also is focusing on how it would respond should ...   more »