Battalion Of Deborah

Last Fanatic

Publisher — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:04:10 -0500

The Oslo Accords and the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza are now widely recognized as tragic errors of immense proportions. Now, we face an even greater danger as the Israeli government, in the wake of the Annapolis summit, is scrambling to give away parts of Israel piece by piece in the pursuit of yet another false peace. We must respond ....

The importance of the creation of the State of Israel

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:47:02 -0400

It is not really possible to exaggerate why David Ben Gurion’s declaration – 60 years ago this May, of the independence of the State of Israel for the people of Israel – is one of the most important historical happenings ever to impact the world.
Why was the creation of Israel on May 14, 1948 so significant?
It was important on many levels for the Jews themselves, but not only for the Jews:
It marked the arrival of the Jewish people at a – for them – long-feared unreachable milestone in their millennia-old history – the end of their worldwide Diaspora or dispersion.
It signified the total failure of Adolf Hitler – and the myriad antisemites before him: the Vatican, the Crusaders, the Inquisition, the Cossacks, the rulers of Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium, Slovakia, The Netherlands, France, England, Poland, Bohemia, Russia and all the other nations that expelled their Jews – to do away with God’s Chosen People.
It established a port of safety – a haven – for a nation whose people for 2000 years had been denied acceptance and lived precariously virtually wherever they sought to dwell among the gentiles.
It gave a long-scattered people a ...

Alexander the Great's "Crown," Shield Discovered?

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:30:12 -0400

Sara Goudarzi
for National Geographic News
April 23, 2008
An ancient Greek tomb thought to have held the body of Alexander the Great's father is actually that of Alexander's half brother, researchers say.
This may mean that some of the artifacts found in the tomb—including a helmet, shield, and silver "crown"—originally belonged to Alexander the Great himself. Alexander's half brother is thought to have claimed these royal trappings after Alexander's death.
The tomb was one of three royal Macedonian burials excavated in 1977 by archaeologists working in the northern Greek village of Vergina (see map of Greece).
Excavators at the time found richly appointed graves with artifacts including a unique silver headband, an iron helmet, and a ceremonial shield, along with a panoply of weapons and an object initially identified as a scepter.
"[Archaeologists] announced that the burial in the main chamber of the large rich [tomb] was that of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, who was assassinated in 336 B.C," said Eugene N. Borza, professor emeritus of ancient history at Pennsylvania State University.
But recent analyses of the tombs and the paintings, pottery, and other artifacts found there, suggest that the burials are in fact one ...

Watch for G.O.T.S.B. in Denver

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:20:54 -0400

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin in Denver in just 111 days.
Merely the announced intention of the Democrat high command to exclude all of the delegates from Florida and Michigan for their states' disobedience in holding primaries early suggests that Denver may be as wild as Chicago in 1968 – though with much less actual blood in the streets.
What is even more politically explosive is the growing possibility that neither candidates Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton will arrive in Denver with enough votes to win the nomination before the balloting begins.
That and reported threats from polled backers of both these candidates that if the other is nominated, they will not support the nominee.
This is why there are reports of G.O.T.S.B. (Gore on the Second Ballot) with the former vice president and now Nobel Prize winner thought of as possibly prestigious enough to unite a savagely divided party.
Given the result of the Pennsylvania Primary and the latest in Sen. Obama's Wright Crisis, there might be a possibility that the senator from Illinois will withdraw.
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer asks:
"How does one explain campaigning throughout 2007 on a platform of transcending racial divisions, while ...

Scrapped vessels haunt Coast Guard

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:19:15 -0400

By Jen Haberkorn
U.S. Coast Guard cutters sit unused at the shipyard in Baltimore after the costly Deepwater project encountered problems with extensions and cracked hulls. Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said problems were too numerous to repair when the vessels were decommissioned in 2006. (Katie Falkenberg/The Washington Times)
Eight ships that were supposed to be the government's latest, best weapon for stopping terrorists, illegal immigrants and smugglers now float unused in a U.S. Coast Guard shipyard in Baltimore, the symbol of a nearly $100 million taxpayer debacle.
Instead of patrolling, the ships were deemed unfit for the high seas after just a couple of months of use and eventually will be dismantled without ever fulfilling their promise.
The Coast Guard hopes to finally put the problems with its much maligned "Deepwater" program behind it, taking ownership this month of a brand new 418-foot national security cutter that was built from scratch after contractors bungled the modernization of the earlier eight ships.
Commissioning of the USCGC Bertholf will be the next major step in a 25-year, $24 billion project to extend the Coast Guard's reach further than ever before beyond U.S. shores. Taxpayers, however, won't see much benefit until the Bertholf ...

Methodists abandon Israel divestment

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:56:17 -0400

MICHAL LANDO,
Jewish activists are hailing the overwhelming decision by the United Methodist Church to abandon efforts to divest from companies that allegedly contribute to Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
Five divestment resolutions were shot down at the United Methodist Church General Conference in Texas last week, after a protracted campaign by Jews to halt the effort.
The resolutions called on the denomination to identify companies that profit from sales of products or services that "harm the Palestinians and Israelis" and begin a phased divestment from them. Firms targeted included Caterpillar, which manufactures tractors used to raze Palestinian homes and olive groves, and Motorola, which manufactures security systems.
"I think this general conference is an important and positive milestone," said Ethan Felson, the associate executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a public policy umbrella group. "We clearly have many friends and have made many friends community by community, and that's a lot of what this is about."
Though the recent decision is a "turning point," said Felson, the divestment campaign, once thought to be dormant, is still active among mainstream Protestant churches. A 2004 decision to begin a phased divestment by the Presbyterian Church was amended ...

Bush backs modified crops to ease crisis

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:25:37 -0400

By Andrew Ward and Daniel Dombey in Washington
George W. Bush on Thursday stepped up pressure on the European Union and other governments to lift restrictions on genetically modified crops to help ease the crisis in global food supplies.
The US president said modified crops offered a partial solution to the food crisis gripping some parts of the world because of their high yields and resistance to drought and disease.
“These crops are safe,” he said, “and they hold the promise of producing more food for more people.”
The remarks came as Mr Bush proposed a fresh $770m (€498m, £390m) in food aid, in addition to the $200m in emergency aid announced two weeks ago.
If approved by Congress, the funds would increase total US food aid this year to $2.3bn, up from $2.1bn last year.
“We’re sending a clear message to the world: that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come,” said Mr Bush.
Global food prices have increased by 43 per cent over the past year because of soaring demand from developing countries and droughts in Australia and other crop growing countries, according to the White House.
Decreased supply and rising prices have led to ...

The reverend wears no clothes

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:20:23 -0400

Hell hath no fury like a pastor scorned, as Barack Obama learned the hard way.
A month ago, when video snippets of Jeremiah Wright's more controversial sermons first popped up on cable television, Obama tried to take the high road. He gently distanced himself from Wright and compared his former black pastor to his white grandmother, while insisting he could never repudiate either one of them. Then, instead of responding to each of Wright's inflammatory remarks, Obama seized the occasion to call for a new national dialogue on race.
That may have placated most of Obama supporters, but it didn't sit well with Rev. Wright. He obviously felt betrayed by his adopted spiritual son. After all, he introduced Obama to Christianity, officiated at his marriage, baptized his daughters, blessed his house, prayed privately with him the morning Obama launched his campaign for president, and served as his spiritual adviser for the last 20 years. How could Obama suddenly treat him like a total stranger? Or, worse yet, like a beloved but crazy uncle – tolerated at the Thanksgiving dinner table, but never taken seriously?
In the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah laments: "Woe is me for my hurt! My wound ...

'An Evangelical Manifesto' criticizes politics of faith

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:17:10 -0400

(AP) -- Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word "evangelical" has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars.
The declaration encourages Christians to uphold traditional marriage, as in this Massachusetts protest.
The statement, called "An Evangelical Manifesto," condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
"That way faith loses its independence, Christians become 'useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology," according to the draft.
The declaration, scheduled to be released Wednesday in Washington, encourages Christians to be politically engaged and uphold teachings such as traditional marriage. But the drafters say evangelicals have often expressed "truth without love," helping create a backlash against religion during a "generation of culture warring."
"All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others," the statement says, "while we have condoned our own sins." It argues, "we must reform our own behavior."
The document is ...

Man pushes creation of panel to prepare city for space aliens

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:14:54 -0400

By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
The Denver man, who sponsored an offbeat ballot initiative that would have required the city to implement stress-reduction techniques, now wants to ask voters to create a commission dealing with space aliens.
"It is important because if you're driving down the highway and you saw a crash of a small spaceship and a car or a bus full of kids, you really wouldn't know what to do," Peckman said Thursday. "Do you wait for the hazardous materials experts to show up because of potential contaminants from another solar system? What do you do? People really don't know."
Peckman, 54, who is single and lives with his parents, has submitted to the city a draft of the proposed ordinance, which would require the creation of an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission.
As required, the city is holding a "review and comment" meeting on the proposed ballot initiative with Peckman on Thursday.
"I don't know what we're going to ask him yet," said David Broadwell, an assistant city attorney.
Peckman hopes to collect enough signatures - he needs about 4,000 - to get the proposed initiative on the November ballot.
According to the proposal, the 18-member ET ...

All salmon fishing banned on West Coast

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:10:22 -0400

Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed.
The closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon was announced by the National Marine Fishery Service.
It followed the recommendation last month of the Pacific Fishery Management Council after the catastrophic disappearance of California's fabled fall run of the pink fish popularly known as king salmon.
It is the first total closure since commercial fishing started in the Bay Area in 1848.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency last month and sent a letter to President Bush asking for his help in obtaining federal disaster assistance. Schwarzenegger plans to appropriate about $5.3 million for coastal salmon and steelhead fishery restoration projects.
The disaster declaration allows state officials to work with Congress on obtaining appropriations for businesses and fishermen and women, some of ...

Point Reyes Station Has A Wailing Wall For Massacred Deer

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:04:37 -0400

Community Members Express Outrage at National Park Service Program On Friday April 11, a "Wailing Wall' was created on the historic Grandi building in Point Reyes Station, to protest the National Park Services program to exterminate the Fallow and Axis Deer herds from the Point Reyes National Seashore. The NPS labels the deer "non-native" yet they have been naturalized in the area for almost a century. The deer have lived in the Point Reyes and Olema Valley area long before the Point Reyes National Seashore was established, and have been loved by both visitors and residents alike for decades.
Over the last 3 years, thousands of people have expressed their outrage through multiple venues including petitions, newspaper polls, letters to the editor, articles, photo-journals, as well as letters and calls to our elected officials and the National Park Service. Despite the resounding outcry, the NPS has pushed this program through with military-like force.
Eighty percent of the people polled by the Marin IJ newspaper voted against this program. The public was told by the NPS that the extermination program would be carried out over the next 15 years and includes non-lethal management and opportunities for public discussion along the way. ...

Calif. man accused of investment scam targeting Christians

Publisher — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:51:06 -0400

By GILLIAN FLACCUS,
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Federal authorities arrested a man accused of running an investment scheme that netted more than $25 million by targeting Christian investors nationwide.
Jon G. Ervin, 61, of Mission Viejo, was arrested Friday on a charge of wire fraud. He later appeared in federal court, where he was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Ervin's public defender, Leon Peterson, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Ervin was named Thursday in a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The same day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed lawsuits against Ervin and his company, Safevest LLC, and obtained federal orders freezing their assets.
According to the criminal complaint, Ervin used Safevest to persuade victims to invest in a fake commodity futures trading program. Investors were told Safevest would use no more than 13 percent of their deposit in hundreds of commodity trades a day on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, with a guarantee of up to 1 percent in returns each day.
Investors could check their returns on a password-protected Web site that was run exclusively by Ervin. The program attracted about 550 investors, officials said.
Authorities allege ...

Click to PrintBirds can 'see' the Earth's magnetic field

Publisher — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:15:52 -0400

Catherine Brahic
It has been debated for nearly four decades but no one has yet been able to prove it is chemically possible. Now good evidence suggests that birds can actually "see" the lines of the Earth's magnetic field.
Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois, proposed forty years ago that some animals – including migratory birds – must have molecules in their eyes or brains which respond to magnetism. The problem has been that no one has been able to find a chemical sensitive enough to be influenced by Earth's weak geomagnetic field.
Now Peter Hore and colleagues at the University of Oxford have found one.
Cryptochromes are a class of light-sensitive proteins found in plants and animals, and are thought to play a role in the circadian clock, in regulating plant growth, and timing coral sex. A few years ago, Henrik Mouritsen of the University of Oldenburg in Germany showed that they were present in the retinal neurons of migratory garden warblers, and that these cells were active at dusk, when the warblers were performing magnetic orientation.
Weak but radical
Cryptochromes have not yet been made in the lab and obtaining them is difficult, but Hore's team has ...

What Would Martin Luther King Say about Anti-Zionism?

Publisher — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:11:01 -0400

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed (King and the Jews, April 30) by Clarence Jones, who had been Martin Luther King Jr's personal attorney. He offers interesting insight into King's views:
"I was his lawyer and one of his closest advisers, and I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism."
From www.wsj.com
Wall Street Journal
King and the Jews
By CLARENCE B. JONES
Earlier this month, at a Los Angeles event for the national African-American fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, the keynote speaker launched into an anti-Semitic tirade – directed at the fraternity's guest of honor. The socking episode shows just how far we've strayed from the original vision of the civil rights movement – and how far we have yet to travel to realize that vision.
The guest of honor, Daphna Ziman, an Israeli-American woman, had just received the Tom Bradley Award for generous philanthropy and public service. But instead of praise, the Rev. Eric
Lee berated her. "The Jews," he claimed, "have made money on us in the music business and we are the entertainers, and they are economically enslaving us." (Mr. Lee would later apologize to Ms. Ziman.)
It ...

The amazing 'pixie dust' made from pigs bladder that regrew a severed finger in FOUR weeks

Publisher — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:07:20 -0400

By MICHAEL HANLON
Sponges can do it and so can starfish. For flatworms it is no problem, and both lizards and salamanders can pull off the same trick.
The trick in question is regeneration, the almost magical property possessed by some animals to regrow whole limbs, tails, other body parts or organs if they are lost in an accident.
This spontaneous regeneration has only recently begun to be understood and it involves an incredibly complex interplay of genes and tissues.
What is known is that regeneration does not - except to a very limited degree - occur in humans or, indeed, in any mammals. Cut off a man's leg or a rabbit's foot and the best you can hope for is a scar covered stump.
Cut off a finger-tip and, unless you find a surgeon to sew it back on again promptly, you will simply have to put up with one digit shorter than the rest.
That is, if reports are to be believed, unless you are Lee Spievack, a model aircraft enthusiast from Cincinnati in the U.S. who, in 2005, accidentally sliced an inch off the tip of his index finger with a model aeroplane propeller.
He was ...

,Keyboards 'dirtier than a toilet'

Publisher — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:03:10 -0400

Some computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, research has suggested.
Consumer group Which? said tests at its London offices found equipment carrying bugs that could cause food poisoning.
Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office's toilet seats. Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often "a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut".
During the Which? tests in January this year, a microbiologist deemed one of the office's keyboards to be so dirty he ordered it to be removed, quarantined and cleaned.
It had 150 times the recommended limit for bacteria - five times as filthy as a lavatory seat tested at the same time, the research found.
Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you're very likely to pick it up from a keyboard
Dr Peter Wilson Consultant microbiologist
The equipment was swabbed for bugs, such as those that can cause food poisoning like E.coli and staphylococcus aureus.
Dr Wilson, a consultant microbiologist at University College London Hospital, told BBC Radio 5 Live sharing a keyboard could ...

Chinese build secret nuclear submarine base

Publisher — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:58:40 -0400

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.
Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.
Satellite image of the harbour: click to enlarge
In what will be a significant challenge to US Navy dominance and to countries ringing the South China Sea, one photograph shows China’s latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred miles from its neighbours.
Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern tip of Hainan island.
Of even greater concern to the Pentagon are massive tunnel entrances, estimated to be 60ft high, built into hillsides around the base. Sources fear they could lead to caverns capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites.
The US Department of Defence has estimated that China will have five 094 nuclear submarines operational by 2010 with each capable of carrying 12 JL-2 nuclear ...

Blood moon eclipses: 2nd Coming in 2015?

Publisher — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:44:28 -0400

Minister uses NASA forecasting to study signals of Jesus' return
By Joe Kovacs
Total lunar eclipses often make the moon appear red
Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015?
And can studying NASA's website provide evidence for such a scenario?
A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus.
"God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. "The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays."
In a video interview on the Prophecy in the News website, Biltz said he's been studying prophecies that focus on the sun and moon, even going back to the book of Genesis where it states the lights in the sky would be "be for signs, and for seasons."
"It means a signal, kind of like 'one if by ...

Bahrain to name Jewish envoy ?

Publisher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:42:50 -0400

JTA
Bahrain will name a Jewish ambassador to the United States, a report said.
Huda Azar Nunu, a Jewish woman who is a lawmaker in Bahrain’s upper house, will be named to the Washington position, according to a report this week in A Sharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily published in London.
"The sources denied that the appointment of Nunu as a woman and a Jew is a public relations campaign by Bahrain in the West, emphasizing that Huda Nunu has proven her qualifications, whether through her membership in the Consultative Council or through her work in human rights associations, of which she is an active participant in Bahrain," the newspaper said.
Bahrain, a Persian Gulf state sandwiched between Iran and Saudi Arabia, has a tiny Jewish population dating back to Talmudic times. Nunu is descended from Iraqi Jews who migrated to the port of Manama in the late 19th century. Jews in Bahrain have kept a low profile but generally have been treated well.
The nation is considered among the more progressive in the region, and was among the first to allow women to run for public office.
Original Source

Class for kids: How to be homosexual

Publisher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:14:59 -0400

'Social change' organization says 'masculinity' too narrowly defined
A state-funded organization in Maine touted as "a stellar program for social change" is advertising a seminar that essentially provides information to impressionable school-age boys on how to be homosexual, according to a pro-family organization opposing the plans.
The seminar, "Queer, Questioning, Quiet: Developing Gender Identity & Male Sexual Orientation," is promoted by the Boys to Men organization in Portland, Maine, during its coming 2008 conference. The session will feature a presentation by speakers from the homosexual Proud Rainbow Youth for Southern Maine, officials said.
"I think it's outrageous," Michael Heath, chief of the Christian Civic League of Maine, told WND. '"This is now starting to happen in public schools throughout our state. The public needs to wake up, become aware, and speak out against it."
The Boys to Men website advertisement about its conference says the outreach is "targeted primarily to middle and high school boys and their adult male mentors." The workshop on homosexuality, the website said, includes "speakers from the Maine SpeakOut Project and PRYSM (who) will discuss their own coming-out experiences and use these as a springboard for exploring LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) issues and resources ...

Madam Speaker? That's not in the Bible

Publisher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:01:41 -0400

Pete Chagnon
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has recently come under fire for quoting a fictional Bible passage.
According to a CNSNews.com article, in her Earth Day news release, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) attributed this quote to the Old Testament: "To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us." However, many biblical scholars cite a problem with that quotation: it doesn't exist in the Bible.
It was not the first time Pelosi has used this alleged biblical passage. The California Democrat has used it on several different occasions, and has even attributed the passage to the Old Testament Book of Isaiah.
Dr. Raymond Bohlin is president of Probe Ministries, a non-profit apologetics ministry. He offers his findings.
"You're just not going to find that kind of statement anywhere in Isaiah, let alone anywhere directly in scripture at all -- Old Testament or New Testament," says Bohlin. "So, you know, it's hard to know where something like that gets started. But it's unfortunate that she's referring to it as a scripture quotation because it's not."
Although Bohlin agrees that Christians need to be good stewards ...

Another Armageddon in the Gulf?

Publisher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:59:24 -0400

M. Abdul Hafiz
THERE are speculations galore that between now and June, before things slide into the thick of American election, Israel is likely to attack Iran, with the latter reacting with a quick ripostethus starting a mutually bruising war in the gulf. We couldn't care less if either Democrats or Republicans benefit from the possible catastrophe, but it does worry us in this region as to what might happen to Afghanistan and Pakistanboth Iran's neighbours but closely aligned to the United states. India, another US ally whom the US administration has been able to have on her side in its stand-off with Iran, will also matter in the ensuing conflict. How the next armageddon in a region close to ours will be eventually played out in the present milieu is of profound interests to observers. To make matters complex, a number of ethnic economic factors are also involved. Thus, the scenario appears alarmist and, hopefully, it is just that.
The June deadline for a possible Israeli assault on Iran has come from diplomats who watch the Middle East closely, some of them having been interacting with Israeli officials, others with Iran and its neighbours in the region. Their lunch ...

Iran Discusses 'Serious' Nuclear Proposals With Russia

Publisher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:34:33 -0400

Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili
Iran's top national security official held talks Monday with the acting secretary of Russia's National Security Council aimed to defuse international concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said his talks with Russia's Valentin Sobolev focused on what he called a package of "serious" Iranian proposals designed to minimize the nuclear threat around the world.
Jalili did not disclose details about the package.
He said Iran is ready for talks with world powers, but that such discussions must respect the Islamic Republic's growing role as a regional power.
Russia has has been a key ally with Iran in its nuclear standoff with the West.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's top investigator arrived in Tehran today for talks the IAEA says will focus on allegations Iran has researched how to make nuclear weapons.
Olli Heinonen is scheduled to begin three days of negotiations Monday. He held talks in Tehran last week as well.
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, insists that Heinonen's visits are part of Tehran's routine cooperation with the U.N. nuclear agency. Soltanieh heads the Iranian delegation in the talks.
Original Source

Barack Obama's Muslim Childhood

Publisher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:24:34 -0400

By Daniel Pipes
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As Barack Obama's candidacy comes under increasing scrutiny, his account of his religious upbringing deserves careful attention for what it tells us about the candidate's integrity.
Obama asserted in December, "I've always been a Christian," and he has adamantly denied ever having been a Muslim. "The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country [Kenya]. But I've never practiced Islam." In February, he claimed: "I have never been a Muslim. … other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for 4 years when I was a child [Indonesia, 1967-71] I have very little connection to the Islamic religion."
"Always" and "never" leave little room for equivocation. But many biographical facts, culled mainly from the American press, suggest that, when growing up, the Democratic candidate for president both saw himself and was seen as a Muslim.
Obama's Kenyan birth father: In Islam, religion passes from the father to the child. Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982) was a Muslim who named his boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Only Muslim children are named "Hussein".
Obama's Indonesian family: His stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, ...

Rice Rationing Spreads as Far as Israel

Publisher — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:40:18 -0400

By JOSH GERSTEIN
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Rationing of rice by retail stores has spread as far as Israel since The New York Sun reported on the phenomenon in Northern California last week.
The Blue Square and Supersol supermarket chains have begun limiting purchases of rice, Israeli newspapers said yesterday. Supersol is restricting each customer to "three bags per type of grain product," the Jerusalem Post reported.
Meanwhile, Asian grocery stores seem to be joining their larger wholesale-style competitors in curbing purchases. A supermarket chain which caters to Chinese Americans, 99 Ranch, is imposing two-bag-per-customer limits on most of its 20-pound and 50-pound sacks of rice, according to signs at its store in Cupertino, Calif. That store and others in the chain were selling rice without limitation a week ago.
Last week, Sam's Club announced it was limiting customers to four bags of imported Jasmine, Basmati, and long grain white rice. Costco had imposed such limits earlier, though they were not widely known until the Sun's report.
Trade associations for rice farmers and processors in America contend there is no shortage here, though prices for the grain have risen two to three times in recent months. However, there have been ...

Food crisis sparks role reversal in WTO

Publisher — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:35:56 -0400

The food crisis is bringing about a role reversal in the World Trade Organization: traditionally liberal major food exporters are now imposing restrictions on exports while protectionist states are pushing for liberalisation.
To deal with the recent hike in food prices, Argentina, Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all imposed limitations on the export of certain produce in order to ensure food security for their populations.
This is unusual for some of these countries. Argentina and Brazil, for instance, are part of the Cairns group, among the most aggressive proponents of liberalisation in the Doha round of trade liberalisation negotiations at the WTO.
The members of this group want the European Union and the United States to lower tariffs so they can export their food produce.
The direction taken by these developing nations is embarrassing their representatives in Geneva.
A Brazilian official told AFP that he "does not understand" his government's decision to announce Thursday a temporary stoppage of rice exports.
Brazil's government also said it was digging into its 1.6-million-ton reserve of rice to alleviate price pressure on the staple, which has become increasingly expensive worldwide as consumption grows in Asia, its main market.
"These measures concern stocks of ...

U.N. and World Bank say to tackle food crisis

Publisher — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:33:44 -0400

* U.N. to set up task force to handle crisis
* World Bank says export bans make matters worse
* India slaps export tax on basmati rice
* Thailand says to release stockpiled rice
* U.S. President Bush says deeply concerned (adds Ban Ki-moon speech in Geneva, new paragraphs 11-12)
By Laura MacInnis
BERNE, April 29 (Reuters) - U.N. agencies and the World Bank pledged on Tuesday to set up a task force to tackle an unprecedented rise in global food prices that is threatening to spread social unrest.
The international bodies called on countries not to restrict exports of food to secure supplies at home, warning that could make the problem worse.
"We consider that the dramatic escalation in food prices worldwide has evolved into an unprecedented challenge of global proportions," the United Nations said in a statement.
This had become a crisis for the world's most vulnerable people, including the urban poor, it said after a meeting of 27 international agency heads in the Swiss capital, Berne, to chart a solution to food price rises that have caused hunger, riots and hoarding in poor countries.
"Though we have seen wheat prices fall over the last few days, rice ...

Buffett says recession may be worse than feared

Publisher — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:18:22 -0400

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By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, the world's richest person, said on Monday the U.S. economy is in a recession that will be more severe than most people expect.
Buffett made his comments on CNBC television after his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (BRKb.N: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed to invest $6.5 billion in the takeover of chewing gum maker Wm Wrigley Jr Co (WWY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) by Mars Inc in a $23 billion transaction.
"This is not a field of specialty for me, but my general feeling is that the recession will be longer and deeper than most people think," Buffett said. "This will not be short and shallow.
"I think consumers are feeling gas and food prices," he added, "and not feeling they've got a lot of money for other things."He was not immediately available for further comment. Known for his frugality, the 77-year-old Buffett has lived in the same 10-room Omaha, Nebraska, house for a half-century, despite being worth an estimated $62 billion.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department is expected to say how fast the economy grew in the first quarter. Economists on average have ...

Last day to save Christian radio?

Publisher — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:13:26 -0400

FCC rule change seen as threat to licenses of religious stations
WASHINGTON – Today is the last day for public comments on a proposed Federal Communications Commission rule change some say would threaten the licenses of Christian radio stations from coast to coast.
At issue is a proposal that would require every radio station to take programming advice from community advisory boards representative of the area's population.
Advocates of Christian programming say that would require Christian broadcasters to seek advice from non-Christians and even those opposed to the Christian message. Some radio stations fear organized groups of atheists, for instance, could demand representation on the new FCC-mandated advisory boards that would factor into licensing decisions.
"While the FCC is considering these rule changes, at the moment nothing is 'set in stone' as they await public comment," explains the Christian Air 1 Radio Network. "If any of these changes were adopted, there would be significant impact on our ability to minister to you and your community. These rules would not only affect our stations but also thousands of stations around the country."
In addition to the requirement for advisory boards, the new regulations would also mandate radio stations produce every three ...