Link to First Temple found [Excerpts]Archeologists overseeing contested Islamic infrastructure work on Jerusalem's Temple Mount have stumbled upon a sealed archeological level dating back to the First Temple period, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced.The find marks the first time that archeological remains dating back to the First Temple period have been found on the contested holy site, the state-run archeological body said.No archeological excavations have ever been carried out on the Temple Mount, which is Judaism's holiest and Islam's third-holiest site, due to opposition from religious leaders.The sealed archeological level, dated from the eighth to the sixth centuries BCE, was exposed at the end of August in the area close to the southeastern corner of the raised platform surrounding the Dome of the Rock, and includes fragments of ceramic tableware and animal bone."The layer is a closed, sealed archeological layer that has been untouched since as early as the eighth century BCE," said Yuval Baruch, the Jerusalem District archeologist for the Israel Antiquities
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By Anshel Pfeffer
An eight-centimeter-square piece of the 1087-year-old Aleppo Codex will be given to a representative of the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem on Thursday, following 18 years during which Israeli scholars tried to retrieve it from businessman Sam Sabbagh.
Sabbagh salvaged the fragment from a burning synagogue in Aleppo, Syria in 1947.
Inscribed on both sides, it is one of the lost fragments of the codex, a copy of the Bible written in 920 C.E. in Tiberias by the scribe Shlomo Ben Buya'a. The fragment Sabbagh had bears verses of Exodus chapter 8, including the words of Moses to Pharaoh: "Let my people go, that they may serve me..."
Sabbagh believed the small piece of parchment was his good luck charm for six decades. He was convinced that thanks to the parchment, which he kept with him always in a transparent plastic container, he had been saved from riots in his hometown of Aleppo during Israel's War of Independence, and he had managed to immigrate from Syria to the United States in 1968 and start a new life in Brooklyn and make a living. The charm was with him when he underwent complicated surgery.
Just two years ago, ...   more »

Some 3,000 of the 22,000 Sderot residents fled the beleaguered western Negev town in June, July and August, Yediot Aharonot reported on Tuesday.
The figure amounts to an unprecedented 1 in 7 people that escaped the incessant Kassam attacks over the summer when some 1,500 rockets were fired at the town.
Sderot officials assessed that the mass summer exodus was due to growing exhaustion of residents and the fact the many left so that their children could start the new school year elsewhere.
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal revealed that many of those who left were from a medium to high economic level. "They are the families that were the fuel, the power and the engine that were driving Sderot forward. These are the people who opened businesses, employed people and raised their living standards - most of them have now disappeared. It is a tremendous blow to the town, also because of the harm to the Interior Ministry budget."
Sderot Municipality workers said that from conversations with families that have left the town, it emerged that most had set up new homes in Ashkelon, Ashdod and Rishon Lezion - further away for the threat of Kassam attacks.
Streets lined with ...   more »

By Caroline B. Glick      
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | From October 26-30, a mob of Druse villagers in Peki'in in the Galilee launched what has all the markings of a pogrom against the four Jewish families in the village. They burned their cars and surrounded and torched their homes.
The police took a full day to come to the Jews' defense. And when they did, the Druse mob kidnapped a policewoman and only set her free in exchange for their cohorts who had been arrested. The police then set about evacuating the Jews from their encircled homes and did nothing to prevent their homes from being destroyed by the mob.
Now the Knesset's Interior Committee is demanding that a governmental commission of inquiry be set up to investigate what the Druse claim was police brutality in attempting to disperse the violent mob. For its part the Olmert government is distancing itself from Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter's decision to suffice with an internal police investigation of the policemen's behavior at the scene.
The question that arises is whether the leftist-dominated Knesset and the Olmert government act as they do out of fear or conviction. This question is given increased urgency as the ...   more »

President says current peace initiative enjoys US-support while Israel's concerns are addressed in full. Meanwhile Olmert is hoping a Syrian presence in Annapolis will lead to successful negotiations with Damascus
Roni Sofer
"Annapolis is a tremendous opportunity, it won't be an instantaneous solution to everything, but I have spoken to the Arab leaders and there is a spirit of trust and optimism there," said President Shimon Peres on Tuesday following a briefing with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.  
"Our starting point for the negotiations is far better than anything we could have expected," said Peres.
The president also noted the apparent cooperation between the triumvirate – Washington, Jerusalem and Ramallah.  
"This is different from Oslo, without the support of the Americans. Today no one is twisting Israel's arm, no one is writing off its yearning for peace," he said, noting that when the peace process began more than a decade ago, both sides were unable to trust each other.  
Ahead of his upcoming official visit to Ankara, Peres said that Turkey "could absolutely play a key role in the peace process." The president is scheduled to address the Turkish parliament, a diplomatic feat  
described as "historic" by ...   more »

sheera claire frenkel
"Israel is prepared to go very far at the Annapolis conference," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.
During the Middle East conference, Barak said, "Israel is going to seek important agreements that would require the Palestinians to implement the first stage of the road map."
"This includes dismantling all terrorist organizations," said the defense minister, adding that "the demand to dismantle terror camps extends to Gaza as well." Barak hinted that Fatah might need to go into the Strip to confront Hamas head on.
Regarding a possible large-scale IDF operation in Gaza, Barak said that although the time had not yet come for such a mission, "at some point sooner or later, we will have to engage in such an operation if Kassam rocket fire and weapons smuggling continue as they have of late."
Barak said Israel had the ability to enter Gaza and operate there using all military options, indicating that in a possible confrontation, the IDF would not hesitate to use the air force, ground forces and perhaps even the Israel Navy.
"Every day that passes," Barak added, "brings Israel closer to being forced to confront the ...   more »

Israel's major newspapers and television news outlets largely ignored a Sunday evening demonstration attended by thousands of Israelis expressing their opposition to the upcoming US-hosted Israeli-Palestinian "peace" summit scheduled to take place in Annapolis, Maryland later this month.
The protesters started at the residence of the US consul general in Jerusalem and marched several hundred yards to the nearby King David Hotel, where US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and international Middle East envoy Tony Blair were meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to hash out a joint statement Olmert is expected to present with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the conclusion of the Annapolis gathering.
The crowd was addressed by leading rabbis and lawmakers, who warned the people that their leaders were, under pressure from the international community, leading Israel down a path of destruction.
"Ehud [Olmert], [Defense Minsiter] Ehud [Barak], and [Foreign Minister] Tzipi [Livni] are deceiving an entire people and leading all of us to the Annapolis trap while ignoring the facts on the ground," Israel National News quoted Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz of the opposition Likud party as saying.
Israel is expected to find itself isolated at Annapolis, where a Bush Administration determined to oversee ...   more »

It can run for hours at 20 metres per minute without getting tired. It lives longer, has more sex, and eats more without gaining weight. Could the science that created this supermouse be applied to humans?
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Scientists have been astounded by the creation of a genetically modified "supermouse" with extraordinary physical abilities – comparable to the performance of the very best athletes – raising the prospect that the discovery may one day be used to transform people's capacities.
The mouse can run up to six kilometres (3.7 miles) at a speed of 20 metres per minute for five hours or more without stopping. Scientists said that this was equivalent of a man cycling at speed up an Alpine mountain without a break. Although it eats up to 60 per cent more food than an ordinary mouse, the modified mouse does not put on weight. It also lives longer and enjoys an active sex life well into old age – being capable of breeding at three times the normal maximum age.
American scientists who created the mice – they now have a breeding colony of 500 – said that they were stunned by their abilities, especially ...   more »

Extremists are grooming children and teenagers to plot terrorist attacks against Britain, the director of the domestic spy agency said Monday.
But Jonathan Evans, making his first public speech since becoming director-general of Britain's MI5 agency in April, said vital resources needed to tackle terrorism are being diverted to counter the espionage threat from Russia and China.
"Terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country," Evans said, according to a text of his speech in Manchester, England. "They are radicalizing, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism."
Testimony from a U.S. terrorist-turned-witness in British court cases has revealed how young Britons are trained for attacks at terrorist camps in tribal areas of Pakistan.
Evans said though Pakistan remains a key training ground for Britons, similar centers are emerging elsewhere. Al Qaeda in Iraq is attempting to stage attacks outside Iraq and parts of East Africa, particularly Somalia, have become a key area for training and planning of attacks on Britain, he said.
Evans said thwarting plots alone is not enough to stop the threat of extremist terrorism, and urged the government and society to counter the message of radical preachers....   more »

'Satan's' appearance prompts man to drop drug habit
The anniversary reception photo capture on a screenshot from Fox News seems unremarkable, but got the attention of Joe and Patty Martinez
A Colorado man reports he was able to kick his drug habit after a photograph of him at a relative's anniversary celebration showed – literally – a demon on his shoulder.
Joe Martinez told Fox 31 News in Denver that drugs were killing his soul.
But he's now on the road to recovery because of the photograph.
"I look at it and I carry it wherever I go," he told the television station.
The photo showed a typically smiling couple at a anniversary reception. What it also shows is what Martinez's wife, Patty, describes as "Satan."
"Right away I really thought, I said, 'You're really walking with Satan'," she said.
The photo was taken at a family anniversary celebration several years ago. It was in an album until just months ago, but Martinez says he won't be without it now because of the reminder it provides.
What appears to be a dog is looking over Joe's shoulder, in a closer view of the anniversary reception photo
"There's good and evil ...   more »

By Alexandra Marks 
New York
The federal government's efforts to create a standardized, secure driver's license that would also serve as a national ID card have hit some significant stumbling blocks.
Chief among them: Eight states have voted in the past year not to participate in the program. Nine others are on the record opposing the proposal. In total, legislation opposing the plan has been introduced in 38 states.
Behind much of the state legislative opposition to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan is Missouri state Rep. Jim Guest, a conservative Republican. His primary concern: REAL ID, as DHS has dubbed the initiative, would not deter terrorists. Instead, he believes, it would be an unprecedented invasion of individual privacy, creating a databank of personal information to which officials on the local, state, and federal levels would have access.
"I love my freedom, I love my country, and we're heading down a road here that would take away many of the things we take for granted," says Representative Guest. "If we had to start carrying a card around – if we lost our freedom not to – I don't think we could ever get that back."
Passed by Congress in ...   more »

By Peter Cohan
Bloomberg News reports that Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen refuses to be paid in dollars. In addition to landing undefeated (9-0) New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady -- although that relationship could be on the rocks -- she is one savvy currency trader.
Gisele Bundchen is proving to be a shrewd analyst of the U.S. dollar's weakness. When Bundchen signed a contract in August to represent Pantene hair products for Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), she demanded payment in euros. She'll also get euros for the deal she reached last October with Dolce & Gabbana SpA in Milan to promote the Italian designer's new fragrance.
"Contracts starting now are more attractive in euros because we don't know what will happen to the dollar," Patricia Bundchen, the model's twin sister and manager in Brazil, said in a telephone interview in September from Sao Paulo.
Those Bundchens are smart cookies! Too bad I can't say the same for Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and his strong dollar policy.
On an mildly related note -- Boston is clearly the hub of the sports universe. With the Red Sox having won the World Series in 2004 and 2007 and the New England ...   more »

Paul Tibbets stands in front of the Enola Gay
We hardly make them like him anymore, and now he's gone.
Paul Tibbets died last week at his Columbus, Ohio home. He was 92.
There are people who are glad he's gone because they don't like what he did in 1945. They're idealistic fools. They're alive and free today because of Tibbets' skill and courage.
I've no hesitation in saying we need more like him, with his attitude about doing what needs to be done in time of war when so much is at stake.
In a 1975 interview he said, "You've got to take stock and assess the situation. … We were at war. … You use anything at your disposal."
That's the attitude – realistically facing the need to defeat the enemy!
His full name: Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.
Shame on you if you don't know who he is, because Paul Tibbets changed history in 1945. He piloted the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb in war.
In fact, he planned the missions, leading the first of two that definitively ended the bloody and costly war against Japan.
The Japanese surrender came after a second mission, three days ...   more »

It can certainly understand why neo-pagans like Al Gore believe, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, man-made, catastrophic global warming is the gravest threat to the planet.
What I can't understand is why people who claim to believe in the Bible as the inerrant, inspired Word of God do so.
Even more difficult to comprehend is why some evangelical Christians are caught up in the notion that government and international action are the proper methods to fight this phantom threat.
First of all, in Genesis 8:22, we're told of a promise by God never to use global floodwaters again as a means of destroying life on Earth. In that promise, the Bible explicitly states: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
In other words, no more cataclysmic floods – the result Al Gore promises in the near future as a consequence of global warming. Just as importantly, there is another promise there that cold and heat shall not cease.
What does that mean?
It means God controls the world's temperature, not man. God controls the climate, not man. God controls the earth's "eco-system," not ...   more »