City residents hold variety of views on holiest day in Jewish calendar
Yaakov Lappin
Tel Aviv's bustling Dizengoff shopping center showed little signs of the impending arrival of Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day.  Come Saturday, however, this sprawling complex of shops and cafes in the heart of the city will come to a silent standstill, along with the rest of the country. Roads will be empty of cars, crowded streets will resemble a ghost town, and even the " non-stop city " will bow its head to Yom Kippur.  
Holiday Ritual  Animal rights activists slam traditional practice of kaparot  / Neta Sela  
Animal rights group calls on Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to annul ritual killing of chickens as part of kaparot ceremony. 'Why should chickens pay for people's sins?' they ask     
So how do Tel Aviv's diverse residents feel about the day? Sophie Levi, an animal rights volunteer, says she has fasted on Yom Kippur every year. "It's a tradition that goes back to my family - we came from Bulgaria," she said. "My grandfather would place his hand on my head and bless me, wishing me many years of life," she added.  
Levi said that ironically, ...   more »

For more than 50 years, a letter containing astonishing information lay in the basement of the Russian communist party. The anti-Semitic tyrant who planned mass purges against the Jews had an affair with a Jewish woman, and also cared for her daughter until she died
Dmitri Prokofiev
The communist tyrant Joseph Stalin was known to be an anti-Semite who planned wide-scale purges against the Jews in his latter days. Yet the fact that the Soviet ruler planned to annihilate the Jews did not prevent him from having an affair with a Jewish woman, and to take care of her daughter until her mother passed away. According to some evidence, Stalin may have even married the woman.  
The affair was disclosed recently thanks to a letter discovered by an historian named Nicolai Nada. The letter, which was placed on the desk of the general secretary of the communist party Georgi Malenkov in 1953, the day Stalin suffered a stroke, was kept in a classified party file for years.  
Just a few months ago those in charge of the file were persuaded to reveal the letter, and this is what it contained:  
Dear Comrade Malenkov!  
I am the ...   more »

US secretary of state meets Palestinian president in attempt to bridge difference with Israel ahead of Mideast peace conference, says meeting will lay 'foundations for serious negotiations'
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday an upcoming US-sponsored Middle East conference must be "substantive," and that the two sides must draft a document before the meeting that lays "foundations for serious negotiations."  
Ahead of Conference  
Time to advance peace process, says Rice / Ronny Sofer  
In meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, US secretary of state says there are many obstacles to overcome before November conference, but that she felt an atmosphere of peace and sincere will to reach agremeent    
The conference "has to be substantive and advance the cause of a Palestinian state," Rice told a joint news conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Participants must not "simply meet for the sake of meeting," she said.  
Rice met Abbas in Ramallah to try to bridge his differences with Israel over what a US-led Middle East peace conference might achieve.  
Rice has found growing interest in “intensifying the dialogue”, a senior aide said, after her talks on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud ...   more »

Syria said Wednesday that Israel's alleged air sortie over the country earlier this month showed that it was not interested in peace.
The state-run daily Tishrin, which reflects the government's thinking, urged Israeli officials to demonstrate their sincerity about peacemaking by agreeing to resume negotiations from the point they last reached in 2000 before talks broke down.
"Had Israel been interested in peacemaking, it would not have violated Syrian airspace. Israel refuses to talk about the piracy its military jets carried out by violating Syrian airspace, but now its prime minister is talking about peace with Syria without preconditions," the paper said.
"In this way, [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert puts on the clothes of a peace dove, but he has forgotten to take out the claws and fangs of the war wolf," the paper added.
On Tuesday, Tishrin criticized Washington for failing to condemn the alleged September 6 Israeli incursion, which it called a violation of international law.
Details of the so-called incursion remain unclear. US officials have reportedly said IAF warplanes struck a target.
A senior US non-proliferation official said last week that North Korean personnel were in Syria helping its nuclear program, raising speculation that the Israelis were ...   more »

One often hears that government schools in totalitarian nations brainwash their children to love the government. People in free nations decry that as oppressing the free will of innocent children, and rightly so. In American schools, however, just the opposite is true as with the case of an anti-American teacher in a public school in Chico, California who hates this country so much that he sent a letter home to his student's parents urging them to renounce their citizenship in the U.S. as he announced he was so doing.
Since the troubling work of the so-called progressives led by John Dewey that has resulted in the near destruction of our institutes of higher learning, American schools have been steadily undermining this country. For a long time, at least, it was isolated mostly in the Universities safely removed from our youngest and most vulnerable students. Now, this pernicious and self-loathing force is commonly seen in even our elementary and high schools all too often. Supposed "teachers" who so hate the United States, its culture, history and ideals that they are willing to cast aside any pretense of teaching and are going straight for political indoctrination of their own hate filled ideology ...   more »

Ed Thomas 
A federal court has ruled in favor of a government courthouse display in Rowan County, Kentucky, that showcases historical documents -- including the Ten Commandments.
The ACLU had claimed that the Ten Commandments inclusion violated the Establishment Clause, even though it was side-by-side with the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta and other historical documents. Attorney Mat Staver, of Liberty Counsel, says the judge's decision countered the ACLU's claim that the "Foundations of American Law and Government" display was unconstitutional, but the ruling was consistent with previous federal court rulings concerning other Kentucky Courthouse displays.
"The good news is the federal court has now come down and upheld the display and rejected the ACLU's position," says Staver. "And it's the exact same display that Liberty Counsel defended in 2005, which I argued at the United States Supreme Court out of McCreary County and Pulaski Counties, Kentucky."
Those cases also pitted the state's ACLU against Liberty Counsel. Staver feels favor for the Ten Commandments in the federal courts is gaining ground, and points out that since 2005, there have been three separate federal courts of appeal ruling in favor of similar displays. The ACLU has not ...   more »

Jim Brown 
A Christian journalist says Christianity Today magazine is ignoring both history and Bible prophecy regarding the nation of Israel.
A Christianity Today editorial titled "What It Means to Love Israel" praises evangelicals who favor the creation of a so-called "Palestinian state" and accuses dispensationalist Christians of supporting what it calls the Israeli "occupation" of millions of Palestinians. The article also warns evangelicals to "beware of attributing too much theological meaning to the state of Israel and not enough to the Jewish people."
Joseph Farah, the editor of WorldNetDaily, says the movement for Palestinian statehood and "self-determination" that Christianity Today is embracing is "a front for the agenda of eradicating Israel."
"What they are really accusing some evangelicals of doing, I guess, is taking their Bible too literally, taking it too seriously," he says, adding sarcastically, "You know, when it says that God has an eternal covenant with the Jewish people, oh you know, he really doesn't mean eternal or covenant."
Farah says the establishment of a Palestinian state would mark the first time in the history of mankind in which a state is created by international mandate where no such state or peoples ever existed. And the "two-state ...   more »

The US dollar hit a new record low against the euro as investors sold the currency after the Federal Reserve's hefty interest rate cut.
The greenback dropped below the psychologically-key $1.40 level against the euro, deepening recent losses.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar reached one-to-one parity with the US currency for the first time in 31 years.
A strong domestic economy and concerns about a US economic slowdown have led to the rally on Canada's Loonie.
Dampen costs
The euro jumped to $1.4064 in Thursday trading, its highest level since the single European currency was launched.
Hints of rate rises from the European Central Bank and stronger European growth have also boosted the euro's value.
Analysts have said that the impact of the plunging dollar on European consumer and businesses may be mixed.
Eurozone consumers may benefit from cheaper prices for some imported goods, while input costs for eurozone firms may fall as oil, metals and many raw material prices are quoted in dollars.
However, while the strong euro may cut some import costs, it could also have a negative effect on exports as European-made goods become more expensive.
The US is Europe's largest trading partner.
It could also hurt growth ...   more »

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked permission to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site when he comes to New York City next week, but the request was denied, a police official said.
The Iranian president, who is arriving Sunday to address the United Nations' General Assembly, had asked the police department, the US Secret Service and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey earlier this month for permission to visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, police spokesman Paul Browne said Wednesday.
The police and Secret Service provide security to visiting heads of state.
The request to enter the fenced-in site was rejected because of ongoing construction there, Browne said. "Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be opposed by the NYPD on security grounds," Browne said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said earlier Wednesday that the city was considering Ahmadinejad's request, but Browne said about two hours later that Kelly had misspoke.
Kelly's comments prompted outcry from politicians and families of Sept. 11 victims.
The Port Authority, which owns the trade center site and is the only agency that could grant permission to go inside, said it attended ...   more »

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday it had "scared its enemies" by test flying two new generation, domestically-produced jet fighter planes and had shown its battle readiness, the latest riposte to speculation about a war over Tehran's nuclear plans.
French officials, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, have spurred talk about a possible war by saying the failure of diplomacy to resolve Iran's dispute with the West over its atomic programme could result in conflict.
The United States, which has been leading efforts to isolate Iran because it believes Tehran is trying to build atomic bombs, has said it wants diplomacy to end the standoff but has refused to rule out military options if that route fails. Tehran says its nuclear plans are geared to energy production.
Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told state TV that experts in the ministry and air force had jointly carried out research, design and production of the Saegheh warplane.
"Two Saegheh jets were tested successfully by air force pilots ... The test scared Iran's enemies," Najjar told state television, adding that the two jets would officially join the country's fleet of warplanes on Saturday.
Armed forces chief Ataollah Salehi also said of the test flights: ...   more »

Iran-US-Spokesman
Supporters of the Zionist regime will receive their response during the world Qods Day's rallies, government spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Elham, said Wednesday.
The spokesman made the remarks during his weekly press conference while commenting on the current visit to the occupied Palestine of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Qods Day is held each year on the last Friday of Muslims fasting month of Ramadan after it was nominated by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, as a day to voice the protest of the Islamic Ummah against the Zionists.
The day falls on October 12 this year.
"The US loses all opportunities to cooperate with regional and other world states by trying to support a regime (the Zionist regime) which is now at its weakest political and social position," Elham said.
He warned that Washington's insistence on its wrong policies and arrogant approaches would have no result "but further political disgrace" for itself.
Referring to the approaching World Qods Day, the spokesman stressed, "Supporters of the Zionist regime will definitely receive the final response for their support on that day."
Origianl Source
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