dan izenberg,
The National Fraud Agency is demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert undergo another, urgent round of questioning in the next 48 hours regarding suspicions that he illegally accepted large sums of cash from New York Jewish businessman Morris Talansky, Channel 2 reported on Friday.
According to the report, investigators fear that once Olmert and his attorneys receive a transcript of Talansky's early testimony, the content of that transcript would somehow influence what the premier would later say during questioning. Therefore, the police want Olmert questioned before Talansky takes the stand. Talansky is due to testify in court on Sunday, May 25.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hold a hearing Monday on appeals filed Thursday by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his close aide, Shula Zaken, asking the court to reject a lower court decision that ordered New York Jewish businessman Morris Talansky to testify in court even though the state has not yet decided whether to put the two on trial.
Justice Salim Joubran, who scheduled Monday's hearing, also rejected the request of Olmert's lawyers to immediately freeze the lower court's decision to hear Talansky's early testimony.
Olmert is suspected of illegally accepting large sums of cash from ...   more »

Quest for Palestinian state just another step toward global Islamic empire | Ryan Jones
The world has bought the Arab narrative of an established Palestinian nationAssertions that Zionist Jews invaded a previously sovereign Arab entity known as “Palestine” and dispossessed local Arabs who had for centuries been known nationally as “Palestinians” are easily debunked by anyone who examines the facts. Nevertheless, the Arabs have had tremendous success over the years in drumming up international support for the return of “Palestine” to the “Palestinians.”
That campaign suffered what should have been a debilitating blow when a top leader of the Islamic terror group Hamas, which rejects any Jewish right to the Land, effectively admitted that the idea of a historical “Palestinian” nation is mere fantasy, a propaganda tool in the hands of those opposed to Israel’s rebirth.
While that admission would seem to invalidate nationalist Arab claims to the lands west of the Jordan River, Western peace brokers and many Israelis still argue that Israel cannot indefinitely rule over a large and hostile Arab population, and that the creation of yet another Arab state is the most viable solution to the problem.
Original Source
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JPost.com Staff
In the event of war, the home front will be hit by "thousands" of rockets, outgoing Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Elazar Shkedy told Israel Radio on Saturday.
Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria have all amassed large stockpiles of rockets since the Second Lebanon War, and using them against Israeli population centers would be a cornerstone of their strategy in a future conflict, Shkedy said.
During the month-long war in the summer of 2006, Hizbullah attempted more than once to send bomb-laden unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into Israel, but they were intercepted by the air force every time, he added.
While the air force has improved its ability to intercept UAVs, the threat of Hizbullah launching more still exited, Shkedy said.
Regarding Gaza, Shkedy said that the IAF had greatly improved its accuracy and that for every 24 terrorists killed, one civilian died, a vast improvement over a ratio of 1:1 four years ago.
The improvement was due both to improved accuracy and to tighter intelligence cooperation with ground forces, he said.
Shkedy declined to say whether he recommended tougher measures to curb rocket fire from Gaza.
Original Source
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Our leaders busy coming up with excuses for avoiding tougher military moves
Alex Fishman
In the Second Lebanon War, the Israeli government forgot to declare war. In the war of attrition vis-à-vis Gaza, the government has already forgotten how to fight.
It forgot that it has one supreme mission: Defending Israeli residents rather than trying to placate the Americans, Egyptians, and Europeans. Our political and military leadership invented a convenient excuse for not doing too much and called it “a window of opportunity.” The period between Passover and Bush’s visit, they said, is a very bad time for military moves that may ruin the celebration. That’s nonsense. The truth is they fear yet another military failure, lack of consensus, and commissions of inquiries. They recognize the need but easily give in to excuses. They’re watching their behinds.  
So last night, tomorrow morning, or maybe in two days they will do something in order to placate public opinion. They will explain to us that it cannot go on, and that we won’t remain silent, that we’re on a collision course, that we’re reaching the moment of decision, and all the other clichés. Yet in a few days they will find ...   more »

Federal judge finds fault with planners seeking to zone out house of worship
A federal court has taken the unusual step of criticizing San Diego for its "outright hostility" toward a Rancho Bernardo church and its failure to consider "relevant federal law."
The dispute arose when Grace Church of North County approached officials with a plan to lease space in the same complex where a pair of religious institutions earlier operated.
It was too much for city officials. First, the Rancho Bernardo community planning board tried to deny Grace Church a 10-year permit for the property. A San Diego city officer, however, approved a 7-year permit, compelling the board to appeal.
Though community planners knew Grace Church needed 10 years to complete a long-term relocation plan, they whittled the permit down to five years, and made it non-renewable.
"These things have a tendency to become quasi-permanent," warned a former planning board chair, "that's why we're kind of opposed."
City officials and neighboring businessmen argued that a church would "change the complexion" of the area, that it would "send the wrong message to the business community" and that potential building occupants may not want "to be next to a church."
The ...   more »

Foundation: 'Just trying to be honest brokers of information. You make your own judgment'
If you're in your front yard, working in the flower bed or chatting with a neighbor, they'll pass by silently to attach one of the bags they're carrying to your frontdoor knob and leave without speaking or engaging you in debate.
Their mission? To place a copy of the Quran in every home in the United States.
"We're just trying to be honest brokers of information," Wajahat Sayeed, founder and director of Book of Signs, which is also known as the Al-Furqaan Foundation, told the Chicago Tribune. "You make your own judgment."
Al-Furqaan is distributing its 378-page paperback English translation of Islam's holy book using teams of paid walkers who descend on neighborhoods, going door-to-door, much like other deliverers of newpapers and advertisements. They don't hand them directly to residents but, instead, leave them at the front door – but never on the ground. That would be disrespectful.
The translation's forward asks readers to treat the book with respect. Those objecting to the free copy of the Quran are requested to call the foundation phone number to have it retrieved or to make a donation to ...   more »

By JONATHAN DIMBLEBY -
As ex-President Putin settles in to his new role as Prime Minister, he has every reason to congratulate himself.
After all, he has not only written the script for his constitutional coup d'etat, but staged the play and given himself the starring role as well.
Of course, he has given a walk-on role to Dmitry Medvedev, his personally anointed successor.
The Russian bear: Despite a new President, Vladimir Putin remains in overall control
But the transfer of power from Putin to his Little Sir Echo, Medvedev, and the show of military strength with those soldiers and clapped-out missiles in Red Square on Victory Day which followed it last week, made it clear who is really in charge.
No decision of any significance for the Russian people or the rest of us will be made in the foreseeable future without the say - so of Medvedev's unsmiling master.
Just before he stood down as President, Putin declared: "I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning til night, and I have given all I could to this work. I am happy with the results."
As he surveys the nation today he reminds me of ...   more »

Was told being 'born again' has 'no place' in Army life
By Bob Unruh
An investigation is being sought by a Christian church organization in the United States after the U.S. Army deliberately shut down a service one of its sponsored chaplains was running for U.S. military service personnel at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in Iraq.
The complaint by Associated Gospel Churches, a fellowship of Independent Fundamental Christian churches, has been forwarded to the Army by U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., seeking an Army Inspector General investigation.
Rev. G. William Baugham, the chairman of the AGC's commission on chaplains, told WND that the circumstances are particularly egregious since it appears it was a representative from another Christian denomination that closed down the service that had been operated at FOB Loyalty by Chaplain Stuart Kazarovich, who has been endorsed by the AGC.
The services held by Kazarovich were shut down for five weeks, from July 8-Aug. 12, 2007, the organization's report on the situation confirmed.
"Because this information is now in the public domain, the AGC acknowledges that the Fundamental Baptist service led by Chaplain Stuart Kazarovich, an AGC endorsed chaplain, appears to have been suppressed because it was offensive to ...   more »

By Reuters   
U.S. President George W. Bush, visiting the Saudi capital on Friday, hoped to formalize new agreements that would give the relationship between the two countries a boost.
Among them was an agreement for the U.S. to assist the kingdom in developing civilian nuclear power. Another agreement involves U.S. promises to help protect any Saudi nuclear infrastructure with training, the exchange of experts and other support services as needed. Hadley said it would not involve U.S. troops.
But the rising price of oil commanded attention.
Saudi Arabia's leaders made clear they see no reason to increase oil production until customers demand it, apparently rebuffing Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.
It was Bush's second personal appeal this year to King Abdullah, head of the monarchy that rules this desert kingdom that is a longtime prime U.S. ally and home to the world's largest oil reserves. But Saudi officials stuck to their position that they will only pump more oil into the system when asked to by buyers, something they say is not happening now, the president's national security adviser told reporters.
"Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able ...   more »

By Donald Hank 
Conservatives know that Sen. Barack Obama has recently introduced the Global Poverty Act, which some commentators have said would bankrupt America by giving an additional 0.7 percent of GDP to Third World governments.
That may well be true.
But as in the War on Poverty, we are not debating with people who have any grasp of numbers or even reality. We are dealing with the left, whose goal is to suppress debate over wealth distribution, suggesting that anyone who opposes it is a Nazi.
So forget about whether the bill will break our bank and lead Americans into poverty. They aren't listening. Neither are many "conservatives," many of whose pastors have told them that government-enforced socialist wealth sharing (without calling it that) is Christian.
So it is futile to debate from the standpoint of harming the taxpayer. Neither the far left nor the "Christian" right will hear you.
Instead, the debate over this bill must include a component that was lacking in the debate over the War on Poverty, namely, to address the consequences to the recipients themselves.
Now, in retrospect we know that welfare destroyed our inner cities, particularly black society, in many ways, chief of ...   more »

The world has endured an almost mind-numbing series of shocks in recent weeks, from the unprecedented swarm of tornadoes across the American Midwest to the death and destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis as it tore a path through Myanmar, better known as Burma.
There were 368 documented tornadoes in the U.S. in January and February of this year, shattering the previous record of 243 over that two-month period, set in 1999. February's total of 232 tornadoes also shattered previous records.
Cyclone Nargis ripped Burma apart, killing at least 128,000, according to Red Cross estimates, and creating some 2.5 million refugees.
Al Gore was quick to blame global warming. In an interview on NPR to plug his appropriately named book on global warming, "Assault on Reason," he told host Terry Gross: "And as we're talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated. . … And last year a catastrophic storm last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we're seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted ...   more »

Astronomers Baffled by Bizarre Star
Will Dunham,
(May 16) - Astronomers are baffled after finding an exotic type of star called a pulsar apparently locked in an elongated orbit around a star much like the sun -- an arrangement defying what had been known about such objects.An artist's graphical representation obtained from NASA depicts a pulsar, center, surrounded by whirling beams of light and radio waves. Astronomers are puzzled by the discovery of a pulsar with an unusual orbit never before seen.The rapidly spinning pulsar -- an extraordinarily dense object created when a massive star exploded as a supernova -- is called J1903+0327 and is located about 21,000 light years from Earth, the astronomers saidA light year is about 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in a year."The big question is -- how in the heck did this thing form, because it doesn't follow our standard models of how these things form," astronomer Scott Ransom of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, said in a telephone interview on Thursday.This object is known as a millisecond pulsar because of its speedy whirl -- it spins on its axis 465 times per second.
"The reason why we're so excited ...   more »