By ETGAR LEFKOVITS  
A delegation of Christian parliamentarians from around the world whose countries have formed pro-Israel parliamentary lobbies gathered Thursday on Capitol Hill in an effort to buttress support for the State of Israel across the globe.
"If you have legislators speaking up and getting engaged, then you have a profound impact on national politics," said US Rep Dave Weldon (R- Florida), co-chairman of the US Congressional Caucus.
Weldon said that the aim of the bipartisan American caucus, which was established last year in the wake of the powerful Knesset lobby, was to bring about grass-root support for Israel globally on a nation by nation level through dialogue and education.
The event, Israel at 60 and Looking Forward, comes at a time of burgeoning relations between Israel and the largely supportive evangelical Christian community around the world.
In all, the cross-party Israeli parliamentary caucus has formed - or is in the process of establishing - sister caucuses with 13 countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil, South Korea, The Philippines, Malawi, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa, England, Norway and, most recently, Germany.
"Christianity is rooted in Judaism and we cannot separate ourselves from our roots," said South ...   more »

Rebecca Anna Stoil and Gil Hoffman
Shas chairman Eli Yishai announced on Wednesday that he would keep his party in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition despite the revelation from the Prime Minister's Office that the government had been carrying out secret talks with Syria.
Olmert called Yishai moments before a message was sent to reporters to inform him about the talks. Yishai's associates said the news caught him by surprise and that he would have preferred not to hear such news at all.
"It is forbidden to negotiate with the axis of evil and certainly to abandon the Golan to the axis of evil," Yishai told reporters. "At the moment when we see that there is real danger of giving the Golan to the axis of evil, Shas, of course, won't be in the government. We are constantly evaluating whether we should remain in the government."
Within minutes of Olmert's announcement, opposition MKs sprang into action, trying to find a blocking action that would prevent negotiators from committing to any return of the Golan Heights. The Likud called upon Shas to leave the coalition immediately and bring down Olmert's government.
Likud faction Chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar warned that Olmert "doesn't ...   more »

JPost.com Staff ,65 percent of Israelis are against a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, even if this would bring true peace with Syria, a poll published by the Geo-Cartographic Institute revealed Thursday.
64% of respondents were also against partial withdrawal from the Heights and a similar percentage said it was inappropriate that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was holding negotiations with Syria at a time when his political future was uncertain.
Geo-Cartographic Institute president, professor Avi Dgani, told Army Radio on Thursday that "the people are with the Golan and not with Olmert. A big part of the public is against withdrawing from even a part of the Golan Heights." Dgani was paraphrasing a bumper sticker with the text "The people are with the Golan," distributed during Israeli-Syrian talks in the 1990s.
A telephone poll conducted by Channel 2 Wednesday evening showed similar results, with 70 percent against relinquishing the Golan Heights for peace with Syria, compared to 22% in favor of such a move.
Also according to the Channel 2 poll, 57% believe the timing of the newly-announced negotiations is linked to the corruption case against Olmert, compared to 22% who don't think there is any connection between the ...   more »

Visiting Lockheed Martin representative says Israel seeking to acquire F-35 jets, three Hercules planes; each stealth aircraft comes with roughly $80 million price tag. IDF expected to receive airplanes in four to six years
Hanan Greenberg
IDF shopping spree: Israel has submitted an official request to the United States government for the acquisition of F-35 stealth fighter aircraft, Lockheed Martin representative Bob Trice, who is currently visiting Israel, revealed Thursday.
Israel is reportedly seeking to purchase 35 planes at this time and another 15 in the future, in accordance with the Air Force's long term acquisitions plan. 
Trice said he expected the fighter jets will be supplied to Israel starting at the end of 2013 or early in 2014. Similarly to previous deals of this type, Israel is expected to integrate Israeli-made systems in the American planes after they arrive in Israel.  
Top priority
The new acquisition is also expected to include three Hercules aircraft, with he first one expected in Israel in 2013. Israel may purchase two more Hercules planes in the future.  
The Lockheed Martin representative refused to address the price tag of the aircraft, but according to estimates each stealth aircraft costs roughly $80 million, ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, increasingly desperate in the face of advanced criminal investigations against him, had his office drop a political bombshell on the country Wednesday by announcing that Israel and Syria are holding peace talks in Turkey.
This suspicion was the instinctive reaction of a great many Israeli parliamentarians, including members of Olmert's ruling coalition, following the surprise news that hit Israel's airwaves Wednesday morning.
"The publication of the negotiations has a clear purpose, aimed at covering up the prime minister's investigations," charged angry Labor Party MK Danny Yatom.
Yatom party colleague MK Shelly Yacimovich said the prime minister's "only aim" was to divert attention from "his cash envelopes" – envelopes containing money Olmert allegedly received from businessmen and placed in his own pocket.
The chairman of the Likud faction, MK Gideon Sa'ar, said the announcement demonstrated that "Olmert's calculated cynicism when gambling Israel's strategic assets for his own political survival knows no bounds…
"He has no mandate to make any concession in the Golan Heights," he declared.
Likud, National Union-National Religious Party and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party leaders all leveled criticism at the prime minister.
For his part, Syrian President Bashar el-Assad ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
The global effort to wrest the Jews' restored homeland from them lurched ahead Wednesday with the revelation that the Olmert government is - and has been for more than a year – preparing to negotiate an agreement with Damascus that is believed to involve Israel's surrender to Syria of the Golan Heights.
Indirect talks through Turkish intermediaries, Israelis suddenly learned, are slated to start two weeks from now according to an almost simultaneous announcement made by Israel and Syria Wednesday morning.
The Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem released a statement that read: "The two sides have begun indirect talks under Turkish auspices [and] have declared their intention to conduct the talks without prejudice and with openness... They have decided to conduct the dialogue in a serious and continuous manner with the aim of reaching a comprehensive peace."
Syria's foreign ministry said "Syria has started indirect peace talks with Israel under Turkish auspices. Both sides have expressed their desire to conduct the talks in good will and decided to continue dialogue with seriousness to achieve comprehensive peace."
But according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem added that in advance of the negotiations, Israel has ...   more »

By Yossi Melman,
The standard assumption is that a military attack by the United States or Israel to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons would be disastrous for the attackers, and would threaten the stability of the entire Middle East.
Various experts outline doomsday scenarios for such an occurrence, and warn especially of Iran's harsh reaction. Fearing the reaction of the ayatollahs has a paralyzing effect. Even before the first shot has been fired, Iran can credit itself with a success. It created an image of an omnipotent country that will not hesitate to use its power to respond and avenge a military operation against it. This is an impressive psychological achievement.
But a new paper, to be published this month in the U.S. by two well-known experts on the subject, sketches a different and more complex picture. The paper is "The Last Resort," written by Patrick Clawson and Michael Eisenstadt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The main point, notes Dr. Clawson in an interview with Haaretz, is that the success or failure of a military attack depends on many variables, and not just the degree of damage the attack would cause.
What are these variables?
The ...   more »

Yaakov Katz
Fearing that Damascus is acquiring advanced military platforms, Israel is closely following meetings being held in Moscow this week between a high-level Syrian military delegation and Russian Defense Ministry officials.
Senior government officials in Jerusalem said they have been aware for several days of the Syrians' upcoming visit to the Russian capital but that it was not yet clear which military platforms Damascus was requesting.
According to reports in the Russian media, the delegation, led by Syrian Air Force commander Gen. Akhmad al-Ratyb, will be in Moscow for five days and meet with Russian Defense Ministry and Air Force officials, as well as visit several military bases and units.
According to the reports, the talks will focus on arms sales - including submarines, anti-aircraft missiles, the latest model MiG fighter jets and advanced surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
Israel is particularly concerned with a Syrian request for long-range S-300 surface-to-air missiles that could threaten IAF jets flying on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
The S-300 is one of the best multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world and reportedly can track 100 targets simultaneously while engaging 12 at the same time. Syria recently received 36 Pantsir S1E air-defense systems ...   more »

Russian PM says Moscow, Tripoli have mutual interest in boosting civil, military cooperation.  
MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday promised Libya's leader Moamer Gathafi that Moscow would buttress economic and military ties with Tripoli, the government news service said.
Putin and Gathafi spoke on the telephone and agreed to continue "the useful confidential dialogue between the two countries and noted mutual interest in boosting cooperation in both civil and military spheres," a statement said.
Putin "stressed the need to realize the accords cinched during the recent Russo-Libyan summit and affirmed that as prime minister he intended to give it all due attention," it added.
Libya has had its debt to the Soviet Union waived in return for important contracts to Russian companies.
These include the Russian state railroad company's plans to construct a 600-kilometre (375-mile) rail link between the cities of Syrte and Benghazi, which is estimated to cost over two billion euros.
The two countries also signed four accords on economic and financial cooperation, exchange of confidential information and promotion and protection of investments.
Libya had been an important ally of the Soviet Union and a faithful client of Soviet arms. However, ties between the ...   more »

Robert Hirsch, an energy advisor, says CNBC morning show prediction was a citation of the 'Dean of Oil Analysts.'
 By Jeff Poor   It may be the mother of all doom and gloom gas price predictions: $12 for a gallon of gas is “inevitable.”
     Robert Hirsch, Management Information Services Senior Energy Advisor, gave a dire warning about the potential future of gas prices on CNBC’s May 20 “Squawk Box”. He told host Becky Quick there was no single thing that would solve the problem, due to the enormity of the problem.
     “[T]he prices that we’re paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be ‘the good old days,’ because others who watch this very closely forecast that we’re going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon,” Hirsch said. “And then, after that, when oil – world oil production goes into decline, we’re going to talk about rationing. In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, but in addition to that, we’re not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it.”
     Hirsch told the Business & Media Institute the $12-$15 a gallon ...   more »

This just seems ridiculous to me. How can Congress have the nerve to sue other countries for not doing what we should be doing ourselves. Providing oil for domestic use and export, from vast known reserves. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.
The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.
The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.
The lawmaker said Americans "are at the mercy" of OPEC for how much they pay for gasoline, which this week hit a record average of $3.79 a gallon.
Original Source
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When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.
Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.
He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.
"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.
"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.
The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.
But Yosuke apparently wasn't keen on opening up to police officials.
"I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me," Uemura said.
Original Source

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The five-year-old daughter of Grammy-winning Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.
The girl, Maria Sue, was hit in the driveway of the family's home Wednesday afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother, said Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
The brother, whose name and exact age weren't available, apparently did not see the girl, McPherson said. No charges are expected.
"It looks like a tragic accident," she said.
Several family members witnessed the accident, which happened in Williamson County just south of Nashville. The girl died later at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, hospital spokeswoman Laurie Holloway said.
In a statement, Velvet Kelm, a publicist for Chapman, said Maria was the Chapmans' youngest daughter.
Chapman, who is originally from Paducah, Ky., and his wife have promoted international adoption and have three daughters from China, including Maria. They also have three biological children.
The singer's Web site says the couple was persuaded by their oldest daughter to adopt a girl from China. The experience led the family to adopt two more children and create ...   more »

High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it.
T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits.
"This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth."
And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm.
"We've been using them quite a bit," he said.
Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future."
Original Source
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(TULSA, Okla.) May 19 - Tulsa's medical community is asking questions after some concerns a Green Country man may have died of mad cow disease, medically known as Variant CJD. 
FOX23 first told you last month that a man was admitted to Saint John Medical Center with a mysterious illness.  He died one week later. 
After the story first aired, the man’s son called FOX23.  It turns out his father was from Kellyville.  He says his dad did die of CJD, which is often referred to as the human form of mad cow disease.  And he may not be the only victim in that Creek County town. 
Even though Dwight Davidson and Randy King both grew up in Kellyville, they didn’t know each other until now.  They believe both their fathers contracted the same rare and devastating illness.
Both describe their fathers as tough guys and for them to get sick at all was unusual.   
But one day Randy noticed his dad, Donald King, was having trouble remembering things.  That's when Randy took his dad to Saint John Medical Center in Tulsa.  “They ran every test known to man, just kept coming back good.” 
The rapid deterioration of Donald’s ...   more »