by Ezra HaLevi
(IsraelNN.com) On Wednesday, the last day of the Sukkot festival, a 34-person delegation from West Papua presented a large amount of gold to be used in the building of the Holy Temple.
The delegation from West Papua presents the gold for the Holy Temple to Rabbi Yehuda Glick, director of the Temple Institute.
The delegation, including representatives of the nation’s government, explained that they study the Bible regularly and recently came upon a verse in Zecharia (6:16) reading “And the distant ones will come and build the Temple of G-d.” They discussed the passage among themselves and decided that their faith obligates them to fulfill the verse.
West Papua, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, is rich in gold mines, so the delegation thought it natural to donate gold for the Holy Temple. The Holy Temple will be built in the place where the First and Second Temples once stood – on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
The group heard of the Temple Institute in Israel, which deals with advancing the building of the Temple, and on Hoshana Raba - the 7th day of Sukkot - the delegation arrived at the Institute's headquarters in Jerusalem’s Old City and presented ...   more »

The lid of secrecy covering the Sept. 6 Israeli air strike into Syria remains tight but one new theory emerging amid the speculation is that the Israeli conducted an electronic warfare exercise in preparation for future strikes or an attack on Iran.
Authoritative reports from the Middle East stated that the Israel operation included extensive electronic warfare jamming by aircraft. The Israeli were testing the capabilities of Russian-made air defenses, including both radar and missiles located near Damascus and south of Homs near the Lebanese northern border.
The raid was unprecedented in the blanket of jamming and electronic disruption that it caused over wide areas of Syria enroute to the target point, a base near the Euphrates River.
The jamming also affected parts of Lebanon and Israel but Syria was able to get a small amount of sensor information from one of its electronic eavesdropping stations and spot the Israeli infiltration.
The raid was part of a U.S. “masint” operation according to this theory, referring to the military practice known as measurement and signature intelligence that is designed to learn the chrematistics and capabilities of all weapons in a region that emanate electronic signals. The masint signatures are needed for ...   more »

Gil Hoffman
National Union-National Religious Party chairman Benny Elon proved that peace plans were not limited to the Left on Sunday when he presented his solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - a plan dubbed the "Israeli initiative."
At a press conference at Tel Aviv's Beit Sokolow, Elon repeatedly referred to peace and spoke about the need to help the Palestinian people. Elon launched a million-dollar advertising campaign to promote his plan on some 400 billboards and in the Hebrew and English press, as well as through a Web site in Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian, French, Spanish and German.
The 16-page plan will be distributed to thousands of decision-makers in Israel, the US, Europe and Arab countries. The money for the campaign was raised from Israeli and American Jewish donors.
Elon said he had decided a different approach was needed to solve the Middle East conflict, one not based on Israeli territorial compromises. He purposely released the plan, which he had been working on for months, ahead of the upcoming summit between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
"The political discourse in Israel consists of old-fashioned concepts and mistakes," Elon said. "The assumptions are that in order ...   more »

Caroline Glick
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is moving boldly down the rabbit hole. Next week, Rice is due back in the Middle East for meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah. The purpose of her upcoming visit, like her previous ones, will be to pressure the Olmert government and the Fatah terror organization to reach "substantive agreements" that she'll be able to present to the world at her peace summit in Maryland next month.
It is far from clear what American interests Rice is advancing with her unswerving effort to reach a peace accord between Israel and Fatah. Indeed, Rice's efforts are detrimental to US interests in the region.
On Tuesday, 77 senators signed a letter to Rice regarding her plans for the summit. Among other things, the senators called on the Arab states, which Rice hopes will participate, to "recognize Israel's right to exist and not use such recognition as a bargaining chip for future Israeli concessions."
The senators' warning was well placed. Far from cooperating with the US, the Arab world is undercutting its policies. Not only are the Arabs - including Egypt and Jordan - distancing themselves from Israel; in a direct slap at the US, the ...   more »

Devastating Earthquake May Threaten Middle East's Near Future, Geologist Predicts
Science Daily — The best seismologists in the world don’t know when the next big earthquake will hit. But a Tel Aviv University geologist suggests that earthquake patterns recorded in historical documents of Middle Eastern countries indicate that the region’s next significant quake is long overdue.
Damage in Jerusalem's Old City following a July 11, 1927, earthquake. One of the first earthquakes on the Dead Sea Fault to be recorded by modern seismographic techniques, it reached 6.2 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was in the northern part of the Dead Sea. (Credit: American Colony Hotel, American Colony Collection) A major quake of magnitude seven on the Richter scale in the politically-fragile region of the Middle East could have dire consequences for precious holy sites and even world peace, says Tel Aviv University geologist Dr. Shmulik Marco. In light of this imminent danger, Marco, from the school’s Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, has taken an historical approach to earthquake forecasting by using ancient records from the Vatican and other religious sources in his assessment. The past holds the key to the future, he says.
“All of us in the ...   more »

Five former State Department and Pentagon officials tell Rice that Israeli and Palestinian capitals should be established in Jerusalem, Arab refugees to return only to future Palestinian state
Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord.  
In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington.  
Hamas, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met US terms for attending. Those conditions are recognizing Israel's right to exist and abandoning violence against the Jewish state.
But the ex-officials suggested Hamas might be drawn to attend a second conference, which implicitly would accept the first one and Israel's existence. They called the role of Hamas the most difficult issue in peacemaking.
Jerusalem's future and that of Palestinian refugees have snarled past US peace efforts. Former President Bill Clinton's mediation efforts between the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak envisioned sharing Jerusalem.
Clinton ruled out ...   more »

Iranian leader says during Jerusalem Day rally in Tehran, 'Let a referendum be held in Palestine on the transfer of Zionists to Europe, Canada or Alaska.' Adds: Israel committed crimes under pretext of the Holocaust
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned "the atrocities of the Zionist regime against the oppressed Palestinian people," the IRNA news agency reported Friday.
According to the regime's mouthpiece, the president suggested holding a referendum on the transfer of Israel's Jews to Europe, Canada or Alaska.
"Let all Palestinians including Muslims, Christians and the Jews attend the referendum," he added.  
IRNA said Ahmadinejad repeated an earlier suggestion to Europe on the "settlement of Zionists in Europe or in big lands such as Canada and Alaska so they would be able to own their own land".
Ahmadinejad further stated that "the creation of the Zionist regime, the continuation of its existence and unlimited support for the regime (by the US) are an insult to human dignity."  
"Defense for the ominous interests of the Zionist regime is a must for certain powers. Western governments who are pioneers of secularism pursue defense for the Zionist regime as the holiest task in the world," the president was quoted as ...   more »

Millions of Iranians attended nationwide rallies Friday in support of the Palestinians, while the country's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel's continued existence was an "insult to human dignity."
"The creation, continued existence and unlimited (Western) support for this regime is an insult to human dignity," Ahmadinejad said. "The occupation of Palestine is not limited to one land. The Zionist issue is now a global issue."
Ahmadinejad's remarks came as millions of Iranians held rallies across Iran to protest Israel's continued control of Jerusalem.
The demonstrations for "Al-Quds Day" - Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem - also spilled over into anti-American protests because of US support for Israel.
In the capital Teheran, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets as they chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Some protesters also burned American and Israeli flags.
State television reported similar large rallies in all other provincial capitals and smaller towns across Iran.
The Iranian president once again said Palestinians should not pay any price because Europeans committed crimes against Jews in World War II. He said they could give a part of their own land in Europe or Alaska so that the Jews can establish ...   more »

Prior to 1996, the wireless age was not coming online fast enough, primarily because communities had the authority to block the siting of cell towers. But the Federal Communications Act (1996) made it virtually impossible for communities to stop construction of cell towers —even if they pose threats to public health and the environment. Since the decision to enter the age of wireless convenience was politically determined for us, we have forgotten well-documented safety and environmental concerns and, with a devil-may-care zeal that is lethally short-sighted, we have incorporated into our lives every wireless toy that comes on the market as quickly as it becomes available. We behave as if we are addicted to radiation. Our addiction to cell phones has led to harder "drugs" like wireless Internet. And now we are bathing in the radiation that our wireless enthusiasm has financed. The addicted, uninformed, corporately biased and politically-influenced may dismiss our scientifically-sound concerns about the apocalyptic hazards of wireless radiation. But we must not. Instead, we must sound the alarm.
By Amy Worthington
Illa Garcia wore jewelry the first day she went back to work as a fire lookout for the state of California in the summer of 2002. ...   more »

By JO ANNE KILLEEN .
As if shopping for new clothes wasn’t stressful enough, soon there will be talking mirrors in the dressing rooms. Well, they might not talk, but they will be able to communicate.
These mirrors (some are called MagicMirrors) receive signals from a tag affixed to the hanger or whatever you might have in your hand and help you find matching accessories or outfits.
Technology has advanced to the point where tags on items in stores have a code embedded in them that transmits signals, via radio waves, to a reader that links with a database with all kinds of information.
Some Wisconsin legislators are trying to prevent this technology from infringing on personal privacy before the technology becomes prevalent.
The information received by the reader can be tossed around in a company’s database to send back to you messages about, well, anything. The new technology is supplanting bar coding of items, but up until now, the technology has been used to track inventory while in shipping and distribution channels.
The technology, called radio frequency identification, or RFID, is an emerging product for which business strategists are saying the early birds stand to gain market share for ...   more »

Chuck Baldwin
This past week, I was interviewed by best-selling author and World Net Daily columnist Jerome Corsi. (Read the column at http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57953 ) The subject of the interview was the potential conservative Christian response to the possibility that Rudy Giuliani would gain the Republican nomination for President next year. (We also discussed the cozy connection between the Bush and Clinton families, which will probably be dealt with in a future Corsi column.)
I told Dr. Corsi, "A lot of conservative Christians will never vote for Rudy Giuliani." I will even go so far as to say that no genuine Christian conservative could possibly vote for Giuliani. And, no, it does not matter that Hillary Clinton might be elected President as a result. A Giuliani or Clinton choice is tantamount to a choice between Nero or Caligula.
Let me say it plainly: a Hillary Clinton administration would be no worse than a Rudy Giuliani administration. In some ways, it might not be as bad. At least, with a Democrat in the White House, conservatives might try to act like conservatives and muster the energy to actually oppose some of her liberal proposals.
The record is clear: when a Republican is ...   more »

Advocating open trade across hemisphere 1 nation at a time
By Jerome R. Corsi 
The Bush administration, having been rebuffed on plans to advance a Free Trade of the Americas Act that would open a free trade market to the tip of South America, now is working on the expansion one nation at a time, according to critics.
The Bush administration is pushing Congress to pass a new "free trade" NAFTA-like agreement with Peru, amid growing opposition among Republican voters.
Leading the opposition in the House is presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
"While proponents of free trade will argue the importance of the Peru agreement, Congressman Hunter does not buy that this trade deal, like any other free trade agreement, is good for America," Joe Kasper, communications director for Hunter, told WND in an e-mail.
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter
"Congressman Hunter does not subscribe to the concept of free trade, … especially when international trade agreements promoting this concept continue hurting America's workforce while unfairly favoring our trading partners," he said.
"It is because of these policies that our industrial base is deteriorating and quality jobs once available to Americans are now being shipped overseas," he stressed.
The Bush administration ...   more »

Catholic League delivering photographs to 211 parishes, more mailings planned
By Bob Unruh
Miller's banner over the Folson fair event (Photo by Americans for Truth)
Graphic photographs of nearly nude homosexuals strutting the streets of San Francisco under the sponsorship banner of Miller Brewing Co. are being made available to tens of thousands of Catholics in Milwaukee, the beer company's hometown.
The Catholic League said it is sending the photographs, many of them also posted online under a parental warning about graphic content, to apply pressure to the brewery to halt its sponsorship of such events.
Last weekend's Folsom Street Fair featured blatant displays of public nudity and sex, as well as performances by the anti-Catholic group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
It broke into the headlines this year with its promotional image mocking the Last Supper scene of Jesus Christ and his disciples, replacing the biblical leaders with leather-adorned men and the bread and wine with sex toys.
The Catholic League had called a boycott of the Miller Brewing Co. after the beer giant failed to have its logo removed from the event.
Catholic League President Bill Donohue has said he'd like Miller to rescind its sponsorship completely.
But officials ...   more »

$500 million lost being to fraud and corruption: 'The oil-for-food scandal taught them nothing' 
Reconstruction funds channeled through the United Nations for the reconstruction of tsunami-devastated Indonesia are being systematically pilfered and skimmed to the tune of $500 million dollars because the world body has failed to implement its own anti-fraud measures, the U.N.'s former deputy director of investigations has charged.
Frank Montil, a former Australian Security Intelligence Organization officer, worked for a decade investigating fraud and corruption within the U.N.
Montil told the Sydney Morning Herald he had been sent to the region ravaged by the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami as a senior U.N. investigator to identify the risk of fraud and mismanagement that could be expected when the monies, raised by appeals to the public and allocated by the U.N., would begin flowing into the area.
"When you have a disaster zone, you have all sorts of drifters and conmen walking in. It is the equivalent to the old gold rushes," Montil said.  
Based on his research, Montil reported an automatic 10 percent skim on every project to pay bribes "to a variety of parties who may have an influence on whether or not a project will ...   more »

Geneva version, older than King James, resurrected  
When they arrived in America in 1620, the most precious cargo the Pilgrims carried with them was the Bible.
Have you ever wondered which version of the Bible they brought to America on the Mayflower? There was the King James Version of 1611, of course. But there was an earlier version – one not sanctioned by the government – the 1599 Geneva Bible, a forgotten yet priceless treasure.
Now, just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving like the Pilgrims, you can own your own Geneva Bible – a beautiful and faithful reproduction – for the cost of a comparable KJV.
The Geneva Bible, printed over 200 times between 1560 and 1644, was the most widely read and influential English Bible of the 16th and 17th centuries. The translation was the product of the best Protestant scholars of the day and became the Bible of choice for many of the greatest writers, thinkers, and historical figures of that time. Men such as Shakespeare, John Bunyan, and John Milton used the Geneva Bible, and it was reflected in their writings. During the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell issued a pamphlet containing excerpts from the Geneva ...   more »

By Paul Marshall
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Some of the world's most repressive governments are attempting to use a controversy over a Swedish cartoon to provide legitimacy for their suppression of their critics in the name of respect for Islam. In particular, the Organization of the Islamic Conference is seeking to rewrite international human rights standards to curtail any freedom of expression that threatens their more authoritarian members.
In August, Swedish artist Lars Vilks drew a cartoon with Mohammed's head on a dog's body. He is now in hiding after Al Qaeda in Iraq placed a bounty of $100,000 on his head (with a $50,000 bonus if his throat is slit) and police told him he was no longer safe at home. As with the 2005 Danish Jyllands-Posten cartoons, and the knighting of Salman Rushdie, Muslim ambassadors and the OIC have not only demanded an apology from the Swedes, but are also pushing Western countries to restrict press freedom in the name of preventing "insults" to Islam.  
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