'After praying at the Western Wall, did I really expect my 77-year-old grandfather to rise from his sick bed as fit as a fiddle?'
Efrat Shapi
Leaving your child at kindergarten is always a heart-wrenching and scary experience, day after day. One bright morning I decided - like any typical hysterical mother – to go into work a little later and to listen once and for all to what they are telling my daughter behind my back.  
After some 10 weary minutes of morning prayers, the kindergarten teacher began her speech of rebuke over the lack of sincerity in prayer. "Tomorrow I would like all of you to be sincere when saying your prayers," she reprimanded them. "At our kindergarten," she emphasized, "all children pray sincerely. God loves your prayers even more than mommy and daddy's prayers, and you can really change things if you pray sincerely. Therefore, from tomorrow, I want to hear everyone praying with absolute sincerity." How simple.  
It's been quite a few years since I last heard such an ethical conversation, and it was hard to shirk it. I couldn't help recalling my prayer from that morning. Did I meet the kindergarten's standards? Of ...   more »

By Aaron Klein
Temple Mount
JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to allow Muslims to construct a massive minaret on the Temple Mount will embolden the enemies of the Jewish state and signal that violence and terrorism are working, according to a group of prominent rabbinic leaders in Israel.
The Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 300 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis, said in a statement today Olmert "does not have the moral or historic right to hand over even one inch of Israeli territory to foreigners."
"The mere fact of giving up sovereignty of the Temple Mount – the holiest site of the Jewish People – is an indication of how far the Israeli government has deteriorated and is prepared to forfeit Jewish rights and ownership of Israel granted in our holy Torah, the most authoritative book in the world," the rabbis said.
The rabbis were responding to a story first reported by WND that Olmert granted permission to Jordan to construct a large
A minaret is a tower usually attached to a mosque from which Muslims are called to the five Islamic daily prayers.
There are four minarets on the Temple Mount. ...   more »

By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – Marking its official public debut, a purported new Syrian terror group today claimed it is holding a missing Israeli soldier and will free the captive in exchange for nine Syrians held in Israeli jails.
A group calling itself the Syrian Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights faxed a statement to reporters addressing "the Zionists" and offering a prisoner-swap deal for Israeli soldier Guy Hever, who has been missing since 1997 and who the group claimed is in its custody. Hever disappeared in the Golan Heights near the Syrian border.
The Syrian Committees for the Liberation of the Golan first announced its establishment in a widely-circulated exclusive interview with WND last June.
At the time, and again during a second, in-person interview with WND in December, leaders for the Syrian group threatened if Israel does not vacate the Golan Heights within months, the group will launch "resistance operations" against Israeli positions and Jewish communities in the Golan Heights.
The leaders claimed the group formed in Syria in June and is modeling itself after the Syrian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Today's statement signed by the Syrian Committees for the Liberation of the Golan read, "Don't think ...   more »

Gilad Kariv If I had the opportunity to launch a radio advertising campaign that would reach our leaders, I think I would choose the slogan: "On Temple Mount don't be right – be smart." With a sort of scary cyclicality that repeats every five years, the Temple Mount is again about to bring bloodshed that makes its sanctity frightening and threatening.
Ten years after the Western Wall Tunnel was opened and five years after the bloody clash between Israeli Arabs and security forces, we're again at the edge of an abyss, which is hidden from view in the mists of sanctity, slogans, and an unending desire to "demonstrate to the other side."  
Many words can be written about the hypocrisy of Islamic Movement leaders and the group of Arab Knesset members who were quick to tow the line. Anyone with eyes in their head and an honest heart knows that repairing a bridge at the Mugrabi Gate isn't part of an Israeli conspiracy to take over Temple Mount, and that those are indeed renovation works whose time has come.  
The endless scope of the hypocrisy is further clarified in light of the fact that in recent years the ...   more »

As the controversy swirls around the construction of the new bridge leading to the Temple Mount at the Mughrabi Gate, archeologists have already uncovered finds from the medieval period and early Islamic era that shed new light on Jerusalem's history.
"We have dug three meters down and discovered massive walls which we believe are from the early Islamic Umayyad period," Jerusalem's chief archeologist Yuval Baruch said. "Because of its proximity to the Wohl Archeological Park, I personally hope to find the rest of the Umayyad palaces."
Ask Temple Mount expert on Mughrabi dispute
The archeological park currently has the only uncovered ruins of the Umayyad palaces which were destroyed in 749 CE by an earthquake. They were built in the eighth century as the seat for the Caliphate when visiting Jerusalem. The uncovered complex includes a harem for the caliph's wives, bathhouses, a kitchen, a dining area, and quarters for the caliph's family and servants. The palace also featured a bridge that allowed the caliphs direct access to the Aksa Mosque
Among the findings at the site currently being excavated for the rebuilding of the bridge to the Mughrabi Gate, the archeologists have found pipes belonging to a medieval water ...   more »

Twenty-fifth anniversary annexation of Golan Heights to Israel marked by Syrian, Druze demonstration at Shouting Hill. Protestors refuse to comment on report that Syrians hold Israeli soldier Guy Hever
Hagai Einav
"The Golan is an inseparable part of Syria," protested some 1,000 Syrians and 500 Druze on either side of the border on Wednesday, marking 25 years since the Golan Heights were annexed to Israel .
The demonstration took place at the Shouting Hill, near the Israel-controlled Druze village of Majdal Shams, where divided families go to contact each other.  
The ceremony kicked off with a moment of silence and the Syrian national anthem was then sounded through a megaphone from across the border.  
"We all have family there, and we know the problem can be solved peacefully and the Golan returned to its owners, but if peace does not work, unfortunately we will have to take the path of war," said Jamil Badhish, a Druze resident of the area.  
Marking the annexation, schools and businesses in Druze villages in the north went on strike. People of all ages gathered in Majdal Shams, praising Syria and its leaders, and declaring their loyalty to their country.  
Druze ...   more »

Iranian president 'says he wants to die a martyr so he should be sent to heaven,' Meir Amit says
Aaron Klein,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should "be made to disappear from the arena," Meir Amit, a former director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, advocated in an exclusive interview with WND.
Amit, one of the most esteemed figures in the Israeli intelligence establishment, said while he was director of the Mossad from 1963 to 1968 he regularly argued against the assassination of world leaders. But he said the case of Ahmadinejad is different.  
Iranian Leader  
Ahmadinejad: Israel won't dare attack us / Dudi Cohen  
In interview with Spanish newspaper during visit to South America, Iranian president says, 'They are aware of Iran's strength. I believe they won't do such a stupid thing.' He reiterates Israel will vanish 'like Soviet Union,' doubts Holocaust     
"Ahmadinejad is the pusher of all the Muslim world toward fanaticism and extremism. In his case, he should be made to disappear from the arena. He has said he wants to become a shahid, a martyr, so I think he should get his wish and be sent to heaven," Amit said.
Amit, now in his ...   more »

HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM
HEARING NOTICE
Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ET
The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”
The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.
DC WEATHER REPORT:
Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning. Total ice accumulation between one half to three quarters of an inch. Brisk with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph...increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.
Original Source

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By THOMAS WATKINS
SAN DIEGO - Dozens of dolphins and sea lions trained to detect and apprehend waterborne attackers could be sent to patrol a military base in Washington state, the Navy said Monday. In a notice published in this week's Federal Register, the Navy said it needs to bolster security at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, on the Puget Sound close to Seattle.     
The base is home to submarines, ships and laboratories and is potentially vulnerable to attack by terrorist swimmers and scuba divers, the notice states.
Several options are under consideration, but the preferred plan would be to send as many as 30 California sea lions and Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins from the Navy's Marine Mammal Program, based in San Diego.
"These animals have the capabilities for what needs to be done for this particular mission," said Tom LaPuzza, a spokesman for the Marine Mammal Program.
LaPuzza said that because of their astonishing sonar abilities, dolphins are excellent at patrolling for swimmers and divers. When a Navy dolphin detects a person in the water, it drops a beacon. This tells a human interception team where to find the suspicious swimmer.
Dolphins also are trained to detect underwater mines; they were ...   more »

By Bob Unruh
The stone tablet on the U.S. Supreme Court's East Frieze until 1975 was described as representing the "Ten Commandments." Since then it's been changed to the "Ten Amendments" based on an unsigned letter that conflicts with other evidence
It's looking a lot like a cover-up at the U.S. Supreme Court, where officials appear to be suppressing evidence of representations of the nation's Christian heritage at the court building, according to a pastor whose research is published at lacconline.org and gives evidence of that heritage. "I'm not a conspirator," Todd DuBord, senior pastor of the Lake Almanor Community Church, wrote in a new request to the high court to correct its information. "I must admit, however, that my recent research on the U.S. Supreme Court is making me think that cover-up might be more than make-up."
He's been advocating for corrections to the court's online and tourist information since he traveled to Washington, D.C., on a tour looking at the Christian heritage of the United States. While there, some of the tour guides at the court building told him the East Wall Frieze stone tablet representation stands for the Ten Amendments, not the Ten Commandments as he had ...   more »

Israel expects the EU to do its utmost to put a "united face" on international efforts to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program, senior officials in Jerusalem said Tuesday in response to an internal EU document pessimistic of the ability of diplomatic efforts to keep Iran from developing a bomb.
The Financial Times reported Tuesday that the document, compiled by the staff of Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, said that the Iranian nuclear program was delayed by technical limitations rather than diplomatic pressure.
"Attempts to engage the Iranian administration in a negotiating process have not so far succeeded," the document read.
"At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons program," says the paper, dated February 7 and circulated to the EU's 27 national governments before a foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday.
"In practice . . . the Iranians have pursued their program at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency," the document stated. "The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone."
The Financial Times ...   more »