Immigration Bill To Collect American Info
WASHINGTON DC - Although a new immigration bill that was passed by the United State Senate addresses illegal immigration, some components of the bill will definitely benefit the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies by tracking all sources of wages and compensation by American workers, even those who are legally American citizens. The controversial new Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 has already been passed by the Senate at the end of April and is headed to the US House of Representatives. Both Senator Richard Burr (R) and Elizabeth Dole (R) voted against the much-debated bill. The bill will make it illegal to hire anyone for any work in the US for paid wages, unless both the worker and employer complete the new registration requirements, including providing the employee's work history for the past five years even if they are American citizens each time they apply for a job. "It is unlawful for an employer...to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an individual unless such employer meets the requirements of subsections (c) and (d)," says the bill referring to the new document rules and "electronic verification" systems. The new $400 million "employment verification" component of the extensive bill would add new electronic registration requirements for all American citizens who do work for compensation and even American employers as well. As it stands, the new bill would require all employers to "register" with the federal government and report the data for new employees to the government within three days of hiring them.
| U.S. town opposes "Big Brother" Mexico border fence
ARIVACA, Arizona (Reuters) - A pilot project to place a high-tech network of surveillance towers along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border has met boisterous opposition in this Arizona town, where some residents call it "Big Brother." The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is installing a network of nine towers with ground radar and night vision cameras to monitor a 28-mile (45-km) stretch of border near Arivaca, southwest of Tucson. It is the first trial for the communications and technology arm of the government's Secure Border Initiative announced in 2005. Dubbed "SBInet," authorities say it will be extended across some 6,000 miles of the Mexican and Canadian borders in segments in coming years. Residents of this remote, high desert ranching town of 1,500 people have packed four public meetings in recent weeks to oppose the project, which is due to go live at the end of next month. "It's like Big Brother. It will place the whole town under surveillance," community activist C Hues told Reuters as residents gathered for a meeting late on Tuesday with CBP and Border Patrol representatives. "The government will be able to watch and record every movement we make, 24 hours a day. It will be like living in a prison yard," she added. Residents of the community are particularly concerned about one 98-foot-(30-meter-)tall tower topped with cameras and radar that will be placed just south of the town, which lies about 12 miles from the border. "Why are they doing it here and not at the border? It's horrifying, it makes no sense," said Melissa Murray, a gallery owner from nearby Tubac.
| Sex, violence, cannibalism could get Bible sealed
Hundreds of citizens are urging a media watchdog to classify the Bible as "indecent" due to the high amount of sex and violence throughout the Scriptures, and could force the Good Book to be sealed in plastic with a warning label. The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority of Hong Kong said it received 1,406 complaints about biblical indecency by this afternoon. The sudden surge of complaints comes in the wake of the launch of an anonymous website, TruthBible.net, which claims the Bible "made one tremble" due to its graphic content, including rape, incest and bestiality. If authorities classify the book as "indecent," only people over 18 could purchase it, and the Scriptures would need to be sealed in a wrapper with a mandatory warning on the outside. "Wow, another excuse to try and remove Jesus or anything about Him from the world, so to speak," said one poster on an Internet messageboard. "The Enemy is hard at work in these last days."
| Constitution Party vets tap Corsi for president
The National Veterans Coalition of the Constitution Party is preparing to draft Jerome R. Corsi as its choice for the party's presidential nominee in 2008. Corsi, who resigned as a WND staff reporter Monday, said he has joined the Constitution Party and is willing to explore a serious pursuit of the nomination. "The issues that concern me the most are the need to secure our borders and the increasing pace with which North American economic and political integration are taking place under the Security and Prosperity Partnership," Corsi told WND. Corsi's endorsement was presented during a recent Constitution Party National Committee meeting in Boise, Idaho. Based on voter registration, the Constitution Party is the third largest political party in the U.S.
| Court gives Melissa back to family
A German appeals court has ordered legal custody of Melissa Busekros, the teenager who was taken from her home by a police squad and detained in a psychiatric hospital for being homeschooled, be returned to her family because she no longer is in danger. Confirmation of the decision by the appellate level court in Bavaria came from the Home School Legal Defense Association, with 80,000 member families probably the world's premiere homeschool advocacy organization. It has been helping Melissa's parents, Hubert and Gudrun, with the legal battle for their daughter. The HSLDA's translation of the German appeals court ruling said custody of the 16-year-old was returned to the family, because while it was "appropriate" for the judge to do what he did at the time, when he ordered her taken into custody, new information now reveals the lack of danger.
| Greenpeace Builds Replica of Noah's Ark
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Environmental activists are building a replica of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat—where the biblical vessel is said to have landed after the great flood—in an appeal for action on global warming, Greenpeace said Wednesday. Turkish and German volunteer carpenters are making the wooden ship on the mountain in eastern Turkey, bordering Iran. The ark will be revealed in a ceremony on May 31, a day after Greenpeace activists climb the mountain and call on world leaders to take action to tackle climate change, Greenpeace said. "Climate change is real, it's happening now and unless world leaders take urgent, decisive and far-reaching action, the next decades will see human misery on a scale not experienced in modern times," said Greenpeace activist Hilal Atici. "Those leaders have a mandate from the people ... to massively cut greenhouse gas emissions and to do it now." Many countries are struggling to address global and national standards for carbon emissions. U.N. delegates are meeting this week in Germany to prepare for December negotiations on a new set of international rules for controlling emissions. The new accord would succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012. Climate change will also be on the agenda when the Group of Eight major industrialized countries—the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia—meet in Germany in June.
| Verdict on Geneseo crop circle: `Genuine event'
One thing is clear to those who studied a crop circle in Geneseo last summer. It wasn't mechanically produced. "The indications we do have suggest to us that this was a genuine event," said Nancy Talbott, head of the BLT Research Team, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. "What I mean is, this was not mechanically created. It means something unknown was at work as we have seen in other cases." What that unknown is may never be known. When a rural Geneseo farmer discovered part of his soybean field had unusual rings in it last August, he contacted the Henry County Sheriff's Department. When the BLT Research Team heard about it, the group of scientists sent a soil tester, JoAnne Scarpellini of St. Louis, to investigate. The retired neurochemist said then that the three circles, about 50 foot in diameter and touching each other, did not appear to be man made. According to BLT's Web site, www.bltresearch.com, there is no real answer as to why crop circles appear. Ms. Talbott said there have been obvious hoaxes through the years, but many circles go unexplained. Much of the documented observation is anecdotal, such as animals acting strange or electrical equipment not working. "Farmers frequently report unusual disturbances among farm animals during nights when crop circles form nearby, particularly reporting that their cattle bellow loudly and/or their dogs bark unabatedly for hours," according to the Web site. In August 1991, Blue Grass, Iowa, farmer Delmar "Snowball" Meyer found a large crop circle in his cornfield. | Artifacts From Time of Kings David and Solomon Revealed
(IsraelNN.com) In honor of Jerusalem Day, which begins Tuesday night, archaeologists revealed a number of seals from the time of the Biblical Kings David and Solomon. The seals, along with other recently uncovered artifacts, were displayed for the first time on Monday, at aconference marking 40 years since the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem by the modern State of Israel. The Bible-period artifacts were unearthed during archaeological excavations underway in Ir David, the City of David, below Jerusalem’s Old City to the east. The specific artifacts on display on Monday were found at the Beit HaMaayan (well-house) dig, overseen by Haifa University's Archaeology Department Director, Professor Ronny Reich. The greatest scientific and public interest was focused on more than 100 seals and signet rings, used as a means of authentication for written papyrus documents, from the time of the reigns of Kings David and Solomon. The seals bear various markings that, when deciphered, indicate the sender of the document and his or her location. The large number of such seals, archaeologists explained, indicate that the City of David area was a commercial and trading center. Several hundred leaders of Israel's industry and the economy took part in the Jerusalem gathering at which the artifacts were displayed. Similar seals and signets have been found at various excavation sites around Jerusalem over the past decade. Some of those seals bear names of royal advisors and servants mentioned in various Biblical accounts of the reigns of Jewish monarchs. | Perspectives: Oprah's 'Secret' deceives millions
The Gospel According to Oprah is more than just a book title; it's a mindset that has created quite a following for the billionaire talk-show host. And her promotion of a philosophy extolling the "Law of Attraction" has added to millions who are being led away from the teachings of Christ. According to a May 2006 article titled "The Divine Miss Winfrey" in USA Today, "Over the past year, Winfrey ... has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation." There's no doubt that Oprah is spiritual, but the philosophy she pushed on the February 8, 2006, broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show couldn't place her farther from the truth. During the show, Oprah interviewed a panel of teachers who appear in a 93-minute film called The Secret. The Secret, also a book which has sold two million copies, is promoted as "a feature length, historic and factually based account of an age old secret, said to be 4,000 years in the making, and known only to a fortunate few. The Secret reveals this great knowledge to the world -- The Secret to wealth, The Secret to health, The Secret to love, relationships, happiness, eternal youth ... The Secret to life itself." While its appeal is wide and its lure powerful, the philosophy of The Secret is a narrow road that leads to death and destruction. In Colossians 2:8, the apostle Paul warns the church at Colosse to "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Therefore, here are reasons why The Secret has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with occultism. What sources say While the worldview behind The Secret is nothing new, Rhonda Byrne, an Australian woman in her 50s, is credited with discovering The Secret during a time of utter despair in her life. Because of the impact it had on her life, she has decided to share it. According to Byrne and her host of high-profile "teachers," the Law of Attraction -- which they claim is the most powerful law in the universe -- is the Secret.
| Taliban training Yanks, Brits for suicide missions
The Taliban leader who was killed during an American helicopter attack in Afghanistan's Helmand Province was training both Americans and Brits to carry out suicide terrorist attacks on their homelands, according to a report from ABC. The network said it had obtained a television interview with Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah that was taped just 36 hours before his death on Saturday. Excerpts were being aired on "World News with Charles Gibson." "We will be executing attacks in Britain and the U.S. to demonstrate our sincerity," he said on the tape made by an Afghan interviewer, "to destroy their cities as they have destroyed ours," Dadullah said. He didn't specify how many were under training, or give other details. "This is our religious and moral duty to train suicide bombers against the nuclear power of the infidels, and they will be used when they are needed, whether they are one, 10 or 20." A senior U.S. official told ABCNEWS.com that the intelligence reports recently had confirmed Dadullah's statement that U.S. citizens were being trained in Taliban and al-Qaida camps. "The number is small, not large, but even once is dangerous," the official said. WND already has reported on several situations, including one of a Houston man allegedly being trained in Somalia for a global jihad against America. It was just a day and a half after the taping that U.S. forces executed a helicopter assault on the hiding place concealing Dadullah, and his bullet-riddled body was put on display by Afghan officials to confirm he was dead. Military officials had been tracking Dadullah from Pakistan into Afghanistan, they reported.
| FBI, security officials warn of growing threat from Islamic extremists 'next door'
Plots by American-based Islamic terrorists with no direct ties to international terror networks form a large and growing threat to the American homeland, FBI and other security officials say. "The trend we're seeing is that we are uncovering more instances of people here who have been radicalized … where there is not a direct thumbprint of al-Qaeda," says John Miller, the FBI's assistant director for public affairs. Justice Department records show that the FBI and other federal and local agencies have led prosecutions of a dozen such alleged plots since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and Washington. The latest began last Tuesday, when five New Jersey Muslim men were charged with plotting to kill soldiers at the Army's Fort Dix, N.J., compound. A sixth man was charged with helping the group obtain illegal firearms. HOMEGROWN CELLS IN USA: 'Bonehead factor' cited by experts The government has won terrorism convictions in seven cases. Others are ongoing. The focus on American-based terror cells is a shift from post 9/11 thinking, when intelligence and security officials expected attacks to come from "sleeper cells" of al-Qaeda agents who, like the Washington and New York City attackers, had filtered into the USA from abroad. "That was my intuition at the time," says George Tenet in an interview. Tenet was CIA director from 1997 to 2004 and just released a book, At the Center of the Storm, about his tenure. Tenet says the lesson is "don't get fixed on a particular face (because) there may be multiple kinds of faces."
| FBI's Mueller: Bin Laden Wants to Strike U.S. Cities With Nuclear Weapons
Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group desperately want to obtain nuclear devices and explode them in American cities, especially New York and Washington, D.C., FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III tells NewsMax. In an exclusive interview, Mueller also acknowledged that bin Laden is still active, though isolated. The director revealed that the Bureau believes the terrorist leader continues to communicate with al-Qaida cells, some of which remain in the U.S. Mueller declined to say how often bin Laden communicates or to elaborate on the substance of his communications. Other intelligence sources tell NewsMax that U.S. security efforts have forced bin Laden to return to "horse-and-buggy days" — avoiding electronic communications in favor of using trusted couriers. But Mueller says though hemmed in, al-Qaida's paramount goal is clear: to detonate a nuclear device that would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans. In contrast to homegrown terrorists, al-Qaida is far more likely to be able to pull off such an attack. Mueller admits the nuclear threat is so real he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about that possibility. "I think it would be very difficult to wipe out the United States, but you'd have hundreds of thousands of casualties from a nuclear device, depending on the size of that nuclear device," Mueller tells NewsMax. A Lust for Destruction Al-Qaida could obtain such a device in one of two ways. | Springtime in Islamberg
Situated within a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of Hancock, New York, Islamberg is not an ideal place for a summer vacation unless, of course, you are an exponent of the Jihad or a fan of Osama bin Laden. The 70 acre complex is surrounded with "No trespassing" signs; the rocky terrain is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes, wolves, and a few bobcats. The entrance to the community is at the bottom of a very steep hill that is difficult to navigate even on a bright sunny day in May. The road, dubbed Muslim Lane, is unpaved and marred by deep crevices that have been created by torrential downpours. On a wintry day, few, save those with all terrain vehicles, could venture forth from the remote encampment. A sentry post has been established at the base of the hill. The sentry, at the time of this visit, is an African American dressed in Islamic garb - - a skull cap, a prayer shawl, and a loose fitting shalwat kameez. He instructs us to turn around and leave. "Our community is not open to visitors," he says. Behind the sentry and across a small stream stand dozens of inhabitants of the compound - - the men wearing skull caps and loose fitting tunics, the women in full burqa. They appear ready to deal with any unauthorized intruders. The hillside is blighted by rusty trailers that appear to be without power or running water and a number of outhouses. The scent of raw sewage is in the air. The place is even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies to the complex but has never been granted entrance. "They come and take the bodies from my hearse. They won't allow me to get past the sentry post. They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the bodies back. I don't know what's going on there but I don't think it's legal." On the other side of the hill where few dare to go is a tiny village replete with a make-shift learning center (dubbed the "International Quranic Open University"); a trailer converted into a Laundromat; a small, green community center; a small and rather squalid grocery store; a newly constructed majid; over forty clapboard homes; and scores of additional trailers.
| Olmert ready to talk peace with Arab world
 PETRA - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed willingness on Tuesday to meet the leaders of the 22 Arab states to discuss the prospects of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Olmert made the comments during a meeting with Nobel Prize for Peace Laureate Elie Weisel in Petra, Jordan, where King Abdullah held a two-day conference for Nobel Prize winners. "I invite the 22 leaders of the Arab states who are interested in making peace with Israel to gather at any location for talks," Olmert told journalists when asked about a Saudi land-for-peace initiative. "If they want to invite me I am ready to meet them anywhere," he continued. The Arab world renewed a Saudi peace initiative to Israel, offering the Jewish state full relations with Arab states in return for a withdrawal from land captured in the 1967 Mideast war and a Palestinian state. "We said yes to every serious offer to sit and talk. We didn't erect preconditions, and we do not see it right that they erect preconditions," he said. "The Arab peace initiative is an interesting idea. We are ready to sit and listen to it. I believe we will not accept all they say, and they will not accept all we say," Olmert continued, adding he was willing to meet in any country the Arab countries choose. Olmert was expected to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the heels of the conference in Petra but Abbas backed out Monday.
| 'We can fire 3,000 rockets a day' says Nasrallah
Hizbullah leader: 'Resistance' is stronger today than before, UNIFIL force can't stop us Yaakov Lappin Hizbullah "could launch between 1000 and 3000 rockets daily," its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah claimed in an interview with a Dubai statellite TV station last week. Nasrallah's comments were reproduced on Hizbullah's Arabic language website on Saturday, under the heading: "We could launch... 3000 rockets daily in a war in July." Last week, the UN's Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said he was disturbed by the levels of arms being smuggled to Hizbullah via the Syrian-Lebanese border. Ki-moon told the UN Security Council that evidence of the smuggling of arms was "detailed and substantial." During his interview, Nasrallah boasted that Hizbullah had amassed tens of thousands of rockets since the war last summer, adding that the international UNIFIL force stationed in southern Lebanon would be unable to stop Hizbullah from attacking Israel. "When I said Hizbullah possesses more than 12 thousand missiles and then I said that we have more than 20 thousand rockets, this means that maybe we have 30 thousand or 80 thousand rockets or maybe more," Nasrallah told the 'Qalam Rasas' program on Dubai Satellite TV. While Hizbuallah fired between 300 and 400 rockets a day on Israel during last summer's war, Nasrallah could now launch between 1000 and 3000 rockets daily, the Hizbullah site quoted its leader as saying. "Nasrallah stressed that the resistance is stronger today than before and can fight better than last year," the website said. "Asked whether Hizbullah was able to respond to Israeli attacks with the presence of international forces in southern Lebanon, the Secretary-General stressed that the resistance is located in the southern villages south of the Litani, and thus are still in their villages, mocking the enemy which said that Hizbullah is far from the border," the website reported. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has often reiterated his view that the presence of the international UN force in Lebanon has succeeded in keeping Hizbullah cells away from Israel's northern border, thereby marking a victory for Israel in the 2006 conflict. Over the weekend, Israel's Channel Two reported that Hizbullah had planted its flag on the Israeli-Lebanese border, before it was removed by members of the UNIFIL force. After a number of confrontations between UNIFIL and Hizbullah, Hizbullah members again planted their flag on their border.
| Christians will be first to leave city
As the number of Christian residents in the Holy Land continues to drop, an adviser to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski called on the government on Sunday to ease restrictions on family reunification for Christian Arabs living in the capital. "The first ones who will disappear from the city are the Christians," Motti Levy, the mayor's adviser for Christian and Arab affairs, told The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview. "Our task as a municipality is to ease matters for the dwindling Christian population, and not to make things harder for them," he said. About 10,000 Christians live in Jerusalem. Levy noted that the ongoing exodus comes as the increasingly-educated and professional Christian residents emigrate to the West for better job opportunities and a higher quality of life. "They are victims of their own success," he said. In unusually frank language, the former Foreign Ministry official conceded that the economic situation in the capital was "not good" and equated the exit of middle-class Christians to that of Israelis leaving the city for better jobs in central Israel, or a better quality of life in the suburbs. "So long as our situation in Jerusalem deteriorates, the Christians are the first who are willing to leave," Levy said. "Jesus is not going to make them stay in Jerusalem." He noted that restrictions on family reunification for Palestinians made it difficult for Christians who found a spouse in the West Bank to live with them in the capital. Levy said there was room for Israel to show flexibility on the issue because of the low number of Christian Arabs in the city. Jerusalem has 720,000 residents, 66 percent of whom are Jews and 34% are Arabs. Around 420,000 Jerusalemites - 57% of whom are Arabs and 43% of whom are Jews - live in areas that were added to the city after the Six Day War, according to city statistics released Sunday by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
| 'Jews have too much sway in US policy'
Many Europeans believe the Jews dictate US policy in the Middle East, wield disproportionate global economic influence and talk too much about the Holocaust, according to a report released Monday by the Anti-Defamation League. The report's findings found that significant numbers of people in five European countries continue to hold anti-Jewish stereotypes, said Abraham Foxman, national director of the US group. "A large number of Europeans continue to be infected with anti-Jewish attitudes, holding on to classical anti-Jewish canards and conspiracy theories," Foxman said at a news conference where he presented the report. The survey of 2,714 people in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland found that 51 percent of respondents believed that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the countries in which they live. In the Spanish sample, the figure was 60%. In France, only 39% agreed. Foxman said the widely-held belief in dual allegiances was particularly troubling. "Disloyalty is a classical canard of anti-Semitism," Foxman said. "Hitler did not begin with Aryan supremacy. Hitler began with charging the Jews of not being good Germans, of selling out Germany for their own interest." The statement that "Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust" was seen as "probably true" by 58% of poll respondents in Poland, where many of the World War II Nazi death camps were located. The average for the five countries polled was 47% in agreement.
| Europe-U.S. alliance shifts
LONDON. -- European politics are suddenly moving forward at a dizzying pace, making room for tectonic changes in transatlantic relations that will, in turn, force Washington to reassess how it looks at its European friends, not-so-friends and foes. In France after 12 years in the French presidency, Jacques Chirac is bowing out; Nicolas Sarkozy is in. Mr. Sarkozy, 52, is the son of a Hungarian immigrant who fled communism. In Great Britain after 10 years as prime minister, Tony Blair will soon be out when he steps down in June. Gordon Brown will be in. And in Berlin, Helmut Kohl, a dinosaur of German politics, has been gone for a while, replaced by Angela Merkel. Besides the obvious changes, it is also important to point out major political differences among Western Europe's top leaders; Mr. Chirac was seen as cold to the United States, with whom he never really managed to surmount the strains caused by the Iraq war; Mr. Sarkozy is outwardly warm to Washington. Mr. Blair seemed to follow Mr. Bush blindly, even into the greatest Mesopotamian misadventure; Mr. Brown is likely to question, and then question some more before committing to accepting Mr. Bush's policies. And in Berlin, Mr. Kohl, who together with Mr. Chirac put up a united front against Washington's hegemony, was replaced by Gerhard Schroeder. Then he was replaced by Mrs. Merkel, who is far more open to cooperating with Washington. The irony brought about by these changes is that the countries labeled "old Europe" by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- indicating that they were practically irrelevant as allies in the wars waged by the United States -- are back firmly in the U.S. corner. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, which, until recently could be counted as Washington's most trusted ally in Europe -- thanks to Mr. Blair's unfaltering support of George W. Bush -- may adopt a different policy after Mr. Blair's departure from No. 10 Downing Street next month. Mr. Blair was seen to be so adamantly in agreement with Mr. Bush that the British press took to calling him "Bush's poodle."
| Episcopal Head Says Other Churches Will Make Same 'Journey' to Pro-Gay Stance
After affirming that the 2008 Lambeth Conference will not be canceled over sexuality debates, the Anglican Communion is moving forward with plans for the worldwide assembly. Next year's decennial conference will be different, however. Rather than a parliamentary debating chamber with a string of resolutions, it will be a time for "spiritual reflection, learning, sharing and discerning," said Archbishop of Melanesia, Sir Ellison Pogo. The 77 million-member Anglican Communion had been considering whether to cancel the global event in the wake of heightened controversy over the Episcopal Church's recent actions and stance favoring the consecration of homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions. Earlier this year, Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria had threatened to not participate in the 2008 Lambeth Conference and hold its own gathering if the issue of homosexuality was not resolved before then. The Episcopal Church, which consecrated an openly gay bishop in 2003, was given a Sept. 30 deadline this year to unequivocally pledge not to consecrate another gay bishop or authorize prayers for homosexual unions. Leading up to the deadline, the Anglican spiritual leader had questioned the timing of the 2008 conference. "We've been looking at whether the timing is right, but if we wait for the ideal time, we will wait more than just 18 months," Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams told the Anglican Journal last week. Last week, the conference "Design Group," appointed by Williams, worked on the conference structures, purposes, issues and program, according to the Anglican News Service. In the meantime, U.S. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told The Boston Globe this week that the Episcopal Church will not likely be moving "backward" on their 2003 decision to elect an openly gay bishop. "I don't believe that there is any will in this church to move backward," she told the newspaper on Tuesday. She called the 2003 election "a great blessing."
| Indianapolis Billboards Claim the Bible Affirms Homosexuality
A pro-gay billboard campaign in Indiana attempts to use the Bible as a basis for supporting homosexuality. The 22 signs in Indianapolis are sponsored by Jesus Metropolitan Community Church and Faith in America. Pastor Jeff Miner described one of the billboards that proclaims, “Ruth Loved Naomi as Adam Loved Eve.” "Most people probably have no idea that the Bible does contain a number of powerfully affirming passages toward gay people,” he told Family News in Focus. Another billboard recasts the story of the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant and claims "Jesus Affirmed a Gay Couple." "The (Greek) word that the Roman centurion uses to describe this sick person is 'pais,' " Miner said, "which is precisely the word that was used in ancient Greek to refer to one’s same-sex partner.” Joe Dallas, author of The Gay Gospel, a book debunking such twisting of Scripture, took issue with the claims. “You really have to do mental gymnastics to do this,” he said. Dallas explained there's nothing in the Bible that suggests the relationship between Ruth and Naomi was anything other than a deep friendship. And Greek lexicons render the word "pais" as simply a servant or a child, not a same-sex partner. “It shows a certain mindset," Dallas said, "when someone cannot read about two people loving each other without assuming that the love was sexual.”
| Terminator Kill-Bots To Be Run By System Called 'Skynet'
Following the announcement of the new Flying-HK-style "Reaper" death machines for the British forces, the prophetic nature of the Terminator movies has been further confirmed. Not only will the UK MoD deploy airborne cyber-gunships remarkably similar to those in the films, the flying robot assassins will be controlled by an IT project named "Skynet". This latest case of life imitating art (well, kind of art) was revealed this morning, with the news that the first of the Skynet 5 satellites has gone operational and is now successfully carrying data to and from British forces fighting in Southwest Asia. "This important milestone is very good news for the armed forces," said Lord Drayson, the Minister for Defence Procurement. "Skynet 5 will supply about 2.5 times the capacity of the old system and generate a very significant improvement for our global communications systems - allowing us to pass more data faster. It is an excellent example of a successful Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal." This PFI was the largest ever signed by the UK MoD, around £3.6bn in total. The Skynet 5 satellites are run by Paradigm Secure Communications and were built by EADS-Astrium. Skynet 5A was launched into space aboard an Ariane 5-ECA rocket from French Guiana in March, sharing the ride with an Indian TV platform. Skynet 5B and 5C will follow later this year and next. It seems pretty clear that the Reaper flying kill machines will be run using the Skynet satellites, not any other comms channels. "Take for example the capability of unmanned air vehicles. These generate a lot of imagery and that has to be passed over a secure communications link," according to Bill Sweetman, technology and aerospace editor for defence analysts Jane's. "The practice is to offload mundane traffic on to commercial satellites and then to use a complementary, secure proprietary system for the traffic that has to be protected." And it may not just be the Reapers that are controlled by Skynet. There's no word yet of any plans to cloak Asimo robots in living flesh cloned from large Austrian bodybuilders, but it can only be a matter of time. "Ground control segments for the new system have been upgraded," reported the Beeb today. "Ships, planes and land vehicles are being equipped to make the best use of the upgraded Skynet." Or for Skynet to make use of them.
| The "Eyebox" -Advertising that “Watches” You
A new invention known as eyebox2™, was just unveiled at Google’s corporate headquarters. The portable device tracks human eye movement and will tell advertisers just how many people looked at the advertisement. The new invention uses a camera that monitors eye movements in real time and automatically detects when you are looking at it from up to 10 meters away. “This camera mimics eye contact perception in humans, allowing us to pinpoint quite accurately what plasma screen or product shelf people are looking at,” says Dr. Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Laboratory at Queen’s and inventor of the technology. The inventor claims that the surveillance is passive, meaning that it cannot detect the identity of the viewer, but only count the glances. Whether or not the technology could be used for surveillance purposes is not being discussed. However, it's safe to assume that advertisers (and others) would be interested in knowing who’s looking. Eyebox2™ is coming out just as the new trend of “ambient” advertising (Motion Tracking link below) is revving up. Currently, the impact of Internet ads can only be measured by the number of hits a web site receives. It is much more difficult to access the effectiveness of plasma screens and forms of advertising that target people in public places like shopping malls. This new invention gives advertisers a way to precisely measure how much attention something receives, relaying helpful information such as peak times and placement for a particular ad. “Our technology allows interactive real-time ‘Flow of Attention’ measures of customers in the real world. This allows ambient ads run in malls literally to be sold ‘by the eyeball’. It enables brick-and-mortar stores such as Wal-mart and Sears to use a revenue model similar to Google’s online PageRank and web analytics technologies,” says Dr. Vertegaal. The technology will also likely allow a novel approach to human-computer interactions. New research is focusing on making everyday devices more attentive to their users by “sensing” when it is appropriate to interact with their owner.
| Study: Mothers Spiritually Active; Fathers Lag Behind
Mothers are among the most spiritually active segments of the America population, a new study found. They also outpace fathers in spiritual activity and commitment for the most part. The Barna research group revealed that three-quarters of women who are raising children said faith is very important in their life while only two-thirds of fathers agreed. The majority of mothers also said they have been greatly transformed by their faith compared to less than half of fathers. Additionally, mothers were more likely than fathers to be born-again Christians, to say they are absolutely committed to Christianity, and to embrace a personal responsibility to share their faith in Jesus Christ with others. "Whether they are a parent or not, women in America have high levels of spiritual sensitivity and engagement. Men generally lag behind the spirituality of women and particularly so if they are not a father," said David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group and director of the study in the report. "In other words, having children intensifies the spiritual commitment of men, but even so most fathers still do not measure up to the spiritual footprint of their parenting counterparts." In a typical week, mothers are more likely than are fathers to attend church, pray, read the Bible, participate in a small group, attend Sunday school, and volunteer some of their time to help a non-profit organization, the study showed. Fathers were only equally active with mothers when it came to volunteering to help at a church. The Barna study further measured differences between younger and older mothers. Moms from the Buster generation (ages 23-41) show less passion for spirituality and less commitment to Christianity than moms from the Boomer generation (ages 42-60). Young moms are less likely to volunteer to help at a church, to read the Bible or to attend worship services at a church and they are less inclined to describe their faith as very important in their life compared to Boomer moms. "One of the trends we have been monitoring is the erosion of commitment among young Americans toward Christianity and traditional expressions of faith," said Kinnaman. "Buster moms are in the crux of that challenge, being much more spiritually minded than young dads, but still wrestling with the Christian faith in ways Boomers did not. If moms are the spiritual backbone of families today – and they often are – it is imperative to find new approaches that help moms connect faith and family, especially for young mothers."
| Apostasy Bill Calls for Death to Converts from Islam
A new apostasy draft bill has been sent before a standing committee in Pakistan's National Assembly. If passed, the Apostasy Act 2006, adopted in first reading by the parliament and tabled by the six-party Islamic alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal or MMA, would sentence to death all Muslim men found guilty of leaving Islam. Muslim women would face life in prison for the same crime. The draft bill goes into great detail over qualifications for conviction of "offenders". Section 4 of the bill states that testimony by two adults accusing someone of leaving the Muslim faith, or a confession by the accused, is all that is needed for conviction. However, in some courts throughout Pakistan testimony by non-Muslims is prohibited. In Section 5 the apostate is granted 3 to 30 days to renounce his or her conversion and return to Islam. The section also stipulates that the initial rejection of Islam can still be punishable by up to two years incarceration, despite recantation. The death penalty becomes mandatory if a person converts from and returns to Islam more than three times. In addition to life in prison or death, offenders yield all properties in their name to Muslim relatives and forfeit custody of any minor or biological child under their care. Denounced by many in the minority religious community in Pakistan, including the Archbishop of Lahore, the draft bill would commit Pakistan as one of the world's worst violators of fundamental rights. Institute on Religion and Public Policy President, Joseph K. Grieboski, reacted to the bill, stating, "This legislation is a clear demonstration that fundamental freedoms are of no importance to the National Assembly of Pakistan. Passage of this bill would usher in a new age of religious bigotry in a country that prides itself on being a strong and committed ally in combating global terrorism. Laws such as this would only serve to engender further extremist behavior. Being an alley of the United States is not only a matter of reflecting national interests, but a mutual respect for fundamental values."
| Rudy Giuliani tied to 'superhighways'
Questions are being raised over Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's policy on terrorism, after a report revealed he has strong ties to two foreign investment consortia working to own or lease U.S. toll roads, including the Trans-Texas Corridor 35, which is identified as part of the I-35 "NAFTA Superhighway." Although he opposed NAFTA in 1993, Giuliani recently declined to call for building a fence on the United States border with Mexico, and he has supported a guest-worker program. Columnist Michelle Malkin also has documented that while mayor of New York City, Giuliani kept the municipality a sanctuary city for illegal aliens, adhering to a policy first established by Mayor Ed Koch in 1989. Now comes a new report about Giuliani's involvement with public-private-partnership projects that include NAFTA Superhighway funding and his open borders record on immigration questions, all of which could undermine his otherwise tough policy on terrorism that has resulted from the 9/11 role Giuliani played in managing New York City's response to the attacks on the World Trade Center.
| 'Gay' cowboy love scenes 'traumatize' schoolgirl, 12
A 12-year-old girl who says she was traumatized when her teacher showed the film "Brokeback Mountain" featuring love scenes with homosexual cowboys is suing the Chicago Board of Education for $500,000. "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," is what the substitute teacher told eighth-grade students at Ashburn Community Elementary School after showing the R-rated movie, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court. According to reports, the student, Jessica Turner, claims she suffered psychological distress after watching the movie, which stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys who fall in love and includes love scenes between the two men and between the men and their wives. "It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this," Turner's grandfather and guardian, Kenneth Richardson, told the Chicago Tribune. "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this. ... It's like I told the principal, she should have better control over her teachers."
| Vatican denies hiding the full truth about the end of the world
The Vatican tried yesterday to draw a line under a conspiracy theory that has dogged the Catholic Church for decades – that it was harbouring details of the predicted apocalypse. The Pope’s second-in-command, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, denied that the Church was suppressing a vision of the end of the world said to have been revealed by the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children on a hillside at Fatima in Portugal exactly 90 years ago. The three “Secrets of Fatima” were written down by one of the children, Lucia Dos Santos – who became a Carmelite nun – and sent to the Vatican in a sealed envelope. Two of the “secrets” were made public, apparently predicting the inferno of 20th-century world war and totalitarianism and the eventual reconversion of Communist Russia to Christianity. Pope John Paul II suggested that the third “secret” predicted the 1981 attempt on his life. He failed to satisfy conspiracy theorists however, with many accusing the Vatican of disclosing only part of the last Fatima secret. Antonio Socci, a Catholic journalist and author of The Fourth Secret of Fatima, said that he had at first accepted John Paul’s explanation. His researches led him to believe however that the late Pope’s revelation had been “partial”. He said that the undisclosed portion of the “secret” predicted a crisis of faith in the West and the collapse of the Church hierarchy in the face of a tidal wave of “apostasy and heresy”. Marco Tosatti, a Vatican watcher and author of The Prophecies of Fatima, also said that the Vatican was believed to be “hiding something” so as “not to alarm millions of the faithful”.
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1 comment:
“... a resultant falling dollar. The inevitable conclusion is that the dollar, too, may be on the way out.”
A “Federal Reserve Note” is not a U.S.A. dollar. In 1973, Public Law 93-110 defined the U.S.A. dollar as consisting of 1/42.2222 fine troy ounces of gold.
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