And that is all.

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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Floatin' Powa News Service: Terminal Experiments


Elder of Ziyon: Goldstone Commission problems, part 8
One of the major sources that the Goldstone Commission heavily relied on in testimonies was TAWTHEQ. TAWTHEQ is quoted in the context of the Gaza war more often than HRW and seems to be mentioned in the report body about as often as PCHR (although PCHR is mentioned more in footnotes.) In other words, it seems that Goldstone put a lot of emphasis on TAWTHEQ's direct testimony to the Commission.

Who is TAWTHEQ? It is not an NGO - it is Hamas!
Israeli who testified to UN commission: Goldstone fell asleep

AJC Condemns 'Grotesquely Distorted' UN Report on Gaza Conflict


Syria - UN: Israel committed war crimes in Gaza
You know you are over the target when you start feeling the FLAK88

Happy Birthday, FLAK88!

HRW analyst suspended over Nazi items

US envoy meets Israeli PM
Talking led to the predictable agreement to do more talking.

Mitchell makes last push for concessions on settlements

Netanyahu rules out freeze on Israeli settlements, source says

NYPD's Israeli Detective Warns Of Hamas Splinters

Analysis: Looming water crisis in Gaza

Syria blocks Facebook after Golan Israel recognition

Iraq Fails to Elicit Response From Security Council For International Tribunal
Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the UN and current rotating president of the UN Security Council, said that no Council member supports Iraq's demand for the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate [SYRIA] for the massive August 19 bombings in Baghdad. Other diplomats have called the Iraqi demand "unrealistic."

In South Lebanon, Tension Increases Between UNIFIL and Hizbullah

Lebanon Set to Renominate Hariri For PM Job
Lebanon's president began talks on Tuesday expected to result in Saad al-Hariri being nominated for a second time to form a government -- a task seen as complicated by rising political tension.

President Michel Suleiman began receiving Lebanon's 128 lawmakers at his palace overlooking Beirut on Tuesday. He is obliged to designate the figure with the most support among MPs. The consultations conclude on Wednesday.

Hariri, a U.S.- and Saudi-backed billionaire businessman, is expected to be nominated by members of his parliamentary majority coalition, which defeated a rival alliance including the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah in a June election.
Queens terror raids part of FBI probe into Denver-based cell plotting attack on 9/11 scale
The Queens apartment raids were triggered by the Denver investigation, the operative's New York visit and the timing of the upcoming UN General Assembly. New York authorities also detained several men - later released - in a hunt for bomb-making components, explosive powders and fuses. "The hallway was filled with guys with armor," said one man awakened when the FBI broke down a the door of a neighbor with ties to the mosque. "Heavy armor."
UK: Rapist praised by judge for converting to Islam
A judge lambasted a rapist for claiming his victim was a liar - then commended him for becoming a muslim.
Egyptian Christian's Murder Sparks Sectarian Tension
A large crowd of angry Coptic Christians gathered in front of a church Wednesday in the Egyptian town of Bagur, following the murder of a Christian shopkeeper and the stabbings of two others, police said. The attacks took place in and around the Nile Delta town of Bagur, police told the German Press Agency dpa. Bagur is in Manufiya province, north-west of Cairo. "There is anger among the Christians because they feel their blood has been made cheap," Archbishop Stefanos, head of the Mar Girgis (St George) Coptic Church in al-Bagur, told dpa.

He said that a man repeatedly stabbed local shopkeeper George Abdu, 63, in the abdomen and the neck, killing him, then fled on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The archbishop said that the killer drove 4 kilometres to the village of Bamahai and repeatedly stabbed a cobbler, who suffered wounds to the head and lung. The suspect then drove to another nearby village, Mit Afifi, and stabbed a third Christian man, Hani Barsum, in the neck. Barsum and the cobbler were hospitalized, Stefanos said. The archbishop said Abdu's funeral would take place Thursday at the church in Bagur.
Pakistani Christian Accused of 'Blasphemy' Murdered in Prison

Pakistan's Top 10 Militant Commanders

Scottish Politics, Middle East Money
Mr. Saeed doesn't hide his belief in the restoration of the caliphate...
US Military Closes Largest Detention Camp in Iraq

Iraqi 'shoe-thrower' shot dead by US forces
The incident came a day after Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi was freed after spending nine months in jail for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush during a visit to Baghdad.
Bush 'shoe thrower' claims he was tortured in prison

Baghdad Green Zone attacked during Biden visit


Iraq seeks 30-year water plan to fight drought

Insurgents vow to avenge US attack in Somalia


What Happened to the U.S. Deadline on Iran? ~ Dore Gold
In 2003-2005, Tehran engaged with the EU-3 for two years, exploiting the talks to race ahead with construction of key uranium enrichment facilities, while fending off punitive measures by the UN Security Council for three entire years. Iran today is far more advanced than it was then and the time for diplomatic experimentation is extremely limited.
'Time is Running Out' to Prevent Nuclear Iran

A Dangerous Policy Toward Iran

David Ignatius's Sept. 10 column, "For Iran's Spies, a Putsch," concludes by noting that the U.S. administration has three options vis-à-vis Iran: "engage, contain or attack," but it has not decided what to do.

Unfortunately, there is a fourth option, "appease," which is exactly what Washington is doing. And, because appeasement is America's new policy toward Iran, the Middle East is headed for trouble.

Iran: Atomic chief says ready to defend nuclear facilities
Nobody rules these streets tonight but me... The Atomic Punk!



Chief whore of the caliphate, EU division, SOLANA sez:
Iran Nuclear Talks Likely In Turkey

Iran ready for 'constructive' talks with six powers: Russia

Iran hopes for a new world order

STFU - there it is again!

Military industries feature in Iran-Venezuela cooperation

US worried about Venezuelan arms buildup
Vexed, even!

THE ECONOMIST: Venezuela's foreign policy Friends in low places
AND AGAIN! STFU, crazy pitchfork bitch!
The regimes he is so assiduously cultivating are, by this account, the nucleus of a new world order.
Iran's North Korean model

Should Iranians Care About Jerusalem?
The slogan "Neither Gaza, Nor Lebanon -- My Life Is Devoted to Iran" is currently popular in Iran. Posters are being produced and distributed widely via the Internet. The question that is increasingly raised and discussed is: Why has the Islamic Republic made the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one of its main foreign policy priorities?
President Karzai's credibility a problem... and there's no Plan B
Hey I know! Try Plan 9 from outer space.

UN officials in Afghanistan at odds over election


More troops likely needed in Afghanistan, Mullen says

China Trains Afghans and Iraqis in Mine Clearing
In the first new development in postwar Iraq, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation has struck oil at the Ahdab field in Wasit Province
The Two Sinopecs Bounce Back

India, Mongolia sign uranium agreement


After Mongolia uranium deal, India targets Turkmenistan gas


ITALY: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's control of Italian television came under fresh scrutiny on Tuesday after the prime-time line-up of both state and private networks was changed to give him the spotlight.

Morales says Bolivia will not "impose" energy nationalization

Sudan orders probe into oil revenue "discrepancies"

Mazepa: Architect of European Ukraine?

Mexico officers arrested, accused of ties to drug cartel


China, Russia tarred with US intel listing
The United States fingered emerging superpower China and resurgent Russia as its main challengers on Tuesday in new intelligence guidelines that highlighted the rising scourge of cyber-war."A number of nation-states have the ability to challenge US interests in traditional and emerging ways," said the 2009 National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) document."

China shares many interests with the United States, but its increasing natural resource-focused diplomacy and military modernization are among the factors making it a complex global challenge."Intelligence director Dennis Blair said his guidelines for the next four years elevate "the importance of the challenges we face in the cyber domain," and singled out China as "very aggressive in the cyberworld."His strategy review, the first since 2005, warned the Internet was "neither secure nor resilient" and recommended measures "across the cyber domain to protect critical infrastructure."

The Russians also came in for criticism on the cyber threat issue and the intelligence document noted that Moscow's intentions on the world stage remained unclear."Russia is a US partner in important initiatives such as securing fissile material and combating nuclear terrorism, but it may continue to seek avenues for reasserting power and influence in ways that complicate US interests," it said.
Obama expected to shelve missile defense plan
Yah well we knew that when he never answered or even acknowledged receipt of central & eastern Europe's open letter to him.
The Czech national news agency CTK, citing a diplomatic source it didn't identify, reported that Obama indicated the U.S. intends to "withdraw from its missile defense project in the Czech Republic and Poland."
An Open Letter To The Obama Administration From Central And Eastern Europe
The open letter to the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama appeared in the Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" on July 16, 2009.
Leadership change is also coming in Central and Eastern Europe. Next to those, there are fewer and fewer leaders who emerged from the revolutions of 1989 who experienced Washington's key role in securing our democratic transition and anchoring our countries in NATO and EU. A new generation of leaders is emerging who do not have these memories and follow a more "realistic" policy. At the same time, the former Communist elites, whose insistence on political and economic power significantly contributed to the crises in many CEE countries, gradually disappear from the political scene. The current political and economic turmoil and the fallout from the global economic crisis provide additional opportunities for the forces of nationalism, extremism, populism, and anti-Semitism across the continent but also in some our countries.
Russia praises Iran's willingness to meet world powers on nuclear issue

Medvedev: US blocking Russia's WTO entry

Medvedev lashes out at US hegemony
"Global Caliphate" or "Benevolent Hegemony" ?
NATO Supply Routes Through the South Caucasus

Russia to detain Georgian ships off Abkhazia
"From the perspective of international maritime law, the (Russian) coast guards are pirates and this is plain and simple occupation," Giorgi Kandelaki, deputy chairman of the Georgian parliament's foreign relations committee, told The Associated Press.Also adding to tensions, a Georgian official said an explosion damaged a passenger train in Zugdidi, a town near Abkhazia. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said no casualties were reported in the blast, which he called terrorism. There was a similar explosion targeting a train in Zugdidi in early September.
Inquiries Sought in Journalists' Deaths in Russia

The group, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a report that 17 journalists in Russia had been killed in retaliation for their work since 2000, making Russia the third most dangerous country for the press, after Iraq and Algeria. In only 1 of the 17 cases have the killers been punished, the report said.

“Any state that turns a blind eye — or worse — toward the assassination of reporters cannot call itself a democracy,” Kati Marton, a board member of the group, wrote in the report. Ms. Marton led a delegation to Moscow this week to meet with officials and others to push for progress in the cases.

The committee said the journalists became targets because they were scrutinizing powerful people by reporting on corruption or other misconduct.
Damaged Siberian power plant to be rebuilt - Putin

Vladimir Putin hands over watch to cheeky metalworker
A Russian factory worker persuaded Vladimir Putin to hand over his expensive Swiss watch after the prime minister admitted times were tough for ordinary people.
Zionist Anti-Communist: Nashi Cyber Wing Promoting Spetsnaz Films
Here it seems here that YouTube may have its own Nashi cyber wing. This is a propaganda video promoting the Soviet Spetsnaz special elite wing of the KGB/FSB. It was authored by this hardline crypto-Communist Russian nationalist whom goes by the screen name of Solovey12. Aside from that, it's also happens to be endorsed by some open Russian Communists.

Isn't this a bit of a retro Soviet propaganda here?

Bglobal signs deal with Superdrug, shares surge
The company on Monday said it had signed a contract with Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail Ltd (GM&TR), the UK retail arm of Russian gas export monopoly
CENTRAL ASIA: RISING TALIBAN THREAT PROMPTS REGIONAL BORDER COOPERATION
Operation "Milestones of the Fatherland-2009" is bringing together border troops from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia. ...
UZBEKISTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN: MORE SIGNS OF STRIFE

Kyrgyzstan announces autumn active duty call-up

Kyrgyzstan to submit alternative report to UN Committee on Rights of the Child
Alternative reports are “one of the ways for the civil society to influence the authority.”
“Physically-challenged persons are suppressed in Kyrgyzstan”

Kyrgyzstan ranks among 10 top recipients of Russian money transfers


Tajikistan Wants 300 Million USD for Russian Military Base Deployment?
According to information sources within the Tajik Government, the state authorities want to revise the format of military cooperation with Russia and charge it for deployment of the Russian base on Tajik territory. Some sources even suggest that the bill may hit fantastic amount of 300 million USD per year, BBC reports.

This information however has neither been confirmed nor disproved officially. Anatoliy Serdukov, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation paid a working visit to Dushanbe last Friday. The Russian minister engaged in negotiations with his counterpart Sherali Hairulloev and Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi during his stay.
Islamic Party Leader In Tajikistan Says He Supports Secular System

Pakistan attaches importance to relations with Tajikistan

M&M completes Central Asian coverage following Tajikistan opening
Melts in your mouth, not in your hands tovarich?

TURKMENISTAN: ISRAELI DELEGATION VISITS ASHGABAT
An Israeli delegation is in Ashgabat for talks with the representatives of the Turkmen ministries of foreign affairs and internal affairs.In May, Israel announced it would open an embassy in the Turkmen capital once a suitable building and location has been found. The embassy will be Israel’s closest diplomatic outpost to Iran, as Ashgabat is just 32-kilometers from the Iranian border.The Israeli group is headed by Pinchas Avivi, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s deputy director general for Central Europe and Eurasia. Avivi is also a former ambassador to Turkey.
ADB Approves $500 Million Fiscal Stimulus Loan to Kazakhstan

Romania wants to buy uranium from Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has almost 20 per cent of uranium reserves worldwide and aims at becoming the largest international producer
Corruption in Kazakhstan's Airmobile Forces

Vietnam, Kazakhstan agree to foster ties

UK: We must reach out to Kazakhstan

Closing our eyes to democratic shortcomings in Kazakhstan would not only be inconsistent with our obligations as a fellow OSCE member, it would also be bad for business. Experience shows that the continuing expansion of any economy must be matched by ever higher standards of education, by greater respect for human rights, and by the reduction in the gap between rich and poor, and between men and women. Just because change does not happen overnight does not mean that it should not be encouraged. Sometimes engagement – hardheaded or otherwise – is the only way to make change happen.

Why does this matter to Britain? Kazakhstan's economy has developed rapidly over the last decade, largely due to massive oil and gas reserves. British companies and expertise have been closely involved in the development of those resources – and it is right that they are. For Britain and for Kazakhstan, the relationship means jobs and prosperity. For Europe, it means greater energy security.

Prince Andrew, his £15m home and the Kazakhstan connection

Bill Clinton's Kazakh connection


Major Bill Clinton Ally In Kazakhstan Uranium Scandal

Delegation From Uzbekistan Took Part in the 'Summer Davos' World Economic Forum
Uzbekistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Dr. Gulnara Karimova and Fund Forum Representatives Took Part in the WEF 'New Champions' Annual Meeting 2009 in Dalian, China.
Uzbekistan snubs EU human rights pressure

EU Stresses 'Broad, Deep' Relationship With Uzbekistan


The bicycle diaries: Out of Uzbekistan


World oil demand to grow again in 2010: OPEC

The Old Man and the Sea of Oil
Oil bulls are putting their faith in an old man and a little boy. They hope the former, septuagenarian Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi, is right in saying there has been "a fundamental change" in the oil market. They hope the latter, the weather pattern called El Niño, "the boy," will go easy on them. Mr. Naimi, speaking ahead of last week's summit for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was trying to draw attention from extraordinarily high oil inventories, emphasizing instead that the global economy is recovering.
Natural Gas Shares Get Boost From Futures

Morgan Stanley to Hire More in Brazil After Doubling Bank Staff


Morning Bell: Don't Enable The Financial-Regulatory Complex

Fed official: Set clear limits on when, how to aid banks
Lacker said he would favor revisions to the law that allows the Fed to lend to any individual or corporation in “unusual and exigent” circumstances
Lehman Brothers: One year later

Lehman Bankruptcy and Engineered Financial Armageddon
The truth of the matter is that virtually all of the western banks were bankrupt as I warned of several times during the preceding 12 months, and most notably barely a week before Lehman's burst the credit crisis dam ( BANKRUPT Banks Wiped Out by Tulip Backed Securities) that was an inevitable outcome given the state of the bank balance sheets that required tax payer cash in the trillions as the $500 trillion derivatives market continued to deleverage following the crash of the housing bubbles.
Lehman Brothers and the Persistence of Moral Hazard

One Year Later: Goldman Sachs's amazing rebound
AMAZING!

Obama names IMF official to US Treasury post
IMF: International MFers
Obama on Monday named International Monetary Fund deputy research director Charles Collyns as the U.S. Treasury's new assistant secretary for international finance. As the No. 2 official in the Treasury's international affairs section, Collyns will be responsible for representing the Treasury's interests among multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and international development banks.

He will report to the nominee for undersecretary for international affairs, Lael Brainard, whose nomination is still being vetted by the Senate Finance Committee. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that that a nomination hearing for Brainard was being held up by an inquiry regarding her personal taxes. A spokeswoman for the panel's ranking Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley, declined to confirm a tax inquiry and said only that the vetting process was still underway.
Lael Brainard
The world’s leaders haven’t spoken with a single voice when it comes to brokering a solution to the global economic crisis. While the U.S. has called for massive economic stimulus, the European Union President and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has labeled the U.S. economic plan the “road to hell.” All the while, China has grown in power, buying up U.S. government debt by the billions. If confirmed as the top U.S. financial diplomat, Brainard will have the difficult job of negotiating an economic truce.

Obama nominated Brainard to serve as Treasury undersecretary for International Affairs after at least two possible candidates, Annette Nazareth and H. Rodgin Cohen, withdrew their names from consideration. Brainard’s nomination came the same day that Obama named Neal S. Wolin as his deputy secretary candidate.

Brainard comes from the liberal Brookings Institution, where she helped start the Global Economy and Development program. She is a veteran of the Clinton administration, where she worked as the deputy director of the National Economic Council under Gene Sperling. She also advised Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Charles Collyns

Obama Invites Same Meltdown He Promises to Avoid
The slower growth rate that comes with Obama’s policies ensures a heavy tax burden even without another market crisis -- or just as likely, a dollar crisis. The president argued that “those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.” But his plan does too little to prevent such a next time, and it ensures that taxpayers will indeed be the ones breaking that fall.

Obama's Speech: How His Wall Street Audience Reacted
These were the people Mr. Obama was really speaking to when he said, “You don’t have to wait to put the 2009 bonuses of your senior executives up for a shareholder vote. You don’t have to wait for a law to overhaul your pay system so that folks are rewarded for long-term performance instead of short-term gains.” And it was at those words that many in the audience looked down, grimaced for a moment or took a nervous look at their BlackBerries. (I won’t “out” anyone by name, but they know who they are.)

Another line that brought some scowls: “It is neither right nor responsible after you’ve recovered with the help of your government to shirk your obligation to the goal of wider recovery, a more stable system and a more broadly shared prosperity.” As I left the speech, however, virtually every executive I spoke with was politely supportive. “Tonally, he was correct,” Mr. Cohn of Goldman Sachs said. “Reform is necessary.”
Goldman, Deutsche Bank: Pay Curbs Would Rig Market

Sarkozy Wants G-20 to Reject "Cult of the Market"
When the G-20 meets in Pittsburgh next week, French President Sarkozy will urge world leaders to make two moves -- one immediate and one long-term -- that have the potential to temper capitalism's worst abuses and reassert human values at the national and international levels. Sarkozy's aides say he will walk out of the summit of presidents and prime ministers from the world's most developed countries if the leaders fail to endorse a plan to curb bonuses for bankers.
The Mysterious Death of CIA Scientist Frank Olson
In 1975, 22 years after CIA Scientist Frank Olson allegedly committed suicide by jumping through a closed window on the 10th floor of his room in a New York City hotel in 1953, shocking new details about his death were revealed in the findings of a special Presidential Commission investigating the CIA.

The case remained dormant from then until 1996 when Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau opened a new criminal investigation into Dr. Olson's death. Morgenthau's decision was spurred by the startling discoveries of noted forensic sleuth James Starrs of George Washington University, who took on the case at the behest of Olson's family. Following Starrs's many revelations, Morgenthau assigned the Olson case to his newly created Cold Case Unit headed by Stephen Saracco and Daniel Bibb.

For the past six years investigators for Morgenthau's office have been digging meticulously into Olson's death. That investigation has been the subject of tremendous speculation and many rumors during those years. Investigative journalist H.P. Albarelli Jr. has also been quietly investigating Frank Olson's death for over seven years, using the Freedom of Information Act to access a trove of once-secret documents pertaining to Olson's death. In a two-part article written for Crime Magazine, Albarelli, who has spent time in New York with the D.A.'s investigators, reveals new insights into the Olson case, one of the 20th century's most provocative unsolved mysteries.
A Question of Torture

Terminal Behavior Control Experiments By The CIA
A report by Harlan Girard ~ 1989

Mind Games New on the Internet (2007):
A community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds. They may be crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that. IF HARLAN GIRARD IS CRAZY, HE DOESN'T ACT THE PART.

He is standing just where he said he would be, below the Philadelphia train station's World War II memorial -- a soaring statue of a winged angel embracing a fallen combatant, as if lifting him to heaven. Girard is wearing pressed khaki pants, expensive-looking leather loafers and a crisp blue button-down. He looks like a local businessman dressed for a casual Friday -- a local businessman with a wickedly dark sense of humor, which had become apparent when he said to look for him beneath "the angel sodomizing a dead soldier." At 70, he appears robust and healthy -- not the slightest bit disheveled or unusual-looking. He is also carrying a bag.
CACI torture suit dismissed

CACI Awarded $24.5 Million Task Order to Continue Support for US Army


Taking Technology Into Battle
William Schneider Jr. is president of International Planning Services, a Washington-based international trade and finance advisory firm, and he is an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute. He was formerly Under Secretary of State for security assistance, science and technology (1982-1986), and served as associate director for national security and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (1981-1982) prior to his nomination by President Ronald Reagan to serve at the State Department.

Schneider currently serves as an advisor to the U.S. government in several capacities for departments of Defense, Energy and State. He was appointed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in March 2001 to serve as chairman of the Defense Science Board. He also served as a member of the Secretary Rumsfeld's Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States. He is chairman of the Department of State Defense Trade Advisory Group, where he also is a member of its Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Advisory Board. He previously served as chairman of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1987 to 1993. Dr. Schneider received his Ph.D. degree from New York University in 1968. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Josh Wolfe: Tell me about the role of the Defense Science Board (DSB).

State Fusion Centers to Get Access to Secret DOD Data

The Rubicon once seemed so far away
Six powerful Congressmen and Senators of both major parties request a GAO study of NORTHCOM’s “coordination when exercising in collaboration with the very State, local, and tribal governments that the Command was created to support.” Then the study’s results are published on the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Might we discern an agenda?
Raytheon gets $8.2M Army deal

Science Applications Wins $18 Million Navy Contract


SAIC gets $41.6M Army deal for MRAP program

Former Napolitano advisor named Arizona US Attorney

Color-Coded Terror Alerts Divide Advisory Panel

US forced to seek regional alliances as its power wanes
Welcome to Post America. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

The Green Pope
Yeah but is he jolly?

Lawmakers back officials facing jail for prayer
Two Florida school officials facing possible jail terms for praying in the presence of students arrive in court Thursday enjoying the support of more than 60 members of Congress. Some of those members, who signed a letter of support and sent it to the two school officials Monday, took to the House floor Tuesday night to denounce what they called a "criminalization of prayer" that "tramples on the First Amendment rights" of Christians.
Downtown St. Louis Crucifix draws criticism
It is his store and he should be able to display a crucifix there. If she does not dig it she can certainly just take her ass to another store.
But some customers are reacting angrily to the new display. Lori Weinstock, 40, a health care professional from University City, was shopping a few weeks ago when, after paying, she looked up to see the crucifix.

"It startled me. It seemed so out of place," Weinstock, who is Jewish, said. She was startled enough to write a letter that was published last week in the newspaper the Jewish Light. "It would have been equally startling if it had been a Star of David or an emblem of another religion," Weinstock said. "It's grocery shopping, and it should be welcoming to all and exclude none."

Collora says exclusion is not what he had in mind. The crucifix, he said, "is not meant to promote one faith over another. It's just an opportunity to share a part of myself and my life with people I work hard to serve every day."
Finnish advertising watchdog clears atheist bus campaign
Finland's Council of Ethics in Advertising, a self-regulatory body that is part of the Central Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday it did not consider the atheist bus campaign inappropriate. Inspired by the original campaign in the UK, the Union of Freethinkers and the Humanist Association bought advertising space on the sides of buses in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. As in Britain, the stickers read "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

The member of the public who filed the complaint against the campaign had felt the adverts had violated freedom of religion and the UN human rights declaration because Muslim drivers had been forced to drive the buses with the ads. "A campaign cannot be considered to be generally offensive just because individual religious people may feel it is," said Paula Paloranta, the secretary of the Council of Ethics in Advertising.

Voices of Power: Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius
SECRETARY SEBELIUS: Well, the President has made it pretty clear that Congress and the new health insurance plan will not provide federal funds for abortions.

MS. ROMANO: Well, I know that. I was asking you what you thought.

SECRETARY SEBELIUS: I am the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and I will support the President's proposal moving forward. MS. ROMANO: You are also a pro-choice Catholic, and I was reading some stories out of your home state recently where one of the bishops took an action. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SECRETARY SEBELIUS: Well, the Archbishop in the Kansas City area did not approve of my conduct as a public official and asked that I not present myself for communion.

New Objections to Baucus Health Care Proposal
In addition, they said, health plans should not be obliged to provide abortion.
Reform Bill Will Address GOP Fears
Is that right? Why would federal subsidies for abortion have to be banned if they never existed in the first place - as loudly and daily claimed far and wide by a cast of so-smart thousands?
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Monday that he will propose an overhaul of the nation's health-care system that addresses a host of GOP concerns, including blocking illegal immigrants from gaining access to subsidized insurance, urging limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and banning federal subsidies for abortion.
President makes direct appeal to Congress to pass health care reform

Using Abortion to Choose Baby's Gender

Two UC Berkeley faculty among 10 recipients of $100,000 Heinz Awards
Past recipients of Heinz Awards include author Dave Eggers, medical anthropologist Paul Farmer, "environmental watchdog" Thomas FitzGerald, marine biologist Jane Lubchenco, Paul Anastas, a leader in the "green chemistry movement," and physicist John Holdren, who is now director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.
A rare discovery: Engraved gemstone carrying a portrait of Alexander the Great

Second Temple Period Stepped Street Discovered

Folk singer Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72



Kamchatka peninsula: Volcanoes, Valley of geysers and Valley of Death

Venezuela's Chavez aims to tap nuclear energy

CARACAS (Reuters) - A strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook major oil exporter Venezuela on Saturday, causing panic in the capital, Caracas, and injuring at least seven people when houses in the countryside collapsed.

4.5 Mb - NORTHERN ITALY


Quake Hits Italy as Berlusconi Shows Homes to Abruzzo Victims

5.0 Mb - NORTHERN QINGHAI, CHINA

5.3 Mb - HALMAHERA, INDONESIA

Author William K. Vogeler Says Gravity Wobble Caused Big Earthquakes
Many of the largest earthquakes in history may have been caused by a wobble in the Earth`s obit, according to an author of a new book about gravity. William K. Vogeler, speaking to astronomers at the Pasadena Convention Center this month, will explain how recent gravity measurements support his theory. Vogeler contends that the Earth shudders as it approaches the Sun.

"As the Earth accelerates, its weight oscillates and causes the planet to vibrate," he says. "This occurs in the lasts days of December and early January when the Earth is passing closest to the Sun," Vogeler says. "And nearly half of the largest earthquakes in recorded history have occurred during that stage in the planet`s orbit."
Kenya Seeks Millions to Save Mau Forest, Avert Water Crisis

Water crisis is here

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