December 31, 2005

SNOOPY'S FLYING (remote controlled) DOGHOUSE (turn on speakers)
Two different videos:
With Snoopy & the Red Barron song (2.8MB): http://raymondstacy.com/snoopy.wmv
With Who Let The Dogs Out? song (5.08MB): http://www.3d-nut.com/videos/doghouse.wmv

Huge new oil discovery in Brazil
Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, says it has discovered a huge new offshore oil field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.

…The new field is expected to help Petrobras achieve its goal of making Brazil self-sufficient in oil. Since 2003, the company has been meeting 91% of the country's needs…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4563896.stm

Regarding the next story I once said this is the type of thing you get when a man can marry a man because of “love.” I pointed out if a person can marry anything he “loves” he could marry his pet (or pet rock). I was told I was being absurd. When I provided examples of people marry dogs I was told that those were young, eastern, uneducated, poor people who were doing it as a part of their religion and who just didn’t know any better. So here’s a rich, educated western woman…

British woman marries her beloved dolphin
An unusual wedding ceremony was held in the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, as Sharon Tendler, a 41-years-old Jewish millionaire from London married her beloved Cindy, a 35-years-old dolphin, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.

...After a years-long romance, Tendler decided to embark on the highly unusual path of tying the knot with her beloved dolphin. Last week, she approached Cindy's trainer Maya Zilber with the extraordinary request.

...And so on Wednesday afternoon, the thrilled bride, wearing a white dress, walked down the dock before hundreds of astounded visitors and kneeled down before her groom, who was waiting in the water.

..."I'm the happiest girl on earth," the bride said as she chocked back tears of emotion. "I made a dream come true, and I am not a pervert," she stressed...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3191923%2C00.html

New NBC Show Called Anti-Christian Bigotry
Dec. 28, 2005- The American Family Association (AFA) says NBC’s new show "The Book of Daniel” is an example of that network’s anti-Christian bigotry.

AFA reported that NBC has received over 400,000 emails complaining about the program, scheduled to begin in January. In addition, local affiliates are being pounded with hundreds of phone calls asking them not to carry the program.

NBC touts the show as a serious drama about Christian people and the Christian faith. The main character is Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest whose wife depends heavily on her mid-day martinis…The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-year-old drug- dealing daughter and a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop’s daughter. Webster’s lesbian secretary is sleeping with his sister-in-law.

According to an article by Religion News Service, the series is written by Jack Kenny, a practicing homosexual, who describes himself as being "in Catholic recovery,” interested in Buddhist teachings about reincarnation, and unsure exactly how he defines God and/or Jesus...
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/28/114017.shtml

This next story is brought to you by the same people who think the Constitution doesn't mean what it says and means things it doesn't say... (You know, a living constitution)

Religious leaders rally for gay rights
...The group also met "to counter the very loud voices by a very few fundamentalist religious leaders" who oppose the bill, which was narrowly defeated in the 2005 Legislature and is expected to be reintroduced in the upcoming session, said Robert Jacobs, Northwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League...

"They speak so often ... as if they represent the word of God," Jacobs said…

The Rev. Monica Corsaro, ecumenical campus minister at the University of Washington, said, "We can't be literalists when it comes to interpreting scripture...It's not the perfect word of God..." Corsaro, is co-chairwoman of the Religious Coalition for Equality.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/253817_bill29.html?source=mypi

Court rules GM program not discriminatory
Diversity plan does not allow Christian employee groups
Dec. 30, 2005- A General Motors Corp. program that lets Hispanics, blacks or lesbians _ but not Christians _ organize in employee groups does not commit religious discrimination, a federal court ruled.

The company's Affinity Group diversity program treats all religions equally because no groups are allowed to promote religious positions, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled.

The claim arose after John Moranski, a born-again Christian who works at GM's Allison Transmission plant in Indianapolis, applied in December 2002 to start an interdenominational Christian employees group as part of the diversity program, according to court documents.

GM rejected the application because program guidelines do not allow the groups to promote religious positions, the documents say. Moranski filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and then filed a federal lawsuit claiming religious discrimination.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10651146/

Mars rovers find evidence of past hostile environment, but not life
December 6, 2005- Nearly two years after NASA's twin rovers parachuted to Mars, a Jekyll-and-Hyde picture is emerging about the planet's past and whether it could have supported life.

Both Spirit and Opportunity uncovered geologic evidence of a wet past, a sign that ancient Mars may have been hospitable to life. But new findings reveal the Red Planet was also once such a hostile place that the environment may have prevented life from developing...

The new analyses were presented on Monday at an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

Since landing on opposite sides of Mars in January 2004, the six-wheel rovers found conclusive evidence, based on examination of water-altered bedrock at their respective sites, that the planet once had water.

But the sedimentary rocks in the Martian plains where Opportunity landed also painted a picture of a past environment…that fluctuated between being very acidic and arid - conditions that were probably unfavourable to life...
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1565910%2C00040005.htm

Bill Clinton Authorized Extralegal Interrogations
Dec. 30, 2005- The man who ran the Central Intelligence Agency's Bin Laden desk during the 1990s is accusing President Clinton of giving the CIA carte blanche to circumvent U.S. law and interrogate terrorist suspects in any way the agency saw fit - a directive that led to the establishment of secret CIA prisons on foreign soil.

According to an Agence France Press summary of the Die Zeit interview, Scheuer explained that the Clinton administration "had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system."

...The secret CIA interrogation process became known as "renditioning," Scheuer said, explaining that it included moving prisoners without due legal process to countries without strict human rights protections.

...Scheuer's revelations contradict a much ballyhooed Nov. 2, 2005 report in the Washington Post, which insisted that "the secret detention system was conceived in the chaotic and anxious first months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks..."
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/30/104637.shtml

L.A. Times Falls for 'Federal Dog' Quote
Dec. 28, 2005- A quote in a fake news release that was intended as an April Fool's joke ended up in a front-page story in the Los Angeles Times.

The story in Tuesday's editions of the Times noted how successful the reintroduction of wolves had been 10 years ago, but said the predators remained controversial.

"In Wyoming, for example, Gov. Dave Freudenthal last April decreed that the Endangered Species Act is no longer in force and that the state 'now considers the wolf as a federal dog,' unworthy of protection," the story read.

..."The reporter saw it on the Internet and had talked with the governor in the past, so she was familiar enough with the way he talks and writes that she thought it sounded authentic, and she didn't check, which she should have," Times Deputy Metro Editor David Lauter told the Casper Star Tribune...
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/28/191732.shtml

December 28, 2005

Canada new destination of choice for pedophiles?
High court ruling legalized group-sex clubs with 14-year-olds
December 27, 2005- The Canadian Supreme Court ruling that redefined obscenity for that nation and legalized group-sex clubs, combined with Canada's unusually low age of consent – 14 – will result in an influx of pedophiles to America's neighbor to the north, contends a former consultant to the U.S. Justice Department.

In its Dec. 20 decision, Canada's Supreme Court legalized a type of business activity previously restricted by Canadian law, overturning two previous Quebec Court of Appeal decisions that had ruled group-sex clubs qualified as "bawdy houses" violating Quebec's community decency standards and were therefore illegal.

Judith Reisman, a world-renowned scholar and author of four books, including "Kinsey: Crimes and Consequences," said that since under Canadian law 14-year-olds are legally considered "consenting adults," the court's controversial decision "will now make Canada a sex traffic playground for pedophiles."

...Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin was joined by Justices Major, Binnie, Deschamps, Fish, Abella and Charron in the sex-club decision. Dissenting justices Michael Bastarache and Louis LeBel said the high court's ruling "strips of all relevance the social values that the Canadian community as a whole believes should be protected," according to Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.

"There is a real trend to break down moral principles in Canadian society," said Gwen Landolt, vice president of Real Women of Canada, according to LifeSiteNews.com. "The implications are horrendous," said Landolt. "It's an exploitation of human sexuality. Fourteen-year-olds will be exploited."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48075

Hannity igniting revolt against left-wing profs
Sick of indoctrination, Sean urges students to expose propaganda
November 28, 2005- College students bombarded with the personal political views of their professors are being urged by talk-show host Sean Hannity to fight back with hard evidence of purported indoctrination.

...Hannity's call to action comes in the wake of the case of Rebecca Beach, a 19-year-old freshman at Warren County Community College in Washington, N.J., who, as WorldNetDaily first reported, was sharply rebuked by an English professor for her announcement of a campus program featuring decorated Iraq war hero Lt. Col. Scott Rutter.

In an e-mail from professor John Daly to Beach, Daly wrote: "Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors."

He also said he would ask his students to boycott the event and vowed "to expose [her] right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like [Rebecca's] won't dare show their face on a college campus."

"That's free and open exchange of ideas and opinions on a college campus," Hannity commented sarcastically. "That's really cultivating freedom of thought."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47601

Rabbi refutes the "Big Lie" that Pope Pius XII was complicit in the Holocaust
Books like John Cornwell's Hitler's Pope and Garry Wills's Papal Sin (and others) have become New York Times bestsellers by arguing that Pope Pius XII was complicit in the Holocaust by failing to do enough to save the Jews from Nazi extermination. But in The Myth of Hitler's Pope, Othodox Jewish Rabbi David Dalin explodes this newly resurrected, widely accepted, yet utterly bankrupt smearing of a pope who was, in fact, to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, "a righteous gentile."

Rabbi David Dalin reveals:
How the myth of "Hitler's Pope" began -- as Communist propaganda
How liberal or apostate Catholics who are actively promoting the myth are exploiting a Jewish tragedy to undermine Church credibility on abortion and other issues
The little-known fact of "Hitler's Mufti": How the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who spent the war years as Hitler's guest in Berlin, advised and assisted the Nazis in carrying out Hitler's Final Solution
The true history of Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust: how the Catholic Church did more than any other religious or secular institution to save Jewish lives
Why the Nazis considered Pope Pius XII their mortal enemy - and at one point actually plotted to kidnap him
Why Jewish survivors of the Holocaust -- and the founders of postwar Israel -- praised the pope for his help
How the myth of "Hitler's Pope" has become a major factor in America's culture wars, even coloring reactions to Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ...
http://www.wndbookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6800#continue

Ex-ACLU attorney: Group 'terrorizing' U.S.
Activist praises bill that would keep taxpayer funds from organization
December 28, 2005 -An attorney who once worked for the American Civil Liberties Union has slammed the organization for "perverting" federal law by successfully threatening government officials into getting rid of public expressions of religion.

Rees Lloyd made the comments in an online podcast hosted by Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., in which the two discuss the congressman's legislation, the Public Expression of Religion Act, or PERA (H.R.2679). The bill would prohibit judges in civil suits involving the First Amendment's Establishment Clause from awarding attorney's fees to those offended by religious symbols or actions in the public square – such as a Ten Commandments display in a courthouse or a cross on a county seal.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Hostettler's proposal would amend the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 1988, to prohibit prevailing parties from being awarded attorney's fee in religious establishment cases, but not in other civil rights filings. This would prevent local governments from having to use taxpayer funds to pay the ACLU or similar organization when a case is lost, and also would protect elected officials from having to pay fees from their own pockets...

...Said the lawmaker: "When officials see the potential threat of a lawsuit, they stop allowing children to write papers for English class – when they're asked to write about the most important person in their life and they decide to write about Jesus Christ."

Hostettler's bill would allow cases to move through the courts without public officials worrying about being held personally liable for thousands in attorneys fees.

"Let's let these cases go forward; let's let the courts decide what's constitutional and what's not, and let's not leave it up to the ACLU," he said.

...PERA would prohibit damages, court fees and attorney's fees from going to plaintiffs in establishment-clause suits while keeping the original purpose of the civil-rights law, Hostettler says, to provide a means for those whose religious liberties have been blocked to find justice.

The congressman wonders why the ACLU would oppose his legislation since it still provides for "injunctive relief" – e.g., a court can rule in the ACLU's favor and force the removal of a Ten Commandments display – but takes out the monetary incentive for lawsuits.

"If they're not out for the money but are really out to preserve our civil liberties … then the ACLU should not be opposing my bill," Hostettler commented.

Hostettler mentioned the case of Judge Roy Moore in Alabama, whose colleagues on the state Supreme Court ordered the removal of a Ten Commandments display because, the congressman says, they didn't want the state's taxpayers to have to pay anymore than they did – $500,000 – to the ACLU as a result of the case.

...Lloyd said this issue came into focus for him when he witnessed the fight in San Diego, Calif., over a cross on a veterans' memorial on public land in the Mohave Desert.

"For me, that was the one step taken too far," Lloyd said. "Now, for the first time, the ACLU was attacking the very veterans who secured their freedom."

...Lloyd says the American people are "oblivious" to how many millions of dollars in taxpayer funds are going to the ACLU each year.

The attorney pointed out many attorneys in cases brought by the ACLU are volunteers, so the fees the group is awarded normally do not go to reimburse an attorney but rather directly into the organization's coffers.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48098

L.A. Times admits false claim about Rev. Falwell
Columnist said minister tied Ellen DeGeneres to 9-11, Hurricane Katrina
December 27, 2005- A column by a rabbi published in the Dec 18 Los Angeles Times falsely asserted Rev. Jerry Falwell claimed lesbian actress Ellen DeGeneres played a role in the 9-11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina because she was the host of the Emmy Awards before both events. The Times ran a correction explaining the Baptist minister "made no such claim."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48090

December 22, 2005

Merry Christmas
http://www.reuters.hu/card_dom/index_content.html

What are the odds?
http://christiananswers.net/q-aiia/jesus-odds.html

Messianic Prophecies
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/messianicprophecies.html

You Can Know the Christ of Christmas
http://billygraham.org/DMag_Article.asp?ArticleID=623

Is biblical Christmas story true? Is Jesus Christ for real? http://christiananswers.net/christmas/skeptic.html

The Hope
On-line video (80 minutes) which clearly explains how Jesus Christ was born and why -- starting at the very beginning, at the dawn of Creation...
http://christiananswers.net/hope/home.html

Presidential Message: Christmas 2005http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051219-3.html

Presidential Message: Hanukkah 2005 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051219-4.html

looks like they're being taken for a ride...
Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey
Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article334686.ece

you'll shoot your eye out!
BB gun registration in Waukegan
If there are any kids in Waukegan dreaming that Santa's going to put a Daisy Red Ryder air rifle under the tree this year like the one Ralphie Parker got in "A Christmas Story," the city wants to know if their wish comes true.

Under an ordinance passed last week, the City Council wants anyone who buys a BB gun, pellet gun, air rifle, air gun or a CO2-powered weapon to provide their names and addresses to the sellers.

The merchant would be required to pass on information to the Waukegan Police Department. Storeowners who fail to forward the information would face a fine and a business license suspension. Police Chief Bill Biang said firing an air gun in Waukegan is illegal and said he hopes the new regulation will help police track ownership.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northshore/chi-0512110459dec11,1,7334298.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorthshore-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Talk about slow...
Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which slammed the Bush administration for its allegedly slow and racially insensitive response to Hurricane Katrina, has yet to spend any of the estimated $400,000 that it raised for the victims of the Aug. 29 storm...
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200512\SPE20051222a.html

The Media's Shabbiest Moments
The year 2005 is ending as it began, with another successful election in Iraq and a liberal media still flapping around trying to find other controversies to submerge it. It does not matter to them that a Gallup poll found that 74 percent of Americans express confidence in their military, but only 28 percent express confidence in their newspapers or TV news outlets. The “mainstream” media excels in excoriating the performance of nearly everyone else, but acts as if nothing they do should be held up as ineffective, inaccurate, or just plain absurd.

That’s why the Media Research Center and a panel of more than 50 judges have compiled an annual “Best Notable Quotables,” a collection of the media’s greatest stinkers in the past 12 months. The utterances speak volumes about our supposedly ideologically detached press corps...

my favorite:
...In August, NBC’s “Today” show was in Iraq, and Specialist Steven Chitterer told co-host Matt Lauer that "Morale is always high. Soldiers know they have a mission. They like taking on new objectives and taking on the new challenges." Lauer won the “Good Morning Morons Award” for interjecting: “Don’t get me wrong here, I think you are probably telling me the truth, but a lot of people at home are wondering how that could be possible with the conditions you’re facing and with the attacks you’re facing. What would you say to those people who are doubtful that morale can be that high?” Captain Sherman Powell unloaded a quote for the ages: "Sir, if I got my news from the newspapers also, I’d be pretty depressed as well."
http://www.cnsnews.com/bozellcolumn/bozell.asp

Palestinians boot Jews, now beg them for help
Arabs unable to reproduce successes in area greenhousesDecember 22, 2005The Palestinians who took over the Jewish greenhouses in the Gaza Strip when Israel withdrew its communities from the area now are asking expelled farmers for advice after reportedly failing to reproduce the region's famous insect-free vegetables, WND has learned.

Prior to Israel's August withdrawal, the residents of Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish communities ran greenhouses known for producing high-quality insect-free vegetables. The Gush Katif gardens featured some of the most technologically advanced agricultural equipment and accounted for more than $100 million per year in exports to Europe. The greenhouses also supplied Israel with 75 percent of its own produce.

...Earlier this month, the Palestinians now running the greenhouses reportedly told the Israeli-Palestinian Economic Cooperation Fund they failed in their efforts to grow bug-free produce.

Now the Palestinian owners have asked the United States Agency for International Development, which has been involved in reconstruction efforts in Gaza, to hire former Jewish Gaza greenhouse owners as consultants for their declining vegetable businesses.

...Anita Tucker, an expelled Gaza resident and one of the pioneer farmers of Gush Katif, told WND, "I am not at all surprised the Palestinians are failing. When they worked in our greenhouses they needed to be monitored closely. Many didn't understand certain things, like not using different kinds of chemicals. Plus when we were in Gaza, our efforts were blessed by God."

...Asked if she would serve as a consultant for the new Palestinian owners of her former greenhouses, Tucker said, "Probably not. We see the terror coming out of Gaza, coming out of the neighborhood I used to live in, and it's just horrible. Hamas has taken over different parts of Gush Katif and are firing rockets into Israel. I am not saying the Palestinian farmers are involved, but it seems they are not doing enough to stop the terror." http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48015

Canada Legalizes "Sex Clubs" - "14-year-olds will be exploited"
OTTAWA, Ontario, December 21, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that group sex in publicly accessible venues is legal.

In a ruling handed down this morning, Canada's Supreme Court has declared it is legal for clubs to provide opportunities for group sex. As long as consent is given, the area is somewhat private, and no payment is directly involved, partner exchanging or "swinging" and group participation in sexual acts is not considered illegal.

"The decision is certainly in line with the tendency of this court to throw out any restrictions to behavior," said Gwen Landolt, vice president of Real Women of Canada. "The courts are gradually reducing public concern about morality and behavior that is offensive. Judges don't have legitimacy."

"There is a real trend to break down moral principles in Canadian society. Those principles have been built based on human experience about what is in the best interest of society."

With sex clubs now protected by Canada's supreme court, the potential social repercussions are staggering. The age of sexual consent in Canada is 14. Canadian teenagers can now legally participate in group sex offered by clubs (so long as alcohol is not sold on the premises).

...In general, case law has defined an indecent act as that behavior which either offends the community or has the potential to cause harm to the community in some way. According to Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin, group sex neither offends nor harms the Canadian public.
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05122104.html

SCOTTISH Executive warns: no smoking at home
Key points
• Letters to be sent asking for no smoking one hour before public worker visits
• Plan to draw smokers' map of Scotland identifying where smokers live
• Smoking ban to come into force 26 March 2006

Key quote: "Does your organisation know which of the homes visited by its staff are occupied by smokers? If not, it would be advisable to develop such a list. Once the situation relating to individual properties is ascertained, steps can be taken to reduce the exposure the staff might face" - Executive published guidelines on the ban on smoking in public places

Story in full: THE public are to be told not to smoke in their own homes as part of plans to protect public sector workers from the effect of passive smoking.

The move is the latest part of the Scottish Executive's ban on smoking in public places, which will come into force on 26 March next year.

Ministers have told councils, health boards and social work departments that they should compile a "smokers' map" of Scotland, focusing on those who regularly receive visits from officials and carers. This would identify individual households where a smoker is resident...
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=2445122005

'Warrantless' searches not unprecedented
December 22, 2005 ... One of the most famous examples of warrantless searches in recent years was the investigation of CIA official Aldrich H. Ames, who ultimately pleaded guilty to spying for the former Soviet Union. That case was largely built upon secret searches of Ames' home and office in 1993, conducted without federal warrants.

In 1994, President Clinton expanded the use of warrantless searches to entirely domestic situations with no foreign intelligence value whatsoever. In a radio address promoting a crime-fighting bill, Mr. Clinton discussed a new policy to conduct warrantless searches in highly violent public housing projects.

...In 1978, for instance, Attorney General Griffin B. Bell testified before a federal judge about warrantless searches he and President Carter had authorized against two men suspected of spying on behalf of the Vietnam government.

That same year, Congress approved and Mr. Carter signed FISA, which created the secret court and required federal agents to get approval to conduct electronic surveillance in most foreign intelligence cases.

...The year after FISA became law, a columnist in The Washington Post described what could still happen to any person or group determined to be "an agent of a foreign power." "Once the attorney general has made that finding about someone, then the FBI can spy on them or burglarize their offices," wrote William Greider in a May 1979 column. The Bush administration and Republicans on Capitol Hill say terrorist cells in this country are precisely what those FISA loopholes were intended for, even if they don't represent a traditional enemy state...
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051222-122610-7772r.htm

December 21, 2005

Woman, 99, Is Secret Santa at Nursing Home
Dec 20 ODESSA, Texas - Residents at the Deerings Nursing Home have a very special secret Santa _ 99-year-old Sybil Rice. Rice, who lives on her own, makes gift baskets for the residents. On Monday, she and her family delivered 70 baskets to residents. "I think it's quite unusual _ she's doing it for people younger than she is," Nina Rice, her 72-year-old daughter-in-law, said in a story in Tuesday's Odessa American. "She shops on her walker and makes these sacks (for residents). She buys sugar-free things (for diabetics) and until this year, she has also baked sugar-free cakes."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/20/D8EKBJK80.html

Xmas
Xmas (or X-mas) is an abbreviation for Christmas. It is derived from the word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, transliterated as Christos, which is Greek for Christ. Greek is the language in which the whole New Testament was written.

Originally, in "Xmas", X represented the Greek letter χ (see chi). It was pronounced with an aspirated [kh], which is the first letter of Christ's name in Greek. An upper-case χ has the same shape as a Latin alphabet letter X, hence the abbreviation "Xmas".

It seems Christmas has been abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years...

...many people believe that the term is often used as a tool by some to "take Christ out of Christmas" as a means of secularization or a vehicle for pushing political correctness. This notion is greatly disputed....

...In ancient Christian art χ and χρ (Chi Ro--the first two letters in Greek of Christos) are abbreviations for Christ's name. In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos, as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma); compare IC for Jesus in Greek. The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551, 50 years before the first English colonists came to North America and 60 years before the King James Version of the Bible was completed. At the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of "Christian" and "Christianity".

The abbreviation is widely but not universally accepted; some view it as demeaning to Christ, whilst others find it helpful to use in text messages and emails to save space. ..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

Sounds like Tolkien's Orcs...
Stalin's half-man, half-ape super-warriors
THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents.

Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia's top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.

According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: "I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat."

In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a "living war machine". The order came at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to industrialisation: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian society were being created.

...Mr Ivanov was highly regarded. He had established his reputation under the Tsar when in 1901 he established the world's first centre for the artificial insemination of racehorses.

Mr Ivanov's ideas were music to the ears of Soviet planners and in 1926 he was dispatched to West Africa with $200,000 to conduct his first experiment in impregnating chimpanzees.

Meanwhile, a centre for the experiments was set up in Georgia - Stalin's birthplace - for the apes to be raised.

Mr Ivanov's experiments, unsurprisingly from what we now know, were a total failure. He returned to the Soviet Union, only to see experiments in Georgia to use monkey sperm in human volunteers similarly fail.

...For his expensive failure, he was sentenced to five years' jail, which was later commuted to five years' exile in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan in 1931. A year later he died, reportedly after falling sick while standing on a freezing railway platform.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2434192005

Appeals Court Approves Ten Commandments Display in Kentucky
December 20, 2005- A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in favor of keeping the Ten Commandments in a display of historical documents at the courthouse in Mercer County, Ky.

In its 3-0 decision, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and rejected an argument from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that the display in Harrodsburg violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment...
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200512\NAT20051220b.html

State Budgets Boosted by Bush Tax Cuts, Analysts Say
December 21, 2005 - After battling red ink for the past few years, state officials are watching their revenues increase to create budget surpluses, a development some analysts attribute to the financial growth caused by the tax cuts signed into law by President Bush in 2003.

According to the most recent Fiscal Survey of States released by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), only three states had to scale back their originally budgeted amounts in 2005 when revenues failed to meet projections.

...Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Cybercast News Service that "there's no question state government finances are very, very closely tied to the health of the national economy."

Forty-two states ended up collecting more revenue than they expected in the fiscal year that ended in June, the NASBO report states. Alabama, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and South Dakota saw their revenue projections match the FY 2005 amount budgeted, and only in three states -- Indiana, Missouri and Washington -- did the revenue come in short of the amount originally anticipated in fiscal year 2005.

The good news is expected to continue through the 2006 fiscal year, when proposed state budgets anticipate an average 5.2 percent increase in revenue and spending growth of about 3.8 percent...
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200512\SPE20051221a.html

Hurricane Katrina Hit As Category 3, Not 4
Katrina hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane, not a Category 4 as first thought, and New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain likely were spared the storm's strongest winds, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday…
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/20/D8EKC9S08.html

CARTER EXECUTIVE ORDER: 'ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE' WITHOUT COURT ORDER Jimmy Carter Signed Executive Order on May 23, 1979: "Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order":
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo12139.htm

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SECRET SEARCH ON AMERICANS -- WITHOUT COURT ORDER
Clinton, February 9, 1995: "The Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order":
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-12949.htm

[from the] WASH POST, July 15, 1994: …Extend not only to searches of the homes of U.S. citizens but also -- in the delicate words of a Justice Department official -- to "places where you wouldn't find or would be unlikely to find information involving a U.S. citizen... would allow the government to use classified electronic surveillance techniques, such as infrared sensors to observe people inside their homes, without a court order."

Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, the Clinton administration believes the president "has inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches for foreign intelligence purposes."

Secret searches and wiretaps of Aldrich Ames's office and home in June and October 1993, both without a federal warrant.
http://nationalreview.com/york/york200512200946.asp

The Constitution is not a suicide pact
...Ironically, many historians credit the phrase “The Constitution is not a suicide pact” to the Supreme Court. The author of this phrase is none other than that uber-executive Abraham Lincoln. Historian James G. Randall acknowledges, “No president has carried the power of presidential edict and executive order (independently of Congress) so far as [Lincoln] did.”

Remember President Lincoln? While many may not be aware, he’s the father of the military tribunal designed to try enemy combatants. He did so, arguing that they had the capacity to act quickly, to gather intelligence through interrogation, and to prevent confidential life-saving information from becoming public. It was also President Lincoln who declared martial law and who suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus...

...The Iraq War resolution gives the President the authority to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.” And the Patriot Act, among many significant changes, included enhanced FISA surveillance of foreign nationals. Combined with his constitutional powers, the president clearly has the legal authority to carry out this surveillance....
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/HoraceCooper/2005/12/21/179800.html

Privacy hypocrites
By Michelle Malkin Dec 21, 2005
Allow me to sum up the homeland security strategy of America's do-nothing brigade, led by the armchair generals at The New York Times and ACLU headquarters: First, bar law enforcement at all levels from taking race, ethnicity, national origin and religion into account when assessing radical Islamic terror threats. (But continue to allow the use of those factors to ensure "diversity" in public-college admissions, contracting, and police- and fire-department hiring.)...http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2005/12/21/179926.html

From the king of torture and creator of rape rooms...
Saddam Says He's Been Beaten in Detention
Dec 21 BAGHDAD, Iraq - After several hours of quietly listening to testimony, Saddam Hussein launched into an extended rant at his trial Wednesday, alleging that he had been beaten "everywhere on my body" while in detention...

"Yes I have been beaten, everywhere on my body. The marks are still there," Saddam told the court, without saying who had allegedly beaten him. "And I'm not complaining about the Americans because I can poke their eyes with my own hands." http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/21/D8EKO3OG4.html

December 20, 2005

Christmas Quiz
http://christiananswers.net/quiz/christmasquiz/home.html

True meaning of Christmas
http://christiananswers.net/christmas/home.html

Alaska Man Builds 16-Foot Snowzilla
Dec 20 ANCHORAGE, Alaska - With the help of his kids and neighbors, Billy Ray Powers built more than just a snowman _ they've dubbed his 16-plus-foot-tall creation "Snowzilla." After using up all the snow in the family's yard, they turned to neighbors' yards and carried buckets on sleds. They hand-packed the snowman like an ice-cream cone...It took a month to complete the project. It was too big to use buttons for its eyes, so Snowzilla gazes over the neighborhood from beer bottles... http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/20/D8EJVN5O2.html
photo at
http://www.happynews.com/news/12202005/alaska-man-builds-sixteen-foot-snowzilla.htm

Banned 'Jesus Dancers' file federal suit
December 19, 2005 Six girls barred from performing in a city's holiday show because they wore "Jesus Christ Dancers" shirts filed a federal lawsuit in San Diego today.

…the girls, ages 8 to 12, were scheduled to perform a hip-hop dance routine Dec. 3 at a "Holiday Festival" in Chula Vista, Calif., but a city official prevented them from going on stage because of the Christian message on their T-shirts and their accompanying Christian music. The black shirts, bearing a silver cross, had the words "Jesus Christ Dancers" on the front.

The American Family Association Center (AFA) senior trial attorney Brian Fahling said "The city allowed a Hawaiian prayer dance, a belly dancer and other 'holiday' performers, and there was a tree-lighting ceremony afterward where a rabbi lighted a menorah, but six young girls wearing T-shirts with 'Jesus Dancer' and a cross silk-screened on them was too offensive."

Specifically, the complaint says the city prohibited "the name of Jesus being displayed and the songs with words that praise the Christian God from being played while permitting other religious and secular songs and expression."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47982

Feds Need to Address Religious Discrimination in Nursing Homes at Christmastime
December 20, 2005 The president of Liberty Counsel says the federal government should issue guidelines designed to prevent religious discrimination in nursing homes and assisted living centers during the Christmas season.

Senior citizens in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts will now be able to celebrate Christmas, thanks to the intervention of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based law firm that specializes in religious liberties. Officials at senior citizens' centers in three communities -- Winter Park, Florida; Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; and Melrose, Massachusetts -- had placed restrictions on Christmas programs or displays. In the Winter Park case, for example, residents of an assisted living center were told neither they nor outside groups could sing Christmas carols.

But in all three cases, those policies were reversed after Liberty Counsel interceded. While pleased with those outcomes, the firm's president and general counsel, Mat Staver, says there are numerous similar cases pending nationwide. "To see the elderly deprived of the joy of Christmas breaks my heart," says Staver, whose 88-year-old mother now lives with his family after having spent several months in an assisted living facility.http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/202005a.asp

Grinches working overtime in schools
'Silent Night' silenced, 'Merry Christmas' censored, candy-cane story spiked
December 19, 2005 The war on Christmas continues to rage in America's public schools, but so does the counteroffensive... http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47993

University rejects Christian student group
December 20, 2005 A state university in California refuses to recognize a Christian student organization because it requires members to live according to the group's religious faith.

The Christian Student Association at California State University at San Bernardino submitted a constitution pledging it will not discriminate on the basis of "race, color, national origin, gender, or physical disability" but reserve the right to restrict membership based on religious beliefs and sexual orientation, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE.

In October, however, a university administrator said although the group "would not be required to admit members who did not support the purpose of the organization," it could not exclude students "because of their status as a non-Christian or as a homosexual."

...FIRE argues student groups at public universities have a right to ensure that their members "share their central beliefs."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47985

Canadian health-care — nothing close to paradise.
Canada’s universal-health-care system has long been a darling of the nanny-state Left… In practice, sadly, this high-minded endeavor has hit a few snags. The pesky fetters of reality have imposed stingy budget constraints on the enterprise, while the promise of free service for all has increased the demand for treatment. The Canadian government has thus struggled to treat more patients while spending as sparingly as possible on each of them, causing waiting lists to swell and the quality of care to sag. Not helping matters have been some medical professionals, who have fled the public system in search of better compensation. With shaking heads and sullen spirits, everyone involved agrees: It’s just not fair... More at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dick200512200840.asp

Local Theater Company puts on pedophile musical
Tuner's subject matter is anathema to ticket buyers
Around the holidays, the biggest challenge for many theater companies is convincing audiences to care about yet another staging of "A Christmas Carol." This season in Atlanta, however, Actor's Express wants to stir up buzz about a less familiar property -- namely, a pedophile musical....
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117934920&cs=

Clinton Claimed Authority to Order No-Warrant Searches
In a little-remembered debate from 1994, the Clinton administration argued that the president has "inherent authority" to order physical searches — including break-ins at the homes of U.S. citizens — for foreign intelligence purposes without any warrant or permission from any outside body. Even after the administration ultimately agreed with Congress's decision to place the authority to pre-approve such searches in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, President Clinton still maintained that he had sufficient authority to order such searches on his own.

...The Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes," Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick [under Clinton] testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 14, 1994, "and that the President may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the Attorney General."

"It is important to understand," Gorelick continued, "that the rules and methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities." Entire article at: http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200512200946.asp

Clinton Used NSA for Economic Espionage
During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton ordered the National Security Agency to use its super-secret Echelon surveillance program to monitor the personal telephone calls and private email of employees who worked for foreign companies in a bid to boost U.S. trade, NewsMax.com has learned.

In 2000, former Clinton CIA director James Woolsey set off a firestorm of protest in Europe when he told the French newspaper Le Figaro that he was ordered by Clinton in 1993 to transform Echelon into a tool for gathering economic intelligence.

...As NewsMax reported exclusively on Sunday, Echelon had been used by the Clinton administration to monitor millions of personal phone calls, private emails and even ATM transactions inside the U.S. - all without a court order.

The massive invasion of privacy was justified by Echelon's defenders as an indispensable national security tool in the war on terror.

…But Clinton officials also utilized the program in ways that had nothing to do with national security - such as conducting economic espionage against foreign businesses…
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/19/114807.shtml

Jimmy Carter Assumed Same Spy Power As Bush
By the authority vested in me as President by Sections 102 and 104 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802 and 1804), in order to provide as set forth in that Act for the authorization of electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1-101. Pursuant to Section 102(a)(1) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(a)), the Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order, but only if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that Section.

1-102. Pursuant to Section 102(b) of the Foreign Intelligence Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(b)), the Attorney General is authorized to approve applications to the court having jurisdiction under Section 103 of that Act to obtain orders for electronic surveillance for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence information.

Jimmy Carter 1978

Gonzales: Bush Did Not OK “Blanket” Surveillance
Some quotes from Monday's press briefing with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Gen. Michael Hayden, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, about the National Security Agency's program that eavesdrops on Americans' communications:

Gonzales said one party to the communication must be outside the United States and linked with al-Qaida or an affiliate organization. "The president has not authorized ... blanket surveillance of communications here in the United States."

Gonzales would not provide the documents laying out the legal arguments for the program, but he didn't rule out releasing more information later. "We're engaged now in a process of educating the American people ... and educating the Congress."

Hayden asserted the program has worked in combatting terrorists, although he wouldn't offer specifics: "I can say unequivocally ... that we have got information through this program that would not otherwise have been available."

Gonzales said "we'll just have to wait and see" whether there is an investigation into who leaked information about the program.

...Judgments on who to monitor are made at the NSA, approved by an NSA shift supervisor and carefully recorded, Hayden said. "The reason I emphasize that this is done at the operational level is to remove any question in your mind that this is in any way politically influenced," he said.

On the importance of the intelligence, Hayden said, "There are probably no communications more important to what it is we're trying to do to defend the nation ... than those communications that involve al-Qaida and one end of which is inside the homeland."http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/12/19/175112.shtml

Attorney General Gonzales: Congress OKd Spying
WASHINGTON -- Responding to a congressional uproar, the Bush administration said Monday that a secret domestic surveillance program had yielded intelligence results that would not have been available otherwise in the war on terror.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Congress had essentially given President Bush the authority for domestic surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks.

At a White House briefing and in a round of television appearances, Gonzales provided a more detailed legal rationale for President Bush's decision authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails of people within the United States without seeking warrants from courts.

Gen. Michael Hayden, deputy national intelligence director who was head of the NSA when the program began, said, "I can say unequivocally we have got information through this program that would not otherwise have been available."

Gonzales said he had begun meeting with members of Congress on the Bush administration's view that Congress' authorization of the use of military force after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was ample authorization for the surveillance.

"Our position is that the authorization to use military force which was passed by the Congress shortly after Sept. 11 constitutes that authority," Gonzales said.

It was the most detailed legal explanation given by an administration officials since the New York Times reported Thursday that since October 2001 Bush had authorized the NSA to conduct the surveillance. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/12/19/100309.shtml

Thank You for Wiretapping
Why the Founders made presidents dominant on national security.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005 … What we really have here is a perfect illustration of why America's Founders gave the executive branch the largest measure of Constitutional authority on national security. They recognized that a committee of 535 talking heads couldn't be trusted with such grave responsibility. There is no evidence that these wiretaps violate the law. But there is lots of evidence that the Senators are "illegally" usurping Presidential power--and endangering the country in the process...

...The allegation of Presidential law-breaking rests solely on the fact that Mr. Bush authorized wiretaps without first getting the approval of the court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. But no Administration then or since has ever conceded that that Act trumped a President's power to make exceptions to FISA if national security required it. FISA established a process by which certain wiretaps in the context of the Cold War could be approved, not a limit on what wiretaps could ever be allowed....

...The mere Constitution aside, the evidence is also abundant that the Administration was scrupulous in limiting the FISA exceptions. They applied only to calls involving al Qaeda suspects or those with terrorist ties. Far from being "secret," key Members of Congress were informed about them at least 12 times, President Bush said yesterday. The two district court judges who have presided over the FISA court since 9/11 also knew about them...
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007703

A president can pull the trigger
By John Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor, is the author of "The Powers of War and Peace"
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-yoo20dec20,0,4832707.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Courts hit parents with triple whammy
By Phyllis Schlafly
Dec 19, 2005 Federal …Two appellate courts held that parents have no right to stop offensive, privacy-invading interrogation of their own children in public schools. In a third case, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that it is not going to do anything to protect parental rights concerning schools.

It has become clear that many courts have adopted the notion that a village - in these cases, schools - should raise children. Judges prefer to side with schools and against parents.

...At issue was a 156-question survey called "Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors," which probed students about their personal lives and activities. The survey included questions about sex, drugs, suicide, incriminating behavior, spirituality, tolerance and other personal matters...

...The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went further, marking the school door as the line where parents' rights end and the "village" takes over. In Fields v. Palmdale School District in November, the judges ruled that the right of parents "does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door."

...Teachers are not required to answer these intrusive questions, so why are children? Evidently, parents are the only ones who do not benefit from equal protection of the law.
Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/phyllisschlafly/2005/12/19/179728.html

December 19, 2005

Deck the House
slide the ball to the right, and click on each symbol.
http://www.powerpres.com/xmascard03.html

Interactive Christmas card
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=0212320003I

Simon says...
http://www.santasez.sig-ad.com

TEACH THE CHILDREN
http://www.promiseofgod.com/teach/

Federally funded facilities tell residents not to sing carols or decorate
Managers in charge of two federally subsidized housing facilities have told residents in one case they cannot sing Christmas carols, and in another they can't decorate their own entry doors with religious symbols, according to a religious-liberty law firm.

Attorneys at Liberty Counsel say they have sent two separate letters to housing authorities subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development demanding that they reverse their positions regarding Christmas.

In a statement, the law group says the Housing Resource Development Corporation has informed those senior citizens living in its Winter Park, Fla., subsidized housing facility that they may not sing Christmas carols, nor may they have outside religious groups or churches sing Christmas carols in the facility.

Representing one of the residents, Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter asserting the housing authority is violating the Federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits religious discrimination. The housing authority was threatened with legal action if it did not lift the carols prohibition...http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47892

Australia: Christmas Ham Might Offend Muslims
18dec05 -A WA hospital has scrubbed baked ham from its Christmas menu, fearing Muslim patients could be offended.It has also overhauled its entire menu so that all meals are now halal – containing only meat and other food prepared according to Muslim customs.

But Port Hedland Regional Hospital staff and many non-Muslim patients are outraged, saying it is a case of political correctness gone mad.

Kitchen staff are so angry that they have organised a petition demanding ham be put back on the Christmas menu.

Other WA hospitals are also introducing halal dining, though the Health Department says Port Hedland is the only one to convert its entire menu to suit Muslims.

...The hospital's nursing director, Judy Davis, said though ham was not on the menu, Christian patients would not miss out on festive cheer.

"We'll still make Christmas special – we've got prawns and all sorts of other special treats," she said.

But one long-time Port Hedland hospital worker told The Sunday Times the menu change was "unAustralian".

"It's going to be a boring old Christmas lunch for the patients," he said. "After all, what's Christmas without a ham, or Sunday morning without bacon and eggs? http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C7034%2C17598854%5E2761%2C00.html

University Administrator Declares Christmas 'Forbidden' (as well as July 4th )
An administrator at California State University, Sacramento has banned decorations pertaining to Christmas and the 4th of July, among other holidays, from her office because they represent "religious discrimination" and "ethnic insensitivity."

"Time has come to recognize that religious discrimination, as well as ethnic insensitivity to certain holidays, is forbidden," Patricia Sonntag, director of the Office of Services to Students with Disabilities, stated in the directive she e-mailed to members of her staff on Dec. 9.

...The memo specifically names Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day and Easter as the most offensive holidays, but Sonntag adds that they are "off the top of the list," implying that there may be others.

...the university associate vice president for public affairs, Frank Whitlatch, distanced the university from Sonntag's policy, saying in a prepared statement that it "was well-intentioned but strays from the established practice."

He stated that the university "has no guidelines prohibiting holiday decorations," aside from the responsibility of supervisors, "to ensure that employees do not spend an unreasonable amount of work time decorating."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200512\CUL20051216a.html

Jackie Mason to defend Christmas
Dec 15- Representing a Jewish organization that defends Christians, comedian Jackie Mason will ride down New York City's 5th Avenue today to highlight the "war on Christmas."

Mason is a founding member of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, or JAACD, the organization sponsoring the event. According to a statement from the group, the entertainer will ride in a 15-foot Ford Excursion with banners proclaiming, "Jews for 'It's OK To Say Merry Christmas.'"
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47904

Couple wins Nativity scene battle
Accompanied by a lawyer, a couple successfully acquired permission from a Pennsylvania town council to set up a Nativity scene on public property.

The Beaver Borough Council voted 7-2 Tuesday night to allow Deborah and Michael Sturm to erect their display this Saturday...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47911

Florida city makes room for Nativity
December 14, 2005 WELLINGTON — The village's holiday display is going to get a whole lot more crowded.

With residents holding signs reading "Is there no room in Wellington for the nativity?" and "Keep the Christ in Christmas," the village council voted unanimously Tuesday to add a crèche to a holiday display on public property, along with reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and maybe even Santa Claus.

But to avoid endorsing any religion and dissuade potential lawsuits, the council also voted to add nonreligious holiday symbols to the display, which for years has consisted of a Christmas tree and a menorah.http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2005/12/14/m1a_nativity_1214.html

Lawsuit challenges Christmas-music ban
A parent is challenging a New Jersey school district's ban on Christmas music with a lawsuit that has reached a federal appeals court.

Michael Stratechuk, who has two children enrolled in the South Orange-Maplewood School District, filed a brief yesterday in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, asserting the school district's ban on religious music conveys the impermissible, government-sponsored message of disapproval of and hostility toward religion in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

As WorldNetDaily reported, last year the district expanded its no-Christmas music policy to include instrumental music. Instead of tunes about Jesus, and even Santa Claus, the 40-member Columbia High School brass ensemble was limited for the first time to seasonal selections such as "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47925

70% of Americans: Jesus is Son of God
Rock solid majorities of Americans believe in God, angels, heaven and hell, and the survival of the soul after death, according to a new poll. Sizable minorities also think ghosts and UFO's exist, the Harris Interactive poll published Wednesday found.

Eighty-two percent of Americans have faith in God, 73 percent believe in miracles, and 70 percent think there is a heaven and that Jesus is the son of God, the poll found.

Sixty-eight percent believe in angels and 66 percent believe in Christ's resurrection, the poll found.

Seventy percent of Americans believe that the soul lives on after death, and nearly two in three said hell existed...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/051214225639.uuzs121w.html

Smoking foes try to stop parents from lighting up
December 16, 2005 Anti-smoking activists who are driving cigarettes from public places across the country are now targeting private homes -- especially those with children.

Their efforts so far have contributed to regulations in three states -- Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont -- forbidding foster parents from smoking around children. Parental smoking also has become a critical point in some child-custody cases, including ones in Virginia and Maryland.

...The smoking-at-home issue also sparked debate about whether such rulings will lead courts to become involved in such matters as parents' making poor TV programming choices for their children. ..
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20051215-112826-9119r.htm

America Supports You
a nationwide program launched by the Department of Defense, will recognize citizens' support for our military men and women and communicate that support to members of our Armed Forces at home and abroad.
www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil

Prices Drop by Largest Amount in 56 Years
Consumer prices plunged by the largest amount in more than a half- century in November as gasoline prices fell by a record amount. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its closely watched Consumer Price Index dropped by 0.6 percent last month, the biggest monthly decline since a 0.9 percent fall in July 1949.

The decline was better than the 0.4 percent drop that analysts had been expecting. Outside of the volatile food and energy categories, prices were up 0.2 percent, a modest gain that should help relieve fears that this year's surge in energy costs could evolve into more widespread inflation problems.http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/15/D8EGN5I00.html

Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=6664

First Civil-Union Couple Parting Ways
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) -- A lesbian couple who entered into the nation's first same-sex civil union are splitting up amid allegations of violent behavior.
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/V/VERMONT_CIVIL_UNION?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME

Report Could Torpedo Hillary Clinton's Prez Plans
Two Washington pundits are warning that Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential plans may depend on whether congressional Democrats can continue to keep Independent Counsel David Barrett's final report on IRS abuses during the 1990s under wraps.

"Prominent Democrats in Congress have spent much of the last decade in a campaign to suppress Barrett's report," columnist Robert Novak reported yesterday. "Its disclosures could dig deeply into concealed Clinton administration scandals."

Notes Fox News Radio's Tony Snow: "By all accounts, the 400-page Barrett report is a bombshell, capable possibly of wiping out Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential prospects. At the very least, it would bring to public attention a scandal that would make the Valerie Plame affair vanish into comical insignificance."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47936

December 15, 2005

Santa's Jigsaw
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552

Christmas Quiz (I missed one)
http://www.quizland.com/f2quiz.mv?f18+NOMUSIC

Coldest December since late 1800s?
December 13, 2005 Meteorologist's claim comes on heels of climate-warming summit in Canada.

A weather expert says December 2005 is on pace to become one of the 10 coldest in more than 100 years, despite claims at a global conference on climate change this week that the Earth is getting warmer.

Joe Bastardi, senior meteorologist with Accuweather.com, says present weather patterns across the country show below-normal temperatures in the single digits, with still colder air forecast in the coming weeks.

All told, he said, "the current look and pace may bring December 2005 in as a top 10 month for cold Decembers nationwide since the late 1800s."

..."The cold is widespread, with below-normal temperatures recorded from eastern Washington and Oregon south into Texas and into the Northeast," said the weather service.

And it could get worse. Accuweather.com "is forecasting another week of unseasonably cold weather, with the potential for another major snowstorm developing on Wednesday."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47887

'Silent Night' gets reprieve
A Wisconsin school that had secularized the lyrics of the beloved Christmas carol "Silent Night" has now agreed to change the words back to the original after receiving countless phone calls and e-mails about the issue.

Liberty Counsel, the law firm working on behalf of parents upset about the secularization of the carol, says it was both public pressure and two letters attorneys sent to the school that prompted the change.

According to a statement from the organization, Debra Messer, administrator of the Dodgeville School District confirmed that "'Silent Night' will be sung. 'Cold in the Night' will not be sung."

...Courts have ruled that public schools may include religious songs as part of a teaching or performance program. The Supreme Court once noted: "Music without sacred music, architecture minus the cathedral, or painting without the scriptural themes would be eccentric and incomplete, even from a secular view." Religious songs along with other secular holiday songs are permissible.

"Silent Night" is the most recorded song in history. The carol was written by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr. Gruber led the singing of his new song for the first time during an 1818 Christmas Eve service in Oberndorf, Austria, accompanying the choir on guitar.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47907

Is this the most miserable town in Britain?
As the festive season approaches, towns dust off the Christmas lights and prepare to twinkle. In Havant, they haven't.

They've decided to have a Festival of Lights instead, to avoid offending non-Christians. [if I'm not mistaken Festival of Lights is a Hindu celebration]

And they're getting rid of Father Christmas and his grotto while they're at it.

Yesterday, the decision to drop Christmas lights was greeted with amazement in a borough where 99.1 per cent of residents are white.

...But resident Pushpar Sanderscorr, 47, a Hindu, said there was nothing wrong with Christmas lights in the town.

"It is not offensive, quite the opposite. We should celebrate all cultures, including Christian."

John Willis, who runs a fruit and vegetable shop in Havant, said the town had failed its customers.

"Banning Santa's grotto and dropping the word Christmas is ludicrous. It will make for a miserable Christmas in Havant," he said.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: "This sounds like a case of a local council taking it upon itself to decide what is offensive, rather than consult the community it serves.

"If the council took the trouble to ask local people what they thought, they would find that people of all faiths do not have a problem with this."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=368752&in_page_id=1770

Supervisor who denounced mention of Jesus forced to apologize to citizens over outburst
December 10, 2005- ... a New York town supervisor who sharply rebuked a priest for invoking the name of Jesus during his traditional blessing of the community's Christmas tree lighting learned the real meaning of holiday – the hard way.

Jon Kaiman, a supervisor from the community of North Hempstead, was sitting behind Rev. Nick Zientarski as the Roman Catholic priest blessed the annual event held last week at the Manhasset village green. Zientarski chose to use a Catholic blessing over "something generic," saying that other faith traditions are represented each year, and because "this was a Christmas tree."

But even as the words left his mouth, Zientarski said, he could hear Kaiman angrily objecting: "This is inappropriate." Kaiman rose from his seat and addressed the 200 adults and children gathered there. "I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony," he told the stunned crowd.

...The uproar has gotten a stunned Kaiman's attention. "I overreacted and handled the situation poorly," he said. "I'm getting an education on this myself as I speak to a number of people in the community, and realize there really is a concern that the holiday is being diminished because people such as myself who gloss over the specific purpose of the holiday."

…Zientarski said he's accepted Kaiman's apology and sent out an e-mail to parishioners noting Kaiman's efforts to resolve the problem.

Zientarski, surprised to have been thrown into this season's culture war over Christmas, is overwhelmed by the support he's received. "Between yesterday and today, I've gotten 150 to 200 e-mails personally to me, all of it expressing support. And it's not just Catholics. I've heard from Jews, Greeks, people from other Christian denominations."

Now he's encouraging the parishioners on his e-mail list to join the effort to reclaim the Christian holiday. "Call your stores and encourage them to say, 'Merry Christmas' (and Happy Hannukah too)," he wrote. "Look for those Nativity scenes! We should all be proud to be Christians who believe in the Lord, Our Savior, and we should encourage ALL faiths to be people of 'faith,' not 'holidays' and the secular."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47846

Target Includes 'Christmas,' AFA Drops Boycott
American Family Association (AFA) has announced that it is ending its boycott of Target because the company has announced that it will include Christmas in their advertising and in-store promotions.

"We are pleased to learn that Target has heard our concerns and decided to use Christmas in their advertising and marketing efforts. Since the company has responded positively, we see no need to continue the boycott,” said AFA Chairman Donald E. Wildmon.

Nearly 700,000 people had signed up to join the Target boycott at afa.net on the AFA website. Wildmon said that many companies have decided to drop their ban on Christmas.
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/9/134058.shtml

Billboard's Arab Images Spark Accusation of Racism
(I believe James Zogby and his brother John do the Zogby polls...)
Some Arab-Americans are insulted by an anti-terrorism campaign that includes a billboard showing an Arab man holding both a hand grenade and a driver's license, USA Today reported.

...However, James Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, says the billboard planned by Bowman's group is “bigoted" "... I think the motivation is anti-immigrant,” Zogby says. “They are creating fear … over Arabs. The message is very clear: ‘Arabs are dangerous, Arabs should not get driver's licenses.”

The billboard shows a man wearing a traditional Arab head scarf called a kaffiyeh and holding a grenade and a driver's license. The image planned for the Raleigh billboard is imposed over a North Carolina landscape with the slogan “Don't License Terrorists” above it. The Coalition for a Secure Driver's License is spending about $50,000 each in North Carolina and New Mexico to lease the billboards, according to the coalition....
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051214/a_billboard14.art.htm

The Truth On the Ground
When I told people that I was getting ready to head back to Iraq for my third tour, the usual response was a frown, a somber head shake and even the occasional "I'm sorry." When I told them that I was glad to be going back, the response was awkward disbelief, a fake smile and a change of subject. The common wisdom seems to be that Iraq is an unwinnable war and a quagmire and that the only thing left to decide is how quickly we withdraw. Depending on which poll you believe, about 60 percent of Americans think it's time to pull out of Iraq...

...Open optimism, whether or not it is warranted, is a necessary trait in senior officers and officials. Skeptics can be excused for discounting glowing reports on Iraq from the upper echelons of power. But it is not a simple thing to ignore genuine optimism from mid-grade, junior and noncommissioned officers who have spent much of the past three years in Iraq.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301502.html

Recruiting Rates Up Militarywide
Dec. 12, 2005 – Both the active Army and Army National Guard continued reversing a springtime recruiting slump, exceeding their November goals at 105 and 110 percent, respectively, defense officials announced today.

The active Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force also exceeded their November goals, reporting rates of 102, 105 and 101 percent, respectively. The Marine Corps Reserve and Air Force Reserve achieved 100 percent of their November recruiting goals as well, officials reported…
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/20051212_3616.html

Perception vs. Reality on the U.S. Economy
By Jon Kyl December 13, 2005

Even after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the resulting spike in the cost of energy, the U.S. economy is doing remarkably well by virtually every statistical measure. So why, one might wonder, do we so often see negative headlines in the news?

· More than 215,000 jobs were created in November, and 4.5 million since May of 2003. “To put the November increase in perspective,” noted Kathleen Utgoff, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “from January through August of this year, payroll employment growth averaged 196,000 per month”;

· The nation’s unemployment rate, at 5 percent, is stable and lower than the average of the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s;

· Gross Domestic Product for the 3rd quarter was higher than expected - 4.3 percent - and has been growing near that average for more than two years;

· Sales of new homes reached an all-time high in October, as did minority ownership; and

· According to the Department of Labor, the productivity of American workers rose at an annual rate of 4.7 percent over the summer. Productivity is the key to raising living standards, as increases allow employers to compensate their workers more without having to raise the price of the products they sell (which would fuel inflation)…. More at:
http://realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-12_13_05_JK.html

Why Preserve the Patriot Act
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/frankjgaffneyjr/2005/12/12/178831.html

December 14, 2005

Ashland Christimas
http://www.ashland.edu/ecard

The First Christmas Gift (scroll down)
http://www.andiesisle.com/thefirstchristmasgift.html

British advisers say Santa 'too terrifying' for students
England says children should be protected from Father Christmas
THE highlight of any Christmas party for generations of children has been the moment when the lights dim, voices hush and the sound of sleigh bells signals the imminent arrival of Santa Claus.

But that magic moment has come under threat from government advisers who have told teachers that children should be protected from the "terrifying" appearance of Santa at school Christmas parties.

...The advice, on the website teachernet.gov.uk , run by the communications unit of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES)...

..."For very young children, Father Christmas can be terrifying, and if you are planning a visit from Santa, you'll need to make sure that fearful children are near an exit...
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=2387532005

Library Just Says No To Baby Jesus But Pornography and Bestiality O.K.
Recently Brandi Chambless was told by a Bartlett, Tennessee branch library staff member that she could not use a public shelf to display a Nativity scene along with an announcement about a Christmas concert at Broadmoor Baptist Church. The shelf is open to the public for advertising upcoming community activities.

The library official told Brandi that a donkey, sheep and other farm animals, along with a Shepherd boy, could be displayed but the Wise men; Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus were inappropriate “religious figures” and must be removed.

The library official sited a written policy that does not allow any display in the library that was religious. This policy of the Memphis-Shelby County Libraries deems “any item which promotes a particular religion or sectarian religious belief” to be unacceptable for display in the library.

If this is truly the policy of the Memphis-Shelby County Library then they need to remove every book and resource from every shelf and leave them completely and totally empty. Why? Because Webster’s dictionary defines a religion as a collection of beliefs, therefore, every book in the Memphis Library system is promoting someone’s religious belief.

We can thank the wise man that is the Mayor of Bartlett for over-ruling the Memphis-Shelby County library’s ridiculous policy. However, this incident brings to light the need for our local libraries to be influenced by the community and not the liberal American Library Association of which the Memphis libraries are members.

The American Library Association has a long history of being hostile to Christian values including suing to stop the enforcement of a federal law that would withhold federal funds from any library or school that does not filter internet pornography from children.

Judith Krug, of the American Library Association, bemoaned internet filtering software for libraries saying, “blocking material leads to censorship. That goes for pornography and bestiality too. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it.”

Well, two can play that game; if the Nativity scene at the library offends you then don’t look at it. I'm Brannon Howse (used by permission)
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?ArticleID=366

Happy News web site
Web Site Serves News with a Smile
…Carrie Rodgers turns to a Web site called www.HappyNews.com ... "There's so much going on in the world that is so sad," Rodgers said. "You can go anywhere and find depressing news. I'm glad somebody has stepped up and shown there are still good people in the world."

HappyNews is the brainchild of Byron Reese, chief executive of Austin, Texas-based PageWise Inc., which publishes several how-to and advice Web sites. He decided the world needed a refuge from all the unpleasantness served up by newspapers and television news shows, so he launched HappyNews in July.

"This is asking the question, what is news?" Reese said. "News is supposed to give you a view of the world. The news media, the way it has evolved, gives you a distorted view of the world by exaggerating bad news, misery and despair. We're trying to balance out the scale."

...Almost all political stories are rejected. Coverage of the war in Iraq has been limited to things such as Marines celebrating Thanksgiving and volunteers sending teddy bears to Iraqi children.

...The staff favors stories about health, science, the arts and heroes. A new section called HappyLiving offers tips on everything from barbecuing to finding a baby sitter.

...Surveys have shown that many readers want more good news, and newspapers and television have responded by offering more entertainment and celebrity coverage, said Tommy Thomason, director of the journalism school at Texas Christian University.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/11/174925.shtml

see http://www.happynews.com/
http://www.happynews.com/category/heroes.htm

Abandoned oil wells uncapped
Restarting of Southern California sites defies domestic shortage theory
November 29, 2005- Oil wells in California that were capped are now being opened because rising petroleum demand and new technology are permitting oil companies to profitably extract oil in the Golden State.

Wells that are 45 years old are being put back into production, with many wells in Los Angeles having been shut down after only 20 or 25 percent of the oil was extracted, reported the Associated Press. Current technology permits up to 50 percent of the reserves in a well to be drained before the well is capped. While California has some 3,000 abandoned wells, oil experts are predicting that all of them may soon be operating again.

…Craig R. Smith of "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil" said "Much oil in the U.S. has been kept in the ground awaiting new technology and higher prices. Truly, we do not know how much oil we have in the U.S. because environmental objections have consistently blocked efforts to explore for oil and natural gas offshore and in Alaska."

Corsi also points to the "Deep Trek" project, which has been launched by the U.S. Department of Energy to encourage U.S. domestic exploration in the United States. It utilizes ultra-deep drilling technology that permits oil companies to explore for oil at levels as deep as 3 miles underground. The Department of Energy reports that today 7 percent of the natural gas produced in the United States comes from formations below 15,000 feet. The agency estimates, however, that 125 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are trapped at depths 3 miles underground or more throughout the continental U.S. The "Deep Trek" project was kicked off in 2002 to develop the high-tech drilling tools the oil industry needs to tackle these deeper deposits…
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47618

Economy Grows at Robust Pace Despite Storms
The economy grew at a lively 4.3 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in more than a year. The performance offered fresh testimony that the country's overall economic health managed to improve despite the destructive force of Gulf Coast hurricanes. The new snapshot of economic activity, released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, showed the growth at an even faster pace than the 3.8 percent annual rate first reported for the July-to-September quarter a month ago…

"In anybody's book this is an outstanding performance for the economy," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

...The 4.3 percent growth rate matched the performance posted in the first quarter of 2004. The last time economic activity was higher was in the third quarter of 2003, when the GDP soared at a blistering 7.2 percent pace.

The upwardly revised reading for GDP in the third quarter also exceeded the expectations of business analysts. Before the report was released, they were forecasting the economy to clock in at a 4 percent pace…
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/30/D8E6R0409.html

This article says it's "surprising" how Iraqis view things. Well it may be to them but not to a lot of other folks!
ABCNEWS POLL: 71% Of Iraqis Say Life Is Going Good...
Despite the daily violence there, most living conditions are rated positively, seven in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve in the year ahead.
Surprisingly, given the insurgents' attacks on Iraqi civilians, more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from just 40 percent in a poll in June 2004. And 61 percent say local security is good — up from 49 percent in the first ABC News poll in Iraq in February 2004... Economic improvements are helping the public mood...

...Average household incomes have soared by 60 percent in the last 20 months (to $263 a month), 70 percent of Iraqis rate their own economic situation positively, and consumer goods are sweeping the country. In early 2004, 6 percent of Iraqi households had cell phones; now it's 62 percent. Ownership of satellite dishes has nearly tripled, and many more families now own air conditioners (58 percent, up from 44 percent), cars, washing machines and kitchen appliances.

...There are positive political signs as well. Three-quarters of Iraqis express confidence in the national elections being held this week, 70 percent approve of the new constitution, and 70 percent — including most people in Sunni and Shiite areas alike — want Iraq to remain a unified country...69 percent of Iraqis expect things for the country overall to improve in the next year — a remarkable level of optimism in light of the continuing violence there...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/PollVault/story?id=1389228

Palestinian Authority Claims Western Wall is Moslem Property
Dec 12, 2005 / 11 Kislev 5766
The Palestinian Authority’s Office for Religious Affairs claims that the Western Wall, revered by Jews for generations as the last structural remnant of the Second Holy Temple, is Moslem property...

…Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director of the International Department of the of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem… said that the PA’s denial of the Jewish Temple's existence “is part of a campaign to totally eradicate, erase, and destroy all Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and the land of Israel.”

…Richman said that “Islam has for many years been waging a campaign to destroy any evidence of a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.” He cited efforts by the PA and the Moslem Wakf (religious trust) to carry out excavations on the Temple Mount for the purpose of destroying artifacts relating to the First and Second Temples. He said that thousands of tons of archeological material has already been deliberately destroyed by the wakf...

…Today, Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount only at very specific hours and in small numbers, and must be accompanied by Israeli Police as well as a representative of the Wakf, the Moslem body currently responsible for activity on the Temple Mount. In addition, Jewish visitors are not allowed to bow or pray anywhere on the Mount itself, and may not even bring books with Hebrew writing.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=94610

ACLU Blasts TASERs
Law enforcement supporters defended the electronic immobilization device known as the "TASER" Thursday, dismissing a claim that it was responsible for nearly 150 deaths since 1999. The Law Enforcement Alliance of America called a report by the American Civil Liberties Union "junk science (that) puts cops' lives at risk."

...The Northern California affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a report in September, claiming that as the number of TASERs in the hands of police has increased, "the number of deaths associated with their use has also skyrocketed…

…But the Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) - a coalition of current and former law enforcement officers, crime victims and others …"The ACLU's sensationalist anti-cop attack on the TASER would not get much attention if they admitted that they could cite only four coroner reports over five years that list police use of TASER as 'a cause of death,'" LEAA charged. "So they settle instead for the intellectually-challenged logic that suggests if a TASER device is used and the (often) drug-deranged and/or violent suspect later dies, it must be the police officer's use of a TASER that caused the death, as opposed to the suspect's use of lethal amounts of illegal drugs, a preexisting medical condition or physiological stress resulting from violent resistance."

A rebuttal report by the LEAA, released Thursday, noted that the ACLU relied on published reports from the Arizona Republic as "evidence" in 144 of the 148 cases of allegedly TASER-related deaths it claimed.

"Yet the ACLU fails to mention that the very same newspaper admits that only four coroner reports have listed the police use of TASER technology as a 'cause of death,'" the LEAA countered, "ten as a 'contributing factor' and four where the TASER's role 'could not be ruled out.'"

The TASER was not considered a factor by medical examiners in the other 130 cases studied.

...In a prepared statement, Jim Fotis, executive director of LEAA, called the ACLU report a "hit piece on cops and TASERs."[It] is nothing more than a recycled version of their anti-cop rhetoric about pepper spray," Fotis charged. "Their wild claims went unchallenged ten years ago, but our report will set the record straight."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200512\NAT20051209a.html

The Panic Over Iraq What they're really afraid of is American success.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007661

Katrina Death Stats Contradict Racial Complaints
The popular perception that African-Americans living in New Orleans were disproportionately victimized by the government's botched Hurricane Katrina rescue effort turns out not to be true - at least according to preliminary death statistics released by the state of Louisiana.

...But preliminary figures compiled by the morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, which is the primary facility handling the bodies of Katrina deceased, show that a majority of the dead in New Orleans and surrounding parishes were actually not black.

Of the 883 bodies processed so far by medical examiners at St. Gabriel..slightly less than half that number - 48 percent - are African-American. Forty-one percent are white, 8 percent unknown and 2 percent Hispanic.

...The surprisingly low death rate for black Katrina victims comes despite the fact that New Orleans itself was more than two-thirds black [67 percent] when the storm hit.

...St. Bernard parish is 88 percent white, but the total population before the storm was just 65,554 people. The city of New Orleans, on the other hand, had 484,674 people before the storm, 67 percent of whom were black.
The two populations combined were still over 60 percent black - twelve points higher than the percentage of black residents killed by Katrina.

To view the statistics on Katrina dead released by the state of Louisiana, go to: http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/publications/pubs-145/DECEASED%20Victims%20released_11-14-2005_publication.pdf

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/12/103853.shtml

The Media's War By Thomas Sowell
December 13, 2005- The media seem to have come up with a formula that would make any war in history unwinnable and unbearable: They simply emphasize the enemy's victories and our losses.

Losses suffered by the enemy are not news, no matter how large, how persistent, or how clearly they indicate the enemy's declining strength.

What are the enemy's victories in Iraq? The killing of Americans and the killing of Iraqi civilians. Both are big news in the mainstream media…
see complete article at: http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/thomassowell/2005/12/13/178822.html

Basic economics by Walter E. Williams
Dec 7, 2005
With all the recent hype and demagoguery about gasoline price-gouging, maybe it's time to talk about the basics of exchange. First, what is exchange?
see complete article at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/walterwilliams/2005/12/07/178043.html
Dr. Williams has served on the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, since 1980.

Do Some Soul Searching' BY DONALD RUMSFELD
Why aren't the media telling the whole story about Iraq?
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007644