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
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
posted by David Bennett | 5:11 PM
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