January 31, 2006

It is amazing what you can do with cans off the grocery shelf. (scroll down)
http://www.canstruction.com/2005winners.html

Make sure your shoelaces are securely tied!!
Jan 30-CAMBRIDGE, England- A visitor to a British museum tripped on his shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and fell into a display of centuries-old Chinese vases, shattering them into "very small pieces," officials said Monday.

The three Qing dynasty vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, had been donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum in the university city of Cambridge in 1948 and were among its best-known artifacts. They sat on the window sill beside the staircase for 40 years… http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF842G6.html

British school bans raising hands.
LONDON, Jan. 28 -- A school in London has banned children from raising their hands in class and teachers from calling on students with their hands raised...

"Some pupils are jiggling so much to attract the teacher's attention that it sometimes looks as if they need the lavatory, then when it is their turn they often don't know the answer. Boys... are seeking attention, so they put their hands up before they have had time to think about the question."

Buck said the same children often wave their arms in the air, but when teachers try to involve less adventurous pupils by choosing them instead, it leads to feelings of victimization...

To spare embarrassment of the students who do not know the answer, the school has incorporated a "phone a friend" system, allowing one child to nominate another to take the question instead. (oh yeah, that should work great!! It's not like they'd ever think of "nominating" someone they didn't like...)
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060128-075625-5899r

Computer Worm Threatens Major Destruction Friday (but don’t panic!)January 31, 2006 — Friday may be D-day, as in "destruction day," for millions of Windows computer users.

That's the day a notably pesky e-mail worm, variously called "Nyxem.E," "CME-24," "BlackWorm," "Mywife.E," "KamaSutra" and "VB.bi," among other names, is set to detonate its deadly payload.

...Hundreds of thousands of Windows machines are believed to have already been infected, mostly in India, Peru, Turkey and Italy, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security company F-Secure Corp.

The worm also tries to disable anti-virus software that is out of date, Hypponen said. Thus, users should make sure their software is turned on and has the latest definitions, generally available for free from the software vendor's Web site.

...Users should be safe if they have the latest anti-virus software or if their computers are set with limited privileges, a common setting in larger organizations.

They are vulnerable if they, like many small business and home users, leave their computers set with full administrative rights...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183331,00.html

AOL’s 'I AM' pitch takes God's name in vain
January 31, 2006- When Ian Millar opened up his AOL Instant Messenger program yesterday and linked to the new AIM Triton site, he wasn't prepared for what he saw... But when Millar saw the company's new slogan, he was shocked and disgusted. He was not alone.
America Online is now acting like God – using what some consider to be His very name in a marketing pitch for e-mail, voice chat, video chat, instant messaging, text messaging and other forms of communication.

AIM's new slogan is "I AM."

...He points out to AOL executives that "I AM" is the English translation of YaHWeH, the self-proclaimed name of God.

"He is the Creator and Savior of the world," explains Millar. "He alone is to be worshipped. To take His name in vain, or use as a common thing is blasphemy, a vulgar sin of offense. Perhaps you have not read the Third Commandment, since they have removed it from so many public monuments in the last decade. But breaking it as a means of marketing your products offends the mind of everyone who worships Him."

The key scripture used to support the sacred name of God is Exodus 3:13-15: "And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations."

"I AM" are the words God used to answer Moses' question about His name.

Jesus, too, used the phrase in John 8:58, when he said, "Before Abraham was, I am." http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48585

Need cash for college? The answer could be in the pursuit of NASCAR trivia
Got an underwhelming SAT score? A GPA you don't care to mention? You still can get a college scholarship if you know your NASCAR... or some basics about the Bible, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or simply "the world in which we live."

After all, they're not called Common Knowledge Scholarships for nothing.

...All it takes to win are quick, correct answers and possibly a thank-you e-mail. No scores, no standings, no transcripts, no essays, no recommendations.

Take it from Jebi Mathew, a University of Florida freshman from Pembroke Pines who won $500 for acing an FBI-related quiz last year.

"Six to seven minutes of your time for $500 -- it's probably the best deal you can get," he says.

...Any U.S. resident in the ninth grade or older can enter, including relatives and friends competing on a student's behalf. Winnings are paid directly to the college.

...NASCAR is pleased to be seen as college material, says spokesman Herb Branham...

For more information on the NASCAR contest or any other Common Knowledge Scholarship, see www.cksf.org .
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pscholarships30jan30%2C0%2C6052766.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

USS Iowa could be “minority” museum
San Francisco- ...advocates of the move are trying to woo the supervisors with a promise to create a privately funded dockside museum that will tell the story of minorities in the military, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops.

“Our feeling was that this would make it a better fit for San Francisco,” said Jim Maloney, director of the Military Education Initiative, a group that supports the lifting of restrictions on gays in the military. “Adding in the component of LGBT service would be obviously quite unique,” he said.http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/01/04/news/nation_world/doc43bb5372a9529312076692.txt

Google Holds Copies of All Emails and All Websites Visited
January 30, 2006 – ...The UK’s Times on Line reported that Google keeps an “extraordinary amount” of user information. Google logs searches on its search engine, storing the information “indefinitely.” “Because every computer has a unique IP (internet protocol) address, every visit to every website can be traced back to the computer making it – a fact which is well known in geek circles but remarkably under-publicised outside them,” the Times article explained.

Google’s alternative to hotmail, their new free e-mail service, Gmail, stores all e-mails indefinitely on their server. The company already admits to scanning e-mails in order to send targeted advertising.

The company’s own privacy statement states that, “When you visit Google, we send one or more cookies – a small file containing a string of characters – to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service by storing user preferences and tracking user trends, such as how people search. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some Google features and services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.”

The privacy statement adds that, “When you use Google services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.”
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jan/06013003.html

Pro-Homosexual School Posters Fostering 'Intolerance,' Says Family Advocate
January 30, 2006 (AgapePress) - ...Five teachers at San Leandro High School have refused to abide by a school district order to display a rainbow flag poster in their classrooms. The notebook paper-sized poster sports the logo for the San Leandro Unified School District (SLUSD) as well as the inverted pink triangle, an international symbol for "gay pride." Addressing itself to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, [and] questioning youth," the poster reads: "This is a safe place to be who you are. This sign affirms that support and resources are available for you in this school."

Last week, WorldNetDaily reported that the five teachers refused to display the poster because of their religious beliefs. But SLUSD superintendent Christine Lim said the policy calling for the poster to be displayed in classrooms is designed to make schools safe for homosexual students.

"This is not about religion, sex, or a belief system," Lim told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This is about educators making sure our schools are safe for our children, regardless of their sexual orientation."

However, Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute (CFI) takes issue with that statement. He believes Lim's talk of safety is cover for the homosexual agenda. "What [such policies] produce is intolerance toward anyone who won't accept homosexuality," he says, adding that in this case, that means "teachers who know that it's not a good thing to sell kids on the idea that it's okay to be gay."

...The principal says she expects to see the posters up in all 200 classrooms this week, and will have "a private conversation" with any teacher who is not in compliance with the policy.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/302006a.asp

As Rush Limbaugh pointed out: "the last time I heard some liberal talk about "ten years" it was 1988, Ted Danson. We had ten years to save the oceans; we were all going to pay the consequences, which would result in our death. Now Al Gore says we've got ten years. Ten years left to save the planet from a scorching."
Al Gore says we have 10 years to save the planet
January 26, 2006 ... Earth's glaciers are melting, the polar bears are screwed, each year sets new heat records. Al Gore sometimes flies coach. He also schleps his own bags... and believes humans may have only 10 years left to save the planet from turning into a total frying pan.

... Gore presents the latest evidence to demonstrate how the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other pollutants of the industrial age are increasing temperatures. In addition to timelines and bell curves and stuff about oxygen isotopes in Greenland ice cores, Gore includes several cartoons, one featuring a Mister Sunbeam trapped by the bullies known as Greenhouse Gases... (I know the source of those gasses…)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/25/AR2006012502230.html

'Commander in Chief' Pulled from ABC Lineup
Jan. 30, 2006- "Commander in Chief” started out as the season’s most talked-about new show, but the initial hype didn’t translate into solid ratings – and ABC has shelved the White House drama.

The network announced over the weekend that it is pulling the show – which stars Geena Davis as the first female president...

That can’t be good news for Hillary Clinton. NewsMax columnist James Hirsen has called "Commander in Chief” a "series-style Hillary campaign commercial.”

ABC insiders denied there’s any connection between Hillary and "Commander.” But the show’s lead writer, Steve Cohen, served as the then-first lady’s deputy communications director in the 1990s...disgraced former national security adviser Sandy Berger [was] signed on as an adviser to the show, joining fellow Clintonistas Cohen and Capricia Marshall, the former social secretary for the Clinton White House.

"Hillary operatives” were monitoring the show "as a barometer of how she might fare in ’08,” the New York Daily News reported at the time...
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/30/151403.shtml?s=ic

Which group seems more interested in “partisan politics”?
1993 Vote on Liberal Ruth Bader Ginsberg as Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court
Opposition Party (Republicans) 40 (93%) YEA; 3 (7%) NAY

2006 Vote on Conservative Samuel Alito as Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court
Opposition Party (Democrats) 4 (9%) YEA; 39 (91%) NAY
--------------------------------------------------------
David Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

January 30, 2006

Deacon Meeting
Jerry Clower told about his Uncle Percy Ledbetter who was a deacon in his church and how as he was getting up in years he didn't go to a lot of the deacon meetings. Uncle Percy figured he'd let the younger fellers, those in their 50's and 60's, have a chance to run things.

One day he heard the deacons were going to meet to discuss buying a new chandelier for the church. So Uncle Percy got his grandson to drive him to the meeting.

At the meeting the chairman of the deacons announced that they had a motion to buy a new chandelier for the church and then someone else seconded the motion and the chairman asked if there was any discussion.

Uncle Percy announced he had something to say.

He said, “First that there isn't anyone in the room who could spell the word "chandelier" to order one from the Sears and Roebuck catalog.

“Second,” he said, “there isn't anyone in the church that could play a chandelier if they had one.”

“And third if they were going to spend any money at all they should spend it on something they really needed, like better lights in the church!”

Joke/humor:
Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, was asked his views on Roe vs. Wade. He said he didn't care how people got back to their houses.

Ashes of loved ones foliate Scotland
January 30, 2006- LONDON -- Mourners who scatter the ashes of their loved ones on the mountaintops of Scotland are being warned that they are playing havoc with the environment. The problem, it seems, is that cremated human remains make a dandy fertilizer.

Critics say the practice is upsetting the foliage by causing plants to grow too fast and too thick.

….The Mountaineering Council of Scotland says nature lovers and other admirers of Scotland's picturesque mountains have taken to requesting in their wills that they want their ashes dumped on the summit of their favorite peak when they die.

The result, the council says, is that a number of the more popular mountaintops are all too frequently being dusted by cremated remains, and the practice is having an unwanted chemical effect on the ecology of the surrounding area.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060130-122859-1398r.htm

Scorpion Survives 15 Months Sealed in Plaster
January 30, 2006- A scorpion lived for 15 months without food or water inside the plaster mold of a dinosaur fossil, breaking free only when a scientist broke open the mold.

Don DeBlieux, a paleontologist for the Utah Geological Survey, said he was sawing open the plaster mold when the scorpion wriggled from a crack in a sandstone block.

DeBlieux is still chipping away at the 1,000-pound rock to expose the horned skull of a species of dinosaur he says is new to science.

The scorpion "must have been hanging out in a crack the day we plastered him," DeBlieux said Thursday.

...Scorpions, which eat insects, are capable of surviving for months without feeding or moving in a sleep period known as diapause, said Richard Baumann, a Brigham Young University zoologist.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183034,00.html

Test Balloons for Cellular Service
Jan 30- ...Extend America and Chandler, Ariz.-based Space Data Corp. are developing the technology, which is believed to be the first to use disposable balloons to provide cellular coverage.

..."To cover every square mile of North Dakota, it would take 1,100 cell towers," Schafer said. "We can do the whole state with three balloons."

If successful, the hydrogen-filled balloons could be drifting across the stratosphere above North Dakota this summer, providing cellular coverage at a tiny fraction of the cost of building cellular towers.

...Up to 20 miles above the earth, well above commercial airliner pathways, steady stratospheric winds would push the latex balloons across the state at about 30 mph. Each balloon would deliver voice and data service to an area hundreds of miles in diameter.

"Nine balloons would always be in the air, with some going up, some going down, and some in the middle," Schafer said...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_hi_te/cellular_balloons

First Inhaler for Diabetes OK'd
Jan. 29, 2006- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved sales of the first insulin inhaler, which could free millions of diabetes patients from frequent injections...
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/29/121812.shtml?s=ic

School dumps conservative speaker
(teachers don’t want diverse ideas that are contrary to their superior diverse ideas).
January 28, 2006 -…D'Souza, a Hoover Institution fellow and former Reagan administration policy analyst, was scheduled to speak in March on U.S. foreign policy and Iraq at Lakeside School, but faculty members objected after reading some of his writings on race-related issues.

… the premise of D'Souza's 1995 book, "The End of Racism," argues the underachievement of blacks has more to do with cultural attitudes and cultural behaviors than white racism…

...The head of the school, Bernie Noe, said he made the "difficult decision" to cancel the invitation after weighing academic freedom versus building a successful, diverse community.

… Lakeside insiders also said some faculty had expressed concerns that a "culture of ignorance" at the school led to inviting someone like D'Souza...

..defenders pointed out D'Souza himself is an immigrant from India...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48541

EU Approves Ban on 'Homophobia'

January 27, 2006- ...The resolution, called "Homophobia in Europe," defines homophobia as "an irrational fear and aversion of homosexuality and of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people based on prejudice..." It calls for action against member states that do not implement programs directed at fair treatment of homosexuals in employment and occupation. It also seeks to "ensure that same-sex partners enjoy the same respect, dignity and protection as the rest of society."

Steve Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, says although the resolution is not law, it could eventually affect the United States.

"Our Supreme Court seems enamored with citing to foreign sources of law," Crampton observes. And if that mindset continues, he fears that "what happens in the European Union today is going to become the law and policy of America tomorrow."

...The "Homophobia in Europe" resolution was passed by a vote of 468-149; there were 41 abstentions. Christians and conservatives did not protest the resolution, prompting one former member of Britain's Parliament and a homosexual rights advocate to say that the "lunatic fringe" -- Christians and conservatives -- have learned that "it does not pay anymore to shout against gays and lesbians in the Parliament itself."
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/272006d.asp

U.N. pushing to end nation-states
January 30, 2006-…the plan endorsed by prominent world figures including Nobel laureates, bankers, politicians and economists to end nation-states as we know them is also designed to end health pandemics, poverty and "global warming.”

The U.N. says an unprecedented outbreak of co-operation between countries, applied through six specific financial tools, would serve as pretty much a cure-all for the world's ills and generate an extra $7 trillion in economic growth.

The authors of the ambitious report don't expect nations to fold up and take the hint any time soon. But the idea is to start the ball rolling – and maybe years or decades from now the world will actually be ready to listen.

…If the scheme seems far-fetched, consider that it already has the backing of the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to the London Independent…

It's not the first time the U.N. has come out openly to suggest global government is the only solution to the world's problems. "Our Global Neighborhood" was a 410-page final report of the Commission on Global Governance, and was first published in 1995 by Oxford University Press. …Then-U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali endorsed the commission, and the U.N. provided significant funding. The plan calls for dramatically strengthening the United Nations, by implementing a laundry list of recommendations, including these:

Eliminating the veto and permanent member status in the Security Council;
Authorizing global taxation on currency exchange and use of the "global commons;"
Creating an International Criminal Court;
Creating a standing army under the command of the secretary-general;
Creating a new People's Assembly (sounds like communist thing to me)
Regulating multinational corporations;
Regulating the global commons (... the atmosphere, outer space, the oceans beyond national jurisdiction, and the related environment and life-support systems that contribute to the support of human life;)
Controlling the manufacture, sale and distribution of all firearms.

…none of those recommendations were new. All had been proposed in a variety of documents for decades by various groups and individuals…
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48562

Abortion rights groups say battle being lost
In Wichita, Kansas, abortion rights supporters held a "chili for choice" fund-raising dinner…
(now doesn’t that sound scrumptious! I wonder who catered that…)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060129/pl_nm/life_abortion_dc

Iraqi General: Syria Gave Al-Qaida Saddam's WMDs
A former senior military advisor to Saddam Hussein is warning that the chemical weapons used by top al-Qaida terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi in a foiled 2004 plot to attack Amman, Jordan were the same weapons Saddam Hussein transported to Syria before the U.S. invasion.

…Last week, Gen. Sada generated headlines when he told the New York Sun that Saddam had shipped his biological and chemical weapons stockpiles to Syria in the weeks before the U.S. attacked in March 2003…But until yesterday, the former top Iraqi official had said nothing about al-Qaida gaining access to those same weapons…
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/29/133526.shtml?s=ic

Hamas demanding Israel change flag
January 30, 2006- JERUSALEM – Hamas, which catapulted to power in last week's Palestinian elections, might soon offer Israel a long-term cease fire but will not recognize Israel's right to exist, the terror group's chief Mahmoud al-Zahar told WorldNetDaily yesterday after earlier demanding the Jewish state change it's official flag.

…Al-Zahar deflected a question about whether he will modify Hamas' official charter, which calls for jihad against Israel "by assaulting and killing."

Earlier he demanded Israel "remove the two blue stripes from its national flag. The stripes on the flag are symbols of occupation. They signify Israel's borders stretching from the River Euphrates to the River Nile."

Israel's national flag, adopted from a previously used Zionist movement flag, features a star of David within two blue stripes. The stripes signify the Talit, or Jewish prayer shawl, which is traditionally striped.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48555

9/11 Commission: FISA Court Too Slow
Jan. 30, 2006- Bush administration critics continue to insist that the president could have gotten all the wiretap authority he needed from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to intercept terrorist communications as they plotted the next 9/11 attack.

But it turns out, the 9/11 Commission strongly disagreed.

As noted on yesterday's "Meet the Press" by National Review Online reporter Byron York, 9/11 Commission Report clearly states:

"The FISA application process continues to be long and slow. Requests for approvals are overwhelming the ability of the system to process them and to conduct a surveillance.”
In a passage not noted by Mr. York, the Commission blasts the FISA process even more harshly, complaining:

"The 'wall' between criminal and intelligence investigations apparently caused agents to be less aggressive than they might otherwise have been in pursuing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance powers in counterterrorism investigations.

"Moreover, the FISA approval process involved multiple levels of review, which also discouraged agents from using such surveillance. Many agents also told us that the process for getting FISA packages approved at FBI Headquarters and the Department of Justice was incredibly lengthy and inefficient.

"Several FBI agents added that, prior to 9/11, FISA-derived intelligence information was not fully exploited but was collected primarily to justify continuing the surveillance."

Since the media generally regards the 9/11 Commission as the ultimate authority on such matters, we trust reporters will now stop insisting that the FISA process was wholly adequate to keep America safe from terrorists.
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/30/90457.shtml?s=ic

David Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

January 27, 2006

Note that the plaintiff doesn’t expect to actually win but is using this as a means to get to a European court. This is a tactic the ACLU has used for years in the US.
Judge to Rule on Merit of Christ Case
VITERBO, Italy - An Italian judge heard arguments Friday on whether a small-town parish priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed.

The priest's atheist accuser, Luigi Cascioli, says the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people for 2,000 years with a fable that Christ existed, and that the Rev. Enrico Righi violated two Italian laws by reasserting the claim.

...Cascioli filed a criminal complaint in 2002 after Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus did indeed exist, and that he was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

Cascioli ...said he has little hope of the case succeeding in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy, but that he is merely going through the necessary legal steps to reach the European Court of Human Rights, where he intends to accuse the church of what he calls "religious racism."

Righi, 76, has stressed substantial historical evidence — both Christian and non-Christian — of Jesus' existence...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_eu/did_jesus_exist

Government targets small black church
Oklahoma city wants to make room for tax-generating shopping area
January 27, 2006- A small church in Oklahoma has come up against the large hand of the state as it faces possible seizure to make room for a tax-generating shopping center.

…Ousting a church from its building has become possible for city officials thanks to last summer's Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, in which the justices cleared the way for a government to seize private land to be turned over to private developers.

Though the practice of eminent domain is provided for in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, the Kelo case is significant because the seizure is for private development and not for "public use," such as a highway or bridge.

...Gildon says his church can't afford to move, even if it were to accept the city's offer of $142,000 for the church and two adjoining lots.

"After I heard the news, we started looking to see if we could move," Gildon told Heather Wilhelm for a column in National Review. "I just don't think we can afford it. It's too expensive. And if we can't move, and they take our building, what happens to the church? If we leave, who is going to minister to the black community in Sand Springs?"

Added the pastor: "I guess saving souls isn't as important as raking in money for politicians to spend."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48520

Pro-Family Attorney Sees Tide Turning Against ACLU's Anti-Religion Efforts
January 25, 2006- …Four years ago, Rutherford County commissioners voted to display historical documents relating to the founding of the United States, including the Ten Commandments. The other documents in the "Foundations of American Law and Government" tableau include copies of the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Tennessee Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner, and a drawing of "Lady Justice."

Despite the County's use of the Ten Commandments in a historical context, a lawsuit was filed [by the ACLU] claiming the display violated the United States Constitution. Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, is defending the display in the legal proceedings.

...The attorney contends that the courts and history both are working against the civil liberties group. "I think in fact what has happened," he says, "is the landscape and the court rulings have changed over the last six months." Notably, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently declared that the First Amendment to the Constitution does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.

But despite the changing legal climate, Staver says ACLU litigators simply "can't restrain themselves" and will keep pressing to remove representations of religious faith from the public square, "even though they see the handwriting on the wall."
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/252006a.asp

US bank bans loans to developers using seized land
January 25 2006 21:26 - A regional US bank has banned lending to commercial developers who plan to build on land seized from private citizens, in protest against the strengthening of government powers to make compulsory purchases.

The decision by BB&T, one of the largest banks in the US south-east, followed a controversial Supreme Court ruling last June that empowered governments to seize private property to make room for commercial developments.

...The lending restrictions appeared designed to tap into widespread public anger about the Supreme Court ruling, which critics believe undermines a fundamental part of American freedom.

“One of the most basic rights of every citizen is to keep what they own,” said Mr Allison.
The Supreme Court case involved an attempt by local authorities in the city of New London, Connecticut, to bulldoze homes standing in the way of a planned commercial development including a hotel, luxury apartments and offices.In a 5-4 majority ruling, the nine-member court argued the seizure was justified because of the increased tax revenues and jobs the development would generate.

...In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said the ruling could be used to replace “any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory”.

...Activists opposed to the Supreme Court ruling have filed a petition to replace Justice David Souter’s house in New Hampshire with an inn called the Lost Liberty Hotel.http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3a535fde-8de8-11da-8fda-0000779e2340.html

I thought we didn't have any manufacturing anymore...
Big-Ticket Factory Orders Hit All-Time High
January 26, 2006- WASHINGTON -- Orders to American factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted a third consecutive increase in December, closing out a record year for the nation's factories.

...For all of 2005, orders increased by 8.2 percent to an all-time high of $2.51 trillion. Orders for durable goods had risen by 10 percent in 2004 and 4.2 percent in 2003 after posting declines in 2002 and 2001, the year the country was in recession.

...The 1.3 percent increase in orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, followed even stronger gains of 5.4 percent in November, a month when demand for commercial aircraft had soared, and 3.1 percent in October.

In December, the strength was led by a 6.5 percent jump in demand for machinery. Transportation posted a solid gain of 1.9 percent as demand for new cars and trucks shot up by 6.6 percent following declines in October and September as automakers struggled to trim an overhang of unsold cars.

...The category that covers non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft was up by a strong 3.5 percent in December following much smaller gains in November and October, indicating that businesses are boosting their investment plans.

Analysts are looking for manufacturing to be a source of strength this year, spurred by increased investment by businesses to expand and modernize their operations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012600551_pf.html

Study: Most Reservists Earn More in Combat
Jan 26 2006
Most military reservists who left their civilian jobs to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan made more money there than in their regular jobs, according to a study that contradicts the notion that citizen soldiers lose money when they go to war.

The study, by RAND's National Defense Research Institute, found that 72 percent of the troops surveyed made more while on war duty in 2002 or 2003 than they did in their civilian jobs in 2001. More than half made at least $10,000 more.

On average, the reservists made $850 more per month while on duty than in their civilian jobs, the report found.

It went on to say, however, that there is still a sizable number _ 28 percent _ of the reservists who lost money, including some who saw their earnings drop by more than 10 percent.

Higher salaries, combat pay supplements, family separation allowances and tax-free earnings all have combined to boost troops' pay on the front lines. But RAND senior economist Jacob Alex Klerman said researchers are still working to understand why this study differs so dramatically from earlier surveys and anecdotal reports about families struggling to get by when a primary wage-earner went to war.

Klerman said the study uses earnings data supplied by the Social Security Administration, and therefore is likely to be more accurate than earlier surveys, which often relied on information volunteered by soldiers. Also, he said, those surveys did not reflect the fact that reservists serving in combat zones do not pay federal income taxes on their pay.

...He said the study does not imply that reserve pay is adequate. Those troops, he emphasized, are still getting shot at, sleeping in tents and spending months away from their families.

Noting that some reservists are in school, and therefore have no jobs or a very low-paying jobs, Klerman said the study also broke out earnings for those who made at least $10,000 or more in their civilian jobs. Even in those cases, he said, reservists made an average of nearly $7,000 more while on duty.

Overall, the study looked at 212,500 reservists and compared their civilian pay in 2001 to the amount they made while on duty in either 2002 or 2003.

To get a good idea of the impact on a full year's pay, it also provided statistics for the 51,200 reservists who were at their regular jobs for most if not all of 2001, and then on duty for more than 271 days in either 2002 or 2003. For those reservists the study found:

The average civilian pay was $39,300, compared with $56,400 while on combat duty.
83 percent made more on duty than at their civilian jobs.
66 percent saw their pay increase more than $10,000 while on duty.
7 percent lost more than $10,000 while on duty.
http://www.townhall.com/news/ap/online/gov/cabinet-state-pentagon/D8FC0FSO4.html

David Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

January 26, 2006

Newsflash: Wal-Mart Wine

Wal-Mart announced on January 11, 2006, that it will begin offering customers a new discount item - WALMART's own brand of wine. Theworld's largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California, to produce the spirits at an affordable price, in the $1-$3 range. Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to throw a bottle of Wal-Mart brand into their shopping carts, but "there is a market for inexpensive wine," said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at University of Arkansas, Bentonville.

She said: "But the right name is important." Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the Wal-Mart wine brand. The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:
10. Chateau Traileur Parc
9. White Trashfindel 8. Big Red Gulp 7. World Championship Riesling
6. NASCARbernet 5. Chef Boyardeaux 4. Peanut Noir 3. I Can't Believe It's Not Vinegar!
2. Grape Expectations 1. Nasti Spumante The beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with either white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).

More to Gresham Than Narnia
(Gresham is C.S. Lewis’ stepson)
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/242006b.asp

NBC pulls the plug on 'Book of Daniel'
January 23, 2006- NBC's "The Book of Daniel" may have launched to great controversy and hoopla.

But, today, the show ended with a whimper – pulled unceremoniously from NBC's Friday night schedule, effective immediately, with no more of an announcement than an entry on an NBC blog by creator Jack Kenny.

...After the first three episodes, only Burlington Coat Factory was left as a national sponsor...
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48476

Study: Most college students lack skills
January 19, 2006More than half of students at four-year colleges - and at least 75 percent at two-year colleges - lack the literacy to handle complex, real-life tasks such as understanding credit card offers, a study found.

The literacy study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the first to target the skills of graduating students, finds that students fail to lock in key skills - no matter their field of study.

The results cut across three types of literacy: analyzing news stories and other prose, understanding documents and having math skills needed for checkbooks or restaurant tips.

...Most students at community colleges and four-year schools showed intermediate skills. That means they can do moderately challenging tasks, such as identifying a location on a map.

Almost 20 percent of students pursuing four-year degrees had only basic quantitative skills. For example, the students could not estimate if their car had enough gas to get to the service station. About 30 percent of two-year students had only basic math skills..
.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Literacy_College_Students.html?source=mypi

Ah, rotten health care and higher crime rate…
Canada's Crime Rate 50 % Higher than U.S.Jan. 24, 2006 ...statistics show that the violent crime rate there [Canada] is double that of the United States.

It seems Canada is looking for a scapegoat, too: Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is blaming the United States for his country’s violent crime wave. He says his southern neighbor is eagerly bringing guns over the border.

According to the Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb, writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Martin is wrong for blaming Canada’s rise in violent crime on criminals smuggling guns from the United States.

Gottlieb says the blame instead belongs on Canadian crooks getting guns from wherever they can."Blaming the United States for Canadian crime is an argument that does not pass the smell test,” Gottlieb wrote. "Canada's experience has simply demonstrated that no matter what kind of gun control law a government passes, that law is doomed to failure because instead of keeping guns out of the wrong hands, the law disarms the wrong people. Canada's gun control scheme has not just failed - it has failed disastrously. Clear evidence of that can be found in a comparison of the crime rates for Canada and America.”

Gottlieb cites an article by Canada's National Post columnist David Frum where he revealed that "Canada's overall crime rate is now 50 percent higher than the crime rate in the United States.” Moreover, "Since the early 1990s, crime rates have dropped in 48 of the 50 states and 80 percent of American cities. Over that same period, crime rates have risen in six of the 10 Canadian provinces and in seven of Canada’s 10 biggest cities.”

He also cites the most recent complete data available from both countries that shows that in 2003, the violent crime rate in the United States was 475 per 100,000 people; while up north, there were 963 violent crimes per 100,000 people. The figure for sexual assault in Canada per 100,000 people was more than double that of the United States: 74 as opposed to 32.1; and the assault rate in Canada was also more than twice that of the states: 746 to America's 295 for the people.

Moreover, he cites research that showed the figure for sexual assault in Canada per 100,000 people was more than double that of the United States: 74 as opposed to 32.1; and the assault rate in Canada was more than twice that of the United States: 746 to America’s 295. Also, in 2005, Toronto had 78 murders; that’s a 28 percent increase in homicides since 1995.

..."Moreover, this shift in crime rates between the two countries has occurred while dozens of U.S. states have adopted ‘right-to-carry’ and ‘shall-issue’ handgun laws. During the same period, Canada’s gun laws have gotten more restrictive, with the national gun registry being implemented,” he added...
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/24/150547.shtml?s=ic

Even if the kid has point school should be about learning, not becoming activists... It's akin to letting the inmates run the asylum... It’s good to know that the ACLU is protecting our rights to wear skirts!ACLU Supports Boy's Right to Wear Skirts to SchoolJanuary 25, 2006- A 17-year-old high school student -- a male -- may wear a skirt to school under an agreement worked out by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Michael Coviello, a senior at Hasbrouck Heights School in New Jersey, said he is wearing a skirt to school "to bring attention to the fact that the [school's] ban on shorts doesn't make sense."

Coviello's school district prohibits students from wearing shorts to class between Oct. 1 and April 15. Corviello called the policy arbitrary and unfair.

"It is discriminatory for the school dress code to allow skirts but not shorts," Corviello said...

...On January 3, 2006, the ACLU-NJ sent a letter to the school superintendent explaining that the school district's dress policy must be enforced equally. Because the policy allows students to wear skirts, all students -- not just girls -- should be able to wear skirts that comply with the policy, ACLU-NJ argued.

The ACLU-NJ also insisted hat Coviello's decision to wear skirts was expressive conduct that is protected by the First Amendment... (of course by that definition so would going to school in the buff)

The Hasbrouck Heights high school student-parent handbook states, "Shorts may only be worn from September 1 to October 1 and from April 15 to the close of school. Dresses, skirts or shorts must be appropriate in length. The principal or his/her designee will determine appropriate length. The principal or his/her designee may extend these dates on a day-to-day basis if weather becomes unseasonably hot."

The handbook also says, "The principal or his/her designee is responsible for determining the appropriateness of a pupil's attire."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200601\CUL20060125b.html

Greens Urge Move Away from 'Doom and Gloom' Approach
January 25, 2006- London - In a bid to restore popularity to the green movement, a coalition of British environmental groups declared this week that it was time for new attitudes and tactics.

...there was a need, they said, to move beyond a "doom and gloom" theme favored by their core audience, in order to bring about a mass swing in behavior world-wide...On issues such as climate change, Hounsham said, groups like his had tended to be needlessly highhanded, or to relentlessly predict disaster resulting from global warming...In the past, organizers had been comfortable with being in permanent "protest mode," constantly fighting those in power...http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200601\FOR20060125d.html

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China (Yahoo and MSN already doing it)
Jan 25 - Google Inc. launched a search engine in China on Wednesday that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing _ defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information.

Within minutes of the launch of the new site bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," searches for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement showed scores of sites omitted and users directed to articles condemning the group posted on Chinese government Web sites.

Searches for other sensitive subjects such as exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence, and terms such as "democracy" and "human rights" yielded similar results.

In most such cases, only official Chinese government sites or those with a ".cn" suffix were included.

...the move has already been criticized by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which also has chided Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com for submitting to China's censorship regime.

"When a search engine collaborates with the government like this, it makes it much easier for the Chinese government to control what is being said on the Internet," said Julien Pain, head of the group's Internet desk.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/25/D8FBONMG7.html

Looks like child abuse to me...
Michael Jackson Spotted in Robe and Veil
Jan 25 -Bahrain- Pop star Michael Jackson took a shopping trip to a Bahrain mall Wednesday, covering himself in a black abaya robe traditionally worn by Bahraini women and a veil hiding his face, along with three children _ apparently his _ with their faces covered with dark scarves.

...The veil, abaya and gloves were of a style typically worn by conservative Bahraini women, though Jackson appeared to be wearing them to hide his identity.

With him was woman _ also in an abaya and jeans and a scarf over her head that partially covered her face _ who had the two other children. All three children's faces were wrapped in black scarves, and they wore yellow shirts and sweatpants or khakis without robes. The woman's identity was not known...photo at http://www.breitbart.com/images/2006/1/25/D8FBOJM03/D8FBOJM03_preview.jpg

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/25/D8FBOJM03.html

January 24, 2005

Noises you do NOT want to hear coming from your computer
http://www.hitachigst.com/hddt/knowtree.nsf/cffe836ed7c12018862565b000530c74/4b1a62a50f405d0d86256756006e340c?OpenDocument

Select a sound (.wav) file and click on it, with your speakers on/up. What you hear is not your hard drive (hopefully), but a representation of what it might sound like just before "nothing works"! (Scroll down to wav files)

God's Yellow Pages
http://web2.airmail.net/dpelc/yellow/

Thoughts to Ponder for the New Year
Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Some people are like a Slinky...not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?

In the 60's, people took drugs to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take drugs to make it normal.

“Some” Exercise helps ward off germs
January 18, 2006 ....Research shows that moderate amounts of aerobic exercise such as jogging, brisk walking and cycling during the cold and flu season boost the body's defenses against viruses and bacteria.

But at a certain point, the physical stress of a long workout undermines the immune system and leaves the endurance-trained athlete even more vulnerable to infection than before a workout.

"The general consensus, I believe, is that 30 minutes, three or four times a week, is generally considered to have positive effects," said Michael Flynn, who studies exercise's effects on the immune system at Purdue University in West Lafayette...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060117-101319-9124r.htm

Battered woman carrying firearm convicted
Wife in danger from husband busted after leaving pursed gun in market
January 17, 2006- A woman who had carried a gun in her purse to help protect her from her husband, who she believed was trying to kill her, has herself been turned into a criminal as California prosecutors convicted her of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit.

…. Knowing the police couldn't protect her 24/7, Rebecca began carrying a handgun in a pouch in her purse. She had purchased the firearm after leaving her husband, waiting the required 10-day period and registering it legally.

"Maybe [the gun] would save her from becoming one of the 1,300 people killed in the United States each year in domestic violence attacks," writes Ryan.

In August, Rebecca stopped at an Albertsons supermarket in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on her way home and accidentally left her purse at the checkout counter. It held her loaded handgun.

…Rebecca believed she could carry a concealed weapon legally without a permit because of an exception in the law for anyone who "reasonably believes that he or she is in grave danger because of circumstances forming the basis of a current restraining order.''
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48370

Girlfriend of 'vampyre' gubernatorial candidate is fired
…News traveled fast Friday when Sharkey announced he was a vampyre and he wants to be Minnesota's next governor. Just hours after the Friday news conference, Sharkey's girlfriend learned she was losing her job as a school bus driver.

On Saturday she tearfully read from the letter the Princeton School District gave her employer, Peterson Bus. The letter says, "It is our opinion that Ms. Carpenter does not serve as a role model, nor is suitable to provide transportation services for the Princeton School District, in light of recent media reports of her husband/friend to be a vampyre who is running for public office, and Ms. Carpenter informing other bus garage employees that she is a witch."

Carpenter, who says she's been driving bus for Peterson Bus for five years, says she is not a vampyre like Sharkey. She says she's a pagan and has only talked to two curious co-workers about it. She adds she never talked to students about it. …
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=116410

N.Y. Times caught in photo fakery
January 16, 2006- The New York Times is accused of running a staged photograph of beleaguered Pakistanis standing with a missile in the midst of their damaged home after a U.S. predator-drone attack aimed at al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The problem, say analysts, is the "missile" actually is an old, unexploded artillery shell, possibly with its fuse intact.

But on its website, the Times captioned the photo by Agence France-Presse this way: "Pakistani men with the remains of a missile fired at a house in the Bajur tribal zone near the Afghan border."

The photograph adds fuel to the anti-American protests by Islamic groups over the purported CIA airstrike Saturday, which Pakistan claims killed innocent civilians…
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48374

New Orleans Mayor Says New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again
Jan 16 …Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again…

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/16/D8F61AV80.html

Warning over Viagra and damage to sight
17/01/2006 Men who take drugs for impotency such as Viagra or Cialis and who have previously had a heart attack may have a 10-fold increased risk of damaging their eyesight, an American study claims today.

It warns that increasing use of the drugs could produce an increase in a rare condition that can cause irreversible loss of vision.

While doctors are advised to prescribe the drug with caution to men with cardiovascular disease, thousands buy them online.

Many of the websites ask no questions about health or other medications that are being taken.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/17/wsight17.xml

Under Clinton, NY Times called surveillance "a necessity"
January 12th, 2006 -The controversy following revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored suspected terrorist related communications since 9/11 reflects a severe case of selective amnesia by the New York Times and other media opponents of President Bush. They certainly didn’t show the same outrage when a much more invasive and indiscriminate domestic surveillance program came to light during the Clinton administration in the 1990’s. At that time, the Times called the surveillance “a necessity.”

“If you made a phone call today or sent an e-mail to a friend, there’s a good chance what you said or wrote was captured and screened by the country’s largest intelligence agency.” (Steve Kroft, CBS’ 60 Minutes)

Those words were aired on February 27, 2000 to describe the National Security Agency and an electronic surveillance program called Echelon whose mission, according to Kroft,

“is to eavesdrop on enemies of the state: foreign countries, terrorist groups and drug cartels. But in the process, Echelon’s computers capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world.”

see entire article at:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5150&search=echelon

Note date:
Ex-Snoop Confirms Echelon Network
24 Feb 2000
The NSA runs Echelon with Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand as a series of listening posts around the world that eavesdrop on terrorists, drug lords and hostile foreign governments.

But to find out what the bad guys are up to, all electronic communications, including those of the good guys, must be captured and analyzed for key words by super computers…
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/02/24/60minutes/main164651.shtml

Al Gore Led Effort to Tap Every Phone in America
Jan. 18, 2006 ...Al Gore forgot to tell his audience was that he not only supported eavesdropping on Americans without court approval – he also chaired a project designed to execute just that in total secrecy. In short, Al Gore wanted to bug every phone, computer and fax in America.

In 1993 Al Gore was charged by then President Bill Clinton to run the "Clipper" project. Clipper was a special chip designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) to be built into all phones, computers and fax machines. Not only would Clipper provide scrambled security, it also contained a special "exploitable feature" enabling the NSA to monitor all phone calls without a court order.

...Al Gore quickly embraced the Clipper chip and the concept of monitoring America at all costs. In 1994, Gore wrote a glowing letter supporting the Clipper chip and the government-approved wiretap design.

"As we have done with the Clipper Chip, future key escrow schemes must contain safeguards to provide for key disclosures only under legal authorization and should have audit procedures to ensure the integrity of the system. We also want to assure users of key escrow encryption products that they will not be subject to unauthorized electronic surveillance," wrote Gore in his July 20, 1994 letter to Representative Maria Cantwell.

However, Gore lied. In 1994, federal officials were keenly aware that the Clipper chip design did not have safeguards against unauthorized surveillance. In fact, NASA turned down the Clipper project because the space agency knew of the flawed design.

...Al Gore pressed ahead, continuing to support a flawed design despite warnings that the design could "compromise" every computer in the U.S.

...Declassified documents from the CIA and the U.S. State Department also show that the Clinton-Gore administration considered sharing Clipper code "keys" with foreign powers including China, Syria and Pakistan...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/17/141106.shtml

also see Spies Like US http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/17/155916.shtml

Al Gore is a Hypocrite
...McClellan said the Clinton-Gore administration had engaged in warrantless physical searches, and he cited an FBI search of the home of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames without permission from a judge. He said Clinton's deputy attorney general, Jamie Gorelick, had testified before Congress that the president had the inherent authority to engage in physical searches without warrants.

...On CNN's "Larry King Live," Gonzales said Gore's comments were inconsistent with Clinton administration policy.

"It's my understanding that during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding physical searches without warrants," Gonzales said. "I can also say it's my understanding that the deputy attorney general testified before Congress that the president does have the inherent authority under the Constitution to engage in physical searches without a warrant. And so, those would certainly seem to be inconsistent with what the former vice president was saying today."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/17/105341.shtml?s=lh

Documents show Saddam trained terrorists
Millions of pieces of evidence slowly being translated by U.S.
January 14, 2006 -Documents from Saddam Hussein's regime that are slowly being translated show Iraq trained thousands of Islamic terrorists at camps inside the country before the war.

The evidence – affirmed in interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders – contradicts the claims of anti-war critics who charge Iraq became a magnet for Islamic terrorists only after the U.S. invasion...

...Steve Hayes of the Weekly Standard reports that from 1999 through 2002, "elite Iraqi military units" trained about 8,000 terrorists at three different camps, including Salman Pak, where American forces found an airliner fuselage that possibly was used to practice hijackings.

Hayes, who claims more than a dozen corroborating sources, says many of the trainees were from North African-based terrorist groups with ties to al-Qaida...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48343

David Bennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

January 18, 2006

“Some” Exercise helps ward off germs
January 18, 2006 ....Research shows that moderate amounts of aerobic exercise such as jogging, brisk walking and cycling during the cold and flu season boost the body's defenses against viruses and bacteria.

But at a certain point, the physical stress of a long workout undermines the immune system and leaves the endurance-trained athlete even more vulnerable to infection than before a workout.

"The general consensus, I believe, is that 30 minutes, three or four times a week, is generally considered to have positive effects," said Michael Flynn, who studies exercise's effects on the immune system at Purdue University in West Lafayette...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060117-101319-9124r.htm

Battered woman carrying firearm convicted
Wife in danger from husband busted after leaving pursed gun in market
January 17, 2006- A woman who had carried a gun in her purse to help protect her from her husband, who she believed was trying to kill her, has herself been turned into a criminal as California prosecutors convicted her of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit.

…. Knowing the police couldn't protect her 24/7, Rebecca began carrying a handgun in a pouch in her purse. She had purchased the firearm after leaving her husband, waiting the required 10-day period and registering it legally.

"Maybe [the gun] would save her from becoming one of the 1,300 people killed in the United States each year in domestic violence attacks," writes Ryan.

In August, Rebecca stopped at an Albertsons supermarket in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on her way home and accidentally left her purse at the checkout counter. It held her loaded handgun.

…Rebecca believed she could carry a concealed weapon legally without a permit because of an exception in the law for anyone who "reasonably believes that he or she is in grave danger because of circumstances forming the basis of a current restraining order.''
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48370

Girlfriend of 'vampyre' gubernatorial candidate is fired
…News traveled fast Friday when Sharkey announced he was a vampyre and he wants to be Minnesota's next governor. Just hours after the Friday news conference, Sharkey's girlfriend learned she was losing her job as a school bus driver.

On Saturday she tearfully read from the letter the Princeton School District gave her employer, Peterson Bus. The letter says, "It is our opinion that Ms. Carpenter does not serve as a role model, nor is suitable to provide transportation services for the Princeton School District, in light of recent media reports of her husband/friend to be a vampyre who is running for public office, and Ms. Carpenter informing other bus garage employees that she is a witch."

Carpenter, who says she's been driving bus for Peterson Bus for five years, says she is not a vampyre like Sharkey. She says she's a pagan and has only talked to two curious co-workers about it. She adds she never talked to students about it. …
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=116410

N.Y. Times caught in photo fakery
January 16, 2006- The New York Times is accused of running a staged photograph of beleaguered Pakistanis standing with a missile in the midst of their damaged home after a U.S. predator-drone attack aimed at al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The problem, say analysts, is the "missile" actually is an old, unexploded artillery shell, possibly with its fuse intact.

But on its website, the Times captioned the photo by Agence France-Presse this way: "Pakistani men with the remains of a missile fired at a house in the Bajur tribal zone near the Afghan border."

The photograph adds fuel to the anti-American protests by Islamic groups over the purported CIA airstrike Saturday, which Pakistan claims killed innocent civilians…
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48374

New Orleans Mayor Says New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again
Jan 16 …Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again…

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/16/D8F61AV80.html

Warning over Viagra and damage to sight
17/01/2006 Men who take drugs for impotency such as Viagra or Cialis and who have previously had a heart attack may have a 10-fold increased risk of damaging their eyesight, an American study claims today.

It warns that increasing use of the drugs could produce an increase in a rare condition that can cause irreversible loss of vision.

While doctors are advised to prescribe the drug with caution to men with cardiovascular disease, thousands buy them online.

Many of the websites ask no questions about health or other medications that are being taken.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/17/wsight17.xml

Under Clinton, NY Times called surveillance "a necessity"
January 12th, 2006 -The controversy following revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored suspected terrorist related communications since 9/11 reflects a severe case of selective amnesia by the New York Times and other media opponents of President Bush. They certainly didn’t show the same outrage when a much more invasive and indiscriminate domestic surveillance program came to light during the Clinton administration in the 1990’s. At that time, the Times called the surveillance “a necessity.”

“If you made a phone call today or sent an e-mail to a friend, there’s a good chance what you said or wrote was captured and screened by the country’s largest intelligence agency.” (Steve Kroft, CBS’ 60 Minutes)

Those words were aired on February 27, 2000 to describe the National Security Agency and an electronic surveillance program called Echelon whose mission, according to Kroft,

“is to eavesdrop on enemies of the state: foreign countries, terrorist groups and drug cartels. But in the process, Echelon’s computers capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world.”

see entire article at:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5150&search=echelon

Note date:
Ex-Snoop Confirms Echelon Network
24 Feb 2000
The NSA runs Echelon with Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand as a series of listening posts around the world that eavesdrop on terrorists, drug lords and hostile foreign governments.

But to find out what the bad guys are up to, all electronic communications, including those of the good guys, must be captured and analyzed for key words by super computers…
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/02/24/60minutes/main164651.shtml

Al Gore Led Effort to Tap Every Phone in America
Jan. 18, 2006 ...Al Gore forgot to tell his audience was that he not only supported eavesdropping on Americans without court approval – he also chaired a project designed to execute just that in total secrecy. In short, Al Gore wanted to bug every phone, computer and fax in America.

In 1993 Al Gore was charged by then President Bill Clinton to run the "Clipper" project. Clipper was a special chip designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) to be built into all phones, computers and fax machines. Not only would Clipper provide scrambled security, it also contained a special "exploitable feature" enabling the NSA to monitor all phone calls without a court order.

...Al Gore quickly embraced the Clipper chip and the concept of monitoring America at all costs. In 1994, Gore wrote a glowing letter supporting the Clipper chip and the government-approved wiretap design.

"As we have done with the Clipper Chip, future key escrow schemes must contain safeguards to provide for key disclosures only under legal authorization and should have audit procedures to ensure the integrity of the system. We also want to assure users of key escrow encryption products that they will not be subject to unauthorized electronic surveillance," wrote Gore in his July 20, 1994 letter to Representative Maria Cantwell.

However, Gore lied. In 1994, federal officials were keenly aware that the Clipper chip design did not have safeguards against unauthorized surveillance. In fact, NASA turned down the Clipper project because the space agency knew of the flawed design.

...Al Gore pressed ahead, continuing to support a flawed design despite warnings that the design could "compromise" every computer in the U.S.

...Declassified documents from the CIA and the U.S. State Department also show that the Clinton-Gore administration considered sharing Clipper code "keys" with foreign powers including China, Syria and Pakistan...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/17/141106.shtml

also see Spies Like US http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/17/155916.shtml

Al Gore is a Hypocrite
...McClellan said the Clinton-Gore administration had engaged in warrantless physical searches, and he cited an FBI search of the home of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames without permission from a judge. He said Clinton's deputy attorney general, Jamie Gorelick, had testified before Congress that the president had the inherent authority to engage in physical searches without warrants.

...On CNN's "Larry King Live," Gonzales said Gore's comments were inconsistent with Clinton administration policy.

"It's my understanding that during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding physical searches without warrants," Gonzales said. "I can also say it's my understanding that the deputy attorney general testified before Congress that the president does have the inherent authority under the Constitution to engage in physical searches without a warrant. And so, those would certainly seem to be inconsistent with what the former vice president was saying today."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/17/105341.shtml?s=lh

Documents show Saddam trained terrorists
Millions of pieces of evidence slowly being translated by U.S.
January 14, 2006 -Documents from Saddam Hussein's regime that are slowly being translated show Iraq trained thousands of Islamic terrorists at camps inside the country before the war.

The evidence – affirmed in interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders – contradicts the claims of anti-war critics who charge Iraq became a magnet for Islamic terrorists only after the U.S. invasion...

...Steve Hayes of the Weekly Standard reports that from 1999 through 2002, "elite Iraqi military units" trained about 8,000 terrorists at three different camps, including Salman Pak, where American forces found an airliner fuselage that possibly was used to practice hijackings.

Hayes, who claims more than a dozen corroborating sources, says many of the trainees were from North African-based terrorist groups with ties to al-Qaida...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48343

David Bennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com

January 16, 2006

Shameless plug for my new website
I have made some updates and corrections since its Friday inauguration.
Predestined For Free Will: http://www.freewill-predestination.com/

The following sounds like something out of Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham…” “Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like green eggs and ham.”
Fluorescent green pig
January 13, 2006 - By injecting fluorescent green protein into embryonic pigs, a research team at the island's leading National Taiwan University managed to breed three male transgenic pigs, said professor Wu Shinn-Chih of the university's Institute and Department of Animal Science and Technology.

"There are partially fluorescent green pigs elsewhere, but ours are the only ones in the world that are green from inside out. Even their hearts and internal organs are green," Wu said today.

The transgenic pigs, commonly used to study human diseases, would help researchers monitor and trace changes of the tissues during the physical development, Wu said…

Photos (I guess these are JPIG pictures…) at:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060113/ids_photos_wl/r1277527826.jpg
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/01/13/pig_narrowweb__300x458,0.jpg
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060112/060112_glowpig_hmed_4a.hmedium.jpg
http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/and-now-its-fluoro-pig/2006/01/13/1136956327408.html

And you wonder why some people home school their children…?
Ohio High School Porn Homework Canceled
Jan 13 BROOKLYN, Ohio- A high school research assignment on Internet pornography was canceled after parents in this Cleveland suburb complained.

Superintendent Jeff Lampert said that although the teacher's apparent goal to discuss the harmful effects of pornography “was well- intentioned”, he agreed with parents that the assignment was inappropriate for 14- and 15-year-old freshmen.

The assignment asked students to research pornography on the Internet and list eight facts about pornography. Students also were asked to write their personal views of pornography and any experience they had with it.

Lampert said he doubted the teacher would face any punishment.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/13/D8F41B9O3.html

College illiteracy stuns educators
January 12, 2006-- Stunned, shocked and appalled are American educators as they study the recent report from the National Center of Education Statistics, which reveals that only 31 percent of college graduates can read a complex book and extrapolate from it. "It's really astounding," said Michael Gorman, president of the American Library Association. "That's not saying much for the remainder," he added, meaning that 69 percent of our college graduates cannot read at or above a "proficient" level.

Absolutely appalled by the results of the survey was Mark S. Schneider, commissioner of education statistics, who remarked, "The declining impact of education on our adult population was the biggest surprise for us, and we just don't have a good explanation. What's disturbing is that the assessment is not designed to test your understanding of Proust, but to test your ability to read labels."

The Boston Globe (Dec. 26, 2005) explained that the test measured how well adults handled basic reading tasks – such as figuring out costs per ounce of food items, comparing viewpoints on two editorials, and reading prescription labels. Of graduate students tested in 2003, 41 percent were classified as "proficient" in prose – able to read and understand information in short texts – down 10 percent since 1992. As for college graduates, only 31 percent were classified as proficient – compared with 40 percent in 1992. The results were based on a sample of more than 19,000 individuals 16 or older, who were interviewed in their homes. They were asked to read prose, do math, and find facts in documents…
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48309

Plants adding to greenhouse gases
12/01/2006- Planting trees to neutralise greenhouse gas emissions and other climate problems has become a fashionable activity for the eco-conscious citizen.

Today, however, an international team of scientists raises an unexpected objection to using forests to soak up the effects of man-made carbon dioxide: plants have been found for the first time to produce considerable quantities of methane, another potent greenhouse gas.

"We now have the spectre that new forests might increase greenhouse warming through methane emissions rather than decrease it by being sinks for CO2," said David Lowe of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Wellington, New Zealand.

Frank Keppler, the lead author of the study published today in the journal Nature, said he was anxious that the discovery should not be seized on in the debate about what to do about global warming. (because it doesn’t fit in with their ultimate goals…)

He and colleagues studied plant litter and living plants and found that both gave off methane. Maize and ryegrass let out some 10 to 100 times more methane than dead plant material.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/12/wplants12.xml

Victims of tsunami in tents as aid agency 'sits on millions'
12/01/2006- A report has criticised Britain's Disaster Emergency Committee over the millions of pounds (£) in donations for the survivors of the Asian tsunami that are still lying in its bank account, while tens of thousands of people left homeless by the disaster are still living in tents.

…The report said there had been a tendency for agencies to "rush ahead" with reconstruction, which had resulted in "tens of thousands still living in tents" and temporary shelters, which were "unsafe".

…The study also claimed agencies had so much money "they have shown little inclination to work together, and on many occasions behaved in a competitive way".
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/12/ntsun12.xml

Massachusetts has been losing more people than it attracts every year since 1990
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/jeffjacoby/2006/01/16/182453.html

Inmate goes from man to woman and back on NHS
(It must one those “guaranteed rights issues… )
England- A prisoner who had a sex change operation to become a woman is to undergo further surgery to become a man again. (both at tax payer expense)

John Pilley, currently known as Jane Anne, is in Holloway women’s jail in North London. The prisoner made legal history in 1999 when he became the first inmate in England and Wales to be granted permission for a sex change operation. He is understood to have undergone the gender reassignment operation on the NHS in 2001 at an estimated cost of £15,000.

Pilley, 54, was moved from Gartree Prison, in Leicestershire, where he was serving life for attempted murder and kidnapping a female taxi driver, to Holloway, but after living in the female jail has decided to become a man again. He is waiting to have his second operation on the NHS, then will be transferred to a male prison.

…Research published last year suggested that there was no conclusive evidence that sex- change operations improved the lives of transsexuals.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2-1981218%2C00.html

Sean Penn Blames President Bush for Smoking Habit
Sean Penn told the audience at an anti-war forum hosted by the Progressive Democrats of America the other night that the stress of living under the Bush administration is making it impossible for him to quit smoking, the PDA’s Web site reported… http://thetrack.bostonherald.com/moreTrack/view.bg?articleid=120949

Shark repellent sticker hits the market
12 January 2006 -"When a shark swims underneath they can easily identify the sticker as another shark" Fang Shooey creator Craig Wills.

Over the past decade there has been an increase in the research and development of devices that deter sharks. Some of the shark deterrents available in the market include electronic shields and chemical repellents.

Danny Togo and Craig Wills are the designers of Fang Shooey, a sticker and picture of a Great White shark, which they believe, stuck to the bottom of surfboards will deter sharks from attacking.
Photo at http://www.abc.net.au/sunshine/stories/m1172686.jpg

http://www.abc.net.au/sunshine/stories/s1546405.htm

January 11, 2006

Dear IRS
Enclosed is my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes.

Please note the attached article from US Today, wherein you will see that the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat.

I am enclosing four toilet seats (value $2400) and six hammers (value $1029), bringing my total remitted to $3429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the “Presidential Election Fund,” as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one 1.5” Phillips Head screw (article from USA Today detailing how HUD pays $22.00 each for 1.5” Phillips Head Screws is enclosed for your convenience.).

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,
Mr. US Citizen

New Narnia movie on the way
Jan 10, 2006 To the surprise of many, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ has ended up as one of the most successful movies of 2005... (It wasn't a surprise to me...)

…Variety confirms that not only is a ‘Narnia’ sequel happening, but it’s already moving ahead. Disney and Walden Media are already starting on a script for the follow up, to be based on the second book in C.S. Lewis’ classic fantasy series entitled ‘Prince Caspian’...
http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1074765.php/New_Narnia_movie_on_the_way

‘Narnia’ Box Office worldwide total: $531 million
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=narnia.htm

A good thought provoking presentation.
http://www.interviewwithgod.com/patriotic/highband.htm

Airline bans Bibles, crucifixes and teddy bears to avoid offending Muslims
(I wonder what the Muslim worlds reaction would be if we banned anything remotely related to their culture. Oh, we have and they have whined and went running to the ACLU)
January 9, 2006- A British airline banned its staff from taking Bibles and wearing crucifixes or St. Christopher medals on flights to Saudi Arabia to avoid offending the country’s Muslims.

British Midland International also has told female flight attendants they must walk two paces behind male colleagues and cover themselves from head to foot in a headscarf and robe known as an abaya, the Mirror newspaper of London reported.

Teddy bears or other cuddly toys also are not allowed.

Airline officials, who have sparked outrage, the paper says, explain the Islamic kingdom’s strict laws prohibit public practice of Christianity and figures of animals.

...An airline employee who asked not to be named told the Mirror: “It’s outrageous that we must respect their beliefs but they’re not prepared to respect ours.”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48269

Consistently Inconsistent
The purpose of Senate hearing in the US Supreme Court Justice Nomination process is to ensure that the nominee is technically qualified for the position, not to weed out nominees that one party just does not like.

For instance when Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg her nomination went through without much discussion even though she was a well known liberal ACLU lawyer. Conservatives agreed that while they may not like her positions she was technically qualified and she was confirmed with very little discussion or opposition from Republicans.

When President Bush nominated John Roberts to the US Supreme Court Senator Schumer stated that Roberts had to answer more specific questions than previous nominees because he had not been a judge and as a result there was no history to look at.

When President Bush nominated Judge Alito to the US Supreme Court Senator Schumer stated for the record that Alito had to answer more specific questions than previous nominees because he had been a judge and had been prolific in his writings and there was so much history to review and question him on.

Another thing Schumer is saying is that it is “triply important” that Alito be forthcoming and answer specific questions about specific potential cases because he was nominated to occupy a “swing” seat, or vote, on the Supreme Court, vacated by O’Connor. Sorry Chucky, there ain’t no such thing as a “swing” anything on the Supreme Court.
D.B.

‘Affluent beggars’ have made as much as $800 a dayCouple supports family through panhandling
January 8, 2006- The first time Elizabeth Johnson stopped a stranger on the street to ask for money, she was really nervous...That was six years ago now in hindsight, she believes she was socially conditioned to think that if you ask people for money something is wrong with you.

Now Johnson and her 34-year-old partner, Jason Pancoast, who have been together for 14 years, support themselves and their three children by panhandling.

Pancoast refers to himself and his family as “affluent beggars.”

“If you’re an affluent beggar you stay in a hotel and eat a continental breakfast,” he says. “It makes it a lot easier to be philosophical about it.”

Carrying her smiling baby in a navy blue front pack and pushing Adrianne in a green jogging stroller, Johnson stops people on the street and asks them for money to find shelter for her children. (so she’s lying and she’s not...)

...According to Pancoast, begging can be lucrative. He claims the family sometimes makes $300 a day asking for money and has made as much as $800. The family also receives $500 a month in food stamps.

But the presence of a well-fed, well-dressed family begging from strangers on the streets does not sit well with some Ashland locals...

“I always felt bad for her because she had a baby in the hot summer sun,” says Debbie, “That kind of thing tugs on anyone’s heartstrings.”

But then Debbie saw Pancoast drop Johnson off at the Ashland Waldorf-inspired experimental classes at Willow Wind, part of the Ashland public school system, in a nice car and kiss her and the baby goodbye. “Then I became a little bitter,” Debbie says. “I was working my tail off at three jobs — waitressing and babysitting — and I see her eating at restaurants that are so expensive I can’t afford to eat there.”

...Johnson says she doesn’t want to get a job because it would keep her away from her children.

Pancoast says he would like to get a job, but finding suitable employment has been difficult. His lack of experience and difficulty with jobs in the past make it even more challenging.

...The couple who adopted Erik [one of two of their children they gave up for adoption] flew Johnson and Pancoast out to the Bay Area and helped them find a place to live and jobs. Pancoast worked at a record store until he was fired, and then at a fish market, until he lost that job as well. Debbie [has] worked in retail... (oh, so the problem isn’t getting a job, it’s keeping it...) http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/0108/local/stories/01local.htm

I remember when I lived in Missouri a lady in my car-pool told me about her brother who owned his own construction company stopping and offering a man holding a "will work for food" work. The bum said he couldn't take it because he was starting his vacation the next day. I also remember in the paper when they did some investigating on the pan-handlers at the exit ramps on the highways and many declined help when told about social services and were offered rides there or to shelters. Some admitted to making $300 a day. Many had very nice cars. It's people like them that give the truely needy a bum rap.
D.B.

The poverty hype
By Walter E. Williams
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/walterwilliams/2006/01/04/180969.html

A Look at Other Scientific Frauds
10 Jan- A South Korean university panel concluded Seoul scientist Hwang Woosuk fabricated his claims that he cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them, and that he developed 11 stem cell lines tailored to specific patients. Here are some notable research frauds over the past three decades:
** Nutrition researcher Eric Poehlman, formerly of the University of Vermont College of Medicine, pleaded guilty last year to fraud in obtaining a $542,000 federal grant. Prosecutors said he made up research between 1992 and 2000 to win millions of dollars in federal grant money for studies in such areas as menopause, aging and hormone supplements.
** Last March, Dr. Gary Kammer, a Wake Forest University rheumatology professor and leading lupus expert, was found to have made up two families and their medical conditions in federal grant applications. He resigned from the university and was suspended from receiving federal grants for three years.
** In 2004, federal officials found that Dr. Ali Sultan, then an award- winning malaria researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, had plagiarized text and figures, and falsified his data _ substituting results from one type of malaria for another _ on a grant application for federal funds to study malaria drugs. Sultan resigned.
** As a researcher at Bell Labs, Jan Hendrik Schon made up or altered data in electronics experiments at least 16 times between 1998 and an investigation concluded. He was fired in 2002.
** The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said in 2002 that its reported discovery of two chemical elements in 1999 was based on bogus research. The results were retracted in 2001.
** Stephen Breuning, a well-known research psychologist, pleaded guilty in 1988 to falsifying research data on drug therapies for mentally retarded children while working for the University of Pittsburgh.
** In 1981, Dr. John Darsee, a Harvard cardiologist and medical researcher, was found to have faked data in an experiment on heart attacks in dogs. He was later found to have made up much of his data in more than 100 papers published over 14 years while he worked at Harvard and Emory University. Darsee was dismissed and cut off from federal research funds for 10 years.
** In 1974, Dr. William Summerlin resigned from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York after admitting he had forged an experiment on the immune system’s reaction to foreign tissue. He used a dark, felt-tipped pen on a white mouse and made it appear that tissue had been grafted successfully from a black mouse. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/10/D8F20IR80.html