November 22, 2006
NOAA: Last two months in the continental U.S. have been cooler than average
According to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center , the last two months in the continental U.S. have been cooler than average.
The organization reported: “The combination of a cooler-than-average September and October dropped the year-to-date national temperature from record warmest to third warmest for the January through October 2006 period. The record warmest January through October occurred in 1934.”
November 21, 2006
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Snow flurries were reported in Seminole, Orange, and Volusia Counties Tuesday night. We even saw some snow at Channel 9's Orlando studios.
The last time it snowed in Central Florida was reportedly January 24, 2003. Before that, it hadn't snowed since 1989.
A blast of cold air is moving into the state this week, state emergency officials said.
Wind chills may drop into the 20s in parts of north Florida and high temperatures may only reach the 60s as far south as the Keys on Wednesday, state meteorologist Ben Nelson said.
http://www.wftv.com/weather/10373307/detail.html
The True Thanksgiving Story
... In a children’s book called The First Thanksgiving, the author, Jean Craighead George says, the Pilgrims left Europe “to seek their fortune in the New World.”(1)
That would have come as news to the Pilgrims themselves. Pilgrim leader William Bradford wrote in his diary that the voyage was motivated by “a great hope for advancing the kingdom of Christ.”...
http://www.metrovoice.net/2004/1204_stlweb/1204_articles/true_thanksgiving_story.html
'God' erased: Names of U.S. cities forced to be changed?
November 22, 2006
If a man who describes himself as an atheist but says the national motto "In God We Trust" violates his religious rights under his own "First Amendmist Church of True Science" wins his court case, the changes in the United States could be radical, according to a lawyer who filed briefs in support of the motto.
For example, a conclusion that anything referring to God or Christianity must be banned would mean a new name for Los Angeles, because that name can be interpreted as "The Angels," according to Kevin Snider, chief counsel of the Pacific Justice Institute. Sacramento, too, would disappear, because one couldn't have a city called "The Sacraments," he told WND in an interview…
...The radical elimination of those references already has been under way for some years, as WND reported in a story about the U.S. Supreme Court changing its official description of stone tablets in the artwork within the very chamber where decisions are delivered. As recently has 20 years ago they were officially the Ten Commandments. Now they are the Ten Amendments...
The lawsuit at issue was brought by Michael Newdow, who earlier challenged the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his claim in that situation, but it was on a technicality and Newdow has refiled the action, and Christian lawyers consider that still is at risk.
Newdow then also sued over the national motto, alleging it infringed on his rights, but the claims were turned back at the district court level, where Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. cited a 36-year-old appellate ruling and concluded that the national motto "has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."
...the Pacific Justice Institute's Snider told WND the Institute has argued that the earlier court rulings in such situations are worth considering, in that just because something is religious, that does not necessarily mean it violates the Establishment Clause.
"If it has a historical basis, and it's purpose is for ceremony or for solemnizing events," it is allowed, he noted.
The U.S. Constitution and other founding documents also reference rights being divinely endowed, and contain other acknowledgments of God, "so our position is the government can have a motto that is reflective of that," he said.
Newdow has admitted that such situations do not require him to believe in God, but he told WND that he still wants to eradicate the historic motto in public places and instead install his own belief system that does not acknowledge God.
...Snider said the ripple effect would be massive, should the ultimate decision, which may be made by the U.S. Supreme Court, throw out the motto: Every cross in every national cemetery might have to be removed or changed into some other symbol, the Washington Monument's reference to God could have to go, those Ten Commandment representations inside the U.S. Supreme Court Chamber could have to be removed.
Even the Constitution's own reference that it was done "in convention … in the year of our Lord" 1787, apparently could be considered "unconstitutional" under that reasoning, observers said.
...Newdow said that the motto "places the government on one side in the quintessential theological debate: Does God exist?"
"That would be news to the First Congress," Pastor D. James Kennedy wrote. "The same Congress that in 1789 passed the First Amendment, which Mr. Newdow relies on to eliminate the motto, immediately afterward asked President George Washington to declare a day of public thanksgiving and prayer – to God. The Congress responsible for the First Amendment was itself not neutral on the question of God's existence."
...the American Center for Law and Justice, "The Establishment Clause was never intended as a guarantee that a person will not be exposed to religion or religious symbols on public property, and the Supreme Court has rejected previous attempts to eradicate all symbols of this country’s religious heritage from the public’s view,” the ACLJ's brief argued. “Although enterprising plaintiffs can find support for just about any proposition in the Court’s multifarious Establishment Clause pronouncements, a claim that the national motto violates the First Amendment borders on frivolous."
"If our National Motto can be declared unconstitutional simply because it reflects a basic truth of our religious faith - as Dr. Michael Newdow has charged in court - then any expression of your faith and mine can also be declared illegal. Our foundational freedoms will crumble," the ACLJ said.
Richard Thompson, the Thomas More center's chief counsel, says Newdow's "attempt to eliminate the mere acknowledgement of our religious heritage by our national motto has no basis in constitutional law."
"Even the Supreme Court, in past decisions, has understood there is an unbroken history of official invocations of Divine guidance beginning with our founding fathers and continuing to our present day leaders," Thompson said...
More at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53050
David Bennett <>< http://www.freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
According to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center , the last two months in the continental U.S. have been cooler than average.
The organization reported: “The combination of a cooler-than-average September and October dropped the year-to-date national temperature from record warmest to third warmest for the January through October 2006 period. The record warmest January through October occurred in 1934.”
--------------
Snow Reported In Central FloridaNovember 21, 2006
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Snow flurries were reported in Seminole, Orange, and Volusia Counties Tuesday night. We even saw some snow at Channel 9's Orlando studios.
The last time it snowed in Central Florida was reportedly January 24, 2003. Before that, it hadn't snowed since 1989.
A blast of cold air is moving into the state this week, state emergency officials said.
Wind chills may drop into the 20s in parts of north Florida and high temperatures may only reach the 60s as far south as the Keys on Wednesday, state meteorologist Ben Nelson said.
http://www.wftv.com/weather/10373307/detail.html
The True Thanksgiving Story
... In a children’s book called The First Thanksgiving, the author, Jean Craighead George says, the Pilgrims left Europe “to seek their fortune in the New World.”(1)
That would have come as news to the Pilgrims themselves. Pilgrim leader William Bradford wrote in his diary that the voyage was motivated by “a great hope for advancing the kingdom of Christ.”...
http://www.metrovoice.net/2004/1204_stlweb/1204_articles/true_thanksgiving_story.html
'God' erased: Names of U.S. cities forced to be changed?
November 22, 2006
If a man who describes himself as an atheist but says the national motto "In God We Trust" violates his religious rights under his own "First Amendmist Church of True Science" wins his court case, the changes in the United States could be radical, according to a lawyer who filed briefs in support of the motto.
For example, a conclusion that anything referring to God or Christianity must be banned would mean a new name for Los Angeles, because that name can be interpreted as "The Angels," according to Kevin Snider, chief counsel of the Pacific Justice Institute. Sacramento, too, would disappear, because one couldn't have a city called "The Sacraments," he told WND in an interview…
...The radical elimination of those references already has been under way for some years, as WND reported in a story about the U.S. Supreme Court changing its official description of stone tablets in the artwork within the very chamber where decisions are delivered. As recently has 20 years ago they were officially the Ten Commandments. Now they are the Ten Amendments...
The lawsuit at issue was brought by Michael Newdow, who earlier challenged the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his claim in that situation, but it was on a technicality and Newdow has refiled the action, and Christian lawyers consider that still is at risk.
Newdow then also sued over the national motto, alleging it infringed on his rights, but the claims were turned back at the district court level, where Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. cited a 36-year-old appellate ruling and concluded that the national motto "has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion."
...the Pacific Justice Institute's Snider told WND the Institute has argued that the earlier court rulings in such situations are worth considering, in that just because something is religious, that does not necessarily mean it violates the Establishment Clause.
"If it has a historical basis, and it's purpose is for ceremony or for solemnizing events," it is allowed, he noted.
The U.S. Constitution and other founding documents also reference rights being divinely endowed, and contain other acknowledgments of God, "so our position is the government can have a motto that is reflective of that," he said.
Newdow has admitted that such situations do not require him to believe in God, but he told WND that he still wants to eradicate the historic motto in public places and instead install his own belief system that does not acknowledge God.
...Snider said the ripple effect would be massive, should the ultimate decision, which may be made by the U.S. Supreme Court, throw out the motto: Every cross in every national cemetery might have to be removed or changed into some other symbol, the Washington Monument's reference to God could have to go, those Ten Commandment representations inside the U.S. Supreme Court Chamber could have to be removed.
Even the Constitution's own reference that it was done "in convention … in the year of our Lord" 1787, apparently could be considered "unconstitutional" under that reasoning, observers said.
...Newdow said that the motto "places the government on one side in the quintessential theological debate: Does God exist?"
"That would be news to the First Congress," Pastor D. James Kennedy wrote. "The same Congress that in 1789 passed the First Amendment, which Mr. Newdow relies on to eliminate the motto, immediately afterward asked President George Washington to declare a day of public thanksgiving and prayer – to God. The Congress responsible for the First Amendment was itself not neutral on the question of God's existence."
...the American Center for Law and Justice, "The Establishment Clause was never intended as a guarantee that a person will not be exposed to religion or religious symbols on public property, and the Supreme Court has rejected previous attempts to eradicate all symbols of this country’s religious heritage from the public’s view,” the ACLJ's brief argued. “Although enterprising plaintiffs can find support for just about any proposition in the Court’s multifarious Establishment Clause pronouncements, a claim that the national motto violates the First Amendment borders on frivolous."
"If our National Motto can be declared unconstitutional simply because it reflects a basic truth of our religious faith - as Dr. Michael Newdow has charged in court - then any expression of your faith and mine can also be declared illegal. Our foundational freedoms will crumble," the ACLJ said.
Richard Thompson, the Thomas More center's chief counsel, says Newdow's "attempt to eliminate the mere acknowledgement of our religious heritage by our national motto has no basis in constitutional law."
"Even the Supreme Court, in past decisions, has understood there is an unbroken history of official invocations of Divine guidance beginning with our founding fathers and continuing to our present day leaders," Thompson said...
More at http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53050
David Bennett <>< http://www.freewill-predestination.com
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove
posted by David Bennett | 5:10 PM
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