22 May 2007

Rare Old Testament scroll fragment to be unveiled

May. 21, 2007

...A rare Torah scroll fragment from the Book of Exodus dating back to the 7th century that includes the famous Song of the Sea will be unveiled Tuesday at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the museum announced Monday.

The manuscript, which is a fragment of a Torah scroll from the Book of Exodus (13:19-16:1), comes from the six-hundred year period from the 3rd through 8th centuries known as the "silent era," from which almost no Hebrew manuscripts have survived...

...Persecution of the Jews and the destruction of Jewish manuscripts are the most prevalent explanation as to why very few Hebrew manuscripts survive from this period...

more at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1178708654713&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

'Star Trek' scanner may end need for biopsies

22/05/2007

Scientists have moved closer to developing a Star Trek-type scanner that can identify the molecular indications of cancer and other diseases without surgery.

X-ray images contain patterns that can help doctors translate the genetic "language" of tumours, researchers have found.

The discovery, which has been compared to finding the "Rosetta Stone" that enabled archaeologists to read hieroglyphics, could bring the science fiction of Star Trek to life...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/22/nhealth22.xml

Mysteries to Behold in the Dark Down Deep: Seadevils and Species

May 22, 2007

When, more than 70 years ago, William Beebe became the first scientist to descend into the abyss, he described a world of twinkling lights, silvery eels, throbbing jellyfish, living strings as “lovely as the finest lace” and lanky monsters with needlelike teeth...

...Beebe sketched some of the creatures, because no camera of the day was able to withstand the rigors of the deep and record the nuances of this cornucopia of astonishments.

see photos at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/22deep.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Experts predict scorching summer

5/21/2007

DENVER -- As Memorial Day weekend beckons, federal climate scientists predict drought will intensify in much of the West this summer and persist in the fire-scorched Southeast despite recent rain.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070521/NATIONWORLD/705210402/-1/LOCAL17

...That’s a pretty safe bet. You'll get wet when it rains if you go outside without an umbrella too!

It's true, Glaciers are retreating! Should we panic or worry?

According to Reid A. Bryson, PhD as the glaciers retreat we are finding evidence of civilization where those glaciers once stood! Not only that, as the glacier retreats they're finding the mine shafts and the mining tools stacked up and waiting...

"Bryson mentions the retreat of Alpine glaciers, common grist for current headlines. “What do they find when the ice sheets retreat, in the Alps?”

“We recall the two-year-old report saying a mature forest and agricultural water-management structures had been discovered emerging from the ice, seeing sunlight for the first time in thousands of years. Bryson interrupts excitedly.

“A silver mine! The guys had stacked up their tools because they were going to be back the next spring to mine more silver, only the snow never went,” he says. “There used to be less ice than now. It’s just getting back to normal.”

Regarding the Vikings in Greenland:

"When Eric the Red went to Greenland, how did he get there? It’s all written down.”

"Bryson describes the navigational instructions provided for Norse mariners making their way from Europe to their settlements in Greenland. The place was named for a reason: The Norse farmed there from the 10th century to the 13th, a somewhat longer period than the United States has existed. But around 1200 the mariners’ instructions changed in a big way. Ice became a major navigational reference. Today, old Viking farmsteads are covered by glaciers."

http://www.wecnmagazine.com/2007issues/may/may07.html

Who is Doctor Bryson?

Some people are lucky enough to enjoy their work, some are lucky enough to love it, and then there’s Reid Bryson. At age 86, he’s still hard at it every day, delving into the science some say he invented.

Reid A. Bryson holds the 30th PhD in Meteorology granted in the history of American education. Emeritus Professor and founding chairman of the University of Wisconsin Department of Meteorology—now the Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences—in the 1970s he became the first director of what’s now the UW’s Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies. He’s a member of the United Nations Global 500 Roll of Honor—created, the U.N. says, to recognize “outstanding achievements in the protection and improvement of the environment.” He has authored five books and more than 230 other publications and was identified by the British Institute of Geographers as the most frequently cited climatologist in the world.

Long ago in the Army Air Corps, Bryson and a colleague prepared the aviation weather forecast that predicted discovery of the jet stream by a group of B-29s flying to and from Tokyo. Their warning to expect westerly winds at 168 knots earned Bryson and his friend a chewing out from a general—and the general’s apology the next day when he learned they were right. Bryson flew into a couple of typhoons in 1944, three years before the Weather Service officially did such things, and he prepared the forecast for the homeward flight of the Enola Gay. Back in Wisconsin, he built a program at the UW that’s trained some of the nation’s leading climatologists.

http://www.wecnmagazine.com/2007issues/may/may07.html

High Schooler forced to watch An Inconvenient Truth in Four Different Classes

But it’s not indoctrination is it?

May 19, 2007

First it was his world history class. Then he saw it in his economics class. And his world issues class. And his environment class. In total, 18-year-old McKenzie, a Northern Ontario high schooler, says he has had the film An Inconvenient Truth shown to him by four different teachers this year.

"I really don't understand why they keep showing it," says McKenzie (his parents asked that his last name not be used). "I've spoken to the principal about it, and he said that teachers are instructed to present it as a debate. But every time we've seen it, well, one teacher said this is basically a two-sided debate, but this movie really gives you the best idea of what's going on."

McKenzie says he has educated himself enough about both sides of the climate- change controversy to know that the Al Gore movie is too one-sided to be taught as fact. Even scientists who back Mr. Gore's message admit they're uncomfortable with liberties the politician takes with "science" in the film. But, McKenzie says most of his classmates are credulous. His teachers are not much more discerning. "They don't know there's another side to the argument," he says. McKenzie's mother was outraged to find out that Mr. Gore's film was being presented as fact in her son's classroom. "This is just being poured into kids' brains instead of letting them know there's a debate going on," she says. "An educational system falls down when they start taking one side."

more at

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f7806f79-bf1f-4bd1-8d33-c904feb71047

Probe Carbon Offsets, Congressmen Say

May 21, 2007

For those who support it, it offers the reward of "carbon neutrality" without having to lower one's standard of living. To critics, it allows guilt-free pollution. Either way, the burgeoning carbon offset industry needs more oversight, say two members of Congress...

…About 60 different companies sell carbon offsets to U.S. consumers but operate under virtually no standards, the congressmen said. They cited reports alleging that some organizations get money for emissions that don't exist and that others make large profits on cleanups that would have taken place anyway.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200705/POL20070521c.htm l

Based on the evidence Astrophysicist changes mind about Gorebal Warming

Dr. Nir Shaviv, an Astrophysicist. has recently recanted his belief that man was warming up the earth. He recently wrote: "Like many others, I was personally sure that CO2 is the bad culprit in the story of global warming. But after carefully digging into the evidence, I realized that things are far more complicated than the story sold to us by many climate scientists or the stories regurgitated by the media. In fact, there is much more than meets the eye." Shaviv adds that "Solar activity can explain a large part of the 20th-century global warming."

..."Solar activity can explain a large part of the 20th-century global warming," he states, particularly because of the evidence that has been accumulating over the past decade of the strong relationship that cosmic- ray flux has on our atmosphere. So much evidence has by now been amassed, in fact, that "it is unlikely that [the solar climate link] does not exist."

The sun's strong role indicates that greenhouse gases can't have much of an influence on the climate -- that C02 et al. don't dominate through some kind of leveraging effect that makes them especially potent drivers of climate change. The upshot of the Earth not being unduly sensitive to greenhouse gases is that neither increases nor cutbacks in future C02 emissions will matter much in terms of the climate...

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=156df7e6-d490-41c9-8b1f-106fef8763c6&k=0

Another Former Believer Now Gorebal Warming Skeptic

Dr. David Evans is a mathematician and engineer. This is the man who did the carbon accounting for the government of Australia. He spent six years building models for the Australian government to estimate carbon emissions. He's now a global warming skeptic. Evans says that "By the late 1990s lots of jobs depended on the idea that carbon emissions caused global warming." He adds: "The science of global warming has become a partisan political issue, so positions become more entrenched."

http://www.pagescapes.com/news/200705/03/evans.phtml

Some US Muslims say suicide attacks OK

WASHINGTON - One in four younger U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida, a poll says...

..."It is a hair-raising number," said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070522/ap_on_re_us/poll_muslim_americans

1 out of 4 too many...

Muslim Panel: Many Distrust US Legal System

5/22/07

Many New York Muslims are deeply distrustful of the American legal system, three local Muslim leaders said at a panel discussion yesterday in Brooklyn.

During the hour-long event, sponsored jointly by the Kings County Courts Community Outreach Program and the Interfaith Center of New York, the panelists said Muslims here, fearing government and press scrutiny, frequently fail to report domestic abuse and hate crimes.

"This is a serious issue based on a lack of trust and fear that exists in the community," a Yemen-born public schools educator, Debbie Almontaser, told several dozen judges who attended the discussion.

Ms. Almontaser, who has been named principal of the city’s planned English-Arabic secondary school (so much for assimilating into American society) , the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, said she participated in the panel as a Muslim American, not as a representative of the Department of Education.

http://www.nysun.com/article/53287

Basically what they are really angling for is for the US to have two systems, the other being Muslim law. Once Islamic law is in place their hope is it becomes dominant and eventually forcing out the current US system, which has been the model for the world for 200 years, completely out...

Straight from the Mullah's Mouth: Unveiled Women Are like Buses -- "Anyone Can Ride"

April 23, 2007

As Iran has just begun it's warm-weather crackdown on women's dress in the regime with the Iranian Fashion Police out in full force, it might (or it just might not) bring up the age-old theological question- What do women and mass transit have in common?

Quite a lot, according to Iranian Mullah Hojatolislam Hassani. In last Friday's sermon (Friday is the Islamic Holy day), Gateway Pundit reports that the Islamic hardliner divided women into three groups--

The first group... he said are the women who are badly veiled who are like buses who everyone and anyone can ride.

The second group... are women who are wearing scarves without the Islamic overcoats; they are like taxis who only pick up certain passengers.

And finally, in the third group... there are women like my wife who are like donkeys who let only one person ride them!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/224017/straight_from_the_mullahs_mouth_ unveiled.html

High School Yearbook pages "crossed line"

05/22/2007 Denver Post

Conifer, CO-- ...captions from the new yearbook...includes photographs and text depicting student alcohol and drug use...

"The issue quite honestly for me is there are some things in the yearbook that I don't feel like I can defend," principal Pat Termin said.

"In looking at the overall tone and some specific pictures and some specific quotes," Termin added, "I really do believe that we have crossed the line."

Termin and yearbook adviser Amy McTague sent home letters to parents of the school's 1,000 students on Monday about the situation.

McTague, who has overseen six previous Conifer yearbooks, apologized for what she called "my poor judgment" and said that "some elements are completely inappropriate." (no kidding)

...Two pages under the heading "Health - addicted to addictions" contain photos and text about alcohol, cigarettes and prescription drugs, along with photos of students smoking pot and using a bong.

Another page shows police officers "busting our parties" and refers to law enforcement as "a necessary evil."

Under "Regrets and Mistakes," three girls are shown holding up a citation for minor in possession of alcohol...

...The yearbooks were distributed May 11, the same day two Conifer students died in a one-vehicle crash on South Elk Creek Road near Sphinx Park.

THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana, was found in the bloodstream of the Jeep Cherokee's driver, Justin Dorrance, 16, of Evergreen, the State Patrol said...

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5952321

'Have sex, do drugs,' speaker tells High School students

A guest speaker at an assembly at Boulder High School in Colorado has told students as young as 14 to go have sex and use drugs, prompting school officials to say they will investigate.

The instructions came from Joel Becker, an associate clinical professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles.

"I am going to encourage you to have sex and encourage you to use drugs appropriately," Becker said during his appearance at the school as part of a recent panel sponsored by the University of Colorado's Conference on World Affairs….

...WND also has reported on similar assemblies that have been used by schools to promote homosexuality, including one where parents were banned from the event, and a second where WND reported school officials ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination seminar after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55800

Christian college claims discrimination in state grants

Generic awards given to students attending anywhere but this school

5/22/2007

A court ruling that a generic state college grant isn't available if you go to a particular Christian college will be appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the school said.

Former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong, R-Colo., now president of Colorado Christian University, said the decision from federal district court that the school is "pervasively sectarian" so students do not qualify for state grant programs is just wrong.

"This is blatant religious discrimination," Armstrong told WND, as well as a violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments.

U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Krieger has ruled that the state constitution forbids the use of state funds to support religious schools, declaring the ban imposed on CCU by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education "is narrowly tailored to accomplish the state's compelling interest in complying with the anti-establishment clause of its own constitution."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55808

Phony Soldier Charged With Making Up Claims of Atrocities in Iraq

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement by claiming to have participated in war crimes [and earning a purple heart] while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record.

Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, formerly of Phoenix, garnered attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his “entry level performance and conduct.”

A complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle charged him with one count of using or possessing a forged or altered military discharge certificate, and one count of making false statements in seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration.

...Organizations that opposed the war, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, posted videos or statements containing Macbeth’s claims on their Web sites. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflage jacket, described slaughtering hundreds of people in a mosque: “We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque,” he said.

“He approached us in early 2006, posing as a war veteran. He seemed very emotionally distressed about his experiences,” said Amadee Braxton, a spokeswoman for Iraq Veterans Against the War..

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274097,00.html

sounds like he merely followed Johm Kerry's template...

Carter says comments were ‘careless’

MSNBC ^ | May 21, 2007

Former President Jimmy Carter on Monday said his comments over the weekend about the Bush administration were “careless.”

Carter was quoted Saturday as saying “I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.”

The Georgia Democrat said Bush had overseen an “overt reversal of America’s basic values” as expressed by previous administrations, including that of his own farther, former President George H.W. Bush.

Interviewed on the TODAY Show about the comments, Carter said, "I they were maybe careless or misinterpreted." He said he “certainly was not talking personally about any president.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18759682/

the worst president of all times was Jimmy Carter, bar none!

Lets see ...under Carter:

Inflation 18%.

Interest rates 21%,

Highest gas and fuel prices in history resulting odd and even days in long lines at the pump.

Iran hostage situation (over 400 days) and botched rescue attempt.

7% Unemployment.

During the Presidential campaign of 1976 campaign, Carter made frequent references to the "Misery Index". The concept simply adds together the rates of inflation and unemployment, and by the summer of 1976 the Misery Index was 13.57%. Carter stated that no man responsible for giving the country a misery index that high had a right to even ask to be President. However by 1980, the last year of Carter's presidency, the Misery Index had reached an all-time high of 21.98%.

Immigration Plan Could Be Boon for Democrats, Studies Show

May 22, 2007

- If the immigration reform bill currently under consideration becomes law, it could lead to major political realignment favoring the Democratic Party, studies suggest.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200705/NAT20070522a.html

Good way to win elections!

PETA: No live mascot for LSU (Mike VI)

The Times-Picayune

May 21, 2007 |

In a letter to be faxed to LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe today, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will request the university not pursue a live replacement for Mike V, a royal Bengal tiger and school mascot that died Friday.

The move was anticipated by several LSU officials, and the letter does not appear to have much chance of swaying opinion at the school, which appears to stand solidly in favor of replacing Mike with a tiger cub.

Dr. David Baker of the LSU Veterinary School, who cared for Mike and was visibly shaken last week by the tiger's death at 17 from kidney failure, declined to go beyond the curt summary he offered then.

"The LSU mascot is part of the LSU community, part of the LSU family; a tradition for 71 years," Baker said. "And we intend to obtain another tiger."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1837682/posts

PETA, the same morons who wanted the baby polar bear killed because his mama died at the zoo a few weeks ago.

Report: John Edwards Charges $55,000 for Speech on Poverty

John Edwards has an example to teach University of California at Davis students how to avoid poverty — charge $55,000 for a speech.

That's how much the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate negotiated for his fee to speak to 1,787 people at the taxpayer-funded school in January 2006, according to financial disclosures. According to Joe Martin, the public relations officer for UC Davis' Mondavi Center, the fee for a speech entitled, "Poverty, the Great Moral issue Facing America," was worth it to school officials.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274513,00.html

As a Senator (and one that is in the middle of a Presidential campaign) shouldn't he be speaking for free?

Look Who's Talking

May 21, 2007

Leadership: So Jimmy Carter calls the Bush administration "the worst in history." This from the man who wrecked the world's greatest economy and made a nuclear Iran and North Korea possible.

Later, Carter called his comments "careless or misinterpreted." But given a chance to retract, he didn't. Apparently the man whose idea of leadership was to sit in front of a fireplace and blame everything on America's "malaise" does not consider Islamofascists turning passenger jets into manned cruise missiles and flying them into skyscrapers a direct threat.

Nor does he consider himself responsible for the chain of events that gave us not only 9/11, but al-Qaida, the Taliban, Hezbollah and a nuclear Iran and North Korea. more at http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=264640488332348

Ten Myths of the War in Iraq

http://www.blackfive.net/main/files/10_oif_myths.ppt

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/05/monday_morning_.html

Smells Like... Victory

May 21, 2007

War On Terror: In both Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. forces are making further impressive gains against terrorists.

more at http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=264641133199130

David Bennett <><

http://www.freewill-predestination.com