IMHO VBG: 5 May 2007

U.S. manufacturing sector accelerates

(Guess what? It was faster than expected...)

1 May 2007

The nation's manufacturing sector showed surprising strength in April, growing at a faster-than-expected pace and pushing up prices for fuel, metals and corn-based products, a trade group said Tuesday.

The Institute for Supply Management, based in Tempe, Ariz., said its manufacturing index registered 54.7, above the March reading of 50.9 and Wall Street's expectation of 51. It was the highest reading in 11 months, when it also registered 54.7.

A reading above 50 indicates growth for the sector, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070501/ap_on_bi_ge/economy

Lawmakers Want PBS to Air Spiked Film on Islam

April 27, 2007

- Members of Congress are weighing in on public broadcasting executives' decision to shelve a documentary on the struggles moderate Muslims in the West face at the hands of radicals.

A special screening of the film "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center" for members of Congress was sponsored Wednesday evening by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). The screening drew about 150 people, said Martyn Burke, one of the producers.

"People came up to us afterward asking 'how can we help,'" Burke told...

The film - co-produced by Burke, a Hollywood producer, and Frank Gaffney and Alex Alexiev of the Center for Security Policy - deals with the experiences of moderate Muslims who have fallen foul of Islamists.

It also reveals an Islamist agenda including a push to build "parallel societies" in the West governed by Islamic law.

Burke, Gaffney and Alexiev have said PBS decided to shelve the documentary - which cost $675,000 in taxpayer…

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200704/CUL20070427a.html

African bishop urges US Methodist leaders to value Scripture

May 1 2007

A United Methodist bishop from the Democratic Republic of Congo says it pains him that liberal Methodist leaders in the U.S. are unfaithful to Scripture.

David Yemba …was recently in the United States to attend a Council of Bishops meeting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He says new democratic institutions and relative peace in his once war-torn country have helped spur church growth in the Congo.

However, the bishop's outlook for the Methodist Church in the U.S. is far bleaker…Any denomination that is not faithful to God's Word, he maintains, will fall apart...

...According to Yemba, African Methodists are disturbed when they hear that Methodist leaders in America are promoting homosexual "marriage" and other unbiblical social causes. Again, he cites God's Word as the benchmark.

…Yemba says Methodist clergy today would be wise to pattern their ministry after and draw their inspiration from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/05/african_bishop_urges_us_method.php

Statistics show evangelical influence growing throughout United Kingdom

May 1, 2007

Statistics show evangelical influence growing throughout United Kingdom

Evangelicals appear to be thriving throughout the United Kingdom as traditional churches struggle. According to a recent census, 72 percent of people in England identified themselves as Christian; however, the Church of England says that less than 10 percent of its members are regular churchgoers. On the other hand, evangelicals account for about 40 percent of the nation's regular churchgoers...

...Pastor Joel Edwards is general director of the Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, that group is the oldest alliance of evangelical Christians in the world. Edwards says the strength of the evangelical movement in the U.K. lies in its diversity. "There are evangelicals right across the Protestant spectrum as well as evangelicals within some pockets of Catholicism itself," he notes...

…Thanks to the broad appeal of the gospel message to diverse groups of people, Edwards says evangelical churches in the U.K. are thriving.

"Anywhere where one sees that kind of combination of people who have confidence in the cross, confidence in the Bible, and confidence in our mission to the world, the church remembers why it's here," he says, "and very often that leads to an explosion of life in our liturgy and worship, our evangelism, our personal witness, and our commitment to the poor and the marginalized."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/05/statistics_show_evangelical_in.php

Earth's Climate Is Seesawing, According To Climate Researchers

Earth's Climate Is Seesawing, According To Climate Researchers

April 30, 2007

Science Daily — During the last 10,000 years climate has been seesawing between the North and South Atlantic Oceans. As revealed by findings presented by Quaternary scientists at Lund University, Sweden, cold periods in the north have corresponded to warmth in the south and vice verse. These results imply that Europe may face a slightly cooler future than predicted by IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1826562/posts

What Tenet Knew, When He Knew It, and Whom He Told

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/05/what_tenet_knew_when_he_knew_i.html

KCI Aiport Offical Says Special faciliteis for muslims is a myth

Airport Debunks Islamic Footwashing Myth

April 30, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Airport officials are debunking a story posted on the Internet.

The story from WorldNetDaily.com claims that Kansas City International Airport built foot-washing basins for Islamic taxi drivers. The article alleges that airport police are afraid of Middle Eastern men who congregate near the wash areas.

KCI spokesman Joe McBride said the story isn't true...

...McBride said the wash stations were installed about a year ago when the airport expanded the taxi facility and added another bathroom. He said the wash stations weren't made for the exclusive use of anyone or any group in particular...

"I think the Internet article blew it out of proportion. (It) had the wrong info about the facilities, gave the wrong impression. I think once people learn the facts, they'll see it's not a big deal at all," McBride said.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/13227199/detail.html

What other faith requires foot washing? Notice he says"He said the wash stations weren’t made for the exclusive use of anyone or any group in particular." The key word here is "exclusive".

The truth is The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has pressed government agencies and businesses to install the foot basins in restrooms.

After viewing the video look at this and see the striking similarities between facilities over seas

http://chronicle.augusta.com/images/headlines/110301/ISLAMIC_ABULATION.jpg

CAIR's Nihad Awad complains that Muslims aren't playing the victimhood game well enough

Jihad Watch ^ | May 1, 2007

"It’s all about the numbers in the victimhood bullying game," says Christine at the Vigilant Freedom blog (thanks to all who sent this in). In "Audio from CAIR’s Meeting on 6 Imams at ADAMS Center," she presents a transcript of CAIR's cofounder and executive director Nihad Awad exhorting Muslims to play the victimhood game more effectively:

There were 196 cases reported by the Justice Department for Muslims in civil rights cases. There were over 1008 cases reported by the Jewish faith. We need to do a much better job not only in recognizing our civil rights but also in reporting it to the government. Which is very critical and very important. And that is why, I think, this kind of program is important to the purpose of being able to inform the government official places …

…And of course, when they don't have the hate crimes they can use to portray Muslims as victims of "Islamophobia" in the U.S., CAIR is not above making them up.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2007/05/016262print.html

CAIR's Hate Crimes Nonsense

By Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha

FrontPageMagazine.com | May 18, 2005

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18109

FDA Issues Online Counterfeit Drug Warning

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269413,00.html

ABC: From 'Bush Lied' To Tenet Was Right - President Given no Credit for Truth

http://newsbusters.org/node/12434

Rosie Makes up Facts and Smears Volunteer Soldiers

http://newsbusters.org/node/12441