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United Church of Canada Helping to Fund Anti - Zionist Organizations
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsIsraelNN
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

The United Church of Canada has donated travel expenses to a new Jewish organization that hosted Muslims at a convention backing a boycott of Israel, according to the National Post.

The Protestant church group admitted that it donated $900 to the organization but said that officials did not need to authorize the donation because of its small size. However, United Church officials told the National Post that the description of the event that led to the creation of the Independent Jewish Voices was “consistent with our overall policy that the end of the occupation must come in order to bring peace and justice.”

The expenses were earmarked for a two-day Alliance of Concerned Canadians conference which provided the catalyst for the formation of the new group. Among delegates who were invited and whose travel expenses were defrayed were “members of Jewish-Muslim, Jewish-Arab and Jewish-Palestinian groups."

The Canadian Jewish Congress is furious over the donation, calling it “shocking, outrageous, shameful and scandalous.” The group’s director Bernie Farber declared, “Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and the Canadian Jewish Congress or another mainstream Jewish organization were to have funded a Christian group to be critical of the United Church of Canada.”

Church spokesman Bruce Gregersen emphasized that the money was for travel expenses and was not intended to help get the new anti-Zionist group off the ground, but Farber said, “It is a horse by the same name. The United Church provided funding to establish an organization whose goal it is to target and attack the mainstream Jewish community.” 

He asserted that “the average United Church member will be as shocked as am I to discover that money from their church has gone to help create an anti-Zionist organization.” 

Among those attending the two-conference in Toronto was Rev. Vicki Obedkoff, who signed a letter in 2007 aimed at pressuring the Rolling Stones not to appear in “apartheid” Israel. Also present were delegates from the Canadian Arab Federation.

Uk Think Tank Says U.S. Power is Fading
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsYahoo.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

A weakened United States could start retreating from the world stage without help from its allies abroad, an international strategic affairs think tank said Tuesday.

The respected London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said President Barack Obama will increasingly have to turn to others for help dealing with the world's problems — in part because he has no alternative.

"Domestically Obama may have campaigned on the theme 'yes we can'; internationally he may increasingly have to argue 'no we can't'," the institute said in its annual review of world affairs.

The report said the U.S. struggles against insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan had exposed the limits of the country's military muscle, while the near-collapse of the world financial markets sapped the economic base on which that muscle relied.

The report also claimed that the U.S. had lost traction in its efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program and bring peace to the Middle East.

"Clearly the U.S. share of 'global power,' however measured, is in decline," the report said.

The head of another respected London think tank, Robin Niblett of Chatham House, said the rise in the relative power of China, India, Russia and the European Union has made it harder for the U.S. to exercise its influence.

"America should apply changes in leadership style, but I wouldn't overplay the decline because decline is relative," said Niblett — who was not involved in drawing up Tuesday's report. "One should not doubt that the U.S. remains the most powerful nation in the world, but it's difficult to use the power and to use it to influence others."

In addition to a rise in regional powers, Niblett said the U.S. has long been viewed as being part of the problem rather than the solution on many issues — including climate change, the financial crisis, and the failure of the Middle East peace process.

"It's also carrying the baggage of failed policies and of a failed financial approach," Niblett said, referring to the Bush administration. "There's a lot of catching up to be done."

The IISS report praised Obama, saying that he recognized there was only so much America could do "to impose its views on others."

After years of often thorny relationships between the U.S. and its allies during Bush's administration, Obama has talked of the need to work with other nations on such issues as the financial meltdown, climate change and nuclear proliferation.

"These are challenges that no single nation, no matter how powerful, can confront alone," Obama said in April after attending the G-20 summit in London.

"The United States must lead the way," he said. "But our best chance to solve these unprecedented problems comes from acting in concert with other nations."

The think tank's report said Obama could help restore the United States' standing by working with other nations to contain emerging threats to its position as the world's pre-eminent power. Controlling the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea would require help from regional allies, the report said. The same was true of Afghanistan, where the U.S. has had difficulty persuading its NATO partners to follow its lead in boosting the number of troops sent to fight a resurgent Taliban.

"In the next year or two, the greatest demand on U.S. talents and power will be to persuade more to become like minded and adopt greater burdens," the report said.

"This administration is far more frank about the U.S. interdependence with rest of the world, and that's a good thing," Niblett said.

U.S. Credit Shrinks At Great Depression Rate Prompting Fears of Double - Dip Recession
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily Newstelegraph.co.uk
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said US bank loans have fallen at an annual pace of almost 14pc in the three months to August (from $7,147bn to $6,886bn). 

"There has been nothing like this in the USA since the 1930s," he said. "The rapid destruction of money balances is madness." 

The M3 "broad" money supply, watched as an early warning signal for the economy a year or so later, has been falling at a 5pc annual rate. 

Similar concerns have been raised by David Rosenberg, chief strategist at Gluskin Sheff, who said that over the four weeks up to August 24, bank credit shrank at an "epic" 9pc annual pace, the M2 money supply shrank at 12.2pc and M1 shrank at 6.5pc. 

"For the first time in the post-WW2 era, we have deflation in credit, wages and rents and, from our lens, this is a toxic brew," he said. 

It is unclear why the US Federal Reserve has allowed this to occur. 

Chairman Ben Bernanke is an expert on the "credit channel" causes of depressions and has given eloquent speeches about the risks of deflation in the past. 

He is not a monetary economist, however, and there are indications that the Fed has had to pare back its policy of quantitative easing (buying bonds) in order to reassure China and other foreign creditors that the US is not trying to devalue its debts by stealth monetisation. 

Mr Congdon said a key reason for credit contraction is pressure on banks to raise their capital ratios. While this is well-advised in boom times, it makes matters worse in a downturn. 

"The current drive to make banks less leveraged and safer is having the perverse consequence of destroying money balances," he said. "It strengthens the deflationary forces in the world economy. That increases the risks of a double-dip recession in 2010." 

Referring to the debt-purge policy of US Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in the early 1930s, he added: "The pressure on banks to de-risk and to de-leverage is the modern version of liquidationism: it is potentially just as dangerous." 

US banks are cutting lending by around 1pc a month. A similar process is occurring in the eurozone, where private sector credit has been contracting and M3 has been flat for almost a year. 

Mr Congdon said IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is wrong to argue that the history of financial crises shows that "speedy recovery" depends on "cleansing banks' balance sheets of toxic assets". "The message of all financial crises is that policy-makers' priority must be to stop the quantity of money falling and, ideally, to get it rising again," he said. 

He predicted that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will be forced to engage in outright monetisation of government debt by next year, whatever they say now.

To Bomb, or to Bunker? Israel's Iran Choices Narrow
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily Newsalertnet.org
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

The orchestrated roar of air force exercises designed to signal Israel's readiness to attack Iranian nuclear facilities are belied, perhaps, by a far quieter project deep beneath the western Jerusalem hills.

Dubbed "Nation's Tunnel" by the media and screened from view by government guards, it is a bunker network that would shelter Israeli leaders in an atomic war -- earth-bound repudiation of the Jewish state's vow to deny its foes the bomb at all costs.

Lash out or dig in? The quandary Israelis call existential seems close to decision-point. Iran's uranium enrichment has already produced enough raw fuel for one nuclear weapon, U.N. inspectors say, though Tehran denies having military designs. Next month's international good-faith talks offer no clear relief to Israel, which wants world powers to be prepared to penalise Iran's vulnerable energy imports but sees Russia and China blocking any such resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

That the Obama administration signed on to negotiating without preconditions -- a potential disavowal of the United States's past demand for an enrichment halt -- may only crank up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ticking clock.

"The longer the U.S. delays playing hardball with Iran, the sooner Israel is likely to strike," wrote Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens.

Yet for every expert or diplomat bracing for an imminent attack, there's another who anticipates that Israel will be forced to stand down, hobbled by tactical limitations and the strategic hazards of ruining its top ally's regional agenda.

"Israel cannot take action so long as the United States is sincerely holding a real dialogue with Iran," said Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general and former national security adviser. 

Should Iran not yield, Eiland said, Washington might be able to persuade Moscow and Beijing to back tougher sanctions.

"But Israel could also end up alone, with two bad choices -- not doing anything and allowing Iran to have de facto military nuclear capacity, and carrying out a military intervention," he said, declining to elaborate on which choice he would recommend.

PLIANCY

The talks' duration could come down to the pliancy in an Iranian posture that has so far entailed defending enrichment as a legal right and brushing off allegations of warhead research.

"If Iran shows a little more skin, then the talks will drag out longer," said Mark Fitzpatrick, non-proliferation scholar at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.. 

"If doesn't show any more skin, then I think there could be sanctions by the end of the year," he said, suggesting that the United States and Europe could target Iran's financial sector.

Assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and carried out a similar sortie against Syria in 2007. 

Aerial and naval manoeuvres, leaked to the media, have told of plans to reach Iran, though this time the targets are so distant, dispersed, and fortified that even Israel's top brass admit they could deliver a short-term, disruptive blow at most. 

Hence Israel's discreet arrangements for living with the possibility of a nuclear-armed arch-enemy -- the bunkers, the missile interceptors, the talk of a U.S. strategic shield and of Cold War-style deterrence based on mutually-assured destruction.

One government intelligence analyst suggested that Israel had passed a psychological threshold by "allowing" Iran to manufacture enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) for a bomb. "We keep fretting about whether they will have a 'break-out capacity', but really they're already there," the analyst said.

The U.N. national intelligence director has assessed Iran will not be technically capable of producing high-enriched uranium (HEU) for the fissile core of an atom bomb before 2013.

Turning LEU into HEU would be an overt breach of international law, requiring Iran to eject foreign nuclear inspectors and recalibrate its centrifuges.

That, Fitzpatrick said, could be enough to trigger American military intervention -- Israel's ideal scenario. But he also saw the possibility of Iran agreeing to a limited domestic enrichment deal, with safeguards against illicit bomb-making. 

Israel could still upend such talks and hit Iran -- say, if it suspects a parallel, secret enrichment project is coming to fruition. The Israelis may also want to preempt Iran's bid to buy advanced Russian air defences that could stave off a strike.

"There are three clocks at work here: technical, in terms of Iran's advances; operational, in terms of our capabilities and their precautions; and diplomatic," Eiland said. 

"The questions is when and how these clocks might become synchronised for a 'window' in which Israel would act."

Sudan Christians Urge Prayers Amid Widespread Killings
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsWorthy News - Stefan J. Bos,
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

KHARTOUM, SUDAN-- Sudanese Christians have urged fellow believers around the world to pray for them as armed groups are kidnapping and killing church leaders and other Christians, an advocacy group with close knowledge about the situation told Worthy News Tuesday , September 15.

In one of the latest known incidents, an unidentified armed group attacked the town of Wernyol on August 29, killing  “many people” including Archdeacon Joseph Mabior Garang “who was shot at the altar while conducting a service,” said Middle East Concern (MEC).

Earlier, three people, including an Episcopal Church lay leader, were murdered August 12 in the town of Ezo of the country's Western Equatorial State during a raid by the militant Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), according to MEC investigations.

"In addition to the murders, several children were kidnapped. The town's clinic was attacked, with medical supplies being stolen and equipment destroyed, which made care of the wounded more difficult," MEC added.

The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium. Rebels aim to overthrow neighboring Uganda's government and to establish a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments of the Bible's Old Testament and local traditions, but have also stepped up their presence in Sudan.

Rally 'attack' on Iran Opposition
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsBBC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has come under attack in Tehran during an annual rally in support of Palestinians, reports say.

Mr Mousavi was forced to leave the rally for Quds Day after an attack on his car, official news agency Irna reported.

In a separate incident ex-President Mohammad Khatami was knocked to the ground, a reformist website reported.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Tehran for the rally.

Iranian authorities had warned the opposition not to stage anti-government protests during Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

The rallies are held nationwide every year on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Protesters shouted slogans in support of Mr Mousavi, a key opponent of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during the rally.

Mr Mousavi was defeated by the president in June's disputed presidential election.

Although it is an officially sponsored occasion, opposition leaders who have continued to reject the re-election of Mr Ahmadinejad had called on their followers to turn out.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps said it would deal "decisively" with any effort to stage an opposition protest.

There have been mounting calls in hard-line circles for opposition leaders to be prosecuted, and predictions from reformists that they could be arrested soon, says the BBC's former Tehran correspondent Jim Muir

Police in Pakistan Shoot Mourners At Funeral of Christian
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsCompass Direct News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

LAHORE, Pakistan, Sept. 17 – At a funeral for a Christian man allegedly tortured to death while in custody on a spurious charge of blaspheming the Quran, police in Sialkot, Pakistan yesterday fired on mourners trying to move the coffin to another site. Area Christians suspect police killed 22-year-old Robert Danish, nicknamed “Fanish” or “Falish” by friends, by torturing him to death on Tuesday (Sept. 15) after the mother of his Muslim girlfriend contrived a charge against him of desecrating Islam’s scripture. The allegation led to calls from mosque loudspeakers to punish Christians, prompting an Islamic mob to attack a church building in Jathikai village on Friday (Sept. 11) and beat several of the 30 families forced to flee their homes. Jathikai was Danish’s native village, and some family members and other Christians wished to transfer his coffin to his hometown. Eyewitnesses at the funeral in Christian Town, Sialkot, said police fired shots directly at the Christians, injuring three, when mourners began to move the coffin toward nearby Jathikai. Mourners fled. Sialkot is 125 kilometers (78 miles) northwest of Lahore in Punjab Province. Controversy swirled around the cause of Danish’s death, with Christians refusing to accept police claims that he committed suicide. Results of forensic tests are expected within a week. Three prison officials have reportedly been suspended.

New Census Figures: 7.46 Million Israelis, Most Live in Center
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsYnetnews.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Central Bureau of Statistics published figures showing the current state of affairs on the eve of the Jewish New Year. The statistics paint a picture of Israeli society in which people are in no rush to get married, prefer living in the crowded Tel Aviv Metropolitan area to the Galilee and the Negev, and eat an average of 3,522 a day. 

According to CBS figures, 7,456,000 people live in Israel, about 5,634,000 of whom are Jewish (75.47%), 1,513,000 are Arab (20.26%), and 318,000 are defined as "other" – a group made up mostly of immigrants and their families who are not registered as Jews. The rate of population growth registered at 1.8%. The Jewish population is growing at a rate of 1.7%, while the Arab population is growing at a rate of 2.6%. 

Israeli society was found to be young relatively. In 2008, 28.4% of the population were children under the age of 14, as compared to the 17% average in other western countries. At the same time, 9.7% of the population is aged 65 and over, while the average for other western countries is 15%. The percentage of the population over the age of 75 grew, and now stands at 5.6% as opposed to 3.8% some 20 years ago. 

Life expectancy continues to climb. The life expectancy for men was 79.1 years and 83 years for women. 

The statistics also show that Israeli Jews are in no rush to get married. Some 62% of men aged 25-29 are still single, while 42% of women in the same age group are single. Muslims in the same age group show a different trend with 39% of men still single and 15.5% of women still single. The reports authors noted that both cases show an increase in the rate of staying single in comparison with previous years. 

Crowded in the center

Some 21% of Israeli Jews live in Tel Aviv and the surrounding suburbs, and 28% in the central region in general. On the other hand, about a fifth of the population lives in the northern region. However, only 10% of the Jewish population lives in the north. About 60% of the Arab population in Israel lives in the north. 

In 2008, Israel had an average population density of 321 people per square kilometer. However, as the most populated, the Tel Aviv area has a population density of 7,134 people per square kilometer. Jerusalem and the central region also registered relatively high population densities with 1,394 and 1,368 people per square kilometer respectively. 

The population density in the north registered at 278 people per square kilometer, while the population density in the south was a mere 74 people per square kilometer. 

Bnei Barak is the most densely populated city with 21,000 people per square kilometer, followed by Bat Yam with 15,700 people per square kilometer. 

Last year 11,700 people moved to the central region and 3,900 people moved to the West Bank. The rest of the districts registered a decrease in the number of residents, with 4,200 leaving Jerusalem and 5,700 leaving Tel Aviv

Jews in Jerusalem and around the world celebrate the Jewish new year
Sep 18th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

On the Jewish calendar, the world is in the first day of the seventh month in the year 5770, the Jewish new year which also marks the sixth day of creation week - the creation of man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden as recorded in the Bible in Genesis 1. Rosh Hashana, the new year, marks the start of the Fall Jewish feast days which includes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles - the last three of the seven Jewish feast days that God gave the Jewish people 3500 years ago.

This new year, the Jewish people have grown to 5.6 million in the land of their forefathers, the land of Israel, but with a Jewish state in place in the Middle East the threat to their existence continues to intensify almost on a daily basis.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

As the Jewish people celebrate the new year 5770, the student of the Bible looks back to the beginning, creation, and forward to the day that the Jewish Messiah will come.

Jews in Jerusalem, all of Israel, and in fact around the world on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, are reminded of the sixth day of creation week and God's work in bringing man and woman, Adam and Eve, into existence. That day marked the beginning of time for the Jewish people and the day upon which their calendar began 5770 years ago. Even as we celebrate the Jewish new year, the truth is made known of a young Earth and a creation story that took place in six 24 hour days less than 6000 years ago.

However, this day also marks the day that the Jewish Messiah will return to the Earth to save the Jewish people from complete annihilation and to set up the 1000 year Millennial Kingdom that the Messiah promised the Jewish people (Matthew 24:31 on His return to Earth on Rosh Hashana and Revelation 20:4-6 on His kingdom). Each of the Jewish feast days must be fulfilled by the Messiah Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, Resurrected on First Fruits, and the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost as Jesus said He would.

Jesus will also fulfill the last three Jewish feast days on the proper day sequences. He will return to the Earth on Rosh Hashana, go into the temple's holy of holies on Yom Kippur, and set up the kingdom on Tabernacles. Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

Iranians Commanding Hizbullah Units
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - Yaakov Katz
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Iranians commanding Hizbullah units | Jerusalem Post

In a sign of continued Iranian efforts to solidify its control over Hizbullah, the Islamic Republic has deployed dozens of military officers in Lebanon to actively command Hizbullah fighting units, senior defense officials said this week.

According to the officials, following the Second Lebanon War, Iran decided to step up its involvement in the Hizbullah decision-making process and has instituted a number of structural changes to the guerrilla group's hierarchy, under which leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has to receive Iranian permission prior to certain operations.

"Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's authority is somewhat restricted," the officer said. "Nowadays, most of the control over the group is from Iran."

Reports of Iranian discontent with Nasrallah began to surface following the 2006 war, which reportedly did not interest Teheran at the time. Several reports in the Arab press claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had ousted Nasrallah from his post. Iran has reportedly invested billions of dollars in rehabilitating the guerrilla group.

While Hizbullah is still working to avenge the 2008 assassination of its military commander Imad Mughniyeh, the assessment in the IDF is that the guerrilla group would prefer to attack an Israeli or Jewish target overseas, possibly in South America or Africa.

"Hizbullah is afraid of how Israel will respond, and therefore prefers to launch an attack abroad that will not be immediately traced back to the group," the officer said. "They are not interested in another round with us in Lebanon."

According to the Lebanese Al-Nahar newspaper, UNIFIL received intelligence regarding the possibility that Palestinian terror groups would launch attacks against Israel. Last Friday, two 122-mm. Katyusha rockets were fired into the North.

The information did not contain an exact date, but last Friday, September 11 - the eighth anniversary of the al-Qaida attacks on the United States - was raised as a strong possibility.

The group behind the attack has been identified as the Abdulla Azzam Brigades, named for a Palestinian Sunni scholar who was born in Jenin in 1941 and moved to Pakistan in the 1970s. Azzam is considered one of Osama bin-Laden's mentors.

The Azzam Brigades are based in Ein el-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, located near the city of Sidon. The camp is a known base for several terror groups, some of them from Iraq and Pakistan, all of which are affiliated with Global Jihad and al-Qaida.

After receiving the intelligence information several weeks ago, UNIFIL deployed some 20 units in the open areas in the vicinity of the refugee camp. During their searches, the forces reportedly discovered a number of rocket launchers.

Dismay in Europe As Obama Ditches Missile Defence
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsTimesOn Line
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

President Obama dismayed America's allies in Europe and angered his political opponents at home today when he formally ditched plans to set up a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The project had been close to the heart of Mr Obama's predecessor, President Bush, who had argued before leaving office in January that it was needed to defend against long-range ballistic missile attacks from rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.

But it had hobbled relations with Russia, which considered it both a security threat and an unnecessary political provocation in its own backyard.

At a White House appearance today, Mr Obama confirmed that the defence shield envisaged by the Bush Administration, involving a radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets sited in Poland, was being abandoned.

Instead, after a comprehensive review, he had decided to accept the advice of both the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, and of the Chiefs of Staff opt for a "smarter, stronger and swifter" system involving both sea-based and land-based mobile interceptors.

Mr Obama said that latest intelligence suggested that threat of long-range missile attacks from Iran had receded, but the threat of short- or medium-range attacks was a real one.

He said that the system would be "phased and adaptive" and used proven technologies to create an effective missile defence system.

In a briefing at the Pentagon, Mr Gates said that the new system could be operational six or seven years before the Bush-era shield would have come online, more effectively replying to future threats.

Mr Gates said that the initial stage of the new American plan would see the deployment of Aegis-equipped ships, armed with interceptors, giving the military the ability to move the system around.

Another key to the near-term network would be new, more mobile radar used to detect and track short- and medium-range missiles if they were launched from Iran.

Celebrating Communist Chinese Anniversary 'repugnant'
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsOneNewsNow - - Chad Groening
Categories: Today's Headlines

A pastor, radio commentator, and former presidential candidate says he's outraged that the government of the United States would do anything to commemorate Sunday's 60th anniversary of the communist takeover in China.

The upcoming event has been mired in controversy. In July, the state-run China Daily reported that the Chinese flag would fly over the south lawn of the White House, which is considered to be the highest of honors. But the White House has denied that report, saying that the flag will instead fly over the lawn of the Ellipse, the public area adjacent to the president's residence.
 
Chuck Baldwin, who was the 2008 Constitution Party candidate for president, has written several columns on the upcoming 60th anniversary of the communist regime. He does not believe the United States should be flying the Chinese flag, even on the Ellipse.
 
"The fact that they would want to fly the communist Chinese flag anywhere in Washington, DC, is absolutely repugnant. I find it repugnant that we have people in this government who apparently find no problem with celebrating the anniversary of an event that led to the slaughter of upwards of 70 million Chinese people."
 
Baldwin says this regime has been an enemy of the United States since its inception, so the fact that the U.S. government would honor it in any fashion is more than disgusting.

Ap Newsbreak: Nuke Agency Says Iran Can Make Bomb
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsAP
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

VIENNA  - Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.

The document drafted by senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency is the clearest indication yet that the agency's leaders share Washington's views on Iran's weapon-making capabilities.

It appears to be the so-called "secret annex" on Iran's nuclear program that Washington says is being withheld by the IAEA's chief.

The document says Iran has "sufficient information" to build a bomb. It says Iran is likely to "overcome problems" on developing a delivery system.

Another Textbook Battle in Tx - Christmas Tossed?
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsOneNewsNow - Pete Chagnon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The Texas State Board of Education is gearing up for another curriculum battle.

Kelly Shackelford, president of Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute, says the Texas State Board of Education is currently reviewing social studies curriculum. He explains that in a suprising move the writing committee, in its review of religious holidays, has decided to replace Christmas and Rosh Hashana with the Hindu holiday of Diwali.
 
"Some of this stuff is really getting out of hand," says Shackelford, "and I think the people are going to take it back into their own hands and say, cut it out we are not replacing Christmas with Diwali. I hope and expect that will be the result, but right now that's what we've got."
 
The Board faced another major battle earlier this year with science standards and the teaching of strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory. Many concerned citizens made their voices heard, and the strengths and weaknesses component was not dropped from teaching requirements. In fact, it was strengthed.
 
"What's encouraging about all this is that if people speak up, they really can make the difference," the attorney shares. "And this will effect the textbooks that are going to be in place for the next ten years."
 
The Lone Star State is one of the nation's largest consumers of textbooks. Consequently, the outcome could have national implications.

Ahmadinejad Denies Holocaust, Again
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Antisemitism

In an apparent sign of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his ruling party flexing their muscles ahead of next week's UN General Assembly, the hard-line leader again denied the Holocaust, while two top reformists were attacked in Teheran.

Tens of thousands of Iranian government supporters and dozens of opposition activists poured out onto the streets of the capital for coinciding marches marking Quds Day - an annual event dedicated to condemning Israel and expressing support for the Palestinians. Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.

Addressing government supporters, Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust "a false pretext to create Israel."

He said that "confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty," and that Israel "has no future."

At the scene of the opposition march, a group of Iranian hard-liners attacked the car of former presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi forcing him out of the area, according to AFP and Mousavi's Web site.

They also attacked reformist former president Mohammad Khatami while he was marching with the opposition supporters at the anti-government rally.

A reformist Web site cited witnesses as saying the attackers pushed Khatami to the ground. It said opposition activists rescued him and quickly repelled the assailants.

Khatami has sided with the opposition in the post-election crisis that has gripped Iran. Another reformist Webs site says his turban was disheveled and he was forced to leave the march.

The opposition insisted on holding its own protest, despite warnings by the clerical establishment against anti-government rallies.
There has not been a mass opposition demonstration since mid-July, when authorities cracked down heavily on the opposition.

On Thursday, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard warned opposition protesters against holding anti-government demonstrations, saying that if they attempted "any sort of violation and disorder" they will encounter "strong confrontation."

Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, last week also warned the opposition against using Quds Day for other purpose than demonstrating solidarity with the Palestinians.

The pro-reform camp claims Mousavi was the rightful winner of the June 12 presidential election and that the government faked the balloting in Ahmadinejad's favor. Since the vote, thousands of opposition supporters held street demonstrations against the alleged vote fraud but were met with a heavy government crackdown.

The opposition says at least 72 protesters were killed in the violence that followed the election, while government officials maintain that only 36 died in the unrest - the worst in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the current regime to power. Thousands were arrested, and the regime's opponents have charged some detainees were tortured to death in prison.

Customarily on Quds Day, Teheran residents gather for pro-Palestinian rallies in various parts of the city, march through the streets and later converge for the prayers ceremony. The ceremony was established in 1979 by the leader of the Islamic Revolution and founder of present-day Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

'pm Agrees to 9 - Month W. Bank Freeze'
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has agreed to a West Bank settlement freeze of nine months, and not the previously agreed six, Army Radio quoted Jerusalem sources as saying Friday.

The reported deal came in a meeting with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, during which the possibility was also raised of Israel making additional moves to ease Palestinians' lives in order to try and convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet Netanyahu and resume the peace process.

Netanyahu's meeting with Mitchell was the third this week, and following the Friday morning session, the US Middle East envoy headed to Ramallah for a meeting with Abbas. He planned to meet with Netanyahu again after his talks with the Palestinian Authority president.

Between the meetings with Mitchell, the prime minister went to the home of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, where the two exchanged Rosh Hashana greetings and Yosef hailed Netanyahu's "firm stance" on the peace process.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai, a new member of Netanyahu's seven-member inner cabinet, and the other Shas ministers were also present at the meeting, during which the prime minister had been expected to update them on his talks with Mitchell. The prime minister also phoned the other members of his seven-member inner cabinet, apparently to brief them on the talks with the US Middle East envoy.

On the eve of the morning session with Mitchell, Netanyahu expressed indifference regarding the much discussed tripartite meeting in New York next week.

"If it will be, it will be," he said in a Rosh Hashana interview on Channel 2, one of three pre-holiday television interviews he granted. "If not, not. I didn't ask for it, and I didn't put conditions on the talks."

He said that as of now, no meeting has been scheduled.

Mitchell, for his part, went to Cairo and Amman on Thursday, in a continued effort to put together a package that would enable a meeting at the UN General Assembly meeting next week among Netanyahu, Abbas and US President Barack Obama.

Obama, according to observers in Jerusalem, is pushing hard for the meeting, hoping that a relaunch of diplomatic negotiations could be announced there - a foreign policy success to counter-balance some of his current domestic political difficulties.

Abbas has stated repeatedly that he would only restart negotiations if Netanyahu declared a complete settlement freeze, something the prime minister made clear once more on Thursday night that did not intend to do.

If a freeze means zero building - no houses being built, no schools, kindergartens or synagogues - then that "certainly won't be," Netanyahu said. "There are 2,400 [housing] units that are currently being built, and another 500 that we approved. Do you want to call that a freeze? I don't call it a freeze, I call it a slowdown in building - I am willing to do that to help the [diplomatic] process and in parallel to preserve normal life of the residents [of the settlements]."

Mitchell, who arrived in the region on Saturday night and extended his visit here by three days because of an inability to reach the common ground that would enable a three-way-meeting in New York, is scheduled to meet with the prime minister on Friday.

Netanyahu said the final borders, and the fate of the settlements, would be determined in negotiations. But, he said, "it can't be determined before we start."

The prime minister reiterated his position that any agreement would have to include an end to Arab claims on Israel and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

"Abu Mazen [Abbas] has to decide, is he Arafat or Sadat," Netanyahu said. "If he is Sadat, he has to say what Sadat said: 'It is over, we will recognize Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.'"

The prime minister said he would accept a Palestinian state if it were demilitarized, as a way of "avoiding the next Goldstone Report" on an Israeli military operation.

Regarding the Goldstone Commission report, which accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza, Netanyahu dismissed it as the product of a "kangaroo court," and warned world leaders that if they did not come out strongly against the document now, then their soldiers could be the target of similar probes in the future.

Netanyahu, who said he would be speaking to various world leaders about the report in the coming days, also said that if the world wanted Israel to take risks for peace in the future, it should affirm Israel's right to self defense now.

"The same international community that clapped when we left there [the
Gaza Strip, in 2005], now points an accusatory finger at us, saying we -
and not Hamas - are the war criminals," the prime minister said. "So I will say to the international leaders: 'you talk about our right to self defense, that we should take risks for peace and you will support our right of self defense. Don't tell me that after the next agreement. Show it now. Stand up and condemn the report, and move to halt its ramifications.'"

'evangelical Christians' Now Thanking Allah
Sep 18th, 2009
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;Apostasy

"This year, a group of "Emergent Christians," led by one of the United States' most influential pastors, Brian McLaren have announced they will actually be 'observing' the Muslim holy month, along with a Muslim 'partner,'" writes Joel..."Ramadan is the month that Muslims thank Allah, their god, for revealing the Quran to Muhammad, their prophet. On McLaren's personal blog, he recently announced his intentions: 'We, as Christians, humbly seek to join Muslims in this observance of Ramadan as a God-honoring expression of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness.'"

Richardson questions whether such an "observance" is actually tantamount to an endorsement of Islam.

He points out: "Every year, during the ninth month on the Islamic calendar, the Muslim world celebrates a month long fast known as Ramadan. The timing of the fast in the month of Sha'aban is specifically intended to commemorate the month in which the Quran was 'sent down' or 'revealed' to Muhammad. During Ramadan, Muslims will abstain from smoking or drinking, from sex or sexual thoughts and eating during the daylight hours. Muslims also believe that good deeds done during Ramadan will be doubly credited before Allah."

Richardson adds that McLaren is not fasting for the salvation of his Muslim friends.

"Instead he is seeking through the practice of this Islamic ritual to promote 'the common good, together with people of other faith traditions,'" he writes.