Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Researcher: Nasa Hiding Climate Data
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily NewsThe Washington Times - Stephen Dinan
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The fight over global warming science is about to cross the Atlantic with a U.S. researcher poised to sue NASA, demanding release of the same kind of climate data that has landed a leading British center in hot water over charges it skewed its data.

Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said NASA has refused for two years to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act that would show how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back as the 1930s.

"I assume that what is there is highly damaging," Mr. Horner said. "These guys are quite clearly bound and determined not to reveal their internal discussions about this."

The numbers matter. Under pressure in 2007, NASA recalculated its data and found that 1934, not 1998, was the hottest year in its records for the contiguous 48 states. NASA later changed that data again, and now 1998 and 2006 are tied for first, with 1934 slightly cooler.

Mr. Horner, a noted global warming skeptic and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism, wants a look at the data and the discussions that went into those changes. He said he's given the agency until the end of the year to comply or else he'll sue to compel the information's release.

His fight mirrors one in Europe that has sprung up over the the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in the UK after thousands of e-mails from the center were obtained and appear to show researchers shaving their data to make it conform to their expectation, and show efforts to try to drive global warming skeptics out of the conversation.

The center's chief has stepped down pending an investigation into the e-mails.

The center has also had to acknowledge in response to a freedom of information request under British law that it tossed out much of the raw data that it used to draw up the temperature models that have underpinned much of the science behind global warming.

Mr. Horner suspects the same sort of data-shaving has happened at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), another leading global warming research center.

Rep. Issa: Obama's Refusal to Investigate 'climategate' Emails is 'unconscionable'
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily NewsThe Hill - Tony Romm
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Warning

The U.N.'s decision this week to investigate whether some of its climate change research had been manipulated constitutes a "direct rebuke" of the Obama administration, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Friday.

The White House's unwillingness to open a similar inquiry could now only be characterized as "a sad abdication of their responsibility to ensure that U.S. policies are not driven by corrupted science and data," the congressman added.

“The very integrity of the report that the Obama administration has predicated much of its climate change policy has been called into question and it is unconscionable that this administration and Congress is willing to abdicate responsibility of uncovering the truth to the United Nations," explained Issa, the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Motivating Issa's calls for a probe into climate change research, and the U.N.'s decision to launch one, was the publication last month of thousands of e-mails and other documents that global warming skeptics say prove the phenomenon does not exist.

Some of those e-mails contained discussions about how to best portray data sets, among other topics. Scientists maintain their comments have been taken out of context, but those who fiercely oppose the climate change thesis argue the e-mails invalidate all the research.

The U.N. announced it would probe that data this week, mostly because some of the research in question touches on related work either completed or promoted by its own Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

But the White House has largely dismissed the litany of Republican calls to open an inquiry into that research — Issa's included — because its top scientists contend one controversy hardly undermines decades of more reliable research on climate change.

"It is important to understand that these kinds of controversies and even accusations of bias and improper manipulation are not all that uncommon in science, in all branches of science," said Dr. John Holdren, the president's science adviser.

More Than Half in Turkey Oppose Non - Muslim Religious Meetings
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily NewsCompass Direct News)
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

ISTANBUL, December 4  – More than half the population of Muslim-majority Turkey opposes members of other religions holding meetings or publishing materials to explain their faith, according to a recently issued survey. Fully 59 percent of those surveyed said non-Muslims either “should not” or “absolutely should not” be allowed to hold open meetings where they can discuss their ideas. Fifty-four percent said non-Muslims either “should not” or “absolutely should not” be allowed to publish literature that describes their faith. The survey also found that almost 40 percent of the population of Turkey said they had “very negative” or “negative” views of Christians. In the random survey, 60 percent of those polled said there is one true religion; over 90 percent of the population of Turkey is Sunni Muslim. Ali Çarkoglu, one of two professors at Sabanci University who conducted the study, said no non-Muslim religious gathering in Turkey is completely “risk free.” “Even in Istanbul, it can’t be easy to be an observant non-Muslim,” Çarkoglu said.

Iran Expands Naval Clout in Gulf: U.S. Naval Study
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily Newswww.nytimes.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Iran has restructured its naval forces to give an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard full responsibility for operations in the strategic Persian Gulf in the event of a conflict, according to a new U.S. intelligence study.

The concentration of fast attack boats and cruise missiles in and along the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, known as the IRGCN, "better allow Iranian naval assets to contribute to and extend Iran's layered defense strategy," the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence said in the study, dated Fall 2009.

The Revolutionary Guard has gradually expanded its naval capabilities over the years by incorporating Chinese, North Korean and Italian designs and technology, both military and commercial, and it now deploys some of the fastest naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, the study said.

It said the Revolutionary Guard also reportedly wants to develop or acquire "unmanned" naval vessels.

As part of the reorganization, which began in 2007, the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, or IRIN, has positioned its own naval assets further into the Gulf of Oman, according to the study, first disclosed by the Secrecy News Web site last week.

The assessment of Iran's newfound naval clout comes at a time of growing tension between the Islamic Republic and major powers over the country's nuclear ambitions.

Iran announced plans over the weekend to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in a major expansion of its atomic program, just two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog rebuked it for carrying out such work in secret.

The study by the Office of Naval Intelligence cited public statements by Iranian leaders indicating that they would "consider closing or controlling the Strait of Hormuz if provoked, thereby cutting off almost 30 percent of the world's oil supply."

Closing the Strait would cause "tremendous economic damage" to Iran, which would "probably not undertake a closure lightly," the study said, but added: "Disrupting traffic flow or even threatening to do so may be an effective tool for Iran."

Iran's naval reorganization began in 2007 and has included the opening of new bases by the two navies, which had traditionally shared operations in the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, IRIN, operates traditional large warships capable of extended patrols and missions in open waters, making it the "natural service" to deploy in the Gulf of Oman to "engage enemy forces as far away from Iranian territory as possible."

The Revolutionary Guard has smaller and faster boats with greater tactical flexibility for asymmetric warfare, the study said.

Favored politically and financially by the Iranian leadership, the Revolutionary Guard has invested in upgraded technology and boat designs from abroad.

These craft may be small, only 17 meters (56 feet) long in some cases, but they carry "serious firepower," including torpedoes and the Iranian-made "Kowsar" anti-ship cruise missile, the study said.

In addition to using North Korean designs and Chinese technology, the Revolutionary Guard in the late 1990s began purchasing fast boats from Italian speedboat maker Fabio Buzzi and learned how to produce similar models for itself, it said.

Such crafts can reach top speeds of 60-70 knots, giving "the IRGCN some of the fastest naval vessels in the Persian Gulf," the study said.

"Overall, Iran's development program has strengthened its naval capabilities, yielding increases in the country's inventory of small boats, mines, anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, and air defense equipment," the study said.

Homeland Security Chief Warns of Threat from Al - Qaeda Sympathizers in U.S.
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily Newswashingtonpost.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Al-Qaeda followers are inside the United States and would like to attack targets here and in other countries, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday night. 

The secretary's comments were her bluntest assessment yet of terror threats within the country, and they came one day after President Obama, in announcing his decision to send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, warned that extremists have been "sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit more acts of terror." 

Addressing the America-Israel Friendship League in New York, Napolitano said a string of recent domestic arrests should "remove any remaining comfort that some might have had from the notion that if we fight the terrorists abroad, we won't have to fight them here," rebutting an argument advanced on several occasions by President George W. Bush. 

"The fact is that home-based terrorism is here. And like violent extremism abroad, it is now part of the threat picture that we must confront," Napolitano said. "Individuals sympathetic to al-Qaeda and its affiliates, as well as those inspired by their ideology, are present in the U.S., and would like to attack the homeland or plot overseas attacks against our interests abroad." 

Napolitano cited the case of Najibullah Zazi, a Denver airport shuttle driver arrested in September after allegedly training with al-Qaeda in Pakistan. 

Zazi allegedly tested homemade bombs, styled after those used in the 2004 Madrid transit bombings, before driving cross-country to New York from Denver. He faces charges of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. 

Separately, U.S. prosecutors in October accused David C. Headley, a Chicago businessman, of conspiring with members of Lashkar-i-Taiba, an extremist Islamic group in Pakistan allied with al-Qaeda, to plot attacks in Denmark and India. 

A U.S. counterterrorism official called Zazi "the first concrete case" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks of al-Qaeda sending operatives to prepare an attack inside the country. Although intelligence analysts had long identified such a threat, they had begun questioning their assumption, the official said. "The surprising thing is Zazi is the first," the official said, calling Zazi's contacts with core al-Qaeda leaders "at most one step removed." 

Demographic Collapse & the Fall of Europe
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily Newslifesitenews.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary;Warning

Speaking at the Annual Theos Lecture in London on November 4, Britain's Chief Rabbi Johnathan Sacks, warned that Europe was bound to meet the same fate as ancient Greece due to its abysmal failure to inspire larger families. 

"Parenthood involves massive sacrifice: of money, attention, time and emotional energy," he said. "Where today, in European culture with its consumerism and its instant gratification 'because you're worth it,' in that culture, where will you find space for the concept of sacrifice for the sake of generations not yet born?"

He observed that sincere religious belief is able to overcome the cultural impediments to having children. "Wherever you turn today anywhere in the world, and whether you look at the Jewish or Christian or Muslim communities, you will find the more religious the community, the larger, on average, are its families," he said.

Rabbi Sacks cited the alarming demographics in Europe, stating: "Europe today is the only region in the world which is experiencing population decline. As you know, zero population growth - a stable population - requires an average of 2.1 children for every woman of child-bearing age in the population. Not one European country has anything like that rate today. Here are the 2004 figures: In the United Kingdom: 1.74, in the Netherlands: 1.73, Germany: 1.37, Italy: 1.33, Spain: 1.32 and Greece: 1.29."

He added: "Europe, at least the indigenous population of Europe, is dying, exactly as Polybius said about ancient Greece in the third pre-Christian century. The century that is intellectually the closest to our own - the century of the sceptics and the epicureans and the cynics." 

Quoting Polybius he stated: "The fact is, that the people of Hellas had entered upon the false path of ostentation, avarice and laziness, and were therefore becoming unwilling to marry, or if they did marry, to bring up the children born to them; the majority were only willing to bring up at most one or two."

Rabbi Sacks, who was recently admitted to the House of Lords, concluded, "That is why Greece died. That is where Europe is today."

He called this "one of the un-sayable truths of our time."

'Safe Schools' Chief Recommends Child Porn for Classroom Reading
Dec 5th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Commentary;Moral Decline

'Sex acts between preschoolers' among subjects of books backed by openly 'gay' Obama adviser

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following includes descriptions of adult themes and objectional subject material.

A new report is raising alarms that the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, a homosexual advocacy organization founded by Kevin Jennings, now head of the U.S. Office of Safe Schools for the Obama administration, is recommending XXX-rated sex writings for children as young as preschoolers.

"We were unprepared for what we encountered. Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren't merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between preschoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games, semen flying through the air," said the report.

"One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one's self-esteem. Above all, the books seemed to have less to do with promoting tolerance than with an unabashed attempt to indoctrinate students into a hyper-sexualized worldview," it advised.

The team whose members assembled the report said a handful of books from the more than 100 titles on GLSEN's recommended reading list for school children were picked randomly. Writings were reviewed with titles such as "Queer 13," "Being Different," "The Full Spectrum," "Revolutionary Voices," "Reflections of a Rock Lobster," "Passages of Pride," "Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian," "The Order of the Poison Oak," "In Your Face," "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son" and "Love & Sex: Ten Stories of Truth."

"What we discovered shocked us. We were flabbergasted. Rendered speechless," the report said.

WND has reported previously on Jennings' background and agenda, including when it was revealed a publisher of "gay erotica" sought him out to write a book aimed at encouraging homosexuality in high schools and colleges.

The result was "Becoming Visible," which opens with, "Why teach gay and lesbian history? … Indeed, as lesbian and gay studies has emerged as a discipline over the last two decades, its dramatic discoveries have shown it to be one of the most exciting fields in contemporary historical scholarship."

Researchers at Mass Resistance reported Sasha Alyson of Alyson Publications sought out Jennings to do the book.

In Jennings' acknowledgments for the book, he writes, "Writing this part of the book has caused me more anxiety than any other. It simply is not possible to express my gratitude to the many people who have helped make this book possible. ... With apologies to anyone omitted, here we go! The obvious place to begin is with Alyson Publications. First, Sasha Alyson had the vision to conceive of this project, and I had the good luck to be the person he sought out to complete it. I am deeply appreciative of being afforded this opportunity."

WND also has reported concerns by Mission America over subject material in books recommended by GLSEN for school children.

The group's Linda Harvey warned, "GLSEN believes the early sexualization of children can be beneficial. This means that virtually any sexual activity as well as exposure to graphic sexual images and material, is not just permissible but good for children, as part of the process of discovering their sexuality."

Art's Commemtary.....Someone said fifty years ago, "If God doesn't judge America for her immorality He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." The moral decline in America is now a thousand times more apparent than it was fifty years ago.  I am reminded of what God said about the Amorites, ".....For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."  God held off His judgment on the Amorites because their wickedness had not yet reached it's fullness. When it had reached it's fullness He sent Israel against them to utterly destroy them, God judges sin. It seems today that the wickedness of America has reached it's maximum, the judgment of God upon America can not be far away!