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More: YOUTUBE : McCain Endorses Nafta & Free Trade Agreements

Remember: Free Trade Agreements make up the [USA REPLACEMENT] NORTH AMERICAN UNION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86QwI-6TWic

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Christian leader declares he couldn't support senator 'under any circumstances'

RE: M.I.A / P.O.W. / A special message from
former Congressman John Leboutillier

The Alliance is the only family organization to represent POW/MIA families from all wars.

RINO = REPUBLICAN IN NAME ONLY

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: THE ULTIMATE "RHINESTONE HERO"

Ted Guy, a former Air Force Colonel held 5 1/2 years by the Vietnamese and McCain's senior ranking officer (SRO) in the POW camp, told the U.S. Veteran Dispatch...

Damage caused by a Hizballah rocket in the northern Israeli city of Haifa in July
(Picture-AP)

PRAGUE, July 19, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- For three weeks now, the Israeli military has maintained a two-front offensive that, according to Lebanon’s prime minister, has thrown open “the gates of hell” in the region.

History is a hard book to write, as the saying goes, and it’s even harder to pinpoint the exact causes of the open conflict now raging in the world’s most volatile region.

A Single Artillery Shell

But the events of June 9 are one place to start in looking at the current crisis.

In the television footage of that fateful day, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl is seen wailing on a sandy Gaza beach amid the corpses of seven family members. Enjoying a picnic on a sunny Sabbath, they had apparently been killed by Israeli artillery fire in response to weeks of rocket fire on Israel by Hamas militants.

The next day, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated against the attack in Gaza, as Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri called for a formal end to the Islamic militant group’s 16-month truce with the Jewish state.

"The main thing now is to stop violence, stop the growing confrontation, prevent the region from falling back into chaos, prevent a wider conflict, end the suffering of common people, give priority to political and diplomatic methods of settlement with the central mediating role of the United Nations," Russian President Vladimir Putin said on July 17.“These demonstrations to show outrage which were called by the Islamic resistance movement are meant to stress that our Palestinian people are holding on to their rights and principles," Abu-Zuhri said. "These mass demonstrations are stressing our choice in the way of struggle. Amid the continued bloodshed of our people and the horrific images of the children, the women, the girl that screamed for help, there is no place for silence. These demonstrations are stressing the need for the renewal of the struggle."

Islamic Hamas Steps Up Attacks

The same day, Hamas stepped up Qassam rocket attacks on Israel. The militant group had resumed the attacks a few weeks previously, amid diplomatic and economic isolation that has left the Hamas-led Palstinian government hamstrung, unable to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of Palestinian Authority employees. Western governments have cut off all but humanitarian aid until the ruling Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist.

On June 25 the conflict took a major turn for the worse.

Hamas and another militant group attacked an Israeli military post, killing two soldiers, wounding three, and taking one hostage. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking the next day, vowed that Israel would respond decisively.

Israel Responds In Gaza

“We have considered our steps," Olmert said. "But the time ahead of a comprehensive and harsh operation by the state of Israel is getting shorter. We would not wait forever. We would not make ourselves a subject to Hamas terrorist extortion, and we will act with all our forces to bring an end to terror and ensure no harm comes to the Israeli Defense Force soldier.”

Two days later, on June 28, Israeli forces moved into the southern Gaza Strip in the first major military action in the region since Israel's withdrawal from the strip in September.

The overnight incursion began with air strikes that destroyed three bridges linking north and south Gaza. F-16 jets also fired rockets a water plant as well as a Gaza’s main power station, leaving much of the strip blacked out.

Targeting Politicians

But that was just the start.

Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's residence in what was called a warning to Syria over its harboring of Hamas leaders.

Lebanese refugees crossing into Syria on July 17 (epa)Israel then arrested dozens of Hamas ministers and lawmakers, which Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri called a declaration of war against the Palestinian people.

"The targeting of the [Palestinian] government and [members of parliament] is a dangerous act, even an international crime, and a declaration of open war against the Palestinian people," al-Masri said.

Hizballah (Party of Allah) Captures Two Israeli Soldiers

On July 12, a cross-border raid into Israel by the Lebanese Shi'ite militia Hizballah left eight Israeli soldiers dead and two captured.

Israel immediately responded, unleashing its largest military operation against Lebanon in a quarter-century, as U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack blamed Syria and Iran for inspiring the violence.

"These are deliberate attempts to try to escalate tensions in the region," McCormack said. "And you look at the timing of it with the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier just outside of Gaza and the killing of two soldiers in that attack -- just days later you have this action, this unprovoked action by Hizballah. Very clearly, there are individuals here that are seeking to provoke a negative reaction in the region."

Taking On Lebanon

In the week that followed, Olmert vowed to set back Lebanon by “20 years,” as Israeli warplanes have devastated the country, hitting not just Hizballah targets, but much of the country’s vital infrastructure, including highways, airports, and power stations.

Some 250 civilians have been reported killed, and hundreds of thousands, including many foreigners, are now fleeing a country that had just finished rebuilding following a civil war that killed 1 million people.

Hizballah responded to the Israeli offensive by firing some 1,000 rockets into northern Israel, including the cities of Haifa and Nahariya, killing at least 10 civilians.

World leaders meeting last weekend at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, called for an end to the violence and the start of a diplomatic process.

"The main thing now is to stop violence, stop the growing confrontation, prevent the region from falling back into chaos, prevent a wider conflict, end the suffering of common people, give priority to political and diplomatic methods of settlement with the central mediating role of the United Nations," Russian President Vladimir Putin said on July 17.

An Israeli warplane takes off for a mission in Lebanon on July 12 (epa)But in a joint statement, the leaders of the world’s eight richest nations did not call for an immediate cease-fire. Instead, they blamed the crisis on “extremist elements” -- a clear reference to Hizballah -- and called for the militia’s disarmament, as required by a United Nations Security Council resolution.

What Will Happen Next?

U.S. media reports on July 19 suggest that U.S. officials will allow Israel to carry on its offensive for another week in order to degrade Hizballah’s capabilities. Then, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the region and seek to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

At the same time, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have spoken of setting up an international force to monitor Lebanon’s borders to prevent Hizballah from getting rockets and arms.

Castro Confesses reveals Communist role in Angola, Namibia independence

President Fidel Castro:
"Cuba's contribution was decisive in consolidating Angola's independence and achieving that of Namibia."

AFROL NWS - Dec 6/05- - For the first time, Cuban President Fidel Castro has revealed details of the large Cuban military participation in the war against South African troops in southern Angola in 1987-88. Some 55,000 Cuban troops aided the Angolan counter-offensive, that drove South Africans back to the Namibian border and to the negotiation table. The result was the independence of Namibia, President Castro recalls.

Cuba's aging Dictator on Friday addressed the Caribbean nation's armed forces in a speech commemorating the 30th anniversary of its Angolan engagement. Going through the well-known history of the sending of Cuban 36,000 troops to Angola to defend the Marxist MPLA government against a South African invasion in 1975, President Castro also for the first time shed light on the scale of the 1987-88 operation.

In 1987, South African troops were again in Angola, aiding the rightist UNITA rebels in an attempt to overthrow the leftist MPLA government. According to Mr Castro, the Angolan army had been ill advised to its large September 1987 offensive against the assumed UNITA headquarters at Lomba River in the far south-east of Angola.

President Castro reveals that Cuba had advised the Angolan army against this large offensive due to the big risks involved. The battle at Lomba River also turned out to be a disaster for the government army, as it fell into a trap set up by UNITA and its allies from the apartheid state. The Angolan army suffered great losses, in particular of its heavy weaponry, and was forced to pull back to the air base in Cuito Cuanavale.

"The enemy, greatly emboldened, advanced strongly, towards Cuito Cuanavale," Mr Castro said. "Here it prepared to deliver a mortal blow against Angola. Desperate calls were received from the Angolan government appealing to the Cuban troops for support in fending off presumed disaster," he went on, adding Cuba "had no responsibility whatever" for the difficult situation the Angolan army found itself in.

The Cuban President goes on detailing the massive response immediately organised by Havana. The goal was not only hindering the enemy's advance on Cuito Cuanavale, but to "deliver a decisive blow against the South African forces," he revealed. "A flood of troops and weaponry rapidly crossed the Atlantic, landing on Angola's south coast in order to attack in the south west, in the direction of Namibia. At the same time, 800 km to the east, special units advanced towards Cuito Cuanavale, where they joined up with retreating Angolan forces to set up a lethal trap for the powerful South African forces heading for that large airbase."

The scale of the operation was enormous, much bigger than contemporary observers believed. "Cuban troops in Angola numbered 55,000," President Castro revealed. Assessments so far on the Cuban force have been closer to 30,000. Only in Cuito Cuanavale, there were 40,000 Cuban and 30,000 Angolan troops.

With this great Cuban force at its side, the Angolan army was able to win the decisive battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The Cubans had also brought some 600 tanks and heavy artillery. President Castro reveals that the Cubans also brought several MIG-23 unit, the South Africans thus losing their aerial supremacy. This probably secured the quick victory.

Full Story Here

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON -Nov 3/05 - With just three months left before he leaves office, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan raised a warning to Congress: The country could face "serious economic disruptions" if bloated budget deficits are not curbed.

The Fed chief's strong comments, made during an appearance Thursday before Congress' Joint Economic Committee, come after the government produced a $319 billion budget deficit this year — an improvement from the record amount of red ink registered in 2004 but still the third-highest deficit on record.

In the short term, costs related to rebuilding after the trio of devastating hurricanes will make it harder to improve the nation's balance sheets, he acknowledged. In the long term, a huge wave of retiring baby boomers will put massive strains on government resources, he said.

"There are no easy choices. Easy choices are long gone," said Greenspan, whose 18-plus year run at the Fed comes to an end on Jan. 31.

Congress is working on separate packages of tax cuts and spending cuts.

Even as he sounded an alarm about the dangers that budget deficits pose to the country's long-term health, Greenspan struck a more positive note about the economy's current prospects after being jolted by the recent hurricanes.

Katrina, Rita and Wilma are likely to "exert a drag" on employment and production in the short term and may aggravate inflation pressures, Greenspan said. "But the economic fundamentals remain firm, and the U.S. economy appears to retain important forward momentum," Greenspan said in his most extensive remarks thus far on the impact of the storms.

The Fed is keeping a close eye on high energy prices to make sure they don't spark broader inflation.

"We are very firm in the notion that this country should not visit the 1970s again in the way of inflation," Greenspan said, referring to a period where the economy was rocked by skyrocketing prices.

On the budget front, Greenspan called on Congress to get the nation's fiscal house in order and bring the swollen deficits under control.

"Unless the situation is reversed, at some point, these budget trends will cause serious economic disruptions," he said.

Full Story Here

Black Americans make up smaller share of military

NOV 4 - USA Today - Long a mainstay of the military, black Americans have made up a shrinking share of enlisted troops since 2000, Pentagon statistics show

The number of black enlisted troops has declined significantly in three military branches from 2000 through 2004 - by 15% in the Army, 23% in the Marines and 11% in the Air Force. The Navy's number fell only slightly. The overall size of all four branches has stayed roughly the same.

A major reason for the trend is a sharp drop in blacks joining the military, according to a Pentagon analysis conducted in response to questions from USA TODAY. During the four-year period, African-American recruits in all four services fell nearly a third, from 38,034 in 2000 to 26,170 in 2004.

Other factors include a rise in black college attendance and the fact that the war in Iraq is more unpopular among blacks than among whites, according to public opinion polls.

Source: htp://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051104/ts_usatoday/blackamericansmakeupsmallershareofmilitary

Spanish Judge Issues Warrant for Three GIs

MADRID, Spain - Oct 19/05 -AP - A judge has issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers whose tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the Iraq war, killing a Spanish journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman, a court official said Wednesday.

Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, all from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, which is based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died April 8, 2003, after a U.S. army tank crew fired a shell on Hotel Palestine in Baghdad where many journalists were staying to cover the war.

Reuters cameraman Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed.

Pedraz had sent two requests to the United States — in April 2004 and June 2005 — to have statements taken from the suspects or to obtain permission for a Spanish delegation to quiz them. Both went unanswered.

He said he issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial cooperation from the United States regarding the case.

The warrant "is the only effective measure to ensure the presence of the suspects in the case being handled by Spanish justice, given the lack of judicial cooperation by U.S. authorities," the judge said in the warrant.

The Pentagon had no immediate information and said it was looking into it.

U.S. officials have insisted that the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire.

Following the Palestine incident, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said a review of the incident found that the use of force was justified.

Full Story Here

By SNJEZANA VUKIC, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 22,

ZAGREB, Croatia - Sept 22/05 - Croatia has requested that Austria extradite a 92-year-old World War II war crimes suspect who was tracked down by an amateur Nazi hunter, the justice minister said Thursday.

However, Austria's justice ministry said Thursday its own prosecutors are investigating Milivoj Aschner, because Austrian law does not allow for extraditions of Austrian citizens for trial abroad. Aschner holds both Croatian and Austrian citizenship.

Aschner, a former police chief in eastern Croatia, allegedly enforced racist laws in 1941-1942 under Croatia's World War II Nazi puppet regime, which persecuted tens of thousands of Jews, Gypsies and Serbs.

He is suspected of committing crimes against civilians, mainly Jews and Serbs, the minister, Vesna Skare Ozbolt, told The Associated Press.

Poechinger said Austrian prosecutors have received a lot of "new facts" on Aschner from Croatia. The decision on whether to bring charges against him in Austria is expected in the next two months, he said.

Aschner lived peacefully in Croatia for years before he was discovered two years ago by an amateur researcher, Alen Budaj.

Aschner first moved to Austria in 1945, when Croatia's Nazi regime fell. He had returned to Croatia in 1991.

Aschner's case recalls a painful chapter in Croatian history. More than 30,000 Jews, and tens of thousands of Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats, died at the hands of Croatia's Nazi regime.

Croatia was often criticized in the 1990s for encouraging nationalism that harked back to the Nazi era. Some here still deny or even justify the atrocities committed then, although the new government condemns fascism and Nazism.

The country has so far tried and convicted one World War II criminal, Dinko Sakic, who was extradited from Argentina. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty at the time — 20 years in prison — in 1999.

Full Story Here

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Sept 22/05 -- The United States stepped up its calls on Thursday for European NATO allies to boost their defense spending, saying the alliance needed more funds to safeguard its commitments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

U.S. ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland said NATO was "woefully under-funded" and renewed the U.S. complaint that many European countries still fell short of pledges to devote two percent of their gross domestic product to defense spending.

"Funding is a real problem," Nuland told a think-tank in Brussels.

"The good news is that we have a real and growing ambition to handle security in one of the most dangerous places in the world -- Afghanistan. But are we prepared to match that level of ambition with what it takes?"

NATO is preparing an expansion of its 10,000-strong ISAF peacekeeping force in Afghanistan next year from existing positions in the north and west to the south. Earlier expansion moves have been held up by shortages of troops and equipment.

The United States is leading efforts to reform NATO funding, which at present is based on the principle that missions are largely funded by whichever nations choose to take part.

Washington and others want to create greater pools of common funding to finance missions regardless of who contributes troops. That is seen allowing the alliance to react faster and encouraging smaller nations to come forward to take part.

Full Story Here

Saturday, August 13, 2005

JOURNAL PUBLISHING COMPANY EMPLOYEE NIXES AD FOR FAITH BASED MINISTRY
Calls it “Discriminatory”

NEWS RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- For additional information call
Jeremy Reynalds at (505) 400-7145 or (505) 877-6967

A Joy Junction homeless shelter staff member thought placing an ad in the Albuquerque Journal for an office receptionist for the faith-based ministry would be a simple matter.

That was until a Journal Publishing Company employee told her the ad was “discriminatory.”

This is the text of the ad that Joy Junction unsuccessfully attempted to place.

“Receptionist - Joy Junction - Pleasant phone manner, ability to multi-task, computer ability: Word and Excel. Office experience necessary, ministry experience preferred, strong customer service skills. Ability to make independent judgments about work, yet work as a team member. Applications available on-line at www.joyjunction.com.”

The problem? The words “ministry experience preferred.”

Attempts made by Joy Junction personnel to resolve the situation were unsuccessful.

Joy Junction Founder and Director Jeremy Reynalds said he felt the aggressive stand taken by the Journal Publishing Company employee reflected a basic lack of understanding about the needs and role of a faith-based ministry.

Reynalds said, “It is important for everyone to remember that we are not a social service agencies that deals only with physical hunger and need. We are a church organization – a faith-based ministry, an umbrella term for a charitable group whose goal is to save souls as well as bodies. We need and have a right to hire employees whose beliefs reflect those values. And as University of Texas Professor Marvin Olasky pointed out in his book ‘The Tragedy of American Compassion,’ as opposed to the typical governmental ‘anything goes,’ approach, faith- based ministries use a tough love that demands accountability, adherence to moral standards and changes in behavior.”

WASHINGTON (AFP) - July 28/05 - A free trade pact with Central America and the Dominican Republic cleared the US Congress, after it was approved by a narrow 217-215 vote in the House of Representatives.

President lobbies behind scenes to take more Freedoms away...Southern Border

Senate Approves Central America Trade Deal By JIM ABRAMS, AP

July 1/05

WASHINGTON - AP - Fresh off a victory in the Senate, the Bush administration turned to the House in the drive to conclude a free trade agreement it says will promote democracy in Central America while opening new markets to American businesses.

The House vote, expected in July, on the Central America Free Trade Agreement is certain to be close, but supporters expressed new confidence Thursday after a 54-45 vote in the Senate.

The Senate win "was a huge momentum builder," U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) said, noting that only a few weeks ago analysts were saying the agreement was in deep trouble.

Since then, the Bush administration has turned up the heat, with President Bush personally lobbying lawmakers and his trade officials dangling concessions on labor rights and sugar, the agreement's two most contentious issues.

Ten Democrats joined 43 Republicans and one independent to vote in favor of the agreement.

In a statement following the vote, Bush said the agreement would be "good for American workers, good for our farmers and good for small businesses" and "help increase sales abroad and job creation at home.

"The agreement is also a strong boost for young democracies in our own hemisphere, whose success is important for America's national security and for reducing illegal immigration," the president said.

CAFTA would further open a market of 44 million people by eliminating trade barriers to U.S. manufactured and farm goods, protecting trademarks and other intellectual property and establishing legal frameworks for U.S. investment. Last year the region purchased about $15 billion worth of U.S. goods.

The administration says it is also an indispensable step toward far broader free trade agreements with other Western Hemisphere nations and under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.

But CAFTA "is more than just a trade agreement," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said. "It is also a commitment by the United States to stand with nations seeking open markets for its people in the pursuit of freedom and a strengthened democratic process."

Thomas' panel (House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif ) on Thursday endorsed the agreement on a 25-16 vote.

The Hispanic business community has supported it but the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Hispanic human rights groups are against it. Some textile groups oppose it, while others say it would allow U.S. fabric makers and Central American manufacturers to team up...

The CAFTA bill, S. 1307, may be found in our Section on CAFTA

The Formal name of CAFTA is:
Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

THE BAD NEWS OF THE DA VINCI CODE MOVIE

By Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®

HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) - Aug 5/05 - The New York Times called recently asking what's wrong with THE DA VINCI CODE.

With regard to the book by that name, there have been a large number of articles, some published in MOVIEGUIDE®, explaining its egregious historical, theological problems demonstrating the historical inacuracies of the movie. With regard to the movie scheduled to be distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures, however, about which the Times was calling, we won't know until we see the final product.

The strange thing about the movie is that the two key people involved, Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, claim to be Christians. Mr. Hanks has told reporters that he came to Christ many years ago and now attends a Greek Orthodox church with his wife. A Campus Crusade minister worked as Ron Howard's assistant for many years and said that Mr. Howard went to a Presbyterian church. Therefore, it is strange that these two men are making THE DA VINCI CODE, unless they have either sold out and see it as a way of making a lot of money, or they plan to change it.

Hollywood often changes books. Sometimes, with even the biggest titles, the studio buys the book then changes the story completely. Some undergo significant tweaks, such as MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL and SAHARA. Often the endings of the novels are too down and depressing, so filmmakers will change make the ending more upbeat. This may be the case with CODE, since a Christian marketing firm has been hired to market THE DA VINCI CODE to the church and has seen the script.

If the movie accurately reflects the book, however, then the movie is blasphemy and historical revisionism. However, many people just don't understand why blasphemy is a bad thing.

I told the New York Times that the essence of Christianity is that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God's heart is to save everyone who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and that ability to accept His salvation is in itself a gift from God.

THE DA VINCI CODE, however, only focuses on those who are part of the “divine bloodline,” or those who have "special knowledge" about God. Thus, the theology of THE DA VINCI CODE is bad news for anyone who wants to be saved. If you don't have special knowledge (as in Gnosticism), and/or are not part of the bloodline, then you will be excluded from salvation.

A History Channel program on THE DA VINCI CODE points out that most of France knows that a conman named Pierre Plantard invented the story upon which the DA VINCI CODE is based, because he was pretending to be an heir to the French throne. The book does not sell well in France for that very reason.

For many years, people followed occult heresies like that in THE DA VINCI CODE, because, in their egotism and narcissism, they included themselves in the favored group. Modern DNA testing makes that very hard to do.

The long and the short of it is, THE DA VINCI CODE is bad news. After our thorough conversation, the New York Times reporter understood clearly that the aristocratic elitism and Gnosticism of THE DA VINCI CODE is abhorrent to the reporter's point of view and should be abhorrent to every American who cherishes faith.

Then the reporter asked, “Why worry? After all, it’s just a movie.” I pointed out to the reporter: If communication has no impact, why was he writing? Why does the New York Times advertise? The reporter conceded that they write and advertise because they want influence. Just so, some people will be influenced by THE DA VINCI CODE's blasphemies.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having grown up in a non-Christian home that was partial to such occult fantasies, I can personally tell you that many people outside of the Church are impacted by these fantasies. The sad part is that they lead people who aren’t born again away from the truth, which is that “God so loved the world. . .”

© baehr, 2005

Pakistan: United militants, divided leaders
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - July 23/05 - ATimes - Very much like in the post-September 11 days, Pakistan is once again standing at a crossroad between the military and the mosque following the bomb attacks in London on July 7.

However, a major difference now is that the US and the United Kingdom are watching Pakistan's every action with unrelenting vigilance, which could force President General Pervez Musharraf to take action that will place him on a path of confrontation with various religious and political elements in the country.

As an important ally in the US-led "war on terror", and given that three of the four London bombers are said to have visited Pakistan within in a year prior to the attacks, Musharraf had to act, both quickly and firmly.

As a result, security forces have detained about 300 suspected Islamist extremists in raids on religious schools and other centers across the country.

Full Story Here

Sacrifing the Future on the Altar of the Present: US/Bush Administration accepts India as a nuclear buddy

By Siddharth Srivastava

NEW DELHI - July 20/05 - ATimes - It is one more step towards achieving the next level of India-US relations, as well as the US promise to help cement India as a future global power.

In a radical shift in nuclear relations between the two countries, the US has decided to treat India on a par with recognized nuclear-weapon states, extending all "benefits and advantages", including [the U.S. Sharing of] nuclear fuel for civilian nuclear reactors.

These significant decisions are contained in a joint statement issued after a summit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush in the White House on Monday.

India, in turn, has promised to be a responsible nuclear state, including placing its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, continuing its unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests and adherence, among other things, to the Missile Technology Control Regime and Nuclear Suppliers' Group guidelines.

India's designs on Central Asia
By Robert McMahon

WASHINGTON - Jun 30/05 - ATimes - One of India's main strategic challenges is restoring traditional trade and cultural ties with Central Asia, according to Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee. In a speech this week in Washington, Mukherjee said the region poses security concerns to India and described it as a battleground between Islamic extremism and moderation, with fundamentalist groups trying to destabilize secular governments in the region.

The defense minister said India - a huge democracy with the world's second-largest Muslim population - could have a moderating influence on Central Asia.

"By nature, India is not inclined to export ideologies, even ideologies it believes in and follows. India would rather promote democracy in the region by precept and example. Freer traffic between India and Central Asia would be a factor in favor of moderation and democracy there," Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee, who began his four-day visit to the US on Saturday, made his comments at a gathering of foreign-policy experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an independent policy institute. His speech touched on India's strategic goals, including lessening its energy dependence on foreign sources, but Pakistan figured as the key issue. The two countries continue to have sharp differences over the divided territory of Kashmir. On the positive side, they continue to observe the November 2003 ceasefire agreement, and people-to-people exchanges have recently intensified.

Joseph Zen said the Holy See might change allegiances if Beijing was "willing to grant real freedom to the church in mainland China".

China's estimated 13m Catholics are forced to attend state-controlled churches or worship in secret.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, and the Vatican's continuing acknowledgement of the island has been a sticking point in diplomacy with Beijing.

But hopes for progress were raised on Sunday when China expressed condolences on the death of Pope John Paul II.

Beijing reiterated on Tuesday that it was willing to re-establish diplomatic links with the Vatican, but only if it cut ties with Taiwan and did not use religion to interfere in China's internal affairs.

Bishop Zen, a vocal critic of Beijing's policies, said that he hoped someone could explain to the Chinese government that the Vatican just wanted religious peace.

"It has no political ambitions whatsoever," Bishop Zen said. "The Pope appoints bishops everywhere, and nobody is offended. We hope the Chinese government can understand this."

A senior Vatican diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday that there was no change to its position on China and Taiwan, and said he did not expect any movement until after the election of a successor to the Pope.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Mar 21/05 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended a church service in Beijing on Sunday in a visit that highlighted U.S. concern for religious freedom in the world's most populous country.

The symbolic visit to one of China's largest state-approved churches followed Rice's repeated denouncements during a tour of Asia about Beijing's human rights record, and particularly its restrictions on worship.

But in a sign the public images contrasted with her behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Rice did not make religious freedom a priority in meetings with China's top leaders on Sunday. Instead, she would discuss rights and democracy at a lower-level on Monday, a senior State Department official said.

At the Gangwashi church, just west of Tiananmen Square, Rice listened to a translation of the service through headphones and sang hymns in front of an altar bordered with plastic green plants in pots.

The congregation of several hundred applauded Rice when she left at the end of the service at a church that had supported the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

China is on a U.S. blacklist of only a handful of countries worldwide considered "of particular concern" for limiting religious freedom.

Despite laws meant to protect religious freedom, the Communist government forbids organized worship outside state-backed "patriotic" religious organizations.

A preacher's daughter, who describes herself as deeply religious, Rice has always attended church on Palm Sunday, an important date in the Christian calendar.

Still, she could have gone to church earlier on Sunday in Seoul but chose to worship in China and allow reporters traveling with her to attend the Protestant service, knowing her appearance would grab attention.

Rice is not the first senior U.S. official to make a point of visiting churches in China.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - People who feel threatened anywhere they have a legal right to be - even on the street or at a baseball game - could "meet force with force" to defend themselves without fear of prosecution or liability under a bill passed overwhelmingly Tuesday by the Florida House.

The measure essentially extends a right Floridians already have in their home or car. Under present law, however, people attacked anywhere else are supposed to do what they can to avoid escalating the situation and can use deadly force only after they've tried to retreat.

"I'm sorry, people, but if I'm attacked I shouldn't have a duty to retreat," said the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Dennis Baxley. "That's a good way to get shot in the back."

The measure passed 94-20. It had already passed the Senate and now heads to Gov. Jeb Bush

WASHINGTON - Mar 16/05 - Government employees may have falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project in Nevada, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The disclosure could jeopardize the project's ability to get a federal permit to operate the dump.

During preparation for a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the department said it found a number of e-mails from 1998 through 2000 in which an employee of the U.S. Geological Survey "indicated that he had fabricated documentation of his work."

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the department is investigating what kind of information was falsified and whether it would affect the scientific underpinnings of the project.

"If in the course of that review any work is found to be deficient, it will be replaced or supplemented with analysis and documents that meet appropriate quality assurance standards," said Bodman. He said he was "greatly disturbed" by the development.

The department said the questionable data involved computer modeling for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site, which is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

At a House hearing Wednesday, the official who recently took over the Yucca program in the Energy Department indicated that the revelations could further delay the project.

"I assure you we will not proceed until we have rectified these problems," Theodore Garrish told Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that controls the dollars for Yucca Mountain.

Garrish was not asked to elaborate. After the hearing, he declined to answer reporters' questions.

Hobson said the problem did not appear too serious and that he did not think it would throw Yucca Mountain off track.

"As I understand it this is not a major impediment and can be corrected very easily," Hobson told reporters. "Some people just don't want to do their job right, so they'll slip it through rather than doing their job. We don't have any evidence that somebody directed anybody to do this."

Chip Groat, director of the Geological Survey, said the e-mails "have raised serious questions about the review process of scientific studies done six years ago."

The disclosure follows other setbacks for the proposed waste dump. The department has delayed filing its license application to nuclear regulators and now acknowledges that the planned completion of the facility by 2010 no longer is possible. Garrish told the committee Wednesday that he couldn't provide a new completion date.

Congress last year refused to provide all the money sought by the Bush administration for the project. A federal appeals court rejected the radiation protection standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency ; the agency is developing new standards.

Eleven Christians who were demonstrating at a public homosexual-rights event in Philadelphia have been arrested and charged – they say unjustly.

According to a statement from Life and Liberty Ministries, on Sunday the Christian protesters were "preaching God's Word" to the crowd of people attending the outdoor Philadelphia OutFest event and displaying banners with biblical messages.

Not long after the group began their activity, members of the Pink Angels, which the statement describes as "a militant mob of homosexuals," confronted the protesters and attempted to drown out their message with whistles, while hiding the signs with large sheets of pink Styrofoam.

"Even though the Christians obeyed all laws, city ordinances and lawful requests by the Philadelphia police officers on hand," said Life and Liberty Ministries, "they were promptly and without warning arrested and hauled off to jail, where they spent 21 hours before being released on Monday morning."

Eight charges were filed against the protesters, including three felonies and five misdemeanors. The charges were: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, and obstructing highways.

The “ethnic intimidation” charge, explains Robert Knight, writing for Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute, was made possible by Pennsylvania’s Ethnic Intimidation and Institutional Vandalism Act – that state's “hate crimes" law – to which the newest "victim" category of "sexual orientation" was recently added.

Full Story Here

NOTE: As of December 14, Four of these Christians are STILL in Jail Charged with serious Felonies for speaking out !

The Downside of Hate Crimes Legislation
by Arthur Weinreb

July 29, 2002
For purposes of sentencing under the Criminal Code of Canada, section 718.2(a)(ii) states: "evidence that the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any similar factor shall be deemed to be an aggravating circumstance".

The purpose of this section, as with all hate crimes legislation, is to show society’s abhorrence to biased based crime while acting (supposedly) as a deterrent to hate motivated behaviour. But these laws can do more harm than good as was illustrated after the recent murder of David Rosenzweig.

WASHINGTON -Feb 17/05 - President Bush on Thursday named John Negroponte, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and currently the administration's top representative in Iraq , to be America's first national intelligence director.

TOKYO (AFP) -Nov 26/04 - Nissan's unprecedented decision to temporarily cut output due to a lack of steel shows how extreme the world's supply problems have become as China's huge economy consumes more and more basic materials.
China last year accounted for more than 25 percent of the world's steel consumption and analysts believe the shortfall may not be solved until 2006 when the world's largest metallurgical coke factory begins operating in China.

The worldwide problem has become so severe that in Europe, where many had begun to view coal mines as historical relics, German conglomerate RAG said in September it was ready to open up a domestic mine.

Nissan said Thursday it would halt assembly line production intermittently at three of its four Japanese plants from November 29 to December 8 for a total of five days, resulting in a production loss of 25,000 vehicles for Japan's second largest auto-maker.

Nissan said its supply of steel could not keep up with its rising needs as the auto-maker races to launch six new models in Japan and four in the United States by March 2005.

The problem is not confined to Nissan. Analysts believe Toyota, Japan's top auto-maker and the world's number two after General Motors (NYSE: GM - news) , and also Honda, number three in Japan, might sooner or later feel the pinch.

"Toyota is clearly aware that the situation is becoming a bit difficult," a Toyota spokesman told AFP.

BBC- Dec 4/04 - US President George W Bush has called on politicians to pass a law to overhaul the intelligence system.

He urged Congress to stop stalling and vote on measures based on the inquiry into the 11 September 2001 attacks.

"We must do everything necessary to confront and defeat the terrorist threat, and that includes intelligence reform," he said in his weekly address.

In their radio response, Democrats said Mr Bush had to stop delays by his own party that have so far blocked a vote.

Mr Bush said he had done all he could to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission without action by Congress.

BBC - Dec 3/04 - The widespread availability of technology is having a big impact on culture in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Bhutan has been hailed as the last Shangri-La.

It is certainly a kingdom like no other, with a society guided by folklore and faith underpinned by a unique form of Buddhism.

For hundreds of years, this Himalayan land revelled in self-imposed isolation, at pains to keep its culture protected from the rapidly-developing world outside its borders.

But, step by step, Bhutan and its people have been waking up to life in the 21st Century and the change that inevitably comes with it.

Bhutan is not rushing headlong into technological development; it cannot afford to economically, for one thing, but there is also a real feeling that no attempt to bring Bhutan into the global village should be allowed to endanger its very unique local culture.

Spiritual depravity

Five years ago, to coincide with the King's Silver Jubilee, Bhutan became the last country on earth to legalise television, and so the Bhutan Broadcasting Service was born.

No Assembled Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) formally found in Iraq, but PLENTY of Nuclear Materials to MAKE W.M.D (WMD)

VIENNA (Reuters) - The mysterious removal of Iraq's mothballed nuclear facilities continued long after the U.S.-led invasion and was carried out by people with access to heavy machinery and demolition equipment, diplomats said on Thursday

The United Nations nuclear watchdog told the Security Council this week that equipment and materials that could be used to make atomic weapons had been vanishing from Iraq without either Baghdad or Washington noticing.

"This process carried on at least through 2003 ... and probably into 2004, at least in early 2004," said a Western diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitored Iraq's nuclear sites before last year's war.

That contrasted with statements by Western and Iraqi officials, who have played down the disappearance of the equipment. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Tuesday he believed most of the removals took place in the chaos shortly after the March 2003 invasion.

The United States and Britain said they invaded to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. Both countries now admit toppled ruler Saddam Hussein had no such weapons.

Several diplomats close to the IAEA said the disappearance of the nuclear items was not the result of haphazard looting.

They said the removal of the dual-use equipment -- which before the war was tagged and closely monitored by the IAEA to ensure it was not being used in a weapons program -- was planned and executed by people who knew what they were doing.

"We're talking about dozens of sites being dismantled," a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "Large numbers of buildings taken down, warehouses were emptied and removed. This would require heavy machinery, demolition equipment. This is not something that you'd do overnight."

Muhammad el-Baradei

Prague, 12 October 2004 (RFE/RL) -- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei, in a letter delivered yesterday to the UN Security Council, expressed concern at what he called the "widespread and apparently systematic dismantlement" of sites previously relevant to Iraq's nuclear program.

IAEA monitors left Iraq shortly before the start of the U.S.-led war in March 2003 and were subsequently barred by the United States from returning.

But based on satellite photographs, the IAEA now says entire buildings related to Iraq's nuclear program prior to the 1991 Gulf War have been dismantled -- and the high-precision equipment stored inside has vanished.

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said that yesterday's letter was the latest in a series of quarterly reports el-Baradei is required to deliver to the Security Council.

IAEA reports issued since the war have repeatedly expressed concerns about the security of Iraq's nuclear sites and materials. This time, Fleming said, el-Baradei sought to stress that the problem has broadened beyond a few limited sites.

"What has caught everybody's attention is his report that satellite imagery that we've been monitoring -- because we can't be on the ground [in Iraq] -- has shown a widespread and systematic dismantlement of sites that previously were relevant to Iraq's nuclear program and sites that were subject to IAEA inspections," Fleming said. "Contained in these buildings are the things that we're worried about. There was equipment of a 'dual-use' nature -- that is, they could be used in industry, but as well they could, if they fell into the wrong hands, be used in a nuclear-weapons program."

The IAEA says entire buildings related to Iraq's nuclear program prior to the 1991 Gulf War have been dismantled.

Some relatively harmless military goods that disappeared from Iraq following the 2003 invasion have since been found in Europe and in the Middle East.

By contrast, the IAEA has been unable to locate dual-use equipment and materials like milling and turning machines and electron-beam welders. Material such as high-strength aluminum has also vanished from open storage areas.

These items -- which were monitored by the IAEA before the war -- could be sold on the black market to a government or terrorist group seeking to build nuclear weapons or radioactive "dirty bombs."

John Eldridge, editor of "Jane's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense," said it is possible to speculate that the equipment listed in the latest IAEA report was simply looted the way many supplies and raw materials were stolen in the chaos and lawlessness that have followed the invasion. But he said there is another, more sinister, possibility as well.

"The suspicious view, clearly, is that when you put these pieces of equipment together in the same list, that is suspicious," Eldridge said. "You have to remember that the terrorist networks have a considerable degree of technical expertise these days, and they're able to deduce what's worth taking and keeping, and what's worth ditching. There's a lot of collusion. It's almost a commercial network between these terrorist organizations. And quite often they're completely different or have almost opposing ideological viewpoints. But they are nevertheless sometimes in support against a common enemy -- normally the United States, sadly -- and therefore there's a commercial benefit in getting hold of this stuff, and keeping it, to sell it on if somebody actually wants to make something nefarious."

In his letter, el-Baradei noted that Iraq is still obligated to inform the IAEA about any changes at those sites previously monitored by the agency.

But since March 2003, the agency has received no such notifications -- either from the U.S.-led occupation authorities, who administered Iraq until June 2004, or the interim Iraqi government that followed.

There has been no official response from Washington to the latest IAEA report. But Iraq's science and technology minister, Rashad Amr Mandan, told Reuters today that nothing has gone missing since the initial looting that followed the U.S. invasion. He invited the IAEA to come to Iraq to conduct inspections.

Fleming said the IAEA and the UN's Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) -- tasked with overseeing the elimination of any banned Iraqi weapons programs and which has also been barred from Iraq -- are both ready to resume their work in the country.

"We've said several times that we remain ready to go back to Iraq and to resume our monitoring there. It is a decision that is subject to the Security Council," Fleming said. "And the Security Council has said in its resolution that it adopted in June of this year that it plans to revisit the mandates of the IAEA and UNMOVIC, so we've just again expressed our readiness to go back."

Fleming also said the interim Iraqi government has sought the agency's assistance in selling remaining nuclear materials from its Tuwaitha nuclear plant and dismantling and decontaminating other such sites.

A new report last week from the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, said Saddam Hussein stopped trying to build weapons of mass destruction in 1991 following the arrival of UN inspection teams. The report found that Iraq did not possess chemical or biological weapons at the time of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and was not trying to reconstitute its nuclear program.

Both U.S. President George W. Bush and his presidential opponent, Senator John Kerry, have cited nuclear proliferation as a major global concern

"Interestingly, just a few days before, CNS News, in a report I link to on my new blog at ....com, reported that recently confiscated Iraqi intelligence documents show that Saddam was working with terrorists to target Americans with mustard gas and anthrax, both considered WMD."

THERE IS NOT ONE CHRISTIAN NATION ON EARTH WHERE MUSLIMS ARE PERSECUTED.
Yet in most nations where the majority of the population are Muslims, there is systematic government persecution of Christians.

Italian high court upholds acquittal of ex-premier Andreotti on mob charges

Oct 2004

ROME (AP) - Italy's highest criminal court upheld the acquittal of former premier Giulio Andreotti on Friday on charges of aiding the Mafia when he was in power - the final judgment in a decade-long case that shocked the country.

Andreotti, who was not in court Friday, has always maintained his innocence, saying he was framed by mobsters seeking revenge for his crackdowns on organized crime.

"I am very happy to have arrived alive at the end of this trial," said the 85-year-old Andreotti.

"I have never lost any sleep over it. Maybe someone has because they knew they had set up something that had no basis," he said.

Andreotti, a Christian Democrat, served as premier seven times, helped write Italy's postwar constitution and has held a number of other government posts. He is a senator for life who has sat in the legislature since 1948.

The proceedings started in Palermo in 1993 and - a trial, two appeals and countless hearings later - lasted until Friday's ruling. Andreotti had already been acquitted twice, in 1999 and in 2003.

Friday's ruling upheld the 2003 acquittal in which the appellate judges said while they believed Andreotti had "friendly" ties with mobsters decades ago, they found no evidence he had associated with the Mafia after 1980. They said the statute of limitations had run out on any criminal association before 1980.

Full Story Here

United Airlines security chief in Haiti charged with cocaine smuggling

Fri, Oct 15, 2004

MIAMI (AP) - American Airlines' director of security at Haiti's main airport was arrested by the U.S. government on charges she smuggled millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States aboard the airline's planes.

Stephanie Ambroise, who worked at Port-au-Prince airport, was arrested Thursday and charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, officials said.

Ambroise appeared briefly Friday in Miami federal court and was ordered held until a Tuesday hearing.

She is the latest Haitian official to be indicted in the United States on drug-smuggling charges. Others include the former national police director, the former national police commander, the former Haitian anti-drug chief, the former Port-au-Prince airport police commander and a Haitian senator.

An indictment unsealed Friday said Ambroise arranged to have suitcases and other containers of cocaine put aboard planes bound for the United States.

Full Story Here
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20041015/ca_pr_on_wo/haiti_us_drugs&e=3

(CBS/AP) - Aug 28/04 - In a video posted on the Internet, former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a Democrat, says he is ashamed that he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.

"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard when I was lieutenant governor of Texas, and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it," Barnes said in the 45-second video, which was recorded May 27 at a meeting of John Kerry supporters in Austin.

Barnes, who was House speaker when Mr. Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - - One poll last week had President Bush (news - web sites) leading Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) by 13 percentage points while another showed the candidates tied in the U.S election race. What is going on with public opinion polls?