Capitol Ill-Prepared For Bomb Attack

A future terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol is highly probable, and Congress’s specialized bomb squad is unlikely to be able to deal with it, according to internal U.S. Capitol Police documents obtained by The Hill. The unclassified internal letters and memos, written by Capitol Police captains, lieutenants, and sergeants between 2005 and 2007, detail more than three years of complaints to their superiors about the Hazardous Devices Unit’s lack of vehicles, its desire for more frequent training and the inadequate level of experience of bomb technicians within the specialty unit... Capitol Police is "fully prepared to carry out our daily mission to protect the legislative process, in addition to responding to critical incidents on a daily basis," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, Capitol Police spokeswoman. "We remain at a constant state of readiness." At the top of the elite unit’s concerns is its need for additional vehicles, particularly for off-duty members of the bomb squad who might be needed in the aftermath of an attack. For example, in the event of a coordinated simultaneous attack, a strategy that terrorist groups have used in recent years, bomb squad members returning to Capitol Hill could get stuck in traffic.

High-ranking government and military officials say UFOs are real

The United States is not alone when it comes to UFO sightings and evidence. Military and government officials, pilots and aviation specialists from around the globe are now coming forward with results of investigations documenting military and aviation encounters with UFOs. Beginning July 25th, the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) - the United State's largest and most respected UFO investigative organization - will host some of these experts presenting their remarkable discoveries. For the first time in the US, General Wilfried De Brouwer (Ret.) of the Belgium Air Force will report on his official investigation into a 'UFO wave' from 1989 to 1991. Evidence included one extraordinary, close-up photograph of a triangular object with four bright lights - perhaps the most striking and evidential picture of a UFO ever taken. Despite General De Brouwer's inquiries to the US military and NATO, no explanation for the origin or nature of the Belgium UFOs was found. Nick Pope, former officer responsible for the UK's Ministry of Defense UFO investigations, will make his first appearance here since the release of the official British UFO files, which made international headlines. Chilean Army Captain Rodrigo Bravo, working in cooperation with Chile's FAA, will report on current cases affecting aviation safety, and former senior NASA research scientist Richard Haines will reveal the results of three decades studying the potential adverse affects of unidentified aerial phenomena on aircraft.

Anthony Choy of Peru is bringing stunning videos of his research into UFOs conducted in 2001 - 2003 for the Peruvian Air Force. MUFON was created in 1969 to pursue the scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity through investigations, research, and education. It has become the largest civilian UFO investigation organization in the US with hundreds of certified investigators across the country actively researching UFO reports.

Neopaganism growing quickly

Give them that old-time religion — ancient religion — and then watch an exploding population of modern pagans give it contemporary twists. Their numbers roughly double about every 18 months in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Neopaganism, whether a careful reconstruction of ancient practice or a completely modern interpretation of ancient lore, is now among the country's fastest-growing religions. People, especially teens, are rejecting what they see as the "autocracy, paternalism, sexism, homophobia and insensitivity to the environment" of some more traditional religions, the Canadian group concludes. Denverite Jesse Walter describes himself as a recovering Irish Catholic, conservative Republican and Army reservist. He is also a druid who follows one of the most difficult traditions of his religion — taking his livelihood for at least a year and a day from a grove of trees. Walter, 33, who became a druid at age 18, first took a literal approach and bought land near the Wyoming state line where he could hunt. Then he and his wife, Kantis, who calls herself a generic pagan, were inspired to open a community center/coffee shop, Witches Brew, across the street from Berkeley Lake Park in north Denver.

Walter picks up litter and watches over the park. In a part of the grove sacred to him, he leaves spiritual offerings, sometimes a bottle of whiskey, to ward off wee-folk mischief. The park, for its part, provides a stream of patrons to support the coffee shop. The Walters' regular customers, however, come from Denver's vibrant and diverse neo pagan community. "It's my modern twist on druidry," Walter said. Druids were the priests of the ancient Celts. The essence of Walter's modern druid faith, he said, is that "people's perception of reality is what makes reality." He said he religiously avoids negative thoughts. Walter's friend, 28-year-old J.J. Steelman, teases him about his grove and remarks that no one really knows what ancient druids did. Steelman is also a druid. He was born into a family, he said, that "has never been Christian." "Being a pagan means I'm free," said Steelman, who roundly rejects Walter's rituals. Whether organized or disorganized, the pagan revival is stronger than ever since its blossoming in the 1960s hippie counterculture and its cross-pollination by the New Age movement in the 1980s.

The forms neopaganism takes are so varied, they almost defy description, said Carridwen Brennan, a 62-year-old Wiccan. There is no ultimate leader and no one sacred text, according to Carl McColman, author of several books on witchcraft and paganism. The Wiccans, one variety of witch and the largest single group of neopagans, took flight in the 1950s when the religion and craft were popularized by Englishman Gerald Gardner. The number of U.S. practitioners grew from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, according to the American Religious Identification Survey conducted by the City University of New York. The Ontario group and other researchers now estimate American Wiccans number between 750,000 and 1 million. "We don't really know the numbers," Brennan said. "Most witches and pagans are semi-closeted, or so deeply closeted because of prejudice we don't even know they're there." The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's 2007 survey found less than 0.4 percent of the U.S population to be practicing pagans. Even so, their numbers are quickly approaching those of U.S. Muslims, at 0.6 percent, and Buddhists, 0.7 percent.

In Colorado, Pew estimated the percentage of Wiccans, pagans, Unitarians and those espousing other New Age faiths to be about twice the national figure, which could mean a statewide neopagan figure in the tens of thousands. Brennan, a credentialed Wiccan minister with the Denver-based Alexandria Temple & Academy, sees a strong local trend in people self-identifying as generic pagan. Brennan said neopagans generally prefer to experience spirituality firsthand rather than adhere to authoritarian dogma. She describes a typical neopagan as having reverence for nature, seeing it as a manifestation of the divine. Many neopagans are polytheistic, worshiping gods and goddesses.

UFO sightings spark alien invasion fears

Alarmed UK citizens convinced they saw an armada of UFOs in the sky have flooded radio stations with their calls of distress. Hundreds of people witnessed strange orange orbs hover over Liverpool, north England, on Monday, British tabloid The Sun reports. The sightings prompted widespread speculation about the possiblity of an alien invasion. Former policeman Steve Rafferty, 50, and his daughter Emma, convinced they were having a close encounter, filmed the unexplained phenomena on a mobile phone. Another witness suggested the "alien craft" appeared to be scouting for a place to land, the newspaper reported. The sightings came as three soldiers reported seeing UFOs spinning over an army base in Shropshire, in the west of the country. The 13 flying objects were captured on film and are now reportedly being investigated by army officials.

Aids epidemic a 'global disaster'

The crisis fits the UN definition of a disaster as an event beyond the scope of any single society to cope with, says the IFRC. The IFRC's annual report on world disasters usually focuses on specific natural disasters such as earthquakes. The report says much of the money spent on Aids is not reaching those in need. This year, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is departing from tradition with its world disasters report, to focus on what it says is one of the most long term and complex problems facing the world: the HIV/Aids epidemic. By any standard, the epidemic is a global disaster: 25 million deaths, 33 million people living with HIV/Aids, 7,000 new infections every day. The IFRC finds the world's response wanting. There may be billions of dollars to spend on the fight against Aids, but the report warns that much of the money has not been targeted properly and is not reaching those most in need. "When the history of HIV and Aids is written I think the people will say that we just went for the easier options," says Dr Mukesh Kapila, the IFRC's special representative on HIV/Aids.

General education and general awareness have been done, he says, but people at risk such as sex workers and injecting drug users are difficult for many governments to tackle. Another area where the IFRC believes our response is lacking is in our approach to HIV/Aids during natural disaster or conflict. The risk factors for the disease may rise, while at the same time - in the rush to bring in emergency relief - the needs of HIV/Aids patients may be forgotten.

Military helicopter photographed pursuing UFO in Washington State

A High resolution image taken at a speed that freezes the rotor blades of the helicopter could not capture more than a blur of the UFO being pursued. James Gilliland's ECETI Ranch is the location where UFO enthusiasts gather to watch "lightships" at night and hyper velocity UFOs by day. Mr Gilliland is often ridiculed by the Billy Meier UFO group ( religion ) which appears to claim exclusive rights to authorized UFO encounters. Mr Gilliland said "These photographs were taken by guests with multiple eyewitnesses just a few of hundreds of photos and 70 hours of footage along with witnesses like triple PhD Boeing Engineers, Air Force Base Commanders, pilots like Pierre and Nigel as well as physicists from all walks of life." "This group is well known for attacking all other researchers, contactees, crop circle researchers and anyone outside of their camp. There are several total contradictions in their story, the contacts stopped in the late 70's according to his video and his sons testimony at the International UFO Congress and his Contact notes say there are over 7,000 people being contacted by his' "Advanced ETs" which seem to not always tell the truth" "As Billy Meier being the only contacted and prophet of, "Spirit Form"what they call God I find this totally ridiculous. Considering his history of being in prison, joining the foreign legion to get out, deserting, then bounty hunting, etc it seems God would have made a little better choice."

"His actions and the overwhelming evidence proves to the contrary. Not just the evidence here but around the world. Beware of anyone who says they have exclusive rights and connections to off world visitors and God." "I believe they did have contact, took some great photos and video but something went very wrong with this group. Maybe the exclusive keeps the members paying on a regular basis part of their income and not looking elsewhere?" The United States government knows something about the UFOs seen over Washington last week as it is the only entity that owns a black Chinook like the one trying to pursue the UFO. Is the UFO from earth, space, a black ops budget or another world ?

Christianity 'could die out within a century' in Britain

Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years' time. Although four in 10 people said they would choose to be a member of the Christian religion, almost the same number said they would rather practice no religion at all. Buddhism however, proved more attractive than both Islam and Judaism, and was chosen by nine per cent of those questioned. Aish UK's executive director Rabbi Naftali Schiff said the results of the YouGov poll of 2,000 people were alarming. "It clearly demonstrates that religion, including Judaism, is becoming unattractive to the British public. "At Aish we know that Judaism provides real meaning and enrichment to one's life. Whilst we have attracted many disinterested Jews back to Jewish identity it is clear there is much work to be done." Research published earlier this year suggested that church attendance is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation. According to Religious Trends, an analysis of religious practice in Britain, the huge drop off in attendance means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims is predicted to increase from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.

UK Soldier spots 13 UFOs above barracks

A soldier has reported seeing 13 unidentified flying objects in the sky while out on night patrol. Corporal Mark Proctor was one of three soldiers who saw the objects above his military barracks. He filmed the sighting, at Tern Hill barracks near Market Drayton, Shropshire, on his mobile phone and reported the sighting to Army officials. Cpl Proctor, 38, of the 1st Battalion of the Irish Regiment, saw the "craft" which he described as "rotating cubes" in the sky, just after 11pm on Saturday, June 7. "I was on duty in the guard room when the other boys outside began shouting. I went out to see what the commotion was about and could see thirteen craft in the skies," he said. "They were zig-zagging, but I filmed two before they disappeared. They were like rotating cubes with multiple colours. "I made a full report to my commanding officers and gave them my footage. The other lads were as amazed by it as I was." A 19-year-old private on patrol also saw the "fleet". "There were about 30 lights passing over for a few minutes, very high but not at a great speed. They were bright red. Another soldier saw them too," he said. The Ministry of Defence experts are studying Cpl Proctors mobile phone footage and have told the soldiers not to speak about the incident. MOD spokesperson said: “The MoD examines reports solely to establish whether UK airspace may have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised military activity. Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, there is no attempt to identify the nature of each sighting reported.” The sighting above the military barracks came two hours before helicopter police officers reported an encounter with a huge craft 80 miles away near Cardiff.

Mars Soil Sample Reveals Earthlike Nutrients

An experiment on the Phoenix Mars lander showed the dirt on the planet’s northern arctic plains to be alkaline, though not strongly alkaline, and full of the mineral nutrients that a plant would need. “We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future,” said Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University, who is leading the chemical analysis, during a telephone news conference on Thursday. “The sort of soil you have there is the type of soil you’d probably have in your backyard.” Mars today is cold and dry, and the surface is bombarded by ultraviolet radiation, making life unlikely, but conditions could have made the planet more habitable in the past. Plants that like alkaline soil — like asparagus — might readily grow in the Martian soil, provided that other components of an Earth-like environment including air and water were also present. The preliminary findings from Phoenix do not answer whether life ever existed on Mars (or might still exist somewhere underground), only that conditions, at least at this location, are not the harshest imaginable. The soil, taken close to the surface, was similar to what is found in parts of Antarctica, Dr. Kounaves said. The soil elsewhere on the planet could well be very different; even the soil farther down in the ground could turn out to be acidic or otherwise vary in composition.

The Phoenix is capable of performing the same chemical analysis on three more samples. In a different experiment, a tiny oven heated another sample of the Martian soil to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, which released water vapor. “This soil clearly has interacted with water in the past,” said William V. Boynton of the University of Arizona, the lead scientist in this experiment. Dr. Boynton said he could not say when the liquid water was present or even where it was. The moisture might have come from dust particles that had blown there from other parts of Mars. “At this point, it is difficult to quantify what was given off,” he said. The oven experiment also found carbon dioxide vapors, not surprising because the planet’s thin atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide. The data have not revealed any carbon-based compounds. The Phoenix mission is not directly looking for life on Mars, but rather whether conditions for habitability ever existed. In the wet chemistry experiment, water was mixed into the soil to produce Martian mud. Then the apparatus performed the same sorts of tests that gardeners use to test the condition of their soil.

The pH level was between 8 and 9, Dr. Kounaves said. The pH, or potential of hydrogen, reflects the concentration of hydrogen ions, or acidity, of a substance and usually varies between 0 and 14, with 7 considered neutral. (The water of Earth’s oceans, for comparison, has a pH of 8.2.) The experiment also found the presence of magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride ions in the soil. “There’s nothing about it that would preclude life,” Dr. Kounaves said. “In fact, it seems very friendly.”

Astronomers On Verge Of Finding Earth's Twin

Planet hunters say it's just a matter of time before they lasso Earth's twin, which almost surely is hiding somewhere in our star-studded galaxy. Momentum is building: Just last week, astronomers announced they had discovered three super-Earths — worlds more massive than ours but small enough to most likely be rocky — orbiting a single star. And dozens of other worlds suspected of having masses in that same range were found around other stars. "Being able to find three Earth-mass planets around a single star really makes the point that not only may many stars have one Earth, but they may very well have a couple of Earths," said Alan Boss, a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C.

Iran Strike In The Air As Military Chiefs Meet

The US military chief is to meet his Israeli counterpart in Tel Aviv this week in a move that gives new impetus to speculation about a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear capabilities. Tensions were further heightened by a suggestion from former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton that the US and Israel could attack Iraq's fledgling program between the time a new president was nominated in November and the date the incumbent, George W. Bush, left office in January. Mr Bolton's remarks signal the first time a regime figure from either country has been prepared to put a time frame on a mooted strike. They also mark a sharp escalation in Israeli-US rhetoric against the Islamic republic, which is refusing to bow to international demands that it stop its nuclear program, and its efforts to enrich uranium.

Terrorists Ready to Launch Satellite Strikes by 2020

The Defense Intelligence Agency believes that terrorists could be able to "disrupt" American satellites by 2020 -- and that states like China could have "robust destructive capabilities" in space around the same time. The question is, how good are the Pentagon's spies at figuring out our enemies' space programs, really? In a presentation obtained by DANGER ROOM, Randy Jones, the associate technical director of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Missile & Space Intelligence Center, warned that terror groups could use lasers, radio frequency jammers, and even nuclear weapons to knock out U.S. satellites.

Americans Now Say Their Faith Isn't the Only Way to Heaven

America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don't feel their religion is the only way to eternal life — even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise. The findings, revealed recently in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don't know fundamental teachings of their own faiths. Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching. In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view, and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion. "The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep," said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion. "There's a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having theological consequences," he said.

92 percent of Americans believe in God, 74 percent believe in life after death and 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God. But deeper investigation found that more than one in four Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants and Orthodox Christians expressed some doubts about God's existence, as did six in ten Jews. Another finding almost defies explanation: 21 percent of self-identified atheists said they believe in God or a universal spirit, with 8 percent "absolutely certain" of it. Some Christians hold strongly to Jesus' words as described in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Others emphasize the wideness of God's grace. More than most groups, Catholics break with their church, and not just on issues like abortion and homosexuality. Only six in 10 Catholics described God as "a person with whom people can have a relationship" — which the church teaches — while three in 10 described God as an "impersonal force."

Iran Supplying Taliban With Equipment

British special forces operating on the border between Afghanistan and Iran have uncovered fresh evidence that Tehran is actively backing insurgents fighting UK troops. Documented proof that Iran is supplying the Taliban with devastating roadside bomb-making equipment has been passed by British officials to Tehran, prompting fears that the war in Afghanistan may escalate into a regional armed conflict. Days after Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Britain would freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, Whitehall sources revealed that they had forwarded 'documentation' that the Iranian authorities were supplying enemy forces in Afghanistan.

UFO Sighting: 'Security Probe Needed'

A UFO expert says the latest reported sighting over a military base in Shropshire should be enough to prompt a formal inquiry into Britain's airspace security. Nick Pope, who used to work for the Ministry of Defence's UFO project, has viewed recent footage filmed by a soldier at the Tern Hill barracks and said "it's all getting very interesting". It follows a series of UFO sightings across Wales last week. In one incident, a police helicopter was forced to swerve sharply as it was apparently 'buzzed' by a strange craft. "This all started off with a near miss between an object and a police helicopter on June 8," Mr Pope said. "Now it's transpired that at the same time there were other UFO sightings being reported around the country. This lends weight to the fact that there does seem to be something odd going on in our airspace." Mr Pope said a formal inquiry should be launched by the MoD and the Civil Aviation Authority.

U.K. to Begin Microchipping Prisoners

The British government is developing a plan to track current and former prisoners by means of microchips implanted under the skin, drawing intense criticism from probation officers and civil rights groups. As a way to reduce prison crowding, many British prisoners are currently released under electronic monitoring, carried out by means of an ankle bracelet that transmits signals like those used by mobile phones. Now the Ministry of Justice is exploring the possibility of injecting prisoners in the back of the arm with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that contains information about their name, address and criminal record. Such chips, which contain a built-in antenna, could be scanned by special readers. The implantation of RFID chips in luggage, pets and livestock has become increasingly popular in recent years. In addition to monitoring incarcerated prisoners, the ministry hopes to use the chips on those who are on probation or other conditional release. By including a satellite uplink system in the chip, police would be able to use global positioning system (GPS) technology to track subjects' exact locations at all times. According to advocates of such a measure, this could help keep sex offenders away from "forbidden" zones like schools.

HAARP - Worldwide Increase Of Disasters

There has been a lot of speculation on the internet recently about whether HAARP is in some way connected to the recent earthquake in China (and possibly other events). Photos of strange clouds (with rainbow colors) have been sighted shortly before the earthquake occurred. Whilst these clouds (called parhelion or Sun-Dogs) could easily be created by natural conditions, we can´t rule out the possibility that a man-made effect could have played some part in their appearance as well. The colors we see in a Rainbow are created by White light passing through a prism, which distorts the light to create the beautiful image we are all familiar with. A prism is usually triangular, with two refracting surfaces set at an acute angle to each other. A Rainbow occurs when the Sun is lower than 42 degrees, whereas a parhelion occurs at 22 degrees on each side of the Sun (and at the same elevation as the Sun). Vedette - Fighting for our FreedomHAARP creates High Frequency waves that are extremely powerful (an adaptation of an invention by Tesla) and most experts believe that HAARP can indeed produce enough energy to cause an earthquake (among other things). Is it possible that the High Frequency waves from HAARP produce a kind of prism as it hits the Earth´s surface?

The following extract, regarding colors and light might be of interest: "Newton had discovered that color comes from plucking this rainbow of light. But what is light? The modern answer to that question came two centuries after Newton, when Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell declared that light is a vibrating field of electrical and magnetic energy: an electromagnetic field passing through empty space like a wave traveling across the sea. The frequency of the vibrations increases from the red to the violet end of the spectrum, thus determining the perceived color of the light. The wavelength of these light waves gets shorter as the frequency gets higher. But not all color is generated this way. The rainbow's variegated arc results from refraction, the bending of lights rays as they pass from one medium to another (in this case, from air to the water in raindrops). Another physical color-producing process is scattering: the dispersal of light in all directions by particles in the atmosphere that are about as big as a single wavelength. Light scattering is what makes the sky blue. Rays from the sun are scattered by atmospheric dust, sending the light bouncing in all directions. These dust particles scatter more high-frequency light than low-frequency light, so blue light bounces around in the atmosphere and reaches our eyes from all parts of the sky."

Is light affected by the High Frequency waves of HAARP? Apart from the ability to create earthquakes, it is believed that HAARP can also affect the weather (make storms much stronger) and take down missiles. But what is the real purpose behind this invention? Is it some deadly new weapon? Let´s assume for a moment that its main purpose is that of a military weapon, at least one person claims that an earlier earthquake in Japan was the result of HAARP. Without more information or proof, we can only speculate. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that we are already witnessing a war, a war that does not involve conventional weapons, but a device that creates "natural" disasters that can be equally devastating. There are of course many dangers to using such a device. The first obviously is what happens when the other side obtains the same capabilities? The second, which is less predictable, is what side effects can we expect? Creating earthquakes involves "shaking" tectonic plates so that they move (which is what causes the damage), but the movement of one plate can potentially affect others, and this could cause a domino effect (producing earthquakes in other parts of the world).

Is the U.S. deporting Christian pastors ?

U.S. immigration authorities have stepped up deportations, but rather than pursue illegal aliens, they have chosen to evict America's church ministers from the country instead. Honesty could cost Christian pastor Keith Thomas his citizenship because he cooperated with immigration officials, disclosing two minor marijuana convictions he incurred when he was a young man in England 33 years ago. Thomas, 53, is working without pay, fearing deportation from the U.S. and separation from his family. He was denied a green card based on convictions that were expunged in 1982. "They've let 12 million illegals into the country, yet somebody has been doing some good, paying taxes, came in legally and has been married to an American for 27 years and has two American kids, and they're going to kick him out?" Thomas asked. "I told the truth. Nobody called me out on my past. If I had not even owned up to my record, the government would not have been able to find any of it."
Thomas became a Christian in 1977, two years after his last marijuana conviction, and served as a senior pastor in England for several years. His wife became homesick in 1990, and he decided to apply for U.S. residency again. The second time, Thomas received a pastor's religious work visa that lasted five years. He accepted a position as a pastor at the 8,000-member Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thomas said he cannot understand why immigration authorities will not set a date for him to appear before an immigration judge, though he speculates it could be a form of religious discrimination against people in the Christian ministry.

Immigration authorities have also marked a Catholic priest for deportation to Ireland on July 1 after documentation errors left the 58-year-old missionary without paperwork he needed to remain in De Smet, S.D. Cathal Gallagher arrived in South Dakota from Ireland 10 years ago and has since become a respected figure in his community. Now the state's top elected officials and parishioners are pleading with immigration authorities to reopen his case and allow him to remain in the country, the Argus Leader reported. "I wouldn't want to stay in this country if you haven't blessed me with the right to be in this country," Gallagher told his home church in De Smet. "I won't be here as an illegal."

Terror Crisis Could Actually Help Obama

The belief that terrorism is an issue that favors the Republican Party has been a given of the current presidential campaign, with both Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney warningthat a Democratic president would leave America at risk for another 9/11. Even Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton told voters last year, “If certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again, no matter how badly they have mishandled it.” A few pundits, however, are starting to raise doubts about this conventional wisdom. For example, MSNBC political researcher Domenico Montanaro suggests that much would depend on the cause of any national security crisis. Montanaro writes, “There’s been chatter among some Democrats that the big fear Obama aides have is just what Black spoke about — some sort of national security crisis popping up in October. … That said, what the impact of a national security crisis in October is unknown for this reason: It depends on who initiates it. If it’s an outside force, then Black’s probably right. But if it’s something that President Bush sparks, then Obama could benefit.” At The New Republic, senior editor Michael Crowley offers a couple of other ways in which an attack could work to Obama’s advantage. “Do we assume it’s true that a big attack would help McCain? I think a lot depends on the particulars. Another failure of the homeland-security bureaucracy would further discredit Republicans. An attack clearly linked to anger over the Iraq war could also hurt”

Alien Life-Seekers Have New Reason To Hope

Eager to identify other candidate Gaias, astronomers have high hopes for the Kepler spacecraft to be launched in February. Kepler will take a different approach in its planetary scan, Dr. Seager said, searching not for stellar wobbles but for “tiny drops in brightness,” possible signs of a planet transiting across the distant Sun’s face. Kepler will track 100,000 stars for four years, enough to detect the occasional crossing of any planets with leisurely orbits like ours. “It will be akin to the great age of exploration, the explorers of the 16th century,” Dr. Shostak said. “We will nail down what fraction of stars have planets,” and more important, “what fraction of those planets are small, terrestrial planets.” With that comprehensive planetary atlas in hand, we can pick out the places most worthy of follow-up probes: planets that are relatively close, and closest in kind to the one we know best. We can look for rocky planets that follow stable paths, and are laced with clouds of water vapor that hint at liquid oceans below, and, can it be, atmospheric oxygen, the voice of a biosphere. “Oxygen is so reactive that it shouldn’t be in the atmosphere unless it’s being produced by something like photosynthesis,” Dr. Seager said. “It’s a huge indicator of life.”

Researchers Confirm: ETs = Demons

A general consensus has emerged among serious, science oriented UFO researchers that some UFOs are real and are not figments of anyone's imagination. Furthermore, it is well known that many individuals claim to receive messages from alleged extra-terrestials aboard UFOs. The messages received from UFOs are generally occultic and steer people away from belief in Christian doctrine. Extra-terrestials tend to undermine or attack the Christian faith. After all the UFO sightings have been carefully analyzed and most explained away as natural phenomena the remaining UFOs, called residual UFOs (RUFOs) are regarded as real. They are real yet the leading researchers say they are not metallic spacecraft from distant stars or planets. Astronomers who have devoted their careers to studying UFOs point to the fact that UFO flight patterns defy the laws of physics such as turning and accelerating so fast that any metal spaceship would disintegrate even if the metal spaceship was a solid iron ball. Furthermore, UFOs are seen in the atmosphere and not observed coming in from outer space. UFO sightings have been reported throughout history. Ancient literature describes 'aerial people' and 'cloud ships' in terms that correspond to modern UFO sightings. In 1691 a Scottish minister wrote a book describing how Scottish farmers were harassed by paranormal entities similar to the UFOs of our time. All of us are aware of the many UFO cults that have sprung up. There have even been television specials devoted to UFO phenomena.

Close encounters of the fourth kind are when people (almost invariably occultists and New Agers) are actually abducted and communicate with the aliens. The aliens generally give messages with deep religious impact that steer people away from Christianity. Let's consider the following quote: "For example, 'The Urantia Book,' a tome supposedly communicated to humans by spirit dictation from 'superuniverse rulers,' spends the first two-thirds of its 2,097 pages describing a 'universe of universes' that is not subject to space and time" The quote continues: "The last third of this UFO bible denies the full deity of Jesus Christ and humanity's need for salvation from its sinful condition." (Quoted from Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestials by Ross, Samples and Clark p. 122.) It seems plain from the above quote and from abundant other evidence that the aliens oppose Christian doctrine. This leads me to believe that the aliens are actually demons. It is also very interesting and revealing to note that many of the best UFO researchers seem to be coming around to a view that undergirds and supports the Christian view that demons are involved.

Astronomer J. Alan Hynek and the late French physicist Jacques Vallee are perhaps the most respected UFO researchers in the world. Both are agnostics. No one can consider them Christians with a theological ax to grind. Both men have made what I consider to be very bold statements that clearly undergird the Christian position that spiritual entities are behind UFO phenomena. For example, Hynek said that UFOs cause physical effects "in the same way that a poltergeist can produce very real physical effects." Vallee said "The UFO phenomenon represents evidence for other dimensions beyond spacetime . . . It is a spiritual system that acts on humans and uses humans." Many prominent born-again Christian scholars such as David Allen Lewis have done research on UFO phenomena. It seems clear to them that demons are using UFOs to deceive millions and prepare them to embrace an occultic, 'New Age' type of faith. Some say that UFOs and the teachings that proceed from them are preparing the world to receive the coming antichrist.

Many Dutch prepare for 2012 apocalypse

Thousands of people in the Netherlands say they expect the world to end in 2012, and many say they are taking precautions to prepare for the apocalypse. The Dutch-language de Volkskrant newspaper said it spoke to thousands of believers in the impending end of civilization, and while theories on the supposed catastrophe varied, most tied the 2012 date to the end of the Mayan calendar. De Volkskrant said many of those interviewed are stocking up on emergency supplies, including life rafts and other equipment. Some who spoke to the newspaper were optimistic about the end of civilization. "You know, maybe it's really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed," Petra Faile said. "I don't like it here anymore. Take immigration, for example. They keep letting people in. And then we have to build more houses, which makes the Netherlands even heavier. The country will sink even lower, which will make the flooding worse."

Doomsday Under Discussion

The world's largest particle collider is designed to do its job largely under the surface - and that under-the-surface status also applies to much of the progress in the legal case challenging whether the collider should actually be allowed to do its job. Take today's seven-minute-long conference in Hawaii's U.S. District Court, for example: The meeting set up the schedule for a federal trial, due to begin a year from today, on a suit seeking to hold up operations at Europe's Large Hadron Collider while officials answer claims that the machine could create world-gobbling black holes or other monsters. Under the surface, both sides are aiming to get what they want long before June 16, 2009. The suit's plaintiffs, Luis Sancho and Walter Wagner, hope to get the court to agree to their claims at yet another hearing expected to take place this summer. The defendants, representing the U.S. Department of Energy and other federal agencies, hope to get the suit dismissed. The plaintiffs as well as the defendants telegraphed their plans in documents that were filed leading up to today's scheduling conference. We've already discussed how Sancho and Wagner see it: They say the LHC's operators haven't adequately addressed their claims that the LHC could produce those black holes, or other exotic phenomena known as strangelets or magnetic monopoles.

Iran Could Make Nuke In 6 Months

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Iran could create a nuclear weapon in six months. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei spoke on Al-Arabiya television on June 20, discussing Iran's nuclear program, and the potential for the Middle Eastern country to produce a nuclear weapon. "If Iran wants to turn to the production of nuclear weapons, it must leave the NPT, expel the IAEA inspectors, and then it would need at least, considering the number of centrifuges and the quantity of uranium Iran has...It would need at least six months to one year," ElBaradei said.

School District to Begin Microchipping Students

A Rhode Island school district has announced a pilot program to monitor student movements by means of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips implanted in their schoolbags. The Middletown School District, in partnership with MAP Information Technology Corp., has launched a pilot program to implant RFID chips into the schoolbags of 80 children at the Aquidneck School. Each chip would be programmed with a student identification number, and would be read by an external device installed in one of two school buses. The buses would also be fitted with global positioning system (GPS) devices. Parents or school officials could log onto a school web site to see whether and when specific children had entered or exited which bus, and to look up the bus's current location as provided by the GPS device. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized the plan as an invasion of children's privacy and a potential risk to their safety. "There's absolutely no need to be tagging children," said Stephen Brown, executive director of the ACLU's Rhode Island chapter. According to Brown, the school district should already know where its students are.
"[This program is] a solution in search of a problem," Brown said.

The school district says that its current plan is no different than other programs already in place for parents to monitor their children's school experience. For example, parents can already check on their children's attendance records and what they have for lunch, said district Superintendent Rosemary Kraeger. Brown disputed this argument. The school is perfectly entitled to track its buses, he said, but "it's a quantitative leap to monitor children themselves." He raised the question of whether unauthorized individuals could use easily available RFID readers to find out students' private information and monitor their movements. Because the pilot program is being provided to the school district at no cost, it did not require approval from the Rhode Island ethics commission.

Floods, Tornadoes, Locusts - What's Next

In the beginning, God created heaven and Earth, and he saw that it was good. So begins the Book of Genesis, the dramatic opener of the Old Testament. But things went downhill from there. God's wrath seems at work these days, as the heavens and Earth have unleashed earthquakes in China, a cyclone in Burma, killer tornadoes and record floods across the U.S. and even a plague of locusts (cicadas) in New England. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa today, floodwaters forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 100 city blocks were underwater. "We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said this week as record floods hit the Midwest. "We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding."

By the final Book of Revelation in the New Testament, the Earth suffers "Seven Plagues" -- from disease to "intense heat" and drought, then finally a shower of deadly hailstones. And then comes the Apocalypse, the final judgment of man and destruction of the world by fire. Biblical imagery is all over the news these days — even including a story last week of a New York baby being enwrapped by a snake in its crib, harking back to evil lurking in the Garden of Eden. Though tsunamis, hurricanes and heat waves may not be punishment from God, history teaches that events in the physical world trigger upheaval in society. Civilizations have risen and fallen over drought, famine and water wars. "Only wild-eyed fundamentalists would think that recent weather phenomena have any theological significance," said John P. Meier, a New Testament scholar and professor at Notre Dame in Indiana. "The Earth has seen and will see much worse in recorded history."

Jurassic Park To Come True

Deep inside the dusty university store room, three scientists struggle to lift a huge fossilised bone. It is from the leg of a dinosaur. For many years, this chunky specimen has languished cryptically on a shelf. Interesting but useless — a forgotten relic of a lost age. Now, with hammer and chisel poised, the academics from Montana State University in America gather round. They are about to shatter this rare vestige of the past. Why would they do such a thing? The answer is that they believe that this single fragment of a beast which stalked the earth untold millions of years ago could hold the key which will unlock the secrets of the dinosaurs. Extraordinarily, they contend that it could lead to a real life Jurassic Park, where dinosaurs are once again unleashed on the world by scientists. For just like in the hit Steven Spielberg movie, these men and women are intent on cracking the genetic code of the dinosaurs and opening the possibility of bringing them back to life. Their remarkable quest was recently revealed in a TV documentary, Dinosaurs: Return To Life.

It poses the question: will scientists ever be able to resurrect the dinosaur? According to Jack Horner, professor of palaeontology at Montana State University, the answer is an unequivocal yes. He says: ‘Of course we can bring them back to life. Their ancestral DNA is still present. 'The science is there. I don’t think there are any barriers, other than the philosophical.’ So just how have these scientists arrived at the point where they believe they might unleash the mysteries of a prehistoric lost world? In order to understand their journey, we have to travel back a little less time — to 1992. This was when Raul Cano, professor of microbiology at California Polytechnic State University, made the first attempt to extract DNA from insects almost as old as the dinosaurs that had been embedded in amber, a sticky tree sap which hardens into transparent orange stone.

UFO mystery deepens with more sightings

Southampton's UFO mystery continued as yet more evidence emerged of weird triangle and cubeshaped objects stalking our skies. Since the Daily Echo reported on the mystery recently, another three readers have come forward with footage and photographs of UFOs hovering above Shirley and Millbrook. The latest footage was captured by Dilys Bartlett and her family as they sat in the backyard of their Shirley home on Sunday, June 1. "We looked up into the sky and there it was - a black triangle," "It did not seem to be moving left or right, it just drifted up into the clouds before disappearing." Mrs Bartlett said she had no idea what the mystery object was, but said it could not be a kite as there was absolutely no wind that day. Another reader, Leonard Cattley, spotted a similar UFO on the same day and said: "It was hovering for at least 15 minutes so we got a very good look at it, if it was a kite it would have been huge.

"It looked very much like a hovering stealth fighter but it made no noise, having worked at Heathrow Airport and lived at Farnborough in my time, I am no stranger to aircraft but this object looked liked nothing I have seen before." A strikingly similar UFO was photographed by reader Rob Baker from his backyard in Regent's Park three weeks ago. "We were out in the garden when my oldest son pointed it out. It was a long way away so I got my camera out to zoom in on it," he said. "From the zoomed image it looks like a powered hang glider. It was more of a square shape than a triangle and there was a dull humming sound, but I cannot be sure that wasn't coming from the road." The X-Files-style mystery has left UFO enthusiasts baffled and an investigation was even launched by Southampton Airport after a worried member of the public alerted bosses.

Brain scans to find the soul

The doctor asks the nun to begin her centering prayer. It's a Catholic method of prayer, goes back to the 14th century, a form of deep meditation. The nun sits straight, in silence. She closes her eyes and focuses on a sacred word, or small prayer. She "rests in God." A catheter dangles from her arm. After 45 minutes, the doctor injects her with a radioactive tracer. He lets her pray 10 more minutes as the tracer in her bloodstream wends its way through her brain. Then he leads the nun into his lab, has her lie down, and scans her brain. He's using a process called single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT. It's a common technique in nuclear medicine, used to photograph the brains of patients suffering anything from seizures to brain trauma to heart disease to Alzheimer's. The nun isn't sick. She's "on God." She's a person of faith donating the use of her brain to a scientist — Dr. Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania. Amid today's ideological struggles between people of faith and science, that kind of collaboration sounds heretical.

But Newberg is among a small group of doctors and scientists on a different track. They do not find science and faith incompatible. They are using sophisticated technology to hunt down and map the soul. Newberg, a professor of radiology and psychiatry, is not religious. He's Jewish by birth, but Judaism isn't a big part of his life. If a dying patient asked him to pray beside him, he'd do it. But he wouldn't lead the prayer. When his 8-year-old daughter asks him about God, he answers her with a question: "What do you think?" But he has searched for spirituality in the brain for almost 20 years. He has probed the brains of praying nuns, meditating Buddhist monks, and Pentecostals as they speak in tongues.

U.S. to guarantee Israel's capital to Palestinians?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently pledged to study a Palestinian proposal for the U.S. to guarantee eastern sections of Jerusalem will become part of a future Palestinian state. "Rice was in total solidarity with us on the issue of stopping Israeli building in (eastern) Jerusalem," a senior Palestinian Authority official said. The official said Rice promised to "seriously" look into the offering of a formal U.S. letter guaranteeing that new Israeli construction in eastern Jerusalem would be disregarded and that the areas of construction would be included in the final borders of a Palestinian state. While Rice met with Israeli and Palestinian officials, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski announced the approval of 40,000 new residential units in various Jewish neighborhoods, including about 1,300 new units in eastern Jerusalem. Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods. Many reside in illegally constructed complexes on property owned by the Jewish National Fund, a Jewish nonprofit that purchases land for the purported goal of Jewish settlement. Jerusalem has an estimated total population of 724,000. Rice strongly lashed out against the new Israeli construction projects planned for eastern Jerusalem. "We should be in a position of encouraging confidence, not undermining it. No party should be taking steps at this point that could prejudice the outcome of the negotiation," Rice said following meetings with Palestinian officials. She said Israeli construction in eastern Jerusalem is having a "negative effect."

Christian Theologians Preparing for ET

Since God created the universe, theologians say, he would have created aliens, too. And far from being weakened by contact, Christianity would adapt. Its doctrines would be interpreted anew, the aliens greeted with open -- and not necessarily Bible-bearing -- arms. "The main question is, 'Would religion survive this contact?'" said NASA chief historian Steven J. Dick, author of The Biological Universe. "Religion hasn't gone away after Copernican theory, after Darwin. They've found ways to adapt, and they'll find a way if this happens, too," Dick says. The central conundrum posed to Christianity by alien contact would involve the Incarnation -- the arrival of Jesus Christ as God's representative on Earth, his crucifixion and the absolution of humanity's sins through his forgiveness. "It would still be true -- but if there are other races and intelligences, then what is the meaning of this visit to our race at that time?" asked Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno, who in 2005 penned the booklet Intelligent Life in the Universe? Some propose that the Earthly incarnation of Jesus some 2,000 years ago redeemed all intelligent creatures, in all places and -- since a space-faring race is likely older than us -- in all times. Others have suggested that Jesus could take multiple forms.

Genetically Manufacturing Monsters

Conservative Christians are concerned with such ramifications as well, not only because the plagues released through transgenic research could be of Biblical proportions, but because such technology is an affront to "the divine order." Cloning and transgenics may move forward despite bad publicity, but when such sciences involve 'enhancing the human species,' the Bible has something to say. The Bible tells us that God requires humans, animals, and plants to reproduce "after their own kind." Biblically speaking, species integrity, including the idea of male and female, is required by God. Transgenics not only violates this order but opens a Pandora's box to a molecular biological nightmare.

Christians want 'One World' Church

The view that many nonbelievers hold of the Church is not very high and many describe the Church as divided rather than united, as one innovative pastor found. "We're not doing a very good job, are we?" Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, told church attendants. With churches competing for larger attendance numbers, fighting over worship style, and a growing number of denominations around the world, Groeschel believes the divisions among Christians is breaking the heart of God. "I wonder if God ever looks at all of His churches, all the Christian churches all over the world, and asks, 'Why can't you guys come together? Why are you so divided when my Son Jesus prayed 'Father, make them one,''" said Groeschel, who leads a fast-growing multi-site church with campuses now in six states and on the Internet. Early this month, the Life Church pastor launched a month-long series called "One Prayer," partnering with over 1,400 churches from across the globe in what participants are calling an unprecedented and historic event. The hundreds of churches and their over 800,000 attendants are simultaneously running the series on the premise "If God would answer 'one prayer' for the church at large, what would you pray?" After preaching the first Sunday of the month, pastors are showing sermons from other participating pastors via video, each preaching on what their one prayer is.

Groeschel's one prayer – "make us one." "What if we as churches across the world became the answer to his prayer when Jesus prayed 'Father, make them one,'" he challenged attendants. The series was born more out of repentance than a passion for unity, Groeschel explained. It was his desire not to be competitive against other believers and to instead be united. Unity begins with recognizing "one enemy" – Satan, and not the church down the street or in another denomination, the lead pastor said. Having one heart and one purpose will also help unite Christians. "What would happen if we the Church across the world united and took all the resources that God has given us?" he asked. Within a week, he demonstrated, starvation could be eliminated, every person could have access to drinking water, poverty could be eradicated, and the world "could not only know the name of Jesus, but they could see him if we became one."

On Sundays, the world would worship like never before as they have come to know the glory, power and love of Jesus through his followers, Groeschel highlighted. LifeChurch.tv is also showing sermons this month from Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel, Perry Nobel of NewSpring Church, and Ed Young of Fellowship Church. Young's one prayer for the church is to engage, particularly in the reality of heaven and hell. "For a long time, the Church talked too much and too often about hell," Young said in his One Prayer sermon. Now, "the pendulum has swung too far to the other side" and churches are preaching pop psychology rather than the Gospel, he says. "I think the Church has ... done disservice in today's world by not talking about hell enough," he said. When believers engage eternity and begin to see others as eternal beings, it changes everything they do. "If there's a hell ... we better leverage everything to touch people for Jesus Christ," Young preached. "It should be hard to go to hell because of Church."

Norway okays homosexual marriages

Norway has become the sixth country in the world to give homosexuals the legal right to "marry," with all the benefits previously given only to heterosexual couples. The new "marriage" law also allows homosexuals to adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated. Norwegian television reported that Labour party member Gunn Karin Gjul said, "This decision is of an importance comparable to universal suffrage and our law on parity." Norway began allowing same-sex civil unions in the 1990s and since then its heterosexual-marriage rates have plummeted and its out-of-wedlock birthrate skyrocketed to 80 percent for firstborn children; but the provision allowing homosexuals to adopt children is of gravest concern. In 2006, Ireland's highest court rejected a lesbian couple's demand to have their Canadian "marriage" recognized in Ireland, citing harm to children as one of the determining factors in the ruling.

Justice Elizabeth Dunne expressed concern about the effect of same-sex marriage on children, saying the lack of conclusive research into the results of homosexual parenting made it necessary to reserve judgment on the issue. "There is simply not enough evidence from the research done to date that could allow firm conclusions to be drawn as to the consequences of same-sex marriage particularly in the area of the welfare of children."

Homeland Security and School Threats

The head of the state Homeland Security Commission puts schools as the number one terrorist target to protect in the state. He follows that closely by the Las Vegas mega-casinos. The information came out of the state Homeland Security Commission meeting today. It's a little surprising to hear that schools top the list. When you think of Las Vegas, the Strip is the first thing that comes to mind. When you break it down, Doctor Dale Carrison says domestic terrorism is more likely to happen here than foreign terrorism. He says domestic terrorists would target schools. "There has been more domestic terrorism than there has been foreign. 9/11 brought the foreign terrorism home," he said.

Unified Regulation Of Global Banking

Banks and investment banks whose health is crucial to the global financial system should operate under a unified regulatory framework with “appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity”, according to Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Writing in the Financial Times, Mr Geithner, a key US policymaker throughout the credit crisis and one of the main architects of the rescue of Bear Stearns, says that the US Federal Reserve should play a “central role” in the new regulatory framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and round the world. Meanwhile, Malcolm Knight, the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements, the Basel-based central banking group, told the FT that the financial system now faces a growing risk of exchange-rate volatility as investors and central banks grapple with the impact of rising commodity prices and other inflationary pressures. “It is not clear if the rest of the world is going to continue to fund the US current account deficit at current levels of exchange rates,” he said. “The pattern of the exchange rates is subject to considerable uncertainty now.” The comments are likely to be closely watched by investors and policymakers, since they come at a time of renewed market focus on the outlook for the dollar relative to the euro and other currencies. Last week, Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, broke with the US central bank’s traditional silence on currency matters to make clear that it does not want any further dollar weakness. While the dollar rallied on Mr Bernanke’s remarks, it retreated later in the week after European Central bank comments suggested an interest rate rise and as the price of crude oil soared, heightening inflation fears.

Why is NASA Investigating a Canadian Lake?

Pavilion Lake in Marble Canyon, British Columbia, is considered a “spiritual place” by the native Tskwaylaxw people of Pavilion. Overlooking the lake is a limestone formation that they believe is a “Transformer Stone” meaning that in First Nations legend it was created by the actions of the “Transformers”, a group of supernatural beings who traveled around the country putting things to right by changing things into stone. They call the formation “K'lpalekw”, which means in their tongue of Secwepemc'tsn "Coyote's P---s". The lake, the canyon and this structure all have special spiritual significance to the nearby native communities, but NASA isn’t interested in the spiritually of the place, they believe that what lies under the lake could help answer the question of the origins of life itself. At first glance, the remote lake and the surrounding landscape is not a place where you’d expect to find anything NASA would be interested in, but they’ve been studying the area for over a decade now. What is it they are after?

Greg Slater, an environmental geochemist in the Faculty of Science at McMaster University, is a part of the latest exploration effort at the lake. He says the objects of interest are far down below the surface. Unique carbonate rock structures, known as microbialites are are covered with microbes. These mysterious long, red fingers stand like sentinels at the bottom of the mysteriously deep Pavilion Lake, B.C. Are they life forms? An international team of researchers that includes NASA astronauts and a multi-disciplinary team of other scientists, want to answer that question, and by doing so they hope to unlock secrets useful for the search for life on Mars. The unique growths are home to a thriving population of various kinds of bacteria. The researchers are trying to determine whether bacteria built the structures, and if so, how. How are single-celled organism able to build impressively sized structures, and could single-celled organisms be doing the same thing on other planets as well?

"Are they the result of biological or geological processes? Why are there different microbes living on them and how long have these microbial communities been preserved? These are some of our big questions," says Slater, part of an international team researching these strange specimens. This has been an ongoing mystery for scientists. They didn’t know what they were when they were first discovered in 1997, and they still don’t know exactly what they are and how they formed. "These unique and rare microbialite formations are important to NASA's astrobiology effort because they are big, macroscopic evidence of microscopic life," said Dr. Chris McKay, a scientist with the NASA Astrobiology Institute said back in 1998 when NASA first started exploring the lake. "They are helping us understand one of the big astrobiology questions how early life took hold and began to flourish on Earth. These fossils are like seeing a billion-year-old footprint in the sand and comparing it to a modern human foot.”

Bush Hints At Attacking Iran

President Bush recently raised the possibility of a military strike to thwart Tehran's presumed nuclear-weapons ambitions, speaking aggressively even as he admitted having been unwise to have done so previously about Iraq. Bush's host in two days of meetings at a baroque castle, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made clear her views on the saber-rattling without directly countering her guest. "I very clearly pin my hopes on diplomatic efforts," Merkel said, reflecting the deeply held European opinion that military action against Iran is nearly unthinkable. Merkel joined Bush in urging further sanctions against Iran if it fails to suspend its uranium-enrichment program.

Will Aliens Destroy Earthly Religion?

If mankind finds intelligent extraterrestrial life, what will happen to the world's religions? Prompted by Vatican chief astronomer Gabriel Funes' recent observation that aliens and God are not incompatible, I'm currently researching the topic for a Wired article. Later today I'll speak with Tom Peters, a Graduate Theological Union professor and co-editor of the journal Theology and Science. Peters is currently conducting a survey of public opinion on aliens and religion! And if the subject piques your interest, I recommend some other documents that my reporting has turned up: NASA's final report from its Workshop on the Societal Implications of Astrobiology, SETI research Douglas Vakoch's "Roman Catholic Views of Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Anticipating the Future by Examining the Past," the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences' “Reconsidering the Theological and Ethical Implications of Extraterrestrial Life,” excerpts from NASA historian Steven J. Dick's superb The Biological Universe and an excellent bibliography, "Theology, Religion and Artificial Intelligence." A few quick observations: Christians, and the Catholic church in particular, have given quite a bit of thought to this; of people predicting that extraterrestrial contact would destroy Earthly religions, nearly all are atheists; there's broad consensus among theologians that Christianity would adapt to contact, though opinion about the nature of that adaptation varies.

Bilderberg Agenda: Microchip Americans

Sources from inside the 2008 Bilderberg meeting have leaked the details of what elitists were discussing in Chantilly Virginia last week and the talking points were ominous - a plan to microchip Americans under the pretext of fighting terrorist groups which will be identified as blonde haired, blue eyed westerners. Veteran Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker relies on sources who regularly attend Bilderberg as aides and assistants but who are not Bilderberg members themselves. The information they provided this year is bone-chilling for those who have tracked the development of the plan to make the general public consider implanted microchips as a convenience as routine as credit cards. "Under the heading of resisting terrorism there were points made about how the terrorist organizations are recruiting people who do not look like terrorists - blonde, blue eyed boys - they're searching hard for those types to become the new mad bombers," said Tucker. As we have documented, the blue eyed blonde haired Al-Qaeda line is a familiar talking point that has been pushed on Fox News and within other Neo-Con circles in an attempt to turn the anti-terror apparatus around to target dissidents, protesters and the American people in general.

Ominously, Tucker's source also told him that Bilderberg were discussing the microchipping of humans on a mass scale, which would be introduced under the pretext of fighting terrorism whereby the "good guys" would be allowed to travel freely from airports so long as their microchip could be scanned and the information stored in a database. Tucker said the idea was also sold on the basis that it would help hospital staff treat a patient in an emergency situation because a scan of the chip would provide instantaneous access to health details. Tucker underscored that Bilderberg were talking about subdermally implanted chips and not merely RFID chips contained in clothing. The discussion took place in a main conference hall and was part of the agenda, not an off-hand remark in the hotel bar.

Such a bizarre concept may seem unbelievable to some, but over the last ten years there have been dozens of examples of people accepting implanted chips for a variety of different reasons. In 2004, Mexico's attorney general and 160 of his office staff were implanted with tracker chips to control access to to secure areas of their headquarters. The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona and other nightclubs around the world are already offering implantable chips to customers who want to pay for drinks with the wave of a hand and also get access to VIP areas of the club lounge.

Military Supercomputer Sets Record

An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. The new machine is more than twice as fast as the previous fastest supercomputer, the IBM BlueGene/L, which is based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The new $133 million supercomputer, called Roadrunner in a reference to the state bird of New Mexico, was devised and built by engineers and scientists at IBM and Los Alamos National Laboratory, based in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It will be used principally to solve classified military problems to ensure that the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons will continue to work correctly as they age. The Roadrunner will simulate the behavior of the weapons in the first fraction of a second during an explosion.

Demons Possess many politicians

In an interview with the magazine “Maria Mensajera,” famous Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth said, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan” and that “the devil loves to take over those who hold political office.” The Spanish daily “La Razon” published the interview in an article by Alexander Smoltczyk in which the 82 year-old priest describes what happens in an exorcism. “Evil exists in politics, quite often in fact,” Father Amorth said. “The devil loves to take over business leaders and those who hold political office. Hitler and Stalin were possessed. How do I know? Because they killed millions of people. The Gospel says: ‘By their fruits you will know them.’ Unfortunately, an exorcism on them would not have been enough, since they were convinced of what they were doing. We can’t say it was a possession in the strict sense of the word, but rather a total and voluntary acceptance of the suggestions of the devil.” “I tell those who come to see me to first go to a doctor or a psychologist,” the priest continued. “Most of the time there is a physical or psychological basis for explaining their suffering. The psychiatrists send me the incurable cases. There is no rivalry. The psychiatrist determines if it is an illness, the exorcist if it is a curse,” Father Amorth explained. Nobody, he went on, not even himself, is “safe from the devil. Everyone is vulnerable.”

“The devil is very intelligent. He retains the intelligence of the angel that he was.” “Suppose, for example, that someone you work with is envious of you and casts a spell on you. You would get sick. 90 percent of the cases that I deal with are precisely spells. The rest are due to membership in satanic sects or participation in séances or magic. If you live in harmony with God, it is much more difficult for the devil to possess you,” Father Amorth stated. “The Pope supports exorcists,” he explained, but “satanic sects are proliferating,” and for this reason Father Amorth said his calendar for the next two months is full. “I work seven days a week, from morning until night, including Christmas Eve and Holy Week,” he said.

H5N1 Can Mix With Human Influenza Virus

A worrying new research paper has been published in the United States. It proves that H5N1 bird flu, which has so far only killed people in its pure form is capable of combining with conventional human flu viruses. A mutated virus combining human flu and bird flu is the nightmare strain which scientists fear could create a worldwide pandemic. The research was conducted in a laboratory by the US Centers for Disease Control. Jeff Waters reports: The great bird flu pandemic of 1918 was caused by an avian influenza virus which spread from birds and then directly from human to human. And it's a pure bird flu strain called H5N1 which has caused hundreds of deaths recently around the world. But there were also pandemics in 1957 and '68 which were caused when a bird flu combined with a human form of influenza and then spread globally. Now scientists at the Centers for Disease Control in the United States have proven that the very deadly H5N1 virus can also mix with human flu. It's only happened in the laboratory but it's causing concern. Dr David Smith is a director if microbiology and infectious diseases at PathWest laboratories in Perth. DAVID SMITH: It increases the level of concern that we may get a bad pandemic. It doesn't change our ongoing uncertainty about whether and when the pandemic will occur. That's something that is controlled by events that occur in nature and they are chance events that we can't accurately predict.

Electromagnetic disasters and HAARP

It is worth remembering that at the end of the 1970s the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. signed an agreement banning use of engineering developments in the sphere of geophysics for military purposes. In fact, these developments were made under the pretext of scientific research or dual-purpose technologies. According to most experts, it is the High frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) which involves such developments. As recently as the 1980s the American scientist who drew up this program, received a patent on a method and a device for changing layers of the atmosphere, ionosphere or magnetosphere. The U.S.A. has already constructed high-frequency emitters which are capable of heating the atmosphere to the temperature of the plasma by means of the power pumping of ions. This plasma can be controlled in space and it can influence strongly processes in the atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth. The above emitters are deployed in the Norwegian town of Tromso and the U.S. military base in Alaska.

Meanwhile, critics point to the danger that after commissioning of the third most powerful emitter in Greenland, the American geophysical weapon will be able to cover Eurasia with its influence from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans. Theoretically, this weapon can program floods, typhoons and tornados in any part of the globe or paralyze civilian and military electronic control systems, including communication ones, in any country.

Should We Invite Aliens To Earth ?

A fight has broken out among scientists over whether we should be sending messages to aliens. Sure, it's a boffin fight: no vigorous punching, just vigorous publishing, spirited debate, and shock resignations from erudite organizations. The latest installment in the scientific scrap is a paper by Russian physicist Alexander Zaitsev. In it he shows why his alien messages can't be held responsible if extraterrestrials do one day invade the Earth. In fact if that happens, he says, blame astronomers. At the core of the debate is a process called Active SETI. Ordinary SETI - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - is a worldwide effort by astronomers using radio telescopes to listen for alien signals. Active SETI, which some researchers are now pushing, involves actually sending messages into space. Zaitsev has been pursuing Active SETI for a decade using a radar facility in the Ukraine. He has sent messages in the direction of various sun-like stars in the Milky Way, hoping to attract alien attention. But some astronomers believe this puts the Earth at risk. They argue that if we don't send messages, any hostile galactic super-civilizations out there won't know we're here, and we'll remain hidden among the billions of stars. If we do send messages, ET might read our greetings as a dinner invitation. University of California biologist Jared Diamond has pointed out that there is no guarantee extraterrestrials will be interested in chatting with an inferior species like ours. After all, he says, look what we do to the inferior species on Earth. We shoot them, dissect them, cut off their hands for trophies, exhibit them in cages, inject them with AIDS as a medical experiment, and destroy or take over their habitats.

Ghost hunters more in demand

As midnight approached, a grassy field where the old train depot once stood pulsed with activity. About 90 people tiptoed around night-vision cameras atop tiny silver tripods and dodged remote sensors connected to a computerized surveillance system. They waited for the Lincoln Ghost Train, which some people believe passes through this western Ohio city on the anniversary of the 1865 trip that carried the president's body to Springfield, Illinois, for burial. Ghost-hunting groups around the country are swelling with members -- their popularity fueled by television shows, the Internet and the increasing availability of high-tech equipment. "Academics pooh-pooh all of this usually," said Julieanne Phillips, an assistant professor at Urbana University who invited the ghost hunters and organized the vigil that also included about 80 students and residents. "I'm hoping for some vindication that there might be some type of paranormal activity surrounding this."

"Ghost reality shows have really opened the door for people to get involved themselves," said James Willis, founder of The Ghosts of Ohio, the group watching the tracks for the paranormal train. The airwaves are populated with shows such as "Ghost Whisperer," "Medium," "Paranormal State" and "Ghost Hunters." Viewership of "Ghost Hunters," a reality show on the SCI FI Channel that chronicles investigations by The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS, has doubled since it debuted in 2004 -- growing from 1.3 million viewers to 2.6 million. The Rhode Island-based society currently has about 80 affiliates in 44 states, twice the number of affiliates it had two years ago. And there are about 800 individual members within those affiliates, up from 300 three years ago.

"Thank God for the 'Ghost Hunters' on SCI FI," said Patti Starr, founder of the Lexington, Kentucky-based Ghost Chasers International. "Through that show, I think people see we are really serious about what we do, and they've raised the bar." Even the U.S. Air Force has gone along, inviting "Ghost Hunters" to investigate reports of unusual occurrences at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. The episode showed a flashlight turning on by itself and unexplained knocks and door-closings. Other groups are feeling the surge of interest in ghost hunting. A Midwest Haunting, based in MaComb, Illinois, offers October tours of buildings, cemeteries and other sites it has investigated and believes to be haunted. The number of people taking the tours has tripled, jumping from about 600 in 2006 to 1,800 last year.

Forty of the 60 people who attended a recent dinner in Erie, Pennsylvania., that featured the Paranormal Study and Research Group asked if they could join the group or tag along on ghost hunts. A year earlier, only two or three asked to be involved after a similar event. "We're actually grateful for ("Ghost Hunters") because instead of being a bunch of freaks, we're like the cool people on TV," founder Pat Jones said. "People used to look at us like we were absolutely insane, and now they want to come along with us. It's almost like every day is Halloween." More than 500 people have registered to post and read messages and articles on the Idaho Spirit Seekers' Web site since the message board went up in November. "That really shows the interest that people do have and that it's becoming more acceptable to talk about," said executive director Marie Cuff. Thirty-four percent of Americans say they believe in ghosts, according to a survey conducted in October by The Associated Press and Ipsos.

Bush Pushes Biometrics For Security

The Bush administration has required agencies to increase their capability to share among themselves biometric information on people believed to pose a threat to national security. A presidential directive issued June 5 requires the increased compatibility of methods agencies use to collect, store and share fingerprints, face and iris recognition data and behavioral characteristics to identify and screen “known and suspected terrorists.” The directive also applies to "other categories of individuals" the directive said would be identified soon who may also pose a threat to national security. The National Security Presidential Directive 59/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 24's purpose is to create a "framework" to ensure that agencies are using mutually compatible and legal methods for sharing biometric information, the document states.

HAARP - Weapon For The Antichrist ?

HAARP is the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program. It is the largest and most powerful Department of Defense facility of its kind in the world -- just what kind of facility it is – civilian or military and what, if anything, it can do – is the subject of heated debate. HAARP is a field on antennas on the ground in Southeastern Alaska, so linked together as to work as one giant antenna. It is today the world’s largest radio broadcasting station with an effective radiated power of 3.6 million watts (72,000 times more powerful than the largest legal AM radio station is the US). But it is not designed to broadcast for human ears. It uses a unique patented ability to focus the energy coming out of the field to inject that energy into a spot (about 12 miles across by about 2 1/2 miles deep) at the very top of the atmosphere in a region called the ionosphere. Injecting all that energy into that "spot" causes the thin air at the top of the atmosphere to heat up by several thousand degrees until the molecules literally explode, giving off a packet of energy including a scream of radio waves in the ELF (extremely low frequency) range. Because of the great length of these waves they circumnavigate the globe bathing the earth in the HAARP signal. ELF passes through people and penetrate deep into the ocean and deep underground. The US Navy has used HAARP for the last 15 years, or so, to communicate with deeply submerged submarines.

Some researchers think HAARP is a prototype for a "Star Wars" weapons system… it may be an over-the-horizon type radar… or it may exist to destroy incoming ICBMs… or perhaps to fry out the electronics of enemy spy satellites… or it might be used to disrupt enemy radio communications… Researchers think it might be intended to do these things because those abilities are all described in the original patents that the HAARP antenna array is based on. The folks running HAARP deny any connection between HAARP and those patents, however. This, naturally, has opened them up to charges of cover-up and conspiracy. It’s not the only thing they seem to be lying about, either. Once one gets the idea that the government (or civilian scientists working under government contract) is lying about something, the sky is pretty much the limit in speculations about what it is they are lying about. And with HAARP the sky is just the beginning.

When I read that HAARP was about to bathe the world in ELF I got real concerned. As I relate in my HAARP book it is well documented that several of the world’s governments have been pursuing mind control technologies for nearly a hundred years – I’ve been studying it since 1976 when I learned of the CIA mind control program called MK Ultra that had it origins under the OSS during WWII. ELF is the same frequency range that the human brain works in. My first thought was that the worst possible scenario would be for HAARP to be exactly what they say it is – for there are no biologists or psychologists involved. HAARP could accidentally induce mental dysfunction across a wide swath of the globe without the scientists there having a clue they were doing it. Almost as bad, if there were a secret or "black ops" side to the project, HAARP might be fine-tuned to be the ultimate mind control device.

UFOs hit Romanian plane

The Romanian Defense Ministry has confirmed that a fighter plane was struck by four unidentified flying objects and released a video of the incident. The ministry said the MIG 21 Lancer fighter plane was struck by the objects during an Oct. 31, 2007, check flight but was able to land safely. Lt. Col. Nicolae Grigorie said a video recorded by cameras onboard the plane depicts "two solid bodies, which are not translucid." Grigorie said authorities are working to determine what the objects could have been. "They couldn't be birds because there are no birds in Europe able to fly so high. And they couldn't be ice bodies because it was a clear sky -- neither could they be pieces of another plane or a meteor," he said. He said the government has ruled out rocket launches and ground artillery fires as causes of the incident.

Disasters: 400 Percent Increase

The number of natural disasters around the world has increased by more than four times in the last 20 years, according to a report released by the British charity Oxfam. Oxfam analyzed data from the Red Cross, United Nations and researchers at Louvain University in Belgium. It found that the earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters per year, compared with 120 per year in the early 1980s. The number of weather-related disasters in 2006 was 240, compared with 60 in 1980. At the same time, the number of geologically related natural disasters has held steady. Oxfam has attributed the increasing disaster rate to global warming. "We are talking about some very unusual floods in West Africa, very unusual floods in East Africa, extraordinary floods in Mexico and parts of Central America, and heat waves in Greece [and] eastern Europe," report author John Magrath said. "This is no freak year," said Oxfam director Barbara Stocking. "It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people."

Between 1985 and 1994, Oxfam found that 174 million people were affected by disasters each year. In the following decade, this figure increased by 70 percent to 254 million people per year. The increasing disaster rate has disproportionately affected the poor, the report noted. Although rich countries tend to distribute aid primarily in the event of high-profile emergencies, the increase over the past two decades has been mostly in small to medium disasters. But it is precisely these smaller disasters, when they follow quickly upon each other with no opportunity for recovery, that can destroy poor communities' abilities to support themselves. Magrath noted that those least responsible for causing global warming are being hardest hit by its effects. "There is a basic global injustice in this," he said. "It seems to us that the rich nations of this earth have the historical responsibility to act first and fastest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to show an example and to lead the way."

Obama Backtracks On Jerusalem

Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Barak Obama stood before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee parley recently one morning and declared his complete, unqualified support for a Jewish Jerusalem. The Holy City, he said, "will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." The move was an attempt to score points with many in the Jewish and evangelical communities who, given Obama's past political relationships with terrorist sympathizers, racists, and other undesirables, have been wary of how, as president, he would treat the Jewish State. The rousing applause from the audience, including some of the most powerful politicians in America, was immediate. Almost as immediate, though, was Hamas' condemnation. Leaders of the terrorist group had previously endorsed Obama as their choice for America's Commander in Chief. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he "totally rejected" Obama's Jerusalem pronouncement. "The whole world knows that holy Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state," he added. What a difference a day makes.

Secret plan to Keep Iraq under US control

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November. The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country. But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November. The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr Obama would throw away by a premature military withdrawal.

America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 – 10 000 more than when the military "surge" began in January 2007. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government. The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now. The leaks are certain to generate an angry backlash in Iraq. "It is a terrible breach of our sovereignty," said one Iraqi politician, adding that if the security deal was signed it would delegitimise the government in Baghdad which will be seen as an American pawn. The US has repeatedly denied it wants permanent bases in Iraq but one Iraqi source said: "This is just a tactical subterfuge." Washington also wants control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft and the right to pursue its "war on terror" in Iraq, giving it the authority to arrest anybody it wants and to launch military campaigns without consultation. Mr Bush is determined to force the Iraqi government to sign the so-called "strategic alliance" without modifications, by the end of next month.

But it is already being condemned by the Iranians and many Arabs as a continuing American attempt to dominate the region. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful and usually moderate Iranian leader, said yesterday that such a deal would create "a permanent occupation". He added: "The essence of this agreement is to turn the Iraqis into slaves of the Americans." Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is believed to be personally opposed to the terms of the new pact but feels his coalition government cannot stay in power without US backing. The deal also risks exacerbating the proxy war being fought between Iran and the United States over who should be more influential in Iraq. Although Iraqi ministers have said they will reject any agreement limiting Iraqi sovereignty, political observers in Baghdad suspect they will sign in the end and simply want to establish their credentials as defenders of Iraqi independence by a show of defiance now.

Ehud Olmert Says: Israel To Attack Iran

An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said. It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert's government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should U.N. Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end. Iran has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects, which it says are for peaceful electricity generation rather than bomb-building. The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel -- believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iran. Mofaz also said in the interview that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, "would disappear before Israel does."

Government To Use Sonic Weapons Against USA Protestors At DNC

Political activists planning protest rallies at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver have their stomachs in knots over a rumor about a crowd control weapon - known as the “crap cannon” - that might be unleashed against them. Also called “Brown Note,” it is believed to be an infrasound frequency that debilitates a person by making them defecate involuntarily. Mark Cohen, co-founder of Re-create 68, an alliance of local activists working for the protection of first amendment rights, said he believes this could be deployed at the convention in August to subdue crowds. “We know this weapon and weapons like it have been used at other large protests before,” he said. Cohen, who described Brown Note as a “sonic weapon used to disrupt people’s equilibrium,” cited eyewitness accounts of its use during free-trade agreement protests in Miami in 2003.

Homeland Security's Space-Based Spies

When The Wall Street Journal broke a story last August on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) decision to provide state and local authorities access to information gathered by the U.S. military's fleet of spy satellites, it ignited a minor firestorm in Congress. The National Applications Office (NAO) according to published reports, would coordinate how domestic law enforcement and "disaster relief" agencies such as FEMA utilize imagery intelligence (IMINT) generated by U.S. spy satellites. But as with other Bushist "security" schemes there's little in the way of "oversight" and zero concern for the rights of the American people. Indeed, in a scathing letter from House Homeland Security Committee chairman, Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, Thompson wrote, "Unfortunately, I have had to rely on media reports to gain information about this endeavor because neither I nor my staff was briefed on the decision to create this new office prior to the public disclosure of this effort. ... I am also concerned about the Department’s failure to vet this program with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which was specifically created to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation of executive branch policies related to protecting the Nation against terrorism. The failure to consult the Board on a matter as controversial as using spy satellites for domestic homeland security and law enforcement purposes is particularly worrisome."

Mary Apparitions Are Work Of The Devil

Former Vatican exorcist Bishop Andrea Gemma has denounced alleged visions of Our Lady in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje as the "work of the devil" and a "diabolical deceit". The UK Daily Mail reports that the Vatican has rejected claims made by the six Bosnian 'seers' that they have seen the Virgin Mary more than 40,000 times over the past 27 years. Bishop Andrea Gemma, 77, once the Vatican's top exorcist, told a magazine in Italy: "In Medjugorje everything happens in function of money: Pilgrimages, lodging houses, sale of trinkets. "This whole sham is the work of the Devil. It is a scandal." He predicted that the Vatican would soon crack down on the group. The Medjugorje phenomenon began on June 25, 1981, when six children told a priest they had seen the Virgin on a hillside near their town. Some of the children also claim to have received ten secrets from Our Lady. A church investigation dismissed the vision, and the Vatican banned pilgrimages to the site in 1985. But many Catholics ignored the ban. Today, the seers own smart houses with security gates and tennis courts and expensive cars. One is married to a former US beauty queen.

Ahmadinejad: World Without the US

Iran's president will likely view his meeting with Japan's prime minister as a diplomatic coup. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Rome for a United Nations food conference, and he's tried to arrange meetings with various world leaders to show he's not as isolated as his opponents would wish. A spokesman said Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda had urged Ahmadinejad to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions on halting uranium enrichment. The official Iranian news agency had a different take on the encounter, saying Ahmadinejad had told Fukuda that U.S. domination was in decline. "Iran and Japan as two civilized and influential nations should get ready for a world minus the U.S.," he said.

Electric Laser Race Heats Up

The military still doesn't have a deployable ray gun, but it seems that more and more people are placing their bets on the solid state, electric-powered laser. Not wanting to be left out of the race to field compact battlefield lasers, Boeing announced yesterday that it's tested its own solid-state laser technology. "In each laser firing at Boeing's facility in West Hills, Calif., the high-energy laser achieved power levels of over 25 kilowatts for multi-second durations, with a measured beam quality suitable for a tactical weapon system," says Boeing.

Sex Activity And High School Youth

Approximately 48 percent of 14,041 high school students said they have had sex, representing a 2 percent hike since 2005; however, teens still are having less sex today than their counterparts did in the 1990s. The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System study showed a 2 percent drop-off in the percentage of teens who said they used condoms while having sex. The CDC questioned the students on a range of risky behaviors including sexual activity and drug and alcohol use. Ninth- through 12th-graders from 39 states participated in the study in spring 2007. In 1991, 54 percent of the high school students said they had had sexual intercourse, compared with 48 percent in 2007. In 1991, 19 percent said they had at least four sexual partners, compared with 15 percent last year, the survey showed. For the students overall, just under half have had sex, 75 percent have tried alcohol and 20 percent said they smoke. The study is given to high school students every two years. The new report noted that black and white students are reporting less sexual activity than in years past, but there was no decline among Hispanics. Whites, however, reported the highest rates of smoking and heavy drinking, while blacks reported the highest rates of obesity and violence. Hispanic students were more likely than either blacks or whites to use cocaine, heroin or ecstasy, attempt suicide or ride with a driver who had been drinking alcohol. The survey did not collect information on the parents' income or education levels.

Kabbalah taught by 'Spirituality for Kids'

A new programme founded by the controversial Kabbalah movement, made famous by Madonna, has been introduced in some schools in Britain without parents' consent. State schools in London are taking part in classes run by Spirituality for Kids, or SFK, that teach children as young as 10 to find “the light” and identify and reject an inner voice called “the opponent” that tells them to do bad things. Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, a leading opponent of the movement, said: “I believe they work using mind manipulation.” Among the schools offering Spirituality for Kids are Queen's Park Primary, Westminster; St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary, Westminster; Oaklands School, Tower Hamlets; Lawdale Junior, Tower Hamlets; and Essendine Primary, Westminster.

California: Gay Marriages To Proceed

California's Supreme Court gave the final green light recently for gay marriages to begin later this month, turning down requests for a delay. The most populous U.S. state's highest court ruled last month that refusing homosexuals the right to wed violated the state constitution. Opponents then asked the court to halt the start of gay weddings until November, when the state's voters will decide a ballot measure that, if approved by a simple majority, will define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. "It would have been unprecedented to postpone constitutional rights based on speculation of how a political scenario may or may not play out," San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera said. "Folks can get married on June 17," he said.

The Last Century Of Our Civilization?'

Are we living in the last century of our civilization? Is it possible that all of our technology, knowledge and wealth cannot save us from ourselves? Could our society actually be heading towards collapse? According to many of the world's top scientists, the answer is yes, unless we take action now. This September, in Earth 2100, a dramatic ABC News 2-hour broadcast, the greatest minds across the globe will join together in a countdown to the year 2100 to tell us what we must do to survive the next century … And what may happen if we don't. The time to act is now, says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. "The 21st century is going to be the century which determine[s] whether we live or die as a sustainable species," Gleick said. "As populations grow, as our use of resources grows, I think we get closer and closer to that edge." Experts say that extreme changes in climate, combined with dwindling resources, famine, war and disease have the potential to create a post-apocalyptic world in less than a hundred years. Harvard University and Woods Hole climatologist John Holdrens says we cannot continue going down the same path. "If we continue on business as usual, we are going to see more floods, more droughts, more heat waves, more wildfires, more ice melting, faster sea level rise," Holdren said. "We really have less than a decade to start getting this right. If we're still dragging our feet in 2015 I think it really becomes at that point almost impossible for the world to avert a degree of climate change that we simply will not be able to manage without intolerable cost and consequences."

Holy Grail: Hitler and the Third Reich

Mary Alice Bennett's new article The Sauniere Mystery Continues, UFO Digest, May.29.2008, while a very well researched and articulated article, continues the same old myth that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and was the father to a unique earthly bloodline. She perpetuates the original legend advocated by Michael Baigent in his controversial book Holy Blood, Holy Grail and later apparently plagiarized by Dan Brown in his book DaVinci Code where diverse romantic elements are mixed together about a Merovingian dynasty, the Templars, the Visigoths, the Cathars, Leonardo Da Vinci, the Coptic Gnostics, the Nag Hammadi Library and even some LDS heresies concerning the lost tribes of Israel in space to concoct a cauldron of "deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons" (1Timothy 4:1) to show that Jesus was not divine and was not resurrected after dying for our sins. Instead, according to this argument, he apparently married Mary Magdalene and fathered children... Now, I am going to change gears for a minute and take this discussion from one of deception and misperception to an even higher level of outrage. I am going to try and tie this quest for the Holy Grail to the murderous rampage of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. This is of course not to say that Bennett or all of those who search for the supposed Holy Grail are Nazi sympathizers anymore than are vegetarians or those who shun alcohol as did Hitler, but it does raise some very intriguing questions. Just like in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Nazis were actually really searching for the Holy Grail as a power source for victory. Hitler had a messianic complex which manifested itself in an unbridled quest for the power needed to change the world into his Reich with him as God.

US Grain - Dairy Reserves Almost GONE

According to the May 1, 2008 CCC inventory report there are o­nly 24.1 million bushels of wheat in inventory, so after this sale there will be o­nly 2.7 million bushels of wheat left the entire CCC inventory,” warned Matlack. “Our concern is not that we are using the remainder of our strategic grain reserves for humanitarian relief. AAM fully supports the action and all humanitarian food relief. Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The o­nly thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make ½ of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.” The CCC is a federal government-owned and operated entity that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. CCC is also supposed to maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.

“This lack of emergency preparedness is the fault of the 1996 farm bill which eliminated the government’s grain reserves as well as the Farmer Owned Reserve (FOR),” explained Matlack. “We had hoped to reinstate the FOR and a Strategic Energy Grain Reserve in the new farm bill, but the politics of food defeated our efforts. As farmers it is our calling and purpose in life to feed our families, our communities, our nation and a good part of the world, but we need better planning and coordination if we are to meet that purpose. AAM pledges to continue our work for better farm policy which includes an FOR and a Strategic Energy Grain Reserve.” AAM’s support for the FOR program, which allows the grain to be stored o­n farms, is a key component to a safe grain reserve in that the supplies will be decentralized in the event of some unforeseen calamity which might befall the large grain storage terminals.

A Strategic Energy Grain Reserve is as crucial for the nation’s domestic energy needs as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. AAM also supports full funding for the replenishment and expansion of Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.

Priest investigated for quoting Bible

A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal "hate crimes" law for quoting from the Bible, and he's being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report. Pete Vere, a canon lawyer and Catholic journalist, has reported on the prosecution of Father Alphonse de Valk, a pro-life activist known across Canada, by the Canadian Human Rights Commission – "a quasi-judicial investigative body with the power of the Canadian government behind it". "What was Father de Valk's alleged 'hate act'?" Vere wrote. "Father defended the [Catholic] Church's teaching on marriage during Canada's same-sex 'marriage' debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II's encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of whom are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman," he wrote. The new case comes just as columnist and author Mark Steyn, and Maclean's magazine which published an excerpt from his "America Alone" book, are on trial before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for similar "offenses." "We know under the Supreme Court of Canada [and] under tribunals of this country that there are reasonable limits [to freedom of expression,]"

Faisal Joseph, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the Steyn dispute, said in a LifeSiteNew.com report. That case revolves around Joseph's claims the defendants depicted Muslims as "a violent people" with a religion that is "violent." In the new case, Vere raised the question that Canada now considers morality a "hate crime." "If one, because of one's sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered 'hate'?" he asked. Vere wrote that the response he got from Mark van Dusen, a spokesman for the federal human rights prosecution office, shocked him. "We investigate complaints," Vere reported van Dusen told him. "We don't set public policy or moral standards. We investigate complaints based on the circumstances and the details outlined in the complaint. And … if … upon investigation, deem that there is sufficient evidence, then we may forward the complaint to the tribunal, but the hate is defined in the Human Rights Act under section 13-1. "Our job is to look at it, compare it to the act, to accumulate case law, tribunal and court decisions that have reflected on hate and decide whether to advance the complaint, dismiss it or whether there is room for a settlement between parties," van Dusen told Vere. What is shocking about that, Vere wrote, is the admission that unjustified complaints can be dismissed, yet the case against de Valk has continued now for more than six months.

Teams For Chemical, Nuke Attacks On USA

Northern Command will stand up new units to respond to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive — CBRNE — attacks. Currently, if such an attack proved more than local emergency crews could handle, governors could call in National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams. And if more help were needed, one of 17 regional Guard CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Packages would come in. Beginning in October, a federal military response will be available for the worst disasters: the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”). Three CCMRFs, each with about 4,500 troops from all branches, are in the making. Each CCMRF will tap units that provide the capabilities most often called for in a CBRNE response, including airlift, medical, logistics and units specializing in biological or radiological identification and cleanup.

Is GPS Big Help Or Big Brother?

These days, your boss can call you on your cell phone on your time off, maybe even over the weekend or while you're on vacation. What about the idea of your boss being able to track where you are and where you've been? The city of Tampa is doing just that. Inspectors in its building department now carry cell phones equipped with global positioning system technology so the city can keep tabs on inspectors. Supervisors hope the GPS gizmos will improve efficiency and crack down on slackers. Employers increasingly are using GPS devices to keep track of workers on the road, especially as the technology gets cheaper and the price of gas rises. But while backers say the trend leads to cost savings and improved customer service, it also has raised questions about privacy and Orwellian employer tactics. One Tampa building inspector describes it as being followed by Big Brother. "It's like, 'Hey, you know, we're watching you,'" said Benjamin Buckley, who has worked for the city for three years and is the union shop steward for the building inspection department. The GPS technology was installed on about 40 inspectors' cell phones about two weeks ago. The service will cost about $20 to $30 per month for each phone, said John Barrios, manager of the city's construction services division.

City building inspectors are mostly road warriors who travel from appointment to appointment in city-issued vehicles. Although preventing taxpayer money from going to workers who goof off on the job would be a bonus, it's not the primary reason he wanted the devices installed, Barrios said. Mostly, the department wants to know which inspectors are where so Barrios can send the right worker to the right place in a last-minute emergency, he said. Other city departments might follow suit if the inspector program proves successful. Darrell Smith, the city's chief of staff, said one of the benefits would be the ability to immediately locate a city worker who gets in trouble out in the field. Developed in the 1970s by the U.S. military, global positioning systems use satellite signals to transmit positions to a ground-based receiver. When the government opened the technology to civilians in the 1980s, it was still relatively unheard of and, for most people, unaffordable. As technology expanded, the GPS market took off and trackers are becoming increasingly common, especially in cars, where people use GPS devices to get driving directions. Boaters and hikers also increasingly use the technology.

In Chicago last month, the superintendent of the city's sewer department was suspended from his job when his city-issued GPS device showed he was golfing when he was supposed to be working, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. In Indiana last year, six Fort Wayne-Allen county employees lost their jobs after an administrator placed GPS devices in department vehicles to catch health inspectors running personal errands on the job, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported.

Biometric ID at Bowland High School

School dinners have been given a hi-tech overhaul at one Ribble Valley school. A biometric cashless payment system and state-of-the-art kitchen equipment have been installed at Bowland High School in partnership with Lancashire County's Commercial Services Catering Division. Bowland's dining area has also been redecorated and wired for sound – there are plans to install a video link. Most pupils at Bowland buy a school meal and sales are among the highest in Lancashire from kitchens managed by LCCS. The improved facilities support the school's healthy eating policy and meet new national school food standards, providing pupils with improved menus, more choice and fresh, local produce. The new money-less payment system, already used in several Lancashire schools, uses biometric technology to create a digital signature from a partial fingerprint. The unique image which is created replaces cash at the point of sale. The school explained the system is secure and meets the requirements of the Data Protection Act. It added the biometric registration is voluntary, but it had received a very enthusiastic response from catering staff, pupils and parents when it opened for business. Headteacher Mr Stephen Cox said: "Although biometric identification has been used in schools for library use for a number of years, we are one of the first schools in Lancashire to embrace the technology for use in paying for school meals, while it is early days the pupils have embraced the technology and we are hoping it will enhance their lunchtime experience by speeding up service." Mrs Elaine Cox, of LCCS, demonstrates use of the cashless payment system to her daughter, Melissa, a Year 8 pupil.

Hollywood, UFOs and the Occult

The broadcast-quality lilt of Coast to Coast AM radio host George Noory wafted over a packed conference room at Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn recently as he a moderated a panel of out-there researchers engaged in a radical examination of Hollywood’s covert use of occult symbolism and alien agendas — the same week that the Vatican’s chief astronomer told an interviewer that belief in alien life does not contradict belief in God. As Noory told the audience, “There’s definitely a sense of an impending ... something.” We’re at “an extraordinary crossroads, with the way life is unfolding,” commented panelist Whitley Strieber, whose most recent novel is based on the doomsday/consciousness-shifting 2012 mythos, and who believes he was “implanted” with a device by his “visitors.” He recalled a bit of the aliens’ verbiage: “We will come from within you.” According to panelist/abduction therapist Yvonne Smith, 17 functional-growth characteristics in humans born between 1947 and 1987 have been accelerated by 60 to 80 percent. “It’s not environment, it’s not evolution,” she asserted.

A “mutation of society” is under way, and “the skeptic community is getting quieter and quieter,” remarked Dr. Roger Leir, a Valley-based podiatrist, who removes alleged alien implants. Jordan Maxwell, an expert in occult symbolism and secret societies, likened Americans to Alec Guinness’ blindly megalomaniacal lieutenant colonel in The Bridge on the River Kwai once he realizes he’s been working for the enemy: “What have I done? There is no way out.” The Mayan calendar, which runs out at midnight on December 12, 2012, is expected to take us out, whether by mass extinction, interplanetary invasion or a total paradigm shift — a metaphysical bang or a cosmic whimper. With four years and counting, Maxwell advised, “always trust those who are looking for the truth.”

THAAD Weapon Activated at Fort Bliss

The U.S. Army has activated the first battery of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon System, developed by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and produced by Lockheed Martin, in a ceremony at Fort Bliss, TX. Alpha Battery/4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command will receive 24 THAAD interceptors, three THAAD launchers, a THAAD Fire Control and a THAAD radar as part of the initial fielding. In addition, the battery will have logistics support assets, such as the Battery Support Center and Integrated Contractor Support System, as well as the necessary spares for a fielded unit. "This is a historic day for the U.S. Army's Air Defense community," said Tom McGrath, program manager and vice president for THAAD at Lockheed Martin. "The first battery receiving the THAAD Weapon System signifies that we are one step closer to the day THAAD will be protecting our Soldiers, friends and allies around the globe."

Putin: U.S. `Frightening Monster

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin compared the U.S. to a ``frightening monster'' and urged France to distance itself from its American ally. ``How can one be such a shining example of democracy at home and a frightening monster abroad?'' Putin said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde transmitted live to journalists in Paris recently. Putin, speaking the day after meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said the U.S. was creating ``new Berlin Walls'' in Europe by pushing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to expand into ex-Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine.

Doomsday Begins Thursday, June 12

Nuclear war will begin Thursday, June 12, or sooner, according to the latest prediction of self-proclaimed prophet Yisrayl "Buffalo Bill" Hawkins, the founder of a religious sect in Abilene, Texas. "It could be turned loose before then," Hawkins told 20/20 for a report to be broadcast tonight. "You're going to see this very soon, really soon," he said. Hundreds of truck trailers have been loaded with food and water on the group's 44-acre compound, in preparation for the coming war. Hawkins says he does not care if people consider him a laughing stock. "You know, the savior himself, told me not to worry about that. He said, 'They're going to hate you above all people on the face of the earth,' " Hawkins explained.

A Messiah in Our Midst?

At least I'm not in the wilderness this time. Lots of people have pondered the possibility that Barack is our Divine Redeemer. There are Web sites dedicated to the question "Is Barack Obama the Messiah?" Google that question and you'll get more than 35,000 hits. (Enter just the words "Messiah" and "Obama" and you'll get nearly 10 times that.) But there's more concrete evidence. Since Obama declared his candidacy, there have been remarkably few biblical plagues. And lions and lambs seem open to bilateral negotiations. Obama's apostles are hard to dismiss. Oprah simply calls him "The One," because "we need politicians who know how to be the truth." (Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth ...") Oprah goes on to say Obama will help us "evolve to a higher plane," which would put Obama in the role of our Intelligent Designer.

China blames USA - HAARP For Earthquakes

Russian Foreign Ministry reports are stating the Prime Minister Putin’s ’sudden’ diplomatic trip to France was made at the behest of China’s President Hu in order to ‘warn’ the European Union not to become involved with the US following what is widely expected to be a ‘retaliatory strike’ against the United States, and who the Chinese military has blamed for the catastrophic May 12th earthquake that has killed nearly 90,000 human beings. Chinese and Russian Military scientists, these reports say, are concurring with Canadian researcher, and former Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief of Forbes Magazine, Benjamin Fulford, who in a very disturbing video released from his Japanese offices to the American public, details how the United States attacked China by the firing of a 90 Million Volt Shockwave from the Americans High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facilities in Alaska. So powerful was this Shockwave, Britain’s Times Online News Service is reporting that the entire atmosphere over the Chinese earthquake zone became mysteriously changed 30 minutes prior to the 8.0 Magnitude Trembler. YouTube has footage of strange multicoloured clouds seen just before the recent earthquake struck Sichuan province in China. The first impression is of a rainbow smeared on to small scraps of clouds, a phenomenon best known in a circumzenithal halo. This is created when sunlight shines through cirrus clouds full of tiny hexagonal ice crystals shaped like plates. The crystals behave like glass prisms, splitting the light into a bow with the colours of the spectrum, often brighter than a rainbow.

But one puzzle is that the colours in the Chinese clouds were upside down from a normal circumzenithal halo – red pointing towards the horizon and blue towards the Sun, instead of the other way round.” Russian scientists are further speculating that the United States strike against China was ‘exactly timed’ to coincide with the
dangerous experiments ongoing at Large Hadron Collider for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and which we had previously reported on in our May 13th report titled “CERN ‘Nailed Heart Of Earth’ With China Quake, Chilean Volcano”. Russian Military Analysts note that though China’s Military has ordered is vast submarine fleet to ‘disperse’ throughout the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese ‘attack’ against the United States would, most likely, take a form of economic warfare instead of an actual clashing of forces. More disturbing, however, in these reports is China’s urging of both Syria and Turkey not to allow more water into mighty rivers of the Euphrates and Tigris, which the Iraqis are warning are running dry due to the severe drought in that war-torn Nation.

The importance of this latest move by China is the newly signed Defense Pact signed between Iran and Syria which would allow Chinese Military Forces permission to use Iranian territory to come to the aid of Syria. It should be further noted that the Christian Bibles New Testament Book of Revelations (Chapter 16, Verse 12) prophesied that the Euphrates will dry up in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon and would be crossed by an Eastern Army of 200 million soldiers, of which in our World today only China is able to field and have the ability to reach by land alone.

'Super-Earth' Discovered

Astronomers have discovered what may be the smallest alien planet yet – a rocky "super-Earth" only four times heavier than our home planet. It's orbiting a small star at a distance that puts it in the so-called "habitable zone" – a region neither too hot nor too cold for water and therefore suitable for possible life. Scientists believe such planets are the best hope for detecting evidence of living organisms beyond our solar system. The tentative finding, which has yet to be confirmed, was reported during the May meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Cambridge, Mass. The object is one of 45 potential new planets in the Milky Way galaxy recently discovered by the European Southern Observatory's 140-inch telescope perched on a mountaintop at La Silla, Chile. "The mass of the planets and the sheer number of them represent a huge step toward finding planets of the Earth's mass, and ones that might be suitable for life as we know it," Sara Seager, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, said in an e-mail interview. "What amazes me is that these planets may be very, very common."

Temple Mount '100% Islamic'

Jerusalem and the Temple Mount belong to the Muslims and any Israeli action that "offends" the Mount will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims, declared the chief of staff for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "Jerusalem is Muslim. The blessed Al Aqsa mosque and Harem Al Sharif (Temple Mount) is 100 percent Muslim. The Israelis are playing with fire when they threaten Al Aqsa with digging that is taking place," said Abbas' chief of staff Rafiq Al Husseini. Husseini was referring to Israeli plans to construct a new bridge from the Western Wall area to the Temple Mount. The old bridge was damaged two years ago. When Israeli workers tried to repair it, Palestinian leaders claimed the work was threatening the Al Aqsa Mosque, even though the mosque is located hundreds of feet away, the work did not tunnel under any Mount foundation or touch any structure connected to the mosque, and the repair work – which had been pre-approved by Jordan and the Mount's Muslim custodians – was conducted under the scrutiny of an accessible 24/7 webcam. "Any hurting of Jerusalem will explode the whole negotiations between us and the Israelis ... we must work to strengthen Palestinian ties to Jerusalem," al-Husseini said. Mainstream Palestinian leaders claim the Temple Mount is Muslim in spite of overwhelming archaeological evidence documenting the first and second Jewish temples. "Israel started since 1967 making archeological digs to show Jewish signs to prove the relationship between Judaism and the city and they found nothing. There is no Jewish connection to Israel before the Jews invaded in the 1880s," said Tamimi. "About these so-called two Temples, they never existed, certainly not at the [Temple Mount]," Tamimi said during a sit-down interview in his eastern Jerusalem office. The Palestinian cleric denied the validity of dozens of digs verified by experts worldwide revealing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temples throughout Jerusalem, including on the Temple Mount itself; excavations revealing Jewish homes and a synagogue in a site in Jerusalem called the City of David; or even the recent discovery of a Second Temple Jewish city in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Tamimi said descriptions of the Jewish Temples in the Hebrew Tanach, in the Talmud and in Byzantine and Roman writings from the Temple periods were forged, and that the Torah was falsified to claim biblical patriarchs and matriarchs were Jewish when indeed they were prophets for Islam. "All this is not real. We don't believe in all your versions. Your Torah was falsified. The text as given to the Muslim prophet Moses never mentions Jerusalem. Maybe Jerusalem was mentioned in the rest of the Torah, which was falsified by the Jews," said Tamimi. He said Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus were "prophets for the Israelites sent by Allah as to usher in Islam."

Education for World Government

As the first Director of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (1887-1975) wrote a paper entitled UNESCO Its Purpose and Its Philosophy (1946) [1] in which he outlined his vision for the newly created international organisation (which grew out of the League of Nations' Institute of Intellectual Co-operation). According to Huxley, the guiding philosophy of UNESCO should be what he termed, World Evolutionary Humanism. Part 1 in this series described this philosophy and its relation to eugenics. The second article outlined the purpose of UNESCO, which is to mentally prepare the world for global political unification under a single world government. This article will describe the use of education by UNESCO, as an essential technique of forming the minds of the young as well as the old. Julian Huxley, an evolutionary biologist, humanist, and ardent internationalist held many titles including: Secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935-42), first president of the British Humanist Association (1963), Vice-President (1937-44) and President (1959-62) of the British Eugenics Society. He was also a founding member of the World Wild Life Fund, coined the term "transhumanism" (as a means of disguising eugenics) and gave two Galton memorial lectures (1936, 1962). Huxley also received many awards including the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society (1956), UNESCO's Kalinga Prize (1953) and the Special Award of the Lasker Foundation in the category Planned Parenthood - World Population (1959) to name but a few. He is also the Grandson of Thomas Huxley (Darwin's Bulldog) and brother of author Aldous Huxley.

More Christians facing 'hate crimes'

Two American-born pastors handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham, England, were threatened with arrest and warned of being beaten for committing what an officer called a "hate crime." Arthur Cunningham, 48, and Joseph Abraham, 65, were handing out the leaflets and talking with local youths when they were approached and questioned by a police community support officer, or PCSO. When the officer discovered the two Birmingham pastors were born in the U.S., he began a heated criticism of President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cunningham explained that the gospel message was not linked to American foreign policy, but the officer reportedly became belligerent. "He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message," Cunningham told the London Telegraph. "He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station." pril, Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester and the Church of England's only Pakistan-born bishop, wrote in the Telegraph that certain pockets of England were becoming "no-go" zones, places too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. Joseph Abraham, one of the threatened pastors agrees. He told the paper, "I couldn't believe this was happening in Britain. The bishop of Rochester was criticized by the Church of England recently when he said there were no-go areas in Britain, but he was right; there are certainly no-go areas for Christians who want to share the gospel."

Computer Trained To "Read" Minds

A computer has been trained to "read" people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words, researchers said on May 29. They hope their study, published in the journal Science, might lead to better understanding of how and where the brain stores information. This might lead to better treatments for language disorders and learning disabilities, said Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who helped lead the study. "The question we are trying to get at is one people have been thinking about for centuries, which is: How does the brain organize knowledge?" Mitchell said in a telephone interview. "It is only in the last 10 or 15 years that we have this way that we can study this question." Mitchell's team used functional magnetic resonance imaging, a type of brain scan that can see real-time brain activity. They calibrated the computer by having nine student volunteers think of 58 different words, while imaging their brain activity. "We gave instructions to people where we would tell them, 'We are going to show you words and we would like you, when you see this word, to think about its properties,"' Mitchell said. They imaged each of the nine people thinking about the 58 different words, to create a kind of "average" image of a word. "If I show you the brain images for two words, the main thing you notice is that they look pretty much alike. If you look at them for a while you might see subtle differences," Mitchell said. "We have the program calculate the mean brain activity over all of the words that somebody has looked at. That gives us the average when somebody thinks about a word, and then we subtract that average out from all those images," Mitchell added. Then the test came - "After we train on the other 58 words, we can say 'Here are two new words you have not seen, celery and airplane."' The computer was asked to choose which brain image corresponded with which word. The computer passed the test, predicting when a brain image was taken when a person thought about the word "celery" and when the assigned word was "airplane." The next step is to study brain activity for phrases. "If I say 'rabbit' or 'fast rabbit' or 'cuddly rabbit', those are very different ideas," Mitchell said. "I want to basically use that as a kind of scaffolding for studying language processing in the brain." Mitchell was surprised at how similar brain activity was among the nine volunteers, although the work was painstaking. For an MRI to work well, the patient must sit or lie very still for several minutes. "It can be hard to focus," Mitchell said. "Somewhere in the middle of that their stomach growls. And all of sudden they think, 'I'm hungry -- oops.' It's not a controllable experiment."

Food Scarcity 'Creating New World Order'

Unprecedented food scarcity is beginning to dictate the rules of a new political order where individual countries are scrambling to secure their own food supplies with little concern for the rest of the world, says the founder of the Earth Policy Institute. Recent manifestations of national food insecurity like export restrictions imposed by some grain-producing countries are the troublesome portents of an "entirely new chapter in the book of food security," Lester Brown told foreign correspondents in Beijing recently. "We are in the midst of the most severe food crisis in the world's history," Brown said. "This is not your mother's food shortage...but a chronically tight food situation, a serious and long-term problem.'' Politicians have been meeting in Rome to find global solutions to soaring food prices and civil unrest caused by food shortages, but in reality many countries are already acting unilaterally to secure supplies for the future. From Africa to Asia, countries are scrambling to buy or lease land overseas to grow crops and feed their people. China, which has to feed the world's largest population, has taken the lead by contracting land in Tanzania, Laos, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and others. India has set its eyes on Uruguay and Paraguay, while South Korea is looking for farming deals in Sudan and Siberia. Libya and Egypt for their part have been negotiating deals to lease land in Ukraine. The worry here, according to Brown, is that "the more influential countries would be able to secure food supplies, leaving a number of low-income, less influential countries with no food to import." "This could create a lot of desperate countries," he says. The United Nations says soaring prices of basic foods such as rice and other cereals could affect around 100 million of the world's poorest people. In Asia, rice prices have almost tripled this year alone, leading many governments to fear the consequences if the poor cannot afford to buy their staple food. To protect their domestic consumers, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China have all taken steps to restrict exports. This year has seen China's first grain trade deficit in decades. It has scrapped export rebates for wheat, rice, paddy, maize and soybeans, and it will start imposing export duties of 5 to 25 percent.

Most Russians Think USA is evil

Just 16 per cent of those surveyed thought the United States a force for good in the world, compared with 56 percent who considered it a force for evil. You don’t have to look far to see why. Many Russians reckon that the United States played a crucial role in the financial collapse of the 1990s by pushing Boris Yeltsin’s government into making precipitous economic reforms. The Iraq war and a relentless stream of anti-US rhetoric from Mr Putin, who regularly portrayed Washington as an imperialist aggressor, have only heightened that antagonism. America’s plans to build a missile defence shield in central Europe and a Washington-led campaign to bring the ex-Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine have also played on Russia’s traditional paranoia.

The Mega-Pentagon Monster

The Pentagon has developed a taste for unrivaled power and unequaled access to the treasury that won't be easily undone by future administrations. A full-fledged cottage industry is already focused on those who eagerly await the end of the Bush administration, offering calendars, magnets, and t-shirts for sale as well as counters and graphics to download onto blogs and websites. But when the countdown ends and George W. Bush vacates the Oval Office, he will leave a legacy to contend with. Certainly, he wills to his successor a world marred by war and battered by deprivation, but perhaps his most enduring legacy is now deeply embedded in Washington-area politics -- a Pentagon metastasized almost beyond recognition. The Pentagon's massive bulk-up these last seven years will not be easily unbuilt, no matter who dons the presidential mantle on January 19, 2009. "The Pentagon" is now so much more than a five-sided building across the Potomac from Washington or even the seat of the Department of Defense. In many ways, it defies description or labeling... 7. The Pentagon as Global Viceroy and Ruler of the Heavens. Meanwhile, should the Earth not be enough, there are always the heavens to control.

Raytheon's Pain Ray In USA Streets

After more than ten years in the making and at a cost of over 40 million dollars, 'Silent Guardian', or Active Denial System is almost ready for public release! Transmitted at the speed of light over a 700 yard distance, the Pain Ray is a millimeter-wave beam that penetrates 1/64th of an inch beneath the skin, causing the water molecules there to bubble, producing an intense burning sensation, said to feel like being burnt by molten lava or a hot iron. Its delivery system attached to a Humvee and aimed right, the Pain Ray makes people run away -- fast. Raytheon congratulates itself on having developed a non-lethal weapon which has been described as "Holy Grail of crowd control," but their Silent Guardian also has its critics. One, author Richard Hunter asks: "But what happens if the people faced with such a weapon can't just run away? What happens if they're trapped in a crowd, and the crowd can't move? How much pain must that crowd endure? How long can any member of the crowd be exposed to that weapon before his or her skin -- or their eyes -- simply cook off?"

Call For A Single World Currency

Once defined in terms of gold, its value will remain fixed and will be preserved through strict laws controlling its issuance, including quantitative annual ceilings that can never be exceeded. The world currency note will circulate along with national currencies, serve as a reserve asset, and become part of the international payments system. By becoming a full-fledged reserve asset, a world currency would cushion the real value of international reserves against inflationary policies of reserve currency centers and wide fluctuations in exchange rates. It would restrain extended balance of payments deficits of currency centers, and may contribute significantly to promoting financial stability and sustained world economic and trade growth. A third area for a world monetary reform is mandatory monetary discipline in member countries. While member countries in the euro zone have fully surrendered monetary sovereignty to the European Central Bank, reserve currency centers may have to surrender partially, not totally, their monetary prerogatives to a world central bank. Most indicated safeguards would be to establish rigorous annual ceilings on money supply not exceeding 5% a year (or a fixed multiple of a country's holdings of the constant purchasing power reserve currency above). Observing this law would be like observing the constitutional law of electing a US president for a four-year term. As constitutional laws have ruled over two centuries in the US and have preserved economic and political freedom, similar laws have to prevail in a monetary area to reduce discretionary powers of central bankers and attain monetary stability.

Bug Residents' Calls And Emails

Town hall snoopers used controversial anti-terror powers to delve into the phone and email records of thousands of people last year. They wanted to check for evidence of dog smuggling and storing petrol without permission - and even to trace a suspected bogus faith healer. In one case they were inquiring into unburied animal carcasses. Some councils are allowing middle-ranking staff to authorise covert operations under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which is intended for use 'in the interests of national security'. Many of those spied upon will have no idea they have been subjected to surveillance, as those who are innocent have no right to know. Last night Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'This is a stark demonstration of how the surveillance society has got out of control with the improper use of very broad powers - powers that the public would expect to be used only for serious crime and security threats.'

Building the Real Iron Man

While audiences flood theaters this month to see the comic-book-inspired Iron Man, a real-life mad genius toils in a secret mountain lab to make the mechanical superhuman more than just a fantasy with the XOS Exoskeleton. Four men with rifles guard a thick, rusted steel door. Bam! A huge fist pounds against it—from inside. Bam! More blows dent the steel. The hinges strain. The guards cower, inching backward. Whatever's trying to break out is big. And angry. The door flies open, and a metallic giant bursts through. It looks like a robot but, hidden inside, famed weapons designer Tony Stark maneuvers the mechanical beast. Bullets bounce off the suit, barely denting his armor. He levels the guards with one swat. Outside, he stares down the enemy camp around him, switches on the flamethrowers in his arms, and roasts the joint. Utah. A secret mountain lab. Software engineer Rex Jameson backs into a headless metal suit that's hanging from a steel I-beam by a thick rubber cord. He clicks into the aluminum boots, tightens belts across his legs and waist, and slides his arms through backpack-like straps, gripping handles where hands would be. It looks as easy as slipping into an overcoat. Then he moves, and the machine comes to life, shadowing his every motion. He raises his fists and starts firing sharp jabs while bouncing from one foot to the other. He's not quite Muhammad Ali, but he's wearing 150 pounds and he looks light. He could easily knock a nearby coder to the floor, or fling one over a desk—but even more impressive, he could do it all day. To show off his superhuman endurance, he walks over to a weight rack and yanks down a bar loaded with 200 pounds. Then he does it again. And again. He stops somewhere around 50, but he's been known to rip through 500 reps in a row. Even then, he quits out of boredom, not fatigue. It's fantasy versus reality, and the spread is shrinking. The latter, the XOS, is the latest and arguably most advanced exoskeleton in existence, developed by one-man idea factory Steve Jacobsen and the engineers at Sarcos, a robotics company he started in 1983 that was recently purchased by the defense giant Raytheon. In the past seven years, a handful of engineers have taken the military's 40-year-old fantasy of mechanically enhanced soldiers that can carry heavy loads and begun to make it real. Funded with millions from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Jacobsen and others have finally begun marrying artificial muscles and control systems into suits that could soon be available to soldiers, firemen and the wheelchair-bound. There are still serious challenges—powering these wearable robots, for one—but Sarcos's XOS, the most capable full-body suit, one that moves seamlessly with its wearer, has even the comic's creators feeling like the real world is catching up to their vision. After Adi Granov, one of the main illustrators of the comic and a consultant to the film, watched a clip of the suit in action, he was startled. "I knew that's where we were heading, but I didn't realize we were this close," Granov says. Aside from the lack of flight and weapons, he adds, "that's Iron Man."

Secret Of Stonehenge Solved ?

The riddle of Stonehenge as intrigued historians for nearly 2,000 years. More is known about the origins of the Moon that the world's most famous stone circle. Some say the monument - with its careful alignment to the midsummer solstice - was a giant calendar or observatory. Others insist it was a temple of healing - or a massive cathedral to some long forgotten gods. Now a team led by Prof Mike Parker Pearson, of Sheffield University, argue that it was temple of the dead, and used as a cemetery for at least 500 years. The first phase Stonehenge, built in 3000 BC, was a ditch and bank, dug out with animal bones and deer antlers, which enclosed a circle of 56 holes. The holes could have housed wooden posts, but no traces have ever been found. Around 2600 BC, the site was transformed when 82 huge bluestones, some weighing four tons, were brought from Pembrokeshire, Wales, 200 miles away and placed in two circles inside the earthworks. And 150 years later, the ancient Britons mined giant "sarsen" 50 ton stones at Marlborough, cut them to shape and rolled them on sledges and tree trunks 25 miles south to Stonehenge. The bluestones were dug up and repositioned, and the sarsens added – creating the “modern” Stonehenge.

Tony Blair: Unite All Religions

On the eve of the launch of his “faith foundation”, the former prime minister also said faith had given him the courage to make unpopular decisions he knew were right during his 10 years in office. In an interview with Time magazine, Mr Blair said faith could be “a civilising force in globalisation”, bringing different peoples together to solve the world’s problems. He argued: “Faith is part of our future, and faith and the values it brings with it are an essential part of making globalisation work.” Mr Blair’s foundation, which will be officially launched in New York today, will attempt to bring religions together to tackle major global issues such as the UN’s eight millennium development goals, which range from eradicating extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability. “This is how I want to spend the rest of my life,” he said. In an accompanying video, Mr Blair said he had spent “decades” thinking about setting up the foundation — including when he was still prime minister.

Military: Thousands More Warbots

In December, after all the lawsuits, the private eyes and the backroom deals, iRobot finally wrestled away the biggest ground-robotics contract in military history from its former employee and his secret partner. This "unmanned surge" was worth up to $286 million and 3,000 machines. And it didn't look like it would be topped any time soon. But appearances can be deceiving in the world of military robots. Turns out, there's been a second unmanned surge. And yesterday, iRobot's rival, Foster-Miller, announced that it had won the contract to supply it. The five-year deal is worth up to $400 million. And it will cover thousands of Talon bomb-handling robots and spare parts -- maybe between 2,000 and 4,000 robots, F-M executive Bob Quinn tells Xconomy. That would more than double the 2,000 Talons already in the field, finding and getting rid of improvised explosives. If all the robots are actually ordered under this "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity" contract, that is. Once the absolute darling of military bomb squads, the rugged, easy-to-drive Talon now has a more serious competitor in iRobot's upgraded Packbot. With the number of bombs dropping overall in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with a beefed-up rival, is there really room to double the number of Talon machines?

Bird Flu Outbreak 'Highly Pathogenic'

An outbreak of the H7 strain of bird flu at a farm in central England is "highly pathogenic," officials said Wednesday. All the chickens on the farm have been slaughtered following detection of the virus, which does not pose a high risk to humans, at the farm in Banbury, Oxfordshire late Tuesday. "The Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed that the strain of H7 avian influenza present in laying hens at the farm in Banbury is highly pathogenic," the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in statement. Highly pathogenic means that the virus has a relatively high ability to produce disease.

Ending the debate: Shroud of Turin

That is the question posed by Olga Negnevitsky, a conservator at the Israel Museum who was involved in the conservation of the lesser-known shroud for the Antiquities Authority after it was discovered inside a small cave near Jericho. The idea to use the older shroud to learn more about the famous one came to Negnevitsky this week after she listened to an address on the Shroud of Turin at the International Art Conference in Jerusalem on the conservation of cultural and environmental heritage. "If we reexamine the [Jericho] shroud with all the latest modern technology, then maybe we will find out more information that will help solve the secrets of the Shroud of Turin," Negnevitsky said. The finely-decorated shroud, which is 7 meters by 2 m., was found by Israeli archeologists at the entrance to what has been dubbed the Cave of the Warrior, during a search for additional Dead Sea Scrolls near Wadi el-Makkukah. Instead of finding biblical scrolls, the archeologists stumbled on the 6,000-year-old tomb of a nobleman whose body was wrapped in an elaborate linen shroud. The skeleton was accompanied by a long flint blade, wooden bowls, sandals of thick leather, and bows. The shroud, like the Shroud of Turin, had signs of blood on it, likely from a wound suffered by the bandaged warrior, Negnevitsky said. After painstaking preservation, the shroud was displayed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1998 and then at the Israel Museum in 2003 before being placed in the storeroom of the Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem, she said. The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth, about 4.3 m. long and 90 cm. wide, that is kept in a cathedral in Turin, Italy. It bears the faint image of a blood-covered man and is believed by some to be Jesus's burial cloth. A 1998 radiocarbon test dated the cloth from some time between 1260 and 1390 CE, ruling out any connection with Jesus. Other studies suggested that the radiocarbon test was flawed and that the shroud was anywhere from 1,300 to 3,000 years old. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have said that pollen and plant images on it put its origins in Jerusalem sometime before the eighth century. Despite numerous tests carried out over the years, the Shroud of Turin, which was first documented in 1357 in Lirey, France, has remained a puzzle as debate continues over whether it is a major Christian find, a fascinating example of medieval folk art, or a fraud. The hope is that, provided the Antiquities Authority gives the go-ahead, a comparison with the Jericho-area shroud - found relatively near where scholars believe the Shroud of Turin was discovered - will lead to a more accurate estimate of the latter shroud's age, as well as other information. "This is another source that could shed light on the mystery of the Shroud of Turin," said Prof. Amos Notea of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, who is the Israel chairman of the conservation conference that brought together scholars from around the world. "It was here the whole time, but no one connected it until now," Notea said.

The Demonic Roots of Globalism

One can view our world and its history...as a crazy quilt of happenstance -- of unplanned, unrelated events. Or we can see in all of this a pattern, a slow moving forward of human history towards a goal, a climactic event... Changes that affect an entire society never happen overnight, although it may seem that way to many people... Over a period of many decades, the foundation has been laid, one stone at a time, for a deception in the minds of men that would engulf not only this nation, but the entire world.
We are told in the Bible that there is a being capable of such an undertaking. His name is Lucifer... He was a member of God's highest order of created beings, an angelic prince, and his name means "light-bearer". Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19 tell us much about his character and of God's judgement upon him. When he was cast out from the mountain of God, he lost his high and holy position before "the Ancient of Days"; but he lost none of his incredible, supernatural intelligence and power. There are two [deceptions] that serve his purpose... The first is to cast doubt on God's Word, to twist and change it to mean something entirely different from what God originally intended... The second tactic is to convince us that we have the right, the ability, and the power within us to become like God. Lucifer knows very well that this is no more possible for us than it was for him.

Nuclear Bomb Blueprints For Sale

Nuclear bomb blueprints and manuals on how to manufacture weapons-grade uranium for warheads are feared to be circulating on the international black market, according to investigators tracking the world's most infamous nuclear smuggling racket. Alarm about the sale of nuclear know-how follows the disclosure that the Swiss government, allegedly acting under US pressure, secretly destroyed tens of thousands of documents from a massive nuclear smuggling investigation. The information was seized from the home and computers of Urs Tinner, a 43-year-old Swiss engineer who has been in custody for almost four years as a key suspect in the nuclear smuggling ring run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani metallurgist who in 2004 admitted leaking nuclear secrets and is under house arrest in Islamabad.

Canadian Federation: Ban Pro-Life Groups

This past weekend the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) held its semi-annual Assembly, during which a motion was brought forward by the York Federation of Students (YFS from York University) to effectively shut down any official recognition of campus pro-life groups. CFS, which purports to represent "over one-half million students from more than 80 university and college students' unions across Canada", will use students monies, including those from pro-life students to advocate for abortion and to curtail the pro-life message from campuses.

Robots Could Soon Wander Antarctica

Robotic rovers have patrolled deep space and the deepest seas, but scientists are still struggling to create drones that can overcome the multiple challenges of exploring Antarctica. Georgia Tech researchers think the SnoMote — a small robot designed like a snowmobile — will be able to deal with the nasty weather and with slippery terrain that constantly cracks and shifts. They envision dozens of SnoMotes roving Antarctica's vast expanses to add to data already collected by satellites and a handful of weather stations and sensors.

Billboards That Look Back

In advertising these days, the brass ring goes to those who can measure everything — how many people see a particular advertisement, when they see it, who they are. All of that is easy on the Internet, and getting easier in television and print. Billboards are a different story. For the most part, they are still a relic of old-world media, and the best guesses about viewership numbers come from foot traffic counts or highway reports, neither of which guarantees that the people passing by were really looking at the billboard, or that they were the ones sought out. Now, some entrepreneurs have introduced technology to solve that problem. They are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about passers-by — their gender, approximate age and how long they looked at the billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database. Behind the technology are small start-ups that say they are not storing actual images of the passers-by, so privacy should not be a concern. The cameras, they say, use software to determine that a person is standing in front of a billboard, then analyze facial features (like cheekbone height and the distance between the nose and the chin) to judge the person’s gender and age. So far the companies are not using race as a parameter, but they say that they can and will soon. The goal, these companies say, is to tailor a digital display to the person standing in front of it — to show one advertisement to a middle-aged white woman, for example, and a different one to a teenage Asian boy. “Everything we do is completely anonymous,” said Paolo Prandoni, the founder and chief scientific officer of Quividi, a two-year-old company based in Paris that is gearing up billboards in the United States and abroad. Quividi and its competitors use small digital billboards, which tend to play short videos as advertisements, to reach certain audiences. Over Memorial Day weekend, a Quividi camera was installed on a billboard on Eighth Avenue near Columbus Circle in Manhattan that was playing a trailer for “The Andromeda Strain,” a mini-series on the cable channel A&E. “I didn’t see that at all, to be honest,” said Sam Cocks, a 26-year-old lawyer, when the camera was pointed out to him by a reporter. “That’s disturbing. I would say it’s arguably an invasion of one’s privacy.” Meanwhile, privacy concerns about cameras are growing. In Britain, which has an estimated 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras — one for every 14 people — the matter has become a hot political issue, with some legislators proposing tight restrictions on the use and distribution of the footage. Reactions to the A&E billboard in Manhattan were mixed. “I don’t want to be in the marketing,” said Antwann Thomas, 17, a high school junior, after being told about the camera. “I guess it’s kind of creepy. I wouldn’t feel safe looking at it.” But other passers-by shrugged. “Someone down the street can watch you looking at it — why not a camera?” asked Nathan Lichon, 25, a Navy officer. Walter Peters, 39, a truck driver for a dairy, said: “You could be recorded on the street, you could be recorded in a drugstore, whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. There’s cameras everywhere.”

Finding God And Hidden Dimensions

When the world's most powerful subatomic particle collider begins gathering data this summer, it will be a major milestone for a number of University of Washington scientists. The UW, led by professors Henry Lubatti in physics and Colin Daly in mechanical engineering, played a central role in designing and fabricating nearly 90,000 tubes that are key to the workings of the Atlas detector. Atlas is one of six particle physics experiments that are part of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. Physicists the world over are hoping that Atlas will help unlock some deep scientific mysteries and perhaps even lead to discovery of the Higgs boson, sometimes called "the God particle" because it is believed its discovery will refine the understanding of exactly how the universe came to be and how it functions, and how mass came to be in the first place.

Global Governance By Proxy

Our government and a myriad of multinational corporations have decided that we aren’t informed enough to make the decisions that affect our world. We the people have allowed the government to essentially go into ‘cruise control’. While the majority of Americans slumber our nation is being transformed and the governmental power structure has been taken out of the hands of elected officials. The true power is being wielded by non-governmental organizations. Under the auspices of the United Nations numerous NGOs have amassed enormous power and influence. These loosely organized groups have no responsibility to report to the American people and that is how they have operated unmolested.

US: Iranian warhead blueprint 'alarming'

A ranking International Atomic Energy Agency official called Teheran's possession of a drawing showing how to make part of an atomic warhead "alarming" May 29 and said the onus is on Iran to prove it had not tried to develop nuclear arms, said diplomats attending a closed briefing. The US said the evidence detailed by IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen increased concerns that Teheran had tried to make such weapons. "Today's briefing showed ... strong reasons to suspect that Iran was working covertly and deceitfully at least until recently to build a bomb," Gregory L. Schulte, the chief US delegate to the agency, told reporters. Rejecting the allegation, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Schulte's Iranian counterpart, again dismissed the evidence as "baseless and fabricated documents and papers." Separately, a senior diplomat suggested the agency was not accepting as fact US intelligence estimates that the Islamic Republic stopped active pursuit of nuclear weapons five years ago. Queried on documents in the agency's possession possibly linked to research in such weapons and bearing dates into early 2004, he told The Associated Press that the IAEA was reserving its judgment on whether they indicated nuclear weapons work past 2003 until it finished its own investigations. The diplomats quoted Heinonen as saying that Iran's possession of a drawing showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of a warhead was "alarming" - even though it was not the ultimate key to making a nuclear weapon - because it raised questions about why a non-nuclear weapons state would want to have it.

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skulls

I'm a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, especially the first one. I'll never forget that huge stone rolling down the narrow passageway, of the temple while Jones, clutching the prized 'idol', in his hands, ran for his life. I loved the fact that the Nazi's were the bad guys and I was fascinated about the idea that the Ark of the Covenant could have been hidden away for millennia, only to be discovered in the modern era! The title of the new movie refers to the crystal skulls, a collection of skulls, in which each one was carved out of a single block of quartz. I had researched them a few years back and found them fascinating, although their origins spurious. So with the title of the movie hooking me and with fond memories of the first of the series, my wife and I headed toward a matinee. I loved the opening scene of the movie, especially when the viewer finds himself or herself in the old warehouse that the Ark of the Covenant was stored in, at the end of the first movie. It's a nice cinematic touch. What happens next put me on the edge of my seat. There is something that the Russians - who are the bad guys in this adventure - are desperately seeking for and even accuse Indiana of observing it eight years earlier. I'll cut to the chase and say that what they find is the body of a retrieved alien from the 1947 Roswell crash site, and with it the missing crystal skull.
It seems that there is one skull, out of thirteen, that is missing and, as legend would have it, the person who finds the skull and returns it to the temple - where the other crystal skulls are - will receive all wisdom and knowledge. So the race is on to place the missing skull in its appropriate place. We then cut to a short lecture on the Nazca lines. For those of you who aren't familiar with these they are a series of large 'sketches' that are etched, into the bleak desert terrain of the Nazca Plateau in Peru. The Nazca lines were not discovered until the invention of the airplane, when from high above the etchings on the desert floor became visible. This begs the questions, why would anyone create a series of very large drawings that were only visible from the air? After cliff hanging car chases, through the fire ant infested jungle, Jones and crew along with the Russians, who have been in hot pursuit wind up at the secret location of a long lost Mayan Temple. So what's the big deal? The Russians take control of the situation and the skull is placed on the headless skeleton of one of the thirteen seated crystal skeletons sitting in a circle. And that's when the 'magic' begins. The skeletons suddenly come together as one compresses against the other and finally we see… E.T., the extraterrestrial, large and ominous looking. This takes everyone by surprise, but wait there's more. Suddenly the Mayan temple begins to crumble as something begins to surface from deep below it. Jones and crew stand in awe as a huge flying saucer, UFO, MOTHER SHIP is revealed. It creates a cyclone effect, as it begins to take off, swirling trees, boulders, parts of the temple and anything else that's not nailed down, around it. Finally it fly's off! Jones asks, “Where did it go, outer space?” He is quickly set straight, as his sagacious mentor explains, “No Indy, it's interdimensional.” Now let's take a minute and walk through this. First, the implications are that the god's of the Mayans' were in fact Extraterrestrials. It's good that the producers and writers picked a dead religion, one that is basically extinct so they're not offending anyone by saying that that E.T. is god, or created the gods that 'primitive' man worshipped. But isn't this a step away from declaring that all the religions of the world were started and manipulated by E.T.? Is there an agenda that ties in with what I would call the coming great deception? In my book Politics, Prophecy & the Supernatural I quote from an author who believes that all the religions of the world were in fact started by E.T. His name is Barry Downing and his book is called The Bible and Flying Saucers. "…But I very much suspect that the ascension cloud was the same UFO which led the Israelites through the Red Sea, gave Moses the commandments, carried Elijah into heaven, 'descended' like a dove at the baptism of Jesus, perhaps carried away bodily at the ascension. This was probably the same 'cloud', which brought two men to meet Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration and probably the same UFO, which brought angels to the Shepherds at Christmas…" So there you have it! Downing embraces, in a nutshell, what I would call the “Alien Gospel,” which is synonymous with the subtitle of my book The Coming Great Deception and the Luciferian End Game. Simply put, the “alien gospel” will reveal that the “aliens” created humankind by genetically manipulating primitive man (early humans) thousands of years ago; therefore, they are, in fact, our progenitors. Hence they will present the supposed missing link in human evolution. They will claim that they are responsible for genetically engineering the leap between ape and humans. This, of course, will dovetail neatly with Darwin's theory of evolution that has been taught now for over a century as a fact, not a theory. The idea that aliens, or E. T. were directly involved in the miracles and /or supernatural events that are the foundations for the world's major religions will cause the great deception that will draw people away from what I believe is the truth of the Gospel - and replace it with a lie. With the recent statement released by the Vatican announcing that E.T. is our “brother,” and we should embrace him coupled with the landing on Mars. Is all of this leading up to full disclosure, of an extraterrestrial presence? Are we about to witness, what might be the most pivotal event in history? You'll have to make up your own mind on the issue as to where you stand, but in my opinion, we are being set up for the greatest deception mankind has ever witnessed. In the words of Jesus……Even the elect would be deceived, if that were possible.

North American Parliament under way

A group supporting North American integration is holding its fourth annual "North American Model Parliament" for 100 university students from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The North American Forum on Integration, or NAFI, began is "Triumvirate" sessions recently in Montreal's City Hall with a plan to conclude on May 30. According to the NAFI website, "Triumvirate 2008" brings together the students "to participate in an international negotiation exercise in which they will simulate a parliamentary meeting between North American political actors." Participants are assigned to play one of three roles: a legislator, representing a country other than their own; a journalist; or a lobbyist. Four themes were selected as subjects of the mock parliament's debate: Fostering Renewable Electricity Markets (in English); Countering North American corporate outsourcing (in French); Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (in English); and NAFTA's Chapter 11 on investments (in English). A major goal of the model parliament, according to the NAFI Triumvirate website, is to "develop the participants' sense of belonging to North America." Raymond Chretien, the president of the Triumvirate and the former Canadian ambassador to both Mexico and the U.S., was quoted as claiming the exercise was intended to be more than academic. "The creation of a North American parliament, such as the one being simulated by these young people, should be considered," Among the NAFI board of directors are Robert A. Pastor, Ph.D., former director of the Center for North American Studies at American University; and M. Stephen Blank, Ph.D., director of the North American Center for Transborder Studies at Arizona State University. Pastor has written extensively on his proposal for the creation of a "North American Community,"

Al-Qaeda's vision of Nuked America

Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead. This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb. It appeared as rumours swept the Internet that the FBI was warning that an Al Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use weapons of mass destruction to attack the West. The information was said to be coming from 'groups that monitor Islamic militant websites'. U.S. analysts said a lot of effort had been put into the video - entitled Nuclear Jihad, The Ultimate Terror - with graphics, music, and clips of different leaders and groups. The same expertise seems to have gone into creating an image of a devastated Washington. Al Sahab puts out more than 80 'officially sanctioned' videos a year to keep up the propaganda on the West. And the Internet shows how easy it is to stir up militancy. One message with a devasted Washington picture said: 'The next strike's in the heart of America. When? When? When? And How?' Last night FBI sources said Al Qaeda was desperate to get its hands on a weapon of mass destruction, be it nuclear, chemical, or biological.

FEMA's New Disaster Preparedness

After stumbling to get relief materials quickly to where they were needed following Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency set about transforming its logistics operation. “This is not just a modernization — we are building a completely new organization,” said Eric Smith, FEMA’s national logistics coordinator who is overseeing the project. FEMA is adding personnel, restructuring lines of command, establishing links with other federal agencies, partnering with private-sector firms and rethinking the entire supply chain, Smith said. “In April 2007, logistics was just a subdivision here,” Smith said. “We have now built a complete capability to respond to all disasters.”... The change at the top melds with changes all along the line. “Katrina showed we did not have the capability in place to replenish what we had,” Smith said. “Our reliance was too much on what we had in stock.” FEMA has developed several new approaches to disaster preparation. One is transparency: making visible to everyone concerned what FEMA has in stock — items such as blankets, generators and portable housing units.

World leaders to tackle food crisis

It has been described as a global crisis pushing 100 million people into hunger, threatening to stoke social and political turmoil and set the fight against world poverty back by seven years. Now, the food price crisis will be tackled by world leaders who meet in Rome next week to seek ways of reducing the suffering for the world's poorest people and ensure the Earth can produce more food to sustain an ever growing population. "It's time for action," said Jacques Diouf, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) who called the summit late last year before the full extent of the food price crisis was clear. World Bank President Robert Zoellick underlined the urgency of the problem, announcing $1.2 billion in loans and grant financing for countries struggling with food and fuel costs. "It is crucial that we focus on specific action," he said. "This is not an issue like HIV/AIDS where you need some research breakthrough. People know what to do." A combination of factors, including poor harvests, low stocks and rising demand, have collided over the last one to two years to cause massive, sudden rises in many food commodity prices which very few people saw coming.

Woman accused of being witch burned

An Indian woman accused of witchcraft was beaten, gagged and burnt to death in a remote eastern village, police said on May 30. The woman was dragged out of her home, her hands and legs tied and taken to a crematorium where she was set on fire in front of the village which ignored her screams for help. The incident took place in a tribal village in Orissa and occurred last week, but came to light on May 29 with the arrest of three villagers. The victim was murdered by the husband and relatives of a neighbour whose death was blamed on her witchcraft. Dozens of women are killed every year on suspicion of being witches or witch doctors in India, where superstition is widespread, especially in rural areas that lack an effective schooling system.

Vietnam reports "UFO" explosion

An unidentified flying object exploded in mid-air over a southern Vietnamese island, state media said, a day after Cambodia's air force retracted a report of a mysterious plane crash. The Vietnam News Agency said residents of Phu Quoc island, 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of the Cambodian province of Kampot, found shards of grey metal, including one 1.5 meters (1.5 yards) long. "The explosion happened at about 8 km (5 miles) above the ground, and perhaps it was a plane, but authorities could not identify whether it was a civil or military aircraft," VNA said in a report headlined "UFO explodes over Phu Quoc Island." Soldiers were sent out to look for wreckage and survivors, and local authorities contacted airlines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, but received no reports of missing aircraft, the official state news agency added. Villagers in Kampot said on May 27 that they had heard a loud explosion. They told Reuters they had found small chunks of metal near the coastline.

NY state: recognize gay marriages

New York state has instructed government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages conducted out of state or abroad, renewing debate on an issue that was used to rally conservatives in the last U.S. general election. The directive could impact everything from health insurance to public housing and organ donation. It was welcomed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which posted a copy on its Web site and said it was "a milestone in the fight for fairness." In the memo dated May 14 but not publicized at the time, Gov. David Paterson's legal counsel, David Nocenti, said state agencies that do not recognize gay marriages could be subject to liability. The directive follows a New York appeals court ruling in February that valid same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries must be recognized in New York. Gay marriage is a hot political issue in the United States. Massachusetts is the only U.S. state that allows same-sex marriage, while several states allow gay civil unions. Paterson's predecessor as governor, Eliot Spitzer, who resigned earlier this year, proposed legalizing same-sex marriage in New York last year but said at the time he expected such a bill to be rejected by the legislature. More than 25 states have constitutional amendments barring same-sex marriage, many of them approved in measures placed on the ballot for the 2004 presidential election. The amendments helped boost turnout of socially conservative voters, aiding Republican candidates, including President George W. Bush. In California, the state Supreme Court ruled this month that barring homosexuals from marrying violated the California Constitution. Opponents of gay marriage in California are preparing an amendment to the state constitution that could be on the ballot for this year's election in November.

Another 2nd Temple Quarry Uncovered

For the second time in the past year, archeologists have uncovered a Second Temple Period quarry whose stones were used to build the Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced recently. The latest archeological discovery was made in the city's Sanhedria neighborhood, located about two kilometers from the Old City of Jerusalem. The quarry was uncovered during a routine "salvage excavation" carried out by the state-run archeological body over the last several months ahead of the construction of a private house in the religious neighborhood.

Pet Cloning To Start In California

Start Licensing, Inc. (Start) today announced that it has granted a sole, worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species to BioArts International, Ltd. (BioArts) of Mill Valley, California. The license includes the grant of an exclusive option to BioArts for exclusivity in dog and cat cloning. “Our agreement strengthens BioArts’ position as the world’s leading quality provider of companion animal cloning services,” said Jonathan Thatcher, president of Start. Start Licensing’s patents include foundational nuclear transfer cloning technology developed at the Roslin Institute for the cloning of Dolly the sheep. By obtaining a license to certain aspects of these patents, BioArts will be able to employ a suite of sophisticated biotechnology tools to produce healthy cloned animals. “This license agreement allows us to leverage Start’s unique and vital international role to cement our own position in the global market. While other companies might claim capabilities in this area, BioArts is the only entity in the world with both the know-how and the legal right to practice commercial cat and dog cloning,” said Lou Hawthorne, Chief Executive Officer of BioArts.