10 most underreported stories of 2006 from WorldNetDaily

WND readers, editors compile annual 'Operation Spike' list Hosea 4:6a My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge... Ephesians 5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them The controversial movement to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada into what critics call a "North American Union" – in the face of what is already a massive, national illegal immigration and border security crisis – tops the list of the 10 most "spiked" or underreported stories of the last year, according to an annual WND survey. At the end of each year, news organizations typically present their retrospective replays of what they consider to have been the top news stories in the previous 12 months. WND's editors, however, have long considered it far more newsworthy to publicize the most important unreported or underreported news events of the year – to highlight perhaps for one last time major news stories that were undeservedly "spiked" by the establishment press. WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah has sponsored "Operation Spike" every year since 1988, and since founding WorldNetDaily in May 1997, he has continued the annual tradition. Here, with our readers' help, are WorldNetDaily editors' picks for the 10 most underreported stories of 2006: 1. Plans under way for North American Union: While most Americans consider their nation's unsecured borders and the resulting flood of illegal immigrants to be among the country's most dire problems, the U.S. government – inexplicably – is engaged in progressively de-emphasizing those borders while integrating the U.S., Mexico and Canada into a North American "superstate." Although most in the media regard the notion of a merger agenda as sheer conspiracy theory, an increasing number of high-level voices – including congressmen like Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul, and newsmen like CNN's Lou Dobbs who calls the government's actions on this issue "unconscionable" and "Orwellian" – are sounding the alarm over recent moves in the direction of a de facto North American Union. For example, confirmation has surfaced that the U.S. government will indeed provide full Social Security benefits to Mexicans – which critics predict will bankrupt the already-shaky system. And a report by the powerful Council on Foreign Relations, regarded by many as something of a "shadow government," has called for a massive transfer of wealth from the U.S. to Mexico and the establishment of a "security perimeter" around North America – rather than securing America's borders with Mexico and Canada. WND tells the whole story, as it's never been told before (including the possibility of a new North American currency, the "amero") in the January 2007 edition of its acclaimed Whistleblower magazine, titled "PREMEDITATED MERGER: How our leaders are stealthily transforming the U.S.A. into the North American Union." 2. Wave of murders and other crimes by illegal aliens: Though most of the media don't report it as such, and no government agencies are keeping tabs on it, there is an explosion of crime in the United States attributable to illegal aliens. Last month, for instance, WND reported that more Americans were murdered this year by illegal aliens than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since those military campaigns began. In another disturbing expose, WND reported that a wave of illegal-immigrant gang rapes is sweeping the U.S. while public officials and law-enforcement authorities fear drawing the link. As Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, a Ph.D. researcher of violent crimes, told WorldNetDaily: "It appears as if there is a fear that if this is honestly discussed, people will hate all illegal immigrants. So there is silence. … But in being silent about the rapes and murders, it is as if the victims never even existed." Even on the nation's highways, record high numbers of unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured drivers – many of whom are illegal aliens – are driving up the numbers of highway deaths in the U.S. 3. Female teachers sexually preying on their students: In one of the most sensational stories of the year, WND documented dozens of cases of female teachers having sex with their underage students – both male and female. Although local media covered individual cases, most of the national media – with the exception of WND – ignored the startling epidemic. One exception was Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, which had WND Executive Editor Joe Kovacs on to discuss the phenomenon. WND even devoted an entire issue of Whistleblower magazine to the subject, in an investigative report titled "PREDATORS." And WND Managing Editor David Kupelian delved in-depth into the reasons why the teacher-sex abuse scandal may eclipse even the Catholic Church's clergy sex-scandal. 4. Mideast terror leaders favor Democrats: Recently, al-Qaida's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, spilled the beans about which U.S. political party the Islamic terrorists prefer to be running the show here in America – the Democrats. Addressing the Democrats, he said: "… you aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen – the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq – are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost." Although it was obvious the terrorists would prefer the Democrats, especially in light of their willingness to "cut and run" in Iraq, WND alone among the major media actually canvassed key terror leaders before November's midterm election to see what their preferences were. "Of course Americans should vote Democrat," Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the infamous leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, told WND. "This is why American Muslims will support the Democrats, because there is an atmosphere in America that encourages those who want to withdraw from Iraq. It is time that the American people support those who want to take them out of this Iraqi mud," said Jaara, speaking to WND from exile in Ireland, where he was sent as part of an internationally brokered deal that ended the church siege. Muhammad Saadi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, said the Democrats' talk of withdrawal from Iraq makes him feel "proud." "As Arabs and Muslims we feel proud of this talk," he told WND. "Very proud from the great successes of the Iraqi resistance. This success that brought the big superpower of the world to discuss a possible withdrawal." Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, said the policy of withdrawal "proves the strategy of the resistance is the right strategy against the occupation." While the terror leaders each independently urged American citizens to vote for Democratic candidates, not all believed the Democrats would actually carry out a withdrawal from Iraq. Abu Abdullah commented that once Democrats are in power "the question is whether such a courageous leadership can [withdraw]. I am afraid that even after the American people will elect those who promise to leave Iraq, the U.S. will not do so. I tell the American people vote for withdrawal. Abandon Israel if you want to save America. Now will this happen? I do not believe it." 5. Manipulated war photos by major news outlets: Once again, in 2006 the blogging world played a vital truth-telling role, this time during the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. Even though Israel was attacked by Hezbollah – which daily fired rockets and mortars into Israel, killing and terrorizing civilians – world opinion turned strangely against Israel, as its incursion into Lebanon went on day after day. Widely published photographs by the world's major international news services conveyed the horror of Israel's "disproportionate response" to Hezbollah's murderous attacks on Israeli men, women and children. Some of the photos, however, were fraudulent – or, as one blogger dubbed the practice, examples of "fauxtography." Connecting the dots, WND columnist Michelle Malkin surveyed the journalistic carnage: It's the story that the journalistic elite would rather just go away. In the aftermath of Reuters' admission that one of its photographers, Adnan Hajj, had manipulated two war images from Lebanon after bloggers smoked out his crude Photoshop alterations, and all 920 of his Reuters photos were pulled, evidence of far more troubling photo staging and media deception in the Middle East continues to pour in. After citing other galling examples, Malkin noted: "Not all photographers overseas have their heads in the sand. Last week, Middle East-based photographer Bryan Denton, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, revealed on the professional photography website Light Stalkers that he had observed routine staging of photos – and even corpse-digging – by Lebanese stringers: "[I] have been witness to the daily practice of directed shots, one case where a group of wire photogs were choreographing the unearthing of bodies, directing emergency workers here and there, asking them to position bodies just so, even remove bodies that have already been put in graves so that they can photograph them in people[']s arms." Malkin also quotes CNN's Anderson Cooper, who "revealed the routine mechanics of Hezbollywood propaganda tours last week": "I was in Beirut, and they took me on this sort of guided tour of the Hezbollah-controlled territories in southern Lebanon that were heavily bombed ... they clearly want the story of civilian casualties out. That is their – what they're heavily pushing, to the point where on this tour I was on, they were just making stuff up. They had six ambulances lined up in a row and said, OK, you know, they brought reporters there, they said you can talk to the ambulance drivers. And then one by one, they told the ambulances to turn on their sirens and to zoom off, and people taking that picture would be reporting, I guess, the idea that these ambulances were zooming off to treat civilian casualties, when in fact, these ambulances were literally going back and forth down the street just for people to take pictures of them." 6. New revelation showing that contrary to his claims, Sandy Berger deliberately hid classified documents: The bizarre spectacle of Bill Clinton's National Security Adviser Sandy Berger receiving only a slap on the wrist for stealing classified documents and stuffing them in his clothes rated as one of the top 10 spiked stories for 2005. But a recent development in the case caused the story to shoot up the charts of the 2006 "spike" list as well. After it was first reported in July 2004, the criminal investigation of Berger – accused of pocketing highly classified terrorism documents prior to the Sept. 11 Commission hearings – virtually disappeared from the media. But just this month, it turns out that Berger – then one of the America's most trusted national security officials – was hiding classified documents under a construction trailer. As WND Editor Joseph Farah reports: We learn that his first "cover story" was that he might have inadvertently thrown the papers in the trash. We learn he admitted retrieving the documents he stashed under the construction trailer and brought them to his office. We learn the reason he was not confronted earlier – and that law enforcement authorities were not notified – was because of Berger's high-level position in the Clinton White House. And let's remember what Sandy Burglar was doing rummaging through classified materials in the National Archives. He was on assignment for former President Clinton, to help prepare him for upcoming testimony before the 9/11 commission as well as to prepare himself for impending testimony before the Senate and House intelligence committees. Specifically, he was reviewing National Security Council documents about Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Sudan. Now, as you might recall, if you have a very good memory, the Clinton administration was offered bin Laden's head on a platter by the Sudanese government – an offer spurned by the White House. The 9/11 commission was investigating the mistakes that led to the biggest attack on American soil in history. Why was the punishment for this high-profile security breach so minimal, and so underreported? Berger plea-bargained a criminal sentence on the charge of unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents. He got no prison time, was fined $50,000, was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and was barred from access to classified material for three years. Berger commands speaking fees of about $50,000. So, even if he indeed paid his own fine, he could do so with one speech. Also, the restriction on Berger's access to classified material ends in 2009 – making him eligible to be back in a sensitive position should his party win the White House in 2008. 7. Iran leader's apocalyptic end-times vision: While most of the reporting and analysis of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the U.N. focused on what he had to say about the West and specifically the U.S., his chilling closing remarks were lost on most listeners – and apparently all reporters as well. The last two paragraphs of his remarks revealed once again his steadfast and driving conviction, as reported in WND, that a messianic figure known as the "Mahdi" to Muslims is poised to reveal himself after an apocalyptic holocaust on Earth that leaves most of the world's population dead. "I emphatically declare that today's world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet," Ahmadinejad said at the U.N. "Oh, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause." With Iran on the verge of producing nuclear weapons and already in possession of sophisticated medium-range missiles, mystical pre-occupation with the coming of a Shiite Islamic messiah is of particular concern because of Iran's potential for triggering the kind of global conflagration Ahmadinejad envisions will set the stage for the end of the world. Ahmadinejad is on record as stating he believes he is to have a personal role in ushering in the age of the Mahdi. In a Nov. 16, 2005, speech in Tehran, he said he sees his main mission in life as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance." According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world. Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West. All Iran is buzzing about the Mahdi, the 12th imam and the role Iran and Ahmadinejad are playing in his anticipated return. There's a new messiah hotline. There are news agencies especially devoted to the latest developments. Ahmadinejad and others in Iran are deadly serious about the imminent return of the 12th imam, who will prompt a global battle between good and evil (with striking parallels to biblical accounts of "Armageddon"). Some interpretations of the events that precede his coming include a war that wipes out most of the world's population. 8. Two border agents face heavy prison time for injuring a drug smuggler they thought was armed: In one of the most disturbing stories of the year, two U.S. Border Patrol agents were sentenced to prison terms of 11 years and 12 years for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks as he fled across the U.S.-Mexico border. On Feb. 17, Alonso, 37, an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve and a former nominee for Border Patrol Agent of the Year, responded to a request for backup from Compean, 28, who had seen a suspicious van near the border town of Fabens, Texas. Both pursued a suspect, a drug smuggler by the name of Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who fled across the border to Mexico, but not before the agents saw what they believed to be a gun in his hands and heard shots fired. Both fired in return in an effort to stop his escape. Far from being awarded medals for heroism, the two agents were hit with charges of violating the illegal alien's civil rights. The suspect, with 800 pounds of marijuana in his van, was given full immunity from prosecution to testify against the agents. It turns out Border Patrol agents are forbidden from pursuing fleeing suspects. At Christmastime, Compean was joined by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist and representatives of other border-security groups at a rally asking President Bush to offer the two law enforcement officers a pardon. Rohrabacher, noting the president already has received a letter about the case from more than 50 Congress members, asked Americans to sign petitions and send e-mails and letters to the White House requesting a "Christmas pardon." Grassfire.org has an online petition calling on Bush to pardon the agents, with more than 150,000 signatures. "This is the greatest miscarriage of justice that I've seen in my career," Rohrabacher told WND. "Two brave Border Patrol agents trying to enforce the president's nonsensical border policy ending up being sent to prison, while an illegal alien drug smuggler is given immunity and walks free." The letter to Bush included the signatures of Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va. and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., the chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus. "We ask that a full investigation of this case be ordered immediately," the letter said. "We are confident that during such an investigation you will find that these Border Patrol agents were acting within the scope of their duty and were unjustly prosecuted. Also, we ask that you use your power of presidential pardon, as granted by the United States Constitution in Article II, Section 2, to pardon these two Border Patrol agents. We understand these requests usually are for those that have already completed their sentences; however, we feel in this case it would be a miscarriage of justice to send these two Border Patrol agents to prison for protecting our nation's borders from an illegal drug smuggler." 9. Mega-pastor Rick Warren praising Syria: Like Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle East nations, Syria is well-known for persecuting Christians, and is officially acknowledged as such by everyone from private groups like Christian Freedom International to the U.S. government. "For Christians, one of the core tenets is the ability to share your faith, but in Syria that can lead to arrest (and) persecution," CFI President Jim Jacobson told WND. "We list Syria as one of the top … countries where Christians are facing real persecution." If you convert from Islam to Christianity, he added, "you're disowned by your family, [and] if the local mosque issues a death threat, no one is going to do anything about it, you'll just end up dead. Nothing is done, no police action, that's just understood. If you convert you'd better leave the country." For those who already are Christian, the government allows them to practice their religion – but within harsh and restrictive guidelines. A Christian is not allowed to proselytize – ever. And churches that want to hold an extra service must get a government permit. Sermons are routinely monitored, as is church fundraising. The status of Christianity in Syria reached the headlines recently as Pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," visited there and was quoted by Syrian media describing it as a "moderate" nation. Warren also said in a video that was posted briefly on the Internet that Syria is a "moderate" nation, although the video was pulled when he was asked about the comment, and he has denied making those recordings. The audio from that video, however, was captured and can be heard here According to SANA, the Syrian government news service, Warren said "many Americans don't realize that both Christianity and Judaism are legal in Syria. In addition, the government provides free electricity and water to all churches; allows pastors to purchase a car tax-free (a tax break not given to Muslim imams); appoints pastors as Christian judges to handle Christian cases; and allows Christians to create their own civil law instead of having to follow Muslim law." In a series of widely read columns, WND Editor Joseph Farah publicly confronted Warren on his public defense of Syria as a moderate nation friendly to Christians, as well as numerous contradictions and apparent falsehoods in Warren's defense of his actions while in Syria and after. 10. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg snoozing for 15 minutes during oral arguments: The world's largest news organization, the Associated Press, gave it a two-sentence mention in the 16th paragraph of a story focusing on a political boundary case. Aside from Fox News which provided some coverage, very few in the media seemed to think a U.S. Supreme Court justice sleeping while hearing a case was newsworthy. But on March 1, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was snoozing during oral arguments over political redistricting in Texas. During a report by Megyn Kendall of Fox News, an artist's sketch of the hearing was aired with Ginsburg's head using the bench as a pillow. There was no word if there was any audible snoring echoing through the esteemed chamber, but the sleep session was noticed by Bader's colleagues who made a snap judgment to let their associate continue her slumber. "Justices David Souter and Samuel Alito, who flank the 72-year-old, looked at her but did not give her a nudge," the AP reported. The incident caught the attention of Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, who writes: "At first, she appeared to be reading something in her lap. But after a while, it became clear: Ginsburg was napping on the bench. By Bloomberg News's reckoning – not denied by a court spokeswoman – Ginsburg's snooze lasted a quarter of an hour. "It's lucky for Ginsburg that the Supreme Court has so far refused to allow television in the courtroom, for her visit to the land of nod would have found its way onto late-night shows." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53601 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Saddam Execution Fallout

Be Alert! News Briefs for W/E January 6, 2007

Alert Focus: Nation rising against nation / The Fruit of Islam

Matthew 24:7a "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,…

Saddam: From monster to martyr? How Bush and Blair's choices have led to disaster in Iraq, culminating in a chaotic execution that is fuelling civil war THE INDEPENDENT - By Patrick Cockburn - January 4, 2007 -- It takes real genius to create a martyr out of Saddam Hussein. Here is a man dyed deep with the blood of his own people who refused to fight for him during the United States-led invasion three-and-a-half years ago. His tomb in his home village of Awja is already becoming a place of pilgrimage for the five million Sunni Arabs of Iraq who are at the core of the uprising. During his trial, Saddam himself was clearly trying to position himself to be a martyr in the cause of Iraqi independence and unity and Arab nationalism. His manifest failure to do anything effective for these causes during the quarter of a century he misruled Iraq should have made his task difficult. But an execution which vied in barbarity with a sectarian lynching in the backstreets of Belfast 30 years ago is elevating him to heroic status in the eyes of the Sunni - the community to which most Arabs belong - across the Middle East. The old nostrum of Winston Churchill that "grass may grow on the battlefield but never under the gallows" is likely to prove as true in Iraq as it has done so frequently in the rest of the world. Nor is the US likely to be successful in claiming that the execution was purely an Iraqi affair. Many Iraqis recall that the announcement of the verdict on Saddam sentencing him to death was conveniently switched last year to 5 November, the last daily news cycle before the US mid-term elections. The US largely orchestrated the trial from behind the scenes. Yesterday the Iraqi government arrested an official who supervised the execution for making the mobile-phone video that has stirred so much controversy. The Iraqi Shia and Kurds are overwhelmingly delighted that Saddam is in his grave. But the timing of his death at the start of the Eid al-Adha feast makes his killing appear like a deliberate affront to the Sunni community. The execution of his half-brother Barzan in the next few days will confirm it in its sense that it is the target of an assault by the majority Shia. Why was the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki so keen to kill Saddam Hussein? First, there is the entirely understandable desire for revenge. Members of the old opposition to Saddam Hussein are often blamed for their past ineffectiveness but most lost family members to his torture chambers and execution squads. Every family in Iraq lost a member to his disastrous wars or his savage repressions. There is also a fear among Shia leaders that the US might suddenly change sides. This is not as outlandish as it might at first appear. The US has been cultivating the Sunni in Iraq for the past 18 months. It has sought talks with the insurgents. It has tried to reverse the de-Baathification campaign. US commentators and politicians blithely talk about eliminating the anti-American Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and fighting his militia, the Mehdi Army. No wonder Shias feel that it is better to get Saddam under the ground just as quickly as possible. Americans may have forgotten that they were once allied to him but Iraqis have not. … http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2124262.ece

New U.N. Secretary-General in Early Flap ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Edith M. Lederer - January 2, 2007 -- UNITED NATIONS -- New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution when he failed to state the United Nations' opposition to the death penalty and said capital punishment should be a decision of individual countries. The U.N. has an official stance opposing capital punishment and Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan reiterated it frequently. The top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, restated it again on Saturday after the former Iraqi dictator was hanged. Ban, however, took a different approach, never mentioning the U.N. ban on the death penalty in all its international tribunals, and the right to life enshrined in the U.N. Charter. … http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/02/D8MDE8K00.html

Vatican Daily Denounces Images of Saddam ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Frances D'emilio - January 2, 2007 -- VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican's official newspaper on Tuesday decried media images of Saddam Hussein's hanging as a "spectacle" violating human rights and harming efforts to promote reconciliation in Iraq. The Vatican, which opposes the death penalty, was among the first voices abroad to denounce Saddam's execution Saturday, saying then that it was "tragic news," even in the case of someone guilty of grave crimes, and expressing worry that it could fuel revenge and fresh violence. Also Tuesday, the Italian government said it will take "formal steps" in a renewed push for a U.N. call for a moratorium on the death penalty. The premier's office said Italy would seek the support of other countries that oppose capital punishment to put the issue of a moratorium to the U.N. General Assembly. … http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/02/D8MDBFH80.html

Overkill: U.S. military tried to delay holiday hanging WORLD TRIBUNE - January 2, 2007 -- BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military is bracing for major strikes in Iraq following the execution of ousted President Saddam Hussein. Military sources said the Saddam execution was seen as a Shi'ite attempt to demoralize the Sunni community on Id Al Adha, the most joyous holiday on the Islamic calendar. The sources said they expect Saddam loyalists as well as Al Qaida to conduct major strikes against the majority Shi'ite community as well as assassinate members of the Shi'ite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki. [So far, Sunni insurgents have been targeting Shi'ite civilians in wake of the Saddam execution, Middle East Newsline reported. More than 120 Shi'ites were killed in explosions in the Baghdad area in weekend attacks attributed to Al Qaida.] The sources said the U.S. military sought to delay the execution of Saddam until after Id Al Adha. But the sources said Al Maliki insisted that Saddam be executed without delay. He was hanged on Dec. 30. …http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/07/front2454103.1104166666.html

Iraq Orders Closure of TV Station Office

ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Christopher Torchia - January 1, 2007 -- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Iraqi government Monday ordered the closure of the Baghdad office of a Dubai-based television station whose newscaster wore black mourning clothes while reporting on the hanging of Hussein. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the Al-Sharqiya station, owned by a former chief of radio and television for Saddam, had incited violence and hatred in its coverage and had ignored warnings to stop. Brigadier Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman, said the order was issued after an allegedly false report by the news channel about the abduction of three Sunni Arab female students from a university. But the order also followed criticism of the tone of Al-Sharqiya's coverage of Saturday's execution, which struck some as sympathetic to the ousted dictator. ...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070101/D8MCNASG0.html

Iraq PM Orders Probe of Saddam Execution ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Christopher Torchia - January 2, 2007 -- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister ordered an investigation Tuesday into Saddam Hussein's execution to try to uncover who taunted the former dictator in the last minutes of his life, and who leaked inflammatory footage taken by camera phone of the hanging. The unofficial video, on which at least one person is heard shouting "To hell!" at the deposed president and Saddam is heard exchanging insults with his executioners, dealt a blow to Iraq's efforts to prove it was a neutral enforcer of the law. Instead, the emotional, politicized spectacle raised tensions between the Shiite majority and Sunni Arabs who ran the country until their benefactor, Saddam, was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. A prosecutor who saw the hanging said some of the taunting came from guards outside the execution chamber, not the masked ones who put the noose around Saddam's neck. … http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070102/D8MDEJOO0.html

Saddam's execution cited in boy's accidental hanging death ASSOCIATED PRESS - January 4, 2007 -- HOUSTON -- Police and family members said a 10-year-old boy who died by hanging himself from a bunk bed was apparently mimicking the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Sergio Pelico was found dead Sunday in his apartment bedroom in the Houston-area city of Webster, said Webster police Lt. Tom Claunch. Pelico's mother told police he had previously watched a news report on Saddam's death. "It appears to be accidental," Claunch said. "Our gut reaction is that he was experimenting." … http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=4904242

Another 'Saddam suicide' SOUTH AFRICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION / AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - January 4, 2007 -- Kolkata, India -- A 15-year-old girl from eastern India hanged herself in response to the execution of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, police and family members said on Thursday. "She said they had hanged a patriot. We didn't take her seriously when she told us that she wanted to feel the pain Saddam did during the execution," the girl's father, Manmohan Karmakar, told AFP by phone from the town of Kharda. He said his daughter, called Moon Moon, had become extremely depressed after watching Saddam's execution on television. "She kept watching the scene over and again and didn't take food on Saturday and Sunday to protest the hanging," he said. Police superintendent Pravin Kumar confirmed the suicide, saying the girl had strung herself up from a ceiling fan and was found dead early on Wednesday. The communist-ruled state of West Bengal has condemned Saturday's execution of Saddam, with thousands of people taking to the streets.http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2051037,00.html

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Forget motorway congestion - this is a traffic jam

Daniel 12:4b ...many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

THE DAILY MAIL [LONDON] - January 5, 2007 -- The M25, central London, the Autobahn...if you thought these roads were traffic-congested then take a look at this picture. Hundreds of cars queue aimlessly for the chance to actually get to their destination in Xiamen, south China. The country has experienced a massive increase this year in the sale of cars, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=426647&in_page_id=1811&ito=1490

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons

Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order RINF NEWS - By Keay Davidson - December 29, 2006 -- The U.S. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power source — antimatter, the eerie “mirror” of ordinary matter — in future weapons.... Following an initial inquiry from The Chronicle this summer, the Air Force forbade its employees from publicly discussing the antimatter research program. Still, details on the program appear in numerous Air Force documents distributed over the Internet prior to the ban. These include an outline of a March 2004 speech by an Air Force official who, in effect, spilled the beans about the Air Force’s high hopes for antimatter weapons. On March 24, Kenneth Edwards, director of the “revolutionary munitions” team at the Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was keynote speaker at the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) conference in Arlington, Va. In that talk, Edwards discussed the potential uses of a type of antimatter called positrons. Physicists have known about positrons or “antielectrons” since the early 1930s, when Caltech scientist Carl Anderson discovered a positron flying through a detector in his laboratory. That discovery, and the later discovery of “antiprotons” by Berkeley scientists in the 1950s, upheld a 1920s theory of antimatter proposed by physicist Paul Dirac. In 1929, Dirac suggested that the building blocks of atoms — electrons (negatively charged particles) and protons (positively charged particles) — have antimatter counterparts: antielectrons and antiprotons. One fundamental difference between matter and antimatter is that their subatomic building blocks carry opposite electric charges. Thus, while an ordinary electron is negatively charged, an antielectron is positively charged (hence the term positrons, which means “positive electrons”); and while an ordinary proton is positively charged, an antiproton is negative. The real excitement, though, is this: If electrons or protons collide with their antimatter counterparts, they annihilate each other. In so doing, they unleash more energy than any other known energy source, even thermonuclear bombs. The energy from colliding positrons and antielectrons “is 10 billion times … that of high explosive,” Edwards explained in his March speech. Moreover, 1 gram of antimatter, about 1/25th of an ounce, would equal “23 space shuttle fuel tanks of energy.” Thus “positron energy conversion,” as he called it, would be a “revolutionary energy source” of interest to those who wage war. It almost defies belief, the amount of explosive force available in a speck of antimatter — even a speck that is too small to see. For example: One millionth of a gram of positrons contain as much energy as 37.8 kilograms (83 pounds) of TNT, according to Edwards’ March speech. A simple calculation, then, shows that about 50-millionths of a gram could generate a blast equal to the explosion (roughly 4,000 pounds of TNT, according to the FBI) at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Unlike regular nuclear bombs, positron bombs wouldn’t eject plumes of radioactive debris. When large numbers of positrons and antielectrons collide, the primary product is an invisible but extremely dangerous burst of gamma radiation. Thus, in principle, a positron bomb could be a step toward one of the military’s dreams from the early Cold War: a so-called “clean” superbomb that could kill large numbers of soldiers without ejecting radioactive contaminants over the countryside. A copy of Edwards’ speech onNIAC’s Web site emphasizes this advantage of positron weapons in bright red letters: “No Nuclear Residue.” But talk of “clean” superbombs worries critics. ” ‘Clean’ nuclear weapons are more dangerous than dirty ones because they are more likely to be used,” said an e-mail from science historian George Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., author of “Project Orion,” a 2002 study on a Cold war-era attempt to design a nuclear spaceship. Still, Dyson adds, antimatter weapons are “a long, long way off.” Why so far off? One reason is that at present, there’s no fast way to mass produce large amounts of antimatter from particle accelerators. With present techniques, the price tag for 100-billionths of a gram of antimatter would be $6 billion, according to an estimate by scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and elsewhere, who hope to launch antimatter-fueled spaceships. Another problem is the terribly unruly behavior of positrons whenever physicists try to corral them into a special container. Inside these containers, known as Penning traps, magnetic fields prevent the antiparticles from contacting the material wall of the container — lest they annihilate on contact. Unfortunately, because like-charged particles repel each other, the positrons push each other apart and quickly squirt out of the trap. If positrons can’t be stored for long periods, they’re as useless to the military as an armored personnel carrier without a gas tank. So Edwards is funding investigations of ways to make positrons last longer in storage. ... http://www.rinf.com/columnists/news/air-force-pursuing-antimatter-weapons FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

'Frankenstein farming' fears

Alert Focus: As in the days of Noah Genesis 6:1-4 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. HERALD SUN - CONSUMER groups have warned of "Frankenstein farming" after US food chiefs declared meat and milk from cloned animals safe to eat. The US Food and Drug Administration concluded cloned animals were no different from conventional livestock and food from them will not need to be labelled as such. But the UK Food Commission, Britain's independent food watchdog, condemned the proposal as "a giant step in the wrong direction". If the FDA fully approves cloning, which is still on hold pending public consultation, US farmers will be able to export produce from these animals without any labelling. The proposals have horrified animal welfare and consumer groups. A report by FDA scientists Larisa Rudenko and John C. Matheson concludes that cloned animals are "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock and therefore no labelling is required. In time, fast-growing, super-size animals could be made capable of delivering big profits for farmers. Consumer groups say not enough is known about the effects of eating cloned animals because the technology to produce them has been available only for a few years. They also point out many people might have an ethical objection and will want labelling to ensure they are allowed to make an informed choice about what they buy and eat. Carol Tucker Foreman, of the Consumer Federation of America, said the FDA was ignoring research showing cloning results in more animal deaths and deformities than other reproductive technologies. A UK Food Commission spokesman said: "I think consumers would be rightly wary and suspicious. We don't know if there would be any health risk, but many people would feel it is somehow wrong. It is a giant step in the wrong direction." http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20987447-663,00.html FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Ghosts in the Machine

Alert Focus: As in the days of Noah Deuteronomy 18:10-12 "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. "For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. Note: The posting of the following opinion piece is not an endorsement of the authors views but rather a "heads up" as to the direction science is currently taking the human race. BE/\LERT! NEW YORK TIMES - By Op-Ed Contributor Deborah Blum - December 30, 2006 -- THE human brain is, in surprising part, an appliance powered by electricity. It constantly generates about 12 watts of energy, enough to keep a flashlight glowing. It works by sending out electrical impulses — bursts of power running along the cellular wires of the nervous system — to stimulate muscles into motion or thought into being. We’re mostly aware of this when the machine falters, when it short-circuits into epilepsy or frays into the tremors of Parkinson’s disease. So when scientists wrote in a recent issue of the journal Nature that they could induce phantom effects — the sensation of being haunted by a shadowy figure — by stimulating the brain with electricity, it made perfect neurological sense. One could even argue that the existence of such sensations explains away the so-called supernatural. In fact, as The Times reported, the researchers promptly concluded that ghosts are mere “bodily delusions,” electrical misfirings and nothing more. The report does look like a kind of proof — albeit very small proof, as this was a study of two people — if one happens already to believe that ghosts are no more than biological quirks. But what’s fascinating is that it can also look like proof that ghosts are real entities, to those inclined to believe as much. And so the findings also present a case study in two very different perspectives. The scientific study of the supernatural began in the late 19th century, in synchrony with the age of energy. It’s hardly coincidental that as traditional science began to reveal the hidden potential of nature’s powers — magnetic fields, radiation, radio waves, electrical currents — paranormal researchers began to suggest that the occult operated in similar ways. A fair number of these occult explorers were scientists who studied nature’s highly charged circuits. Marie Curie, who did some of the first research into radioactive elements like uranium, attended séances to assess the powers of mediums. So did the British physicist J. J. Thomson, who demonstrated the existence of the electron in 1897. And so did Thomson’s colleague, John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, who won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with atmospheric gases. Rayleigh would later become president of the British Society for Psychical Research. And he would be joined in that organization by other physicists, including the wireless radio pioneer Sir Oliver Lodge, who proposed that both telepathy and ghostly appearances were achieved through energy transmissions connecting living minds to one another and perhaps even to the dead. Lodge argued that the human brain could function as a kind of receiver, picking up signals at a subconscious level. These were powered by some undiscovered energy, traveling perhaps in waves, perhaps in currents. Such transmissions lay behind telepathic experiences, including shared thoughts. Along the same lines, he thought it possible that a spirit’s appearance was really just its specific energy signal stimulating a response from the receiver’s brain. The theories developed by Lodge and his colleagues dovetail rather neatly with the electricity-produced hauntings that Olaf Blanke, a Swiss neuroscientist, reports in Nature. For example, he used an implanted electrode to send a current into a region of the brain called the angular gyrus. The test was focused on language processing. But as a side effect, one of the test subjects nervously reported sensing another person in bed with her, silent and shadowy. Her creepy companion came and went with the ebb and flow of current. It would be compelling — and more convincing — if the same result could be exhibited in a few more subjects. But Dr. Blanke believes that even this one subject’s experience serves as an example of how we may mistake errant signals in the brain for something more. Humans tend, he points out, to seek explanation, to impose meaning on events that may have none. The pure rationalists among us suggest that our need to add meaning to a basic, biological existence easily accounts for the way we organize religions and find evidence of otherworldly powers in the stuff of everyday life. The nonpurists suggest a different conclusion: willful scientific blindness. And there’s no reason Dr. Blanke’s study can’t support their theories of the paranormal. Perhaps his experimental electric current simply mimics the work of an equally powerful spirit. Much of the psychical research done today applies similar principles: brain-imaging machines highlight parts of the brain that respond to psychic phenomena, while other devices are used to search for infrared radiation or increased electrical activity in haunted houses. The American psychologist and philosopher William James, also a leader in the Victorian paranormal research movement, remarked even then on the culture clash: “How often has ‘Science’ killed off all spook philosophy, and laid ghosts and raps and ‘telepathy’ underground as so much popular delusion?” he wrote in 1909. And how often, James wondered rhetorically, had such efforts stopped people from seeing ghosts and believing in supernatural powers? Because in the end, of course, the conclusion has nothing to do with science at all and everything to do with how one sees the world. I suspect that we’ll dwell forever in the haunted landscape of our beliefs. To many people it’s a world more interesting — bigger, stranger, more mysterious — than the one offered by science. Why choose instead to be creatures of chemical impulse and electrical twitch? We would rather gamble on even a tiny, electrical spark of a chance that we are something more. Deborah Blum, a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, is the author of “Ghost Hunters: William James and the Scientific Search for Life After Death.” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30blum.html FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

A Few Reasons an Evolutionary Origin of Life Is Impossible (#403)

Alert Focus: Creation / A Strong Delusion Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Romans 1:22-25 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. INSTITUTE for CREATION RESEARCH - by Duane Gish, Ph.D.* - Impact #403 - January 2007 -- There were no human witnesses to the origin of life, and no physical geological evidence of its origin exists. Speaking of the origin of a hypothetical self-replicating molecule and its structure, Pross has recently admitted that "The simple answer is we do not know, and we may never know."1 Later, concerning the question of the origin of such a molecule, Pross said, ". . . one might facetiously rephrase the question as follows: given an effectively unknown reaction mixture, under effectively unknown reaction conditions, reacting to give unknown products by unknown mechanisms, could a particular product with a specific characteristic . . . have been included amongst the reaction products?"2 That pretty well summarizes the extent of the progress evolutionists have made toward establishing a mechanistic, atheistic scenario for the origin of life after more than half a century of physical, chemical, and geological research. It is possible, however, to derive facts that establish beyond doubt that an evolutionary origin of life on this planet would have been impossible. The origin of life could only have resulted from the action of an intelligent agent external to and independent of the natural universe. There is sufficient space here to describe only a few of the insuperable barriers to an evolutionary origin of life. 1. The absence of the required atmosphere. Our present atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen (N2), 21% molecular oxygen (O2), and 1% of other gases, such as carbon dioxide CO2), argon (Ar), and water vapor H2O). An atmosphere containing free oxygen would be fatal to all origin of life schemes. While oxygen is necessary for life, free oxygen would oxidize and thus destroy all organic molecules required for the origin of life. Thus, in spite of much evidence that the earth has always had a significant quantity of free oxygen in the atmosphere,3 evolutionists persist in declaring that there was no oxygen in the earth's early atmosphere. However, this would also be fatal to an evolutionary origin of life. If there were no oxygen there would be no protective layer of ozone surrounding the earth. Ozone is produced by radiation from the sun on the oxygen in the atmosphere, converting the diatomic oxygen(O2) we breathe to triatomic oxygen O3), which is ozone. Thus if there were no oxygen there would be no ozone. The deadly destructive ultraviolet light from the sun would pour down on the surface of the earth unimpeded, destroying those organic molecules required for life, reducing them to simple gases, such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water. Thus, evolutionists face an irresolvable dilemma: in the presence of oxygen, life could not evolve; without oxygen, thus no ozone, life could not evolve or exist. 2. All forms of raw energy are destructive. The energy available on a hypothetical primitive Earth would consist primarily of radiation from the sun, with some energy from electrical discharges (lightning), and minor sources of energy from radioactive decay and heat. The problem for evolution is that the rates of destruction of biological molecules by all sources of raw energy vastly exceed their rates of formation by such energy. The only reason Stanley Miller succeeded in obtaining a small amount of products in his experiment was the fact that he employed a trap to isolate his products from the energy source.4 Here evolutionists face two problems. First, there could be no trap available on a primitive Earth. Second, a trap by itself would be fatal to any evolutionary scenario, for once the products are isolated in the trap, no further evolutionary progress is possible, because no energy is available. In his comments on Miller's experiment, D. E. Hull stated that "These short lives for decomposition in the atmosphere or ocean clearly preclude the possibility of accumulating useful concentrations of organic compounds over eons of time. . . . The physical chemist guided by the proved principles of chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, cannot offer any encouragement to the biochemist, who needs an ocean full of organic compounds to form even lifeless coacervates."5 3. An evolutionary scenario for the origin of life would result in an incredible clutter. Let us suppose that, as evolutionists suggest, there actually was some way for organic, biologically important molecules to have formed in a significant quantity on a primitive Earth. An indescribable mess would have been the result. In addition to the 20 different amino acids found in proteins today, hundreds of other kinds of amino acids would have been produced. In addition to deoxyribose and ribose, the five-carbon sugars found in DNA and RNA today, a variety of other five-carbon sugars, four-carbon, six-carbon, and seven-carbon sugars would have been produced. In addition to the five purines and pyrimidines found in DNA and RNA today, a great variety of other purines and pyrimidines would exist. Further, of vital significance, the amino acids in proteins today are exclusively left-handed, but all amino acids on the primitive Earth would be 50% left-handed and 50% right-handed. The sugars in DNA and RNA today are exclusively right-handed, but, if they did exist, sugars on a primitive Earth would have been 50% right-handed and 50% left-handed. If just one right-handed amino acid is in a protein, or just one left-handed sugar is found in a DNA or RNA, all biological activity is destroyed. There would be no mechanism available on a primitive Earth to select the correct form. This fact alone destroys evolution. Evolutionists have been wrestling with this dilemma since it was first recognized, and there is no solution in sight. All these many varieties would compete with one another, and a great variety of other organic molecules, including aldehydes, ketones, acids, amines, lipids, carbohydrates, etc. would exist. If evolutionists really claim to simulate plausible primitive Earth conditions, why don't they place their reactants in a big mess like this and irradiate it with ultraviolet light, shock it with electric discharges, or heat it, and see what results? They don't do that because they know there wouldn't be the remotest possibility that anything useful for their evolutionary scenario would result. Rather, they carefully select just the starting materials they want to produce amino acids or sugars or purines or whatever, and, furthermore, they employ implausible experimental conditions that would not exist on a primitive Earth. They then claim in textbooks and journal articles that such and such biological molecules would have been produced in abundant quantities on the early earth. 4. Micromolecules do not spontaneously combine to form macromolecules. It is said that DNA is the secret of life. DNA is not the secret of life. Life is the secret of DNA. Evolutionists persistently claim that the initial stage in the origin of life was the origin of a self-replicating DNA or RNA molecule. There is no such thing as a self-replicating molecule, and no such molecule could ever exist.The formation of a molecule requires the input of a highly selected type of energy and the steady input of the building blocks required to form it. To produce a protein, the building blocks are amino acids. For DNA and RNA these building blocks are nucleotides, which are composed of purines, pyrimidines, sugars, and phosphoric acid. If amino acids are dissolved in water they do not spontaneously join together to make a protein. That would require an input of energy. If proteins are dissolved in water the chemical bonds between the amino acids slowly break apart, releasing energy (the protein is said to hydrolyze). The same is true of DNA and RNA. To form a protein in a laboratory the chemist, after dissolving the required amino acids in a solvent, adds a chemical that contains high energy bonds (referred to as a peptide reagent). The energy from this chemical is transferred to the amino acids. This provides the necessary energy to form the chemical bonds between the amino acids and releases H and OH to form H2O (water). This only happens in a chemistry laboratory or in the cells of living organisms. It could never have taken place in a primitive ocean or anywhere on a primitive Earth. Who or what would be there to provide a steady input of the appropriate energy? Destructive raw energy would not work. Who or what would be there to provide a steady supply of the appropriate building blocks rather than just junk? In speaking of a self-replicating DNA molecule, evolutionists are reaching for a pie in the sky. 5. DNA could not survive without repair mechanisms. DNA, as is true of messenger-RNA, transfer-RNA, and ribosomal-RNA, is destroyed by a variety of agents, including ultraviolet light, reactive oxygen species, alkylting agents, and water. A recent article reported that there are 130 known human DNA repair genes and that more will be found. The authors stated that "Genome DNA instability caused by the great variety of DNA-damaging agents would be an overwhelming problem for cells and organisms if it were not for DNA repair emphasis mine)."6 Note that even water is one of the agents that damages DNA! If DNA somehow evolved on the earth it would be dissolved in water. Thus water and many chemical agents dissolved in it, along with ultraviolet light would destroy DNA much faster than it could be produced by the wildest imaginary process. If it were not for DNA repair genes, the article effectively states, DNA could not survive even in the protective environment of a cell! How then could DNA survive when subjected to brutal attack by all the chemical and other DNA-damaging agents that would exist on the hypothetical primitive Earth of the evolutionists? What are the cellular agents that are necessary for DNA repair and survival? DNA genes! Thus, DNA is necessary for the survival of DNA! But it would have been impossible for DNA repair genes to evolve before ordinary DNA evolved and it would have been impossible for ordinary DNA to evolve before DNA repair genes had evolved. Here we see another impossible barrier for evolution. Furthermore, it is ridiculous to imagine that DNA repair genes could have evolved even if a cell existed. DNA genes encode the sequences of the hundreds of amino acids that constitute the proteins that are the actual agents that are involved in DNA repair. The code in the DNA is translated into a messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA must then move to and be incorporated into a ribosome (which is made up of three different ribosomal RNAs and 55 different protein molecules). Each amino acid must be coupled to a transfer RNA specific for that amino acid, and the coupling requires a protein enzyme specific for that amino acid and transfer-RNA. Responding to the code on the messenger RNA and utilizing the codes on transfer RNA's, the appropriate amino acids, attached to the transfer RNAs, are attached to the growing protein chain in the order prescribed by the code of the messenger RNA. Many enzymes are required along with appropriate energy. This is only a brief introduction to the incredible complexity of life that is found even in a bacterium. "Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?" (Job 12:9). Endnotes 1. Pross, Addy. 2004. Causation and the origin of life. Metabolism or replication first? Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biospheres 34:308. 2. Ibid., 316. 3. Davidson, C. F. 1965. Geochemical aspects of atomospheric evolution. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 53:1194; Brinkman, R. T., 1969. Dissociation of water vapor and evolution of oxygen in the terrestrial atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 74:5355; Clemmey, H., and N. Badham. 1982. Oxygen in the Precambrian atmosphere; an evaluation of the geological evidence. Geology 10:141; Dimroth, E., and M. M. Kimberley. 1976. Precambrian atmospheric oxygen: evidence in the sedimentary distributions of carbon, sulfur, uranium, and iron. Can. J. Earth Sci., 13:1161. 4. Miller, Stanley. 1953. A production of amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions. Science 117:528. 5. Hull, D. E. 1960. Thermodynamics and kinetics of spontaneous generation. Nature 186:693. 6. Wood, R. D., et al. 2001. Human DNA repair genes. Science 291:1284. *Dr. Duane Gish is Senior Vice President Emeritus of ICR. http://www.icr.org/article/3140/

One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven

Alert Focus: The Gospel Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." Posted on CHRISTIANWORLDVIEWNETWORK.com - By Mark Cahill "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor." -Charles Haddon Spurgeon South Beach, Miami, Florida. If you have never been there, it is truly an amazing place. Beach, sun, sand, tans, Lamborghinis, drinking, drugs, nightlife, and sin is what South Beach is all about. It is wild, it is crazy, and it is America's version of Sodom and Gomorrah. And I just love going there! I know that sounds strange, but I try to get to South Beach at least once a year. The spiritual darkness there is unbelievable. So many people are hurting, and they are looking for truth and love. As a matter of fact, it is so dark there that it is easy for a believer's light to shine very brightly. A couple of years ago I was in South Beach witnessing. I like to hit the streets around 8:00 p.m. and stay until about 4:00 a.m. It makes for an interesting, but very long, evening. One night as I was walking along a street, I saw a young woman sitting on top of a newspaper stand. I approached her and struck up a conversation, then I asked her this question: "When you die, what do you think is on the other side?" She gave me a most interesting answer: "A whole bunch of naked women." I have heard that answer from guys before, but never from a girl! As we talked, I learned that she was a seventeen-year-old Jewish girl who was struggling with lesbianism. She opened up, and had a lot of very in-depth questions about God and sin. She had really thought about the eternal side of life. About halfway through the conversation, she admitted that her curfew was midnight; it was now 12:40 in the morning. She explained that, as she was driving home to arrive before her curfew, something in her mind told her not to go home, but to go to South Beach instead. So she did. She then pointed a finger at me and said, "You are the whole reason that I came to South Beach tonight!" My jaw almost hit the concrete. We typically think that people don't want to talk with us about eternity and Jesus, but that's just a lie from the devil. This young lady was searching for eternal truth, and God had her out way past her curfew to hear the information that she had truly been seeking. God has placed an awareness of His truth in the heart of every man and woman. No matter how deep people may push it down, it's still there. They know there is something more than this life's relativism. It is our job to help them find the truth of what is waiting for them in eternity, who God is, and how they can commit to Him and live by His principles. Toward the end of our conversation, this young lady looked at me and asked, "Are you an angel from God?" What she was saying was that God had touched her life, and He just happened to use me to do that. What a humbling thought that the God of this universe would use fallen mankind to plant seeds in the hearts of the lost! Five times in my life someone has asked me if I was an angel from God. It is a little unnerving, but when we step out in faith and boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the love we can, people will begin to see Jesus through our lives. I will never forget that young lady. But what would cause me to even want to talk with her that night? Here is one of those reasons, and it is a weighty piece of eternal truth. I can guarantee that there is one thing you cannot do in Heaven that you can do on earth. You can worship God in Heaven. You can praise God in Heaven. You can sing songs to God in Heaven. You can learn God's Word in Heaven. But one thing you cannot do in Heaven is share your faith with a nonbeliever. Why? Because everyone in Heaven is a believer. Do you realize that when you take your last breath, you will never again be able to talk with a lost person? Since that is true, shouldn't it be a priority of your life to reach out to all the lost people on earth while you can? I firmly believe that witnessing is a learned talent. God burdens our hearts to reach the lost, but we must get out there and start practicing those conversations. The funny thing is, though, the more you practice the easier it becomes. Practice. Practice. Practice. Can you think of someone you need to practice with today? Adapted from One Thing You Cant Do in Heaven. For very practical, biblical techniques for reaching the lost, see all of Mark's resources at http://www.markcahill.org/resource.html. http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?ArticleID=1404 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

The World's Strong Delusion

Alert Focus: Deception / A Burdensome Stone Luke 21:24b ...Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Jeremiah 8:11 "They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, `Peace, peace,' But there is no peace. OLIVE TREE MINISTRIES - Understanding The Times Weekly eUpdate by Jan Markell - January 3, 2007 -- Lest you think this is just a "bashing" commentary, let me say that I believe there are decent, hard-working Palestinians who wish to raise their families, obtain good jobs, and live in peace and safety. It is likely they have all been indoctrinated with Israel-hatred for 40 years when Yaser Arafat revised history and said that most of Israel was really "Palestinian" land, in spite of the fact that there has never been an Arab Palestine. Before the 1960s, today's Palestinians were known as Jordanians, Syrians, etc. Yet this tiny representation of people is either the key to world peace and/or Mideast peace. How is this possible? The new U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated in the last few days that the Israeli-Palestinian issue was the core to solving all the problems in the Mideast including Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria! What is his twisted logic? He said nothing about Islamic radicalism and extremism and the nearly 40-year hatred instilled in the Palestinian people via their schools and radical leaders. He said nothing about the fact that their leaders pocket money from nations wishing to assist the Palestinian people. He only emphasized that all the turmoil would go away if Israel and the Palestinians could live side by side in peace. But it is not just Ki-Moon echoing such nonsense. So did Kofi Annan, Prime Minister Tony Blair, the U.S. State Department, and the Vatican. President Bush is on record saying he wants a Palestinian state this year and then there will be peace at least in that specific area. Fortunately there are conditions to the President's goals, conditions the Palestinians and their terrorist leaders cannot meet. Let's turn back the clock a few days and let me remind you that Saddam Hussein's last words were nothing about Iraq or the Iraqi people. Rather, he stated, "Palestine is Arab." This is the Arab obsession even as they face a noose around their neck! Nobody stood with the Palestinians as did Saddam. Over the years he gave families of Palestinian terror bombers as much as $35 million just to blow up innocent Israelis. The Palestinians cheered when Saddam reigned down scuds on Tel Aviv in 1991. They danced in the streets when America was hit on 9/11. It's a group of people that should not be rewarded with much of anything, and the assumption that world peace or Mideast peace is to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has got to be the strongest delusion of the 20th and 21st centuries. Nonetheless, this week in the town of Bethlehem, a "house of condolences" opened where people can come and mourn the death of Saddam. The mourning Palestinians had Iraqi flags and pictures of Saddam everywhere. Iraqi revolutionary songs blared over the Palestinian media. Nonetheless, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is seen as a "moderate," eager to come to some "peace agreement" with Israel, and one who desires to clamp down on the violence. The timing is eerie as after 33 years of cover-up of the murder of senior American diplomats by Arafat, spanning the course of seven consecutive U.S. presidents, the State Department is finally coming clean on this atrocity. The killing of Americans by Palestinian terrorists has been conveniently swept under the rug starting with the State Department and followed by the media. Yet Yaser Arafat was the most frequent foreign "dignitary" welcomed to the White House by President Clinton. Rather than welcoming him, America should have demanded his extradition and tried him for murder. But American tax dollars still go to Fatah, Hamas, the PLO, and Palestinian Authority. All have the same goal in their charters: Crush Israel and say one thing to the West and another to the Arab world. They hope America and other Western nations that have lost diplomats will carry on with a serious case of amnesia even though now the facts are coming out. It remains unknown what the West will do with these facts. My guess is to continue to pour millions into the coffers of corrupt Palestinian leadership and continue the mantra that much world turmoil will be quieted if we just treat the Palestinians properly and if Israel gives up more land for peace. To learn more about this and to view two moving mini film clips, visit the "Palestine" category at my Web site at this link: http://www.olivetreeviews.org/topics/palestine.shtml

Isaiah's words ring true today. We are in a world where good is called evil and evil good. RADIO THIS WEEKEND: Nonie Darwish on her new book, "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror." She is a primary spokeswoman in the film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." I will also highlight the outstanding ministry of Truth for Muslims. The director, John Marion, will tell us how to pray for all Muslims and the war on terror. If we're not airing in your hometown, you can listen live at the Web site of my home station, AM980 KKMS, Minneapolis/St. Paul. We are live Saturdays, 9 to 11 AM CST with a complete rebroadcast Sunday from 12 to 2 PM. You can "listen live" either day here: http://www.kkms.com/ All programming goes on our "radio archives" on our Web site by Monday of the following week. See link below for podcasting information. Awaiting His return, Jan Markell http://www.olivetreeviews.org/articles/Jans_eUpdates.shtml#newsitemEEyZlyZpEZMtyKVlIE

Main Site: http://www.olivetreeviews.org/

Robertson Predicts 'Mass Killing'

Alert Focus: False Teachers / Deception / The Falling Away Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 `But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' "You may say in your heart, `How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. ASSOCIATED PRESS - January 2, 2007 -- In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted Tuesday that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" late in 2007. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that." Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September. Robertson said God also told him that the U.S. only feigns friendship with Israel and that U.S. policies are pushing Israel toward "national suicide." Robertson suggested in January 2006 that God punished then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a stroke for ceding Israeli- controlled land to the Palestinians. The broadcaster predicted in January 2004 that President Bush would easily win re-election. Bush won 51 percent of the vote that fall, beating Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. He also predicted Bush's victory for a second term in 2005. "I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss." In May, Robertson said God told him that storms and possibly a tsunami were to crash into America's coastline in 2006. Even though the U.S. was not hit with a tsunami, Robertson on Tuesday cited last spring's heavy rains and flooding in New England as partly fulfilling the prediction. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/02/D8MDEM380.html See Also: Pat Robertson False Prohecy for 2006 by Bud Press, Christian Research Service, 12/31/06 Pat Robertson, False Prophet, Again by David E. Lister, Moriel Ministries, 10/04 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

But It's Thomas Jefferson's Koran!

Alert Focus: The Fruit of Islam / A Horde of Judgment Habakkuk 1:2-3 How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. THE WASHINGTON POST - By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts - January 3, 2007 -- Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values. Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson. "He wanted to use a Koran that was special," said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison's 5th District, was happy to help. Jefferson's copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson's collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn't the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies -- the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions. ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010300075_pf.html

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.