From the BBC
China finds major dinosaur site
By Steve Jackson
BBC News

Scientists in China say they believe a group of dinosaur fossils discovered in the east of the country could be the largest collection ever found. The researchers, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, say they have unearthed 7600 dinosaur bones since March in Shandong province.

Most of the bones date back to the late Cretaceous period which is around the time when dinosaurs became extinct. The scientists hope the find will help to explain why the creatures died out.

Zhucheng in Shandong province is known locally as "dinosaur city" and has been the scene of several important finds since the 1960s. However, the researchers say a new fossil field discovered during mining explorations earlier this year appears to be even more important...

About 3000 dinosaur bones have been dug up from a single pit just a few hundred metres long and thousands of others have been unearthed at a number of sites nearby.

Professor Zhao Xijin, the palaeontologist in charge of the excavations, told Chinese state media: "This group of fossilised dinosaurs is currently the largest ever discovered in the world... in terms of area." The full details of the findings have not yet been published. But they are reported to include tyrannosaurus and ankylosaurus bones, as well as what could be the largest duck-billed dinosaur ever excavated.

Mr Zhao said the uncovering of so many remains in such a small area is significant.

Detailed information on the fossil find is not expected to be published in scientific journals until later in 2009. However, a leading palaeontologist, Dr Paul Barrett, of London's Natural History Museum, told BBC News that the claim this find is the "world's largest" is likely to be credible.

Say, how about a great flood being considered as a possible cause for the sudden and abrupt disappearance of the dino's?

That would probably be too simple...and too true to believe.

Dubai's opulent, multimillion-pound New Year's Eve celebrations have been cancelled due to the Gaza violence, leaving hordes of expatriates hastily making alternative plans.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of the Gulf state, called off festivities late last night.

He said "all public New Year’s celebrations" should be stopped "in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are currently enduring death, suffering and destruction in Gaza"....

article in full

Now let's see..."solidarity with the Palestinian people..." who are trying to wipe Israel off the map...who have fired over 3000 rockets into Israel this year...all the while Israel restrains herself...

And...we almost gave the operations of our ports to this bunch?

Now what stupid is...is what stupid does...

We narrowly escaped the category...

Oh, Brother...the Church of England might be in for some financial hard knocks! They are putting their money with Al Gore's investment group. The manager of the group is named David Blood...therefore the nickname of Blood and Gore might seem to prove a little prophetic...

Religious Intellegence

Church of England puts its faith in Al Gore's investment arm
Tuesday, 30th December 2008. 9:00am

By: George Conger.

The Church of England’s Church Commissioners have gone green, investing £150 million with former US Vice-President Al Gore’s environmentally minded investment firm, Generation Investment Management.

On Nov 18 the First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam Smith reported that in late September the Commissioners had placed the funds with Gore’s boutique management firm which follows an “environmentally sustainable global equities mandate.” Funding for the investment came from “cash and Treasury bills”, he said, and not from the sale of UK equities as initially planned.

In Oct 2007 Mr Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in raising awareness of the potential threats from climate change. Generation Investment Management was founded in 2004 by Mr Gore and David Blood, former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and had almost £5 billion under management before the market collapse.

The firm invests in companies that follow “socially responsible” business model such as insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Swiss food conglomerate Nestlé, and San Francisco’s New Resource Bank --- a “green” lender in the US.

Speaking at a press conference last March in Geneva, Mr Gore said private industry should take the lead in creating environmentally friendly market capitalism noting that “more money is allocated by markets around the world in one hour than by all the governments on the planet in a full year.”

“The principles and ways and values that have an impact on the way markets allocate resources can have an enormous effect" in tackling climate change, he said...

Now just what exactly is going to be the longterm outcome of an investment institution whose main goal is to invest in global warming minded things as the world is getting colder and so is the attitude of the general population of the world's peoples...as we are having to (polar) bear up to the dropping mercury readings?

I wonder how much of the church's money invested that ol' Al is going to put in his coffers?

Isn't that what people contribute their money to...the Lord's work...and there is Al...arms outstretched in classic crucifixion style... ready to receive...

How about a little New Year cheer from Iran and Hamas?

as reported by Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post

Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed.

On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

Hamas's endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn't feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas...

H/T to Jeremy for the lead!

The Real Cause of the Financial Meltdown.

The real culprit is what we call abortion on demand.

In the 35 years of legalized abortion on demand we have had over 53 million abortions. With a little bit of math that means that roughly half of that 53 million aborted persons would now be over eighteen years of age...or in other words there are some 26 million would be tax payers who will never pay a penny's tax because they were aborted...and the numbers go up with each passing year until in another 16 years the number will be the total 53 million who have been aborted as of today.

That is a pretty heavy number of lost tax payers.

That is the reason that Social Security is going bankrupt...the supporters of Social Security have also been aborted, therefore the number of Social Security recipients now hovers somewhere around for every recipient there are only two payers into Social Security. The rest have been aborted.

There is a trade off having been taking place. For convenience sake we have been aborting these babies, and now we are going to pay the great inconvenience of the current melt down.

I'm...not really sure the last 35 years of convenience is going to prove as having been worth the years ahead of trouble and trials to come...for the sake of a few years of convenience.

xtnyoda, shalomed

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.

Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote 'The Hokie Pokey' died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started...

Israel Strikes Demolish Hamas Compounds, Kill 192

...Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge, including suicide attacks. Hamas "will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Israel told its civilians near Gaza to take cover as militants began retaliating with rockets, and in the West Bank, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for restraint. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.

Israeli leaders approved military action against Gaza earlier in the week.

Past limited ground incursions and air strikes have not halted rocket barrages from Gaza. But with 200 mortars and rockets raining down on Israel since the truce expired a week ago, and 3,000 since the beginning of the year, according to the military's count, pressure had been mounting in Israel for the military to crush the gunmen...

abc report

One would have to read all the way over to half way through the second page of the report to get this little tid-bit of information, that the Gaza nuts have rained down over 3,000 rockets on Israel during this year...all the while Israel patiently waited for them to get some sense...Gaza didn't...so Israel decides to knock some sense into them.

Of course Israel is presented as the aggressor.

ABC's Gibson Highlights Further Diminishing Violence in Iraq

By Brad Wilmouth
December 26, 2008

On the Monday, December 22 World News, ABC host Charles Gibson took a moment to relay the latest milestone in good news from Iraq regarding how much violence has diminished in the country. Gibson: "From Iraq today, good news. Military authorities say violence is way down. A year ago, there were an average of 180 attacks a day. Last week, it was just 10. And the murder rate in Iraq last month was below pre-war levels for the first time."

Last week, Gibson similarly noted that the number of U.S. troops killed in combat in Iraq in December so far may signal that the month will turn out to "have the fewest U.S. casualties since the war began." Gibson, from the Thursday, December 18 World News: "Good news from Iraq today. There were no bombings reported anywhere in the country. Two U.S. troops have been killed in action so far this month. That puts December on a pace to have the fewest U.S. casualties since the war began."

NewsBusters

I saw Charlie make this "good news" report last Monday and I thought the poor man was going to gag as he was speaking the words! You can tell when Charlie is exuding pure disgust with a story or a person...and this was so disgusting that he almost...well...you know.

I've tried and tried to find the video from abc, but they have eradicated it.

What really pained Gibson the most seemed to be the part about the murder rate being lower than in pre-war Iraq. That is a major part of the MSM story line, that we have made things worse in Iraq...caused more violence and death between warring factions. The MSM really longed for a full blown civil war...lusted for it.

Sorry guys. America has risen to the occasion again...despite your best efforts to defeat our country.

Now...you know...go get yourself a couple of bottles of cheap wine and try to drink off your misery.

xtnyoda, shalomed

Mannheim Steamroller - Joy To The World

The original...Silent Night.

God has blessed our world.

xtnyoda, shalomed

It's been said that this is Mary and Joseph's song as they fled to Egypt after the Messiah's nativity. This is an all English language version.

Notice at the beginning the visual references to 9/11.

This is Donnie McClurkin, and Yolanda Adams singing The Prayer.

I join in the prayer...but until it is answered...we faint not.

"Lift up the feeble hands and the weak knees..."

Jesu, the joy of our hearts...indeed.

Be Blessed...relish the reality.

Not scared anymore Mr. Gore!

A great little reference story for adults to share with youngsters who are being frightened by the global warming scaremongers! Written by an Aussie geologist as described by the following on his site.

Marc Henrickx has worked as a geologist since completing a BSc (Hons) at Latrobe University in 1993. His work has included making geological maps for government geological surveys in the Victorian Alps, the deserts of central Australia and in the dry plains of western New South Wales. Since 2001 he has worked as an engineering geologist specialising in transport infrastructure.

Of himself, he writes "As a geologist Marc sees the effects of natural climate change written in the rock record every time he steps onto an outcrop. He doesn't need a computer model to tell him the climate's changing.

The path to a sustainable future will not be born from fear."

Marc on Unleashed

A truly great lesson from the atheist Mr. Penn Jillette. Seriously. Listen.

He has stirred my heart.

thanks again Rick

Finally from CNN

CNN Meterologist scoffs at the idea that man can alter the climate; Expert suggests global cooling looming.

Please go watch the one and a half minute video from CNN.

A little surprising that it's CNN calling out the truth about the arrogance (and arrogant is the word CNN's Chad Myers uses!) of the Global Warming hysteria promoters?

Two thumbs up for CNN. There is hope after all.

xtnyoda, shalomed

Burger King launches beef-scented body spray


Where's the beef? A new meat-scented body spray makes men the answer, courtesy of Burger King



NEW YORK (AP) -- Looking to beef up your mojo this holiday season?


Burger King Corp. may have just the thing. The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."

The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.

Burger King is marketing the product through a Web site featuring a photo of its King character reclining fireside and naked but for an animal fur strategically placed to not offend.

story

Now...let's see...exactly what kind of critter considers the smell of beef to be exotic?

I've seen the canine version of dogs wallowing on dead meat. BK expects women to act like dogs?

I can see it now. Dude walking down the street smelling like beef. Suddenly and without warning a pack of hungry dogs attacks...enticed by the smell of cooked beef...

Should carry a warning label...

Warning...the contents of this spray is a carnivore attractant. Use of this product may lead to sudden carnivorous attacks by hungry animals.
(Worst Warning...caution...the smell of searing dead meat may be repulsive to human females.)

blackwater pro shop

Blackwater radio logs: Guards took incoming fire

By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES

WASHINGTON – Radio logs from a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad cast doubt on U.S. government claims that Blackwater Worldwide security guards were unprovoked when they killed 14 Iraqi civilians. The transcripts of Blackwater radio reports, obtained by The Associated Press, describe a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police.

Five guards face manslaughter and weapons charges for their roles in the shootings. A sixth has pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said the men unleashed a gruesome attack on unarmed Iraqis, including women, children and people trying to escape.

But the radio logs from the Sept. 16, 2007 shooting suggest otherwise. Copies of the logs were turned over to prosecutors by Blackwater.

Because Blackwater guards were authorized to fire in self-defense, any evidence their convoy was attacked will make it harder for the Justice Department to prove they acted unlawfully.

The logs, which document radio traffic heard by the company's dispatch center inside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, show that the Blackwater convoy known as Raven 23 reported taking small arms fire_or SAF_ from insurgents within one minute of shutting down traffic in Baghdad's Nisoor Square.

"Mult insuirg SAF @ R23," the log states at 12:12 p.m.

One minute later, the Raven 23 convoy reported taking fire from Iraqi police: "R23 rpts IPs shooting @ R23."

It's unclear why Iraqi police would fire on the Blackwater convoy. Prosecutors could argue the police fired because they believed Blackwater was attacking civilians. It's also common for insurgents to dress as Iraqi police or military officials.

Raven 23 was told to leave the square and return to the Green Zone at 12:14, according to the logs. But one minute later, the convoy reported that one of its heavily armored vehicles was disabled. Guards jumped out of another truck and set up a tow rig, still under fire, according to the logs.

"R23 in trfc still under sporadic SAF," the log shows at 12:20 p.m., as the convoy made its way back to the Green Zone.

"Unless these guys are lying to their command watch in real time, making up stuff, that's real-time reporting that they were taking small arms fire," said defense attorney Thomas Connolly, who represents Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant and indicted Blackwater guard.

Connolly provided the logs to the AP because he said prosecutors knew there was evidence of a firefight, yet unfairly described it as a massacre.

"The Justice Department began their presentation to the American people with a lie," Connolly said.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd declined to discuss the contents of the logs. "We cannot comment on evidence related to a pending case, but we are fully prepared to address in court arguments made by the defense concerning the documents you reference," he said....

news from yahoo

OH... and now the "justice department" doesn't want to comment...after they were more than willing to comment before hand that Blackwater was involved in a massacre! Sorry, lowlife, cowardly, no good, lily livered, pansy faced, turn coats, not worthy of the title American.

There should now be criminal charges as well as civil lawsuits against your sorry prosecutorial hides for your attempt at prejudicing the American public as well as the world against Blackwater. Right next to treason...you are.

You are liable, lying, refuse.

Current conditions from accuweather.


The parade of winter storms crossing the country will continue into Hanukkah and Christmas. Each storm will target the Midwest and Northeast after emerging from the West.

There will be no caboose to a train of storms crossing the country prior to Christmas. Three more storms will travel from the West Coast to the Northeast in the days leading up to the holiday.

Each storm will produce substantial snow and soaking rain over the Midwest and Northeast. A layer of ice will be sandwiched in between.

The storm currently leading the train will emerge onto the Plains tonight, but not before blanketing the southern Rockies with up to a foot of snow today.

The Midwest Regional News story states the storm will be preceded by light freezing rain over the central Plains today. Motorists and those walking by foot should use caution as just a touch of ice can create slippery spots.

The storm will blossom over the central Plains tonight as it taps into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. The resultant steady snow, ice and rain will streak across the Midwest into the mid-Atlantic. The wintry mess will encompass more of the Northeast on Friday.

The Winter Weather Center is forecasting substantial snow to accompany the storm. Between 6 to 12 inches will fall from southern Wisconsin to southern New England, including the cities of Detroit, Buffalo and Boston....

accuweather report

And the snow and ice train continues...

Global War-mingphobats continues...regardless of the evidence.

It still isn't winter...

Do you think God just might be strutting his stuff? I don't think he likes being left out of the picture?

With great gratitude to Rick at Brutally Honest!

Just too...too...funny...the both of them.

I especially love the suicide animal thing! It was made to influence three year olds. Shows the intellectual level of the global war-mingphobats.

And a very merry Christmas from our clan to yours!

God Bless!

Oil prices tumbled below $40 for the first time since the summer of 2004 Wednesday despite an announcement from OPEC of a record production cut of 2.2 million barrels a day. Markets had already priced in a vastly reduced flow of oil and traders focused instead on troubling economic data that points to a long and severe recession.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery tumbled 8 percent, or $3.54, to settle at $40.06 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Benchmark crude prices fell as low as $39.88, a price last seen in July 2004.

"There's just so much oil in inventory out there right now," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "Nobody wants to buy this stuff."

Crude prices have fallen so low, producers have leased supertankers to store the oil at sea, hoping that oil will rebound.

U.S. gasoline inventories continued to rise, the government reported, providing further evidence of a major pullback by American motorists.

Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Dec. 12 was 2.7 percent lower than a year earlier.

OPEC had already announced cuts totaling 2 million barrels earlier this year, also with little effect. The unprecedented production cuts and the market reaction show just how fast energy demand has fallen during the worst economic downturn in at least a generation...

yahoo news

Maybe it's the consumers flexing their non use mussels? Go ahead and keep raising the price of crude...just more motivation for the free west to find more and better ways to side step your attempts to control through oil.

Perhaps OPEC should try to figure out ways to...eat the stuff? They just might be surprised at how industrious we can actually be...without them.

Their little honey holes are going to dry up...

More troops, more Afghan violence, short-term: NATO

KABUL (Reuters)



A U.S. proposal to send more troops to southern Afghanistan will lead to a short-term rise in violence before stability can be brought to the region, the deputy commander of NATO forces in the country said on Wednesday.

Faced with a virulent insurgency and the worst year of violence since the Taliban were toppled in 2001, the United States is sending 3,000 extra troops in January.

If President-elect Barack Obama agrees, that number could rise to 20,000 in the next 12 to 18 months.

While the first brigade to arrive in the new year will reinforce the southern fringes of Kabul, any further U.S. deployments are likely to be sent to the south where British, Canadian and Dutch forces are struggling to contain the Taliban in their traditional heartland.

The arrival of new troops will "lead to a short-term spike in violence," ...
report from yahoo

One would have to read all the way to paragraph number seven (7) to be informed that an increase of violence is exactly what the surge is designed to accomplish...it's called "engaging the enemy"... you know...that's what war is about?

Of course the MSM would have one think that the surge would simply cause more violence as a dreaded thing...a mistake. Uhhhh...just like they wanted one to think it was a mistake in Iraq...

Hey, MSM, we are watching you...and investigating you...and exposing you...

How does it feel? Hope you are enjoying your decline and demise as becoming the bearers of slanted political mime...instead of doing a genuine public service.

xtnyoda, shalomed

...The riots that followed the teenager's death are the worst Greece has seen in decades, feeding off widespread dissatisfaction with the unpopular conservative government and anger over social inequality and economic hardship.

Hundreds of shops and banks were smashed, torched or looted as gangs of masked and hooded youths rampaged through cities night after night, setting up burning barricades in the streets and clashing with riot police who fired large amounts of tear gas. Retailers say the damage will cost them euro1.5 billion ($2 billion) in lost income....

Youths threw petrol bombs Wednesday at a riot police bus in central Athens, police said. The driver managed to escape unharmed but the vehicle was damaged.

About 100 high school students gathered outside the capital's main court complex, pelting riot police guarding the building with stones, eggs, rocks and yogurt to demand that those detained in the riots be freed.

In Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki, police said a bank and a local citizens advice office were firebombed before dawn Wednesday in attacks that caused damage but no injuries.

After a week of violence, many protesters have begun using different tactics to make themselves heard...On Tuesday, a group of youths stormed their way into Greece's state television and radio studios, forcing broadcasters to put out anti-government messages.

Ten young protesters disrupted a state NET television news broadcast of the prime minister's speech, appearing live on national television carrying banners that read: "Stop watching, get out onto the streets" and "Free everyone who has been arrested."

In Thessaloniki, protesters broke into three local radio stations, agreeing to leave only when a protest message was read on the air.

Greece's opposition Socialists have accused Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' conservative government of mishandling the crisis and worsening the effects of the global economic downturn. The Socialists are calling for Karamanlis to resign and call new elections, a demand he has rebuffed.

Parliament starts debate Wednesday on Greece's 2009 budget, which includes at least 4 billion euros in new taxes...

yahoo news

Ah yes, the good ol' Socialists are calling for more taxes to fix the economy? And of course using youth as their foot soldiers with demands of more cookies from the government...

Sounds like the American election process to me?

AP: No respite as wintry storms spread over nation

OKLAHOMA CITY – Students went home for a snow day, stranded travelers waited at airports and drivers slid across icy roads in the second day of a bitter cold wave that blanketed much of the nation Tuesday.

There was little relief in sight. Temperatures were forecast to drop below zero Wednesday in at least 12 states in the Midwest and West. A band of snow and sleet fell Tuesday from Minnesota to New Hampshire.

Dozens of schools closed in Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee, and some school districts in Illinois sent students home early Tuesday. Up to a half-foot of snow had fallen in parts of Kentucky...

More than 300 flights were canceled at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and about 50 were canceled at Midway Airport, said Department of Aviation spokesman Gregg Cunningham.

Police in northern Texas had to close some highway overpasses because they were so slippery with ice. In parts of Oklahoma, snow froze overnight and left a glaze of ice on roads, said John Pike, a weather service meteorologist.

Ski resorts near Flagstaff, Ariz., reported 8 to 12 inches of snow Tuesday and strong rain showers covered residents in Phoenix. Flash flood watches were issued for central Arizona through Wednesday night.

In Washington state, as much as 8 inches of snow was expected north of Seattle to the Canadian border and up to 2 feet of new snow was forecast in the Cascades.

Some of the sharpest cold Tuesday was in northern Minnesota, where Hibbing bottomed out at 32 below zero and International Falls dropped to 28 below. In the middle of the state, St. Cloud fell to 24 below, breaking its old record of 21 below set in 1963.

The weather service posted winter storm warnings Tuesday for parts of the Southwest — where New Mexico had numerous school closings, including those in Albuquerque — and the Ohio Valley...

Winter weather advisories were in effect across the Midwest and from Texas to New England, where utilities were still repairing power lines snapped by last week's devastating ice storm...

New Hampshire residents were warned Tuesday that some of them might have to wait until next week for electricity...

Even Southern California was warned of temperatures falling into the mid-30s by late Wednesday.
yahoo AP

And...it's not winter yet.

Prepare.

1865 Nast Print: Mourning Death of Lincoln. Beautifully hand colored, somber print from the April 29, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly. The print is by Thomas Nast, the most famous political cartoonist of the 19th century. It features Columbia, a woman who appeared frequently in Nast’s cartoons, representing all that is good and true about America. She is kneeling next to Lincoln’s coffin, weeping with her head in her hand. On either side of the image, a Union soldier and sailor are seated with their heads bowed in grief.
Prints Old and Rare
And the grief continues still in Illinois.

Illinois Democrats Let Blagojevich Retain Senate Appointment

By Joe Carroll

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats in the Illinois House of Representatives postponed stripping Governor Rod Blagojevich’s power to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama that prosecutors say Blagojevich tried to sell.

The governor, a Chicago Democrat, retains authority to appoint Obama’s successor while the House pursues an impeachment process that may last weeks. Democratic lawmakers led by House Speaker Michael Madigan dropped plans late yesterday to schedule a special election to fill the post after failing to agree in a closed-door meeting, said Steve Brown, a Madigan aide.

Blagojevich, 52, has resisted demands he resign since his Dec. 9 arrest by the FBI and accusations he tried to auction Obama’s seat for personal gain and intimidate the Chicago Tribune newspaper into firing editorial writers. Republicans said Democrats, who hold a 67-51 majority in the chamber, seek to avoid a loss of the seat to the GOP in a special election.

“Shame on you,” Representative William Black, deputy leader of Republicans in the House, shouted during a debate in the state capitol building in Springfield. “We had an opportunity to limit the power of this governor and you refused.”...

bloomberg report

Just in case one needs a little interpolation here...what this story says is...the good Gov. Blagojevich, has the goods on the democrats in the state of Illinois. If they bring him down they know he's going down in a flaming ship of fools...of which they are the crew.

shalomed

UPDATE

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal investigators in Alaska say an accelerant was poured around the exterior of Gov. Sarah Palin's home church before it was heavily damaged by a fire.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Monday that the accelerant was poured at several locations around the church, including entrances.

Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agent Nick Starcevic says laboratory tests will determine what the accelerant was.

The blaze was set at the main entrance of the Wasilla Bible Church on Friday evening while a small group, including two children, were inside...

article

Some idiots set fire to Sarah Palin's home church, with women and children inside no less. Says a lot about the the type of people who fear Sarah Palin and what she stands for.

Now...talk about emboldening the standard bearers of conservative politics...this will certainly add some more fuel to the fire!

Rise Up!

xtnyoda, shalomed

The founder of the Weather Channel wants to sue Al Gore for the lies about global warming.

I hope he can get it done before we freeze to death.

brace for extreme cold...The Weather Channel

cold records shattered across entire northern US, Canada

From the AP and myway news...





Since Clinton's inauguration, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska, California and Texas. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since Clinton's second inauguration. Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it.

"The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over," he said on Tuesday after meeting with former Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. "We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way." .....

"We need to start in January making significant changes," Gore said in a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press. "This year coming up is the most important opportunity the world has ever had to make progress in really solving the climate crisis."

Scientists are increasingly anxious, talking more often and more urgently about exceeding "tipping points."

"We're out of time," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said. "Things are going extinct." ....

(Dina Cappiello contributed to this story.)

report

I think I might consider e-mailing Dina Cappeillo and ask her how she enjoyed the 3-6 inches of snow in Houston the other day since she lives in Houston? Maybe she should go on a little tour up anywhere in the northern half of the US today that is being pummeled by an arctic air mass and snow and ice? Millions without power. Same going on in the Southern Hemisphere and it is late spring there. It's still days away from winter even starting here.

cryosphere

I'm posting the cryosphere site again that gives 30 year satellite photos of both poles as well as the last 30 days animations of both poles from four different satellites each. Go watch the north pole during the last 30 days totally recover and now actually cover the entire northern fourth of planet earth.

Then read these folks saying the arctic is melting and sit in amazement as you with your own eyes witness the actual photo evidence of their blindness to reality and their prejudice to the heretical dogma of man made global warming and climate change.

xtnyoda, shalomed

ap story

Obama's true colors: Black, white ... or neither?

A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama's racial saga: Many people insist that "the first black president" is actually not black.

Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial — or, in Obama's own words, a "mutt" — has reached a crescendo since Obama's election shattered assumptions about race.

Obama has said, "I identify as African-American — that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed. I'm proud of it." In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige.

But the world has changed since the young Obama found his place in it.

Intermarriage and the decline of racism are dissolving ancient definitions. The candidate Obama, in achieving what many thought impossible, was treated differently from previous black generations. And many white and mixed-race people now view President-elect Obama as something other than black.

So what now for racial categories born of a time when those from far-off lands were property rather than people, or enemy instead of family?

"They're falling apart," said Marty Favor, a Dartmouth professor of African and African-American studies and author of the book "Authentic Blackness."...

ap and yahoo story

Go read the entire article and be prepared to vomit. The longer I see articles in the MSM it just makes me what to vomit. This article is just preposterous...and the ap should be ashamed of printing something like this...to generate "questions" about "racial" background when through the entire election the MSM hailed Obama as a "black" candidate and even ridiculed those in the black community who questioned whether he was "black" enough...

When is the ap going to run an article about us just being "Americans"...and if one is not content at being an American then get out.

There is no "pure" racial blood. It is a myth...a fairy tale...

We are humans...and some humans are Americans.

Get over it.

xtnyoda, shalomed

Northeast ice storm leaves 1.25M without power
Dec 12, 7:05 PM (ET)

By DAVID TIRRELL-WYSOCKI

(AP) Ice surrounds the branches of a tree after a storm in East Derry, N.H., Friday Dec. 12, 2008.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - An ice storm to compare with some of the Northeast's worst made a mess of the region Friday, leaving 1.25 million homes and businesses in seven states without power as it forced schools to close and toppled ice-laden trees and power lines onto slippery roads.

Most of the outages were in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York, and it was expected to take several days to completely restore electricity. The storm wreaked havoc from Maine to Pennsylvania, leaving a sparkling, ice-covered landscape that was too destructive for many to find beautiful.

"This is pathetic," said Bob Cott of Portland, Maine, who lost power. "I'm already sick of winter and we have nine days to go before it officially begins."

...For New Hampshire, the power outages dwarfed those during the infamous Ice Storm of '98, when some residents spent more than a week in the dark...

myway article in full

New England is reeling from an ice storm...and it's not winter yet. Hundreds and hundreds are going to die this winter from the cold...as the doomsayers continue their fantasy global warming scam.

This is going to be the reverse of Nero fiddling while Rome burns...Gore diddling as America and the world trembles in cold.

Please prepare for the cold...now.

Sleet, snow tail off in New Orleans
by The Times-Picayune
Thursday December 11, 2008
John McCusker



For the first time in nearly four years, snow fell across the New Orleans region this morning, with flurries reported on the north shore and in the city, Metairie, Kenner, LaPlace and other parts of the south shore. By around 10 a.m., the snow had mostly stopped, replaced by freezing rain in many places, making driving treacherous. By noon, the precipitation had mostly ceased altogether.

By mid-morning, enough snow had accumulated on the ground in some areas to lure children and adults onto their front lawns to build snowmen or have snowball fights. In the city, neutral grounds remained blanketed in white, though the streets generally remained clear as the wet stuff melted upon hitting the pavement.

In Mandeville, where the snow was heavier, lawns were covered with thicker blankets of white fluff as school buses filled with squealing students made the rounds. Children, most seeing snow for the first time Christmas Day 2004, tried to catch flakes in their hands as the buses rumbled along.
Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Metro area residents woke up to falling snow on Thursday, December 11, 2008.

Snow in New Orleans is a rarity. The last time it snowed was Christmas 2004; before that, the last snow recorded was in 1989, according to Jim Vasilj, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. Since 1850, snow had fallen in "measurable amounts" rather than traces in the city just 17 times, Vasilj said. Of the 17, today's snowfall was the earliest in the season recorded.

As much as 6 inches had piled up in Livingston Parish as of 10 a.m., Vasilj said. Similar amounts were reported in Bogalusa and St. Helena Parish, while in Mandeville, between 2 and 3 inches had accumulated, according to Vasilj...

from NO

What can I say more? And, snow in Houston...etc...seems we have cracked the problem of global warming! Cooling has arrived.

Good job America.

Oooo...LORD!!!

Obama meets Gore, talks energy, economy


By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday praised former Vice President Al Gore's ideas on the environment as one part of helping the nation's struggling economy recovery. Obama, Gore and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met privately at Obama's transition headquarters here for almost two hours.

Obama said they discussed so-called green jobs as a way to boost employment across the country, improve national security by reducing reliance on foreign oil, and reduce energy costs.

Obama said global warming is "not only a problem, but it's also an opportunity."

"We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way," Obama told reporters and photographers at the end of the closed-door meeting.

"We have the opportunity now to make jobs all across this country, in all 50 states, to repower America. ... We are not going to miss this opportunity," Obama said.

The president-elect's comments closely resembled Gore's plan for an environmental economy, outlined in a speech in July, and he echoed the title of Gore's effort, Repower America....He lends Obama instant credibility among environmental activists. Aides also said Obama didn't plan to recruit Gore to become a formal part of his administration.

Obama has pledged to use part of his proposed economic stimulus package to develop alternative energies and green technologies. Obama's aides said the private meeting would help shape the president-elect's economic policies.

In April, as Obama was fighting for the nomination, he lavished praise on the former vice president and said he would play a role in dealing with the environment.

"I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis," Obama said in Pennsylvania. "I'm already consulting with him in terms of these issues, but climate change is real. It is something we have to deal with now, not 10 years from now, not 20 years from now."...

Yahoo

This is one of the most disturbing news articles I have seen in a long...long...long time. Gore's science has been debunked as trash science...that just has to be worse than junk science...if not let me know a better descending adjective I can use...

Now this is absolutely scary...more sobering than the threat of terrorism. We can fight terrorism...but how do you fight...stupidity with a dogmatic agenda?

Just keep getting the word out to as many as you can.

A follow up to the previous post. Craig's wife, Mary, speaks to his death and it being televised and their reasons.

Mr. Ewert's wife Mary speaks: "Why I want my husband's death in a suicide clinic shown on TV... he wanted to get people thinking and talking about it."

Just minutes before his death, Mary, his wife of 37 years asks him: "Can I give you a big kiss?" She adds: "I love you sweetheart so much. Have a safe journey and see you some time."

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Mary, 59, explained why she wanted the world to share his dying moment, she said: "The film is a wonderful tribute to my husband. I have absolutely no regrets about agreeing to leave the camera rolling as Craig died. It's what we both wanted. The only time I asked the film crew to leave was around 30 minutes after Craig had died. I needed to cry and I wanted to do that alone. If this film gets people thinking about death and talking about it, that's all that Craig would have wished."

...The programme was condemned last night as dangerous and grotesque amid fears that it would 'undermine people's right to life' and risked glorifying suicide....

...Mr Ewert decided to use the services of Dignitas to end his life and paid it £3,000. Helped by Dignitas 'escort' Arthur Bernhard, Mr Ewert is shown using his teeth to activate a timer which switches off his lifesupport machine in 45 minutes. The patient is then warned: "Mr Ewert if you drink this you're going to die."

As Beethoven's Ninth plays in the background, he drinks the lethal dose of barbiturate sodium phenobarbital from a cup using a straw. Mr Ewert's wife Mary held her husband's hand as he passed away less than 45 minutes after drinking a lethal dose of sedatives and setting a timer to switch off his ventilator. The Dignitas representative, who holds the cup for him, says: "I wish you good travelling" and he loses consciousness minutes later as his wife holds his hand. Later there is a loud beep as the breathing aid machine turns itself off. The Dignitas man checks his pulse in his neck and says: 'He's gone."

Mrs Ewert is then seen kissing his body. Explaining the situation he found himself in, Mr Ewert said: "I am tired of the disease but I am not tired of living. I still enjoy life enough that I would like to continue, but the thing is that I really cannot. If I opt for life then that is choosing to be tortured rather than end this journey and start the next one. I cannot take the risk. Let's face it, when you're completely paralysed and cannot talk how do you let somebody know you are suffering? This could be a complete and utter hell." He added: "Once I become completely paralysed then I am nothing more than a living tomb that takes in nutrients through a tube in the stomach - it's painful."

Speaking three days before his death, he said: "There are people who will say, 'Suicide is wrong, God has forbidden it. You cannot play God and take your own life.' But if somebody wants to take their own life obviously they feel a reason for that. We may not think it's a good reason but it is that person's life. I have had a pretty good run. I think I can take my bow and say, 'Thanks, it has been fun, I would do it again'."

...Dominica Roberts of the Pro-Life Alliance said. "It is both sad and dangerous to show this kind of thing on the television. It is sad because any suicide is sad. It is dangerous because it could have a copycat effect. The point of the laws are to protect vulnerable people."...

Dr Trevor Stammers, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the spectacle of having your death broadcast on TV was grotesque.

online article

After reading more here I've become a little annoyed at the opponent's reasons. "Grotesque...dangerous...copycat effect...protect vulnerable people...undermine people's right to life...risk glorifying suicide...

What about all the gratuitous violence, killing, mayhem, etc. that is gushed out any and every given day by the entertainment industry? This video won't glorify killing...so I'm having to rethink the televising of it a little.

God Bless Mary, Craig's wife's heart.

The chilling scenes show Craig Ewert, 59, who had motor neurone disease, setting a timer to switch off his ventilator before drinking lethal sedatives.

And it will all be broadcast on British TV tomorrow night.

Mr Ewert's assisted suicide at the Swiss Dignitas clinic, was filmed for a documentary called Right To Die - The Suicide Tourist, to be shown on Sky Real Lives channel on Wednesday night.

It will be the first time an assisted suicide has been shown on British TV and will be sure to spark debate over the legality of the sensitive subject - as well as the controversial decision to screen it.

The retired university professor and dad-of-two decided to end his life as his illness was crippling his body.

Mr Ewert said:

"I am tired of the disease but I am not tired of living. I still enjoy life enough that I would like to continue but the thing is that I really cannot.

If I opt for life then that is choosing to be tortured rather than end this journey and start the next one. I cannot take the risk.

Let's face it, when you're completely paralysed and cannot talk how do you let somebody know you are suffering? This could be a complete and utter hell.

You can watch only so much of yourself drain away before you look at what is left and say "This is an empty shell.

Once I become completely paralysed then I am nothing more than a living tomb that takes in nutrients through a tube in the stomach - it's painful. Let's face it, when you're completely paralysed and cannot talk how do you let somebody know you are suffering?"

Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland and Mr Ewert passed away peacefully holding his wife, Mary's hand.

But TV watchdogs have slammed the decision to broadcast the scenes.
John Beyer director of Mediawatch UK said: "This subject is something that is quite an important political issue at the moment and my anxieties are that the programme will influence public opinion. If this programme is not impartial and promotes euthanasia then it would be in breach of the act - in short it must not influence members of the public or a change in the law." ...

The Sun, UK


What do you think?

1. Is there ever a case for euthanasia?

2. What do you think about it being shown on TV?

(One will have to go to the link to see the pictures of the death event.)

Details Of Complaint Against Blagojevich
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Full release from U.S. Attorney's Office:

Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009....

cbs report

Really sad story. Really sad corruption.

I've visited with people in high positions who get caught up in various scandals and the story is often so similar, "I just came to the place that I thought I was special..."

Let's be reminded that the wrong done has a way of haunting...regardless of the heights to which we may think we have climbed.

Fame is fleeting and disgrace can last a lifetime...and often does.

xtnyoda, shalomed

image site

AP





PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- With smoke still billowing from the torpedoed ruins of the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Thomas Griffin's B-25 group took off from its Oregon base to search for Japanese ships or submarines along the West Coast.

They didn't find any, but four months later the group flew from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and attacked Tokyo. The raid inflicted little damage but boosted U.S. morale and embarrassed the Japanese, who launched the ill-fated attack on Midway Island six weeks later, Griffin recalled.

"We took them by surprise," said Griffin, a keynote speaker at a ceremony Sunday commemorating the 67th anniversary of the Japanese raid that marked America's entry into World War II. He was joined by more than 2,000 World War II veterans and other observers.

Usually, the commemoration focuses on the attack on the USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor and several other installations on Oahu. But Sunday's remembrance centered more on the months following the raid and on an American response that helped defeat the Japanese and render the U.S. a military superpower...

abc story

xtnyoda thought it would be good to remember this Pearl Harbor day. It is a good reminder that in all of human history the only way to address madness is with force...determined, unalterable, deliberate, force.

We can go one of three ways.

1. Be militarily prepared before attacked.
2. Attempt to get prepared after attacked.
3. Hope that those determined to facilitate our destruction will somehow change their minds and decide to become civil citizens of a world community.

Only option number one has worked well in human history. There are dreamers however. I don't mind dreamers as long as they leave those preparing to deter or defeat extremists alone...so the dreamers can continue to dream in peace.

xtnyoda, shalomed

OPPOSITION TO EPA LIVESTOCK FEE PROPOSAL
Darryal Ray, November 26, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Ala.





Ron Sparks, commissioner of Alabama’s Department of Agriculture and Industries, has criticized a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to charge mandatory permit fees in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“The EPA would, in effect, put our livestock producers and dairy farmers out of business,” said Sparks. “At a time when we are becoming more and more reliant on other countries for our food, we should be looking for ways to help farmers, not punish them for producing the food we put on the table for our families.”

The proposal would affect any farm or ranch with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs by requiring permit fees based on tonnage of greenhouse gas emissions, which is based on emitting 100 tons or more of carbon per year.

According to the American Farm Bureau, the fee and/or tax would result in about $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog annually.

From Alabama

The EPA has lost it's mind.

This is outrageous.

That something like this would even be thought in silence let alone voiced openly for serious consideration is actually criminal based on what we know...or don't know about global warming. The government better knock some sense into these bureaucrats or there is going to be a massive backlash. This will not only hurt the farmers, but who it will hurt the most is poor families...get that...women and children... will ultimately be the ones who pay the price for this madness.

The northern hemisphere is starting to suffer one of the most difficult winters in modern history and they are still talking about global warming.

It's all about taxing the common person into submission to the government, and if the government doesn't get a handle on this it will prove that the government is nothing but a bunch of power hungry control freaks with a very twisted agenda...who need to be thrown out onto the streets...of say...Tehran. And, once they are thrown onto the streets of Iran there should be large signs hung around their necks that say something like, "Israel Rules!"....or "Honor the Rabbi!"

That should do it.

xtnyoda, shalomed

Military.com video

Here is Michael Clarke, a terrorism expert, speaking about the recent terror attack in India. He deals with the reality the free world needs to come to grips with...or else...

The failure of India's anti-terrorism efforts.
America's lame duck position.
Preparing for the future.

At least the opinion of one expert respected by Military.com.

Luk 18:15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. (ESV)

I never have liked feeling used...even for a good cause...there are good causes a plenty...and every one with one wants you involved in their cause...and if you are not sold out to their cause you are dropped like unwanted refuse.

That is when you know they just want to use you.

Politics and Right to Life have arrived at that level for me...the using level. I came to this several years ago in my heart...starting to feel used. Oh yes, I marched, and demonstrated, even with some success. A dear brother stood with me one afternoon every week for two years outside a building that housed among other things...an abortion clinic. Rain or shine we stood with our sign for life and endured...well you might imagine.

This particular clinic was housed inside a medical facility that sat on land that our denomination owned and the land was leased to the owners of the building. It wasn't the hospital itself, but rather a Dr.'s office complex adjacent to our hospital. Therefore, for two years we stood every week.

Our denomination finally sold the piece of land that the office complex stood on to the owners of the building. At that point we ceased our peaceful protest.

But...

I became convicted that it is much easier to protest abortion and abortion clinics than to actually go to the trouble of caring for children...much like the disciples that walked with Christ. We can do our annual right to life march and feel so vindicated, so holy, so...self righteous.

But...what about the children? Call them survivors or whatever you wish...but what are we doing to love and care for the children that live under the shadow of our steeples?

That is where I came to several years ago. I am very pleased to say that the church I serve has put her money and efforts where her mouth is.

For politicians to preach the pro-life message to garner voters just started to feel like spiritual prostitution to me. I started to feel used...and started to feel like a prostitute that even had to pay to be used...

If the people of God spent more time giving to and caring for the children with us then perhaps we would actually have a voice worth hearing. Until then the world and Christ will hold us in disdain...and rightfully so.

Oh...by the way...this is a Christmas thought...for you see Jesus was an illegitimate child. Thankfully...His mother wanted Him.

If we really believe that God is the author of life, and if we really believe that life begins at conception, then we need to shout that there is no such thing as an illegitimate child...not in God's house.

xtnyoda, shalomed

(AP Photo)


Moshe Holtzberg, the 2-year-old orphan of the rabbi and his wife slain at the Jewish center during the Mumbai attacks is seen with his relatives at a synagogue in Mumbai, India, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. Holtzberg will fly to Israel Monday on an Israeli Air Force jet with his parents' remains and the Indian woman who rescued him, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Let us pray for little Moshe. Perhaps God has a great task for his spared life.

And, what a nice touch...the Indian lady who rescued him is traveling with him back to Israel with him...sounding a little like our first Moses of scripture being rescued by foreign women while just a baby...