Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
This goes with the last Rockefeller post...see pictures at link
The "New Ten Commandments"?
Superficially, the charter is a noble concept designed to end social and environmental tensions around the world. However, a closer look reveals the underlying principles of atheistic and secular humanism, neo-paganism, Marxism, and other beliefs that are in conflict with Christianity. This new "global ethic" is designed to supplant the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to replace the Ten Commandments, neither of which can protect the Earth's ecosystems according to charter proponents, with a new "Sixteen Principles". Mr. Gorbachev is quoted as saying, "Do not do unto the environment of others what you do not want done to your own environment... My hope is that this charter will be a kind of Ten Commandments, a 'Sermon on the Mount', that provides a guide for human behavior toward the environment in the next century.”2 In Maurice Strong's own words, “The real goal of the Earth Charter is that it will in fact become like the Ten Commandments."6 Mr. Gorbachev has declared his creed: "Cosmos is my God; Nature is my God."3
In contrast to the Ark of the Covenant that housed the Ten Commandments, the Earth Charter is housed in the "Arc of Hope" (photos above). The design honors some of the world’s spiritual alternatives to Christianity. According to the website for the Earth Charter Initiative, the ark's carrying poles are “fashioned like unicorn horns which, according to legend, render evil ineffective.” The five painted panels of the Ark are decorated with "indigenous symbolism celebrating Earth and all her living elements."
http://conservation.catholic.org/Earth%20Charter.htm
NUKED AND HOOKED
Litvinenko's pal Scaramella is held
By Stephen White
THE Italian contact who met Alexander Litvinenko the day he was poisoned has been arrested by anti-terror police.
Academic Mario Scaramella was last night being held in a Rome jail on suspicion of arms trafficking and revealing state secrets.
The 36-year-old's arrest is not part of the probe into the murder of former Russian spy Mr Litvinenko who was killed after swallowing radioactive polonium 210.
It is connected to a seizure of rocket-propelled grenades by Italian police in 2005.
Mr Scaramella was with his partner and two children when he was arrested as he arrived at Naples airport from Britain on Sunday.
He is not expected to be quizzed until Wednesday.
The lawyer and security consultant met former KGB agent Mr Litvinenko at the Itsu sushi bar in London on November 1 before going on to see two Russians at a hotel. Later that day Mr Litvinenko was taken ill. He died on November 23, after accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of having him poisoned.
His friend Alex Goldfarb said: "The arrest was obviously unrelated to Alexander's death.
"They looked into all his affairs and found something which is totally unrelated to Litvinenko." Mr Scaramella had tipped off police about the arms shipment after he claimed to have been told about it by Mr Litvinenko.
But Mr Goldfarb cast doubt on the claim and said he would take it "with a grain of salt".
Mr Scaramella recently told how he was looking forward to returning to Italy for Christmas after tests showed he was clear of radiation poisoning.
He also revealed he had never been considered a suspect in connection with the death of Mr Litvinenko.
Mr Scaramella is an investigating magistrate who has looked at links between the Russian and Italian mafia.
Reports in Italy have suggested he is a member of SISMI, the Italian secret services, and works for the CIA and Colombian intelligence.
Two years ago, he was the victim of an attempted assassination when a gunman from Naples mafia the Camorra shot at him several times.
http://www.mirror.co.uk:80/news/tm_headline=nuked-and-hooked-&method=full&objectid=18328272&siteid=94762-name_page.html
plane crashes
Plane crashes with 5 onboard
Tampa Bay's 10 - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
CRYSTAL LAKE, FLa. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the wreckage from a plane that crashed yesterday morning with five people aboard. ...
Breaking News: Plane Crashes at Johnstown Airport
WJACtv.com - Johnstown,PA,USA
... Witnesses say the plane was on fire and looked to be destroyed. One witness says he was driving near the airport when he saw the ...
4 die as plane crashes in Charleston-area river
The State - Columbia,SC,USA
CHARLESTON — Four people died Friday afternoon when a twin-engine plane crashed into the Stono River while trying to land at a small airport near Charleston ...
Atlantic Eye: Putin's draconian democracy
By MARC S. ELLENBOGEN
PARIS, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Vladimir Putin has prevented Russia's implosion using methods he learned in the KGB. His game plan is logical. He knows Russia can only survive post-communism by becoming a centralized oligarchy -- or risk splitting further. Putin is emulating a long Soviet tradition: state-sanctioned tyranny in its most efficient form.
After 1991, many former apparatchiks divided the best parts of the post-Soviet economy amongst themselves. There was nothing illegal about it. Laws did not exist to prevent such maneuvers. President Boris Yeltsin knew he too needed centralized authority to survive. Without the support of the super-rich, Yeltsin might have well lost the 1996 elections to the communists.
snip
Some of Yeltsin's oligarchs have benevolent traits. Boris Beresovsky is controversial -- very controversial -- but I like him. He has given me no reason not to trust him. Beresovsky was a key player in the Yeltsin era. He schmoozed with U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister John Major and South African President F.W. de Klerk. He became post-Soviet Russia's richest man. We have "chatted" in the four-corners of the planet
http://www.upi.com:80/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20061222-074710-9916r
Heh. Your post on Putin ends on #666. How appropriate.
Why is Tony Blair flying on British Airways???
You've got mail, Granny.
I saw that and wanted to take it back that is the first and only time I have ever hit that number. It was fitting for Pooty. LOL
President Ford dies.
A decent man.
Time now, for him to rest.
Lucky Escape for Train Passengers (back)
December 22, 2006
Passengers travelling in the Arunachal Express had a miraculous escape when militants exploded a powerful bomb and subsequently fired causing damage to 10 coaches.
Chief public relation officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway Trikalagya Rabha said that no passengers were hurt after the militants exploded the bomb underneath the train travelling between Rangiya and Goreswar at 7.45 pm on Thursday night.
Four coaches and about 50 cm of rail track were damaged after the blast as the ultras fired on six other coaches from automatic weapons which bore 81 bullet hits spread on both sides, Rabha said.
Despite the blast and subsequent firing, the train was not derailed, he said.
Information about the incident was first given by the driver and guard of the train when they arrived at Goreswar station at around 7.47 pm.
Railway and security officials rushed to the site and found 55 metres of electrical wire.
They are investigating the case.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1070666
Welcome back I missed both of you.
you have short answers, too distracted to think, terror is on the rise, all over the world.
The Death of President Ford, means, the media will not have to report the things we need to know for a week or so.
93 is long enough, too long to satisfy me, for this time around.
Ten Injured in Guwahati Market Blast (back)
December 22, 2006
A grenade thrown from a flyover by suspected separatist rebels exploded in a crowded market in restive state of Assam yesterday, wounding 10 civilians, police said.
'Several of the wounded are in a critical condition,' RajenSingh, a senior police officer, said.
The attack took place in Guwahati, the state’s biggest city. Singh said that militants of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), fighting against New Delhi ’s rule in the tea-and-oil-rich state, were likely to be behind the attack.
Police also suspect ULFA for a grenade attack earlier yesterday in Sivsagar town, 400km east of Guwahati, where six civilians were wounded. Thousands have been killed in the 27-year-old ULFA revolt.
Since New Delhi and the rebels called off peace talks in September, the state has witnessed several bomb and grenade attacks which killed more than a dozen people.
An Indian Army commander said at least six ULFA rebels were killed recently in the offensive so far and five more arrested while trying to flee. Some 100 ULFA rebels were located in A runachal Pradesh, police said.
‘Some of the fleeing ULFA rebels from Arunachal Pradesh were moving towards the Bhutan border and probably trying to set up bases inside the kingdom once again,’ an intelligence official said.
In December 2003, Bhutan evicted hundreds of rebels belonging to three outlawed rebel armies from Assam , including the ULFA, in a massive military offensive that lasted nearly a month.
More than 30 well entrenched rebel camps inside Bhutan were smashed and dozens of militants killed in the operation by Bhutanese troops.
The ULFA had shifted its base to Arunachal Pradesh after the Bhutanese crackdown.
‘We are going to break the militant camps and shelters and the operation would continue till we are satisfied,’ Arunachal Pradesh police chief Amod Kant said.
Last month a powerful bomb explosion near a train station in India ’s restive northeast killed three people including a toddler and wounded nine others, police said.
The bomb detonated at a motorised rickshaw stand outside the train station of Guwahati, capital of the insurgency-ridden state of Assam , said T Rabha, a railway spokesman.
A man, his wife and 18-month-old son were killed, while nine others were wounded in the powerful blast, police officer Rajen Singh said.
The bomb went off shortly before the Rajdhani Express from New Delhi to Gauhati was to enter the station, Rabha said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Singh blamed the United Liberation Front of Asom or ULFA – a separatist outfit that often targets government offices and public places – for the attack.
'We are convinced ... that ULFA rebels are behind the blast,' Singh told reporters. – Agencies
Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2& item _no=123813&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22
Hizballah Close to Full Strength Again (back)
December 21, 2006
by Yaakov Katz
Predicting that it is 'just a matter of time' before Hizbullah attacks Israel, a high-ranking officer from the Northern Command revealed to The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that the Lebanese guerrilla group had nearly returned to full strength and was almost at the level it was before this summer's Lebanon war.
Syria , the officer said, had used the past four months since the end of the war to transfer - sometimes on a daily basis - truckloads of advanced rockets and weaponry to Hizbullah in Lebanon . The weapon transfers, he said, were not even executed covertly, but were conducted 'out in the open' for the entire world to see.
'Hizbullah needs to legitimize its existence, and therefore will continue to fight,' said the officer, adding that if and when Hizbullah attacked, it would be up to the country's diplomatic echelon to determine Israel's response.
The IDF, the officer said, was busy training brigades and battalions in urban warfare centers in the North and the South in preparation for the possibility that a new round of violence would erupt. The officer said that while there was no clear intelligence indicating that war was on the horizon, the possibility of one was the 'working assumption' for the Northern Command.
'We have a wide arsenal of potential responses,' said the officer. 'From another Operation Change of Direction [name of the IDF operation during the Lebanon war] to limiting a response to shooting the guerrilla who attacks.'
The Navy has also been training for another war and on Tuesday night conducted a number of simulations during a visit by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz to one of its missile ships.
The officer said that while it was possible that Hizbullah would attack Israel in the near future, it was also possible that Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government would succeed in enforcing both order in Lebanon and UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
'If the Lebanese government does not implement the resolution then we are most probably on our way to another round with Hizbullah,' he said.
Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881939862& pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Know Your Enemy
December 13, 2006
by Ed Iverson
Unless the enemy is identified, the battle is lost ere it has begun. No country ever won a war without knowing the identity of the enemy. Yet since we were attacked on 9/11, we have steadfastly refused to frankly name the adversary. This is primarily because of our national mania for political correctness and our slavish commitment to a perverse multi-cultural equivalency. We desperately need a national leader with the guts and the audacity to forthrightly affirm that in the context of the current hostilities, the enemy is radical Islam.
Instead, what do our leaders tell us? They say that this is a war on terror. Everybody knows that is horse hockey. We could just as well declare war on rudeness, or poverty or crime. Come to think of it, former presidents have declared war on poverty and crime, as well as wars on inflation, racism, illiteracy, drugs, smoking, obesity and goodness knows what else. I figure it is only a matter of time before some official has the presence of mind to declare war on ugly. The point is all these 'wars' are like herding cats. Herding cats keeps lots of cowboys busy but at the end of the day the corral is still empty.
War spectators get indignant about the target, study commissions get to spend public moneys and armies get sent half way around the world. But as long as the war remains a war against an abstraction, it is all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
We have got to be willing to personalize this 'war against terror.' Dedicated people plan to kill us and take all our marbles. There are actual human beings teaching young boys (and girls) how to kill and destroy Israelis and Americans. We cannot stop them by waving our hands and speaking in generalities about a war on terror. We can't just say we deplore hatred. Furthermore, it is becoming clear that we can't stop them by sending in the 82nd Airborne.
Who are these people trying to destroy us? They all have one thing in common. They are members of some radical Muslim sect. Everyone has heard of Al Qaeda. But Al Qaeda is just one of many such factions pressing jihad against Christians and Jews. There is the Wahhabi party headquartered in Saudi Arabia , Hamas in Palestine , Hezbollah in Lebanon , something called Salafia Jihadia headquartered in Morocco and an official political party in Egypt called The Islamic Brotherhood. From Minneapolis to Jakarta , there are scores of these organizations spreading the message of holy war.
I am not arguing for American troops to land in all these places. Indeed, a better identification of the enemy will rule out sending boots on the ground. The various sects are networked and cross-pollinated. They finance and send violent thugs far and wide without regard for national borders or national laws, all of which makes stealth bombers and Humvees of little use. If we will not publicly name the enemy, there is no hope of understanding his methods. We cannot elude an opponent that we will not acknowledge. We cannot engage an enemy that we refuse to name.
What is so hard about this? The appeal of radical Islam is always the same, consisting of a claim to represent pure Islam. The claim is difficult to refute because the text of the Koran backs it up. Moderate Muslims worldwide are moderate because they ignore the offending text, not because they have a coherent response that is convincing to Islamists. Analysts remain surprisingly perplexed. Why do moderate Muslims refuse to publicly repudiate radical Islam? Well, in order to do so, moderate Muslims would be forced to repudiate the Koran.
We have to be clear-headed about this. Religion is not just some private affair limited to the space between your ears. Religion comes out your fingertips. That which Muslims believe in their heart comes out their fingertips. And it's no good saying, 'Well, that's why I don't believe any religion,' because that sentiment is also a 'religion' that comes out your fingertips.
Source: http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20061213/ Opinion/112130030
I know what you mean, Granny.
There's a very dark undertow, very dangerous times ahead.
Paris Police Hold 8 French Terror Suspects Expelled by Egypt (back)
December 22, 2006
Paris police on Friday detained eight French terror suspects who were expelled by Egypt , judicial officials said.
Egyptian authorities expelled the eight Frenchmen along with two Belgians Thursday on a charter flight for Brussels , an official at Cairo 's international airport said.
The men, along with an American, another French citizen and an unknown number of Egyptians and Arabs from other countries, were arrested late last month by Egyptian authorities for allegedly belonging to an Islamist terror cell plotting attacks. The ninth French citizen and the American remain in Egyptian custody.
The French suspects were brought from Brussels to Paris by car. Upon their arrival early Friday morning, the Paris police's anti-terrorist division immediately took the men into custody for questioning. Under French law, they can be held without charges for up to four days.
The suspects' arrival in France coincides with the visit of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is in Paris Friday for talks with French President Jacques Chirac and to inaugurate an exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts.
The eight suspects are between 25 and 35 years old. Roughly half of them are known to French police.
Egyptian officials said the suspects were allegedly living in Egypt under the guise of studying Arabic and Islamic studies and had formed a militant cell that was plotting attacks.
Egypt has witnessed a string of suicide terror attacks in recent years at Sinai Peninsula tourist resorts and operates under emergency laws, which gives the government wide powers to detain suspects without charging them. The laws have been in place since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, despite growing opposition to them from both inside and outside the country.
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/08/europe/EU_GEN_ France_Egypt_Terror_Suspects.php
FG Arraigns Nigerian Leader of Al-Qaeda in Court (back)
December 22, 2006
The Federal Government yesterday arraigned a 40-year old Nigerian leader of an illegal terrorist organization called Al-Qaeda Network, one Mallam Mohammed Ashafa before a Federal high court sitting in Abuja .
Mohammed’s terrorist group specializes in gathering information and carrying out terrorist attacks on the residences of Americans living in Nigeria .
He is facing a 5-count charge of receiving monies in foreign currencies from Talha and Na’deem (Al-Qaeda Operatives) of the Tabliqh Headquarters, Lahore , Pakistan for the recruiting and training of terrorists whose main objective is to attack residences of Americans living in Nigeria .
He was not represented by any lawyer in court.
The first attempt to arraign him in court early yesterday morning was frustrated by him.
He had told the trial judge, Justice Binta Murtala Nyarko that he did not understand English, the official language of the court.
Justice Nyarko who is presently the administrative judge of the Abuja division of the Federal high court had to stand down the case till 2:00pm yesterday to enable the court get a good interpreter.
Mohammed, a young man of about 5.4 feet height, who wore a very bushy hair was taken away by men of the SSS after the matter was stood down.
He was brought back to court yesterday at exactly 2:00clock and he was docked again with the charges interpreted to him in Hausa language.
He pleaded not guilty to each of the counts.
But moments after entering his pleas, Mohammed surprised everybody in court when he started speaking fluently in English Language with the men of the SSS that brought him to court.
Earlier, the trial judge had asked Mohammed if he would defend himself or engage the services of a legal practitioner of his choice to which he replied that he would engage a counsel of his choice.
Justice Nyarko who said he was entitled to legal representation however ordered that he be remanded in SSS custody till February 22, this year when trial is expected to commence in his case.
The judge also ordered that he should be given both visitation and medical rights, saying it is only the living that can face trial.
shall be used to identify and carry out terrorist attacks on the residence of Americans living in Nigeria and thereby commit an offence contrary to section 15 (1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 and punishable under the same section of the Act.
COUNT 2:
That you Mohammed Ashafa ‘M’ 40 years old of Sharanchi Quarters Kano on diverse dates (between 2003 and December 2004) at Kano, Kano State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court facilitated acts of terrorism: to wit you are served courier to Al-Qaeda Tabliqh Headquarters Lahore Pakistan receiving and decoding coded messages and disseminating same to members of an illegal terrorist organisation known and called 'The Nigerian Taliban' with intent that such information to identify and carry out attacks on residence of Americans living in Nigeria and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 punishable under the same section of the Act.
COUNT 3:
That you Mohammed Ashafa ‘M’ 40 years old of Sharanchi Quarters, Kano, member of an illegal organisation known and called the 'Al-Qaeda networks' at Kano, Kano state within the jurisdiction of the Federal high Court permitted your house to be used as the Al-Qaeda secret operational base; and rendered logistics and intelligence services to Adhan Katal Spinghul, Ahamed Sukur, Ahamed Taifi, Babagana Abdul Karim Gatamari (members of terrorist organisation called ‘The Al-Qaeda Networks’ whose objectives was to identify and carry out attacks on the United States Consulate and residences of Americans living in Nigeria and thereby commit an offence contrary to section 15 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 punishable under the same section of the Act.
COUNT 4:
That you Mohammed Ashafa ‘M’ 40 years old of Sharanchi Quarters, Kano, member of an illegal terrorist organisation known and called the Nigerian Taliban on diverse dates, (between the 30th December 2003 and 30th December, 2004 at Maiduguri, Borno State and other places in Nigeria within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court did facilitate the commission of terrorist act to wit: You contacted, sponsored and ferried Isam Adam Sukur, Ahamed Taifi, Babagana Abdulkarim Galtamari and eighteen other Mujahideen fighters (members of Militia arm of the said Nigerian Taliban) to receive combat training on terrorism from an Algerian terrorist network known as Salifis Group for combat and preaching camp at Agwan, Niger Republic (Algerian Terrorist Network) and thereby committed and offence contrary to section 15 (2) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004 and punishable under the same Act.
COUNT 5
That you Mohammed Ashafa ‘M’ 40 years old of Sharanchi Quarters, Kano, member of an illegal terrorist organisation known and called 'The Nigerian Taliban' on or about 30th day of December 2003 a Yau Katako quarters Kano, Kano State within the jurisdiction of the Federal high Court provided and gave large sums of money to Isam Adam Sukur and Ahamed Taifi with the intent that the money shall be used to receive military training at Salafis Group for combat and preaching at Camp Agwan Niger Republic and that you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15 (1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act punishable under the same section of the Act.
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/north/nt319122006.html
Italian Court Convicts 2 Turks on International Terrorism Charges (back)
December 20, 2006
An Italian court convicted two Turks of international terror charges and acquitted a third Wednesday, according to an Italian news agency.
Avni Er, Remzi Ucucu and Zeynep Kilic were accused of participating in activities of the DHKP-C, an outlawed leftist group that aims to topple the Turkish government and replace it with a Marxist one, ANSA reported.
The court sentenced Er to seven years in prison and Kilic to five years, and acquitted Ucucu, ANSA said.
Earlier, prosecutors had asked that Er and Ucucu each be sentenced to 10 years, and Kilic to eight.
No one picked up the phone Wednesday at the office of the prosecutor in the Umbrian city of Perugia , or at the courthouse. Further details were not immediately available.
Ucucu had been considered a fugitive and was not in court. A warrant for his arrest will be revoked, ANSA said.
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/20/europe/EU_GEN_Italy_ Terrorism.php
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