July 19 - 23 2010

Weekly News Archive

Broadcast Notes

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CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

MONDAY JULY 19, 2010
- no news edition -

CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

TUESDAY JULY 20, 2010
- no news edition -

CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

WEDNESDAY JULY 21, 2010

U.S. and Israel fear Iran may be capable of a nuclear test this year

Shahram Amiri's voluntary repatriation to Iran and a second close look at the nuclear data he passed to the CIA are raising grave doubts about its value, DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report. There is mounting suspicion in Washington and Jerusalem that Tehran employed the scientist to strew red herrings in their path, namely, out-of-date material for concealing and misdirecting their attention from the rapid progress taking place secretly in Iran's nuclear program.
A high-ranking intelligence source in Washington remarked Monday, July 19, that he would not be surprised "if we woke up one morning to find the Iranians had conducted an underground nuclear test." This was not to say Iran had a bomb or nuclear warhead ready packed for delivery, he said, "Only that it was a lot closer to this option than the Americans and Israelis had been led to believe."
Therefore, as of now, their forecast of a nuclear test capability has been brought forward to within the five months remaining of 2010.
Our sources report this revised forecast has emerged from US intelligence analysts' examination of two new premises regarding Amiri's input in the years he served as US informant:
(1) That he was an Iranian double agent and his apparent defection to the United States just over a year ago was fake, engineered by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
(2) That Shahram Amiri, the nuclear scientist, was a made-up identity. After he landed to a heroes' welcome in Tehran last Thursday, July 15, Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi said: "Shahram Amiri is not a nuclear scientist and we reject it." Another Iranian official called him a clever spy who had managed to infiltrate US intelligence and deceive them for years . . . .
Many moves made by the administrations under George W. Bush and, since January 2009, Barack Obama, were based on the information and documents that Amiri provided.
If Amiri was a double agent planted by the MOIS, then Tehran had been able to manipulate these policies and anticipate their course.
Even if real nuggets were mixed in with the false data - a common ruse for making false intelligence appear credible - it still meant that Iran's leaders controlled the flow of factual information to the West and were in a position to change it in good time - so that when Amiri was asked by his US handlers to amplify on a piece of real information, it was no longer valid; Iran had moved on and created a new set of facts, unbeknownst to the Americans . . . .
Only in recent months, have US and allied agencies begun to appreciate that this technique of misdirection allowed Iran to pursue its nuclear and missile programs out of sight of spies and monitors. While the West and Israel relied on Amiri to keep them abreast of Iran's activities, nuclear development work went forward at still unknown locations and may have progressed a lot further than is suspected in the West. [emphasis added]

Source: debka.com MORE

Israeli generals win U.S. high-tech ballistic missile tracking system

A ballistic missile fired at Israeli from any spot in the Middle East, be it Iran, Syria or South Lebanon, can now be tracked from launch by top Israeli commanders by means of the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense System (ALTBMD) developed to protect NATO forces against missile threat and provided Israel by the United States.
DEBKAfile's military sources report: The system's interim stage links up radars of early warning sensors, radar, missile interceptors and space-based detectors. This integrated, layered protective network against tactical missile threats will alert Israeli division and brigade commanders in the field and the home front from a combined US-Israeli operations center to the launching of a ballistic missile (from up to 3,000 kilometers) against Israel by sea, air or land.
For the first time, Israel's war commanders will be forewarned in real time of an approaching ballistic missile, its estimated launch point and impact target and be able track the engagement by counter-missiles. The information will give them a sense of whether the incoming missile threatens command bases, military forces or civilian population areas.
Our military sources add that the US Defense Department has decided to arm NATO generals in Afghanistan and Europe with interim ALTBMD capabilities by the end of the year, as part of America's preparations for war with Iran. It will be delivered by the contractors, Thales Raytheon Systems.
In the last nine months, the US and Israeli armies have carried out two training exercises in the use of this system - first during the big Juniper Cobra 2010 war game last November just after an intelligence alert that Iran, Syria and Hizballah had doubled their ballistic missile arsenals; again, from June 6-10, when the USS Harry S Truman Strike Force was anchored 50 miles off Israel's southern shore. They practiced combined responses to possible Iranian, Syrian or Hizballah attacks on Israel in the event of a war with Iran.
That exercise, dubbed Juniper Stallion 2010, tested command and battle management and combined early warning drills against incoming missiles. The American AN/TPY-2 radar network using X-Band for intercepting ballistic missiles posted on Mt. Keren (in the Israeli Negev opposite the Egyptian border) was linked for the purpose of the exercise to the Europe-based US Joint Tactical Ground Station (JTAGS).
DEBKAfile's military sources confirm that henceforth the capability to put a tail on incoming enemy ballistic missiles is integrated into Israel's missile defense architecture as a valuable protective capability in a war situation. [no further content]

Source: debka.com LINK

[Note: Also see Israel To Deploy New Anti-Missile System In November in today’s News Briefs section.]

Israel's southern border wide open and undefended

Turkey's foreign minister Ahmed Dagutoglu met secretly in Damascus with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal Monday, July 19, as well as getting together with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al Hariri to synchronize their operations against Israel, focusing for now on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip . . . .
[In Israel, meanwhile, the] Rafael-produced Iron Dome, while the most advanced of its kind in the world, promises no more than 80 percent effectiveness, [Deputy Defense Minister Mattan Vilnai] explained. Furthermore, it would not be permanently deployed at the northern or southern borders - but only as required. Salvation was therefore not yet in sight.
As a cure-all for Israeli border security, Iron Dome has at least four shortcomings, defined here by DEBKAfile's military sources:
(1) Its availability. Iron Dome batteries will not be available in the coming months, should a military showdown flare with Iran, Hizballah or Hamas. Most optimistically, it will take another 10 months for Rafael to manufacture the 16-18 batteries required by the two flashpoint border sectors, deploy them and train crews to operate them . . .
(2) No combat experience. Although a smash hit in tests, the system has never been tried in combat conditions . . . For example, it has never shown its paces against simultaneous Hamas and Hizballah missile attacks from several directions from rapidly-moving launching locations with the attackers using electronic devices for jamming and deception. Four years ago, in the Lebanon War, Hizballah had begun to master electronic devices for tracking, eavesdropping and locking in on IDF targets. There is every reason to suppose that the Lebanese Shiite terrorists have enhanced this capability since then.
(3) Distinguishing targets. Publicity handouts present Iron Dome as capable of distinguishing between incoming missiles heading for target civilian areas and those that will explode in unpopulated areas. This description oversimplifies the challenges: Today's battlefield is not a clearly-marked arena between enemy missile launchers and anti-missile systems for intercepting them . . .
(4) Expensive. Iron Dome is costly - half a million dollars per battery including its launching mechanism, compared with a Hamas Qassam missile which costs $150 to manufacture.
On the working assumption that Hamas is able to fire an average 500 rockets a day and Hamas 300 missiles, Israel would need to lay out a staggering $40 billion per day to maintain this defensive system in working order, a totally disproportionate cost in military terms . . . .
DEBKAfile's military sources report that some weeks ago, the American and French military engineers building the steel wall along the Philadelphi route for sealing the Gaza Strip arms smuggling tunnels off from their Sinai routes dropped tools and gave up on the project.
The project was abandoned after Hamas used heavy-duty machinery to cut through the steel girders forming the wall . . . .
Having given up on tactics for controlling the constant buildup of Hamas and Hizballah missile arsenals, Israel has also left itself without a current, effective defense for its southern population or Galilee and laid itself open to an unhampered influx of African migrants, among whom al Qaeda elements can easily mingle. [emphasis added]

Source: debka.com MORE

Before rig explosion, BP pumped chemical mixture into well, contractor says

KENNER, LOUSIANA -- In the hours before the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, BP pumped into the well an extraordinarily large quantity of an unusual chemical mixture, a contractor on the rig testified Monday.
The injection of the dense, gray fluid was meant to flush drilling mud from the hole, according to the testimony before a government panel investigating the April 20 accident. But the more than 400 barrels used were roughly double the usual quantity, said Leo Lindner, a drilling fluid specialist for contractor MI-Swaco.
BP had hundreds of barrels of the two chemicals on hand and needed to dispose of the material, Lindner testified. By first flushing it into the well, the company could take advantage of an exemption in an environmental law that otherwise would have prohibited it from discharging the hazardous waste into the Gulf of Mexico, Lindner said.
The procedure mixed two substances. "It's not something we've ever done before," Lindner said.
A BP specialist said using the two substances together would be okay. Nonetheless, the night before the rig exploded, Lindner was busy conducting an improvised chemistry experiment to double-check. He mixed a gallon of one of the substances with a gallon of the other and observed their reaction.
When the well became a gusher on April 20, a fluid that fit the general description of the mixture rained down on the rig.
Stephen Bertone, chief engineer on the rig, said in testimony earlier in the day that part of the rig was covered in an inch or more of material that he said resembled "snot."
Ronnie Penton, an attorney for one of the rig workers, said in an interview after the hearing that the double-sized dose of spacer fluid, also known as a "pill," skewed a crucial test of pressure in the well just hours before the blowout. Based on the test, BP concluded it was safe to continue displacing the heavy mud from the well in favor of much lighter sea water.
"That large pill skewed the testing," Penton said.
The alleged departure from standard practice came despite a series of complications in the attempt to complete work on the well. [no further content]

Source: washingtonpost.com LINK

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NEWS BRIEFS
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Report: Mubarak rejects Netanyahu's 'peace map'

During his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a map displaying the borders of a future Palestinian state as he envisages it, London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Tuesday, quoting a senior Israeli official. According to the report, Mubarak rejected Netanyahu's proposal. However, the Prime Minister's Office denied the reports, saying they were "unfounded." The Israeli official told the newspaper that the PM's attitude towards the possibility of a Palestinian state has "changed for the better", but added that Netanyahu's vision does not coincide with the Arab and Palestinian demand to establish such a state within the 1967 borders, with slight border modifications. The newspaper quoted the official as saying that Mubarak recommended that Netanyahu revise the map in accordance with the Arab demand. MORE

Note: see also Israel Denies Presenting Egypt With Map Of Palestinian State LINK

Netanyahu hints at flexibility on Jerusalem

NEW YORK (JTA) -- It was an otherwise wholly unremarkable stump speech before a friendly audience in New York. On the evening of July 7 at Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel, the Israeli prime minister addressed a roomful of more than 300 Jews on the subjects of Iran, his government’s eagerness for direct peace talks with the Palestinians and the swell meeting he had just had with President Obama at the White House. But then, in an off-the-cuff remark to a question on Jerusalem from the audience, Benjamin Netanyahu dropped a hint that his government’s insistence on Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem might not be ironclad. “Everybody knows that there are Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem that under any peace plan will remain where they are,” Netanyahu said in response to the question read by the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein. The implication of Netanyahu’s remark - that other neighborhoods of Jerusalem may not remain “where they are,” becoming part of an eventual Palestinian state - was the first hint that the Israeli leader may be flexible on the subject of Jerusalem. Until now, Netanyahu has insisted that Jerusalem is not up for negotiation. (7-12-10) MORE

Israel to deploy new anti-missile system in November

JERUSALEM -- Israel will deploy in November its anti-missile system designed to combat threats from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the defence ministry said on Monday. "The Iron Dome interceptor, in conjunction with air force and anti-aircraft systems, successfully downed a large number of threats in fully operational mode," the ministry said in statement. "The first two batteries will become operational in November 2010," it said adding that "the defence ministry will soon place orders for additional batteries." The system is designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells, of which Hamas and the Hezbollah have fired thousands at Israel in the past. The system is expected to be first deployed along the border of Hamas-run Gaza . . . It will then be deployed on Israel's border with Lebanon … MORE

Israel threatens to attack populated Lebanese areas

BEIRUT -- Israel threatened on Tuesday to attack highly populated areas of Lebanon as its military chief claimed Hizbullah was using urban infrastructure to conceal weapons. Chief of General Staff for the Israeli Army, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, said his force would not hesitate to strike Lebanese towns and villages if forced into any fresh conflict. “Hizbullah is consolidating its presence in inhabited areas where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) can’t discover weapons,” Ashkenazi told Israeli radio while on a trip to Italy. “We will move in these areas if need be.” Ashkenazi reiterated Israeli overtures of preparedness for a new war by saying the Israeli Army was “ready for all possibilities,” even while admitting the situation along the Blue Line was currently calm. MORE

Moscow pledges Tehran oil products ... against U.S. embargo

Countering the new US embargo on petroleum and oil distillates embargo on Iran, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and Iranian Oil Minister Masud Mir-Kazemi Wednesday, July 14 signed a series of far-reaching energy-related agreements, including a deal to sell Tehran Russian petroleum products and petrochemicals. DEBKAfile's Moscow sources report that the pacts aim squarely at the law signed by President Barack Obama on July 2 to hit Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps' prime source of income, imported refined oil products including gasoline. The Russian and Iranian energy ministers contracted specifically to "increase cooperation in transit, swaps and marketing of natural gas as well as sales of petroleum products and petrochemicals." The accords also set up "a joint bank to help fund bilateral energy projects." This latter provision bypasses the US ban on the banks and insurance companies involved in funding refined oil supplies to Iran by creating a shared banking instrument for handling the funding of fuel purchases. MORE

Labyrinthine U.S. security efforts defy coordination
Top-secret world appears too large for real oversight

WASHINGTON -- The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it, or exactly how many agencies do the same work. These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine . . . In the Department of Defense, where more than two-thirds of the intelligence programs reside, only a handful of senior officials - called Super Users - have the ability to even know about all the department’s activities. But as two of the Super Users indicated in interviews, there is simply no way they can keep up with the nation’s most sensitive work. “I’m not going to live long enough to be briefed on everything’’ was how one Super User put it. The other recounted that for his initial briefing, he was escorted into a tiny, dark room, seated at a small table, and told he couldn’t take notes. Program after program began flashing on a screen, he said, until he yelled “Stop!’’ in frustration. “I wasn’t remembering any of it,’’ he said . . . [Retired Army Lieutenant General John Vines, who was asked last year to review the method for tracking the Defense Department’s most sensitive programs, said] that it’s impossible to tell whether the country is safer because of all this spending and all these activities. “Because it lacks a synchronizing process, it inevitably results in message dissonance, reduced effectiveness and waste,’’ Vines said. “We consequently can’t effectively assess whether it is making us more safe.’’ MORE

Scientists call on Obama to stop chem-spray [in Gulf of Mexico]

Over 100 scientists and academic institution, research laboratory, conservation organization leaders plus human rights defenders from as far away as Norway and Greece signed the Scientists Consensus Statement on the Use of Chemical Dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico calling for the Obama Administration to immediately halt chemical aerial spraying in the Gulf region. A public petition to end dispersant use is also gaining momentum. Scientists expressing grave concern about the unprecedented aerial spraying of chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico region believe a large-scale, uncontrolled non-consensual human and environmental experiment is being conducted in the Gulf region according to reports sent to the writer including one from the "Ocean Doctor" David E. Guggenheim, Ph.D. Guggenheim is president of 1planet1ocean, a project of The Ocean Foundation of which he is a Senior Fellow. "Corexit aerial sprayed is one of the most toxic dispersants and one of the least effective on Louisiana crude oil," states Guggenheim. "The mixture of Corexit and oil represents an even greater threat as the toxic effects are magnified according to independent scientists and researchers." Guggenheim is inviting more scientists to support the immediate halt of the chemical spraying. "The dispersant-oil mixture is killing marine wildlife, including dolphins, whales and fish, while also causing a range of serious human health effects to those who have been exposed," reads part of the statement that 1plant1ocean is calling more scientists to sign. The statement calls on the "Obama Administration, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to immediately halt the use of chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico." [emphasis in original] MORE

Haitian Farmers Reject Monsanto Earthquake Relief Donation and Burn GMO Seeds

(Natural News) -- In an attempt to backdoor GMO seeds into a new market, Monsanto has taken the opportunity to donate hundreds of tons of GMO seeds to Haiti and is calling it an effort to help the people in Haiti with earthquake relief. However, Monsanto's "generosity" is being met with skepticism and outright rejection. Recently, a large group of small farmers burned a symbolic quantity of Monsanto's donated hybrid corn seed in the central square of the agricultural town of Hinche. A 200,000-member national coalition is encouraging Haiti farmers to burn all Monsanto seeds that have already been distributed, and has called on the government to reject additional shipments . . . The corn seed product Monsanto donated to Haiti has been treated with the fungicide Maxim XO, while the calypso tomato seeds were treated with thiram. Thiram is a highly toxic chemical which the EPA examined and deemed to be so dangerous that agricultural workers are now mandated to wear protective clothing when handling them. While Monsanto is calling the seeds a donation, it isn't hard to see how the company will benefit by getting farmers hooked on a need that only it can supply, as it has done elsewhere around the world - most notably in the U.S. and Canada. MORE

Patch heralds new era in battle against pandemics
Scientists unveil an innovative and cheap method of delivering vaccines without the need for needles or medical experts

A revolutionary way of vaccinating against infectious diseases has been invented by scientists who have developed a skin patch containing an influenza vaccine. The patch does away with needles and syringes and could transform the battle against future pandemics by painlessly inoculating patients with vaccines that could be sent out in the post and self-administered in the home by somebody with no medical experience. In the developing world, the skin patches could eliminate the need for the costly medical infrastructure of mass-vaccination campaigns, which require trained medical personnel to inject vaccines, and expensive storage equipment. Skin patches also bypass the hazards of dirty needles. MORE

U.S. Navy Successfully Uses Laser to Shoot Down Drones

The U.S. Navy has used a a laser weapon to shoot down four unmanned aerial vehicles in a test that rings up memories of Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense shield in the 1980s. The successful test of the Laser Weapon System off the coast of California was announced during the Farnborough International Air Show, which is taking place this week in England. The technology, jointly developed with Raytheon, used industrial strength lasers, is more than just your run-of-the-mill PR exercise. In its write-up of the technology, Scientific American correctly notes that the shoot-down of the drones over water constitutes an advance over previous Raytheon tests which focused on static targets. MORE

Obama Launches Policy to Protect Oceans

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is announcing a new national policy for strengthening the way the U.S. manages its oceans, coasts and the Great Lakes. Officials say the framework is needed now more than ever following the massive Gulf oil spill. The policy calls for the creation of a new National Ocean Council that will coordinate the work of the myriad of federal agencies involved in conservation and marine planning. But it creates no new restrictions or regulations, and is not expected to have any short-term impact on offshore oil drilling. Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the new policy recognizes that use of the ocean is expanding at a rate that challenges the ability to manage competing demands. [no further content] LINK

Solar flare activity continues to increase
Scientists say sun's volatile behavior could cause problems on Earth

The sun's erratic and sometimes volatile behavior has the potential to cause real problems here on Earth, and protecting our planet will require an international effort, according to scientists who gathered recently for a meeting about the effects of solar activity. Streams of charged particles that fly off the sun can interfere with electronics on Earth and satellites orbiting our planet. For example, during a particularly intense solar storm in 1989, power to an entire Canadian province was knocked out. Since then, other storms have knocked a handful of satellites out of service. With Earth becoming more and more dependent on technology, the risk from solar flares is only going up, experts say. Representatives from more than 25 of the world's most technologically-advanced nations convened last week for the International Living with a Star (ILWS) meeting in Bremen, Germany, to discuss the importance of developing better methods for forecasting space weather. "The problem is solar storms - figuring out how to predict them and stay safe from their effects," said ILWS chairperson Lika Guhathakurta from NASA's Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "We need to make progress on this before the next solar maximum arrives around 2013." By then, solar storms will be at their strongest and most frequent in the roughly 11-year cycle of the sun's activity, which is just now emerging from an unusually long period of quiescence. MORE

Supreme Court Police Told School Teacher It's 'Definitely Contrary to the Law' to Pray on Supreme Court Steps

(CNS News) -- The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) wants assurances that an Arizona Christian school teacher will not be arrested if she prays on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building. According to attorneys from ADF, Supreme Court police forced teacher Maureen Rigo from the building steps and told her the act of bowing her head and praying on the Supreme Court steps was unlawful. A Supreme Court spokeswoman, meanwhile, told CNS News that the Court does not have a policy prohibiting prayer. Nathan Kellum, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said on May 5 of this year Mrs. Rigo and her class from Wickenburg Christian Academy in Wickenburg, Arizona, visited the Supreme Court for an educational tour. While standing on the Oval Plaza of the Court steps, the group began to pray quietly. Despite having prayed on Court grounds without incident during a previous trip, a Supreme Court police officer interrupted the prayer, informed the group they could not pray in that location, and guided them toward the street . . . The [federal] statute bans assemblages that bring public notice to a movement, Kellum noted. “If you consider Christianity a movement, and you bow your head, that’s bringing public notice to it,” he added . . . If Rigo does not receive written assurance that her right to pray is protected within three weeks, Kellum said the Alliance Defense Fund will pursue federal court action. MORE

Note: see also Prayer Shushed On Supreme Court Steps LINK

Praying employees win round one in legal scuffle (Texas)

Two employees of the University of Texas at Arlington who prayed over a co-worker's cubicle -- and were subsequently fired - will have their day in court. Attorney Jeff Mateer of Liberty Institute tells OneNewsNow that after work hours, the plaintiffs prayed over the cubicle of an employee with whom they had had trouble. After losing their jobs, the workers brought suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the first phase of the case has ended in their favor. "The court recently ruled in favor of the two ex-employees, saying that they could proceed to trial, defeating the university's motion for summary judgment, which would have resulted in the case being dismissed," Mateer reports. He believes the school will have a tough time proving its case. "The university claimed that by praying for a co-employee, that they were harassing that employee," the Liberty Institute attorney explains. "The university's position has been consistently in this case that praying for a fellow employee constitutes harassment." [emphasis added] MORE

Pakistan city tense after 'blaspheming' Christians shot

Police reinforcements have been called in [to] the Pakistani city of Faisalabad a day after two Christians charged with blasphemy were shot dead outside court. Clashes broke out in the city, home to a large Christian community, after the brothers were gunned down. Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and Sajid, 24, were accused of writing a pamphlet critical of the Prophet Muhammad; a rights activist said they were framed. Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law carries the death penalty . . . The complainant in the case, a local trader, Khurram Shehzad, alleged that one of his employees was handed a pamphlet by someone at Faisalabad's general bus stand. He said the paper contained disrespectful remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. Police told the BBC the pamphlet had apparently been signed by the two brothers, whose addresses and mobile phone numbers were also given. But Atif Jameel, spokesman for the Pakistan Minorities Democratic Foundation, told the BBC: "No-one in his right mind would issue a derogatory pamphlet against the Prophet and put his name and address on it. "This appears to be a conspiracy against peace and religious harmony in Faisalabad." MORE

Nigeria: 5 die in new religious violence

JALINGO, NIGERIA -- Another round of violence between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria has left five people dead. Witnesses and police say it erupted Tuesday in a village in eastern Nigeria. A police commissioner in Taraba state told The Associated Press that Christians upset with a mosque in their neighborhood burned the house of worship to the ground. Street fighting erupted between Christian and Muslim youths. A local reporter told the AP that he counted at least 15 wounded at one public hospital, and was told others sought treatment at private clinics. Witnesses say several mosques and churches were burned. Security forces moved into Wukari on Wednesday and brought an uneasy calm to the community. Authorities put a dusk-till-dawn curfew in place in hope of stopping retaliatory attacks. Sectarian violence in central Nigeria this year is blamed for more than 500 deaths. [no further content] LINK

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Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of Christian Media Daily or our host - Christian Media Network. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.

Opinion: BERWICK: BIGGER THAN KAGAN (Daniel Henninger)

Barack Obama's incredible "recess appointment" of Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is probably the most significant domestic-policy personnel decision in a generation. It is more important to the direction of the country than Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court.
The court's decisions are subject to the tempering influence of nine competing minds. Dr. Berwick would direct an agency that has a budget bigger than the Pentagon. Decisions by the CMS shape American medicine.
Dr. Berwick's ideas on the design and purpose of the U.S. system of medicine aren't merely about "change." They would be revolutionary.
One may agree with these views or not, but for the president to tell the American people they have to simply accept this through anything so flaccid as a recess appointment is beyond outrageous. It isn't acceptable.
The Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, was taken aback at the end-around: "Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power."
Let's look, then, at what President Obama won't let the American electorate hear Dr. Berwick say in front of a committee of Congress. [see source website] . . . .
There is no need to rehearse the analogies in literature and social thought that Dr. Berwick's ideas summon. That the Obama White House would try to push this past public scrutiny with a recess appointment says more about Barack Obama than it does Dr. Berwick.
Vilifying Dr. Berwick alone for his views is in a way beside the point. Within Mr. Obama's circle they all think like this. Defeat Dr. Berwick, and they will send up 50 more who would pursue the same goals.
If the American people want the world Dr. Berwick wishes to give them, that's their choice. But they must be given that choice with full, televised confirmation hearings. [emphasis added]

Source: wsj.com (7-15-10) MORE

Note: see also Hatch: There's 'All Kinds Of Pressure' By Democratic Caucus Not To Have Hearings On Berwick LINK

Commentary: MOST CHRISTIANS ARE LONG ON PRAYERS BUT SHORT ON WORKS (Coach Dave Daubenmire)

There is almost no power in American Christianity anymore. Most Christians believe that God has enough power to “save a soul,” but in the minds of most of them the idea that God is all-powerful is a stretch of their faith. There is very little “power” in most churches today . . . .
Most Christians are powerless because they have never been filled with the Holy Spirit . . . .
. . . [The] in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit is not the same as the in-filling . . . .
The in-dwelling produces the life of Jesus in us, but it is the in-filling that produces the power for the work of ministry . . . .

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you and when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: [John 16:7-8] . . . .
"Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses [a person’s] conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God." - Oswald Chambers

The Holy Spirit reveals Truth. The battle for Truth is not taking place in the world, but in the Church. Confusion reigns over right and wrong, good and evil. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit we must trust in fallible men for direction. Churches wink at divorce, accept homosexuality, turn a blind eye to abortion, and pursue un-Godly mammon. I’d rather have the Holy Ghost than a pastor.
Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: [John 16:13]

Do you know the Truth? Are you willing to defend it?
The Holy Ghost puts steel in your spine. Most Christians never share the Gospel, even with their friends. Their silence has enabled sin to run unopposed, especially in the schools that the Christians underwrite to educate their children . . . .

What happened to the power that we read about in the first-century church?
The Holy Spirit is God. He is so much more than a Spirit that shows up to give you goose bumps during “praise and worship.”

Source: newswithviews.com MORE

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ADDITIONAL NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Day 92: Hearings: Still unclear why key safety tests bypassed on oil rig LINK
One of the tests BP decided to skip was a bottoms-up test, a process by which drilling mud is circulated through the hole to tell the crew if natural gas has infiltrated the well ... That would have been key because gas eventually kicked up the hole and caused the explosions that doomed the rig

BP floats new plan to seal oil well with cement LINK

BP says seepage near well unrelated to macondo leak LINK

Expert suspects BP has ulterior motive behind oil well cap LINK
Oil inductry expert Bob Cavnar believes that BP's true goal is to make it harder to measure the flow of oil from the damaged well, because under the Clean Water Act, it will be liable for civil penalties of up to $4,300 for every barrel spilled

Experts warn U.S. oil spill could destroy 100,000 jobs LINK

[analysis]: Crime against humanity cover-up LINK

Omega Plan Alert(!): Why BP is Readying a 'Super Weapon' to Avert Escalating Gulf Nightmare LINK
While the plan would admittedly only be executed if a worst case scenario seemed imminent, some geo-chemists have expressed concerns that detonating a nuke in the Gulf might ignite the methane

First rig sails away over drilling ban LINK
Lawmakers and experts fear loss is only the start of offshore exodus
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Karzai reaffirms 2014 goal for Afghan-led security LINK

Iran's parliament adopts bill against inspections LINK
Bill authorizes tit-for-tat retaliation against countries that inspect Iranian ships and aircraft as part of the latest set of U.N. sanctions

[analysis]: Iran War Even Closer? LINK

[Turkish foreign minister] meets Hamas leader in Damascus LINK

The sad math of aid in Haiti: 6 months, 2 percent LINK

Ban Ki-Moon in the Firing Line Over Leadership, Reforms LINK

California governor mobilizes National Guard troops to Mexican border LINK

[analysis]: 'Colombianization' of Mexico warned nearly complete LINK

Senate panel backs Obama Supreme Court pick LINK

Census Officials in New York Instructed Workers to Falsify Questionnaires, Says Inspector General LINK

London Times loses 90% of online readership LINK
Less than 3 weeks after paywall goes up, data show massive decline in traffic

Obama wants federal workers to travel less LINK
Employees also asked not to commute by car as part of effort to reduce pollution

Here's what 'Obama money' is doing for you ... in Kenya! LINK
An investigation by three Republican congressmen has revealed the Obama administration has secretly spent $23 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Kenya to fund a "Yes" vote on a constitutional referendum scheduled for August 4 that would increase access to abortions in Kenya and establish legal status for Islamic law tribunals

Bailout Alert: Obama Administration’s Actions in Auto Bailout Added to Unemployment, Audit Says LINK

400,000 get mortgage help LINK
But many more don't qualify for Obama's foreclosure prevention

1.65 Million Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings in First Half of 2010 LINK

Home Construction Sinks to Lowest Level Since October LINK

Unemployment Rate Falls in 39 States in June LINK

Ron Paul EXPOSES the Real GDP and Unemployment Numbers (video) LINK

Desperate stores try 'Christmas in July' LINK
'We really wanted to create that sense of excitement, that sense of urgency'

[analysis]: Banks Are Lending Money Like Crazy To Single Borrower LINK

[analysis]: World at Risk of Folding in on Itself LINK

January-June warmest first half of year on record LINK
2010 tops 1998 temps ..... Will 12 months break 2005 record for warmest year?

Record-breaking X-ray blast briefly blinds space observatory LINK

[analysis]: How Islamic inventors changed the world LINK

Note: see also NASA Chief Says Agency's Goal Is Muslim Outreach - Forgets to mention space LINK

Gay-lesbian group overcomes opposition at U.N. LINK

Documents show media plotting to kill stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright LINK

[analysis]: Rage against God LINK
Book: 'The Rage Against God' by Peter Hitchens

Chicken Nuggets Sold at Wal-Mart May Contain Plastic Pieces LINK

California Whooping Cough Outbreak May Be Worst in 50 Years LINK [scroll down]

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS: JULY 20, 2010 LINK

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But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8 KJV
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CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

THURSDAY JULY 22, 2010
- no news edition -

CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

FRIDAY JULY 23, 2010

U.S.-Iranian combat looms in Iraq as U.S. plans U.N. role for U.S. troop remnant

Rising military tensions are reported in Iraq as pro-Iranian Shiite militias appear to be planning attacks on American forces, DEBKAfile's exclusive sources report from Washington and Baghdad. Tehran is furious over Washington's decision to retain a number of US troops in Iraq, possibly as UN peacekeepers, after the pullout pledged by President Barak Obama to start on September 1
Administration officials are holding intense consultations with UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon for the US detachment staying on in Iraq to be reclassified as international peacekeepers. This means that not all the American troops due to withdraw in six weeks will in fact do so . . . .
. . . [On] Wednesday night, July 21, General Ray Odierno, commander of the US forces in Iraq, said the American army is busy reinforcing its bases and preparing its forces in anticipation of attacks by at least three Shiite militias recently trained in Iran to strike American targets in Iraq.
He also said the US drawdown was progressing on schedule, with about 74,000 troops currently in the country. According to the Obama administration's drawdown timetable, U.S. forces will number just 50,000 by the end of August and drop to zero by the end of 2011 in time with the transition to Iraqi agencies.
However, for the second time in a week, the American general warned of an Iranian threat to US forces. DEBKAfile's military sources report that the new state of combat alert may well delay the departure of some of the troops scheduled to leave Iraq by September 1. Instead of preparing for their exit they have been pressed into work on new defense systems for US bases. If tensions with Iran continue to rise, the next batch of 24,000 troops due to withdraw may have to stay on after that date.
General Odierno named the three Iraqi pro-Iranian militias preparing for attack [and] . . . on Wednesday, he said US officials have confirmed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite al Qods Brigades are training and funding the three militias . . . .
Tehran has roped friendly Syrian president Bashar Assad into a scheme for thwarting the American design.
At his invitation, the pro-Tehran Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr visited Damascus on Saturday, July 17 together with Allawi, for talks on a combined scheme to torpedo Washington's plans for Iraq.
Until now, it was assumed in Washington and Persian Gulf capitals that Iran would only activate its terrorist surrogates in Iraq and the region in response to a direct US or Israeli strike against its nuclear facilities.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that this evaluation has been radically revised in the wake of disturbing military and political moves in Iraq. [emphasis added]

Source: debka.com MORE

North Korea threatens 'physical response' to U.S. military exercises
Regime sees naval and air drills as sign of hostility as US urges Asian nations to enforce UN sanctions against North Korea

North Korea today threatened a "physical response" to planned military exercises by the US and South Korea this weekend, as tensions on the Korean peninsula dominated a regional security forum in Hanoi.
The regime did not specify what that response might be, but said it interpreted the launch on Sunday of four days of naval and air drills in the Sea of Japan as another sign of US "hostility".
"It is a threat to the Korean peninsula and the region of Asia as a whole," a North Korea spokesman, Ri Tong-il, told reporters at the ASEAN regional forum.
Ri said the drills harked back to 19th-century gunboat diplomacy and violated North Korea's sovereignty. "And [our] position is clear: there will be physical response to the threat imposed by the United States militarily," he said.
Operation Invincible Spirit will involve 8,000 US and South Korean troops, 200 aircraft and 20 ships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS George Washington.
The meeting in Hanoi has quickly become the stage for a war of words between the north and the US, although there has been no direct contact between the countries' delegates.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said "isolated and belligerent" North Korea would have to end its "campaign of provocative, dangerous behaviour" if it wanted better relations with the US and the rest of Asia . . . .
On Wednesday, Clinton unveiled new sanctions designed to deny luxury goods to North Korean elites and strangle funding for Pyongyang's nuclear programme. The north says it will not return to nuclear negotiations unless the sanctions are lifted.
Today, Clinton urged Asian nations to pressure North Korea into abandoning its nuclear ambitions by enforcing strict UN sanctions imposed after the regime's second nuclear test last year.
"One measure of the strength of a community of nations is how it responds to threats to its members, neighbours and region," Clinton said . . . .
North Korea also rejected South Korean demands to apologise for the sinking of the Cheonan.
"We cannot accept such a claim because they try to use it to shift (their) responsibility on to us," Ri said. He repeated North Korea's position that the cause of the sinking remains unclear and insisted that it be allowed to conduct a joint investigation with the south.
"South Korean authorities bear the responsibility for causing tension ... South Korea is the one who must apologise," he said.

Source: guardian.co.uk MORE

Note: see also North Korea Tensions Spike At Asian Security Forum LINK

[Note: Also see U.S. Spy Chief Nominee Warns Of North Korea 'Direct Attacks' in today's News Briefs section.]

Flotilla Wars Alert: Israel launches campaign to halt Lebanon flotilla bound for Gaza

Israel launched a diplomatic effort yesterday to keep the latest planned flotilla from sailing from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip.
The Foreign Ministry instructed Israeli ambassadors to ask senior officials in the United States, United Nations, European Union and Egypt to pressure Syria and Lebanon to stop the flotilla, which Israel deems a "provocation" in light of its recent decision to end its civilian blockade of Gaza.
Syria has been included because senior Israeli officials say it is helping to organize the flotilla. Hezbollah is also involved, they charged.
"This is a clear and organized provocation," one official said.
Officially, the flotilla is being organized by Palestinian businessman Yasser Kashlak, who last month tried and failed to organize another flotilla from Lebanon. The two ships are slated to sail from Tripoli by the end of this week.
Israel's message to international diplomats is that it views this flotilla particularly gravely because it is sailing from the port of an enemy country.
Last week, Egypt cooperated with Israel in diverting a Libyan aid ship headed to Gaza to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, and so Israeli officials are hopeful it will do the same this time.
Israel is still refusing to release three Turkish ships captured in a May 31 raid on an earlier Gaza-bound flotilla, saying it will not do so without a written pledge from the Turkish government that the ships will not be used for such activities again ...

Source: haaretz.com (Israel) MORE

Police Idle as Homosexualists Terrorize Small Children at [Providence, Rhode Island] Pro-Family Rally (Video)

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND (Life Site News) -- Unhampered by police, a peaceful pro-life rally devolved into chaos Sunday after an army of homosexualist activists shouted down presenters, screamed insults, and even targeted for harassment small children of families who had come in support of marriage between a man and a woman.
A group organized by Queer Action Rhode Island began by chanting loudly through bullhorns as they approached the rally, organized by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) as part of the month-long Summer for Marriage Tour 2010, in front of the State Capitol building.
But, according to NOM executive director Brian Brown, it became clear that "this was not going to be a normal counter-protest" when the 250-strong red-shirted crowd "kept coming forward" until police gave way and allowed the screaming crowd to flood the stage and podium - for which NOM had obtained a permit from the state.
"I've never seen anything like that, and I've been involved in the marriage issue for the last 15 years," Brown told Life Site News. Video of the event shows protesters screaming inches from Brown's face as he attempts to continue the presentation.
In addition, he said, the Providence protesters "started jeering and heckling families" and even clearly targeted small children with screams and insults - treatment, said Brown, that left several children, including his own, tearful and asking whether they would be safe . . . .
Brown said he told the crowd that, given the course of the marriage debate in America, "you shouldn't be surprised that we start being treated like bigots."
"This whole protest made our point better than anything we could say," he told Life Site News. "It was clearly an attempt to silence us: clearly the people that were up there shouting at us don't think that they need to treat us civilly, they think that we're somehow outside the bounds of respectable discourse - and I really can't see how they could do this without really dehumanizing us in their own minds."
"We refuse to be treated as second-class citizens for believing what the majority of Americans believe and standing firm on it," he concluded. "We need to stand up on this."

Source: lifesitenews.com MORE

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NEWS BRIEFS
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Gulf oil Spill Sea Floor Leak Now confirmed

BP has confirmed that there is an oil leak on the sea floor several miles away from the Deepwater Horizon's damaged blowout preventer. The undisclosed specific location of the sub- sea leak is reported to be billowing oil and deadly methane gas. While the live BP video feed has been focused on the BOP, some oil industry experts have suggested that the leak being reported today has been played down, despite a report from Florida Senator Bill Nelson last month. The third oil leak, which was admitted to by BP shortly after the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20,1020, may now be emerging from behind what many believe has been an oil spill media blackout. On May 5, 2010 BP confirmed that one of three initial leaks had been plugged. The second leak is the one millions of people have been watching through the BP live video feed. However, the third leak has been virtually ignored. In the early stages of the 90 day-old disaster, oil industry expert Matt Simmons told NBC News that a major area of seepage was coming from an area about 7 miles from the well. Simmons called it the “elephant behind the mouse.” Residents in the Tampa Bay area have been concerned over the lack of available information on the potential risks from the disaster. Should the sea floor leak announced today be confirmed in same location as the one Simmons and Senator Nelson have reported, then BP and the government have been aware of it all along, further substantiating fears of an oil spill media blackout. [no further content] LINK

U.S. spy chief nominee warns of North Korea 'direct attacks'

North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship may herald a "dangerous new period", the nominee to be US director of national intelligence has warned. James Clapper told a Senate hearing that Pyongyang might seek "to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks" . . . He said the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March, which a South Korean-led inquiry found was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack, and unsuccessful attempts to assassinate a senior North Korean defector reminded him of the bombing of Korean Airlines Flight 858 in 1987. "The most important lesson for all of us in the intelligence community from this year's provocations by Pyongyang is to realise that we may be entering a dangerous new period when North Korea will once again attempt to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks on our allies in the Republic of Korea." "Coupled with this is a renewed realisation that North Korea's military forces still pose a threat that cannot be taken lightly," he added. Earlier, the US and South Korea said they would hold large-scale joint military exercises next weekend in a show of force intended to "send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behaviour must stop". MORE

Israeli Army to simulate invasion of south Lebanon

BEIRUT -- Israel will simulate moving machinery and personnel into south Lebanon amid fears that Hizbullah will target main transport arteries in any future conflict, Israeli media reported Thursday. The Jerusalem Post said that the test would be conducted in computerized simulations. “The [Israeli Army] is working under the assumption that most of the ground battle will be fought in an urban setting, inside the 160 or so villages throughout southern Lebanon where Hizbullah is believed to have hidden most of its military infrastructure,” the paper wrote. It added that “Hizbullah has heavily mined roads leading to southern Lebanese villages, aware that the ground offenses will include tanks and armored personnel carriers.” Two weeks ago, the Israeli Army released military-intelligence images of southern Lebanese villages, including purported missile silos belonging to Hizbullah in Al-Khiam. The paper quoted an anonymous senior Israeli Army officer as saying that it expected Hizbullah to target transport lines in the event of another war. “Hizbullah will likely allow the [Israeli] military force to reach its target point and then begin striking at the supply lines which the forces in the field will need to secure,” the officer said. MORE

Claim: Mossad chief secretly visited Saudi Arabia
Arab countries working with Israel on Iranian nuke threat

TEL AVIV -- Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan went on a secret visit to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks to discuss the threat of Iran, according to informed Arab security sources. The security sources did not disclose specifics of the discussions except to say the topic was Iran, which is accused of building a nascent nuclear program. Saudi Arabia does not maintain an open diplomatic relationship with Israel. But the Sunni Muslim country, together with Egypt, Jordan and other so-called moderates, is threatened by the growing influence of Iran, dominated by Shiite Islam. There have been multiple reports of Saudi cooperation with Israel on the Iranian nuclear issue. In 2009, it was reported Dagan met Saudi intelligence officials to gain assurances that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets violating Saudi airspace during any raid on Iran's nuclear plans. Both governments denied the reports. In recent weeks, Internet rumors claimed Israel dropped off military equipment in Saudi Arabia. Some unsubstantiated reports even claimed Israel was building a secret military base in Saudi Arabia for use in a future conflict with Iran. Those reports are inaccurate, according to Israeli military officials speaking to World Net Daily. Still, Sunni Arab countries have not disguised their fear of a nuclear Iran. MORE

Abbas: Decision on direct peace talks in seven days

RAMALLAH -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would decide in the next seven days whether conditions are now ripe to proceed to face-to-face peace talks with Israel on Thursday. Abbas said he has a promise from Washington that if he agrees to direct negotiations, Israel will prolong a partial moratorium on West Bank settlement building that is due to expire in September. But he wants to know in advance what shape and size of a future Palestinian state Israel is prepared to discuss in direct negotiations, and whether it is ready to quit the Jordan Valley and entrust security there to a third party. He also seeks clearer assurances from the US. “We are not against direct negotiations,” he told reporters in Ramallah after publication of a speech to his Fatah movement outlining slow progress in indirect negotiations mediated by US envoy George Mitchell. “If there is progress by July 28, we will present it to the Arab League. If there is no progress, we will tell the League that we will continue with the proximity talks until the end of the four-month mandate we received,” Abbas said. MORE

Note: see also Abbas Signals Resistance To U.S. Pressure For Direct Talks LINK

Palestinian president warns Fatah: Get organized or die

RAMALLAH -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned the Fatah party he leads that its days are numbered unless it puts its house in order. His remarks underscore the troubles facing a party in decline since the death of Yasser Arafat, its co-founder, in 2004. The movement’s weaknesses have contributed to the rise of the Islamist group Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip for three years. Abbas, who replaced Arafat, attacked the party over its failure to agree on nominations for local polls that had been scheduled for July but had to be cancelled because Fatah could not agree on who would run. “We must hold ourselves to account over what happened,” Abbas told a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council late Tuesday, according to an official who attended. “If what happened is allowed to pass, I tell you that this movement must say goodbye,” he quoted Abbas as saying, in remarks which were omitted from a broadcast version of the speech . . . Fatah’s influence has been limited to the West Bank since Hamas seized control of Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas. Yet even in the West Bank, some Fatah officials fear Fatah is on the wane, its credibility hurt by the failure of Abbas’ strategy of negotiating peace with Israel. Some Fatah officials admit Premier Salam Fayyad is gaining popularity among West Bank Palestinians who credit him with better law and order and an improving economy. MORE

Will Thousands Of Police Layoffs Unleash Chaos And Anarchy Across America?

Thousands of police officers have been laid off all across America since the current economic crisis began. Thousands more are getting ready to be laid off. So could we be on the verge of a new era of chaos and anarchy in America as crime runs wild and there are just far too few police to respond to it all? That is the message that one blood-smeared billboard in Stockton, California is trying to get across. Paid for by the Stockton, California police union, the message of the billboard is chillingly clear: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops." As state, city and local governments across the United States continue to be devastated by the ongoing economic crisis, budget cuts are becoming much deeper and police forces have suddenly become a very popular target . . . [Law] enforcement in Stockton has already been cut to the bone. Recently, the Stockton Police Department dropped this bombshell ... "We absolutely do not have any narcotics officers, narcotics sergeants working any kind of investigative narcotics type cases at this point in time." Do you think drug dealers will be flocking to Stockton after they hear that? ... MORE

[Florida] Weather Channel warns residents 'as the hurricane moves INLAND it will pick up particles of oil' (Video)

"... As the hurricane moves inland it will pick up particles of oil. That will become part of the sea spray that moves inland with the storm. According to Chris Zappa, an oceanographer at Columbia University, we’re likely to see a light coating of oil on electrical wires and trees. He likens it to standing in sea spray for a while. You’ll walk away with a light sheen of salt water on your skin. Instead of salt water, it will feel like oil water …" MORE

Note: see also Hurricanes And Oil: The Hurricane Alex Effect LINK

'Lose Christianity or face expulsion' (Georgia)

A lawsuit against Augusta State University (ASU) in Georgia alleges school officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the graduate program. School officials Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner demanded student Jen Keeton, 24, go through a "remediation" program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a "state of being" as a professor said, according to the complaint. Also named as defendants in the case that developed in May and June are other administrators and the university system's board of regents. The remediation program was to include "sensitivity training" on homosexual issues, additional outside study on literature promoting homosexuality and the plan that she attend a "gay pride parade" and report on it. The lawsuit, filed by attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund, asserted the school cannot violate the Constitution by demanding that a person's beliefs be changed. "ASU faculty have promised to expel Miss Keeton from the graduate Counselor Education program, not because of poor academic showing or demonstrated deficiencies in clinical performance, but simply because she has communicated both inside and outside the classroom that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity," the law firm explained . . . "Schenck told Miss Keeton that it was unethical for her to believe that her convictions should also be shared by other persons … Schenck explained that while Miss Keeton was free to have points of view about how she personally should conduct and define herself, she may not believe that others should adopt the standards she personally is convinced are true," the lawsuit said. "Anderson-Wiley confirmed that Miss Keeton will not be able to successfully complete the remediation plan and thus complete the ASUcounseling program unless she commits to affirming the propriety of gay and lesbian relationships if such an opportunity arises in her future professional efforts," it continued. ADF Senior Counsel David French contended a public university student "shouldn't be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that's exactly what's happening here." MORE

Followup story
Christians killed because innocence 'doesn't matter' (Pakistan)
Two Christians were shot and killed on their way from a courthouse to jail after being accused by Pakistani Muslims of blasphemy because, according to an analyst, innocence in such a situation "doesn't matter"

"It's not rational," Jonathan Racho of International Christian Concern told World Net Daily. "It's not something you can justify with reasoning. In the minds of radicals, if a Christian is accused of blasphemy, even if the Christian has not done it, and even if the police have proved that the person hasn't done it, it doesn't matter for them." Racho was commenting on the recent rioting that broke out in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad after two Christians, a pastor and his brother, were murdered. Authorities report 36-yearold Rashid Emmanuel and his brother, Sajid, 30, were shot and killed on the Faisalabad courthouse steps. They had been taken there on accusations of blaspheming Muhammad . . . Racho said a forensic analysis of the handwriting showed that the brothers could not have written the document . . . "The simple fact that they're accused of blasphemy by Muslims is sufficient to show that being a Christian is enough for Muslim radicals to carry out these kinds of attacks," Racho said. Racho said Shariah and Pakistan's criminal code makes "guilt by accusation" possible ... MORE

Note: see also President Zardari Orders Probe Into Christian Brothers Murder LINK

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MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY
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Commentary: Is Weed Killer in Drinking Water Dangerous? ... Government Is Letting the Chemical Industry Come Up with the Answer (Danielle Ivory)
EPA officials claim chemical industry's own evidence is 'scientifically more robust' than independent research

Excerpt:
Companies with a financial interest in a weed-killer sometimes found in drinking water paid for thousands of studies federal regulators are using to assess the herbicide’s health risks, records of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show. Many of these industry-funded studies, which largely support atrazine’s safety, have never been published or subjected to an independent scientific peer review.
Meanwhile, some independent studies documenting potentially harmful effects on animals and humans are not included in the body of research the EPA deems relevant to its safety review, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found. These studies include many that have been published in respected scientific journals.
Even so, the EPA says that it would be “very difficult for someone to put a thumb on the scale” to slant the outcome.
Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S. An estimated 76 million pounds of the chemical are sprayed on corn and other fields in the U.S. each year, sometimes ending up in rivers, streams, and drinking water supplies. It has been the focus of intense scientific debate over its potential to cause cancer, birth defects, and hormonal and reproductive problems. As the Huffington Post Investigative Fund reported in a series of articles last fall, the EPA failed to warn the public that the weed-killer had been found at levels above federal safety limits in drinking water in at least four states ...

Source:     Huffington Post / alternet.org (7-14-10) MORE

Commentary: Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money and Getting Away with It (Zach Carter)
Wall Street has been caught laundering massive amounts of drug money ... So why isn't anybody being punished?

Excerpt:
Too-big-to-fail is a much bigger problem than you thought. We've all read damning accounts of the government saving banks from their risky sub-prime bets, but it turns out that the Wall Street privilege problem is far more deeply ingrained in the U.S. legal system than the simple bailouts witnessed in 2008. America's largest banks can engage in flagrantly criminal activity on a massive scale and emerge almost completely unscathed. The latest sickening example comes from Wachovia Bank: Accused of laundering $380 billion in Mexican drug cartel money, the financial behemoth is expected to emerge with nothing more than a slap on the wrist thanks to an official government policy which protects megabanks from criminal charges.
Bloomberg's Michael Smith has penned a devastating expose detailing Wachovia's drug-money operations and the government's twisted response. The bank was moving money behind literally tons of cocaine from violent drug cartels. It wasn't an accident. Internal whistleblowers at Wachovia warned that the bank was laundering drug money, higher-ups at the bank actively looked the other way in order to score bigger profits, and the U.S. government is about to let everyone involved get off scott free. The bank will not be indicted, because it is official government policy not to prosecute megabanks. From Smith's story:
"No big U.S. bank ... has ever been indicted for violating the Bank Secrecy Act or any other federal law. Instead, the Justice Department settles criminal charges by using deferred-prosecution agreements, in which a bank pays a fine and promises not to break the law again ... Large banks are protected from indictments by a variant of the too-big-to-fail theory. Indicting a big bank could trigger a mad dash by investors to dump shares and cause panic in financial markets." . . . .
As financial markets froze up in 2007 and 2008, banks turned to drug cartels for cash. Without that drug money, many major banks might not have survived ...

Source:     Campaign for America's Future / alternet.org (7-16-10) MORE

Note: see also Drug Money Saved Banks In Global Crisis, Claims UN Advisor - Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year (12-13-09) LINK

Opinion: THE BAD NEWS ABOUT OBAMACARE KEEPS PILING UP (Karl Rove)

It's now obvious that many millions will lose the coverage they have.
In his brilliant exposition of why sweeping policy changes often have unintended consequences, the late sociologist Robert K. Merton wrote that leaders get things wrong when their "paramount concern with the foreseen immediate consequences excludes the consideration of further or other consequences" of their proposals. This leads policy makers to assert things that are false, wishing them to be true.

Which brings us to President Obama's many claims about his health-care reform. Take his oft-expressed statement that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it. That sounds good - but perverse incentives in his new law will cause most Americans to lose their existing insurance.
This was brought home to me when I asked the CEO of a major restaurant chain about health reform's effect on his company, which now spends $25 million a year on employee health insurance. That will jump to at least $90 million a year once the new law is phased in. It will be cheaper, he told me, for the company to dump its coverage and pay a fine - $2,000 for each full-time worker - and make sure that no part-time employee accidentally worked 31 hours and thereby incurred the fine.

This reality is settling in at businesses across America. A Midwestern contractor told me he pays $588,000 for health insurance for 70 employees, contributing up to $8,400 a year for a family's coverage. If he stops providing health insurance, he'll pay $2,000 per employee in fines, and the first 40 employees are exempt from fines altogether.

It's also dawning on employees that they will lose their coverage. Some will blame management; many more will blame those who wrote this terrible legislation.
Employees who lose coverage get to select a policy from a government-sponsored insurance marketplace called the "exchange." This will be subsidized by taxpayers. Depending on his income, a worker will have to pay between 8% and 9.8% of the cost.

But there are a few hitches. Employers now pay for employee health plans with pre-tax dollars, but workers who buy into one on the exchange pay with after-tax dollars. Families making less than $30,000 and individuals making less than $15,000 a year will be dumped into Medicaid, widely viewed as second-class health care.

Source:     wsj.com MORE

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ADDITIONAL NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Day 94: Oil spill work on hold as [tropical storm] Bonnie approaches LINK

U.S. evacuates key Gulf drilling rig, personnel due to storm LINK

BP accused of trying to silence scientists on spill LINK

More doctored BP photos come to light LINK
The helicopter photo is the third doctored BP image outed by bloggers this week

[analysis]: [Is the gulf stream broken?] LINK
BP Oil Spill may cause an irreparable damage to the Gulf Stream global climate thermoregulation activity ... Factual satellite images in the past several weeks are showing that the Gulf Loop Current is broken and may cease to function entirely! ... This will result in massive climate change and possibly an ice age for Europe! ... Major trouble brewing?? ... More freakish weather on its way??
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State Department planning to field a small army in Iraq LINK

Hezbollah Leader Says Claims of Hariri Assassination Links are Politically Motivated LINK

[noam Chomsky]: Is the U.S. Gearing Up for the Destruction of Iran? LINK
Iran sits at the top of US concerns about keeping control of Middle East oil-producing regions, preparing for serious violence if other means do not suffice

[analysis]: Obama Is Preparing to Bomb Iran LINK

We Are In the Midst of the Second Nuclear Age ... How Do We End It? (Interview) LINK
Director Lucy Walker's new documentary 'Countdown to Zero' explores just how much danger we are in

U.S. to freeze 100 suspect North Korean accounts LINK

[analysis]: America's Undeclared War on Pakistan LINK

Venezuela breaks diplomatic ties with Colombia LINK

Militants looking to trigger India-Pakistan conflict, says U.S. LINK

U.N. 'falling apart' under Ban Ki-moon claims ex-official (Followup) LINK

Gun battles paralyze Mexican city near Texas LINK

American-Bred Terrorists Causing Alarm For Law Enforcement LINK

Judge Holds Hearing on Arizona Immigration Lawsuit LINK
The American Civil Liberties Union, federal government and other opponents of the law want U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to grant an injunction to block implementation of the law before it takes effect next Thursday

[analysis]: NSA HAS GOTTEN SO BIG, AREA AROUND IT HAS 112 ACRES OF PARKING SPACES LINK

Note: see also this week's full Washington Post project on the shadowy world of intelligence gathering/processing LINK
Part 1: A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control LINK
Part 2: National Security Inc. LINK
Part 3: The Secrets Next Door LINK

Army suicides hit record number in June LINK

1934 Chicago Tribune political cartoon LINK

[analysis]: The Vast Left-Wing Media Conspiracy LINK
Everyone knew most of the press corps was hoping for Obama in 2008 ... Newly released emails show that hundreds of them were actively working to promote him

House Approves Additional Jobless Benefits LINK

New Jobless Claims Jump from Two-Year Low LINK

Sales of Previously Occupied Homes Fall 5.1 Percent LINK

Mortgage Rates Hit 4.56 Percent, New Record Low LINK

Federal Reserve chairman warns of 'unusually uncertain' outlook for U.S. LINK
Ben Bernanke says struggling banking sector and Greece's near-collapse have delayed America's recovery

Federal Reserve Chief Confirms U.S. Economy Has Weakened LINK

U.S. government watchdogs report Obama mortgage program is not working LINK

BIG BANKS MUST STOP TRYING TO STALL REFORMS TO THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM (Interview) LINK
Finance watchdog Elizabeth Warren attacks the pernicious influence of bank lobbies, and worries about the debt-fueled threat to America's middle class

[analysis]: THE RETIREMENT NIGHTMARE: HALF OF AMERICANS HAVE LESS THAN $2,000 BANKED FOR THEIR GOLDEN YEARS LINK

[analysis]: WITH 10% UNEMPLOYMENT, DEPRESSION-ERA TIME BANKS OFFER AN ALTERNATIVE WAY TO EARN LINK

Europe to go public with bank stress test results LINK

Tests of EU banks are a whitewash, say critics LINK

Gold Coin Sellers Angered by New Tax Law LINK
Amendment slipped into health care legislation would track, tax coin and bullion transactions

Penguin deaths on Brazil's beaches caused by unusual currents LINK
Penguin deaths on the beaches of São Paulo state in Brazil may be caused by hunger or exhaustion after coming in search of food

[analysis]: THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH IS BIGGER THAN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. ... HERE'S WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT LINK
Much of the world's trash has accumulated into a part of the Pacific Ocean based on the movement of ocean currents

Rare tropical fungus tied to 15 U.S. deaths LINK

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS: JULY 22, 2010 LINK

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"Sadly and strangely, many physicians do not see that there is something fundamentally wrong with the present medical model ... For the large majority of people facing day-to-day chronic illnesses, it provides short-term results, serious side-effects, and stratospherically high costs.”
Dana Ullman (author of 10 books on homeopathic medicine)
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Worldwatch was edited this week by Editor Robert Ellis with help from Claire Mason and Trucker Tom.