To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Bashar al-Asad
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 10:25:52 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Hafez al-Asad seems to have taken a lesson from the recent events in
Jordan and has decided to intensify the grooming of his son
Bashar. Although Jordan still has authority over holy places in
Israel, Syria is still interesting for the following reasons:
*al-Asad is Arabic for "lion"
[And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out
of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns
ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast
which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet
of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon
gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. --Rev
13:1,2]
*Damascus is the capital of Syria and there seems to be some
unfulfilled element regarding it. Could it be destroyed causing the
Syrians to relocate (to Babylon)?
[For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is
Rezin (the king's name)...--Isa 7:8
...Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall
be a ruinous heap.--Isa 10:9
See Rev 13:1,2 above
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his
deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast.--Rev 13:3??]
*Bashar is an eye surgeon
[The Laodicean church is told
...to anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.--Rev
3:18
Laodicea was founded by Antiochus II and named in honor of his
wife.]
*Syria was Antiochus Epiphanes' territory. He was in
Athens (some say Rome) studying philosophy when he was called back to
Antioch after his brother was assassinated. Bashar was
called back from London where he was getting his doctor's degree
after his brother was killed in a car accident.
*Antiochus didn't care much for the pomp of the office and was
considered quite unorthodox. Bashar is already being hailed for his
unorthodox approach to dealings with Lebanon.
*The mark of the beast is considered to have some sort of
technological component. Bashar is no stranger to new
technologies. The Syrian Computer Society (SCS) was founded in 1989
by his brother and he has taken over as chairman. From their web
site: " The main objective of SCS is to promote, and to effectively
contribute to the diffusion of Information Technology in Syria."
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (3/8/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 20:16:10 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Bahrain emir dies of heart attack
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - The emir of Bahrain, a key Western ally whose
economic achievements were marred by political unrest, died Saturday
shortly after a meeting with Defense Secretary William Cohen. Sheik
Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who ruled for 38 years, suffered a heart
attack and died shortly afterward. The 65-year-old emir was buried
within hours, with thousands of Bahrainis showering the 12-mile
funeral route with flowers in a traditional display of mourning. His
son, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, assumed the throne. Cohen and his
entourage left for Saudi Arabia shortly after the emir's death. He is
the second pro-Western Arab leader to die in two months, following the
death of Jordan's King Hussein in February. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558701345-a6d ***
Also: New Bahrain emir pro-Western, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558701289-5b6 ***
And: Bahrain mourns emir's death, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558710645-fd0
*** Group protests Pope's visit to Iran
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Italian police asked a small group of protesters
in St. Peter's Square Sunday to lower a banner that asked Pope John
Paul II not to meet with Iran's president this week. President
Mohammad Khatami will meet with the pope Thursday during the first
trip to the West by an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic
revolution. The Italian news agency ANSA reported about a dozen
members of an Iranian resistance group held up the banner as part of a
peaceful protest during the pope's weekly appearance from his studio
window overlooking the square. ###
*** New Jordan king shuffles his aides
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - King Abdullah reshuffled his court aides
Saturday, bringing in advisors known for their loyalty to his late
father, King Hussein. The shuffle comes two days after Abdullah swore
in a Cabinet of technocrats and liberals, urging it to pursue reform
and better ties with the U.S., Israel and Gulf Arabs. The changes
appear to be aimed at ridding the hierarchy of loyalists to Abdullah's
uncle, Prince Hassan, who was deposed as crown prince in a January
shake-up. King Hussein had accused Hassan of power grabbing. But
palace sources say the changes were planned before Hussein's death
Feb. 7 and were intended to bring in new blood. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558701434-98f
*** Tenn. man wants to marry his car
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Many men have had love affairs with their
cars. Buster Mitchell wanted to make it official. Jilted by his
girlfriend, a bereft Mitchell decided he wanted to marry his true love
- his 1996 Mustang GT. "I've been broken hearted and hung out to dry,
so I am going to the courthouse and try to marry my car," Mitchell
said before attempting to get a marriage license Thursday. Mitchell,
28, didn't get very far in the application before the clerk dashed his
dreams. Only men and women can marry under Tennessee law, officials
explained. It was sometime after he listed his fiance's birthplace as
"Detroit," her father as "Henry Ford" and her blood type as "10-W-40"
that his plans sputtered. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558690002-e6b
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - iMac sweeps
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 20:23:36 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
iMac Sweeps - expires 5/13/99
iMacr includes a Pentium-toasting 266MHz
PowerPC G3 processor, 32MB SDRAM, 6GB hard
disk drive, 24x CD-ROM drive, built-in 56K
modem, 10/100Base-Tx Ethernet, two built-in
12Mbps Universal Serial Bus ports and
more-plus Mac OS 8.5.1 and a ton of great
software.
http://www.get-it-for-free.com/autograph/imac.htm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Revolution Within
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 21:17:24 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
The Revolution Within
By David Ignatius
Monday, March 8, 1999; Page A19
What will people die from 100 years from now? If you think that's a
simple question, you haven't been paying attention to the revolution
that's taking place in biotechnology.
"Death will come mainly from accidents, murder or war," predicts
William Haseltine, chief executive of Human Genome Sciences Inc., a
local biotechnology firm. He says that with the tools of "regenerative
medicine" that will become available in the 21st century, the human
body should last a very long time, if not forever. Today's leading
killers -- heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's and the "aging process"
itself -- will become distant memories of the species.
In discussions of technological change, the Internet gets most of the
attention these days. But the transformation beginning in medicine
could be the real techno-event of our era.
Take the question of mortality, surely the number one concern of
humankind since our brains developed the ability to contemplate our
eventual demise. Until recently, scientists were sure that our basic
cellular material eventually would wear out. Whatever advances might
come in the treatment of cancer or heart disease, it was thought, this
cellular lifespan couldn't be stretched much beyond 120 years.
But Haseltine and others say these upper limits will be shattered by
new kinds of medical therapy. Take our basic organs, such as the
heart, liver, lungs and brain. Sometime between 2050 and 2100,
medicine will have advanced to the point at which every 10 years or
so, people will be able to take a regenerative dose of "stem cells"
that can restore the various organs.
These stem cells, the basic building blocks of life, will build new
heart and lung cells -- in much the same way our bodies routinely make
new skin cells to replace what's bruised or worn away.
"We will molt like lobsters," replacing tired old cells with vigorous
new ones, predicts Haseltine, a prominent scientist who once headed
the biochemical pharmacology lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in
Boston.
If something goes wrong with one of our organs despite these stem-cell
cocktails, then 21st century medicine will repair or replace the
damage.
Today we implant clunky artificial knees and hips, but by late in the
21st century we'll be able to fabricate replicas of human organs,
using biocompatible materials engineered down to the tolerance of a
single atom.
The list of these micro-prosthetic devices runs from artificial veins
to eardrums and retinas -- even to artificial memory, stored in chips
that will be built like neurons.
The beginnings of this future are on display along the I-270 corridor
in Rockville, where biotech companies are sprouting like cultures in a
petri dish. Haseltine's company, Human Genome Sciences, operates a
robot-driven assembly line there -- which makes the old biology lab
look as dated as a coach-and-buggy shop.
In one wing, rows of machines do the once-laborious job of identifying
(or "sequencing") strands of DNA. A few years ago, the first
generation of these machines could analyze 36 lanes of DNA, two times
a day. This generation can handle 96 lanes, four times a day. And the
next generation, still packed in wooden crates in the lab, will double
or triple that speed.
Human Genome Sciences has tested about 2 million gene fragments and
from these has isolated what it believes are about 120,000 different
genes. They're stored in forbidding gray freezers, at about 120
degrees below zero. Of these, about 12,000 appear to be critical
"signaling molecules" that stimulate other cells to grow, change or
die -- and thus have special value as potential drugs.
The company now is testing these 12,000 signalers against other kinds
of cells, to see which ones trigger action in particular kinds of
tissue.
On the day I visited, they were testing the signalers against
"dendritic" cells, sentinels for the body's immune system. It will
take a week to test all 12,000, and when they're done, the HGS
scientists will know which ones stimulate the immune system -- and
thus have new leads for possible drugs.
Using this automated discovery process, Haseltine's company has
produced three potential drugs that started clinical trials a year
ago. One helps protect bone marrow cells from the effects of
chemotherapy; another helps skin and other tissue recover quickly from
burns, wounds or chemotherapy; a third helps regenerate blood vessels.
All are based on the body's natural repair mechanisms. Even if the
trials are successful, the drugs won't be available commercially for
another two to four years.
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." That
ancient admonition was repeated in churches around the world a few
weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday. It is at once exhilarating and horrifying
to imagine that science may be altering this most basic condition of
human existence.
Many technical obstacles still must be crossed on the way to this
amazing future, but Haseltine may be right when he says, "This is the
first time we can conceive human immortality."
c Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
via: Insane Science Mailing List
isml@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arabia News items (3/8/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 03:22:50 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
The Millennium in Rome: A view With No Room?
With some 30 million millennium pilgrims, Rome looks set to be the
stage for the largest standing-room-only show in history.
http://www.arabia.com/content/culture/3_99/rome_8_d.shtml
Saudi, Iran to Get Rid of Oil Surplus
Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to "get rid of the oil surplus on the
international market" in order to raise prices.
http://www.arabia.com/content/business/3_99/saudi8.shtml
US Offers to Share Military Data With Gulf States
US offers to share US early warning data on ballistic missile launches
with the Gulf states in response to Iranian missile tests.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/3_99/us_8.shtml
Arafat to Mediate Between Saddam, Kurdish Group
"The Palestinian Authority is making these efforts ... to try to
maintain the unity of Iraq," said an anonymous official.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/3_99/Arafat_8.shtml
Palestinian Attempt for 'Recognition' Unsuccessful
Palestinian attempts to get their legislative council recognized as a
national parliament at a Euro-Mediterranean conference prove
unsuccessful.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/3_99/palestinian_8.shtml
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pope beatifications
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 04:16:28 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Pope beautifies 10 more
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II, already responsible for more
than half of the beatifications performed in the last 400 years, added
10 more people to the church's list of potential saints on Sunday. Of
the 1,611 faithful beatified since 1605, when the Vatican codified the
church's last formal step before sainthood, 819 of them have been
accorded the honor by this pope, whose papacy began in 1978. John Paul
has also named 276 saints. Of the 10 names added to the church's roll
call of the blessed, eight of them were men who died for their faith
during the Spanish civil war. The latest additions included a
17th-century Frenchman, Nicolas Barre, who founded religious orders
dedicated to teaching, and an ailing German laywoman, Anna Schaffer,
who, before she died in 1925, won fame for giving comfort to the
suffering. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558708710-361
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mar 9, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 20:43:16 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
8:00 PM Eastern
PBS - THE HOMES OF FDR - The president's three residences
help shape his life and beliefs.(CC)(TVG)
DISC - SHOOT NOT TO KILL: NON-LETHAL WEAPONS -
Some weapons prevent crime and maintain peace without
killing.(CC)(TVPG)
9:00
A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "Behind Bars" -
Maximum-security prisons in the United States, Hungary,
Russia and China.(CC)
DISC - THE NEW DETECTIVES: CASE STUDIES IN FORENSIC SCIENCE
- "Deadly Target" - Ballistic investigators determine causes
of death.(CC)(TVPG)
TLC - ROME: THE POWER & GLORY - "The Cult of Order" -
The slow disintegration of Rome; the economy falters;
citizens turn to religious cults; the Roman Empire becomes
divided.(CC)(TVG)
10:00
[This show concentrates on new science and technology getting
out of control. The first show dealt with the main character getting
some sort of virus during the Gulf War and also with doctors cloning
tissue for research but having the cells mature into clones.]
ABC - STRANGE WORLD - "Lullaby" - A woman claims her
doctor is trying to kill her unborn
child.(CC)(TV14)
DISC - THE FBI FILES - "World Trade Center Bombing" -
Islamic terrorists are convicted in the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing.(CC)(TVPG)
TLC - ROME: THE POWER & GLORY - "The Fall" - Invasions
weaken Rome's grasp; Christianity draws strength; Constantine
moves the empire's capital.(CC)(TVG)
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israelit Cabinet Approves National Security Council
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 20:52:46 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Cabinet Approves National Security Council
Cabinet Communique, 7 March 1999
On Sunday, 7 March 1999, the Cabinet unanimously
approved the Prime Minister's proposal to create a
national security council. The council will serve as a
coordinating, integrative, deliberative and supervisory
body on matters of national policy, and will operate as
an arm of the Prime Minister's Office.
The Cabinet took note of the Prime Minister's statement
that he has appointed Major-General (res.) David Ivry to
chair the Council and to serve as national security
advisor. The Prime Minister said that no person in the
State of Israel is more qualified to hold this very
important post than Ivry. The Prime Minister will inform
the Cabinet of other senior Council appointments when
they are made.
The Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office, in
conjunction with the Finance Minister and the Civil
Service Commissioner, and with the knowledge of the
Prime Minister, was charged with determining the
budgetary and organizational framework for Council
operations no later than 1.4.99.
As set forth in Cabinet decisions, the Council's objectives
and functions are:
- to serve as a national security staff attached to the Prime
Minister and the Cabinet;
- the Council will derive its authority from the Government,
and operate in accordance with the instructions of the Prime
Minister. The head of the Council will answer directly to the
Prime Minister;
- to function as a senior advisory forum for the Prime Minister
and the Cabinet on matters of national security;
- to centralize an assessment of expected trends and processes,
through integrating all strata of national security;
- to direct integrative staff work between Government ministries and
offices dealing with national security, receiving input on their
various areas of responsibility toward increasing coordination and
integration between them;
- to prepare for discussions by the Cabinet, the Ministerial
Committee on National Security Affairs and the Prime Minister,
and to brief Knesset committees on these issues, in accordance
with the instructions of the Prime Minister;
- to make recommendations on national security policy to the Cabinet;
- to engage in the long-range planning of national security
components, with the assistance of existing planning bodies in those
Government ministries and offices dealing with national security;
- to monitor and update national security activities, and to look
after the implementation of national security decisions, and
- to maintain coordinative and cooperative relations with parallel
national security officials in selected countries, in coordination
with the Foreign Ministry and its missions abroad, and in accordance
with acceptable practice.
The Prime Minister ordered that the non-conventional weapons
and ballistic missile threats be immediately addressed by the
Council as its top priority.
The Prime Minister offered the following comments during
the Cabinet discussion on the National Security Council:
"The need to create a national security council has been
repeatedly raised by various quarters -- including
commissions of inquiry, statesmen, military officials,
academics and the Knesset -- over the past 25 years.
"National security issues involve political questions
which draw upon various fields that fall under the
responsibility of different Government offices. A multi-
dimensional analytical entity is thus required.
"It is no coincidence that most countries with national
security councils deal, first and foremost, with strategic
threats posed by ballistic missiles and non-conventional
weapons -- and Israel also requires new analytical and
practical assessments on this issue.
"We are also moving into an economic world where
strength on the plane of national security is directly
influenced by economic and technological power. These
are two important dimensions which, in the past, have
not been addressed in an organized and expanded
fashion.
"Few believed that we would succeed in creating this
body, and we are doing it today. Our commitment to
this matter is clear and absolute. The National Security
Council will take its rightful place in the spheres of
strategic thought and the integration of work by relevant
offices, and in assisting the Government and the Cabinet
in these functions."
The Prime Minister praised the Defense and Foreign
Ministers for their support in the formation of the Council.
The Attorney-General, who welcomed the creation of
the Council, noted that the Cabinet decision constitutes
the implementation of the 1991 law on the operation of a
national security staff.
The Prime Minister's Report
Volume 3, Number 12
March 9, 1999
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Damascus to rearm Saddam
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 20:54:10 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Damascus to rearm Saddam
BY MICHAEL EVANS DEFENCE EDITOR
A SECRET deal has been agreed between Syria and Iraq for the supply of
military equipment to Baghdad, according to Middle East intelligence
sources.
Relations between the two countries have been improving significantly
in recent months, with agreements already signed to develop both
political and economic co-operation.
Full text:
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/03/08/timfgnmid01001.html?1124027
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - New PETA Billboards Feature Jesus
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 08:03:25 -0500
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
By Gail Appleson
NEW YORK - A portrait of Jesus with his head encircled by an orange
slice rather than a halo might sound like modern art, but it is actually
part of a billboard campaign aimed at stopping people from eating
meat.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Norfolk,
Virginia-based activist group known for dramatic and controversial
protests, has adopted another attention-getting strategy with
billboards proclaiming "JESUS WAS A VEGETARIAN."
The billboard campaign was launched several months ago and sites
included Pope John Paul II's travel route in St. Louis in January. PETA
press materials include a photo of the pope passing beneath the
billboard, which also features the phrase "Show respect for God's
creatures - follow Him."
Vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich said the programme
will escalate ahead of Easter with new billboards going up this month
in Amarillo, Texas - the heart of cattle country - and Lynchburg,
Virginia, where the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the conservative Christian
evangelist, is based.
Falwell caused a furore when he wrote in his monthly magazine last
month that British television import Tinky Winky is gay, but he later
denied "outing" the purple Teletubby.
SAVING ANIMALS, NOT TELETUBBIES
Since PETA focuses on the mistreatment of animals and not
Teletubbies, it wants to capture the support of TV evangelists who
reach a wide range of followers. So it has written to all the top
evangelists - including Falwell - hoping they will help spread the word.
Friedrich said Falwell and Oral Roberts were the only two who had not
responded to the letters.
PETA's first billboard was erected near Oral Roberts University in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, late last year. "We hoped by putting billboards near
them we will get people talking about the issue and it would generate a
response," Friedrich said. "Part of the purpose of the campaign is to
provoke comment."
If PETA hopes to raise eyebrows, Amarillo is another great place to do
it. It is, after all, where Texas cattlemen filed an $11 million lawsuit
against talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and Howard Lyman of the
Humane Society of the United States for allegedly defaming the beef
business.
A federal court jury acquitted Winfrey and Lyman in February 1998
but the verdict is being appealed and another group representing
cattlemen from Hawaii to New York has filed a similar suit against the
two.
"We hope it (the billboard) will rival the Oprah trial for controversy
and conversion," Friedrich said. PETA's internal media department is
carrying out the billboard campaign without an ad agency and no
figures were available on its costs.
PETA's campaign "to convert Christians to vegetarianism" actually
started in 1997 when the group launched its "Jesus Web site" at
www.jesusveg.com, Friedrich said. He said PETA hopes the billboards
will get more people to visit the site.
The campaign also includes T-shirts with the Jesus/citrus fruit image
selling for $16.50, which he said is PETA's second best seller. The
most popular T-shirt calls for a boycott of Procter & Gamble and
shows a detergent box that looks like Tide but instead has the word
"Died" and is surrounded by animals.
'MEAT IS MURDER'
The campaign also includes "mascots," people dressed up like Jesus
and a cow who attend religious conventions and who circulated in St.
Louis during the pope's visit. The Jesus mascot carries a sign reading
"Thou shalt not kill: Go vegetarian" and the cow has a sign that says
"Meat is Murder."
"We hope that will get people talking and thinking about their own
lives and complacency in animal suffering," Friedrich said.
PETA has never been shy about generating controversy. Just last
month four models - two Spanish men and two Italian women -
stripped in chilly temperatures beneath the statute of Eros in London's
Piccadilly Circus as part of a PETA anti-fur protest. And six PETA
activists were removed from the lobby of the U.S. Agriculture
Department in Washington after two hours of screaming against
government support of pork producers.
Also late last month, PETA ran a full page ad in the New York Times
accusing Vice President Al Gore of pushing a government programme
that it said will kill millions of animals in useless and painful
experiments. The ad showed a gruesome picture of a rabbit stripped of
some of its skin.
Like its protests, PETA's billboards are hard to ignore. "Most of the
response has been positive, but some of it has not been so positive,"
Friedrich said.
A scathing editorial in the Toronto Sun on Feb. 28 blasted PETA for
putting a Jesus billboard in Saskatoon, the heart of Canada's pork belt,
which is hosting the Saskatchewan Pork Expo this week.
And after the billboard went up near Oral Roberts University, The
Daily Oklahoman reported on reaction.
"We are all free to express our opinion and we can make all kinds of
assumptions about Jesus," Sister Sylvia Schmidt, executive director of
the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, told the paper. "But dumping guilt
on people about eating or not eating meat is not what Jesus is all
about." .
(C) Reuters Limited 1999.
via: graffis-l mailing list
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pharoahs and Kings Special
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 11:19:13 -0800 (PST)
From: Scott Willmon <ewillmon@yahoo.com>
To anyone interested:
The Travel Channel is showing a program this week entitled: "Pharoahs
and Kings: A Biblical Quest." The basis of this program is a book by
David Rohl by the same title. It originally aired on The Learning
Channel in 1995.
Rohl's aim is to find archeological evidence for many of the events of
the events in the early part of the bible i.e. the Bondage in Egypt,
the Exodus, the Conquest, etc. He asserts that there have been some
incorrect assumptions made in Egyptian chronology which lead
subsequently to incorrect assumptions in Biblical chronology. He
claims that archeologists have trouble finding evidence of these
Biblical events, because they are looking in the wrong time period!
When you correct the chronology, you will find ample evidence.
I have read the book and seen the program, and I would gladly
recommend them both. So check out the Travel Channel at 8:00 p.m.
CST. I believe they are showing one episode a night.
See ya,
Scott Willmon
ewillmon@yahoo.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mar 10, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 20:19:00 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
8:00 PM Eastern
DISC - THE REAL FORT KNOX - The highly guarded fortress
houses U.S. gold reserves.(CC)(TVG)
9:00
DISC - DISCOVER MAGAZINE - "Surveillance" - High-tech
information-gathering mechanisms help rescue, prepare and
protect people.(CC)
TLC - THE GREAT EPIDEMIC - Doctors race to create a vaccine
that will prevent a flu virus from killing
millions.(CC)(TVPG)
10:00
TLC - AMAZING SCIENCE - "Weird Nature" - Scientific
discoveries; zombies; healing power of prayer; communication
skills of parrots.(CC)(TVG)
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Edupage, 9 March 1999
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 20:29:54 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
INTEL AND FTC REACH SETTLEMENT
As part of its settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Intel
Corporation has agreed not to require that computer manufacturers
reveal their technological secrets as a condition for receiving
technical information about Intel chips. The FTC reached no legal
conclusion as to whether Intel was a monopoly, and Intel chief
executive Craig Barrett called it a "win-win" settlement for both
parties. (New York Times 9 Mar 99)
ONLINE UNIVERSITY ACCREDITED TO GRANT DEGREES
Jones International University, which specializes in selling online
courses for profit, is the first Internet-only school to be accredited
to grant college degrees. The school was accredited last week by the
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Jones
International, which features courses designed by professors from
schools like Columbia and Stanford and taught by part-time professors
free-lancing for extra cash, offers bachelor's and master's degrees in
business communications. "In the U.S. there are 100 million people
who need some kind of additional education, and there are only 15
million seats in universities," says founder Glenn Jones. The school
started offering Internet courses in business communications four
years ago. (Wall Street Journal 9 Mar 99)
INTERNET SOCIETY PRESSURES EUROPE ON PRIVACY ISSUES
The Internet Society is urging the European Parliament to ease the
provisions of a directive that could make Web caching -- making copies
of popular Web sites in order to speed download times -- illegal. The
directive, which is aimed at protecting copyrights, would ban ISPs
that serve European customers from using the technique, thereby
slowing down traffic on the Internet. "The Internet does not need
laws that slow its performance, clog its arteries and reduce value
received," says Internet Society CEO Don Heath, who points out that
the hypertext transfer protocol used for the Web already allows
copyright owners to place restrictions on caches of their work. (Los
Angeles Times 8 Mar 99)
WALL STREET Y2K TEST GOES OFF WITHOUT A GLITCH
Four hundred securities firms participated Saturday in a nationwide
test to ensure that securities trading systems would be able to
function next year without encountering problems engendered by the Y2K
problem. Officials from the Securities Industry Association said all
the participants were able to execute trades, but the full round of
testing won't be finished until later this month or next. At that
time, the association will be able fully to assess how many Y2K bugs
were detected. Although other countries are conducting point-to-point
tests, to ensure that one firm can interact with another, the U.S. is
the only nation involved in testing its entire system, with
broker-dealers, exchanges and clearing agencies interacting all at
once. (Wall Street Journal 8 Mar 99)
GATES PROMOTES CHINA WEB TV PROJECT
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is promoting his company's "Venus
Project," which aims at getting millions of Chinese television viewers
onto the Internet. Working with Chinese partners, Microsoft is
developing specially equipped TV sets and video compact disc players
that will tap into the Net. Chinese officials say that although PCs
are still out of reach for most Chinese citizens, TV and videocassette
ownership is widespread. (Investor's Business Daily 9 Mar 99)
WILL MICROSOFT ANTITRUST SUIT END IN SETTLEMENT?
There are new speculations that Microsoft and the Department of
Justice will follow the example set by Intel and the FTC, and come to
a settlement of DOJ's antitrust suit against Microsoft before it
resumes next month after a six-week recess. One person close to the
government side of the case estimates that there's a 60% chance of a
settlement. A Microsoft executive says, "We have said since
negotiations broke down some months ago that Microsoft is always
willing to listen to the government. However, our freedom to continue
to innovate is nonnegotiable." (Seattle Times 8 Mar 99)
MICROSOFT RESPONDS TO PRIVACY ISSUE
Reacting to a controversy started when a programmer in Brookline,
Mass., discovered Windows 98 generates a unique serial number that is
implanted in every electronic document and that can be used to trace
the identify of its author, Microsoft said it will create a software
tool to allow customers to remove the number, which was created to
help support specialists diagnose problems for customers who call with
questions. Jason Catlett, who lobbies on privacy issues, says, "This
is going to be a cleanup job larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
There are billions of tattooed documents out there." (AP 8 Mar 99)
EXPERT QUESTIONS Y2K READINESS AT NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
At a Washington symposium on Year 2000 computer problems, nuclear
power expert Paul Gunter expressed concern over the reliability of
backup generators if there should be Y2K-induced power shortages: "It
is imperative that this issue is addressed at this very critical
timeframe. They have to draw a line of nuclear safety and shut down
any plant that crosses the line." (Reuters/San Jose Mercury News 8
Mar 99)
THE TENSION BETWEEN SECURITY AND SALES
Motivated by national security concerns, a House committee led by Rep.
Chris Cox (R-Calif.) has called for tighter controls on computer and
other technology exported to China, but the Department of Commerce and
U.S. computer firms say that more restrictions could adversely affect
international trade. Bates Gill of the Brookings Institution says,
"We have here the beginning of a debate we should have had a long time
ago. In the post-Cold War era, in a globalized, international
environment, how do we strike the right balance between high-tech
trade and national security?" (Washington Post 9 Mar 99)
http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html.
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Italy welcomes Iranian president
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 20:42:41 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Italy welcomes Iranian president
ROME (AP) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami declared a new era of
detente Tuesday, urging "mutual respect" among nations as he made the
first visit by an Iranian leader to a Western nation since his
country's 1979 Islamic revolution. Thousands of police were deployed
in a massive security operation for his visit, tangling Rome's traffic
for much of the day. Helicopters throbbed overhead as speeding
motorcades whisked the black-robed, black-turbaned Khatami from
meeting to meeting. The 56-year-old cleric presents himself as a
believer in more social and political freedom at home and an advocate
of dialogue, not confrontation, with the West. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558735188-1f0 ***
Also: U.S. urges Italy over Iran visit, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558735933-5bd
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Blair calls for EC military
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 01:19:57 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Blair calls for EC military
(Fox News 3.9.99)
LONDON, March 9 (UPI) - Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying the United
States should not have to play policeman for every "disorder in our
backyard," is calling for Europe to develop a military capability.
The International Herald Tribune reports today that Blair has set a
schedule for a British-French defense initiative, first put forward by
Blair and French President Jacques Chirac in December. The British
leader said he wants a plan for European defense cooperation to win
NATO backing by April and be adopted by the European Union in June.
Speaking at a conference of U.S. and European policymakers, Blair on
Monday said, "We Europeans should not expect the United States to play
a role in every disorder in our back yard."
Blair's comments come as U.S. officials try to figure the Americans'
part in any operations in Kosovo. Some members of the U.S. Congress
have balked at granting permission without a solid final goal and
deadline for U.S. troops to leave the area.
The prime minister says he sees a European force as an "essential
compliment" to NATO, but he points out that few EC members have plans
in place to modernize their militaries. Britain, the International
Herald Tribune, says has led the way to switching to a smaller more
mobile force equipped with high-tech weapons and tools. France, Italy
and Spain have taken steps to join Britain's lead.
NATO has a large-scale meeting planned for next month in Washington to
mark the alliance's 50th anniversary.
via: PropheZine News Bites
3/9/99
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mar 11, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 20:52:51 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
8:00 PM Eastern
HIST - SECRETS OF THE DINOSAUR HUNTERS - Scientific rivals
O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope race to find dinosaur
bones in the Dakota Badlands.(CC)(TVG)
9:00
TLC - THE GREAT EGYPTIANS - "King of the Pyramids" - Bob
Brier explores the life of Sneferu and his hidden pyramids
and monuments at Dahshur.(CC)(TVG)
10:00
ABC - GREED (Repeat) - John Stossel examines attitudes
about self-interest and greed; Ted Turner; philosopher David
Kelly.(CC)
DISC - INTO THE UNKNOWN - "Giant Creatures" - Extraordinary
species of lizards and birds.(CC)(TVG)
HIST - MODERN MARVELS - "The Paving of America" -
American roads: from pre-World War II highways to the
interstate system.(CC)(TVG)
TLC - AMAZING SCIENCE - "Medical Marvels" - Scientific
research; dinosaurs; deformed frogs; benefits of
dreaming.(CC)(TVG)
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israeli news items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 20:56:46 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
IT'S OFFICIAL: MEIMAD AND LABOR (Arutz-7 3/9/99)
The Meimad party voted overwhelmingly last night, 55-1, to approve the
agreement reached with Ehud Barak's One Israel list. Meimad will
receive the 17th slot on the One Israel list - Rabbi Michael Malkior -
as well as the 33rd spot - Rabbi Yehuda Gilad. In addition, if Barak
forms the next government, Meimad will get to choose one of its member
to head a Knesset committee, as well as a Minister "in an area of
interest to Meimad." Barak, appearing before the party leadership last
night, said, "I'm not so much interested in how many votes Meimad will
bring us, but more in what doors Meimad will open for us - and how
Meimad will help us find the required balance and synthesis between
Judaism and democracy." "It is fitting to do this with a kippah
(skullcap)," Barak said, and proceeded to recite, "Baruch Shehecheyanu
V'kiyemanu... (the blessing over particularly happy news)." He was
applauded, and then said, "Now I will remove the kippah, because I
feel more natural that way." Rabbi Yehuda Amital, co-Dean of Yeshiva
Har Etzion, who was chosen last night to continue to head the
movement, said, "Today it is possible to announce and say to tens of
thousands of people who are loyal to Religious Zionism: 'You have an
address, a political home!'"
MEIMAD JOINS "ONE ISRAEL" (Meimad News 3/8/99)
The Meimad National Council met this evening in the Holiday Inn Crowne
Plaza Hotel in Tel Aviv to ratify the agreement between Meimad and the
Israel Labor Party that provides for Meimad's running in the upcoming
Knesset elections with the Labor Party and the Gesher Party on the
"One Israel" list. The agreement was ratified by a huge majority, and
was then signed by Rabbi Michael Melchior (Meimad) and by MK's Ehud
Barak and Raanan Cohen, in a nationally televised ceremony. MK Barak
was greeted by the Meimad Council members and by Meimad Youth with
song and a standing ovation. His address to Meimad--excerpts of which
were featured on all the prime time TV news programs--expressed his
warm personal feelings toward Meimad leaders, his appreciation of the
need for increased Jewish awareness among the general Israeli
population, and his confidence that the Meimad-One Israel partnership
will present Israel with a model of the kind of religious -
non-religious cooperation that will help mend the terrible rift
between most Israelis and traditional Jewish values, and that
ultimately will keep the modern State of Israel a "Jewish" state.
Meimad Party Chairman, Rav Yehuda Amital, stressed that the Meimad-One
Israel agreement is more than just a return to the "historic alliance"
of the early Labor Party and the National Religious Party of the first
decades of the State. That "historic alliance" relegated all issues
of traditional Judaism to the NRP in return for NRP support of Labor
policies in foreign relations and security issues. It thus implied
that Jewish values are the (exclusive) concern of the religious
community in Israel, and the secular majority need have nothing to do
with them. Meimad, on the other hand, will not be the branch of "One
Israel" that will handle religious issues. Rather, the agreement
emphasizes that a return to Jewish values is the concern of all three
partners in One Israel, and (as was the case in the
Beilin-Lubotsky-Meimad Covenant on Relgion and State) Labor party
leaders and MK's will join Meimad in working out a program that will
once again make traditional Judaism relevant to the Israeli populace.
From Meimad's point of view, the educational impact of the agreement
is tremendous. It is a message that has now reached almost every home
in Israel that Torah and traditional Judaism is not (only) as is
portrayed by Yigal Amir or the Charedi anti-Zionist extremists. There
is a model of Torah Judaism with which the general Israeli population
can relate, and they saw examples of it last night on the TV coverage
of the Meimad conference. The main points of the agreement are: * A
Ministry of major importance to Meimad will be given to Meimad in any
government headed by Ehud Barak. The Meimad Minister need not be a
member of Knesset. * Meimad representatives will be given the
following places on the joint "One Israel" list for Knesset: 17,33,38
plus one position between 40-50 and another between 50-60. [The
number 17 position is assured to be elected to Knesset; Labor polls
say the number 33 position has a good chance (we are less optimistic
but still hopeful); and 38 will enter in the case of an unlikely "One
Israel" landslide.] * Meimad will be an independent faction within
"One Israel" with all the rights of a faction (including public
funding) no matter how many Meimad representatives are elected to
Knesset. * Jerusalem will remain undivided, the capital of Israel, and
under exclusive Israeli sovereignity. * No foreign or Palestinian
military force will be allowed West of the Jordan river. * No return
to June 1967 borders. * The large majority of Jewish settlers in Judea
and Samaria will remain under Israeli sovereignty in large blocs of
settlement that will be part of the State of Israel in every way.
MEIMAD'S GOD (Israel Harel, Haaretz 3/11/99)
Ehud Barak had a divine revelation last Monday. "Apparently, there is
a God," an astonished Barak lost no time in telling the audience at
the Meimad conference, "and He has now gone over to our side." God's
transfer to Barak's camp can be easily explained: Two rabbis, Michael
Melchior and Yehuda Gilad, neither of whom is your average politician,
are Meimad's representatives in Barak's candidates list. This will
ensure, Barak has been told, the automatic support of omnipotent God,
that is, Meimad's God.No other party - neither the National Religious
Party nor the ultra-Orthodox parties - has fielded a rabbi for its
Knesset list (excluding those whom the media ignorantly labels
"rabbis" because of their beard or dress). That is probably why God
has abandoned them and joined Barak. Now that we know why God's
presence fills Barak's camp and why the cloud-pillar by day and the
fire-pillar by night will now accompany him until his victory at the
polls, it should be noted that many of the believers in that God have
nothing against the abovementioned rabbis. Quite the contrary - they
have rare qualities and a rare level of Jewish- Zionist identity that
are sadly absent from the Labor list. (It is true that Gesher and
especially its leader also have unique qualities; however, soon after
the elections, Barak will discover that even God, who is now by his
side, will be unable to neutralize those qualities when Levy decides
to activate them for bargaining purposes.) It should be mentioned that
Meimad has, for several years, conducted a public campaign, supported
by a friendly, "mobilized" media and in which yours truly has
participated, against rabbis entering politics. However, what is
forbidden to ultra-Orthodox rabbis, certainly to NRP's fanatics, is
permissible for Meimad's enlightened rabbis who represent political,
especially religious, correctness. At a Rabin Institute conference
last year, Prof. Avi Ravitsky analyzed the difference between his
status, as a religious Jew, and that of his parents: in the Zionist
movement's train, his parents were assigned to the dining car, not to
dine there, but to ensure that the food served was kosher. Ravitsky's
generation has abandoned this supervisory role, and is passing through
the cars toward the locomotive to take hold of the controls. A
wonderful - and painfully accurate - image, especially during the time
of his parents and mine. Unfortunately, Meimad's move has distanced
Ravitsky and his camp from the controls and returned them to the
dining car - again as kashrut supervisors, not diners. Meimad reminds
me of another religious movement, Haoved Hadati, which disappeared
sometime in the '60s. Its members also wanted to show the secular
majority that "We are with you," that they were embarrassed by those
with an overly visible religious identity, that "We are different"
from the ultra-Orthodox and that "We are socialists with kippot
(skullcaps)." Because of their "embarrassment," most of the movement's
members removed their kippot. At the Meimad conference, the following
slogans were prominent: "We are with you (in the quest for peace),"
"We are with you (in defense of law and order)" and "We are with you
(in the fight against religious coercion)." Meimad will support Barak
for the same reasons their spiritual predecessors, the members of
Haoved Hadati, supported Ben-Gurion. Meimad's covenant supports such
ideas as public transportation on the Sabbath, ideas that Haoved
Hadati, anxious to please Mapai, supported until its disappearance.
Even Haoved Hadati's chief ideologist, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who later
became the guru of many Meimadites, could not prevent the movement's
demise. Like Mapai, Barak is tossing Meimad leftovers: No. 17 on the
candidates list, No. 33 and, if it pleases God (God will probably not
be pleased), minister without portfolio. However, the education
portfolio - Ravitsky is undoubtedly suited for the job - is out of the
question. That post is for those in the crowded train cars close to
the locomotive, not for representatives of kashrut supervisors. The
enthusiastic response of the media, constantly seeking excuses to say
a good word for Barak, could be misleading as to the future of the
fiction known as One Israel. Common sense tells us that David Levy
cannot, and does not want to, create bridges between various
population sectors. Barak knows Levy's bridge - Gesher means "bridge"
- is as sturdy as the Maccabiah's was: Both of them lack foundations.
As an ideological movement with some influence on the religious
intelligentsia, Meimad has an apologetic character and thus cannot
provide this new political brew with any real body. Besides - and
Meimad cannot be blamed for that - it is doubtful whether any Laborite
really wants to adopt Meimad's messages after the elections. "It is so
wonderful to be with your family," Meimadites sang to Barak earlier
this week. Will they still sing that tune next year?
SUISSA SUSPENDS JERUSALEM RELIGIOUS COUNCIL
(Jerusalem Post 3/11/99)
In an apparent attempt to bypass the law that ensures the right of
non- Orthodox members to sit on religious councils, Religious Affairs
Minister Eli Suissa Wednesday suspended the Jerusalem Religious
Council and named its head as caretaker. It is believed to be the
first time ever that a religious council has been suspended. Rabbi
Avner Amar, senior adviser to Suissa, announced the latest development
Wednesday night when he appeared, 25 minutes late, after the council
failed to convene for the fourth consecutive time. "As of this past
Sunday, Rabbi Yitzhak Ralbag, head of the religious council, is
appointed caretaker," Amar announced in Suissa's name. "He'll be
unable to fire workers or to introduce new workers, but he'll be
responsible for the day to day functioning of the council, in
everything connected to it. This order will stand until the members of
the council convene of their own volition." Amar did not explain why
he sent invitations to the meeting to members of the council on
Sunday, the same day Suissa issued his order suspending the council.
"We will not take this sitting down," said Rabbi Uri Regev, executive
director of the Israel Religious Action Center, who had complained to
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein that Suissa was not fulfilling his
mandate under the law. "We will challenge the legality of attempting
to circumvent both the law and the court rulings, and prevent the
participation of duly appointed members in the councils. We expect to
obtain the official order that the minister signed, and upon receiving
it, probably within a day or two, we'll petition the High Court of
Justice again. As much as we do not like to see that happening, as
much as we do not like to drag the court into it again, I'm afraid
that there may be no choice." The law states that the minister has the
authority to appoint someone if the council does not function in one
specific matter, which is how Suissa is interpreting the situation.
Secondly, the law says that if the council does not function
altogether - the interpretation of the Conservative and Reform members
of the council - then the minister must appoint an inquiry committee
to investigate the state of the council. A member of the
Attorney-General's Office must be appointed to that inquiry committee.
"This is an exercise in undermining their own laws," said Rabbi Naamah
Kelman, the Reform member of the council. "Obviously they're hurting -
monies aren't being allocated for salaries, so this will be a way to
get the monies moving. But what we're saying is that it seems
outrageous to us that Ralbag, who has actively and flagrantly gone
against the law, against government - he should be the one appointed?
This is once again a flagrant spitting in the face of democracy."
Rabbi Ehud Bandel, the Conservative member of the council, called the
injunction "a disgrace" and said he was saddened by the turn of
events, "because I had hoped that we could meet and work together. I
know that there are Orthodox members of this council who are upset
about this thing, but unfortunately they surrendered to the pressure
from an extreme minority. It's sad, because I think Jerusalem deserves
better."
EU ASSERTS JERUSALEM IS NOT ISRAELI (Ha'aretz 3/11/99)
In a formal letter to the Foreign Ministry in response to its demand
that foreign ambassadors here stop visiting the Orient House in East
Jerusalem German Ambassador Theodor Wallau has reconfirmed the EU's
support for the internationalization of Jerusalem - and he rejected
any Israeli limitations on diplomatic visits to the erstwhile
Palestinian foreign ministry. Germany is currently the president of
the European Union and is considered Israel's staunchest friend in
Europe. The ambassador's letter follows one sent by Foreign Ministry
Director General Eytan Bentsur telling foreign ambassadors that
visiting the Orient House, offices of the Palestinian Authority's
Minister for Jerusalem Faisal Husseini, contravenes the Oslo and Wye
agreements. In verbal messages to the ambassadors, the foreign
ministry also told them that visiting the Orient House is an
intervention in the Israeli election campaign. In his letter, Wallau
says, "We reaffirm our stated position regarding the specific status
of Jerusalem as a corpus separatum [a separate body] ... This position
is in accordance with international law." Therefore, states the
ambassador, "We have no intention of changing our custom regarding
meetings in Jerusalem." By not distinguishing between east and west
Jerusalem, the letter essentially determines that as far as Europe is
concerned, Jerusalem is occupied territory. Use of the term "corpus
separatum" is a clear reference to the UN's original 1947 Partition
Plan. In recent days, there have been intense discussions in official
circles in Jerusalem how to respond to the ambassador's letter, but
the Foreign Ministry refuses to comment on the subject. The future of
Jerusalem is also due to come up in meetings between the Vatican's
foreign minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran with U.S. Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright in the near future, while an official U.S.
source has told Ha'aretz that President Bill Clinton has decided to
use his authority to suspend a congressional decision to move the U.S.
embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May of this year. International
jurist Rotem Giladi, who specializes in the issue of the
internationalization of Jerusalem says that internationalization has
not been explicitly mentioned in any European community decision since
the November 1947 partition decision at the UN. It was also not
mentioned in the Venice Statement of 1980, which followed Israeli
legislation that declared Jerusalem the capital of the country. While
Europe has not retreated from its position on the legal status of the
city, he said, it supports the U.S. position that the future of
Jerusalem will be determined in negotiations.
via: Mirsra@aol.com
March 11, 1999
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Clinton sends weapons to Egypt
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 00:15:07 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
President Clinton sends a large amount of weaponry to Egypt
President Clinton and his administration have agreed to send a large
amount of attack weapons worth $3.2billion to Egypt including 200 of
the latest tanks and many aircraft. This decision shocked everyone in
Israel and her friends all over the world.
Against whom does President Clinton think that these weapons be
directed? Against the Arab neighbors of Egypt? NO! They will only be
directed in one direction, against Israel. Despite the false "peace"
agreement that Egypt signed with Israel, Egypt has remained an enemy
of Israel which repeatedly showed its hatred and hostility against
Israel and joined with all the other Arab enemies. Egypt signed the
false agreement only for one purpose, to take Sinai away from Israel.
This part of the land promised to Israel where G-d gave the Torah to
the people of Israel on Mt.Sinai was always a part of the land of
Israel and G-d gave it back to Israel in the godly wars of 1948, 1956,
1967and 1973 when Egypt attacked Israel and the G-d of Israel
repeatedly defeated her and gave major victories to Israel.
Together with the other Islamic nations and their allies the
Egyptians are preparing themselves for another war against Israel. In
all the preparations that their army made over the last years the
title was that it was against "the enemy in the east", which is only
Israel. Egypt has even built tunnels under the Suez Canal which can
facilitate the movement of tanks and other forces across the canal.
President Mubarak of Egypt is the guide and teacher of the terrorist
and murderer, Arafat, in his activities against Israel. Together with
all the enemies of Israel, Arafat is doing all he can to establish a
so-called "Palestinian" state in the midst of Israel to be a bomb in
the midst of Israel which will soon explode over all the state and
land of Israel and destroy Israel which is the constant dream of all
the Arabs.
We know very clearly that, together with the other Arab countries,
Egypt is preparing for a war to destroy Israel. We know that G-d will
not allow them to succeed in this evil and He will destroy all those
devils who will try to do so as it was in the past and even more so in
the future. We advise them if they have any delusion, and they have
terrible delusions, to read the Word of G-d, mainly Ezekiel 38-39,
Zechariah 12 &14, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Psalms and other
Scriptures before they try to do this.
But Israel cannot understand the President of the United States and
his administration who are sending these terrible weapons to this
major enemy of Israel. They know very clearly that these weapons will
be used for one purpose only, to destroy the people and land of G-d,
Israel. Unfortunately for them, they have decided, mainly since the
Oslo and Wye Agreements, to join the enemies of Israel and to arm them
with a lot of weaponry even though they know so clearly against whom
it will be used. Over the last years they have sent this kind of
weaponry to the Arab countries around Israel and Saudi Arabia, like
Egypt, has now become a major arsenal. In this way, President Clinton
continues his pro-Arab and anti-Israeli. Only a few months ago he
visited the Gaza Strip where he participated in the gathering of the
PLO Council. He spoke there and, as a matter of fact, recognized the
evil terrorist "Palestinian" state in the midst of Israel. A short
time previously his wife, Hillary Clinton, stated her ideas about the
need to establish what she called the "Palestinian" state.
We are determined to speak only the godly truth with no fear of
anyone. The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement decided
from the first moment to speak only this truth. We believe and know
that the G-d of Israel and the universe will never accept this step of
President Clinton and his administration against Israel. The word of
G-d at this critical time warns him very clearly not to take this evil
step which is going to serve only the devil against the innocent
people of Israel who came back to the land which G-d promised them
after terrible persecutions and the holocaust which many millions of
them in the evil exile. Now the devil and his servants try again to do
these holocausts and persecutions here in the land of G-d and Israel.
They want to stop the prophetic end-time vision and desire of the G-d
and people of Israel to again make the people and land of Israel a
blossoming land and nation and a blessing for all the world. They want
to destroy the real peace of G-d and establish a false so-called peace
and to continue the destruction in the land of G-d and Israel. They
even are deluded into thinking that they can destroy the G-d of Israel
Himself. They do not learn from their own negative experiences and
those of other enemies of Israel.
We know that this evil step is against the traditional friendship of
the American people for Israel and that they will never accept it but,
at the same time, it is unfortunately done in the name of all the
American people whom President Clinton represents. The Word of G-d
calls on everyone in the United States of America to send their
objections to this evil step to President Clinton and to ask him to
immediately stop it and not to send these weapons which will be used
to destroy Israel. G-d will not accept it and His judgement is soon
to come. He expects everyone in the United States to stop this
anti-godly and amoral evil.
Israel will continue her eternal existence. The G-d of Israel brought
His people back to the land which He repeatedly promised to them not
as a short episode and to be destroyed by the many wolves and Arab
countries and their allies which surround Israel on all sides and even
inside. He made this miraculous prophetic end-time event with Israel
to fulfill His end-time promises and visions and no one can stop Him,
including President Clinton and Hillary. Israel is not alone in this
evil and hypocritical world which prefers the oil, money and the votes
of the Arabs, enemies of Israel, above the holy G-d of Israel. Israel
has the best friend in all the universe. This is the G-d of Abraham,
Isaac and Israel Who is faithful and loyal to His chosen people,
Israel. Together with Him Israel is the majority and all the rest a
small minority. Together with Him Israel will continue to overcome all
her enemies and continue to establish the kingdom of the G-d of
Israel and the Universe here on the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the
land of Israel. The near future belongs to the G-d and people of
Israel and their friends and allies all over the world. Temple Mount
and Land of Israel Faithful Movement
P.O.Box 18325, Jerusalem 91182, ISRAEL
Telephone 972.2.625.1112
Telephone/Fax 972.2.625.1113
Temple Mount faithful<gershon@templemountfaithful.org>
Visit our web-site at http://www.templemountfaithful.org
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - EU: Jerusalem not capital of Israel
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 00:17:51 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
The EU: Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel
The European Union has sent a communiqu=E9 to Israel in which they state
that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel and is not under Israeli
sovereignty. The communiqu=E9 also states that according to Europe all
Jerusalem is in occupied territory. The communiqu=E9 was delivered to
Israel by the German Ambassador in Israel in the name of the EU.
Germany currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
This is not the first evil and anti-godly decision. On 29th November
1947, the United Nations passed a resolution, No. 181. Article 3 of
this decision stated that Jerusalem would be corpus separatum, a
separate entity under special international control handled by the
United Nations. This shameful and sinful decision was taken in the
name of all the nations without Israel.
In line with EU decision, an American official stated that President
Clinton will use all his powers to delay the implementation of the
decision of the American Congress to move the United States Embassy
form Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May 1999. The Embassy is currently in
Tel Aviv because the United States government has still not recognized
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
These anti-godly decisions of the EU, the UN and President Clinton do
not only represent their traditional hatred against the Jewish people
and their official anti-Israeli policy, but also they are a terrible
revolt against G-d. They are also hypocritical as they claim to be
"believers" of G-d and His Word in the Bible. 3000 years ago, G-d
called King David and commanded him to make Jerusalem the capital of
Israel and the place of His house on Mt.Moriah where the people of
Israel would come to worship Him, be blessed by Him and celebrate
together Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel. More than this,
4000 years ago the G-d of Israel sent Abraham and Isaac, the
forefathers of the Jewish nation, to Mt.Moriah and made with them and
their seed the eternal covenant on Jerusalem and the promised land of
Israel. For thousands of years Jerusalem was, still is, and always
will be the eternal beloved capital of Israel and the Jewish people;
the heart, soul and focus of their life. The G-d of Israel dwelt in
this capital of Israel among His people, Israel and made the wonderful
dialogue and unique relationship with them there and He continues the
redemptional dialogue with Israel which all those nations are so blind
and do not want to see and recognize.
For thousands of years, exactly as today, nations and powers have
tried to take Jerusalem from the Israeli nation through the use of
their power. Twice they succeeded to destroy the Temple, Jerusalem and
Israel but G-d brought His beloved firstborn son, Israel, back to the
country that He promised and gave to them, back to Jerusalem and
Mt.Moriah and again made it their eternal capital because the love of
G-d for His firstborn is eternal and His promises are eternal. G-d is
faithful and His covenant with Israel concerning Jerusalem and the
promised land is a faithful, eternal covenant. He showed all the
nations his loyalty to Jerusalem and Israel and they made the same
sinful revolt against G-d that the EU and all the others are making
today against His determined decision that Jerusalem is the eternal
capital of Israel alone and the site of His house. This is the only
capital in all the world that G-d Himself gave to a nation, Israel,
and made it their capital. All the other capitals in the world were
designated by human beings. What can be more than the sovereignty
which was given by G-d Himself to Israel?
Throughout history G-d continually showed to all the nations that he
will not allow any one of them to take Jerusalem away from Israel.
More than this, He stated very clearly through the prophets of Israel
and directly through the experience of history that those who try to
do so will be judged and terribly punished. The historical fact is
that they never succeeded to take Jerusalem from Israel and that they
were terribly judged by G-d. All of them have disappeared and they
only remain as dry pages in the history books but Israel and Jerusalem
continue to be the beloved people and capital of G-d and Israel
forever.
In the name of the G-d of Israel and the universe I want to warn the
EU, President Clinton and all the rest of the nations which have
gathered to again take Jerusalem from the G-d and people of Israel
that they will not succeed to do this evil and that they will be
terribly punished by G-d and there will never be peace all over the
world until they recognize and respect the eternal decision of G-d
that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, the site of His house
and the city which G-d, together with His beloved people, Israel,
built over thousands of years to be the heart of G-d, Israel and their
covenant and the center of all the earth. Jerusalem will be the focus
of all the nations on one godly condition, namely that it will first
of all the capital of Israel and the location of the Temple of G-d
which is soon to be rebuilt and from this city and land Israel will
fulfill the eternal task which G-d gave them: to be a holy nation, a
kingdom of priests, a treasure above all the nations and a light to
all mankind to bring the Word of the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
to all. No power can stop G-d and His faithful decisions. We are
living in the end-times and Jerusalem is, and will be more so in the
future, the capital of Israel alone to fulfill this eternal task of
the chosen people.
All the prophets of Israel stated and prophesied this word of G-d in
the ears of al the nations and I advise them to immediately open the
Bible and read it word by word and to behave according to the Word of
G-d and his prophets. I want to bring a few of these prophecies from
the Word of G-d to the ears of all these nations and powers.
The prophet Zechariah prophesied very clearly in the ears of al the
nations, mainly in chapters 12 and 14. The burden of the word of the
Lord concerning Israel, says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens,
and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man
inside him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the
people around, and it shall also be against Judah in the siege against
Jerusalem. And on that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone
for all the peoples; all who burden themselves with it shall be
grievously hurt. And all the peoples of the earth shall be gathered
together against it. On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every
horse with panic, and its rider with madness; and I will open my eyes
upon the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the nations
with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart,
The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of hosts
their God. On that day I will make the governors of Judah like a
hearth of fire among trees, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and
they shall devour all the peoples around, on the right hand and on the
left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, in
Jerusalem. And the Lord shall save the tents of Judah first, that the
glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. On that day shall
the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he who is feeble
among them shall be as David on that day; and the house of David shall
be like a divine being, like the angel of the Lord before them. And it
shall come to pass on that day, that I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and
of supplication; and they shall look towards me, regarding those whom
the nations have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns
for an only son, and shall be in bitterness over him, as one who is in
bitterness for his firstborn. On that day there shall be a great
mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the valley
of Megiddo. (Zechariah 12:1-11)
Behold, the day of the Lord comes, and the plunder taken from you
shall be divided in your midst. For I will gather all nations against
Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses
rifled, and the women raped; and half of the city shall go into exile,
and the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then
shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he
fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand on that day upon
the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the
Mount of Olives shall be split in its midst toward the east and toward
the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the
mountain shall be moved toward the north, and half of it toward the
south. And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the
valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal; yes, you shall flee, like
you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and
the Lord my God shall come, and all the holy ones with you. And it
shall come to pass on that day, that there shall not be bright light
nor thick darkness; But it shall be one day which shall be known to
the Lord, not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at
evening time there shall be light. And it shall be on that day, that
living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the
eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in
winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; on
that day the Lord shall be one, and his name one.... And men shall
dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but
Jerusalem shall dwell secure. And this shall be the plague with which
the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem;
Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and
their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall
consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass on that day,
that a great panic from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall
lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise
up against the hand of his neighbor. (Zechariah 14:1-9,11-13)
The prophet Obadiah writes; For your violence against your brother
Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off for ever. On
the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried away
his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates, and cast lots upon
Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But you should not have looked
in the day of your brother, in the day of his misfortune; nor should
you have rejoiced over the people of Judah in the day of their
destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of
distress. You should not have entered the gate of my people in the day
of their calamity; nor should you have been among those who looked on
their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on
their substance in the day of their calamity; Nor should you have
stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his who escaped; nor should
you have delivered up those of his who remained in the day of
distress. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you
have done, it shall be done to you; your reward shall return upon your
own head. For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all
the nations drink continually; indeed, they shall drink, and they
shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But
upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and
the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. And the house
of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the
house of Esau stubble, and they shall burn them and consume them; and
none shall remain of the house of Esau; for the Lord has spoken it.
And they of the Negev shall possess the Mount of Esau; and they of the
Shephelah the land of the Philistines; and they shall possess the
field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess
Gilead. And this exiled host of the people of Israel, who are among
the Canaanites, as far as Zarephath; and the exiles of Jerusalem, who
are in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the Negev. And saviors
shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau; and the kingdom
shall be the Lord's. (Obadiah 10-21)
Isaiah records the following wonderful vision for Jerusalem and Israel
and all the nations after they recognize G-d's eternal decision for
Jerusalem as the eternal capital of His people, Israel, who will
rebuild His house for Him. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last
days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on
the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and
all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God
of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths; for from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall decide
for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, nor shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob,
come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:1-5)
I call on all the nations to immediately accept the Word of G-d which
repeatedly states that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel alone and
that this city was given by Him to Israel in an eternal covenant to
fulfill the eternal task of Israel to bring the light of G-d through
this city and the house of G-d on the Temple Mount to all the nations
"... for from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3b) Only on this condition, Jerusalem will then
be the focus of all the nations and Israel will serve them with love
as their priests according to the word of G-d through this capital of
Israel. Then a real peace will come to all the world and a lion will
lie down with the lamb and together they will eat herbs.
This is also my call to everyone in the world to send letters and
emails, make phone calls and broadcast on television and radio to the
UN, to the EU and to President Clinton and to bring this godly message
to their attention and to their minds and hearts. Also to pray for the
peace of the capital of G-d and Israel, Jerusalem. As our faithful,
beloved G-d promised, He will bless those who bless Israel and curse
those who curse her. As He promised, He will fulfill that those who
help and assist Israel, especially at this critical prophetic
end-time, and show their love for Him through Israel, will be redeemed
together with Israel. For all of those we expect big godly days.
Together in our lifetime we shall see the rebuilding of the house of
G-d and the coming of Mashiach ben David. Let us be worthy of this and
trust in our eternal G-d of Israel and the universe.
Everyone is called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the capital of
G-d and Israel from Psalm 122.
A Song of Maalot of David.
I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
Our feet shall stand inside your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is
built as a city which is bound firmly together; There the tribes go
up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks
to the name of the Lord. For thrones of judgment were set there, the
thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; those
who love you shall prosper. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity
within your palaces. For my brothers and companions' sakes, I will now
say, Peace be within you. Because of the house of the Lord our God I
will seek your good.
Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement
P.O.Box 18325, Jerusalem 91182, ISRAEL
Telephone 972.2.625.1112
Telephone/Fax 972.2.625.1113
Visit our web-site at http://www.templemountfaithful.org
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel rejects EU stand on Jerusalem
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 00:18:56 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
ISRAEL REJECTS EU STAND ON JERUSALEM
Israel does not intend to accept the European Union's stand regarding
Jerusalem. Israel received a message from the EU saying that it does
not recognize Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem. Rejecting an
Israeli demand that EU representatives refrain from visiting the
Orient House in eastern Jerusalem, a letter written by the German
Ambassador states that Jerusalem is a "corpus separatum [separate
body];" the letter does not differentiate between eastern and western
Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded that Jerusalem is "not a
separate body, but rather the heart and soul of the Nation of Israel_
Jerusalem will remain united and under Israeli sovereignty forever."
Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said that negotiations are underway with
the European Union over this issue. "Our government has no intention
of making any concessions whatsoever regarding the status of
Jerusalem," Sharon said today. "Under my direction, and in complete
coordination with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, an urgent letter
has been sent to all the foreign embassies in Israel, in which I
explained that this statement contradicts all of the agreements, and
is in complete opposition with the stance of the government.
Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish nation for 3000 years
now, the capital of the State of Israel for 50 years, and will remain
so for eternity."
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Thursday, March 11, 1999 / Adar 23, 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Edupage items (3/11/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 06:35:31 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
NEW BILL THREATENS NSF INTERNET FUND
Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) has proposed legislation that would dismantle
the controversial $60-million Intellectual Infrastructure Fund
administered by the National Science Foundation. The fund, which from
1995 to 1997 received $15 for each Internet domain name registration,
was the subject of dispute last year when critics called the $15 fee a
tax in disguise and argued it was being illegally collected because
Congress had never authorized such a tax. Congress then authorized it
retroactively, and at the same time authorized NSF to spend the $60
million that had been collected. Terry's Homepage Tax Repeal Act
would overturn the 1998 provision ratifying the collection of the fee.
If the Act becomes law, NSF will have to repay the $23 million it's
already contributed to the Clinton Administration's Next Generation
Internet project. "We'd be left eating it," says the head of
Congressional affairs for NSF. (Chronicle of Higher Education 12 Mar
99)
DOMAIN NAMES DROPPED FROM INTERNIC DATABASE
Internic -- the Internet domain name administration arm of Network
Solutions Inc. -- dropped thousands of names from its database last
week, preventing e-mail messages addressed to those names from being
delivered. Users whose names were lost will be forced to get new ones
from Network Solutions -- something that's caused critics to accuse
the company of ulterior motives: "They [NSI] seem to be embarking on a
campaign to benefit their [domain name registration] system," says the
VP of one ISP. An NSI spokeswoman denied the charges: "This is part
of targeting people who register thousands of domains and sell them
for a profit." NSI will lose its monopoly over domain administration
in September 2000, when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) takes over. (Data Communications 10 Mar 99)
ALL INFORMATION ALL THE TIME
Brian Halla, chairman and CEO of National Semiconductor Corp.,
predicts that the information appliance market will dwarf the PC
market: "Man will be surrounded by these information appliances. We
always use the analogy of the electric motor. All day long you've
been surrounded by electric motors. And you've never once thought
about the electric motor, certainly not about who made the electric
motor. It's the same with these information appliances. Literally,
in the information age -- we're not quite there yet -- but man will
want an infinite amount of information instantaneously, any time,
anywhere. And it'll be interactive. That means he won't want to
carry his box around with him, but he'll always want access to the
database... When a consumer gets in his car, he'll look at the
dashboard and say, 'E-mail, please.' And that's different from being
in the age of the computer. It's not like you're going to sit at your
desk and calculate prime numbers. You want to sit at your desk and
get access to the Web and your database on the Web. And you want to
do the same thing when you're sitting on an airplane. You'll stick
your card in the back of the airplane seat in front of you and have
access to your database." (Investor's Business Daily 11 Mar 99)
JOURNALISTS TOLD NOT TO SPREAD Y2K FEARS
Federal Reserve Board member Edward W. Kelley Jr. is cautioning
journalists to avoid undermining Americans' confidence in the banking
system with overblown and unwarranted reports about the Y2K problem.
He said, "If glitches occur or problems loom, report fully on them of
course, but make sure to place the problem in an appropriate context."
There needs to be concern about "the possibility of our citizenry
becoming so overly worried about what might happen that there could be
the very type of problem we are working so hard to prevent." But
Kelley should be somewhat reassured by a new USA Today/Gallup Poll for
the National Science Foundation indicating that only 21% of Americans
now expect major problems in 2000 -- a percentage down from 34% just
three months ago. (USA Today 10 Mar 99)
http://educause.unc.edu
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Bridges for Peace items (3/12/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 20:34:35 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
NUMBER OF RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS DOUBLED LAST MONTH Continuing the trend established over the past two months, immigration from Russia skyrocketed again last month, increasing 107% over February 1998, Jewish Agency officials announced recently.
During the first two months of 1999, 3,347 immigrants arrived here, an increase of 100% over last year. The immigrants come from all over Russia, especially Siberia and the country's far eastern region.
In Novosibirsk, where a synagogue was desecrated earlier this week, emigration to Israel is up some 200%.
One of the newcomers came from a little-known village called Tinda on the border with China. "The emissary had never heard of a place called Tinda. He trekked out there and found a Jewish community in which the mayor is Jewish and the two deputy mayors are Jewish. The non-Jews who live there call the town hall 'the Synagogue' because of this," an agency spokesman said.
"They discovered there really are Jews in the town who want to come here," the spokesman added. The interest is not limited to Russia. Golda, a 100-year-old woman from Tashkent, in Uzbekistan, whose last name was not available, has an extended family of 200. She decided she wants to hold this Pesach seder (Passover meal) in Israel and is planning on immigrating with all her offspring, according to agency officials.
In various places in the former Soviet Union, Jews have been lining up in the snow for visa applications. The number of newcomers from Moscow and surrounding area is up 84%, in northern Russia 94%, and in southern Russia 135%. Agency officials expect the rate of immigration to increase in the coming months.
The agency has increased its staff in Russia, expanded Hebrew-language courses whose students have doubled of late, and taken other steps to meet the increasing aliyah demand. (By Aryeh Dean Cohen, Jerusalem Post, March 11, 1999)
CHURCH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST DISCOVERED
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that a sixth century Byzantine church dedicated to John the Baptist has been discovered at the Tel a-Shakef dig at an Israel military installation in the Gaza Strip.
The church, measuring 13x25 meters in area, is covered in marble floor tiles and multi-colored mosaics of geometric shapes and flora motifs, as well as three Greek inscriptions, translated by IAA Professor Vassilios Tzaperis as follows:
1. A line from Psalms 95:1, "O come, let us sing unto the Lord," mistakenly rendered as, "O come, let us become sanctified unto the Lord."
2. Deuteronomy 28:6: "Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out."
3. At the entrance to the church is a multi-colored mosaic of a medallion containing 11 lines that states that the church is dedicated to John the Baptist, was founded in 544 and completed in 550, and praise the church's donors -- Victor and John.
Dig director, Ya'akov Huster, on behalf of the IAA, stated that a previous excavation at the site revealed a magnificent bathhouse and fishpond in almost perfect condition next to the church. "These discoveries show that this was a major church in a successful community in the mid-sixth century during the reign of Justinian."
The site is located at a military installation in the northwest edge of the Gaza Strip in an area under Israeli military and civilian control. The excavation is being conducted with the aid of the Employment Service (as part of a public works project for the unemployed), the archaeology officer for Judea and Samaria and the base commander. (Communicated by Israel Antiquities Authority Spokesman, Israel Government Press Office, March 6, 1999)
LIBYA PROPOSES UNION WITH EGYPT
Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi is proposing a union between Egypt and Libya. Gadaffi, currently on an official visit to Cairo, told Egyptian officials that the two states should capitalize on Egypt's water resources and Libya's crude oil potential in order to "frustrate the Zionist designs against the Arab nation." In a speech delivered in Cairo and broadcast on Libyan television, Gadaffi stated that he has been "in favor of such a union for some time now." (Arutz 7, March 9, 1999)
http://www.bridgesforpeace.com
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Gore: father of the internet?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 20:40:22 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Lawmakers chortle over Gore comment
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Al Gore's claim he is the father of
the Internet drew amused protests Thursday from congressional
Republicans. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said that even
under the time-honored tradition of politicians taking credit for
everything, Gore's statement is an "outrageous claim." Gore, widely
credited for coining the term "information superhighway," raised
eyebrows with a pronouncement he made Tuesday during a CNN interview.
"During my service in the U.S. Congress, I took the initiative in
creating the Internet," he said when asked to cite accomplishments
that separate him from another Democratic presidential hopeful, former
Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558768852-418
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Scientists create wingless chickens
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 21:50:47 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Friday, March 12, 1999 Sci/Tech
Wings become legs
The engineered limbs lost feathers and grew claws
US scientists have genetically-engineered chickens to grow basic
"legs" instead of wings.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, took a
gene normally found only in chicken legs and transferred it to the
forming wings of chick embryos.
The resulting structures lost many of their wing characteristics and
gained those of a leg.
Feathers vanished, the beginnings of clawed fingers appeared at the
end of limbs, and muscles usually confined to the leg could clearly be
seen.
The scientists believe the work may eventually help us to understand
how legs and arms develop in humans, raising the possibility - one day
- of preventing or correcting deformities.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_295000/295277.stm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz Sheva News items (3/12/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 00:29:28 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
SENATE AGAINST UNILATERAL ARAFAT DECLARATION
The American Senate voted almost unanimously last night to oppose a
unilateral declaration of independence by Yasser Arafat and the PLO.
"The president should unequivocally assert United States opposition to
the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state... and that a
declared state would not be recognized by the United States," read the
resolution. Only one Senator - Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia
- voted against, while 98 voted in favor. The House of
Representatives is scheduled to pass a similar proposition next week.
Arafat announced yesterday in London that despite international
objections, he intends to declare a Palestinian state next May. The
Senate resolution stated that "a declaration of statehood by the
Palestinians outside the framework of negotiations would... constitute
a most fundamental violation of the Oslo process."
REQUEST TO RE-EXAMINE RABIN ASSASSINATION
A request for a re-investigation of the Rabin assassination was filed
this week in the Tel Aviv central police station. Twenty Israelis,
led by Barry Chamish, author of "Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin?",
requested that the police investigate State Pathologist Dr. Yehuda
Hiss on suspicion of altering Rabin's wounds and submitting false
evidence to the Shamgar Commission. In addition, they demanded an
investigation to determine why the Israel Police Crime Laboratory
found that Rabin was shot at point- blank range, while the Shamgar
Commission declared that he was shot from no closer than 30
centimeters. Chamish presented Dr. Hiss' Pathological Report, which
stated that Rabin suffered no damage to his spinal cord, nor was
wounded by a frontal chest wound. On the other hand, the complainants
also submitted Dr. Mordechai Gutman's Surgical Procedures Report, as
well as taped testimony by Ichilov Hospital Director Dr. Gabi Barabash
and former Health Minister Ephraim Sneh, to the effect that Rabin's
backbone was shattered and that there was a frontal chest wound.
Chamish said that the police will not be able to claim that there is a
"lack of public interest" if many people sign and witness the
complaint.
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Friday, Mar. 12, 1999 / Adar 25, 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Germany's Muslims
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 01:18:19 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
ISLAMIC GROUPS INCREASINGLY USING GERMAN TO INSTRUCT
YOUNG MUSLIMS IN THEIR RELIGIOUS HERITAGE
Ever since the first Gastarbeiter brought the Muslim religion to West
Germany in the 1950s, Turkish has been the main language of prayer in
Federal Republic's Islamic community. Today, most Islamic religious
services are still conducted in Turkish, and young people from Turkish
families generally receive religious instruction in their parents'
tongue. But with each generation, Germany's two million ethnic Turks
are moving further away from their cultural roots and developing a
new, more German, identity. And as the Islamic community becomes more
diverse, the German language is starting to play a more central role
in Muslim culture. "German has become the first language of the
Muslims who live here, whether they are Turks, Arabs, or Bosnians,"
Nadeem Elyas, president of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany
(ZMD) recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The ZMD and
its partner in Islamic advocacy, the Islamic Council, are campaigning
for Muslim instruction in Germany's public schools, and both groups
maintain the subject should be taught in German, by teachers trained
in Germany. Meanwhile, Germany's third largest Muslim organization,
the Union of Islamic Cultural Centers (VIKZ), already offers its own
German-language instruction on the Koran. Some mosques have begun to
offer German services, says VIKZ general secretary Ibrahim <<avdar,
and the first German edition of the Ilmihal, a prayer manual, was
published in July for use in courses on the Koran. "The manual is
partly our way of relieving the uneasiness some people feel about
whether something improper is taking place during the class," adds
<<avdar. The VIKZ also makes an effort to appoint German-born
instructors, a policy <<avdar believes is an effective way of reaching
young people in the Islamic community. "The teachers who have the best
connection with young people are those who come from the same world
they live in," he maintains. A spokesman for the Islamic Community of
Milli G$F6rues (IGMG), Germany's largest Islamic Association not
affiliated with the Turkish government, agrees that interest in
German-language religious services is growing. German plays an
especially important role in congregations with non-Turkish speakers,
as well as in larger Islamic associations where German has already
become the lingua franca. Children from all over the Muslim world
attend the Institute for International Pedagogy and Didactics, a
private Koran study center in Cologne, where instructors not only
teach in German but also use innovative methods to introduce the basic
tenets of Islam. Director Rabeva Mueller says the center offers a more
creative alternative to traditional Muslim schools, which require
pupils to memorize Koran verses in Arabic. Not everyone in the Turkish
community favors the move toward German. In North Rhine-Westphalia,
six Islamic groups have formed a joint commission to promote Muslim
religious instruction in the region's public schools. One member of
the collective, the Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute for
Religion (DITIB), argues that Turkish students should be taught in the
language of their heritage, on the grounds that Turkish culture and
Islam are deeply intertwined. After much discussion, the commission
has reached a compromise position whereby religious instruction must
be given in German as long as a classroom includes one non-Turkish
speaking student. The Duesseldorf ministry of public schools is
currently weighing the proposal. Islamic religious instruction, notes
one ministry spokesperson, has been offered in the region's schools
for 20 years.
This Week in Germany
March 12, 1999
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pakistan, Israel Hold Secret Contacts
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 20:50:12 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Thursday, March 11, 1999: The News Channel
Report: Pakistan, Israel Hold Secret
Contacts
WASHINGTON (Internews) -- Pakistani and Israeli
diplomats have been secretly engaged in cursory,
unofficial contacts for the past two years, despite
Islamabad's official stance of not recognizing
Israel, the influential Defense News has revealed.
In its latest issue it says Israel is seriously
considering developing defense ties with Pakistan,
and has quoted the country's top national security
official, David Ivry, making this statement.
According to the magazine, Ivry acknowledged in an
interview that Israel had developed strong defense
trade ties and military exchanges with India. But he
did not think that should conflict with efforts to
craft a similar relationship in the future with
Pakistan.
"I think Israel should build up good relations with
India and Pakistan. But we don't need to be involved
in the conflict on the sub-continent," Ivry said.
"If we can build a relationship with Pakistan - a
large, important Islamic country - it will be done in
a way that does not target or threaten a third
country."
The paper quoted Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington,
Riaz Khokhar, as saying in a mid-1998 interview,
"Pakistan was interested in forging full diplomatic
relations with Israel once other Islamic states in
the Gulf region did so."
"It makes a lot of sense to establish diplomatic
relations with Israel. But we will not be among the
first to do so," Khokhar was quoted as saying.
Explaining Israel's philosophy, Ivry said: "We need
friends, we need to build up relations and common
interests with as many countries as we can,
regardless of the country's religious orientation."
Ivry, a former commander of Israel's air force and
longtime director-general of Israel's Ministry of
Defense, has now been selected to be the first
national security adviser.
He is a leading figure behind Israel's thriving
military relationship with Turkey.
Ivry feels that Israel in the next few years needs to
make overtures to countries far away from its borders
in an effort to protect its security and stem
proliferation of ballistic and cruise missiles in the
region.
In the mid-1980's, for instance, Israel secured an
agreement with the Chinese government to provide
technologies assistance in exchange for Beijing's
pledge not to sell missiles to Israel's immediate
neighbors.
According to South Korean and US officials, Israel is
seeking a similar quid pro quo with North Korea to
prevent Pyongyang from exporting missiles to Syria
and other nations in the region. ---Internews
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/3_99/report_11.shtml
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - British Schools Offering Condoms to 11-year-olds
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 20:53:29 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Thursday, March 11, 1999
British School Offering Condoms to
11-year-olds
LONDON (Internews) -- A British school is offering
condoms to children as young as 11 at a new sexual
advice center, a BBC program has revealed.
Paignton Community College in Devon has set up a
confidential health center for pupils aged between 11
and 18 and half the students who visit the Tic Tac
Center go for sexual advice, including contraception
and the "morning after pill" says the program.
The program shows head teacher Jane English as
saying: "Clearly our intention is to provide young
people with information and advice, hence why it's
called Tic Tac - Information Center and Advice
Center.
"We are there to offer help and support. We don't
subscribe to the view that if you provide youngsters
with contraception that is going to make them go
ahead and do that," she said.
Local GP Deborah Avory defended the center, saying:
"It is the real world and it is all going on, so we
don't just dish out pills and condoms, we talk about
other issues."
"We talk about the ability to say no if you don't
want to go ahead with a sexual relationship. We talk
about peer pressure, we talk about the emotional side
of being in a sexual relationship and we do encourage
them very much to confide in a parent or other
trusted adult if possible," she said.
Last year health chiefs in Glasgow were criticized by
anti-abortion groups for backing a drop-in clinic for
youngsters to get free contraceptives.
Pregnancies among under-age girls have shot up by 11
percent in England and Wales, according to the latest
government statistics.
The most recent figures for conception by girls aged
13-15 show a rise to 9.4 pregnancies per 1,000 in
1996, compared with 8.5 per 1,000 in 1995, the Office
for National Statistics revealed.
More than 75% of those pregnancies were among
15-year-olds, and more than half of all under-age
conceptions were aborted.
http://www.arabia.com/weekender/3_99/school11.shtml
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - thief, Nazareth, little horn, Magog
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 22:42:39 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
[I would appreciate having a translation of the Latin (?) at the end
of this passage. If anyone can help, please email me. Thanks!]
In my reading this morning, I found the following interesting for a
couple of reasons--the mention of thieves, Nazareth, little horn, and
Magog.
"The Rabbins have a tradition: Those that are taken out of the
kingdom, behold they are properly captives; but those that are taken
by thieves, they are not to be called captives."
"The tradition is to be distinguished. As to kingdom and kingdom,
there is no difficulty": that is, as to kingdoms, which are equal.
"But between the kingdom of Ahasuerus, and the kingdom of Ben Nezer,
there is. Between thieves and thieves there is no difficulty; but
between Ben Nezer and the thieves of the world viz. common thieves,
there is. There [in Palestine] Ben Nezer is called a king: here [in
Babylon] he is called a robber." Gloss: "Ben Nezer was a thief, and
took cities, and ruled over them; and became the captain of robbers."
It is very suspicious to what purpose they have invented that name for
the most infamous robber, to call him the "son of Nezer." By those
very letters [nun,tzadai,resh] they write the city 'Nazareth.' Read
on, and the suspicion will increase.
"I considered the horns; and behold, there came up among them another
little horn [Dan 7:8], This is Ben Nezer." Aruch quoteth this passage:
"There came up among them another little horn: This is the kingdom of
the Cuthites. Now what they meant by the kingdom of the Cuthites, may
be conjectured from 'The winter is past' [Cant 2:11]; This is the
kingdom of the Cuthites." And a little after: "The time is coming when
the kingdom of Cuth shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of heaven
shall be revealed."
It is easy imagining what they would point at by the kingdom of the
Cuthites; the Christians no doubt (unless they will pretend to some
Samaritan kingdom): and if so, it is as obvious whom they design by
"Ben Nezer." Let them shew whence came the name of the tetrarchy of
the Nazarenes in Coelosyria; of which Pliny: "Coelosyria habet Apamiam
Marsya amne divisam. A Nazerinorum tetrarchia Bambycen, quae alio
nomine 'Hierapolis' vocatur, Syris vero 'Magog.'"
A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, John
Lightfoot.
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Temple
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 01:15:01 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
From Mysteries of the Bible email list:
1/31/99
"In the coming months an eminent Biblical scholar, Dr. Ernest
T. Martin will publish a book which details the results of
his very important investigation as to the location of the Second
Temple.
"After an extensive study of the works of Josephus who alone
gives us an eye-witness account of the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, this scholar comes to the
startling conclusion that the Temple was NOT built on the
present Temple Mount..."
http://www.biblemysteries.com/lectures/temple/
--------------------
3/13/99
"I hope I am not revealing any secrets here but Professor
James Tabor of the University of North Carolina was recently
in Jerusalem and using Ernest Martin's measurements found :-
"'The Holy of Holies....... is now a vacant lot with junk
engines, spilt oil, and other garbage...'"
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mar 14, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 20:48:36 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
7:00 PM Eastern
A&E - ANCIENT MYSTERIES - Rites of Death
7:30
NBC - SCHINDLER'S LIST **** (B&W) (Drama, 1993) --
German industrialist Oskar Schindler plots with his
accountant to save Jewish prisoners from the Nazis. (210 minutes)
(CC) (Violence, Nudity, Language, Adult Situations)(Rated
R)(TVM)(Ends 11:00pm)
8:00
DISC - RAGING PLANET - "Earthquakes" - The friction of
tectonic plates, earthquakes, can raise mountains and flatten
cities.(CC)(TVG)
9:00
DISC - CLEOPATRA'S PALACE: IN SEARCH OF A LEGEND -
Underwater explorers journey to the royal city of Alexandria.
(CC)(TVG)
10:00
DISC - THE REAL CLEOPATRA - The
life of the Egyptian queen.(CC)(TVG)
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Genetically altered food
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 21:10:30 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Signs of the food fight to come
Copyright 1999 by Christian Science Monitor
Wed, Mar 10,1999
Geneticists are on the verge of revolutionizing agriculture and
medicine in much the same way computers have transformed business.
Labs around the world are working on crops that could feed a growing
planet, plants that could clean up contaminated soils, and pigs whose
organs may one day get trans-planted into people.
But to do these things, scientists are fooling with nature's basic
building blocks. As they do, they are kicking up dissent around the
world as one nation tries to sell its genetically altered foods to
another's grocers.
The current food fight between the United States and Europe - over
hormone-treated beef and genetically altered soy beans - could be just
a prelude of arguments to come. That's because the greatest risks
probably don't lie with today's simple genetic alterations. Future
rounds of exotic agriculture pose bigger threats because they will put
organisms to completely new uses. The fundamental question: How much
should science manipulate nature to care for mankind?
And there's no going back, scientists say. Consider the US experience.
While Europeans debate how far to proceed with the new technology,
Americans are quietly ingesting the new foods, often without knowing
it.
``The genie can't be put back,'' says Marshall Martin, an agricultural
economist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. ``Anyone who
eats pizza or cheese on their hamburger has consumed genetically
modified food.... We pulled the cork out of the bottle in a sense with
the discovery of DNA.''
For example, three-quarters of America's cheese gets its start with a
bioengineered enzyme. Nearly 1 out of 6 dairy farmers injects his cows
with a genetically engineered growth hormone to boost milk production.
And genetically modified crops are increasingly taking over farmlands
- with some 70 million acres planted worldwide, 60 million of it in
North America.
This planting season promises more inroads. For example, half of
America's soybeans, perhaps more of its cotton, and a third of its
corn could be genetically modified - a remarkable adoption rate in the
four years since the new seeds were introduced.
Other countries are also moving rapidly to incorporate the technology.
Last year, some 650,000 farmers in China planted genetically modified
cotton. And this year Monsanto, which produces the cotton seed,
expects to double that number.
Even the European Union has approved bioengineered soybeans and corn.
Small quantities of corn, genetically modified to resist pests, are
being grown in Spain and, if approved by France's high court, could
start showing up in the fields of Europe's largest corn producer.
Slow acceptance
Biotech companies such as Monsanto hope that resistance to the
technology will crumble once European farmers begin to adopt the new
strains. That move is likely, companies say, because the new-fangled
crops typically improve yields and cut costs.
``It's likely to be adopted because the value of the benefits will be
recognized,'' says Philip Angell, a Monsanto spokesman.
Take cotton, one of the world's most pest-prone crops. By
incorporating the genes of a natural insecticide, scientists have
created a pest-resistant strain that requires fewer chemicals. It
``has been massively beneficial,'' says Val Giddings, a vice president
of the Biotechnology Industry Organization in Washington.
In the three years since they began using it, US farmers have saved
the equivalent of 850,000 gallons of pesticides - the equivalent of 48
railroad tank cars of chemicals.
Cutting pesticide use saves money. According to newly released figures
by one of Britain's leading plant-research centers, bioengineered
soybeans saved farmers an average $30 a hectare because they used 40
percent less herbicide. Pest-resistant corn saved $42 per hectare. (A
hectare represents some 2-1/2 acres.)
Despite these benefits, environmentalists worry the new crops pose a
bigger hazard to human health and the environment. They've caught the
ear of many Europeans.
The environmental group Greenpeace, for example, has mounted an
effective campaign across Europe to block the sale of genetically
modified food. In February, it persuaded biotech giant AgrEvo
(Hoechst) not to conduct field trials of such crops in Austria.
In January, it organized anti-bioengineering protests at the national
offices of three European food companies in nine countries. Thanks to
a Greenpeace suit, France's highest administrative court in December
upheld its preliminary ban on genetically modified corn from a Swiss
firm.
The debate rings loudest in Britain, where memories of the
government's mishandling of ``mad-cow'' disease remain fresh. The
issue has gone all the way to the top: Prime Minister Tony Blair is
risking his popularity to support genetically modified foods, while
Prince Charles says he will never eat any of them.
Further confounding the issue have been the findings of Arpad Pusztai,
a Scottish researcher who ignited the whole controversy. Last summer
he was quietly feeding potatoes to rats. Then he went public with
concerns about the genetically modified rations he was using.
On one hand, the researcher claims he's enthusiastic about
bioengineering's potential; but he warns that it has to be done right
because genetically modified potatoes stunted the growth of rats and
depressed their immune system.
Mr. Pusztai has not released his full results for review by other
scientists - a traditional practice. And when an internal audit
committee evaluated his study, it disputed the findings. But 20
scientists have come forward since, saying Pusztai may have a point.
Controversy builds
Whatever the outcome, even biotech executives acknowledge the
controversy is likely to continue. ``I think we have to be very, very
careful about how these technologies are applied,'' says Richard Gill,
senior vice president and general manger of BTG International Inc., a
tech-transfer company with offices in the US, Britain, and Japan.
``There needs to be ... more information shared with people in a form
that can be understood.''
Even in the United States, activists remain hopeful they can slow down
the technology. Dairy farmer associations and consumer groups, for
example, continue to battle the milk-boosting growth hormone.
``Americans are expressing their concern with genetic engineering and
agribusiness in general, not in a political way but in the
marketplace,'' says Ben Lilliston of the Center for Food Safety.
That's why organic products are growing so rapidly, he says, and why
some 200,000 citizens complained when US agricultural officials
proposed including bioengineered food as organic.
Concern is justified, scientists say, because no one can predict how
nature will react when new organisms appear. ``We're not talking about
killer tomatoes. We're talking about plants that will pick up genes,''
says Norm Ellstrand, a geneticist at the University of California at
Riverside.
Genes can only transfer to relatives. So genetically modified corn in
Iowa doesn't pose much danger because it has no wild relatives there.
But planted in central America, it could create super-weeds that could
out-compete the corn. And the risks increase as more of these
genetically modified plants get released into the wild and interact.
The biggest question hangs over plants containing many new genes so
they can take lead out of contaminated soil or create ingredients for
medicines. ``The next generation of crops is going to be engineered
for truly novel traits.... And we don't know how those combinations
are going to play out,'' says Louis Myers, a biotech specialist at
Fish & Richardson, a law firm.
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Y2K Headlines
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 22:06:59 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
NM UTILITY: CAN'T PROMISE THE LIGHTS WILL STAY ON
Link: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/2news03-11.htm
ONTARIO HYDRO Y2K TEST GOES SMOOTHLY
Link: http://www.canoe.ca/LondonNews/lf.lf-03-08-0053.html
Y2K SHUTDOWN OF GAZPROM COULD LEAVE RUSSIA IN COLD
Link: http://www.russiatoday.com/rtoday/business/news/1999030805.html
TARDY SMALL & MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES THREATEN UK SUPPLY CHAIN
Link: http://www.computerweekly.co.uk/cwarchive/news/19990311/cwcontainer.asp?name=C11.html
Y2K TO CLOSE PANAMA CANAL
Link: http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/Mar/05/business/YTWO05.htm
SRI LANKA BANKS TO CLOSE ON DEC 31 FOR Y2K BUG
Link: http://www.y2ktoday.com/modules/home/default.asp?id=1053
NEARLY 20 PERCENT OF U.S. BANKS BEHIND SCHEDULE
Link: http://www.cnnfn.com/digitaljam/newsbytes/127546.html
Y2K BANK SCAM ALERT!
Link: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoNews/ts.ts-03-10-0036.html
Link: http://www.y2knewswire.com/19990310.htm
Y2K PASSES INITIAL WALL STREET TEST
Link: http://www.cnnfn.com/digitaljam/newsbytes/127706.html
Link: http://www.cnnfn.com/digitaljam/newsbytes/127760.html
Link: http://www.cnnfn.com/digitaljam/newsbytes/127546.html
Link: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2221770,00.html
SHANGHAI STOCK EXCHANGE'S Y2K TESTS TURN UP PROBLEMS
Link: http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/127413.html
AID FOR Y2K FIXES MAY ARRIVE TOO LATE
Link: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/news/date/9903/e990308.htm
STATE MAY RECOMMEND Y2K KITS IN HOMES
Link: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/comp07.html
SENATORS SUGGEST STOCKPILING
Link: http://www.y2kculture.com/politics/19990301.stockpiling.html
MICROSOFT IN TROUBLE OVER YEAR 2000...AGAIN
Link: http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=78168
Y2K DISRUPTS ISRAELI INCOME TAX
Link: http://www.y2ktoday.com/modules/home/default.asp?id=1044
JAPANESE SATELLITE TESTS SUSPENDED OVER YEAR 2000 PROBLEM
Link: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9903/08/Japan-Satellite.ap/index.html
Y2K AUDITS MISS GLITCHES
Link: http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/990301932A
SENATE Y2K REPORT TAKES FLACK FROM SEVERAL QUARTERS
Link: http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/zdy2k/stories/0,6158,2221121,00.html
Link: http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18218.html
Link: http://y2ktimebomb.com/Washington/Congress/creg9910a.htm
THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND GLOBAL Y2K SUMMIT IN MANILA
Link: http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/Job/MF/job9910.htm
VALIDITY OF UPCOMING ELECTRIC UTILITY Y2K DRILL
QUESTIONED
NERC Website:
ftp://www.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/y2k/drill-preparation-strategies.pdf
Link: http://www.y2knewswire.com/19990304.htm
BUNKERS READY IN CASE OF Y2K CRISIS
Link: http://enquirer.com/editions/1999/03/08/loc_bunker_ready_in_case.html
WILL MY WASHING MACHINE SURVIVE THE Y2K BUG?
Link: http://www.idg.co.nz/wwwfeat/YEAR 2000 INFORMATION CENTER/ja250199.htm
HEALTH INDUSTRY POSTS Y2K GUIDE
Link: http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/99030895B2
MICROSOFT STEPS UP YEAR 2000 EFFORTS
Microsoft Year 2000 Website:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/year2k/
Link: http://year2000.dci.com/Articles/990310microsoft.htm
FREE Y2K HELP SOFTWARE
If you've been thinking about hiring a consultant to help you with
your Y2K computer problems, try putting your tax dollars to work
first. The NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) is
giving away free Y2K software to help small businesses conduct an
equipment inventory, rate which business systems are essential to
surviving Y2K problems and develop contingency plans. The software can
be downloaded at: <http://www.y2khelp.nist.gov>. In conjunction with
the software, NIST has also operates a toll-free Y2K Help Center:
(800) 925-7557. (JG)
Link: http://www.amcity.com/sanfrancisco/stories/1999/03/08/smallb2.html
-----
http://dispatch.mail-list.com/archives/nhnelist/
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - To Life!
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 22:06:59 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
To Life
The huge mirror ball suspended from the ceiling beamed rays of light,
penetrating the darkest corner of the discotheque. He thought to
himself: "Everyone's dancing. The lights are spinning. The bass is
rolling out of the speakers, hitting you in the pit of the stomach
like a tank. They've turned the treble up so far that there's enough
high frequencies to part your hair at 25 feet. The wine is flowing.
And the whole world is dancing. Dancing. Drinking wine and laughing.
Why are we so happy? In a few short years, we'll all be dead. This
disco is like a giant slaughterhouse. When we're gone, in our place
will be a new crop of trendies, dancing and drinking and laughing in
this same disco. And they'll dance and drink, and in just another few
short years, they'll be dead. And others will dance on their blood.
And so on.
By then, of course, they'll have redecorated this place. But
the dance will go on. The wine will still flow. This dance of death
will go on and on. And they'll all be happily dancing and drinking
wine and laughing."
The Secret Of Wine
What is that "high" that comes from wine? How does wine allow us to
be happy even when confronted with our own terrifying mortality? Is
it mere alcohol-induced anesthesia that makes us blissfully unaware of
our end, or does wine have a power that is more than just an escape
from reality? What is the secret of wine?
What The Eye Cannot See
In this world, we cannot grasp something which is without end. Our
eyes can only see something finite. That which is without end, in
this world, is invisible. The Talmud tells us that there is something
in this world that no eye has seen except for G-d. It is beyond our
eyes to see. It is a secret, hidden. The Talmud asks, what is this
thing that no eye has seen, this secret which is beyond our grasp?
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi answers, "This is the wine, guarded in the
grape since the six days of Creation." Wine is a secret. Its very
name connotes hiddeness. The gematria (numerical equivalent) of yayin
(wine) is 70 -- the same as sod -- which means "secret."
The Revealed And The Concealed
The whole purpose of this world is to reveal. G-d's first utterance
was, "Let there be light!" From that moment onward, the entire
creation was one revelation after another. All is revealed. Or
almost all. There is, however, something in the midst of all this
revelation whose purpose is totally the opposite. Its very creation
was a secret -- something hidden in the center of this world of
revelation. Hidden in existence, hidden at the very center of the
world is a secret, like the wine which is hidden in the center of the
grape. Let us try and understand what this secret is.
Getting High
Wine makes you "high." The expression "high" is apt, because wine
takes us and removes us from the world of the outside. It takes us to
an interior world which cannot be seen by the physical eye. It lifts
us high above the outside world and lets us look within -- at the
center of things.
The Talmud tells us that "wine was only created in this world
to console mourners and to pay the wicked their reward." (Sanhedrin
70, Eruvin 68)
How does wine console the bereaved?
If you think about it, happiness is something really amazing.
Why do we feel happy? How can we feel happy? Where does this
feeling come from? We live for a very short time indeed. Most of our
life, we have problems of one kind or another. How can a person
really be happy if tomorrow everything will be gone like a vanishing
cloud? And not tomorrow. The next minute. The next second.
Extreme Happiness
Happiness can come from one of two extremes: Either we connect to the
ultimate Reality, that this world is no more than an antechamber to
the real world, or we lose ourselves in a purple haze of illusion. In
other words, we can take leave of reality -- without transcending it.
We can get high --but we don't make the leap to the realization that
there is another world that waits for us after we leave this mortal
frame. That world is hidden. Hidden like the wine in the grape.
Hidden like the wine which brings solace to the bereaved. For wine
brings them the knowledge that those for whom they mourn have not
vanished into nothingness, but are in another world.
Either wine allows us to see high above and deep within
reality, to perceive this secret at the center of creation; or it
can letus create a fantasy world of our own making. We can place
ourselves in a state of willful anesthesia where everything is an
illusion. Or, by grasping the true nature of existence, our simcha
can be real. When we understand this secret, we cannot fail to be
happy.
Future World
When we realize that the only reason we have been created is to derive
the most exquisite of all pleasures of being eternally close to G-d
and basking in the radiance of His Presence; when we understand that
G-d has created us for no other reason than to do good to us; when we
know this, we cannot but be filled with a genuine and immovable
happiness. When we realize that all the pain and trouble of this
world is merely a prelude to an overwhelming happiness of a future
world, all our troubles become nothing in our eyes. For the good that
awaits us is boundless and endless, and our present trials are mere
storms in a teacup.
Jump For Joy
More than this, anyone who understands the purpose of these trials
perceives them not as trials at all. If we understood this properly,
we would run out into the street and start to dance. We wouldn't need
to dance in a darkened discotheque. People would look at us as if we
had taken leave of our senses. For, in truth, this realization is the
essence of all sense and sensibility.
The Ba'al Shem Tov said that if we realized what it means to
be the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, if we really
understood what it means to be a Jew, we would tip our hat to one
side and kick up our feet in a Cossack dance.
If we each realized that the whole world has been made
because of me and that everything -- every star in the sky, every
bird, every tree-- has been put in place for me, we would be
delirious with joy.
But this information is not revealed in the creation. It's
hidden inside. Like the wine which is hidden in the grape.
Happy Birthday, Israel!
Pesach is the "time of our freedom." On the physical level, we are
celebrating the Exodus from Egypt. However, on a deeper level, we are
celebrating what it means to be a Jew. The Seder is the birthday
party of the Jewish People. When we raise those four glasses of wine
on Pesach, we are celebrating not just the birth of the nation but the
ultimate freedom -- the freedom from death. G-d has planted
immortality, a life without end, within us. This is the ultimate
freedom. L'Chaim! To Life!
SEASONS of the MOON
The Jewish Year seen through its months
Nissan 5759 / March 18 - April 16, 1999
http://www.ohr.org.il/seasons/5759/nissan.htm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jerusalem United Forever
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 00:39:36 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
JUST ANOTHER GOV'T DECLARATION:
JERUSALEM UNITED FOREVER
The government resolved today that Israel will under no circumstances
agree to the division of Jerusalem or to its internationalization.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon plan to
mobilize Israeli embassies and Jewish communities around the world for
an information campaign emphasizing the unity of Jerusalem under
Israeli sovereignty. The Labor party has condemned Netanyahu for
using the issue to promote his Prime Ministerial election campaign.
Arutz-7's Yehoshua Mor-Yosef spoke today with Ha'aretz reporter Nadav
Shragai, an expert on Jerusalem affairs and the author of a book on
the topic. Shragai said that the government's activities on behalf of
the unity of Jerusalem are primarily "declarative, and not operative."
He said, "This entire debate between the political parties about who
will divide Jerusalem is really quite foolish. The question should
really be, 'Who will be able to succeed in uniting these two cities
that have sprouted up here?' How, for instance, will the activities
of the Palestinian security services be stopped? In the meantime,
they, and not the Israeli police, have become the address for the
concerns of the Palestinian residents there. Netanyahu originally
promised to put a halt to these activities, but he has since adopted
the view of the General Security Services that it is better to turn a
blind eye. By the way, this approach was also backed by the Centrist
party leaders, Yitzchak Mordechai and Amnon-Lipkin Shachak, when they
were Defense Minister and Chief of Staff, respectively."
Shragai continued, "Neither is Jerusalem united in terms of the
enforcement of building regulations. Thousands of illegal Palestinian
structures have been built, connecting Arab neighborhoods and
separating Jewish neighborhoods. Political construction on the
Israeli side also exists, such as in Har Homa, but in the meantime
this is only on paper. The government has placed a condition upon the
contractors that makes it very difficult for them to want to build
there - namely, that the government reserves the right to halt the
construction at any time... There is a wide gap between what the
present government promises in terms of the unity of Jerusalem and
what it actually does. The little that it did - the opening of the
Hasmonean Tunnel in the Old City - was forced upon it by Mayor Olmert,
the late Deputy Mayor Shmuel Meir, the Third Way, and others. It
might be appropriate to tell the story here of a PLO flag waving atop
the Orient House. When MK Benny Elon submitted a Knesset query about
it, the Prime Minister sent a government representative to say that
there was no such flag. Even after Elon brought a photograph of the
flag atop the building, the government continued to deny that there
was such a flag. The flag is still there now, thus that we are
deceiving ourselves if we think that the city is unified."
Asked about the Palestinian plans to build a Parliament building in
Abu Dis, an Arab suburb right outside Jerusalem's municipal borders,
Shragai said, "This is a plan that to which Mordechai objected before
he entered the government in 1996, but since then I have not heard
anything from him, or from Netanyahu, on this issue. The plan
involves an Arab corridor from Abu Dis to the Temple Mount."
Mor-Yosef pointed out that the planned corridor passes through Ras
el-Amoud, which is the location of the new Jewish neighborhood of
Ma'aleh Zeitim. Shragai confirmed that four Jewish families are now
living there, "most of whom received permission to do so only a few
weeks ago."
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Sunday, March 14, 1999 / Adar 26, 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Upcoming Pesach Pilgrimage to Temple Mount
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 00:45:09 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Upcoming Pesach Pilgrimage to the Temple Mount
Pesach is one of the three festivals of Israel when G-d commanded the
people of Israel to make a pilgrimage to the Temple. He said to the
people of Israel; "You will come to see me and to be seen by Me."
The festival of Pesach has a unique meaning. It symbolizes the exodus
of the Children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land and the
major miracles that G-d performed for the people of Israel in Egypt.
The G-d of Israel punished the ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh, and his
people because they would not allow the people of Israel to go free
from slavery as G-d commanded. The G-d of Israel punished the
Egyptians with ten plagues. The worst was the plague of the death of
the firstborn sons of Egypt. All died in one night but G-d saved the
firstborn sons of Israel after He commanded them to put a sign of
blood on their doors. The blood came from lambs that were to be
sacrificed for the purpose. When G-d punished the Egyptians, He saw
that sign and passed over the houses of the children of Israel that
had the sign on them. Then Pharaoh called Moses and told him to takes
his people and leave Egypt quickly. This miracle, which symbolizes the
godly freedom from slavery in Egypt, is the basis of the festival of
Pesach. The people of Israel were commanded to make the pilgrimage to
the place which G-d appointed for His house, Mt.Moriah.
During the First and Second Temple periods this exciting festival was
celebrated when families walked from all over the land of Israel to
Jerusalem. As G-d had commanded, they brought the Omer with them which
is the first wheat from the fields of the land of Israel. It was
brought as an offering to the G-d of Israel and sacrificed on the
altar. The main event during the Pesach pilgrimage was the Pesach
sacrifice which was made as a memorial for the exodus from slavery in
Egypt. It was a family sacrifice and the Israelites ate this sacrifice
together as a family on the Temple Mount and in the city of Jerusalem.
We shall talk about this special sacrifice in a separate article.
The festival of Pesach had a very deep and special significance. It
was celebrated for seven days and was full of spiritual and joyful
feelings. Millions of Israelites celebrated the holy day in the Temple
Mount and Jerusalem as G-d commanded them. It was one of the most
beautiful and unique sights in the land of Israel that even many G-d
entiles used to come to Jerusalem to see this event and to feel a part
of it. Many even asked the priests to sacrifice in the Temple what
they had brought for the G-d of Israel. During these seven days the
children of Israel were commanded by G-d to burn all kinds of leaven
throughout the land of Israel, in their houses and outside the houses.
They used only special crockery and cutlery and bread was strongly
forbidden by the Word of G-d. This commandment came from the time when
the children of Israel left Egypt in a hurry and did not have the time
to prepare bread so they could only eat unleavened bread, matzot. At
the same time it symbolizes so much in the spiritual realm. As we know
every commandment of G-d in the Torah has both a practical and a godly
spiritual meaning.
The festival of Pesach starts to be celebrated from the first day of
the exodus from Egypt and it is so special that it falls at a unique
godly time. Pesach starts when spring starts in the land of Israel.
More than this, the first day of the festival falls exactly in the
middle of the Hebrew month, on the 15th of Nissan, when the moon is
full and the beautiful atmosphere of the spring as well as the light
of the moon are wonderful godly decorations of this festival, They
symbolize and give everyone the feeling as G-d commanded us to feel
that we ourselves are the generation which made the exodus from
slavery in Egypt to freedom. It really gives everyone the feeling of
refreshment in their lives and an opening of a new time and page. It
is not only the cleaning of the house, clothing, furniture and the
body, and the spring in the air but it is mainly the godly spiritual
atmosphere all over the land of Israel and in the houses is what gives
the feeling that just then we were saved by G-d from slavery to
freedom in the wonderful land which G-d gave us forever.
This festival and the month of Nissan were so important in G-d's word
that He made this month the first month of the Hebrew year, or as we
call it until today, the Rosh Hashana of the festivals. It so strongly
symbolizes the opening of a new time in the life of Israel and
everyone in this nation. In Exodus 12, the G-d of Israel commands His
people to celebrate this festival in this way: "For I will pass
through the land of Egypt this night, and will strike all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all
the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Lord. And the
blood shall be to you for a sign upon the houses where you are; and
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not
be upon you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. And this
day shall be to you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to
the Lord throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an
ordinance forever. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; the
first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever
eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that
soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be
a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy
convocation to you; no kind of work shall be done in them, save that
which every man must eat, only that may be done by you. And you shall
observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for in this same day have I
brought your armies out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall you
observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the
first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall
eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at
evening. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for
whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from
the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger, or born in the
land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall
you eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of
Israel, and said to them, Draw out and take a lamb according to your
families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of
hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the
lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and
none of you shall go out from the door of his house until the morning.
For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he
sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord
will pass over the door, and will not let the destroyer come into your
houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing for an
ordinance to you and to your sons forever. And it shall come to pass,
when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as
he has promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall come
to pass, when your children shall say to you, What do you mean by this
service? That you shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's
Passover, who passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt,
when he struck the Egyptians, and saved our houses. And the people
bowed their heads and worshiped. And the people of Israel went away,
and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they." (Ex
12:12-28)
The Temple, the house of G-d on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was,
and still is, the most important place in the land and all the earth.
More than this, it was the focus of the life, feelings and thoughts.
It was the heart and soul in the life of the Israeli nation and in the
life of every individual Israeli. It was a place where the G-d of
Israel dwelt in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, among His beloved
people, in the midst of their life. It was the G-d of Israel Who, at
the same, dwelt in the heart and soul of every Israeli and gave
meaning and significance to their lives. He was the Father, the Friend
and the Protector, the Teacher and the Guide of Israel Who created
this nation for a godly purpose to carry His Word, His commandments
and His light, not only to their children, but also to all the
nations. This is the reason that Jerusalem and the Temple Mount where
G-d dwelt became so important, so dear, and the capital of their life.
It was the same in the eyes of G-d Who commanded the people of Israel
to make the Temple Mount their eternal focus and capital. In Exodus
34:24 the G-d of Israel says: "For I will cast out the nations before
you, and enlarge your borders; nor shall any man desire your land,
when you shall go up to appear before the Lord your God thrice in the
year." G-d gave such a deep and important significance to the
pilgrimage of the people of Israel to the Temple that this is the way
to keep their land free from enemies and that none should desire their
land.
With the complex situation in Israel, we feel that this Pesach will be
a special Pesach. We shall be closer to the accomplishment of G-d's
redemptional plans for Israel, to the rebuilding of the Temple and the
coming of Mashiach ben David. This situation is another sign that we
are so close to these godly events in Israel. This Pesach the
pilgrimage and event of The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful
Movement will be held in this complicated situation. I can state very
clearly that the battle for Jerusalem has already started. Israel is
now in a situation that all her enemies and their allies all over the
world have started their battle to take Jerusalem and the Temple Mount
away from Israel. The leader of the PLO terrorist organization, the
murderer Arafat, has repeatedly stated that he is going to declare
what he calls a "Palestinian" state the capital of which will be
Jerusalem. All the Arab and Islamic nations support this and will join
with Arafat when he takes military steps to force it. Only a few days
ago, the European Union stated that Jerusalem is not the capital of
Israel and not under Israeli sovereignty and the EU chose Germany, the
nation which killed six million Jews in the holocaust, to state it in
their name. The Pope, in the name of all the Roman Catholics,
repeatedly states that Jerusalem is a Christian capital. The UN, in
the name of all the nations, made a resolution that Jerusalem would be
an international city and not the capital of Israel. The Arabs and
Muslims state that they will never allow the Israelis to pray and
worship on the Temple Mount and that the Temple Mount is an Islamic
center only. The "Palestinian" authority is doing everything that they
can to strengthen their position in Jerusalem. All of this shows that
the battle for Jerusalem and the Temple Mount which the prophets
Zechariah and Ezekiel spoke about has already started and is soon
going to break out in the open. The event and pilgrimage that the
Movement is going to hold at Pesach will have a special meaning
because of these circumstances. This will give a clear message in the
name of the G-d and people of Israel that the G-d and people of Israel
are ready to defend their lovely capital and will not allow any of
those many powers and nations to touch their capital. We shall remind
all of them the lesson which G-d gave to Pharaoh and the Word of G-d
which warns them in Ezekiel, Zechariah and other Scriptures.
At 09:00 AM on Sunday 4th April, 1999, the fourth day of Pesach, the
Faithful, will meet in front of the Western gate of the Temple Mount
which is near the Western Wall plaza. With many Israelis who will
accompany them, the faithful will march with the flags of the G-d and
people of Israel, the blue and white flags with the Star of David, the
promised land and the Temple in Jerusalem on them. We will march to
the Temple Mount, the location of the First, Second and Third Temples,
to make the godly pilgrimage to bring the Omer, the first wheat from
the fields of Israel which will be cut specially for this purpose, as
an offering to the G-d of Israel. We shall also bring the Torah with
us. We shall pray the Hallel from the Psalms which the Levites used to
sing in the Temple and at the same time we shall call on the G-d of
Israel on His holy mountain to judge and defeat all those enemies even
before they try to come and fight against Israel in Jerusalem. Our
message on the site of the Temple will be very clear: The Temple Mount
and Jerusalem were, are and will be forever the eternal capital of the
G-d and people of Israel, the heart, soul and focus of their life and
there will never be peace in the world until all the nations will
recognize and respect this godly fact. We shall also state that the
last appearance of the long Arab occupation of the Temple Mount should
and must be terminated and that the Temple should be immediately
rebuilt for Israel and for all the nations. We shall also march with
the flags in the Old City and around and to all the gates of the
Temple Mount for the same purpose. We know very clearly that all of
those enemies which are going to gather against Israel in Jerusalem
will be soundly defeated by the G-d of Israel as the prophets
Zechariah and Ezekiel prophesied. They promised us that the G-d of
Israel will appear in this battle and He will show those nations that
He is the only Almighty One of Israel and that the covenant that He
made with Israel for the holy land is eternal. He will show the
people of Israel that He is the only friend of Israel, His firstborn
son. We feel deep in our hearts that the G-d of Israel expects Israel
to show Him that they trust Him and that they are ready to fight and
sacrifice for Him and for their common capital, Jerusalem. With this
feeling we shall march and we shall show our lovely G-d that we trust
in Him and we are ready to do everything and to sacrifice ourselves
for His holy capital, His holy mountain and the holy land that He gave
us eternally.
The Pesach event of the faithful will be a unique and exciting event
and pilgrimage and it will sign the opening of a new time on the
battle of Israel for the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the land of
Israel. Time is short and we are very close to seeing the climax of
the battle of the G-d and people of Israel for the rebuilding of their
end-time prophetic lives in their promised mountain, city and land. We
are soon to see the rebuilding of the temple and the coming of
Mashiach ben David. In the G-d of Israel we trust. Temple Mount and
Land of Israel Faithful Movement
P.O.Box 18325, Jerusalem 91182, ISRAEL
Telephone 972.2.625.1112
Telephone/Fax 972.2.625.1113
Visit our web-site at http://www.templemountfaithful.org
Please be advised that this domain (Philologos.org) does not endorse 100 per cent any link contained herein. This forum is for the dissemination of pertinent information on an end-times biblical theme which includes many disturbing, unethical, immoral, etc. topics and should be viewed with a mature, discerning eye.