BPR Mailing List Digest: 12/17/00

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BPR Mailing List Digest
December 17, 2000

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To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] ben Yosef: Powell's appointment
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 08:20:50 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Send reply to: <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
From: "Ben Yosef"
To: "ben Yosef"
Subject: Powell's appointment
Date sent: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 11:43:26 +0200

Shalom,

AND THE FANS DON'T LIKE IT!

U.S. Secretary of State appointee General Colin Powell is quoted in
the Israeli media this morning as saying his top priority will be the
Middle East peace process but his strategy will be to balance Israel's
needs for security with "Palestinian national aspirations."

Particularly ominous for Israel was the endorsement of Powell by
Former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, with whom Powell
worked closely under the administration of former President George
Bush, Sr.

Scowcroft stated: "This last go around, the outcome of the Camp David
meetings and so on, have left a very sour tone especially on the part
of the Palestinians who President Clinton blamed for the failure of
Camp David. I think a new group coming in with the statement that we
are even-handed, we're the honest broker, will give some encouragement
to the whole region."

Pro-Israel lobbyists are especially apprehensive of Powell's
appointment given the influence of Scowcroft and former secretary of
state James Baker whose earlier foreign policy initiatives put the
U.S. oil interests -- manipulated by the ADC (Anti-Arab Discrimination
Committee) -- ahead of Israel's security. The senior Bush
administration's foreign policy under the direction of Baker,
Scowcroft and former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (now
vice-president elect) saw the State Department withholding $10 million
in U.S. loan guarantees to Israel until the Jewish state abandoned its
new settlement policy in the Israeli-administered territories. The
Baker State Departmnet went so far to appease the ADC as to violate
the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Israel which had forbade
political extraditions, in order to imprison a distinguished Golani
brigade soldier in a U.S. prison because of his suspected anti-Arab
activities. All of this because the ADC is the real power broker of
mideast oil and has chosen to tie it to the anti-Zion objectives of
the Arab bloc nations as their contribution to the Palestinian cause.

It is sad to see a man such as Powell whose career has been
distinguished until now, go down as has Clinton, Albright, Bush Sr.
and Baker simply because they don't know their Bible or heed the
admonition from Hashem: "hands off of Jerusalem!"

The Palestinians have never wavered on their demands, which INCLUDE
all of the unannexed territories, the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. The
Barak government went so far at Camp David II as to acquiese to 88
percent of the territorial demands, including the Temple Mount but
would not budge on the city of Jerusalem and was flat turned down.
Thinking he could get yet more, Arafat launched the "new" intifada.
Today, we hear the Barak government is attempting to engineer a deal
that would give the Palestinians even more territory -- 95 percent --
plus the Temple Mount. Will Arafat take it? No, because he wants
Jerusalem and Hashem has hardened his heart to see just how low the
nations will stoop to give him Jerusalem.

We've said it until we are blue in the face but there can be NO peace
between Israel and the Palestinians. First, the Palestinian definition
of peace is the Islamic definition of peace, which means "peace only
until you are stronger than your enemy and then you are OBLIGATED to
wage war." See www.torahvoice.org/housewar.html And the failure of
American and Israeli governments to recongnize this conflict as
spiritual in nature and demanding a biblically sound strategy is
appalling. The fundamental flaw of the peace process -- for those new
to this list -- is that Hashem Himself decreed that the House of Esau
will be totally annihilated by the House of Jacob led by the House of
Joseph. See www.torahvoice.org/response.html. This is written in stone
in the book of Obadiah and if there is any question who the House of
Esau is today, it is easily determined by taking a brief trip through
the Shomron.

The valleys of Ephraim (in the Shomron) are populated by Palestinian
ultra-Nationalists. The mountains above by the Jewish settlers. Yet
Obadiah 15-21 makes it clear that the House of Jacob -- not the House
of Esau -- will possess the valleys of Ephraim.

The only humane solution to the Palestinian question remains the
transfer of the Arab population out of the unannexed territories into
one of the 21 other Arab nations who could arrange this transfer with
just one day's revenue from their oil production revenue. But none of
those Arab nations want Yasser Arafat or the Palestinians either and
would prefer to use them as a propaganda tool against the "Zionist
enterprise." And the window of opportunity for that transfer is fast
closing. Israel has compromised too much and has too often given the
Palestinians the appearance of weakness for an all-out war to be
avoided much longer. The "peace until you are stronger than your
enemy" mentality awaits only world sympathy and opinion to turn into
war. And the new Bush government appears ready to lend that sympathy
to the cause.

The realities of the Middle East Peace process simply cannot be
understood without an education in the Scripture that Esau and Jacob
cannot co-exist. One or the other will have the upper hand at the
expense of the other. You would think that since the Temple Mount, the
tomb of Joseph, the tomb of Rachel and the tomb of the Patriarchs are
the spiritual battlegrounds on which this conflict is being waged --
as we have written about in the past -- that even secular leaders
could realize this. But they don't and consequently, the foreign
policy objective of the U.S. toward Israel which will be advanced by
the Bush administration and Powell is doomed before it even gets under
way.

If anybody out there has Powell's or Bush's ear you might try to warn
them because such a foreign policy move represents a further "curse"
against Israel, which will warrant a further curse coming upon our
dear United States of America. If nothing else, look at what happened
to Bush Sr. after the Gulf War ended.

At the end of the War, he had the highest popularity rating of any
American president in recorded history. But then the Baker state
department began playing hard-ball with Israel laboring under the ADC
delusion that Israel was an albatross around its neck in a Middle East
conflict -- and a deterrent to securing Arab allies AND ARAB OIL. The
State Department launched its pressure tactics which had a dire effect
on the Israeli economy and the U.S. itself was plunged into a
recession that lingered through the duration of the Bush presidency.
And the most popular president in American history could not even get
re-elected.

"I will bless those that bless you and those who curse you, shall be
cursed," says Hashem.

Shalom Shalom & Hashem's love & blessings,
ben Yosef

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Gay pastor `called to lead people to freedom'
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 13:28:48 -0000

Sun Dec 17, 2000
Gay pastor `called to lead people to freedom'
Puts same-sex marriages on political agenda

Leslie Scrivener
FAITH AND ETHICS REPORTER

http://www.thestar.com/

The day after he marries two couples - one gay, one lesbian - Jan.
14, Rev. Brent Hawkes will take their licences to Ontario's registrar-
general and try to make history.

Otherwise, he'll likely make trouble.

By resurrecting the nearly dead Christian tradition of reading the
banns of marriage, he's hoping to break the last barrier to full
equality for gays and offer Canada's first legally recognized same-
sex marriage.

If the province refuses to register the marriages - and Consumer
Minister Bob Runciman has said it will - it's to the barricades again
for Hawkes, a preacher who lives in bold strokes and, when called
upon, has protested dramatically and angrily.

``I don't know what will happen if Runciman refuses to register the
marriages,'' he says. ``It may be time for civil disobedience
again.'' And the case will head to the courts.

Runciman has said the province can't register the marriages because
federal law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Hawkes is not the kind to sit in his study and fire off letters. In
his younger days, he went on a hunger strike and on another occasion,
chained himself in the Legislature.

``There should be no mistake, he has been central the last 20 years
to the advancement of gay and lesbian equality,'' says Toronto
Councillor Kyle Rae.

Hawkes' model is the Old Testament prophet and political leader,
Moses.

``I feel closer to Moses than Jesus, sometimes,'' he says. ``Jesus is
my mentor and my guide, but I'm also called to follow Moses' example
to lead people to freedom.''

Hawkes has been pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of
Toronto for 23 years. The church on Simpson Ave. has grown from a
handful of people to a thriving community with a thirst for political
action and social justice. It's one of two MCC churches in the city;
the other, Christos, is smaller and has a more reflective and quieter
form of worship.

``In the abstract, I wouldn't have said that religious acceptance was
that important, until the first time I saw an MCC service and saw the
number of people who had felt excluded (in other churches) or forced
out,'' says former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall. ``But seeing people
come forward for blessing or for communion, you could see the looks
on their faces, that this was very, very important.''

The church's two Sunday services, evangelical in spirit, liberal in
tone, are filled to capacity, with close to 600 worshipers for the
day. The feeling, visitors say, is joyful and the choir is closer to
a chorus from Oklahoma! than to high church.

Hawkes knows what keeps people coming back, says lawyer Douglas
Elliott.

``As a gay man, he has reconciled his Christianity with his
homosexuality and been able to speak to us from a deeply spiritual
level. I think Brent would say what happens in our church is not
Brent's work, but God's love in action. He says he hopes we will feel
God's love and presence during the service.''

The church's Christmas Eve service became so popular it couldn't be
contained at the church and is held now at Roy Thomson Hall. It's
said to be among Canada's largest Christmas Eve services with 4,000
attending and is another example, church members say, of Hawkes'
visionary thinking in opening the gay community to the larger
community.

``It takes negotiators and protesters to win rights,'' Hawkes says
from his church study. He wears an enameled cross and clerical
collar. A crucifix stands on his desk, behind him an icon of Jesus.

He has an acute memory, recalling the very moment in 1975 he saw an
ad for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
while sitting in his 1972 Ford Pinto; and the precise date in 1981 he
and his partner of 19 years, John Sproule, became a couple.

``I was more radical then,'' he says, referring to the early '80s
when the gay community protested against police bullying, charging
that police harassed gays and used excessive force in raids on
downtown bath houses. When he received death threats prior to a gay
pride service at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1994, the church bought him a
bulletproof vest.

``Some feel I'm not radical enough today, but we have a big church
and I have a lot of administrative responsibility. But I am
persistent and I am going to continue this until we have full and
equal rights for gays and lesbians.''

June Callwood, author and founder of Casey House, an AIDS hospice,
says Hawkes has transformed the struggle for gay equality.

``He's brought a sense of joy to that community,'' she says. ``He has
been primary in moving gay rights from an almost bitter struggle to a
joyful celebration to be proud of and cheer.''

And he certainly has become more mainstream over the years. ``Doors
are open to me,'' he says.

He was recently a co-chair in Mayor Mel Lastman's re-election
campaign and was a candidate for the New Democrats in the 1995
provincial election. He's now a candidate for a Doctor of Divinity at
the Toronto School of Theology; been awarded the City of Toronto's
Award of Merit and United Nations' Global Citizen Award.

Born in Bath, N.B., Hawkes' background is strict fundamentalist
Baptist. He knew he was gay from his earliest years.

``We feel different even when we are very, very young. We feel
isolated and God becomes our best friend,'' he says. ``We develop a
close personal relationship with God because we feel we can't trust
our families and friends.''

He wanted a life in the church. ``But I knew I couldn't be a Baptist
minister and be gay.'' So he went to Mount Allison University, in
Sackville, N.B., studied education, was president of the students'
council and manager of the football team.

He taught high school in Nova Scotia for seven years before seeing
the ad about Metropolitan Community Churches. By 1976, he was in
Toronto and part of the tiny church that met for worship in the
Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity near the Eaton Centre.

He has a mission in life, says insurance executive Lori Boyce.
``There is a reason Brent is here. The public and governments and
other churches need to revisit how they view gay and lesbian people.
He's there to shake them up. If God has accepted us, then everyone
else should.''

Having won battles in various areas of gay rights - protection from
discrimination in the Ontario Human Rights Code and the federal
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, same-sex benefits and recognition of
common-law couples - Hawkes and church lawyers says this fight is
religiously based.

``It's passionately important to me that this not become gays versus
God. I think the religious right want to paint us as godless gays,''
Hawkes says.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada disagrees. ``We think
homosexuality is morally wrong,'' says Bruce Clemenger, director of
the fellowship's centre for faith and public policy in Ottawa. ``Does
that mean we say gays and lesbians as persons are outside the love of
God? Certainly not.''

Legal marriage between gay and lesbian couples has been a burning
issue in the church because of the religious significance of marriage
among Christians, says Elliott, a lawyer retained by the church and a
long-time member.

A Catholic priest or an Orthodox rabbi has the right to marry or
refuse to marry a couple, says Elliott. ``We have no objection to the
Catholic Church objecting to marrying same-sex couples. We agree they
have that right. We just wish they would support our right to
practice our religion according to our beliefs. Denying the right to
marry treats us as a second-class religion.''

The church had been holding blessings or holy union ceremonies for
gay couples and had only been allowed to legally marry heterosexual
couples in the last year. (The province grants licences to marry
after a church has been established 25 years.)

Now, says Elliott, the church is worried that licence to marry will
be revoked.

Hawkes himself didn't know about the tradition of using banns to
legally marry within the church.

It was a law professor at Queen's University, part of a network of
lawyers working on gay rights, who pointed out to Elliott that using
banns might be way of offering legal marriage to gays and lesbians
who could not get a licence.

Reading banns (Middle English meaning proclamation) for three Sundays
before a marriage is a custom dating to pre-Christian times but
became entrenched in the Christian church after Charlemagne ordered
an inquiry into blood relations between prospective partners.

Several heterosexual members of the Metropolitan Community Church
were married 30 or more years ago under banns, which Hawkes describes
as a more traditional form of marriage.

``This seems to be the next frontier,'' says Boyce. ``If rights
(marriage, property transfer, making decisions when your partner is
in hospital) available to the majority are denied to gays and
lesbians, how is it they are viewed as `special' rights?

``If we had the same rights as straight people, we'd be happy.''

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Is the 'China threat' real?
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 13:47:54 -0000

SUNDAY DECEMBER 17 2000

Is the 'China threat' real?
Geoff Metcalf interviews famed
national-security reporter Bill Gertz

By Geoff Metcalf
=A9 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_metcalf_news/20001217_xngme_is_ch
ina_t.shtml

One of the most respected investigative journalists in the nation,
Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz is so effective in reporting on
national security and espionage matters that Congress recently
attempted to make a new law to hamstring his efforts. Gertz's most
recent book, bolstered by scores of government documents, exposes the
current threat to the U.S. of the communist Chinese military and
intelligence community.

WorldNetDaily writer and talk show host Geoff Metcalf recently
interviewed Gertz about his new book, "The China Threat," which is
available at WorldNetDaily's online store.

Metcalf's daily streaming radio show can be heard on TalkNetDaily
weekdays from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time.

Question: Before we get into the details of your book, "The China
Threat," have you discovered things in your research since the
publication of the book that you would like to have included?

Answer: I interviewed the chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee a couple of weeks ago, Sen. Richard Shelby from Alabama. He
was very critical of the CIA analytical division in charge of China.
He said that they had a pervasive, benign view of China. Not only
that, but he had taken steps to try to fix the problem by putting in
some legislation in the classified portion of the Intelligence
authorization bill that would require competitive analysis. This is
something the CIA hates. They don't like anyone second-guessing their
work. They love to work in the shadows where no one can challenge
anything they say.

Here was this senator saying, your analysis is no good. We need a
second opinion and I want you guys to do it. Interestingly enough, it
was the second year in a row that he added the legislation. The first
time was last year and it was basically ignored. To me, this really
highlights the big problem in the government -- that China is not a
threat.

Q: Shelby slaps them upside the head and the CIA ignored it? They
didn't take any remedial steps to try to fix what he said was wrong?

A: Not exactly. What they did was basically nothing. For example, the
CIA's idea of analytical competition or outside analysis was to call
in a number of academic specialists. They gave them a one-day
clearance at the "secret" level -- and that limited their ability to
really see what was going on. For one day, they had a group of
academics come in, only one or two of which had any intelligence
experience. If you know anything about the intelligence business, it
is a very specialized field. If you don't understand the processes
and the way things are laid out -- and if you can't get access to the
most sensitive data, the raw intelligence -- you are going to be
working with finished products. And that's the problem: The finished
product has been skewed to play down the China threat.

So that was their explanation for saying, "Well, yeah, we did
competitive analysis, and they said no." We want a team of critics.
We want people from outside the agency to come in and have complete
access and really provide an honest second opinion about what kind of
reports they are producing on China.

Q: Like the author of "Hegemon," Steven Mosher? Was he invited to
come in?

A: No, in fact, he wasn't. There were a lot of pro-China academics
and a few solid people -- Arthur Waldren, the University of
Pennsylvania China specialist, for example, who's an excellent guy on
this.

Q: Do you see anything changing here? This is something that needs to
be fixed quickly.

A: I got the title for this book about two years ago when I was
working on an article on the Chinese military for the Washington
Times. I went over to the Pentagon and talked to some of their
specialists there. They all try to play down Chinese military
capability -- they say they have a junkyard army, that they can't do
anything with this and that. But after the briefing, I always try to
look at the facts and let them speak. In the middle of the briefing,
a colonel came in and said, "The general would like to see you." I
can't identify him by name because of the background rules, but I
went to his office and I sat down across from him. He said, "You know
Bill, China is not a threat." I asked him, "Why do you think that?"
Basically, he said to me, "Because of their statements."

Q: Because of their statements? They have told us what they are going
to do.

A: This was astounding, because the Pentagon is always the most
skeptical and most hard-line when it comes to defense assessments.
They always go by capabilities. If the Chinese have a small nuclear
arsenal, there's always a chance they can use it. If they are
building new nuclear weapons, there is always a chance they will use
those nuclear weapons. So this was astounding -- and it showed to me
how widespread this total notion of trying to play down China was.

You see this throughout the government, and that's why I picked up on
the theme, "What is the China threat?" I put together what I think is
a real clear examination of all of these issues: spying, technology
acquisition, military modernization and -- the most dangerous issue --
Taiwan.

Q: What else would you have liked to include in "The China Threat"
that you couldn't because you interviewed Shelby after the book was
done?

A: Although it's not related to China, it certainly was an eye opener
in terms of policy, and that was the Gore-Chernomyrdin secret
agreement.

Q: I am flummoxed as to why the mainstream hasn't jumped on that like
white on rice. It is beyond amazing the mainstream has chosen to
ignore it.

A: One of the key features of my book "Betrayal" was the fact I kept
getting intelligence reports showing that Russia was selling missile
technology, conventional arms, all of this equipment to Iran, and
nothing was being done. I could never figure out why there was this
gap between the intelligence reports blowing the whistle loudly and
the inaction on the part of the Clinton administration. This Gore-
Chernomyrdin agreement was like a lightbulb. Basically, they had a
secret deal between Al Gore and Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian prime
minister, signed in 1995. That agreement said, in effect, "We're
going to look the other way on your arms sales if you agree to end
them by the end of 1999."

Q: By the way, what was the name of that specific legislation they
were violating?

A: It was the Iran-Iraq Non-proliferation Act. There were actually
two acts.

Q: The two authors of the legislation were who?

A: Al Gore and John McCain.

Q: I just wanted to make sure we got that "Al Gore" in there.

A: Yeah (laughing). There was also another law that said you cannot
send lethal assistance to any nation that sends lethal assistance to
any nation on the terrorist list. It has to be sanctioned. That kind
of got lost in the administration's shuffle on trying to explain away
this deal. I'll bet you anything that there are similar secret
agreements now between the Clinton administration and the Chinese.
One of them I highlight in the book was the proposal to basically
reward China for selling missiles and weapons of mass destruction
around the world under the naive notion that, if we offer them this,
maybe they'll go along and stop selling this weapons technology
around the world.

Q: And maybe they won't. The mere fact that the Gore-Chernomyrdin
deal was secret suggests it may not be a one-of-a-kind event. Have
you had any luck snooping around?

A: No, but if I had uncovered something, it would be one of the first
things I'd put in the newspaper. I am confident that when the Clinton
administration hits the ash heap of history, somebody is going to
defect from inside and we're going to find out that things were far
worse than we suspected.

Q: What makes you so sure?

A: I know that for a fact. When I was doing a book signing at the
Pentagon for "Betrayal," a military officer came up to me and
said, "Bill, I was inside when all this was going on. ... I read your
chapter on missile defense and you were right on target. But I can
tell you that it was far worse than you had it." And he added, "I
only hope that if a new administration gets in, they will go back and
revisit these issues, because they shouldn't be left the way they
are."

Q: When I was writing up the Jack Daly interview, I was so focused on
an active-duty Navy officer accusing Strobe Talbot and others of
treason that I missed something real significant he said. One month
prior to the Kapitan Man incident that irreparably damaged his eyes
from that Russian laser, there was a meeting of Al Gore and Viktor
Chernomyrdin. The commission met just one month prior to Jack's
injuries. Maybe it's just my cynicism, but it seems to indicate that
the reason the Navy was reluctant to pursue that whole episode was
because there may have been some kind of side deal cooking.

A: I am absolutely convinced that the meeting that occurred
influenced the handling of the [Kapitan Man] incident. It was
basically the reason they covered it up. They went to great lengths
to make sure nothing was going to create ripples in their pro-Russia
policy. This goes back to the famous Chicken Summit, which for me was
one of the best stories I have ever done in my career. I got a hold
of an internal memorandum of a conversation between Clinton and
Yeltsin. This was in Egypt in '96. Both Clinton and Yeltsin were
running for re-election and Clinton said to Boris, "Look, we're both
running for re-election. Let's not do anything to upset relations
between our countries. And oh, by the way, there is this one dispute
we have with your country. You're blocking imports of American
chicken -- and 40 percent of those chicken imports come from
Arkansas."

Q: Isn't that special?

A: It really captured the crass political style of the president --
that he would be willing to use a major summit to go to bat for his
political cronies in Arkansas. And the ban on chicken was lifted at
the Gore-Chernomyrdin meeting that followed within a couple of weeks
of that summit meeting.

Q: In cutting a deal with Chernomyrdin, Gore violated his fiduciary
responsibility and probably violated a couple of laws on top of that.
Can you see Congress coming back to revisit that issue?

A: They made a major run at it. Both the House and the Senate were
very concerned about this.

Q: But Madeleine Albright effectively flipped them off.

A: There was a total stonewall! It was embarrassing to see the
Republicans get rolled so easily on another serious national-security
issue.

It kind of got lost in the election. The Senate Foreign Relations
Committee had a meeting and tried to muster the votes for a subpoena
but couldn't get enough votes in their committee to get this
document.

Q: The secretary of state throws "the bird" to Congress and the
Senate just smiles and takes it?

A: That's exactly what happened. The ironic part of this is the
Washington Times published the key portions of these documents in the
newspaper, yet the administration refused to provide them to
Congress. Another thing about this was the administration claimed
that this was not a secret agreement -- that they had told the public
and that they had told Congress. Well, we just recently saw the
Russian response to that.

Q: Which was rather telling. What did they do?

A: They withdrew from the agreement.

Q: Why?

A: Because they said their secret had become public.

Q: In "China Threat," you have over 50 pages of government documents -
- a lot of them classified. Did you breathe a sigh of relief when
what I called "The Gertz Act" didn't happen?

A: (laughing) It was very interesting. They were calling it the "Anti-
Gertz Leak Statute." It was drafted primarily because of my
reporting. The way I approach it is, I don't publish classified
information. I report the news. That's what I have been doing, and
I've been doing it for a long time. There are a lot of people in
government who are upset about that. Governments are always upset
about leaks. I didn't believe this when I started in the news
business, but the press performs a vital function for national
security. We're not the fourth branch of government but we can
certainly shed light on things that are nefarious -- and have been
covered up -- and that the American people should know about.

Q: You tell me you talked with a general who tells you China is not a
threat, yet you publish an internal Chinese military document
exposing how Beijing is willing to launch a nuclear attack on the
U.S. if or when we try to help Taiwan. I consider that a threat!

A: How can we explain that general's statement? I can speculate. One,
he is trying to spin me. More likely is the fact the people who were
briefing me before that meeting had provided him with incorrect
information or had left information out. I am not a conspiratorial
thinker but I can tell you there is, within the intelligence
community, a very aggressive group of people that are specifically
pro-China. They do not see China as a threat and they have a self-
fulfilling prophecy. They think if we are nice to China that China
will automatically become a normal nation and not the communist
dictatorship that it is. It's pervasive. And this is the kind of
thing that Sen. Shelby was trying to get at through this legislation.
As I said, it failed last year. Who knows if it will succeed or not
this year?

Q: Mao used to say, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a
gun." Where are the Chinese pointing their gun?

A: The gun is pointed at the United States. Unquestionably, if you
read Chinese military and Communist Party writings, they view the
United States as their number one enemy. Not only do they view us
that way, but they have an active strategy to try to undermine us
around the world.

Q: Regarding vital intelligence, did the Clinton-Gore administration
deliberately or accidently leak all the stuff they did to China?

A: I can tell you when it comes to proliferation, they (Clinton-Gore)
have actually been complicit in providing intelligence information
that has been damaging. The position going in for the administration
is that China is a "normal" nation -- not a communist dictatorship --
so they are going to just try to have normal diplomatic relations.
They don't understand that communists don't respond well to
concessions. They just pocket them and demand more.

They would have meetings in Beijing -- I highlight one of them in the
book -- they would go into these meetings and say, "Your company,
Great Wall Industries, is selling missile technology to Pakistan. We
want you to stop this. It's against your policy. It's against our
policy." And the Chinese would say, "Oh, that's very interesting.
What can you tell us about this? Can you provide us with more
information?" So they provide more intelligence information and the
next thing you know, the Chinese have changed the name of the company
and have shut down the intelligence link.

Q: The guys we send over to negotiate with these people -- they are
not dumb. They're not stupid people. These are supposed to be the
best and the brightest. They don't get hoodwinked like that by
accident.

A: They believe that China is a friend of the United States. That's
their going-in position.

Q: Even when China has said if you mess with us we'll lob a nuke at
L.A.?

A: Yes. They dismiss that as merely rhetoric, that they don't really
mean it. I've had people tell me this in meetings. It's all part of
this broad, strategic deception. I think this comes from Beijing
itself. The Chinese have a strategy for dealing with the United
States while they are building up their power. It's captured in a
statement by Deng Xiao-Ping, the late communist leader, who
said, "Bide our time. Build our capabilities." They are engaged in a
long-term buildup. This is not a five- or six-year thing -- this is
10 to 20 years. They build up what they call their "national power" --
a combination of their military power, their economic power, their
political and diplomatic power.

Q: Currently, in the intelligence community, how many people do we
have keeping an eye on China, compared to how many were looking at
the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War?

A: You'd be surprised. Take the Pentagon as an example. You would
think the Pentagon would regard China as one of the key places since,
in 1996, we almost had a conflict with them over Taiwan. We sent two
aircraft carriers there. You would think that the number of people in
the office of the secretary of defense in charge of China policy
would be fairly large. No! There are three people. Three people in
the office of the secretary of defense devoted full-time to China
policy.

Q: Three people. Compare that to how many people may have been tasked
to keep an eye on Russia.

A: There would be scores by contrast. In the intelligence community,
since they have come under fire in recent years, they've started to
build up their intelligence capabilities, specifically analysts. But
there is a certain orthodoxy that is applied to any new hires.

Q: And that is?

A: Unless they ascribe to the "China is not a threat" theory, their
career prospects are very limited.

Q: If their job is to analyze intelligence data, one of their
functions is to determine what is and is not a threat, not to go in
with a preconceived opinion and only collect data that supports that.

A: That would be the ideal, of course. But unfortunately, throughout
the intelligence community at the top levels, those that have this
benign view of China exercise a strict control over who is hired and
who is fired. That's how they manage to maintain homogeneity on
the "China is not a threat" theory.

Q: With all the quid pro quo stuff between the Clinton-Gore
administration and the communist Chinese and the lame FBI
investigation into campaign-finance irregularities, do you think the
money that came to Clinton-Gore and the DNC was a bribe -- or was it
a gratuity?

A: I have a chapter on this called "The Plan." I talked to [Sen.]
Fred Thompson, and I think it was more of a gratuity -- in the sense
that the Chinese influence plan was modeled, interestingly enough, on
the similar kind of activities that were carried out by Taiwan in
the '70s, '80s and early '90s. The Chinese saw this and they said,
hey, we ought to be doing this, too. Fred Thompson from Tennessee,
who investigated this, explained it to me as very similar to the way
lobbyists for American companies and interests operate on Capitol
Hill. They present money and they expect some return on it. But it
may not be a specific return -- it may not be for a specific project
or a specific policy. They just say, here's our money. We want you to
do nice things. We want you to treat China as a non-threatening
power. I think it worked fantastic. By any objective measure, the
policies based on that influence have changed dramatically -- to the
point where the administration has to explain how Chinese missiles
became more reliable with U.S. technology in the 1990s.

Q: Early in November, I interviewed a very frustrated Notra Trulock.
How bad were things in the Energy Department?

A: Notra is kind of one of the heroes of my book. He was really
courageous in that he saw what was going on. He was alerted to it by
some of the most expert nuclear-intelligence minds in our nuclear-
weapons complex and he was instrumental in blowing the whistle on the
fact that China had obtained, through espionage, secrets on every
deployed nuclear warhead in our arsenal. I mean it was truly
extraordinary.

Q: An obvious question is, what is Bill Richardson still doing there?

A: That's interesting. That was one of the things that came out since
the book was published. I had a reference to it. Notra Trulock
testified before the Senate committee and he was asked by Sen. Arlen
Specter: Do you have any knowledge about how information about Wen Ho
Lee was first disclosed to the press? He was under oath and he told
the truth. He said yes, Bill Richardson revealed to the New York
Times that Wen Ho Lee, or a Chinese-American scientist, was under
investigation for espionage at Los Alamos. That was one of the key
turning points in the FBI's case against Wen Ho Lee.

Q: And why, once that came out, didn't Richardson either resign or
get fired?

A: He completely denied it. He issued a statement and basically "did
a Clinton" on it, and that's where the matter stayed. [The Washington
Times] ran a front-page story on it and that was about the only
coverage on it. It's one of those things in Washington that never
ceases to amaze me that these kinds of news events occur and yet
nothing is reported outside of the Washington Times or your own
WorldNetDaily.

Q: Do you anticipate a sea change in policy when George W. Bush
becomes the next president?

A: Not a major change, based on what's been said during the campaign.
I'm encouraged the governor will have a much tougher position on
China. The Chinese government has come out in support of Al Gore
since the election.

Q: Big time. So has Russia, by the way.

A: Yes. The Chinese view is they like Gore because they don't like
Bush's position on two issues: national missile defense -- Bush wants
to deploy one - and the issue of Taiwan. Bush has come out in support
of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which is an effort by some
conservatives that passed by a wide margin in the House, although
it's been held up in the Senate. It basically says, 'wait a minute'.
Our policy on Taiwan is way out of balance. It's shifted toward the
mainland and it is very dangerous. Unless we take some steps to help
Taiwan build up its military, this instability is going to increase.

Q: We've had an executive who's said: One China -- it's not really
our business -- it's an internal problem for them. Congress has a
completely different opinion. What's going to happen in the next four
years?

A: The situation in the Taiwan Straight is getting more and more
unstable. It's very similar to what happened in Korea and in the
Gulf. Back in 1950, South Korea was inadvertently excluded from the
defense perimeter and the North Koreans invaded. That triggered the
Korean War. In 1990, our Ambassador to Baghdad mistakenly told Saddam
Hussein: We're not interested in your border disputes with Kuwait.
The next thing we knew, Iraqi tanks were in downtown Kuwait City and
we had the Gulf War. The Clinton administration has had a policy of
strategic ambiguity on Taiwan. They have basically said, maybe we'll
defend them and maybe we won't.

Buy Bill Gertz's books, "The China Threat" and "Betrayal" at
WorldNetDaily's online store.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Priests form force to fight church attacks
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 13:50:53 -0000

Priests form force to fight church attacks

By PADRAIC MURPHY
Sunday 17 December 2000

http://www.theage.com.au/news/2000/12/17/FFXBQ3J5SGC.html

Two Melbourne Catholic priests have formed a group to combat attacks
on the church that they have branded the new anti-Semitism.

The priests claim the faith has come under increasing attack from
fundamentalists and the media.

They cite as an example the continued criticism of the Catholic
Church for sexual assaults by priests and Catholic laity, when the
church, they say, has taken remedial action and when the problem is
more widespread.

Father Michael Shadbolt, parish priest of Holy Family, Doveton, and
Father Herman Hengel, parish priest of St Agatha's, Cranbourne, who
have formed the Catholic Priests' Anti-Defamation League to combat
the attacks, say Catholics are outraged by anti-Catholic scenes in
the television show South Park aired recently on SBS.

They say scenes depicting Pope John Paul II dribbling incoherently
and a priest fornicating in a confession box are part of a savage
anti-Catholic campaign they call the new anti-Semitism.

The Vicar-General of the Melbourne Archdiocese, Bishop Denis Hart,
would not support the new anti-Semitism claim, but agreed it was
now "very fashionable to knock the church".

"I want to emphasise that these priests have taken matters into their
own hands and are acting as individuals ... But I understand why this
group has been set up. There has been a tremendous amount of
attention given to some of the scandals in the church. I'm not sure
that that attention has been completely fair ... But I'm confident
that in time some balance will return to the debate."

Responding to claims of anti-Catholicism, Bishop Hart said: "The
church teaches objective truths, and in this climate this has caused
many to be unsympathetic. We live in a society that is polarised ...
I believe it has become fashionable to knock the Catholic Church."

Bishop Hart also said the constant attacks on the clergy were
undermining the church. "There is a problem with how the Catholic
Church is portrayed in the media and that has caused great damage to
Catholics in Australia.

"There is a danger in sending up things like the Catholic Church
because it brings what people hold as special and sacred to a trivial
level."

Father Shadbolt, a priest for 30 years, said his group had support
from many of Victoria's estimated 600 Catholic priests. He hopes to
take legal action against those who unfairly attack the church.

Melbourne's B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission executive
director, Danny Ben-Moshe, said that while his group had recorded a
rise in Australian-based anti-Catholic websites, the claim that anti-
Catholicism was the new anti-Semitism was "highly inappropriate and
insensitive".

SBS said it had received two general complaints and one call for the
show to be repeated.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Nontraditional-Family Video's Makers Set for White House Screening
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 13:53:55 -0000

Nontraditional-Family Video's Makers Set for White House Screening

Documentarians would like to fight potential prejudices by showing
film to younger students

Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 15, 2000

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/15/MNW161208.DTL

San Francisco -- Two San Francisco families are heading to the White
House for a special screening of "That's a Family," a video about
children's experiences growing up in different kinds of households.

The video, made by San Francisco filmmakers Debra Chasnoff and Helen
Cohen, depicts gay and lesbian parents, single moms, guardians and
children who are adopted. It was made to be shown to elementary and
middle-school children.

"I'm really excited," said 12-year-old Fernando Calles, who lives in
the Mission District and is a sixth-grader at St. Peter's. He and his
mother, Maria Calles, a home health aide, appear in the video and
will be making their first trip to Washington.

Fernando wants many people to see the video, in which he talks about
growing up without a father.

"Some people are prejudiced and stuff against different families,
like gay families. It's important to know that they can still be a
family -- it doesn't have to have a mom, a dad, a son and a
daughter," Fernando said.

Also going are Gregg Cassin and David Dickson and their daughter,
Breauna, 12, a sixth-grader at Hoover Middle School in the Sunset.

The Dec. 19 screening, set up by the White House Office of Public
Liaison, will show the video to about 150 representatives from dozens
of groups around the country that deal with children, families,
education and civil rights. Neither President Clinton nor Hillary
Clinton will attend, according to White House spokeswoman Victoria
Valentine.

"The film itself breaks new ground . . . as a resource for children
that is inclusive of gay and lesbian issues," said Chasnoff, who is
White House-bound along with the families and everyone who worked on
the video. "For the White House to embrace it in this way is
tremendously significant and, I think, a statement of recognition
about what we need to be doing in this whole country to prevent
prejudice."

She added that she's relieved to have been given the opportunity
before Republican George W. Bush replaces Clinton next month.

"I feel like I don't know if we'd have another chance to be in the
White House in the next four years," said Chasnoff, who won an Oscar
in 1991 for her documentary on General Electric.

Since its San Francisco premiere in June, "That's A Family" has been
shown in cities around the country. Chasnoff and Cohen's Women's
Educational Media has been working to introduce the video in
elementary and middle schools around the country.

The capital screening will take place in the Old Executive Office
Building with a reception next door at the White House.

Valentine said the White House Office of Public Liaison reaches out
to many different communities and the video "represents a tool for
discussing some things we've discussed throughout the year -- safety,
school tolerance, diversity." But the meeting didn't mean the White
House was endorsing the video, she added.

However, the video has been endorsed by both of California's U.S.
senators, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. It has been
screened or supported by a wide variety of groups, including the
American Federation of Teachers, the National Middle School
Association and the Girl Scouts.

Chasnoff and Cohen's "It's Elementary," a 1996 film about bringing
gay and lesbian issues into elementary school classrooms, has been
widely circulated in education circles but stirred up a firestorm of
protest from the religious right wing when it was shown on public
television last year.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] TV Program: Christianity: The Second Millennium
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 09:05:10 -0500

December 17, 2000
A&E SPECIAL PRESENTATION:
CHRISTAINITY: THE SECOND MILLENNIUM Part 1
08:00 PM - 10:00 PM

The four-hour A&E SPECIAL PRESENTATION: CHRISTIANITY: THE
SECOND MILLENNIUM is presented in two two-hour installments on
successive evenings. By the year 1000, Christianity had survived a
millennium of constant threat and challenge and emerged as virtually the
only faith in Western Europe. Christianity stood on the verge of an entirely
new era. Nonetheless, its greatest challenges were before it. Western
Europe was wracked by the constant, savage warfare of its own nobility.
Relations with the powerful and cultured Eastern Orthodox Church were
marked more by rancor than fraternity. And to the south were the greatest
threats of all - the Muslims. At the height of their culture, the Muslims
possessed the learning, strength and prowess to drive straight through the
heart of Europe.

Almost miraculously, Western Christianity overcame all these challenges. It
became the driving force of civilization, leading Europe from the depths of the
Dark Ages to unprecedented power and prestige. Christianity harnessed the
bellicose aggression of the nobles for the Crusades, and drove the Muslims
out of Europe for the first time in nearly a thousand years. Moreover, through
missionaries and explorers, Christianity expanded beyond the bounds of
Europe to the entire world.

By the year 1500, the Church was at its zenith, with its power concentrated
in the Pope. Then a lowly friar in a small German town ignited a revolution
that completely shattered the Church, tore Christendom apart and reinvented
it from within. The Protestant Reformation heralded the end of the medieval
world and the beginning of the modern age. Protestant efforts led to the rise
of science, industry and the modern nation. For the first time in the history of
the West, church and state had been separated. Again, Christianity
reinvented its role in the modern world, a transformation and struggle that
continues to this very day.

http://www.aande.com/tv/shows/biography.html

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] The Catastrophic Years around 850 AD
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:15 -0500

CCNet ESSAY: THE CATASTROPHIC YEARS AROUND 850 AD

http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/ccc/ce120500.html

By James T Palmer and Trevor Palmer <trevor.palmer@ntu.ac.uk>

Summary

Records from northern Europe between 830 and 875 AD describe a period of
political and environmental turmoil, accompanied by frequent sightings of
comets and other celestial phenomena. Although the evidence is insufficient
for definite conclusions to be drawn, it could, with good reason, be taken to
indicate that an encounter between the Earth and debris from a disintegrati ng
giant comet occurred at this time.

Introduction

The central decades of the ninth century AD were turbulent ones in northern
Europe, with civil wars taking place between the sons of Louis the Pious,
who had succeeded his father, Charlemagne, as emperor of the Franks.
These disputes eventually led to the break-up of the Frankish empire. At th e
same time, Vikings were invading coastal regions and raiding inland down
the rivers.

Chronicles of the period inevitably presented a political bias to the event s
taking place. So, whilst all Frankish sources, written by Christians,
condemned the activities of the heathen Vikings, their individual sympathie s
were with different grandsons of Charlemagne, and their interpretations of
history differed accordingly. Thus, the Annals of St Bertin [1] from wester n
Frankia (essentially the region of Gaul, or modern France) presented an
account generally favourable to Charles the Bald, as did the Histories writ ten
by Nithard [2], who was himself a grandson of Charlemagne through his
mother, Bertha. In contrast, the Annals of Fulda [3], from eastern Frankia
(mainly modern Germany) supported first Lothar and, later, Louis, whereas
the Annals of Xanten [4], written close to the present-day border between
Holland and Germany, remained loyal to Lothar.

Nevertheless, despite these differences, all told a consistent story of
environmental hardships, possibly associated with cosmic events. These
could have played a significant role in the events taking place, for desper ate
circumstances can drive people to desperate acts.

Reports in ninth century documents of environmental crises

Extensive flooding, causing great damage, took place in 834 AD. This was
stated in both the Annals of St Bertin and the Annals of Xanten. Two years
later, as recorded in the latter source, strange rays of light appeared fro m
east to west in the night sky. For 837 AD and the transition to the followi ng
year, the Annals of Xanten continued:

"A mighty whirlwind kept breaking out, and a comet was seen, sending out a
great tail to the east, which to human eyes looked as it was three cubits
long...The winter was wet and windy, and on 21 January thunder was heard,
just as on 18 February loud thunder could be heard. And the excessive heat
of the Sun scorched the Earth, and there were earthquakes in some parts of
the land, and fire in the shape of a dragon was seen in the air."

The Annals of Fulda confirmed the occurrence of an earthquake in January
838, going on to mention that tremors were experienced in Lorsch and the
region around Worms, Speyer and Ladenburg.

The winter of 838-839 was similarly a very hard one. At the end of December ,
as recorded in the Annals of St Bertin, a great flood covered almost the
whole of Frisia, with 2,347 deaths being reported. Then, in February, "an
army of fiery red and other colours could often be seen in the sky, as wel l
as shooting stars trailing fiery tails". Consistent with that, the Annals o f
Fulda, in the entry for 839 AD, described how "a comet appeared in the sign
of Aries and other portents were seen in the sky. For the clear sky turned
red at night and for several nights many small fireballs like stars were se en
shooting through the air". The annals of Xanten also reported that whirlwin ds
and flooding occurred in 839, and that rays of light were seen in the night sky
in both this and the following year. Again, Nithard in his Histories, refer red to
an exceptional reddening in two parts of the sky in March and April of 840
AD, these red patches eventually coming together to give "the appearance of
a clot of blood in the heavens directly overhead", whilst the Annals of Xan ten
described the occurrence of strange rings of light in the sky during daytim e
in the year 841.

Nithard reported that the summer of 841 AD was a very cold one, which
delayed the harvest. The Seine flooded in March of that year, with violent
tides occurring at the river mouth, and it flooded again in October, even
though there had been no rain in the region for two months. The following
December, according to both Nithard and the Annals of Fulda, a comet
became visible, passing across the constellations of Aquarius and Pisces
before disappearing in the vicinity of Andromeda. Around this time, a great
deal of snow fell, initiating another period of extremely cold weather.

As related in Nithard's Histories, an earthquake shook most of France in th e
autumn of 842 AD. The following winter was particularly cold and lengthy,
causing damage to "agriculture, livestock and bees", and resulting in
widespread disease amongst the human population. Nithard contrasted the
terrible conditions with what seemed like the golden age of Charlemagne,
and drew a moral conclusion, writing:

"In the times of Charles the Great of good memory, who died almost thirty
years ago, peace and concord ruled everywhere because our people were
treading the one proper way, the way of the common welfare, and thus the
way of God. But now since each goes his separate way, dissension and
struggle abound. Once there was abundance and happiness everywhere,
now everywhere there is want and sadness. Once even the elements smiled
on everything and now they threaten, as Scripture which was left to us as t he
gift of God, testifies: And the world will wage war against the mad."

After snow fell on a night when there was an eclipse of the moon in March
843, Nithard brought his Histories to a despairing end, concluding that, wi th
"rapine and wrongs of all sort" rampant on all sides, the "unseasonable
weather killed the last hope of any good to come". Two years later, Nithard
died in battle, after spending the intervening period as lay abbot of the
monastery at St Riquier in northern France. However, the various Frankish
annals continued to describe the tribulations of the people.

In 843 AD, the Annals of St Bertin recorded that, whether because of wars o r
the environmental conditions, or both, the people living in parts of Gaul w ere
forced to eat earth mixed with a little flour in order to satisfy their hun ger.
According to these same annals, the winter of 844-845 was a very severe
one, and a terrible famine consumed the western region of Gaul, with many
thousands dying.

To the east, the Annals of Xanten recorded that there were two earthquakes
in the Worms region in 845 AD, after which there was an outbreak of plague.
Four years later, as related in the Annals of St Bertin, violent earthquake s
also occurred in Gaul.

The Annals of Xanten reported that there were winter floods and ferocious
electrical storms in the winter of 849-850, followed by a scorchingly hot
summer. According to the Annals of Fulda, there was famine in Germany in
850 AD, particularly in the Rhine regions, whilst the Annals of Xanten told of
excessive heat and general famine in 852 AD, and of famine in Saxony in the
following year.

As reported in the Annals of Fulda, there were 20 earth tremors in the Main z
region during 855 AD. The weather was unusually changeable with
whirlwinds and hailstorms appearing without warning. Many buildings were
struck by lightning, including the church of St Kilian the Martyr in W=FCrz burg
in June. A month later, those walls which had escaped being burnt by
lightning collapsed during a violent, sudden storm. A flurry of shooting st ars
in August of that year was described by the Annals of St Bertin, and a
shower of fireballs during the following October by the Annals of Fulda.

According to the Annals of St Bertin, the winter of 855-856 was excessively
cold and dry, and a pestilence carried off a sizeable proportion of the
population. In the following winter, the Annals of Xanten reported a plague
characterised by swollen abscesses, rotting flesh and loss of limbs.
Destructive electrical storms also occurred at that time, as described in b oth
the Annals of Fulda and the Annals of St Bertin.

All three annals reported that there were violent earthquakes in Mainz and
neighbouring regions in 858 and 859 AD. According to the Annals of St
Bertin, these were accompanied by a great pestilence, and there were floods
at Li=E8ge in May 858. The same work went on to describe how, for three
months in the autumn of 859 AD,

"armies were seen in the sky at night: a brightness like that of daylight
shone out unbroken from the east right to the north and bloody columns
came streaming out from it."

The three annals continued to present a consistent account, reporting that
the winter of 859-860 was very severe, and that it lasted longer than usual .
According to the Annals of Fulda, blood-red snow fell in many places, and
the Adriatic region was so cold that merchants were able to cross the sea
and visit Venice by horse and cart. When winter was finally coming to a
close, the Annals of St Bertin described how part of the moon was obscured
one night in a strange fashion. Then, just a few days later, something simi lar
happened to the Sun.

Reports of floods, plagues and other catastrophic events continued
throughout the following decade and into the 870s. For example, in 869 AD,
the Annals of Xanten recorded:

"In the middle of February peals of thunder were heard from the dark waters
in the clouds in the air, and on 15 February, that is the holy night of
Septuagesima, a comet was seen in the north-west, followed immediately by
very strong winds and an enormous deluge of water, in which very many were
caught unawares and perished. An then in the summer a very severe famine
ensued in many provinces, but above all in Burgundy and Gaul, in which a
large number of people suffered an untimely death, so that some people are
said to have eaten human corpses, while others are supposed to have lived
off dogmeat."

These annals came to an end in the year 873 AD, with the words, "And from
1 November right up until Sexagesima [the Sunday after Septuagesima,
falling two weeks before Lent] snow covered the whole surface of the earth,
and the Lord constantly distressed his people with various plagues, visitin g
their transgressions upon them with the rod, and their sins upon them with
the whip". Conditions had clearly not become any easier since the distraugh t
Nithard found himself unable to carry on writing about the problems facing
the people thirty years earlier.

Conclusion

Of course, it goes without saying that that the details given by these sour ces
are too imprecise, and probably too unreliable in some aspects, for any
definite conclusions to be drawn about an underlying mechanism for the
natural catastrophes described. After all, floods, earthquakes, temperature
fluctuations and famine can have a variety of causes, and the appearance of
comets in the sky at the present time does not usually lead to any adverse
effects on Earth. Nevertheless, the repeated occurrence of these and other
features over a few decades suggest the possibility of some sort of
association between them. The evidence, taken as a whole, is consistent, if
no more, with an episode of what Duncan Steel has termed "coherent
catastrophism", an encounter between the Earth and the disintegrating
remnants of a giant comet [5]. The possible consequences of such an event
were pointed out by Victor Clube and Bill Napier in their books, The Cosmic
Serpent and The Cosmic Winter [6,7]. Dust from the comet might cause
reduced atmospheric transmission of solar radiation, and hence lower
temperatures on Earth; the passage of solid material through the atmosphere
would produce lights in the sky and other celestial phenomena, whilst the
actual penetration of large pieces of debris to the surface of the Earth co uld
result in floods (if striking an expanse of water), earthquakes (if impacti ng on
land) and climatic disturbances (whatever the location of impact) [8]. Thes e
various crises might easily lead in turn to the occurrence of famine and
disease. Such a mechanism provides a plausible explanation for the
phenomena observed and the hardships experienced during these
extraordinary years.

References

1. The Annals of St Bertin (translated and annotated by J.L.Nelson),
Manchester University Press, 1991.
2. Nithard's Histories, in Carolingian Chronicles (translated by
B.W.Scholz), University of Michigan Press, 1972.
3. The Annals of Fulda (translated and annotated by T.Reuter), Manchester
University Press, 1991.
4. The Annals of Xanten (translated by S.Coupland), from a forthcoming
volume about sources for the reign of Charles the Bald, to be
published by Manchester University Press.
5. D.Steel, Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets, Wiley, New York, 1995.
6. V.Clube and B.Napier, The Cosmic Serpent, Faber and Faber, London,
1982.
7.V.Clube and B.Napier, The Cosmic Winter, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.
8.W.M.Napier, Cometary catastrophes, cosmic dust and ecological
disasters in
historical times - the astronomical framework, in B.J.Peiser, T.Palmer and
M.E.Bailey (eds.), Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilisations,
Archaeopress, Oxford, 1998, 21-32.

The authors

James Palmer obtained a first class honours degree in history from Sheffiel d
University and an MPhil with distinction from Cambridge University. He is
currently researching for a PhD in medieval history at Sheffield University .
His father, Trevor Palmer, obtained an honours degree in biochemistry from
Cambridge University and a PhD from the Institute of Child Health, Universi ty
of London. He is now Professor of Life Sciences and Senior Dean at
Nottingham Trent University.

----------------- CCNet-ESSAY is part of the Cambridge Conference Network. It
includes interesting and thought-provoking essays about our place in space
and the prospects of a planetary civilisation that is in control of our ter restrial
and extraterrestrial environment. Contributions to this ongoing debate are
welcome. To subscribe or unsubscribe from CCNet, please contact Benny J
Peiser at <b.j.peiser@livjm.ac.uk>. The fully indexed archive of the CCNet,
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http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/cccmenu.html.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in CCNet
Essays do not necessarily reflect the
opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the moderator of this network.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] BreakingNews-Israel 1,2 (12/16/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:15 -0500

Weekend Recap

1. Yesha resident killed in MVA =96 Possible terror attack=09
2. Shots fired into P=92sagot on the Sabbath=09
3. Soldiers in Gaza attacked with a hand grenades=09
4. Shooting into Kiryat Arba school building on Saturday night=09
5. Soldiers come under fire on Jericho bypass road=09
6. Shooting at IDF base near Beit Chaggai=09
7. Israeli injured in stone-throwing attack near Ariel=09
8. Attempted attack against border police at checkpoint in Samaria
9. Four Arabs suspected of terrorist activities apprehended=09
10. Shots fired at IDF forces from Silwad=09
11. Shots fired at troops at Ayosh Junction=09
12. Shots fired into Ofer base=09
13. Shots fired at Bir Zeit Bridge=09
14. Tank & APC fired upon near Karnei Crossing=09
15. Shots fired at IDF forces in Netzarim=09
16. IDF forces in Neve Dekalim attacked with gunfire=09
17. Stone-throwing attacks in Gaza on Saturday=09
18. Terrorist killed while attempting an attack in Gaza on Fri AM
19. Heavy stone-throwing attacks on Friday/Saturday from Marda=09
20. Firebomb attack in Lower Galilee=09
21. Terror victim still listed in serious condition=09
22. Explosive device found and neutralized mosque=09
23. Southern water main sabotaged=09

***********************************************
Weekend Recap =96 16-DEC-00 =96 9:00pm
***********************************************

1. Yesha resident killed in MVA =96 Possible terror attack
(BNI-DEC.16) A resident of Samaria, in his twenties, was killed in a motor
vehicle accident on Friday afternoon while traveling from Anatot towards
the Ramallah bypass road. The accident occurred near the Arab village of
Hizme.

Police report the accident which killed Eli resident David Varzana, in his
twenties, is under investigation. They have stated that the truck driven
by an Arab motorist was at fault when it struck the car in which the
victim was traveling. The victim was one of three persons in the car and
was not the driver. The others reportedly sustained light injuries. The
truck driver fled the scene, avoiding police by escaping into Hizme.

The victim is being laid to rest in Jerusalem on Saturday night. He is
survived by parents and siblings.

++++
2. Shots fired into P=92sagot on the Sabbath
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots were fired into the community of P=92sagot in the
Benjamin Regional Council of Samaria. There were no reported injuries.
Soldiers returned fire.

++++

3. Soldiers in Gaza attacked with a hand grenades
(BNI-DEC.16) IDF soldiers were attacked with two hand grenades in Gaza on
Saturday, near the Rafiah border crossing to Egypt. There were no reported
injuries.

++++

4. Shooting into Kiryat Arba school building on Saturday night
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots were fired on Saturday night from the PA autonomous
area into a school located in the Givat HaCharsina section of Kiryat Arba.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Shooting was reported on the Sabbath in the Casbah and other areas of
Hebron. No injuries.

Soldiers were also fired upon on Friday afternoon. No injuries.

++++

5. Soldiers come under fire on Jericho bypass road
(BNI-DEC.16) IDF Soldiers stationed on the Jericho bypass road were
attacked by gunfire on Saturday. No injuries. The shooting attack resulted
in the road being closed for some time.

++++

6. Shooting at IDF base near Beit Chaggai
(BNI-DEC.16) An IDF base in the Southern Hebron Hills area near the
community of Beit Chaggai was attacked by gunfire on Saturday. Night. No
injuries. Soldiers did not return fire.

Soldiers in the same base were also attacked by gunfire during the day on
Saturday.

++++

7. Israeli injured in stone-throwing attack near Ariel
(BNI-DEC.16) An Israeli was injured in a stone-throwing attack near the
city of Ariel, in Samaria. The attack came from the Arab village of Kif
el-Harith. The victim was lightly injured and did not require
transportation to a medical facility.

++++
8. Attempted attack against border police at checkpoint in Samaria
(BNI-DEC.16) A car bearing yellow Israeli license plates on Saturday
evening attempted to run over border police stationed at the Mesilla
Checkpoint in Samaria, south of Tul Qarem. Soldiers fired at the car=92s
tires and in the air. The motorist turned around and fled the scene.

Soldiers stated they did strike the car with gunfire but it appears they
did not strike any of the occupants.

++++

9. Four Arabs suspected of terrorist activities apprehended
(BNI-DEC.16) Four Arabs suspected of having engaged in terrorist
activities against Israel were placed under arrest on Friday night in
Samaria, near the Arab village of Kif el-Harith, in proximity of Ariel.

++++

10. Shots fired at IDF forces from Silwad
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots were fired on Saturday at IDF forces near Silwad, in
proximity to the Jewish community of Ofra, in the Benjamin Regional
Council area of Samaria. No injuries.

++++

11. Shots fired at troops at Ayosh Junction
(BNI-DEC.16) IDF forces stationed at Ayosh Junction, north of the
autonomous city of Ramallah and opposite the IDF=92s Judea & Samaria
Command
Headquarters, were attacked by gunfire on Friday and Saturday. No
injuries. Soldiers returned fire.

++++

12. Shots fired into Ofer base
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots were fired on Saturday into the IDF=92s Ofer base west o f
Ramallah. No injuries.

++++

13. Shots fired at Bir Zeit Bridge
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots were fired at soldiers in the area of the Bir Zeit
Bridge on Saturday. No injuries.

The bridge is located in the western sector of the Benjamin Regional
Council area of Samaria.

++++

14. Tank & APC fired upon near Karnei Crossing
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots were fired at military personnel manning a tank and
armored personnel carrier near the Karnei Crossing in Gaza on Saturday. No
injuries.

++++

15. Shots fired at IDF forces in Netzarim
(BNI-DEC.16) IDF forces stationed in the community of Netzarim, in Gaza,
were attacked by gunfire on Saturday. No injuries.

++++

16. IDF forces in Neve Dekalim attacked with gunfire
(BNI-DEC.16) IDF forces stationed in the Gazan community of Neve Dekalim
were attacked with gunfire on Saturday. No injuries.

++++
17. Stone-throwing attacks in Gaza on Saturday
(BNI-DEC.16) Stone-throwing attacks and unrests were reported in Gaza on
Saturday near the community of Netzer-Hazany in proximity of the Neve
Dekalim industrial zone. No injuries.

++++

18. Terrorist killed while attempting an attack in Gaza on Fri AM
(BNI-DEC.16) IDF forces on Friday morning shot and killed an armed
terrorist as he tried to stab an Israeli civilian security guard while
crossing the Erez Checkpoint in Gaza.

A soldier saw what was taking place, opened fire, killing the terrorist. A
search of his body revealed he had two explosive devices with him that
were safely dismantled by bomb demolition experts.

++++

19. Heavy stone-throwing attacks on Friday/Saturday from Marda
(BNI-DEC.16) Many reports of heavy stone-throwing attacks were reported
from the Arab village of Marda on Friday and Saturday. Many cars sustained
damages including smashed windshields. It is unknown if there were any
injuries.

The Arab village is located opposite the community of Ariel in Samaria, on
the other side of the Trans-Samaria Highway.

++++

20. Firebomb attack in Lower Galilee
(BNI-DEC.16) A firebomb was thrown into a home in Mitzpei Netufa, in the
Lower Galilee, on Friday. The incendiary device did land inside a home,
resulting in damage. There were no reported injuries in the attack.

Police and trackers investigating the attack confirmed the tracks from the
fleeing attackers led to a nearby Arab village.

++++
21. Terror victim still listed in serious condition
(BNI-DEC.16) 46-year-old Motti Glaster, the resident of Neve Tzuf injured
by gunfire in a Thursday night terrorist attack in Samaria, on Saturday
night remains comatose in an intensive care unit, attached to a respirator.

Doctors at Jerusalem=92s Hadassah Hospital, in Ein Kerem, report his
condition remains serious at this time.

++++
22. Explosive device found and neutralized mosque
(BNI-DEC.16) An explosive device was discovered on Friday on the premises
of a mosque located in Baka el-Gharbiya. Bomb demolition safely
neutralized the device which police believe was intended for use inside
=93Israel proper.=94

++++
23. Southern water main sabotaged
(BNI-DEC.16) Police and Mekorot Water Company officials have stated with
certainty that a water main running between Dimona and Beersheba was
damaged by deliberate sabotage on Saturday. As a result, there was an
interruption in water flow to area communities.

Police found that a tractor was used to expose the underground line and
other heavy tools were used to break open the main water feed. No motive
for the attack was given at the time of this report.

-----------------

1. Kfar Darom under attack=09
2. Netzarim hothouses under fire on Saturday night=09
3. IDF tank attacked by gunfire in Gaza=09
4. Neve Dekalim DCO attacked with gunfire=09
5. Soldiers fired upon in Southern Hebron Hills=09
6. Two firebombs thrown in northern Jerusalem=09

**************************
16-DEC-00 =96 10:10pm
**************************

1. Kfar Darom under attack
(BNI-DEC.16) Soldiers and homes in the southern Gaza community of Kfar
Darom were attacked by PA gunfire on Saturday night at about 9:00pm.
Soldiers returned fire. No reported injuries.

++++
2. Netzarim hothouses under fire on Saturday night
(BNI-DEC.16) Shots are being fired from the PA autonomous areas at the
hothouses of the community of Netzarim, in Gaza on Saturday night. No
injuries.

++++

3. IDF tank attacked by gunfire in Gaza
(BNI-DEC.16) An IDF tank positioned at Gush Katif Junction in Gaza was
attacked by gunfire on Saturday night. No injuries.

++++

4. Neve Dekalim DCO attacked with gunfire
(BNI-DEC.16) The IDF=92s District Coordinating Office at Neve Dekalim, in
Gaza, was attacked with gunfire on Saturday night from the PA autonomous
area. No injuries.

++++
5. Soldiers fired upon in Southern Hebron Hills
(BNI-DEC.16) An IDF force operating near Beit Chaggai, in the Southern
Hebron Hills, was attacked with gunfire on Saturday night. No injuries.

++++
6. Two firebombs thrown in northern Jerusalem
(BNI-DEC.16) Two firebombs were thrown on Saturday night at the Pereg
factory building in northern Jerusalem=92s Atarot industrial area. There wa s
no damage or injuries.

The Pereg factory headquarters has been targeted with firebombs several
times in past weeks.

News items published by BNI (BreakingNews-Israel) may be distributed,
copied, posted providing the websites and other forums carrying the
stories display the footer below in plain view on the same page with the
news.

++++

To subscribe to the BreakingNews-Israel list, send a blank email message
to 44828-subscribe@listbot.com

To contact the list owner, send an email to BNI1@netvision.net.il

++++

If you feature BreakingNews-Israel reports in your newsletter or on your
website, please let us know so we may add your name to the list below.

++++

BNI reports are now featured by:
1. The USA Jewish website - http://www.usajewish.com/
2. Israel News - http://www.morashanetwork.com/
3. United Jerusalem.com http://www.unitedjerusalem.com/
4. Efrat - http://www.efrat.org/
5. Shosh's Gleanings Daily - Suwomyn26@aol.com
6. Breaking News - http://www.folksites.com/waisobiken/
7. Dateline Israel - http://www.datelineisrael.com/
8. "In Depth News-2000!" - inhislove@triad.rr.com-
http://www.thedepot.com/groups-inhislove
9. atp_us_news http://www.egroups.com/members_add/atp_us_news
10. The Matzav - sherer@actcom.co.il

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) PMW: Fatah Prayer for Christian Palestinian Conquest of Jerusalem
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:15 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 13:33:42 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PMW: Fatah Prayer for Christian Palestinian Conquest of Jerusalem

PMW: Fatah Prayer for Christian Palestinian Conquest of Jerusalem

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
59 King George St., Jerusalem, Israel
phone: 972- 2- 625-4140 fax: 972-2- 624-2803
for further information, contact PMW Director, Itamar Marcus
material may be quoted, citing PMW as the source

December 15, 2000

Fatah Prayer for Christian Palestinian Conquest of Jerusalem
PMW SPECIAL NOTICE

Introduction
The Palestinian leadership and media often make the claim that Jesus was the
first Palestinian. Two caricatures appeared this week depicting crucifixion
scenes with Palestinians as victims and Israelis and Americans as killers,
in a new daily newspaper entitled Intifada, published, apparently, by the
Fatah, Yasser Arafat's faction in the PLO. In the 1st caricature the woman
named Palestine is crucified. The 2nd, without the woman, includes
poem-prayer for a Christian-Palestinian conquest of Jerusalem.

My Lord The Betrayed
"O my Radiant Sir, who was betrayed by the contemptible treasonous kiss.
Descend upon us from the towers of heaven, and call upon the Glorious
Supreme gazing down upon us, that He may wipe from Your face the tears of
the masses, and read aloud Your tidings ... would that it only be that the
youth among us will enter now, by the Damascus Gate [of Jerusalem's Old
City], chanting their psalms to the Via Dolerosa. But they shall not turn
the other cheek, rather they shatter the cross off their backs and throw
down the their thorny crowns. They cast their eyes to the heavens which
praise [their Creator] for the glory of the fluid of the heart that washes
the Via Dolorosa of the dust of [Israeli] soldiers who march alone to the
Golgotha [The mountaintop crucifixion site].

Then shall rise up the voices of the mass of the living and the doves from
every alley, and the chimes and the subdued yearns. O Son Of The Virgin,
they cannot overcome you twice, go Thee slowly into the light-less meekness,
and may the angels defend you.

["Intifada", 14 December, 2000]

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
59 King George St., Jerusalem, Israel
phone: (02) 625-4140 - fax: (02) 624-2803 - email: pmw@netvision.net.il

PMW monitors and translates the major Palestinian Authority media: 3 daily
newspapers, TV, Radio.

PMW issues weekly reports in English and Hebrew,
Special reports as issued and advisories when warranted.

PMW is a non-profit organization, operating in Jerusalem.
To receive PMW reports regularly by e-mail, send your address to
pmw@netvision.net.il

Please feel encouraged to pass the content on to others
and to refer your friends to join the mailing list.
Please note PMW as the source in every reference or qoute of the material.

Additional information: Itamar Marcus, email: pmw@netvision.net.il

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

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Subscribe at no charge: imra-subscribe@imra.org.il
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thursday@imra.org.il friday@imra.org.il
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------- End of forwarded message -------

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Ha'aretz: Proposal that Palestinians say have no add
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 01:20:59 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Ha'aretz: Proposal that Palestinians say have no
additional claims except return to Haifa, compensation etc.

Ha'aretz: Proposal that Palestinians say have no additional claims except
return to Haifa, compensation etc.

By Amira Hass - Ha'aretz Ha'aretz Palestinian Affairs Correspondent 17
December 2000

THIS IS NOT A PARODY

(IMRA: A spokesperson for the Clinton administration denied the existence
of the Clinton Document. There is considerable (perhaps intentional)
confusion over the finality of the agreement being discussed today between
Israel and the Palestinians. When the Barak administration proposes to
trade land for an agreement that pushes off various issues it is not even
"land for peace" but rather "land for time". The phrase "allow Palestinians
to retrieve the rights lost in 1948" means not only the return of
Palestinian refugees to Haifa but also the potential to demand compensation
for the Israeli use of "Palestinian resources" since 1948 within the Green
Line and since 1967 in the rest of the country. To think that future
"negotiations" over these issues will be nonviolent is to ignore the Oslo
War now taking place in clear violation of the various signed Oslo
Agreements.)

Palestinian sources say that the following are part of a formula proposed to
them by Israeli and American negotiators recently in meetings in London, and
which the Arabic-language international newspaper, Al Hayat, coined as "The
Clinton Document" in a front page headline yesterday:

The document of a final-status agreement will not include specific reference
to the "right of return" or indicate any recognition for such right.

What will be stated is that the government of Israel and an independent
Palestinian state will discuss, in the future, a mechanism that will allow
Palestinians to retrieve the rights lost in 1948.

+ In return for their agreement, the Palestinians will be given direct
access to the Temple Mount through the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians will be given sovereignty over those neighborhoods.
Contrary to reports in yesterday's Al Hayat, the Palestinian sources assert
that the issue of the Temple Mount is still up for negotiations.

+ In exchange for the settlements and neighborhoods surrounding Jerusalem,
the territory returned to the Palestinians will include 95 percent of
territory remaining in the West Bank and 3 percent of territory inside the
Green Line.

+ At the signing of the agreement, it will be clearly stated that the
Palestinians no longer have any claims against Israel.

--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) David Wilder: Temporary International Presence in Hebron
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 04:33:33 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: David Wilder: Temporary International Presence in Hebron i s
one sided- repeat of same elsewhere would be detrimental

David Wilder: Temporary International Presence in Hebron is one sided -
repeat of same elsewhere would be detrimental

From the Jerusalem Post December 17, 2000

The Barak administration is currently debating the merits
of an international observer force to be deployed in Israel. Hebron has
first-hand experience with such a force.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron, otherwise known as TIPH,
has frequented Hebron's streets for the past four years. TIPH observers are
citizens of four Scandinavian countries, Italy, and Turkey.

The TIPH mandate says explicitly, "It is TIPH's purpose to create a feeling
of security among the Palestinian population of Hebron and contribute in
restoring normal life." The allegations implicit are clear. Despite the
fact that the Palestinian Authority controls 80% of Hebron, the city's
Arabs are insecure=E2 and their lives are abnormal due to the Israeli
presence in the city. On the other hand, TIPH has no obligation to observe
Arab instigation or violence against Hebron's Jewish citizens.

TIPH observation is a one-way street. They see what they want to see and
ignore what they wish to ignore. For example, in March 1998 soldiers near
Beit Hadassah apprehended an Arab on the Israeli "wanted list." The Arab
resisted arrest, reacted violently, and was subdued. TIPH observers did not
arrive in time to witness the Arab's violent resistance, but did film his
being restrained.

This summer a 16-year-old Hebron girl was physically assaulted by an Arab
while walking from Hebron to Kiryat Arba. TIPH observers did not record the
attempted rape, but did record the reaction of angry Jewish residents.

Many TIPH observers arrive in Hebron with preconceived notions and,
perhaps, antisemitic attitudes. In an interview with an Oslo suburb
newspaper, Nordstrands Blad, on April 5, 2000 observer Yngvil Mortensen
said about Israeli soldiers, "they make noise, cause damage to houses,
throw down waste and urine [from the rooftops] and let the Jewish settlers
almost ravage freely." This is, of course, an out-and-out lie, which was
never witnessed.

When asked about Palestinian stone-throwers, Mortensen responds, "Would you
have liked to be checked three times a day by foreign soldiers? Or that
your city is occupied by a foreign power? If we compare with the German
occupation of Norway during World War II, we called the sabotage and
attacks on Germans resistance fighting."

In a Periodic Report for October 1, 1997 through March 31, 1998, TIPH
reports: "Settlers in the Old City have harassed their Palestinian
neighbors by throwing objects (stones, bottles, acid, vegetables and eggs),
trespassing on Palestinian properties during the night, threatening and
using abrasive language."

In fact, many TIPH observations are frequently based not on eyewitness
accounts but rather on complaints issued by Arabs. Hebron's Jewish
community has never been requested to respond to these charges, which are
entirely false.
TIPH recommendations are absurd: "Also, soldiers have been witnessed
playing with children - the intermingling between settlers and IDF weakens
the respect for the responsible security apparatus. It is also undermining
the feeling of equal protection under the law - it is in the interest of
all parties that such conduct should be stopped."

This report totally ignores the fact that during March 1998 Hebron came
under a full week of literally hundreds of rock- and fire-bomb attacks, as
well as two shooting attacks at the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.

There is a single mention of Arab violence against Jews in the 15-page
report: "TIPH has also observed and reported attacks against the settlers,
who frequently complain about their feeling of insecurity. When settlers
complain about lack of security, this often results in increased military
presence, exacerbating the situation for the Palestinians."

In other words, Arab complaints are legitimate, while Israeli grievances
"exacerbate the situation." TIPH's influence on the IDF is thoroughly
negative. An article in The Wall Street Journal on November 10, 2000
reported from Hebron " 'When TIPH comes past, we put our guns down,'" said
a young Israeli soldier..."

The implications concerning an international observer force are apparent.
Is Israel prepared to accept international observers in Gilo? How will
Israel respond to observers stationed in Beit Jala during an Arab shooting
attack on Gilo? Will the IDF dare retaliate, knowing that an Israeli strike
may endanger the observers?

A final question concerns the effectiveness of an observer force in
enforcing any type of normalcy. TIPH observers have theoretically increased
the Arab sense of security over the past four years, thereby bringing about
a relaxing of tensions in Hebron. Despite this, the Jewish community of
Hebron has been under constant, almost daily, shooting attacks for over two
months. If this is any measure of TIPH's ability to bring about peace and
quiet, they can only be judged as a total failure.

Allowing such biased, ineffective, subjective, and, in some cases,
antisemitic observers into Israel can only be detrimental to the best
interests of our state.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
The writer is a spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Lord's Witnesses:Scholars Predict Major War and Famine in 2001
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

Lord's Witnesses:Scholars Predict Major War and Famine in 2001

-- UN to Take Over Rulership of the World Between March 26th and

April 24th 2001

-- Major War in the Next 4 Months (Presumed Nuclear)

-- No One Can Buy or Sell Anything Without UN Authority After May 2001.

This is 666 Months of the Biblical Lunar Calendar After the UN Came

Into Existence Officially on 24th October 1945

-- Worldwide Famine to Start in August/September 2001

LONDON, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The following press release was issued
today by the Lord's Witnesses:

These are four prophecies resulting from the bible decoding work of the
Lord's Witnesses. The Witnesses are informing the press of these prophetic
interpretations at this time so that if they prove to be correct then
everyone will know that they have correctly decoded the bible, in this
respect at the least. If, on the other hand, they prove to be incorrect
then everyone will know that they have not correctly decoded the bible.
They are putting their reputation on the line. They are nailing their
colours to the mast.

The Lord's Witnesses have discovered what they believe to be the true
symbolic code of the bible. This bible code works in both the old and new
testaments. It has no relation to the Equidistant Hebrew Letter Sequence
Code of the New York Times bestselling book 'The Bible Code', which they
believe is not the true bible code, because it gives no information about
how to run a Christian Church or how God's children should behave, which
is what you would expect from a bible code since such information is for
the most part the literal content of the new and old testaments of the
bible respectively.

The Lord's Witnesses are a new Christian religion and are registered as a
non-profit making organisation limited by guarantee. The founder Members
are Gordon Ritchie (43) and Tony Moore (54). Ritchie was a mathematics
Scholar at Magdalene College Cambridge, where he won the college
Mathematics Prize. He graduated with a single first in Mathematics and
Natural Sciences. Ritchie and Moore started decoding the bible in early
1992. The Lord's Witnesses began holding public meetings in London on
March 21st, 2000. The book the True Bible Code was first published by the
Lord's Witnesses in October 2000.

The book 'The True Bible Code' published by the Lord's Witnesses, deduces
the existence and structure of the symbolic code of the bible. For
example, Jesus spoke entirely in illustrations, he spoke in a symbolic
code. The Lord's Witnesses believe and have 'proved' in their book, that
the whole bible is written in the same way that Jesus spoke. That is, it
is written in an illustrative or symbolic code.

This code reveals the 4 prophecies above and also reveals that the new
covenant celebrated in most Christian churches, the beneficiaries of which
go to heaven as angels, has now ended, and that a second new covenant, the
beneficiaries of which survive Armageddon on earth as humans or if they
die before Armageddon are resurrected back to the earth after Armageddon,
has now been made.

The Code also reveals precisely how this new church of this second new
covenant should be run. The Lord's Witnesses believe that they are this
new church.

The Lord's Witnesses have used this code to work out the precise year of
the Big Bang as being some 11.5 billion years ago, (which is in agreement
with modern astrophysics) measured on the assumption that the speed of
light has not changed. But, in fact, the application of this code to
Genesis Chapter 1 reveals that the speed of light has changed several
times since the Big Bang. A discovery which is again in harmony with
recent astrophysical models of the unviserse. They have discovered the
entire Chronology of most of the events in the bible up to and including
and beyond the date of Armageddon which they have deduced is a 150 day
long War between God and the wicked amongst humans, which starts on
March
23rd 2008 (Nisan 16th 2008 in the Biblical Lunar Calendar, which is the
oldest calendar of Mankind still used by the Egyptians until 800 BC).
They have deduced that 25% of mankind survives this war and 75% does
not.

They have gone further to calculate the whole timetable of the
resurrection of the those who have died since Adam was born, i.e. over the
last 6,000 years. These ones are resurrected into the Kingdom of God,
which is stated as lasting for 1,000 years in the bible book of
Revelation. They have this period as running from 2008 to 3008 AD. This
resurrection will proceed, they propose from last to first, in the sense
that those who die last are resurrected first. So the first ones to be
resurrected into the Kingdom of God on earth will be those who died
immediately before Armageddon. Then the generation before them will be
resurrected and then the generation before them etc. In this way 'those
last will be first and the first last', as the good book says. A son will
welcome his father into the new system.

They have also reconciled millions of years of human fossils with Genesis
chapter 1, by deducing from the true bible code that Adam was introduced
by God into a world already populated by pre-adamic humans who had been
created by God around 2.4 million years earlier as the fossil record shows
and developed with God's help since then.

Their understanding is that Adam was originally kept separate from the
rest of humanity in the Garden of Eden, until he sinned, at which point he
was evicted from the Garden along with Eve and they then joined the rest
of us.

The book, 'The True Bible Code' is available free from the Lord's
Witnesses, P.O. Box 1AL, London W1 1AL, England. The entire book is
published free on the web at www.truebiblecode.com.

SOURCE Lord's Witnesses

CO: Lord's Witnesses

ST: England

IN:

SU:

12/14/2000 09:11 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Zenit News items (12/16/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

Pornography Leaves the Back Streets
Mainstream Media Companies Now Peddle Explicit Material

NEW YORK, DEC. 16, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- Pornography is no longer a
back-street activity. Increasingly, big media companies are pushing
sexually explicit programs as part of their normal commercial activities.

Network television broadcasts as early as 8 p.m. on weeknights are now
full of programs that are surprisingly blatant in their references to sex,
The New York Times reported Dec. 10. It cited the show "Boston Public,"
where very questionable content is displayed, even among school-age
actors.

Things have changed a lot in recent years, the Times noted. While only a
few years ago "The Simpsons" was criticized for its vulgarity, the new
programs go far beyond previous limits for family-time entertainment. "The
show's sexual candor is startling in a show aimed directly at teen-agers,"
the newspaper said of "Boston Public."

Another program, NBC's "Titans," also offered overt sexuality at the 8
p.m. time slot. (The show was recently canceled, but not because of
protests over its lack of morality.)

The Time article mentioned that in the mid-1970s, under pressure from the
Federal Communications Commission and Congress, the networks agreed to
designate 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for programs that were considered appropriate
for all ages. Even if a court eventually ruled that the FCC had improperly
coerced the networks, relative caution continued to prevail with early
evening programming for a few years.

With the expansion of cable TV in later years, however, Fox and Warner
Bros. ignored these limits, and, in 1994, Fox moved "Melrose Place" from 9
p.m. to 8 p.m.

Changes in technology
In an Oct. 23 article, The New York Times noted how technological advances
have led Wall Street companies into the pornography business. According to
Forrester Research and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the
business of selling sexually explicit images has become a $10 billion
annual industry in the United States.

Among the firms involved is General Motors Corp., the largest U.S.
company. General Motors sells more graphic sex films every year than does
Larry Flynt, owner of the Hustler empire. The Times said that 8.7 million
Americans subscribe to DirecTV, a General Motors subsidiary, and that they
spend nearly $200 million a year in pay-per-view sex films from satellite.

Another industry leader is EchoStar Communications Corp., the No. 2
satellite provider, whose chief financial backers include Rupert Murdoch
of News Corp. This company makes more money selling graphic adult films
through its satellite subsidiary than Playboy does with its magazine,
cable and Internet businesses combined.

AT&T Corp., the nation's biggest communications business, offers a
hard-core sex channel called the Hot Network to subscribers of its
broadband cable service. It also owns a company that sells sex videos to
nearly a million hotel rooms.

In the United States, just under 1.5 million hotel rooms, or about 40% of
all rooms, are equipped with television boxes that sell the kind of films
that used to be seen mostly in adults-only theaters. Based on estimates
provided by the hotel industry, at least half of all guests buy these
adult movies, which means that pay-per-view sex from television hotel
rooms may generate about $190 million a year in sales.

The two companies that provide hotels with pornographic films are both
traded on Wall Street. The leader, On Command, based in Denver, Colorado,
is worth more than $400 million, and its principal owner is Liberty Media,
controlled by John C. Malone, the cable and telecommunications magnate
who
sits on the board of AT&T and recently agreed to buy up to 15% of the
shares of Murdoch's News Corp.

At home, Americans buy or rent more than $4 billion a year worth of
graphic sex videos from retail outlets and spend an additional $800
million on less explicit sexual films. On the Internet, meanwhile, sex is
one of the few things that prompt large numbers of people to disclose
their credit card numbers. According to two Web ratings services, about
one in four regular Internet users, or 21 million Americans, visits one of
the more than 60,000 sex sites on the Web at least once a month -- more
people than go to sports or government sites.

The spreading of pornography through the Internet is of particular
concern, given the almost complete lack of control over both content and
the ability of anyone to access the material. According to a Dec. 2 report
in the Globe and Mail newspaper of Toronto, over the past three years
alone, the number of North Americans with Internet access has nearly
tripled to more than 77.4 million. Nearly a third of these users are
pornographic-site regulars.

The Globe and Mail noted that this boom "raises the specter of a cultural
crisis." The Web is bringing pornography out of the back alley and off the
hidden top rack of the magazine shelf, putting it in the hands of anyone
who can get on the Internet.

There has led to a vast increase in the number of people addicted to
X-rated material. An estimated 5.5 million North Americans spend more than
11 hours a week on pornographic sites, which is defined as addiction.

Shareholders' objections
When AT&T announced that it would start offering the hard-core Hot Network
to its 2.2 million digital-cable subscribers beginning in August, they
were castigated by critics and pressured by religious and civic groups
that hold stock in the company.

A group of mutual-fund investors, which included the Sisters of Charity of
New York, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Mennonite
Church, told AT&T its members did not want their 3 million shares invested
in a company that sold pornography, The New York Times reported.

"At the heart of our concern is the concept of mainstream companies
getting into hard-core pornography," said Mark Regier, who manages a
mutual fund for 800,000 members of the Mennonite faith. "For a company
with AT&T's tradition and its charitable work to be involved with
pornography at this level is unbelievable. And I don't think many people
understand what it means to take away the barriers to this kind of
material, such as AT&T is doing."

Not all the media concerns have embraced the pornography business.
Adelphia, the largest cable provider in the Los Angeles area, has dropped
exclusively pornographic programming from its lineup this fall, the
National Catholic Register reported Dec. 3.

Adelphia is America's sixth-largest cable provider, with 5.6 million
subscribers. It has a no-pornography policy. When it buys a company that
carries pornographic channels it quietly drops these channels and offers
alternative programs. While this policy has gone unremarked in many
cities, in Los Angeles the move attracted attention.

In a front-page story Nov. 4, the Los Angeles Times reported that the
programming change by Adelphia has angered the cable executives of other
companies, and it characterized the decision as "risky." However, Robert
W. Peters, president of Morality in Media in New York, applauded
Adelphia's policy, saying that they "deserve a congressional medal."
ZE00121622

----------------

The Big Push for "Morning-After" Pills
"No-Questions-Asked Abortions" for Teens, Is One Description

LONDON, DEC. 16, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- Efforts are under way in a number of
countries to ease access to the so-called morning-after pill. Widely
regarded as a contraceptive, which it can be, the pill has also generated
much controversy, because it can cause an abortion by preventing a
fertilized egg from becoming implanted in the lining of the womb.

Last weekend the British government announced that the "morning-after"
pill would go on sale over the counter in pharmacies as of Jan. 1 --
ostensibly to try to curb the number of unwanted teen-age pregnancies, The
Independent reported Dec. 10.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is issuing strict rules for selling the
"emergency contraceptives." Pharmacists are being warned not to supply the
pills to girls under 16, and to make sure women are not already pregnant.

The morning-after pill is taken in two doses, 12 hours apart, but its
effectiveness drops from 95% to 58% within 48 to 72 hours after
intercourse. Unlike in some other countries (Italy, for example),
pharmacists are also being told that they can refuse to supply the pill if
they have moral or religious objections.

The move to make the pill more accessible was condemned by Liam Fox, the
Conservative Party shadow Health Secretary. In the Dec. 11 Times, Fox
accused the government of rushing the new rule before pharmacists could
attend training courses on the pill, which begin Jan. 9. "We are going to
have huge numbers of pharmacists at the beginning of the year who will be
utterly untrained for this," he said.

Added Ann Widdecombe, the shadow Home Secretary: "I think there are very
good questions healthwise as to whether it will encourage ever more
teen-age sexual activity, whether it will encourage unprotected sexual
activity." Valerie Riches, of Family and Youth Concern, bluntly said that
it would make "no-questions-asked abortions" available to teen-agers.

The Telegraph on Dec. 11 reported on a declaration by the Catholic Church
in England and Wales to the initiative. The declaration said: "That the
government wants to allow teen-agers to buy this morning-after pill so
freely and without a doctor's supervision is misguided and potentially
dangerous. Encouraging casual attitudes to sex is not an effective or safe
way of reducing teen-age pregnancies."

There were indications, moreover, that the government action is not the
end of the story. BBC reported Dec. 11 that some doctors want the
morning-after pill to be available to girls under age 16. Dr. John
Chisholm, a British Medical Association leader, said: "We welcome the
secretary of state's decision but would have liked him to go further. ...
If pharmacists can assess if it is appropriate for someone to have
post-coital contraception, they should be able to assess girls under 16
years."

Airport drop-in
The morning-after pill has been increasingly promoted by the British
government in the last few months. On Oct. 19 the Daily Express reported
that women returning from abroad are being offered the morning-after pill
at an airport drop-in center moments after they touch down in Britain.

The family-planning scheme at Manchester Airport allows women to walk
straight to the National Health Service outlet for the pill. Passengers
can also get advice on sexually transmitted diseases, and managers are
considering giving out free condoms. The new center in the airport
terminal was officially opened in October by Health Minister John Denham.

Meanwhile, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, moves have also
been taken to ensure a wider availability of the morning-after pill. As of
Dec. 1 it became available without a prescription in pharmacies -- a first
in Canada.

Pro-life pharmacists have opposed the sale of this pill. According to a
Nov. 23 report in LifeSite Daily News, Cristina Alarcon, of Pharmacists
for Life in British Columbia, and her pro-life colleagues are refusing to
obey an order by the local College of Pharmacists to dispense
abortifacient morning-after pills or refer patients to a pharmacist who
will dispense them. The college is reacting by threatening punishment,
including possible expulsion.

The Vancouver Province reported that Alarcon estimates up to 100
pharmacists will not go along with the government plan to have the
morning-after pill available without a prescription.

And in Spain, an estimated 40,000 adolescent girls already make use of the
morning-after pill every year, even though officially the pill won't be
launched commercially until February, the Madrid newspaper ABC reported
Nov. 26. The pill is now available at family planning clinics and
hospitals. In February it is due to be on sale in pharmacies, though with
a doctor's prescription.

In the United States the American Medical Association has come out in
favor of over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill. The Washington
Times on Dec. 6 reported that the AMA a day earlier had approved a
resolution asking the government to make the pill more readily available.

The AMA's policy-making House of Delegates passed the recommendation
without discussion during a convention in Orlando, Florida. The move was
welcomed by Joan Coombs, a senior vice president of Planned Parenthood.
"This is a wonderful decision by the AMA," Coombs said. "This is a
terrific resolution."

Two morning-after pills are currently on the U.S. market: Preven and Plan
B. Both were approved for use within the past two years. To make the pills
available over the counter, a pharmaceutical company must apply to the
Food and Drug Administration.

The Church's position
On Oct. 31 the Pontifical Academy for Life released a statement concerning
the morning-after pill in reaction to the decision by Italy's government
to allow its sale in pharmacies. The pontifical agency explained that the
result of taking the pill would be the expulsion and loss of the embryo in
its first days of development.

Only if this pill is taken several days before the moment of ovulation,
continued the statement, could it sometimes act to prevent the latter, and
thus function as a typical contraceptive.

Even if the embryo in question is at its earliest stages, the pontifical
agency declared that "it can never be legitimate to decide arbitrarily
that the human individual has greater or lesser value (with the resulting
variation in the duty to protect it) according to its stage of
development."

The declaration also noted that from the ethical standpoint the same
absolute unlawfulness of abortifacient procedures also applies to
distributing, prescribing and taking the morning-after pill.
ZE00121621

ZENIT, December 16, 2000 - WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS - The World Seen
From Rome

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] TNS news items (12/17/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

HANUKKAH 5761: This coming Friday, 25 Kislev/22 December, is the first
day of Hanukkah. The word 'Hanukkah' means 'dedication' and the festival
is a celebration of the dedication and cleansing of the Temple by the
Maccabees in 165 B.C.E. It is our prayer that the spirit of the Maccabees
may arise in Israel, speaking the words of Mattathias: "Though all the
nations that are under the king's dominion obey him, and fall away every
one from the religion of their fathers, and give consent to his
commandments: Yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant
of our fathers. G-d forbid that we should forsake the Law and the
ordinances. We will not hearken to the king's words, to go from our
religion, either on the right hand, or the left" [1 Maccabees 2.19b-22].
Download the story of Hanukkah -- the first book of the Maccabees -- at
our Web site: [http://www.tzemach.org]. There you can also listen to the
festive song "Hanukkah, Feast of Dedication".

BARAK LOOKING FOR LAST-MINUTE DEAL: Angling for a peace deal
before the
nearing elections, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has agreed to re-open
formal talks with the Palestinians in the United States as early as next
week, despite his repeated promise that negotiations would not resume
"under fire." Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and Barak advisor
Gilad Sher met with PLO chief Yasser Arafat and several top aides in Gaza
late Thursday night. On Friday morning, even while gun battles raged
throughout the disputed territories, Israel and the Palestinian Authority
[PL/PLO] both confirmed they would be meeting shortly in the US to discuss
the renewal of negotiations on a final-status agreement. The two sides
agreed to implement the terms of the unsigned Sharm e-Sheikh truce, and to
bring a stop to the violence, with Israel withdrawing from certain
flash-points, Israeli media reported. If sufficient progress is made in
resumed talks, a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright or US President Bill Clinton may be arranged, even by Christmas.
PA/PLO negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo, who took part in the meeting, told
PA/PLO-run radio Friday morning that the Palestinians do not object to the
talks' resumption, but "the intifada will continue at the same time." New
reports suggest Clinton remains anxious to wrap up a face-saving Mideast
deal before he leaves office on January 20, and that president-elect
George W. Bush is not averse to letting him try. This schedule dovetails
well with Barak's desire to have an agreement in hand by the February 6
election in Israel. In a letter to Arafat delivered by US special Mideast
envoy Dennis Ross in Morocco on Wednesday, Clinton said he would do
whatever it takes to "save the peace process."

PA/PLO NOW PRINTS WEEKLY ITINERARY: Palestinian Media Watch
[pmw@netvision.net.il] reported Sunday that the PA/PLO attached to its
official daily paper Sunday a special four-page insert supporting the
continued violence. The insert included the daily schedule for this week's
violence, and features Fatah (Arafat's PLO faction) as well as Hamas
events. Monday was noted as the founding day of George Habash's PFLP
terrorist organization, and Thursday, Dec. 14, was noted as the founding
day of Hamas. Friday was scheduled to be "General Escalation Day,"
featuring "expanded resistance activity and confrontation in the villages,
and breaking the siege on Al Aksa [on the Temple Mount] and the Holy
City." The day was introduced with the words, "The intifada leadership
reiterates its promise to strengthen national unity and continue along the
common course: blood of the martyrs until success."

PLO FIGHTING WITH STOLEN IDF WEAPONS? Editor's note: The following
is a report from the GUARDIAN
[http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,412059,00.html].
With the intifada entering its 12th week, Yesha [Judea, Samaria and Gaza]
is awash with illegal weapons - enough to keep the terrorists of Yasser
Arafat's Fatah movement fighting for months, the GUARDIAN has learned.
The secret trade obscures an embarrassing fact: that the Palestinians are
getting their guns straight from the Israeli army's arsenals. In this
increasingly vicious war, the guns turned on Israeli troops and Jewish
settlers are Israel's own. Evidence is emerging that arms are being smuggled
from Israeli army weapons depots through a criminal world to the Palestinian
terrorists. Jewish and Arab Israeli arms dealers are acting as middlemen.
The weapons shaping the present intifada arrive through a variety of
channels. At the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, shipments are tossed over
the fence by Egyptian dealers, or slid along tunnels burrowed beneath the
border road. Some arms trickle in through Jordan, carried on small boats
across the Dead Sea, or by Bedouin trekking over the wind-swept desert
hills. Still more travel in air-conditioned luxury, tucked into the Mercedes and
Audis of the most privileged Palestinian officials - the lucky few holding VIP-1
status, giving them immunity from security checks. Others are trafficked by
organized criminals. But, as officials on both sides agree, most of the illegal
guns can be traced back to Israeli army stores. The paymaster behind all
these transactions is alleged to be the Fatah organization, which then sells
the guns on to the Tanzim, or, according to some terrorist members, doles
them out for free.

SOME PEOPLE TAKE THROWING STONES SERIOUSLY: This article
shows not only
that stones can kill, but that the world considers it a serious crime --
except, of course, for the Palestinians. From: "News Report"
[newsreport@newmail.net]

US Teens on Trial for German Motorway Stoning DARMSTADT, Germany
(Reuters/Dec 1, 2000 8:30 am EST) - Three American teenagers went on
trial on Friday for the murder of two motorists killed by large stones thrown
onto a German motorway from a pedestrian overpass. The youths, aged 14,
17 and 18, have admitted they threw the stones. They face jail sentences of
up to 10 years each if they are found guilty. A verdict is expected before
Christmas.

WILL BUSH BE GOOD FOR ISRAEL? If Bill Clinton wanted to make
everybody
feel good, then George W. Bush is expected to ensure that US strategic
interests are served. Israel and the Arabs expect fewer hugs as well as
pledges of aid. Instead, they await a policy that is similar to the
policies of Bush's father, who served as president from 1989 to 1993. [It
was Bush senior who first used the term "New World Order" in speaking to
the United Nations. It was also his Secretary of State -- James A. Baker
III -- who made the statement that Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria
were the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East.] For President Hosni
Mubarak and other Arab allies of the United States that appears to be the
good news.

The 43rd US President's three main power bases: The first is dynastic.
George Bush senior was after all 41st President from 1989 to 1993 and,
quite soon, the Clinton administration will begin to look like an
interregnum between Bush father and Bush son. Bush senior is no retired
elder statesman; he wields great influence in the conservative political,
intelligence and financial circles that control America's military and
business establishments. The Bush fortune is entrenched not only in Texan
oil, but also in the manufacture of advanced satellite, communications and
computer technology, enjoying fat contracts from national military and
intelligence bodies. In 1976, President Ford placed Bush the elder at the
head of the CIA. Although only one year in the job, he is credited with
having introduced advanced technologies, such as spy satellites, super
computers, global eavesdropping devices to the Agency's work methods.

The second Bush bastion is based in Washington's Georgetown - "N Street",
the fabled informal club of intelligence veterans, elder power brokers
from government, industry and the law, and a sprinkling of former big
wheels of allied intelligence, like the UK and Germany, as well as the
great families of America, such as the Rockefellers, and big banking
interests in New York. The Bush representative in "N Street", which in
many ways is more powerful than Wall Street, is James A. Baker III, who
was chief of staff and treasury secretary in the Reagan administration,
secretary of state under Bush, and leading strategist of the current
president's court contests against Al Gore's petitions for recounts in
Florida. Baker heads the most important conservative think tank in the
country, the Baker Public Policy Institute of Rice University in Austin,
Texas.

The third leg of the Bush power base, the Baker Institute is a key
determinant in conservative American policy-making. The new
administration's foreign, military and domestic policy papers will almost
certainly be drafted by its specialists.

Tzemach News Service - http://www.tzemach.org/fyi

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Ha'aretz: France and Germany stop arms sales to Israel
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 01:03:23 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Ha'aretz: France and Germany stop arms sales to Israel
(including non-lethal crowd control devices)

Ha'aretz: France and Germany stop arms sales to Israel (including non-lethal
crowd control devices)

By Nicole Krau Ha'aretz Correspondent Ha'aretz 17 December 2000

Since the outbreak of violence in the territories, in late September, France
and Germany have initiated an undeclared embargo on Israel, refusing to
export defense equipment and materials.

Tomer Avnon, the CEO of TAR Ideal Concept, a company which imports defense
materials for Israel's security forces, says that attempts to acquire a new
smoke-grenade, made by the German firm, Buck, met with refusal. Buck, which
is represented by TAR in Israel, sent a notice saying that at this time it
is impossible to gain an export license from the German government
permitting the sale of defense equipment and materials to Israel.

Avnon had already experienced a similar problem, at the onset of the
Intifada, with a French company called Nobel Securite, from which he sought
to purchase tear-gas grenades for the Israeli police.

According to Le Monde, Israel intended to buy 100,000 grenades at a cost of
$6 million. However, the French Foreign Ministry and the inter-ministerial
committee dealing with exports of military hardware and materials, blocked
the sale, without specifying any reason for their decision. The report adds
that France was concerned with its image if it was seen as selling Israel
weapons to fight the Palestinians. Avnon told Ha'aretz that his company
sought the assistance of MKs and the defense attache based in Paris;
however, the efforts met with no response.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Israel Radio: Arafat will not compromise on return to Haifa
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:16 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 05:42:52 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Israel Radio: Arafat will not compromise on return to Haifa

Israel Radio: Arafat will not compromise on return to Haifa

Aaron Lerner Date: 17 December 2000

Senior diplomatic correspondent Yoni Ben Menachem explained on the
noon news program of Israel Radio that while Israeli officials were
confident that the Palestinians would ultimately compromise on the
right of return of the Palestinian refugees to within the Green Line
(e.g. Haifa, Jaffo, etc.) the Palestinians never gave an indication
that they would in fact compromise.

Ben Menachem predicted that the Palestinians would reject any
agreement that would mean compromising the right of return.

It should be noted that reports of the current negotiations talk of
POSTPONING the right of return rather than permanently compromising
on this issue.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director
IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-548-0092
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
pager 03-6750750 subscriber 4811
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Gilad Sher: no negotiations with Palestinians, just talks
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:15:17 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 05:56:54 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Gilad Sher: no negotiations with Palestinians\
- just talks

Gilad Sher: no negotiations with Palestinians - just talks

Aaron Lerner Date: 17 December 2000

Prime Minister Bureau Chief Gilad Sher explained on Israel Radio's
morning news program today that the Barak Government is not now
engaged in NEGOTIATIONS with the Palestinians.

While NEGOTIATIONS are not taking place, Sher noted, the Barak
Government is engaged in TALKS with the Palestinians in which Israel
presents its offers for final status to see if the Palestinians would
be willing to resume final status negotiations given the Israeli
offers.

It remain unclear at what point the TALKS over Israel=92s proposals
will become NEGOTIATIONS over Israel=92s proposals.

While the Barak Government has taken a strong stand that NEGOTIATIONS
cannot take place until the Palestinians significantly reduce the
violence, there are no such restrictions on TALKS.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Nativity story retold PC style -- minus Joseph
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 18:23:18 -0000

Nativity story retold PC style -- minus Joseph

http://www.worldnews.com/

LONDON, Dec. 17 (UPI) - Manufacturers eager to be politically correct
are retelling the story of Nativity to attract single-parent
customers, published surveys of shops decked out for Christmas showed
Sunday.

Gone are Joseph and dark-skinned kings from some Nativity sets, while
in other examples Joseph appears as a rose-complexioned female.

The traditional Nativity set, used at homes throughout the world as
part of Christmas festivities, depicts a baby Jesus with Mary and
Joseph, her carpenter fianc=E9e in biblical accounts. The Times
newspaper said one London store it questioned about the absence of
Joseph from many Nativity sets told its reporter: "Joseph has done a
runner!"

A spokesman said, "We have a variety of Nativity sets so people can
choose what they like best."

Some other sets on sale presented Joseph as a figure with rosy cheeks
and curly hair, donning a headscarf and cloak and carrying a crook --
almost resembling but not quite like the shepherds that have featured
in the scene through many years.

The shop surveys showed that modified Nativity sets were designed to
appeal to single parents or those with "Sapphic (lesbian)
inclinations."

The manufacturers also responded to customer needs and given buyers
the option to choose the colour of the three wise men, traditionally
identified as kings from Arabia, Persia and India and usually one
with darker skin than the two others. Some sets on sale showed all
three as pale-skinned.

George Austin, the former archdeacon of York in northern England,
commented on the absence of Joseph from Nativity sets in one London
store. He told The Times, "At least John Lewis clearly believes in
the virgin birth."

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