BPR Mailing List Digest: 02/14/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
February 14, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | February, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Vatican, Arabs Make Churches Deal
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 07:57:52 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

12:56 PM ET 02/13/00

Vatican, Arabs Make Churches Deal

By SAMAR ASSAD=
Associated Press Writer=
           JERUSALEM (AP) _ The Vatican will sign an agreement with the
Palestinian Authority on the status of Catholic churches in
Jerusalem _ an indication it recognizes Palestinian claims to the
contested city, a Palestinian official said Sunday.
           The agreement will be signed Tuesday, when Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, Arafat
adviser Nabil Abourdeneh said.
           PLO and Vatican representatives began negotiating the deal two
years ago in Jerusalem, shortly after Israel and the Holy See
signed an agreement to place Catholic institutions in Israel and
east Jerusalem under Israeli jurisdiction.
           The Palestinians were concerned that the agreement implied
recognition of Israeli claims to the disputed sector, captured and
annexed by Israel in 1967 but claimed by the Palestinians as the
capital of a future state. Israel claims the whole city as its
eternal capital.
           Emile Jarjoui, the PLO official who led talks with the Vatican,
said the agreement would ``regulate the relationship between the
Palestinian Authority and the Catholic churches in Jerusalem.''
           ``The agreement would also state the Vatican's position
regarding Jerusalem, the peace process and Palestinian rights,''
Jarjoui said. The Vatican has called Israel's annexation of east
Jerusalem illegal, and does not recognize Israeli sovereignty
there.
           Arafat seeks the Vatican's support in negotiations with Israel
on Jerusalem. Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak are
scheduled to produce a final peace treaty by September.
           Jerusalem Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the highest ranking Catholic
official in the Holy Land, said the Catholic church supports
independence for both Israel and the Palestinians.
           ``All people must enjoy the same rights and statehood, an
Israeli and Palestinian state where Palestinians can live in
freedom,'' Sabbah said.
           The pope is scheduled to visit Israel and the Palestinian areas
in March.
           Sabbah said the pontiff, who plans to visit a Palestinian
refugee camp in the West Bank, would tell the refugees that ``the
world shares your pain and suffering.''

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564214083-1e5

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 08:03:48 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

*** Israel OKs consulate marriages

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Interior Minister Natan Sharansky instituted
a reform Sunday that will allow tens of thousands of Israelis not
considered Jewish by rabbinical courts to get married here. Marriages
in Israel are under the sole jurisdiction of Jewish, Muslim,
Christian and other religious authorities. But under the new
stipulation, dual citizens not recognized as Jewish will be able to
have civil weddings in the consulate of the country of which they are
citizens. The new measure is a blow to Orthodox Jews fighting to
maintain their monopoly over marriage, divorce and burial in Israel.
The change could help hundreds of thousands of Russians who
immigrated to Israel in recent years and have been unable to marry
here. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564220723-277

*** Afghan boy executes father's killer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Thousands of people watched Sunday as a
10-year-old boy publicly executed a man convicted by an Islamic court
of murdering his father. In a sports stadium in southern Kandahar,
the boy shot the man, identified as Mohammed Hashim, four times with
a rifle. Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam,
relatives of a victim carry out the death sentence. The boy, who was
the eldest male member of his family, was accompanied by his mother,
sister and 6-year-old brother. It's not clear how or when the boy's
father was killed. Also in the stadium the Taliban ordered the right
hand and left foot of a man amputated after he was found guilty of
highway robbery. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564210450-de4
*** Also: Saudi, 2 Yemenis suffer amputation, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564209192-162

*** 15 vie for Russian presidency

MOSCOW (AP) - Fifteen people, including acting President Vladimir
Putin, have submitted candidate applications for the March 26
presidential elections, the election commission said Sunday.
Candidates had until Sunday to submit at least 500,000 signatures
supporting their bid for the presidency to the Central Election
Commission. They also had to submit property and income declarations.
Only two of the candidacies have been approved so far, a commission
spokesman said Sunday. Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, whom
opinion polls show as Putin's nearest challenger, and Alexi
Podberyozkin of the leftist Spiritual Heritage group were officially
registered as candidates last week, the spokesman said. The
commission has eight days to consider the registration of the other
candidates. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564217667-b48

*** Poll: Palestinians sour on Barak

JERUSALEM (AP) - Support among Palestinians for attacks against
Israel has increased while trust in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
has declined, according to a poll released Sunday. Support for
attacks on Israeli targets rose from 36% in December to 43%,
according to the poll conducted by The Center for Palestine Research
and Studies, an independent think tank. Half were opposed and 7% of
those questioned expressed no opinion. The question did not specify
military or civilian targets. Palestinian trust in Barak's government
dropped to 16% from 18% in December, within the poll's margin of
error of plus or minus 3%. Still, that showed a sharp decline from
the 29% Barak had among Palestinians when he assumed office in July,
after defeating a hard-line government in elections. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564207567-102

*** Jewish leader defends Haider

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A leader of an Israeli community in Austria
criticized Israel's decision Sunday to ban the entry of Austria's
right-wing leader as a populist move. George Wozasek, president of
the Linz Israeli Cultural Community about 90 miles west of Vienna,
said he had been surprised at the vehemence of the worldwide reaction
to the inclusion of Joerg Haider's Freedom Party in the new Austrian
government. The reaction gave the impression that "stronger states
wanted to interfere in Austria's internal politics, and by doing so,
they were doing no good," Wozasek told Austrian state radio,
according to the Austrian Press Agency. Israel banned Haider from
visiting Israel after his party became one-half of the Austrian
government earlier this month. At the same time, the 14 other EU
members announced they would scale back their relations with Austria.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564217962-81f
*** Also: Jewish leader says scandals help right, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564186194-cc3
*** Also: Austria sees cracks in opposition, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564166279-270
*** And: Moser says people too focused on Haider, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564157171-315

*** China considers armed tax police

BEIJING (AP) - China is considering setting up a special armed police
force to protect tax collectors and help curb rampant tax evasion, a
state-run newspaper said Sunday. Since 1993, more than 20 tax
officials have been killed and hundreds injured, with violence mainly
occurring in rural areas where farmers are often heavily taxed. Tax
evasion also is rampant, with more than $3.6 billion in back taxes
owed at the end of last year, the China Daily said in its Business
Weekly edition. The newspaper said the State Administration of
Taxation, China's tax watchdog, is in talks with government
ministries, including the national police, about how to staff a tax
police force. The State Council, China's cabinet, also is considering
setting up special tax courts and tax procurates, the newspaper said.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564194766-34a

** Spacecraft approaching asteroid

LAUREL, Md. (AP) - A robot craft that missed its mark a year ago is
on target for a Valentine's Day rendezvous with an asteroid named for
the Greek god of love. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)
spacecraft is approaching the asteroid Eros slowly and is expected to
slip into orbit around the mountain-sized space rock at midmorning
Monday. If successful, NEAR will become the first spacecraft to orbit
an asteroid. Researchers hope data compiled about Eros could one day
help humans defend the Earth against a "killer asteroid" like one
thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Eros, a
potato-shaped rock, is 21 miles long and eight miles wide; by
comparison, New York's Manhattan island is about 13 1/2 miles long
and 2 1/2 miles wide. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564224832-66b

*** Rev. Moon marries 20,000 people

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - For most brides, a wedding without a
bridegroom would be difficult to imagine. But Lee Hwa-shin said she
couldn't be happier, even though she and her future husband were
married without ever having met. Lee was among 10,000 couples who
tied the knot Sunday in a mass wedding organized by the Unification
Church of Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The vast majority of the newlyweds
were complete strangers matched by church officials. Lee held a
framed picture of her new husband, Tokumasa Yamashita, in a black
suit. She said Yamashita, a 20-year-old Japanese man studying
computer engineering in the United States, couldn't get a visa in
time to attend. At the end of the ceremony, Lee took out a golden
ring and slipped it on herself. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564213769-171

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Religion Today items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 08:06:15 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

Messianic Jews are decrying the deportation of three women from
Israel. The three came to Israel from Ethiopia in 1991 with their
adoptive father, a Jew, but their birth mother and father, both
dead, were Christians. They were allowed to stay because their
adoptive father presented them as his own daughters, HaAretz, an
Israeli newspaper, said.
...Interior Ministry officials investigated the sisters when they
received a videotape showing them singing at a Messianic Jewish
event, the paper said. After reviewing the papers, the Interior
Ministry decided to revoke their immigrant permits on the grounds
that "forged documents or fallacious disclosures" were presented
at the time of their arrival. The country's high court reaffirmed
that decision last week.
...The women are being persecuted because they believe in Jesus
Christ, the Messianic Action Committee said. The government
discriminates against Messianic Jews, who believe Jesus is
Israel's messiah, MAC said. The court found no indication that
the women, who were teens at the time, intentionally falsified
their documents and it is likely they didn't even fill out the
paperwork, HaAretz said. They "never tried to conceal their
non-Jewish identities from Israeli officials. Upon their arrival
they disclosed that their mother was a Christian," the newspaper
said.
...MAC says the expulsions could set a "dangerous first
precedent" that might lead to other Christians being kicked out.
A 1989 Supreme Court decision says that Messianic Jews are not to
be considered Jewish for the purpose of the Law of Return, which
promises citizenship to people of Jewish descent. Officials might
declare that all Messianic Jews who applied for citizenship since
1989 have made a false declaration, paving the way to kick them
out, MAC said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (see link #1 below) was baptized
as an infant during the communist era, he told a newspaper.
Putin, a candidate for president in the March elections, said his
mother had him baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, without
his father's knowledge, when he was a few months old.
..."My mum and her neighbor in the communal apartment where we
lived took me to church without telling my father, he was a
Communist Party member, and baptized me," Putin told the
Komsomolskaya Pravda paper. He has visited church on a few
occasions since assuming the presidency after Boris Yelstin
resigned and said he wants his children to "sample" religion, the
paper said.
...Putin has promised to uphold democratic reforms, including
religious freedom, but his real beliefs are still unknown by
many. Some religious rights observers have said they fear he will
take the country back to a dictator state.

RELATED LINKS:
1: http://www.religiontoday.com/Archive/FeatureStory/view.cgi?file=20000120.s1..html

http://www.religiontoday.crosswalk.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Kuril and Sakhalin Island Controversy
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 08:09:57 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

The Kuril and Sakhalin Island Controversy

Dateline: 02/14/00

Japan surrendered at the end of World War II on August 14, 1945.
However, in the over 54 years since the end of the war, Japan and Russia
have still not signed a peace treaty ending the conflict between the two
countries.

The reason? A handful of small islands off the northern coast of Japan's
Hokkaido island, which are part of the Kuril Island chain (known as the
Northern Territories in Japan).

Last week, during a four-day visit to Japan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov met with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the two pledged
that a peace treaty between their countries would be enacted by the end of
2000.

Full Story:
http://geography.about.com/education/geography/library/weekly/aa021400a.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Correction to King Abdullah post
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 09:16:50 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

To: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>
Subject: Re: [BPR] - King Abdullah
Date sent: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 09:09:46 -0500

The "stone-faced" quote is from the NYT article which you did not include:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000206mag-
goldberg4.html

The photo is there on the jordan8 page (1999). Pardon the confusion, I can
see how it looked like they were from the same source.

-----Original Message-----
From: BPR <bpr-list@philologos.org>
To: BPR Mailing List <bpr-list@philologos.org>
Date: Monday, February 14, 2000 8:47 AM
Subject: [BPR] - King Abdullah

>From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>
>
>"Stone-faced, he swore an oath and became Jordan's fourth king."
>
>Dan 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors
are
>come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark
>sentences, shall *stand up*. Photo and article:
>
>http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/feb99/jordan8.htm
>
>***
>
>Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of
>the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six
hundred
>threescore [and] six.
>
>Abdullah "stood up" at the age of 37, when the stern-faced photo was taken. In
>the OT, kings are described by the ages in which they began to reign. Someone
>mentioned to me recently, that Allah in Hebrew gematria is 37 (I don't pay much
>mind to gematria, but it was an interesting coincidence, if
it
>is correct).
>
>Abdullah means "servant of Allah". Whoever serves Allah takes his name,
>because that is his name, servant of Allah.
>
>Exd 23:33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me:
>for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
>
>>From the Qur'an (Jesus, Isa, speaking as a baby):
>
>[19.30] He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book
>and made me a prophet;
>
>***
>
>The Hebrew for servant or serve is from the root abd (abad, abed). You can see
>the same reflected in the Arabic, abd + Allah.
>
>Allah has 99 names. That would be the number of his name. The word for
>number in the NT, arithmos, is used 18 times. It is consistently used to
>describe a sum total (e.g. the number of horsemen, 200 million)
>
>http://www.al-islam.org/allah/names/6.html
>
>Hussein and Abdullah raced cars, the number of which being represented on
>the jersey: 99. Photo here:
>
>http://www.akhbar.com/article/0,1690,News-12593,00.html
>
>The photo was from the Pan Arab games last summer in Amman. The
>caption was something like, "King Abdullah cheers Jordan on to victory, in the
>Pan-Arab games".
>
>The trinity of sixes is not necessarily six hundred and sixty six, but 3
>sixes, just like WWW is 3 Hebrew letters, each with a numeric value of 6
>(total of 18).
>
>Chai
>
>"This symbol, commonly seen on necklaces and other jewelry and
>ornaments, is simply the Hebrew word Chai (living), with the two Hebrew
>letters Chet and Yod attached to each other. Some say it refers to the
Living
>G-d. Judaism as a religion is very focused on life, and the word chai has
>great significance. The typical Jewish toast is l'chayim (to life). Gifts
to
>charity are routinely given in multiples of 18 (the numeric value of the
word
>Chai)."
>
>http://www.jewfaq.org/signs.htm
>
>"Because of this system of assigning numerical values to letters, every
word
>has a numerical value. There is an entire discipline of Jewish mysticism
>known as Gematria that is entirely devoted to finding hidden meanings in
the
>numerical values of words. For example, the number 18 is very significant,
>because it is the numerical value of the word Chai, meaning life. Donations
to
>Jewish charities are routinely made in denominations of 18 for that reason.
"
>
>"I recently received an email pointing out that the numerical value of Vav
>(often transliterated as W) is 6, and therefore WWW has the numerical value of
>666! It's an amusing notion, but Hebrew numbers just don't work that
way.
>The numerical value of Vav-Vav-Vav in Hebrew would be 6+6+6=18, so
>WWW is equivalent to life! (It is also worth noting that the significance
of the
>number 666 is a part of Christian numerology, and has no basis that I know of
>in Jewish thought). "
>
>http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm
>
>Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast (37): for it is
>the number of a man (6 + 6 + 6); and his number [is] Six hundred threescore
>[and] six.
>
>37 x 18 = 666
>
>37 is found at Jeremiah 52:31 and 2 Kings 25:27. Also, Joseph interpreted
>Pharoah's dream at age 30, predicting 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years
of
>famine. Thus, the years of plenty ended and the famine began when Joseph
>was 37.
>
>Gen 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh
>king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went
>throughout all the land of Egypt.
>
>FWIW, all "triples" are multiples of 37, since 37 x 3 = 111
>
>Best Regards, D

------- End of forwarded message -------
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NetZero - Defenders of the Free World
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See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Icecap flood fears 'unfounded'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 10:14:13 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Icecap flood fears 'unfounded'
BY MICHAEL HANLON SCIENCE EDITOR

CLAIMS that global warming will melt polar ice caps and flood
much of Britain have been wildly exaggerated, according to
researchers in Australia.

They say sea level rise in the next 100 years will amount to "a
few tens of centimetres" at the most. Far from shrinking, the
polar ice caps could actually increase in size, as higher
temperatures lead to increased snowfall, claims the Antarctic Co-
operative Research Centre.

Full story:
http://www.lineone.net/express/00/02/14/news/n2740icecap-d.html

[BPRnote: If you are interested in the "politics and religion
of the environmental movement" you may want to read Michael S.
Coffman's book "Saviors of the Earth?" (c 1994). The global
warming issue, as well as many other environmental concerns, are
discussed in this 282 page book. Coffman exposes the lies and
the hidden agendas of what he terms "pseudoscience" that
involves a "manipulation of scientific data in a quest for legal
power, political popularity, and Eastern mysticism." For
example, Al Gore claims that 98 per cent of atmospheric
scientists agree that "greenhouse gases" have led to global
warming. Coffman points out that a Gallop poll in 1992 of these
scientists showed that only 17 per cent believe such is the case
while 60 per cent believe that global warming isn't occurring at
all. I read this book a few years ago and hopefully will do a more
extensive review in the next few weeks -- adding it to our BPR
Reference Guide, but I did notice this news headline this morning
and thought it would be a good time to mention it. ]

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weird News
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 12:33:16 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

A private company, leasing land rights from the Israeli government, plans to
build a $6.6 million entertainment complex in Capernaum on the Sea of
Galilee to include an 80-yard-long platform just below the water's surface to
allow visitors to re-create Christ's walk on water (at $5 a head). However,
according to a December Austin American-Statesman report, Roman
Catholic priest and Holy Land scholar Jerome Murphy-O'Connor predicted
the walkway would be used only by "drunk tourists, not serious pilgrims."

A Palm Bay, Fla., engineer renewed his call in September for testing his
theory that bombarding developing hurricanes with nuclear weapons would
disrupt their circular wind flow and cause them to dissipate, saving lives and
curbing property damage. Henry Payne first made the claim in 1997, but a
federal weather official said too many bombs would be needed, resulting in
serious nuclear fallout even if the bombardment took place far from land.

British TV Program Guide: The BBC gave one more try in December to save
the 1980s hit program "One Man and His Dog," whose viewership has fallen
off; the program consists entirely of shepherds (each with his dog) competing
to efficiently herd sheep into pens (although producers jazzed it up by
equipping some sheep with microphones to capture their "baa's"). And a Fall
1999 British-made documentary, "Hidden Love: Animal Passions," reported
on practitioners in Missouri's "zoophile" community (i.e., humans
romantically involved with animals), including an interview with an uncloseted
zoophile gushing over his "wife" Pixel, a horse; said one activist, "We are not
sick at all. Zoosexuality is (merely) an alternative lifestyle."

According to London's Daily Telegraph, U.K.-funded research revealed in
January indicates that within 10 years, countries could require car
manufacturers to install $300 electronic governors that would use satellite
technology to control the maximum speed that cars could travel, varying it
depending on amount of traffic, highway design and driving conditions.

http://weirdnews.about.com/
Week of Feb 7, 2000

Born-again Christian David Strein, 44, announced in November that he would
appeal his 1998 dismissal from a New Mexico state government job for
misusing his computer because he was actually powerless to stay away
from Internet pornography. Strein contended that after he first discovered
online porn, "Satan told me to check it out some more." Also, said Strein,
once at a porn site, he was trapped on a virtually endless loop of sex sites
that had taken over his computer. (The administrative law judge had ruled
that Strein had visited too many sites and given them his credit-card number
too many times to have been blameless.)

http://specials.about.com/service/topical/weirdnews/archive/000123.htm
Week of Jan 23, 2000

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinians Set September for Statehood
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:08:04 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

12:00 PM ET 02/14/00

Palestinians Set Sept. for Statehood

By KARIN LAUB=
Associated Press Writer=
           JERUSALEM (AP) _ On the day Israeli and Palestinian negotiators
missed an important target date on the road to peace, Yasser Arafat
set a deadline of his own _ a declaration of Palestinian statehood
by September, with or without Israel's blessing.
           A resolution passed Sunday night by Arafat and his Fatah
Revolutionary Council, a gathering of 132 top loyalists, said the
Palestinians are entitled to statehood this year, no later than
September.
           September is the deadline for a peace treaty with Israel that
would define the terms of Palestinian statehood. However, talks
have bogged down, raising questions about whether an agreement is
possible by the deadline.
           Speaking in Marrakech, Morocco today, Arafat said the current
blockage in the Middle East peace process has created a ``dangerous
and explosive situation.''
           On Sunday, an important target date was missed. It was to have
been the day a framework treaty, or outline of the final deal, was
signed in a festive White House ceremony.
           Instead, the day was marked by mutual recriminations, with each
side blaming the other for lack of progress.
           The Palestinians say Barak prefers to reach a peace treaty with
Syria first. The chief Israeli negotiator, Oded Eran, said that in
four months of talks he never got a proposal from the Palestinians
that he could have taken back to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
           Across the Arab world, government officials and newspapers were
taking the Palestinians' side.
           ``Failing to keep promises, as the current Israeli prime
minister is doing, is a useless and baffling maneuver,'' Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak was quoted as saying by Egypt's Middle East
News Agency. In Damascus, Tishrin newspaper, which reflects
official government opinion, reported in a banner headline that the
framework agreement was postponed ``owing to Tel Aviv's
procrastination.''
           Some Israeli analysts believe Arafat may prefer to get to
September without a peace treaty. If that happens, he would not be
forced to make painful concessions on the status of Jerusalem and
the fate of Palestinian refugees that would likely earn him disdain
in much of the Arab world.
           But Palestinian negotiators say they are serious about reaching
a peace treaty and that a unilateral declaration is not the
preferred option. Arafat has full or partial control over less than
40 percent of the West Bank, with much of the land split up and
scattered.
           In an effort to get the Palestinians back to the table, Eran
said Israel was ready to concede a key Palestinian demand: a
contiguous block of land in the West Bank, seen by the Palestinians
as a crucial underpinning to a future state. Eran also said
explicitly for the first time that Israel will have to give up some
Jewish settlements.
           Barak, meanwhile, warned that Palestinian militants are pushing
hard to carry out terror attacks to scuttle talks.
           Last week, a car carrying explosives apparently meant for a
bombing in Israel blew up prematurely, killing a Palestinian man
and wounding another. And the Israeli daily Haaretz said the
Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah has begun
plotting attacks with Palestinian militant groups headquartered in
Damascus, Syria.
           The stalled Palestinian talks come as Israel is facing problems
on other fronts as well.
           One is Syria. Syria and Israel continue to argue over what to do
with the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast
War and annexed in 1981. Peace talks between the sides have been
suspended.
           In a protest marking the Golan annexation's anniversary today,
about 200 Druse Arabs threw stones at Israeli police in the Golan.
The police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, and Israel
radio said three protesters were injured. In a Syrian-controlled
section of the Golan, dozens of Syrian protesters gathered at the
edge of the Israeli territory and shouted ``You Zionists, you
cowards, leave the Golan.''
           Israel also faces trouble in neighboring Lebanon, where Israeli
troops have been stationed for 15 years to create a buffer zone
guarding northern Israel against incursions.
           Israeli warplanes struck suspected guerrilla hideouts in
southern Lebanon today following three days of relative lull in the
region, Lebanese security officials said. There was no immediate
comment from Israel on the raids, and there was no word on
casualties.
           Lebanese guerrillas, primarily Hezbollah, are fighting to oust
1,500 Israeli soldiers and their allied 2,500-strong South Lebanon
Army militia from the region. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has
promised to withdraw from the border zone by July.

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564246123-2e7

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Scholars Seek New Image of God
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:14:54 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

03:49 AM ET 02/14/00

Scholars Seek New Image of God

By WILLIAM McCALL=
Associated Press Writer=
           CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) _ In 16th century Europe, the conversation
would likely have resulted in people being burned at the stake. But
in 21st century Oregon, it was merely a polite dialogue that drew
laughter and applause.
           Five Christians _ three of them women _ sat with a Jew and a
Muslim before an audience of more than 1,200 at Oregon State
University, talking about the need to change the face of God.
           Many of them remarked that such a gathering in a secular
academic setting would have been unthinkable even a few decades
ago, when religious common ground was nearly vacant and being
squeezed by both fundamentalism and science.
           The two-day ``God at 2000'' conference at Oregon State
University concluded Saturday with a speech on traditional
Christian principles by former South African archbishop and Nobel
Prize-winner Desmond Tutu.
           Conference organizer and bestselling author Marcus Borg
discussed the many different views of God held by the enduring
religions of the world, then pulled together their underlying
similarity.
           The true essence of God, Borg found, was more of a duality _ a
distant and transcendent force that encompasses the universe while
simultaneously dwelling inside each person, immanent in each living
thing, tying them all together.
           Such a God was beyond religion, Borg said _ existing everywhere,
touching the consciousness of all things, without need for churches
or even prayer. The whole point of religion, he said, was simply to
guide people to God, not to serve as an end in itself.
           ``I find it literally incredible that the God of the whole
universe has chosen to be known by just one religious tradition,''
said Borg.
           Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr described God as a ``placid
lake.''
           ``We are like snowflakes falling toward that lake, to dissolve
and become one again,'' Nasr said.
           Harvard theologian and author Diana Eck talked about the vast
richness of Hindu imagery, with its multitude of faces for a single
God, both masculine and feminine.
           She noted there already are more Muslims in the United States
than Presbyterians, and more Hindus than Episcopalians. But ``none
of us owns the universe of faith,'' she said.
           Psychologist and Benedictine nun Joan Chittister hammered home
another conference theme in noting ``religion and spirituality are
not synonymous.''
           People are hungry for spiritual nourishment, she said, which can
be seen as a metaphor for a more feminine view of the very
masculine, paternalistic God handed down by centuries of Western
religious tradition.
           ``It's never 'God our Mother''' in the Bible, Chittister said to
laughter and applause.
           Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, a regular commentator on National Public
Radio, likened religions to mountain guides. Different religions
offer different equipment and different paths to God at the
mountaintop, but eventually ``they all get to the same place.''
           ``The problem,'' he said to laughter, ``comes when they argue
about what to wear.''
           The choice of which religion ``to wear'' may even be more
difficult now because technology has created a global community
that shares religions rather than isolating people, said Karen
Armstrong, a former nun turned author and TV commentator in Great
Britain.
           Church attendance in Britain has sunk to 6 percent of the
population, she said, reflecting a widespread weariness of
organized religion in Europe.
           After taking vows as a teen, Armstrong said she had a miserable
experience while learning traditional Roman Catholic doctrine. She
said she still finds herself unable to pray, even though she has
drawn together elements of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to
fashion her own religious beliefs.
           ``This kind of sharing would have been pretty unthinkable 150
years ago,'' she said. ``We can never think of religion in the same
way again.''

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564234209-1b6

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:14:54 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

*** Vatican has communist-era problem

VATICAN CITY (AP) - One of the thorniest legacies for the Roman
Catholic church from the communist era in eastern Europe - the secret
ordination of married priests and bishops in Czechoslovakia - has not
been resolved, the Vatican said Monday. Some married priests have
agreed to join a church of the Eastern rite, but others have refused,
the Vatican said, expressing irritation at those who have turned down
attempts at a compromise. The Communist government in Czechoslovakia
had taken one of the hardest lines in the Soviet bloc against
religious activity. Desperate for priests, some bishops performed
secret ordinations. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564246422-281

*** Israel plans strike in S. Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Israeli warplanes struck suspected guerrilla
hideouts in southern Lebanon Monday following a three-day lull in
attacks, Lebanese security officials said. They said two jets each
fired a missile at Iqlim al-Tuffah, a mountain stronghold of the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas that faces an Israeli-held border
zone in southern Lebanon. Black smoke billowed from the area after
the afternoon attack, but there was no word on casualties, said the
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Israel did not
immediately comment. It was not known what prompted the air raids.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564247017-a07

*** Sect members on hunger strike

BEIJING (AP) - About 140 members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual
movement have staged a hunger strike in a northeast China detention
center, and at least two are already into their ninth day without
food, a human rights group said Monday. Practitioners stopped eating
Feb. 4 to protest their detention and to demand that they be released
for the Chinese New Year, which began Feb. 5, the Hong Kong-based
Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China
said. Some refused food for just three to five days, it said. But at
least two people had by Monday not eaten for nine days, putting their
lives at risk, said Lu Siqing, the center's director. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564234970-552

*** China arrests Catholic archbishop

BEIJING (AP) - Police have taken into custody an 80-year-old
archbishop of China's underground Roman Catholic Church who had
previously spent nearly 30 years in prison, a monitoring group said
Monday. About 150 police arrested Archbishop John Yang Shudao around
midnight on Feb. 10 in Fuzhou, the capital of southeastern Fujian
Province, the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation said. Officials of
China's Religious Affairs Bureau said they were not aware Yang had
been detained. In 1955, Yang was arrested and sentenced to life in
prison for defying an order to denounce the pope as the supreme
authority of the Roman Catholic Church and for refusing to cooperate
with the establishment of a government-controlled church. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564242347-ad5

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Daywatch News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:20:35 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

NEW YORK -- A media watchdog group is calling on TV viewers to
turn off the tube on Valentine's Day to publicize "the immorality
of today's television and get people to do something about it," a
spokesman for the group said. Turn Off TV Day, now in its ninth
year, is growing in popularity with people who object to immoral
programming and feel powerless to do anything about it, Morality
in Media (MIM) spokesman Patrick McGrath said.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000214a.htm

NEW DELHI -- Hindu fundamentalist groups in India are trying to
curb the activities of other religious groups and control the
'expressions' of those not conforming to their world view,
according to analysts here. As examples, analysts point to Hindu
attempts to change the Indian constitution in ways that would
restrict the right of minority Christians and Muslims to preach
and practice their religion freely.
Full Story: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000214d.htm

via: daywatch@mcjonline.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - To All Us Citizens Born in Jerusalem
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:34:00 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

[This was forwarded to me by a list member. I believe we did something on it
a long, long time ago and I think it's interesting enough to take a second look
at it.--Moza]

To All Us Citizens Born In Jerusalem
by Jeff Daube and Shoshanna Walker

If you or any of your children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nieces,
nephews, were born in Jerusalem, then you were not born in any particular
country at all!

This is according to the United States Department of State, because the
State Department does not recognize Israel's sovereignty over any part,
eastern or western, of Jerusalem. This policy is reflected in your American
birth certificates and passports which record your place of birth as
Jerusalem," instead of including the city and country, "Jerusalem, Israel," as
is the case everywhere else. Moreover, this policy is in flagrant violation of
the will of Congress, which recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in
the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which became public law on November 8, 1995
(public law 104-45).

Because of this, we are attempting to get legislation introduced and passed
which would require that "For purposes of the registration of birth,
certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport of a United States
citizen born in the city of Jerusalem, the Secretary of State shall record the
place of birth as "Jerusalem, Israel." This would help affirm US recognition of
Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

If you would like to go on record as a constituent who is upset by this unjust
policy, we will be glad to pursue this matter with your congressmen and
senators. In order for us to include you in our campaign, we need your
present or last US voting address, including full name, street address, city,
state and zip code, as well as the number of children born in Jerusalem
hospitals. Due to the fact that our next trip to Capitol Hill will be February 8-
9, it is imperative that we receive this information as soon as possible.
Please contact Shoshanna Walker: rosewalk@concentric.net or Jeff Daube:
jrmail@rcn.com

We now have about 350 names of outraged parents and grandparents of US
citizens born in Jerusalem who officially were not born in Israel, on our list.
There are still hundreds and hundreds of people who do not know about our
campaign. The more names we have, the more Congress will be impressed.

Please help us spread the word, and ask any United States citizens whom
you may know, to contact us as soon as possible. We are including parents,
grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc., of US citizens born in
Jerusalem, who might want to pursue this matter with us. We would be most
appreciative if you would ask whoever you know, to contact us at their
earliest convenience.

Thank you for your support.

http://bridgesforpeace.com/publications/news/Article-1.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - First Light from Eros Orbit
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:36:32 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

Space Science News for February 14, 2000

First Light from Eros Orbit: NEAR's first close-up pictures from Eros
orbit have arrived at Earth. This story includes a beautiful image of a
large crater on the asteroid and highlights from this afternoon's NASA
press briefing. FULL STORY at

http://www.spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast14feb_1a.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Starshine Satellite to Reenter into Earth's Atmosphere Around Feb 18
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 21:48:29 -0500

From: "Moza" <moza7@netzero.net>

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Starshine Satellite To Reenter Into Earth's Atmosphere Around Feb
18
Date: 14 Feb 2000 23:09 UT From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory To:
SEDSNEWS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU

Alan Pickups Starshine Decay Page
http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/starshine/

Last updated: 2000 February 14 at 22:15 UTC

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

Starshine is falling slowly in altitude with each orbit as it encounters the
fringe of the Earth's atmosphere, with its rate of fall increasing as it meets
increasing resistance. You can view a diagram of the decrease in its average
height over the past few months. Eventually, the atmospheric resistance
("drag") will become too much and Starshine will reenter the atmosphere,
"burning up" like a slow bright meteor or fireball that might, if we are lucky,
be observed somewhere around the Earth.

It is hard to estimate when and where the reentry will occur, but I hope to
keep you informed of my "best guess" via this page. The main uncertainty is
due to variations in the density of the upper atmosphere, usually in response
to disturbances from the Sun. A solar flare, for example, can cause the
density to increase greatly, making Starshine's orbit decay more quickly
than expected and bringing forward the time of reentry.

My current estimate for Starshine's reentry now stands at February 18 at
about 12:58 UTC, with an uncertainty of + or - 21 hours. Note that this is a
UTC time (Coordinated Universal Time) and you should convert it into the
local time for your own time zone by following the advice and examples in
the table below. I intend to update this prediction every day or so and, over
the final days, I will include an estimate of where the reentry might be visible.

Using the excellent Heavens-Above pages you can obtain predictions of just
where to look for Starshine and other satellites. Alternatively, if you have a
more technical background and a suitable computer program to generate
your own predictions, you may obtain a recent set of data that describes the
orbit of Starshine. A more detailed decay prediction for Starshine, including
predicted orbital data, is found on my SatEvo Decay Watch page. An
independent set of Starshine decay predictions is being published by Harro
Zimmer.

To convert UTC times into your local time in the USA:

   * For the Eastern (EST) time zone, subtract 5 hours so that, for example,
     16:30 UTC converts to 11:30 EST;
   * For the Central (CST) time zone, subtract 6 hours so that 19:15 UTC
     converts to 13:15 CST (or 1:15 pm CST);
   * For the Mountain (MST) time zone, subtract 7 hours which would convert
     09:45 UTC into 02:45 MST;
   * For the Pacific (PST) time zone, subtract 8 hours, making 23:55 UTC the
     same as 15:55 PST (ie 3:55 pm PST);
   * For Alaska, subtract 9 hours so that 11:11 UTC becomes 02:11 AST;
   * For Hawaii, subtract 10 hours to make 18:00 UTC the same as 08:00
HST.

via: SEDSNEWS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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