BPR Mailing List Digest: 07/31/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
July 31, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | July, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 31, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 08:21:46 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

A&E - BIOGRAPHY CLOSE-UP - "You Want to Bet?" -
Bettors fuel the rapid growth of U.S.
gambling.(CC)(TVG)

DISC - THE REAL FORT KNOX - The highly guarded fortress
houses U.S. gold reserves.(CC)(TVG)

9:00

DISC - THE GREAT SIBERIAN EXPLOSION - Interviews and
computer animation explore a 1908 explosion that continues to
baffle scientists.(CC)(TVG)

HIST - WEALTH & POWER - "Tyrants & Plunderers"
          - Alexander the Great; Genghis Khan; Suleiman the
          Magnificent; King Louis XIV; Peter the Great;
          Napoleon.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "Hooked on a Dream:
America's Lotteries" - Some call government-supported
lotteries regressive taxation.(CC)

DISC - BODY STORY - "Body Snatchers" - The body reacts to
foreign organisms such as a flu virus and a growing
fetus.(CC)(TVG)

HIST - GOLD MINES - Gold stands as a symbol of power, wealth
and love.(CC)(TVG)

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Iraq Prepares for Attack
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 08:26:50 -0400

Iraq Prepares for Attack

NewsMax.com
Sunday, July 30, 2000

Saddam Hussein is poised to launch a full-scale military invasion of
Kurdistan, according to a report late last week in the Times of London.

If the Iraqi attack takes place, it will be a re-enactment of a similar attack
Saddam Hussein made in August 1996, in the run-up to the U.S. presidential
election.

At the time, President Clinton vowed to defend Kurdistan, and several cruise
missiles were fired at radar stations. Critics wondered why the Clinton
administration fired the cruise missiles at radar stations nowhere near Iraq's
military operation against the Kurds.

Hussein quickly backed off.

The Times of London reports, "Six Iraqi infantry and mechanised army
divisions are poised on the edge of Kurdistan, awaiting President Saddam
Hussein's order to strike in a blow that would challenge America's pledge to
protect the Kurds."

The Times says the Iraqi attack plan, entitled Operation Justice, is aimed at
capturing Suleimaniya, a large Kurdish city, and two dams that supply water
to central Iraq.

"The plan was disclosed by an Iraqi military intelligence source who recently
defected. He said it entailed three divisions of infantry, accompanied by three
armoured divisions, driving north from three separate locations and sweeping
towards Suleimaniya, headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),
headed by Jalal Talabani. Tanks and armoured personnel carriers had been
moved into place south of Chamchamal, Kufri and Kallar. A total of 800 tanks
and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) had joined the infantry divisions,
each numbering 12,000 men, with Republican Guard divisions in reserve."

The Times noted the 1996 parallel: "The Iraqi operation would mirror its
August 1996 invasion of Kurdistan, when Saddam's troops swept north to
Irbil and destroyed the headquarters of the opposition Iraqi National
Congress, killing hundreds of supporters. CIA agents escaped just ahead of
the Iraqi columns, leaving files which Saddam used to track down and
murder their associates."

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/7/30/102329

For more NewsMax.com stories on Saddam Hussein and Iraq, CLICK
HERE.

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=1998/12/18/142725

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - UN snubs Dalai Lama
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 08:31:56 -0400

                             Saturday, July 29, 2000

                   UN snubs Dalai Lama

ASSOCIATED PRESS in New York

                Updated at 2.53pm, Saturday:
                The Dalai Lama has been left off the invitation list for a
                gathering of more than 1,000 religious leaders at the
                Millennium World Peace Summit in the United Nations
                next month, for fear of offending Beijing.

                ''China would object vehemently to his presence here
                because they consider Tibet their territory and the Dalai
                Lama challenges that,'' said UN spokesman Fred
                Eckhard.

                The Dalai Lama, who was awarded the 1989 Nobel
                Peace Prize, fled Tibet in 1959 with thousands of
                supporters after a failed revolt against mainland rule.

                Mr Eckhard said an official who oversees UN relations
                with citizens groups ''advised organisers there would be
                a political controversy should they invite the Dalai Lama
                to the United Nations''.

                Conference organisers this week did invite the Dalai
                Lama to attend the last two days of the conference,
                which are not being held at the United Nations, and
                asked him to give the closing address at a New York
                hotel.

The Office of Tibet, the US representative of the Dalai
Lama, said he has not yet responded to the invitation.

Some supporters of the Dalai Lama said it was too little,
too late.

                ''It's not even as full an invitation as the one extended to
                the other invitees to the Summit - and this to a Nobel
                Peace Prize laureate and to one of the most revered
                spiritual leaders on the planet,'' said Brahma Das,
                executive director of the Council for Interfaith Call for
                Universal Religious Freedom and Freedom of Worship
                in Tibet.

                Another Nobel Peace laureate, Desmond Tutu, wrote
                to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan overnight (HK
                time), protesting the ''totally bizarre and quite
                unbelievable'' treatment of the Dalai Lama.

                Bishiop Tutu, Anglican archbishop emertius of Cape
                Town, was invited to the meeting but was unable to
                attend. ''Had I accepted,'' he added in his letter to Mr
                Annan, ''I would have withdrawn as a small protest
                against a very sad aberration.''

                The gathering, scheduled for August 28-31, will bring
                together leaders of religious groups worldwide to
                discuss conflicts and initiate religion-based efforts to
                resolve them.

http://www.scmp.com/News/China/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-
20000729144956578.asp

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - European Internet Network (EIN) items (7/31/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 08:36:28 -0400

U.S., CHINA ARMS TALKS IN HAWAII IN AUGUST
HONG KONG -- U.S. and Chinese arms control officials will meet in Hawaii
next month, officials from both sides said after Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright met Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Friday.
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=184052&text

LOWER STATUS FOR RUSSIA ROCKET FORCE "UNAVOIDABLE"
MOSCOW -- A senior general said on Friday a reduction in the status of
Russia's nuclear forces was unavoidable under proposed military reforms but
that did not necessarily mean their deterrent role was about to be
eroded.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=184057&text

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/31/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 08:53:42 -0400

*** Israel's Knesset to vote on Barak

JERUSALEM (AP) - Two parliament votes taking place on the same day
could be the key to reversing Prime Minister Ehud Barak's political
fortunes, teetering on the brink of disaster since he agreed to
attend the Camp David summit. The Knesset on Monday was to determine
Israel's next president and also vote on a no-confidence motion
brought by opponents of the peace process. Barak commands the loyalty
of only 42 Knesset members. But another 20 or so in the opposition in
the 120-member unicameral chamber have said they would not topple his
government over peace moves. The votes come on the last day of the
Knesset's summer session, and if Barak's minority government survives
the no-confidence motion - as it is likely to - Barak will be free to
pursue his peace agenda unhampered by parliamentary maneuvers until
October. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2568557018-33a

*** Pakistan seeks U.S. help

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's anti-corruption bureau is
asking Washington to help retrieve millions of dollars in state
wealth allegedly stolen by some of country's richest residents - who
then fled to the U.S. In the 9 months since the army took power from
Pakistan's civilian government, officials have recovered millions of
dollars in outstanding bank loans and payments made by corrupt
politicians, bureaucrats and businesspeople who bargained their way
out of jail, said the country's chief prosecutor, Farooq Adam.
Pakistan is a poor country of 140 million people where the average
annual salary is $400. It needs the money back, Adam said in an
interview Saturday. The United States has agreed to send a legal
expert to Pakistan to pore over evidence accumulated by the army
since it tossed out Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last fall. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2568543757-2d2

*** Nuclear waste may help cancer

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - Locked away for more than 40 years in guarded
concrete vaults at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory may be the key
to a promising new therapy for cancer patients. The lab's 1-ton cache
of weapons-grade uranium-233, until now considered waste, is the
nation's only readily available source for a potent isotope that can
kill leukemia cells without harming healthy cells. Researchers at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York are developing the
"alpha particle immunotherapy" and last year completed initial human
tests. The isotope bismuth-213 was attached to an antibody designed
to carry the alpha-emitting isotope to the cancer. The tests were to
see if the treatment did more harm than good in acute myeloid
leukemia patients. Not only was the therapy safe, but leukemia cells
were eliminated in the blood stream and reduced in the bone marrow of
13 of the 18 patients taking part, researchers said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2568543455-cbb

*** Summer a cool thing in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) - The sky was low and gray and mist fell Sunday as one
of the region's coolest, dampest Julys on record shrugged toward a
close. At what should be one of the hottest times of the year, the
temperature barely made it to 72 Sunday in Central Park. While the
South had a wilting heat wave for part of the month, it was only the
second time in 100 years that July has passed in New York without the
mercury ever reaching 90 degrees, meteorologists say. The average was
72.54 degrees, not even up to the long-term average of 76.8. That's
in sharp contrast with July 1999 - which had 18 days over 90 and two
days above 100. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2568543800-00a

*** Piped lake water cools campus

ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) - On humid days, frigid water piped from the depths
of Cayuga Lake keeps everyone cool in the dormitories, classrooms and
research laboratories at Cornell University. Because there's nothing
quite like it anywhere in the world, the school's new lake-chilled,
air-conditioning system could someday be a model copied in
communities that lie next to oceans or deep inland waters such as the
Great Lakes. At 425 feet, Cayuga is the second deepest of the 11
Finger Lakes in west-central New York - long, slender exclamation
marks gouged by glaciers during the Ice Age. In July, a pipeline
strung 2 miles north along the lake bed to a depth of 250 feet began
pumping 39-degree Fahrenheit water to a heat-transfer station near
Ithaca. Water that far down hardly varies in temperature all year
long. The piped lake water, flowing past heat-exchanging steel
plates, absorbs the mugginess in the 12 million-square-foot Ivy
League campus. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2568543444-398

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Comet LINEAR Erupts and La Palma Burns
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 09:01:18 -0400

Comet LINEAR Erupts and La Palma Burns
By Marshall Masters
YOWUSA.COM, July 31, 2000

Last Friday, a wealth of knowledge about Comet LINEAR made its way to
the web, just in time to be buried over the weekend before the Monday
morning headlines. Yet, what came forth in this rapid spate of
announcements is amazing.

http://www.yowusa.com/

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Space Daily Express - July 31, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 09:03:01 -0400

MARSDAILY.COM

- Athena Cuts Dual Pathways To Mars
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars2003-00c1.html

Cameron Park - July 31, 2000 - NASA will launch a copy
of Cornell's long-range "Athena" rover to Mars in 2003,
rather than Lockheed Martin's proposal to refly a Mars
Global Surveyor class orbiter with a new set of instruments.
In a five-part report by SpaceDaily, Bruce Moomaw details
the status of Mars exploration as last year's twin failures
continue to haunt NASA.

------------
DRAGON SPACE

- China News Confirms October Test Flight
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-00zt.html

Beijing (AFP) July 31, 2000 - China is preparing the second
in an unspecified number of unmanned space flights as part
of a program to send a Chinese astronaut into space, state
press reported Monday.

------------
STATION NEWS

- ISS Supply Vessel To Be Launched Sunday Week
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/iss-00zr.html

Moscow (AFP) July 31, 2000 - The supply vessel Progress is
to be launched Sunday August 6, to link up to ISS, the
Russian space control center (TSOUP) said Thursday.

------------
SPACEWAR.COM

- Japan Slowly Shifting Focus To Military Space
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/japan-spysat-00a.html

Tokyo - July 27, 2000 - At a meeting last week of the
strategic space planning panel of Japan's Space Activities
Commission a large number of participants highlighted the
growing need for Japan to look at its space development
program from a security perspective.

- North Korea's Missile Program Remains Shrouded In Secrecy
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/korea-00s.html

Seoul (AFP) July 28, 2000 - " border=0>Pyongyang's offer to
abandon its missile program in exchange for space-rocket
technology remains unclear as US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said Friday her talks with North Korean counterpart
Paek Nam-Sun in Bangkok had not produced any details.

--------------
SPACE-SHIP.COM

- Sea-Launch Returns To Service In Flawless Panamsat Launch
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/panamsat-00k.html

Los Angeles - July 28, 2000 - PAS-9, a high-power Hughes 601HP
satellite was successfully launched for PanAmSat by Sea Launch
from the central Pacific at 3:42 p.m. PDT July 28 with the
satellite now in a Geo Transfer orbit.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Goths hear the gospel in Smyrna
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 09:22:51 -0400

July 31, 2000

Goths hear the gospel in Smyrna
Protesting rockers in death-mask makeup are welcomed by congregants at
Cobb worship center.
Mary MacDonald - Staff Monday, July 31, 2000

Cecil Perkins, an usher, warmly shook the hands of the young men and
women in death-mask makeup, then held open the door of International
Gospel Outreach Family Church.

"Good morning," he said brightly. "Welcome to the house of the Lord."

With that, the first dozen of 25 Goth-style protesters politely entered the
interdenominational church in Smyrna.

One had a spiked, leather bondage mask strapped to his face. Another had
a black T-shirt with the number 666 surrounded by the religious symbol of
the fish.

They eventually filled two rows in the back of the church, looking on
impassively as congregants shouted, danced and swayed with fervor to a
gospel chorus.

They showed up, organizers explained later, to exercise their freedom to
dress and speak as they please. The senior pastor has equated rock music
with devil worship, said organizer Michael Mallott, who did not attend. Most
are members or fans of metal and Goth bands, and they find the satanic
comparison unfair.

The Rev. Robin Hancox, senior pastor, disputes all that. "I always promote
Godly principle," he said. "To my recollection, none of that ever happened
here."

The protesters' appearance was sparked instead, he said, by a failed
outreach effort. A member of the church had tried, unsuccessfully, to help
one of the young men embrace God, Hancox said.

Regardless, the silent protest made for a weird afternoon.

Halfway through the two-hour service, urged by a preacher to "look at your
neighbor, and say I'm glad you're here," a regular parishioner crossed the
center aisle to give one of the band members a hug. He received it
awkwardly.

After the service ended, curious church members approached band
members, who lingered near the entrance.

A woman and her young son, both dressed in their Sunday best, spoke for a
few moments to the guy who showed up in bondage headgear.

"This type of church pulls all types of people in. Everybody's hungry," said
Kenneth Bentley, the bass player for the church band. "I wanted them to not
feel like they were freaks, that they were welcome."

Several children giggled at the ghoul makeup worn by six or seven members
of Fiends Carnival of Souls, a Macon band described by singer Jason Moss
as "horror/epic/punk/metal." Their latest tape includes the songs "Spooky
Heaven" and "Devil's Shadow".

Moss and the rest of the band applied their stage makeup --- white
foundation, blackened eyes and lips, and a single black tear --- shortly before
arriving at church.

Mallott, a band promoter who organized the protest, said he had attended
the church several times before, and found himself treated differently when he
arrived one day in Goth-style appearance. "I wanted people to see we're good
people," he explained. "They shouldn't be afraid of us just because of the
way we look."

Kenny Brooks, a fairly new congregant, thought there was some validity in
that. "Even God says don't judge a book by a cover."

But there was something unusual about seeing ghoulish makeup, chains and
black combat boots in a church setting, he said.

"I wouldn't want to see it in my church, but that's their preference," he said.
"...The Bible says, 'Come as you are.' "

http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/local_news
_9358d005b163e1e20047.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Sanhedrin by Prof. Paul Eidelberg
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 10:20:23 -0500

From: BSaphir@aol.com
Date sent: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 06:08:10 EDT
Subject: THE SANHEDRIN BY PROF. PAUL EIDELBERG
To: freemanlist@lists.io.com

THE SANHEDRIN

BY PROF. PAUL EIDELBERG

Because of the anti-Jewish as well as anti-democratic tendencies of
Israel's Supreme Court, especially under the leadership of Chief
Justice Aaron Barak, serious Jews have turned their attention to the
Great Sanhedrin and the possibility of re-establishing this ancient
institution. They know, of course, that no Sanhedrin can exist
without the Temple, the Beit HaMikdash.

Moreover, and according to Maimonides, the building of the Temple
presupposes the appointment of a king and the destruction of Amalek.
But this means that the establishment of the Great Sanhedrin will
require the advent of the Moshiach.

It's commendable that some Jews are thinking in these terms, but no
one should be under the illusion that establishing the Sanhedrin is
comparable to establishing a rabbinical court. Furthermore, and with
all due respect, one may wonder whether our most learned rabbis today
possess the qualifications required of the Sanhedrin as specified in
Maimonides' Mishne Torah, from which much of the following is drawn.

Consisting of seventy-one judges, the Great Sanhedrin judicial and
legislative powers. The President of the Sanhedrin must be capable of
teaching the whole of the Torah and of deciding any question within
its all-embracing domain. Of course every member of the Sanhedrin
must be expert in Torah. But the judges must also be versed in many
branches of science, such as astronomy, mathematics, logic, anatomy,
and medicine. They must possess knowledge of non-Torah doctrines and
practices so as to be able to deal with cases requiring such
knowledge. Accordingly, the judges must be familiar with secular
law, indeed, with international law. I would go further: they
should be competent in a such disciplines as political and military
science. One may wonder whether our most learned rabbis fulfill
these intellectual qualifications.

Turning to their personal qualifications, to maximize public
confidence in their decisions, the judges must be of good lineage:
Kohanes, Levites, and Israelites having a reputation for wisdom and
reverence. They must be of spotless character (even as youth, so as
not to give cause for recrimination). They must be of mature age,
imposing stature, good appearance, and free from all physical defects
-- again to command respect and authority. An extremely old man or a
man who is childless cannot be a judge because he is apt to be
wanting in tenderness. A member of the Sanhedrin must be kind and
merciful. Even in the case of three-man courts, its members must
possess the following seven qualifications: wisdom, humility
(anava), fear of God, disdain of gain, love of truth, a good
reputation, and love of his fellow men.

It should be emphasized that to establish a Sanhedrin is not to
establish a "theocracy." If the term "theocracy" signifies a
regime ruled by a church or by priests, Judaism is not theocratic.
There is no church in Judaism, neither THEOLOGICALLY, since there is
no mediation between G-d and the individual Jew, nor INSTITUTIONALLY,
since there is no ecclesiastical hierarchy. If, however, the term
"theocracy" is construed literally as the "rule of G-d," then Judaism
is theocratic, for G-d is the ultimate source of law and authority.
But what does this mean OPERATIONALLY? In Judaism no priesthood BUT
ONLY PUBLICLY TESTED SCHOLARSHIP CAN LAY CLAIM TO ANY VALIDITY
REGARDING THE LAWS OF THE TORAH. This means that the Torah belongs
to every Jew, whether he is a Kohane, Levite, or Israelite.

In a mature Jewish community the center of gravity lies not in any
ruling class but in the body of the people. As the Sages teach: "We
must not appoint a leader over the community without first consulting
it" (Berachot 55a). They also teach that "No legislation should be
imposed on the public unless the majority can conform to it" (Avoda
Zara 36a). It follows from this principle of Jewish law -- and here
I quote Professor Elon: "(1) before legislating the legislator must
examine and investigate whether a majority of the public will be able
to conform to the proposed enactment, and (2) if, after the
legislation is enacted, it appears that a majority of the public do
not accept it, the legislation is legally ineffective."

This should put to rest the idea that the Torah prescribes a
theocracy. Incidentally, back in the 18th century, Harvard president
Samuel Langdon considered the government embodied in the Torah to be
a "perfect republic"!

It behooves those who envision the re-establishment of the Great
Sanhedrin to bear these thoughts in mind. They themselves should
not be mere rabbis. Nor should they be amateurs in political science.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Moon's church from inside and out
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 13:41:43 -0400

July 31, 2000

Moon's church from inside
and out

07/31/00

               Hedline Church's marriage matchmaking service a
               big draw, says pastor By BEN RAINES
               Staff Reporter

               G ene Davis calls himself "Fat Boy" and plays golf balls
               emblazoned with messages such as "The way to God is
               the cross."

               Teeing up at Bay Oaks Golf Club near Bayou La Batre
               and setting his ball so his club will smack the spot where
               it reads "Jesus is Lord," Davis asked: "You want the
               truth about the Unification Church?"

He wound up and sent the holy sphere down the
fairway.

               "These people are educated. They're not ding-a-lings.
               The spiel they put on you is good. Somebody who's
               disappointed in the way the world is going, he's going to
               fall for it very easily," Davis said. "I know, son. I did."=

               He was a Unificationist for 10 years. He left the fold two
               years ago because, he said, Moon's megalomania
               became overwhelming. He said he thinks Moon is a
               charlatan who wants to rule the world.

               "Met him several times, and I was well taken with that
               little guy, well taken. He's a very charismatic fellow,"
               Davis said. "I think once he was following God, a long
               time ago, but he's been consumed by pride. Satan's got
               hold of Rev. Moon."

               Unlike most Unificationists, who sign on with spiritual
               leader Sun Myung Moon around age 20, Davis joined in
               his 40s. He said he was looking for the same answers
               other members seek.

               Before he became a member, Davis, a fiberglass expert,
               was hired by a Unification shipyard in Moss Point, Miss.
               That operation has since folded into Master Marine, the
               Bayou La Batre shipyard, just like Davis himself, then a
               lapsed Christian, eventually folded into the church.

               "I was a professional, and I made a substantial salary,"
               Davis said. "I came to the church through the business,
               and let me tell you, there was no brainwashing or none
               of that."

               Instead, Davis said, there were a lot of really nice
               people. And when he expressed some interest in their
               faith, these people started giving him books and videos
               and telling him about Moon and the Divine Principle, the
               church's main text.

There was one thing that really tugged him into the
church.

               "Reverend Moon preaches that you can help people in
               the spiritual world, after they die," Davis said. "In
               Christianity, that's a no-no, messing with the afterlife, b=
ut
               in Unification doctrine, you can help elevate a person's
               position in the spirit world. This really got me, because I
               wanted to help my father. He was a racist, and his soul
               wasn't saved before he died."

               The Washington Post reported that ex-members in
               Japan have sued the church and affiliated companies
               based on claims they were pressured to make donations
               and buy high-priced vases and religious trinkets to help
               dead relatives who were suffering in the afterlife. The
               Post reported that lawyers in Japan claim the church has
               shelled out $150 million to settle the suits.

               Reed Darsey has heard all the negative stuff before. He
               is a member of the church and works at Master Marine
               in the Bayou. On two separate occasions, Darsey's
               parents paid deprogrammers to kidnap him in an attempt
               to break his allegiance to the church. It didn't work.

"I got whisked away. It's one of those things - a couple
of guys stuff you in a car and take you away," he said.

The first time, in 1979, they took him to Arizona and
locked him up at a house in the desert.

               "They lock you in a room with a couple of guys and a
               large amount of material they think will make you lose
               your faith," Darsey said. "They said there were javelinas
               (wild pigs) outside. You couldn't really escape."

               After a few weeks of intense browbeating, Darsey
               pretended he had turned his back on the church. When
               his captors took him into town in preparation for
               returning him to his parents, Darsey escaped and
               beelined back to the Bayou.

               A year later, a different group of deprogrammers
               bundled him off to California. He said that after a few
               weeks, they dropped him off at his parents' house,
               explaining that he was "undeprogrammable."

               Darsey said there was a lot of deprogramming going on
               in the'70s and'80s. Members discussed strategies for
               outsmarting the deprogrammers. Victims talked about
               going to court to have the practice stopped.

               "We talked about suing, but, you know, it's your
               parents," Darsey said. "I can understand why they did it,
               the climate at the time and their fears. I'm one of the
               classic cases. I went to UCLA after high school, and in
               my first week I dropped out to join this group."

He said five students from his high school joined the
church at that time.

               "I went to a weekend workshop, and they gave me
               some books by Reverend Moon," he remembered.
               "Everything hit me all at once that this was it. This was
               the truth I had been looking for."

               Darsey doesn't deny the negative stories about the
               church. Instead, he said he believes they are the result of
               "the typical faults in any group setting with a chain of
               command."

               In 1982, Darsey, like most of the Unificationists living in
               the Bayou at the time, went to a mass wedding in New
               York and married a woman he had never met. They still
               are married today.

"I love my wife more and more every day. For me, it
was one of those love-at-first-sight situations," he said.

               "Our True Love matching service, where people are
               matched and married to people they've never met, that's
               a big draw for new members," said Joshua Cotter, the
               local Unification pastor. "People wonder how we can do
               it, but we look at it as an honor. You know, we're
               matched by God. And our marriages are more of a sure
               thing because the people are committed to God, not just
               each other."

               In 1995, Moon held an international matching ceremony.
               Three Bayou La Batre couples were joined at the time,
               standing in front of a big-screen TV hooked up by
               satellite to Moon, who was in Korea.

               Davis and his wife, to whom he was married before he
               joined the church, had their union officially blessed and
               recognized by Moon via the satellite broadcast.

               Moon and his wife, wearing white robes and elaborate
               crowns that looked like they were made of paper, came
               down a long red carpet and stood under a little tent.
               Tens of thousands of couples, the men in suits and the
               women in wedding gowns, filled the stadium. Then the
               self-proclaimed messiah and Lord of the Second Advent
               said a long prayer in Korean, and then, in a somber
               voice, added "Amen. Amen. Amen."

               "That ceremony was very powerful. It was wonderful,"
               Davis said. "See, these people are wonderful. They
               really believe they are doing God's will. But I read my
               Bible, and they're going to follow Reverend Moon
               straight to the fires of Hell."

Then Davis began to cry.

               Bishop Allen of Mobile's Word of God Church said the
               Unificationists know the Bible better than most
               Christians.

               "We believe in Jesus and that he is the savior. They
               believe a little further," said Bishop Allen, whose church
               held a joint worship service with Bayou La Batre's
               Unificationists. "They work hard. They're kind. They're
               moral-minded. They have integrity. You can't find
               anything bad to say about them, but they have that one
               belief that degrades them: Reverend Moon being the
               Messiah. Forget it. No way. People won't even deal
               with that."

               Allen said members of his congregation have referred
               him back to the Bible, the part about false messiahs, but
               his ties to the Unification Church go back to =AB987, the
               first time he accepted an all-expenses-paid trip to Korea
               to attend one of Moon's international theological
               conferences.

               Davis said these conferences are a big deal to Moon
               and are presented to members as evidence of Moon's
               influence among religious leaders, the same way images
               of Moon with ex-presidents and senators are used to
               prove to the faithful that Moon is a mover and shaker in
               the international halls of power.

               "Why do you think they're buying up all these
               newspapers around the world?" Davis asked. "They've
               got so much bad press, they can make their own good
               press now. See, if Moon wants people to keep believing
               him, he's got to give them something good to read.
               That's why he's always cozying up to George Bush and
               Gorbachev in all those pictures."

               The Rev. Philip Schanker, head of the Unification
               Church's Family Federation for World Peace, which has
               paid George Bush to speak at one of its conferences,
               said the church has been attracting big-name supporters
               because its family programs are worthy, though he
               admitted that in the past they attracted celebrities with
               money.

               "We've sometimes spent too much time trying to buy
               respect instead of promoting the good works we do.
               We try to buy Whitney Houston or something like that.
               We don't need to do that anymore."

               Schanker also suggested that Moon might not be the
               messiah. He said Moon has to bring about the Garden
               of Eden on Earth to earn permanent bragging rights to
               the messiah crown.

               Unificationists have started work on just such a
               paradise. A church Web site brags that the group
               purchased 40,000 hectares in a remote jungle region of
               Brazil where they will build "a model of the Kingdom of
               Heaven on Earth." Moon's Brazilian newspaper,
               Tiempos Del Mundo, lends positive press to the project,
               which has met with resistance from the country's
               Catholic churches.

               A new Unification-sponsored soccer team has won
               some points with Brazilian locals, as have gifts of
               ambulances that come with a Unification symbol painted
               on the side.

"Father may give an order for members to immigrate to
Brazil," reads the church's "Report on Jardim Project."

               Plans call for 20,000 members to move into the 33 cities
               that surround the area. The members would build hotels,
               restaurants, an ostrich farm, fish farms, mango and kiwi
               orchards, a snail farm and then "give each of the 33
               cities a specific job. For instance, six cities would be
               zoned for the industrial park. The inhabitants of those
               cities would help in building the factories and also work
               in them when they are completed."

Schanker said Moon is not out to rule the world, just to
have one nation where the church makes a difference.

               "We have plans there for an international village, to really
               develop the area," Schanker said. "We're not trying to
               build our own country. There's never going to be a
               flaming end or mass suicide."

               Davis said the church's members would drop everything
               at a moment's notice and move anywhere Moon sent
               them, even the Brazilian jungle.

               "These people give him anything he asks, never mind the
               hardship it puts on their families. They're living at poverty
               level, and they would die for Reverend Moon, every one
               of them. That scares me. And they are becoming more
               and more powerful," Davis said. "If you don't think
               they're powerful, you're stupid. I'm not slandering
               anybody, but they might sue me. They've got lawyers in
               the membership. That's how they keep ex-members
               quiet. They've been fighting cult awareness groups for
               years. They beat the federal government. What's one
               little old fat man in Alabama?"

               Despite the sour taste left after =AB0 years of worshipping
               Moon as the Messiah, Davis said he feels a hole that the
               church used to fill.

               "Yeah, I miss it. I'd be less than honest if I didn't say I
               miss it tremendously. And I'm sorry it wasn't what it was
               supposed to be, because it would have been wonderful
               if it had been what God wanted."

http://www.al.com/news/mobile/Jul2000/31-a353285a.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - FW: What's New for Jul 28, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 13:46:23 -0500

WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 28 Jul 00 Washington, DC

SPEED LIMIT: WHO HYPED THE SPEED OF LIGHT STORY? The letter
in Nature seemed to say no revolutionary physics was involved,
describing the result as: "a direct consequence of classical
interference between different frequency components in an
anomalous dispersion region." But I doubt if many journalists
read it in Nature (WN 21 Jul 00). As far as I know, only the
Dallas Morning News got it right. The NEC press release used a
rather different tone: "[researchers] have proven that light can
travel faster than its acknowledged speed in vacuum." One can
only speculate on the objectives of the press release, but it's
the first time I've ever seen a press release on basic research
that had the company's Nasdaq trading symbol in the first line.

ADVENTURES ON MIR: THERE'S A FUNGUS AMONG US. The view from
the world's most expensive tourist destination is being obscured
by living scum spreading over the windows. Courageous cosmonauts
must now live with fast-multiplying microorganisms. After years
of relative dormancy, these stowaways from planet Earth appear to
be rapidly mutating from solar radiation. Some 250 species of
bacteria and fungi inhabit Mir--and they've turned aggressive,
munching on anything organic, including electrical insulation.
Ecotourists can now have a, ugh, microbiology experience.

(Maria Cranor contributed to this week's WN.)

THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's
and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.)

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Rev 7:1 Revisited
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 15:55:33 -0400

Not too long ago we had a bit of a discussion here on the list regarding
Revelation 7:1 - "After these things I saw four angels standing at the four
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should
not blow on the earth, on the sea, nor on any tree" and the effect that would
have on the earth. One of the ideas expressed was that "The movement of
large masses of air helps to distribute moisture across the face of the earth.
Like a giant spoon, wind constantly stirs the atmosphere. Without it, severe
hot and cold spots would persist at different locations."

Up here in NH this July has been the coldest I can remember (and let's face
it, I'm getting old so I can remember a few). Some days I can't even open the
windows because it barely registers 70 degrees outside and we've been in
this weather pattern now for weeks. I see that elsewhere in the nation things
also seem to be stalled but they're stuck with temps averaging in the 90s
and 100s for an extended period of time. Is this a tiny foretaste of what Rev
7:1 is talking about?

Moza
moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mossad drops cloak and dagger
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 15:55:34 -0400

Mossad drops cloak and dagger

Special report: Israel and the Middle East

Suzanne Goldenberg in Jerusalem
Monday July 31, 2000

Mossad, the agency that once boasted a bug in the office of every Arab
leader, has been forced to advertise openly for would-be spies in the Israeli
press and on the internet. In an era when cappuccino-swigging
twentysomething techies have replaced horny-handed desert farmers as the
new heros of Zionism, the agency is finding it can no longer replenish its
ranks.

Its reputation for toughness and panache badly shaken by a series of
bungles, Mossad can no longer make do with making discreet approaches to
likely candidates or placing vaguely worded advertisements through front
companies. The agency said yesterday that it was launching its first public
recruitment campaign, offering graduates aged 25-35 the chance of a
"thrilling career" while serving the nation.

"Only you, in your heart of hearts, know that you are capable of much more,
to think differently, to do more than you thought you could," says the
advertisement, which was posted on the Hebrew version of the website for the
prime minister's office yesterday.

"We offer you a future and a horizon of service in a field in which you will
be able to contribute to what is dear to all of us."

Candidates are invited to fax a freephone number with their curriculum vitae
and Israeli identity-card number.

Mossad's reputation was boosted in 1960 when it kidnapped Adolf Eichmann,
the Nazi who masterminded the annihilation of Europe's Jews, from his
hideout in Buenos Aires and brought him to Israel to stand trial.

In 1986 the agency staged another coup when a blonde agent identified only
as Cindy lured nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu away from London to
Italy for a holiday. He was drugged and returned to Israel to be tried for
exposing the country's secret nuclear programme to the Sunday Times.

The advertisements are intended to counter the hi-tech boom that is
siphoning off the best of a new generation, more concerned with material
success than Zionist idealism. Mossad also plans to scour the ranks of
graduates and send out postal solicitations to those it considers suitable.

Applicants for the dozens of field intelligence officer posts on offer
should be independent, creative, highly motivated and intelligent, and
demonstrate resourcefulness and an ability to perform well under pressure,
the ad says, warning: "Mossad is opening - but not for everyone."

The new recruitment method, which brings Mossad into line with the more
open approach of the CIA and MI5, is a result of serious manpower
shortages in all areas.

"We have more need of secret agents than ever, because of the dangers that
threaten us," an ex-Mossad chief, Yitzhak Hofi, said. "But we face
relentless competition from the world of hi-tech."

The malaise is also affecting Israel's army, which has seen a drop in
teenagers seeking to perform their compulsory military duty in elite army
units, and a rise in the number of reservists seeking to wriggle out of
their annual stint of service.

Instead, high school students are lining up to perform their compulsory
military duty in the army's data processing unit, whose graduates can
command incomes four times the average starting salary.

Meanwhile, the downside to a Mossad career has never been so apparent.
Recently an agent received a one-year suspended sentence from a Swiss
court after police caught him trying to put a wiretap on a Lebanese car
dealer.

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Distribution/Redirect_Artifact/0,4678,0-3
48935,00.html

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Move afoot to detoxify ancient, once-benign swastika symbol
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 15:55:34 -0400

Move afoot to detoxify ancient, once-benign swastika symbol
Saturday, July 29, 2000

By SARAH BOXER
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Can the swastika be redeemed?

Before the Nazi Party adopted the swastika and turned it into the most potent icon of racial hatred, it traveled the world as a good luck symbol. It was known in France, Germany, Britain, Scandinavia, China, Japan, India and the United States.

Buddha's footprints were said to be swastikas. Navajo blankets were woven with swastikas. Synagogues in North Africa, Palestine and Hartford, Conn., were built with swastika mosaics.

Now there is a small movement afoot to help "the swastika get on with its benign life," to separate it from "the sins of the Nazis." Is that possible? Should it be possible?

The swastika gets its name from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning well-being and good fortune. The earliest known swastikas date from 2500 or 3000 B.C. in India and Central Asia. A 1933 study suggests the swastika migrated from India across Persia and Asia Minor to Greece, then to Italy and Germany, probably in the first millennium B.C.

The fateful link was made by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. From 1871 to 1875, he excavated the site of Homer's Troy on the shores of the Dardanelles. When he found artifacts with swastikas, he quickly associated them with the swastikas he had seen near the Oder River in Germany. As Steven Heller, art director of The New York Times Book Review, wrote in "The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption," "Schliemann presumed that the swastika was a religious symbol of his German ancestors which linked ancient Teutons, Homeric Greeks and Vedic India."

Pretty soon swastikas were everywhere, rotating both clockwise and counterclockwise. Coca-Cola issued a swastika pendant. Carlsberg beer etched swastikas onto its bottles. During World War I, the American 45th Infantry division wore an orange swastika as a shoulder patch. The Girls' Club published a magazine called The Swastika. And until 1940, the Boy Scouts gave out a swastika badge.

How did the Nazis get hold of it? According to Heller, the Germanen order, an anti-Semitic group that wore helmets with Wotan horns and plotted "against Jewish elements in German life," used a curved swastika on a cross as its insignia. By 1914, the Wandervogel, a German youth movement, made it a nationalist emblem. The Nazi party claimed it around 1920.

The swastika came down as quickly as it ascended. In 1946, it was constitutionally banned from any public display in Germany. In the United States, there has never been a law prohibiting the display of swastikas, but the aversion is still there.

The question now is, should the swastika be reclaimed from the Nazis?

The most concerted effort to redeem the swastika comes from Friends of the Swastika, a group formed in 1985 and based in the United States. The group, whose Web site promises that it "has no connections to any racist propaganda" and no intention of denying the Holocaust, is led by an artist named ManWoman who claims to have 200 swastikas tattooed on his body. In order to "detoxify" and "resanctify" the swastika, the group sells T-shirts, stamps, postcards and "other cool stuff" with swastikas. Their watchword is, "To hell with Hitler!"

Does it matter whether swastikas are used in ignorance or in hatred or to rehabilitate a symbol? Heller says: "Nazi icons were strong enough to seduce a nation and still contain a graphic power that can be unleashed today." The swastika defenders counter with the question: "How can a symbol be guilty for the acts of a madman?"

http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/swas29.shtml

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items (7/31/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 18:32:14 -0400

Arafat calls for Islamic meeting on Jerusalem

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Weekend Staff
                         Source: Yahoo! Reuters

Mon Jul 31,2000 -- Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called for a
special meeting of an Islamic committee on Jerusalem to discuss the
city's future after last week's collapse of Middle East peace talks.
``Jerusalem is not only a Palestinian responsibility. It is also an
Arab, Muslim and Christian responsibility,'' Arafat said. The young
Moroccan king heads the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, a position he inherited from his late father King
Hassan, whom Arafat made a point of consulting frequently on matters
involving the future of Jerusalem.

Final-Status deal brewing

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Andra Brack
                         Source: Arutz-7

Mon Jul 31,2000 -- Yet another hint has been dropped, this time by US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, that a final-status
Israeli-Palestinian agreement is expected soon. The negotiations will
continue after a period of "recovery," she told a Japanese television
station today. A similar prediction was made today by a top
security-aide of Prime Minister Barak, Danny Yatom. Hamas head Ahmed
Yassin said if another partial agreement is reached, it will be "nothing
more than a cease-fire."

Barak: No yielding sovereignty on Temple Mount

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Andra Brack
                         Source: Jerusalem Post

Mon Jul 31,2000 -- Barak assured his cabinet yesterday that neither he,
nor any prime minister after him, will agree to transfer control of the
Temple Mount to the Palestinians. "Although Israel respects the
importance of the Moslem holy sites and is willing to acknowledge a
Moslem authority there, sovereignty cannon be given away, as this is the
site of our Temple," Barak told the ministers. "In the coming weeks, we
will know whether the Palestinians are willing to accept this, or if
they are going to remain obstinate."

Moshe Katzav elected as Israel�s eighth president

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Andra Brack
                         Source: IsraelWire

Mon Jul 31,2000 -- Likud presidential candidate Moshe Katzav, in the
second round of voting, became Israel�s eighth president, taking the
election by a 63- 57 vote. The voting was called an unprecedented
election upset, with One Israel candidate Shimon Peres predicted to
emerge the victor in round one of the voting but both candidates failed
to achieve an absolute majority in the first round.

Call for mass prayer service at the Western Wall

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Andra Brack
                         Source: IsraelWire

Mon Jul 31,2000 -- Under the banner that the Barak administration is
willing to make compromises on the issues of Jerusalem that will impact
the Jewish people for generations to come, a mass prayer rally is being
organized at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, at 6:00pm, the
eve of the new Hebrew month of Av, a prayer service will take place. The
event is expected to attract tens of thousands on the eve of the new
month marking the beginning of the period known as the “Nine Days,”
commemorating the siege and destruction of the First and Second Temple
in Jerusalem.

Israel's water crisis deepens

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Andra Brack
                         Source: Ha'aretz

Mon Jul 31,2000 -- Water Commissioner Shimon Tal yesterday ordered
Mekorot, the state water utility, to pump beyond the Kinneret's "bottom
red line" of minus 213 meters, reflecting a worsening of the nation's
water crisis. Lowering the level will allow Mekorot to pump an
additional 80 - 100 million cubic meters from the lake.

Tal stated he does not foresee a risk of increased salinity accompanying
the stepped-up pumping. But he said potential dangers to water quality
and to the lake's biological equilibrium must be taken into account. He
added that the new red line would cause a faster exchange of water
between the Kinneret's upper and lower levels, which could lead to
certain substances moving from the lower levels upward. But, he said,
water authorities had no alternative because the dangers involved in
excess pumping from coastal and mountain aquifers were greater than
those tied to excess pumping from the Kinneret.

http://www.upway.com/cgi/readnews.cgi?day=00_07_31&item=#965064713

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Human experimentation on 'brain dead' encouraged by cloners
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 18:43:02 -0400

31-Jul-2000 -- EWTN News Brief
HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION ON "BRAIN DEAD" ENCOURAGED BY CLONERS

GLASGOW (CWNews.com/LSN.ca) - The head of the Scottish firm which cloned Dolly the sheep has called for genetic experiments on brain-dead human patients.

Scotland's Daily Record reported on Thursday that Dr. Ron James would like to see genetically modified pig organs transplanted into the patients to see if they are safe. His firm, PPL Therapeutics, has already cloned piglets and believes that organs from pigs could be transplanted into humans within four years. James acknowledged that there would be opposition from the general public to such an idea, a "yuck factor" as he called it.

The suggestion is sure to heighten the controversy around brain death. As the Canadian Parliament sought to find ways to increase organ donation in Canada, a parliamentary committee was informed that heart transplant "donors" must be alive. Ruth Oliver, a psychiatrist who was declared clinically dead in 1977 after suffering internal bleeding of the brain, told the committee she is "living testimony that people survive."

Dr. John Yun, an oncologist, testified to the committee that organ harvesting was the impetus behind the brain death theory that has been accepted by the medical profession since 1968. Ten years ago Yun worked in an ICU unit keeping brain dead patients on life support for organ transplants. Yun now believes this activity was wrong. "We must not jump to the conclusion that a dubious definition of death-- the medical hypothesis of brain death-- is in fact death," he said.

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=5508

via: isml@egroups.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Skinny mice defy obesity
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 18:45:53 -0400

Wednesday, 26 July, 2000, 18:44 GMT 19:44 UK

Skinny mice defy obesity

Lean mouse: Hope for the clinically obese

By BBC News Online's Matt McGrath
Genetically engineered mice which never put on weight could hold the key to
a fat- free future for humans, say scientists.

Researchers at Smith Kline Beecham and Cambridge University, UK, have
developed mice that eat far more than normal but remain leaner and lighter.

What these mice have told us, in fact, is that this is a viable drug target
to treat obesity.

Dr John Clapham
The lab rodents over-produce a human protein which ensures food is turned
into heat, rather than stored as fat.

Reporting in the journal Nature, Dr John Clapham and colleagues say their
mice make large amounts of Uncoupling Protein 3 (UCP-3) in the
mitochondria of their muscle cells.

Mitochondria are often described as the tiny internal combustion engines of
cells. They unlock the energy contained in food to make a chemical fuel
called adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

But extra UCP-3 causes the mice to burn off energy without making ATP -
their bodies produce more heat instead. This process makes the metabolic
rate of the transgenic mice step up a gear. As a result, they are able to
eat large amounts of food yet weigh less than normal mice.

Diet and exercise

Speaking to BBC News, Dr Clapham compared the process in mice to
revving up
a car engine.

Dr John Clapham: New therapies could aid weight loss

"If you slip the clutch on the car, you are still using up fuel, but no
matter how hard you rev the engine that car isn't going to move and all that
fuel is expended as heat".

Dr Clapham and his team write in their journal paper that even though the
transgenic mice ate 15-54% more food than normal mice, their fat-tissue
mass
was 44-57% less.

The success of the work gives scientists hope that they will be able to
develop a similar therapy for humans.

"What these mice have told us, in fact, is that this is a viable drug target
to treat obesity," Dr Clapham said. However, he stressed that diet and
exercise should remain the first courses of action.

New generation of drugs

He said any new therapy should be used to aid the degree of weight loss
achieved on a diet, and crucially help the maintenance of that loss over
time.

The mice eat as much as they like but stay thin

And he said new drugs would work differently to the current generation of
appetite suppressers.

"If you over-eat or under exercise you will put on weight. Appetite
suppressers, of course, reduce appetite but new drugs based on our research
would act on the other side of that equation.

"They would increase energy expenditure and they would increase metabolic
rate, which could be very important."

Professor Nick Finer, director of the Centre for Obesity Research, Luton and
Dunstable Hospital in Luton, UK, welcomed the new study.

"We know from food surveys and large studies that part of the problem with
obesity is our low level of energy expenditure and activity.

"This research shows us is it is possible to treat obesity by increasing
energy expenditure, in this case in mice but it might also be possible in
people as well."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_852000/852689.stm

via: isml@egroups.com

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

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