BPR Mailing List Digest: 03/21/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
March 21, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | March, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jews Cast Mortal Curse on Pope Ahead of Israel Visit
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 08:50:46 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------

March 20 7:17 PM ET

Jews Cast Mortal Curse on Pope Ahead of Israel Visit

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Ultra-Orthodox Jews pronounced a mortal curse
against Pope John Paul in footage aired by Israel Channel Two
Television on Tuesday, hours before the Pontiff's arrival for an
historic Holy Land pilgrimage.

Police are on alert for the six-day-long papal visit to Israel and
Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem beginning on Tuesday evening. Security
forces have placed special emphasis on curbing the activities of
Jewish militants.

The midnight rite, which the television said was enacted on Thursday
in a cemetery in the northern Israel town of Safed, recalled
rabbinical curses cast on Yitzhak Rabin prior to his 1995
assassination by a right-wing religious Jew opposed to the then-prime
minister's peace moves.

Participants in the ceremony, sounding ritual calls on ceremonial
ram's horns, cursed the Pope as a "hater of Israel."

They also singled out Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Syrian
leader Hafez al-Assad for curses.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli police detained three members of what they
called the "extremist Jewish right-wing" for posting virulently
anti-Pope placards on walls in Jerusalem.

A court ordered one of the militants placed under house arrest until
the Pope leaves Israel on March 26.

In a separate action, Jewish militants held an anti-Pope demonstration
in Jerusalem's Old City near the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.

In a reference to the wartime Pope Pius XII, viewed by some Jews as
having turned a blind eye to the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, the
protesters held signs reading: "Pius, the Pope of Hitler -- John Paul,
the Pope of (the militant Islamic) Hamas."

via: <hblondel@tampabay.rr.com>

------- End of forwarded message -------

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Unicorns & The Exodus: Science Confirms the Biblical History
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 08:55:12 -0500

Christian News at Worthy News

http://www.worthynews.com/

Unicorns & The Exodus: Science Confirms the Biblical
History By Charles Colson CNS Commentary from BreakPoint
<http://www.breakpoint.org>

20 March, 2000

For most of the past century, scholars have tended to
regard the story of the Exodus as a myth -- a story meant
to inspire awe and devotion but not one grounded in
history. However, recent archeological discoveries have
begun to change that. The doubts scholars have had about
the story of the Hebrews' flight from Egypt may be summed
up in the words of Baruch Halpern, a professor at Penn
State: "the actual evidence concerning the Exodus," he
says, "... resembles the evidence for the unicorn." As
justification for their skepticism, scholars point to the
lack of references in Egyptian chronicles of the period to
either the Hebrews' sojourn in Egypt or the Exodus. But as
Jeffrey Sheler points out in the book, Is The Bible True?,
while there may be no specific mention of the Hebrews in
ancient Egyptian records, there is plenty of indirect and
circumstantial evidence. One surviving document refers to a
people called the "apiru," who were workers in an
unidentified building project. And this document dates from
the reign of Rameses II, the pharaoh of the Exodus.
Scholars have noted the similarity between "apiru" and
"Hebrew" -- there is no "h" in Semitic languages. Many
consider the document a reference to not only the Hebrews'
in Egypt, but also...MORE

http://www.conservativenews.org/ViewReligion.asp?Page=/Reli
gion/archive/REL2 0000320a.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Great Lakes at lowest level
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 08:58:25 -0500

Monday, March 20, 2000

Great Lakes at lowest level
By TONY CARE -- Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP) -- Great Lakes' boaters could be moored along
sandy shorelines again this spring and summer as water
levels dip to their lowest level in almost four decades.
Environment Canada is warning that unless current weather
patterns change, levels could be lower than they were last
year, when they reached a 35-year low.

-- more --

http://www.canoe.ca/TopStories/greatlakes_mar20.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Simulating armageddon on your PC
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 09:02:38 -0500

Asteroid Impacts with Earth
By Michael Paine for explorezone.com

Millions of uncatalogued space rocks careen through
interplanetary space, and Earth is one of the many sitting
ducks in the cosmic shooting gallery. Although centuries
can pass on Earth without a catastrophic strike, waiting
impassively to be hit is seen by many experts as a clear
and possibly deadly gamble. But what are the odds? And what
would happen under different types of impacts? As with
almost anything that can be simulated, the odds and
consequences of an asteroid strike have been programmed
into a computer software package. I ran some scenarios on
the new software, created by planetary scientist John Lewis
from the University of Arizona. The results, described
below, are not official predictions, but they do lay out
some frightening possibilities that put the threat of rocks
from space into tangible terms, while at the same time
pointing to the need to search for the uncharted asteroids
and comets (known as Near Earth Objects or NEOs) that
threaten our civilisation. Lewis' software uses a Monte
Carlo analysis to calculate the human fatalities resulting
from impacts. This works by generating random numbers for
the size and type of NEO and the human population density
at the impact site. The process is based on the actual
distribution of these factors. It includes fatalities from
"airbursts," where the NEO explodes in a devastating
fireball several miles from the ground. The consequences
are similar to those from a nuclear bomb and estimates of
fatalities are based mainly on research with nuclear
weapons. Another danger modelled by the program is the risk
of tsunami swamping coastal cities hundreds or thousands of
miles from the site of an ocean impact. A million years of
bombardment In one run I simulated a total of one million
years, looking at the worst event in each of 10,000
centuries. I want to stress that these are not predictions
and that no known NEOs are on a collision course with
Earth. Although one million years seems a very long time,
bear in mind that impacts do not run like clockwork -- they
could occur at any time.

-- more --

http://explorezone.com/columns/space/2000/neo_jan_simulate.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Genetics Scandal Inflames Iceland ...
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 09:06:48 -0500

Genetics Scandal Inflames Iceland
by Kristen Philipkoski

Mar. 20, 2000

Icelanders are accusing their government of taking huge
payments from the company licensed to create a genetic
database of the country's entire population. Although
trading money for influence is nothing new, critics are
reacting harshly at least partly because the information
involved is so sensitive. Then there's the matter of the
government accepting money from deCODE Genetic, a biotech
firm, even as it's trying to pass a genetics bill.

The story has been simmering for some time. But public
anger escalated last week following newspaper editorials
and a forum sponsored by Mannvernd, a bioethics
organization strongly opposed to deCODE's plans to create
the Icelandic Health Sector Database.

"By and large I'm confident in saying it's not played out
very well here," said Mike Fortun, an ethicist and
professor of science and technology studies at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, who attended the
Mannvernd meeting last week. He said many Icelanders are up
in arms over deCODE's research.

"While I very much believe in the promise of commercial
genomics, I also believe that that promise has to be
analyzed and conducted very differently according to the
local circumstances you have."

Icelanders make attractive subjects for geneticists
because of the homogenous nature of the population. Given
the island nation's remote location and small population,
the people have remained, relatively speaking, racially
pure.

-- more --

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35024,00.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jordan-Vatican ties strong
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Khazneh")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 09:33:32 -0500

Jordan-Vatican ties strong
Visit comes at delicate moment in peace process
By Francesca Ciriaci

AMMAN — Pope John Paul II's current visit to Jordan will
further cement warm bilateral ties that were nurtured under
the reign of the late King Hussein, according to officials
and church leaders. King Hussein received the first papal
pilgrimage to the Holy Land in January 1964, when Pope Paul
VI came to Amman briefly on his way to Jerusalem.

Ties between the Hashemite family and the papacy date back
to King Abdullah I, the founder of the Kingdom, although an
Apostolic Nunciature opened in Amman only in 1994.

In the same year, the Vatican also established formal
diplomatic ties with Israel and began “contacts of a
permanent and official character” with the Palestine
Liberation Organisation.

“Ties between the Vatican and Jordan have always been very
distinguished,” said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Michel Sabbah.

“From King Abdullah I, to King Hussein, and now with King
Abdullah II, there has been a warm friendship between the
Church and the Hashemite Family,” Sabbah added.

Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania were
received in the Vatican City in November 1999.

During that trip, the King extended a formal invitation to
John Paul II to visit Jordan, and he was shown an olive
tree in the Vatican Gardens donated by the late King
Hussein to Pope Paul VI on the occasion of his pilgrimage
to the Holy Land.

Citing historic accounts and reports of those years,
Tourism Minister Aqel Biltaji stressed that King Hussein
was then the only Middle East leader to back Pope Paul VI's
trip.

Historians say much effort was exerted to prevent the
first pilgrimage by conservatives in and out of the Curia
as well as Arab leaders who opposed the Pope's trip to
Israel.

But Paul VI fended off all attempts to make political
capital from the visit, by constantly stating that he was
going as “a simple pilgrim,” and King Hussein encouraged
and welcomed him.

“The same now is happening with John Paul II, who has
stressed many times that his is a spiritual itinerary,”
says Biltaji.

“We will not allow ourselves to do anything to mar the
spirituality of this pilgrimage, or commercialise his
trip,” he pledged.

The Pope has stressed that he is only coming “as a
pilgrim” to the Holy Land and that his historic visit is
“only inspired by religious reasons.”

But his high stature will make it difficult for any party
not to attach political significance to every gesture he
makes during the six-day visit which ends on Sunday with a
mass at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where
according to Christian tradition Jesus was buried.

“In the international arena, the Vatican carries a special
moral weight,” said a senior Jordanian official.

“This visit is particularly important because it comes at
a delicate moment in peace negotiations, when we need the
Vatican's balanced and constructive position, especially
towards the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian
sovereignty,” he told the Jordan Times.

The Vatican has reiterated that Jerusalem should be an
“open city” for the followers of the world's three great
monotheistic religions.

This position stems from John Paul II's 1984 Apostolic
Letter “Redemptionis Anno,” which declared the Holy City of
Jerusalem “sacred patrimony of all believers and desired
crossroad of peace for the peoples of the Middle East.”

An agreement last month between the Vatican and the
Palestinian National Authority on the preservation and
defence of Christian holy sites in Jerusalem has irritated
many in Israel, who feared it implied the Vatican's
recognition of a future Palestinian state.

Moments considered “politically sensitive” by Israelis and
Palestinians are plenty in the Pope's schedule for the next
few days.

Israeli officials were reportedly infuriated by reports
that the head of the Catholic Church would kiss a bowl of
Palestinian soil, as he has done in the more than 110
countries he has visited in his 22-year papacy.

Other “political minefields” in his tour of Israel and
Palestine set to start today are a scheduled visit to the
Palestinian Dheisheh Refugee Camp on Wednesday afternoon,
the celebration of mass at the Basilica of the Annunciation
in Nazareth on Saturday, the Jewish day of rest, and his
visit to the Western Wall on March 26, before departing
from Tel Aviv to Rome.

http://www.access2arabia.com/jordantimes/Tue/homenews/homenews2. htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - SELECTED ITEMS [real_world_news] 03/21/2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 13:13:07 -0500

REAL WORLD NEWS 03/21/2000

UN REPORT: SOVEREIGNTY CAN BE FORFEITED ON HUMANITARIAN
GROUNDS A United Nations University study of NATO 's
intervention in Kosovo said Monday a profound change in
world politics has emerged, mainly that sovereignty can be
forfeited on humanitarian grounds.
http://www.marketwatch.newsalert.com/bin/story?StoryId=ConwW
ubeb Dw4TExvNB3nS yxzPys1RB3nVDM8&FQ

CHINA REVEALS NUCLEAR WAR PLANS AGAINST U.S. China's
People's Liberation Army has outlined plans, including a
nuclear conflict with the United States, to "liberate"
Taiwan, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper
reported Monday. The publication included plans to send
200,000 fishing vessels with a two-million-strong invading
force to take over Taiwan. It also included photographs of
what it said were the most advanced secret weapons in the
world. These included laser weapons to disable the U.S.-
owned F-17's guidance systems, the newspaper said. The PLA
has reportedly been working on a new generation of nuclear
weapons, the publication said, and it outlined steps by
which China would threaten the United States with nuclear
war. http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/3/20/215316

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO BACK UP PILOTS' BRAINS The Air
Force is developing flight-control systems based on neural
network software that learns from and adapts to unexpected
failures, researchers said. This sophisticated technology --
capable of maintaining flight stability in times of crisis -
- will be built into aircraft, missiles and unmanned aerial
aircraft, Defense News reported in its March 27 issue. It
also can be installed onto existing weapons platforms.
http://www.marketwatch.newsalert.com/bin/story?StoryId=ConwW
ubeb DxmTyxzPyxrP B24Tyxj0AwzPy2K&FQ

That's the news for today. If you are enjoying this
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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - US Census apologizes
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 13:16:43 -0500

Tuesday, March 21, 2000

US Census apologizes
By GENARO C. ARMAS-- Associated Press

http://www.canoe.ca/TopStories/census_21.html

WASHINGTON -- The Census Bureau expressed its regrets once
again for providing information that helped the military
ferret out and detain Japanese-Americans during World War
II, and stressed such breaches in confidentiality will
never happen again.

A research paper authored by two scholars, professors
William Seltzer of Fordham University and Dr. Margo
Anderson of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
concluded that the Census Bureau supplied demographic data
to the War Department following the bombing of Pearl Harbor
on Dec. 7, 1941. The data was broken down into geographic
units as small as city blocks, the authors said.

The issue has been reported previously, the authors
stressed. Nevertheless, their findings again stirred
critics who contend the Census Bureau never officially made
amends for assisting the military in locating areas of
Japanese concentration.

"We ask for the census director to make an apology about
that, because it's taken so long for that information to
come out," Karen Narasaki, executive director of the
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, said at a
news conference Monday.

"We are very disappointed and deeply troubled that the
internment of Japanese Americans was actively facilitated
by the Census Bureau," she added.

"We deeply regret any role that the Census Bureau played
in a really sad, sad (time) in our history," said Martina
Hone, associate undersecretary for the Commerce Department,
which oversees the Census Bureau. "We want to reassure the
community it's not going to happen again."

Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt said Monday the Clinton
administration has previously apologized for the
government's role in detaining Japanese-Americans during
World War II and stands by the apology. Technically, the
bureau did not break the law then in effect, he said.

"This is a sad, shameful moment in American political
history," Prewitt said. "The Census Bureau's legal
obligation and ethical policies would never allow a repeat
of what occurred in 1942."

The paper is being distributed Saturday at a conference in
Los Angeles of the Population Association of America.

The research paper quotes Dr. Leon Truesdell, then the
Census Bureau's chief population statistician, as saying to
the Census Advisory Committee in January 1942: "We got a
request yesterday, for example, from one of the Navy
officers in Los Angeles, wanting figures in more or less
geographic detail for the Japanese residents in Los
Angeles, and we are getting that out."

During a meeting on Jan. 10, 1942, when senior Census
Bureau officials indicated they were already providing the
military tract-level data on Japanese-Americans, the paper
quotes the bureau director, J.C. Capt, as saying he would
give military officials "further means of checking
individuals" if they wanted names of Japanese-Americans in
the area. Seltzer noted his paper also said other Census
officials took different views over use of demographics to
keep track of the population, specifically a then-proposed
"population register."

Seltzer quotes Forrest E. Linder, a Census demographer in
1942: "Traditional American thinking regarding freedom of
action and thought might consider a mandatory
identification register an infringement of that liberty and
the beginning of an American 'Gestapo."'

Prewitt, the bureau's current director, said the agency
"cooperated with the war effort by providing special
tabulations of the Japanese-American population for
counties and county subdivisions." He stressed there is no
evidence that individual census records went to the War
Department. The Census Bureau still provides such data
today, but it is coded to ensure that individuals'
addresses will not be known, he said.

"There's a lot of challenges the Census Bureau faces --
like saying 'trust us' to the public," said Narasaki,
voicing confidence in the bureau's current confidentiality
policy. "Our community understands that the information is
confidential."

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

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