BPR Mailing List Digest: 10/02/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
October 2, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | October, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - No end in sight, as violence spreads also to Israel
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 08:18:16 -0400

Monday, October 2, 2000

No end in sight, as violence spreads also to Israel

By Amos Harel, Nitzan Horowitz, Baruch Kra and Amira Hass
Ha'aretz Correspondents

The violence which engulfed Israel and the territories since Thursday is not
expected to die out in the next few days, according to IDF assessments and
on the basis of calls by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to his
paramilitary youth organization, the Tanzim, to carry on with the
disturbances. So far, the unrest has claimed more than 30 Palestinian lives
and two Israeli Border Guards, while hundreds are injured.

Barak holds emergency meeting

Prime Minister Ehud Barak had an emergency meeting with senior defense
officials and ministers Shlomo Ben-Ami and Amnon Lipkin-Shahak at his
home in Kochav Yair last night to discuss the disturbances. During the
meeting Barak said that "our restraint is the best proof that we do not wish
further confrontation." He added that "no one doubts who is stronger or more
capable of sustaining a fight."

Yesterday, the bloody incidents also spread to Israeli Arab towns and
villages in the northern part of the country, and a young man from Umm al
Fahm was killed during rioting while dozens of others were injured.

The demonstrations resulted in the blocking of main arteries in Wadi Ara,
Wadi Milq, and the Acre-Safed highway. Stone-throwing closed a main road
in Jaffa.

IDF blames Arafat

The IDF laid direct blame for the bloody disturbances on Yasser Arafat.
Senior sources at the General Staff claimed that Arafat continues to fan the
flames despite clear promises made to Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the
U.S. administration over the weekend.

According to Israeli sources, Arafat met on Friday at his Ramallah office with
leaders of the Tanzim, the Fatah's youth paramilitary group, which are
headed by Marwan Barghuti, and top officers from his security forces. Those
present were given to understand by Arafat that there was a need to continue
the disturbances in a way which would result in a significant number of
fatalities among both Israelis and Palestinians.

At the same time, Arafat promised Prime Minister Ehud Barak that he will
act in order to return calm on the street.

The same Israeli sources said it is clear that the Tanzim and leading
members of the Palestinian security apparatus are behind many of the
recent disturbances in the West Bank, both in terms of organization and
execution.

U.S. blames Sharon for provocation

The American administration, however, has laid the blame for the violence
squarely on the visit of Likud Chairman, MK Ariel Sharon, to the Temple
Mount on Thursday.

While expressing serious concern, particularly at the violence, which
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright described as "clearly undermining the
peace process," the Americans took an unusually blatant position on
Sharon's action. The State Department spokesman said that "Sharon's visit
at the site caused these tensions."

The Likud chairman yesterday rejected the accusations against him, saying
that "the disturbances are part of an overall, premeditated campaign which
began 10 days ago near Netzarim and spread from there to Jerusalem and
Judea and Samaria."

"I am sorry about the injured on both sides. Nonetheless, it is unacceptable
that every time the Palestinian demands are not met, they embark on
violence," Sharon added.

The United States is now asking both sides to cease fire and show
maximum restraint. A senior U.S. official said that "Israel and the
Palestinians must avoid any activity which will stir up tensions in the region."

Albright telephoned Barak and Arafat during the weekend in an effort to calm
the situation, and other American officials talked with Israeli and Palestinian
counterparts.

The atmosphere in the United States, both among the administration and
Jewish organizations, is filled with worry about the possible deterioration of
an already critical situation. The American media are giving maximum
coverage to the events in Israel and the territories, while analysts are making
very pessimistic predictions for the future.

Cease-fire unlikely

Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, speaking at a press conference on Saturday
afternoon at the IDF headquarters in the West Bank settlement of Beit El,
said that he believed that a cease fire was achieved. He said that he had
spoken with the Palestinian heads of security, Jibril Rajoub and Muhammad
Dahlan, and thata cease fire was finalized to go into effect at 4 PM.

A minute after Mofaz left the press conference, officers expressed
pessimism at the chances for such a cease-fire taking hold. "We still have
10 funerals ahead of us. There is no chance the area will calm down," they
said.

Another cease-fire, set for 8 last night, also failed to take hold.

Rockets and choppers

Since the disturbances began on Thursday at the Temple Mount, the IDF
has reinforced its positions in the territories and made use, for the first time,
of light rockets against Palestinian Authority positions. Attack helicopters
also made an appearance in the skies over Ramallah, Rafiah and Nablus.

On Friday, the bloodletting began with the murder of a Border Guard, Yossi
Tabjeh, 27, by his Palestinian colleague during a mixed patrol in the border
town of Qalqiliyah. The second Border Guard, Madhet Yosef, 19, succumbed
to his injuries near Joseph's Tomb in Nablus last night, when Palestinian
Authority officers refused to allow Israeli medics to evacuate him.

Heavy exchanges of fire continued throughout the weekend in Ramallah and
Nablus in the West Bank, and Netzarim and Rafiah in the Gaza Strip. IDF
armor has been concentrating at the entrances to the Gaza Strip, as a
preemptive measure.

Settlers told to stay home

In addition, shooting at Israeli civilian vehicles started last night on the roads
of the West Bank and Gaza. One Israeli citizen was lightly injured near
Sha'arei Tikva in Samaria.

The IDF has called on Jewish settlers to avoid traveling on the roads unless it
was necessary, until further notice.

Meanwhile, a large number of Israeli visitors to the settlements were trapped
there during the fighting, while the reverse happened to settlers who were
visiting family within the Green Line during the holiday weekend.

It is still unclear if Egged, the national bus line, will run regular services to all
the settlement areas. Also unclear is the issue of supply of foodstuffs to the
settlements.

Police caught off guard

The disturbances at the Temple Mount on Friday caught the police there by
surprise, despite the careful preparations which were made. Palestinian
youths threw a hail of stones at the police.

A Waqf official described them as "those who came here to cause trouble
and not pray."

Immediately following the stone throwing, the police evacuated those praying
at the Western Wall. One of the victims of a large stone was Jerusalem
District Police Chief Yair Yitzhaki, who lost consciousness and was
evacuated.

The disturbances spread throughout the capital's neighborhoods which
bordered East Jerusalem, with civilians suffering minor injuries as a result of
stones being hurled at them or their vehicles.

Arafat said to want more

At this stage, analysts believe that the Palestinian leadership is interested in
continuing the fighting. "They took advantage of Sharon's visit [to the Temple
Mount] to the fullest," a senior IDF officer said.

Security sources also expressed deep concern at the fact that Israeli Arabs
are participating in violent disturbances within Israel proper and suspect that
the activities are in coordination with the Palestinian Authority

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat5_2.htm

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arafat 'not ruling out war on Israel'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 08:20:54 -0400

Monday, October 2, 2000

Arafat 'not ruling out war on Israel'

Arab world condemns violence against Palestinians

By Daniel Sobelman
Ha'aretz Correspondent

The Palestinians are keeping the option of war against Israel viable,
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat declared in an interview with
the Saudi daily Ukaz. "We're prepared for all possibilities which
circumstances might create," Arafat said.

Arafat told the Saudi newspaper that while the PA wants peace, it won't
hesitate to engage in warfare to defend itself. "The Palestinian people have
many options at their disposal," Arafat said, "and they have survived many
sacrifices in their history."

Arafat's defiant tone was supplemented by harsh condemnation of Israel by
leaders and commentators in Arab countries. MK Ariel Sharon's visit to the
Temple Mount has been singled out in these Arab responses as the
provocation which triggered the conflagration.

In Tehran, Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas' political division, called for
armed resistance to Israel. The Jerusalem issue, Meshal said, is a "call to
action for all Muslims and Palestinian forces, [as well as to] Hezbollah."

Meshal called for "strikes against Zionist interests around the world," and he
said that PA policemen should continue confrontations with IDF soldiers and
should shoot at them. Asked whether Hamas will renew terror strikes against
Israel, Meshal declared "the Palestinian people have the right to respond with
all measures against Zionist aggression."

A Hamas spokesman, Ibrahim Rusha, said that Palestinians have launched
"a new jihad [holy war]."

Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb said that violence in Jerusalem
and the territories is a direct response to "provocations" perpetrated by
opponents of the peace process. Al-Ragheb denounced the "ugly crime
which Israeli soldiers carried out" against Muslim worshipers at Al-Aqsa.

Speaking yesterday with Arafat, Jordan's King Abdullah expressed his
country's support for the Palestinians and their demands. Arafat will visit
Amman today.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Salim Hoss described the recent events as "a new
proof of Israeli aggression."

In Cairo, the state-affiliated newspaper Al-Aharam reported that Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak warned Ehud Barak that events of recent days will
have "damaging consequences" for the peace process. Meanwhile, members
of the Muslim Brotherhood demonstrated in Cairo and Alexandria in protest
against the "Al-Aqsa massacre.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=10/02/00&
id=95315

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (10/2/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 08:43:29 -0400

*** Md 1st to adopt bullet ID system

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - With every new handgun sold in Maryland, the
manufacturer will have to give state police a spent shell casing
carrying the weapon's ballistic fingerprint. Under the law -which
became effective on Sunday and is the first of its kind in the nation
- the unique markings on the casing will then be entered into a
database. When detectives find a bullet casing at a crime scene, they
can go to the computer and instantly identify the gun it came from. A
similar New York state law takes effect March 1. Five months after
the Maryland law was signed, questions remain about its
effectiveness. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570239800-2ab

*** Supreme court hears drug moms case

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Lori Griffin was about to go home from the
hospital after an overnight stay for premature labor pains. Instead,
she was slapped in handcuffs after testing positive for cocaine.
"They told me I was under arrest for distributing to a minor,"
Griffin recalled. Eleven years later, the U.S. Supreme Court will
hear arguments Wednesday on whether testing pregnant women for drugs
and reporting the results to police violates the Constitution's
protection against unreasonable searches. The justices' decision,
expected next year, could determine whether other hospitals can adopt
similar practices. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570240192-fb2

*** Colo. ruling frees sex offenders

DENVER (AP) - Prison officials have released 170 rapists and child
molesters from parole, and 112 other sex offenders also could be
freed following a Colorado Supreme Court ruling. The state's highest
court threw out a 1993 mandatory parole law because it conflicted
with a 1979 measure that limited how long sex offenders could be
placed on parole. In coming years, 600 sex offenders sentenced from
1993 to 1998 to prison and parole will be released without having to
serve parole, officials said. State lawmakers said they would study
the issue when the Legislature convenes in January. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570266507-27d

*** Floods spread in India, Bangladesh

NAKPUL, India (AP) - Fresh flooding submerged new areas in India and
Bangladesh on Sunday, forcing thousands more residents to flee in a
region where 20 million people have already been effected and more
than 1,040 people have been killed, officials said. At least 10,000
people displaced by new flooding crammed schools, stationary train
cars, rooftops of buildings, movie theaters or gathered along
roadsides in the North 24 Parganas district, 40 miles east of
Calcutta. Officials in India's West Bengal state said Sunday that 997
people had died in flooding over the past three weeks. At least 45
people have been killed in neighboring Bangladesh. Some 20 million
people are either marooned by rising waters or have been driven from
their homes. see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570300406-9b0

*** Kohl tries to salvage his legacy

BERLIN (AP) - Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl trumpeted his party's
role as the driving force behind uniting Germany in a speech Sunday,
attempting to salvage his political legacy tattered by a campaign
funding scandal. At an event staged by his party to give Kohl a
podium as the nation celebrates 10 years of a united Germany this
week, Kohl also attacked his successor, saying Gerhardt Shroeder gave
up on the goal of reunification in the years before the Berlin Wall
fell. Kohl has refused to attend national celebrations of the 10-year
anniversary of reunification on Tuesday in Dresden after organizers
struck him from the speakers' list. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570297299-7e3

*** Dutch prostitutes gain benefits

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Prostitutes and politicians toasted the
lifting of an 88-year-old ban on brothels, a move intended to better
regulate the world's oldest profession and turn its practitioners
into legitimate taxpayers. Legislation enacted last year and signed
by Queen Beatrix went into effect Sunday, ending the anomalous status
of bordellos as illegal but tolerated. Amsterdam's red light district
draws millions of visitors every year to its cinemas, live sex shows,
and sex stores. It's not uncommon to see middle-aged tourist couples
walking hand-in-hand past storefront windows where barely clothed
prostitutes flaunt their wares. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570312653-48c

*** Syrian president travels to Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - In his foreign policy debut as Syria's president,
Bashar Assad met Sunday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in
talks on Mideast peace and the escalating violence in the Palestinian
territories. Assad, on his first trip abroad since becoming president
in July, also dealt with the issue of Iraq in the talks with Mubarak,
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa said. The Syrian leader's visit
came on a fourth day of clashes that have raged in the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, leaving more than two dozen Palestinians
dead. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570302166-a7c

*** NASA marks 100th launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Like other astronauts in the early 1980s,
Bryan O'Connor was amazed when NASA declared the space shuttle
operational and ready for passengers and payloads after just four
test flights. "Don't pay any attention to it, It will take 100
flights to really work out all the bugs and understand what we have
with this vehicle," a senior shuttle pilot advised him. Well, flight
No. 100 is finally here: Discovery and a crew of seven share the
honors with a liftoff this week. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570292908-498

*** Hidden faults reported off S. Calif.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two hidden faults capable of unleashing a
magnitude-7.6 earthquake lie off the coast of heavily populated Los
Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, researchers reported Sunday.
Though there's potential for catastrophe, the chances are slim. In
the worst-case scenarios detailed in the study, the biggest quakes
occur once every 2,100 years on one of the faults - the Thirtymile
Bank fault - and every 8,800 years on the other - the Oceanside
fault. It's possible the faults release their energy in smaller but
more frequent spurts, according to researchers. The Thirtymile Bank
fault runs south from Santa Catalina Island, and the Oceanside fault
slices south from Laguna Beach in Orange County. Both extend south to
San Diego and possibly beyond the U.S.-Mexico border. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570285799-092

*** L.A. seeks better qualified teachers

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Three years ago, Xochitl Rodriguez left her human
resources job and decided she wanted to teach. Without classroom
experience or teaching courses, Rodriguez was hired by the Los
Angeles Unified School District and placed in charge of 20
kindergartners. As she walked into the Parthenia Elementary School,
she was scared by the thought "of being responsible for so many
kids." She began taking teaching courses at night and attended
occasional workshops. Rodriguez's situation was not unusual for the
nation's second-largest school district. Educators say a lack of
qualified teachers for the 711,000 students is one of the district's
gravest problems, particularly for poor and minority students. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570292824-078

*** Campus melees blamed on boredom

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - They are rebels without a cause, university
students who party 'til they riot. They aren't protesting politics or
a football defeat. For the most part, they say the
parties-turned-melees are symptoms of boredom. Since the fall term
started at the University of Colorado, raucous off-campus parties
have twice deteriorated into violence, with crowds starting fires and
pelting police officers with bottles and rocks. A similar disturbance
occurred Aug. 26 at James Madison University in Virginia that
resulted in 17 arrests. Some students believe the riots are a symptom
of boredom in towns that offer little to do. Other blame a handful of
troublemakers. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570253136-c58

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - IsraelWire items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 08:49:48 -0400

Monday News Brief – 13:00-DST
(IsraelWire-10/2) Following the weekly cabinet meeting which dealt with
the ongoing Arab riots orchestrated by Yassir Arafat and his PLO Authority
(PA), Prime Minister/Defense Minister Ehud Barak reported he has given the
IDF chief of staff, police chief and other security services commanders a
carte blanche to take whatever steps necessary to maintain law and order
throughout Israel.

Monday News Brief – 12:15-DST
1) (IsraelWire-10/2) GAZA - A short time ago, shot were fired at an IDF
patrol between Khan Yunis and Neve Dekalim.

In Brief - Rioting in Rosh HaAyin Monday morning
(IsraelWire-10/2-12:00-DST) Tens of Arab youths demonstrated on Monday
morning, closing down the entrance to the industrial area of Rosh HaAyin.

Monday morning shooting attack in Samaria
(IsraelWire-10/2-09:34-DST) ) First reports from the scene indicate that
an Israeli has been seriously wounded in a shooting attack near the Arab
village of Bidya in Samaria a short time ago.

Prime Minister Barak: PA incitement, not Sharon, cause of bloodshed
(IsraelWire-10/2) Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio on Friday
afternoon (Sept 29), that PLO Authority (PA) incitement after Likud MK
Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount rather than Sharon's visit was to
blame for the violence in Jerusalem earlier in the day.

EU blames opposition leader for Arab riots
(IsraelWire-10/2) The European Union over the weekend has issued an
official statement, placing the blame for the ongoing Arab rioting
throughout Israel and Yesha on Likud opposition party MK Ariel Sharon.

Jerusalem included in revived Intifada
Jerusalem included in revived Intifada (IsraelWire-10/2) Dozens of
security forces were injured in Friday in the Old City of Jerusalem,
during riots that preceded the two-day Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Israeli Arabs riot in Galilee Region
(IsraelWire-10/2) Police report that the Israeli Arab communities in the
Galilee area, including Nazareth, Sakhnin, and other municipalities,
joined in the violent riots that took place on Sunday.

Israeli Arabs rioting in Jaffe
(IsraelWire-10/2) Israeli Arab residents Sunday attacked police and
security forces during violent unrests on Yefet Street, a main
thoroughfare in Jaffe.

Israeli Arabs riot in Um el-Fahm
(IsraelWire-10/2) Residents of the Israeli Arab municipality of Um el-Fahm
took to the streets in a day of violent riots in which at least one rioter
was killed a tens injured.

Har Bracha under siege
(IsraelWire-10/2) After IDF forces responded to a request for assistance
on Friday, the northern Samarian community of Har Bracha remains one of
the many Yesha communities under lockdown, with persons being prohibited
from entering or leaving.

News of attacks in Hebron
(IsraelWire-10/2) At 10:30 pm, shots were fired from the Harat al-Shech
hills at the direction of Bet Hadassah and Bet HaShisha.

Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza - Public Announcement
(IsraelWire-10/2) Following is a travel advisory issued by the United
States Department of State on September 29, 2000.

PA willing to agree to cease-fire
(IsraelWire-10/2-10:00-DST) Senior officials in the PLO Authority (PA)
have sent messages to their Israeli counterparts that the PA is willing to
agree to a cease-fire if Israel withdraws all tanks and helicopter
gunships that were deployed throughout Yesha.

Yesha ablaze – A New Year holiday of warfare
(IsraelWire-10/2-00:50-DST) As the citizens of Israel attempted to observe
the two-day Rosh Hashanah – New Year Holiday, the PLO Authority (PA) opted
to take advantage of the day to order attacks against Israeli security
forces throughout Yesha.

Full stories:
http://www.israelwire.com/

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Revelation in our Generation?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 09:09:29 -0400

Revelation in our Generation?

Evidence from Prophecies Fulfilled in our Generation

by Grant R. Jeffrey (from his book "The Signature of God")

http://www.yfiles.com/evidence.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - (Fwd) A Tale of the First Temple
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 11:57:37 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 08:22:47 -0600 (MDT)
To: moza@butterfly.mv.com
From: The Temple Institute <opt-in@templeinstitute.org>
Subject: A Tale of the First Temple

A Tale of the First Temple
Then and Now

Today, the 3rd day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei and the day following
Rosh HaShana, is observed as a day of fasting by the Jewish people. This
is the “Fast of Gedaliah,” named for the Jewish governor Gedaliah ben
Ahikam who was murdered on this day. It is also referred to in the
prophets (Zechariah) as “The Fast of the Seventh,” since Tishrei is the
seventh month.

King Nebuchadnezzer destroyed the First Temple and exiled most of the
Jewish people to Babylon. But he allowed a small remainder of Jews to stay
in their land. The king appointed the righteous Gedaliah to govern over
this remnant.

When the Jews who lived in Moab, Amon, Edom and other lands heard that the
Babylonian king allowed a remnant for Judah in her land, and appointed
Gedaliah over them, they returned to the Land of Judah and were permitted
to work their fields. They experienced some respite.

However the King of Amon was jealous of this remant of Judah. He
dispatched Yishmael ben Netanya to kill Gedaliah. Although Gedaliah had
been warned of Yishmael�s plot, he refused to believe, not wishing to take
heed of evil speech. He received Yishmael with honor, but the latter
killed him and most of the Jews who were with him, as well as the
Chaldeans left there by the Babylonian king. Fearing the king�s revenge,
the remaining Jews fled to Egypt, and in this manner the last remnant was
scattered and the land became desolate.

Why was this day designated as a fast day for all generations? Because
with Gedaliah�s death, the l ast spark of hope for Jewish independence
after the Temple�s destruction was extinguished. The rema inder of Judah
was exiled from the Land of Israel, and many thousands of Jews were
killed.

The parallel to the events here in Israel today is obvious. We are all the
last remnant of Jews lef t in the Land of Israel. Our enemies attempt to
scatter us, and to make the land desolate. Arafat g ave the orders for
this wave of murder and destruction; Arafat could call it off if he so
chooses. But he will only do so once he has achieved the maximum benefit.
The Palestinian violence of the pa st three days was pre-meditated and
expertly coordinated; the waves of terror bands who admittedly seek to
inflict as many Jewish casualties as possible, have nothing to do with
Sharon�s visit to th e Temple Mount. The world stands by and watches and
accuses Israel of “using excessive force” to qu ell legitimate protests.
Why is the attempt to murder Jews legitimate? Why does Israel continue to
consider the Palestinians our “partners in peace,” if the uniformed
Palestinian security forces – w hom Israel armed for the purpose of
upholding the peace – turn around and use those very arms to mu r! der
Israelis in cold blood? Where is the world? If these are “partners in
peace,” why did they prev ent the evacuation from the besieged Joseph�s
Tomb of an Israeli policeman who was bleeding to deat h from gunshot
wounds they inflicted? And if Israel is using “excessive force,” why did
she not bri ng the tanks into Nablus to evacuate that man, instead of
merely threatening to do so? Why did Isra el leave him to bleed to death?
(And what did Joseph think of all this….)

Once again, on the Fast Day of Gedaliah, in the great and powerful, modern
State of Israel, the spa rk of hope for Jewish independence is at risk.

With blessings for National Repentance in these Days of Repentance

Rabbi Chaim Richman
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem Israel

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From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The way, the truth and the sites
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 12:11:38 -0500

The way, the truth and the sites

Interested in religion and spirituality? The Internet has everyting from
Adam to Zen
October 1, 2000

http://www.freep.com/news/religion/rsites1_20001001.htm

BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER

In America, religion is becoming a spiritual smorgasboard.

Increasingly, Americans want their faith in convenient doses and are willing
to sample religious traditions that were obscure or unavailable a generation
ago.

Restless baby boomers confronting their own mortality and Generation Xers
carving out their own sense of the universe think nothing of dabbling in Zen
meditation or Feng-shui theories about the earth's energy. Even devout
Christians are walking medieval labyrinths or enjoying rhythmic Taize
worship.

The words in the logo of www.beliefnet.com could serve as a motto for
America's eclectic yearnings. It says simply: "We all believe in something."

And all of it -- every cosmic bit of it -- is waiting on the Internet.

Although learning about faith on the Web is fascinating, the Web also is a
confusing maze with conflicting viewpoints. Often, it is impossible to guess
the true purpose of religious Web sites until you're deep inside them.

An example is www.christianity.com, which sounds like a generic portal for
the faith.

There's virtually no sign on the opening pages that this actually is part of
TV evangelist Pat Robertson's push onto the Internet. It's only after
immersing yourself in the site that clues pop up, including angry
commentaries bashing Democrats and "radical homosexuals" and articles
disputing the theory of evolution.

This may be Robertson's brand of Christianity, but it's not a place where
all Christians will feel welcome.

At the other end of the spectrum are sites like www.jesusoftheweek.com. It's
a spoof of what the site's anonymous Webmaster judges to be amusing images
of "the main manger man." The site has 170 pictures of Jesus, ranging from
icons to a huge portrait carved into a tree trunk. There's even a Jesus of
the Moment that changes as quickly as the home page is loaded. The
instruction advises: "Reload to resurrect!"

So with that warning in mind, here's a guide to some intriguing starting
points for a pilgrimage into cyberspace.

Spiritual megasites

The hottest trend in the church-growth movement is building so-called
megachurches to attract faith seekers by the thousands -- and spiritual Web
designers have the same idea.

The two best megasites are gospelcom.net for evangelical Christians and
www.beliefnet.com for more eclectic seekers.

The former is a gargantuan Web site that launched from Muskegon and combines
the resources of nearly 200 evangelical ministries. The free offerings range
from more than a dozen different daily devotional messages to Reverend Fun
cartoons.

The site's most popular section is a complete, searchable text of the Bible
at bible.gospelcom.net, which has been attracting a whopping 6 million page
views per month. The team that runs the Web site expects that number to
shoot even higher because the Bible software has just been upgraded to make
it even easier for visitors to find the exact passage they want.

In contrast, at the interfaith www.beliefnet.com, seekers can jump off the
opening page into sections on Christianity, Judaism, Islam and a host of
other faiths.

The new site was launched by a group of secular journalists, spearheaded by
former U.S. News & World Report national editor Steven Waldman. So it's not
surprising that they include an impressive amount of objectively reported
religion news. In addition, the site features short takes from top religious
authors like Andrew Greeley, the Dalai Lama and even the noted pagan writer
Starhawk.

Two top Catholic megasites are www.AmericanCatholic.org, home of the popular
Saint of the Day, and www.vatican.va, which comes from Pope John Paul II's
Web team in Rome.

The one drawback at most of these big sites is that you'll be prompted to
help the Webmasters pay their bills by buying something: books, music, even
a suede Gore-Lieberman yarmulke at www.judaism.com.

The most annoying spiritual strip mall is www.ibelieve.com, where the motto
of "Come, experience and grow," really should be: "Come, experience and
buy." Frequently, links that appear to offer free access to inspirational
materials turn out to be dead-end pitches to buy something.

Smaller spiritual oases

If you're bedazzled by the megasites and want to steer your search into some
smaller oases, try exploring sites sponsored by individual religious groups.

Virtually every Christian denomination now has its own site, including
www.sbc.net for the Southern Baptist Convention, www.umc.org for the United
Methodist Church, www.elca.org for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, ecusa.anglican.org for the Episcopal Church and www.pcusa.org for
the Presbyterian Church USA.

The world's major faiths all are represented on the Web. Some of the better
starting points are www.dharmanet.org for Buddhism, www.hindunet.org for
Hinduism, www.jainworld.com for Jainism, www.sikhs.org for Sikhism,
www.abodetao.com for Taoism and www.fezana.org for Zoroastrianism.

Countless sites are devoted to individual spiritual disciplines.

Feng-shui's Web presence is growing, mainly because this ancient Chinese
practice of seeking harmony through the placement of objects is custom made
for retailers. Need a new chair to promote harmony? Well, buy one right now!
Of the many sites, www.worldoffengshui.com is an intriguing one-stop guide.

To learn more about the meditative Taize style of worship, visit the home of
the movement. Check out www.taize.fr to read about the trendsetting
ecumenical group in Taize, France.

New religious reference works are added to the Web each year. One of the
most impressive is pantheon.org/mythica/, which holds 6,000 entries in the
Encyclopedia Mythica -- from unicorns to ancient Greek gods.

Most religious magazines and publishers offer free online services, too.
Grand Rapids-based www.zondervan.com will send subscribers an uplifting
daily e-mail, quoting many of Zondervan's Christian books. Just click on the
link to Daily Thought E-Mail. At www.guideposts.org, you'll find some of the
Web's best inspirational stories, courtesy of the magazine founded in 1945
by the guru of positive thinking, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.

As with any pilgrimage, the longer you travel, the more likely you are to
discover exotic corners like www.spiritnetwork.com, which links to an
interactive I Ching.

Based on the ancient Chinese "Book of Changes," this Shockwave-powered I
Ching asks you to shake coins to discern your spiritual path. The coins
rattle until a six-line pattern is formed and a woman's voice suddenly booms
from the computer's speakers with a wide range of messages.

"As a result of profound contemplation, a hidden force emanates from us,"
the voice said in a recent I Ching session.

Since most spiritual Web sites are entirely silent, the commanding voice can
be a shock. Should this kind of software divination be taken seriously?

The voice answered: "Do not underestimate the power of this force!"

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Dual faiths aren't at cross-purposes
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 12:31:29 -0500

Dual faiths aren't at cross-purposes Christian-Jewish homes find universal
message in Yom Kippur
By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001002/2709059s.htm

When Yom Kippur, the solemn Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sunset
Sunday, rabbis across America will look out across their most crowded
congregational service and find -- Christians.

The synagogues will overflow as most of the nation's nearly 6 million Jews
gather to focus on the holiday's message of introspection and repentance
toward God and mankind.

But nestled among them will be thousands of Christians who accompany their
Jewish loved ones through the long soul-searching services.

They'll hear no word of Jesus as the way to salvation, of his sacrifice or
grace. Yom Kippur is one holiday in which Judaism's theological distinctions
are clear.

''Christianity says you are going to sin, and with the grace of Jesus this
sin might be absolved from being a blot on your life. In Judaism, you don't
have an end run. If you want to remove that blot, you have to do it
yourself,'' says John Sackett of Denver, who grew up Methodist. He has
accompanied his Jewish wife to the services for 18 years.

Christians will hear centuries-old melodies and prayers in Hebrew, a
language they didn't study in their Sunday-school days, during the High Holy
Days, which began Friday evening with Rosh Hashana, the celebration of a new
year.

''For many years, before I learned some of the melodies, the strangeness of
the Hebrew and modes of prayer made for spaces in the worship where I could
meditate and reflect, spaces I don't have in the Catholic Mass, where I know
everything going on and I pay attention and participate,'' says Mary
Rosenbaum of Dovetail, a resource network for interfaith families.

Many say they don't feel lost at all.

David Wentworth, once a self-described WASP who has held leadership roles in
his family's Washington, D.C., synagogue, says: ''I'm not someone for whom
faith has been tremendously important. But I do get tremendous satisfaction
from being involved in the ceremonial world of people contemplating great
issues in an organized fashion, with power and meaning.''

Christians can find universal messages in Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
services, says Rabbi Jerome Davidson of Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, N.Y.

''It's time to rethink one's life, reset priorities, examine one's
shortcomings. You resolve to improve and commit not only to personal
fulfillment, but to healing the world, bringing comfort to others and
working for a society that is just,'' Davidson says.

''For a Christian who believes salvation is through the acceptance of Jesus,
there's no message confirming this. But the basic social ethics are the
same.''

Despite recent strong statements by the Catholic Church and the Southern
Baptist Convention outlining strict requirements for salvation, studies show
the general public takes a broader view.

About half of Americans (51%) believe that ''if a person is generally good,
or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a
place in Heaven,'' and only 39% believe that those who don't accept Christ
as savior are bound for hell, says George Barna, whose Ventura, Calif.,
research group conducts nationwide surveys on issues of concern to
evangelical Christians.

Experts say most Christians who choose and succeed in marriage to Jews have
never held, or long ago let go of, any exclusivist message in Christian
teaching.

Sackett, who attended a Methodist church ''sporadically'' as a child,
thought of himself as ''vaguely Christian. I view Jesus as an idealistic
individual, a model for living. I'm not much of a theist.''

Their spouses often are secularized Jews with their own questions about the
faith of their fathers, says Daniel Klein, the Jewish author with his wife,
Freke Vuijst, of a book dedicated to their daughter, The Half-Jewish Book: A
Celebration.

'Not quite sure what I believe'

After the couple interviewed 150 people in an unscientific survey of
experiences, Klein concluded: ''Most of these people are mostly
half-Jewish/half-secular, even when they have two Jewish parents. We spend
our High Holy Days with people who say they don't have any personal
relationship with God but they like the traditions of Judaism.''

Klein and Vuijst worship with a havura, a lay-led participatory group, which
often meets in members' homes in Great Barrington, Mass. It's vastly
different from Vuijst's childhood as the daughter of a Dutch Reformed
minister, or her early experiences in America, where she arrived as an
exchange student placed with a Pentecostal family.

''Here, the question of accepting Jesus as your personal savior is central
to belief. In many ways, that is more alien to me,'' Vuijst says. ''I am
like many secularized Jews in America. I'm not quite sure what I believe.
But I find the Yom Kippur service is incredibly beautiful.''

While Judaism teaches that believers can seek forgiveness from God during
Yom Kippur for their broken vows of righteousness, the only way to obtain
forgiveness for sins against mankind is person-to-person with the offended
party. It's a daunting challenge.

Says Vuijst, ''Not everything in the service speaks to me, but a lot of it
throws me back on myself, and if religion does this, it is a wonderful
thing.''

Different ideas of forgiveness

Rabbi Steven Foster, leader of Temple Emanuel in Denver, estimates that 25%
of his 2,000-member congregation married non-Jews, and about 25% of the
children in the religious school have one parent of a different faith.
Temple Emanuel initiated an outreach program for interfaith families 15
years ago, and 70% of the people whose children attended the ''Stepping
Stones to a Jewish Me'' classes later affiliated with a synagogue where the
education is specifically Jewish.

One congregant who recently converted to Judaism after 13 years of marriage
to a Jew is Patricia Lackner. She recalls that during her first experiences
with Jewish ceremonies at Yom Kippur, she was ''very surprised to discover
similarities in the prayers and the feelings expressed,'' calling up echoes
of her Catholic childhood.

Still, ''it took me a few years to really understand Yom Kippur,'' she says.
''I didn't get how solemn and important it was. Then the whole idea of being
written in the Book of Life and fate being sealed, I was taken aback. I
didn't understand the whole judgment thing.

''Then, little by little, I clued in. I had actually stopped going to church
and to Mass years before I got married, so I wasn't turning my back on
something deeply important. Now that I have had my conversion ceremony, this
will be my first Yom Kippur officially as a Jew. It makes a huge difference
to me.''

Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in
San Francisco, says he has found that ''non-Jews are far more likely to
attend synagogue with a spouse or partner than Jews are to accompany a loved
one to church. Very often Jews marry Christians who are not necessarily
practicing their faith, and many Jews still state upfront that they want to
have a Jewish household.''

Couples make that work, he says, chiefly by ignoring genuine theological
differences over matters crucial to most religions: the way one is forgiven
and the way one is saved.

No one grants absolution at Yom Kippur. It's a group confession. The vast
catalog of human experience of intentional and unintentional ills is laid
out during one long day of fasting. There is no vicarious atonement.

''Most people are not thinking about these things, even as they do them year
after year after year,'' Tobin says.

What's really on many minds, says Egon Mayer, director of research for the
Jewish Outreach Institute, is family harmony, comfort and protocol.

''When do I stand? When do I sit? Should I touch the Torah when it's carried
by (to seek a blessing)? What if I don't understand Hebrew?''

Mayer adds: ''I've never conducted an exit poll from High Holy Day services.
What did it feel like? Was it as good for you as it was for me? Still, from
what I hear in interviews with couples, Yom Kippur brings home that Jews
really have a different idea about forgiveness, not dependent on Jesus.''

Various paths to a higher power

Mary Rosenbaum remembers before Vatican II, when the Roman Catholic Church
set a new course in its relationship to Judaism.

In those days, she says, children thought Judaism ''was a religion of futile
sacrifice and despair in the face of a far-off God, that you need Jesus and
the saints to be your friendly bridge.''

But in Yom Kippur services she found ''an emotional revelation to see how
personally engaged and moved people could become. I've even adopted the
family custom of asking for forgiveness.''

Chad Baldwin, a 27-year-old Methodist, finds the melding of Jewish and
Christian lives more complicated. He has dated a Jewish woman for five
years. They wrestle with ways to bring two adults committed to different
faiths into family unity for worship and celebration.

''We both believe there is a way to be a good human being, and you can learn
about this in different ways. I do believe in Jesus Christ, and that's my
way to get in touch with the higher power. For my girlfriend, Judaism is the
way,'' Baldwin says. ''At Yom Kippur, I like the idea of reflection,
changing the way you do things and coming together to talk about the right
way to live.''

Catherine Shadd of Oakland, who grew up as an every-Sunday-in-church
Episcopalian, says she had drifted away from any religious practice years
before she married a Jewish man.

''My faith was always more God-centered than Jesus-centered,'' says Shadd,
who is studying for conversion. ''I don't feel like I gave up a relationship
with Jesus, because I never had that as strongly as I have the sense that we
live in a God-created universe.

''Worshiping together on Yom Kippur, having my voice join the voices of
others, makes me feel transformed. I remember this feeling. I love this
feeling.''

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (10/3/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 17:47:02 -0400

THE PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT THAT PRECEDED THE WAVE

Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch said that the wave of violence
"should not have surprised anyone who has been following the Palestinian
media." He said that similar scenes of violence are constantly screened
on Palestinian television "in between movies and shows. They show a few
seconds of intifada violence, together with narrated incitement. This
is how the PA wishes to inculcate its residents."

More samples of Palestinian hatred and incitement that cannot be
divorced from the Rosh HaShanah violence: "This Mosque [El Aksa] will
not be liberated until Jihad will be declared by a trusted authority...
I call all the Muslims to work for this purpose." - from a Friday sermon
on the Temple Mount, Friday, Sept. 29, 2000. "There is no alternative
but to destroy Israel" blares the title page of a new 6th-grade textbook
in the Palestinian Authority, while the back cover features, "The Jewish
claim to Palestine is the greatest lie known to humanity." Volume 2 of
the same set states, "Perhaps Allah brought the Jews to our land in
order to annihilate them, as during their war against Rome." "The dead
shall not rise until the Palestinians shall kill the Jews… All
agreements with Israel are provisional…" (a Friday sermon screened on
PLO television, July 28 and August 11, 2000). Another Temple Mount
sermon, from Sep. 8 of this year, stated, "Palestine � the holy Moslem
land - is indivisible, whether in Haifa, Nablus, Jerusalem or Nazareth.
It would be treacherous to concede any part of Palestine." "Oslo is a
foot in the door, rather than a permanent peace accord, until the
revolution attains its 1965 goal [from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean]," claimed PLO Cabinet Member Shahin (quoted in Al-Ayam,
May 30, 2000).

THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE TRAGIC FOOTAGE

Television stations around the world have shown footage of a young
Palestinian boy cowering behind his father only moments before being
killed by "Israeli" bullets. Contrary to the insinuations, however, the
Israeli troops could not see the two, and in fact could not see who was
responsible for the shooting coming at them from behind a barrier.
While it is known that the boy and his father found themselves amidst
crossfire, it has still not been ascertained whether Israeli or
Palestinian bullets killed the boy. Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo
Ben-Ami and IDF generals decried the "cynical use made by the
Palestinians of women and children by placing them in the front lines."
CNN reported today that the boy's mother "lured him away from the ranks
of young stone-throwers by telling him to accompany his father [on an
errand]," and that "the slain boy's relatives freely acknowledged that
he often joined other children from the camp in throwing rocks at
Israeli soldiers."

ARABS REMOVE VICTIMS, TORCH AMBULANCES

The Jerusalem manager of Israel's Red Cross, Magen David Adom, reports
that Arabs attacked not only ambulances that entered the Old City to
treat Jews, but even those that came to treat Arabs. Yonatan Yagodovsky
says that four medics were hurt when Arabs hurled stones into one
ambulance near Lion's Gate, as the medics were giving aid near the
Temple Mount on Friday. Yagodovsky says Arabs realized that the medics
were treating other Arabs, because the mob took the victims out of the
ambulances before attacking with stones. Then the Arabs burned the
ambulance completely. In all, two mobile intensive care units and five
ambulances were stoned. See photos at
"http://www.a7.org/hebrew/newspaper/News/Fnews.htm"

Check out Arutz Sheva's Easy Hebrew audio daily news with accompanying
text!
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/english/radio/recorded/Frecorded.htm

Arutz Sheva News Service
<www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Oct. 2, 2000 / Tishrei 3, 5761

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today (10/2/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 17:57:59 -0400

Sermon on Temple Mount - Al Aksa Mosque, Jerusalem

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly Pagatpatan
                         Source: IsraelWire

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Friday 29 September 2000, Hijri 1 -Rajab – 1421.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. I witness that there
is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger.

Oh Moslems, The event of the hour is the visit of Sharon (The jewish
minister and the butcher of Moslems in Sabra and Shateila Camps) along
with few Jewish leaders to al-Aqsa Mosque. Hundreds if not thousands of
policemen guarded them.

Sharon is challenging more than one billion Moslem all over the world.
What should be the response to Sharon's slighting of Moslems' holy
place? Should we respond only by throwing stones, or by condemnation?

Sharon or Barak will not dare to challenge Moslems if there was a head
for the Moslems (i.e. Khalifah) who may declare Jihad against them to
remove their state completely.

The visit of this Jewish butcher of Moslems had come when the case of
Palestine was distorted from being a war between Moslems and
disbelievers to a war between Arabs and Jews to a call to apply UN
resolutions to a conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians to a
conflict about the refugees then a conflict around the status of
Jerusalem and then finally to conflict over the status of al-Aksa
Mosque.

Who will forbid the Jews from committing massacres today in al-Aksa
Mosque, which might become a new road (for them) to continue the so-
called peace process or in another words, to surrender Palestine to the
Jews completely?

For more than 50 years the imperialist disbelievers had planned for our
opposition to the Jews to stay confined to demonstrations, throwing
stones and conspiracies.

We did not hear one ruler for Moslems declaring that he wants to
eradicate the Jews from Palestine. Instead they declare that Sharon's
visit is the cause because they are defending Barak and the Labor party.

Al-Aqsa Mosque was under the Crusaders occupation for more than 90
years. It used to be a stable for their horses. But only when the Moslem
Ummah declared Jihad that al-Aqsa Mosque was liberated.

The same thing applies today, this Mosque will not be liberated until
Jihad will be declared by a trusted authority, who else would be except
the coming Khalifah Insha'Allah.

I call all the Moslems to work for this purpose:

"They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event): But We see it (quite)
near." Ameen.

IDF warns Palestinian commanders in Nablus

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly Pagatpatan
                         Source: Jerusalem Post

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon
warned that unless the Palestinian commanders in Nablus halt the
continual shooting at Joseph�s Tomb, the IDF will open fire and move in
even though the area is under full Palestinian Authority control.

IDF starts using heavier weapons

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly Pagatpatan
                         Source: Jerusalem Post

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- The latest wave of rioting in the territories has been
marked by the IDF's first use of more serious weaponry, signifying a
step up in the degree of conflict with the Palestinians. Yesterday
afternoon, the IDF deployed attack helicopters over Nablus and the
Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip. It also fired bazookas, and used
snipers and hand grenades. Also yesterday, IDF soldiers at Netzarim
fired LAWs, or anti-armor bazookas three times. This followed the first
use of the shoulder-held bazooka the previous day by soldiers at the
same besieged outpost.

Also for the first time, IDF troops threw live hand grenades at
Palestinians, again at the Netzarim junction. In Nablus and also near
the junction, the army deployed tanks, but has so far refrained from
firing from them. A senior IDF officer said that the tanks were mainly
for deterrent effect. Across the territories, the IDF also deployed
snipers who cut down a number of Palestinians firing directly on IDF
soldiers. One IDF soldier was lightly wounded in the Gaza Strip
yesterday, and a total of five IDF soldiers have been wounded, but none
seriously, in the Gaza Strip since the
Palestinians starting using live weapons on Friday.

Palestinian minister asks for EU protection

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly Pagatpatan
                         Source: Reuters

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Palestinian cabinet minister Nabil Shaath urged the
European Union on Monday to provide "international protection,"
including troops and observers, for Palestinians facing Israeli forces.
Shaath, kicking off a European tour at the behest of President Yasser
Arafat, told reporters he made the request to French Foreign Minister
Hubert Vedrine whose country holds the revolving EU presidency. Vedrine
said he understood the motives for the request. Aides said it would be
considered by European governments with a parallel request for
involvement in an international investigation into reasons for the
current spate of violence between Palestinians and Israelis.

"I told him (Vedrine) that, if we wanted to continue the peace process,
we would need international protection because we cannot remain at the
mercy of Israeli occupation authorities," said Shaath who holds the
planning portfolio but often carries out senior diplomatic missions. "We
would like international observers and forces in every area in which
there has been difect contact and direct Israeli attack and particularly
around the Haram a- Sharif (Noble Sanctuary known to Jews as Jerusalem"s
Temple Mount) and around Palestinian towns.

Palestinians call for emergency Security Council meeting

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly Pagatpatan
                         Source: AFP

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Palestinian observers at the United Nations have asked
for an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss the
bloodshed in the Middle East, the UN spokesman said Monday. Spokesman
Fred Eckhard said the council might meet later in the day. Palestine has
observer status at the UN, and made its request through Tunisia, which
holds one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the council. It asked the
council to call on Israeli forces to withdraw from Temple Mount, and for
an inquiry into clashes which have claimed 49 lives over five days, 47
of them Palestinian.

Cambodia and Vietnam affected by worst floods in decades

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Reuters

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Today, the UN appealed for $10.7 million in emergency
assistance for 2.2 million Cambodians affected by the worst floods to
hit the country in decades. Two million people have been displaced,
nearly 20 percent of the population. The flooding has claimed 184 lives
and caused more than $50 million in property damage since early July.
Officials can't estimate infrastructure damage until the water recedes,
but they know it's extensive. "The damage is already very considerable,"
Monika Midel said. Parts of Cambodia normally experience flooding during
the rainy season in August and September, but due to early flooding this
year in July, it caused a state of emergency in most of Cambodia's
eastern provinces. Neighbouring Vietnam has also suffered the worst
floods in decades, with more than 170 people killed.

Epidemic of Rift Valley fever kills 52 people in Saudi Arabia!

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Reuters

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- On Monday, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah
visited a region in Saudi Arabia stricken with the recent Rift Valley
fever epidemic that has killed 52 people so far in the kingdom, the
official Saudi Press Agency reported. It said Crown Prince Abdullah, who
visited the southern province of Jizan, would look into measures taken
to fight the disease, transmitted by mosquitoes or by human contact with
infected animals. The U.N's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said
it was the first case of the disease outside Africa. International
health experts were in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Yemen trying to
help the two Arab states to combat the disease. Yemen says 31 people
have died from the disease there.

Astronomers see gamma-ray blast wave for the first time ever

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Space.com

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Starting from a trick of light predicted by Albert
Einstein, astronomers have finally captured their first-ever glimpse of
a blast wave left by a gamma-ray burst from a distant edge of the
cosmos. Gamma-ray bursts, thought to originate near supernovas and black
holes, flash powerfully through the sky at least once a day. They last
from 10 milliseconds to more than 15 minutes and are followed by X-ray
and visible light afterglows that endure several days. Astronomers can
detect these intense radiation events with special instruments but the
bursts don't give off any visible light even though they are the largest
known explosions in the universe.

Now, a team of astronomers has taken advantage of a rare cosmic
alignment that gave them the opportunity to focus on the expanding ring
of light left in its wake. The object, called GRB 000301C, was
discovered in March 2000. Garnavich, of the University of Notre Dame, is
the lead author of a report on the finding in the Astrophysical Journal
Letters. He stated that, "To be able to resolve an explosion so far away
is really quite astounding." Gamma-ray bursts, discovered by the Defense
Department by mistake in the 1960s, are a hot topic in astronomy,
offering a glimpse back in time. And with the record large explosion in
a recent year, it does make for a hot topic of discovery.

Israel's Cabinet communique concerning government's stand on the recent
violence

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly Pagatpatan
                         Source: IsraelWire

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Following is the communique from the weekly Cabinet
meeting today, Sunday.

“The Government of Israel expresses its regret for all the casualties.
The Government will act vigorously and use all means at its disposal to
preserve law and order throughout the country. It gives its full backing
to the Israel Police in their activities to enforce the law and ensure
public order. The Government believes that the vast majority of the
Israeli Arab population strives for integration and involvement in
Israeli society and peaceful coexistence, and that it is unfortunate
that extreme elements within this sector are attempting to incite
towards extremism.

We call on this sector to show restraint. A special cabinet meeting will
be convened to discuss approval of a long-term annual program to benefit
the Arab sector, including comprehensive discussion regarding the
problems and plight of the Arab and Bedouin sectors in Israel. The
Government calls upon the Palestinian Authority and its leadership to
take unequivocal measures to put an end to the riots and violations of
public order. We regret the fact that Palestinians were injured as a
result of the need to respond to the conduct of the Palestinian
Authority and its policemen. The Government holds the Palestinian
Authority responsible for the escalation of violence and the riots.

The Government fully backs the IDF and the security forces, its
commanders and soldiers for their conduct, and commends them on their
restraint, resoluteness and judgment in this complex situation. The
Government will continue its efforts to reach a settlement with our
Palestinian neighbors. We are currently in the midst of a very sensitive
stage in the peace process. Those who believe that violence is an
effective tool in the negotiations are mistaken. Violence cannot replace
those difficult decisions without
which there will be no agreement.

6.6 magnitude quake rocks SW Tanzania in Africa

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: AP

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- An earthquake rocked SW Tanzania on Monday, and
police said it cracked houses more than 60 miles from its epicenter. The
quake took place around the Kipili peninsula of Lake Tanganyika in the
Rukwa region, 600 miles W. of the capital. The USGS reports its
preliminary magnitude at 6.6. A quake of that magnitude can cause severe
damage in urban areas, but the Tanzanian earthquake occurred in a rural,
sparsely populated region with little infrastructure. The regional
police chief said the quake woke up residents in the region at 5:25
a.m., sending many of them rushing out of their homes. ``It was a
massive quake, shaking the whole of Rukwa region and beyond and cracking
.. walls of concrete buildings as far as the regional capital'' more
than 60 miles away,'' he said. Most of the people living in Rukwa are
peasant farmers or fisherman who live in mud huts.

HUGE Iceberg breaks off Antarctica's ice shelf!

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Iceberg B-20, estimated to be 10 times the size of
Manhattan, has broken loose from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. The
iceberg was discovered by satellites operated by the Defense
Meteorological Agency. Although recent cloud cover prevented the
scientists from knowing exactly when the iceberg broke free, they
believe the huge break off occurred after September 20. The new iceberg,
which is 30 miles long by 11.4 miles wide, is located near the part of
Antarctica that is closest to Australia and New Zealand, but is not
currently in the path of heavily used shipping lanes. Some scientists
have theorized that an increase in frequency of the separation of ice
from the Antarctic has been triggered by global warming.

Singapore closes ALL public play areas & young children's schools due to
illness!

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- In a frightening outbreak, Government officials
ordered all of Singapore's kindergartens, childcare facilities and
pre-schools closed down for a week beginning on Monday following the
death of three children from a viral illness known as hand, foot and
mouth disease. On Sunday, the mandatory closure was extended to include
fast food restaurants with play areas, as well as public pools and other
places where children gather. The measure will affect 140,000 children
and nearly 1,000 daycare centers and kindergartens.

Parents were also warned to keep their children at home and away from
crowded places to protect them from the infection, which is spread by
bodily fluids such as saliva and nasal discharge. A government statement
also cautioned parents to keep infected children at home and to wash any
items that they had handled. At least 363 cases of the disease have been
reported in Singapore during the past two weeks. Public Health
Commissioner Wang Nan Chee said, "We decided that this age group should
not come together in an environment where the disease can be transmitted
from one child to another until we can break whatever transmission that
is going on."

Symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease include sore throat, vomiting,
fever and blistering rashes on the hands and feet. In rare cases, it can
also cause death as a result of complications of the brain or heart.
More than 50 children in Taiwan died during an outbreak of the disease
in 1998.

Birds & humans getting unusual strain of salmonella in N.Z.

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Mon Oct 2,2000 -- Health officials in Auckland, New Zealand, have issued
warnings to people dining in caf�s to not eat any food that may have
come into contact with sparrows. The sparrows are suspected of carrying
an unusual strain of salmonella that has killed one man in the city of
Christchurch and sickened a number of other people. Dead birds are being
tested for the salmonella-160 strain of the disease, which is being
blamed for a sudden rise in sparrow deaths. At least 37 people as well
as a variety of birds and animals have tested positive for the illness
in the past two months. The unusual strain has been identified in many
areas already. Health Official, Pritchard, said "Birds shouldn't be in
food premises anyway, but basically people should just follow good food
safety rules." Official Geoff Hicks expressed concern that the disease
could spread to endangered species. As it looks like the sparrow is now
not the only bird being affected! He said, "A number of waxeyes have now
been found dead, so clearly, our biggest concern is that it will be
picked up by indigenous birds." The salmonella epidemic has prompted
numerous calls to authorities from rural residents who are concerned
about the infected birds polluting their rooftop water supplies. They
are being advised to boil their water.

http://216.219.160.226/cgi-
bin/readnews.cgi?day=00_10_2&item=#970519526

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Hacker puts Nasdaq on warning
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:02:36 -0400

Hacker puts Nasdaq on warning
By Joris Evers, WebWereld Netherlands

WEB SITES WITH financial news have become vital for investors. Imagine the
disarray that could occur if a hacker took over such a site. A Dutch hacker
claims he could have altered Nasdaq.com and three sites run by
MarketWatch.com.

He didn't, however. Instead he warned the administrators at Nasdaq.com,
CBS.MarketWatch.com, BigCharts.com, and FTMarketWatch.com. Now the
security
holes have been patched up and the hacker is disclosing his discoveries.

Gerrie Mansur, one of the leaders of Dutch hacking group Hit2000, gained
access to the global.asa file from the Web servers of the news sites. This
file regulates who gets access to what applications on the server. The file also
defines what the applications can do and contains the global settings for the
applications, as well as start-up and shutdown routines. Nasdaq's global.asa
file contains the password to the site's main database, Mansur said.

The news sites run on IIS (Internet Information Server) software from
Microsoft.

"Mansur took advantage of known security holes," said Marco van Berkum, a
security specialist at Dutch IT security company Obit. Van Berkum guessed
that the hacker used a well-known security hole called the Source Fragment
Disclosure Vulnerability.

"Often the global.asa file will contain database passwords," Van Berkum
said. "It looks like that was the case with Nasdaq."

Details of this particular vulnerability, or security hole, were published
on the BugTraq mailing list on July 17. By adding "+.htr" to a request for a
known .asa (or .asp, .ini, etc.) file, Microsoft IIS 4.0 and 5.0 can be made to
disclose fragments of source code that should otherwise be inaccessible. A
description of the vulnerability can be found at
www.securityfocus.com/bid/1488.

Mansur, however, denied having used this method to hack into the servers.

"I did not use the Source Fragment Disclosure Vulnerability, but used an
exploit I wrote myself," he said. The exploit is software tool that Mansur
developed and then used to gain access to the servers.

"I will not publish the exploit," Mansur said.

"People will start using it, and that's just too dangerous. I was able to
log in as service administrator and get full access to the server. I could
even kick the administrator."

The hacker warned all the involved Webmasters by e-mail. Dan Schindler,
director of technical client service at CBSMarketWatch.com, responded,
"Many thanks for bringing this to our attention. We have installed a patch and
deployed it to all our data centers. We appreciate your honesty and
willingness to send this notification to us," Schindler said in his e-mail.

Joris Evers is a correspondent for WebWereld Netherlands WebWereld
Netherlands is an IDG sister publication of InfoWorld.

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/10/02/001002hnhacker.xml

via: cyberwar@egroups.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - NASA Thermal Materials Test May Revolutionize Spacecraft Design
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:04:06 -0400

Ann Hutchison Sept. 27, 2000
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone: 650/604-3039)
ahutchison@mail.arc.nasa.gov

June Malone
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 256/544-0034)

RELEASE: 00-63AR
NASA Thermal Materials Test May Revolutionize Spacecraft Design

NASA plans a rigorous flight test tomorrow of thermal protection materials
that may radically change the design and performance of future aerospace
vehicles. They also may overturn an age-old tenet of aerodynamics: that
only blunt-body aerospace vehicles can survive the searing temperatures
created as the vehicles tear through the atmosphere.

At about 4:00 a.m. PDT, a U.S. Air Force Minuteman III missile carrying an
Mk 12A reentry vehicle (RV) is set to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force
Base near Lompoc, CA. The RV is equipped with four 5.1-inch-long strakes,
or sharp leading edges. Each contains three materials known as Ultra High
Temperature Ceramics (UHTCs), which are designed to prevent spacecraft
from
burning up during reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

"We believe these materials may lead to a radical new concept in aerospace
vehicle design and performance -- the use of sharp leading edges on
hypersonic vehicles," said Joan Salute, project manager for the mission at
NASA's Ames Research Center, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley.
"The potential increase in spacecraft maneuverability is like going from a
semi-trailer to a Ferrari." Salute said the material showed exceptional
performance during its first flight test in 1997 and during tests in Ames'
arcjet facilities.

Sharp leading edges offer several advantages over the blunt-body design
currently in use. They could allow a space shuttle or crew return vehicle
to maneuver in space more like an airplane and potentially allow astronauts to
return to Earth from anywhere on orbit. They also might eliminate the
electromagnetic interference that causes the communications blackouts that
plague reentering blunt-body space vehicles. Reducing the amount of drag
could
lead to a reduction in propulsion requirements. In addition, planetary probes
could make use of sharp-body technology for aerobraking and to maximize
their
maneuvering capability.

-more-

-2-

"Our goal is ultimately to transfer this technology to the aerospace
industry for use in next-generation reentry vehicles," said Jeff Bull,
chief engineer for the project at Ames. "Based on input from the industry,
tomorrow's test will incorporate a more realistic representation of a
leading edge that may be used on a reusable launch vehicle."

"Sharp leading edge technology is one of several technologies NASA is
developing to help achieve its aerospace goals," said Michael Phipps,
project manager of the Pathfinder Experiments Project at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL. Phipps cited several areas that may
benefit from this new technology, including increased safety and
reliability of aerospace vehicles. The technology also may reduce the cost
of putting payloads into space, from thousands of dollars per pound to a
few hundred dollars per pound in the long term, making access to space
more
affordable to a variety of markets.

Once it reaches an altitude of about 400 nautical miles, the RV will be
released, returning through Earth's atmosphere at blistering speed. It
will be slowed by a parachute and land in a lagoon at the Kwajalein missile
range in the Pacific Ocean. Sensors in the strakes will measure how closely
performance matches pre-flight calculations, and at what temperature the
materials begin to melt.

One pair of strakes will be retracted just before reaching temperatures
high enough to cause the material to begin ablating, or burning off. The
other pair will retract shortly after ablation begins, at a temperature of
nearly 5,100 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA engineers expect to collect data
throughout the 23-minute flight, up to the moment of splashdown. The
reentry vehicle will be recovered from the lagoon floor for post-flight
analysis. Animation of the entry and recovery of the RV is available at
the following URL: http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov

This research is part of the SHARP (Slender Hypervelocity
Aerothermodynamic Research Probes) program, a joint effort among NASA,
Sandia National Laboratories and the U.S. Air Force. It is funded by the
Pathfinder Program at Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA's lead center for
space transportation systems development.

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Hamas spokesman calls for Arafat to resign
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:08:21 -0400

Hamas spokesman calls for Arafat to resign

"If he is wise, Yasser Arafat will understand the realities and
resign...," spokesman said Hamas

October 01, 2000, 10:03 PM

TEHRAN (AFP English) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat should resign
and allow the people to find new leaders, rather than let the new
Palestinian uprising fail, the spokesman of the Islamic Resistance
Movement, Hamas, Ibrahim Ghosheh, said Sunday.

"If he is wise, Yasser Arafat will understand the realities and resign.
He must do so. He must allow the people to find new leaders," said
Ghosheh in an interview with AFP here.

"We are seeing a new intifada, the fourth," said Ghosheh, referring to
four days of clashes which have swept across the Palestinian territories
and spilled into Israel, after the controversial visit Thursday by
Israeli right wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon to Jerusalem�s Al-Aqsa
mosque compound, Islam�s third holiest site.

He accused Arafat of working in coordination with Israel to end the
first intifada, or uprising, which lasted from 1987 to 1993, which
stopped with the Oslo process which led to an interim peace agreement
between the two sides.

He said Arafat had also put an end to two shorter uprisings in 1996 and
1998. "Will he be so brazen as to do so again? That is the question
now," Ghosheh said.

"Arafat must not make this uprising fail. This is the intifada of
Al-Aqsa. The Palestinians are extremely attached to this third holy site
of Islam, which has belonged to them for 14 centuries," he warned.

"Will this intifada continue? It is too soon to say. But we are
demanding the whole of Palestine, the whole of Jerusalem, while Arafat
has conceded 80 percent of our land and two thirds of Jerusalem," he
added. � 2000 AFP

http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,News|30092,00.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (10/2/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:15:24 -0400

*** Court allows penalty for flag sketch

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Kansas youth suspended from school for three days
after he drew a picture of a Confederate flag lost a Supreme Court
appeal Monday. The court, without comment, turned away arguments that
the suspension violated the youth's freedom of speech and other
constitutionally protected rights. T.J. West was a seventh-grader at
Derby Middle School in Derby, Kan., when in spring 1998 he made a
4-by-6-inch sketch of the Confederate flag during a math class. West
later told his assistant principal a friend had urged him to draw the
flag, and that he knew what it was but not what it meant. West also
knew drawing the flag violated a "racial harassment and intimidation"
policy the school district had adopted after incidents of racial
tension in 1995 During the racial tensions at Derby High School and
the middle school in 1995, at least one fight had broken out as a
result of a student wearing a Confederate flag headband. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570321386-b34

*** Court allows pupils based on race

WASHINGTON (AP) - An experimental elementary school that makes
children's race a factor when selecting its students survived a
Supreme Court challenge Monday. The justices let stand rulings that
the school run by the University of California has a justifiable
reason for considering race and therefore does not violate the rights
of the children it turns away. The Corinne A. Seeds University
Elementary School, run by UCLA's Graduate School of Education and
Information Studies, has 460 students - 4-year-olds to sixth-graders.
The "laboratory school" is used to study racial groups' learning
skills and recommend new teaching methods. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570319914-4bd

*** Foreign refugees housed in squalor

ATLANTA (AP) - The walls are covered in grime and bugs crawl
everywhere in the Atlanta apartment where Nyator Gany lives with her
four children after fleeing her native Sudan because of civil war.
Gany and dozens of other refugees who were put in the crime-ridden
apartment complex by Catholic Social Services said they pleaded for
help from agency social workers but received nothing but broken
promises. "The refugee camp was better than here," Gany said. On
Sunday, employees and volunteers with Catholic Social Services began
moving Gany and other refugees into temporary quarters at a hotel.
`Catholic Social Services, which takes hundreds of thousands of
federal dollars, has been resettling refugees in the same apartments
for at least five years and its social workers staff an office there.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570321984-404

*** Navies stage joint submarine rescue

SINGAPORE (AP) - Navies from the United States, Japan, South Korea
and Singapore on Monday began the first combined submarine rescue
exercise in the Pacific. The 13-day Exercise Pacific Reach 2000,
involves 600 people, four ships, four submarines and three
sophisticated underwater craft that can rescue personnel from
submarines in distress. The joint exercise was planned well before
the recent Russian submarine disaster that killed 118 people, but
participants are hoping it will help prepare them for similar
emergencies. Russia, China, Britain, Australia, Canada, Chile and
Indonesia have sent observers to this week's exercise 230 miles
northeast of Singapore. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570320353-f60

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arafat Planned Rosh HaShanah Terror
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:16:58 -0400

                      ARAFAT PLANNED ROSH
                         HASHANAH TERROR
                                 Monday,October 2,2000

By URI DAN

The 1973 Yom Kippur War caught the Israelis unaware.

                  But Israeli military and security officials were well prepared
                  for what probably will come to be known as the 2000
                  Rosh Hashanah terror.

                  Prime Minister Ehud Barak and his security services have
                  known for some weeks that Palestinian leader Yasser
                  Arafat was planning a major crisis, believing it would
                  advance his tough negotiations with Barak.

                  Israeli military and police have been deployed by the
                  thousands in Jerusalem, in the Gaza Strip and the West
                  Bank. And it was the Palestinians who paid the heaviest
                  price in the riots of the past several days, with at least 27
                  dead and some 700 wounded.

                  Barak, who is also defense minister, ordered his forces to
                  use live bullets and to deploy assault helicopters and anti
                  tank missiles.

                  Last night he also ordered them to move tanks to crucial
                  points in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while telling some
                  200,000 Jewish settlers to stay off the roads.

                  When Barak was asked by Israeli state radio whether the
                  visit last Thursday by opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the
                  Temple Mount had sparked the riots, Barak answered
                  clearly, "No. It has nothing to do with it."

                  His spokesman Gadi Baltyansky, when asked the same
                  question by a BBC reporter, answered, "Every Jew has the
                  right to visit the holiest place for the Jews."

                  The issue of who will control the Temple Mount, which
                  Arafat says should be under full Palestinian sovereignty, has
                  been one of the most burning issues in peace talks since the
                  Camp David summit last July.

Barak has been ready for a compromise, Arafat not.

                  So Arafat went to his usual method, which he used under
                  all the Israeli prime ministers since he came back to the
                  Gaza Strip in 1994 - violence.

http://www.nypost.com/commentary/12134.htm

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - PETA: Jesus Was a Vegetarian
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:19:36 -0400

PETA: Jesus Was a Vegetarian

Animal Rights Ad Uses Turin Shroud

The animal-rights group PETA is unveiling a new ad campaign designed to promote vegetarianism. The new ad shows the Shroud of Turin, believed by some to have been the shroud in which Jesus�s body was wrapped. (www.peta.org)

Oct. 2 — PETA�s newest advertising campaign to persuade people to stop eating meat is sure to stir up controversy. The animal rights group is using Jesus as its new “poster boy.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals� new ad shows the Shroud of Turin and has the words: “Make a Lasting Impression — Go Vegetarian.”

PETA said it would unveil its international ad campaign Tuesday in Turin, Italy, where the shroud is on display in the city�s cathedral. Some Catholics believe the linen sheet bearing an image of a crucified man is Christ�s burial cloth.

The unveiling will take place on the eve of the day honoring St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, “in an effort to get the Christian world to consider the plight of the millions of cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, fish, and other animals,” PETA said in a statement.

PETA Arguing Jesus Was a Vegetarian

The group said it chose Jesus as its “poster boy” because he is widely believed to have been a member of Essenes, a Jewish religious sect that rejected animal sacrifices and followed a vegetarian diet.

“Factory farms and slaughterhouses are the embodiment of violence and bloodshed,” PETA Director Dan Mathews said in a statement. “It�s a sin for Christians to exclude animals from the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not kill.�”

Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the Archdioceses of New York, who hasn�t seen these particular ads yet, says he thinks it�s wrong to use a sacred symbol in an advertisement.

“I am very uncomfortable with the idea of any individual or any group taking Jesus, in particular an image that is sacred to us as Catholics and as Christians, and using it and exploiting it,” Zwilling said.

Advertisements surrounded by controversy is nothing new for the animal rights group. In March, PETA unveiled its “Got Beer?” campaign on college campuses. The group argued that drinking beer is healthier than milk and that the dairy industry is cruel to cows and calves. PETA pulled the ads amongst criticism that they encouraged underage drinking.

In August, the group caused a stir when it sponsored billboard advertisements that linked prostate cancer to drinking milk by featuring New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who suffers from prostate cancer, with a milk mustache to parody the “Got Milk?” ads. The company that put up the billboards removed the group�s ads following fallout from their unveiling.

ABCNEWS.com�s Beth McCorry and Reuters contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/petaad001002.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Other Faiths Not Denied Salvation, Pope Says
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:27:35 -0400

Other Faiths Not Denied Salvation, Pope Says

By Sarah Delaney
Special to The Washington Post
Monday , October 2, 2000 ; Page A18

ROME, Oct. 1 –– Pope John Paul II sought today to repair damage to
relations with other religions caused by a recent Vatican document that
reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope said it
had been misinterpreted and that the Catholic position was not
"arrogance" with regard to other faiths.

The document shows that other Christian churches contain "precious
elements of salvation" and that "salvation is not denied to
non-Christians," the pope said in his regular Sunday address.

Issued last month, the document known as Dominus Jesus described non-
Christian religions as "gravely deficient." Other Christian churches
were said to have "significance and importance in the mystery of
salvation," but nonetheless to "suffer from defects."

Drafted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Church's
authority on doctrine, it was widely criticized by leaders of other
religions, who said it threatened the inter- religious dialogue that has
been so much a part of John Paul's 22-year papacy.

While the document did not break new ground, many Jewish, Protestant and
Muslim leaders took offense at a seemingly categorical presumption of
inferiority of other faiths, coming during a Holy Year in which the pope
has tried to build bridges with them.

Cardinal Joesph Ratzinger, the Vatican's senior official on doctrine,
said in presenting the document on Sept. 5 that it was deemed necessary
to halt the "so-called theology of religious pluralism" that would put
Catholicism on an equal level with other religions.

Following a canonization ceremony in St. Peter's Square today, the pope
said in his Sunday address that the document had been "approved by me in
a special form." He said its purpose was to "clarify the essential
Christian elements, which don't block dialogue, but demonstrate its
basis, because a dialogue without foundation is destined to degenerate
into empty verbosity."

Addressing some of the chief criticisms, the pope said that the
document, like those issued by the Second Vatican Council in the
mid-1960s, asserts that only through Jesus Christ is there salvation,
but that non-Christians were not denied salvation.

About another issue that vexed leaders of other Christian faiths, he
said: "If the document, like Vatican II, declares that 'the only Church
of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church,' it doesn't mean to express a
lack of consideration for the other churches and ecclesiastic
communities."

The Vatican was to have hosted a symposium Tuesday on the dialogue
between Christians and Jews but was forced to cancel it when two Jewish
leaders dropped out in protest of the document.

John Paul said that he hoped that "this declaration, which is close to
my heart, will act as a clarification and as an opening."

� 2000 The Washington Post

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57409-2000Oct1.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Principal embraces no-hug policy
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:30:21 -0400

Principal embraces no-hug policy
By Gina Augustini Best
FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

EULESS, Texas — Euless Junior High School has punished two girls for hugging each other in the hallway — something the students say should be allowed and that lots of girls do.

Principal David Robbins says such physical contact is inappropriate in school because it could lead to other things. Mr. Robbins said he stands by his rule that no students should hug in school.

"Really, in junior high, they just don't need to put their hands on each other because they can get into trouble," he said.

At the heart of the disagreement appears to be the intent of the girls' hugs.

Mr. Robbins, while not naming the students, described one of the hugs as a "sexual encounter" because the girls "were fronted up, body to body."

He said hugging in school increases the chances of inappropriate touching and creates peer pressure for students who may not want that type of contact.

The eighth-graders who were punished for hugging, Le'Von Daugherty, 15, and Heather Culps, 14, say they are like sisters and often hug to comfort each other or to show support. They said the hugs were not sexual.

"We all just hug each other. All the girls do anyway," Heather said. The girls were given detention slips Aug. 30 after a teacher saw them hugging in front of Le'Von's locker. On Sept. 15, Le'Von was sent to the principal's office after she was seen hugging Heather again in front of her locker. The first hug was for good luck before a test, and the second hug was to comfort an upset Le'Von, the girls said.

"I don't think I should be punished for hugging my friend. That's ridiculous. We shouldn't be punished for making each other feel good," Le'Von said.

"It wasn't like we were groping each other," Heather said. "I think it's pretty outrageous to go that far."

Heather, who said she often hugs teachers at Euless Junior High School, said she cannot understand how it is appropriate to hug them but not her friends.

"I'm not trying to make a big argument," Heather said. "I'm just standing up for what I believe in."

Le'Von said she is writing a letter and plans to raise the issue with the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school board.

Student codes of conduct in H-E-B and other area school districts have vague rules regarding physical contact such as hugging and appear to allow for educators' interpretation of the behavior.

Hugging is not listed as an offense in the H-E-B 2000-2001 Student Code of Conduct. But it could be considered "exhibiting inappropriate familiarity," considered a Level 1 misbehavior in the code, said Dianne Byrnes, district director of alternative education programs.

The Euless Junior High School student handbook does not list hugging as misbehavior, Mr. Robbins said, so students are given multiple warnings before they are punished for it.

The girls received detention after the first hugging incident on Aug. 30. Heather's detention slip stated her offense as "hugging another student after being told that hugging is against school rules." Le'Von, who said she argued with the teacher about the detention, was written up for being "defiant" and "not doing what the teacher said to do."

After the second hugging incident, Le'Von was sent to the principal's office for arguing with a teacher. She received a Saturday detention for being "rude, discourteous" and "arguing with the teacher." Heather did not receive detention for the second hugging incident.

Mr. Robbins said there have been two incidents in which boys and girls were hugging and students had been punished. But it is "not an extreme problem" at Euless Junior High School.

"You don't see anyone running around here saying, 'Let's clamp down on hugging,' " he said.

Le'Von's mother, Margaret Daugherty, said she supports her daughter's stance and considers Heather part of the family — and hugs her, too.

"If a boy and a girl can walk down the hall holding hands and not get into trouble, then they shouldn't get into trouble for giving a small hug. I can't see any harm in it," Margaret Daugherty said. "When I was going to school, I had sisters there, and we would hug. What about family members? Can they hug?"

Le'Von's parents home-schooled her last year after an incident in which they believed that their daughter had been disciplined unfairly, Mrs. Daugherty said. In that case, Le'Von wore her father's jacket to school and was punished because there were cigarettes in it.

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