BPR Mailing List Digest: 09/12/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
September 12, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | September, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Abbott backs church sacking gay employees
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 08:41:50 -0400

September 11, 2000

Abbott backs church sacking
gay employees

David Marr

                 Centacare has a right to sack homosexuals,
                 according to Mr Abbott, the Minister for Work
                 Place Relations, who has endorsed claims by the
                 Catholic Church that its Jobs Network agency has
                 the right to dismiss employees who live "openly at
                 variance with church teaching".

                 The minister was responding to draft guidelines
                 issued by the Human Rights and Equal
                 Opportunity Commission (HREOC) designed to
                 protect staff employed by Centacare and the three
                 other "faith based" agencies providing employment
                 services on behalf of the Commonwealth
                 Government.

                 "There are serious problems with the guidelines,"
                 he told the Herald. "They show a general lack of
                 sympathy for the principle that a religious
                 organisation has a right to maintain its own ethos."

                 As the minister responsible for the Jobs Network,
                 Mr Abbott has pledged to protect Christian
                 agencies from "unreasonable interference in
                 freedom of religion" - including the right of
                 Christians to hire and fire according to their
                 teaching on sex and marriage.

                 "This is a diverse pluralist democracy that believes
                 everyone has a broad entitlement to live their lives
                 as they see fit," Mr Abbott said. "But I don't think
                 an openly homosexual person has a right to be
                 employed by an organisation publicly committed to
                 oppose that lifestyle."

                 The HREOC draft guidelines are designed to deal
                 with the four "faith based" agencies in Jobs
                 Network now being paid about $700million over
                 three years to shoulder part of the tasks of the old
                 Commonwealth Employment Service.

                 Earlier this year, under pressure from HREOC, the
                 Salvation Army's Employment Plus, Wesley
                 Uniting Employment and Mission Employment
                 dropped controversial claims to favour Christians
                 when hiring their own staff.

                 But now the Catholic Church is asserting its claim
                 to hire and fire Centacare staff according to church
                 teaching on sex. The Catholic Bishops Conference
                 in Canberra is drafting a response to the HREOC
                 on these lines. The church will argue that all its
                 employees - from priests to clerks in Centacare -
                 are subject to church rules and exempt from
                 federal anti-discrimination protection.

                 Mr Abbott, a former trainee for the priesthood,
                 supports this claim. "I am not backing it from a
                 Catholic but a logical point of view," he said.

                 The director of Centacare Sydney, Father John
                 Usher, has assured the Herald that no adulterers,
                 single mothers or homosexuals have been
                 dismissed by his organisation.

                 "I don't want anyone to be hurt by what is the
                 teachings of the church but I would expect them
                 not to hold up publicly any beliefs or behave in
                 ways that would bring the agency or the church
                 into disrepute," he said.

                 The shadow attorney-general, Mr Robert
                 McClelland, believes the proposed HREOC
                 guidelines are "pretty sound" and that Jobs
                 Network agencies should not be allowed to
                 impose religious tests on their employees.

                 "Constitutional protections of freedom of religion
                 should not be contravened by contracting out," Mr
                 McClelland said. "Our founders saw the dangers,
                 and the logic of their reasoning has just as much
                 force 100 years later.

"I don't think other members of his party will agree
with Abbott. They'll pull him into line.''

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0009/11/national/national4.html

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

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Tale of Arthur points to comet catastrophe
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 08:41:50 -0400

TALE OF ARTHUR POINTS TO COMET CATASTROPHE

The story of the death of King Arthur and its references to a wasteland
may have been inspired by the apocalyptic effects of a giant comet
bombarding the Earth in AD540, leading to the Dark Ages, a British
scientist said yesterday. The impacts filled the atmosphere with dust
and debris; a long winter began. Crops failed, and there was famine, Dr
Mike Baillie of Queen's University, Belfast, told the British
Association for the Advancement of Science. There was now overwhelming
evidence from studies of tree rings of a catastrophic climate change at
that time, he said.

Dr Baillie, who is based at the university's school of archaeology and
palaeoecology, said studies of Irish oaks showed that the climate
suddenly became inhospitable around AD540. Other researchers had
discovered the same narrow rings on trees in places such as Germany,
Scandinavia, Siberia, North America and China. "For all these trees to
show the same rings at the same time means it must have been a
profoundly unpleasant event, a catastrophic environmental downturn, in
AD540, which is in or at the beginning of the Dark Ages."

The tightly bound rings are consistent with fierce frosts that would
have devastated agriculture and made a malnourished population more
vulnerable to the plague of 542, which killed millions. Plague-carrying
rats and pests would have been looking for sustenance, thus hastening
the spread of the disease. Dr Baillie said that there were several
theories as to the explanation. One was that a vast volcano had erupted
and pumped huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere. Yet such a volcano
"would have been out of all proportion to ones we see in recent times",
he said, adding that the geological records bore no trace of it.

The other theory, he said, was that huge fragments from a giant comet
had hit the Earth, causing violent explosions and a dramatic cooling of
the planet. "My view is that we had a cometary bombardment - not a
full-blown comet, or we would not be here, but parts of a comet." Dr
Baillie said the hypothesis was supported by studies by astronomers and
astrophysicists including Mark Bailey, of the Armagh Observatory, Victor
Clube, of Oxford University, and Bill Napier, formerly of the Royal
Observatory in Edinburgh. They had calculated that there was a strong
likelihood that the Earth suffered a cometary bombardment between 400
and 600, based on records of high meteor shower activity. They had
linked it with the break-up of the comet Biela.

It was hoped that scientists in Greenland would analyze ice cores for
signs of cometary dust. They were soon to carry out chemical analysis
for tree rings for similar clues. Dr Baillie urged historians to examine
the records for writings that may record the events. "You can read about
the Justinian plague in conventional history books but you cannot read
about the cometary bombardment. The trees single out an episode which
can be best described as catastrophic, and it isn't there in written
history."

There was, however, some support buried in mythological writings and
other works. Roger of Wendover had referred in 540 or 541 to a "comet in
Gaul so vast that the whole sky seemed on fire. In the same year there
dropped real blood from the clouds . . . and a dreadful mortality
ensued".

Dr Baillie also cited the death of King Arthur, which is dated to 537,
539 and 542 in various works, as establishing possible links with fire
from the sky and destruction. Dr Baillie said that Arthur was linked in
old Irish with CuChulainn, the sky god, who in turn was linked with the
Celtic bright sky god Lugh variously described as "bright as the setting
sun, comes up in the west, and of the mighty blows". "The Arthurian
stories with their Celtic antecedents of bright sky gods and 'wasteland'
come with traditional dates for Arthur's death." Dr Baillie said that
the myths hinted strongly at a bombardment as the causes of an
environmental downturn. (The London Times)

via: origin@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] - Space Weather News for Sept 12, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 09:02:08 -0400

Space Weather News for Sept 12, 2000
http://www.spaceweather.com

Telescopes monitoring the Sun recorded something extraordinary yesterday
-- the solar disk was nearly devoid of spots. With solar maximum in full
swing, the Boulder sunspot number dropped to its lowest value of the year.
In spite of the "blank Sun," our planet could be in for a bit of space
weather on Tuesday if, as expected, a solar coronal mass ejection that
left the Sun on Saturday strikes a glancing blow to Earth's magnetosphere.
The impact could trigger modest geomagnetic activity.

In other space weather news, astronomers have discovered a bright Near
Earth Asteroid that will pass by our planet on Sept. 17. Amateur
astronomers can monitor the fast-moving space rock in 8-inch or larger
telescopes.

For more information, please visit http://SpaceWeather.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Real World News - 09/12/00
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 10:36:22 -0500

Selected items from...

REAL WORLD NEWS
09/12/2000

Visit Real World News online at http://www.realworldnews.net

ISRAEL WEIGHS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL OVER TEMPLE MOUNT
Israel is not ruling out the possibility of acceding to a proposal by
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to place sovereignty on the Temple
Mount in the hands of a body consisting of the permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council and the Jerusalem Committee of
the Islamic Organization Conference. Under this idea, which is still
being formulated, the joint body would confer on Arafat the
jurisdiction over the Temple Mount and appoint him custodian of the
Islamic holy places. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/htmls/kat5_2.asp

POWER GRID FAILURE SHUTS RUSSIAN NUCLEAR PLANTS
A failure in its crumbling electric grid forced Russia to shut down
several nuclear reactors over the weekend, including those at a
gargantuan top-secret fuel reprocessing plant, officials said on
Monday. Officials assured the public there was no danger, but the
head of the huge, secret Mayak reprocessing plant, in the remote Ural
mountains, said only his staff's "near-military" vigilance, had
prevented serious trouble.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=198250

VODKA WAR SHAKES, STIRS RUSSIA
A vodka war is raging in Russia, with competitors being slain by
hitmen, hundreds of thousands of bottles seized by police and more
than 20,000 people dead since January after drinking bootleg liquor.
The "kings of vodka" are locked in a pitiless struggle to conquer a
market worth some 12 billion dollars split equally between the legal
and the black markets, according to experts quoted by the daily
Kommersant and the weekly Profil.
http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/he
ad lines/000911/world/afp/Vodka_war_shakes__stirs_Russia.html

GAY MARRIAGE BILL GOES BEFORE NETHERLANDS PARLIAMENT
The Netherlands, long among the gay rights vanguard, is set to
solidify that position with a bill converting the country's
"registered same-sex partnerships" into marriages, complete with
divorce guidelines and wider adoption rights for gays. Proponents say
the legislation, which was virtually assured of passing during a vote
set for Tuesday, would give Dutch gays rights beyond those offered in
any other country. http://www.foxnews.com/world/091200/netherlands.sml

BEIJING BOOSTS ITS CAPABILITY TO ATTACK, MAKE WAR
China is increasing its capacity for joint air, land, and sea
operations while developing a computer warfare capacity and hardening
its communications against monitoring, a congressional report states.
The report also declares that China's military - the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) - is providing Wa tribesmen in Burma with
weapons, military advice and materials for distributing illegal
methamphetamine within neighboring Thailand. "The PLA's modernization
and fighting capabilities are developing at a rate far ahead of the
Pentagon's previous predictions," the report reveals.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-200091222443.htm

JELLYFISH SWARMS OVERTAKE GULF OF MEXICO
Jellyfish are swarming through the northern Gulf of Mexico in
unprecedented numbers, signaling an ecological shift that could mean
sweeping and catastrophic changes for Gulf fish populations. Hordes
of jellies are positioned in prime spawning areas just as breeding
season for many popular gamefish kicks into high gear. Scientists say
the animals have already started eating eggs and larva at an alarming
rate. http://www.msnbc.com/news/457085.asp?0na=2324140-

RICKETS IS BACK
An age-old scourge of infants and children is returning - and the
growing popularity of breast-feeding may be the cause, according to
some experts. The bone disease rickets plagued hundreds of thousands
of children as recently as the 19th century but was nearly eradicated
by the 1950s. Now it's on the upswing and some children are at
especially high risk, according to a new study in the Journal of
Pediatrics. http://www.foxnews.com/health/silent/index.sml

PILGRIMS IN SOUTHERN EGYPT FLOCK TO SEE VIRGIN MARY
Every night Marcelle Maurice comes to Saint Mark�s church in the
little town of Assiut, Egypt, to stand outside and watch the sky. She
says she sees an apparition of the Virgin Mary every night. "I saw
the Virgin Mary, flashing lights and big white doves," says Marcelle,
clutching her 5-year-old daughter. Like her, thousands of Egyptians
have been flocking to this southern Egyptian town more than 300 miles
south of Cairo, once known as a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism.
Outside the church, hopeful pilgrims each night chant "Come Mary,
Come," hoping the Virgin Mary will appear.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/virgin000911.html

BIBLE COLLEGE HEAD OUSTED WHEN CRIMINAL PAST REVEALED
The founder and president of the Upstate Bible College and
Theological Seminary has been ousted after it was revealed that he
misrepresented the college as accredited and misrepresented his own
credentials, as well as neglecting to mention his criminal
background. The school's founder, Michael McCorvey, is on probation
after being given a 10-year suspended sentence in Anderson County
Court last December for obtaining property under false pretenses.
McCorvey, 36, also has prior convictions for theft in Alabama and
fraud in Florida, according to authorities.
http://shns.scripps.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BIBLECOLLEGE-09-10-00&cat=LR

ARAFAT'S RETREAT
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, isolated by the world in his
passion to declare Palestine an independent state by Sept. 13, will
stay silent tomorrow. For this he should be congratulated. To do
otherwise would have brought retaliation from Israel and further
political isolation from the international community. But history has
an ironic way of replaying itself; the Palestinian council has
created a new imaginary deadline, Nov. 15. That is exactly 12 years
from the date when the PLO, then in exile in Tunisia, originally
declared a Palestinian state.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-house-2000912194354.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - AMAZING GRACE: A "NATION OF BIBLICAL ILLITERATES"
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 10:37:38 -0500

AMAZING GRACE: A "NATION OF BIBLICAL ILLITERATES"

Pollster George Gallup Jr. has long referred to America as a "nation
of biblical illiterates." Only four in 10 Americans know that Jesus
delivered the Sermon on the Mount. A majority of citizens cannot name
the four Gospels of the New Testament. Only three in 10 teenagers
know why Easter is celebrated. Two-thirds of Americans believe there
are few, if any, absolute principles to direct human behavior. A new
poll by the Barna Research Group suggests that religious illiteracy
has increased. For example, three out of four Americans (and nearly
half of "born-again" Christians) believe the Bible teaches that "God
helps those who help themselves." A similar number of born-again
Christians deny the existence of the Holy Spirit and Satan. One in
five denies Jesus' physical resurrection and believes he was a
sinner.

http://www.lifelinenews.net/candm/candm1/candm1.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - RE: Thank You and Some Thoughts
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Norm")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 10:03:14 -0700

Hello Moza, I too have been mulling over the suggestion as of late that
Israel become a universal city. I tried to track down an article I read the
other day (I believe it came from the BPR) but I could not find it. There
have been a few of these in the last few months. The answer/solution is
becoming more and more obvious to people and that is the claim that
Jerusalem belongs to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. It is an idea or a mind
set that is making its' way into the hearts of people. Jerusalem will not
only become a capitol for Israel but a Capitol for the whole world.

Isa 46:10
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure:
(KJV)

The ultimate end will be the result of God's counsel and God's pleasure.
When it's all said and done, all nations shall come to bless Israel. At the
end of the 7 years, Christ shall reign and rule out of Jerusalem with a rod
of iron and well you know the rest of the story .

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Re: Space Weather News for Sept 12, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Tracy")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 13:13:42 -0400

[Comments inserted below]

Is this the 3rd. bright near earth asteroid that has been seen?

Seems to be alot? Maybe someone it trying to get us to understand that
we are at fates hand?

Thanks for all of you hard work

Tracy

Moza wrote

> In other space weather news, astronomers have discovered a bright Near
> Earth Asteroid that will pass by our planet on Sept. 17. Amateur
> astronomers can monitor the fast-moving space rock in 8-inch or larger
> telescopes.

[I went to the Space Calendar a week or so ago, and was amazed
at all the "near-earth flybys" that are showing up on the list. It's interesting
to note that a past Space Calendar dated May 27, 2000 only listed 5 NEAs
for August and 6 NEAs for September. This updated list shows that considerably
more asteroids have been spotted since then (the Sept 17 asteroid spoken of
above had not made it to this list as of Sept 7). Compare the larger list of NEAs
for Aug and Sept with that of Oct, Nov, and Dec. I suspect in a month or so
that we'll see these latter months increase in the number of sightings as well.
The question of course is: Is there an actual increase in the number of NEAs
or has the number of asteroids remained fairly constant and we are just
getting better at spotting them?]

This information has been extracted from the
Space Calendar located at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/

It was last updated on Thursday, September 07, 2000

[I apologize in advance if the formatting gets lost in transit...]

AUGUST 2000
  Aug 07 - Asteroid 2000 CE59 Near-Earth Flyby (0.053 AU)
  Aug 08 - Asteroid 2000 PP9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.085 AU)
  Aug 08 - Asteroid 2000 NQ11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.300 AU)
  Aug 09 - Asteroid 2000 PN8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.114 AU)
  Aug 11 - Asteroid QL130 Near-Earth Flyby (0.244 AU)
  Aug 14 - Asteroid 4486 Mithra Near-Earth Flyby (0.0466 AU)
  Aug 14 - Asteroid 2000 OK8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.158 AU)
  Aug 14 - Asteroid 2000 OG Near-Earth Flyby (0.367 AU)
  Aug 15 - Asteroid 2000 QV7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.039 AU)
  Aug 15 - Asteroid 2000 LC16 Near-Earth Flyby (0.234 AU)
  Aug 16 - Asteroid 4769 Castalia Near-Earth Flyby (0.246 AU)
  Aug 17 - Asteroid 2000 QO130 Near-Earth Flyby (0.229 AU)
  Aug 22 - Asteroid 2000 QX69 Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)
  Aug 28 - Asteroid 1993 QP Near-Earth Flyby (0.2359 AU)
  Aug 29 - Asteroid 2000 QT7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.155 AU)
  Aug 29 - Asteroid 3102 Krok Near-Earth Flyby (0.370 AU)

SEPTEMBER 2000
  Sep 01 - Asteroid 2000 QW7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.032 AU)
  Sep 01 - Asteroid 2000 RJ12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.122 AU)
  Sep 01 - Asteroid 2000 NX3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.200 AU)
  Sep 01 - Asteroid 1566 Icarus Near-Earth Flyby (0.380 AU)
  Sep 04 - Asteroid 2000 ET70 Near-Earth Flyby (0.190 AU)
  Sep 06 - Asteroid 2100 Ra-Shalom Near-Earth Flyby (0.1896 AU)
  Sep 06 - Asteroid 2000 QJ130 Near-Earth Flyby (0.269 AU)
  Sep 07 - Asteroid 2000 PF5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.174 AU)
  Sep 08 - Asteroid 2000 PZ5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.389 AU)
  Sep 09 - Asteroid 1994 ES1 Near-Mars Flyby (0.076 AU)
  Sep 10 - Asteroid 2000 RK12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.066 AU)
  Sep 11 - Asteroid 2000 QY69 Near-Earth Flyby (0.286 AU)
  Sep 14 - Asteroid 2000 PQ27 Near-Earth Flyby (0.316 AU)
  Sep 15 - Asteroid 2000 QU7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.159 AU)
  Sep 18 - Asteroid 8507 (1991 CB1) Near-Earth Flyby (0.2477 AU)
  Sep 19 - Asteroid 2000 DP107 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)
  Sep 20 - Asteroid 2000 QS7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)
  Sep 22 - Asteroid 2000 PK5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.324 AU)
  Sep 24 - Asteroid 2000 OG8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.262 AU)
  Sep 25 - Asteroid 2000 PH6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.339 AU)
  Sep 26 - Asteroid 2000 RM12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.390 AU)
  Sep 27 - Asteroid 1999 SN5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.300 AU)
  Sep 27 - Asteroid 1998 RO1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.314 AU)

OCTOBER 2000
  Oct 05 - Asteroid 2000 RN12 Near-Earth Flyby (0.209 AU)
  Oct 06 - Asteroid 1998 UP1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.111 AU)
  Oct 17 - Asteroid 1994 TF2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.314 AU)
  Oct 24 - Asteroid 2000 JS66 Near-Earth Flyby (0.325 AU)
  Oct 25 - Asteroid 2340 Hathor Near-Earth Flyby (0.1970 AU)
  Oct 27 - Asteroid 1997 UH9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.227 AU)
  Oct 30 - Asteroid 2000 NG11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.348 AU)
  Oct 31 - Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU)
  Oct 31 - Asteroid 2000 PD3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.217 AU)

NOVEMBER 2000
  Nov 05 - Asteroid 2000 QN130 Near-Earth Flyby (0.256 AU)
  Nov 06 - Asteroid 1999 VP11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.390 AU)
  Nov 19 - Asteroid 3753 Cruithne Near-Earth Flyby (0.322 AU)
  Nov 22 - Asteroid 1992 HF Near-Earth Flyby (0.1717 AU)
  Nov 26 - Asteroid 1994 XL1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.153 AU)

DECEMBER 2000
  Dec 15 - Asteroid 5604 (1992 FE) Near-Earth Flyby (0.376 AU)
  Dec 17 - Asteroid 1998 FG2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.158 AU)
  Dec 19 - Asteroid 1998 XA5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.393 AU)
  Dec 22 - Asteroid 4183 Cuno Near-Earth Flyby (0.1427 AU)
  Dec 24 - Asteroid 2000 AF205 Near-Earth Flyby (0.226 AU)
  Dec 28 - Asteroid 2000 OJ8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.357 AU)

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Unusual Bright Light Flashed Across PA Skies
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 12:13:51 -0500

--- Forwarded Messag ---

via: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com

Unusual Bright Light Flashed Across PA Skies

[Original headline: Late-night light show probably a meteor]
[Published in "The Morning Call" - Leighigh Valley, PA]

September 11, 2000

A bright streak across area skies early Saturday prompts calls to
dispatch center.

Maybe it wasn't "War of the Worlds" or "Mars Attack," but there was
something a little creepy about the sky on Saturday morning [Sept 9].

About 3:30 a.m., an unusual bright light was reported flashing across
the sky. Reports came from Northampton County to Lancaster County
that something unusual was seen.

It wasn't a bird. It wasn't a plane, or even a saucer. It was
probably a meteor or space junk, according to an official of Lehigh
Valley Amateur Astronomical Society.

"I didn't see it myself," society secretary Ray Hannis of Macungie
said. "But someone who did see it gave me a call.

"The way it was described, it was probably either a meteor or space
debris. In August, there are a lot of meteors, and we're not far away
from the month.

"From what I understand, this light moved from north to south, into
Lancaster County. That's the direction most meteors move. Usually, if
the movement is west to east, it's space debris."

A Northampton County dispatcher late Saturday confirmed the office
received reports about the lights.

A man who identified himself as a police officer in the Northampton
area called The Morning Call Saturday to report that the object was
huge with a color like a welding arc.

Officials from the Lehigh Valley International Airport said Saturday
morning that they had no information about the bright lights, and
that there had been no problems with flights.

A meteor, often referred to as a "shooting star," is a bright streak
of light that appears briefly in the sky, Hannis explained. People
sometimes call the brightest meteors "fireballs."

One appears when a particle or chunk of metallic or stony matter
called a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere from outer space.
Friction generated by its passage through the air heats the meteoroid
so that it glows and creates a shining trail of gases and melted
meteoroid particles.

Visible about 30 to 60 miles above the Earth, most meteoroids
disintegrate before hitting the ground. Meteoroids can be traveling
as fast as 60 miles per second when they hit the Earth's atmosphere.
Most glow for about a second.

Harris' other theory was that debris from man-made spaceships or
satellites had re-entered the atmosphere, causing the bright light.

But he was leaning toward a more natural event, a meteor.

"They go across the sky, and then they just wink out," Harris said.
"They just burn out or explode."

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Millions fear killer dust clouds from dried-up sea
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 12:16:08 -0500

--- Forwarded Message ---

via: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com

Millions fear killer dust clouds from dried-up sea

September 10, 2000

The people of Karakalpakstan have come to fear the dust storms that
sweep across this region, whipping up grit from the sandy basin of
the dried up Aral Sea and depositing it in a fine layer over their
homes. For a few moments the day is darkened, the sky turns grey and
suddenly the choking dust is everywhere - scratching at at eyes,
grazing throats.

Over the past few years these heavy, gusting clouds of grime have
become more frequent; scientists recently named the area the dustiest
place on earth. But at the root of locals' fears is not the quantity
of dust, but the highly poisonous toxins it contains and the sickness
and disease it brings.

Most people here believe that the dust is the main cause of the dire
health problems: epidemic levels of tuberculosis, debilitating
respiratory illnesses, widespread kidney problems, high infant
mortality, rampant anaemia and painful intestinal ailments.

It is more than 10 years since the world first began to learn about
the crisis in the Aral Sea - described by the United Nations as 'the
most staggering disaster of the twentieth century' - but scientists
still have no more than a partial understanding of the damage
inflicted on the five million people who live near the shrivelled
shores of what was once the world's fourth largest lake.

In 1959, keen to boost cotton production in the dry plains of central
Asia, bureaucrats in Moscow conceived a brutally ambitious scheme to
irrigate huge swathes of desert land and transform them into lush
plantations. A network of unlined canals was built, water from the
Aral Sea's two tributaries was diverted to the cotton fields and
powerful pesticides were pumped liberally into the system. Twenty
years later the region was producing nine million tonnes of cotton a
year, but locals had noticed with alarm that the sea was shrinking.

With only a trickle of water coming in, the sea retreated rapidly,
and what remained of it became saltier and poisonous, killing most of
its fish and much of the wildlife on its shores. As the sea shrank to
half its former size, a sandy area about as big as the Netherlands
was exposed, baking and cracking in the sun.

'When I was a child I used to swim in the sea. Now it isn't there.
It's like a fairytale in reverse,' said Almagun Matnazarova, a former
schoolteacher from the onetime port town of Muynak, who scratches out
a living selling socks and vests at a stall in the bazaar. At the
town's outskirts, the deserted beaches where she used to play now
edge on to the cracked scrubland that is the former seabed. Rusting
trawlers are marooned in the sand. The coast is almost 100 miles
away.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, international aid agencies
hurried to the region - now divided between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
-but almost all of them focused on the environmental fall-out from
the catastrophe: the collapse of the eco-system, the damage to local
flora and fauna, the effect on the region's environment.

Just as they had been ignored by the Soviet planners of the 1950s,
the people were largely forgotten about by environmental workers. It
is only now, with concern mounting over the fate of those left
stranded by the desiccated seabed, that serious research into the
health impact of the worst man-made environmental disaster is
beginning.

Joost van der Meyer, a research director with M�decins Sans
Fronti�res, which is championing the need for a greater focus on the
people of the region, said: 'The health and social consequences of
the disaster remain a blank spot on everybody's map. It was seen
primarily as an environmental issue so no one bothered looking at the
people. The impact on the local population is still not well known.'

His researchers have started to study the dust to establish whether
it really is one of the causes of the widespread ill-health. Every
year, the wind is estimated to whip up some 150,000 tonnes of
particles which were shown to contain a variety of organophosphates
and organo-chlorines, old-fashioned pesticides long-since discarded
on safety grounds. These pesticides have been detected in the milk of
breast-feeding women in the area and are believed to slow down
children's mental development.

Half of the children who die in the Karalpakstan area of Uzbekistan
(the region which surrounds the former coastline) are killed by
respiratory diseases - asthma, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia - an
extraordinarily high ratio, probably increased by the irritating
effect of the dust.

Over the 30 years in her job, Ibadullayeva Sarakdin, head of the
children's ward in Muynak hospital, has witnessed the children's
increasing breathing problems. 'About 60 per cent of them suffer from
some kind of bronchial problem. Often we don't have the medicine to
treat them.' Most of the deaths are caused by late hospitalisation.
Parents are often reluctant to bring their children in until they are
critically ill. 'Although the treatment is free, they have to pay for
the food here - many can't afford to,' she said wearily.

Drinking water at least four times saltier than that in the West is
also causing an array of complaints from kidney disease to heart
problems.

But the gravest threat to health is posed by the total collapse of
the economy and the ensuing chronic poverty. Muynak once had a
profitable fish canning industry as well as a thriving tourist
business. Now it has bankrupt fish processing plants, bankrupt hotels
and bankrupt building companies. Even the local cinema has closed.

Unemployment is high and few can afford to feed themselves properly.
The explosion of TB cases is caused by this poverty, as is the
anaemia which affects more than 70 per cent of women, and around 99
per cent of pregnant women, draining their energy and precipitating
complications at birth.

A drought this summer has wiped out almost all of the region's crops
and the UN last week warned that famine could follow.

The future for the people of the Aral Sea looks bleak.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - More Egyptian Mummies Keep Telling Their Secrets
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 12:18:43 -0500

--- Forwarded Message ---

via: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com

September 11, 2000

http://partners.nytimes.com/2000/09/11/world/11MUMM.html

More Egyptian Mummies Keep Telling Their Secrets

After a year of further excavations at the Valley of the Golden
Mummies, Egyptian archaeologists have opened seven more tombs and
found 102 more mummies, including members of elite and middle-class
families and a woman with a wooden tablet at her feet that depicts a
scene of what appears to be her resurrection.

They also found the tomb of a powerful adviser to one of the late
dynasties of pharaohs.

The first discoveries in the ancient cemetery at Bahariya Oasis, 230
miles outhwest of Cairo, were announced last summer and hailed as one
of the most spectacular archaeological finds in Egypt in several
decades. The first four tombs to be explored yielded 105 mummies,
many of which were decorated with gilded masks and elaborately
painted scenes.

Dr. Zahi Hawass is director of excavations at the ancient cemetery,
estimated to hold several hundred tombs and as many as 10,000
mummies. He has given detailed descriptions and interpretations of
the first finds in his new book, "Valley of the Golden Mummies,"
being published in October by Harry N. Abrams Inc.

Dr. Hawass, currently a visiting professor at the University of
California at Los Angeles, said in a recent interview that the newer
findings, made since the book went to press, are possibly more
important and fascinating than those first ones.

"We have found many more styles of tombs, more types of mummies and
interesting inscriptions and art dealing with mummification and the
blessings of gods," Dr. Hawass said. "This has advanced our knowledge
of ancient beliefs in the afterlife."

Digging to the west of the tombs explored last year, the
archaeologists uncovered burial chambers cut out of the rock and with
many different architectural patterns. Tombs of poorer people were
simple shafts. The largest tomb, belonging to a rich family, held 42
mummies laid out in several chambers. One of the best preserved of
these mummies, a woman earing a golden mask, especially impressed the
excavators. Her hair was colored black and a band of red and yellow
flowers rested on her forehead, which was also imprinted with the
figure of a cobra, a symbol of the pharaohs. Her chest was covered
with cartonnage, a pasteboard made of linen and papyrus that served
as mummy cases, which was painted with scenes of the four sons of the
god Horus.

Dr. Hawass described the wooden panel accompanying the mummy of
another woman as "a masterpiece, it is so beautiful."

The panel is made of wood and is decorated in the form of a temple
facade, perhaps representing a gate to eternity. The woman, in a
Roman dress, is depicted in the middle of the gate, Dr. Hawass said,
as if she were going to her resurrection. Most of the burials found
so far in the cemetery are from the period of Roman rule in Egypt,
beginning just before the birth of Christ and lasting several
centuries.

One site at the oasis, though, has been associated with an earlier
period, around 500 B. C. in the 26th dynasty of the pharaohs.
Explorations by a German scholar in 1900 uncovered the existence of a
powerful governor of that dynasty, one Zed-Khonsu-ef-ankh. In chapels
attributed to him, Zed-Khonsu is depicted in art as equal in size to
the king, suggesting that he was second in power throughout the land.

In 1947, an Egyptian archaeologist, Ahmed Fakhry, searched the area
near Bahariya Oasis for the burial place of this influential governor
or vizier. In April, Dr. Hawass completed the search. Entering a
remote section of one of the tombs, he saw a large limestone
sarcophagus in the small chamber. The sarcophagus was shaped like a
human.

But Dr. Hawass was forced to retreat almost immediately. A thick
yellow powder was scattered around the chamber to discourage tomb
robbers, and its smell drove him and other excavators away.

Returning later with masks, the researchers examined the sarcophagus
more closely. The image of the goddess Isis was on the right side,
and the god Osiris on the left. Hieroglyphic inscriptions extending
from the chest to the end of the sarcophagus included the name
Zed-Khonsu and his titles as priest of Amon and other gods.

Getting to the mummy inside the sarcophagus was, the archaelogists
said, like opening those nested Russian dolls. When archaeologists
removed the heavy limestone lid, they found an inner sarcophagus made
of alabaster. And inside it was what had been the wooden coffin and
the mummy of the royal vizier, both deteriorated.

In his book, Dr. Hawass said that Bahariya Oasis apparently enjoyed a
period of power and prosperity in the 26th dynasty, especially during
the reign of Ahmose II, from 570 to 526 B.C. Zed-Khonsu and his
father and brother presumably contributed to and benefited from the
improved fortune. Much later, in the Greek and Roman periods, the
oasis flourished again primarily from making wine.

Dr. Rosalie David, an Egyptologist and specialist in mummy studies at
Manchester Museum in England, who is not involved in the excavations,
praised the discoveries at Bahariya necropolis, saying that it
probably holds the greatest concentration of Egyptian mummies ever
found.

In "Conversations with Mummies," a book being published this month by
William Morrow, Dr. David, writing with Rick Archbold, said, "The
work of these scientists, combined with the discoveries of the more
traditional archaeologists at work in the valley, will open a door
into the last great era of ancient Egyptian life, just before Christ
displaced Osiris and the rest of the ancient pantheon."

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (9/12/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 13:36:23 -0400

TEMPLE MOUNT IN THE CENTER
Hawkish comments from Prime Minister Ehud Barak today. "The Israeli
proposals offered at Camp David are no longer valid," he said this morning,
although he denied media reports that he is doing so in order to enable the
Likud to join a national-unity government. "As long as negotiations with the
Palestinians continue, there is no point in inviting the Likud to join such a
government," he said. Barak also said that his government will not agree to
transfer the Temple Mount to foreign sovereignty: "Two thousand years ago,
there was no mosque or church on the Temple Mount, but only the Jews'
Holy Temple... This holy place is a fundamental anchor of our Zionist and
Jewish essence."

Yehuda Etzion, leader of the Chai V'Kayam movement working to increase
Temple Mount awareness, reacted as follows: "We see it as miraculous
how the Temple Mount has become the stick in the spokes of the entire
process. I and my colleagues always knew that the Mount was the center of
everything, but now it is becoming clear that this is the feeling of many in the
nation... On the other hand, we cannot remain complacent. The strong
feelings of Barak and Ben-Ami for the Temple Mount are not deep-rooted,
and we are liable to find ourselves very soon with some sort of 'creative
formula' that will mean the end of the Israeli presence on the Temple Mount.
I call upon all Jews to show their bonds with the holiest place to the Jewish
people and go there..." Many Halakhic authorities permit Jews to ascend to
certain areas of the Temple Mount after immersing in a mikveh [ritual bath]
and taking other precautions.

IF CONGRESS FORGETS THEE, O JERUSALEM
At least some U.S. Congressmen have not forgotten their government's
pledge to move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Cong. Jim
Saxton of New Jersey announced yesterday that he had written a letter,
which was signed by 22 other House members of both parties, calling on
Pres. Clinton to carry out the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. Clinton has
pushed off the implementation of the Act several times, including last
summer, by invoking the waiver privilege granted him.

Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson notes, however, that the waiver privilege has been
widely misunderstood, and its usage by the President does not mean that
the law is being followed: "One clause of the Embassy Act stipulates that
the government may not spend more than 50% of its budgeted funding on
American buildings abroad if preparations are not made for the transfer of the
Embassy to Jerusalem - and it is this clause that may be waived by the
President if he deems it necessary for U.S. national security interests. The
rest of the law, however, which demands the transfer of the Embassy,
remains in effect, even when the President invokes the waiver clause every
six months, as is his right."

The Congressmen's letter relates to Clinton's recent comments on Israel
Television regarding the embassy: "You remarked, 'You know, I have always
wanted to move our embassy to West Jerusalem [ed. note: sic]. We have
designated a site there... But in light of what has happened, I've taken that
decision under review... [Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be] the
right thing to do.' Mr. President, we agree that it would be the right thing to
do... We urge you to act on your recent statements and move our embassy
to Jerusalem as soon as possible." Signing the letter were Reps. Rick Lazio
(R-NY), who is running for the Senate in New York against Hilary Clinton,
Howard Berman (D- CA), a senior member of the International Relations
Committee, and others.

AMERICAN VICTIMS DEMAND EXTRADITION TO U.S.
Forty-four American victims of Palestinian Arab violence have called upon
U.S. President Clinton to demand the extradition of terrorist Abu-Honod to
the United States, in light of what they called the "lenient sentence" given
him by a PA court. Abu-Honod, who is responsible for the deaths of three
American citizens, 19 Israelis, and the wounding of many others, recently
gave himself up to the PA after being wounded in a shootout with Israeli
soldiers. He was sentenced there to 12 years in prison - not for murder, but
for "harming Palestinian interests."

The victims' statement said they were "outraged" by the sentence, and that
the terrorist should have been charged with mass murder. Given PA
policies, they wrote, "there is reason to doubt that Abu-Honod will remain in
prison even for the period of his sentence." Abu-Honod was responsible for
the murder of David Boim outside Beit El in 1996, the Machane Yehuda
marketplace bombing in Jerusalem in July 1997, and the Ben Yehuda street
bombing a month later.

NEGEV LEADER: BEDOUIN TAKING OVER NEGEV
Ramat HaNegev Regional Council head Shmuel Rifman will meet with Prime
Minister Barak today, to discuss the worsening situation of Bedouin take-
over of state-owned lands in the Negev. Yesterday, a Bedouin mob forcefully
prevented officials from delivering a demolition order against a new mosque
currently being illegally constructed. Rifman says that the Bedouin are
carrying out a purposeful policy of taking over all empty spaces in the Negev
and elsewhere. He told Arutz-7 that he had turned to the relevant ministers -
Ramon, Ben-Ami, and Vilnai. "I am afraid, for instance, that if this mosque
is built, the politicians will come and not allow us to take it down," he told
Arutz-7 today. "Little by little, we are losing the Negev."

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2000 / Elul 12, 5760

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Virgin Mary Appears in Egypt
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 13:39:00 -0400

The Virgin Mary Appears in Egypt
http://goafrica.about.com/travel/goafrica/library/weekly/aa080900a.htm

Page 2
http://goafrica.about.com/travel/goafrica/library/weekly/aa080900b.htm

Photographs and video clips of the Apparitions
http://goafrica.about.com/travel/goafrica/library/weekly/aa080900c.htm

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 (9/12/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 18:59:33 -0400

An agreement signed for GLOBAL PEACE CORPS

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Israel Wire

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- The United Nations and the Peres Center for Peace
signed an agreement on Sunday to establish a global “peace corps” that
will operate in regions in conflict around the world, Yediot Ahronot
reported. According to the agreement, the “peace corps” will send experts
to help countries around the world with projects in the fields of
agriculture, health, energy and culture. The center has “compared notes on
different ways to create sustainable peace” with leaders in other
countries, that will serve as a blueprint for future UN peace activities.
Meanwhile, the Peres Center initiated four new joint projects between
Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians for establishing an Information
Technology Incubator, high-tech industrial zones, and more.

Papua New Guinea volcano erupted

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Volcano World

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- On 6 September, the volcano--Tavurvur erupted sending
thick clouds of ash over the town of Rabual. Tavurvur began showing signs
of increased activity last week. In 1994, a powerful explosive eruption
forced the abandonment of Rabul. The New Britain Island trading port is
surrounded by six volcanoes.

6.1 earthquake hits Indonesia

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: USGS

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- Today, another strong earthquake hit southwest of
Sumatera Indonesia. This past Sunday there were several moderate quakes,
followed by a 6.0. Now today, Indonesia was
again shaken by a 6.1 quake.

Deadly Typhoon Wukong pounded China & Vietnam

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- Typhoon Wukong wreaked havoc in southern China and
central Vietnam over the weekend, killing 7 people and destroying
thousands of homes in both countries. The storm slammed an island province
south of mainland China, leaving five dead, one person missing and more
than 1,000 houses ruined. The Beijing Morning Post reported that the very
slow moving storm, lingered over the island much longer than most
typhoons. Early Sunday, Tropical storm Wukong, packing winds of up to 69
mph, bombarded central Vietnam, claiming two people and leaving more than
10,000 homeless. The storm knocked central Ha Tinh province early Sunday,
demolishing 3,500 homes. Forecasters predicted heavy rains would continue
to bombard many areas for the next several days.

Singapore skies turn hazy as Indonesian fires flare

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Reuters

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- Satellite photos show a growing number of forest fires
and hot spots in Indonesia and the smoke is turning the air hazy over
Singapore also. Singapore's Pollutants were at 56-the moderate range
today. Smoke from fires on Indonesia's western island of Sumatra briefly
sent smog over Singapore, parts of neighbouring Malaysia and even southern
Thailand in July. Two years ago, thick smoke from slash-and-burn forest
fires blanketed large parts of Southeast Asia, taking a heavy toll on
health and tourism. Warm and dry weather in Indonesia that has increased
the danger of fire was expected to persist and Singapore skies will remain
hazy through the week.

Strong 6.6 earthquake shook NW China today

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Reuters

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale
rattled Qinghai China early on Tuesday. The Qinghai Seismological Bureau
sent a team to the quake zone, and they should report back on Wednesday on
damage and casualties. Houses were shaken violently also in Xining, China
but no buildings collapsed there, the official said. The morning quake was
followed by an aftershock measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale.

Tropical Storm Florence aims for hurricane status

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- Tropical Storm Florence hardly moved overnight after
forming over the Atlantic Ocean, SE of North Carolina, on Monday.
Forecasters said the storm could reach hurricane strength Tuesday. Winds
near the storm's center quickly intensified to 70 mph, and was predicted
to continue strengthening as the storm moved on a WSW path at 6 mph. An
Air Force Reserve hurricane-hunter aircraft investigating Florence
reported late Monday that it had found winds of close to hurricane
strength or 75 mph. By early Tuesday, Florence, the sixth named storm of
the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season, was located about 400 miles
south-southeast of Cape Hatteras and 500 miles west-southwest of Bermuda.
The storm's course was predicted to remain slow and erratic on Tuesday.

New Zealand floods takes its toll

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- At least one-third of all the newborn lambs in southern
New Zealand have died in flooding triggered by three successive storms. In
some regions, floodwaters have over-saturated the soil, leaving it too wet
for spring planting and also causing existing crops to rot. The Taieri
River in Otago burst its banks on Monday night, forcing officials to shut
down its main section of railway service. The city of Dunedin received a
whole month's worth of rain in just two days, causing slides and coastal
erosion. The country's Meteorological Service predicted even more rain
later in the week.

Unprecedented flooding rains in Japan!

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Weather.com & AP

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- Japan sure is getting natural disasters back-to-back.
With the volcanoes going off, and the tens of thousands of quakes lately,
now they've had to face incredible flooding. At least 23 inches of rain
fell in Tokai, Japan. “This flooding is unprecedented in our city,” said
Nagoya city official Tadanobu Horiguchi. “I�ve never seen such huge
rainfalls in such a short period of time.” Rescuers are using boats to
reach stranded victims of one of the worst flood events in Japan.
Torrential rainfall filled streets and homes to waist-level early Tuesday,
killing seven people in Nagoya. The incredible rains triggered power
outages and mudslides also. The storms also closed major highways and
trains in central Japan, as well as even halting production in Toyota
plants across the country. Trains stood still for a record 18 hours. The
governor of the area requested disaster relief from Japan's government. In
Tokyo, a tornado ripped through a residential area, destroying the roofs
of several homes.

If all that wasn't enough, the region braced for more severe weather, as
now Typhoon Saomai is approaching southern Okinawa with 115 mph winds.
Powerful winds were lashing the capital of Naha early Tuesday, even though
the storm was 60 miles away. Naha is located about 1,000 miles southwest
of Tokyo.

Powerful storms hit Chicago area

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Weather.com

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- Powerful thunderstorms socked the busy Chicago
O�Hare airport, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights. The
strong storms even blew out the airport�s main radar system. A backup
system was used until the primary radar could be fixed. The storms knocked
out power to about 53,000 customers. Very heavy rains drenched Chicago,
with some areas reporting as much as six inches of rain. With the deluge
of rain, the Chicago River swelled high enough that a barge even got stuck
under a bridge.

5.9 quake rocks northern Colombia

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Weekend Staff
                         Source: Yahoo! Reuters

Tue Sep 12,2000 -- A strong earthquake with magnitude 5.9 struck Colombia
at 5:54 a.m. (6:54 a.m. EDT/1054 GMT) today. It was centered near the
Andean mountain town of Los Santos in northeast Santander province,
according to the National Seismological Institute. The tremor was felt
across a broad swath of northern and central Colombia but its potentially
deadly impact was curbed by the fact that it occurred more than 490 feet
(150 meters) below ground, the institute said.

http://www.upway.com/cgi/readnews.cgi?day=00_09_12&item=#968789429

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Air crashes blamed on military pulses
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 19:08:50 -0400

Air crashes blamed on military pulses

Robin McKie, Science Editor
Sunday September 10, 2000

Electromagnetic pulses from military craft may have been responsible for
several civilian airline disasters in the past four years. If the theory is proved
correct, it suggests navy ships and air force planes pose a lethal threat to
passenger flights.

Crash investigators have been startled by similarities between several
tragedies. In particular, they have uncovered common features in two
crashes: Swissair 111, on 2 September 1998, and TWA 800, on 17 July
1996. Both planes took off from the same airport, New York's JFK, on the
same day, a Wednesday, at the same minute, 8.19pm. Both followed the
same route over Long Island. Both reported trouble in the same region of
airspace, and both suffered catastrophic electrical malfunctions. And on both
occasions the planes were flying at a time when extensive military exercises
- involving submarines and US Navy P3 fighter planes - were being
conducted.

These factors - outlined by Elaine Scarry in the forthcoming issue of the New
York Review of Books - suggest to many investigators that a routine weekly
event, probably involving the generation of strong electromagnetic pulses by
military personnel, may have triggered short-circuits in the two planes.

In the case of the TWA 800 flight, this could have caused a spark to set off a
fire in its fuel tanks. Alternatively, a pulse could have knocked out
instruments, causing the Boeing 747 to spin out of control, making metal
parts tear and produce sparks.

In the case of the Swissair 111, a fire was reported in the cabin and the
plane plunged into the sea off the coast of Nova Scotia.

robin.mckie@observer.co.uk

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,366576,00.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - JPII to consecrate humanity of millennium to Virgin Mary of Fatima Oct 8
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 19:22:07 -0400

[Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement starts Oct 8, 2000.--Moza]

11-Sep-2000 -- ZENIT News Agency

"MARY IS AN OPEN WINDOW TO THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY"

Fr. Stefano De Fiores Presents Forthcoming Marian-Mariological Congress

ROME, (ZENIT.org).- John Paul II will consecrate humanity of the new
millennium to the Virgin Mary of Fatima on October 8. This event will be
preceded by an international Marian-Mariological Congress, which will begin
on September 15. The meeting will end in St. Peter's Square with a great
concelebrated Mass, presided over by John Paul II on Sunday, September
24, the special Jubilee of all those working in shrines throughout the world.

The Congress, which will focus on the topic "Mary and the Mystery of the
Trinity," was organized by the Pontifical International Marian Academy.
Following is an interview with Fr. De Fiores, a De Montfort religious and
member of the Academy, who commented on the significance of this
international meeting.

-- Fr. De Fiores: These international congresses, which were started by Fr.
Carlo Bali in 1950, attempt to promote a true and profound study of the Virgin
Mary and her mission in the mystery of Christ and the Church, as Vatican
Council II was to confirmed later. These meetings are far-reaching because,
as is the case this year, they include 190 conferences on specific topics,
which should help theologians and Mariologists in their subsequent work.

-- ZENIT: Why is the Congress called Marian-Mariological?

-- Fr. De Fiores: It suffers from a distinction that today has come into disuse.
Franciscan Croatian Fr. Bali's intention was to specify the purpose of the
study of the figure of the Virgin, the Mariological aspect, but, at the same
time, he did not want to ignore the pastoral dimension, the Marian aspect. In
general, two congresses have been held, one Mariological and the other
Marian. However, now they have been unified, and the term "Marian-
Mariological" is used. The reason for this unification is the hope that in these
two Congresses the study of the Virgin will become a doxology and praise of
the Virgin Mary and, through her, of the Holy Trinity.

-- ZENIT: What is the theme of the Congress?

-- Fr. De Fiores: Specifically this: the mystery of Mary and the Trinity. Above
all, let us note that we start with the mystery of the Trinity, which must be
ever more known and lived among the People of God, because theologians
on the whole are pessimistic and negative as regards the Trinitarian
experience of the People of God. They say that, in general, we rather
confuse the persons and do not think of them directly. Therefore, we cannot
see Mary, especially the Annunciation, without first thinking of the persons of
the Trinity: it is the Most High who sends the Archangel Gabriel, and it is the
Son of the Most High who is born in humanity by the power of the Holy
Spirit. Hence, Mary is an open window to the great and most high mystery of
the Trinity.

-- ZENIT: What will participation in the Congress and its development be
like?

-- Fr. De Fiores: The participation will be really very great. Not only will
plenary conferences be held in the mornings, which will include speakers of
various Christian denominations, in order to point out the purpose of this
great subject of universal reach in the local Churches, that is, of Mary and
the Trinity, but there will be at least 11 special linguistic sessions, which this
time will not just include the Mariological associations of France, Italy, and
Spain, but also the sections of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There will
really be a great exchange at the universal level through the contribution of
several Mariological societies spread around the world. 36 countries will be
represented, with a total of 193 speakers and conference leaders.

-- ZENIT: What is the situation at present on the Mariological plane and on
Marian devotion?

-- Fr. De Fiores: The words that, to a certain extent, summarize the study of
Mariology at present are "construction work." Everything is under
construction. Why? Because the development given by Vatican Council II,
which has inscribed Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church,
continues, with great attention to the historical-salvific dimension of
Mariology, not with many abstractions, but starting from the concrete of the
history of salvation. Under the impulse of "Marialis Cultus," Mariology must
now open to cultures and anthropological dimensions, in such a way that the
figure of Mary will be significant for our time and for different cultures. There
is great, systematic determination at the level of study, and we can say that
Italy has the role of an engine because, through the magazine "Theotokos,"
it carries out an interdisciplinary discussion that is much appreciated
throughout the world. At the devotional level, we can certainly say that the
people continues with their devotion to Mary, seeing the Virgin as a living
"you," who can be addressed especially in times of difficulty suffering, and
anguish. We see this every day in pilgrimages, which are increasing instead
than decreasing, as predicted by those who saw an eclipse of the sacred.
However, some perspectives, such as "Marialis Cultus," which takes Mary
as a model of the Church when it celebrates and lives the divine mysteries,
namely, the Virgin as listening, praying, offering, and Mothering, are still
difficult for the People of God to assume. There is still another road that must
be travelled, and we hope that both the Jubilee and this great Mariological
Congress will open the hearts of all the faithful toward more intense devotion
to Mary, expressing it, at the same time, in Trinitarian adoration of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=6819

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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