Thursday, 8 January 2009

Prophetic Trends & Headline News

Click any of the headlines below to read the full article

1. Where is the United States in Prophecy?

Kissinger: Obama primed to create 'New World Order'
According to Henry Kissinger, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former secretary of state under President Nixon, conflicts across the globe and an international respect for Barack Obama have created the perfect setting for establishment of "a New World Order." Kissinger has long been an integral figure in U.S. foreign policy, holding positions in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. Author of over a dozen books on foreign policy, Kissinger was also named by President Bush as the chairman of the Sept. 11 investigatory commission. Kissinger made the remark in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" hosts Mark Haines and Erin Burnett at the New York Stock Exchange, after Burnett asked him what international conflict would define the Obama administration's foreign policy. "The president-elect is coming into office at a moment when there is upheaval in many parts of the world simultaneously," Kissinger responded. "You have India, Pakistan; you have the jihadist movement. So he can't really say there is one problem, that it's the most important one. But he can give new impetus to American foreign policy partly because the reception of him is so extraordinary around the world. His task will be to develop an overall strategy for America in this period when, really, a new world order can be created. It's a great opportunity, it isn't just a crisis." The phrase "New World Order" causes alarm for many Americans, particularly those concerned about an international governing body trumping U.S. sovereignty or those that interpret biblical prophecy to foretell the establishment of a one-world government as key to the rise of the Antichrist. Conspiracy theorists, too, have latched on to the phrase, concerned that powerful financial or government figures are secretly plotting to rule the world. Kissinger's ties to government and international powers – as well as his use of the phrase – have made him suspect in the eyes of many who are wary of what "new world order" might actually mean. .................. read more

Bank Of England Policymaker Predicts Unprecedented Dollar Collapse
The long-held assumption that US assets - particularly government bonds - are a safe haven will soon be overturned as investors lose their patience with the world's biggest economy, according to Willem Buiter. Professor Buiter, a former Monetary Policy Committee member who is now at the London School of Economics, said this increasing disenchantment would result in an exodus of foreign cash from the US. The warning comes despite the dollar having strengthened significantly against other major currencies, including sterling and the euro, after hitting historic lows last year. It will reignite fears about the currency's prospects, as well as sparking fears about the sustainability of President-Elect Barack Obama's mooted plans for a Keynesian-style increase in public spending to pull the US out of recession. Writing on his blog , Prof Buiter said: "There will, before long (my best guess is between two and five years from now) be a global dumping of US dollar assets, including US government assets. Old habits die hard. The US dollar and US Treasury bills and bonds are still viewed as a safe haven by many. But learning takes place." He said that the dollar had been kept elevated in recent years by what some called "dark matter" or "American alpha" - an assumption that the US could earn more on its overseas investments than foreign investors could make on their American assets. However, this notion had been gradually dismantled in recent years, before being dealt a fatal blow by the current financial crisis, he said. He said investors would, rightly, suspect that the US would have to generate major inflation to whittle away its debt and this dollar collapse means that the US has less leeway for major spending plans than politicians realise..................... read more

Terrorist “chatter” may indicate Jewish targets in North America in response to Gaza Operation
Despite official U.S. intelligence reports denying specific threat information as a result of Israeli action in Gaza, the Northeast Intelligence Network has confirmed increased terrorist “chatter” that specifically suggests pre-operational planning by Muslim terrorist operatives against Jewish assets and people throughout North America. “Chatter,” in the lexicon of intelligence agencies, encompasses various forms of communications, from communication intercepts to postings on Arabic language message boards. Investigators and researchers of the Northeast Intelligence Network have seen a dramatic spike in postings on Arabic language web sites used by Islamic terrorists within the last several days. The rise of these communications is obviously in direct relation to Israel’s actions launched against Islamic terrorists in Gaza. Investigators however, have observed a disturbing change not only in the tenor of these postings, but in their specificity. “The message being sent by Muslim terrorists considered ‘reputable’ Internet sources, as much as one could consider such sources as ‘reputable,’ is one of individual, if not collective action across the globe,” stated Douglas J. Hagmann, director of the Northeast Intelligence Network. “There is a call to action being made over the Internet by posters who have established a perceived level of legitimacy. These posters are the individuals who have achieved a following in the virtual world, based in part on their history of accuracy relative to terrorist operations and their posting history. Their message is to take action against Jews anywhere in the world, including inside the U.S., Canada and all Western countries, as well as their American backers,” stated Hagmann. “The call is to strike out against Jewish places of worship, Jewish centers, and schools, especially in the U.S.,” said Doug Hagmann. He added that the more recent postings have risen from “rallying cries to the level of authoritative directions, with the admonishment that it is the moral imperative of all practicing and faithful Muslims to strike out against the Jews, especially those living within the relative security of the U.S. I’m not sure how much more specific of a threat one might expect to get from Internet postings,” added Hagmann........................ read more

'Cybergeddon' fear stalks US: FBI
Cyber attacks pose the greatest threat to the United States after nuclear war and weapons of mass destruction -- and they are increasingly hard to prevent, FBI experts said Tuesday. Shawn Henry, assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, told a conference in New York that computer attacks pose the biggest risk "from a national security perspective, other than a weapon of mass destruction or a bomb in one of our major cities." "Other than a nuclear device or some other type of destructive weapon, the threat to our infrastructure, the threat to our intelligence, the threat to our computer network is the most critical threat we face," he added. US experts warn of "cybergeddon," in which an advanced economy -- where almost everything of importance is linked to or controlled by computers -- falls prey to hackers, with catastrophic results. Michael Balboni, deputy secretary for public safety in New York state, described "a huge threat out there" against everything from banking institutions to municipal water systems and dams. Henry said terrorist groups aim for an online 9/11, "inflicting the same kind of damage on our country, on all our countries, on all our networks, as they did in 2001 by flying planes into buildings." A web attack of that scale has not yet happened in the United States but computer hacking -- once something of a sport for brilliant delinquents -- is rapidly evolving around the world as a weapon of war. Russian hackers allegedly mounted huge assaults on Internet networks in Estonia and Georgia last year, while Palestinian sympathizers have orchestrated attacks against hundreds of Israeli websites in the last few days......................... read more


2. Israel - God's Timepiece

'Hamas has nothing left but rockets'
On the 12th day of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the defense establishment is seeing that Hamas is in deep distress. This isn't only coming to fruition on the physical front, but also in the morale of the organization's political and military echelons. From Hamas' viewpoint, it seems as though the current IDF operation has crossed all the red lines. Hamas officials are even making statements in the vein that Israel has lost control. The most significant damage has been sustained by the organization's governmental facilities. Reports show that close to none of the Hamas administrators has an office from which to work. They are even talking about anarchy. Furthermore, all the military infrastructure has been damaged, in particular the ammunition labs. According to figures collected thus far by Israel's defense establishment, Hamas' military infrastructure has sustained a serious hit, but their rocket capabilities still exist. A number of Hamas commanders have been killed or wounded during fighting, making it increasing difficult for their military wing to function properly. The defense establishment has also noted that Hamas has been exercising caution in clashes with IDF soldiers. Hamas is tending not to put their forces at risk in areas in which they may fail. The IDF hit some of Hamas' senior commanders, while those who have survived have gone underground. In many instances, the IDF has taken precaution not to target some of these commanders in their various hiding places, many of which are in heavily populated areas, when there is significant risk that innocent civilians could be hurt. Hamas' method of operation forces Israel to choose between two alternatives – striking the organization's senior officials, along with innocent bystanders, or carrying out surgical strikes, which is more likely to jeopardize IDF forces on the ground.. .................... read more

Despite Gaza Attacks, Hamas Thinks It Has the Upper Hand
Israel says its military offensive in Gaza has dealt Hamas a heavy blow, but that's not how the leaders of the radical Palestinian group see it. And their view is based more on a kind of jujitsu that uses Israel's military momentum against its own political objectives, rather than on any serious belief in rhetoric about the organization's "steadfast" fighters being able to "crush" the invaders. Israel has long assumed that Hamas wanted a ground invasion, in order to be able to land some blows on the Israeli military in order to claim a propaganda victory once the Israelis inevitably withdraw. Still, by going in on Saturday, the Israelis calculated that they could draw Hamas into clashes that would substantially weaken the organization, even if Israel suffered some casualties. But despite the ferocity of the fighting that rages in some parts of Gaza, there are indications that Hamas is keeping many of its best fighters out of the direct path of the advancing Israelis. Israeli military officials have noted that resistance had not been as fierce as expected, and that most Israeli soldiers wounded in the operation had been struck by mortar rounds fired from considerable distance. And Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel in a symbolic taunt to the Israeli public. So, what's Hamas' game? The militant group is operating on a belief that Israel's assault cannot be sustained in the face of growing international pressure for a cease-fire. In fact, Hamas believes it is winning the political battle, as images of the horrors being suffered by the Palestinian civilian population flash around the world. And it wants to ensure the survival of as much of its military and organizational capability so as to best profit from the eventual truce.................... read more

The Bias Grows - Canadian Union Calls For Ban On Israeli Professors
Ontario's largest university workers union is proposing a ban on Israeli academics teaching in the province's universities, in a move that echoes previous attempts to boycott goods and services from the Jewish state. The resolution, proposed by CUPE's Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee, is in protest of a Dec. 29 bombing that damaged the Islamic University in Gaza. "In response to an appeal from the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, we are ready to say Israeli academics should not be on our campuses unless they explicitly condemn the university bombing and the assault on Gaza in general," said Sid Ryan, president of CUPE Ontario. The resolution is still being drafted but the union said it will seek to prohibit Israeli academics from speaking, teaching or researching at Ontario universities. The CUPE committee will distribute the resolution to its members at the end of the month.It will be put to a vote at the committee's annual conference in February. Janice Folk-Dawson, chairwoman of the university workers committee, said: "Clearly international pressure on Israel must increase to stop the massacre that is going on daily. We are proud to add CUPE voices to others from around the world saying enough is enough." Len Rudner, regional director of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) in Ontario, called the resolution "unbalanced, unfair and unhelpful.""Once again Sid Ryan is jumping before thinking," Mr. Rudner said. "I think it's ironic individuals who speak about freedom of speech jump to the opportunity to take that freedom away from other individuals." While Ms. Folk-Dawson said the resolution will protect the quality of education by preventing Israeli academics from professing biased views, an Israeli professor at the University of Toronto opposed such a disruption to academia. "I oppose any kind of ban to academic activity, whatever its colour or matter," said Emanuel Adler, chairman of Israeli Studies at the university. "Students should receive the message that the situation is very tragic for both Israelis and Palestinians, but the conflict and the violence should not be brought inside the university." Mr. Ryan described the proposed resolution as the "logical next step" of a policy adopted by CUPE Ontario at a May, 2006, conference. Resolution 50 supports "boycotts, divestment and sanctions aimed at bringing about the Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and a just peace in the region."...................... read more

The war of double standards
An excellent analysis by David Horowitz in the Jerusalem Post ponders the tragic dilemma facing Israel: Hamas gunmen are commandeering ambulances and taking children out with them to battle, according to Israeli security sources. At every moment, with every use of firepower, there is the potential for Palestinian civilian casualties. As they mourn the loss of five soldiers, IDF commanders are well aware of the mounting Palestinian civilian casualty toll. They are bitterly cognizant of the reality in which Israel is blamed internationally for every such death - ratcheting up the international protests and the international pressure for a cease-fire. This impacts Israel's leverage as it seeks acceptable terms for a halt to the fighting - no matter that it is Hamas that has deliberately located its offensive capabilities in the heart of the Gazan populace. Indeed, for large swathes of western opinion there is virtually no depravity Hamas can commit which will even be reported, let alone condemned; yet when Israel goes to war to defend itself against slaughter the west is consumed by hysterical rage, so much so that it quite clearly would rather Hamas was allowed to survive to continue its murderous rampages. As this horrific video obtained by Jihadwatch shows, this is the kind of thing to which the west is turning a blind eye: Hamas men apparently literally dragging off children at random to be used as human shields. As Alan Dershowitz notes, Hamas’s ‘CNN’ strategy is working. The casualties are referred to as if they are all civilians, whereas according to Israel and even the UN the vast majority are Hamas operatives; and blame for the deaths of actual civilians is apportioned not to Hamas who have used them as human shields but Israel for firing at the terrorists hiding behind them. The world simply doesn’t seem to care when Arabs and Muslims kill large numbers of other Arabs and Muslims, but a qualitatively different standard applies when the Jewish state kills even a relatively small number of Muslims and Arabs in a war of self-defence... .................... read more

Moral Clarity in Gaza
Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating. Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis -- 6,464 launched from Gaza in the past three years -- deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people. This has two purposes. First, counting on the moral scrupulousness of Israel, Hamas figures civilian proximity might help protect at least part of its arsenal. Second, knowing that Israelis have new precision weapons that may allow them to attack nonetheless, Hamas hopes that inevitable collateral damage -- or, if it is really fortunate, an errant Israeli bomb -- will kill large numbers of its own people for which, of course, the world will blame Israel. At war today in Gaza, one combatant is committed to causing the most civilian pain and suffering on both sides. The other combatant is committed to saving as many lives as possible -- also on both sides. It's a recurring theme. Israel gave similar warnings to Southern Lebanese villagers before attacking Hezbollah in the Lebanon war of 2006. The Israelis did this knowing it would lose for them the element of surprise and cost the lives of their own soldiers. That is the asymmetry of means between Hamas and Israel. But there is equal clarity regarding the asymmetry of ends. Israel has but a single objective in Gaza -- peace: the calm, open, normal relations it offered Gaza when it withdrew in 2005. Doing something never done by the Turkish, British, Egyptian and Jordanian rulers of Palestine, the Israelis gave the Palestinians their first sovereign territory ever in Gaza. What ensued? This is not ancient history. Did the Palestinians begin building the state that is supposedly their great national aim? No. No roads, no industry, no courts, no civil society at all. The flourishing greenhouses that Israel left behind for the Palestinians were destroyed and abandoned. Instead, Gaza's Iranian-sponsored rulers have devoted all their resources to turning it into a terror base -- importing weapons, training terrorists, building tunnels with which to kidnap Israelis on the other side. And of course firing rockets unceasingly. The grievance? It cannot be occupation, military control or settlers. They were all removed in September 2005. There's only one grievance and Hamas is open about it. Israel's very existence.... .................... read more


3. A Revived Roman Empire?

Is the Euro the New Dollar?
Europe's single currency has come of age early. The euro turned 10 on Jan. 1, a milestone for one of the most powerful symbols of European identity. It has already endured a rite of passage over the past few months, as the global financial crisis battered European markets yet failed to fluster the euro. And, like any debutante, it has its suitors: a string of countries lining up to dump their national currencies and join the euro zone. It's a remarkable achievement for a currency whose only global rival is the U.S. dollar. The greenback has more than two centuries of history behind it. But it wasn't until Jan. 1, 1999 that 11 E.U. countries locked their national currencies together into a fixed exchange rate. Three years later, physical coins and notes became available, replacing national cash in a massive changeover operation. The euro zone is now 15 members large and has a combined population of about 320 million. However, many more people are directly affected by the currency, from would-be members whose money is already pegged to it, to countries like Montenegro and Kosovo, whose effective national currency is the euro. France's former African colonies also peg their common currency to Europe's. That means about 500 million people rely on the euro or euro-pegged currencies. The euro's 10th anniversary will see the euro zone take on a 16th member, Slovakia. Eight other central and East European countries have set the goal of joining within the next six years, including Poland, whose political establishment dropped its longtime opposition after a recent run on the Polish zloty. The euro has found some other unexpected converts too, thanks to the financial crisis. The Danes voted against joining the euro zone in 2000, but they are set to hold another referendum in March. Iceland — not even an E.U. member — is pondering "unilateral euroization" after seeing its krona plunge nearly 80% against the euro in September and October. And the biggest prize of all, Britain, is said to be warming to the euro. Barroso recently claimed that London is "closer than ever before" to euro-zone entry and that "the people who matter in Britain" think it should join. That may be overstating things a bit, but a report by research group Chatham House warns that as the euro zone grows, the U.K. risks being excluded from "deeper intra-E.U. economic consultation and coordination, including in areas of significant national interest, such as financial market regulation." .................. read more

Gaza conflict spreads to Europe with Jews attacked
Signs are mounting that the conflict in Gaza is starting to spill over into violence in Europe's towns and cities, with assaults against Jews and arson attacks on Jewish congregations in France, Sweden and Britain. Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, on Monday night. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, also was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. Neighbors alerted rescue services before the fire took hold. Someone also started a blaze outside the premises last week. And on Sunday slogans including "murderers ... You broke the cease-fire" and "don't subject Palestine to ethnic cleansing" were daubed on Israel's embassy in Stockholm. In Denmark, a 27-year-old Dane born in Lebanon of Palestinian parents is alleged to have injured two young Israelis last week, opening fire with a handgun in a shooting that police suspect could be linked to the Gaza crisis. France has Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities and a history of anti-Semitic violence flaring when tensions in the Middle East are high. In 2002, some 2,300 Jews left France for Israel because they felt unsafe. Damage to the synagogue in Toulouse was limited to a blackened gate, and there were no injuries even though a rabbi was giving a course to adults inside, authorities said. They said unlighted gasoline bombs were also found in a car nearby and in the synagogue's yard. A local Jewish leader, Armand Partouche, said he believed the assailants had planned to torch the synagogue, but fled when the building's alarm went off. "It could have been very, very serious," Partouche said in a telephone interview. "There were people inside; there could have been deaths." "We really fear that anti-Semitism will spring up again and that the current conflict will be transposed to our beautiful French republic," he said. .................. read more


4. The Gog/Magog War

Russia wants warships stationed around the world
Russia's military leaders have approved a plan by the navy to station warships permanently in friendly ports across the globe. Underfunded since the 1991 break up of the Soviet Union, the Russian navy has been reasserting itself over the last year by chasing Somali pirates around the coast of east Africa and steaming across the Atlantic to visit allies in South America. "The General Staff has given its position on this issue and it fully supports the position of the (Navy's) main committee," deputy chief of staff Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told RIA Novosti news agency. A resurgent navy has become central to a strategy for Russia -- which enjoyed a decade of economic revival from 1998 -- to project itself in foreign affairs. In August a Russian diplomat said the navy was to make more use of a Syrian Mediterranean Sea port. Last month a Russian warship cruised off Cuba after visiting South America for the first time since 1991. Nogovitsyn said Russia was directly negotiating with foreign governments to station warships at bases around the world permanently, although he declined to give exact details. ................. read more

Gaza Operation - One More Step In Rupturing Turkish-Israel Relations
A deep crisis in Turkish-Israel relations appears to be the first strategic casualty of Israel's offensive to suppress Hamas' rocket campaign. DEBKAfile's Ankara sources report that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seriously planning to freeze the long-standing military ties between the US's foremost defense allies in the Middle East and call off forthcoming joint maneuvers. If his hostility toward Israel persists, it will have far-reaching fallout for American Middle East policies and Israel's defense position in the region. And there is no sign of him relenting; just the reverse. Monday, Jan. 5, Erdogan outdid himself in vituperation when he accused Israel of "perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction. Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents," he said. This level of abuse is rarely heard even from Israel's worst enemies. Washington has been trying to hold together the framework of Turkish-Israeli military ties, which for years provided for frequent reciprocal visits by Israeli and Turkish fighter aircraft and warships to each other's bases and the use of facilities as between friends. A freeze on these relations would cause serious harm in another sphere: the intelligence-sharing which substantially benefits the campaigns against terrorists fought by the US, Turkey and Israel. It has not been lost on Washington and Jerusalem that the Turkish prime minister is working closely with French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Khalifa al Thani, both of whom have chosen to distance themselves from US policy positions in the Middle East and walk alone - at times with radical elements.. ................. read more


7. Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies

Worried parents can track children with GPS locator watch
A satellite tracking device that will plot a child's location to within 10ft is being launched by a British firm. The Nu.M8 digital watch uses GPS satellite technology like car sat nav systems. The Nu.M8 device is concealed within a digital watch and will trigger an alert if forcibly removed Parents who text 'wru', or click 'where r you' on the secure website, will be able to see the child's location on Google maps and the street address and postcode will also be displayed. So-called 'safe zones' can also be set up in which children can play safely and an alert will be sent to the parent's mobile phone and computer if the child strays out of that area. The watch has been launched against a background of increasing fears among parents about the safety of their children. Michele Elliott, director of children's charity Kidscape, has reservations about using satellites to track youngsters. She said: 'Anything that makes children safer is a good thing but is the world really that unsafe that parents need to electronically track their children? I don't think so.' The watch will be launched this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.......................... read more

Police look to hack citizens' home PCs
Police and state intelligence agencies from several countries may soon be working together to secretly hack into private citizens' personal computers without their knowledge and without a warrant. According to a London Times report, the police hacking process, called "remote searching," enables law enforcement to gather information from e-mails, instant messages and Web browsers, even while hundreds of miles away. Furthermore, the Times reports, a new edict by the European Union's council of ministers in Brussels has paved the way for international law enforcement agencies to begin remote searching and sharing the information with each other. According to the Times, the United Kingdom's Home Office, the nation's lead government department for immigration, drugs and counter-terrorism enforcement, has already quietly adopted a plan that would enable French, German and other European Union police forces to request remote searching be done on UK citizens' computers The Home Office's plan has drawn immediate protest. "These are very intrusive powers – as intrusive as someone busting down your door and coming into your home," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, a British civil liberties and human rights group. "The public will want this to be controlled by new legislation and judicial authorization," Chakrabarti told the Times. "Without those safeguards it's a devastating blow to any notion of personal privacy." According to the report, a remote search can be granted if a senior police officer believes it is necessary to detect a serious crime, and unlike searching a suspect's home, a remote search does not require a warrant under Home Office policy.......................... read more


8. Christian Worldview/Issues

Gov't Survey Reveals Homeschooling Growth
Over the course of four years (2003-2007), the number of homeschooled students increased by more than 36 percent, according to recently released estimates from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES). And over the last 8 years (1999-2007) since the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) was first conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s NCES, homeschooling has witnessed a 77 percent growth. According to data from the 2007 NHES survey, an estimated 1.5 million students (1,508,000) were homeschooled in the United States in the spring of 2007, making up 2.9 percent of the school-age population in America. In the spring of 2003, the survey reported that an estimated 1.1 million students were being homeschooled, or 2.2 percent of the school-age population. Data from the first NHES, in 1999, showed an estimated 850,000 homeschooled students in the United States — about 1.7 percent of the school-age population. "Homeschooling is a mainstream educational alternative. It will continue to flourish as parents and children continue to experience the social and academic benefits of a home based education," said HSLDA’s Smith. Aside from simply estimating the number of homeschooled children in the United States, the 2003 and 2007 NHES went one step further and asked parents whether particular reasons for homeschooling their children applied to them. The three reasons selected by parents of more than two-thirds of students were: concern about the school environment, to provide religious or moral instruction, and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools.................... read more

Milwaukee OKs 'gay'-affirming school
An Illinois family advocate says she's stunned by the approval of what she believes is the first homosexual-affirming middle school in the U.S. The proposal for the Alliance School was approved unanimously by the Milwaukee Board of Education in late 2008. The school will serve Milwaukee's six-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Laurie Higgins is with the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), which recently fought a similar proposal for a homosexual high school in Chicago. "The way that the Milwaukee proposal was approved was by default -- there was no vote taken," Higgins explains. "And because there was no vote taken, there was no opposition; there was no request that it be tabled for further discussion. It just passed...." The IFI spokeswoman shares another disturbing aspect of what happened in Mil Town. "...I'm stunned that the religious leaders, the Christian pastors in Milwaukee, did not rise up in righteous indignation against this school," she laments. "That is what I find perhaps equally as troubling, if not more so." Higgins also questions the use of public money in the affirmation of homosexuality to minors. "I think it's unconscionable to be affirming this in public schools," she states. "This is not an issue for public schools. And kids at 11- and 12- and 13- and 14-years-of-age are confused on many issues -- sexuality being one of them." Regina Griggs, executive director of the group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), agrees with Higgins. Griggs believes middle school children should not be dealing with the issue of homosexuality. "To affirm an 11-year-old? Please," exclaims Griggs. "They haven't even gone through puberty, but they know that they want to have sex with other men and women? I'm sorry, but it's ridiculous." Higgins and Griggs encourage individuals to oppose such developments "vociferously" before they begin spreading to other communities... ............. read more

Christian Contemporary Radio Stations Continue Steady Growth
Contemporary Christian radio continued to grow in 2008, adding 28 stations over the past year and more than doubling its numbers from a decade ago. The radio format is the second most popular music format following Country radio, which has lost more than 350 stations since 1998, according to Inside Radio and M Street Corp Publications, which tracks radio statistics. Among all radio formats (31 in total), Contemporary Christian radio ranks No. 4, trailing News/Talk, Country, and Religion (Teaching, Variety). Southern Gospel, meanwhile, ranks No. 16 and Black Gospel No. 18. According to the National Religious Broadcasters, a Virginia-based trade group, Christian contemporary music is one of the top three fastest growing genres. And in a review of Arbitron ratings over the last decade, religious radio showed steady growth, while other formats, such as classical, oldies and even rock, declined. Those familiar with the music scene say part of the success of contemporary Christian stations is that they feature songs about people's personal relationships with Jesus. For some, especially the unchurched, that individual message resonates.................. read more


9. Other Events To Watch

Rising sea levels 'could spark conflict over energy and food reserves'
A report revealed "environmental stress" had increased the risk of conflicts over food and resources in the region. It predicted warmer temperatures would change the location of South East Asian fishing grounds, leading to conflict over fishing rights, and lead to an increase in climate refugees fleeing the Pacific's sinking atolls. Environmental changes would "reinforce existing concerns regarding land availability, economic development and control over resources", it said, multiplying the threats faced by fragile states and increasing the chance they would fail. But the biggest threat to global security was the melting Arctic ice caps, which would give rise to a potentially dangerous international race for valuable sea oil and gas deposits, the report said. "The Arctic is melting, potentially making the extraction of undersea energy deposits commercially viable. Conflict is a remote possibility if these disputes are not resolved peacefully." Climate change has already been linked to the escalating fight for the world's natural resources, including an increasingly precious commodity – dry land. In November, the newly elected president of the Maldives announced his country would begin to set aside a portion of its billion-dollar annual tourist revenue to buy a new homeland because rising seas were threatening to turn the 300,000 islanders into environmental refugees. Most parts of the Maldives are just 1.5m above water. The UN forecasts that the seas are likely to rise up to 59cm by 2100, due to global warming. Mohamed Nasheed said the chain of 1,200 islands and coral atolls will be engulfed by the ocean if the current pace of climate change continues to raise sea levels. But whether Mr Nasheed will be able to find a new home for his citizens is another question. Resource-hungry nations are already snapping up large tracts of agricultural land in poor Asian and African nations. High global oil and commodity prices, the biofuels boom and the economic downturn are prompting import-reliant countries to take action to protect their sources of food. China and South Korea, which are both short on arable land have signed up the rights to swathes of territory in Asia and Africa. In one of the biggest and most recent deals, South Korea's Daewoo Logistics said it would invest about $6 billion to develop 3.2 million acres in Madagascar – almost half the size of Belgium.. .................... read more

New bird flu cases revive fears of human pandemic
Just when you thought you could scratch bird flu off your list of things to worry about in 2009, the deadly H5N1 virus has resurfaced in poultry in Hong Kong for the first time in six years, reinforcing warnings that the threat of a human pandemic isn't over. India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks in December. During the same period, four new human cases -- in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia -- were reported to the World Health Organization. A 16-year-old girl in Egypt and a 2-year-old girl in Indonesia have died. The new cases come after a two-year decline in the number of confirmed human deaths from H5N1 bird flu and as fewer countries are reporting outbreaks among poultry. A United Nations report released in October credits improved surveillance and the rapid culling of potentially infected poultry for helping to contain and even prevent outbreaks in many countries. Yet H5N1 has continued to "at the very least smolder, and many times flare up" since the chain of outbreaks began in 2003, said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The year-end uptick is a reminder of how quickly the situation can turn as long as the H5N1 virus is still out there, Osterholm and other scientists said. "What alarms me is that we have developed a sense of pandemic-preparedness fatigue," he said. Though bird flu viruses are common, highly pathological ones such as the 1918 virus and H5N1 -- which has been lethal to 100% of chickens infected and 63% of humans known to be infected -- are rare. Scientists have little experience with which to gauge how H5N1 will evolve. But, Webster said, "We still have to treat this as a potentially very, very dangerous virus.".................... read more