2006 WHAT WAS

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Snow continues in parts of Plains. 3-Jewish Calendar in Action. 4-Hundreds flock to see Saddam's gravesite. 5-Aussies usher '07 with Sydney fireworks. 6-Another enlargement for the European Union. 7-CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda. 8-2006: A year of fear, storms and elections.

MAY THE PROMISE OF A NEW YEAR FILL YOUR HEART WITH HOPE, AND PEACE AND JOY PRAISE THE GOD OF ISRAEL (KING JESUS) FOR EVERY SECOND OF IT. STAN L BOWMAN JR HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007.

DON'T FORGET TO GIVE TO INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, JACK VAN IMPE, TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST AND TO HELP HUNGRY ISRAELIS, AND TO HELP ISRAELIS COME TO ISRAEL.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Mon Jan 01 2007 12:01 AM EDT HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL IN THE WHOLE WORLD

DEC 31,06
MAP 5.5 NEUQUEN, ARGENTINA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.6 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

DEC 30,06
MAP 4.9 NORTHERN ALGERIA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 SOUTH OF PANAMA
MAP 3.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OREGON
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.2 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.3 GULF OF ADEN
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Snow continues in parts of Plains B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sun Dec 31, 12:13 PM ET

Wind-driven snow continues to coat portions of the Great Plains today. A heavy snow warning has been posted for parts of northwest Iowa and a small portion of southwest Minnesota.

Winter storm warnings extend in a patchwork fashion from north-central Kansas to northeast Minnesota. Four to eight inches of snow are expected to pile up by this evening in the area under the heavy snow warning. Lesser amounts are likely elsewhere. Expect difficult travel over I-70 in northeast Kansas, I-80 in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, and I-29 in northwest Iowa. Another area of concern, but not until late tonight, is in the Northeast. A freezing rain advisory is in effect beginning at midnight for portions of northern New York state and southern Vermont. No major icing is expected, however.

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

Jewish Calendar in Action
By Hillel Fendel (INN) DEC 31,06

Today, the 10th of Tevet, is a day of fasting, commemorating the siege of Jerusalem led by Nebuchadnezzar - the ancient Babylonian despot of whom Saddam Hussein claimed to be a reincarnation. Just a day after the hanging of Saddam Hussein, Jews around the world remember another cruel tyrant - Saddam's self-proclaimed role model - and his murderous plans for the Jewish People. Nebuchadnezzar was more successful than Saddam in this regard, in that he destroyed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, and put hundreds of thousands of Jews, including the nation's king and leaders, to death with unspeakable cruelty.On this day, the 10th of Tevet, Nebuchadnezzar instated a tight siege on Jerusalem, setting off the chain of events that led to the destruction of the First Holy Temple and a 70-year exile of the Jewish People from their Holy Land. Today, nearly 2,500 years later, Jews around the world - and especially in the modern renewed edition of the Jewish State that Nebuchadnezzar tried to rub out - refrain from eating and drinking until sunset to remember the calamities that occurred at that time.Saddam Hussein, who was hanged yesterday in
Baghdad, just 90 kilometers from Nebuchadnezzar's palace in the ancient city of Babyon, modeled himself in many ways after Nebuchadnezzar.

Much of the brickwork in the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar's palace, for instance, was built by Saddam Hussein's workers. Just as the original bricks are inscribed with words praising Nebuchadnezzar, the newer ones - 60 million of them! - state that they were fashioned in the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt civilization and rebuilt Babylon.

In addition, in his book Saddam Hussein, the Stairway to Heaven and the Return of Planet X, William Henry writes, Saddam is saying he is the reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar... He is attempting to recreate and outdo the feats of the biblical king... It is well known that [he] has connected himself with Nebuchadnezzar, spending over $500 million during the 1980s on the reconstruction and the re-establishment of ancient Babylon, the capitol of Nebuchadnezzar.Nebuchadnezzar was Divinely changed into an animal for a period of time - an event that many recalled when the once-opulent Saddam Hussein was captured two and a half years ago living in nearly animal-like conditions.The Tenth of Tevet has also taken on another facet, in connection with the Holocaust. Many bereaved Jews who do not know the date or place of death of their loved ones recite Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for those who have died, on this day. For this reason, some consider this day as a Holocaust remembrance day.Yishai Fleisher contributed to this article.

Hundreds flock to see Saddam's gravesite By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,06

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqis flocked to the village where Saddam Hussein was born on Sunday to see the deposed leader buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution. There was no sign of a feared Sunni uprising in retaliation for Saddam's hanging, and the bloodshed on Saturday was not far off the daily average — 92 from bombings and death squads. Also Saturday, a roadside bomb killed one American soldier and wounded two in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday. At least 2,999 U.S. service members have been killed since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.At Saddam's funeral, dozens of relatives and others, some of them crying and moaning, attended the interment shortly before dawn in Ouja. A few knelt before his flag-draped grave. A large framed photograph of Saddam was propped up on a chair nearby.I condemn the way he was executed and I consider it a crime, said 45-year-old Salam Hassan al-Nasseri, one of Saddam's clansmen who attended the interment in the village just outside Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. Some 2,000 Iraqis traveled to the village as well.Mohammed Natiq, a 24-year-old college student, said the path of Arab nationalism must inevitably be paved with blood.God has decided that Saddam Hussein should have such an end, but his march and the course which he followed will not end, Natiq said.Police on Saturday blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air and calling for vengeance.

Saddam was captured in an underground hide-out near Ouja on Dec. 13, 2003, eight months after he fled Baghdad ahead of advancing American troops.His burial place is about two miles from the graves of his sons, Odai and Qusai, in the main town cemetery. The sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.

The head of Saddam's Albu-Nassir's clan said the body showed no signs of mistreatment.We received the body of Saddam Hussein without any complications. There was cooperation by the prime minister and his office's director, the clan chief, Sheik al-Nidaa, told state-run Al-Iraqiya television. We opened the coffin of Saddam. He was cleaned and wrapped according to Islamic teachings. We didn't see any unnatural signs on his body.On Saturday, Iraqis watched television images of a noose being slipped over Saddam's neck and his white-shrouded body, the pre-dawn work of black-hooded hangmen.

They went to bed as new video emerged showing Saddam exchanging taunts with onlookers before the gallows floor dropped away and the former dictator swung from the rope.In Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City on Saturday, victims of his three decades of autocratic rule took to the streets to celebrate, dancing, beating drums and hanging Saddam in effigy. Celebratory gunfire erupted across other Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and other predominantly Shiite regions of the country.

Outside the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of the capital, loyalists marched with Saddam pictures and waved Iraqi flags. Defying curfews, hundreds took to the streets vowing revenge in Samarra, north of Baghdad.Still, authorities imposed curfews sparingly in contrast to the several-day lockdown put in place after Saddam was sentenced to death Nov. 5.

By several accounts, Saddam was calm but scornful of his captors, engaging in a give-and-take with the crowd gathered to watch him die and insisting he was Iraq's savior, not its tyrant and scourge.He said we are going to heaven and our enemies will rot in hell and he also called for forgiveness and love among Iraqis but also stressed that the Iraqis should fight the Americans and the Persians, Munir Haddad, an appeals court judge who witnessed the hanging, told the British Broadcasting Corp.Another witness, national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told The New York Times that one of the guards shouted at Saddam: You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution.

I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans, Saddam responded, al-Rubaie told the Times. God damn you, the guard said. God damn you, responded Saddam. New video, first broadcast by Al-Jazeera satellite television early Sunday, had sound of someone in the group praising the founder of the Shiite Dawa Party, who was executed in 1980 along with his sister by Saddam. Saddam appeared to smile at those taunting him from below the gallows.

He said they were not showing manhood. Then Saddam began reciting the Shahada, a Muslim prayer that says there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger, according to an unabridged copy of the same tape, apparently shot with a camera phone and posted on a Web site. Saddam made it to midway through his second recitation of the verse. His last word was Muhammad.

The floor dropped out of the gallows.

The tyrant has fallen, someone in the group of onlookers shouted. The video showed a close-up of Saddam's face as he swung from the rope. Then came another voice: Let him swing for three minutes. The responses within Iraq to Saddam's death echoed the larger reaction across the Middle East, with his enemies rejoicing and his defenders proclaiming him a martyr. While Iranians and Kuwaitis welcomed the death of the leader who led wars against each of their countries, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the execution prevented exposure of the secrets and crimes the former dictator committed during his brutal rule. Some Arab governments denounced the timing the 69-year-old former president's hanging just before the start of the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Adha. Libya announced a three-day official mourning period and canceled all celebrations for Eid.

Haider Hamed, a 34-year-old candy store owner in east Baghdad, wondered what would really change after Saddam's execution. He's gone, but our problems continue, said the Shiite Muslim, whose uncle was killed in one of Saddam's many brutal purges.

We brought problems on ourselves after Saddam because we began fighting Shiite on Sunni and Sunni on Shiite. Among minority Sunnis there was deep anger, born not only of Saddam's execution but of the loss of their decades-long political and economic
dominance that began with Saddam's ouster in the U.S. invasion nearly four years ago. There were cheers at the cafeteria of a U.S. outpost in Baghdad as soldiers having breakfast learned Saddam had been hanged. But members of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, on patrol in an overwhelmingly Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, said the execution wouldn't get them home any faster — and therefore didn't make much difference. Nothing really changes, said Capt. Dave Eastburn, 30. The militias run everything now, not Saddam.

Aussies usher '07 with Sydney fireworks By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,06

SYDNEY, Australia - Wind-swept revelers gathered around London's Big Ben to watch the fireworks, and thousands of Japanese climbed Mount Fuji and other peaks to watch the first sunrise of the New Year.

But the Thai capital sent celebrants home after a series of evening bombs. Police estimated a million people crammed the shore in Sydney, one of the world's first major cities to greet the New Year, for the fireworks and daylong festivities, some staking their claims to the best view before dawn Sunday and pitching tents in case of rain.A series of evening bombings in Bangkok, Thailand, left two people dead and 34 injured, and the city canceled its major New Year's celebration at the Central World Plaza shopping mall complex, where a crowd of about 5,000 dispersed calmly.No, I'm not scared. I'm from England. There are bomb scares all the time, said Keith Waters, who was with his Thai bride to celebrate the New Year.

Farther west, Philippine police tried to curb New Year casualties by threatening to arrest anyone who set off oversize firecrackers. Television networks were encouraged to show gory footage of fireworks accident victims.Despite the warning, 284 people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the two weeks ahead of New Year's Day, a 75 percent rise from last year, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.I have campaigned every day against firecrackers, Duque said. But this has become a deeply rooted part of our culture.Many Filipinos believe noisy New Year celebrations drive away evil and misfortune.In Japan, thousands climbed mountains, some scaling the famed Mount Fuji, to greet the first dawn of the year. Police expected crowds at the summits to reach 15,000.Japanese — ranging from families with children to elderly couples — usually start climbing during the night so they can reach the top in time for sunrise.

Japanese police anticipated the country's major Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines to receive nearly 95 million visitors over the first three days of the new year, as people offer prayers for peace, health and prosperity in one of the few religious rites in which most Japanese regularly take part.In Romania and Bulgaria, midnight was to mark a historic milestone, with the two countries becoming the newest members of the European Union. Outdoor parties were taking place in Bucharest and Sofia.Pope Benedict XVI prayed at a New Year's Eve service in Vatican City that 2007 would bring the world peace, comfort, justice.In Belfast, Northern Ireland, however, the threat of gale-force winds canceled an outdoor concert. Glasgow officials said high winds and rain had forced them to cancel traditional Hogmanay New Year's celebrations in the Scottish city, but Edinburgh said it would go ahead with its
Hogmanay party nonetheless.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Things to look for in 2007 from the EU

THE CONSTITUTION TO GET APPROVED.
FOR 10 OR 13 CORE EU COUNTRIES TO LEAD THE EU.
FOR THE 3 COUNTRY 18 MONTH TERM TO BE ADOPTED FROM THE CONSTITUTION.
FOR THE FOREIGN MINISTERS OFFICE TO TALK FOR ALL THE EU IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.
FOR EU TROOPS TO COME INTO GAZA TO PROTECT ISRAEL.
FOR THE EU TO BECOME THE LEADER IN THE ISRAEL-ARAB PEACE PROCESS.

Another enlargement for the European Union
by Valerie Fenech, di-ve news (valfen@di-ve.com)

BRUSSELS / Malta (di-ve news) December 31, 2006 1505CET The European Union is set for another enlargement at midnight on Sunday as Romania and Bulgaria will be joining the Community on January 01.

This enlargement brings the EU to its fifth enlargement, following the last enlargement in May 2004, where Malta joined together with another nine countries, in what was the largest ever EU enlargement. The Union will now consist of 27 member states. Upon entry, Bulgaria and Romania will become part of a common territory of freedom, democracy and respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law, as it is defined by the treaty on European Union. Different festivities are planned in both Romania and Bulgaria serving as celebrations for joining the EU.

WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda
31 Dec 2006 12:05:10 GMT,Source: Reuters

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urged Palestinian Islamists not to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority, according to a Web audio tape posted on Sunday.Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to Osama bin Laden, Zawahri or their allies in the last six months. At least 38 messages have been broadcast since Al Jazeera aired a statement by bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

June 1 - Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Musab al-Zarqawi calls on fellow Sunnis to reject any reconciliation with infidel Shi'ites, in an audiotape.

June 9 - Zawahri urges Palestinians, in a video, to reject a referendum on a statehood proposal that implicitly recognises Israel.

June 22 - Zawahri vows vengeance against the United States for the death of Zarqawi in a U.S. air strike.

June 30 - Bin Laden praises Zarqawi as a lion of jihad, and vows al Qaeda will continue to fight U.S. forces and their allies everywhere, according to an Internet audiotape.

July 1 - Bin Laden warns Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and says his group will fight the United States anywhere in the world.

July 7 - A year on from bombings in London, al Qaeda issues a video with comments from Zawahri, bin Laden and one bomber. Zawahri says bombers Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan had been trained in al Qaeda camps.

July 27 - Zawahri, in video statement titled The Zionist-Crusader war on Lebanon and the Palestinians, calls on Muslims to fight attacks on their countries.

Sept. 29 - Zawahri calls U.S. President George W. Bush a lying failure for saying progress had been made in the war on terrorism. He also calls the Pope a charlatan because of his remarks on Islam.

Dec. 20 - Zawahri says that al Qaeda will continue to target Western countries so long as Muslims were under attack. Zawahri says Washington is scrambling for an exit from Iraq and Afghanistan, but is approaching the wrong parties.
-- He also says that elections would not free Palestinian land from Israeli occupation and that any path other than holy war would lead to loss and defeat.

Dec. 31 - Zawahri calls on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urges Palestinian Islamists not to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority.
-- He also hails any Muslim woman insisting on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures in some Western countries as a soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist-Crusader attack.

2006: A year of fear, storms and elections
By Harry Levins-ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH,12/31/2006

Iraqis protested violence by day, and at night hunted down members of other sects.
(Razak Jaber/AP) A bomb that exploded on Feb. 22 sent shock waves rippling through the rest of the year.The bomb destroyed the dome of a Sunni Muslim shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The damage from that single blast has kept piling up:The explosion detonated a wave of Shiite-Sunni killings. Each tide of bloodshed by one sect generated a retaliatory backlash from the other. The sectarian savagery forced the United States to back away from its earlier musing about a large-scale cut this year in its forces in Iraq. The inability either to win in Iraq or to pull out of Iraq fed growing public unrest. Iraq boiled up as the No. 1 issue in the mid-term congressional elections. Last month, Iraq helped to strip the Republicans of their hold on the Senate and House.On the day after the election, President George W. Bush cashiered the aide with his fingerprints all over the Iraq war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Soon, White House press briefers stopped saying, Stay the course. On the heels of Rumsfeld’s ouster, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group issued a report that opened with a sobering sentence: The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. Its theme: Train the Iraqis, and bring the Americans home.Now, Bush is rethinking what to do next, with a decision due after the holidays. Some advisers want a surge in strength in Baghdad, to impose stability. Critics say any such surge would merely hand friendly Iraqis an excuse to procrastinate — and would also hand hostile Iraqis more American targets.

The Republicans also suffered from some self-inflicted wounds.

A campaign finance scandal removed from Congress a big Republican name — Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, former House majority leader. An influence-peddling scandal centering on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramhoff removed a lesser-known Republican, Ohio’s Bob Ney.But the Republican scandal that grabbed the most eyeballs centered on Rep. Mark Foley of Florida. He quit after publication of his lurid electronic messages to congressional pages.So the Democrats ran up a big edge in the House and a slim one in the Senate. (A footnote to U.S. political history: The Democratic victory will, for the first time, place the House speaker’s gavel in the hands of a woman, Nancy Pelosi of California.)

Also injuring the GOP was grousing by conservatives on two fronts.

First, Bush’s call for a change in immigration laws to accommodate the millions of illegals already here angered many rightist Republicans. They accused Bush of winking at law-breaking. For now, anyway, the issue sits on a back burner.Second, the president’s backing of a plan to let Dubai buy up control over American ports infuriated many on the right — so much so that Bush backed away.Like the immigration melee, the flap over the ports stoked the outrage on talk radio, normally a source of support for Bush. But the president had a bad 12 months — if not an annus horribilis, at least what he recently called a difficult year.

Bad news abroad

Iraq hardly stood alone as source of troubling headlines:In Afghanistan, the once-shattered Taliban pieced themselves together and spun that country into a violently ugly turn.As U.S. prestige ebbed in the Mideast, Iran won new clout — and pressed forward with a nuclear program that could give the Iranians a bomb.North Korea actually tested a nuclear bomb. In terms of physics, the bomb fizzled, mostly. But in terms of international standing, the bomb boosted the Hermit Kingdom into the exclusive club of nuclear powers.Islamists threatened Somalia’s already impotent government. Ethiopia stood up to counter the Islamists — even though their clash could lead to a wider war in the touchy Horn of Africa.When Hezbollah militants snatched a couple of Israeli soldiers, the Israelis reacted with a heavy hand. Weeks of bombing and artillery fire trashed much of Lebanon but failed to bring Hezbollah to heel.Killings, rape and plunder persisted in the Darfur region of Sudan. Despite much talk and more hand-wringing, no outsiders seemed able to stop it.With Israel’s Ariel Sharon stricken from the scene by a stroke, Palestine’s political factions turned on each other. One of them, Hamas, won parliamentary elections. Before long, Hamas was violently battling the other faction, Fatah. At year’s end, nothing to staunch the bloodletting stood at hand. Closer to home, Mexicans remain split in a close election that handed the presidency to a conservative. So far, his populist opponent has refused to recognize the returns.

Home-grown headlines

Domestically, the economy produced a mixed bag of headlines. On the bright side, the Dow Jones average rose to record heights. On the down side, housing values sagged, the auto industry stalled — and the price of gasoline flirted for a time with $3 a gallon.Tighter security rules at airports flustered passengers trying to board with shampoo and sodas. Casualty counts dominated some days’ news ... 12 coal miners killed in West Virginia, for example ... and 49 people killed in Kentucky when an airliner rolled down the wrong runway ... and five Amish girls slain at a schoolhouse in Pennsylvania ...A grander number was 300 million — a milestone mark that the U.S. population surpassed on Oct. 17.

A couple of Americans won first woman status — Washington’s Pelosi, of course, and Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, plus perky Katie Couric as a solo network news anchor.Sexual misdeeds did in evangelical leader Ted Haggard. Despite his squeaky-clean sermonizing, a male prostitute singled out Haggard as a regular customer. And in outer space, the year had a big loser, if we can use the term big to describe a dwarf. Astronomers downgraded Pluto from planet to dwarf planet.

Footnotes of folly

No year runs out without a ration of foolishness — of stories that grabbed a lot more attention than they deserved, thanks in large part to the ravenous appetite of cable news.On a hunting trip in Texas, Vice President Dick Cheney wounded a fellow hunter by firing The Shot Heard ’Round The Clock.We saw, heard and read far too much about the tawdry antics of Britney Spears and about the oddest couple of them all, Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell.Then there was that oddest of oddballs, John Mark Karr, who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey. After a few days of fame, Karr was found to be fibbing.But when we look back at the footnotes of 2006, we’ll most remember O.J. Simpson and If I Did It — his conditional confession to killing his ex-wife and her friend. A nation gagged in disgust, and the book (plus a related TV interview) faded away remarkably quickly.As has this year ...