ISRAEL WEIGHS 48 HOUR HALT

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.(TRADE 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).

CZECHS TAKE OVER EU PRESIDENCY AS OF JAN 1,2008. BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT YEAR THE EU SHOULD HAVE THEIR PERMANENT PRESIDENT TO SIGN THE FINAL 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL - ARABS IN THE NEAR FUTURE FROM DANIEL 9:27 AS THE LISBON TREATY WILL BE FINALISED.

Czech to take over EU helm DEC 31,08
Czechs to take over EU helm from France

PRAGUE - THE Czech Republic takes over the rotating European Union presidency from France on Thursday with several big issues to deal with, including a looming dispute over gas supplies with Russia. After months of preparatory work, the former communist country that joined the EU in 2004 is ready for its six-month endurance test, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra. In the past weeks, Czech officials have been battling concerns about their ability to take the EU helm from France amid the global economic crisis and after the successful French tenure dominated by President Nicolas Sarkozy. The role of Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek as the EU's president in office will be all the more harder as eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus keeps criticising most things European in his speeches and statements.

Mr Vondra said there was no point in setting too ambitious goals for the presidency which the Czech Republic enters with three priorities - energy security, external relations, and the economy at the time of crisis. We will be glad if we manage to complete two specific things, Mr Vondra said, pointing at energy security issues and the EU's eastern partnership. Prague is now watching closely Moscow's and Kiev's efforts to strike a deal over Ukraine's US$2 billion (S$2.89 billion) of unpaid gas debts. Russian energy giant Gazprom has warned it will cut off supplies to Ukraine if the debt is not settled, saying that a new contract needs to be signed by Jan 1 and no deal can be inked without the money being paid. A cut in deliveries could even hit west European consumers, who receive Russian gas that transits across Ukraine and were affected by a similar dispute in January 2006. Mr Topolanek told AFP in a recent interview he was concerned about such unexpected crises in particular. I am sure some unexpected events will come,he warned. In the case of a crisis, a 'small European country' such as the Czech Republic, which was a member of the Moscow-led bloc during its communist past, finds it difficult to make the Russian giant listen, Mr Vondra said.

The Czech position for talks with Russia has also been weakened due to recent tensions over US plans to build part of an anti-missile shield, perceived as a threat by Moscow, on the Czech territory. But the Czech Republic is still planning to organise an EU-Russia summit during the first half of 2009. Energy security will also be an issue at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, scheduled to take place in Prague on Jan 8, which will be the first meeting held within Prague's EU presidency.

In mid-December, Prague announced it would also like to host an EU-Israel summit side by side with an EU-Palestine summit, without giving the date. These two summits have gained urgency after Israel's launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which have so far claimed the lives of more than 360 Palestinians. During their tenure, the Czechs are also hoping to host the first EU summit with US president-elect Barack Obama, to start a rapprochement process with former Soviet countries Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, and continue the EU integration process in commemoration of the 2004 enlargement they were a part of. -- AFP

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

YOUTUBE VIDEO - ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES
http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk

Israel moves forward and sends more troops to Gaza By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writers DEC 31,08

KCAL 9 Los Angeles AP – Israeli soldiers carry equipment through the mud at a staging area fro tanks on the Israel-Gaza border … GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel sent more troops to the Gaza border Wednesday, rapidly moving forward with preparations for a possible ground offensive as the next stage of its military assault on the coastal territory's Hamas rulers. Israel rebuffed calls by world leaders for a truce, and Hamas was cold to a cease-fire. Instead, both intensified their fire. Israel bombed a mosque that it said was used to store rockets as well as vital smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border, and the Islamic militants hammered southern Israeli cities with about 60 rockets.Israeli troops trudged between dozens of tanks in muddy, rain-sodden fields outside of Gaza, assembling equipment, cleaning weapons and scrubbing the insides of tank barrels. Their commanders moved forward with preparations for a ground operation, said an Israeli defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.The U.N. Security Council scheduled emergency consultations Wednesday night to discuss an Arab request for a legally binding and enforceable resolution to ensure an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Egyptian Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said he was on instructions from Arab League foreign ministers who met in Cairo.Diplomatic efforts by U.S., European and Middle Eastern leaders appeared to be having little effect. A French proposal for a 48-hour cease-fire to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza failed to gain traction. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the time was not ripe to consider it. A separate proposal by Turkey and Egypt, two of Israel's few allies in the Muslim world, also seemed to be attracting little serious study in Israel or Gaza, where Hamas has also dismissed talk of a truce.With a shrinking number of targets to hit from the air and top Hamas leaders deep in hiding, a ground operation seemed all the more likely. In five days of raids, Israeli warplanes have carried out about 500 sorties against Hamas targets, and helicopters have flown hundreds more combat missions, a senior Israeli military officer said on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

The government has approved the call-up of more than 9,000 reserves. Heavy cloud cover that could encumber ground forces was expected to lift Thursday.U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the death toll was estimated to range between 320-390, and injured from 1,500-1,900.Between 20 percent and 25 percent of the dead are either women or children, said U.N. Relief and Works Agency commissioner Karen Abu Zayd.Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of its security forces have been killed, and the U.N. says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.In Israel, three civilians and a soldier have been killed by rocket fire, which has reached deeper into Israel than ever. The sites of the missile hits have drawn curious crowds.In the Negev desert city of Beersheba, people visited a school where a rocket made a direct hit Tuesday evening, slamming through the ceiling and showering debris on students' desks. A visitor illuminated by a shaft of light through the hole in the roof said with some astonishment, This is my daughter's seat.In Gaza, the sites of airstrikes have also attracted the curious and the defiant, including a Palestinian man who planted a green Hamas flag atop a mound of debris at a flattened mosque, its minaret still thrusting toward a stormy sky.The Israeli military, which attacked it Wednesday, said it was being used as a missile storage site and that the bombs dropped on it set off secondary explosions. It was the fifth mosque hit in the campaign.The chief of Israel's internal security services, Yuval Diskin, told a government meeting that Hamas members are hiding inside mosques, believing they'll be safe from airstrikes and using them as command centers, according to an Israeli security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to share the information.Other militants were hiding in hospitals, some disguised as doctors and nurses, Diskin said, according to the official.Echoing Israel's cool response to truce proposals, a senior Hamas leader with ties to its military wing said now was not the right time to call off the fight. Hamas was unhappy with the six-month truce that collapsed just before the fighting began because it didn't result in an easing of Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza.Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said that although Hamas leaders have been driven underground, the Gaza government was functioning and had met in the past few days.What our people want is clear: an immediate stop to all kinds of aggression, the end of the siege by all means, the opening of all border crossings, and international guarantees that the occupation will not renew this terrorist war again, Nunu said. Israel's latest airstrikes have concentrated on crushing the many smuggling tunnels under Gaza's southern border with Egypt. They provide a crucial lifeline, not just for Hamas rulers, but also for bringing in food and fuel for Gaza's people. Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in 2007 and have opened their borders only to let in limited humanitarian aid. On Wednesday, several wounded Palestinians were taken across the Israeli and Egyptian borders for treatment, including a child bundled in blankets. Gaza's southern smuggling zone was hit again in morning airstrikes that left vast craters over the collapsed underground passages. Diskin, the Israeli security chief, told a Cabinet meeting that the tunnel network has been badly damaged. Israel says more than 80 tunnels were destroyed. Several hundred tunnels ran under the border before Israeli warplanes began striking. Hamas was trying to smuggle some of its activists to Egypt through still-passable tunnels, Diskin said. Israel fears that opening crossings would allow Hamas — which remains officially committed to Israel's destruction — to further strengthen its hold on the territory. Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival who controls only the West Bank, suggested he would not continue peace talks with Israel at any price. He said on Palestinian TV that the stalled negotiating process had become useless and was not reaching any of its goals — namely the creation of a Palestinian state.

Negotiation is not a goal by itself; it's a tool, Abbas said. Unless it is a tool to achieve peace ... there is no need for it to continue.Gaza's militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Wednesday evening, including one in the city of Ashkelon that was caught on video. It showed a man on a sidewalk ducking for cover along a wall as the missile explodes in a cloud of smoke a few steps behind him. The city of 120,000 people 11 miles north of Gaza has been a frequent target. Israel's rescue service said it has responded to 250 rocket attack scenes since Saturday and treated 48 wounded, most of whom had light injuries. School was canceled in much of Israel's south because of the rocket threat. The 18,000 students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, southern Israel's only university, were also told to stay home.

Beersheba, 19 miles from Gaza, had never been within range of Gaza rockets, reflecting the increasing sophistication of what started out as homemade weaponry.
Now militants are firing weapons made in China and Iran that have dramatically expanded their range and put more than one-tenth of Israel's population in their sights, defense officials said. In Gaza, two Palestinian medics were killed and two others were wounded when an Israeli missile hit next to their ambulance east of Gaza City, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said it did not know of the incident.
Barzak reported from Gaza City, Keyser from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

White House says cease-fire depends on Hamas By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,08

CRAWFORD, Texas – President George W. Bush believes the first steps in any cease-fire in the ongoing violence in the Mideast will require the Islamic militant group Hamas to agree to stop firing rockets into Israel now and in the future, the White House said Wednesday. From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bush called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first time since the conflict escalated between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.I think President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets and that is what will be the first step in a cease-fire, White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters covering the president's stay in Texas. Johndroe said that Hamas also needs to stop smuggling weapons into Gaza — a move that would show it doesn't intend to continue to target Israel.So I think they're certainly on the same page on that, Johndroe said, briefing reporters on the Bush-Olmert phone call.Israel so far has resisted mounting international pressure to suspend its devastating air offensive against militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza, which has enraged the Arab world. It sent more troops and tanks to the border as signs of an impending ground invasion multiplied.The Israeli offensive, in its fifth day, is a response to rockets fired by Hamas militants, which are landing ominously close to the Israeli heartland.On Tuesday, France urged Israel to halt its operation for 48 hours. Olmert discussed the idea with his defense and foreign ministers, but the trio decided to pursue the aerial campaign.

Calls for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected by Hamas have also come from the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued furious telephone diplomacy with officials in the region, pressing them on the need for a durable and sustainable cease-fire.The effort to bring about a cease-fire continues, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters. We're not allowing any of the events that have happened to dissuade us in our efforts to bring about a cease-fire that is durable and sustainable.Rice has said she plans a final diplomatic trip early next week to Beijing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of U.S-Chinese relations. U.S. officials say there will be other stops but have not disclosed them. Asked whether Rice's plans include Mideast shuttle diplomacy, Johndroe insisted he was not aware of any travel by the secretary at this point.Rice spoke Wednesday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Salaheddine Al-Bashir, their third conversation since Tuesday, he said. Rice spoke three times on Tuesday with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates and once each with Olmert, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Ahmed Aboul Gheith, the foreign minister of Egypt, he said.We're looking for all our friends and allies in the region to use whatever good offices they have with Hamas or with other Palestinian organizations to try and help communicate the international community's desire that the violence stop, Duguid said.Johndroe said that in the telephone call at the ranch, Olmert assured Bush that Israel was taking the appropriate steps to avoid civilian casualties. He said Bush expressed concern about humanitarian needs in the tiny coastal territory that is home to 1.5 million people.Israel's permitted dozens of truckloads, and so we're seeing a good flow of humanitarian goods, medical supplies, food into Gaza from various ports of entry, Johndroe said. President Bush certainly is concerned about the innocent people of Gaza, and wants to make sure that they have the supplies they need.

The White House spokesman, however, gave few other details about the conversation.

Johndroe wouldn't say, for instance, whether Bush and Olmert specifically discussed the idea for a 48-hour truce floated by the French.They discussed what steps could lead to a cessation of violence, Johndroe said. I don't want to get into too many details. But no matter what the details are, it all begins with Hamas agreeing to stop firing rockets and to stop targeting Israel.Asked if the president was disappointed that Israel hadn't accepted or responded to the international calls for a cease-fire, Johndroe placed the onus squarely on Hamas. President Bush is disappointed that Hamas continues to fire rockets onto the innocent people of Israel, he said. I think, probably, from the prime minister's perspective, an end to the violence first means that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. And then Israel won't need to go after the rocket launchers, Johndroe added. The spokesman blamed Iran and Syria for supplying weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah. I'm not going to get into any specifics on supplies from Iran and Syria that we've seen over the last few days, he said. But there is no doubt that Iran and Syria are the ones who have assisted Hamas with their weapons acquisition, and that's a problem.Bush, who will spend a quiet New Year's eve at the ranch with first lady Laura Bush and friends, also called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, urging both nations to cooperate in the Mumbai attack investigation and on counterterrorism in general. All three leaders, from the United States, India and Pakistan, agreed that no one wanted to take any steps that unnecessarily raise tensions, Johndroe said. Associated Press Writers Ibrahim Barzak and Matti Friedman in Gaza City, Gaza, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

EU foreign ministers begin meeting on Gaza conflict
Middle East News Dec 30, 2008, 17:23 GMT

Paris - European Union foreign ministers began Tuesday evening an emergency session to discuss the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip. Reports ahead of the meeting said the ministers would, among others, examine the chances for setting up a humanitarian ceasefire amid the rising casualty figures and ongoing attacks. France, on its next-to-last day in its six-month term as EU president, had called the meeting after talks between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak. The EU Commission earlier on had urged Israel and Hamas to put an end to their mutual violence immediately as the fighting showed no sign of abating. The European Commission is deeply concerned by the situation in the Gaza Strip and calls for an immediate halt to military hostilities that are having a heavy impact on the civilian population in Gaza,a statement said. Also earlier Tuesday, Mubarak said in Cairo that his country would not fully open its border with the Gaza Strip unless Palestinian Authority or European Union observers were in control of the crossing point. However, he said borders could be opened for humanitarian purposes.

EU foreign ministers to meet over Gaza violence
ELITSA VUCHEVA 30.12.2008 @ 09:16 CET

EU foreign ministers are to meet in Paris on Tuesday (30 December) evening to discuss the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip, the French EU presidency has said.The meeting will aim to examine urgently the situation in the Middle East, in light of the recent events, and look into the European Union's contribution to solving the current crisis, in liaison with the efforts of the international community, the French communique reads.The options EU ministers will discuss include renewing an EU observation mission in Rafah, a town that lies on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which could ease restrictions on movement of people, French news agency AFP reports.As we have already said, the EU is ready to resume its monitoring mission at Rafah, EU top diplomat Javier Solana said over the weekend.

Israel launched its air attacks in the Gaza Strip on Saturday (27 December), saying it was doing so in retaliation against continuous Palestinian rocket fire on regions in southern Israel.The number of Palestinians killed in the four days of the attacks is estimated to be between 340 and 390 people, with more than 900 wounded. Rocket and mortar fire from Gaza militants has intensified since Saturday, killing four Israelis and wounding two dozen more.The EU foreign ministers gathering, which comes 24 hours before the end of the French EU presidency, will be Paris' last major initiative before it passes the baton over to the Czech Republic on 1 January. It is the first time such a meeting is taking place on 30 December.French President Nicolas Sarkozy has discussed the situation by phone with both Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak. Mr Sarkozy will also meet Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni in Paris in January, the Associated Press reports.

Israel weighs 48-hour halt to Gaza air campaign By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,08

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel, under international pressure, is considering a 48-hour halt to its punishing four-day air campaign on Hamas targets in Gaza to see if Palestinian militants will stop their rocket attacks on southern Israel, Israeli officials said Tuesday. Any offer would be coupled with a threat to send in ground troops if the rocket fire continues.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert discussed the proposal — floated by France's foreign minister — and other possible next steps with his foreign and defense ministers, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to make the information public.President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called leaders in the Middle East to press for a durable solution beyond any immediate truce.And members of the Quartet of world powers trying to promote Mideast peace concluded a conference call with an appeal for an immediate cease-fire. The Quartet powers are the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.The European Union itself late Tuesday also urged an immediate truce and for Israel to reopen borders to allow vital supplies to reach Gazans. The Paris statement by the 27-member bloc avoided blaming either side for the current fighting.In its Tuesday night meeting, Israel's leadership trio stepped up preparations for a ground offensive, conducting a telephone survey among Cabinet ministers on a plan to call up an additional 2,500 reserve soldiers, if required. Earlier this week, the Cabinet authorized a callup of 6,700 soldiers.After the four-hour meeting, Olmert's office issued a statement early Wednesday saying no details of the discussion would be made public because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.

But Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release information on the meeting, said the leaders wanted Hamas to agree to stop the rocket fire before Israel considers a truce.And even amid talk of a truce, Israeli warplanes continued to unload bombs on targets in Gaza. Powerful airstrikes caused Gaza City's high-rise apartment buildings to sway and showered streets with broken glass and pulverized concrete. Israel's ground forces on Gaza's border also used artillery for the first time.Hamas kept up its rocket barrages, which have killed four Israelis since the weekend, and sent many more in running for bomb shelters — some of them in cities under threat of attack for the first time, as the range of the rockets grows.A medium-range rocket hit the city of Beersheba for the first time ever, zooming 28 miles deep into Israel and slamming into an empty kindergarten. A second rocket landed in an open area near the desert city, Israel's fifth-largest. The military said later it successfully struck the group that launched those rockets.A pattern of daytime lulls and nighttime spikes in rocket fire appeared to be emerging as militants found safer launch cover in darkness.

Four days into a campaign that has killed 374 Palestinians and prompted Arab and international condemnation, a diplomatic push to end the fighting gathered pace.In two phone calls to Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday and Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed to him to consider a truce to allow time for humanitarian relief supplies to enter the beleaguered Gaza Strip, two senior officials in Barak's office said.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was expected to travel Thursday to Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has put his growing international stature to use in other conflict zones, most recently to help halt fighting between Russia and Georgia in August.Israeli media reported that Sarkozy would also travel to Jerusalem Monday for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.A Hamas spokesman said any halt to militant rocket and mortar fire would require an end to Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip. If they halt the aggression and the blockade, then Hamas will study these suggestions, said Mushir Masri.Any cease-fire between Israel and Hamas would face questions about its long-term viability. In the past, Hamas has been unable or unwilling to rein in all the militants, some of which belong to different factions. Israel has angered the Palestinians by continuing to target its leaders and by maintaining a blockade of the Gaza Strip. It's certainly difficult for Hamas because, having witnessed the losses that they have just suffered on large scale, their credibility is on the line and they're not going to easily agree to a cease-fire that goes back to the conditions that prevailed before, after all these losses, said Shibley Telhami, professor of political science at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. So, we're likely to see more bloodshed, and I think that is where we are in a way, events on the ground are going to dictate.Israel's military, meanwhile, pressed on, sending warplanes to strike a Gaza government complex that includes the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and justice. Bombs ripped the tops and sides from buildings that had already been evacuated and left fires blazing in upper floors. It was the largest government target hit so far and involved the largest number of bombs dropped in a single strike — at least 16 in all. The airstrikes have sent the people of densely populated Gaza on a zigzagging desperate search for safer ground — hard to find with no way out of the blockaded territory.

I don't know what's safe anymore, said university student Rasha Khaldeh of Gaza City. She fled her home, fearing Israel would target her Hamas neighbors, then had to leave her uncle's house because of nearby shelling. She listens intently for the approach of pilotless Israeli drones. After nightfall, Israel destroyed 40 tunnels under the sealed Gaza-Egypt border in another attempt to cut the vital lifeline that supplies Gaza with both commercial goods and weapons for Hamas and other militant groups. Israel kept up the attack on the tunnels early Wednesday, as other aircraft hit Hamas positions in Gaza City. Israel's military said it hit 31 targets on Tuesday, including a Cabinet building, rocket-launching sites, and places were missiles were being built. Some of the hits on sites with weapons stockpiles triggered secondary explosions. The question still hanging over the Israeli operation is how it can halt rocket fire. Israel has never found a military solution to the barrage of missiles. The Iron Dome, a system to guard against short-range missiles, will take years to build. Beyond delivering Hamas a deep blow and protecting border communities, the assault's broader objectives remained cloudy. Israeli President Shimon Peres acknowledged the challenge, saying the operation was unavoidable but more difficult than many people anticipated. War against terrorists is harder in some aspects than fighting armies, Peres said. Hamas also said it would take more to cripple it. A spokesman for Hamas' military wing, Abu Obeida, said the group remained strong, and he vowed to fight on as long as Israel continues its airstrikes. He noted that even while under heavy airstrikes, militants had fired rockets that reached Israeli towns farther from Gaza than ever. Rockets will be on your daily agenda, he said in a message to Israelis. And if there's a ground invasion, he promised worse: If you enter Gaza, the children will collect your flesh and the remains of your tanks which will be spread out through the streets.The offensive came shortly after a rocky, six-month truce expired. Emad Falluji, a former Hamas leader working at a Gaza-based think tank, said he believes Hamas had wanted to renew the truce but felt humiliated by Israel's decision to maintain a tight blockade on Gaza. Israel didn't want to give Hamas anything in return for the cease-fire, which was effectively free, he said.

Egypt, which has been blockading Gaza from its southern end, has come under pressure from the rest of the Arab world to reopen its border with the territory because of the Israeli campaign. Egypt has pried open the border to let in some of Gaza's wounded and to allow some humanitarian supplies into the territory. But it quickly sealed the border when Gazans tried to push through forcefully. In a televised speech Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded to critics, including the leader of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, who have accused him of collaborating with Israel. We tell anybody who seeks political profits on the account of the Palestinian people: The Palestinian blood is not cheap, he said, describing such comments as exploiting the blood of the Palestinians.Mubarak said his country would not throw open the border crossing unless Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — a Hamas rival — regains control of the border post. Mubarak has been rattled by the presence of a neighboring Islamic ministate in Gaza, fearing it would fuel more Islamic dissidence in Egypt. Most of the Palestinians killed since Saturday were members of Hamas security forces but the number included at least 64 civilians, according to U.N. figures. Among those killed were two sisters, Haya and Lama Hamdan, ages 4 and 12, who died in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Throughout the offensive, Israel's military has released video taken by hovering drone aircraft showing its missiles and bombs hurtling into Gaza targets, including one on Tuesday that sent about a half-dozen bombs simultaneously into a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border. During brief lulls between airstrikes, Gazans tentatively ventured into the streets to buy goods and collect belongings from homes they had abandoned after Israel's aerial onslaught began Saturday. The campaign has brought a new reality to southern Israel, too, where one-tenth of the country's population of 7 million has suddenly found itself within rocket range. It's very scary, said Yaacov Pardida, a 55-year-old resident of Ashdod, southern Israel's largest city, which was hit Monday. I never imagined that this could happen, that they could reach us here.Barzak reported from Gaza City, Keyser from Jerusalem.

Arab outrage over Gaza carnage targets Egypt By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 30, 2:55 pm ET

Miami CAIRO, Egypt – The Israeli bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip has unleashed outrage across the Middle East — but the anger is being vented as much against Egypt as it is at Israel.Protesters have attacked Egyptian embassies, accusing Cairo of helping Israel's longtime blockade of the territory and even giving a green light for the offensive — a sign of the gulf between an Arab public and some U.S.-allied governments that dislike Gaza's Hamas rulers.Demonstrators broke into the Egyptian consulate in the Yemeni city of Aden on Tuesday, trashing the interior, throwing computers out windows and burning the Egyptian flag on the roof. More than 500 protesters massed outside Egypt's embassy in Syria, as others did days earlier in Lebanon.During a demonstration in the Lebanese city of Sidon this week, people chanted slogans denouncing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a pig and a collaborator with Israel.Mubarak, whose nation is one of only two Arab states to have peace treaties with Israel, on Tuesday accused his critics of seeking political profit from the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.His government vehemently denied backing Israel's attack. And the foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, announced that Egypt was working with Turkey, which has strong ties with Israel, on an initiative to stop the offensive, restore a truce and open Gaza's borders under international supervision.Egypt already had angered many Arabs by largely closing its Rafah border crossing into Gaza since the Islamic militants of Hamas violently took over the territory in 2007. Rafah is the sole access to Gaza that does not go through Israel, which has imposed a suffocating economic blockade on the coastal strip.Embarrassing for Egyptian officials, Mubarak met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni only a day before Israel launched its assault, and the foreign minister — though he urged Israel to show restraint — was photographed smiling and shaking hands with her at a news conference.

Now, with television across the region showing the destruction and death in Gaza, Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — both allies of Syria and Iran — are stoking the anger against Egypt by accusing it of giving an OK to Israel to end Hamas rule in Gaza.We do not accept that the attack on Gaza be announced from the heart of Cairo, Mohammed Nazzal, a Hamas senior leader, shouted on Al-Arabiya television Sunday, referring to the Livni visit.Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah charged that Egypt's government was taking part in the crime against Palestinians and called on Egyptians to rise up and force the Rafah crossing open.The anger could severely damage the key role Egypt has played as a mediator between Hamas on one side and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel on the other.Egypt has been in a tough position because of Hamas's control of Gaza.It worries Hamas rule is boosting Iran's influence in the region and could fuel Islamic militancy on its own soil. And it is under pressure from Israel, Abbas and the U.S. not to make any concessions that would bolster Hamas.Yet, Egypt's leaders don't want to be seen as fueling a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Egyptian television gave heavy coverage to several truckloads of medical and other supplies that Egypt sent in through Rafah and 36 wounded Palestinians who were brought out to Egyptian hospitals.But on Tuesday, Mubarak insisted Egypt would not fully open Rafah unless Abbas' Palestinian Authority controls the crossing and European monitors required under a 2005 agreement are present. Otherwise, he said, opening the crossing would deepen the breach between Hamas and Abbas, who Egypt's government calls the legitimate leader of the Palestinians.Aboul Gheit, the foreign minister, initially seemed to blame Hamas for provoking the Israeli offensive, saying soon after it began Saturday that those who didn't listen to warnings carry the responsibility.Such talk put Egypt in the uncomfortable position of echoing the arguments of Israel, which says it acted to halt Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns. Since then, Egypt has been more vocal in its calls for Israel to stop the bombardment without conditions.

On Tuesday, Aboul Gheit denied that Egypt did not do enough to prevent the Israeli offensive, saying Mubarak warned Livni not to attack Gaza because it will have repercussions on the region.But the clamor over Gaza has underlined an increasing divide in the Middle East that pits pro-Western countries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia against Syria and Iran and their allied militant groups, Hamas and Hezbollah. In an unusually vocal criticism for an Egyptian politician, Abdullah Kamal, a member of Egypt's ruling party, denounced Hamas on Monday as a pawn of Iran, saying Iran and Syria are trying to make Iran as the leader of the region through its militias, whether Hezbollah or Hamas.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED DEC 31,2008

09:30 AM +6.65
10:00 AM +46.65
10:30 AM +68.58
11:00 AM +71.60
11:30 AM +93.45
12:00 PM +94.38
12:30 PM +97.57
01:00 PM +115.17
01:30 PM +73.28
02:00 PM +122.90
02:30 PM +118.60
03:00 PM +139.70
03:30 PM +138.83
04:00 PM +108.00 8776.39

S&P 500 903.25 +12.61

NASDAQ 1577.03 +26.33

GOLD 880.50 +10.40

OIL 42.72 +3.57

TSE 300 8981.23 +150.51

CDNX 797.02 +23.96

S&P/TSX/60 541.92 +9.02

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow +20 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +48 points at high today.
Dow +6 points at low today.

YEAR TO DATE ASIA LOSERS 2008
Hong Kong -48.27%,Shanghai -65.39%,Australia -41.29%,Pakistan -57%,Viet Nam -66%,Japan -54%(Worst in 20 years.
YEAR TO DATE AMERICA LOSERS 2008
Dow -34.65%,S&P -39.34%,Nasdaq -41.53%.
Wal-Mart,McDonalds only 2 Dow companies to be plus this year.
Less than 1 BILLION shares traded yesterday.
2008 WORST PERFORMING NASDAQ TECHS
Dell -58%,Ebay -58%,Google -56%,Apple -56%,Yahoo -49%.
2008 WORST PERFORMING NASDAQ 100 COMPONENTS
Focus Media Holdings -85%,Liberty Media -84%,Seagate Techs -84%,Garmin -80%,Flextronics International -79%.
2008 BEST PERFORMING NASDAQ 100 COMPONENTS
Vertex Pharmacy +31%,Amgen +24%,Celgene +18%,Ross Stores +15%,Gilead Sciences +12%.
2008 COMMODITY WINNERS
Cocoa +30%,Coal +12%,Rice +10%,Sugar +9%,Gold +5%.

STATS NOW AS OF 10:00AM LAST TRADING DAY OF 2008 DEC 31.
Dow +46 points,S&P +6 points,Nasdaq +16 points,Gold $859.60,Oil $38.13.

10% or 700,000 ISRAELIS are in range of rocket fire now from Hamas due to the longer range Katusha Rockets,So ISRAEL has to take out HAMAS permanantly.
THERES ONLY 15 CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN GAZA SO FAR NOT HUNDREDS LIKE REGULAR MEDIA IS REPORTING. THE BIAS MEDIA AGAINST ISRAEL,ITS SICK!!!!!!!!

6000 ISRAELI RESERVES ARE READY TO TAKE GAZA AS THEY WERE CALLED UP OVER THE LAST 4 DAYS.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow +6 points at low.
Dow +107 points at high.
Congradulations to Grandma Sarah Palin and FAMILY on the Birth of Tiny member Tripp.

Natural Gas Inventories -143 BCF.
EIA INVENTORY DATA
-Crude Oil +500,000 Barrels.
-Gasoline +800,000 Barrels.
-Distillates +700,000 Barrels.
-Refinery Utilization -2.2 percentage points to 82.5%.
2009:MY PREDICTION:UNEMPLOYED NATIONS OF THE WORLD.

Peak oil July 11,2008:$147.27.
Trough Oil December 24th 2008:$35.13.
Crude Oil down 57% for 2008.
Oil worst trading year since 1983.

WRAPUP NEWS,STATS

Dow +6 points at low today.
Dow +119 points at high today.
Dow +1.2% today.
Dow -34% in 2008.
S&P +1.6% today.
S&P -38% in 2008.
Nasdaq +1.7% today.
Nasdaq -41% in 2008.
Nasdaq first positive DEC 31 trading day since 1999.
WORST YEAR FOR STOCKS SINCE 1931.
Wall street ending 2008 with best 2 day point rally ever for Dow & S&P.
STOCKS HIGHER ON 2008'S FINAL DAY.
THIS IS THE 3RD WORST TRADING YEAR FOR THE MARKETS IN THE LAST 100 YEARS.
Nasdaq finishing year with worst percentage loss on record.
Dow,S&P 500 finishing year with worst percentage loss since 1931.

WHICH 4 STOCKS WERE ACTIVE IN 1931 AND TODAY?
1-General Electric.
2-General Motors.
3-Chevron (Standard oil California).
4-Exxon (Standard Oil New Jersey).

MY TOP 4 FAVORITES AT CNBC (HAPPY NEW YEAR)YOU GUYS

ERIN BURNETT
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838220/

RICK SANTELLI
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15837966/

BOB PISANI
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838002/

MARIA BARTIROMO
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838253/

I would use Military Force against Iran Now! John Bolton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m60s-_kSo38

Oil jumps 14 percent, products up By Edward McAllister DEC 31,08
^GSPC 903.25 +12.61 ^IXIC 1,577.03 +26.33

NEW YORK (Reuters) – US crude oil ended 2008 up 14 percent a barrel in thin pre-holiday trade on Wednesday, tracking a jump in gasoline as a slowdown in domestic refinery activity sparked fears of tightening fuel supply this winter.U.S. crude oil futures for February settled up $5.57 to $44.60 per barrel, but down 54 percent from the $95.98 on the last day in 2007.London Brent settled up $5.44 at $45.59.This year saw the record high prices in July above $147 a barrel crash to the year low of $32.40 on December 19 as the global recession dissolved world demand.Weekly U.S. inventory data on Wednesday showed a decline in refinery activity and a 500,000 barrel rise in crude stocks, compared with forecasts for a 1.5 million barrel decrease.There's a sign that the industry might be cutting back on production rates to try to boost margins. As heating oil and gasoline prices are rallying, crude is tagging along, said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy Stamford, Connecticut.The market is trading in pretty thin volume ahead of tomorrow's holiday and I think that's contributing to some of the strength, he added.Inventories of refined products also rose, though less than analysts had expected. Gasoline stockpiles increased by 800,000 barrels, less than forecasts for a 1.5 million barrel build, while distillates rose by 700,000 barrels, below expectations for a 1.1million barrel increase.

Demand for both gasoline and distillates, which include heating oil, was lower than the same time a year ago, extending the trend for reduced consumption.Markets also were watching a dispute over gas supplies between Russia and Ukraine, which may have to buy distillates from Europe if gas supplies from Russia are halted.Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom said on Wednesday that talks with Ukraine over gas prices for 2009 have failed, making a cut-off of gas to Ukraine on January1 unavoidable.

Thrown in with everything else, the Russian threat of a gas cutoff has everyone a bit nervous ahead of the close, said Tom Knight, trader with Truman Arnold in Texarkana, Texas.Analysts forecast an average of $49 a barrel for U.S. crude in the first quarter, and an average of $58.48 for next year, down $14 from their previous forecasts, the latest Reuters poll showed.Faced with slumping demand and prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this month said it was cutting output 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), its deepest reduction ever.
Evidence is mounting that OPEC is complying with its goal to reduce production, led by top exporter Saudi Arabia.Market sources said on Tuesday the kingdom's supplies to long-term buyers in February could imply production of even less than its new OPEC production target.(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Robert Gibbons in New York, Christopher Johnson in London and Chua Baizhen in Singapore; editing by Anthony Barker)

Mortgage rates drop to another new low By Julie Haviv Julie Haviv – Wed Dec 31, 11:24am ET

News NEW YORK (Reuters) – Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped for a ninth consecutive week, reaching their lowest level in 37 years, according to a survey released on Wednesday by home funding company Freddie Mac.

Interest rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to an average of 5.10 percent for the week ending Wednesday, down from the previous week's 5.14 percent, Freddie Mac said.The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has not been lower since Freddie Mac started the Primary Mortgage Market Survey in 1971.Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for the ninth straight week and represented a third consecutive all-time record low since Freddie Mac's survey began in April 1971, Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement.

Mortgage rates have dropped dramatically ever since the Federal Reserve unveiled a plan last month to buy up to $500 billion of mortgage securities backed by government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. The program also entails buying up to $100 billion of debt issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks.Mortgage rates appear destined to head even lower.The Fed on Tuesday moved forward aggressively with an effort to drive down mortgage costs, setting a goal of buying $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities by mid-2009.The battered housing market is critical to the U.S. economy, with a wide-ranging impact from the construction industry to the sale of appliances and furniture. After hurting growth for multiple quarters, an improvement in the housing market could portend a turnaround for the world's largest economy, which has been in a recession since late last year.The housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression as a huge supply of unsold homes, tighter lending standards and record foreclosures push down home prices.

Wall Street gains as GMAC gets financing By JOE BEL BRUNO, AP Business Writer DEC 30,08

GM 3.80 +0.20
^GSPC 890.64 +21.22
^IXIC 1,550.70 +40.38

NEW YORK – Wall Street staged a big advance in the next to last session of 2008 Tuesday after Washington's latest lifeline to the auto industry bolstered hopes that the government will do whatever is necessary to cut short the recession.Investors found solace in news that General Motors Corp.'s troubled financing arm received $5 billion of financing. The Treasury Department said late Monday it would provide the money to GMAC Financial Services LLC from the $700 billion bank rescue program.The injection is on top of the $17.4 billion in loans the Bush Administration agreed to provide to the auto industry on Dec. 19. GMAC said Tuesday it would immediately resume lending to certain customers it had previously said were too great a risk for auto loans because of tight credit markets.This is trying to slow down the economic train wreck, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Investors are taking a step back, and realizing that this will enable auto buyers to finance their cars and add liquidity to the market.Ablin also said the move will have an effect on the entire economy, especially amid a backdrop of sluggish consumer spending, which drives more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy.Wall Street got another disappointing reading about the mood of Americans after the Conference Board reported its Consumer Confidence index dropped to a record low. The trade group reported the index's reading fell to a 38 in December from a revised 44.7 in November, well below the expectation of 45 economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Investors were well prepared for a downbeat report after consumers reluctant to spend left retailers with their worst holiday season in years. The International Council of Shopping Centers said Tuesday that weekly same-store sales, those from stores open a year or more, dropped 1.5 percent last week at the 40 retailers it polls.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 184.46, or 2.17 percent, to 8,668.39. But even with that advance, the blue chips are still down 36.04 percent for the year with one more trading day remaining.Broader indexes also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 21.22, or 2.44 percent, to 890.64, leaving it down 40.79 percent for the year; while the Nasdaq composite index added 40.38, or 2.67 percent, to 1,550.70, leaving it down 43.06 percent for 2008.With many traders away for the holidays, volume was low, which can exaggerate price moves. Advancing issues led decliners by 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, with consolidated volume at a light 3.23 billion shares, up from 2.98 billion on Monday.Most investors are looking past 2008 for clues about how stocks will fare in the coming year.Subodh Kumar, global investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto, said the market's moves in the final days of the year are more noteworthy than some investors realize; stocks have been fairly steady despite low volume that could easily lead to sharp declines. But he predicts trading will remain volatile into mid-2009.It's still relatively encouraging that the markets have been able to hold up, he said.

Investors might have been able to overlook the disappointing consumer data after a surprise uptick in the Chicago Purchasing Managers' index, which measures business conditions across Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. It advanced in December for the first time since August. Wall Street had expected a decline. The index, which rose 34.1 from 33.8 in November, is considered a precursor to the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey on Friday.Bond prices were higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.06 percent from 2.10 percent late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, in great demand because it is considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.06 percent from 0.03 percent late Monday.Light, sweet crude fell 99 cents to $39.03 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices rose Monday as investors worried fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would disrupt oil shipments.The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.In corporate news, shares of GM rose 20 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $3.80 after GMAC was given government financing. GM owns 49 percent of GMAC, while private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management holds the remainder. The Federal Reserve last week approved GMAC's application to become a bank holding company, a move that cleared the way for the company to receive money from the financial rescue fund. In addition to the cash infusion for GMAC, the government also agreed to lend $1 billion to GM so it can contribute to the financing arm's reorganization as a bank holding company.

Meanwhile, General Motors said it is offering financing as low as zero percent over the next week for several 2008 and 2009 models in a big year-end sales push. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 16.62, or 3.57 percent, to 482.77.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.28 percent in the final session of the year, ending 2008 with a loss of 42 percent. Markets in Japan are closed for a holiday Wednesday. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.70 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 2.24 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 2.76 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Easy come, easy go after gold glitch Mon Dec 29, 10:03 am ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – A computer glitch at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave gold traders a 23-minute bonanza that cost the bank dearly last week, sparking a debate on Monday as the bank reclaimed the windfall.ICBC, the world's biggest bank by market value, was left red-faced after its trading system went awry in the early hours of Friday, quoting a bid price for gold of 848 yuan per gram, nearly six times the going rate it had offered moment earlier.Alert traders using the bank's online trading platform pounced on the bank's misfiring system and raked in easy profits, according to local media reports.One lady in the western city of Xian made a tidy 126,540 yuan in a single minute, the Beijing Times said, estimating that the bank's total losses ran to 10 million yuan ($1.46 million).The golden opportunity lasted for 23 minutes, between 01:52 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. local time, Caijing Magazine reported.ICBC spotted the error later in the day on Friday and froze all trades that had taken advantage of it, Caijing added.On Saturday, the bank posted a statement on its website saying that prices on its gold trading system had deviated seriously from the market price for a short time.It added that all sales and purchases executed during that window would be canceled in accordance with an agreement signed by users of the gold-trading platform.The gold trading system quickly returned to operating normally and ICBC is contacting related clients and explaining matters, the statement concluded.The question on Monday was whether the bank was in the right.

Zhang Zhifeng, a lawyer at the Lanpeng Law Firm, told the Beijing News that ICBC had no legal basis in seizing the money since the clients had simply sold at the price quoted by the bank and had not intentionally cheated it.Law scholar Wang Weiguo disagreed, telling Fazhi Wanbao, a legal affairs newspaper, that the windfall constituted unjust enrichment for the traders and had to be returned to the bank.
($1=6.843 Yuan)(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch, Editing by Jonathan Leff)

Ten years on, eurozone takes on 16th member
LUCIA KUBOSOVA 30.12.2008 @ 10:10 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Ten years after the original 11 countries in western Europe set up a common currency, the monetary union is due to enlarge to Slovakia, as its 16th member state and the first in central Europe to switch to the euro.I'm sure this event will trigger a lot of positive expectations and positive results for the Slovak economy and citizens, EU economy and monetary affairs Joaquin Almunia told journalists ahead of 1 January.The Slovak economy was able to fulfil al the conditions required to join the euro less than five years after the country entered the EU and this had required a political will and a very dynamic economy. Now it's the time to reap the benefits of sharing the same currency, with 325 million Europeans in the 15-strong eurozone.Some diplomats and officials described Bratislava's path to the euro as quite bumpy, with the country's ambassador to the EU Maros Sefcovic claiming Slovakia had to convince colleagues about its readiness at least twice as hard as previous euro newcomers.After Slovenia entered the eurozone in 2007 and Malta and Cyprus followed suit at the beginning of this year, Slovakia will be the first central European state to join the euro club. It will be the poorest country, with some 67 percent of the eurozone's average GDP.During the evaluation process, the long-term prospect of the Slovakia's price stability caused the biggest doubts over its readiness to adopt the euro, but despite recording the highest economic growth rates across the EU, Slovakia managed to keep inflation below the required threshold.Concerning the switch-over in January, concerns over inflation have become secondary, according to Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies.He argues that due to the financial crisis, the main challenges for Bratislava will instead be to maintain domestic financial stability with a well-functioning inter-banking market and to have industry not too much affected by the slow-down in Europe, particularly in the automobile sector.

Slovakia is the third-largest car manufacturer in central Europe and one of the fastest growing automotive markets in the region.The car industry has been severely hit by the global recession followed by the credit crunch however, with industrial production flat on the year in October - the worst performance since March 2005 - and below market forecast of a 4.7 percent increase, according to the Slovak Statistics Office.Commissioner Almunia argues that it will be crucial that Slovakia continues to catch up in terms of GDP per capita levels, as well as productivity and competitiveness levels. The Slovak economy should be flexible and dynamic, its budgetary policy sustainable and its labour market adjustments should take place smoothly - if these conditions are met, all the benefits of the euro will be higher, said the commissioner.

Who comes next?

As a significantly poorer country having transformed itself from a centrally-planned economy to a market economy, Slovakia's accession to the EU's monetary union has been watched closely as a test case for other states hoping to join.Slovakia will be the key example in the future when decisions on future entrants are made because if the country functions smoothly, it will be a good argument for the countries in the same region, Zsolt Darvas, from the Brussels-based Bruegel think-tank told EUobserver. He pointed out that Poland and Hungary are the most likely to join after their Visegrad neighbour, as the governments of both countries have indicated they would like to enter the so-called European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), a fixed exchange rate waiting room for the euro.As the candidates to join the European currency need to remain in the system for a minimum of two years, Mr Darvas argues that both Poland and Hungary could join the euro in three years from now.While Poland currently meets all necessary euro entry criteria, albeit with slightly high inflation, Hungary would have a problem with a public debt, currently at the level of 66 percent of GDP, above the eurozone's threshold of 60 percent. The Czech Republic would also make it to the euro club without major problems according to several analysts. But just as in the UK, where some insiders say the government is considering such a possibility, the euro remains a matter of political division.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have all joined ERMII but are currently facing problems due to the global financial crisis, so their original plans to adopt the euro in 2009 or 2010 have been postponed until an unknown date.On the other hand, Denmark might be the next western European country to shift to the common currency area - also as an indirect consequence of the credit crunch and economic recession.The eurozone was launched on 1 January 1999 across 11 countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Greece met the convergence criteria in 2000 and joined in January 2001.The UK and Denmark secured a derogation to stay outside the euro area, while Sweden had legally committed to adopt the common currency but had so far not fulfilled the obligation as the country's voters rejected the move in a referendum.After Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus and Slovakia, all other countries in central and eastern Europe as well as Bulgaria and Romania are also due to become the members of the eurozone when they are ready.

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.

Canada power outages may extend into New Year Tue Dec 30, 3:22 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – The lights were slowly coming on again Tuesday at thousands of homes in Eastern Canada, but some people will have to wait until New Year before their power returns, after gale-force winds over the weekend caused widespread outages.Electricity distributor Hydro One said it had restored power to 170,000 Ontario customers affected by Sunday's severe windstorm. By Tuesday afternoon, about 65,000 were still without power, the provincially owned utility said.Hydro One still expects most customers will have their power restored in the next 24 hours; however, some customers in more remote access locations such as islands could remain without power until January 1 or 2, it said in a release.Most areas still without power were in central and eastern Ontario, Hydro One said.Southern regions of Ontario and Quebec were blasted by winds of up to 100 km per hour (62 mph) on Sunday, which brought down power lines and trees, and damaged buildings across the two provinces.
(Reporting by Rob Wilson; Editing by Jeffrey Jones)

More snow in forecast as Spokane, Wash., digs out By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer DEC 30,08

SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane residents were trying to dig out Tuesday after a record-breaking month of snow collapsed roofs and clogged streets. Bismarck, N.D., also set a snowfall record.The center of a snow-laden supermarket roof in north Spokane collapsed Monday evening, prompting the evacuation of that store and adjacent businesses. A fire official said only one minor injury was reported.Two more collapses were reported Tuesday morning, at a church gymnasium and a hardware store. No one was injured.The collapses came as Spokane set a monthly record for snowfall, at 59.7 inches, after 8.3 inches were recorded in the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Monday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Ellie Kelch. That's more snow than the area receives in a typical winter.The weather service said two more storms were headed to Washington state this week with more gusty winds, significant rain and heavy snow in places, including Spokane.The city's previous record of 56.9 inches was set in January 1950. Snowfall records in the area have been kept since 1893, Kelch said.In Bismarck, the National Wea+ther Service said an overnight storm brought more than 4 inches, bringing the city's December snow total to 33.3 inches. That tops the record of 31.1 inches set in March 1975.Juanita Grosz said she didn't bother to measure the depth of snow at her home in Garrison, northwest of Bismarck.

It doesn't matter — I just know that it's a lot, Grosz said Tuesday. Everything is solid white; there isn't a track anywhere. But she noted that cell phones, snowmobiles and four-wheel-drive vehicles means we're not as immobilized as we were years ago.Parts of Minnesota received 14 inches of new snow by evening, and Tuesday marked the 16th day in December in which measurable snow has fallen at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.In Michigan, meanwhile, flood warnings remained in effect Tuesday for areas along most of the Lower Peninsula's major rivers and streams as crews worked to restore electrical service to thousands left without power since the weekend.About 11,000 of 183,000 CMS Energy Corp. customers who lost electrical service during Sunday's storms remained without service Tuesday afternoon. About 25,000 of 230,000 DTE Energy Co. customers were also without power.

Both utilities brought in workers from Indiana, Ohio and other states to help restore electricity. The power companies said they expected service to be fully restored by Wednesday.In Spokane, roads were so clogged that police asked tractor-trailer rig drivers to use chains, after several big trucks became stuck in giant snowbanks. Black ice was also causing numerous accidents on Interstate 90, officials said.All 90 of Spokane's plows, sanders and deicers were working to clear arterial streets, leaving residential streets that were still clogged with snow, officials said. Private contractors have also been hired.The Washington State Patrol responded to about 50 collisions Monday, Trooper Joe Leibrecht said, but no serious injuries were reported.Natural gas leaks occurred where snow or ice fell and sheared off gas meters. Southwest Airlines canceled some flights at the Spokane airport, and other airlines reported delays.Elsewhere, an avalanche Monday claimed the life of a 15-year-old boy who was snowmobiling in Summit County, Utah, east of Salt Lake City. Avalanches over the weekend killed a man in north-central Washington State and at least seven snowmobilers in British Columbia's Elk Valley in western Canada. An eighth snowmobiler in Canada was missing and believed dead. Associated Press writers James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., and Jim Irwin in Detroit contributed to this report.

Survivor takes on grim task of helping search crews find final avalanche victim By Shannon Montgomery, The Canadian Press

FERNIE, B.C. - Less than 48 hours after a series of avalanches pounded down on a group of 11 snowmobilers, tossing them apart and ripping them from their equipment, one of the three survivors returned to the steep, rocky bowl he had only narrowly escaped. With his help, the body of the eighth and final victim - one of the group of close-knit friends and relatives - was located and recovered about an hour after a search resumed on Tuesday. Jeff Adams helped search crews pinpoint where the body of Daniel Bjarnason, 28, might lie after he and the others were swept under the snow on Sunday. We actually mapped where we found all of the seven victims yesterday, so based on interviewing him and showing him where we found his friends, he was able to help us say, Well, the eighth person was here when the avalanche started, said Chris Thomas, president of Fernie Search and Rescue. That allowed us to concentrate where we were searching this morning.Shortly after the search began, someone took a long, narrow avalanche probe, pushing the blue-and-yellow-striped stick deep into the ground around trees and depressions, where bodies are likely to land after an avalanche. The body was found just next to an area probed Monday. Adams was visibly upset by the discovery, said Thomas.

He was there when we found (Bjarnason), and he did sort of go back down to the helicopter when we did say that we'd found him.Adams and two friends had managed to dig themselves out after three avalanches swept over the group of 11 snowmobilers from nearby Sparwood, 300 kilometres southwest of Calgary. He was very upset over losing his close friends, said RCMP Cpl. Chris Faulkner, but was coping with support from the community. He has his family supporting him now, and he has a lot of friends of the other victims, as well as the other two lads that survived, the officer said. It's a tough time for them, for everybody.David Wilks, mayor of Sparwood, said Adams was determined to help get his last buddy back.Adams had indicated he might make a statement after Bjarnason's body was recovered, but as he approached reporters with his wife and father, he became visibly distraught and turned away, crying I can't.The first seven bodies were recovered Monday from the treacherous backcountry area where the avalanches occurred: Kurt Kabel, 28; Warren Rothel, 33; Kane Rusnak, 30; Thomas Talarico, 32; Blayne Wilson, 26; Michael Stier, 20; and Michael's father, Leonard Stier, 45. Adams, Jordan Drake and Jeremy Rusnak survived the avalanches. They tried to help their mates but decided to leave the area when they determined another avalanche might hit. The men were snowmobiling in two groups in a steep, rocky, bowl-like area known as Harvey Valley when the first avalanche hit. Initial reports said there were two avalanches, but one of the survivors told Wilks there were four in total, with the last slab of snow crashing down shortly after the three men had rushed out of the area. Bjarnason's father-in-law said the 11 snowmobilers knew what they were doing and were as prepared as they could have been for an emergency. Randy Roberts struggled to maintain his composure as he explained the group's decision to go snowmobiling in what turned out to be perilous conditions. Roberts said all members of the group were fully equipped with shovels, probes and peeps - transmitters designed to help locate them in the event of an avalanche. Safety meant lots to those guys, he said. They're all experienced snowmobilers. It was an altercation that happens. You can never predict it. They were all geared up, they all had their peeps on, their shovels, their packs, their probes. Nobody ever questioned anything.No one should be shouldering any blame, he added. Nobody, especially (the survivors) . . . nobody's at fault, don't blame yourself. It's an act that happens.Roberts, whose daughter has lived with Bjarnason for 12 to 14 years in a common-law relationship, choked back back tears as he described the room where 50 to 60 members of the victims' families had congregated.

That room was totally awesome with the people in there, talking with each other, and talking about the good times we had with the men, he said. We all watched these kids grow up and they're just, every one of them, super people.Speaking before Bjarnason's body was recovered, Roberts acknowledged it was unlikely his son-in-law could have survived being buried in snow for so long, yet expressed hope he might still be found alive. Tears rolled down his face as he talked about how well Bjarnason had treated his daughter. Danny was just a super guy, he'd do anything for you. That's all I can say.Thomas said search and rescue teams will be debriefed in the following days, and help offered to those who may have been affected by the recovery. He said it was difficult on searchers to have Adams nearby as they searched, because it made the emotions of the situation much more real. He said the team was happy to have brought the last man home. It's good to be able to put some closure to it. It'll be good for the families to have their loved ones back.

Should the Military Be Called in for Natural Disasters? By SIOBHAN MORRISEY / MIAMI –Wed Dec 31, 2:55 am ET

FOX News Theoretically, even pacificists would probably admit that no one can respond as quickly and efficiently to a major U.S. disaster as the military. But the news that active duty soldiers fresh from a combat tour of Iraq will be gearing up to assist civilian agencies charged with responding to anything from accidental chemical spills to terrorist attacks has sparked mixed reactions from experts in emergency management and civil liberties advocates. (Read Why Disasters Are Getting Worse)By 2011 the Department of Defense plans to have 20,000 uniformed troops expressly trained to assist in national disaster rapid response at a moment's notice. Since Oct. 1, some 4,700 soldiers belonging to a brigade combat team out of Fort Stewart, Ga., have already been engaged in the new assignment, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Almarah Belk, a spokeswoman at the Secretary of Defense's office. The $556 million, five-year training program is part of a broader, $2.3 billion FEMA project to have civilian authorities in states such as Massachusetts, South Carolina and Washington work with the military to develop response plans to a range of potential disasters, from a hurricane and earthquake to a terrorist attack and a pandemic flu.Skeptics of the military mission at home question whether this signals a creeping militarism into our civilian culture and the erosion of the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old law that specifically bars the President from using the military for law enforcement in the United States.

The founding fathers had a fear of standing armies, says Stephen Dycus, who teaches national security law at Vermont Law School and co-authored a book on the subject, National Security Law. Posse Comitatus is one expression of that. We've always had a problem of having the military involved in civil affairs. On the other hand, if we got in a bind, such as a plague released in Chicago, the only way to get out is to have the military involved. They've got the personnel, the training and the experience in use of force that other parts of the government don't have.The Pentagon insists Posse Comitatus is not going to be an issue because the 20,000 troops will play no role in actual law enforcement. The first point to make, our department understands and respects the concerns that have been voiced - even under circumstances where some of the concerns are not well based in fact, says Paul McHale, the outgoing assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, who vows transparency about the mission. McHale says he met with the American Civil Liberties Union a few weeks ago to give assurances that the proposals will not infringe on the basic rights of civilians. We believe that when there is a serious review of what we are doing, that what we are doing is appropriate and noteworthy in terms of enhanced security without any threat to civil liberties.Proponents of the program say it makes a lot of sense to give troops specific training for how to deal with disaster response, because inexperienced troops have often been called upon to help out by sending in much-needed supplies. You really do want people who are trained and thinking about this specific mission, says George Koenig, a former marine who previously served as counsel to the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You don't want to pull someone who is training for combat missions. Still, Koenig acknowledges that even a properly trained military is not right for the long-term job of dealing with a disaster's aftermath. And, he says, The one drawback [could be that] most people sign up for the military; they are not signing up for this type of thing.Gene Healy, a vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute and author of The Cult of the Presidency, maintains the biggest danger is the possibility of mission creep because there just aren't that many terrorist attacks and disasters to keep the military busy on a regular basis.I don't share the view that this is some sinister plot, Healy says. There is the danger where we keep militarizing. When we say we really need active duty military, combat-ready troops for homeland security, there's a danger of collateral damage to American lives and property and a danger to democracy.

But others do fear sinister plots, and there is some historical justification for that. They date back to the 1980s, when Lt. Col. Oliver North worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide for the continuity of government in the wake of insurrection or an atomic attack. He sought to put together an emergency process whereby the President, through FEMA, would temporarily take over broad unprecedented powers, including censorship, the suspension of habeas corpus and the seizure of production, from farms to manufacturing plants. As part of the operation, FEMA might even assume authority over all Defense Department personnel and National Guard forces, according to Guts and Glory, Ben Bradlee, Jr.'s book about North.More recently, since 9/11, the Bush administration has attempted to stiff-arm the Posse Comitatus law as part of the war on terror. Barely a month after the September 11 terror attacks, on Oct. 23, 2001, then Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. Yoo co-wrote a memo regarding Authority for the Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States. Jay Bybee, then chief of the Office of Legal Counsel, acknowledged in a later memo that the act generally prohibits use of the military for law enforcement purposes unless there's a constitutional or statutory reason for doing so. However, he and others came to the conclusion that even absent constitutional or statutory support, the act does not forbid the use of military force for the military purpose of preventing and deterring terrorism within the United States.Historically, Presidents have suspended the Posse Comitatus Act by invoking the Insurrection Act. President Dwight D. Eisenhower did just that in 1957 when segregationists tried to prevent black students from enrolling and attending public school in Little Rock, Ark. John F. Kennedy also used the act in 1962 and 1963 to send troops to enforce desegregation in Mississippi and Alabama. Similarly, George H.W. Bush sent troops to quell the Los Angeles riots in 1992. Assistant Secretary of Defense McHale notes that the troops being trained for disaster response under the new program would not even be the ones called upon to help quell domestic disturbance in the event of a President invoking the Insurrection Act.Part of the genius of the Insurrection Act is before it can be invoked the President has to make a public declaration that he is doing it, Dycus says. There is no way the President can use that exception to the Posse Comitatus Act secretly.One emergency manager, who asked not to be named, says people on the civilian side worry about how to separate FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security, how to keep it professional and not a weak sister of the military. At the same time, most civilian emergency managers recognize the military has specialized training in chemical, biological, nuclear and urban warfare. With the current threat of dirty bombs and improvised explosive devices, it makes sense to have the military available to deploy to a disaster of that nature anywhere in the United States.

From Andrew on, I've believed there is a civilian mission for the military, the emergency manager says. We needed what they uniquely could provide in Andrew, and it was needed again in Katrina...On the personal side, I have fears that urban-warfare-trained commando units could do the bidding of the government in more malevolent and malignant ways.Others in the emergency management field welcome the military with open arms. Billy Wagner, who retired as director of emergency management in the Florida Keys two years ago, says the military is the way to go. I've always advocated that, Wagner says. I've thought it was imperative to react to any kind of disasters we had, specifically to have these units ready to be mobilized.Reasonable minds can and do differ on this subject. Only future disasters will reveal who's right.View this article on Time.com

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.

Quake strikes off Indonesia's Sumatra island: seismologists Tue Dec 30, 3:43 pm ET

JAKARTA (AFP) – A 5.9-magnitude quake hit off the Indonesian island of Sumatra early Wednesday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warning was issued.The earthquake struck at 2:49 am (1949 GMT Tuesday), 136 kilometres (85 miles) southwest of Bengkulu, the US Geological Survey said.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii did not issue an alert for the region after the tremor, which struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres.

Indonesia was the country worst hit by the earthquake-triggered tsunami in December 2004 that killed more than 200,000 people in 11 nations across Asia, including more than 168,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province alone.The Indonesian archipelago straddles several continental plates in an area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, where seismic and volcanic activity is recorded on an almost daily basis.

Scientists eye unusual swarm of Yellowstone quakes By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer – Mon Dec 29, 9:17 pm ET

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it's very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.They're certainly not normal, Smith said. We haven't had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years.Smith directs the Yellowstone Seismic Network, which operates seismic stations around the park. He said the quakes have ranged in strength from barely detectable to one of magnitude 3.8 that happened Saturday. A magnitude 4 quake is capable of producing moderate damage.This is an active volcanic and tectonic area, and these are the kinds of things we have to pay attention to, Smith said. We might be seeing something precursory.Could it develop into a bigger fault or something related to hydrothermal activity? We don't know. That's what we're there to do, to monitor it for public safety.The strongest of dozens of tremors Monday was a magnitude 3.3 quake shortly after noon. All the quakes were centered beneath the northwest end of Yellowstone Lake.A park ranger based at the north end of the lake reported feeling nine quakes over a 24-hour period over the weekend, according to park spokeswoman Stacy Vallie. No damage was reported.There doesn't seem to be anything to be alarmed about, Vallie said.

Smith said it's difficult to say what might be causing the tremors. He pointed out that Yellowstone is the caldera of a volcano that last erupted 70,000 years ago.He said Yellowstone remains very geologically active — and its famous geysers and hot springs are a reminder that a pool of magma still exists five to 10 miles underground.That's just the surface manifestation of the enormous amount of heat that's being released through the system, he said.Yellowstone has had significant earthquakes as well as minor ones in recent decades. In 1959, a magnitude 7.5 quake near Hebgen Lake just west of the park triggered a landslide that killed 28 people.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
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 (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Ugandan rebels kill 400 in DR Congo: charity Tue Dec 30, 5:48 pm ET

KINSHASA (AFP) – Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels killed more than 400 people in Christmas massacres in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Caritas aid charity said Tuesday.The rebels denied any responsibility and accused troops from DR Congo, Uganda and South Sudan of bombing the victims, but a statement from the United Nations Secretary General condemned the alleged LRA atrocities Tuesday.The LRA targeted a town where a Christmas Day concert was being held and a Roman Catholic church, and attacks were going on along the Sudanese border, the Catholic charity said in a statement.Caritas workers say that over 400 people have been killed in the attacks in an area of northern Congo including Faradje, Duru, Gurba, Doruma, and Province Orientale, it added.The archbishop of Dungu-Doruma, Monsignor Richard Domba, told AFP that at least 150 people had been killed at a Christmas Day service at Faradje and later, 80 at Duru and at least 200 others at Doruma and in the surrounding villages.It is a dramatic situation that we are living through here, he said. The rebels are indescribably barbarous and savage.They kill with machetes, axes and clubs. They burn people alive with their property in their homes.The LRA also captured young boys and girls whom they will conscript and force to work in their fields, he said.In Bangadi, near the border with Sudan, 48 people died, and in Gurba 213 people were killed. Approximately 6,500 people have found refuge in the area with the Catholic church, Caritas said.The rebels have committed terrible acts of violence, said the director of Caritas in Dungu-Doruma, Abbe Come Mbolingaba.They decapitated several people. In the villages hardly anybody is moving.Everyone is in psychological shock. The death toll could be above 400 because it is difficult to find all the bodies.Aid workers are worried by the lack of access in the region to local people who are wandering in search of shelter and help.

The Caritas statement said that the areas had been plundered, leaving the population in desperate need of aid. It said that the number of dead bodies risked spreading disease.From New York, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the alleged LRA atrocities in a statement issued by his office Tuesday.The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest possible terms the appalling atrocities reportedly committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in recent days in both DRCongo and southern Sudan, it said.Ban called on the LRA to respect all rules of international humanitarian law.He also repeated his support for the December 22 UN Security Council statement that welcomed the joint measures taken by Uganda, DRC and southern Sudan to address the security threat posed by the LRA.The United Nations mission in DR Congo (MONUC) said the LRA attacks followed the launching on December 14 of the joint military operation against it by the three countries. The operation followed the repeated refusal of LRA leader Joseph Kony, who is believed to be accompanied by several hundred supporters, to sign a peace deal with Kampala. A spokesman for the LRA said it was not responsible for the massacres, blaming the deaths on bombs dropped by the three African forces and said it had never harmed anyone He questioned how the three countries would let LRA forces kill civilians. In April the Ugandan authorities initialled a peace deal designed to end one of Africa's most savage and long lasting civil wars. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in Uganda in two decades of fighting between the Ugandan government and the LRA. The group is notorious for abductions of children for use as soldiers and sex slaves. The Ugandan army said Sunday that rebels had massacred 45 civilians in a church Friday, most of them women, children and the elderly. The rebellion began in northern Uganda in 1986 after Yoweri Museveni came to power. It blends a form of Christianity with traditional beliefs and extreme cruelty and brutality. Recruits may be forced to kill a family member to ensure they are not tempted to desert and go home.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Russia Lengthens Presidential Tenures DEC 31,08 washingtonpost.com By Philip P. Pan Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, December 31, 2008; Page A12

MOSCOW, Dec. 30 -- Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev signed a constitutional amendment Tuesday extending presidential terms in the country from four years to six, a change that many suspect is intended to benefit his predecessor -- and possible successor -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Medvedev gave final approval to the measure after a hurried legislative drive that lasted less than two months, ignoring complaints by the opposition that parliament is legally required to wait a year before ratifying any change to the constitution. The extension of the presidential term is the first substantive amendment to Russia's post-Soviet constitution since it was adopted in 1993. The speed with which the Kremlin pushed the measure through parliament and the nation's provincial legislatures has prompted widespread speculation that Putin is planning to return to the presidency, perhaps as soon as next year. After serving two terms as president, Putin stepped aside this year because he was constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term. He engineered the election of his protege, Medvedev, who then appointed him prime minister. With Russia facing its worst economic crisis in a decade, though, analysts say Putin may have concluded he would be better shielded from rising public discontent if Medvedev resigned and allowed him to return to the presidency for a new six-year term. Medvedev proposed extending the presidential term in an address to parliament Nov. 5, and Putin immediately endorsed the plan, although he had previously opposed any amendments to the constitution. Both men defended the change as necessary to strengthen the Russian political system, but neither has ruled out the possibility of an early presidential vote.

At a recent news conference, however, Putin declared he would not run away from the economic crisis, a remark that tamped down conjecture that he intended to abandon the prime minister's post. In the Russian political system, the prime minister is traditionally considered responsible for managing the economy. In addition to the measure changing the presidential term, Medvedev signed amendments extending the terms of members of parliament from four years to five and increasing parliament's oversight of the government. Both the Russian Communist Party and the democratic opposition had protested the amendments but were unable to block passage given Putin's tight grip on the political system. The Kremlin pushed the measures through both houses of parliament and all 83 regional legislatures in less than 50 days.

Yabloko, one of the main democratic opposition parties, objected to the process, pointing out that Russian law requires parliament to give the regions a full year to consider changes to the constitution. But Sergei Mitrokhin, chairman of Yabloko, said Medvedev's decision to sign the amendment was expected. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to appeal to a constitutional court, he said. We can only say that this process reduces both the legitimacy of this amendment and the legitimacy of the next president.

Russia unveils plans for uranium processor Published: Dec. 30, 2008 at 9:49

YAKUTSK, Russia, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Russian mining industry officials say pre-design work has begun for a cost-efficient uranium processing plant in Far Eastern Yakutsk.

Officials say the facility would annually process up to 5,000 tons of uranium ore at a cost of $80 per kilogram. The average world price of 1 kilogram of uranium is between $170 and $250, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.The Yakutsk plant would also produce gold and silver, and molybdenum, a silver-white metallic element used in alloys, has also been discovered at the nearby Elkon deposit.Pre-design work initiated by Rosatom (Russia's nuclear power company), which has a 100 percent stake in the plant, is being carried out, and investment feasibility study to run until March 2009 has started, Alexander Morozkin, general director of the Elkon mining plant, told the news agency. 2008 United Press International.

GLOBAL JIHAD Are Americans safe from U.S. mosques? Middle East experts measure threat level of Shariah law December 29, 2008 9:10 pm Eastern By Art Moore
2008 WorldNetDaily

Detroit mosque - When the five Muslims convicted this month of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were charged, the New Jersey mosque where four of the men worshipped reacted to negative publicity by holding an emergency town hall meeting to calm neighbors and persuade Americans that Islam poses no threat. But having investigated the Islamic Center of South Jersey one year ago, Middle East expert and former Air Force special agent Dave Gaubatz insists not only is the mosque a threat to national security, it represents a pattern that has prompted him to launch a massive project to systematically classify every known mosque in the U.S. Mapping Shariah in America: Knowing the Enemy seeks by the end of next year to document in a rigorous, scientific fashion the controversial premise that the more a mosque or community of Muslims adheres to Shariah, or Islamic law, the greater its threat to U.S. national security. That's exactly, that's what the data are showing, Gaubatz told WND, who has charted about 100 of the estimated 2,300 mosques his team has identified across the country. The more adherent you are to Shariah, the more likely you are going to find the material to back that up at the mosque.No one else is doing this work in the United States – not the FBI, not the police, not the Department of Homeland Security. You can support the work of the Mapping Sharia Project here.For the observant Muslim, Islamic law is an all-encompassing system that dictates every aspect of life, from food and clothing to the duty to participate in making the religion dominant over the entire world.At the Islamic Center of South Jersey in Palmyra, where three of the Muslims in the Fort Dix case regularly worshipped and a fourth prayed a few times, Gaubatz found a strict, Shariah-adherent leadership that eagerly distributed jihadist materials supportive of seminal Shariah proponents such as Sayid Abul Maududi, the founder of the radical Pakistani party Jamaat-e-Islami, and Syed Qutb, whose ideas shaped al-Qaida.What is being overlooked in the Fort Dix case is where the suspects worshipped, he said. Were they Shariah adherent? Who is the imam, what materials were at the mosque? They came up with the idea to attack Fort Dix for some reason. How and why?

Using a sophisticated matrix developed by Gaubatz and his colleagues, including a former jihadist, the Jersey mosque was ranked an 8, with 10 being the greatest threat and 1 the lowest. In the study, Gaubatz and his team – which includes people of different faiths and nationalities, including Muslims – employ 62 different factors to assess a mosque's compliance to Shariah. Dave Gaubatz with Iraqi child. We don't rely on talking to anyone about anything, because if we did, you're going to get some people giving you half-answers and some not answering at all, he said.

The focus is on the observed facts, he said, such as how many of the women wear a hijab, how many wear Western-style clothing and the type of threads in an imam's garment. The team recognizes the distinctions between the Shiite branch of Islam and the four primary schools of thought within the Sunni branch. But Gaubatz says those factors are not scored in the study. The premise is that all streams and sects of Islam recognize a form of Shariah. His primary concern, for the purpose of assessing the threat to the U.S., is the mosque's degree of adherence. Of interest to most Americans, of course, is the threat of violent jihad. But Gaubatz notes there are two other forms of jihad at work in the U.S. to advance Islam, the pen and the tongue. We focus too much on why we haven't had an attack since 2001 in the United States, because the pen and the tongue right now are winning here, Gaubatz said. Why would you go for number three, the physical jihad, if you're already achieving goals one and two?

Strict adherence

The significance of the Mapping Shariah project is underscored in the conflicting message to the public by a trustee at the Islamic Center of South Jersey, Ismail Badat, who insisted Muslims in the U.S. promote only peace. Badat said the purpose of the emergency town hall meeting in the wake of the Fort Dix charges in May 2007 was to clarify for our American friends and neighbors the fundamental beliefs, teachings and practices of Islam, and to make it clear that Muslims here, who are also Americans, do not in any way sanction the forms of violent and offensive behavior which have recently attained prominence in the media.But Gaubatz found evidence to the contrary not only at the New Jersey mosque but at mosques related to other high-profile cases. He personally conducted the mapping of the mosque tied to the Muslim who went on a shooting rampage at Salt Lake City's Trolley Square mall last year, and he found it ranked high on his scale. In Blacksburg, Va., Gaubatz met the imam who was asked to pray at the nationally televised service for slain students at Virginia Tech last year and discovered he leads a Shariah-compliant mosque that backs the genocidal Islamist regime in Sudan. The imam clearly did not like Virginia Tech, Gaubatz said, and handed him material by Maududi and the Saudi regime, which spends billions of dollars spreading the strict Wahhibist interpretation of Islam around the world. He said, if I want to be pure Muslim, and a true Muslim, study these. Look at these, Gaubatz said. Gaubatz and his team gave its highest rating, a 10, to the Brooklyn mosque of Imam Siraj Wahhaj. Wahhaj, a former board member of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is in my opinion the most dangerous person in the U.S. in regards to our national security, Gaubatz said. He has documented Wahhaj declaring in a lecture, Muslims in America are the most strategically placed Muslims in the world. The U.S. government can't bomb them.

Gaubatz said his week-long assessment of Wahhaj's mosque also uncovered violent material calling for the death of law enforcement officers and instructing Muslims who commit a crime how to go underground. Wahhaj also has called for recruiting gang members to help carry out jihad. Give them Islam, then send them back to the streets with UZIs, the imam said, according to Gaubatz. Gaubatz contends many Islamic groups and organizations take on a legal and peaceful veneer in English-speaking settings but often preach quietly in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu a very violent and anti-American jihad.Virtually all Islamic leaders in the U.S. have been particularly careful since the 9/11 attacks about what they say publicly, Gaubatz said. But many Shariah-compliant mosques and schools distribute materials supporting or calling for violent jihad. In a widely distributed DVD, for example, an Islamic scholar in the U.S., Ahmad Sakr, declares in a pre-2001 sermon, Do not follow the laws of the U.S. Constitution, do not follow the congressmen and other U.S. leaders, they will all go to hell, follow Shariah law.Gaubatz pointed out Wahhaj sells old, pre-2001 lectures.

He says nothing off-line in any of his lectures now, said Gaubatz. But he says if you want to understand pure Islam, to do the right thing, this is what you do, you take from this one (lecture) and this one and this one – and they are all prior to 2001.Gaubatz has spent a considerable amount of his time investigating CAIR, which has enjoyed access to the White House, the State Department, Homeland Security and other branches of government despite evidence of its ties to Hamas and other radical groups. Gaubatz noted CAIR has a campaign to put Shariah-promoting materials into American libraries. I've gone to several hundred public libraries and this material is in there, he said. People don't realize what it is until you start looking at the author, and it came from Saudi Arabia, sent to CAIR. And CAIR is putting it into our public libraries.As WND reported, Gaubatz publicly served CAIR leaders in November with legal notice of a lawsuit on behalf of Muslims who claim the group victimized them in a fraud scheme involving a lawyer who is unqualified to practice. Gaubatz, a U.S. State Department-trained Arabic linguist and counter-terrorism specialist, has more than two decades of experience in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq. He was deployed to Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 2003, where he collected intelligence on weapons of mass destruction and espionage. The mapping project's administrator and legal adviser, David Yerushalmi, is an expert on Islamic law and its intersection with Islamic terrorism and national security. He also serves as general counsel and policy adviser to the Center for Security Policy, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank headed by Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan-administration official. The mapping project is sponsored by a group formally established by Yerushalmi in January 2006, the Society of Americans for National Existence, or SANE. Robert J. Loewenberg, the project's senior police director, is the founder and president of the Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies, a Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem-based think tank specializing in geo-strategic, security and political analysis on Western relations with the Middle and Near East, and the former Soviet Union.

Minimizing the threat

Gaubatz points out federal authorities have attempted to track financial transactions between U.S. Muslims and foreign terrorist entities, but he says there is no evidence that a systematic study like Mapping Shariah has been carried out. His website explains: If we do not know the organizational structures of these organizations and who provides the religious and political instruction, we will never have a satisfactory picture of the threat from jihad.Already, according to Gaubatz, his team has received positive feedback from local law enforcement authorities. The ultimate aim, he said, is to assist law enforcement in focusing their manpower and resources to the areas with the highest ratings.FBI agents on the ground have been positive, he said, but once the information gets up the chain, then it just disappears.There's no action taken. It becomes political, Gaubatz said.

Gaubatz said his group has been told by many sympathetic Muslims that to minimize the threat of another attack, authorities should ask foreigners seeking entry into the U.S. if they agree with Shariah. If they agree, according to the Muslims who have told us this, then they should probably not even be given entry here, he said.

It's so easy. You can't agree with Shariah law and say that you are peaceful, Gaubatz continued. You can't do it. Now there are Muslims in the United States who do. They say, we don't agree with Shariah law, we don't want Shariah law. But then, to the pure Muslim, they are not Muslim.Some Muslims want to reform Islam, he said, and retain only peaceful elements. That's fine, but then you are not pure Muslim, Gaubatz said. Similar to Christianity or Judaism, he argued, you can decide to adhere to some of the Ten Commandments and reject others, and form a religion based on that belief, but it's not Christianity or Judaism. What we are looking at is pure Islam, he said. That's where you have strict adherence to all factors of Shariah.

The plan

Gaubatz and his team have completed the first two phases of the project: to identify all of the known mosques, Islamic day schools, political organizations and social clubs in the U.S., and to conduct a pilot to test field protocols, methodology and assumptions. Phase Three is to identify the strain of Shariah taught or preached at each locale and the adherence to Shariah by the leadership and the members. Phase Four will incorporate the data into a central data base and apply link and data analysis technology, which permits a thorough analysis of interrelationships. Phase Five is an annual data update and re-analysis. Gaubatz said nobody really knows exactly where all the mosques are, because some move from month to month, and the majority are in residential areas, in homes. The contact number often is the cellphone of the person who happens to be leading at the time.