AL-QUIDA BEHIND CYBER THREATS-CLINTON

ISRAEL HAPPENINGS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygjPcrav_lY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/147727#.TmtJheztg44
10 YRS AFTER 911
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XfwKsdrj0&feature=player_embedded

WORLD TERRORISM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FALSE FLAGS (SET UP OR STAGED BY SOMEONE)
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=-6703838290529161821
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#docid=8697248641166616573
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3409375633223151728#
False flag-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and can be used in peace-time.(NOTICE EVERY TIME THERES A REAL TERRORIST ATTACK,THE GOVERNMENT ALWAYS IS DOING A FAKE DRILL WHICH MEANS THEY CAN SAY IT WAS ONLY A DRILL IF THE ATTACK DOES NOT GO OVER WITH THE PUBLIC OR IF THE GOVERNMENT MUFFED UP THEIR OWN FALSE FLAG CONTROL FREAK,GET MORE CONTROL OF PEOPLES RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS.)

REAL HEADLINE
AP sources: 2 terror suspects may be US citizens - HINT (NORMAL CITIZENS AS TERRORIST BY THE FRAUD KENYAN MUSLIM WHOS NOT A LEGAL PRESIDENT.BARRY SOETORO AKAA BARACK HUSEIN OBAMA....OR OBBBBBBBBAAAAAMMMMAAAAAAAA FOR SHEEPLE.

Post 9/11 Europe: safer but less free
09.09.11 @ 17:19 By Valentina Pop

Brussels - Ten years after the fall of New York's twin towers and four months after the death of Osama Bin Laden, Europe is said to be safer - but in return, private data is scrutinised by a multitude of counter-terrorism programmes, few of which have been properly assessed.The still-vivid spectacle of the collapsing towers caught everybody by surprise. Many people still remember what they were doing on 11 September 2001 when the news broke: Belgian Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt, head of the rotating EU presidency at the time, was at a jazz concert in Yalta during an EU-Ukraine summit.We got a phone call from the embassy and were told there was a plane that hit one of the twin towers. It was not clear what the source of this was, but then we saw on TV as a second plane hit the other tower. That was no longer an accident, Verhofstadt recalled during a press conference on Thursday (8 September).
The rest is history: the US declared War on Terror, invaded Afghanistan, attacked Al Qaeda training camps and occupied Iraq. Black sites - Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Baghram in Afghanistan and Guantanamo in Cuba - sprang up in places where people endured enhanced interrogation without the rights guaranteed by the American legal system.
The invasion of Iraq caused deep division in the EU. But several eastern European countries, eager for US support for their Nato and EU bids, sent soldiers to join the war effort and allegedly took part in CIA renditions - the kidnapping and torture of terrorist suspects.German car salesman Khaled El-Masri was snatched in Macedonia and flown to Afghanistan where - according to his testimony - he was repeatedly beaten and raped over a period of months before being dumped on a deserted hill in Albania. It later emerged that he was mistaken for an Al Qaeda operative with a similar-looking name.They permitted, protected and participated in CIA operations that violated fundamental tenets of our systems of justice and human rights protection, the Council of Europe's human rights czar Thomas Hammarberg said in a statement this week.Hammarberg's call for a full investigation into the events is unlikely to be heeded any time soon.

Poland has admitted letting CIA flights land and take off but says it did not know what they were for. Romania says there is no evidence of CIA detention centres on its territory. In Lithuania, former foreign minister Vygaudas Usackas resigned over his alleged role in authorising CIA detentions. But the scandal did not stop the EU's new diplomatic service from hiring him as its envoy in Afghanistan, where Nato continues to fight the War on Terror.Over the years, fighting al Qaeda has been carried out mainly by intelligence services and police, with few soft policies' such as social work or education integrated in the effort. Neither were victims groups associated.A so-called anti-radicalisation network inaugurated by the European Commission on Friday (9 September) aims at connecting social workers, psychologists, police, think-tanks and victims associations in a bid to exchange experiences and see what works and what does not.It's important to look at the victims and let their voices be heard. European identity was based on the memory of people surviving concentration camps, on anti-Nazi culture. Testimonies of victims of terrorism must be made part of this integrated effort to fight radicalisation, if it's going to work, said Luca Guglielminetti from the Italian Association of victims of terrorism.
Water bottles and private data.Less headline-grabbing counter-terrorism policies have also crept into the lives of EU citizens.Liquids and gels are still banned from airplane cabins, even to the extent of forbidding contact-lens cleaning liquid needed during a long-haul flight. Credit card data, home addresses and even the meal preferences of European passengers flying to the US are sent to American investigators 72 hours before they take off. International banking transactions - for instance wiring rent money in Belgium while abroad - are sent to the US Terrorism Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) via the European transactions processing firm Swift.The liquid ban is due to be phased out from 2013. But the EU is considering setting up its own Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement for flights to and from Europe and its own version of the TFTP.We have a carbon copy of US anti-terrorism policies. They were often imposed on us, of course. But there is a big difference. In the US there is a lot more scrutiny and accountability than here, Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie in 't Veld, the main opponent of post-9/11 measures in the EU parliament, said.She noted that US media have been much more active in uncovering the TFTP and rendition programmes than their EU colleagues. Civil liberties movements are also more influential than in Europe while US government bodies have embedded inspectors and civil rights supervisors inside intelligence structures, she added.

In 't Veld questioned EU and Nato officials who claim the world is safer than 10 years ago. We haven't even proven that the data we already have is enough or necessary to be collected ... With every big terror attack, it proves time and again that we had all the data we needed, but we were not able to connect the dots, she said, pointing to recent events in Norway, where an anti-Muslim radical killed 77 people after evading scrutiny for six years.MEPs next week are likely to ask for a thorough analysis of the impact and the costs of counter-terrorism policies across the bloc.We are in huge economic crisis. We're cutting down on health care, education, culture. I think it's fair and valid to ask these questions. It's our democratic duty. And remembering the 9/11 victims is one thing, but we also owe it to the people who fought and died for democracy in Europe to defend these rights, in 't Veld said

Small-scale attacks more likely

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, EU anti-terrorism czar Gilles de Kerchove said we are safer today from an attack of the scale of 9/11 but added that the threat has evolved into a much more complex and diversified form, including Al Qaeda copycats in the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa as well as lone-wolf far-right and far-left extremists inside Europe.He noted that Al Qaeda has so far failed to exploit the Arab Spring but may in future use the security vacuum in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya where regime-tainted intelligence services are being dismantled.He made the case for more data collection instruments in Europe and said the European Parliament, which is to co-decide on most of the projects, should act as guardian of data privacy.I don't see any instruments that may be too intrusive and should be rolled back,he said.Human rights groups disagree.The European Network Against Racism said about the 9/11 anniversary the EU should finally put an end to the politics of fear and realise the damaging effects they have on peace, order, cohesion and mutual trust in our societies.Europe in particular needs to embrace a positive and progressive narrative that shows the value of a diverse population for the prosperity of European society and economy.

9/11 and the War on Terror: Polls Show What People Think 10 Years Later Washington’s Blog Saturday, September 10, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13XfwKsdrj0&feature=player_embedded

Polls Show that Americans Think We Overreacted, Overspent and Weakened Ourselves Through the War on Terror-As the Brooking Institution reported yesterday, Americans that the government overreacted and overspent in reaction to 9/11:These are a summary of findings of a new poll conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland.Six in ten Americans believe that that the United States weakened its economy by overspending in its responses to the 9/11 attacks. In particular, respondents felt this was especially true of the U.S. mission in Iraq. Two out of three Americans perceive that over the decade since 9/11, U.S. power and influence in the world has declined. This view is highly correlated with the belief that the United States overspent in its post-9/11 response efforts – the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.At this point, a large majority (73%) wants the United States to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan, but less than half (44%) want troops withdrawn completely.Fifty-five percent say that the United States has spent too many resources in the Iraq war, while a plurality of 49% called the Iraq war a mistake (45% right decision). This criticism is a bit lower than other polls that asked similar questions in 2010 and found a majority ranging from 51 to 62% saying that it was not the right decision.Support for the decision to go to war is highly correlated with beliefs held by substantial and undiminishing minorities that Iraq was providing support to al Qaeda (46%) and either had a WMD program or actual WMDs (47%). Among those with such beliefs, large majorities say the war was the right thing while among those without such beliefs large majorities have the opposite views.A modest majority (53%) believes that the U.S. should withdraw its troops according to schedule even if the Iraqi government asks the US to stay another year.

A clear majority (61%) says that the United States should not take sides in its efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while just 27% want the United States to lean toward Israel (5% toward Palestinians).(Incidentally, top American military leaders agree, saying that the war on terror has weakened our national security).Rasmussen has repeatedly noted that Americans are strongly opposed to further military or other types of intervention in Arab countries:As with the recent turmoil in Egypt, most Americans (67%) say the United States should leave the situation in the Arab countries alone. Just 17% say the United States should get more directly involved in the political situation there, but another 17% are not sure.This was true for Libya. And it is true elsewhere. For example, the overwhelming majority of Americans are also opposed to intervention in Syria.
Polls Show Widespread Doubt About Official Explanations-The results of polls on peoples’ beliefs about 9/11 around the world might surprise you:- In its January 2011 issue, the popular German magazine Welt der Wunder published the results of a poll conducted by the Emnid institute on 1005 respondents. The poll indicated that nearly 90% percent of Germans are convinced that the government of the United States is not telling the whole truth about the September 11 attacks
- A new poll conducted in England by ICM shows that more UK residents agree than disagree that the official account of what happened on 9/11 might turn out to be wrong in important respects. Only 8% strongly agree that they have been told the full story of the 9/11 attacks
- A new poll conducted in France by HEC Paris shows that 58% of French people doubt the official version of 9/11, and 49% believe the U.S. government might have intentionally allowed the attacks to happen
- A Zogby poll conducted in August 2007 found that 51% of Americans want Congress to probe Bush/Cheney regarding the 9/11 attacks, two-thirds (67%) of Americans say the 9/11 Commission should have investigated the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7
- A poll conducted by CNN-IBN in August 2007 found that only 2 out of 5 of those polled in India – the world’s second most populous country – believe that al-Qaeda is responsible for the 9/11 attacks
- Indeed, a poll taken by World Public Opinion, a collaborative project of research centers in various countries managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, College Park, polled 16,063 people in 17 nations outside of the United States during the summer of 2008. They found that majorities in only 9 of the 17 countries believe Al Qaeda carried out the attacks. The poll showed that in the world’s most populous country – China – only 32% believed that Al Qaeda carried out the attacks.

Renegade Economist has a brilliant 4-minute video (below) to explain US foreign policy as predatory imperialism. Their upcoming Feature Documentary, Four Horsemen, will build upon public understanding from the 2011 Academy Award Winner, Inside Job, to recognize oligarchic looting in the trillions of dollars every year.Former Chief Economist, John Perkins, also has a brilliant explanation captured in a 2-minute video.What we know from the facts:* Congressional reports disclose that all reasons for war with Afghanistan and Iraq were known to be lies as they were told.* The wars are Orwellian unlawful, including using depleted uranium weapons to damn victims with continuous misery and death.* The US allows a million children a month to die of preventable poverty, even though ending poverty reduces population growth rate and the investment is less than 1% of the developed nations’ gross national incomes.

* The US crushes dissent through torture, extrajudicial assassinations (including against American citizens) and indefinite detentions.* These US policies in Orwellian contradiction to the US Constitution forms a government closest to fascism and nowhere near a constitutional republic.The good news is that every step leadership takes down their path of deceit and destruction, they become easier to recognize for what they are.My comprehensive paper with my recommendations of how people can reclaim their rights, justice, and trillions of dollars in annual benefits is here.http://www.infowars.com/911-and-the-war-on-terror-polls-show-what-people-think-10-years-later/

Expert Warns Against Thousands of Cyber Attacks-Major Gen. (Res.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel warns that Israel could face thousands of cyber attacks during an emergency.By Elad Benari, Canada First Publish: 9/10/2011, 1:07 AM

According to Major Gen. (Res.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel of the Tel Aviv University, every day hundreds of cyber attacks are launched on Israel and the number may increase to thousands in an emergency.Prof. Ben-Israel, who spoke Thursday at the fifth annual Latrun Conference of Land Warfare organized by the Zvi Meitar Institute for Land Warfare Studies and the Israeli Armored Corps Association, said that national policies need to be formulated that would provide a response to threats of cyber terrorism against Israel. This is a real threat and not a virtual one.Prof. Ben-Israel recently led a team that submitted recommendations to the Israeli government on how to prepare for the threat of cyber attacks. In his talk at the conference he listed the recommendations which include, among others, appointing a national consultant on cyber threats, establishing national headquarters for formulating a policy and monitoring its implementation, and establishing research centers in academia while increasing cooperation between the government, the academia and the industry.Following the recommendations, the government recently decided to appoint a national advisor who will be reporting directly to the prime minister. The advisor will be given special budgets of 2.5 billion shekels for the next five years, and some of the funds will come from the business sector, especially from global companies that operate development centers in Israel and want to be involved in the prevention of cyber threats. The balance of the budget will come from various government and public agencies.

Prof. Ben-Israel said that while the public and government sectors, including national infrastructure facilities, are largely protected from cyber attacks, the greatest vulnerability is in the business sector and particularly in the banking and finance sector, where there is also difficulty to impose behavioral and safeguarding rules.The concerns he raised are tangible: on Thursday, for example, it was reported that a hacker or hackers, likely from Iran, fabricated certificates for several agencies, including Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad.Israeli officials declined to comment on the report or its potential ramifications, but information security experts say the certificate - if obtained - would have almost certainly been for Mossad’s public website and not sensitive servers used for communications and data storage.Even if the experts are correct and it is simply the Mossad’s website which would be endangered, cyber warfare is nevertheless always a concern. Earlier this week, amid the current diplomatic impasse between Ankara and Jerusalem, Turkish hackers hijacked some 350 Israeli websites.Israeli IT analysts said the hijacking is likely to be, in fact, a test-run ahead of a major attack on Israeli domains.(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

Harper Wants to Reinstate Anti-terror Legislation-Stephen Harper wants to reinstate provisions adapted after 9/11 and calls Islamic terror the most dangerous threat.By Amiel Ungar First Publish: 9/9/2011, 1:34 AM

The 10th anniversary of 9/11 will understandably feature Americans, but another North American statesman, Canadian Premier Stephen Harper, will be a major participant both in the United States and in practical terms in Canada as well.The Center for National Policy in Washington is hosting a 9/11 10th anniversary summit that will feature the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, former 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean and Prime Minister Harper.Harper, in a Canadian broadcasting Corporation interview, called Islamic militants Canada's top security threat: There are a number of threats on a number of levels, but if you are talking about terrorism, it is Islamicism, he said. That is the one that occupies the security [establishment] most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats.In emphasizing the Islamic threat, Stephen Harper has done what according to Senator Lieberman the Obama administration shrinks from doing. He said:To call our enemy ‘violent extremism’ is so general and vague that it ultimately has no meaning. The other term used sometimes is Al-Qaeda and its allies. Now, that’s better but it still is too narrow, and focuses us on groups as opposed to what I would call an ideology, which is what we’re really fighting,There are many forms of violent extremism, there’s white racist extremism, there’s been some environment eco extremism, there’s been animal rights extremism. You could go on and on. There’s skinhead extremism. But we’re not in a global war with those. We’re in a global war that affects our homeland security with Islamist extremists.Harper wants to revive the emergency measures taken immediately after September 11. These emergency laws were allowed to lapse, and as long as Harper presided over a minority government, they were not reinstated.

With the majority that he won last May, Harper wants a provision allowing police to arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them without charge if the authorities believe that a terrorist act is about to be committed. On rare occasions this is necessary, argues Harper.Harper's statement and his proposed legislation have already embroiled him with the opposition New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party, both of whom are scrambling to find new leaders following the death of NDP head Jack Layton and the yet unresolved Liberal leadership succession following the party's May meltdown.The opposition charged Harper with displaying more concern for added police powers than for the bread-and-butter issues of pensions, jobs and health care that were important to most Canadians.NDP foreign affairs spokesperson Paul Dewar argued that instead of singling out Islam and demonizing it, Harper was best advised to build a more inclusive society to end extremism.Interim Liberal party leader Bob Rae joined the attack on Harper's proposals:The enemy is not Islam…It is the way in which a religion is perverted and hijacked. The common enemy is violent extremism, the deliberate targeting of civilians, and the preaching of hatred. That should be our focus.Before Harper revives unnecessary measures, he said, he was best advised to increase the efficiency of existing measures, for example, employing more Arabic speakers.It is worth noting that Canada under the Liberals adopted a neutral policy towards the Middle East, emulating the European Union. This, in practice, meant that Canada was more pro-Arab than the United States.
Harper has reversed this, and Canada under his government is more obviouly pro-Israel than the United States, certainly under Obama.

Clinton Confirms Al-Qaeda Behind 9/11 Threat-Clinton says Al-Qaeda is behind threat to carry out an attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, officials admit they have no suspects.By Elad Benari, Canada First Publish: 9/10/2011, 12:13 AM

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday said that the Al-Qaeda terrorist group is behind a specific, credible but unconfirmed report of a threat to harm Americans, notably in New York and Washington, on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.We are meeting here in New York ... with the news last night of a specific, credible but unconfirmed report that Al-Qaeda again is seeking to harm Americans and in particular to target New York and Washington, Reuters quoted Clinton as having said in a speech in New York.Clinton said that it was impossible to foil every plot and that Al-Qaeda was still capable of regional and international attacks.She added, however, that Washington would wage a relentless campaign against the terror group and plans to set up Global Counter-Terrorism Forum to gather officials to identify threats, devise solutions and share expertise.The group will be co-chaired by the United States and Turkey and will also include Algeria, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, the State Department said.On Thursday it was reported that U.S. security officials are on high alert over a credible pinpoint warning of a planned terrorist attack to be carried out on September 11.

Security personnel have suspected plans of an anniversary attack for some time. Information gathered from the home of Al-Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid in May, lent weight to their suspicions.But as authorities are hunting down the two or three suspects behind the possible attack threat, intelligence agencies admitted they are in the dark about the suspects’ identities.
One official told Reuters that while lacking information about the identities of potential attackers, the intelligence was noteworthy because it was the first credible information alleging a specific attack plot related to the 9/11 anniversary.
A second official said the intelligence was not run of the mill since, as he put it, specific threats to the homeland don't come in every day.The officials said that since no names are associated with the latest threat intelligence, it will be extremely difficult for U.S. spy and law enforcement agencies to locate any suspects. They explained that U.S. agencies decided to make the threat information public so that citizens would be extra-vigilant in reporting suspicious activity to authorities.The two officials told Reuters the intelligence reporting alluded to the possibility of car bomb attacks in Washington or New York, but there was also uncertainty about the means.The intelligence did not allude to threats against subways or commuter trains, one official noted.(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

TSA chief: optimist about everything but terror
By EILEEN SULLIVAN - Associated Press | AP – SEPT 10,11

WASHINGTON (AP) — Each day, dozens of U.S. intelligence officials crowd around a conference table in a small, windowless room in a government building across the street from a shopping mall in northern Virginia. At the head of the table sits the man who perhaps more than anyone else affects Americans most tangibly in the sprawling fight against terrorism since the 2001 attacks.John Pistole, who for decades breezed past airport security checkpoints as an FBI agent — is the faceless bane of every air traveler who must remove his belt, endures an intimate pat-down or is instructed to throw away a 6-ounce bottle of shampoo.Pistole, 53, has among the least-desirable roles in Washington as head of Transportation Security Administration, the government agency that more than others traces its lineage to the terrorist hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people.Based on top secret intelligence he sees daily, Pistole, a 26-year FBI veteran, sets the rules for protecting the nation's 457 airports and America's planes, trains, buses and ferries.

Pistole's story is the story of a changed nation, one that has worked feverishly to track down terrorists, fix intelligence problems and try to keep from trampling on privacy while enhancing security.It was Pistole who, just weeks on the job, called for airport screeners to start using a new security pat-down — one that involved feeling around travelers' genital areas and breasts. It was an unpopular measure, but one Pistole believes offers the best chance of preventing a suicide bomber.Just Friday, U.S. counterterrorism officials were investigating intelligence about an al-Qaida threat to New York or Washington, possibly involving a car bomb to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.I'm an optimist in life in all ways other than when it comes to terrorism, Pistole said. And I think every day that goes by, we're a day closer to the next attack.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Pistole was working in the FBI's inspections division, conducting a routine interview with a New York judge. He turned on the television and saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center.Well, this changes everything,he remembers thinking.Pistole, who grew up in the small town of Anderson, Ind., comes from a family of educators. He practiced law before he joined the FBI in 1983. At the time, the bureau had a storied history of putting bank robbers and mobsters in prison. After 9/11, Pistole was tapped to help transform the bureau into one that prevented terrorism.We were building the plane while it was flying, said Raymond Holcomb, a former FBI agent and author of the book Endless Enemies: Inside FBI Counterterrorism.
John was there at a most critical watershed moment,Holcomb said.

Around the same time, the new Transportation Security Administration was struggling to get off the ground. It had to hire thousands of screeners, coordinate with airlines and buy screening technology.None of us really knew how to set up lines at airports, said Norman Mineta, the transportation secretary at the time, who was charged with creating this new agency from scratch.Mineta turned to The Walt Disney Co., an organization familiar with snaking lines and anxious guests.The past 10 years have been a bumpy road for the TSA and travelers.Travelers grew used to long lines and lists of prohibited items. But there were complaints screening policies, security equipment that didn't work, and more.

In 2004, Pistole shifted from head of FBI counterterrorism to deputy director of the FBI, essentially the chief operating officer of the nation's premier law enforcement agency.Pistole dealt with terror plots around the country, as well as drug cartels, public corruption and Ponzi schemes.In 2006, al-Qaida plotted to sneak liquid bombs onto U.S.-bound planes in London. As the FBI worked with British officials, Pistole was unaware of the seismic shift happening at the TSA. In about four hours, the agency changed the entire security operation in U.S. airports, banning liquids in carry-on bags.Within six weeks, TSA was comfortable enough to allow 3.4 ounce containers, packed in one 1-quart plastic zip-close bag.Again, TSA reinvented itself.
Pistole managed the FBI during some of its most stressful hours toward the end of his tenure. There was the Christmas Day attempted attack in 2009, when a passenger nearly brought down an airplane over Detroit with a bomb in his pants. The FBI built its case while fending off criticisms that the FBI shouldn't have read the suspect his rights.Through it all, Pistole was always calm and collected and professional and even-tempered, said Michael Rolince, a 31-year FBI agent and former head of the Washington office's counterterrorism division.Right up until the day John Pistole left, you would think that he had a job with as much pressure as a lifeguard.

Pistole said he starts each morning with prayer and meditation and squeezes in a workout before work. The father of two college-age daughters teaches an adult Bible study group with his wife of 32 years. He said he often turns to God when faced with tough decisions.He is very calm, but he's also very thoughtful, measured and very determined in what he wants to accomplish, said John Brennan, President Barack Obama's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser.In the spring of 2010, Pistole was tapped to run the TSA. He was Obama's third choice to run an agency that had been without a permanent administrator since he took office.Pistole's first thoughts:That sounds like a thankless job.After the previous two nominees withdrew from consideration over concerns about ethics issues, Pistole sailed through confirmation hearings.One of Pistole's first orders was to develop a new, enhanced airport pat-down that could give screeners a better shot at detecting a well-hidden explosive. In doing so, he waded into the TSA's 9-year-old tug of war between security and civil liberties. In August of last year, Pistole himself was patted down.I had a pretty good sense that it would not be wildly popular with most people, he said.Travelers and privacy advocates were outraged by the intrusive pat-downs, which were used even on children and the elderly. Pistole heard the cries for common sense. He instructed screeners to pat down children only as a last resort. Pistole is also testing a new screening system based on intelligence files that could speed up the process for travelers who volunteer personal information vetted by intelligence officials.Pistole said he's learned how important it is to have the public on the TSA's side.

Last fall, the U.S. averted disaster when al-Qaida operatives in Yemen concealed explosives in printers and shipped them to the U.S. It was the first significant plot for Pistole as TSA chief. He often cites the plot in his speeches, highlighting the measures terrorists will take and how inexpensive it is to do so (just $4,200, the terrorists boasted afterward). That plot was ultimately foiled because of intelligence provided to the U.S. by Saudi Arabia.Now, the longtime FBI agent — who considers his arrest of the Genovese crime family boss in New York in 1990 as a defining moment in his career — is the security chief working on a complex system to keep travelers safe without slowing them down.Intelligence is our best asset, Pistole said.And this is why every weekday, dozens of senior transportation security intelligence officials will again file into a windowless room and John Pistole will take his seat at the head of the table.

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 (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) 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.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

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.

Lieberman: Exact a Price From Turkey-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman plans to adopt measures that will show Turkey is must treat Israel with respect and common decency.By Gavriel Queenann First Publish: 9/9/2011, 3:23 PM

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has decided to adopt a series of reciprocal measures in response to Turkey’s latest anti-Israeli moves.Senior Foreign Ministry officials convened Thursday to prepare for a meeting on Saturday with Lieberman dedicated to formulating a response to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent threats and his decision to downgrade Ankara’s diplomatic ties with Jerusalem.

Following Thursday’s meeting, officials said in their estimation Turkey is not, as it claims, interested in an Israeli apology and is instead exploiting the dispute with Jerusalem to increase Ankara’s stature in the Muslim world.Lieberman, officials say, decided there was no point in seeking creative formulas for apologizing and chose, instead, to protect Israel's dignity with a muscular response.But whereas Turkish moves appear to telegraph a direct, potentially military confrontation, Leiberman's moves are aimed at dealing a blow to Turkey's international standing.In that vein the Foreign Ministry has decided to proceed with the formulation of a diplomatic and security toolbox to be used against the Turks. The first move would be to issue a travel warning urging all Israeli military veterans to refrain from traveling to Turkey, even for connecting flights.Another move would be cooperation with Turkey’s historic rivals, the Armenians. During Lieberman’s upcoming visit to the United States later this month he is expected to meet with leaders of the Armenian lobby and propose anti-Turkish cooperation in Congress.The implication of this move could be Israeli recognition of, and assistance in promoting international recognition for, the Armenian genocide. A measure certain to incense Ankara who fears broad recognition would hurt its global stature. Israel may also choose to back Armenia in its dispute vis-à-vis Turkey over control of Mount Ararat.

Lieberman is also reportedly planning to set meetings with the heads of Kurdish rebel group PKK in Europe in order to cooperate with them and boost them in every possible area.In these meetings, the Kurds are likely to ask Israel for military aid in the form of training and arms supplies, a move that would mean backing a foreign insurgency and constitute a major anti-Turkish position should it materialize.However, violent clashes between Turkey and the Kurds are only one avenue of advancing the narrative Ankara is violating human rights. Another tactic vis-à-vis Erdogan is a diplomatic campaign where Israeli missions worldwide will be instructed to join the fight and report Turkish oppression of minorities.The tough response formulated by Lieberman stems, among other things, from the foreign minister’s desire to make it clear to Erdogan that his anti-Israeli moves are not a one-way street.Officials in Jerusalem also noted that Turkey’s international forecast at this time is not promising, adding that Ankara is embroiled in tensions with NATO and Greece, while Erdogan’s relations with Syria and Iran are also not favorable.We’ll exact a price from Erdogan that will prove to him that messing with Israel doesn’t pay off, Lieberman said.Turkey must treat us with respect and common decency.

Hamas Looks to Cairo for New Headquarters-Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar says Hamas may relocate its Damascus headquarters to Cairo due to the widespread unrest in Syria.By Gavriel Queenann First Publish: 9/9/2011, 4:11 PM

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar announced Friday the terror movement is may relocate its headquarters from Damascus to Cairo. It is the first time a senior Hamas official openly admitted they were looking at a move.All the Palestinians in Syria are in distress, not just Hamas. There are many options in terms of the organization's headquarters and Egypt is one of them, he said.Al-Zahar also addressed the possibility that other senior Hamas officials will return to Gaza and noted this depended on each of them personally.Gaza is open to all, he stressed. There are leaders who may return to Gaza and some may not.He chose not to respond to recent reports in the London-based al-Hayat newspaper suggesting that progress has been made in the Shalit deal negotiations.Hamas' political wing, and several military commanders Israel considers high value targets, have been operating out of Damascus for more than a decade after being forced to leave Jordan in 1999. Damascus is also home to Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Shallah, head of the PFLP – General Command Ahmed Jibril and representatives of other Palestinian terror groups.The presence of Hamas in Damascus, and its activities there, has created major difficulties in negotiations between Israel and Syria over the years. Jerusalem has often demanded they be banished from Syria, but has always been met with refusal.

Last April, al-Hayat reported that Hamas' political leadership was planning to relocate to Qatar, which reportedly agreed to host politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, but not the group's military echelon.A move to Cairo, about which rumorss first began circling in following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, would be a return to the womb for Hamas who emerged from the ranks of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. It would also – for Cairo's caretaker junta - serve as a sop to rapid anti-Israeli sentiments surging down the Nile.

Rabbi: Religious Cadets Unfairly Ejected from Course-Four IDF soldiers were thrown out of an exclusive cadet course over a point of Jewish law - unfairly, says Rabbi Haim Druckman.By David Lev First Publish: 9/8/2011, 3:03 PM

Four members of an exclusive IDF cadets' course have been expelled from the course because they refused to be part of an audience where a group of women were singing. That the cadets were observing a principle of Jewish law and that the IDF has displayed understanding on the sensitivity of the subject in the past makes the incident all the more shocking, says Rabbi Haim Druckman, head of the Or Etzion Yeshiva and Director of the Bnei Akiva Yeshivot in Israel.The whole thing is unbelievable, expelling top members of the course because they did not want to hear a woman singing, says Rabbi Druckman. The event in question was not a ceremony for Independence Day or Holocaust Day, where it could be argued that a musical component would be in place. The event was a discussion on the lessons learned from Operating Cast Lead (the 2008 IDF operation in Gaza). What place does singing – by a man or woman – have in such an event? The four cadets were members of a group of nine that left the event on Monday night when a group of female singers got up to sing. According to Jewish law, men are not supposed to be present at live singing performances by individual women, in order not to dwell on sexual thoughts. While not widely observed in the secular world or even among many modern Orthodox Jews, many yeshiva students and Orthodox Israelis observe this principle as part of their efforts to achieve a higher level of closeness with G-d and the Torah; the nine cadets that left the room are graduates of post-high school institutions of rabbinic Jewish study, and take issues of Jewish law very seriously.

When they left the room, the commander of their unit went out of the room as well and demanded that they return to the performance. The cadets said that they were acting out of religious principles and that the practice was common, but the commander refused to accept their arguments, and continued to demand that they return to the performance – and if they continued to refuse, he charged, they would be brought up on charges. Meanwhile, the performance ended, and the soldiers returned to their seats.On Tuesday, the matter was discussed by top IDF commanders and members of the IDF Chief Rabbinate, and it was decided that the cadets would be given an opportunity to apologize for leaving the performance. Five of the cadets took the deal, but the other four refused, saying they had nothing to apologize for – and on Wednesday, they were booted out of the course. Two of the cadets are members of the Nachal Hareidi unit, and one is the son of a prominent hareidi religious rabbi.Rabbi Druckman said that, Jewish law aside, the idea of throwing a soldier out of a course for refusing to listen to music was ridiculous. There are no orders in the army to listen to music, what if the soldier doesn't like music? You can be a great commander without liking music.He added that the unit commander who pursued the matter was someone with a silly opinion. I would not rely on his judgment as a commander. They asked to be excused from the event and were refused. I am waiting for someone to explain to me what connection music has to Operation Cast Lead.

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.

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

TS Maria to reach near U.S. Virgin Islands by Saturday: NHC Reuters – Fri Sep 9, 8:36 pm ET

(Reuters) – Tropical Storm Maria is forecast to move over the Leeward Islands Friday night through Saturday and is expected to be near the U.S. Virgin Islands by Saturday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest report.At 0800 a.m. EDT (0000 GMT), Maria was located about 130 miles north of Barbados packing maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (75 kmph), the NHC said.A gradual strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, the NHC added.
Tropical cyclones become named tropical storms when their winds exceed 39 miles per hour and become hurricanes when their winds reach more than 74 mph.(Reporting by Soma Das in Bangalore)

Pennsylvania hit by huge flooding, towns submerged
By Paul Eckert | Reuters – SEPT 10,11

WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - The Susquehanna River, swollen by rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, reached record levels in Pennsylvania on Friday and submerged some towns amid worry that flood waters had been turned toxic by swamped sewage processing plants.Rainfall ended in the region from the powerful weather system that earlier drenched the U.S. Gulf Coast. But rising rivers and stressed dams and levees presented a stern challenge to Pennsylvania as well as Virginia and Maryland, states socked by flooding in late August after Hurricane Irene.One Pennsylvania college town, Bloomsburg, was under water and closed to all but emergency workers.The Susquehanna reached a record high of 42.6 feet in hard-hit Wilkes-Barre early on Friday but the levee system held in the northeastern Pennsylvania city, meteorologists said. The river topped the 40.9-foot level in flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.By later on Friday, Susquehanna had receded a bit to 41.4 feet.A levee system protected Wilkes-Barre but remained under heavy pressure and had sprung a few small leaks, Luzerne County engineer Jim Brozina said at a news conference.It is under extreme stress right now. I mean, we are well beyond our design for this system, Brozina said.Every hour is a benefit to us as that river starts to recede.Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett earlier told residents to steer clear of the river waters, which were turned into a toxic mess after flooding washed out 10 sewage processing plants.

VIRGINIA DECLARES EMERGENCY

Governor Bob McDonnell on Friday declared a state of emergency in Virginia due to the flooding.At least five people earlier were killed in the flooding in Pennsylvania and Virginia and more than 130,000 people were evacuated on Thursday in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.This is a record flood in many areas, and people should expect the unexpected, said Joel Myers of Accuweather.com, who warned of potential sinkholes, flash floods, dams failing and bridges collapsing.The most severely flooded were small towns without dikes along the Susquehanna River about 50 miles north and south of Wilkes-Barre.Dikes at Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, on the opposite side of the Susquehanna, were raised as much as 12 feet and fortified following the devastating flood caused by Hurricane Agnes.National Guard troops went house to house in a search and rescue mission in West Pittston, a nearly submerged town without levees.My nightmare is the mud and the smell and the cleaning, said Annette Billings, who was evacuated to a shelter with her son Brandon and their dog from their ground-floor apartment in Luzerne, a Wilkes-Barre suburb.Flood warnings were issued for Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts and flash flood watches remained in effect in Maryland, Virginia and the U.S. capital Washington, according to the National Weather Service.As the Susquehanna slowly receded, in a Pennsylvania town along its banks called Forty Fort, caravans of dump trucks carried boulders to reinforce the vulnerable levees.Police used bullhorns to chase onlookers from the levees, but in some areas along the edge of the flood zone, children rode bicycles and families strolled the river bank to inspect the churning waters. The sun shone brightly in a clear blue sky.Two bison at the Hershey Park attraction in central Pennsylvania were among the flood casualties.(Additional reporting by Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Daniel Lovering in Pittsburgh; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Will Dunham)

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Final environmental toll yet to be reckoned for Central Texas wildfires AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Published: 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, 2011

The devastation wrought by the Central Texas wildfires took an environmental toll as well as a human one.The scale is too large for me to put in my head, said a weary Mike Forstner, a Texas State University biologist. A significant portion of the Lost Pines ecosystem has been destroyed.However, from nature's point of view, there were some caveats.Scientists say the unique Lost Pines forest in Bastrop County will regenerate, as it has countless times over thousands of years — but not within the lifetimes of many of the people who made it their home.Most of the world's tiny population of Houston toads, an endangered species whose home includes almost all the 35,000 acres blackened by fire, is likely still alive in the sandy soil beneath the pines. But the loss of critical habitat means the ultimate survival of the toad, a million-year-old relic from the Pleistocene age, might come to depend on a captive breeding program like the one that helped save from extinction the whooping cranes that winter on the Texas coast.Other environmental costs of a denuded landscape — heightened potential for flooding, harm to the aquifer, proliferation of invasive plant species — cannot be tallied until it starts raining again.The Bastrop fires rampaged over some of the most sensitive parts of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer system, which provides drinking water for the Bastrop area. About 10,000 acres of the aquifer's so-called outcrop area — where the underground aquifer beds reach the surface and where most recharge takes place — now sit under a swath of newly burned pine forest. As a result, hydrologists warn that the fires could potentially inhibit some recharge of an aquifer system already feeling the strain of prolonged drought.

The good news for residents is that any such fallout would take decades or even longer to appear, given the aquifer's slow recharge process. And the burned area represents a small fraction of the aquifer's recharge zone.Round Rock hydrologist Mike Thornhill said that perhaps the biggest post-fire worry is that heavy rains could lead to a compaction of barren soils, preventing water from reaching the aquifer.If you get a flood while the soil is exposed, you can get some damage to areas of the soil,Thornhill said. But a slow soaker would let more water in.The prospect of any kind of rain — slow or fast — is dimming now that the weather pattern known as La Niña is officially back, along with the likelihood of another dry year. Only two years ago, mature pine trees were keeling over in the rain-soaked ground.It's a reminder that the tenacious drought that set the stage for the fires shows no sign of loosening its grip.These violent swings are the pattern now, said University of Texas professor Larry Gilbert, director of the research station near Bastrop State Park.It's an absolute prediction of the climate change model.The UT research station escaped the fires, as did UT's 711-acre M.D. Anderson Cancer Center research facility in Buescher State Park north of Smithville , though both were evacuated. But the conflagration burned 99 percent of the 6,000-acre Bastrop State Park, raging at times with such intensity that all vegetation was killed to the ground. In those places, it will take 40 years for the forest to grow back.At this point, we've got one of the oldest-growth patches of loblolly pines, about 70 years old, Gilbert said.We've probably been lucky having the forest as long as we have.

Ecosystems

Scientists say that although wildfires are devastating for humans and animals, they can have a beneficial impact on ecosystems.From the standpoint only of biodiversity, fire is a good thing, said Norma Fowler, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas. Speaking only from the point of view of plants, fire is natural to this part of the world.Fowler said the fires in western Travis County — which probably killed (and were fueled by) stands of Ashe junipers (commonly called cedars) — could return burned lands to a more savannah-like landscape, with native grasses and more spread out trees. It brings back more of the balance of what we used to have,Fowler said.It gives other native (species) a chance not to be outcompeted by junipers.But dangers abound in the recovery process, and in other parts of the American West, wildfires have allowed fast-growing invasive species to replace native vegetation. In California, highly flammable giant arundo reeds have crowded out native species after wildfires, creating fears of increased fire risk.A lot depends on what we do afterward, whether our after-fire management is such to encourage appropriate wildlife to come back, Fowler said.Preventing overgrazing of burned sites and not disturbing burned areas with off-road vehicles or heavy equipment will give native plants a chance to return, Fowler said.Fire lines — areas scraped clean by bulldozers — probably will become home to undesirable weeds such as false willow, which flourish in highly disturbed areas, Fowler said. False willow, also known as poverty weed, is highly flammable and fast-spreading and has deep roots that drink up lots of groundwater. Often, the longest-lasting impacts are not from fires, but from firefighting,Fowler said.

Toads and pines

Recently, life has been pretty good for the Houston toad — that is, the estimated 200 adults that still exist in the Lost Pines.Before the fire, Bastrop County \u2026 had the greatest genetic diversity and the biggest population,Forstner said.Forstner said he and his students, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Houston Zoo, volunteers and private landowners have worked really hard in the past seven years to re-establish the species, which succumbed to urbanization in their native Houston. In 2007, the zoo began hatching toad eggs in an effort to increase the survival rate of juveniles.We were only four or five events away from the population collapsing, he said.In 2010, rains filled the breeding ponds, and thousands of juvenile toads raised at the zoo were released into the wild, each with a tiny computer chip so scientists can find them.It takes two years for them to become sexually mature and reproduce, said Forstner, who has studied the amphibians since 1993.So in 2012, we should see a bounce. But 2011 has been horrendous.In summer, the toads burrow in the sandy soil to escape the heat, and Forstner said, in all likelihood,they survived the fire. It's when the hungry toads emerge, usually in November, that a bleak fate awaits.If the trees are gone, they die. We never detect the Houston toad in broad open areas,he said.They're going to have to hop a long way to get to a pond. Insects will have taken a hard hit. They'll have nowhere to hide. They'll be very exposed.

The result, Forstner said, is that we're now headed for captive propagation.That means rearing generations of Houston toads that will never see their natural habitat. Instead, the zoo would hatch and breed them and raise their progeny for release in the Lost Pines.Out of 27 toad ponds in the 124,000 acres the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has designated critical habitat for the species in Bastrop County, Forstner has counted five that escaped the fires. We still have a shot at it, he said.The future of the Lost Pines — long isolated from the loblolly pines of East Texas and genetically more tolerant of drought than their cousins — appears less dubious. The largest unfragmented tracts of the approximately 100,000 acres of pine forest are — were — in Bastrop and Buescher state parks.These species in their evolutionary history have been through things like this several times, Gilbert said. Pine forests are actually adapted to fire in some sense. Native Americans were regularly burning the landscape for hunting purposes. So when you had a fire, it was more of a grass fire — there was less undergrowth to burn.This week's fires were a whole different beast, totally incinerating mature trees.It's what we call a stand-replacing wildfire, said Greg Creacy, a wildlife biologist and fire management specialist at Bastrop State Park. All vegetation is killed, and growth has to start from the ground. How much of the fire burned that intensely will be assessed in coming weeks, he said.The Texas Forest Service deemed the 2009 Wilderness Ridge wildfire that scorched 1,500 acres in Bastrop County the largest in Central Texas to date.What we've seen here is a level even above that one, Creacy said.Forstner said, This is the fire that everybody worried about, but we never dreamed we would live long enough to see it happen.

Water

Given the size of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer's outcrop zone, which stretches from the Rio Grande to Northeast Texas in a narrow ribbon, potential impacts on the underground water source from the fire are limited, scientists say. But any inhibition of recharge would be bad news for the aquifer, which has seen water levels dip in recent months because of increased pumping.The aquifer is probably under more stress than it has ever been because of the prolonged dry spell, said Joe Cooper, general manager of the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, which regulates pumping of the aquifer in Bastrop and Lee counties.At the same time, hydrologists say the fires could potentially help the aquifer by removing trees and vegetation that would otherwise pull out rain water destined for underground chambers. So much of the water doesn't make it into the aquifer is used up by plants, Thornhill said.Scientists also warn that the fires have left affected areas more vulnerable to flooding because vegetation that would have absorbed rainwater and runoff was burned away. The threat is more pronounced in western Travis County — the hillier landscape of Steiner Ranch and Pedernales Bend — than the flat lands in Bastrop.After wildfire, the water will reach the creeks faster, said Bob Joseph, director of the U.S. Geological Survey's Texas Water Science Center in Austin.But Joseph said he doesn't expect the kind of large scale flooding that has hit other areas of the western United States after wildfires.Jon White, Travis County's chief environmental officer, said scorched areas in Pedernales Bend and Steiner Ranch are in relatively small watersheds and close to large rivers, which act as escape valves for swollen creeks and streams.Local officials will monitor decreases in water quality in local watersheds as nitrates and phosphates from ash make their way into creeks, rivers and aquifers. But though scientists say the ash runoff might result in increased sediment and algae blooms in some waterways, officials don't expect the region to experience the massive declines in water quality that have followed larger wildfires farther west. Of more concern for the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer are any created contaminants that might have been unleashed by the fire, such as gasoline or firefighting retardants.It would probably be too small of an amount for large scale contamination (of the aquifer), but it could be localized,Thornhill said.
jschwartz@statesman.com; 912-2942

POISONED WATERS

REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Japan's new PM faces early trouble after minister gaffes Reuters – Sat Sep 10, 5:09 am ET

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's new government ran into trouble after just a week in office with calls for one of his ministers to quit over gaffes on the sensitive topic of radiation from the tsunami-hit Fukushima plant.
Trade Minister Yoshio Hachiro faced pressure to resign on Saturday after reports that he joked with a reporter about radiation from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.Hachiro was quoted in Japanese media as attempting to rub up against a reporter saying I'll give you radiation after visiting the Fukushima plant on Thursday.Ruling Democratic Party policy chief Seiji Maehara said it is very serious if the report was true.It is important for him to explain clearly his true intentions by today, Maehara said.Main opposition Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief Shigeru Ishiba demanded the minister's resignation.He should resign ... If he does not, PM Noda should dismiss him.Hachiro later apologized and said he wanted to stay in his job and hoped to discuss the issue later in the day with Noda, media reported.Hachiro has already been rebuked by Noda and apologized on Friday for calling the deserted area near the plant a town of death, a comment seen as offensive to victims of the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

The fuss over the remarks by Hachiro, who handles the energy portfolio, is an early blow to Noda's new administration as it strives to end the radiation crisis at the Fukushima plant while tackling a mountain of challenges from rebuilding after the March earthquake and tsunami to curbing a huge public debt.Noda, who took over as Japan's sixth prime minister in five years after predecessor Naoto Kan resigned, will likely face harsh questioning over his appointment of Hachiro and other novice ministers in a session of parliament expected to begin next week.Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa has already come under attack for calling himself an amateur in security matters.Noda, who won a bruising battle to become head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, emphasized the need to restore fractured party unity in his appointments, raising concerns that he had done so at the expense of expertise.
(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Kaori Kaneko, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Listeria outbreak probe expands to three states
Reuters By Keith Coffman | Reuters – SEPT 10,11

DENVER (Reuters) - An investigation into a listeria outbreak that has killed at least one person has expanded to include three states where possibly tainted cantaloupe was consumed, Colorado health officials said on Friday.The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a release that of the nine confirmed cases of the gastrointestinal infection in Colorado, two suspected cases in Texas and one in Nebraska, all of the patients recently ate cantaloupe.Chris Urbina, chief medical officer for the department, said officials haven't yet traced where the tainted melons were sold.While the investigation into the source of the listeria outbreak is continuing, it is prudent for people who are at high risk for listeria infection to avoid consumption of cantaloupe, Urbina said in a written statement.Those mostly likely to be sickened by the bacteria include people over the age of 60, pregnant women and people whose immune systems have been weakened by disease or organ transplants, Urbina said.Because the outbreak has gone multi-state, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is coordinating the investigation in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Although Colorado has reported 13 listeria cases since the beginning of August, just nine of the state's cases are linked to the current outbreak.In the four other cases the cantaloupe link has been ruled out or laboratory results are still pending, the health department said.Two patients have died in Colorado from listeria in the last month, but investigators can link just one death to the current outbreak.People in the high-risk groups for contracting the infection should avoid unpasteurized soft cheeses, refrigerated smoked seafood, and deli meats unless they have been reheated to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.Healthy people are usually unaffected by the bacteria. In severe cases, the infection can cause convulsions and stillbirths or miscarriages in pregnant women.(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Jerry Norton)