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.
South Korea sends aid to flood-ravaged North
Thu Aug 23, 2:53 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea sent its first batch of emergency aid on Thursday to relieve flooding in North Korea that has killed hundreds, and a top Pyongyang official said the North is aiming to restore basic services by the end of September.
North Korea and international aid agencies said the impoverished state was hit by some of its worst flooding in years earlier this month that ravaged farm land, destroyed thousands of buildings and left more than 300,000 people homeless.A convoy of 34 trucks carrying emergency food rations, water and other goods left South Korea for the North on Thursday. Seoul has pledged to provide 7.1 billion won ($7.6 million) in aid.North Korea has also requested construction materials, a South Korean Red Cross official said, adding the building supplies would probably be sent in another aid shipment soon.
Jo Yong-nam, a senior official with North Korea's flood damage prevention committee, told a pro-Pyongyang newspaper that the communist state did not have enough shelter for its homeless and many were being asked to stay in damaged buildings.The committee is working to finish basic work on restoring damage by the end of September. It starts to get cold in October in this country, Jo told the Choson Sinbo, which is based in Japan.North Korea is urgently trying to repair roads and rail lines destroyed by floods and landslides to help in the delivery of emergency aid, he said in an Internet report monitored in Seoul.The U.N. World Food Programme, which already has a programme on the ground to feed the country's most needy, said on Tuesday it would immediately begin the distribution of emergency food rations.
It reached an agreement with the North Korean government to provide food to 215,000 people affected by the flooding over three months. The flood aid will cost between $5 million to $6 million according to preliminary estimates, it said.North Korea, which already battles food shortages even in years with good harvests, said about 11 percent of the land used to grow grain and maize was made useless by the flooding.
Weakening Dean drenches central Mexico as storm heads inland
Thu Aug 23, 4:22 AM - By Richard Jacobsen
POZA RICA, Mexico (AP) - A weakening Dean dumped heavy rains across central Mexico, drenching mudslide-prone mountains as it pushed its way inland after slamming into the nation's Gulf Coast as a Category 2 hurricane. In the storm-lashed city of Poza Rica, neighbours banded together to clear the streets of fallen trees with axes and machetes, while workers began reconnecting downed power lines. Dean killed 20 people in the Caribbean but there were no reported deaths so far in Mexico. We have emerged in good shape because of our organization, because of our precautions, said Veracruz Gov. Fidel Herrera, while touring hurricane-battered coastal towns. Now we enter the difficult phase of reconstruction and aid.The National Hurricane Center in Miami downgraded Dean to a tropical depression late Wednesday and predicted it would dissipate Thursday as it passed over Mexico's high mountains. But with up to 500 millimetres of rain expected to fall, authorities worried there could still be floods or mudslides. The mountain ranges near Mexico's coast are dotted with villages connected by precarious roads and susceptible to disaster. A rainstorm in 1999 caused floods that killed at least 350 people.
Dean slammed into Mexico for the second time in as many days Wednesday with top sustained winds of 160 km/h. Its centre hit the tourism and fishing town of Tecolutla. The wide storm's hurricane-force winds lashed at a 100-kilometre stretch of the Mexican coast in Veracruz state. As it pushed inland, Poza Rica, located 505 from Tecolutla, became the area's command centre, and hundreds of people remained in shelters there late Wednesday. Maria Patricia Perez, a 40-year-old merchant in Poza Rica, had the tin roof ripped completely off her house. We were afraid it would knock down everything, she said. Exhausted residents described helping one another battle Dean's rains and winds. Shopkeeper Joel Cruz's house was left without electricity or telephone lines after a 30-year-old pine tree gave way, but it could have been worse. Amid the howling winds, his neighbours helped him tie ropes around the tree and they were able to direct its fall away from his home. They also managed to move two cars away just before the giant tree came down. It was an adventure we survived, the 30-year-old Cruz said. Late Wednesday, Poza Rica residents took stock of the damage - and agreed it could have been much worse.
A lot of homes were left without roofs, said Mariano Gutierrez, head of Civil Defence in Poza Rica. Many trees fell on public streets and on houses. There are many fallen signs. But so far, thank God, we don't have anything serious.At 11 p.m., Dean was about 150 kilometres northwest of Mexico City and was heading westward at near 34 km/h. Dean hit the mainland as a Category 2 storm after regaining some of the force it unleashed on the Yucatan. Its first strike on the peninsula Tuesday as a Category 5 tempest with 265 km/h winds was the third most intense Atlantic hurricane ever to make landfall. Mexico had suspended offshore oil production and shut down its only nuclear power plant as tens of thousands headed for higher ground. The state oil company said there was no known damage to any of its production facilities on shore or in the Gulf of Mexico. Producers of corn and sugar cane likely suffered heavy losses in Veracruz, a key agricultural state. Coffee plantations at higher elevations also were threatened by the heavy rains, industry officials said.
Although Dean swept over Yucatan as a rare Category 5 hurricane, which is capable of causing catastrophic damage, the storm's top winds were relatively narrow and appeared to hit just one town: the cruise ship port of Majahual. The few people who had not evacuated Majahual fled ahead of the storm. Dean demolished hundreds of houses, crumpled steel girders, splintered wooden structures and washed away parts of concrete dock that transformed what once was a sleepy fishing village into a top cruise ship destination. Information still was sparse about dozens of inland Mayan Indian communities where people living in stick huts rode out the storm. President Felipe Calderon flew over Yucatan to survey damage Wednesday. Greatly weakened from its trip across the peninsula, Dean moved across the southern Gulf of Mexico, home to 100 oil platforms, three major oil-exporting ports and the Cantarell oil field, Mexico's most productive. All offshore production was halted ahead of the storm, reducing daily production by 2.7 million barrels of oil and 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas. But Pemex said its offshore platforms and loading facilities would emerge without major damage.
Eight dead as floods plague central U.S.
Thu Aug 23, 2:31 AM
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Rivers from Nebraska east to Ohio climbed out of their banks on Wednesday, swollen from thunderstorms that soaked the central United States for days and killed at least eight people.The situation appeared to be worsening in Ohio where 21 counties battled high water, with officials declaring a state of emergency in nine of them in the north-central part of the state.Showers and thunderstorms were forecast in that area and in general across the region for much of the week as a front stalled over the Midwest, setting up continued thunderstorms as cold air clashed with moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico.More than 100 people were being evacuated from Findlay, Ohio, with fire and rescue crews using boats to pull people from flooded homes and businesses, Ohio Emergency Management Agency spokesman Tom Hunter said.Cars were submerged and blocks of streets were under water in several towns, and hundreds of residents had been moved to shelters in nearby counties.No injuries have so far been reported, Hunter said.
This is the worst flooding many of these communities have seen in 30 or 40 years and many, many people will have to rebuild homes and lives. Our hearts go out to the families, he said.In Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver issued disaster declarations for five counties mostly in the northwest part of the state, allowing state resources to be deployed to local communities.Some locations are even measuring rain by the foot, the National Weather Service in Des Moines said on Wednesday as it issued a flood warning for parts of Iowa.Areas of southeastern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin were among the hardest hit. Minnesota counted seven dead in storms that began last weekend, with more rain there overnight. Wisconsin issued additional flood warnings. One person was killed in Iowa.Flood or flash flood warnings also were issued for parts of Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana.Parts of Oklahoma and Texas were cleaning up from unrelated flooding that killed more than two dozen people over the weekend after the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin moved through the area.Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry on Wednesday asked the White House to declare three counties in his state disaster areas.
What hit the state last weekend was essentially a small hurricane, and it devastated many communities throughout the state, he said. It is critical that we do everything in our power to see that they receive the help they need.Storms damaged nearly 500 homes in the three Oklahoma counties alone, including 42 that were destroyed and 192 that sustained major damage, he said.(Additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins in Cincinnati).
SATAN COMES AGAINST ISRAEL
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Report: Major Syrian Missile Deployment Nearly Complete
By Ryan Jones - CNSNews.com Correspondent - August 13, 2007
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Syria has almost completed a massive deployment of missiles capable of carrying non-conventional warheads as far as the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, Israel's Army Radio reported on Monday.Military officials say the deployment has enabled Syria to hit strategic installations and civilian population centers throughout northern and central Israel with a barrage of hundreds of missiles within one hour of commencing hostilities.The huge arsenal, most of it supplied by Iran, includes upgraded Scud-D missiles that can deliver payloads of over 1,000 pounds of explosive power, enough to damage entire city blocks in the densely populated Israeli coastal plain.Despite the mounting threat, Defense Minister Ehud Barak insisted he will not order the mass distribution of updated gas masks and emergency medical kits to Israeli families, the radio reported.Barak said such a move could be interpreted by Damascus as preparations for war on Israel's part and further exacerbate the situation.Israeli lawmaker Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Subcommittee on Home Front Preparedness, responded by slamming Barak for repeating the follies of past defense ministers.
The decision not to hand out masks so as not to upset the Syrians reminds me of Moshe Dayan's unfortunate decision not to call up the reserves so as not to upset the Syrians and the Egyptians on the eve of the Yom Kippur War, said Steinitz in remarks carried by The Jerusalem Post.The widely respected Steinitz continued by warning Barak that he will face a commission of inquiry far more severe than the one investigating Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's handling of last summer's war in Lebanon if he fails to adequately defend Israel against such a dire threat.In comments emailed to Cybercast News Service, Professor Steven Plaut of Haifa University said he can't see Syria really starting trouble as it did in 1973, but he did concede that Syria could try to spark a conflict through its Hizballah proxy in Lebanon.
Reports of Hizballah land purchases indicate that just such a scenario may be in the works. The powerful terrorist organization is rapidly buying up land north of the Litani River and using the territory to regroup and retrain its military forces, according to Britain's Sunday Telegraph.Because the land is privately owned, the thousands of United Nations peacekeepers deployed in Lebanon are unable to monitor what Hizballah is doing there. Most of the sellers are Christian and Druze, which for Hizballah carries the added benefit of removing potential allies for Israel from the area.Christians and Druze are selling their land and fleeing. The Shiites are coming. There is a drastic demographic change, a former Christian Lebanese parliamentarian told the newspaper.Military analysts and army officials in Israel have been warning for months that Syria could initiate low-level against Israel, either directly or via Hizballah, with the aim of justifying a major missile strike when Israel retaliates against the initial assault as expected.
The regime in Damascus is said to have learned many lessons from Hizballah's conflict with Israel last year, including that it would not need to actually win a war with the Jewish state, but merely cause enough damage to force a renewal of negotiations over control of the strategic Golan Heights.Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Six Day War, after Syria had used it for the previous 19 years as a launch pad for almost daily minor attacks on northern Israel, as well as two full-scale invasions. Syria has demanded Israel's full withdrawal from the plateau in exchange for a peace agreement ever since, and has on more than one occasion threatened violence if those conditions are not met.
FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS
MATTHEW 24:4-5,11,24-25
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
WELL THIS TAKES THE CAKE, CALL GOD ALLAH INSTEAD OF GOD(GOOD LUCK). JESUS IS GOD AND HES THE ONLY WAY PEOPLE CAN BE SAVED BY HIS GRACE THROUGH HIS SHED BLOOD.
Parker: Submitting to use of Allah not the answer
By Kathleen Parker - August 20, 2007
WASHINGTON — It was bound to happen — and it seems fitting that a cleric named Tiny would think of it.Roman Catholic Bishop Tiny Muskens of the Netherlands has decided that the way to ease Muslim-Everybody Else tensions is to start using Allah instead of God. Noting that God does not care what we call him, Muskens thought, why not yield a little to Muslim ways? Or would that be submit, the literal meaning of Islam?
Allah is a very beautiful word for God, Muskens said on Dutch television a few days ago. Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? Muskens pointed out that in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country where he spent eight years, priests use the word Allah in Catholic Mass.For the sake of peace, prosperity and clarity in the shire, let the record reflect that Muslims did not ask for this, though some in the Netherlands embraced the idea as a conciliatory gesture and in the U.S., some Muslims greeted the suggestion with enthusiasm.Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told FoxNews.com that calling God Allah wouldn’t require a theological leap for Christians.
It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God, Hooper said. It’s not hard to understand why Muskens would tilt toward compromise. The Netherlands, which is now home to 1 million Muslims, hasn’t been quite the peace n love axis of the multicultural world, despite clouds of Silver Blue cannabis wafting from the city’s famously mellow coffee houses.Between the 2004 murder of Theo van Gogh, guilty of making a documentary film critical of Islam, death threats against fellow documentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the recent Muslim attack of the head of a Dutch group for ex-Muslims, one could begin to think of invoking Allah as a savvy survival technique.Besides, as Muskens pointed out, Allah is a lovely sounding word. Thus, in the spirit of Christian charity and Western tolerance, I’ve been trying it out with mixed results.The Doxology of my Protestant childhood is problematic with the two-syllable Allah instead of the monosyllabic God, but not impossible: Praise Allah, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Not perfect, but workable.
America’s familiar childhood blessing is downright euphonious: Allah is great, Allah is good, let us thank him for our food. But the Apostle’s Creed is a mess: I believe in Allah the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son ... . Oops.Contrary to Hooper’s one-God claim, Christians and Muslims don’t really worship the same God. Although both religions are monotheistic — and if there’s just one God, there’s just one God — Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God and Muslims think otherwise.That’s not a small doctrinal difference. In fact, at the risk of exhausting the obvious, Christianity doesn’t exist without, um, Christ. Of course we could rewrite the Apostle’s Creed to include Muhammad: I believe in Allah the Father Almighty ... and in Muhammad, his favorite prophet ...The possibilities are infinite, really. Alternatively, we could pretend to be sane and suggest that everybody go to his or her own house of worship, pray to his or her own version of the Creator, and otherwise get a grip.
Changing Western language, symbols and making other accommodations to ease relations between old Europe and new isn’t only a conciliatory gesture or even mere appeasement. It is submission by any other name.Language may be a manmade limitation, as Janaan Hashim said, speaking for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, which endorses Muskens’ idea. But language is not meaningless. The words we use to define and express ourselves are the fundaments of cultural and social identity. John Stuart Mill put it this way: Language is the light of the mind.
Muskens, who retires in a few weeks, conceded that his idea likely wouldn’t catch on right away. We might need another 100 years or so, but he predicted that, eventually, Allah will be the word.Given that European Muslims are procreating at three times the rate of non-Muslims — and given the logarithmic rate of growth of jihadist ideology in the U.S., according to a new report by the New York Police Department’s Intelligence Division — it may be sooner than that.Peace be upon us.
Kathleen Parker writes for the Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Send e-mail to kparker@kparker.com.
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.
Dreamy Lunar Eclipse
08.03.2007
August 3, 2007: Close your eyes, breathe deeply, let your mind wander to a distant seashore: It's late in the day, and the western sun is sinking into the glittering waves. At your feet, damp sand reflects the twilight, while overhead, the deep blue sky fades into a cloudy mélange of sunset copper and gold, so vivid it almost takes your breath away.A breeze touches the back of your neck, and you turn to see a pale full Moon rising into the night. Hmmm. The Moon could use a dash more color. You reach out, grab a handful of sunset, and drape the Moon with phantasmic light. Much better. Too bad it's only a dream...
Early Tuesday morning, August 28th, the dream will come true. There's going to be a colorful lunar eclipse visible from five continents including most of North America: map.The event begins 54 minutes past midnight PDT (0754 UT) on August 28th when the Moon enters Earth's shadow. At first, there's little change. The outskirts of Earth's shadow are as pale as the Moon itself; an onlooker might not even realize anything is happening. But as the Moon penetrates deeper, a startling metamorphosis occurs. Around 2:52 am PDT (0952 UT), the color of the Moon changes from moondust-gray to sunset-red. This is totality, and it lasts for 90 minutes.
To understand why the change occurs, close your eyes and dream yourself all the way to the Moon. Once again, you're standing on a seashore—the Sea of Tranquillity. There's no water. You're surrounded by hundreds of miles of dusty, hardened lava. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the Sun behind it. The eclipse is underway.With the Sun blocked, you might expect utter darkness, but no, the ground at your feet is aglow. Why? Look back up at Earth. The rim of the planet seems to be on fire. Around Earth's circumference you see every sunrise and sunset in the world—all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's shadow, transforming the Moon into a landscape of copper moondust and golden hills.
Wake up! This is really going to happen, and some planning is necessary. Start times of totality are listed in the table below. Set your alarm an hour or so in advance to gather snacks and dress warmly. (Even in August, four o'clock in the morning can be chilly.) Waking up early also allows you to catch some of the partial eclipse before totality.The eclipse will be visible from Australia, Japan, parts of Asia and most of the Americas, but not from Africa or Europe. Pacific observers are favored. On the west coast of the United States, the entire eclipse will unfold high in the post-midnight sky. On the east coast, totality will be truncated by sunrise. That's okay; even a little eclipse can be a dream.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
NORTH AMERICAN UNION MEETING TEXT
AT THE SPP SUMMIT IN MONTEBELLO QUEBEC HARPER,BUSH AND CALDERON MADE SPEECHES AFTER THE SUMMIT. HERE IS THE SPEECHES. PAY ATTENTION TO CALDERON HES THE ONE MOST UPFRONT WITH THE GLOBAL REGION IDEA.
President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Prime Minister Harper of Canada, and President Calderón of Mexico
Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello AUG 21,07
Montebello, Canada - In Focus: Global Diplomacy - 11:57 A.M. EDT
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: (As translated.) Might I, first and foremost, thank all the people here and the citizens of Montebello for giving such a warm Quebec welcome. You are quite right to be proud of your beautiful Montebello manoir and the area.
As the leaders of the three countries, our discussions between President Bush and myself were very cordial, constructive. Our three countries maintain peaceful, productive relations and give great contributions to our people. It is part and parcel of our commitment to democracy, free market, NAFTA, and the equality of chances to all citizens. This is a unique moment to look at the individual aspects that we could look at and the challenges that we have to face. We agreed to discuss the protection of the consumer and looking at the non-secure products entering the nations, in particular those going to our children. We also recognize the fact to find practical, pragmatic solutions to our mutual environmental challenges. Our countries are working to find our own sustainable energy and to find national standards on energy efficiency. Finally -- and this is particularly important for Canada -- we realize that border security must not threaten the friendly relations that we have. We undertook agreements on cooperation, standards, regulations, intellectual property, and research in the energy field. In the framework of this summit, we met the North American Competitiveness Council. Their leaders provided us with valuable information on how we could exploit our partnership in the field of security and prosperity to strengthen our economies and to create good jobs here in North America.
Our discussions did not merely deal with North America. We also discussed a number of other international and hemispheric questions: climate change, and to the next meeting of the Middle East discussions, where our countries are defending democracy and freedom, and protecting the have-nots. This summit enabled us to discuss our singular bilateral discussions. President Bush and myself met yesterday afternoon. We discussed a number of subjects, in particular our joint commitment to have a secure border that shall remain open to goods and services, and to the interaction between the our respective citizens. President Calderón and myself also had a meeting yesterday evening, and I would like to thank President Calderón and his wife Margarita and their children, Maria, Felipe, for having passed a wonderful time with us last weekend. We understand that you have had to shorten your stay, due to the consequences of Hurricane Dean on your country. I sincerely regret the terrible aspect of this Hurricane Dean on Mexico, but I understand the concern, that the Mexican authorities have assisted in evacuating a Canadian citizen.
We have also been able to arrange our agenda yesterday to discuss important matters for our respective nations. We were able to discuss a number of different matters, and the flourishing development of trade between our two countries, and that we shall pursue in the future Canada, United States and Mexico, our good neighbors and good friends. As sovereign nations in our modern world, we are not merely independent but also interdependent. And we are determined to cooperate for our mutual security, our continued economic growth, and the improvement of our North American relations are unique in the world. (Speaks in English.) -- the staff here and the people of Montebello for their warm Québécois hospitality. You have every reason to be proud of this magnificent resort and this beautiful region.
As host of this year's North American Leaders Summit, it's my responsibility and pleasure to report that the discussions between President Bush and Calderón and myself were as cordial as they were constructive. Our three countries share peaceful and productive relations that are of considerable benefit of the people of our respective nations. These relations are rooted in our common commitment to democracy, free and open markets through NAFTA, and equal opportunity for all of our citizens. This week's summit has provided an opportunity to share individual perspectives and to take stock of the challenges that we face together. We agreed to work together on consumer protection. We have to identify and stop unsafe goods from entering our country, especially those designed for our children. We also agreed on the need for practical solutions to our mutual environmental challenges. Our countries are already working together to develop clean and sustainable energy, and we're cooperating on national fuel efficiency standards. Finally -- and this is especially important for Canada -- we agreed that border security measures, critical as they are, cannot threaten the bonds of friendship or commerce between us.
Over the past year we've achieved agreements on regulatory cooperation, pandemics, intellectual property and research in energy. As part of our summit, we also met with the North American Competitiveness Council. The Council's business leaders have provided us with good, practical advice on how we can build our Security and Prosperity Partnership, to strengthen our economy, and create good jobs right here in North America. But our discussions were not focused exclusively in North America. We also discussed a range of international and hemispheric issues from climate change to the upcoming APEC meetings, from the Middle East to Haiti, where all three of our countries are working to advance freedom, democracy, and development for the most impoverished people. Moreover, the summit provided opportunities for one-on-one discussions about our unique bilateral relationships. President Bush and I met yesterday afternoon. We discussed several matters, including our joint commitment to a secure border that remains open to the exchange of goods and services and the interaction of our people. President Calderón and I met last night. First let me take the opportunity to thank the President, his wife Margarita, and their children Maria, Felipe, and Juan Pablo, for spending some time this past weekend with our family. I understand you're cutting your visit short, given the impact of Hurricane Dean on your country. I regret the cost of this terrible natural disaster. At the same time, we appreciate the efforts of the Mexican authorities to secure the evacuation of Canadian citizens. I'm grateful we were able to arrange our schedules yesterday to meet and discuss matters formally before your departure. We had the opportunity to discuss many issues related to the growing relationship between Canada and Mexico that we're going to lead forward together. Canada, the United States and Mexico are good neighbors and good friends. As sovereign countries in the modern world we are both independent and interdependent, and we're committed to working together on mutual security, continued economic growth, and expanding our unique North American relationship.
President Bush.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, Prime Minister. Thanks for having us here. I, too, want to thank the good folks of Montebello for their wonderful hospitality. The food was good, the hospitality was warm. You picked a great place to come. I expressed my country's concerns for the citizens whose lives will be affected by Hurricane Dean. I respect the fact that President Calderón has decided to get back to Mexico as quickly as possible in a safe way. I want you to know that U.S. agencies are in close touch with the proper Mexican authorities, and if you so desire help, we stand ready to help. The American people care a lot about the human condition in our neighborhood, and when we see human suffering, we want to do what we can to help alleviate that. So we wish you all the best. These meetings are -- I'm not going to try to reiterate what Stephen said. He went through the list of the meetings. And he's a -- he's right, that we talked about a lot of issues. I just want to give you the spirit of the discussions and why I think they're important. It's our people's interests that Canada and Mexico work closely together. In other words, there's a good reason why our leaders should come together on a regular basis. First reason why is to figure out ways to continue to enhance prosperity. It's in our interests that the Canadian lifestyle be as strong as it is, and it's in our interests that prosperity spread to Mexico. If you're a U.S. citizen, you want people that live close to you to be prosperous. The more prosperity there is in your neighborhood, the more hopeful your neighborhood is.
NAFTA, which has created a lot of political controversy in our respective countries, has yielded prosperity. Since NAFTA came to be, trade between our respective countries has grown from $293 billion a year to $883 billion a year. Now, for some, those are just numbers; for many, it's improved wages and a better lifestyle and more hope. And the question that we're faced with is how do we continue to enhance prosperity so the average citizen understands the benefits of three countries working together? And I think we made some good progress toward eliminating barriers and toward harmonizing regulations to a point where more prosperity will come to be.
And we discussed a lot of other issues. We discussed bilateral issues. Stephen and I talked about border issues. Of course, Felipe Calderón and I talked about border issues and migration. These are complicated issues, but they're issues that we can work out in good spirit as friends. One reason one meets is to reconfirm friendships, is to make sure that not only at the leaders' level is there conversations taking place that are friendly, but that that spirit translates throughout our governments. And I think we've accomplished that objective today.
We also talked, as Stephen mentioned, about international issues, issues concerning South America, the Middle East. These are meaningful discussions. I'm glad I came and I'm looking forward to hosting them next year. Matter of fact, it's in the interests of our countries that we have these meetings on an annual basis and then have working groups follow through on the discussion items that -- during our meetings with the business leaders or our own Cabinet Secretaries.
And so thanks for having me. It's been worthwhile. I appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: Señor Calderón.
PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: Gracias. (As translated.) Thank you, Prime Minister Harper and President Bush. In the first place, I would like to thank very specifically -- I thank you for the solidarity, the understanding and the support that I have received from you in order to adjust my schedule to exhaust pending matters and allow me to return in good time in order to personally tend to the emergency situation that we have to face in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Your understanding and support is also accompanied by the offers of help and solidarity to the victims of this natural disaster. So far -- well, it would be too early to assess the scope of the damages. So far there have been no fatal victims. We can't be sure yet, but we are monitoring the situation every minute, monitoring the hurricane. And as a matter of fact, I'm returning to Yucatan right away, as soon as my aircraft can land, and supervise the rescue missions.
I would also like to thank very sincerely -- thank you for the hospitality and for the human warmth, for the very welcoming attitude of Mr. Harper's family. And I do value this. It was a marvelous weekend for my family, such a typically Canadian place -- typically Canadian places are amongst the most beautiful in the world. And I would like to thank your wife, Laureen, and your children for your offer to spend this time with my family, with my wife, with my children. And I hope I'll be able to return your very nice present in Mexico.
Now, this meeting allows me to reenforce the conviction that North America as a region still has not developed the enormous potential it has, and I'm more convinced about this today than ever before, that it has to be developed. There's no doubt that the globalization process that we are currently experiencing is definitely pressuring throughout competitiveness of our countries -- and not only countries, but the competitiveness of the countries that have joined into regions.
Now, Canada, U.S. and Mexico have to act together in order not only to improve the quality of life of our people, but also to prevent the vast integration process that we've seen in other parts of the world -- Asia, Europe, very specifically. We don't want this to displace our producers and displace opportunities for our consumers.
Now, through working groups that we've established, through the opinions of the businessmen of all three countries and their recommendations to our respective governments, it's clear to me that there's an enormous agenda that has to be developed, carried out. So I believe that we must relaunch in a stronger way the strength of the relationship between the free countries of North America. That is to say that each country, each government is facing within their own public opinion -- particularly in Mexico, maybe in the U.S. -- they're encountering resistance in relation to one or another aspect -- investments, integration, border crossings, and regulatory aspects.
And all these matters, which most of them are covered by the recommendations of the businessmen that we met, they come to stand still. And this is a result of the concerns in each country, obstacles to economic integration of our region. I believe we should reassess -- or we should have our people reassess -- what all this means to the common citizen, the region; what it means to the consumers to have better prices and better quality in the products they consume; also in what it represents for companies to have access to commodities that are more efficient, more productive, better quality and better priced; also what it represents to our workers to have available work, thanks to the fact that North America can be a fully integrated region.
Now, at the same time, there are complementary characteristics between the three countries, and this has got to be very specifically addressed in order to leverage the situation in this new century of globalization.
And we agreed also to prioritize certain issues that have been followed up on. For example, when it comes to regional competitiveness, it's quite clear that this is a very important priority. Also the border area issue; we all want secure and also efficient borders -- borders that will allow the border crossing of those who build, who contribute, and of course, prevent border crossings to those that damage our societies: organized crime, drug trafficking, all the trade in illegal goods.
Also we talked about sustainable development and the challenges facing our countries by a region and by humanity as a whole. We talked about our common purpose to find reliable alternatives that will allow us, on the one hand, to preserve the environment, and at the same time, that will not force us to detain or stop our development and thereby have an impact on the prosperity of our people.
We also talked about security. This is a topic that concerns us all, but as President Bush said, we talked about prosperity. And I believe that this meeting -- in my case, it's my first meeting, first meeting I'm participating in -- I think this meeting could be the beginning of a new age in the framework of the relationship of the three countries, and particularly if we relaunch trade exchange, and also if we are able to take advantage of our potential.
I also thank President Bush for his invitation to come to Texas next year in order to continue with these talks. And also Mexico is interested in hosting the meeting in 2009 in my beloved, dear, beautiful country.
Therefore the issues were multifarious and we took advantage of the time we had, although it was reduced because of this emergency situation that we're facing. I'm very happy that the environment within which we worked was very positive, very constructive on the part of everyone in attendance. And we hope that we'll be able to follow up on all the commitments, on the priorities that we've established and on the recommendations that we've received from the business sector.
Thank you very much, Prime Minister Harper, for your hospitality. Thank you to the Canadian people and to the people of Quebec for your hospitality, and to the staff of this wonderful place in Montebello that treated us so generously. And, well, we will be at your disposal when you come to us.
MODERATOR: To the press, good afternoon. We'll begin with the press conference. And just a reminder, it's one question per reporter. We will start with Ben Feller, Associated Press.
Q Thank you all. Mr. President, yesterday, Senator Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that the Iraqi parliament ought to oust Prime Minister Maliki and his government for being politically unable to deliver political unity there, for utterly failing on that point. I'm wondering what your reaction is to Senator Levin's comment, and whether you think Maliki has lost credibility.
And if I may, President Calderón --
MODERATOR: I just ask that you limit yourself to one question, please.
Q Thank you. As you three leaders meet here, there are a growing number of people in each of your countries who have expressed concern about the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is addressed to all three of you. Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American union, similar to a European Union? Are there plans to build some kind of superhighway connecting all three countries? And do you believe all of these theories about a possible erosion of national identity stem from a lack of transparency from this partnership?
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: Well, let me begin. And I guess I read some things from my opposition in Canada -- I'm not sure these are generally expressed concerns, but a couple of my opposition leaders have speculated on massive water diversions and superhighways to the continent -- maybe interplanetary, I'm not sure, as well. (Laughter.) I even -- there were reports of a former Prime Minister lurking in the hallways -- I have yet to see him. (Laughter.)
Look, we have an enormous trading commercial relationship. It's important that the leaders of that trading relationship get together periodically, have discussions, just as it's important at every level -- ministerial level, official level -- that they're getting together and talking and making sure they're working out problems.
You know, we had some business leaders in front of us today; one in particular said, you know, the rules for jelly beans -- he manufactures jelly beans -- the rules for jelly bean contents are different in Canada and the United States; they have to maintain two separate inventories. Is the sovereignty of Canada going to fall apart if we standardize the jelly bean? I don't think so. Maybe Mr. Dion thinks so, but I don't think so.
So these are pragmatic, practical discussions. In fact, it was my predecessor in the Liberal Party who initiated them. And ultimately, of course, for the decisions, we're responsible to our respective populations. We're a democratic system and, as President Calderón mentioned, I have to listen to that practical input every single day in parliament.
PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: (As translated.) Well, in fact, I'll be happy with one step in Mexicali and one in Tijuana. In actual fact, there are several myths about this meeting, some more jovial, funnier than others. What we tried to do is simply to meet, talk about our common problems and see what we can do in practical terms in order to improve the lives of our people. Whether it's to standardize the parameters for chocolates or medicines, I think these are common-sense things, and moreover, I think -- I'll tell you this very clearly -- I think that as a region, we are losing competitiveness in comparison with other regions in the world.
And it's not a question of customs unions, let alone having an integration that would actually encroach on the sovereignty and culture and resources of each country. We simply have to take advantage of this opportunity of being neighbors and allies in order to generate prosperity and security for our people. That is the purpose of these meetings.
Now, let me tell you, at times I would even like to work faster, review more issues, but we have to be very patient. And something that we did talk about also, which is part of my responsibility, or our responsibilities as leaders, is to talk to the people and tell them why it's important to have better trading rules, why it's important not to have so many barriers between ourselves, why it's important to resolve issues such as immigration, investment, because that could actually improve the quality of life for our people. It could mean the Mexican consumers could have better products, Canadian products, U.S. products and -- well, Mexican products also -- because there would be more investment in our country, which requires thousands and thousands of jobs in order to resolve the problems of the people. And when that happens, when there's investment -- and there's only investment when there is competitiveness. And we do have a way to go in that regard.
PRESIDENT BUSH: We represent three great nations. We each respect each other's sovereignty. You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they're wrong. I believe it's in our interest to trade; I believe it's in our interest to dialogue; I believe it's in our interest to work out common problems for the good of our people.
And I'm amused by some of the speculation, some of the old -- you can call them political scare tactics. If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist. That's just the way some people operate. I'm here representing my nation. I feel strongly that the United States is a force for good, and I feel strongly that by working with our neighbors we can a stronger force for good.
So I appreciate that question. I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place. It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about.
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: (As translated.) Might I add, in French, I did not know that there were these major plots that were mentioned by the head of the opposition, Mr. Martin, a Liberal prime minister, who initiated these discussions, I believe, for Mr. Dion. It is a rather regressive step backwards to this whole question of our NAFTA discussions and SPP.
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Bush doesn't deny plans for N. American Union
President avoids question, ridicules conspiracy theorists who believe it
August 21, 2007 - 5:00 p.m. Eastern
Note: WND's Jerome Corsi will be the guest during the first hour hour tonight of Coast to Coast AM, discussing the North American summit on radio stations across America, beginning just after 1 a.m. Eastern time. 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico conferred over the Security and Prosperity Partnership
MONTEBELLO, Quebec – President Bush today sidestepped a direct question about whether he'd be willing to categorically deny there is a plan to create the North American Union. Instead, he ridiculed those who believe that is taking place as conspiracy theorists. The exchange came at a news conference held by Bush, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who met at a resort in the rural woods outside of Ottawa, Quebec, to discuss their latest work on the Security and Prosperity Partnership. After the trio presented their prepared statement about the SPP, several reporters who had been selected in advance were allowed to ask questions. When it came time for a question from a Fox News reporter, Bush was asked if he would be willing to categorically deny that there is a plan to create a North American Union, or that there are plans to create NAFTA Superhighways.
As you three leaders meet here, there are a growing number of people in each of your countries who have expressed concern about the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is addressed to all three of you. Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union? Are there plans to build some kind of superhighway connecting all three countries? And do you believe all of these theories about a possible erosion of national identity stem from a lack of transparency from this partnership? was the question, according to a White House transcript. Reporters at the news conference said he sidestepped, instead adopting the tactic that those who are arguing the European Union model of integrating nations into a larger continental union is being used in North America should be ridiculed. He called it an old political scare tactic, to try to create a wild conspiracy and then demand that those who are not engaged prove that it isn't happening.
Bush's answer was:
We represent three great nations. We each respect each other's sovereignty. You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they're wrong. I believe it's in our interest to trade; I believe it's in our interest to dialogue; I believe it's in our interest to work out common problems for the good of our people.And I'm amused by some of the speculation, some of the old – you can call them political scare tactics. If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist. That's just the way some people operate. I'm here representing my nation. I feel strongly that the United States is a force for good, and I feel strongly that by working with our neighbors we can a stronger force for good. So I appreciate that question. I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place. It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about.Harper joined in. There's not going to be any NAFTA Superhighway connecting the three nations, he said, and it's not going to go interplanetary either, he said.
Harper said the SPP discussions that were held concerned such pressing issues as jelly beans. He said the business interests expressing their desires for progress on the SPP noted there were different standards in the United States and Canada, and there was a discussion about whether those standards could be made uniform for the U.S. and Canada. Bush's comments echoed the comments published just a day earlier in the Ottawa Citizen by David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. While conspiracy theories abound, you can take it to the bank that no one involved in these discussions is interested in, or has ever proposed, a North American Union, a North American super highway, or a North American currency,he wrote. The United States, Canada and Mexico are three distinct, sovereign countries that practice democracy differently, he wrote. Each proudly defends its own interests. But our leaders also recognize that we share a continent in this post-Sept. 11 world, where terrorism is but one threat. We have a vested interest in working together to prevent potential threats outside North America – like those posed by pandemic flu or improperly labeled foods, for example – from penetrating our borders.
Wilkins wrote that the nations also are exploring ways to detect radiological threats and coordinating emergency efforts along our borders in the event of a man-made or natural disaster. It just makes sense when you share thousands of miles of common border to share a common emergency-management plan.He said another goal is to reduce the cost of doing business across national borders. The Late Great USA, which was criticized by President Bush at the conclusion of the SPP summit in Quebec However, Jerome Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D. whose newly published book, The Late Great USA, uses the government's own documentation to show the advance of a North American Union, said ridicule is the last resort of someone who is losing an argument.Such tactics, Corsi said, underestimate the intelligence of people listening, and people realize that the argument wasn't answered.At the news conference, he noted, Bush failed to respond to the Fox News question with a denial of the plans for a North American Union.
And, Corsi said, Bush did not address the fact that Texas Gov. Rick Perrry vetoed a two-year moratorium on the Trans-Texas Corridor project, believed to be the starting point for an eventual continent-wide grid of NAFTA Superhighways. Just to ridicule the idea, when he had a change to categorically deny it, raises doubts in peoples minds, especially when these meetings aren't transparent, Corsi added. The meeting this week, which focused on economic issues, was attended by representatives of dozens of multinational corporations anxious to have their manufacturing and sales processes smoothed. However, Corsi said, not one person who objects is permitted inside the room.At the same time, Bush did affirm that there is a plan under consideration for the United States to provide military assistance to Mexico's military in its battles in the drug war, although officials were not ready to announce what that plan includes. The three national leaders simply affirmed that drug trade is a continental problem and would demand a continental solution.
The formal statement from the three leaders referred to the opportunities and challenges facing North America and [the need] to establish priorities for our further collaboration.They said the three nations already have agreed to a North American plan for avian and pandemic influenza, a Regulatory Cooperation Framework, an intellectual property action strategy and a Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science and Technology.The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), announced last year in Cancun, has provided us with thoughtful recommendations on how we could strengthen the competitive platform for business, the statement said.
The statement said the Regulatory Cooperation Framework will allow various rules to be streamlined across borders. In the coming year, we ask our ministers to consider work in areas, such as the chemicals, automotive, transportation, and information and communications technology sectors, the statement said. And the Intellectual Property Action Strategy also gives us an invaluable tool for combating counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine innovation, harm economic development and can have negative public-health and safety implications, the three said.
Food safety and border security also were discussed. Our governments will continue to address the safety of food and products imported into North America, while facilitating the significant trade in these products that our countries already have and without imposing unnecessary barriers to trade, the leaders said. It is sometimes best to screen goods and travelers prior to entry into North America. We ask our ministers to develop mutually acceptable inspection protocols to detect threats to our security, such as from incoming travelers during a pandemic and from radiological devices on general aviation, the statement said. But protesters who staged events in Ottawa as the meetings were moving forward, warned of the integration and harmonizing the SPP seeks. The SPP is pursuing an agenda to integrate Mexico and Canada in closed-door sessions that are getting underway today in Montebello, Howard Phillips, the chairman of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, told an earlier press conference in Ottawa. We are here to register our protest, Phillips added, along with the protests of thousands of Americans who agree with us that the SPP is a globalist agenda driven by the multi-national corporate interests and intellectual elite who together have launched an attack upon the national sovereignty of the United States, Canada and Mexico.Connie Fogel, head of the Canadian Action Party, agreed with Phillips. Canadians are complaining that the SPP process lacks transparency, Fogel told the press conference. Transparency is a major issue, but even if the SPP working groups were open to the public, we would still object to their goal to advance the North American integration agenda at the expense of Canadian sovereignty.
President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Prime Minister Harper of Canada, and President Calderón of Mexico
Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello AUG 21,07
Montebello, Canada - In Focus: Global Diplomacy - 11:57 A.M. EDT
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: (As translated.) Might I, first and foremost, thank all the people here and the citizens of Montebello for giving such a warm Quebec welcome. You are quite right to be proud of your beautiful Montebello manoir and the area.
As the leaders of the three countries, our discussions between President Bush and myself were very cordial, constructive. Our three countries maintain peaceful, productive relations and give great contributions to our people. It is part and parcel of our commitment to democracy, free market, NAFTA, and the equality of chances to all citizens. This is a unique moment to look at the individual aspects that we could look at and the challenges that we have to face. We agreed to discuss the protection of the consumer and looking at the non-secure products entering the nations, in particular those going to our children. We also recognize the fact to find practical, pragmatic solutions to our mutual environmental challenges. Our countries are working to find our own sustainable energy and to find national standards on energy efficiency. Finally -- and this is particularly important for Canada -- we realize that border security must not threaten the friendly relations that we have. We undertook agreements on cooperation, standards, regulations, intellectual property, and research in the energy field. In the framework of this summit, we met the North American Competitiveness Council. Their leaders provided us with valuable information on how we could exploit our partnership in the field of security and prosperity to strengthen our economies and to create good jobs here in North America.
Our discussions did not merely deal with North America. We also discussed a number of other international and hemispheric questions: climate change, and to the next meeting of the Middle East discussions, where our countries are defending democracy and freedom, and protecting the have-nots. This summit enabled us to discuss our singular bilateral discussions. President Bush and myself met yesterday afternoon. We discussed a number of subjects, in particular our joint commitment to have a secure border that shall remain open to goods and services, and to the interaction between the our respective citizens. President Calderón and myself also had a meeting yesterday evening, and I would like to thank President Calderón and his wife Margarita and their children, Maria, Felipe, for having passed a wonderful time with us last weekend. We understand that you have had to shorten your stay, due to the consequences of Hurricane Dean on your country. I sincerely regret the terrible aspect of this Hurricane Dean on Mexico, but I understand the concern, that the Mexican authorities have assisted in evacuating a Canadian citizen.
We have also been able to arrange our agenda yesterday to discuss important matters for our respective nations. We were able to discuss a number of different matters, and the flourishing development of trade between our two countries, and that we shall pursue in the future Canada, United States and Mexico, our good neighbors and good friends. As sovereign nations in our modern world, we are not merely independent but also interdependent. And we are determined to cooperate for our mutual security, our continued economic growth, and the improvement of our North American relations are unique in the world. (Speaks in English.) -- the staff here and the people of Montebello for their warm Québécois hospitality. You have every reason to be proud of this magnificent resort and this beautiful region.
As host of this year's North American Leaders Summit, it's my responsibility and pleasure to report that the discussions between President Bush and Calderón and myself were as cordial as they were constructive. Our three countries share peaceful and productive relations that are of considerable benefit of the people of our respective nations. These relations are rooted in our common commitment to democracy, free and open markets through NAFTA, and equal opportunity for all of our citizens. This week's summit has provided an opportunity to share individual perspectives and to take stock of the challenges that we face together. We agreed to work together on consumer protection. We have to identify and stop unsafe goods from entering our country, especially those designed for our children. We also agreed on the need for practical solutions to our mutual environmental challenges. Our countries are already working together to develop clean and sustainable energy, and we're cooperating on national fuel efficiency standards. Finally -- and this is especially important for Canada -- we agreed that border security measures, critical as they are, cannot threaten the bonds of friendship or commerce between us.
Over the past year we've achieved agreements on regulatory cooperation, pandemics, intellectual property and research in energy. As part of our summit, we also met with the North American Competitiveness Council. The Council's business leaders have provided us with good, practical advice on how we can build our Security and Prosperity Partnership, to strengthen our economy, and create good jobs right here in North America. But our discussions were not focused exclusively in North America. We also discussed a range of international and hemispheric issues from climate change to the upcoming APEC meetings, from the Middle East to Haiti, where all three of our countries are working to advance freedom, democracy, and development for the most impoverished people. Moreover, the summit provided opportunities for one-on-one discussions about our unique bilateral relationships. President Bush and I met yesterday afternoon. We discussed several matters, including our joint commitment to a secure border that remains open to the exchange of goods and services and the interaction of our people. President Calderón and I met last night. First let me take the opportunity to thank the President, his wife Margarita, and their children Maria, Felipe, and Juan Pablo, for spending some time this past weekend with our family. I understand you're cutting your visit short, given the impact of Hurricane Dean on your country. I regret the cost of this terrible natural disaster. At the same time, we appreciate the efforts of the Mexican authorities to secure the evacuation of Canadian citizens. I'm grateful we were able to arrange our schedules yesterday to meet and discuss matters formally before your departure. We had the opportunity to discuss many issues related to the growing relationship between Canada and Mexico that we're going to lead forward together. Canada, the United States and Mexico are good neighbors and good friends. As sovereign countries in the modern world we are both independent and interdependent, and we're committed to working together on mutual security, continued economic growth, and expanding our unique North American relationship.
President Bush.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, Prime Minister. Thanks for having us here. I, too, want to thank the good folks of Montebello for their wonderful hospitality. The food was good, the hospitality was warm. You picked a great place to come. I expressed my country's concerns for the citizens whose lives will be affected by Hurricane Dean. I respect the fact that President Calderón has decided to get back to Mexico as quickly as possible in a safe way. I want you to know that U.S. agencies are in close touch with the proper Mexican authorities, and if you so desire help, we stand ready to help. The American people care a lot about the human condition in our neighborhood, and when we see human suffering, we want to do what we can to help alleviate that. So we wish you all the best. These meetings are -- I'm not going to try to reiterate what Stephen said. He went through the list of the meetings. And he's a -- he's right, that we talked about a lot of issues. I just want to give you the spirit of the discussions and why I think they're important. It's our people's interests that Canada and Mexico work closely together. In other words, there's a good reason why our leaders should come together on a regular basis. First reason why is to figure out ways to continue to enhance prosperity. It's in our interests that the Canadian lifestyle be as strong as it is, and it's in our interests that prosperity spread to Mexico. If you're a U.S. citizen, you want people that live close to you to be prosperous. The more prosperity there is in your neighborhood, the more hopeful your neighborhood is.
NAFTA, which has created a lot of political controversy in our respective countries, has yielded prosperity. Since NAFTA came to be, trade between our respective countries has grown from $293 billion a year to $883 billion a year. Now, for some, those are just numbers; for many, it's improved wages and a better lifestyle and more hope. And the question that we're faced with is how do we continue to enhance prosperity so the average citizen understands the benefits of three countries working together? And I think we made some good progress toward eliminating barriers and toward harmonizing regulations to a point where more prosperity will come to be.
And we discussed a lot of other issues. We discussed bilateral issues. Stephen and I talked about border issues. Of course, Felipe Calderón and I talked about border issues and migration. These are complicated issues, but they're issues that we can work out in good spirit as friends. One reason one meets is to reconfirm friendships, is to make sure that not only at the leaders' level is there conversations taking place that are friendly, but that that spirit translates throughout our governments. And I think we've accomplished that objective today.
We also talked, as Stephen mentioned, about international issues, issues concerning South America, the Middle East. These are meaningful discussions. I'm glad I came and I'm looking forward to hosting them next year. Matter of fact, it's in the interests of our countries that we have these meetings on an annual basis and then have working groups follow through on the discussion items that -- during our meetings with the business leaders or our own Cabinet Secretaries.
And so thanks for having me. It's been worthwhile. I appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: Señor Calderón.
PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: Gracias. (As translated.) Thank you, Prime Minister Harper and President Bush. In the first place, I would like to thank very specifically -- I thank you for the solidarity, the understanding and the support that I have received from you in order to adjust my schedule to exhaust pending matters and allow me to return in good time in order to personally tend to the emergency situation that we have to face in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Your understanding and support is also accompanied by the offers of help and solidarity to the victims of this natural disaster. So far -- well, it would be too early to assess the scope of the damages. So far there have been no fatal victims. We can't be sure yet, but we are monitoring the situation every minute, monitoring the hurricane. And as a matter of fact, I'm returning to Yucatan right away, as soon as my aircraft can land, and supervise the rescue missions.
I would also like to thank very sincerely -- thank you for the hospitality and for the human warmth, for the very welcoming attitude of Mr. Harper's family. And I do value this. It was a marvelous weekend for my family, such a typically Canadian place -- typically Canadian places are amongst the most beautiful in the world. And I would like to thank your wife, Laureen, and your children for your offer to spend this time with my family, with my wife, with my children. And I hope I'll be able to return your very nice present in Mexico.
Now, this meeting allows me to reenforce the conviction that North America as a region still has not developed the enormous potential it has, and I'm more convinced about this today than ever before, that it has to be developed. There's no doubt that the globalization process that we are currently experiencing is definitely pressuring throughout competitiveness of our countries -- and not only countries, but the competitiveness of the countries that have joined into regions.
Now, Canada, U.S. and Mexico have to act together in order not only to improve the quality of life of our people, but also to prevent the vast integration process that we've seen in other parts of the world -- Asia, Europe, very specifically. We don't want this to displace our producers and displace opportunities for our consumers.
Now, through working groups that we've established, through the opinions of the businessmen of all three countries and their recommendations to our respective governments, it's clear to me that there's an enormous agenda that has to be developed, carried out. So I believe that we must relaunch in a stronger way the strength of the relationship between the free countries of North America. That is to say that each country, each government is facing within their own public opinion -- particularly in Mexico, maybe in the U.S. -- they're encountering resistance in relation to one or another aspect -- investments, integration, border crossings, and regulatory aspects.
And all these matters, which most of them are covered by the recommendations of the businessmen that we met, they come to stand still. And this is a result of the concerns in each country, obstacles to economic integration of our region. I believe we should reassess -- or we should have our people reassess -- what all this means to the common citizen, the region; what it means to the consumers to have better prices and better quality in the products they consume; also in what it represents for companies to have access to commodities that are more efficient, more productive, better quality and better priced; also what it represents to our workers to have available work, thanks to the fact that North America can be a fully integrated region.
Now, at the same time, there are complementary characteristics between the three countries, and this has got to be very specifically addressed in order to leverage the situation in this new century of globalization.
And we agreed also to prioritize certain issues that have been followed up on. For example, when it comes to regional competitiveness, it's quite clear that this is a very important priority. Also the border area issue; we all want secure and also efficient borders -- borders that will allow the border crossing of those who build, who contribute, and of course, prevent border crossings to those that damage our societies: organized crime, drug trafficking, all the trade in illegal goods.
Also we talked about sustainable development and the challenges facing our countries by a region and by humanity as a whole. We talked about our common purpose to find reliable alternatives that will allow us, on the one hand, to preserve the environment, and at the same time, that will not force us to detain or stop our development and thereby have an impact on the prosperity of our people.
We also talked about security. This is a topic that concerns us all, but as President Bush said, we talked about prosperity. And I believe that this meeting -- in my case, it's my first meeting, first meeting I'm participating in -- I think this meeting could be the beginning of a new age in the framework of the relationship of the three countries, and particularly if we relaunch trade exchange, and also if we are able to take advantage of our potential.
I also thank President Bush for his invitation to come to Texas next year in order to continue with these talks. And also Mexico is interested in hosting the meeting in 2009 in my beloved, dear, beautiful country.
Therefore the issues were multifarious and we took advantage of the time we had, although it was reduced because of this emergency situation that we're facing. I'm very happy that the environment within which we worked was very positive, very constructive on the part of everyone in attendance. And we hope that we'll be able to follow up on all the commitments, on the priorities that we've established and on the recommendations that we've received from the business sector.
Thank you very much, Prime Minister Harper, for your hospitality. Thank you to the Canadian people and to the people of Quebec for your hospitality, and to the staff of this wonderful place in Montebello that treated us so generously. And, well, we will be at your disposal when you come to us.
MODERATOR: To the press, good afternoon. We'll begin with the press conference. And just a reminder, it's one question per reporter. We will start with Ben Feller, Associated Press.
Q Thank you all. Mr. President, yesterday, Senator Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that the Iraqi parliament ought to oust Prime Minister Maliki and his government for being politically unable to deliver political unity there, for utterly failing on that point. I'm wondering what your reaction is to Senator Levin's comment, and whether you think Maliki has lost credibility.
And if I may, President Calderón --
MODERATOR: I just ask that you limit yourself to one question, please.
Q Thank you. As you three leaders meet here, there are a growing number of people in each of your countries who have expressed concern about the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is addressed to all three of you. Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American union, similar to a European Union? Are there plans to build some kind of superhighway connecting all three countries? And do you believe all of these theories about a possible erosion of national identity stem from a lack of transparency from this partnership?
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: Well, let me begin. And I guess I read some things from my opposition in Canada -- I'm not sure these are generally expressed concerns, but a couple of my opposition leaders have speculated on massive water diversions and superhighways to the continent -- maybe interplanetary, I'm not sure, as well. (Laughter.) I even -- there were reports of a former Prime Minister lurking in the hallways -- I have yet to see him. (Laughter.)
Look, we have an enormous trading commercial relationship. It's important that the leaders of that trading relationship get together periodically, have discussions, just as it's important at every level -- ministerial level, official level -- that they're getting together and talking and making sure they're working out problems.
You know, we had some business leaders in front of us today; one in particular said, you know, the rules for jelly beans -- he manufactures jelly beans -- the rules for jelly bean contents are different in Canada and the United States; they have to maintain two separate inventories. Is the sovereignty of Canada going to fall apart if we standardize the jelly bean? I don't think so. Maybe Mr. Dion thinks so, but I don't think so.
So these are pragmatic, practical discussions. In fact, it was my predecessor in the Liberal Party who initiated them. And ultimately, of course, for the decisions, we're responsible to our respective populations. We're a democratic system and, as President Calderón mentioned, I have to listen to that practical input every single day in parliament.
PRESIDENT CALDERÓN: (As translated.) Well, in fact, I'll be happy with one step in Mexicali and one in Tijuana. In actual fact, there are several myths about this meeting, some more jovial, funnier than others. What we tried to do is simply to meet, talk about our common problems and see what we can do in practical terms in order to improve the lives of our people. Whether it's to standardize the parameters for chocolates or medicines, I think these are common-sense things, and moreover, I think -- I'll tell you this very clearly -- I think that as a region, we are losing competitiveness in comparison with other regions in the world.
And it's not a question of customs unions, let alone having an integration that would actually encroach on the sovereignty and culture and resources of each country. We simply have to take advantage of this opportunity of being neighbors and allies in order to generate prosperity and security for our people. That is the purpose of these meetings.
Now, let me tell you, at times I would even like to work faster, review more issues, but we have to be very patient. And something that we did talk about also, which is part of my responsibility, or our responsibilities as leaders, is to talk to the people and tell them why it's important to have better trading rules, why it's important not to have so many barriers between ourselves, why it's important to resolve issues such as immigration, investment, because that could actually improve the quality of life for our people. It could mean the Mexican consumers could have better products, Canadian products, U.S. products and -- well, Mexican products also -- because there would be more investment in our country, which requires thousands and thousands of jobs in order to resolve the problems of the people. And when that happens, when there's investment -- and there's only investment when there is competitiveness. And we do have a way to go in that regard.
PRESIDENT BUSH: We represent three great nations. We each respect each other's sovereignty. You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they're wrong. I believe it's in our interest to trade; I believe it's in our interest to dialogue; I believe it's in our interest to work out common problems for the good of our people.
And I'm amused by some of the speculation, some of the old -- you can call them political scare tactics. If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist. That's just the way some people operate. I'm here representing my nation. I feel strongly that the United States is a force for good, and I feel strongly that by working with our neighbors we can a stronger force for good.
So I appreciate that question. I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place. It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about.
PRIME MINISTER HARPER: (As translated.) Might I add, in French, I did not know that there were these major plots that were mentioned by the head of the opposition, Mr. Martin, a Liberal prime minister, who initiated these discussions, I believe, for Mr. Dion. It is a rather regressive step backwards to this whole question of our NAFTA discussions and SPP.
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Bush doesn't deny plans for N. American Union
President avoids question, ridicules conspiracy theorists who believe it
August 21, 2007 - 5:00 p.m. Eastern
Note: WND's Jerome Corsi will be the guest during the first hour hour tonight of Coast to Coast AM, discussing the North American summit on radio stations across America, beginning just after 1 a.m. Eastern time. 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico conferred over the Security and Prosperity Partnership
MONTEBELLO, Quebec – President Bush today sidestepped a direct question about whether he'd be willing to categorically deny there is a plan to create the North American Union. Instead, he ridiculed those who believe that is taking place as conspiracy theorists. The exchange came at a news conference held by Bush, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who met at a resort in the rural woods outside of Ottawa, Quebec, to discuss their latest work on the Security and Prosperity Partnership. After the trio presented their prepared statement about the SPP, several reporters who had been selected in advance were allowed to ask questions. When it came time for a question from a Fox News reporter, Bush was asked if he would be willing to categorically deny that there is a plan to create a North American Union, or that there are plans to create NAFTA Superhighways.
As you three leaders meet here, there are a growing number of people in each of your countries who have expressed concern about the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is addressed to all three of you. Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union? Are there plans to build some kind of superhighway connecting all three countries? And do you believe all of these theories about a possible erosion of national identity stem from a lack of transparency from this partnership? was the question, according to a White House transcript. Reporters at the news conference said he sidestepped, instead adopting the tactic that those who are arguing the European Union model of integrating nations into a larger continental union is being used in North America should be ridiculed. He called it an old political scare tactic, to try to create a wild conspiracy and then demand that those who are not engaged prove that it isn't happening.
Bush's answer was:
We represent three great nations. We each respect each other's sovereignty. You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they're wrong. I believe it's in our interest to trade; I believe it's in our interest to dialogue; I believe it's in our interest to work out common problems for the good of our people.And I'm amused by some of the speculation, some of the old – you can call them political scare tactics. If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist. That's just the way some people operate. I'm here representing my nation. I feel strongly that the United States is a force for good, and I feel strongly that by working with our neighbors we can a stronger force for good. So I appreciate that question. I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place. It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about.Harper joined in. There's not going to be any NAFTA Superhighway connecting the three nations, he said, and it's not going to go interplanetary either, he said.
Harper said the SPP discussions that were held concerned such pressing issues as jelly beans. He said the business interests expressing their desires for progress on the SPP noted there were different standards in the United States and Canada, and there was a discussion about whether those standards could be made uniform for the U.S. and Canada. Bush's comments echoed the comments published just a day earlier in the Ottawa Citizen by David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. While conspiracy theories abound, you can take it to the bank that no one involved in these discussions is interested in, or has ever proposed, a North American Union, a North American super highway, or a North American currency,he wrote. The United States, Canada and Mexico are three distinct, sovereign countries that practice democracy differently, he wrote. Each proudly defends its own interests. But our leaders also recognize that we share a continent in this post-Sept. 11 world, where terrorism is but one threat. We have a vested interest in working together to prevent potential threats outside North America – like those posed by pandemic flu or improperly labeled foods, for example – from penetrating our borders.
Wilkins wrote that the nations also are exploring ways to detect radiological threats and coordinating emergency efforts along our borders in the event of a man-made or natural disaster. It just makes sense when you share thousands of miles of common border to share a common emergency-management plan.He said another goal is to reduce the cost of doing business across national borders. The Late Great USA, which was criticized by President Bush at the conclusion of the SPP summit in Quebec However, Jerome Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D. whose newly published book, The Late Great USA, uses the government's own documentation to show the advance of a North American Union, said ridicule is the last resort of someone who is losing an argument.Such tactics, Corsi said, underestimate the intelligence of people listening, and people realize that the argument wasn't answered.At the news conference, he noted, Bush failed to respond to the Fox News question with a denial of the plans for a North American Union.
And, Corsi said, Bush did not address the fact that Texas Gov. Rick Perrry vetoed a two-year moratorium on the Trans-Texas Corridor project, believed to be the starting point for an eventual continent-wide grid of NAFTA Superhighways. Just to ridicule the idea, when he had a change to categorically deny it, raises doubts in peoples minds, especially when these meetings aren't transparent, Corsi added. The meeting this week, which focused on economic issues, was attended by representatives of dozens of multinational corporations anxious to have their manufacturing and sales processes smoothed. However, Corsi said, not one person who objects is permitted inside the room.At the same time, Bush did affirm that there is a plan under consideration for the United States to provide military assistance to Mexico's military in its battles in the drug war, although officials were not ready to announce what that plan includes. The three national leaders simply affirmed that drug trade is a continental problem and would demand a continental solution.
The formal statement from the three leaders referred to the opportunities and challenges facing North America and [the need] to establish priorities for our further collaboration.They said the three nations already have agreed to a North American plan for avian and pandemic influenza, a Regulatory Cooperation Framework, an intellectual property action strategy and a Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science and Technology.The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), announced last year in Cancun, has provided us with thoughtful recommendations on how we could strengthen the competitive platform for business, the statement said.
The statement said the Regulatory Cooperation Framework will allow various rules to be streamlined across borders. In the coming year, we ask our ministers to consider work in areas, such as the chemicals, automotive, transportation, and information and communications technology sectors, the statement said. And the Intellectual Property Action Strategy also gives us an invaluable tool for combating counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine innovation, harm economic development and can have negative public-health and safety implications, the three said.
Food safety and border security also were discussed. Our governments will continue to address the safety of food and products imported into North America, while facilitating the significant trade in these products that our countries already have and without imposing unnecessary barriers to trade, the leaders said. It is sometimes best to screen goods and travelers prior to entry into North America. We ask our ministers to develop mutually acceptable inspection protocols to detect threats to our security, such as from incoming travelers during a pandemic and from radiological devices on general aviation, the statement said. But protesters who staged events in Ottawa as the meetings were moving forward, warned of the integration and harmonizing the SPP seeks. The SPP is pursuing an agenda to integrate Mexico and Canada in closed-door sessions that are getting underway today in Montebello, Howard Phillips, the chairman of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, told an earlier press conference in Ottawa. We are here to register our protest, Phillips added, along with the protests of thousands of Americans who agree with us that the SPP is a globalist agenda driven by the multi-national corporate interests and intellectual elite who together have launched an attack upon the national sovereignty of the United States, Canada and Mexico.Connie Fogel, head of the Canadian Action Party, agreed with Phillips. Canadians are complaining that the SPP process lacks transparency, Fogel told the press conference. Transparency is a major issue, but even if the SPP working groups were open to the public, we would still object to their goal to advance the North American integration agenda at the expense of Canadian sovereignty.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
HURRICANE DEAN IN MEXICO
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.
Hurricane Dean races to Mexico's Gulf By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer AUG 21,07
FELIPE CARRILLO PUERTO, Mexico - Hurricane Dean slammed into the Caribbean coast of Mexico on Tuesday as a roaring Category 5 hurricane, the most intense Atlantic storm to make landfall in two decades. It lashed remote Mayan villages as it raced across the Yucatan Peninsula to the heart of Mexico's oil industry. Dean's path was a stroke of luck for Mexico: After killing 13 people in the Caribbean, it made landfall along a sparsely populated coastline, well to the south of the major resorts where 50,000 tourists had been evacuated.It weakened to a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, but was expected to grow back into a powerful hurricane as it draws fuel from the warm waters of the lower Gulf of Mexico, where more than 100 offshore oil platforms were evacuated ahead of the storm.
We often see that when a storm weakens, people let down their guard completely. You shouldn't do that, said Jamie Rhome, a hurricane specialist. This storm probably won't become a Category 5 again, but it will still be powerful.When Dean first struck land near the cruise port of Majahual, it had sustained winds near 165 mph and gusts that reached 200 mph — faster than the takeoff speed of many passenger jets. It had an expected storm surge of 12 to 18 feet above normal tides and dumped huge amounts of rain on low-lying areas where thousands of Mayan Indians live in stick huts in isolated communities.With the storm still screaming, there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or major damage, Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez told Mexico's Televisa network, though officials had not been able to survey the area.Soldiers evacuated more than 250 small communities, but some turned away soldiers with machetes and refused to leave or hid when the army evacuated the area, said Jorge Acevedo, a spokesman for the state of Quintana Roo. Their fate was unknown.
The eye passed directly over the state capital of Chetumal, where residents were ordered to stay home until 10 a.m. Tuesday after a harrowing night with windows shattering and heavy water tanks flying off of rooftops. Sirens wailed constantly as the storm battered the city for hours, hurling billboards down streets. All electricity was down.Just across the border in Belize, trees fell and debris flew through the air. The government evacuated Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye — both popular with American tourists — and ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Belize City north to the Mexican border.In the largely Mayan town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, about 30 miles north of the eye's westward path, people stared from their porches at broken tree limbs and electrical cables crisscrossing streets flooded with ankle-deep water.Tin roofing ripped from houses clunked hollowly as it bounced in the wind whistling through town.
We began to feel the strong winds about 2 in the morning and you could hear that the trees were breaking and some tin roofs were coming off, said Miguel Colli, a 36-year-old store employee. Everyone holed up in their houses. Thank God that the worst is over.In the Belizean town of Corozal, about nine miles south of Chetumal, Dean flipped over a residential trailer, detached roofs from houses, ripped plywood off windows and spread floodwaters as high as 3 feet. No deaths or major injuries were reported there or in Belize City, where thousands evacuated to higher ground.By 1 p.m. EDT, Dean had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 mph. It was about 45 miles southeast of Campeche and was moving west at 18 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Dean's path takes it directly through the Cantarell oil field, Mexico's most productive, with dozens of oil rigs and three major ports. All were shut down just ahead of the storm, resulting in a production loss of 2.7 million barrels of oil and 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. The path also veers toward Mexico's only nuclear plant, where a state official said 2,000 buses were brought in to evacuate personnel if necessary.The Laguna Verde nuclear plant, which is more than 20 years old and has endured other severe weather with no problems, implemented emergency procedures and remains online, said Estefano Conde, spokesman for Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission. I can assure you that everything is well taken care of, he said.Dean was to expected slam into the central Mexican coast as a major hurricane Wednesday afternoon about 400 miles south of the Texas border. The United States was expected to see few effects from the storm.President Felipe Calderon was cutting short his trip in Canada where he met with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper so that he could travel Tuesday to the hardest-hit areas. Bush offered U.S. assistance and expressed his concern for the citizens of Mexico and elsewhere whose lives were effected.
We stand ready to help, Bush said with Calderon at his side. The American people care a lot about the human condition in our neighborhood and when we see human suffering we want to do what we can.The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour landed a day early Tuesday, its mission cut short by the initial possibility that Dean could pose a threat to Mission Control in Houston. The storm picked up strength after brushing Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and became a monstrous Category 5 hurricane Monday. Jamaica postponed Aug. 27 general elections in order to survey damage, which was extensive in the capital and the island's east. Dean is the first Category 5 to make landfall in the Atlantic region since Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992.
Insured losses from the storm are likely to range between $750 million and $1.5 billion, most of it Jamaica, according to latest estimates by Risk Management Solutions, which calculates hurricane damage for the insurance industry. Cancun's tourist strip is still marked with cranes used to repair the damage from 2005's Hurricane Wilma, which caused $3 billion in losses. Associated Press writers contributing to this report included John Pain and Jennifer Kay in Miami; Karla Heusner Vernon in Ladyville, Belize; Greg Bull in Campeche, Mexico; Lisa Adams in Mexico City.
Floods in US midwestern states kill 12: reports
Aug 20 08:22 AM US/Eastern
Flooding from torrential rain killed at least 12 people in two US states, washing away roads and homes and prompting dramatic rescues of those trapped on roofs and in cars, reports said Monday. Six died in the north midwestern state of Minnesota as a result of the flooding, the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis said, updating an earlier toll of four. In Oklahoma, in the central midwest, local authorities said slow moving storms had left six dead, as the remnants of tropical storm Erin dumped heavy rain there and triggered flooding, The Oklahoman daily reported. US television showed dramatic pictures of people perched helplessly atop a sinking truck and hanging from a rescue helicopter after being hauled out of the vast brown flood waters. The dead in Oklahoma included a woman who drowned in her cellar which filled with water overnight, as well as a man who apparently drowned in his truck and three women who were in a van that was swept into fast-moving waters, the newspaper said.
In Minnesota Sunday more than one car plunged into a 30-feet (nine metres) deep pit after rain washed away a road overnight in the small town of Witoka, Bob Reinert, the administrator of southern Winona County, told AFP Sunday. Railroad bridges, houses and buildings were all swept away in the flooding with six to eight inches of rain falling in some areas. More rain was expected overnight Monday to Tuesday.
While the weakening storm drifted across Oklahoma, powerful Hurricane Dean battered Jamaica later on Sunday and could later strike the southern US coast in Texas.
WORLD TRAVEL AND KNOWLEDGE INCREASED
DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)
Artificial Life Likely in 3 to 10 Years
Aug 19 11:52 PM US/Eastern - By SETH BORENSTEIN - AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer. Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of wet artificial life.
It's going to be a big deal and everybody's going to know about it, said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice, Italy, one of those in the race. We're talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways—in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict.That first cell of synthetic life—made from the basic chemicals in DNA—may not seem like much to non-scientists. For one thing, you'll have to look in a microscope to see it.
Creating protocells has the potential to shed new light on our place in the universe, Bedau said. This will remove one of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role.And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste. Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating synthetic life:
—A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.
—A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.
—A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.
One of the leaders in the field, Jack Szostak at Harvard Medical School, predicts that within the next six months, scientists will report evidence that the first step—creating a cell membrane—is not a big problem. Scientists are using fatty acids in that effort. Szostak is also optimistic about the next step—getting nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to form a working genetic system. His idea is that once the container is made, if scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over. We aren't smart enough to design things, we just let evolution do the hard work and then we figure out what happened, Szostak said. In Gainesville, Fla., Steve Benner, a biological chemist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution is attacking that problem by going outside of natural genetics. Normal DNA consists of four bases—adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (known as A,C,G,T)—molecules that spell out the genetic code in pairs. Benner is trying to add eight new bases to the genetic alphabet.
Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could run amok, but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem. When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab, he said. But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen.(This version CORRECTS Bedau quote to shed new light).
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 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 Supplies New Missile System to Syria
5 Elul 5767, August 19, '07
(IsraelNN.com) Russia has delivered 10 batteries of advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria as part of the $900 million arms deal between the two nations, with more on the way, according to Russian military sources quoted Friday by the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Nonetheless, two unnamed moderate Arab nations have sent messages to Jerusalem claiming that Syria does not plan to attack Israel.
The missiles are part of the Pantsyr-S1 (code-named by NATO as SA-22) system purchased by Syria, which includes portable short-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), with launchers that can be mounted on vehicles and moved along the border.
Israel is concerned that the weapons may make their way to Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon, to be used against the Jewish State. The terrorist group has completely replenished its supplies of rockets and other materiel since the end of the Second Lebanon War last summer, with the aid of smugglers crossing the border into Lebanon from Syria.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
THE EU DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.
Brown under pressure over EU treaty
20.08.2007 - 09:22 CET | By Honor Mahony
UK prime minister Gordon Brown could lose up to a quarter of voters from his own labour party if he does not put the new EU treaty to a popular vote, a new survey has suggested.The ICM poll for the Daily Mail said that 24 percent of labour supporters may not support Mr Brown in general elections if he does not take the referendum path for the EU Reform Treaty, set to be finalised by the end of the year.
The poll also showed that 82 percent of voters as whole - and 80 percent of labour voters - want a referendum on whether to accept the treaty or not.The EU treaty issue has barely left the news pages in the UK since its outline was agreed by EU leaders in June.The outline maintains many of the features of the original EU constitution, rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005.
The labour government under Tony Blair had promised to have a referendum on the old constitution but now argues that the revised treaty is sufficiently different and that Britain secured enough opt-outs - including in the justice areas and a human rights charter - to make this step unnecessary.But the opposition Conservatives have mounted a strong campaign to get a referendum arguing the new treaty is very similar to the rejected constitution.The ICM poll, which questioned 1,004 people in mid August, comes at crucial time for Mr Brown with British media speculating whether he will call early general elections to take advantage of his popularity ratings since taking over from Mr Blair in late June.The rest of the EU is also carefully watching the UK on this issue. So far, only Ireland has said it will hold a referendum on the new European treaty.But a British referendum – aside from the high chances of a No vote – would also put pressure on other countries to take a similar path.This is exactly what politicians in other member states were hoping to avoid.
Informal talks in Portugal
German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, who is representing the European Parliament in the current negotiations to finalise the EU treaty, warned Britain against a referendum.Gordon Brown's government has said there is no justification for a referendum and the UK should stick to this commitment, said Mr Brok, according to the Daily Telegraph.It would be very unfair of the UK if, having more or less got what it wanted in the new treaty, it would then turn round and put this to a popular vote, he added, saying it would undermine the talks on the treaty.The talks, taking place at a technical level, will take off once again next week after the summer recess.The experts are expecting to have made the first legal sweep of the text by the first week of September.The treaty issue is set to move from the technical back to the political stage on 7 September when EU foreign ministers are expected to tackle the topic at informal talks in Portugal.
EU constitution timeline
By Martina Smit - 3:05pm BST 20/08/2007
Since its conception, the constitution of European Union has suffered much opposition - yet Britain's Government continues to refuse the public a chance to vote on the controversial document.
July 2003: The final draft of the first Constitution of the European Union is published.
April 2004: In one of the biggest about-turns of his career, Prime Minister Tony Blair tells the Commons that the public will have the final say on the EU Constitution.
June 2004: A summit of European Union member states, under the presidency of Bertie Ahern, agrees on the final wording of the document.
Oct 2004: The Constitution is signed in Rome, but can only come into force once it has been ratified by all 25 member states.
Feb 2005: In a Spanish referendum, 77% of voters come out in favour of the Constitution. Luxembourg also backs the document in a national vote in July that year.
Sixteen other states - starting with Lithuania - ratify or nearly ratify the document by a parliamentary or other high political process, which does not involve a public vote.
May 2005: The French vote non in a referendum. Three days later, the Dutch follow suit. In the light of this, the seven remaining member states cancel or postpone their ratifications.
June 2007: The European Council meeting negotiates on a Reform Treaty as a replacement.
Mr Blair claims he secured opt-outs to protect key British interests, but he surrendered Britain’s right to veto EU decisions in more than 40 other areas of policy.
The Opposition steps up calls for a referendum after it emerges the pledge is not legally binding.
Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, says the treaty is 90 per cent the same as the constitution.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, says the fundamentals of the constitution was retained in the treaty. Jose Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, says the treaty captured a great part of the constitution.
July 2007: Gordon Brown, Britain's new Prime Minister, rules out a British referendum on the treaty.
Senior EU officials say Britain's opt-out is worthless, as the charter would apply to the 75% or more of British law that is derived from EU legislation.
Aug 2007: A Tory analysis shows the treaty contains only 10 changes to the 250 proposals outlined in the original constitution.
More than 50,000 people sign a Daily Telegraph petition calling for a referendum on the treaty. A survey shows more than eight out of 10 Britons want to vote on the treaty.
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.
Hurricane Dean races to Mexico's Gulf By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer AUG 21,07
FELIPE CARRILLO PUERTO, Mexico - Hurricane Dean slammed into the Caribbean coast of Mexico on Tuesday as a roaring Category 5 hurricane, the most intense Atlantic storm to make landfall in two decades. It lashed remote Mayan villages as it raced across the Yucatan Peninsula to the heart of Mexico's oil industry. Dean's path was a stroke of luck for Mexico: After killing 13 people in the Caribbean, it made landfall along a sparsely populated coastline, well to the south of the major resorts where 50,000 tourists had been evacuated.It weakened to a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, but was expected to grow back into a powerful hurricane as it draws fuel from the warm waters of the lower Gulf of Mexico, where more than 100 offshore oil platforms were evacuated ahead of the storm.
We often see that when a storm weakens, people let down their guard completely. You shouldn't do that, said Jamie Rhome, a hurricane specialist. This storm probably won't become a Category 5 again, but it will still be powerful.When Dean first struck land near the cruise port of Majahual, it had sustained winds near 165 mph and gusts that reached 200 mph — faster than the takeoff speed of many passenger jets. It had an expected storm surge of 12 to 18 feet above normal tides and dumped huge amounts of rain on low-lying areas where thousands of Mayan Indians live in stick huts in isolated communities.With the storm still screaming, there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or major damage, Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez told Mexico's Televisa network, though officials had not been able to survey the area.Soldiers evacuated more than 250 small communities, but some turned away soldiers with machetes and refused to leave or hid when the army evacuated the area, said Jorge Acevedo, a spokesman for the state of Quintana Roo. Their fate was unknown.
The eye passed directly over the state capital of Chetumal, where residents were ordered to stay home until 10 a.m. Tuesday after a harrowing night with windows shattering and heavy water tanks flying off of rooftops. Sirens wailed constantly as the storm battered the city for hours, hurling billboards down streets. All electricity was down.Just across the border in Belize, trees fell and debris flew through the air. The government evacuated Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye — both popular with American tourists — and ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Belize City north to the Mexican border.In the largely Mayan town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, about 30 miles north of the eye's westward path, people stared from their porches at broken tree limbs and electrical cables crisscrossing streets flooded with ankle-deep water.Tin roofing ripped from houses clunked hollowly as it bounced in the wind whistling through town.
We began to feel the strong winds about 2 in the morning and you could hear that the trees were breaking and some tin roofs were coming off, said Miguel Colli, a 36-year-old store employee. Everyone holed up in their houses. Thank God that the worst is over.In the Belizean town of Corozal, about nine miles south of Chetumal, Dean flipped over a residential trailer, detached roofs from houses, ripped plywood off windows and spread floodwaters as high as 3 feet. No deaths or major injuries were reported there or in Belize City, where thousands evacuated to higher ground.By 1 p.m. EDT, Dean had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 mph. It was about 45 miles southeast of Campeche and was moving west at 18 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Dean's path takes it directly through the Cantarell oil field, Mexico's most productive, with dozens of oil rigs and three major ports. All were shut down just ahead of the storm, resulting in a production loss of 2.7 million barrels of oil and 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. The path also veers toward Mexico's only nuclear plant, where a state official said 2,000 buses were brought in to evacuate personnel if necessary.The Laguna Verde nuclear plant, which is more than 20 years old and has endured other severe weather with no problems, implemented emergency procedures and remains online, said Estefano Conde, spokesman for Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission. I can assure you that everything is well taken care of, he said.Dean was to expected slam into the central Mexican coast as a major hurricane Wednesday afternoon about 400 miles south of the Texas border. The United States was expected to see few effects from the storm.President Felipe Calderon was cutting short his trip in Canada where he met with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper so that he could travel Tuesday to the hardest-hit areas. Bush offered U.S. assistance and expressed his concern for the citizens of Mexico and elsewhere whose lives were effected.
We stand ready to help, Bush said with Calderon at his side. The American people care a lot about the human condition in our neighborhood and when we see human suffering we want to do what we can.The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour landed a day early Tuesday, its mission cut short by the initial possibility that Dean could pose a threat to Mission Control in Houston. The storm picked up strength after brushing Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and became a monstrous Category 5 hurricane Monday. Jamaica postponed Aug. 27 general elections in order to survey damage, which was extensive in the capital and the island's east. Dean is the first Category 5 to make landfall in the Atlantic region since Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992.
Insured losses from the storm are likely to range between $750 million and $1.5 billion, most of it Jamaica, according to latest estimates by Risk Management Solutions, which calculates hurricane damage for the insurance industry. Cancun's tourist strip is still marked with cranes used to repair the damage from 2005's Hurricane Wilma, which caused $3 billion in losses. Associated Press writers contributing to this report included John Pain and Jennifer Kay in Miami; Karla Heusner Vernon in Ladyville, Belize; Greg Bull in Campeche, Mexico; Lisa Adams in Mexico City.
Floods in US midwestern states kill 12: reports
Aug 20 08:22 AM US/Eastern
Flooding from torrential rain killed at least 12 people in two US states, washing away roads and homes and prompting dramatic rescues of those trapped on roofs and in cars, reports said Monday. Six died in the north midwestern state of Minnesota as a result of the flooding, the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis said, updating an earlier toll of four. In Oklahoma, in the central midwest, local authorities said slow moving storms had left six dead, as the remnants of tropical storm Erin dumped heavy rain there and triggered flooding, The Oklahoman daily reported. US television showed dramatic pictures of people perched helplessly atop a sinking truck and hanging from a rescue helicopter after being hauled out of the vast brown flood waters. The dead in Oklahoma included a woman who drowned in her cellar which filled with water overnight, as well as a man who apparently drowned in his truck and three women who were in a van that was swept into fast-moving waters, the newspaper said.
In Minnesota Sunday more than one car plunged into a 30-feet (nine metres) deep pit after rain washed away a road overnight in the small town of Witoka, Bob Reinert, the administrator of southern Winona County, told AFP Sunday. Railroad bridges, houses and buildings were all swept away in the flooding with six to eight inches of rain falling in some areas. More rain was expected overnight Monday to Tuesday.
While the weakening storm drifted across Oklahoma, powerful Hurricane Dean battered Jamaica later on Sunday and could later strike the southern US coast in Texas.
WORLD TRAVEL AND KNOWLEDGE INCREASED
DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)
Artificial Life Likely in 3 to 10 Years
Aug 19 11:52 PM US/Eastern - By SETH BORENSTEIN - AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer. Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of wet artificial life.
It's going to be a big deal and everybody's going to know about it, said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice, Italy, one of those in the race. We're talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways—in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict.That first cell of synthetic life—made from the basic chemicals in DNA—may not seem like much to non-scientists. For one thing, you'll have to look in a microscope to see it.
Creating protocells has the potential to shed new light on our place in the universe, Bedau said. This will remove one of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role.And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste. Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating synthetic life:
—A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.
—A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.
—A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.
One of the leaders in the field, Jack Szostak at Harvard Medical School, predicts that within the next six months, scientists will report evidence that the first step—creating a cell membrane—is not a big problem. Scientists are using fatty acids in that effort. Szostak is also optimistic about the next step—getting nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to form a working genetic system. His idea is that once the container is made, if scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over. We aren't smart enough to design things, we just let evolution do the hard work and then we figure out what happened, Szostak said. In Gainesville, Fla., Steve Benner, a biological chemist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution is attacking that problem by going outside of natural genetics. Normal DNA consists of four bases—adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (known as A,C,G,T)—molecules that spell out the genetic code in pairs. Benner is trying to add eight new bases to the genetic alphabet.
Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could run amok, but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem. When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab, he said. But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen.(This version CORRECTS Bedau quote to shed new light).
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 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 Supplies New Missile System to Syria
5 Elul 5767, August 19, '07
(IsraelNN.com) Russia has delivered 10 batteries of advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria as part of the $900 million arms deal between the two nations, with more on the way, according to Russian military sources quoted Friday by the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Nonetheless, two unnamed moderate Arab nations have sent messages to Jerusalem claiming that Syria does not plan to attack Israel.
The missiles are part of the Pantsyr-S1 (code-named by NATO as SA-22) system purchased by Syria, which includes portable short-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), with launchers that can be mounted on vehicles and moved along the border.
Israel is concerned that the weapons may make their way to Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon, to be used against the Jewish State. The terrorist group has completely replenished its supplies of rockets and other materiel since the end of the Second Lebanon War last summer, with the aid of smugglers crossing the border into Lebanon from Syria.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
THE EU DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.
Brown under pressure over EU treaty
20.08.2007 - 09:22 CET | By Honor Mahony
UK prime minister Gordon Brown could lose up to a quarter of voters from his own labour party if he does not put the new EU treaty to a popular vote, a new survey has suggested.The ICM poll for the Daily Mail said that 24 percent of labour supporters may not support Mr Brown in general elections if he does not take the referendum path for the EU Reform Treaty, set to be finalised by the end of the year.
The poll also showed that 82 percent of voters as whole - and 80 percent of labour voters - want a referendum on whether to accept the treaty or not.The EU treaty issue has barely left the news pages in the UK since its outline was agreed by EU leaders in June.The outline maintains many of the features of the original EU constitution, rejected by the French and the Dutch in 2005.
The labour government under Tony Blair had promised to have a referendum on the old constitution but now argues that the revised treaty is sufficiently different and that Britain secured enough opt-outs - including in the justice areas and a human rights charter - to make this step unnecessary.But the opposition Conservatives have mounted a strong campaign to get a referendum arguing the new treaty is very similar to the rejected constitution.The ICM poll, which questioned 1,004 people in mid August, comes at crucial time for Mr Brown with British media speculating whether he will call early general elections to take advantage of his popularity ratings since taking over from Mr Blair in late June.The rest of the EU is also carefully watching the UK on this issue. So far, only Ireland has said it will hold a referendum on the new European treaty.But a British referendum – aside from the high chances of a No vote – would also put pressure on other countries to take a similar path.This is exactly what politicians in other member states were hoping to avoid.
Informal talks in Portugal
German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, who is representing the European Parliament in the current negotiations to finalise the EU treaty, warned Britain against a referendum.Gordon Brown's government has said there is no justification for a referendum and the UK should stick to this commitment, said Mr Brok, according to the Daily Telegraph.It would be very unfair of the UK if, having more or less got what it wanted in the new treaty, it would then turn round and put this to a popular vote, he added, saying it would undermine the talks on the treaty.The talks, taking place at a technical level, will take off once again next week after the summer recess.The experts are expecting to have made the first legal sweep of the text by the first week of September.The treaty issue is set to move from the technical back to the political stage on 7 September when EU foreign ministers are expected to tackle the topic at informal talks in Portugal.
EU constitution timeline
By Martina Smit - 3:05pm BST 20/08/2007
Since its conception, the constitution of European Union has suffered much opposition - yet Britain's Government continues to refuse the public a chance to vote on the controversial document.
July 2003: The final draft of the first Constitution of the European Union is published.
April 2004: In one of the biggest about-turns of his career, Prime Minister Tony Blair tells the Commons that the public will have the final say on the EU Constitution.
June 2004: A summit of European Union member states, under the presidency of Bertie Ahern, agrees on the final wording of the document.
Oct 2004: The Constitution is signed in Rome, but can only come into force once it has been ratified by all 25 member states.
Feb 2005: In a Spanish referendum, 77% of voters come out in favour of the Constitution. Luxembourg also backs the document in a national vote in July that year.
Sixteen other states - starting with Lithuania - ratify or nearly ratify the document by a parliamentary or other high political process, which does not involve a public vote.
May 2005: The French vote non in a referendum. Three days later, the Dutch follow suit. In the light of this, the seven remaining member states cancel or postpone their ratifications.
June 2007: The European Council meeting negotiates on a Reform Treaty as a replacement.
Mr Blair claims he secured opt-outs to protect key British interests, but he surrendered Britain’s right to veto EU decisions in more than 40 other areas of policy.
The Opposition steps up calls for a referendum after it emerges the pledge is not legally binding.
Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, says the treaty is 90 per cent the same as the constitution.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, says the fundamentals of the constitution was retained in the treaty. Jose Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, says the treaty captured a great part of the constitution.
July 2007: Gordon Brown, Britain's new Prime Minister, rules out a British referendum on the treaty.
Senior EU officials say Britain's opt-out is worthless, as the charter would apply to the 75% or more of British law that is derived from EU legislation.
Aug 2007: A Tory analysis shows the treaty contains only 10 changes to the 250 proposals outlined in the original constitution.
More than 50,000 people sign a Daily Telegraph petition calling for a referendum on the treaty. A survey shows more than eight out of 10 Britons want to vote on the treaty.
Monday, August 20, 2007
APPROACH TO JIHAD START YOUNG - ARABS
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.
Hurricane Dean threatens Mexico after battering Jamaica AUG 20,07
KINGSTON (AFP) - Hurricane Dean headed for Mexico on Monday, after battering Jamaica into a state of emergency by downing power lines, ripping off roofs and blocking roads with felled trees.Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced late Sunday that security forces would be granted wider powers after police reported several looting incidents across the island.The state of emergency will be reviewed at a meeting of the Jamaican cabinet later on Monday, but was envisaged for a period of 30 days, and Miller even indicated that national elections on August 27 may be delayed due to Dean.The category four hurricane, packing winds of 150 miles (240 kilometers) an hour which have so far killed five people across the Caribbean basin, was whipping up giant surf as it headed south of the Cayman Islands for Belize and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.Roads were blocked by fallen trees and flooded in the eastern parts of Jamaica, with power cuts affecting thousands of homes.The sea has dumped debris onto the roads, Portland parish Mayor Bobbie Montague said as the storm surged by Jamaica's southern coast, on course for the nearby Cayman Islands, Mexico and possibly Texas in coming days.
In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has ordered elderly people in the Rio Grande Valley region to be evacuated in case Dean's track takes it in a more northerly direction, which could put it over the southern tip of Texas by Thursday, CNN news reported.
At 0900 GMT, the center of Dean was located 115 miles (185 kilometers) south-southeast of Grand Cayman Island, moving west at about 21 miles (33 kilometers) an hour, said the US National Hurricane Center. Dean remained an extremely dangerous category four hurricane, the center pointed out, adding that the storm had the potential of becoming a deadly category five hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea on Monday. Jamaica's airports were shut since Saturday, and more than 4,500 people have packed into hundreds of shelters opened up by the government around the island amid bitter memories of Hurricane Ivan which killed 14 people in 2004.Miller called on all off-duty police officers, firefighters and prison warders to report for work, while electricity was turned off on the national grid as a safety measure.
The Jamaica Public Service Company said more than 135,000 customers were without power.The prime minister called on all political parties to forget about national elections on August 27 and put all differences aside as a national emergency is on us.
Mexico was, meanwhile, evacuating some 90,000 tourists from Cancun and other islands of the Mayan Riviera, as well as some 13,000 workers on more than 140 of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.In Cuba, just to the north of Jamaica, authorities had evacuated some 150,000 people from six eastern provinces to save them from possible flooding.Hurricane Dean earlier brushed past Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, lashing it with heavy rain and gale-force winds. Two people were killed in Haiti's southeastern town of Moron and southern Tiburon, Haitian officials said, and more than 1,000 people evacuated from low-lying areas.Two people were also killed in the French territory of Martinique, while authorities in the Dominican Republic, where a 16-year-old boy was killed when he was swept away by huge waves, warned of the danger of landslides.The National Emergency Committee there also said that 1,580 people had been evacuated and some 316 houses had been damaged, many of them severely.A leading risk modeling company, California-based Eqecat Inc., on Sunday estimated initial losses in the Lesser Antilles islands and Jamaica at between 1.5 billion and three billion dollars.
Bush, Harper, Calderon to tackle economy, security AUG 20,07
By Randall Palmer
OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will review the credit crunch and global market turmoil with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at a two-day summit that starts on Monday.Once ensconced away from protesters at a luxury hotel in Montebello, Quebec, down the Ottawa River from the Canadian capital, the leaders are expected to review the global economy and examine progress towards integrating North America.They are meeting as partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, to develop what they have called a Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP.That was drafted in 2005 following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States to try to ensure that North America is a safe place to live and to do business, seemingly innocuous but upsetting to activists on the left and the right who are concerned about a loss of national sovereignty.
Fences three meters (10 feet) high have been erected around the hotel grounds to keep at bay the thousands of anti-capitalist protesters expected to descend on Montebello.Bush and the other leaders might have to go part way by boat if protesters block the way.On the agenda are global competitiveness, the safety of food and products -- including Chinese-made toys -- energy, the environment and secure borders.Christopher Sands, an expert on Canada at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the meeting was unlikely to produce major strides, but would show that the United States was tending regional ties.The summit is a symbolic manifestation of the fact that Bush, the United States, is in fact paying attention to its neighbors and working on an agenda of mutual concern," he said.
AGENDA
Bush will have separate one-on-one meetings with Harper and Calderon on Monday.
Canadian officials said they were likely to discuss Russia's symbolic laying of claim to the North Pole, where it placed a flag on the seabed, as well as the war in Afghanistan, where Canada has committed 2,500 troops through February 2009.The head of Canada's opposition, Liberal leader Stephane Dion, says Harper should demand that NATO start finding a replacement for Canadian troops.Bush and Harper were also expected to discuss the Middle East, Iran, climate change, and the Doha trade negotiations.Opposition politicians regularly accuse Canada's Conservative prime minister of being a Bush protege, but Harper's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, pointed out that Liberal Paul Martin was in power when the SPP was set up.For Bush and Calderon, it will be their first face-to-face meeting since U.S. immigration overhaul legislation collapsed in Congress and dealt a blow to a key issue for U.S.-Mexico relations.The Bush administration said this month it would increase scrutiny and impose heftier fines on U.S. businesses that employ illegal immigrants.The United States also will expand the visa term for professional workers from Mexico and Canada to three years from one year. I don't think either country was clamoring for this. It's a gesture, Sands said of the visa change.(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Crawford, Texas)
Gazans battle blackouts as EU mulls resuming fuel aid by Sakher Abu El Oun
AUG 20,2007
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Blackouts plagued the Gaza Strip anew on Monday as the European Union was reviewing whether to renew its financing of fuel deliveries for the impoverished territory's sole power plant. Gaza City hummed with the sound of generators and candles disappeared off supermarket shelves as residents stocked up on supplies on the fourth day of intermittent power supplies in one of the world's most densely populated places.Our life is becoming more and more difficult, said Umm Jaber, a 40-year-old mother of six in Gaza City. They've closed the borders, they've cut jobs. Today they've cut the electricity, tomorrow they'll cut the air for us.
The power cuts were the latest blow to hit the territory that has been effectively sealed off by Israel since the Islamist movement Hamas seized control two months ago, sparking fears of a humanitarian crisis.They also marked the latest point of contention between the Western-shunned Islamists and the Western-backed Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank, as the two sides blamed each other for the cuts.The power outages began late Friday, when Gaza's only power plant -- which according to the EU provides between 25 and 30 percent of the territory's power -- shut down all but one of its generators because its diesel supplies dwindled after Israel shut the fuel border crossing on security concerns.Israel reopened the crossing on Sunday, but diesel for the plant was not delivered because the EU -- which finances the supplies -- suspended payments out of security concerns, forcing the plant to shut down completely.
We are still assessing the situation and hope to resume supplies either later on Monday or Tuesday, an EU spokeswoman in Jerusalem told AFP.The power cuts have become a new source of tension between Hamas and president Mahmud Abbas's government in Ramallah.We warned for weeks that Gaza would fall into darkness if Hamas does not stop occupying the electricity company and does not stop holding on to millions of shekels that they collected from the people of Gaza, information minister Riyad al-Malki told reporters in Ramallah.The people in Gaza, in every home and every house, must go into the street and say to Hamas 'you are responsible for this crime.In Gaza, Hamas's parliamentary bloc said Abbas's government headed by prime minister Salam Fayyad, which it refuses to recognise, was to blame.President Abbas and the Fayyad government are responsible for this criminal cut in electricity, it said in a statement. We call on people to protest against his act.We call on the European donors to reconsider their decision, which was made because of lies and political provocation by the government in Ramallah, it said. This decision is inhumane and could badly affect the Palestinian nation.
AND YOU WONDER WHY THE ARABS AND SO CALLED PEACEFUL RELIGION ISLAM HATES CHRISTIANS AND JEWS WITH THIS KIND OF NONSENCE GOING ON BY ISLAM.
Hamas's approach to jihad: Start em young By Dan Murphy AUG 20,07
Gaza City, Gaza - As a weapon in its struggle with Israel, Nahool the Bee doesn't look like a particularly threatening addition to the Hamas arsenal. He doesn't even have a stinger. But what the bright yellow star of Tomorrow's Pioneers on Hamas-owned Al Aqsa television lacks in muscle he makes up for in fervor. Speaking in a recent episode, Nahool vowed to help take back Jerusalem from the criminal Jews and expressed his hope that he and all of his listeners would grow up to become holy warriors.The show, along with paramilitary-style summer camps for Gazan boys, reveal a key element in Hamas's long-term strategy.Like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned Hamas, the group takes a patient approach to tapping religious conviction to build political support. It is the movement's youth focus, critics say, that sets it apart from Hamas's rival, Fatah, which controls the West Bank and enjoys US and Israeli support.
The basic unit of the Hamas organization isn't cells or political committees – it's families. The organization has shown that by introducing children early enough to Hamas's hard-line Islamic thinking, it can recruit lifelong supporters.It hurts us so much when the international community misunderstands us, says Samir Abu Mohsen, a senior director at Al Aqsa. Nahool isn't for teaching hate. It's for teaching children to think in the right way, to socialize them in our culture's way of life, and, of course, to remind them of their rights to the land that was taken from us.
Hamas's revolution will be televised
The Nahool puppet replaces a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfur, who, in an episode several months ago, was shown being killed by an Israeli official after he refused to sell his land to Israelis. Director Mohsen says the show killed off Farfur because of complaints they were infringing on Disney's copyright.Nahool tells his young audience in a high-pitched voice that his anti-Zionist passion is fueled by the memory of his grandfather, who was murdered at the hands of Israeli settlers. Both life-sized puppets have stirred outrage among critics who say that Al Aqsa television teaches children to hate.Mohammed Ramadan, the young man who dons the Nahool costume and who also played Farfur before that character's televised martyrdom, says he's been shocked by international allegations that his characters teach children to hate.Look, Israeli aggression against us is a fact, they kicked these children's grandparents and parents from their homes, and we're not allowed to talk about this? he asks. They need to know.Nevertheless, Mr. Ramadan says that he won't cross certain red lines. A red line would be telling children to go kill Israelis. But talking about our right to our land, to one day return? That's not a red line. That's what they need to know.
Nahool exists for two things, says Mr. Mohsen. Teaching basic stuff like respect for adults, looking twice before crossing the road, and respecting the environment. But No. 2, we want to make sure they remember that we're exiles from our own land, land they have to be committed to regaining.What effect Nahool's antics have on young minds is hard to gauge.Ahmed, a 9-year-old who says he loves recently retired soccer star Zinedine Zidane, allows that he sometimes finds the bumbling bee amusing, but doesn't hesitate to name his favorite character on Palestinian TV – Captain Majid, whose eponymous show chronicles the adventures of a soccer-obsessed boy and his World Cup dreams.
Sun, surf, and paramilitary training
As part of its long-term recruitment policy, in addition to its children's show on Al Aqsa, Hamas is sending tens of thousands of poor Gazan children to camp this summer where they can enjoy sun, surf, and paramilitary training.Life is so tough here we say our children are born men, but they're still just kids, says Mohammed, who runs the Abu Musab Hamas camp in central Gaza and asked that his full name not be used. As he speaks, rows of painfully polite 10-year-olds in green Hamas hats file off the beach at the end of the day. They need entertainment and we give it to them, with a single goal: To get their attention so they develop good Islamic manners, bond their egos to the group, and integrate them into the right way of life.
The group sponsors additional education for top students, much of which is focused on memorizing the Koran. But Hamas isn't neglecting parents, either. The Islamic Group, Hamas's main charity in the territory, has built dozens of homes in recent months for Gazans whose houses were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. It recently held a mass wedding for about 50 policemen loyal to the movement, covering all costs and giving them a $500 head start on their new lives as married men.To be sure, Fatah runs camps of its own for kids, but not on the scale of Hamas's outreach effort or with the same unity of purpose. Though Mohammed mentions soccer, public safety lessons, and basic Muslim teaching, he fails to mention that many of the Gaza camps also include a paramilitary element. A Hamas official says that such training is reserved for boys over 16, but a photographer who recently visited a camp in central Gaza and others say much younger boys also take part in paramilitary exercises.
In one Gaza City camp, boys practiced field drills with wooden pistols and crawled under barbed wire while being harangued by an adult drill instructor. Teenage boys undergo a tougher regimen that includes hand-to-hand combat and exhausting exercise. Boys that break discipline are sometimes beaten with sticks, said the photographer.
Are the camps an important part of our strategy? Of course, says Museb Malik, who runs the First Educational Childhood camp where children are divided into groups named after cities – Haifa, Acre, and Japfa – that Israel now controls and Hamas would like to someday regain. But we're also filling an important social function. These children need something to take their minds off of the violence.Mehmet Gishrawi, a dimpled 9-year-old at the camp, stands beneath a poster of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas founder who was assassinated by Israel in 2004, and explains that he had trouble sleeping after he survived an airstrike two years ago that claimed his cousin and 20 other neighbors. I have had a lot of fun, I've learned a lot, he says. I'm not as afraid now.
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.
Hurricane Dean threatens Mexico after battering Jamaica AUG 20,07
KINGSTON (AFP) - Hurricane Dean headed for Mexico on Monday, after battering Jamaica into a state of emergency by downing power lines, ripping off roofs and blocking roads with felled trees.Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced late Sunday that security forces would be granted wider powers after police reported several looting incidents across the island.The state of emergency will be reviewed at a meeting of the Jamaican cabinet later on Monday, but was envisaged for a period of 30 days, and Miller even indicated that national elections on August 27 may be delayed due to Dean.The category four hurricane, packing winds of 150 miles (240 kilometers) an hour which have so far killed five people across the Caribbean basin, was whipping up giant surf as it headed south of the Cayman Islands for Belize and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.Roads were blocked by fallen trees and flooded in the eastern parts of Jamaica, with power cuts affecting thousands of homes.The sea has dumped debris onto the roads, Portland parish Mayor Bobbie Montague said as the storm surged by Jamaica's southern coast, on course for the nearby Cayman Islands, Mexico and possibly Texas in coming days.
In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has ordered elderly people in the Rio Grande Valley region to be evacuated in case Dean's track takes it in a more northerly direction, which could put it over the southern tip of Texas by Thursday, CNN news reported.
At 0900 GMT, the center of Dean was located 115 miles (185 kilometers) south-southeast of Grand Cayman Island, moving west at about 21 miles (33 kilometers) an hour, said the US National Hurricane Center. Dean remained an extremely dangerous category four hurricane, the center pointed out, adding that the storm had the potential of becoming a deadly category five hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea on Monday. Jamaica's airports were shut since Saturday, and more than 4,500 people have packed into hundreds of shelters opened up by the government around the island amid bitter memories of Hurricane Ivan which killed 14 people in 2004.Miller called on all off-duty police officers, firefighters and prison warders to report for work, while electricity was turned off on the national grid as a safety measure.
The Jamaica Public Service Company said more than 135,000 customers were without power.The prime minister called on all political parties to forget about national elections on August 27 and put all differences aside as a national emergency is on us.
Mexico was, meanwhile, evacuating some 90,000 tourists from Cancun and other islands of the Mayan Riviera, as well as some 13,000 workers on more than 140 of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.In Cuba, just to the north of Jamaica, authorities had evacuated some 150,000 people from six eastern provinces to save them from possible flooding.Hurricane Dean earlier brushed past Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, lashing it with heavy rain and gale-force winds. Two people were killed in Haiti's southeastern town of Moron and southern Tiburon, Haitian officials said, and more than 1,000 people evacuated from low-lying areas.Two people were also killed in the French territory of Martinique, while authorities in the Dominican Republic, where a 16-year-old boy was killed when he was swept away by huge waves, warned of the danger of landslides.The National Emergency Committee there also said that 1,580 people had been evacuated and some 316 houses had been damaged, many of them severely.A leading risk modeling company, California-based Eqecat Inc., on Sunday estimated initial losses in the Lesser Antilles islands and Jamaica at between 1.5 billion and three billion dollars.
Bush, Harper, Calderon to tackle economy, security AUG 20,07
By Randall Palmer
OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will review the credit crunch and global market turmoil with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon at a two-day summit that starts on Monday.Once ensconced away from protesters at a luxury hotel in Montebello, Quebec, down the Ottawa River from the Canadian capital, the leaders are expected to review the global economy and examine progress towards integrating North America.They are meeting as partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, to develop what they have called a Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP.That was drafted in 2005 following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States to try to ensure that North America is a safe place to live and to do business, seemingly innocuous but upsetting to activists on the left and the right who are concerned about a loss of national sovereignty.
Fences three meters (10 feet) high have been erected around the hotel grounds to keep at bay the thousands of anti-capitalist protesters expected to descend on Montebello.Bush and the other leaders might have to go part way by boat if protesters block the way.On the agenda are global competitiveness, the safety of food and products -- including Chinese-made toys -- energy, the environment and secure borders.Christopher Sands, an expert on Canada at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the meeting was unlikely to produce major strides, but would show that the United States was tending regional ties.The summit is a symbolic manifestation of the fact that Bush, the United States, is in fact paying attention to its neighbors and working on an agenda of mutual concern," he said.
AGENDA
Bush will have separate one-on-one meetings with Harper and Calderon on Monday.
Canadian officials said they were likely to discuss Russia's symbolic laying of claim to the North Pole, where it placed a flag on the seabed, as well as the war in Afghanistan, where Canada has committed 2,500 troops through February 2009.The head of Canada's opposition, Liberal leader Stephane Dion, says Harper should demand that NATO start finding a replacement for Canadian troops.Bush and Harper were also expected to discuss the Middle East, Iran, climate change, and the Doha trade negotiations.Opposition politicians regularly accuse Canada's Conservative prime minister of being a Bush protege, but Harper's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, pointed out that Liberal Paul Martin was in power when the SPP was set up.For Bush and Calderon, it will be their first face-to-face meeting since U.S. immigration overhaul legislation collapsed in Congress and dealt a blow to a key issue for U.S.-Mexico relations.The Bush administration said this month it would increase scrutiny and impose heftier fines on U.S. businesses that employ illegal immigrants.The United States also will expand the visa term for professional workers from Mexico and Canada to three years from one year. I don't think either country was clamoring for this. It's a gesture, Sands said of the visa change.(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Crawford, Texas)
Gazans battle blackouts as EU mulls resuming fuel aid by Sakher Abu El Oun
AUG 20,2007
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Blackouts plagued the Gaza Strip anew on Monday as the European Union was reviewing whether to renew its financing of fuel deliveries for the impoverished territory's sole power plant. Gaza City hummed with the sound of generators and candles disappeared off supermarket shelves as residents stocked up on supplies on the fourth day of intermittent power supplies in one of the world's most densely populated places.Our life is becoming more and more difficult, said Umm Jaber, a 40-year-old mother of six in Gaza City. They've closed the borders, they've cut jobs. Today they've cut the electricity, tomorrow they'll cut the air for us.
The power cuts were the latest blow to hit the territory that has been effectively sealed off by Israel since the Islamist movement Hamas seized control two months ago, sparking fears of a humanitarian crisis.They also marked the latest point of contention between the Western-shunned Islamists and the Western-backed Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank, as the two sides blamed each other for the cuts.The power outages began late Friday, when Gaza's only power plant -- which according to the EU provides between 25 and 30 percent of the territory's power -- shut down all but one of its generators because its diesel supplies dwindled after Israel shut the fuel border crossing on security concerns.Israel reopened the crossing on Sunday, but diesel for the plant was not delivered because the EU -- which finances the supplies -- suspended payments out of security concerns, forcing the plant to shut down completely.
We are still assessing the situation and hope to resume supplies either later on Monday or Tuesday, an EU spokeswoman in Jerusalem told AFP.The power cuts have become a new source of tension between Hamas and president Mahmud Abbas's government in Ramallah.We warned for weeks that Gaza would fall into darkness if Hamas does not stop occupying the electricity company and does not stop holding on to millions of shekels that they collected from the people of Gaza, information minister Riyad al-Malki told reporters in Ramallah.The people in Gaza, in every home and every house, must go into the street and say to Hamas 'you are responsible for this crime.In Gaza, Hamas's parliamentary bloc said Abbas's government headed by prime minister Salam Fayyad, which it refuses to recognise, was to blame.President Abbas and the Fayyad government are responsible for this criminal cut in electricity, it said in a statement. We call on people to protest against his act.We call on the European donors to reconsider their decision, which was made because of lies and political provocation by the government in Ramallah, it said. This decision is inhumane and could badly affect the Palestinian nation.
AND YOU WONDER WHY THE ARABS AND SO CALLED PEACEFUL RELIGION ISLAM HATES CHRISTIANS AND JEWS WITH THIS KIND OF NONSENCE GOING ON BY ISLAM.
Hamas's approach to jihad: Start em young By Dan Murphy AUG 20,07
Gaza City, Gaza - As a weapon in its struggle with Israel, Nahool the Bee doesn't look like a particularly threatening addition to the Hamas arsenal. He doesn't even have a stinger. But what the bright yellow star of Tomorrow's Pioneers on Hamas-owned Al Aqsa television lacks in muscle he makes up for in fervor. Speaking in a recent episode, Nahool vowed to help take back Jerusalem from the criminal Jews and expressed his hope that he and all of his listeners would grow up to become holy warriors.The show, along with paramilitary-style summer camps for Gazan boys, reveal a key element in Hamas's long-term strategy.Like Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned Hamas, the group takes a patient approach to tapping religious conviction to build political support. It is the movement's youth focus, critics say, that sets it apart from Hamas's rival, Fatah, which controls the West Bank and enjoys US and Israeli support.
The basic unit of the Hamas organization isn't cells or political committees – it's families. The organization has shown that by introducing children early enough to Hamas's hard-line Islamic thinking, it can recruit lifelong supporters.It hurts us so much when the international community misunderstands us, says Samir Abu Mohsen, a senior director at Al Aqsa. Nahool isn't for teaching hate. It's for teaching children to think in the right way, to socialize them in our culture's way of life, and, of course, to remind them of their rights to the land that was taken from us.
Hamas's revolution will be televised
The Nahool puppet replaces a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfur, who, in an episode several months ago, was shown being killed by an Israeli official after he refused to sell his land to Israelis. Director Mohsen says the show killed off Farfur because of complaints they were infringing on Disney's copyright.Nahool tells his young audience in a high-pitched voice that his anti-Zionist passion is fueled by the memory of his grandfather, who was murdered at the hands of Israeli settlers. Both life-sized puppets have stirred outrage among critics who say that Al Aqsa television teaches children to hate.Mohammed Ramadan, the young man who dons the Nahool costume and who also played Farfur before that character's televised martyrdom, says he's been shocked by international allegations that his characters teach children to hate.Look, Israeli aggression against us is a fact, they kicked these children's grandparents and parents from their homes, and we're not allowed to talk about this? he asks. They need to know.Nevertheless, Mr. Ramadan says that he won't cross certain red lines. A red line would be telling children to go kill Israelis. But talking about our right to our land, to one day return? That's not a red line. That's what they need to know.
Nahool exists for two things, says Mr. Mohsen. Teaching basic stuff like respect for adults, looking twice before crossing the road, and respecting the environment. But No. 2, we want to make sure they remember that we're exiles from our own land, land they have to be committed to regaining.What effect Nahool's antics have on young minds is hard to gauge.Ahmed, a 9-year-old who says he loves recently retired soccer star Zinedine Zidane, allows that he sometimes finds the bumbling bee amusing, but doesn't hesitate to name his favorite character on Palestinian TV – Captain Majid, whose eponymous show chronicles the adventures of a soccer-obsessed boy and his World Cup dreams.
Sun, surf, and paramilitary training
As part of its long-term recruitment policy, in addition to its children's show on Al Aqsa, Hamas is sending tens of thousands of poor Gazan children to camp this summer where they can enjoy sun, surf, and paramilitary training.Life is so tough here we say our children are born men, but they're still just kids, says Mohammed, who runs the Abu Musab Hamas camp in central Gaza and asked that his full name not be used. As he speaks, rows of painfully polite 10-year-olds in green Hamas hats file off the beach at the end of the day. They need entertainment and we give it to them, with a single goal: To get their attention so they develop good Islamic manners, bond their egos to the group, and integrate them into the right way of life.
The group sponsors additional education for top students, much of which is focused on memorizing the Koran. But Hamas isn't neglecting parents, either. The Islamic Group, Hamas's main charity in the territory, has built dozens of homes in recent months for Gazans whose houses were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. It recently held a mass wedding for about 50 policemen loyal to the movement, covering all costs and giving them a $500 head start on their new lives as married men.To be sure, Fatah runs camps of its own for kids, but not on the scale of Hamas's outreach effort or with the same unity of purpose. Though Mohammed mentions soccer, public safety lessons, and basic Muslim teaching, he fails to mention that many of the Gaza camps also include a paramilitary element. A Hamas official says that such training is reserved for boys over 16, but a photographer who recently visited a camp in central Gaza and others say much younger boys also take part in paramilitary exercises.
In one Gaza City camp, boys practiced field drills with wooden pistols and crawled under barbed wire while being harangued by an adult drill instructor. Teenage boys undergo a tougher regimen that includes hand-to-hand combat and exhausting exercise. Boys that break discipline are sometimes beaten with sticks, said the photographer.
Are the camps an important part of our strategy? Of course, says Museb Malik, who runs the First Educational Childhood camp where children are divided into groups named after cities – Haifa, Acre, and Japfa – that Israel now controls and Hamas would like to someday regain. But we're also filling an important social function. These children need something to take their minds off of the violence.Mehmet Gishrawi, a dimpled 9-year-old at the camp, stands beneath a poster of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas founder who was assassinated by Israel in 2004, and explains that he had trouble sleeping after he survived an airstrike two years ago that claimed his cousin and 20 other neighbors. I have had a lot of fun, I've learned a lot, he says. I'm not as afraid now.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
DEAN ON WAY TO JAMAICA TODAY
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.
Hurricane Dean poised to hit Jamaica By HOWARD CAMPBELL, Associated Press Writer AUG 19,07
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaicans headed inland and tourists fled the country hours before a large and powerful Hurricane Dean appeared poised to make a direct hit on the island Sunday after a deadly and destructive march across the eastern Caribbean.
Jamaica converted schools, churches and the indoor national sports arena into shelters and authorities urged people to take cover from a storm that could rake the country with winds of 150 mph and dump up to 20 inches of rain.It's going to be very, very serious, said Lawrence Samuel as he shopped for emergency groceries while his wife and son went to the hardware store for plywood and other supplies.
The storm, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, rolled through the Caribbean to the south of Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where heavy rain and surging seas caused flooding Saturday in coastal areas.In Gonave, an island with no electricity west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, thousands of people huddled in shelters as the storm brought heavy rain and fierce winds, said Samuel Menager, an employee of the international aid group World Vision who helped evacuate people from the coast.Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said late Saturday the country was confronting a national emergency and urged people in flood-prone areas to head for shelter.Do not wait for the last minute to make the decision to move from where you are, Simpson Miller said. Decide now and begin to make arrangements to leave now.Thousands of alarmed tourists were not waiting. They jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean's path as the fierce storm that has claimed at least six lives began sweeping past the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The storm's wrath could be felt Saturday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, where a boy was pulled into the ocean and drowned while watching waves strike an oceanfront boulevard, the Dominican emergency operations center reported.Rough surf churned by Dean destroyed five houses and damaged 15 others along the Dominican coast, emergency officials said.In Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, which was also in the path of the Category 4 storm, fear gripped many islanders and tourists alike.People jammed supermarkets and hardware stores in Kingston to stock up on canned food, bottled water, flashlights, batteries, lamps and plywood. In malls in the Jamaican capital, storeowners hammered plywood over windows.Elaine Russell recalled Hurricane Ivan's destruction in 2004.
I can't take it, she said. The storm is bad enough but it's what happens afterwards — there's no light, no water.Farther west, the low-lying Cayman Islands were expected to take a direct hit on Monday. Tourists there jammed Owens International Airport in snaking lines that stretched outside onto a lawn. A police officer with a bullhorn kept order.Cayman Airways added 15 flights to Florida from the wealthy British territory, and they were quickly sold out.The government ordered a mandatory evacuation by noon Sunday of Little Cayman, which is the smallest of the territory's three islands and has a population of about 150.Authorities in the eastern Caribbean were assessing the damage after Dean hit on Friday as a Category 2 storm with winds of near 100 mph. In the island of Martinique, an overseas department of France, authorities on Saturday confirmed two deaths, including a woman who apparently fell and drowned in her home. Officials there estimated that up to $270 million is needed to repair infrastructure. Agriculture Minister Louis Daniel Berthome said all banana crops were destroyed.
Dean was on course to clip Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and enter the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Forecasters said it was too soon to say whether it will strike the United States. Playing it safe, NASA shortened the last spacewalk for astronauts aboard the shuttle Endeavour and ordered the spacecraft to return to Earth on Tuesday — a day early — fearing the storm might threaten the Houston home of Mission Control. At 5 a.m. EDT, Dean was centered about 245 east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 155 miles south-southwest of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The storm was moving west-northwest at 18 mph and had maximum sustained winds near 145 mph. The Cuban government issued a tropical storm warning and said it was evacuating 50,000 people from three central and eastern provinces.
Associated Press writers Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Tammie Chisholm in George Town, Cayman Islands; Guy Ellis in Castries, St. Lucia; Ellsworth Carter in Roseau, Dominica; Howard Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica; and Herve Preval in Fort-de-France, Martinique, contributed to this report.
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.
Hurricane Dean poised to hit Jamaica By HOWARD CAMPBELL, Associated Press Writer AUG 19,07
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaicans headed inland and tourists fled the country hours before a large and powerful Hurricane Dean appeared poised to make a direct hit on the island Sunday after a deadly and destructive march across the eastern Caribbean.
Jamaica converted schools, churches and the indoor national sports arena into shelters and authorities urged people to take cover from a storm that could rake the country with winds of 150 mph and dump up to 20 inches of rain.It's going to be very, very serious, said Lawrence Samuel as he shopped for emergency groceries while his wife and son went to the hardware store for plywood and other supplies.
The storm, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, rolled through the Caribbean to the south of Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where heavy rain and surging seas caused flooding Saturday in coastal areas.In Gonave, an island with no electricity west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, thousands of people huddled in shelters as the storm brought heavy rain and fierce winds, said Samuel Menager, an employee of the international aid group World Vision who helped evacuate people from the coast.Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said late Saturday the country was confronting a national emergency and urged people in flood-prone areas to head for shelter.Do not wait for the last minute to make the decision to move from where you are, Simpson Miller said. Decide now and begin to make arrangements to leave now.Thousands of alarmed tourists were not waiting. They jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean's path as the fierce storm that has claimed at least six lives began sweeping past the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The storm's wrath could be felt Saturday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, where a boy was pulled into the ocean and drowned while watching waves strike an oceanfront boulevard, the Dominican emergency operations center reported.Rough surf churned by Dean destroyed five houses and damaged 15 others along the Dominican coast, emergency officials said.In Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, which was also in the path of the Category 4 storm, fear gripped many islanders and tourists alike.People jammed supermarkets and hardware stores in Kingston to stock up on canned food, bottled water, flashlights, batteries, lamps and plywood. In malls in the Jamaican capital, storeowners hammered plywood over windows.Elaine Russell recalled Hurricane Ivan's destruction in 2004.
I can't take it, she said. The storm is bad enough but it's what happens afterwards — there's no light, no water.Farther west, the low-lying Cayman Islands were expected to take a direct hit on Monday. Tourists there jammed Owens International Airport in snaking lines that stretched outside onto a lawn. A police officer with a bullhorn kept order.Cayman Airways added 15 flights to Florida from the wealthy British territory, and they were quickly sold out.The government ordered a mandatory evacuation by noon Sunday of Little Cayman, which is the smallest of the territory's three islands and has a population of about 150.Authorities in the eastern Caribbean were assessing the damage after Dean hit on Friday as a Category 2 storm with winds of near 100 mph. In the island of Martinique, an overseas department of France, authorities on Saturday confirmed two deaths, including a woman who apparently fell and drowned in her home. Officials there estimated that up to $270 million is needed to repair infrastructure. Agriculture Minister Louis Daniel Berthome said all banana crops were destroyed.
Dean was on course to clip Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and enter the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Forecasters said it was too soon to say whether it will strike the United States. Playing it safe, NASA shortened the last spacewalk for astronauts aboard the shuttle Endeavour and ordered the spacecraft to return to Earth on Tuesday — a day early — fearing the storm might threaten the Houston home of Mission Control. At 5 a.m. EDT, Dean was centered about 245 east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 155 miles south-southwest of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The storm was moving west-northwest at 18 mph and had maximum sustained winds near 145 mph. The Cuban government issued a tropical storm warning and said it was evacuating 50,000 people from three central and eastern provinces.
Associated Press writers Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Tammie Chisholm in George Town, Cayman Islands; Guy Ellis in Castries, St. Lucia; Ellsworth Carter in Roseau, Dominica; Howard Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica; and Herve Preval in Fort-de-France, Martinique, contributed to this report.
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