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A universe of beauty, mystery and wonder
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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

FIREFIGHTER SAVES BABY HAMSTERS WITH IMPROVISED OXYGEN MASK DURING A FIRE

A photo of a Washington State firefighter administering oxygen to a baby hamster with a minuscule makeshift breathing tube has melted hearts on Twitter with its message that no life is too small to save.
 
US firefighter rescues a hamster that suffered from smoke inhalation during a house fire (Image from Twitter @LaceyFireDist3)
"Oreo", "Madonna" and the baby hamsters being treated with oxygen. LFD3 crews have animal rescue and aid equipment.
 
The blaze broke out after a clothes dryer caught fire in the laundry room of a mobile home at about 3pm on Friday in the US city of Lacey, located in the northwest of the country, preliminary reports said. At first glance, no residents seemed to be inside.

Monday, September 29, 2014

THE BIG EXTINCTION - HALF OF THE WORLD'S WILD ANIMALS HAVE DISAPPEARED IN THE LAST 40 YEARS due to human destruction of habitat, poaching, and other practices - Overpopulation has turned humans into a parasitic outbreak that is destroying life on Earth, say scientists


Endangered: There are only around 3,200 tigers left in the wild - the predators' numbers have declined by a huge 97 per cent in the last 100 years
Murdered to make medicine for the Chinese
Mankind's need for land and resources, combined with hunting and poaching, are causing our wild animals to die out 
  • Wildlife populations around the globe have declined by 52 per cent on average since 1970, a new report has found
  • The likes of forest elephants, African lions and tigers are under threat, as well as British harbour seals and birds
  • Lion numbers dropped 90 per cent in 40 years, tigers by 97 per cent in 100 years and elephants 60 per cent since 2002



  • The authors compiled data on 10,380 animal populations, including 3,038 different species, as an index to judge how global wildlife is faring as a whole.  It shows that British animals have not escaped the global decline. The audit, which is published every two years, found that 90 per cent of corn buntings, a bird once often seen perched on fences, have disappeared from our countryside.

    Worldwide problem: Fewer than 100,000 forest elephants now remain, as their numbers have dropped by 60 per cent in just 12 years
    Massacred to harvest their ivory for trinkets for the Asian market.
    Elephants will be extinct in the wild in one or two decades.
    Orphans are left traumatized after seeing their families murdered.

    YOUR PRESCRIPTION MAY HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY YOUR DOCTOR UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUG COMPANIES' GENEROUS PAYMENTS

    4 Years Of Lessons Learned About
    Drugmakers' Payments To Doctors
     
    by Charles Ornstein, Ryann Grochowski Jones and Eric Sagara - NPR

    • Dollars for Docs now includes 3.4 million payments since 2009, totaling more than $4 billion, of which $2.5 billion was for research. For 2013 alone, there were 1.2 million payments valued at nearly $1.4 billion.
    • Some doctors have relationships with many companies.
    • One cardiologist received more than $270,000 last year for speaking or consulting for six companies.
    • The biggest companies aren't always the ones that spend the most. Some smaller drug companies spend big, too.
    • Companies with newer drugs or newly approved uses for their existing drugs often seem to spend more.
    Big Pharma (Jacky Law book).jpgOn Tuesday, the federal government is expected to release details of payments to doctors by every pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturer in the country.
     
    The information is being made public under a provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The law mandates disclosure of payments to doctors, dentists, chiropractors, podiatrists and optometrists for things like promotional speaking, consulting, meals, educational items and research.
     
    It's not quite clear what the data will show — in part because the first batch will be incomplete, covering spending for only a few months at the end of 2013 — but we at ProPublica have some good guesses. That's because we have been detailing relationships between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry for the past four years as part of our Dollars for Docs project.

    THE DEMISE OF FIRST GENERATION MEGA STARS - 55,000 TIMES THE MASS OF OUR SUN - may hold the key to explain how our universe developed

     
    The death of the first star in the Universe: Incredible image could shed new light on how solar systems formed

  • Primordial stars between 55,000 and 56,000 times the mass of our Sun died unusually
  • Exploded as supernovae and burned completely, leaving no remnant black hole behind
  • Stars spewed out chemical elements into space that eventually formed our Universe
  • Astrophysicists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and the University of Minnesota conducted this research. 

  • At first glance, it looks uncannily like an image of the human brain.  But in fact, this is the death of one of the first stars in our Universe.
    This image is a slice through the interior of a supermassive star of 55,500 solar masses. It shows the inner helium core in which nuclear burning is converting helium to oxygen, powering various fluid instabilities, which form the swirling lines. This 'snapshot' from a simulation shows one moment a day after the onset of the explosion, when the radius of the outer circle would be slightly larger than that of the orbit of the Earth around the sun.
    This image is a slice through the interior of a supermassive star of 55,500 solar masses. It shows the inner helium core in which nuclear burning is converting helium to oxygen, powering various fluid instabilities, which form the swirling lines. This 'snapshot' from a simulation shows one moment a day after the onset of the explosion, when the radius of the outer circle would be slightly larger than that of the orbit of the Earth around the sun.
     
    Researchers say the death throes of these early stars were unique as they exploded as supernovae and burned completely, leaving no black hole behind, but instead spewing out chemical elements into space that eventually formed our Universe.

    EXPLORING THE AWE-INSPIRING NETWORK OF CAVES BELOW MOUNT RAINIER VOLCANO ICE CAP

    Below the ice cap at Mount Rainier’s summit lies a network of otherworldly grottoes explored this summer by scientists and cavers. 
    Seattle Times science reporter
    All photos by Francois-Xavier De Ruydts / Special to The Seattle Times 

     
    Microbiologist Zoe Harrold heads toward a cave opening — and sunlight. The University of Washington graduate says the caves can be a natural laboratory for study of microbes that can flourish in conditions hostile to most life.

    Bill Lokey planted his ice ax in the crumbly slope and scanned the cavern with his headlamp.
     
    Counting all the ups and downs, he had climbed more than 15,000 feet to get here — past yawning crevasses and over cliffs where a single misstep could send a rope team tumbling. His party was pummeled by a lightning storm so ferocious it stood one woman’s hair on end. Gale-force winds threatened to shred their tents.
     
    But now, the grin on Lokey’s face said it had been worth it.   A ceiling of ice arched 40 feet overhead, glistening as the light danced across its scalloped surface. Steam hissed from fumaroles, misting the air, as it had more than four decades earlier when he first set foot in this otherworldly grotto.
     
    Bigger than a ballroom, the chamber faded into darkness at either end.
    Read more and see additional images

    WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE ONLY A MAKE BELIEVE WAR ON ISIS? - Americans drop bombs on empty buildings, except when they hit a grain silo full of civilians - British planes don't drop any bombs at all, just fly over

    
    US F15-E jets fly over northern Iraq
    Reuters
    US-led airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorist group (IS or ISIS) in Syria are failing to slow the jihadis' advance on the Kurdish border town of Kobane.
     
    Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Unit (YPG), backed by fighters from the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), have been engaged in a fierce battle with ISIS, as the Islamists seek to seize control of the key town on the border with Turkey.
     
    But though US airstrikes - which President Barack Obama pledged would "degrade and destroy" ISIS - have extended from Iraq to Syria to aid the defense of Kobane, local sources say the strikes have been largely ineffective.
    
    Limited access: Syrian refugees are allowed through the Mursitpinar border gate
    Refugee from Syria at the Turkish border - (EPA)
    AMERICAN BOMBERS STRUCK EMPTY BUILDINGS

    "They struck empty buildings," YPG's chief of defense for Kobane, Ismat Sheikh Hassan, told The Independent. "ISIS fighters used to be there but they left, so they haven’t helped us. If anything, they are now fighting harder to push forward before there are more strikes."
     
    ISIS have reportedly advanced to within 3 miles of Kobane after captured dozens of surrounding villages, and residents have reported hearing airstrikes on the outskirts of town.

    Six civilians were killed on Saturday by ISIS shelling.
     
    Some 140,000 Kurdish civilians have fled the town since ISIS's advance began; refugees from villages near Kobane said ISIS terrorists had beheaded civilians in the communities they captured and paraded them in the street in order to intimidate locals into submission.

    Source - http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185520#.VCk7A5stCM8

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    ISIS  AT THE GATES OF BAGHDAD

     
    ISIS fighters now 'at the gates of Baghdad': Islamic militants fighting 'just one mile from Iraqi capital' despite days Western airstrikes 
  • Fierce clashes between jihadists and government forces near Iraqi capital
  • Militants understood to be attempting to enter and seize control of Baghdad 
  • Reports of militants' proximity to Baghdad came from Canon Andrew White
  • He is vicar of the city's St George's Church - Iraq's only Anglican church
  • News comes despite ongoing Western airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq
  • THE INSIDIOUS INFLUENCE OF THE ISRAELI JEWISH LEFT - Pro-Arab, anti-Jewish, and ideologically detached from reality - Jewish Israeli journalist who supports Palestinian rock-throwing was ejected out of an Arab conference for being Jewish - That's apartheid.

    The erosion of Israel from within.
     
    Main points
    • Israel is being eroded from within by leftist pro-Arab Jews with clout.
    • Jewish leftists are a tiny minority in Israel, but they exercise overwhelming influence from the Supreme Court, the Knesset, the media, universities, secular schools, police, city halls, and even from top appointed positions within the military.
    • Facts - such as daily threats of annihilation by Palestinian leaders and bloody terror attacks - don't get in the way of their pro-Arab, anti-Jewish ideology.
    • Not even outright anti-Jewish hate and discrimination from their beloved Arabs can change their minds.
    • Many left-wing Jewish activists acknowledge being funded by anti-Semitic European and other international governments and 'human rights' organizations.
    • Their subversive activities often cross into the areas of treason, but police and leftist judges treat them kindly, and government officials often react with indifference. 
     
     Poster of Amira Hass -  http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/
     
    UPDATE - Israeli Jewish professor Ilan Pappe, who has written hateful books about Israel and the Jews, also banned from attending the same conference in Palestinian Arab university - for being a Jew.

    Ilan Pappe, the Haifa University anti-Israeli professor who moved to Exeter University U.K, was scheduled to speak in Birzeit University near Ramallah.

    As well known, Pappe is the architect of the boycott movement who falsifies historical data to accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide. But because he was not allowed to enter the campus, he was forced to give his lecture in an off-campus venue. 
     
    Read more about this influential leftist minority and how they undermine the survival of Israel.

    Sunday, September 28, 2014

    MORE THAN 30 HIKERS KILLED BY MOUNT ONTAKE VOLCANO ERUPTION IN JAPAN - The reasons why, in spite of advanced technology, there was no warning.


    We rely too much on technology.  Volcanic sensors did not warn of imminent eruption. A lesson for us all to distrust official "assurances".

    A plume of smoke billows into the sky above a set of cabins built on the volcanoDaily Mail - More than 30 hikers 'found dead' near top of Japanese volcano that erupted without warning spewing eight-inch blanket of ash 

    UPDATEOctober 1 - Number of victims now is 48.  Recovery of bodies ongoing.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2775921/Seven-bodies-search-missing-hikers-rescuers-continue-comb-peak-deadly-Japanese-volcano.html September 28 report:
  • Mount Ontake started erupting at lunchtime on Friday spewing out small rock and ash over a two-mile wide area
  • Police confirm more than 30 hikers have been located in a state of 'cardiac arrest' and are presumed dead
  • They are Japan's first deaths from volcanic eruption since 1991, when 43 people died at Mount Unzen
  • Rescuers said that 42 people were seriously injured, seven of those were rendered unconscious by the fumes
  • The volcano is 230km west of Tokyo but has not yet caused any disruption to flights in and out of the city
  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed the military to rescue the hikers from the area
  • Rescue efforts have now been called off due to rising levels of toxic gas near summit and approaching nightfall.

  • Read more and seep images of the eruption and attempts at rescuing survivors

    THE WHITEWASHING OF ISLAM - This happened before. Americans are still unaware of the extent of the Soviets' genocidal practices and their infiltration into the US government.

    NOTE:  Another blatant whitewashing taking place is that of Palestinian terror.  Although they have been engaged in massacres and many other acts of terror over several decades now, they are still characterized by Western governments, media, churches and humanitarian organizations as "victims," while demanding from their victims - the Jews - land for the creation of another Arab terror state.
     
    Part of the deception is the concealing of Palestinian Arabs active participation in the design and implementation of the Holocaust through their leader at that time Haj Amin al Husseini, the Musfi of Jerusalem.  (See references.)
     
     BLINDING HISTORY
     
    By Diana West
     
     
    Just as today's opinion-makers seek to divorce Islam from its impact -- for example, brutal conquest, forced conversion, religiously sanctioned sex slavery, beheadings -- past opinion-makers worked equally hard to divorce communism from its impact -- for example, brutal conquest, forced collectivization, concentration camps (Gulags), mass murder.

    THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS BY MUSLIM PALESTINIANS - And their steady disappearance from ancient holy land - Official Muslim discrimination, harassment and violence has driven them away

    Main points followed by column by Pierre Rehov
    • The Palestinian Authority (PA) rules over Arabs living in Judea and Samaria (West Bank).  This was the result of the US-instigated Oslo Accords of the early 1990s.
    • Although not an independent country, it has its own government, judiciary, and police.
    • A set of laws concerns Dhimmis,  - Christians and other non-Muslims living in a subservient status, and subject to discriminatory regulations. 
    • Once Muslims invaded the land of Israel in the 7th century, they tried to force conversion on the inhabitants of the land (Jews and Christians) and imposed Islam's dhimmi laws on them.
    • Because, under dhimmi laws, non-Muslims under Muslim rule may not testify against Muslims, it is virtually impossible for Christians to use the judicial system to recover lands and property stolen by Muslims.
    • The erosion of the Christian presence has peaked under Palestinian Authority rule. 
    • Bethlehem went from 60% Christian in the 1990s to just 10% today.  
    • In the meantime, Christian population inside Israel continues to grow and has now reached approximately 140,000. 
    • In spite of factual evidence of persecution of Christians by Muslims in the Palestinian Authority, Christian churches in the West continue with their vicious campaign of demonization and boycotts against Israel.
    • Photos below:  Pope John Paul II (left) met twelve times with terrorist Yassir Arafat.  Pope Francis (right) has met numerous times with Mahmoud Abbas, the financial mastermind of the Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes, Holocaust denier, and who routinely eulogizes terrorists who kill Jewish civilians.


     
     
     
     
     
     
     


    Holy Land: The Perils Facing Christians
     
    by Pierre Rehov, Gatestone Institute
     
    "All this talk about Israel being behind the pain of Christians in the Palestinian Territories is nonsense. Muslims intimidate us. They burn our stores, steal our real estate. They build mosques beside our churches, and make sure that the calls for prayer disrupt our services. They attack our daughters. There are many cases of rape that have never been reported. Families hide it out of shame, they move away. They flee." — Christian official.
     
    Under dhimmi laws, non-Muslims under Muslim rule may not testify against Muslims, so it is virtually impossible for Christians whose lands have been stolen, or whose lives have been threatened, to appeal to the local legal system.
     
    Apparently the story is only appealing when Israel can be blamed.

    Saturday, September 27, 2014

    ADORABLE TIGER CUBS AT PLAY at Holland zoo - Video and link to webcam

    Playtime! Tiny tiger cubs play fight in a pile of leaves... and even pounce on mum
  • The three-month-old cubs were born to the the zoo's female tiger Angara 
  • Zoo keepers at DierenPark Amersfoort filled the enclosure with leaves
  • Cubs didn't know what to make of the leaves at first but soon started playing


  • Charming fellow: The three-month-old cubs were born in June and ventured outside seven-weeks after  

    EMERGENCY RESCUE FOR HIKERS CAUGHT BY SUDDEN VOLCANO ERUPTION AT MOUNT ONTAKE IN JAPAN

    
    Mount Ontake is 120 miles west of Tokyo although so far flights in and out of the city have not been affected by the eruption although local flight restrictions are in place
    Mount Ontake

    'We thought we all were going to die': Ash rains down on climbers as they flee erupting Japanese volcano - and rescue under way for scores still stranded near top

  • Mount Ontake started erupting at lunchtime on Friday spewing out small rock and ash over a two-mile wide area
  • Rescuers said that 32 people were seriously injured, seven of those were rendered unconscious by the fumes 
  • The volcano is 120 miles west of Tokyo but has not yet caused any disruption to flights in and out of the city 
  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed the military to rescue the 40 stranded hikers from the area
  • Seven people are reported missing as rescuers struggle to ascend the 3,067 metre mountain 

  • YouTube Pakota Simpson

    See more pictures

    Friday, September 26, 2014

    LUNG ENTEROVIRUS EV-D68 MAY BE BEHIND PARALYSIS IN 9 COLORADO CHILDREN - Doctors across the country have been put on alert while cases are being investigated

    
    
     
    UPDATED

    Can the EV-D68 lung virus cause paralysis?  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has sent an alert to doctors to be on the look out for symptoms of paralysis among children with respiratory illness.
    Has asthma and the virus: Melissa Lewis, of Denver, helps her son, Jayden Broadway, 9, as he coughs in his bed at the Children's Hospital Colorado where he was treated for the enterovirus 68 and released, but his asthma made the illness more difficult to fight
    Jayden Broadway and mom at Colorado Children's Hospital
    • Health officials are investigating nine cases of muscle weakness or paralysis in Colorado children.
    • It is not certain whether the enterovirus 68 or EV-D68 lung virus -  that has been sending hundreds of American children to hospitals with acute respiratory illness  -  could be behind these symptoms.
    • The EV-D68 virus was detected in four of the children experiencing paralysis.  But the virus is only one of several that can cause arm and leg weakness in children.
    • The nine children had fever and respiratory illness about two weeks before developing varying degrees of limb weakness.  Eight of them are up to date on polio vaccinations.
    • It's not known whether the limb weakness or paralysis is temporary or will be long-lasting.
    
    Sudden onset:  Will Cornejo, 13,  was at school one day earlier in the month, woke up not feeling well in the night and in the morning his mom found him unconscious on the couch and had to call 911
    Will Cornejo and mom in Denver, Co hospital
    ABC News -  Health officials are investigating nine cases of muscle weakness or paralysis in Colorado children and whether the culprit might be a virus causing severe respiratory illness across the country.
     
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday sent doctors an alert about the polio-like cases and said the germ — enterovirus 68 — was detected in four out of eight of the sick children who had a certain medical test. The status of the ninth case is unclear.
     
    The virus can cause paralysis but other germs can, too. Health officials don't know whether the virus caused any of the children's arm and leg weaknesses or whether it's just a germ they coincidentally picked up.

    HAMAS TORTURES DISSIDENTS BESIDE A GIRLS' SCHOOL - Kids can hear the screams, reports a Palestinian Authority daily

    Palestinian girls walk during an awareness training session on the dangers of unexploded ordinances on April 7, 2014, at a school in Khan Younis (photo credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
    School Girls in Khan Younis, Gaza
    Classes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis have been disrupted by the screams and shouts of political prisoners being interrogated by Hamas security forces in a nearby building, an official Palestinian Authority daily reported. 
     
    As reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas resumed in Cairo, Ramallah-based Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah claimed that pupils in a girls’ school in central Khan Younis have been affected by “fear and horror” as a result of the torture, compounding their suffering during Operation Protective Edge.

    PALESTINIANS EXPOSE HAMAS AGENDA OF DELIBERATELY HAVING THEM KILLED BY ISRAEL TO WIN MEDIA WAR AGAINST ISRAEL - Palestinian journalist from Jordan tells the world what Gazans are saying about Hamas violent and corrupt regime.

    Hamas terrorists in Gaza
    By Mudar Zahran -
    Gatestone Institute 
     
    Palestinian journalist from Jordan interviewed Gazans for their opinion on the Hamas regime and the recent war with Israel.
     
    What emerges is quite different from what the mainstream media have been reporting to the public.
     
    • "If Hamas does not like you for any reason all they have to do now is say you are a Mossad agent and kill you." — A., a Fatah member in Gaza.
    • "Hamas wanted us butchered so it could win the media war against Israel showing our dead children on TV and then get money from Qatar." — T., former Hamas Ministry officer.
    • "They would fire rockets and then run away quickly, leaving us to face Israeli bombs for what they did." — D., Gazan journalist.
    • "Hamas imposed a curfew: anyone walking out in the street was shot. That way people had to stay in their homes, even if they were about to get bombed. Hamas held the whole Gazan population as a human shield." — K., graduate student
    • "The Israeli army allows supplies to come in and Hamas steals them. It seems even the Israelis care for us more than Hamas." — E., first-aid volunteer.
    • "We are under Hamas occupation, and if you ask most of us, we would rather be under Israeli occupation… We miss the days when we were able to work inside Israel and make good money. We miss the security and calm Israel provided when it was here." — S., graduate of an American university, former Hamas sympathizer.

    While the world's media has been blaming Israel for the death of Gazan civilians during Operation Protective Edge, this correspondent decided to speak with Gazans themselves to hear what they had to say.
     
    They spoke of Hamas atrocities and war crimes implicating Hamas in the civilian deaths of its own people.
     
    Although Gazans, fearful of Hamas's revenge against them, were afraid to speak to the media, friends in the West Bank offered introductions to relatives in Gaza.

    One, a renowned Gazan academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that as soon as someone talked to a Western journalist, he was immediately questioned by Hamas and accused of "communicating with the Mossad".
     
    "Hamas makes sure that the average Gazan will not talk to Western journalists -- or actually any journalists at all," he said, continuing:
     
    "Hamas does not want the truth about Gaza to come out. Hamas terrorizes and kills us just like Daesh [ISIS] terrorizes kills Iraqis. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us. The Gazans you see praising Hamas on TV are either Hamas members or too afraid to speak against Hamas. Few foreign [Western] journalists were probably able to report what Gazans think of Hamas."

    GOOGLE GRANTS "RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN" TO BRITISH MAN WHO ABDUCTED AND MURDERED 11 YEAR OLD GIRL - That means all Google references to his name regarding this crime to be erased - Father of victim outraged.

    Lesley Molseed was abducted and stabbed to death by Ronald Castree in October 1975
    UPDATE September 27, 2014

    Google denies removing then reinstating MailOnline story about murderous paedophile under controversial 'right to be forgotten' ruling
  • The ruling by European judges gives people the right to have 'inadequate' and 'irrelevant' results about them wiped from the web
  • Spokesman from Google said that while the article HAD been removed from some search results it was NOT at the request of paedophile Ronald Castree
  • He said request was granted to someone else mentioned in the article

  • The article about the conviction of Castree, 61, is just one of thousands Google has removed from search results and just one of numerous MailOnline articles affected by the ruling.
     
    However, a spokesman from Google early Saturday said that while the article HAD been removed from some search results it was NOT at the request of Ronald Castree.  And he said the request had been granted to someone else mentioned in the article but that the story would still appear if Castree was used at the search term.  The spokesman refused to say who had asked for the article to be removed and thus granted the right to be forgotten.
     
    Under the right to be forgotten rule, stories are not entirely deleted by Google, rather they simply will no longer appear if a certain search name is used.

    U.S. PRESIDENT DEFENDS ISLAM AND BASHES ISRAEL IN SPEECH AT THE UNITED NATIONS

    Bad Muslim terrorists and Israel,
    both denounced at the same time. 
    Again calls for Israel's partition.

    And insists Islam is a religion of peace.

    BREITBART - President Obama pledged to utilize American might in service to the United Nations, speaking grandly of the beauty and power of the world’s least effective and most morally bankrupt international institution.
     
    There are a few problems, he said, with which we have to contend: Ebola, Russian aggression, terrorism in Syria and Iraq. And those problems, are “symptoms of a broader problem – the failure of our international system to keep pace with an interconnected world.”
     
    The rise of disease, Obama believes, is because we haven’t invested enough in the United Nations, not because incompetent regimes upheld by the UN have failed their people.   
     
    Finally, he turned to the actual pressing issue of the day, Islamic terrorism. And he proceeded to explain that Islam is a religion of peace, no different from any other:

    I have made it clear that America will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism. Rather, we have waged a focused campaign against al Qaeda and its associated forces – taking out their leaders, and denying them the safe-havens they rely upon. 

    At the same time, we have reaffirmed that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.   Islam teaches peace.  Muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice. And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them – there is only us, because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country.

    He stated that America rejected “any suggestion of a clash of civilization.” But Obama stated that we could fight those “religiously motivated fanatics” – fanatics who have nothing to do with Islam, of course, even if they are universally Muslim – by providing food and water and jobs.  He praised Islam as part of a family of religions that “accommodate devout faith with a modern, multicultural world,” 
     
    Obama proceeded to blame Israel for conflict in the Middle East:

    Leadership will also be necessary to address the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. As bleak as the landscape appears, America will never give up the pursuit of peace ("peace" as a widely used euphemism for the partition of Israel).
     
    And the violence engulfing the region today has made too many Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace. But let’s be clear: the status quo in the West Bank and Gaza is not sustainable. We cannot afford to turn away from this effort, not when rockets are fired at innocent Israelis, or the lives of so many Palestinian children are taken from us in Gaza. 
     
     So long as I am President, we will stand up for the principle that Israelis, Palestinians, the region, and the world will be more just with two states living side by side, in peace and security.

    The Israelis may not be the “main source of problems in the region,” but by pressuring Israel before the entire world just weeks after Hamas continuously fired rockets into Israel and shielded its own rockets with children, Obama demonstrates his desire to cast them as a problem leading to more violence. The moral equivalence between Gaza and Israeli victims here was stunning and unjustifiable.

    Read more - http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/09/24/Obama-UN-speech

    Related

    US president praises Muslim cleric who backed Fatwa on murdering US soldiers
    President Barack Obama favorably quoted and praised on Wednesday in his speech before the United Nations a controversial Muslim cleric whose organization has reportedly endorsed the terror group Hamas and supported a fatwa condoning the murder of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
     
    Obama in his remarks offered praise to controversial cleric Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah and referred to him as a moderate Muslim leader who can help combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL or ISIS) radical ideology.
     
    However, Bin Bayyah himself has long been engulfed in controversy for many of his views, including the reported backing of a 2004 fatwa that advocated violent resistance against Americans fighting in Iraq.
     
    Read more:
    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-praises-muslim-cleric-who-backed-fatwa-on-killing-of-u-s-soldiers/


    The Religion of Peace
    http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

    UN WATCH
    http://www.unwatch.org/site/c.bdKKISNqEmG/b.1277549/k.D7FE/UN_Watch__Monitoring_the_UN_Promoting_Human_Rights.htm

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    HEART-SHAPED WAVE photographed by California surfer

    It's an image any surfer is bound to fall in love with.  Chad Wells, 45, captured the moment a wave formed an entrancing heart-shape as it broke and wrapped him in an embrace while he trained on Seal beach in California, earlier this year.

    Surfer Chad Wells captured the moment a wave formed an entrancing heart-shape as it broke and wrapped him in an embrace while he trained on Seal beach, California

    Despite being totally immersed in the ocean, Chad managed to capture the miraculous moment on camera as it unfolded on the sea's surface. 
     
    Chad said: 'I like this photo because of the unique heart shape. It was a special wave, and every shot in the three I shot on this wave were keepers. It was a special wave considering I took all three shots and all three were awesome.
     
    The surfer took up the sport after developing a knee injury. He is now the team manager for Quiksilver Surf, and works with athletes in the US - while taking stunning sea images. 

    Source - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2764978/It-s-make-love-surfing-Heart-shaped-wave-snapped-California-surfer.html

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    PHOTOS OF MYSTERIOUS LAVA CAVES UNDER WASHINGTON STATE - Hundreds of feet underground and stretching for more than two miles

    WHAT LIES BENEATH - Stretching for more than two miles and hundreds of feet underground, these are the stunning networks of caves buried under Washington, US.   The spectacular tubes display a kaleidoscope of colours - formed more than 8,000 years ago by lava flows stacking on top of each other inside a deep canyon. 
     
    Going underground: Josh Hydeman captured this incredible photo of a network of caves tunnelling beneath Washington
     
    Photographer Josh Hydeman, 33, explored the breathtaking formation, which is 325ft below the ground, with fellow adventurers Eric Guth, Garry Petrie and Jason George.

    MORE SIGNS THAT TURKEY MAY BE SECRETLY SUPPORTING ISIS - it is preventing Kurdish men in Turkey from crossing the border into Syria to fight ISIS - While it deploys tanks to prevent Kurdish women and children fleeing ISIS from seeking refugee in Turkey

    UPDATE
     
    Violence erupts on Turkey-Syria border as Kurds on both sides tear down fences to let refugees flee and fighters cross to take on ISIS.
     
    Breaking down barriers: Kurds from Turkey (left) and Syria pull down border fences near the Turkish town of Suruc to allow them to join an alliance to fight Islamic State
    Hundreds of Turkish and Syrian Kurds tore down border fences and clashed with riot police in a show of solidarity in the fight against ISIS as the terror group tightened its siege on a strategic town.
     
    Unarmed protesters who had gathered on the Turkish side of the border in support of Syrian Kurds rushed towards Kobani in an apparent bid to defend it from the Sunni militants.
     
    The group, including pro-Kurdish politicians from Turkey, later gathered on a railway line on the Syrian side of the border, clashing with Turkish security forces who fired tear gas and were initially reluctant to let them back in.
     
    It came as Islamic State fighters moved closer to Kobani after pushing back Kurdish forces and sending shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said.
     
    U.S.-led air strikes have targeted Islamic State fighters elsewhere in Syria but some Kurdish military officials have said they made the situation in Kobani more precarious by pushing the Sunni insurgents towards the Turkish border.
     
    The Sunni Muslim insurgents, who launched their assault on Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides, took control of high ground to the west of the town and a village to the east in fierce fighting. 

    The latest statement from the PKK leadership in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq ratcheted up its already fierce criticism of the Turkish government, accusing it of a 'declaration of war' on the Kurdish people.
     
    'There is a big explosion of anger and rebellion against Turkey among all Kurdistan's people,' it said in a statement. 'Getting ISIL to attack a small autonomous region like Kobani which only has a frontier into Turkey was the final straw.'
     
     
    On this page: 
    • While Turkey allows Turks to cross border to join jihadists, it prevents Turkish Kurds from leaving to fight ISIS.
    • Turkey deploys tanks at the border to stop more Kurdish refugees fleeing ISIS terror from seeking refuge in Turkey.
    • Kurds accuse Turkey of secretly supporting ISIS.  Both envision a Caliphate.
    • The West denies proper weapons to Kurds to prevent them from seeking independence once this conflict is over.  The West would rather see Kurds die.
    • West motivated by its desire to appease Muslim countries. Kurds live in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.  Thirty million still without a country of their own.
    • Turkey - ISIS' secret ally?  Evidence that they have a secret understanding.
    • More information on Kurds and Kurdistan.
    • Photos of modern Kurdistan in Iraq
    • Links to Kurdistan news 
     
    Kurds suspect Turkey of backing Islamic State (ISIS)
     
    Turkey and its Kurdish population — for decades in conflict — suddenly find themselves facing a common enemy in the Islamic State group. So it may reasonable to expect prospects for long elusive peace between Turkey and Kurdish rebels to improve.

    
    Dangerous: While thousands attempt to make their escape from Syria, soldiers try to restrain Turkish Kurds from crossing the opposite way to fight against IS 
     While thousands attempt to make their escape from Syria, soldiers try to restrain Turkish Kurds from crossing the opposite way to fight against IS
    
    Kurds who are arriving by the busload to join the battle are increasingly angry at a wary Turkish government trying to prevent them from crossing the border to defend Syrian Kurds from an onslaught that has left countless dead and about 150,000 fleeing into Turkey in recent days.
     
    Kurdish leaders have warned that the discord could kill a peace process to end a bloody three-decade conflict over Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.
    Continued

    Thursday, September 25, 2014

    GERMAN TAXPAYERS FUNDING WAR AGAINST THE JEWS, now under the guise of pro-Palestinian activism - The historic alliance of Muslims and Germans for the destruction of the Jews dates back to the Third Reich

    EUROPE outsourcing the killing of Jews to the Arabs.
     
    Important and relevant points regarding German-Palestinian old ties - whether the Germans were Nazis, Communists, or capitalists.  How anti-Semitism brought them together.

    Palestinian Leader al-Husseini in Nazi Germany
    Post-war Germany has a long history of financing, arming, and abetting Arab terror groups that kill Jews. 

    Communist East Germany did just that, with its open support for Palestinian terrorists. 

    And West Germany - in spite of its professed capitalism and democracy - also did its part to help and finance Arabs who terrorized and killed Jews. 

    After the German unification those anti-Israel efforts merged as well, and now we have Germany directly funding the Palestinians, and indirectly funding German groups of activists engaged in active vilification of Israel and the Jews.  

    That old tradition.  As a matter of fact, the German Nazis and the Palestinian leader at that time worked hand in hand in the design and implementation of the Final Solution. 

    This is a page of history that the media, educational institutions, peace activists, and even historians would rather ignore.  But there are a number of books that have addressed this important chapter in Arab and German history.

    Haj Amin al-Husseini - Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestinian leader during the 1940s - was very much a part of the Nazi killing machine that destroyed 6 million Jewish lives.  He lived in Berlin during World War II, and was an enthusiastic partner in the design and implementation of the Holocaust, working alongside Hitler and his top cohorts. 
     
    The Mufti with Muslim Nazi SS Division
    He even created his own Muslim Nazi SS Division, guilty of gruesome crimes in eastern Europe.  He escaped to the Middle East to avoid a trial for war crimes. 
     
    His post-war disciples, Yassir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas became Palestinian leaders, infused with genocidal ideology.

    Hitler and Nazi ideas are well and alive in the Palestinian territories, with the display of Nazi flags, eulogies to Hitler, and the official Nazi salute during military and political rallies.

    Read references at the end of this page.  These are things that do not make it to the mainstream media.  

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    List of articles on this page,
     followed by references:
    • German taxpayers funding anti-Israel hate
    • Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at rally against anti-Semitism
    • Germany sees rising anti-Semitism among Muslims
    • NGO Monitor report: German funding for anti-Israel activism
    • Old habits die hard - Germany has been funding Arab terrorism since the Nazi years
    • Palestinian Arabs:  Nazis then, Nazis now - The facts
    • The Communists too joined the war against Israel, by funding, training and arming Arab terrorists

    Merkel_rally

    German taxpayers funding anti-Israel hate

    By Vijeta Uniyal

    Despite Chancellor Merkel’s recent high-profile call to fight rising anti-Semitism, the German tax payer remains one of the leading sponsors of hate groups targeting Israel and the Jewish people. It's got to stop
     
    A week after Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed her government’s commitment to fight anti-Semitism at a landmark rally in Berlin, a lot needs to be done on the ground to stop the rising tide of anti-Semitism.
     
    German authorities go beyond apathy to outright facilitating anti-Jewish hate activities
     
    At home, German Law enforcement authorities have not only shown apathy and inaction, as in the case of the Muslim Imam in Berlin who called for the extermination of Jews, or against demonstrators in many German cities blaring anti-Semitic slogans. Police have sometimes seemed to go out of their way, allowing demonstrators to use police-megaphones and vehicles to spread the hate – as in Frankfurt and Hagen recently.
     
    Germany is the leading financial sponsor of genocidal anti-Jewish organizations - many hiding behind pro-Arab humanitarian disguises.
     
    Internationally, the German tax payer remains a leading sponsor of NGOs and groups that target Israel and the Jewish people.
    Continued

    Wednesday, September 24, 2014

    WHAT DOES ROSH HASHANAH - THE JEWISH NEW YEAR - REALLY MEAN?

    A concise guide to the perplexed

    Have  a happy, healthy, challenging and a rewarding new year!
     






    by Ambassador (ret) Yoram Ettinger 








    1. Rosh Hashanah is a universalstock-taking, renewal and hopeful holiday, celebrated on the 6th day of The Creation, which produced the first human being, Adam.
     
    2.  Rosh means, in Hebrew, "beginning," "first," "head," "chief." The Hebrew spelling of Rosh (ראש) is the root of the Hebrew word for Genesis (בראשית), which is the first word in the Bible. Just like The Creation, so should the New Year and our own actions, be a thoughtful – and not a hasty - process.
     
    3.  Rosh Hashanah is celebrated at the beginning of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which means beginning/Genesis in ancient Akkadian. 
    kirschen,Dry Bones shana tova, Jewish, new year, Holiday. Judaism, donate,
     
    4.  Rosh Hashanah is also referred to as "Ha'rat Olam" (the pregnancy of the world), and it's prayers highlight motherhood, optimism.

    5.  Rosh Hashanah underlines human fallibility, humility, soul-searching, responsibility (as a precondition to the realization of opportunity), renewal/rebirth, memory (lessons of history) and the need for systematic education. 

    6. The Shofar (ritual horn) is blown on Rosh Hashanah as a wake-up call to mend human behavior
     
    Rosh Hashanah is also called "Yom Te'roo'ah" (the day of blowing the Shofar). Shofar (שופר) is a derivative of the Hebrew word for enhancement/improvement (שפור), which is constantly expected of human beings.

    It requires humility, symbolized by the Shofar, which is bent and is not supposed to be decorated.

    The Shofar is the epitome of peace-through-strength: it is made from the horn of a ram , which is a peaceful animal equipped with strong horns, in order to fend off wild animals.

    While the blowing of the Shofar is a major virtue, listening to the Shofar is at least as pertinent a virtue. 
    kirschen,Dry Bones shana tova, Jewish, new year, Holiday. Judaism, donate,rosh hashana,
     
    Rosh Hashanah services include 101 blows of the Shofar. It is the numerical value of the Hebrew spelling of Michael (מיכאל), a Guardian Angel, which was one of the names of Moses.

    7. The pomegranate - one of the seven species blessing the Land of Israel - features during Rosh Hashanah meals and in a key blessing on Rosh Hashanah: "May you be credited with as many rewards as the seeds of the pomegranate."
     
    The pomegranate becomes ripe on time for Rosh Hashanah and contains - genetically - 613 seeds, which is the number of Jewish statutes (of Moses).
     
    It was employed as an ornament of the Holy Arc, the Menorah (candelabrum), the coat of the High Priest and Torah Scrolls.

    The first two letters of the Hebrew word for pomegranate (רמון) – which is known for its crown - mean "sublime.”
     
    The pomegranate (skin and seeds) is one of the healthiest fruit: top heavy on iron and anti-oxidants, anti-cancer, decreasing blood pressure, enhancing the quality of blood, the cardiac and the digestion system. The pomegranate constitutes a metaphor for a wise person : "wholesome like a pomegranate.”
    Kirschen, jewish, jewish culture, Dry Bones, Dry Bones cartoon, holiday, Rosh HaShana, high holidays, New Year, 

    8.  Rosh Hashanah highlights:

    *Faith in God;
     
    *Optimism in the face of daily adversity;*The first human-being, Adam, was created on the 6th day of the Creation; 

    *The cycle of nature - seed planting season and the equality of day/night; 

    *The opening of the Ark of Noah following the Flood; 

    *The almost-sacrifice of Isaac and God's Covenant with the Jewish people; 

    *The three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were conceived/born during the month of Tishrei, which is called "the month of the mighty leaders"; 

    *The release of Joseph from Egyptian jail; 


    *The receipt of the Ten Commandment and the Torah; 

    *Deliverance from spiritual and physical slavery;

    *The Prophet Samuel (who inspired the early Pilgrims  and the US Founding Fathers – especially Thomas Paine - was conceived in Tishrei;

    *The reconstruction of the Second Temple and destruction of both Temples; 


    *The ingathering of the Jews to the Land of Israel; 

    *The first of the Ten Days of personal, annual self-examination/atonement.


    More on Rosh Hashanah, additional Jewish holidays, the Sabbath, the Jubilee, annual fasting days and the Jewish meaning of "holiday,” please click http://amzn.to/1mwxchc

    Full article.  I abbreviated some items (blogger) 
     
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     
    Yoram Ettinger's CV
    http://www.theettingerreport.com/C-V----Lectures/C-V--(1)/C-V-.aspx
     
    His website: 
    http://www.theettingerreport.com/Home.aspx
     
    His articles on the Palestinian issue
    http://www.theettingerreport.com/Palestinian-Issue.aspx

    Cartoons
    http://www.drybonesblog.blogspot.ca/

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Pomegranate DSW.JPG
    Pomegranate - The pomegranate /ˈpɒmɨɡrænɨt/, botanical name Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between 5 and 8 m (16–26 ft) tall. In the Northern Hemisphere, the fruit is typically in season from September to February,[1] and in the Southern Hemisphere from March to May. As intact arils or juice, pomegranates are used in cooking, baking, meal garnishes, juice blends, smoothies, and alcoholic beverages, such as cocktails and wine.





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