News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

 Catholic, Mormon, and Pentecostal Churches Fastest Growing
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The Assemblies of God, the Mormon church and the Roman Catholic Church were the fastest-growing major denominations in the United States last year, according to the just-released 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal church, grew 1.81 percent to just under 2.8 million members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints increased 1.74 percent to nearly 6 million people. And the Catholic Church, by the far the largest denomination in the United States, grew .83 percent to 67.8 million parishioners.

Only three mainline Protestant churches remain among the 10 biggest denominations in the country. The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., stayed in the top 10 despite experiencing declines in membership last year.

The Methodists ranked third, with about 8.2 million members. The Evangelical Lutherans Ranked seventh, with nearly 4.9 million people. And the Presbyterians ranked ninth with just under 3.2 million congregants.

The Southern Baptist Convention remains the largest U.S. Protestant group, with 16.3 million members. It is the second-largest denomination in the country, behind the Catholic Church.

The yearbook has been published for 89 years by the National Council of Churches, which represents 35 mainline Protestant, Episcopalian and Orthodox Christian groups.

Catholic, Mormon, and Pentecostal Churches Fastest Growing

[Shammu]

NASCAR hits NBC show for Muslims visit to race

Fri Apr 7, 5:47 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) -
NASCAR officials criticized an NBC news magazine program on Friday, saying it tried "to manufacture the news" by bringing a group of Muslim men to one of its car races to see if they would be mistreated by NASCAR fans.

"Dateline NBC" countered by saying it was not doing a story on NASCAR when it sent cameras to gauge reaction to the Muslims brought to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, but was exploring a possible story based on a poll indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the group walked around outside the Martinsville track without incident, but said the car racing organization objected to the staged nature of the TV shoot.

"It's outrageous that a news organization like NBC would seek to manufacture the news instead of reporting the news," Poston told Reuters on Friday.

"Dateline NBC" defended its reporting in a statement.

"Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," it said. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. We are curious about whether that is true. The NASCAR race at Martinsville was a stop we have made in our research on this story, which may take us across the country."

NBC said there was nothing new about this technique in TV newsgathering, noting that government agencies and journalists conduct such investigations to expose possible discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

NASCAR, which boasts rising television ratings and a growing and highly loyal fan base, is in the final year of a contract with NBC Sports, which will broadcast the second half of the Nextel Cup season.

NASCAR hits NBC show for Muslims visit to race

My note; Now this burns me up!

[Shammu]

Lawyer: Bush Didn't Direct Libby to Leak

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut
Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, be the one to disseminate the information, an attorney knowledgeable about the case said Saturday.

Bush merely instructed Cheney to "get it out" and left the details to him, said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case for the White House. The vice president chose Libby and communicated the president's wishes to his then-top aide, the lawyer said.

It is not known when the conversation between Bush and Cheney took place. The White House has declined to provide the date when the president used his authority to declassify the portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified document that detailed the intelligence community's conclusions about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The new information about Bush and Cheney's roles came as the president's aides have scrambled to defuse the political fallout from a court filing Wednesday by the prosecutors in the complex, ongoing investigation into whether the identity of CIA officer
Valerie Plame was disclosed to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, an Iraq war critic.

Wilson had accused the administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the weapons threat in Iraq.

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in the filing that Libby testified before a grand jury that he was authorized by Bush, through Cheney, to leak information from the intelligence estimate.

Libby faces trial, likely in January, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the grand jury and investigators about what he told reporters about Plame.

Fitzgerald did not say in the filing that Cheney authorized Libby to leak Plame's identity, and Bush is not accused of doing anything illegal.

Fitzgerald's aim with the filing was to counter Libby's defense that he innocently forgot about conversations he may have had with reporters about Plame by showing that the White House's concern about the war criticism was so consuming it would be difficult to forget.

But by suggesting that the leak of Plame's name may have been set in motion by the president, however indirectly, the documents reverberated much more broadly. Democrats unleashed a storm of criticism against Bush, saying he appeared to have misused the declassification process for political gain.

On Friday, the White House argued there is an important different between disclosing sensitive information to further a public debate and leaking classified information that compromises national security. But the attorney said Saturday the president's instructions were not as specific as it might seem from both Fitzgerald's description of Libby's testimony and news accounts of it.

Because Bush declassified the intelligence document, the White House does not view Libby's conversations about it as a leak. But that determination is difficult to make without knowing precisely when Bush decided to declassify the information.

Libby passed the information about the document to New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003. It was 10 days later, on July 18, when the same portions of the document that Libby discussed with Miller were released publicly.

Lawyer: Bush Didn't Direct Libby to Leak

[Shammu]

Ancient Book May Be Covered in Human Skin

1 hour, 50 minutes ago

LONDON - A 300-year-old book that appears to be bound in human skin has been found in northern England, police said Saturday.

The macabre discovery was made on a central street in Leeds, and officers said the ledger may have been dumped following a burglary.

Detectives were trying to trace its rightful owner and believe it may have been taken from a dwelling in the area.

Much of the text is in French, and it was not uncommon around the time of the French Revolution for books to be covered in human skin.

The practice, known as anthropodermic bibliopegy, was sometimes used in the 18th and 19th centuries when accounts of murder trials were bound in the killer's skin.

Anatomy books also were sometimes bound in the skin of a dissected cadaver. In World War II, Nazis were accused of using the skin from Holocaust victims to bind books.

In a brief statement, West Yorkshire police said the ledger, which contained handwriting in black ink, appears to date back to the 1700s, and they appealed to anyone who may be able to help identify the owners of the item to contact authorities.

West Yorkshire Police put two photographs of the book on their Web site, but officers were unable on Saturday to answer any questions about it, including the book's subject matter.

Ancient Book May Be Covered in Human Skin

[Shammu]

Avondale fears fire problems near Gila River

Lynh Bui
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 8, 2006 12:00 AM

AVONDALE - The Avondale Fire Department has started gearing up for this year's wildfire season as officials predict some of the harshest fires since the Rodeo-Chediski Fire of 2002.

The biggest risk area for Avondale is along the Gila River, where overgrown salt cedar has dried, creating perfect kindling, according to Fire Chief Paul Adams.

Firefighters have been visiting property owners in the Gila River area to warn them about maintaining their properties and the need for clearing away brush.

The city also plans to apply for a grant that would help pay for a wildland fire engine.

The $300,000 engine is designed by the U.S. Forest Service and is customized for off-road uses. That includes four-wheel drive and a body lifted higher.

Adams said the truck would be used within the city and could be deployed during large wildfires in other areas of the Valley.

Because the city is still finding ways to pay for the engine, the truck won't be available until next year's wildfire season.

Along with the advantage of working to fight wildfires, the new engine's size and maneuverability would be useful in case of emergencies during race weekends at Phoenix International Raceway, Adams said.

"You have lots of motorhomes down there, narrow traffic lanes and lots of people," he said. "It makes maneuverability difficult, and a vehicle of this type would be ideal for this environment."

Avondale fears fire problems near Gila River

My note; The Rodeo-Chediski Fire was bad, I wasn't evactuated. The fire was about 1/2 mile away from my home. Course here where I am theres a natural fire break.

[Shammu]

Passover on the Gulf Coast
Story of Exodus Has New Meaning for Jews Who Lived Through Katrina

By Ansley Roan
Religion News Service
Saturday, April 8, 2006; Page B11

As residents of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast prepare for Passover, which celebrates the Jewish people's escape from slavery in Egypt, it is as if they have lived through an epic of their own.

"You're talking about Exodus, where you're going from something terrible, being under the rule of Pharaoh, toward freedom," said Lori Beth Susman, a board member of a conservative synagogue in Biloxi, Miss. "For many of us, the last seven months have been that kind of journey."

Congregations along the Gulf Coast find themselves at different places on that journey after August's arrival of Hurricane Katrina, the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Their Passover plans reveal the many ways Katrina continues to affect their religious lives, from damaging their synagogues to still scattering once-close members of congregations.

Traditionally, Passover is celebrated with a Seder dinner, at which the story of the Exodus is told. Families often have a first-night Seder at home, and many synagogues hold a second-night Seder. This year, the holiday begins at sundown Wednesday and lasts eight days for Orthodox and Conservative Jews, and seven days for Reform Jews.

Susman's congregation, Beth Israel, is unable to hold services or a traditional Seder because of extensive wind damage to its facilities. Instead, the congregation will have its annual Seder at a local Methodist church, which also hosts Sabbath services in a fellowship hall.

One of the most heavily damaged synagogues in the region, a New Orleans Orthodox congregation also called Beth Israel, has a wrecked building and displaced members. The synagogue, which is near the breach of the 17th Street Canal levee, was filled with 10 feet of water in the sanctuary. Its membership is down about 30 percent from the pre-Katrina figure of 165 families, some of whom lived close enough to walk to services before they lost their homes.

"Everything was destroyed," said Eddie Gothard, past president of the congregation. "Every bench, every book, seven Torahs, every file cabinet, every record."

The damaged Torahs were buried in a Jewish cemetery March 19. (Out of respect, damaged Torahs are buried, not thrown away.) At the same ceremony, two new Torahs, donated by out-of-state synagogues, were dedicated.

"Torahs don't die," Gothard said. "What the Torah really is -- the concepts, the precepts, the history of our people, the laws we have to follow -- that's not lost at all. What's still here is our congregation and our dedication to being an Orthodox synagogue in New Orleans."

As a sign of that commitment, Beth Israel holds Sabbath services about every three weeks in a room at a nearby Reform synagogue, officiated by rabbis and Yeshiva students sent by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

There will be no synagogue-based Passover celebrations this year, but Gothard and others will have Seders at home.

"There is too much that is not normal, [such as] driving down the street and seeing the piles of trash and the FEMA trailers in front yards," he said. "We would like to see something that reminds us of normal. That's what I think Passover represents. When you get back to your traditions, you realize at some point you're getting over this."

At Shir Chadash, a conservative synagogue in Metairie, La., just outside New Orleans, traditions will continue. The synagogue was flooded with 12 to 16 inches of water, but repairs are underway. There are no pews in the sanctuary, and the floors in the social hall are cement.

Nonetheless, they will have a second-night Seder and Passover services. They hope to collect donations to underwrite the cost of the dinner so they can invite aid workers in the area to attend for free.

Two Reform congregations in the New Orleans area are further along in their repair process and will also host Seders. But they too have been affected by Katrina.

Before the hurricane, Touro synagogue counted more than 600 families as members, and 50 to 70 percent of them are back, but some, including one-third of the staff, suffered catastrophic damage to their homes.

This year, Seder tickets have been reduced to $10 a member, thanks to underwriting. They also have funds available to help congregants replace Seder pieces like plates and matzoh covers that may have been lost in the storm.

At Congregation Gates of Prayer in Metairie, underwriting has also reduced the cost of a Seder ticket to $10. The synagogue got 3 1/2 feet of water in the sanctuary. More than $1 million in repairs are almost complete.

Although about 75 percent of its 480 families are back in the area, about half of them are living in less than ideal conditions. Some are in trailers or living on only the second floor of their houses.

Because congregations and congregants are financially strained, the New York-based Union for Reform Judaism has established a fund called SOS New Orleans: Supporting Our Synagogues, to help pay operating expenses for the four Reform synagogues in the New Orleans area. So far, more than $615,000 has been raised.

"We're on our way back to the Promised Land," said Rabbi Robert Loewy of Gates of Prayer. "The Promised Land is wholeness. Redemption is the goal of Passover, not in the ultimate end of days sense, but rather in the sense of wholeness and freedom and coming together."

Passover on the Gulf Coast

[Shammu]

Demonstrators, Police Clash in Katmandu

45 minutes ago

KATMANDU, Nepal - Police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who defied a curfew in Nepal's capital Sunday to demand the restoration of democracy in the Himalayan kingdom.
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The protests come despite the royal government's threat to shoot anyone breaking the curfew, imposed Saturday to thwart persistent opposition protests against King Gyanendra's seizure of absolute rule last year.

Security forces killed two people and wounded at least five in clashes outside Katmandu Saturday as increasingly violent protest spread across the country.

Youths marched through Katmandu's streets Sunday and threw stones at police before being forced back by tear gas. At least 1,000 people assembled in one neighborhood, said a witness who watched the protest and declined to be named for fear of police reprisal. Large groups were reported to have taken part in protests in other neighborhoods as well.

A much larger group marched from a suburb outside the curfew limits toward the capital.

"We have gathered thousands of people and we are going to march ahead and break curfew orders," said protest organizer Parsuram Pokhrel of the Nepali Congress, the country's largest political party.

Demonstrators, Police Clash in Katmandu

[Soldier4Christ]

Plane carrying House members
fired on with Russian missile
C-130's defenses repelled anti-aircraft device
aimed at delegation on 'lights-out' Iraq flight

Three congressman have confirmed they were aboard a C-130 flight to Kuwait from Iraq in January when they were attacked by a sophisticated Russian SA-18 shoulder-fired missile that required the U.S. plane to employ high-technology countermeasures to avoid being hit.

They were lucky – the leased commercial aircraft transporting troops aren't equipped to with those sophisticated countermeasures.

Reps. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., John Spratt, D-S.C., and Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, confirmed the incident to The San Francisco Chronicle. They were part of a six-member delegation of the House Armed Services Committee, led by Rob Simmons, R-Conn.

Missile attacks on Air Force transports flying in and through the Iraq theater are regular occurrences, but the introduction of the SA-18 – the top Russian "man-portable air defense systems," or MANPADS – is seen as significantly increasing the danger for aircraft.

"The SA-18 is significantly harder to defend against," said Daniel Goure, of the Lexington Institute, a military affairs think tank. "The SA-18 has increased range, increased altitude, and is much better able to home in on a vital piece of aircraft equipment."

Air Force aircraft have been equipped with laser systems that deflect and incoming missile's aim, but no such systems have yet been installed on U.S. commercial airliners, including those that are part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, civilian aircraft under contract to ferry troops to and from the various staging bases in the Middle East.

"The Civil Reserve Air Fleet ... (is) a prime target for terrorists or enemies with MANPADS," Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said. "The impact of the loss of just one such aircraft would be incalculable. ... It is past time to extend this protection to the CRAF fleet and, ultimately, to the entire commercial air fleet."

In 2002, a failed attempt was made to shoot down an Israeli airliner taking off from Mombasa, Kenya. The U.S. Defense Department documents 43 civilian aircraft hit by MANPADS worldwide. Thirty of those hit were destroyed, resulting in 900 passenger and crew deaths.

Two companies have developed systems that could be used on commercial airliners at an installed cost of less than a million dollars per plane.

The Department of Homeland Security is not expected to conclude its study, mandated in 2003, into the best ways to adapt the military's laser-based infrared countermeasures systems to protect commercial airliners for another 18 months.

[Soldier4Christ]

 July 7 bombs were a 'demo' not terrorism, claims professor


The London bombings were not acts of terrorism but "a demonstration", according to a senior academic.

Prof Ron Geaves has sparked controversy by claiming that the attacks on Tube trains and a bus that killed 52 innocent people in July were part of a long history of protests by British Muslims.

He also said that to refer to the attacks as terrorism risked "demonising" those involved.

His comments were made as he prepared to give a lecture at the University of Chester to dignitaries and members of the Muslim community in the North West.

As part of his research, Prof Geaves has looked at the history of demonstrations by British Muslims. His work charts the changing nature of Muslim communities from the demonstrations against the author Salman Rushdie to the anti-war protests after the invasion of Iraq.

"I have included, rather controversially, the events in London as primarily an extreme form of demonstration and assess what these events actually mean in terms of their significance in the Muslim community," Prof Geaves said last week.

"Terrorism is a political word which always seems to be used to demonise people."

Prof Geaves, whose lecture was entitled Twenty years of fieldwork: reflections on 'reflexivity' in the study of British Muslims, said: "The title refers to the personal transformation that has taken place over the last two decades in which I have moved from a position of academic neutrality to one of active engagement with the Muslim community."

Prof Geaves, who has written at least four books on religion and has been at the university's department of theology and religious studies for five years, claims to be pioneering what he calls Britain's first Muslim youth work degree programme.

Chester became a university only last year after previously having college status.

Last night Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, described Prof Geaves's claims as "absolutely barking". He said: "What happened on July 7, 2005, fits with every international definition of terrorism. If any of the men behind the attacks had survived the incident they would have quite rightly been tried under the anti-terror laws. I don't think it's helpful that we have a mealy-mouthed academic trying to justify deaths of innocent people. It is ludicrous."

Four suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 others on July 7, while more than 700 people were injured in the attacks. Two weeks later, on July 21, devices on four Underground trains in the capital failed to explode.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, also insisted that the attacks were acts of "criminality" and "terrorism".

He said Prof Geaves's comments were unhelpful because they could actually be seized upon by people seeking reasons to target Muslims.

"For me, the definition of terrorism is when an innocent human life is lost. These bombings were an act of criminality and terrorism because that loss occurred.

"No motive can justify an act of terrorism. I think this kind of speculation is unhelpful because it is taken seriously by some sections of the community who want to demonise Muslims."

Loyita Worley, 50, a legal librarian who was injured in the Aldgate Station blast on July 7, said: "I would totally disagree with his point of views. There are other ways of protesting. The circumstances in which these people died were particularly nasty."

In February, an ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph revealed that 40 per cent of British Muslims wanted Sharia law in parts of the country.

It also indicated that 20 per cent had sympathy with the "feelings and motives" of the suicide bombers, although 99 per cent thought it wrong to carry out the atrocity.

Last night Prof Geaves, 56, said: "What I was trying to say was that the word terrorism, like the word evil, does not take us very far.

"During the lecture I spoke about the changing nature of Muslim protest. I concentrated on the Salman Rushdie controversy and the demonstrations against the two Gulf wars."

He added that it was possible to draw parallels between the July 7 attacks and atrocities in Northern Ireland, which claimed the lives of 3,500 people.

"If you look at the Troubles there were various different types of protest going on at the same time.

"The terrorism which occurred during the Troubles could also be seen as an extreme form of protest or demonstration."

__________________________


Note: Terrorism is terrorism. To call them anything is else is to call evil good. Demonising it? That is exactly what it is ....  the acts of demons. It is not risking anything but the truth.

[Soldier4Christ]

Wal-Mart seeking its own bank

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart, ever looking for ways to expand its already huge empire, is asking the government for permission to move into an entirely different industry: running its own in-house bank.

The world's largest retailer will ask the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Monday for permission to open a bank that can process millions of checks and credit-card payments each month. The company says it's not interested in running a consumer bank as well, but some of its opponents still fear such a step could hurt local banks much like the mom-and-pop stores were during Wal-Mart's rapid expansion.

This is Wal-Mart's fourth bid at running a bank — and its request unleashed an unprecedented flood of comments to the FDIC. In response, the FDIC scheduled its first public hearings ever on a bank application.

"It's a landmark battle in both U.S. business and financial services history," said Jerry Comizio, a financial services lawyer for Thacher Proffitt & Wood in Washington, D.C., and a former senior attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wal-Mart says consumers and retail banks have nothing to fear. It pledges to stay out of branch banking and says it will not provide consumer lending. About 300 institutions operate branches in 1,150 Wal-Mart stores and the company says it doesn't want to compete with them.

Wal-Mart says it can save money if allowed to operate an in-house bank to handle the 140 million credit, debit and electronic-check payments it handles each year. At present, it pays outside companies to handle those transactions.

This time, Wal-Mart is applying for a state charter to open a special type of bank called an industrial loan corporation (ILC) in Utah. The charter needs approval from the FDIC, which would supervise and insure its deposits. ILCs are not regulated by the Federal Reserve, which has oversight over traditional banks.

Concerns are twofold. One is the mixing of banking and commerce — parts of the economy that have traditionally been separate.

The other is concern that a Wal-Mart bank could swallow local banks with its national presence and deep pockets, outcompeting even large institutions such as Bank of America, Chase and Wachovia.

Federal Reserve officials also have weighed in to urge Congress to close a legal loophole that allows nonfinancial companies such as Wal-Mart to open industrial loan corporations.

[Soldier4Christ]

Principal: Kids' Tips Stopped Shooting

Authorities say a tip from two girls alerted officials at Winslow Township High School to a plot in which four teenagers were allegedly planning a lunch-period massacre.

The four suspects, boys aged 14 to 16, now face charges of murder conspiracy, terrorism, terroristic threats, and conspiracy to make terroristic threats. All four were arrested last week.

"We never heard definitively that it was this week," interim Principal Michele Ferner told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill. "What we heard was the 28th or 24th of April because it was closer, and I hate to use this word, but the Columbine anniversary."

Officials became aware of the plot in March when the girls went to the interim principal's office and mentioned a 2003 movie that depicts a school shooting.

"The good news is that the system worked," Ferner told the Courier-Post. "The kids trusted the administration and the teaching staff enough to come to us with the rumors, knowing that we would investigate them."

The boys remain in custody at the Camden County Youth Center in Blackwood pending a juvenile court hearing this week. Judge Angelo DiCamillo of the Family Division of Superior Court in Camden has ordered psychological and psychiatric evaluations for all four.

[Shammu]

Database ensures Big Brother is watching in China

Fri Apr 7, 12:55 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has recorded details of more than 96 percent of its population on a police database, state media reported on Friday, supplementing Internet and other state-sanctioned surveillance.

Since the 2003 launch of its "Gold Shield Program," the Public Security Bureau had collected information on about 1.25 billion of the country's 1.3 billion people.

"It has helped police uncover many criminal cases," Liu Shuo, a police official, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as telling a news conference on Thursday, adding that over 20 percent of criminal cases last year were solved with help from the database.

The database is just one way in which China keeps tabs on its citizens.

An estimated 30,000 Web police monitor the surfing habits of China's 110 million internet users, and restrict access to Web sites and blogs posting sensitive material, including topics related to democracy or independence for Tibet and Taiwan.

Database ensures Big Brother is watching in China

[Shammu]

Georgia Bible classes making some teachers uneasy

The Associated Press - ATLANTA

When Georgia lawmakers overwhelmingly authorized Bible classes in public schools, it was viewed as an election-year effort to appeal to a broad swath of voters.

But some teachers fear they will be put in a tough position by the challenge of teaching a religious text without straying across the constitutional line between church and state.

"It's just another instance where the cultural wars are going to be fought out in our classrooms," said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the 65,000-member Professional Association of Georgia Educators. "Teachers are going to feel themselves pressured to teach Bible almost like Sunday school and that's where the tightrope walking is going to come into it."

The bill, which cleared the Legislature last month, approves elective classes on the Old Testament and New Testament to be taught to high school students.

The Bible is already incorporated into some classes in Georgia and other states. But education analysts say the plan _ which Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue is expected to sign _ makes Georgia's the first state government to take an explicit stance endorsing Bible teaching.

The proposal, authored by Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, requires that the courses be taught "in an objective and nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students."

In an election-year surprise, Senate Democrats introduced their own Bible bill ahead of the GOP, saying that understanding the Bible and its teachings is crucial to understanding American politics, history, literature and art.

Republicans, who hold majorities in both the Senate and House, quickly offered their version, which ultimately passed.

The plan gives the state Department of Education until February 2007 to craft curricula for the two courses. Once they are offered, local school systems may choose to teach the classes, but will not be required to do so.

"It will be an elective," said department spokesman Dana Tofig. "The way we generally handle electives is we review material for these classes, come up with resource materials and the school systems decide if they want to offer the classes."

He said work has not begun on the classes because the bill has not yet been signed into law by Perdue.

"Our curriculum department and the state Board of Education will be very careful," Tofig said. "We offer a lot of electives, but not many of them come over from the Legislature."

Maggie Garrett, legislative counsel with the Georgia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said her group will keep a close eye on the curriculum and on the way the courses are taught once they are implemented.

She said the wording of the bill appears to be constitutional, but the actual teaching of the courses could lead to complaints and legal action.

"It's difficult for a teacher to teach a class like this," she said. "They're expected to both be an expert in the Bible and its history and also constitutional scholars.

"They have to know where the line is and they have to be sure they're keeping the class constitutional."

That's what concerns many teachers, Callahan said.

While some members of his group welcome the new classes, he said others are afraid teaching the Bible will make them targets for parents who want a more religious approach than the law allows.

"In our view, this legislation was totally unnecessary," said Callahan, noting that comparative religion and other courses that incorporate the Bible already are taught in some Georgia public schools. "The Democrats proposed it to goad the Republicans, who, in the best form of political jujitsu, took it and ran with it.

"Meanwhile, educators were left over here on the sidelines."

Georgia Bible classes making some teachers uneasy

[Shammu]

Russia Ready to Do Its Best for Iraq Stabilization — Foreign Ministry

Created: 08.04.2006 16:11 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:11 MSK

MosNews

Russia is ready to do everything necessary to stabilize the situation in Iraq, the Russian Foreign Ministry’ s spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in statement concerning a Friday mosque bombing in Baghdad. The deadliest terrorist attack this year, it took lives of at least 79 people and left more than 160 wounded.

The situation in Iraq worsened seriously in the last period, and the character of developments shows that collective efforts of the international community are needed to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, the diplomat was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.

One more case of exacerbation of the situation in the security area and the violence rise happen against the background of the delayed process of forming a permanent government in the country. Longer delay of the process may put Iraq on the verge of a wide-range civil conflict, Kamynin stressed.

Suicide bombers, one wearing women’s robes, set off their explosives as worshippers left the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad after the main weekly religious service on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

Russia Ready to Do Its Best for Iraq Stabilization — Foreign Ministry

[Shammu]

“Last Dictator in Europe” to Be Sworn for Third Term in Belarus

Created: 08.04.2006 11:51 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:51 MSK

MosNews

President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the West of systematically crushing human rights, takes the oath of office on Saturday to start a third term in office in ex-Soviet Belarus, Reuters reported.

After 12 years in power, the 51-year-old leader faces increasing pressure from Western countries, unprecedented opposition protests and the prospect of big rises in the price of gas from Russia, Belarus’s key ally and trading partner.

On the eve of the ceremony, police tightened security in the city centre, cordoning off whole districts to traffic.

The opposition plans a low-key protest on Saturday, but says it is concentrating on a bigger rally later in the month.

Four state television channels were due to broadcast the event live, starting when Lukashenko drives in a cortege to the imposing Palace of the Republic.

The balding and mustachioed president will read the oath and then preside over a military parade outside.

Concerts and theatrical presentations were planned throughout Minsk, a city of 1.7 million rebuilt nearly from scratch after World War II.

But the festivities belie the problems below the surface.

Dubbed “batka” (father), Lukashenko won the March 19 presidential election with a tally of 83 percent to 6 percent to his closest rival — liberal Alexander Milinkevich.

Opponents say that score was artificially inflated. International observers say the poll was neither free nor fair.

Lukashenko’s inauguration was originally scheduled for March 31, but officials postponed it without explanation. Rumors swirled in Minsk that he had been unsettled by large opposition protests — by Belarussian standards — over his re-election.

The liberal and nationalist opposition erected a tent city in October Square, focal point of Saturday’s ceremonies. Police tolerated the protests for four days, then broke them up.

The European Union, which has long accused Lukashenko of stifling independent media and hounding rivals, gave a warm welcome to Milinkevich this week in European capitals.

And EU foreign ministers are to approve a visa ban next week on Lukashenko and 30 other top officials, but say they will not impose economic sanctions on the country.

In a sign that Belarus is undergoing change, Minsk residents have begun wearing badges in the red-and-white national colors banned by Lukashenko in his 1990s drive to restore Soviet-era symbols. Emblazoned on the badge is the slogan: “For Freedom.”

But the biggest challenge for Lukashenko may come from his main ally — Moscow. Russia’s gas giant Gazprom has said it wanted to raise gas prices for Belarus from 2007.

Russia virtually subsidizes Belarus’s unreformed economy and supplies gas at a preferential price of about $47 per 1,000 cubic meters. Any increase would threaten Lukashenko’s trump card with ordinary Belarussians — relative economic stability.

“Last Dictator in Europe” to Be Sworn for Third Term in Belarus