News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Girls Gone Bad: Statistics Distort the Truth

Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com Mon Apr 10, 4:00 PM ET

Recent trends have suggested that girls are rapidly becoming more violent while the bad behavior of boys has not changed much. But the numbers are deceiving, some researchers say.

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) shows arrests of juvenile females for assaults and violent crime from 1980 through 2003 rose from 20 percent to more than 30 percent of the total.

The media have latched onto the statistic with glaring headlines. A book released in February carries the catchy title "See Jane Hit" and offers tips on how to deal with violent girls. An article last year in the Boston Globe was headlined "Violence raging among teen girls." Newsweek called the phenomenon "Bad Girls Go Wild."

The real change is in how police and society deal with acts that used to be viewed as relatively minor, says Darrell Steffensmeier, a professor of sociology and criminology at Penn State.

"Other national sources of information on youth violence do not support [the UCR] increase," Steffensmeier said today. "Several changes in violence prevention policies by police or at schools have widened the net, boosting the arrests of girls."

Reality check

In a new study, Steffensmeier and colleagues reviewed data from 1980 to 2003 from the Monitoring the Future and National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys and the National Crime Victimization Survey, in which the victim identifies the perpetrator's gender. Girls accounted for 20 percent of the crimes in 1980 and 19 percent in 2003.

The surveys involved national samples from the youth population and are independent of criminal justice biases, the researchers note.

"Some commentators have blamed the perceived change on greater stress in girls' lives, more cultural promotion of girls' aggression and breakdowns in family, church, community and schools," Steffensmeier said. "But today, police are more prone to arrest girls because of a crackdown on less serious forms of 'violent' crime that is seen as a way of warding off their escalation into more serious violence"

Arrest that girl!

Steffensmeier presented the research last week at a conference of the  Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Justice Educators.

He argues that parents, social workers, school officials and police are all pushing for more arrests and litigation rather than deal informally with aggressive behavior by girls.

"Girls are more likely to be arrested today than yesteryear for fighting with their parents or stepparents, teachers or other supervisors, and with other girls," he said. "Police files show that actions such as a girl throwing a dish at her mother or pouring a carton of chocolate milk on a girl at school for 'talking about her,' now result in arrests."

The media is also paying more attention to violence by girls, he said.

"It is important to realize that girls' arrests for homicide, robbery, and rape/sexual assault have not been rising and that there is little change in the gender gap," Steffensmeier said. "It is only girls' arrests for assault that have been rising."

Others agree

A 2004 report by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence found similar evidence that the increase in arrests of girls for violent behavior is not simply due to girls going bad.

That report was led by Meda Chesney-Lind of University of Hawaii at Manoa.  It cites among others a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that while 34.4 percent of girls surveyed in 1991 said they had been in a physical fight in the last year, by 2001 that figure had dropped to 23.9 percent.

Chesney-Lind concluded there are three things contributing to the rise in arrests for girls for violent crimes:

    * Relabeling of behavior as criminal, which sometimes means girls involved in scuffles with family members are arrested for assault.
    * Rediscovery of girls' violence by media and policy makers. 
    * Zero tolerance policies that have the effect of increasing the severity of criminal penalties associated with particular offenses.

"Careful analysis of trends in girls' violence, then fails to confirm that we face a dramatic increase in this troubling behavior," Meda Chesney-Lind said.

I can't post the link because of advertisment.

[Shammu]

Apr. 11, 2006   


Student group fighting district's fee for rallies

By KATHERINE CROMER BROCK
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Students Standing Strong, a Christian student group, may have to pay rental fees to hold rallies in the gymnasiums of Grapevine-Colleyville district schools.

The group held a rally in the Colleyville Heritage High School gymnasium Monday night for free, but only after the school district's attorney and an attorney for Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute exchanged letters throughout the day trying to resolve whether the group would have to pay a fee.

Liberty Legal, which represents people in legal battles over religious freedom and First Amendment issues, says the district is discriminating against the group because it is made up of Christian students.

District spokeswoman Megan Overman said that was not the case. Monday's gathering was larger and more involved than a typical meeting, she said. District policy allows smaller meetings at no cost for noncurricular student groups, she said. Until now, Students Standing Strong had never been asked to pay.

Monday's meeting, where about 200 students congregated to socialize, listen to a Christian rock band and worship, went beyond the scope of a regular meeting, Overman said.

"A rally constitutes a larger event," she said. "For a meeting, we provide things like a table and chairs."

At the organization's rally in February at Grapevine High School, about 800 students heard Mavericks coach Avery Johnson speak. The gathering included a sound system and a band.

"We're not treating them any different from any other noncurriculum student group that is requesting the use of our facilities for the purpose that they have described," Overman said. "They're going to have to follow our policy."

Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for Liberty Legal, said the district is giving in to parents who do not want Christian groups meeting on campus.

"Under the law, that's not a legal justification. That's the whole point about equal access -- it stands for all groups," Sasser said. "They're awfully quick to bow to the pressure of a few voices saying 'Violate the law.' It's like a little devil standing on their shoulder."

Students Standing Strong is a noncurricular student organization and is not sponsored or monitored by any district employees.

The group has been in the district's high schools since 2004 and has rallies in the schools' gymnasiums every few months. The club was founded by Terry Ann Kelly, a Grapevine mother who said she wanted her middle-school-aged children to find friends who were like-minded and Christian.

"I think it's a shame that kids who want to meet together to worship God, who are the brightest and best kids, who are inclusive and invite every student, are being treated differently," Kelly said. "They don't want our students to bend to peer pressure, but then the district is bending to peer pressure, even when the law is on their side."

The group has been at odds with the district in the past, Sasser said. He cited as an example last school year when the group believed that it was not being treated the same as other student groups because it was not recognized as an official non-curricular club. That issue was resolved without litigation.

Monday's gathering, however, took place after Sasser threatened a lawsuit in an exchange of letters with the district's attorney, Thomas E. Myers.

Sasser sent a letter to the district Monday asking that Students Standing Strong be allowed to meet, free of charge, and threatened legal action should the district not comply before a 2:30 p.m. deadline.

Myers responded with a letter that said the district and the students had agreed that the students would rent the facility for Monday's event, but that the district waived the fee last week because of the short time frame.

But that was not the impression that students had, said Brandon Carlson, a senior at Grapevine High School, who is the executive vice president of that school's chapter. In a small meeting Sunday of the group's student leaders, members voted not to pay the district's fees and to work with Liberty Legal, Carlson said.

"There should be equal rights for every student," Carlson said before Monday night's rally. "It doesn't make sense. We've had our meetings with no problems, and the administration at both campuses have been very supportive."

Overman said the district looks forward to meeting with representatives of the group and Liberty Legal to work out whether the club must rent the gym for future rallies.

Student-led clubs can meet at district facilities for free. Other groups can rent facilities, provided they pay a fee and provide proof of insurance.

Overman said other nonprofit organizations that rent Grapevine-Colleyville facilities include the Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, National Youth Sports and the Telugu Association of North Texas, a cultural group for people who speak the Telugu language of India.

Nonprofit renters of a high school gymnasium do not have to pay the district's processing fee, damage deposit or hourly charge.

Nonprofits have to pay $38.42 for gymnasium utilities, and $25 per hour for district personnel who are on hand. Students Standing Strong is a nonprofit.

Overman said that in addition to meeting with the group, the district will probably review its policy and perhaps develop more complete definitions and guidelines for outside organizations using district facilities for meetings or other purposes.

Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal, said at Monday night's rally that he's willing to talk with Grapevine-Colleyville officials, but he is prepared to continue to fight for the student group.

"The next time they discriminate against them to satisfy these folks who are complaining, it'll be time to do something to stop it," Shackelford said. "My hope is that they'll change their approach."

Student group fighting district's fee for rallies

[Shammu]

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies
Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.
By Stephanie Simon
Times Staff Writer

April 10, 2006

ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.

Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.

Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.

With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.

The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian."

In that spirit, the Christian Legal Society, an association of judges and lawyers, has formed a national group to challenge tolerance policies in federal court. Several nonprofit law firms — backed by major ministries such as Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ — already take on such cases for free.

The legal argument is straightforward: Policies intended to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination end up discriminating against conservative Christians. Evangelicals have been suspended for wearing anti-gay T-shirts to high school, fired for denouncing Gay Pride Month at work, reprimanded for refusing to attend diversity training. When they protest tolerance codes, they're labeled intolerant.

A recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that 64% of American adults — including 80% of evangelical Christians — agreed with the statement "Religion is under attack in this country."

"The message is, you're free to worship as you like, but don't you dare talk about it outside the four walls of your church," said Stephen Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Assn. Center for Law and Policy, which represents Christians who feel harassed.

Critics dismiss such talk as a right-wing fundraising ploy. "They're trying to develop a persecution complex," said Jeremy Gunn, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

Others fear the banner of religious liberty could be used to justify all manner of harassment.

"What if a person felt their religious view was that African Americans shouldn't mingle with Caucasians, or that women shouldn't work?" asked Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay rights group Lambda Legal.

Christian activist Gregory S. Baylor responds to such criticism angrily. He says he supports policies that protect people from discrimination based on race and gender. But he draws a distinction that infuriates gay rights activists when he argues that sexual orientation is different — a lifestyle choice, not an inborn trait.

By equating homosexuality with race, Baylor said, tolerance policies put conservative evangelicals in the same category as racists. He predicts the government will one day revoke the tax-exempt status of churches that preach homosexuality is sinful or that refuse to hire gays and lesbians.

"Think how marginalized racists are," said Baylor, who directs the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom. "If we don't address this now, it will only get worse."

Christians are fighting back in a case involving Every Nation Campus Ministries at California State University. Student members of the ministry on the Long Beach and San Diego campuses say their mission is to model a virtuous lifestyle for their peers. They will not accept as members gays, lesbians or anyone who considers homosexuality "a natural part of God's created order."

Legal analysts agree that the ministry, as a private organization, has every right to exclude gays; the Supreme Court affirmed that principle in a case involving the Boy Scouts in 2000. At issue is whether the university must grant official recognition to a student group that discriminates.

The students say denying them recognition — and its attendant benefits, such as funding — violates their free-speech rights and discriminates against their conservative theology. Christian groups at public colleges in other states have sued using similar arguments. Several of those lawsuits were settled out of court, with the groups prevailing.

In California, however, the university may have a strong defense in court. The California Supreme Court recently ruled that the city of Berkeley was justified in denying subsidies to the Boy Scouts because of that group's exclusionary policies. Eddie L. Washington, the lawyer representing Cal State, argues the same standard should apply to the university.

"We're certainly not going to fund discrimination," Washington said.

As they step up their legal campaign, conservative Christians face uncertain prospects. The 1st Amendment guarantees Americans "free exercise" of religion. In practice, though, the ground rules shift depending on the situation.

In a 2004 case, for instance, an AT&T Broadband employee won the right to express his religious convictions by refusing to sign a pledge to "respect and value the differences among us." As long as the employee wasn't harassing co-workers, the company had to make accommodations for his faith, a federal judge in Colorado ruled.

That same year, however, a federal judge in Idaho ruled that Hewlett-Packard Co. was justified in firing an employee who posted Bible verses condemning homosexuality on his cubicle. The verses, clearly visible from the hall, harassed gay employees and made it difficult for the company to meet its goal of attracting a diverse workforce, the judge ruled.

In the public schools, an Ohio middle school student last year won the right to wear a T-shirt that proclaimed: "Homosexuality is a sin! Islam is a lie! Abortion is murder!" But a teen-ager in Kentucky lost in federal court when he tried to exempt himself from a school program on gay tolerance on the grounds that it violated his religious beliefs.

In their lawsuit against Georgia Tech, Malhotra and her co-plaintiff, a devout Jewish student named Orit Sklar, request unspecified damages. But they say their main goal is to force the university to be more tolerant of religious viewpoints. The lawsuit was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit law firm that focuses on religious liberty cases.

Malhotra said she had been reprimanded by college deans several times in the last few years for expressing conservative religious and political views. When she protested a campus production of "The gotcha11 Monologues" with a display condemning feminism, the administration asked her to paint over part of it.

She caused another stir with a letter to the gay activists who organized an event known as Coming Out Week in the fall of 2004. Malhotra sent the letter on behalf of the Georgia Tech College Republicans, which she chairs; she said several members of the executive board helped write it.

The letter referred to the campus gay rights group Pride Alliance as a "sex club … that can't even manage to be tasteful." It went on to say that it was "ludicrous" for Georgia Tech to help fund the Pride Alliance.

The letter berated students who come out publicly as gay, saying they subject others on campus to "a constant barrage of homosexuality."

"If gays want to be tolerated, they should knock off the political propaganda," the letter said.

The student activist who received the letter, Felix Hu, described it as "rude, unfair, presumptuous" — and disturbing enough that Pride Alliance forwarded it to a college administrator. Soon after, Malhotra said, she was called in to a dean's office. Students can be expelled for intolerant speech, but she said she was only reprimanded.

Still, she said, the incident has left her afraid to speak freely. She's even reluctant to aggressively advertise the campus lectures she arranges on living by the Bible. "Whenever I've spoken out against a certain lifestyle, the first thing I'm told is 'You're being intolerant, you're being negative, you're creating a hostile campus environment,' " Malhotra said.

A Georgia Tech spokeswoman would not comment on the lawsuit or on Malhotra's disciplinary record, but she said the university encouraged students to debate freely, "as long as they're not promoting violence or harassing anyone."

The open question is what constitutes harassment, what's a sincere expression of faith — and what to do when they overlap.

"There really is confusion out there," said Charles C. Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, which is affiliated with Vanderbilt University. "Finding common ground sounds good. But the reality is, a lot of people on all sides have a stake in the fight."

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies

[Shammu]

 Iran joins world nuclear technology club (Recast to add more quotes)
Mashhad, Khorassan Razavi Prov, April 11, IRNA

Iran-Nuclear-Ahmadinejad
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Tuesday that Iran has joined the world's nuclear countries.

The president said that Iran has completed production of the nuclear fuel cycle on laboratory scale and produced enriched uranium with the purity needed for a nuclear power station on April 9, this year.

The president reiterated that Iran favors peace and justice for the entire humanity and stressed that Iran's nuclear technology will serve peaceful purposes.

The president said, "We have announced time and again that our nuclear technology is at the service of peaceful purposes. We announce that those (countries) need weapons of mass destruction that are in the mentality of 50 years ago and those who imagine that they can change world political, cultural and economic equations in their own favor by stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

"The Iranian nation does not take its might from nuclear arsenals and the origin of our nation's strength lies in its deeply-rooted religious faith."

Iran joins world nuclear technology club

[Shammu]

 Larijani confers with Saudi King Abdullah
Riyadh, April 11, IRNA

Iran-Saudi Arabia-Larijani
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani on Tuesday held talks with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz on bilateral issues and ways to develop mutual cooperation.

Larijani and King Abdullah reviewed the situation in the region especially in Iraq and Iranian nuclear program.

King Abdullah emphasized the need for developing Tehran-Riyadh relations in all domains and said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is an important state in the region.

The Saudi king said that Iran-Saudi Arabia cooperation would be effective in repelling the threats and establishing permanent security in the region and the entire international community as well.

Larijani said that Tehran-Riyadh relations are growing in all fields and that there is political resolve on part of the Islamic Republic of Iran to enhance the level of its strategic relations with Saudi Arabia.

Pointing to the security threats to the region, Larijani said that the security cannot be divided among regional states and it requires collective cooperation to establish security in the region.

He said that Iran and Saudi Arabia have the longest border with Iraq and they are expected to cooperate to resolve Iraqi crisis and reconstruction of that country.

On Iranian nuclear program, Larijani said that Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei has admitted in his report on Iran that the UN nuclear agency detected no diversion from civilian purpose.

He said that Iranian strategy calls for cooperation with neighboring and regional states and developing cooperation with Riyadh.

Larijani arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday and held talks with director general of Saudi Supreme National Security Council Bandar bin Sultan and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on a variety of issues of mutual interest.

Larijani confers with Saudi King Abdullah

[Shammu]

 EU opens new era of ties with Lebanon
Brussels, April 11, IRNA

EU-Lebanon
The European Union and Lebanon held their first Association Council meeting in Luxembourg Tuesday opening a new era in bilateral ties.

"This first Association Council provided an opportunity for a constructive and rich political dialogue, for an exchange on economic and social co-operation and on the dialogue between cultures," the two sides said in a joint statement.

It underlines the importance the EU and Lebanon attach to their partnership "which is based on shared values, joint ownership and co-responsibility."
The Lebanese delegation was led by Fawzi Salloukh, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Emigrants. The EU side was represented by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for external relations and Ursula Plassnik, Austrian Foreign Minister and current and President of the EU Council.

The Association Agreement signed in 2002 provides a framework for regular political dialogue between the EU and Lebanon.

Lebanon and the EU are expected to enter into a new phase of intense co-operation with the entry into force of the Association Agreement, noted the joint statement.

EU opens new era of ties with Lebanon

[Shammu]

 Russia welcomes ElBaradei's visit to Iran
Moscow, April 11, IRNA

Russia-IAEA Chief-Iran
Russian Foreign Ministry expressed hope that Tehran will make optimum use of the upcoming visit of the UN nuclear watchdog chief, Mohamed ElBaradei to Iran to clarify the ambiguities in its nuclear activities.

A statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, hoped that the measures the Board of Governors want Tehran to take towards confidence building will be discussed during the visit.

It assessed Elbaradei's visit to Iran as a proof that the country is prepared to develop and strengthen its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The ministry has declared that this should take place merely within the framework of the IAEA, given that it is the only authorized international body with specialized capabilities allowed to pursue inspection in Iran's nuclear installations and see to it that the NPT commitments are complied.

The IAEA chief is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on a two-day visit on Wednesday.

Russia welcomes ElBaradei's visit to Iran

[Shammu]

 Aqazadeh: Iran manages to produce uranium enriched to 3.5 percent
Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi Prov, April 11, IRNA

Iran-Nuclear-Aqazadeh
Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh said here Tuesday Iran has produced uranium enriched to 3.5 percent in its Natanz facility thanks to the efforts of its young talented experts.

This has paved the way for the country to carry out uranium enrichment on industrial scale, he said in a report on Iran's nuclear activities.

Aqazadeh expressed hope that an uranium enrichment complex with a capacity of 3000 tons will come on stream by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2007).

Aqazadeh: Iran manages to produce uranium enriched to 3.5 percent

[Shammu]

Bill to restrict grass-roots activism?
Pro-life advocate sees proposal as attempt to limit contact with lawmakers
Posted: April 12, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A bill that some activist organizations say would inhibit the right of ordinary Americans to petition their representatives in Congress is making its way through the legislative process in Washington, D.C.

The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006, S.2349, passed the Senate 90-8, and a House version of the bill could come up for a vote in two weeks, Douglas Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life, told LifeSiteNews.

The bill "would regulate for the first time grass-roots activism," Johnson told the newssite. The legislation defines "grass-roots lobbying" as "the voluntary efforts of members of the general public to communicate their own views on an issue to federal officials or to encourage other members of the general public to do the same."

Said Johnson: "The bill does not start off by regulating all constituent contacts with members of Congress. But it does adopt that premise that that is a type of lobbying."

The activist believes the bill could limit organizations like his from urging supporters to contact members of Congress.

The stated goal behind the legislation is to more strictly regulate professional lobbyists on Capitol Hill, Johnson explains.

"This is really an agenda that certain groups like Common Cause use to restrict grass-roots democracy so certain privileged elites will have more influence on public policy," Johnson told LifeSiteNews, saying he believes Democrats are trying to insert language that restricts grass-roots activism.

[Shammu]

Cindy Sheehan: Don't attack Iran

Activist finds no justification for military response to atomic threat
Posted: April 11, 2006
4:52 p.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com


Cindy Sheehan
Turning her attention from Iraq to Iran, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan insists the U.S. has no justification for any kind of military response to the emerging nuclear threat from Iran, which today declared it successfully has enriched uranium.

Writing in the left-wing Buzzflash.com, Sheehan said that after a war in Iraq, President Bush, the "swaggering imbecile of a 'leaker in chief' has the nerve to be trying to sell all of us on a new war in Iran."

"Do the warped neocons with their puppet president think that we are all stupid? Fool us once, shame on us, fool us, -- well, we just can't be fooled again," she writes.

Iran announced today it has enriched uranium for the first time, a major development in its plan to develop nuclear fuel. A story in the New Yorker by journalist Seymour Hersh, quoting anonymous sources, indicated the White House is preparing contingency plans that include the possibility of using nuclear bunker-buster bombs to take out Iranian underground facilities.

Sheehan said the U.S. possession of nuclear weapons is "crazy, but talking about deploying them is sheer insanity."

She fears this could lead to a world war.

"With all of the 'Left Behind' religious fanatics praying for Armageddon, this thought is made even scarier by the fake believers in the White House who are exploiting the neo-Christian idea that Jesus was a war monger and anything our great leader does is okay, because he is a Christian man!" she declares.

The U.S. also "must not even, for one moment, contemplate a conventional invasion in Iran either," she said. "No matter how George Bush lies about how rosy things are in Iraq, they aren't, and Iraq is proof that war of any kind is a horribly tragic way to solve problems."

She said the U.S. "must elect leaders that will get at the root causes of terrorism and not pretend that every terrorist can ever be killed to satisfy some kind of primeval bloodlust that flows through the war machine's veins."

"When our leaders go terrorist hunting," she said, "they kill innocent men, women and children and they, themselves, become the very thing that they are trying to teach us to loathe."

Sheehan was arrested in January just prior to President Bush's State of the Union address, as she displayed a shirt proclaiming the number of dead American soldiers in Iraq.

Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq and has since called terrorists "freedom fighters," said while she was not looking to cause any disturbance, she did wear the shirt "to make a statement."

[Shammu]

Iran 1 step from atomic bomb
With 3 developments this year, Tehran's pace startling analysts
Posted: April 12, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Confounding the predictions of many Western analysts, Iran's announcement yesterday that it successfully enriched uranium was the third major development this year on the way to producing an atomic bomb, leaving only one more step.

That next development – metalizing the enriched uranium to fit it into a warhead – could come as soon as four months from now, says author Jerry Corsi, who has watched the predictions in his book "Atomic Iran" unfold since it was published one year ago.

"They have only one more problem to solve," Corsi said. "The world has got to stop thinking about these Iranians as backward, just because Ahmadinejad has a radical religious agenda. They have all the technical knowledge and all the money they need to solve these problems."

In February, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress that Iran was as much as a decade away from producing a nuclear weapon.

But Corsi, noting it took just four months to produce enriched uranium, argues Tehran is only trying to solve technical problems to make an atomic bomb, not come up with breakthroughs. With the help of China, Russia and their own scientists, who have received world-class training, they could easily have a bomb by the end of the year, he said.

Yesterday, in a nationally televised speech, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that with the production of enriched uranium, "I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries."

The audience, which included top military commanders and clerics, broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!"

In January, Iran successfully tested a missile with solid fuel, and last week, a U.S. official reported Iran now has ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Tehran has rejected a demand by the U.N. Security Council to stop all uranium enrichment activity by April 28. Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N.'s watchdog agency, plans to travel to Iran this week for talks.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tehran's latest boasts "continue to show that Iran is moving in the wrong direction."

WorldNetDaily first reported one year ago that Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, were being designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure. Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham, said there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons – even one of which could knock out America's critical electrical and technological infrastructure, effectively sending the continental U.S. back to the 19th century with a recovery time of months or years.

In December, WND reported that while the U.S. always has refused to take the military option off the table in dealing with Iran, new developments indicated Washington had gone from acknowledging the possibility of action to preparing its allies for a strike.

In November, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened to "wipe Israel off the map." One month later, Israeli officials said then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had instructed the Israeli Defense Forces to prepare for a possible military strike against Iran.

As WorldNetDaily reported in January, Ahmadinejad told a crowd of theological students in Iran's holy city of Qom that Islam must prepare to rule the world.

"We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups and nations. It's a universal ideology that leads the world to justice," Ahmadinejad said Jan. 5, according to Mehran Riazaty, a former Iran analyst for the Central Command of the Coalition Forces in Baghdad.

Ahmadinejad, who drew global attention for his contention the Holocaust was a "myth," said: "We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world."

Riazaty, in a post on the website Regime Change Iran, said the Iranian president emphasized his current theme that the return of the Shiite messiah, the Mahdi, is not far away, and Muslims must prepare for it.

According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West.

"We must prepare ourselves to rule the world and the only way to do that is to put forth views on the basis of the Expectation of the Return," Ahmadinejad said. "If we work on the basis of the Expectation of the Return [of the Mahdi], all the affairs of our nation will be streamlined and the administration of the country will become easier."

[Shammu]

Iran Intends to Expand Uranium Enrichment

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 17 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran intends to enrich uranium on a scale hundreds of times larger than its current level, the country's deputy nuclear chief said Wednesday, signaling its resolve to expand a program the international community insists it halt.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran for the first time had succeeded on a small scale in enriching uranium, a key step in generating fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all enrichment activity because of suspicions the program's aim is to make weapons.

Iran's small-scale enrichment used 164 centrifuges, which spin uranium gas to increase its proportion of the isotope needed for the nuclear fission at the heart of a nuclear reactor or a bomb.

Saeedi said Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to install 3,000 centrifuges at its facility in the central town of Natanz by late 2006, then expand to 54,000 centrifuges, though he did not say when.

"We will expand uranium enrichment to industrial scale at Natanz," Deputy Nuclear Chief Mohammad Saeedi told state-run television.

Saeedi said using 54,000 centrifuges will be able to produce enough enriched uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant like one Russia is finishing in southern Iran.

In theory, that many centrifuges could be used to develop the material needed for hundreds of nuclear warheads if Iran can perfect the techniques for producing the highly enriched uranium needed.

Iran, which has made no secret of its plans to ultimately expand enrichment to around 50,000 centrifuges to fuel reactors, is still thought to be years away from a full-scale program.

Still, concerns grew Tuesday when Ahmadinejad announced Iran's enrichment success in a nationally televised ceremony, saying the country's nuclear ambitions are peaceful and warning the West that trying to force Iran to abandon enrichment would "cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians."

The IAEA is due to report to the Security Council on April 28 whether Iran has met its demand for a full halt to uranium enrichment. If Tehran has not complied, the council will consider the next step. The U.S. and Europe are pressing for sanctions, a step Russia and China have so far opposed.

Iran's announcement quickly drew condemnations.

Russia criticized the announcement Wednesday, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin saying, "We believe that this step is wrong. "

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscow's firm opposition to any military action against Iran.

Denouncing Iran's successful enrichment of uranium as unacceptable to the international community, Secretary of State Conodoleezza Rice said the U.N. Security Council must consider "strong steps" to induce Tehran to change course.

Rice also telephoned IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to ask him to reinforce demands that Iran comply with its nonproliferation requirements when he holds talks in Tehran on Friday.

"This is not a question of Iran's right to civil nuclear power," she said. "This is a question of ... the world does not believe that Iran should have the capability and the technology that could lead to a nuclear weapon."

Rice did not call for an emergency meeting of the Council, saying it should consider action after receiving an IAEA report by April 28. She did not elaborate on what measures the United States would support, but economic and political sanctions are under consideration.

In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government said Iran's announcement was cause for concern.

"It is another step in the wrong direction by Iran," German government spokesman Thomas Steg said.

French government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope urged Iran "to respect its obligations" and stop nuclear activities.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was "seriously concerned" by Ahmadinejad's announcement.

Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, cautioned that it will take some time before Iran achieves nuclear capability. "I think things will change in this process and we shouldn't see this as a foregone conclusion," he told Army Radio.

The chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon "within three years, by the end of the decade."

ElBaradei was heading to Iran on Wednesday for talks aimed at resolving the standoff. The timing of Ahmadinejad's announcement suggested Iran wanted to present ElBaradei with a fait accompli and argue that it cannot be expected to entirely give up a program showing progress.

Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani — a powerful figure in the country's clerical regime — warned in an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam that pressuring Iran over enrichment "might not have good consequences for the area and the world."

Rafsanjani, who heads the body that arbitrates between the parliament and the clerical hierarchy, said planned talks between Iran and the United States on stabilizing Iraq could lead to discussions on the nuclear dispute.

"If the talks on Iraq go in the right direction, there might be a possibility for that issue," Rafsanjani told the Al-Hayat daily. "There have been many cases where big and wide-ranging decisions had small beginnings."

Iranian and U.S. officials have insisted the talks will deal only with Iraq. So far, no date for the talks has been set.

Rafsanjani and other Iranian officials, meanwhile, reiterated that the country's nuclear ambitions were peaceful.

"There is no worry as we will not threaten anyone," Rafsanjani said as he arrived in Damascus on Wednesday, according to
Syria's official news agency.

Thousands of centrifuges arranged in a network called a "cascade" are needed to produce enriched uranium. Getting any number to work together is delicate and difficult.

Iran resumed research on enrichment at Natanz in February. Saeedi said scientists there slowly built up the number of centrifuges in the cascade. On Sunday, they succeeded in enriching an amount of uranium to contain 3.5 percent of the isotope uranium-235 — the proportion needed for reactor fuel — using 164 centrifuges.

Enriching uranium to the much higher levels needed for a nuclear warhead is even more difficult, requiring tens of thousands of centrifuges or much longer periods of time.

Iran is believed to have enough black-market components in storage now to build the 1,500 operating centrifuges it would need to make the 45 pounds of highly enriched uranium needed for one crude weapon.

"The next stage is to install 3,000 centrifuges. We definitely won't have problems doing that. We just need to increase our production line," Saeedi said.

Iran is pressing for further negotiations with the IAEA or with Western countries, hinting that it could agree to keep its enrichment program on a small scale under IAEA inspection without giving it up entirely.

Iran Intends to Expand Uranium Enrichment

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World criticism mounts over Iran's nuclear step

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Russia and Europe joined the United States on Wednesday in condemning Iran's assertion that it had enriched uranium in defiance of a U.N. demand, but Moscow said force could not resolve the dispute.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Tuesday that Iran had enriched uranium for the first time and would now press ahead with industrial-scale enrichment.

His triumphant announcement keeps the Islamic Republic on a collision course with the United Nations and with Western countries convinced that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, not just fuel for power stations as it insists.

The United States said that if Iran continued moving in the "wrong direction" it would discuss future steps with the U.N. Security Council, which can impose punitive measures.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the use of force could not solve the stand-off over Iran's nuclear program, but he did not reiterate Moscow's past opposition to sanctions.

"If such plans exist they will not be able to solve this problem. On the contrary they could create a dangerous explosive blaze in the Middle East, where there are already enough blazes," he was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

President Bush this week dismissed media reports of plans for strikes on Iran as "wild speculation" and said force might not be needed to curb its nuclear ambitions.

The Russian Foreign Ministry urged Tehran to stop all enrichment work, saying its proclaimed atomic advance ran counter to the decisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the U.N. Security Council.

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World criticism mounts over Iran's nuclear step

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Iran Could Make Bomb in 16 Days if Centrifuge Plans Continue, U.S. Says

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, defying United Nations Security Council demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said.

Iran will move to ``industrial scale'' uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, the Associated Press quoted deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television today.

``Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days,'' Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow.

Rademaker was reacting to a statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said yesterday the country had succeeded in enriching uranium on a small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges. That announcement defies demands by the UN Security Council that Iran shut down its nuclear program this month.

The U.S. fears Iran is pursuing a nuclear program to make weapons, while Iran says it is intent on purely civilian purposes, to provide energy. Saeedi said 54,000 centrifuges will be able to enrich uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawat nuclear power plant similar to the one Russia is finishing in southern Iran, AP reported.

``It was a deeply disappointing announcement,'' Rademaker said of Ahmadinejad's statement.

Weapons-Grade Uranium

Rademaker said the technology to enrich uranium to a low level could also be used to make weapons-grade uranium, saying that it would take a little over 13 years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon with the 164 centrifuges currently in use. The process involves placing uranium hexafluoride gas in a series of rotating drums or cylinders known as centrifuges that run at high speeds to extract weapons grade uranium.

Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year, Rademaker said.

``We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days,'' he said.

While the U.S. has concerns over Iran's nuclear program, Rademaker said ``there certainly has been no decision on the part of my government'' to use force if Iran refuses to obey the UN Security Council demand that it shuts down its nuclear program.

Rademaker is in Moscow for a meeting of his counterparts from the Group of Eight wealthy industrialized countries. Russia chairs the G-8 this year.

China is concerned about Iran's decision to accelerate uranium enrichment and wants the government in Tehran to heed international criticism of the move, Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United Nations said.

Iran Could Make Bomb in 16 Days if Centrifuge Plans Continue, U.S. Says

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What would Jesus eat? Bible tells us
New publication offers tips on healthy food based on Scriptures
By Kristen Browning-Blas
Denver Post Food Editor

With a new self-help book out every month, how could a 2,000-year-old text bring anything of value to the diet debate?

Take the New Testament, comb through it for food references, add health tips and recipes, lay it out like a magazine and you have a new breed of an old book called a "Biblezine."

While it's not the first to look to religion for lifestyle advice, the "Divine Health" biblezine repackages the whole New Testament and would look at home on any coffee table alongside Food & Wine or House & Garden.

And that's just how my neighbor Jody Neumann uses it.

"It's a great format. I think the Bible is an everyday book, not a stuffy piece of literature. It's an everyday instruction manual on how to live," says Neumann, a Fort Collins mother of four, who reviewed the book and tested some of its recipes for us.

"Jesus said that he's the bread of life, so for this format to revolve around health and food, it's almost like it's the embodiment of that message," says Neumann, a 14-year veteran of Community Bible Study.

"Divine Health" is published by Nelson Bibles and edited by wellness evangelists Dr. Don and Mary Colbert, who view the Bible as an owner's manual for humans, as relevant now as when it was first written.

With more than 25 publications, including "What Would Jesus Eat Cookbook" and "Walking in Divine Health," Don Colbert says his mission is "to bring health back to the church." Motivated by a 1998 study from Purdue University that showed Christians were the least healthy among various belief groups, the Colberts campaign on television and in churches for Christians to look to the Bible for examples of what to eat.

"Adam and Eve were tempted by fruit, Jesus was tempted by Satan, and now man is tempted by doughnuts and sodas," says Don Colbert. "We go to all-you-can eat restaurants."

"Christians can't drink, can't smoke, do drugs - the fellowship is around food," says Mary Colbert. "But there are clear biblical guidelines
      
   "Divine Health"   
about eating."

The verb "to eat" appears more than 800 times in the Bible, according to the authors of "Bless this Food: Four Seasons of Menus, Recipes and Table Graces." "You can hardly read a single page of the Scriptures without running into a discussion of bread and wine, milk and honey, leeks and onions, glistening oil and plump figs, sweet grapes and delectable pomegranates, roast lamb and savory stew."

Luke must have been hungry, because he talks about food at least 30 times in his gospel.

We know Jesus ate bread and wine, but what else did he eat? Jesus would have kept kosher and followed what we call a Mediterranean diet, says Don Colbert:

# Fresh fruit and vegetables
# Little dairy and red meat
# Mostly raw, whole foods
# Olives and olive oil

Whole grains

In "Divine Health," colored boxes connect the Bible's message with headings like "Godly and Goodlookin'," "Scripture Solutions," and "Preaching Health."

And like Luke, Colbert is a physician. The Colberts simply modernized the message to match the culture. "Jesus taught us to be fishers of men. You gotta be wise about your bait," says Mary Colbert.

The publisher hopes Christians view the Biblezine in an "irreverently reverent" spirit, says Nelson Bibles spokesman Cameron Conant. "Our mission is to reach people where they're at. It's kind of what Jesus did - he didn't wait for people to come up to his level, he reached out to them where they were in their lives."

By making the Bible more accessible, the hope is that "people will not just purchase, but read it," Conant says.

Colbert sees the Biblezine as an extension of the WWJD bracelets: "Christians used to wear the bracelets to remind them to think about what Jesus would do. We want to get them to ask that one question before they eat, that will get them to make a better choice."

What would Jesus eat? Bible tells us


Milk and Honey Bread

This recipe from "Divine Health" makes a bread that is hearty and light. Tested at high altitude, makes 1 loaf.

Ingredients

1/2 cup honey
1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar (or 1/2 teaspoon liquid Stevia)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 egg, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine honey and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until honey dissolves. Stir in olive oil. Remove from heat and let cool. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. (If using liquid Stevia, wait to add this later.)

Add pecans and toss to coat. Whisk egg into cooled milk. (Add Stevia.) Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Beat just until blended.

Pour into a lightly greased and floured loaf pan. Bake 65-75 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.
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Tarragon Chicken Salad

Dr. Don Colbert suggests using yogurt in dips, dressings and sauces, as an alternative to sour cream and butter. This recipe, adapted from "Divine Health," serves 6.

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless free-range chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 cup chopped red seedless grapes
1/4 cup lowfat or nonfat plain yogurt
1 teaspoon tarragon

Directions

Bake chicken breasts at 300 degrees 20-30 minutes. Do not overcook. Or, simmer in water or broth 20-30 minutes. Chop meat into bite-sized pieces. Combine chicken, grapes, yogurt and tarragon and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Serve