JACK VAN IMPE - CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
HAL LINDSEY - DAMASCUS, SYRIA
PASTOR JOHN HAGEE - THE ENEMY WITHIN
PASTOR JOHN HAGEE - ISRAEL
FUTURE OF DAMASCUS - READ ISAIAH CHAPTER 17 - VERSE 1
UPDATED TUES. Dec. 30, 2008
First rockets hit Beersheba, Israel calls up 2,500 more reservists
December 30, 2008, 11:36 PM (GMT+02:00)
This call-up order raises the number of reservists Israel has mobilized for the Gaza operation to 9,200. Beersheba, capital of the Negev and 40 km from Gaza, was attacked for the first time by two improved Grad rockets Tuesday night, Day 4 of the Israeli operation. One hit an empty nursery school. There were 34 shock victims hospitalized.
Beersheba is the largest town (250,000 population) and the most distant from Gaza ever to come under rocket attack.
Israeli artillery opened cross-border fire on potential rocket sites inside Gaza. Hamas kept up its missile and rocket attacks against an expanding circle of Israel towns, 35 by nightfall.
Israeli tank, infantry, armored and artillery units are massed outside the northern, central and southern Gaza Strip awaiting orders to go in. Tuesday, Dec. 30 – Day 4 of Israel's Gaza offensive, Beersheba, capital of the Negev, was attacked for the first time by two missiles Tuesday night, one hit an empty nursery school. Israeli artillery opened cross-border fire on potential rocket sites inside Gaza.
- AP
- Dec. 30: An Israeli soldier prays in front of a tank at a staging area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of assaults on Hamas-ruled Gaza, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander as thousands of Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks and artillery, massed along the border, waiting for a signal to attack.
YELLOWSTONE EARTHQUAKE SWARM:
Quakes Rock National Park For Third Straight Day
************************************************************************************************Israel faces threat of Gaza conflict spreading to northern frontier with Lebanon
Palestinian fighters based in southern Lebanon may be preparing to retaliate for the assault on Gaza by striking across the border and opening a second front against Israel.
(STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistan withdrew 20,000 troops from its Afghan border and redeployed them along the Indian border last week. As Pakistan focuses on the prospect of fighting India instead of fighting the Taliban, the United States is going to have more trouble in Afghanistan.
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Three Israelis killed, 32 injured in 100 Hamas missile attacks Monday
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
December 30, 2008, 11:08 AM (GMT+02:00)
Israeli tanks still unmoved
On Day 3 of Israel's Gaza operation, Dec. 29, Hamas hit back hard with volleys of rockets and missiles at points closer to central Israel than ever before. The three Israelis killed were IDF career officer, Sgt. Maj. Lutfi Nasr e-Din, 38, from Daliat Hacarmel, at Nahal Oz, a woman motorist, Irit Sheetrit, 39, mother of four, who sought shelter in the Ashdod bus terminus, 30 km from Gaza; and earlier in Ashkelon, Hani al-Mahdi, 27, a construction worker from the Bedouin Negev village of Ar'ur.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that Monday, Hamas had recovered sufficiently from Israel's air offensive to bring out its new Iranian Grad rockets to expand their range up to 40 km and launch them over the heads of the hundreds of Israel tanks, armored cars and artillery piled up outside the gates of Gaza and awaiting the order to move in.
At the Nahal Oz facility, in addition to the fatality, seven soldiers were injured, one critically, by incoming Palestinian mortar fire. Hamas' night barrage also struck Ashdod, Ofakim, Yavne (25 minutes drive from Tel Aviv), Netivot, Ashkelon, Sderot, Shear Hanegev. Ashkelon was battered day and night. The last round targeted school yards, kindergartens and bus stations. Ofakim, like Yavne, was hit for the first time by 3 missiles and suffered five injured.
Following this barrage, the Homeland Command extended the radius of schools that would not reopen Tuesday, Dec. 30, after the Hanukkah holiday from 20km to 30km. A quarter of a million Israelis are now on active missile alert around the clock.
Overnight, the Israeli air force pounded the Hamas-ruled government compound in Gaza City, hitting the prime minister's office, and the foreign, finance and interior ministry buildings and Hamas command centers. The Palestinians report 10 people killed, raising their death toll in three days to 360. All senior Hamas officials and commanders are ensconced safely in underground bunkers with their weapons caches.
Following this barrage, the Homeland Command extended the radius of schools that would not reopen Tuesday, Dec. 30, after the Hanukkah holiday from 20km to 30km. Beersheba, Gedera and Kiryat Gat are braced for attack. A quarter of a million Israelis are now on active missile alert around the clock.
Overnight and early Tuesday, the Israeli air force pounded the Hamas-ruled government compound in Gaza City, hitting the prime minister's office, and the foreign, finance and interior ministry buildings and Hamas command centers. The Palestinians report 10 people killed, raising their death toll in three days to 360. All senior Hamas officials and commanders are ensconced safely in underground bunkers with their arms caches.
They can only be dug out by special forces and armored units on the ground.
The crucial battle of Gaza is therefore still to come, as indicated by Israel's deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Israel Harel, when he warned Monday that the hardest part of the campaign is still ahead.
Hamas tacticians pin their hopes on the overcast, rainy conditions forecast for the rest of the week to slow Israeli air attacks, delay an incursion, and further intensify their cross-border missile onslaught.
Homeland Front, police forces, 200 ambulances, 2 medical helicopters and hospitals are on alert around the clock at all targeted locations. Hospitals in central Israel are also on the ready.
Israel's crucial Gaza invasion is ready to go after three-day air assault
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
December 29, 2008, 9:10 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israeli tanks stand by for order to go
DEBKAfile's military sources report that, after being knocked sideways by three days of massive Israeli air strikes, and more than 315 dead, Hamas appeared to have recovered its bearings sufficiently to pound Israel with more than 70 Qassam missiles and two Grad Katyusha rockets Monday, Dec. 29, on Day 3 of the operation.
Its spokesmen again reject a ceasefire. Among the 100 targets struck by Israeli bombers was a Hamas truck loaded with Grad rockets for distribution to rocket crews. The trucke blew up in Jebalya in northern Gaza.
Its tacticians pin their hopes on the overcast, rainy conditions forecast for the rest of the week to slow Israeli air attacks, delay an incursion, and further intensify their cross-border missile onslaught.
Monday, their missile crews focused on the Israeli towns of Ashkelon, Sderot, Netivot and the Eshkol farming region just across the border. One Israeli construction worker was killed at an Ashkelon building site and 18 injured when a Grad slammed into a half-finished building.
The Palestinian terrorists are now about to again broaden the radius of their attacks by launching their new Iranian rockets against the important towns of Beersheba, Ashdod and Kiryat Gat.
Among the 100 targets struck by Israeli bombers was a Hamas truck loaded with Grad rockets for distribution to rocket crews. The truck blew up in Jebalya in northern Gaza.
The planners of the Israeli air offensive turned Monday to "second-tier" targets, such as Hamas' political offices and wings of the Islamic University in Gaza City, afterits high-profile leaders went into hiding in the underground bunker network designed by an Iranian general deep under the surface of the Gaza Strip.
They can only be dug out by special forces and armored units on the ground.
The crucial battle of Gaza is therefore still to come, as indicated by Israel's deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Israel Harel, when he warned Monday that the hardest part of the campaign is still ahead.
Prime minister Ehud Olmert, defense minister Ehud Barak and foreign minister Tzipi Livni conferred in Tel Aviv Monday night to determine the next phase of the Gaza offensives.
Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah told a mass rally in Beirut Monday that Hamas' most effective weapon is time; by holding out, it can wear Israel down and prevail.
He was using the 2006 Lebanon war as an analogy for the Gaza campaign. Then, a massive Israeli offensive in the first days of the war failed to break Hizballah, By sustaining the blasting of its cities, the Lebanese terrorists ultimately cancelled out Israel's gains.
He may not have realized that Israel's defense minister and chief of staff were both appointed after that debacle. Their most important guideline was to learn from its lessons.
Hamas' trouble is the lack of a conspicuous war leader. Its politburo chief Khaled Meshaal is visible but because he is based in Damascus away from the action, he does not carry much clout. The flamboyant Hizballah leader, Nasrallah, appears to have appointed himself senior strategist.
So far, this Tehran-sponsored Lebanese Shiite leader is making his mark verbally, but his repeated fiery rhetoric day after day aims at goading Iran and Syria, Hamas' avowed patrons, into intervening in the Gaza crisis to rescue Hamas, so dragging in the other Arab governments.
- AP
- Dec. 29: Palestinians gather around the ruins of a building after an Israeli missile strike hit the home of a Hamas member in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel's air force obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of its overwhelming Gaza assault Monday, striking a house next to the Hamas premier's home, devastating a security compound and flattening a five-story building at a university closely linked to the Islamic group.
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THIS IS A MUST READ - PAKISTAN
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CAUTION - VERY GRAPHIC PHOTOS - VIEW WITH CAUTION - "HAMAS"
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AMOS CHAPTER 1 - VERSE 7
So will I send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces thereof;
By: P. David Hornik
Can the people who got Israel into its mess in Gaza get the country out of it? More>
http://alcuinbramerton.blogspot.com/
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Russia braced for unrest
By Isabel Gorst in Moscow and Anuj Gangahar in New York
Published: December 26 2008 19:53 | Last updated: December 26 2008 19:53
Russia is bracing for further unrest as the rouble on Friday slid to a new low against the euro after a succession of moves to devalue its currency.
A cut on Friday extended six weeks of devaluations by Russia’s central bank designed to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and falling oil prices as the country’s main export commodity approached its lowest level since 2004.
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PREVIOUS BLOG - MUST READ
http://actionsbyt.blogspot.com/2008/12/current-events-updated.html
IMPORTANT LINKS
http://commentsbyt.blogspot.com/2008/12/important-links.html
FM spokesman in Tehran: Iran begins preparing operations against Israel
DEBKAfile Special Report
December 29, 2008, 2:04 PM (GMT+02:00)
On Monday, Dec. 29, Day 3 of Israel's Gaza operation, the spokesman said Iran had embarked on preparations for operations against Israel in line with the directives laid down by supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khameini in his speech Sunday.
in his speech, Khameini issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to stand up and defend Palestinians against Israel. He said "true believers" were "duty-bound to defend" the Palestinians. Khamenei did not spell out what he intended. The foreign ministry statement said believers killed in their cause would be counted martyrs.
A group of hardline clerics is signing up volunteers to fight "against the Zionist regime" in the Gaza Strip "in either military, financial or propaganda fields." This is reported by the semi-official Fars news agency.
Iranian lawmaker Ali Motahari told the Iranian news agency IRNA that it was time for Iran and Arab nations to go to war with Israel.
DEBKAfile: Egypt has led widespread Arab voices blaming Hamas for the Gaza crisis and accusing Iran of manipulating the Palestinian cause as a power play for its own ends.
Worst still ahead
Talking to heads of local authorities in Gaza rocket range, Brigadier General Dan Harel says operation only in beginning, but 'after operation no Hamas building will be left standing in Gaza'. Home Front Command chief instructs council heads to prepare bomb shelters
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Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 14 June 2007
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| Armed members of Hamas blow up the Palestinian Preventative Security headquarters and intelligence headquarters in Gaza Strip, 14 June 2007. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages) |
Americans drop dead as police get Taser-happy
Are cops underestimating stun gun's lethal power?
4:59 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
 The TASER X26, a top law enforcement model |
Even though the news is inundated with stories of people dying after being stunned by Tasers, police departments all over the nation are adding the electric-shock weapons to their arsenals, convinced the benefits outweigh the risks.
Research by WND revealed several news stories from just this month of police departments newly equipping themselves with the electric stun guns, including law officers in Maryland, Florida, New York, Michigan and even a small community of 15,000 in Pennsylvania, where the 22 full-time officers will be receiving 12 new Tasers.
In other cities, the number of Tasers already in use is skyrocketing: Durham, N.C., plans to double its police arsenal from 110 to 235, and a Georgia police chief is hoping to add 1,000 more stun guns to the Atlanta metro.
The Taser company's website includes testimonials from dozens of police departments, from nearly every state in the U.S.; and a statement from New York's Deleware County Sheriff's Department – which armed itself with Tasers last week – claims 13,400 law enforcement, correctional and military agencies in 44 countries use the device, having fired it on a cumulative total of more than 624,000 people.
The Taser stun gun is the most common brand of a conductive energy device, or CED, which fires 50,000 volts of electricity through its target from as far as 35 feet away, causing uncontrollable muscle contraction and temporary immobilization.
For many of law enforcement agencies now using the device, the Taser is viewed as a safe alternative to guns, nightsticks or physical force in restraining uncooperative subjects.
In Johnsonburg, Pa., Police Chief Bryan Parana is proud to boast the first police department in his county to use Tasers.
"It's one of the most researched electronic devices out there. What I want to get across is it's not electrocution," Parana told the DuBois Courer-Express, "It is an electronic device which incapacitates."
The safety of the device, however, is becoming a matter of hot debate, and, as more and more news stories are beginning to reveal, it's an electric device that can also kill.
************************************************************************************************![[Igor Panarin]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AO116_RUSPRO_NS_20081228191715.gif)
Write to Andrew Osborn at andrew.osborn@wsj.com
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© 2008
I'll bet that's a headline you've never seen before.
You will probably never see it, again.
But it's the truth.
With a new Congress and a new president taking office next month, you are bound to hear more calls for closing the so-called "gun-show loophole," that permits American citizens in many states to buy guns without ridiculous and counterproductive waiting periods.
There will be an all-out effort to renew the slow, plodding, incremental, long-term goal of banning and restricting the sale of as many firearms as possible. It will likely start with gun shows – one of the easiest targets of the gun-grabbers.
They will cite all kinds of bogus statistics to support their claims that gun shows spell nothing but death and destruction.
What they won't cite, however, is a groundbreaking study of the impact of gun shows on homicides. They can't – because it shows just the opposite of what they claim to be true.
Mark Duggan and Randi Hjalmarsson of the University of Maryland and Brian A. Jacob of the University of Michigan teamed up to examine the evidence in a scientific study of the impact of gun shows on murder and suicide and accidental deaths.
What they found is shocking because it supports the headline above.
They looked at 3,417 gun shows in two very different states – Texas and California – during an 11-year period. And they examined vital statistics data on suicides, homicides and accidental gun deaths in the weeks following them.
What were the results?
"We find a sharp decline in the number of gun homicides in the weeks immediately following a gun show," they concluded. Furthermore, in Texas they found "gun shows reduce the number of gun homicides by 16 in the average year."
Once again, here's hard evidence of the theory that more guns equals less crime. And it shouldn't shock us. It only does because we've been so conditioned to accepting the illogic of the gun-grabbers that states the opposite as fact – without any evidence to support it.
Think about it.
If you are a criminal, are you more likely to target someone who is armed or unarmed?
The answer is as obvious as the .45 on my desk.
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