Friday, June 13, 2008

CURRENT EVENTS

WELCOME TO THE NO BS ZONE OF TEDDY JACOBSON - UPDATED SUN. 6-15-08

THE BOYS ARE OK IN TEXAS - HAPPY, VERNON, AND MAX
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NEVER FORGET THAT G-D IS IN CONTROL OF ALL EVENTS.
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READ LEVITICUS CHAPTER 26 AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THIS DEBKA STORY.

Exclusive: Israel-Hamas truce deal abandons Israeli captive, like Lebanon ceasefire

June 15, 2008, 1:44 PM (GMT+02:00) FROM "DEBKA"

Gilead Shalit

Gilead Shalit

Commenting on the truce deal shaping up between Israel and Hamas for the Gaza Strip, DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the Olmert government has given way to Hamas on its two key demands: the incorporation in the package of the Israeli soldier, Gilead Shalit, who was kidnapped two years ago on Israeli soil, and an end to arms smuggling through Sinai for the Hamas war arsenal.

Those sources note the similarity of this case with that of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which halted the Lebanon War two years ago; then too, Israel buckled under outside pressures and failed to obtain the release of two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who remain in Hizballah’s hands to this day.

As DEBKAfile reported last week, Israel has essentially accepted Hamas ceasefire terms formulated by Egypt, as Egyptian intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman will inform a Hamas delegation led by Musa Abu Marzuk from Damascus and Mahmoud a-Zahar from Gaza Sunday, June 15.

Hamas, supported by Cairo, stipulates Gilead Shalit’s return will take place in a separate deal for the list of jailed Palestinians handed Israel some months ago. They include hundreds of hard-case terrorists.

Under the deal, Hamas undertakes to stop its cross-border fire from Gaza and Israel to halt its counter-terror operations for a six-month period, during which Israel will ease its blockade of the territory (reopen some border crossings). Cairo wants to include the Gaza-Egyptian border terminal at Rafah in the deal. If the truce holds up in Gaza, it may be extended to the west Bank.

Hizballah used the 2006 Lebanon ceasefire as a platform for its wholesale rearmament by Iran and Syria and has since denied any scrap of informaton on the fate of the two Israeli soldiers snatched by its gunmen in a cross-border incursion within two weeks of the Shalit kidnap.

The same pattern has developed in Gaza, where the Palestinian clients of Tehran and Damascus are calling the shots with Egypt’s help.

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flood
WATER IN IOWA'S capital could take weeks to go below flood levels.


At Least 24,000 People Flee Iowa River Flooding

Governor Calls It Worst Disaster In Iowa History



Olson/Getty

Downtown Cedar Rapis, Iowa, looks more like Venice as floodwaters engulf the state's second-largest city.




A resident looks at a road damaged by a powerful e...A resident looks at a road damaged by a powerful earthquake in Oshu, in Iwate prefecture (state), Saturday, June 14, 2008. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked rural areas of northern Japan on Saturday, killing at least two people, triggering landslides and reportedly knocking down a bridge. News reports said dozens of people were injured. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) ** JAPAN OUT MANDATORY CREDIT FOR COMMERCIAL USE ONLY IN NORTH AMERICA **
12:15 a.m. ET, 6/14/08
AP
Floods swamp Iowa town; Drinking water near gone



Jun 13, 11:31 PM (ET)

By AMY LORENTZEN
(AP) Homes in the southwestern section of the city are under water, Friday June 13, 2008 in Cedar...
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - Hospital patients in wheelchairs and on stretchers were evacuated in the middle of the night as the biggest flood Cedar Rapids has ever seen swamped more than 400 blocks Friday and all but cut off the supply of clean drinking water in the city of 120,000.

As many as 10,000 townspeople driven from their homes by the rain-swollen Cedar River took shelter at schools and hotels or moved in with relatives.

About 100 miles to the west, officials in Iowa's biggest city, Des Moines, urged people in low-lying areas to clear out by Friday evening. The Des Moines River was expected to crest at 8 p.m., but officials said just before the expected peak that a malfunctioning gauge may have led them to overestimate how high it would rise.

Officials became less worried that the levees would be topped, but U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Roger Less said the city of 190,000 residents would not be out of danger until Saturday.

(AP) Flooded homes are seen Friday, June 13, 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Rising water from the Cedar...
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"We have a lot of soft spots in those levees," Less said. "We are still at very high river levels even though we are starting to see some slight drops." He added: "We don't think the victory is won at this point."

Mayor Frank Cownie, who said the call evacuation call was an attempt to "err on the side of citizens and residents," later said he didn't regret that residents were advised to leave, despite the faulty gauge.

"Absolutely not," Mayor Frank Cownie said. "I was here in 1993. I saw what happened. I saw what happened to my business. I saw what was happening to every other thing in Des Moines."

The flooding was blamed for at least two deaths in Iowa: a driver was killed in an accident on a road under water, and a farmer who went out to check his property was swept away.

Since June 6, Iowa has gotten at least 8 inches of rain. That came after a wet spring that left the ground saturated. As of Friday, nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels. More thunderstorms are possible in the Cedar Rapids area over the weekend, but next week is expected to be sunny and dry.

(AP) Cedar Rapids mayor pro-tem Brian Fagan, right, public information officer Dave Koch and fire...
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In Cedar Rapids, the engorged river flowed freely through downtown. At least 438 city blocks were under water, and in some neighborhoods the water was 8 feet high. Hundreds of cars were submerged, with only their antennas poking up through the water. Plastic toys bobbed in front of homes.

For decades, Cedar Rapids escaped any major, widespread flooding, even during the Midwest deluge of 1993, and many people had grown confident that rising water would pose no danger to their city. The flood this time didn't just break records; it shattered them.

The Cedar River was expected to crest Friday night at nearly 32 feet, an astonishing 12 feet higher than the old record, set in 1929.

Flooding left 2 inches of water in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids on Thursday night, and water spilling into the lower levels threatened to knock out the hospital's emergency generator.

A total of 176 patients - some of them frail, about 30 of them from a nursing home at the medical center - were moved to other hospitals in an all-night operation that was not completed until daybreak.

(AP) A Coast Guard boat powers its way down a flooded street Friday, June 13, 2008, in Cedar Rapids,...
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"Those poor people. They looked half-terrified and half-thankful that they had someplace to go where they could finally rest and be cared for," said Sonya Thornton, a technician at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, where many of the patients were taken. She was called into work at 2 a.m. to help with the evacuation.

Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties disaster areas, a designation that helps speed aid and opens the way for loans and grants. The damage in Cedar Rapids alone was a preliminary $737 million, Fire Department spokesman Dave Koch said.

The drenching has also severely damaged the corn crop in America's No. 1 corn state and other parts of the Midwest at a time when corn prices are soaring. But officials said it was too soon to put a price tag on the damage.

At Cedar Rapids' Prairie High School, where 150 evacuees waited, people could be seen crying in the cafeteria while others watched flood coverage on TVs set up in the gym. Tables were lined with shampoo, toothpaste, contact lens solution and other items, and piles of clothes were separated by size.

At the school, Lisa Armstrong wept as she watched TV news footage of her own rescue. She saw herself climbing into a boat, and watched rescuers trying to coax her dog out of the house. They finally grabbed the animal and pulled it out.

(AP) Map shows flooded river status in Iowa; includes current flood stages with select rivers; two...
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"I didn't think it was going to be as bad as it was, and we should have got out when we were told to leave," she said. "I didn't think or imagine anything like that."

Cedar Rapids warned people to conserve drinking water after the floodwaters knocked out electricity to all but one of the city's half-dozen or more wells. The one working well was protected by sandbags and generators that were pumping water away from it.

Hotels implored guests to use water only for drinking.

The city's newspaper, The Gazette, continued to cover the story with the help of emergency generators. But the floodwaters were just outside the front door, and the place had no running water. Portable bathrooms were set up outside for the staff.

Interstate 80 was closed east of Iowa City to Davenport after the Cedar River washed over the highway. Amtrak service aboard the California Zephyr was suspended between Denver and Chicago because of flooded-out tracks.

Violent thunderstorms Thursday and Friday brought widespread flooding to Michigan's Lower Peninsula that authorities say left some roads and bridges unstable or impassable, blew roofs off buildings and downed trees and power lines.

Weary residents in waterlogged southern Wisconsin began cleaning up Friday from a new spate of storms the night before, including nine reported tornadoes and some flash floods. Gov. Jim Doyle formally requested a federal disaster declaration Friday night for six of the state's hardest hit counties.

People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday.





TIM RUSSERT DIES FROM APPARENT HEART ATTACK

By CHARLES HURT

June 13, 2008 --

Tim Russert, NBC journalist and political heavyweight host of "Meet the Press," has died after collapsing at NBC's Washington news bureau, a source said. He was 58 years old.

Russert, who rose from the inside world of politics where he was former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's press secretary and one-time chief of staff to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was able to successfully cross over to political journalism and rise to become one of its leading lights.

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MICAH CHAPTER 5

ח תָּרֹם יָדְךָ, עַל-צָרֶיךָ; וְכָל-אֹיְבֶיךָ, יִכָּרֵתוּ. 8 Let Thy hand be lifted up above Thine adversaries, and let all Thine enemies be cut off.
ט וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם-הַהוּא נְאֻם-יְהוָה, וְהִכְרַתִּי סוּסֶיךָ מִקִּרְבֶּךָ; וְהַאֲבַדְתִּי, מַרְכְּבֹתֶיךָ. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots;
י וְהִכְרַתִּי, עָרֵי אַרְצֶךָ; וְהָרַסְתִּי, כָּל-מִבְצָרֶיךָ. 10 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strongholds;
יא וְהִכְרַתִּי כְשָׁפִים, מִיָּדֶךָ; וּמְעוֹנְנִים, לֹא יִהְיוּ-לָךְ. 11 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;
יב וְהִכְרַתִּי פְסִילֶיךָ וּמַצֵּבוֹתֶיךָ, מִקִּרְבֶּךָ; וְלֹא-תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה עוֹד, לְמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ. 12 And I will cut off thy graven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thy hands.
יג וְנָתַשְׁתִּי אֲשֵׁירֶיךָ, מִקִּרְבֶּךָ; וְהִשְׁמַדְתִּי, עָרֶיךָ. 13 And I will pluck up thy Asherim out of the midst of thee; and I will destroy thine enemies.
יד וְעָשִׂיתִי בְּאַף וּבְחֵמָה, נָקָם--אֶת-הַגּוֹיִם: אֲשֶׁר, לֹא שָׁמֵעוּ. {פ} 14 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, because they hearkened not. {P}
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FROM THE DRUDGE REPORT



AT GOD'S MERCY
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THE CROPS ARE FAILING, THE WEATHER IS A DISASTER IN THIS COUNTRY AND THIS WORLD, YOU MUST READ LEVITICUS CHAPTER 26........

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PLEASE READ THIS BIBLE SCRIPTURE NOW

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0528.htm

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Cedar Rapids struggles to endure historic flood

Email this Story

Jun 12, 9:23 PM (ET)

By AMY LORENTZEN
(AP) A wooden pallet floats down a flooded street Thursday, June 12, 2008, in downtown Cedar Rapids,...
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - The Cedar River poured over its banks here Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets.

Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.

"We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. "We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding."

About 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced, officials estimated.

(AP) Water surrounds buildings in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as floodwaters continue to rise Thursday...
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Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.

"We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring," said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. "We're in uncharted territory - this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine."

Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but one man was killed in southern Minnesota after his car plunged from a washed-out road into floodwaters. Another person was rescued from a nearby vehicle in the town of Albert Lea.

In Des Moines, officials said they were urging residents to evacuate more than 200 homes north of downtown because of concerns that the Des Moines River would top a nearby levee. Some residents also were ordered to evacuate homes along rivers in Iowa City and Coralville.

(AP) A large municipal building and a day care center are surrounded by water from the swollen Iowa...
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In Cedar Rapids, a city of about 124,000, flood waters downtown neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gauge was swept away by the swirling water.

"It's going door to door to make sure people don't need to be rescued, because right now they can't get out on their own," said Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. "It's just too deep."

The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.

Joe Childers, an official at a U.S. Bank in downtown Cedar Rapids, was in jeans and tennis shoes as he worked to move documents and other items upstairs or out of the building.

"We're trying to keep water out of as many places as we can," he said. "It's pretty amazing. I don't think anyone really expected it this far."

(AP) A view of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa shows widespread flooding from the raging Cedar River,...
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Prisoners had to be moved from the Linn County jail, including some inmates who had been transferred from the Benton County jail in Vinton because of flooding. The sheriff's office also was under water, Zeller said.

"We've had to move our operations out of the area and to our alternate emergency site," Zeller said. "We are just trying to regroup. When you don't have all of your equipment and you don't have all your facilities to operate out of - we're at a little bit of a disadvantage ... but we're carrying on as normal."

Several emergency shelters were opened, and the city had closed all but one of its bridges over the Cedar River.

"I believe that this is God's way of doing things, and I've got insurance, so I'm not worried about it," said Tim Grimm, who was forced to leave his home in the city's Czech Village area.

In Austin, Minn., the Cedar River crested 7.4 feet above flood stage. The river went about 5 feet higher in a 2004 flood that caused major damage in the city.

(AP) Water from the swollen Cedar River rushes past downtown buildings Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Cedar...
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"It seems like we're having the hundred-year flood every four years. It's absurd," said Mark Dulitz, who had 4 inches of water in his basement and a ring of sandbags around his house.

Some businesses and offices were closed, including a Hormel Foods corporate office and its Spam Museum, but floodwaters were already receding by Thursday afternoon. The floodwaters did claim the life of a man whose vehicle became submerged when the road washed out from under it just west of Austin.

Flooding this week also caused damage across southern Wisconsin, where thunderstorms continued pounding the area on Thursday.

Iowa County Emergency Management Director Ken Palzkill said his county saw an "unprecedented" amount of rain Thursday afternoon. He said the village of Cobb got 3 inches of rain in an hour.

The weather service issued flash flood watches for southern Wisconsin with tornado watches in central and eastern areas. Several tornadoes briefly touched down, but no injuries were reported.

Flash flooding in Grant County in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin closed two highways and required rescues, authorities said. Three homes were destroyed and others had major damage from the flooding, which reached several feet deep in spots, according to Julie Loeffelholz of Grant County Emergency Management.

Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River. State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cell phone but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using global positioning equipment.

People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday.

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« The Sea of Galilee continues to drop as Israel remains in a drought.
(PT)

Israel Running Out of Water

June 13, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Israel considers negotiating away two of its primary water sources even as it goes through its fourth consecutive year of drought.

Israel is currently experiencing its fourth consecutive year of drought. The drought is so bad that last winter’s rainfall was only 65 percent of the long-term average. Even though the main pipeline transporting water from the Sea of Galilee to the rest of the nation was closed for part of the year, the water level in the sea has dropped close to the danger line. Meanwhile, the Jordan River has been reduced to a comparative trickle.

The water shortage crisis has escalated to the point where the Israeli government is now spending an additional 120 million shekels (us$37 million) on improving water conservation and 915 million shekels (us$282 million) on improving water recycling for agricultural usage. Government members are also calling for the production of more desalination plants in order to more effectively utilize Israel’s salt-water resources.

The main aquifer that feeds many of Israel’s wells lies under the West Bank, and approximately one third of Israel’s fresh water comes from rain, snow and natural springs in the Golan Heights. Ironically enough, it is during this current water crisis that the Olmert administration has put both the West Bank and the Golan Heights on the negotiating table.

Israel has been fair in divvying up its diminishing water resources between the Jews and the Palestinians in the country. If the West Bank becomes a Palestinian state and the Golan Heights is annexed to Syria, Israel’s Arab enemies will not be near so benevolent in ensuring that Israel gets the water it needs.

Weather-related crises are getting more frequent and more devastating, not just in America and Britain, but also in Israel. These three nations are linked together by culture, by history, and by a past knowledge of God’s law. Rejecting that law in all three nations has led to these weather-related crises.

For more information on the strong ties that once bound America, Britain and Israel together, read “Band of Brothers” by Stephen Flurry, and Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

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« With fuel, utility and food prices rising, many are feeling the pinch.
(Getty Images)

The Heart and the Pocketbook

June 13, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

The cost of living is skyrocketing. What’s the real reason behind this? By Ron Fraser

My wife called me from the supermarket today and asked, “You remember how I found it so difficult to find natural cleaning compounds that were not petroleum based?” I answered in the affirmative. “Well,” she said, “there is a whole shelf of natural cleansers on the shelf this week!”

Now, that’s enough to make a greeny salivate—that is until you really think about why such products are now appearing increasingly on the supermarket shelves. It’s really nothing to do with the supermarket chains becoming suddenly environmentally friendly. It simply has to do with the unheard-of hike in oil prices. Any petroleum-based product, which includes many a household cleansing compound, is subject to a dramatic price increase in tandem with the escalation of the price of crude oil. Thus, all of a sudden, many natural organic compounds are becoming cost-competitive with their petroleum-based alternatives.

Supermarkets are driven by profit inducement, not by the heart, as too are the financiers of this world’s economy. Napoleon Bonaparte is credited with saying, “Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” That’s why it’s the merchants that weep and wail over the destruction of the whole Babylonish economic and financial system when it finally comes crashing down around their ears (Revelation 18:11, 15). The signs of that coming crash are all around us.

The trouble is that few of those who shape public opinion on such matters as the domestic economy are locked into reality. Thus, the possibility of the failure of our whole economic structure is not even contemplated. When it is, by a few of the saner voices among the commentariat, the conclusion is generally that “we’ve always managed to get out of our economic scrapes in the past, so we’ll all pull together to do it again.”

Fat chance.

The very best of minds geared to the reality of the functioning of the global financial system know that this world is in deep trouble, and the largest single national economy of all is in the deepest of trouble. But even these clever thinkers fail to see the missing dimension that is the driving force behind world conditions, including—and very much so—the global economy.

The fact is, there has never been a time in the history of man where climate, geography, political and economic conditions have so favored a group of nations as has been the case with the English-speaking peoples over the past 400 years.

The beginning of the rise of the English-speaking peoples to national greatness can be traced to the time of Elizabeth i (1533–1603). Considered by many as a formidable type of the Deborah of ancient Israel, Elizabeth’s greatest hour came with the defeat of the mighty Spanish Amada in 1588, Sir Francis Drake leading the English navy into victorious battle.

That the queen and her subjects saw victory over the Spanish fleet as due to godly intervention on their behalf is a fact of history. Elizabeth immortalized acknowledgment of the intervention by Almighty God to deliver England from Catholic Spanish tyranny by striking a medal inscribed with the words “God blew and they were scattered” on its face. The inscription referred to the hand of God evident in a timely eastern gale that dashed many of the Spanish galleons on the shores of Scotland and Ireland as they fled before the onslaught of the English fireships.

From that date forward, the English-speaking peoples continued to triumph over their enemy. Following overwhelming victory at Trafalgar in 1805 and Waterloo in 1815, the British became the world’s undisputed naval and military power. For a whole century the globe enjoyed the beneficence of British domination under “Pax Britannica,” a period of peace unprecedented since Roman times, yet without the cruelty of the old Roman Empire.

British global domination ended with World War i, which saw the rise of the United States as a world power. America’s power as a global political, economic and military force was consolidated subsequent to the Allied victory of World War ii. That victory guaranteed a half-century continuance of political, economic and military dominance of the world by the Anglo-Americans, consummating in the defeat of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics via victory in what became known in the latter half of the 20th century as the Cold War.

Then came 9/11.

That challenge to America’s superpower status by a handful of Muslim extremists broke both the pride and the prestige of American power (Leviticus 26:19). The U.S. has been on an accelerating decline as a world power ever since.

When the president of the single greatest nation on Earth goes twice within the first half of this year to lobby, cap in hand, the most influential voice in opec, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, to open wider the Middle East oil tap, that is a massive sign as to the tremendous loss of national prestige the U.S. has suffered since it strode the world as a singular superpower colossus following the ussr’s demise 16 years ago.

For the second time in less than four decades, opec now holds the world to ransom, awash with its ill-gotten gains from the world’s main energy resource as oil continues its bull run on the world market.

The result is felt in the pocketbook of every Anglo-Saxon, be he British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander or American. All are feeling the effects.

Last week the official unemployment rate reached 5.5 percent of the population in America. It is destined to go much higher over the coming months as state governments and corporations continue to cut labor costs.

It was recently reported that “The oecd’s early warning signal is flashing clear signs of economic weakness across the world, with mounting evidence that China, India and Brazil may soon succumb to the downturn” (Telegraph, May 18).

Already, signs of looming economic problems are emerging from the dominant eurozone economies. “The closely watched gauge—known as the Composite Leading Indicators (cli)—has picked up a sharp deterioration in the eurozone in March, notably in Italy and France where the advance signals are falling even faster than in Britain. The measure tends to anticipate the industrial cycle by about six months” (ibid.). This does not bode well for the coming European winter. The report indicated that “Russia is the only country still in full boom among the so-called bric quartet of rising powers, but the country’s inflation rate reached 14.3 percent in April as oil and gas wealth … flooded the economy.”

As the effects of the massive oil price hike ripple over the globe, the signs are that four centuries of ascendancy of the English-speaking peoples are well and truly being written into history as a phenomenon of their past.

The Anglo-Saxons are being hit increasingly hard in their pocketbook. The question is, how long will it take these stiff-necked peoples to wake up and acknowledge the real reason why they are rapidly losing hold of the greatest physical blessings ever given to any group of kindred nations in the whole of the documented history of this world?

Believe it or not, it is not due to the present price of oil and gas! The real reason runs much deeper than that. It involves a whole dimension of knowledge of which the English-speaking nations have become most willingly ignorant!

There was a time when Deborah, that grand and heroic prophetess of ancient Israel, acknowledged this missing dimension. It was at a point in Israel’s history where the nation needed deliverance from its enemy. God intervened and delivered Israel.

Once, in the history of the English nation, a Deborah-like heroine queen sought the intervention of God to deliver her nation from foreign invasion, and God answered. Queen Elizabeth promptly acknowledged that godly intervention.

Once, Lord Nelson prayed to God for the delivery of Great Britain from its enemy at the commencement of a decisive naval battle, and he got it, giving his life in the process.

Twice the combined forces of the English-speaking peoples were delivered from tyranny in great world wars. Their king, their prime minister and military leaders sought the intervention of Almighty God to carry them to victory, and He did. Then they acknowledged His deliverance.

Since that last great victory gained against the forces of tyranny in 1945, no longer has God backed the English-speaking nations in gaining outright victory in war.

Why is this so?

For the same reason that God is not backing the economies of the English-speaking nations at this moment in their history.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”

It’s been an awful long time since the leader of any English-speaking nation called that nation to a day of prayer and fasting for its national sins. Abraham Lincoln is memorialized as an icon in American history. Yet his message to the nation has been long forgotten.

If only we would heed Lincoln’s words today. For we English-speaking peoples have, over four long centuries, despite the occasional ravages of war, “been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven,” as Lincoln acknowledged. “We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. … [W]e have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!”

Our failure to acknowledge the Source of all of our national blessings is simply resulting in their collective withdrawal by their giver, the Almighty, Eternal, Creator God!

We are feeling it, increasingly, in the pocketbook.

How long will it be before we feel it in our heart?

For more on this subject, request a free copy of our book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

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http://www.spw-duf.info/links.html#guns


http://www.homelandsafes.com/

http://www.z-medica.com/quikclot/index.asp


www.thetrumpet.com

www.staceydean.org

..................................................................................................................
John McCain



Malik holds a photo of Obama and him in Muslim dress, reportedly when the two first met in 1985

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NEED A WIFE ??


vincentKabulwomen.jpg (80k) Loading ....

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

STEPHEN CAMP - STAR PISTOLS & More

UPDATED THURSDAY JUNE 12, 2008


THE CROPS ARE FAILING, THE WEATHER IS A DISASTER IN THIS COUNTRY AND THIS WORLD, YOU MUST READ LEVITICUS CHAPTER 26........

....................................................................................

PLEASE READ THIS BIBLE SCRIPTURE NOW

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The Browning Hi Power and the Magazine "Safety"

By Stephen Camp

Fans of the Browning Hi Power frequently debate the merit of the magazine disconnect present in most Hi Powers except some made during Nazi occupation when they were not included in the pistols. We will probably never know from FN, but it is possible that some special order runs did not have the part. Generally speaking, all commercial Hi Powers have the thing.

For those who don't know what this does, it simply requires the magazine, empty or not, to be in the gun before the hammer can be dropped by pressing the trigger. Unfortunately, on most Hi Powers this makes the trigger pull heavier and grittier. Unless the magazine has the mousetrap type spring on the follower to eject it, the magazine "safety" usually prevents the magazine dropping from the pistol when released.

Proponents of the magazine safety offer the following arguments in favor of leaving the device intact:

1. A Hi Power gunsmith can put a good trigger pull on a Hi Power without removing the disconnector.

2. Removal might result in possible criminal or civil charges in the event of a "bad" shooting.

3. If in a hand-to-hand struggle over the pistol, it could be disabled by releasing the magazine and might prevent its owner from being shot with his own Hi Power.

4. Some say the trigger return is altered or diminished with the removal of the magazine "safety."

Proponents in favor of its removal suggest:

1. Its removal frequently reduces trigger pull by about 15% and might eliminate a trigger job.

2. Magazines usually drop free with the removal of the magazine disconnect.

3. You could fire the pistol at least once without the magazine under emergency conditions.

4. In the event of a shooting, your Hi Power without the magazine "safety" is no less "safe" than a 1911, Sig-Sauer, Beretta 92, Glock, Springfield XD, and so forth.

I fall with those who remove the magazine disconnect. Don't let that mean that you should be, too. It's an individual choice and one that can be argued either way. I do not believe that the magazine disconnect being out will affect the legal outcome of an otherwise good shooting. In the event of an accidental shooting by a kid or some unauthorized person handling the pistol, the magazine safety's removal might very well allow the complainant to prevail in a civil suit. I'm aware of no criminal cases being filed or won in which any citizen deliberately shot another with a Hi Power not having a magazine "safety." I'm personally aware of a couple or three of these and the magazine disconnect was never an issue. That was several years ago, too, so things could have changed. I still believe that if it's brought up in a deliberate shooting incident, it can be successfully argued away. If you want to avoid that altogether, don't remove it.

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Obama wanted to ban gun stores within five miles of schools and parks?

June 11, 2008 02:14 AM

In other words, he pretty much wanted to ban gun stores. Five miles from a school is pretty much exiling gun stores to the rural hinterlands, outside of most city limits. (I wonder what Obama’s pretend gun-rights group will have to say about this?)

James Taranto (first item) has links to some interesting maps of Cleveland and Phoenix that show the relative density of schools in each, which were drawn to demonstrate the effects of the 1000-foot radius covered by the federal gun-free school zones provision. If you can imagine those circles each being 26 times bigger, you’d get an idea of how big the zone of exclusion for gun stores would be.

This was a proposal Obama made when he was still a state legislator in 1999, but Taranto thinks it shows Obama’s true colors:

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R68 prepares for "crap cannon"

You remember the Brown Note. Well, R68 says it actually exists, was even used at protests in Miami in 2003. They want to be ready for it at the DNC:

Political activists planning protest rallies at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver have their stomachs in knots over a rumor about a crowd control weapon - known as the “crap cannon” - that might be unleashed against them.

Also called “Brown Note,” it is believed to be an infrasound frequency that debilitates a person by making them defecate involuntarily.

Mark Cohen, co-founder of Re-create 68, an alliance of local activists working for the protection of first amendment rights, said he believes this could be deployed at the convention in August to subdue crowds.

“We know this weapon and weapons like it have been used at other large protests before,” he said.

Cohen, who described Brown Note as a “sonic weapon used to disrupt people’s equilibrium,” cited eyewitness accounts of its use during free-trade agreement protests in Miami in 2003.

“I think these weapons were mostly intended for military use and so their use for dealing with innocent protesters seems highly inappropriate,” he said. “The idea that they might be field testing them on people who are doing nothing more than exercising their first amendment rights is disturbing.”

His group is preparing against a possible attack by Brown Note and other crowd-control measures by dispatching street medics at the convention trained in treating injuries in demonstration situations.

“It’s all we can do,” Cohen said.

So is the Brown Note a real threat?

Dr. Roger Schwenke - an expert acoustician who appeared on the Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” in 2004 to test the phenomenon - told FOXNews.com there is no scientific evidence that proves such frequencies cause involuntarily defecation.

“When we conducted the low frequency experiment for the Brown Note episode of MythBusters, we tested a variety of low frequencies and no involuntary gastro-intestinal motility was caused,” he said.

Involuntary gastro-intestinal motility. Not bad.
In a statement released to FOXNews.com, city spokeswoman Sue Cobb [heh] said, “commenting on specific security preparations is not helpful to ensuring their effectiveness. I can say, however, that all of our security-related purchases for the Democratic National Convention will comply with federal and City requirements. We are working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure that the $50 million federal security grant is spent on personnel and equipment in the manner required by the grant.”

Denver’s police Department wouldn’t comment on the tactics that will be used during the convention, but a spokesman said that “we do support and encourage people to express their views safely and in a manner that respects the rights of others along with the laws and ordinances of our city.”
Now, does that sound like the kind of police department that would deploy a crap cannon?
But Glenn Spangnuolo, also with Re-create 68, isn’t taking any chances [bet that surprised you]. He said he has no doubt that Brown Note exists, and is preparing his group for confrontation.
What the hell does that mean? Crap Cannon v. The Giant Diaper?
“Whether it causes someone to defecate in their pants or not, I don’t know that,” said Spagnuolo.
Hey, remember this quote from Spagz, explaining why he pointed me out to his thuggish little friends at a peace rally last March?
I pointed him out because people thought some one shit their pants because of the smell, I assumed it was John so I let them know. . . .

Maybe I was the first victim of the crap cannon.

More troubling to Spagnuolo is the “Active Denial System” or “ADS,” a ray gun used to send high levels of microwave frequencies that cause a burning sensation the skin.

He described ADS as an “indiscriminate weapon” and said “there’s no long-term testing on what happens to the body when exposed to those kinds of microwave frequencies.”

*************************************************************

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Is Israel sitting
on enormous oil reserve?
Company uses biblical verses
to locate drilling


Posted: September 21, 2005
1:00 am Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

SPECIAL OFFER: Is there massive oil under Israel? Read "Breaking the Treasure Code," which lays out the whole story citing compelling biblical evidence.


Drill site at 'crown of Joseph' (photo: Zionoil.com)
KIBBUTZ MA'ANIT, Israel – Is Israel sitting on an enormous oil reserve mapped out in the Old Testament that when found will immediately change the geopolitical structure of the Middle East and confirm the validity of the Bible to people around the world?

So believes John Brown, an evangelical Christian and founder and chairman of Zion Oil and Gas, a company he and others poured several million dollars into to drill a hole 15,000 feet deep that will as soon as next week tap a rock interval that may contain oil.

"The Bible spells out where the oil is," Brown told WND yesterday outside his drilling rig off a highway between Haifa and Tel Aviv.

"It's very specific. Now we're here to find it, and I know that when we do, the Scriptures will come alive for everyone who hears about it. And Israel will have enough oil not to worry about all the implications of the Arab states using their oil to threaten and gain power."


Map indicates land given to Twelve Tribes of Israel

Brown, pointing to the Bible he says he always carries with him, referred to several biblical passages he is certain indicate where to find petroleum. He stressed that two passages, detailing God's blessings to each of biblical patriarch Jacob's 12 sons, are very specific:

  • "Let Asher be blessed ... and let him dip his foot in oil." – Deuteronomy 33:24
  • "Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well ... blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head." – Genesis 49: 22-26

Brown also pointed to other verses, such as the continuation of Joseph's blessing in Deuteronomy 33: "For the deep that couches beneath ... and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of primordial hills, and for the precious things of the earth."

The Twelve Tribes were each given a section of Israel as inheritance, Brown explains.

Mapping the tribes' biblical territory indeed shows that Asher's area resembles a giant foot "dipped" into the top, or "crown" area of the land of Joseph's son, Manasseh.

"The oil is there, where Joseph's head is met by Asher's foot," said Brown.

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Hi Power Two-Piece Barrels

By Stephen Camp

I'm aware of no one-piece barrels for the Hi Power that came from FN after the early '60's. So far as I know, they've all been two-piece, at least since the time in which the locking lug dimensions were changed. I do have a couple of early Bar-Sto match barrels that are one-piece, but later ones are two-piece. I've noticed no increase in accuracy of the one-piece barrels over the conventional two-piece barrels, nor have I noticed them coming apart or being less durable than the one-piece barrels.

In this picture, you can see the seam on the FN factory barrel. I have no exact reason for the use of two-piece barrels, but suspect strongly that it was for ease of manufacturing.

Some years ago, a gun magazine did a test on various 1911 barrels that ranged from GI surplus to the match barrels from some really good makers. They fired the barrels via a device that locked the barrel firmly in place. To cut to the conclusion, there was very, very little difference between any of the barrels in terms of their purely inherent accuracy. I believe this included a two-piece Springfield Armory barrel as well as some other factory barrels.

There are reports of Browning Hi Power barrels failing after a great number of shots, but I don't recall any of them separating. There very well may be some such incidents, but I'm betting that they're statistically rare. With as many Hi Powers in use around the world, if it was a real problem, it would have been addressed by now.

I don't think it matters.

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Psalms Chapter 93

א יְהוָה מָלָךְ, גֵּאוּת לָבֵשׁ:
לָבֵשׁ יְהוָה, עֹז הִתְאַזָּר; אַף-תִּכּוֹן תֵּבֵל, בַּל-תִּמּוֹט.
1 The LORD reigneth; He is clothed in majesty; {N}
the LORD is clothed, He hath girded Himself with strength; yea, the world is established, that it cannot be moved.
ב נָכוֹן כִּסְאֲךָ מֵאָז; מֵעוֹלָם אָתָּה. 2 Thy throne is established of old; Thou art from everlasting.
ג נָשְׂאוּ נְהָרוֹת, יְהוָה--נָשְׂאוּ נְהָרוֹת קוֹלָם; יִשְׂאוּ נְהָרוֹת דָּכְיָם. 3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.
ד מִקֹּלוֹת, מַיִם רַבִּים--אַדִּירִים מִשְׁבְּרֵי-יָם; אַדִּיר בַּמָּרוֹם יְהוָה. 4 Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty.
ה עֵדֹתֶיךָ, נֶאֶמְנוּ מְאֹד--לְבֵיתְךָ נַאֲוָה-קֹדֶשׁ: יְהוָה, לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים. 5 Thy testimonies are very sure, holiness becometh Thy house, O LORD, for evermore. {P}

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Star Pistols

By Stephen Camp

Though Star pistols are no longer made, there appears to be many out there and at reasonable prices. The pistols do generate some interest among shooters so I'll pass along my experiences with them, good and bad.

The first centerfire pistol I purchased as an adult was a Star Model B 9mm. It was bought in the early '70's and I think cost around $70 or $75 NIB. I just couldn't come up with the extra thirty or so dollars for a new Colt Government Model .45 ACP. As it turns out, I'm kind of glad I tried the Star.

That first Model B had the very small military fixed sights common to most automatics at that time, but they were spot on with 115-grain JHP ammunition. The pistol fed handloads using Speer 125-grain JSP bullets, but the short 90-grain Super Vel ammo would regularly fail to feed. Their 112-grain JSP ammo did a little better, but the gun was basically reliable only with ammunition having a round nose profile.

Eventually I sold the pistol and to this day I wish I hadn't, but only for sentimental reasons.

Several years later, I saw an ad in the American Rifleman for a chance to buy some of the last Star Model B and Model B Supers in 9mm. Supposedly, these were from a military overrun and no more would be produced. I ordered one of each NIB for something under a couple of hundred dollars each. Upon receiving the guns, I noticed that the feed ramps had been "throated" and were pretty well polished and both fed most JHP rounds well. In the meantime, I'd seen a couple of Star aluminum frame lightweight pistols essentially ruined by the use of hot handloads combined with doses of Super Vel factory ammunition. I'd also spoken to several gunsmiths who counseled me to shoot only standard pressure ammo in the Star handguns.

Accuracy was fine with both pistols and both were nicely blued with some kind of gray phosphate finish on the sights, barrel, barrel bushing, thumb safety, slide stop lever, grip screws, magazine release and lanyard ring. The sights were more "high visibility" than my original Model B, but hit far too high at any range you care to mention until you get out to about 150 yards! To remedy this, when I would shoot the guns, I'd put a targ-dot at 6 O' Clock about 8" below the X-ring on a standard NRA 25-yard pistol target. This let me shoot the pistols some, but really was not satisfactory. I wound up using the pistols less and less and wound up selling the Model B Super, keeping only the plain Model B. Along the way, I'd been picking up spare magazines and bought a few spare parts, as is my habit with about any handgun I own.

Eventually, I had Lou Williamson of Williamson Precision Gunsmithing in Hurst, TX customize the Star Model B. I have more in the pistol than it is worth, but "worth" can be a frame of mind. The pistol was not being shot and was one I liked so I figured I might as well get it "fixed" so that I could use it for more than shooting at paper…and then only with the targ-dot thing I mentioned.

Here's the customized Star Model B as done by Williamson's Precision Gunsmithing. Though taken to Lou, the "old man," his son, Scott, did the work. The gun's front strap has received 20 LPI checkering and a new front sight was silver soldered in place. Millett adjustable revolver sights were added and hold the firing pin retaining pin in place. Scott made the wooden grips shown and though smooth, with the factory checkered rear grip strap and the 'smith-checkered front strap, the pistol offers good purchase. I do not shoot "hot" loads in this pistol and the ammo pictured is Federal 115-grain standard pressure JHP. The hammer spur was bobbed and the gray-finish seen on the trigger, magazine release, etc, is as it came from the factory. The slide and frame as well as the barrel were blued. The Model B is lightly sprung and while Wolff Gunsprings does not offer a replacement spring for the Model B, I found that I could substitute those for the 9mm CZ-75 just fine. The gun has such a recoil spring in place along with a buffer. The buffer was cut down slightly from one meant for a 1911. The combination's worked fine.

With either cast bullets loaded to the 1050 to 1150 ft/sec velocity range, the gun groups pretty well and does fine with most FMJ or JHP. Again, I do recommend using standard pressure ammunition in any of the Star pistols made before the Firestar Model 43 compact.

I'm satisfied with these groups from the Star Model B. None of these are "hot," but serve just fine for shooting holes in paper and are fine for plinking, informal competition, or just knocking around in the boonies.

Somewhere I wound up with a smaller version of the Model B. It's called the Model BM and is sort of like a "Commander" version of the gun. Both use an 8 round single-stack magazine. Though the Model BM has an unfortunate name, the little gun's been satisfactory and has been used on occasion as a "loaner" in CHL classes I instruct. Though visually similar to the 1911, these guns are very different internally and thinner as well. They have been described as "graceful" in feel and I do find them most pleasing in this regard. The Model BM is stock, other than my bobbing the hammer spur to avoid hammer bite and dressing down the front sight just a small amount to adjust POI with POA at 15 yards.

For those not familiar with the Star Model BM, here it is pictured with the Taurus PT-92, a gun the size of the more familiar Beretta 92 series pistols. The BM is all steel and heavier than one initially thinks, but it does shoot pretty well. I find that I get better groups with the Model B, but don't know for sure if this is due to better mechanical accuracy or just the longer sight radius!

Both of these single-action automatics come with a magazine safety, but one that is easily removed if desired. Unlike the Browning Hi Power, removal does not affect the trigger pull, but does allow magazines to fall free. Should you desire to remove the magazine safety, which is entirely your decision, you start by removing the grips. On the left side of the frame and at the rear of the magazine well which is normally covered by the grip, you will see a flat piece of spring steel that runs parallel to the rear of the opening in the frame. It's secured to the frame with an attached hollow tube at the bottom. From the right side, simply drive out the tube and the magazine safety is gone. It can be replaced just as easily if desired. Both my Model B and BM have had theirs removed.

One evening at the police department, I was working evening shift when a detective friend called me aside and said, "Got something you might like." Knowing he was a "gun person," I got pretty interested. He produced the smallest little 9mm single-action pistol I'd ever seen; it was a Star Firestar Model 43 9mm and had the "Starvel" (E-Nickel) finish. Grips were checkered rubber and unlike my Model B and BM, the frame was cast. The fixed sights were easy to see and it had ambidextrous thumb safety levers that were very positive in either "on" or "off" position. Trying not to seem interested, I asked, "How does it shoot?"

He advised that it did fine and was reliable with anything.

"Where did you get it?"

"Gun show."

"How much."

"$255.00."

At this point, he mentioned that "Doc Avery" over in a nearby town had them for sale. I told him I liked the little thing and we went about our respective rat killing. That night at home, I continued to think about the little gun.

Anyway, I got up early, called Doc's phone number and bought one before 10AM, an ungodly hour for me to even be out of bed during that time of my life. I also bought 4 extra magazines. Like the detective's, my M43 had the Starvel finish. I removed the magazine safety and took it to the range. My particular pistol hit about 2" low at 15 yards, but this was satisfactory as I meant it for a back up pistol. I wore it for quite a long time in an ankle holster. The little all steel M43 is quite the little brick in weight and I wouldn't have been able to carry it this way except that the top of my duty boot supported the thing as the end of the grip rode on it. Unlike earlier Star handguns, the M43 did have an internal firing pin safety as well.

Another Star I really like is the Model 28. This is a full-size, all steel, 9mm pistol that sported a 15 round double-stack magazine. It is a conventional DA/SA automatic and has reversed slide rails ala CZ-75, but incorporates a take down feature from the SIG P-210. With the slide and grips removed, a spring-loaded detent at the lower rear of the rear grip strap can be depressed while lifting upward on the (uncocked) hammer. The hammer, sear, and mainspring will lift out of the frame as a unit. The front grip strap is vertically grooved similar to a Colt Gold Cup and the gun's fixed rear sight is screw-adjustable for windage. Unfortunately, it is not for elevation and the darned gun hit about a foot high at 25 yards. So did the second one I bought! Internally, the pistol works much like a CZ-75 and the front of the trigger guard is hooked and has vertical grooves for anyone still trying to shoot with such a hold. I'd have preferred a rounded trigger guard. They do have magazine safeties, but they're removed in a different fashion, but I left them in place as they do vigorously eject empty magazines, but mainly because their removal from the forged frame leaves a void with very thin walls. The pistol also has an interesting thumb safety set up. Slide-mounted like those from S&W or Beretta, depressing the safety does not drop the hammer. Cocked and locked carry is available, but there's really nothing "locked." All the safety does is to retract the rear of the firing pin below the rear surface of the retaining plate so that the hammer does not hit it. With the safety on, pressing the trigger will drop the hammer. I've tested it at the firing range and there's never been a problem, but since the thumb safety has to be moved the "wrong direction" anyway, I just carry this one and either thumb cock the hammer for target work or use the very smooth double-action for the first shot.

I had Scott Williamson ply his magic to the guns and had the following done to my brace of Star M28 pistols:

· Narrow the trigger to the same dimensions as the CZ-75 and round the edges

· Install Millet adjustable revolver sights as had been done on the Model B

· Hardchrome the barrel, hammer, external controls and guts of the guns

· Refinish with a matte blue on the frame and top of the slides, but with polished slide flats

Here's one of my Star Model 28 pistols after the custom work from Williamson Precision Gunsmithing. The gun shoots better than might be expected.

I normally don't fire much of the hot stuff in my Star pistols, but this group fired using Corbon 124-grain +P XTP is plenty tight enough for me. That load is no longer available as Corbon uses Sierra's 125-grain Power Jacket Hollow Point these days after replacing the XTP bullet with the Gold Dot Hollow Point.

Though I never owned one, I've been favorably impressed with Star's PD, a very compact, aluminum-framed single-action pistol in .45 ACP. While forty-five velocities from short barrels is more greatly reduced than from 9mm pistols in the same barrel length, the PD was more accurate than I'd expected and fed about anything. I do believe that they were somewhat "fragile" and meant for much more carrying than shooting. Like the BKS and BKM 9mm Stars, the lower portion of the feed ramp was part of the aluminum alloy frame and very subject to nicks, gouges, and wear from blunt or sharp-edged JHP ammunition. While this can be a problem with any pistol having an aluminum feed ramp, the Star pistols are the only ones I've really seen it regularly.

Such was not the case with Star's Firestar in .45 ACP. Bigger than the 9mm, this pistol had a one-piece feed ramp and was reliable with everything I tried, including handloaded CSWC, JHPs, and ball. It fed all manner of factory JHP ammo reliably and the thing would group. Recoil was minimal for caliber, no doubt because of its all-steel, robust construction.

Today, many Star pistols can still be found and with some reservations, I do recommend them if you understand that:

· Spare parts can be a problem to find.

· Dry-firing the Model B or BM will break the firing pin eventually.

· Recoil springs can be a problem in replacing unless you know which to substitute.

· Spare magazines, still readily found NIB, are relatively expensive.

· No aftermarket parts exist.

· Except for the Firestar versions as well as those with polymer frames, I'd counsel against very much +P ammunition being used in these pistols.

On the other hand, if you like these little things as I do and find one "right," I'd get it, but would not do any dry-firing with other than the Model 28, 30M, or 31PK as these had their firing pins retained via the traditional retaining plates and did not have any internal firing pin safety such that the firing pin would have to be notched.

I keeping my eyes open for a Model S .380 ACP myself!

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Lightning Weapon Will Zap Your Car, Not You

By Sharon Weinberger EmailJune 05, 2008 | 10:33:00 AMCategories: Lasers and Ray Guns, Less-lethal

Jin "Things not people" now appears to be the focus of the the famed lightning weapons maker once known as Ionatron. The company, now known as Applied Energetics, was presenting this week at the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology conference in Washington. I missed the talk, but lucky for us, MountainRunner was there and can bring us up to date.

Perhaps the most interesting news is that the company, which initially attracted investors with ambitious promises of a revolutionary nonlethal lightning gun, appears now to have thrown this idea out the window. "[T]hey are NOT looking to anti-personnel applications," MountainRunner tells us. "They said that's just an area that's too much of a headache and they'd rather let Taser walk that minefield and they'll focus on anti-IED and anti-vehicle application (things not persons)."

Given the company's change in name, this isn't totally surprising, but it is the first time I remember hearing about the company actually jettisoning its focus on nonlethals. The key company pitch these days appears to be countering improvised explosive devices, which is also not a surprise. But the presenter, company VP Tom Donaldson, a retired rear admiral, apparently talked a lot about moving into vehicle-stopping applications. "They found that for disabling cars, the best place to aim for is the base of the windshield," says MountainRunner, who attended the talk. "This stalls, not disables, the car by shorting - not frying, but the amount of electricity is adjustable. They found that targeting the hood looks neat but isn't the best place to aim."

Bizarrely, the company, which has often cited classification issues in (not) discussing its technology, provided details on the technology's effectiveness against IEDs placed in specific parts of the vehicle. Frankly, I don't feel comfortable publicizing the specific numbers and places when it comes to IEDs, so I won't, but I do want to point out how odd it is that the company provided the information at an open, unclassified forum.

On other significant issues, the current range is reportedly 15 meters, which strikes me as not very far if you're thinking about stand-off applications (checkpoint, fast-approaching vehicle, etc.). However, the company is looking at a new laser that could extend the range.

Here's the kicker: Time-frame. When asked when these applications would ready for fielding, Donaldson replied: "5 - 6 years," says MountainRunner.

For weapons development, that's lightning speed, sort of, and it's actually refreshing to have someone at the company provide a realistic timeframe for deployment (I suspect, this is a result of Donaldson being a retired military officer).

But five plus years for a publicly traded R&D company that depends on shareholder confidence, well, we'll see...

Update: Applied Energetics just announced that the company nabbed a contract worth up to $9.3 million. It's from the Marine Corps, and yes, it's classified.

Also:


* Investor Suit vs. Lightning Gun Maker Moves Ahead
* More Pentagon Cash for Bogus Bomb-Zapper
* Lightning Weapons Factory Shuts Down
* Bomb-Zapper = "Rube Goldberg Solution"
* Ionatron Investors Blow Their Tops
* Video: Attack of the Lightning Guns!
* Military Security Threat: Bogus Bomb-Zapper's Bogus Countermeasure
* Lightning Gun Maker Zaps Back at Danger Room
* Lightning Guns Strike Again: Insider Trading Scandal
* Laser scalpel... Or Lightning gun? Raydiance Gets Military Millions
* Lightning Gunners Strike Twice, Get Navy Millions
* Lightning Gun Company Expands!
* Video: Corridor of Death
* Lightning Gun Loses Steam, Keeps Fans


www.actionsbyt.com

www.actionsbyt.blogspot.com