Friday Rewiew

Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole
Independent.co.uk
Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change
By Steve Connor, Science Editor Friday, 27 June 2008

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

"From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water," said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.

If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above.

Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally ice free North Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by huge swathes of thinner ice formed over a single year.

This one-year ice is highly vulnerable to melting during the summer months and satellite data coming in over recent weeks shows that the rate of melting is faster than last year, when there was an all-time record loss of summer sea ice at the Arctic.

"The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice – ice that formed last autumn and winter. I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out," said Dr Serreze.

Each summer the sea ice melts before reforming again during the long Arctic winter but the loss of sea ice last year was so extensive that much of the Arctic Ocean became open water, with the water-ice boundary coming just 700 miles away from the North Pole.

This meant that about 70 per cent of the sea ice present this spring was single-year ice formed over last winter. Scientists predict that at least 70 per cent of this single-year ice – and perhaps all of it – will melt completely this summer, Dr Serreze said.

"Indeed, for the Arctic as a whole, the melt season started with even more thin ice than in 2007, hence concerns that we may even beat last year's sea-ice minimum. We'll see what happens, a great deal depends on the weather patterns in July and August," he said.

Ron Lindsay, a polar scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, agreed that much now depends on what happens to the Arctic weather in terms of wind patterns and hours of sunshine. "There's a good chance that it will all melt away at the North Pole, it's certainly feasible, but it's not guaranteed," Dr Lindsay said.

The Polar Regions are experiencing the most dramatic increase in average temperatures due to global warming and scientists fear that as more sea ice is lost, the darker, open ocean will absorb more heat and raise local temperatures even further. Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University, who was one of the first civilian scientists to sail underneath the Arctic sea ice in a Royal Navy submarine, said that the conditions are ripe for an unprecedented melting of the ice at the North Pole.

"Last year we saw huge areas of the ocean open up, which has never been experienced before. People are expecting this to continue this year and it is likely to extend over the North Pole. It is quite likely that the North Pole will be exposed this summer – it's not happened before," Professor Wadhams said.

There are other indications that the Arctic sea ice is showing signs of breaking up. Scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre said that the North Water 'polynya' – an expanse of open water surrounded on all sides by ice – that normally forms near Alaska and Banks Island off the Canadian coast, is much larger than normal. Polynyas absorb heat from the sun and eat away at the edge of the sea ice.

Inuit natives living near Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland are also reporting that the sea ice there is starting to break up much earlier than normal and that they have seen wide cracks appearing in the ice where it normally remains stable. Satellite measurements collected over nearly 30 years show a significant decline in the extent of the Arctic sea ice, which has become more rapid in recent years.

Many Dutch prepare for 2012 apocalypse

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, June 23 (UPI) -- Thousands of people in the Netherlands say they expect the world to end in 2012, and many say they are taking precautions to prepare for the apocalypse.

The Dutch-language de Volkskrant newspaper said it spoke to thousands of believers in the impending end of civilization, and while theories on the supposed catastrophe varied, most tied the 2012 date to the end of the Mayan calendar, Radio Netherlands reported Monday.

De Volkskrant said many of those interviewed are stocking up on emergency supplies, including life rafts and other equipment.

Some who spoke to the newspaper were optimistic about the end of civilization.

"You know, maybe it's really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed," Petra Faile said. "I don't like it here anymore. Take immigration, for example. They keep letting people in. And then we have to build more houses, which makes the Netherlands even heavier. The country will sink even lower, which will make the flooding worse."

Political Correctness

Political correctness (adjectivally, politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term used to describe language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen as seeking to minimize offense to gender, racial, cultural, disabled, aged or other identity groups. Conversely, the term "politically incorrect" is used to refer to language or ideas that may cause offense or that are unconstrained by orthodoxy.

The term itself and its usage are controversial. The term "political correctness" is used almost exclusively in a pejorative sense, while "politically incorrect" is commonly used as an implicitly positive self-description, as in the series of "Politically Incorrect Guides", produced by conservative publisher Regnery and the talk show Politically Incorrect.

Some commentators have argued that the term "political correctness" is a straw man invented by conservatives in the 1990s in order to challenge progressive social change, especially with respect to issues of race, religion and gender. Ruth Perry traces the term back to Mao's Little Red Book. According to Perry, the term was later adopted by the radical left in the 1960s, initially seriously and later ironically, as a self-criticism of dogmatic attitudes.

In the 1990s, because of the term's association with radical politics and communist censorship, it was used by the political right in the United States to discredit the Old and New Left.

Some things to consider:

1. Fuel coast have begun to redefine our lives. Production is up and consumption is down substantially, but the price continues to climb. It appears the only people who do not realize that we are facing a crisis are our politicians. In fact, they have taken a week off for the Fourth of July.
2. Food cost are on the increase because fuel crisis, and the recent storm in the Midwest, as well as draught conditions reminding some of the dust bowl days during the Great Depressions in Oklahoma. Levies are continuing to break along the Mississippi River causing further crop damage.
3. Israel's peace with Hamas continues to be tested by rocket fire out of Gaza. Several Middle East news sources have reported of Hamas preparation to take over the West Bank as they have Gaza.

My preparation for the prophecy study during VBS on Christ in the Feast Days has lead to some exciting discoveries that I am excited to share. Remember, it is time to look up! Today is a good day to fly!

ABC News Swptember Special: Earth 2100

The following scenario can be found on the ABC News website.

It is seven years in the future and there’s growing unrest around the world as people begin to connect the dots. A new reality is upon us:

1. Despite the promises of the 2008 campaign, a weakened economy and a continued presence in Iraq has kept climate change on the backburner. Global temperatures are rising faster than expected.
   
2. Increasing global demand for oil and industrial metals, especially from China and India, is creating worldwide shortages. More coal-fired power plants are being built to compensate.
   
3. A continued drought is turning the US Southwest into a dust bowl. Lake Mead has dried up, threatening the drinking supply in Las Vegas.
   
4. Tensions rise between the U.S. and Mexico as water disputes break out over the Rio Grande.
   
5. Crop yields plummet in the U.S. Midwest due to persistent droughts mixed with frequent hailstorms and flash floods. Record high food prices and food shortages lead to food riots in many countries around the world.
   
6. Wildfires are raging out of control in Colorado and Southern California leaving thousands of people homeless.
   
7. A powerful nor’easter hits the entire eastern seaboard, from South Carolina to Maine. Power is knocked out for millions of people in New York and New Jersey and the New York City transit system is shut down for 2 days.
   
8. A Category 5 hurricane hits the coast of Miami, flooding a majority of the city and damaging much of its infrastructure. The situation is made worse by a continuing influx of refugees from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The National Guard is called in to lead the disaster response.

Those who are sounding the "Global Warming Alarm" have ample evidence to believe life as we have known it is radically changing. The price of fuel and food is already having an impact.

The most important question is why? Can we find any Biblical evidence describing any or all of these events? At this point there is a world of opinions, and it depends on your conviction on the inspiration of the Scripture. If you believe the Bible is God's truth without any mixture of error, then you know we have been warned!

If you believe in the pretribulation rapture of the church, then you are looking up because you know the Lord could return at any minute.

Praise the Lord!

What A Week!

This has been one more eventful week! Today's news: fires on West Coast, flooding in the Mid-west, tornado's in the Northeast, and power outages in Washington, DC. The White House is operating on generators.

Drudge Report has several articles concerning Global Warming:

Scientists From Around the Globe Join ABC News in a Forum on Surviving the Century

Are we living in the last century of our civilization? Is it possible that all of our technology, knowledge and wealth cannot save us from ourselves? Could our society actually be heading towards collapse?

According to many of the world's top scientists, the answer is yes, unless we take action now.

This September, in Earth 2100, a dramatic ABC News 2-hour broadcast, the greatest minds across the globe will join together in a countdown to the year 2100 to tell us what we must do to survive the next century … And what may happen if we don't.

The time to act is now, says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute.

"The 21st century is going to be the century which determine[s] whether we live or die as a sustainable species," Gleick said. "As populations grow, as our use of resources grows, I think we get closer and closer to that edge."

Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of Gas
by John Coleman

You may want to give credit where credit is due to Al Gore and his global warming campaign the next time you fill your car with gasoline, because there is a direct connection between Global Warming and four dollar a gallon gas. It is shocking, but true, to learn that the entire Global

Warming frenzy is based on the environmentalist’s attack on fossil fuels, particularly gasoline. All this big time science, international meetings, thick research papers, dire threats for the future; all of it, comes down to their claim that the carbon dioxide in the exhaust from your car and in the smoke stacks from our power plants is destroying the climate of planet Earth. What an amazing fraud; what a scam.

The future of our civilization lies in the balance.

That’s the battle cry of the High Priest of Global Warming Al Gore and his fellow, agenda driven disciples as they predict a calamitous outcome from anthropogenic global warming. According to Mr. Gore the polar ice caps will collapse and melt and sea levels will rise 20 feet inundating the coastal cities making 100 million of us refugees.

Vice President Gore tells us numerous Pacific islands will be totally submerged and uninhabitable. He tells us global warming will disrupt the circulation of the ocean waters, dramatically changing climates, throwing the world food supply into chaos. He tells us global warming will turn hurricanes into super storms, produce droughts, wipe out the polar bears and result in bleaching of coral reefs. He tells us tropical diseases will spread to mid latitudes and heat waves will kill tens of thousands. He preaches to us that we must change our lives and eliminate fossil fuels or face the dire consequences. The future of our civilization is in the balance.


With a preacher’s zeal, Mr. Gore sets out to strike terror into us and our children and make us feel we are all complicit in the potential demise of the planet.

John Coleman is the founder of the Weather Channel. You can find his entire rebuttal of Global Warming at drudgereport.com or you can find it posted on our website, abiclass.com.

The news out of the Middle East is still not good. The treat of war is still looming. It appears that we are about to witness war or peace. The Bible describes both events.

Big News Monday

Israel Tries To Play Down Minister's Warning Of Attack On Iran
drudgereport.com 6-9-08

Israel yesterday attempted to play down a warning from a senior government minister that an attack on Iran was "unavoidable" if Tehran continued to develop nuclear weapons. The transportation minister, Shaul Mofaz, a key figure in Israel's dialogue with the US on Iran's nuclear programme, raised the prospect of a unilateral Israeli attack against Tehran on Friday, adding that international sanctions had been ineffective.

The threat, which is at odds with Israel's support so far for an international campaign to curtail and, if necessary, confront Iran's uranium enrichment programme, contributed to frenzied buying in the financial markets, where oil prices soared to a record $139, and sparked an international furore.

Yesterday, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said that "all options must remain on the table", adding that "tangible steps by the international community" were needed to "put pressure on the regime in Tehran".

Severe weather kills 8; water rises in Indiana
Jun 9, 4:02 AM (ET)By TOM MURPHY

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Wicked weekend storms pounded the country from the Midwest to the East Coast, forcing hundreds of people to flee flooded communities, spawning tornadoes that tore up houses and killing at least eight people.

Rescuers in boats continued to pluck people from rising waters in Indiana on Sunday, a day after more than 10 inches of rain deluged much of the state.
In Iowa, pumps and thousands of sandbags were sent to the Iowa City area, where officials fear a reservoir could top a spillway and flood the city of about 63,000 by Tuesday.

The Indiana flooding killed at least one person, a man who drowned in his vehicle about 50 miles south of Indianapolis, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the state Department of Homeland Security. Another person was reported missing after falling off a boat about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

Miserable Monday: Record Heat To Toast Tri-State
Expect Temperatures To Reach 97, Humidity To Bump Heat Index To Around 105 - Several Schools Closed, Delayed

NEW YORK (CBS) ― The Big Apple continues to bake under a heat wave. CBS 2's John Elliott said temperatures around the region were expected to tie the record high of 97, but humidity will make it feel between 100 and 105. The heat is causing problems across the tri-state, including power outages and school closings.

More than 12,000 Long Island Power Authority customers were still without power Monday morning. Con Ed reported about 1,500 outages in Brooklyn. Some customers were also without power in Westchester County.

Earthquake swarm picks up again in northern Nevada
Jun 8, 4:18 PM (ET)By MARTIN GRIFFITH

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A months-long swarm of earthquakes picked up again Sunday as a string of minor temblors rattled Reno, causing downtown high-rises to sway and knocking items off walls and shelves.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or major property damage after about 20 minor quakes reported on the western edge of Reno over 12 hours ending about noon.

Magnitude-3.9 and 3.7 quakes struck within a couple minutes of each other shortly before 11 a.m. and were preceded by 3.2 and 3.0 quakes early Sunday, said researchers at the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Diane dePolo, a lab seismologist, said it was the strongest sequence of quakes in the past month and signaled a pickup in activity after a recent lull.

Pressure from oil prices spreads

Rising oil prices are beginning to cut into the profits of a wide range of businesses, pushing many to raise prices and maneuver aggressively to offset the rising cost of merchandise made from petroleum.

Airlines, package shippers and car owners are no longer the only ones being squeezed by the ever-mounting price of oil, which shot up almost $11 a barrel Friday, to a record $138.54.

Companies that make hard goods using raw materials derived from oil, like tires, toiletries, plastic packaging and computer screens, are watching their costs skyrocket, and they find themselves forced into unpleasant choices: Should they raise prices, shift to less costly procedures, cut workers or all three?

In the United States, Goodyear Tire & Rubber is trying to adapt. Its raw material of choice now is natural rubber rather than synthetic rubber, made from oil. To sustain profits, it is making more high-end tires for consumers willing to pay upwards of $100 to replace each tire on their cars.

These are a few articles I found on watch.org, drudgereport.com and worldnetdaily.com along with several other sites that I believe are insightful. I don't have time to go into a lot of detail now, but I will do so latter.

Interesting Week

Alternatives To Attack On Iran Running Out
Jun 6 03:36 AM US/Eastern

An Israeli deputy prime minister on Friday warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programmed.

"If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programmed, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister.

"Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programmed," Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot daily.

He stressed such an operation could only be conducted with US support.
A former defense minister and armed forces chief of staff, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Ehud Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.

Military Operation In Gaza?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday raised the specter of a full-scale military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip despite Egyptian attempts to mediate a truce.

"According to the information as it is now, the pendulum is much closer to tough military action," Olmert told journalists on arrival in Israel following a three-day trip to the United States.

His comments came a day after a man was killed in southern Israel in a mortar attack claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that has run Gaza since it ousted forces loyal to secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas a year ago.

But Olmert also suggested that the door to a negotiated truce was not completely closed.

He said his government was still considering whether to avoid getting "into a violent and hard conflict with the terror organizations in Gaza" or to launch "operations that would be much more aggressive and hard."
Israeli forces launched several raids after Thursday's attack.

Tuesday, A Turning Point?

An insightful person must conclude that the philosophical positions of those who are seeking the presidency has a far reaching impact on life as we know it. What does change mean? It implies that things will be better, but we should consider for whom and how?

Noteworthy News:

1. The Tyson Company is destroying 15,000 chickens in Arkansas, because routine blood test have revealed exposure to Bird Flu. State officials did go on the record to say that this did not pose any danger to humans. But, this does serve as a reminder that the potential danger from a Bird Flu Pandemic.
2. Wicked weather alerts are again being posted in the Great Lakes region.

Summer of 2008

It appears that the political landscape is getting a little clearer with the primaries coming to an end. Voters are facing the most liberal of all candidates on the left, and John McCain who embraces moderates along with those leaning to the right. It seems the major social issues, such as abortion, have become less important to many in the public sector. As a nation we have not been in the social condition we find ourselves in before.

Galatians 6

7 -Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

The sound of war drums are being heard in the Middle East. Joel Rosenberg has an interesting commentary on his blog.

Over the past two and a half months, by God's grace, I have had the privilege of addressing more than 85,000 people at events around the country, and more than 15 million people through various media interviews. The novel has spent the last nine weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, reaching as high as #4. In May, it hit #2 on the Publishers Weekly Religion best-seller list.

Still, one question continues to haunt me: How many Americans truly appreciate just how determined various extremist groups are about using nuclear weapons to decapitate the U.S. government and annihilate the American people? Not enough, in my view.

That is, in part, why I wrote Dead Heat, to warn people of an increasingly real worst case scenario: multiple nuclear terrorist attacks against the American homeland. Yet today I remained convinced that far too many Americans are being lulled into a false sense of security. Too many have become complacent. They think the threat has passed. But it has not. And if we are not careful, we may be blindsided by an email we don't see coming.

Dead Heat, of course, is only a novel. But now, just as the book tour has come to an end, we find new evidence that al-Qaeda is, in fact, envisioning the use of weapons of mass destruction inside the United States, in cities like Washington, D.C. Consider the following story:

"Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead. This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb." So began a March 30th article in the U.K. Daily Mail, along with this computer-generated image, which was posted this an Islamic extremists' website.

"It appeared as rumours swept the Internet that the FBI was warning that an Al Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use weapons of mass destruction to attack the West....The FBI was quick to point out that it had not issued any warning and that the video was not an official Al Qaeda release through its media arm, Al Sahab, but simply an ' amateur' collection of old footage spliced together and posted on the Internet.

U.S. analysts said a lot of effort had been put into the video -- entitled Nuclear Jihad, The Ultimate Terror -- with graphics, music, and clips of different leaders and groups. The same expertise seems to have gone into creating this image of a devastated Washington. Al Sahab puts out more than 80 'officially sanctioned' videos a year to keep up the propaganda on the West.

And the Internet shows how easy it is to stir up militancy. One message with the Washington picture said: 'The next strike's in the heart of America. When? When? When? And How?' Last night FBI sources said Al Qaeda was desperate to get its hands on a weapon of mass destruction, be it nuclear, chemical, or biological."

Today, I am monitoring:

1. Weather - This is a bad weather in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.
2. Middle East - Threats to eliminate Israel continue.

Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear

The following article appeared in the drudgereport.com.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear, the Mehr news agency reported.

"I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene," he said.

"Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started."

Since taking the presidency in August 2005, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly provoked international outrage by predicting Israel is doomed to disappear.

"I tell you that with the unity and awareness of all the Islamic countries all the satanic powers will soon be destroyed," he said to a group of foreign visitors ahead of the 19th anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ahmadinejad also again expressed his apocalyptic vision that tyranny in the world be abolished by the return to earth of the Mahdi, the 12th imam of Shiite Islam, alongside great religious figures including Jesus Christ.

"With the appearance of the promised saviour... and his companions such as Jesus Christ, tyranny will be soon be eradicated in the world."

Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony.

His emphasis on the Mahdi has been a cause of controversy inside Iran with critics saying he would be better solving bread-and-butter domestic problems rather than talking about Iran's divine responsibility.

This is not the first prediction for the destruction of Israel coming from Ahmadinejad, but these claims do appear to be more frequent and
specific. It sure makes you wonder what he has in mind.

Some intelligence seem to hint that there will be a war this summer. Today sure would be a good day to fly.