Following the dictates of Hegelian dialectic, the Globalists have created two antagonizing forces, the "Liberal-Democratic" West, against Terrorism, or "political Islam", to force us into the acceptance of their final alternative, a New World Order.

The West and Islam have had a long era of compatibility, but this history has been denied to foster the myth of a "Clash of Civilizations". In order to inflame the sentiments of the West against Islam, our attention has been focused on the specter of fanatical Wahhabism, and more specifically, its most notorious exponent, Osama bin Laden.

However, as outlined in an excellent article by Peter Goodgame, "The Globalists and the Islamists", that the Globalists have had a hand in shaping and financing all the terrorist organizations of the twentieth century, including the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the Hamas of Palestine, and the Afghan Mujahideen. But the history of their duplicity dates farther back still, to the eighteenth century, when British Freemason created the Wahhabi sect of Saudi Arabia itself, to further their imperialistic objectives.

That a British spy by the name of Hempher was responsible for shaping of the extreme tenets of Wahhabism was mentioned in a Turkish work, Mir'at al-Haramain , by Ayyub Sabri Pasha between 1933-1938. British policy in its colonies often involved the creation of deviant sects, in order to Divide and Conquer, as was the case with the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in India in the nineteenth century.

The details of this conspiracy are outlined in a little known document by the name of The Memoirs of Mr. Hempher published in series (episodes) in the German paper Spiegel, and later on in a prominent French paper. A Lebanese doctor translated the document to the Arabic language and from there on it was translated to English and other languages.

The document is a first-hand account by Hempher of his mission for his government, who sent him to the Middle East to discover ways to undermine the Ottoman Empire. Among the vices the British were to promote were racism and nationalism, alcohol, gambling, fornication, and tempting Muslim women to uncover themselves.

But most important was the strategy to "insert heresies into Muslims' creedal tenets and then criticize Islam for being a religion of terror." To this purpose, Hempher located a particularly corrupt individual by the name of Mohammed Ibn Adbul Wahhab.

To understand the brand of fanaticism that Wahhabism inculcated, it is first necessary to recognize that Islam called upon all Muslims, regardless of their race or nationality, to see themselves as brothers in faith. The killing of another Muslim was strictly forbidden.

However, as part of their strategy of Divide and Conquer, the British hoped to pit the Arab Muslims against their Turkish brothers. The only way to do so was to find a loophole in Islamic law whereby the Arabs could declare the Turks as apostates.

Abdul Wahhab was the instrument by which the British were able to insinuate this vile idea into the Muslims of the Arabian Peninsula. Basically, Wahhab contrived the idea that, simply by the trivial act of offering prayers to saints, that their Turkish brethren had forfeited their faith, and therefore, that it was permitted to kill all who refused to adhere to his reforms, and enslave their women and children. But, that included the entire Muslim world, expect for his small misguided band of followers.

But, the Wahabbi movement was insignificant without the allegiance of the Saudi family, who, despite claims otherwise, were descended from a Jewish merchant from Iraq . Orthodox jurists of the time branded the Wahhabis as heretics, and condemned their fanaticism and intolerance. Nevertheless, the Wahhabis then demonstrated their contempt for their pretended faith by indiscriminately slaughtering Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The Wahhabis then set about destroying all the holy tombs and burial grounds. They stole the Prophet's treasure, which included holy books, works of art and innumerable priceless gifts sent to the city during the previous thousand years. The leather and gilt bindings of the Islamic holy books they had destroyed were used to make sandals for the Wahhabi criminals.

The Ottoman Sultan brought an end to the first Wahhabi rebellion in 1818, but the sect revived under the leadership of the Saudi Faysal I. The movement was then somewhat restored until once again destroyed at the end of the nineteenth century.

After WWI, the former regions of the Ottoman Empire were divided into varying puppets regimes. For aiding to undermine the Ottoman authority in the region, Ibn Saud was duly rewarded with the creation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1932. One year later, in 1933, the Saudis granted oil concessions to California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), affiliate of Standard Oil of California (Socal, today's Chevron), headed by Rothschild agent, and chief among Illuminati families, Rockefeller. Since that time, Saudi Arabia has been the most important ally to the West in the Middle East, not only providing ready access to its plentiful oil reserves, but also in tempering Arab aggression against Israel. Due to the evident hypocrisy of the regime, it has been necessary to suppress the ensuing dissent with brutality. Another important aspect has been preventing scholars from speaking of "politics", that is, to criticize the regime.

In The Two Faces of Islam, writes Schwartz, "Their tastes led them to taverns, casinos, brothels. . . . They bought fleets of automobiles, private jets, and yachts the size of warships. They invested in valuable Western art they did not understand or like and which often offended the sensitivities of Wahhabi clerics. They spent as they wished, becoming patrons of international sexual enslavement and the exploitation of children."

The result has been that, in order to nonetheless appear to be espousing Islam, the Saudi regime and its puppet scholars have evolved a version of Islam that emphasizes ceremonial details of the religion, at the expense of helping to understand broader political realities. Their manner has encouraged a literal interpretation of Islamic law, permitting the likes of bin Laden to exploit the Koran to justify the killing of innocents.

Ultimately, the profusion of Rothschild financed petro-dollars in the coffers of the Saudi family has made it possible to for them to then propagandize their bastardized version of Islam to other parts of the world, most notably to America, where they purportedly subsidize up to 80 percent of the mosques in the country, a version of Islam that substitutes political awareness for dogmatic insistence of ritualistic fanaticism.

In 1999, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia attended the Bildeberg meeting, presumably to discuss his role in furthering the interests of world government, along with other such luminaries as Yasser Arafat and the Pope. Evidently, the Saudi family are part of the deceptive ploys of the Illuminati network. Their complicity in the accumulation of petro-dollars has gone into the financing of Global terrorism, from Afghanistan to Bosnia, merely for the purpose of fomenting the necessary animosity of the world against Islam.

Comment: The main point being made by the author of the above article is that the current "clash of civilisations" is not a result of chance, "divine will" (at least not in the traditional sense), or the innate nature of humanity, but rather the concerted efforts of a small group of "power brokers" who, over a period of time spanning many generations, have sought to manufacture the right conditions that will facilitate the ushering in of a "new world order".

Such a theory is not new or groundbreaking by any means. There are many authors sounding the alarm over what they see as clear evidence of a "hegelian" plot to deliberately create facts on the ground (the clash of civilisations) so that, when things get bad enough, humanity will be ready to accept a "new paradigm", a new perception of reality - presented to us, of course, by these same "power brokers". To date, we are not aware of any theories about the deeper reasons, if any, for such a dastardly scheme, other than the accrual of power for its own sake.

No one will deny that our history, and in particular the successive human cultures and societies that have defined it, has been periodically subjected to powerful social and cultural "forces", which washed away (usually with much bloodshed) the preceding status quo (or popular view of reality). But the question we must answer, and it is a question that goes to the very heart of the nature of our existence here on this planet, is: have such events occurred as a result of the chaotic, random and essentially unintelligent nature of life and the forces that drive it, or is there some necessarily intelligent "guiding hand" that has been shaping the course of our history, and which logically therefore has very definite plans for our future.

If we take the former to be true, a brief look at our history will soon prompt the nagging question of, why then have we, as a species, repeatedly received such a "raw deal" from random fate? The repeated suffering that typifies the human experience in general, seems to lead those who take the time to ponder this "why" towards the conclusion that there must be some conscious, intelligent "force" that somehow intervenes in, shapes, and even creates, world events, and does so with decidedly negative results for the masses of humanity. By nature, such a "force" would have to be in some way "supernatural", given that such consistent and generation-spanning manipulations would be difficult to maintain with any degree of success for the average mortal human being.

A third possibility is the idea that, while there is no supernatural intelligent force shaping world events, within each generation there have been intelligent and particularly self-centered individuals or groups who have taken advantage of the prevailing conditions of the day and merely profited from the apathy of the masses and their rejection of taking any active role in the formulation of their own fate.

Ironically, this theory, in combining the two preceding and opposing arguments and creating a third supposedly more true thesis, uses the dictates of the very hegelian dialectic that many conspiracy authors accuse the "power brokers" of employing to usher in the New World Order/New Paradigm/New Reality.

From our point of view, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the second theory more closely reflects the true nature of our reality - that there does indeed exist a "supernatural power" or "hyperdimensional control system" that overlays our own, the denizens of which, not being subject to or restricted by the laws of our third density reality, are able to control and manipulate at will, and over many lifetimes of human existence. The human "power brokers" in this dynamic are but the earthly representatives, whether they know it or not, of this "higher" power.

How can a man who claims he gets his orders from God preside over the senseless slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent civilians after lying to the nation he leads about the reasons he ordered the mass murder to begin with?

Is that man simply insane? Or is the God he pretends to talk to insane? (The larger question — how is that millions of otherwise ordinary people can pretend he's normal? — will be addressed a little later.)

A quick glimpse into the commentaries of Gnostic Christianity provides some perspective on the matter.

On the one hand we read that "It is impossible for God to lie", and on the other hand we read of the god Jehovah deceiving and lying. On the one hand we read that "God is love" and "love is not jealous", and on the other hand we read that Jehovah is a jealous god. On the one hand, we read the Sermon on the Mount and its call to pacifism, gentleness, altruism, and that we should "be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect", and on the other hand we read of the savage, vile, bloodthirsty, and murderous acts of the god Jehovah. On the one had we are told "God is Love" and we have Love clearly defined for us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, and on the other hand we see the god Jehovah behaving in a truly Satanic fashion of undiluted evil. Are we really reading of only one God here? Or is it obvious to you by now we are reading of two deities, one a pretender and one the Supreme Being?
— Stephen A. Hoeller

My good friend, the noted spiritualist and health and nutrition expert Mary Sparrowdancer, and I share a perspective on religious teachings that has profoundly bothered us both for many years — namely, that the bountiful and sublime spirit most of us generally regard as the supreme being who created the universe is depicted as a beastly psychopath by many written descriptions in the Old Testament of the Bible.

How can the venal, small-minded killer featured in such cruel rants as Leviticus and Deuteronomy turn into the compassionate and loving holy father who inspired millions to follow the gentle teachings of Jesus to live kind and compassionate lives?

"I have been working to reveal this information for sixteen years," Mary wrote, "but the writer whose link is below seems to have summed everything up quite nicely, so I am passing it along to you. It is accurate, including his Hebrew, and I have written small articles in the past making similar points being made here. This is important. It answers a lot of questions. This is the god of George W. Bush ... revealed."

Jehovah Unmasked

Now, if you have two or three hours to intensely contemplate this revealing exegesis of the difference between the Old and New Testament Gods, I strongly recommend you undertake it. But if you like me are trapped in the frantic pace of contemporary reality, please permit me this brief analysis of some of the important ideas contained in this enlightening mini-book.

The extended essay in question is "Jehovah Unmasked" by Nathaniel J. Merritt, a religious refugee who after a long and disturbing quest found his spiritual home in Gnostic Christianity.

Merritt recounts his harrowing journey through a bizarre sequence of disturbing religious experiences: from "the spiritual darkness" of being a Jehovah's Witnesses ("Never has there been a more disturbed, Orwellian, mentally and spiritually oppressed group of people on this planet."), and his escape into the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s ("Though the Witnesses are incredibly negative, at least they do not teach that unbelievers will be roasted for eternity in a hell of fire. However, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, and Pentecostal Christians do teach such a hideous, evil doctrine.")

Then he escaped into Buddhism's "calm, clear rationality" before discovering the emptiness of its philosophy stressing people have "no self, no spirit, no soul, but are merely biological machines." Ultimately he discovered his spiritual satisfaction comfort in Gnostic Christianity, but on the way discovered "that the universe is fundamentally flawed, and that a malevolent intelligence or intelligences lurk behind the flawed nature of the cosmos."

Point by point Merritt examines the fundamental questions that all religiously oriented minds eventually ask, beginning with this conundrum: "If God is all-powerful, then God is not all good. If God is all good, then God is not all-powerful."

Quickly he jumps into the suspicious nature of the creation of the New Testament, constructed by a politicized vote process at various conclaves over time. "Bible-believing fundamentalists ... are willfully ignorant of the historically verifiable process by which the canon was selected."

According to Merritt and other Gnostic writers, the discovery in 1945 of the Nag Hammadi gospels in Egypt provided an invaluable litmus for determining which of the Scriptures were politically inspired by smallminded powerseekers and which genuinely pertain to altruistic teachings about a divine being.

Merritt's explanation is the typical Gnostic perspective.

"The solution to the problem of evil which the Scriptures of the Gnostic (Knowing) Christians explain, and which the Catholic church violently rejected, is simply this: The spiritual realms were made by our Heavenly Father, the all-good and loving Father of whom Jesus spoke. This material universe is the creation of a lesser god, a very distant descendant of the Absolute God. This lesser god was unable or unwilling to create a universe free of suffering and death. The True God, however, has been active through the Holy Spirit and various divinities such as Wisdom (Sophia), Life (Zoe) and Grace (Charis), to bring us a direct Knowing of the Divine. This activity culminated in Jesus Christ."

The original question of this essay has two parts: first, why can so many people worship an entity whose track record of emotional behavior throughout the Old Testament is, when not downright criminal, a complete embarrassment to all those who call themselves religious? And second, how does this faulty behavioral conditioning pertain to the contemporary troubles of the world?

I mean, take a close look at these psychotic pronouncements, as Merritt describes them:

Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. THEIR CHILDREN ALSO SHALL BE DASHED TO PIECES BEFORE THEIR EYES; their houses shall be spoiled, AND THEIR WIVES RAPED." Isaiah 13:15-16. (Here Jehovah/Satan not only commands the murder of children, but also commands the rape of women! Is this the behavior of a God of Love? Or is this clearly the behavior of Satan?)

In the chapter titled "The Fable of Jewish Monotheism," Merritt offers a valuable tip for those who attempt to read the Bible.

"... whenever you see LORD or GOD in all capitals in the Old Testament, the original Hebrew is Jehovah/Yahweh, and it occurs well over six thousand times. The name Jehovah is normally covered up by LORD and GOD because of a Jewish superstition that regards the name as too sacred to pronounce. This superstition was carried over into Christianity. However, Jehovah was simply considered the Chief God among many gods by the ancient Hebrews, not the only god ...."

But beyond questions about identification are questions of intent, and the deity who emerges from the pages of the Old Testament is simply nothing to write home about. Again, Merritt is devastatingly descriptive:

As you can see, the god that emerges from the pages of the Old Testament is a terrifying insane thug, far worse than Adolph Hitler. It is a truly satanic god. Torturing and killing multitudes in fits of rage, ordering the slaughter of millions (even babies and infants) over and over again. Losing its temper constantly, always angry and destroying and frightful. Jehovah is an egomaniacal murderous despot. That is why Jehovah uses the title "LORD of hosts". The church language of English translations often covers up the actual meaning of the underlying Hebrew words. Such is the case with the term "LORD of hosts" which is actually "Jehovah of armies!" The Old Testament even says "Jehovah is a Man of War, Jehovah is his name." (Exodus 15:3, American Standard Version of 1901) Contrast "Jehovah is a Man of War" with the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9) I gave an early draft of this booklet to a fundamentalist friend, and after he read this section detailing the evil vicious insane murderous acts of Jehovah god, he began to spout nonsense about Jehovah's satanic behavior being a demonstration of "holiness". Needless to say, anyone who equates such vile evil with "holiness" is a few bricks shy of a load. Completely hopelessly brainwashed. Holy beings do not throw temper tantrums and destroy things and murder people.

"The most telling verse of all as to the real identity of the god Jehovah is Isaiah 45:7," Merritt writes.

"I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create evil. I the LORD (Jehovah) do all these things." (Modern translations of the Bible change "evil" to "calamity" or some other word in an attempt to cover this revealing verse up. The Hebrew word is "ra" and means evil)

Who but Satan could be the creator of evil and darkness? Well? Tell me! As Acts 26:18 says "To OPEN THEIR EYES, and to turn them from DARKNESS to LIGHT, and from the power of SATAN unto GOD."

How much more obvious can it be? "Jehovah" is SATAN!

Another powerful contrast is found in one of the best known, best loved sections of the New Testament: the "Love Chapter", chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians.

Starting with verse 4 and ending with verse 8 we read: "Love suffers long and is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not parade itself. Love is not puffed up. Love does not behave rudely. Love does not seek it's own glory. Love is not provoked. Love thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails."

Since the Apostle John tells us that "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for GOD IS LOVE" (1 John 4:8), let's read the above verses again: "God suffers long and is kind. God is not jealous. God does not parade Himself. God is not puffed up. God does not behave rudely. God does not seek his own glory. God is not provoked. God thinks no evil. God does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. God bears all things. God hopes all things. God endures all things. God never fails."

Yet, the god Jehovah says "I, JEHOVAH THY GOD, am a JEALOUS GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me...JEHOVAH, whose name is JEALOUS, is a JEALOUS GOD!" (Exodus 20:5, 34:14, American Standard Version of 1901, emphasis mine) Some modern translations, in an attempt to rehabilitate Jehovah, change the highly accurate translation "jealous" to some less repugnant term
or phrase.

Unlike the God of Love, Jehovah does not suffer anything for long, and is rarely if ever kind. Jehovah is puffed up, and constantly parades himself and seeks his own glory. Jehovah behaves very rudely indeed! Demanding that humans debase themselves before him and quake in fear before him. (Deuteronomy 6:24) Jehovah is easily provoked, and not only thinks evil, but is the very creator of evil. (Isaiah 45:7) Jehovah orders helpless innocent babies be slaughtered, and their blood spilled before him for his bloodthirsty rage to be placated. That is iniquity and Jehovah rejoices in it. Jehovah endures or bears very little, instead demanding that the Israelites obey him blindly and explicitly or suffer a hideous death at his hands. Jehovah fails miserably to live up to the True God of Love described in I Corinthians chapter 13:4-8.

Jehovah is very easily provoked to fits of rage and destruction as chapter nine of this book has shown you. Jehovah orders the slaughter of millions, and even murders vast multitudes of people directly. I ask again, how much more obvious can it be as to Jehovah/Yahweh's real identity? Jehovah is manifestly and clearly none other than SATAN! It is Satan that calls himself Jehovah, and who created this miserable material world of pain, suffering, violence, disease, malfunction, old age, and death. He has trapped us here.

Merritt is adamant that long ago, Christian believers were duped.

Clearly, something terrible happened early on to the Christian faith, to its teachings, to its scriptures, as the early Catholic church took root and enforced its grisly, monstrous god and horrible version of the gospel on the Christian people. As Thomas Jefferson said "The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power for themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ." At the point of a sword, in its pursuit of earthly power and riches, it used the methods of its god Jehovah/Satan to enforce its doctrines of devils upon the people of God. The light of the gospel was nearly extinguished by the darkness of Catholicism. The false god Jehovah took the place of the True God as the Great Apostasy began. The Reformation was a good start, but the reforming process must continue as we strive to recover the original Christian message, and the True God revealed by Jesus.

In my superficial and random meanderings through readings in ancient history, I have come to the personal conclusion that Jesus is a fictional, composite character created by politicians of ancient times to create typical religious mind-control propaganda aimed at calming and regimenting the unruly masses. However, let me differentiate between two concepts.

While I believe that all the sayings of Jesus were culled from statements and events of other personages both historical and legendary, this is not to say I do not believe in the power of the idea of Jesus, nor can I deny the beneficial effect it has had in millions of people over the many centuries both before and since its creation. The ideas of loving one's neighbor as oneself and being as kind to the poor as you are to the rich are universal concepts of compassion enjoyed and practiced by all peoples at all times, and the concept of loving hope invested in the prodigal son who will redeem mankind by his noble acts have inspired followers from time immemorial, whether the object of that hopeful affection has been named Tammuz or Osiris or Marduk or Mithra.

But what about all those people who go to church on Sunday and believe what they are told without digging any deeper? Certainly they are stupid and gullible. But are they insane? What are we to make of America's evangelical Christians, who support President Bush's campaign of mass murder throughout the world based on the twisted logic their preachers tell them that comes straight from the sociopathic drivel uttered by the mad god Jehovah in the pages of the Old Testament?

In Merritt's view (and mine, as well), these demented people are worshipping the devil, and that's a principal reason why for the last 1700 years we have had righteous warriors butchering the less fortunate and claiming they're doing it in the name of God.

Here's an extra-credit question. Where does this leave Torah-true Jews?

Let me explain a bit. Devotees of Judaism follow the teachings of two holy books, the Torah and the Talmud. The Torah is the same as the Pentateuch, which are the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Compared to the Old Testament (or Torah) which we have just been discussing, the Talmud is much worse. It depicts Jesus as forever hanging upside down in a cauldron of excrement, and generally provides repeated excuses for Jews to regard all non-Jews as subhuman, stressing that there is never a penalty when Jew kills or robs a non-Jew because non-Jews are merely cattle.

So, when I hear Jewish excuses for Israel's genocide against Palestinians or their lying about everything to everyone else (remind me to tell you someday about the Kol Nidre oath), and then I hear that some "Torah-true" Jews oppose Israel's murderous policies of deceit and destruction, I'm not exactly overwhelmed with a warm and fuzzy feeling of security, because the "Torah-true" or "good" Jews base their philosophies upon this Old Testament material which Merritt has just finished describing as the teachings of Jehovah who is really Satan. Just thought I'd mention this. Much more on this in future essays.

In the enclosed link listed above, Nathaniel Merritt has constructed a very clear and compelling description of the true intent of the Old Testament, which is to rule people by fear and threats, and urge the killing, robbing, and raping of all those who oppose what he says. This is not the consensus conception of God in the minds of any compassionate and conscious human being.

Most importantly to us contemporary humans, what kind of light does this put on our current debate, with a murderous president establishing all these "faith-based initiatives," with millions of evangelical so-called Christians clamoring for the death and destruction of dark-skinned Muslims, and allying themselves with Jews, who in their holy books claim Jesus resides forever hung upside down in a dung-filled pit?

Isn't it obvious that this God so many use to justify their evil deeds is exactly the opposite, and is instead the hateful beast Jesus supposedly preached against.

One need only look out into the world and see the dead innocents bleeding in the radioactive dust of Iraq to know that the God used to justify these wanton acts of pure evil is certainly not the supreme being we all turn to in times of stress, and who showers his love on all life in the universe.

Jehovah, the Old Testament maniac upon whom so many Catholics, Christians and Jews base their whole lives, is clearly Satan. This is why our beautiful world has remained so ugly all these many centuries, and why we are in such profound danger now at this very moment.

If you try to deny this assertion, may God — the real one, not the ancient sociopath — forgive you.

John Kaminski, whose essays are seen on hundreds of websites around the world, is the author of "America's Autopsy Report," "The Day America Died," and his newest collection,"The Perfect Enemy," all of which are available at http://www.johnkaminski.com/

President Bush's repeated claim that his "resolve" helps to protect America does not pass basic scrutiny. The consequences on the Bush administration's approach to terrorism are clear: the president "resolved" not to focus on terrorism before 9/11; he "resolved" not to finish off al Qaeda after 9/11; he "resolved" to shift focus to Iraq with no plan for the aftermath; and his "resolve" continues to ignore problems in Iraq, the regrouping of al Qaeda, and the growing nuclear dangers in Iran and North Korea. 

• The Bush administration failed to protect the country before 9/11. We now know terrorism was simply not a priority for the administration pre-9/11. Administration officials were focused on missile defense, China, and other issues – not al Qaeda and global terrorism. Even after the president was explicitly warned about impending al Qaeda attacks in August 2001, his administration did nothing to heighten our awareness or increase our domestic vigilance in stopping the plot.  

• The administration failed to finish off al Qaeda after 9/11.  With the world solidly behind America's efforts to lead a coalition against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Bush should have sought to finish the job. Instead, he diverted necessary resources and focus from Afghanistan to Iraq. Bin Laden remains free in the region, and American troops are bogged down in Iraq. 

• The administration drove us into a hole in Iraq and allowed global terrorist and nuclear threats to grow.  The administration's single-minded obsession with Saddam alleviated one problem but created an even bigger security nightmare. Terrorists are pouring into Iraq; the insurgency is growing; and al Qaeda has been free to regroup and multiply, while Iran and North Korea have expanded their nuclear capacities. 

Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund.  

From: Malcolm Donald donald7063@yahoo.co.uk
To: Editor@VHeadline.com
Subject: Democratically yours

As an avid surfer of the internet I find your website one of the most informative with regard the support of democratic principles.

I watched in awe the Irish journalists live portrayal of the oppositions attempted coup. This film should be shown to all teenage children worldwide before they finish their secondary education so that they become more aware of the political world in which they live.

• It is my observation that to attain high office in any field of life one must forsake compassion and democratic principles and adopt the role of a psychopath.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Perle, the Jewish/American Washington lobbyists, the US military generals and the UK's Blair all appear to me to be just that ... psychopaths. I personally know a psychopath and as any medical dictionary will tell you, one should run away from their immediate vicinity otherwise you will be dragged into their environment and become immersed in their ways and attitudes.

The most important thing to understand about a psychopath is that they are compulsive liars. Once you understand that you are able to communicate with them and adopt policies that enable you to bypass them and construct a civil life.

This to me is Chavez' principle weapon in his fight for Venezuelan democracy ... he understands people for he is an egalitarian. Psychopaths cannot be anything else but individuals.

Therefore may I finish this brief letter by voicing my congratulations to the Venezuelan people for adopting the humanity of egalitarianism over that of individualism.

Democratically yours,
Malcolm Donald

Our political system is starting to resemble the kind of banana republic authoritarianism we claim to despise.

There is nothing quite as hypocritical as a politician preaching the virtues of democracy while doing everything he can to destroy it. But as Election Day approaches, that is exactly what is happening.

President Bush is traveling the country bragging about supposedly bringing democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan while waging a stealth campaign far different from his rhetoric here at home. Unwilling to wage a fight within legal bounds and undeterred by the odious stench of the 2000 debacle, the president has deployed his operatives to rig the outcome on November 2.

Before you call this conspiracy theory, read on:

* In August 2003, the head of one of the biggest manufacturers of voting machines wrote a fundraising letter saying he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold INC., also "attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush benefactors—known as Rangers and Pioneers—at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month." The next week, he invited guests to a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for the Ohio GOP at his mansion in the Cleveland suburbs. This is the man whose machines have no paper trail and will be used by at least 8 million voters in the upcoming election.

* In June 2004, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his political appointees used the guise of clearing felons off voter rolls to hide an attempt to disenfranchise 48,000 traditionally Democratic voters. The list, which was disproportionately African-American, was rife with inaccuracies. Additionally, in a state with a heavily Republican Cuban population, a technical error caused the names of thousands of Hispanic felons to be excluded from the list.The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has asked the Department of Justice to investigate.

* In July, a top GOP official in Michigan gave voice to Republican efforts to squelch minority voter turnout. State Rep. John Pappageorge said, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election." What did he mean? While Michigan is predominantly white (78 percent), Detroit has an overwhelmingly minority population (88 percent). This strategy is no accident: Polls show that more than four in five blacks believe Bush did not legitimately win the election and two-thirds think deliberate attempts were made to prevent black voters' ballots from being counted.

* Also in July, the Miami Herald found the Republican Party staking out naturalization ceremonies for new immigrants to trick them into registering Republican. Specifically, GOP operatives have been handing out voter registration forms to new citizens just moments after being sworn in by the U.S. government with the party affiliation box already checked Republican. Once registered, the GOP can target mailing and other campaign outreach to those voters.

* In August, Jeb Bush was at it again—this time having his political appointees at a key county election board hire a law firm with direct connections to the Bush-Cheney campaign. Though the Broward County Elections Board is supposed to be nonpartisan, Bush's official there hired the law firm Blosser & Sayfie. James Blosser is a top fundraiser for the Bush-Cheney campaign, and Justin Sayfie is co-chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Broward County. The firm, which was fired after public outrage, was to represent the county in legal challenges should another election debacle occur.

Outrageous, certainly, but at least we have our ability to freely protest against them without being harassed, right? Wrong. The New York Times reports that the FBI has "contacted" a number of people who have organized political demonstrations, forcing some to appear before a grand jury to disclose what they know of protest plans. Want to take your complaint to the top? Think again. The Albuquerque Journal reports that those who wanted to attend a speech by Cheney were refused at the door unless they signed a pledge to vote GOP in November. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that the Secret Service, led by the president's top personal aide, accosted peaceful AIDS demonstrators during a Bush speech last month. Demonstrators were "shoved and pulled from the room—some by their hair, one by her bra straps—and then arrested for disorderly conduct and detained."

Our political system is starting to resemble the kind of banana republic authoritarianism we claim to despise. The only things missing are government-sponsored mural portraits of George W. Bush splashed on sides of buildings and state-run television.

Who knows? With Bush's aircraft carrier stunt, Fox News' incessant propaganda, and the White House now telling journalists it has a "different set of rules" for those who give too much coverage to the president's opponents, anything is possible.

TALLAHASSEE - Election officials in several Florida counties have found the names of dead voters on petitions that helped get proposed constitutional amendments on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning, who found a half-dozen petitions signed with the names of dead voters, is referring the matter to Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney Bernie McCabe.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials acknowledged Monday they are investigating petition drives in South Florida.

Some of the signatures of dead voters' names were used to qualify Amendment 4, which seeks to allow slot machines at parimutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties if local voters agree.

The Humane Society of the United States and an antigambling group say an investigation, conducted by the national law firm Reed Smith, found thousands of fraudulent signatures filed by contractors for ARNO Consulting, a California firm.

In Broward County, 33 petitions bore the signatures of the names of dead voters, the groups say. [...]

NEW YORK -- For the first time in its history, Fox News Channel beat the combined competition in primetime during the third quarter of 2004, with major headlines of the summer including the national political conventions and a brutal string of hurricanes.

According to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News averaged 1.8 million viewers, while CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Headline News averaged a combined total of 1.7 million. The quarter ended Sunday.

CNN came in a distant second, averaging 882,000 viewers, while MSNBC drew 421,000. Headline News averaged 226,000 in primetime, and CNBC attracted a paltry 133,000. [...]

Headline News averaged 75,000 viewers in the demo, up only 6% from the same frame last year. CNBC improved its performance in the demo, averaging 53,000 viewers, a 36% jump.

Fox News' third-quarter performance further solidified its dominance in the field of cable news, as well as its increasing strength against even the broadcast nets. During the Republican National Convention in late August, Fox News won out over ABC News, CBS News and NBC News, also a first for a cable news net.

Earlier this week, Bill O'Reilly's interview with President Bush on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" drew a whopping 4.6 million viewers.

Fox News had nine of the 10 top programs during the third quarter, with O'Reilly remaining at No. 1, averaging 2.4 million viewers. The one exception was CNN's "Larry King Live," which was No. 6, averaging 1.3 million viewers.

A Colorado congresswoman called Monday for an investigation into allegations that Iraqi war veterans near the end of their duty were given a choice between re-enlisting or being sent back to Iraq.

Democratic Rep. Diana Degette, in a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., asked him to look into whether the "White House or civilian Pentagon officials are pressuring the military to use coercive tactics to get soldiers to re-enlist in order to maintain the force levels necessary to fight the war in Iraq and war on terror."

DeGette, at a news conference in Denver, cited reports in two Denver newspapers and calls she has received from several soldiers at Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs.

"They can't meet re-enlistment goals, so they're putting this hammer over their head, which is just wrong," DeGette said. "In the long term, the integrity of our military is going to suffer."

According to reports in the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were told they faced reassignment to units expected to be deployed to Iraq or Korea if they did not either re-enlist by the end of the month or extend their duty until the end of 2007. Those who re-enlisted or extended would stay with the 3rd Brigade, which already was deployed for a year in Iraq.

Pentagon officials deferred comment to Fort Carson, which denied any effort to coerce soldiers into re-enlisting.

Fort Carson spokesman Lt. Justin Journeay said soldiers recently were given a form with three options; the third - neither extending nor re-enlisting - came with the understanding they could be reassigned.

Fort Carson officials said soldiers are being asked to record their choices so the Army can determine the strength of the force. The Army's goal is to have units that stick together for several years with little turnover, Journeay said. He said Fort Carson was exceeding re-enlistment goals.

The adequacy of military manpower has become a volatile political issue. Democrats say the Bush administration, to satisfy personnel needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, is delaying troop rotations unwisely and making extensive use of Reserve and National Guard troops.

Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry recently said President Bush has a secret plan to call up more National Guard and Reserve troops immediately after the election. The president's campaign called that allegation "false and ridiculous."

Two alleged Israeli secret agents were released from jail after serving terms for fraudulently trying to obtain a New Zealand passport and being part of an organised crime gang.

Israelis Uriel Zoshe Kelman and Eli Cara left Mount Eden prison in two cars shortly after 5:00 am, according to the domestic NZPA news agency.

They were believed to flying out of the country shortly after midday.

Prime Minister Helen Clark refused to comment on the pair whose arrest caused a diplomatic furore.

Ms Clark said when they were jailed that she had "no doubt" the two were agents and suspended high-level contacts with Israel, including an August visit by Israeli President Moshe Katsav.

Kelman and Cara pleaded guilty in June in the Auckland High Court and were sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay $46,000 each to the Cerebral Palsy Society for using the name of a disabled man to try to obtain a false passport.

They had their sentences cut for time served in remand and for good behaviour, but the money has yet to be paid to the society pending a legal appeal.

SHANNON, Ireland (AP) -- A Greek airliner bound for New York made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport in Ireland on Tuesday because of a bomb threat -- the second such incident involving the airline in three days.

The Olympic Airlines plane, carrying 295 passengers and 12 crew from Athens to New York, landed safely at Shannon Airport shortly after 5 p.m., Ireland's airport operating company Aer Rianta said.

A spokeswoman for Aer Rianta said passengers were being evacuated from the plane and would be taken to a secure area for questioning.

Emergency personnel, an army bomb disposal team and local hospitals were put on standby.

Greek police and Olympic Airways officials said the decision to divert the plane was taken following an anonymous call to an Athens newspaper saying a bomb was on the plane.

"The newspaper got a call ... saying a bomb was on board and would explode in an hour. Nothing has happened," said airline spokeswoman Melina Pitta. "After a meeting it was decided the plane would make an emergency landing at Shannon as it was the nearest airport."

In Athens, the Greek Public Order Ministry said it doesn't consider the threat credible. "All the baggage on the plane has been thoroughly screened and the security checks at Athens International Airport are exhaustive. The Olympic Airlines flight was diverted as a precaution. The ministry is investigating the source of the telephone call," the ministry said.

Police said the threat was made in English, but did not say what the caller said.

It was the second time in three days a flight by the carrier from Athens to New York was diverted because of a bomb threat. On Sunday, an Olympic plane also bound for New York landed at Stansted airport, near London, following a similar threat. Nothing suspicious was found and the plane left for New York on Monday.

The British Royal Air Force, which sent two Tornado jets to escort Sunday's plane to Stansted, said that it was not involved in Monday's incident.

Security in Athens was heightened for the Olympics, which took place Aug. 13-29, and the Paralympics, which end Tuesday.

Self-employed diamond diggers have killed 19 street urchins in the central Democratic Republic of Congo town of Mbuji-Mayi, allegedly in revenge for theft, press reports in Kinshasa said on Monday.

The attacks took place in the DRC diamond capital on Saturday after people who make a living searching for the stones hunted down the youths who allegedly stole part of their haul, the daily La Tempete des Tropiques reported.

The trouble began when a gang of urchins locally known as "Bana ba mu tshisalu" (children who live in the market) attacked diamond dealers panning the Lubilanji river and allegedly stole some of their pickings, according to Le Potentiel daily.

Witnesses reached in Mbuji-Mayi by telephone confirmed the reports of the killings.

"There were street kids who were clubbed to death, others burned alive or stoned by the diamond diggers, who had had enough of their aggressive behaviour," said a local journalist who asked not to be named.

The attack on the diamond hunters was not the first, said the journalist, who added that the market urchins "behave like real outlaws and defy the authorities".

The governor of Kasai Orientale province, Dominique Kanku, cut short a mission to Kinshasa to go back to Mbuji-Mayi. In a local radio broadcast, he condemned the killings, saying the diamond hunters should not take the law into their hands.

He also urged parents in the city to find their children and take them in.

Mbuji-Mayi has the largest number of homeless children in DRC after the capital Kinshasa.

DETROIT - A man opened fire at an in-home day-care centre today, killing a three-year-old and critically wounding two adults, officials said.

Police spokesman James Tate said the child died after being taken to hospital in critical condition.

Police were searching for the shooter, who they said came to the door of the house, exchanged words with someone, entered and opened fire.

"It appears as though this was not random," Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said.

A four-month-old also was injured, possibly from being dropped, and was taken to a hospital, Bully-Cummings said. Two other children, apparently uninjured, were taken to hospital as a precaution, authorities said.

The Family Independence Agency, which oversees day-care facilities in Michigan, said the site of the shooting is a licensed facility serving up to 12 infants, toddlers or school-aged children.

Police cordoned off a stretch of the leafy residential street in Detroit. Neighbours sat watching on porches and stoops as officials went in and out of the beige house.

Buenos Aires — A 15-year-old student pulled out a handgun and opened fire in a classroom in southern Argentina on Tuesday, killing three students and wounding six others, authorities said.

Police said the shooting occurred minutes before the start of classes in the Islas Malvinas public school in Carmen de Patagones, a city some 1,000 kilometres south of Buenos Aires.

The suspected student was detained and is being questioned by police, state television Canal 7 reported. There was no immediate word on the motive for the shooting.

Reports said the shooting began in a classroom around 7:30 a.m.. Students outside the classroom said they thought they heard firecrackers going off, then saw bloodied students screaming as they fled the scene.

The independent news agency Diarios y Noticias said the shooter entered the room without saying a word and began firing rounds from a 9-millimetre handgun. Two girls and a boy, aged 14 to 15, were killed, the agency said.

Mario Oporto, Education Minister for vast Buenos Aires province, that includes Carmen de Patagones, said the three dead and six injured were all students, but he gave no further details. The official news agency Telam said two of the injured were in hospital in critical condition.

The bloody episode touched off immediate debate on national television about rising violence in public schools in Argentina, a country of 36 million people long considered one of the safest in South America.

Stabbings and beatings of students and teachers have been reported in recent weeks, raising public debate before the shooting about bringing more control to the nation's schools.

Before travelling to the scene, Mr. Oporto told local radio that Argentines were grieved by the tragedy.

"Three children killed in a school is cause for great sadness," he said. "This is a case of violence that has exceeded all bounds."

Authorities said they were making preparations to take the teenage suspect to a juvenile court in Bahia Blanca in southern Buenos Aires Province.

Security at the University of Miami tightened Monday as the presidential debate loomed: Barricades and fences appeared. Police cars prowled back roads. Students were warned to wear IDs around their necks -- or face being booted off campus.

And, yet, there was undergrad Amy Pearlman, at the lip of a campus lake, sitting on a blue towel in her bathing suit, brow furrowed, studying a psychology textbook.

Her student ID? It was in her purse.

''I didn't want to get a tan line,'' she said, shrugging.

Even in a time of terrorism fears, with federal agents swarming the campus in preparation for the candidates' Thursday showdown, the University of Miami's Coral Gables campus retains a leafy, laid-back feel. Monday was no exception, despite extensive preparations.

Officials have handed out more than 20,000 free lanyards (that's a fancy way of describing those dangly things you use to hang IDs from your neck) to make sure IDs are visible on everyone.

Bus routes have been modified; no overnight guests in the dorms.
Portions of campus near the Convocation Center, where the debate will be held, are being closed off. The campus gym -- er, ''Wellness Center'' -- has been converted into a media room.

Officials asked students and staff to think of the campus like one big airport.

No stupid bomb jokes, please. Don't leave backpacks lying around, and don't accept bags from strangers.

''It's just another security precautionary measure,'' said Sarah Artecona, a university spokeswoman. "If things are left unattended, they may be picked up by security personnel.''

On Monday, as stages were erected around campus for a Rock The Vote rally and a debate-watching party, the reality of the big event still hadn't sunk in for some. Many students didn't bother wearing their IDs.

And neither did some faculty members, who were being held to the same requirement.

''It's safely tucked away in my desk,'' said law professor John Dellagloria, "because if I'm stopped and arrested, I could use the vacation.''

By the campus bookstore, Stephanie Fenimore, 19, sat at an outdoor table, reading a textbook. The sophomore kept her ID next to two packs of cigarettes.

For one week, she said, extra security is OK.

''I don't think its overblown at all. It is the president that's coming here, and the candidate for president,'' she said. "It kind of sucks I have to wear my Cane Card around my neck but whatever. The school's got to look good.''

Wearing ID around your neck might not be as aggravating as trying to find parking, which is a daunting mission on the best days. Last week's appearance by the Dalai Lama caused enough parking woes.

Though the university has opened up makeshift parking lots around campus, officials want it known: Arrive early or face a lot of extra driving.

''You're going to have to park in a tree,'' said senior Maegan Moore.
Of course, the specter of parking headaches leads to the inevitable -- any excuse is a good excuse to skip class. Naturally, UM is warning students not to play hooky.

Dellagloria, the law professor, plans to give an exam at 8 a.m. on Thursday.

''It'll be easier to get to the top of Mount Everest than it will be to park at UM this week,'' he said.

'I imagine on Thursday, when it becomes a four-ring circus, a lot of people will say, 'You know what, I can't deal with this.' ''

Tokyo — Cutting class just got harder but schools are safer thanks to computer chips that help track students, Japanese officials say.

Some schools here this month began trial runs in which students carry chips that have tiny antennae and can be traced by radio, with some of the kids attaching the tags to their backpacks.

The chips send signals to receivers at school gates. A computer in the system shows when a student enters or leaves.

School officials say rising concerns about student safety prompted the idea.

"More than 70 per cent of parents supported the trials, indicating there is wide appreciation for this kind of effort," said Ichiro Ishihara, a teacher at a public elementary school in Iwamura town, Gifu prefecture, about 275 kilometres west of Tokyo.

"And the kids love it — they think it's cool," he added.

Violent crimes such as murder, assault and robbery are still relatively rare in Japan. But minor crimes and juvenile delinquency have pushed total crime numbers to record highs amid a long economic slowdown. A recent survey showed that more than half of Japanese believe their country has become unsafe.

Mr. Ishihara said 72 of his school's 334 students have been carrying the tags since the trials were launched in early September.

On Monday, electronic giant Fujitsu teamed up with suburban Tokyo's private Rikkyo Elementary School to launch a trial in which the tracking chips were attached to 40 students' backpacks, a school official said.

In Rikkyo's system, messages can be sent to parents' cellphones so they know what time their children left the school, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Tuesday.

The school hopes to have all 717 of its students using the system by next April, the newspaper reported.

WHEATON, Md. (AP) -- A pregnant woman said she was handcuffed by transit police and forced onto her stomach during an arrest that began with her talking too loudly on her cellphone.

Sakinah Aaron, 23, said she feared her unborn baby would be harmed when the officer forced her to the ground and put his knee in her back at a bus stop earlier this month. A doctor later said her five-month-old fetus was not harmed.

"I'm thinking between the ground and his knee, my water is going to break and I'm going to have a miscarriage or something," she said of the Sept. 9 incident.

Deputy Chief Timothy Gronau said Monday that officer George Saoutis followed police procedure after Aaron refused to stop cursing loudly during a cellphone conversation and became abusive and unco-operative.

Aaron said the officer approached her as she walked to catch a bus, telling her to keep her voice down. She twice tried to break away, but he caught her arm, then placed her face down, handcuffed her, and charged her with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Aaron was scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 21.

HALIFAX - Passengers from a cruise ship that docked in Halifax Tuesday told a harrowing tale of furniture flying and people breaking bones when the ship lost power near the edges of hurricane Karl.

The Atlantic Ocean was rough, with swells reaching 10 to 15 metres, when all four engines aboard ms Rotterdam failed at about 6 p.m. Friday, three passengers told the CBC.

The loss of the Holland America Line ship's electrical systems and stabilizers sent the 237-metre-long vessel tilting at 35- to 40-degree angles on its North Atlantic trip from Ireland to eastern Canada.

"It was more or less the cruise from hell," said passenger Herman Veder of Boca Raton, Fla. "Furniture was flying all over the place. Pianos were not bolted down. In the gym, which is an extensive gym, all the weights came loose and started rolling around."

In one onboard restaurant that had 1,000 plates on hand, 800 came loose and crashed to the floor, he said. "In the cabins, refrigerators came loose, TV sets were flying through the rooms."

Passengers grew more terrified as a message came over the intercom that stretcher teams were needed, Veder said. An unknown number of people suffered broken collarbones, gashes and bruises.

None of the injuries was life-threatening, the cruise line said. A Holland America spokesperson said the ship is structurally sound, and promised an investigation into what caused the engines to quit.

"Some of us were concerned that the boat was going to tip over because it was rocking and swaying so hard that things were flying across the cabins," said Rachel Youngman, a California resident making the trip with her husband Richard.

"And the captain – it took him about an hour to come on and say, 'This is very uncomfortable but the ship is in no danger.' And at that point I think we all relaxed a little bit."

Up until then, she said, many passengers had grabbed a lifejacket and were ready to abandon ship.

The 62,000-ton Rotterdam, built in 1997, can accommodate 1,316 passengers with 593 crew members on board.

TOKYO -- A group of Japanese researchers has found that carbon dioxide levels over the Antarctica rose by over 2.6 percent from six years ago - the first such detection of an increase in a "greenhouse" gas above the southern continent, group members said Tuesday.

Many scientists fear carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels and other industrial processes, may be causing global warming by trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere.

Takashi Yamanouchi, a professor at the National Institute of Polar Research, said carbon dioxide from populated continents was apparently making its way down to the atmosphere above Antartica.

"Everywhere on earth is now being polluted by carbon dioxide," Yamanouchi said. "That may be contributing to the expansion of global warming although we must check whether temperatures in the atmosphere are in fact rising,"

Antarctica, with well-preserved ice averaging 6,000 feet thick, is one of the few places where scientists can examine climate change over time because chemicals from the air have been frozen in layers of ice year after year for centuries. Air above Antarctica should be among the cleanest on earth.

To date, researchers in countries including Japan and the United States had confirmed that the density of carbon dioxide on Antactica's ground had increased but hadn't proved the same for the atmosphere, he said.

Yamanouchi's team sent a balloon with a monitoring device 9 to 19 miles into the air above Japan's research base in Antarctica in January to collect data.

It showed the atmosphere had an average 367.9 parts per million of carbon dioxide, up 9.4 ppm, or 2.6 percent, from levels in a similar survey conducted in 1998, Yamanouchi said.

About 60 Japanese scientists currently stationed at Japan's Showa Base are studying ozone holes, sea life and world climate and weather patterns. More than a dozen other countries, including the United States and Russia, have scientific teams working there.

Parkfield, Calif. — A moderate earthquake struck Central California on Tuesday that was felt from San Francisco to the Los Angeles area. There was no immediate report of injuries.

The quake, which struck at 10:15 a.m. PDT, had a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 and was centred 15 kilometres south of Parkfield, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The area is about 27 kilometres northeast of Paso Robles, scene of an earthquake that killed two people in December.

A series of aftershocks quickly rattled the area, one with a preliminary 5.0 magnitude four minutes after the main earthquake and three others 4.1 or above.

Paso Robles police said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

"It rattled everything hanging on the walls and the chandelier was swinging. It didn't do any damage to our house. There were two shakers, one right after the other," said Ben Brown, who lives in Paso Robles.

The quake was felt along a 560-kilometre stretch, as far north as San Francisco and as far south as Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles, the geological survey said.

Parkfield, population 37, is known as the earthquake capital of California. Located on the San Andreas fault, it has experienced six similar, magnitude 6.0 earthquakes with apparent regularity – one approximately every 22 years.

The USGS even named its major long-term earthquake research project the Parkfield Experiment.

"This is earthquake country. It's a larger earthquake than what usually occurs, but it's not unprecedented," said USGS spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna. "We expect big earthquakes in this area, but don't know when they'll occur."

The Dec. 22, 2003, earthquake collapsed old downtown buildings in Paso Robles, pitching an 1892 clock tower building onto the street and crushing a row of parked cars. Two people were killed in the state's first fatal quake since the 6.7-magnitude quake that hit the Northridge area of Los Angeles in 1994.

A magnitude 5 quake can cause considerable damage and a magnitude 6 quake severe damage, although problems are generally far less severe in remote areas and in areas with strong building codes.

Magnitude 6.4 - SOUTH OF AFRICA

A strong earthquake occurred at 15:29:53 (UTC) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004. The magnitude 6.4 event has been located SOUTH OF AFRICA.

Magnitude 5.6 - NEAR THE COAST OF PERU

A moderate earthquake occurred at 21:32:19 (UTC) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004. The magnitude 5.6 event has been located in NEAR THE COAST OF PERU. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 36 km (22 miles).

Double 5.0 quake in the Izu Islands:

Magnitude 5.0 - IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

A moderate earthquake occurred at 10:41:50 (UTC) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004. The magnitude 5.0 event has been located in the IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 46 km (28 miles).

Magnitude 5.0 - IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

A moderate earthquake occurred at 10:43:42 (UTC) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004. The magnitude 5.0 event has been located in the IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 40 km (25 miles).

This is preliminary information; a statement from the family is forthcoming.

At this time we must with great sorrow confirm that Dr John Mack has passed away in London, England.

Dr Mack was one of several speakers discussing British officer T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") at the T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium, in Oxford on Sunday. Dr Mack's 1977 biography of T.E. Lawrence, A Prince of Our Disorder, received the Pulitzer Prize in biography (see complete bio below). Dr Mack's presentation at an afternoon panel was so warmly received that he was asked to stay and present an additional evening talk, which again met with positive response.

On Monday, he spent time in London and went to dinner with friends.

On his return to the home at which he was staying while in London, traveling on foot on Totteridge Road, he was struck by a vehicle being driven by an intoxicated driver. Dr Mack was in a crosswalk. Dr Mack was pronounced dead on the scene by London police and is believed to have died on impact.

This information will be revised as needed and will be replaced by a statement from Dr Mack's family when available. Information will be posted to the John E Mack Institute website, www.johnemackinstitute.org

A pilot flying a Delta Air Lines jet was injured by a laser that illuminated the cockpit of the aircraft as it approached Salt Lake City International Airport last week, U.S. officials said.

The plane's two pilots reported that the Boeing 737 had been five miles from the airport when they saw a laser beam inside the cockpit, said officials familiar with government reports of the Sept. 22 incident. The flight, which originated in Dallas, landed without further incident at about 9:30 p.m. local time.

A short while later, however, the first officer felt a stinging sensation in one eye. A doctor who examined the pilot determined that he had suffered a burned retina from exposure to a laser device, the officials said.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman Yolanda Clark confirmed the incident, but declined to provide details.

"TSA is aware of the incident, and we are working with the airline in conducting an investigation to try and determine the cause of the incident," Miss Clark said.

She would not say whether TSA considers the incident a possible security threat to commercial aircraft. Other officials said the incident was serious enough that the pilot will be unable to fly for at least a week.

"So far, it doesn't sound like there will be permanent [eye] damage," one official said.

The identity of the pilot could not be learned, and Delta spokesman Anthony Black declined to comment.

Officials were unsure of the source of the laser and could not determine whether the exposure was deliberate or accidental.
John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said commercial pilots have been exposed to laser illumination.

"The Air Line Pilots Association has received reports in the past of incidents where lasers penetrated cockpits and, in at least one case, caused injury," Mr. Mazor said.

Several years ago, a pilot flying into a Western airport was hit by a light from a laser light show. The causes of the other incidents are not known, he said.

Asked whether a laser aimed at pilots could cause a plane to crash, Mr. Mazor said: "I think that's highly improbable. In every case in the past, the flights landed safely."

Military personnel also have suffered eye damage from laser illumination.

In one case, Naval Lt. Cmdr. Jack Daly and Canadian helicopter pilot Capt. Pat Barnes suffered eye injuries hours after an aerial surveillance mission to photograph a Russian merchant ship that had been shadowing the ballistic-missile submarine USS Ohio in Washington state's Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The Navy recently turned down an appeal from the Defense Department inspector general to award Cmdr. Daly a Purple Heart for the incident. Cmdr. Daly, who retired from the service last year, continues to suffer eye pain and deteriorating vision. During congressional testimony in 1999, he warned of laser threats to pilots.

"Numerous documented cases regarding the use of lasers against aircraft, civilians and military personnel exist, as well as does an all-too-lengthy list of the injuries that have resulted from the accidental and intentional misuse of these devices," Cmdr. Daly told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

He noted that incidents of lasers being directed at commercial airliners during takeoff and landings have raised fears that "this in fact may be a new form of terrorism."

"Lasers are easily obtainable and can be self-manufactured weapons in the terrorist arsenal, which essentially can effect a soft-kill solution and leave virtually no detectable evidence," he said.