There can be few sights sadder than a seaside restaurant that has been abandoned by the sea. The restaurant was sited so that guests could drop off the terrace straight into the sea. You do not really swim in the Dead Sea, you bounce about, and it is easy to imagine flopping into the salty waters after a hearty lunch. EXCEPT THAT THE SEA HAS NOW GONE, you can see it glittering in the sunshine JUST LESS THAN A MILE AWAY. Where the sound of lapping water once mixed with chinking glasses and the clatter of plates, there is now just desert dust.

It is a blasted landscape, dun-coloured, with scarcely a hint of green, and the unforgiving heat drills into you. The Bible records it as a place of God's anger, the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah are said to lie beneath the Dead Sea's surface. And yet this place, the lowest on the planet at more than 420m (1378 ft) below sea level has also offered shelter for seekers after God. The ascetic communities that gave us the Dead Sea Scrolls flourished here. The Sea has, from a time beyond the memory even of the Bible, been fed by that most famous and hallowed of waterways, the River Jordan. And therein lies the problem.

Time was when the Jordan hurled one billion cubic metres of water a year into the sea. The figure now is 10% of that. Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians - everyone wants a bit of Jordan water - and by the time the river reaches its end, there is almost none left. At its mouth, two strides with rolled up trousers can take you from Israel across the river border into Jordan.

In a time when Americans are engaged in fierce debate over the federal government's role in their healthcare, MANY CITIZENS ARE LESS INCLINED THAN EVER TO ACCEPT THE WARNINGS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH and Human Services or the recommendations of its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says Sandra Quinn, a University of Pittsburgh public health professor who has just completed a national survey of attitudes about the flu vaccine.

Vaccine refusers have long decried vaccine mandates and campaigns as an unwarranted intrusion of parents' and local school boards' rights. And against the backdrop of charges that a "public healthcare option" would hijack patients' choices, such complaints have taken on new resonance for some.

And for a new generation of vaccine skeptics, there are new objects of distrust. For some, it flows from A SUSPICION OF THE MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS THAT DEVELOP AND MANUFACTURE VACCINES. For others, it comes from a belief that MEDIA OUTLETS HAVE HYPED THE PANDEMIC FLU STORY TO SECURE THE ATTENTION OF READERS AND THE REVENUE OF ADVERTISERS. And many simply doubt the competency and independence of government agencies, which they believe are too inept, overwhelmed OR CO-OPTED BY CORPORATE INTERESTS to secure the safety of the nation's drugs and food supply.

Adding to the wariness toward the forthcoming H1N1 vaccine is the fact that the formulations used on patients in the United States might require the use of adjuvants - SPECIAL AGENTS ADDED TO A VACCINE MIX THAT REV UP THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND FOSTER A STRONGER IMMUNE RESPONSE. If clinical trials underway now find that subjects' immune responses to vaccines in development are weaker than had been hoped, US officials are expected to debate whether to approve their addition to H1N1 vaccine formulations.

But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president – a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white – I want to ask him, "JUST WHAT COUNTRY DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PRESIDENT OF?"

You surely can't be referring to the United States of America, can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! SEVENTY PERCENT OF HER CITIZENS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS CHRISTIAN. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It's because this was, and is, A NATION BUILT ON AND GUIDED BY JUDEO-CHRISTIAN BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.

Or, wait a minute... were your ideas about America's Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST UNDER YOUR PASTOR, JEREMIAH WRIGHT? Is that where you got the idea that "America is no longer a Christian nation"? Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that "America has been arrogant"? Even if that's the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation of "not always living up to her ideals," how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be "considered a Muslim nation"?

IT SEEMS INCREASINGLY AND PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT YOU ARE MORE INFLUENCED BY YOUR UPBRINGING AND QUESTIONABLE EDUCATION THAN MOST SUSPECTED. If you consider yourself the president of a people who are "no longer Christian," who have "failed to live up to our ideals," who "have been arrogant," and might even be "considered Muslim" – you are president of a country most Americans don't recognize.

COULD IT BE YOU ARE A PRESIDENT WITHOUT A COUNTRY?

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The Bible warns us in Revelation that a pale horse, straddled by a rider called Death will decimate one fourth of the Earth's population through hunger. And so, HR 2749 comes riding a pale horse. BusinessWeek addressed the increased powers proposed for the FDA noting: "the FDA will have authority under the legislation to inspect the business records of food producers at any time, free of the current limitation that requires a reasonable belief that adulterated food is being sold." For all those who believe government is always looking out for our best interests, REMEMBER THAT OUR FOUNDERS ESTABLISHED THE 4TH AMENDMENT FOR JUST SUCH "FISHING EXPEDITIONS" BY NOSY GOVERNMENT AGENTS.

Using recent food recalls of peanuts, spinach and beef as evidence of the need for more stringent controls over the food supply, the legislation would require that food producers would have to comply with a time consuming record keeping scheme, and adds a new tax to all "facilities" which produce food, which could be anyplace where food is grown or prepared. In addition, food in "holding facilities" would be under the control of the FDA.

Not unlike a tyrannical regime, Big Brother wants to keep tabs on all things edible. In this case, IT'S BEING DONE UNDER THE GUISE OF KEEPING OUR FOOD SUPPLY SAFE. IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT OUR SAFETY, AFTER ALL.

HR 2749 would drive small, independent farmers out of business and hand BIG AGRIBUSINESS CARTE BLANCHE TO PUSH ON US WHATEVER GENETICALLY MODIFIED FRANKENFOODS THEY CHOOSE. HR 2749 would function as the backdoor assault on small, organic, family farming which will sound the death knell for our most basic freedom - the freedom to grow, sell and eat what we choose.

While other visitors are merely checked for weapons, religious Jews must show their identity cards, have the number entered into the police computer for tracking, and are not permitted to walk around the Mount without a police and Waqf escort. In addition, they are often not allowed to enter the site at all until other religious Jews who arrived earlier complete their visit.

Based on affidavits attesting to the above by various rabbis and other religious visitors, THE JUDGES RULED THAT THE DISCRIMINATION MUST STOP. All evidence of discrimination must be shown to the authorities, and if the practice continues, the court will once again address the issue. Glick's counsel, Attorney Aviad Visouly, said, "This is the best Temple Mount ruling that has ever been handed down by the Supreme Court. FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE COURT HAS GIVEN PRACTICAL MEANING TO JEWISH CIVIL RIGHTS ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT."

Visouly said the ruling certainly stems from the ongoing increase of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site in the world. In the past year, police statistics show that 7,000 religious Jews visited, up 30% from the year before.

The Third Jihad was released earlier this year by The Clarion Fund, the producers of another documentary film, Obsession. However, explains Alex Traiman of Clarion, "Obsession – which was viewed by over 30 million Americans – deals with the threat of Islamic terrorism, while the current film focuses more on the multifaceted strategy of non-violent, cultural jihad by which the radical Islamists actively seek to undermine and take over the American way of life."

The 70-minute film is narrated by a devout Muslim American, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, and opens with the following statement: "This is not a film about Islam. IT IS ABOUT THE THREAT OF RADICAL ISLAM. Only a small percentage of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims are radical. This film is about them."

He singled out protests being organised by the ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE, some of which have turned violent over recent months. Hundreds of supporters are expected to gather in Trafalgar Square later today. Yesterday protesters from the Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) group were involved in a demonstration outside a mosque in Harrow, north east London, to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Ten people were arrested.

'I think that the English Defence League and other organisations are not actually large numbers of people,' Mr Denham told the Guardian. They clearly, though, have among them people who know what exactly they're doing. If you look at the types of demonstrations they've organised... it looks pretty clear that it's a tactic designed to provoke and to get a response and hopefully create violence.'

Mr Denham pointed to historical 'parallels' with the so-called 'Battle of Cable Street' in October 1936, when Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, attempted to lead supporters through a Jewish area of the East End of London, leading to violent clashes. The demonstration follows a riot in Birmingham last weekend which descended into violence.

The disclosure comes in a commentary piece today in WND by Joel Richardson, best-selling author of "The Islamic Antichrist," which shows the similarities between this Muslim figure and the Bible's descriptions of the Beast of Revelation. Richardson points out the US movie production company Cineast has "WELCOMED THE PROPOSAL," according to a close friend of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The purpose of the documentary will be "TO PREPARE FOR THE APPEARANCE OF IMAM MAHDI AS THE SAVIOR OF HUMANITY," said an article in the Tehran Times. Richardson's book is turning the prophecy world upside down.

Richardson, a student of Islam and the Middle East, says that after decades of reading popular prophecy books and even best-selling fiction like the "Left Behind" series, millions of evangelical Christians around the world are expecting the Antichrist to emerge from a revived Roman Empire, which many have assumed is associated with the Roman Catholic Church and the European Union. Not so, argues Richardson. His book makes the case that the biblical Antichrist is one and the same as the Quran's Muslim Mahdi.

Many evangelical Christians believe the Bible predicts a charismatic ruler, the Antichrist, will arise in the last days, before the return of Jesus. The Quran also predicts that a man, called the Mahdi, will rise up to lead the nations, pledging to usher in an era of peace. RICHARDSON MAKES THE CASE THESE TWO MEN ARE, IN FACT, ONE AND THE SAME.

In fact, scientists writing in the open access journal BMC Biology don't just say that more studies should be done to confirm DEET's potential neurotoxicity to humans. The researchers are calling for more investigations of the chemical to be conducted on an urgent basis. The reason? THEY SUSPECT THAT THE POTENTIAL BRAIN CELL DAMAGING EFFECTS OF DEET COULD BE PARTICULARLY HARMFUL IF USED IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER NEUROTOXIC INSECTICIDES. And that's exactly the way DEET is normally used in products applied to both adults and kids in order to prevent mosquito bites.

French scientists Vincent Corbel from the Institut de Recherche pour le Development in Montpellier and Bruno Lapied from the University of Angers headed a team of researchers who studied the mode of action and toxicity of DEET, also known by the chemical name N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide. "We've found that DEET is not simply a behaviour-modifying chemical but also INHIBITS THE ACTIVITY OF A KEY CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM ENZYME, ACETYCHOLINESTERASE, in both insects and mammals," Corbel said in a statement to the media.

DEET has been in use since its discovery in l953 and is now the most common ingredient found in insect repellent preparations. It is primarily hyped as a way to keep mosquitoes at bay and doctors and insect repellent manufacturers promote DEET's use through scare tactics, suggesting you are likely to get West Nile fever from mosquito bites unless you use the chemical.

Another study published earlier this summer in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, showed that a natural substance, cinnamon oil, shows promise as a great-smelling, environmentally friendly pesticide, with the ability to kill mosquito larvae. Historically, cinnamon oil has been used by natural health practitioners and traditional healers to repel mosquitoes and prevent their bites.

Russia's Kommersant daily cited a senior Kremlin source. The revelation appeared to support maritime and military experts who have claimed THE SHIP WAS CARRYING S-300 ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES FOR IRAN, that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, found out, and that the Kremlin was given time and space to stop the delivery and cover it up in order to save face.

Russia's foreign minister has publicly and fiercely denied those allegations, pledging a full investigation into the affair, while Russian investigators say they have found nothing on board the ship except the official cargo of timber worth just over one million pounds. The vessel went missing for almost three weeks in July and August and, according to the official Kremlin version of events, was the victim of what would be the first case of piracy in European waters in the modern era.

But the Kremlin's storyline has failed to convince a European piracy official, an outspoken Russian journalist, and a growing number of so far anonymous political, military and intelligence sources in both Russia and Israel.

Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Ramona Figueroa says nothing surprises her any more but the job is getting worse, and she hopes the downward slide doesn't last too much longer. One common task these days is SERVING EVICTION NOTICES TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG - who rent properties that have fallen into foreclosure, or are repossessed to recover unpaid debts.

"They are shocked and surprised," Figueroa said as she went on her rounds. "And here I am giving them a five-day notice and they explain that just five days earlier the homeowner was at the home collecting rent." With 17,000 HOMES GOING INTO FORECLOSURE IN THIS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COUNTY in the first half of 2009, Figueroa has found her caseload in the last year getting heavier and harder to bear.

California is one of the places hardest hit by foreclosures as hundreds of thousands defaulted on the subprime loans that fueled a buying frenzy. But in the year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the number of prime borrowers who are overdue or in foreclosure has also skyrocketed to one in 10. "When I first started enforcing court orders, I'd see one foreclosure every four or five years, and now I see a foreclosure every day," said Figueroa, a 25-year veteran of law enforcement.

The White House's decision to disclose the remarks was an embarrassing blow for Mr Brown. Only minutes earlier Downing Street officials had issued a statement which failed to mention that President Obama had voiced dismay at the mass murderer's release. Instead, Number 10 said the phone call was 'warm and substantive', and insisted that the historic 'special relationship' between London and Washington was 'as strong as ever'.

Mr Brown's omission fuelled criticism that he has misled the public about the extent of the Government's secret involvement with Libya over Megrahi's release. Megrahi was released from his Scottish jail cell last month - just eight years into a life sentence for the bombing. But Labour has faced allegations that it included Megrahi in a contentious prisoner transfer deal thrashed out with Tripoli in 2007 TO PROTECT A £15BILLION OIL DEAL SIGNED BY BP.

Tory foreign affairs spokesman William Hague said: 'President Obama is right to express his disappointment at the release of Megrahi. The decision has caused outrage that has crossed continents and damaged our relationship with our closest ally.' US media outlets accused Mr Brown of being 'cowardly, unprincipled, amoral and duplicitous' in his refusal to intervene over Megrahi.

YET, THE EPISODE REVEALS THE POISONED CHARACTER OF OUR POLITICS. We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama's health-care plans were called "thugs," "fascists," "racists" and "evil-mongers" by national Democrats. We see it as Representative Joe Wilson shouts, "You lie!" at the President during his address to a joint session of Congress.

WE SEEM NOT ONLY TO DISAGREE WITH EACH OTHER MORE THAN EVER, BUT TO HAVE COME ALMOST TO DETEST ONE ANOTHER. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each others' throats. One half of America sees abortion as the annual slaughter of a million unborn. The other half regards the right-to-life movement as tyrannical and sexist. Proponents of gay marriage see its adversaries as homophobic bigots. Opponents see its champions as seeking to elevate unnatural and immoral relationships to the sacred state of traditional marriage.

The question invites itself. IN WHAT SENSE ARE WE ONE NATION AND ONE PEOPLE ANYMORE? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays and share the same music, poetry, art and literature? Yet, today, Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a skirmish in a French-Mexican war about which most Americans know nothing, which took place the same year as two of the bloodiest battles of our own Civil War: Antietam and Fredericksburg.

Christmas and Easter, the great holidays of Christendom, once united Americans in joy. Now we fight over whether they should even be mentioned, let alone celebrated, in our public schools. One part of America loves her history, another reviles it as racist, imperialist and genocidal. Old heroes like Columbus, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E Lee are replaced by Dr King and Cesar Chavez.

THE EUROPEAN-CHRISTIAN CORE OF THE COUNTRY THAT ONCE DEFINED US IS SHRINKING, AS CHRISTIANITY FADES, THE BIRTH RATE FALLS AND THIRD WORLD IMMIGRATION SURGES. Globalism dissolves the economic bonds, while the cacophony of multiculturalism displaces the old American culture.

"E pluribus unum" – out of many, one - was the national motto the men of '76 settled upon. One sees the pluribus. But where is the unum? ONE SEES THE DIVERSITY. BUT WHERE IS THE UNITY? IS AMERICA, TOO, BREAKING UP?

Foreign sales were banned by a 1998 law aimed at protecting the "stealth" technology and other high-tech features said to have made the F-22 too good for money to buy. If enacted, the measure adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee would let the Defense Department prepare a modified F-22 that protects classified and sensitive information, technologies and US war fighting capabilities.

Creating an export version would preserve US jobs and an option to buy more F-22s later, without having to pay the full cost of restarting production. The US Air Force has estimated Japan would have to spend as much as $2.3 billion for development of its own version of the Raptor. For years, Tokyo has sought to buy two squadrons of the F-22, possibly 40 planes, a request that has become more compelling amid tensions with neighboring North Korea.

They face punishment and a criminal record if they have not been vetted first by a massive new government agency. AN ASTONISHING 11.3MILLION PEOPLE - ONE ADULT IN FOUR - ARE LIKELY TO COME UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF THE INDEPENDENT SAFEGUARDING AUTHORITY. Launched next month, it will be the biggest vetting and clearing system in the world. Every person who comes into regular contact with children or the elderly, through work or volunteering, must be approved by ISA officials checking for criminal convictions, disciplinary action and even unproven allegations.

It goes way beyond the current Criminal Records Bureau system, which covers only 6million people. For the first time, 300,000 school governors, dinner ladies and parents who visit schools or nurseries to read to children will be involved. It will even apply to parents who, at the request of organisations like junior football teams or the Guides, give their children's friends lifts to or from events. If they do so without first being vetted by the ISA's 200 staff, they could be fined up to £5,000 and given a criminal record.

The clubs themselves will face a £5,000 fine - potentially enough to ruin them. Parents who host foreign pupils on school exchange trips will also have to be vetted. MPs and academics fear the change will have disastrous consequences. Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: 'We are going to drive away volunteers, we'll see clubs and activities close down and we'll end up with more bored young people on our streets.' Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'We are in danger of creating a world in which we think every adult who approaches children means to do them harm.'

Registering with the ISA will cost £64 in England and Wales, although unpaid volunteers will be exempt. Those whose jobs involve mandatory enhanced CRB checks will continue to undergo them. An enhanced CRB check costs £36, which means that, on top of the £64 ISA fee, being cleared to work with children could cost £100.