Genesis 9:8-17 (New American Standard Bible)

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, "Now behold,
I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
"I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood,
neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth."

God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;
I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. "It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

I am a Republican so long as the GOP conforms to conservative principals. I am a Conservative only to the degree that conservativism conforms to Biblical principals. The most important goal in my life's work is to cultivate Godly character in myself and those around me, in order that I might be a light in a dark place.

Bush Pulls Top Security Agent From Fracas
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.

Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. The incident happened after Bush and his wife, Laura, had just posed for pictures on a red carpet with the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran.

As Bush stepped inside, Chilean agents closed ranks at the door, blocking the president's agents from following. Stopping for more pictures, Bush noticed the fracas and turned back. He reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum and into the building.

The president, looking irritated, straightened his shirt cuffs as he went into the dinner. The incident was shown on APEC television.

"Chilean security tried to stop the president's Secret Service from accompanying him," said White House deputy press secretary Claire Buchan. "He told them they were with him and the issue was resolved."

Pacers Brawl With Fans During Pistons Game

Fri Nov 19,11:20 PM ET

By LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Indiana's Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charged into the stands and fought with fans in the final minute of their game against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, forcing an early end to the Pacers' 97-82 win.

The game was stopped with 45.9 seconds remaining when a pushing and shoving between the teams spilled into the stands after fans began throwing things at the players near the scorer's table.

"It's the ugliest thing I've seen as a coach or player," Pistons coach Larry Brown said.

After several minutes of players fighting with fans in the stands, the Pacers were pelted with beer, ice, and popcorn as they made their way to the locker room in one of the scariest brawls in an NBA game.

The Palace announcer said the game was being stopped and pleaded with fans not to throw things.

Albright Backs Foreigners for Presidency

Fri Nov 19, 3:05 PM ET

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Friday that foreign-born citizens should be allowed to run for president, a reform that would require amending the Constitution.

"We are a country of immigrants. I think that it would be not a bad thing to try to figure out how to allow foreign-born people to become president," Albright told the Little Rock Rotary Club while in town to attend the opening of Bill Clinton's presidential library.

Supporters of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have started an effort to amend the Constitution to allow immigrants to run for president. Schwarzenegger was born in Austria. Albright was born in Czechoslovakia.

Albright said foreign-born candidates would still have to meet certain requirements. "I think there has to be some very long period of time that somebody has lived in the U.S.," she said.

Corrections and clarifications
On Oct. 29, 1999, USA TODAY published a story titled "Saudi money aiding bin Laden." The article erroneously stated that Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi had been chairman of the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia and had headed Capitol Trust Bank. Lawyers for Al Amoudi also believe the story may be read to suggest that Al Amoudi was among the prominent businessmen said in the article to have paid protection money to Osama bin Laden to "stave off attacks on their businesses." USA TODAY disagrees with that interpretation; in any event, no such implication was intended. Jack Kelley, a former reporter who was found recently to have fabricated several high-profile stories, wrote the Oct. 29, 1999, article.

The U.S. military said Tuesday it is investigating the videotaped fatal shooting of a wounded man by a U.S. Marine in a mosque in Fallujah. Iraqis condemned the act as "cowardice" and "something forbidden in Islam."

Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Nagib said that while "killing a wounded person is rejected by us," the militants in Fallujah were responsible for their own brutal acts against Iraqis and foreigners, and were "killers and criminals."

As quick as the assault was, perhaps thousands were killed and maimed, most of them Iraqi defenders. Natonski put the toll of guerrillas killed at more than 1,200.

An 11-year-old girl in West Covina, Calif., was suspended from her school from doing "dangerous" cartwheels and hand stands during lunch time, according to a Local 6 News report.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, November 11, 2004

[Tomorrow is an official UN holiday - Eid Al Fitr, the end of Ramadan.
The noon briefing will resume on Monday, November 15]

ANNAN DEEPLY MOVED BY DEATH OF PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT

Secretary-General Kofi Annan was deeply moved to learn of the death of President Yasser Arafat.

President Arafat was one of those few leaders who could be instantly recognized by people in any walk of life all around the world.

For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.

President Arafat will always be remembered for having, in 1988, led the Palestinians to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state. By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision.

It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled. Now that he has gone, both Israelis and Palestinians, and the friends of both peoples throughout the world, must make even greater efforts to bring about the peaceful realization of the Palestinian right of self-determination.

The Secretary-General’s deep-felt condolences go to his wife Suha and his young daughter Zahwa and to the Palestinian people.

When he spoke to reporters at UN headquarters, the Secretary-General said that now that President Yasser Arafat is gone, the best legacy that his people can live by is to engage constructively and peacefully with the international community and the Israeli government and people to make his dream, a dream of two states living side by side in peace, a reality.

"I would urge that we all get to work and really press for the achievement of that goal," he said. He also noted the smooth transition of the Palestinian leadership.

U.N. ENVOY FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE TO REPRESENT ANNAN AT ARAFAT FUNERAL

*The Secretary-General has asked Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative to the Palestinian Authority, to represent him at President Arafat’s funeral in Cairo.

*At UN Headquarters,. the UN flag has been lowered at half mast.

``I knew we'd been attacked by somebody bigger and better equipped than 19 screw-ups from Saudi Arabia,'' Jimmy Walter said Monday from Santa Barbara, Calif. ``This needed to be told, and nobody else was standing up.''

A doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen others, including a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said.

On Monday, French armored vehicles moved in around Gbagbo's home in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan.

Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle
Sat Nov 06 2004 09:37:17 ET

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov 6 (AFP) - With US forces massing outside Fallujah, 35 marines swayed to Christian rock music and asked Jesus Christ to protect them in what could be the biggest battle since American troops invaded Iraq last year.

Men with buzzcuts and clad in their camouflage waved their hands in the air, M-16 assault rifles laying beside them, and chanted heavy metal-flavoured lyrics in praise of Christ late Friday in a yellow-brick chapel.

They counted among thousands of troops surrounding the city of Fallujah, seeking solace as they awaited Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's decision on whether or not to invade Fallujah.

"You are the sovereign. You're name is holy. You are the pure spotless lamb," a female voice cried out on the loudspeakers as the marines clapped their hands and closed their eyes, reflecting on what lay ahead for them.

The US military, with many soldiers coming from the conservative American south and midwest, has deep Christian roots.

In times that fighting looms, many soldiers draw on their evangelical or born-again heritage to help them face the battle.

"It's always comforting. Church attendance is always up before the big push," said First Sergeant Miles Thatford.

"Sometimes, all you've got is God."

Between the service's electric guitar religious tunes, marines stepped up on the chapel's small stage and recited a verse of scripture, meant to fortify them for war.

One spoke of their Old Testament hero, a shepherd who would become Israel's king, battling the Philistines some 3,000 years ago.

"Thus David prevailed over the Philistines," the marine said, reading from scripture, and the marines shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using their signature grunt of approval.

The marines drew parallels from the verse with their present situation, where they perceive themselves as warriors fighting barbaric men opposed to all that is good in the world.

"Victory belongs to the Lord," another young marine read.

Their chaplain, named Horne, told the worshippers they were stationed outside Fallujah to bring the Iraqis "freedom from oppression, rape, torture and murder ... We ask you God to bless us in that effort."

The marines then lined up and their chaplain blessed them with holy oil to protect them.

"God's people would be annointed with oil," the chaplain said, as he lightly dabbed oil on the marines' foreheads.

The crowd then followed him outside their small auditorium for a baptism of about a half-dozen marines who had just found Christ.

The young men lined up and at least three of them stripped down to their shorts.

The three laid down in a rubber dinghy filled with water and the chaplain's assistant, Navy corpsman Richard Vaughn, plunged their heads beneath the surface.

Smiling, Vaughn baptised them "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Dripping wet, Corporal Keith Arguelles beamed after his baptism.

"I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight," he said on the military base not far from the city of Fallujah.

The soldiers who spoke to the Times asked to remain unidentified, saying they feared retaliation from the Pentagon.

Republicans favor the challengers, arguing that they would help prevent voter fraud, while Democrats claim the GOP is trying to intimidate minorities and other voters who tend to cast ballots for Democrats.

Although the lower courts declared the challengers were unconstitutional and could cause chaos at the polls, the two appeals court judges said the state law passes constitutional muster.

About 60 mainly European election observers have taken up their posts in six states, including Florida and Ohio, saying they hope their presence will serve as a "preventative to the shenanigans" during voting tomorrow.

in one section of his speech where he harshly criticizes President Bush, bin Laden states: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

The Islamist website Al-Qal'a explained what this sentence meant: "This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [bin Laden] said, 'Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,' it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy.

Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qa'ida. Your security is in your own hands, and any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security.