Mayan Year 2012 Stirs Doomsday Theories

Sunday , October 11, 2009

[IMAGE REMOVED]

MEXICO CITY — 

Or is it?

Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff."

It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's "2012" opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.

At Cornell University, Ann Martin, who runs the "Curious? Ask an Astronomer" Web site, says people are scared.

"It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die," Martin said. "We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up."

Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.

A significant time period for the Mayas does end on the date, and enthusiasts have found a series of astronomical alignments they say coincide in 2012, including one that happens roughly only once every 25,800 years.

But most archaeologists, astronomers and Maya say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, Internet doomsday rumors and TV specials such as one on the History Channel which mixes "predictions" from Nostradamus and the Mayas and asks: "Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days, zero hope?"

It may sound all too much like other doomsday scenarios of recent decades — the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, the Jupiter Effect or "Planet X." But this one has some grains of archaeological basis.

One of them is Monument Six.

Found at an obscure ruin in southern Mexico during highway construction in the 1960s, the stone tablet almost didn't survive; the site was largely paved over and parts of the tablet were looted.

It's unique in that the remaining parts contain the equivalent of the date 2012. The inscription describes something that is supposed to occur in 2012 involving Bolon Yokte, a mysterious Mayan god associated with both war and creation.

However — shades of Indiana Jones — erosion and a crack in the stone make the end of the passage almost illegible.

Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico's National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, "He will descend from the sky."

Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.

And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.

"If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea," said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. "That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain."

The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy

Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.

"It's a special anniversary of creation," said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. "The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six."

Bernal suggests that apocalypse is "a very Western, Christian" concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are "exhausted."

If it were all mythology, perhaps it could be written off.

But some say the Maya knew another secret: the Earth's axis wobbles, slightly changing the alignment of the stars every year. Once every 25,800 years, the sun lines up with the center of our Milky Way galaxy on a winter solstice, the sun's lowest point in the horizon.

That will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, when the sun appears to rise in the same spot where the bright center of galaxy sets.

Another spooky coincidence?

"The question I would ask these guys is, so what?" says Phil Plait, an astronomer who runs the "Bad Astronomy" blog. He says the alignment doesn't fall precisely in 2012, and distant stars exert no force that could harm Earth.

"They're really super-duper trying to find anything astronomical they can to fit that date of 2012," Plait said.

But author John Major Jenkins says his two-decade study of Mayan ruins indicate the Maya were aware of the alignment and attached great importance to it.

"If we want to honor and respect how the Maya think about this, then we would say that the Maya viewed 2012, as all cycle endings, as a time of transformation and renewal," said Jenkins.

As the Internet gained popularity in the 1990s, so did word of the "fateful" date, and some began worrying about 2012 disasters the Mayas never dreamed of.

Author Lawrence Joseph says a peak in explosive storms on the surface of the sun could knock out North America's power grid for years, triggering food shortages, water scarcity — a collapse of civilization. Solar peaks occur about every 11 years, but Joseph says there's evidence the 2012 peak could be "a lulu."

While pressing governments to install protection for power grids, Joseph counsels readers not to "use 2012 as an excuse to not live in a healthy, responsible fashion. I mean, don't let the credit cards go up."

Another History Channel program titled "Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days" says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a "pole shift."

"The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster," a narrator proclaims. "Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe."

The idea apparently originates with a 19th century Frenchman, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a priest-turned-archaeologist who got it from his study of ancient Mayan and Aztec texts.

Scientists say that, at best, the poles might change location by one degree over a million years, with no sign that it would start in 2012.

While long discredited, Brasseur de Bourbourg proves one thing: Westerners have been trying for more than a century to pin doomsday scenarios on the Maya. And while fascinated by ancient lore, advocates seldom examine more recent experiences with apocalypse predictions.

"No one who's writing in now seems to remember that the last time we thought the world was going to end, it didn't," says Martin, the astronomy webmaster. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of memory that things were fine the last time around."

President Obama declared war on oil and natural gas at the United Nations global warming summit, and he made the same pitch to the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports.

"I will work with my colleagues at the G20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so that we can better address our climate challenge," he told the U.N.

In the draft final communiqué, the G20 nations agreed to phase out government subsidies to such fuels in the "medium term," without specifying target dates, according to a report published by Bloomberg.

The G20 draft document also asked the finance ministers to keep working on the "climate finance" issue as part of the preparation for the global climate summit scheduled for Copenhagen in December.

The Environmental Law Institute estimated that in the U.S., the biggest fuel subsidies are tax breaks, the foreign tax credit and the credit for production of nonconventional fuels that added up to $72 billion over the seven year period studied, 2002 to 2008.

"Should Obama succeed, the end result will be tantamount to imposing a new tax on oil and natural gas production, with the outcome being that U.S. energy consumers will see energy price increases," Corsi warned.

"The Obama administration's budget request would strip essential capital from new American natural gas and oil investment by radically raising taxes on American production," Buddy Kleemeier, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the chief executive of Oklahoma-based Kaiser-Francis Oil Company, told the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 10.

Corsi wrote, "Obama's actions are based on what Red Alert believes amounts to nothing more than 'junk science,' arguing that manmade carbon-dioxide emissions from the burning of oil and natural gas cause global warming."

He continued, "Unilaterally ending U.S. fossil fuel tax subsidies would have a seriously negative impact on the U.S. economy."

Approximately 85 percent of the energy that drives the U.S. economy still comes from oil and natural gas.

"Simply put, why the Obama administration would shut down 20 percent of our nation's oil production and 12 percent of its natural gas is unfathomable," wrote Barry Russell, president and chief executive of the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

"Why it would seek to take away 25 to 40 percent of the capital that finds and produces American natural gas – half of which comes from wells developed in the last four years – is undecipherable," Russell continued. "Why it would choose to hand the nation's energy future to foreign leaders like Hugo Chavez, whose hatred for our country is as clear as the glistening spittle he spews in his anti-American speeches, is clearly a tragic miscalculation."

Yet International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol claimed an agreement by the G20 to eliminate subsidies on such fuels to fight climate change would be good news and should not take long to implement.

"This will improve energy efficiency and therefore energy security, lifting the burden on government budgets and reducing carbon dioxide emissions," Birol told the press.

Corsi said he believes Obama may be desperate for tax revenue to cover the projected trillion-dollar federal budget deficits the administration is planning to incur in the foreseeable future.

"Yet, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies as part of a global-warming ideological agenda seems a particularly strange way to stimulate the economy out of a recession," he wrote. "Eliminating tax provisions that encourage U.S. investment in oil and gas technology, exploration and production will certainly increase U.S. dependence on foreign oil, with the resultant negative impact on our already negative balance of international trade."

Corsi asked, "How many jobs will Obama's move kill?"

Red Alert's author, whose books "The Obama Nation" and "Unfit for Command" have topped the New York Times best-sellers list, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in political science in 1972. For nearly 25 years, beginning in 1981, he worked with banks throughout the U.S. and around the world to develop financial services marketing companies to assist banks in establishing broker/dealers and insurance subsidiaries to provide financial planning products and services to their retail customers. In this career, Corsi developed three different third-party financial services marketing firms that reached gross sales levels of $1 billion in annuities and equal volume in mutual funds. In 1999, he began developing Internet-based financial marketing firms, also adapted to work in conjunction with banks.

In his 25-year financial services career, Corsi has been a noted financial services speaker and writer, publishing three books and numerous articles in professional financial services journals and magazines.

For financial guidance during difficult times, read Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium, online intelligence news source by  the WND staff writer, columnist and author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller, "The Obama Nation."

For full immediate access to Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, subscribe now.

China is preparing to stage mass celebrations marking 60 years since the Communist party came to power.

Security forces have been deployed in force across Beijing, ahead of a military parade expected to showcase previously unseen missile technology.

A pageant featuring ordinary people will also be held in Tiananmen Square.

Some 30,000 people have been invited to watch the events, but others are being encouraged to stay at home and watch it on TV to "avoid complications".

By Murray Brewster (CP) – 1 day ago

OTTAWA — The air force has sent a surveillance plane to keep tabs on two Russian attack submarines cruising off the East Coast in a patrol that harkens back to the Cold War.

The nuclear-powered subs were first spotted in international waters off Georgia on Aug. 5, raising eyebrows, but no sharp response from either the U.S. or Canada.

Defence sources say it's believed the Akula II Class warships have since moved north, and remain outside of Canadian and American territorial limits, which extends 12 nautical miles into the ocean.

It's unclear whether Canada took the initiative to have a CP-140 Aurora patrol plane watch the vessels, or whether there was a request from the U.S. Northern Command which tracks submarines.

A spokesman for Canada Command, the Ottawa-based military headquarters in charge of continental defence, downplayed the surveillance mission and refused to discuss details, describing it as "routine" for the patrol aircraft which have spent most of their nearly 30 year career as submarine hunters.

"We don't talk about ongoing activity, especially if it's a surveillance flight," said Lt. Noel Paine. "We don't discuss any activity of vessel of interest - or any area that (the aircraft) is flying."

The Russian patrol comes as the navy prepares to conduct an anti-submarine exercise in the Arctic this month.

It also comes just a few days after Defence Minister Peter MacKay criticized Moscow over a planned exercise to drop paratroopers on the North Pole this summer.

On Tuesday, MacKay was quick to point out that the submarines had not done anything threatening, but said it's all part of a pattern of "Russia flexing its muscle" on the world stage.

"For a variety of reasons, to demonstrate our commitment to sovereignty, we're watching to ensure we know what is happening along our coastlines," he said in a telephone interview from his Nova Scotia riding.

"Anything that comes near sovereign Canadian territory, we are going to react."

MacKay's hawkish comments have in the past been dismissed by critics as the stale rhetoric from the Cold War, but defence insiders say they point to a mounting frustration within the Conservative government over Russia's wilful attitude when it comes to testing the boundaries of other countries.

The Kremlin often doesn't give any warning.

American officials say Moscow did not notify them about the submarine excursion - the first of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

It is another sign of stepped up Russian military activity, which has included several flights by strategic bombers that have brushed up against Canada's Arctic border - but not crossed over.

Last February, Canadian fighter jets scrambled to intercept an approaching Russian bomber less than 24 hours before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa.

As with other cases, the long-range Bear bomber did not enter Canada's airspace but the two CF-18 fighters had to order the plane to "back off."

The Arctic, with its prospective mineral wealth and ill-defined borders, has become an area of intense competition among Canada, Russia, the United States, Denmark and other countries.

The Kremlin caused a stir this year by declaring it was creating a special military force to protect its oil and natural gas interests in the Arctic - a plan that Russian Ambassador Georgyi Mamedov claimed was twisted out of context by Western governments.

Last year, the Russian navy conducted an exercise with Venezuela in the Caribbean, in what was the first deployment of Russian ships to the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VIX Signals S&P 500 Swoon as September Approaches (Update4)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&sid=anWx7LRgrFtc

The villa has floors with marble from across the Mediterranean region

Archaeologists in Italy say they have unearthed the remains of a sumptuous villa thought to be the birthplace of the Emperor Vespasian.

The ruins were found in the Roman city of Falacrine, about 80 miles (130km) north-east of Rome.

The villa's location and luxury suggest it was probably Vespasian's birthplace, an archaeologist said.

Vespasian lived from AD9-79. He was emperor from AD69-79, restoring peace after a period of civil war.

The villa in Falacrine stretches over 14,000 sq m (16,750 sq yards).

The archaeologist leading excavations there, Filippo Coarelli, said it was not marked as belonging to Vespasian's family, but its extravagant trappings were an indication of its ownership.

"It's clear that such things could only belong to someone with a high social position and wealth. And in this place, it was the Flavians," he said, referring to Vespasian's dynasty.

The villa was decorated with luxurious marble "coming from the whole Mediterranean area", he told the Associated Press news agency.

Vespasian, whose full name was Titus Flavius Vespasianus, had a successful military career before becoming governor of Africa and an aide to the emperor Nero.

The Colosseum was begun under his rule with spoils of the AD70 conquest of Jerusalem.

He was the founder of the Flavian dynasty of emperors.

By ANNE FLAHERTY (AP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has irked close allies in Congress by declaring he has the right to ignore legislation on constitutional grounds after having criticized George W. Bush for doing the same.

Four senior House Democrats on Tuesday said they were "surprised" and "chagrined" by Obama's declaration in June that he doesn't have to comply with provisions in a war spending bill that puts conditions on aid provided to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

In a signing statement accompanying the $106 billion bill, Obama said he wouldn't allow the legislation to interfere with his authority as president to conduct foreign policy and negotiate with other governments.

Earlier in his six-month-old administration, Obama issued a similar statement regarding provisions in a $410 billion omnibus spending bill. He also included qualifying remarks when signing legislation that established commissions to govern public lands in New York, investigate the financial crisis and celebrate Ronald Reagan's birthday.

"During the previous administration, all of us were critical of (Bush's) assertion that he could pick and choose which aspects of congressional statutes he was required to enforce," the Democrats wrote in their letter to Obama. "We were therefore chagrined to see you appear to express a similar attitude."

The letter was signed by Reps. David Obey of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, as well as Reps. Nita Lowey and Gregory Meeks, both of New York, who chair subcommittees on those panels.

Obama needs Obey and Frank in particular to push through Congress key pieces of his agenda, including health care and financial oversight reform.

The White House said Tuesday the administration plans to implement the provisions of the bill and suggested that Obama's signing statement was aimed more at defending the president's executive powers than skirting the law.

"The president has also already made it clear that he will not ignore statutory obligations on the basis of policy disagreements and will reserve signing statements for legislation that raises clearly identified constitutional concerns," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement.

Bush issued a record number of signing statements while in office as he sparred with Democrats on such big issues as the war in Iraq.

Democrats, including Obama, sharply criticized Bush as overstepping his bounds as president. In March, Obama ordered a review of Bush's guidelines for implementing legislation.

"There is no doubt that the practice of issuing such statements can be abused," Obama wrote in a memo to the heads of executive departments and agencies.

At the same time, however, Obama did not rule out issuing any signing statements, which have been used for centuries. Rather, he ordered his administration to work with Congress to inform lawmakers about concerns over legality before legislation ever reaches his desk. He also pledged to use caution and restraint when writing his own signing statements, and said he would rely on Justice Department guidance when doing so.

Two days after issuing the memo, Obama issued his first signing statement exerting executive power after receiving a $410 billion omnibus spending bill. He said the bill would "unduly interfere" with his authority by directing him how to proceed, or not to, in negotiations and discussions with international organizations and foreign governments.

Obey and the other House lawmakers said this week that Obama's signing statement on the war bill will make it tougher in the future to persuade other lawmakers to support the World Bank and IMF.

If Congress can't place conditions on the money, "it will make it virtually impossible to provide further allocations for these institutions," they wrote.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jTUXZ57-4A_UnsbDtQDPlUwZlbIQD99J2TQO0

Rev.16:2 (you might want to read)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/world/middleeast/14euphrates.html?_r=1&scp=1&s\
q=%20NYTimes.com:%20Iraq%20Suffers%20as%20the%20Euphrates%20River%20Dwindles&st=\
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you may have to copy and paste the addy to get to the artical.

Federal Web Sites Knocked Out by Cyber Attack

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said the agency's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued a notice to federal departments and other partner organizations about the problems and "advised them of steps to take to help mitigate against such attacks."

The U.S., she said, sees attacks on its networks every day, and measures have been put in place to minimize the impact on federal Web sites.

It was not clear whether other federal government sites also were attacked.

Others familiar with the U.S. outage, which is called a denial of service attack, said that the fact that the government Web sites were still being affected three days after it began signaled an unusually lengthy and sophisticated attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

Web sites of major South Korean government agencies, banks and Internet sites also were paralyzed in a suspected cyber attack Tuesday. An initial investigation found that many personal computers were infected with a virus ordering them to visit major official Web sites in South Korea and the U.S. at the same time, Korea Information Security Agency official Shin Hwa-su said.

The South Korean sites included the presidential Blue House, the Defense Ministry, the National Assembly, Shinhan Bank, Korea Exchange Bank and top Internet portal Naver. They went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, said Ahn Jeong-eun, a spokeswoman at the Korea Information Security Agency.

Kudwa had no comment on the South Korean attacks.

Two government officials acknowledged that the Treasury and Secret Service sites were brought down, and said the agencies were working with their Internet service provider to resolve the problem.

Ben Rushlo, director of Internet technologies at Keynote Systems, called it a "massive outage" and said problems with the Transportation Department site began Saturday and continued until Monday, while the FTC site was down Sunday and Monday.

Keynote Systems is a mobile and Web site monitoring company based in San Mateo, Calif. The company publishes data detailing outages on Web sites, including 40 government sites it watches.

According to Rushlo, the Transportation Web site was "100 percent down" for two days, so that no Internet users could get through to it. The FTC site, meanwhile, started to come back online late Sunday, but even on Tuesday Internet users still were unable to get to the site 70 percent of the time.

"This is very strange. You don't see this," he said. "Having something 100 percent down for a 24-hour-plus period is a pretty significant event."

He added that, "The fact that it lasted for so long and that it was so significant in its ability to bring the site down says something about the site's ability to fend off (an attack) or about the severity of the attack."

Denial of service attacks against Web sites are not uncommon, and are usually caused when sites are deluged with Internet traffic so as to effectively take them off-line. Mounting such an attack can be relatively easy using widely available hacking programs, and they can be made far more serious if hackers infect and use thousands of computers tied together into "botnets."

For instance, last summer, in the weeks leading up to the war between Russia and Georgia, Georgian government and corporate Web sites began to see "denial of service" attacks. The Kremlin denied involvement, but a group of independent Western computer experts traced domain names and Web site registration data to conclude that the Russian security and military intelligence agencies were involved.

Documenting cyber attacks against government sites is difficult, and depends heavily on how agencies characterize an incident and how successful or damaging it is.

Government officials routinely say their computers are probed millions of times a day, with many of those being scans that don't trigger any problems. In a June report, the congressional Government Accountability Office said federal agencies reported more than 16,000 threats or incidents last year, roughly three times the amount in 2007. Most of those involved unauthorized access to the system, violations of computer use policies or investigations into potentially harmful incidents.

The Homeland Security Department, meanwhile, says there were 5,499 known breaches of U.S. government computers in 2008, up from 3,928 the previous year, and just 2,172 in 2006.

BEIJING — The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that at least 140 people were killed and 816 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or military troops locked down the Uighur quarter of the city, according to witnesses and photographs of the riot.

At least 1,000 rioters took to the streets, throwing stones at the police and setting vehicles on fire. Plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, while police officers used fire hoses and batons to beat back rioters and detained Uighurs who appeared to be leading the protest, witnesses said.

The casualty numbers appeared to be murky and shifting on Monday. Xinhua, the state news agency, said the toll so far was 140 dead and 828 wounded, citing regional police officials. Earlier, Xinhua had reported that three civilians and one police officer were killed.

One regional official reached by telephone put the death toll at 105 and said at least 800 people had been injured. One American who watched the rioting at its height said he did not see people being killed or corpses in the streets, though he said he did see Uighurs shoving or kicking a few Han Chinese. Images of the rioting on state television showed some bloody people lying in the streets and cars burning.

Dozens of Uighur men were led into police stations on Sunday evening with their hands behind their backs and shirts pulled over their heads, one witness said. Early Monday, the local government announced a curfew banning all traffic in the city until 8 p.m.

The riot was the largest ethnic clash in China since the Tibetan uprising of March 2008, and perhaps the biggest protest in Xinjiang in years. Like the Tibetan unrest, it highlighted the deep-seated frustrations felt by some ethnic minorities in western China over the policies of the Communist Party, and how that can quickly turn into ethnic violence. Last year, in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, at least 19 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, according to government statistics.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim group, resent rule by the Han Chinese, and Chinese security forces have tried to keep oil-rich Xinjiang under tight control since the 1990s, when cities there were struck by waves of protests, riots and bombings. Last summer, attacks on security forces took place in several cities in Xinjiang; the Chinese government blamed separatist groups.

Early Monday, Chinese officials said the latest riots were started by Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur human rights advocate who had been imprisoned in China and now lives in Washington, Xinhua reported. As with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, Chinese officials often blame Ms. Kadeer for ethnic unrest; she denies the charges.

The clashes on Sunday began when the police confronted a protest march held by Uighurs to demand a full government investigation of a brawl between Uighur and Han workers that erupted in Guangdong Province overnight on June 25 and June 26. The brawl took place in a toy factory and left 2 Uighurs dead and 118 people injured. The police later arrested a bitter ex-employee of the factory who had ignited the fight by starting a rumor that six Uighur men had raped two Han women at the work site, Xinhua reported.

There was also a rumor circulating on Sunday in Urumqi that a Han man had killed a Uighur in the city earlier in the day, said Adam Grode, an English teacher living in the neighborhood where the rioting took place.

“This is just crazy,” Mr. Grode said by telephone Sunday night. “There was a lot of tear gas in the streets, and I almost couldn’t get back to my apartment. There’s a huge police presence.”

Mr. Grode said he saw a few Han civilians being harassed by Uighurs. Rumors of Uighurs attacking Han Chinese spread quickly through parts of Urumqi, adding to the panic. A worker at the Texas Restaurant, a few hundred yards from the site of the rioting, said her manager had urged the restaurant workers to stay inside. Xinhua reported few details of the riot on Sunday night. It said that “an unknown number of people gathered Sunday afternoon” in Urumqi, “attacking passers-by and setting fire to vehicles.”

Uighurs are the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang but are a minority in Urumqi, where Han Chinese make up more than 70 percent of the population of two million or so. The Chinese government has encouraged Han migration to the city and other parts of Xinjiang, fueling resentment among the Uighurs. Urumqi is a deeply segregated city, with Han Chinese there rarely venturing into the Uighur quarter.

The Uighur neighborhood is centered in a warren of narrow alleyways, food markets and a large shopping area called the Grand Bazaar or the Erdaoqiao Market, where the rioting reached its peak on Sunday.

Mr. Grode, who lives in an apartment there, said he went outside when he first heard commotion around 6 p.m. He saw hundreds of Uighurs in the streets; that quickly swelled to more than 1,000, he said.

Police officers soon arrived. Around 7 p.m., protesters began hurling rocks and vegetables from the market at the police, Mr. Grode said. Traffic ground to a halt. An hour later, as the riot surged toward the center of the market, troops in green uniforms and full riot gear showed up, as did armored vehicles. Chinese government officials often deploy the People’s Armed Police, a paramilitary force, to quell riots.

By midnight, Mr. Grode said, some of the armored vehicles had begun to leave, but bursts of gunfire could still be heard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/world/asia/07china.html?th&emc=th

Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran

Edith M. Lederer

'Something different" happening with new flu - CDC

President Starts Recovery Program, Signs Bank, Rail and Industry Bills; Wheat Growers Will Get $150,000,000

Special to The New York Times

Washington, June 16.--Assuming unprecedented peacetime control over the nation's economic life, President Roosevelt placed in operation today his sweeping program for recovery from the depression.

Within two hours he signed acts of Congress giving him control over industry, power to coordinate the railroads, and authority to start work on a $3,300,000,000 public works program, and then began the active administration of these and other major measures.

In signing the National Industrial Recovery Act the President declared that it was "the most important and far-reaching legislation ever enacted by the American Congress," and said that it "represents a supreme effort to stabilize for all time the many factors which make for the prosperity of the nation and the preservation of American standards."

The Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, which the President described as "the second most important banking legislation enacted in the history of the country"; the long- disputed Independent Offices Act, including the veterans legislation; the Deficiency Act, the Taxation Act, and the Farm Credits Act received the President's signature during the day.

Administrators Are Named

Turning to the administrative side of the industrial recovery program, the President appointed General Hugh S. Johnson, former soldier and manufacturer, as administrator of industry; made available $400,000,000 under the public works title for State roads, and allotted $238,000,000 to the Navy Department for laying down thirty-two new war vessels under the terms of the London treaty.

A special recovery board was named by Mr. Roosevelt to work with General Johnson. It consists of Secretary of Commerce Roper, chairman; Attorney General Cummings, Secretaries Wallace, Perkins and Ickes, Budget Director Douglas and Chairman March of the Federal Trade Commission.

General Johnson also will have an advisory council of business and labor leaders, the personnel of which has not yet been announced. Among those reported under consideration, however, are Myron C. Taylor, Alfred P. Sloan, Walter C. Teagle, Gerard Swope and Will Vereen.

Colonel Donald H. Sawyer was named temporary administrator of public works and was directed, with a special Cabinet board consisting of Secretary Ickes, chairman; Secretaries Wallace, Roper and Perkins, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert, Colonel George R. Spaulding, and Budget Director Douglas, to submit to the President without delay the works on which construction can be undertaken promptly, and to outline a program for future work.

Eastman Rail Coordinator

Joseph B. Eastman, a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission, was appointed coordinator of railroads and was directed to begin his work at once. His most important immediate concern will be the railway wage scale negotiations, following which, savings by the reduction of duplicating facilities will be undertaken.

General Johnson conferred with the President late today and then left by airplane for Chicago to meet with leaders of the bituminous coal industry. He said that he would return late tomorrow night, and that he hoped to name a large group of men to aid him in perfecting trade codes. Most of the ten major industries, he said, had made rapid progress in this respect, and he hoped to see final agreements reached by the big trade associations within a very short time.

Expressing hope that unemployment would be decreased by at least 1,000,000 men by Oct. 1, President Roosevelt took an optimistic view of the industrial situation in a long statement on the Industrial Recovery Act. He called upon industry to cooperate by hiring more men to do existing work, at shortened working hours and a living wage.

Roosevelt Pledges Government Aid

The President said that the act was a challenge to industry and labor, and pledged the protection of the government to both against unfair practices, if they would assist in raising price levels, increasing wages and reducing work hours. He promised that "this is not a law to foment discord, and it will not be administered as such."

While the anti-trust laws will be relaxed by the new legislation, the public will be protected against the abuses which led to their enactment, the President promised in his statement. He said that they would still be enforced against "monopolies that restrain trade and price fixing which allows inordinate profits or unfairly high prices."

The whole spirit of the act, he declared, would be to protect industry that cooperates completely and endeavors to raise prices justly, and at the same time keeps up wages and shortens the working hours so as to increase employment.

Happy as He Signs Enactments

Mr. Roosevelt appeared to be in a happy frame of mind this morning as he affixed his signature to the new measures. The first he signed during the day was the Banking Reform Act, which was carried through perseveringly by Senator Glass of Virginia in the face of many obstacles.

As Senator Glass, accompanied by Senator Bulkley, Representative Steagall and others, appeared in the circular office of the President to be photographed during the ceremonies the President addressed Mr. Glass affectionately, saying:

"You old warrior! If it had not been for the veterans, Congress would have adjourned last Saturday and you would not have had your pet measure on the statute books."

Describing the measure as having had more lives than a cat, he declared it had been killed "fourteen times in this session," to be revived in the final days.

The President's Statement

Senators Wagner and Robinson of Arkansas and Representatives Doughton and Ragon were present at the signing of the Industrial Recovery Act. President Roosevelt's statement follows:

History probably will record the National Industrial Recovery Act as the most important and far-reaching legislation ever enacted by the American Congress. It represents a supreme effort to stabilize for all time the many factors which make for the prosperity of the nation and the preservation of American standards.

Its goal is the assurance of a reasonable profit to industry and living wages for labor, with the elimination of the piratical methods and practices which have not only harassed honest business but also contributed to the ills of labor.

While we are engaged in establishing new foundations for business which ultimately should open a return to work for large numbers of men, it is our hope through the so- called public works section of the law to speedily initiate a program of public construction that should early re-employ additional hundreds of thousands of men.

Obviously, if this project is to succeed, it demands the wholehearted cooperation of industry, labor and every citizen of the nation.

Many Pens as Souvenirs

Senator Dill and Representative Rayburn attended the ceremonies incident to the signing of the Railroad Control Act. The President used many pens in attaching his signatures, and each of the sponsors left with one of them as a souvenir.

The last of the bills was signed at 12:05 P.M., following which the President devoted two hours to seeing departing members of Congress and in discussion patronage. The seekers of patronage for their constituents were told that jobs such as postmasterships and deputy internal revenue collectorships would be filled without delay.

Late in the afternoon, before calling his last conference with the press prior to going on his vacation, the President signed the Independent Offices Appropriation Bill containing the veterans' allotment plan which caused the controversy in the closing days of the session of Congress, the Deficiency Bill with its appropriation for the public works section of the Recovery Act and several other measures. Among the acts signed to wipe the slate clean were those on taxes and farm credits.

The Taxation Act continues for an additional year the current levies on gasoline and on electric current, but provides that after Sept. 1 the electric power tax will be levied on power companies instead of consumers. Total revenue from this act is expected to be $165,000,000.

The Farm Credit Act establishes a new organization for the purpose of centralizing farm credit extensions. The amount of money to be at the disposal of the agency is indefinite, as into it is to be paid the remainder of the revolving fund of the Federal Farm Board. Its resources are estimated at $175,000,000.

Fatigued by the Session

The men who had sponsored the bills that became law today were happy, although most of them seemed tired and nerve-wracked by the turmoil through which they had passed in the closing days of Congress.

Senator Glass, who was co-author of the Federal Reserve Act, admitted that he had almost sent himself to the hospital in behalf of the banking reform legislation. He said that he would do it again, and declared he experienced a great thrill when the President signed it.

"The bank reforms provided in the act," Senator Glass said, "are almost as important to the banks and the public as the Federal Reserve Act itself. It supplements and strengthens the Federal Reserve Law."

The Glass-Steagall Act is directed toward a unified banking system, provides a limited deposit guarantee, requires divorcement of security affiliates from banks under government supervision, compels private bankers to give up either the deposit or security business, and requires stricter regulation of national banks.

Wagner Hails Recovery Act

Senator Wagner of New York, who helped frame the Industrial Recovery Act and direct its passage, hailed that law as the greatest achievement of the administration in an economic and industrial way.

"It will bring us on the road to recovery," he said. "Ultimately, if it is intelligently administered, as I know it will be, it will bring this country out of the depression."

The most far-reaching of the administration's legislation, the Recovery Act gives the President, through administrators, wide power to promote the self-regulation of industry under Federal supervision as a means of curtailing overproduction, improving wages, shortening hours of labor and, thereby increasing prices and employment. A bond issue of $3,300,000,000 is authorized to finance the construction of Federal, State and local public projects.

Representative Sam Rayburn of Texas, chairman of the House Interstate Commerce Committee, thought the Railroad Bill would go a long way toward affording financial aid to the carriers by permitting them to reduce expenses, under the supervision of the Federal coordinator, and through the repeal of the recapture clause.

"They will not be required to continue payments under the recapture clause, and will be returned about $14,000,000 in interest and payments already made," he said.

By John McCaslin | Thursday, May 21, 2009

SWORDLESS SAILORS

Graduating midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis are being told in writing to leave at home or in their vehicles all "ceremonial swords" and anything else "that might be considered a weapon or a threat by screeners" for Friday's outdoor commencement ceremonies featuring an address by President Barack Obama.

Inside the Beltway has obtained the academy's list of prohibited items for this year's graduation exercises, which, besides ceremonial swords, includes umbrellas.

Yes, cell phones and texting are still allowed.

SURREAL DELUSION

Wow - what adjectives, adverbs and nouns did 2008 presidential candidate and Congressman Ron Paul of Texas not resort to when recalling a horrific vision he experienced this week?

"Could it all be a bad dream, or a nightmare?" Mr. Paul wondered. "Is it my imagination, or have we lost our minds? It's surreal; it's just not believable. A grand absurdity; a great deception; a delusion of momentous proportions, based on preposterous notions and on ideas whose time should never have come; simplicity grossly distorted and complicated; insanity passed off as logic; grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff; evil described as virtue; ignorance pawned off as wisdom; destruction and impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism; violence, the tool of change; preventive wars used as the road to peace; tolerance delivered by government guns; reactionary views in the guise of progress; an empire replacing the republic; slavery sold as liberty; excellence and virtue traded for mediocrity; socialism to save capitalism; a government out of control, unrestrained by the Constitution, the rule of law, or morality; bickering over petty politics as we collapse into chaos; the philosophy that destroys us is not even defined."

Is this where you woke up, sir?

"We have broken from reality," he continued. "A psychotic nation. Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. Money does not grow on trees, nor does prosperity come from a government printing press or escalating deficits. We're now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people's money, exorbitant taxation, deficits of trillions of dollars spent on a failed welfare/warfare state; an epidemic of cronyism; unlimited supplies of paper money equated with wealth ...

"Of course, it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare, and that I'm seriously mistaken, overreacting, and that my worries are unfounded. I hope so. But just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not-too-distant future."

GRIM REAPER

Every day another congressman has a sad personal story to pass along regarding President Obama's automobile task force eliminating more than 3,000 Chrysler and GM dealerships nationwide, putting more than 150,000 Americans out of work.

"In my district," says Rep. Erik Paulsen, Minnesota Republican, "a long-time local dealer, Bill Mason's Chrysler Jeep in Excelsior, was given 30 days by the president's auto task force to shut its doors. Thirty days. It didn't matter that he built the business, owns the land and provides good-paying jobs."

CRUEL TORTURE

A more typical horror story aired on Capitol Hill this week as lawmakers rushing to enact credit card reform dealt with a Marvin Weatherspoon of Chicago, who purchased a home more than eight years ago.

To consolidate home-repair bills totaling over $12,000, Mr. Weatherspoon applied for a credit card with a low introductory interest rate of 4.5 percent. Before he knew it, the rate jumped to 28 percent.

Over the last eight years, Mr. Weatherspoon has paid the bank $15,000, yet reduced his principal balance by only $800.

• John McCaslin can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes .com.

Russian Scientist: UFO Crashed Into Meteorite to Save Earth

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A  San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.

The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.

"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly."

Dean Broyles of the Western Center for Law & Policy, which has been retained to represent the couple, told WND the county's action not only violates religious land-use laws but also assaults both the First Amendment's freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.

"The First Amendment, in part, reads, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'" Broyles said. "And that's the key part: 'prohibiting the free exercise.' We believe this is a substantial government burden on the free exercise of religion."

He continued, "If one's home is one's castle, certainly you would the think the free exercise of religion, of all places, could occur in the home."

"The Western Center for Law and Policy is troubled by this draconian move to suppress home Bible studies," said the law center in a statement. "If the current trends in our nation continue, churches may be forced underground. If that happens, believers will once again be forced to meet in homes. If homes are already closed by the government to assembly and worship, where then will Christians meet?"

On a personal note, Broyles added, "I've been leading Bible studies in my home for 13 years in San Diego County, and I personally believe that home fellowship Bible studies are the past and future of the church. … If you look at China, the church grew from home Bible studies. I'm deeply concerned that if in the U.S. we are not able to meet in our homes and freely practice our religion, then we may be worse off than China."

Broyles also explained to WND that oppressive governments, such as communist China or Nazi Germany, worked to repress home fellowships, labeling them the "underground church" or "subversive groups," legally compelling Christians to meet only in sanctioned, government-controlled "official" churches.

"Therein lies my concern," Broyles said. "If people can't practice their religious beliefs in the privacy of their own homes with a few of their friends, that's an egregious First Amendment violation."

WND contacted a spokeswoman for San Diego County, who acknowledged the description of the incident seemed "bizarre," but who was unable to locate the details of the account. She simply could not provide comment yet, she said, until she could become familiar with the case.

Broyles said the WCLP is nearly ready to file a demand letter with the county to release the pastor and his wife from the requirement to obtain the expensive permit. If the county refuses, Broyles said, the WCLP will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

Broyles also told WND the pastor and his wife are continuing to hold the Bible study in their home.

Georgia Republican Wants Obama to Make 2010 Year of the Bible

Some  Democrats and liberal and atheist bloggers said the measure would violate the separation of church and state by advocating one book of faith over others.

AP

Friday, May 22, 2009

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/996b1af8-43ce-11de-a9be-00144feabdc0.html

Shadowy Bilderberg group meet in Greece

By Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

Earlier this week, the Obama administration revised its own budget estimates and raised the projected deficit for this year to a record $1.84 trillion, up 5 percent from the February estimate. The revision for the 2010 fiscal year estimated the deficit at $1.26 trillion, up 7.4 percent from the February figure. The White House Office of Management and Budget also projected next year’s budget will end up at $3.59 trillion, compared with the $3.55 trillion it estimated previously.

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

Entitlement Programs

In his New Mexico appearance, the president pledged to work with Congress to shore up entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. He also said he was confident that the House and Senate would pass health-care overhaul bills by August.

“Most of what is driving us into debt is health care, so we have to drive down costs,” he said.

Obama prodded Congress to pass restrictions on credit-card issuers, saying consumers need “strong and reliable” protection from unfair practices and hidden fees.

“It’s time for reform that’s built on transparency, accountability, and mutual responsibility, values fundamental to the new foundation we seek to build for our economy,” the president said.

Obama called on Congress to send to him by May 25 a bill that would clamp down on what he says are sudden rate increases, unfair penalties and hidden fees. He also wants the measure to strengthen monitoring of credit-card companies.

House Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the credit-card bill last month after adding a provision requiring banks to apply consumers’ payments to balances with the highest interest rates first. The bill also imposes limits on card interest rates and fees.

The Senate continued debating its version of the bill today. It would require credit-card companies to give 45 days’ notice before increasing an interest rate. It would prohibit retroactive rate increases on existing balances unless a consumer was 60 days late with a payment.

The president said Americans have been hooked on their credit cards and share some blame for the current system. “We have been complicit in these problems,” he said. “We have to change how we operate. These practices have only grown worse in the midst of this recession.”

The American Bankers Association, which represents card issuers, has warned lawmakers and the Obama administration against taking punitive action or setting requirements that are too stringent. Doing so, the lobby group says, would limit consumer credit and worsen a credit crunch.

Obama said that restrictions “shouldn’t diminish consumers’ access to credit.”

Uncollectible Debt

Uncollectible credit-card debt rose to 8.82 percent in February, the most in the 20 years that Moody’s Investors Service Inc. has kept records. Lawmakers have said they’re under increasing pressure from constituents to respond to rising interest rates and abrupt changes to consumers’ accounts.

Obama held a White House meeting last month with executives from the credit-card industry, including representatives from Bank of America Corp. and American Express Co. Afterward, he told reporters that credit-card issuers should be prohibited from imposing “unfair” rate increases on consumers and should offer the public credit terms that are easier to understand.

“The days of any time, any increase, anything goes -- rate hike, late fees -- that must end,” Obama said today at Rio Rancho High School. We’re going to require clarity and transparency from now on.”

He also said the steps he has taken to stimulate the economy and start the debate on overhauling the health-care system are beginning to take effect.

‘Beginning to Turn’

“We’ve got a long way to go before we put this recession behind us,” Obama said. “But we do know that the gears of our economy, our economic engine, are slowly beginning to turn.”

Taking questions from the audience, Obama repeated his stance that he wants legislation to overhaul the health-care system finished before the end of the year, saying it is vital to the economy.

Health-care costs are driving up the nation’s debt and burdening entitlement programs such as Medicare, the government- run insurance program for those 65 and older and the disabled.

The programs’ trustees reported May 13 that the Social Security trust fund will run out of assets in 2037, four years sooner than forecast, and Medicare’s hospital fund will run dry by 2017, two years earlier than predicted a year ago.

To contact the reporters on this story: Roger Runningen in Albuquerque at rrunningen@...; Hans Nichols in Washington at =1871 or hnichols2@...

Obama Puts Entire NASA Space Program in Limbo

Thursday, May 07, 2009

 NASA

An artist's impression of an Ares V rocket, NASA's planned heavy-duty launcher, entering space.

Space Weather News for April 25, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

SUNSET CONJUNCTION:  When the sun goes down on Sunday, April 26th, step outside
and look west.  An exquisitely-slender crescent Moon is lining up with Mercury
and the Pleiades star cluster for a three-way conjunction in the sunset sky.
Click here for the full story and a sky map:
http://spaceweather.com/headlines/y2009/24apr_eveningsky.php

UNEXPECTED SOLAR ACTIVITY:  The sun produced an unexpected burst of activity on
April 23rd when an enormous prominence rose over the northeastern limb and
erupted. A coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed away from the blast site, but
the billion-ton cloud is not heading toward Earth. Visit http://spaceweather.com
for movies of the event.

You are subscribed to the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of
Spaceweather.com.

Scientists Spot Earth-Like New Planet

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 <http://space.com/>


<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517271,00.html#>

ESO/L. Calcada


*An artist's impression of the newly discovered planetary system around
Gliese 581, including the lightest exoplanet yet discovered, Gliese 581 e.*

** The lightest exoplanet yet discovered — only about twice the mass of
Earth — has been detected, astronomers announced today.**

*"With only 1.9 Earth-masses, it is the least massive exoplanet ever
detected and is, very likely, a rocky planet,"said Xavier Bonfils of
Grenoble Observatory in France, a member of the team that made the
discovery, which was announced at the European Week of Astronomy and
Space Science at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.*

*The planet was found in the famous system Gliese 581 and has been
dubbed "Gliese 581 e
<http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=090421-gli\
ese581-e-02.jpg&cap=An+artist%27s+impression+of+the+newly+discovered+planetary+s\
ystem+around+Gliese+581%2C+including+the+lightest+exoplanet+yet+discovered%2C+Gl\
iese+581+e.+The+Gliese+581+planetary+system+now+has+four+known+planets%2C+with+m\
asses+of+about+1.9+%28planet+e%2C+left+in+the+foreground%29%2C+16+%28planet+b%2C\
+nearest+to+the+star%29%2C+5+%28planet+c%2C+center%29%2C+and+7+Earth-masses+%28p\
lanet+d%2C+with+the+bluish+colour%29.+Credit%3A+ESO%2FL.+Calcada>."
It was detected using the low-mass-exoplanet hunter HARPS spectrograph
attached to the 3.6-metre ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile.
*

*Measurements with the telescope also helped to refine the orbit of the
new planet's solar system sibling, a planet called Gliese 581 d
<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070618_mm_gliese_581d.html>,
placing it well within the habitable zone
<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050405_earth_like.html>, where
liquid water oceans could exist.*

*"The holy grail of current exoplanet research is the detection of a
rocky, Earth-like planet in the 'habitable zone' — a region around the
host star with the right conditions for water to be liquid on a planet's
surface," said Michel Mayor from the Geneva Observatory, who led the
European team that made the finding.*

*Planet Gliese 581 e orbits its host star — located only 20.5
light-years away in the constellation Libra — in just 3.15 days. Being
so close to its host star, the planet is not in the habitable zone.*

*With the discovery of Gliese 581 e, the planetary system now has four
known planets, with masses of about 1.9 Earth-masses (planet e), 16
Earth-masses (planet b), 5 Earth-masses (planet c), and 7 Earth-masses
(planet d).*

*"Gliese 581 d, which orbits the host star in 66.8 days, is probably too
massive to be made only of rocky material, but we can speculate that it
is an icy planet that has migrated closer to the star," said team member
Stephane Udry of Geneva University in Switzerland. "'D' could even be
covered by a large and deep ocean — it is the first serious 'water
world' candidate."*

*Low-mass red dwarf stars such as Gliese 581 are potentially fruitful
hunting grounds for low-mass exoplanets in the habitable zone. The
gravitational pull of orbiting exoplanets introduces a slight wobble to
the star's motion. Because the habitable zone of cool stars like Gliese
581 is so close to the star, the planets within this zone exert a
stronger pull, and so the wobble of the star is more pronounced, though
detecting the signal is still a challenge.*

*Over the last two decades, scientists have spotted more than 300
extrasolar planets
<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/extrasolar_planets.html> circling
other stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Most of these planets have been
about the size of Jupiter or larger.*

*"It is amazing to see how far we have come since we discovered the
first exoplanet around a normal star in 1995 — the one around 51
Pegasi," said Mayor, who helped find that planet. "The mass of Gliese
581 e is 80 times less than that of 51 Pegasi b. This is tremendous
progress in just 14 years."*

*The team plans to continue looking for Earth-like, rocky planets around
other stars.*

*"With similar observing conditions an Earth-like planet located in the
middle of the habitable zone of a red dwarf star could be detectable,"
Bonfils said. "The hunt continues."*

*And HARPS isn't the only instrument looking for low-mass, Earth-like
planets. NASA's new Kepler space telescope
<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090303-st-kepler-science.html>
will also be peering through the galaxy in search of smaller alien
worlds. It was launched on March 6 and sent back its first images last
Thursday.*

/Copyright © 2009 Imaginova Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed./

U.N. 'Climate Change' Plan Would Likely Shift Trillions to Form New World Economy

Friday, March 27, 2009
By George Russell