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Does anyone know a good cheap reliable office supplies firm in UK? Fed up with mine? Need office supplies in uk

Does anyone know a good cheap reliable LOCAL office supplies firm in south-east london? Fed up with mine? Fed up with my current supplier and cavasers that don't keep promises. If your a MD using a good company, your feedback would be even more appreciated

Does anyone know a good cheap reliable LOCAL office stationery supplies firm in south-east london? Fed up with?

Is this a good, reliable computer? http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&noredir=true&catalogId=10051&productId=276536&cmArea= Why is it that at Staples its $350 and other places its over $1000? I checked and it has the same exact everything? My current computer is a 2004 HP and has only 512 mb of RAM and a 80GB hard drive and my computer lags terribly, doesn't respond half the time and is probably infected with viruses. Would this new computer be fast with a few hundred songs and about 20 videos on it? Would it be good for surfing the web and watching videos? I am not familiar with the "guts" of computers so any help would be appreciated. thank you oh sorry guys, i dont need a monitor.

Can you help me find a supplier? I just registered my exporting business, and I'm currently looking for suppliers. I want to export office supplies to several partners in the Caribbean who are ready to receive and sell. I'm also looking for new inexpensive like electronics. I have tried alibaba.com but it is too complex and doesn't seem to be reliable (too many sellers).. Can someone help me?

I needhelp with an initiative concerning eminent domain ready for november ballot.I need donations/grants? This initiative is NO.SA2006RF0025:local land use hearings.Right to testify initiative statute for the State of California. It will give property owners the right to request a hearing before the city or county can just take their property. It is for a good cause, and i need to get over 375,000 signatures. We allready have the initiative ready to go to the voters once we get the signatures. We have allready received the Title and Summary back from the attorney general. This initiative is for a great cause and we are in need of paper and general office supplies.We could also use a reliable vehicle,and volunteers to help get signatures. we are also very much in need of a copy machine and any other office equipment. please feel free to e-mail us. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!Thank you and god bless.

a petty cash question in accounting? I have a homework question that deals with petty cash check #4 for $60 to establish fund paid $9 from petty cash for postage voucher #1 paid $12 from petty cash for office supplies voucher #2 Issued check # 3 to reliable corp for $400 for past purchased on account (WHAT IS THIS DOES IT COME OUT OF THE FUND OR ADDED ?) THANKS DAWN

Online Stationery Store? Any reliable online stationery store in the UK that offers office supplies for low prices??

Is there anything wrong with my Resume? I'm not getting any responses to the Emails I have been sending for jobs through Craigslist. I know the market is BAD but I just want to make sure that my resume is okay, and its not turning off employers. Here is the Email I send to potential jobs. Hello, I am responding to the ad on Craigslist. I feel my experience makes me a qualified candidate for this position, and I would love an opportunity to interview. I am a very reliable worker, and I have alot of drive to succeed. I am determined to find a position that I can keep long term, and I feel I would be a great asset to your company. My salary requirements are $15 an hour, but are negotiable depending on the position. I look forward to your call, and thank you for reviewing my response. I have pasted a resume below for your review. Best Regards, Amanda M**** Amanda M***** 123456 W. Cerritos Ave |Anaheim, Ca | (714) Objective Seeking an office position in a growing, fast paced and friendly environment. I would like to utilize my strong organizational and time management skills. I enjoy either working in a small office where I have the opportunity to learn most if not all aspects of that business. Or in a large office where I have the opportunity to show my skills and dedication, and prove that I am a great candidate for advancement. I pride myself in taking great knowledge in my job, and I learn as much as I can about the business I am working for, so that I am a valuable asset. Skills Profile - Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. - QuickBooks. - Knowledge of Internet. - Ability to handle multiple tasks. - Ordering office supplies. - Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Billing, Invoicing, Payroll, Collections Petty Cash. - Knowledgeable in office procedures and office machines. Employment History Bartender 10/2008 - 09/2008 Malone's Bar & Grill Santa Ana, Ca Starting Pay: $8.50 Ending Pay: $8.50 - Serve drinks and food to all patrons. - Manage cash register accurately. - Provide excellent customer service, and maintain all aspects of the bar from cleaning and stocking to answering the phone and booking bands and entertainment. Office Manager 06/2008 – 10/2008 Hired Gun Exterminating Garden Grove, Ca Starting Pay: $15.00 Ending Pay: $15.00 - Sit in Office Manager while permanent Manager was on medical leave. - Answer phones, and schedule and dispatch all pest control jobs. - Enter all termite reports and mail reports to customers. - Receive and enter payments for jobs and yearly control policies. Bill customers for yearly controls and occasionally for termite jobs. Office Manager 01/2006 – 03/2008 Super Dave’s Print & Mail Santa Ana, Ca Starting Pay: $13.00 Ending Pay: $16.00 - Input all A/P and A/R, and pay all invoices in a timely manner. - Payroll for 10 employees through ADP. - Maintained account with Health, Life, and 401k companies. - Schedule and dispatch drivers and make sure route is most time efficient. - Sent statements once a month to customers. - Schedule tasks and meetings for all office employees. - Answered 4-line phone, maintained high standard of customer service when speaking to all customers, including remembering customer’s names and order history. - Kept close track of job scheduling, ensuring that no jobs were forgotten, and completed as scheduled and on time. - Use QuickBooks for accounting and PRINTLeader software for all job management. - General office duties included: Bank deposits, ordering office supplies, handle customer transactions, took credit card payments, manage reception desk, and all other general office duties. Administrative Assistant 02/2005 – 01/2006 HCS Cutler, Inc. Rancho Cucamonga , Ca Starting Pay: $11.50 Ending Pay: $13.50 - Managed and logged cash reports printed from registers at 8 different locations. - Managed all bank deposits ensuring timeliness and accuracy as well as reconcile monthly statements. - Investigated and resolved and credit card disputes that were filed.. - Managed a fleet of 60 vehicles, including class A, B, and C trucks. - Completed any necessary paperwork for CA DMV. - Handled all car insurance needs, including: Filing auto accident claims, filling out accident reports, adding and deleting drivers and vehicles to the policy, and following through with adjusters to make sure claims were handled properly. Office Manager 10/2002 – 02/2005 Telcom Services Riverside , Ca Starting Pay: $7.00 Ending Pay: $9.00 - Maintained data logs

I need help with my medical assistant resume please!? I want to make my resume better but i dont know how im going to post my resume here and any input would greatly be appreciated!! Objective: To secure a challenging Entry Level position within the health care field. Qualifications: • Self-motivated, works well independently or as part of a team. • Excellent communication and organizational skills/Fluent in Spanish and English • Reliable and dependable • Ability to multi-task, and be flexible when faced with diverse situations. Skills: Administrative Clinical • Patient Reception/Registration • Autoclaving • Appointment Scheduling • EKG’s • Patient Histories • Injections (IM, ID, SQ) • Microsoft Word • Lab Tests (Hematocrit), HGB • Knowledge of Medical Billing/Insurance • Urinalysis • Filing • Vitals • Medical Terminology • Aseptic Techniques • Front Office Procedures • Bandaging • Telephone Techniques • Sterile Tray Set-up • Customer Service • CPR/First Aid Education: 2007-2008 American Career College Los Angeles, CA Medical Assisting Program, Diploma 2004-2006 Los Angeles Job Corps Los Angeles, CA GED , Office Assistant Certificate, Customer Service Training Experience: 2006 - present Abram Friedman Occupational Center Los Angeles , CA Student Aide Tested students English Level, registered students in ESL classes, checked materials in/out of Distance Learning Program, maintained updated files and ensured compliancy with state regulations, ordered office supplies, assisted offices or department when asked to do so, handled and shredded confidential information, and assisted in preparation of ESL Level testing materials. July to September 2008 The Saban Free Clinic Hollywood Center Los angeles, CA Obtain vital signs, chaperoning, translating, tray set up for gyn procedures, filling and requesting labs, Urine pregnancy tests, hemoglobin test, accuchecks, and vaccine administration, Assisting Medical Records department when needed. Certificates & Awards: CPR, HIPAA, Phlebotomy, Perfect Attendance Jan –Jul 2008 American Career College

PLEASE HELP!! Exam 2 Due Tonight at Midnight!!!? . Question 1 4 points Save What is Freight in? a. Transportation costs to ship goods out of the warehouse b. Transportation costs to ship goods into the warehouse c. Transportation costs that are not recorded d. Costs that are expensed Question 2 4 points Save Alpha Company had $45,000 in beginning inventory and $80,000 in ending inventory. Cost of goods sold for the period was $25,000. The inventory turnover is: a. 0.56. b. 0.4. c. 0.3125. d. some other number. Question 3 4 points Save Which of the following are purposes of internal control? a. One of the purposes of internal control is to encourage employees to follow company policy. b. One of the purposes of internal control is to ensure accurate, reliable accounting records. c. One of the purposes of internal control is to safeguard the company's assets. d. All of the statements above are true. Question 4 4 points Save Purchases returns and allowances and Purchases discounts are classified as ________ accounts on the income statement. a. contra-revenue b. contra-expense c. expense d. revenue Question 5 4 points Save Which of the following is subtracted from Net sales revenue to arrive at Gross profit? a. Cost of goods sold b. Sales discounts and sales returns and allowances c. Cost of goods available for sale d. Operating expenses Question 6 4 points Save In extending the work sheet amounts for a merchandising concern, what account would have the total extended to both the debit and credit columns? a. Sales b. Merchandise inventory c. Cost of goods sold d. Income summary Question 7 4 points Save Which of the following inventory costing methods is often adopted when a company sells relatively few costly items? a. Average cost b. Last in first out c. Specific unit cost d. First in first out Question 8 4 points Save Keeping office supplies under lock and key is representative of: a. promoting operations efficiency. b. following company policies. c. ensuring accurate, reliable accounting records. d. safeguarding assets. Question 9 4 points Save Which of the following financial statements are affected by the use of the lower-of-cost-or-market rule? a. The income statement b. The balance sheet c. Both the balance sheet and the income statement d. Neither the balance sheet nor the income statement Question 10 4 points Save Reducing expense to increase operating profit is representative of: a. following company policies. b. ensuring accurate, reliable accounting records. c. safeguarding assets. d. promoting operational efficiency. Question 11 4 points Save The following data is available: Net sales, first month $13,000 Normal gross profit 45% Beginning inventory 8,000 Net purchases 7,000 Using the gross profit method, the amount of gross profit would be: a. 5,850 b. 3,600 c. 15,000 d. 6,750 Question 12 4 points Save Sales minus cost of goods sold under all inventory methods yields: a. gross margin. b. gross profit. c. net purchases. d. both A and B. Question 13 4 points Save The following data is available: On hand at start of period 400 units $3.00 unit cost First purchase 600 units $3.50 unit cost Second purchase 700 units $3.30 unit cost Third purchase 500 units $3.40 unit cost Number of units available for sale 2,200 total units On hand at end of period 600 units Number of units sold during period 1,600 sold Of the 1600 items sold, 300 were sold from the beginning inventory, 500 were sold after the first purchase, 600 were sold after the second purchase and 200 were sold after the third purchase. The ending inventory under Last-in, First-out (perpetual inventory) is: a. $2,000. b. $2,030. c. $1,998. d. some other number. Question 14 4 points Save Golden Oak Antique Shop has the following account balances at the end of the current accounting period. Beginning inventory $73,250 Net purchases 57,650 Net sales revenue 85,500 A normal gross profit for the company is $45%. What is the company's estimated cost of goods sold the accounting period? a. $92,425 b. $83,875 c. $47,025 d. $38,475 Question 15 4 points Save Which inventory valuation model maximizes reported income when costs are rising? a. Last-in, First-out b. Average cost c. First-in, First-out d. Specific unit cost Question 16 4 points Save

Should I be an elementary school teacher? I love kids, I love school/office supplies, I love the creativity teachers put into classrooms, I love organizing papers, I love grading, and I love trying to answer questions in the sweetest and honest way possible. I love it all, but i get so scared thinking that i may get mad and really scare them.. Also, I know its not a great paying career choice and my brother says I should at least major in something more reliable as a backup (mathematics). And I'm not really venturing out into some strange new career. I'm staying with something I've known my whole life: school. I don't like change and I do love school/learning, just should I try to improve myself and go down a different career path?

Accounting Help questions? Kiley Company established a petty cash fund of $750 on January 1. On January 31, receipts for the following items were in the petty cash box: Entertainment $250 Postage 90 Maintenance 100 Office Supplies 135 Miscellaneous 70 The journal entry on January 31 to record replenishment of the petty cash fund includes: Debits to various expenses totaling $645. A debit to Petty Cash for $645. A debit to Cash for $645. A credit to Petty Cash for $645. The term cash equivalent refers to: An item such as a money order, travelers' check, or check from a customer. An account receivable from a reliable customer who has always paid bills within the discount period. A guaranteed line of credit at the company's bank. Very liquid short-term investments such as U.S. Treasury Bills and commercial paper Bert had accounts receivable of $280,000 and an allowance for doubtful accounts of $10,800 just before writing off as worthless an account receivable from Ernie Company of $1,600. After writing off this receivable what would be the balance in Bert's Allowance for Doubtful Accounts? $10,800 credit balance. $12,400 credit balance. $9,200 credit balance. $9,200 debit balance. Fisher Corporation invested $250,000 cash in available-for-sale marketable securities in early December. On December 31, the quoted market price for these securities is $315,000. Which of the following statements is correct? Fisher's December 31 balance sheet reports marketable securities at $315,000 and an unrealized holding gain on investments of $65,000. Fisher's December 31 balance sheet reports marketable securities at $250,000 and an unrealized holding gain on investments of $65,000. If Fisher sells these investments on January 2 for $308,000, it will report a loss of $7,000. Fisher's December income statement includes a $65,000 gain on investments.

I am starting up my own online Business from home, What software, supplies, equipment do I need to start off? I am in the process of starting my own Online Business (retail store), and I want to make sure that I cover all ends of the business part of it. What software should I have on my computers / LapTop? When starting a new business like the one I am starting, do I need to have Server's set up already? What equipment or Office products should I have in my Computer Room? (that is where my office for the online business will be for now, until I make good money and I rent out a office space / warehouse space somewhere) . Are Server's very important when it comes to running a business online? what advice could you give someone like me who is just starting off? I want to be prepared for everything, I want to work very very hard on Customer Service, I feel without a good Customer Service your company would not stand out as a reliable company, one that customers would spread the word about the service they received. Word to mouch is one of the best advertising tactics for any company. Any advice?

South Africans, Could this be the Solution...? Embattled power distributor Eskom has won the praise of government after vowing to keep rolling blackouts to a minimum by burning Zimbabwean banknotes in some of its coal-fired power stations. In a report to the Public Protector's office, handwritten by candlelight last week, Eskom committed itself to supplying the nation with electricity "equivalent to that supplied in major industrialised nations such as Bhutan and Chad." According to the report, Eskom was "weeks away" from signing a deal with the Zimbabwean government that would see it stop burning coal and start burning wads of Zimbabwean currency. Speaking to the media at the publication of the report, Eskom spokesman Sparkie Maloi said that the burning of banknotes solved numerous problems. "The new Zimbabwean $10-million note is made of a compound of cow dung, Zambuck, and paraffin-infused blankets, and so it burns hotter and longer than coal," said Maloi. "Also, given the Zimbabwean exchange rate, it's currently cheaper to burn one kilogram of banknotes than one kilogram of coal." He added that if the Harare Mint failed to keep up with supply, Eskom "might start burning the thousands of letters of complaint" the company received every day, but that this option was not sustainable since most letters were sent straight to the company's public relations office, which is currently housed in a dumpster on a nearby landfill. However Maloi was adamant that there was no crisis around energy supply. "South Africans must understand that they currently enjoy a more plentiful and reliable supply of electricity than both the United States and Great Britain combined, in 1840. Both these countries are now world leaders." The press conference was ended early when a blackout curtailed a PowerPoint presentation on how to heat a house using sunlight and a magnifying glass. Sure Blouspook - here's the link: http://www.xbox-360.co.za/forum/showpost.php?p=216563&postcount=449

Can someone here please critique my resume... be honest, not mean? okay........ I'm not getting any responses from my resume....... what do I need to change or reword..... it is only 2 pages when printed.... OBJECTIVE: Seek a challenging Administrative Support / Office position where I can implement my current skills and knowledge while contributing to the success of the company. QUALIFICATIONS: Knowledgeable in several different areas of an office setting and general administrative duties including: * Excellent customer service skills. * Efficient and reliable communication with staff, supervisors and clients. * Ability to work with minimal supervision or in a team environment. * Processing of client information, including insurance and billing inquires. * Scheduling of appointments. * Filing and maintaining office and client records. * Ordering supplies for office and clients. * Resolving inter office disputes. * Answer client calls and dispatched couriers according to priority of call and courier location. * Performed follow-up on dispatches with clients. * Excellent time management and organizational skills and the ability to multi-task. * In-depth ability to think and act quickly, calmly in a stressful or emergency situation. * Demonstrates particular attention to detail, procedures and confidentiality. * Ability to train new employees in office procedures. * Immense ability to learn job-related material. * General understanding of computer technology. * General office knowledge including but not limited to: keyboarding, 10-key, data entry, filing, customer relations, multi-line phone skills, faxing, copying, ordering supplies and the ability to operate and troubleshoot most types of office equipment. EMPLOYMENT: REAL ESTATE AGENT / REALTOR August 2004 * Successfully works with home buyers and sellers to profitably list and sell homes ensuring positive experience for everyone involved. Additional areas of expertise include: Contract Negotiations, Pricing & Proposals, Business Development, Market & Competitive Analysis, Consultative/Solution Selling, Customer Acquisition Strategies. HSRH HOSPITAL – Relief CPhT May 2000 / August 2004 * Computer data entry of patient admissions, physician orders, charges, credits, medication administration records, and ordering of drugs and supplies. * Fill, label and prepare medication for dispensing to nursing carts. * Pre-packing of bulk medications, maintain controlled narcotics and audit narcotics and medication stock. * Receiving medication, stocking shelves and checking and pulling outdates. * Knowledge of aseptic technique and IV preparation. * Fill nursing carts and inspection of crash carts. * Perform and maintain inventory control and workload records. * Maintain patient medical records. RTYH COLLEGE – Instructor January 1998 / August 2004 * Instructor for Phlebotomy Certification, Basic Phlebotomy, and Phlebotomy for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals. * Develop curriculum, syllabi, course outline, lesson plans, and course material for phlebotomy courses. * Coordinated and conducted phlebotomy lectures. * Developed and administered phlebotomy exams. * Instructor for Driver Safety / Defensive Driving Course through the T.E.A. QDL - PSC Relief Group Lead Phlebotomist / Office Supervisor February 1996 – February 2002 * Managed day-to-day supervision of lab operation and personnel. * Proper collection of blood and urine samples for testing. * Responsible for scheduling, evaluations and training of staff. * Resolve technical and personnel problems. * Received calls from clients, dispatched couriers according to location & priority of call. * Follow-up with clients and couriers on all calls and dispatches. * Recognized operational problems / errors and initiates corrective action. * Computer data entry of patient information, orders and testing results. * Performed inventory and ordering of supplies for office and clients. * Handled general office duties including answering multi-line phones, billing inquiries, customer service, filing, faxing, and general office duties. * Scheduling patients for testing procedures. * Processed and filed paperwork of patient’s insurance / Medicare / Medicaid. * Maintained a safe and clean environment. EDUCATION: BTHG COLLEGE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT: Real Estate Curriculum MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Medical Curriculum

I also received this so called "Fedex" scam using real Fedex logo. So which website is reliable then? +44-704-575-6666 Attention: Beneficiary, We acknowledge receipt of your delivery details. Your parcel has been registered and ready for immediate dispatch to your address. A woman was telling me that she has limited information about this parcel. I was wondering if the case is same with you. Let me explain more according to the best of my knowledge in this matter. Four companies came here in the U.K to sponsor and the Lottery organizers for Internet Compensation Promotion Programs. The companies are Microsoft Inc. Dell Inc, Hewlett Packard (HP) and IBM. Over three thousand (3000) email address won different amount. All winners were selected through a computer ballot-system drawn from over 500,000 companies and 250,000,000 personal email addresses from all over the world online of which three thousand where selected at random as winners in different categories. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number; KL039 with serial number MS-DL-HP-IBM-0202, lottery reference number 4CO-2GHT and drew from lucky numbers 45-454-0658 which consequently won in the 2nd category. The second category winners are approved for $800,000.00. Your check already signed was brought to this office. We have to contact you to inform you about it and let us know your information so we can update the check and make the delivery to you. I wish to also politely inform you that I will not have to repeat myself again, please understand with me that there are too many jobs and public response that we have to render in a day, That is why I am making this detailed explanation as I did earlier. Now that we have received your information, your parcel has been registered and ready for immediate dispatch Make the payment of the 150 Pounds ($230.00 USD) for the shipping and insurance fee via any Western Union or Money Gram nearest to you, Make the payment with the details below so that your package can be dispatched immediately and your tracking number will be emailed to you, to enable you track and monitor your parcel until it gets to you. Payment Information: RECEIVERS NAME------ MIKE CONNOR RECEIVER'S ADDRESS: 24 TOOTING ROAD RECEIVER'S CITY: LONDON RECEIVER'S ZIP CODE: BNQ 7N4 RECEIVERS COUNTRY---- UNITED KINGDOM Send email the MTCN# after you make the western union so that payment can be confirmed and your package shipped immediately. You are pre paying for the postage charges of your consignment/s and your Western Union or MoneyGram control number shall enable us to finally certify your information and conclude the delivery processing. Ensure to monitor your parcel online through the tracking numbers we shall provide to you and ensure you are in at the collection time that the dispatcher may arrive to enable effective delivery. We may supply documentation to accompany your shipment. You will be advised of this when your processing is concluded. We are poised to serve you better as an international organization. Thank you for your cooperation.. Mr. Donald Blake Regional Manager +44-704-575-6666

Theft at work????? What do you do when an experiences, valued, and otherwise highly reliable employee confesses that he has been dipping into the petty cash? Although the individual amounts he "borrowed" from petty cash never exceeded $25, the total probably exceeded $250 over the last six months. He wrote false receipts to cover the money until he could make repayment, and, in fact, he claims to have returned all of the borrowed funds. If the false receipt was still in the box, he would remove it; if not, then it would appear that petty cash was "to the good." Several members of the office have access to the petty cash in case of overdue postage or other delivery charges or other small office-related needs and supplies.

please summarize this? Despite a number of policy reforms, the Philippines continues to face important challenges and must sustain the reform momentum to achieve and sustain the strong post-crisis recovery needed to spur investments, achieve higher growth, generate employment, and alleviate poverty for a rapidly expanding population. Absent new revenue measures, sustained fiscal stability will require more aggressive tax collection efficiency to address the severe under-spending in infrastructure and social services after years of tight budgets. Continuing efforts to fast-track power sector privatization remain critical to the long-term stability of public sector finances, ensuring reliable electricity supply, and bringing down the cost of power. Climate change is an emerging threat to agriculture and overall growth, and also could further complicate fiscal consolidation efforts. Potential foreign investors, as well as tourists, remain concerned about law and order, inadequate infrastructure, policy and regulatory instability, and governance issues. While trade liberalization presents significant opportunities, intensifying global competition and the emergence of low-wage export economies also pose challenges. Competition from other Southeast Asian countries and from China for investment underlines the need for sustained progress on structural reforms to remove bottlenecks to growth, to lower costs of doing business, and to promote good public and private sector governance. The government has been working to reinvigorate its anti-corruption drive, and the Office of the Ombudsman has reported improved conviction rates. Nevertheless, the Philippines’ efforts are lagging and more needs to be done to improve international perception of its anti-corruption campaign--an effort that will require strong political will and significantly greater financial and human resources.

Recruitment Agencies? Can you suggest any good reliable recruitment agencies who can supply me with permanent or temporary to permanent office administration work in the West Midlands region? In general, is it best to meet such agencies on a face to face basis, or is it just sufficient to register with them over the internet? What about recruitment agencies that are just based over the net. What are your experiences of both types of agencies?

NEED SERIOUS RESUME HELP!!!? Ok so heres my resume, BUT it definatly needs to be shortened,what can I do or say to shorten it,but still show my past experience. Also i have been out of work for over 2yrs due to me caring for my child,what can I say in the resume about gap in between jobs? Objective Seeking a position in the capacity of Administrative Assistant/Receptionist within a general business or Office environment, bringing the following experience, skills, and attributes: Summary of Qualifications Extensive experience working in general public, educational and office settings. Interface well with others at all level’s including patron’s, professionals, employees, children, and students. Ability to deal with a diverse customer population. Caring and hardworking with excellent interpersonal communication, customer service and office support skills. Pays attention to detail, Ensure s tasks are completed correctly and on time. Precise and accurate worker with background demonstrating pride in performance and successful work accomplishment. Reliable and Flexible. Proven strength in analyzing, researching and problem solving, quick learner, executes procedures with excellent memory retention. Knowledge of Ms Word, MS Windows, MS Excel, Internet, 10 key, Introduction to Power Point, typing 40wpm. Relevant Experience Nurse Providers Inc., Administrative Assistant/Staffing Coordinator 09/04-06/06 Responsible for the coordination of client/caregiver/hospitals schedules, upkeep of scheduling records and log books, and the accurate and timely communication of scheduling changes between office and field staff. Maintain accurate caregiver files assuring all relevant documents, certificates and test are current and valid. Organize and manage office records and materials. Responsible for distributing employees checks. Accustomed to heavy incoming telephone calls. Answer and Direct incoming calls. Performs administrative duties assigned by the HR/Staffing Manager including filing, mailings, photocopying, faxing, data entry, scheduling interviews, and cases, office errands, scanning, distributing messages, and managing the phone system. Assist other administrative staff with overflow work, including word processing, data entry, payroll, typed company documents and correspondence .Manage and Maintained the company’s lobby area. Greets and directs all visitors, including vendors, clients, job candidates and customers. Operates basic office equipment. Sorts and routes incoming materials. Process in-coming mail; open, stamp and sort. Strouds, Sales Associate 9/99-07/03 Managed the cash register and main front desk area. Interacted with the customers providing advice in the selection of merchandise. Monitored production to ensure exceptional customer service. Trained and supervised new employees. Processed all cash, check, credit card purchases and returns through a computerized system. Answered and directed all incoming phone calls. Heart To Heart Family Daycare, Teachers Assistant 04/98-06/99 Created a safe and loving environment for children ages 1-6 years old. Taught self-helping skills. Demonstrated patience and understanding while managing children. Devolved and implemented indoors and outdoor activities. Arranged lunches and snacks. Kept accurate records of children as well as staff. Maintained supplies and materials. One on one activity with the children included reading, art projects, and coloring. Fredericks of Hollywood, Sales Associate 02/96-02/97 Interact with customers, providing advice in the selection of merchandise. Monitor production to ensure exceptional customer service. Respond to and resolve customers’ complaints. Accurately balanced cash drawers at the end of the shift. Implemented cash register and sales activity. Kept inventory control. Stocked and ordered merchandise. Private Family Caregiver, Nanny 06/95—06/96 Personal nanny for a family with a newborn daughter in developing her skills in all areas. Prepared and cooked meals and snacks. Cleaned house. Planned daily activities and outings. Responsible for keeping track of child’s progress. Education American Business College International, Daly City Certificate in Medical Office Support 8/2004 Front office administrative skills, Alphanumeric filing, telephone procedures, office maintenance, Processing Mail, Medical Charts, and Reports, Scheduling and monitoring appointments. MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Internet. Medical billing using Medical Manager System, Health insurance claim forms. Medical terminology, basic anatomy and physiology, Vital signs (respiratory rate, pulse rate, weight, height, blood pressure, temperature) Certificate in Computerized Office Careers (R.O.P) Volunteer Experience Boys and Girls Club of San Mateo 06/9

can anyone edit my resume? I copied and pasted this from my word document. You can do whatever you think is best for it. Thanks. :) I'm looking for a day job. Objective •Obtain a position in an industry where my customer relation skills can be utilized to enhance customer satisfaction. Skills •Communications- Good written and verbal presentation skills. Use proper grammar and have a good speaking voice. •Interpersonal Skills -- Able to get along well with co-workers and accept supervision. •Flexible -- Willing to try new things and am interested in improving efficiency on assigned tasks. •Attention to Detail -- Concerned with quality. Produce work that is orderly and attractive. Ensure tasks are completed correctly and on time. •Hard-working -- Throughout high school, worked long hours in strenuous activities while attending school full-time. Often managed as many as 65 hours a week in school and other structured activities while maintaining above-average grades. •Customer Service -- Routinely handled as many as 250 customer contacts a day in a busy restaurant. •Cash Sales -- Handle more than $500 a day in cash sales without a register as a waitress. •Reliable -- Excellent attendance record throughout school and all previous jobs. Experience Wild Wing CaféCharlotte, NC September 2008 to February 2009 (980) 297-7000 Waitress •Escort customers to their tables. •Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request. •Inform customers of daily specials. •Take orders from patrons for beverages. •Check patrons' identification in order to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages. •Prepare hot or cold drinks for patrons. •Explain how various menu items are prepared, describing ingredients and cooking methods. •Memorize patrons’ orders and enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff. •Prepare tables for meals, including setting up items such as linens, silverware, and glassware. •Serve food and/or beverages to patrons; prepare and serve specialty dishes at tables as required. •Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals and take action to correct any problems. •Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning. •Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes. •Collect payments from customers. •Clean tables and/or counters after patrons have finished dining. •Stock service areas with supplies such as coffee, food, tableware, and linens. •Fill salt, pepper, sugar, cream, condiment, and napkin containers. HootersManassas, VaApril 2008 to Sept. 2008 (703) 369-6315 Hooters Girl •Perform all duties as described above. •Properly maintain image and grooming standards. •Perform the role of a Hooters Girl while upholding the Hooters Girl Concept. •Smile. •Interact with and entertain patrons. Bury + PartnersChantilly, VaAugust 2007 to April 2008 (703) 968-9090 Receptionist •Answer phones for the engineering firm and transfer calls to the appropriate individuals, divisions or department. •Take telephone messages for the staff. •Greet everyone who comes into the Office and offer assistance. •Be knowledgeable about B+P policies and procedures. •Assist in scheduling conference rooms. •Assist with copying, faxing, and distributing materials. •Prepare various materials using Word, Access, Publisher, and Excel programs. •Pick up mail and sort and distribute. •Keep list of supplies to be re-ordered. •Keep copier, printer and fax filled with paper. •Prepare invoices for all clients. •Process checks received from clients. •Code all office bills and send to corporate. •Organize and maintain office files and records. •Prepare proposal for potential clients. Glory Days GrillManassas, VANovember 2004 to July 2007 (703) 361-9040 Hostess/Expedite/Carryout/Trainer Hostess- •Maintain a clean entry way, bathrooms, and menus. •Plan out the seating chart and organize the reservations. •Greets guests, escorts them to their table and present menus. •Assure server is aware they have been sat. •Maintain a fair count of tables for individual servers. •Keep in constant contact with the servers and the kitchen. Expedite- •Facilitate and expedite the flow of food to and from the kitchen to the guests. •Prepare food prep and production recipes per the current recipe book. •Communicate between management, wait staff, and kitchen personnel. •Organize and maintain several food tickets at a very fast pace. •Practice safe food and beverage handling and clean up at all times. •Ensure all food items are accountable according to the POS check. •Stock station and complete all delegated side work. Carryout- •Multitask by entering take out orders while on the phone with customers. •Handling money and managing a register.

Why can't I get a job?(What am I doing wrong?)? Is there something wrong with my resume? I've had interviewers compliment me on my intervewing skills or say that it was a good interview yet I'm jobless... Cover letter: [Recipient Name] [Title] [Company Name] [Street Address] [City, ST ZIP Code] Dear [Recipient Name]: I am writing in response to your advertisement for a [position title] in the [date] edition of the [publication]. It would be a pleasure to meet with you so that we may further discuss my qualifications and I might demonstrate how my abilities fit your companies’ needs precisely. As you’ll see from the enclosed resume, I am proficient in a variety of computer software programs as well as a professional in the customer service industry. I am experienced in handling general office duties and answering phones cordially and courteously. What my resume does not reveal is my professional demeanor and appearance. In a business environment, these qualities are of the utmost importance in dealing with clients as well as co-workers. In me, you’ll discover a reliable, detail-oriented, and extremely hard-working associate. If you will please contact me at [phone number], so that we might schedule a time to further discuss my qualifications. I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, [Your Name] Resume: EXPERIENCE Prince George’s Community College Bookstore, Largo, Maryland Aug. 2009 – Sept. 2009 Customer Service Specialist As a customer service specialist, I aided customers by assisting with the purchase of items such as books, equipment, supplies, and uniforms; completed necessary sales paperwork to finalize transactions; provided guidance on the process for utilizing financial aid, grants, and other resources to purchase materials; answered telephones; and responded to customer inquiries in a friendly efficient manner. Bank of America, Clinton, Maryland March 2008 – Nov. 2008 Teller In my role as a teller, I processed transactions (debits, credits, account transfers, deposits) in accordance with established company policies and procedures; identified customer needs and recommended the appropriate financial products and services to private and business consumers; acted as the front line representative by presenting “The Bank of America Spirit” thereby consistently ensuring that customer needs were met; ensured regulatory requirements such as, Anti-Money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act were followed; and contributed to the positive team environment utilizing 360-degree coaching. Accomplishments: In my position at Bank of America, I contributed to over $150k in share growth; opened approximately 50 new banking memberships; scored 90% on mystery customer program; scored 85% on government and banking regulation courses; and issued over 100 new cross-sales services to banking members. Sears, Clinton, Maryland Aug. 2007 – Jan. 2008 Sales Associate As a sales associate with Sears, my core responsibilities included assisting customers with the completion of necessary paperwork to complete certain large item sales transactions; providing knowledgeable advice on current electronic devices; and assisted customers with opening credit accounts with the company. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Arlington, Virginia July 2004 – Aug. 2006 Clerical Assistant Working as a clerica

Is this a Scam??? Some man wants to send me a check and wants me to cash it for him, take 10% & send it back? I recieved an e mail saying: Dear sir/madam would you like to work online from home /temporarily and get paid ?you can make up to $400 every week and this wont affect your present state of work.My Name is Ciana Yatchins and i will like to know ur ASL and what u do for a living, Am also 28/female/ I working for Fabric Link Company . We source the following variety of clothing materials:- batiks,assorted fabrics for interior decor,silk and traditional costumes which we have clients we supply weekly in the USA. We need someone to work for the company as a Representative in the USA. Our main factory is located in UK while we extract the raw materials needed for the manufacturing of fabrics from Africa,Asia and South Americans We produce standard articles for the promotional, catering, hotel and laundry trades We are in need of a representative reliable that would help us recieve payments from our customers in states pending the time our branch office will be registered. All you have to do is help us recieve payments from our customers in state.These payments are in cheque or money order those check would come to you in your name, so all you need do is cash the cheque collect your payment and wire the rest to us via western union, We are glad to offer you a part-time job position with our company. The company name is Fabric link company Uk and we are located in Khan House, Chattley Street in Manchester, Lancashire Uk. The problem we have is trust,But we have our way of getting anyone that gets away with our money,i mean the IRS.........Hope we can trust you with our money And the company protocal states that all payment made to the company either in Money order or Cashier check must be cash at the bank not any Fanacial institution like Walmart Store or post office.we prefer it to be cashed at the bank so it could have a bank records for record purposes. IS this real??? Or Legal? But what if i dont have a bank account?

Server question for business? I want to set up a server for a medium sized business - 10 - 30 users - using a database application so everyone will share database of one server. we have DSL internet so we have on router in the office - and all PCs are networked via the router - every PC has outlook installed - and gets emails via pop3 from web server - not outlook exchange ! what type of server should i buy? do i need dual core processor - 3 ghz? 2 gb ram - i was going to go for dell - but i thought HP would be better? more reliable. I was hoping to only spend £500 on server - what best advice - my networkign advisor was saying he needs a internet line to supply an Ip address in order to set up network i didnt understand that - im sur eyou can set up a netwirjk without the need for internet - as PCs communicate within the room - i know i need windows 2003 server -

Are these computers good? Hi guy's I'm planning on buying a desktop but I'm not familiar with the brand (Gateway) so I was wondering if these were good quality pc's meaning they are reliable and last long..not made out of cheap crap. Here are its specs: ProcessorAMD Phenom™ II X4 Quad-Core Processor 945 (3.0GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)5 Operating SystemGenuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)6 Memory8GB DDR3 Dual Channel 1333MHz Memory (4 x 2048MB)7 Memory CapacityMaximum 8GB Hard Drive1TB SATA hard drive (Green Product - variable RPM)2 VideoATI Radeon™ HD5570 Graphics card with 1024MB of Dedicated DDR3 VRAM7 Optical DriveBlu-ray Disc™ 4X BD-ROM / DVD-SuperMulti Drive and 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive Power Supply300W Power Supply Application SoftwareMicrosoft® Works & Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 (60-day complimentary trial period)1 AudioHigh Definition Audio with 5.1-channel Surround Support Available Expansion SlotsAvailable: 0 - PCI-E x16, 1 - PCI-E x1, 1 - PCI ChassisDesigned for power and productivity, sleek and stylish mini-tower PC Digital Media SoftwareNero® 9 Essentials and Cyberlink® PowerDVD™ Dimensions (Box)11" (H) x 18" (W) x 23" (D) or 279.4mm (H) x 457.2mm (W) x 584.2mm (D) Dimensions (System)16.23" (H) x 7.09" (W) x 16.27" (D) or 412.4mm (H) x 180mm (W) x 413.2mm (D) External Ports(10) USB 2.0 ports (4 Front, 6 Rear), VGA, DVI, (2) PS/2 Ports, HDMI™, (3) Audio Ports KeyboardMultimedia Keyboard Media Card ReaderMulti-in-One Digital Media Card Reader with Photo Frame Button3 MotherboardSystemboard with AMD® 880G Chipset MouseOptical Mouse Network10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port) Security SoftwareNorton™ Internet Security 2009 (60-day trial)4 Warranty1 Year Parts and Labor Limited Warranty with Toll-Free Tech Support8 Weight25 lbs. (11.3 kg) system unit only / Approximately 30 lbs. (13.6 kg.) box Wireless Network802.11b/g/n Wireless. I'm a hardcore computer gamer I'll tell you that...but I want to know if these are good quality computers..because trust me...ill play for like 2days straight. And also is this the right computer for me? I'm in for gaming/running servers (I run private servers). Anyways yeah..is this the right computer for me and is it good quality. Heres the link to the computer http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668653.php The p.servers I run take like 7gb ram lol

Should i change my story to 1st person? My story is in 3rd person limited and i am thinking of changing it to 1st person an advise? here a snippet from my story...from the middle of the first chapter. Everyone unbuckled and got out of the car. Nikki helped Tomas out of the car and carried him on her hip into the school. Inside was nice and how an Elementary school should be, clean. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Olsen. Welcome to our lovely Portland Elementary School. My name is Gregory Polk. I am the Principal of the school and will be giving you the tour,” said Mr. Polk. “Nice to meet you Mr. Polk,” Wesley said as they shook hands, “Do you have a Pre-Kindergarten program here?” “No Sir we don’t but I believe there is a very reliable day care that teaches numbers and counting down the street near the middle school,” he replied. “Oh thank you. Now may we go on with our tour?” asked Janice. “Oh, yes ma’am. So down this way to your right is the First and Second grade hallway, which I believe this young lady will be in. Am I right?” “Yes she will. So whose class will she be in?” “Ms. Jones’s class. She is an excellent teacher and all of her students have loved her dearly.” “That is very good to hear. May we see her classroom?” Uggg this is so boring! Nikole kept thinking. She glanced at her cell phone, she had a message but missed it because was on silent. Nikole opened the message and it was from Carly, one of her friends from Massachusetts. It said “hey gurl watz up?” she replied saying “just touring the elm skool.” “Nikole keep up,” urged her mother. “Nikki I wanna get down,” Tomas said as he tugged on her shirt. She put him down and he tottered back to Janice. “Yes Ma’am!” she yelled back as she hurried back to the family. She had stopped listening to the principal by now and they were now in the third grade hallway. *VRRRR VRRRR*. Nikole grabbed her phone “Sorry,” she whispered to her parents. It was Carly again, the message read “with your parents? Not fun. Well I gtg bye!” Ok now I have to listen to this guy again. “So this is the hallway where the library and gym are. Out this door here is where the carpool lane and where if your kids are carpooled will go and be dropped off at. Now if you will follow me this way, this is the door to the play area and where recess will be held. The kindergarteners, first and second graders share this play ground and the third through fifth graders share the other areas. Any questions?” “Umm…where will I go if a have to bring my child in late?” Janice asked. “To the front office and you must come inside and sign a late note. Now if your children are normally bus riders and you wish for them to be a car rider you must have them bring in a note or you call the front office, but please bring in a note that is signed by you.” “Ok thank you I think we are all done here……Oh! Do you have a school supply list for my little Izzy here?” “Oh! Yes we do just a minute,” said Mr. Polk as we followed him back to the front office. “Ms. Lisa can you get me a second grade supply list? Thank you. Here you are. Have a great day, see you September 1st.” “Ok Bye,” Wesley said as they exited the school. “Everyone into the car and get buckled. We are going to the middle school next.” “Yeah! Da Midul School!” Tommy yelled. Once everyone got in the car and was buckled they drove off to the middle school. It was only two minutes away. “OK, so we are going to tour the middle school kinda by ourselves this time because the Principal and Vice Principal are still on vacation, but they said the janitor will let us in.” Wesley said as they parked in the middle school parking lot. Everyone got out of the car and walked to entrance of the school and Janice tried to open the door but it was locked. “Great! How are we gonna get in now?” Nikole asked. “Well we will knock on the door until the janitor can hear us.” And at that moment her father began to bang in the door. “Be easy, dear you don’t want to break the door,” Janice warned. “Ya dad. I don’t want to have to owe money to the school before the school year starts,” Sophie added. “Oh all right! And here comes the janitor,” Wesley replied. Soon enough they were in the school and looking around. By around noon they were finished touring the school and asking for lunch. “Momma I hungry. Can we go eat?” Tomas asked. “Yes Tommy but we have to get Sophie’s supply list first,” They were passing by the janitor who was sweeping the floors. “Excuse me sir, but do you know where I can find a supply list for my daughter?” “Sorry Ma’am I don’t, but I think you can find one online at the school web site, or you can come back Thursday to get one from the principal. I suggest going online so you can get your supplies earlier and don’t run into a jam at Wal-Mart,” the old man kindly said. “Thank you sir,” Janice replied sweetly back. “Good day.” They left and went to go eat drive thru at Panera Bread. Finally, some decent food. Yum! After they had had some food they went to t “Thank you sir,” Janice replied sweetly back. “Good day.” They left and went to go eat drive thru at Panera Bread. Finally, some decent food. Yum! After they had had some food they went to the High school. “Now the High School is having an open house. I want all of you to behave yourselves.” Wesley called from the driver’s seat. They arrived at the high school and had to drive to the back of the building for parking. “Jeez, how many people need to tour the school?” Nikole asked. “Whoever is coming this year.” Janice replied sweetly. “The Juniors and seniors don’t, and neither do the other sophomores,” she replied. “Well then I don’t know, sweetie,” Janice said. Nikki heard the car turn off, she unbuckled. “Ok everyone out!” They walked around the building to the front of the school and walked in. “Can we take a personal tour? I really didn’t like following people around very much.” Nikki complained. Sure, but I’d like to talk to your principal so you can see which classes you wanna take.” Janice replied. “But couldn’t we just see who the teachers are? I don’t want to have old teachers for every class.” Nikki sighed to her mom. “Oh all right. You lead the way.” Janice said giving in to her daughters wants. Yes! Finally I get to chose. She went down the first hallway and found the cafeteria. She saw that it was fairly large and it had a wafting smell of fried fish. “Eww…I hope we don’t have to eat anything that smells like this!!!” Nikole said to her dad in disgust of the smell. “Well you can pack a lunch if you want to, Sweetie,” He replied. “Ok, let’s head to the right, to find the bathroom.” Nikki said almost triumphantly. They found the restroom and took a “potty” break. Nikole prettied herself up so that if any cute boys were here she would look decent, even if her family didn’t. Nikki led them to the first hallway with classrooms.

what to expect? I reclassed 11B? i reenlisted to 11B. Why im sure you ask....Because im tired of being in an office. A lil about my self...... Im 26, single no kids and a SGT(P). current MOS 74D. ive been to korea, fort polk and now im at hood. for the past 4 years ive been doing more of supply, to the point where i was a supply sergeant for a year. Durring a deployment and back in the rear. Ive recently been moved to the training room, but wait im still doing supply too! so not only do i have 2 MOS's down packed but also a duty position as well. they work me i will say that lol. im one of the most important people in my unit. but lately ive grown tired of it. i tried to reclass my 1 and 2nd reenlistment to infantry but they didn't let me. the opportunity came up and i jumped on it. now im going to infantry school in july. ive been reading FM's and trying to get it down. but i dont have time to actually train on anything. i seriously dont have the time for it durring the duty day. so ive been rucking after hours. but still i really want to get to my next unit and at least not seem jacked up. My 1SG, and CSM (who is 11B) have told me i will do great. but still i want to have it down. So I guess my question is what can i expect from soldiers and NCO's who are 11B about me. Will i get sh*ted on? or at least be given the opportunity to learn traint and then teach? My worst fear is that ill get to the next unit and they'll say of your a reclass what have you done....of supply, NBC, training room, HQ PLT it is for you. if that's so i will do my remainder of the time and get out. My 1SG said im a competent, confident, reliable, independent, Intelligent NCO so ill be ok....but still. oh yead im good lol, i was never the office type.... i was in 2nd ID and loved it. absolutely loved it. i miss the days just having to watch yourself and your soldiers. i love it for me ill hate it like everyone else but atleast well all hate it together but KNOW it has to be done.

I GOT THOSE SPAM MAIL WHAT DO I DO WILL IT GIVE ME VIRUSES? SORRY THIS IS SO LONG BUT I GOT THREE BARRISTER FRANK MAWU, CORPORATE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS, ARBITRATORS AND PROPERTY CONSULTANTS, 126 Harrison Rue, Lome Togo Alternative Email:barr_fmawu_tg00@hotmail.com Dear Kim Jonghyun, I am Barrister Frank Mawu(Esq)solicitor at law, personal attorney to Mr.B.J.Uzumaki,a national Of your country,who used to work with Shell Development Company in Lome Togo,as a registered contractor. Here in after shall be referred to as my client. and it happen that the man registered to me as his personal attorney. Unfortunately the man died in a motor accident which happened on 31st October, 2002. All occupants of the motor unfortunately lost there lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.After these several unsuccessful attempts,I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence i contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$10.5 million left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the Security Finance Firm where this huge amount were deposited. The Security Finance Company has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days. Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me through this email:barr_fmawu_tg00@hotmail.com for more details. Best regards, Barrister Frank Mawu,Esq. AND OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN CONTRACT AWARD & PROCUREMENT COMMITTEE, ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) ANNEX,LOME REPULIC OF TOGO. "Strictly confidential" ACCOUNT PROVISION FOR USD 32 MILLION. Attn, Forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as a surprise and if it might offend you without your prior consent and writing through this channel. I am DR. FRANK ADAMS,The Chairman, Contract Awarding committee of the ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES ( ECOWAS)with Headquarters in Lome, Togo. I got your contact through hotmail network on line in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction that involves a transfer of fund to a foreign account and I decided to write you. After discussing my view and your profile with my colleagues,they were very much satisfied and decided to contact you immediately for this mutual business relationship.We wish to transfer the sum of USD 32m (Thirty-Two Million United States Dollars only.)into your personal or company`s bank account. This fund was a residue of the over invoiced contract bills awarded by us for the supply of hard/softwares,phamaceauticals/medical items,light and heavy duty vehicles, apperals and other administrative logistics etc for the ECOMOG in Sierria-Leone and Liberia during the Peace Keeping Projects. This DEAL was deliberately hatched out and carefully protected with all the attendant lope holes sealed off.As the Chairman of CAC,I have the cooperation and mandate of the Financial Director and the Secretary of the Organisation.We arranged and over invoiced the contract funds supplied by different companies from different countries during the crisis. It was our consensus to seek the assistance of a willing foreigner to provide us with the facilities to transfer this money out of West Africa.This is borne out of our beleif in the non-stable and sporous political nature of this sub- region. The original contractors have been duely paid by the Banque Centrale Des Etats De L`Afrique De L`Ouest (Central Bank of the West African States)through our bankers-INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AFRICA(IBA)UNION TOGOLAISE DE BANQUE(UTB),ECO BANK,BTCI BANK LOME TOGO. This balance is suspended in the escrow accounts awaiting claims by any foreign company of our choice.We intend to pay out this fund now as the organisation is winding up its activities since the aim of returning PEACE to the countries and the coast has been achieved. Based on the laws and ethics of employment,we as civil servants working under this organisation, are not allowed to operate a foreign account. This is the more reason why we needed your assistance to provide an account that can sustain this fund

Uh oh, is this bad what do i do?? read? BARRISTER FRANK MAWU, CORPORATE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS, ARBITRATORS AND PROPERTY CONSULTANTS, 126 Harrison Rue, Lome Togo Alternative Email:barr_fmawu_tg00@hotmail.com Dear Kim Jonghyun, I am Barrister Frank Mawu(Esq)solicitor at law, personal attorney to Mr.B.J.Uzumaki,a national Of your country,who used to work with Shell Development Company in Lome Togo,as a registered contractor. Here in after shall be referred to as my client. and it happen that the man registered to me as his personal attorney. Unfortunately the man died in a motor accident which happened on 31st October, 2002. All occupants of the motor unfortunately lost there lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.After these several unsuccessful attempts,I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence i contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$10.5 million left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the Security Finance Firm where this huge amount were deposited. The Security Finance Company has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days. Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me through this email:barr_fmawu_tg00@hotmail.com for more details. Best regards, Barrister Frank Mawu,Esq. AND OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN CONTRACT AWARD & PROCUREMENT COMMITTEE, ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) ANNEX,LOME REPULIC OF TOGO. "Strictly confidential" ACCOUNT PROVISION FOR USD 32 MILLION. Attn, Forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as a surprise and if it might offend you without your prior consent and writing through this channel. I am DR. FRANK ADAMS,The Chairman, Contract Awarding committee of the ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES ( ECOWAS)with Headquarters in Lome, Togo. I got your contact through hotmail network on line in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential transaction that involves a transfer of fund to a foreign account and I decided to write you. After discussing my view and your profile with my colleagues,they were very much satisfied and decided to contact you immediately for this mutual business relationship.We wish to transfer the sum of USD 32m (Thirty-Two Million United States Dollars only.)into your personal or company`s bank account. This fund was a residue of the over invoiced contract bills awarded by us for the supply of hard/softwares,phamaceauticals/medical items,light and heavy duty vehicles, apperals and other administrative logistics etc for the ECOMOG in Sierria-Leone and Liberia during the Peace Keeping Projects. This DEAL was deliberately hatched out and carefully protected with all the attendant lope holes sealed off.As the Chairman of CAC,I have the cooperation and mandate of the Financial Director and the Secretary of the Organisation.We arranged and over invoiced the contract funds supplied by different companies from different countries during the crisis. It was our consensus to seek the assistance of a willing foreigner to provide us with the facilities to transfer this money out of West Africa.This is borne out of our beleif in the non-stable and sporous political nature of this sub- region. The original contractors have been duely paid by the Banque Centrale Des Etats De L`Afrique De L`Ouest (Central Bank of the West African States)through our bankers-INTERNATIONAL BANK OF AFRICA(IBA)UNION TOGOLAISE DE BANQUE(UTB),ECO BANK,BTCI BANK LOME TOGO. This balance is suspended in the escrow accounts awaiting claims by any foreign company of our choice.We intend to pay out this fund now as the organisation is winding up its activities since the aim of returning PEACE to the countries and the coast has been achieved. Based on the laws and ethics of employment,we as civil servants working under this organisation, are not allowed to operate a foreign account. This is the more reason why we needed your assistance to provide an account that can sustain this fund for safe keeping

Outside of religion, what do you think is the difference between good and evil? Outside of religion, what do you think is the difference between good and evil? just to make things easier, here are some definitions; Good; 1. morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious: a good man. 2. satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree: a good teacher; good health. 3. of high quality; excellent. 4. right; proper; fit: It is good that you are here. His credentials are good. 5. well-behaved: a good child. 6. kind, beneficent, or friendly: to do a good deed. 7. honorable or worthy; in good standing: a good name. 8. educated and refined: She has a good background. 9. financially sound or safe: His credit is good. 10. genuine; not counterfeit: a good quarter. 11. sound or valid: good judgment; good reasons. 12. reliable; dependable; responsible: good advice. 13. healthful; beneficial: Fresh fruit is good for you. 14. in excellent condition; healthy: good teeth. 15. not spoiled or tainted; edible; palatable: The meat was still good after three months in the freezer. 16. favorable; propitious: good news. 17. cheerful; optimistic; amiable: in good spirits. 18. free of distress or pain; comfortable: to feel good after surgery. 19. agreeable; pleasant: Have a good time. 20. attractive; handsome: She has a good figure. 21. (of the complexion) smooth; free from blemish. 22. close or intimate; warm: She's a good friend of mine. 23. sufficient or ample: a good supply. 24. advantageous; satisfactory for the purpose: a good day for fishing. 25. competent or skillful; clever: a good manager; good at arithmetic. 26. skillfully or expertly done: a really good job; a good play. 27. conforming to rules of grammar, usage, etc.; correct: good English. 28. socially proper: good manners. 29. remaining available to one: Don't throw good money after bad. 30. comparatively new or of relatively fine quality: Don't play in the mud in your good clothes. 31. best or most dressy: He wore his good suit to the office today. 32. full: a good day's journey away. 33. fairly large or great: a good amount. 34. free from precipitation or cloudiness: good weather. 35. Medicine/Medical. (of a patient's condition) having stable and normal vital signs, being conscious and comfortable, and having excellent appetite, mobility, etc. 36. fertile; rich: good soil. 37. loyal: a good Democrat. 38. (of a return or service in tennis, squash, handball, etc.) landing within the limits of a court or section of a court. 39. Horse Racing. (of the surface of a track) drying after a rain so as to be still slightly sticky: This horse runs best on a good track. 40. (of meat, esp. beef) noting or pertaining to the specific grade below “choice,” containing more lean muscle and less edible fat than “prime” or “choice.” 41. favorably regarded (used as an epithet for a ship, town, etc.): the good ship Syrena. Evil; 1. morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life. 2. harmful; injurious: evil laws. 3. characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering; unfortunate; disastrous: to be fallen on evil days. 4. due to actual or imputed bad conduct or character: an evil reputation. 5. marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc.: He is known for his evil disposition.

!!!PLEASE ANSWER!!! how do you know how much you can upgrade your laptop computer? PLEASE READ THE MORE INFO !? ok i dont currently have the laptop but i want it but wannna know what i can upgrade it to i know each computer be it a desktop or laptop has a limit to how much you can upgrade it its all how much your motherboard can handle but how do i know?here are the specifications in detail, ok first of all its a "emachine" and an "acer" LAPTOP so here they are eMachines Black 15.6" eME725-4520 Laptop PC with Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor T4400 & Windows 7 Home Premium Stay productive and have fun with the eMachines eME725-4520 Notebook featuring reliable Intel Pentium processing, 15.6" widescreen display, Intel GMA 4500M graphics and Windows 7 Home Premium. It is everything you need to easily accomplish deadlines, browse the Internet, keep up with your social networks, have fun with digital media and more, on-the-go. Key Features & Benefits Intel Pentium Processor T4400 2.20 GHz, 800 MHz Front Side Bus, 1 MB L2 Cache 3GB DDR2 system memory Enough memory to handle today's most memory-hungry applications 250GB 5400 RPM SATA hard drive Store your music, videos, photos and documents with plenty of space to spare SuperMulti 8X DVD+ with Double Layer Support Play and create CDs and DVDs with this DVD/CD burner drive Wired Ethernet; Wireless WiFi Connect to a broadband modem with 10/100 Gigabit Ethernet; Connect wirelessly to a WiFi network or hotspot with built-in 802.11b/g WLAN (No Draft-N on this unit) 15.6" HD Widescreen High-Brightness LCD Display 1366 x 768 resolution; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M with 1695 MB video memory Additional Features 5-in-1 digital media reader 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x VGA connector, 1 x headphone/speaker/line-out jack, 1 x microphone-in jack, 1 x RJ-45 port, 1 x DC-in jack for AC adapter 6-cell lithium-ion battery (up to 2.5 hours) AC power supply included Software Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (To learn more about the features of Windows 7, click here) Microsoft Works & Microsoft Office 2007 Home & Student 60-day trial Norton Internet Security 2009 60-day trial Processor Brand: Intel Processor Type: Intel Pentium T4400 Hard Drive Size: 250 GB Resolution: 1366 x 768 System Ram: 3 GB Type: Computers Model No.: eME725-4520 Shipping Weight (in pounds): 8.35 Product in Inches (L x W x H): 10.8 x 14.4 x 1.5 Assembled in Country of Origin: USA and/or Imported Origin of Components: USA and/or Imported Wal-Mart No.: 000595496 well there it is copied and pasted lol PLEASE ANSWER thankyou btw i saw it on walmart.com heres the link to it if you want, http://www.walmart.com/ip/15.6-250-GB-eME725-4520/13374563 THANKS

Help ! Which laptop I should buy ?Thinkpad SL 410 or G560 Lenovo !!!!!!!!? G560 Lenovo Thinkpad SL410 Intel T6570 2.1GHz Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Laptop DVD +/- RW Integrated Webcam LED Backlit Display 802.11 b/g/n 5.1 lbs Item # 502669 Be the first to write a review. Share this Product: $699.99 Shipping & Handling included * Thinkpad Sl 410 Processor: Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor T6570 at 2.1GHz 800 MHz Front Side Bus 2MB L2 cache Memory: 3GB DDR3 at 1066MHz Drives: 320GB 5400 RPM SATA hard drive DVD +/- RW, DVD burner dual layer ThinkPad Shock Mounted HD - a rubber isolator and metal cage to protect the hard drive. Active Protection System - helps protect data by temporarily stopping the hard drive when sudden motion is detected. Graphics & Video: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD 14.0” HD (1366 x 768) Vibrant View LED Backlight (16:9 aspect ratio) Communications: 802.11 b/g/n wireless 10/100/1000 Ethernet 2.0 Megapixel webcam Access Connections – convenient software to manage your connectivity options as you move from location to location Audio: 2 built in stereo speakers (1.5 watt) Keyboard: Full size, ergonomic keyboard – the legendary ThinkPad keyboard, renown for its excellent feel. Spill-resistant keyboard – funnels spilled liquid to a drain home in the bottom of the system. Multimedia Fn keys UltraNavTM 2 button, MultiTouch touch pad below keyboard with scroll feature TrackPoint ® pointing device – convenient little red TrackPoint pointing device in the center of the keyboard. Expandability: 7-in-1 card reader Ports: 3 – 2.0 USB Ports 1x eSata/USB Combo Port External Monitor (VGA) RJ45 Mic In / Headphone HDMI Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit LENOVO ENHANCED EXPERIENCE FOR WINDOWS(r)7. FAST. SECURE. BUILT FOR BUSINESS. Discover a better way of doing business with the new Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows(r)7 on Think PCs. Faster, more durable and greener Think PCs are optimized for Windows(r)7 to deliver improved ease of use. It enhances productivity and foolproof security that your business cannot do without. Additional Software: McAfee VirusScan® Plus with SiteAdvisor™ (30 days of virus definitions) PC-Doctor™ (diagnostics) Adobe® Reader Windows Live™ Toolbar Microsoft Office 2007 Trial (60-day) Roxio® Creator® Small Business Edition (DVD±RW) Roxio MyDVD® (DVD±RW) Corel® WinDVD® (DVD±RW) Skype Rescue and Recovery™ Access Connections™ Password Manager ThinkVantage System Update ThinkPad Utilities (Power Manager and Presentation Director) Power Supply: 6 cell lithium Ion battery (up to 4 hr) Additional Information: (W X D X H) 13.54" x 9.17" x 1.26 ~ 1.42" Weight: 5.1 lb Energy Star® 5.0 Compliant EPEAT Gold Qualified Climate Savers Certified Really need a laptop that is good with battery, and lightweight. Daily use for school and home !! Not easy to be obsolete !!! Plz help !!! Personally, I really like the thinkpad design and I think it looks great !! I used for my computer and i love the thinkpad !! really reliable !!! but SL 410 the CPU is a little bit slow !! but the G560 has the ten-key pad ...!!!! G5 Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-430M Processor at 2.26GHz 800 MHz Front Side Bus 3MB L2 cache Memory: 4GB DDR3 at 1066MHz Drives: 320GB 5400 RPM SATA hard drive DVD +/- RW, DVD burner dual layer Graphics & Video: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD 15.6” (1366 x 768) HD LED Backlight (16:9 widescreen) Communications: 802.11 b/g/n wireless 10/100 Ethernet 0.3 Megapixel webcam Audio: 2x 2 Watt stereo speakers with audio enhancement Keyboard: One piece touchpad for easier manipulation of images and web pages Numeric keypad for easier data entry and gaming Expandability: 5-in-1 multicard reader Ports: 2x 2.0 USB Ports + 1 USB/eSATA Combo Port 1x 34mm ExpressCard slot External Monitor (VGA) RJ45 Mic In / Headphone Kensington Lock HDMI Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7 offers a faster, richer and easier way to use your PC. GEnhanced Experience PCs feature

I got a severe email, what should I do? Please read!? FROM: GEORGE WALKER BUSH 202.456.1414 / 202.456.1111 FAX: 202.456.2461 DEAR SIR / MADAM, I AM GEORGE WALKER BUSH, SON OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, AND CURRENTLY SERVING AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU BECAUSE WE HAVE MET NEITHER IN PERSON NOR BY CORRESPONDENCE. I CAME TO KNOW OF YOU IN MY SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND REPUTABLE PERSON TO HANDLE A VERY CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS TRANSACTION, WHICH INVOLVES THE TRANSFER OF A HUGE SUM OF MONEY TO AN ACCOUNT REQUIRING MAXIMUM CONFIDENCE. I AM WRITING YOU IN ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE PRIMARILY TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE IN ACQUIRING OIL FUNDS THAT ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ. MY PARTNERS AND I SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE IN COMPLETING A TRANSACTION BEGUN BY MY FATHER, WHO HAS LONG BEEN ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE EXTRACTION OF PETROLEUM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND BRAVELY SERVED HIS COUNTRY AS DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. (CIA) IN THE DECADE OF THE NINETEEN-EIGHTIES, MY FATHER, THEN VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SOUGHT TO WORK WITH THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ TO REGAIN LOST OIL REVENUE SOURCES IN THE NEIGHBORING ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. THIS UNSUCCESSFUL VENTURE WAS SOON FOLLOWED BY A FALLING OUT WITH HIS IRAQI PARTNER, WHO SOUGHT TO ACQUIRE ADDITIONAL OIL REVENUE SOURCES IN THE NEIGHBORING EMIRATE OF KUWAIT, A WHOLLY-OWNED U.S.-BRITISH SUBSIDIARY. MY FATHER RE-SECURED THE PETROLEUM ASSETS OF KUWAIT IN 1991 AT A COST OF SIXTY-ONE BILLION U.S. DOLLARS ($61,000,000,000). OUT OF THAT COST, THIRTY-SIX BILLION DOLLARS ($36,000,000,000) WERE SUPPLIED BY HIS PARTNERS IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA AND OTHER PERSIAN GULF MONARCHIES, AND SIXTEEN BILLION DOLLARS ($16,000,000,000) BY GERMAN AND JAPANESE PARTNERS. BUT MY FATHER'S FORMER IRAQI BUSINESS PARTNER REMAINED IN CONTROL OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ AND ITS PETROLEUM RESERVES. MY FAMILY IS CALLING FOR YOUR URGENT ASSISTANCE IN FUNDING THE REMOVAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ AND ACQUIRING THE PETROLEUM ASSETS OF HIS COUNTRY, AS COMPENSATION FOR THE COSTS OF REMOVING HIM FROM POWER. UNFORTUNATELY, OUR PARTNERS FROM 1991 ARE NOT WILLING TO SHOULDER THE BURDEN OF THIS NEW VENTURE, WHICH IN ITS UPCOMING PHASE MAY COST THE SUM OF 100 BILLION TO 200 BILLION DOLLARS ($100,000,000,000 - $200,000,000,000), BOTH IN THE INITIAL ACQUISITION AND IN LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT. WITHOUT THE FUNDS FROM OUR 1991 PARTNERS, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE THE OIL REVENUE TRAPPED WITHIN IRAQ. THAT IS WHY MY FAMILY AND OUR COLLEAGUES ARE URGENTLY SEEKING YOUR GRACIOUS ASSISTANCE. OUR DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUES IN THIS BUSINESS TRANSACTION INCLUDE THE SITTING VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RICHARD CHENEY, WHO IS AN ORIGINAL PARTNER IN THE IRAQ VENTURE AND FORMER HEAD OF THE HALLIBURTON OIL COMPANY, AND CONDOLEEZA RICE, WHOSE PROFESSIONAL DEDICATION TO THE VENTURE WAS DEMONSTRATED IN THE NAMING OF A CHEVRON OIL TANKER AFTER HER... I WOULD BESEECH YOU TO TRANSFER A SUM EQUALING TEN TO TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT (10-25 %) OF YOUR YEARLY INCOME TO OUR ACCOUNT TO AID IN THIS IMPORTANT VENTURE. THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (IRS) WILL FUNCTION AS OUR TRUSTED INTERMEDIARY. I PROPOSE THAT YOU MAKE THIS TRANSFER BEFORE THE FIFTEENTH (15TH) OF THE MONTH OF APRIL. I KNOW THAT A TRANSACTION OF THIS MAGNITUDE WOULD MAKE ANYONE APPREHENSIVE AND WORRIED. BUT I AM ASSURING YOU THAT ALL WILL BE WELL AT THE END OF THE DAY. A BOLD STEP TAKEN SHALL NOT BE REGRETTED, I ASSURE YOU. PLEASE DO BE INFORMED THAT THIS BUSINESS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO CO-OPERATE IN THIS TRANSACTION, PLEASE CONTACT OUR INTERMEDIARY REPRESENTATIVES TO FURTHER DISCUSS THE MATTER. I PRAY THAT YOU UNDERSTAND OUR PLIGHT. MY FAMILY AND OUR COLLEAGUES WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL. PLEASE REPLY IN STRICT CONFIDENCE TO THE CONTACT NUMBERS BELOW. SINCERELY WITH WARM REGARDS, GEORGE WALKER BUSH Switchboard: 202.456.1414 Comments: 202.456.1111 Fax: 202.456.2461 president@whitehouse.gov It's a joke. You have to read the whole thing to understand. It's freaking funny!

A George W. Plan To Get Out Of Our National Debt (short attention spans, don't even try this one)? Dear Sir/Madam, I am George Walker Bush, son of the former president of the United States of America, George Herbert Walker Bush, and currently serving as President of the United States of America. This letter might surprise you because we have not met neither in person nor by correspondence. I came to know of you in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential business transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to an account requiring maximum confidence. I am writing you in absolute confidence primarily to seek your assistance in acquiring oil funds that are presently trapped in the Republic of Iraq. My partners and I solicit your assistance in completing a transaction begun by my father, who has long been actively engaged in the extraction of petroleum in the United States of America, and bravely served his country as Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. In the decade of the nineteen-eighties, my father, then Vice President of the United States of America, sought to work with the good offices of the President of the Republic of Iraq to regain lost oil revenue sources in the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran. This unsuccessful venture was soon followed by a falling-out with his Iraqi partner, who sought to acquire additional oil revenue sources in the neighboring Emirate of Kuwait, a wholly-owned U.S.-British subsidiary. My father re-secured the petroleum assets of Kuwait in 1991 at a cost of sixty-one billion U.S. dollars ($61,000,000,000). Out of that cost, thirty-six billion dollars ($36,000,000,000) were supplied by his partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf monarchies, and sixteen billion dollars ($16,000,000,000) by German and Japanese partners. But my father's former Iraqi business partner remained in control of the Republic of Iraq and its petroleum reserves. My family is calling for your urgent assistance in funding the removal of the President of the Republic of Iraq and acquiring the petroleum assets of his country, as compensation for the costs of removing him from power. Unfortunately, our partners from 1991 are not willing to shoulder the burden of this new venture, which in its upcoming phase may cost the sum of 100 billion to 200 billion dollars ($100,000,000,000 - $200,000,000,000), both in the initial acquisition and in long-term management. Without the funds from our 1991 partners, we would not be able to acquire the oil revenue trapped within Iraq. That is why my family and our colleagues are urgently seeking your gracious assistance. Our distinguished colleagues in this business transaction, include the sitting Vice President of the United States of America, Richard Cheney, who is an original partner in the Iraq venture as the former head of Halliburton company, and Condoleeza Rice, whose professional dedication to the venture was demonstrated in the naming of a Chevron oil tanker after her. I would beseech you to transfer a sum equaling ten to twenty-five percent (10-25%) of your yearly income to our account to aid in this important venture. The Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America will function as our trusted intermediary. I propose that you make this transfer before the fifteenth (15th) of the month of april. I know that a transaction of this magnitude would make anyone apprehensive and worried. But I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. A bold step taken shall not be regretted, I assure you. Please do be informed that this business transaction is 100% legal. If you do not wish to cooperate in this transaction, please contact our intermediary representatives to further discuss the matter. I pray that you understand our plight. My family and our colleagues will be forever grateful. Please reply in strict confidence to the contact numbers below. Sincerely with warm regards, George Walker Bush 202-456-1111 TTY/TDD 202-456-6213 Looks like jokes about Bush, make some people instantly stupid. Or they really did vote for him. FYI, the phone numbers are real, if someone wants to put in a personal call to the Whitehouse..

Would you like the true definition of Hypocrisy? Last month the Swiss foreign minister visited Iran and, together with President Ahmadinejad, attended the signing of a multi-billion euro contract for Iran to supply Switzerland with large amounts of natural gas over the next 25 years. The US State Department immediately condemned the deal and said it would be investigating whether it breached the Iran Sanctions Act. Israel complained too, describing the Swiss minister's visit to Tehran as an "act unfriendly to Israel". Various Jewish groups also joined in the protests, including the World Jewish Congress. This righteous indignation was entirely predictable but more than a little odd nevertheless. On March 30, the Swiss newspaper Sonntag retaliated with the revelation that Israel, supposedly observing an ironclad boycott of all things Iranian, has been buying Iranian oil for years. The story is in German but Israeli journalist <http://www.arendt-art.de/deutsch/elam_shraga.htm>Shraga Elam has provided me with a translation which I'll quote from here. "Israel imports Iranian oil on a large scale even though contacts with Iran and purchasing of its products are officially boycotted by Israel. Israel gets around the boycott by having the oil delivered via Europe. A reliable Israeli energy newsletter, EnergiaNews, reported this last week [March 18] ... "EnergiaNews got the information about the Iran trade from sources with ties to the management of Israeli Oil Refineries Ltd ... According to EnergiaNews the Iranian oil is liked in Israel because its quality is better than other crude oils. "The report by EnergiaNews editor Moshe Shalev states that the Iranian oil reaches various European ports, mainly in Rotterdam. It is bought by Israelis and the necessary European bill of lading and insurance papers are supplied. Then it is transported to Haifa in Israel. The importer is the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Co (EAPC), which keeps its oil sources secret." EAPC was established in 1968 as a joint Israeli-Iranian company to transport oil from Iran to Europe. After the fall of the Shah, Iran ceased to play an active role in its affairs and there are ongoing legal disputes between the two partners. The Swiss report continued: "It is not clear if the Iranian exporters know about Israeli purchases of their oil. At the other end, the Israeli buyers and governmental offices are well aware of where the high-grade oil comes from, although it is a blatant defiance of the boycott. The EnergiaNews article even made it through Israeli censorship, which asked only for some changes in the text. The fact that the report cleared the censors increases the credibility of the information. In the past, such reports were forbidden. "When questioned by Sonntag, an energy expert of one of the leading Israeli papers confirmed the EnergiaNews report: Israel has been importing Iranian oil for many years. The expert stressed, however, that the purchases were made on the free market and not directly from Iran." Sonntag quoted a spokesman forOil Refineries Ltd as denying that his company imports and processes Iranian oil. However, Sonntag pointed to a report in Haaretz newspaper last October which said that an Israeli energy company called Paz would be refining Iranian oil and supplying it to the Palestinian Authority from the start of this year. This begs the question: if Iran is, as Bibi Netanyahu argues, an existential threat to Israel, why does the government allow such trade? Would Israel have the US attack Iran's nuclear programme and provoke a potential region-wide conflict while it cannot seem to wean itself from high quality Iranian crude? You'd think if Israelis are cowering in fear from an Iranian bomb and the arch antisemite Ahmadinejad, they wouldn't want to trade with such an enemy. When is a boycott not a boycott? When it's in your naked economic interest to circumvent it, apparently. But one should ask: if Israel doesn't honour its self-declared boycott of Iran, why should the rest of the world honour its boycott of Hamas and Gaza? If Israel doesn't honour its own boycott, then why should members of Congress vote with AIPAC when it proposes a measure that even Israel honours only in the breach? It's interesting to note from a discussion (in Hebrew) on the Kedma website that Israel does not formally define Iran as an "enemy nation" and therefore in a strictly legal sense such trade is permissible. Ironically, Iran too has a boycott against Israel in place and is violating its own measures in that regard. Furthermore, the same commenter notes that Israel last week dismissed attempts to engage Syria in a diplomatic process as a failure because Syria refuses to renounce its ties with Iran. Do I hear the word "hypocrisy"? sorry a it long, but ultimately rewarding ;o)

Does anyone know a good cheap reliable office supplies firm in UK? Fed up with mine?

Does anyone know a good cheap reliable LOCAL office supplies firm in south-east london? Fed up with mine?

Theft at work???? What do you do when an experiences, valued, and otherwise highly reliable employee confesses that he has been dipping into the petty cash? Although the individual amounts he "borrowed" from petty cash never exceeded $25, the total probably exceeded $250 over the last six months. He wrote false receipts to cover the money until he could make repayment, and, in fact, he claims to have returned all of the borrowed funds. If the false receipt was still in the box, he would remove it; if not, then it would appear that petty cash was "to the good." Several members of the office have access to the petty cash in case of overdue postage or other delivery charges or other small office-related needs and supplies.

I'm sending something from an ebay purchase. What's the best Post Office shipment method? Thanks!? I'm sending a camcorder (roughly 1-2 pounds, package much less than 84" like lenght+ girth is like 20" or so) so would I send it "Parcel Post service"Package" (as opposed to large package or somethign)? Also, HUGE idea. Would a flat rate box be cheaper than doing Parcel Post??? Really need to figure this one out. thanks! It's not exactly media but it "makes media" so I don't think I can send it Media Mail, right? I could send it priority, but then it'd be more expensive. Also HUGE question. I'm likely going to Ship Parcel Post (package/large envelope method). How exact do I need to be with the weight? Like it's a around 4-5 pounds to ship. If I'm one pound off, like if I say it's 5 pounds and it's really 4 or really 6, what happens (if it's 4 I think I just would've paid extra, will they return it if it's 6 and I said it was 5)? I guess The Safest most precise thing to do is package it all up in box and then just weight everything I'm sending on a precise post office scale to get exact weight and then plug the exact weight into the printing of the shipping label?? thanks! I thought of looking up the item on amazon which shows exact weight and shipping weight, but really it's combined too items so the combined shipping weight of both would be less than the combined two individual ones (because less boxes and packaging, consolidated) so I think i'll have to weight it at the post office just to be sure. Just trying to figure out the best configuration to print my own shipping label (I like doing it yourself and I learn more and it's cheaper and I got ripped off last time I tried to send parcel from ups at the store). Also....HOW EXACTLY does the cost of sending Post office packages occur? LIke is it more based on distance (further away zip code)? What's the formula? thanks! Here's my Okay game plan, get box from Albertson's fruit market, put item in box and weight it at shell station, try to get free packaging tape, go home enter in weight and dimensions of packaged box into shipping label page, print label, go back to shell and send it! Sound good? >>> copied from p.o. site* Express Mail® service - Letters, large or thick envelopes, tubes, and packages containing mailable items can be sent using Express Mail. This guaranteed service includes tracking and insurance up to $100.00 USD free of charge. Additional incremental insurance purchased online up to $500.00 USD costs $1.00 USD for every $100.00 USD of insurance. Delivery to most destinations is available 365 days a year. Express Mail delivery options for weekends and holidays are not available for PayPal Shipping. Free Express Mail® envelopes, boxes, and tubes are available at the Post Office™ or ordered online at USPS.com. * Priority Mail® service - Large or thick envelopes, tubes, and packages containing mailable items can be sent using Priority Mail®. This service is typically used to send documents, gifts, and merchandise. Free Priority Mail® envelopes, boxes, and tubes are available at the Post Office or ordered online at USPS.com. * First-Class Mail® Parcel service - Envelopes and small packages that are at least 3/4 of an inch at their thickest point and weigh 13 ounces or less. If not greater than 3/4 of an inch thick, the contents must be prepared in a strong and rigid container. A shipper who selects First Class Mail with Delivery Confirmation must meet the following requirements: o Articles that measure 1/4 to 3/4 inch thick must be machinable according to DMM 401.1.0. o Articles must be rigid or inflexible either because of the container or because of the item itself. o Any article over 3/4 inch thick at its thickest point is eligible and need not be rigid. * Parcel Post® service - Small and large packages, thick envelopes, and tubes containing gifts and merchandise can be sent using Parcel Post®. * Media Mail® service - Small and large packages, thick envelopes, and tubes can be sent using Media Mail®. Used for books, film, manuscripts, printed music, printed test materials, sound recordings, play scripts, printed educational charts, loose-leaf pages and binders consisting of medical information, video tapes, and computer recorded media such as CD-ROMs and diskettes. Media Mail® cannot contain advertising. o Media Mail® Restrictions - Media Mail® can only be used to send books, film, manuscripts, printed music, printed test materials, sound recordings, play scripts, printed educational charts, loose-leaf pages and binders consisting of medical information, video tapes, and computer recorded media such as CD-ROMs and diskettes. Media Mail® cannot contain advertising. * Priority Mail® International service - Reliable and economical for sending packages four pounds and under to over 51 countries. Free carrier pickup and free shipping supplies. Total package value must be under$400.00 USD to be eligible for Priority

Military wife looking for a job can you help? Please I have applied to so many jobs and I have such a hard time finding a job in my local area! I am a military wife that has just moved to Quantico, VA from Pennsylvania. I have so much experience more then what is on my resume. What is not on my resume is my bartending and retail experience! I am am fast learning multi-tasker!! I have excellent customer service and administrative skills including proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and the Internet as well as filing and phone experience that would be an asset to your company. In addition, I am an experienced billing manager. I am also a very motivated, reliable professional, who learns quickly and has the ability to work with diverse populations in fast paced environments, independently or within a team. ANY JOB OFFERS Please contact me via phone(267-679-4665) or e-mail (alexandria.blank@yahoo.com)!!! I am looking for about $10/hr Full-time! I have placed my resume below PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP!! I am an HONEST hard worker!!! (I can send you my resume in a word doc.!!) Alexandria Blank 11022 Poynter Street Quantico, Virginia 22134 Cell (267) 679-4665 alexandria.blank@yahoo.com Objective To obtain a position where my excellent customer service and administrative skills can be utilized in a company with growth potential. Summary of Qualifications -Excellent customer service skills and able to effectively serve and work with diverse populations and ages including supervisors, colleagues, customers and vendors. -Proficient in Microsoft Word, Power Point and the Internet. -Exceptional organizational and administrative skills, with ability to set up and maintain confidential filing systems, answer single and multi-line telephones, and deliver messages promptly. -Motivated and proactive with ability to work in fast paced environments independently or in a team. -Proven marketing skills including product information, design and location. -Over two (2) years experience accurately handling cash and balancing books. Professional Experience Manager Maui Wowi (Gourmet Coffee & Smoothies), Langhorne, PA (3/07-1/08) -Responsible for the complete operation of the store, including reconciling daily cash and sales, and supervising staff. -Provided excellent customer service at all times by greeting and assisting customers, and promptly and professionally responding to customer inquiries and complaints. -Monitored sales activities to ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods and conducted marketing of store and products. -Responsible to recruit, hire, train, supervise, evaluate, schedule and complete payroll for employees. -Directed and supervised employees engaged in sales, inventory-taking, reconciling cash receipts, or in performing services for customers. -Performed inventory of stock and reordered when inventory dropped to a specified level. -Maintained records of purchases, sales, and requisitions. Examined products purchased for resale or received for storage to assess the condition of each product or item. -Enforced safety, health, and security rules and maintained clean store at all times. -Assisted in the performance of work activities of subordinates, such as cleaning and organizing shelves and displays and selling merchandise. Alexandria Blank Page two Billing Manager Wilco Electronics Inc. (Cable & Alarm Company), Fort Washington, PA (1/06-10/06) -Verified accuracy of billing data and revised any errors. -Operated typing, adding, calculating, and billing machines. -Prepared itemized statements, bills, or invoices; and recorded amounts due for items purchased or services rendered. -Reviewed documents such as purchase orders, sales tickets, charge slips, or records in order to compute fees and charges due. -Performed data entry and bookkeeping work, including posting data and keeping other records concerning costs of goods and services and the shipment of goods. -Maintained records of invoices and support documents. -Counted daily cash and resolved discrepancies in accounting records. -Typed billing documents, shipping labels, credit memorandums, and credit forms. -Contacted customers in order to obtain or relay account information. -Computed credit terms, discounts, shipment charges, and rates for goods and services in order to complete billing documents. -Ordered office supplies. Greeter McCafferty Auto Group (Hyundai/Suzuki Showroom) Langhorne, PA (8/05-12/05) -Operated telephone switchboard to answer, screen and forward calls, providing information, taking messages, scheduling appointments, and to hear and resolve issues/complaints from customers and public. -Received payments and recorded receipts for services. -Performed administrative support tasks such as proofreading, transcribing handwritten information, and operating calculators or computers to work with pay records, invoices, balance sheets and other documents. -Greeted person

Is it good to drink milk? The text is too long but worthwhile read....? "MILK" Just the word itself sounds comforting! "How about a nice cup of hot milk?" The last time you heard that question it was from someone who cared for you--and you appreciated their effort. The entire matter of food and especially that of milk is surrounded with emotional and cultural importance. Milk was our very first food. If we were fortunate it was our mother's milk. A loving link, given and taken. It was the only path to survival. If not mother's milk it was cow's milk or soy milk "formula"--rarely it was goat, camel or water buffalo milk. Now, we are a nation of milk drinkers. Nearly all of us. Infants, the young, adolescents, adults and even the aged. We drink dozens or even several hundred gallons a year and add to that many pounds of "dairy products" such as cheese, butter, and yogurt. Can there be anything wrong with this? We see reassuring images of healthy, beautiful people on our television screens and hear messages that assure us that, "Milk is good for your body." Our dieticians insist that: "You've got to have milk, or where will you get your calcium?" School lunches always include milk and nearly every hospital meal will have milk added. And if that isn't enough, our nutritionists told us for years that dairy products make up an "essential food group." Industry spokesmen made sure that colourful charts proclaiming the necessity of milk and other essential nutrients were made available at no cost for schools. Cow's milk became "normal." You may be surprised to learn that most of the human beings that live on planet Earth today do not drink or use cow's milk. Further, most of them can't drink milk because it makes them ill. There are students of human nutrition who are not supportive of milk use for adults. Here is a quotation from the March/April 1991 Utne Reader: If you really want to play it safe, you may decide to join the growing number of Americans who are eliminating dairy products from their diets altogether. Although this sounds radical to those of us weaned on milk and the five basic food groups, it is eminently viable. Indeed, of all the mammals, only humans--and then only a minority, principally Caucasians--continue to drink milk beyond babyhood. Who is right? Why the confusion? Where best to get our answers? Can we trust milk industry spokesmen? Can you trust any industry spokesmen? Are nutritionists up to date or are they simply repeating what their professors learned years ago? What about the new voices urging caution? I believe that there are three reliable sources of information. The first, and probably the best, is a study of nature. The second is to study the history of our own species. Finally we need to look at the world's scientific literature on the subject of milk. Let's look at the scientific literature first. From 1988 to 1993 there were over 2,700 articles dealing with milk recorded in the 'Medicine' archives. Fifteen hundred of theses had milk as the main focus of the article. There is no lack of scientific information on this subject. I reviewed over 500 of the 1,500 articles, discarding articles that dealt exclusively with animals, esoteric research and inconclusive studies. How would I summarize the articles? They were only slightly less than horrifying. First of all, none of the authors spoke of cow's milk as an excellent food, free of side effects and the 'perfect food' as we have been led to believe by the industry. The main focus of the published reports seems to be on intestinal colic, intestinal irritation, intestinal bleeding, anemia, allergic reactions in infants and children as well as infections such as salmonella. More ominous is the fear of viral infection with bovine leukemia virus or an AIDS-like virus as well as concern for childhood diabetes. Contamination of milk by blood and white (pus) cells as well as a variety of chemicals and insecticides was also discussed. Among children the problems were allergy, ear and tonsillar infections, bedwetting, asthma, intestinal bleeding, colic and childhood diabetes. In adults the problems seemed centered more around heart disease and arthritis, allergy, sinusitis, and the more serious questions of leukemia, lymphoma and cancer. I think that an answer can also be found in a consideration of what occurs in nature & what happens with free living mammals and what happens with human groups living in close to a natural state as 'hunter-gatherers'. Our paleolithic ancestors are another crucial and interesting group to study. Here we are limited to speculation and indirect evidences, but the bony remains available for our study are remarkable. There is no doubt whatever that these skeletal remains reflect great strength, muscularity (the size of the muscular insertions show this), and total absence of advanced osteoporosis. And if you feel that these people are not important for us to study, consider that today our genes are programming our bodies in almost exactly the same way as our ancestors of 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. WHAT IS MILK? Milk is a maternal lactating secretion, a short term nutrient for new-borns. Nothing more, nothing less. Invariably, the mother of any mammal will provide her milk for a short period of time immediately after birth. When the time comes for 'weaning', the young offspring is introduced to the proper food for that species of mammal. A familiar example is that of a puppy. The mother nurses the pup for just a few weeks and then rejects the young animal and teaches it to eat solid food. Nursing is provided by nature only for the very youngest of mammals. Of course, it is not possible for animals living in a natural state to continue with the drinking of milk after weaning. IS ALL MILK THE SAME? Then there is the matter of where we get our milk. We have settled on the cow because of its docile nature, its size, and its abundant milk supply. Somehow this choice seems 'normal' and blessed by nature, our culture, and our customs. But is it natural? Is it wise to drink the milk of another species of mammal? Consider for a moment, if it was possible, to drink the milk of a mammal other than a cow, let's say a rat. Or perhaps the milk of a dog would be more to your liking. Possibly some horse milk or cat milk. Do you get the idea? Well, I'm not serious about this, except to suggest that human milk is for human infants, dogs' milk is for pups, cows' milk is for calves, cats' milk is for kittens, and so forth. Clearly, this is the way nature intends it. Just use your own good judgement on this one. Milk is not just milk. The milk of every species of mammal is unique and specifically tailored to the requirements of that animal. For example, cows' milk is very much richer in protein than human milk. Three to four times as much. It has five to seven times the mineral content. However, it is markedly deficient in essential fatty acids when compared to human mothers' milk. Mothers' milk has six to ten times as much of the essential fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. (Incidentally, skimmed cow's milk has no linoleic acid). It simply is not designed for humans. Food is not just food, and milk is not just milk. It is not only the proper amount of food but the proper qualitative composition that is critical for the very best in health and growth. Biochemists and physiologists -and rarely medical doctors - are gradually learning that foods contain the crucial elements that allow a particular species to develop its unique specializations. Clearly, our specialization is for advanced neurological development and delicate neuromuscular control. We do not have much need of massive skeletal growth or huge muscle groups as does a calf. Think of the difference between the demands make on the human hand and the demands on a cow's hoof. Human new-borns specifically need critical material for their brains, spinal cord and nerves. Can mother's milk increase intelligence? It seems that it can. In a remarkable study published in Lancet during 1992 (Vol. 339, p. 261-4), a group of British workers randomly placed premature infants into two groups. One group received a proper formula, the other group received human breast milk. Both fluids were given by stomach tube. These children were followed up for over 10 years. In intelligence testing, the human milk children averaged 10 IQ points higher! Well, why not? Why wouldn't the correct building blocks for the rapidly maturing and growing brain have a positive effect? In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1982) Ralph Holman described an infant who developed profound neurological disease while being nourished by intravenous fluids only. The fluids used contained only linoleic acid - just one of the essential fatty acids. When the other, alpha linoleic acid, was added to the intravenous fluids the neurological disorders cleared. In the same journal five years later Bjerve, Mostad and Thoresen, working in Norway found exactly the same problem in adult patients on long term gastric tube feeding. In 1930 Dr. G.O. Burr in Minnesota working with rats found that linoleic acid deficiencies created a deficiency syndrome. Why is this mentioned? In the early 1960s pediatricians found skin lesions in children fed formulas without the same linoleic acid. Remembering the research, the addition of the acid to the formula cured the problem. Essential fatty acids are just that and cows' milk is markedly deficient in these when compared to human milk. WELL, AT LEAST COW'S MILK IS PURE Or is it? Fifty years ago an average cow produced 2,000 pounds of milk per year. Today the top producers give 50,000 pounds! How was this accomplished? Drugs, antibiotics, hormones, forced feeding plans and specialized breeding; that's how. The latest high-tech onslaught on the poor cow is bovine growth hormone or BGH. This genetically engineered drug is supposed to stimulate milk production but, according to Monsanto, the hormone's manufacturer, does not affect the milk or meat. There are three other manufacturers: Upjohn, Eli Lilly, and American Cyanamid Company. Obviously, there have been no long-term studies on the hormone's effect on the humans drinking the milk. Other countries have banned BGH because of safety concerns. One of the problems with adding molecules to a milk cows' body is that the molecules usually come out in the milk. I don't know how you feel, but I don't want to experiment with the ingestion of a growth hormone. A related problem is that it causes a marked increase (50 to 70 per cent) in mastitis. This, then, requires antibiotic therapy, and the residues of the antibiotics appear in the milk. It seems that the public is uneasy about this product and in one survey 43 per cent felt that growth hormone treated milk represented a health risk. A vice president for public policy at Monsanto was opposed to labelling for that reason, and because the labelling would create an 'artificial distinction'. The country is awash with milk as it is, we produce more milk than we can consume. Let's not create storage costs and further taxpayer burdens, because the law requires the USDA to buy any surplus of butter, cheese, or non-fat dry milk at a support price set by Congress! In fiscal 1991, the USDA spent $757 million on surplus butter, and one billion dollars a year on average for price supports during the 1980s (Consumer Reports, May 1992: 330-32). Any lactating mammal excretes toxins through her milk. This includes antibiotics, pesticides, chemicals and hormones. Also, all cows' milk contains blood! The inspectors are simply asked to keep it under certain limits. You may be horrified to learn that the USDA allows milk to contain from one to one and a half million white blood cells per millilitre. (That's only 1/30 of an ounce). If you don't already know this, I'm sorry to tell you that another way to describe white cells where they don't belong would be to call them pus cells. To get to the point, is milk pure or is it a chemical, biological, and bacterial cocktail? Finally, will the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protect you? The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) tells us that the FDA and the individual States are failing to protect the public from drug residues in milk. Authorities test for only 4 of the 82 drugs in dairy cows. As you can imagine, the Milk Industry Foundation's spokesman claims it's perfectly safe. Jerome Kozak says, "I still think that milk is the safest product we have." Other, perhaps less biased observers, have found the following: 38% of milk samples in 10 cities were contaminated with sulfa drugs or other antibiotics. (This from the Centre for Science in the Public Interest and The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 29, 1989).. A similar study in Washington, DC found a 20 percent contamination rate (Nutrition Action Healthletter, April 1990). What's going on here? When the FDA tested milk, they found few problems. However, they used very lax standards. When they used the same criteria, the FDA data showed 51 percent of the milk samples showed drug traces. Let's focus in on this because it’s critical to our understanding of the apparent discrepancies. The FDA uses a disk-assay method that can detect only 2 of the 30 or so drugs found in milk. Also, the test detects only at the relatively high level. A more powerful test called the 'Charm II test' can detect drugs down to 5 parts per billion. One nasty subject must be discussed. It seems that cows are forever getting infections around the udder that require ointments and antibiotics. An article from France tells us that when a cow receives penicillin, that penicillin appears in the milk for from 4 to 7 milkings. Another study from the University of Nevada, Reno tells of cells in 'mastic milk', milk from cows with infected udders. An elaborate analysis of the cell fragments, employing cell cultures, flow cytometric analysis , and a great deal of high tech stuff. Do you know what the conclusion was? If the cow has mastitis, there is pus in the milk. Sorry, it’s in the study, all concealed with language such as "macrophages containing many vacuoles and phagocytosed particles," etc. IT GETS WORSE Well, at least human mothers' milk is pure! Sorry. A huge study showed that human breast milk in over 14,000 women had contamination by pesticides! Further, it seems that the sources of the pesticides are meat and--you guessed it-- dairy products. Well, why not? These pesticides are concentrated in fat and that's what's in these products. (Of interest, a subgroup of lactating vegetarian mothers had only half the levels of contamination). A recent report showed an increased concentration of pesticides in the breast tissue of women with breast cancer when compared to the tissue of women with fibrocystic disease. Other articles in the standard medical literature describe problems. Just scan these titles: 1.Cow's Milk as a Cause of Infantile Colic Breast-Fed Infants. Lancet 2 (1978): 437 2.Dietary Protein-Induced Colitis in Breast- Fed Infants, J. Pediatr. I01 (1982): 906 3.The Question of the Elimination of Foreign Protein in Women's Milk, J. Immunology 19 (1930): 15 There are many others. There are dozens of studies describing the prompt appearance of cows' milk allergy in children being exclusively breast-fed! The cows' milk allergens simply appear in the mother's milk and are transmitted to the infant. A committee on nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on the use of whole cows' milk in infancy (Pediatrics 1983: 72-253). They were unable to provide any cogent reason why bovine milk should be used before the first birthday yet continued to recommend its use! Doctor Frank Oski from the Upstate Medical Centre Department of Pediatrics, commenting on the recommendation, cited the problems of acute gastrointestinal blood loss in infants, the lack of iron, recurrent abdominal pain, milk- borne infections and contaminants, and said: Why give it at all - then or ever? In the face of uncertainty about many of the potential dangers of whole bovine milk, it would seem prudent to recommend that whole milk not be started until the answers are available. Isn't it time for these uncontrolled experiments on human nutrition to come to an end? In the same issue of Pediatrics he further commented: It is my thesis that whole milk should not be fed to the infant in the first year of life because of its association with iron deficiency anemia (milk is so deficient in iron that an infant would have to drink an impossible 31 quarts a day to get the RDA of 15 mg), acute gastrointiestinal bleeding, and various manifestations of food allergy. I suggest that unmodified whole bovine milk should not be consumed after infancy because of the problems of lactose intolerance, its contribution to the genesis of atherosclerosis, and its possible link to other diseases. In late 1992 Dr. Benjamin Spock, possibly the best known pediatrician in history, shocked the country when he articulated the same thoughts and specified avoidance for the first two years of life. Here is his quotation: I want to pass on the word to parents that cows' milk from the carton has definite faults for some babies. Human milk is the right one for babies. A study comparing the incidence of allergy and colic in the breast-fed infants of omnivorous and vegan mothers would be important. I haven't found such a study; it would be both important and inexpensive. And it will probably never be done. There is simply no academic or economic profit involved. OTHER PROBLEMS Let's just mention the problems of bacterial contamination. Salmonella, E. coli, and staphylococcal infections can be traced to milk. In the old days tuberculosis was a major problem and some folks want to go back to those times by insisting on raw milk on the basis that it's "natural." This is insanity! A study from UCLA showed that over a third of all cases of salmonella infection in California, 1980-1983 were traced to raw milk. That'll be a way to revive good old brucellosis again and I would fear leukemia, too. (More about that later). In England, and Wales where raw milk is still consumed there have been outbreaks of milk-borne diseases. The Journal of the American Medical Association (251: 483, 1984) reported a multi-state series of infections caused by Yersinia enterocolitica in pasteurised whole milk. This is despite safety precautions. All parents dread juvenile diabetes for their children. A Canadian study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Mar. 1990, describes a "...significant positive correlation between consumption of unfermented milk protein and incidence of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in data from various countries. Conversely a possible negative relationship is observed between breast-feeding at age 3 months and diabetes risk.". Another study from Finland found that diabetic children had higher levels of serum antibodies to cows’ milk (Diabetes Research 7(3): 137-140 March 1988). Here is a quotation from this study: We infer that either the pattern of cows' milk consumption is altered in children who will have insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or, their immunological reactivity to proteins in cows' milk is enhanced, or the permeability of their intestines to cows' milk protein is higher than normal. The April 18, 1992 British Medical Journal has a fascinating study contrasting the difference in incidence of juvenile insulin dependent diabetes in Pakistani children who have migrated to England. The incidence is roughly 10 times greater in the English group compared to children remaining in Pakistan! What caused this highly significant increase? The authors said that "the diet was unchanged in Great Britain." Do you believe that? Do you think that the availability of milk, sugar and fat is the same in Pakistan as it is in England? That a grocery store in England has the same products as food sources in Pakistan? I don't believe that for a minute. Remember, we're not talking here about adult onset, type II diabetes which all workers agree is strongly linked to diet as well as to a genetic predisposition. This study is a major blow to the "it's all in your genes" crowd. Type I diabetes was always considered to be genetic or possibly viral, but now this? So resistant are we to consider diet as causation that the authors of the last article concluded that the cooler climate in England altered viruses and caused the very real increase in diabetes! The first two authors had the same reluctance top admit the obvious. The milk just may have had something to do with the disease. The latest in this remarkable list of reports, a New England Journal of Medicine article (July 30, 1992), also reported in the Los Angeles Times. This study comes from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and from Finnish researchers. In Finland there is "...the world's highest rate of dairy product consumption and the world's highest rate of insulin dependent diabetes. The disease strikes about 40 children out of every 1,000 there contrasted with six to eight per 1,000 in the United States.... Antibodies produced against the milk protein during the first year of life, the researchers speculate, also attack and destroy the pancreas in a so-called auto-immune reaction, producing diabetes in people whose genetic makeup leaves them vulnerable." "...142 Finnish children with newly diagnosed diabetes. They found that every one had at least eight times as many antibodies against the milk protein as did healthy children, clear evidence that the children had a raging auto immune disorder." The team has now expanded the study to 400 children and is starting a trial where 3,000 children will receive no dairy products during the first nine months of life. "The study may take 10 years, but we'll get a definitive answer one way or the other," according to one of the researchers. I would caution them to be certain that the breast feeding mothers use on cows' milk in their diets or the results will be confounded by the transmission of the cows' milk protein in the mother's breast milk.... Now what was the reaction from the diabetes association? This is very interesting! Dr. F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, the president of the association says: "It does not mean that children should stop drinking milk or that parents of diabetics should withdraw dairy products. These are rich sources of good protein." (Emphasis added) My God, it's the "good protein" that causes the problem! Do you suspect that the dairy industry may have helped the American Diabetes Association in the past? LEUKEMIA? LYMPHOMA? THIS MAY BE THE WORST--BRACE YOURSELF! I hate to tell you this, but the bovine leukemia virus is found in more than three of five dairy cows in the United States! This involves about 80% of dairy herds. Unfortunately, when the milk is pooled, a very large percentage of all milk produced is contaminated (90 to 95 per cent). Of course the virus is killed in pasteurisation-- if the pasteurisation was done correctly. What if the milk is raw? In a study of randomly collected raw milk samples the bovine leukemia virus was recovered from two-thirds. I sincerely hope that the raw milk dairy herds are carefully monitored when compared to the regular herds. (Science 1981; 213:1014). This is a world-wide problem. One lengthy study from Germany deplored the problem and admitted the impossibility of keeping the virus from infected cows' milk from the rest of the milk. Several European countries, including Germany and Switzerland, have attempted to "cull" the infected cows from their herds. Certainly the United States must be the leader in the fight against leukemic dairy cows, right? Wrong! We are the worst in the world with the former exception of Venezuela according to Virgil Hulse MD, a milk specialist who also has a B.S. in Dairy Manufacturing as well as a Master's degree in Public Health. As mentioned, the leukemia virus is rendered inactive by pasteurisation. Of course. However, there can be Chernobyl like accidents. One of these occurred in the Chicago area in April, 1985. At a modern, large, milk processing plant an accidental "cross connection" between raw and pasteurized milk occurred. A violent salmonella outbreak followed, killing 4 and making an estimated 150,000 ill. Now the question I would pose to the dairy industry people is this: "How can you assure the people who drank this milk that they were not exposed to the ingestion of raw, unkilled, bully active bovine leukemia viruses?" Further, it would be fascinating to know if a "cluster" of leukemia cases blossoms in that area in 1 to 3 decades. There are reports of "leukemia clusters" elsewhere, one of them mentioned in the June 10, 1990 San Francisco Chronicle involving Northern California. What happens to other species of mammals when they are exposed to the bovine leukemia virus? It's a fair question and the answer is not reassuring. Virtually all animals exposed to the virus develop leukemia. This includes sheep, goats, and even primates such as rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees. The route of transmission includes ingestion (both intravenous and intramuscular) and cells present in milk. There are obviously no instances of transfer attempts to human beings, but we know that the virus can infect human cells in vitro. There is evidence of human antibody formation to the bovine leukemia virus; this is disturbing. How did the bovine leukemia virus particles gain access to humans and become antigens? Was it as small, denatured particles? If the bovine leukemia viruses causes human leukemia, we could expect the dairy states with known leukemic herds to have a higher incidence of human leukemia. Is this so? Unfortunately, it seems to be the case! Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin have statistically higher incidence of leukemia than the national average. In Russia and in Sweden, areas with uncontrolled bovine leukemia virus have been linked with increases in human leukemia. I am also told that veterinarians have higher rates of leukemia than the general public. Dairy farmers have significantly elevated leukemia rates. Recent research shows lymphocytes from milk fed to neonatal mammals gains access to bodily tissues by passing directly through the intestinal wall. An optimistic note from the University of Illinois, Ubana from the Department of Animal Sciences shows the importance of one's perspective. Since they are concerned with the economics of milk and not primarily the health aspects, they noted that the production of milk was greater in the cows with the bovine leukemia virus. However when the leukemia produced a persistent and significant lymphocytosis (increased white blood cell count), the production fell off. They suggested "a need to re-evaluate the economic impact of bovine leukemia virus infection on the dairy industry". Does this mean that leukemia is good for profits only if we can keep it under control? You can get the details on this business concern from Proc. Nat. Acad. Sciences, U.S. Feb. 1989. I added emphasis and am insulted that a university department feels that this is an economic and not a human health issue. Do not expect help from the Department of Agriculture or the universities. The money stakes and the political pressures are too great. You're on you own. What does this all mean? We know that virus is capable of producing leukemia in other animals. Is it proven that it can contribute to human leukemia (or lymphoma, a related cancer)? Several articles tackle this one: 1.Epidemiologic Relationships of the Bovine Population and Human Leukemia in Iowa. Am Journal of Epidemiology 112 (1980):80 2.Milk of Dairy Cows Frequently Contains a Leukemogenic Virus. Science 213 (1981): 1014 3.Beware of the Cow. (Editorial) Lancet 2 (1974):30 4.Is Bovine Milk A Health Hazard?. Pediatrics; Suppl. Feeding the Normal Infant. 75:182-186; 1985 In Norway, 1422 individuals were followed for 11 and a half years. Those drinking 2 or more glasses of milk per day had 3.5 times the incidence of cancer of the lymphatic organs. British Med. Journal 61:456-9, March 1990. One of the more thoughtful articles on this subject is from Allan S. Cunningham of Cooperstown, New York. Writing in the Lancet, November 27, 1976 (page 1184), his article is entitled, "Lymphomas and Animal-Protein Consumption". Many people think of milk as “liquid meat” and Dr. Cunningham agrees with this. He tracked the beef and dairy consumption in terms of grams per day for a one year period, 1955-1956., in 15 countries . New Zealand, United States and Canada were highest in that order. The lowest was Japan followed by Yugoslavia and France. The difference between the highest and lowest was quite pronounced: 43.8 grams/day for New Zealanders versus 1.5 for Japan. Nearly a 30-fold difference! (Parenthetically, the last 36 years have seen a startling increase in the amount of beef and milk used in Japan and their disease patterns are reflecting this, confirming the lack of 'genetic protection' seen in migration studies. Formerly the increase in frequency of lymphomas in Japanese people was only in those who moved to the USA)! An interesting bit of trivia is to note the memorial built at the Gyokusenji Temple in Shimoda, Japan. This marked the spot where the first cow was killed in Japan for human consumption! The chains around this memorial were a gift from the US Navy. Where do you suppose the Japanese got the idea to eat beef? The year? 1930. Cunningham found a highly significant positive correlation between deaths from lymphomas and beef and dairy ingestion in the 15 countries analysed. A few quotations from his article follow: The average intake of protein in many countries is far in excess of the recommended requirements. Excessive consumption of animal protein may be one co-factor in the causation of lymphomas by acting in the following manner. Ingestion of certain proteins results in the adsorption of antigenic fragments through the gastrointestinal mucous membrane. This results in chronic stimulation of lymphoid tissue to which these fragments gain access "Chronic immunological stimulation causes lymphomas in laboratory animals and is believed to cause lymphoid cancers in men." The gastrointestinal mucous membrane is only a partial barrier to the absorption of food antigens, and circulating antibodies to food protein is commonplace especially potent lymphoid stimulants. Ingestion of cows' milk can produce generalized lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and profound adenoid hypertrophy. It has been conservatively estimated that more than 100 distinct antigens are released by the normal digestion of cows' milk which evoke production of all antibody classes [This may explain why pasteurized, killed viruses are still antigenic and can still cause disease. Here's more. A large prospective study from Norway was reported in the British Journal of Cancer 61 (3):456-9, March 1990. (Almost 16,000 individuals were followed for 11 and a half years). For most cancers there was no association between the tumour and milk ingestion. However, in lymphoma, there was a strong positive association. If one drank two glasses or more daily (or the equivalent in dairy products), the odds were 3.4 times greater than in persons drinking less than one glass of developing a lymphoma. There are two other cow-related diseases that you should be aware of. At this time they are not known to be spread by the use of dairy products and are not known to involve man. The first is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and the second is the bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV). The first of these diseases, we hope, is confined to England and causes cavities in the animal's brain. Sheep have long been known to suffer from a disease called scrapie. It seems to have been started by the feeding of contaminated sheep parts, especially brains, to the British cows. Now, use your good sense. Do cows seem like carnivores? Should they eat meat? This profit-motivated practice backfired and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease, swept Britain. The disease literally causes dementia in the unfortunate animal and is 100 per cent incurable. To date, over 100,000 cows have been incinerated in England in keeping with British law. Four hundred to 500 cows are reported as infected each month. The British public is concerned and has dropped its beef consumption by 25 per cent, while some 2,000 schools have stopped serving beef to children. Several farmers have developed a fatal disease syndrome that resembles both BSE and CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob- Disease). But the British Veterinary Association says that transmission of BSE to humans is "remote." The USDA agrees that the British epidemic was due to the feeding of cattle with bonemeal or animal protein produced at rendering plants from the carcasses of scrapie-infected sheep. The have prohibited the importation of live cattle and zoo ruminants from Great Britain and claim that the disease does not exist in the United States. However, there may be a problem. "Downer cows" are animals who arrive at auction yards or slaughter houses dead, trampled, lacerated, dehydrated, or too ill from viral or bacterial diseases to walk. Thus they are "down." If they cannot respond to electrical shocks by walking, they are dragged by chains to dumpsters and transported to rendering plants where, if they are not already dead, they are killed. Even a "humane" death is usually denied them. They are then turned into protein food for animals as well as other preparations. Minks that have been fed this protein have developed a fatal encephalopathy that has some resemblance to BSE. Entire colonies of minks have been lost in this manner, particularly in Wisconsin. It is feared that the infective agent is a prion or slow virus possible obtained from the ill "downer cows." The British Medical Journal in an editorial whimsically entitled "How Now Mad Cow?" (BMJ vol. 304, 11 Apr. 1992:929- 30) describes cases of BSE in species not previously known to be affected, such as cats. They admit that produce contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy entered the human food chain in England between 1986 and 1989. They say. "The result of this experiment is awaited." As the incubation period can be up to three decades, wait we must. The immunodeficency virus is seen in cattle in the United States and is more worrisome. Its structure is closely related to that of the human AIDS virus. At this time we do not know if exposure to the raw BIV proteins can cause the sera of humans to become positive for HIV. The extent of the virus among American herds is said to be "widespread". (The USDA refuses to inspect the meat and milk to see if antibodies to this retrovirus is present). It also has no plans to quarantine the infected animals. As in the case of humans with AIDS, there is no cure for BIV in cows. Each day we consume beef and diary products from cows infected with these viruses and no scientific assurance exists that the products are safe. Eating raw beef (as in steak Tartare) strikes me as being very risky, especially after the Seattle E. coli deaths of 1993. A report in the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research, October 1992, Vol. 56 pp.353-359 and another from the Russian literature, tell of a horrifying development. They report the first detection in human serum of the antibody to a bovine immunodeficiency virus protein. In addition to this disturbing report, is another from Russia telling us of the presence of virus proteins related to the bovine leukemia virus in 5 of 89 women with breast disease (Acta Virologica Feb. 1990 34(1): 19-26). The implications of these developments are unknown at present. However, it is safe to assume that these animal viruses are unlikely to "stay" in the animal kingdom. OTHER CANCERS--DOES IT GET WORSE? Unfortunately it does. Ovarian cancer--a particularly nasty tumour--was associated with milk consumption by workers at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York. Drinking more than one glass of whole milk or equivalent daily gave a woman a 3.1 times risk over non-milk users. They felt that the reduced fat milk products helped reduce the risk. This association has been made repeatedly by numerous investigators. Another important study, this from the Harvard Medical School, analyzed data from 27 countries mainly from the 1970s. Again a significant positive correlation is revealed between ovarian cancer and per capita milk consumption. These investigators feel that the lactose component of milk is the responsible fraction, and the digestion of this is facilitated by the persistence of the ability to digest the lactose (lactose persistence) - a little different emphasis, but the same conclusion. This study was reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology 130 (5): 904-10 Nov. 1989. These articles come from two of the country's leading institutions, not the Rodale Press or Prevention Magazine. Even lung cancer has been associated with milk ingestion? The beverage habits of 569 lung cancer patients and 569 controls again at Roswell Park were studied in the International Journal of Cancer, April 15, 1989. Persons drinking whole milk 3 or more times daily had a 2-fold increase in lung cancer risk when compared to those never drinking whole milk. For many years we have been watching the lung cancer rates for Japanese men who smoke far more than American or European men but who develop fewer lung cancers. Workers in this research area feel that the total fat intake is the difference. There are not many reports studying an association between milk ingestion and prostate cancer. One such report though was of great interest. This is from the Roswell Park Memorial Institute and is found in Cancer 64 (3): 605-12, 1989. They analyzed the diets of 371 prostate cancer patients and comparable control subjects: Men who reported drinking three or more glasses of whole milk daily had a relative risk of 2.49 compared with men who reported never drinking whole milk the weight of the evidence appears to favour the hypothesis that animal fat is related to increased risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in US men and is the second leading cause of cancer mortality. WELL, WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? Is there any health reason at all for an adult human to drink cows' milk? It's hard for me to come up with even one good reason other than simple preference. But if you try hard, in my opinion, these would be the best two: milk is a source of calcium and it's a source of amino acids (proteins). Let's look at the calcium first. Why are we concerned at all about calcium? Obviously, we intend it to build strong bones and protect us against osteoporosis. And no doubt about it, milk is loaded with calcium. But is it a good calcium source for humans? I think not. These are the reasons. Excessive amounts of dairy products actually interfere with calcium absorption. Secondly, the excess of protein that the milk provides is a major cause of the osteoporosis problem. Dr. H egsted in England has been writing for years about the geographical distribution of osteoporosis. It seems that the countries with the highest intake of dairy products are invariably the countries with the most osteoporosis. He feels that milk is a cause of osteoporosis. Reasons to be given below. Numerous studies have shown that the level of calcium ingestion and especially calcium supplementation has no effect whatever on the development of osteoporosis. The most important such article appeared recently in the British Journal of Medicine where the long arm of our dairy industry can't reach. Another study in the United States actually showed a worsening in calcium balance in post-menopausal women given three 8-ounce glasses of cows' milk per day. (Am. Journal of Clin. Nutrition, 1985). The effects of hormone, gender, weight bearing on the axial bones, and in particular protein intake, are critically important. Another observation that may be helpful to our analysis is to note the absence of any recorded dietary deficiencies of calcium among people living on a natural diet without milk. For the key to the osteoporosis riddle, don’t look at calcium, look at protein. Consider these two contrasting groups. Eskimos have an exceptionally high protein intake estimated at 25 percent of total calories. They also have a high calcium intake at 2,500 mg/day. Their osteoporosis is among the worst in the world. The other instructive group are the Bantus of South Africa. They have a 12 percent protein diet, mostly p lant protein, and only 200 to 350 mg/day of calcium, about half our women's intake. The women have virtually no osteoporosis despite bearing six or more children and nursing them for prolonged periods! When African women immigrate to the United States, do they develop osteoporosis? The answer is yes, but not quite are much as Caucasian or Asian women. Thus, there is a genetic difference that is modified by diet. To answer the obvious question, "Well, where do you get your calcium?" The answer is: "From exactly the same place the cow gets the calcium, from green things that grow in the ground," mainly from leafy vegetables. After all, elephants and rhinos develop their huge bones (after being weaned) by eating green leafy plants, so do horses. Carnivorous animals also do quite nicely without leafy plants. It seems that all of earth's mammals do well if they live in harmony with their genetic programming and natural food. Only humans living an affluent life style have rampant osteoporosis. If animal references do not convince you, think of the several billion humans on this earth who have never seen cows' milk. Wouldn't you think osteoporosis would be prevalent in this huge group? The dairy people would suggest this but the truth is exactly the opposite. They have far less than that seen in the countries where dairy products are commonly consumed. It is the subject of another paper, but the truly significant determinants of osteoporosis are grossly excessive protein intakes and lack of weight bearing on long bones, both taking place over decades. Hormones play a secondary, but not trivial role in women. Milk is a deterrent to good bone health. THE PROTEIN MYTH Remember when you were a kid and the adults all told you to "make sure you get plenty of good protein". Protein was the nutritional "good guy”" when I was young. And of course milk is fitted right in. As regards protein, milk is indeed a rich source of protein- -"liquid meat," remember? However that isn't necessarily what we need. In actual fact it is a source of difficulty. Nearly all Americans eat too much protein. For this information we rely on the most authoritative source that I am aware of. This is the latest edition (1oth, 1989: 4th printing, Jan. 1992) of the Recommended Dietary Allowances produced by the National Research Council. Of interest, the current editor of this important work is Dr. Richard Havel of the University of California in San Francisco. First to be noted is that the recommended protein has been steadily revised downward in successive editions. The current recommendation is 0.75 g/kilo/day for adults 19 through 51 years. This, of course, is only 45 grams per day for the mythical 60 kilogram adult. You should also know that the WHO estimated the need for protein in adults to by .6g/kilo per day. (All RDA's are calculated with large safety allowances in case you're the type that wants to add some more to "be sure.") You can "get by" on 28 to 30 grams a day if necessary! Now 45 grams a day is a tiny amount of protein. That's an ounce and a half! Consider too, that the protein does not have to be animal protein. Vegetable protein is identical for all practical purposes and has no cholesterol and vastly less saturated fat. (Do not be misled by the antiquated belief that plant proteins must be carefully balanced to avoid deficiencies. This is not a realistic concern.) Therefore virtually all Americans, Canadians, British and European people are in a protein overloaded state. This has serious consequences when maintained over decades. The problems are the already mentioned osteoporosis, atherosclerosis and kidney damage. There is good evidence that certain malignancies, chiefly colon and rectal, are related to excessive meat intake. Barry Brenner, an eminent renal physiologist was the first to fully point out the dangers of excess protein for the kidney tubule. The dangers of the fat and cholesterol are known to all. Finally, you should know that the protein content of human milk is amount the lowest (0.9%) in mammals. IS THAT ALL OF THE TROUBLE? Sorry, there's more. Remember lactose? This is the principal carbohydrate of milk. It seems that nature provides new- borns with the enzymatic equipment to metabolize lactose, but this ability often extinguishes by age 4 or 5 years. What is the problem with lactose or milk sugar? It seems that it is a disaccharide which is too large to be absorbed into the blood stream without first being broken down into monosaccharides, namely galactose and glucose. This requires the presence of an enzyme, lactase plus additional enzymes to break down the galactose into glucose. Let's think about his for a moment. Nature gives us the ability to metabolize lactose for a few years and then shuts off the mechanism. Is Mother Nature trying to tell us something? Clearly all infants must drink milk. The fact that so many adults cannot seems to be related to the tendency for nature to abandon mechanisms that are not needed. At least half of the adult humans on this earth are lactose intolerant. It was not until the relatively recent introduction of dairy herding and the ability to "borrow" milk from another group of mammals that the survival advantage of preserving lactase (the enzyme that allows us to digest lactose) became evident. But why would it be advantageous to drink cows' milk? After all, most of the human beings in the history of the world did. And further, why was it just the white or light skinned humans who retained this knack while the pigmented people tended to lose it? Some students of evolution feel that white skin is a fairly recent innovation, perhaps not more than 20,000 or 30,000 years old. It clearly has to do with the Northward migration of early man to cold and relatively sunless areas when skins and clothing became available. Fair skin allows the production of Vitamin D from sunlight more readily than does dark skin. However, when only the face was exposed to sunlight that area of fair skin was insufficient to provide the vitamin D from sunlight. If dietary and sunlight sources were poorly available, the ability to use the abundant calcium in cows' milk would give a survival advantage to humans who could digest that milk. This seems to be the only logical explanation for fair skinned humans having a high degree of lactose tolerance when compared to dark skinned people. How does this break down? Certain racial groups, namely blacks are up to 90% lactose intolerant as adults. Caucasians are 20 to 40% lactose intolerant. Orientals are midway between the above two groups. Diarrhea, gas and abdominal cramps are the results of substantial milk intake in such persons. Most American Indians cannot tolerate milk. The milk industry admits that lactose intolerance plays intestinal havoc with as many as 50 million Americans. A lactose-intolerance industry has sprung up and had sales of $117 million in 1992 (Time May 17, 1993.) What if you are lactose-intolerant and lust after dairy products? Is all lost? Not at all. It seems that lactose is largely digested by bacteria and you will be able to enjoy your cheese despite lactose intolerance. Yogurt is similar in this respect. Finally, and I could never have dreamed this up, geneticists want to splice genes to alter the composition of milk (Am J Clin Nutr 1993 Suppl 302s). One could quibble and say that milk is totally devoid of fiber content and that its habitual use will predispose to constipation and bowel disorders. The association with anemia and occult intestinal bleeding in infants is known to all physicians. This is chiefly from its lack of iron and its irritating qualities for the intestinal mucosa. The pediatric literature abounds with articles describing irritated intestinal lining, bleeding, increased permeability as well as colic, diarrhea and vomiting in cows'milk-sensitive babies. The anemia gets a double push by loss of blood and iron as well as deficiency of iron in the cows' milk. Milk is also the leading cause of childhood allergy. LOW FAT One additional topic: the matter of "low fat" milk. A common and sincere question is: "Well, low fat milk is OK, isn't it?" The answer to this question is that low fat milk isn't low fat. The term "low fat" is a marketing term used to gull the public. Low fat milk contains from 24 to 33% fat as calories! The 2% figure is also misleading. This refers to weight. They don't tell you that, by weight, the milk is 87% water! "Well, then, kill-joy surely you must approve of non-fat milk!" I hear this quite a bit. (Another constant concern is: "What do you put on your cereal?") True, there is little or no fat, but now you have a relative overburden of protein and lactose. It there is something that we do not need more of it is another simple sugar-lactose, composed of galactose and glucose. Millions of Americans are lactose intolerant to boot, as noted. As for protein, as stated earlier, we live in a society that routinely ingests far more protein than we need. It is a burden for our bodies, especially the kidneys, and a prominent cause of osteoporosis. Concerning the dry cereal issue, I would suggest soy milk, rice milk or almond milk as a healthy substitute. If you're still concerned about calcium, "Westsoy" is formulated to have the same calcium concentration as milk. SUMMARY To my thinking, there is only one valid reason to drink milk or use milk products. That is just because we simply want to. Because we like it and because it has become a part of our culture. Because we have become accustomed to its taste and texture. Because we like the way it slides down our throat. Because our parents did the very best they could for us and provided milk in our earliest training and conditioning. They taught us to like it. And then probably the very best reason is ice cream! I've heard it described "to die for". I had one patient who did exactly that. He had no obvious vices. He didn't smoke or drink, he didn’t eat meat, his diet and lifestyle was nearly a perfectly health promoting one; but he had a passion. You guessed it, he loved rich ice cream. A pint of the richest would be a lean day's ration for him. On many occasions he would eat an entire quart - and yes there were some cookies and other pastries. Good ice cream deserves this after all. He seemed to be in good health despite some expected "middle age spread" when he had a devastating stroke which left him paralyzed, miserable and helpless, and he had additional strokes and d ied several years later never having left a hospital or rehabilitation unit. Was he old? I don't think so. He was in his 50s. So don't drink milk for health. I am convinced on the weight of the scientific evidence that it does not "do a body good." Inclusion of milk will only reduce your diet's nutritional value and safety. Most of the people on this planet live very healthfully without cows' milk. You can too. It will be difficult to change; we've been conditioned since childhood to think of milk as "nature's most perfect food." I'll guarantee you that it will be safe, improve your health and it won't cost anything. What can you lose? es esta pagina link http://notmilk.com/kradjian.html The most important information dissemination my. Not that, but I can make your text too long jajaja. If I write bad is that I am leading a translator jaja

Politicians and their Illusion of Power? Take a look a give your opinion:? Critics accuse libertarians of reveling in government failures. Yes and No. No one is pleased to see the destruction caused by government policies, whether small scale, as when a tighter regulation causes business failures, or large scale, as when wars destroy life for millions. The kernel of truth to the claim is this: the failure of government illustrates something extremely important about the structure of reality that most people are likely to forget. It comes down to this: statesmen and public officials, no matter how powerful they may be, cannot finally control social outcomes. If I might offer a summary of a point emphasized in all of Mises's works: the structure of society and world affairs generally is shaped by human actions, stemming from imaginative human minds working out individual subjective valuations, and their interactions with the material world, which is governed by laws that are beyond human control. What that means is that you and I cannot on our own, even if we have maximum political power, control all of human society, and especially not its economic side. Let's first consider an example from current popular wisdom about the manufacturing base. Many products that were once made in the US – thinking here of televisions, pianos, firecrackers, plastics, and bicycles--are now made in China. This has caused a great deal of alarm--all unwarranted, so far as sound economics is concerned. But let's say we have the ambition to change this social outcome. Anyone is free to build a bicycle and attempt to market it to willing buyers. Let's say you rent some property, hire the workers, acquire all the necessary capital, and then put your bike on sale. In order to cover your costs and make a profit, you find that you must price your bikes above the going market price. Maybe you can persuade people that you have a special product that is better than the others. Or maybe yours will sit on the floor. Or maybe you will have to lower your price and you will find that your revenue does not cover your costs, and you have to go out of business. No matter what you decide, this much is clear: you are not dictating the outcome. You wanted to build bikes, but it is the consuming public that decides whether it is in our interest to do so. There is nothing you have to say about it. You cannot make people fork over the money. I would venture to suggest that you will ultimately come to the conclusion that you should be doing other things besides attempting to keep up with other businesses that have lower labor and capital costs and hence can make a profit through selling goods at much lower prices. But let's say you decide that you don't want to bow to the realities of the market. Instead you lobby Congress to tax everyone who buys a bike from overseas. The tax is high enough that you can continue to charge exorbitant prices for your bikes. You make a profit. But at what expense? The consumers who buy your bikes have less income left over for other pursuits, whether consumption, saving, or investment. The workers you are employing are being kept from other pursuits as well, and the capital you are consuming is not available for other projects. Ultimately, you have skewed the entire economic system in a way that benefits you at everyone else's expense. Others have found a way to do what you are doing much more efficiently, but because you lobbied and got your way, society is prevented from benefiting from others' innovations. And how long must this distorted system last? That you managed to tax everyone to benefit you does nothing to change the reality that others can do what you are doing more cheaply and better. Do workers really want to be employed in an industry that is something of an artifice? Do consumers really want to pay high prices just so that you can continue to indulge in your bike-making passion? Clearly not. At some point, people will catch on to the racket, and find other ways to go about acquiring bikes. Maybe they will exploit loopholes in the law that allow them to import bike parts. An industry of do-it-yourself bike building becomes a threat to your profits. Or perhaps black markets will take over. Or maybe people will turn away from bikes altogether and starting trying out new forms of informal transportation. Skateboards are fitted with handlebars. Gas-powered scooters develop a peddle-only option. The very definition of a bike comes into question. Increasingly, enforcement will have to become ever more onerous. At some point in this game, we face a choice. We can continue to impose an ever more absurd and preposterous system of regulations and protections just so that you can benefit, or we can bow to reality and let in foreign bikes for consumer purchase. Let's say your tariff lasts a year or even ten years. What will it accomplish? In that time, vast resources are wasted. Consumers of all sorts are exploited. Capital is consumed in economically wasteful ways. People are pushed around and the police powers of the state grow. It does society no good at all. My point is that whatever the fate of the so-called manufacturing base, there is nothing in the long run that can be done to turn it in one direction or another. The fate of manufacturing is in the hands of consumers at large, and subject to the laws of economics which no man can repeal. It is the outcome of human choice. Now, the Bush administration has thought otherwise and imposed a huge range of protections to benefit its supporters and people who the administration hoped would become its supporters. The result has been to skew the world economy, hobble markets, delay inevitable transitions, and impose massive social costs. What this example shows is that governments are not omnipotent. Many try to be, and no government is liberal by nature. But there are limits. Governments bump up against human valuations time and again. Even in the highly rarified event of a despotic government that rules a population unanimously in support of despotism, government still bumps up against the structure of the world, which resists control. Let us consider another example. Let us say that government desires a strong dollar. But it still wants to print dollars and ship them around the world. In this case, there is nothing that government can do to insure the dollar’s strength against depreciation. Nothing. This is due to the laws of economics. All else equal, the value of a currency in terms of goods falls as its quantity increases. Governments that desire otherwise can only shake their fist in anger. The same is true domestically. The government wants economic recovery before a recession has fully run its course. It thereby drops interest rates, spends vast amounts of money to gin up demand, and otherwise encourages as much consumption as possible. These tactics can result in some short-term gains but it doesn't work in the long run. These tactics deplete savings and capital and weaken the foundation for solid future growth. The issue of the price of prescription drugs will be a big one in this coming campaign. The problem is high prices. Popular wisdom has it that this is because of the greed of the medical industry. The truth is that these high prices are partly a result of subsidized demand due to Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the restricted supply due to patent laws. In other words, the political class is responsible for the high prices. It's true that the pharmaceutical industry is not complaining. In fact, high prices are precisely what its friends in government want to bring about. They may regret that the poor have to pay the higher prices, but not enough to do anything substantive about it. Prices would plummet today if patents were repealed, free trade (including re-importation) allowed, and subsidized demand ended by the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid. But no one wants to consider that solution, so Congress creates ever more intrusive programs designed to control prices, keeping the prices high enough to satisfy the industry but low enough to reduce the political clamor. The problem is that the government can't have it both ways. It cannot reward its friends with high prices and keep consumers happy at the same time. The current system with its large subsidies is only creating massive new liabilities in programs that cannot be funded in perpetuity without massive tax increases that no one is willing to advocate. Absent tax increases, the only answer is inflation, which taxes us in other ways. One way to think about government is as a rat wandering through a maze with no escape. There is no magic solution to getting around basic economic laws. All lunches must be paid for by someone, prices cannot be both high and low at the same time, and all attempts to coerce generate counter-reactions. In short, there is no alternative universe in which the fantasies of politicians come true. But try telling that to the political class. The last thing they want to hear is that their power is limited, that their will is not a way. They are prone to believe that membership in the political class comes with the privilege of shaping the world to their liking. If you read the social science literature, you find the same error at work on a nearly universal basis. Very rarely does anyone come along and say: great theory but it has nothing to do with reality. You are just playing intellectual games. Socialism was really nothing other than an intellectual game. People from the ancient world to the present conjured up some vision of how they would like the world to work and then advocated a series of measures of how to achieve it. Mises and his generation explained that their vision was fundamentally at odds with reality. In the real world, capital must have price rooted in exchange of private property in order for it to be employed in its highest-valued capacity. It solves nothing to say that everyone should own capital collectively. This was the equivalent of pointing out that the Emperor was wearing no clothes. In some ways, what we do as commentators on economic affairs is to follow this model again and again. The other day, a candidate for president suggested that the answer to our economic woes was more regulation. He had it all figured out in his mind. Immediately, free-market economists from all over the world joined forces to point out that his goal of higher economic productivity could not be achieved this way. It was an unwelcome message but one necessary to deliver regardless. The experience of Iraq has provided myriad examples of the same. The US wants to pump oil. It wants to start factories, stores, and commerce generally. But it refuses to put private owners in charge. As a result, all its military muscle has amounted to very little at great expense. It is a classic example of how governments fail when they try to fight against forces they cannot control. Factories in Iraq that have gone into operation have done so without support of the occupying government. And think of the war generally. At the outset, the visionaries in the Bush administration imagined that Iraq was really a very simple problem to solve. It only needed to be decapitated and the magic dust of the US presence would otherwise create an orderly and prosperous society that would be a model for the region. The reality hit. Crime was unleashed. Feuding political factions clamored for control. Production stopped. Society flew into chaos. This was not because of the absence of the political leadership. It was because of the presence of foreign martial law in a country that was seething in resentment against the US. Time and again, we have seen evidence that the Iraq war only accomplished the opposite of its aims. Its purpose was to find weapons, punish terrorism, and bring order to the region. Instead it has fueled terrorism and brought new levels of disorder to the region. Not having done that, the war is then re-defined in terms that reflect whatever government has done: namely to toss out and capture Saddam, In this sense, the war was like any other government program: bringing about the opposite of its stated intentions and doing so at greater expense. Thus do we see the intersection between foreign and domestic policy. Government is famously ham-handed at home and similarly incompetent abroad. No matter how much government claims that it is master of the universe, it constantly confronts forces beyond its control. In all the talk of the calamity of this war, never forget the broader picture: what an incredible opportunity was squandered after the end of the Cold War. The US had emerged as the universally acknowledged ideological victor in that forty-year struggle. That the Cold War was not actually an ideological struggle so much as a classic standoff between two empires is irrelevant for understanding the implications of this fact: totalitarian communism collapsed while the free economic system of the market remained standing in total triumph. The world was ready for a new period of genuine liberalism, and looking to the US. On the verge of an amazing period of technological advance, we were perfectly situated to lead the way. There had never been a time in US history when George Washington's foreign policy made more sense. A beacon of liberty. Trade with all, belligerence toward none. Commercial engagement with everyone, political engagement with as few as possible. The hand of friendship. Good will. This was the prescription for peace and freedom. It was within our grasp. Our children might have grown up in a world without major political violence. A world of peace and plenty. It could have been. But it was not to be, mainly because George W.'s father decided that he wanted to go down in the history books for doing something big and important. What else but war? The US was now the world's only superpower and itching for some fight somewhere. It's a bit like a playground filled with wimps and one boy with a black belt in karate who never absorbed the lesson in how and where to use his fighting skills. And then there was this oil-drilling dispute between Iraq and Kuwait, and Bush decided to intervene. Twelve years later, the US is still there, causing unrelenting havoc for those poor people. Here at home we are given constant examples of the huge gulf that separates government's perceptions of itself versus the reality. The Bush administration wanted to give the steel industry a boost. The administration established tariffs, which amounts to a tax on all consumers of steel. American manufacturers faced a choice of paying the tax to buy imported steel or paying the higher prices for domestic steel. Those who could do neither had to cut back production and hiring in other areas. Other consumers had to pay higher prices, which diverted income from other pursuits. As for the steel industry itself, the tariffs did nothing to help it achieve greater efficiency, which is the only way to deal with more efficient competitors. They only ended up subsidizing inefficiency. Even then, it wasn't enough. During the period of tariffs, the industry dramatically consolidated in order to become more efficient in other ways. Once faced with the prospect of trade wars, the ultimate cost of protectionism, the Bush administration pulled back and repealed the new tariffs, thereby landing the industry in exactly the same predicament it was in before the tariffs were past. As for commercial society as a whole, it paid dramatically higher steel costs, and faced sporadic shortages, for absolutely no reason. Faced with failure on every front, the Bush administration did the right thing and repealed the tariffs. Not that it was honest about the failure. Instead it claimed its policy worked so well that it could now repeal it. This is like a physician prescribing poison and then changing his mind. He can't but try to put the best spin on it, I suppose. But what a beautiful example of the powerlessness of government this is! The Bush administration wanted to save American industry and only ended up vastly raising the costs of doing all forms of business. More cutbacks are inevitable as steel production shifts to other countries and the US finds its comparative advantage elsewhere. Much legislative energy is poured into helping some groups gain favorable treatment in the workplace. I'm thinking here of the usual litany of victim groups as identified according to race, ability, sex, national origin, religion, and the like. Have these laws actually helped the group in question? The results are mixed at best. If you send people out into the workforce with a high price attached to their heads – and the prospect of a lawsuit is a very high price indeed – you only make employers less likely to hire them. I don’t doubt that some people have been helped by these laws, but they are not the people most in need of help. Today, the disabled, blacks, women, and religious minorities go in search of jobs with a major problem: employers fear them on the margin, and, on the margin, are less likely to hire them relative to others, provided they can get away with it. It is the least qualified among them who pay the highest price. A good test case is disability: it is a documented fact that unemployment among the truly disabled is higher today than it was when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. Because libertarians know in advance that government policies are destructive, we tend to focus our editorial energy on pointing to its destructive effects. But in our zeal to draw attention to issues others ignore, let us not forget the bigger picture. There are always limits to what the government can do, and the government's destruction is always accompanied by examples of great creativity on the part of the market. Even as government dominates the headlines, private entrepreneurs are busy every day working to improve products and services that improve our lives. They do it without taxing us or regulating us, or making us suffer through tedious elections or political debates. They make their products and offer them to us in a way that pleases the consuming public the most. We can choose whether we want them or not. Consider the success of Wal-Mart. If government had set out to create a volume discounter that made a world of material goods and groceries available to the multitude in all countries, it might have tried for a thousand years and not created anything resembling this company. Even the military has relented and now routinely points its employees not to its on-base stores but to Wal-Mart, Office Depot, and others for the best prices. Foreign development aid is another example. It took decades to get the message across, but today finance ministers in the developing world understand that they have far more to gain through integration into the world economy than from development aid and all the restrictive policies that come with it. Today, as Sudha Shenoy points out, the largest resistance to new trade deals comes from the developing world, not because they don't want trade but because they desire trade without the labor and environmental controls the US demands. The same is true in the area of communications. In the last century, governments aspired to control them all: the phones, the mails, the media. Today, we see that government, in practice, controls very little of the communications industry, despite every attempt to hobble private enterprise. In that same vein, a major issue for everyone these days are computer viruses and spam, which threaten to make our chief mode of communication less reliable. Congress passes ineffectual legislation against spam and viruses, while private enterprise has given us dozens of means of winning the battle. Private enterprise creates; government destroys. That is the great economic lesson of our times and all times. Of course there is one way in which government never fails. It can loot. It can gain footholds into society's command centers. It can punish enemies. It can even indoctrinate people in its preferred vision of the world through propaganda. This is the best way to understand the public school system. It doesn't work to educate but it does work to transfer vast sums from the private to the public sector. And here too, we see the power of private enterprise: booster clubs in public schools represent a de facto source of privatization, and the clubs and groups connected to them are the only really successful things going on in public school. We’ll hear much in the coming months about all the wonderful reforms politicians are going to bring us. This is the time when politicians vie for our allegiance by telling all about their ideas and vision for the future. As usual, they will parse their words in ways to maximize the numbers of people who are persuaded and minimize the amount of trouble they get into for inadvertently telling people something they don't want to hear. As an aside, whoever came up with this idea of a mass democracy just wasn't thinking things through very clearly. Nothing runs well by majority vote, to say nothing of the fact that a truly free society shouldn't be "run" at all; it works on its own without would-be masters-and-commanders grasping at the helm. Let me then offer to you my own top ten list of political lies you are told, all designed to make you believe that government should have more power than it already has, so that it can create more of the disasters we are accustomed to: 10. My new program will generate jobs. Truth: only the market generates jobs on net. 9. My education program will reform schools so that they leave no child behind. Truth: the public schools do not work for the same reason no government program can work. They exist outside the market economy. 8. My program will save industry x. Truth: industry must be part of the market or else it is not really industry at all. 7. I won't raise your taxes but I will pass lots of new programs: Truth: all programs must be paid for. 6. As president, I will pursue a humble foreign policy. Truth: nothing in the office of the president encourages humility. 5. This war is humanitarian and winnable. Truth: war is nothing but a government program on a massively destructive scale, and just as error prone. 4. My reform will bring market-based competition. Be on the lookout for this lie, which market partisans are likely to believe. There is only one kind of genuine market, and it is rooted in private property and nothing else. 3. We will secure the nation. Truth: government cannot provide security better than markets, any more than it can provide food or houses better than the market. 2. Government is compassionate. Truth: men who seek power over the lives of others are the coldest, cruelest humans of all. 1. You can't love your country and hate your government. Truth: A person who loves his country loves liberty first. One hundred years from now, the great story of the latter part of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century will be the vast improvements in life wrought by technology. Consider the web, the cell phone, the PDA, the affordable laptop computer, advances in medicine, and the spread of prosperity to all corners of the globe. What has government had to do with this? The answer is: nothing contributory. It has worked only to impede progress, and we can only be thankful that it hasn't succeeded. Through all of human history, governments have caused frightening levels of bloodshed and horror, but in the end, what has prevailed is not power but the market economy. Even today governments can only play catch-up. This is because of the reasons that Mises outlined. Government cannot control the human mind, so it cannot, in the long run, control the choices people make. It cannot control economic forces, which are a far more powerful and permanent feature of the world than any government anyway. Governments have a propensity to overreach in so many areas of life that their exercise of power itself leads to their own undoing. The overreach can take many forms: financial, economic, social, and military. In this way, and with enough passion for liberty burning in the hearts of the citizenry, governments can be responsible for their own undoing. It comes about as a result of overestimating the capacity of power and underestimating its limits. I believe this is happening in our time. It may not be obvious when taking the broad view, but when you look at the status of a huge range of government programs and institutions, what you see is a government that is at once enormously powerful and rich, but also fragile and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Events of the last year indicate just how far the government has slipped in its ability to manage the economy, society, culture, and world order. Despite the exalted status of the state today, the vast and sprawling empire called the US government may in fact be less healthy than it ever has been. A few months back, we had a special speaker come to Auburn, probably the most famous man who has visited us since the Country and Western star Alan Jackson was in town. He was Mikhail Gorbachev, a very interesting figure in the history of nations. He came to power with the reputation of a reformer and instituted many reforms that were designed not to give more liberty to the people, but to stop the unraveling of an empire before it was too late. But it was too late. All his talk of perestroika and glasnost couldn't fool the people, who had become convinced that the Soviet machine was something of a hoax. The empire unraveled not because of him, but despite his efforts to save it. When it came time to make the critical decision of whether to try to hold the empire together by more and more force, or not, history had already made the choice for him. The empire dissolved in the blink of an eye. Not too many months later, he was out of a job, not because he was recalled in some formal process, but because the forces of history had run him over. Democratic governments are not immune from the forces of history that overthrew Soviet tyranny. All governments overreach and no government is permanent. So let us fear government but not exaggerate its powers. It can cause enormous damage and it must always be fought. But in this struggle, we are on the right side of history. The power of human choice, aided by the logic of economics and the laws that operate without any bureaucrat's permission, are our source of hope for the future. _______________________________ Llewellyn H. Rockwell http://www.mises.org/story/1396

Jews of Iraq? What about them? Of course I thought I knew it all back then. I was young, idealistic, and more than willing to put my life at risk for my convictions. It was 1947 and I wasn't quite 18 when the Iraqi authorities caught me for smuggling young Iraqi Jews like myself out of Iraq, into Iran, and then on to the Promised Land of the soon-to-be established Israel. I was an Iraqi Jew in the Zionist underground. My Iraqi jailers did everything they could to extract the names of my co-conspirators. Fifty years later, pain still throbs in my right toe-a reminder of the day my captors used pliers to remove my toenails. On another occasion, they hauled me to the flat roof of the prison, stripped me bare on a frigid January day, then threw a bucket of cold water over me. I was left there, chained to the railing, for hours. But I never once considered giving them the information they wanted. I was a true believer. My preoccupation during what I refer to as my "two years in hell" was with survival and escape. I had no interest then in the broad sweep of Jewish history in Iraq even though my family had been part of it right from the beginning. We were originally Haroons, a large and important family of the "Babylonian Diaspora." My ancestors had settled in Iraq more than 2,600 years ago-600 years before Christianity, and 1,200 years before Islam. I am descended from Jews who built the tomb of Yehezkel, a Jewish prophet of pre-biblical times. My town, where I was born in 1929, is Hillah, not far from the ancient site of Babylon. The original Jews found Babylon, with its nourishing Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to be truly a land of milk, honey, abundance-and opportunity. Although Jews, like other minorities in what became Iraq, experienced periods of oppression and discrimination depending on the rulers of the period, their general trajectory over two and one-half millennia was upward. Under the late Ottoman rule, for example, Jewish social and religious institutions, schools, and medical facilities flourished without outside interference, and Jews were prominent in government and business. As I sat there in my cell, unaware that a death sentence soon would be handed down against me, I could not have recounted any personal grievances that my family members would have lodged against the government or the Muslim majority. Our family had been treated well and had prospered, first as farmers with some 50,000 acres devoted to rice, dates and Arab horses. Then, with the Ottomans, we bought and purified gold that was shipped to Istanbul and turned into coinage. The Turks were responsible in fact for changing our name to reflect our occupation-we became Khalaschi, meaning "Makers of Pure." I did not volunteer the information to my father that I had joined the Zionist underground. He found out several months before I was arrested when he saw me writing Hebrew and using words and expressions unfamiliar to him. He was even more surprised to learn that, yes, I had decided I would soon move to Israel myself. He was scornful. "You'll come back with your tail between your legs," he predicted. About 125,000 Jews left Iraq for Israel in the late 1940s and into 1952, most because they had been lied to and put into a panic by what I came to learn were Zionist bombs. But my mother and father were among the 6,000 who did not go to Israel. Although physically I never did return to Iraq-that bridge had been burned in any event-my heart has made the journey there many, many times. My father had it right. I was imprisoned at the military camp of Abu-Greib, about 7 miles from Baghdad. When the military court handed down my sentence of death by hanging, I had nothing to lose by attempting the escape I had been planning for many months. It was a strange recipe for an escape: a dab of butter, an orange peel, and some army clothing that I had asked a friend to buy for me at a flea market. I deliberately ate as much bread as I could to put on fat in anticipation of the day I became 18, when they could formally charge me with a crime and attach the 50-pound ball and chain that was standard prisoner issue. Later, after my leg had been shackled, I went on a starvation diet that often left me weak-kneed. The pat of butter was to lubricate my leg in preparation for extricating it from the metal band. The orange peel I surreptitiously stuck into the lock on the night of my planned escape, having studied how it could be placed in such a way as to keep the lock from closing. As the jailers turned to go after locking up, I put on the old army issue that was indistinguishable from what they were wearing-a long, green coat and a stocking cap that I pulled down over much of my face (it was winter). Then I just quietly opened the door and joined the departing group of soldiers as they strode down the hall and outside, and I offered a "good night" to the shift guard as I left. A friend with a car was waiting to speed me away. Later I made my way to the new state of Israel, arriving in May, 1950. My passport had my name in Arabic and English, but the English couldn't capture the "kh" sound, so it was rendered simply as Klaski. At the border, the immigration people applied the English version, which had an Eastern European, Ashkenazi ring to it. In one way, this "mistake" was my key to discovering very soon just how the Israeli caste system worked. They asked me where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I was the son of a farmer; I knew all the problems of the farm, so I volunteered to go to Dafnah, a farming kibbutz in the high Galilee. I only lasted a few weeks. The new immigrants were given the worst of everything. The food was the same, but that was the only thing that everyone had in common. For the immigrants, bad cigarettes, even bad toothpaste. Everything. I left. Then, through the Jewish Agency, I was advised to go to al-Majdal (later renamed Ashkelon), an Arab town about 9 miles from Gaza, very close to the Mediterranean. The Israeli government planned to turn it into a farmers' city, so my farm background would be an asset there. When I reported to the Labor Office in al-Majdal, they saw that I could read and write Arabic and Hebrew and they said that I could find a good-paying job with the Military Governor's office. The Arabs were under the authority of these Israeli Military Governors. A clerk handed me a bunch of forms in Arabic and Hebrew. Now it dawned on me. Before Israel could establish its farmers' city, it had to rid al-Majdal of its indigenous Palestinians. The forms were petitions to the United Nations Inspectors asking for transfer out of Israel to Gaza, which was under Egyptian control. I read over the petition. In signing, the Palestinian would be saying that he was of sound mind and body and was making the request for transfer free of pressure or duress. Of course, there was no way that they would leave without being pressured to do so. These families had been there hundreds of years, as farmers, primitive artisans, weavers. The Military Governor prohibited them from pursuing their livelihoods, just penned them up until they lost hope of resuming their normal lives. That's when they signed to leave. I was there and heard their grief. "Our hearts are in pain when we look at the orange trees that we planted with our own hands. Please let us go, let us give water to those trees. God will not be pleased with us if we leave His trees untended." I asked the Military Governor to give them relief, but he said, "No, we want them to leave." I could no longer be part of this oppression and I left. Those Palestinians who didn't sign up for transfers were taken by force-just put in trucks and dumped in Gaza. About four thousand people were driven from al-Majdal in one way or another. The few who remained were collaborators with the Israeli authorities. Subsequently, I wrote letters trying to get a government job elsewhere and I got many immediate responses asking me to come for an interview. Then they would discover that my face didn't match my Polish/Ashkenazi name. They would ask if I spoke Yiddish or Polish, and when I said I didn't, they would ask where I came by a Polish name. Desperate for a good job, I would usually say that I thought my great-grandfather was from Poland. I was advised time and again that "we'll give you a call." Eventually, three to four years after coming to Israel, I changed my name to Giladi, which is close to the code name, Gilad, that I had in the Zionist underground. Klaski wasn't doing me any good anyway, and my Eastern friends were always chiding me about the name they knew didn't go with my origins as an Iraqi Jew. I was disillusioned at what I found in the Promised Land, disillusioned personally, disillusioned at the institutionalized racism, disillusioned at what I was beginning to learn about Zionism's cruelties. The principal interest Israel had in Jews from Islamic countries was as a supply of cheap labor, especially for the farm work that was beneath the urbanized Eastern European Jews. Ben Gurion needed the "Oriental" Jews to farm the thousands of acres of land left by Palestinians who were driven out by Israeli forces in 1948. And I began to find out about the barbaric methods used to rid the fledgling state of as many Palestinians as possible. The world recoils today at the thought of bacteriological warfare, but Israel was probably the first to actually use it in the Middle East. In the 1948 war, Jewish forces would empty Arab villages of their populations, often by threats, sometimes by just gunning down a half-dozen unarmed Arabs as examples to the rest. To make sure the Arabs couldn't return to make a fresh life for themselves in these villages, the Israelis put typhus and dysentery bacteria into the water wells. Uri Mileshtin, an official historian for the Israeli Defense Force, has written and spoken about the use of bacteriological agents. According to Mileshtin, Moshe Dayan, a division commander at the time, gave orders in 1948 to remove Arabs from their villages, bulldoze their homes, and render water wells unusable with typhus and dysentery bacteria. Acre was so situated that it could practically defend itself with one big gun, so the Haganah put bacteria into the spring that fed the town. The spring was called Capri and it ran from the north near a kibbutz. The Haganah put typhus bacteria into the water going to Acre, the people got sick, and the Jewish forces occupied Acre. This worked so well that they sent a Haganah division dressed as Arabs into Gaza, where there were Egyptian forces, and the Egyptians caught them putting two cans of bacteria, typhus and dysentery, into the water supply in wanton disregard of the civilian population. "In war, there is no sentiment," one of the captured Haganah men was quoted as saying. My activism in Israel began shortly after I received a letter from the Socialist/Zionist Party asking me to help with their Arabic newspaper. When I showed up at their offices at Central House in Tel Aviv, I asked around to see just where I should report. I showed the letter to a couple of people there and, without even looking at it, they would motion me away with the words, "Room No. 8." When I saw that they weren't even reading the letter, I inquired of several others. But the response was the same, "Room No. 8," with not a glance at the paper I put in front of them. So I went to Room 8 and saw that it was the Department of Jews from Islamic Countries. I was disgusted and angry. Either I am a member of the party or I'm not. Do I have a different ideology or different politics because I am an Arab Jew? It's segregation, I thought, just like a Negroes' Department. I turned around and walked out. That was the start of my open protests. That same year I organized a demonstration in Ashkelon against Ben Gurion's racist policies and 10,000 people turned out. There wasn't much opportunity for those of us who were second class citizens to do much about it when Israel was on a war footing with outside enemies. After the 1967 war, I was in the Army myself and served in the Sinai when there was continued fighting along the Suez Canal. But the cease-fire with Egypt in 1970 gave us our opening. We took to the streets and organized politically to demand equal rights. If it's our country, if we were expected to risk our lives in a border war, then we expected equal treatment. We mounted the struggle so tenaciously and received so much publicity that the Israeli government tried to discredit our movement by calling us "Israel's Black Panthers." They were thinking in racist terms, really, in assuming the Israeli public would reject an organization whose ideology was being compared to that of radical blacks in the United States. But we saw that what we were doing was no different than what blacks in the United States were fighting against-segregation, discrimination, unequal treatment. Rather than reject the label, we adopted it proudly. I had posters of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and other civil rights activists plastered all over my office. With the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the Israeli-condoned Sabra and Shatilla massacres, I had had enough of Israel. I became a United States citizen and made certain to revoke my Israeli citizenship. I could never have written and published my book in Israel, not with the censorship they would impose. Even in America, I had great difficulty finding a publisher because many are subject to pressures of one kind or another from Israel and its friends. I ended up paying $60,000 from my own pocket to publish Ben Gurion's Scandals: How the Haganah & the Mossad Eliminated Jews, virtually the entire proceeds from having sold my house in Israel. I still was afraid that the printer would back out or that legal proceedings would be initiated to stop its publication, like the Israeli government did in an attempt to prevent former Mossad case officer Victor Ostrovsky from publishing his first book. Ben Gurion's Scandals had to be translated into English from two languages. I wrote in Hebrew when I was in Israel and hoped to publish the book there, and I wrote in Arabic when I was completing the book after coming to the U.S. But I was so worried that something would stop publication that I told the printer not to wait for the translations to be thoroughly checked and proofread. Now I realize that the publicity of a lawsuit would just have created a controversial interest in the book. I am using bank vault storage for the valuable documents that back up what I have written. These documents, including some that I illegally copied from the archives at Yad Vashem, confirm what I saw myself, what I was told by other witnesses, and what reputable historians and others have written concerning the Zionist bombings in Iraq, Arab peace overtures that were rebuffed, and incidents of violence and death inflicted by Jews on Jews in the cause of creating Israel. The Riots of 1941 If, as I have said, my family in Iraq was not persecuted personally and I knew no deprivation as a member of the Jewish minority, what led me to the steps of the gallows as a member of the Zionist underground? To answer that question, it is necessary to establish the context of the massacre that occurred in Baghdad on June 1, 1941, when several hundred Iraqi Jews were killed in riots involving junior officers of the Iraqi army. I was 12 years of age and many of those killed were my friends. I was angry, and very confused. What I didn't know at the time was that the riots most likely were stirred up by the British, in collusion with a pro-British Iraqi leadership. With the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following WW I, Iraq came under British "tutelage." Amir Faisal, son of Sharif Hussein who had led the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman sultan, was brought in from Mecca by the British to become King of Iraq in 1921. Many Jews were appointed to key administrative posts, including that of economics minister. Britain retained final authority over domestic and external affairs. Britain's pro-Zionist attitude in Palestine, however, triggered a growing anti-Zionist backlash in Iraq, as it did in all Arab countries. Writing at the end of 1934, Sir Francis Humphreys, Britain's Ambassador in Baghdad, noted that, while before WW I Iraqi Jews had enjoyed a more favorable position than any other minority in the country, since then "Zionism has sown dissension between Jews and Arabs, and a bitterness has grown up between the two peoples which did not previously exist." King Faisal died in 1933. He was succeeded by his son Ghazi, who died in a motor car accident in 1939. The crown then passed to Ghazi's 4-year-old son, Faisal II, whose uncle, Abd al-Ilah, was named regent. Abd al-Ilah selected Nouri el-Said as prime minister. El-Said supported the British and, as hatred of the British grew, he was forced from office in March 1940 by four senior army officers who advocated Iraq's independence from Britain. Calling themselves the Golden Square, the officers compelled the regent to name as prime minister Rashid Ali al-Kilani, leader of the National Brotherhood party. The time was 1940 and Britain was reeling from a strong German offensive. Al-Kilani and the Golden Square saw this as their opportunity to rid themselves of the British once and for all. Cautiously they began to negotiate for German support, which led the pro-British regent Abd al-Ilah to dismiss al-Kilani in January 1941. By April, however, the Golden Square officers had reinstated the prime minister. This provoked the British to send a military force into Basra on April 12, 1941. Basra, Iraq's second largest city, had a Jewish population of 30,000. Most of these Jews made their livings from import/export, money changing, retailing, as workers in the airports, railways, and ports, or as senior government employees. On the same day, April 12, supporters of the pro-British regent notified the Jewish leaders that the regent wanted to meet with them. As was their custom, the leaders brought flowers for the regent. Contrary to custom, however, the cars that drove them to the meeting place dropped them off at the site where the British soldiers were concentrated. Photographs of the Jews appeared in the following day's newspapers with the banner "Basra Jews Receive British Troops with Flowers." That same day, April 13, groups of angry Arab youths set about to take revenge against the Jews. Several Muslim notables in Basra heard of the plan and calmed things down. Later, it was learned that the regent was not in Basra at all and that the matter was a provocation by his pro-British supporters to bring about an ethnic war in order to give the British army a pretext to intervene. The British continued to land more forces in and around Basra. On May 7, 1941, their Gurkha unit, composed of Indian soldiers from that ethnic group, occupied Basra's el-Oshar quarter, a neighborhood with a large Jewish population. The soldiers, led by British officers, began looting. Many shops in the commercial district were plundered. Private homes were broken into. Cases of attempted rape were reported. Local residents, Jews and Muslims, responded with pistols and old rifles, but their bullets were no match for the soldiers' Tommy Guns. Afterwards, it was learned that the soldiers acted with the acquiescence, if not the blessing, of their British commanders. (It should be remembered that the Indian soldiers, especially those of the Gurkha unit, were known for their discipline, and it is highly unlikely they would have acted so riotously without orders.) The British goal clearly was to create chaos and to blacken the image of the pro-nationalist regime in Baghdad, thereby giving the British forces reason to proceed to the capital and to overthrow the al-Kilani government. Baghdad fell on May 30. Al-Kilani fled to Iran, along with the Golden Square officers. Radio stations run by the British reported that Regent Abd al-Ilah would be returning to the city and that thousands of Jews and others were planning to welcome him. What inflamed young Iraqis against the Jews most, however, was the radio announcer Yunas Bahri on the German station "Berlin," who reported in Arabic that Jews from Palestine were fighting alongside the British against Iraqi soldiers near the city of Faluja. The report was false. On Sunday, June 1, unarmed fighting broke out in Baghdad between Jews who were still celebrating their Shabuoth holiday and young Iraqis who thought the Jews were celebrating the return of the pro-British regent. That evening, a group of Iraqis stopped a bus, removed the Jewish passengers, murdered one and fatally wounded a second. About 8:30 the following morning, some 30 individuals in military and police uniforms opened fire along el-Amin street, a small downtown street whose jewelry, tailor and grocery shops were Jewish-owned. By 11 a.m., mobs of Iraqis with knives, switchblades and clubs were attacking Jewish homes in the area. The riots continued throughout Monday, June 2. During this time, many Muslims rose to defend their Jewish neighbors, while some Jews successfully defended themselves. There were 124 killed and 400 injured, according to a report written by a Jewish Agency messenger who was in Iraq at the time. Other estimates, possibly less reliable, put the death toll higher, as many as 500, with from 650 to 2,000 injured. From 500 to 1,300 stores and more than 1,000 homes and apartments were looted. Who was behind the rioting in the Jewish quarter? Yosef Meir, one of the most prominent activists in the Zionist underground movement in Iraq, known then as Yehoshafat, claims it was the British. Meir, who now works for the Israeli Defense Ministry, argues that, in order to make it appear that the regent was returning as the savior who would reestablish law and order, the British stirred up the riots against the most vulnerable and visible segment in the city, the Jews. And, not surprisingly, the riots ended as soon as the regent's loyal soldiers entered the capital. My own investigations as a journalist lead me to believe Meir is correct. Furthermore, I think his claims should be seen as based on documents in the archives of the Israeli Defense Ministry, the agency that published his book. Yet, even before his book came out, I had independent confirmation from a man I met in Iran in the late Forties. His name was Michael Timosian, an Iraqi Armenian. When I met him he was working as a male nurse at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Abadan in the south of Iran. On June 2, 1941, however, he was working at the Baghdad hospital where many of the riot victims were brought. Most of these victims were Jews. Timosian said he was particularly interested in two patients whose conduct did not follow local custom. One had been hit by a bullet in his shoulder, the other by a bullet in his right knee. After the doctor removed the bullets, the staff tried to change their blood-soaked cloths. But the two men fought off their efforts, pretending to be speechless, although tests showed they could hear. To pacify them, the doctor injected them with anesthetics and, as they were sleeping, Timosian changed their cloths. He discovered that one of them had around his neck an identification tag of the type used by British troops, while the other had tattoos with Indian script on his right arm along with the familiar sword of the Gurkha. The next day when Timosian showed up for work, he was told that a British officer, his sergeant and two Indian Gurkha soldiers had come to the hospital early that morning. Staff members overheard the Gurkha soldiers talking with the wounded patients, who were not as dumb as they had pretended. The patients saluted the visitors, covered themselves with sheets and, without signing the required release forms, left the hospital with their visitors. Today there is no doubt in my mind that the anti-Jewish riots of 1941 were orchestrated by the British for geopolitical ends. David Kimche is certainly a man who was in a position to know the truth, and he has spoken publicly about British culpability. Kimche had been with British Intelligence during WW II and with the Mossad after the war. Later he became Director General of Israel's Foreign Ministry, the position he held in 1982 when he addressed a forum at the British Institute for International Affairs in London. In responding to hostile questions about Israel's invasion of Lebanon and the refugee camp massacres in Beirut, Kimche went on the attack, reminding the audience that there was scant concern in the British Foreign Office when British Gurkha units participated in the murder of 500 Jews in the streets of Baghdad in 1941. The Bombings of 1950-1951 The anti-Jewish riots of 1941 did more than create a pretext for the British to enter Baghdad to reinstate the pro-British regent and his pro-British prime minister, Nouri el-Said. They also gave the Zionists in Palestine a pretext to set up a Zionist underground in Iraq, first in Baghdad, then in other cities such as Basra, Amara, Hillah, Diwaneia, Abril and Karkouk. Following WW II, a succession of governments held brief power in Iraq. Zionist conquests in Palestine, particularly the massacre of Palestinians in the village of Deir Yassin, emboldened the anti-British movement in Iraq. When the Iraqi government signed a new treaty of friendship with London in January 1948, riots broke out all over the country. The treaty was quickly abandoned and Baghdad demanded removal of the British military mission that had run Iraq's army for 27 years. Later in 1948, Baghdad sent an army detachment to Palestine to fight the Zionists, and when Israel declared independence in May, Iraq closed the pipeline that fed its oil to Haifa's refinery. Abd al-Ilah, however, was still regent and the British quisling, Nouri el-Said, was back as prime minister. I was in the Abu-Greib prison in 1948, where I would remain until my escape to Iran in September 1949. Six months later-the exact date was March 19, 1950-a bomb went off at the American Cultural Center and Library in Baghdad, causing property damage and injuring a number of people. The center was a favorite meeting place for young Jews. The first bomb thrown directly at Jews occurred on April 8, 1950, at 9:15 p.m. A car with three young passengers hurled the grenade at Baghdad's El-Dar El-Bida Café, where Jews were celebrating Passover. Four people were seriously injured. That night leaflets were distributed calling on Jews to leave Iraq immediately. The next day, many Jews, most of them poor with nothing to lose, jammed emigration offices to renounce their citizenship and to apply for permission to leave for Israel. So many applied, in fact, that the police had to open registration offices in Jewish schools and synagogues. On May 10, at 3 a.m., a grenade was tossed in the direction of the display window of the Jewish-owned Beit-Lawi Automobile Company, destroying part of the building. No casualties were reported. On June 3, 1950, another grenade was tossed from a speeding car in the El-Batawin area of Baghdad where most rich Jews and middle class Iraqis lived. No one was hurt, but following the explosion Zionist activists sent telegrams to Israel requesting that the quota for immigration from Iraq be increased. On June 5, at 2:30 a.m., a bomb exploded next to the Jewish-owned Stanley Shashua building on El-Rashid street, resulting in property damage but no casualties. On January 14, 1951, at 7 p.m., a grenade was thrown at a group of Jews outside the Masouda Shem-Tov Synagogue. The explosive struck a high-voltage cable, electrocuting three Jews, one a young boy, Itzhak Elmacher, and wounding over 30 others. Following the attack, the exodus of Jews jumped to between 600-700 per day. Zionist propagandists still maintain that the bombs in Iraq were set off by anti-Jewish Iraqis who wanted Jews out of their country. The terrible truth is that the grenades that killed and maimed Iraqi Jews and damaged their property were thrown by Zionist Jews. Among the most important documents in my book, I believe, are copies of two leaflets published by the Zionist underground calling on Jews to leave Iraq. One is dated March 16, 1950, the other April 8, 1950. The difference between these two is critical. Both indicate the date of publication, but only the April 8th leaflet notes the time of day: 4 p.m. Why the time of day? Such a specification was unprecedented. Even the investigating judge, Salaman El-Beit, found it suspicious. Did the 4 p.m. writers want an alibi for a bombing they knew would occur five hours later? If so, how did they know about the bombing? The judge concluded they knew because a connection existed between the Zionist underground and the bomb throwers. This, too, was the conclusion of Wilbur Crane Eveland, a former senior officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), whom I had the opportunity to meet in New York in 1988. In his book, Ropes of Sand, whose publication the CIA opposed, Eveland writes: In attempts to portray the Iraqis as anti-American and to terrorize the Jews, the Zionists planted bombs in the U.S. Information Service library and in synagogues. Soon leaflets began to appear urging Jews to flee to Israel. . . . Although the Iraqi police later provided our embassy with evidence to show that the synagogue and library bombings, as well as the anti-Jewish and anti-American leaflet campaigns, had been the work of an underground Zionist organization, most of the world believed reports that Arab terrorism had motivated the flight of the Iraqi Jews whom the Zionists had "rescued" really just in order to increase Israel's Jewish population." Eveland doesn't detail the evidence linking the Zionists to the attacks, but in my book I do. In 1955, for example, I organized in Israel a panel of Jewish attorneys of Iraqi origin to handle claims of Iraqi Jews who still had property in Iraq. One well known attorney, who asked that I not give his name, confided in me that the laboratory tests in Iraq had confirmed that the anti-American leaflets found at the American Cultural Center bombing were typed on the same typewriter and duplicated on the same stenciling machine as the leaflets distributed by the Zionist movement just before the April 8th bombing. Tests also showed that the type of explosive used in the Beit-Lawi attack matched traces of explosives found in the suitcase of an Iraqi Jew by the name of Yosef Basri. Basri, a lawyer, together with Shalom Salih, a shoemaker, would be put on trial for the attacks in December 1951 and executed the following month. Both men were members of Hashura, the military arm of the Zionist underground. Salih ultimately confessed that he, Basri and a third man, Yosef Habaza, carried out the attacks. By the time of the executions in January 1952, all but 6,000 of an estimated 125,000 Iraqi Jews had fled to Israel. Moreover, the pro-British, pro-Zionist puppet el-Said saw to it that all of their possessions were frozen, including their cash assets. (There were ways of getting Iraqi dinars out, but when the immigrants went to exchange them in Israel they found that the Israeli government kept 50 percent of the value.) Even those Iraqi Jews who had not registered to emigrate, but who happened to be abroad, faced loss of their nationality if they didn't return within a specified time. An ancient, cultured, prosperous community had been uprooted and its people transplanted to a land dominated by East European Jews, whose culture was not only foreign but entirely hateful to them. The Ultimate Criminals Zionist Leaders. From the start they knew that in order to establish a Jewish state they had to expel the indigenous Palestinian population to the neighboring Islamic states and import Jews from these same states. * Theodor Herzl, the architect of Zionism, thought it could be done by social engineering. In his diary entry for 12 June 1885, he wrote that Zionist settlers would have to "spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country." * Vladimir Jabotinsky, Prime Minister Netanyahu's ideological progenitor, frankly admitted that such a transfer of populations could only be brought about by force. * David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, told a Zionist Conference in 1937 that any proposed Jewish state would have to "transfer Arab populations out of the area, if possible of their own free will, if not by coercion." After 750,000 Palestinians were uprooted and their lands confiscated in 1948-49, Ben Gurion had to look to the Islamic countries for Jews who could fill the resultant cheap labor market. "Emissaries" were smuggled into these countries to "convince" Jews to leave either by trickery or fear. In the case of Iraq, both methods were used: uneducated Jews were told of a Messianic Israel in which the blind see, the lame walk, and onions grow as big as melons; educated Jews had bombs thrown at them. A few years after the bombings, in the early 1950s, a book was published in Iraq, in Arabic, titled Venom of the Zionist Viper. The author was one of the Iraqi investigators of the 1950-51 bombings and, in his book, he implicates the Israelis, specifically one of the emissaries sent by Israel, Mordechai Ben-Porat. As soon as the book came out, all copies just disappeared, even from libraries. The word was that agents of the Israeli Mossad, working through the U.S. Embassy, bought up all the books and destroyed them. I tried on three different occasions to have one sent to me in Israel, but each time Israeli censors in the post office intercepted it. British Leaders. Britain always acted in its best colonial interests. For that reason Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour sent his famous 1917 letter to Lord Rothschild in exchange for Zionist support in WW I. During WW II the British were primarily concerned with keeping their client states in the Western camp, while Zionists were most concerned with the immigration of European Jews to Palestine, even if this meant cooperating with the Nazis. (In my book I document numerous instances of such dealings by Ben Gurion and the Zionist leadership.) After WW II the international chessboard pitted communists against capitalists. In many countries, including the United States and Iraq, Jews represented a large part of the Communist party. In Iraq, hundreds of Jews of the working intelligentsia occupied key positions in the hierarchy of the Communist and Socialist parties. To keep their client countries in the capitalist camp, Britain had to make sure these governments had pro-British leaders. And if, as in Iraq, these leaders were overthrown, then an anti-Jewish riot or two could prove a useful pretext to invade the capital and reinstate the "right" leaders. Moreover, if the possibility existed of removing the communist influence from Iraq by transferring the whole Jewish community to Israel, well then, why not? Particularly if the leaders of Israel and Iraq conspired in the deed. The Iraqi Leaders. Both the regent Abd al-Ilah and his prime minister Nouri el- Said took directions from London. Toward the end of 1948, el-Said, who had already met with Israel's Prime Minister Ben Gurion in Vienna, began discussing with his Iraqi and British associates the need for an exchange of populations. Iraq would send the Jews in military trucks to Israel via Jordan, and Iraq would take in some of the Palestinians Israel had been evicting. His proposal included mutual confiscation of property. London nixed the idea as too radical. El-Said then went to his back-up plan and began to create the conditions that would make the lives of Iraqi Jews so miserable they would leave for Israel. Jewish government employees were fired from their jobs; Jewish merchants were denied import/export licenses; police began to arrest Jews for trivial reasons. Still the Jews did not leave in any great numbers. In September 1949, Israel sent the spy Mordechai Ben-Porat, the one mentioned in Venom of the Zionist Viper, to Iraq. One of the first things Ben-Porat did was to approach el-Said and promise him financial incentives to have a law enacted that would lift the citizenship of Iraqi Jews. Soon after, Zionist and Iraqi representatives began formulating a rough draft of the bill, according to the model dictated by Israel through its agents in Baghdad. The bill was passed by the Iraqi parliament in March 1950. It empowered the government to issue one-time exit visas to Jews wishing to leave the country. In March, the bombings began. Sixteen years later, the Israeli magazine Haolam Hazeh, published by Uri Avnery, then a Knesset member, accused Ben-Porat of the Baghdad bombings. Ben-Porat, who would become a Knesset member himself, denied the charge, but never sued the magazine for libel. And Iraqi Jews in Israel still call him Morad Abu al-Knabel, Mordechai of the Bombs. As I said, all this went well beyond the comprehension of a teenager. I knew Jews were being killed and an organization existed that could lead us to the Promised Land. So I helped in the exodus to Israel. Later, on occasions, I would bump into some of these Iraqi Jews in Israel. Not infrequently they'd express the sentiment that they could kill me for what I had done. Opportunities for Peace After the Israeli attack on the Jordanian village of Qibya in October, 1953, Ben Gurion went into voluntary exile at the Sedeh Boker kibbutz in the Negev. The Labor party then used to organize many buses for people to go visit him there, where they would see the former prime minister working with sheep. But that was only for show. Really he was writing his diary and continuing to be active behind the scenes. I went on such a tour. Ben Gurion's Scandals by N.Giladi How the Haganah and Mossad eliminated Jews. Available in our BookstoreWe were told not to try to speak to Ben Gurion, but when I saw him, I asked why, since Israel is a democracy with a parliament, does it not have a constitution? Ben Gurion said, "Look, boy"-I was 24 at the time-"if we have a constitution, we have to write in it the border of our country. And this is not our border, my dear." I asked, "Then where is the border?" He said, "Wherever the Sahal will come, this is the border." Sahal is the Israeli army. Ben Gurion told the world that Israel accepted the partition and the Arabs rejected it. Then Israel took half of the land that was promised to the Arab state. And still he was saying it was not enough. Israel needed more land. How can a country make peace with its neighbors if it wants to take their land? How can a country demand to be secure if it won't say what borders it will be satisfied with? For such a country, peace would be an inconvenience. I know now that from the beginning many Arab leaders wanted to make peace with Israel, but Israel always refused. Ben Gurion covered this up with propaganda. He said that the Arabs wanted to drive Israel into the sea and he called Gamal Abdel Nasser the Hitler of the Middle East whose foremost intent was to destroy Israel. He wanted America and Great Britain to treat Nasser like a pariah. In 1954, it seemed that America was getting less critical of Nasser. Then during a three-week period in July, several terrorist bombs were set off: at the United States Information Agency offices in Cairo and Alexandria, a British-owned theater, and the central post office in Cairo. An attempt to firebomb a cinema in Alexandria failed when the bomb went off in the pocket of one of the perpetrators. That led to the discovery that the terrorists were not anti-Western Egyptians, but were instead Israeli spies bent on souring the warming relationship between Egypt and the United States in what came to be known as the Lavon Affair. Ben Gurion was still living on his kibbutz. Moshe Sharett as prime minister was in contact with Abdel Nasser through the offices of Lord Maurice Orbach of Great Britain. Sharett asked Nasser to be lenient with the captured spies, and Nasser did all that was in his power to prevent a deterioration of the situation between the two countries. Then Ben Gurion returned as Defense Minister in February, 1955. Later that month Israeli troops attacked Egyptian military camps and Palestinian refugees in Gaza, killing 54 and injuring many more. The very night of the attack, Lord Orbach was on his way to deliver a message to Nasser, but was unable to get through because of the military action. When Orbach telephoned, Nasser's secretary told him that the attack proved that Israel did not want peace and that he was wasting his time as a mediator. In November, Ben Gurion announced in the Knesset that he was willing to meet with Abdel Nasser anywhere and at any time for the sake of peace and understanding. The next morning the Israeli military attacked an Egyptian military camp in the Sabaha region. Although Nasser felt pessimistic about achieving peace with Israel, he continued to send other mediators to try. One was through the American Friends Service Committee; another via the Prime Minister of Malta, Dom Minthoff; and still another through Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia. One that looked particularly promising was through Dennis Hamilton, editor of The London Times. Nasser told Hamilton that if only he could sit and talk with Ben Gurion for two or three hours, they would be able to settle the conflict and end the state of war between the two countries. When word of this reached Ben Gurion, he arranged to meet with Hamilton. They decided to pursue the matter with the Israeli ambassador in London, Arthur Luria, as liaison. On Hamilton's third trip to Egypt, Nasser met him with the text of a Ben Gurion speech stating that Israel would not give up an inch of land and would not take back a single refugee. Hamilton knew that Ben Gurion with his mouth had undermined a peace mission and missed an opportunity to settle the Israeli-Arab conflict. Nasser even sent his friend Ibrahim Izat of the Ruz El Yusuf weekly paper to meet with Israeli leaders in order to explore the political atmosphere and find out why the attacks were taking place if Israel really wanted peace. One of the men Izat met with was Yigal Yadin, a former Chief of Staff of the army who wrote this letter to me on 14 January 1982: Dear Mr. Giladi: Your letter reminded me of an event which I nearly forgot and of which I remember only a few details. Ibrahim Izat came to me if I am not mistaken under the request of the Foreign Ministry or one of its branches; he stayed in my house and we spoke for many hours. I do not remember him saying that he came on a mission from Nasser, but I have no doubt that he let it be understood that this was with his knowledge or acquiescence.... When Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal in spite of opposition from the British and the French, Radio Cairo announced in Hebrew: If the Israeli government is not influenced by the British and the French imperialists, it will eventually result in greater understanding between the two states, and Egypt will reconsider Israel's request to have access to the Suez Canal. Israel responded that it had no designs on Egypt, but at that very moment Israeli representatives were in France planning the three-way attack that was to take place in October, 1956. All the while, Ben Gurion continued to talk about the Hitler of the Middle East. This brainwashing went on until late September, 1970, when Gamal Abdel Nasser passed away. Then, miracle of miracles, David Ben Gurion told the press: A week before he died I received an envoy from Abdel Nasser who asked to meet with me urgently in order to solve the problems between Israel and the Arab world. The public was surprised because they didn't know that Abdel Nasser had wanted this all along, but Israel sabotaged it. Nasser was not the only Arab leader who wanted to make peace with Israel. There were many others. Brigadier General Abdel Karim Qasem, before he seized power in Iraq in July, 1958, headed an underground organization that sent a delegation to Israel to make a secret agreement. Ben Gurion refused even to see him. I learned about this when I was a journalist in Israel. But whenever I tried to publish even a small part of it, the censor would stamp it "Not Allowed." Now, in Netanyahu, we are witnessing another attempt by an Israeli prime minister to fake an interest in making peace. Netanyahu and the Likud are setting Arafat up by demanding that he institute more and more repressive measures in the interest of Israeli "security." Sooner or later I suspect the Palestinians will have had enough of Arafat's strong-arm methods as Israel's quisling-and he'll be killed. Then the Israeli government will say, "See, we were ready to give him everything. You can't trust those Arabs-they kill each other. Now there's no one to even talk to about peace." Conclusion Alexis de Tocqueville once observed that it is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth. Certainly it has been easier for the world to accept the Zionist lie that Jews were evicted from Muslim lands because of anti-Semitism, and that Israelis, never the Arabs, were the pursuers of peace. The truth is far more discerning: bigger players on the world stage were pulling the strings. These players, I believe, should be held accountable for their crimes, particularly when they willfully terrorized, dispossessed and killed innocent people on the altar of some ideological imperative. I believe, too, that the descendants of these leaders have a moral responsibility to compensate the victims and their descendants, and to do so not just with reparations, but by setting the historical record straight. That is why I established a panel of inquiry in Israel to seek reparations for Iraqi Jews who had been forced to leave behind their property and possessions in Iraq. That is why I joined the Black Panthers in confronting the Israeli government with the grievances of the Jews in Israel who came from Islamic lands. And that is why I have written my book and this article: to set the historical record straight. We Jews from Islamic lands did not leave our ancestral homes because of any natural enmity between Jews and Muslims. And we Arabs-I say Arab because that is the language my wife and I still speak at home-we Arabs on numerous occasions have sought peace with the State of the Jews. And finally, as a U.S. citizen and taxpayer, let me say that we Americans need to stop supporting racial discrimination in Israel and the cruel expropriation of lands in the West Bank, Gaza, South Lebanon and the Golan Heights.

Are these some of the many hundreds of contradictions in the bible ? Wouldn’t you want to know if the map and guide you are using to get home is reliable or not ? I WOULD !! How did Simon Peter find out that Jesus was the Christ? (a) By a revelation from heaven (Matthew 16:17) (b) His brother Andrew told him (John 1:41) Where did Jesus first meet Simon Peter and Andrew? (a) By the sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18-22) (b) On the banks of river Jordan (John 1:42). After that, Jesus decided to go to Galilee (John 1:43) When Jesus met Jairus was Jairus’ daughter already dead? (a) Yes. Matthew 9:18 quotes him as saying, “My daughter has just died.” (b) No. Mark 5:23 quotes him as saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death.” Did Jesus allow his disciples to keep a staff on their journey? (a) Yes(Mark6:8) (b) No (Matthew 10:9; Luke 9:3) Did Herod think that Jesus was John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:2; Mark 6:16) (b) No (Luke 9:9) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus before his baptism? (a) Yes (Matthew 3:13-14) (b) No (John 1:32,33) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus after his baptism? (a) Yes (John 1:32, 33) (b) No (Matthew 11:2) According to the Gospel of John, what did Jesus say about bearing his own witness? (a) “If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true” (John 5:3 1) (b) “Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true” (John 8:14) When Jesus entered Jerusalem did he cleanse the temple that same day? (a) Yes (Matthew 21:12) (b) No. He went into the temple and looked around, but since it was very late he did nothing. Instead, he went to Bethany to spend the night and returned the next morning to cleanse the temple (Mark I 1:1- 17). The Gospels say that Jesus cursed a fig tree. Did the tree wither at once? (a) Yes. (Matthew 21:19) (b) No. It withered overnight (Mark II: 20) Did Judas kiss Jesus? (a) Yes (Matthew 26:48-50) (b) No. Judas could not get close enough to Jesus to kiss him (John 18:3-12) What did Jesus say about Peter’s denial? (a) “The **** will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:38). (b) “Before the **** crows twice you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30) . When the **** crowed once, the three denials were not yet complete (see Mark 14:72). Therefore prediction (a) failed. Did Jesus bear his own cross? (a) Yes (John 19:17) (b) No (Matthew 27:31-32) Did Jesus die before the curtain of the temple was torn? (a) Yes(Matthew27:50-5 1;MarklS:37-38) (b) No. After the curtain was torn, then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:45-46) Did Jesus say anything secretly? (a) No. “I have said nothing secretly” (John 18:20) (b) Yes. “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:34). The disciples asked him “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13: 1 0-11) Where was Jesus at the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion? (a) On the cross (Mark 15:23) (b) In Pilate’s court (John 19:14) The gospels say that two thieves were crucified along with Jesus. Did both thieves mock Jesus? (a) Yes (Mark 15:32) (b) No. One of them mocked Jesus, the other defended Jesus (Luke 23:43) Did Jesus ascend to Paradise the same day of the crucifixion? (a) Yes. He said to the thief who defended him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) (b) No. He said to Mary Magdelene two days later, “I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17) When Paul was on the road to Damascus he saw a light and heard a voice. Did those who were with him hear the voice? (a) Yes(Acts9:7) (b) No(Acts22:9) When Paul saw the light he fell to the ground. Did his traveling companions also fall to the ground? (a) Yes (Acts 26:14) (b) No (Acts 9:7) Did the voice spell out on the spot what Paul’s duties were to be? (a) Yes (Acts 26:16-18) (b) No. The voice commanded Paul to go into the city of Damascus and there he will be told what he must do. (Acts9:7;22: 10) /// When the Israelites dwelt in Shittin they committed adultery with the daughters of Moab. God struck them with a plague. How many people died in that plague? (a) Twenty-four thousand (Numbers 25:1 and 9) (b) Twenty-three thousand (I Corinthians 10:8) How many members of the house of Jacob came to Egypt? (a) Seventy souls (Genesis 4&27) (b) Seventy-five souls (Acts 7:14) What did Judas do with the blood money he received for betraying Jesus? (a) He bought a field (Acts 1: 18) (b) He threw all of it into the temple and went away. The priests could not put the blood money into the temple treasury, so they used it to buy a field to bury strangers (Matthew 27:5) How did Judas die? (a) After he threw the money into the temple he went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5) (b) After he bought the field with the price of his evil deed he fell headlong and burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out (Acts 1:18) Why is the field called “Field of Blood”? (a) Because the priests bought it with the blood money (Matthew 27:8) (b) Because of the bloody death of Judas therein (Acts 1:19) Who is a ransom for whom? (a) “The Son of Man came...to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all... “(I Timothy 2:5-6) (b) “The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright” (Proverbs 21:18) Is the law of Moses useful? (a) Yes. “All scripture is... profitable...” (2 Timothy 3:16) (b) No. “. . . A former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness... “(Hebrews 7:18) What was the exact wording on the cross? (a) “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37) (b) “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26) (c) “This is the King of the Jews” (Luke 23:38) (d) “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19) Did Herod want to kill John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:5) (b) No. It was Herodias, the wife of Herod who wanted to kill him. But Herod knew that he was a righteous man and kept him safe (Mark 6:20) Who was the tenth disciple of Jesus in the list of twelve? (a) Thaddaeus (Matthew 10: 1-4; Mark 3:13 -19) (b) Judas son of James is the corresponding name in Luke’s gospel (Luke 6:12-16) Jesus saw a man sitat the tax collector’s office and called him to be his disciple. What was his name? (a) Matthew (Matthew 9:9) (b) Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27) Was Jesus crucified on the daytime before the Passover meal or the daytime after? (a) After (Mark 14:12-17) (b) Before. Before the feast of the Passover (John 1) Judas went out at night (John 13:30). The other disciples thought he was going out to buy supplies to prepare for the Passover meal (John 13:29). When Jesus was arrested, the Jews did not enter Pilate’s judgment hail because they wanted to stay clean to eat the Passover (John 18:28). When the judgment was pronounced against Jesus, it was about the sixth hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover (John 19:14) Did Jesus pray to The Father to prevent the crucifixion? (a) Yes. (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42) (b) No. (John 12:27) In the gospels which say that Jesus prayed to avoid the cross, how many times did ‘he move away from his disciples to pray? (a) Three (Matthew 26:36-46 and Mark 14:32-42) (b) One. No opening is left for another two times. (Luke 22:39-46) Matthew and Mark agree that Jesus went away and prayed three times. What were the words of the second prayer? (a) Mark does not give the words but he says that the words were the same as the first prayer (Mark 14:3 9) (b) Matthew gives us the words, and we can see that they are not the same as in the first (Matthew 26:42) What did the centurion say when Jesus dies? (a) “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47) (b) “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39) When Jesus said “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me ? ” in what language did he speak? (a) Hebrew: the words are “Eloi, Eloi …..“(Matthew 27:46) (b) Aramaic: the words are “Eloi, Eloi ….. “(Mark 15:34) According to the gospels, what were the last words of Jesus before he died? (a) “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46) (b) "It is finished" (John 19:30). When Jesus entered Capernaum he healed the slave of a centurion. Did the centurion come personally to request Jesus for this? (a) Yes (Matthew 8:5) (b) No. He sent some elders of the Jews and his friends (Luke 7:3,6) (a) Adam was told that if and when he eats the forbidden fruit he would die the same day (Genesis 2:17) (b) Adam ate the fruit and went on to live to a ripe old age of 930 years (Genesis 5:5) (a) God decided that the life-span of humans will be limited to 120 years (Genesis 6:3) (b) Many people born after that lived longer than 120. Arpachshad lived 438 years. His son Shelah lived 433 years. His son Eber lived 464 years, etc. (Genesis 11:12-16) Apart from Jesus did anyone else ascend to heaven? (a) No (John 3:13) (b) Yes. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11) Who was high priest when David went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread? (a) Abiathar (Mark 2:26) (b) Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar (I Samuel 1:1; 22:20) Was Jesus’ body wrapped in spices before burial in accordance with Jewish burial customs? (a) Yes and his female disciples witnessed his burial (John 19:39-40) (b) No. Jesus was simply wrapped in a linen shroud. Then the women bought and prepared spices “so that they may go and anoint him [Jesus)” (Mark 16: 1) When did the women buy the spices? (a) After “the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1) (b) Before the Sabbath. The women “prepared spices and ointments.” Then, “on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55 to 24:1) At what time of day did the women visit the tomb? (a) “Toward the dawn” (Matthew 28: 1) (b) “When the sun had risen” (Mark 16:2) What was the purpose for which the women went to the tomb? (a) To anoint Jesus’ body with spices (Mark 16: 1; Luke 23:55 to 24: 1) (b) To see the tomb. Nothing about spices here (Matthew 28: 1) (c) For no specified reason. In this gospel the wrapping with spices had been done before the Sabbath (John 20: 1) Who incited David to count the fighting men of Israel? (a) God did (2 Samuel 24: 1) (b) Satan did (I Chronicles 2 1:1) In that count how many fighting men were found in Israel? (a) Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) One million, one hundred thousand (IChronicles 21:5) How many fighting men were found in Judah? (a) Five hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) Four hundred and seventy thousand (I Chronicles 21:5) God sent his prophet to threaten David with how many years of famine? (a) Seven (2 Samuel 24:13) (b) Three (I Chronicles 21:12) How old was Ahaziah when he began to rule over Jerusalem? (a) Twenty-two (2 Kings 8:26) (b) Forty-two (2 Chronicles 22:2) How old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Jerusalem? (a) Eighteen (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Eight (2 Chronicles 36:9) How long did he rule over Jerusalem? (a) Three months (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9) The chief of the mighty men of David lifted up his spear and killed how many men at one time? (a) Eight hundred (2 Samuel 23:8) (b) Three hundred (I Chronicles 11: 11) When did David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? Before defeating the Philistines or after? (a) After (2 Samuel 5 and 6) (b) Before (I Chronicles 13 and 14) How many pairs of clean animals did God tell Noah to take into the Ark? (a) Two (Genesis 6:19, 20) (b) Seven (Genesis 7:2). But despite this last instruction only two pairs went into the ark (Genesis 7:8-9) When David defeated the King of Zobah, how many horsemen did he capture? (a) One thousand and seven hundred (2 Samuel 8:4) (b) Seven thousand (I Chronicles 18:4) How many stalls for horses did Solomon have? (a) Forty thousand (I Kings 4:26) (b) Four thousand (2 chronicles 9:25) In what year of King Asa's reign did Baasha, King of Israel die? (a) Twenty-sixth year (I Kings 15:33 - 16:8) (b) Still alive in the thirty-sixth year (2 Chronicles 16:1) How many overseers did Solomon appoint for the work of building the temple? (a) Three thousand six hundred (2 Chronicles 2:2) (b) Three thousand three hundred (I Kings 5:16) Solomon built a facility containing how many baths? (a) Two thousand (1 Kings 7:26) (b) Over three thousand (2 Chronicles 4:5) Of the Israelites who were freed from the Babylonian captivity, how many were the children of Pahrath-Moab? (a) Two thousand eight hundred and twelve (Ezra 2:6) (b) Two thousand eight hundred and eighteen (Nehemiah 7:11) How many were the children of Zattu? (a) Nine hundred and forty-five (Ezra 2:8) (b) Eight hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:13) How many were the children of Azgad? (a) One thousand two hundred and twenty-two (Ezra 2:12) (b) Two thousand three hundred and twenty-two (Nehemiah 7:17) How many were the children of Adin? (a) Four hundred and fifty-four (Ezra 2:15) (b) Six hundred and fifty-five (Nehemiah 7:20) How many were the children of Hashum? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:19) (b) Three hundred and twenty-eight (Nehemiah 7:22) How many were the children of Bethel and Ai? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:28) (b) One hundred and twenty-three (Nehemiah 7:32) Ezra 2:64 and Nehemiah 7:66 agree that the total number of the whole assembly was 42,360. Yet the numbers do not add up to anything close. The totals obtained from each book is as follows: (a) 29,818 (Ezra) (b) 31,089 (Nehemiah) How many singers accompanied the assembly? (a) Two hundred (Ezra 2:65) (b) Two hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:67) What was the name of King Abijah’s mother? (a) Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2) (b) Maachah, daughter of Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:20) But Absalom had only one daughter whose name was Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27) Did Joshua and the Israelites capture Jerusalem? (a) Yes (Joshua 10:23, 40) (b) No (Joshua 15:63) Who was the father of Joseph, husband of Mary? (a) Jacob (Matthew 1:16) (b) Hell (Luke 3:23) Jesus descended from which son of David? (a) Solomon (Matthew 1:6) (b) Nathan(Luke3:31) Who was the father of Shealtiel? (a) Jechoniah (Matthew 1:12) (b) Neri’ (Luke 3:27) Which son of Zerubbabel was an ancestor of Jesus Christ? (a) Abiud (Matthew 1: 13) (b) Rhesa (Luke 3:27) But the seven sons of Zerubbabel are as follows: i.Meshullam, ii. Hananiah, iii. Hashubah, iv. Ohel, v.Berechiah, vi. Hasadiah, viii. Jushabhesed (I Chronicles 3:19, 20). The names Abiud and Rhesa do not fit in anyway. Who was the father of Uzziah? (a) Joram (Matthew 1:8) (b) Amaziah (2 Chronicles 26:1) Who as the father of Jechoniah? (a) Josiah (Matthew 1:11) (b) Jeholakim (I Chronicles 3:16) How many generations were there from the Babylonian exile until Christ? (a) Matthew says fourteen (Matthew 1:17) (b) But a careful count of the generations reveals only thirteen (see Matthew 1: 12-16) Who was the father of Shelah? (a) Cainan (Luke 3:35-36) (b) Arphaxad (Genesis II: 12) Was John the Baptist Elijah who was to come? (a) Yes (Matthew II: 14, 17:10-13) (b) No(John 1:19-21) Would Jesus inherit David’s throne? (a) Yes. So said the angel (Luke 1:32) (b) No, since he is a descendant of Jehoiakim (see Matthew 1: I 1, I Chronicles 3:16). And Jehoiakim was cursed by God so that none of his descendants can sit upon David’s throne (Jeremiah 36:30) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on how many animals? (a) One - a colt (Mark 11:7; cf Luke 19:3 5). “And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it.” (b) Two - a colt and an *** (Matthew 21:7). “They brought the *** and the colt and put their garments on them and he sat thereon.” How did Simon Peter find out that Jesus was the Christ? (a) By a revelation from heaven (Matthew 16:17) (b) His brother Andrew told him (John 1:41) Where did Jesus first meet Simon Peter and Andrew? (a) By the sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18-22) (b) On the banks of river Jordan (John 1:42). After that, Jesus decided to go to Galilee (John 1:43) When Jesus met Jairus was Jairus’ daughter already dead? (a) Yes. Matthew 9:18 quotes him as saying, “My daughter has just died.” (b) No. Mark 5:23 quotes him as saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death.” Did Jesus allow his disciples to keep a staff on their journey? (a) Yes(Mark6:8) (b) No (Matthew 10:9; Luke 9:3) Did Herod think that Jesus was John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:2; Mark 6:16) (b) No (Luke 9:9) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus before his baptism? (a) Yes (Matthew 3:13-14) (b) No (John 1:32,33) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus after his baptism? (a) Yes (John 1:32, 33) (b) No (Matthew 11:2) According to the Gospel of John, what did Jesus say about bearing his own witness? (a) “If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true” (John 5:3 1) (b) “Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true” (John 8:14) When Jesus entered Jerusalem did he cleanse the temple that same day? (a) Yes (Matthew 21:12) (b) No. He went into the temple and looked around, but since it was very late he did nothing. Instead, he went to Bethany to spend the night and returned the next morning to cleanse the temple (Mark I 1:1- 17). The Gospels say that Jesus cursed a fig tree. Did the tree wither at once? (a) Yes. (Matthew 21:19) (b) No. It withered overnight (Mark II: 20) Did Judas kiss Jesus? (a) Yes (Matthew 26:48-50) (b) No. Judas could not get close enough to Jesus to kiss him (John 18:3-12) What did Jesus say about Peter’s denial? (a) “The **** will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:38). (b) “Before the **** crows twice you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30) . When the **** crowed once, the three denials were not yet complete (see Mark 14:72). Therefore prediction (a) failed. Did Jesus bear his own cross? (a) Yes (John 19:17) (b) No (Matthew 27:31-32) Did Jesus die before the curtain of the temple was torn? (a) Yes(Matthew27:50-5 1;MarklS:37-38) (b) No. After the curtain was torn, then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:45-46) Did Jesus say anything secretly? (a) No. “I have said nothing secretly” (John 18:20) (b) Yes. “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:34). The disciples asked him “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13: 1 0-11) Where was Jesus at the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion? (a) On the cross (Mark 15:23) (b) In Pilate’s court (John 19:14) The gospels say that two thieves were crucified along with Jesus. Did both thieves mock Jesus? (a) Yes (Mark 15:32) (b) No. One of them mocked Jesus, the other defended Jesus (Luke 23:43) Did Jesus ascend to Paradise the same day of the crucifixion? (a) Yes. He said to the thief who defended him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) (b) No. He said to Mary Magdelene two days later, “I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17) When Paul was on the road to Damascus he saw a light and heard a voice. Did those who were with him hear the voice? (a) Yes(Acts9:7) (b) No(Acts22:9) When Paul saw the light he fell to the ground. Did his traveling companions also fall to the ground? (a) Yes (Acts 26:14) (b) No (Acts 9:7) Did the voice spell out on the spot what Paul’s duties were to be? (a) Yes (Acts 26:16-18) (b) No. The voice commanded Paul to go into the city of Damascus and there he will be told what he must do. (Acts9:7;22: 10) When the Israelites dwelt in Shittin they committed adultery with the daughters of Moab. God struck them with a plague. How many people died in that plague? (a) Twenty-four thousand (Numbers 25:1 and 9) (b) Twenty-three thousand (I Corinthians 10:8) How many members of the house of Jacob came to Egypt? (a) Seventy souls (Genesis 4&27) (b) Seventy-five souls (Acts 7:14) What did Judas do with the blood money he received for betraying Jesus? (a) He bought a field (Acts 1: 18) (b) He threw all of it into the temple and went away. The priests could not put the blood money into the temple treasury, so they used it to buy a field to bury strangers (Matthew 27:5) How did Judas die? (a) After he threw the money into the temple he went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5) (b) After he bought the field with the price of his evil deed he fell headlong and burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out (Acts 1:18) Why is the field called “Field of Blood”? (a) Because the priests bought it with the blood money (Matthew 27:8) (b) Because of the bloody death of Judas therein (Acts 1:19) Who is a ransom for whom? (a) “The Son of Man came...to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all... “(I Timothy 2:5-6) (b) “The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright” (Proverbs 21:18) Is the law of Moses useful? (a) Yes. “All scripture is... profitable...” (2 Timothy 3:16) (b) No. “. . . A former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness... “(Hebrews 7:18) What was the exact wording on the cross? (a) “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37) (b) “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26) (c) “This is the King of the Jews” (Luke 23:38) (d) “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19) Did Herod want to kill John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:5) (b) No. It was Herodias, the wife of Herod who wanted to kill him. But Herod knew that he was a righteous man and kept him safe (Mark 6:20) Who was the tenth disciple of Jesus in the list of twelve? (a) Thaddaeus (Matthew 10: 1-4; Mark 3:13 -19) (b) Judas son of James is the corresponding name in Luke’s gospel (Luke 6:12-16) Jesus saw a man sitat the tax collector’s office and called him to be his disciple. What was his name? (a) Matthew (Matthew 9:9) (b) Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27) Was Jesus crucified on the daytime before the Passover meal or the daytime after? (a) After (Mark 14:12-17) (b) Before. Before the feast of the Passover (John 1) Judas went out at night (John 13:30). The other disciples thought he was going out to buy supplies to prepare for the Passover meal (John 13:29). When Jesus was arrested, the Jews did not enter Pilate’s judgment hail because they wanted to stay clean to eat the Passover (John 18:28). When the judgment was pronounced against Jesus, it was about the sixth hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover (John 19:14) Did Jesus pray to The Father to prevent the crucifixion? (a) Yes. (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42) (b) No. (John 12:27) In the gospels which say that Jesus prayed to avoid the cross, how many times did ‘he move away from his disciples to pray? (a) Three (Matthew 26:36-46 and Mark 14:32-42) (b) One. No opening is left for another two times. (Luke 22:39-46) Matthew and Mark agree that Jesus went away and prayed three times. What were the words of the second prayer? (a) Mark does not give the words but he says that the words were the same as the first prayer (Mark 14:3 9) (b) Matthew gives us the words, and we can see that they are not the same as in the first (Matthew 26:42) What did the centurion say when Jesus dies? (a) “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47) (b) “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39) When Jesus said “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me ? ” in what language did he speak? (a) Hebrew: the words are “Eloi, Eloi …..“(Matthew 27:46) (b) Aramaic: the words are “Eloi, Eloi ….. “(Mark 15:34) According to the gospels, what were the last words of Jesus before he died? (a) “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46) (b) "It is finished" (John 19:30). When Jesus entered Capernaum he healed the slave of a centurion. Did the centurion come personally to request Jesus for this? (a) Yes (Matthew 8:5) (b) No. He sent some elders of the Jews and his friends (Luke 7:3,6) (a) Adam was told that if and when he eats the forbidden fruit he would die the same day (Genesis 2:17) (b) Adam ate the fruit and went on to live to a ripe old age of 930 years (Genesis 5:5) (a) God decided that the life-span of humans will be limited to 120 years (Genesis 6:3) (b) Many people born after that lived longer than 120. Arpachshad lived 438 years. His son Shelah lived 433 years. His son Eber lived 464 years, etc. (Genesis 11:12-16) Apart from Jesus did anyone else ascend to heaven? (a) No (John 3:13) (b) Yes. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11) Who was high priest when David went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread? (a) Abiathar (Mark 2:26) (b) Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar (I Samuel 1:1; 22:20) Was Jesus’ body wrapped in spices before burial in accordance with Jewish burial customs? (a) Yes and his female disciples witnessed his burial (John 19:39-40) (b) No. Jesus was simply wrapped in a linen shroud. Then the women bought and prepared spices “so that they may go and anoint him [Jesus)” (Mark 16: 1) When did the women buy the spices? (a) After “the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1) (b) Before the Sabbath. The women “prepared spices and ointments.” Then, “on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55 to 24:1) At what time of day did the women visit the tomb? (a) “Toward the dawn” (Matthew 28: 1) (b) “When the sun had risen” (Mark 16:2) What was the purpose for which the women went to the tomb? (a) To anoint Jesus’ body with spices (Mark 16: 1; Luke 23:55 to 24: 1) (b) To see the tomb. Nothing about spices here (Matthew 28: 1) (c) For no specified reason. In this gospel the wrapping with spices had been done before the Sabbath (John 20: 1) Who incited David to count the fighting men of Israel? (a) God did (2 Samuel 24: 1) (b) Satan did (I Chronicles 2 1:1) In that count how many fighting men were found in Israel? (a) Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) One million, one hundred thousand (IChronicles 21:5) How many fighting men were found in Judah? (a) Five hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) Four hundred and seventy thousand (I Chronicles 21:5) God sent his prophet to threaten David with how many years of famine? (a) Seven (2 Samuel 24:13) (b) Three (I Chronicles 21:12) How old was Ahaziah when he began to rule over Jerusalem? (a) Twenty-two (2 Kings 8:26) (b) Forty-two (2 Chronicles 22:2) How old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Jerusalem? (a) Eighteen (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Eight (2 Chronicles 36:9) How long did he rule over Jerusalem? (a) Three months (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9) The chief of the mighty men of David lifted up his spear and killed how many men at one time? (a) Eight hundred (2 Samuel 23:8) (b) Three hundred (I Chronicles 11: 11) When did David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? Before defeating the Philistines or after? (a) After (2 Samuel 5 and 6) (b) Before (I Chronicles 13 and 14) How many pairs of clean animals did God tell Noah to take into the Ark? (a) Two (Genesis 6:19, 20) (b) Seven (Genesis 7:2). But despite this last instruction only two pairs went into the ark (Genesis 7:8-9) When David defeated the King of Zobah, how many horsemen did he capture? (a) One thousand and seven hundred (2 Samuel 8:4) (b) Seven thousand (I Chronicles 18:4) How many stalls for horses did Solomon have? (a) Forty thousand (I Kings 4:26) (b) Four thousand (2 chronicles 9:25) In what year of King Asa's reign did Baasha, King of Israel die? (a) Twenty-sixth year (I Kings 15:33 - 16:8) (b) Still alive in the thirty-sixth year (2 Chronicles 16:1) How many overseers did Solomon appoint for the work of building the temple? (a) Three thousand six hundred (2 Chronicles 2:2) (b) Three thousand three hundred (I Kings 5:16) Solomon built a facility containing how many baths? (a) Two thousand (1 Kings 7:26) (b) Over three thousand (2 Chronicles 4:5) Of the Israelites who were freed from the Babylonian captivity, how many were the children of Pahrath-Moab? (a) Two thousand eight hundred and twelve (Ezra 2:6) (b) Two thousand eight hundred and eighteen (Nehemiah 7:11) How many were the children of Zattu? (a) Nine hundred and forty-five (Ezra 2:8) (b) Eight hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:13) How many were the children of Azgad? (a) One thousand two hundred and twenty-two (Ezra 2:12) (b) Two thousand three hundred and twenty-two (Nehemiah 7:17) How many were the children of Adin? (a) Four hundred and fifty-four (Ezra 2:15) (b) Six hundred and fifty-five (Nehemiah 7:20) How many were the children of Hashum? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:19) (b) Three hundred and twenty-eight (Nehemiah 7:22) How many were the children of Bethel and Ai? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:28) (b) One hundred and twenty-three (Nehemiah 7:32) Ezra 2:64 and Nehemiah 7:66 agree that the total number of the whole assembly was 42,360. Yet the numbers do not add up to anything close. The totals obtained from each book is as follows: (a) 29,818 (Ezra) (b) 31,089 (Nehemiah) How many singers accompanied the assembly? (a) Two hundred (Ezra 2:65) (b) Two hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:67) What was the name of King Abijah’s mother? (a) Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2) (b) Maachah, daughter of Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:20) But Absalom had only one daughter whose name was Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27) Did Joshua and the Israelites capture Jerusalem? (a) Yes (Joshua 10:23, 40) (b) No (Joshua 15:63) Who was the father of Joseph, husband of Mary? (a) Jacob (Matthew 1:16) (b) Hell (Luke 3:23) Jesus descended from which son of David? (a) Solomon (Matthew 1:6) (b) Nathan(Luke3:31) Who was the father of Shealtiel? (a) Jechoniah (Matthew 1:12) (b) Neri’ (Luke 3:27) Which son of Zerubbabel was an ancestor of Jesus Christ? (a) Abiud (Matthew 1: 13) (b) Rhesa (Luke 3:27) But the seven sons of Zerubbabel are as follows: i.Meshullam, ii. Hananiah, iii. Hashubah, iv. Ohel, v.Berechiah, vi. Hasadiah, viii. Jushabhesed (I Chronicles 3:19, 20). The names Abiud and Rhesa do not fit in anyway. Who was the father of Uzziah? (a) Joram (Matthew 1:8) (b) Amaziah (2 Chronicles 26:1) Who as the father of Jechoniah? (a) Josiah (Matthew 1:11) (b) Jeholakim (I Chronicles 3:16) How many generations were there from the Babylonian exile until Christ? (a) Matthew says fourteen (Matthew 1:17) (b) But a careful count of the generations reveals only thirteen (see Matthew 1: 12-16) Who was the father of Shelah? (a) Cainan (Luke 3:35-36) (b) Arphaxad (Genesis II: 12) Was John the Baptist Elijah who was to come? (a) Yes (Matthew II: 14, 17:10-13) (b) No(John 1:19-21) Would Jesus inherit David’s throne? (a) Yes. So said the angel (Luke 1:32) (b) No, since he is a descendant of Jehoiakim (see Matthew 1: I 1, I Chronicles 3:16). And Jehoiakim was cursed by God so that none of his descendants can sit upon David’s throne (Jeremiah 36:30) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on how many animals? (a) One - a colt (Mark 11:7; cf Luke 19:3 5). “And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it.” (b) Two - a colt and an *** (Matthew 21:7). “They brought the *** and the colt and put their garments on them and he sat thereon.”

Are these some of the contradictions of the Bible ? Are there clear mistakes and contradictions in the Bible - which is claimed to be the absolute word of God ? Wouldn’t you want to know if the map and guide you are using to get home is reliable or not ? I WOULD !! How did Simon Peter find out that Jesus was the Christ? (a) By a revelation from heaven (Matthew 16:17) (b) His brother Andrew told him (John 1:41) Where did Jesus first meet Simon Peter and Andrew? (a) By the sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18-22) (b) On the banks of river Jordan (John 1:42). After that, Jesus decided to go to Galilee (John 1:43) When Jesus met Jairus was Jairus’ daughter already dead? (a) Yes. Matthew 9:18 quotes him as saying, “My daughter has just died.” (b) No. Mark 5:23 quotes him as saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death.” Did Jesus allow his disciples to keep a staff on their journey? (a) Yes(Mark6:8) (b) No (Matthew 10:9; Luke 9:3) Did Herod think that Jesus was John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:2; Mark 6:16) (b) No (Luke 9:9) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus before his baptism? (a) Yes (Matthew 3:13-14) (b) No (John 1:32,33) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus after his baptism? (a) Yes (John 1:32, 33) (b) No (Matthew 11:2) According to the Gospel of John, what did Jesus say about bearing his own witness? (a) “If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true” (John 5:3 1) (b) “Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true” (John 8:14) When Jesus entered Jerusalem did he cleanse the temple that same day? (a) Yes (Matthew 21:12) (b) No. He went into the temple and looked around, but since it was very late he did nothing. Instead, he went to Bethany to spend the night and returned the next morning to cleanse the temple (Mark I 1:1- 17). The Gospels say that Jesus cursed a fig tree. Did the tree wither at once? (a) Yes. (Matthew 21:19) (b) No. It withered overnight (Mark II: 20) Did Judas kiss Jesus? (a) Yes (Matthew 26:48-50) (b) No. Judas could not get close enough to Jesus to kiss him (John 18:3-12) What did Jesus say about Peter’s denial? (a) “The **** will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:38). (b) “Before the **** crows twice you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30) . When the **** crowed once, the three denials were not yet complete (see Mark 14:72). Therefore prediction (a) failed. Did Jesus bear his own cross? (a) Yes (John 19:17) (b) No (Matthew 27:31-32) Did Jesus die before the curtain of the temple was torn? (a) Yes(Matthew27:50-5 1;MarklS:37-38) (b) No. After the curtain was torn, then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:45-46) Did Jesus say anything secretly? (a) No. “I have said nothing secretly” (John 18:20) (b) Yes. “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:34). The disciples asked him “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13: 1 0-11) Where was Jesus at the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion? (a) On the cross (Mark 15:23) (b) In Pilate’s court (John 19:14) The gospels say that two thieves were crucified along with Jesus. Did both thieves mock Jesus? (a) Yes (Mark 15:32) (b) No. One of them mocked Jesus, the other defended Jesus (Luke 23:43) Did Jesus ascend to Paradise the same day of the crucifixion? (a) Yes. He said to the thief who defended him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) (b) No. He said to Mary Magdelene two days later, “I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17) When Paul was on the road to Damascus he saw a light and heard a voice. Did those who were with him hear the voice? (a) Yes(Acts9:7) (b) No(Acts22:9) When Paul saw the light he fell to the ground. Did his traveling companions also fall to the ground? (a) Yes (Acts 26:14) (b) No (Acts 9:7) Did the voice spell out on the spot what Paul’s duties were to be? (a) Yes (Acts 26:16-18) (b) No. The voice commanded Paul to go into the city of Damascus and there he will be told what he must do. (Acts9:7;22: 10) When the Israelites dwelt in Shittin they committed adultery with the daughters of Moab. God struck them with a plague. How many people died in that plague? (a) Twenty-four thousand (Numbers 25:1 and 9) (b) Twenty-three thousand (I Corinthians 10:8) How many members of the house of Jacob came to Egypt? (a) Seventy souls (Genesis 4&27) (b) Seventy-five souls (Acts 7:14) What did Judas do with the blood money he received for betraying Jesus? (a) He bought a field (Acts 1: 18) (b) He threw all of it into the temple and went away. The priests could not put the blood money into the temple treasury, so they used it to buy a field to bury strangers (Matthew 27:5) How did Judas die? (a) After he threw the money into the temple he went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5) (b) After he bought the field with the price of his evil deed he fell headlong and burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out (Acts 1:18) Why is the field called “Field of Blood”? (a) Because the priests bought it with the blood money (Matthew 27:8) (b) Because of the bloody death of Judas therein (Acts 1:19) Who is a ransom for whom? (a) “The Son of Man came...to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all... “(I Timothy 2:5-6) (b) “The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright” (Proverbs 21:18) Is the law of Moses useful? (a) Yes. “All scripture is... profitable...” (2 Timothy 3:16) (b) No. “. . . A former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness... “(Hebrews 7:18) What was the exact wording on the cross? (a) “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37) (b) “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26) (c) “This is the King of the Jews” (Luke 23:38) (d) “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19) Did Herod want to kill John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:5) (b) No. It was Herodias, the wife of Herod who wanted to kill him. But Herod knew that he was a righteous man and kept him safe (Mark 6:20) Who was the tenth disciple of Jesus in the list of twelve? (a) Thaddaeus (Matthew 10: 1-4; Mark 3:13 -19) (b) Judas son of James is the corresponding name in Luke’s gospel (Luke 6:12-16) Jesus saw a man sitat the tax collector’s office and called him to be his disciple. What was his name? (a) Matthew (Matthew 9:9) (b) Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27) Was Jesus crucified on the daytime before the Passover meal or the daytime after? (a) After (Mark 14:12-17) (b) Before. Before the feast of the Passover (John 1) Judas went out at night (John 13:30). The other disciples thought he was going out to buy supplies to prepare for the Passover meal (John 13:29). When Jesus was arrested, the Jews did not enter Pilate’s judgment hail because they wanted to stay clean to eat the Passover (John 18:28). When the judgment was pronounced against Jesus, it was about the sixth hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover (John 19:14) Did Jesus pray to The Father to prevent the crucifixion? (a) Yes. (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42) (b) No. (John 12:27) In the gospels which say that Jesus prayed to avoid the cross, how many times did ‘he move away from his disciples to pray? (a) Three (Matthew 26:36-46 and Mark 14:32-42) (b) One. No opening is left for another two times. (Luke 22:39-46) Matthew and Mark agree that Jesus went away and prayed three times. What were the words of the second prayer? (a) Mark does not give the words but he says that the words were the same as the first prayer (Mark 14:3 9) (b) Matthew gives us the words, and we can see that they are not the same as in the first (Matthew 26:42) What did the centurion say when Jesus dies? (a) “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47) (b) “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39) When Jesus said “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me ? ” in what language did he speak? (a) Hebrew: the words are “Eloi, Eloi …..“(Matthew 27:46) (b) Aramaic: the words are “Eloi, Eloi ….. “(Mark 15:34) According to the gospels, what were the last words of Jesus before he died? (a) “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46) (b) "It is finished" (John 19:30). When Jesus entered Capernaum he healed the slave of a centurion. Did the centurion come personally to request Jesus for this? (a) Yes (Matthew 8:5) (b) No. He sent some elders of the Jews and his friends (Luke 7:3,6) (a) Adam was told that if and when he eats the forbidden fruit he would die the same day (Genesis 2:17) (b) Adam ate the fruit and went on to live to a ripe old age of 930 years (Genesis 5:5) (a) God decided that the life-span of humans will be limited to 120 years (Genesis 6:3) (b) Many people born after that lived longer than 120. Arpachshad lived 438 years. His son Shelah lived 433 years. His son Eber lived 464 years, etc. (Genesis 11:12-16) Apart from Jesus did anyone else ascend to heaven? (a) No (John 3:13) (b) Yes. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11) Who was high priest when David went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread? (a) Abiathar (Mark 2:26) (b) Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar (I Samuel 1:1; 22:20) Was Jesus’ body wrapped in spices before burial in accordance with Jewish burial customs? (a) Yes and his female disciples witnessed his burial (John 19:39-40) (b) No. Jesus was simply wrapped in a linen shroud. Then the women bought and prepared spices “so that they may go and anoint him [Jesus)” (Mark 16: 1) When did the women buy the spices? (a) After “the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1) (b) Before the Sabbath. The women “prepared spices and ointments.” Then, “on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55 to 24:1) At what time of day did the women visit the tomb? (a) “Toward the dawn” (Matthew 28: 1) (b) “When the sun had risen” (Mark 16:2) What was the purpose for which the women went to the tomb? (a) To anoint Jesus’ body with spices (Mark 16: 1; Luke 23:55 to 24: 1) (b) To see the tomb. Nothing about spices here (Matthew 28: 1) (c) For no specified reason. In this gospel the wrapping with spices had been done before the Sabbath (John 20: 1) Who incited David to count the fighting men of Israel? (a) God did (2 Samuel 24: 1) (b) Satan did (I Chronicles 2 1:1) In that count how many fighting men were found in Israel? (a) Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) One million, one hundred thousand (IChronicles 21:5) How many fighting men were found in Judah? (a) Five hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) Four hundred and seventy thousand (I Chronicles 21:5) God sent his prophet to threaten David with how many years of famine? (a) Seven (2 Samuel 24:13) (b) Three (I Chronicles 21:12) How old was Ahaziah when he began to rule over Jerusalem? (a) Twenty-two (2 Kings 8:26) (b) Forty-two (2 Chronicles 22:2) How old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Jerusalem? (a) Eighteen (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Eight (2 Chronicles 36:9) How long did he rule over Jerusalem? (a) Three months (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9) The chief of the mighty men of David lifted up his spear and killed how many men at one time? (a) Eight hundred (2 Samuel 23:8) (b) Three hundred (I Chronicles 11: 11) When did David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? Before defeating the Philistines or after? (a) After (2 Samuel 5 and 6) (b) Before (I Chronicles 13 and 14) How many pairs of clean animals did God tell Noah to take into the Ark? (a) Two (Genesis 6:19, 20) (b) Seven (Genesis 7:2). But despite this last instruction only two pairs went into the ark (Genesis 7:8-9) When David defeated the King of Zobah, how many horsemen did he capture? (a) One thousand and seven hundred (2 Samuel 8:4) (b) Seven thousand (I Chronicles 18:4) How many stalls for horses did Solomon have? (a) Forty thousand (I Kings 4:26) (b) Four thousand (2 chronicles 9:25) In what year of King Asa's reign did Baasha, King of Israel die? (a) Twenty-sixth year (I Kings 15:33 - 16:8) (b) Still alive in the thirty-sixth year (2 Chronicles 16:1) How many overseers did Solomon appoint for the work of building the temple? (a) Three thousand six hundred (2 Chronicles 2:2) (b) Three thousand three hundred (I Kings 5:16) Solomon built a facility containing how many baths? (a) Two thousand (1 Kings 7:26) (b) Over three thousand (2 Chronicles 4:5) Of the Israelites who were freed from the Babylonian captivity, how many were the children of Pahrath-Moab? (a) Two thousand eight hundred and twelve (Ezra 2:6) (b) Two thousand eight hundred and eighteen (Nehemiah 7:11) How many were the children of Zattu? (a) Nine hundred and forty-five (Ezra 2:8) (b) Eight hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:13) How many were the children of Azgad? (a) One thousand two hundred and twenty-two (Ezra 2:12) (b) Two thousand three hundred and twenty-two (Nehemiah 7:17) How many were the children of Adin? (a) Four hundred and fifty-four (Ezra 2:15) (b) Six hundred and fifty-five (Nehemiah 7:20) How many were the children of Hashum? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:19) (b) Three hundred and twenty-eight (Nehemiah 7:22) How many were the children of Bethel and Ai? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:28) (b) One hundred and twenty-three (Nehemiah 7:32) Ezra 2:64 and Nehemiah 7:66 agree that the total number of the whole assembly was 42,360. Yet the numbers do not add up to anything close. The totals obtained from each book is as follows: (a) 29,818 (Ezra) (b) 31,089 (Nehemiah) How many singers accompanied the assembly? (a) Two hundred (Ezra 2:65) (b) Two hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:67) What was the name of King Abijah’s mother? (a) Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2) (b) Maachah, daughter of Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:20) But Absalom had only one daughter whose name was Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27) Did Joshua and the Israelites capture Jerusalem? (a) Yes (Joshua 10:23, 40) (b) No (Joshua 15:63) Who was the father of Joseph, husband of Mary? (a) Jacob (Matthew 1:16) (b) Hell (Luke 3:23) Jesus descended from which son of David? (a) Solomon (Matthew 1:6) (b) Nathan(Luke3:31) Who was the father of Shealtiel? (a) Jechoniah (Matthew 1:12) (b) Neri’ (Luke 3:27) Which son of Zerubbabel was an ancestor of Jesus Christ? (a) Abiud (Matthew 1: 13) (b) Rhesa (Luke 3:27) But the seven sons of Zerubbabel are as follows: i.Meshullam, ii. Hananiah, iii. Hashubah, iv. Ohel, v.Berechiah, vi. Hasadiah, viii. Jushabhesed (I Chronicles 3:19, 20). The names Abiud and Rhesa do not fit in anyway. Who was the father of Uzziah? (a) Joram (Matthew 1:8) (b) Amaziah (2 Chronicles 26:1) Who as the father of Jechoniah? (a) Josiah (Matthew 1:11) (b) Jeholakim (I Chronicles 3:16) How many generations were there from the Babylonian exile until Christ? (a) Matthew says fourteen (Matthew 1:17) (b) But a careful count of the generations reveals only thirteen (see Matthew 1: 12-16) Who was the father of Shelah? (a) Cainan (Luke 3:35-36) (b) Arphaxad (Genesis II: 12) Was John the Baptist Elijah who was to come? (a) Yes (Matthew II: 14, 17:10-13) (b) No(John 1:19-21) Would Jesus inherit David’s throne? (a) Yes. So said the angel (Luke 1:32) (b) No, since he is a descendant of Jehoiakim (see Matthew 1: I 1, I Chronicles 3:16). And Jehoiakim was cursed by God so that none of his descendants can sit upon David’s throne (Jeremiah 36:30) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on how many animals? (a) One - a colt (Mark 11:7; cf Luke 19:3 5). “And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it.” (b) Two - a colt and an *** (Matthew 21:7). “They brought the *** and the colt and put their garments on them and he sat thereon.” How did Simon Peter find out that Jesus was the Christ? (a) By a revelation from heaven (Matthew 16:17) (b) His brother Andrew told him (John 1:41) Where did Jesus first meet Simon Peter and Andrew? (a) By the sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18-22) (b) On the banks of river Jordan (John 1:42). After that, Jesus decided to go to Galilee (John 1:43) When Jesus met Jairus was Jairus’ daughter already dead? (a) Yes. Matthew 9:18 quotes him as saying, “My daughter has just died.” (b) No. Mark 5:23 quotes him as saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death.” Did Jesus allow his disciples to keep a staff on their journey? (a) Yes(Mark6:8) (b) No (Matthew 10:9; Luke 9:3) Did Herod think that Jesus was John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:2; Mark 6:16) (b) No (Luke 9:9) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus before his baptism? (a) Yes (Matthew 3:13-14) (b) No (John 1:32,33) Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus after his baptism? (a) Yes (John 1:32, 33) (b) No (Matthew 11:2) According to the Gospel of John, what did Jesus say about bearing his own witness? (a) “If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true” (John 5:3 1) (b) “Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true” (John 8:14) When Jesus entered Jerusalem did he cleanse the temple that same day? (a) Yes (Matthew 21:12) (b) No. He went into the temple and looked around, but since it was very late he did nothing. Instead, he went to Bethany to spend the night and returned the next morning to cleanse the temple (Mark I 1:1- 17). The Gospels say that Jesus cursed a fig tree. Did the tree wither at once? (a) Yes. (Matthew 21:19) (b) No. It withered overnight (Mark II: 20) Did Judas kiss Jesus? (a) Yes (Matthew 26:48-50) (b) No. Judas could not get close enough to Jesus to kiss him (John 18:3-12) What did Jesus say about Peter’s denial? (a) “The **** will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:38). (b) “Before the **** crows twice you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30) . When the **** crowed once, the three denials were not yet complete (see Mark 14:72). Therefore prediction (a) failed. Did Jesus bear his own cross? (a) Yes (John 19:17) (b) No (Matthew 27:31-32) Did Jesus die before the curtain of the temple was torn? (a) Yes(Matthew27:50-5 1;MarklS:37-38) (b) No. After the curtain was torn, then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last (Luke 23:45-46) Did Jesus say anything secretly? (a) No. “I have said nothing secretly” (John 18:20) (b) Yes. “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:34). The disciples asked him “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13: 1 0-11) Where was Jesus at the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion? (a) On the cross (Mark 15:23) (b) In Pilate’s court (John 19:14) The gospels say that two thieves were crucified along with Jesus. Did both thieves mock Jesus? (a) Yes (Mark 15:32) (b) No. One of them mocked Jesus, the other defended Jesus (Luke 23:43) Did Jesus ascend to Paradise the same day of the crucifixion? (a) Yes. He said to the thief who defended him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) (b) No. He said to Mary Magdelene two days later, “I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17) When Paul was on the road to Damascus he saw a light and heard a voice. Did those who were with him hear the voice? (a) Yes(Acts9:7) (b) No(Acts22:9) When Paul saw the light he fell to the ground. Did his traveling companions also fall to the ground? (a) Yes (Acts 26:14) (b) No (Acts 9:7) Did the voice spell out on the spot what Paul’s duties were to be? (a) Yes (Acts 26:16-18) (b) No. The voice commanded Paul to go into the city of Damascus and there he will be told what he must do. (Acts9:7;22: 10) When the Israelites dwelt in Shittin they committed adultery with the daughters of Moab. God struck them with a plague. How many people died in that plague? (a) Twenty-four thousand (Numbers 25:1 and 9) (b) Twenty-three thousand (I Corinthians 10:8) How many members of the house of Jacob came to Egypt? (a) Seventy souls (Genesis 4&27) (b) Seventy-five souls (Acts 7:14) What did Judas do with the blood money he received for betraying Jesus? (a) He bought a field (Acts 1: 18) (b) He threw all of it into the temple and went away. The priests could not put the blood money into the temple treasury, so they used it to buy a field to bury strangers (Matthew 27:5) How did Judas die? (a) After he threw the money into the temple he went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5) (b) After he bought the field with the price of his evil deed he fell headlong and burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out (Acts 1:18) Why is the field called “Field of Blood”? (a) Because the priests bought it with the blood money (Matthew 27:8) (b) Because of the bloody death of Judas therein (Acts 1:19) Who is a ransom for whom? (a) “The Son of Man came...to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all... “(I Timothy 2:5-6) (b) “The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright” (Proverbs 21:18) Is the law of Moses useful? (a) Yes. “All scripture is... profitable...” (2 Timothy 3:16) (b) No. “. . . A former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness... “(Hebrews 7:18) What was the exact wording on the cross? (a) “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37) (b) “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26) (c) “This is the King of the Jews” (Luke 23:38) (d) “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19) Did Herod want to kill John the Baptist? (a) Yes (Matthew 14:5) (b) No. It was Herodias, the wife of Herod who wanted to kill him. But Herod knew that he was a righteous man and kept him safe (Mark 6:20) Who was the tenth disciple of Jesus in the list of twelve? (a) Thaddaeus (Matthew 10: 1-4; Mark 3:13 -19) (b) Judas son of James is the corresponding name in Luke’s gospel (Luke 6:12-16) Jesus saw a man sitat the tax collector’s office and called him to be his disciple. What was his name? (a) Matthew (Matthew 9:9) (b) Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27) Was Jesus crucified on the daytime before the Passover meal or the daytime after? (a) After (Mark 14:12-17) (b) Before. Before the feast of the Passover (John 1) Judas went out at night (John 13:30). The other disciples thought he was going out to buy supplies to prepare for the Passover meal (John 13:29). When Jesus was arrested, the Jews did not enter Pilate’s judgment hail because they wanted to stay clean to eat the Passover (John 18:28). When the judgment was pronounced against Jesus, it was about the sixth hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover (John 19:14) Did Jesus pray to The Father to prevent the crucifixion? (a) Yes. (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42) (b) No. (John 12:27) In the gospels which say that Jesus prayed to avoid the cross, how many times did ‘he move away from his disciples to pray? (a) Three (Matthew 26:36-46 and Mark 14:32-42) (b) One. No opening is left for another two times. (Luke 22:39-46) Matthew and Mark agree that Jesus went away and prayed three times. What were the words of the second prayer? (a) Mark does not give the words but he says that the words were the same as the first prayer (Mark 14:3 9) (b) Matthew gives us the words, and we can see that they are not the same as in the first (Matthew 26:42) What did the centurion say when Jesus dies? (a) “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47) (b) “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39) When Jesus said “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me ? ” in what language did he speak? (a) Hebrew: the words are “Eloi, Eloi …..“(Matthew 27:46) (b) Aramaic: the words are “Eloi, Eloi ….. “(Mark 15:34) According to the gospels, what were the last words of Jesus before he died? (a) “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46) (b) "It is finished" (John 19:30). When Jesus entered Capernaum he healed the slave of a centurion. Did the centurion come personally to request Jesus for this? (a) Yes (Matthew 8:5) (b) No. He sent some elders of the Jews and his friends (Luke 7:3,6) (a) Adam was told that if and when he eats the forbidden fruit he would die the same day (Genesis 2:17) (b) Adam ate the fruit and went on to live to a ripe old age of 930 years (Genesis 5:5) (a) God decided that the life-span of humans will be limited to 120 years (Genesis 6:3) (b) Many people born after that lived longer than 120. Arpachshad lived 438 years. His son Shelah lived 433 years. His son Eber lived 464 years, etc. (Genesis 11:12-16) Apart from Jesus did anyone else ascend to heaven? (a) No (John 3:13) (b) Yes. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11) Who was high priest when David went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread? (a) Abiathar (Mark 2:26) (b) Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar (I Samuel 1:1; 22:20) Was Jesus’ body wrapped in spices before burial in accordance with Jewish burial customs? (a) Yes and his female disciples witnessed his burial (John 19:39-40) (b) No. Jesus was simply wrapped in a linen shroud. Then the women bought and prepared spices “so that they may go and anoint him [Jesus)” (Mark 16: 1) When did the women buy the spices? (a) After “the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1) (b) Before the Sabbath. The women “prepared spices and ointments.” Then, “on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55 to 24:1) At what time of day did the women visit the tomb? (a) “Toward the dawn” (Matthew 28: 1) (b) “When the sun had risen” (Mark 16:2) What was the purpose for which the women went to the tomb? (a) To anoint Jesus’ body with spices (Mark 16: 1; Luke 23:55 to 24: 1) (b) To see the tomb. Nothing about spices here (Matthew 28: 1) (c) For no specified reason. In this gospel the wrapping with spices had been done before the Sabbath (John 20: 1) Who incited David to count the fighting men of Israel? (a) God did (2 Samuel 24: 1) (b) Satan did (I Chronicles 2 1:1) In that count how many fighting men were found in Israel? (a) Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) One million, one hundred thousand (IChronicles 21:5) How many fighting men were found in Judah? (a) Five hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9) (b) Four hundred and seventy thousand (I Chronicles 21:5) God sent his prophet to threaten David with how many years of famine? (a) Seven (2 Samuel 24:13) (b) Three (I Chronicles 21:12) How old was Ahaziah when he began to rule over Jerusalem? (a) Twenty-two (2 Kings 8:26) (b) Forty-two (2 Chronicles 22:2) How old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Jerusalem? (a) Eighteen (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Eight (2 Chronicles 36:9) How long did he rule over Jerusalem? (a) Three months (2 Kings 24:8) (b) Three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9) The chief of the mighty men of David lifted up his spear and killed how many men at one time? (a) Eight hundred (2 Samuel 23:8) (b) Three hundred (I Chronicles 11: 11) When did David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? Before defeating the Philistines or after? (a) After (2 Samuel 5 and 6) (b) Before (I Chronicles 13 and 14) How many pairs of clean animals did God tell Noah to take into the Ark? (a) Two (Genesis 6:19, 20) (b) Seven (Genesis 7:2). But despite this last instruction only two pairs went into the ark (Genesis 7:8-9) When David defeated the King of Zobah, how many horsemen did he capture? (a) One thousand and seven hundred (2 Samuel 8:4) (b) Seven thousand (I Chronicles 18:4) How many stalls for horses did Solomon have? (a) Forty thousand (I Kings 4:26) (b) Four thousand (2 chronicles 9:25) In what year of King Asa's reign did Baasha, King of Israel die? (a) Twenty-sixth year (I Kings 15:33 - 16:8) (b) Still alive in the thirty-sixth year (2 Chronicles 16:1) How many overseers did Solomon appoint for the work of building the temple? (a) Three thousand six hundred (2 Chronicles 2:2) (b) Three thousand three hundred (I Kings 5:16) Solomon built a facility containing how many baths? (a) Two thousand (1 Kings 7:26) (b) Over three thousand (2 Chronicles 4:5) Of the Israelites who were freed from the Babylonian captivity, how many were the children of Pahrath-Moab? (a) Two thousand eight hundred and twelve (Ezra 2:6) (b) Two thousand eight hundred and eighteen (Nehemiah 7:11) How many were the children of Zattu? (a) Nine hundred and forty-five (Ezra 2:8) (b) Eight hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:13) How many were the children of Azgad? (a) One thousand two hundred and twenty-two (Ezra 2:12) (b) Two thousand three hundred and twenty-two (Nehemiah 7:17) How many were the children of Adin? (a) Four hundred and fifty-four (Ezra 2:15) (b) Six hundred and fifty-five (Nehemiah 7:20) How many were the children of Hashum? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:19) (b) Three hundred and twenty-eight (Nehemiah 7:22) How many were the children of Bethel and Ai? (a) Two hundred and twenty-three (Ezra 2:28) (b) One hundred and twenty-three (Nehemiah 7:32) Ezra 2:64 and Nehemiah 7:66 agree that the total number of the whole assembly was 42,360. Yet the numbers do not add up to anything close. The totals obtained from each book is as follows: (a) 29,818 (Ezra) (b) 31,089 (Nehemiah) How many singers accompanied the assembly? (a) Two hundred (Ezra 2:65) (b) Two hundred and forty-five (Nehemiah 7:67) What was the name of King Abijah’s mother? (a) Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2) (b) Maachah, daughter of Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:20) But Absalom had only one daughter whose name was Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27) Did Joshua and the Israelites capture Jerusalem? (a) Yes (Joshua 10:23, 40) (b) No (Joshua 15:63) Who was the father of Joseph, husband of Mary? (a) Jacob (Matthew 1:16) (b) Hell (Luke 3:23) Jesus descended from which son of David? (a) Solomon (Matthew 1:6) (b) Nathan(Luke3:31) Who was the father of Shealtiel? (a) Jechoniah (Matthew 1:12) (b) Neri’ (Luke 3:27) Which son of Zerubbabel was an ancestor of Jesus Christ? (a) Abiud (Matthew 1: 13) (b) Rhesa (Luke 3:27) But the seven sons of Zerubbabel are as follows: i.Meshullam, ii. Hananiah, iii. Hashubah, iv. Ohel, v.Berechiah, vi. Hasadiah, viii. Jushabhesed (I Chronicles 3:19, 20). The names Abiud and Rhesa do not fit in anyway. Who was the father of Uzziah? (a) Joram (Matthew 1:8) (b) Amaziah (2 Chronicles 26:1) Who as the father of Jechoniah? (a) Josiah (Matthew 1:11) (b) Jeholakim (I Chronicles 3:16) How many generations were there from the Babylonian exile until Christ? (a) Matthew says fourteen (Matthew 1:17) (b) But a careful count of the generations reveals only thirteen (see Matthew 1: 12-16) Who was the father of Shelah? (a) Cainan (Luke 3:35-36) (b) Arphaxad (Genesis II: 12) Was John the Baptist Elijah who was to come? (a) Yes (Matthew II: 14, 17:10-13) (b) No(John 1:19-21) Would Jesus inherit David’s throne? (a) Yes. So said the angel (Luke 1:32) (b) No, since he is a descendant of Jehoiakim (see Matthew 1: I 1, I Chronicles 3:16). And Jehoiakim was cursed by God so that none of his descendants can sit upon David’s throne (Jeremiah 36:30) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on how many animals? (a) One - a colt (Mark 11:7; cf Luke 19:3 5). “And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it.” (b) Two - a colt and an *** (Matthew 21:7). “They brought the *** and the colt and put their garments on them and he sat thereon.” -================================================

What is Cora Aloran scam ? Republic of the Philippines Supreme Court Manila FIRST DIVISION [A.M. No. RTJ-99-1510. November 6, 2000] BENITO CABANBAN, Complainant, - versus - ANGELA S.DELA CRUZ / SOCORRO G.DELA CRUZ CEZAR REYNALDO F. GALGUERRA Respondent. X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - / R E S O L U T I O N YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.: For allegedly granting improvidently a petition for Habeas Corpus in Special Proceeding No. 10931[1] entitled “In the Matter of the Petition for Habeas Corpus of Ma Jing,” respondent was charged in a verified complaint[2] with Violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct, Grave Misconduct, Gross Ignorance of the Law, Gross Incompetence, Gross Inefficiency and Knowingly Rendering An Unjust Judgment relative to the above-mentioned case. The Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) referred the verified complaint to respondent judge for his comment thereon within ten (10) days from notice. On July 30, 1999, respondent judge filed his comment[3] denying the charges against him and prayed for the dismissal of the case against him “for utter lack of merit.”[4] The case was subsequently referred to the OCA for evaluation, report and recommendation. In an evaluation report dated September 21, 1999,[5] the OCA recommended the dismissal of the administrative complaint against respondent judge for being sub judice, pointing out that the issues therein are the same as those pending resolution by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 53425 entitled “ Benito Cabanban v. Angela S. Dela Cruz , Socorro Dela Cruz , Cezar Reynaldo F. Galguerra, et al.” The Court of Appeals subsequently promulgated a Decision in CA-G.R. SP No. 53425 dated May 4, 2000[6] setting aside for lack of legal basis the assailed Order of respondent Judge dated June 24, 1999 which found herein complainant guilty of indirect contempt. In the meantime, in a Resolution dated November 24, 1999,[7] the Court resolved to: 1.] docket the case as a regular administrative proceeding; and 2.] refer the case to Court of Appeals Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales for investigation, report and recommendation within ninety (90) days from notice. In compliance with the foregoing directive, Justice Morales submitted a Report summarizing the factual antecedents of the case thus: On May 7, 1999 at about 11 p.m., the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted simultaneous raids at Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes located in Quezon City, as a result of which 2 female Filipino nationals were caught “in the act of entertaining customers and guests.” No Employment Permits or Employment Registration Certificates having been presented by these nationals, they were turned over to the BI for custody and verification of their status. They were thereupon confined at the BI Detention Center at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig, Metro Manila on May 8, 1999. On May 17, 1999, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque, one of the apprehended , filed a petition for habeas corpus at the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) which was raffled to Branch 151 thereof. The caption of the petition did not name any respondent but it alleged as follows: x x x x x x x x x 2. On or about 07 May 1999 at about 10:00 o’clock in the evening, petitioner, was taken from Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes in Quezon City by individuals who represented themselves as Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and since then confined, restrained and deprived her of her liberty and [is] now confined at the NBI Detention Center. 3. In spite of the fact that petitioner has been confined from then on, to date, no formal complaint or accusation for any specific offenses has been filed against her nor any judicial writ or order for her commitment has at any time been issued so far. 4. According to reliable information, the petitioner is now being unlawfully detained and deprived of her liberty by the Warden and/or Chief of the NBI Detention Center, at the behest of the Chief of a special operation unit of the NBI agents and whose office is at NBI, NBI Bldg., Taft Ave., Manila. (emphasis and underscoring supplied) Acting Presiding Judge Rodolfo Bonifacio of Branch 151 of the Pasig RTC issued a writ. On May 21, 1999, Atty. Rommel J. de Leon, Technical Assistant, Commissioner’s Office, BI, submitted a RETURN OF THE WRIT alleging, inter alia: x x x x x x x x x 4. That an investigation was conducted by Special Prosecutor Ramoncito L. Tolentino by (sic) the Bureau of Immigration; 5. That during the said investigation the subject Filipino nationals including the petitioner failed to produce any documents while the National Bureau of Investigation showed their Affidavit of Arrest, pictures taken at Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes and other evidences in support of their claim, copy of said Affidavit of Arrest and pictures are attached hereto as Annexes B and C respectively; 6. That on May 13, 1999, Special Prosecutor Ramon L. Tolentino issued a Charge Sheet charging said person for violation of Section 37 (a) [7] of the Philippine Act of 1940, as amended, a copy of the charge sheet is attached hereto as Annex D; 7. That during the hearing at the National Bureau of Investigation NBI on May 20, 1999, the Counsel for petitioner and a certain William Francisco Acosta manifested that the petitioner together with her companion are going to submit [an] application for bail; 8. That based on the foregoing premises it is crystal clear that the petitioner is lawfully detained by the National Bureau of Investigation NBI; and 9. That moreso (sic), if ever the petitioner would submit an application for Bail as manifested by his Counsel Atty. San Pedro and their representative Mr. William Jacinto this petition would already be moot and academic. After conducting a hearing on the petition for habeas corpus, Judge Bonifacio, by Order of May 27, 1999, held: x x x x x x x x x Upon due inquiry, the Court finds that the petitioner is a mere suspect, working as a Guest Relation Officer at the corner of Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes without securing the necessary working permit . She was not notified though of the charges against her nor was she afforded due process. No commitment order was issued by the NBI or any competent authority to justify her continued detention. x x x x x x x x x In Dramayo, the Supreme Court has ruled categorically that accusation is not synonymous with guilt. The strongest suspicion must not be permitted to sway judgment (People vs. Austria, 195 SCRA 700). The illegal arrest of petitioner without warrant of arrest or seizure on 07 May 1999 and arbitrary detention, to date, is not remedied by the supposed filing in a Charge Sheet dated 13 May 1999 but assumably filed only on 14 May 1999. Petitioner had been detained without any valid charge from 07 May 1999 to 14 May 1999. The filing of the Charge Sheet did not (sic) the illegal detention of the petitioner. xxx Accordingly the said Order of May 27, 1999 disposed: IN THE LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING, the Court finds no cogent reason to hold petitioner under continued detention so that immediate release is hereby ordered, unless otherwise held on a different case and/or valid judicial process. The following day, May 28, 1999 “respondent NBI … by counsel Atty. Rommel J. de Leon, Technical Assistant, Commissioner’s Office” filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the May 27, 1999 [Order]. On May 31, 1999, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque not having been released from detention, filed a “Motion to Declare Parties Guilty of Contempt” naming NBI Commissioner Rufus B. Rodriguez, Atty. de Leon, NBI Detention Center Warden Enrico R. Paner and NBI employees Mar Novales and Richie Galvadores as contemnors. By Order of June 15, 1999, Judge Bonifacio denied the NBI’s Motion for Reconsideration of the Order of May 27, 1999 and directed BI Commissioner Rodriguez and his co-respondents in the Motion to hold them in contempt of court for failure to obey the Order of May 27, 1999. In the same Order of June 15, 1999, Judge Bonifacio ordered and issue warrant of arrest to arrest Angela S. Dela Cruz and Mercedita O. Pareno in accordance with his May 27, 1999 Order. Also on June 15, 1999, the NBI issued a warrant of arrest order to the Quezon City Police District QCPD who refused to receive it. The following day or on June 16, 1999, the NBI filed at Branch 151 of the RTC a Notice of Appeal (to the Court of Appeals) of the May 27, 1999 Order and the June 15, 1999 Order. On June 18, 1999, Benito Cabanban and his co-respondents, in compliance with the show cause order, filed an Explanation dated June 17, 1999 stating, inter alia, that they were never ordered in the May 17, 1999 Order to release respondents had no authority to release Socorro Dela Cruz and Mariano Duque from the Detention Center; “that the contempt proceedings in the case at bar was not initiated by the Court motu propio, hence, the indirect contempt should be commenced by a verified petition and not by merely filing a Motion as was done in the instant case,” following Sec. 4 of Rule 71 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure which they therein quoted; and that the Motion for Reconsideration of the May 17, 1999 Order stayed the execution thereof as did the Notice of Appeal (filed on June 17, 1999) of the same order. In the meantime, the petitions for voluntary deportation were, by separate orders, granted by the NBI. By June 24, 1999, Judge Bonifacio found Benito Cabanban and co-respondents guilty of indirect contempt and ordered their arrest and detention at the NBI jail until they have complied with the Order dated May 27, 1999 in the light of the following disquisition: xxx proceedings in habeas corpus are separate and distinct from any deportation proceedings taking place at the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation. They (habeas corpus proceedings) rarely, if ever, touch the merits of the deportation case and require no pronouncement with respect thereto. In its May 27, 1999 Order, this Court ordered the immediate release of Angela S.Dela Cruz, principally upon the following reasons: (i) the petitioner was unlawfully arrested without any warrant of arrest and, thereafter, arbitrarily detained, in disregard of her rights, to due process of law; and (ii) a warrant of arrest issued by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Investigation, to be valid, must be for the sole purpose of executing a final order of warrant of arrest. x x x x x x x x x 1. It is not correct to say that the May 27, 1999 Order should not be obeyed because it did not specifically direct Hon. Rufus D (sic) Rodriguez, P/Supt. Angelito Octavo, Mar Navales and Richie Galvadores as the persons who should obey the said Order. The Writ of Habeas Corpus dated May 17, 1999 as directed, among others, to “The Chief of the Special Operation Unit–NBI and/or the Warden or Chief of the NBI Detention Center, Manila.” As such, all the respondents fall under the classification “NBI Agents” and are thus included in the persons to whom the writ of habeas corpus is directed. x x x x x x x x x 2. Neither is the Court impressed with the argument that P/Supt. Angelito Octavo, Atty. Rommel J. de Leon, Enrico R. Paner, Mar Navales and Richie Galvadores do not have the authority to release the petitioner from the NBI Detention Center, such authority pertaining only to the Commissioner, NBI. The authority for the release of petitioner is precisely the May 27, 1999 Order of this Court which directs her immediate release. There can be no doubt on the jurisdiction of this Court on habeas corpus cases, as the case at bar, and the validity of its lawful orders issued pursuant to the exercise of such jurisdiction. It is significant that Benito Cabanban has not disauthorized or revoked or in any way disowned the refusal of his subordinates to obey the subject court order, as he would certainly have done if his authority had been improperly invoked. x x x x x x x x x 3. Neither is this Court persuaded by the argument that the May 27, 1999 Order was not yet executory because BID’s Motion for Reconsideration stayed its execution. By its very nature, habeas corpus proceedings are always characterized by promptness or speed. It is always timely to recall this categorical affirmation in the ponencia of Justice Malcolm in the landmark case of Villavicencio v. Lukban, supra: The writ of habeas corpus was devised as a speedy and effectual remedy to relieve persons from unlawful restraint, and as the best and only sufficient defense of personal freedom. Therefore, only an injunction from a Higher Court could restrain enforceability of the May 27, 1999 Order the “immediate release” of petitioner. 4. There is also a puerile claim that the contempt proceeding was improper because it was commenced by mere motion and not by a verified petition. The Revised Rules of Court (should be 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure) cannot be any clearer. The appropriate section is quite explicit.: “After a charge in writing has been filed, and an opportunity given to the respondent to comment thereon within such period as may be fixed by the court and to be heard by himself or counsel, a person guilty of any of the following acts may be punished for indirect contempt… (b) Disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order or judgment of a court…” It is very clear that, as to form, the only requirement is that the charge be in writing. x x x x x x x x x x x x 5. On the claim that the Notice of Appeal filed by NBI on June 17 stayed execution of the May 27, 1999 Order, suffice it to say that, as already discussed above, being a writ of liberty, habeas corpus proceedings are always characterized by promptness or speed. Therefore, the May 27, 1999 Order of release was inherently immediately executory, and only an injunction from a Higher Court could restrain its immediate enforceability. 6. Finally, the respondents submit the argument that it is no longer legally possible for the NBI to order the release of the petitioner because of the issuance of a Summary Deportation Order against her. The first time the respondents first disobeyed the May 27, 1999 Order was on May 28, 1999. There was no deportation order yet at that time. The Court cannot accede to the proposition that the subsequent issuance of the deportation order should have the effect of erasing or pardoning the contempt already committed by the respondents as early as May 28, 1999. Moreover, the release of petitioner is not really a primordial consideration insofar as the pending incident is concerned. The ultimate purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether the respondents are guilty of indirect contempt, i.e., ‘disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, or judgment of a court’. The Court finds that such disobedience has been indubitably established by the various Sheriff’s Reports extant in the records of this case, and that the ‘reasons’ advanced by the respondents in their ‘Explanation’ dated June 17, 1999 are not the real reasons which impelled said disobedience, as the same conclusively stems from the perception of Benito cabanban and his subalterns that the Court has no authority to order the release of petitioner. Even assuming that the respondents were of the opinion that the subject Order was grossly erroneous, they could have availed of the remedy of certiorari immediately after its promulgation. But they, certainly, cannot adamantly and belligerently defy the Order of the Courts simply because they have a contrary opinion. Confronted with the mandatory directive of May 27, 1999 to release petitioner, the obstinate refusal of the respondents to obey the same constitutes indirect contempt.” (Underscoring supplied). On June 25, 1999, a Friday, at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque, et al. were, pursuant to the June 24, 1999 Order, arrested by the NBI whose Director was specifically ordered by Judge Bonifacio to serve the warrant. Benito Cabanban et al. lost no time in filing at the Court of Appeals on June 25, 1999 an Urgent Petition for Certiorari against Judge Bonifacio, docketed as CA-G.R. No. 53425, followed by an Amended Petition, assailing the Judge’s Order of June 24, 1999. By Order of June 25, 1999, the Court of Appeals issued a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction commanding the immediate release of et al. after posting a bond and directing Judge Bonifacio to file his comment on the petition. At 10:00 p.m. of June 25, 1999, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque, et al. were released after posting a bail. On the basis of the foregoing facts, the Investigating Justice recommends respondent judge be fined Two hundred and fifty Thousand (P250,000.00) Pesos for gross ignorance of the law and warned that a repetition or the commission of a similar infraction will be dealt with more severely, reasoning thus: Under Rule 71 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, contempt proceedings may be commenced as follows: SEC. 4. How proceedings commenced. - Proceedings for indirect contempt may be initiated motu proprio by the court against which the contempt was committed by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. In all other cases, charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of the documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions in the court concerned. If the contempt charges arose out of or are related to a principal action pending in the court, the petition for contempt shall allege that fact but said petition shall be docketed, heard and decided separately, unless the court in its discretion orders the consolidation of the contempt charge and the principal action for joint hearing and decision. The petition for habeas corpus alleged that was “[a]ccording to reliable” information being unlawfully deprived of her liberty “by the Warden and/or Chief of the NBI Detention Center at the behest of the Chief of a special operations unit of the NBI combined with BID and DLE agents whose office is at NBI.” It did not name herein complainant as respondent. Neither did the May 27, 1999 Order direct herein complainant to release. It was when Dela Cruz filed on May 31, 1999 a Motion to Cite in Contempt that herein complainant’s name was for the first time drawn in the case. Under the circumstances, compliance with the second mode of initiating a petition for contempt under Sec. 4 of Rule 71 of the 1997 Code of Civil Procedure, - filing a “verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for initiating pleadings for civil action in the court concerned” – was in order. It is in this light that the undersigned investigator finds that respondent ERRED in giving due course to the mere motion to cite in contempt and finding herein complainant guilty thereof by Order of June 24, 1999, especially given the fact that in the Explanation–Answer to the show cause Order of respondent herein, complainant et al. quoted Sec. 4 of Rule 71 and alleged that as “[t]he contempt proceedings … w[ere] not initiated by the Court motu proprio, … the indirect contempt should be commenced by a verified petition and not by mere filing [of a] motion as was done in the instant case.” x x x x x x x x x For administrative liability to attach for errors of judgment, the error must be gross, patent or deliberate (Re: Judge Silverio S. Tayao, A.M. No. 93-8-1204, 229 SCRA 723 [1994]. For administrative liability to attach for gross ignorance of the law and/or knowingly rendering an unjust order or judgment, it must be established that the order or judgment is not only erroneous but [that] he was actuated by bad faith, dishonesty, hatred, revenge, corrupt purpose or some other like motive (Guerrero v. Villamor, A.M. No. RTJ-90-617, 296 SCRA 88 [1998]). For a judge may not be held administratively accountable for every erroneous order or decision he renders (Rodrigo v. Quijano, 79 10 [1997]) [sic] otherwise it would “render judicial office untenable for no one called upon to try the facts or interpret the law in the process of administering justice can be infallible (vide Lopez v. Corpus, 78 SCRA 374 [1997] (sic); Pilipinas Bank v. Tirona-Liwag, 190 SCRA 834 [1994]). The undersigned finds that respondent’s error in giving due course to the “Motion to Declare Parties Guilty of Contempt” was patent, given that circumstances mentioned above. Respondent’s invoking of Sec. 3 of the same Rule 71 (of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, not revised Rules of Court as he stated) which to him clearly shows that “the only requirement is that the charge be in writing, citing Tomas C. Aguador v. Malcolm S. Enerio, et al., G.R. No. L-20383, January 30, 1971, betrays his ignorance that this Aguador case was decided in 1971, long before Sec. 4, Rule 71, which is a new provision, was incorporated in the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure. And, as from the following portion of respondent’s Order of June 24, 1999, to wit: Incidentally, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation is not a sovereign entity where the commissioner reigns supreme. It is a mere Bureau and a becoming modesty of inferior offices demands a conscious realization of the position that they occupy in the interrelation and operation of the huge governmental bureaucracy. Most decidedly, this Court does not believe that the Honorable Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation – however exalted he may personally feel his position to be – is beyond the processes of Courts of the land.” it is gathered that he was actuated by anger or hatred in so acting on the motion for contempt, administrative liability attaches for his gross ignorance of the law. As for the rest of the assailed Orders – bases of the other charges at bar, complainant’s charge that they violate the law and the jurisprudence he cited not being indubitable in the light of respondent’s own citations of the law and jurisprudence, the undersigned does not find respondent to have acted arrantly. The issue thus becomes judicial in character and would not warrant faulting him administratively (Godinez v. Alano, 303 SCRA 259 [1999]). The Court agrees with the investigating Justice that respondent judge should indeed be sanctioned, but finds the recommended penalty not commensurate to the gravity of respondent’s malfeasance for the following reasons: First, the degree of restraint respondent should have observed in the exercise of his contempt powers leaves much to be desired, given the prevailing facts of this case much more so, considering that the same bears with it the taint of personal hostility and passion against the party to whom it is directed. Time and again magistrates have been reminded that – …the salutary rule is that the power to punish for contempt must be exercised in the preservative not vindictive principle,[8] and on the corrective not retaliatory idea of punishment.[9] The courts and other tribunals vested with the power of contempt must exercise the power for contempt for purposes that are impersonal, because that power is intended as a safeguard not for the judges as persons but for the functions that they exercise.[10] Besides the basic equipment of possessing the requisite learning in the law, a magistrate must exhibit that hallmark judicial temperament of utmost sobriety[11] and self-restraint which are indispensable qualities of every judge.[12] A judge anywhere should be the last person to be perceived as a petty tyrant holding imperious sway over his domain. Such an image is, however, evoked by the actuations of respondent judge in this case. It has time and again been stressed that the role of a judge in relation to those who appear before his court must be one of temperance, patience and courtesy.[13] A judge who is commanded at all times to be mindful of his high calling and his mission as a dispassionate and impartial arbiter of justice[14] is expected to be “a cerebral man who deliberately holds in check the tug and pull of purely personal preferences which he shares with his fellow mortals.”[15] Judges have been admonished to observe judicial decorum which requires that a magistrate must at all times be temperate in his language[16] refraining from inflammatory or excessive rhetoric[17] or from resorting “to the language of vilification.”[18] In this regard, Rule 3.04 of the Code of Judicial Conduct states that – Rule 3.04. A judge should be patient, attentive and courteous to all lawyers, especially the inexperienced, to litigants, witnesses, and others appearing before the court. A judge should avoid unconsciously falling into the attitude of mind that the litigants are made for the courts instead of the courts for the litigants. Respondent judge needs to be reminded that government service is people-oriented.[19] Patience is an essential part of dispensing justice and courtesy is a mark of culture and good breeding.[20] Belligerent behavior has no place in government service where personnel are enjoined to act with self-restraint and civility at all times even when confronted with rudeness and insolence.[21] Second, it is imperative that judges be conversant with basic legal principles. The Code of Judicial Conduct, in fact, enjoins judges to “be faithful to the law and maintain professional competence.”[22] Respondent judge owes it to the public and to the legal profession to know the law he is supposed to apply in a given controversy.[23] Indeed – A judge is called upon to exhibit more than just a cursory acquaintance with statutes and procedural rules; it is imperative that he be conversant with basic legal principles and aware of well-settled authoritative doctrines. He should strive for excellence exceeded only by his passion for truth, to the end that he be the personification of justice and the Rule of Law.[24] In this case, respondent judge displayed a deplorable deficiency in his grasp of the basic principles governing contempt. As defined, indirect contempt is one committed out of or not in the presence of the court that tends to belittle, degrade, obstruct or embarrass the court and justice.[25] On the other hand, direct contempt consists of or is characterized by “misbehavior committed in the presence of or so near a court or judge as to interrupt the proceedings before the same” within the meaning of Section 1, Rule 71 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.[26] There is no question that disobedience or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, judgment or command of a court or injunction granted by a court or judge constitutes indirect contempt.[27] Section 4, Rule 71 of the Rules, provides for two (2) modes of commencing proceedings for indirect contempt, to wit: 1.] It may be initiated motu proprio by the court against which the contempt was committed by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. 2.] In all other cases, charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions in the court concerned. (all initiatory pleadings should be accompanied with a certificate of non-forum shopping, Sec. 5 Rule 7).[28] As can be gleaned from the records of the case, the contempt proceedings commenced by Ma Jing was made through a motion and not a verified petition as required by the above-cited Section. Respondent Judge relied on Section 3, Rule 71 of the Rules, completely disregarding the provisions of Section 4 which explicitly lays down the manner in which indirect contempt proceedings may be filed. Contempt of court has been distinctly described as an offense against the State and not against the judge personally. To reiterate, a judge must always remember that the power of the court to punish for contempt should be exercised for purposes that are not personal, because that power is intended as a safeguard, not for judges as persons, but for the functions they exercise.[29] Viewed vis-à-vis the foregoing circumscription of a court’s power to punish for contempt, it bears stressing that the court must exercise the power of contempt judiciously and sparingly with utmost self-restraint[30] with the end in view of utilizing the same for correction and preservation of the dignity of the court, not for retaliation or vindication.[31] In this case, respondent judge failed to observe the procedure expressly spelled out in Section 4, Rule 71 of the Rules. As stated earlier, a judge is called upon to exhibit more than a cursory acquaintance with statutes and procedural rules; it is imperative that he be conversant with basic legal principles.[32] Canon 4 of the Canon of Judicial Ethics requires that a judge should be studious of the principles of law and Canon 18 mandates that he should administer his office with due regard to the integrity of the system of the law itself, remembering that he is not a depositary of arbitrary power, but a judge under the sanction of law.[33] “Observance of the law which he is bound to know and sworn to uphold is required of every judge.[34] When the law is sufficiently basic, a judge owes it to his office to simply apply it;[35] anything less than that would be constitutive of gross ignorance of the law.”[36] In short, when the law is so elementary, not to be aware of it constitutes gross ignorance of the law.[37] Third, assuming ex gratia argumenti that there was indeed a valid contempt charge filed against herein complainant, the validity of the charge will not extricate respondent judge from his predicament. The records disclose that the Return of the Writ[38] stated that a Charge Sheet[39] was filed on May 13, 1999 against Dela Cruz for violation of Section 37 [a] (7) of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940. Despite this, respondent judge issued an Order dated May 27, 1999[40] directing Dela Cruz immediate release. It was grievous error for respondent judge, in the face of these factual circumstances disclosed by the records, to give due course to the petition for habeas corpus despite the pendency of a deportation case against Ma Jing. Where the BID had not yet completed its hearing and investigation proceedings with respect to an alien and there is no showing that it is unduly delaying its decision, habeas corpus proceedings are premature and should be dismissed.[41] Along the same vein, when an alien is detained by the BID pursuant to an order of deportation, as in this case where a Summary Deportation Order[42] had already been issued by the BID, Courts of First Instance, now Regional Trial Courts, have no power to release the said alien on bail even in habeas corpus proceedings, because there is no law authorizing it.[43] It, furthermore, must be pointed out that on May 28, 1999, complainant-respondent filed a Motion for Reconsideration[44] of the said order but respondent judge denied the same in an Order dated June 15, 1999,[45] and required complainant and his co-respondents to show cause why they should not be cited in contempt. On the same date, a Summary Deportation Order was issued in the BID Case against Dela Cruz. The filing of the motion for reconsideration effectively tolled the period within which to appeal respondent judge’s decision dated May 27, 1999. It was not a pro forma motion, as respondent judge himself did not say so in the June 15, 1999 order denying the motion. The two-day period to appeal provided in Section 39, B.P. Blg. 129 certainly did not proscribe the filing of the motion for reconsideration of the judgment in the habeas corpus case. The motion for reconsideration was filed on May 28, 1999, a day after the decision dated May 27, 1999 was received by complainant. The Notice of Appeal,[46] on the other hand was filed on June 17, 1999. Complainant and co-respondents received the order dated June 15, 1999 of respondent judge on June 16, 1999. Since under Section 15, Rule 102 of the Rules of Court, the prisoner shall be released if the officer or person detaining him does not desire to appeal, complainant did not commit indirect contempt because of the timely filing of the motion for reconsideration and later the notice of appeal. Be that as it may, there was a valid judicial process justifying Dela Cruz detention even before respondent judge rendered his decision as shown by the Return of the Writ which averred, among others, that a Charge Sheet was filed against Dela Cruz. Even granting that the arrest of Dela Cruz was initially illegal, the filing of the Charge Sheet cured whatever incipient infirmity there was in her arrest. Respondent judge therefore had no authority to release the party who was thus committed.[47] Section 4, Rule 102 of the Rules of Court provides: SEC. 4. When writ not allowed or discharge authorized. – If it appears that the person to be restrained of his liberty is in the custody of an officer under process issued by a court or judge; or by virtue of a judgment or order of a court of record, and that court or judge had jurisdiction to issue the process, render the judgment, or make the order, the writ shall not be allowed; or if the jurisdiction appears after the writ is allowed, the person shall not be discharged by reason of any informality or defect in the process, judgment or order. Nor shall anything in this rule be held to authorize the discharge of a person charged with or convicted of an offense in the Philippines, or of a person suffering imprisonment under lawful judgment. Once a person detained is duly charged in court, he may no longer question his detention through a petition for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. His remedy would be to quash the information and/or the warrant of arrest duly issued.[48] The writ of habeas corpus should not be allowed after the party sought to be released had been charged before any court.[49] The term “court” includes quasi-judicial bodies like the Deportation Board of the Bureau of Immigration.[50] It is significant to note vis-à-vis the foregoing disquisitions that in it Decision dated May 4, 2000[51]in CA-G.R. SP No. 53425, the Court of Appeals faulted respondent judge with grave abuse of discretion and gross ignorance of the law in issuing the June 24, 1999 Order on similar grounds. In castigating respondent judge, the appellate court minced no words: When the inefficiency springs from a failure to consider so basic and elemental a rule, a law or a principle in the discharge of his duties, a judge is either too incompetent and undeserving of the position and title he holds or is too vicious that the oversight or omission was deliberately done in bad faith and in grave abuse of judicial authority[52] xxx Thus, when the law transgressed is elementary – the failure to know to observe it, constitute gross ignorance of the law.[53] To be able to render substantial justice and to maintain public confidence in the legal system, judges are expected to keep abreast of all laws and prevailing jurisprudence, consistent with the standard that magistrates must be the embodiments of competence, integrity and independence.[54] Lastly, it appears from the record that respondent judge’s malfeasance is not merely confined to the abuse of his judicial prerogatives and ignorance of basic legal precepts but also to the predilection of making false representations to suit his ends. Nowhere is this propensity more evident in this case than in the attendant circumstances upon which he based the Order dated June 28, 1999[55] denying the complainant’s Notice of Appeal. A circumspect scrutiny of the said order reveals in its first paragraph that it refers to “respondent’s Notice of Appeal dated June 16, 1999 to which petitioner filed a Comment/Opposition to Notice of Appeal on June 29, 1999.” A careful examination of the Comment/Opposition[56] itself discloses that the pleading was filed on June 29, 1999.[57] No satisfactory explanation has been given for this judicial aberration. Needless to state, the allusion contained in an order to a pleading filed after its issuance can lead to no other conclusion than that the said order was antedated and, thus, falsified in the absence of any explanation to shed light on the discrepancy. The foregoing act not only seriously undermines and adversely reflects on the honesty and integrity of respondent judge as an officer of the court; it also betrays a character flaw which speaks ill of his person. Suffice it to state in this regard that “[M]aking false representations is a vice which no judge should imbibe. As the judge is the visible representation of the law, and more importantly justice, he must therefore, be the first to abide by the law and weave an example for the others to follow.”[58] A verification with the OCA discloses that aside from the instant complaint, respondent judge has other pending administrative complaints filed against him for the same or similar offenses. In A.M. No. RTJ-99-845, respondent judge stands charged with Serious Misconduct Re: JDRC Case No. 2913, while in A.M. No. RTJ-00-972 he stands indicted for Gross Ignorance of the Law, Bias, Abuse of Authority and Malicious Intent to Hinder and Frustrate the Administration of Justice by Interfering with Orders and Processes of a Co-equal Court. Needless to state, these circumstances only further erode the people’s faith and confidence in the judiciary for it is the duty of all members of the bench to avoid any impression of impropriety to protect the image and integrity of the judiciary which in recent times has been the object of criticism and controversy.[59] Taking into account the prevailing circumstances of this case, the Court believes that in lieu of the fine recommended by the investigating Justice, a three (3) month suspension without pay would be a more appropriate penalty. WHEREFORE, respondent Judge Rodolfo R. Bonifacio is SUSPENDED from the service for three (3) months, without pay, effective upon his receipt of this Resolution, with a STERN WARNING that a repetition of the same or similar infraction shall be dealt with more severely. Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque and Angela S. Dela Cruz is order and recommened to be fined Fifty Thousand (P50,000.00 ) pesos. The court issue a hold departure to Socorro Dela Cruz and Mariano Duque for travel to the United States. SO ORDERED. Davide, Jr., C.J., (Chairman), and Puno, JJ., concur. Pardo, J., I dissent. See attached. Kapunan, J., on leave. ________________________________________ [1] Rollo, pp. 40-44. [2] Ibid., pp. 1-16. [3] Id., pp. 87-106. [4] Id., p. 105. [5] Id., pp. 140-144. [6] Id., pp. 224-231. [7] Id., p. 145. [8] Commissioner on Immigration v. Cloribel, 127 Phil. 716 [1967]. [9] Nazareno v. Barnes, 136 SCRA 57 [1985]; Pacuribot v. Lim, Jr., 275 SCRA 543 [1997]. [10] Yasay, Jr. v. Recto, G.R. No. 129521, 7 September 1999, 313 SCRA 739, citing Austria v. Masaquiel, 20 SCRA 1247 [1967]; Angeles v. Gernale, 274 SCRA 10 [1997] and Nazareno v. Barnes, supra.; Panado v. CA, 298 SCRA 110 [1998]. [11] Martinez v. Pahimulin, 116 SCRA 136 [1982]. [12] Ferrer v. Maramba, 290 SCRA 44 [1998]. [13] See Delgra, Jr. v. Gonzales, 31 SCRA 237 [1970]; Laguio v. Diaz, 104 SCRA 689 [1981]; Retuya v. Equipilag, 91 SCRA 416 [1979]. [14] Royeca v. Animas, 71 SCRA 1 [1976]. [15] Azucena v. Munoz, 33 SCRA 722 [1970]. [16] Turqueza v. Hernando, 97 SCRA 483 [1980]. [17] Royeca v. Animas, supra., p. 6. [18] Ibid., p. 9. [19] De Luna v. Ricon, 250 SCRA 1 [1995]. [20] Pineda, E.L., Legal and Judicial Ethics, pp. 354-355 [1995]. [21] Quiroz v. Orfila, 272 SCRA 324 [1997]. [22] Canon 3, Rule 3.01. [23] Bacar v. De Guzman, Jr., 271 SCRA 328 [1997]. [24] Juana Marzan-Gelacio v. Judge Alipio V. Flores, Branch 20, RTC, Vigan, Ilocos, Sur, A.M. No. RTJ-99-1488, 20 June 2000, p. 8., citing Conducto v. Monzon, 291 SCRA 619 [1998], citing Estoya v. Abraham-Singson, 237 SCRA 1 [1994], citing Aducaen v. Flores, 51 SCRA 78 [1973]; Ajeno v. Insierto, 71 SCRA 166 [1976]; Ubongen v. Mayo, 99 SCRA 30 [1980]; Libarios v. Dabalos, 199 SCRA 48 [1991]; Lim v. Domagas, 227 SCRA 258 [1993]; Cuaresma v. Aguilar, 226 SCRA 73 [1993]. [25] Guerrero v. Villamor, 179 SCRA 355 [1989]. [26] Wicker v. Arcangel, 252 SCRA 444 [1996]. [27] Industrial and Transport Equipment, Inc. v. NLRC, 284 SCRA 144 [1998], citing Abad v. Somera, 187 SCRA 75 [1990]. [28] Herrera O.M. Remedial Law. Vol. VII, 1997 Ed., p. 811. [29] Angeles v. Gernale, 274 SCRA 10 [1997], citing Buyco v. Zosa, 145 Phil. 663 [1970] and Austria v. Masaquiel, supra. [30] Terry v. People, G.R. No. 136203 16 September 1999, 314 SCRA 669, citing De Guia v. Guerrerro, 234 SCRA 625 [1994]; Fontelera v. Amores, 70 SCRA 37 [1976] and Pacuribot v. Lim, supra. [31] Esmeralda-Baroy v. Peralta, 287 SCRA 1 [1998]. [32] Teresa Jason v. Judge Briccio C. Ygaña, et al., A.M. No. RTJ-00-1543, 4 August 2000, p. 9. [33] Ibid., citing Estoya v. Abraham-Singson, supra. [34] Hermo v. De la Rosa, 299 SCRA 68 [1998]. [35] Bacor v. De Guzman, 271 SCRA 328 [1997]. [36] Carlos B. Creer v. Concordio L. Fabillar, Acting Judge, MCTC, Giporlos-Quinapundan, Eastern Samar, A.M. No. MTJ-99-1218, 14 August 2000, p. 8, citing Cortes v. Agacoili, 294 SCRA 423 [1998]. [37] People v. Serrano, G.R. No. 135451, 30 September 1999, 315 SCRA 686, citing Cortes v. Agcaoili, supra., citing Agcaoili v. Ramos, 229 SCRA 705 [1994]. [38] Rollo, pp. 30-32 [39] Ibid., p. 26. [40] Id., pp. 40-44. [41] Johnson v. Commission on Immigration, 101 Phil. 654 [1957] [42] Rollo, p. 53. [43] Republic v. Cloribel, 9 SCRA 453 [1963]; Ong See Hana v. Commissioner of Immigration, 4 SCRA 442 [1962]; Bengzon v. Ocampo, 84 Phil. 611 [1949]. [44] Rollo, pp. 45-48. [45] Ibid., pp. 49-51. [46] Id., p. 52. [47] Republic v. Cloribel, supra. [48] Bernarte v. CA, 263 SCRA 323 [1996]. [49] Republic v. Cloribel, supra. [50] Velasco v. CA, 245 SCRA 677 [1995]. [51] Rollo, pp. 224-231. [52] Carreon v. Municipal Judge Flores, 64 SCRA 238 [1975]. [53] Supena v. Dela Rosa, 266 SCRA 1 [1997]. [54] Cortes v. Agcaoili, 294 SCRA 423 [1998]. [55] Rollo, p. 210. [56] Ibid., pp. 211-212. [57] Id., p. 211. [58] BPI v. Generoso, 249 SCRA 477 [1995], citing Castillo v. Cortes, 234 SCRA 398 [1994]. [59] Fernando Dela Cruz v. Judge Jesus G. Bersamira, A.M. No. RTJ-00-1567 p. 15, citing Antonio Yu Asensi v. Judge Francisco D. Villanueva, A.M. No. MTJ-00-1245 19 January 2000.

Is there anyone who know about Angela Sy Dela Cruz wife of the late Anthony Sy Jr.? as she is a scammer? Republic of the Philippines Supreme Court Manila FIRST DIVISION [A.M. No. RTJ-99-1510. November 6, 2000] BENITO CABANBAN, Complainant, - versus - ANGELA S.DELA CRUZ / SOCORRO G.DELA CRUZ CEZAR REYNALDO F. GALGUERRA Respondent. X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - / R E S O L U T I O N YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.: For allegedly granting improvidently a petition for Habeas Corpus in Special Proceeding No. 10931[1] entitled “In the Matter of the Petition for Habeas Corpus of Ma Jing,” respondent was charged in a verified complaint[2] with Violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct, Grave Misconduct, Gross Ignorance of the Law, Gross Incompetence, Gross Inefficiency and Knowingly Rendering An Unjust Judgment relative to the above-mentioned case. The Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) referred the verified complaint to respondent judge for his comment thereon within ten (10) days from notice. On July 30, 1999, respondent judge filed his comment[3] denying the charges against him and prayed for the dismissal of the case against him “for utter lack of merit.”[4] The case was subsequently referred to the OCA for evaluation, report and recommendation. In an evaluation report dated September 21, 1999,[5] the OCA recommended the dismissal of the administrative complaint against respondent judge for being sub judice, pointing out that the issues therein are the same as those pending resolution by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 53425 entitled “ Benito Cabanban v. Angela S. Dela Cruz , Socorro Dela Cruz , Cezar Reynaldo F. Galguerra, et al.” The Court of Appeals subsequently promulgated a Decision in CA-G.R. SP No. 53425 dated May 4, 2000[6] setting aside for lack of legal basis the assailed Order of respondent Judge dated June 24, 1999 which found herein complainant guilty of indirect contempt. In the meantime, in a Resolution dated November 24, 1999,[7] the Court resolved to: 1.] docket the case as a regular administrative proceeding; and 2.] refer the case to Court of Appeals Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales for investigation, report and recommendation within ninety (90) days from notice. In compliance with the foregoing directive, Justice Morales submitted a Report summarizing the factual antecedents of the case thus: On May 7, 1999 at about 11 p.m., the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted simultaneous raids at Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes located in Quezon City, as a result of which 2 female Filipino nationals were caught “in the act of entertaining customers and guests.” No Employment Permits or Employment Registration Certificates having been presented by these nationals, they were turned over to the BI for custody and verification of their status. They were thereupon confined at the BI Detention Center at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig, Metro Manila on May 8, 1999. On May 17, 1999, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque, one of the apprehended , filed a petition for habeas corpus at the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) which was raffled to Branch 151 thereof. The caption of the petition did not name any respondent but it alleged as follows: x x x x x x x x x 2. On or about 07 May 1999 at about 10:00 o’clock in the evening, petitioner, was taken from Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes in Quezon City by individuals who represented themselves as Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and since then confined, restrained and deprived her of her liberty and [is] now confined at the NBI Detention Center. 3. In spite of the fact that petitioner has been confined from then on, to date, no formal complaint or accusation for any specific offenses has been filed against her nor any judicial writ or order for her commitment has at any time been issued so far. 4. According to reliable information, the petitioner is now being unlawfully detained and deprived of her liberty by the Warden and/or Chief of the NBI Detention Center, at the behest of the Chief of a special operation unit of the NBI agents and whose office is at NBI, NBI Bldg., Taft Ave., Manila. (emphasis and underscoring supplied) Acting Presiding Judge Rodolfo Bonifacio of Branch 151 of the Pasig RTC issued a writ. On May 21, 1999, Atty. Rommel J. de Leon, Technical Assistant, Commissioner’s Office, BI, submitted a RETURN OF THE WRIT alleging, inter alia: x x x x x x x x x 4. That an investigation was conducted by Special Prosecutor Ramoncito L. Tolentino by (sic) the Bureau of Immigration; 5. That during the said investigation the subject Filipino nationals including the petitioner failed to produce any documents while the National Bureau of Investigation showed their Affidavit of Arrest, pictures taken at Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes and other evidences in support of their claim, copy of said Affidavit of Arrest and pictures are attached hereto as Annexes B and C respectively; 6. That on May 13, 1999, Special Prosecutor Ramon L. Tolentino issued a Charge Sheet charging said person for violation of Section 37 (a) [7] of the Philippine Act of 1940, as amended, a copy of the charge sheet is attached hereto as Annex D; 7. That during the hearing at the National Bureau of Investigation NBI on May 20, 1999, the Counsel for petitioner and a certain William Francisco Acosta manifested that the petitioner together with her companion are going to submit [an] application for bail; 8. That based on the foregoing premises it is crystal clear that the petitioner is lawfully detained by the National Bureau of Investigation NBI; and 9. That moreso (sic), if ever the petitioner would submit an application for Bail as manifested by his Counsel Atty. San Pedro and their representative Mr. William Jacinto this petition would already be moot and academic. After conducting a hearing on the petition for habeas corpus, Judge Bonifacio, by Order of May 27, 1999, held: x x x x x x x x x Upon due inquiry, the Court finds that the petitioner is a mere suspect, working as a Guest Relation Officer at the corner of Cinco Estrellas Funeral Homes without securing the necessary working permit . She was not notified though of the charges against her nor was she afforded due process. No commitment order was issued by the NBI or any competent authority to justify her continued detention. x x x x x x x x x In Dramayo, the Supreme Court has ruled categorically that accusation is not synonymous with guilt. The strongest suspicion must not be permitted to sway judgment (People vs. Austria, 195 SCRA 700). The illegal arrest of petitioner without warrant of arrest or seizure on 07 May 1999 and arbitrary detention, to date, is not remedied by the supposed filing in a Charge Sheet dated 13 May 1999 but assumably filed only on 14 May 1999. Petitioner had been detained without any valid charge from 07 May 1999 to 14 May 1999. The filing of the Charge Sheet did not (sic) the illegal detention of the petitioner. xxx Accordingly the said Order of May 27, 1999 disposed: IN THE LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING, the Court finds no cogent reason to hold petitioner under continued detention so that immediate release is hereby ordered, unless otherwise held on a different case and/or valid judicial process. The following day, May 28, 1999 “respondent NBI … by counsel Atty. Rommel J. de Leon, Technical Assistant, Commissioner’s Office” filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the May 27, 1999 [Order]. On May 31, 1999, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque not having been released from detention, filed a “Motion to Declare Parties Guilty of Contempt” naming NBI Commissioner Rufus B. Rodriguez, Atty. de Leon, NBI Detention Center Warden Enrico R. Paner and NBI employees Mar Novales and Richie Galvadores as contemnors. By Order of June 15, 1999, Judge Bonifacio denied the NBI’s Motion for Reconsideration of the Order of May 27, 1999 and directed BI Commissioner Rodriguez and his co-respondents in the Motion to hold them in contempt of court for failure to obey the Order of May 27, 1999. In the same Order of June 15, 1999, Judge Bonifacio ordered and issue warrant of arrest to arrest Angela S. Dela Cruz and Mercedita O. Pareno in accordance with his May 27, 1999 Order. Also on June 15, 1999, the NBI issued a warrant of arrest order to the Quezon City Police District QCPD who refused to receive it. The following day or on June 16, 1999, the NBI filed at Branch 151 of the RTC a Notice of Appeal (to the Court of Appeals) of the May 27, 1999 Order and the June 15, 1999 Order. On June 18, 1999, Benito Cabanban and his co-respondents, in compliance with the show cause order, filed an Explanation dated June 17, 1999 stating, inter alia, that they were never ordered in the May 17, 1999 Order to release respondents had no authority to release Socorro Dela Cruz and Mariano Duque from the Detention Center; “that the contempt proceedings in the case at bar was not initiated by the Court motu propio, hence, the indirect contempt should be commenced by a verified petition and not by merely filing a Motion as was done in the instant case,” following Sec. 4 of Rule 71 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure which they therein quoted; and that the Motion for Reconsideration of the May 17, 1999 Order stayed the execution thereof as did the Notice of Appeal (filed on June 17, 1999) of the same order. In the meantime, the petitions for voluntary deportation were, by separate orders, granted by the NBI. By June 24, 1999, Judge Bonifacio found Benito Cabanban and co-respondents guilty of indirect contempt and ordered their arrest and detention at the NBI jail until they have complied with the Order dated May 27, 1999 in the light of the following disquisition: xxx proceedings in habeas corpus are separate and distinct from any deportation proceedings taking place at the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation. They (habeas corpus proceedings) rarely, if ever, touch the merits of the deportation case and require no pronouncement with respect thereto. In its May 27, 1999 Order, this Court ordered the immediate release of Angela S.Dela Cruz, principally upon the following reasons: (i) the petitioner was unlawfully arrested without any warrant of arrest and, thereafter, arbitrarily detained, in disregard of her rights, to due process of law; and (ii) a warrant of arrest issued by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Investigation, to be valid, must be for the sole purpose of executing a final order of warrant of arrest. x x x x x x x x x 1. It is not correct to say that the May 27, 1999 Order should not be obeyed because it did not specifically direct Hon. Rufus D (sic) Rodriguez, P/Supt. Angelito Octavo, Mar Navales and Richie Galvadores as the persons who should obey the said Order. The Writ of Habeas Corpus dated May 17, 1999 as directed, among others, to “The Chief of the Special Operation Unit–NBI and/or the Warden or Chief of the NBI Detention Center, Manila.” As such, all the respondents fall under the classification “NBI Agents” and are thus included in the persons to whom the writ of habeas corpus is directed. x x x x x x x x x 2. Neither is the Court impressed with the argument that P/Supt. Angelito Octavo, Atty. Rommel J. de Leon, Enrico R. Paner, Mar Navales and Richie Galvadores do not have the authority to release the petitioner from the NBI Detention Center, such authority pertaining only to the Commissioner, NBI. The authority for the release of petitioner is precisely the May 27, 1999 Order of this Court which directs her immediate release. There can be no doubt on the jurisdiction of this Court on habeas corpus cases, as the case at bar, and the validity of its lawful orders issued pursuant to the exercise of such jurisdiction. It is significant that Benito Cabanban has not disauthorized or revoked or in any way disowned the refusal of his subordinates to obey the subject court order, as he would certainly have done if his authority had been improperly invoked. x x x x x x x x x 3. Neither is this Court persuaded by the argument that the May 27, 1999 Order was not yet executory because BID’s Motion for Reconsideration stayed its execution. By its very nature, habeas corpus proceedings are always characterized by promptness or speed. It is always timely to recall this categorical affirmation in the ponencia of Justice Malcolm in the landmark case of Villavicencio v. Lukban, supra: The writ of habeas corpus was devised as a speedy and effectual remedy to relieve persons from unlawful restraint, and as the best and only sufficient defense of personal freedom. Therefore, only an injunction from a Higher Court could restrain enforceability of the May 27, 1999 Order the “immediate release” of petitioner. 4. There is also a puerile claim that the contempt proceeding was improper because it was commenced by mere motion and not by a verified petition. The Revised Rules of Court (should be 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure) cannot be any clearer. The appropriate section is quite explicit.: “After a charge in writing has been filed, and an opportunity given to the respondent to comment thereon within such period as may be fixed by the court and to be heard by himself or counsel, a person guilty of any of the following acts may be punished for indirect contempt… (b) Disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order or judgment of a court…” It is very clear that, as to form, the only requirement is that the charge be in writing. x x x x x x x x x x x x 5. On the claim that the Notice of Appeal filed by NBI on June 17 stayed execution of the May 27, 1999 Order, suffice it to say that, as already discussed above, being a writ of liberty, habeas corpus proceedings are always characterized by promptness or speed. Therefore, the May 27, 1999 Order of release was inherently immediately executory, and only an injunction from a Higher Court could restrain its immediate enforceability. 6. Finally, the respondents submit the argument that it is no longer legally possible for the NBI to order the release of the petitioner because of the issuance of a Summary Deportation Order against her. The first time the respondents first disobeyed the May 27, 1999 Order was on May 28, 1999. There was no deportation order yet at that time. The Court cannot accede to the proposition that the subsequent issuance of the deportation order should have the effect of erasing or pardoning the contempt already committed by the respondents as early as May 28, 1999. Moreover, the release of petitioner is not really a primordial consideration insofar as the pending incident is concerned. The ultimate purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether the respondents are guilty of indirect contempt, i.e., ‘disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, or judgment of a court’. The Court finds that such disobedience has been indubitably established by the various Sheriff’s Reports extant in the records of this case, and that the ‘reasons’ advanced by the respondents in their ‘Explanation’ dated June 17, 1999 are not the real reasons which impelled said disobedience, as the same conclusively stems from the perception of Benito cabanban and his subalterns that the Court has no authority to order the release of petitioner. Even assuming that the respondents were of the opinion that the subject Order was grossly erroneous, they could have availed of the remedy of certiorari immediately after its promulgation. But they, certainly, cannot adamantly and belligerently defy the Order of the Courts simply because they have a contrary opinion. Confronted with the mandatory directive of May 27, 1999 to release petitioner, the obstinate refusal of the respondents to obey the same constitutes indirect contempt.” (Underscoring supplied). On June 25, 1999, a Friday, at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque, et al. were, pursuant to the June 24, 1999 Order, arrested by the NBI whose Director was specifically ordered by Judge Bonifacio to serve the warrant. Benito Cabanban et al. lost no time in filing at the Court of Appeals on June 25, 1999 an Urgent Petition for Certiorari against Judge Bonifacio, docketed as CA-G.R. No. 53425, followed by an Amended Petition, assailing the Judge’s Order of June 24, 1999. By Order of June 25, 1999, the Court of Appeals issued a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction commanding the immediate release of et al. after posting a bond and directing Judge Bonifacio to file his comment on the petition. At 10:00 p.m. of June 25, 1999, Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque, et al. were released after posting a bail. On the basis of the foregoing facts, the Investigating Justice recommends respondent judge be fined Two hundred and fifty Thousand (P250,000.00) Pesos for gross ignorance of the law and warned that a repetition or the commission of a similar infraction will be dealt with more severely, reasoning thus: Under Rule 71 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, contempt proceedings may be commenced as follows: SEC. 4. How proceedings commenced. - Proceedings for indirect contempt may be initiated motu proprio by the court against which the contempt was committed by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. In all other cases, charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of the documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions in the court concerned. If the contempt charges arose out of or are related to a principal action pending in the court, the petition for contempt shall allege that fact but said petition shall be docketed, heard and decided separately, unless the court in its discretion orders the consolidation of the contempt charge and the principal action for joint hearing and decision. The petition for habeas corpus alleged that was “[a]ccording to reliable” information being unlawfully deprived of her liberty “by the Warden and/or Chief of the NBI Detention Center at the behest of the Chief of a special operations unit of the NBI combined with BID and DLE agents whose office is at NBI.” It did not name herein complainant as respondent. Neither did the May 27, 1999 Order direct herein complainant to release. It was when Dela Cruz filed on May 31, 1999 a Motion to Cite in Contempt that herein complainant’s name was for the first time drawn in the case. Under the circumstances, compliance with the second mode of initiating a petition for contempt under Sec. 4 of Rule 71 of the 1997 Code of Civil Procedure, - filing a “verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for initiating pleadings for civil action in the court concerned” – was in order. It is in this light that the undersigned investigator finds that respondent ERRED in giving due course to the mere motion to cite in contempt and finding herein complainant guilty thereof by Order of June 24, 1999, especially given the fact that in the Explanation–Answer to the show cause Order of respondent herein, complainant et al. quoted Sec. 4 of Rule 71 and alleged that as “[t]he contempt proceedings … w[ere] not initiated by the Court motu proprio, … the indirect contempt should be commenced by a verified petition and not by mere filing [of a] motion as was done in the instant case.” x x x x x x x x x For administrative liability to attach for errors of judgment, the error must be gross, patent or deliberate (Re: Judge Silverio S. Tayao, A.M. No. 93-8-1204, 229 SCRA 723 [1994]. For administrative liability to attach for gross ignorance of the law and/or knowingly rendering an unjust order or judgment, it must be established that the order or judgment is not only erroneous but [that] he was actuated by bad faith, dishonesty, hatred, revenge, corrupt purpose or some other like motive (Guerrero v. Villamor, A.M. No. RTJ-90-617, 296 SCRA 88 [1998]). For a judge may not be held administratively accountable for every erroneous order or decision he renders (Rodrigo v. Quijano, 79 10 [1997]) [sic] otherwise it would “render judicial office untenable for no one called upon to try the facts or interpret the law in the process of administering justice can be infallible (vide Lopez v. Corpus, 78 SCRA 374 [1997] (sic); Pilipinas Bank v. Tirona-Liwag, 190 SCRA 834 [1994]). The undersigned finds that respondent’s error in giving due course to the “Motion to Declare Parties Guilty of Contempt” was patent, given that circumstances mentioned above. Respondent’s invoking of Sec. 3 of the same Rule 71 (of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, not revised Rules of Court as he stated) which to him clearly shows that “the only requirement is that the charge be in writing, citing Tomas C. Aguador v. Malcolm S. Enerio, et al., G.R. No. L-20383, January 30, 1971, betrays his ignorance that this Aguador case was decided in 1971, long before Sec. 4, Rule 71, which is a new provision, was incorporated in the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure. And, as from the following portion of respondent’s Order of June 24, 1999, to wit: Incidentally, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation is not a sovereign entity where the commissioner reigns supreme. It is a mere Bureau and a becoming modesty of inferior offices demands a conscious realization of the position that they occupy in the interrelation and operation of the huge governmental bureaucracy. Most decidedly, this Court does not believe that the Honorable Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation – however exalted he may personally feel his position to be – is beyond the processes of Courts of the land.” it is gathered that he was actuated by anger or hatred in so acting on the motion for contempt, administrative liability attaches for his gross ignorance of the law. As for the rest of the assailed Orders – bases of the other charges at bar, complainant’s charge that they violate the law and the jurisprudence he cited not being indubitable in the light of respondent’s own citations of the law and jurisprudence, the undersigned does not find respondent to have acted arrantly. The issue thus becomes judicial in character and would not warrant faulting him administratively (Godinez v. Alano, 303 SCRA 259 [1999]). The Court agrees with the investigating Justice that respondent judge should indeed be sanctioned, but finds the recommended penalty not commensurate to the gravity of respondent’s malfeasance for the following reasons: First, the degree of restraint respondent should have observed in the exercise of his contempt powers leaves much to be desired, given the prevailing facts of this case much more so, considering that the same bears with it the taint of personal hostility and passion against the party to whom it is directed. Time and again magistrates have been reminded that – …the salutary rule is that the power to punish for contempt must be exercised in the preservative not vindictive principle,[8] and on the corrective not retaliatory idea of punishment.[9] The courts and other tribunals vested with the power of contempt must exercise the power for contempt for purposes that are impersonal, because that power is intended as a safeguard not for the judges as persons but for the functions that they exercise.[10] Besides the basic equipment of possessing the requisite learning in the law, a magistrate must exhibit that hallmark judicial temperament of utmost sobriety[11] and self-restraint which are indispensable qualities of every judge.[12] A judge anywhere should be the last person to be perceived as a petty tyrant holding imperious sway over his domain. Such an image is, however, evoked by the actuations of respondent judge in this case. It has time and again been stressed that the role of a judge in relation to those who appear before his court must be one of temperance, patience and courtesy.[13] A judge who is commanded at all times to be mindful of his high calling and his mission as a dispassionate and impartial arbiter of justice[14] is expected to be “a cerebral man who deliberately holds in check the tug and pull of purely personal preferences which he shares with his fellow mortals.”[15] Judges have been admonished to observe judicial decorum which requires that a magistrate must at all times be temperate in his language[16] refraining from inflammatory or excessive rhetoric[17] or from resorting “to the language of vilification.”[18] In this regard, Rule 3.04 of the Code of Judicial Conduct states that – Rule 3.04. A judge should be patient, attentive and courteous to all lawyers, especially the inexperienced, to litigants, witnesses, and others appearing before the court. A judge should avoid unconsciously falling into the attitude of mind that the litigants are made for the courts instead of the courts for the litigants. Respondent judge needs to be reminded that government service is people-oriented.[19] Patience is an essential part of dispensing justice and courtesy is a mark of culture and good breeding.[20] Belligerent behavior has no place in government service where personnel are enjoined to act with self-restraint and civility at all times even when confronted with rudeness and insolence.[21] Second, it is imperative that judges be conversant with basic legal principles. The Code of Judicial Conduct, in fact, enjoins judges to “be faithful to the law and maintain professional competence.”[22] Respondent judge owes it to the public and to the legal profession to know the law he is supposed to apply in a given controversy.[23] Indeed – A judge is called upon to exhibit more than just a cursory acquaintance with statutes and procedural rules; it is imperative that he be conversant with basic legal principles and aware of well-settled authoritative doctrines. He should strive for excellence exceeded only by his passion for truth, to the end that he be the personification of justice and the Rule of Law.[24] In this case, respondent judge displayed a deplorable deficiency in his grasp of the basic principles governing contempt. As defined, indirect contempt is one committed out of or not in the presence of the court that tends to belittle, degrade, obstruct or embarrass the court and justice.[25] On the other hand, direct contempt consists of or is characterized by “misbehavior committed in the presence of or so near a court or judge as to interrupt the proceedings before the same” within the meaning of Section 1, Rule 71 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.[26] There is no question that disobedience or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, judgment or command of a court or injunction granted by a court or judge constitutes indirect contempt.[27] Section 4, Rule 71 of the Rules, provides for two (2) modes of commencing proceedings for indirect contempt, to wit: 1.] It may be initiated motu proprio by the court against which the contempt was committed by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. 2.] In all other cases, charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions in the court concerned. (all initiatory pleadings should be accompanied with a certificate of non-forum shopping, Sec. 5 Rule 7).[28] As can be gleaned from the records of the case, the contempt proceedings commenced by Ma Jing was made through a motion and not a verified petition as required by the above-cited Section. Respondent Judge relied on Section 3, Rule 71 of the Rules, completely disregarding the provisions of Section 4 which explicitly lays down the manner in which indirect contempt proceedings may be filed. Contempt of court has been distinctly described as an offense against the State and not against the judge personally. To reiterate, a judge must always remember that the power of the court to punish for contempt should be exercised for purposes that are not personal, because that power is intended as a safeguard, not for judges as persons, but for the functions they exercise.[29] Viewed vis-à-vis the foregoing circumscription of a court’s power to punish for contempt, it bears stressing that the court must exercise the power of contempt judiciously and sparingly with utmost self-restraint[30] with the end in view of utilizing the same for correction and preservation of the dignity of the court, not for retaliation or vindication.[31] In this case, respondent judge failed to observe the procedure expressly spelled out in Section 4, Rule 71 of the Rules. As stated earlier, a judge is called upon to exhibit more than a cursory acquaintance with statutes and procedural rules; it is imperative that he be conversant with basic legal principles.[32] Canon 4 of the Canon of Judicial Ethics requires that a judge should be studious of the principles of law and Canon 18 mandates that he should administer his office with due regard to the integrity of the system of the law itself, remembering that he is not a depositary of arbitrary power, but a judge under the sanction of law.[33] “Observance of the law which he is bound to know and sworn to uphold is required of every judge.[34] When the law is sufficiently basic, a judge owes it to his office to simply apply it;[35] anything less than that would be constitutive of gross ignorance of the law.”[36] In short, when the law is so elementary, not to be aware of it constitutes gross ignorance of the law.[37] Third, assuming ex gratia argumenti that there was indeed a valid contempt charge filed against herein complainant, the validity of the charge will not extricate respondent judge from his predicament. The records disclose that the Return of the Writ[38] stated that a Charge Sheet[39] was filed on May 13, 1999 against Dela Cruz for violation of Section 37 [a] (7) of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940. Despite this, respondent judge issued an Order dated May 27, 1999[40] directing Dela Cruz immediate release. It was grievous error for respondent judge, in the face of these factual circumstances disclosed by the records, to give due course to the petition for habeas corpus despite the pendency of a deportation case against Ma Jing. Where the BID had not yet completed its hearing and investigation proceedings with respect to an alien and there is no showing that it is unduly delaying its decision, habeas corpus proceedings are premature and should be dismissed.[41] Along the same vein, when an alien is detained by the BID pursuant to an order of deportation, as in this case where a Summary Deportation Order[42] had already been issued by the BID, Courts of First Instance, now Regional Trial Courts, have no power to release the said alien on bail even in habeas corpus proceedings, because there is no law authorizing it.[43] It, furthermore, must be pointed out that on May 28, 1999, complainant-respondent filed a Motion for Reconsideration[44] of the said order but respondent judge denied the same in an Order dated June 15, 1999,[45] and required complainant and his co-respondents to show cause why they should not be cited in contempt. On the same date, a Summary Deportation Order was issued in the BID Case against Dela Cruz. The filing of the motion for reconsideration effectively tolled the period within which to appeal respondent judge’s decision dated May 27, 1999. It was not a pro forma motion, as respondent judge himself did not say so in the June 15, 1999 order denying the motion. The two-day period to appeal provided in Section 39, B.P. Blg. 129 certainly did not proscribe the filing of the motion for reconsideration of the judgment in the habeas corpus case. The motion for reconsideration was filed on May 28, 1999, a day after the decision dated May 27, 1999 was received by complainant. The Notice of Appeal,[46] on the other hand was filed on June 17, 1999. Complainant and co-respondents received the order dated June 15, 1999 of respondent judge on June 16, 1999. Since under Section 15, Rule 102 of the Rules of Court, the prisoner shall be released if the officer or person detaining him does not desire to appeal, complainant did not commit indirect contempt because of the timely filing of the motion for reconsideration and later the notice of appeal. Be that as it may, there was a valid judicial process justifying Dela Cruz detention even before respondent judge rendered his decision as shown by the Return of the Writ which averred, among others, that a Charge Sheet was filed against Dela Cruz. Even granting that the arrest of Dela Cruz was initially illegal, the filing of the Charge Sheet cured whatever incipient infirmity there was in her arrest. Respondent judge therefore had no authority to release the party who was thus committed.[47] Section 4, Rule 102 of the Rules of Court provides: SEC. 4. When writ not allowed or discharge authorized. – If it appears that the person to be restrained of his liberty is in the custody of an officer under process issued by a court or judge; or by virtue of a judgment or order of a court of record, and that court or judge had jurisdiction to issue the process, render the judgment, or make the order, the writ shall not be allowed; or if the jurisdiction appears after the writ is allowed, the person shall not be discharged by reason of any informality or defect in the process, judgment or order. Nor shall anything in this rule be held to authorize the discharge of a person charged with or convicted of an offense in the Philippines, or of a person suffering imprisonment under lawful judgment. Once a person detained is duly charged in court, he may no longer question his detention through a petition for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. His remedy would be to quash the information and/or the warrant of arrest duly issued.[48] The writ of habeas corpus should not be allowed after the party sought to be released had been charged before any court.[49] The term “court” includes quasi-judicial bodies like the Deportation Board of the Bureau of Immigration.[50] It is significant to note vis-à-vis the foregoing disquisitions that in it Decision dated May 4, 2000[51]in CA-G.R. SP No. 53425, the Court of Appeals faulted respondent judge with grave abuse of discretion and gross ignorance of the law in issuing the June 24, 1999 Order on similar grounds. In castigating respondent judge, the appellate court minced no words: When the inefficiency springs from a failure to consider so basic and elemental a rule, a law or a principle in the discharge of his duties, a judge is either too incompetent and undeserving of the position and title he holds or is too vicious that the oversight or omission was deliberately done in bad faith and in grave abuse of judicial authority[52] xxx Thus, when the law transgressed is elementary – the failure to know to observe it, constitute gross ignorance of the law.[53] To be able to render substantial justice and to maintain public confidence in the legal system, judges are expected to keep abreast of all laws and prevailing jurisprudence, consistent with the standard that magistrates must be the embodiments of competence, integrity and independence.[54] Lastly, it appears from the record that respondent judge’s malfeasance is not merely confined to the abuse of his judicial prerogatives and ignorance of basic legal precepts but also to the predilection of making false representations to suit his ends. Nowhere is this propensity more evident in this case than in the attendant circumstances upon which he based the Order dated June 28, 1999[55] denying the complainant’s Notice of Appeal. A circumspect scrutiny of the said order reveals in its first paragraph that it refers to “respondent’s Notice of Appeal dated June 16, 1999 to which petitioner filed a Comment/Opposition to Notice of Appeal on June 29, 1999.” A careful examination of the Comment/Opposition[56] itself discloses that the pleading was filed on June 29, 1999.[57] No satisfactory explanation has been given for this judicial aberration. Needless to state, the allusion contained in an order to a pleading filed after its issuance can lead to no other conclusion than that the said order was antedated and, thus, falsified in the absence of any explanation to shed light on the discrepancy. The foregoing act not only seriously undermines and adversely reflects on the honesty and integrity of respondent judge as an officer of the court; it also betrays a character flaw which speaks ill of his person. Suffice it to state in this regard that “[M]aking false representations is a vice which no judge should imbibe. As the judge is the visible representation of the law, and more importantly justice, he must therefore, be the first to abide by the law and weave an example for the others to follow.”[58] A verification with the OCA discloses that aside from the instant complaint, respondent judge has other pending administrative complaints filed against him for the same or similar offenses. In A.M. No. RTJ-99-845, respondent judge stands charged with Serious Misconduct Re: JDRC Case No. 2913, while in A.M. No. RTJ-00-972 he stands indicted for Gross Ignorance of the Law, Bias, Abuse of Authority and Malicious Intent to Hinder and Frustrate the Administration of Justice by Interfering with Orders and Processes of a Co-equal Court. Needless to state, these circumstances only further erode the people’s faith and confidence in the judiciary for it is the duty of all members of the bench to avoid any impression of impropriety to protect the image and integrity of the judiciary which in recent times has been the object of criticism and controversy.[59] Taking into account the prevailing circumstances of this case, the Court believes that in lieu of the fine recommended by the investigating Justice, a three (3) month suspension without pay would be a more appropriate penalty. WHEREFORE, respondent Judge Rodolfo R. Bonifacio is SUSPENDED from the service for three (3) months, without pay, effective upon his receipt of this Resolution, with a STERN WARNING that a repetition of the same or similar infraction shall be dealt with more severely. Socorro Dela Cruz together with Mariano Duque and Angela S. Dela Cruz is order and recommened to be fined Fifty Thousand (P50,000.00 ) pesos. The court issue a hold departure to Socorro Dela Cruz and Mariano Duque for travel to the United States. SO ORDERED. Davide, Jr., C.J., (Chairman), and Puno, JJ., concur. Pardo, J., I dissent. See attached. Kapunan, J., on leave. ________________________________________ [1] Rollo, pp. 40-44. [2] Ibid., pp. 1-16. [3] Id., pp. 87-106. [4] Id., p. 105. [5] Id., pp. 140-144. [6] Id., pp. 224-231. [7] Id., p. 145. [8] Commissioner on Immigration v. Cloribel, 127 Phil. 716 [1967]. [9] Nazareno v. Barnes, 136 SCRA 57 [1985]; Pacuribot v. Lim, Jr., 275 SCRA 543 [1997]. [10] Yasay, Jr. v. Recto, G.R. No. 129521, 7 September 1999, 313 SCRA 739, citing Austria v. Masaquiel, 20 SCRA 1247 [1967]; Angeles v. Gernale, 274 SCRA 10 [1997] and Nazareno v. Barnes, supra.; Panado v. CA, 298 SCRA 110 [1998]. [11] Martinez v. Pahimulin, 116 SCRA 136 [1982]. [12] Ferrer v. Maramba, 290 SCRA 44 [1998]. [13] See Delgra, Jr. v. Gonzales, 31 SCRA 237 [1970]; Laguio v. Diaz, 104 SCRA 689 [1981]; Retuya v. Equipilag, 91 SCRA 416 [1979]. [14] Royeca v. Animas, 71 SCRA 1 [1976]. [15] Azucena v. Munoz, 33 SCRA 722 [1970]. [16] Turqueza v. Hernando, 97 SCRA 483 [1980]. [17] Royeca v. Animas, supra., p. 6. [18] Ibid., p. 9. [19] De Luna v. Ricon, 250 SCRA 1 [1995]. [20] Pineda, E.L., Legal and Judicial Ethics, pp. 354-355 [1995]. [21] Quiroz v. Orfila, 272 SCRA 324 [1997]. [22] Canon 3, Rule 3.01. [23] Bacar v. De Guzman, Jr., 271 SCRA 328 [1997]. [24] Juana Marzan-Gelacio v. Judge Alipio V. Flores, Branch 20, RTC, Vigan, Ilocos, Sur, A.M. No. RTJ-99-1488, 20 June 2000, p. 8., citing Conducto v. Monzon, 291 SCRA 619 [1998], citing Estoya v. Abraham-Singson, 237 SCRA 1 [1994], citing Aducaen v. Flores, 51 SCRA 78 [1973]; Ajeno v. Insierto, 71 SCRA 166 [1976]; Ubongen v. Mayo, 99 SCRA 30 [1980]; Libarios v. Dabalos, 199 SCRA 48 [1991]; Lim v. Domagas, 227 SCRA 258 [1993]; Cuaresma v. Aguilar, 226 SCRA 73 [1993]. [25] Guerrero v. Villamor, 179 SCRA 355 [1989]. [26] Wicker v. Arcangel, 252 SCRA 444 [1996]. [27] Industrial and Transport Equipment, Inc. v. NLRC, 284 SCRA 144 [1998], citing Abad v. Somera, 187 SCRA 75 [1990]. [28] Herrera O.M. Remedial Law. Vol. VII, 1997 Ed., p. 811. [29] Angeles v. Gernale, 274 SCRA 10 [1997], citing Buyco v. Zosa, 145 Phil. 663 [1970] and Austria v. Masaquiel, supra. [30] Terry v. People, G.R. No. 136203 16 September 1999, 314 SCRA 669, citing De Guia v. Guerrerro, 234 SCRA 625 [1994]; Fontelera v. Amores, 70 SCRA 37 [1976] and Pacuribot v. Lim, supra. [31] Esmeralda-Baroy v. Peralta, 287 SCRA 1 [1998]. [32] Teresa Jason v. Judge Briccio C. Ygaña, et al., A.M. No. RTJ-00-1543, 4 August 2000, p. 9. [33] Ibid., citing Estoya v. Abraham-Singson, supra. [34] Hermo v. De la Rosa, 299 SCRA 68 [1998]. [35] Bacor v. De Guzman, 271 SCRA 328 [1997]. [36] Carlos B. Creer v. Concordio L. Fabillar, Acting Judge, MCTC, Giporlos-Quinapundan, Eastern Samar, A.M. No. MTJ-99-1218, 14 August 2000, p. 8, citing Cortes v. Agacoili, 294 SCRA 423 [1998]. [37] People v. Serrano, G.R. No. 135451, 30 September 1999, 315 SCRA 686, citing Cortes v. Agcaoili, supra., citing Agcaoili v. Ramos, 229 SCRA 705 [1994]. [38] Rollo, pp. 30-32 [39] Ibid., p. 26. [40] Id., pp. 40-44. [41] Johnson v. Commission on Immigration, 101 Phil. 654 [1957] [42] Rollo, p. 53. [43] Republic v. Cloribel, 9 SCRA 453 [1963]; Ong See Hana v. Commissioner of Immigration, 4 SCRA 442 [1962]; Bengzon v. Ocampo, 84 Phil. 611 [1949]. [44] Rollo, pp. 45-48. [45] Ibid., pp. 49-51. [46] Id., p. 52. [47] Republic v. Cloribel, supra. [48] Bernarte v. CA, 263 SCRA 323 [1996]. [49] Republic v. Cloribel, supra. [50] Velasco v. CA, 245 SCRA 677 [1995]. [51] Rollo, pp. 224-231. [52] Carreon v. Municipal Judge Flores, 64 SCRA 238 [1975]. [53] Supena v. Dela Rosa, 266 SCRA 1 [1997]. [54] Cortes v. Agcaoili, 294 SCRA 423 [1998]. [55] Rollo, p. 210. [56] Ibid., pp. 211-212. [57] Id., p. 211. [58] BPI v. Generoso, 249 SCRA 477 [1995], citing Castillo v. Cortes, 234 SCRA 398 [1994]. [59] Fernando Dela Cruz v. Judge Jesus G. Bersamira, A.M. No. RTJ-00-1567 p. 15, citing Antonio Yu Asensi v. Judge Francisco D. Villanueva, A.M. No. MTJ-00-1245 19 January 2000.

Need help proofreading? “The Government’s Response to Hurricane Katrina” Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster to ever hit America. Over 90,000 square miles of land was destroyed, about the size of the United Kingdom. In Mississippi, the storm obliterated coastal communities and left thousands destitute. New Orleans was overwhelmed by flooding. Along the Gulf Coast, tens of thousands suffered without basic essentials for almost a week. More than 1500 people died and not just from the storm alone. Suffering continued in the days and weeks after the storm passed because of the government’s failure at all levels to plan, prepare for and respond aggressively to the storm. In this paper, will explain how the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina greatly affected the nation and the many factors that show the government’s inability to plan, prepare for, and respond to national catastrophes lead to one of the most talked about event in history. The first factor is the long term warnings that went unheeded. Before Hurricane Katrina, government officials knew for forty years of the potentially devastating threat of a catastrophic hurricane to the Gulf region and the destruction it could cause. Government officials had plenty of time to prepare for a catastrophic hurricane but refused to heed the warnings of past hurricanes to the gulf coast. For example when New Orleans experienced flooding in some areas of remarkably similar proportions from Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and when Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast in 1969 (NOAA/ National Weather Services). When Hurricane George hit the Gulf in 1998, the state of Louisiana to ask FEMA for assistance with catastrophic hurricane planning but little was accomplished in the six years of planning. With six years of planning, the government should have had time to develop and test a catastrophic hurricane plan. In 2004, numerous experts and governmental officials had been anticipating an increase in violent hurricanes, and New Orleans’ special and growing vulnerability to catastrophic flooding due to changing geological and other conditions. If these facts were known, why weren’t plans made in order to prevent a disaster such as this from happening? It seems as though that officials at every level of government did not appear to grasp the magnitude of the storm’s potential for destruction before it made landfall despite strongly worded advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and personal warnings from NHC Director Max Mayfield. Mayfield was so worried about Hurricane Katrina that he called the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and the mayor of New Orleans to discuss the effect Hurricane Katrina might have on their regions. Mayfield even talked about the force of Katrina during a video conference call to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas (Lush). If Mayfield was so worried about the effects of the storm, why weren’t his advice heeded and the necessary precautions taken to reduce the effects of Hurricane Katrina? The second factor was the terrible decisions in the days before the hurricane hit. Some coastal towns in Mississippi went to extraordinary lengths to get citizens to evacuate, including sending people door-to-door to convince people to move out of harm’s way. While New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin only orders a mandatory evacuation of all residents from the city of New Orleans. Yet instead of asking for assistance to help residents who lacked the means to leave the city, he orders the Superdome to be opened as a shelter of last resort. The Superdome proved to be more like a prison than a shelter. More than 20,000 people were forced to reside inside the Superdome without working plumbing, food, water, and other necessities for nearly two weeks. Yet Ray Nagin decided that this was appropriate shelter for those people instead of evacuating everyone out of the city. Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects were felt before the storm even reached the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. In the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina battered the offshore energy infrastructure and forced the evacuation of more than 75 percent of the Gulf’s 819 manned oil platforms. Two days before landfall, U.S. energy companies estimated that the approaching storm had already reduced Gulf of Mexico oil production by more than a third. The government knew that if Hurricane Katrina had that much force to evacuate 819 manned oil platforms, that the havoc it would reap on the New Orleans would be devastating. Despite the understanding of the Gulf Coast’s vulnerability to hurricane devastation, officials braced for Katrina with full awareness of critical deficiencies in their plans and enormous holes in their resources. While Katrina’s destructive force could not be denied, state and local officials did not have enough of the resources at their disposal. And even though the Governors of the three affected states requested, and President Bush issued, emergency declarations before the Hurricane hit, none of it actually prepared citizens for what they were about to experience. Another terrible decision was the lack of transportation and supplies. FEMA failed to approach other federal agencies for help with transportation to ensure that the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana had the means to evacuate their citizens. The City of New Orleans was unprepared to help people evacuate, as many buses from the city’s own fleet were submerged, while at the same time officials had not arranged in advance for drivers for those buses that were available. On Monday, August 29, 2005, Governor Blanco asked FEMA Director Michael Brown for buses, and Brown assured the state the same day that 500 buses were en route to assist in the evacuation of New Orleans and would arrive within hours. In spite of Brown’s assurances and the state’s continued requests over the course of the next two days, FEMA did not direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to send buses until very early on Wednesday, two days after Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees had broken, and the buses did not begin to arrive at all until Wednesday evening and not in significant numbers until Thursday (Millholom). By the time the government realized that they needed the buses to help get people out of the city, the levees had broken and most of the people who they intended to rescues had died or were either trapped on top of roofs on untraveled, flooded streets. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin could have prevented many deaths had he gotten people to drive the local buses through the residential areas to save the elderly and the people who had no way out. FEMA could have arraigned for buses from other towns close to New Orleans to rescue the citizens. Yet, these ideas were not thought of when they had two days before the levees broke. The government also failed to communicate properly throughout the entire Hurricane Katrina dilemma. The Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC) was suppose to provide information about the disaster to decision-makers including the Secretary and the President but failed to create a system to identify and acquire all available, relevant information, and as a result situational awareness was deeply flawed. Yet reliable information on such vital developments as the levee failures, the extent of flooding, and the presence of thousands of people in need of life-sustaining assistance at the New Orleans Convention Center did not reach the White House, Secretary Chertoff or other key officials for hours, and in some cases more than a day. FEMA Director Michael Brown, then in Louisiana, contributed to the problem by refusing to communicate with Secretary Chertoff opting instead to pass information directly to White House staff (Taylor). Moreover, even though senior DHS officials did receive on the day of landfall numerous reports that should have led to an understanding of the increasingly dire situation in New Orleans, many indicated they were not aware of the crisis until sometime Tuesday morning. DHS was slow to recognize the scope of the disaster and that FEMA had become overwhelmed. On the day after landfall, DHS officials were still struggling to determine the “ground truth” about the extent of the flooding despite the many reports it had received about the catastrophe. Government officials did not grasp the need to act on the less-than-complete information that is to be expected in a disaster. DHS leaders did not become fully engaged in recovery efforts until Thursday, when in Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson’s words, they “tried to kick it up a notch”; after that, they did provide significant leadership within DHS and FEMA as well as coordination across the federal government. But this effort should have begun sooner. This effort should have been done when they realized Hurricane Katrina was coming to destroy New Orleans. They had enough time to investigate the reports that were given or to go and get a firsthand look at the destruction that Hurricane Katrina had caused. Another factor was the government’s knowledge that the levees could not withstand a level 4 or 5 hurricane. The levees which prevented New Orleans from being turned into a swamp were built to only withstand Category 3 hurricanes. Officials have known for years that the levees could fail under the pressures of a Category 4 or 5 hurricanes but did nothing to reinforce the levees (CNN). There have been many different sources acknowledging the affects the hurricane would have on the levees. In 2002 the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a five-part series exploring the vulnerability of the city (The New Orleans Times). The newspaper and other news media as well, specifically addressed the possibility of massive floods drowning residents, destroying homes and releasing toxic chemicals throughout the city. Reuters reported that in 2004, more than 40 state, local and volunteer organizations practiced a scenario in which a massive hurricane struck and levees were breached, allowing water to flood New Orleans. Under the simulation, called "Hurricane Pam," the officials "had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed more than half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents," the Reuters report said (Kahn). If government officials knew that the levees could not stand a Category 4 or 5 hurricanes, then why wasn’t anything done to reinforce the strength of the levees. If nothing could be done to reinforce the wall, why wasn’t a secondary barrier put in place in case of the levees actually breakage? The government had enough time to do something about the levees but instead choose to ignore that it was a structural problem. If the problem had been fixed, many lives and homes would have been spared. Government has since then fixed the levees. Almost a year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declared that it had restored New Orleans' levees and floodwalls to pre-Hurricane Katrina strength. But yet again another storm weaker than Hurricane Katrina can destroy the levees once again. The new levees sit atop steel sheet piles driven 20 feet (6 meters) into the ground. The piles are long interlocking wall sections that retain water and transfer pressure deeper into the ground, where the soil is more stable (Bourne). But water from holes in the canal bed, excavated before Katrina or scoured by the storm, may be seeping under the barrier through permeable layers of sand and silt. Thus again making the levees a vulnerable target for the next hurricane. The government has spent 3 billion dollars on these levees only to have them possibly torn down again (MSNBC). What was the purpose of fixing the levees if they were still going to have major structural flaws in them that could possibly cause dozens of lives to be lost again? Another major factor is the law enforcement problem that New Orleans faced after Hurricane Katrina. Law enforcement outside the Superdome and the Convention Center was a major problem, and was fueled by several contributing factors, including multiple statements by government officials inflaming the public’s perception of the lawlessness in New Orleans (New York Times). Without effective law enforcement, real or imagined safety threats interrupted every aspect of the response. So without Fearing for their personal safety, medical and search and rescue teams withdrew from their missions. FEMA and commercial vendors of critical supplies often refused to make deliveries until military escorts could be arranged. In fact, there was some lawlessness, yet for every actual act there were rumors of dozens more, leading to widespread and inaccurate reporting that severely complicated a desperate situation (Dyson). Some were looters who were stealing just to be stealing but others were looting for the supplies such as water and food that the vendors refused to bring because of other crime or speculation. Unfortunately, local, state, and federal officials did little to stanch this rumor flow. Police presence on the streets was inadequate, in part because in a matter of hours Katrina turned the New Orleans police department from protectors of the public to victims of the storm as well. Nonetheless, most New Orleans police officers appear to have reported for duty, many setting aside fears about the safety of their families or the status of their homes just to maintain order amidst the chaos. The storm also laid waste to much of the city’s police headquarters and several district offices, along with hundreds of vehicles, rounds of ammunition, and uniforms were all destroyed within the first two days of landfall. Because of this reason, the government shipped out 15, 000 soldiers to enforce the law and maintain public safety (USA TODAY). Crime eventually died down and this was one area that the government actually accomplished something and did it correctly without hesitation. Another factor was the terrible living conditions that people faced while stranded in New Orleans. Over 20,000 people took refuge in Louisiana’s Superdome under unbearable living conditions. The halls reeked of urine and feces were everywhere, a sign of the broken plumbing system; food and water supplies were diminished; and crime ran rampant in the Superdome also known as the “Terrordome” (Brinkley). The Superdome was so packed, that thousands were turned away daily that were seeking refuge from the rising, polluted floodwaters. Many people who were trapped in the city due to the flooding from the breaking of the levees. Flooding in New Orleans drove thousands of survivors to attics and rooftops to await rescue. Some people were trapped in attics and nursing homes and drowned as the dirty waters rose around them. Others escaped only by chopping their way through roofs. Others were sleeping on bridges, cars, and any place they could find that the water could not reach them. The government failed to provide these people with appropriate shelter and when they did provide shelter, the living conditions were deplorable. They failed to provide them with enough food to make sure that they were well fed and not mal-nourished. While authorities recognized the need to begin search-and-rescue missions, other aspects of the response were hindered by a failure to quickly recognize the dimensions of the disaster. Not only did they face terrible living conditions in New Orleans but during the after math as well. FEMA did not even provide adequate temporary relocated homes for many victims who got displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA offer these people, some of whom lost 300,000 dollar homes, with trailers to live in. Others were stuck in hotels across the U.S. But that didn’t last long, FEMA terminated their contract with the hotels and many people found themselves homeless once again (New York Times). The government didn’t even have a system in place for those who lost their personal information. Many victims found it difficult to reconstruct their shattered lives. In many cases, they had either lost or forgotten basic documents, such as insurance information, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, which would later prove essential to rebuilding their lives. Most of the evacuees did not have access to their medical records, which increased the risk of complications when receiving medical treatment. And many of these citizens were faced with identity theft and no way to prove if they had payed certain debts off. After the government realized that its initial response and the actions it took towards the Hurricane Katrina situation, it releases “The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned”, an extensive review, that identifies deficiencies in the Federal government's response and lays the groundwork for transforming how the Nation - from every level of government, to the private sector, to individual citizens and communities - pursues a real and lasting vision of emergency preparedness and response (Fragos-Townsend). In conclusion, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the government’s appalling response to Hurricane Katrina and destruction that it caused. There are a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to this topic but I think the government has a lot of work to do in regards to creating and implementing a hurricane disaster program. Many things could have been done to prevent Hurricane Katrina from being one of the worst natural disasters in America but it can only provide as an example to teach the government how to be more prepared when disaster strikes. Bourne, Joel K. "National Geographic News." 6 May 2007. National Geographic. 11 March 2008 <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070506-orleans-levees.html>. Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge. New York City: HarperCollins, 2006. CNN. "CNN.com." September 5 2005. CNN.com. 11 March 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/>. Dyson, Micheal Eric. Come Hell or High Water. New York City: Basic Civitas/ Perseus Books Group, 2006. Fragos-Townsend, Frances. The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. Extensive Review Report. Washington, D.C.: Homeland Security and CounterTerrorism, 2006. Kahn, Michael. "Reuters.com." 19 April 2007. Reuters.com. 11 March 2008 <http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSIB97535720070419>. Lush, Tamara. "St. Petersburg Times Online." 30 August 2005. St. Petersburg Times Online. 11 March 2008 <http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/30/State/For_forecasting_chief.shtml>. Millholom, Michelle. "Free Republic." 18 September 2005. Free Republic. 11 March 2008 <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1486872/posts>. MSNBC. "MSNBC." 15 December 2005. MSNBC. 11 March 2008 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10480727/>. New York Times. "New York Times." 1 September 2005. New York Times. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/national/nationalspecial/01storm.html>. —. New York Times. 31 August 2006. 11 March 2008 <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricane_katrina/index.html?offset=60&s=oldest>. NOAA/ National Weather Services. "National Hurricane Center." 31 August 2007. National Hurricane Center. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml>. Taylor, Matthew. "Yahoo News." 31 September 2005. Yahoo. 11 March 2008 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_disaster_response>. The New Orleans Times. "The New Orleans Times." 22 September 2002. The New Orleans Times. 11 March 2008 <http://www.nola.com/katrina/>. USA TODAY. "USA TODAY." 21 June 2006. USA TODAY. 11 March 2008 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-20-national-guard-new-orleans_x.htm>.

Did any one know Bosnia Helped Fund the 9/11 Attacks on America. once again thank you slick willy? On the website of Andy Wilcoxson, the only American to cover the Milosevic trial (which was billed as the “Second Nuremberg” and prosecuting supposedly the “biggest atrocity since World War II”), we have a report from a predominantly Muslim Sarajevo TV station. Bosnian TV alleges Muslim official linked to 9/11 attacks BBC Monitoring European. London: May 9, 2008. Excerpt from report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation public TV, on 5 May [Host Bakir Hadziomerovic] On last night’s [Bosnian] Federation Television prime-time news, it was reported that the OHR [Office of the High Representative] anti-corruption team was completing an extensive investigation against several individuals involved in economic crime, aiding war criminals and terrorist activities worldwide as well as individuals involved in the wide network of construction mafia. Based on reliable information, tonight we are revealing the names of the people whose illegal, criminal and terrorist activities have already been proven by the anti-corruption team. According to exclusive confirmations [that we have received], the investigation conducted by OHR experts concerns Hasan Cengic, member of the SDA [Party of Democratic Action] Main Board and a person who during the aggression against our country was the master of the TWRA [Vienna-based Muslim charity suspected of helping smuggle arms into Bosnia and channelling funds to radical Islamists] donor chest. In addition to Cengic’s criminal undertakings involving donated funds worth several million, which “60 Minutes” has repeatedly reported on in detail, the anti-corruption team has allegedly come into possession of a document in which Hasan Cengic personally signed a money transfer intended for the Al-Qai’dah 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. … According to reliable and confirmed information from diplomatic quarters, the anti-corruption team will soon submit all the gathered documentation proving brutal criminality as well as involvement in terrorist activities and in the hiding of war criminals to the B-H [Bosnia-Hercegovina] prosecutor’s office special department for organized crime, after which arrests and trials of those responsible will ensue. So let’s understand what is happening here: While Western powers continue to deny that Bosnia and Kosovo have become terror havens, transit points, and bases of operations, some Bosnian Muslims themselves (and this isn’t the first time) are calling their government out (though most are still in a Western-encouraged denial). Similarly, while Western governments continue to inflate the true number of people killed during the Bosnian war — and want us to keep thinking the deaths were almost exclusively Muslim — something called The Bosnia Association (again, made up mostly of Muslims) is trying to get the real numbers and victims, even if they’re Serb and Christian. As to the Muslim report above calling the secessionist war THEY started an “aggression against [their] country,” we must be content with baby steps when it comes to dealing with the Middle East, even if it’s in Europe. Moral of the story: It was OK with our government that the Bosnian embassy in Austria, which issued a passport to Osama bin Laden in 1992, was issuing passports to mujahedin streaming into Bosnia, but as to the no-brainer that while the Bosnian officials were doing this they were also funding and facilitating future attacks against the West, well don’t expect to hear any word from our government anytime soon. Last summer a U.S. official tried to broach the subject of Bosnia as a fundamentalist/terrorist breeding ground: Al-Qa’idah has helpers in Bosnia, deputy peace envoy says (Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA) Sarajevo, 18 August: Bosnia-Hercegovina [B-H] Principal Deputy High Representative Raffi Gregorian has underlined that Al-Qa’idah has its helpers in B-H who are ready to assist in hiding agents, giving financial assistance or false documents. Gregorian said that over the past few years the international community has continuously pointed out the problem of the mujahidin presence in B-H, assessing that it was time for this issue to be resolved. He emphasized that “foreign fighters” should have left B-H long ago, while some of them have been declared as a threat to the national security of B-H. Asked whether “a few dozen dangerous” [persons] had links with Al-Qa’idah, Gregorian said that some of them did and that there “were people who fought in B-H who in some way were directly linked to Al-Qa’idah”. “There are definite indications that some of those who were detected had links with Al-Qa’idah,” he said, adding that some intelligence agencies consider B-H as one of Al-Qa’idah’s transit points. He confirmed that hundreds of people were granted B-H citizenship under suspicious circumstances or in an unlawful way… Another report on this overdue and understated but apparently maverick admission by a member of U.S. officialdom: U.S. diplomat warns of Al-Qaeda in Bosnia Al-Qaeda uses Bosnia for transit, receiving help from Islamic veterans of the 1990s war, a U.S. diplomat says. … Bosnia came under the spotlight after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States due to the presence in the former Yugoslav republic of fighters from Islamic countries. Hundreds of them joined the mainly Muslim Bosnian army during the country’s 1992-1995 war. Although they were ordered to leave under the terms of the peace deal, some stayed on after obtaining Bosnian citizenship. “There were people who fought in Bosnia and who were, in a way, directly linked with al-Qaeda,” Gregorian said. Bosnia recently revoked the citizenship of nearly 400 people, including a number of former Muslim fighters, due to irregularities in the process. Six terror suspects of Arab origin linked to the al-Qaeda terror network were arrested in Bosnia and handed over to the U.S. authorities in 2002. Briefly, the reaction from Bosnia’s “moderate” grand mufti, who is frequently feted all around the U.S. by synagogues, churches, universities, politicians and the State Department: Bosnian Grand Mufti accuses OHR official of “spreading Islamophobia” (Text of report in English by Croatian news agency HINA) The head of the Islamic community in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Mustafa Ceric, has said that in his country there are no persons who may be cooperating with Al-Qa’idah, and accused Deputy High Representative Raffi Gregorian of spreading Islamophobia with his claims that some persons of Afro-Asian origin who were granted Bosnian citizenship are probably linked with this terrorist group. … “It is a sin and immoral to link Bosnian Muslims with terrorist organizations,” Ceric said. “Such statements give us grounds to fear that this is an introduction for the next act of genocide against our people,” Ceric told believers who gathered in the south-eastern town of Nevesinje for the ceremony of opening a reconstructed mosque. In his strong-worded address, Ceric said that the same language had been used about Jews before the Holocaust was committed. … Gregorian dismissed claims from the Bosnian Serb media about thousands of possible Al-Qa’idah helpers in Bosnia as utter nonsense. Asked how many of those problematic persons there were in Bosnia, Gregorian answered “more than ten and less than a hundred”. So…between 11 and 99? Well that’s a pretty small and tidy sum, and certainly not one over which to risk a diplomatic row by calling attention to it, as Gregorian has done. Chris Deliso’s The Coming Balkan Caliphate offers quite a different number: The Dayton Agreement of July 1995, which ended the war in Bosnia and created a tripartite ethnic federation, stipulated that the former mujahedin leave at once. No doubt in expectation of such a decree, the Izetbegovic government had by then been busily supplying hundreds of mujahedin with Bosnian passports for some time, in an effort to remove the heroes of Bosnian liberation from the pool of “foreigners” expected to leave. While some mujahedin did go, between several hundred and one thousand stayed. Many married local women and began to raise families, creating bizarre pockets of Afghanistan-in-Europe in Sharia-run villages like Bocinja Donja, which had been ethnically cleansed of its Chrstian Serbian inhabitants by the mujahedin and handed over to them thereafter as a “reward” for their services. … Considering what the Wahhabis have proven capable of doing in the name of religion, it is understandable that the average Bosnian might find it wiser to keep quiet and avoid trouble. Yet even political leaders and mainstream Muslim clerics have been accused of showing excessive timidity. Vildana Selimbegovic, a Sarajevo news editor, decried how in Bosnia “politicians do not want to or are too afraid to talk. The majority of Muslims remain silent. It seems that they will remain silent until the devil claims his due.” … [I]n Sarajevo the Wahhabis have control of several mosques, including the city’s most central place of worship, the towering, Saudi-funded King Fahd Mosque. “Over the past five years, they have built very few new factories in Bosnia, but 1,000 new mosques have gone up,” says [terror expert Darko] Trifunovic. “It is not a revolution, but rather a silent transition.” No doubt episodes like the following contributed to the problem of unaccounted-for mujahedin in Bosnia. Also from Deliso:

Newspapers..... JOke? Indian News Papers reported the following headings in today’s News papers: Hindu: “Terrorists attack Sri Lankan Cricket team in Lahore” ToI: “Neighborhood Just Got Scarier” Indian Express: “Terror Hits Lanka Team; Wounds Pakistan & Cricket” Deccan Herald: “Six Sri Lankan Cricketers hurt in Lahore terror attack” Their counter parts across the border ran the following news articles on their front pages: Pakistan Express: “Falling standards in Terrorists Training???” Lahore 03 March 2009: In the worst ever performance by their home grown and trained terrorists, all the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team members left Pakistan shore alive. Govt officials expressed concerns about this as it would tarnish the image of Pakistan as a breeding ground of terrorism and their credibility to produce world class terrorists has taken a beating. Govt asked the PSU (Public Sector Units) terrorists groups to improve the training standards and urged the terrorists to take their training and careers seriously. Prime Minister later during dinner with the participating terrorists chided them mildly that they cannot waste tax payers/US federal Aid money like this. He was particularly harsh on the terrorist who threw under the bus (carrying cricketers), the grenade which did not detonate. Prime Minister worried that this did not do any good to his plans of changing Pakistan National game from Cricket (which anyway is having its natural death) to Hand Grenade Throwing. He felt that this was the best bet for Pakistan’s aspiration for an Olympic Gold Medal. He urged erstwhile Pakistan cricket bowlers – Shoaib Akhtar and others, who are famous for throwing instead of bowling, to take up coaching terrorists on grenade throwing as their cricket careers are finished now…. Pakistan Killer Times: “Chinese imports are no longer reliable??” Pakistan Government ordered a high level delegation consisting of all ammunition experts under the leadership of A Q Khan (father of the Nuclear Plans), to study the unexploded grenade for the reasons why it did not perform expected duties. The hand grenade clearly had visible ‘Made in China’ logo on it, which embarrassed Chinese Government. Chinese Premier issued a public apology to Pakistan People for failing to live up to their expectations and vowed to strengthen their R&D and manufacturing facilities to re-instill the confidence in consumers. Pakistan Prime Minister in a later press release mentioned that he would re-consider renewing Chinese contract for annual supply of ammunition, which is due for renewal in April. Unless China proves that they have taken stringent measures to ensure that the reliability of their ammunition is certified by their government, Pakistan would consider approaching other sources for their annual staple supply of ammunition… Dawn: “Visiting Sri Lankan cricketers return to their country, Alive:(” There was all round disappointment reported across Pakistan that all the members of the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team returned alive, denting the image of Pakistan as most the happening country in the world (for wrong reasons). People staged protests on streets and demanded government for the “falling return on Investment of ammunition.” They are also worried that this would set a bad precedence and foreigners may choose to visit Pakistan without any fears. The betting racket reportedly lost a billion Pakistan Rupees as everyone expected all the visiting team members to be killed. This also had tax collection implications for government. Government later issued a public apology to people and assured them that they would take sufficient measures to ensure that they are accountable for every Pakistan rupee being spent on training terrorists. They also urged more youngsters to take to guns as this would make the career as terrorists much more competitive and Pakistan can continue producing abundant supply of world class terrorists. When the initial news of attack was shown live on their national news channels, all the people came to street and started bursting crackers. Their joy was short lived when the attack stopped in 25 minutes and they took the crackers back to their homes so that they can use it for next opportunity, which anyway should not be too far away. Some of those Pakistanis who still have a job and left for offices in the morning and hence missed the ‘Live action’ on TVs, rued their luck for having to work while majority of their brethren enjoy these live actions on TV idling at homes. The working class in Pakistan demanded that henceforth they be informed before hand about terrorists attacks so that they can stay back home and enjoy the live action on TV. Government assured them that they will publish “Annual Terrorism Ca

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Catholics,what do you make of THIS? 666, The Number of the Beast -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Note that according to verse 17, there are three different characteristics that distinguish the beast: his mark (of authority) his name the number of his name (666). It might be argued by some that 666 must be applied to one man's name, and that this will then help identify him as the antichrist. I would offer the following verse to show that 666 need not apply solely to a man's name: Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. The same Greek word translated as name (onoma: G3686) that appears in Revelation 13:17-18 is also used in chapter 19:16, so clearly the word can also apply to a title, and not just one man's name. Now, we are told that it takes a certain understanding and wisdom to discern just how this number is actually applied. Based on the fact that 666 can apply to a title, below are several words and phrases that have been put forth over the centuries as probable solutions to the enigma of 666. GREEK The numeric equivalents of Greek letters can also be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica under "Languages of the World", Table 8. The ancient Greek word for "the Latin speaking man" is LATEINOS L = 30 lambda A = 1 alpha T = 300 tau E = 5 epsilon I = 10 iota N = 50 nu O = 70 omicron S = 200 sigma ------------ 666 NOTE: Latin is the official language of the R oman Catholic Church. Church Documents are usually published first in Latin, and then translated from the Latin into other languages. The association of "Lateinos" with 666 was first suggested by Irenæus (ca. 130-202 A.D.) who proposed in his Against Heresies that it might be the name of the fourth kingdom in Daniel 7:7. Then also Lateinos has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is a very probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel]. For the Latins are they who at present bear rule: I will not, however, make any boast over this [coincidence]. Source: Against Heresies, by Irenæus, Book 5, chapter 30, paragraph 3. St. Irenaeus biography online at the New Advent Catholic web site. The ancient Greek for "The Latin Kingdom" is HE LATINE BASILEIA BASILEIA is Strong's # G932 The ancient Greek for "Italian Church" is ITALIKA EKKLESIA EKKLESIA is Strong's # G1577 And in ancient Greek the word APOSTATES And in ancien nt Greek the word for "tradition" PARADOSIS Strong's # G3862 H = 0 (transliterated) E = 8 eta L = 30 lambda A = 1 alpha T = 300 tau I = 10 iota N = 50 nu E = 8 eta B = 2 beta A = 1 alpha S = 200 sigma I = 10 iota L = 30 lambda E = 5 epsilon I = 10 iota A = 1 alpha -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 666 I = 10 iota T = 300 tau A = 1 alpha L = 30 lambda I = 10 iota K = 20 kappa A = 1 alpha E = 5 epsilon K = 20 kappa K = 20 kappa L = 30 lambda E = 8 eta S = 200 sigma I = 10 iota A = 1 alpha -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 666 A = 1 alpha P = 80 pi O = 70 omicron ST = 6 stigma* A = 1 alpha T = 300 tau E =