Cities of the deep, Columnist: William B Stoecker

table, then, it took us that long to reach our present level of culture. The problem is that Michael Cremo and other writers and researchers have unearthed evidence that our species is far older...perhaps tens of millions of years old. And even the professionals, the mainstream researchers, have been forced to revise their estimates steadily back from 50,000 to 120,000 years and even earlier. Most archeologists now admit that fully modern human beings date back at least 275,000 years BP. Using their own earlier estimates, it is clear that there has been time for civilizations to rise and fall over five times.

But is there any generally accepted evidence of this? There is. We were once told that large stone walls and cities date back only to 5,000 BP, but now it is officially admitted that the walled city of Jericho is 10,000 years old. We were told that woven textiles and fired ceramics date back only to 5,000 to 6,000 BP, but now the professionals admit that both these technologies have been found in a site in central Europe that is an incredible 28,000 years old...about five times further back than the previously accepted date. We were told that humans did not develop agriculture until 6,000 BP; now they admit 12,000 BP. We were told that people arrived in the Americas fairly recently and that people were not seafarers until, again, 5,000 to 6,000 BP, but now a growing minority of the professionals think that people from Europe crossed the Atlantic and colonized North America well over 13,000 BP.

And in known historical but ancient times there is evidence of very advanced technologies presumably developed still earlier. There is the famous 2,000 year old Bhagdad electric cell, and the complex mechanical computer found in an ancient Greek shipwreck. Egyptian wall paintings depict what look precisely (no imagination required) like helicopters and submarines...and they have no resemblance whatever to anything else. In both Egypt and Columbia there are ancient models, "explained" as depictions of birds or manta rays, that more closely resemble airplanes. When these are duplicated in light wood or plastic, they function very effectively as gliders; they are fully aerodynamic. Ancient Egyptian statues sometimes have glass or crystal eyes containing precise, functioning lenses...thousands of years before lenses were supposedly invented.

And yet one part of Plato's story, if taken literally, cannot be true. Continents and large islands cannot sink under the ocean, not suddenly, and not even gradually. Continents and most large islands are made of granitic rocks; these igneous rocks have cooled gradually deep within the Earth. They have large crystals and relatively low density compared to the olivine that makes up the mantle (the layer beneath the Earth's crust) and the basalt which makes up the deep sea floors. The continents literally float on the denser minerals, and no force can sink them. And if even a very large volcanic island were to sink it would take many thousands, even millions of years. If some totally unknown process could sink such a large island suddenly, the heat released would cause massive vulcanism. And while there is evidence of some increased vulcanism in the time period Plato described, there is nothing on that scale.

But Atlantis could have been submerged in a single day. Notice that I did not say "sink." During the last ice age, so much water was locked up in the immense ice sheets that the oceans were lower than today, at one time roughly 400 feet lower. There was a period of rapid melting and sea level rise at 11,600 BP...the exact time Plato gave. In fact, there were several climatic and sea level changes. The peak of the last ice age was about 17,000 BP. Then the climate warmed for a period, with some rise in sea levels. At about 12,800 BP there was an event called the Younger Dryas, when the Earth suddenly reversed the cooling trend and became colder. Some geologists have found evidence that this was caused by the explosion of a comet or asteroid over North America; the dust from that blocked some of the sunlight and chilled the Earth. This may also be the solution to the long-standing mystery of the extinction of such large animals as mammoths, camels, and lions in North America, and it may, in addition, have wiped out many of the European settlers and allowed the Asian ancestors of today's Amerindians to take over. Around 14,000 to 15,000 BP the climate warmed rapidly (presumably the cometary dust had settled) and sea levels rose rapidly. There was another period of rapid warming and attendant glacial melting and sea level rise from 12,000 to 11,000 BP, and another 8,000 to 7,000 BP, a period when the Earth was much warmer than today, and, due to more evaporation of seawater and hence more clouds and rain, much wetter. In fact, the Sahara was, for a time, mostly grasslands, with riverine, montane, and coastal forests.

A number of writers, like Charles Berlitz, pointed out long ago that if there were coastal, seafaring cultures out on the continental shelves (dry land during the ice age and submerged today) the rise in sea levels would submerge them and explain Plato's story and the flood legends that are found in almost every culture on Earth. But even this, although the rise was much faster than previously believed, would not explain how such an event could happen in a single day. In my book, "The Atlantis Conspiracy," published in 2000, I gave the explanation. We know that as the ice sheets warmed, immense lakes of glacial melt water formed behind ice dams. The scablands of eastern Washington show what happened, there and elsewhere, when these dams finally gave way. Immense floods, dwarfing anything seen in historical times, rushed seaward, destroying everything and everyone in their path. Striking the oceans, they unleashed mega tsunamis.

So imagine what would have happened in a coastal region. As the Earth warmed and sea levels went higher, the inhabitants of seaports, understandably reluctant to leave their homes, would stay as long as possible, hoping for an end to the steady rise. Then, perhaps at night, the tsunamis would strike, killing all who were not on very high ground or far out to sea. The buildings would be largely destroyed. When the ocean settled its level would be slightly higher, and the rise would continue. For a time the ruins would be in the surf zone, battered by the waves, and, finally, submerged to a greater depth, at least partly covered by sand and silt. It is no wonder that, until the modern development of SCUBA diving, side scan sonar, deep submersibles, and ROVs (remotely operated vehicles, or unmanned submarines), no major ruins were found. In his 2005 book "Underworld" Graham Hancock said exactly what I had said five years earlier, and pointed out that the seabeds would also rise, due to the weight of the water added to the oceans, a process that would take thousands of years. So an island or coastal region that was just above sea level 17,000 years ago, could be up to 600 feet deep today, due to a 200 foot lowering of seabeds added to the 400 foot rise in sea levels. In some areas, due to a tilting effect, the depth might be even greater. In addition, the study of flat topped submerged volcanic islands called guyots shows that they were once above sea level, but, as their volcanoes moved down off ocean ridges, they very slowly sank thousands of feet.

And undersea ruins have, in fact, been found, and their depth, along with what we know of the rates of sea level rise, shows that some of them predate all known civilizations.

Off the Mediterranean island of Malta, where there are mysterious stone buildings dating back at least 5,000 years (and possibly much earlier, given the scarcity of reliable carbon 14 dates) a researcher named Dr. Hubert Zeitlmair claimed that divers he employed found ruins on the sea floor over thirty feet down. Graham Hancock also found and photographed underwater ruins there, including what look like wagon wheel ruts that continue up on land, a stone arch as described by Zeitlmair, and, at a depth of sixty feet, what looks like a man made canal. When sea levels were lower, Malta may have been connected by a land bridge to Sicily, and Sicily to Italy. Unexplained underwater ruins have also been found elsewhere in the Mediterranean, off Egypt's port city Alexandria, and they cannot be traced to any known ancient culture.

During the ice age, the islands comprising the Bahamas were much larger than today, and many were joined. The coasts of Florida (especially the west coast) and Yucatan extended much further out than today. In 1968 divers off Bimini, part of the Bahamas, discovered in fairly shallow water what has been called the "Bimini Road," although, if it is artificial, it was more likely a seawall or mole. Other apparent ruins have been found in the area, including at Paradise Point, and some, investigated mainly with side scan sonar, are as deep as a hundred feet. Marble columns have been found, and what appear to be stone anchors with grooves. Skeptics have pointed out that some of the stones could have been ballast from relatively recent shipwrecks; some sea captains were not above pillaging ruins in Greece or Italy for ballast stones. Other apparent stone columns have proven to be hardened concrete that had been in barrels on ships. Skeptics also claim that the other ruins are just naturally occurring beachrock, a kind of limestone that fractures along fairly regular lines, and point out that the sedimentary layers in the stones all point in the same direction, which is consistent with beachrock. Investigators like Greg and Lora Little from Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) point out that beachrock, logically enough, is often used in harbor construction, and that there are rectangular stones piled on top of other rectangular stones, which appears not to be natural. The debate continues, and there have been wild claims of underwater pyramids (not by the Littles), but, somehow, proof of this has never been made public.

In the Pacific apparent ruins were found off Okinawa in 1995, and, in the summer of 1996, at depths of from 20-100 feet, an immense and dramatic structure off the island of Yonaguni, near Okinawa. In 2001 divers from Taiwan's Underwater Archeological Institute found what looks like an artificial stone wall about 100 feet down off that island; possible ruins had been found in that area by a Japanese team as early as 1982. But of all these, it is Yonaguni that has captured many people's imaginations. Geologist Robert Schock has dived on the structure and thinks it is probably a natural formation, and Schock, who has stated that the Sphinx in Egypt is probably over 8,000 years old, is a very open minded researcher, not a debunker. However, he admits that he is not sure, and, given the problems with currents and often poor visibility, he was unable to investigate the entire structure. With its long, parallel straight lines and right angles, it looks decidedly manmade, and its bizarre geometry resembles pyramids I have seen in Peru. Hancock has pointed out that the ancient and fairly advanced Jomon culture began suddenly in Japan after a sea level rise about 16,500 BP (which would have driven them out of the now submerged coastal areas). Some of their pottery resembles 5,000 year old pottery from the Moche culture...in Peru. There are ancient megalithic structures in Japan proper and on Okinawa, bearing considerable resemblance to Yonaguni.

Hancock has pointed out that, when sea levels were lower, much of the Persian Gulf was dry land, and he has even speculated that this now submerged region might be the location of the Garden of Eden. In India there are the usual legends of floods and drowned lands and cities, and, during the ice age, India's coasts extended further out; India and Sri Lanka were once joined, and Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania were one continent. In 2001 in India's Gulf of Cambay, the ruins of two submerged cities were found, with ceramics and stone implements, and the remains of buildings. Other ruins have been found off the coast of southeast India, and, in the west, submerged ruins where legends stated that the city of Dwarka sank were found, forty to fifty feet down. The two cities in the Gulf of Cambay, given what is known of the rate of sea level rise, must be at least 8,000 years old. The Indus Valley cultures of Harappa and Mohenjo Darro appeared suddenly 5,000 years ago, and may well be a continuation of these earlier cultures, just as the Sumerians of present day Iraq may have migrated from what is now the Persian Gulf.

Ruins have been found in the Black Sea also, and some researchers have claimed that this was the origin of all the global flood myths, forgetting that the flooding of the Black Sea was just part of a larger, worldwide pattern.

But are there deeper ruins, many thousands of feet down? Rumors abound, and pictures of side scan sonar of of alleged deep Atlantic ruins have appeared on the web, and similar pictures of supposed deep ruins off the island of Cyprus, and a Russian account of ruins on the Ampere Seamount some 450 miles roughly west of Gibraltar, where Plato said Atlantis was. But these are all pretty ambiguous so far, and, except for the Ampere Seamount, whose depth might be explained by sea level rise and sea floor sinking, the alleged ruins are so deep that their sinking would be hard to explain.

Then there are the possible ruins off western Cuba. Studied with side scan sonar in 2001, these structures cover al least eight square miles and are at a depth of 2200 feet. Supposedly they have been photographed with an ROV, and samples have been taken, and the stones are allegedly granite. Cuba, and, to the west, Yucatan, are limestone, and the seabed is basalt. If the ruins are real, their sinking might be explained by tectonic movement, as the area is said to be surrounded by faults. The submergence to 400-600 feet could have been due to the glacial melting discussed earlier, and there might have also been a slow subsidence over the last few thousand years, but there is no proof that this is possible, and the evidence for the ruins themselves is still rather weak. So the existence of truly deep cities is still uncertain.

So does all of this prove the truth of the Atlantis legend, at least in a general sense? The evidence of advanced ancient cultures is very, very strong. There is no doubt that coastal cities were submerged. And there is at least a strong possibility that there was some kind of nation or empire on islands in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

William B Stoecker

Report God [PIC]

Wikileaks.de: Denic defends itself against Lock-accusation

The registry for. Com domains, the Frankfurt-based Denic, defends itself against allegations of the operator of the German edition of the Wikileaks project, which wikileaks.de on 9 April "ohne Vorwarnung durch die deutsche Registrierungsstelle Denic gesperrt" worden sei. April "without warning by the German registry Denic locked" was. In einer Pressemitteilung hatten die Wikileaks-Betreiber erklärt , die deutschen Behörden versuchten damit offenbar, "eine ganze Presseorganisation wegen einem von hunderttausenden Dokumenten zu schließen". In a press release, the operator of Wikileaks says that the German authorities tried so apparently, "a press organization because one of hundreds of thousands of documents to close."

In mid-March wikileaks.de was a non-public list of censorship Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) released were on more than one Internet offerings with alleged child pornography content were recorded. Kurze Zeit später fand beim Inhaber der Domain wikileaks.de eine Hausdurchsuchung wegen des Verdachts der Verbreitung kinderpornografischer Schriften statt. A short time later, the holder of the domain wikileaks.de a house because of the suspicion of child pornography and dissemination of writings instead.

Nachdem die Registrierungsstelle für Rückfragen zunächst nicht zu erreichen war, teilte Denic-CEO Sabine Dolderer heise online jetzt mit, dass die "angebliche Sperrung seitens der Denic in Wirklichkeit gar nicht stattgefunden" habe. Once the registry for inquiries initially was unable to reach shared Denic CEO Sabine Dolderer heise online now that the "alleged blocking of the Denic in fact not taken place" had. Vielmehr sei am 9.4. Rather was at 9.4. durch den Provider mitgeteilt worden, "dass die Domain nicht mehr durch ihn verwaltet wird". by the provider have been notified, "that the domain is no longer managed by him." In solchen Fällen könne der Domain-Inhaber "die Domain zu einem anderen Provider umziehen (Providerwechsel beauftragen), die Domain bei DENICdirect belassen oder aber auch die Domain löschen". In such cases, could be the holder of the domain "the domain name to another provider move (changing the subject provider), the domain at DENICdirect leave or they can delete the domain."

Warum das Kundenverhältnis zwischen dem Provider und dem Domain-Inhaber beendet wurde, die Domain also "in Transit" gegangen sei, "entzieht sich dabei unserer Kenntnis", schreibt Dolderer in einer E-Mail. Why the customer relationship between the provider and the domain ownership has been completed, the domain that is "in transit" was gone, "it eludes our understanding," Dolderer writes in an e-mail. Gründe könnten zum Beispiel sein, "dass der Vertrag mit dem Kunden gekündigt ist, dass die Bezahlung aussteht, ...". Reasons could, for example, "that the contract with the customer notice is that the payment is outstanding, ...". Der Denic habe bis zum 12. The Denic have until 12 April "keinerlei Providerwechselauftrag oder eine andere Information des Domaininhabers" vorgelegen, wie die Domain zukünftig verwaltet werden soll. April "no provider change orders or other information to the domain owner" existed, as the domain will be managed. Insoweit könne die Denic "im Moment nicht (sinnvoll) tätig werden". In that regard could Denic "at the moment is not (common sense) to act."

"Aber seinen Provider oder die DENIC zu kontaktieren ist sicher weniger spektakulär, als eine Pressemitteilung mit ungeprüften Anschuldigungen rauszugeben", wirft Dolderer den Wikileaks-Betreibern vor. "But his DENIC provider or contact is certainly less spectacular than a press release with untested allegations rauszugeben" raises the Dolderer Wikileaks operators before. Der Inhaber der Domain wikileaks.de, Theodor Reppe, erklärte unterdessen gegenüber ORF.at, er wisse gar nichts zu dem Thema und sei bisher auch nicht informiert worden. The holder of the domain wikileaks.de, Theodor Reppe, said having the opposite ORF.at he knew nothing about and had not yet been informed. Der fragliche Provider teilte heise online heute jedoch schriftlich mit, man habe den Vertrag bereits Anfang Dezember 2008 "fristgerecht und mit entsprechendem Vorlauf zum 30. März 2009 gekündigt." The provider in question told heise online writing today, however, you have the contract in early December 2008 "on time and with adequate preparation for the March 30, 2009 terminated." Grund sei "nicht vertragsgemäßes Verhalten" gewesen. Reason was "non-conforming behavior" was.

In dem Kündigungsschreiben sei ebenfalls darauf hingewiesen worden, was mit Domains, die bis zum Kündigungsdatum nicht umgezogen wurden, passieren würde: "Domains, welche bis zum 31.03.2009 nicht umgezogen sind, werden von uns an die Vergabestelle zurückgegeben oder entsprechend gekündigt." In the termination letter had also been pointed out what to do with domains, until the termination date was not moved, would happen: "domains, which until 31.03.2009 are not moved, will be forwarded to the awarding body is returned or terminated accordingly." Die Domain sei dann am 9. The domain was then, on 9 April in den Abendstunden durch den Provider an die Denic übergeben worden. April in the evening hours by the Provider to the Denic been given. Zeitgleich seien die Nameserver für diese Domain abgestellt worden. At the same time, the nameservers for this domain have been turned off.

Die Übergabe in den Transit sei "weder eine Folge der Hausdurchsuchung vom 24. März 2009 beim Domaininhaber der Domain, noch eine Anordnung einer deutschen Behörde oder eine willkürliche Zensur durch uns. Vielmehr ist die Nichterreichbarkeit das Versäumnis des Domaininhabers sich rechtzeitig einen neuen Provider zu suchen", schreibt Beasts Associated . The handover in transit was "neither a consequence of the house by March 24, 2009 at the domain holder of the domain, nor a decision by a German authority or arbitrary censorship by us. Rather, the non-availability of the domain name holder's failure to timely present a new provider to seek "writes Associated Beasts. Auch der genannte zeitliche Ablauf zeige deutlich, dass es keinen Zusammenhang zwischen der Kündigung des Vertrages, die Rückgabe der Domain in den Transit und den Ereignissen der vergangenen Wochen gebe. Also called the chronology clearly shows that there is no connection between the termination of the contract, the return of the domain in the transit and the events of the past few weeks there.

Wikileaks sieht in der Veröffentlichung der australischen Zensurliste einen Beitrag zur umstrittenen Diskussion um Websperren als Mittel zur Bekämpfung von kinderpornografischen Inhalten im Internet. Wikileaks believes that the publication of the Australian censorship list contribute to the controversial discussion about Websperren as a means to combat child pornography content on the Internet. So wollen fünf der acht großen deutschen Zugangsprovider voraussichtlich noch in dieser Woche einen Vertrag unterzeichnen , der vorsieht, dass der Zugriff auf Internetseiten mit illegalen Inhalten auf Grundlage einer vom Bundeskriminalamt erstellten und aktualisierten Sperrliste künftig unterbunden wird. Like five of the eight major German internet provider is expected to start this week a contract to sign, which provides that the access to websites with illegal content on the basis of a Bundeskriminalamt created and updated revocation list will be blocked.

Allerdings ist eine Prüfung, ob die Liste tatsächlich nur illegale Angebote umfasst, nicht möglich: Da sie Links auf Kinderpornografie enthält, soll sie geheim bleiben. However, an examination of whether the list actually only illegal deals, is not possible: Since it links to contain child pornography, should it remain secret. Weder Privatpersonen noch Verbraucherschützer oder Journalisten dürfen nach gesperrten Seiten suchen oder die Rechtmäßigkeit einer Sperrung überprüfen. Neither individuals nor consumer protectors or journalists must search for banned sites, or the legality of a blocking check. Niemand kann also etwa kontrollieren, ob einmal gesperrte Seiten nach Entfernung von beanstandeten Inhalten wieder freigeschaltet werden. Nobody can take control, even if blocked sites after removal of disputed content will be unlocked again. Bei Analysen von Sperrlisten anderer Länder (die wie die australische Liste im Internet aufgetaucht waren), hatte sich gezeigt, dass dort viele Adressen verzeichnet waren, die sich bei näherer Betrachtung nach dem jeweils geltenden Strafrecht nicht als Kinderpornografie-Links klassifizieren ließen. For analysis of restricted lists of other countries (like the Australian list had appeared on the Internet), it had become apparent that there were many addresses listed, which on closer inspection under the applicable criminal law not be considered child pornography links classify them.

Doomsday device

A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon — which could destroy all life on the Earth, or destroy the Earth itself (bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth).

Doomsday devices have been present in literature and art especially in the 20th century, when advances in science and technology made world destruction (or at least the eradication of all human life) a credible scenario. Many classics in the genre of science fiction take up the theme in this respect.

After the advent of nuclear weapons, especially hydrogen bombs, they have usually been the dominant components of doomsday devices. RAND strategist Herman Kahn, collaborating with risk analyst Ian Harold Brown, proposed a "Doomsday Machine" in the 1950s which would consist of a computer linked to a stockpile of hydrogen bombs, programmed to detonate them all and bathe the planet in nuclear fallout at the signal of an impending nuclear attack from another nation. Such a scheme, fictional as it was, epitomized for many the extremes of the suicidal logic behind the strategy of mutually assured destruction, and it was famously parodied in the Stanley Kubrick film from 1964, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. It is also a main topic of the movie Beneath the Planet of the Apes, in parallel with the species extermination theme. Most such models either rely on the fact that hydrogen bombs can be made arbitrarily large (see Teller–Ulam design) or that they can be "salted" with materials designed to create long-lasting and hazardous fallout (e.g.; a cobalt bomb).

Other fictional devices of this nature are made by aliens to kill off mankind, or all life on earth, for various reasons, ranging from 'saving' the earth from mankind's destructive nature to invasion of the planet to simply them being a genocidal kind.

A page from a 1970s childrens book

Tree Cut By Dad Falls, Kills Son

HASTINGS TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A 6-year-old boy has died after a tree being cut down by his father, who was clearing an 80-acre field for farming in Barry County, landed on him, police said.

The child was about 50 feet from the base of the tree that his father was cutting with a chain saw Saturday afternoon when he was struck, Michigan State Police Trooper Phil Vannette said Sunday.

"It's just a horribly tragic accident," Vannette said.

The father had told his son and a 9-year-old girl who is a family friend to stay inside a truck several hundred feet away from where he was cutting at the field in Hastings Township, Vannette said.

A pile of brush was being burned in the field, Vannette said, and the boy got out to warn his father the fire had spread to some grass. Police said the father wasn't aware that his son had left the truck.

"The dad didn't see him," Vannette said.

The father called 911 and attempted to revive the boy, who was taken to a hospital in nearby Hastings and pronounced dead, Vannette said. Hastings is located about 30 miles southeast of Grand Rapids.

Names weren't being released, Vannette said.

An autopsy was planned. Although the death appeared to be an accident, Vannette said reports from the medical examiner's office and police were to be forwarded to the prosecutor's office for review.

Link;

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/19040211/detail.html

The Road to Area 51

After decades of denying the facility's existence, five former insiders speak out
by Annie Jacobsen
Area 51. It's the most famous military institution in the world that doesn't officially exist. If it did, it would be found about 100 miles outside Las Vegas in Nevada's high desert, tucked between an Air Force base and an abandoned nuclear testing ground. Then again, maybe not— the U.S. government refuses to say. You can't drive anywhere close to it, and until recently, the airspace overhead was restricted—all the way to outer space. Any mention of Area 51 gets redacted from official documents, even those that have been declassified for decades.

It has become the holy grail for conspiracy theorists, with UFOlogists positing that the Pentagon reverse engineers flying saucers and keeps extraterrestrial beings stored in freezers. Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country. In 2001, Katie Couric told Today Show audiences that 7 percent of Americans doubt the moon landing happened—that it was staged in the Nevada desert. Millions of X-Files fans believe the truth may be "out there," but more likely it's concealed inside Area 51's Strangelove-esque hangars—buildings that, though confirmed by Google Earth, the government refuses to acknowledge.
The problem is the myths of Area 51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually happened there. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk—in fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumors. Colonel Hugh "Slip" Slater, 87, was commander of the Area 51 base in the 1960s. Edward Lovick, 90, featured in "What Plane?" in LA's March issue, spent three decades radar testing some of the world's most famous aircraft (including the U-2, the A-12 OXCART and the F-117). Kenneth Collins, 80, a CIA experimental test pilot, was given the silver star. Thornton "T.D." Barnes, 72, was an Area 51 special-projects engineer. And Harry Martin, 77, was one of the men in charge of the base's half-million-gallon monthly supply of spy-plane fuels. Here are a few of their best stories—for the record:

On May 24, 1963, Collins flew out of Area 51's restricted airspace in a top-secret spy plane code-named OXCART, built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. He was flying over Utah when the aircraft pitched, flipped and headed toward a crash. He ejected into a field of weeds.

Almost 46 years later, in late fall of 2008, sitting in a coffee shop in the San Fernando Valley, Collins remembers that day with the kind of clarity the threat of a national security breach evokes: "Three guys came driving toward me in a pickup. I saw they had the aircraft canopy in the back. They offered to take me to my plane." Until that moment, no civilian without a top-secret security clearance had ever laid eyes on the airplane Collins was flying. "I told them not to go near the aircraft. I said it had a nuclear weapon on-board." The story fit right into the Cold War backdrop of the day, as many atomic tests took place in Nevada. Spooked, the men drove Collins to the local highway patrol. The CIA disguised the accident as involving a generic Air Force plane, the F-105, which is how the event is still listed in official records.

As for the guys who picked him up, they were tracked down and told to sign national security nondisclosures. As part of Collins' own debriefing, the CIA asked the decorated pilot to take truth serum. "They wanted to see if there was anything I'd for-gotten about the events leading up to the crash." The Sodium Pento-thal experience went without a hitch—except for the reaction of his wife, Jane.

"Late Sunday, three CIA agents brought me home. One drove my car; the other two carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I was loopy from the drugs. They handed Jane the car keys and left without saying a word." The only conclusion she could draw was that her husband had gone out and gotten drunk. "Boy, was she mad," says Collins with a chuckle.

At the time of Collins' accident, CIA pilots had been flying spy planes in and out of Area 51 for eight years, with the express mission of providing the intelligence to prevent nuclear war. Aerial reconnaissance was a major part of the CIA's preemptive efforts, while the rest of America built bomb shelters and hoped for the best.

"It wasn't always called Area 51," says Lovick, the physicist who developed stealth technology. His boss, legendary aircraft designer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, called the place Paradise Ranch to entice men to leave their families and "rough it" out in the Nevada desert in the name of science and the fight against the evil empire. "Test pilot Tony LeVier found the place by flying over it," says Lovick. "It was a lake bed called Groom Lake, selected for testing because it was flat and far from anything. It was kept secret because the CIA tested U-2s there."

When Frances Gary Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk, Russia, in 1960, the U-2 program lost its cover. But the CIA already had Lovick and some 200 scientists, engineers and pilots working at Area 51 on the A-12 OXCART, which would outfox Soviet radar using height, stealth and speed.

Col. Slater was in the outfit of six pilots who flew OXCART missions during the Vietnam War. Over a Cuban meat and cheese sandwich at the Bahama Breeze restaurant off the Las Vegas Strip, he says, "I was recruited for the Area after working with the CIA's classified Black Cat Squadron, which flew U-2 missions over denied territory in Mainland China. After that, I was told, 'You should come out to Nevada and work on something interesting we're doing out there.' "

Even though Slater considers himself a fighter pilot at heart—he flew 84 missions in World War II—the opportunity to work at Area 51 was impossible to pass up. "When I learned about this Mach-3 aircraft called OXCART, it was completely intriguing to me—this idea of flying three times the speed of sound! No one knew a thing about the program. I asked my wife, Barbara, if she wanted to move to Las Vegas, and she said yes. And I said, 'You won't see me but on the weekends,' and she said, 'That's fine!' " At this recollection, Slater laughs heartily. Barbara, dining with us, laughs as well. The two, married for 63 years, are rarely apart today.

"We couldn't have told you any of this a year ago," Slater says. "Now we can't tell it to you fast enough." That is because in 2007, the CIA began declassifying the 50-year-old OXCART program. Today, there's a scramble for eyewitnesses to fill in the information gaps. Only a few of the original players are left. Two more of them join me and the Slaters for lunch: Barnes, formerly an Area 51 special-projects engineer, with his wife, Doris; and Martin, one of those overseeing the OXCART's specially mixed jet fuel (regular fuel explodes at extreme height, temperature and speed), with his wife, Mary. Because the men were sworn to secrecy for so many decades, their wives still get a kick out of hearing the secret tales.

Barnes was married at 17 (Doris was 16). To support his wife, he became an electronics wizard, buying broken television sets, fixing them up and reselling them for five times the original price. He went from living in bitter poverty on a Texas Panhandle ranch with no electricity to buying his new bride a dream home before he was old enough to vote. As a soldier in the Korean War, Barnes demonstrated an uncanny aptitude for radar and Nike missile systems, which made him a prime target for recruitment by the CIA—which indeed happened when he was 22. By 30, he was handling nuclear secrets.

"The agency located each guy at the top of a certain field and put us together for the programs at Area 51," says Barnes. As a security precaution, he couldn't reveal his birth name—he went by the moniker Thunder. Coworkers traveled in separate cars, helicopters and airplanes. Barnes and his group kept to themselves, even in the mess hall. "Our special-projects group was the most classified team since the Manhattan Project," he says.

Harry Martin's specialty was fuel. Handpicked by the CIA from the Air Force, he underwent rigorous psychological and physical tests to see if he was up for the job. When he passed, the CIA moved his family to Nevada. Because OXCART had to refuel frequently, the CIA kept supplies at secret facilities around the globe. Martin often traveled to these bases for quality-control checks. He tells of preparing for a top-secret mission from Area 51 to Thule, Greenland. "My wife took one look at me in these arctic boots and this big hooded coat, and she knew not to ask where I was going."

So, what of those urban legends—the UFOs studied in secret, the underground tunnels connecting clandestine facilities? For decades, the men at Area 51 thought they'd take their secrets to the grave. At the height of the Cold War, they cultivated anonymity while pursuing some of the country's most covert projects. Conspiracy theories were left to popular imagination. But in talking with Collins, Lovick, Slater, Barnes and Martin, it is clear that much of the folklore was spun from threads of fact.

As for the myths of reverse engineering of flying saucers, Barnes offers some insight: "We did reverse engineer a lot of foreign technology, including the Soviet MiG fighter jet out at the Area"—even though the MiG wasn't shaped like a flying saucer. As for the underground-tunnel talk, that, too, was born of truth. Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program called Project NERVA, inside underground chambers at Jackass Flats, in Area 51's backyard. "Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground," he says.

And the quintessential Area 51 conspiracy—that the Pentagon keeps captured alien spacecraft there, which they fly around in restricted airspace? Turns out that one's pretty easy to debunk. The shape of OXCART was unprece-dented, with its wide, disk-like fuselage designed to carry vast quantities of fuel. Commercial pilots cruising over Nevada at dusk would look up and see the bottom of OXCART whiz by at 2,000-plus mph. The aircraft's tita-nium body, moving as fast as a bullet, would reflect the sun's rays in a way that could make anyone think, UFO.

In all, 2,850 OXCART test flights were flown out of Area 51 while Slater was in charge. "That's a lot of UFO sightings!" Slater adds. Commercial pilots would report them to the FAA, and "when they'd land in California, they'd be met by FBI agents who'd make them sign nondisclosure forms." But not everyone kept quiet, hence the birth of Area 51's UFO lore. The sightings incited uproar in Nevada and the surrounding areas and forced the Air Force to open Project BLUE BOOK to log each claim.

Since only a few Air Force officials were cleared for OXCART (even though it was a joint CIA/USAF project), many UFO sightings raised internal military alarms. Some generals believed the Russians might be sending stealth craft over American skies to incite paranoia and create widespread panic of alien invasion. Today, BLUE BOOK findings are housed in 37 cubic feet of case files at the National Archives—74,000 pages of reports. A keyword search brings up no mention of the top-secret OXCART or Area 51.

Project BLUE BOOK was shut down in 1969—more than a year after OXCART was retired. But what continues at America's most clandestine military facility could take another 40 years to disclose.

ANNIE JACOBSEN is an investigative reporter who sat for more than 500 interviews after she broke the story on terrorists probing commercial airliners. When she isn’t digging into intelligence issues for the likes of the National Review, she’s snapping together Legos with her two boys.

Saudi judge upholds man's marriage to 8-year-old

Story Highlights
Saudi judge stands by decision, refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8
Girl's father arranged her marriage to a 47-year-old to settle debts, lawyer says
Appeals court declined to certify original ruling, sent case back to judge
Girl's mother says she will continue to seek daughter's divorce
By Mohammed Jamjoom
CNN

(CNN) -- A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge's ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.

Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.

The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother's petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.

The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl's father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time.

The girl's husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl's father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend."

In March, an appeals court in the Saudi capital of Riyadh declined to certify the original ruling, in essence rejecting al-Habib's verdict, and sent the case back to al-Habib for reconsideration.

Under the Saudi legal process, the appeals court ruling meant that the marriage was still in effect, but that a challenge to the marriage was still ongoing.

The relative, who said the girl's mother will continue to pursue a divorce, told CNN the judge "stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty."

The appeals court in Riyadh will take up the case again and a hearing is scheduled for next month, according to the relative.

Child marriages have made news in Saudi Arabia in the past year.

In a statement issued shortly after the original verdict, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision went against children's "basic rights."

Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety," the group said. "Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression."

Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the Saudi Human Rights Commission, a government-run group, told CNN that his organization was fighting child marriages.

"Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," al-Harithi said.

Child marriage is not unusual, said Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabian researcher for the international group Human Rights Watch, after the initial verdict.

"We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men," Wilcke told CNN.

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/04/12/...iage/index.html

Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark









.........................was the provision by which forefathers of all mankind survived the global deluge of 2370-2369 B.C.E . Detailed instructions were given to Noah by Jehovah as to its size, shape,design for light and ventilation as well as the materials to be used for its construction. The Ark (Heb., tevah'}
It didn't need a rounded bottom or a sharp bow to cut through the water neither did it need any steering. It's function was merely to stay afloat and be watertight. A vessel so shaped is very stable,cannot easily be capsized and contains about one third more storage space than ships of conventional design.There was a door provided in the original design for loading and offloading cargo.


The trees (Cypress) thought to be used in construction are commonly cultivated throughout Palestine; some specimens have been found growing wild in Gilead, Edom, and on the slopes of Mount Lebanon and so it is suggested by some that the “resinous tree” from which Noah obtained wood for the ark was the cypress tree in the land of Palestine.

Design and Size

The ark (Heb., te·vah'; Gr., ki·bo·tos') was a rectangular chestlike vessel presumably having square corners and a flat bottom. It needed no rounded bottom or sharp bow to cut rapidly through the water; it required no steering; its only functions were to be watertight and to stay afloat. A vessel so shaped is very stable, cannot be easily capsized, and contains about one third more storage space than ships of conventional design. There was a door provided in the side of the ark for loading and unloading the cargo.

In size the ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Conservatively calculating the cubit as 44.5 cm (17.5 in.) (some think the ancient cubit was nearer 56 or 61 cm), the ark measured 133.5 m by 22.3 m by 13.4 m (437 ft 6 in. × 72 ft 11 in. × 43 ft 9 in.), less than half the length of the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2. This proportion of length to width (6 to 1) is used by modern naval architects. This gave the ark approximately 40,000 cu m (1,400,000 cu ft) in gross volume. It is estimated that such a vessel would have a displacement nearly equal to that of the mighty 269-m (883 ft) Titanic of this 20th century. No cargo vessel of ancient times even slightly resembled the ark in its colossal size. Internally strengthened by adding two floors, the three decks thus provided gave a total of about 8,900 sq m (96,000 sq ft) of space.

Of what this huge ark was to be built was made plain by Jehovah: “Make for yourself an ark out of wood of a resinous tree [literally, trees of gopher].” (Ge 6:14) This resinous wood here prescribed is thought by some to be cypress or a similar tree. In that part of the world what today is called cypress was in abundant supply; it was particularly favored for shipbuilding by the Phoenicians and by Alexander the Great, as it is even down to the present time; and it is especially resistant to water and decay. Doors and posts made of cypress are reported to have lasted 1,100 years. In addition, Noah was told not merely to caulk the seams but to “cover [the ark] inside and outside with tar.”

Ample Carrying Capacity.


The passenger list of the ark was quite impressive. Besides Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, living creatures “of every sort of flesh, two of each,” were to be taken aboard. “Male and female they will be. Of the flying creatures according to their kinds and of the domestic animals according to their kinds, of all moving animals of the ground according to their kinds, two of each will go in there to you to preserve them alive.” Of the clean beasts and fowls, seven of each kind were to be taken. A great quantity and variety of food for all these creatures, to last for more than a year, also had to be stowed away.—Ge 6:18-21; 7:2, 3.

The "kinds" of animals selected had reference to the clear cut boundaries or limits set by the creator, within which boundaries creatures are capable of breeding "according to their kinds"

It has been estimated by some today that the hundreds of thousands of species today could be reduced to a comparitavely few family "kinds". The horse kind and the cow kind to mention but two.The breeding boundaries according to their "kind" would not and could not be crossed. With this in mind, some investigators have said that had there been as few as 43 "'kinds" of mammals, 74 "kinds" of birds, and 10 "kinds of reptiles in the Ark they could have produced the variety of species known today.Others have been more liberal in estimating that 72 "kinds" of quadrupeds and less than 200 bird "kinds" were all that were required.
That the great variety of animal life today could have come from so few "kinds" following the flood is proved by the endless variety of humankind -- ie short,tall,fat,thin with countless variations in the color of hair eyes and skin--- all of whom sprang from the one family of Noah. Taking biological evolution into account, along with goelogical location of species as well as a much stronger genepool from a relativaly young species (mankind itself) all of the different races that exist today can almost positively be accounted for . Asian to American Indian, Egyptian to African , Anglo to European and the many variations within.

These estimates may seem too restrictive to some, especially since such sources as The Encyclopedia Americana indicate that there are upwards of 1,300,000 species of mammals. What they fail to tell you is that
60 percent of these are insects. Breaking these figures down further of the 24,000 amphibians,reptiles,birds,and mammals, 10,000 are birds,9,000 are reptiles and amphibians,many of which could have survived outside of the Ark, Only 5,000 are Mammals,including whales and porpoises,which also could have survived outside of the ark.

Other researchers estimate that there are only about 290 species of land mammals larger than a sheep and 1,360 smaller than rats ( the deluge story in stone,by B.C. Nelson,1949,pg156 ; The flood in light of the bible,geology,and Archaeology by A.M. Rehwinkel,1957 pg69)

So even if estimates are based on these expanded figures, the ark could have eaasily accomodated a pair of all of these animals.

Five months after the Deluge began, “the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat,” not likely, however, atop the uppermost peak (nearly 5,165 m; 16,950 ft), but on suitable terrain where everyone aboard lived comfortably for some months more. Finally, after a year and ten days from the time the Deluge began, the door again was opened and all aboard disembarked.—Ge 7:11; 8:4, 14.


To further add to the validity of the existence of the ark take into account the following legends from around the world these cultures could not have possibly had contact with eachother unless they all been sprang from the same place of the world.



Flood Legends from Around the World

Ark - Perched Island LandingNative global flood stories are documented as history or legend in almost every region on earth. Old world missionaries reported finding remote tribes already possessing legends with tremendous similarities to the Bible's accounts of the worldwide flood. H.S. Bellamy in Moons, Myths and Men estimates that altogether there are over 500 Flood legends worldwide. Ancient civilizations such as (China, Babylonia, Wales, Russia, India, America, Hawaii, Scandinavia, Sumatra, Peru, and Polynesia) all have their own versions of a giant flood.

These flood tales are frequently linked by common elements that parallel the Biblical account including the warning of the coming flood, the construction of a boat in advance, the storage of animals, the inclusion of family, and the release of birds to determine if the water level had subsided. The overwhelming consistency among flood legends found in distant parts of the globe indicates they were derived from the same origin (the Bible's record), but oral transcription has changed the details through time.

Perhaps the second most important historical account of a global flood can be found in a Babylonian flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. When the Biblical and Babylonian accounts are compared, a number of outstanding similarities are found that leave no doubt these stories are rooted in the same event or oral tradition.


Here are some key elements that the bible includes.

D = Destruction by Water
. G = (God) Divine Cause
. W = Warning Given
. H = Humans Spared
. A = Animals Spared
. V = Preserved in a Vessel
D . . H A V 01 Australia- Kurnai
D . W H A V 02 Babylon- Berossus' account
D G W H A V 03 Babylon- Gilgamesh epic
D G W H . V 04 Bolivia- Chiriguano
D . . H A V 05 Borneo- Sea Dayak
D . . H A V 06 Burma- Singpho
D G . H A V 07 Canada- Cree
D G W H A V 08 Canada- Montagnais
D G . H A V 09 China- Lolo
D . W H A V 10 Cuba- original natives
D G W H A V 11 East Africa- Masai
D G W H . V 12 Egypt- Book of the Dead
D G . H . V 13 Fiji- Walavu-levu tradition
D G W H A . 14 French Polynesia- Raiatea
D . . H A V 15 Greece- Lucian's account
D G . H A V 16 Guyana- Macushi
D G . H . V 17 Iceland- Eddas
D G . H . V 18 India- Andaman Islands
D . W H A V 19 India- Bhil
D G W H . V 20 India-Kamar
D . W H A . 21 Iran- Zend-Avesta
D G . H . V 22 Italy- Ovid's poetry
D G . H . V 23 Malay Peninsula- Jekun
D . W H . V 24 Mexico- Codex Chimalpopoca
D . W H A V 25 Mexico- Huichol
D G . H . V 26 New Zealand- Maori
D . W H A . 27 Peru- Indians of Huarochiri
D . W H . V 28 X . Russia- Vogul
D . W H A V 29 U.S.A. (Alaska)- Kolusches
D G . H A V 30 U.S.A. (Alaska)- Tlingit
D . W H A V 31 U.S.A. (Arizona)- Papago
D G . H A V 32 U.S.A. (Hawaii)- legend of Nu-u
D . . H A V 33 Vanualu- Melanesians
D . . H A V 34 Vietnam- Bahnar
D . . H A V 35 Wales- Dwyfan/Dwyfan legend
35 18 17 35 24 32 Total Occurrences out of 35

Flood Legends from Around the World

Africa

Southwest Tanzania
Once upon a time the rivers began to flood. The god told two people to get into a ship. He told them to take lots of seed and to take lots of animals. The water of the flood eventually covered the mountains. Finally the flood stopped. Then one of the men, wanting to know if the water had dried up let a dove loose. The dove returned. Later he let loose a hawk which did not return. Then the men left the boat and took the animals and the seeds with them.

Asia

China
The Chinese classic called the Hihking tells about "the family of Fuhi," that was saved from a great flood. This ancient story tells that the entire land was flooded; the mountains and everything, however one family survived in a boat. The Chinese consider this man the father of their civilization. This record indicates that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters were the only people that escaped the great flood. It is claimed, that he and his family were the only people alive on earth, and repopulated the world.

Babylon
Gilgamesh met an old man named Utnapishtim, who told him the following story. The gods came to Utnapishtim to warn him about a terrible flood that was coming. They instructed Utnapishtim to destroy his house and build a large ship. The ship was to be 10 dozen cubits high, wide and long. Utnapishtim was to cover the ship with pitch. He was supposed to take male and female animals of all kinds, his wife and family, provisions, etc. into the ship. Once ship was completed the rain began falling intensely. The rain fell for six days and nights. Finally things calmed and the ship settled on the top of Mount Nisir. After the ship had rested for seven days Utnapishtim let loose a dove. Since the land had not dried the dove returned. Next he sent a swallow which also returned. Later he let loose a raven which never returned since the ground had dried. Utnapishtim then left the ship.

Chaldean
There was a man by the name of Xisuthrus. The god Chronos warned Xisuthrus of a coming flood and told him to build a boat. The boat was to be 5 stadia by 2 stadia. In this boat Xisuthrus was to put his family, friends and two of each animal (male and female). The flood came. When the waters started to recede he let some birds loose. They came back and he noticed they had mud on their feet. He tried again with the same results. When he tried the third time the birds did not return. Assuming the water had dried up the people got out of the boat and offered sacrifices to the gods.

India
A long time ago lived a man named Manu. Manu, while washing himself, saved a small fish from the jaws of a large fish. The fish told Manu, "If you care for me until I am full grown I will save you from terrible things to come". Manu asked what kind of terrible things. The fish told Manu that a great flood would soon come and destroy everything on the earth. The fish told Manu to put him in a clay jar for protection. The fish grew and each time he outgrew the clay jar Manu gave him a larger one. Finally the fish became a ghasha, one of the largest fish in the world. The fish instructed Manu to build a large ship since the flood was going to happen very soon. As the rains started Manu tied a rope from the ship to the ghasha. The fish guided the ship as the waters rose. The whole earth was covered by water. When the waters began subsiding the ghasha led Manu's ship to a mountaintop.

Australia

There is a legend of a flood called the Dreamtime flood. Riding on this flood was the woramba, or the Ark Gumana. In this ark was Noah, Aborigines, and various animals. This ark eventually came to rest in the plain of Djilinbadu where it can still be found. They claim that the white mans story about the ark landing in the middle east is a lie that was started to keep the aborigines in subservience. This legend is undoubtedly the product of aboriginal legends merging with those of visiting missionaries, and there does not appear to be any native flood stories from Australia.

Europe

Greece
A long time ago, perhaps before the golden age was over, humans became proud. This bothered Zeus as they kept getting worse. Finally Zeus decided that he would destroy all humans. Before he did this Prometheus, the creator of humans, warned his human son Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. Prometheus then placed this couple in a large wooden chest. The rains started and lasted nine days and nights until the whole world was flooded. The only thing that was not flooded was the peaks of Mount Parnassus and Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is the home of the gods. The wooden chest came to rest on Mount Parnassus. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha got out and saw that everything was flooded. The lived on provisions from the chest until the waters subsided. At Zeus' instruction they re-populated the earth.

North America

Mexico
The Toltec natives have a legend telling that the original creation lasted for 1716 years, and was destroyed by a flood and only one family survived.

Aztec- A man named Tapi lived a long time ago. Tapi was a very pious man. The creator told Tapi to build a boat that he would live in. He was told that he should take his wife, a pair of every animal that was alive into this boat. Naturally everyone thought he was crazy. Then the rain started and the flood came. The men and animals tried to climb the mountains but the mountains became flooded as well. Finally the rain ended. Tapi decided that the water had dried up when he let a dove loose that did not return.

United States
The Ojibwe natives who have lived in Minnesota USA since approximately 1400AD also have a creation and flood story that closely paralleles the Biblical account. "There came a time when the harmonious way of life did not continue. Men and women disrespected each other, families quarreled and soon villages began arguing back and forth. This saddened Gitchie Manido [the Creator] greatly, but he waited. Finally, when it seemed there was no hope left, Creator decided to purify Mother Earth through the use of water. The water came, flooding the Earth, catching all of creation off guard. All but a few of each living thing survived." Then it tells how Waynaboozhoo survived by floating on a log in the water with various animals.
Ojibwe - Ancient native American creation story tells of world wide flood.

Delaware Indians - In the pristine age, the world lived at peace; but an evil spirit came and caused a great flood. The earth was submerged. A few persons had taken refuge on the back of a turtle, so old that his shell had collected moss. A loon flew over their heads and was entreated to dive beneath the water and bring up land. It found only a bottomless sea. Then the bird flew far away, came back with a small portion of earth in its bill, and guided the tortoise to a place where there was a spot of dry land.

South America

Inca
During the period of time called the Pachachama people became very evil. They got so busy coming up with and performing evil deeds they neglected the gods. Only those in the high Andes remained uncorrupted. Two brothers who lived in the highlands noticed their llamas acting strangely. They asked the llamas why and were told that the stars had told the llamas that a great flood was coming. This flood would destroy all the life on earth. The brothers took their families and flocks into a cave on the high mountains. It started to rain and continued for four months. As the water rose the mountain grew keeping its top above the water. Eventually the rain stopped and the waters receded. The mountain returned to its original height. The shepherds repopulated the earth. The llamas remembered the flood and that is why they prefer to live in the highland areas.

In addition to these bits of information I would highly recommend that you research on your own the Book of Enoch as well as the wealth of archaeological support available on line as to the existence of the Nephilim which is according to scripture one of the very reasons the flood was to take place.

I Hope this research has shed some light and I hope your logic takes over from here.


Thank you

Arazyal

Rozental and Weiss: Only the U.S. can win war on drugs

Despite a surge of military and police forces across the country, the killings continue – more than 5,000 last year. Some regions are terrorized by a wave of kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings.


Iraq? Afghanistan? Pakistan? Somalia? In fact, the country – which a recent U.S military study warned could be at risk of "a rapid and sudden collapse" – is none other than Mexico. Two years into President Felipe Calderon's war against the drug cartels, and the cartels' ensuing war with each other, this is a nation at war with itself.

To be sure, the government has had its successes. Huge weapons caches have been seized, large tracts of illegal drug crops have been eradicated and an increasing number of cartel kingpins, couriers and foot soldiers have been put behind bars.

But despite these tactical victories, Mexico's fight – attacking the supply-side of the western hemisphere's drug war – will remain an unwinnable war so long as its northern neighbor fails to attack the demand side: Americans' insatiable appetite for illicit drugs.

When then-President-elect Barack Obama met President Calderon in January, he reaffirmed Washington's support for Mexico's heroic efforts. But he should remember Plan Colombia, which has cost American taxpayers $8 billion. While Colombian cartels have been weakened, there has been no significant reduction in the amount of cocaine and other drugs shipped out of Colombia, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

So long as the vast American market for cocaine, heroin and other drugs yields irresistible profits, the cartels will continue taking the risks of producing, transporting and distributing the products their customers want. Even with U.S. support for Mexico's fight – $450 million this year – the cartels will always have more money and guns at their disposal. Even if the U.S.-Mexico border were improbably sealed, the traffickers would find alternate routes to their American customers.

Mexico's war on supply must be matched, once and for all, by a real American war on demand.

Despite decades of a supposed U.S. "war on drugs" – including some of the harshest penalties for drug use in the world – the percentage of Americans using cocaine, heroin, crack, marijuana and methamphetamines has remained largely steady in recent years, according to the latest National Drug Threat Assessment. Given population growth, the number of users has actually increased to 35 million Americans, including the world's highest use rates of cocaine and marijuana.

So how to achieve major reductions in American demand for illegal drugs, as well as the profitability and criminality it fuels?

Seventy-five years after its repeal, Prohibition remains instructive. Like the 13-year ban on alcohol, the illegality of drugs failed to curb demand. Like the bootleggers and gangsterism of that era, today's drug cartels are simply serving popular demand.

As with the repeal of Prohibition, the U.S. must again follow a common-sense approach by thinking the unthinkable: the gradual legalization of some drugs.

For such a change in strategy, the U.S. must recognize that all drugs are not created equal. It is now clear that marijuana and methamphetamines do not have the same harmful effects as cocaine, heroin, opium and other hard drugs. Discriminating among different drugs – as does the new Massachusetts law decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana – points the way toward a more rational approach.

At great cost, in blood and treasure, Mexico is fulfilling its responsibility with a war on supply. It's time the U.S. fulfills its responsibility with a real war on demand.

Ambassador Andrés Rozental, former deputy foreign minister of Mexico, is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and may be reached at andres@mexconsult.com. Stanley A. Weiss is founding chairman of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan Washington-based organization, and may be reached at sweiss@bens.org.