The Freer Gospels

This is the Codex Washingtonensis known as the Freer Manuscript of the Gospels. Purchased by Charles Lang Freer in Egypt in 1906. This is the third oldest Greek parchment manuscript of the Gospels in the world.

Antarctic Ice Growing Not Shrinking

From The Australian:

Ice is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap. The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent's western coast.

Antarctica has 90% of the Earth's ice and 80% of its fresh water. Extensive melting of Antarctic ice sheets would be required to raise sea levels substantially, and ice is melting in parts of west Antarctica. The destabilisation of the Wilkins ice shelf generated international headlines this month. However, the picture is very different in east Antarctica, which includes the territory claimed by Australia.

East Antarctica is four times the size of west Antarctica and parts of it are cooling. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research report prepared for last week's meeting of Antarctic Treaty nations in Washington noted the South Pole had shown "significant cooling in recent decades." Australian Antarctic Division glaciology program head Ian Allison said sea ice losses in west Antarctica over the past 30 years had been more than offset by increases in the Ross Sea region, just one sector of east Antarctica.

A paper to be published soon by the British Antarctic Survey in the journal Geophysical Research Letters is expected to confirm that over the past 30 years, the area of sea ice around the continent has expanded.

So much for global warming.

Will politicians hold to the scam in order to raise taxes, reduce liberties, and further enslave their citizens?

Tax Trouble on the Horizon

So what are the tax problems looming on the horizon?

• 43% of US households currently do not pay any federal income tax. That means 43% of Americans think that government services are free.
• Taxes will increase on everyone since the wealthy alone cannot pay off an $11 trillion deficit.
• There’s discussion of adding a European-style Value Added Tax (VAT) on top of the income tax.
• Obama is pushing for his cap and trade energy plan: a $600 billion expense.
• Obama increased taxes on the poorest in the US by increasing taxes on cigarettes.
• Americans spend 8 billion hours per year filling out tax forms. That’s equivalent to 4 million full time people working just to fill out the forms.
• $200b per year cost to fill out the forms.
• 500 different changes in the tax code every year.
• 70,000 pages of tax laws (up from 40,000 pages just 12 years ago).

No. 1 Persecutor Of Christians

North Korea remains No. 1 for the seventh year in a row on a list of the world's worst persecutors of Christians. The Open Doors Watch List for 2008, released Feb. 3, ranks Saudi Arabia second and Iran third, noting that both countries are controlled by Shariah or Islamic law. Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Maldives are the next three on the list, followed by Yemen, Laos, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan moved up three spots in the past year, according to Open Doors, as a result of increased activity by the Taliban. Somalia and Eritrea are new among the top 10, while Bhutan and China have dropped from the top-10 ranking to numbers 11 and 12, respectively.