Woman Wears Bikini to Airport- Give the TSA What They Want

Have Bikini, Will Travel

By JONATHAN LLOYD and JOHN CADIZ KLEMACK

"I'm hoping by wearing a bikini they will see everything they need to see and we can avoid a pat-down"



Thousands of passengers are expected Wednesday at LAX, and one came prepared by leaving little to the imagination and TSA agents with even less to pat down.

"I'm wearing my bikini," Corinne said as she unbuttoned her overcoat outside the terminal to reveal a black two-piece. "It's not that I'm concerned, it's that I feel like the TSA is making travelers feel uncomfortable, and I feel like we can have security measures that don't make people feel uncomfortable.

"Every time I go through security I always say, 'I don't even know why I got dressed this morning.' I end up taking off belts, jewelry and everything else off anyway."

"I don't want to do a body scan, and I'm hoping by wearing a bikini they will see everything they need to see and we can avoid a pat-down, as well."

A loosely organized campaign by people opposed to the scanners has been encouraging travelers to opt-out of walking through the body scanners today as a protest of technology some consider overly invasive. But opting out of the scan means passengers will undergo time-consuming, thorough pat-downs by a Transportation Security Administration agent.

About 1.5 million people are expected to go through LAX during the Thanksgiving travel period that began last Friday and ends Sunday.

The body scan takes only about 10 seconds. Those who refuse the body scan are given the option of undergoing an open-palm, up the groin and between- the-breasts pat-down instead.

The mayor seemed ok with it.

"There's been a lot of ado about nothing," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said after going through a scanner earlier this week.

Also known as Advanced Imaging Technology, the refrigerator-sized body scanners hit passengers with low-level x-ray beams to generate an image of their body to detect weapons that might be hidden under their clothing. The image -- which resembles a chalk etching -- is then transmitted to a walled-off location and immediately deleted after being examined by security officers.

Israel Finds Common Cause with Evangelicals

by: Michele Chabin

JERUSALEM (RNS) - When Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee wrapped up a visit to Israel on Monday (Nov. 15) with 40 pastors in tow, he sought out the places where Jesus walked, preached and prayed some 2,000 years ago.

But there was another meeting on the itinerary that was a must-not-miss event for Hagee and his host: a sit-down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.



The fact that Netanyahu -- knee-deep in contentious talks with Palestinians over a freeze on Israeli settlement construction -- found time to meet Hagee's contingent speaks volumes about the ties between Israeli officials and evangelical Christians.

Christian Zionist support for Israel is at an all-time high, observers say, and Israelis, American Jews, and Palestinians are all taking notice -- some favorable, some not.

While Israel has long courted financial and political support from evangelicals, many Jewish American leaders have viewed the alliance with suspicion, leery about potential proselytizing and uncomfortable with evangelicals' domestic agenda at home.

Recently, though, the American Jewish community has found a new appreciation for evangelical support at a time of mounting international criticism of Israeli policy and financial hardships for many prominent Jewish groups.

Hit hard by the economic downturn and the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that decimated Jewish charities, American Jewish groups are sending less money to Israel. Dozens of evangelical groups "have definitely stepped in to fill some of the void," said Dan Brown, creator of the website e-jewishphilanthropy.com.

One of those groups is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), a Chicago-based evangelical group that has donated as much as $70 million to Israel in 2009 alone, and another $30 million to Jewish causes in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.

Five years ago, Hadassah magazine, a mainstream Jewish women's magazine, rejected an ad from Eckstein's group. But this year, after a large donation to a Hadassah-affiliated hospital in Jerusalem, Hadassah honored Eckstein's group at its annual gala.

"We still haven't been embraced by the establishment Jewish organizations, but I do think there's a growing admiration because we've been able to grow by leaps and bounds over the past three years while the Jewish federation system and other sources of Jewish philanthropy have suffered declines," said founder Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

Evangelical leaders say their reliance on thousands of small donors -- rather than a few mega-givers -- has helped them weather the recession and actually increase their funding to Israel. No one knows how much Christian Zionists give Israel in total, but the amount is substantial.

The organizations, including many based in the U.S., support Israeli hospitals, schools, and social welfare programs. A few pay for bomb shelters and ambulances, and assist elderly Holocaust survivors and victims of terror attacks. Hagee's San Antonio-based group has donated more than $50 million since 2006, including $8.5 million this year.

Monetary support, however, is just part of the equation.

For the past four years, another Hagee group, Christians United for Israel, has held an annual Washington summit to push Israeli concerns on U.S. lawmakers. Christian Zionist groups sponsor letter-writing campaigns and are active on college campuses.

Joshua Reinstein, director of the seven-year-old Knesset Christian Allies Caucus in the Israeli parliament, said there has been "an explosion of support" from evangelical political leaders. The group now has pro-Israel "legislators of faith" caucuses in 18 countries, including the U.S.

Palestinian Christians, who have successfully cultivated their own powerful and wealthy allies in the mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, are vocally opposed to Christian Zionism. Many of their church allies are active in the so-called Global BDS movement -- boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israeli goods and citizens.

Christian Zionism is "a heretical and false interpretation of Christian theology" that "justifies violence and oppression in the name of God," said Jonathan Kuttab, chairman of the West Bank's Bethlehem Bible College.

Ari Morgenstern, a spokesman for Christian United for Israel, reads the Bible differently.

"The biblical mandate for Christian Zionism is Genesis 12:3," he said, referring to a verse where God promises to bless those who bless Israel, and curse her foes. "As Pastor Hagee has said, Christians should support Israel because it is simply the right thing to do."

Ironically, just as American Jewish groups have warmed to Christian Zionist partners, several prominent ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbis have forbidden their followers from accepting funds or services from organizations funded -- even in part -- by evangelicals.

David Parsons, spokesman for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, said hard-line rabbis pressured Israeli dignitaries not to attend the recent opening of a home for Holocaust victims that was partially funded by Parson's group.

"It's a real shame they tried to spoil the event," Parsons said. "We don't missionize, and the focus should have been on the needs of destitute Holocaust survivors."

Shimon Sebag, whose charitable group Yad Ezer L'Haver runs the home, said it "never crossed my mind" to refuse the Embassy's assistance. Sebag said the 55 elderly residents now have "a warm home, meals and medical care."

"The Talmud says, `When you save one life, you save a world,'" Sebag said. "The Embassy saved 55 worlds."

Fight at Chicago Hooters

"Hi! Welcome to Hooters!"

That's what the Hooters girls say when you walk into a Hooters... see, I would know that because I watch SportsCenter.

A friend of mine sent me the link to an article that talks about a woman being thrown down by a cop at a Hooters. He asked me for my take on the situation. Because I'm straight, I gladly decided to check out what all the fuss was about.... well, all I heard him say was "....something something something Hooters something something..." so lets take a look:

Ok. For those of you who want my take on the video, this is what I got: Here we see lovely Tiffani (spelled with an "I" because her parents are retarded) talking to a customer... the supposed "Grandma", according to Chicago's Very Own (Liberal) News Network WGNTV.

First of all, I love how WGNTV.com totally abused the coverage of this story. The article on their sight is titled, "Grandma Claims Hooter's Guard Beat Her" ...wow. We all pictured in our minds Betty White being slammed by Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Not the case.

To see original article, go to: http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-hooters-sued-after-grandmother-alleges-beating-nov18,0,6533239.story

Well, IF YOU WATCH THE VIDEO CAREFULLY, You'll notice a lot more than some security guard beating up nana.


Obviously, this woman is very pissed off about something on her bill. (Keep in mind that in this economy, customers of restaurants can get very ridiculous about normal serving events, just to knock off the cost of that extra soda they ordered)

Cute Tiffani tries to apologize for the salad being too cold but scores nothing with the lady. Then, another Hooters waitress...we'll call her Jenna (If I had a dollar for every Hooter's waitress named Jenna...) Well, she walks over with the cop to follow waitressing protocol.

Watch carefully: Jenna tries her best to keep it real. You can tell by her smile. The cop is also chill! Notice he's leaning on the counter.

Eventually, the manager in charge, the woman in a blue polo, walks over to discuss the bill. You can't see the upset "grandma"'s face, but you can tell she's fired up. Look at her head bobbing.

Next, the manager in charge leaves with the bill, probably to "comp" the meal. Whenever an obnoxious customer complains about restaurant service, corporate would rather comp a $58 dinner, screwing the waitress out of a decent tip, in order to avoid a lawsuit.

This it where you can tell the "grandma" is in it to start something: As the manager in charge walks away, ...what the hell is that move: I thought she was going to break out doing the Michael Jackson Thriller.

Did you see it?


It's really fast so make sure you watch it carefully. She does this ...move. lol.


Now, EVERYONE HATES COPS. Even YOU! Yes, you. EVERYONE and their mom HATES COPS. Criminals, non criminals, men, women, teenagers, pastors, prostitutes, business men, and even other cops hate cops. EVERYONE HATES COPS, which is why EVERYONE is saying that the cop shoved the woman first.

OH HELL NO.

"Grandma" is obviously hot and belligerent. Two Hooter's waitresses have already tried to apologize for the wings being too spicy. And while the manager in charge is trying to take off that extra soda from the bill, "grandma" decides to get mouthy with Officer Viagra.

You find that funny because YOU HATE COPS!

She gets mouthy, AND shoves her finger in the cops face. The cop then walks up to her to tell her sternly to calm down. SHE is the one to bounce her badunkadunk first. Notice that she also strikes another woman IN THE BACK! ...yeah, the cops a reall @$$hole... come on people

Ok, you hate cops. AND YES, the Chicago PD is full of corrupt cops. But use some logic. If this off duty officer was corrupt, HE WOULDN'T BE WORKING A SECOND JOB AT HOOTER'S!

This cop is trying to survive Obama's Economy in a city that outlaws firearms. Any population that outlaws firearms from the American people is not only a violation of Constitutional rights, but a breeding ground of corruption and crime.

This cop is probably divorced or has a disaster of a marriage. He's over weight, not making enough money, and would rather bounce at Hooter's because Hooter's girls treat him better than his wife at home. Don't believe me, keep reading:

I would have done the same thing. This woman is being hostile. She's already acting immature about a stupid overcharge. She's also just attacked an innocent good Samaritan. Hell, I would have slammed her jaw on the edge of the bar Snoop Dogg style the moment she put her hands on that poor girl.

After the cop DOES THE RIGHT THING, the whole restaurant is involved including this douche bag in the picture below. Like EVERYONE, he gladly felt like telling the cop to back off. I would have broken his arm with my baton. (I can't wait for the next World War to send America back to the cowboy days)

This cop, who probably is to passive and poor to be corrupt, flirts with the Hooter's girls every night. Hell, they treat him better than what's waiting on him back at home. Plus, THIS IS CHICAGO! A Hooter's waitress in CHICAGO (a city with no righteous law) appreciates the presence of an off duty cop. With out this guy, these girls would end up raped in the parking lot.

That's when our Tiffani returns to get the angry mob off the cop. She actually gets one douche bag to back off the cop by man-handling him. Watch the video... I want this girl as my personal body guard.

Sadly, some broad shows up from the right to start a cat-fight and shoves 80 lbs. Tiffani to the floor. People are vicious.

This whole time, ALL I WANT is for my Hooter's waitress to finally bring me my ranch. Jeez.
I should have gone to the Tilted Kilt.

SO, What have we learned from the video?

-"Grandma" is an ungrateful bitch. She's probably upset that she doesn't look good in tight orange shorts anymore.

-Other sources of mine tell me that this woman is known to cause scenes at places in order to file lawsuits.

-The Hooter's girls do not show any disapproval towards the off duty cop. In fact, one girl goes down fighting for his safety.

-The Hooter's waitress tried to handle the woman perfectly, according to Corporate's protocol.

-People suck.

-There's nothing racial here. Just some dumb broad trying to cheat a bill.


The good news, the woman got sent to jail.

In a Computer Worm, a Possible Biblical Clue

By: JOHN MARKOFF and DAVID E. SANGER
Deep inside the computer worm that some specialists suspect is aimed at slowing Iran’s race for a nuclear weapon lies what could be a fleeting reference to the Book of Esther, the Old Testament tale in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them.

That use of the word “Myrtus” — which can be read as an allusion to Esther — to name a file inside the code is one of several murky clues that have emerged as computer experts try to trace the origin and purpose of the rogue Stuxnet program, which seeks out a specific kind of command module for industrial equipment.

Not surprisingly, the Israelis are not saying whether Stuxnet has any connection to the secretive cyberwar unit it has built inside Israel’s intelligence service. Nor is the Obama administration, which while talking about cyberdefenses has also rapidly ramped up a broad covert program, inherited from the Bush administration, to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. In interviews in several countries, experts in both cyberwar and nuclear enrichment technology say the Stuxnet mystery may never be solved.

There are many competing explanations for myrtus, which could simply signify myrtle, a plant important to many cultures in the region. But some security experts see the reference as a signature allusion to Esther, a clear warning in a mounting technological and psychological battle as Israel and its allies try to breach Tehran’s most heavily guarded project. Others doubt the Israelis were involved and say the word could have been inserted as deliberate misinformation, to implicate Israel.

“The Iranians are already paranoid about the fact that some of their scientists have defected and several of their secret nuclear sites have been revealed,” one former intelligence official who still works on Iran issues said recently. “Whatever the origin and purpose of Stuxnet, it ramps up the psychological pressure.”

So a calling card in the code could be part of a mind game, or sloppiness or whimsy from the coders.

The malicious code has appeared in many countries, notably China, India, Indonesia and Iran. But there are tantalizing hints that Iran’s nuclear program was the primary target. Officials in both the United States and Israel have made no secret of the fact that undermining the computer systems that control Iran’s huge enrichment plant at Natanz is a high priority. (The Iranians know it, too: They have never let international inspectors into the control room of the plant, the inspectors report, presumably to keep secret what kind of equipment they are using.)

The fact that Stuxnet appears designed to attack a certain type of Siemens industrial control computer, used widely to manage oil pipelines, electrical power grids and many kinds of nuclear plants, may be telling. Just last year officials in Dubai seized a large shipment of those controllers — known as the Simatic S-7 — after Western intelligence agencies warned that the shipment was bound for Iran and would likely be used in its nuclear program.

“What we were told by many sources,” said Olli Heinonen, who retired last month as the head of inspections at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, “was that the Iranian nuclear program was acquiring this kind of equipment.”

Also, starting in the summer of 2009, the Iranians began having tremendous difficulty running their centrifuges, the tall, silvery machines that spin at supersonic speed to enrich uranium — and which can explode spectacularly if they become unstable. In New York last week, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shrugged off suggestions that the country was having trouble keeping its enrichment plants going.

Yet something — perhaps the worm or some other form of sabotage, bad parts or a dearth of skilled technicians — is indeed slowing Iran’s advance.

The reports on Iran show a fairly steady drop in the number of centrifuges used to enrich uranium at the main Natanz plant. After reaching a peak of 4,920 machines in May 2009, the numbers declined to 3,772 centrifuges this past August, the most recent reporting period. That is a decline of 23 percent. (At the same time, production of low-enriched uranium has remained fairly constant, indicating the Iranians have learned how to make better use of fewer working machines.)

Computer experts say the first versions of the worm appeared as early as 2009 and that the sophisticated version contained an internal time stamp from January of this year.

These events add up to a mass of suspicions, not proof. Moreover, the difficulty experts have had in figuring out the origin of Stuxnet points to both the appeal and the danger of computer attacks in a new age of cyberwar.

For intelligence agencies they are an almost irresistible weapon, free of fingerprints. Israel has poured huge resources into Unit 8200, its secretive cyberwar operation, and the United States has built its capacity inside the National Security Agency and inside the military, which just opened a Cyber Command.

But the near impossibility of figuring out where they came from makes deterrence a huge problem — and explains why many have warned against the use of cyberweapons. No country, President Obama was warned even before he took office, is more vulnerable to cyberattack than the United States.

For now, it is hard to determine if the worm has infected centrifuge controllers at Natanz. While the S-7 industrial controller is used widely in Iran, and many other countries, even Siemens says it does not know where it is being used. Alexander Machowetz, a spokesman in Germany for Siemens, said the company did no business with Iran’s nuclear program. “It could be that there is equipment,” he said in a telephone interview. “But we never delivered it to Natanz.”

For now, it is hard to determine if the worm has infected centrifuge controllers at Natanz. While the S-7 industrial controller is used widely in Iran, and many other countries, even Siemens says it does not know where it is being used. Alexander Machowetz, a spokesman in Germany for Siemens, said the company did no business with Iran’s nuclear program. “It could be that there is equipment,” he said in a telephone interview. “But we never delivered it to Natanz.”

But Siemens industrial controllers are unregulated commodities that are sold and resold all over the world — the controllers intercepted in Dubai traveled through China, according to officials familiar with the seizure.

Ralph Langner, a German computer security consultant who was the first independent expert to assert that the malware had been “weaponized” and designed to attack the Iranian centrifuge array, argues that the Stuxnet worm could have been brought into the Iranian nuclear complex by Russian contractors.

“It would be an absolute no-brainer to leave an infected USB stick near one of these guys,” he said, “and there would be more than a 50 percent chance of having him pick it up and infect his computer.”

There are many reasons to suspect Israel’s involvement in Stuxnet. Intelligence is the single largest section of its military and the unit devoted to signal, electronic and computer network intelligence, known as Unit 8200, is the largest group within intelligence.

Yossi Melman, who covers intelligence for the newspaper Haaretz and is at work on a book about Israeli intelligence over the past decade, said in a telephone interview that he suspected that Israel was involved.

He noted that Meir Dagan, head of Mossad, had his term extended last year partly because he was said to be involved in important projects. He added that in the past year Israeli estimates of when Iran will have a nuclear weapon had been extended to 2014.

“They seem to know something, that they have more time than originally thought,” he said.

Then there is the allusion to myrtus — which may be telling, or may be a red herring.

Several of the teams of computer security researchers who have been dissecting the software found a text string that suggests that the attackers named their project Myrtus. The guava fruit is part of the Myrtus family, and one of the code modules is identified as Guava.

It was Mr. Langner who first noted that Myrtus is an allusion to the Hebrew word for Esther. The Book of Esther tells the story of a Persian plot against the Jews, who attacked their enemies pre-emptively.

“If you read the Bible you can make a guess,” said Mr. Langner, in a telephone interview from Germany on Wednesday.

Carol Newsom, an Old Testament scholar at Emory University, confirmed the linguistic connection between the plant family and the Old Testament figure, noting that Queen Esther’s original name in Hebrew was Hadassah, which is similar to the Hebrew word for myrtle. Perhaps, she said, “someone was making a learned cross-linguistic wordplay.”

But other Israeli experts said they doubted Israel’s involvement. Shai Blitzblau, the technical director and head of the computer warfare laboratory at Maglan, an Israeli company specializing in information security, said he was “convinced that Israel had nothing to do with Stuxnet.”

“We did a complete simulation of it and we sliced the code to its deepest level,” he said. “We have studied its protocols and functionality. Our two main suspects for this are high-level industrial espionage against Siemens and a kind of academic experiment.”

Mr. Blitzblau noted that the worm hit India, Indonesia and Russia before it hit Iran, though the worm has been found disproportionately in Iranian computers. He also noted that the Stuxnet worm has no code that reports back the results of the infection it creates. Presumably, a good intelligence agency would like to trace its work.

Ethan Bronner contributed reporting from Israel, and William J. Broad from New York.

Disturbing Pictures Show Taliban Militants Allegedly Stoning Woman to Death in Pakistan

by: Charlotte Wilkins

A rare video reportedly smuggled out of northwest Pakistan allegedly shows a woman being stoned to death by Taliban militants in the upper region of Orakzai.

A woman lies tied to the ground as a group of men gather round her, repeatedly throwing stones at her.

She appears to plead for help but despite her cries, they continue to rain stones down on her until she lies still.

Disturbing pictures today released to ABC news purport to show Taliban militants stoning a woman to death in north-west Pakistan.

Stoning is a routine punishment for adultery in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Under the rule of the Taliban however, being seen alone with a man is sufficient crime alone to warrant the death penalty.


The woman was thought to have been executed because she was seen out with a man.

The execution allegedly took place two months ago in the upper region of Orakzai.

The grainy cellphone footage of the execution was reportedly smuggled out by a Taliban member who witnessed the stoning and then passed to it Al Aan, a Dubai-based pan-Arab television channel that deals with women's issues in the Arab world.

ABC news was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the video, which is so graphic that it cannot be shown in its entirety.


The grainy cellphone footage was smuggled from north-west Pakistan by a witness to the stoning who then passed it to Al-Aan TV.

In Iran, the case of Ms Sakineh Ashtiani, 43, who has been convicted of murder and adultery under Sharia law, has drawn worldwide attention and international outrage.

EC minister Jorge Barroso described it as ose Manuel Barroso, who called it "barbaric beyond words".

Speaking in France earlier this month, Mr Barroso said: "We condemn such acts, which have no justification under any moral or religious code."



Protestors in Paris demonstrate against the death-by-stoning sentence of Iranian mother Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

It is thought that the international outrage caused by her case has led her sentence to be commuted from death by stoning to hanging.

While Ms Ashtiani's lawyer, Mohammed Mostaefi, has been forced to flee to Europe for his safety, Ms Ashtiani's fate, as she waits in Evin prison, remains uncertain.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1315408/Taliban-militants-allegedly-stoning-woman-death-Pakistan.html#ixzz10mcGbo8k

Gaza: Hamas Weds 450 Child Brides in Mass Wedding

Do these girls look over 18?

Any AWANA leader, or decent person could tell you that nearly all of these girls are no where near ten years old!

“Now where did Hamas get the idea that prepubescent girls were of marriageable age? Could it be from Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, the “excellent example” of conduct (cf. Qur’an 33:21)? “The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with ‘Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).” (Bukhari 7.62.88)”

SHEIKH ZAYED CITY, Gaza Strip — Nearly a thousand Palestinians celebrated marriage on Thursday night in a ceremony organised by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar, one of the militant group’s top leaders, were on hand to congratulate 450 grooms who took part in the carefully stage-managed event.

“We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness,” Zahar told the men, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.

Each groom received a present of 500 dollars from Hamas, which said its workers had also contributed five percent of their monthly salaries to add to the wedding gift.

The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.

“We are presenting this wedding as a gift to our people who stood firm in the face of the siege and the war,” local Hamas strongman Ibrahim Salaf said in a speech….

Authorities Search Calif. for 13 from 'Cult-like' Sect; Families Believe are 'Brainwashed'

Sept. 18: Los Angeles County Sheriffs officers sit outside the home of Reyna Chicas, the possible leader of a "cult-like" group who has been reported missing along with 12 other members in Palmdale, Calif.

PALMDALE, Calif. – Deputies searched a wide swath of Southern California early Sunday for a break-off religious sect of 13 people that included children
as young as three and left behind letters indicating they were awaiting an apocalyptic event and would soon see Jesus and their dead relatives in heaven, authorities said.

The group of El Salvadoran immigrants, described as "cult-like" by sheriff's officials, was led by Reyna Marisol Chicas, a 32-year-old woman from Palmdale in northeast Los Angeles county, sheriff's Captain Mike Parker said.

The group left behind cell phones, identifications, deeds to property, and letters indicating they were awaiting the Rapture.

"Essentially, the letters say they are all going to heaven to meet Jesus and their deceased relatives," sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. "Some of the letters were saying goodbye."

The items came from a purse that a member of the group had left with her husband Saturday and asked him to pray over. He eventually looked inside and he and another member's husband called authorities, Parker said.

The men told investigators they believe group members had been "brainwashed" by Chicas, and one expressed worries that they might harm themselves, Parker said.

An address listed in Chicas' name, a two-story green stucco residence with a three-car garage in a suburban subdivision in Palmdale, a high-desert city of 139,000, appeared to be empty early Sunday. A sheriff's deputy sat in a car parked in front and kept reporters from walking on to the property.

Whitmore said the major crimes unit, helicopter patrols and many other deputies were looking for missing people.

They were searching for three vehicles: a silver Toyota Tundra pickup, a 1995 Mercury Villager and a 2004 white Nissan.

Parker said the materials the group left behind suggested they would be in the Antelope Valley area not far from their homes.

About six months ago, the group had planned to head to Vasquez Rocks, a wilderness area near Palmdale, to await a catastrophic earthquake or similar event, but one member of the group revealed details of the trip to relatives, Parker said. The trip was called off and the member kicked out.

The group had broken off from a mainstream Christian church in Palmdale.

Parker did not know what church they had belonged to previously, and it does not appear that they had given their sect a name.

"We've got a group here that's practicing some orthodox and some unorthodox Christianity," Parker said. "Obviously this falls under the unorthodox."

According to an emergency bulletin put out by the governor's office, in addition to Chicas, the missing include: Norma Isela Serrano, 31, Alma Alicia Miranda Pleitez, 28; Martha Clavel, 39; Jose Clavel, 15; Crystal Clavel, 3; Roberto Tejada, 18; Jonathan Tejada, 17; Hugo Tejada, 3; Ezequel Chicas, 15; Genisis Chicas, 12; Bryan Rivera, 17; Stephanie Serrano, 12.

The Double-standards of Muslims and Liberal/Passive Christians

Derek Fenton, the protester who burned pages from the Qur'an on Sept. 11th, 2010 near the site of a planned mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, was fired from his job at NJ Transit, officials there said yesterday.

His bosses said Fenton "violated New Jersey Transit's code of ethics."

Whatever. People are afraid of what Muslims will do. So, instead of taking a stand, people cater to Muslim hypocrites.

Meanwhile,


In Iran, Afghanistan and India, demonstrators accuse US, Israel of "orchestrating Zionist plot," chant "Down with Qur'an desicrators."

Thousands of Iranians reportedly took to the streets on Wednesday, to protest Qur'an burning in the US. According to PressTV, the protesters gathered at Teheran's Palestine Square, and shouted slogans accusing both the US and Israel of "orchestrating the Zionist plot."

Placards held by the demonstrators urged Jews and Christians to promise that such acts would not be repeated.

We should all ask Christians to stop preaching John 14:6 then!

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, police fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of stone-hurling protesters in the latest in a series of protests against Qur'an burning in the US.

At least 35 police officers and 10 protesters were wounded on Wednesday, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary. Hospital officials said two of them had gunshot wounds. They appeared to be from ricocheting bullets.

The topic of Qur'an burning has stirred outrage among millions of Muslims and others worldwide after a small American church in Florida threatened to destroy the holy book to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Although that church backed down, several copycat burnings were posted on the Internet and broadcast in the Muslim world.

Up to 800 protesters gathered at a square on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, chanting "Death to America" and listening to fiery speeches from Muslim clerics demanding the ouster of the Afghan government and calling for foreign troops to leave the country.

The protesters burned tires and hurled stones at police officers, who responded with assault rifle firing into the air.

In India the Qur'an issue also resurfaced Wednesday, when thousands of protesters assembled close to a Christian school in the town of Mendhar, 115 miles (180 kilometers) southwest of Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's main city, chanting "Down with Qur'an desecrators" and "We want freedom."

Wow. Christians just sit back in silence when Bibles get burned. Burn one Qur'an and everyone under the sun hates he who holds the match and Qur'an.

Police fired tear gas and swung batons as the protesters tried to enter the school and used live ammunition when the crowd refused to disperse, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. At least four protesters were killed and 30 others wounded, six of them critically, he said.

Here at home, when a Christian patriot has the audacity to burn a Qur'an and a porno-mag, liberal and cowardly Christians will bash that patriot for burning the Qur'an, but not say a word about a burning of the porn-magazine. The Qur'an produces more evil than pornography!

Does the modern Christian church tolerate a religion that hates the one true God? How embarrassing.

President Bush's Speech on Sept. 20th, 2001

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history occurred as four large passenger jets were hijacked then crashed, killing nearly 3,000 persons. The attack was carried out by four separate teams of terrorists from the Middle East, all operating from inside the U.S. Each team had boarded an early-morning flight, posing as passengers, then forcibly commandeered the aircraft.

Two fully-fueled jumbo jets, American Airlines Flight 11 carrying 92 persons and United Airlines Flight 175 carrying 65 personse, had departed Boston for Los Angeles. Both jets were diverted by the hijackers to New York City where they were piloted by the terrorists themselves into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The impact and subsequent fire caused both 110-story towers to collapse, killing 2,752 persons, including hundreds of fire-rescue workers and persons employed in the towers.

United Airlines Flight 93, which had departed from Newark for San Francisco, and American Airlines Flight 77, which had departed from Dulles (Virginia) for Los Angeles, were also hijacked. Flight 77, with 64 persons on board, was diverted to Washington, D.C., then piloted by the terrorists into the Pentagon building, killing everyone on board and 125 military personnel inside the building. Flight 93, with 44 persons on board, was also diverted toward Washington but crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to overpower the terrorists on board.

On Thursday, September 20th, President George W. Bush gave this much-anticipated speech before a Joint Session of Congress, outlining America's reaction to the unprecedented attack against its people.









Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans, in the normal course of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the union. Tonight, no such report is needed; it has already been delivered by the American people.

We have seen it in the courage of passengers who rushed terrorists to save others on the ground. Passengers like an exceptional man named Todd Beamer. And would you please help me welcome his wife Lisa Beamer here tonight?

We have seen the state of our union in the endurance of rescuers working past exhaustion.

We've seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own.

My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of union, and it is strong.

Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

I thank the Congress for its leadership at such an important time.

All of America was touched on the evening of the tragedy to see Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of this Capitol singing "God Bless America."

And you did more than sing. You acted, by delivering $40 billion to rebuild our communities and meet the needs of our military. Speaker Hastert, Minority Leader Gephardt, Majority Leader Daschle and Senator Lott, I thank you for your friendship, for your leadership and for your service to our country.

And on behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its outpouring of support.

America will never forget the sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, on the streets of Paris and at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

We will not forget South Korean children gathering to pray outside our embassy in Seoul, or the prayers of sympathy offered at a mosque in Cairo.

We will not forget moments of silence and days of mourning in Australia and Africa and Latin America.

Nor will we forget the citizens of 80 other nations who died with our own. Dozens of Pakistanis, more than 130 Israelis, more than 250 citizens of India, men and women from El Salvador, Iran, Mexico and Japan, and hundreds of British citizens.

America has no truer friend than Great Britain. Once again, we are joined together in a great cause.

I'm so honored the British prime minister has crossed an ocean to show his unity with America.

Thank you for coming, friend.

On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning.

Anericans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack.

Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking, "Who attacked our country?"

The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are some of the murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for bombing the USS Cole.

Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money, its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.

The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam.

The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children. This group and its leader, a person named Osama bin Laden, are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.

They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction. The leadership of al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan we see al Qaeda's vision for the world. Afghanistan's people have been brutalized, many are starving and many have fled.

Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. The United States respects the people of Afghanistan -- after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid -- but we condemn the Taliban regime.

It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists.

By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder. And tonight the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban:

- Deliver to United States authorities all of the leaders of Al Qaeda who hide in your land.

- Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned.

- Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country.

- Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over every terrorist and every person and their support structure to appropriate authorities.

- Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.

These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion.

The Taliban must act and act immediately.

They will hand over the terrorists or they will share in their fate. I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.

The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.

The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.

Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there.

It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.

Americans are asking "Why do they hate us?"

They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.

These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way.

We're not deceived by their pretenses to piety.

We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies. Americans are asking, "How will we fight and win this war?"

We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.

Now, this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.

Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success.

We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest.

And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.

From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on notice, we're not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans. Today, dozens of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments, have responsibilities affecting homeland security.

These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So tonight, I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me, the Office of Homeland Security. And tonight, I also announce a distinguished American to lead this effort, to strengthen American security: a military veteran, an effective governor, a true patriot, a trusted friend, Pennsylvania's Tom Ridge.

He will lead, oversee and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard our country against terrorism and respond to any attacks that may come. These measures are essential. The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows.

Many will be involved in this effort, from FBI agents, to intelligence operatives, to the reservists we have called to active duty. All deserve our thanks, and all have our prayers. And tonight a few miles from the damaged Pentagon, I have a message for our military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and there is a reason.

The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud.

This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.

We ask every nation to join us.

We will ask and we will need the help of police forces, intelligence service and banking systems around the world. The United States is grateful that many nations and many international organizations have already responded with sympathy and with support -- nations from Latin America to Asia to Africa to Europe to the Islamic world.

Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America's side.

They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next. Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments.

And you know what? We're not going to allow it.

Americans are asking, "What is expected of us?"

I ask you to live your lives and hug your children. I know many citizens have fears tonight, and I ask you to be calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat.

I ask you to uphold the values of America and remember why so many have come here.

We're in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them. No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith.

I ask you to continue to support the victims of this tragedy with your contributions. Those who want to give can go to a central source of information, Libertyunites.org, to find the names of groups providing direct help in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The thousands of FBI agents who are now at work in this investigation may need your cooperation, and I ask you to give it. I ask for your patience with the delays and inconveniences that may accompany tighter security and for your patience in what will be a long struggle.

I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its source.

America is successful because of the hard work and creativity and enterprise of our people. These were the true strengths of our economy before September 11, and they are our strengths today.

And finally, please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead. Tonight I thank my fellow Americans for what you have already done and for what you will do.

And ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, I thank you, their representatives, for what you have already done and for what we will do together.

Tonight we face new and sudden national challenges. We will come together to improve air safety, to dramatically expand the number of air marshals on domestic flights and take new measures to prevent hijacking.

We will come together to promote stability and keep our airlines flying with direct assistance during this emergency.

We will come together to give law enforcement the additional tools it needs to track down terror here at home.

We will come together to strengthen our intelligence capabilities to know the plans of terrorists before they act and to find them before they strike.

We will come together to take active steps that strengthen America's economy and put our people back to work.

Tonight, we welcome two leaders who embody the extraordinary spirit of all New Yorkers, Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

As a symbol of America's resolve, my administration will work with Congress and these two leaders to show the world that we will rebuild New York City.

After all that has just passed, all the lives taken and all the possibilities and hopes that died with them, it is natural to wonder if America's future is one of fear.

Some speak of an age of terror. I know there are struggles ahead and dangers to face. But this country will define our times, not be defined by them.

As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror. This will be an age of liberty here and across the world.

Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment.

Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depends on us.

Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail.

It is my hope that in the months and years ahead life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines and that is good.

Even grief recedes with time and grace.

But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day and to whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came, where we were and what we were doing.

Some will remember an image of a fire or story or rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever.

And I will carry this. It is the police shield of a man named George Howard who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others.

It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son. It is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does not end.

I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.

Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justice, assured of the rightness of our cause and confident of the victories to come.

In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom and may he watch over the United States of America. Thank you.

Illegal immigrants sparked large brush fire, authorities say

Beck says US has ''Wandered in Darkness'' Too Long

by: Philip Elliott


WASHINGTON – From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck told the tens of thousands of activists he drew from around the nation Saturday that the U.S. has too long "wandered in darkness."

At an event billed as nonpolitical but reflecting the mood of a sizable number in the country, the rally's marquee speaker, Sarah Palin, praised "patriots" in the audience for "knowing never to retreat."



The two champions of the tea party movement spoke from the very spot where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago. Some civil rights leaders who have denounced Beck's choice of a venue staged a rival rally to honor King.

Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee who may make a White House run in 2012, said activists must honor King's legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who protect the United States in uniform.




Beck, pacing back and forth on the marble steps, said he was humbled by the size of the crowd, which stretched along the Washington Mall's long reflecting pool nearly all the way to the Washington Monument.

"Something beyond imagination is happening," he said. "America today begins to turn back to God."



"For too long, this country has wandered in darkness," said Beck, a Fox News host. He said it was now time to "concentrate on the good things in America, the things we have accomplished and the things we can do tomorrow."

Neither Beck nor Palin made overtly political comments.

Palin, greeted by chants of "USA, USA, USA" from many in the crowd, told the gathering, "It is so humbling to get to be here with you today, patriots. You who are motivated and engaged ... and knowing never to retreat."

"We must restore America and restore her honor," said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, "Restoring Honor."

Palin told the crowd she wasn't speaking as a politician. "No, something more, something much more. I've been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier and I am proud of that distinction. Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet and you can't take that away from me." It was a reference to her son, Track, 20, who served a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

Palin honored military members in her speech. She likened the rally participants to the civil rights activists who came to the National Mall to hear King's historic speech. She said the same spirit that helped civil rights activists overcome oppression, discrimination and violence would help this group as well.

"We are worried about what we face. Sometimes, our challenges seem insurmountable," Palin said.

"Look around you. You're not alone," Palin told participants.

The crowd — organizers had a permit for 300,000 — was vast, with people standing shoulder to shoulder across large expanses of the Mall. The National Park Service stopped doing crowd counts in 1997 after the agency was accused of underestimating numbers for the 1995 Million Man March.

Civil rights leaders protested the event and scheduled a 3-mile plus march from a high school to the site of a planned King memorial near the Tidal Basin and not far from Beck's gathering.

Karen Watts, 57, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., was among those attending the King rally and march. "The dream is not forgotten," she said. "I live my life honoring Dr. King to make sure I'm part of that dream, by serving my community."

Of Beck's rally, she said, "They're American citizens. So long as they don't infringe upon my rights ... let them do what they do."

Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's delegate to Congress, said she remembers being at King's march on Washington, which she said prompted change and ended segregation in public places. "Glenn Beck's march will change nothing. But you can't blame Glenn Beck for his March-on-Washington envy," she said.

Beck has said he did not intend to choose the King anniversary for his rally but had since decided it was "divine providence."

Beck, in a taped presentation mixed in with his live remarks, invoked King's message and said "the fight for freedom was not easy." He repeatedly injected religion into the event and urged rally participants to rely on faith to help the U.S. recover from an economic recession that has given the country stubbornly high unemployment.

"Faith is in short supply," Beck said. "To restore America, we must restore ourselves."



Organizers said their aim was to honor military personnel and others "who embody our nation's founding principles of integrity, truth and honor."

Many in the crowd watched the proceedings on large television screens. On the edges of the Mall, vendors sold "Don't Tread on Me" flags, popular with tea party activists. Other activists distributed fliers urging voters "dump Obama." The pamphlet included a picture of the president with a Hitler-style mustache.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, leading the civil rights march and rally, mocked the Beck production. "The folks who used to criticize us for marching are trying to have a march themselves," he said. "We come because the dream has not been achieved. We've made a lot of progress. But we still have a long way to go."

He said he wasn't seeking a confrontation with those at the Beck rally.

"We wouldn't disgrace today by allowing you to provoke us," he said in remarks directed at the Beck followers. "If peopple start heckling, smile at them," he told fellow marchers.

People began filling up the space between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument early in the day, many waving American flags. Wasington's subway system was extremely crowded with long lines of people trying to get to the rally. Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that there was crowding at least a dozen stations.

Ricky Thomas, 43, a SWAT team police officer from Chesapeake Beach, Md., brought his 10-year old son Chase to the Beck rally. "I wanted my son to see democracy in action," Thomas said.

He said he wants government to stay out of people's lives. He acknowledged that he works for government, but said it's "a part of government that helps people when they are in trouble."

Beck has given voice to those angry and frustrated with President Barack Obama and other Democrats this election year, especially members of the tea party movement.

To see more photos from this great event, go to: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Glenn-Beck-speaks--Restoring-Honor-rally-front-Lincoln-Memorial/photo//100828/480/urn_publicid_ap_org79aa0e2ff7f44a018928dc9adb228e1c//s:/ap/us_dc_rally#photoViewer=/100828/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_bbdb27400ad64c54a380ee3c3d902b69

Iran Begins Fueling First Nuclear Reactor

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

BUSHEHR, Iran (AP) - Iranian and Russian engineers began loading fuel Saturday into Iran's first nuclear power plant, which Moscow has pledged to safeguard to prevent material at the site from being used in any potential weapons production.

After years of delays, the fueling of the Bushehr plant in southern Iran marks the startup of a facility for energy production that the U.S. once hoped to block as a way to pressure the country to stop separate nuclear activities of far greater concern.

There have not been strong objections to the Bushehr plant itself as there have been with Iran's separate efforts at other sites to accelerate uranium enrichment - a process that makes the fuel for power plants but which can also be used in weapons production.

Even as Iran's nuclear chief said the plant demonstrated the country has only peaceful aims, he celebrated it as a defiant "symbol of Iranian resistance and patience" in the face of Western pressure.

"Despite all pressure, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the startup of the largest symbol of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters inside the plant.

Washington and other nations do not oppose Iran's stated aim of producing nuclear energy, but are concerned that if Iran masters the enrichment cycle it would have a pathway to weapons production under the convenient cover of a peaceful energy program. Iran denies such an intention.

It is the enrichment work that has been the target of four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

Russia, which helped finish building Bushehr, has pledged to prevent spent nuclear fuel at the site from being shifted to a possible weapons program. After years of delaying its completion, Moscow says it believes the Bushehr project is essential for persuading Iran to cooperate with international efforts to ensure Iran does not develop the bomb.

The United States, while no longer formally objecting to the plant, disagrees and says Iran should not be rewarded while it continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.

On Saturday, a first truckload of fuel was taken from a storage site to a fuel "pool" inside the reactor building under the watch of monitors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA said in a statement that it is "taking the appropriate verification measures in line with its established safeguards procedures."

Over the next two weeks, 163 fuel assemblies - equal to 80 tons of uranium fuel - will be moved inside the building and then into the reactor core.

Workers in white lab coats and helmets led reporters on a tour of the cavernous facility.

It will be another two months before the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor is pumping electricity to Iranian cities.

The Bushehr plant is not considered a proliferation risk because the terms of the deal commit the Iranians to allowing the Russians to retrieve all used reactor fuel for reprocessing. Spent fuel contains plutonium, which can be used to make atomic weapons. Additionally, Iran has said that IAEA experts will be able to verify that none of the fresh fuel or waste is diverted.

Of greater concern to the West, however, are Iran's stated plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds. Iran said recently it will begin construction on the first one in March in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

Nationwide celebrations were planned for Saturday's fuel loading at Bushehr.

"I thank the Russian government and nation, which cooperated with the great Iranian nation and registered their name in Islamic Iran's golden history," Salehi said. "Today is a historic day and will be remembered in history."

He spoke at a news conference inside the plant with the head of Russia's state-run nuclear corporation, Sergei Kiriyenko, who said Russia was always committed to the project.

"The countdown to the Bushehr nuclear power plant has started," Kiriyenko said. "Congratulations."

Iran's hard-liners consider the completion of the plant to be a show of defiance against U.N. Security Council sanctions that seek to slow Iran's other nuclear advances.

"The startup at Bushehr proved the ineffectiveness of sanctions," conservative lawmaker Arsalan Fathipour said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Friday that Tehran was ready to resume negotiations with the six major powers trying to curb Iran's enrichment work - the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany.

Ahmadinejad, however, insisted Iran would reject calls to completely halt uranium enrichment, a key U.N. demand. The president had earlier said the talks could start in September, but in an interview with Japan's biggest newspaper, The Yomiuri Shimbun, he said the talks could start as early as this month.

Russia signed a $1 billion contract to build the Bushehr plant in 1995 but has dragged its feet on completing the work.

Moscow had cited technical reasons for the delays, but analysts say Russia used the project to try to press Iran to ease its defiance over its nuclear program.

The uranium fuel Russia has supplied for Bushehr is well below the more than 90 percent enrichment needed for a nuclear warhead. Iran is already producing its own uranium enriched to the Bushehr level - about 3.5 percent. It also has started a pilot program of enriching uranium to 20 percent, which officials say is needed for a medical research reactor.

The Bushehr plant overlooks the Persian Gulf and is visible from several miles (kilometers) away with its cream-colored dome dominating the green landscape. Soldiers maintain a 24-hour watch on roads leading up to the plant, manning anti-aircraft guns and supported by numerous radar stations.

There are several housing facilities for employees inside the complex plus a separate large compound housing the families of Russian experts and technicians. The site is about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of Tehran.

Russians began shipping fuel for the plant in 2007 and carried out a test-run of the plant in February 2009.

Iran says it plans to build other reactors and says designs for a second rector in southwestern Iran are taking shape.

The Bushehr project dates backs to 1974, when Iran's U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi contracted with the German company Siemens to build the reactor. The company withdrew from the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah.

The partially finished plant later sustained damages after it was bombed by Iraq during its 1980-88 war against Iran.

Before making the Russian deal to complete Bushehr, Iran signed pacts with Argentina, Spain and other countries only to see them canceled under U.S. pressure.