Monday, November 1, 2010

911 calls...


Dispatcher: 911 What is the nature of your emergency?

Caller: I'm trying to reach nine eleven but my phone doesn't have an eleven on it.

Dispatcher: This is nine eleven.

Caller: I thought you just said it was nine-one-one

Dispatcher: Yes, ma'am nine-one-one and nine-eleven are the same thing.

Caller: Honey, I may be old, but I'm not stupid.

Dispatcher: 911 What's the nature of your emergency?

Caller: My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart

Dispatcher: Is this her first child?

Caller: No, you idiot! This is her husband!

What's Up this Week?

My calendar will be abbreviated this week. Here are the scheduled appointments:

Mon Nov 1
  • Car for service (battery light on)
  • AM - Office
  • Noon Rotary Club luncheon
  • PM - Visiting
Tue Nov 2
  • 11am Staff Meeting
  • 12:30pm – 2pm Bible Study Group
  • 2pm – 6pm at manse awaiting delivery (and working on sermon)
Wed Nov 3
  • 8:30 – 10:30am Clergy Group at Mahopac
  • 6pm  Communications Task Force
  • 7pm Session
Thu Nov 4
  • 8am – 4pm Jury Duty, Barnstable, MA
Fri Nov 5
  • at our place in Harwich, MA
Sat Nov 6
  • 5:30pm Progressive Dinner
Sun Nov 7
  • 8am Cleanup at PCMK
  • 9am choir rehearsal
  • 10am worship 
I'm available for lunch on Wednesday, and for appointments today, tomorrow morning and evening, and Wed. afternoon. Give me a call (201-406-8991)!

--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor

CROP Walk

What a beautiful day for a CROP Walk! And what a location (once we found it!) at the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation!

Team PCMK was out in force, with numbers and dollars. In all we had a team of 25 folks from the church! Though the final tally remains to be certified, we're over $2400 in donations. These are some of the photos I took. 

Thanks to our coordinators Kate Lombardi and Dave Dobson, and to everyone who walked, who contributed, and who prayed with us in worship yesterday as we dedicated this effort to making a difference for hungry neighbors through Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry and around the world.

--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor





 

War News for Monday, November 01, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from gunshot wounds in the Nahr-e Saraj North, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Saturday, October 30th. News reports he died from sniper fire. Here's the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 23rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 27th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 28th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, October 29th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 30th.

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Pfc. David R. Jones Jr. died from a non-combat incident in Baghdad Iraq on Sunday October 24th. News reports he died from a gunshot wound to his head.

The DoD is reporting another new death unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Phillip C. Tanner died in an undisclosed non-combat incident at Ali Al Salem, Kuwait on Tuesday, October 26th.

The DoD is reporting a third new death unreported by the military. Spc. Diego A. Solorzanovaldovinos died in Landstuhl, Germany on Friday, October 29th. He was wounded from small arms fire in the Yahya Khel district, Paktika Province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 27th.


UK 'will not send troops to Yemen'

Deal struck on Swedish troops in Afghanistan

Iraqi forces storm church to end standoff; 37 killed


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Fifty-two hostages and police officers were killed when security forces raided a Baghdad church to free more than 100 Iraqi Catholics held by al Qaeda-linked gunmen, a deputy interior minister said on Monday. Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal said 67 people were also wounded in the raid on the church, which was seized by guerrillas during Sunday mass in the bloodiest attack in Iraq since August. The death toll was many times higher than that given overnight in the hours after the raid. The gunmen took hostages at the Our Lady of Salvation Church, one of Baghdad's largest and demanded the release of al Qaeda prisoners in Iraq and Egypt. "This death toll is for civilians and security force members. We don't differentiate between police and civilians. They are all Iraqis," Kamal said, adding the number did not include dead attackers. At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighbourhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.

Police stormed the church two hours later. At least 25 hostages are believed to have been killed. Seven members of the security forces and five gunmen also died.

#2: Before seizing the church, the attackers, who were wearing suicide vests, reportedly attempted to break into a stock exchange building in Baghdad. As a result, two security guards who tried to stop the assailants were killed.

Two guards were killed and four others were wounded in the earlier attack on the stock market, according to the police officials. The attackers also remotely detonated two car bombs outside the stock exchange, they said.


Taji:
#1: A bomb attached to a car belonging to Adnan Atallah, a leader of a government-backed Sunni militia, exploded in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, killing him and wounding three passers-by, an Interior Ministry source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: “A group of armed men, using a pickup, have opened fire on a citizen in front of his house in Kirkuk’s al-Urouba district late Sunday night, killing him on the spot,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq News Agency.


Riyadh:
#1: In another incident, the same source said that an explosive charge went on in front of a police officer’s house in southwest Kirkuk’s al-Riyadh village, late Sunday night, but caused no human casualties.


Mosul:
#1: Four Iraqi soldiers were wounded when two mortars landed at an Iraqi army base in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A U.S. drone attack killed five people in northwest Pakistan on Monday, local intelligence officials said, the latest in a barrage of such strikes against al-Qaida and Taliban militants that have long sought sanctuary in the region. The missile or missiles struck a house in North Waziristan, the area that has seen the overwhelming majority of attacks over the last two months, said the officials, who did not give their names because the agency they work for does not allow its operatives to be identified.

#2: Also in northwest Pakistan, gunmen opened fire on tankers carrying fuel for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, wounding a driver and his assistant, said police officer Nisar Khan. The attack happened close to the main northwestern city of Peshawar, he said.

#3: The Taliban briefly overran a district seat in eastern Afghanistan, torching government buildings and capturing police officers after an intense gunfight, officials said Monday. The government was back in control of Ghazni province's Khogyani district headquarters a few hours later, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary, adding that three rooms in the government headquarters had been burned and a vehicle damaged. He did not have any information on casualties. All the police guarding the district headquarters were either killed or taken prisoner, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, and their weapons and vehicles were confiscated. He put out a press release later saying the Taliban had left the district after damaging the headquarters.

#4: A roadside bombing targeted car of district governor in northern Kunduz province injured two bodyguards on Monday, the district governor Habibullah Mohtasham said. "The bomb planted on a motorbike and exploded by remote- control at 07:45 a.m. local time when my car was passing the area as a result two of my bodyguards were injured," Mohtasham told Xinhua. Mohtasham who is serving as governor of militancy-hit Ali Abad district said,"I escaped the blast miraculously and received no injury."

#5: Two cops were killed while eight others including four policemen were injured when four suicide bombers tried to enter Shah Mansoor police lines in district Swabi on Monday morning.Talking to APP Commissioner Mardan Division Akbar Khan said that two policemen embraced martyrdom whereas four others were wounded in the suicide attack. He said that both the suicide bombers were killed and search operation was underway in the nearby areas of Shah Mansoor. Swabi police told this scribe that one of the bombers detonated the explosives tied to his body at the gate of the Shah Mansoor Police Station whereas the second one escaped in the nearby fields and exploded later and shot dead by the chasing police party. However the search for the remaining two bombers is underway. The police confirmed that two cops were killed and four injured whereas four civilians were also wounded in the terror act out of which one Sher Afzal s/o Sherzada was serious and was shifted to Peshawar.

#6: Two bomb blasts damaged a railway line in the southern city of Hyderabad, police said.

At least four people were injured in two small intensity blasts that took place around a railway track in south Pakistan's city of Hyderabad on Monday, police sources said. The blasts twisted almost two feet of railway lines near Qasimabad residential area between Kotri and Hyderabad, local police said. Heavy contingent of police along with bomb disposal squad have reached the site. The tracks are being repaired by the railways staff, said an official of Pakistan Railways.

During the same month, five bomb explosion attempts targeted railway track in Sindh. Four bomb blasts had significantly damaged railway track in district Ghotki near Sukkur in Sindh province. While one of the two planted bombs exploded partially damaging a railway track in Bin Qasim area of southern port city of Karachi.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Adam L. Dickmyer

DoD: Lance Cpl. Terry E. Honeycutt Jr.

DoD: Spc. Pedro A. Maldonado

DoD: Spc. Diego A. Solorzanovaldovinos

Extraordinary Underwater Art Exhibition

In the clear shallow waters off Cancun in Mexico, 200 ghostly figures are gradually lowered to the seabed.

It's the final installment of a strange underwater art exhibition, which spans 420 square meters of barren sea bed in the area's national marine park.

Officially due to open next month, the exhibition entitled "The Silent Evolution," is the work of British sculptor and scuba diver Jason deCaires Taylor.

Consisting of 403 life-size human figures, each sculpture has been independently cast by deCaires Taylor and made using unique cement mix to encourage coral growth.

Created to highlight the decimation of the world's coral reefs, deCaires Taylor told he wanted to "create an immense artificial reef, a habitat space that would encourage fish to colonize and inhabit the area."

It is hoped the artistic reef bed will attract some of the park's 750,000 yearly visitors away from the natural reefs, which need time to recover and expand.

"It's extremely interesting working underwater," said deCaires Taylor, who explained how the work had shaped a new and dynamic perspective for audiences.

"The colors are different, the light patterns are very diverse, the atmosphere and mood is otherworldly. The piece takes on a very different tone underwater - it has a missing feel to it and brings up all these questions that you wouldn't have on land," he said.

Spiteful Asian Fruit Fly Found In Michigan

Michigan State University Extension researchers have found a spiteful Asian fruit fly the spotted wing Drosophila in numerous areas in the southern end of the state. The fly attacks fruits that are among Michigan's most popular, including the cherries available at Overhiser Orchards. Researchers consider the invader has the potential to severely damage fruit crops if not managed properly.

The spotted wing Drosophila is native to southeast Asia, but has been turning up in astonishing places lately. First spotted in California in 2008, the fly was then seen north in Oregon and Washington. It has yet been found in Florida.

Michigan has a spotted wing Drosophila response team that formed previous this year to detect and combat the fly. Further monitoring is taking place this fall to decide where the fly is present in the state.

First European To Top The World Rankings

Lee Westwood has taken over from Tiger Woods as golf's new world number one, after Martin Kaymer failed to conclude in the top two in the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama on Sunday.

Briton Westwood, who becomes the first European to top the world rankings since Nick Faldo in 1994, has climbed to the summit in spite of never having won one of golf's four 'major' titles.

And in doing so, the 37-year-old ends Woods' remarkable 281-week control as the world's top golfer. Woods has been top of the tree since enduringly taking over from Vijay's Vijay Singh in June 2005.

Westwood opted to skip this week's European Tour event in Spain, meaning European Ryder Cup colleague Kaymer could have taken the top position if he had won the tournament or shared second place with no more than one other player.

Pretty Sunset Made By Deadly Chemtrails















DING, DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD!!

DING, DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD,
Which old witch?  The wicked witch!
Ding, dong the wicked witch is dead!
She’s gone to where the goblins go,
Below, below, below!
Sing it high!  Sing it low!
Let them know the wicked witch is dead!
                                  From :  The Wizard of Oz 








Had Indira Gandhi not been killed on 31 October 1984,  you would probably not be reading this blog because your author would have been killed in Operation Shanti, beginning on 8 November 1984.  Read on, dear readers.


Twenty-six years ago today, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, Architect of the Bluestar Massacre, enemy of the Sikh people, was executed by Shaheed Beant Singh and Shaheed Satwant Singh, inspired and encouraged by the uncle Shaheed Kehar Singh.  Let us drop any hypocrisy we may be harbouring about this person.  She knew that in attacking Darbar Sahib (Amritsar) she would earn the lasting enmity of the Sikh Quam and go down in Sikh history next to Aurangzeb.  She was evil, but she wasn't stupid.  She surely knew that it was suicidal to keep Sikh bodyguards after desecrating Harmandir Sahib.  Or was she so far gone in her megalomania that she thought she was invincible?  Or did she believe she could implement Operation Shanti before anyone would take action against her?  In any case, her nefarious plans were thwarted by her own action in not reassigning them. 

I was in Delhi at a family gathering when we got the news that she had been shot.  Dead silence followed by, “Well, I hope the bitch is dead!”  She was, of course.  When we later heard that her Sikh bodyguards had shot her, a cheer went up.  None of us was surprised.  The older members quickly sobered up.  “Glad she’s gotten rid of, but there’s going to be hell to pay.”  

Of course there was.  Rajiv Gandhi screamed for revenge.  Amitabh Bachhan came on TV screaming "KHOON KA BADLA KHOON!"   (Blood for blood!)”  Blood for blood there was, indeed.  The mobs were given the addresses of Sikh families, paid in liquor and kerosene and ran off to the joy of the slaughter.  By the time the bloodbath ended, thousands of Sikhs were dead, thousands widowed and tens of thousands orphaned.  The financial losses pale next to the toll of human life, but they were also devastating to the Sikh community.

Consider the situation from our Sikh point of view.  Not only was she responsible for invading and shooting up our holiest site, she also destroyed much of our history in the burning of the Akal Takht and the Sikh History Library.  This was followed by Operation Woodrose, a pretty name for a diabolical action rounding up and murdering Amritdhari males in Punjab.
It is widely believed that she had concocted a larger genocidal plan called Operation Shanti (Peace) to virtually wipe out the Sikhs of India.  This was to be carried out in the second week of November during the celebration of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji.

Indira drew a diabolical plan, named Operation Shanti, to carry out a general massacre of the Sikhs, of genocidal proportions, around November 8, when the Sikhs would assemble in various Gurdwaras for Guru Nanak's birthday celebrations. According to the plan, large-scale skirmishes virtually amounting to a war were to take place all along the India-Pakistan borders. And, it was to be given out that the Sikhs had risen in revolt in Punjab and joined hands with Pakistani armed forces which had made considerable advances into the Indian Territory. The Sikhs all over Punjab, especially in Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar districts were to be subjected to massive aerial bombardment, apart from being slaughtered by army and para military forces. The Sikhs all over India were to be subjected to mass scale massacre, loot, arson and incendiarism by lumpen elements organized by Youth Congress(I) activists. Elaborate preparations were made by Youth Congress (I) network all over India; they were to await a coded signal to start mayhem.  Operation Shanti, Sikhwiki.


 Large scale Sikh genocide was being planned by the top layers of government including Gandhi herself. The plan, known as Operation Shanti, was to take place around November 8, as was a surprise attack on Pakistan. Beant Singh, the man who assassinated Gandhi, heard of Operation Shanti from R. K. Dhawan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister and decided to kill Gandhi. [source: The Sikhs in History by Sangat Singh]  from  SikhLionz .





I try to be nice, really I do.  I just can't find it in me to be nice about this monster.  Had she not died when she did, who knows what havoc would have been wreaked upon us by the Mad Dog of Delhi, the Wicked Witch of the East, Indira (Nehru) Gandhi?  









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HAPPY HALLOWEEN, indeed.

Happy Halloween!

Below are some images from Friday night's "Trunk 'n' Treat." What fun!
--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor
PS: Send me some of your pictures to share.