Free Republic

Probably you have heard the expression, ‘Seeing is believing’, but is that always true? In fact, quite often it’s the other way around: ‘Believing is seeing’. This is true of geology, for example. Geological evidence does not speak for itself, and so it must always be interpreted. And how we interpret that evidence is always influenced by our beliefs. A good example of this is found on a roadside interpretive sign near the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in central Oregon. This is where the John Day River flows through a water gap[1] called...

I looked over the Halloween article but I was wondering how to explain that to my eleven year old. Do you have any articles written to children on this?—T.H., U.S. Many people celebrate Halloween without considering the history of the holiday. They put on costumes, attend parties, eat candy, and even pull pranks on neighbors. In fact, Americans spend billions of dollars each year decorating and preparing. But there’s more to Halloween than jack-o-lanterns and scary stories. Let’s take a quick trip back in time to see where some of these customs came from—and if Christians should take part. To...

NYSE Open Disrupted By Flood Of Orders On 2:44 pm EDT, Friday October 30, 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters) - A huge influx of orders prevented the New York Stock Exchange from disseminating quotes shortly after the start of trading on Friday. (NYSE:NYX - News; Paris:NYX.PA - News), the parent of the exchange, said the delays followed "an inordinate influx" of orders received as Friday's session got under way. Later in the session, the company had to temporarily transfer quote processing to a backup system. The exchange's quote delays caused some tickers to be locked, but an NYSE spokesman said "trades...

Researchers are recovering beautiful fossils from the Cerrejón Formation of Colombia. One was a giant snake, called the “Titanoboa.” Most recently, a study examined the formation’s fossilized flora, which looked the same as modern plants, and the rainforest environment in which they lived.[1] This research dovetails nicely with other studies on ancient earth’s turbulent climate. There is evidence of dramatic...

Years ago, National Geographic published a remarkable photograph of a polystrate fossil, a fossilized tree that extended stratigraphically upward through several layers of rock in Tennessee. Its roots were in a coal seam, and the overlying deposits included bedded shale and thin carbon-rich layers. An advocate of any form of uniformitarianism would believe that it took many, many years to deposit this sequence of layers (much longer than it takes for a tree to grow and eventually die and decay), yet one vertical fossil extends through them all. This one fossilized tree offered a direct contradiction to the evolutionary mantra...

"The evolutionary lie is so pointedly antithetical to Christian truth that it would seem unthinkable for evangelical Christians to compromise with evolutionary science in any degree. But during the past century and a half of evolutionary propaganda, evolutionists have had remarkable success in getting evangelicals to meet them halfway. Remarkably, many modern evangelicals…have already been convinced that the Genesis account of creation is not a true historical record. Thus they have not only capitulated to evolutionary doctrine at its starting point, but they have also embraced a view that undermines the authority of Scripture at its starting point.” —Dr. John...

The National Weather Service has issued flash-flood watches this morning for mountain burn areas from Santa Barbara to San Bernardino as a powerful winter storm moved into Southern California. Rain was beginning to fall this morning, with the strongest portions of the storm expected late today and early Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service issued the flood watches for areas burned by the fires in Santa Barbara as well as the massive Station fire is Los Angeles County and the Sheep fire near Wrightwood. The watch also includes areas burned in last year's large Sayre and Marek fires in the...

From Mark Shea's blog, this sad news: And, on a more personal note, my friend Rod Bennett (author of the terrific book Four Witnesses) writes: Just a note to any of our friends who haven't got the word: we Bennetts lost our home and practically all of its contents in Monday's flash flooding here in Georgia. Please be in prayer as we look for guidance on where to go from here and as our kids (who've never really known any other home than this one) try to pick up the pieces emotionally. We'll be staying with my parents in Marietta...

Now that most of the flood waters in the Atlanta suburbs have receded the residents are struggling to find what, if anything, they can salvalge from their homes. Many of the homes weren't in a flood zone and so the owners weren't required to carry flood insurance. This isn't a case of people building homes in flood prone areas. This event was unprecedented in its proportions. The official federal reponse has been a phone call from President Obama to Governor Perdue in which the President expressed his condolences. We've also been assured that Mr. Obama's people are watching the situation....

CHATTANOOGA — With children and other onlookers holding umbrellas, Sylvester Kitchens stood in the flooded street, laughing and bragging he could swim an overflowing Chattanooga storm ditch outside their house. Wearing shorts and shirtless, the 46-year-old Kitchens dared onlookers to bet him $5 he couldn't do it. Even when nobody showed any money, Kitchens jumped in. After bobbing along in the gushing water about 150 feet late Sunday afternoon and grabbing a chain link fence above the ditch, Kitchens lost his grip as family members tried to toss him the end of a water hose. He washed away into an...

ATLANTA — Floodwaters that swept across the rain-soaked Southeast killed at least three people and left five others missing Monday, including a Georgia toddler who disappeared after a mobile home was split apart by a swollen creek. Three Georgia motorists died when their vehicles were swept off Atlanta-area roads, and some major highways were submerged. Officials urged motorists to stay off the roads as a new line of storms threatened the area. Fast-moving water also swept away a Tennessee man who went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a dare. Crews in northwest Georgia worked furiously to shore up a...

Quick background: I found this while searching for events that happened on September 9 (we just had 09/09/09). A Web site mistakenly lists this disaster as happening on September 9, 1963; actually it happened October 9, 1963. Hadn't heard of it before, but it's listed as one of the top engineering disasters in history. The Vajont (Vaiont) Landslide The site linked in the header provides small snapshots of the whole area. Two examples: Here's an annotated picture that helps put it in context. Here's a picture of the immediate aftermath: To really get this in perspective, though, use Google Maps....

South Korea suspects North Korea intentionally flooded a river at their shared border last weekend, a top government official said Wednesday, as rescuers recovered the bodies of a boy and two others engulfed by the surge of water. North Korea unleashed an estimated 40 million tons of water from a new dam without providing prior notice. Six South Koreans camping and fishing at the river were swept to their deaths. The North said Monday that it "urgently" ordered the discharge because the reservoir's water level was too high. Stopping short of an apology, Pyongyang said it would warn Seoul of...

WASHINGTON – It's no surprise that Democratic lawmakers got an earful about health care legislation when they went home this summer. But Texas Republicans in the House who have already denounced the legislation have also been bombarded by correspondence from highly informed constituents. The office of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, received an unprecedented amount of mail, spokesman Sean Brown said. In the five weeks prior to the health care debate, Barton received nearly 400 e-mails. In the five weeks after it began, he got almost 2,800. "We have legislative correspondents that are tasked with returning mail, and they have been...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2009 – NATO International Security Assistance Force servicemembers have helped Afghan forces in their efforts to aid flood victims in eastern Afghanistan. In Laghman province’s Alingar district, ISAF servicemembers delivered three truckloads of humanitarian aid items to Sundurwa villagers Sept. 3 after a road washed out, destroying a house and killing nine children. Two children were missing after the flood. In an effort to support the Afghan Border Police, who initially responded to the washout and provided humanitarian aid, ISAF servicemembers, including an engineer serving with the Nuristan provincial reconstruction team, assessed the road and...

Yang Chiu-hsing, magistrate of Kaohsiung, said yesterday he is considering turning the mudslide-destroyed village of Siaolin into a memorial park. “I think we should keep Siaolin as a park in memory of those we believe were buried alive,” said the magistrate of the southern Taiwan county, who opposes the rebuilding of the village. One reason for Yang's consideration to create the memorial park is that most of the residents do not want more excavation of tens of thousands of tons of mud to locate the approximately 200 people buried and presumed dead. They do not want heavy construction equipment crushing...

edited the best parts

Pictures of a piece of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat (meaning: sacred land or high land), eastern Turkey or former western Armenia, because Noah's Ark is in pieces!

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. -- Governor Charlie Crist visited flood-damaged areas and devastated families Tuesday as recovery efforts began from the historic floods in Volusia County. The coast is drying up and giving families a chance to rebuild. In Volusia County, 619 houses have major damage and may be destroyed and 912 homes had minor damage. Officials are waiting to find out if federal money will come in to help storm victims and if FEMA will get involved.

Recently the Brits have found out what really separated them from mainland Europe: catastrophic flooding!...

Worldwide FLOOD Worldwide EVIDENCE When the Bible refers to a worldwide Flood in Genesis 7–8, that’s exactly what it means. Not local, not metaphorical, not some crazy dream—the waters covered the whole earth. Don’t just take our word for it, though. Take a look at the evidence right beneath your feet...

Dinosaur herd buried in Noah’s Flood in Inner Mongolia, China by Tas Walker Published: 14 April 2009 An international team of scientists have uncovered graphic evidence of the deadly terror unleashed on a herd of dinosaurs as they were buried under sediment by the rising waters of Noah’s Flood in western Inner Mongolia (figure 1).[1] Dinosaur bones were first discovered at the site, located at the base of a small hill in the Gobi Desert, in 1978 by a Chinese geologist. After about 20 years, a team of Chinese and Japanese scientists recovered the first skeletons, which they named Sinornithomimus,...

FARGO, N.D. – Weary residents of this sandbagged city came together in churches Sunday, counting their blessings that the Red River finally stopped rising and praying the levees would hold back its wrath. A brief levee break that swamped a school provided a warning of the kind of threat that still hangs over them in the days ahead. Church services that are a staple of life on Sunday mornings in Fargo took on greater significance as people gathered after a week of round-the clock sandbagging. They sang hymns and held hands, asking together for divine help in avoiding disaster. "At...

Good News for Fargo, but Agonizing Wait Video Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwD9OvUJmCY

Msgr. Gregory Schlesselmann, rector of Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo, N.D., was doing all he could during a heavy snowstorm March 26 to prepare for the expected rise in two days of floodwaters of the adjacent Red River. An existing, half-mile-long clay dike, about 45 feet high in his estimation, was expanded in an effort to keep an expected 41-foot crest of water not only from the seminary property but also from the north side of Fargo. He told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview March 26 that he couldn't see the river, because the dike, significantly raised the...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father Gary Benz received a phone call late in the afternoon March 22 that he will likely never forget. An elderly parishioner called the priest, pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Linton, N.D., pleading with him to save her home from the rising floodwaters of nearby Beaver Creek. Father Benz, along with several members of the community, spent the next several hours in the pouring rain frantically sandbagging around her house and pumping out water that was coming in. Late that night police officials told the woman she would have to abandon the flooded house as it...

The White House said it's actively monitoring flooding in North Dakota and Minnesota, and President Barack Obama has dispatched the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the region. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Nancy Ward is in Fargo and Obama has personally spoken with the governors of both states and with Fargo's mayor.

<p>FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A CNN journalist and seven other people have been arrested for standing on top of sandbag levees in the Fargo area.</p>

Fargo police ordered mandatory evacuations early Friday after a breach in flood protection created a "significant leak" as the Red River topped 40 feet, breaking a record crest set in 1897. Fargo police Capt. Tod Dahle says the evacuation was ordered shortly after 2 a.m. Friday for all homes in an area south of downtown Fargo. Officers knocked on doors and the city used a phone system to alert residents of the threat. Authorities say there is an immediate threat of rising flood water. Residents are being told to head west. Emergency shelter is available at a high school. The...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS ND 432 PM CDT THU MAR 26 2009 ..RECORD FLOODING IS EXPECTED IN FARGO THIS WARNING HAS BEEN EXTENDED FOR THE RED RIVER AT FARGO AFFECTING CLAY AND CASS COUNTIES. .CONDITIONS ON THE RED RIVER AT FARGO HAVE GROWN INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS. THE RIVER IS CURRENTLY APPROACHING RECORD LEVELS AND SHOWING NO SIGN OF SLOWING AT THIS POINT. AS THE RIVER EXCEEDS THE PREVIOUS RECORD LEVEL... THE RELATIVE UNCERTAINTY IN FORECAST MODELS HAS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY. RECORD FLOWS UPSTREAM OF FARGO HAVE PRODUCED UNPRECEDENTED CONDITIONS ON THE RED RIVER. GIVEN...

Rock Layers Folded, Not Fractured Flood Evidence Number Six by Andrew A. Snelling March 15, 2009 How could a series of sedimentary layers fold without fracturing? The only way is for all the sedimentary layers to be laid down in rapid succession and then be folded while still soft and pliable. If the global Flood, as described in Genesis 7–8, really occurred, what evidence would we expect to find? Wouldn’t we expect to find rock layers all over the earth that are filled with billions of dead animals and plants that were rapidly buried and fossilized in sand, mud, and...

Stunning New Evidence of a Higher Ancient Sea Level by Brian Thomas, M.S.* According to the record in Genesis, there was a time when the entire surface of the earth was inundated with water. This possibility has been ridiculed because of questions regarding the origin and destination of all the extra water that supposedly would have been required to accomplish this.1 But newly described fossils of marine creatures found in a rock quarry in Bermuda indicate that ancient sea levels used to be 70 feet higher than they are today, which presents a puzzle to standard geological thinking.2 Geologist Paul...

In reality, evolution has done nothing to help real science, and has actually hindered it in many ways...

Flooding Disaster Assistance Available for Disabled VetsSnohomish CountyRelease Date and Time: 01-20-2009 01:55:00 PM       As a result of recent flooding in Western Washington and record snowfall in Eastern Washington, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is extending applications for grants under our nationally recognized Disaster Relief program.   The DAV Disaster Relief grants may be issued for the purpose of providing; food, clothing, and temporary shelter or to obtain relief from injury, illness or personal loss resulting from natural/national disasters that are not covered by insurance or other disaster relief agencies.    To be eligible for a...

Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a "bunker" built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect: Many are believed to be in the basements of the Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip. Shifa, the coastal strip's largest hospital, was built while Gaza was under Egyptian rule, before 1967. During the mid-1980s the building underwent massive refurbishment as part of a showcase project to improve the living conditions of residents. Millions were invested in the project, which was overseen by Shmuel Goren, the coordinator for activities in the territories at...

This week’s feedback responds to a public policy statement on ‘creationism’ published in December 2008 by the Geological Society of Australia in their members’ newsletter, and made available on their website. The policy is couched in inclusive and learned language but when you look at the substance it turns out to be neither. The statement is discriminatory and anti-scientific, aimed at censoring beliefs that run contrary to the party line of the Society. This sort of behaviour is more in line with a dictatorship, and demonstrates how far the present leadership of the Society has departed from the ideals of...

A deluge that swept the Land of Israel more than 7,000 years ago, submerging six Neolithic villages opposite the Carmel Mountains, is the origin of the biblical flood of Noah, a British marine archeologist said Tuesday. The new theory about the source of the great flood detailed in the Book of Genesis comes amid continuing controversy among scholars over whether the inundation of the Black Sea more than seven millennia ago was the biblical flood. In the theory posited by British marine archeologist Dr. Sean Kingsley and published in the Bulletin of the Anglo-Israeli Archaeological Society, the drowning of the...

A deluge that swept the Land of Israel more than 7,000 years ago, submerging six Neolithic villages opposite the Carmel Mountains, is the origin of the biblical flood of Noah, a British marine archeologist said Tuesday. The new theory about the source of the great flood detailed in the Book of Genesis comes amid continuing controversy among scholars over whether the inundation of the Black Sea more than seven millennia ago was the biblical flood. In the theory posited by British marine archeologist Dr. Sean Kingsley and published in the Bulletin of the Anglo-Israeli Archaeological Society, the drowning of the...

Historic center of Venice flooded The Associated Press Monday, December 1, 2008 VENICE, Italy: Venice could use a bailout. The city built on water has too much of it. Residents and tourists waded through knee-deep water Monday as they navigated the city's narrow streets and alleys, and its historic St. Mark's Square was inundated. Boxes of tourist merchandise floated inside the flooded shops around the square and even the city's famed pigeons sought refuge on rooftops and windowsills. One of the highest tides in its history brought Venice to a virtual halt, rekindling a debate over a plan to build...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2008 – U.S. troops here are helping provide clean drinking to local communities hurt by flooding caused by a tropical storm that brought more than a week of rain. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Shane Bolles, deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, to serve as part of Joint Task Force Bravo, works on a water filtration machine in Honduras, Oct. 29, 2007. Troops from the task force are helping a community near Soto Cano Air Base by filtering well water that became undrinkable after a tropical storm caused flooding in the area. U.S. Air Force photo...

Texas Tech, local schools cancel Friday classes While Lubbock looked east the past few weeks to see if hurricanes would bring evacuees here, the city was drenched by storms coming from the west as six inches of rain caused numerous problems Thursday. More rain is possible through this weekend, which could cause cancellations or rescheduling for community and sporting events. No high school football games have been canceled yet, but athletic directors across the area said they will monitor the situation to make sure no one will be in danger. Thursday's impact was widespread: • Lubbock, Cooper and Frenship schools...

In 1943 during WW2, an army Sgt., Ed Davis, was working in Iran near the Turkish border, in charge of locals hired by our army to build a road through Iran to the Soviet border, which would carry supplies to the Soviets instead of flying them in. In short, Ed did a tremendous favor for a little Kurdish village near Ararat. His workers were mostly Kurds and the chief of the village came to Ed and asked if he would like to see Noah's Ark. He said the summer on the mountain had been hottest in many years and the...

A Christian fundamentalist group is praying for a deluge to drown out Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in two weeks' time. Focus on the Family is asking for "abundant, torrential" downpours to flood Denver and silence Senator Obama when he accepts the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on August 28....

'Worst floods in a century' swamp Ukraine More than 20,000 homes affected, 7,000 people flee from rising rivers Reuters Published: Monday, July 28, 2008 KIEV -- Floods described by a senior government official as the worst in a century have killed 13 people in western Ukraine and four in neighbouring Romania, officials said yesterday. Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry said water levels were dangerously high on the Prut and Dnestr rivers after five days of non-stop rain. More than 20,000 homes have been flooded and 7,000 people evacuated, many by boat or helicopter, it said. At least five of the dead were...

Remember the outrage that still exists today, over the Bush Administrations handling of post-Katrina relief? Perhaps you don't remember that the Republican-Led congress at the time passed a Hurricane relief bill within just 48 hours following the devastation throughout the Southern States. Last week, this congress, led by Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi, once again showed that they have no leadership ability and no ability to prioritize government services. Fortunately, congress passed the Mortgage-Relief bill, a highly publicized attempt to divert attention away from the growing and impending energy crisis in this nation. But while pandering to the populous, Senator...

Mexican officials say a concrete barrier constructed by the U.S. Border Patrol in a storm-water tunnel beneath Nogales appears to be on Mexican soil and was the main cause of serious flooding July 12 in Nogales, Sonora. The flooding caused about $8 million in damage in Nogales, Sonora, the officials say. The 5-foot-high wall on the floor of the tunnel in front of a gate was put in without notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. section of the commission. The commission requests that any agency doing work on the border that could...

A young man got caught in the river's rage while trying to recover more of his folks belongings. He died in those merciless waters. At the rate the river was moving, it boggles the mind that his body could be recovered. Yet instead of being swept away, he was found relatively close by. God was hanging onto him for his family's sake. Perfect strangers were driving up to people's houses and would just start loading belongings. No questions asked, just pitching in. Getting people and parts of their life to safety. God was the matchmaker, giving people that could help...

Chabad Flood Relief 1,000 pounds of meat donated by Agriprocessors distributed by Chabad through the Red Cross more photos hereIts been called the greatest flood in Iowa history, a "500 year flood". Cities have been submerged, lives lost, homes washed away in torrents of rain, thunder and tornadoes. It seems like daily a new story of a levy on the verge of collapse or giving way to the rush of out of control rivers, stills the hearts of Americans. People await the answers to their prayerful calls for help. In response, Americans have donated money and volunteered for relief operations....

The President presented medal of freedoms and then toured the flood ravaged areas in Iowa. This evening he and and the First Lady hosted a social dinner in honor of American jazz Secretary of State Condelezza Rice was at the UN today. . Pray for President Bush -- Day 2836

WINFIELD, Mo. -- Floodwaters punched a 150-foot hole in a Winfield levee last night, and firefighters spent hours in the dark going door-to-door to warn residents in one subdivision that water was coming faster than expected. Bill Byram, assistant chief and fire marshal of the Winfield-Foley Fire Protection District, said the levee just east of Winfield along Pillsbury Road broke about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. Water was quickly flowing toward a second levee, and the National Guard was fortifying that with sandbags.