5 PIN BOWLING EQUIPMENT

Targets of Opportunity

THE ENEMY HAS A THOUSAND WAYS TO STRIKE. WE HAVE JUST ONE WAY TO RETALIATE. HIS NAME IS JORDAN SANDOR.
In Targets of Deception, which suspense master Robert K. Tanenbaum called “a fast-paced thriller,” Jeffrey Stephens introduced CIA agent Jordan Sandor, whom bestselling author Steve Alten praised as “terrific.” Now Sandor is back, playing for bigger stakes and facing deadlier challenges.
Whisked from his Manhattan town house to a gabled CIA safe house in Virginia, Sandor faces off with a top terrorist agent from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. In exchange for protection from his own side, Ahmad Jaber is offering the CIA explosive information: word of a secret, unholy alliance forged among operatives in the Middle East, a ruthless South American, and Kim Jong-Il’s North Korea. Jaber claims not to know specific details, only that the strike will target the heart of America.
The fanatics stage a stunning diversion in the Caribbean, mercilessly downing a passenger jet and unleashing an assault on a French intelligence installation. Sandor, however, has already moved in a different direction. Leveraging Jaber’s infor-mation, he assembles a small strike force to penetrate North Korea. The team knows they will not all return, but the intel they gather will be vital to American security. What they ultimately discover plunges Sandor into a frantic race against time, struggling to defeat a shadowy figure—a master terrorist with a plan of destruction so perfectly disguised that even with the new knowledge he has gathered, Sandor cannot guess where or how he will strike.
As a storm rages in the Gulf of Mexico, word comes that two submarines have penetrated U.S. waters. With the U.S. military hampered by the hurricane, Sandor turns to a few daring U.S. Navy SEALs to duel with the enemy they cannot see . . . for now they know only that there are two nuclear weapons aimed at a target of opportunity whose destruction would change the world order forever.
Brilliantly conceived, electrifyingly paced, Targets of Opportunity captures a terrifying twenty-first century reality: terrorists can—and will—try as many times as they need to attack the United States. For the brave men and women who defend our country, failure is not an option.

© Stephen B Whatley

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"Yesterday , December 12, 2008, was the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe; or in Mexico where her image is most venerated, La Virgen de Guadalupe - Mother of All Mexico. She is also known as the Queen or the Empress of The Americas.

Yesterday I felt compelled to create a new interpretation, in oils, inspired by the earliest image (from the 16th century ) known - compelled by my deep Christian Faith and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary & her Son, Jesus Christ; together with the abiding affection I have for the Americas; to which I feel drawn to complete my destiny. I paint from my heart & soul with many prayers and as ever thank God..."

The remarkable and enlightening story surrounding this holy image of our Blessed Mother begins on December 9, 1531, as a 57-year old Aztec Juan Diego was walking to daily Mass. As he walked by Tepeyac Hill, he heard the sound of exquisite choirs; and when the music stopped, he heard the sweetest of voices beckoning to him. There stood a beautiful young Mexican woman, looking like an Aztec princess. Dressed in a scarlet gown, her head and shoulders hung with a jade-coloured cloak, she could be seen standing on a crescent moon, supported above the ground by a tiny angel.

After expressing her love and telling him who she was, she asked that Juan Diego go to the bishop and request that a chapel be built on the hill for the Mexican natives, for whom she expressed deep love.

Intially dismissed by the bishop on his first meeting, he was then asked by the bishop to bring proof that he had indeed seen the Mother of God.

The next day before he could go to see the Virgin, Juan Diego was distressed to find his one surviving relative, an uncle, seriously ill. As he rushed to find a priest to go to his dying uncle, his path was intercepted by the Blessed Mother - who assured him that his uncle would recover. She then asked him to gather roses, growing on the mountainside, despite winter; before she arranged them in his tilma (shirt) - instructing him not to open his tied shirt until he reached the bishop.

Once with the bishop and releasing the gathered flowers , he saw that the bishop looked past the flowers, tears streaming down his face and sunk to his knees... there, where the flowers had been pressed against his shirt, the Blessed Virgin had left an image of herself- exactly as he had seen her- surrounded by rays of the sun.

On his return home, Juan Diego found his sick uncle completely recovered - and learnt that the Madonna had appeared to him as well.

December 9th is the Feast Day of Saint Juan Diego - who was blessed with these apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Mexico.

The chapel that the Virgin requested was quickly built; and today an average of 1,500 pilgrims visit the new Basilica of Our Lady of Gadalupe (built in the 1970s) in Mexico City - to kneel before the miraculous tilma (shirt)- on which the image has been perfectly sustained for 477 years.

His Holiness Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) visited the Basilica in 1979, 1999 and 2002.

La Virgen de Guadalupe - Queen of the Americas. 2008
Oil on canvas, 30 x 24in/76 x 61cm

Taken on January 21, 2008, this is a close-up of the portrait hanging above the water fountain of Stephen Colbert, a popular comedian who was born in Washington, D.C. (which is where the National Portrait Gallery, where this picture hangs, is located). The image is a digital image printed on canvas, but it seems Mr. Colbert didn't do a great job printing it... If you view the full-size image, you'll see some blurring/pixelation (in addition to the noise from my camera).

Based on the King Of Horror's 1986 Best Seller, "It" is a jittery, jolting excursion into personal fear. "It" raises goosebumps-and brings out the stars. Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Annette O'Toole, Tim Reid, John Ritter, Tim Curry and Richard Thomas star in this thriller about a malevolent force in a small New England town.

Is there anything scarier than clowns? Of course not. And who knows scary better than Stephen King? You see where we're going. It puts a malevolent clown (given demented life by a powdered, red-nosed Tim Curry) front and center, as King's fat novel gets the TV-movie treatment. Even at three hours plus, the action is condensed, but an engaging Stand by Me vibe prevails for much of the running time. The seven main characters, as adolescents, conquered a force of pure evil in their Maine hometown. Now, the cackling Pennywise is back, and they must come home to fight him--or, should we say, It--again. Admitting the TV-movie trappings and sometimes hysterical performances, this is a genuinely gripping thriller. As so often with King, the basic idea (the bond formed during a childhood trauma) is clean and powerful, a lifeline anchored in reality that leads us to the supernatural. --Robert Horton

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