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Monday, November 29, 2010
9 Shocking Examples Of Black Friday Violence – Is This A Foretaste Of The Economic Riots We Can Expect When The Financial System Collapses?
theeconomiccollapseblog.com
It seems with each passing year the madness on Black Friday gets even worse. This year, there were reports of fights and rioting from coast to coast. It was estimated that over 180 million U.S. shoppers headed for the stores on Friday, and whenever you get that many people together there are going to be problems. But just how crazed ordinary Americans are getting over saving a little bit of money is deeply disturbing when you really start thinking about it. If people will go this wild just to save 40 percent on a television set, then what in the world are they going to do when they have been without food for a couple of days? If Americans will act like psychotic animals just to save 50 bucks, then what in the world will they do when they have lost everything and are desperate to survive?
All of us had better hope and pray that an economic collapse does not happen any time soon, because it is becoming increasingly apparent that the American people are not morally equipped to be able to handle one. Greed and selfishness have become so rampant in America that large segments of the population have totally forgotten how to be any other way.
If the United States ever experiences a really, really bad economic downturn, this nation could very quickly start looking like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina from coast to coast. Most Americans would simply not know how to handle it.
The following are 9 shocking examples of Black Friday violence that should make all of us wonder what is happening to America....
#1 At a Target store in Buffalo, New York the crowds waiting impatiently outside suddenly became a chaotic mob once the doors opened at 4 AM on Friday morning.
One man that was lying on the ground remembers thinking "I don't want to die here" while he was being trampled by crazed shoppers....
#2 Crowds were becoming so violent at a Wal-Mart in Sacramento, California that the police actually evacuated the store early Friday morning.
#3 Three women from West Palm Beach, Florida said that $1,000 in presents that they had just purchased at Best Buy were stolen from their vehicle on Friday morning within minutes of being purchased.
#4 One U.S. Marine reservist that was collecting toys for children was stabbed with a knife when he attempted to stop a shoplifter in eastern Georgia on Friday.
#5 Blogger Lynne Elder-Blau has posted about overhearing police officers describe a huge brawl that erupted this year at one well-known store on Black Friday....
Well, the girls and I were in a popular convenience store in Garden City last night while a store employee and a Garden City Police Department Officer were visiting. They were conversing about a large group of customers who got into a knock-down brawl at a nationally-known variety store in Garden City yesterday morning. Several police officers were brought in to break up the ball of adults who were pulling and tugging at products and actually punching other customers in their faces and stomach areas! We're not just talking about a few people who were involved in this violent non-sense. The officer said that there was a large amount of people involved in this particular altercation. Ridiculous!!!
#6 A 21-year-old woman from Middleton, Wisconsin was arrested when she threatened to shoot other shoppers while waiting to get into a Toys R Us store for Black Friday. The other shoppers had objected when she attempted to move to the front of the line.
#7 The following is video of customers literally tearing apart a store display at a Wal-Mart in Douglasville, Georgia as they pushed and shoved each other in an attempt to grab the best deals....
#8 The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department actually "locked down" a section of a Cerritos, California shopping mall after a wild fight broke out in the food court. There were even reports that some people were flinging chairs at other customers.
#9 At one Wal-Mart in Texas, a near-riot broke out right in the middle of the store as a huge crowd of customers pushed and shoved each other to get a handful of Black Friday deals that were being wheeled out to the floor....
If you want to see even more videos of Black Friday craziness, check out this and this.
Remember, the products that these Americans are fighting over are not free. This is how crazy people are willing to go just to get a deep discount on an item.
So what is going to happen someday when people are desperate for food or shelter?
If this is how people act when the sun is shining, how are they going to behave once a really bad storm arrives?
In America today, fewer and fewer people are treating others the way that they would like to be treated themselves.
Instead of showing others kindness and respect, in 2010 most Americans would seemingly rather trample anyone who is in the way of getting what they want.
So what do you think? Are Americans becoming more greedy and more selfish or are they basically "good" and "decent" people most of the time? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion....
View Article With Links HERE
It seems with each passing year the madness on Black Friday gets even worse. This year, there were reports of fights and rioting from coast to coast. It was estimated that over 180 million U.S. shoppers headed for the stores on Friday, and whenever you get that many people together there are going to be problems. But just how crazed ordinary Americans are getting over saving a little bit of money is deeply disturbing when you really start thinking about it. If people will go this wild just to save 40 percent on a television set, then what in the world are they going to do when they have been without food for a couple of days? If Americans will act like psychotic animals just to save 50 bucks, then what in the world will they do when they have lost everything and are desperate to survive?
All of us had better hope and pray that an economic collapse does not happen any time soon, because it is becoming increasingly apparent that the American people are not morally equipped to be able to handle one. Greed and selfishness have become so rampant in America that large segments of the population have totally forgotten how to be any other way.
If the United States ever experiences a really, really bad economic downturn, this nation could very quickly start looking like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina from coast to coast. Most Americans would simply not know how to handle it.
The following are 9 shocking examples of Black Friday violence that should make all of us wonder what is happening to America....
#1 At a Target store in Buffalo, New York the crowds waiting impatiently outside suddenly became a chaotic mob once the doors opened at 4 AM on Friday morning.
One man that was lying on the ground remembers thinking "I don't want to die here" while he was being trampled by crazed shoppers....
#2 Crowds were becoming so violent at a Wal-Mart in Sacramento, California that the police actually evacuated the store early Friday morning.
#3 Three women from West Palm Beach, Florida said that $1,000 in presents that they had just purchased at Best Buy were stolen from their vehicle on Friday morning within minutes of being purchased.
#4 One U.S. Marine reservist that was collecting toys for children was stabbed with a knife when he attempted to stop a shoplifter in eastern Georgia on Friday.
#5 Blogger Lynne Elder-Blau has posted about overhearing police officers describe a huge brawl that erupted this year at one well-known store on Black Friday....
Well, the girls and I were in a popular convenience store in Garden City last night while a store employee and a Garden City Police Department Officer were visiting. They were conversing about a large group of customers who got into a knock-down brawl at a nationally-known variety store in Garden City yesterday morning. Several police officers were brought in to break up the ball of adults who were pulling and tugging at products and actually punching other customers in their faces and stomach areas! We're not just talking about a few people who were involved in this violent non-sense. The officer said that there was a large amount of people involved in this particular altercation. Ridiculous!!!
#6 A 21-year-old woman from Middleton, Wisconsin was arrested when she threatened to shoot other shoppers while waiting to get into a Toys R Us store for Black Friday. The other shoppers had objected when she attempted to move to the front of the line.
#7 The following is video of customers literally tearing apart a store display at a Wal-Mart in Douglasville, Georgia as they pushed and shoved each other in an attempt to grab the best deals....
#8 The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department actually "locked down" a section of a Cerritos, California shopping mall after a wild fight broke out in the food court. There were even reports that some people were flinging chairs at other customers.
#9 At one Wal-Mart in Texas, a near-riot broke out right in the middle of the store as a huge crowd of customers pushed and shoved each other to get a handful of Black Friday deals that were being wheeled out to the floor....
If you want to see even more videos of Black Friday craziness, check out this and this.
Remember, the products that these Americans are fighting over are not free. This is how crazy people are willing to go just to get a deep discount on an item.
So what is going to happen someday when people are desperate for food or shelter?
If this is how people act when the sun is shining, how are they going to behave once a really bad storm arrives?
In America today, fewer and fewer people are treating others the way that they would like to be treated themselves.
Instead of showing others kindness and respect, in 2010 most Americans would seemingly rather trample anyone who is in the way of getting what they want.
So what do you think? Are Americans becoming more greedy and more selfish or are they basically "good" and "decent" people most of the time? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion....
View Article With Links HERE
Sunday, November 28, 2010
US Government seizure of the internet has begun; DHS takes over 76 websites
US Government seizure of the internet has begun; DHS takes over 76 websites
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) As part of a new expansion of government power over information, the Department of Homeland Security has begun seizing and shutting down internet websites (web domains) without due process or a proper trial. DHS simply seizes web domains that it wants to and posts an ominous "Department of Justice" logo on the web site. See an example at http://torrent-finder.com
Over 75 websites were seized and shut down last week, and there is no indication that the government will stop such efforts. Right now, their focus is websites that they claim "violate copyrights," yet the torrent-finder.com website that was seized by DHS contained no copyrighted content whatsoever. It was merely a search engine website that linked to destinations where people could access copyrighted content. Google also links to copyrighted content -- does that mean the feds will soon seize Google, too?
These seizures were conducted on the basis of language in the DMCA law, which is vastly overreaching in its powers (it was passed to appease the music recording industry and the RIAA). Even so, the U.S. Senate is right now considering passing yet another law -- COICA -- the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/...), a new law that would give the federal government even more power to shut down websites it opposed.
Read more about COICA here: http://www.usa-anti-communist.com/w...
And here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris...
Here's the list of 19 US Senators who voted to censor the internet via the COICA bill: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...
Government could shut down alternative health websites
Where is all this going? Today the U.S. government is targeting websites focused on copyright violations, but if the public tolerates this government-sponsored censorship of the web, it's only a matter of time before these government powers are expanded to control the content of the internet.
Over the last few years, several U.S. Senators have already attempted to outlaw vitamins and nutritional supplements. One lawmaker even suggested that "alternative health" information should be outlawed on the internet in order to "protect" people from information that isn't aligned with the drugs-and-surgery approach to sick care. It's only a matter of time, it seems, before the U.S. government uses its new power of seizing internet websites as an information warfare weapon to silence anyone who opposes FDA and the Big Pharma agenda.
In fact, under these new laws, there's no limit to what websites the U.S. government could choose to seize and shut down. This is the beginning of the federal takeover of the internet, where all websites that don't fall in line with "official" government-approved information are now potential targets of DHS seizures.
One music website seized by DHS -- RapGodFather.com -- was seized merely because its users posted comments linking to file-sharing websites (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/...). The site had 150,000 members, but as of today, it is the property of "Homeland Security Investigations." (http://rapgodfathers.com/)
See the TorrentFreak.com news report on this important story here: http://torrentfreak.com/music-linki...
All websites using the word "Face" could soon be seized
The reach of tyrants knows no limits. As widely reported throughout the popular press last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has assigned Facebook a trademark monopoly over the word "Face." (http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/23/pa...) This means that any website using the word "face" could theoretically be seized by the DHS under the DMCA.
Lest you think this is some impossible exaggeration of the law, keep in mind that governments always misuse laws to go far beyond their original intended purpose. The RICO Act, for example, which was originally passed in 1970 to combat the mafia, is now used nearly every day against individuals and small businesses (http://www.ricoact.com).
Similarly, the Patriot Act signed into law by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks was originally intended to be applied to international terrorists. But now in the United States, it is routinely used against animal rights activists and environmental protection groups (http://www.aclu.org/national-securi...).
These rogue abuses of federal law create a pattern of expanding government powers that increasingly threaten the Constitutional rights of American citizens. To seize a person's website without due process is both a violation of that person's First Amendment rights (Free Speech) as well as their Fifth Amendment rights.
The Fifth Amendment states:
No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
And yet this seizure of websites by the DHS is doing precisely that -- depriving people of property without due process of law.
The U.S. federal government, as we have increasingly seen through the actions of the TSA, DEA and DHS, does not recognize nor honor the Bill of Rights. Nor does it believe the U.S. Constitution has any authority whatsoever. The upshot of this is that all Americans citizens are now living under a system of government tyranny, where government agents may molest you at the airports or seize your website if they don't like what you're saying online.
Take action: Sign the petition
Help stop the government takeover of the internet. Sign this petition:
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/
In order to protect your access to NaturalNews.com and stay in contact with us in case the DHS ever attempts to seize our web domain, be sure to join our email list by entering your email address at http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRe...
That way, we will be able to reach you by email with any important updates or announcements.
View Article With Links HERE
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) As part of a new expansion of government power over information, the Department of Homeland Security has begun seizing and shutting down internet websites (web domains) without due process or a proper trial. DHS simply seizes web domains that it wants to and posts an ominous "Department of Justice" logo on the web site. See an example at http://torrent-finder.com
Over 75 websites were seized and shut down last week, and there is no indication that the government will stop such efforts. Right now, their focus is websites that they claim "violate copyrights," yet the torrent-finder.com website that was seized by DHS contained no copyrighted content whatsoever. It was merely a search engine website that linked to destinations where people could access copyrighted content. Google also links to copyrighted content -- does that mean the feds will soon seize Google, too?
These seizures were conducted on the basis of language in the DMCA law, which is vastly overreaching in its powers (it was passed to appease the music recording industry and the RIAA). Even so, the U.S. Senate is right now considering passing yet another law -- COICA -- the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/...), a new law that would give the federal government even more power to shut down websites it opposed.
Read more about COICA here: http://www.usa-anti-communist.com/w...
And here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris...
Here's the list of 19 US Senators who voted to censor the internet via the COICA bill: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...
Government could shut down alternative health websites
Where is all this going? Today the U.S. government is targeting websites focused on copyright violations, but if the public tolerates this government-sponsored censorship of the web, it's only a matter of time before these government powers are expanded to control the content of the internet.
Over the last few years, several U.S. Senators have already attempted to outlaw vitamins and nutritional supplements. One lawmaker even suggested that "alternative health" information should be outlawed on the internet in order to "protect" people from information that isn't aligned with the drugs-and-surgery approach to sick care. It's only a matter of time, it seems, before the U.S. government uses its new power of seizing internet websites as an information warfare weapon to silence anyone who opposes FDA and the Big Pharma agenda.
In fact, under these new laws, there's no limit to what websites the U.S. government could choose to seize and shut down. This is the beginning of the federal takeover of the internet, where all websites that don't fall in line with "official" government-approved information are now potential targets of DHS seizures.
One music website seized by DHS -- RapGodFather.com -- was seized merely because its users posted comments linking to file-sharing websites (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/...). The site had 150,000 members, but as of today, it is the property of "Homeland Security Investigations." (http://rapgodfathers.com/)
See the TorrentFreak.com news report on this important story here: http://torrentfreak.com/music-linki...
All websites using the word "Face" could soon be seized
The reach of tyrants knows no limits. As widely reported throughout the popular press last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has assigned Facebook a trademark monopoly over the word "Face." (http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/23/pa...) This means that any website using the word "face" could theoretically be seized by the DHS under the DMCA.
Lest you think this is some impossible exaggeration of the law, keep in mind that governments always misuse laws to go far beyond their original intended purpose. The RICO Act, for example, which was originally passed in 1970 to combat the mafia, is now used nearly every day against individuals and small businesses (http://www.ricoact.com).
Similarly, the Patriot Act signed into law by President Bush after the 9/11 attacks was originally intended to be applied to international terrorists. But now in the United States, it is routinely used against animal rights activists and environmental protection groups (http://www.aclu.org/national-securi...).
These rogue abuses of federal law create a pattern of expanding government powers that increasingly threaten the Constitutional rights of American citizens. To seize a person's website without due process is both a violation of that person's First Amendment rights (Free Speech) as well as their Fifth Amendment rights.
The Fifth Amendment states:
No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
And yet this seizure of websites by the DHS is doing precisely that -- depriving people of property without due process of law.
The U.S. federal government, as we have increasingly seen through the actions of the TSA, DEA and DHS, does not recognize nor honor the Bill of Rights. Nor does it believe the U.S. Constitution has any authority whatsoever. The upshot of this is that all Americans citizens are now living under a system of government tyranny, where government agents may molest you at the airports or seize your website if they don't like what you're saying online.
Take action: Sign the petition
Help stop the government takeover of the internet. Sign this petition:
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/
In order to protect your access to NaturalNews.com and stay in contact with us in case the DHS ever attempts to seize our web domain, be sure to join our email list by entering your email address at http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRe...
That way, we will be able to reach you by email with any important updates or announcements.
View Article With Links HERE
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Worldly Slavery Or Spiritual Freedom!
Volume XXIX Issue XII December 2010
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Fax: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org
Worldly Slavery Or Spiritual Freedom!
Psalms 51:10-12
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
Romans 8:18-21
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Galatians 5:1
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
John 8:32-36
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will once again examine the current events of our time and how they relate to the personal freedom and liberty of the American people and the rest of the world in these last days. The United States has a rich heritage of freedom and has been known throughout its short history as the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Yet, the freedom which we've enjoyed for so many years is slowly being taken from us, little by little in a gradual manner, difficult to detect by a preoccupied and distracted population.
We live in a constantly changing world. Every year we see new rules and regulations used to burden and entangle the citizens of the United States. There are literally dozens of taxes that we are forced to pay among other fees, surcharges, permits, and licenses. My father always used to define a free man as "one who is able to enjoy the fruits of his labor." Therefore, if you're paying sixty percent of your income for various taxes, you are really sixty percent slave and forty percent free. If you think this isn't true, just try not paying your taxes for a while and see how long it takes for you to be sent to prison.
In like manner, if you work hard for much of your life and eventually pay off the mortgage on your real estate, you might think that you finally own your home. Yet, if you fail to pay your property taxes, your home will be taken away from you despite the fulfillment of your obligations to the bank or financial institution which issued your mortgage. As if that's not bad enough, if the state decides it wants your property, the authorities can come along and force you to sell it to them based on the law of eminent domain.
The government even considers your minor children to be their property. If at any time the state deems you an unfit parent, they can send a social worker over to collect your child or children, and there's very little you can do about it except to try to regain custody in a court of law.
Folks, there's nothing we have today that couldn't be taken away tomorrow. However, we serve an Almighty God, and ultimately He is in control. No one can take your spiritual freedom that you have with the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can take away your prayers. No one can take away your treasures in Heaven. No one can take away the Scriptures hidden in your heart. If you have not yet dedicated your life to Jesus Christ, I encourage you to do so now. Repent of your sins, give your heart to God, and you will have salvation, liberty, freedom, and a peace that passes all understanding.
A Diluted Money Supply!
In a move that has sparked anger around the world and has caused economists to express concern over the possibility of inflation spiraling out of control in the United States, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke recently made the decision to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy through the purchase of treasury bonds. (1) This procedure, which is known as "quantitative easing," will lower the overall value of the U.S. dollar while theoretically providing banks with more money to extend credit and make loans to companies and consumers.
The real goal of the Federal Reserve, however, is to raise the rate of inflation in the United States. Finance experts are divided over whether or not this is a good idea with some saying America needs a little inflation to shake Americans loose from their money. Others predict the Federal Reserve will lose control of inflation, which will cause the cost of goods and services to spike immensely. Al Niemi, the dean at Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas, has this to say, "American households lost $14 trillion in their net worth in the recession because of the drastic fall in home prices and the decline in the value of their 401(k)s. Households are not spending because they are scared and trying to replenish some of their losses. Companies are not hiring because people are not spending." (2) Kyle Bass, chief investment officer at Hayman Advisors LP, stated, "Unfortunately, the debt of the United States is going to grow north of 90 percent of GDP this year. The interest expense is growing exponentially. We're going to have a much, much greater problem down the road. And unfortunately down the road is not that far away." He later went on to say, "In my household, when I spend twice what I make, I have to dial my spending back. But in this crazy world that we live in, when the U.S. is spending $3.6 trillion a year and we're only bringing in $2.2 [trillion], we decide to spend more and fund it by printing money." (3)
Numerous officials around the world were quick to criticize this latest round of quantitative easing. Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said, "They owe us some explanation. I've seen much concern about the impact of this policy on financial stability in other countries." (4) German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stated while addressing a conference, "With all due respect, U.S. policy is clueless. (The problem) is not a shortage of liquidity. It's not that the Americans haven't pumped enough liquidity into the market, and now to say let's pump more into the market is not going to solve their problems." (5) Officials from France, South Africa, and other countries around the world have also voiced their displeasure.
Meanwhile, the cost of many commodities, such as grain and cotton, have been rising as well as the cost of precious metals. In fact, the price of gold rose above $1400 per ounce for the first time ever in early November 2010. In regard to the record-setting price of gold, IG Markets CEO Dan Cook said, "People are really concerned again and so I think we're seeing safe-haven buying. Whether you're holding dollars or euros or whatever you're holding, gold is that on kind of go-to product, a commodity as well as a currency of trade. Nobody seems to be that willing to sell out of it." (6)
The Growing Threat Of Bankruptcy!
Things aren't looking good for the United States' economy. The federal budget deficit for 2010 exceeded one trillion dollars for the second straight year. (7) The U.S. national debt has risen over three trillion dollars since Obama took office in 2009. (8) Now former chairman and CEO of BB&T, the nation's tenth largest bank, John Allison has stated that the bankruptcy of the United States is a "mathematical certainty" unless drastic action is taken. Mr. Allison told CNS News in an interview published on November 4, 2010, "If you run the numbers, on all those numbers that you just talked about, which I think are accurate, very accurate, in 20 or 25 years, the United States goes bankrupt. It's a mathematic certainty." He further went on to say, "Now countries don't go bankrupt the way companies do. They don't file bankruptcy. They usually hyper-inflate. They print a bunch of paper money, or they become Third World economies like Argentina -- unless we change direction. So, we absolutely have to change direction." (9)
The bankruptcy of the United States would likely have a gigantic impact on the global economy. In fact, the economies from the various countries around the world are so intertwined, and they interact with each other so much that such a catastrophe could very easily bankrupt other nations as well. The simultaneous collapse of multiple major world economies would fit nicely into Satan's plans for a one-world government. After all, it would facilitate the need for a new global currency, which would almost certainly be a cashless monetary system. There has already been some chatter about a new global currency, and it was French President Nicolas Sarkozy who stated in October 2010, "We must have the courage to imagine together, through coordination, how we can create the basis for a new international monetary system." (10)
There are many financially troubled countries in the world right now, particularly in Europe. While some of the nations in the European Union lie on the verge of insolvency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested that instead of intervening with bailouts (as was done previously), they should just allow countries to go bankrupt. (11) Without financial intervention it shouldn't take long for the nations' economies to fail. Greece's debt is predicted to hit 150% of their gross domestic product, or GDP, by 2013. (12)
In an effort to stave off financial collapse, the British government announced a new austerity program in October 2010. The program will result in cuts to welfare benefits, a raising of the retirement age, and a loss of 490,000 public-sector jobs. Britain's top finance minister, George Osborne stated, "Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink. It's a hard road but it leads to a better future." (13)
I know the economic data we see these days is troubling. I am sure that many of you who are reading this newsletter are suffering from financial hardships. I want to remind you all that God is a very present help in trouble, and He does answer prayer. If you need a job, if you're having trouble making your house payment, or if there are any other financial hardships you're struggling with, I encourage you to cry out to God and seek His guidance. Our prayer teams here at Last Trumpet Ministries would be more than happy to lift you up in prayer as well; so do not feel shy about sending us your prayer requests!
The Call For Globalization!
One of the reasons the United States is in so much trouble today is because of the expansion of economic globalization. It has resulted in an ever-growing trade deficit with countries such as China while they siphon off massive amounts of wealth from the United States and use it to prop up their own economy. The United States continues to import massive amounts of Chinese goods while exporting far, far less. This has had a devastating impact on the amount of U.S. debt while causing factories all over America to shut down as the manufacturing sector shrinks to ever smaller levels as time goes by.
During his recent visit to Mumbai, Barack Obama called for new partnerships with India as he unabashedly promoted what he deems to be the benefits of globalization. Speaking at a meeting in Mumbai, Obama said, "I do think that one of the challenges that we are going to face in the U.S. at a time when we are still recovering from the financial crisis is, how do we respond to some of the challenges of globalization? The fact of the matter is that for most of my lifetime - and I'll turn fifty next year - the U.S. was such an enormously dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the U.S. remains the largest economy and the largest market, but there is real competition." Obama further went on to say, "There is going to be a tug-of-war within the U.S. between those who see globalization as a threat and those who accept we live in an open integrated world, which has challenges and opportunities." (14)
In another interesting twist, European Union president Herman Van Rompuy recently made the statement, "In every member state, there are people who believe their country can survive alone in the globalized world. It is more than an illusion - it is a lie." (15) We are seeing outright attacks by world leaders criticizing those who wish their countries to maintain their sovereignty. One can't help but wonder how long it will be until they try to unite the entire world as one nation under the control of an antichrist beast system.
Privacy - On The Verge Of Extinction!
These days I often come across news stories so unbelievable that my first thought is, "This can't possibly be true." And yet the facts are there, plain as day in mainstream news sources. The truth is our privacy has been attacked for so long that we now have very little left. Some of the things now popping up in the news sound very much like science fiction.
The government in the United Kingdom has announced plans to store every email sent and every website visited by Britons. The UK's Strategic Defence and Security Review stated, "We will introduce a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications within the appropriate legal framework. This programme is required to keep up with changing technology and to maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do to protect the public." (16)
It came to light last month that the Obama Administration is devising new legislation that would require all Internet service providers to build in back doors to their networks and allow the government easy access for surveillance. If passed, the government would be able to track all of your Internet communications - including Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. (17) There were also reports in October that indicated the U.S. military is working on a system which can scan billions of emails to identify potential threats to national security. The $35 million project was announced by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which was the group responsible for inventing the Internet. DARPA claimed in a recent statement, "Each time we see an incident like a soldier in good mental health becoming homicidal or suicidal or an innocent bystander becoming malicious, we wonder why we didn't see it coming. When we look through the evidence after the fact, we often find a trail, sometimes even an 'obvious' one. The question is: Can we pick up the trail before the fact, giving us time to intervene and prevent an incident." The project is called "Anomaly Detection at Multiple Scales" or ADAMS. (18) Bruce Schneier, an author of books on security technology, lambasted DARPA's new program. "This is what a police state does -- everyone watching what everyone does and the police watching your every move. And what we learn from history is that police states never work. It is never safer," said Schneier during a CNN interview. (19)
Officials in Europe are now testing a brand new traffic camera in Finland. The camera is so advanced that it can not only check to see if motorists are speeding, but it also knows if the driver has insurance, is wearing a seatbelt, or is driving too closely to other vehicles. The camera can take pictures from up to 150 feet away, and it is linked via satellite to police departments so that prosecutions can begin within seconds of a detected violation. Plans are underway to deploy these advanced traffic cameras all over Europe beginning in 2013. (20)
As the world begins to close in around us and more of privacy is taken, it is starting to feel like the only privacy remaining exists in the confines of our own minds. After all, no one can read our thoughts. However, a team of scientists at the California Institute of Technology are now working on technology that would possibly enable them to read and record a person's dreams and thoughts. Lead scientist, Dr. Moran Cerf stated, "We would like to read people's dreams. It would be wonderful to read people's minds when they cannot communicate, such as people in comas." (21) As wonderful as it would be to communicate with coma patients, it is plainly obvious that such technology could be used for nefarious purposes. Will we someday live in a world where not even our thoughts are private?
The Continued Rise Of Islam!
As more and more stories surface about the torture and cruelty brought about at the hand of Islamic "extremists," we continue to see politicians mollycoddling Islamic officials and touting Islam as a great and peaceful religion. Yet devout Muslims are some of the most volatile people on earth. All you have to do is insult their prophet Mohammad or draw his picture and you'll be guilty of "blasphemy," which is considered a crime punishable by death under Sharia law.
Sharia is the set of laws which governs Islam, and these laws insist that all Muslims must follow and obey them. The specifics of Sharia law can vary depending on which faction of Islam is under consideration. For example, the Sunni and Shia Muslims do not have identical laws. However, these laws are always very strict and very oppressive. One such example of Sharia in action was the recent conviction of a Christian mother of five for the "crime" of blasphemy. Asia Bibi was sentenced to hang by Judge Naveed Iqbal after Muslim women reported her to a local cleric for making derogatory remarks about Mohammad. (22) Here let it be noted that the Islamic group known as the Islamic State of Iraq has recently declared that all of the Christians in their country are "legitimate targets." They claimed in a statement, "All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahideen [holy warriors.]" (23)
On November 2, 2010, the state of Oklahoma passed Question 755 by a margin of 70%. The referendum was designed to effectively ban Sharia Law from ever taking hold in Oklahoma. An excerpt of the measure reads as follows, "This measure amends the State Constitution. It changes a section that deals with the courts of this state. It would amend Article 7, Section 1. It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law." (24) After the measure passed by an overwhelming majority of votes, a Muslim activist from Oklahoma City, named Muneer Awad, filed a lawsuit against it. On November 9, 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chief Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining order against the measure until she can determine whether or not Question 755 violates the U.S. Constitution. (25) I find it ridiculous that a temporary restraining order was issued, and I pray to God the measure will be enforced. Sharia Law has no right to exist in the United States. It should be banned in every state.
Incidentally, Islam has become extremely widespread in Europe. In fact, the name "Mohammad" (or its variants) is now the most popular boys' name in Britain, having been giving to 7,549 newborn boys in 2009. (26)
China - A Rising Superpower!
China has been expanding in many different ways over the last few decades. Its economy has grown, its military has expanded, its technology has progressed, and its oppressive tactics against Chinese citizens is an ever-constant part of life. Why is it that the United States of America's largest trade partner is a communist nation? And why is the fact that the Chinese government is communist so often seemingly swept under the rug? We seldom hear them called the "Red Chinese" anymore.
Although I've never been there, I have a feeling that China is not a very pleasant place to live. Information is highly guarded and access to the Internet is stifled by a national firewall controlled by the government. Many Chinese people are employed in what amounts to sweatshop labor, working long hours for little pay at factories producing goods destined for the United States. And if those factors weren't bad enough, they have a strict one child per family policy. Of course, they sometimes allow wealthy or influential families to have more than one child if they can afford to pay the fines. However, if a family cannot afford to pay the fines for having more than one child, the mother is often forced to have an abortion.
I have a report in front of me from October 2010 detailing the gruesome account of a forced abortion upon a Chinese woman who was eight months pregnant. Twelve government officials stormed into the home of Xiao Aiying and began kicking and hitting her in the stomach, presumably to try and force a miscarriage. After a while they dragged her kicking and screaming to the hospital where the woman was forcefully restrained. They then injected the woman with a drug to kill her baby. The woman's husband, Luo Yanquan, is quoted as stating, "They held her hands behind her back and pushed her head against the wall and kicked her in the stomach. I don't know if they were trying to give her a miscarriage. Our ten-year-old daughter has been excited about having a little brother or sister but I don't know how I can explain to her what has happened." (27)
Concern has been growing over what has been perceived as Chinese "bullying" by some nations. Now the United States is making plans with Australia to share a military base there to allow the United States easier access to the region. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates attempted to downplay the idea that China had anything to do with the collaboration with Australia. "It's more about our relationship with the rest of Asia than it is about China," Gates said. However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't shy away from mentioning China. "We want to see China's rise be successful, bring benefits to the Chinese people but to take on greater responsibility and a rules-based approach towards all of its neighbors," Clinton told reporters. (28)
Hillary Clinton's choice of words, "China's rise," are interesting. Perhaps she wants the rise of an oppressive communist baby-killing nation, which forces thirteen million abortions a year, to be successful, but I assure you that God is looking down in displeasure, and they will be judged for their wickedness someday.
Threats From Iran And North Korea!
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has angered much of the world in recent months with his belligerent tone and inflammatory speeches. Now experts tell us that Iran is getting closer and closer to having nuclear weapons. Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program, is very concerned. Speaking of Iran he stated, "It has produced a stockpile of 3,000 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, which serves no civilian purpose today because Iran receives the fuel for the Bushehr reactor from Russia, and Iran has no capability to take the low-enriched uranium and produce fuel. So what's the purpose?" Fitzpatrick further stated, "I think actually if it gets to the point of having a nuclear weapon, there will be a war."
North Korea already has nuclear weapons, and according to a report by the United Nations, they have been exporting banned nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria, and Myanmar. The report states, "The Panel of Experts has reviewed several government assessments, reporters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, research papers and media reports indicting continuing involvement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in nuclear and ballistic missile related activities in certain countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Myanmar (Burma)." (30) According to an Associated Press report, North Korea has now threatened to strengthen their "war deterrent force" by a thousand-fold as long as they believe a U.S. military threat exists. (31) It's also worth noting that one of North Korea's key allies is China.
In closing, I know there are many more things I could write about if not for the space limitations of this newsletter. The volcano in Mount Merapi, Indonesia, has erupted numerous times, resulting in a devastating loss of life and damages estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. (32) Haiti has had an extremely difficult year, contending not only with a massive earthquake early on, but hurricanes also and an outbreak of cholera that has affected thousands of people and has claimed many hundreds of lives so far. (33) We're seeing alarming headlines such as "Global Food Crisis Forecast As Prices Reach Record Highs" (34) and "Food Price Fears As U.S. Warns On Crop Yields." (35) As usual, the earth continues to quake and shake every single day.
Yet, for all the trouble in the world we can abide safely and secure in a spiritual haven with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 27:5, "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." If you want true freedom, give all your burdens, problems, and cares of this life to Jesus. Give Him your sin and let go of it. For to be free from sin is to be free from death. And that is the greatest freedom you could ever have.
I wish to sincerely thank all of you for your outpouring of love, support, and encouragement over these last few months. I still miss my father tremendously and deeply wish he was writing these newsletters instead of me. I had the honor of assisting my father with the publication of over 140 newsletters before the Lord took him home. As we move forward, we at Last Trumpet Ministries will continue to work hard for God as we seek to do His perfect will and provide a timely and accurate report of the current events in the United States and the world in these last days. Thank you to all who have sent news clippings, reports and other resources. Although I am unable to use each one in the newsletter, I do read them all. This December issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter will be the last newsletter of 2010. Please remember to send us your completed renewal form at your earliest convenience so we can ensure you do not miss a single issue in 2011. If you have any prayer requests, please do not hesitate to send them our way. Our teams of intercessors will give each request individual attention and bring your petitions before the throne of the Almighty. Grace and peace be unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Samuel David Meyer
Acknowledgements
01. Associated Press, November 5, 2010, By Paul Wiseman, Washington, D.C.
02. Dallas Morning News, November 10, 2010, By Cheryl Hall, http://dallasnews.com.
03. Ibid.
04. Reuters News Service, November 5, 2010, By Glenn Somerville and Zhou Xin, Washington D.C./Beijing, China.
05. Ibid.
06. Associated Press, November 8, 2010, By Sandy Shore.
07. Associated Press, October 15, 2010, By Martin Crutsinger, Washington D.C.
08. CBS News, October 18, 2010, By Mark Knoller, http://cbsnews.com.
09. CNS News, November 4, 2010, By Terence P. Jeffery, http://cnsnews.com.
10. Reuters News Service, October 23, 2010, By Stephanie Nebehay, Montreux, Switzerland.
11. Associated Press, October 28, 2010, By Gabriele Steinhauser, Brussels, Belgium.
12. Ibid.
13. New York Times, October 21, 2010, By New York Times, London, UK.
14. The Times of India, November 8, 2010, By The Times of India, Mumbai, India.
15. The Daily Mail, November 11, 2010, By Daniel Martin, http://dailymail.co.uk.
16. The Telegraph, October 20, 2010, By Tom Whitehead, http://telegraph.co.uk.
17. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 2, 2010, By Ced Kurtz.
18. CNN, October 27, 2010, By Charley Keyes, http://cnn.com.
19. Ibid.
20. The Daily Mail, November 3, 2010, By Luke Salkeld, http://dailymail.co.uk.
21. The Daily Mail, October 28, 2010, By Daily Mail Reporter, http://dailymail.co.uk.
22. AFP, November 11, 2010, By Waqar Hussain, Lahore, Pakistan.
23. The Christian Science Monitor, November 3, 2010, By Taylor Barnes, http://csmonitor.com.
24. Balletopedia, http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Oklahoma_%22Sharia_Law_Amendment%22,_State_Question_755_(2010)
25. The Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2010, By Jess Bravin, jess.bravin@wsj.com.
26. The Daily Mail, October 28, 2010, By Jack Doyle, http://dailymail.co.uk.
27. The Daily Mail, October 22, 2010, By Peter Simpson, http://dailymail.co.uk.
28. Associated Press, November 7, 2010, By Anne Gearan and Matthew Lee, Melbourne, Australia.
29. Hurriyet Daily News, October, 25, 2010, By Aras Coskuntuncel, Istanbul, Turkey.
30. Fox News, November 10, 2010, By Fox News, United Nations.
31. Associated Press, October 16, 2010, By Kwang-Tae Kim, Seoul, South Korea.
32. Associated Press, November 12, By Slamet Riyadi, Mount Merapi, Indonesia.
33. The Guardian, November 12, 2010, By Rory Carroll, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
34. The Guardian, October 25, 2010, By John Vidal, http://guardian.co.uk.
35. Financial Times, November 9, 2010, By Gregory Meyer, Jack Farchy, and Javiar Blas, http://ft.com.
View Original Article HERE
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Fax: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org
Worldly Slavery Or Spiritual Freedom!
Psalms 51:10-12
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
Romans 8:18-21
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Galatians 5:1
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
John 8:32-36
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will once again examine the current events of our time and how they relate to the personal freedom and liberty of the American people and the rest of the world in these last days. The United States has a rich heritage of freedom and has been known throughout its short history as the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Yet, the freedom which we've enjoyed for so many years is slowly being taken from us, little by little in a gradual manner, difficult to detect by a preoccupied and distracted population.
We live in a constantly changing world. Every year we see new rules and regulations used to burden and entangle the citizens of the United States. There are literally dozens of taxes that we are forced to pay among other fees, surcharges, permits, and licenses. My father always used to define a free man as "one who is able to enjoy the fruits of his labor." Therefore, if you're paying sixty percent of your income for various taxes, you are really sixty percent slave and forty percent free. If you think this isn't true, just try not paying your taxes for a while and see how long it takes for you to be sent to prison.
In like manner, if you work hard for much of your life and eventually pay off the mortgage on your real estate, you might think that you finally own your home. Yet, if you fail to pay your property taxes, your home will be taken away from you despite the fulfillment of your obligations to the bank or financial institution which issued your mortgage. As if that's not bad enough, if the state decides it wants your property, the authorities can come along and force you to sell it to them based on the law of eminent domain.
The government even considers your minor children to be their property. If at any time the state deems you an unfit parent, they can send a social worker over to collect your child or children, and there's very little you can do about it except to try to regain custody in a court of law.
Folks, there's nothing we have today that couldn't be taken away tomorrow. However, we serve an Almighty God, and ultimately He is in control. No one can take your spiritual freedom that you have with the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can take away your prayers. No one can take away your treasures in Heaven. No one can take away the Scriptures hidden in your heart. If you have not yet dedicated your life to Jesus Christ, I encourage you to do so now. Repent of your sins, give your heart to God, and you will have salvation, liberty, freedom, and a peace that passes all understanding.
A Diluted Money Supply!
In a move that has sparked anger around the world and has caused economists to express concern over the possibility of inflation spiraling out of control in the United States, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke recently made the decision to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy through the purchase of treasury bonds. (1) This procedure, which is known as "quantitative easing," will lower the overall value of the U.S. dollar while theoretically providing banks with more money to extend credit and make loans to companies and consumers.
The real goal of the Federal Reserve, however, is to raise the rate of inflation in the United States. Finance experts are divided over whether or not this is a good idea with some saying America needs a little inflation to shake Americans loose from their money. Others predict the Federal Reserve will lose control of inflation, which will cause the cost of goods and services to spike immensely. Al Niemi, the dean at Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas, has this to say, "American households lost $14 trillion in their net worth in the recession because of the drastic fall in home prices and the decline in the value of their 401(k)s. Households are not spending because they are scared and trying to replenish some of their losses. Companies are not hiring because people are not spending." (2) Kyle Bass, chief investment officer at Hayman Advisors LP, stated, "Unfortunately, the debt of the United States is going to grow north of 90 percent of GDP this year. The interest expense is growing exponentially. We're going to have a much, much greater problem down the road. And unfortunately down the road is not that far away." He later went on to say, "In my household, when I spend twice what I make, I have to dial my spending back. But in this crazy world that we live in, when the U.S. is spending $3.6 trillion a year and we're only bringing in $2.2 [trillion], we decide to spend more and fund it by printing money." (3)
Numerous officials around the world were quick to criticize this latest round of quantitative easing. Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said, "They owe us some explanation. I've seen much concern about the impact of this policy on financial stability in other countries." (4) German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stated while addressing a conference, "With all due respect, U.S. policy is clueless. (The problem) is not a shortage of liquidity. It's not that the Americans haven't pumped enough liquidity into the market, and now to say let's pump more into the market is not going to solve their problems." (5) Officials from France, South Africa, and other countries around the world have also voiced their displeasure.
Meanwhile, the cost of many commodities, such as grain and cotton, have been rising as well as the cost of precious metals. In fact, the price of gold rose above $1400 per ounce for the first time ever in early November 2010. In regard to the record-setting price of gold, IG Markets CEO Dan Cook said, "People are really concerned again and so I think we're seeing safe-haven buying. Whether you're holding dollars or euros or whatever you're holding, gold is that on kind of go-to product, a commodity as well as a currency of trade. Nobody seems to be that willing to sell out of it." (6)
The Growing Threat Of Bankruptcy!
Things aren't looking good for the United States' economy. The federal budget deficit for 2010 exceeded one trillion dollars for the second straight year. (7) The U.S. national debt has risen over three trillion dollars since Obama took office in 2009. (8) Now former chairman and CEO of BB&T, the nation's tenth largest bank, John Allison has stated that the bankruptcy of the United States is a "mathematical certainty" unless drastic action is taken. Mr. Allison told CNS News in an interview published on November 4, 2010, "If you run the numbers, on all those numbers that you just talked about, which I think are accurate, very accurate, in 20 or 25 years, the United States goes bankrupt. It's a mathematic certainty." He further went on to say, "Now countries don't go bankrupt the way companies do. They don't file bankruptcy. They usually hyper-inflate. They print a bunch of paper money, or they become Third World economies like Argentina -- unless we change direction. So, we absolutely have to change direction." (9)
The bankruptcy of the United States would likely have a gigantic impact on the global economy. In fact, the economies from the various countries around the world are so intertwined, and they interact with each other so much that such a catastrophe could very easily bankrupt other nations as well. The simultaneous collapse of multiple major world economies would fit nicely into Satan's plans for a one-world government. After all, it would facilitate the need for a new global currency, which would almost certainly be a cashless monetary system. There has already been some chatter about a new global currency, and it was French President Nicolas Sarkozy who stated in October 2010, "We must have the courage to imagine together, through coordination, how we can create the basis for a new international monetary system." (10)
There are many financially troubled countries in the world right now, particularly in Europe. While some of the nations in the European Union lie on the verge of insolvency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested that instead of intervening with bailouts (as was done previously), they should just allow countries to go bankrupt. (11) Without financial intervention it shouldn't take long for the nations' economies to fail. Greece's debt is predicted to hit 150% of their gross domestic product, or GDP, by 2013. (12)
In an effort to stave off financial collapse, the British government announced a new austerity program in October 2010. The program will result in cuts to welfare benefits, a raising of the retirement age, and a loss of 490,000 public-sector jobs. Britain's top finance minister, George Osborne stated, "Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink. It's a hard road but it leads to a better future." (13)
I know the economic data we see these days is troubling. I am sure that many of you who are reading this newsletter are suffering from financial hardships. I want to remind you all that God is a very present help in trouble, and He does answer prayer. If you need a job, if you're having trouble making your house payment, or if there are any other financial hardships you're struggling with, I encourage you to cry out to God and seek His guidance. Our prayer teams here at Last Trumpet Ministries would be more than happy to lift you up in prayer as well; so do not feel shy about sending us your prayer requests!
The Call For Globalization!
One of the reasons the United States is in so much trouble today is because of the expansion of economic globalization. It has resulted in an ever-growing trade deficit with countries such as China while they siphon off massive amounts of wealth from the United States and use it to prop up their own economy. The United States continues to import massive amounts of Chinese goods while exporting far, far less. This has had a devastating impact on the amount of U.S. debt while causing factories all over America to shut down as the manufacturing sector shrinks to ever smaller levels as time goes by.
During his recent visit to Mumbai, Barack Obama called for new partnerships with India as he unabashedly promoted what he deems to be the benefits of globalization. Speaking at a meeting in Mumbai, Obama said, "I do think that one of the challenges that we are going to face in the U.S. at a time when we are still recovering from the financial crisis is, how do we respond to some of the challenges of globalization? The fact of the matter is that for most of my lifetime - and I'll turn fifty next year - the U.S. was such an enormously dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the U.S. remains the largest economy and the largest market, but there is real competition." Obama further went on to say, "There is going to be a tug-of-war within the U.S. between those who see globalization as a threat and those who accept we live in an open integrated world, which has challenges and opportunities." (14)
In another interesting twist, European Union president Herman Van Rompuy recently made the statement, "In every member state, there are people who believe their country can survive alone in the globalized world. It is more than an illusion - it is a lie." (15) We are seeing outright attacks by world leaders criticizing those who wish their countries to maintain their sovereignty. One can't help but wonder how long it will be until they try to unite the entire world as one nation under the control of an antichrist beast system.
Privacy - On The Verge Of Extinction!
These days I often come across news stories so unbelievable that my first thought is, "This can't possibly be true." And yet the facts are there, plain as day in mainstream news sources. The truth is our privacy has been attacked for so long that we now have very little left. Some of the things now popping up in the news sound very much like science fiction.
The government in the United Kingdom has announced plans to store every email sent and every website visited by Britons. The UK's Strategic Defence and Security Review stated, "We will introduce a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications within the appropriate legal framework. This programme is required to keep up with changing technology and to maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do to protect the public." (16)
It came to light last month that the Obama Administration is devising new legislation that would require all Internet service providers to build in back doors to their networks and allow the government easy access for surveillance. If passed, the government would be able to track all of your Internet communications - including Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. (17) There were also reports in October that indicated the U.S. military is working on a system which can scan billions of emails to identify potential threats to national security. The $35 million project was announced by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which was the group responsible for inventing the Internet. DARPA claimed in a recent statement, "Each time we see an incident like a soldier in good mental health becoming homicidal or suicidal or an innocent bystander becoming malicious, we wonder why we didn't see it coming. When we look through the evidence after the fact, we often find a trail, sometimes even an 'obvious' one. The question is: Can we pick up the trail before the fact, giving us time to intervene and prevent an incident." The project is called "Anomaly Detection at Multiple Scales" or ADAMS. (18) Bruce Schneier, an author of books on security technology, lambasted DARPA's new program. "This is what a police state does -- everyone watching what everyone does and the police watching your every move. And what we learn from history is that police states never work. It is never safer," said Schneier during a CNN interview. (19)
Officials in Europe are now testing a brand new traffic camera in Finland. The camera is so advanced that it can not only check to see if motorists are speeding, but it also knows if the driver has insurance, is wearing a seatbelt, or is driving too closely to other vehicles. The camera can take pictures from up to 150 feet away, and it is linked via satellite to police departments so that prosecutions can begin within seconds of a detected violation. Plans are underway to deploy these advanced traffic cameras all over Europe beginning in 2013. (20)
As the world begins to close in around us and more of privacy is taken, it is starting to feel like the only privacy remaining exists in the confines of our own minds. After all, no one can read our thoughts. However, a team of scientists at the California Institute of Technology are now working on technology that would possibly enable them to read and record a person's dreams and thoughts. Lead scientist, Dr. Moran Cerf stated, "We would like to read people's dreams. It would be wonderful to read people's minds when they cannot communicate, such as people in comas." (21) As wonderful as it would be to communicate with coma patients, it is plainly obvious that such technology could be used for nefarious purposes. Will we someday live in a world where not even our thoughts are private?
The Continued Rise Of Islam!
As more and more stories surface about the torture and cruelty brought about at the hand of Islamic "extremists," we continue to see politicians mollycoddling Islamic officials and touting Islam as a great and peaceful religion. Yet devout Muslims are some of the most volatile people on earth. All you have to do is insult their prophet Mohammad or draw his picture and you'll be guilty of "blasphemy," which is considered a crime punishable by death under Sharia law.
Sharia is the set of laws which governs Islam, and these laws insist that all Muslims must follow and obey them. The specifics of Sharia law can vary depending on which faction of Islam is under consideration. For example, the Sunni and Shia Muslims do not have identical laws. However, these laws are always very strict and very oppressive. One such example of Sharia in action was the recent conviction of a Christian mother of five for the "crime" of blasphemy. Asia Bibi was sentenced to hang by Judge Naveed Iqbal after Muslim women reported her to a local cleric for making derogatory remarks about Mohammad. (22) Here let it be noted that the Islamic group known as the Islamic State of Iraq has recently declared that all of the Christians in their country are "legitimate targets." They claimed in a statement, "All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahideen [holy warriors.]" (23)
On November 2, 2010, the state of Oklahoma passed Question 755 by a margin of 70%. The referendum was designed to effectively ban Sharia Law from ever taking hold in Oklahoma. An excerpt of the measure reads as follows, "This measure amends the State Constitution. It changes a section that deals with the courts of this state. It would amend Article 7, Section 1. It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law." (24) After the measure passed by an overwhelming majority of votes, a Muslim activist from Oklahoma City, named Muneer Awad, filed a lawsuit against it. On November 9, 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chief Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining order against the measure until she can determine whether or not Question 755 violates the U.S. Constitution. (25) I find it ridiculous that a temporary restraining order was issued, and I pray to God the measure will be enforced. Sharia Law has no right to exist in the United States. It should be banned in every state.
Incidentally, Islam has become extremely widespread in Europe. In fact, the name "Mohammad" (or its variants) is now the most popular boys' name in Britain, having been giving to 7,549 newborn boys in 2009. (26)
China - A Rising Superpower!
China has been expanding in many different ways over the last few decades. Its economy has grown, its military has expanded, its technology has progressed, and its oppressive tactics against Chinese citizens is an ever-constant part of life. Why is it that the United States of America's largest trade partner is a communist nation? And why is the fact that the Chinese government is communist so often seemingly swept under the rug? We seldom hear them called the "Red Chinese" anymore.
Although I've never been there, I have a feeling that China is not a very pleasant place to live. Information is highly guarded and access to the Internet is stifled by a national firewall controlled by the government. Many Chinese people are employed in what amounts to sweatshop labor, working long hours for little pay at factories producing goods destined for the United States. And if those factors weren't bad enough, they have a strict one child per family policy. Of course, they sometimes allow wealthy or influential families to have more than one child if they can afford to pay the fines. However, if a family cannot afford to pay the fines for having more than one child, the mother is often forced to have an abortion.
I have a report in front of me from October 2010 detailing the gruesome account of a forced abortion upon a Chinese woman who was eight months pregnant. Twelve government officials stormed into the home of Xiao Aiying and began kicking and hitting her in the stomach, presumably to try and force a miscarriage. After a while they dragged her kicking and screaming to the hospital where the woman was forcefully restrained. They then injected the woman with a drug to kill her baby. The woman's husband, Luo Yanquan, is quoted as stating, "They held her hands behind her back and pushed her head against the wall and kicked her in the stomach. I don't know if they were trying to give her a miscarriage. Our ten-year-old daughter has been excited about having a little brother or sister but I don't know how I can explain to her what has happened." (27)
Concern has been growing over what has been perceived as Chinese "bullying" by some nations. Now the United States is making plans with Australia to share a military base there to allow the United States easier access to the region. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates attempted to downplay the idea that China had anything to do with the collaboration with Australia. "It's more about our relationship with the rest of Asia than it is about China," Gates said. However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't shy away from mentioning China. "We want to see China's rise be successful, bring benefits to the Chinese people but to take on greater responsibility and a rules-based approach towards all of its neighbors," Clinton told reporters. (28)
Hillary Clinton's choice of words, "China's rise," are interesting. Perhaps she wants the rise of an oppressive communist baby-killing nation, which forces thirteen million abortions a year, to be successful, but I assure you that God is looking down in displeasure, and they will be judged for their wickedness someday.
Threats From Iran And North Korea!
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has angered much of the world in recent months with his belligerent tone and inflammatory speeches. Now experts tell us that Iran is getting closer and closer to having nuclear weapons. Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program, is very concerned. Speaking of Iran he stated, "It has produced a stockpile of 3,000 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, which serves no civilian purpose today because Iran receives the fuel for the Bushehr reactor from Russia, and Iran has no capability to take the low-enriched uranium and produce fuel. So what's the purpose?" Fitzpatrick further stated, "I think actually if it gets to the point of having a nuclear weapon, there will be a war."
North Korea already has nuclear weapons, and according to a report by the United Nations, they have been exporting banned nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria, and Myanmar. The report states, "The Panel of Experts has reviewed several government assessments, reporters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, research papers and media reports indicting continuing involvement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in nuclear and ballistic missile related activities in certain countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Myanmar (Burma)." (30) According to an Associated Press report, North Korea has now threatened to strengthen their "war deterrent force" by a thousand-fold as long as they believe a U.S. military threat exists. (31) It's also worth noting that one of North Korea's key allies is China.
In closing, I know there are many more things I could write about if not for the space limitations of this newsletter. The volcano in Mount Merapi, Indonesia, has erupted numerous times, resulting in a devastating loss of life and damages estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. (32) Haiti has had an extremely difficult year, contending not only with a massive earthquake early on, but hurricanes also and an outbreak of cholera that has affected thousands of people and has claimed many hundreds of lives so far. (33) We're seeing alarming headlines such as "Global Food Crisis Forecast As Prices Reach Record Highs" (34) and "Food Price Fears As U.S. Warns On Crop Yields." (35) As usual, the earth continues to quake and shake every single day.
Yet, for all the trouble in the world we can abide safely and secure in a spiritual haven with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 27:5, "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." If you want true freedom, give all your burdens, problems, and cares of this life to Jesus. Give Him your sin and let go of it. For to be free from sin is to be free from death. And that is the greatest freedom you could ever have.
I wish to sincerely thank all of you for your outpouring of love, support, and encouragement over these last few months. I still miss my father tremendously and deeply wish he was writing these newsletters instead of me. I had the honor of assisting my father with the publication of over 140 newsletters before the Lord took him home. As we move forward, we at Last Trumpet Ministries will continue to work hard for God as we seek to do His perfect will and provide a timely and accurate report of the current events in the United States and the world in these last days. Thank you to all who have sent news clippings, reports and other resources. Although I am unable to use each one in the newsletter, I do read them all. This December issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter will be the last newsletter of 2010. Please remember to send us your completed renewal form at your earliest convenience so we can ensure you do not miss a single issue in 2011. If you have any prayer requests, please do not hesitate to send them our way. Our teams of intercessors will give each request individual attention and bring your petitions before the throne of the Almighty. Grace and peace be unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Samuel David Meyer
Acknowledgements
01. Associated Press, November 5, 2010, By Paul Wiseman, Washington, D.C.
02. Dallas Morning News, November 10, 2010, By Cheryl Hall, http://dallasnews.com.
03. Ibid.
04. Reuters News Service, November 5, 2010, By Glenn Somerville and Zhou Xin, Washington D.C./Beijing, China.
05. Ibid.
06. Associated Press, November 8, 2010, By Sandy Shore.
07. Associated Press, October 15, 2010, By Martin Crutsinger, Washington D.C.
08. CBS News, October 18, 2010, By Mark Knoller, http://cbsnews.com.
09. CNS News, November 4, 2010, By Terence P. Jeffery, http://cnsnews.com.
10. Reuters News Service, October 23, 2010, By Stephanie Nebehay, Montreux, Switzerland.
11. Associated Press, October 28, 2010, By Gabriele Steinhauser, Brussels, Belgium.
12. Ibid.
13. New York Times, October 21, 2010, By New York Times, London, UK.
14. The Times of India, November 8, 2010, By The Times of India, Mumbai, India.
15. The Daily Mail, November 11, 2010, By Daniel Martin, http://dailymail.co.uk.
16. The Telegraph, October 20, 2010, By Tom Whitehead, http://telegraph.co.uk.
17. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 2, 2010, By Ced Kurtz.
18. CNN, October 27, 2010, By Charley Keyes, http://cnn.com.
19. Ibid.
20. The Daily Mail, November 3, 2010, By Luke Salkeld, http://dailymail.co.uk.
21. The Daily Mail, October 28, 2010, By Daily Mail Reporter, http://dailymail.co.uk.
22. AFP, November 11, 2010, By Waqar Hussain, Lahore, Pakistan.
23. The Christian Science Monitor, November 3, 2010, By Taylor Barnes, http://csmonitor.com.
24. Balletopedia, http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Oklahoma_%22Sharia_Law_Amendment%22,_State_Question_755_(2010)
25. The Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2010, By Jess Bravin, jess.bravin@wsj.com.
26. The Daily Mail, October 28, 2010, By Jack Doyle, http://dailymail.co.uk.
27. The Daily Mail, October 22, 2010, By Peter Simpson, http://dailymail.co.uk.
28. Associated Press, November 7, 2010, By Anne Gearan and Matthew Lee, Melbourne, Australia.
29. Hurriyet Daily News, October, 25, 2010, By Aras Coskuntuncel, Istanbul, Turkey.
30. Fox News, November 10, 2010, By Fox News, United Nations.
31. Associated Press, October 16, 2010, By Kwang-Tae Kim, Seoul, South Korea.
32. Associated Press, November 12, By Slamet Riyadi, Mount Merapi, Indonesia.
33. The Guardian, November 12, 2010, By Rory Carroll, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
34. The Guardian, October 25, 2010, By John Vidal, http://guardian.co.uk.
35. Financial Times, November 9, 2010, By Gregory Meyer, Jack Farchy, and Javiar Blas, http://ft.com.
View Original Article HERE
Friday, November 26, 2010
Doctors Sound TSA Germ Alert
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government's Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors.
WND reported two days ago on alarmed passengers who noted that TSA agents doing the pat-downs that have been described by critics as molestation since they include touching private body parts were not changing gloves between passengers. In fact, some apparently were patting down dozens of passengers or more wearing the same gloves.
But neither the TSA nor federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control was willing to comment on the possibilities that infections and other loathsome afflictions could be passed from passenger to passenger.
Now two doctors – and several others – have confirmed that there is the definite possibility that passengers will be able to catch whatever someone in front of them in line was suffering from via the latex gloves TSA workers use.
Join tens of thousands of Americans in a petition demanding action against the intrusive airport screening procedures implemented by Janet Napolitano and send a letter to Congress, President Obama and others telling them exactly what you think about the issue.
"There is no doubt that bacteria (staph, strep, v.cholerae etc.) and viruses (noro, enteroviruses, herpes, hepatitis A and papilloma viruses) can be spread by contaminated vinyl or latex gloves," Dr. Thomas Warner of Wisconsin told WND in a letter to the editor.
"If a traveler has diarrhea and is soiled, as can and does happen, the causative agent can be spread by this method since bacteria and viruses in moist environments have greater viability."
He continued. "The traveler readjusting clothes can easily get the infectious agents on their hands and therefore into their mouth, nose or eyes."
Added a pulmonary critical care physician from Connecticut who did not want to be identified by name, "That doesn't make sense that they're not changing gloves."
"Anything can be transmitted. If there are open wounds and they [TSA agents] are not aware, there's syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, chlamydia, lice, ringworm."
Worse yet would be for people whose immune systems are compromised by treatments they may be having, including cancer patients, she said.
Physicians undergo extensive training, follow strict rules and even have those who watch them to make sure they follow procedures to reduce to an absolute minimum the likelihood of carrying disease from one person to another, she said.
"How come if we as doctors have guidelines, we must wear gloves and have oversight, it's very different [for the TSA]," she said.
Warner told WND some of the infections are "a tough little beast" and easily would be spread through the contact being used by the TSA.
"Staphylococci are also tough and can be spread on fomites (eg . towels, tampons or gloves ) and survive in dry conditions. Methicillin resistant staph creates havoc in hospitals AND in those awaiting surgery (eg. traveling for a transplant ) when the 'carrier' patient must be clear of the bacterium before elective surgery," he said.
"Emerging infectious and tropical agents create another wild scenario," he said.
He said at a minimum gloves should be changed between pat-downs, "especially if the gloved hand is inside clothes or in the genital ... area even if clothed. Travelers should be advised of this and hand-wash and change clothes ASAP after these intimate examinations."
The CDC previously told WND to contact the TSA, which did not respond to inquiries, on the status of policies that would minimize the possibility of passing infections from one passenger to another.
The response today was the same, according to a WND reader who passed along his question to the CDC about the situation and the agency's response.
In response to a question about minimizing the possibility infections could be passed along, the CDC said:
Thank you for your inquiry to CDC-INFO. In response to your comments that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents are not changing gloves between the travelers that they pat-down, we are pleased to provide you with the following information.
If you are traveling and are going to be searched, you can request that the TSA agent change his or her gloves.
Endorsing the doctors' recommendations was a commentary at Natural News.com.
There, the editorial writer noted the intimacy of the pat-downs by the TSA, procedures which are required for some travelers and offered as an option to those who refuse to go through a full-body image scanner which essentially reveals a nude image of the passenger for TSA workers to review.
"Air travel passengers across America have been complaining of the TSA fingering their genitalia and touching their sex organs. Just this week, an ABC News employee was fingered by a TSA agent who felt around inside her underwear. ... This process of touching traveler's genitals without consistently changing latex gloves means the TSA is involved in extremely risky behavior that could spread disease," the website warned.
"TSA agents are not trained as medical personnel. Just as they don't seem to grasp the Bill of Rights, they also may not understand how infectious disease is spread. They aren't medical personnel; they're Big Brother enforcers who have likely never been taught the principles of how to conduct a sterile body search," the commentary said.
"If an athlete with jock itch (a fungal infection) undergoes a TSA pat-down, that TSA agent could spread the passenger's jock itch from his crotch to his armpits and neck. The same is true for a person suffering from ringworm or other skin fungal infections: Merely touching them and then touching another body part can cause them to spread," the website said. "Even worse, if that same TSA agent does not change his or her gloves between pat-downs, they could be spreading jock itch, ringworm or other infections from traveler to traveler. So traveler #2 could end up with the jock itch picked up from traveler #1."
In WND's original report on the issue of gloves online forum participants said it was clear the gloves are to protect the TSA agents, not provide any protection for passengers.
Martha Donahue in a commentary at Resistnet said she'd spent 30 years in the medical industry.
"For those of you who fly and opt for the 'pat down,' you need to demand the TSA thugs change their gloves. I've been watching on the news how they operate. People are being searched [with] dirty gloves ... gloves that have been in crotches, armpits, touching people who may be ill, people who pick their noses. Do you want those gloves touching you?
"These thugs are protecting themselves from you. You need to be protected from them," she wrote. "In a hospital, nursing home, in-home care, or even labs, that would never even be considered an option."
While the CDC referred questions about health and disease issues to the TSA, in its online writings the organization repeatedly makes clear the importance of maintaining clean hands to avoid such transmission of communicable and contagious afflictions.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, at the time the chief of the CDC, said during a special presentation on hand cleanliness, "We know that hand hygiene is a critical component of safe and healthy health care."
At the same time, Dr. John Boyce, lead author of the organization's hand-washing guidelines and the chairman of the Hand Hygiene Task Force, said, "There's a large study that was conducted at the University of Geneva Hospital in Switzerland where they demonstrated significant improvement in the adherence of health care workers to hand hygiene practices and they also showed that the incidence of antibiotic resistance to staph infections went down and that the overall prevalence of health care-acquired infections went down ... ."
Suggested Gerberding in the context of health care, "Hand hygiene saves lives. We're recommending a comprehensive evidence-based approach in hospitals that consists of handwashing with soap and water when the goal is to remove unsightly debris; hand alcohol preps for enhancing appearance and reducing bacterial counts; and gloving when people have contact with blood or other body fluids in accordance with universal precautions."
She said even in a "community setting," "washing with soap and water remains a very sensible strategy for hand hygiene."
Other health standards across the country routinely warn against hand contact with sores, lesions or other sources of viruses or contamination. The Lincoln, Neb., health site notes, "This includes hand contact."
Officials at the Canadian Center for Occupational Health noted that "hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infections.
"You can spread certain 'germs' (a general term for microbes like viruses and bacteria) casually by touching another person. You can also catch germs when you touch contaminated objects or surfaces and then you touch your face (mouth, eyes, and nose)," it said.
On a TSA blog promoting the agency's actions and policies, one screener explained, "Changing gloves is fairly simple ... . When I gate screen I carry about 10-12 pairs in my pockets."
Respondents to the comment were outraged, "That's just plain disgusting and most certainly not acceptable ... procedures as set forth by the CDC for usage of gloves for protection," said one. "Reasoning being is that the bacteria count in your pockets is about the same is your mouth or armpit."
Wrote another forum participant, "Those gloves are soiled if they come out of your pockets and before handling my stuff you will be expected to obtain a clean, from the original container, pair. ... Who knows what filth inhabits your pockets!"
View Article With Links HERE
WorldNetDaily
Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government's Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors.
WND reported two days ago on alarmed passengers who noted that TSA agents doing the pat-downs that have been described by critics as molestation since they include touching private body parts were not changing gloves between passengers. In fact, some apparently were patting down dozens of passengers or more wearing the same gloves.
But neither the TSA nor federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control was willing to comment on the possibilities that infections and other loathsome afflictions could be passed from passenger to passenger.
Now two doctors – and several others – have confirmed that there is the definite possibility that passengers will be able to catch whatever someone in front of them in line was suffering from via the latex gloves TSA workers use.
Join tens of thousands of Americans in a petition demanding action against the intrusive airport screening procedures implemented by Janet Napolitano and send a letter to Congress, President Obama and others telling them exactly what you think about the issue.
"There is no doubt that bacteria (staph, strep, v.cholerae etc.) and viruses (noro, enteroviruses, herpes, hepatitis A and papilloma viruses) can be spread by contaminated vinyl or latex gloves," Dr. Thomas Warner of Wisconsin told WND in a letter to the editor.
"If a traveler has diarrhea and is soiled, as can and does happen, the causative agent can be spread by this method since bacteria and viruses in moist environments have greater viability."
He continued. "The traveler readjusting clothes can easily get the infectious agents on their hands and therefore into their mouth, nose or eyes."
Added a pulmonary critical care physician from Connecticut who did not want to be identified by name, "That doesn't make sense that they're not changing gloves."
"Anything can be transmitted. If there are open wounds and they [TSA agents] are not aware, there's syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, chlamydia, lice, ringworm."
Worse yet would be for people whose immune systems are compromised by treatments they may be having, including cancer patients, she said.
Physicians undergo extensive training, follow strict rules and even have those who watch them to make sure they follow procedures to reduce to an absolute minimum the likelihood of carrying disease from one person to another, she said.
"How come if we as doctors have guidelines, we must wear gloves and have oversight, it's very different [for the TSA]," she said.
Warner told WND some of the infections are "a tough little beast" and easily would be spread through the contact being used by the TSA.
"Staphylococci are also tough and can be spread on fomites (eg . towels, tampons or gloves ) and survive in dry conditions. Methicillin resistant staph creates havoc in hospitals AND in those awaiting surgery (eg. traveling for a transplant ) when the 'carrier' patient must be clear of the bacterium before elective surgery," he said.
"Emerging infectious and tropical agents create another wild scenario," he said.
He said at a minimum gloves should be changed between pat-downs, "especially if the gloved hand is inside clothes or in the genital ... area even if clothed. Travelers should be advised of this and hand-wash and change clothes ASAP after these intimate examinations."
The CDC previously told WND to contact the TSA, which did not respond to inquiries, on the status of policies that would minimize the possibility of passing infections from one passenger to another.
The response today was the same, according to a WND reader who passed along his question to the CDC about the situation and the agency's response.
In response to a question about minimizing the possibility infections could be passed along, the CDC said:
Thank you for your inquiry to CDC-INFO. In response to your comments that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents are not changing gloves between the travelers that they pat-down, we are pleased to provide you with the following information.
If you are traveling and are going to be searched, you can request that the TSA agent change his or her gloves.
Endorsing the doctors' recommendations was a commentary at Natural News.com.
There, the editorial writer noted the intimacy of the pat-downs by the TSA, procedures which are required for some travelers and offered as an option to those who refuse to go through a full-body image scanner which essentially reveals a nude image of the passenger for TSA workers to review.
"Air travel passengers across America have been complaining of the TSA fingering their genitalia and touching their sex organs. Just this week, an ABC News employee was fingered by a TSA agent who felt around inside her underwear. ... This process of touching traveler's genitals without consistently changing latex gloves means the TSA is involved in extremely risky behavior that could spread disease," the website warned.
"TSA agents are not trained as medical personnel. Just as they don't seem to grasp the Bill of Rights, they also may not understand how infectious disease is spread. They aren't medical personnel; they're Big Brother enforcers who have likely never been taught the principles of how to conduct a sterile body search," the commentary said.
"If an athlete with jock itch (a fungal infection) undergoes a TSA pat-down, that TSA agent could spread the passenger's jock itch from his crotch to his armpits and neck. The same is true for a person suffering from ringworm or other skin fungal infections: Merely touching them and then touching another body part can cause them to spread," the website said. "Even worse, if that same TSA agent does not change his or her gloves between pat-downs, they could be spreading jock itch, ringworm or other infections from traveler to traveler. So traveler #2 could end up with the jock itch picked up from traveler #1."
In WND's original report on the issue of gloves online forum participants said it was clear the gloves are to protect the TSA agents, not provide any protection for passengers.
Martha Donahue in a commentary at Resistnet said she'd spent 30 years in the medical industry.
"For those of you who fly and opt for the 'pat down,' you need to demand the TSA thugs change their gloves. I've been watching on the news how they operate. People are being searched [with] dirty gloves ... gloves that have been in crotches, armpits, touching people who may be ill, people who pick their noses. Do you want those gloves touching you?
"These thugs are protecting themselves from you. You need to be protected from them," she wrote. "In a hospital, nursing home, in-home care, or even labs, that would never even be considered an option."
While the CDC referred questions about health and disease issues to the TSA, in its online writings the organization repeatedly makes clear the importance of maintaining clean hands to avoid such transmission of communicable and contagious afflictions.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, at the time the chief of the CDC, said during a special presentation on hand cleanliness, "We know that hand hygiene is a critical component of safe and healthy health care."
At the same time, Dr. John Boyce, lead author of the organization's hand-washing guidelines and the chairman of the Hand Hygiene Task Force, said, "There's a large study that was conducted at the University of Geneva Hospital in Switzerland where they demonstrated significant improvement in the adherence of health care workers to hand hygiene practices and they also showed that the incidence of antibiotic resistance to staph infections went down and that the overall prevalence of health care-acquired infections went down ... ."
Suggested Gerberding in the context of health care, "Hand hygiene saves lives. We're recommending a comprehensive evidence-based approach in hospitals that consists of handwashing with soap and water when the goal is to remove unsightly debris; hand alcohol preps for enhancing appearance and reducing bacterial counts; and gloving when people have contact with blood or other body fluids in accordance with universal precautions."
She said even in a "community setting," "washing with soap and water remains a very sensible strategy for hand hygiene."
Other health standards across the country routinely warn against hand contact with sores, lesions or other sources of viruses or contamination. The Lincoln, Neb., health site notes, "This includes hand contact."
Officials at the Canadian Center for Occupational Health noted that "hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infections.
"You can spread certain 'germs' (a general term for microbes like viruses and bacteria) casually by touching another person. You can also catch germs when you touch contaminated objects or surfaces and then you touch your face (mouth, eyes, and nose)," it said.
On a TSA blog promoting the agency's actions and policies, one screener explained, "Changing gloves is fairly simple ... . When I gate screen I carry about 10-12 pairs in my pockets."
Respondents to the comment were outraged, "That's just plain disgusting and most certainly not acceptable ... procedures as set forth by the CDC for usage of gloves for protection," said one. "Reasoning being is that the bacteria count in your pockets is about the same is your mouth or armpit."
Wrote another forum participant, "Those gloves are soiled if they come out of your pockets and before handling my stuff you will be expected to obtain a clean, from the original container, pair. ... Who knows what filth inhabits your pockets!"
View Article With Links HERE
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Hate Intrudes on Thanksgiving
By Brian Fitzpatrick
WorldNetDaily
Report discovers new name for normal, God-loving citizens ...
Southern Poverty Law Center smears champions of God's sexual morality.
WASHINGTON – The Southern Poverty Law Center has placed a virtual who's who of pro-family and Christian organizations, including the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and the Traditional Values Coalition, on a list of 13 "hate groups" for opposing the homosexual political agenda.
In its freshly released Winter 2010 Intelligence Report, SPLC labels five additional groups as "anti-gay," including Concerned Women for America, the Christian Anti-Defamation Coalition, and Coral Ridge Ministries.
No authentic "hate" groups, by any conventional definition, are listed in SPLC's article, "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda."
"No organization better defines what a hate group is all about than the Southern Poverty Law Center," said Robert Knight, Washington correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries. "Smearing legitimate groups merely for disagreeing about homosexuality is a very hateful act."
"Lumping Christian groups in with violent, racist gangs is a form of 'bracketing,' a political tactic described in the gay strategy manual 'After the Ball.' It's guilt by association and it's meant to intimidate," Knight told WND.
Don't believe the lies of the God-haters. Read "God and America's Leaders"
"This underscores why many of us opposed passage of the federal hate-crimes bill, which lays the groundwork for making Christian morality into a form of hate punishable under the law," Knight continued. "The SPLC has included several groups in the past that did not belong on a legitimate list, such as Family Research Institute, Mission America, and Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, and now they've widened their smear to include even more Christian organizations that defend traditional morality in the public square."
SPLC officials were not available to comment.
According to the article, " ... the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods – claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities – and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups."
"The Left's smear campaigns of conservatives is being driven by the clear evidence that the American public is losing patience with their radical policy agenda as seen in the recent election and in the fact that every state, currently more than thirty, that has had the opportunity to defend the natural definition of marriage has done so," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. "Earlier this month, voters in Iowa sent a powerful message when they removed three Supreme Court justices who imposed same-sex marriage on the state. Would the SPLC also smear the good people of Iowa?"
"We are going to form a coalition of organizations to lobby Congress to withhold funds from SPLC," Christian Anti-Defamation Coalition head Gary L. Cass told WND. "We will also demand Congress restrict federal law enforcement from relying on the biased SPLC reports, like the discredited 'Report on Right-Wing Extremism' SPLC wrote for the Department of Homeland Security."
"It's disturbing that the U.S. Department of Justice takes its cue from Morris Dees' SPLC as to which groups fit the 'hate' criteria. I wonder how many Americans would be comfortable with seeing their tax dollars go toward supporting a hate group like the SPLC," Knight added.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, contended that SPLC is more focused on advancing a radical political agenda than on combating hatred.
"This might be an opportunity to point out who are actually filled with hate and bigotry," said Wright. "If they were to judge according to actions, they would have to have a special section for homosexual groups that vandalize and threaten people who oppose the homosexual agenda. We've had death threats against us posted openly on websites because of our work to uphold traditional marriage."
"It's the homosexual groups that have violated and invaded churches, vandalized homes and cars, that instigate death threats against people who are simply trying to uphold traditional values," Wright observed.
Knight suggested the SPLC report might be timed to influence next week's Senate hearings on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
"The timing is very curious, with the story breaking just before homosexual activists and their allies in the Senate launch their final assault of the year on the military's law barring open homosexuality. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not," said Knight. As WND has reported, SPLC is currently advising the Department of Homeland Security on threats posed by "violent extremists." SPLC produced a highly controversial report linking tea-party activists to the Oklahoma City bombing.
SPLC's condemnation of groups fighting the homosexual political agenda parallels its 2007 designation of the Federation for America Immigration Reform as a "hate group" for helping to shoot down a 2007 amnesty bill in the U.S. Senate. SPLC hate group monitor Mark Potok reportedly acknowledged, "what we are hoping very much to accomplish is to marginalize FAIR."
View Article With Links HERE
WorldNetDaily
Report discovers new name for normal, God-loving citizens ...
Southern Poverty Law Center smears champions of God's sexual morality.
WASHINGTON – The Southern Poverty Law Center has placed a virtual who's who of pro-family and Christian organizations, including the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and the Traditional Values Coalition, on a list of 13 "hate groups" for opposing the homosexual political agenda.
In its freshly released Winter 2010 Intelligence Report, SPLC labels five additional groups as "anti-gay," including Concerned Women for America, the Christian Anti-Defamation Coalition, and Coral Ridge Ministries.
No authentic "hate" groups, by any conventional definition, are listed in SPLC's article, "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda."
"No organization better defines what a hate group is all about than the Southern Poverty Law Center," said Robert Knight, Washington correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries. "Smearing legitimate groups merely for disagreeing about homosexuality is a very hateful act."
"Lumping Christian groups in with violent, racist gangs is a form of 'bracketing,' a political tactic described in the gay strategy manual 'After the Ball.' It's guilt by association and it's meant to intimidate," Knight told WND.
Don't believe the lies of the God-haters. Read "God and America's Leaders"
"This underscores why many of us opposed passage of the federal hate-crimes bill, which lays the groundwork for making Christian morality into a form of hate punishable under the law," Knight continued. "The SPLC has included several groups in the past that did not belong on a legitimate list, such as Family Research Institute, Mission America, and Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, and now they've widened their smear to include even more Christian organizations that defend traditional morality in the public square."
SPLC officials were not available to comment.
According to the article, " ... the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods – claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities – and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups."
"The Left's smear campaigns of conservatives is being driven by the clear evidence that the American public is losing patience with their radical policy agenda as seen in the recent election and in the fact that every state, currently more than thirty, that has had the opportunity to defend the natural definition of marriage has done so," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. "Earlier this month, voters in Iowa sent a powerful message when they removed three Supreme Court justices who imposed same-sex marriage on the state. Would the SPLC also smear the good people of Iowa?"
"We are going to form a coalition of organizations to lobby Congress to withhold funds from SPLC," Christian Anti-Defamation Coalition head Gary L. Cass told WND. "We will also demand Congress restrict federal law enforcement from relying on the biased SPLC reports, like the discredited 'Report on Right-Wing Extremism' SPLC wrote for the Department of Homeland Security."
"It's disturbing that the U.S. Department of Justice takes its cue from Morris Dees' SPLC as to which groups fit the 'hate' criteria. I wonder how many Americans would be comfortable with seeing their tax dollars go toward supporting a hate group like the SPLC," Knight added.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, contended that SPLC is more focused on advancing a radical political agenda than on combating hatred.
"This might be an opportunity to point out who are actually filled with hate and bigotry," said Wright. "If they were to judge according to actions, they would have to have a special section for homosexual groups that vandalize and threaten people who oppose the homosexual agenda. We've had death threats against us posted openly on websites because of our work to uphold traditional marriage."
"It's the homosexual groups that have violated and invaded churches, vandalized homes and cars, that instigate death threats against people who are simply trying to uphold traditional values," Wright observed.
Knight suggested the SPLC report might be timed to influence next week's Senate hearings on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
"The timing is very curious, with the story breaking just before homosexual activists and their allies in the Senate launch their final assault of the year on the military's law barring open homosexuality. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not," said Knight. As WND has reported, SPLC is currently advising the Department of Homeland Security on threats posed by "violent extremists." SPLC produced a highly controversial report linking tea-party activists to the Oklahoma City bombing.
SPLC's condemnation of groups fighting the homosexual political agenda parallels its 2007 designation of the Federation for America Immigration Reform as a "hate group" for helping to shoot down a 2007 amnesty bill in the U.S. Senate. SPLC hate group monitor Mark Potok reportedly acknowledged, "what we are hoping very much to accomplish is to marginalize FAIR."
View Article With Links HERE
Endgame Legislation: Lame Duck Session Ushers in Tyranny
Eric Blair
Activist Post
When most of us think about “lame duck” Congressional sessions we think of a “do-nothing” government. However, this so-called lame duck session appears to be a time where legislation that has the most restrictions to individual rights is being rammed through.
It seems the members of government who have been recently voted out of office are vying for corporate jobs by pushing such legislation as the Food Safety Modernization Act and the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act which are now on the fast track to becoming law. Both of these laws reek of tyranny for the citizens and a means of corporate consolidation for the big boys.
It seems whenever a piece of legislation has the word “safety” in it we can expect to lose our right to make our own decisions. For example, consumer protection groups pushed hard for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in 2008 after large numbers of Chinese-made toys and other products proved to have dangerously unhealthy toxins.
Consequently, the bill was passed with 407 Ayes, 0 Nays in the House. Only later did the public find out that the bill did more to regulate, tax, and impose fines on neighborhood garage sales than it did to stop dangerous Chinese imports. Clearly, the bill is used to clamp down on an individual’s right to sell their used items without governmental oversight. In other words, the corporate-government will not allow any form of black market to threaten their cartel control of consumerism.
The Food Safety Modernization Act has the backing of establishment liberals who think more big government regulation will protect us from food-borne diseases derived from factory farming. Their heart seems to be in the right place, but placing trust in this horribly corrupt government to “protect” us makes them utterly gullible. The vote of 74-25 in the Senate proves the bill was more broadly supported than just with progressives, indicating strong corporate support from the Big-Agri lobby that wrote the bill. According to Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party, the bill purports to:
• Preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes.
• It will more than likely make Michael Taylor (former Monsanto executive) the Food Czar.
• End U.S. sovereignty over its own food supply by forcing compliance with WTO guidelines.
• Even direct sales of food between individuals could be defined as smuggling under the language of the bill.
• Codex Alimentarius, a global system of control over food and food supplements, would control all U.S. food and supplements. Access to nat ural food supplements would be removed under Codex rules.
• Control of all seeds would transfer to Monsanto and other global multinationals.
• The National Animal Identification System ( NAIS ) would be enacted, forcing bio-chipping and other identification and tracking methods for all animals, whether food or pets.
• What is left of the American food system would be transferred into total control of Multinational Corporations under the guise of global governance.
Despite the draconian intentions of the bill, many respected alternative agriculture experts like Michael Pollan and Grist have given their lukewarm blessing to the bill as “as step in the right direction.” Controversial bills typically have enough seemingly logical solutions that become the focus of selling new regulations. This bill is no different, as it gives the appearance of cracking down on large factory farms, exempting small family farms, creating better tracing methods for the origin of food-borne diseases, and certainly injects more financial resources into government agencies tasked with regulating food. All of these were sold to the public amidst the fear of massive egg and meat recalls because of E. coli and Salmonella contamination.
We should know by now that nearly all legislation is not written or read by our elected officials, but rather by heavy-handed corporate interests who seek nothing less than total domination over their industries. Yet, the public is still easily swayed.
The second piece of legislation that was flushed out of the Judiciary Committee last week with a 19-0 vote is the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). This bill is pure tyranny against Internet freedom. In other words, they’re not even using the guise of protecting the people to hammer this one home. This bill seeks to arbitrarily create an Internet “Blacklist” of domains, much like the arbitrary “Terror Watch List.” The government is seeking the power to shut access to sites it flags . . . no judge, no evidence, no jury. The law will also apply to websites hosted outside the U.S. where the corporate-government will claim global control over information on the Internet. The government plans to enforce the blocking of these Blacklisted websites by using major Internet service providers (ISPs).
To demonstrate how draconian this bill is, Copyright Laws are already very clear where if a media corporation can demonstrate that a given website used their material against Fair Use rights, they can be sued individually for damages. This new law will bypass the current legal system of innocent until proven guilty with no warnings, presentation of evidence of wrong-doing, or determination of fault by a jury of peers. Although the legislation is said to be focused on sharing movies, music, and television shows; the copyright violations are defined very broadly and will surely extend to any usage of Associated Press or Reuters stories (or the like) and/or images.
This broad definition will essentially put all alternative news websites in violation despite their Fair Use rights. In fact, nearly every article or commentary about world events that is covered by independent news organizations that quote or link to mainstream media stories as a reference may be in violation (including this article you’re reading). The COICA will effectively crush any opposition to the mainstream media’s domination on the currently free and open world wide web. If properly debated and dissected there is no way this bill would be passed, hence the rushing to pass it under a quiet Congressional session.
Both of these bills will likely become laws given their overwhelming support in Congress. When enacted, the corporate-government tyranny will begin to work stealthily to regulate their competition out of the marketplace. By the time the vast majority of people realize this tyranny, it will be too late to complain as the independent voices will assuredly be Blacklisted from any debate.
View Article With Links HERE
Note: Video not included in original article.
Activist Post
When most of us think about “lame duck” Congressional sessions we think of a “do-nothing” government. However, this so-called lame duck session appears to be a time where legislation that has the most restrictions to individual rights is being rammed through.
It seems the members of government who have been recently voted out of office are vying for corporate jobs by pushing such legislation as the Food Safety Modernization Act and the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act which are now on the fast track to becoming law. Both of these laws reek of tyranny for the citizens and a means of corporate consolidation for the big boys.
It seems whenever a piece of legislation has the word “safety” in it we can expect to lose our right to make our own decisions. For example, consumer protection groups pushed hard for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in 2008 after large numbers of Chinese-made toys and other products proved to have dangerously unhealthy toxins.
Consequently, the bill was passed with 407 Ayes, 0 Nays in the House. Only later did the public find out that the bill did more to regulate, tax, and impose fines on neighborhood garage sales than it did to stop dangerous Chinese imports. Clearly, the bill is used to clamp down on an individual’s right to sell their used items without governmental oversight. In other words, the corporate-government will not allow any form of black market to threaten their cartel control of consumerism.
The Food Safety Modernization Act has the backing of establishment liberals who think more big government regulation will protect us from food-borne diseases derived from factory farming. Their heart seems to be in the right place, but placing trust in this horribly corrupt government to “protect” us makes them utterly gullible. The vote of 74-25 in the Senate proves the bill was more broadly supported than just with progressives, indicating strong corporate support from the Big-Agri lobby that wrote the bill. According to Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party, the bill purports to:
• Preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes.
• It will more than likely make Michael Taylor (former Monsanto executive) the Food Czar.
• End U.S. sovereignty over its own food supply by forcing compliance with WTO guidelines.
• Even direct sales of food between individuals could be defined as smuggling under the language of the bill.
• Codex Alimentarius, a global system of control over food and food supplements, would control all U.S. food and supplements. Access to nat ural food supplements would be removed under Codex rules.
• Control of all seeds would transfer to Monsanto and other global multinationals.
• The National Animal Identification System ( NAIS ) would be enacted, forcing bio-chipping and other identification and tracking methods for all animals, whether food or pets.
• What is left of the American food system would be transferred into total control of Multinational Corporations under the guise of global governance.
Despite the draconian intentions of the bill, many respected alternative agriculture experts like Michael Pollan and Grist have given their lukewarm blessing to the bill as “as step in the right direction.” Controversial bills typically have enough seemingly logical solutions that become the focus of selling new regulations. This bill is no different, as it gives the appearance of cracking down on large factory farms, exempting small family farms, creating better tracing methods for the origin of food-borne diseases, and certainly injects more financial resources into government agencies tasked with regulating food. All of these were sold to the public amidst the fear of massive egg and meat recalls because of E. coli and Salmonella contamination.
We should know by now that nearly all legislation is not written or read by our elected officials, but rather by heavy-handed corporate interests who seek nothing less than total domination over their industries. Yet, the public is still easily swayed.
The second piece of legislation that was flushed out of the Judiciary Committee last week with a 19-0 vote is the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). This bill is pure tyranny against Internet freedom. In other words, they’re not even using the guise of protecting the people to hammer this one home. This bill seeks to arbitrarily create an Internet “Blacklist” of domains, much like the arbitrary “Terror Watch List.” The government is seeking the power to shut access to sites it flags . . . no judge, no evidence, no jury. The law will also apply to websites hosted outside the U.S. where the corporate-government will claim global control over information on the Internet. The government plans to enforce the blocking of these Blacklisted websites by using major Internet service providers (ISPs).
To demonstrate how draconian this bill is, Copyright Laws are already very clear where if a media corporation can demonstrate that a given website used their material against Fair Use rights, they can be sued individually for damages. This new law will bypass the current legal system of innocent until proven guilty with no warnings, presentation of evidence of wrong-doing, or determination of fault by a jury of peers. Although the legislation is said to be focused on sharing movies, music, and television shows; the copyright violations are defined very broadly and will surely extend to any usage of Associated Press or Reuters stories (or the like) and/or images.
This broad definition will essentially put all alternative news websites in violation despite their Fair Use rights. In fact, nearly every article or commentary about world events that is covered by independent news organizations that quote or link to mainstream media stories as a reference may be in violation (including this article you’re reading). The COICA will effectively crush any opposition to the mainstream media’s domination on the currently free and open world wide web. If properly debated and dissected there is no way this bill would be passed, hence the rushing to pass it under a quiet Congressional session.
Both of these bills will likely become laws given their overwhelming support in Congress. When enacted, the corporate-government tyranny will begin to work stealthily to regulate their competition out of the marketplace. By the time the vast majority of people realize this tyranny, it will be too late to complain as the independent voices will assuredly be Blacklisted from any debate.
View Article With Links HERE
Note: Video not included in original article.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Full Spectrum Dominance: 8 Examples Of How The Government Is Attempting To Take Total Control Of Our Food, Our Health, Our Money And Even Our Dignity
theeconomiccollapseblog.com
Over the past several decades, no matter which political party has been in power the government has continued to become a larger part of our lives. These days many people are speaking of the "nanny state" that we have created, but the reality is far worse than that. The truth is that the government has become a gluttonous, out of control behemoth that is gobbling up everything in sight and that is attempting to exert full spectrum dominance over our lives. Today, the government seems to have an insatiable hunger to watch us, track us and control us. Now they even want to feel our private parts before we get on an airplane. No matter what politicians we send to Washington D.C., it just seems to get worse and worse. Anyone who still believes that we live in "the land of the free" is completely and totally delusional.
It isn't just in one particular area that all of this government intrusion into our lives is so offensive. What we are witnessing is the government slowly digging its fingers even deeper into our lives in a thousand different ways. Sadly, most Americans see the government as the one who is supposed to take care of them from the cradle to the grave, as the one who is supposed to fix all of the problems in society and as the one who is their ultimate authority.
This is in direct contradiction to the concept of a "limited government" that our Founding Fathers tried so desperately to enshrine in our founding documents. The American people need a big-time wake up call. The following are 8 examples of how the U.S. government is attempting to take even more control over our lives....
#1 Taking Total Control Of Our Food - S. 510 "The Food Safety Modernization Act"
S. 510, "The Food Safety Modernization Act", is another huge power grab by the FDA and the federal government over our food supply. The bill is written so broadly and so vaguely that nobody really knows what it means. The potential for abuse of these vague new powers would be staggering. So will the government abuse these powers? Those who are in favor of the bill say that of course the government will be reasonable, but those who are opposed to the bill point to all of the other abuses that are currently taking place as evidence that we simply cannot trust the feds with vague, undefined powers.
Fortunately, the Tester Amendment has been attached to S. 510 at least for now, but big agriculture is not happy about this, and they will be doing everything they can to get it kicked out of the final version of the law. In any event, if this food safety law does get passed, tens of millions of Americans will be left wondering what they are allowed to grow in their back yards, what seeds they are allowed to save and what can and cannot be sold at farmer's markets.
In case you think this is paranoid, just consider what is already happening. It has been documented that the feds recently raided an Amish farmer at 5 AM in the morning because they claimed that he was was engaged in the interstate sale of raw milk in violation of federal law. If the feds are willing to stoop so low as to raid Amish farmers, do you think they will have any hesitation when the time comes to raid your home?
#2 Taking Total Control Of Air Travel - The Dehumanizing Full Body Scanners And "Enhanced Pat-Downs"
Totalitarian governments throughout history have always sought to dehumanize their subjects. Sadly, that is exactly what is happening in America today. If you want to get on an airplane in the United States, you will now be forced to either let TSA agents gawk at your naked body or let TSA agents grope your entire body including your genitals.
What these TSA agents are being instructed to do to ordinary Americans is so bizarre that it is hard to believe. It is being reported that in many instances TSA agents are actually reaching down the pants of male travelers and up the skirts of female travelers. One retired special education teacher was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an "enhanced pat-down" by TSA agents. Quite a number of women that have been through these "enhanced pat-downs" have used the phrase "sexual assault" to describe the experience.
So is this what America has become? A place that is so "dangerous" that we all must be treated like prison inmates? Large numbers of Americans are swearing that they will simply not fly anymore, but what happens when these "enhanced pat-downs" start showing up at our schools, our shopping centers and our sporting events someday?
#3 Taking Total Control Of Our Health Care - The Loss Of Our Health Freedom
Once upon a time, Americans had control over their own health care decisions. That is no longer true today. Thanks to major changes in our health care laws, the health care landscape in America has been dramatically changed. Americans are now forced to participate in the officially-sanctioned health care system by purchasing health insurance. But Americans cannot just get any kind of health insurance policy that they want. Our health insurance choices are now tightly constrained by thousands of regulations.
Not only that, but doctors in America no longer have the freedom to treat patients however they see fit. Only "approved" treatments are permissible, and now the federal government is going to be telling doctors which of those "approved" treatments are "cost-effective" enough. As the new health care laws are fully implemented over the next decade, the American people are going to become truly horrified not only about how much their health insurance premiums are going up, but also about how much health freedom they have actually lost.
#4 Taking Control Of Our Money - Multiplying Taxes
Whenever one tax goes down, it seems like several other taxes either go up or get invented. The truth is that Americans are being drained by the federal government, state governments and local governments in dozens upon dozens of different ways. To our various levels of government, our primary function is to serve as a revenue source. Each year it seems like they find more ways to stick it to us. In fact, it looks like 2011 is going to be a banner year for tax increases. If you doubt this, just see my previous article entitled "2011: The Year Of The Tax Increase".
#5 Taking Control Of Our Businesses - Thousands Of Ridiculous Regulations
Why would anyone in America even attempt to be an entrepreneur today? Most small businesses are literally being strangled by hordes of red tape.
Just consider how things have changed in America. The Federal Register is the main source of regulations for U.S. government agencies. In 1936, the number of pages in the Federal Register was about 2,600. Today, the Federal Register is over 80,000 pages long.
The following is just one example of how bizarre things have gotten in this country. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is projecting that the food service industry will have to spend an additional 14 million hours every single year just to comply with new federal regulations that mandate that all vending machine operators and chain restaurants must label all products that they sell with a calorie count in a location visible to the consumer.
Do we really need to spend 14 million more hours telling Americans that if they keep eating hamburgers and fries that they are likely to get fat?
But it is not just the federal government that is the problem. One reader recently described how difficult it was to try to run a business in the state of California....
Had 10 employees, but one almost exclusively to deal with government regs, taxes, reporting etc, Received a $144 penalty for a .33 (yes, cents)error on my quarterly payroll taxes from Cal Franchise Tax Board. I called to ask if that was not a bit repressive, why level penalize someone for what was obvisouly a didminimus error? I was told “we would have penalized you if it was .03!” I said, I did not volunteer to be the income tax collector for the State and Fed government, you should be paying me to do all this work and insane paper pushing. Reply: “That is part of the PRIVILIGE of being a business owner!!!”
#6 Taking Control Of Our Environment - The Green Police
The government is using the "green movement" as an excuse to take an unprecedented amount of control over our lives. From coast to coast, communities have been given government grants to track our trash with RFID microchips. The following are just some of the communities that will now be using microchips to track what we throw away....
*Cleveland, Ohio
*Charlotte, North Carolina
*Alexandria, Virginia
*Boise, Idaho
*Dayton, Ohio
*Flint, Michigan
Not only that, but some cities are now starting to fine citizens for not recycling properly.
In Cleveland, Ohio if an RFID tracking chip signals that a recycle bin has not been brought out to the curb within a certain period of time, a "trash supervisor" will actually sort through the trash produced by that home for recyclables.
According to Cleveland Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens, trash bins that contain over 10 percent recyclable material will be subject to a $100 fine.
Does that sound like America to you?
Now we don't even have the freedom to throw out trash the way we want to.
#7 Taking Away Our Independence - The Exploding Welfare State
You don't have much freedom if you can't take care of yourself. But in America today, tens of millions of Americans have literally become completely dependent on the government for survival. Over 42 million Americans are now on food stamps. Approximately one out of every six Americans is enrolled in a federal anti-poverty program.
The number of Americans living in poverty has increased for three consecutive years, and the 43.6 million poor Americans in 2009 was the highest number that the U.S. Census Bureau has ever recorded in 51 years of record-keeping.
The more Americans that are destitute and totally dependent on the government the easier it will be for the government to control them. Today a rapidly growing percentage of Americans fully expect the government to take care of them. But this is not what our founders intended.
#8 Taking Away Our Patriotism - We Are Even Losing The Freedom To Be Proud Of America
Do you ever think things will get so repressive in America that a group of high school students will be forbidden from singing the national anthem at the Lincoln Memorial? Well, that has already happened. Do you think that areas of our nation will ever become so anti-American that they will forbid students from riding to school with an American flag on their bikes? Well, that has already happened.
Fortunately, there was such an uproar over what happened to 13-year-old Cody Alicea that it made national headlines and he ended up being escorted to school by hundreds of other motorcycles and bicycles - most of them displaying American flags as well. The school reversed its policy and now Cody can ride his bike to school every day proudly displaying the American flag.
But what if nobody had decided to stand up?
That school would have gotten away with banning the flag if the American people had allowed them to.
Our liberties and our freedoms are under attack from a thousand different directions and they are being stripped away from us at a blinding pace.
It has gotten to the point where most of us just sit in our homes and enjoy the "freedom" of digesting the "programming" that is constantly being hurled at us through our televisions. Of course the vast majority of that programming is produced by just 6 monolithic corporations that control almost everything that we watch, hear and read.
Power and money have become more highly concentrated in America today than ever before, and yet most Americans don't even realize it.
Most Americans are so busy just trying to survive from month to month that they don't even have time to think about the deeper issues. At the end of the night most of them are so exhausted from serving the system that all they can do is collapse on the sofa and turn on some programming.
But the American people desperately need to wake up. Without liberty and freedom our country cannot work. But our freedoms and liberties are being stripped away a little bit more each and every day.
The America that so many of us grew up adoring is dying right in front of our eyes. If you plan on saying something about it, you better do so before it is too late.
View Article With Links HERE
Over the past several decades, no matter which political party has been in power the government has continued to become a larger part of our lives. These days many people are speaking of the "nanny state" that we have created, but the reality is far worse than that. The truth is that the government has become a gluttonous, out of control behemoth that is gobbling up everything in sight and that is attempting to exert full spectrum dominance over our lives. Today, the government seems to have an insatiable hunger to watch us, track us and control us. Now they even want to feel our private parts before we get on an airplane. No matter what politicians we send to Washington D.C., it just seems to get worse and worse. Anyone who still believes that we live in "the land of the free" is completely and totally delusional.
It isn't just in one particular area that all of this government intrusion into our lives is so offensive. What we are witnessing is the government slowly digging its fingers even deeper into our lives in a thousand different ways. Sadly, most Americans see the government as the one who is supposed to take care of them from the cradle to the grave, as the one who is supposed to fix all of the problems in society and as the one who is their ultimate authority.
This is in direct contradiction to the concept of a "limited government" that our Founding Fathers tried so desperately to enshrine in our founding documents. The American people need a big-time wake up call. The following are 8 examples of how the U.S. government is attempting to take even more control over our lives....
#1 Taking Total Control Of Our Food - S. 510 "The Food Safety Modernization Act"
S. 510, "The Food Safety Modernization Act", is another huge power grab by the FDA and the federal government over our food supply. The bill is written so broadly and so vaguely that nobody really knows what it means. The potential for abuse of these vague new powers would be staggering. So will the government abuse these powers? Those who are in favor of the bill say that of course the government will be reasonable, but those who are opposed to the bill point to all of the other abuses that are currently taking place as evidence that we simply cannot trust the feds with vague, undefined powers.
Fortunately, the Tester Amendment has been attached to S. 510 at least for now, but big agriculture is not happy about this, and they will be doing everything they can to get it kicked out of the final version of the law. In any event, if this food safety law does get passed, tens of millions of Americans will be left wondering what they are allowed to grow in their back yards, what seeds they are allowed to save and what can and cannot be sold at farmer's markets.
In case you think this is paranoid, just consider what is already happening. It has been documented that the feds recently raided an Amish farmer at 5 AM in the morning because they claimed that he was was engaged in the interstate sale of raw milk in violation of federal law. If the feds are willing to stoop so low as to raid Amish farmers, do you think they will have any hesitation when the time comes to raid your home?
#2 Taking Total Control Of Air Travel - The Dehumanizing Full Body Scanners And "Enhanced Pat-Downs"
Totalitarian governments throughout history have always sought to dehumanize their subjects. Sadly, that is exactly what is happening in America today. If you want to get on an airplane in the United States, you will now be forced to either let TSA agents gawk at your naked body or let TSA agents grope your entire body including your genitals.
What these TSA agents are being instructed to do to ordinary Americans is so bizarre that it is hard to believe. It is being reported that in many instances TSA agents are actually reaching down the pants of male travelers and up the skirts of female travelers. One retired special education teacher was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an "enhanced pat-down" by TSA agents. Quite a number of women that have been through these "enhanced pat-downs" have used the phrase "sexual assault" to describe the experience.
So is this what America has become? A place that is so "dangerous" that we all must be treated like prison inmates? Large numbers of Americans are swearing that they will simply not fly anymore, but what happens when these "enhanced pat-downs" start showing up at our schools, our shopping centers and our sporting events someday?
#3 Taking Total Control Of Our Health Care - The Loss Of Our Health Freedom
Once upon a time, Americans had control over their own health care decisions. That is no longer true today. Thanks to major changes in our health care laws, the health care landscape in America has been dramatically changed. Americans are now forced to participate in the officially-sanctioned health care system by purchasing health insurance. But Americans cannot just get any kind of health insurance policy that they want. Our health insurance choices are now tightly constrained by thousands of regulations.
Not only that, but doctors in America no longer have the freedom to treat patients however they see fit. Only "approved" treatments are permissible, and now the federal government is going to be telling doctors which of those "approved" treatments are "cost-effective" enough. As the new health care laws are fully implemented over the next decade, the American people are going to become truly horrified not only about how much their health insurance premiums are going up, but also about how much health freedom they have actually lost.
#4 Taking Control Of Our Money - Multiplying Taxes
Whenever one tax goes down, it seems like several other taxes either go up or get invented. The truth is that Americans are being drained by the federal government, state governments and local governments in dozens upon dozens of different ways. To our various levels of government, our primary function is to serve as a revenue source. Each year it seems like they find more ways to stick it to us. In fact, it looks like 2011 is going to be a banner year for tax increases. If you doubt this, just see my previous article entitled "2011: The Year Of The Tax Increase".
#5 Taking Control Of Our Businesses - Thousands Of Ridiculous Regulations
Why would anyone in America even attempt to be an entrepreneur today? Most small businesses are literally being strangled by hordes of red tape.
Just consider how things have changed in America. The Federal Register is the main source of regulations for U.S. government agencies. In 1936, the number of pages in the Federal Register was about 2,600. Today, the Federal Register is over 80,000 pages long.
The following is just one example of how bizarre things have gotten in this country. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is projecting that the food service industry will have to spend an additional 14 million hours every single year just to comply with new federal regulations that mandate that all vending machine operators and chain restaurants must label all products that they sell with a calorie count in a location visible to the consumer.
Do we really need to spend 14 million more hours telling Americans that if they keep eating hamburgers and fries that they are likely to get fat?
But it is not just the federal government that is the problem. One reader recently described how difficult it was to try to run a business in the state of California....
Had 10 employees, but one almost exclusively to deal with government regs, taxes, reporting etc, Received a $144 penalty for a .33 (yes, cents)error on my quarterly payroll taxes from Cal Franchise Tax Board. I called to ask if that was not a bit repressive, why level penalize someone for what was obvisouly a didminimus error? I was told “we would have penalized you if it was .03!” I said, I did not volunteer to be the income tax collector for the State and Fed government, you should be paying me to do all this work and insane paper pushing. Reply: “That is part of the PRIVILIGE of being a business owner!!!”
#6 Taking Control Of Our Environment - The Green Police
The government is using the "green movement" as an excuse to take an unprecedented amount of control over our lives. From coast to coast, communities have been given government grants to track our trash with RFID microchips. The following are just some of the communities that will now be using microchips to track what we throw away....
*Cleveland, Ohio
*Charlotte, North Carolina
*Alexandria, Virginia
*Boise, Idaho
*Dayton, Ohio
*Flint, Michigan
Not only that, but some cities are now starting to fine citizens for not recycling properly.
In Cleveland, Ohio if an RFID tracking chip signals that a recycle bin has not been brought out to the curb within a certain period of time, a "trash supervisor" will actually sort through the trash produced by that home for recyclables.
According to Cleveland Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens, trash bins that contain over 10 percent recyclable material will be subject to a $100 fine.
Does that sound like America to you?
Now we don't even have the freedom to throw out trash the way we want to.
#7 Taking Away Our Independence - The Exploding Welfare State
You don't have much freedom if you can't take care of yourself. But in America today, tens of millions of Americans have literally become completely dependent on the government for survival. Over 42 million Americans are now on food stamps. Approximately one out of every six Americans is enrolled in a federal anti-poverty program.
The number of Americans living in poverty has increased for three consecutive years, and the 43.6 million poor Americans in 2009 was the highest number that the U.S. Census Bureau has ever recorded in 51 years of record-keeping.
The more Americans that are destitute and totally dependent on the government the easier it will be for the government to control them. Today a rapidly growing percentage of Americans fully expect the government to take care of them. But this is not what our founders intended.
#8 Taking Away Our Patriotism - We Are Even Losing The Freedom To Be Proud Of America
Do you ever think things will get so repressive in America that a group of high school students will be forbidden from singing the national anthem at the Lincoln Memorial? Well, that has already happened. Do you think that areas of our nation will ever become so anti-American that they will forbid students from riding to school with an American flag on their bikes? Well, that has already happened.
Fortunately, there was such an uproar over what happened to 13-year-old Cody Alicea that it made national headlines and he ended up being escorted to school by hundreds of other motorcycles and bicycles - most of them displaying American flags as well. The school reversed its policy and now Cody can ride his bike to school every day proudly displaying the American flag.
But what if nobody had decided to stand up?
That school would have gotten away with banning the flag if the American people had allowed them to.
Our liberties and our freedoms are under attack from a thousand different directions and they are being stripped away from us at a blinding pace.
It has gotten to the point where most of us just sit in our homes and enjoy the "freedom" of digesting the "programming" that is constantly being hurled at us through our televisions. Of course the vast majority of that programming is produced by just 6 monolithic corporations that control almost everything that we watch, hear and read.
Power and money have become more highly concentrated in America today than ever before, and yet most Americans don't even realize it.
Most Americans are so busy just trying to survive from month to month that they don't even have time to think about the deeper issues. At the end of the night most of them are so exhausted from serving the system that all they can do is collapse on the sofa and turn on some programming.
But the American people desperately need to wake up. Without liberty and freedom our country cannot work. But our freedoms and liberties are being stripped away a little bit more each and every day.
The America that so many of us grew up adoring is dying right in front of our eyes. If you plan on saying something about it, you better do so before it is too late.
View Article With Links HERE
Activist Post
A video from a 2007 investigative report by KPRC local news in Houston made a sizable impact on YouTube when it appeared early this year. The video (below) shows unequivocal proof of the secret testing of unmanned drones by the Houston Police department. A similar program came to light in Las Vegas, also initiated in 2007. Is this an indication that police and military are now working jointly in a way that blurs the lines between their stated border control operations and a wider domestic surveillance program?
It is worth remembering that as far back as 2003, FOX News propagandized that unmanned Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities, invoking a potential biological 9/11 carried out by UAV equipped with spray nozzles. Yet, this fleet of unmanned drones actually has taken flight over America at the behest of Homeland Security, working jointly with select police departments, and is enriching the corporations which produce this technology.
An article by CNET in 2006 quoted Mike Heintz on behalf of the UNITE Alliance, which represents the military-industrial behemoths Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as envisioning that border control and anti-terrorism would be primary applications, but, "Other examples are limited only by your imagination." Given this tacit admission of the openness of direction, the issue of the legality of these all-seeing drones -- which are capable of viewing the general public without probable cause -- should be paramount. Yet, there has been very little public debate, despite the fact that these vehicles are already in use. In the wake of recent news about domestic surveillance of peaceful activists by Homeland Security, as well as surveillance by foreign intelligence agencies, Americans should not be comfortable with military-grade surveillance capabilities being used in American skies.
The little attention that unmanned drones over American soil has received continues to be focused on coastlines and border control functions to combat drug trafficking. However, a fairly recent Public Intelligence article discussed information they received about a program in Las Vegas called "Silver Shield." The Silver Shield program appears to be part of "infrastructure protection," but also indicates domestic surveillance capability. The Law Enforcement Sensitive document was dated from 2007, the same year as the report by local station KPRC 2 in Houston about an apparently similar program.
In the case of Houston, the city falls within the 100-mile zone of border control, which the ACLU has called the Constitution-free Zone. However, the Vegas report is even more troubling, since it is a major city that is well away from the coast. Regardless, the fact that the government seems to consider a 100-mile swath around the entire country (where 2/3 of people reside), as a Constitutional no-man's land is cause for much more discussion than has been taking place.
The use of unmanned drones in silent wars abroad has had a terrible impact, and their use is only spreading. More investigation is needed about what the military-industrial complex has in store for Americans. Please urge your local media to investigate if similar programs are taking place in your area, both inside the 100-mile zone, as well as inland major cities.
View Article With Links HERE
A video from a 2007 investigative report by KPRC local news in Houston made a sizable impact on YouTube when it appeared early this year. The video (below) shows unequivocal proof of the secret testing of unmanned drones by the Houston Police department. A similar program came to light in Las Vegas, also initiated in 2007. Is this an indication that police and military are now working jointly in a way that blurs the lines between their stated border control operations and a wider domestic surveillance program?
It is worth remembering that as far back as 2003, FOX News propagandized that unmanned Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities, invoking a potential biological 9/11 carried out by UAV equipped with spray nozzles. Yet, this fleet of unmanned drones actually has taken flight over America at the behest of Homeland Security, working jointly with select police departments, and is enriching the corporations which produce this technology.
An article by CNET in 2006 quoted Mike Heintz on behalf of the UNITE Alliance, which represents the military-industrial behemoths Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, as envisioning that border control and anti-terrorism would be primary applications, but, "Other examples are limited only by your imagination." Given this tacit admission of the openness of direction, the issue of the legality of these all-seeing drones -- which are capable of viewing the general public without probable cause -- should be paramount. Yet, there has been very little public debate, despite the fact that these vehicles are already in use. In the wake of recent news about domestic surveillance of peaceful activists by Homeland Security, as well as surveillance by foreign intelligence agencies, Americans should not be comfortable with military-grade surveillance capabilities being used in American skies.
The little attention that unmanned drones over American soil has received continues to be focused on coastlines and border control functions to combat drug trafficking. However, a fairly recent Public Intelligence article discussed information they received about a program in Las Vegas called "Silver Shield." The Silver Shield program appears to be part of "infrastructure protection," but also indicates domestic surveillance capability. The Law Enforcement Sensitive document was dated from 2007, the same year as the report by local station KPRC 2 in Houston about an apparently similar program.
In the case of Houston, the city falls within the 100-mile zone of border control, which the ACLU has called the Constitution-free Zone. However, the Vegas report is even more troubling, since it is a major city that is well away from the coast. Regardless, the fact that the government seems to consider a 100-mile swath around the entire country (where 2/3 of people reside), as a Constitutional no-man's land is cause for much more discussion than has been taking place.
The use of unmanned drones in silent wars abroad has had a terrible impact, and their use is only spreading. More investigation is needed about what the military-industrial complex has in store for Americans. Please urge your local media to investigate if similar programs are taking place in your area, both inside the 100-mile zone, as well as inland major cities.
View Article With Links HERE
Big Sis Wants Behavior Scanners At Sports Events, Malls
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
DHS seeks to read “malintent” at interrogation checkpoints.
Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano admitted yesterday that body scanners would eventually find their way into U.S. public transportation, trains and boats, but Big Sis is already beta-testing technology that goes even further, by forcing Americans to undergo a behavioral interrogation before they are allowed to enter sports events, rock concerts and shopping malls.
“I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?” said Napolitano, indicating that naked body scanners and invasive pat downs will eventually become a necessity in order to merely catch the subway or ride a bus.
Indeed, mobile body scanners have already hit the streets, with “more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents” having been sold to government agencies,” reports Forbes.
American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold many of the devices to U.S. law enforcement agencies, who are already using them on the streets for “security” purposes.
However, body and vehicle scanners are just one tool authorities plan to implement on a widespread basis as part of our deepening decline into a hi-tech militarized police state.
Homeland Security is already implementing technology to be enforced at “security events” which purportedly reads “malintent” on behalf of an individual who passes through a checkpoint. The video below explains how “Future Attribute Screening Technology” (FAST) checkpoints will conduct “physiological” and “behavioral” tests in order to weed out suspected terrorists and criminals.
Big Sis wants to know if there are any evil thoughts inside your head before they allow you to go about your business.
The clip shows individuals who attend “security events” being led into trailers before they are interrogated as to whether they are terrorists while lie detector-style computer programs analyze their physiological responses. The subjects are asked about their whereabouts, and if they are attempting to smuggle bombs or recording devices into the “expo,” proving that the technology is intended to be used at public events and not just airports. Individuals who do not satisfy the first lie detector-style test are then asked “additional questions”.
Americans will be mandated to prove to the government that they are well-behaved slaves before they are allowed to do anything.
“The best thing about FAST is its portability,” points out Howard Portnoy. “If the Big Sis has a mind, they can park an MMR (mobile miner reader—my own acronym) outside the local mall, the petting zoo … you name it, and the government will be there to tap into your brainwaves and find out whether you’re naughty or nice.”
The use of such technology is not only a complete violation of the Fourth Amendment, it also eviscerates the notion of innocent until proven guilty, and therefore totally undermines everything America stands for. Given the widespread abuse witnessed in the first year alone after the roll out of airport body scanners, Americans need to boycott the companies producing these systems and also resist their deployment at every turn.
Big Sis has made it clear that everything we see in the airport, from invasive groping to body scanners to iris scans, is eventually destined to be rolled out on the streets. When this happens, people who thought they could avoid such treatment by simply refusing to fly will instead discover that their apathy has greased the skids for a total surveillance society that outstrips anything they read about in George Orwell’s 1984 or saw in movies like Minority Report.
View Article With Links HERE
Prison Planet.com
DHS seeks to read “malintent” at interrogation checkpoints.
Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano admitted yesterday that body scanners would eventually find their way into U.S. public transportation, trains and boats, but Big Sis is already beta-testing technology that goes even further, by forcing Americans to undergo a behavioral interrogation before they are allowed to enter sports events, rock concerts and shopping malls.
“I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?” said Napolitano, indicating that naked body scanners and invasive pat downs will eventually become a necessity in order to merely catch the subway or ride a bus.
Indeed, mobile body scanners have already hit the streets, with “more than 500 backscatter x-ray scanners mounted in vans that can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents” having been sold to government agencies,” reports Forbes.
American Science & Engineering, a company based in Billerica, Massachusetts, has sold many of the devices to U.S. law enforcement agencies, who are already using them on the streets for “security” purposes.
However, body and vehicle scanners are just one tool authorities plan to implement on a widespread basis as part of our deepening decline into a hi-tech militarized police state.
Homeland Security is already implementing technology to be enforced at “security events” which purportedly reads “malintent” on behalf of an individual who passes through a checkpoint. The video below explains how “Future Attribute Screening Technology” (FAST) checkpoints will conduct “physiological” and “behavioral” tests in order to weed out suspected terrorists and criminals.
Big Sis wants to know if there are any evil thoughts inside your head before they allow you to go about your business.
The clip shows individuals who attend “security events” being led into trailers before they are interrogated as to whether they are terrorists while lie detector-style computer programs analyze their physiological responses. The subjects are asked about their whereabouts, and if they are attempting to smuggle bombs or recording devices into the “expo,” proving that the technology is intended to be used at public events and not just airports. Individuals who do not satisfy the first lie detector-style test are then asked “additional questions”.
Americans will be mandated to prove to the government that they are well-behaved slaves before they are allowed to do anything.
“The best thing about FAST is its portability,” points out Howard Portnoy. “If the Big Sis has a mind, they can park an MMR (mobile miner reader—my own acronym) outside the local mall, the petting zoo … you name it, and the government will be there to tap into your brainwaves and find out whether you’re naughty or nice.”
The use of such technology is not only a complete violation of the Fourth Amendment, it also eviscerates the notion of innocent until proven guilty, and therefore totally undermines everything America stands for. Given the widespread abuse witnessed in the first year alone after the roll out of airport body scanners, Americans need to boycott the companies producing these systems and also resist their deployment at every turn.
Big Sis has made it clear that everything we see in the airport, from invasive groping to body scanners to iris scans, is eventually destined to be rolled out on the streets. When this happens, people who thought they could avoid such treatment by simply refusing to fly will instead discover that their apathy has greased the skids for a total surveillance society that outstrips anything they read about in George Orwell’s 1984 or saw in movies like Minority Report.
View Article With Links HERE
TSA Gestapo Empire
Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com
It doesn’t take a bureaucrat long to create an empire. John Pistole, the FBI agent who took over the Transportation Security Administration on July 1 told USA Today 16 days later that protecting trains and subways from terrorist attacks will be as high a priority for him as air travel.
It is difficult to imagine New Yorkers being porno-screened and sexually groped on crowed subway platforms or showing up an hour or two in advance for clearance for a 15 minute subway ride, but once bureaucrats get the bit in their teeth they take absurdity to its logical conclusion. Buses will be next, although it is even more difficult to imagine open air bus stops turned into security zones with screeners and gropers inspecting passengers before they board.
Will taxi passengers be next? In those Muslim lands whose citizens the US government has been slaughtering for years, favorite weapons for retaliating against the Americans are car and truck bombs. How long before Pistole announces that the TSA Gestapo is setting up roadblocks on city streets, highways and interstates to check cars for bombs?
That 15 minute trip to the grocery store then becomes an all day affair.
Indeed, it has already begun. Last September agents from Homeland Security, TSA, and the US Department of Transportation, assisted by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a counter-terrorism operation on busy Interstate 20 just west of Atlanta, Georgia. Designated VIPER (Visible Inter-mobile Prevention and Response), the operation required all trucks to stop to be screened for bombs. Federal agents used dogs, screening devices, and a large drive-through bomb detection machine. Imagine what the delays did to delivery schedules and truckers’ bottom lines.
There are also news reports of federal trucks equipped with backscatter X-ray devices that secretly scan cars and pedestrians.
With such expensive counter-terrorism activities, both in terms of the hard-pressed taxpayers’ money and civil liberties, one would think that bombs were going off all over America. But, of course, they aren’t. There has not been a successful terrorist act since 9/11, and thousands of independent experts doubt the government’s explanation of that event.
Subsequent domestic terrorist events have turned out to be FBI sting operations in which FBI agents organize not-so-bright disaffected members of society and lead them into displaying interest in participating in a terrorist act. Once the FBI agent, pretending to be a terrorist, succeeds in prompting all the right words to be said and captured on his hidden recorder, the “terrorists” are arrested and the “plot” exposed.
The very fact that the FBI has to orchestrate fake terrorism proves the absence of real terrorists.
If Americans were more thoughtful and less gullible, they might wonder why all the emphasis on transportation when there are so many soft targets. Shopping centers, for example. If there were enough terrorists in America to justify the existence of Homeland Security, bombs would be going off round the clock in shopping malls in every state. The effect would be far more terrifying than blowing up an airliner.
Indeed, if terrorists want to attack air travelers, they never need to board an airplane.
All they need to do is to join the throngs of passengers waiting to go through the TSA scanners and set off their bombs. The TSA has conveniently assembled the targets.
The final proof that there are no terrorists is that not a single neoconservative or government official responsible for the Bush regime’s invasions of Iraq and
Afghanistan and the Obama regime’s slaughters of Pakistanis, Yemenis, and Somalians has been assassinated. None of these Americans who are responsible for lies, deceptions, and invasions that have destroyed the lives of countless numbers of Muslims have any security protection. If Muslims were capable of pulling off 9/11, they are certainly capable of assassinating Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Libby, Condi Rice, Kristol, Bolton, Goldberg, and scores of others during the same hour of the same day.
I am not advocating that terrorists assassinate anyone. I am just making the point that if the US was as overrun with terrorists as empire-building bureaucrats pretend, we would definitely be experiencing dramatic terrorist acts. The argument is not believable that a government that was incapable of preventing 9/11 is so all-knowing that it can prevent assassination of unprotected neocons and shopping malls from being bombed.
If Al Qaeda was anything like the organization that the US government claims, it would not be focused on trivial targets such as passenger airliners. The organization, if it exists, would be focused on its real enemies. Try to imagine the propaganda value of terrorists wiping out the neoconservatives in one fell swoop, followed by an announcement that every member of the federal government down to the lowest GS, every member of the House and Senate, and every governor was next in line to be bumped off.
This would be real terrorism instead of the make-belief stuff associated with shoe bombs that don’t work, underwear bombs that independent experts say could not work, and bottled water and shampoo bombs that experts say cannot possibly be put together in airliner lavatories.
Think about it. Would a terror organization capable of outwitting all 16 US intelligence agencies, all intelligence agencies of US allies including Israel’s Mossad, the National Security Council, NORAD, air traffic control, the Pentagon, and airport security four times in one hour put its unrivaled prestige at risk with improbable shoe bombs, shampoo bombs, and underwear bombs?
After success in destroying the World Trade Center and blowing up part of the Pentagon, it is an extraordinary comedown to go after a mere airliner. Would a person who gains fame by knocking out the world heavyweight boxing champion make himself a laughing stock by taking lunch money from school boys?
TSA is a far greater threat to Americans than are terrorists. Pistole has given the finger to US senators and representatives, state legislators, and the traveling public who have expressed their views that virtual strip searches and sexual molestation are too high a price to pay for “security.” Indeed, the TSA with its Gestapo attitude and methods, is succeeding in making Americans more terrified of the TSA than they are of terrorists.
Make up your own mind. What terrifies you the most. Terrorists, who in all likelihood you will never encounter in your lifetime, or the TSA that you will encounter every time you fly and soon, according to Pistole, every time you take a train, a subway, or drive in a car or truck?
Before making up your mind, consider this report from Antiwar.com on November 19: “TSA officials say that anyone refusing both the full body scanners and the enhanced pat down procedures will be taken into custody. Once there the detainees will not only be barred from flying, but will be held indefinitely as suspected terrorists . . . One sheriff’s office said they were already preparing to handle a large number of detainees and plan to treat them as terror suspects.”
Who is cowing Americans into submission, terrorists or the TSA Gestapo?
Read Original Article HERE
Infowars.com
It doesn’t take a bureaucrat long to create an empire. John Pistole, the FBI agent who took over the Transportation Security Administration on July 1 told USA Today 16 days later that protecting trains and subways from terrorist attacks will be as high a priority for him as air travel.
It is difficult to imagine New Yorkers being porno-screened and sexually groped on crowed subway platforms or showing up an hour or two in advance for clearance for a 15 minute subway ride, but once bureaucrats get the bit in their teeth they take absurdity to its logical conclusion. Buses will be next, although it is even more difficult to imagine open air bus stops turned into security zones with screeners and gropers inspecting passengers before they board.
Will taxi passengers be next? In those Muslim lands whose citizens the US government has been slaughtering for years, favorite weapons for retaliating against the Americans are car and truck bombs. How long before Pistole announces that the TSA Gestapo is setting up roadblocks on city streets, highways and interstates to check cars for bombs?
That 15 minute trip to the grocery store then becomes an all day affair.
Indeed, it has already begun. Last September agents from Homeland Security, TSA, and the US Department of Transportation, assisted by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a counter-terrorism operation on busy Interstate 20 just west of Atlanta, Georgia. Designated VIPER (Visible Inter-mobile Prevention and Response), the operation required all trucks to stop to be screened for bombs. Federal agents used dogs, screening devices, and a large drive-through bomb detection machine. Imagine what the delays did to delivery schedules and truckers’ bottom lines.
There are also news reports of federal trucks equipped with backscatter X-ray devices that secretly scan cars and pedestrians.
With such expensive counter-terrorism activities, both in terms of the hard-pressed taxpayers’ money and civil liberties, one would think that bombs were going off all over America. But, of course, they aren’t. There has not been a successful terrorist act since 9/11, and thousands of independent experts doubt the government’s explanation of that event.
Subsequent domestic terrorist events have turned out to be FBI sting operations in which FBI agents organize not-so-bright disaffected members of society and lead them into displaying interest in participating in a terrorist act. Once the FBI agent, pretending to be a terrorist, succeeds in prompting all the right words to be said and captured on his hidden recorder, the “terrorists” are arrested and the “plot” exposed.
The very fact that the FBI has to orchestrate fake terrorism proves the absence of real terrorists.
If Americans were more thoughtful and less gullible, they might wonder why all the emphasis on transportation when there are so many soft targets. Shopping centers, for example. If there were enough terrorists in America to justify the existence of Homeland Security, bombs would be going off round the clock in shopping malls in every state. The effect would be far more terrifying than blowing up an airliner.
Indeed, if terrorists want to attack air travelers, they never need to board an airplane.
All they need to do is to join the throngs of passengers waiting to go through the TSA scanners and set off their bombs. The TSA has conveniently assembled the targets.
The final proof that there are no terrorists is that not a single neoconservative or government official responsible for the Bush regime’s invasions of Iraq and
Afghanistan and the Obama regime’s slaughters of Pakistanis, Yemenis, and Somalians has been assassinated. None of these Americans who are responsible for lies, deceptions, and invasions that have destroyed the lives of countless numbers of Muslims have any security protection. If Muslims were capable of pulling off 9/11, they are certainly capable of assassinating Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Libby, Condi Rice, Kristol, Bolton, Goldberg, and scores of others during the same hour of the same day.
I am not advocating that terrorists assassinate anyone. I am just making the point that if the US was as overrun with terrorists as empire-building bureaucrats pretend, we would definitely be experiencing dramatic terrorist acts. The argument is not believable that a government that was incapable of preventing 9/11 is so all-knowing that it can prevent assassination of unprotected neocons and shopping malls from being bombed.
If Al Qaeda was anything like the organization that the US government claims, it would not be focused on trivial targets such as passenger airliners. The organization, if it exists, would be focused on its real enemies. Try to imagine the propaganda value of terrorists wiping out the neoconservatives in one fell swoop, followed by an announcement that every member of the federal government down to the lowest GS, every member of the House and Senate, and every governor was next in line to be bumped off.
This would be real terrorism instead of the make-belief stuff associated with shoe bombs that don’t work, underwear bombs that independent experts say could not work, and bottled water and shampoo bombs that experts say cannot possibly be put together in airliner lavatories.
Think about it. Would a terror organization capable of outwitting all 16 US intelligence agencies, all intelligence agencies of US allies including Israel’s Mossad, the National Security Council, NORAD, air traffic control, the Pentagon, and airport security four times in one hour put its unrivaled prestige at risk with improbable shoe bombs, shampoo bombs, and underwear bombs?
After success in destroying the World Trade Center and blowing up part of the Pentagon, it is an extraordinary comedown to go after a mere airliner. Would a person who gains fame by knocking out the world heavyweight boxing champion make himself a laughing stock by taking lunch money from school boys?
TSA is a far greater threat to Americans than are terrorists. Pistole has given the finger to US senators and representatives, state legislators, and the traveling public who have expressed their views that virtual strip searches and sexual molestation are too high a price to pay for “security.” Indeed, the TSA with its Gestapo attitude and methods, is succeeding in making Americans more terrified of the TSA than they are of terrorists.
Make up your own mind. What terrifies you the most. Terrorists, who in all likelihood you will never encounter in your lifetime, or the TSA that you will encounter every time you fly and soon, according to Pistole, every time you take a train, a subway, or drive in a car or truck?
Before making up your mind, consider this report from Antiwar.com on November 19: “TSA officials say that anyone refusing both the full body scanners and the enhanced pat down procedures will be taken into custody. Once there the detainees will not only be barred from flying, but will be held indefinitely as suspected terrorists . . . One sheriff’s office said they were already preparing to handle a large number of detainees and plan to treat them as terror suspects.”
Who is cowing Americans into submission, terrorists or the TSA Gestapo?
Read Original Article HERE
China, Russia Quit Dollar
By Su Qiang and Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
St. Petersburg, Russia - China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.
Chinese experts said the move reflected closer relations between Beijing and Moscow and is not aimed at challenging the dollar, but to protect their domestic economies.
"About trade settlement, we have decided to use our own currencies," Putin said at a joint news conference with Wen in St. Petersburg.
The two countries were accustomed to using other currencies, especially the dollar, for bilateral trade. Since the financial crisis, however, high-ranking officials on both sides began to explore other possibilities.
The yuan has now started trading against the Russian rouble in the Chinese interbank market, while the renminbi will soon be allowed to trade against the rouble in Russia, Putin said.
"That has forged an important step in bilateral trade and it is a result of the consolidated financial systems of world countries," he said.
Putin made his remarks after a meeting with Wen. They also officiated at a signing ceremony for 12 documents, including energy cooperation.
The documents covered cooperation on aviation, railroad construction, customs, protecting intellectual property, culture and a joint communiqu. Details of the documents have yet to be released.
Putin said one of the pacts between the two countries is about the purchase of two nuclear reactors from Russia by China's Tianwan nuclear power plant, the most advanced nuclear power complex in China.
Putin has called for boosting sales of natural resources - Russia's main export - to China, but price has proven to be a sticking point.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who holds sway over Russia's energy sector, said following a meeting with Chinese representatives that Moscow and Beijing are unlikely to agree on the price of Russian gas supplies to China before the middle of next year.
Russia is looking for China to pay prices similar to those Russian gas giant Gazprom charges its European customers, but Beijing wants a discount. The two sides were about $100 per 1,000 cubic meters apart, according to Chinese officials last week.
Wen's trip follows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's three-day visit to China in September, during which he and President Hu Jintao launched a cross-border pipeline linking the world's biggest energy producer with the largest energy consumer.
Wen said at the press conference that the partnership between Beijing and Moscow has "reached an unprecedented level" and pledged the two countries will "never become each other's enemy".
Over the past year, "our strategic cooperative partnership endured strenuous tests and reached an unprecedented level," Wen said, adding the two nations are now more confident and determined to defend their mutual interests.
"China will firmly follow the path of peaceful development and support the renaissance of Russia as a great power," he said.
"The modernization of China will not affect other countries' interests, while a solid and strong Sino-Russian relationship is in line with the fundamental interests of both countries."
Wen said Beijing is willing to boost cooperation with Moscow in Northeast Asia, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in major international organizations and on mechanisms in pursuit of a "fair and reasonable new order" in international politics and the economy.
Sun Zhuangzhi, a senior researcher in Central Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new mode of trade settlement between China and Russia follows a global trend after the financial crisis exposed the faults of a dollar-dominated world financial system.
Pang Zhongying, who specializes in international politics at Renmin University of China, said the proposal is not challenging the dollar, but aimed at avoiding the risks the dollar represents.
Wen arrived in the northern Russian city on Monday evening for a regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government.
He left St. Petersburg for Moscow late on Tuesday and is set to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday.
Agencies and Zhou Wa contributed to this story.
Read Original Article HERE
St. Petersburg, Russia - China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.
Chinese experts said the move reflected closer relations between Beijing and Moscow and is not aimed at challenging the dollar, but to protect their domestic economies.
"About trade settlement, we have decided to use our own currencies," Putin said at a joint news conference with Wen in St. Petersburg.
The two countries were accustomed to using other currencies, especially the dollar, for bilateral trade. Since the financial crisis, however, high-ranking officials on both sides began to explore other possibilities.
The yuan has now started trading against the Russian rouble in the Chinese interbank market, while the renminbi will soon be allowed to trade against the rouble in Russia, Putin said.
"That has forged an important step in bilateral trade and it is a result of the consolidated financial systems of world countries," he said.
Putin made his remarks after a meeting with Wen. They also officiated at a signing ceremony for 12 documents, including energy cooperation.
The documents covered cooperation on aviation, railroad construction, customs, protecting intellectual property, culture and a joint communiqu. Details of the documents have yet to be released.
Putin said one of the pacts between the two countries is about the purchase of two nuclear reactors from Russia by China's Tianwan nuclear power plant, the most advanced nuclear power complex in China.
Putin has called for boosting sales of natural resources - Russia's main export - to China, but price has proven to be a sticking point.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who holds sway over Russia's energy sector, said following a meeting with Chinese representatives that Moscow and Beijing are unlikely to agree on the price of Russian gas supplies to China before the middle of next year.
Russia is looking for China to pay prices similar to those Russian gas giant Gazprom charges its European customers, but Beijing wants a discount. The two sides were about $100 per 1,000 cubic meters apart, according to Chinese officials last week.
Wen's trip follows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's three-day visit to China in September, during which he and President Hu Jintao launched a cross-border pipeline linking the world's biggest energy producer with the largest energy consumer.
Wen said at the press conference that the partnership between Beijing and Moscow has "reached an unprecedented level" and pledged the two countries will "never become each other's enemy".
Over the past year, "our strategic cooperative partnership endured strenuous tests and reached an unprecedented level," Wen said, adding the two nations are now more confident and determined to defend their mutual interests.
"China will firmly follow the path of peaceful development and support the renaissance of Russia as a great power," he said.
"The modernization of China will not affect other countries' interests, while a solid and strong Sino-Russian relationship is in line with the fundamental interests of both countries."
Wen said Beijing is willing to boost cooperation with Moscow in Northeast Asia, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in major international organizations and on mechanisms in pursuit of a "fair and reasonable new order" in international politics and the economy.
Sun Zhuangzhi, a senior researcher in Central Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new mode of trade settlement between China and Russia follows a global trend after the financial crisis exposed the faults of a dollar-dominated world financial system.
Pang Zhongying, who specializes in international politics at Renmin University of China, said the proposal is not challenging the dollar, but aimed at avoiding the risks the dollar represents.
Wen arrived in the northern Russian city on Monday evening for a regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government.
He left St. Petersburg for Moscow late on Tuesday and is set to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday.
Agencies and Zhou Wa contributed to this story.
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