Dear Ron,
The News In Review newsletter is a service
provided
by Understand The Times that
is a compilation of the news articles
previously posted
on our site . Understand The Times does not
endorse these events but rather is
showing the church the current events.
The
purpose of posting these articles is to warn the church of deception from a
Biblical perspective.
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February 4 - Jesus Loves Roku: Televangelism in the Age of Web TV
Article: Emerging Church
Each and every weekend, about a hundred people
all across the U.S. dress up to attend church - only
to sit down in front of their TV and reach for their
Roku
remote control to access live worship services via the Northland Church
channel.
Northland
broadcasts live from one of its Florida-based churches, but its ministers
routinely start services by
welcoming everyone watching online as well.
Welcome to the next generation of televangelism, which is
using Internet set-top boxes to bypass large cable networks.
Churches like Northland
have been embracing the Internet as a means to reach out to its members for
years, and they've been very successful. "Nearly one-third of our
congregation of 15,000 worships with us via the web," Northland PR
Director Robert Andrescik told me via email. The church
has been using traditional web video and Facebook as
well as a number of mobile phone apps for these online services.
"The simplicity and low cost has really opened up a
lot of doors for people to reach out to people right from their homes,"
said Snow about Roku.
Jaquet knows other churches are already
working on their own channels, and he wouldn't be
surprised if eventually one of the mega-churches with access to cable TV
also embraced a platform like Roku. "There's a lot of opportunity
here, and it's starting to spread,"
he told me.
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February 4 - Where Have All the Presbyterians Gone?
Article: Miscellaneous
Are we
witnessing the death of America's Christian denominations?
Studies conducted by secular and Christian organizations
indicate that we are.
Fewer and fewer American Christians,
especially Protestants, strongly identify with a particular
religious communion-Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian,
Pentecostal, etc. According to the Baylor Survey on
Religion, nondenominational churches now
represent the second largest group of Protestant churches in
America, and they are also the fastest growing.
More and more
Christians choose a church not on the basis of its denomination,
but on the basis of more
practical matters. Is
the nursery easy to find? Do I like the music? Are there support
groups for those grappling with addiction?
This trend is
a natural extension of the American evangelical experiment.
After all, evangelicalism is about the
fundamental message of Christianity-the evangel, the gospel,
literally the "good news" of God's kingdom arriving in Jesus
Christ-not about
denomination building.
The
revivalists wanted to get back to basics, to recover the
centrality of a personal relationship with Jesus. "Being a
member of a church doesn't make you a Christian," the ubiquitous
evangelical pulpit cliché went, "any more than living in a
garage makes you a car." Thus these
evangelical ministries tended not to talk
about those issues that might divide their congregants. They
avoided questions like: Who should be baptized and when? What
does the Lord's Supper mean? Should women be ordained? And so
on.
For example,
artists such as Keith and Kristen Getty and Sojourn Music are
reaching a new generation with music written for and performed
by local congregations. Yes, prosperity preacher Joyce Meyer
sells her book "Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes,"
which encourages Christians to "lighten up" by eating cookies
and buying shoes (seriously). But, at the same time, Alabama
preacher David Platt is igniting thousands of young people with
his book "Radical," which calls Christians to rescue their faith
by lowering their standard of living and giving their time and
money to Church-based charities.
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February 4 - WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets
Article: Miscellaneous
The fact
that the Americans used British
nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on
the so-called "special relationship", which is shown
often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic
communications obtained by the
WikiLeaks
website.
The
documents also show that:
· America spied on Foreign Office ministers by gathering
gossip on their private lives and professional
relationships.
· Intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US became
strained after the controversy over
Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantánamo Bay detainee
who sued the Government over his alleged torture.
· David Miliband
disowned the Duchess of York by saying she could not "be
controlled" after she made an undercover TV
documentary.
· Tens of millions of pounds of overseas aid was stolen
and spent on plasma televisions and luxury goods by
corrupt regimes.
A
series of classified messages sent to Washington by US
negotiators show how information
on Britain's nuclear capability was crucial to securing
Russia's support for the "New START" deal.
Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact
on Britain, the leaked cables show that
Russia used the talks to demand
more information about the UK's Trident missiles, which
are manufactured and maintained in the US.
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February 10 - Obama Strikes a Deal With the Devil as Mideast Meltdown Continues
Article: Wars And Rumor Of Wars
And so
quietly, almost off-handedly, the Rubicon has been crossed.
The United States of America, whose blood and treasure have
been spilled fighting terrorism,
is jumping into bed with radical
Islamists.
By approving a role for the
Muslim Brotherhood
in a new Egyptian government, the
White House
is taking its engagement policy to a dangerous level.
American taxpayer dollars will
now help sustain the oldest Islamist group, one that helped
launch
Osama bin Laden
on his murderous quest.
Perhaps this
day was inevitable for an administration
that refuses to say "Islamic
terrorists," and claims "jihad" can be a good thing and
Hezbollah has "moderate" elements.
But
it is hardly inevitable that the
Kumbaya approach will bring peace to the
Middle East.
More likely, it will be seen as
Western weakness and beget even more violence against
America and our allies.
The decision
applies to
Egypt,
but it won't stay in Egypt. Nearly every Arab government is
fighting radical groups that aim to
eliminate our presence,
Israel
and Western-friendly leaders. Imagine what those leaders
think about our willingness to endorse the Muslim
Brotherhood, which helped spawn Hamas and similar groups.
Yes, I know,
the Muslim Brotherhood insists it is no longer a radical
group and doesn't advocate violence.
But what they say is not always what
they do. Days after a leader of the
group said Egyptians
"should be prepared for war against Israel" and urged the
country to stop sending natural gas to Israel, attackers
blew up a gas pipeline to Jordan. The one to Israel
immediately was shut down.
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February 10 - Doomsday Determined? Asteroid Apophis Could Strike Earth in 2036
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
The date for
Armageddon has been set, and it's not going to happen in 2012.
In 2004,
NASA
scientists announced that there was a
chance that Apophis, an asteroid larger than two football
fields, could smash into Earth in 2029. A few additional
observations and some number-crunching later,
astronomers
noted that the chance of the planet-killer
hitting Earth in 2029 was nearly zilch.
Now Russian scientists estimate Apophis will
collide with Earth on April 13, 2036.
These reports conflict on the probability of such a doomsday
event, but the question remains: How scared should we be?
"Technically, they're correct, there is a
chance in 2036 [that Apophis will hit Earth]," said
Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office.
However, that chance is just 1-in-250,000,
Yeomans said.
NASA was quick
to discount Russia's fears, however. "The situation is that in
2029, April 13, [Apophis] flies very close to the Earth, within
five Earth radii, so that will be quite an
event, but we've already ruled out the possibility of it hitting
at that time," Yeomans told Life's Little Mysteries,
Space.com's sister site.
"On the other
hand, if it goes through what we call a keyhole during that
close Earth approach then it
will indeed be perturbed just right so that it will come back
and smack Earth on April 13, 2036," Yeomans
said.
The more likely
scenario is this: Apophis will make a fairly close approach to
Earth in late 2012 and early 2013, and will be extensively
observed with ground-based optical telescopes and radar systems.
If it seems to be heading on a destructive path, NASA will
devise the scheme and
machinery
necessary to change the asteroid's orbit, decreasing the
probability of a collision in 2036 to zero, Yeomans said.
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February 12 - Gay 'marriages' to be allowed in church
Article: Perilous Times
Lynne
Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, is
expected shortly to outline firm plans
to lift the current ban on civil partnerships
being conducted in places of worship.
In a political "win" for Nick Clegg and his party, the
Coalition will also say
that such ceremonies should for the first time be allowed to
have a religious element, such as hymn-singing and readings
from the Bible. They
could, it is understood, also be carried out in the future
out by priests or other religious figures.
The landmark
move will please equality campaigners but
is likely to prompt a fierce backlash
from mainstream Christian leaders, as well as some
Right-leaning Tories.
Some
faiths, however - including
the Quakers, Unitarians and
Liberal Jews - support the change in the law and will
apply for their
buildings to host
same-sex "marriage" ceremonies.
Last
year an amendment was added to the former Labour
government's Equalities Act by Lord Alli, the Labour
peer, paving the way for civil
partnership ceremonies to be held in places of worship
if religious groups permitted this.
Before last year's general election Theresa May, the
current Home Secretary who was then shadow equalities
minister, launched a Tory "equalities manifesto" which
stated the party would, in government,
"consider the case for changing
the law to allow civil partnerships to be called and
classified as marriage".
However, the new move
could open up a legal minefield with same-sex couples
possibly taking anti-discrimination action against
religious groups if they were barred from getting
married in the place of worship of their choice.
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February 15 - New York Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse agree to merge, creating massive exchange group
Article: Miscellaneous
The New York
Stock Exchange and Germany's largest stock exchange agreed
Tuesday morning to merge operations.
The deal still
has to be approved by shareholders and regulators,
who may balk at the large market share
controlled by the new company. The firms said that
together they will be the largest exchange group in the world.
"The increasing globalization and
interconnectedness of capital markets, and the rapidly growing
presence of alternative trading venues that operate with less
transparency and far fewer regulatory requirements, will
position the new company as a true global player well placed to
drive the long-term strength and competitiveness of transparent
and regulated markets," Niederauer said.
The companies
didn't say what the merged entity would be called. Sen. Charles
E. Schumer (D-NY) has insisted that
"New York" should come first in the new name.
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February 15 - EU's Ashton targets Palestinian state by September
Article: Israel And The Last Days
EU foreign policy chief
Catherine
Ashton
on Tuesday said the international community still
sought to achieve a peace deal and a Palestinian state by
September, despite the region's political turmoil.
Despite the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the resignation
of the Palestinian cabinet as well as Saab Erakat, their chief negotiator,
Ashton said the goal was still achievable.
"It's a
timeframe that everybody has signed up to,"
she told reporters in Jerusalem ahead of talks with
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the
West
Bank
town of Ramallah. "I think that we have to try and
reach that target," she said, while
admitting it would be "challenging."
Ashton flew in for a one-day visit
aimed at galvanising both sides into restarting peace
negotiations which hit an impasse late September and look unlikely to resume
any time soon.
The Middle East peace Quartet -- the European
Union, United States, Russia and United Nations -- earlier this month
reiterated its support for "concluding these
negotiations by September 2011."
Israeli public radio quoted the firebrand
Lieberman as telling his guest that the
international community must find a way to block Iran's nuclear ambitions
before asking Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians.
At those talks, the Quartet peacemakers
called on all parties "to undertake urgently efforts
to expedite Israeli-Palestinian" peace, terming it imperative because of the
political turmoil in the region.
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February 16 - Lieberman: Iranian warships a provocation
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
Two Iranian warships
planned to sail through the Suez canal en route to Syria on Wednesday,
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, calling the move
the latest "provocation" by Tehran and hinting at an
Israeli response.Israel sees a
major threat in Iran's nuclear program and calls for its elimination, but
the countries' geographical distance has kept them from open confrontation.
Syria is one of Israel's
neighbouring foes and an ally of Tehran.
"Tonight, two Iranian warships are meant to
pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and reach Syria,
something that has not happened in many years,"
Lieberman said in a Jerusalem speech distributed by his office.
"To my regret, the international community is
not showing readiness to deal with the recurring Iranian provocations.
The international community must understand
that Israel cannot forever ignore these provocations."
Lieberman added that Israel was the only true
ally of the West in the Middle East "because it is the only state in the
region that shares common values (with it)". "Our
fight against terror is not just Israel's fight, but also the first line of
defense in the battle of the Jewish people and the entire West against
extremists that threaten world peace," he said.
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February 16 - Biggest Solar Flare In Years Headed For Earth
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
The sun is making a comeback. OK, so it
never really went away, but after years of relative quiet on our nearest
star, activity has picked up as of late,
resulting in a solar flare that marks the
strongest since 2006.
Bob Rutledge, lead forecaster with the
National Space Weather Prediction Center, tells KFWB's Michael Shappee
these solar outbursts have the
potential to wreak havoc with earthly communications.
After the initial blast of radiation
accompanying the coronal mass ejection (CME) - the first of its
magnitude to occur in the new solar cycle of activity -
a huge cloud of charged particles is headed toward Earth and is expected
likely to arrive on Feb. 17-18.
Among the many potential disasters that
can come from a massive CME: disturbances in the
planet's geomagnetic field that may lead to malfunctioning telecom and
GPS satellite equipment. While forecasters predict no major
impact on our telecommunications infrastructure,
meteorological
officials say the flare has disrupted radio communications in southern
China.
Scientists have pointed out that
activity on the sun is now ramping up
ahead of an expected solar maximum around 2013.
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February 17 - Hawaii Senate Passes Same-Sex Civil Unions Bill
Article: Perilous Times
The Hawaii Senate
passed on Wednesday a bill that would legalize civil
unions for same-sex couples. The legislation passed with an 18-5 vote
and now awaits the signature of Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie
If signed,
Hawaii would become the seventh state to extend the
same rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities of spouses in a
marriage
to gay and lesbian partners in a civil union.
Opponents of same-sex
unions have been hard at work for years to preserve traditional marriage in
the Aloha State. They have contended that a measure
allowing civil unions for same-sex couples undermines the institution of
marriage and the will of the Hawaii people, who in 1998 voted 70 to 30
percent to affirm marriage as being between a man and a woman. The push by
gay rights advocates won't stop at civil unions, they argued.
The measure currently
before Gov. Abercrombie was introduced in January and
passed by the House last week. If signed, the measure takes effect
January 1, 2012.
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February 8 - US bishop sanctions cell phone in confession
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Comment from
Understand the Times:
The Roman Catholic Church is
now upgrading from the dark confessional booths of the past to modern
cell phone confessions for the 21st century with brand new applications
that they can download off the Internet. This will make confession a lot
easier and will not only facilitate online confessions but also online
banking.
The idea is fantastic for
those who are running short of time to drop by for confession at the end
of the week. Also, the priest can work a percentage into his own bank
for services rendered that may be income tax free.
However, there are some disadvantages.
When you lose your cell phone you may also lose your salvation unless
you show up for mass at least at Christmas and Easter. Or you could take
a trip to Rome every Roman Catholic Jubilee and go through the Holy Door
at St. Peter's to get saved for the next 25 years. If you don't like
this, then don't complain to UTT. Try another church or read the Bible
and see that such human "hooha" is not present in these man made
tactics.
A Catholic bishop in the United
States has become the
first Church authority to approve mobile phones to aid
confession.
In what is termed as
an attempt to reconcile the 21st
century with the Catholic faith, Bishop Kevin
Rhoades of Fort Wayne in Indiana in early February
sanctioned an iPhone
app that aims to help Catholics through confession.
"Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their
faith through digital technology,"
said Patrick Leinen of the Indiana-based Little iApps.
It
creates a customized and password-protected "examination
of conscience" based on a person's age, sex and
vocation. It also notes the time since the last
confession and provides seven acts of contrition for the
penitent to choose.
The app is not designed to replace
going to confession but to help Catholics through the
act. Catholics still
must go to a priest for absolution.
"Our goal with this project is
to offer a digital application that is truly 'new media
at the service of the word," Leinen explained.
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February 1 - 'Al-Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb'
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
Al-Qaida is on the verge of producing radioactive
weapons after sourcing nuclear material and recruiting rogue scientists to
build "dirty" bombs, according to leaked diplomatic
documents. A leading atomic regulator has privately warned that
the world stands on the brink of a "nuclear 9/11".
Security briefings suggest
that jihadi groups are also close to
producing "workable and efficient" biological and chemical weapons that
could kill thousands if unleashed in attacks on the West.
At a Nato meeting in
January 2009, security chiefs briefed member states that
al-Qaida was plotting a program of "dirty radioactive
IEDs", makeshift nuclear roadside bombs that could be used against British
troops in Afghanistan. As well as causing a large explosion,
a "dirty bomb" attack would contaminate the
area for many years.
The briefings also state
that al-Qaida documents found in Afghanistan in 2007 revealed that
"greater advances" had been made in bioterrorism than
was previously realized. An Indian national security adviser told
American security personnel in June 2008 that
terrorists had made a "manifest attempt to get fissile material" and "have
the technical competence to manufacture an explosive device
beyond a mere dirty bomb".
Tomihiro Taniguchi, the
deputy director general of the IAEA, has
privately warned America that the world faces the threat of a "nuclear 9/11"
if stores of uranium and plutonium were not secured against terrorists.
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February 3 - Israel Prepares for Islamic Terror State Rising From Egypt's Ashes
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Israel is bracing for
the establishment of an Iranian proxy-state in Egypt should the Muslim
Brotherhood take over control of the government, as appears increasingly
likely.
With the White House now giving
full-throated support to the Muslim Brotherhood, and
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman scheduled to meet with the Muslim
Brotherhood leadership in Cairo, Israel
is preparing for the worst.
After years of ducking from Iranian-supplied Kassam
rockets from Gaza, Israelis now fear their cities
and towns could get hit with the full brunt of the Iranian arsenal as
Iran replaces the United States as Egypt's main arms supplier.
Israelis fear that
Egypt could become "part of the Iranian pact in the Middle East along
with Hamas, Hezbollah, and all the other thugs,"
said Mordechai Kedar, a former Israeli military intelligence analyst now
with the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University
in Israel.
A Muslim Brotherhood takeover could lead to the
imposition of Shariah, with far-reaching implications for the rights of
women, Christians and minorities, and dramatic
changes in Egypt's relationships to its neighbors.
Netanyahu's real fear is that Iran will use
its influence on the Muslim Brotherhood to steer Egypt away from its
peace treaty with Israel and into the camp of Muslim radicals.
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February 9 - US corn reserves hit lowest level in 15 years
Article: Signs Of The Last Tmes
U.S. reserves of corn
have hit their lowest level in more than 15 years,
reflecting tighter supplies that will lead to higher food prices in
2011. Increasing demand for corn from the ethanol
industry is a major reason for the decline.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
reported Wednesday that the ethanol industry's projected orders this
year rose 8.4 percent, to 13.01 billion bushels, after record-high
production in December and January. That means the United States will
have about 675 million bushels of corn left over in late August when
this year's harvest begins. That's roughly 5 percent of all corn that
will be consumed, the lowest surplus
level since 1996.
The decline in reserves caused corn
futures to surge, with prices rising 2.4 percent to $6.9025 during
morning trading. Corn prices have already doubled in the last six
months, rising from $3.50 a bushel to nearly $7 a bushel.
Analysts expect the price increases to continue in
coming months.
"I think we have a
chance to test the all-time high" price of $7.65 a bushel, said
Telvent DTN analyst John Sanow. The
tight level of reserves leaves little margin for error if there are
production problems this year, which could send prices higher quickly,
he said.
Major food makers and
some restaurants have already said they'll be raising prices this year
because they're paying more for corn, wheat, sugar, coffee and
chocolate, all of which are at historically high prices. Weather has
affected many crops this year.
It's not just playing out in the grocery
store. McDonald's Corp. said last month that it
may raise prices this year as its own food tab rises. The company
already raised prices in some markets, including the United Kingdom.
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February 11 - Shocking New IMF Report: The U.S. Dollar Needs To Be Replaced As The World Reserve Currency And SDRs "Could Constitute An Embryo Of Global Currency"
Article: One World Government
The IMF is
trying to move the world away from the U.S. dollar and towards a global
currency once again. In a new report entitled "Enhancing
International Monetary Stability-A Role for the SDR",
the IMF details the "problems" with having the
U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the globe and the IMF discusses
the potential for a larger role for SDRs (Special Drawing
Rights). But the IMF certainly does not view SDRs
as the "final solution" to global currency problems. Rather, the
IMF considers SDRs to be a transitional
phase between what we have now and a new world currency.
In this newly published report, the IMF makes this point very clearly:
"In the even longer run, if there
were political willingness to do so, these securities could constitute
an embryo of global currency." Yes, you read
that correctly. The SDR is supposed to
be "an embryo" from which a global currency will one day develop.
So what about the U.S. dollar and other national currencies? Well, they
would just end up fading away.
CNN clearly understands what the IMF is
trying to accomplish with this new report. The following
is how CNN's recent story
about the new IMF report begins....
"The
International Monetary Fund issued a report Thursday on a possible
replacement for the dollar as the world's reserve currency."
That is exactly what the IMF intends to
do. They intend to have SDRs replace the U.S. dollar as the world
reserve currency.
Globalist organizations such as the IMF
say that having a true global currency would facilitate world trade,
it would make currency wars less likely, it would stabilize the global
economy and it would make the rest of the globe less reliant on what is
going on in the United States.
An IMF paper entitled
"Reserve Accumulation
and International Monetary Stability"
that was published last year even proposed that a
future global currency be called the "Bancor"
and that a future global central bank could be put in charge of issuing
it....
"A global currency, bancor, issued by a global central bank
(see Supplement 1, section V) would be designed as a stable store of
value that is not tied exclusively to the conditions of any
particular economy. As trade and finance continue to grow rapidly
and global integration increases, the importance of this broader
perspective is expected to continue growing."
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February 14 - All children to be registered in national biometric records / Identity-tracking scheme assembled under radar for 'border pass' program
Article: Technology And Global Monetary System
Below the radar of public
opinion,
Mexico has started to assemble the
type of biometric national
identity database that could be used to document names for a North American
Trusted Traveler border pass card, a plan already being developed by
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Mexican citizens.
On Jan. 19, 2011,
Mexico's President Felipe Calderon signed
an executive order
requiring within the next five years all Mexicans 17 years
old and younger have a biometric national identity card that would include a
facial photograph, all 10 fingerprints, and an iris scan.
To carry out the
presidential executive order, the Mexican Directorate General of the
National Population Register plans to go to
all elementary schools in Mexico schools in Mexico to record the required
biometric information and issue individual identity cards. Reasonable
estimates are that by the end of 2012,
Mexico plans to issue more than 25.7 million
biometric identity cards
to the nation's children 18 years old and younger.
While promoted as a way
to prevent crimes such as identity theft, Mexico has decided
to begin with the nation's school children to create
the type of biometric national identity database that will allow Mexican
children as they grow up to already possess the biometric information they
will need to obtain North American Trusted Traveler border pass cards the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security is preparing to issue to Mexican
citizens.
Once the nation's
children are recorded in this biometric national identity database,
the plan is to add a second phase that will
extend the biometric identification
cards to Mexican adults, with a third phase designed to establish a national
registry for all foreigners residing in Mexico.
Each card bears a unique personal ID number and a face photo
designed to make sure that only the person to whom the card was issued can
use the card.
Critics in Mexico
have
charged that
the Mexican effort to enroll school children in a national biometric
personal identity database
involves the early implementation of an incremental "new world order" plan
designed to fit into initiatives designed under the Security and Prosperity
Partnership to evolve the North American Free Trade Agreement into a
continental or regional North American Union governmental structure.
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February 15 - 'Kill Switch' Internet bill alarms privacy experts
Article: One World Government
A raging debate over new
legislation, and its impact on the Internet, has tongues wagging and
fingers pointing from
Silicon Valley
to
Washington, D.C.
Just as the Egyptian government recently forced the Internet to go dark,
U.S. officials could flip the switch if
the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset legislation becomes law,
say its critics.
The ominously nicknamed Kill Switch bill is sure to be a flashpoint of
discussion at the RSA Conference, the nation's largest gathering of
computer-security experts that takes place here this week. The bill -
crafted by Sens.
Joseph Lieberman,
I-Conn.;
Susan Collins,
R-Maine; and
Tom Carper,
D-Del. - aims to defend the economic infrastructure from a
cyberterrorist attack. But it has free-speech advocates and privacy
experts howling over
the prospect of a government agency quelling the communication of
hundreds of millions of people.
"This is all about control, an attempt
to control every aspect of our existence," says
Christopher Feudo, a cybersecurity expert who is chairman of
SecurityFusion Solutions. "I consider it an attack on our personal right
of free speech. Look what recently occurred in Egypt."
A
1934 federal law that created the
Federal Communications Commission
allows the president to "authorize the use or control" of communications
outlets during moments of emergency of "public peril or disaster." The
Lieberman-led bill would be considered
a specific extension of that and let the nation's chief executive
prioritize communications on the Internet, says
Fertik.
A
provision in the bill lets the
president take limited control during an emergency and decide
restrictions. "It, essentially, gives the president a loaded gun,"
Fertik says.
"Say there is a mounted attack from a terrorist group on the Internet,"
Fertik says. "(The law) could present the president with a kill switch
option. But what are the conditions,
and how far does (the law) go?"
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UFO sightings in 2011 break records worldwide for flying saucer craze
Article: Rising Interest In The Supernatural
It's stood the test of time, and other than
Roswell, the "flying saucer craze" that began here in McMinnville in 1950,
and continues today with UFO evidence "lighting-up Cairo and Jerusalem,"
is breaking records already in 2011 for more
UFO sightings than at any time in human history.
"Now that things have calmed down in Cairo's
Tahrir Square, there may be time to investigate recent
UFO activities seen over
Cairo
and over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem," state confirmed reports out
of the Egyptian Mail, Le Progres Egyptien, the Middle East Times and other
newspapers and media that serve this region.
Thus far in 2011,
there's been more UFO sightings worldwide in just
"these first 44 days of the new year than at any time in previous years,"
say a host of well-known optical physicists and
prominent UFO investigators in the
United
States,
at the European Union, in China, Russia, Australia and the Middle East.
For instance, McMinnville's UFO community -
that includes several members of the Oregon UFO "watchers" group that's
active on the central Oregon coast at known UFO sighting areas as Bray's
Point and Stonefield Beach - states a belief that
there exists in the heavens worldwide, a true physical phenomenon that
appears to be under intelligent control."
Moreover, the view that UFOs
are of "extraterrestrial origin" is a rational one and must be taken into
account by world governments.
Already, leading international scientists and
detailed UFO reports - by the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia,
China and other world governments and that include detailed analysis over 50
years-are calling on the United Nations to
review "all UFO evidence" and produce a "systematic scientific
investigation" to make first contact now.
However,
there's real concern addressed in Project Blue Book and other official U.S.
and foreign government reports that "UFOs can affect national security."
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February 18 - Monsanto, Dow to begin pushing dangerous 2,4-D herbicide as 'solution' to superweeds
Article: Miscellaneous
Comment:
Experience with
companies such
as DOW Chemical
in the past,
show that large
corporations do
not have the
best interests
of their fellow
human beings at
heart. Instead,
these companies
will do whatever
they need to do
to make a
profit, even if
it means that
their products
are damaging to
crops and to
human lives.
There are many
examples of this
that can be
documented by
science. Even
governments that
are supposed to
protect the
public, DO NOT
because they can
be bought off.
HOWEVER,
COMPANIES HIRE
LAWYERS AND LAW
FIRMS TO DO
WHATEVER THEY
NEED TO DO TO
MAKE THE FARMER
WHO USED THEIR
PRODUCT, LOOK
LIKE A FOOL.
SOMETIMES THE
FARMER OR A
GROUP OF
FARMER'S WHO GO
TOGETHER ARE
PERSISTENT. THEY
REFUSE TO BEND
OVER AND LET
THESE COMPANIES
MAKE FOOLS OF
THEM THEM IN A
PUBLIC.
COMPANIES LIKE
DOW AND OTHERS,
ARE ABOUT TO SEE
THAT FARMER'S
HAVE HAD ENOUGH
OF THIS ABUSE
AND ARE ABOUT TO
FIND WAYS TO
EXPOSE THEM
ALONG WITH THE
PROVINCIAL AND
FEDERAL
GOVERNMENTS THAT
COVER THEM UP
AND PROTECT
THEM.
It is
something that many farmers of
genetically-modified (GM) crops are
already trying to do and failing to
succeed in, but that the chemical
companies responsible for the
problem may soon be pushing as an
alleged "solution." The Dow Chemical
Company has
sponsored a study that aims to
position the 2,4-D herbicide, a
popular commercial herbicide, as the
solution to Roundup-resistant "superweeds."
But 2,4-D-resistant "superweeds"
have already begun emerging as well,
which suggests that
increased chemical interventions of
any kind will only make the
superweed problem worse, not better.
Rather than
admit they are responsible for the
problem, agri-giants like Dow and
Monsanto say
that using different
pesticides
and herbicides will help solve the
problem. But such a suggestion could
not be further from the truth.
Treating plants with increasingly
higher levels and more potent
concoctions of
toxic chemicals
is a recipe for disaster, and one
that will only make the superweed
problem worse.
Dow, of course, found in its
own study that using 2,4-D is a
successful intervention to help
prevent the growth of superweeds,
But a review by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) Forest
Service, which tends to be
conservative in its estimation of
the
environmental
harm caused by pesticides and
herbicides, says
2,4-D leads to "risk quotients that
exceed the level of concern." In
other words, Dow's "solution" is
highly problematic in terms of
environmental and human health.
The report found
that if 2,4-D is used the way Dow
suggests,
humans will be
exposed to dangerously high levels
of the toxin, which in turn causes
autoimmune disorders, cell
destruction (apoptosis), nerve
damage, metabolic dysfunction, and
other serious problems.
The only real
way to stop the spread of superweeds,
if it is even still possible,
is to stop planting and cultivating
GM
crops.
Organic,
sustainable growing
methods
do not require toxic chemical
applications, which in turn do not
create superweeds. They also do not
pollute the food supply and the
environment
with extremely toxic
chemicals
like GM crop cultivation methods do.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely, Roger Oakland
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