Dear Ron,
This newsletter is available online by
clicking here. The archived newsletter are also available by
clicking here.
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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June 3 - Scientists push to implement edible RFID tracking chips in food
Article: One World Government
It will
monitor your calorie intake, show from where your food was sourced, and
even let you know when the food in your fridge is about to go bad --
these are some of the enticing claims made by the
developers of a new system that embeds
edible radio frequency identification (RFID) chips directly into food.
Its creators insist the technology will revolutionize the way humans eat
for the better,
but critical-thinking onlookers will recognize the ploy as just another
way to track and control human behavior.
Developed by Hannes Harms from the Royal College of
Art in London, the "NutriSmart" system is based on the idea that
RFID
wafers injected directly into food can help better track the food supply
chain, further automate the supermarket shopping experience, and
simplify the eating
experience by programming data into food so that
humans essentially do not have to think about what they are doing.
And if such technology also ends up in food,
it is safe to assume that evil powers will
seek to control the food supply with it, as well as monitor the types of
food people eat. In other words,
if authorities one day decide that vitamin and mineral supplements are
off limits, which is what is currently happening in Europe,
it is plausible that RFID technology can assess illegal intake of such
nutrients, and immediately send this data to the appropriate enforcement
agencies.
This 1984-esque scenario appears to be more than just science fiction --
it is unfolding before our eyes just a little bit more every single day.
And the NutriSmart system is just another piece of evidence that those
in power wish to micromanage every single aspect of our lives, from the
drugs we take to the foods we eat.
Read Full Article ....
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June 3 - 70 Methodist Clergy Agree to Wed Gay Couples
Article: Perilous Times
Same-sex marriage is
illegal in Minnesota but 70 United
Methodist clergy in the state have signed a statement saying they will
marry gay couples.
"We joyfully affirm that we will offer the grace
of the Church's blessing to any prepared couple desiring Christian
marriage," reads the statement introduced this week
at the 2011 Minnesota Annual Conference.
"We are convinced by the witness of others and are
compelled by Spirit and conscience to act. We thank the many United
Methodists who have already called for full equality and inclusion of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the life of the
Church."
The Rev. Bruce
Robbins, pastor of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in
Minneapolis, read the statement to clergy Wednesday during a time of
personal privilege, the United Methodist News Service reported.
By the end the day, 40 clergy members had
signed the statement. As of Friday, the number of signers reached 70.
"We repent that it has taken us so long to act,"
continues the statement, entitled
"Equality for All in Christian Marriage."
Bishop Sally Dyck
said that simply making a statement in support of
same-sex unions did not break any denominational rules. But she
indicated that officiating at a gay wedding would be a chargeable
offense, according to UMNS.
Under the 2008 Book
of Discipline, same-sex unions are not to be
conducted by United Methodist ministers or in its churches. Clergy who
are convicted of officiating a homosexual union would face revocation of
conference membership or clergy credentials.
The voluntary
statement was open to any United Methodist persons in the Minnesota
Conference who conducts Christian marriages, and
was not endorsed by the denomination's General Conference.
Read Full Article....
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June 2 - Fujitsu Develops World's First Personal Authentication Technology to Integrate Palm Vein and Fingerprint Authentication
Article: Technology For Global Monetary System
Fujitsu Laboratories
Ltd. today announced the development of
the world's first biometric authentication
technology that combines data on palm vein patterns with fingerprint
data from three fingers. By employing both palm vein
pattern and fingerprint data, the technology
enables the rapid identification of a given
individual out of data from a million people, processing the match
within two seconds.
This technology
makes it possible to construct biometric
authentication systems that do not require ID cards and that can be
tailor-made to fit different sized groups, from small-scale room access
control to large-scale social platform systems.
Moreover, the technology can be easily
deployed by simply adding palm vein authentication to the fingerprint
authentication systems that are already in widespread use.
Biometric
authentication technology is becoming increasingly ubiquitous as a means
to prevent corporate data breaches and identity fraud at financial
institutions. This includes palm vein authentication based on a
technology pioneered by Fujitsu Laboratories, now widely employed around
the world for its highly precise
authentication in applications ranging from ID confirmation for ATM
users at financial institutions, to corporate PC access management and
room access control systems. In addition, rapid fingerprint
authentication processing is becoming popular as an easy and reliable
personal log-in authentication method built into PCs and mobile phones.
The convenience
offered by simply using one's body for authentication - biometrics
eliminates the need to carry IC cards - is expected to accelerate the
spread of biometrics even further. As the key to realize greater
acceptance, the focus has turned to
technologies that can recognize with superior speed and precision a
given individual out of a million or hundred million people in
applications for large corporations and governments.
One solution proposed
for addressing this problem is to build
a robust authentication system that combines multiple biometric
authentication methods. Separately capturing the
biometric data needed for each method, however, diminishes the
convenience of this approach. For example, if palm vein authentication
were combined with iris pattern authentication, both the palm and iris
would each need to be separately scanned, compromising simplicity. This
necessitated a technology that could easily combine more than one type
of biometric data.
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June 1 - Churches More Like Fast Food Restaurants? One Pastor Thinks So
Article: Emerging Church
Are churches becoming more
and more like fast food restaurants today?
Megachurch pastor Brady Boyd asks readers
the tough question that has plagued many pastors and congregations alike,
touching upon a rather sensitive subject for most religious leaders. "Have
we, as American pastors, given up our calling as shepherds and
unknowingly become fast food entrepreneurs who are building a religious
business and not a church?" the Colorado pastor posed on
his blog.
Witnessing
the ever-growing trend for pastors to be focused primarily on the numbers -
number of people attending their church - Boyd desired
to shift the internal conversations happening among leaders and spark some
honest debate on the subject of church marketing and mass numbers.
"Church is
not a product to be consumed like a gym membership, but rather
a holy gathering of sinners who are becoming saints because of grace,"
he penned. "We want to be what Eugene Peterson calls
'a company of pastors' and not a company of
shopkeepers."
While the gathering of people was not in any
way damaging or misguided, the former English teacher wondered
if leaders were only focusing on the number of
attendees, rather than the growth of existing members.
Church, he concluded, has always been about
the gathering of the called out ones, not the
gathering of potential customers, who leaders hoped would have a great
consumer experience.
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June 1 - 20 former world leaders discuss looming water crisis
Artcle: One World Government
Twenty former heads of state, including
former US president Bill Clinton,
warned Tuesday of an impending "water crisis" and agreed to establish a
panel that will tackle a worldwide leadership gap on the issue.
The retired leaders, among them
ex-Mexican president Vicente Fox and former Japanese prime minister
Yasuo Fukuda, said the panel would work
to raise the issue's political prominence in order to avert looming
problems with worldwide water supply.
The group urged
a new international water ethic and offered 21
recommendations for world water management. At the
top of the list: "placing water at the forefront
of the global political agenda."
Others items included linking climate
change research and water problems,
creating a legal right to water, and raising the price of water to
reflect its economic value.
In areas where
water is rationed, the priority should be for food crops and not
bio-fuels, said the group, whose co-chairs were former Canadian
prime minister Jean Chretien and one-time Austrian chancellor Franz
Vranitzky.
Read Full Article ....
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May 30 - Millions face food poverty as northern Europe is hit by worst drought in 35 years
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
BERNARD Maquis's cattle would normally be
grazing in the lush green pastures of the Limousin region in central France
at this time of year. Instead, they are eating hay
intended for the winter after months of drought that has turned
the fields yellow. He is wondering whether it might be
better to sell his cows at a reduced price rather find himself without
fodder by the end of the autumn. "I'm starting to sleep badly," he said.
Mr Maquis is not alone. With
Northern Europe facing its worst drought since 1976,
politicians in the West are expecting protests from farmers, consumer
discontent and a strain on budgets.
Third World nations are braced for riots as
Europe's heat wave creates a rise in food prices and drives millions deeper
into poverty.
"We are in a
situation of crisis and of crisis management," said
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the French Ecology Minister.
Meteorologists say that
Northern Europe has had 50 per cent less rain than
normal over the past two months, while temperatures have been 4C higher than
usual.
In France,
water restrictions have been implemented across more than half of the
country and the drought is already comparable to 1976, when a
heat wave wrecked the annual harvest.
Germany has had twice
as many hours of sunshine as it would normally expect in the spring. Some
German regions have had just 5 per cent of their standard rainfall. "We
desperately need rain," said Andrea Adams, spokeswoman for the
Farmers' Association in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. She said that
the wheat was yellow, the sugar beet had
barely grown at all and the rye was "curling up and dying".
With
breeders across France beginning to sell animals they cannot feed, protests
are under way. In southwest France, farmers blocked
roads to a motorway for several hours last week after they failed to obtain
temporary permission to take water from rivers.
With
droughts also reported in China and southern US states, the Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the UN fears rioting in poor countries.
Officials said that the global
price of cereals had risen 71 per cent over the past 12 months,
and while Moscow will lift a ban on exports of wheat, barley, rye, corn and
flour introduced during the heat wave last summer, it may provide only
temporary relief.
Read Full Article ....
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June 8 - China warns U.S. debt-default idea is "playing with fire"
Article: Miscellaneous
Republican
lawmakers are "playing with fire" by contemplating
even a brief debt default as a means to force deeper government spending
cuts, an adviser to China's central bank said on Wednesday. The
idea of a technical default -- essentially delaying interest payments
for a few days -- has gained backing from a growing number of mainstream
Republicans who see it as a price worth paying if it forces the White
House to slash spending, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
But any form of default could destabilize the
global economy and sour already tense relations with big U.S. creditors
such as China, government officials and investors warn.
Li Daokui, an adviser to the People's Bank of China, said
a default could undermine the U.S. dollar, and
Beijing needed to dissuade Washington from pursuing this course of
action.
"I think there is a risk that the U.S. debt default may happen,"
Li told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing.
"The result will be very serious and I really hope that they would stop
playing with fire."
China is the largest foreign creditor to the United
States, holding more than $1 trillion in Treasury debt as of March, U.S.
data shows, so its concerns carry considerable weight in Washington. "I
really worry about the risks of a U.S. debt default,
which I think may lead to a decline in the
dollar's value," Li said.
If the United States cannot make interest payments on its debt, the
Obama administration has warned of
"catastrophic" consequences that could push the still-fragile economy
back into recession.
"How can the U.S. be allowed
to default?" said an official at India's central bank.
"We don't think this is a possibility
because this could then create huge panic globally."
"The possibility is quite high
to see a default of the U.S. debt, which would harm many countries in
the world, and China in particular," he said.
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June 9 - Rich, Famous and Powerful Converge at Bilderberg
Article: One World Government
Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
naturally, isn't attending this year, and his likely successor Christine Lagarde
is in China, but the Bilderberg Conference which kicks off in the Swiss resort
of St. Moritz on Thursday retains its conspiratorial chic
and pulling power.
The attendee list of Bilderberg is still
pretty much the only thing that is not a closely guarded secret, as 120 of the
world's richest and most powerful people meet behind closed doors,
this time at the Suvretta House hotel in Switzerland, a venue which not only
boasts a "fairytale castle" design, but also its own "Teddy World."
The first Bilderberg meeting in 1954 was an attempt to stamp out post-war
anti-Americanism in Europe, bringing together senior U.S. and European figures
to meet and discuss the international challenges of the day.
Since then, the rich and powerful have
continued to meet. The 2010 event, in Sitges, Spain,
included on its agenda "The Growing Influence
of Cyber Technology," "Security in a Proliferated World," "Promises of Medical
Science," and "Can We Feed the World." according to its
official website.
Its secrecy only serves to add fuel to the
innumerate conspiracy theories that circulate around the event,
with Internet message boards often channelling Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown
and putting the "club" in the same bracket as
the Freemasons and "Illuminati."
"The Bilderbergs are probably the most influential global network of all time.
It's an honor to be invited, it's a tremendous honor. Part of it is
recognition for work done and part of it is for
contribution to enabling world affairs.
"You do get the impression that what is happening is a shaping of ideas and the
shaping of a way forward does take place," Kakabadse said.
"There's many reasons why people want to go to the Bilderberg meetings, there
are many advantages at a personal level, but then I suppose
there's the supreme professional advantage of being
recognized as a person who has the capability and has achieved a position in
life where you can influence thinking on world affairs,"
Kakabadse said.
Read Full Aritcle ....
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June 12 - Roubini: 'Perfect Storm' May Rock World Economy by 2013
Article: One World Government
A "perfect storm" of
fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring
and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy,
New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.
There's
a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013,
Roubini, who predicted the global financial crisis,
said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are
"anemic but OK" global growth or an "optimistic" scenario in which the
expansion improves.
"There
are already elements of fragility," he said.
"Everybody's kicking the can down the road of too much public and
private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier, and bigger on
debt, and all these problems may come
to a head by 2013 at the latest."
Elevated U.S.
unemployment, a surge in oil and food prices, rising interest rates in
Asia and trade disruption from Japan's record earthquake threaten to sap
the world economy. Stocks worldwide have lost more than $3.3 trillion
since the beginning of May, and Roubini said
financial markets by the middle of next year could
start worrying about a convergence of risks in 2013.
In the U.S., a failure to address the
budget deficit risks a bond market
"revolt," Roubini said. President Barack Obama's
administration has been negotiating with Republicans, who control the
House of Representatives, over cutting the federal government's
long-term shortfall and raising the debt ceiling.
"We're still
running over a trillion-dollar budget deficit this year, next year and
most likely in 2013," Roubini said in a speech in Singapore on
June 11. "The risk is at some point,
the bond market vigilantes are going to wake up in the U.S., like they
did in Europe, pushing interest rates higher and crowding out the
recovery."
Japan's economy, the world's
third-largest, slid into a recession last quarter
after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis.
The government is spending an initial 4 trillion yen ($50 billion) to
clean up from the disaster, which is estimated to have caused as much as
25 trillion yen in economic damage.
Roubini in July 2006 predicted a
"catastrophic" global financial meltdown that central bankers would be
unable to prevent. The collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008
sparked turmoil that led to the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Read Full Aritcle ....
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June 9 - This Week's Solar Flare Illuminates the Grid's Vulnerability
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
A massive burst of
solar wind that erupted from the sun Tuesday is expected to deliver only a
"glancing blow" to the Earth's vulnerable magnetic field, NASA officials
said yesterday. But it will preview what
some experts call a potentially existential threat to the power grids of the
United States and other nations, and the populations that depend on them.
However, NASA spacecraft detected a much larger eruption
last weekend on the backside of the sun headed away from Earth, generating a
much faster-moving cloud. "If this event
was on a collision course with the U.S., we would have had a major space
weather event," Pulkkinen said.
"In this regard, we got lucky."
The next peak cycle of sunspot activity
is predicted for 2012-2014, bringing with it a greater risk of large
geomagnetic storms that can generate powerful rogue currents in transmission
lines, potentially damaging or destroying the large transformers that manage
power flow over high-voltage networks.
"Geomagnetically-induced currents on system
infrastructure have the potential to result in
widespread tripping of key transmission lines and
irreversible physical damage to large transformers," a
2009 report (pdf) by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC)
and the Energy Department says. Agreement
on the seriousness of the threat, but not the solution
In the worst-case scenario, the stockpile of spare
transformers would fall far short of replacement needs.
Urban centers across the continent would be without
power for many months or even years, until new transformers could be
manufactured and delivered from Asia. The transformers are not made in the
United States.
"If the solar storm of 1921, which has been termed a
one-in-100-year event, were to occur today, well over 300 extra-high-voltage
transformers could be damaged or destroyed,
thereby interrupting power to 130 million people for a period of years,"
Joseph McClelland, director of the Office of Electric Reliability at the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said at a May 31 House Energy
subcommittee hearing on the issue.
"The U.S. society and economy are so critically dependent upon the
availability of electricity that a
significant collapse of the grid precipitated by a major natural or man-made
EMP [electro-magnetic pulse] event could result in catastrophic civilian
casualties," Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said at the
same hearing.
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June 13 - Lebanon PM: New government to liberate land under occupation of 'Israeli enemy'
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Lebanon's Prime Minister
Najib Mikati announced on Monday a long-delayed
new government dominated by allies of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is likely
to cause alarm among Western powers. Mikati was appointed
to form a government after Hezbollah and its allies toppled Western-backed
former premier Saad al-Hariri's coalition in January over a dispute involving
the United Nations backed tribunal investigating the assassination of statesman
Rafik al-Hariri, Saad's father.
"Let us go to work immediately according to the principles and basis that we
have affirmed our commitment to several times, namely ... defending Lebanon's
sovereignty and its independence and liberating
land that remains under the occupation of the Israeli enemy,"
Mikati said at the Baabda Presidential Palace.
Mikati, who says he is politically neutral, said the
Lebanese government would seek to maintain positive ties with all Arab
countries.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been fighting a popular revolt
against his 11-year rule, telephoned Mikati to congratulate him, Lebanese media
said. Syria is a strong ally of Hezbollah, the main player in the political
coalition which helped bring Mikati to power in January.
"This government is committed to maintaining
strong, brotherly ties which bind Lebanon to all Arab countries without
exception," Mikati said
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June 14 - EU pushing peace plan based on Obama's '1967 borders' speech
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Following a French
initiative to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
by convening a Middle East peace conference in Paris, the European Union
is now advocating an international peace plan as
an alternative to a unilateral Palestinian plan to secure state recognition at
the UN in September.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the
EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, called for
the urgent convening of the Middle East Quartet. The Quartet - the U.S.,
EU, UN and Russia - would gather as a precursor for
support for a peace plan based on the Middle East policy speech delivered by
President Barack Obama at the State Department last month.
Ashton's letter was coordinated with the governments of France, Britain,
Germany, Italy and Spain, a senior European diplomat said. The diplomat added
that the Americans had rejected the French peace initiative, but EU countries
had decided that the U.S. needed to be pushed
to advance a peace plan that would head off the Palestinian effort to secure
recognition of an independent state at the UN in September.
Referring to Obama's speech at the State Department, Ashton
continued: "I believe that what is needed now is a clear
signal to the parties, and a reference framework that should enable them to
return to the negotiating table. President Obama, in his speech on May 19, laid
down two important elements that can be the basis for a resumption of
negotiations: Borders based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, and
firm security guarantees."
The EU foreign policy chief also suggested that other key principles
supported by the European Union - on Jerusalem and the refugee question - be
part of the plan. The EU has advocated that
Jerusalem be the capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state.
"I believe we should now meet as Quartet Principals to adopt
a statement consolidating these elements and thereby provide the parties with a
reference framework," the letter continued. Ashton also advocated an early
meeting of the Quartet:
"It is critical we make a gesture before the summer, because we need to
contribute to a calming of a volatile situation that promises to be even more so
as the year progresses."
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June 9 - Tony Blair's nightmare vision of a European superstate would be disastrous for Britain and the Special Relationship
Article: One World Governenmet
Tony Blair's interview in
this morning's Times deserves to be
widely read on both sides of the Atlantic. Why? Because it shows that the
Eurofederalists' delusions of grandeur are firmly alive and remain a huge
threat not only to British national sovereignty but the future of the
transatlantic alliance, especially the Special Relationship. It is also a
further demonstration of just how far removed Tony Blair is from political
reality and public opinion in the UK, but that's never stopped him before.
In his interview with
The Times, the former prime minister
calls for an elected president of the European Union,
selected by an electorate of nearly 400 million people,
which "would give the EU clear leadership and enormous authority on the
world stage." It is essential for Europe to have
"strong, collective leadership and direction." This is necessary, Blair
believes, because "we won't have the weight
and influence a country like Britain needs unless we're part of that
European power as well."
Significantly, his grand
scheme is all about "power, not peace", with a muscular Brussels supposedly
taking on the rising 'superpower' in Beijing:
"In a world in particular in which China is going to become the
dominant power of the 21st century, it is sensible for Europe to combine
together, to use its collective weight in order to achieve influence.
And the rationale for Europe today therefore is about power, not peace."
In all but name, Blair
is urging the creation of a European
superstate, a rival power to both the United States and China, one where
national sovereignty is pooled in several key areas, including defence and
foreign policy, immigration and organised crime, tax policy, and energy. The
foundations for much of this have already been laid by the Treaty of Lisbon,
but Blair's vision takes the European project considerably further,
especially in the area of tax harmonisation and defence.
Blair himself admits that
there is little chance of his idea of an elected president being embraced at
home at this moment (a position that he no doubt wishes to fill himself),
but insists that this is the path that Britain and Europe must ultimately
take. And there can be little doubt that his dream of a politically and
economically unified EU is shared by many other leaders across Europe who
remain wedded to the concept of ever closer union,
despite the crisis in the Eurozone, and the irrelevance of Brussels over
Libya.
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June 12 - Awareness of Bilderberg Cabal Explodes in 2011
Article: One World Governenmet
The amount of publicity
garnered by the secretive Bilderberg conference this year in St. Moritz,
Switzerland, far surpassed the coverage afforded to past
gatherings of the elite cabal, with major media outlets and international news
wires finally reporting on the yearly event after refusing to do so for over
five decades. Protests, the alternative media, and anti-Bilderberg
politicians played an important role in spreading the news.
Among the confirmed 2011 European and Canadian attendees were
the British Chancellor of the Exchequer ("in his official capacity," according
to the Treasury), the President of the European Central Bank, the head of
Canada's central bank, the queens of the Netherlands and Spain, the Crown Prince
of Norway, a representative of the unimaginably vast Rothschild banking empire,
finance ministers, heads of state, and many more.
A reporter on the scene for the U.K. Guardian said there
were also individuals in attendance who were not on the official list - a
regular occurrence discovered almost every year. Among them were
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen, and Socialist
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain.
Microsoft founder and multi-billionaire
Bill Gates was reportedly spotted as well.
More than two dozen prominent members of the American elite
attended, too. An especially interesting cadre at the 2011 event
included some of the masters of the internet world:
The co-founder of Facebook; the executive chairman of Google; the co-founder and
executive chairman of LinkedIn; the founder and CEO of Amazon.com;
the commander of the American military's "cyber command" (or USCYBERCOM);
Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer; and others.
Representatives of the non-digital American elite were out in force as
well. Among them were former Ghaddafi adviser and Bush-era neo-con
extraordinaire Richard Perle; billionaire David
Rockefeller, who openly boasted in his autobiography of conspiring to erect a
global political and economic system;
Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary and current co-chairman of the immensely
powerful, world-government-promoting Council on Foreign Relations;
the vice-chairman of Citigroup; TV personality Charlie Rose; former Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger,
who frequently and publicly calls for what he refers to as a "New World Order";
the president of the World Bank; and others.
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June 12 - A blood test to scan baby's DNA before birth? As science progresses, ethical questions loom
Article: Cloning And Genetic Engineering
Imagine being pregnant and
taking a simple blood test that lays bare the DNA of your fetus. And suppose
that DNA could reveal not only medical
conditions like Down syndrome, but also things like eye color and height.
And the risk for developing depression or Alzheimer's disease.
Scanning fetal DNA from a blood test will be "without
question a major medical advance that promises to greatly improve current
prenatal care," says Jaime King, an associate professor at the UC Hastings
College of Law in San Francisco who studies genetic testing.
But bringing it into practice "raises significant
practical, legal, ethical and social challenges," she
says.
"This really changes the experience of what it will be like to be pregnant
and have a child," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and
Society in Berkeley, Calif. "I keep coming up with the word, game-changer."
She wonders if parents would withhold their
commitment to a pregnancy until test results show a fetus is "good enough"
to be born. And what, she asks, is good enough?
The issues have been discussed before. The DNA of a fetus has long been
recoverable through medical procedures, with a small risk of miscarriage.
But a blood test would be free of that risk, which should make many more
women interested in it and doctors willing to test for a wider range of
conditions, some experts say. And the
results could come early enough to allow for an abortion before the
pregnancy is even obvious.
The trigger for the new round of discussion is a couple
of papers published last December. In preliminary results, two research
teams showed that they could essentially
reconstruct a baby's genetic makeup by recovering fragments of fetal DNA
from the mother's bloodstream. That ability, plus the rapidly falling cost
of analyzing DNA, would open the door to inspecting individual genes.
"If no limitations are put on, you can have
a couple get a prenatal genetic test in the future saying their fetus has
... a 60 percent chance of having breast cancer at the age of 60 and a 30
percent chance of being gay," says Dr. Brian Skotko, a
board member of the National Down Syndrome Society. Since such information
would come early enough for an abortion, Skotko says,
"The ultimate question for society is, What forms of
human variation are valuable?"
On a societal level, King said she's
concerned that the prenatal diagnosis might become
seen as a way of "curing" diseases by aborting fetuses that have them.
"Once you've opened Pandora's box, it's harder to close it."
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June 23 - Corpus Christi: Called to be Living Monstrances, Carry Jesus into the World
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the
Holy See announced that at 7 p.m. on Thursday June 23, 2010, the
Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass on the
square in front of Rome's St. John Lateran Basilica. Following this
Liturgy he will preside at the traditional Eucharistic procession from
the basilica, along Via Merulana, to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
Vatican offices are closed in honor of this great Feast.
The faithful throughout the whole world
are invited to enter into the depth of this Feast and be changed
profoundly by their participation. No
'old fashioned ritual', this reveals the very truth of the new reality.
Though this Feast has been transferred to Sunday in the United States,
the Church in most of the world will celebrate it on Thursday. Whenever
it is celebrated, it is a richly significant day in Catholic life.
Priests, accompanied by Deacons, lead
the faithful in a solemn procession of the Consecrated Holy Eucharist
throughout the Streets of the world.
In one of them St. Thomas noted:
"Material food first of all turns itself into the person who eats it,
and as a consequence, restores his losses and increases his vital
energies. Spiritual food, on the other
hand, turns the person who eats it into Itself, and thus the proper
effect of this sacrament is the conversion of man into Christ, so that
he may no longer live for himself, but that Christ may live in Him. And
as a consequence it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual
losses caused by sins and defects and of increasing the power of the
virtues".
The Christian faith and life is about
relationship, with the Father, in and through His Son Jesus and in Jesus
Christ with one another for the sake of the world. The world into which
we process is the world that God still loves so much that He continues
to send His Son to save, recreate and transform it from within.
The Corpus Christi procession symbolizes the
ongoing redemptive mission of Jesus Christ and our
participation in it.
Then we are sent into the world to carry
Jesus to others. The Lord wants all men and women to live within the
Church. She is the home of the whole
human race and a seed of the kingdom.
As we march the Monstrance into the
cities of the whole world we
participate in a profoundly prophetic act. The early Eastern Church
Fathers referred to the Church as the "world transfigured" and the
"world reconciled." That reconciliation and transfiguration continues
through the Church. Jesus has been raised from the dead and he walks
into the world.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Christians
in Philippi, reminds us our true "citizenship" is "in heaven." While we
live in this current age we participate
in bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven. We who are Christians
now live in the Church and go into the world. Our mission is to bring
this world back to God in and through Jesus Christ.
We have received the Bread of Heaven.
Let us become what we consume. On the Feast of
Corpus Christi, as we march through the Streets of the world
lifting Jesus Christ enthroned, let us say"Yes" to
the invitation to become "living monstrances". Let the consuming fire of
God's love purify us so that we can now be used to reveal His presence
to a world waiting to be born anew.
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June 22 - Planes, trains, and automobiles: TSA to grope travelers on all forms of transportation
Article: One World Governenmet
The enemy of freedom, the US
Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as well as its mother
ship, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is on a mission
to grope every single traveler in
the US. Whether you travel by airplane, train, ship, bus, freight
truck, or potentially in the future even your own private vehicle,
the TSA wants to be there to treat you like a criminal and feel up
your private parts.
According to a recent report in Mother Jones,
the TSA has requested 12 more units
for its growing fleet of Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response
(VIPR) teams, which are nothing more than unconstitutional security
checkpoints eerily similar to those implemented throughout Germany
during Hitler's reign.
In the eyes of the TSA,
you are guilty until proven innocent, and the
agency feels as though it can scrap the US Constitution and invade
your personal privacy in the name of fighting "terrorism."
Based on its actions, however, the TSA is the true terrorist, and
the true enemy of freedom and liberty that is rapidly establishing
the United Police States of America.
Back in December, NaturalNews reported that
the TSA had already implemented VIPR
checkpoints at a Tampa, Fla., Greyhound bus station, which was just
one of many installments put in place since the program was formed
in 2007. And with its mobile fleet of surveillance and security
forces, VIPR teams could one day show up at a baseball stadium,
grocery store, or even neighborhood near you.
In Des Moines, Ia.,
VIPR teams recently decided to target random Latinos for security
screenings. In Savannah, Ga.,
VIPR teams surprised train passengers with an invasive security
check involving the lifting of shirts and fondling of women's
breasts. And in San Diego,
VIPR teams recently screened, handcuffed,
arrested, and deported a group of children who were on their way to
school.
"We believe this is a flagrant violation of
human rights, when we have a
situation in which children are being separated from their families
without the proper due process rights being afforded them,"
said a spokesman for a family of one of the children abducted.
Proper due process rights, of course, apply to all Americans, and
these rights are now routinely being trampled by the TSA in its
ruthless shredding and dismantling of the US Constitution.
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June 22 - Gore promoting fewer children to curb pollution
Article: One World Governenmet
The global warming debate has always
been a touchy one for both sides, and
when the world's top global warming
activist is talking about the size of population and how that
contributes to the choices societies make, it might be worth taking
note.In
an appearance Monday in New York City, former Vice President Al Gore,
prominently known for his climate change activism,
took on the subject of population size
and the role of society in controlling it to reduce pollution.
He offered some ideas about
what might be done for females
in the name of stabilizing population growth.
"One of the things we could do
about it is to change the technologies,
to put out less of this pollution, to stabilize the population, and one
of the principle ways of doing that is to empower and educate girls and
women," Gore said.
"You have to have ubiquitous availability
of fertility management so women can choose how many children have, the
spacing of the children.
"You
have to lift child survival rates so that parents feel comfortable
having small families and most important - you have to educate girls and
empower women," he said.
"And that's the most powerful
leveraging factor, and when that happens, then the population begins to
stabilize and societies begin to make better choices and more balanced
choices."
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely,
Roger Oakland
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