American armada prepares to take on Iran

The prince of the kingdom of Persia LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - By Damien McElroy aboard USS Eisenhower - February 25, 2007 -- It is four and a half acres of American power in the middle of the Arabian Sea but the influence of USS Dwight D Eisenhower stretches for hundreds of miles. The aircraft carrier, backed by its sister vessel, a handful of destroyers and a shoal of support ships, has placed a maritime ring of steel around an increasingly unstable region. While the Eisenhower is ostensibly assisting US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is the looming threat of Iran that increasingly occupies its attention. Recent tensions between America and Iran over Teheran's attempts to develop a nuclear weapon have raised the prospect of its third regional war in a decade. The addition of a second aircraft carrier to its strike groups has fuelled the belief that America is gearing up for a fight with Iran. Not since the Iraq war in 2003 has America amassed so much fire power around the Gulf. As flagship of the Fifth Fleet, the Eisenhower welcomed the arrival of a second Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, and its accompanying destroyers on Tuesday. Captain Dan Cloyd, the Eisenhower's commanding officer, compared the situation with the international tension of the Cold War.... Every hour and fifteen minutes a handful of jets scream north across the ocean. The range of missions an aircraft carrier as big as the Eisenhower - it has more than 5,000 people onboard - can carry out is virtually limitless. The Eisenhower is not only the flagship of the carrier group that protects The Gulf through which one-fifth of the world's oil is shipped. It has also helped overthrow a hard-line Islamic regime in Somalia during a stint off the Horn of Africa. Its fighter jets now offer close support to Nato and US forces in Afghanistan. Lieutenant Commander Matt Pothier returned yesterday from Afghanistan having delivered air support to British soldiers. He said: "Right now I have more opportunities than I've ever had to use weapons where we know there aren't any friendly people. In combat that's very rewarding." In the carrier's Combat Direction Centre, Warrant Officer Michael Myers can spot anything untoward in a 256 mile radius from his radar screen. He can identify objects as small as wooden boats on the open sea and small aircraft in a swathe of countries from the Arabian peninsula to the northern shore of the Sea of Arabia. Should Lieutenant Commander Craig Stapleton, the tactical operations officer, give the order, WO Myers can put up Hawkeye, an EP2 surveillance plane with massive radar capable of establishing American air traffic control across half a continent. "Those planes alone extend our radar horizon to a huge circle of the sky. I could see for 1,000 miles if I wanted to." ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TL5IPNJPJFNIVQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/02/24/wiran24.xml FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Israel seeks all clear for Iran air strike

The prince of the kingdom of Persia LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH - By Con Coughlin in Tel Aviv - February 26, 2007 -- Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon. A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons. "We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named. "The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."... The pace of military planning in Israel has accelerated markedly since the start of this year after Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, provided a stark intelligence assessment that Iran, given the current rate of progress being made on its uranium enrichment programme, could have enough fissile material for a nuclear warhead by 2009. Last week Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, announced that he had persuaded Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad for the past six years and one of Israel's leading experts on Iran's nuclear programme, to defer his retirement until at least the end of next year. Mr Olmert has also given overall control of the military aspects of the Iran issue to Eliezer Shkedi, the head of the Israeli Air Force and a former F-16 fighter pilot. The international community will increase the pressure on Iran when senior officials from the five permanent of the United Nations Security Council and Germany meet at an emergency summit to be held in London on Monday. ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/24/wiran124.xml FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

US 'Iran attack plans' revealed

The prince of the kingdom of Persia BBC NEWS - February 20, 2007 -- US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned. It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres. The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions. But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran. That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say. Two triggers BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies. Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran. Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground. The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians. Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says. Deadline Earlier this month US officers in Iraq said they had evidence Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. However the most senior US military officer later cast doubt on this, saying that they only had proof that weapons "made in Iran" were being used in Iraq. Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he did not know that the Iranian government "clearly knows or is complicit" in this. At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq. Middle East analysts have recently voiced their fears of catastrophic consequences for any such US attack on Iran. Britain's previous ambassador to Tehran, Sir Richard Dalton, told the BBC it would backfire badly by probably encouraging the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapon in the long term. Last year Iran resumed uranium enrichment - a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for a nuclear bomb. Tehran insists its programme is for civil use only, but Western countries suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment of uranium by 21 February. If it does not, and if the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms this, the resolution says that further economic sanctions will be considered. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6376639.stm FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Korean Men Use Brokers to Find Brides in Vietnam

The kings of the east Revelation 16:12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. Note: I believe this is one of the (often) overlooked aspects of why an army from the east would eventually invade either the Middle East or any other location that could remedy their shortage of wives. History shows and logic suggests that a lack of women and a large male army that desires them has always been (and will always be) a dangerous combination and two highly combustible ingredients when put together. BE/\LERT! NEW YORK TIMES - By Norimitsu Onishi - February 22, 2007 -- HANOI, Vietnam -- ... More and more South Korean men are finding wives outside of South Korea, where a surplus of bachelors, a lack of marriageable Korean partners and the rising social status of women have combined to shrink the domestic market for the marriage-minded male. Bachelors in China, India and other Asian nations, where the traditional preference for sons has created a disproportionate number of men now fighting over a smaller pool of women, are facing the same problem. ... Read Full Article (NY Times Requires free registration) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/world/asia/22brides.html? FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Christians Arrested in Northern & Southern Laos

Matthew 24:9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS - From VOM Sources - February 22, 2007 LAOS -- In Southern Laos, two Christian men have been taken from their farms and put in prison. No charges have been filed and no news is forthcoming about their current situation. Pray God protects and encourages these men and their families in this difficult time. In North Central Laos, on January 18, five police officers showed up at a Christian brother's home and arrested him. VOM sources have known him and his family for 20 years. His wife and 12-year-old son did not get an opportunity to speak to him before he was taken away. All efforts to locate him or allow his wife to know where he is being detained have been unsuccessful. According to VOM contacts, in several similar incidents, the people taken by police were never found alive. Pray for this family, that has led more than 500 people to Christ in the past two years. Ask God to protect this brother and comfort his wife and child. Psalm 119: 49-56 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Recent WND articles on the Temple Mount

A Burdensome Stone Temple Mount becoming mosque for Muslims only Israel allows minaret over Temple Mount Al Aqsa official: Jewish temples existed Jews, Christians shut from Temple Mount Israeli dig to spark Temple Mount violence? Al Aqsa leader: Jews have no right to Mount Arabs, Israelis prepare Temple Mount showdown Arab mob lynches Israeli who killed 4 Terrorist sneaks past Temple Mount security Temple Mount march protest leaders arrested Temple Mount completely unprotected Jerusalem police abound at Temple Mount area Muslims protest Jewish Temple Mount visit Mass Temple Mount visit to spur violence? Muslims plan to disrupt Temple Mount visit Israel bans Temple Mount ascent of 10,000 Jews 10,000 Jews to ascend Temple Mount Temple Mount: No Prayer Zone

Edwards: "Perhaps the Greatest Short-Term Threat to World Peace Is the Possibility That Israel Would Bomb Iran's Nuclear Facilities"

A Burdensome Stone NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE BLOGS>THE HILLARY SPOT – Jim Geraghty Reporting – February 22, 2007 -- Hillary Spot reader Michael points out this little gem in Peter Bart's column on John Edwards' comments in Hollywood: There are other emerging fissures, as well. The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word — Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close. Really? Israel is the biggest threat? Not Ahmedinijad? Not al-Qaeda? Not a coup attempt in Pakistan? Not a complete breakdown in Iraq drawing in the Saudis, Turks, and Iranians? Or, you know, perhaps not. http://hillaryspot.nationalreview.com/ FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

We Are Family: King David’s Descendants Gather for ‘Reunion’

Romans 11:25-26 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." FORWARD - By David Twersky - November 10, 2006 -- I don’t know about you, but talk of bloodlines leaves me queasy. We Jews have had more than our share of grief from notions of blood purity. If you’re like me, you just don’t want to go there. Imagine my surprise, then, to find myself spending a Thursday evening in October at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (of all places), taking part in a reunion of King David’s dynastic line (of all things). I write these words with the full knowledge that my family name links me to a branch of Jewish life that reached great heights of rabbinic authority and passed it from father to son. A case can be made that bloodlines deserve critical respect — that is, modest respect for what those lines might tell us about heritage and past achievement, with due caution not to overplay their predictive impact. The openly stated goal of the Davidic Dynasty is hardly modest. The dynasty is aimed at “reuniting Jewish descendants of King David, reinforcing Jewish roots in Israel and evoking pride and unity.” This effort, the evening’s celebrants were told, comes “at this critical time when the world questions Jewish sovereignty in Israel.” Heritage, after all, implies inheritance. The New York dinner was just a warm-up for the main event, “an historic reunion in Jerusalem next spring” in which organizers expect more than “1,000 Jewish descendants of King David from around the world… to participate.” Future plans include the opening of a Davidic Dynasty Museum in Jerusalem. The evening’s co-chair and main organizer, Susan Roth, makes no personal claim of Davidic descent, although she does have her own pride of lineage: She once performed with her parents, Yiddish stage stars Lillian Lux and Pesach Burstein, and her twin brother, Mike Burstein, in a legendary act known as The Four Bursteins. Today, Roth is a self-published author and activist. Her Eshet Chayil (“Woman of Valor”) Foundation describes the coming Davidic reunion on its Web site as “an Historic and Majestic event to declare our Eternal Right to our Homeland and restore Jewish Pride in our Glorious Past and in the promise of our Future.” For all its big plans, the October 19 dinner attracted a rather smallish crowd, with invitees seemingly outnumbering the actual mishpokhe. In the latter category were the evening’s three main honorees: Robert Morgenthau, the 87-year-old district attorney of Manhattan; the popular Orthodox inspirational speaker Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis and a revered Hasidic sage, Grand Rabbi Yitzhak Twersky, who happens to be a distant relative of mine. Speaking of distant relatives, we were informed at the evening’s outset that Morgenthau, the rebbetzin and the grand rabbi were all related, because they all shared a common ancestor, King David. Also declaring his blue-and-white blood was event co-chair Mitch Dayan, whose family came to these shores from Aleppo, Syria. He claims direct father-to-son descent from King David, and he was kind enough to announce that all the King’s men (and women) were part of one big family. At about this point in the evening, I was wondering when I might hit up Dayan for some help with my children’s college tuition in lieu of missed bar mitzvah gifts. After all, I thought, this could be big. The organizers said that they have traced (or are in the process of tracing) all the descendants of King David and are in the process of reconstituting what is, in effect, a royal family. This is a royal line with considerable pretension, promising to produce no less than the fated messiah, son of David, reborn king of Israel and harbinger of the End of Days. There was no talk at the New York dinner of launching a full-blown Israeli monarchist party. But there have been some preliminary meetings among Israeli far-rightists, aimed at precisely that. Morgenthau, in his after-dinner remarks, spoke movingly of his struggle to affirm his Jewish identity and that of his family, including his famous grandfather and father, Henry Sr. and Jr. — one a diplomat, the other a Cabinet secretary — who played crucial roles in saving Jewish lives during the First and Second World Wars. If anyone on that dais deserved to wear a royal Jewish signet, my vote was for the DA. Still, for all the drama and significance in the claim of Davidic descent, the authenticity of the claim appears difficult to nail down. The Davidic Dynasty project relies for its fundamental assertion on the work of genealogist Chaim (Keith) Freedman. Organizers offer some history to back up the idea that, blood being blood, King David’s descendants are all witty, wise and successful. Among famous Jews tracing their ancestry back to David, Dynasty organizers say, are the talmudic sages Hillel the Elder (who thus outranked his arch-rival, Shammai), Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nassi and Yochanan Ha-Sandlar, along with the medieval scholar Yosef Karo (which would put his descendant, historian Robert Caro, into The Family). Family members over the past four centuries were said to include the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the Lubavitcher rebbe and the late president of Israel, Chaim Herzog. Of course, “We Are Family” is a great old song. Lately it’s even become a commercial slogan for a popular restaurant chain — “Olive Garden: When you’re here, you’re family!” (As if your Uncle Morris would ever charge you $19.95 when you come over for gefilte fish and pasta.) But can we really trace back family histories over 3,000 years? According to David Einsiedler, writing in the same scholarly journal, “Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy,” “Careful examination of all available sources leads to the inescapable conclusion that there is no complete, reliable and positive proof of claims of descent from King David, whether via Rashi, Judah Loew the Elder, or any of the other families claimed. There are at present no known sources that could fill the gaps or set the record straight. It is possible that there may be actual descendants somewhere, but at present, no one can produce sufficient and unquestionable proof of this claim.” The counter-argument is that recent genetic breakthroughs have led to real progress along these (blood) lines. There was, for example, a 1997 study finding common DNA markers among Jewish males, and even more so among the kohanim, the priestly caste traditionally believed to trace its lineage directly to Aaron, the brother of Moses. More recent studies have shown a close genetic kinship between Jews and the descendants of their presumed neighbors in the ancient Near East, including Kurds and Palestinians. Jews, it’s worth recalling, have tended, at least until the past century or so, to marry in, preserving common DNA traits. But I don’t think the organizers of the Davidic Dynasty Reunion were trying to gain bragging rights about familial ties to the Arabs. None of these details has to stop you from affiliating with the Davidic Dynasty. You can even pick your level of DNA confidence, opting either for the $70 per year “Royal membership” level, or, for sympathetic commoners, the $40 per year “Loyal membership” level. Be forewarned, however: While tradition does specify that the messiah will come from King David’s family, and while that understandably might reinforce the urge to identify the King’s descendants, there is a paradox at the heart of all this. David, after all, was not born into “royalty.” He was a shepherd boy, a hick from the sticks. If that isn’t enough to make the concept of a royal bloodline suspect, there is always the tradition of David’s own blood heritage, which takes him back to Ruth the Moabite, a convert to Judaism. Thus, the great king hails from a family with an unimportant rural pedigree compounded by a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish lineage. With deference less to Robert Penn Warren than to Humpty Dumpty, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that all King David’s children cannot put him back together again. http://www.forward.com/articles/we-are-family-king-david-s-descendants-gather-f/ FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Churches back plan to unite under Pope

All roads lead to Rome Galatians 1:6-10 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. THE TIMES of LONDON - By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent - February 19, 2007 --Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this year, The Times has learnt. The proposals have been agreed by senior bishops of both churches. In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are urged to explore how they might reunite under the Pope. The statement, leaked to The Times, is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response. It comes as the archbishops who lead the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion meet in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in an attempt to avoid schism over gay ordination and other liberal doctrines that have taken hold in parts of the Western Church. The 36 primates at the gathering will be aware that the Pope, while still a cardinal, sent a message of support to the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church of the US as it struggled to cope with the fallout after the ordination of the gay bishop Gene Robinson. Were this week’s discussions to lead to a split between liberals and conservatives, many of the former objections in Rome to a reunion with Anglican conservatives would disappear. Many of those Anglicans who object most strongly to gay ordination also oppose the ordination of women priests. Rome has already shown itself willing to be flexible on the subject of celibacywhen it received dozens of married priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood after they left over the issue of women’s ordination. There are about 78 million Anglicans, compared with a billion Roman Catholics, worldwide. In England and Wales, the Catholic Church is set to overtake Anglicanism as the predominant Christian denomination for the first time since the Reformation, thanks to immigration from Catholic countries. As the Anglicans’ squabbles over the fundamentals of Christian doctrine continue — with seven of the conservative primates twice refusing to share Communion with the other Anglican leaders at their meeting in Tanzania — the Church’s credibility is being increasingly undermined in a world that is looking for strong witness from its international religious leaders. The Anglicans will attempt to resolve their differences today by publishing a new Anglican Covenant, an attempt to provide a doctrinal statement under which they can unite. But many fear that the divisions have gone too far to be bridged and that, if they cannot even share Communion with each other, there is little hope that they will agree on a statement of common doctrine. The latest Anglican-Catholic report could hardly come at a more sensitive time. It has been drawn up by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, which is chaired by the Right Rev David Beetge, an Anglican bishop from South Africa, and the Most Rev John Bathersby, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia. The commission was set up in 2000 by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then head of the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find a way of moving towards unity through “common life and mission”. The document leaked to The Times is the commission’s first statement, Growing Together in Unity and Mission. The report acknowledges the “imperfect communion” between the two churches but says that there is enough common ground to make its “call for action” about the Pope and other issues. In one significant passage the report notes: “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.” Anglicans rejected the Bishop of Rome as universal primate in the 16th century. Today, however, some Anglicans are beginning to see the potential value of a ministry of universal primacy, which would be exercised by the Bishop of Rome, as a sign and focus of unity within a reunited Church. In another paragraph the report goes even further: “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.” Other recommendations include inviting lay and ordained members of both denominations to attend each other’s synodical and collegial gatherings and conferences. Anglican bishops could be invited to accompany Catholic ones on visits to Rome. The report adds that special “protocols” should also be drawn up to handle the movement of clergy from one Church to the other. Other proposals include common teaching resources for children in Sunday schools and attendance at each other’s services, pilgrimages and processions. Anglicans are also urged to begin praying for the Pope during the intercessionary prayers in church services, and Catholics are asked also to pray publicly for the Archbishop of Canterbury. In today’s Anglican Church, it is unlikely that a majority of parishioners would wish to heal the centuries-old rift and return to Rome. However, the stance of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the present dispute dividing his Church gives an indication of how priorities could be changing in light of the gospel imperative towards church unity. Dr Rowan Williams, who as Primate of the Church of England is its “focus for unity”, has in the past supported a liberal interpretation of Scripture on the gay issue. But he has made it clear that church unity must come before provincial autonomy. A logical extension of that, once this crisis is overcome either by agreement or schism, would be to seek reunion with the Church of England's own mother Church. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

CNN/DOBBS: W FULFILLS HIS DAD'S DREAM OFA NEW WORLD ORDER

See Lou Dobb spell it out in no uncertain terms on "Liberal" CNN - George W. Bush is installing a New World Order.

Be Alert Pic of the Day: The Deception of America

The above photo showing Newsweek Magazine covers from September 25, 2006 demonstrates how the media in America keeps it's citizens in the dark about what is really going on in the world and especially right here in our own country. US media coverage is generally fluff, fluff and some dirty laundry thrown in to spice it up.The majority of American citizens including evangelical Christians have no clue what is going on in the world beyond Hollywood, California.

BE/\LERT!

Did the President Declare a "Secret War" Against Syria and Iran?

Alert Focus: The prince of the kingdom of Persia / Wars and rumors of wars / The Iron and the Clay / A Burdensome Stone Daniel 2:41-43 "In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. "As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. Jeremiah 49:23 Concerning Damascus. "Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, For they have heard bad news; They are disheartened. There is anxiety by the sea, It cannot be calmed. Global Research: Centre for Research on Globalization - by Steve Clemons - January 13, 2007 -- Washington intelligence, military and foreign policy circles are abuzz today with speculation that the President, yesterday or in recent days, sent a secret Executive Order to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director of the CIA to launch military operations against Syria and Iran. The President may have started a new secret, informal war against Syria and Iran without the consent of Congress or any broad discussion with the country. The bare outlines of that order may have appeared in President Bush's Address to the Nation last night outlining his new course on Iraq: Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq. We're also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence-sharing and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region. Adding fuel to the speculation is that U.S. forces today raided an Iranian Consulate in Arbil, Iraq and detained five Iranian staff members. Given that Iran showed little deference to the political sanctity of the US Embassy in Tehran 29 years ago, it would be ironic for Iran to hyperventilate much about the raid. But what is disconcerting is that some are speculating that Bush has decided to heat up military engagement with Iran and Syria -- taking possible action within their borders, not just within Iraq. Some are suggesting that the Consulate raid may have been designed to try and prompt a military response from Iran -- to generate a casus belli for further American action. If this is the case, the debate about adding four brigades to Iraq is pathetic. The situation will get even hotter than it now is, worsening the American position and exposing the fact that to fight Iran both within the borders of Iraq and into Iranian territory, there are not enough troops in the theatre. Bush may really have pushed the escalation pedal more than any of us realize. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CLE20070113&articleId=4442 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Left Allows Europe to Fall to Muslims

Alert Focus: The Fruit of Islam / A Horde of Judgment / Deception Habakkuk 1:2-3 How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, "violence! "Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. 1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. By Rabbi Aryeh Spero - February 8, 2007 - HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE In a recent interview, Prof. Bernard Lewis, famed historian and leading expert on Islam, warned that "Muslims seem to be about to take over Europe." The irony is that this takeover -- be it in 10 years or 30 -- is not because Islam has more tanks or better missiles than the Europeans. It is because the minority Islamic populations already living within Europe are making demands to Islamize Europe and no one seems to be willing to say no. No one has the political will to announce to the Islamic communities that daily life and laws in Europe must be in accord with the Western outlook that is Europe's heritage. Was the fall of Europe inevitable? No, according to Prof. Lewis, who says it is coming about because "Europeans have surrendered on every issue regarding Islamic demands, due to political correctness and multi-culturalism." Europe has become woefully secular and its tepid attachment to a forgotten and dismissed Christianity is no match for the zeal of Muslims who remain fervent believers in their faith. Having been force fed that all cultures are equally valid, Europeans consider it unenlightened to assert the primacy of their culture even in their own countries. What is even stranger is that secularized and politically correct European elites do insist on the primacy of indigenous cultures and religions when speaking of other faraway regions, yet find such insistence arrogant when it concerns the indigenous culture of its own lands. In other words, other countries are there to preserve their own way of life while the West is supposed to jello-ize and even deny its historic way of life. The bottom line: "Europeans have no respect for their own culture." Their worship of open-mindedness, no matter the cost, is leading to their demise. Perhaps for the first time in history, we are witnessing the death of a civilization not due to outside forces stronger militarily but because "instead of fighting the threat, Europeans have simply given up, and do not want to fight." Pacifism in Europe runs so deep that it goes beyond a reluctance to take up military arms and extends to not even battling verbally, be it with laws or assertive opinion, or by fighting for Western culture even in routine social conversations. As is well known, after World War II, Europe began denigrating the concept of nationalism, and the further left it became politically, the further it extolled transnationalism. Brainwashing citizens against the natural human inclination to be proud and loyal to one's own country over others has boomeranged to the point where Europeans can no longer even make the case for their own culture and history. The lesson for the United States is clear. So as not to fall and disintegrate as is Europe, we need strong national patriotism, a genuine belief in the West's Judeo-Christian heritage and religion, and a conviction that our inherited culture and civilization is best for us and has been the true source of our blessings, success and freedom. Bereft of these deep and abiding associations, what is there to fight for? Moreover, it is necessary to assert that our historic ethos is superior to that which Islam is demanding. Europe, as well as history, shows that those unable to assert the primacy of their own culture at home are unwilling to even assert its parity, and mire in "suicidal self-abasement." This self-abasement has gone so far that "sophisticated" Europeans extend respect and "understanding" to Islamic marital habits that they’d condemn if practiced by their own. They would never accept rampaging and burnings in response to cartoon publications and statements if done by fellow Englishmen. Nor would they countenance censorship of the press if a bishop was offended by some newspaper article. Yet out of a strange deference and submission to things Islamic, many are accepting that which they would condemn if perpetrated by a native Christian Brit. In other words, Islamic "honor" is more important than British honor, and Islamic habits are given more deference than Western customs and mores continually under self- assault and self-criticism. Criticism is reserved only for our culture, the "bad, discredited, and passé Western culture." What brought Europe to this pitiful surrender is the left/liberalism that has controlled it since the 1960s. This post-modern liberalism has used political correctness and multi-culturalism to strip Europe of that which had previously made it great, and worthwhile. If it has proven a disastrous recipe for Europe, it certainly is no prescription for us in America. It is a cultural poison, a death potion. We, therefore, must not allow the elitist left to do here what they've already done to Europe. We know, however, that is precisely what the American Left is trying to do, and we see how the elitists in this country always ape Europe, demanding that "we Americans act more European-like." To be sure, some in Europe accede to the demands of Islam over European life not out of a sense of cultural inferiority but fear, palpable fear. But the question remains: Given that the Islamists living inside Europe are not armed with tanks or other heavy military equipment, why can't the better equipped police forces subdue the Islamic gangs and imams that are intimidating the British and European public? Why can't law enforcement shut down the Islamic hot heads and centers that are creating such fear among Europeans that they’d rather forfeit actual civil liberties (freedom of speech), their culture, and way of life so as to appease the threatening Islamists? Because political correctness has tied the hands of those entrusted to protect the home-grown citizenry. The courts and the ruling elites in charge of European legal institutions have made it almost impossible to enforce the laws and protect the people. New operational terms, such as racial profiling, cultural understanding, mosque sanctuary, community deference, etc., have been sanctified so that Moslems are exempt from the very tough investigatory and law enforcement procedures normally used when trying to apprehend other criminals and violators of the law. Sociology is replacing strength and common sense. Worse, the blood-curdling threats by imams against the public go unpunished while candid and forthright apprehensions over what the Islamic community is doing to society is punishable as a hate crime. Out of fear, Europe is appeasing. It has become a supplicant. Out of guilt, Europe is acquiescing. Out of years of self-criticism, it no longer feels worthy. Cynicism has lead to defeatism. Pacifisim has replaced religion. They believed in the parity of everything, so they now believe in nothing -- not even themselves. They, not the enemy, are orchestrating their own national demise. To those elites in Europe, and America, who feel a greater kinship with the exotic peoples of other cultures than with the dull citizens of their own country, there is nothing to fear. For what will have been lost is something, a set of cultural beliefs, they discarded long ago; nationalisms that were objects of scorn and had, for them, become boring. An Islamized Europe is nothing to fret and worry over. Wrong! Prof. Lewis warns: "The growing sway in Europe is of particular concern given the ever-rising support within the Islamic world for extremist and terrorist movements." But these self-righteous, self-centered elitists born of the 60s Left still need not worry. They probably will not be the victims of the annihilation they have wrought. It will be their children and grandchildren. Rabbi Spero is a radio talk show host, a pulpit rabbi, and president of Caucus for America. He can be reached at www.caucusforamerica.com. [See More by this author] http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19328 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Major Online Christian Bookstores & Related Articles

Major Online Christian Bookstores: 1. American Family Association's Resource Center 2. Berean Christian Stores 3, Books For Christians 4, Books of the Bible Christian Bookstores 5, Christian Book 6, Christian Book Network 7, Christian Heritage Bookstore 8, Cokesbury-Resources for the Christian Journey 9, Dalton's Christian Bookstore 10, Family Christian Stores 11, Koorong Stores (Australia) 12, Kregel Christian Books & Resources 13, Lemstone 14, LifeWay Christian Stores 15, Mardel Christian & Educational Supply 16, Northwestern Book Stores 17, Parable Christian Stores 18, 3:16 Christian Bookstore 19, Word Bookstores (Australia) Related Articles: 1, 'Christian' bookstore features X-rated flicks 2, X-rated Christian store's troubles traced to Amazon 3, Beware of Christian Bookstores! 4, Dear Mr. Wildmon 5, Beware of Christian Bookstore Hypocrisy 6, Should Christian Bookstores Offer Anything From Bibles To Porn? 7, An Open Rebuttal to Tim Wildmon's Response to His Critics 8, Gay-Friendly Authors Populate SBC's LifeWay Site 9, Christian Research Service 10, The Master List

When a Megapastor Denies Christ

Alert Focus: The Falling Away / Deception / False Teachers 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW NETWORK - By Ingrid Schlueter - November 25, 2006 -- As a writer for Christian Worldview Network, I am committed to speaking the truth in love. More than anything else, I love the truth of God's Word and the Church for which Christ died. Because of that love, I cannot remain silent when I see the subtle entry of error taking place within evangelicalism. I believe that if the martyrs in other parts of the world are having to die for their faith, the least I can do in America is risk scorn and condemnation for speaking out on behalf of the Gospel. Again and again today, we are seeing evangelical leaders deny Christ. According to the dictionary's definition of the term, to deny is not just an outright rejection of something or someone. To deny is also to withhold, to refuse access to or give out information, or to refuse to recognize or acknowledge. It is critical that we understand what the denial of Christ looks like. It is everywhere these days. If you want to see what the modern denial of Jesus Christ looks like, I encourage you to watch this video clip. This clip features megapastor Rick Warren as he addresses the attendees of the TED Conference in Monterey, California. TED describes itself as a conference that brings together more than 1,000 thought leaders, movers and shakers every year to share ideas. The website claims that, ''After four days, you gain an understanding of how your own work fits into the larger web of knowledge and you get to connect with extraordinary individuals who are helping in creating a better future for all of us.'' As a Christian pastor, what did Rick Warren have to say to this group of people? He spoke for a little over 20 minutes. He said everyone had a purpose and that God wanted everyone to use their gifts and talents. He talked about his crisis in purpose when he made "tons and tons of money" with his famous book. He told about how he and his wife use a reverse tithe and how they started foundations to help solve the world's problems. He quickly established that he was a "pluralist". He said that everybody is betting their life on "something". The implication was that you believe in this, I believe in that. It's all good. Despite his repeated references to "God", Rick Warren never told this group of unbelievers who God was. He told the crowd that meaning in life is found through service and giving of ourselves. He never told them that we don't find salvation through service, but rather through a right relationship with our Creator, through His Son Jesus Christ alone. He talked of God smiling when we use our gifts. He never talked of the perilous state of our souls unless we repent and believe the Gospel. He gave these conference attendees a message of works righteousness--salvation through serving. This man with the label of Christian pastor seems to have ignored a very basic Bible verse, Titus 3:5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; If any man had the right to boast in his service of Christ, it would have been the Apostle Paul. Yet even he said this in I Timothy 1:15: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. Rick Warren did not follow in the train of the Apostles who preached Christ fearlessly and without apology, as the great Apostle described in I Corinthians 1:22-24: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (Emphasis added.) Could any true minister of the Gospel be handed such an opportunity to bear witness to Jesus Christ and instead talk about purpose and meaning and just leave it there? Rick Warren denied Christ because he was ashamed to tell these people what the Gospel really says. These haunting words of Jesus should shake all of us who are too embarrassed to speak forth what God has done for us through His Son. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33 Warren could talk about a generic “God” very comfortably in front of this audience. God, purpose, fulfillment, service, meaning--none of those terms will evoke a negative reaction from the world. It's Jesus Christ who is the stumbling block. It is the exclusivity of the Gospel message--that is what the world hates. So if I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition that God made us and has a plan for us, but avoid that single point that God made us holy but that we sinned and are in rebellion to God in our natural state, we are not confessing Christ, however boldly we may claim to profess Christ. I have heard repeated claims that some of evangelicalism's biggest superstars are propagating the "Gospel". It is clear that there is little understanding today as to what the Gospel actually is. It is not about "opening your life to God" or "accepting his purposes for your life." It is to acknowledge that we as individuals have sinned and that we deserve the wrath and curse of God. It is to turn from our sin and to look to Christ alone and believe that He took that wrath of God on Himself to satisfy the just demands of God the Father on our behalf. It is to believe that He rose again in triumph over sin, death and hell and sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us. There is no Gospel outside of an articulation of God's holy hatred for sin. There is no good news without the bad news first. The true amazing meaning of God's sovereign grace will never be understood until our desperately hopeless state without Him is grasped. If Rick Warren loved those souls to which he spoke, if he had a view of hell as described by Scripture, where these lost souls will forever suffer if they reject the Son of God, if he truly loved that Savior who hung bleeding and naked on an old rugged cross to pay for our sins, how could he fail to share that message? Do not elite movers and shakers also need Jesus Christ? Did not this crowd need to hear more than a works righteousness message? God save us from this kind of spiritual leadership. May we get our eyes off these evangelical celebrities who are denying Christ and put our eyes on the Lord alone. He is the one who gave that Great Commission. He is the one who has already declared our purpose here in His eternal Word. Let the compromise around us spur us on to lift ever higher the cross of Christ and without shame, proclaim His saving power. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. --Romans 1:15-17 KJV

[All emphasis in the original] http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?ArticleID=1296

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

The Road to Artificial Omniscience and the Mark

Alert Focus: Mark of the Beast / Technological Hocus Pocus / The Mystery of Lawlessness

Revelation 13:16-17

And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name...

Daniel 11:38a

"But instead he will honor a god of fortresses...

Proverbs 16:25

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

Psalms 49:12

But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.

N.Y. scanners spark union cries of "geoslavery" REUTERS - By Michelle Nichols - January 27, 2007 -- NEW YORK -- Every morning Dennis Colson, a surveyor at New York City's Department of Design and Construction, begins his work day by placing his hand on a scanner to log his time and attendance at the office. The use of hand geometry and other biometric data, like facial and iris recognition, is not new -- the University of Georgia pioneered the use of hand geometry when it installed scanners in its student dining hall in 1974. But the planned roll-out of hand geometry scanners in all New York City government agencies has sparked union cries of "geoslavery" and assertions that technology developed for security will be used to track, label and control workforces. "It's frustrating, it's kind of an insult," Colson, 53, told Reuters. "They are talking about going to voice and retina scanners and that's an invasion of privacy in that they can track you wherever you go." Jon Forster, of the Civil Service Technical Guild, which represents Department of Design and Construction workers, said the biometric systems gave the city a license to obtain personal, uniquely identifiable data to track workers. "It's really a matter of this kind of technology having far outstripped any legislation or even case law in the United States in terms of what are the restrictions," Forster told Reuters. "On the one hand I think people might all agree that if you put a GPS system in ambulances then that's a good thing. On the other hand you have an employer in Ohio who has demanded that two of his employees have chips implanted in their bodies." "If these are the extremes, the question is where does the line get drawn?" he said. "The unions' arguments keep changing, but the tracking workers throughout the day is not true. It's just for clicking in and out," said Stu Loeser, spokesman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, adding that there were no plans to install voice recognition or iris scanners. IS HAND GEOMETRY THE REAL PROBLEM? Biometrics expert Jim Wayman, who consults for the U.S., British and Australia governments, said mobile phones and credit cards were the "No. 1 enemies" for workers worried about geoslavery, not biometrics. "There may be large forces at work in western society wishing to enslave the workforce. I want to acknowledge that fear. But hand geometry is not part of this," Wayman, who has studied biometrics for more than two decades, told Reuters. He said monitoring computer and phone usage were the "tools by which an employer would seek to enslave the workforce -- it would not be done through biometrics." In 2004, U.S. employers reportedly spent $9 billion on monitoring devices for the workplace, while a 2005 survey by American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute found 76 percent of companies monitor workers Web site use. The survey of 526 U.S. companies also showed 36 percent of employers track computer content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard, while half store and review employees' computer files and 55 percent retain and review e-mail messages. Only 5 percent used GPS in phones and 8 percent used GPS in company vehicles, while fingerprint scanning only accounted for 5 percent, facial recognition 2 percent and iris scans 0.5 percent. "Most people in the industry are surprised that biometrics devices have not become more widespread already," Wayman said. "There is a 40 year history of implementation of biometric devices, but use of these devices has never become widely popular and one of the reasons is they are thoroughly expensive to use and it's not clear the cost savings in their use."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-01-26T195830Z_01_N25259138_RTRUKOC_0_US-WORK-SCANNERS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Military Expands Intelligence Role in U.S. NEW YORK TIMES - By Eric Lichtblau and Mark Mazzetti - January 14 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering. The C.I.A. has also been issuing what are known as national security letters to gain access to financial records from American companies, though it has done so only rarely, intelligence officials say. Banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions receiving the letters usually have turned over documents voluntarily, allowing investigators to examine the financial assets and transactions of American military personnel and civilians, officials say. The F.B.I., the lead agency on domestic counterterrorism and espionage, has issued thousands of national security letters since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, provoking criticism and court challenges from civil liberties advocates who see them as unjustified intrusions into Americans’ private lives. But it was not previously known, even to some senior counterterrorism officials, that the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have been using their own “noncompulsory” versions of the letters. Congress has rejected several attempts by the two agencies since 2001 for authority to issue mandatory letters, in part because of concerns about the dangers of expanding their role in domestic spying. The military and the C.I.A. have long been restricted in their domestic intelligence operations, and both are barred from conducting traditional domestic law enforcement work. The C.I.A.’s role within the United States has been largely limited to recruiting people to spy on foreign countries. Carl Kropf, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said intelligence agencies like the C.I.A. used the letters on only a “limited basis. Pentagon officials defended the letters as valuable tools and said they were part of a broader strategy since the Sept. 11 attacks to use more aggressive intelligence-gathering tactics — a priority of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. The letters “provide tremendous leads to follow and often with which to corroborate other evidence in the context of counterespionage and counterterrorism,” said Maj. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman. Government lawyers say the legal authority for the Pentagon and the C.I.A. to use national security letters in gathering domestic records dates back nearly three decades and, by their reading, was strengthened by the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act….. Some national security experts and civil liberties advocates are troubled by the C.I.A. and military taking on domestic intelligence activities, particularly in light of recent disclosures that the Counterintelligence Field Activity office had maintained files on Iraq war protesters in the United States in violation of the military’s own guidelines. Some experts say the Pentagon has adopted an overly expansive view of its domestic role under the guise of “force protection,” or efforts to guard military installations. “There’s a strong tradition of not using our military for domestic law enforcement,” said Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, a former general counsel at both the National Security Agency and the C.I.A. who is the dean at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. “They’re moving into territory where historically they have not been authorized or presumed to be operating.” …

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/washington/14spy.html?ei=5065&en=d84fecd8f4b5e4cf&ex=1169355600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Pentagon Viewing Americans' Bank Records ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Lolita Baldor - January 14 2007 -- WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon and to a lesser extent the CIA have been using a little-known power to look at the banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage within the United States, officials said Saturday. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Saturday the Defense Department "makes requests for information under authorities of the National Security Letter statutes ... but does not use the specific term National Security Letter in its investigatory practice." Whitman did not indicate the number of requests that have been made in recent years, but said authorities operate under the Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the National Security Act. "These statutory tools may provide key leads for counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations," Whitman said. "Because these are requests for information rather than court orders, a DOD request under the NSL statutes cannot be compelled absent court involvement." "It is our understanding that the intelligence community agencies make such requests on a limited basis," said Carl Kropf, a spokesman for the Office of the National Intelligence Director, which oversees all 16 spy agencies in the government. The national security letters permit the executive branch to seek records about people in terror and spy investigations without a judge's approval or grand jury subpoena. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the lead agency on domestic counterterrorism and espionage, has issued thousands of national security letters since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Whitman said Defense Department "counterintelligence investigators routinely coordinate ... with the FBI." The national security letters have prompted criticism and court challenges from civil liberties advocates who claim they invade the privacy of Americans' lives, even though banks and other financial institutions typically turn over the financial records voluntarily. …http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070114/D8ML1VU01.html

Cheney admits expanded military spying role inside US AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - January 14 2007 -- US Vice-President Dick Cheney has admitted that the US military and CIA have been spying on the financial dealings of Americans -- intelligence gathering normally authorized only by civilian policing agencies. The New York Times broke the story overnight, reporting that the Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency had been using "national security letters" to obtain the banking and credit records of Americans and foreigners suspected of terrorist activities in the United States. The US military and the CIA have long been restricted in their spying activities inside the United States and are barred from conducting traditional domestic law enforcement work in the country. But Cheney confirmed the main outlines of the report and defended the Pentagon and CIA activities as legal and necessary to protect military installations inside the United States. "This is a dramatic story, but I think it's important for people to understand here this is a legitimate security effort that's been underway for a long time and it does not represent a new departure from the standpoint of our efforts to protect ourselves against terrorist attack," he said on Fox News Sunday. "The defense department gets involved because we've got hundreds of bases inside the United States that are potential terrorist targets," he said. He called the spying "a perfectly legitimate activity" that the military and CIA had authority to carry out going back "three or four decades" and more recently confirmed in the Patriot Act adopted following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. "It doesn't violate people's civil rights, and it's an institution that receives one of these national security letters disagrees with it, they're free to go to court to try to stop its execution," he said. Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times said the Pentagon and CIA actions were part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering which is traditionally the realm of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. …http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/14/070114153813.ahatfwm8.html

Transmitting Canadian coins found CANADIAN PRESS - By Jim Bronskill - January 9, 2007 -- OTTAWA -- They say money talks, and a new report suggests Canadian currency is indeed chatting, at least electronically, on behalf of shadowy spies. Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters have mysteriously turned up in the pockets of at least three American contractors who visited Canada, says a branch of the U.S. Defense Department. Security experts believe the miniature devices could be used to track the movements of defence industry personnel dealing in sensitive military technology. "You might want to know where the individual is going, what meetings the individual might be having and, above all, with whom," said David Harris, a former CSIS officer who consults on security matters. "The more covert or clandestine the activity in which somebody might be involved, the more significant this kind of information could be." The counterintelligence office of the U.S. Defense Security Service cites the currency caper as an example of the methods international spies have recently tried to illicitly acquire military technology.

The service's report, Technology Collection Trends in the U.S. Defense Industry, says foreign-hosted conventions, seminars and exhibits are popular venues for pilfering secrets. The report is based on an analysis of 971 "suspicious contact reports" submitted in the fiscal year 2005 by security-cleared defence contractors and various official personnel.... http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/01/09/3257344-cp.html

U.S. retracts spy coins claim

Note: I honestly don't believe one statement this government makes as a whole (except for two congressmen I can think of). It is the largest criminal organization on the planet.

I hope I am not rocking your boat as I know there are decent citizens and even godly Christians who are working hard to try and better this country from within it's organizational structure. I also believe in the Constitution and what the founding fathers originally intended, but what this nation has become is a beast and it is very, very evil.

We Americans should be on our face weeping before God for mercy for the USA rather than boasting.

BE/\LERT!

CANADIAN PRESS - By Jim Bronskill - January 29, 2007 -- OTTAWA -- It seems there's no danger of your spare change spying on you after all. A U.S. government defence agency has suddenly retracted its claim that Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters were planted on at least three American contractors who visited Canada. It's the latest twist in an intriguing cash caper. Canadians began carefully scrutinizing their loonies following the Virginia-based Defense Security Service's claim that specially doctored coins were a new tool of the trade for shadowy figures out to steal sensitive U.S. military technology. "On at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006, cleared defence contractors' employees travelling through Canada have discovered radio frequency transmitters embedded in Canadian coins placed on their persons," said the service's annual counterintelligence report for 2006. The document did not indicate what sort of coins were involved, and a service spokeswoman said details of the incidents were classified.

Intelligence experts surmised the miniature transmitters in the supposedly rigged coins might be used to track the movements of defence industry personnel....

In a statement posted late Friday on its website, the Defense Security Service said the coin claims were based on a report provided to the agency. "The allegations, however, were found later to be unsubstantiated following an investigation into the matter," the statement said, adding that "the 2006 annual report should not have contained this information." ...

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/170886

Items of intrest from the CASPIAN NEWSLETTER

State Lawmakers Consider Anti-Chipping Bills CASPIAN NEWSLETTER - January 25, 2007 -- Colorado State Representative Mary Hodge has introduced legislation to make it a crime to require a human being to have a microchip implant in that state. Similar bills have recently been introduced in Ohio, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, and we anticipate more on the way. The bills follow legislation passed unanimously in Wisconsin and signed into law last year. Rocky Mountain News http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5286748,00.html Click here to read the full text of Colorado HB 07-1082: http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2007a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/CBC12C68118CE43787257251007B703D?Open&file=1082_01.pdf Flashback -- Our May 2006 press release on the Wisconsin bill: http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-wisconsin-ban.html Tokyo Rfid Trial To Track Shoppers, Beam Ads The "Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project," running from now until March 10, will use radio-frequency identification tags, infrared, and wireless transmitters to identify Japanese shoppers and keep track of their movements on the streets of Tokyo. The purpose? To send them ads and coupons based on their habits. Fort Wayne News Sentinel http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/16497861.htm E-Passport: Doorway To The Panopticon This in-depth article explains who's watching you when you travel, and how they're doing it. Includes information about government agency involvement, international plans, RFID, facial recognition, and more. Immigration Daily http://www.ilw.com/articles/2007,0104-scarmig.shtm The Charliecard Mitten - Pay With Your Right Hand All subway passengers in Boston must now pay with an RFID-laced card dubbed the "CharlieCard" - no more tokens or coins. To simplify paying on cold winter days, one commuter has knitted a pair of mittens with a pocket to hold the card. Now all it takes is a swipe of the right hand to board the train. (Link below includes a photo of the mitten.) Boston Real Estate Blog http://bostonreb.com/blog/2007/01/17/most-excellent-mitten-ever-read-this-post/ Are Your Shopping Records Being Sold To Politicians? Ever wonder what happens to all that information your grocery store collects when they swipe your club card at the register? Politicians can now take advantage of this data thanks to a vast information bank profiling individual Americans. Credit-card data, social-security information, census facts, magazine-subscription lists, and club card records are all fair game for political campaigns now, thanks to a practice known as "microtargeting." The Province (Canada) http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=35a555ca-5304-48fd-afaa-7d78890d8286 (Site requires free registration) Read how Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign used consumer data: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/living/community/15847915.htm?source=rss&channel=siliconvalley_community Note: This is only a small sample of the material available from CASPIAN. CASPIAN: Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering Protecting consumer privacy and opposing retail surveillance since 1999 http://www.spychips.com/ http://www.nocards.org/ You're welcome to duplicate and distribute this message to others who may find it of interest. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CASPIAN mailing list, click the following link or copy and paste it into your browser: http://www.nocards.org/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi

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