N. American Army formed without Congress

In a ceremony that received virtually no attention in the American media, the United States and Canada signed a military agreement Feb. 14 allowing the armed forces from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a domestic civil emergency, even one that does not involve a cross-border crisis. The agreement, defined as a Civil Assistance Plan, was not submitted to Congress for approval, nor did Congress pass any law or treaty specifically authorizing this military agreement to combine the operations of the armed forces of the United States and Canada in the event of a wide range of domestic civil disturbances ranging from violent storms, to health epidemics, to civil riots or terrorist attacks. In Canada, the agreement paving the way for the militaries of the U.S. and Canada to cross each other's borders to fight domestic emergencies was not announced either by the Harper government or the Canadian military, prompting sharp protest. "It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration," Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians told the Canwest News Service. "We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites." The military Civil Assistance Plan can be seen as a further incremental step being taken toward creating a North American armed forces available to be deployed in domestic North American emergency situations. The agreement was signed at U.S. Army North headquarters, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, by U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, or USNORTHCOM, and by Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command.

Obama's Messianic Image Growing

Seventy-four year old Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has joined the chorus of those who speak of Obama in messianic terms. Farrakhan did not specifically endorse Obama but in a rambling address in front of over 20,000 people, oddly enough in celebration of “Saviour”s Day,” he called Obama, “the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.” He also compared Obama to Fard Muhammad saying, “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us. A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.” Farrakhan’s comments come just one week after Hollywood icon Halle Berry, speaking of Obama said she would, “Do whatever he says do.” She continued, “I’ll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear.” And it isn’t just the privileged and powerful that are measuring Obama for a celestial throne. If you Google Obama’s name you will find a plethora of websites that range from questioning the possibility of his messiahship to outright pronouncements that he is a saviour. One site (obamamessiah.blogspot.com) even offers pictures of Obama that appear to show light emanating from his very presence. ABC Nightline Correspondent David Wright said of an Obama rally, “Politics doesn’t even begin to describe it. A visit to an Obama rally is a pilgrimage.”

Civilization Built By Giants Discovered

According to Inca legend, Lake Titicaca was revered as the location where the god Viracocha [Quetzalcoatl] created a race of giants and later, the first humans. The Inca maintained that the giants built Tiahuanaco and also many other cities and structures in the area. However, due to their great evil, Viracocha destroyed the giants in a world flood. This legend is still believed by the local Indian inhabitants to this day. The geoglyphs covering this area also exhibit extreme age. In areas where ice age sediment surrounding hills and mountains has been eroded by rain and wind, patterns carved into the bedrock underneath the sediment has been exposed, suggesting their creation sometime before the last glacial melt near the end of the Pleistocene era, c. 13,000 years ago. Early researchers speculated that Inca and pre-Inca farming techniques produced the anomalous patterns on the ground around Lake Titicaca, especially in the horizontal terracing found surrounding the lake itself. However, the altitude of the Bolivian high plain presents several problems with a farming related explanation for the majority of the geoglyphs in the region. At an average of 12,500 feet above sea level, most of the shapes and patterns are located in areas that have not been conducive for growing crops for the last 10,000 years. Their creation would have required an immense workforce laboring for hundreds of years in such thin air that altitude sickness was a real danger... literally, a super human effort. Additionally, recent high-resolution satellite images suggest that most of the features are characteristic of religious and ritualistic forms of pre-Incan art. They may even represent a sophisticated yet unknown form of communication.

Terminator-style war within 10 years

Robot soldiers that can decide who to attack will soon be roaming the world's battlefields if something isn't done about the global 'robot arms race'. That is the stark warning from a leading robotics expert who spoke today of the dangers of allowing increasingly sophisticated robots to make decisions of life and death. Professor Noel Sharkey, a robotics and artificial intelligent expert from the University of Sheffield, also warned that armed robots could soon become terrorists' weapon of choice. "The trouble is that we can't really put the genie back in the bottle,” said Professor Starkey. “Once the new weapons are out there, they will be fairly easy to copy. How long is it going to be before the terrorists get in on the act?" Over 4,000 robots are currently deployed on the ground in Iraq and by October 2006 unmanned aircraft had flown 400,000 flight hours. At the moment, humans can make the decision whether to attack or not but a recent policy shift in the U.S means that 'intelligent' autonomous attack robots will soon be given the power to decide who and when to kill. In his keynote speech at a conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute, a military thinktank, Sharkey warned: "There's a massive drive towards developing autonomous robots for more complex missions. Terminator-style robot wars could be just around the corner according to a leading robotics expert. "We are rapidly moving towards robots that can make the decision to apply lethal force, when to apply it and who to apply it to. "I think maybe we're talking about a 10-year time frame or less. Prof Sharkey, who acted as a judge in the BBC television series Robot Wars, says that deadly homebuilt robots will soon be within reach for many would-be terrorists. "With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn't require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons." "Current robots are dumb machines with very limited sensing capability. What this means is that it is not possible to guarantee discrimination between combatants and innocents or a proportional use of force as required by the current Laws of War. "It seems clear that there is an urgent need for the international community to assess the risks of these new weapons now rather than after they have crept their way into common use." In August last year Professor Sharkey called for a code of ethics for autonomous robots in war to be introduced. Autonomous weapon programmes, including robots and unmannned aircraft, are increasingly appealing to the world's military because they lower the risk to soldiers. However, while robot soldiers are generally believed to be extremely reliable some experts have also raised concerns about whether the software they rely upon could potentially be 'hacked' to turn the robot on its own troops.

Mega-Attack on Israel in March

The Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan quoted "top Western sources" recently saying that, "according to reliable intelligence information, Hizbullah has begun planning a large-scale attack on Israel in retaliation for its [alleged] assassination of senior Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniya." According to the report, translated by MEMRI, the attack is being planned in coordination with Syria and Iran, and is to take place before the Arab summit next month. It was also reported that there would be a simultaneous terrorist escalation by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other PA groups in Gaza.

DNA database: Make us all suspects

We seem to be busily building the world's first popular police state. Opinion polls show high levels of support for identity cards, surveillance cameras, detention without trial - and now a national DNA database covering every individual, including those who have never had any dealings with the police. Given the growing fear of crime, such attitudes are not surprising. Events in the past week have encouraged them further. Both Suffolk serial killer Steve Wright and Mark Dixie, murderer of Sally Anne Bowman, were caught largely through DNA samples. Police officers and victims' relatives want the change. The case seems open and shut. Britain already has the world's largest DNA database. Anyone arrested in England and Wales is compelled to submit to a DNA swab and the record is kept whether he is convicted or not. In Scotland this rule is restricted to violent and sex offenders, and then for only three years unless an extension is applied for. But the operation of the scheme south of the Border has led to the beginning of serious doubts. As so often with measures aimed at greater security, people are far less enthusiastic when they are affected personally. Many entirely innocent citizens have been disturbed by the way they or their children have been registered - for life - as potential criminals. There have also been suggestions that police have abused their arrest powers to collect DNA samples.

Biometrics: The Future of Credit Cards

Credit and debit cards have taken the place of cash for most modern transactions. What’s next? According to research from Emme Kozloff, a Sanford Bernstein analyst, the power to buy groceries will soon be at your fingertips. Wal Mart and Costco are looking into biometric payment systems. These work by recognizing the fingerprint of registered users. The customers place their fingertip on a pad, then select which form of payment they would like to use — check, debit, or credit. Proponents of the new system applaud its benefits to customer security and faster checkout speeds. Critics of biometric payment point out that fingerprints are left on everything a person touches. It would be fairly easy to take a piece of tape and “lift” these latent fingerprints for fraudulent use. There is also concern about having one’s fingerprint images stored in a computer, but biometric vendors insist that the prints themselves are not stored. Instead, encrypted measurements of the prints are kept. These do not permit recreation of a full print.

Automated Robots 'Threat To Humanity'

Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP. "They pose a threat to humanity," said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain's Royal United Services Institute. Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world -- from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones -- can already identify and lock onto targets without human help. There are more than 4,000 US military robots on the ground in Iraq, as well as unmanned aircraft that have clocked hundreds of thousands of flight hours. The first three armed combat robots fitted with large-caliber machine guns deployed to Iraq last summer, manufactured by US arms maker Foster-Miller, proved so successful that 80 more are on order, said Sharkey. But up to now, a human hand has always been required to push the button or pull the trigger.

Florida: Track welfare workers with GPS

Florida's much-maligned child-welfare workers will soon begin carrying hand-held devices, like the ones delivery companies use to track packages, that show whether they really are checking in on the children under their supervision. The touch-screen units, about the size of a book and featuring Global Positioning System technology, will record the amount of time caseworkers spend with each family, take photos of children in state care and allow the workers to update case information on the spot, Gov. Charlie Crist and Children & Families Secretary Bob Butterworth said recently at a news conference in front of a UPS truck. The first-of-its-kind move follows a series of headline-grabbing cases in which workers lied about such visits and it turned out the children were missing or dead. In 2002, the department discovered that Rilya Wilson, a 4-year-old Miami foster child, had been missing for more than year, but her caseworker had lied about visiting the home. The girl was never found and her caregiver has been charged with murder. The caseworker was fired and pleaded guilty to official misconduct, getting probation. Last year, a 2-year-old foster girl was missing from a home for four months before police began searching for her. She was found in Wisconsin, where she had apparently been taken by her mother in violation of a court order rescinding her custody. The mother and others have been charged with murdering another woman whose body was buried in the yard.

IBM Looking To DNA To Build Future Chips

Looking for a way to continually shrink computer chips while still squeezing more transistors onto them, IBM scientists are working on a whole new way to build processors -- using DNA. For the past year and a half, researchers at IBM have been working on creating a new way to make the patterns used to lay out the transistors and wires that go on a chip. Today, semiconductor manufacturers use optical lithography, which uses light to transfer the pattern. The problem, according to Joe Gordon, senior manager for materials for advanced technology at IBM, is that it's difficult to shrink the pattern using today's techniques. And since Gordon said 50% of the improvement in processor performance comes from shrinking the pattern, scientists need to come up with a new way to create the patterns. That's where the DNA strands come into play. "Right now, the industry road map is [that] we'll get down to 22 nanometer-size features on a chip," said Gordon. "We're looking at ways to go down beyond that. It's very clear it will be difficult to go smaller than that using the optical lithography we know today. Using DNA will help us do that." Greg Wallraff, a staff scientist at IBM, explained that the researchers are laying single molecules of DNA onto the chip's surface and using them as a template for assembling electronic components, like nanotubes and nanowires. The DNA used by the researchers comes from a virus, he added. Wallraff said the IBM research team is working with California Institute of Technology scientist Paul Rothemund, who has developed a way to assemble single molecules of DNA into complex structures. Building on that research, the IBM scientists are trying to wrangle the DNA into usable templates. "People say DNA is the blueprint for life," said Wallraff. "The specific structure of DNA has unique features. It's basically programmable. You can design DNA into unique shapes, with specific attachment sites. Then we pour this DNA solution onto a silicon substrate, and the DNA assembles itself exactly where we want it to on the chip, and then we assemble the components on top of that." The attachment sites on DNA, which is where the nanowires and transistors would attach on the template, can be made much closer together than with traditional pattern manufacturing techniques. With DNA, the attachment sites are 4nm to 6nm apart. Normally, they're about 45nm apart. "Think of it as tiling a floor. These DNA pieces are like tiles," explained Gordon. "Each tile has some array of electronic components. Those tiles are placed on a chip in a larger array so there are thousands or millions on a chip. The second step, which we don't know how to do yet, would be to wire them all together. We've got sizes well below conventional lithography." Once the nanotubes and wires are laid onto the template, the DNA would be extracted. Wallraff said millions of the DNA templates would be needed for a single chip.

Nephilim City Discovered in Egypt

Egypt's Neolithic city would have possessed a ruling elite, a dynasty of individuals, who were most probably among the country's earliest rulers, or kings. If they were of post-Natufian stock, then it is possible that this elite were descendents of those who constructed the Pre-pottery Neolithic cult complexes of Gobekli Tepe and Nevali Cori in southeast Turkey, which was the site of the biblical Garden of Eden. The Watchers, and their ledendary offspring the Nephilim, are said to have lived in 'Eden', and there is overwhelming evidence that they were in fact a shamanic or ruling elite attached to southeast Turkey's earliest cult centres, where the Neolithic revolution began at the end of the Last Ice Age. The descendents of these earliest Neolithic peoples of the Near East were also responsible for Catal Huyuk, the ancient world's oldest city near Konya, in southern-central Turkey. It dates to c. 7000-5500 BC, and here we find depictions of its priestly or ruling elite as shamans in coats made from the feathers of the vulture, a bird associated with the transmigration of the soul into the afterlife. It is possible that similar influences might have permeated through the Natufian peoples into Egypt, c. 5500 BC, meaning that, yes, the descendents of the Watchers and Nephilim might well have constituted the ruling elite of Karanis's Neolithic city. Once again, it is important to recall the origins of the Helwan point, which might have first been used by those who built the Pre-pottery Neolithic site of Nevali Cori, c. 8400-8000 BC, but ended up in the tool kit of the Neolithic peoples of Egypt some 3000-4000 years later. This suports the idea of a line of transmission from southeast Turkey, via the Levant, to Egypt during an age when the Karanis Neolithic city thrived.

ICs poised to get under your skin

In the near future, patients equipped with wireless wearable sensors will receive regular checkup re- ports from their doctors without having to visit a hospital, Hyung Kyu Lim, chief executive of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, said in an ISSCC keynote. "Health care devices and service robots are prime examples of emerging consumer products for such new services," said Lim. "However, the system complexity and implementation of these future services will be costly due to the high level of machine intelligence required." For example, startup Toumaz Technology (Abingdon, England) described at ISSCC a custom chip designed to power a wireless monitor that could be worn on a disposable patch. The chip is one of an emerging group of smart wearable devices that help patients and consumers get medical monitoring from the comfort of home. "We not only have an aging society, but one that does not have a healthy lifestyle," said Alison Burdett, director of technology for Toumaz. "There are increasing numbers of people with chronic ailments, and that's putting an enormous burden on health care systems worldwide." A large U.S. health care company is said to be working with Toumaz, aiming to field the silicon-backed patches in a hospital setting before the end of 2009. Companies including GE and Philips are reported to have similar projects in the lab. To keep power down and reliability up, Toumaz developed custom hardware and protocols for the 800- to 900-MHz wireless network the devices use at data rates up to 50 kbits/second. The chip draws 2.5 milliamps when communicating, but its digital control portion dissipates just 100 microwatts. "A custom media-access controller is crucial, because in short-range communications there is always interference, and we have many layers of mitigation," Burdett said. Despite the custom design, the active patch is expected to cost as little as $5 when it hits the market next year. The chip, which measures 16 mm2, will account for a small fraction of that cost. It will be made in a 130-nanometer process by Infineon Technologies.

VeriChip: VeriTrace System being shown

VeriChip Corporation, a provider of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, will be exhibiting at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) 60th Anniversary Scientific Meeting in Washington, D.C. from February 20-22. The conference, which will take place at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, is the premier event for forensic science professionals and the industry’s source for cutting-edge information. The Company will demonstrate its VeriTrace™ System to coroners, medical examiners and other forensics experts during the conference, which has generated a majority of VeriTrace sales historically. VeriTrace is designed to assist state and federal agencies in the management of emergency situations and disaster recovery using implantable RFID technology. The VeriTrace System includes an implantable RFID microchip, a VeriTrace Bluetooth™ handheld reader, a customized Ricoh 500SE Digital Camera capable of receiving both RFID scanned data and GPS data wirelessly, and a Web-enabled database for gathering and storing information and images captured during emergency response operations. This database ensures the precise collection, storage and inventory of all data and images related to remains and the associated evidentiary items. The Web-enabled database also allows the recreation of an accurate and complete reconstruction of a disaster setting, crime scene or similar setting where recreation is necessary.

Homeland Securities LED Incapacitator

One company has received an $800,000 contract from the Department of Homeland Security to develop a new "non-lethal" method of human incapacitation for use by law enforcement. By 2010, Intelligent Optical Systems hopes to be selling a sort of high-powered flashlight, the "LED Incapacitator," which would act by not only effectively blinding its target, but overloading his or her brain, with rapidly flashing lights at varying colors and frequencies. In addition to disorientation, headache and nausea are also likely.

Beastly Beta Systems Biometrics

Biometrics involves capturing information about something unique to an individual - their voice, face, iris, fingerprint or even the pattern of their veins. That information is stored on a database or token and when an individual wants to access a computer system, enter premises or cross a border, they speak, show their face, eye, finger or wrist. If it matches the information captured about that biometric, in they go.... Admittedly no system is invincible - but biometrics technology is not standing still. The latest systems can tell the difference between a warm, moist, living human fingerprint and a gelatinous copy. Research from the University of Texas comparing human and machine face recognition has shown that when the performance of seven different face-matching algorithms was pitched against the performance of humans matching faces, a handful of the algorithms consistently outperformed the humans.

Way of Seeing Into the Future?

Deep in the basement of a dusty old library in Edinburgh lies a small black box that churns out random numbers. At first glance the box looks profoundly dull, but it is, in fact, the ‘eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future. The machine apparently sensed the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened, and appeared to forewarn of the Asian Tsunami. "It's Earth shattering stuff," says Dr Roger Nelson, Emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the USA. "But unfortunately we don't have a box for predicting the future that we can sell to the CIA. We're very early on in the process of trying to figure out what's going on here. At the moment we're stabbing in the dark." Dr Nelson's Global Consciousness Project - originally hosted by Princeton University - is one of the most extraordinary experiments of all time. It aims to ‘sense' whether all of humanity shares a single unconscious mind that we all tap into without realising it. Some might refer to it as the mind of God. But the machine has also thrown up another tantalising possibility: that scientists may have unwittingly discovered a way of predicting the future.

Jesus Christ born of gorilla not virgin

A new, "postmodern" edition of the Bible takes Darwin's theory of evolution as gospel and presents Jesus as being born, "not to a virgin, but to a gorilla." According to Ruth Rimm, Bronx school teacher and book artist, her version of the Scriptures titled "Lost Spiritual World", explores the emergence of a new global spirituality that mixes the best of each wisdom tradition with the latest findings in psychology, quantum physics, neuroscience, and linguistics." It is a "Bible for skeptics, seekers, and people of different faiths." The first volume in the series which will eventually present the Torah, Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist sutras, and Sufi mysticism, covers the Gospel of Mark. Rimm, however, includes parables not found in Mark, such as the Parable of the Dolphin, the Parable of the Snow Leopard and the Parable of the Gorilla, which are illustrated in a series of irreverent videos to be made available on YouTube as part of the book's marketing campaign. The Parable of the Gorilla begins with a Renaissance painting of Mary and baby Jesus. The voice over begins: He was born in a manger a long time ago, not to a virgin, but to a gorilla. Yes, if Jesus was alive today, he would understand that his ancestors, just like ours, were beasts. No, he wouldn't run around claiming he was born of a virgin. "There may be a profound message behind the miracle stories, but the big bang and evolution implore us not to read things literally," Rimm said.

Time Magazine: Obama Then Martial Law

How has political weakling Barack Hussein Obama risen from obscurity to topple Hillary's electoral votes? Evidence of a covert campaign to undermine the presidential primaries is rife, so it's curious that the Democractic Party and even some within the G.O.P. have ignored the actual elephant in the room this year. That would be Karl Rove. After rigging two previous presidential elections, this master of deceit would have us believe that he's gone off to sit in a corner and write op-eds. Not so. According to an article in Time Magazine, Republican party activists have been organized by the G.O.P. to throw their weight behind Barack Obama, the democratic rival of frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Early in Obama's campaign, top Republican fundraisers flushed his coffers with cash, something the deep pockets hadn't done for any candidate in their own party. With receipts topping $100 million in 2007, the first-term Illinois senator broke the record for contributions. It was a remarkable feat, considering that most Americans had not even heard of him before 2005. The Time magazine article goes on to explain that rank and file Republicans in red states have switched their party registrations, enabling them to vote in Democratic primaries. Some states, like Virginia and Texas, have open primaries, allowing citizens to vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation. In Nebraska, the mayor of Omaha publicly rallied Republicans to caucus for Obama on February 9th. Called crossover voting, the tactic is playing a crucial role in the Rove push to deprive Clinton of the Democratic nomination. Even with the help of his more familiar hodge-podge of dirty tricks - swiftboating, waitlisting, bogus polling data, paperless electronic voting equipment, Norman Hsu, etc. - Rove would be hard pressed to defeat Clinton in November, since she's popular nationwide and has promised an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. If the contest isn't close, the vote-rigging won't matter.

Arizona firefighters trained for UFOs

For centuries people have looked to the skies for answers. Is there life outside our solar system? Have UFO's visited our planet? Because our sun is a star, does that mean the thousands of stars visible in the night sky could be someone else's sun? The questions, and the universe, are endless. Events like the March 1997 mass-sighting of strange night lights above the Valley, popularly dubbed "Phoenix Lights", have generated questions and turned skeptics into believers. A 600-page guide may lend credibility to UFO believers. The Fire Officer's Guide To Disaster Control can apparently be found in firehouses across the United States. It covers everything from fire and flood response to aviation disasters. Chapter 13 of the book has an unusual twist. Titled "Enemy Attack And UFO Potential", it outlines what could happen in the event of a UFO crash. The authors of the book, retired firefighters William M. Kramer and Charles W. Bahme write in part: It would be remiss to not give some part to the role fire departments might play in the even of the unexpected arrival of UFO's in their communities...In a less optimistic scenario, you may have engine trouble upon approaching the scene, and radio contact could be lost with your dispatcher. If at night, your headlights could go out, the city could be blacked out, and your portable generators may malfunction when you attempt to use them for fans and portable lights. ABC15 contacted several Valley fire agencies regarding the book and some even called us asking several questions prior to the story airing. Not one fire department we found admitted to using the guide for training, although some did recognize the guide's existence. "It just shows you that serious professional people are starting to take his whole subject of UFO's seriously," said Jim Mann, director of the Maricopa County chapter of The Mutual UFO Network. For nearly ten years, Mann has investigated UFO sightings and encounters for MUFON in what he calls a fact finding mission.
"I don't think we're crack-pots, we're just people who want to be aware of what's going on, even if the reports turn out to be false," Mann said. The authors of the guide could not be reached by ABC15 for comment regarding this story, but in a previous reports by other outlets, they said many people are missing the point regarding the chapter and a UFO does not just mean an alien spaceship. Regardless, believers like Jim Mann view the guide as an opportunity for non-believers to at least take a closer look.
"UFO-ology could possibly be taken seriously now, we don't know where we came from and we don't know where we're going," he said. Mann claims he has investigated dozens of UFO sightings in the Phoenix area, including those reported by members of the military and doctors. "These are well respected people," Mann said. "We (MUFON) aren't trying to push our beliefs on anyone. Anything could happen and this is a matter that should be taken seriously."

Miami police to test Micro-UAVs

Police in Miami, Florida want to find out whether a small unmanned air vehicle able to hover and stare can help law enforcement in urban areas. To that end, Miami-Dade Police Department plans a four- to six-month evaluation of Honeywell's ducted-fan Micro Air Vehicle (MAV). The gasoline-powered gMAV has just received an experimental airworthiness certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration, clearing the way for the ground-breaking experiment. Approval was granted following a demonstration flight for the FAA at a remote site in Laguna, New Mexico. The wingless gMAV can take off and land vertically, transition to high-speed flight and hover and stare using electro-optical/infrared sensors. Miami-Dade is buying one gMAV and leasing a second for the FAA-sanctioned technology demonstration, says Vaughn Fulton, Honeywell's small UAS programme manager. The police department will operate the UAVs, and helicopter pilots from its aviation unit have been trained to fly the gMAV. "The demonstration will be in urban terrain, involving real tactical operations," he says. The 8.2kg (18lb) gMAV is Honeywell's second version of the man-portable UAV. Compared with the original tMAV developed for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the gMAV has a larger outside diameter housing twice the fuel and providing an endurance exceeding 55min at sea level. Military gMAVs have been used in Iraq to detect improvised explosive devices. The basic UAV has fixed sensors and Honeywell is developing a follow-on version with gimballed payload. The company is also working on diesel-powered dMAV, which it expects to fly in 2008. Another version is in development for the US Army's Future Combat Systems programme. Honeywell has begun low-rate initial production of MAVs on a new line in Albuquerque, New Mexico, sized to manufacture up to 100 vehicles a month. "We expect several large contracts in 2008," says Fulton.

Military Civil Disturbance Planning

Under the heading of "civil disturbance planning," the U.S. military is training troops and police to suppress democratic opposition in America. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, is code-named, "Operation Garden Plot." Originated in 1968, the "operational plan" has been updated over the last three decades, most recently in 1991, was activated during the Los Angeles "riots" of 1992, and more than likely during the recent anti-WTO "battle in Seattle." Current U.S. military preparations for suppressing domestic civil disturbance, including the training of National Guard troops and local police, are actually part of a long history of American "internal security" measures dating back to the first American Revolution. Generally, these measures have sought to thwart the aims of social justice movements, embodying the concept that within the civilian body politic lurks an enemy that one day the military might be ordered to fight. Equipped with flexible "military operations in urban terrain" and "operations other than war" doctrine, lethal and "less-than-lethal" high-tech weaponry, U.S. "armed forces" and "elite" militarized police units are being trained to eradicate "disorder," "disturbance" and "civil disobedience" in America. Further, it may very well be that police/military "civil disturbance" planning is the animating force and the overarching logic behind the incredible nationwide growth of police paramilitary units, a growth which coincidentally mirrors rising levels of police violence directed at the American people, particularly "nonwhite" poor and working people.

Pagans: Exorcisms Worse Than Occult

Pagans have hit out at the Catholic Church after a church spokesman blamed an increase in exorcisms on people dabbling in paganism. One priest, who asked not to be named, said he was carrying out at least one exorcism a fortnight. "There has been a recruitment of pagan practices, and it's sheer poison." His claim has provoked an angry reponse from the Pagan Awareness Network (PAN), an association representing wiccans, pagans, and other followers of nature-based faiths. "A pagan ritual is no more dangerous than going to a church, a temple, or a mosque," says PAN president David Garland. "The Catholic Church is once again trying to create a moral panic about devil-worship and the occult. This kind of fear-mongering belongs in the Middle Ages, not in the 21st century. Exorcisms endanger lives and physical safety. Anyone worried that they might be possessed by spirits should seek referral to a psychiatrist or other mental health expert, not a witch-doctor in a priest’s collar. The Catholic Church should ban this barbaric practice.”

Urgent Need For Nuclear Detectives

A terrorist nuclear explosion devastates Manhattan, but no group takes credit. The pressure on the U.S. president to retaliate is intense. Acting on sketchy information, the president orders an attack, but it turns out to be the wrong terrorists, in the wrong country. Things go downhill from there. To avoid that and other nightmare scenarios, a group of 12 scientists with extensive nuclear expertise, headed by Stanford physicist Michael May, is urging an international push to improve the science of nuclear forensics. May is a research professor emeritus and former co-director the Center for International Security and Cooperation. He also is the former director of the U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratory in Livermore, Calif. Other members have experience in nuclear intelligence and defense research. One member, Jay Davis, was a United Nations inspector in Iraq.

Terminator like AI: reality soon

A leading scientific “futurologist” has predicted that computer power will match the intelligence of human beings by 2030 because of the accelerating speed at which technology is advancing worldwide, ‘The Independent’ reported today. According to computer guru Dr Ray Kurzweil, there will be 32 times more technical progress during the next half century than there was in the entire 20th century, and one of the outcomes is that artificial intelligence could be on a par with human intellect in the next 20 years. He said that machines will rapidly overtake humans in their intellectual abilities and will soon be able to solve some of the most intractable problems of the 21st century. Computers have so far been based on two-dimensional chips made from silicon, but there are developments already well advanced to make three-dimensional chips with vastly improved performances, and even to construct them out of biological molecules. Three-dimensional, molecular computing will provide the hardware for human-level ‘strong artificial intelligence’ by the 2020s. The more important software insights will be gained in part from the reverse engineering of the human brain, a process well under way. “Already, two dozen regions of the human brain have been modelled and simulated,” the British newspaper quoted Dr Kurzweil as saying.

Researchers Look Into Mind Over Matter

Over the last year, several high-tech firms, including EmSense, NeuroFocus, and OTX Research and Innerscope, have introduced portable, less intrusive and more affordable measurement devices to track and measure both brain waves and biologic data. Not surprisingly, a growing number of marketers and agencies are taking note, experimenting with the new devices in hopes that the resulting metrics will provide insights on ads appearing on any and all platforms.... EmSense, a privately held San Francisco company that recently hired ad industry veteran Tim Arnold as evp, business development, counts Yahoo co-founder Tim Koogle and Patrick Meyer, CEO of brand marketing consultancy Now Inc., among its board members and investors. "This is the kind of innovation we scout for," said Meyer, a former senior manager at Coca-Cola and Gillette, who helped bring Virgin Mobile USA, Nintendo, Coke and Miller Brewing on board as clients.The EmSense device reads brain waves and monitors the breathing, heart rate, blinking and skin temperatures of consumers who preview ads to measure their emotional and cognitive responses. According to Katie Bayne, CMO of Coca-Cola North America, the device not only helped whittle down the list of spots, but also aided in editing the two ads chosen to air -- "It's Mine," in which parade balloons vie for a bottle of Coke, and the "Jinx" ad with James Carville and former Senator Bill Frist. For example, she says, the music in "It's Mine" was adjusted in the days leading up to the game to build to more of a crescendo than in the original version of the spot. "It provides you with more natural and unedited responses than you get when you force people through the cognitive loop of having to annunciate how they feel," Bayne said. "It's a great new tool." According to Bayne and others, such techniques help marketers more accurately decipher consumers' feelings because they measure physical and emotional responses as they occur.

Nonlethal Weapons Mimic Schizophrenia

Of all the crazy, bizarre less-lethal weapons that have been proposed, the use of microwaves to target the human mind remains the most disturbing. The question has always been: is this anything more than urban myth? We may not have the final answer to this question, but a newly declassified Pentagon report, Bioeffects of Selected Non-Lethal Weapons , obtained by a private citizen under the Freedom of Information Act, provides some fascinating tidbits on a variety of exotic weapons ideas. Among those discussed are weapons that could disrupt the brain, as well as my longtime obsession, the "Voice of God" device, which creates voices in people's heads. As the report notes, "Application of the microwave hearing technology could facilitate a private message transmission. It may be useful to provide a disruptive condition to a person not aware of the technology. Not only might it be disruptive to the sense of hearing, it could be psychologically devastating if one suddenly heard 'voices within one's head.'"

States fall into line on REAL ID

All but six states have complied with federal requirements to seek an extension of the deadline they face for implementing more secure driver licenses for U.S. citizens or legal residents only under the REAL ID Act. The list of state governments falling into line in the past couple of weeks includes former hold-outs like New Jersey and Washington, according to documents posted on the Web recently by the Department of Homeland Security. New Jersey filed for an extension after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff personally called Gov. Jon Corzine, according to one account. Of the six states that have so far not filed, only Delaware was expected to ask for an extension by the May deadline, according to Brian Zimmer, president of the non-profit lobby group Coalition for a Secure Driver's License. Zimmer said the governors of Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and South Carolina "appear to have turned their face against implementing the law" -- setting their citizens up for additional document requirements at airports and federal buildings. REAL ID sets tough document security and information-sharing standards for state licensing authorities and bans the issuance of licenses except to those who can prove they are U.S. citizens or are in the country legally.

E.coli bug 'will rival MRSA threat'

The E.coli bug is becoming resistant to drugs and could be as big a problem as the superbug MRSA, scientists have warned. E.coli bacteria can cause food poisoning. It can also be responsible for some urinary tract infections and stomach bugs. Scientists have discovered that the bug is changing and increasingly becoming resistant to antibiotics. Experts say concern is growing because previously healthy patients who have not been in hospital have been found to be infected with a drug-resistant form of the bug. The Department of Health has launched a campaign to warn against the overuse of antibiotics for coughs and colds in a bid to slow down the development of resistant strains of common diseases. The hospital superbug MRSA is a drug-resistant form of the common infection staphyolococcus aureus, and is responsible for hundreds of deaths each year. The authors of the new study, in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, called for extra funding. Johann Pitout, from the University of Calgary in Canada, said: "These bacteria have become widely prevalent in the community setting in certain areas of the world and they are most likely being imported into the hospital setting."

Widespread Demonic Possessions

The Catholic Church has revealed how growing interest in satanism and the occult has led to a rise in exorcisms across Queensland. One priest, who asked not to be named for fear of "reprisals", said he was carrying out at least one exorcism a fortnight. More requests for exorcisms came from the Gold Coast than anywhere else. An exorcism involves holy water, sacrament and Bible reading and can go on for many hours, the priest said. Linda Blair made the subject famous in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. "Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one's mental and emotional life," he said. "Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued by disturbances. They hear voices and see hideous creatures in their sleep. "There has been a recruitment of pagan practices, and it's sheer poison. "The Gold Coast is not good at all. I do far more exorcisms there than Brisbane." The Catholic Church has vowed to "fight the devil head-on" by training hundreds of priests as exorcists. Bishop Brian Finnigan, acting head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, said it was important for the church to carry out exorcisms. "People need to be freed of that burden," he said. Father Gabriele Amorth, 82, the Pope's Exorcist-in-Chief, announced the initiative recently amid church concerns about an increase in people dabbling in the occult. Under plans being considered, each bishop would have a group of priests in his diocese who were specially trained in exorcism. Father Amorth said: "Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the devil. You have to hunt high and low for a proper, trained exorcist." Queensland Catholic priests can carry out exorcisms only if they have been authorised by an archbishop. The priest source, who is based in Brisbane, is the only one permitted to do exorcisms in the state. He said he had travelled to Rockhampton, Cairns, Townsville and Toowoomba to save people. "We are not very plentiful and certainly need more of us to cope with the big occult following that is emerging today," he said. "It's frightening what can happen when you invite entities into your life which are not meant to be part of God's world." He said one woman he had met had been plagued by demonic manifestations since taking part in a playground witch game as a child.

U.S. Prepares for Arms Race in Space

The Rumsfeld report followed a series of U.S. military reports laying out plans for space weapons. Vision for 2020, produced for the U.S. Space Command website, pictures space-based laser weapons zapping targets on Earth. Its text begins with a crawl that reads "U.S. Space Command - dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investment. Integrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities across the full spectrum of conflict." At about the same time that Vision for 2020 appeared in 1996, General Joseph Ashy, then commander in chief of the Space Command, told aerospace publication Aviation Week & Space Technology, "Some people don't want to hear this and it sure isn't in vogue, but -- absolutely -- we're going to fight in space. We're going to fight from space, and we're going to fight into space." He added, "That's why the U.S. has development programs in directed energy and hit-to-kill mechanisms." It was China's test of the latter that was so sharply condemned by the U.S. media.

Iran Says Israel Soon To Be Destroyed

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said recently Israel would soon be destroyed by the "hands of Hezbollah", the Lebanese guerilla group backed by the Islamic Republic, Fars News Agency reported. Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari made the comment in a letter to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, to offer condolences after the killing of senior guerrilla commander Imad Mughniyah in a car bomb last week in Damascus. "In the near future, we will witness the destruction of the cancerous germ of Israel by the powerful and competent hands of the Hezbollah combatants," Jafari was quoted as saying.

Physicist Can't Rule Out Time Travel

It's Hollywood fiction now, but one local scientist says if we can just figure out how to avoid the massive explosions predicted from traveling through a wormhole, maybe the theoretical premise of the movie "Jumper" could be brought one step closer to reality. The new film, featuring the ubiquitous Samuel L. Jackson and Hayden Christensen (of "Star Wars" fame), is about a troubled young man who develops the ability to instantly "jump" from place to place by teleportation -- a leap across space and time. "You can't rule it out," said John Cramer, a University of Washington physicist invited to speak to a Seattle audience before a preview showing of the sci-fi flick one recent evening. Cramer is both a science fiction writer and a physicist working on an experiment perhaps no less bizarre in concept than the notion of people teleporting through wormholes. "These were once known as Einstein-Rosen bridges," the UW scientist said to a full house of moviegoers at the Oak Tree Cinemas in North Seattle. Later renamed "wormholes," Cramer explained, they are basically tunnels in space-time that instantaneously connect two otherwise disparate points in the universe.

Tagged Humans Tracked By US University

Students, engineers and staff at the University of Washington (UW) will find out first hand what it means to be tracked by RFID in what UW researchers call "the next step in social networking". "Studies like this inevitably make [RFID people tracking] more likely to be taken up," said former Linux Australia president and technical director of Internet Vision Technologies Jonathan Oxer, who RFID-tagged himself voluntarily to investigate technical and privacy issues. At first mention, people tagging seems unusual and shocking, said Oxer, but after hearing about it more and more, it loses that edge. Recent research showed that over ten percent of new RFID projects involved people tagging. "It's a dangerous path to go down," admitted Oxer, who believes that at some point there will be a special case for tagging, such as child molesters, and it will move on from there. When the technology becomes good enough, he said, clandestine tracking efforts will become better. "If the tech is there then people will use it," he said.

DARPA Building Brain on a Chip

DARPA's brain-on-a-chip project (cleverly titled SyNAPSE, or Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) sounds straight out of Cyberdyne's portfolio: They want to "develop a brain inspired electronic 'chip' that mimics that function, size, and power consumption of a biological cortex." That whole neuromorphic adaptive business sounds a whole lot like the T-800's neural net processorin the TERMINATOR movie, don't it? Here's the scary manifesto that puts us on the path to Judgment Day. As compared to biological systems, today's intelligent machines are less efficient by a factor of one million to one billion in real world, complex environments. The key to achieving the vision of the SyNAPSE program will be an unprecedented multidisciplinary approach that coordinates aggressive technology development in the following technical areas: 1) Hardware; 2) Architecture; 3) Simulation; and 4) Environment. Hardware includes neuromorphic electronics with novel, high density, plastic, synaptic components; Architecture includes neuromorphic design from microcircuits to complete system; Simulation includes large-scale digital simulation of neuromorphic circuits and functional neuromorphic systems; and Environment includes virtual training, testing and benchmarking for neuromorphic systems.

Chipping Humans: Communication, Control

Imagine that as you reach your office, audio system at the entrance recognise you and issues a warm welcome and the doors open automatically. Lights blink on and the computer says ‘hello’ as soon as you enter your cabin. This is everyday life for Professor Kevin Warwick, who hosts a microchip in his body and is, technically, the first human Cyborg. The Director of Cybernetics department at University of Reading (UK), Warwick was here on Feb 15, at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) to deliver a special lecture on the occasion of Annual Science and Technology Festival, Techkriti ‘08. Talking about his journey from a human to Captain Cyborg, Warwick said under the Project Cyborg, he underwent a surgery by Doctor George Boulos in August 1998 to get a RFID transmitter implanted under his arm. “The chip was used to control doors, lights, heaters and other computer controlled devices based on his proximity,” he said. The chief purpose of experiment was to test the limits of what the body can accept and how easily it receives meaningful signals from the chip. Regarding the second stage of research, he said he got implanted with a more complex chip, which interfaced directly with his nervous system, in March 2002. The experiment was successful, as the signals produced by the chip were detailed enough for a robot arm developed by his colleague Peter Kyberd to mimic the action of his arm. Warwick even went on to implant a simpler chip into the body of his wife. He wanted to try telepathy, using Internet to communicate the signal from afar. The experiment was successful and resulted in the first purely electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two human beings. Though his family found it “crazy” initially, he was determined to use the technology for helping the disabled, he said. The technology, he said, can help those suffering from blindness, physical deformities, diabetes, epilepsy and others. It could even completely change communication between people. Talking about the use of microchips in human body, he said developed nations were already using the technology for recognition of patients in hospitals, officials in high security zone and others. In future, people may not need to carry passport, keys, credit cards and other identity documents. “In many countries, people wish to get their children or partners implanted with chip in order to track them, but the question whether the use of chip in human body ethical, is still debatable,” he added.

Advances Boost Mind Control Tech

Electrodes implanted directly into the brain produce much clearer signals, but are not well tolerated by the body. "The brain tries to get rid of [the electrodes] by covering them with a sheet of tissue," explains Schalk. "The signal degrades over time." Schalk and colleagues at Albany Medical College, Washington University in St Louis, University of Washington, Seattle, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, all US, think a third approach will face fewer hurdles. They cover part of the brain's surface with a polymer sheet containing a grid of electrodes 2 millimetres in diameter and spaced 10 mm apart, a method called electrocorticography (ECOG). Such electrode grids are often placed in people with severe epilepsy to identify the focus of seizures within the brain. "These grids are thin like a sheet of paper," says Schalk. "The electrodes record signals similar to those recorded by electrodes on the scalp, but with much greater fidelity."

Machines 'To Match Man By 2029'

Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted. Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people's brains to make them more intelligent, said Ray Kurzweil. The engineer believes machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health. "I've made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029," he said. "We're already a human machine civilisation; we use our technology to expand our physical and mental horizons and this will be a further extension of that." Humans and machines would eventually merge, by means of devices embedded in people's bodies to keep them healthy and improve their intelligence, predicted Mr Kurzweil. "We'll have intelligent nanobots go into our brains through the capillaries and interact directly with our biological neurons," he told BBC News. The nanobots, he said, would "make us smarter, remember things better and automatically go into full emergent virtual reality environments through the nervous system".

A "Holy Grail" Of Healing

You might become a believer in the power of magic dust, when you see how a special powder re-grew the tip of Lee Spievack's finger. He sliced off a half inch of his finger in the propeller of a hobby shop airplane. His finger never even formed a scar. "Your finger grew back flesh, blood, vessels and nail?" CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. "InFour weeks," Spievak said. This powder is a medical product called extracellular matrix. Made from pig bladders, it is a mix of protein and connective tissue surgeons often use to repair tendons. But it's the matrix's unusual power to regenerate tissue that's helping launch a new field: regenerative medicine. "It tells the body, start that process of tissue re-growth," said Dr. Stephen Badylak of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Regenerative Medicine. Badylak believes the matrix somehow mobilizes cells, some of them adult stem cells whose job it is to maintain and repair injured tissue. "It will change the body from thinking that its responding to inflammation and injury to thinking that it needs to re-grow normal tissue," Badylak said. If this helped Mr Spievak's finger re-grow, could you grow a whole limb? "In theory," Badylak said. That theory, that it might be possible to re-grow a limb, is about to be tested by the United States Military. The Army, working in conjuction with the University of Pittsburgh, is about to use that matrix on the amputated fingers of soldiers home from the war. Dr. Steven Wolf, at the Army Institute of Surgical Research, says the military has invested millions of dollars in Regenerative research, hoping to re-grow limbs, lost muscle, even burned skin. "And it's hard to ignore this guys missing half his skin, this guy's missing his leg," Wolf said. "Is there any way we can make that grow back? Some of that technology exists and now its time to field it." Several different technologies for harnessing regeneration are now in clinical trials around the world. One machine, being tested in Germany, sprays a burn patient's own cells onto a burn, signaling the skin to re-grow. Badylak is about to implant matrix material - shaped like an esophagus - into patients with throat cancer. "We fully expect that this material will cause the body to re-form normal esophageal tissue," Badylak said. Some of the most advanced tests involve the heart. This patch of material is being put on - like a band aid - to regenerate heart muscle damaged by a heart attack. And patient Mary Beth Babo is getting her own adult stem cells injected into her heart, in hopes of growing new arteries. Her surgeon is Dr. Joon Lee. "It's what we consider the Holy Grail of our field for coronary heart disease," Lee said. The Holy Grail, because if stem cells can re-grow arteries, there's less need for surgery.

Social Security Smart Card Coming

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is proposing a new Social Security card that would be based on the same technology the U.S. Department of Defense uses for the Common Access Card. The new Social Security card would have a photo, magnetic stripe, bar code and microprocessor chip that would contain users biometric. Exactly how individuals would obtain the card and which biometric would be stored on it were not specified. Kirk is proposing the legislation and high-tech ID to help prevent identity theft. The card would also enable employers to validate the Social Security number. The legislation would require anyone older than 15 to obtain a new card. It’s estimated that the new card would cost almost $8 each, compared to the 50 cents they now cost.

Korean Firm Begins Cloning Dead Pets

The world's first pet cloning service is to offer animal lovers the chance to recreate their dead companions, it was announced Feb 17. South Korean company RNL Bio will work alongside scientists who created the first cloned canine. A company spokeswoman said it was already working on its first order from an American who wanted a clone of her dead pit bull. The client, Bernann McKunney, of California, was very attached to the pet because it had saved her life during an attack by another dog. Kim Yoon said that ear tissue from the dog had been preserved at a US biotech laboratory before its death. DNA from the sample could now be used in an attempt to create a clone, she said, although the chances of success were about 25%. RNL Bio is charging customers $150,000 (£75,000) for the clones, which clients pay only after they receive their new pet. The cloning is to be carried out by Seoul National University scientists led by Dr Lee Byeong-chun, a veterinary professor. Prof Lee had worked with the disgraced stem cell scientist Dr Hwang Woo-suk, whose purported breakthroughs in the creation of human stem cells through cloning had been faked. The team's success in cloning the world's first dog, Snuppy, in 2005, has been confirmed. Lee was suspended from his university for three months over the stem cell scandal. He has been on trial, along with Hwang, on charges of misappropriating research funds. On Feb 17, Lee confirmed the university's animal cloning clinic would work on the project, but he refused to elaborate. RNL Bio plans to focus on cloning not only pets, but also specially trained dogs such as those used to sniff out explosives. Established in 2000, the firm produces animal disinfectants and health supplements, while also conducting stem cell research.

Expansion Of Surveillance Act

The Senate recently approved a sweeping measure that would expand the government's clandestine surveillance powers, delivering a key victory to the White House by approving immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that cooperated with intelligence agencies in domestic spying after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. On a 68 to 29 vote, the Senate approved the reauthorization of a law that would give the government greater powers to eavesdrop in terrorism and intelligence cases without obtaining warrants from a secret court. The Senate's action, days before a temporary surveillance law expires Friday, sets up a clash with House Democrats, who have previously approved legislation that does not contain immunity for the telecommunications industry. The chambers have been locked in a standoff over the immunity provision since the House vote Nov. 15, with President Bush demanding the protection for the industry. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the president "will not sign another extension" of the temporary law, a decision that could force congressional leaders to reconcile their differences this week. "The House is risking national security by delaying action," Fratto said. "It's increasingly clear Congress will not act until it has to, and a second extension will only lead to a third." But House leaders vowed again yesterday to oppose the telecom immunity provision until the White House releases more information about the controversial warrantless surveillance program it initiated shortly after the terrorist attacks. Bush applauded the Senate bill and warned House Democrats to put aside "narrow partisan concerns" on the immunity issue and approve the Senate's version. "This good bill passed by the Senate provides a long-term foundation for our intelligence community to monitor the communications of foreign terrorists in ways that are timely and effective and that also protect the liberties of Americans," Bush said.

Bible Scholar Talked With Alien-Demon

In early January 2006, near Nacogdoches in Texas, David Salomen, 60’s, was riding his dirt bike at night in a secluded forest north of the location and had stopped to rest when suddenly he saw a figure standing about 12 feet away from him. The figure was short, willowy whitish in color, with large dark eyes. The figure said, “May I connect with you?” Terrified the witness prayed in agony. But he could still hear the voice in the area of his frontal lobe, that said, “Say yes.” And he said “yes”. He could plainly hear a voice behind his left ear, in the region of the brain that handles speech and verbal logic. The short figure then began to tell him many things, about the pyramids, and the sphinx, of ancient Nephilim giants, of 50 terrestrial races more devout than monks, of a flying miniature planet that sets up the gravity of planet Earth on the bottom and its atmosphere and flies at 12,000 miles per second without subjecting its occupants to G-force, of chimera experiments gone awry, of Mothman, Bigfoot, Champ, Nessy, etc.... The witness is apparently a biblical scholar and found many parallels in the bible of alien intervention. In fact he was told by Magnuss that they have been monitoring the earth for thousands of years. A lot of the information was indeed compared to religious dogma and according to the alien there is a definite connection. (Blogmasters view - this was an encounter with a demon, disguised as an alien. This is what will be part of the end time 'great deception' that the Bible talks about. Many will believe these aliens are really aliens, that seeded and intervened with humans on the earth, in fact the aliens will probably say they created us, and many will fall for this crap, as these are really demonic spirits, the truth behind the UFO sightings and alien abductions is that it's demonic.)

UN Source: UFO Disclosure 2013

I received the following email from two trusted colleagues (Clay and Shawn Pickering) regarding a reliable source informing them that a secret meeting occurred yesterday morning (Feb 12) at the New York office of the United Nations concerning the recent spate of UFO sightings. It appears that a number of nation states are concerned about the impact of increased UFO sightings and wish to be briefed about what is happening. Their source, who currently works in the diplomatic corps, had to travel for an early morning off the record meeting at the UN. Their source revealed that a secret UFO working group exists that is authorizing the release of such information to the public, in an effort to acclimate others to what is about to unfold. A date of 2013 was given as the time for official disclosure and/or when extraterrestrials show up in an unambiguous way. In the interim there will be acclimation related releases of information. Importantly, the source revealed that the events leading up to official disclosure will involve more ethically oriented extraterrestrials, and they will not pose a military threat to the world. Overall, it appears that a countdown is underway to official disclosure around 2013, and that nation states and the UN are being briefed. The acclimation process will accelerate over the next five years as UFO sightings increase around the globe forcing governments to make public policy statements on UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

Int. Biometrics Payments Standard

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a standard for the implementation and management of biometric identification technology within the financial services industry. The ISO says that the new standard, ISO 19092:2008, Financial services – Biometrics – Security Framework, is designed to increase the security of financial transactions that take place over electronic networks. Biometrics, which includes technologies such as finger images, voice identification, eye scan and facial images, is increasingly considered as a reliable means of authentication, the ISO says. “Its (biometrics) advantage and appeal lies in its convenience and ease of use, its level of apparent security, performance and non-invasiveness,” the standards body says.

Every child in school numbered for life

All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details and exam results placed on an electronic database for life under a plan to be announced tomorrow. Colleges and prospective employers will be able to access students’ records online to check on their qualifications. Under the terms of the scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their adult lives, The Times has learnt. The database will include details of exclusions and expulsions. Officials said last night that the introduction of the unique learner number (ULN)was not a step towards a national identity card. But it will be seen as the latest step in the Government’s broader efforts to computerise personal records. The new database — which will store a “tamper-proof CV” — will be known as MIAP (managing Information Across Partners). To be registered on the new database every 14-year-old will be issued with a unique learner number. Unlike the current unique pupil number now given to children in school but destroyed when they leave, the ULN will be used by government agencies to track individuals until they retire. Ultimately, it will create a numbered database for every citizen aged 14-plus in the UK. The MIAP is part of a push for more government departments to share information on ordinary citizens with each other. The new Education and Skills Bill to raise the education leaving age from 16 to 18, for example, contains sweeping powers for local authorities to access information from schools, health agencies and social services to track young people between the ages of 16 and 18. A spokeswoman for MIAP, which will come under the auspices of the Learning and Skills Council, said that the database had the support of more than 40 “stakeholder organisations” from across the education sector. Original plans for MIAP drawn up by the Government in 2003 suggested that the database could be linked to identity cards, raising the prospect that once pupils were in the system they might be forced into accepting an ID card.

CHINA selling Fetal Soup

Just over ten years ago the world was introduced to a controversy which to this day has not been eased, and yet desperate and quite often unqualified systems to monitor the food situation have advanced at breakneck speed in unregulated, undisputed and profit mongering provisional laboratories. Startup slaughterhouse laboratories are growing to accommodate the global food requirements and are quite often unexamined and unregulated. Products of indeterminate content, unregulated and disorganized production are already within the reach of public and private wholesalers. And just when it appears that nothing could possibly degenerate further into the trans-breeding of species, a subject which without the determined research and resolve of Tom Horn, and the diligence of others, has garnered passionate dissemination of the still unknown implications of inter-species/transdimensional and post humanist warnings whilst evolving at warp speed, the possibility of an even more imminent, grotesque and gruesome nature is not only finding rapid acceptance but cultural prominence as well.... Fetal Soup.... At a price of $30 to $40 per bowl, instructions and condiments supplied, these grotesque attractions come with all of the artistry and composition of the high ground of an etherealness of an indulgent ambrosia... And if this barbarity permits only a moral reaction consider the next elevation: the Jezebel of Jezebels: use of “gourmet” body parts as the newest and most demanded version of the Fountain of Youth. THE NEXT MAGAZINE discloses the health benefits and beauty remedies as “high demand” supplements for the aging (enormous) population. But only those that have the “right connections” and ability to pay receive the prime “highest quality” of aborted fetuses.

Walking in the Land of Fear

The vision that Bush set in motion is what many would call the ‘illuminati ideals’. One where a New World Order, set up within the confines of a new government. This new government would be set on certain principles and governing ideals. These ideals, which, would bring in a one world government, one world court, one world religion, and many laws which would override national independence. Recalling 9-11 , Bush during his Joint Session of Congress speech in Sept of 2001, would later say "Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss." In that speech, Bush also mentioned the mission and the moment we have. In that brief instance, we were given a glimpse, of this mission, stated in words like "Freedom and Fear" are at war. It was in those words, we truly find the Fear factor coming to a level of understanding. It would be the pursuit of a goal, for the stated purpose of this New World Order to bring Freedom, the advancement of human freedom, which, in the confines of the Illuminati would be designated as the ‘great achievement of our time and great hope of every time’.

Stenonychosaurus on the Moon?

It may sound like science fiction, but NASA scientist Chris McKay did suggest that we dig for dinosaur relics on the moon at a SETI conference last week. Robin Hansen reports on what he heard and quotes McKay's 1996 paper, "Time for intelligence on other planets": It is now considered probable that the dinosaurs were not the lumbering clods of urban myth but that they were biochemically and behaviorally as sophisticated as present mammals. Evidence continues to point to parentling and social behavior that is on a par wit small mammals and birds. The small carnivorous dinosaur Stenonychosaurus, which stood about 120cm, weighed about 40 kg, and had [a brain size ratio] about equal to that of a possum or an octopus, and lived over 12 million years before the end of the dinosaurs. ...It is now considered probable that the dinosaurs were not the lumbering clods of urban myth but that they were biochemically and behaviorally as sophisticated as present mammals. Evidence continues to point to parentling and social behavior that is on a par wit small mammals and birds. The small carnivorous dinosaur Stenonychosaurus, which stood about 120cm, weighed about 40 kg, and had [a brain size ratio] about equal to that of a possum or an octopus, and lived over 12 million years before the end of the dinosaurs.

National ID cards pose privacy problems

In 2005, President Bush signed an act containing the REAL ID Act, a piece of legislation that will require all U.S. citizens to carry a new form of identification. These state-issued driver's licenses and regular identification cards for non-drivers will conform to standards set on a national level. What does this mean to us? Implementing national ID cards will cause more harm than good. Ultimately, these cards violate an individual's right of privacy. It's not the basic information of full legal name, date of birth, gender, address, driver's license number and a photograph that has us worried - it's what's inside the card. Specific details are unknown as to exactly what kind of information the card will hold. However, the Department of Homeland Security will have full authority on deciding what will be on the card. This poses a serious problem. One of the reasons for these national ID cards is to help combat illegal activity occurring on American soil. To do this, the cards will likely hold personal information such as medical records, driving accident records, political affiliation, records of gun purchases - the list goes on. The cards would be linked to a national database. Anytime a person must present his or her card, he or she would be unwillingly divulging personal information. The use of national ID cards furthers the idea of "Big Brother is always watching." Who knows how far Homeland Security would go? What if every time you buy anything at all, it becomes mandatory to present and scan your ID? There would be a database listing every time you bought anything from a Dr. Pepper to a porno magazine, and it might be available to just anyone. What if marketers were allowed to jump onboard this potential monstrosity? We're all for stopping crime and thwarting terrorist attacks, but what about the average, law-abiding citizen? It is not fair to subject these people to such a downright invasion of privacy. We realize we're already considered numbers, we've got Social Security to thank for that, but national ID cards take a giant leap over the already stretched-thin line regarding government and privacy. Originally, the cards were to be issued in May of this year, but fortunately have been pushed back to 2011. Hopefully, by then, everyone will realize what a bad idea national ID cards really are.

New Earth-Like Solar System

A planetary system with remarkable similarities to our own has been discovered, potentially increasing the chances of finding extra-terrestrial life. Astronomers have identified two new planets orbiting a star about half the size of our sun some 5,000 light-years away. The system, called OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, resembles a slightly scaled down version of our Solar system because the two gas giant planets are similar sizes relative to their star as Jupiter and Saturn are to our sun. The smaller planet is roughly twice as far from its star as the larger one, just as Saturn is about twice as far from the sun as Jupiter. Planetary scientists who discovered them believe there could be rocky planets, like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, closer to the star. Of around 250 planets so far discovered only 25 are known to be in systems with multiple planets. The discovery of OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, highlighted in the journal Science, has excited astronomers because it suggests there could be large numbers of other planetary systems which take a similar form to our own. Researchers searching for extraterrestrial life generally assume the most likely locations will be rocky planets in the so-called "habitable zone" - the region of a planetary system in which temperatures would allow water to remain in liquid form.

Black Hole Event Horizon Created

Researchers at St. Andrews University, Scotland, claim to have found a way to simulate an event horizon of a black hole - not through a new cosmic observation technique, and not by a high powered supercomputer… but in the laboratory. Using lasers, a length of optical fiber and depending on some bizarre quantum mechanics, a "singularity" may be created to alter a laser's wavelength, synthesizing the effects of an event horizon. If this experiment can produce an event horizon, the theoretical phenomenon of Hawking Radiation may be tested, perhaps giving Stephen Hawking the best chance yet of winning the Nobel Prize.

Biometrics A Cause For Concern?

In the beginning was the fingerprint. It was in the 19th century that scientists realized the ridged whorls on the tip of the finger constituted a unique marker that could be used to tell one person from another. And eventually, the FBI built a massive database of fingerprints. Then came DNA. In the 20th century, scientists learned to use the double helix nucleic acid molecule as a means of identification even more definitive than the fingerprint. And the FBI built a DNA database as well. Now the feds are building yet another database. And it has some folks worried. Maybe you missed it in the run-up to Super Duper Tuesday, but CNN and the Associated Press reported last week that the FBI would soon award a $1 billion, 10-year contract for construction of an electronic file that would store not just fingerprints and DNA, but a vast compendium of other physical characteristics. We're talking eye scans, facial shape, palm prints, scars, tattoos and other biometrics, all for the purpose of identifying and capturing bad guys. But at least one privacy advocate thinks even good guys -- and gals -- have cause for concern.

Propaganda To Manipulate The News

On the morning of 9 February 2004, The New York Times carried an exclusive and alarming story. The paper's Baghdad correspondent, Dexter Filkins, reported that US officials had obtained a 17-page letter, believed to have been written by the notorious terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi to the "inner circle" of al-Qa'ida's leadership, urging them to accept that the best way to beat US forces in Iraq was effectively to start a civil war. The letter argued that al-Qa'ida, which is a Sunni network, should attack the Shia population of Iraq: "It is the only way to prolong the duration of the fight between the infidels and us. If we succeed in dragging them into a sectarian war, this will awaken the sleepy Sunnis." Later that day, at a regular US press briefing in Baghdad, US General Mark Kimmitt dealt with a string of questions about The New York Times report: "We believe the report and the document is credible, and we take the report seriously... It is clearly a plan on the part of outsiders to come in to this country and spark civil war, create sectarian violence, try to expose fissures in this society." The story went on to news agency wires and, within 24 hours, it was running around the world.

Demons in Alien's Clothing?

A monograph entitled, Reality of the Serpent Race, by Branton, reveals, "In Genesis 3 we read about the 'Nachash'; Hebrew word for 'Serpent'. The original Nachash was not actually a snake as most people believe, but an extremely intelligent, cunning creature, possessed with the ability to speak and reason." Another significant parallel from the Holy Bible is shown in Jeremiah 8:17, "Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices among you, which will bite you, saith the Lord." The definition of a cockatrice is a reptilian bird-like creature or winged-serpent. This could very well represent the Phoenix, described in Egyptian mythology. A theory proposed by Bible scholar I.D.E. Thomas asserts that the race of the "Nephilim" (meaning Giants and/or fallen ones), mentioned in Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33, closely resemble the alien race of the blond Pleiadian Nordics, reported to be eight to nine feet tall. The Nazis attempted to revive this mystical Aryan race in the 1930's and 1940's. Mr. Thomas believes that a hybrid offspring culminated from relations between the Nephilim and the "daughters of man" resulting in increased wickedness upon the earth; and thus evoking God's wrath in the form of the "Great Flood".

Russia Threatens to Nuke Ukraine

Russia has threatened to target the Ukraine with nuclear warheads if the former Soviet republic joins NATO and accepts the deployment of United States anti-missile defenses on its territory. President Vladimir Putin of Russia warned Ukraine's leader Viktor Yushchenko of ‘retaliatory actions’ should his country join the Western alliance during a joint press conference in Moscow. ‘It's frightening not just to talk about this, but even to think about, that in response to such deployment, the possibility of such deployments - and one can't theoretically exclude these deployments - that Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory,’ he said. The Russian and Ukrainian leaders had just held emergency talks in the Kremlin to avert a energy supply crisis over Kiev gas bill - a similar dispute two years ago led to power cuts across Europe. Mr. Yushchenko responded to the Russian pressure by insisting on Ukraine's right to decide its own foreign policy while stressing that his country's constitution would not allow US military bases on its territory. ‘You understand well that everything that Ukraine does in this direction is not in any way directed at any third country, including Russia,’ he replied. ‘We follow the principle that any nation has the right to define its own security. Our constitution does not allow deployment by a third country or bloc on Ukrainian territory.’ Mr. Putin has condemned Washington's plans to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a missile defense shield as a ‘new phase in the arms race’. Russia fears the shield will threaten its national security and tip strategic military balance in Europe. ‘The goal [of the missile shield] is to neutralize our nuclear capabilities,’ said Mr. Putin. ‘This would prompt Russia to take retaliatory action.’…”

EU plans biometric border checks

Visitors to the EU could face digital fingerprinting at airports under plans to beef up border security, EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has said. He said travellers from outside the EU could face a biometric test as part of their visa while those not needing a permit would be checked on arrival. There are also plans to improve border surveillance and land and sea patrols. Rights group Privacy International said the move could create a "fortress Europe" for foreigners. And the European Council on Refugees in Exile complained that the tighter the restrictions, the harder it would become for people to seek safety from persecution. The proposals for a radical shake-up of the EU's border security were unveiled by Mr Frattini in Brussels. He said the measures would apply to all 24 members of the Schengen accord, and it was up to countries such as the UK and Ireland whether to join in. The commissioner said the EU had to use "the most advanced technology to reach the highest level of security" to stop visitors overstaying their welcome in Europe and to prevent terrorists from coming in. The plans would also allow for a Registered Traveller Programme to enable EU citizens to pass through customs with only random checks. That could be extended to include non-EU citizens on multiple visas. Mr Frattini said he hoped the reforms - if approved by all the EU member states - would be introduced between 2010-2015. A central aim of the measures is tackling the large number of illegal immigrants who came into the EU legally: "The factor number one is over-stayers in Europe," Mr Frattini said. Under the proposed entry and exit register, an alert would be sent when a visa expired and no exit had been recorded. Biometric technology is already being introduced. From 2009, all EU passports will feature a digital fingerprint and photograph and, from 2011 non-EU citizens who apply for a visa will have to give their biometric details. Currently, anyone crossing a border into the EU's 24 Schengen countries faces a minimum entry and exit check, whether they are an EU citizen or not. Non-EU nationals face a more thorough check, including a search of databases. As well as improved border controls, the commission also wants to toughen up patrols, focusing particularly on illegal migration routes to the Canary Islands and across the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Ultra Sonic Device Targets Young People

The Children's Commissioner for England, who oversees children's rights, has called for a ban on the ultra-sonic gadget, known as "The Mosquito," which disperses young people by emitting sharp, piercing sounds. The device causes discomfort to younger ears by exploiting their ability to hear very high frequencies -- a power which declines once they reach their 20s. But human rights groups say the machine infringes civil rights and creates a divide between young and old. Launching the "Buzz Off" campaign, England's Children's Commissioner Al Aynsley-Green said: "I have spoken to many children and young people from all over England who have been deeply affected by ultra-sonic teenage deterrents."

Human ID Chips Get Under My Skin

While it's easy to reject the notion of placing little ID chips inside humans as an ominous Orwellian invasion of individual rights, I suspect it's inevitable that in my lifetime we will all have some kind of computerized implants. My problem is not with the technology, known as chipping, or with the companies that sell it. My concern stems from my lack of trust in institutions and lack of belief that the technology will be forever restricted to beneficial, socially acceptable uses. Chipping involves implanting a transponder chip below the skin for identification purposes. VeriChip (CHIP), the one company that has gained FDA clearance to perform this procedure, has emerged as the process's leading advocate. The implant procedure itself is simple and mostly painless, accomplished in a doctor's office in a matter of seconds. Generally speaking, the only data stored on the chip is a 16-digit ID number that cross-references to a record in VeriChip's database. Nevertheless the chip raises a number of troubling concerns: Health. Before diving into privacy and security concerns, it is worth noting recent reports indicate implanted chips may have caused tumors in small lab animals, and therefore may be equally dangerous for humans. I am not qualified to express an opinion on the subject other than to note the FDA has approved the device as safe. Evidence to the contrary will probably take years to accumulate, and at that point, a debate would be useless to those already afflicted. Privacy. Advocates of chipping often downplay privacy and security worries by stressing the chips merely contain a number rather than any actual personal information. However, that may be dangerous enough. A centralized numeric database storing information on a significant number of Americans begins to look a lot like a national ID card. But unlike an ID card safely stowed in a wallet, the numbers on these chips can potentially be read wirelessly by someone standing near you with an inexpensive handheld reader. Legislative attempts to establish a national ID, such as the REAL ID Act, have proven to be highly controversial. It would be a shame to have human chipping effectively short-circuit that debate and create a de facto national identification system.

New Infection Linked to Military

Troops arriving home from Iraq and Afghanistan have been carrying a mysterious, deadly bacteria, according to a new magazine report. Doctors have linked the bacterium acinetobacter baumannii to at least seven deaths, as well as to loss of limbs and other severe ailments, according to the report, which found the bacterium has spread quickly since the war in Afghanistan began in the fall of 2001. Acinetobacter baumannii has been found in military hospitals in Germany, the Washington, D.C., area and Texas -- the primary destinations of wounded service members from the two war zones. And it has now spread to civilians, according to the report. "The outbreak began traveling with patients or nonpatients from Iraq all the way back to Walter Reed," said Dr. Rox Anderson at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Timothy Endy, a retired Army colonel now teaching infectious disease medicine at the Upstate Medical University of the State University of New York, said the outbreak might be the largest of its kind to spread through hospitals in history. Doctors quoted in the magazine article agreed. "Of the infectious disease problems that come out of the conflict, it is the most important complication we've seen."

Russia, China challenge US space arms

China and Russia challenged the United States at a disarmament debate recently by formally presenting a plan to ban weapons in space — a proposal that Washington has called a diplomatic ploy by the two nations to gain a military advantage. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament that "weapons deployment in space by one state" — a reference to the U.S. — could cause a "new spiral in the arms race both in space and on Earth." Lavrov's call came with an implied threat, noting that the Soviet Union caught up with the U.S. after World War II by developing its own nuclear weapons. "Let us not forget that the nuclear arms race was started with a view to preserving a monopoly of this type of weapon," Lavrov said. "But this monopoly was to last only four years." Washington rejects the plan because it feels it is only directed at U.S. military technology and allows China and Russia to fire ground-based missiles into space or use satellites as weapons of war.
The U.S. also points to China's launch last year of a ballistic missile that destroyed one of its old weather satellites and created thousands of pieces of space debris. The test was widely criticized as a provocative display of China's growing military capability. The U.S. says it is committed to ensuring the use of space for peaceful purposes, but insists that it will pursue programs to ensure that its satellites and other spacecraft are protected. The Russian and Chinese proposal has been stymied by the United States since it was first introduced as an idea in 2002, two weeks after the United States withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. U.S. President George W. Bush signed an order in October 2006 tacitly asserting the U.S. right to space weapons, and opposing the development of treaties or other measures restricting them. Russia and China also oppose Washington's development of anti-missile defense systems, which the two nations say could set off a new arms race.

Are We Alone in the Universe?

Though scientific consensus remains that life on Earth is the earliest living form, many expect that bacteria found in space could be the remnants of life that started on Mars. "We have good evidence that Mars was wet and fertile before Earth was wet and fertile. We also know that certain strains of bacteria can survive long periods of time without water," Tyson said. "It is possible that life may have formed on Mars before Earth, gotten thrust into space with bacteria stowing away in the nooks and crannies of these castaway rocks. One of those may have then landed on Earth, thereby seeding the formation of life on earth. That is entirely possible," he said. If intelligent life existed somewhere else in the universe right now, it would still take tens of thousands of years before we might know about it. That is because it takes light roughly 70,000 years to reach Earth from the next nearest star. As Stephen Hawking once joked, "There can't be any near us; we would have seen their television programs." Despite the enormity of the challenge, scientists and amateurs' curiosity is undiminished, and their search will continue. "It's actually profound either way. If we find out that the universe is teeming with life and other civilizations, and we can learn about them, that would be spectacular; maybe it's like the archaeology of our future," Tyson said.

Technology That Protects Will Enslave

With 23,682 members, including the FBI, Infragard is growing and preparing. The InfraGard website says that at its most basic level it is a "partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States. InfraGard Chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories." The main goal, according to InfraGard is to promote ongoing dialogue and timely communication between members and the FBI. InfraGard members gain information through a secure website which enables them to protect their assets. Of course, the government expects the business to give them information. All of this is encompassed in the true threat, the government says, "of terrorism and other crimes." Which, we cannot disagree with. There are threats to the society today. No wonder since the government and congress have been like sterilized amoebas and been unable to stop or even deal with the border security. If an attack comes the likely hood is very real, and the culprits, could have easily gotten over the border either via the southern or northern areas. Now while InfraGard was created for stopping unstructured threats like insiders, recreational hackers, and institutional hackers, it is also aimed at stopping Organized crime, industrial espionage, and terrorists. It is also a viable source; the government says to help plug National Security Threats through Intelligence agencies and Information warriors. Everyone could agree that we do face threats, but the trouble is, can we trust the government? The ACLU which has input on many issues, of which, we may disagree on some of their views, but let us take a look at their view of InfraGard as was put in an article regarding the InfraGard program. The ACLU Says of this in an article on InfraGard: "There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations—some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers—into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI," the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society

Earth-Shattering Events Worry Chertoff

Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff's eyes narrow and his voice develops a stern, urgent tone as he reveals America's biggest vulnerability to terrorism. "The great weapon they have is persistence and patience, and the one weakness that we have is the tendency to lose patience and become complacent," Chertoff tells WTOP What worries him, worries U.S. intelligence officials as well. CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week that al Qaida will continue trying to "acquire chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials (CBRN), and would not hesitate to use them in attacks." Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell said at that same hearing that "al-Qaida remains the pre-eminent threat against the United States."

Putin: US Setting Off 'New Arms Race'

President Vladimir Putin said recently that "a new arms race has been unleashed in the world" as the United States moves forward with a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Russia will field new weapons in response, he said, dismissing American assurances that the missile system is not directed against Russia as merely "diplomatic cover." "It's not our fault. We didn't start it . . . funneling multibillions of dollars into developing weapons systems," Putin declared in what may be his final major address before he leaves the Kremlin after presidential elections March 2 to become prime minister. "Russia has and always will have a response to these new challenges," Putin declared. "Over the next few years, Russia will start production of new types of arms, with the same or even superior specifications compared to those available to other nations."

Ritual of Dealing With Demons

A wind-swept village in Poland is bracing for an invasion of demons, thanks to a priest who believes he can defeat Satan. The Rev. Andrzej Trojanowski, a soft-spoken Pole, plans to build a "spiritual oasis" that will serve as Europe's only center dedicated to performing exorcisms. With the blessing of the local Catholic archbishop and theological support from the Vatican, the center will aid a growing number of Poles possessed by evil forces or the devil himself, he said. "This is my task, this is my purpose -- I want to help these people," said Trojanowski, who has worked as an exorcist for four years. "There is a group of people who cannot get relief through any other practices and who need peace." Exorcism -- the church rite of expelling evil spirits from tortured souls -- is making a comeback in Catholic regions of Europe. Last July, more than 300 practitioners gathered in the Polish city of Czestochowa for the fourth International Congress of Exorcists. About 70 priests serve as trained exorcists in Poland, about double the number of five years ago. An estimated 300 exorcists are active in Italy. Foremost among them: the Rev. Gabriele Amorth, 82, who performs exorcisms daily in Rome and is dean of Europe's corps of demon-battling priests. "People don't pray anymore, they don't go to church, they don't go to confession. The devil has an easy time of it," Amorth said in an interview. "There's a lot more devil worship, people interested in satanic things and seances, and less in Jesus." Amorth and other priests said the resurgence in exorcisms has been encouraged by the Vatican, which in 1999 formally revised and upheld the rite for the first time in almost 400 years. One of the recruits is the Rev. Wieslaw Jankowski, a priest with the Institute for Studies on the Family, a counseling center outside Warsaw. He said priests at the institute realized they needed an exorcist on staff after encountering an increase in people plagued by evil. Typical cases, he said, include people who turn away from the church and embrace New Age therapies, alternative religions or the occult. Internet addicts and yoga devotees are also at risk, he said. "This is a service which is sorely needed," said Jankowski, who holds a doctorate in spiritual theology. "The number of people who need help is intensifying right now."

Cloverfield, the Revealing Message

There is no doubt that Hollywood uses its power and ability to send out messages. The strongest one here is that there is something unknown, which the D.O.D. knows about and is not telling anyone. The secret of this permeates the movie. The fact that the creature in the movie is in fact a Reptilian does not mean those things are that big, or in fact that they exist. It actually means, the secret the D.O.D. has is so big, if you really knew what it was, you would be scared to death. It is so big; in fact, we cannot really even handle it. It does as it pleases, and it is actually a threat to our own existence. The other secret which comes out in this screen is the fact of the blood thirsty nature of the beast itself. This tells us that there is indeed a threat to man today. No doubt, if you ignore what this movie, direct from a producer and the writers pen, is warning you about, the time is coming, like a thief in the night.

Scientists Say: Time Travel Breakthrough

The atom-smasher may open up a time tunnel for people from the future to travel back to now. The particle accelerator, called the Large Hadron Collider, has been designed to explore the origins of the universe by investigating the tiniest components of atoms. It is due to be switched on in May. It will accelerate particles to the speed of light — then smash them together to recreate conditions from the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, which created the universe. But each particle — a trillionth the size of a mosquito — will create a shockwave distorting time and space around it. And Russian mathematicians Igor Volovich and Irina Aref’eva say this may tear the fabric of the universe and result in a “wormhole” linking our time with the future. The laws of physics suggest that no one from the future will be able to travel back any further than when the machine was switched on — with 2008 being Year Zero. Dr Volovich, of the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow, reckons future technology may be advanced enough to send someone back through the time tunnel. He told the magazine New Scientist: “If a combination of fast-moving particles and phantom energy does create a wormhole, an advanced civilisation could find it in their history books, pinpoint the moment — and take advantage of their technology to pay us a visit.” And some boffins think it may be possible for people of our time to travel years ahead — like TV Timelord Doctor Who. The machine is based in a vast underground laboratory at the CERN particle physics centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

Secretive elite controls America

Presidential hopeful Ron Paul says he traces America's problems to the flawed monetary policy controlled by the wealthy and secretive elite. During a speech at the University of Washington recently, Paul said the Congress and the Federal Reserve will not be able to stem the recession spurred by the home mortgage meltdown. "The most important thing you can do is nothing," said the Texas congressman, who voted against the recent $146 billion economic stimulus package passed by the US House of Representatives. The 10-term Texas congressman maintained that a series of wrong economic decisions by the Bush administration has led to a recession. The government should allow the market to correct itself, Paul added. Although the mainstream media attempts to keep a low profile on the 72-year-old presidential hopeful, he has managed to find a staunch group of supporters who say he has captured their hearts with his 'message of freedom' and constitutionalism. "The Constitution was written for one specific purpose and that was to restrain the government, not to restrain the people," Paul has said.

Will sending music lead to ET attack

It's not as though Nasa is beaming out the Cheeky Girls back catalogue or the collected works of Florence Foster Jenkins. Nevertheless, scientists warn that transmitting songs into deep space could put the Earth at risk of an alien attack. They voiced fears that advertising humanity's place in the universe - as happened last week when Nasa broadcast a Beatles track towards the North Star - could attract the attention of aliens who are less friendly than ET. Dr Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute, which has been leading the search for extraterrestrials, told New Scientist magazine: "Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks." They voiced fears that advertising humanity's place in the universe - as happened last week when Nasa broadcast a Beatles track towards the North Star - could attract the attention of aliens who are less friendly than ET. Dr Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute, which has been leading the search for extraterrestrials, told New Scientist magazine: "Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks." A recording of the Beatles' Across the Universe was last week beamed in the direction of Polaris, also known as the North Star, by Nasa. SETI - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - plans more broadcasts from its base in Mountain View, California. For the last 20 years, it has used radio telescopes to scan the skies for alien radio messages. After getting nothing but static, some of its researchers have decided that listening for aliens is not enough. Instead, they say, we should be actively sending out friendly signals to the stars. Dr Richard Gott, an astrophysicist from Princeton University, told New Scientist: "SETI's big mistake is that it's relying on ET to do all the heavy lifting. "We'll all just be sitting round listening, but nobody's doing any talking." A group of scientists is calling on SETI to broadcast a simple pulsed signal that reveals the presence of intelligent life on Earth. Others want more recordings of the type included with the Voyager and Pioneer space probes. Nasa attached engravings depicting humans and our planet to the outside of the craft, and aboard it put tapes of voices, birdsong, music, and maps of where Earth is. "It's very charitable to send out and encyclopaedia, but that may short-change future generations," said Dr Vakoch. Professor Barrie Jones, an astronomer with the Open University, added that there is an "unofficial embargo" about alerting potentially unfriendly species to our presence. "The chances are slight, but the consequences would be huge - the end of life on Earth," he said. "When you look at the history of colonisation on Earth, it is pretty bloody awful. "If they have the technology to cross interstellar space to reach us, they will be so much in advance of us humans that there is nothing we could do to resist them.

Domestic Spying Could Aid Terrorists

Although the Bush administration calls it a vital weapon against terrorism, its domestic wiretapping effort could become a devastating tool for terrorists if hacked or penetrated from inside, according to a new article by a group of America's top computer security experts. The administration has said little about the program except to defend it against charges it amounts to illegal spying on U.S. citizens. When news of the program broke in 2006, then-White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the program a "limited" effort "targeted at al Qaeda communications coming into or going out of the United States." But documents submitted in an ongoing court case indicate the program involves data centers at major telecommunications hubs that siphon off and analyze billions of bytes of Americans' emails, phone calls and other data. By diverting the flow of so much domestic data into a few massive pools, the administration may have "[built] for its opponents something that would be too expensive for them to build for themselves," say the authors: "a system that lets them see the U.S.'s intelligence interests...[and] that might be turned" to exploit conversations and information useful for plotting an attack on the United States. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred a request for comment on the article to the interagency National Counterterrorism Center, which directed calls to the National Security Agency, which reportedly runs the program. The NSA declined to comment for this story.The White House referred calls to the NSA. The article, slated to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal IEEE Security & Privacy, was written by six experts from Sun Microsystems, Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and California-based research giant SRI International. The data centers for the classified program are reportedly housed in "secure" rooms within telecommunications hubs around the country, and connect to operations buried within the NSA's highly classified facilities. But judging by past breaches, the authors conclude this system could be compromised also  from within or outside. In 2004, hackers cracked a wiretapping function on a Greek national cell phone network. For 10 months, they intercepted conversations by the country's prime minister and its ministers of defense, foreign affairs and justice, and roughly 100 other officials and parliament members, the authors note. The hackers were never caught. "Although the NSA has extensive experience in building surveillance systems, that does not mean things cannot go wrong," the authors state. "When you build a system to spy on yourself, you entail an awesome risk." Just as dangerous is the possibility that an insider could access the system undetected, according to the experts. Poorly-designed surveillance technology used by the FBI relies on a "primitive" system to track people who use the operation to wiretap phone conversations, the authors say, creating what they call a "real risk" of an insider attack.

"Euros Accepted" signs in NY City

In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise. "We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television. The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies, has brought waves of European tourists to New York with money to burn and looking to take advantage of hugely favorable exchange rates. "We didn't realize we would take so much in and there were that many people traveling or having euros to bring in. But some days, you'd be surprised at how many euros you get," Chu said. "Now we have to get familiar with other currencies and the (British) pound and the Canadian dollars we take," he said. While shops in many U.S. towns on the Canadian border have long accepted Canadian currency and some stores on the Texas-Mexico border take pesos, the acceptance of foreign money in Manhattan was unheard of until recently. Not far from Chu's downtown wine emporium, Billy Leroy of Billy's Antiques & Props said the vast numbers of Europeans shopping in the neighborhood got him thinking, "My God, I should take euros in at the store." Leroy doesn't even bother to exchange them. "I'm happy if I take in 200 euros, because what I do is keep them," he said. "So when I go back to Paris, I don't have to go through the nightmare of going to an exchange place."

Anti-Terror Laws Threaten Free Speech

Restrictions of all sorts have multiplied in the heightened security environment of the last six-and-a-half years, so it should be no surprise that, around the world, legal restrictions on speech have tightened. Since 2001, there has been a clear trend toward prohibiting speech perceived as supporting terrorism, and toward barring the dissemination of materials--including books, videos, and other forms of written and graphic communication--that are believed to be of use for terrorist activity. Let's review a few examples from different countries to get a better sense of what kinds of statements these laws tend to cover: The UK's 2006 counterterrorism law criminalizes any public statement that is intended to encourage, or that recklessly encourages, acts of terrorism. Zimbabwe's 2006 counterterrorism law, a person who "solicits, invites, or encourages moral or material support" for a designated terrorist organization commits an offense. The United Arab Emirates' 2004 counterterrorism law reportedly provides for up to five years of imprisonment for anyone who promotes verbally or in writing any of the offenses set out in the law. Bahrain's 2006 counterterrorism law includes "Whoever uses religion, religious buildings, public places or religious festivities to propagate provocative appeals or extremist ideas, or holds notices/posters, or puts up graphics, pictures, slogans or signs that might create fitna [disorder] or insult monotheist religions, their symbols or their believers, or harm the national unity or social peace, or destabilize security or public order shall be punished by imprisonment and fine or one or both penalties." The legislation also provides that anyone who "promotes or approves, in any way" of a terrorist act faces imprisonment. El Salvador's 2006 counterterrorism law prescribes a five- to ten-year prison sentence for anyone who publicly justifies terrorism.

Huge rise in British UFO sightings

Clusters of up to 100 mysterious objects, bright white lights and strange, triangular shaped objects are just some of a huge surge in UFO sightings reported to the Ministry of Defence last year. The ministry has opened up its own "X-Files" for 2007, revealing 135 UFO sightings from across the UK. If aliens are choosing the UK as a holiday destination, it appears it is becoming more popular, as the number if sightings has shot up since 97 were reported in 2006. Last year the MoD released details of UFO sightings for the first time, including an archive back to 1998. Previously, details of classified reports were kept secret for 30 years. Discs, formations, white or orange lights, triangular shaped craft and pipe-like objects were all spotted buzzing around the sky in 2007. In Duxford, Cambridgeshire on April 12, a witness reported seeing fifty objects, each with an orange light, assembling in the sky before ascending. Two pilots in different planes above Alderney in the Channel Islands reported the same UFOs on April 23. They saw one bright orange craft, then a gap, followed by an identical object. In Portsmouth, Hants, in October, a witness watched as "an oval/spherical shaped object approached an aircraft, and appeared to accelerate very fast, and then wobbled from side to side. "Another object appeared in roughly the same vicinity and then stayed stationary." In the West Midlands in December, one witness got a shock when a UFO shone a light into her window. The MoD logged: "A giant craft shone a light into the witness's back window. It shot off fast at first to the North East and then started to move at a slow pace." Another report noted a "an exceedingly bright light, which was stationary, but sometimes flew off" over the Wiltshire skies. Hilary Porter, from the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society (BEAMS) said sightings were becoming increasingly common. She said: "There has been a huge influx of UFOs. Absolutely enormous. There has been these huge formations than have been coming.
"We have had so many calls from people that have seen these huge formations. We have had call after call after call, from business people right down to ordinary folk in their cars. “There have been some very close encounters that have been quite unnerving for the people involved. We have had other people reporting orb sightings."

Leprosy outbreak in Arkansas

The medical community is warning the public: a leprosy outbreak in Springdale could blossom into an epidemic, if something isn't done soon. Doctors say at least nine cases of leprosy have been confirmed in Springdale. Local doctors say they would be shocked by even one case of leprosy in their entire career, so they say something must be done soon, in order to stop leprosy's spread. Springdale MD Jennifer Bingham says, "my initial response was: I am shocked. I am shocked we are seeing this. It's a true reason to be very worried." Medical specialists say the Marshall Islands have the most cases of leprosy, in the world. And the city with the largest number of Marshallese people, outside the Marshall islands, is Springdale. And Bingham says, it makes sense, then, that leprosy is spreading to the city. "It's from the Marshall islands; that's why we're seeing it." Bingham says she is all for Marshallese people entering the United States, after proper medical tests. But whether they're immigrants or not, she says people must stick to treatment, when infected. And she says, when she treats those from the Marshall Islands, this doesn't happen. "We're not getting the compliance that is absolutely essential to take care of this process." Bingham says without cooperation, leprosy, which has no vaccine, and is transmitted through the air, will spread, and could easily become an epidemic. "People absolutely should be concerned. What I'm afraid of, is when people start thinking about it enough, it will already be out of control." So now, Bingham, and others like Mayoral candidate Nancy Jenkins, say government help is the next step. Jenkins says she's angered the federal government has been so lax with border patrol. She says, "We've just opened the borders and said, 'Come on in! Bring your diseases! Bring 'em!' Why are we doing that? Those who have it need to be quarantined and treated, or sent back to their country." Dr. Bingham is requesting the public take action, and write everyone from legislators, and presidential candidates, to Congress, and the Health Department. Shey says, "the only way to truly protect our community and our economic growth, is to think of this as a very important, panic-mode attempt to treat leprosy: before it gets out of hand." Doctors say leprosy will appear as a discoloration, or nodules, on the skin, especially the fingers, toes, arms, and face. With treatment, it is curable, but it can take from six months, to two years, to completely disappear. Springdale is also reporting over 100 cases of tuberculosis.

Protect USA from: Protect America Act

Madame Speaker, I rise in opposition to the extension of the Protect America Act of 2007 because the underlying legislation violates the US Constitution. The misnamed Protect America Act allows the US government to monitor telephone calls and other electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant. This clearly violates the Fourth Amendment, which states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Malaysian airport customs seize Bibles

Malaysian customs officials seized 32 Bibles from a traveler, a church federation said recently, adding its voice to a raft of complaints that the Muslim-majority country is becoming less tolerant of other religions. The Royal Malaysian Customs department, however, said it was only trying to determine if the Bibles were imported for commercial purposes. Custom officials at an airport in Kuala Lumpur took the Bibles from a Malaysian woman Jan. 28 on her return from the Philippines, according to the Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia. She was carrying the Bibles for a study group, he said. The woman was told that all religious materials had to be sent to the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit for clearance, Shastri said, adding that he had never before heard of anyone being told to do this when bringing English-language Bibles into the country. "It's getting from bad to worse," Shastri told The Associated Press. "This either points to a concerted effort to undermine the current practice of religious tolerance, or the religious enforcement authorities have been given a free hand and they are having a field day." About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays, who have generally lived peacefully with Christians, Buddhists and Hindus in the minority Chinese and Indians communities. However, the minorities have become increasingly worried that their constitutionally guaranteed right to worship is being gradually eroded. In a recent case that undermined minority confidence, the government banned the word "Allah" from Malay-language Bibles and other Christian publications, saying the word can only be used by Muslims. Indians have also been enraged that their Hindu temples have been demolished by state authorities. Many legal disputes involving Muslims and non-Muslims have been ruled in favor of Muslims.

RFID Tracking And Navigation?

Closed-loop applications currently drive RFID, which includes asset management and assembly-line operations. The real opportunity is for open-loop applications like item-level tagging, according to Mike Liard, an analyst at ABI who follows RFID and contactless technology. ABI believes there will be several killer applications for the technology, including item-level tagging in the retail and pharmaceutical industries; RFID chips in ID documents; RFID used to eliminate labor-intensive processes like retail promotions; and contactless payments and ticketing. But going forward, issues of security and privacy will need to be addressed, Liard said. For example, retailers that place RFID tags on individual pieces of clothing will have to remove the tags before a consumer leaves the store. The same goes for issuing RFID-based passports and ID cards. There are even discussions in Wisconsin and California to implant RFID in citizens. So how closely will people be tracked? Telematics And Navigation: There has been a high level of innovation, especially when it comes to personal navigation devices, or PNDs, as they're called. This year, PNDs will continue to be very successful and will increasingly come with connectivity options for Internet access, said ABI's telematics and navigation analyst, Dominique Bonte. Other popular navigation gadgets are handsets, outdoor GPS, factory-installed systems, and new form factors like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N800 Internet tablet with built-in GPS. Last year, handset-based navigation became very popular, especially in the United States. Europe is still the leader in handset navigation, but by 2012, Asia is expected to catch up. ABI doesn't see handsets being used for all purposes and believes that they'll coexist with other devices, such as PNDs.Carriers will start launching services on top of navigation, including local search, social networking, games, ads and coupons, emergency response, and people and vehicle tracking (for businesses).

Norway eyes robot care for elderly

Household robots may help human carers look after the growing number of elderly Norwegians in years to come, enabling them to live longer and more comfortably in their own homes, a project leader said recently. Norway faces a growing shortage of health care staff over the next 5-10 years, and 2020 will be a crunch point when large numbers of post-World War 2 "baby boomers" leave the workforce. Two employee groups have teamed up to see how robots and other hi-tech gadgets can be developed to help care for them. "Technology will contribute to resolve part of the challenge with employees in the health care sector," Olav Ulleren, head of a group representing Norwegian municipalities, told Reuters. "It could also help people live longer in their own homes." Ulleren said robots and other devices could do housework like washing clothes and dishes and cleaning the floor. Equipment to help people look after their health, for example by giving daily tests or medical surveillance, and take care of personal hygiene, could also play a role, he said. Wheelchair users could also benefit, the groups said. Ulleren said the aim of the new technology was not to replace human care and tenderness, but to provide extra help in situations where more health care workers are not available. "Everyone wants to take care of themselves as long as possible, and it is not the intention to rob anybody of the responsibility of caring for the elderly, this will just add another dimension," Ulleren said. Using technology for household chores would make human health care more personal, he said. It is, however, far too early to say when the first robots will start caring for elderly Norwegians, the two groups said. Despite hefty inflows of migrant workers, Norway's 4.6 million population is facing a shortage of skilled workers because of an economic boom fuelled by the high price of its oil and gas exports.

Plagues from TB to leprosy invading U.S.

Americans have long taken the wonders of medical science for granted, watching as disease after disease has been conquered with antibiotics, vaccines, better nutrition and pharmaceutical "miracle drugs." But today, the magic isn't working, and something scary is happening. Thanks to self-destructive "alternative lifestyles," out-of-control immigration, the overuse of antibiotics and other causes, long-"vanquished" illnesses are once again ravaging the U.S., puzzling scientists and terrifying millions of victims and their loved ones. The once-"conquered" scourge of tuberculosis has made a terrifying comeback, especially in America's inner cities (the American Lung Association has called TB "out of control"), and drug-resistant TB accounts for more and more new cases. The reason? Record legal and illegal immigration levels. Indeed, the highest numbers of multi-drug-resistant TB cases are in New York, California, Texas and Florida – states with the highest populations of new immigrants. Leprosy, the contagious skin disease evoking thoughts of biblical and medieval times, is now making its mark in the United States, and many believe the influx of illegal aliens is the main factor. A new study reveals that homosexuals are much more likely to become infected with the dreaded "superbug" MRSA – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – than are heterosexuals. Some are even calling MRSA the "new HIV." Although previous MRSA contagion has been confined primarily to hospitals, it is now being spread in major cities through homosexual contact. But since staph is also transmissible through non-sexual contact, the University of California researcher who headed up the study warns: "Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable." Avian influenza – or "bird flu" – has caused such concern at the highest level of the U.S. government that in 2005, the Congressional Budget Office reported that a severe pandemic of avian flu hitting the U.S. would kill 2 million Americans and throw the country into a major recession. Other diseases once virtually unknown in America, like Chagas disease and Dengue fever, are cropping up in southern border areas, while old and much-feared plagues like polio and malaria are also on the upswing. Compounding all of this, the astronomical number of illegal aliens swarming into the United States is forcing the closure of dozens of hospitals, spreading previously vanquished diseases and threatening to destroy America's prized health-care system.

Wild weather becoming the norm

Rare winter tornadoes in the Midwest. Powerful Pacific storms with hurricane force winds. More than 1,000 daily high temperature records. And that's just in the first month of 2008. Is January the new March? Weather extremes are nothing new for this country. It's a big place that experiences lots of variability — more so than most other places, according to weather and climate experts. But are the extremes becoming more extreme? Some government researchers tracking Earth's climate say yes. "We're seeing an increasing trend in the frequency of extremes," said Karin Gleason, a meteorologist who compiles the U.S. Climate Extremes Index maintained by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The index is a nationwide composite of indicators that includes extreme temperatures, drought, one-day precipitation events and number of days with or without precipitation. "When you combine all the individual indicators, we're seeing a steady increase from the early 1970s to present," said Gleason. In 2007, nearly 42% of the contiguous U.S. experienced extreme weather events, the second highest for the index, which incorporates records dating back to 1910. Last year was one of the 10 warmest on record. It was marked by deadly and costly wildfires that led to the largest evacuation in California history, spring storms that unleashed 600 tornadoes across the Great Plains and South, severe flooding in Texas and Oklahoma, and extreme drought across much of the Southeast, according to a preliminary report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's climate center. "It certainly seems like something ominous is going on when you experience these extremes," said Gregory Berg, an assistant professor of music at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. On Jan. 7, Berg photographed a tornado as it formed less than two miles from campus. His snapshot of the wispy twister appears on the National Weather Service website as part of the agency's report on the event.
"When you see something so unexpected, you feel like you're seeing a unicorn or something," said Berg, who also hosts "The Morning Show" on the local National Public Radio affiliate.

2012 Apocalypse?

With humanity coming up fast on 2012, publishers are helping readers gear up and count down to this mysterious — some even call it apocalyptic — date that ancient Mayan societies were anticipating thousands of years ago. Since November, at least three new books on 2012 have arrived in mainstream bookstores. A fourth is due this fall. Each arrives in the wake of the 2006 success of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, which has been selling thousands of copies a month since its release in May and counts more than 40,000 in print. The books also build on popular interest in the Maya, fueled in part by Mel Gibson's December 2006 film about Mayan civilization, Apocalpyto. Authors disagree about what humankind should expect on Dec. 21, 2012, when the Maya's "Long Count" calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year era. Journalist Lawrence Joseph forecasts widespread catastrophe in Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation Into Civilization's End. Spiritual healer Andrew Smith predicts a restoration of a "true balance between Divine Feminine and Masculine" in The Revolution of 2012: Vol. 1, The Preparation. In 2012, Daniel Pinchbeck anticipates a "change in the nature of consciousness," assisted by indigenous insights and psychedelic drug use.

Governor says tornadoes: Wrath of God

Residents in five Southern states rose Wednesday to widespread clusters of destruction caused by an unusually ferocious winter tornado system. At least 54 people were killed and scores more were injured. Many had spent a harrowing Tuesday night punctuated by breaking glass and warning sirens as the tornadoes tossed trailer homes into the air, collapsed the roof of a Sears store in Memphis, whittled away half a Caterpillar plant near Oxford, Miss., and shredded dorms at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., leaving crews to rescue nine students trapped in the rubble. Arkansas and Tennessee were the hardest hit, with Arkansas reporting 13 dead and Tennessee 30. Here in Atkins, 70 miles northwest of Little Rock, a middle-aged couple and their 11-year-old daughter died when their house was wiped out by a direct hit, and in northwestern Alabama the bodies of another family of three were found 50 yards from the foundation of their ruined home. In Macon County, Tenn., a 74-year-old man whose trailer was destroyed died in view of his family as they waited for an ambulance to navigate debris-strewn roads. Thirty-five injuries were reported in Gassville, a small community in Baxter County, Ark., that was almost totally leveled by the storm. "The wrath of God is the only way I can describe it," Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee said after surveying the damage by helicopter. "I'm used to seeing roofs off houses; houses blown over. These houses were down to their foundations, stripped clean."

U.S. Failing as economic world power

The World Economic Forum has proved to be an uncanny barometer of global trends. Over the past decade, the United States has been lionized as world leader, economic giant and home of high-tech wizards such as Bill Gates. When the high-tech bubble burst, when deficits rose, when the Iraq war went sour, the shine on the American model dimmed. But, despite widespread dismay over U.S. foreign policy, few here used to question America's role as the world's unipolar power. What a difference a year makes. Davos 2008 has laid bare a world in which no superpower seems to be in charge. The unipolar American moment is deemed over, in part a casualty of the Bush administration's political and economic policies, in larger part the result of global economic changes that are shifting wealth elsewhere. The U.S. financial crisis grew out of years of massive lending for subprime mortgages during a housing bubble. The collapse of the bubble has undercut banks and revealed serious flaws in the entire U.S. financial system. Added to American foreign policy failures like Iraq and debacles like the response to Hurricane Katrina, this creates an image of American incompetence. What makes the American case so acute, in foreign eyes, is that it comes at a time when the United States is massively in debt to China and oil-rich countries like Russia and the nations of the Arab gulf. As America cuts interest rates to keep banks solvent, the dollar becomes less attractive to those countries who are keeping America afloat. "It's remarkable how few have noticed we are entering an entirely new era of history - the rise of Asia," says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. "In a few years," he adds, "the world's four largest economies will be China, the United States, India and Japan" - in that order.

Disabled Babies Should be Aborted

The new eugenics is growing at a horrifying pace. In the UK, a House of Lords, member argued that disabled children should be aborted for their own good. From the story:Seriously disabled children should be considered non-persons and would be better off having been aborted, according to a Peer speaking in the House of Lords Tuesday. Attempting to couch her assertion in terms of children's "rights", Molly Baroness Meacher told the Lords that children born with severe disabilities are "not viable people". The comments came as the Lords debated an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, put forward by Lady Swinton, Baroness Masham of Ilton, that would have protected unborn disabled children from abortion after the 24 week gestational time limit. The amendment was defeated by 89 votes to 22.

Nephilim Coming Dec 21, 2012

Thomas Horn suggests that the number 33 is featured prominently in occult doctrine. The compass and the square are the two most visible signs of Freemasonry and contribute to the science of navigation. The number 33, along with the compass and the square, are important to the "illumined elite," especially those who reach the "enlightened" 33rd degree. The mystical 33.33 degrees of the great circle of the earth is said to represent 2,012 nautical miles. Coincidently, Mt. Hermon, the earthly entry point of the fallen angels, lies precisely at 33.33 degrees north and 33.33 degrees east of the Paris Meridian -- 2,012 miles from the equator and 2,012 miles from the Paris Meridian (the meridian used by the Knights Templar). This corresponds to the year that the ancient Mayans believed their calendar will end -- 2012. Is this just an astonishing coincidence? Here's where the book gets interesting. Using the sacred number 33 and the value of universal mathematical constant Pi, there is one other location on planet Earth where these same coordinates find dry land. They just happen to match up with a ranch in New Mexico -- the location of the Roswell UFO crash of 1947, an event that has been covered up at the highest levels of government for 60 years. Is this just a random coincidence, or were the "ancients" marking their arrival date for a future generation? Will the Watchers return in 2012?

Rain forests fall at 'alarming' rate

In the gloomy shade deep in Africa's rain forest, the noontime silence was pierced by the whine of a far-off chain saw. It was the sound of destruction, echoed from wood to wood, continent to continent, in the tropical belt that circles the globe. From Brazil to central Africa to once-lush islands in Asia's archipelagos, human encroachment is shrinking the world's rain forests. The alarm was sounded decades ago by environmentalists — and was little heeded. The picture, meanwhile, has changed: Africa is now a leader in destructiveness. The numbers have changed: U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed. Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples' livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate. Global warming is expected to dry up and kill off vast tracts of rain forest, and dying forests will feed global warming. "If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change," declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia. The burning or rotting of trees that comes with deforestation — at the hands of ranchers, farmers, timbermen — sends more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the world's planes, trains, trucks and automobiles. Forest destruction accounts for about 20 percent of manmade emissions, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Conversely, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon. "The stakes are so dire that if we don't start turning this around in the next 10 years, the extinction crisis and the climate crisis will begin to spiral out of control," said Roman Paul Czebiniak, a forest expert with Greenpeace International. "It's a very big deal."

Hillary Clinton: Bilderberg Presidency?

While President Bush's approval rating falls to record lows, the torch is being prepared to pass on to Hillary Clinton, with full endorsement from the global elite. With support from European nobility, Clinton has been selected as the candidate of choice for the continuation of globalist policies. Bill Clinton, being a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, as well as the secretive Bilderberg group, was the creme de la creme establishment candidate. His wife, Hillary, who likely attended the 2006 Bilderberg conference in Ottawa Canada, now promises to follow in his path.

Behavior-Based Internet Advertising

Have you ever been surfing the web and come upon Internet advertising that provides a direct solution for something that you've been researching lately? Did you think that it might be related to your computer cookies, or did you chalk it up to serendipity? The fact is, it almost certainly wasn't a coincidence. Behavior-based Internet advertising is a relatively new and very powerful way for advertisers to get their message in front of potential buyers that they know to be qualified. The question is, how do they know that the surfer is qualified? The advertisers know this because the Internet advertising network is tracking the surfers' online activity. With tracking, advertisers know what sites you like. They know what searches you make. They have profiled you, and, unlike in real life, profiling on the web is AOK -- so far. Before we get into the legal issues involved, perhaps a further definition of the technology is in order. Most (but not all) behavioral Internet advertising is based on computer "cookies." These computer cookies are tiny files that are placed on your machine when you visit certain websites. In the simplest form, you go to a web page. An advertiser has a blank spot, or placeholder, for a banner ad. But instead of serving up just any banner ad, the advertiser parses through your computer for cookies to discover your likes and dislikes, and then you are fed Internet advertising based on your online behavior. For some people, this is no big deal. They like Internet advertising to be targeted toward them, and they don't mind computer cookies. For others, it's a little Orwellian and creepy.

Islamist 'Trojan horse' in Pentagon

Federal authorities say a high-level Muslim Pentagon aide, who led a campaign to silence a Pentagon intelligence analyst for taking a hard line against Islam, is running an "influence operation" on behalf of U.S. Muslim groups fronting for the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Hesham H. Islam, a special assistant to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, recently criticized Maj. Stephen Coughlin, one of the military's leading authorities on Islamic war doctrine, for making the connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism. After Islam lodged complaints, Coughlin's contract with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon was not renewed. Islam also was upset with briefings Coughlin recently prepared for the U.S. military warning that major U.S. Muslim groups were fronting for the Muslim Brotherhood, a worldwide jihadist movement based in Egypt. Islam, who was born and raised in Egypt, is heavily involved with one of the groups – the Islamic Society of North America, which U.S. prosecutors last year named as a member of the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terror-funding case. Islam has persuaded his boss, England, to conduct various outreach with ISNA, including hosting the group's leaders in the Pentagon and speaking at its annual convention. Recently declassified FBI documents reveal its sister organization, an Islamist think tank known as the International Institute of Islamic Thought, or IIIT, is involved in a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy to wage a cultural and political jihad to eventually take over America from within – most notably, through infiltration of government agencies.

Occult reaches students, staff

For some at Ohio State, the occult is a field of academic interest, but for some students it is a way of life. Arthur Holmes, an undecided freshman, is a satanist and chaos magician. His experience with the occult has been positive, but he said that the public generally misunderstands satanism. "We don't worship Satan as a deity. We see him as a representation of the carnal side of man and as a symbol of indulgence," he said. A number of OSU students participate in magic as followers of religions such as satanism and wicca. Some OSU professors are also interested in magic, and specialize in fields that concentrate on it as a historical and cultural subject. "Ohio State has more scholars on the history of magic than any educational institution I'm aware of," said Sarah Iles Johnston, professor of Greek and Latin and director for the Center for the Study of Religion. There are six experts on the history of magic at OSU. They study the history of magic from a variety of perspectives such as its role in ancient Greek and Roman religions as well as in modern American culture. Fritz Graf, chair of the Department of Greek and Latin, specializes in divert magic written in Greek and Latin. He is not an expert on modern magic but said that it still fascinates people as a glamorous religious alternative. In light of student interest in the occult and faculty expertise, the Center for the Study of Religion chose to sponsor a lecture series called "Through A Glass, Darkly: Public Interest in the Occult," Johnston said.

US: Not Prepared For Large-Scale Attack

The U.S. military isn't ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don't have the equipment or training they need for the job, according to a report. Even fewer Army National Guard units are combat-ready today than were nearly a year ago when the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves determined that 88 percent of the units were not prepared for the fight, the panel says in a new report released Thursday. The independent commission is charged by Congress to recommend changes in law and policy concerning the Guard and Reserves. The commission's 400-page report concludes that the nation "does not have sufficient trained, ready forces available" to respond to a chemical, biological or nuclear weapons incident, "an appalling gap that places the nation and its citizens at greater risk." "Right now we don't have the forces we need, we don't have them trained, we don't have the equipment," commission Chairman Arnold Punaro said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Even though there is a lot going on in this area, we need to do a lot more. ... There's a lot of things in the pipeline, but in the world we live in — you're either ready or you're not." In response, Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of U.S. Northern command, said the Pentagon is putting together a specialized military team that would be designed to respond to such catastrophic events.

Shape-Shifting Robots in Action

Researchers are working "to create swarms of microscopic robots capable of morphing into virtually any form by clinging together," reports New Scientist, in a fascinating article about real-life shape-shifting. A Carnegie Mellon team of researchers "is using simulations to develop control strategies for futuristic shape-shifting, or 'claytronic', robots, which they are testing on small groups of more primitive, pocket-sized machines." What's more, "[t]hese prototype robots use electromagnetic forces to manoeuvre themselves, communicate, and even share power."

Drug-Resistant Flu Virus on the Rise

This winter's most common flu strain is showing resistance to the frontline anti-flu treatment, new data shows. More than 10% of virus samples taken in Western Europe this winter were resistant to oseltamivir, better known as Tamiflu, according to figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Nearly 10% of the samples in Canada were resistant too, according to national authorities there, and the U.S. found nearly 7% resistance. The number of resistant strains are still small overall, but the superbugs aren't evenly distributed around the world: In Norway, a staggering 75% of the 16 samples taken this winter were drug-resistant — enough to pull up Western Europe's average by about 8 percentage points. All the samples are from a strain of flu virus known as H1N1, a subtype of the influenza A virus: the regular run-of-the-mill seasonal flu, not the dreaded H5N1 avian flu that's prompted countries around the world to stockpile tens of millions of doses of Tamiflu. So how worried should people be about the prospect of drug-resistant strains of influenza A? Only modestly, says World Health Organization spokeswoman Sari Setiogi in Geneva. "Influenza A has been circulating for many years. It's not likely to cause a pandemic," she says. The patients who gave samples for the European study all showed only mild symptoms. What's more, just because a flu bug has adapted to survive drug treatment, it doesn't mean the bug is necessarily more dangerous to humans. In fact, lab studies suggest that Tamiflu-resistant flu viruses may be less infectious. In the end, the most troubling thing about the ECDC study was the 75% resistance rate found in Norway. Like doctors elsewhere in Western Europe — and in the U.S. and Canada — Norwegians don't routinely prescribe Tamiflu to their patients. (Tamiflu is not a flu vaccine, but a post-exposure treatment that helps prevent the virus from spreading within the body, and reduces symptoms.) They just tell them to get some rest and drink plenty of fluids. It's a bit of a mystery, then, why so many of Norway's samples are drug-resistant.

Could An Asteroid Hit The Earth

Earth dodged a bullet today, when asteroid TU24 passed within 540,000 kilometers of our planet, which is just down the street on a galactic scale. Tomorrow, another asteroid – 2007 WD5 – will zip past Mars at a distance of only 26,000 kilometers away. Will we dodge the bullet the next time a near-Earth object (NEO) hurtles dangerously close to our home planet... [RNN Note: Will earth be hit by a giant Asteroid? Rev.8:10-11 says, "And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."

Ahmadinejad Threatens To Destroy Israel

Iran is approaching the "peak" in its nuclear program and will not yield to Western pressure to halt its activities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently. Ahmadinejad was speaking in the southwestern town of Bushehr near the site of Iran's planned first nuclear power plant, being built with Russian help, and predicted the country would have nuclear electricity by this time next year. "If you (Western powers) imagine that the Iranian nation will back down you are making a mistake," he said in a televised speech. "On the nuclear path we are moving towards the peak," he said without elaborating. Turning his attention to Israel, Ahmadinejad said, "The religious Palestinian people will bring down the last screen with its powerful hand on the Zionists' puppet theater. It's time to end the puppet theater of this fake regime." The Iranian president noted that Israel's days were numbered and that it has reached its end.

Finding The Door To A Parallel Universe

The existence of wormholes linking different regions of space was suggested in 1916 by the Austrian physicist Ludwig Flamm as a possible solution to equations of general relativity, which Einstein had published that year. They have since become accepted as a natural consequence of general relativity, which predicts that matter entering one end of a wormhole would instantly emerge somewhere else, so long as the wormhole is somehow propped open. According to Shatskiy’s calculations, the way phantom matter deflects light would give the wormhole a signature that astronomers could look out for. The gravity of an object with a positive mass, such as an ordinary black hole, focuses light rays passing close to it as if it were a giant concave lens – an effect known as gravitational lensing. Phantom matter’s negative mass would have the opposite gravitational lensing effect to normal matter, making any light passing through the wormhole from another universe or point in space-time diverge, and emerge from it as a bright ring. Meanwhile, any stars behind it would shine through the middle. Shatskiy suggests that his idea might offer a way for future space-based observatories such as Russia’s planned Millimetron Project to look for wormholes at the centre of large galaxies.

Boy was killed in satanic ritual

In Argentina the trial of Cesar Beguiristain has begun, the 20 year-old leader of an Afro-Brazilian, satanic cult accused of carrying out the ritual killing of a 12 year-old street boy. Last week Beguiristain confessed to killing “Ramoncito,” a street boy who the cult leader said “had agreed to sell his soul to the devil.” He was captured in the city of Lomas de Zamora near Buenos Aires and had been on the run for over year after fleeing the city of Corrientes where he was accused by a 14 year-old boy of the murder.
According to prosecutor Gustavo Schmitt, Beguiristain “broke down and confessed to decapitating the boy, but he claimed that it was not his idea and that he was hired to do the killing during a satanic game.” Schmitt said seven people have been detained in the case, but that authorities are still seeking other individuals “who organized and financed the murder.” “Ramoncito” disappeared on Friday, October 5, 2006, and his body was found on October 7 in the morning near the bus station where he would often sell stamps and sleep on cardboard boxes. According to the investigation, the boy was raped, decapitated and dismembered in an Afro-Brazilian ritual. The witness to the crime said the method of killing caused the boy immense pain and was a source of excitement for his killers. “At that moment everyone was screaming and crying. Afterwards they all joined their hands bloodied by ‘Ramoncito’.” Before the boy died, two of the cult members performed a satanic dance and another member who still remains at large proceeded to decapitate the boy. “The boy’s head was placed on top of a black host,” the witness said. Authorities say the boy’s description matches those found in a black magic manual obtained from the suspects.

Navy Tests Incredible Sci-Fi Weapon

The U.S. Navy recently test fired an incredibly powerful new big gun designed to replace conventional weaponry aboard ships. Sci-fi fans will recognize its awesome power and futuristic technology. The big gun uses electromagnetic energy instead of explosive chemical propellants to fire a projectile farther and faster. The railgun, as it is called, will ultimately fire a projectile more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) with a muzzle velocity seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7) and a velocity of Mach 5 at impact. The test-firing, captured on video, took place Jan. 31 in Dahlgren, Va., and Navy officials called it the "world's most powerful electromagnetic railgun." The Navy's current MK 45 five-inch gun, by contrast, has a range of less than 23 miles (37 kilometers). The railgun has been a featured weapon in many science fiction universes, such as the new "Battlestar Galactic" series. It has also achieved newfound popularity among the 20-something-and-under generation for its devastating ability to instantaneously shoot a "slug" through walls and through multiple enemies in video games such as the "Quake" series of first person shooters. The Navy's motivation? Simple destruction. The railgun's high-velocity projectile will destroy targets with sheer kinetic energy rather than with conventional explosives.

Atheists Attack USA Religious History

A resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that recognizes America's "rich spiritual and religious history" is drawing fire from some of America's most prominent atheists. The resolution, H.R. 888, resolves to "affirm" the religious traditions that most historians say played a crucial role in America's founding. It calls religious principles and foundations "critical underpinnings" of America's institutions, condemns attempts to remove religion from U.S. history, and designates the first week in May as "American Religious History Week." The resolution's language has aroused the anger of many atheists who see its provisions as violating the First Amendment of the Constitution and amounting to religious nationalism.

Researchers Demonstrate Teleportation

In research that may be a key step toward real-life quantum communication—the transmission of information using atoms, photons, or other quantum objects—researchers created an experiment in which a quantum bit of information is transported across a distance of seven meters and briefly stored in memory. This is the first time that both quantum memory and teleportation, as the information transfer is known, have been demonstrated in a single experiment. The experiment was performed by scientists from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the University of Science and Technology of China, and the Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities in Austria. The work was led by Prof. Jian-Wei Pan, a physicist at the University of Heidelberg.

Russia: Prepare for Nuclear Onslaught

Barely a month into the new year, the military have already attracted a lot of attention. Following a mild verbal skirmish over ABM components after the holidays, Russian and foreign generals have decided to talk in the open. In a move that mirrors recent discussion amongst Russia's own top brass, NATO's April summit in Bucharest is widely expected to discuss a report on a potential pre-emptive nuclear strike. According to The Daily Telegraph, the authors of the report are convinced there is a real risk that terrorists could lay their hands on weapons of mass destruction in the near or immediate future. To counter this, the alliance may consider suppressing the enemy with nuclear weapons.

UFO Story Smells Of Cover Up

At least three pilots in Stephenville disagree with the military’s press release issued recently. Steve Allen, Don “Doc” Stewart and Todd Downs all say if Stephenville and the Selden area are in the Brownwood Military Operating Area, it’s news to them. A press release issued by Major Karl Lewis of the 301st Fighter Wing Public Affairs at the NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, stated, “Ten F-16s from the 457th Fighter Squadron were performing training operations from 6 to 8 p.m., Tuesday January 8, 2008 in the Brownwood Military Operating Area (MOA), which includes the air space above Erath County.” All three pilots say that space does not include all of Erath County. It only includes a small portion of Dublin and does not include Stephenville or the Selden area at all. “Stephenville is 11 miles from the MOA,” Stewart said, as he pointed out the area on an aeronautical sectional map. Downs, who is an employee at Clark Field in Stephenville, said there is a GPS fixed point located on the airport grounds that the military uses and while it’s not unusual for the jets to be in the area, he believes the press release leads people to believe that all of Erath County air space is included in the MOA and that’s incorrect. He said jets fly through on the way to the MOA. Downs said he does not understand why the military would issue such a release two weeks after repeatedly denying the base had any planes in the area. “I don’t understand why they would do that at all,” Downs said. “They’re not hard to know that they are there. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen them come by me before. They are real loud and it’s not hard to know that they are there.”

Face & Pyramids On Mars Rethink

While many mainstream space experts feel the Face on Mars, first noticed in 1976, is an optical illusion, more efforts will be undertaken by NASA to study the structure. Not much has been done since 2001 to determine if the Face was formed by natural erosion of the Martian surface, or whether a living creature created it. And now Mars observers say they have even found the figure of a man engraved on the Martian surface... Recently, I read a book called “The Case for the Face,” published by Adventures Unlimited Press. While first published in the late 1990s, the arguments and analysis are still quite valid. Several scientists and anthropologists, including quantum physicist Dr. Horace Crater, image scientist Dr. Mark J. Carlotto and Plasma physicist Dr. John E. Brandenburg, take various viewpoints. The late Dr. Carl Sagan is also quoted throughout the book. Throughout the study, some observers claim there are other objects on Mars that indicate creation by intelligent subjects, and mentioned are another possible face, a city, a fortress and various other formations, all located in the Cydonia region of the Red Planet. Various parts of the book are quite technical, however many of the essays cover sociological subjects, such as what will happen if it is finally determined that intelligent subjects created the Face and other objects. Dr. Brandenburg, a Christian, points out that “the world” as mentioned in the Bible meant the universe or a Kosmos and not just the world we live in, so it’s no big deal if it is finally determined that intelligent beings rather than nature created the interesting objects on the Martian surface in the region of Cydonia.

College Says: Sex show 'Yes' -Cross 'No'

A promotion of the sex industry, G-strings, pasties and nudity included, is returning to the historic College of William & Mary, which earlier removed a cross from the famous Wren Chapel because it could offend visitors. Gene Nichol, president of the college that was a Christian institution at its founding, was the decision-maker when the cross first was banished from the chapel, then restored to a special secured case when alumni protested. He confirmed he would not alter plans for the Sex Workers' Art Show to be performed twice on Feb. 4. Last year, the show's appearance on campus provoked outrage from alumni and supporters who accused Nichol of staging an affront to religion and morality in light of his then-recent decision to withdraw the cross from display in the chapel. He said this year that students requested the show, they voted to spend campus funding for it, and he could not change that because of "the First Amendment and the defining traditions of openness that sustain universities." Rector Michael Powell said the Student Assembly this year voted to spend $2,200 in student fee funds on the show. "Can you imagine if a student Christian organization wanted the university to sanction its evangelistic presentation on campus in the name of First Amendment freedoms that Nichols claims to prize? No way," wrote one participant. "Nichol has already demonstrated his hostility to organize religion quite clearly. But organized porn? Hey, no problem."

Microchips everywhere: A future vision

Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items and, by extension, consumers wherever they go, from a distance. A seamless, global network of electronic "sniffers" will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, "live spam," may be beamed at them. In Homes, sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets, all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants' private lives. In truth, much of the radio frequency identification technology that enables objects and people to be tagged and tracked wirelessly already exists, and new and potentially intrusive uses of it are being patented, perfected and deployed. Some of the world's largest corporations are vested in the success of RFID technology, which couples highly miniaturized computers with radio antennas to broadcast information about sales and buyers to company databases. Already, microchips are turning up in some computer printers, car keys and tires, on shampoo bottles and department store clothing tags. They're also in library books and "contactless" payment cards (such as American Express' "Blue" and ExxonMobil's "Speedpass.") Companies say the RFID tags improve supply-chain efficiency, cut theft, and guarantee that brand-name products are authentic, not counterfeit. At a store, RFID doorways could scan your purchases automatically as you leave, eliminating tedious checkouts. At home, convenience is a selling point: RFID-enabled refrigerators could warn about expired milk, generate weekly shopping lists, even send signals to your interactive TV, so that you see "personalized" commercials for foods you have a history of buying. Sniffers in your microwave might read a chip-equipped TV dinner and cook it without instruction. "We've seen so many different uses of the technology," says Dan Mullen, president of AIM Global, a national association of data collection businesses, including RFID, "and we're probably still just scratching the surface in terms of places RFID can be used." The problem, critics say, is that microchipped products might very well do a whole lot more. With tags in so many objects, relaying information to databases that can be linked to credit and bank cards, almost no aspect of life may soon be safe from the prying eyes of corporations and governments, says Mark Rasch, former head of the computer-crime unit of the U.S. Justice Department. By placing sniffers in strategic areas, companies can invisibly "rifle through people's pockets, purses, suitcases, briefcases, luggage, and possibly their kitchens and bedrooms, anytime of the day or night," says Rasch, now managing director of technology at FTI Consulting Inc., a Baltimore-based company. In an RFID world, "You've got the possibility of unauthorized people learning stuff about who you are, what you've bought, how and where you've bought it ... It's like saying, 'Well, who wants to look through my medicine cabinet?' Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items and, by extension, consumers, wherever they go, from a distance.

Food warnings amid China freeze

China is struggling to cope with its worst snowfall in decades, with officials warning of future food shortages as winter crops are wrecked. The government is trying to convince people the situation is under control - praising officials and naming three men who died as "revolutionary martyrs". But forecasters are warning of more snow and urging people not to travel. The bad weather has affected millions of Chinese keen to return to their home villages over the New Year holiday. Dozens are thought to have died as much of the country endures one of its harshest winters for half a century. Communist Party official Chen Xiwen warned of a serious impact on crop production in the south of the country. "The impact on fresh vegetables and on fruit in some places has been catastrophic," he said. "If it heads northward, then the impact on the whole year's grain production will be noticeable." Analysts say the destruction of crops will drive up food prices and fuel inflation, which has already risen rapidly over the past year.

Invisible RFID Ink For Cattle And People

A startup company developing chipless RFID ink has tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats. Somark Innovations announced this week that it successfully tested biocompatible RFID ink, which can be read through animal hairs. The passive RFID technology could be used to identify and track cows to reduce financial losses from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease) scares. Somark, which formed in 2005, is located at the Center for Emerging Technologies in St. Louis. The company is raising Series A equity financing and plans to license the technology to secondary markets, which could include laboratory animals, dogs, cats, prime cuts of meat, and military personnel. Chief scientist Ramos Mays said the tests provide a true proof-of-principle and mitigate most of the technological risks in terms of the product's performance. "This proves the ability to create a synthetic biometric or fake fingerprint with biocompatible, chipless RFID ink and read it through hair," he said. Co-founder Mark Pydynowski said during an interview recently that the ink doesn't contain any metals and can be either invisible or colored. He declined to say what is in the ink, but said he's certain that it is 100% biocompatible and chemically inert. He also said it is safe for people and animals. The process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and a reusable applicator with a one-time-use ink capsule. Pydynowski said it takes five to 10 seconds to "stamp or tattoo" an animal, and there is no need to remove the fur. The ink remains in the dermal layer, and a reader can detect it from 4 feet away. The amount of information contained in the ink depends on the surface area available, he said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calls for a 15-digit number to track cattle. The first three digits are "840" for the U.S. country code. The remaining digits are unique identifiers. The numbers would link to a database containing more information. "It can say where it has been, who it has talked to, who it has eaten with, and who else it has been in contact with," Pydynowski said. Ranchers and others in the agricultural industry can choose a covert stamping system, which would make it impossible for cattle thieves to tell which animals have been marked and easy for those checking for stolen cattle to determine a cow's source. Pydynowski said the technology is an improvement over ear tags, which can be detached from cows and other products. The technology could verify that cuts of meat originated in a hormone-free environment, Pydynowski said, adding that consumers would destroy the system by breaking down the ink when chewing the meat. In other words, Big Brother wouldn't know whether someone ate a Big Mac or a filet mignon, according to Pydynowski's explanation. However, the government and agricultural producers and retailers could track e-coli outbreaks in spinach, he said. The ink also could be used to track and rescue soldiers, Pydynowski said. "It could help identify friends or foes, prevent friendly fire, and help save soldiers' lives," he said.

Brown's secret talks on NWO

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has begun secret talks with other world leaders on far-reaching reform of the United Nations Security Council as part of a drive to create a "new world order" and "global society". Brown is drawing up plans to expand the number of permanent members in a move that will provoke fears in his country that the veto enjoyed by Britain could be diluted eventually. The United States, France, Russia and China also have a veto but the number of members could be doubled to include India, Germany, Japan, Brazil and one or two African nations. Brown has discussed a shake-up of a structure created in 1945 to reflect the world's new challenges and power bases during his four-day trip to China and India. British sources revealed "intense discussions" on UN reform were under way and Brown raised it whenever he met another world leader. The Prime Minister believes the UN is punching below its weight. In 2003, it failed to agree on a fresh resolution giving explicit approval for military action in Iraq. US President George W. Bush then acted unilaterally, winning the support of then British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Brown will unveil a proposal for the UN to spend £100 million ($257 million) a year on setting up a "rapid reaction force" to stop "failed states" sliding back into chaos after a peace deal has been reached. "There is limited value in military action to end fighting if law and order does not follow," he will say. "So we must do more to ensure rapid reconstruction on the ground once conflicts are over and combine traditional humanitarian aid and peace-keeping with stabilisation, recovery and development."

Image Of The Beast Hologram Technology

The Prince of Wales was beamed in Star Trek-style for his first appearance as a hologram when he delivered a powerful speech on the environment to the world's leaders before vanishing into thin air. A life-size, three-dimensional image of the Prince was projected onto the stage of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The Prince was reluctant to attend the summit in person because the flights for him and his entourage would have generated an estimated 20 tons of carbon waste. In comparison the hologram is thought to have left a carbon footprint equivalent to a lightbulb. The hologram drew much surprise from the 2,500 delegates, most of whom had flown thousands of miles to discuss how to save carbon emissions. His six-minute speech was pre-recorded in the drawing room of Clarence House last November and it was transferred into a 3D image.

Spirit of Antichrist in Houston Texas

A few weeks ago, in a tattoo parlor in the hip art deco district of Miami Beach, people were lining up to get "666" tattooed on their bodies, and then smiling through their pain. But these are not devil worshipers. They see themselves as devout followers of Jesus Christ. But the major difference that separates them from other Christians around the world is that the Jesus Christ they worship is alive and well -- and living in the suburbs of Houston. These people belong to a new movement devoted to a man who calls himself the Second Coming of Jesus, and also claims the title of Antichrist, which to him is the next incarnation of Jesus on earth, not an evil being. To show their devotion, some followers ink themselves with "666." One follower said, "I just want to make sure it's visible, that everyone knows my life belongs to the man." Another said, "I want everyone to know I'm one of the antichrists."