Preparing For Domestic Trouble - Pentagon To Deploy 20,000 Troops Inside USA
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement. But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said.................. read more
Nuclear or Bioterror Attack on U.S. Likely by 2013, Panel Warns
Terrorists are likely to attack the United States using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists. "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by FOX News. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday. The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs. But it warns that gap can be easily overcome, if terrorists find scientists willing to share or sell their know-how. "The United States should be less concerned that terrorists will become biologists and far more concerned that biologists will become terrorists," the report states. The commission believes biological weapons are more likely to be obtained and used before nuclear or radioactive weapons because nuclear facilities are more carefully guarded. Civilian laboratories with potentially dangerous pathogens abound, however, and could easily be compromised. Study chairman Graham said anthrax remains the most likely biological weapon. However, he told the AP that contagious diseases — like the flu strain that killed 40 million at the beginning of the 20th century — are looming threats. That virus has been recreated in scientific labs, and there remains no inoculation to protect against it if is stolen and released. Graham said the threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear or biological weapons is growing "not because we have not done positive things but because adversaries are moving at an even faster pace to increase their access" to those materials................... read more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Israel - God's Timepiece
International presence expected to be part of any final peace deal
Israelis have traditionally scorned the idea of international peacekeepers intruding in their region. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion once famously dismissed the U.N.—pronounced "Oom" in Hebrew—as "Oom, schmoom." Arab leaders have also shown disdain: on the eve of the 1967 Six Day War, for example, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser peremptorily expelled 1,300 blue helmets from Sinai before rolling through. And Palestinians have feared that allowing an armed international force into their territory would infringe on the sovereignty of their incipient state. It's therefore striking that a recent proposal to deploy NATO forces in the West Bank as part of an Obama peace deal is quickly gaining advocates in both Washington and the Levant. Former U.S. national-security advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski both recently endorsed the idea. The president-elect's nominee to head the National Security Council, Gen. James Jones—a former NATO supreme commander—is also said to favor such a force. Israelis and Palestinians have raised tepid protests, but even they seem to be realizing increasingly that a strong international presence will be critical if any deal is to be struck—and if it's to stick. "A principle that appeared to be out of bounds I think is now in bounds," says Tony Blair, the Mideast envoy of the Quartet (made up of the United States, the EU, the U.N. and Russia)................... read more
U.S. leaned on Israel not to invade Gaza during economic crisis
Israel came under what officials described as U.S. pressure to maintain restraint in face of Hamas missile strikes from the Gaza Strip. Officials said the administration of President George Bush sent several messages to Israel over the past two weeks that warned against a military invasion of the Gaza Strip. They said Bush relayed such a message to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during the latter's visit to Washington in late November. "The White House does not want to spend its last days fighting fires in the Middle East, especially our part of the region," an official said. "The administration has told us that it wants to focus on saving the U.S. economy." Officials said U.S. pressure on Israel was the primary reason that the military has been prevented from a major ground operation in the Gaza Strip. They said Olmert and his ministers were concerned that any major Israeli operation would anger Bush and harm relations with the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama. On Nov. 29, the Hamas regime escalated missile and mortar attacks on Israel. In one salvo, eight Israeli soldiers were injured in a mortar strike on a military base along the Gaza Strip. "There's no doubt we're getting closer to a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, but it will be different from what took place in the past," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said. "But we must find the right time for an operation."................... read more
Exposed: Europe's 2009 plan for Israel
The European Union, which has been trying for decades to shoulder its way into playing a more important role in the global effort to establish a new Muslim Arab state on historically Jewish lands, is reportedly poised to unveil its latest plan for achieving this unprecedented act of state land theft. Drafted by the French foreign ministry and entitled "The EU Action Strategy for Peace in the Middle East: The Way Forward," the scheme on the agenda for discussion when the EU's foreign ministers meet in the second week of December. Describing it as "the EU's plans for advancing an Israeli-Palestinian deal in 2009," Ha'aretz said initial reaction among Israel' officials has been one of "alarm." "Inter alia, it calls for increased pressure on Israel to reopen Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, including Orient House, which formerly served as the Palestinian Authority's headquarters in the city," the paper said, and which gave the Arabs a strategic foot in what Israel calls its "eternal and undivided capital." A central demand of the Arab world is that the central and most important parts of Jerusalem - with the Temple Mount, Israel's holiest site, at the top of the list - be included in a Palestinian state. States the EU plan: "A key part of building the Palestinian state involves resolving the status of Jerusalem, as the future capital of two states. Therefore the EU will work actively towards the re-opening of the Palestinian institutions, including the Orient House." Apart from this , a variety of other steps are proposed which the EU should pursue next year to push forward diplomatic efforts between Israel and both the Palestinian Arabs and Syria.................... read more
Is 'Operation Israeli Freedom' the Obama mettle test?
While the Gentile leaders consider their economic imprisonment and ponder the possibility that a "global society" may be the only way to post bail, the Jews find themselves helplessly stuck between the proverbial rock and the familiar anti-Semitic hard place. Surrounded by ancient Arab and Persian enemies that want to destroy their fledgling Jewish state and a world spun out of financial orbit, Israel's desperate pleadings once again fall upon deaf international ears. What is on the prophetic horizon for this peculiar "Chosen People" that long ago proudly paraded about in the Promised Land? Have they survived a history riddled with genocidal attempts only to square off with a future filled with more of the same? In this post-Sept. 11 era, whereby the world wonders if the new American president is the Messiah, as Louis Farrakhan has previously suggested, or the Antichrist, as the article posted in the Nov. 15, Newsweek edition asked, the temperament of humanity has risen to fever pitch. Even the newly elected vice president, Joe Biden, chimed into the apocalyptic rhetoric on Oct. 20 when he said, "Mark my words" "gird your loins" "a generated crisis" is coming "within six months" that will "test the mettle" of an Obama presidency. He subsequently suggested that among the possible mettle-testing scenarios might be a serious conflict in the Middle East. Could he be referring to a strategic pre-emptive Israeli air strike upon Iran's nuclear facilities? The Jerusalem Post reports on Nov. 18 that according to the Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, Israel is ready, willing and able to strike Iran's nuclear facilities upon political command. To complicate matters Fox News Channel reported two days later that Iran has produced enough uranium to create at least one atomic bomb. This report did little to dispel the widely held concerns in Israel that by February 2009, Iran will have assembled its first nuclear weapon..................... read more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. The Gog/Magog War
Russia to upgrade missiles to evade US space arms
Russia's military is planning to upgrade its missiles to allow them to evade American weapons in space and penetrate any prospective missile shield, a Russian general said Monday. In comments to the Interfax news agency, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces chief, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, as saying that Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles will be modernized to protect them from space-based components of the U.S. missile defense system. The upgrade will make the missiles' warheads capable of flying "outside the range" of the space-based system, Solovtsov was quoted as saying. He didn't elaborate, but Russian officials have previously boasted about prospective new warheads capable of making sharp maneuvers to dodge missile defense systems. Solovtsov also reportedly said the military will commission new RS-24 missiles equipped with state-of-the-art systems to help penetrate a missile shield. He did not specify that Moscow intended to penetrate a U.S. missile shield, but the Kremlin has fiercely opposed the U.S. plan to deploy a battery of 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic. Reflecting Russia's suspicions about U.S. intentions, Solovtsov alleged Monday that the U.S. is considering the scenario of a first nuclear strike that would destroy most Russian missiles. A few surviving Russian weapons launched in retaliation could then be destroyed by the U.S. missile defense system. ................. read more
Iran launches massive naval maneuver
Iran launched a large-scale, six-day naval maneuver in the Sea of Oman on Tuesday, the official news agency reported. About 60 warships were set to participate in the maneuver, which will cover 129,500-sq. kilometers of Iranian territorial waters, the agency, IRNA, said. This type of "maneuver has been rare in the past 30 years both in its size and commissioning of new weapons," IRNA quoted the maneuver's spokesman, Adm. Ghasem Rostamabadi, as saying. Aircraft from Iran's air force will also participate in the war game, dubbed "Unity-87" in reference to the current year 1387 in the traditional Persian calendar. Iran regularly holds war games in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Linking the two bodies of water is the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway where 40 percent of the world's oil passes through. Teheran has repeatedly warned that it would close the narrow strait if the US or Israel attacked it over Teheran's disputed nuclear program. In October, Iran's navy inaugurated a new naval base on the eastern part of the Strait in the port town of Jask. Ephraim Sneh, leader of the new Israel Hazaka party and former deputy defense minister said "Iran's unprecedented naval activity is actually a preparatory drill to taking over the Gulf and the world's most important oil route.................. read more
Iran to supply guns to Israel's neighbor
Lebanon asked the U.S. for $800 million in financial help years ago to upgrade its army weaponry and reduce the Hezbollah terror group's need for guns, but the funds never came through and now the nation has signed a five-year pact with Iran, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The development will give Iran greater influence over the neighbor to Israel, just the opposite of what U.S. policy would have sought. Under the security agreement, signed during the visit of Lebanese President Michel Sleiman to Tehran in late November, Iran will supply the Lebanese army with weapons and equipment over the next five years. The agreement also calls for an exchange of visits between the two countries at the ministerial level. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad already has promised to visit Beirut in the near future. Under the pact's terms, weapons are to include "defensive strategic systems" which, according to Iran, include missiles. The security pact increases Iran's influence over Lebanon, given its close ties and support for Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah. From Iran, the Hezbollah has obtained some 42,000 missiles and rockets, many of which are capable of reaching neighboring Israel. Since its summer 2006 war with Israel, the Hezbollah reportedly has tripled its military capability. ................. read more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Apostate Christianity
Religious leaders condemn re-written songs for anti-Israel carols in church
Leading members of Britain’s Jewish and Christian communities have condemned a prominent Anglican church for holding a service where traditional carols were rewritten to attack Israel. The Rector of St James’s Piccadilly, the Rev Charles Hedley, said that he would think twice before allowing the service to take place in his church again after he received dozens of complaints. The offices of Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Carey of Clifton, his predecessor, are among those who have criticised the service. The event was organised by anti-Israel campaigners, including one Jewish group, and featured carols that had been rewritten by an unnamed Jewish parody writer. The Twelve Days of Christmas was sung as: “Twelve assassinations/ Eleven homes demolished/ Ten wells obstructed/ Nine sniper towers/ Eight gunships firing/ Seven checkpoints blocking/ Six tanks a-rolling/ Five settlement rings/ Four falling bombs/ Three trench guns/ Two trampled doves/ And an uprooted olive tree.”............... read more
Emergent church leader says 'gay' can be biblical lifestyle
One of the key leaders of today's most cutting-edge church movement has opened an Internet discussion on the issue of same-sex marriage with the bold proclamation that he believes "gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer" individuals can and should live out their sexuality in – and blessed by – the Christian church. "I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (as least as much as any of us can!)," writes author and church leader Tony Jones, "and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state." Jones is an author and former youth pastor who holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also the national coordinator of Emergent Village, a loosely-formed friendship of churches that derive their descriptive name from having "emerged" from postmodernism to take the gospel of Jesus Christ into a post-Christian culture. The "Emergent Church," as these mostly young, community- and mission-driven congregations are collectively known, is criticized by some for being "theologically liberal," praised by others as the best hope for passing the torch of Christianity to future generations. In his "The New Christians" blog, Jones opens up a discussion and debate on the issue of homosexuality with his readers and with a fellow theologian/blogger, a self-described political conservative, Rod Dreher. Jones acknowledges that detractors against the somewhat nebulous and hard-to-define Emergent churches will pick up on his statement and repeat a common refrain of criticism. "'Aha!' my critics will laugh derisively, 'I knew he and his ilk were on a continuous leftward slide!'" Jones admits. Some of the comments show he was correct in his prediction. "So, your statement is that you believe this. ... Why do you believe it? Because it seems right to you?" asks a respondent identified as Michael C. "I suppose if you re-define Biblical Christianity to mean: whatever I believe is biblical Christianity, and there is no outside authority to judge it – then yes it can be in accord. If however you mean biblical Christianity as judged by the Bible, then no it cannot be in accord," Michael C. writes. "I'm sorry to say but these arguments that I've heard from the Emergent movement seem to rely a whole lot more pleading and a lot less on Biblical exegesis (our rule and faith – especially when you say 'biblical' Christianity).".................... read more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. The Rise of Islam
The Message From Mumbai
Around the world, people have reacted with horror to the vile atrocities in Mumbai. For three days, our TV screens transmitted images of carnage and chaos as the toll of murder victims climbed to upwards of 190 people, with many hundreds more injured. Despite the fact that Western citizens were caught up in the attacks, there is nevertheless a sense that this was nothing to do with us — a horrible event happening in a faraway place. Among commentators, moreover, there has been no small amount of confusion. Were these terrorists motivated by the grievance between Muslims and Hindus over Kashmir, or was this a broader attack by Al Qaeda? If British and American tourists were singled out over Iraq — which many assume is the motive for such attacks — why were Indians targeted in the Victoria railway station? And why was an obscure outreach centre geared to Jews marked for slaughter? Such perceptions and questions suggest that, even now, Western commentators still don't grasp what the free world is facing. This was not merely a distant horror. We should pay the closest possible attention to what happened in Mumbai because something on this scale could well happen here. But because we don't understand what we are actually up against, we are not doing nearly enough to prevent this — or something even worse — occurring; and if it were to happen here, we would be unable to cope. ................ read more
Europe heading for major cultural clash with it's Muslim population
Europe is heading towards a major cultural clash with an ever-growing Muslim population that does not want to adopt European culture, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy said Monday. "We can expect a major inter-cultural clash in Europe," Halevy said in an address at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies on the changing face of the world on the eve of 2009. He added that prominent European countries, as well as Russia, could be nearly 50 percent Muslim by 2050, noting that England was currently debating whether Islamic law can be applicable to British Muslims instead of British law in certain matters such as marital disputes. The former spymaster, who immigrated to Israel from the UK as a teenager in 1948, opined that how European countries reacted to such a challenge would determine their very future. "More and more we see that Muslims living in Europe are not interested in adapting to the local European culture but seek to live by their own way of life within the European framework," he said. "The demographics have significant political and cultural implications." In a wide-ranging address, the former Mossad chief said that the greatest danger facing the world at large was the merging of global Islamic terrorism and the proliferation by either state or non-state entities of non-conventional weapons. "We do not know of any such successes, but we do know that a will for such a merger exists," he said. "This is a threat which, if it materializes, will put us in a whole new world, one which is unknown and uncontrollable.".. .................. read more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies
Robot soldiers to determine who lives and dies?
The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately. By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into "autonomous systems", the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers. A British robotics expert has been recruited by the US Navy to advise them on building robots that do not violate the Geneva Conventions. Colin Allen, a scientific philosopher at Indiana University's has just published a book summarising his views entitled Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong. He told The Daily Telegraph: "The question they want answered is whether we can build automated weapons that would conform to the laws of war. Can we use ethical theory to help design these machines?" Airborne drones are already used in Iraq and Afghanistan to launch air strikes against militant targets and robotic vehicles are used to disable roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices. Last month the US Army took delivery of a new robot built by an American subsidiary of the British defence company QinetiQ, which can fire everything from bean bags and pepper spray to high-explosive grenades and a 7.62mm machine gun. But this generation of robots are all remotely operated by humans. Researchers are now working on "soldier bots" which would be able to identify targets, weapons and distinguish between enemy forces like tanks or armed men and soft targets like ambulances or civilians. Their software would be embedded with rules of engagement conforming with the Geneva Conventions to tell the robot when to open fire. Some are concerned that it will be impossible to devise robots that avoid mistakes, conjuring up visions of machines killing indiscriminately when they malfunction, like the robot in the film Robocop. Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist at Sheffield University, best known for his involvement with the cult television show Robot Wars, is the leading critic of the US plans. He says: "It sends a cold shiver down my spine. I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination is terrifying."......................... read more
New genetic test asks which sport a child was born to play
When Donna Campiglia learned recently that a genetic test might be able to determine which sports suit the talents of her 2 ½-year-old son, Noah, she instantly said, Where can I get it and how much does it cost? "I could see how some people might think the test would pigeonhole your child into doing fewer sports or being exposed to fewer things, but I still think it's good to match them with the right activity," Campiglia, 36, said as she watched a toddler class at Boulder Indoor Soccer in which Noah struggled to take direction from the coach between juice and potty breaks. "I think it would prevent a lot of parental frustration," she said. In health-conscious, sports-oriented Boulder, Atlas Sports Genetics is playing into the obsessions of parents by offering a $149 test that aims to predict a child's natural athletic strengths. The process is simple. Swab inside the child's cheek and along the gums to collect DNA and return it to a lab for analysis of ACTN3, one gene among more than 20,000 in the human genome. The test's goal is to determine whether a person would be best at speed and power sports like sprinting or football, or endurance sports like distance running, or a combination of the two. A 2003 study discovered the link between ACTN3 and those athletic abilities. In this era of genetic testing, DNA is being analyzed to determine predispositions to disease, but experts raise serious questions about marketing it as a first step in finding a child's sports niche, which some parents consider the road to a college scholarship or a career as a professional athlete. Atlas executives acknowledge that their test has limitations but say that it could provide guidelines for placing youngsters in sports. The company is focused on testing children from infancy to about 8 years old because physical tests to gauge future sports performance at that age are, at best, unreliable........................ read more
New ID Scanners Can View Documents Through Your Car, Clothes Up To 50 Feet Away
The federal government has already deployed new detection machines that can scan citizens without their knowledge from as far as 50 feet away and "read" their personal documents such as passports or driver's licenses. The Homeland Security Department touts the high-tech devices as increasing security at border crossings, but privacy advocates are raising all sorts of red flags. Critics say the new machines, which read one's personal information right through a wallet or purse, do so without consent or a warrant and may set a worrisome precedent. The devices, called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machines, allow officials to read remotely any passports, pass cards, and driver's licenses that contain special chips with personal information. The RFIDs are so sensitive that, even before a vehicle pulls up at a border checkpoint, agents already will have on their computer screen the personal data of the passengers, including each person's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number, and even a digitized photo. The new gadgets are in place, or soon will be, at five border crossings: Blaine, Wash.; Buffalo; Detroit; Nogales, Ariz.; and San Ysidro, Calif. They are slated to have a dramatically expanded presence in June. Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that the technology could make Americans less secure because terrorists or other criminals may be able to steal the personal information off the ID cards remotely. Tien and other critics warn that people up to no good can use their own RFID machines in a process called "skimming" to read the information from as far as 50 feet. Indeed, consumer privacy expert Katherine Albrecht maintains that the chips create the "potential for a whole surveillance network to be set up." Among other abuses, she says police could use them to track criminals; abusive husbands could use the technology to find their wives; and stores could trail the shopping patterns of patrons......................... read more
Bug-Sized Spies: U.S. Develops Tiny Flying Robots
If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons? That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board. U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives. "The way we envision it is, there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm," said Greg Parker, who helps lead the research project at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. "If we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would fill that void." In essence, the research seeks to miniaturize the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance and reconnaissance. The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.......................... read more
Minority Report comes to Britain: The CCTV that spots crimes before they happen
CCTV cameras which can 'predict' if a crime is about to take place are being introduced on Britain's streets. The cameras can alert operators to suspicious behaviour, such as loitering and unusually slow walking. Anyone spotted could then have to explain their behaviour to a police officer. The move has been compared to the Tom Cruise science-fiction film Minority Report, in which people are arrested before they commit planned offences. It will also fuel fears that Britain is becoming a surveillance society. There are already 4.2million cameras trained on the public. The technology could be used alongside many of these to allow evermore advanced scrutiny of our movements. Last night, civil rights campaign group Liberty was sceptical. A spokesman said: 'Bringing expensive Hollywood sci-fi to our car parks will never be as effective as having police on the street leading the fight against crime.' The cameras, trained on public places, such as car parks, are being tested by Portsmouth City Council. Computers are programmed to analyse the movements of people or vehicles in the camera frame. If someone is seen lurking in a particular area, the computer will send out an alarm to a CCTV operator. The operator will then check the image and – if concerned – ring the police. The aim is to stop crimes before they are committed. If a vehicle is moving too fast or slow – indicating joyriding or kerb-crawling, for example – a similar alert could be given. Councillor Jason Fazackarley of Portsmouth Council said: 'It's the 21st century equivalent of a nightwatchman, but unlike a night-watchman it never blinks, it never takes a break and it never gets bored.' But the danger is that the innocent could be forced to account for their movements despite doing nothing wrong. .......................... read more
Indonesian AIDS patients face mandatory microchip implant monitoring
CCTV cameras which can 'predict' if a crime is about to take place are being introduced on Britain's streets. The cameras can alert operators to suspicious behaviour, such as loitering and unusually slow walking. Anyone spotted could then have to explain their behaviour to a police officer. The move has been compared to the Tom Cruise science-fiction film Minority Report, in which people are arrested before they commit planned offences. It will also fuel fears that Britain is becoming a surveillance society. There are already 4.2million cameras trained on the public. The technology could be used alongside many of these to allow evermore advanced scrutiny of our movements. Last night, civil rights campaign group Liberty was sceptical. A spokesman said: 'Bringing expensive Hollywood sci-fi to our car parks will never be as effective as having police on the street leading the fight against crime.' The cameras, trained on public places, such as car parks, are being tested by Portsmouth City Council. Computers are programmed to analyse the movements of people or vehicles in the camera frame. If someone is seen lurking in a particular area, the computer will send out an alarm to a CCTV operator. The operator will then check the image and – if concerned – ring the police. The aim is to stop crimes before they are committed. If a vehicle is moving too fast or slow – indicating joyriding or kerb-crawling, for example – a similar alert could be given. Councillor Jason Fazackarley of Portsmouth Council said: 'It's the 21st century equivalent of a nightwatchman, but unlike a night-watchman it never blinks, it never takes a break and it never gets bored.' But the danger is that the innocent could be forced to account for their movements despite doing nothing wrong. .......................... read more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Christian Worldview/Issues
Wycliffe Bible Translators launch "The Last Languages Campaign" - Every language by 2025
A $50 million donation is being used to kick off an effort to reach an estimated 200 million people around the world with a Bible written in their own language by the year 2025. The Last Languages Campaign is being launched by Wycliffe Bible Translators, whose leaders believe "not only do people comprehend the Bible best when it is written in the language they speak in their home, but that critical community development – literacy, the establishment of water purification systems, AIDS education, human rights, and community empowerment – often starts in the strangest place: with Bible translation." What previously was projected for 125 years of work now is being organized into a 17-year effort scheduled to conclude in 2025. Wycliffe, founded in 1942, is made up of dozens of groups involving more than 7,000 people who are trying to provide a written Gospel to every group of people around the world. The organization believes there are about 2,200 languages that still do not have a translation of the Bible................... read more
Survey: Students Lie, Cheat, Steal, But Say They're Good
In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards. Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today's young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners. "The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically," said Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "They have opportunities their predecessors didn't have (to cheat). The temptation is greater." The Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics institute, surveyed 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide, both public and private. All students in the selected schools were given the survey in class; their anonymity was assured. Michael Josephson, the institute's founder and president, said he was most dismayed by the findings about theft. The survey found that 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls — 30 percent overall — acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23 percent said they stole something from a parent or other relative. "What is the social cost of that — not to mention the implication for the next generation of mortgage brokers?" Josephson remarked in an interview. "In a society drenched with cynicism, young people can look at it and say 'Why shouldn't we? Everyone else does it.'" Despite such responses, 93 percent of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77 percent affirmed that "when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.".. ............. read more
Churches Stand to Lose Several Billion Dollars in Lost Donations Due to Economic Downturn
Tens of millions of Americans have already suffered substantial financial losses in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial challenges. A new survey from The Barna Group shows that more than 150 million adults said they have been affected by the economic turbulence, and most of them expect it to take several years before the nation fully recovers. Americans are now passing on their financial pain to churches and other non-profit organizations by cutting back substantially on their giving during the fourth quarter of 2008. Those reductions - occurring during the most important quarter of the year for donor-driven organizations - will cripple thousands of smaller and less stable donor-supported organizations. Two out of every three families - 68% - have been noticeably affected by the financial setbacks in America. Nearly one out of every four (22%) said they have been impacted in a "major way," almost four out of ten have been affected "only somewhat" and about one out of every twelve (8%) say they have not been affected too much. Interestingly, the people least affected have been those under 30 years of age - perhaps because relatively few of them have substantial retirement funds - as well as Asian households and those who describe themselves as mostly conservative on social and political issues. Overall, more than one-quarter of adults (28%) said they had lost at least 20% of the value of their retirement and 401K accounts. The same share of the public (28%) said they had lost 20% or more of the value of the stocks and bonds that they owned. During the past three months, one of the ways that adults have adjusted to their financial hardships has been by reducing their charitable giving. In total, one out of every five households (20%) has decreased its giving to churches or other religious centers................ read more
Court to decide whether campus evangelism a crime
The so-called "free-speech code" of Yuba Community College District is under federal court scrutiny. California student, Ryan Dozier, decided to spend some time on campus sharing his faith and handing out tracts to fellow students, generating conversations about Christianity. Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Heather Hacker comments on the situation. "A campus police officer came over and told him that if he continued to do so without a permit that he would be possibly expelled or arrested, and so Ryan stopped immediately," she explains. Hacker says Dozier thought the case was closed, but he was apparently mistaken. "Three weeks later he got a certified letter from the president of the college stating that his actions were the subject of a campus crime report," she adds. "Last time I checked, sharing your faith on a public college campus was not a crime."................ read more
Posts
