Battalion Of Deborah

SmartMetric Announces That Your Fingerprint Will Make Credit Card Signatures

Publisher — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:45:04 -0400

ATM PIN Numbers a Thing of the Past
SmartMetric, Inc. (OTCBB: SMME) said today that its new Biometric Card will make signing a credit card or inputting a PIN number for your ATM card a thing of the past. With Identity Theft becoming the largest crime in the United States, a new and safer way of using credit and debit cards has become a quest for Banks around the World. After more then 8 years of R&D, SmartMetric has announced today that it now can replace signatures and PIN numbers with a person's fingerprint thereby providing a 100% guarantee that the person making the transaction is who they say they are.
Inside your credit card is the smallest fingerprint scanner and reader in the world. Powered by an internal battery as thin as tissue paper the SmartMetric Biometric Fingerprint Card will only work when the card scans and reads the card owner's fingerprint. You become the key. Only the person authorized to use the card can turn it on. The company President, Mr. Colin Hendrick, said this represents a revolution in credit card security that has the potential to make his company, SmartMetric, Inc., a world leader in the credit ...

What's Up with the Secret Cybersecurity Plans, Senators Ask DHS

Publisher — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:14:57 -0400

By Ryan Singel S
The government's new cyber-security "Manhattan Project" is so secretive that a key Senate oversight panel has been reduced to writing a letter to beg for answers to the most basic questions, such as what's going on, what's the point and what about privacy laws.
The Senate Homeland Security committee wants to know, for example, what is the goal of Homeland Security's new National Cyber Security Center. They also want to know why it is that in March, DHS announced that Silicon Valley evangelist and security novice Rod Beckstrom would direct the center, when up to that point DHS said the mere existence of the center was classified.
Those are just two sub-questions out of a list of 17 multi-part questions centrist Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent to DHS in a letter Friday.
In fact, although the two say they asked for a briefing five months ago on what the center does, DHS has yet to explain its latest acronym.
The panel, noted it was pleased with the new focus on cyber security, but questioned Homeland Security's request to triple the center's cyber-security budget to about $200 million.
They cited concerns about the ...

Supreme Court to Americans: In Your Face!

Publisher — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:16:37 -0400

6-3 opinion on photo-ID law opens door for more privacy intrusions
Monday's Supreme Court decision upholding a harshly restrictive photo-ID requirement for voting deals a severe blow to people who value privacy and individuality. That's all of us, by the way.
But it's future generations that will really pay the price, because they may grow up in a country whose governments and corporations will routinely track their movements, activities, likes, dislikes, opinions, resentments — just about everything they say or do.
Monday's 6-3 court decision upholds a misbegotten Indiana law requiring voters to present photo IDs.
But it opens the door wider for more sophisticated uses of photo IDs, such as facial biometrics for tracking your movements and buying habits. That's all in the near future, in part thanks to RFID tags (which I wrote about earlier in an item about Vegas casinos).
My take is that once photo IDs are going to required for voting (and many states will now try to pass laws modeled after Indiana's), the government and corporations will have all sorts of tools to play with. The court decision blesses such attempts because Indiana's law was particularly intrusive.
So go to the Electronic Privacy Information ...

Do you need to stock up the bunker?

Publisher — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:04:37 -0400

By Brendan O'Neill
In the 1950s and 1960s, bunkers were a feature of many American suburban homes, populated by families fearful of the prospect of nuclear war. That threat has subsided, but now many reasonable people are stocking up on essential supplies in preparation for a new cataclysm.
When you hear the word "survivalist", what image comes to mind?
Perhaps you think of a gun-toting loner in Mid-West America, who lives in a shack surrounded by tinned food and emergency water supplies.
Or maybe you think of end-of-the-world religionists retreating to a fortified camp with enough food and drink to last them until Judgement Day.
But today there is a new breed of survivalist – and they're well-heeled, well-educated and more likely to wear an immaculately pressed suit than a camouflage flak jacket.
Civilisation breakdown
Barton M Biggs is about as far as you can get from the old John Rambo-style survivalist. Forget long, unkempt hair and a sweat-stained vest. Mr Biggs is a former chief global strategist for Morgan Stanley, who now runs the hedge fund Traxis Partners in New York.
Yet in his latest book, Wealth, War and Wisdom, he suggests that all right-minded people should "assume the ...

'No plans to abolish England'

Publisher — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:19:40 -0400

Brussels - The European Union (EU) has no plans to abolish England, officials in Brussels insisted after two British newspapers accused the EU of wanting to "wipe England off the map."
"There are no secret plans to carve up the continent in a way that makes England disappear. There is no goal of creating a United States of Europe," a European Commission spokeswoman said.
The comments came after two popular British tabloids, the Sun and the Daily Mail, celebrated the day of England's national saint, St George, by revealing the existence of "EU plots to carve up Britain."
"Secret plans" drawn up in Brussels included maps "wiping out" England and the English name of the body of water separating Britain from Europe, "the English Channel," in favour of the unpatriotic "Channel Sea," the papers claimed.
Reproductions of the maps provided by the newspapers divided Britain into "North Sea," "Atlantic" and "Trans-Manche" regions - the latter referring to the French name for the Channel, "la Manche."
"The words 'England' and 'Britain' are left off official maps of each area," the Daily Mail stormed, accusing the British government of being "fully behind the project" nevertheless.
But EU officials denied absolutely the existence ...

Face scans for air passengers to begin in UK this summer

Publisher — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:16:30 -0400

Officials say automatic screening more accurate than checks by humans
Owen Bowcott The Guardian, Friday April 25 2008 About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on Friday April 25 2008 on p1 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 01:00 on April 25 2008.
A face recognition system will scan faces and match them to biometric chips on passports. Photograph: Image Source/Getty
Airline passengers are to be screened with facial recognition technology rather than checks by passport officers, in an attempt to improve security and ease congestion, the Guardian can reveal.
From summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers' faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports.
Border security officials believe the machines can do a better job than humans of screening passports and preventing identity fraud. The pilot project will be open to UK and EU citizens holding new biometric passports.
But there is concern that passengers will react badly to being rejected by an automated gate. To ensure no one on a police watch list is incorrectly let through, the technology will err on the side of caution and is ...

District bans 'John 3:16,' promotes demonic leer

Publisher — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:09:47 -0400

Court filing seeks elimination of penalties for Christian art
By Bob Unruh
A court in Wisconsin has been asked to suspend immediately a policy in the Tomah Area School District that bans Christian symbols in students' artwork, but allows Hindu, Buddhist and satanic representations.
The motion was filed yesterday by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has taken on the case of a student identified by the initials A.P.
The ADF launched a lawsuit on the student's behalf after a teacher refused to give him a grade on a project because his work included "John 3:16" as well as "As sign of love."
Artwork banned because of the inclusion of a biblical reference and the message: "A sign of love"
The school district, however, openly acknowledged and publicized various pieces of art representing Buddhism, and Hinduism as well as several demon faces that appeared satanic.
The school defended its actions:
"Respect for the beliefs of a diverse student population … requires that the district treat all students equitable and fairly regardless of their faith," it said in a website statement.
"To meet our responsibilities, students are required to follow the rules of conduct for their classrooms and the instructions that their ...

Three States Conduct Martial Law Sweeps

Publisher — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:23:41 -0400

InfoWars
Steve Watson
Federal law enforcement agencies co-opted sheriffs offices as well state and local police forces in three states last weekend for a vast round up operation that one sheriff’s deputy has described as "martial law training".
Law-enforcement agencies in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas took part in what was described by local media as "an anti-crime and anti-terrorism initiative" involving officers from more than 50 federal, state and local agencies.
Given the military style name "Operation Sudden Impact", the initiative saw officers from six counties rounding up fugitives, conducting traffic checkpoints, climbing on boats on the Mississippi River and doing other "crime-abatement" programs all under the label of "anti-terrorism".
WREG Memphis news channel 3 reported that the Sheriff’s Department arrested 332 people, 142 of whom were fugitives, or "terrorists" as they now seem to be known.
Hundreds of dollars were seized and drugs recovered, and 1,292 traffic violations were handed out to speeding terrorists and illegally parked terrorists.
Click here to watch a WREG Memphis news report
The authorities even raided businesses and store owners, confiscating computers and paperwork in an effort to "track down possible terrorists before something big happens".
The Sheriff’s Department is determining if and when ...

New embassy in Iraq a mystery

Publisher — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:26:19 -0400

Baghdad locale, slated to be completed in 2007, to be largest of its kind
The Associated Press
updated 4:45 p.m. CT, Fri., April. 14, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq’s turbulent future.
The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome.
“We can’t talk about it. Security reasons,” Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project.
A British tabloid even told readers the location was being kept secret — news that would surprise Baghdadis who for months have watched the forest of construction cranes at work across the winding Tigris, at the very center of their city and within easy mortar range of anti-U.S. forces in the capital, though fewer explode there these days.
The embassy complex — 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report — is taking shape on riverside parkland in ...

U.S. Church needs purification, pope says

Publisher — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:09:33 -0400

By Philip Pullella
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, marking the third anniversary of his election, urged the U.S. Catholic Church on Saturday to overcome its divisions and seek "purification" and the truth following its sexual abuse scandal.
Benedict began the penultimate day of his first U.S. papal visit with a solemn Mass in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Gothic church completed in 1879 with the pennies of immigrants and known as the center of American Catholicism.
The pope rode down New York's usually bustling Fifth Avenue, a section of which was eerily deserted and sealed off by security agents, in a black limousine and emerged wearing a fur-fringed white cape.
He was welcomed on the steps of the great cathedral by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who earlier in an address inside the church joked about being Jewish.
"Pope Benedict could not have picked a better time to come to New York -- a beautiful spring weekend, the 200th anniversary of the archdiocese of New York, and on top of that it's Passover," Bloomberg said.
The Mass reflected New York's ethnic mix, with prayers in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, German and Akan, a group of languages from West ...

Is the Devil Gaining a Foothold in Rome?

Publisher — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:05:26 -0400

By George Thomas
CBNNews.com - ROME, Italy - In this predominantly Catholic nation, the devil is gaining a foothold.
"There is a greater openness towards the devil," says Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's Chief Exorcist.
In fact, Rome has been called the most satanized city in Italy.
"Satanism and the occult are in fashion," declares Father Pedro Barrajón, a Catholic priest who serves in Rome.
Devil's Diabolical Influence
There are an estimated 800 satanic cults operating in the country, with more than 600,000 followers. And according to Silvano Lilli, an evangelical pastor in Rome, their numbers are growing.
"The devil's diabolical influence is growing in so many areas of our society," says Lilli."He needs to be driven out."
Leading the battle to drive the devil out of Italy is 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth.
"This is the room where I do my exorcisms," says Father Amorth pointing to a small room.
Devil vs. The Vatican
Not too far from the Vatican, Father Amorth uses the practice of exorcism to drive out the devil from possessed souls.
"If a person is not violent I let them sit in this armchair, and I do the exorcism here. If they are violent I lay ...

Newborns' DNA targeted for state research, profiling,'What good is the privacy law if government warehouses data?'

Publisher — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:55:58 -0400

By Bob Unruh
The state of Minnesota has advanced a plan to own the DNA of newborns, preserving it in a warehouse for use in genetic research, experimentation, manipulation, and profiling, according to an advocacy organization seeking to protect the privacy of that individual information.
"Citizen DNA is citizen property. The government should be required to ask, not allowed to take," said Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care, a Minnesota-based organization familiar with the progress in that state.
"If this bill becomes law, each year 73,000 newborn citizens will not be protected by the state genetic privacy law. The [state] will take their DNA and unless the parents figure it out, the government will keep it," she said.
"Children grow up. Eventually, every citizen will have their DNA owned by state government and available for government to engage in genetic research, experimentation, manipulation, and profiling," she warned. "What good is the state genetic privacy law if government warehousing and analysis of every child's DNA from birth is exempt from its informed consent protections?"
In Minnesota, the state's genetic privacy law was challenged by the Health Department, which lost a court battle over the issue. But now ...

Met Police officers to be 'microchipped' by top brass in Big Brother style tracking scheme

Publisher — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:01:59 -0400

Met Chief Sir Ian Blair could be among 31,000 officers to receive the new electronic tracking device
Every single Metropolitan police officer will be 'microchipped' so top brass can monitor their movements on a Big Brother style tracking scheme, it can be revealed today.
According to respected industry magazine Police Review, the plan - which affects all 31,000 serving officers in the Met, including Sir Ian Blair - is set to replace the unreliable Airwave radio system currently used to help monitor officer's movements.
The new electronic tracking device - called the Automated Personal Location System (APLS) - means that officers will never be out of range of supervising officers.
But many serving officers fear being turned into "Robocops" - controlled by bosses who have not been out on the beat in years.
According to service providers Telent, the new technology 'will enable operators in the Service's operations centres to identify the location of each police officer' at any time they are on duty - whether overground or underground.
Although police chiefs say the new technology is about 'improving officer safety' and reacting to incidents more quickly, many rank and file believe it is just a Big Brother style system ...

Big Change Could be in the Air for North American Politics

Publisher — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:44:28 -0400

Tim King Salem-News.com
Will the 'Amero' Replace the U.S. Dollar?
While nothing is apparently written in stone, it appears secret negotiations are underway that could lead to the implementation of new currency and coins for the American Continents. This is an image of the Union of North America (UNA) Amero Pattern Coins that is not at this point, recognized or authorized by the federal government.
Courtesy: designscomputed.com
(SALEM, Ore.) - Ignorance is a silent killer, and it appears that the U.S. government along with Mexico and Canada, may be as stealthy as Jack the Ripper when it comes to the proposed North American Union Free Trade Agreement. That may be a severe assessment, but when it comes to the end of the American dream, people get a little punchy.
Lou Dobbs of CNN calls it, "A proposal for an expanded so-called free trade zone from Alaska to the tip of South America." He says it is not a government program, instead it is formed by international corporations who according to some sources, have seen a 45% increase in profits overall in the last five years, while the American workforce has seen a 3% increase overall.
"Its a plan from the ...

Should grandpa be microchipped?

Publisher — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:38:49 -0400

Chipping Fido is considered an act of love. Chipping Grandpa, however, has been described as "Orwellian," "creepy" and even “satanic."
Regardless, human "tagging" was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 to make it easier to retrieve medical records. An estimated 2,000 people worldwide have volunteered to have tiny RFID (radio frequency identification) chips embedded just below the tricep, including 111 dementia patients and their caregivers at Alzheimer's Community Care in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Privacy advocates, who protested at the Florida care center, argued that Alzheimer’s patients can’t necessarily give informed consent. Implanting a chip, they say, is a violent, invasive act. Critics also worry about potential long-term effects on health, even though they’ve been used with pets for more than a decade.
But supporters say it's important to have instant and accurate access to medical records, especially for dementia patients. In addition to the estimated 4.5 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s—a number that is expected to quadruple by 2050—the tags could be used for high-risk patients suffering from diabetes, cancer, heart disease and autism.
"The most important thing the chips have done is give our families peace of mind," said Mary Barnes, CEO of Alzheimer’s Community ...

Doctors hope to check patients with micro radio antennas

Publisher — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:27:35 -0400

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
Instead of asking friends "How do you feel?" or doctors examining patients, one day such queries and examinations may be replaced by tiny radio antennas implanted under the skin to act as remote sensors of humans' emotional, physiological state. Scientists at the Hebrew University's applied physics department have discovered a method for remote sensing of people's physiological and emotional state.
Their initial results were published last week in the prestigious scientific journal The Physical Review Letters and have aroused much results in physicians and scientists. Their invention has been patented and commercialized by Yissum, HU's technology transfer company.
The researchers - Profs. Yuri Feldman and Aharon Agranat with Dr. Alexander Puzenko, Dr. Andreas Caduff and doctoral student Paul Ben-Ishai - believe the discovery theoretically could help help monitor medical patients from afar, evaluate athletic performance, diagnose disease and remotely sense stress levels - which could have significant implications for technology in the biomedical engineering, anti-terror and security technology fields.
The key is in the surprising shape of human sweat ducts. The researchers discovered that human skin is structured as an array of minute antennas that operate in the "sub-terahertz" frequency range.
This discovery is based on investigations of ...

Registered traveler goes international

Publisher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:58:39 -0400

By Alice Lipowicz
Sponsored By
The Homeland Security Department today published notice it will begin testing an International Registered Traveler program at three airports starting June 10 to expedite airport clearances for prescreened travelers.
Initially, the pilot program is available only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The eventual goal is to coordinate with other international trusted traveler programs around the globe to allow pre-screened, low-risk foreign visitors to participate as well, according to the notice published today in the Federal Register.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will operate the six-month pilot program at JFK International in New York; George Bush Intercontinental in Houston; and at Washington Dulles. Applications to participate are due by May 12.
Under the program, travelers who are registered in the program may bypass passport control when returning to the United States. Instead, they may verify their identities at automated kiosks at the Federal Inspection Services area of each airport. The program will use fingerprint biometric technology for the verifications.
At the kiosk, the traveler will insert into a reader either their machine-readable passport or machine-readable permanent-resident card. Then, the traveler must provide fingerprints electronically, pose for a digital photograph and respond to questions ...

Judge Roy Moore blasts 'thought police'

Publisher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:56:52 -0400

Allie Martin -
The former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is calling for more Christians in America to be educated and informed about activist judges and the liberal agenda to remove the mention of God from the public square.
In 2003, Roy Moore was kicked out of office for refusing to obey a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building in Montgomery. Now, Moore is chairman of the Foundation for Moral Law -- which represents individuals involved in religious liberty cases, and holds seminars about the Godly heritage of America.
Moore says Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the true liberal agenda, and the attempts by governmental authorities to play thought police. "Five years ago, people did not understand what the true issue was," he explains. "I think more and more people are coming to the realizations that ... government [is] attempting to control your mind, control what you think."
According to Moore, a good example of this "thought control" is a proposed hate crimes law in Pennsylvania, which would punish people for what they think. He says according to that law, if a person committed a crime they could also ...

Met Police officers to be 'microchipped' by top brass in Big Brother style tracking scheme

Publisher — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:40:56 -0400

Schools Prepare Pupils To Accept Police State

Publisher — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:45:38 -0400

by Beverly Eakman
Somehow I missed this news item, and maybe you did, too. Then again, perhaps the mainstream media took pains to keep this one quiet, hoping the fire wouldn’t hit the fan.
It seems that in 2003 an honor student in Arizona at Safford Middle School named Savana Redding, an eighth-grader with no disciplinary record, was strip-searched — and I mean really strip-searched, down to the crotch of her panties — in pursuit of nonprescription ibuprofen tablets. [See the end of this article for links to news stories.] Ibuprofen is the equivalent of the pain-relieving ingredient in Advil, Motrin, etc…, and never known to provide a “high” or to be addictive. Two such pills (the typical dosage) supposedly equal “prescription strength” — providing school authorities just enough wiggle room to go to extremes.
Today, under the absurd “no tolerance” drug policies in schools, no type of medication, from aspirin to Alka-Seltzer and Pepto-Bismol, is allowed unless it is given to the school nurse by a parent, and then dispensed by the nurse to the student. In other words, it is easier for a child to secure an abortion referral from a K-12 educational facility than it is to ...

Comcast Wants to Put Cameras In Your Home

Publisher — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:28:05 -0400

Conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day with this story. In fairness, so will just about everybody else. We hope.
Comcast is experimenting with camera technology. More specifically, it trying out technology that turns cable boxes into camera-equipped devices that would utilize body-form-recognition as a means to provide custom-tailored service, and, of course, custom tailored advertising. The boxes would be able to tell who is in the room based on the shape of their body, thus tailoring programming to fit their specific desires and security settings (when children are involved). Facial recognition is not in the works as of yet.
We should be clear: This is all in the experimental phase. There has been no consumer testing and Gerard Kunkel, Comcast's senior VP of user experience, stresses that any final decision is predicated on the boxes providing more to the viewer than just precision advertising.
Custom Tailored. Security. Efficient. Your New Best Friend. Now You Can Leave the Kids At Home With Super Cable Nanny! Those are hypothetical buzz-words and -phrases Comcast will most likely lay on in hearty layers if and when it begins to roll out this new technology.
Honestly, what is your immediate gut reaction ...

Why Are American Jews So Anti-Gun?

Publisher — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:19:59 -0400

By Eric King
With the Supreme Court opening this week the first extensive examination of the constitutional right to bear arms in nearly 70 years, now seems a pretty good time to ask a question that’s been perplexing me for nearly as long: Why is that American Jews are so overwhelmingly anti-gun?
I’ve been stumped by this communal aversion to firearms ever since I was a 6 year old, back in 1947. While flipping through old Life magazines one day in my grandparents’ living room in the Bronx, I came across photographs taken at the liberation of concentration camps. I saw the pictures of bodies stacked like cordwood, and was stunned.
“Mommy, why are all those people dead?” I asked.
My mother, a brilliant and subtle woman, thought for a moment and said, “The bad Germans called Nazis killed them.” To which, of course, I asked, “Why did the Nazis kill them?”
“They killed them because they were Jews,” she replied.
Although I was only 6 and not yet sure of my identity or its meaning, I asked, “We’re Jews, aren’t we?”“Yes,” answered my mother.
“Mommy,” I asked, without missing a beat, “do you and Daddy have a gun so ...

Banks face "new world order," consolidation: report

Publisher — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:41:14 -0400

By Walden Siew
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial firms face a "new world order" after a weekend fire sale of Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve's first emergency weekend meeting since 1979, research firm CreditSights said in a report on Monday.
More industry consolidation and acquisitions may follow after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Sunday said it was buying Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for $236 million, or $2 a share, a deep discount from the $30 price on Friday and record share price of about $172 last year.
"Last evening the Bear Stearns situation reached a crescendo, as JPMorgan agreed to acquire the wounded broker for a token amount of $2 per share," CreditSights said. "The reality check is that there are many challenged major banks, brokers, thrifts, finance/mortgage companies, and only a handful of bona fide strong U.S. banks."
CreditSights said it lowered its broker, bank and finance company recommendations to "market weight" due to the credit crisis and stresses in the market.
In the event of future consolidation, potential acquirers identified by CreditSights include JPMorganChase, Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), once it works ...

Police Repeatedly Raid Church to Stop Praise? and Worship

Publisher — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:36:13 -0400

ANN ARBOR, MI — Without a warrant or other legal authorization, uniformed police officers conducted several raids on Faith Baptist Church in Waterford Township, Michigan, and threatened to prosecute several young Christian musicians for disorderly conduct – because the Township prosecutor objected to the playing of contemporary religious music. “Praise and worship” music is a central part of Faith Baptist’s religious services.
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the Waterford Township supervisor, prosecutor and two high ranking police officials. The lawsuit was prompted by the series of police incursions into the church and threats by the Township prosecutor to raid the church every time music was heard coming from it.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, observed, “Uniformed police officers entering a church during religious services and young church members being threatened with prosecution is something that happens in Communist China – not in America.”
Continued Thompson, “It is clear that Waterford Township authorities targeted Faith Baptist Church because of the type of religious music it uses in its services. Some of the individual police officers involved in the ...

'Abolish the Fed'

Publisher — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:07:37 -0400

Jim Rogers:
INTEREST RATES, FED, BEN BERNANKE, JIM ROGERS, FEDERAL RESERVE, WEAK DOLLAR, INFLATION
By CNB
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke should resign and the Fed should be abolished as a way to boost the falling dollar and speed up the recovery of the U.S. economy, investor Jim Rogers, CEO of Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Europe Wednesday.
Asked what he would do if he were in Bernanke's shoes, Rogers, who slammed the Fed for pouring liquidity in the system and accepting mortgage-backed securities as guarantees, said: "I would abolish the Federal Reserve and I would resign."
If this happened, "we don't have anybody printing money, we don't have inflation in the land, we don't have a collapsing U.S. dollar," he told "Squawk Box Europe."
The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday a rescue package that it would put around $200 billion into banks and investment houses and allow them to put up risky home-loan packages as collateral.
Wall Street responded to the news with the biggest rally of the year, but Rogers reminisced of the 1970s, when the Fed printed money to avert a recession, boosting inflation and then forcing interest rates tomore than 20 percent to keep a lid on ...

Tiny spy helicopter can swoop on criminals and mark them with a squirt for capture

Publisher — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:58:57 -0400

It may look like a child's toy but this unmanned spy helicopter can swoop down and squirt criminals with a liquid marker so they can later be identified by police.
The £25,000 remote-controlled Microdrone, the size of a dustbin lid, can capture high-quality video footage and infrared imagery from more than 350ft away, beaming the data back to its operators on the ground.
But its most revolutionary function is to mark offenders with a solution called SmartWater which identifies them to police.
Take that! The Microdrone unmanned spy helicopter not only photographs criminals but also douses them in an identifying fluid
British Transport Police have been using the device, which took eight years to develop, as part of an operation to crack down on metal cable thefts on the railways, codenamed Operation Drum.
A BTP spokesman said: "Although it may look simple, it's actually a complex bit of kit capable of many things.
"There's only one being used at the moment as it is an expensive device."
Police Constable Roy McMichael, who is co-ordinating Operation Drum in Warwickshire, said: "The Microdrone is an excellent piece of technology which is assisting BTP in our ongoing fight against cable thieves.
Metal theft ...

Recycle or go to Hell, warns Vatican

Publisher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:39:01 -0400

By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Failing to recycle plastic bags could find you spending eternity in Hell, the Vatican said after drawing up a list of seven deadly sins for our times.
Your view: What are the 'deadly sins' of our time?
Damian Thompson: Catholic own goal on seven deadly sins
Climate change 'will spark global conflict'
The seven, which include polluting the environment, were announced by Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, a close ally of the Pope and the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, one of the Roman Curia's main court.
Polluting the environment by failing to recycle is one of the new seven deadly sins
The "sins of yesteryear" - sloth, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath and pride - have a "rather individualistic dimension", he told the Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper.
The new seven deadly, or mortal, sins are designed to make worshippers realise that their vices have an effect on others as well.
"The sins of today have a social resonance as well as an individual one," said Mgr Girotti. "In effect, it is more important than ever to pay attention to your sins."
According to Roman Catholic doctrine, mortal sins are a "grave violation of ...

Farmers struggle to keep up with world food demand

Publisher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:36:32 -0400

By David Streitfeld
LAWTON, North Dakota: Whatever Dennis Miller decides to plant this year on his farm, the world needs. Wheat prices have doubled in the past six months. Corn is on a tear. Barley, sunflower seeds, canola and soybeans are all up sharply.
"For once, there's great reason to be optimistic," Miller said.
But the prices that have renewed Miller's faith in farming are causing pain far and wide. A tailor in Lagos named Abel Ojuku said recently that he had been forced to cut back on the bread that he and his family love.
"If you wanted to buy three loaves, now you buy one," Ojuku said.
Everywhere, the cost of food is rising sharply. Whether the world is in for a long period of continued increases has become one of the most urgent issues in economics.
Many factors are contributing to the rise, but the biggest is runaway demand. In recent years, the world's developing economies have been growing at about 7 percent a year, an unusually rapid rate by historical standards.
The high growth rate means hundreds of millions of people are, for the first time, getting access to the basics of life, including better diets. ...

Parents urged to boycott homosexual indoctrination

Publisher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:28:14 -0400

'Day of Silence' in schools 'about coercing students to repudiate traditional morality'
By Bob Unruh
What if homosexual rights advocates staged a huge promotional event and no one came to see it? That's exactly what a coalition of organizations is proposing for April 25, this year's "Day of Silence," which is sponsored in public schools across the nation.
"It's outrageous that our neighborhood schools would allow homosexual activism to intrude into the classroom," said Buddy Smith of the American Family Association, one of a long list of organizations asking parents to keep their students home from school on that day.
"'Day of Silence' is about coercing students to repudiate traditional morality. It's time for Christian parents to draw the line – if your children will be exposed to this DOS propaganda in their school, then keep them home for the day," he said.
The "Day of Silence" promotion is intended, ostensibly, to make students "aware" of the "discrimination" suffered by homosexuals in society, by having students remain silent for the day. Such events typically are organized by a school's "Gay-Straight Alliance" group, but the event has been promoted for its previous 11 years by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education ...

Reclaim your children

Publisher — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:25:56 -0400

Watch out parents; they're after your children again, this time in California, but it could spread nationally.
According to the judge in this case: "… parents don't have a constitutional right to homeschool their children."
Remember his name: Justice H. Walter Croskey. As he spoke of the 3-0 ruling issued Feb. 28, he added that failure to comply means that parents can be criminally prosecuted.
He's talking about parents teaching their own children, in their own homes!
Then the judge helpfully explained the primary purpose of the education system: "… to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare."
This statement, from an earlier, similar ruling, emphasizes "loyalty to the state" but omits loyalty to family and the welfare of the family as a basic right of citizens.
If you ever needed more proof that government and the courts are at odds with individual freedoms, go no further than this.
It's no surprise the teachers union loves the ruling: It means full employment for teachers, more dues paid and more money for colleges teaching credentialing courses.
It also means pulling homeschooled children back into the ...