The New World Order

2009-12-31T01:01:01.213-05:00

The goal of the Elite is to set up an Orwellian Police State, with a more controlled society and continuous surveillance over every citizen! First they'll destroy this present world system and then bring in their "New World Order". By continually setting in place post-9/11 laws and also increasing the use of CCTV cameras, biometric scanners, security equipment, etc. they'll be able to get every individual subordinated to their will when the time comes. This is their main agenda "Order Out Of Chaos". We should expect more false flag attacks, made up terror plots, and an ongoing worldwide economic crisis all of which will surely instill fear and panic into the hearts of all people. It seems like they want us to always be on edge and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Our waking up to this knowledge is crucial because it looks like they're steadily on course and close to fulfilling their goals.

And just why are the elite going through with this sinister plan? It's all about this planet's vast but ultimately limited resources. The elite are very interested in these resources and they want to own and control all of them if they can. And it shouldn't be a surprise to us that they're not at all concerned about the general population because it's all about them. Harsh as this may seem to us ordinary folks these elite have already made up their minds a long time ago about what they have to do with the masses of humanity. They all agreed that when the time is right these Useless Eaters Must Go! Not convinced then check out Georgia GuideStones There's plenty more links at bottom of blog.

Police State

(Two police officers using pepper spray on a protester. He's on the ground. Enough already!)

A Police State is when the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population.

It typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive. In the police state, rights are non existent and laws are selectively enforced.

The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force, which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state. Read Cops get ready for war.

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Full Body Scanners

(A TSA Agent working for Homeland Security views naked full-body images. Excuse me NAKED full-body images? Why yes! Hmm, not my cup of tea.)

What are full-body scanners? Remember the X-ray specs of science fiction comics that would let people see through walls and clothing? Full-body scanners are a bit like them. The scanners take advantage of the fact that at certain wavelengths, electromagnetic waves can pass through clothes but not through the skin, metal or substances such as drugs and explosives. If your eyes were sensitive to these wavelengths like the scanners, every person you meet would appear naked, with pens, coins, belt buckles and the like magically festooned about their person. You would also be able to see if they were carrying a knife, gun or explosives. What are the health concerns surrounding them? There are two main types of full-body scanner. One uses X-rays while the other uses lower-energy millimetre wavelengths.

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"[The New World Order] cannot happen without U.S. participation, as we are the most significant single component. Yes, there will be a New World Order, and it will force the United States to change it's perceptions." -- Henry Kissinger, World Affairs Council Press Conference, Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel , April 19th 1994

New York City Police Department's Surveillance Helicopter

(This helicopter has surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough to read license plates - or even pedestrian's faces from high above.) (Back at the command center at their disposal they must have hi-tech equipment, such as a face reading biometric system, for the very purpose of identifying people. This might come in handy later on. To put it simply technology like this might be used in the future as a total control mechanism.)

According to the NYPD, you won't even recognize that its there, but high above the heads of New York City's citizens, there is a $10 million special NYPD helicopter with an impressive arsenal of surveillance equipment inside it. The chopper, called "23", looks like plain helicopter on the outside, but on the inside it is chock-full of hi-tech gadgetry. The helicopter's surveillance cameras,

including one for infrared photography, are mounted below the aircraft. The chopper's arsenal of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment is powerful enough to stealthily read license plates - or even pedestrian's faces - from high above. The helicopter's surveillance system can beam live footage to police command centers or even to wireless hand-held devices. Without leaving Manhattan airspace, the chopper also was able to get a crystal-clear picture of jetliners waiting to take off from LaGuardia Airport and to survey Kennedy International Airport's jet fuel lines. The helicopter is just part of the department's efforts to adopt cutting-edge technology for its counterterrorism operations. The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars strengthening security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of closed-circuit television cameras and license-plate readers posted at bridges, tunnels and other entry points.

"And I believe it will be said of this age, the first decades of the 21st century, that out of the greatest restructuring of the global economy, perhaps even greater than the industrial revolution, a new world order was created.” “For the first time in human history we have the opportunity to come together to create a new global covenant and a true global society." Gordon Brown, Former British Prime Minister

The New World Order

(The Illuminati, the real power behind the scenes. These are the ones controlling those in government who willfully seek to take the evil left hand path.)

The Illuminati are the ones controlling world affairs through present day governments and corporations and are behind events that will lead to the establishment of a New World Order.

There is a worldwide conspiracy being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group of genetically-related individuals (at least at the highest echelons) which include many of the world's wealthiest people, top political leaders, and corporate elite, as well as members of the so-called Black Nobility of Europe (dominated by the British Crown). The Luciferian Agenda of the Secret Societies that are planning this New World Order is to have a World Government, World Religion, World Army, World Central Bank, World Currency and a micro-chipped population. This New World Order global government will be a fulfillment of bible prophecy concerning the last days. Daniel 8: 23 Rev. 13: 4, 5, 7 Short Video on The New World Order

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"Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order [referring to the 1991 LA Riot]. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this *scenario*, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government." Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991

2009-12-30T09:30:00.206-05:00

The USA PATRIOT Act

The Reichstag fire (an act similar to 9/11), burning of the Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin, Germany, on the night of Feb. 27, 1933 allowed the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act on March 23, 1933. This conferred dictatorial powers on Adolf Hitler. (Seems like good times are here again. I guess we'll just have to wait for their Corporate Fascism. Notice the "protecting the homeland" banner... (Isn't it interesting that they chose part of the very phrase Hitler used.) Hitler, "An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homeland".) (Looks like some of the members of Congress are very excited to have had the USA Patriot Act passed and then signed by the president! And just think that this bill was prepared and ready to go in so little time. Imagine that.)

On October 26, 2001, US President George W. Bush enacted the USA PATRIOT Act. The USA PATRIOT Act is officially the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act". The bill was in direct response to the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. The goal of the Act was to reduce restrictions on law enforcement and government officials when investigating criminal activity. It gave international law organizations the right to probe and search citizen’s e-mail, medical, financial and personal records. Some of the main sections of the law enacted restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering, expanded the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, and broadened immigration laws in regards to detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The bill was passed by a wide margin in the US Congress. Article on the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA - The Secret Government. Also an article on the U.S. one bill away from totalitarian rule.

The USA PATRIOT Act broadly expands law enforcement's surveillance and investigative powers and represents one of the most significant threats to civil liberties, privacy and democratic traditions in U.S. history. The Patriot Act gives sweeping search and surveillance to domestic law enforcement and foreign intelligence agencies and eliminates checks and balances that previously gave courts the opportunity to ensure that those powers were not abused. The Patriot Act and follow-up legislation threatens the basic rights of millions of Americans.

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"The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities." –Zbigniew Brzezinski. founder of The Trilateral Commission

Biometric Technology

(Biometric scanners are increasingly being used at border crossings, airports, and with driver license and police departments. The lesson for all of us to learn is that to be a proper and decent citizen we must place our hand, palm, finger, eye, and/or face over or in front of one of their biometric scanners and then and only then shall we be accepted.)

Biometric technology verifies users through their physical properties, offering the strongest verification available. Biometric scanners have started popping up all over the place - in police stations, high-security buildings and even on PC keyboards. Also, high-tech security systems that specialize in fingerprint, iris and face recognition for identifying individuals are being used by government agencies for improving homeland security and border management. Identity security is a fast growing market and biometrics, especially, has become a widely accepted and popular technology that is quickly moving toward mobile applications, such as handheld scanners, for uses like law enforcement and voting. The FBI is developing methods of identification using iris, retina, facial and voice recognition software. These areas may also be added to mobile scanning devices in the future.

2009-12-29T11:50:00.037-05:00

"For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure–one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." – David Rockefeller’s Memoirs (Random House, New York, 2002)

The Illuminati And The Freemasons

(The God they worship is Lucifer, "The Light Bearer" the evil one. They are heavily involved in Sun Worship and want to reshape the world according to their plan known as the "Great Work" and bring in their "New World Order".)

The Eye In The Pyramid. The eye in the pyramid has been adopted by many different esoteric entities throughout history, including the eye of Horus (Osiris) in Egypt, and the All-Seeing Eye in Freemasonry. It also famously appears on the back of the U.S. dollar bill. Henry Wallace, who was instrumental in having the seal placed on the dollar bill in 1935, had deep occult connections. It was a symbol of secret societies in Europe long before anyone heard of the United States and it is awash with Freemasonic and secret society symbolism going back to the ancient world. Adepts believe that when the capstone, the symbol of the secret societies, is lowered onto the top of the incomplete Pyramid, the Plan of the ages will be complete, the Novus Ordo Seclorum will be established, and the world ruler will be installed. Youtube videos on the All Seeing Eye Link - Video 1 Video 2; Masonry a religion - Part one Part two - (PDF file); Illuminati symbols on the dollar - Link - (Picture)

Sun Worship. “... His [Osiris] power was symbolized by an Eye over a Sceptre. The Sun was termed by the Greeks the Eye of Jupiter, and the Eye of the World; and his is the All-Seeing Eye in our Lodges.” - Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, pp. 15-16; 472 Sun worship is the most ancient of all superstitions. It prevailed especially in Phoenicia, Chaldea, and Egypt, and traces of it have been found in Peru and Mexico. Its influence was felt in the ancient mysteries, and abundant allusions to it are to be found in the symbolism of Freemasonry. Sun Worship - Link - (Pdf file) Sun worship and the Catholic Church - Link - (PDF file)

The Rising Sun. The rising sun represents the initiates of those secret societies. This symbol is used in numerous corporate logos. Bill Clinton announced on Y2K, “It is a Rising Sun!” The symbol of a rising sun can be associated with sun worship. In ancient egypt, it was associated with Horus. Manly P. Hall explains the meaning of the rising sun in the context of secret societies such as Freemasonry. "Such a Fraternity could not immediately include all men, but it could unite the activities of certain kinds of men, regardless of their racial or religious beliefs or the nations in which they dwelt. These were the men of ‘towardness,’ those sons of tomorrow, whose symbol was… a blazing sun rising over the mountains of the east."

The Freemasons. One of the mottos in Freemasonry is "to perfect that which was left imperfect." This has a different meaning to the lowly initiates at the bottom of the proverbial pyramid, who merely serve, compared to what the adepts at the top of the pyramid believe. These adepts believe that the creator of the universe left the world -- including mankind itself -- in an imperfect state. Those at the top of the ladder, who run the stage show of consensus reality through their various levels of command and control, see themselves quite literally as Gods who, having reached perfection themselves, have the ability and natural right to shape and reshape the world according to their plan known as the "Great Work." They see themselves as re-creators, above and at odds with the true creator of the universe. The “lesser-evolved” types are seen as cannon-fodder, flowers that must be trampled, for the rebuilding of Solomon’s (Sol-Om-On) Temple, which itself is esoteric allegory for The Great Work; the “perfection” of mankind. Matter is put above creation, and “science” (secular dogma) over faith, with the understanding that man can become God through study, the occult, and technocractic endevours and manipulations. Youtube video on the History Of Freemasonry - Link

The Illuminati. The Illuminati is used nowadays to talk of several groups characterized by secrecy, all groups working together, having one single goal; that is Global Government. Historically however, it refers specifically to the Bavarian Illuminati founded on May 1, 1776, in Bavaria, by one Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a professor of Canon Law at Ingolstadt University and a former Jesuit. 0riginally, they were a secret society called the Order of the Illuminati formed within the existing Masonic lodges of Germany. Since Masonry is itself a secret society, the Illuminati was a secret society within a secret society, a mystery inside a mystery, so to say. Although the Order was founded to provide an opportunity for the free exchange of ideas, Weishaupt's background as a Jesuit seems to have influenced the actual character of the society, such that the express aim of this Order became to abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil government. So who are the Illuminati today? They are, in essence, a cartel of international bankers and industrialists based in Western Europe and North America. The names of certain families persist over long periods of time. Some of the most important names are Rothschild, Rockefeller, Morgan, Lazard, Warburg, Schroder and Schiff. They control world banks, movie industry, top corporations, CIA, United Nations, music industry, FBI, most television networks, global media, Vatican, other religions, Catholic Church, and of course, the education system. Their main goal is to create a One World Government and a "New World Order", with them on top. This is a very old goal of theirs, and to understand it fully, one must realize that this goal isn't of a kind that's supposed to be obtained within one lifetime; it has been a goal that slowly is to be reached over a long period of time. However, they have accomplished more in this direction during the last few decades than they have done in hundreds of years, due to industrialization and the Information Technology Era. This goal has been planned away from the public's prying eyes, in secrecy within the Secret Societies. All Secret Societies with secret grades of initiation are owned and controlled by the Illuminati, and Freemasonry is maybe the best known of them all. Their God is Lucifer, "The Light Bearer", and by occult practices they manipulate and influence the masses. It doesn't matter if you and I believe in this or not, as long as they do. And they take it very seriously. Texe Marrs speaks about the Illuminati - (Audio) Part 1 Part 2; Youtube video on Illuminati Symbolism: It's Everywhere - Link; Youtube video on the Illuminati and The New World Order - Link; John Todd on the Illuminati Part 1 Part 2 ; The Basic Illuminati Structure - Link - (Picture)

2009-12-28T23:34:00.069-05:00

"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order." David Rockefeller Sept. 23, 1994

The War of Gog and Magog

(Tor M1 missiles supplied by Russia to Iran)

(Bible prophecy, Ezekiel 38 & 39 informs us of a future war and invasion of Israel by a vast coalition of nations (Russia, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Turkey and Moslem Republics) that surround it. This invasion could occur at any time because of the heightened tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Clearly US and European powers fear that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon with UN sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to halt uranium enrichment. Since Russia has developed close ties with Iran it makes sense that they would be invading along with the Islamic confederacy.)

The Bible calls this war the "Battle of Gog and Magog," Ezekiel Chapter 38, verses 1 through 9, "Set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal: and I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with thee." Youtube video on the Gog Magog War Watch Video

"Be thou prepared, yea, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy companies that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them. And thou shalt ascend, thou shalt come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy hordes, and many peoples with thee."

Using the names by which these nations were known during Biblical times, today we know these countries as Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Turkey and the Moslem Republics known as Magog. References to "Rosh, Meshech and Tubal" in Ezekiel 38 refers to Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk, two of Russia's major cities. These will form a confederation to invade Israel and the Middle East, for the specific purpose of conquering the Jews and destroying their country.

Continued in Ezekiel 39: 1-6 And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken," says the Lord GOD. "And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the LORD."

2009-12-28T10:51:00.043-05:00

"What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea - a new world order...to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind...based on shared principles and the rule of law...The illumination of a thousand points of light...The winds of change are with us now". George Herbert Walker Bush

A Global Currency

(In the post dollar era, the Phoenix a hypothetical currency rises from the ashes of the dollar.)

In 1988, The Economist ran an article titled, Get Ready for the Phoenix, in which they wrote.

THIRTY years from now, Americans, Japanese, Europeans, and people in many other rich countries, and some relatively poor ones will probably be paying for their shopping with the same currency. Prices will be quoted not in dollars, yen or D-marks but in, let's say, the phoenix. The phoenix will be favoured by companies and shoppers because it will be more convenient than today's national currencies, which by then will seem a quaint cause of much disruption to economic life in the last twentieth century.

At the beginning of 1988 this appears an outlandish prediction. Proposals for eventual monetary union proliferated five and ten years ago, but they hardly envisaged the setbacks of 1987. The governments of the big economies tried to move an inch or two towards a more managed system of exchange rates - a logical preliminary, it might seem, to radical monetary reform. For lack of co-operation in their underlying economic policies they bungled it horribly, and provoked the rise in interest rates that brought on the stock market crash of October. These events have chastened exchange-rate reformers. The market crash taught them that the pretence of policy co-operation can be worse than nothing, and that until real co-operation is feasible (i.e., until governments surrender some economic sovereignty) further attempts to peg currencies will flounder.

But in spite of all the trouble governments have in reaching and (harder still) sticking to international agreements about macroeconomic policy, the conviction is growing that exchange rates cannot be left to themselves. Remember that the Louvre accord and its predecessor, the Plaza agreement of September 1985, were emergency measures to deal with a crisis of currency instability. Between 1983 and 1985 the dollar rose by 34% against the currencies of America's trading partners; since then it has fallen by 42%. Such changes have skewed the pattern of international comparative advantage more drastically in four years than underlying economic forces might do in a whole generation.

In the past few days the world's main central banks, fearing another dollar collapse, have again jointly intervened in the currency markets. Market-loving ministers such as Britain's Mr. Nigel Lawson have been converted to the cause of exchange-rate stability. Japanese officials take seriously he idea of EMS-like schemes for the main industrial economies. Regardless of the Louvre's embarrassing failure, the conviction remains that something must be done about exchange rates.

Something will be, almost certainly in the course of 1988. And not long after the next currency agreement is signed it will go the same way as the last one. It will collapse. Governments are far from ready to subordinate their domestic objectives to the goal of international stability. Several more big exchange-rate upsets, a few more stockmarket crashes and probably a slump or two will be needed before politicians are willing to face squarely up to that choice. This points to a muddled sequence of emergency followed by a patch-up followed by emergency, stretching out far beyond 2018 - except for two things. As time passes, the damage caused by currency instability is gradually going to mount; and the very tends that will make it mount are making the utopia of monetary union feasible.

THE NEW WORLD ECONOMY

The biggest change in the world economy since the early 1970's is that flows of money have replaced trade in goods as the force that drives exchange rates. as a result of the relentless integration of the world's financial markets, differences in national economic policies can disturb interest rates (or expectations of future interest rates) only slightly, yet still call forth huge transfers of financial assets from one country to another. These transfers swamp the flow of trade revenues in their effect on the demand and supply for different currencies, and hence in their effect on exchange rates. As telecommunications technology continues to advance, these transactions will be cheaper and faster still. With unco-ordinated economic policies, currencies can get only more volatile.

Alongside that trend is another - of ever-expanding opportunities for international trade. This too is the gift of advancing technology. Falling transport costs will make it easier for countries thousands of miles apart to compete in each others' markets. The law of one price (that a good should cost the same everywhere, once prices are converted into a single currency) will increasingly assert itself. Politicians permitting, national economies will follow their financial markets - becoming ever more open to the outside world. This will apply to labour as much as to goods, partly thorough migration but also through technology's ability to separate the worker form the point at which he delivers his labour. Indian computer operators will be processing New Yorkers' paychecks.

In all these ways national economic boundaries are slowly dissolving. As the trend continues, the appeal of a currency union across at least the main industrial countries will seem irresistible to everybody except foreign-exchange traders and governments. In the phoenix zone, economic adjustment to shifts in relative prices would happen smoothly and automatically, rather as it does today between different regions within large economies. The absence of all currency risk would spur trade, investment and employment.

The phoenix zone would impose tight constraints on national governments. There would be no such thing, for instance, as a national monetary policy. The world phoenix supply would be fixed by a new central bank, descended perhaps from the IMF. The world inflation rate - and hence, within narrow margins, each national inflation rate- would be in its charge. Each country could use taxes and public spending to offset temporary falls in demand, but it would have to borrow rather than print money to finance its budget deficit. With no recourse to the inflation tax, governments and their creditors would be forced to judge their borrowing and lending plans more carefully than they do today. This means a big loss of economic sovereignty, but the trends that make the phoenix so appealing are taking that sovereignty away in any case. Even in a world of more-or-less floating exchange rates, individual governments have seen their policy independence checked by an unfriendly outside world.

As the next century approaches, the natural forces that are pushing the world towards economic integration will offer governments a broad choice. They can go with the flow, or they can build barricades. Preparing the way for the phoenix will mean fewer pretended agreements on policy and more real ones. It will mean allowing and then actively promoting the private-sector use of an international money alongside existing national monies. That would let people vote with their wallets for the eventual move to full currency union. The phoenix would probably start as a cocktail of national currencies, just as the Special Drawing Right is today. In time, though, its value against national currencies would cease to matter, because people would choose it for its convenience and the stability of its purchasing power.

The alternative - to preserve policymaking autonomy- would involve a new proliferation of truly draconian controls on trade and capital flows. This course offers governments a splendid time. They could manage exchange-rate movements, deploy monetary and fiscal policy without inhibition, and tackle the resulting bursts of inflation with prices and incomes polices. It is a growth-crippling prospect. Pencil in the phoenix for around 2018, and welcome it when it comes.

2009-12-26T10:51:00.021-05:00

One World Religion: The False Prophet's Final Stage

(Many believe that a pope will be the false prophet of Revelation 13; 11, and that this pope will unite the world's many faiths and then compel/force the masses to worship the antichrist. The time frame for this is in the middle of the final seven years.)

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH". (Revelation 17:5) What will be the final form of Babylon the Great? We can be sure that the Whore:
(1) Will be personified as "the False Prophet" (Revelation 16:13). Since Babylon the Great only rides the Beast, i.e., "I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast [the Antichrist]" (17:3), she is not to be confused with the Beast himself. Her intimacy with the Beast stems from her need for the governmental power of the Beast to assure her a monopolistic religious franchise, i.e., "as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed" (13:15).
(2) Will promote the worship of the Antichrist., i.e., Babylon the Great "exerciseth all the power of the first beast [the Antichrist] before him, and causeth the Earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed" (Revelation 3:12).Babylon the Great's ingenious device will be forcing the world to take the Mark of the Beast, which assures the participation of every human being in the religion of Babylon the Great, in exchange for life and its physical necessities. "16 And [the False Prophet] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (13:16-17).

The official title of the pope is Vicarius Filii Dei, Vicar of the Son of God.

(3) Will spiritually fornicate with the kings of the Earth, i.e., "With whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication" (17:2), because, as with the Antichrist, she needs their help to force her religion upon the world.
(4) Will be blasphemous, i.e., "And [Babylon the Great] had power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak... full of names of blasphemy" (13:15; 17:3). "

(5) Will be materially rich, i.e., "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication" (Revelation 17:4).
(6) Will be a murderer of the True Saints, i.e., "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus" (Revelation 17:6).
(7) Will reign over the people of the world, i.e., the "inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication... The waters which thou sawest, where the Whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Revelation 17:2, 15).
(8) Will be characterized as a city, i.e., "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the Earth" (Revelation 17:18). No other city in the world has ever been celebrated, as the city of Rome has, for its situation on seven hills.

(9) Will be destroyed by the Antichrist, i.e., "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the Whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire" (Revelation 17:16).
(10) Will be judged by the Almighty God. i.e., "For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled" (Revelation 17:17).

Hitler was backed and supported by the Catholic Church as will the coming
Antichrist "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so"
Adolph Hitler, to Gen. Gerhard Engel, 1941

The Catholic church is and always has been solidly behind the NWO since it’s founding. They give you an exoteric religion to follow to control your mind, while they themselves secretly practice the ancient pagan mystery religions that gives them more power over you. Youtube videos on the Whore Of Babylon/Antichrist Link - Part 1 Part 2

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” - 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4

2009-12-25T21:05:00.014-05:00

Is the end really that near? Do we need to be concerned about how much time we have left or just go about our business as usual? The one for us to go to for that information is Christ. When he was questioned concerning the last days he replied, "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars... For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and great earthquakes, in various places". "...and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring".

Collapse of the American Empire: swift, silent, certain - Aug. 25, 2010

(In the past the trend has been when a civilization has fully matured they have a inclination to develop imperialistic tendacies, then expand and ultimately collapse.)

"One of the disturbing facts of history is that so many civilizations collapse," warns anthropologist Jared Diamond in "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." Many "civilizations share a sharp curve of decline. Indeed, a society's demise may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth and power."

Now, Harvard's Niall Ferguson, one of the world's leading financial historians, echoes Diamond's warning: "Imperial collapse may come much more suddenly than many historians imagine. A combination of fiscal deficits and military overstretch suggests that the United States may be the next empire on the precipice." Yes, America is on the edge.

Dismiss his warning at your peril. Everything you learned, everything you believe and everything driving our political leaders is based on a misleading, outdated theory of history. The American Empire is at the edge of a dangerous precipice, at risk of a sudden, rapid collapse.

Ferguson is brilliant, prolific and contrarian. His works include the recent "Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World;" "The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World;" "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of The American Empire;" and "The War of the World," a survey of the "savagery of the 20th century" where he highlights a profound "paradox that, though the 20th century was 'so bloody,' it was also 'a time of unparalleled progress.'"

Why? Throughout history imperial leaders inevitably emerge and drive their nations into wars for greater glory and "economic progress," while inevitably leading their nation into collapse. And that happens suddenly and swiftly, within "a decade or two."

You'll find Ferguson's latest work, "Collapse and Complexity: Empires on the Edge of Chaos," in Foreign Affairs, the journal of the Council of Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank. His message negates all the happy talk you're hearing in today's news -- about economic recovery and new bull markets, about "hope," about a return to "American greatness" -- from Washington politicians and Wall Street bankers.

'Collapse of All Empires:' 5 stages repeating through the ages

Ferguson opens with a fascinating metaphor: "There is no better illustration of the life cycle of a great power than 'The Course of Empire,' a series of five paintings by Thomas Cole that hangs in the New York Historical Society. Cole was a founder of the Hudson River School and one of the pioneers of nineteenth-century American landscape painting; in 'The Course of Empire,' he beautifully captured a theory of imperial rise and fall to which most people remain in thrall to this day. Each of the five imagined scenes depicts the mouth of a great river beneath a rocky outcrop."

If you're unable to see them at the historical society, they're all reproduced in Foreign Affairs, underscoring Ferguson's warnings that the "American Empire on the precipice," near collapse.

First. 'The Savage State,' before the Empire rises

"In the first, 'The Savage State,' a lush wilderness is populated by a handful of hunter-gatherers eking out a primitive existence at the break of a stormy dawn." Imagine our history from Columbus' discovery of America in 1492 on through four more centuries as we savagely expanded across the continent.

Second. 'The Arcadian or Pastoral State,' as the American Empire flourishes

"The second picture, 'The Arcadian or Pastoral State,' is of an agrarian idyll: the inhabitants have cleared the trees, planted fields, and built an elegant Greek temple." The temple may seem out of place. However, Cole's paintings were done in 1833-1836, not long after Thomas Jefferson built the University of Virginia using classical Greek and Roman revival architecture.

As Ferguson continues the tour you sense you're actually inside the New York Historical Society, visually reminded of how history's great cycles do indeed repeat over and over. You are also reminded of one of history's great tragic ironies -- that all nations fail to learn the lessons of history, that all nations and their leaders fall prey to their own narcissistic hubris and that all eventually collapse from within.

Third. Consummation of the American Empire

"The third and largest of the paintings is 'The Consummation of Empire.' Now, the landscape is covered by a magnificent marble entrepôt, and the contented farmer-philosophers of the previous tableau have been replaced by a throng of opulently clad merchants, proconsuls and citizen-consumers. It is midday in the life cycle."

'The Consummation of Empire' focuses us on Ferguson's core message: At the very peak of their power, affluence and glory, leaders arise, run amok with imperial visions and sabotage themselves, their people and their nation. They have it all.

But more-is-not enough as greed, arrogance and a thirst for power consume them. Back in the early days of the Iraq war, Kevin Phillips, political historian and former Nixon strategist, also captured this inevitable tendency in Wealth and Democracy:

"Most great nations, at the peak of their economic power, become arrogant and wage great world wars at great cost, wasting vast resources, taking on huge debt, and ultimately burning themselves out." We sense the "consummation" of the American Empire occurred with the leadership handoff from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush.

Unfortunately that peak is behind us: Clinton, Bush, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and all future American leaders are merely playing their parts in the greatest of all historical dramas, repeating but never fully grasping the lessons of history in their insatiable drive for "economic progress," to recapture former glory ... while unwittingly pushing our empire to the edge, into collapse.

Four. Destruction of the Empire

Then comes 'The Destruction of Empire,' the fourth stage in Ferguson's grand drama about the life-cycle of all empires. In "Destruction" "the city is ablaze, its citizens fleeing an invading horde that rapes and pillages beneath a brooding evening sky." Elsewhere in "The War of the World," Ferguson described the 20th century as "the bloodiest in history, one hundred years of butchery." Today's high-tech relentless news cycle, suggests that our 21st century world is a far bloodier return to savagery.

At this point, investors are asking themselves: How can I prepare for the destruction and collapse of the American Empire? There is no solution in the Cole-Ferguson scenario, only an acceptance of fate, of destiny, of history's inevitable cycles.

But there is one in "Wealth, War and Wisdom" by hedge fund manager Barton Biggs, Morgan Stanley's former chief global strategist who warns us of the "possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure," advising us to buy a farm in the mountains.

"Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food ... well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson." And when they come looting, fire "a few rounds over the approaching brigands' heads."

Five. Desolation ... after the Empire disappears

"Finally, the moon rises over the fifth painting, 'Desolation,'" says Ferguson. There is not a living soul to be seen, only a few decaying columns and colonnades overgrown by briars and ivy." No attacking "brigands?" No loveable waste-collecting robots from Wall-E?

The good news is the Earth will naturally regenerate itself without savage humans, as we saw in Alan Weisman's brilliant "The World Without Us:" Steel buildings decay. Microbes eat indestructible plastics. Eons pass. And Earth reemerges in all its glory, a Garden of Eden.

Epilogue: 'All Empires ... are condemned to decline and fall'

In a Los Angeles Times column, Ferguson asks: "America, a Fragile Empire: Here today, gone tomorrow, could the United States fall that fast?" And his answer is clear and emphatic: "For centuries, historians, political theorists, anthropologists and the public have tended to think about the political process in seasonal, cyclical terms ... we discern a rhythm to history. Great powers, like great men, are born, rise, reign and then gradually wane. No matter whether civilizations decline culturally, economically or ecologically, their downfalls are protracted."

We are deceiving ourselves, convinced "the challenges that face the United States are often represented as slow-burning ... threats seem very remote."

"But what if history is not cyclical and slow-moving but arrhythmic?" asks Ferguson. What if history is "at times almost stationary but also capable of accelerating suddenly, like a sports car? What if collapse does not arrive over a number of centuries but comes suddenly, like a thief in the night?" What if the collapse of the American Empire is dead ahead, in the next decade? What if, as with the 2000 dot-com crash, we're in denial, refusing to prepare?

Ferguson's final message about America's destiny comes from Foreign Affairs: "Conceived in the mid-1830s, Cole's great five-part painting has a clear message: all empires, no matter how magnificent, are condemned to decline and fall." Throughout history, empires function "in apparent equilibrium for some unknowable period. And then, quite abruptly ... collapse," a blunt reminder of the sudden, swift, silent, certain timetable in Diamond's "Collapse" where a "society's demise may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth and power."

You are forewarned: If the peak of America's glory was the leadership handoff from Clinton to Bush, then we have already triggered the countdown to collapse, the decade from 2010 until 2020 ... tick ... tick ... tick ...

2009-12-24T12:33:00.009-05:00

Christ made the following analogy so that we might be ready and alert when the time comes. "At evening time, one will say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.'" To this Christ replied, "Why is it that one can see and interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times?"

East Orange installs surveillance cameras with computer chips that sense criminal activities, alerts police - March 18, 2010

(East Orange unveiled its revolutionary crime-fighting technology. Police Officers closely monitor the cameras and sensors.)

N.J. -- First there were gunshot detectors, then surveillance cameras — both of which police credit with dramatic decreases in crime. Now East Orange has installed a state-of-the-art tracking system that may be able to snitch on bad behavior without human eyes.

Today, the city’s police department unveiled the new system that includes programmed sensors capable of identifying criminal behavior as it is happening.

Police Director Jose Cordero showed off the technology today at a press conference, at which over 200 public officials and international law enforcement agents were in attendance.

"We want to change the criminal mindset about wanting to commit the crime," Cordero said. "This is about real-time deterrence."

Cordero said the new system’s cameras, which have been installed throughout the city, have computer chips that automatically sense hundreds of suspicious scenarios and alert police.

For example, Cordero said, if two people approach an individual on the street, and the individual becomes evasive or tries to run away, the camera will alert operators of a possible robbery. The operators can view the area on their computers and dispatch the nearest officers within one second.

Cordero said the sensors do not recognize race, age or other factors that may lead to discrimination.

The cameras were developed by Australian company DigiSensory, which used the sensors in Sydney in 2008 when the pope came to visit, said the company’s chief executive officer Tarik Hammadou. The sensors are unique to the United States, and Cordero said they have mainly been used experimentally and have not been fully integrated into police tracking systems until now.

Hammadou contacted East Orange last year when he learned Cordero had installed gunshot detectors and surveillance cameras to reduce crime in 2004. The city has credited the technology, costing $1.8 million, with a more than 70 percent drop in crime between 2003 and 2008.

Police officials from around the world have taken an interest in East Orange. Last week, Brazilian government officials who are preparing for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics visited the city to learn how they could heighten security, Cordero said. Police director Ahmet Kirkpinak from Ankara, Turkey, came to the conference today, saying cities in his country were starting to develop surveillance technology.

"This is exactly what we want to do," Kirkpinak said. "This was a good opportunity to learn how this is done. (East Orange) is spending millions. They are doing it right."

But Dennis Kenney, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College, said using the technology as a law enforcement tool is a pipe dream.

"To argue that somehow it’s going to be able to distinguish the guy who’s going to the ATM and the robber at the ATM is a fantasy. The technology is just not sophisticated enough," Kenney said in a phone interview. "Basically, the citizens have to decide whether they feel comfortable being watched all the time."

2009-12-23T20:02:00.109-05:00

Does the Euro Have a Future? - October 13, 2011

(A breakdown of the Euro could cause an economic meltdown and global depression. If that ever happens that's when they'll set up their global government with regional economic unions and a new global currency. After this I'm sure that's when we'll all receive a proper invitation to meet their global fascist dictator. Revelation 17:12 ...in the vision you saw ten kings...these kings receive their power at the same time as the beast. 13 ...and they all give their power and authority over to the beast.) (Revelation 6: 6 states, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius (a denarius equals a days wage); and do not harm the oil and the wine." This represents a condition of extreme poverty and famine (possibly worldwide) that the elite will certainly use as a prerequisite to form their global government.}

Crisis talks: French president and host Nicolas Sarkozy (left) talks with, from left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron (They look so happy here just meeting for a nice chat. We are having such a good time. We must do this again!)

The euro crisis is a direct consequence of the crash of 2008. When Lehman Brothers failed, the entire financial system started to collapse and had to be put on artificial life support. This took the form of substituting the sovereign credit of governments for the bank and other credit that had collapsed. At a memorable meeting of European finance ministers in November 2008, they guaranteed that no other financial institutions that are important to the workings of the financial system would be allowed to fail, and their example was followed by the United States. (Read article Merkel seeks ‘New Europe’ to end crisis.)

Angela Merkel then declared that the guarantee should be exercised by each European state individually, not by the European Union or the eurozone acting as a whole. This sowed the seeds of the euro crisis because it revealed and activated a hidden weakness in the construction of the euro: the lack of a common treasury. The crisis itself erupted more than a year later, in 2010. Youtube video EU: What's really happening Youtube videos The Antichrist And The False Prophet: Part 1; Part 2 Read article Contagion Catastrophe - Europe may bring down the global economy Read article What caused the great depression?

There is some similarity between the euro crisis and the subprime crisis that caused the crash of 2008. In each case a supposedly riskless asset—collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), based largely on mortgages, in 2008, and European government bonds now—lost some or all of their value.

Unfortunately the euro crisis is more intractable. In 2008 the US financial authorities that were needed to respond to the crisis were in place; at present in the eurozone one of these authorities, the common treasury, has yet to be brought into existence. This requires a political process involving a number of sovereign states. That is what has made the problem so severe. The political will to create a common European treasury was absent in the first place; and since the time when the euro was created the political cohesion of the European Union has greatly deteriorated. As a result there is no clearly visible solution to the euro crisis. In its absence the authorities have been trying to buy time.

In an ordinary financial crisis this tactic works: with the passage of time the panic subsides and confidence returns. But in this case time has been working against the authorities. Since the political will is missing, the problems continue to grow larger while the politics are also becoming more poisonous.

It takes a crisis to make the politically impossible possible. Under the pressure of a financial crisis the authorities take whatever steps are necessary to hold the system together, but they only do the minimum and that is soon perceived by the financial markets as inadequate. That is how one crisis leads to another. So Europe is condemned to a seemingly unending series of crises. Measures that would have worked if they had been adopted earlier turn out to be inadequate by the time they become politically possible. This is the key to understanding the euro crisis.

Where are we now in this process? The outlines of the missing ingredient, namely a common treasury, are beginning to emerge. They are to be found in the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF)—agreed on by twenty-seven member states of the EU in May 2010—and its successor, after 2013, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). But the EFSF is not adequately capitalized and its functions are not adequately defined. It is supposed to provide a safety net for the eurozone as a whole, but in practice it has been tailored to finance the rescue packages for three small countries: Greece, Portugal, and Ireland; it is not large enough to support bigger countries like Spain or Italy. Nor was it originally meant to deal with the problems of the banking system, although its scope has subsequently been extended to include banks as well as sovereign states. Its biggest shortcoming is that it is purely a fund-raising mechanism; the authority to spend the money is left with the governments of the member countries. This renders the EFSF useless in responding to a crisis; it has to await instructions from the member countries.

The situation has been further aggravated by the recent decision of the German Constitutional Court. While the court found that the EFSF is constitutional, it prohibited any future guarantees benefiting additional states without the prior approval of the budget committee of the Bundestag. This will greatly constrain the discretionary powers of the German government in confronting future crises.

The seeds of the next crisis have already been sown by the way the authorities responded to the last crisis. They accepted the principle that countries receiving assistance should not have to pay punitive interest rates and they set up the EFSF as a fund-raising mechanism for this purpose. Had this principle been accepted in the first place, the Greek crisis would not have grown so severe. As it is, the contagion—in the form of increasing inability to pay sovereign and other debt—has spread to Spain and Italy, but those countries are not allowed to borrow at the lower, concessional rates extended to Greece. This has set them on a course that will eventually land them in the same predicament as Greece. In the case of Greece, the debt burden has clearly become unsustainable. Bondholders have been offered a “voluntary” restructuring by which they would accept lower interest rates and delayed or decreased repayments; but no other arrangements have been made for a possible default or for defection from the eurozone.

These two deficiencies—no concessional rates for Italy or Spain and no preparation for a possible default and defection from the eurozone by Greece—have cast a heavy shadow of doubt both on the government bonds of other deficit countries and on the banking system of the eurozone, which is loaded with those bonds. As a stopgap measure the European Central Bank (ECB) stepped into the breach by buying Spanish and Italian bonds in the market. But that is not a viable solution. The ECB had done the same thing for Greece, but that did not stop the Greek debt from becoming unsustainable. If Italy, with its debt at 108 percent of GDP and growth of less than 1 percent, had to pay risk premiums of 3 percent or more to borrow money, its debt would also become unsustainable.

The ECB’s earlier decision to buy Greek bonds had been highly controversial; Axel Weber, the ECB’s German board member, resigned from the board in protest. The intervention did blur the line between monetary and fiscal policy, but a central bank is supposed to do whatever is necessary to preserve the financial system. That is particularly true in the absence of a fiscal authority. Subsequently, the controversy led the ECB to adamantly oppose a restructuring of Greek debt—by which, among other measures, the time for repayment would be extended—turning the ECB from a savior of the system into an obstructionist force. The ECB has prevailed: the EFSF took over the risk of possible insolvency of the Greek bonds from the ECB.

The resolution of this dispute has in turn made it easier for the ECB to embark on its current program to purchase Italian and Spanish bonds, which, unlike those of Greece, are not about to default. Still, the decision has encountered the same internal opposition from Germany as the earlier intervention in Greek bonds. Jürgen Stark, the chief economist of the ECB, resigned on September 9. In any case the current intervention has to be limited in scope because the capacity of the EFSF to extend help is virtually exhausted by the rescue operations already in progress in Greece, Portugal, and Ireland.

In the meantime the Greek government is having increasing difficulties in meeting the conditions imposed by the assistance program. The troika supervising the program—the EU, the IMF, and the ECB—is not satisfied; Greek banks did not fully subscribe to the latest treasury bill auction; and the Greek government is running out of funds.

In these circumstances an orderly default and temporary withdrawal from the eurozone may be preferable to a drawn-out agony. But no preparations have been made. A disorderly default could precipitate a meltdown similar to the one that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, but this time one of the authorities that would be needed to contain it is missing.

No wonder that the financial markets have taken fright. Risk premiums that must be paid to buy government bonds have increased, stocks have plummeted, led by bank stocks, and recently even the euro has broken out of its trading range on the downside. The volatility of markets is reminiscent of the crash of 2008.

The authorities are doing what they can to forestall an immediate breakdown. The Greeks are meeting the troika’s demands so as to receive the next installment of the rescue package. The ECB is allowing banks to borrow dollars for up to three months instead of just one week, as has been the case. The Bundestag is expected to pass legislation establishing the EFSF. These steps will delay the climax from September to December.

Unfortunately, the capacity of the financial authorities to take additional measures has been severely restricted by the recent ruling of the German Constitutional Court. It appears that the authorities have reached the end of the road with their policy of “kicking the can down the road.” Even if a catastrophe can be avoided, one thing is certain: the pressure to reduce deficits will push the eurozone into prolonged recession. This will have incalculable political consequences. The euro crisis could endanger the political cohesion of the European Union.

There is no escape from this gloomy scenario as long as the authorities persist in their current course. They could, however, change course. They could recognize that they have reached the end of the road and take a radically different approach. Instead of acquiescing in the absence of a solution and trying to buy time, they could look for a solution first and then find a path leading to it. The path that leads to a solution has to be found in Germany, which, as the EU’s largest and highest-rated creditor country, has been thrust into the position of deciding the future of Europe. That is the approach I propose to explore.

To resolve a crisis in which the impossible becomes possible it is necessary to think about the unthinkable. To start with, it is imperative to prepare for the possibility of default and defection from the eurozone in the case of Greece, Portugal, and perhaps Ireland. To prevent a financial meltdown, four sets of measures would have to be taken. First, bank deposits have to be protected. If a euro deposited in a Greek bank would be lost to the depositor, a euro deposited in an Italian bank would then be worth less than one in a German or Dutch bank and there would be a run on the banks of other deficit countries. Second, some banks in the defaulting countries have to be kept functioning in order to keep the economy from breaking down. Third, the European banking system would have to be recapitalized and put under European, as distinct from national, supervision. Fourth, the government bonds of the other deficit countries would have to be protected from contagion. The last two requirements would apply even if no country defaults.

All this would cost money. Under existing arrangements no more money is to be found and no new arrangements are allowed by the German Constitutional Court decision without the authorization of the Bundestag. There is no alternative but to give birth to the missing ingredient: a European treasury with the power to tax and therefore to borrow. This would require a new treaty, transforming the EFSF into a full-fledged treasury.

That would presuppose a radical change of heart, particularly in Germany. The German public still thinks that it has a choice about whether to support the euro or to abandon it. That is a mistake. The euro exists and the assets and liabilities of the financial system are so intermingled on the basis of a common currency that a breakdown of the euro would cause a meltdown beyond the capacity of the authorities to contain. The longer it takes for the German public to realize this, the heavier the price they and the rest of the world will have to pay.

The question is whether the German public can be convinced of this argument. Angela Merkel may not be able to persuade her own coalition, but she could rely on the opposition. Having resolved the euro crisis, she would have less to fear from the next elections.
The fact that arrangements are made for the possible default or defection of three small countries does not mean that those countries would be abandoned. On the contrary, the possibility of an orderly default—paid for by the other eurozone countries and the IMF—would offer Greece and Portugal policy choices. Moreover, it would end the vicious cycle now threatening all of the eurozone’s deficit countries whereby austerity weakens their growth prospects, leading investors to demand prohibitively high interest rates and thus forcing their governments to cut spending further.

Leaving the euro would make it easier for them to regain competitiveness; but if they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices they could also stay in. In both cases, the EFSF would protect bank deposits and the IMF would help to recapitalize the banking system. That would help these countries to escape from the trap in which they currently find themselves. It would be against the best interests of the European Union to allow these countries to collapse and drag down the global banking system with them.

It is not for me to spell out the details of the new treaty; that has to be decided by the member countries. But the discussions ought to start right away because even under extreme pressure they will take a long time to conclude. Once the principle of setting up a European Treasury is agreed upon, the European Council could authorize the ECB to step into the breach, indemnifying the ECB in advance against risks to its solvency. That is the only way to forestall a possible financial meltdown and another Great Depression.

—September 15, 2011

2009-12-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

NSA creating spy system to monitor domestic infrastructure

The National Security Agency has begun work on an "expansive" spy system that will monitor critical infrastructure inside the United States for cyber-attacks, in a move that detractors say could end up violating privacy rights and expanding the NSA's domestic spying abilities.

The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed sources as saying that the NSA has issued a $100-million contract to defense contractor Raytheon to build a system dubbed "Perfect Citizen," which will involve placing "sensors" at critical points in the computer networks of private and public organizations that run infrastructure, organizations such as nuclear power plants and electric grid operators.

In an email obtained by the Journal, an unnamed Raytheon employee describes the system as "Big Brother."

"The overall purpose of the [program] is our Government...feel[s] that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security," the email states. "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother."

"Raytheon declined to comment on this email," the Journal reports.

Some officials familiar with Perfect Citizen see it "as an intrusion by the NSA into domestic affairs, while others say it is an important program to combat an emerging security threat that only the NSA is equipped to provide," the Journal states.

The program is reportedly being funded under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a program launched by the Bush administration in January, 2008, and continued under the Obama administration. The initiative is budgeted to cost $40 billion over several years.

ANOTHER WAR WITHOUT DEFINITION?

News of the spy system comes in the wake of months of news reports and government statements on the the threat of cyber-attacks. Last year, the US pointed the finger of blame at North Korea for a "widespread" attack on US and South Korean government computers. Earlier this year, a coordinated attack on Google servers was identified as originating from China.

But many observers say the threat of cyberwar is exaggerated, and they suggest that profit may be a motive behind efforts to build cyber-defense systems.

"It's about who is in charge of cyber security, and how much control the government will exert over civilian networks," writes security technology expert Bruce Schneier at the CNN Web site. "And by beating the drums of war, the military is coming out on top."

Schneier sees danger in the media "mislabeling" activities like computer hacking and "cyber-activism" as "cyberwar."

"One problem is that there's no clear definition of 'cyberwar.' What does it look like? How does it start? When is it over? Even cybersecurity experts don't know the answers to these questions, and it's dangerous to broadly apply the term 'war' unless we know a war is going on."

MONEY TO BE MADE

In a report published last month, Cecilia Kang at the Washington Post described cyber-security as "Washington's growth industry of choice," and companies in the business are "in line for a multibillion-dollar injection of federal research dollars."

Kang reported: Delivering the keynote address at a recent cybersecurity summit sponsored by Defense Daily, Dawn Meyerriecks, deputy director of national intelligence for acquisition and technology, said that along with the White House Office of Science and Technology, her office is going to sponsor major research "where the government's about to spend multiple billions of dollars."

2009-12-21T19:19:00.000-05:00

Body Check

(Dynamic structured light acquisition techniques use a set of lines projected onto an object of interest to generate a 3D surface. Fingerprints or facial scans can be acquired using this method without the need for contact, making acquisition possible from a distance)

In recent years a number of countries have initiated biometric schemes aimed at protecting their borders. Although they are typically launched amid claims that they will accelerate the immigration process, this isn't always their central purpose, and frequently the new systems culminate in long queues.

Back in 2002 Australia unveiled its plans for SmartGate, a system that uses biometric facial recognition technology linked to the passenger's e-passport. Recent travellers to the US may have been taken by surprise by the new biometric security system in place at ten key airports there, which requires ten fingerprints for identification. Clear Cards, which carry biometric information, have been used by Americans since 2005. Dubai has established e-gates where registered passengers swipe an ID card and pass through a fingerprint scan, and the Netherlands has introduced Privium, a paid-for iris scanning service that offers a range of benefits, including lounge access and fast-track check-in.

e-Borders

Now e-Borders (electronic borders), a programme run by the UK Home Office's UK Border Agency at a likely total cost of £1.2bn, aims to tighten security at the country's borders. e-Borders is a joint programme run in partnership with the police and intelligence agencies. It requires commercial carriers and owners, or operators, of all vessels to submit detailed passenger, service and crew data in advance of their departure to and from the UK.

Julie Gillis, programme director for e-Borders, explains: "Border control is undergoing the biggest shake up in border security for over 40 years. This includes fingerprinting people before they arrive; a strong new force at the border; counting people in and out of the country, and ID cards for foreign nationals.

"Part of this shake up is the introduction of the e-Borders system. e-Borders itself is about the collection of data on travellers, allowing us to check that the right people are coming into the UK, as well as looking at the people going out. We are committed to collecting 100 million passenger movements by April 2009."

Project Semaphore, which was the operational prototype for e-Borders, ran from January 2005 to April 2008 and captured a total of 50 million passenger movements. Its function, according to Gillis, "was to de-risk the main programme. The prototype was a real success from a de-risking perspective because we learned many lessons on how to work effectively with suppliers and service providers, for example IBM." 102 carriers are already signed up and more than 180 routes covered. More than 1,800 arrests have been made at airports as a result of information gleaned from Semaphore.

Other UKBA initiatives include the use of biometrics to tighten security at the UK border and expedite the journey of legitimate travellers.

For example, fingerprints are now being taken from every visa applicant, enabling the UK authorities to check against watchlists to ascertain if the applicant is a failed asylum seeker or has previously been removed from the country. There was an initial downturn in demand at an individual post level when fingerprinting was introduced but there has since been a recovery to previous levels of demand.

The agency also embarked on a trial of biometric gates known as MiSense, a 16-week experiment at Heathrow in which about 3,000 travellers helped it to undertake the most comprehensive test of biometrically enabled access carried out in the UK to date. "The pilot enabled us to demonstrate how self-service kiosks might accommodate biometric technology, and how best to capture passenger details and register them, giving access to controlled areas," explains Gillis.

"We set ourselves high standards but it allowed us to link a single travel experience from check-in, entry to the security area, boarding the aircraft and automated border clearance." However, Gillis describes MiSense as 'a contained trial' and a decision has since been made to take it no further. Gillis adds that the agency has a number of other automated services in place or under investigation.

IRIS – iris recognition immigration system

Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) is perhaps the best known constituent of the e-Borders Programme. Instead of queuing at immigration, a passenger who has registered can simply pass through the IRIS machine. At present there is one IRIS system at each of Heathrow's terminals 1, 2 and 4, two at terminal 3, and two further installations planned for Terminal 5. Gatwick North and South, Birmingham terminal 1, and Manchester 1 and 2 have also been fitted out with IRIS points of entry.

In addition to offering a clear security benefit – the database is cross-referenced against information stored by other agencies across the country – Gillis claims it is also a way of cutting queues and speeding up passenger flow for what she calls trusted travellers. Since the launch of the voluntary IRIS programme in 2006, 217,000 people have enrolled.

IRIS has experienced setbacks, however. It is necessary to register at the relevant office and, despite each participating airport stating specific times, enrolment offices are not always open.

Another problem is that the IRIS machines haven't always worked in the past. Although these technical issues appear to have been resolved, Gillis admits that IRIS may in future be replaced with an updated system.

"We've been looking at Trusted Traveller schemes, similar to IRIS, but we're looking for those to be privately funded rather than funded by the UK government," she says. "It's a similar system. You enroll, provide details in advance, ensure you fit the criteria and then use the automated system to enter the UK."

The Department for Transport estimates that if travel continues in line with current trends, 400-600 million passengers a year will pass through UK airports by 2030 (compared with 200 million in 2003). Against this background, and with IRIS becoming more popular, there is also a question of how effectively the system will cope under the increasing burden.

Gillis says the agency is looking at several options including facial recognition and fingerprinting. "The e-passport scheme we're looking at will use biometric information contained in the chip of all the UK passports in circulation issued after 2006," she says. "Passengers simply insert the document into a reader at the gate, which will make some checks, and a matched passenger is then allowed in. A similar system is in place in Portugal. We're looking into whether it would be appropriate for the UK environment."

2009-12-21T12:12:00.003-05:00

Total Surveillance - RFID Technology

Imagine a future in which your every belonging is marked with a unique number identifiable with the swipe of a scanner; where your refrigerator keeps track of its contents; where the location of your car is always pinpoint-able; and where signal-emitting microchips storing personal information are implanted beneath your skin or embedded in your inner organs. This is the future of radio frequency identification (RFID), a technology whose application has so far been limited largely to supply-chain management. RFID's are set to be applied in a whole range of consumer settings. It's already being tested in products as innocuous as shampoo, lip balm, razor blades, and cream cheese. Consumer advocates say this is paving the way for a nightmarish future where personal privacy is a quaint throwback.

RFID tattoos for tracking cows... and people

Founders of SOMARK Innovations Inc. , Mark Pydynowski, left, and Ramos Mays, right, with their electronic ink tattoo device at their office in San Diego. (Designed for animal tracking, but are we next?)

Did you know that Saint Louis based Somark Innovations successfully tested an "RFID tattoo" on cows and rats? Yes indeed, tattoo, not the ol' RFID chip found in passports, dogs, and Dutch VIP clubbers. Somark's system uses an array of needles to inject a passive RFID ink which can be read through the hair on your choice of beast. The ink can be either invisible or colored but Somark is keeping mum as to its exact contents. They only say that it doesn't contain any metals and is 100% biocompatible and chemically inert. The tattoo can be applied in 5 to 10 seconds with no shaving involved and can be read from up to 4 feet away -- the bigger the tattoo, the more information stored. Best of it all, it's apparently safe for humans to ingest allowing the FDA to track back Mad Cow Disease, e-coli outbreaks, and Soylent Green. Don't worry, they can't track you just as long as you chew your food like mama taught. However, with "military personnel" listed as Somark's "secondary target market," well, it's just a matter of time before we're all cattle now isn't it. (Watch Video) Somark: RFID Tattoo

The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves - Aug. 25, 2010

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway — and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.That is the bizarre — and scary — rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants — with no need for a search warrant.

It is a dangerous decision — one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich.

This case began in 2007, when Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents decided to monitor Juan Pineda-Moreno, an Oregon resident who they suspected was growing marijuana. They snuck onto his property in the middle of the night and found his Jeep in his driveway, a few feet from his trailer home. Then they attached a GPS tracking device to the vehicle's underside.

After Pineda-Moreno challenged the DEA's actions, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled in January that it was all perfectly legal. More disturbingly, a larger group of judges on the circuit, who were subsequently asked to reconsider the ruling, decided this month to let it stand. (Pineda-Moreno has pleaded guilty conditionally to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and manufacturing marijuana while appealing the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained with the help of GPS.)

In fact, the government violated Pineda-Moreno's privacy rights in two different ways. For starters, the invasion of his driveway was wrong. The courts have long held that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their homes and in the "curtilage," a fancy legal term for the area around the home. The government's intrusion on property just a few feet away was clearly in this zone of privacy.

The judges veered into offensiveness when they explained why Pineda-Moreno's driveway was not private. It was open to strangers, they said, such as delivery people and neighborhood children, who could wander across it uninvited.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who dissented from this month's decision refusing to reconsider the case, pointed out whose homes are not open to strangers: rich people's. The court's ruling, he said, means that people who protect their homes with electric gates, fences and security booths have a large protected zone of privacy around their homes. People who cannot afford such barriers have to put up with the government sneaking around at night.

Judge Kozinski is a leading conservative, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, but in his dissent he came across as a raging liberal. "There's been much talk about diversity on the bench, but there's one kind of diversity that doesn't exist," he wrote. "No truly poor people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter." The judges in the majority, he charged, were guilty of "cultural elitism."

The court went on to make a second terrible decision about privacy: that once a GPS device has been planted, the government is free to use it to track people without getting a warrant. There is a major battle under way in the federal and state courts over this issue, and the stakes are high. After all, if government agents can track people with secretly planted GPS devices virtually anytime they want, without having to go to a court for a warrant, we are one step closer to a classic police state — with technology taking on the role of the KGB or the East German Stasi.

Fortunately, other courts are coming to a different conclusion from the Ninth Circuit's — including the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That court ruled, also this month, that tracking for an extended period of time with GPS is an invasion of privacy that requires a warrant. The issue is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.

In these highly partisan times, GPS monitoring is a subject that has both conservatives and liberals worried. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's pro-privacy ruling was unanimous — decided by judges appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Plenty of liberals have objected to this kind of spying, but it is the conservative Chief Judge Kozinski who has done so most passionately. "1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it's here at last," he lamented in his dissent. And invoking Orwell's totalitarian dystopia where privacy is essentially nonexistent, he warned: "Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we're living in Oceania."

2009-12-19T23:02:00.000-05:00

Cops In Riot Gear --- Freedom To Fascism

The Militarization of the Local Police

The Real Threat of Fascism. We all should realize and be aware of the fact that the nations Germany and Italy were liberal democracies before the rise of fascism.

Adolf Hilter used the system from inside to gain power politically with the power of propaganda. He was considered a powerful speaker, so he railed against things that he knew the people feared and perceived as threats. In return, those who followed him began to treat Hitler with almost religious adoration. After Martial law was declared in Berlin, the people all over Germany turned to "Fuhrer worship" as they were caught up in the emotions of the Nazi campaign. Next came the elections of March 5, 1933, then the Nazis began a systematic takeover of the state governments throughout Germany, ending a centuries old tradition of local political independence. Armed SA and SS thugs barged into local government offices using the state of emergency decree as a pretext to throw out legitimate office holders and replace them with Nazi Reich commissioners. On March 23, the Nazi controlled Reichstag passed the "Enabling Act." This act finally established Adolph Hitler as the total Dictator of Germany. After this, the "Gleichschaltung" (Synchronizing) began – the total coordination and absorption of the entire nation under the Nazi boot.

Fascism From Wikipedia (in Italian, ''fascismo''), capitalized, refers to the right-wing authoritarian movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. The word ''fascism'' (uncapitalized) has come to mean any political stance or system of government resembling Mussolini's. The word comes from ''fascio'' (plural: ''fasci''), which may mean "bundle", as in a political or militant group or a nation, but also from the fasces (rods bundled around an axe), which were an ancient Roman symbol of the authority of lictors (magistrates). The Italian 'Fascisti' were also known as Black Shirts for their style of uniform incorporating a black shirt.

Read the 10 Signposts of a Global Infrastructure For Mass Registration and Surveillance A report by the International Campaign against Mass Surveillance (Pdf File)
The road to a police state A report by Michael Nield (Pdf File)
And the Patriot Act text of the Patriot Act (PDF file)
Article on The Militarization Of America By Dejan Lucic
Advanced knowledge of 9-11 Link - (Youtube video)

2009-12-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

The North American Union

Thomas Donohue (president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) on June 16, 2006 remarked that "for CEOs, North America is already a single market, and business decisions are no longer made with a Mexico strategy---or a Canada strategy---but, rather, with a North American strategy....I think it's pretty clear now that it no longer makes sense to talk about U.S. competitiveness and Mexican competitiveness---or, for that matter, about the competitiveness of Canada. We are all in this together---we, as North Americans." The Late Great USA - Link (pdf File) Youtube Video on NAFTA and the Council on Foreign Relations - Link

All UK citizens in ID database by 2017 - March 2008

All British citizens will have their fingerprints and photographs registered on a national ID database within 10 years under plans outlined by the Government.

Millions in sensitive jobs, including teachers, carers and health workers, will be among the first to be entered on to the identity register.

In a bid to kick start the project - the world's biggest - foreign nationals working in Britain will begin to be issued with cards from November. Starting next year, the first British citizens will be enrolled beginning with some airport staff, power station employees and people working on the London Olympics site.

Fingerprint kiosks, modelled on existing photograph booths in stations and shops, could be set up around the country to help people enrol. Plans outlined by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, yesterday envisage a fee of £30 for a stand-alone card, and more than £100 for a combined ID card and passport.

But ministers have been told by their own expert that enrolment should be free if the scheme is ''to win hearts and minds''.

A report commissioned by Gordon Brown from Sir James Crosby, a former banking chief, raised the prospect of the taxpayer stumping up the full cost. The Government has insisted all along that the multi-billion pound scheme would be funded through fees and not taxes.

Sir James also came out against including a digital image of the cardholder's fingerprints on the microchip in each ID card. For security reasons, the card and database should only hold some elements of a biometric, he said.

His report was published alongside a new Government timetable for introducing a universal ID scheme by 2017.

From the start of 2010 young people will be able to get an identity card if they chose and will be issued with a unique personal identity number. Later that year the scheme will be opened up to voluntary applicants of any age.

From 2012 - after the next general election - anyone applying for a new passport will automatically be fingerprinted and 49 pieces of personal information logged on the database. This is three years later than planned when the scheme was first proposed after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

In another change from original plans, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said it will be possible to decline the card itself and rely upon a passport as an identity document. Ministers might even revive the idea of linking the database entry to the driving licence.

There had been suggestions that Gordon Brown was cooling on the ID project because of the cost and civil liberties implications. But far from being a retreat, the announcement was designed to show that the Government is still committed to the project.

Miss Smith said the aim was to make coverage of the population ''universal'' by 2017. Officials said by that date, around 80 per cent of adults would be covered.

At that point, or possibly earlier, there will be a vote in parliament to include the rest of the population still not on the register.

Miss Smith said there would be greater involvement of the private sector in delivering the scheme. There would also be a drive to encourage more people to join the scheme voluntarily. As a result, Miss Smith said the Home Office could scale back the projected £5.4bn cost by around £1bn.

The Tories have promised the scrap the scheme if they take power after the next election, likely in 2010. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "The government may have removed the highly visible element but they have still left the dangerous core of this project."

"The National Identity Register, which will contain dozens of personal details of every adult in this country in one place, will be a severe threat to our security and a real target for criminals, hackers and terrorists."

"This is before you take the government's legendary inability to handle people's data securely into account."

Shami Chakrabarti, director for Liberty said: "Yet another re-launch of the ID scheme looks suspiciously like a new sales pitch for the same bad product."

"ID cards remain disastrous for our purses, privacy and race relations. A slow soft sell won't change this thoroughly bad idea."

Phil Booth of NO2ID, which campaigns against the scheme, said: "This is a marketing exercise."

"Whether you volunteer or are coerced on to the ID database, there's no way back. You'll be monitored for life."

"That's why the Government is targeting students and young people, to get them on before they realise what's happening."

2009-12-17T17:59:00.004-05:00

Tasers

"Taser" is an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle," a reference to juvenile adventure book character Tom Swift. A taser is a weapon that shoots two dart-like electrodes at its victims, then sending electric shocks through wire intended to stun a victim into submission, rendering him helpless and able to be controlled without excessive force. When the Taser electroshock weapon was introduced into widespread use in the early 1990s, it was touted as a "non-lethal" alternative to firearms, to be used to subdue criminals in situations that did not warrant the use of a deadly weapon. However, though the manufacturer as well as many law enforcement agencies continue to argue that tasers have reduced the need for officers to draw firearms and therefore resulted in fewer deaths, many civil rights groups and concerned citizens point to the more than 200 deaths that have resulted from tasers used by law enforcement officers as evidence that tasers are taking lives. One of the contributing factors to these taser injuries and taser deaths is the increasing use of tasers to subdue people who are not a serious threat to law enforcement officers. Instead of being used only in situations in which firearms would be used, tasers are more and more frequently used to simply subdue criminals in any kind of arrest situation. Officers may be subject to laws governing excessive force and police brutality because they sometimes risk lives unnecessarily when using tasers. Further, the news over the past few years has offered verifiable reports of police officers using tasers on individuals who are handicapped, pregnant, mentally-disabled or non-English-speaking, in addition to those who were simply objecting to an officer's aggression or inability to explain details of an arrest. The rise of cell phone camera technology and Internet video databases such as YouTube and LiveLeak has given the public more opportunity than ever to capture and display videos of taser incidents that are often astonishingly graphic.

Echelon (Signals Intelligence)

“Trillions of bytes of textual archive and thousands of online users, or gigabytes of live data stream per day that are filtered against tens of thousands of complex interest profiles” Echelon is a system used by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) to intercept and process international communications passing via communications satellites. It is one part of a global surveillance systems that intercept messages from the Internet, from undersea cables, from radio transmissions, from secret equipment installed inside embassies, or use orbiting satellites to monitor signals anywhere on the earth's surface. The system includes stations run by Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to those operated by the United States. They all form part of the same integrated global network using the same equipment and methods to extract information and intelligence illicitly from millions of messages every day, all over the world. The system works by indiscriminately intercepting very large quantities of communications and using computers to identify and extract messages of interest from the mass of unwanted ones. A chain of secret interception facilities has been established around the world to tap into all the major components of the international telecommunications networks. Some monitor communications satellites, others land-based communications networks, and others radio communications. ECHELON links together all these facilities, providing the US and its allies with the ability to intercept a large proportion of the communications on the planet. The computers at each station in the ECHELON network automatically search through the millions of messages intercepted for ones containing pre-programmed keywords. The thousands of simultaneous messages are read in "real time" as they pour into the station, hour after hour, day after day, as the computer finds intelligence needles in telecommunications haystacks. According to its website, the USA's National Security Agency is "a high technology organization... on the frontiers of communications and data processing". Russia, China, France and other nations also operate worldwide networks.

UN report calls for new global reserve currency to replace US dollar - September 7, 2009

UN Says New Currency Is Needed to Fix Broken ‘Confidence Game’. The dollar’s role in international trade should be reduced by establishing a new currency to protect emerging markets from the “confidence game” of financial speculation, the United Nations said.

UN countries should agree on the creation of a global reserve bank to issue the currency and to monitor the national exchange rates of its members, the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development said today in a report.

China, India, Brazil and Russia this year called for a replacement to the dollar as the main reserve currency after the financial crisis sparked by the collapse of the U.S. mortgage market led to the worst global recession since World War II. China, the world’s largest holder of dollar reserves, said a supranational currency such as the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights, or SDRs, may add stability.

“There’s a much better chance of achieving a stable pattern of exchange rates in a multilaterally-agreed framework for exchange-rate management,” Heiner Flassbeck, co-author of the report and a UNCTAD director, said in an interview from Geneva. “An initiative equivalent to Bretton Woods or the European Monetary System is needed.”

The 1944 Bretton Woods agreement created the modern global economic system and institutions including the IMF and World Bank.

Enhanced SDRs

While it would be desirable to strengthen SDRs, a unit of account based on a basket of currencies, it wouldn’t be enough to aid emerging markets most in need of liquidity, said Flassbeck, a former German deputy finance minister who worked in 1997-1998 with then U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to contain the Asian financial crisis.

Emerging-market countries are underrepresented at the IMF, hindering the effectiveness of enhanced SDR allocations, the UN said. An organization should be created to manage real exchange rates between countries measured by purchasing power and adjusted to inflation differentials and development levels, it said.

“The most important lesson of the global crisis is that financial markets don’t get prices right,” Flassbeck said. “Governments are being tempted by the resulting confidence game catering to financial-market participants who have shown they’re inept at assessing risk.”

The 45-year-old UN group, run by former World Trade Organization chief Supachai Panitchpakdi, “promotes integration of developing countries in the world economy,” according to its Web site. Emerging-market nations should consider restricting capital mobility until a new system is in place, the group said.

The world body began issuing warnings in 2006 about financial imbalances leading to a global recession.

2009-12-16T17:34:00.000-05:00

Fascism

Roman Fascist Symbol (left)

US House of Representatives chamber,
United States Capitol (on the left and
right of the podium)

Close Up

This symbol of absolute rule is commonly known as a fasces, and helped inspired the name of those who espoused such totalitarian power, the Fascists.

The word comes from fascio (plural: fasci), which may mean bundle, as in a political or militant group or a nation, but also from the fasces (rods bundled around an axe). One might say the fasces embodies the essence of fascism: The people are the sticks, tied to the state to form a strong, single unit. The [individual] is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone. The State is the ax, which has the power to create, to enforce and to obliterate. A fascist regime generally gains support by promoting a series of ideas through the media, public rallies and other forms of propaganda. These ideas include: a nation in crisis, an idealized past, and a need for social change.

Enhanced driver’s licence now ready for border - May 5th, 2009

Ontario residents can now apply for an enhanced driver’s licence to use instead of a passport when crossing into the United States, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley announced today, even though the new documents won’t be ready for weeks.

The U.S. will require passports or other secure identification documents for anyone crossing into the country by land or sea starting June 1, while a passport will still be required to enter the U.S. by air.

What is it?

A new high tech licence designed to prevent identity theft and possibly serve as an alternate to your passport when travelling to the U.S. But a Ministry spokesman admits that could be ‘years away.’

What’s special about it?

It has a second photo on the front, raised lettering of the licence’s number, signature and date of birth, a fine-line background, a 2D barcode, micro and rainbow printing, and ultraviolet features among others.

When can you get it?

They’ll be issued the next time you renew your licence, starting this month.

What’s the cost?

It won’t be more expensive, retaining the $75 charge you pay now.

What if you’ve just renewed your licence?

You’re out of luck. The only way to get the new version is to move, change the information on your current card or wait until your next renewal five years from now.

CCTV Security Cameras

An explosion proof camera and various dome mounted cameras are pictured above. CCTV is an acronym that stands for Closed Circuit Television. It is defined as the use of one or more cameras used for surveillance purposes. It was initially developed to increase bank security and has since spread to every corner of the security industry. Home security systems, businesses, corporations, organizations, and schools are several examples of locations that implement CCTV Security Systems. They produce high quality, exceptionally sharp color images, and have motion sensors that track movement across an area. They can pick a person out of a crowd and lock on them, tracing their movements; they can run at night because of infrared technology. The possibilities are endless for CCTV, especially as the technology continues to develop.

Will Biometric Passports Lead to a State of Constant Surveillance? - August 28, 2009

One of life’s sweet pleasures is to travel. Thanks to the increasing number of low-cost flights, traveling abroad is no longer a luxury reserved for the privileged few. At the same time, however, there is an alarming increase in the demand of personal data from tourists and no clear transatlantic legal framework on personal data exchange. Though third parties such as airlines and airport operators have the right to read this data, we don’t know what happens with it afterwards.

Under legislation introduced after the September 11th attacks, the United States has tightened security measures for foreign tourists entering its country. The latest measure requires that by 2012, every traveler entering the United States who is part of the visa-waiver program must have a biometric passport or be forced to apply for a visa.

The biometric passport – which contains an embedded chip with personal data, facial images and fingerprints – is on its way to becoming a global travel prerequisite. Current passports will remain valid for travel to most countries until then. Germany, France and the Netherlands have already started issuing the new documents. EU parliamentarians approved the US’ demand and passed a ruling at the end of 2005 saying that its goal is to combat illegal immigration, terrorism and organized crime. But the excuse that the new passports will help prevent international terrorism is questionable since security agents will need to know whose face or fingerprints they are looking for in the first place.

Initially, Washington gave a 2006 deadline for the 27 countries in the EU and other visa-waiver countries such as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, but then pushed the date back to June of this year to give these countries more time to prepare the technology needed to issue the biometric passports. The US State Department started introducing e-passports in 2006 and every passport holder in the US is projected to have one by 2017.

In the meantime, there is little enthusiasm for these new requirements. Data watchdogs and human rights activists argue that this regulation treats everyone as a potential criminal, thus violating the protection of citizens’ personal data and imposing a state of constant surveillance.

Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor, said in a press conference on the implementation of biometric passports in 2007 that security measures aimed at preventing terrorism are often stepped up at the expense of privacy. Hustinx is in charge of giving governments and EU bodies advice on data security standards and acts independently of EU institutions. He warned that the EU was “rushing in a new era” of using biometric identifiers for security checks while standards for data protection were still not clear.

“It is very important that the biometric data is only saved in the passport and not in external databanks. Until now there are no international regulations which guarantee this,” said Peter Schaar, German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, at a conference on data protection held in March of this year in Berlin.

In 2005 when this ruling was issued, no intense political debate occurred in Germany but there were some voices of dissent. The left-wing daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung published a column saying that since 9/11 domestic security had gained more importance than the protection of fundamental citizen rights. In addition, security experts have warned of the danger and ease with which hackers and state agencies could abuse the data registers and the sensitive personal information they track.

In fact, the e-pass, which is supposed to protect states against terrorist attacks, is not so safe at all. In 2006 at the Black Hat security conference held in Las Vegas, Lukas Grunwald, a German computer security consultant, proved that the data in the chips is easy to copy. He demonstrated that a terrorist could carry a passport with his/her real name and photo printed on the pages, but with a chip that contains different information cloned from someone else’s passport. However, this could be easily avoided if the security official examines the pass to make sure the name and the picture printed on it match the data read from the chip.

Further troubling to activists and watchdogs, the European Union is about to enter talks with the US on giving it access to banking data. The plan could go beyond an existing deal with the EU that allows trans-Atlantic airlines to transfer credit card, email addresses, passport, travel itineraries and other data belonging to European passengers to US officials. The US has already been examining transactions handled by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT) since 9/11. SWIFT, which is headquartered in Belgium, is planning to move its servers and database from the US to Europe. With data privacy laws far stricter in Europe, the US would then need permission from the EU before it could gain access to this sensitive information.

The protection of a citizen’s privacy and personal data is vital for any democratic society, and should be respected as much as freedom of expression or movement. Some officials in the US and the EU would do well to re-read Article 8 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights which states the following:

“Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. […] Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority.”

In the paranoid quest for more security, freedom and privacy are often sacrificed. We are all being watched by “Big Brother,” but who is watching “Big Brother” for us?

2009-12-15T17:06:00.000-05:00

The Tower Of Babel

(Gen. 11:1-9) Symbolizes the common effort of mankind to build a common political society. The Louise Weiss EU Parliamentary Building in Strassbourg that opened in December 2000 is said to have Pieter Brueghel's (Tower Of Babel) painting for its model. Also, on this promotional poster used by the EU there's a reproduction of The Tower of Babel with construction cranes above it and the caption 'Many tongues, one voice.' The myriad number of groups, governments, societies and interest groups who are working toward a New World Order are gradually placing all the necessary things in order to facilitate the revived dream of Babel. This would unite all nations and peoples in the worship of Lucifer. What's the logic behind the symbolism in this building? The EU says it is seeking to "build up the house of Europe" - a task yet to be completed. The building is complete and in use, but is designed to look unfinished, and even has ringed platforms to represent scaffolding. And here's the scary part. A reporter questioning "Why the Tower of Babel" as a design concept, was answered in an astounding way by an EU official. He said, "What they failed to complete 3000 years ago – we in Europe will finish now!" Is the E.U. the Revived Roman Empire? - Link

Surveillance cameras

170 surveillance cameras on one block! NYC now Camera City. In 2005, the NYCLU counted more than 4,000 street level cameras from the West Village down to Battery Park. The group also found that the 292 cameras along 125th Street in Central Harlem recorded nearly every movement on that busy street. "I would believe the number has dramatically increased" three years later, said Matt Faiella, staff attorney for the NYCLU. The cameras have myriad uses. The NYPD wants to install thousands to protect the city against terrorism. The NYPD's recently released plan to protect the city by installing some 3,000 additional cameras in the city raised concern at the NYCLU because it takes a new step in surveillance by creating a database of license plates and people's movements. The police said the images, including license plate captures, would be erased after 30 days. Because they're continually making new discoveries to increase the effectiveness of surveillance cameras, biometrics, rfid chips, etc., the government may soon be tracking us all.

Biometric Digital Fingerprint Scanner

Biometric technology, requiring digital fingerprints and a photograph for identification, is used by the Department of State to establish and verify the identities of visa applicants at embassies and consulates around the world through its BioVisa program. The Department of Homeland Security established the US-VISIT program under which a traveler’s biometrics are collected in his country, compared against a watch list of known criminals and suspected terrorists, and then verified again upon arrival in the United States. Biometrics are unique and virtually impossible to forge.

Hitachi Finger Vein Scanner

This is a new payment technology brought to us by Hitachi which makes your fingertip pay for transactions. This is a biometric cardless credit payment system, which adopts the uniqueness of the blood vessel patterns in each individual human body as the signature for payment authentication. The new biometric system is able to recognize pattern of the blood vessels in your fingers, so, what you need is to insert your finger for a scan to authenticate the credit card transactions. Blood vessels are hidden under the skin, which aren’t like retinas or fingerprints and shouldn’t be possible to counterfeit. In order for you to use your fingertip for making payment, you need to first register your finger vein pattern with the credit card company. The idea of cardless payment making use finger vein that has lowest counterfeit possibility is definitely good. A few of the common problems such as card loss and theft will be eliminated with this new system.

Argus Solutions - Iris Recognition

The iris offers a rich source of data for biometric measurement. The patterns of the iris are unique and templates derived from the iris can yield identification performance which is better than DNA matching. The iris is the only internal organ visible from the outside and is protected from environmental factors (such as dirt and abrasion) which can afflict other biometrics. Iris recognition offers advantages in accuracy, high speed of exhaustive search, non contact with sensors and passive collection methods.

Memphis firm makes device to identify people by blood vessels on palm of the hand - Feb. 2008

After years of work, Snowflake Technologies Corp. has built a working prototype of a device that can identify people based on the blood vessels in the palms of their hands.

The firm's leader, Brad Silver, recently showed off the device and said the company wants to be selling something similar to big companies by the end of this year.

Snowflake, a privately held subsidiary of Memphis-based medical equipment company Luminetx Corp., has been working on the technology since its creation in late 2005.

Both Luminetx's VeinViewer device and Snowflake's prototype vein pattern recognition scanner use light in the near infrared spectrum to create images of blood vessels hidden under the skin, Silver said.

The VeinViewer processes the data and then projects a greenish image of the hidden blood vessels back onto the skin in real time, allowing health care workers to more easily do injections and similar tasks.

The Snowflake prototype collects the data and uses it to create a unique numeric key, Silver said. Patterns of human blood vessels are one-of-a-kind, much like snowflakes are, and don't change over time as fingerprints do, he said.

Two key members of the Snowflake company are senior engineer Peter M. Meenen and software developer Carlos Vrancken, who work in an office with a dry-erase board covered with mathematical formulas. Crude early versions of the device rest on an unused cubicle.

They're largely responsible for developing the device, though Silver said Snowflake also owns a similar patent by an English inventor but isn't using it.

The latest version is a kiosk about two feet long and a foot high. It's roughly C-shaped, with the points of the C pointing toward the user. Users hold their hands in a space between the two parts, a "touchless" approach that's difficult to produce, but is meant to be easier to use and could give the firm flexibility for more applications later on, Silver said.

The machine can learn to recognize the vein patterns in the person's hand and tie them to an pin number.

In a demonstration, the device was taught to recognize a reporter's blood vessels and later granted access to the system. And when Silver tried to enter using the pin number assigned to the reporter, the machine denied him access.

The federal government is interested in improving security in places such as border checkpoints, but Silver said its systems are closely geared to fingerprints, making the vein recognition device a harder sell. He said he hopes the federal government will be more interested if the technology works in big companies.

Silver is making a round of sales visits to Fortune 500 firms, sometimes accompanied by Rodney W. Schutt, who is chief operating officer for both Luminetx and Snowflake.

They say there are numerous applications for their product. It could be used to make sure that only qualified people are using a high-priced machine in a factory. It could create a detailed record of who handled key steps in a sensitive process like manufacturing drugs or maintaining aircraft.

And of course, it could restrict access to certain parts of a facility.

Snowflake has some competition. Japanese technology giants Fujitsu and Hitachi have built similar devices. Hitachi recently announced that it's made a finger vein device for automobiles to verify the driver's identity. A Korean firm called Techsphere is making progress too.

Fujitsu's palm vein devices have been installed in automatic teller devices in Japan, and have been sold in the United States to health care companies such as Carolinas HealthCare, a Charlotte, N.C.-based hospital group.

The health care group uses the vein scanner when patients check in, allowing the organization to quickly match electronic health records to an individual, said Joel Hagberg, vice president of business development for an American Fujitsu subsidiary.

This protects privacy, prevents insurance fraud and incorrect billing, speeds the patient's check-in and helps avoid medical errors such as mistaking the patient's identity and operating on the wrong body part, he said.

Silver said Snowflake's competitors haven't made good traction in the American market and that his firm hopes to differentiate itself by tailoring its product and service to customers' needs.

Snowflake has no income -- it's operating on $6 million in venture capital funding that it raised in 2006.

Schutt wouldn't discuss details, but said he's optimistic that big firms will embrace vein recognition technology before the firm runs out of money.

2009-12-14T11:48:00.000-05:00

Globalization And A One World Economy

Corporate citizenship in the world economy. Transnational Corporations exert a great deal of power in the globalized world economy. Many corporations are richer and more powerful than the states that seek to regulate them. Through mergers and acquisitions corporations have been growing very rapidly and some of the largest TNCs now have annual profits exceeding the GDPs of many low and medium income countries.

Welcome To The "New World Order"

Revelation 13: 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

U.K. To Begin Microchipping Prisoners

The British government is developing a plan to track current and former prisoners by means of microchips implanted under the skin, drawing intense criticism from probation officers and civil rights groups.

As a way to reduce prison crowding, many British prisoners are currently released under electronic monitoring, carried out by means of an ankle bracelet that transmits signals like those used by mobile phones. Now the Ministry of Justice is exploring the possibility of injecting prisoners in the back of the arm with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that contains information about their name, address and criminal record. Such chips, which contain a built-in antenna, could be scanned by special readers. The implantation of RFID chips in luggage, pets and livestock has become increasingly popular in recent years. In addition to monitoring incarcerated prisoners, the ministry hopes to use the chips on those who are on probation or other conditional release. By including a satellite uplink system in the chip, police would be able to use global positioning system (GPS) technology to track subjects' exact locations at all times. Click Here - to see a Rfid Chip image with details on individual parts.

Panoptic C-Thru Surveillance System

Panoptic’s C-Thru 3D Video Surveillance System could be loosely described as a formalised, scalable implementation of Superman’s X-ray vision. The system enables one or more surveillance agents, using a single high resolution, auto-stereoscopic display, to remotely monitor the security situation of an arbitrarily large number of locations at-a-glance. Agents can see, hear and transport their focused viewpoint through walls, floors and ceilings, zooming into a specific location to monitor it at a level so acute that it seems beyond the levels of even science fiction. Designed to enable both wholistic site-wide and granular-level security, the system is ideal for monitoring airports, shipping ports, transit sites and other ports-of-entry, hotels, casinos, shopping malls, campuses, military bases, large buildings and building complexes, offering total situational awareness at a glance.

The system is claimed to enable a single agent to monitor thousands of places at the same time without overwhelming them with the massive amount of information being processed and displayed. It enables this by using artificial intelligence to determine what’s important to look at. The agent's mental load is radically optimized towards monitoring only what is most critical to security: presence and movement of (groups of) people and vehicles inside a campus/site and its buildings as well as any security-sensitive events (such as fires, smoke, badge access, assemblies, gun-shots, people running etc).

Events which need analysis by the human operator are flagged by what Panoptic calls the “Artificially Intelligent suspicious activity detector.” This detection system uses pattern recognition and possibly also neural nets to detect potential security or safety indicative events such as: the assembly of groups larger than X people; loitering; running; stressed shouting; suspect clothing (balaclavas, squad-type clothing, bullet-proof vests) or suspect items hidden under clothing; nervousness of individuals and groups; fires; smoke and gasses; explosions etc.

The three dimensional C-Thru surveillance system is effectively a complex form of Augmented Reality which fuses real-world video imagery with volumetric models in a real-time 3D display to help observers comprehend multiple streams of temporal data and imagery. The “C-Thru” imaging is enabled by the combination of imagery supplied by many low-cost 360º cameras and dynamic background subtraction, which makes the walls of buildings and vehicles transparent, offering at-a-glance situational awareness of security-relevant people, objects and vehicles in motion.

In essence, the system significantly empowers surveillance agents with something akin to an X-ray like "God's Eye View" super sight capability. The agents have comprehensive overview. They can see, hear and transport their focused viewpoint through walls; floors and ceilings; can zoom into and monitor a specific location.

2009-12-13T23:35:00.000-05:00

RFID Tag System

(Wal-Mart RFID tags to Track Clothing. A Wal-Mart employee uses a handheld scanner to read EPC labels on men's denim jeans.)
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are embedded in a growing number of personal items and identity documents. Because the tags were designed to be powerful tracking devices and they typically incorporate little security, people wearing or carrying them are vulnerable to surreptitious surveillance and profiling. Worldwide, legislators have done little to address those risks to citizens. If you live in a state bordering Canada or Mexico, you may soon be given an opportunity to carry a very high tech item: a remotely readable driver's license. Designed to identify U.S. citizens as they approach the nation's borders, the cards are being promoted by the Department of Homeland Security as a way to save time and simplify border crossings. But if you care about your safety and privacy as much as convenience, you might want to think twice before signing up.

The new licenses come equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags that can be read right through a wallet, pocket or purse from as far away as 30 feet. Each tag incorporates a tiny microchip encoded with a unique identification number. As the bearer approaches a border station, radio energy broadcast by a reader device is picked up by an antenna connected to the chip, causing it to emit the ID number. By the time the license holder reaches the border agent, the number has already been fed into a Homeland Security database, and the traveler's photograph and other details are displayed on the agent's screen.

Although such "enhanced" driver's licenses remain voluntary in the states that offer them, privacy and security experts are concerned that those who sign up for the cards are unaware of the risk: anyone with a readily available reader device—unscrupulous marketers, government agents, stalkers, thieves and just plain snoops—can also access the data on the licenses to remotely track people without their knowledge or consent. What is more, once the tag's ID number is associated with an individual's identity—for example, when the person carrying the license makes a credit-card transaction—the radio tag becomes a proxy for that individual. And the driver's licenses are just the latest addition to a growing array of "tagged" items that consumers might be wearing or carrying around, such as transit and toll passes, office key cards, school IDs, "contactless" credit cards, clothing, phones and even groceries.

RFID tags have been likened to barcodes that broadcast their information, and the comparison is apt in the sense that the tiny devices have been used mainly for identifying parts and inventory, including cattle, as they make their way through supply chains. Instead of having to scan every individual item's Universal Product Code (UPC), a warehouse worker can register the contents of an entire pallet of, say, paper towels by scanning the unique serial number encoded in the attached RFID tag. That number is associated in a central database with a detailed list of the pallet's contents. But people are not paper products. During the past decade a shift toward embedding chips in individual consumer goods and, now, official identity documents has created a new set of privacy and security problems precisely because RFID is such a powerful tracking technology. Very little security is built into the tags themselves, and existing laws offer people scant protection from being surreptitiously tracked and profiled while living an increasingly tagged life. Article on Wal-Mart Radio Tags to Track Clothing

2009-12-12T13:55:00.000-05:00

Opt Out of a Body Scan? Then Brace Yourself - November 2, 2010

HAVING been taught by nuns in grade school and later going through military boot camp, I have always disliked uniformed authorities shouting at me. So I was unhappy last week when some security screeners at’Hare International Airport in Chicago started yelling.

“Opt out! We got an opt out!” one bellowed about me in a tone that people in my desert neighborhood in Tucson usually reserve for declaring, “Rattlesnake!”

Other screeners took up the “Opt out!” shout. I was marched from the metal detector lane to one of those nearby whole-body imagers, ordered to take everything out of my pockets, remove my belt and hold my possessions up high. Then I was required to stand still while I received a rough pat-down by a man whose résumé, I suspected, included experience at a state prison.

“Hold your pants up!” he ordered me.

What did I do to deserve this? Well, as I approached the checkpoints, I had two choices. One was a familiar lane with the metal detector, so I put my bag on that. To my right was a separate lane dominated with what the Transportation Security Administration initially called “whole-body imagers” but has now labeled “advanced imaging technology” units. Critics, of course, call them strip-search machines.

I don’t like these things, and not just because of privacy concerns or because of what some critics have asserted are radiation safety issues with some of the machines that use X-ray technology.

No, I don’t like the fact that I have to remove every item from every pocket, including my wallet and things as trivial as a Kleenex. You then strike a pose inside with your hands submissively held above your head, like some desperado cornered by the sheriff in a Western movie, while the see-through-clothes machine makes an image of your body.

The T.S.A.’s position is that anyone can “opt out” of a body scan for reasons of privacy or whatever, but will then be subjected to a thorough physical pat-down and careful search of belongings.

In my case, I had been routinely using a normal metal detector checkpoint, when I was ordered to switch lanes and instead go to one of the new machines. I said I would prefer not to, given that my carry-on bag, laptop and shoes were already trundling along the regular machine’s conveyor belt, out of sight. That’s when the shouting started.

As of Monday afternoon, the agency had not responded to several requests for comment on this. Last week, the agency did tell me that there were 317 of the advanced imaging technology machines now in use at 65 airports around the country.

About 500 should be online by the end of the year, the agency said, and another 500 are expected to be installed next year. Ultimately, the agency plans to have the new machines replace metal detectors at all of the roughly 2,000 airport checkpoints.

Meanwhile, both passengers and security screeners are making accommodations, and I acknowledge, change is a challenge. But hey, security folks, could we please start communicating better about the procedures, preferably without shouting or insulting our intelligence?

Bruce Delahorne, a marketing executive who flies frequently, said he was also recently going through a standard metal detector at O’Hare — no body imager in sight — when the old rules abruptly changed.

Mr. Delahorne said: “They had one of the T.S.A. staff announcing loudly: ‘Take everything out of your pockets. If you have a wallet, take it out. A handkerchief, out.’ I asked the guy, ‘Can you explain the reason for the new process?’ He said there was nothing new. ‘We have always done this.’ ”

Well, no they haven’t, as you and I and Mr. Delahorne all know. Mr. Delahorne said he thought, “O.K., I get it. This guy is reading from the card, not talking to me.”

So, Mr. Delahorne said, “I did what they told me to. But on the other side of the metal detector, I said to another screener, ‘Could you explain to me why the procedure is now different at this airport, like having to remove a wallet that never set off the metal detector?’ And he said, ‘No, no. The process has always been the same, at every airport.’ ”

Mr. Delahorne said he was perfectly willing to comply with all procedures to ensure good security. He just wondered whether some of them were being made up on the spot. “For me,” he said, “the issue is, who’s in charge here and what are the rules?”

2007-05-19T15:46:00.031-05:00

Biometric Technology

Before long, we may use fingerprints, iris scans, and voice recognition to log onto computers, buy groceries -- even when picking up kids from school. This could be you: At a convenience store, a scanner reads your fingerprints and deducts the price of a coffee and doughnut from your checking account. Once at the office, your employer uses software to monitor the rhythm of your typing or a Webcam to measure the proportions of your face before letting you onto the network. Your call to customer service won't go through until you're identified by the cadence of your voice.

Palm Reader
What: Fujitsu PalmSecure Measures: Vascular patterns and blood flow in the hand
Status: Widely available at ATMs and other locations in Japan. U.S. launch expected this year The PalmSecure bombards the user's hand with "near infrared" light to detect the pattern of blood vessels. Fujitsu is close-lipped about a U.S. debut expected later this year but says PalmSecure could be useful in health care and for granting access to buildings.

Let Your Fingers Do the Paying
What: Pay By Touch Measures: Fingerprints Status: available in certain grocery stores. Soon through an as-yet-undisclosed e-tailer Sample customers: Supervalu, Albertson's, Piggly Wiggly. Used by several retailers, Pay By Touch may be the most prominent biometric device in the U.S. Shoppers enrolled in the program can speed through checkout lines, paying for items with a linked bank account or credit card simply by applying a fingerprint to a sensor. Pay By Touch says more than 2 million people have signed up. Now the company plans to expand into online retail, using sensors available on some laptops. Pay By Touch is now owned by YOU Technology.

Rfid Technology

2007-05-18T14:45:00.018-05:00

RFID Label MPI Label Company | Alien chip | 96-bit

RFID tag UPM RAFLATAC | ShortDipole (ETSI) 96-bit Gen2 UHF

RFID tag UPM RAFLATAC | Frog DualDipole 96-bit Gen2 UHF

RFID tag UPM RAFLATAC | MiniDipole 96-bit Gen2 UHF

Implantable RFID chips RFID, Inc | used for animal tracking

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is an object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves. All RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio frequency (RF) signal and perhaps other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. The RFID tag can automatically be read from several meters away and does not have to be in the line of sight of the reader. The current thrust in RFID use in supply chain management for large enterprises. RFID increases the speed and accuracy with which inventory can be tracked and managed thereby saving money for the business.

Biometrics To Be Used On IDs.

2007-05-17T04:56:00.008-05:00

Minnesota to Use Facial Recognition Technology on IDs -- State will add biometrics component to prevent fake driver's licenses

BY BILL SALISBURY

Pioneer Press via Knight Ridder
Minnesota soon will start using biometric face scans to prevent would-be crooks — and underage wannabe smokers and drinkers — from getting fake driver's licenses from the state.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday announced plans to add biometric facial recognition technology to driver's licenses as part of a broader effort to protect consumers from identity theft and unauthorized use of personal data. That effort will include stiffer criminal penalties for hackers and others who abuse access to personal data on computers.

"Identity theft causes great trauma, inconvenience and damage to a lot of people and families," Pawlenty said at a Capitol news conference. He said the state must do more to crack down on identity thieves and strengthen safeguards for personal information.

Driver's licenses are one of the state's most important forms of identification, he said, and biometric technology will help law enforcement officers ensure that individuals are who they say they are.

The new technology would match an individual's driver's license photo with images in the state's database.

Here's how Pawlenty's office described it: "Facial recognition technology converts an image into a mathematical computer algorithm as a basis for a positive match. It uses the structure of a person's face — such as width between the eyes, forehead depth and nose length — to assign mathematical points of reference creating a unique data file."

The face scans will enable the state to detect people attempting to obtain licenses using the same photo with multiple names and birth dates, or the same name and birth date with multiple people's photos, said state Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion. "The technology … will create a higher level of integrity for Minnesota's driver's licenses."

Pawlenty said 13 other states use the technology, and it has proved "highly accurate."

No new photos will be needed to develop the state's face-scan file. State workers will scan photos on current driver's licenses to create the new file.

The new technology will cost about $1 to $2 per driver's license. Pawlenty said an $800,000 federal grant will offset these costs and that he will ask the 2006 Legislature to pay the rest.

Although he believes he has the power to implement the new system on his own, he said he would ask the Legislature to approve it.

For Minnesota retailers, the new technology means customers will be far less likely to try to use fake identification cards to make purchases, especially of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, said Steve Rush, board chairman of the Minnesota Retailers Association. Businesses will not have equipment to read the face scans, however; only the state will have that ability.

New Biometric Smart Cards

2007-05-16T00:25:00.012-05:00

ActivCard, a specialist in IDentity Management software for remote access, single sign-on and digital ID card solutions, announced an expanded cooperation with its partner Precise Biometrics AB, developer and provider of world-leading and user-friendly biometric security solutions based on fingerprints, to deliver smart card-based identification (ID) badge solutions with biometric authentication. ActivCard has incorporated Precise Biometrics' technology for fingerprint matching on smart cards, "Precise Match-on-Card", to its "ActivCard Gold 2.2" software, the most successful and widely deployed smart ID card middleware platform available on the market today. By verifying the fingerprint that's on the card, the Precise Match-on-Card method guarantees that the reference biometric template (the user's identity) never leaves the card, so it is not subject to theft.

E-Smart Technologies is a leading provider of high technology security systems that can be used to combat fraud and terrorism. E-Smart products enable government agencies and commercial enterprises to continuously and securely verify, certify and manage identification and access of citizens, personnel, customers and any other persons seeking physical or logical access. E-Smart is the exclusive provider of the Biometric Verification Security System(TM) (BVS2)(TM), featuring the Super Smart Card(TM) for Asia and the US, which experts believe to be the world's only commercially available smartcard with a full on-card matching system for biometric ID verification.

New Rfid Technology

2007-05-15T22:57:00.010-05:00

RFID tags are miniscule microchips, which already have shrunk to half the size of a grain of sand. They listen for a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID code. Most RFID tags have no batteries: They use the power from the initial radio signal to transmit their response. You should become familiar with RFID technology because you'll be hearing much more about it soon. Retailers adore the concept. Wal-Mart and the U.K.-based grocery chain Tesco are starting to install "smart shelves" with networked RFID readers. In what will become the largest test of the technology, consumer goods giant Gillette recently said it would purchase 500 million RFID tags from Alien Technology of Morgan Hill, Calif. It becomes unnervingly easy to imagine a scenario where everything you buy that's more expensive than a Snickers will sport RFID tags, which typically include a 64-bit unique identifier yielding about 18 thousand trillion possible values. KSW-Microtec, a German company, has invented washable RFID tags designed to be sewn into clothing. And according to EE Times, the European central bank is considering embedding RFID tags into banknotes by 2005.

The VeriChip, made by Applied Digital Solutions, Inc., is an implantable RFID microchip for humans. It is about the size of a grain of rice. The chip has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and can be used to hold patient-approved health-care information.