Concerns over privacy have aligned with apocalyptic Biblical prophecy in a proposed Virginia law that limits the use of microchip implants on humans because of a lawmaker's concern that the chips will prove to be the Antichrist's "mark of the beast."
On Wednesday, Virginia's House of Delegates passed a bill that forbids companies from forcing their employees to be implanted with tracking devices, a move likely to be applauded by civil libertarians.
But Virginia state Delegate Mark Cole's reasons for proposing the law have as much to do with the Book of Revelation as they do with concerns over privacy in the digital age.
Cole says he is concerned that the implants will turn out to be the "mark of the beast" worn by Satan's minions.
"My understanding -- I'm not a theologian -- but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times," Cole said, as quoted at the Washington Post. "Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."
Cole is not alone in making that assertion. Evangelical Outreach, a Web site run by pastor Dan Corner, states that "[w]ith modern technology, it is very possible that this mark may be directly linked with a computer chip."
"Radio frequency identification (RFID) implants are currently the prime candidate for this beastly technology," says the Riding the Beast blog.
David Neff, editor of Christianity Today, says that "this is part of a larger attempt to constantly read current history in the light of the symbolic language of the Book of Revelation," according to the Post.
Opponents of Cole's measure argue that it's "a solution in search of a problem," the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reports.
Virginia Democratic delegate Bob Brink said: "As I went door to door, there were a number of issues that never came up. I didn't hear anything about the danger of an asteroid striking the earth or about the menace of forced implantation of microchips in humans."
But Cole says it was his constituents who brought the issue to his attention. He says people are concerned that chip implants will replace employee ID badges in offices.
If passed by the full legislature, Virginia will become the fourth state in the US to have such a law. California, Missouri and Georgia have all passed a similar measure, or are working to pass one.
Momentum behind microchip implants has been building for years. Perhaps most significantly, Florida-based VeriChip introduced an implant in 2001 that can store medical data. The FDA approved the technology for use in humans in 2004.
Let's add to the fact that this will never address the real issue and improve the health of society or eliminate Obesity. The facts show the the Agri-giants will still be in control poisioning us with their Geneticaly Modified Food Supply and the Socialist Corporate Tyranny that is implemented...
Michelle Obama told America on Tuesday that it's time to get moving.
Michelle Obama announces 'obesity' a threat to national security...
Speaking at the White House and surrounded by children, the first lady introduced a national effort to combat childhood obesity.
Also throw in the mix that the MSM is now promoting the Militarzation of the Obesity with their latest VH1 Propaganda of Celebrity Weight Loss Comandos.
11 Most Absurd Myths About Food
Tonight is Celebrity Fit Club night, the first episode in the VH1 series with Kevin Federline joining baby mama Shar Jackson (she was there before Britney Spears) to get his body back. OK, maybe his sexy back too, if possible. FOR VIDEO CLICK HERE
K-Fed joins Shar (from Moesha), Bobby Brown (singer and Whitney Houston's ex), Tanisha Thomas (from The Bad Girls Club), Nicole Eggert (from Baywatch), Sebastian Bach (from Skid Row), KayCee Stroh (from High School Musical on Disney), and Jay McCarroll (from Project Runway).
What a motley crew.
So what do you think of the line-up and who do you think will win by losing the most?Obama establishes task force on childhood obesity
Obesity Surgery Much More Effective In Teens Than Lifestyle Changes
Michelle Obama on obesity: Time for a wake-up call
Michelle Obama's obesity plan, in the Nick of time
Firms get fit for Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Plan: Reaching Out to America's Moms
The Obama Obesity Proposals: The Good, The Bad, The Missing
First Lady Michelle Obama Says 'Let's Move' to Fight Childhood Obesity ...
Tax on soft drinks? What tax on soft drinks?
Fight develops over soda tax proposal in New York
GM FOOD... SHOCKING... ALERT!
| The following AUDIO link was sent to you by: APFN |  | |||
|  | A008I100210- 884H.MP3 (audio/mp | | |
| ||||
| APFN says: | | ||
| | GM FOOD... SHOCKING... ALERT! | | |
| ||||
PedoBear is an olympic mascot according to Polish newspaper
12 http://www.wpbf.com/mostpopular/22526263/detail.html
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A Port St. Lucie first-grade student was handcuffed and committed to a mental health facility because of her classroom behavior, and her parents are furious that the school took such extreme measures. Wednesday,
Ohio's weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission.
"Ohio is not only a destination place for foreign-born trafficking victims, but it's also a recruitment place," said Celia Williamson, an associate professor at the University of Toledo who led the research.
1234 Formed last year by Ohio Attorney General Richard Condray, the commission also found that hundreds more in the state are at risk of being forced into sex trafficking or to work against their will in fields, restaurants, sweatshops or constructions sites.
Nationwide, between 45,000 and 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States, according to a 2001 report by the U.S. State Department. But Williamson noted that the problem is hard to quantify because of the underground nature of human trafficking, and studies often rely on estimates. Even the Ohio study, which analyzed law enforcement and government databases, is limited, she said.
Cordray said the report establishes the scope of the problem in Ohio as authorities discuss ways to combat it.
From 1990 to 2000, Ohio's foreign-born population increased 30 percent, and the state has a growing pool of legal and illegal immigrants who draw victims or hide victims, Williamson said. These networks are highly organized, with brothels fronting as legitimate businesses.
Also, Toronto's airport is an arrival destination for international victims who are trafficked in Canada and transported to other cities, helping make Toledo, about 55 miles southwest of Windsor, Ontario, rank fourth in the U.S. in terms of arrests, investigations and rescue of domestic child-sex victims, the report said.
Only Miami, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas had more.
A federal investigation into a child prostitution ring in Harrisburg, Pa., exposed Toledo as a center for the trade in 2005. Nine local girls were sold as sex slaves as part of the ring, and at least 12 of the 31 people charged had ties to Toledo.
Ohio does not have a stand-alone human trafficking law. Instead, it allows prosecutors to attach a human trafficking specification to related crimes that increase prison sentences - just as penalties are more severe if a crime involves a firearm.
According to the report, 42 states with tough human trafficking laws can bring serious charges. Offenders in Delaware, Montana, New Mexico and New York may face up to 100 years in prison, for example.
The report said that besides weak state laws in Ohio, law enforcement agencies often don't recognize human trafficking when responding to reports of illegal activity. For example, Ohio is quick to label child prostitutes as delinquents and to incarcerate them, rarely looking further at the adults involved, Williamson said.
The report recommends handling child trafficking cases through the child welfare system rather than the juvenile courts.
Army Of Child Spies To Report Anti-Social Neighbors
Child spies will be encouraged to report their neighbours as part of the latest drive to cut thuggery and anti-social behaviour on estates. As part of a campaign launched yesterday, youngsters will look for residents with untidy or litter-strewn surroundings and then try to persuade them to clean up their homes. Children involved should also write to authorities to demand action against those whose houses are labelled anti-social, ministers recommended. Using young people to target residents identified as letting the neighbourhood down ‘teaches the children a sense of pride’ and shows them they have the power to get things done, the Department of Communities and Local Government said. But critics warned that anti-social behaviour on estates is routinely committed by children and recruiting school-age youngsters to report their neighbours is a recipe for intimidation. ‘A plan like this can easily be milked by young people,’ criminologist Dr David Green of the Civitas think-tank said. ‘I worry that it would become a licence for children to harass people.’
Five-Year Ban On GM Foods Proposed In Bulgaria
Following the wave of protests against a bill of amendments that would allow genetically-modified organisms (GMO) to be grown in Bulgaria, the country's ruling party will now propose a five-year ban on all genetically-modified cultures in the country, it emerged on February 5 2010. The ban would affect all crops and the entire country, Environment Minister Nona Karadjova said. Now, there is a ban on some crops in parts of the country, she said. The measure was a compromise, Karadjova said, between the strong public opposition to GMOs and the European Union regulations, which preclude an outright ban on laboratory and commercial cultivation. The initial amendments, which were passed at first reading by Parliament, allowed cultivation of genetically-modified tobacco, vines, cotton, rose, wheat and vegetables. The bill did not allow cultivation in areas protected under the EU's Natura 2000 programme, but lowered the minimum distance from protected areas at which such crops could be cultivated.
Environmentalism Latest Propaganda In Children's Books
Giggles the Green Bean has a problem. He's a happy little seed, planted in some good ground, but he sprouts into a world where the air stinks, the sky is gray and the trees are gasping. What the ...? he says, or something like it, except age-appropriate. And so begins the newly published adventure, told by Portland author Lauren Davis, of "Giggles the Green Bean Turns Stinkytown Into Greentown." Guided by his bean grandmother and by a Wise Old Cabbage, Giggles learns five environmentally friendly lessons and spreads the word to others. Thus the town transforms from Stinky to Green. It's another turn at instilling environmental sensibilities in youngsters who may not know climate change from diaper change. But that's OK, isn't it? Or should we be concerned about heavy-handed green-washing? After all, some of today's environmentalists were no doubt hauled around in their parents' big cars, ate fast food and wasted electricity. They heard fairy tales in which wolves got slaughtered just for being wolves, trees and treasure were there for the taking and the bigger the machine, the better.
By David Walsh 09 Feb 2010 The "Tea Party" movement, which held a convention last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, is largely a media concoction, aimed at shifting official American political life even further to the right. The convention gathered "nearly 600 conservative activists," according to ABC News, a weak showing considering the US media has been playing up this "grassroots movement" for the past 12 months. The press coverage of the Tea Party movement begins from a thoroughly false premise, that wide layers of the American population oppose the Obama administration from the right, outraged over "socialism" and "big government" and the sinister possibility of "universal health care." The Tea Party business took shape in a typically sordid and fraudulent manner. One year ago, CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli let loose with a rant from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade--cheered on by traders--against the Obama administration’s meager mortgage reform, denouncing attempts "to subsidize the losers’ mortgages..." Far from a spontaneous outburst, Santelli's appeal for a "tea party" protest was a stage-managed event, prepared well in advance and backed by wealthy, extreme right-wing forces. [To clarify: The original (Ron Paul) Tea Party movement needs to be distinguished from this 'other' Tea Party movement, backed by corporaterrorists and nutjobs (i.e., Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck). --LRP]
Unlocking Sun's secrets said key to Earth's security
Its goal is a better understanding of the sun, whose shifting magnetism and roiling surface can threaten Earth's satellites, power grids and communications systems.
“Who Are They?” Russian Scientists Ask About Mysterious Objects Near Sun
"Understanding solar variability is crucial to our modern way of life, which depends on it," said Madhulika Guhathakurta, a program scientist for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory mission.
A snapshot every 10 seconds
A 19-story United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the satellite is scheduled to blast off at 10:26 a.m., weather permitting.
The spacecraft — nearly 15 feet tall and weighing more than 3 tons — is the first mission of NASA's Living with a Star program established in 2001. Over at least five years, the $850 million mission promises to provide the most detailed look yet at the sun, inside and out.
Three sets of instruments will take high-resolution pictures every 10 seconds, record ultrasound-like views of the sun's interior and measure the intensity of extreme ultraviolet rays that would be fatal if not deflected by the Earth's upper atmosphere.
The sun was once commonly regarded as a pale, yellow ball that changed little over time, but scientists now call it a "variable" star, albeit an ordinary one.
"The sun is really not a constant," Guhathakurta said. "Modern telescopes and spacecraft have really penetrated the blinding glare of the sun and have found sort of a maelstrom of unpredictable turmoil."
That turmoil ebbs and flows in cycles averaging 11 years when the sun's magnetic field reverses direction.
Recently, the sun has been in an extended quiet period, generating few sunspots and related weather events that have surprised scientists. As solar activity increases, so do the solar flares and powerful explosions that can wreak havoc on high-tech systems.
'Holy Grail' of solar physics
The storms can disrupt Global Positioning System navigation and emergency radio communication. They can damage satellites by increasing the atmospheric drag on them, and the intense radiation could be harmful to astronauts traveling to the moon or Mars.
Sat-nav devices face big errors as solar activity rises
Understanding the processes behind the sun's magnetic activity and the timing of its cycles is the "Holy Grail" of solar physics, Guhathakurta said.
Better forecasts of solar events would give technology operators time to take pre-emptive steps, such as adjusting power transmission lines to prevent cascading failures. "This is a case where you can take action on the basis of knowledge," said Richard Fisher, Heliophysics division director at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. "If you have knowledge that such a thing is likely, you can adjust the power systems to avoid difficulties."
Dean reports for Florida Today
A swarm of "smart dust" spacecraft, positioned at a sweet spot between the Earth and the sun, could alert us to the approach of dangerous space storms well before a conventional craft can. The first prototypes are due for launch into low-Earth orbit this year, perhaps as early as May. Mason Peck, a mechanical engineer at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and his colleague Justin Atchison have designed a 1-centimetre-square spacecraft that is 25 micrometres thick and weighs under 7.5 milligrams. The craft is modelled on the dust particles that orbit the sun and are propelled by the photons streaming out from the sun. This solar radiation pressure would have a negligible effect on normal-sized spacecraft but is significant at the millimetre scale. The grooved edges of the "spacecraft-on-a chip" deflect incoming photons in such a way as to ensure it always faces the sun. The craft's miniature size would let it hitch a ride into space on the back of another satellite mission headed for the Lagrange point between the Earth and the sun. A Lagrange point is a kind of gravitational sweet spot, where a small object can be stationary relative to two larger objects.
No comments:
Post a Comment