The Post Cold War Peace Is Over
Wes Vernon
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Excuse me, but there seems to be a disconnect here.

On the one hand, Pentagon officials are warning that China's buildup of its military might is growing faster than U.S. intelligence expected, bolstering suspicions of an attack on Taiwan within two years — meaning war with the United States, which is honor-bound to defend Taiwan.
All the while, China's People's Liberation Army regards the U.S. as "the main adversary," and has laid out plans in black and white as to its preparations for war with us.


On the other hand, we learn that China may be allowed to buy an American oil company. The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation - China's third largest producer - is outbidding Chevron to acquire Unocal, a 115-year old California gas exploration company.


We can only hope that the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission's strong misgivings on this transaction will be heeded by policy-makers in Washington. The UCRC, strictly an advisory panel, has fired off a letter to the Senate urging a "thorough assessment" of China's offer to buy Unocal.


UCRC Chairman Richard D'Amato says this is "a national security issue" for the United States, and adds the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment should go over the deal with a fine tooth comb.


The latest information on China's buildup, front-paged in Sunday's Washington Times under the byline of its crack national security reporter Bill Gertz, is that Taiwan is not the only reason for the Dragon's aggressive pursuit of enhanced military muscle.


"Beijing also is facing a major energy shortage that, according to one Pentagon study, could lead it to use military force to seize territory with oil and gas reserves," the Times reported.


That sets the table for an interesting scenario. Where does it lead? "Let us buy your American energy firm or else?"


If history teaches us anything, it is that you can't buy off dictators hell-bent on aggression.


http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/6/28/85057.shtml

ONE WORLD GOV'T. ALERT

Nations Call for Tax to Help Fight Poverty

Jun 28, 6:39 AM (ET)

By EDITH M. LEDERER

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - France, Germany, Brazil and Chile have called for a tax on airline tickets to help finance the global fight against poverty.
Such a tax makes sense because airlines benefit from globalization and pay low tax rates, and airline passengers "are rarely among the poorest citizens," Thierry Breton, France's economic minister, told a U.N. ministerial meeting on Monday.
He said the tax could be different for domestic and international travel and for economy and business seats, and it could also vary depending on a country's wealth. The proceeds would go through existing institutions "to avoid needless bureaucracy" and could be used to finance urgent programs such as vaccination campaigns or AIDS treatment.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050628/D8B0IHOO0.html

PA Press Rife with Rabid Anti-American Cartoons
18:11 Jun 15, '05 / 8 Sivan 5765

The Palestinian Authority press has been using political cartoons as a vehicle for expressing its public's intense opposition to American policies, especially the war in Iraq.



Although U.S. President George W. Bush has been cozying up to PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority press has been overtly anti-American, especially in regard to the war in Iraq.

While verbal attacks, primarily calls to kill Americans, are repeatedly broadcast in the Palestinian media, some of the most rabid anti-American incitement appears in the form of political cartoons published in PA daily newspapers.

The following is a selection of these highly charged cartoons, culled from the PA press. These and other examples may be found on the website of Palestinian Media Watch, "www.pmw.org.il".

http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=83879

3- and 5-Year Olds Held In Police Custody for 20 Hours
17:22 Jun 28, '05 / 21 Sivan 5765

"The police are trying to scare anti-expulsion protestors that their parents will be arrested, but they won't scare us." So says a woman whose husband was arrested - along with their two toddlers.

Ruth Sariel, a mother of ten from Elon Moreh, told Arutz-7 today of the police "harassment" against her and her family that has been ongoing for three months. The latest incident was the "arrest" of her two youngest children, aged 3 and 5, together with their father.

http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84766

Sharon on Record: Sinai Precedent Was a Mistake
12:32 Jun 28, '05 / 21 Sivan 5765

Prime Minister Sharon is on record as saying that the evacuation of the Jewish towns in Sinai was a mistake in that they led to talk of evacuation of other towns in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Golan.


Eleven years ago, on the 12th anniversary of Israel's pullout from the Sinai and the expulsion of the Jewish residents there, Arutz-7 interviewed Ariel Sharon - the man who is most closely associated with that evacuation. He said that in light of the developments since then - which included at the time only the "consideration" of dismantling Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - "it was a grave mistake to dismantle the Jewish communities in Sinai."


http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84743

Disengagement Supporter Attacks 5-Year-Old Opponent
21:08 Jun 28, '05 / 21 Sivan 5765

(IsraelNN.com) A 5-year-old girl manning a booth against the expulsion plan was assaulted by a passerby, identifying himself as a fan of the planned Jewish transfer and disengagment.

The incident occurred in Ra’anana earlier tonight as the young girl stood near the tent shouting “Jews don’t expel Jews!”

The child was treated on the scene and did not require transport to a medical facility.

http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84779

Gay Pride, Yes – Jewish Pride, No!
22:47 Jun 28, '05 / 21 Sivan 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Jerusalem police have declined a request for a permit for a Jewish Pride Parade on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Thursday to counter the court-approved Gay Pride Parade in the capital on the same day.

In a copy of the police letter received by IsraelNationalNews.com, Jerusalem police officials decline the requested permit, citing “the welfare of the public” as one of the considerations. Police also stated the Temple Mount is an inappropriate host site for such an event.

In the meantime, the Jerusalem District Court has overridden Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and has ordered the Gay Pride Parade held in the capital on Thursday, rejecting the mayor’s position that Jerusalem is an inappropriate host site for such an event.

http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84785

Despite More Killings, IDF to Hand Bethlehem Over to PA
17:50 Jun 28, '05 / 21 Sivan 5765

Despite an uspurge in terror, with four Jews killed in the past two weeks, Israel is planning on handing over Bethlehem to PA control. The IDF is opposed but must follow Sharon's orders to withdraw.

Despite an upsurge in attacks carried out by Arab terrorists originating from Palestinian Authority, the government is going forward with plans to transfer security control of Bethlehem to the PA by the weekend.

The decision to go ahead with the handover was made yesterday in the Prime Minister’s office. The IDF, citing the murder of four Israelis over the past two weeks, opposes the move, but has been ordered by the government to carry it out.

http://israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84770

South Korea dishes out US$800m on RFID

Dan Ilett, Silicon.com
June 27, 2005
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/0,2000061702,39199254,00.htm

The South Korean government is ploughing US$800 million into research and development of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.

Daeje Chin, the Korean Minister of Information and Communication, said after several pilot projects the government believes RFID to be as important as the mobile phone business.

Chin said: "This will be very important for us in the next 10 years. The handset business is very big but RFID will be as important. We are trying to procure a number of goals with RFID and the application of new technology brings benefits in all social systems including the individual family."

RFID tags broadcast unique identifier signals over a radio frequency, which means their movement can be tracked over long ranges. Chin said families could start seeing RFID in the home with fridges that track what has been eaten.

The Korean government, which said RFID will replace barcodes, is building several research and development centres in the country for different technologies. RFID production is planned for next year in the northern city of Songdo and will receive funding between 2005 and 2010.

Crime-busting cameras: a US-city experiment
By Clayton Collins | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

CHELSEA, MASS. – Sitting in Bellingham Square, hub of this city just north of Boston, Philip Quaglione remembers when a surveillance camera hung here at Washington and Broadway.
Its pole was knocked down several years ago, he says, either accidentally or by someone who didn't like the unblinking eye.

Now, surveillance cameras are coming back. In mid-July, Chelsea, Mass., hopes to throw the switch on a quarter-million-dollar system of 27 digital cameras with the capacity to monitor and record activity in any of its public spaces, says Jay Ash, city manager. His hope: that the system, which has cut crime in Chicago, will do the same in this high-crime city of 36,000 packed into less than two square miles.

Other small cities have similar aims. Officials in Schenectady, N.Y., reportedly plan to have eight cameras trained on the city's main commercial zone by fall. State funds will be used.

Chelsea's ally is the US government, which will add seven more cameras in a shared-feeds arrangement that has city officials encouraged, civil libertarians concerned, and some residents wondering how electronic policing and a federal presence will affect daily life.

The federal government is involved because a few Chelsea landmarks have special post-Sept. 11 significance. The Tobin Bridge, a major gateway into Boston, plants its northern footings here. Tanks of liquefied natural gas huddle down by the Mystic River.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0627/p11s02-lihc.html

Jerusalem gay pride parade to go ahead, Lupolianski fined

By Amiram Barkat

A court yesterday ordered Jerusalem municipality to drop its ban on the fourth annual gay pride parade in the city, accepting a petition by Open House, Jerusalem's gay and lesbian community center.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Moussia Arad, who is vice president of the court for administrative affairs, also ordered the municipality and Mayor Uri Lupolianski to pay court costs of NIS 30,000 each.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/592455.html

Settlers Won't Leave Razed Gaza Buildings

Jun 27, 7:31 AM (ET)

By AMY TEIBEL

JERUSALEM (AP) - Settlers in Gaza set up a makeshift outpost Monday on the rubble of buildings the military knocked down the day before, saying they were preparing to take in thousands of withdrawal resisters.
Police across the country were bracing for massive traffic snarls as opponents of Israel's Gaza Strip pullout planned to descend on major roads to protest the withdrawal.
Israeli soldiers scuffled with settlers Sunday in the first military operation of the pullout, giving a preview of the trouble liable to erupt when the forcible evacuation of 9,000 settlers in Gaza and the northern West Bank begins in mid-August.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050627/D8AVU7A01.html

Iran's New Leader to Pursue Nuclear Plans
Jun 27, 8:27 AM (ET)
By KATHY GANNON

(AP) Iran's President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks to the media, during his first news conference...
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Iran's meddling in Iraq - Alireza Jafarzadeh, expert on WMD, terrorism, Iraq, and Iran
www.foxnews.com


TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The president-elect of Iran vowed to restart the nation's controversial nuclear program, saying it was meant only for peaceful energy purposes. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld labeled the new ultraconservative leader as "no friend of democracy."
Asked about relations with the United States during his first news conference since Friday's election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that Iran "is taking the path of progress based on self-reliance. It doesn't need the United States significantly on this path."

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050627/D8AVV1580.html

Beijing devoted to weakening 'enemy' U.S., defector says
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 27, 2005

China's communist leaders view the United States as their main enemy and are working in Asia and around the world to undermine U.S. alliances, said a former Chinese diplomat.
Chen Yonglin, until recently a senior political officer at the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, Australia, said in an interview that China also is engaged in large-scale intelligence-gathering activities in the United States that, in the past, netted large amounts of confidential U.S. government documents from agents.
"The United States is considered by the Chinese Communist Party as the largest enemy, the major strategic rival," Mr. Chen told The Washington Times in a telephone interview from Australia, where he is in hiding after breaking with Beijing in May.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050627-010217-7779r.htm

BIG BROTHER ALERT

Chicago pairing surveillance cameras with gunshot recognition systems

June 26, 2005 — The police are watching. And in Chicago, they're listening, too.
City officials are using new technology that recognizes the sound of a gunshot within a two-block radius, pinpoints the source, turns a surveillance camera toward the shooter and places a 911 call. Officials can then track the shooter and dispatch officers to the scene.

Welcome to crime-fighting in the 21st century.

"Instead of just having eyes, you have the advantage of both eyes and ears," said Bryan Baker, chief executive officer of Safety Dynamics in Oak Brook, which makes the systems.

After a successful pilot program, Chicago officials have installed 30 of the devices alongside video surveillance cameras in high-crime neighborhoods, with 12 more on the way, and dozens more to follow, Baker said.

The system's formal name is Smart Sensor Enabled Neural Threat Recognition and Identification -- or SENTRI. And the technology is not just gaining favor in Chicago.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/print_062605_ap_ns_gunshot-recog.html

THIS IS SIGNIFICANT because Bush has promised to come to the aid of Taiwan in the event of an attack. Would this trigger the war that would kill a third of mankind as prophecied in Revelation?

Chinese dragon awakens

By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 26, 2005
Part II: Thefts of U.S. technology boost China's weaponry

China is building its military forces faster than U.S. intelligence and military analysts expected, prompting fears that Beijing will attack Taiwan in the next two years, according to Pentagon officials.
U.S. defense and intelligence officials say all the signs point in one troubling direction: Beijing then will be forced to go to war with the United States, which has vowed to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack.
China's military buildup includes an array of new high-technology weapons, such as warships, submarines, missiles and a maneuverable warhead designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses. Recent intelligence reports also show that China has stepped up military exercises involving amphibious assaults, viewed as another sign that it is preparing for an attack on Taiwan.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050626-122138-1088r

washingtonpost.com
High Court Disallows Ten Commandments in Courthouses
In Separate Decision, Justices Uphold Displays on Government Land
By HOPE YEN
The Associated Press
Monday, June 27, 2005; 11:59 AM


WASHINGTON -- A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments on government land, but drew the line on displays inside courthouses, saying they violated the doctrine of separation of church and state.

The court ended its term Monday with no retirement announcements from any justices. Speculation focused on Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who has thyroid cancer, and is widely believed to be considering retirement.

Sending dual signals in ruling on the separation of church and state for the first time in a quarter-century, the high court said that displays of the Ten Commandments _ like their own courtroom frieze _ are not inherently unconstitutional. But each exhibit demands scrutiny to determine whether it goes too far in amounting to a governmental promotion of religion, the court said in a case involving Kentucky courthouse exhibits.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062700416_pf.html

ABC Online - Israeli soldier refuses to demolish Jewish settlement: "An Israeli soldier has been arrested and his gun confiscated after he refused to help demolish abandoned cottages in a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip." This just seems so wrong.

Gospel Update
The greatest living Christian evangelist will take his bow tonight on the stage in New York. This AP report (MyWay News - Graham to Give Last Crusade Sermon Tonight) demonstrates the reach of his amazing ministry:

Graham has preached to more than 210 million people in 185 countries. He has been sought out by U.S. presidents and leaders worldwide and, more than any other religious figure, has come to represent the American evangelical movement.

One of the things I admire about Billy Graham is the way he has always preached the simplicity of the gospel message of salvation through faith in Jesus. Times have changed over the many years of his ministry and the church has changed in many ways, but his message has remained true to the gospel. For more information on the crusade and on Billy Graham, visit the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. [Gospel Preached to All Nations, Matthew 24:14]

Pestilence News
The AP is reporting some grim news on the pestilence (Luke 21:11) front. Scientists have been doing some projections on what would happen if bird flu jumped species and became contagious to humans. According to the report (Yahoo News - Group Estimates Potential Flu Death Toll):

More than a half-million people could die and more than 2.3 million could be hospitalized if a moderately severe strain of pandemic flu virus hits the United States, a research group said Friday. The report from the Trust for America's Health assumes that 25 percent of a country's population would become infected if a strain of avian flu became highly contagious and humans had no natural immunity against it. The researchers also assumed the severity of the strain would fall about midway between the pandemic of 1918 and the pandemic of 1968. The research group says the staggering number of potential deaths and hospitalizations would overwhelm the nation's health care system - and displays the need for greater planning and resources.

I'm glad scientists and the health care community are taking steps now to plan for this. Previous reports have stated that it is only a matter of time before there is another global flu pandemic like the 1918 outbreak and the more they can do now to prepare and raise awareness so that the public won't panic, the better.

War Update
UPI and SpaceWar report: Russia and China have joined forces in a major U.N. forum to oppose U.S. plans to develop new space weapons. And the move could herald a far more wide-ranging strategic cooperation between the two nations. The report is here: Russia, China Join Against US 'Star Wars'

An OH PUH-LEASE! Alert :-/ This one made me LOL! It just goes to show that education without TRUTH and WISDOM is useless! You can have a Harvard or Yale degree and still flunk heaven!

The Wages of Fundamentalism

Peter Watson
The International Herald Tribune, 22 June 2005


CAMBRIDGE, England For decades, "big science" - indeed any kind of science - has been led by the United States. There are warning signs, however, that American science is losing its edge, and may even have peaked. One reason is that as religious and political fundamentalism tighten their grip, they are beginning to sap America's intellectual vitality.

By contrast, the political turmoil that has broken out on the other side of the Atlantic shows that Europeans grasp how destructive fundamentalism can be.

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=5898

America's "religious right" alert! :-)

You ain't seen nothing yet
Jun 23rd 2005 | COLORADO SPRINGS, MANASSAS AND WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

AP

Christian America's political arm is more complex and more dynamic than it first appears. And it will be hard to stop
THIS week, for the fourth year in a row, President George Bush broke from affairs of state to address the Southern Baptist Convention. He promised the strict evangelical group, which has 16m members, that he would work hard to ban gay marriage and abortion, and that their “family values” were his values, too.

After the Scopes Monkey trial in 1925, where creationist ideas were widely discredited, the idea of fundamentalists from the Bible Belt ruling the roost would have looked foolish. In the 1960s, many liberal Americans thought they had banned religion from the public square for good. Yet nowadays the president, the secretary of state and the House speaker accept the evangelical label. A packed prayer breakfast takes place every Thursday in Congress. And liberals regularly contend that one of America's two great parties is bent on creating a theocracy—backed by a solid core of somewhere between a quarter and a third of the population.

http://economist.com/world/na/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=4102212

Muslim Nations Plan to Set Up Islamic Bank
06.22.2005, 06:22 AM

Muslim bankers and regulators announced plans Wednesday to set up a global Islamic bank by next year that could rival Western lenders and to chart a 10-year blueprint to bolster growth in the Islamic financial sector.

The Bahrain-based Albaraka Banking Group will take up a 10 percent stake in the US$1 billion (euro824 million) bank to be known as the Emaar International Group, said Saleh A. Kamal, chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, which proposed the project.

http://www.forbes.com/associatedpress/feeds/ap/2005/06/22/ap2105297.html

US accuses China of using UN funds for forced abortions


AP , UNITED NATIONS
Friday, Jun 24, 2005,Page 1

Advertising
The US urged the UN population agency to end its family planning program in China until Beijing stops using coercion, forced abortions, and punishment to enforce its one-child policy.
US President George W. Bush's administration has for the last three years barred all US funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), charging that its support for China's population planning programs allows Beijing to implement its policies of coercive abortion.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2005/06/24/2003260489

U.S. Defense Official Confirms Chinese Missile Test



A U.S. defense official has confirmed the recent test by China of a submarine-launched long-range ballistic missile, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, June 20).

The range of the Ju Lang 2 is believed to be up to 6,000 miles, outstripping all other missiles carried by Chinese submarines. The missile would be capable of reaching U.S. territory from the western Pacific Ocean.

The test is an indication that China is continuing to move toward deployment of the missile, the official said. It would also expand the nation’s nuclear capability beyond land sites and aircraft.

China has also been developing a new nuclear-missile submarine, AP reported. It was not known if the missile was launched from the new Type 094-class vessel (John Lumpkin, Associated Press/Tucson Citizen, June 22).

http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_6_23.html#0B3750EA

VICTORY IN JERUSALEM AT LAST!

Jerusalem to Ban Annual Gay Pride Parade
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 23, 2005; 1:46 PM


JERUSALEM -- Jerusalem officials said Thursday they will ban the annual gay pride parade set for next week, claiming the march would offend many of the holy city's residents.

Organizers of the parade appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to repeal the ruling, saying the decision was a violation of the homosexual community's freedom of expression.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301103_pf.html

PA Television Continues to Teach Children to Become "Martyrs"
17:07 Jun 23, '05 / 16 Sivan 5765

The Palestinian Authority continues to promote “martyrdom” in its state-produced children’s television programs, according to a report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).


“Shahada, or death for Allah, has been the backbone of the Palestinian Authority's messages to its children since the start of the terror war in September 2000," states the Wednesday report. "Although the number of these messages has been reduced in recent months, the promotion and glorification of child Shahada continues nonetheless, as seen this week on PA TV.”

The report cites a broadcast of a PA TV series named “The Palestinian Diaspora.” The series is presented daily as a factual portrayal of history. Though throughout the series, Israel's creation and ongoing existence have been presented as injustices that must be fought, this past week’s episode honed in on the issue of child martyrdom.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84396

Bill Gates, Sharon to Meet in October
00:25 Jun 24, '05 / 17 Sivan 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Microsoft founder Bill Gates is scheduled to visit Israel in early October and meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. Israel will be included in Gate's tour of several European countries.

Gates helped make Hebrew one of the main languages at Microsoft's development headquarters in California. Microsoft has invested $100 million in translating programs into Hebrew and employs about 200 people at its Ra'anana and Haifa offices.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84484

TERRORISM IN ISRAEL

Child Reported in Serious Condition in Shooting Attack
17:15 Jun 24, '05 / 17 Sivan 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Magen David Adom emergency medical service officials report a 14-year-old boy has been critically wounded in the Hevron Hills shooting attack at Beit Haggai Junction.

He and a second victim in less serious condition will most likely be transported in the coming minutes by army helicopter to the trauma unit of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84532

MoB Tech
Those of you following developments in the field of m-commerce will be interested in this report from the AP (Technology Finding New Ways to Pay) on the growing trend of cashless payments. Barcodes are out, blinking is in. [Mark of the Beast, Rev 13:16-18]

MARK OF THE BEAST ALERT

Who Is the Enemy?
by William Norman Grigg
June 21, 2005

The REAL ID Act, signed into law by George W. Bush on May 11, created our country's first national identification card.
The measure imposes federal standards on state driver’s licenses, and creates a huge central identification database — which will be shared by the governments of Mexico and Canada. The law also “gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit,” noted Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), an opponent of the act. Those requirements, in short order, will probably involve the use of “biometric identifiers,” such as retinal scans.

Appropriately, the REAL ID measure was attached to the war supplemental spending bill. In Iraq, noted Gulf News on May 5, “Suspected insurgents are being issued with hi-tech identity cards by U.S. forces.... The cards allow American intelligence services to keep track of people taken into custody even if they are released because they are found to have done nothing wrong.”

Once taken into custody, Iraqi detainees “are immediately put through a series of tests to record biometric data. Fingerprints are taken and iris scans carried out on both eyes. Four digital photographs are then taken of the individual’s face from different angles. Cutting-edge computer technology allows a three dimensional map of the suspect’s head to be drawn up from this information. That way, even if external changes are made to a face, such as a beard, the computer will be able to recognize the person from unchanging facial dimensions.”

What’s going on in Tikrit, Iraq, could be considered a pilot program for the next phase of the REAL ID program in the U.S.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_1681.shtml

NUCLEAR ALERT

Wednesday June 22, 7:07 AM

Experts say world's WMD attack risk is substantial

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is a 70-percent risk of an attack somewhere in the world with a weapon of mass destruction in the next decade, arms experts predicted in a survey released on Tuesday.
They also said up to five more countries are likely to acquire nuclear weapons within the next 10 years.

The survey, conducted by U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, describes a threat that is "real and increasing over time" and endorses vastly increased funding for non-proliferation programs.

"Even if we succeed spectacularly at building democracy around the world, bringing stability to failed states and spreading economic opportunity broadly, we will not be secure from the actions of small, disaffected groups that acquire weapons of mass destruction," the Indiana Republican said in a preface to the survey.

"Everything is at risk if we fail in this area," he said.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050621/3/22sqo.html

Gospel News
This AFP report (Billy Graham announces final US crusade) states that Billy Graham, one of the greatest evangelists in history, will have his last crusade this year. [Gospel Preached to All, Matthew 24:14]

PLANTING SEEDS OF WITCHCRAFT UPDATE

US Bookstore Chain Expects Record Sales for New Harry Potter

Barnes & Noble, Inc. announced today that pre-orders for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” have topped 750,000 copies, well ahead of the pace of the last Potter book two years ago.

“The Harry Potter series has shattered all records in publishing history, and the enormous amount of pre-orders to date confirm that the latest Harry Potter title will be the most popular yet,” Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio said in a statement.

“In fact, we predict that our pre-orders will top one million.”

The new Potter book, the sixth in J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series, is scheduled to come out on July 16 with a first printing of 10.8 million copies.

“The Half-Blood Prince” has topped the best seller lists of Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com, with only brief interruptions, since its release was announced last December.

Amazon.com announced last week that more than 500,000 pre-orders have been taken for the new Potter book.


http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4718108

MARK OF THE BEAST ALERT

AP: Feds Collect Data on Air Travelers
Monday June 20, 3:15 pm ET
By Leslie Miller, Associated Press Writer
AP: Federal Agency Collected Extensive Personal Data About Airline Passengers Despite Pledge

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal agency collected extensive personal information about airline passengers although Congress told it not to and it said it wouldn't, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
ADVERTISEMENT

A Transportation Security Administration contractor used three data brokers to collect detailed information about U.S. citizens who flew on commercial airlines in June 2004 in order to test a terrorist screening program called Secure Flight, according to documents that will be published in the Federal Register this week.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050620/passenger_screening.html?.v=1

MARK OF THE BEAST UPDATE

States look to high-tech tools to track, map sex offenders

By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY Mon Jun 20, 7:00 AM ET

Last month, Florida and Oklahoma passed laws requiring lifetime GPS satellite tracking for certain sex criminals: repeat offenders in Oklahoma, those whose victims were under 12 in Florida.

Legislatures in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York are considering satellite tracking. Legislation now before Congress would require all repeat sex offenders to wear a GPS ankle bracelet for life.

N. KOREAN HATRED OF AMERICANS UPDATE

U.S. History of Aggression and War Can Never Be Concealed

"As long as the U.S. imperialists remain alive, the world can never be tranquil and there can be no end to aggression and war bringing misfortunes and disasters to the people.
The world is sure to keep a tab on the anti-historical and anti-human crimes of the U.S. in destroying peace and barring the development of human civilization."

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

EYES ON NORTH KOREA

My father is a Korean War vet, and suffers with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. It gave me a hellish childhood. And now this is just more fodder for the flames of suffering our soldiers suffered.

Anti-U.S. Photo Show Opens in Seoul

Pyongyang, June 17 (KCNA) -- A ceremony of opening an "anti-U.S. photo show of the south, north and overseas sides on the lapse of 60 years since U.S. military occupation" was reportedly held at the Maroni Park in Seoul on June 13 under the sponsorship of the South Headquarters of the National Alliance for the Country's Reunification on the occasion of the "June 13-September 8 period of intensive struggle for peace against war and for the withdrawal of the U.S. forces." On display were pictures exposing murder of civilians and crimes committed by GIs, U.S. war drills under various code names, and environmental pollution at the U.S. military bases, pictures showing scenes of Pyongyang during the June 25 war, atrocities of the U.S. imperialists in dropping germ bombs and the capture of the U.S. imperialists' spy ship Pueblo and pictures on the anti-U.S. struggle of Koreans overseas. Speakers at the opening ceremony said that the show would help all the members of the nation in the south and the north and overseas keenly feel once again the urgency of the withdrawal of the U.S. forces and lead them to an energetic work to draw the masses into the movement for U.S. troop pullout.
They hoped that the show would serve as a major occasion in fortifying the will of all the fellow countrymen to oppose war and drive the U.S. forces out of south Korea.
After seeing the photos, the visitors said they came to clearly know the real nature of the U.S. imperialist aggressors who seek pleasure in human killing, and strongly demanded the withdrawal of the U.S. forces.
The South Headquarters declared that it would sponsor the function for anti-U.S information at over 100 spots across south Korea till September 8.

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

For some unknown reason my yahoo mail was bouncing. I have fixed the problem, I think. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please check out what I've posted on the blog just in case they didn't resend my posts.

Thanks!!
Karla

MARK OF THE BEAST FACILITATION ALERT

By BRUCE MEYERSON, AP Business Writer Sat Jun 18, 5:27 AM ET
NEW YORK - Already a device of multiple disguises, from camera to music player and mini-TV, the cell phone's next trick may be the disappearing wallet. After all, since more than a quarter of the people on the planet already carry around cell phones, and hundreds of millions are joining them every year, why should they bring along credit and debit cards when a mobile device can make payments just as well?


At the simplest level, all that's needed is to embed phones with a short-range radio chip to beam credit card information to a terminal at a store register. It's not unlike the wireless system used to pay tolls on many highways or the SpeedPass keychain wand used to buy gas at Exxon Mobile Corp. pumps.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050618/ap_on_hi_te/wireless_wallet

EYES ON ISRAEL

The Jerusalem Connection, International
Dear Friend of Israel,

The Jerusalem Connection, International is a 501 (c)-(3) non-profit organization whose main objectives are to educate, inform and activate, Christian and Jews regarding:

1. God’s purposes for Israel and the Jewish people
2. The Jewish roots of our faith
3. The dangers of Anti-Semitism
4. Why Christians need to support Israel and the Jewish people
5. And what we should do about it

http://www.tjci.org/navigation/About_main.html

CHINA VS. USA? (REVELATION 9:16-19? )

Chinese Submarine Test-Fires Ballistic Missile

China on Thursday test-fired a new ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean off Qingdao on the Shandong Peninsula, the Daily Yomiuri reported (see GSN, March 11).

The missile flew several thousand kilometers before landing in a desert. It was likely a Ju Lang 2, a modified version of the Dong Feng 31 ICBM with a range of roughly 8,000 kilometers, Japanese government sources said Friday.

The test could be seen as a warning to the United States against China’s territorial dispute with Taiwan, the Yomiuri reported.

U.S. officials believe China could have 100 nuclear warheads aimed at the United States on Dong Feng 31 missiles by 2015 (Daily Yomiuri, June 18).

http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_6_20.html#3025212E

PROTESTERS REGARDING THE PROMISED LAND OF ISRAEL
(I love this! The Hebrew people are so creative and never cease to amaze me with their humor and strength.)

Ramat HaSharon and Maaleh Adumim Painted Orange
13:35 Jun 21, '05 / 14 Sivan 5765

A group calling itself "Pensioners in Orange" painted parking spots in Ramat HaSharon orange last night, while drivers in Maaleh Adumim awoke to find their cars adorned in orange ribbons.



Parking spots in Israel are normally indicated with blue and white curbside markings. Orange and white markings were painted last night near the Ramat Aviv shopping mall, accompanied by letters of explanation.

"Good morning, dear residents," the letters read. "We believe that as strong supporters of the disengagement plan (or perhaps not...), and as people who are essentially humanitarian, you will be happy to welcome in your homes the uprooted Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron. We are sure that you would be happy to take their place and live 'temporarily' in one of the 'luxurious caravilot' being prepared for them on the sands of Nitzanim."

Caravilot are the upgraded mobile homes without wheels into which the families are supposed to move this summer for an indefinite amount of time until their permanent housing is ready.

http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=84275

EYES ON ISRAEL

Fifty Islamic Jihad Terrorists Arrested
13:07 Jun 21, '05 / 14 Sivan 5765

IDF forces arrested some 50 Islamic Jihad terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria during the course of Monday night. Islamic Jihad has been behind much of the recent terrorism wave.


Half of the arrested terrorists were from the Hevron area, and the others were from the Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jenin and Kalkliye regions. The IDF emphasized that it had apprehended even terrorists who are not considered "ticking time bombs."

http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=84269

This is an update on your last post re Middle East Peace: CNN - 'Difficult' Mideast talks focus on terrorism.

FALSE PROPHET ALERT:

For immediate release: 16 June 2005

"Children from different religions can pray together in school"

by Friedrich Degenhardt (*)

Free photo of Usha Jesudasan available see below

How to teach religion in multifaith contexts is a growing concern for churches and religious communities everywhere. This interview presents a specific experience emerging from a multireligious context in Asia.

"Children from different religions can pray together in school," says Usha Jesudasan, a journalist and writer from India, where Christians, Hindus, Muslims and people of other religions live within the same local community. Jesudasan is committed to the concept of integrating interfaith religious and value education in schools to promote peace and harmony.

http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/Feat-05-32.html

Terrorists Attack Kfar Darom as Rice Praises PA
11:34 Jun 19, '05 / 12 Sivan 5765

Arab terrorists unsuccessfully tried to attack Kfar Darom, hours before Condoleezza Rice praised PA anti-terror efforts. The IDF turned back the terrorists, who struck for the third time in a month.


A four-member terror gang launched the assault with gunfire on Israeli army positions next to Kfar Darom, in Gush Katif. Golani soldiers returned fire and killed an Islamic Jihad terrorist and injured another attacker, who was identified as a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a branch of Abu Mazen's Fatah party. Two other terrorists escaped unharmed. IDF soldiers recovered a rifle and ammunition.

Terrorists also shot at IDF soldiers near Gadid, in Gush Katif, and fired almost a dozen mortar shells at several towns. One soldier was lightly injured and several greenhouses were damaged. Last month, terrorists tried to attack Kfar Darom in a pre-dawn attack before Israeli soldiers repelled the attacks following an hour-long delay until superiors allowed them to shoot.

IDF Colonel Moti Kidor, commander of a battalion in Gaza, said that terrorists have "almost doubled" the number of attacks towards the planned August transfer of 9,000 Jewish residents from Gaza. He added, "Terror gangs attack because the PA stands on the side and does not prevent them." Kidor also revealed that soldiers in the past month prevented another assault on the town.

Saturday's attacks on Israel came almost simultaneously with praise for Abu Mazen by visiting American secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She called the successor to Yasser Arafat "a man of peace" and added that the PA is "making progress" in training Arab security forces. Rice then acknowledged, "More could be done."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84072

Quakes
AP is reporting two new quakes, one in Japan, the other in California:

AP - Moderate Quake Hits Off California Coast

AP - Moderate Quake Hits Japan's Eastern Coast

Mideast Peace
Here is the latest Mideast peace efforts, the U.S. is pushing the Israeli disengagement plan: AP - Rice: Parties Committed to Gaza Pullout and doesn't seem too worried about Hamas and Islamic Jihad still armed and dangerous.

The RFID Future
Government and industry reps are getting together to talk about the future of RFID technology (UPI - RFID Future, Hazards Discussed). I wonder if privacy is high on their list of concerns? [mark of the beast, Rev 13:16-18]

New CA Quake on Friday
Ok, I wonder how many of you had this experience, I saw this news report about the CA quake and I thought they were still talking about the one from yesterday. So, just to be clear, California had another quake on Friday: AP - 4th Significant Earthquake Shakes Calif.

Ecumenical Patriarch Welcomes Pope's Call

Jun 17, 6:42 AM (ET)

By JAMES C. HELICKE

(AP) Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I leads the Easter Resurrection Service at the...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The spiritual leader of the world's 200 million Orthodox Christians welcomed Pope Benedict XVI's pledge to end a schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, calling it a mutual "obligation to God.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's statement to The Associated Press was his first response to the new pope's call to heal the 1,000-year rift and reflected the difficult task of trying to reconcile differences between the two churches. He warned that the path to unity would be "slow and painful."

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050617/D8APAHTG0.html

Politics/Gov´t

Rice Visit: Preparing for Disengagement, Talk-Down About China
11:52 Jun 17, '05 / 10 Sivan 5765

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will arrive in Ramallah tomorrow for talks with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and will meet with Prime Minister Sharon in Jerusalem on Sunday.


U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will arrive in Ramallah tomorrow (Sabbath)for talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and will meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem on Sunday. She told reporters yesterday, "Obviously, the primary goal for going to Israel and to the Palestinian territories at this time is to talk with the parties about the preparations for the very important and historic disengagement from the Gaza that is about to take place."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=84041

Israeli Invention Enables Diving Without Oxygen Tank
16:27 Jun 16, '05 / 9 Sivan 5765

Israeli inventor Alon Bodner has found a way to use the small amounts of air already in the water to provide oxygen to divers and even to submarines.



Bodner's device has the potential to overcome limitations imposed on divers by oxygen tanks. The tanks limit not only the amount of time a diver can remain under water, but also affect the diver's buoyancy and they empty out over the course of a dive. Divers carefully monitor their buoyancy - the tendency to either float up toward the surface or to sink - and actually wear weight belts to be able to keep it at zero. This enables them to concern themselves only with swimming in the direction they want, without having to fight against a potentially increasing tendency to float up or sink. In addition, of course, tanks must be brought to refueling facilities to be reused.

Nuclear submarines and the international space station have long used systems that generate oxygen from water by performing 'Electrolysis' – the separation of oxygen from hydrogen. However, these systems require too much energy for standard submarines, let alone divers, to use.

Bodner told IsraCast that he got the idea for his invention from fish, who do not perform chemical separation of oxygen from water. Instead, they use the dissolved air that exists in the water in order to breathe.

The system uses a physics principle known as "Henry's Law," which states that the amount of gas that can be dissolved in a liquid body is proportional to the pressure on the liquid body.

Using a rapidly rotating centrifuge to create increased pressure inside a small sealed chamber containing sea water, Bodner was able to extract enough oxygen from the water for a human being to breathe.

A laboratory model of the system has already been built and tested. It runs on rechargeable batteries, and can be worn in the form of a vest.

Bodner is now building a full-sized prototype, has already received a patent for the invention in Europe, and is expecting to receive one in the US as well.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=83949

AP - Vandals Desecrate Jewish Graves in London
According to the AP, "Vandals desecrated 86 tombstones dating to the 1870s in a Jewish cemetery in London, spraying some of them with Nazi swastikas and racial slurs while knocking them over, police said Thursday." A spiritual awareness is required to understand why this keep happening. The secular world has no way of understanding such irrational hate or why the phenomenon is so persistant across the generations.

CA Quake
Hi all, thanks for letting me join the team. Reuters is reporting a new quake today in California - California rattled by third quake in week. Hope I did this right.

International ID Standards
Here is the latest report on the U.S. delay in imposing biometric standards on allies, from the AP - U.S. Confirms Passport Requirements Delay. Why the delay? Apparently, "Twenty-seven allied nations - mostly from Europe - whose citizens enjoy visa-free travel rights to the U.S. have resisted the stricter biometrics passport standards that would incur additional costs and privacy concerns."

My Way News - Calif. Post-Quake Tsunami Warning Canceled
A 7.0-magnitude quake hit California late today and prompted a tsunami warning to be issued for a short time. AP reports, "A major earthquake struck about 80 miles off the coast of northern California on Tuesday night, briefly prompting a tsunami warning along the Pacific coast." [Quakes & Roaring Waves, Matthew 24:7 & Luke 21:25]

Privacy Concerns
Ted Koppel is worried about the privacy implications of the Patriot Act, RFID chips, wireless surveillance and ID theft. In this New York Times op-ed (Take My Privacy, Please!), the respected newsman reviews these concerns and calls for greater transparency and protections for sensitive private information. [Mark of the Beast, Rev 13:16-18]

Chile Quake
Reuters AlertNet (Chile earthquake death toll rises to 11) reports on the latest big quake news, "Boulders littered city streets and highways in northern Chile on Tuesday after a 7.9-magnitude quake caused landslides and wrecked homes, killing at least 11 people and injuring 200." [Quakes, Matthew 24:7]

Battle for Jerusalem
In other news today, Palestinian militants made fresh threats to withdraw from the 4-month-old truce because of recent fighting with Israeli troops (AP - Palestinian Militants Step Up Threat). [Battle for Jerusalem, Ezekiel 38:8; Zechariah 12; Luke 21:20]

Global Spectacle
There was an event today you have no doubt heard about by now, a famous American entertainer was acquitted of criminal charges (ABC Online - Jackson found not guilty on all counts). This post is not about that. This post is about the spectacle of global news events and how they are related to Bible prophecy, specifically Revelation 9:11. This prophecy has to do with the Two Witnesses being executed and then resurrected in full view of the entire world. For many generations this prophecy was difficult to make sense of and many commentators spiritualized it. In pre-modern times, there was simply no way to imagine that an event could be witnessed by everyone on the planet. Thanks to communications satellites, cable news organizations, and the Internet, it is now possible for all of us to participate personally in global news events, witnessing them as they happen, and then registering our reaction to others via the net, e-mail, blogs, and cell phone. Communications companies have noted a sharp increase in phone calls during major news events. The prophecy speaks of people sending each other gifts after the Two Witnesses are executed and I can't help but wonder if these gifts are really e-mails, pictures, ring-tones and videos sent over our global communication system. Time will tell.

Quake Watch
AP - My Way News - Moderate Quake Rattles S. California
: "A moderate earthquake shook most of Southern California early Sunday, rattling nerves along with homes and businesses. There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage, authorities said. The magnitude-5.6 quake struck about 8:40 a.m. and was centered 20 miles south of Palm Springs, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey. Dozens of smaller temblors were registered within minutes of the quake, authorities said." [Quakes, Matthew 24:7]

Expanding the Security Council
World leaders continue to debate plans to expand the U.N. Security Council, the world body charged with preserving peace and security after World War II. Since the organizational structure of the council represents the victors of that world war, there have been calls to expand the council to reflect the geopolitical realities of the 21st Century. The council has five permanent members who have veto power and ten nonpermanent members. In this update from Reuters (Veto dropped in draft for new UN Council members) we learn that, "Germany, Japan, Brazil and India on Wednesday dropped the right to a veto for new permanent U.N. Security Council members in their revised draft resolution to expand the 15-member prestigious body. The four nations, contenders for permanent council seats, want the U.N. General Assembly to adopt a framework resolution as early as this month that would add 10 new members to the council, six permanent members and four nonpermanent ones." We will continue to watch as these negotiations continue. The Security Council remains one of several potential fulfillments of the Ten Kings prophecy (Rev 17:12-14), though it is a bit eerie the way the number 10 keeps showing up in these news reports.

North Korean Nuclear Crisis
The North is engaged in the usual bluster (AFP - North Korea has nuclear bombs, building more: official) in advance of the U.S. and South Korea summit tomorrow. Still, it is more than a rumor that they have nuclear weapons. [Wars and Rumors of War, Matthew 24:6]

WorldNetDaily: New 'Sanhedrin' plans rebuilding of Temple

A Jewish rabbinical council has long labored to reconstitute the ancient Sanhedrin, which was the original high council that decided all matters of faith for the Jewish people. The Sanhedrin has not sat since the fifth century AD. Does it sit again? That depends on whom you talk to, since key leaders of both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish communities have refused to recognize the new "Sanhedrin" as such. But they are definitely moving forward to plan the rebuilding of the Temple. That one act could trigger Ezekiel's War [Ezekiel 38-39] and is also necessary to provide a context for the Tribulation [Daniel 9:27; Revelation 13-16].

Marburg Outbreak
A quick update on that outbreak of Marburg virus in Angola, according to this report (AFP - Marburg fever claims more than 350 deaths in Angola), it is still spreading. [Pestilence, Luke 21:11]

Believers Persecuted
Saudi Arabia is denying that they persecute Christians (AP - Saudis Deny Persecuting Christians). [Believers Persecuted, Matthew 24:8]

Temple Mount Violence
Those of you following events on the Temple Mount no doubt noted a new scuffle today (Reuters - Violence erupts outside Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque) between Palestinians throwing stones at Jews and security forces trying to maintain the peace. [Temple Mount, Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15 & 2 Thessalonians 2:4]

Telegraph | News | Blair gives up on his EU dream

That's right, Tony Blair will not seek either an act of Parliament or a referendum on the European Constitution in his country. Indeed, even the future of the euro is now in doubt, in that leading Germans, and now Italians, have called for referenda in their countries for the restoration of their respective national currencies. Is this a reversal of the trend toward a single currency and a single economic system? Or is this, as some stock-market gurus like to say, merely a bump in the road--a "bounce" as they like to put it? As Jesus Himself reminds us, only the Father knows for sure.

Biometric Bandwagon
Russia is also jumping on the biometric ID bandwagon (AFP - Russia to introduce biometric passports in 2007), though their new passports won't debut until 2007. [Mark of the Beast, Rev 13:16-18]

Doomsday Cult Recruiting
It's been a while since we last heard from the Aum doomsday cult, but they are apparently still around and intent on recruiting new members (AFP - Japanese doomsday cult on drive to double membership). Apparently, they are branching out into new enterprises, like selling used cars. Hmmn, I could make a joke here, but I don't want to insult any used car sellers that may be reading this. [False Christs, False Prophets, Matthew 24:4,11]

AIDS News
How is the global fight against AIDS going? My Way News - U.N. AIDS Meeting to Get Mixed Bag of News has some answers. [pestilence, Luke 21:11]

Your Papers Please
The post-9-11 environment has been a boon for security companies, especially those that sell biometric ID technology (the kind that is keyed to your body, like your fingerprints, the shape of your face, or your iris). What we have now is a race between the security needs of government and industry and terrorists who are intent on finding the flaws in the new technology. I suspect that ultimately we will find that the most secure form of ID is the kind that is redundant, placed in and on your body in various locations and using various methods. It is interesting to track these trends as they evolve, as one day one of them will become the dreaded Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-18). In this latest news, the U.S. government is upgrading border security by requiring biometric identification and letting people know they should get used to it (Reuters - Get used to biometric tests, U.S. tells travelers). The U.S. is also encouraging international standards (Independent - US wants to be able to access Britons' ID cards) so that biometric data can easily be shared among the responsible authorities.

French Reject EU Constitution
Many people dislike the Book of Revelation because it is a book of symbols. It takes careful study and a knowledge of both the Old Testament and the New Testament to even begin to start uncovering the meaning of the symbols used in the last book of the Bible. However, in some cases, the Book of Revelation is more direct and a knowledge of Biblical symbols is unnecessary. The Ten Kings prophecy of Rev 17:12-14 says plainly that ten future kings will give their power and authority to one person, who will rule the entire world for a short time. This person is popularly called the Antichrist, though he is referred to as a beast in the Book of Revelation, one of two beasts who will rule at the end of this age. While many people like to get caught up in speculation about the identity of the antichrist, others speculate about the identity of the ten kings. Some Bible prophecy commentators believe that the ten kings represent leaders of the EU (primarily because of the Daniel 9:26-27 prophecy about the prince they infer to be Roman), and have continued to hold to this view even as the EU expanded beyond ten members. Others (like me) looked to alternative political alliances that could one day form the power base of the first beast, like the U.N. Security Council or the G8 economic forum. The recent vote by the people of France to reject the proposed EU constitution (France Rejects Europe Charter - Yahoo! News) may give momentum to the EU camp if the EU now fractures into a two-tier system. Nine members of the EU have already approved the new constitution, France would have been the tenth. All 25 members of the EU must approve the constitution for it to be ratified. So, what will happen? Stay tuned.

Iran Backs Down
The latest news on the nuclear crisis in Iran. "The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany persuaded Iran on Wednesday to continue its freeze on nuclear activities, averting a diplomatic crisis that could have led to punitive international measures against Iran," The New York Times (Europe Convinces Iran to Continue Nuclear Freeze) reports. [Persia, Ezekiel 38:5]

Future Famine
The U.N. says (Global warming will increase world hunger-U.N. - Yahoo! News) there will be more famine in the future because of...global warming? [famine, Matthew 24:7]

Zarqawi Dead?
This is just a rumor, it has not been confirmed, but there is a chance that terrorist leader MAZ is either injured or dead (Militant leader Zarqawi wounded in Iraq - Web - Yahoo! News). It has been suggested that this is disinformation put out to throw the U.S. military off the trail. So, take it for what it's worth. [Rumor of War, Matthew 24:6]

Flu Warnings
The World Health Organization is warning governments to prepare for the next flu pandemic (VOA - WHO Urges Countries to Prepare for Influenza Pandemic). It is, as they say, only a matter of time, and now is the time to prepare. [Pestilence, Luke 21:11]

Pandemic Fears
Scientists are closely watching developments Indonesia, where bird flu has been found in pigs. As this Voice of America reportnotes, this is dangerous because, "Pigs have genetic similarities to humans, and can carry both human and animal viruses... if a pig became infected with both types of virus at the same time, it could act as a "mixing vessel," creating a new strain that could become a serious threat to humans." The potential exists for a new pandemic similar to the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed between 20 to 40 million people worldwide. Submitted for your files on pestilence (Luke 21:11).

Weekly News Summary
Sorry for not having posted recently. I've been very busy. My original goal was to make at least one post a day and to encourage the other team members to do the same. Unfortunately, it has not worked out that way. Before I offer a list of some of the more interesting news reports of this week, I'd like to make another call for bloggers to join the team. With the phenomenal success of the Left Behind series, I know there are many Christians out there with a newfound interest in following events, and that is why we are here, to offer quick links to news reports of prophetic interest, to do this in real-time with team members standing by, ready to post breaking news. To do this right, we need a bigger team. So, if you share our interest, please consider joining the team. We are especially interested in recruiting those with high bandwidth (like students) and those with lots of free time (like retirees). If you are interested, please see the "about the blog team" link over on the left, and then contact us. Ok, now for an admittedly incomplete list of some of the more interesting news reports for the week of May 2-7, 2005.

Official: N. Korea May Test Nuclear Weapon - Yahoo! News

Four dead, 26 hurt as strong quake jolts western Iran - Yahoo! News

Nearly four million Ethiopians now in urgent need of food aid - Yahoo! News

French Pedophilia Trial Hears Sordid Tales - Yahoo! News

Christianity taking over planet? - World Net Daily

Polio cases in Indonesia raise fears of wider outbreak - Yahoo! News

New Method Predicts Monster Waves - Yahoo! News

Scientists: Earth's Energy Is Imbalanced - Yahoo! News

Clinton: Peace in Mideast a 'Tough Slog' - Yahoo! News

Women's group looks to Temple Mount and Future Jewish Temple - Jerusalem Post

Survey: TV for Mobile Phones Set to Reach Masses - Yahoo! News

Real ID Act edges closer to passage - Yahoo! News

Implanted chip ID tags are getting under the skin - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Japan Steps Up Quest for UN Security Council Seat - Yahoo! News

Putin struggles to allay Israeli fears over Syria, Iran deals - Yahoo! News

Moscow to help Egypt reboot its nuke program - World Tribune

Persecuted Church
If you are looking for news and information on persecution (Matthew 24:8), check out a new site called Christian Monitor. They collect news reports from all over the world and make them easily available to their readers. I'm very impressed with the work they do and encourage you to visit their site and share it with others.

RFID Passport Security Increased
Wired News (Feds Rethinking RFID Passport) reports that in the wake of privacy concerns about the government's new RFID passports, the State Department is reconsidering a plan it previously rejected. The plan would offer privacy protection, including encryption. No, this is not the Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-18), but new ID technology is always of interest.

Climate Change
According to this report in Sci-Tech Today, "An in-depth study using aerial photographs spanning the past half century of all 244 marine glaciers on the west side of the Antarctic finger-like peninsula pointing up to South America found that 87 percent of them were in retreat -- and the speed was rising. " Now, we don't know if this kind of climate change represents a normal cyclical pattern or a major change, we do know that a lot of people are very worried about global climate change, and recommend the subject for your study of Luke 21:26.

BREAKING: CNN - White smoke, bells signal selection of new pope

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Cardinals Select New Pope

White smoke billows from the stove in the Sistine Chapel, and every bell in Vatican City must be peeling right now. This means only one thing: the College of Cardinals have, in near-record time, selected a pope. Incredibly, they seem to have done this on their third ballot!

We don't yet know who this is. The favorite candidate is Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who holds the post of chief of doctrine at the Vatican.

I see many German flags waving as Fox News Channel breaks to St. Peter's Square. One of the views on display is of the famous balcony where a new Pope appears.

UPDATE: The announcement is now taking place (16:41 UTC; 12:41 p.m. EDT). The Dean of the College of Cardinals has stepped forward to announce the Pope's name, according to a long and involved Latin ritual.

The victor: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger!

The official name he will now take will be Benedict XVI.

Obviously the College has struck a blow for the continuance of church doctrine. As if that weren't enough, for the new Pope to take the name of Benedict, a name associated with one of the most stern and rigorous orders of monks, should stand as further evidence. However, commentators already tell us that Benedict XV, the last Pope to carry that name, served just prior to the First World War...

Flu Fiasco, Cont.
Just a quick update on a news story we have been following (CTV - Deadly influenza virus shipments missing: WHO).Two-thirds of deadly viruses misplaced in analysis kits have now been destroyed, but kits to be shipped to Mexico and Lebanon are missing, and there's been no confirmation of destruction from Saudi Arabia, Bermuda, Brazil, Israel, and Japan. For your pestilence (Luke 21:11) files.

Revelations--and the people who talk about it

Revelations (exec. prod. Gavin Polone; with Bill Pullman, Natascha McElhone, John Rhys-Davis, et al.; Pariah Productions, 2005) is the latest attempt by secular entertainers--in this case, NBC Television--to skim some cash from the current popular fascination with matters apocalyptic. And, as is true of most such efforts, this project manages to get so many things wrong that the blunders overshadow the good that the series might have done. Unfortunately, deciding which is sillier--this project or the opinions of some secular reviewers--is even more difficult than watching the show itself.

If you can imagine spreading peanut butter on a hamburger, or pouring ketchup on a stack of pancakes, you will know why I am disappointed in this project. The producers have many ingredients, any one of which would be ideal for any number of projects. But these particular ingredients make a wretchedly unpalatable recipe.

What works:

• The actors, especially Bill Pullman as a scientist who, though skeptical to the point of bitterness, never forgets that the best thing a scientist can be is curious.
• Little things: An evolutionist holds forth on how a tornado in a junkyard would be more likely to build Buckingham Palace (actually the original metaphor read "to assemble a Boeing 747") than would random factors produce life, yet life exists. And as he insists that random factors were the only things responsible for that, he has no idea that half of what he has just said contradicts the other half. You couldn't ask for a better portrait of modern evolutionists and their clueless pontifications.
• Another little thing: doctors wait for a teen-age girl to die so that they can harvest her organs--looking for all the world like a flock of buzzards circling over a thirsty desert hiker. Imagine their disappointment when Mister Skeptic himself holds the girl's hand--and her EKG goes from asystole to normal sinus rhythm in five seconds! The producers couldn't have known this, but the sad case of Terri Schindler Schiavo cannot fail to make people take note of such a scene--again, a perfect metaphor for our mixed-up medical profession that has slipped its moral moorings completely.
• More little things--like the academic groupie who babbles on and on about how honored he is to meet The Great Professor. I've been in academia, and I've seen those hangers-on. They behave just that way, and that the professors don't tell those rubes to get lives of their own speaks volumes about academic ego.

Unfortunately, that's about all that works. Because the basic premise is not end-times prophecy at all. This is horror masquerading as end-times prophecy. Worse yet, it has every other contemporary myth thrown in--things that aren't in the Bible at all. Put this in your not adding to or taking away from the Bible [Revelation 22:18-19] files: The clinically dead do not "trance-channel" the souls of the departed. Even if they did, as a teen-aged girl struck by lightning does (after walking across a golf course in an electrical storm--how stupid can you get?), they wouldn't quote the Latin Vulgate! They'd far more likely quote John the Revelator, Paul the Apostle, and so on in the language that those men originally spoke, which was Koine Greek, not Latin! Nor will Jesus come back as a baby, which the show hints at with a brief set of sequences involving the rescue of an infant from a shipwreck. (Actually, the show doesn't say what it's hinting at with that one, but I can forgive that because it's the first installment of a series with a continuing mystery story arc.)

Worse than all the extrabiblical elements that the show contains is what is missing. Aside from a few pictures that look as though they were adapted from CNN and BBC footage from the Middle East and elsewhere, where do we hear of the political situation that will obtain, and come to fruition, during this period? Where is the movement crying out for "leadership for a world gone mad" that we saw to such good effect, say, in The Shoes of the Fisherman? And while I can understand not having a portrait of the Rapture, I cannot understand failing to mention the Tribulation.

The producers did borrow one technique from Vic Sarin's film adaptation of Left Behind, namely filming everything in dim light to give you a sense of impending doom. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. To illustrate, it made the hospital scenes play out like an episode of Kingdom Hospital, Stephen King's abysmally failed project about a haunted hospital with characters who were weird enough without the strange goings-on.

As bad as this project is, most of the secular reviews are worse. Tom Shales, for example, can't stop talking about how religion is bunk, anyway, and that the real issue about kingdom rising against kingdom involves greedy multinational corporations--private businesses doing things that Mr. Shales no doubt would rather see done in common by government. His characterization of Revelation as "the wackiest...book of the New Testament" speaks volumes about his whole attitude, and makes him no better than that professor boldly asserting that the tornado in the junkyard did build life after all. He was supposed to produce a review of a TV show. What he gave us instead was yet another anti-sermon against religion in general.

Hal Boedeker at The Orlando Sentinel, as quoted in The Houston Chronicle, manages to come closer to the central problem of the project. He actually interviewed Bill Pullman, who told him straight-out what NBC's problem is: "We don't want to offend anybody!" That won't cut it, of course. You can't tell a story about the Bible without offending someone. Jesus Himself could have told them that--and did, too, as they'd have found out if they would but read the Bible before they put together a dramatic project on it.

Mike Duffy at The Detroit Free Press is more typical of those who get some of the point, but not all of it. "Formula paranormal hokum" is his phrase for what the series might wind up being no better than. True as far as it goes--but when he quotes head writer David Seltzer as he talks of mankind playing a positive role in the last things, he shows his own weakness. The trouble is that I doubt that even the religion editor would have known to tell him that David Seltzer cannot be correct about that--because prophecy will work itself out according to a definite plan, and puny man cannot stand in the way.

The bottom line: Don't bother watching the rest of the show. But then again, don't bother relying on secular reviewers, either. Sometimes people come to the right conclusion on faulty premises. This is a prime example.

Flu Fiasco
By now you may have heard that a particularly lethal strain of the flu was sent to medical labs all over the world (Telegraph - Deadly old flu virus sent to labs). By all accounts this was a colossal misunderstanding, the virus was not labeled in a manner that would preclude it from being included in testing kits that are normally sent to labs. However the potential still exists (remote as it may be) that this strain could get out into the general public and cause an epidemic or even a pandemic. Of greater concern in this time of war is that two of the countries that received this virus, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, are known to have al-Qaeda sympathizers. If a technician in one of those labs is able to smuggle out a vial of this virus and turn it over to terrorists then we have a much greater problem than a medical mishap. Submitted for your files on pestilence (Luke 21:11).

Tensions Rise on Temple Mount
Bible prophecy predicts (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15 & 2 Thessalonians 2:4) that at the end of this age the Temple Mount in Jerusalem will become an international flashpoint. The Temple Mount is the location of the ancient Jewish temples, the last one was the temple built by King Solomon and destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Wailing Wall is the last standing remnant of that temple. Much later, followers of Islam, acting out of a desire for peace and harmony, and hoping against hope that the Jews wouldn't mind, built two mosques (the al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock) on top of the ancient ruins. It is Islam's third holiest site, while it is Judaism's most holy site. This explains why it is off-limits to Jews and Moslems control the site. Ok, not really, but explaining that would take more time than we have right now. The media does not like to call the site the Temple Mount, because that recognizes thousands of years of recorded history and the physical evidence affirming Jewish claims to the site and does not respect the claim of Moslems to control the area. Thus, the site is "disputed" in much the same way your home would be disputed if your neighbor built a sun-deck on the roof while you were away. The minor scuffle that took place today (Swissinfo - Israel seals off shrine, foils Jewish protest march) is nothing compared to events which are to transpire in the future, as the battle for religious, political and military control for the Temple Mount is waged. If you are a skeptic and doubt the veracity of Bible prophecy, then watch as the Temple Mount becomes an issue at the top of the international agenda and a site for events which will shock the entire world.

New Scientist News - Sony patent takes first step towards real-life Matrix

Hat Tip: The Australian, which put me wise to this article.

I have a problem with the granting of patents for what are known as "prophetic inventions"--which is to say, "vapor inventions" that do not have so much as a working plan. But that's beyond scope here.

The real prophetic significance of this patent (which I could not find, BTW, in the records of the US Patent and Trademark Office; Sony must have filed their patent application in Japan) is that it represents several things that multiple prophets have warned of. First of all, however, this does not represent the Mark of the Beast--though it jmight represent the required worship of the Beast and his image [Revelation 13:15]. The mark, or cattle-brand stamp (Greek charagma, is mostly a mark of loyalty. This invention, if you call it that, goes far beyond a mere mark. In fact, it goes far beyond the mere reading of a person's mind. We deal here with the ability to write onto a person's mind, by means that bypass the classic Five Senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Sony seeks to use ultrasonic impulses to impress on a user the impression of having smelled something, or tasted something, without his actually having smelled or tasted anything.

The Hollywood establishment has toyed with this kind of project before. First came the motion picture Firefox (produced and directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Clint Eastwood; Warner Bros. Pictures, 1982), which followed a US pilot assigned to infiltrate the old Soviet Union and steal a Soviet prototype of a Mach 5/6 fighter-interceptor having a thought-controlled weapons system. This system would read a pilot's thoughts, through undefined "sensors in his helmet" (probably a body-contact electroencephalogram), and translates these thoughts into commands to select, direct, and fire weapons. Then came another motion picture, titled Brainstorm (produced and directed by Douglas Trumbull, with Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson, et al., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1983), describing (in a rather disjointed fashion) the corporate and ethical tribulations surrounding an invention that could first read and record all the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and tactile experiences of a designated recording artist and then write the whole experience directly into the brain of a subject wearing a specially designed helmet or headset!

Firefox was alarming enough, given the military implications. But Sony has now taken a step toward implementing the Brainstorm scenario, and that's worse. (Actually, MGM could probably sue Sony for infringing on their idea, if you accept the premise for a patent on a "prophetic invention", since after all it was MGM's idea for a movie plot device before Sony got the idea of using it for real. But I digress.)

Why is this worse? With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, let me count the ways:

1. When you project program content directly into the brain, you make the experience as close to "real" as is any actual experience. After enough exposures to the technique, whether to one repeated program or several, the user could forget the difference between fact and fiction. This might explain why some of the earliest men in the Calvinist camp condemned fiction, drama, or poetry (other than the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, etc.) as being as wrongheaded as deliberately adding to or subtracting from the BIble--the notion being that life flows according to Divine plan, and fiction is a way of suggesting that God might choose a different plan. If you find that extreme, then you must consider this real-life Brainstorm invention to be the opposite extreme, and one far less healthy--for if you cannot tell fact from fiction, then neither can you tell truth from lies. Put that in your father of lies files.
2. This could turn into the ultimate in pornography. Imagine male (or female) sex actors recording the experience of copulation, or other even more perverse experiences. Now imagine playing back a recording that a person of the opposite sex initially made. Now stop imagining that; that's an obvious Matthew 5:28 violation--and also one for your II Timothy 3:1-5 files.
3. The Sony Brainstorm apparatus could also be an instrument of torture. One of the things that the Brainstorm characters dealth with was the horrifying use of their technique to make torture recordings. They would recruit someone willing to submit to torture and then record his experiences. One character played back a torture tape by accident and went crazy. Just think of the use that the Beast would make of such a technique!
4. Brainstorm would be an even better, and more chilling, military technique than Firefox. Brainstorm could substitute totally for the pilot's own eyes and ears--in which case the pilot would seal himself up in his aircraft, out of sight or contact with the outside, except such contact that Brainstorm would mediate. But Brainstorm could also make a pilot think he's shooting down a truly repulsive enemy when in fact he's vaporizing a city full of innocent people. Behold the ultimate in brainwashing--and without the mass hypnosis that Jerry B. Jenkins predicted. The Beast need only outfit all his soldiers with permanent receivers, through which he could make them believe anything, and break down all their compunctions.

Sony says that the technique is theoretical only, and not even experimental. But as New Scientist pointed out, experts in the field suggest that Sony might have something. If they do, then it's something deadly and chilling--and further evidence that the End of All Things is coming.

BREAKING - My Way News - Pope John Paul II Dies at 84
AP reports this breaking news: "John Paul II, who led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years and helped topple communism in Europe while becoming the most-traveled pope, died Saturday night in his Vatican apartment after a long public struggle against debilitating illness. He was 84."

AP - Group Protests Israelis' Plans for Rally
For those of you following events on the Temple Mount, here is an update from the AP via Yahoo News about recent threats by the terrorist group Hamas. According to the report the Hamas leader said, "We voice our protest and condemnation against the continuous Zionist attempt to attack Al Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites...If those criminals carry out the crime we leave this matter to our military wing and there will be no quiet, God willing."

VOA - New Bird Flu Cases Add to Pandemic Fears
Vietnamese medical officials are voicing fears of a pandemic if the bird flu virus mutates to spread easily among humans. Another report for your files on pestilence (Luke 21:11).

Breaking News - My Way News: "Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose 15 years connected to a feeding tube sparked an epic legal battle that went all the way to the White House and Congress, died Thursday, 13 days after the tube was removed. She was 41." :: Do you think that this case is something the Bible prophecy community should be concerned with? How is it connected to Bible prophecy? Please use the comments link to share your thoughts with us.

VOA News - Angola Imposes Travel Restrictions to Stop Spread of Virus
According to this Voice of America report, "Angola has imposed travel restrictions on people who have visited an area hit hard by an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus." A scary report for your research on pestilence (Luke 21:11).

Indonesia Quake
Yet another large earthquake has struck Indonesia, killing thousands of people (AP - Indonesian VP: Quake May Kill Up to 2,000). Earthquakes are one of the Olivet Signs, things that Jesus said would happen in with increasing frequency and intensity in the normal course of history as the end times approached. Fortunately, this time, there was no tsunami, which is also a prophetic sign found in Luke 21:25. It's interesting to note that popular Bible prophecy commentators in the late 20th Century dismissed Luke 21:25 as merely a symbol of unrest and not a literal depiction of wave damage. Steeped in the social upheaval of their time, they thought that roaring waves represented the unrest of nations and peoples, protests, riots, revolutions and the like. Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, we find that nations are filled with fear and perplexity at the roaring waves shattering their coasts.

WorldNetDaily: 10,000 Jews to ascend Temple Mount

The goal: to force Israel's government, and all the world's meddlers, to face squarely the issue of who ought to be in charge of the site.

In case anyone doubts either the authenticity or the details of this story, let me observe that WorldNetDaily is one of the most scrupulous news organs in any medium today, and that Aaron Klein, head of WND's Jerusalem Bureau, is one of the finest and bravest journalists in the world today.

This is, of course, not really the place to debate the merits of a geopolitical issue that

1. is already foretold to become critical, and
2. in any case, won't matter anymore once the Tribulation begins in ernest.

That said, the entire Temple Mount situation is the UN's doing--and the prophet Daniel clearly said that the prince who shall come will be the one to offer what will at first seem a remedy for the situation [Daniel 9:27] but will in fact be a set-up to an even worse insult.

Links to Prophetic News
Long time between posts. Perhaps when I have more free time I will be able to resume daily posts and offer some commentary on these extraordinary news events and why they are important from a BP/ET perspective. Until then, here is another list of links in no particular order:

Yahoo! News AP - Art Experts Hold Mock Trial for 'Code'

Yahoo! News AP - Russia to Cooperate on Iran Nuke Program

Yahoo! News Reuters - Bush Demands Syria Withdraw Forces from Lebanon

Yahoo! News AP - Iran Urges Alliance Against U.S. 'Plots'

Yahoo! News Reuters - Strong Quake Causes Panic in Indonesia's East


Yahoo! News Space - Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits Earth

Yahoo! News AP - Plague Kills Scores in Congo Outbreak

Yahoo! News Reuters - It's a Warmer World, But Does That Mean Armageddon?

WND - Revived Sanhedrin Discusses Temple

Yahoo! News PC World - Vodafone Shows Mobile TV

Yahoo! News AFP - Bush: US to back Israel against Iranian threat

Yahoo! News AP - Iran, Syria to Unite to Counter Threats