Tracking Devices and Other News

Will tracking devices with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology be used in future government control programs? Below are a couple of news items about places where the technology is already being used on people on a large scale. This will only become more widespread as eventually we reach that time when it is decreed: "that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Rev 13:17) Of course, this technology is not the actual mark of the beast (which is really a matter of worship) but a means that could be used to enforce it.

Also, in this month's newsletter is an article on food shortages that points out where we are headed in terms of our food supply. Better plan on growing a garden!

There are couple of articles related to the environment. These, interestingly, seem to have a connection to the third and fourth plagues of Revelation 16. Watch for a study from me soon showing how the plagues of Revelation effectively reverse the process of creation making the earth totally uninhabitable. There will not be people living on and fixing up the earth during the millennium as some groups believe.

The economy of the U.S. (and therefore the whole world) is nearing a crisis point and the downturn may be accelerating soon.

Articles related to the Middle East point out the continuing crisis there as we watch for the trigger event to start a wider Middle East conflict - see Daniel 8

Note that I am simply sharing items of interest. That does not imply that I agree with everything presented. It is for your information.

Tracking Devices Used in School Bags
Two districts are first in the area to use ID tags that raise privacy, security concerns
By: Jennifer Radcliffe / Houston Chronicle.com / October 11, 2010

"Radio frequency identification -- the same technology used to monitor cattle -- is tracking students in the Spring and Santa Fe school districts.

"Identification badges for some students in both school districts now include tracking devices that allow campus administrators to keep tabs on students' whereabouts on campus. School leaders say the devices improve security and increase attendance rates.

"Some parents and privacy advocates question whether the technology could have unintended consequences.

"Identity theft and stalking could become serious concerns."

Here is another article related to tracking devices:

India to Compile 'World's Biggest ID Database
BBC News South Asia/ September 29, 2010

"Using biometric methods, including an iris scan, the system will log details of India's population of more than one billion people on a central database.

"The data will be stored online in what India says will be the biggest such national database in the world.

"The government expects to give a UID number to every Indian citizen within four years."

Do you believe that you will always be able to buy inexpensive food at the supermarket? If so, you might want to think again. During 2010, agricultural commodity prices have exploded. Nearly every single important agricultural commodity is experiencing double-digit percentage price increases. The S and P GSCI Agriculture Index recently surged to a fresh two-year high and now we find that food producers and retailers are starting to pass those commodity price increases on to consumers.

Food inflation is real; it is here and it's going to hurt a lot of people. In fact, food inflation is hitting consumers hard all over the globe this fall. According to the United Nations, international wheat prices have soared 60 to 80 percent since July. Since the beginning of 2010, the price of bread has gone up 17 percent and the price of meat has gone up 15 percent in European Union countries. The inflation rate in Russia rose to 7 percent in September primarily because of rising food costs.

The New York Times reported, "First it was heat and drought in Russia. Then it was heat and too much rain in parts of the American Corn Belt. Extreme weather this year has sent grain prices soaring, jolting commodities markets, and setting off fears of tight supplies that could eventually hit consumers' wallets. Grain prices started to shoot up over the summer on reports of a catastrophic drought in the major wheat-producing regions of Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Prices rose not only for wheat, but also for corn and soybeans, since those grains are interchangeable as animal feed and a drop in wheat production could mean increased demand for the other grains."

Corn prices surged again last week after a new report from the United States Agriculture Department said this year's corn crop would be smaller than expected. The harvest is forecast to be 3 percent lower than the 2009 crop. In Canada Prairie farmers have faced near impossible planting conditions this year. In Saskatoon, for example, 290 mm of rain fell throughout the summer. The average rainfall amount is 184 mm. Both Regina and Winnipeg also saw above average rainfall amounts, which left fields too saturated to get into. If the wet and soggy conditions weren't already bad enough, an early frost gave farmers yet another barrier to contend with. The cooler temperatures not only lead to a loss in crop yield, it also limits the time spent in the field for production.

Fresno County in California ranks first in the U.S. in agricultural sales every year. "Drive around it today, however, and you'll think you are in a desert. The tap has been turned off and area farmers are not receiving their promised allotments. The locals call it a "Congress-created Dust Bowl." The San Joaquin Valley suffers a 15 percent rate of unemployment while unemployment in water-deprived communities soars to 36 percent. The unemployment rate in Fresno County notches 40 percent. Farmers, local governments, small businesses and unemployed workers all cite the shortage of water as the predominant factor. According to a May 2009 study conducted by the University of California-Davis, more than 35,000 jobs and billions in economic revenue have been lost as a result of the man-made drought. Since then, those numbers have continued to climb."

In Korea, over the past 12 months, the price of cabbage - the main ingredient in kimchi, the country's national dish - has risen over 400% to 11,500 won ($10) from 4,000 won two weeks ago and 2,500 won a month ago. "This is the first time that cabbage prices have gone up so much," Park Young-koo, researcher at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, told the Wall Street Journal. "Since we have monitored the price, nothing like this has happened before."

In a recent article entitled "An Inflationary Cocktail In The Making," Richard Benson listed many of the other agricultural commodities that have spiked in price in 2010 - coffee: 45%, barley: 32%, oranges: 35%, beef: 23%, pork: 68%, salmon: 30%, sugar: 24% - and the list goes on and on with the worst yet to come.

Sun storm to hit with 'force of 100m bombs'
By Peter Farquhar, Technology Editor From: news.com.au August 25, 2010

AFTER 10 years of comparative slumber, the sun is waking up - and it's got astronomers on full alert.

This week several US media outlets reported that NASA was warning the massive flare that caused spectacular light shows on Earth earlier this month was just a precursor to a massive solar storm building that had the potential to wipe out the entire planet's power grid.

NASA has since rebutted those reports, saying it could come "100 years away or just 100 days", but an Australian astronomer says the space community is betting on the sooner scenario rather than the latter.

Despite its rebuttal, NASA's been watching out for this storm since 2006 and reports from the US this week claim the storms could hit on that most Hollywood of disaster dates - 2012.

Similar storms back in 1859 and 1921 caused worldwide chaos, wiping out telegraph wires on a massive scale.

The 2012 storm has the potential to be even more disruptive.

"The general consensus among general astronomers (and certainly solar astronomers) is that this coming Solar maximum (2012 but possibly later into 2013) will be the most violent in 100 years," astronomy lecturer and columnist Dave Reneke said.

"A bold statement and one taken seriously by those it will affect most, namely airline companies, communications companies and anyone working with modern GPS systems.

"They can even trip circuit breakers and knock out orbiting satellites, as has already been done this year."

Regardless, the point astronomers are making is it doesn't matter if the next Solar Max isn't the worst in history, or even as bad as the 1859 storms.

It's the fact that there hasn't been one since the mid-80s. Commodore had just launched the Amiga and the only digital storm making the news was Tetris.

No one really knows what effect the 2012-2013 Solar Max will have on today's digital-reliant society.

World's Rivers in 'Crisis State', Report finds
ScienceDaily.com / October 1, 2010

"The world's rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis.

"The report, published Sept. 30 in the journal Nature, is the first to simultaneously account for the effects of such things as pollution, dam building, agricultural runoff, the conversion of wetlands and the introduction of exotic species on the health of the world's rivers.

"The resulting portrait of the global riverine environment, according to the scientists who conducted the analysis, is grim. It reveals that nearly 80 percent of the world's human population lives in areas where river waters are highly threatened posing a major threat to human water security . . .

"'What made our jaws drop is that some of the highest levels in the world are in the United States and Europe, says McIntyre, who began work on the project as a Smith Fellow at the University of Michigan."

The Looming Dollar Revolt
By: Robert Morley / the Trumpet.com/ October 19, 2010

"The world faces a problem-and it's a big one.

"In less than one month, the richest and most powerful nations will descend on South Korea. It will be the biggest G-20 summit of all time -- with nearly 10,000 of the world's most influential politicians, CEOs of international organizations and corporate business barons in attendance. And it's for good reason.

"This year's G-20 summit is officially billed as a conference to promote issues such as global safety nets, modernizing international institutions, strengthening the international regulatory systems and sustainable development in low-income nations.

"Those items and others might be discussed, but when the doors close and the delegates purportedly stop for the night, that's when the real deal-making and secret lobbying will get ferocious.

"The actual agenda item? What to do about the U.S. dollar!"

The dollar's plight is well known. The greenback's value is plummeting. It has been slipping for years, but the trajectory is steepening - and now, with America in recession, the falling dollar is threatening to throw global markets, exchange rates and interest rates into chaos.

By Its Inaction, Israel Permits Iran's annexation of Lebanon
DEBKAfile.com / October 14, 2010

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and all of Israel's leaders chose silence in the face of the imperialist Shiite energy Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad exuded in his all-conquering visit to Lebanon. On his first day in Beirut, Wednesday, Oct. 13, he walked off with four major accomplishments:

1. "He demonstrated that Tehran calls the shots in Beirut -- not the lawful Lebanese government which is crumbling under Iranian pressure, not the divided Christian or Sunni Muslim communities and not even Syria.

2. "The Iranian president's tour Thursday plants an Iranian flag on Israel's northern border with Lebanon and that's just for starters.

3. "He also announced the formation of a new Islamic bloc . . . dedicated to fighting not only Israel but also America.

4. "Ahmadinejad gave the entire Arab Middle East an object lesson in how much ground the Islamic Republic and its president are capable of swallowing up -- even without a nuclear weapon. They were warned by the way Lebanon fell at his feet that they stood no chance against their new hegemon as a nuclear power."

US Deploys Second Air Carrier in Persian Gulf with 60 Warplanes
DEBKAfile.com / October 22, 2010

"The United States has posted a second aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Persian Gulf and northern Arabian Sea. The announcement came from the Pentagon Tuesday, Oct. 19, two days after the vessel put into port at Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain. DEBKAfile's sources note that this is the first time in two years that Washington had deployed two aircraft carriers at same time - not just one - in waters opposite Iran and Afghanistan."

Chinese Warplanes Make Mid East Debut in Turkey and Iran
DEBKAfile.com / October 12, 2010

"The arrival of a new Middle East player startled Washington and Jerusalem: DEBKAfile's military sources disclose that when Turkish Prime Minister Tayyep Erdogan met Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus Monday, Oct. 11, they talked less about the Kurdish question and more about the role China is willing to play in the military-intelligence alliance binding Syria, Iran and Turkey.

"The Turkish prime minister painted the military alliance binding Tehran, Ankara and Damascus in rosy colors for Assad's benefit as more central to the region and more powerful than Israel's armed forces . . . "

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)

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