Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.

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The Mark

“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark•Strongs 5480: charagma, khar´-ag-mah; from the same as 5482; a scratch or etching, i.e. stamp (as a badge of servitude), or scupltured figure (statue):—graven, mark. , or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
—Revelation 13:17

The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.

Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.

“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorney Jennifer Lynch.

The provision in the legislation is the fruit of “a huge push by lawmakers and the defense sector to expand the use of drones” in American airspace, she added.

According to some estimates, the commercial drone market in the United States could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars once the FAA clears their use.

The agency projects that 30,000 drones could be in the nation’s skies by 2020.

The highest-profile use of drones by the United States has been in the CIA’s armed Predator-drone program, which targets al Qaeda terrorist leaders. But the vast majority of U.S. drone missions, even in war zones, are flown for surveillance. Some drones are as small as model aircraft, while others have the wingspan of a full-size jet.

In Afghanistan, the U.S. use of drone surveillance has grown so rapidly that it has created a glut of video material to be analyzed.

The legislation would order the FAA, before the end of the year, to expedite the process through which it authorizes the use of drones by federal, state and local police and other agencies. The FAA currently issues certificates, which can cover multiple flights by more than one aircraft in a particular area, on a case-by-case basis.

The Department of Homeland Security is the only federal agency to discuss openly its use of drones in domestic airspace.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within the department, operates nine drones, variants of the CIA’s feared Predator. The aircraft, which are flown remotely by a team of 80 fully qualified pilots, are used principally for border and counternarcotics surveillance under four long-term FAA certificates.

Officials say they can be used on a short-term basis for a variety of other public-safety and emergency-management missions if a separate certificate is issued for that mission.

“It’s not all about surveillance,” Mr. Aftergood said.

India has launched an ambitious program to fit each of its 1.2 billion residents with an Unique identification number (UID). Each number will be tied into three pieces of biometric data: fingerprints (all ten digits), iris scans (both eyes), and a picture of the face.

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The Mark

“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark•Strongs 5480: charagma, khar´-ag-mah; from the same as 5482; a scratch or etching, i.e. stamp (as a badge of servitude), or scupltured figure (statue):—graven, mark. , or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
—Revelation 13:17

Starting this month, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will begin processing people in various locations around the country. UIDAI aims to slowly roll out the program through February of 2011 and to ID 600 million people in the next four years! This is a mammoth program. While residents are not mandated to get a UID, a growing list of services including social welfare and even some bank accounts will soon require the identification number. If successful, this will be the first biometrically verified universal ID implemented on a national scale. India is forging new ground, drawing both fears and hopes of what a national ID number may bring with it.
Ostensibly the UIDAI was formed, and the idea of UID green-lighted, to help those 440 million Indian people who were found to be below the poverty level in 2002. The nation has an extensive series of social welfare programs – everything from medical support to home heating fuel subsidies – but many of these services are ripe with corruption and bureaucratic stagnation. Many of India’s poorest citizens do not have ID cards, bank accounts, or even addresses that they can use to register for social services. Often the money for these programs ends up in the hands of middle class families tricking the system by using false identification schemes. With the UID, India hopes to give every resident a means of accessing welfare services as well as cut down on fraud. To the UIDAI, the purpose of a national ID is to enable the government to get help to those who need it.
Yet the UID is going to be used for much more than social welfare programs. The UIDAI is in discussions with many institutions (banks, local/state governments, etc) to allow them to use the UID as a means of identity verification. These institutions will pay the UIDAI some fee to cover costs and generate revenue. There seems to be little doubt that once it is established, the UID will become a preferred method (if not the preferred method) of identification in India.

There, of course, will be some advantages to this. Drivers from one state will not need, nor be able to, acquire licenses from another state as their information will be universally accessible in the national database. Migrant workers, displaced poor, and refugees can all be confident that their UID identifies them no matter where they go in their country.
Ultimately I wouldn’t be surprised if the UID, with its biometric data, could be used as a means of payment (when linked to a bank account), or as an access key to homes and cars. Purchase a meal with your fingerprint and unlock your door with the twinkle in your eye. Similar results could be expected in other nations that adopted biometric identification systems.
To privacy advocates, however, the very concept of a national ID number is anathema. Putting all the personal information in one system opens the possibilities that it can be used for nefarious purposes – everything from identification fraud to genocide. The inclusion of biometric data such as fingerprints and iris scans increase the accuracy of such a system but also lends it an air of oppressive technologically-enabled surveillance.

In order to alleviate some concerns, the UIDAI has highlighted ways that the UID is less binding than it may appear on the surface. First, they emphasize that acquiring the UID is not mandated. Though, as we’ve said, the number of benefits that will be exclusively offered through the UID will make it so desirable as to be effectively mandated. The UIDAI also points out that the UID is just a number, not an ID card. Each Indian state will still be responsible for issuing licenses and identification cards. While these cards are going to reference the UID, they may or may not contain the biometric data and other personal information gathered during UID registration. The actual UID number will not contain any intelligence; that is, it will not code for anything. It’s only a random string of digits, making it harder for hackers to exploit the system. UID’s will be given to every resident of India, no matter their citizen status.
The registration process has also been made transparent. When a resident is interviewed for the UID, they can see everything that the processor does via an outwardly facing computer screen attached to their laptop. Residents provide their name, date of birth, gender, father’s UID (if applicable), mother’s UID (if applicable), and address (if applicable). Fingerprints, picture, and iris scans are collected at the same time.
I understand the creepiness factor associated with a government agency registering everyone, giving them a number, and scanning their fingers and eyes. There’s some chilling Big Brother-like aspects to this whole affair. Yet the problem of insuring that resources make it to India’s poor is very real, and there’s the strong possibility that the UID will be empowering and democratizing to the 440 million Indians below the poverty level. It will take years before we know if the benefits of the UID program will outweigh the abuses it could create. The debate on privacy and national ID continues, but in India it looks like the UIDAI is already moving towards victory.

Israeli metropolis wins 43% of votes in American Airlines competition selecting most popular destinations among LGTB tourists; New York City comes in second with only 14% of votes

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Days of Lot

Please read Leviticus 18:22-30“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.” —Leviticus 18:22-30 to see the results of this lifestyle on a progressively decaying society, as it turns from it’s creator.

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
—Jude 1:7

Tel Aviv has been named the Best Gay City of 2011 in an international American Airlines competition selecting the most popular destinations among LGTB tourists.

The Israeli metropolis won 43% of the votes, leaving New York City behind in the second place with only 14% of the votes.

The top 10 cities also included Toronto, Sao Paulo, Madrid, London, New Orleans and Mexico City. Voting was held last month on the company’s website.

The competition included additional categories, including Best Nightlife (won by New York City), Best Pride (San Francisco) and Best Sand & Sun (Sydney).

Tel Aviv, which was marked as a favorite even before the voting concluded, was described during the competition as “the gay capital of the Middle East, exotic and welcoming, with a Mediterranean c’est la vie attitude.”

Shai Doitsh, brand manager of the Tel Aviv Gay Vibe tourism campaign, told Ynet shortly after learning of the results: “This makes us very proud.

“This is the peak of six years of activity and further proof that the decision made by the Tourism Ministry and Tel Aviv Municipality to invest in gay tourism and put their faith in the program we built was the right decision.

“This is an excellent start for the coming year of activity, in which we will continue to innovate and surprise, and mainly bring thousands of tourists to Israel,” he added.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Struggling banks snapped up euro489 billion ($639 billion) in cheap loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, a sign of just how hard or expensive it has become to borrow from each other.

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

New World Order

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful•Strongs 1763: dchal, deh-khal´; (Aramaic) corresponding to 2119; to slink, i.e. (by implication) to fear, or (causatively) be formidable:—make afraid, dreadful, fear, terrible. and terrible•Strongs 574: emtaniy, em-taw-nee´; (Aramaic) from a root corresponding to that of 4975; well-loined (i.e. burly) or mighty:—terrible., and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
—Daniel 7:7

The huge demand for newly available three-year loans comes as fears rise that heavily indebted European governments could default and force banks and other bond holders to take big losses.
The loans to 523 banks surpassed the euro442 billion ($578 billion) in one-year loans extended in June 2009, when the global financial system was reeling from the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. It was the biggest ECB infusion of credit into the banking system in the 13-year history of the euro.
The ECB wants banks to use the money to help pay off or refinance some euro230 billion ($300 billion) in existing loans early in 2012. Without the special support from the ECB, banks would have had to cut back on loans to businesses and further squeeze the European economy.
While the loans will help stabilize banks and make it easier for them to lend to businesses, they do not attack the root of Europe’s financial crisis — heavily indebted governments face unsustainable borrowing costs. Many economists believe that to solve that problem the ECB needs to become the lender of last resort to European governments, buying up their bonds in large quantities in order to lower their borrowing costs. ECB President Mario Draghi has said governments should not depend on a central bank bailout.
Markets initially rose after the amount of the ECB borrowing was announced; it was far higher than the euro300 billion ($392 billion) expected. But the optimism faded as investors weighed the broader problems facing Europe’s economy and financial system. The broad Stoxx 50 index of European shares fell 0.5 percent. Indexes in Germany and Italy closed about 1 percent lower. The euro fell nearly 2 cents, to $1.3023 from $1.3198 earlier Wednesday. U.S. stocks traded lower as well.
“The good news is, the ECB’s efforts to increase liquidity are working,” said Jennifer Lee, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. “The bad news is, high demand for the loans creates worries that banks are urgently in need of funds to boost liquidity.”
There was some speculation that the loans could indirectly help governments. In theory, banks could borrow from the ECB at an interest rate of 1 percent and then use that money to lend at much higher rates to European governments.
But many analysts think it was unlikely that banks would increase their exposure to government bonds, given ongoing fears of a possible default among troubled eurozone nations. Many banks have struggled to cut their holdings of debt from governments in financial trouble.
“We still believe it is difficult to reconcile a government desire for banks to continue buying debt with the need for banks to reduce risk exposure associated with government debt,” said Chris Walker, an analyst at UBS.
Many economists think that the eurozone is heading toward at least a mild recession. Data released Wednesday showed that Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, contracted 0.2 percent in the third quarter.
The deeper the economic slowdown is in the eurozone, the more tax revenues may suffer — and the harder it will be for Europe’s indebted governments to handle their debt loads.
Italy and Spain have been at the center of investor concerns in recent months as their borrowing costs have risen amid concerns over their debts. Both are considered too big to bail out with the current eurozone bailout funds, which have some euro500 billion ($654 billion) in financing.
A default on debt payments by either could ignite a new financial crisis and send the global economy into a slump.
Some of that European rescue money is already committed to bailouts of smaller Greece, Ireland and Portugal, which needed outside financial help after default fears drove their borrowing costs to unsustainable levels.
Italy alone has some euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) in outstanding debt.
In making the loans, the ECB was playing its role of supplier of liquidity to banks, a typical job for central banks.
ECB president Mario Draghi has stressed the central bank’s role in supporting the banking system but has balked at suggestions it should be offering the same level of support for indebted governments themselves by buying up their risky bonds. Draghi says governments must be the ones to reduce their spending and deficits.
The 37-month term of the loans permits the banks to stock up on money for a much longer period and reduces stress on their finances. Draghi has said the extra-long credit period will allow banks to lend for longer periods and not cut credit to businesses.
Alongside efforts to shore up banks, the ECB has also been cutting interest rates to support the ailing eurozone economy. It has reduced its main refinancing rate from 1.5 percent to 1.0 percent over the last two months in the hope that lower borrowing costs will stimulate growth by making credit cheaper.
Under the terms of Wednesday’s loans, the banks will pay the average refinancing rate over the three years. The ECB reviews the rate each month and it will almost certainly change. Banks also have the flexibility of repaying the money after a year if their situation improves. Wednesday’s offering was the first of two that the ECB has planned.
European officials have said banks need to raise euro115 billion ($150 billion) in new capital in 2012. But finding that money is not an easy task in the current environment of fear. Investors are leery of putting more money into banks and it would be politically unpopular for debt-strapped governments to do it either.

For Germans, the question isn’t whether to save the euro. It’s when to save the euro. For the rest of us, the question is whether the Germans will wait until it’s already too late.

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Foretaste of Revelation

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”
— Revelation 17:12

Over the course of dozens of interviews conducted in Berlin over the last few days, I’ve spoken to members of Angela Merkel’s government, members of the opposition Social Democrats, industrialists, and bankers. No one has evinced even the slightest willingness to see the euro zone crack apart. But nor have they quite said they’re willing to save it. Rather, they remain serenely confident that they will save it. But they don’t have a surefire strategy. They have a bet. A big one.

That’s really the key to understanding the German psychology on the euro. In America, we keep asking why they don’t join with the European Central Bank to end the run on the European periphery. The answer is simple: they don’t want to end the run on the European periphery. To them, the run on Italy and Greece and Portugal and Spain is a feature, not a bug. It’s leverage, and they want to use it.

Look how much it has already gotten them. Greece, Portugal, Italy and Ireland are working their way through stringent deficit-reduction plans. The widely disliked governments of Greece and Italy, which proved unequal to the task of fiscal reform, have been toppled. There is a good chance that the euro zone might become what Germany has always wanted it to be: a fiscal union, in which the members meet their deficit targets and reform their labor markets. And none of this would have happened without the markets making their run at the European periphery.

So to understand the German position, look at it from their perspective: Why in the world would Germany let up the pressure now? When they’re so close to amending the very treaty underlying the euro zone? When France has joined with them on a set of reforms? When the market is doing what the Germans never could?

I worry this makes the Germans sound like puppetmasters. They’re not. Many of their intended reforms are very sensible. The flaws they point to in the euro zone are, indeed, deep, structural flaws in the euro zone. They do envision a future that includes sacrifice on their part: eurobonds that raise Germany’s cost of borrowing and a bailout fund — excuse me, a fiscal stabilization fund — that they contribute heavily to.

So my concern isn’t that the Germans are selfish and calculating. It’s that, without quite realizing it, they have become reckless. They are trying to time the market, betting that they can, in essence, manage the run — that they can do just enough to keep the pressure on without letting matters get totally out of hand. They are like a doctor who, faced with an unhealthy patient presenting signs of a heart attack, demands to see the patient lose weight before they will administer the life-saving treatment.

In almost all of their arguments, the Germans are right. The euro does need to be fixed. But first it needs to be saved. The Germans are betting that this is their opportunity to do both. If they’re right, it will have been a remarkable play. If they’re wrong, it will have been a disastrous one.

The domestic ban didn’t end horse slaughter but instead shifted the site of butchery to Mexico and Canada – which meant increased abuse or neglect as the horses were shipped out of the country and beyond the reach of U.S. law.

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Iniquity Abounding

“And because iniquity•Strongs 458:anomia, an-om-ee´-ah; from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (genitive case) wickedness: — iniquity, x transgress(-ion of) the law, unrighteousness. shall abound, the love•Strongs 26:agape, ag-ah´-pay; from 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast: — (feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love. of many shall wax•Strongs 5594: psucho, psoo´-kho; a primary verb; to breathe (voluntarily but gently, thus differing on the one hand from 4154, which denotes properly a forcible respiration; and on the other from the base of 109, which refers properly to an inanimate breeze), i.e. (by implication, of reduction of temperature by evaporation) to chill (figuratively): — wax cold. cold.”
—Matthew 24:12

“A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
—Proverbs 12:10

President Obama last month quietly signed into law a spending bill that restores the American horse-slaughter industry, just a few months after a government investigation said the ban on slaughtering was backfiring.

The domestic ban didn’t end horse slaughter but instead shifted the site of butchery to Mexico and Canada – which meant increased abuse or neglect as the horses were shipped out of the country and beyond the reach of U.S. law.

The ban had been imposed in 2006 when Congress defunded the government’s ability to inspect plants that butchered horses for consumption. Without inspections, the meat couldn’t be sold, and the industry withered.

But the Agriculture spending bill Mr. Obama signed the week before Thanksgiving dropped the prohibition on inspections, and the administration said it now stands ready to conduct them should anyone open a horse-slaughter plant.

“While we have a long way to go, responsible processing represents a vital first step in reversing the unintended consequences to blame for the dismal state of neglected horses and their frustrated caregivers across our country,” said Rep. Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican who fought for the change. “Reinstating a humane, accountable and legal management tool is good for horses, good for owners and is good policy.”

All sides agreed that the backdoor ban was a failure.

A June report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress‘ chief investigative branch, said the ban depressed prices for horses in the U.S. and led to a surge in reports of neglect or abuse as owners of older horses had no way of disposing of them, short of selling them to “foreign slaughtering facilities where U.S. humane slaughtering protections do not apply.”

In unusually blunt language, GAO suggested that Congress and Mr. Obama revisit the ban.

The options facing Congress were to further ban the export of horses for slaughter or lift the domestic slaughter ban. Congress chose the latter.

The move got a tepid stamp of approval from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which said it had always been worried about the way Congress went about its initial ban. PETA said it predicted that horses would be shipped to foreign slaughterhouses.

“A law doesn’t change what’s in people’s hearts, and if business people view horses as commodities, ignoring their sensitive natures in favor of the few dollars that their flesh might bring, the horses were sunk from the start,” said David Perle, a spokesman for the group. “To reduce suffering, there should be a ban on the export of live horses, even if that means opening slaughterhouses in the U.S. again. But the better option is to ban slaughter in the U.S. and ban the export of live horses so that no one is slaughtering America’s horses.”

Horse meat is regularly used for consumption by circuses and zoos, and it is now sent to countries in the Eastern Hemisphere where it is an accepted food. But slaughter has been a prickly issue in the U.S.

A bill to ban horse slaughter and export of horses for slaughter has been introduced in the House and Senate, and the Humane Society of the United States said it would redouble its efforts to try to enact that legislation.

In the meantime, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said there are no horse slaughterhouses operating in the U.S. that produce meat for human consumption, but the agency would be ready for inspections if a facility opens.

Another factor is that many states have laws banning horse slaughter.

Michael Markarian, who oversees the Humane Society Legislative Fund, which lobbies for animal protections, said any state that allows a horse-slaughter plant to open will face pressure.

“People will not be happy about their community potentially bringing in one of these plants,” he said. “Americans don’t eat horses, and don’t want them butchered and shrink-wrapped and sent to France or Japan as a delicacy.”

In 2010, about 138,000 horses were exported for slaughter, and another 30,000 horses were shipped for other purposes, though some of those likely were sent to feedlots to be fattened for slaughter.

Congress never banned horse slaughter outright, but gave inspection powers to the Agriculture Department in 1996. In 2006, it voted to halt federal inspections, which essentially ended the industry.

This year, the House version of the Agriculture spending bill maintained the slaughter-ban language, but the Senate did not. When the two chambers reconciled their bills, the language was not in the final version.

Mr. Obama signed the spending bill by autopen on Nov. 18. He was traveling in Asia at the time the bill was presented to him, so he used the automated signature machine for the second time in his presidency.

European Union chiefs are drawing up plans for a single “Treasury” to oversee tax and spending across the 17 eurozone nations.

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New World Order

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful•Strongs 1763: dchal, deh-khal´; (Aramaic) corresponding to 2119; to slink, i.e. (by implication) to fear, or (causatively) be formidable:—make afraid, dreadful, fear, terrible. and terrible•Strongs 574: emtaniy, em-taw-nee´; (Aramaic) from a root corresponding to that of 4975; well-loined (i.e. burly) or mighty:—terrible., and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
—Daniel 7:7

The proposal, put forward by Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, would be the clearest sign yet of a new “United States of Europe” — with Britain left on the sidelines.
The plan comes as European governments desperately trying to save the euro from collapse last night faced a new bombshell, with sources at the International Monetary Fund saying it would not pay for a second Greek bail-out.
It was also disclosed last night that British businesses are turning their back on Brussels regulations to give temporary workers full employment rights, with supermarket chain Tesco leading the charge.
Meanwhile, David Cameron is attempting to face down a rebellion tomorrow by Tory MPs in a vote over staging a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
Ministers expect 60 or 70 MPs to defy the party’s high command and back the call for a referendum, while some rebels claim the final toll could be up to 100 — about a third of the parliamentary party.

Downing Street has upped the stakes dramatically. Last night, No 10 sources insisted they would impose a three-line whip — effectively ordering all Tory MPs to fall in line.
Mr Cameron, who yesterday took personal charge of the effort to persuade MPs to back the Government, has come under intense pressure from Cabinet colleagues to try to defuse the revolt by offering concessions or a way out to rebels. Sources say a handful of parliamentary private secretaries — the lowest rung on the government ladder — might resign.
The single Treasury plan emerged in Brussels yesterday as Europe’s finance ministers tried to find a way out of the crisis engulfing the eurozone. A full-scale rescue plan could cost about £1.75 trillion.
British sources said Mr Van Rompuy, who is regarded as being close to the German government, suggested plans for a “finance ministry” to be based either in Frankfurt or Paris. The EU already has its own “foreign ministry”, headed by Baroness Ashton, the former British Labour minister, and based in Brussels.
A senior Coalition source told The Sunday Telegraph: “I am well aware of arguments in Brussels and elsewhere in favour of a single Treasury. You’d get any number of different versions of ‘Europe’ all running at very different speeds.”
A series of meetings are due to be held over the next few days on the eurozone crisis that will involve the leaders of EU member states.
They were overshadowed last night as senior sources at the International Monetary Fund indicated privately that it is not willing to further bail out Greece, whose economy has an outstanding debt of about £232 billion.
The IMF, with the EU and the European Central Bank, is assessing Greece’s debt crisis, and a joint report yesterday suggested lenders might have to agree losses of up to 60 per cent in a Greek default.
Any suggestion that the IMF would not be part of a new bail-out of Greece could spark panic in the markets and worsen the eurozone crisis.
Eurosceptic Tories, meanwhile, are arguing in favour of “repatriating” powers from the EU to Britain, including the Agency Workers Directive, imposed last year at an annual cost of £1.8 billion, which is putting at risk 28,000 temporary job contracts for those aged between 16 and 24. Tesco has asked one of its suppliers to take advantage of a loophole in the law which allows workers to “opt out”.
As Mr Cameron led the drive this weekend to neuter the Tory rebellion, Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, indicated his party might not field candidates at the next election against MPs who vote for a referendum.
However, there is no danger of Mr Cameron losing the non-binding vote. He can count on the “payroll vote” of more than 100 ministers, most if not all Lib Dams and nearly the entire bloc of 258 Labour MPs.
On Saturday Tory rebels were among speakers at a “People’s Pledge” pro-referendum rally in Westminster. They included David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, who called the EU a “nascent superstate”.

The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a “global public authority” and a “central world bank” to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. The document from the Vatican’s Justice and Peace department should please the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.

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New World Order

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful•Strongs 1763: dchal, deh-khal´; (Aramaic) corresponding to 2119; to slink, i.e. (by implication) to fear, or (causatively) be formidable:—make afraid, dreadful, fear, terrible. and terrible•Strongs 574: emtaniy, em-taw-nee´; (Aramaic) from a root corresponding to that of 4975; well-loined (i.e. burly) or mighty:—terrible., and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
—Daniel 7:7

New World Order – The False Prophet

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
—Revelation 13:11-17

“Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority,” was at times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on financial transactions. “The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence,” it said.

It condemned what it called “the idolatry of the market” as well as a “neo-liberal thinking” that it said looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems. “In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale,” it said, adding that world economics needed an “ethic of solidarity” among rich and poor nations.

“If no solutions are found to the various forms of injustice, the negative effects that will follow on the social, political and economic level will be destined to create a climate of growing hostility and even violence, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic institutions, even the ones considered most solid,” it said.

It called for the establishment of “a supranational authority” with worldwide scope and “universal jurisdiction” to guide economic policies and decisions.

Asked at a news conference if the document could become a manifesto for the movement of the “indignant ones”, who have criticised global economic policies, Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican’s Justice and Peace department, said: “The people on Wall Street need to sit down and go through a process of discernment and see whether their role managing the finances of the world is actually serving the interests of humanity and the common good. “We are calling for all these bodies and organisations to sit down and do a little bit of re-thinking.”

Next month’s G20 summit must go beyond the usual rhetoric. Confidence in the eurozone’s banking system has to be restored through recapitalisation of its banks.

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

New World Order

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful•Strongs 1763: dchal, deh-khal´; (Aramaic) corresponding to 2119; to slink, i.e. (by implication) to fear, or (causatively) be formidable:—make afraid, dreadful, fear, terrible. and terrible•Strongs 574: emtaniy, em-taw-nee´; (Aramaic) from a root corresponding to that of 4975; well-loined (i.e. burly) or mighty:—terrible., and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
—Daniel 7:7

Sir Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, this week called the current financial crisis “the most serious… since the 1930s, if ever”, in justification for a further £75 billion of “quantitative easing”. Since Sir Mervyn cited the chaos of the inter-war years, it seems appropriate to quote Winston Churchill: “Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusions of counsel, until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features that constitute the endless repetition of history.”
We are at just such a moment again. Little more than two years ago, global leaders were happily congratulating themselves on having avoided the mistakes of the 1930s, thereby averting a depression. But now it appears that the difficulties of 2008 were but a foretaste of what was to come. With the European banking system again on the verge of collapse, there is a sense that politicians and economists are out of options, that governments and central banks are powerless before events. The best of the cavalry has been sent into battle, and it has come back in tatters. The fiscal armoury has been exhausted, the support offered by the boom in emerging markets such as China and India over the past two years seems to be on its last legs, and there is but the small rifle fire of the central bank printing presses left to defend us.
If it has been obvious for some time that we are caught up in an extreme financial crisis, the extent of its severity has acquired greater clarity in being described by the Governor of the Bank of England. Never before has the global financial system been so interlinked and integrated, which means that problems in one part of the world are capable of causing severe stress almost everywhere else. We once more face a perfect storm of cascading default, contracting credit and collapsing economic activity.
Yet, despite the parallels, the current situation need not end in the same catastrophe of economic, political and social meltdown as occurred in the 1930s. For most advanced economies, these outcomes are still avoidable. But escaping them is going to require leadership, nerve and collective resolve – things that have so far been in short supply.
The problem is not in Britain – which, despite the appalling legacy of debt left by the last government, is doing most of the right things – but in mainland Europe, where lack of foresight, unwillingness to act, confusion of counsel and lack of clear thinking are indeed everywhere to behold. We can but hope that self-preservation will eventually force governments into corrective action, but they are leaving it perilously late.
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It is, first, essential that confidence in the eurozone’s banking system be restored through recapitalisation of its banks, where necessary with public money. This would help bring a halt to the destructive downward cycle in credit.
Politically unpalatable though it would be, Britain may have to stand ready to participate in the process by similarly supporting its own banks. To once more dip into our pockets to bail out the bankers, at a time of deep public spending cuts and swingeing tax increases, will to most people be anathema. And for UK banks, it may not be strictly necessary – the Chancellor, George Osborne, insisted yesterday that they were well capitalised and liquid.
Yet, like it or not, we remain joined at the hip to Europe. This is especially the case through the banking system, which is highly exposed to the eurozone’s inner tortures. If a plan of mass recapitalisation is to work, it has to include everyone, good as well as bad. For countries and bankers to start squabbling among themselves about who needs to be bailed out and who doesn’t merely risks accentuating the paralysis.
There are, in any case, ways of sugaring the pill. A precedent already exists with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which pays £320 million a year for a promise by the Government that it will provide £8 billion of new capital if it is ever needed. This is a kind of insurance policy which could be used as a model for a wider recapitalisation of European banks – a way of underpinning confidence in the system without actually having to put up the money to do so.
But in the end, none of these measures can be any more than sticking-plaster solutions. Until the imbalances between creditor and debtor nations in the eurozone and the wider world economy are addressed, it is only a matter of time – and possibly not much time at all – before the crisis returns anew. It is therefore to be hoped that the G20 summit in Cannes next month can come up with some form of global contract that goes beyond the meaningless commitments and rhetoric of the past to provide convincing mechanisms for addressing such imbalances and strains once and for all.
At risk is a system of global trade and interaction unparalleled in human history – one that has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and delivered unprecedented prosperity to hundreds of millions more. Will this really be thrown away for want of resolve?

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama sharply rebuked his Republican rivals Saturday, saying anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members.

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Days of Lot

Please read Leviticus 18:22-30“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.” —Leviticus 18:22-30 to see the results of this lifestyle on a progressively decaying society, as it turns from it’s creator.

A combative Obama criticized Republican presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape.

“You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient,” Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Council, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

Referencing the boos at the Sept. 22 Republican debate, he said: “We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens.”

Obama touted his administration’s efforts to repeal the military’s ban on openly gay service members, as well as his orders to the Justice Department to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

But, as expected, Obama stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying only that “every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”

Obama has said his views on gay marriage are “evolving”, but for now he only supports civil union.

Obama’s position on gay marriage has become a sore point for some gay activists who say they’re otherwise pleased with the president’s handling of issues important to them. Some of the president’s backers say he could be wasting a chance to energize key segments of his base, including young people, if he doesn’t publicly advocate for gay marriage.

“If he doesn’t, he could be missing an opportunity to mobilize voters who need to be inspired to vote for him,” said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant.

The president’s position on gay marriage puts him at odds with some of his supporters. Numerous recent polls suggest a slight majority of Americans favor giving same-sex couples the right to marry, and support is highest among Democrats and young people.

Obama has acknowledged that public support for gay marriage is building. During a meeting with liberal bloggers last October, he said “it’s pretty clear where the trend lines are going.”

Obama aides have given no indication of where the president’s evolution on gay marriage stands. And some gay rights advocates believe political considerations could keep Obama from publicly backing gay marriage until after the November 2012 election.

Joe Sudbay, among a group of bloggers who met with Obama last year, said most gay rights advocates won’t vote against Obama if he stops short of backing gay marriage. But he said they may be less likely to volunteer their time and money to the campaign.

“He might not lose votes, but he won’t gain enthusiasm,” said Sudbay, deputy editor of AmericaBlog.com.

While gay rights advocates may not be getting everything they want from the president, they see little support for their cause among the field of Republican primary contenders.

Most top Republican presidential candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, favor limiting marriage to unions between one man and one woman.

Fred Sainz, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president for communications, said he expects Obama to eventually declare his support for gay marriage. And even if that doesn’t happen before next year’s election, he said the president’s other actions on gay rights issued should not be ignored.

“He really has been an incredible champion for the issues that are important to us,” Sainz said. “It’s fair to say we’ve made more progress in the past two years than we have in the past 40 years combined.”

In his remarks Saturday night, Obama implored the supportive crowd of 3,200 to stand with him in his re-election campaign, declaring: “This is a contest of values.”