"Spy Drones Over America?"

They're he-r-r-r-e...and unless we wake up out of our stupor and do something about it--they're here to stay.

Back in February we wrote an article entitled "Kiss Your Privacy Goodbye!" about the FAA Reauthorization Act. The bill requires the FAA to open U.S. skies to unmanned drones--30,000 of them by the year 2020.

Civil liberties groups are going nuts and with good reason. This new legislation (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.658:) offers no restrictions! Says Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, "California is currently considering using surveillance drones as a means of proactively monitoring suspicious activity on the ground on the basis of (a) public safety issue." Public safety? Public surveillance, she means.

Think about it. This bill offers no clear restrictions. Do we want police and federal agencies breathing down our necks?

This month Predator drones started operations over North Dakota. These remote-controlled, unmanned military aircraft will use lasers to aim at ground targets from nearly two miles above the earth. They are capable of reading a milk carton from 60,000 feet off the ground and have strike-capability against stationary or moving targets, with a very low risk of collateral damage. Of course, they won't be using these drones against us. They're for the military or so they say.

And let's not forget the fact that drone technology is rapidly advancing. How long before they are literally "flies" on  our walls? Sound far-fetched? Perhaps. But remember police states don't happen overnight. They happen law by law; small incremental step by small incremental step.

We're not saying drone technology has no place in America. They have already proved invaluable in:

• border protection
• disaster relief
• fire fighting
• locating missing hikers, etc.

Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. What is lacking are rules, limitations, and restrictions.

The ACLU put it this way: "Rules must be put in place to ensure we can enjoy the benefits of this new technology without bringing us closer to a 'surveillance society' in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the authorities."

Freedom is synonymous with America. But, let's face it gang, we take it for granted. And that is so-o-o-o dangerous. If we don't guard what is committed to our trust, we are destined to lose it.

Something terrible is happening in this country. But like the frog in the slowly heated pot of water, we hardly notice. Let's connect the dots. Let's do our homework.

A wise man once said: "You have the God-given right to kick the government around--don't hesitate to do so."-- Senator Edmund S. Muskie 

"Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of them! The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you."  Deuteronomy 31:6

News

• FoxNews.com: Number of Americans on Food Stamps hits another all-time record high: 46.68 million.
• Drudge Report: Hundreds pelt riot police with fire bombs as violence breaks out at Greek anti-austerity demonstration.
• Centers For Disease Control: Death toll in meningitis outbreak rises to 20 with 254 sick across 16 states.

"RFID Chips In Public School?!"

This month a school district in San Antonio, Texas became the latest to require students to wear microchip embedded ID cards on lanyards around their necks. Go to their website www.nisd.net/studentlocator and you will find this:

Northside ISD is harnessing the power of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) to make schools safer, know where our students are while at school, increase revenues, and provide a general purpose "smart" ID card. Parents entrust us with their children and expect that we always know where their children are; this technology will help us do that.

Wow. Sounds great. But what they don't tell you is that the kid will be persecuted if they try to opt out.

No 'smart' card =  no access to:

• the library
• cafeteria
• extracurricular activities
• voting rights for homecoming (you need an RFID to vote for homecoming, but no ID to vote for president???)

The student Locator Project is a pilot program involving two schools in Northside Independent School District, Jay High School and Jones Middle School with a combined enrollment of 4,200 students. The pilot program will be evaluated after one year, with further implementation becoming mandatory if deemed successful.

Though still uncommon, these aren't the only school kids being tagged. California began doing it in 2010 in a federally-funded preschool in Richmond and within the decade it is widely expected to spread across the nation to a school near you.

No big deal?

They are acclimating our youth:

• to be tracked
• to give up their privacy
• to give up their freedoms/civil rights
• to accept an implant

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see where this might lead--in fact, it takes none at all. The Bible makes it clear.

A wise man once said: "All Americans have a huge stake in Christianity. Whether or not we are individually believers in Christ, we are beneficiaries of the moral doctrine that has curbed power and protected the weak...Power that is secularized and cut free of civilizing traditions is not limited by moral and religious scruples."--Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury

"But you, brethren, are not in the darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and Love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation."                   --1 Thessalonians 5:4-8

News:

• MSNBC: Spain's credit rating downgraded to Near Junk; triggers a spike in its borrowing costs.
• Reuters: CDC says 14,000 patients at risk of contracting meningitis in an unprecedented outbreak of the disease.
• DEBKAfile: Drone shot down over Israel last week came from Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

"Is Iran Imploding?" (Does U.S. have a hand in it?)

Hundreds of Iranian police in anti-riot gear clashed with protesters in Tehran's currency exchange district Wednesday.

Why? Their currency is collapsing.

The rial has hit record lows against the U.S. dollar, falling 40% in just one week. Panicked Iranians are scrambling to exchange their rials for dollars in hopes of salvaging at least some of their buying power.

Is this a sign that U.S. sanctions are beginning to work?

Back in January, the Washington Post reported a senior U.S. intelligence official told them that the "goal of Iran sanctions is regime collapse." The anonymous official also said the administration hopes that sanctions "create enough hate and discontent at the street level that Iranians will turn against their government." The White House denies the allegation, but wouldn't an internal overthrow of the mullahs and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad be a good thing?

All over the Middle East governments have been toppled as the Arab Spring swept through the region. Some, like Libya, have been aided by U.S. intervention. Why not Iran? We're not necessarily suggesting military intervention.

With a population of 78 million, if the Iranians themselves call en masse for regime change, the U.S. could help by:

• funding arms to opposition groups
• destabilizing the currency
• using media propaganda (websites, satellite TV, radio)

Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are not exactly the reasonable types. It's not likely they can be negotiated with or pressured into curbing their nuclear activities. Something needs to be done and regime change from the inside sounds a whole lot better than war.

"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9

A wise man once said: "In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." --Martin Luther King

News:

• CNBC: Fed announced it is ready to bail out EU if things spiral out of control.
• U.S. Tax Policy Center: Average American tax increase in 2013: $3,446 per household if fiscal cliff is not averted.
• CNN: Romney wins big in first presidential debate; stocks rise on the hope.
• Fox News Channel: Extreme drought conditions worsen in many Midwest farming states; meanwhile Northern states get early snow.
• FNC: White House instructs businesses to violate the law and refrain from sending out layoff notices until after the election, pledging to pick up possible legal fees at taxpayer expense.