"Kiss Your Privacy Good-bye--Update"

Remember back in the day when airport TSA x-ray scanners capable of seeing through your clothes seemed unbelievable?

Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Apparently, street lights are going high-tech and they're not just for lighting anymore.

These new-and-improved street lights are now capable of:

• video surveillance
• emergency alerts
• tracking "RFID-equipped staff"
• data harvesting (huh?)

According to researcher Paul Joseph Watson, 

"The company behind the 'smart' street lighting system which is being rolled out in major cities like Las Vegas admits that the technology has the capability of analyzing voices and tracking people, features that will aid the Department of Homeland Security in protecting its citizens."

(In Europe, where a similar system has been in place for a few years, they actually debated whether or not to x-ray to detect what people were concealing under their clothes!)

Illuminating Concepts, the inventor of Intellistreets, is working with the government to install the street lighting systems in parts of Chicago, Detroit, Auburn Hills, Asbury Park, New Orleans, and Las Vegas. (Though Vegas denies they are going to use the surveillance functions, you gotta wonder--why have 'em?)

"The ability to record street conversations is merely one special feature of the Intellistreets lighting system, which is linked to a central data hub via an ubiquitous wi-fi connection," says Watson.

What happens if they record something incriminating, you ask?

Can these recorded 'street conversations' be used in a court of law?

Legally, if there's no expectation of privacy, they can.

(sigh)

Remember back in the day when the expectation of privacy seemed believable?

Las Vegas and the Intellistreets system

"Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In His presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared Him and loved to think about Him.

""They will be My people," says the Lord Almighty. "On that day when I act, they will be My own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient and dutiful child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."" (Malachi 3:16-18)

A wise man once said: "This verse explains that every time you talk about the LORD with another, God is paying close attention. In fact, the phrase Malachi uses here means 'to bend down so as not to miss a word'." -- Pastor Greg Laurie

News:

• Washington Free Beacon: Iran announces development of ballistic missile technology just days after signing deal aimed at curbing nuclear activities
• Daily Caller: EPA preparing to unleash a deluge of new regulations in the coming New Year.
• CBN: A book of Psalms, published in 1640, sells for $14.2 million in NY auction. Believed to be first book published in what is now the U.S.

"New Euthanasia Law for Kids?"

What do Luxemborg, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Holland have in common?

Euthanasia.

But Belgium wants to crank it up a notch--and extend the law to children.

"The principle of euthanasia for children sounds shocking at first, but it's motivated by compassion and protection," said John Harris, a professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester. "It's unfair to provide euthanasia differentially to some citizens and not to others (children) if the need is equal."

Advocates argue that euthanasia for children, with the consent of their parents, is necessary to give families an option in a desparately painful situation.

Belgium legalized the practice for adults (or emancipated minors beginning at age 15) in 2002. The ruling Socialist party has (after 2 years of debate) proposed a bill that would expand the right to children of any age, as long as their parents agree.

The Christian perspective believes in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception until natural death. That disqualifies:

• abortion
• assisted suicide
• euthanasia

The arguement that 'everyone has a right to do what they want with their own body" doesn't hold water.

When human life is trivialized, there are dire consequences for everybody. It inevitably escalates.

For instance:

Arguements for abortion in the case of 'rape, incest, or the mother's health' morphed into 'a woman's right to choose", followed by late-term abortion, partial-birth abortion, and finally, infanticide moments after birth.

It takes little imagination to see assisted suicide and eunthanasia taking the same slippery slope to include the:

• elderly
• disabled
• mentally challenged

"Modern medicine," says the National Hospice Organization, "offers sophisticated methods of pain control that enable patients to carry on an alert, pain-free life." They reject the practice of voluntary euthanasia.

As Christians we believe God has a reason for everything under the sun. Even suffering. (Ever hear of a death-bed conversion?)

To take life out of the hands of God and change laws so that doctors, relatives and others can directly and intentionally end another person's life is wrong.

To allow a child to decide? Insanity.

A wise man once said: "One of our major problems as Americans today is that we want only the joy, not the sorrow. Many of us mistakenly believe that life is life only when it is healthy and comfortable. But God knows better. To make us whole, He makes sure that we experience every season--not only the springtime of youth, but also the austerity of winter. As C.S. Lewis remarked,'this fullness of experience is so necessary to our souls that perpetual springtime is not allowed.'" --Chuck Colson

"You shall not murder." --Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17

News:

• DEBKAfile: Unusual Israeli Air Force activity reported over Lebanon on Thursday.
• Jerusalem Post: Saudi Arabia urges its citizens ot leave Lebanon due to the risk of political violence.
• Fox News Channel: Iran slams Israel as high-stakes nuke talks resume

Today's Prepper: A Tinfoil Hat-wearing Nut Job?"

Google the word 'prepping' and you'll get 7,420,000 results.

No kidding--'prepping', once the purview of doomsday cults, has gone mainstream. Well, almost.

"When some people think of prepping, it conjures images of strange people wearing tinfoil hats huddled in a shelter while they wait for the mothership to return," says the PreppingToSurvive.com website. "For others, thoughts of a recluse living in a one-room shack in the middle of rural Montana come to mind."

So what's the real nature of preppers?

According to David Z. Morris of CNNMoney, "Many preppers are average consumers reacting to concrete worries, and their way of thinking is spreading, fueling an emerging lifestyle trend."

"More and more Americans are spending money to get ready for an uncertain future," Morris said.

Today's prepper, far from being a wild-eyed fanatic, sees prepping as an insurance plan. According to PreppingToSurvive they:

• buy extra food when it's on sale
• store extra water
• buy supplies in bulk and store some of it
• grow their own garden
• keep extra cash on hand
• get out of debt
• payoff their mortgage, if possible
• learn emergency first aid
• get to know their neighbors
• get to know their Bibles
• pray

In other words, today's prepper is: 

"A prudent person (who) foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions" (Proverbs 23:3 and 27:12. It's there twice to make sure we get it!).

It doesn't have to be the end of the world. We are only one super-sized disaster away from the end of our world. (Think Katrina, Fukishima, Super-storm Sandy, last week's super-typhoon, Richter scale 8-plus mega-quakes in various places, the loss of the US dollar as the reserve currency, hyper-inflation, or even a personal job loss or illness). Let's not be part of the crowd waiting around for somebody else to come to our rescue.

A prudent person takes precautions.

To see why you should prepare,click here

A wise women  once said:

"Private opinion creates public opinion. Public opinion overflows eventually into national behavior and national behavior, as things are arranged at present, can make or mar the world. That is why private opinion, and private behavior, and private conversation are so terrifyingly important." -- Jan Struther, author

News:

• Fox News Channel: South Korea reports North Korea publicly executed 80 people last week for owning Bibles and watching banned videos.
• Reuters: Seattle police deactivate surveillance system attached to utility poles after public outrage.
• Washington Free Beacon: UN General Assembly adopts 22 resolutions condemning Israel; 4 on the rest of the world combined (thus far in 2013) 

"China: Our New Frienemy?"

Last week, The Washington Times ran an alarming story that got very little press coverage in the U.S.

The title?"Inside China: Nuclear submarines capable of widespread attack on U.S."

Apparently, it's being splashed all over China that "Bejiing's nuclear submarines can attack American cities." The Chinese report graphically details:

• target cities
• damage projections
• anticipated radiation spread

The report goes on to say:

"Because the Midwest states of the U.S. are sparsely populated, in order to increase the lethality, (our) nuclear attacks should mainly target the key cities on the West Coast of the United States, such as Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego."

Projected casualties? 5-12 million Americans.

So why aren't we hearing more about this?

Most believe it's just propaganda--meant only for Chinese consumption.

The Washington Times begs to differ. In a January article, "War hysteria blamed on U.S.", they said,

"The newly appointed supreme leader, President Xi Jinping, has completely revamped the command structure of the People's Liberation Army and given the world's largest military force a central mission: get ready for a war quickly."

The same article quotes the official Communist newspaper, The Global Tines, accusing the U.S. of "changing China from a peaceful competitor to a Soviet Union-like Cold War-era enemy."

Scary stuff.

The People's Republic of China has 2.25 million active duty troops. (The U.S. is next largest with1.45 million). Though the Bible never mentions China by name, Revelation 9:16 says an army of two hundred million will kill one-third of all humankind in the last days.

If China, with its population of over 1.3 billion, and tens of millions of young males with no hope of marriage (due to Chinese one-child mandate resulting in the aborting  of females), joins forces with Islamic nations and Russia...200 million may not seem so ridiculous.

Revelation 16:12 says the Euphrates River will be "dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared."

The Euphrates connects these two passages of scripture, leading most Bible scholars to assume the 200 million man army and the kings of the east refer to the same people.

China is an emerging economic superpower expected to eventually overtake the U.S. They also own roughly 7.5% of our debt.

Common wisdom says China wants the U.S. to prosper so that they can prosper along with us.

Chinese media says something else. Apparently, so does the Bible.

A wise man once said: "Wise men learn much from their enemies."  Aristophanes

"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." --    Revelation 22:12-13

News:

• New York Times: U.S. will ease sanctions if Iran halts nuclear program; Netanyahu warns this is an "historic mistake"
• BBC: Saudi nuclear weapons on order from Pakistan; the Kingdom will counter Iran's atomic program
• Times of Israel: Prime Minister Netanyahu heads to Moscow November 20 to meet with Putin. Russia's alliance with Iran and Syria likely to top the agenda
• Honolulu Star: China moves spy ship to Hawaiian waters in "Retaliation" against U.S. Naval presence in the East China Sea
• USA Today: Evangelist Billy Graham celebrates his 95th birthday today with a final sermon: "I've Wept For America". Guest list includes Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump