Mark of the Beast?!?

I don't know how many people even read this blog. I have invited many people to it, including everyone I go to church with. I am involved a great deal in learning about everything that is going on around me. I feel that this is part of my calling in life. I have tapered down a bit on the conspiracy fact front as of late, but still have quite a deluge of information that comes my way.

I use this blog mostly as a means of providing information about preparedness and food storage. But I also like to use it from time to time as a means of communicating a little of the info I get in my life (at least some of what I feel is pertinent, and true) out to others who at least from my observations, haven't an inkling of what is really going on. Please don't think that is an insult, because it is far from it. Use it as motivation to "awaken to a sense of our awful situation" Ether 8:24.

In Revelations chapter 13 it states...

15 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.

16 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:

17 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.

Now I am fairly secure in my own interpretations of these scriptures through personal study and revelation form the Holy Spirit. But I post these things hoping that you will seek for the same. Perhaps it will begin to be obvious?

There is a company talked about a lot in my circles called Verichip. IF you refer to the website there is some interesting merging going on. Quoting from their site...

"On November 10, 2009, VeriChip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP) completed its
acquisition of Steel Vault Corporation (OTCBB: SVUL) and formed PositiveID
Corporation. In conjunction with the name change, PositiveID will begin trading
under the new ticker symbol "PSID" on the NASDAQ effective November 11, 2009.
For more information, please visit http://www.positiveidcorp.com/."

Additionally here is an article that talks about this merger...

VeriChip’s Merger With Credit Monitoring Firm Worries Privacy Activists
By Penn Bullock
December 9, 2009
3:46 pm
Categories: Identification, RFID
Remember VeriChip, the Florida company that once dreamed of injecting its human-implantable RFID microchips in everyone from immigrant guest workers to prison inmates?
We haven’t heard much from the company since a dipping stock price nearly got it delisted from the NASDAQ in March. But it’s still alive, and in November it pulled off a seemingly incongruous acquisition. Now called PositiveID, the new company is a merger between VeriChip and Steel Vault, the people behind NationalCreditReport.com.
With a human-implantable microchip maker now running a credit-scoring and identity-theft-protection website, privacy activists are worried again. “The attraction to investors is the potential for synergies,” says Mark Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “You have to anticipate over time there will be an attempt to integrate the services.”
“Sci-fi wise, you could have a chip read by a scanner that determines your credit-worthiness,” says Evan Hendricks, editor of Privacy Times. “Or you could have a credit card implant.”
VeriChip and its former owner Applied Digital have been drawing fire since 2004, when the FDA approved the rice-sized injectable RFID for human use. While the company primarily pushed the chip as part of a system to index medical records — a kind of subcutaneous MedAlert bracelet — Richard Sullivan, then-CEO of Applied Digital, had a penchant for wantonly confirming every nightmare of cybernetic social control.
After 9/11, it was Sullivan who announced the VeriChip would be perfect as a universal ID to distinguish safe people from the dangerous ones. He dreamed of GPS-equipped chips being injected into foreigners entering the United States, prisoners, children, the elderly. He thought the VeriChip would be used as a built-in credit or ATM card.
Indeed, in 2004, one of VeriChip’s earliest deployments was at a Barcelona nightclub, where VIP patrons could pay 125 euro to get the chip installed in their arms as a debit card for drinks.
But today, Sullivan’s replacement says the company has no plans to market the VeriChip as a path to instant credit, despite the recent acquisition.
With his white-buttondown shirt open at the chest, PositiveID CEO Scott Silverman spoke about the merger in an interview at the company’s office suite in Delray Beach, Florida. “Using the chip to relate to the credit-reporting services of NationalCreditReport.com, or even using it for financial transactions … has not been a part of our business model for five years or more, since Sullivan’s been gone, and is not part of our business model moving forward,” he says.
Silverman also backed away from some of the Orwellian ideas floated by his cyberpunk predecessor. “I can tell you that … putting [the chips] into children and immigrants for identification purposes, or putting them into people, especially unwillingly, for financial transactions, has [not] been and never will be the intent of this company as long I’m the chairman and CEO,” he says.
Yet in 2004, Silverman told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times that the VeriChip could be used as a credit card in coming years. And in 2006, he went on Fox & Friends to promote the chipping of immigrant guest workers to track them and monitor their tax records.
And ahead of the recent merger, VeriChip gave a presentation to investors hinting there would be some cross-pollination between the two sides of the business. It plans to “cross-sell its NationalCreditReport.com customer base” (.pdf) the Health Link service and vice-versa. So, Americans with implanted VeriChips will be encouraged to divulge their finances to PositiveID, while credit-monitoring customers will be marketed the health-record microchip.
Critics of chipping are moved by a variety of concerns, ranging from the pragmatic to the religious — anti-RFID crusader Katherine Albrecht believes the technology is the Mark of the Beast predicted in the Book of Revelation, but also doubts its efficacy as a medical tag: VeriChip’s instruction manual warns that the chip may not function in ambulances and areas where there are MRI and X-ray scanners.
Security is another issue. RFIDs can generally be scanned from distances much greater than the official specs suggest. Nicole Ozer at the ACLU of Northern California notes that after Wired magazine writer Annalee Newitz experimentally cloned her VeriChip in 2006, the company continued calling it secure.
But human chipping has high-profile fans as well, including former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, who left his job as overseer of the FDA in 2005 — a year after VeriChip’s approval — to join the company’s board of directors. Thompson announced he would personally join the 700 to 900 Americans who have the chip installed in their bodies. (He later reportedly reneged.)
Whatever its plans for the future, PositiveID is focused on its original mission for now: implants tied to medical records. On December 1, the new company announced it’s collaborating with Avocare, a Florida health care business, in the hopes of bringing its “health care identification products” to 1 million patients.

This article focuses somewhat on the privacy aspects of an RFID chip being implanted in a human being, but also on the possibilities of it being used to replace drivers licenses and credit cards. I lean more to what the scriptures say about it. With such things being tied into your credit and finances, the reality of NOT being able to buy and sell becomes a little more clear and feasible. I will let you draw your own conclusions though. Please comment your thoughts???

In any case, this is one more reason for preparedness and food storage. Satan's war on agency is all to real and all to prevalent today. All of these kinds of things are for that purpose, to take away your agency and enslave you to a darker power. The war in heaven continues today, and the Adversary seeks to implement his plan today. To take away our God given agency.

I was saddened recently that a good friend of mine chose to purchase a very expensive television instead of exercising a little foresight and perhaps getting some more food storage for what many of us know is only the inevitable, and the prophesied.

I plead with you all with all the energy of my soul that you consider your current state. Pray for the inspiration of what may need to be sacrificed, learned, sold, repented of, etc. so that you may be better able to handle the tests that shortly must come to pass. The time for preparedness is now. Please don't be too late.

Feeding Your Family Well During Hard -- and Harder -- Times!

I found this article recently and thought it applies very well to current situations, and to the purpose for this blog. Enjoy!

Original article found Here.


Feeding Your Family Well During Hard -- and Harder -- Times, by Lin H.

We can all agree that at the very least hard times are here, for way too many of ourselves, our friends, our family members, our acquaintances. And most of us here agree that harder times are a’coming. And I’ll add another basic human agreement: we all need to nourish our bodies with food, preferably good-tasting and health-sustaining food. I’d like to address and share my thoughts on this basic human requirement. I am not an expert in food nutrition or preparation. I have no college degrees in these areas: my credentials are only a little common sense and 30 years of feeding my family, as well as possible, on the smallest dime possible.

So first I’ll address hard times: feeding your family on as little as possible during normal hard times. I have a few “rules” for thrifty cooking: (1) basics are better; (2) beans, rice and pasta; (3) meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish; (4) if it’s on sale, buy a bunch; and (5) use your imagination.

Basics are better. I’m talking basic cooking ingredients like flour, sugar, salt, oatmeal, baking powder/soda, spices/herbs, oil/shortening, bouillon/broth, dried milk, eggs, vinegars and soy sauce, basic vegetables etc. Learning to cook from scratch using basic ingredients will save you big bucks, is healthier, and can bring you immense satisfaction. Learn to bake bread (I recently discovered the wonderful new “no knead” bread recipes: as easy as it gets, and makes delicious bread). Practice making scratch biscuits, cornbread and pie crusts. Play with serving flavored oatmeal for the kids’ breakfasts, instead of the expensive store-bought cereals. Try creating different soups and stews using the various spice and herb possibilities. Experiment with making a “kitchen sink” casserole or stir-fry, using different combinations of ingredients and flavorings.

Beans, rice and pasta. These should become your kitchen “go to” staples. They can be purchased affordably in bulk and can stretch any meal far beyond the usual menu ideas. Countless sauces and toppings can be created and stretched by being served over rice or pasta; all three items can bulk up soups or be the basis of warming and nourishing casseroles. I understand that if your constitution isn’t adapted to bean-eating (and carbohydrates in general) you may have intestinal distress - so start now on adding some bean dishes to your family’s diet. They’re cheap, tasty and healthy. Learn to cook a perfect pot of rice. It’s not hard, it just takes a little practice.

Meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish. Meats tend to be the most expensive part of any meal, so get away from the “meat-n-potato” mindset when planning menus. Less meat, mixed and stretched with sauces, vegetables, broths, and the aforementioned beans, rice and pasta, etc. gives you a similar satisfaction, and good taste, for a lot less money. It’s healthier too. An example: I’m going to fix Sunday brunch for my family of five. I have a pound of bacon, which if I fried and had a basic meal of bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast, juice - we’d eat most, if not all, of that bacon. So instead I only fry up 3-4 slices, and stir it in with beaten eggs, potatoes, veggies, flavorings etc. and bake it for a breakfast casserole. I now still have 2/3 of the bacon, so for supper tonight I might use another 3-4 slices to flavor a pot of beans. With appropriate side dishes, it‘s another whole meal. And the last third I can use for another supper - a skillet of bacon/veggie fried rice. We’ve eaten 3 wholesome and satisfying meals vs. 1 meal using the same pound of bacon. This is just one example, but you can see how a little thinking about your meat usage can really stretch a food budget.

If it’s on sale, buy a bunch. This is self-evident. If your grocery budget is very tight, start small on stocking up on sales, but start. Buy fruit and vegetables that are in season and therefore lower in price. Pay attention to grocery prices so that you’ll know what a good price is. In my area of the country, the price of a pound of cheddar cheese (which we use a fair amount of) can fluctuate from $2.69 all the way to $3.89. I know, from price-watching, that $2.99/lb. and below is a good price. So I always buy at least two at those times (four if the budget allows). Cheddar freezes excellently, I always have it on hand, and never have to overpay for it.
Use your imagination. I’d like to suggest a paradigm shift here: when planning your main meal of the day (let’s call it supper), don’t ask yourself in the morning “What sounds good for supper tonight?” Rather, you should ask “What do we have around that needs used up for supper?” Are there any leftovers in the fridge that could be adapted to a casserole? Any veggies that are starting to look bad, but could still be thrown into a pot of soup? Something you could “sauce up” and eat over rice or pasta? The possibilities are endless, and the creativity of trying to come up with a tasty meal using a little bit of nothing can even be fun!


And now we address harder times, or serious hard times, which is much more difficult because it’s theoretical. But we are all here on this most excellent Survivalblog.com because we at least see the possibility of food shortages, hyperinflation, loss of basic utility services, theta. So we’re stockpiling. Later, we may have to make do with the foodstuffs we’ve stockpiled or can otherwise forage. We may need to dramatically stretch small amounts of food. And we’ll want to be able to feed our families as healthily and tastefully as possible with what we’ve been able to put by. If we’ve already practiced the tips I’ve stated above regarding thrifty frugal cooking, then those ideas will also stand us in good stead in the event of serious hard times.

(For the purposes of staying on-topic, I have to assume that those reading this will have already addressed the basics of water procurement/storage/purification, and having at least three sources of a cooking method, in the event of serious hard times.) So back to:

Basics are better. I have stockpiled my own personal list of dehydrated veggies, herbs/spices, canned meats, and kitchen staples. Your choices would probably be different than mine. But the point is that stockpiling basic kitchen ingredients, rather than only prefab meals, means my choices in feeding my family varied and tasty meals dramatically increases. Using my stores of basics I can bake bread, or use a bit of oil to make flatbread. I can prepare either cornbread or johnny cakes. I can make a breakfast of oatmeal, or even a treat of pancakes, because I’ve learned to make my own pancake batter and maple-flavored syrup. I can make noodles to stretch a pot of broth. Rather than deciding which can of soup to open, I can cook any of a number of types of flavorful soups, stir-fries, or casseroles, using different ingredients and spices. My personal “A-list” of stored veggies is dehydrated celery, carrots and onions. I can mix these same three ingredients into a beef stew with potatoes; or I can use them with a bit of canned bacon or ham and make fried rice; or I can layer them with a flavored white sauce, a bit of canned ham or tuna, some peas and some pasta for a hearty casserole; or I can cook them in a chicken broth with some beans, corn, rice, tomatoes, garlic and cumin for a tasty Southwestern soup. Same basic ingredients, infinite possibilities.

Beans, rice and pasta. Because I’ve stored quantities of these foodstuffs, my ability to stretch my stockpiles has also increased. I could open up a can of chili and feed 2 people, and rather minimally at that. Or I could heat that can of chili along with a cup or can of cooked beans, a cup or can of tomatoes, some garlic, oregano and cumin, serve a dollop of it on top of bowls of rice, and feed 4-5 people with plenty of flavor and satisfaction.

Meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish. I can guess that meat would be in much shorter supply in harder times, and I am afraid to depend on electrical power to maintain stores of meat products in this event; therefore I’ve concentrated my budget on canned meat stores. This is expensive stockpiling. (Many people pressure-can their own meats; this is something you may want to look into.) So of course I would be rationing those precious meat stores to the greatest extent possible. Because I already cook our meals using smaller amounts of meats, I am in practice of imagining meals using meat more for flavoring than as a main dish.
If it’s on sale, buy a bunch. Saving money on my grocery budget today helps enable me to prep foodstuffs for a possible harder-times tomorrow.

Use your imagination. This will be more important than ever in the event of serious hard times. I will have to substitute and make do with my stores. For instance, I have been researching sourdough bread-making, in the event that commercially-produced yeast isn’t available. I have been practicing bread-biscuit-and-pizza-making both in the charcoal grill and over (and under) the fire pit. I have been researching the foraging possibilities in my area - trying to learn what grows wild that I may be able to use to improve the nutrition of our meals. (Or even simply to keep us alive.) I’m thinking about the possibilities of “you bring me some of your venison and I’ll cook and stretch it three different delicious ways, using my stores, and we’ll share”.

Entire books have been written on just small areas of what I’ve touched on here. Because the subject matter is so vast, I’ve only hit the high points, hoping to give a learner somewhere to start, some things to think about. Every cooking skill we learn today, when grocery stores are full of affordable and available foodstuffs, could come in very handy later if shortages occur. Knowing how to create an edible and good-tasting meal from available little-bits-o’-nothing could become an important skill-set to have and share with others. Indeed, having this knowledge could someday be essential toward keeping ourselves and our loved ones alive and healthy.

The Collapse of the Dollar!!!

This is a fantastic article I found today by a good man named Ron Paul, that I believe is very important to understand about what is coming. Hyperinflation is very real and one of the main reasons in my book for things like prepardness and food storage. Enjoy!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/10/30/ron.paul.fed/index.html

Editor's note: Ron Paul is an 11-term Republican U.S. representative from Texas who made a bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. His book, "End the Fed," was recently published by Grand Central Publishing.

Washington, D.C. (CNN) -- A growing number of Americans are becoming aware of the Federal Reserve System, what it is, how it has precipitated our financial crisis, and how it continues to pursue policies that delay economic recovery and weaken the dollar.

The Fed's actions, combined with the federal government's bailout bills and stimulus packages, have struck a nerve in the American people.

Recent polls have shown that more than 75 percent of Americans support efforts to audit the Fed, something which my bill, HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, aims to do. HR 1207 has the support of 304 members of Congress, and the Senate version of the bill, S. 604, is supported by 31 U.S. senators.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has embarked on an ambitious program of monetary expansion, more than doubling the monetary base to almost $1.9 trillion and doubling the size of its balance sheet to over $2 trillion, placing the American economy in a precarious position.

If all this excess money begins to be loaned out, the Fed risks creating a hyperinflationary crisis similar to 1920s Germany. If the Fed contracts this money, it risks harming the banks it desperately wants to see bailed out.

It is imperative that the American people know what the Fed is up to, how much money it loans to banks and what types of agreements it enters into with foreign banks and governments. Just about all of this information is exempt from audit or oversight. The Fed's actions directly affect the value of the dollar, which is coming under increasing pressure from our foreign creditors. If we do not wish to see a complete collapse of the dollar, the Fed needs to be subject to a strict audit of its actions, if not an outright abolition of its charter.

While I would like nothing more than to see the Federal Reserve abolished, it is not absolutely necessary to do so with direct legislation.

The Fed's influence comes about because of its monopolization of the creation of money. If we could abolish the government monopoly on the creation of money, the Federal Reserve would be forced to clean up its act or go out of business. Economists know that monopolies lead to reduced output and higher prices, a suboptimal allocation of resources. This applies as well to the market for circulating currency as it does to markets for any other good.

In the previous Congress I introduced legislation that would eliminate the three major barriers to competition in currency and break the Fed's stranglehold on money.

The first barrier: Legal tender laws, which Congress does not have the Constitutional authority to enact. Historically, legal tender laws have been used by governments to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency.

Gresham's Law describes this phenomenon, which can be summed up in one phrase: Bad money drives out good money. In the absence of legal tender laws, Gresham's Law no longer holds. If people are free to reject debased currency, and instead demand sound money, sound money will gradually return to use in society.

The second barrier: laws that prohibit the operation of private mints. Certain sections of U.S. code classified as anti-counterfeiting statutes were in fact intended to shut down private mints that had been operating in California. There is no reason to ban private companies from minting gold and silver coins to compete with the dollar.

All currencies are based on trust, trust that the issuing authority will not debase the currency. If it becomes known that the issuer of a particular currency is minting underweight coins, people will stop accepting that currency and that company will go out of business. If someone else attempts to counterfeit that currency and pass those coins, there are sufficient counterfeiting laws on the books to prosecute those counterfeiters.

Merchants and individuals are free to choose which currencies they accept, and in the absence of legal tender laws I believe that alternative currencies will gain more traction.

Stores today can accept whatever currency they like. In Washington, DC a few years ago, some stores began accepting euros from international tourists. Harrod's in London accepts pounds, euros, and dollars. There is no legal requirement in the United States for a store to accept dollars for non-debt transactions.

If you walk into a 7-11 to buy a soda, the clerk doesn't have to accept your dollars, he could demand euros, silver, or copper. But because legal tender laws backing the dollar have caused the dollar to drive other currencies out of circulation, it is easier for stores to accept dollars.

However, most stores also accept credit cards, personal checks, and debit cards, none of which are legal tender. Some stores are moving to credit card-only transactions to minimize costs, which they are allowed to do.

Under a system of competing currencies, it would be to the advantage of stores to accept as many currencies as they could, in order to attract a wide range of customers. Stores that only accepted one currency would see their customer base shrink. The use of credit cards could simplify things just as it does today when Americans travel to Europe. They pay in euros with their credit card, and their card company bills in dollars. The market will find a solution to any problems that might arise.

The final barrier to competing currencies: Laws that assess capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins. Under federal law, coins are considered collectibles, and are liable for capital gains taxes. These taxes actually tax monetary debasement. The purchasing power of gold may remain relatively constant, but as the nominal dollar value increases because of a weak dollar, the federal government considers this an increase in wealth and assesses taxes.

Thus, the more the dollar is debased, the more capital gains taxes must be paid on holdings of gold and other precious metals. For individuals who may wish to use gold and silver in everyday transactions, this can quickly become a complicated and costly burden.

The long-term strength of the dollar will only be weakened by maintaining the Fed's monopoly on our monetary system. Our foreign creditors are already moving to dethrone the dollar as the world's currency.

The prospect of American citizens also turning away from the dollar toward alternate currencies should provide an impetus to the U.S. government to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral. Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government's ability and incentive to inflate the currency, and provide stability to the financial system. With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rep. Ron Paul.

Random Thoughts!

Just a bunch of random thoughts that I thought I would put out here to inspire you to get food storage if you have not, and to get more if you have some. :-)



On the auction block in Detroit: almost 9,000 homes and lots in various states of abandonment and decay from the tidy owner-occupied to the burned-out shell claimed by squatters.

Taken together, the properties seized by tax collectors for arrears and put up for sale last week represented an area the size of New York's Central Park. Total vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate.

The tax foreclosure auction by Wayne County authorities also stood as one of the most ambitious one-stop attempts to sell off urban property since the real-estate market collapse.

Despite a minimum bid of $500, less than a fifth of the Detroit land was sold after four days.

The county had no estimate of how much was raised by the auction, a second attempt to sell property that had failed to find buyers for the full amount of back taxes in September.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33471824/ns


-United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an opinion piece published by The New York Times, laid out a number of benchmarks for success in the upcoming global climate talks, planned to be held in Copenhagen.

Among them, Ki-moon argued in the Tuesday edition that a "global governance structure" must be levied to ensure that nations collaborate on how resources are deployed and managed.
http://rawstory.com/2009/10/chief-calls


-The amount of television watched by children reached an eight-year high, according to figures released by Nielsen yesterday. The analysis based on 2008 figures reported the time spent watching live and recorded television, as well as movies and gaming systems. When added all up, children ages 6 to 11 spend more than 28 hours in front of a television every week.
http://slatest.slate.com/id/2233691


-Des Moines, Iowa (AP) - After burning through $1 million in savings and seeing no end to their losses, dairy farmers Jake and Lori Slegers figured they didn't have much choice -- they had to kill the cows.

So one day last summer their sons tagged all 1,571 cows, loaded them onto trailers at their farm south of Fresno, Calif., and watched them rumble away to a slaughterhouse.

Lori Slegers said her husband came into the house and broke down.

"He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do," she said. "Luckily, my boys could do it."

Growing demand in developing nations drove up milk prices when times were good, and dairy farmers expanded their herds. But the global recession hurt exports and left farmers with too much milk on their hands. Milk processors cut the price they were willing to pay farmers, in many cases below what it cost to produce milk.

In the past year, hundreds of farmers have come to the same conclusion as the Slegers: The only way to raise prices is to reduce the supply, and that means killing cows. In some cases, whole herds have been turned into hamburger. In others, farmers have kept their best producers and sent the rest to slaughter.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56136


-Billionaire globalist George Soros told the Financial Times during an interview that China will supplant the United States as the leader of the new world order and that America should not resist the country’s decline as the dollar weakens, living standards drop, and a new global currency is introduced.

Asked what Obama should discuss when he visits China next month, Soros stated, “This would be the time because I think you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, financial world order,” adding that China was a reluctant member of the IMF who didn’t make enough of a contribution.

“I think you need a new world order that China has to be part of the process of creating it and they have to buy in, they have to own it in the same way as the United States owns…the current order,” said Soros, adding that the G20 was a move in this direction.

Soros said that there was a flight from currencies across the board, and that this is why the price of commodities, notably gold and oil, were generally rising. He also stated that an orderly decline of the dollar was “desirable” and that the entire system needed to be reconstituted towards a global currency.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/soros-china


-Here's something rather rotten from the State of Denmark. Its government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturizing cream.

The 326-page report, published by the environment protection agency, is the latest piece in an increasingly alarming jigsaw. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminizing male children all over the developed world. And anti-pollution measures and regulations are falling far short of getting to grips with it.

The results build on earlier studies showing that British children have higher levels of gender-bending chemicals in their blood than their parents or grandparents. Indeed WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), which commissioned the older research, warned that the chemicals were so widespread that "there is very little, if anything, individuals can do to prevent contamination of themselves and their families." Prominent among them are dioxins, PVC, flame retardants, phthalates (extensively used to soften plastics) and the now largely banned PCBs, one and a half million tons of which were used in countless products from paints to electrical equipment.

Young boys, like those in the Danish study, could end up producing less sperm and developing feminized behavior. Research at Rotterdam's Erasmus University found that boys whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins were more likely to play with dolls and tea sets and dress up in female clothes.

And it is in the womb that babies are most vulnerable; a study of umbilical cords from British mothers found that every one contained hazardous chemicals. Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York discovered that boys born to women exposed to phthalates had smaller penises and other feminization of the genitals.

The contamination may also offer a clue to a mysterious shift in the sex of babies. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls: it is thought to be nature's way of making up for the fact that men were more likely to be killed hunting or in conflict. But the proportion of females is rising, so much so that some 250,000 babies who statistically should have been boys have ended up as girls in Japan and the United States alone. In Britain, the discrepancy amounts to thousands of babies a year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthc


-Turns out coursing a few gigavolts of financial stimulus current through even an economy the size of the U.S. will still get Frankenstein off the slab, however briefly.
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2009/


-Fox News, under the guise of a news story, gives free advertising time to the United States Military’s Human Resources Department. (And the Obama White House claims that Fox News doesn’t support him. Silly gooses!) As far as I can tell, this is not one of those spoof videos that are always on YouTube —though after watching it, you’ll wish it was.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/a


-Barack Obama's decision last week to label swine flu a national emergency will likely increase demand for a vaccine that is already in short supply. Yet by the time large amounts of vaccine arrive, it may be too late to stop most infections.

On 23 October, Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, reported that the US had received 27.4 million doses of vaccine. This is not enough even for the country's 42 million most vulnerable people: pregnant women, people caring for babies, children under 4, front-line healthcare workers and under-18s with medical problems.

By now, the US should have had 120 million doses, according to predictions in July. This estimate was cut to 45 million when it emerged in August that the vaccine virus was growing at half the usual rate. Now even some of those doses have not arrived. Several companies are now using a faster-growing strain to make vaccine, but supplies won't arrive for weeks.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2


-You're right, as more money is available, work your way towards 6 to 12 months worth of food. Either way you're going to use it no matter what, and you sure can't live without it.

I'm of a different opinion regarding the first (and for many the only) weapon to own.

A used Glock in good condition isn't that expensive, and if nothing else at least get a revolver but I've always insisted on a handgun first, and enough training to be proficient with it.
Of course its less powerful, but you can't drop a shotgun in your jacket's pocket or carry in your waist and that makes all the difference.

Street, or home, the handgun will cover both, while the shotgun will only be a home defense gun, and even at that, you don’t carry a shotgun all the time in the house or keep it handy. Entering or leaving your home, the garage, unless you conceal carry you'll be unarmed when you need it the most.
Another couple things I'd like to mention: A shotgun, specially a pump action shotgun, requires a LOT of skill to operate, specially at close range and against several targets many operators will transition to their handgun when in CQC, which is the most common self defense range.

A shotgun also needs to be aimed well, at close range there's no difference between shogun shells and solid projectile, they both make a single hole. It takes several more feet and even then the spread isn’t that much you can afford not to aim as you should.

One of the worst inconveniences with shotguns and close range fighting: A) you need both hands to operate B) It requires a complex mechanical movement that requires both hands for each shot.
Shotguns are nice, but for all these reasons, I always recommend a handgun as a first and maybe only firearm.
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/10/firs


-Despite that fact, delinquencies have moved steadily higher with the 30 day + delinquency now reaching close to 50% of all outstanding Option Arms. If our economists are right about the size and timing of the Fed Funds rate hike (approx. 1% per quarter starting in Q2 next year), the impact on borrowers of these types of loans could be very significant. Those who are slightly delinquent or barely holding on could see their payments move substantially higher with the impact possible late next year.”
http://acrossthecurve.com/?p=9779
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/arch


-Who is Valerie Jarrett? The brain of Barack and Michelle Obama. The alter ego, the “mind meld”. The head of the pimple on a rash of pimples infecting our executive branch. She’s the one who brought in Van Jones, and who knows how many other communist radicals. Read her background – her roots (Chicago tentacles) go way back and very deep into Obama’s background. An insider. In fact, she’s so inside, she’s at the center of it.

The media is hammering Glenn, attacking him at every turn. He is the new “cause du jour” object of the Saul Alinsky Left, who have identified him, polarized him, and are attacking him in an all-out effort to destroy him. For those who are unable to listen to him explain it this morning, his transcript will be available at his site later today.

Why is this important? Because it is a high def example of what Obama and his army of radicals do. Like a heat seeking missile, they attack to destroy anyone who threatens their mission. Both Rush and Glenn are major targets. It is brutal. And the point is this: what they’re doing to Glenn et al, they’ll do next to us. We are in their crosshairs. Mister Smooth and Cool in the White House is the window dressing to a nefarious bunch who’ll stop at nothing to enforce their regime of “hope and change” on all of us. And Valerie Jarrett is the General who’s planning the strategy and issuing marching orders. Familiarize yourself with this pimple.
http://stopjarrett.com/


-Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday said it will begin taking ratings actions in Q409 as needed to account for updated assumptions underlying US residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) loss projections.

The loss projection revisions come as Moody’s expects house prices to continue to decline to a Q310 trough.
http://www.housingwire.com/2009/10/29/h


-Former European Central Bank chief economist Otmar Issing recently said what current officials aren't addressing:

Nobody can be sure that we have a self-sustaining recovery. The challenges facing the ECB are tremendous. "Money multipliers have collapsed everywhere. What M3 is telling us is that confidence is missing. I don't see any way to stabilize M3 in such circumstances.

As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard notes:

Data from the European Central Bank shows that the M3 broad money supply has contracted over the last six months, confounding expectations that ultra-low interest rates would soon boost monetary growth. Loans to the private sector fell 0.3pc from a year earlier, the first such decline since the data started in 1983.
The M3 figures include a wide range of bank accounts...

The picture is even starker in America where M3 has shrunk at an annual rate of 6.5pc over the last three months, a pace of contraction not seen since the 1930s. US bank loans have plummeted since May.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2


-The engine of American foreign policy has been fueled not by a devotion to any kind of morality, but rather by the necessity to serve other imperatives, which can be summarized as follows:

• making the world safe for American corporations;

• enhancing the financial statements of defense contractors at home who have contributed generously to members of congress;

• preventing the rise of any society that might serve as a successful example of an alternative to the capitalist model;

• extending political and economic hegemony over as wide an area as possible, as befits a "great power."

This in the name of fighting a supposed moral crusade against what cold warriors convinced themselves, and the American people, was the existence of an evil International Communist Conspiracy, which in fact never existed, evil or not.

The United States carried out extremely serious interventions into more than 70 nations in this period.
http://www.questionwar.com/US_interventions.html


-While initial jobless claims have been in a downtrend on a national basis since March, different states have seen different rates of declines. In addition to the weekly national report on initial jobless claims, the Department of Labor also reports claims data on a state by state basis. Although these numbers are not seasonally adjusted, they can help to gain insight as to which areas of the country are recovering (or stabilizing) the quickest. In the map and tables below we have highlighted the ten US states that have seen the largest and smallest percentage declines in initial jobless claims since their recession peaks.

Looking at the chart shows some interesting trends. In terms of states with the largest decreases in jobless claims, all but two of them (North Dakota and Kansas) are in the eastern half of the United States, including Michigan, which has seen the highest decline of any state in the union (84%). Granted, the state had one of the highest unemployment rates, so there is a lot of room for improvement. The southeast has also seen a notable improvement. Four of the ten states with the largest decrease in initial claims are the cluster of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The states with the smallest decreases in initial claims for the most part also share some common traits. First of all, just as most of the states with the largest decreases are in the eastern half of the country, all but three of the ten states with the smallest decreases (Arkansas, Florida, and Maryland) are in the western half of the United States. Another theme shared by most of these states is that they are all heavily reliant on tourism. So it would appear that Americans aren't quite confident on their outlooks to spend money on vacations.
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespok

Chuck Baldwin, "Ravenwood"

I found this article quite compelling and couldn't resist posting it. I feel it is again pertinent to our situation today.


"Ravenwood" Comes To America
By Chuck Baldwin
October 9, 2009

Fans of the CBS-terminated TV series JERICHO will recognize the name"Ravenwood." This was the ruthless mercenary force used by the illegitimatefederal government at Cheyenne to subjugate the citizens of Kansas in theaftermath of a massive nuclear attack against two dozen American cities.

As with much of JERICHO's superbly written story line, Ravenwood reflected real-world entities. Private mercenary forces have been used extensively throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as in many other theaters. And as JERICHO correctly depicted, these "private contractors" have largelyoperated without oversight or accountability. (Can anyone say,"Blackwater"?) For the most part, the American people are unfamiliar withthese mercenary forces, because they normally operate in foreign theaters ofwar. JERICHO put them on the streets of U.S. cities. Now it looks like JERICHO was more prophecy than fiction.

An underreported (what's new?) story out of a little town in Montana hasbrought real-life drama to the CBS blockbuster TV series. Interestingly enough, CBS is the only major news network that has covered the Montanastory.In the little town of Hardin, Montana (which is about the same size as thefictitious town of Jericho, Kansas, in the TV series), a private security firm, American Police Force (APF), has been contracted to provide all policeservices and to manage the operation of the town's jail. According to localnews reports out of Billings, Montana, "American Police Force officialsshowed up in Mercedes SUV's that had 'Hardin Police' stenciled on thevehicles. The twist, the city of Hardin doesn't have a police department."Two Rivers Authority [the city's economic development agency] officials sayhaving APF patrol the streets was never part of their agenda." (Source:KULR-8 Television, Billings, Montana).

Until now, the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office was responsible forpatrolling the city. However, numerous Hardin citizens have testified to APFmercenaries patrolling Hardin's streets.The Hardin jail is an interesting situation, all by itself. Completed inSeptember 2007, the 464-bed facility has sat totally empty (which begs aninvestigative analysis as to how and why the facility was built in the firstplace). APF promises to fill the jail (with whom is not clear) and alsointends to build a 30,000-square-foot military-style training facility and a75,000-square-foot dormitory for trainees. Costs are to be covered byRavenwood's--excuse me--APF's "business activities," which includes securityand training, weapons and equipment sales, surveillance, and investigations.Of course, under our Constitution, there can be no such thing as an"American Police Force" in the United States. Any kind of national policeforce is not only unconstitutional; it is anathema to everything Americanlaw and jurisprudence is built upon. Law enforcement is clearly and plainlythe responsibility of the states and local communities. That a mercenary organization would take the moniker American Police Force is, by itself,disconcerting.

But there is much more.

APF touts itself as providing security and investigative work to clients in"all 50 States and most Countries." It boasts having "rapid response unitsawaiting our orders worldwide." It further brags that it can field abattalion-sized team of Special Forces soldiers "within 72 hours." APFstates that it "plays a critical role in helping the U.S. government meetvital homeland security and national defense needs."Yet, an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal governmentcontractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.Representatives of security trade groups said they had never heard of APF. Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the ProfessionalServices Council, said, "They're really invisible."

An attorney for APF, Maziar Mafi, said the company was a spin-off of a majorsecurity firm, but declined to name the parent company or give any otherdetails. But at least one source reports, "American Police Force, the paramilitaryunit patrolling a small town in Montana, has been exposed as being a frontgroup for the disgraced private military contractor Blackwater, now called'Xe'."Whoever is backing APF has deep pockets; that much is for sure. That APFmight be connected to Blackwater makes this situation even more problematic.But there is still more.According to numerous local news reports, APF's lead figure has a criminalhistory. APF's head is a man named Michael Hilton. And recent revelationshave turned up the fact that Hilton has served several years in jail--alongwith being served several civil judgments--for fraud. In fact, Hilton iscurrently scheduled to appear in a California court over an outstandingjudgment in a fraud case.

This has caused the Two Rivers Authority (TRA) tostep back from the APF deal. And at this writing, the future of theagreement between TRA and APF is uncertain.Adding to the dubious image of APF is the accusation that theiron-the-ground leaders seem to be Russians. According to Hardin residents,the APF officer in charge had a "thick Russian accent." (Of course, Hiltonhimself is Serbian, and it appears that many of his personnel are likewiseSerbian.) Residents also state that they were told seventy-five percent ofthe security officers that were to be trained would be "international." Isthis what we have to look forward to: foreign mercenaries--employed byinternational corporations and backed by the federal government--being usedto police American cities?Local protests against the introduction of APF mercenaries in Hardin havealready caused APF to change its name. Late news reports state that theprivate contractor is now operating under the name of American PrivatePolice Force.In the meantime, Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has launched aninvestigation into the Hardin matter. According to the AG's office, theinvestigation is predicated upon concerns that the company might beviolating the Montana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act.

The Hardin saga is both noteworthy and troublesome. It is the latestexample--but certainly not the first--of how private security companies arebeing employed as law enforcement personnel.Retired lawman Jim Kouri recently wrote a fascinating piece in which hechronicles the growing trend of private security companies exercising policepowers. Kouri summarizes an American Society for Industrial Security report,saying, "There are more than one million contract security guards, withperhaps another million guards who are proprietary security officers who arehired directly by businesses and institutions. On the other hand, there areabout 700,000 sworn law enforcement officers working for towns, cities,counties, states and the federal government." Of course, most of these "private police" mercenaries are military-trained.And they are also the ones providing most of the military-style training toAmerica's various law enforcement agencies.Kouri goes on to point out that Lexington's (Kentucky) Police Departmentcontracted Blackwater Security International to provide "homeland securitytraining."

And in New Orleans, Louisiana, mercenaries openly patrol citystreets. Kouri notes Blackwater officials as saying they are on contractwith the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority"to use lethal force if necessary."See Kouri's column athttp://newswithviews.com/BreakingNews/breaking168.htmAll of the above is disconcerting enough, but when one factors in PresidentBarack Obama's desire to create a "Civilian Defense Force," potentialproblems only intensify. For example, in 1995, the United Nations'International Police Task Force (UNIPTF) was created. Ostensibly, the UNIPTFwas formed to "carry out programs of police assistance in Bosnia andHerzegovina."

Then, in 2003 the Civilian Police International (CPI) wascreated. This was a joint venture between the U.S. State Department and suchnotable private companies as Wackenhut and Kellogg Brown & Root (aHalliburton company; and, by the way, so is Blackwater. But this is just acoincidence, right?). The stated purpose was for "international lawenforcement and criminal justice programs." Inertia for mercenary-style (backed by the federal--or even international--government) law enforcementhas been growing ever since.The question must then be asked: "Could the whole APF and Hardin, Montana,affair be a test run for Obama's budding Civilian Defense Force?"In the CBS TV series, JERICHO, residents resisted the federal government'smercenary force, Ravenwood, and fought ferociously for their freedom andindependence. At the time the show aired, it all seemed like fantasy. But ifyou talk with the residents of Hardin, Montana, today, they might say thatfantasy is fast becoming reality.

Stay alert, America: your town could be next.