Further Down The End Times Trail

LEADING TO 'THE MARK':
The U.S. government ordered commercial airlines and cruise lines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country. The travel industry is balking as the new government requirements will cost billions. Isn't it interesting how concerned our government is about restrictions on airline travelers, but could seemingly care less about how many thousands of people can walk undetected across our southwestern borders daily?
.
AND GETTING EVER CLOSER TO THE ONE WORLD BEAST SYSTEM. Our leaders seem to see us as just one member in the larger global village, sort of a large state in the larger global government instead of a sovereign nation, in effect. To put it in perspective, we are more like California as part of the U.S. (or maybe Texas would be more appropriate?) - a major player, but still just a player in a larger system. In their view, it seems that borders and nationalism made sense in the past, but in this brave new world of modern communications and transportation, they are obsolete. They believe that more efficient use of resources (and that includes you and me) benefits the planet as a whole. It's just that they can't admit it to the great unwashed. To do so would risk awaking us from our stupor. Better to just do everything off the radar and out of the light of day, while feeding us the pablum that passes for news these days. Guess I'm getting old and drank too much coffee today, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Anyway, here's another article where the leaders of Canada and Mexico, our partners in the SPP (Security and Partnership of North America), and the coming North American Union, come to the defense of The Decider regarding NAFTA. "This is not the time to even think about amending it or canceling it," said President Calderon of Mejico, in regard to NAFTA.
...Here's the link to the SPP website. And a link to the Wikipedia entry on the SPP, which also has lots of other links both pro and con.
.
FOOD:
WORLD FACING HUGE NEW CHALLENGE ON FOOD FRONT, Business As Usual Not A Viable Option, BaltimoreChronicle.com. On the world scene, food riots have become commonplace. Following are some of the many data points in the article, which is one of the most comprehensive articles I have seen on this important subject.
...In Sudan, the U.N. World Food Programme, which has the responsibility of feeding over 2 million people in Darfur refugee camps, has had 56 trucks hijacked in the first three months of this year. 24 of the drivers are still missing.
...In Pakistan, thousands of Pakistani troops are assigned to guard grain elevators and to escort grain shipments.
...The WFP in March asked for an additional $500 million, as the 37 countries that depend on the WFP's emergency food supplies are facing additional risks.
.
FUELS VS. FOOD, U.S. Energy Policy Hurting World's Poor, New York Post. Also, the cost of producing ethanol is more than the cost of producing fuel from petroleum. And corn produced ethanol is not going to be the answer to weaning us from our Middle Eastern suppliers, at least not in the ham handed way that our legislators have ordered. Our leaders have mandated that corn is the answer. Not only does that take more acreage away from food production, but corn is also not as cost efficient as other means of producing ethanol. For example, the sugar cane that Brazil uses is three times as cost efficient as corn.
...And there are new biotech breakthroughs that have the potential to produce ethanol from all kinds of products, including waste, corn husks, prairie switchgrass, and wood chips, for example. But maybe that wouldn't be as profitable to the the powers that be and their cronies? Mandating that our ethanol comes from corn also mandates who makes the profits. Sort of like other government agencies not endorsing natural herbal remedies that you can grow in your backyard or find in the wild - after all, who would profit from that?
.
For the love of money is the root of all evil. I Timothy 6:10.
The Bible tells us that the final world beast system will be different and more terrible than all which preceded it. I think it is becoming increasingly clear that one reason for that is that all previous world empires had national identities and allegiances. The final system will be different. It will be a mixture of nations that, instead of owing their allegiance to a national identity, will give themselves over to a world system, a system that owes its allegiance to money. That is why the Bible speaks of that final system being part iron and part clay.
...That system will ultimately control all financial transactions. The day is getting closer where anyone on the planet who desires to conduct any commerce will have to access a central computer system and provide biometric identification in order to access the system. In its final form, the system will likely require all users to agree to some sort of oath, an oath that will offend last day saints to the extent that they will be unable to agree to it, and will thus be excluded from the world's financial system.
...Christians will go through the final tribulation period. Dreams of rapture are just that: dreams. They are of necessity a Western phenomenon. Try telling poor families in Africa who see their loved ones dying of Aids and starvation, and being raped and pillaged by whatever latest version of marauder comes through the countryside, not to worry. They'll be raptured out before things get really bad.
...The rapture doctrine was not taught in the early church. It originated in 19th century England. Premillennialism has been taught by some folks all throughout church history, but not the dispensational brand of it which includes the rapture doctrine. The rapture doctrine sells a lot of books, but it is wrong and belief in it is going to hurt a lot of people. Read your Bible for yourself.
.

04.23.08 Food Crisis Goes Mainstream

Food shortages are going to be an increasingly important story going forward. The Washington Post has an excellent article on the food crisis, labelling it a 'silent tsunami'. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that 25,000 people a day die from hunger related conditions. He said that translates to one child dying every five seconds from hunger related causes. Main reasons cited for the increased strain on world food supplies are:
....Rising fuel prices.
....Droughts in some food producing countries.
....Increased demand, particularly in Asia. China and India, in particular, continue to shape the world supply/demand area in many areas.
....And last, but certainly not least, the decision by our powers that be to divert part of our grain growing into ethanol production instead of food. Not only is that inefficient economically - there are cheaper and better alternatives, though likely not as profitable to the parties involved - but it now adds to the burden on already strained food supplies.
.
Here in the U.S., Wal-Mart just announced that it is limiting sales of certain types of rice due to 'recent supply and demand trends'. Costco also announced that they have seen signs of customers stocking up on rice, flour and cooking oil. Some of their stores had already started limiting the amount of these items that could be purchased in one shopping trip. There were also reports of some kinds of rice being completely gone from the shelves.
.
JAPAN'S HUNGER BECOMES A DIRE WARNING FOR OTHER NATIONS, screams this headline from the TheAge.com, an Australian site. Food shortages are also hitting now in prosperous Japan. According to this Australian article, 80% of the Japanese people are frightened about what the future holds regarding food supplies. They are concerned about a future that could include a permanent reduction in the amount and quality of the food available. Japan imports 90% of its wheat supplies. The government has already had to provide emergency funds to continue bringing wheat into the country. The funds they had budgeted for wheat imports had run out with more than two months remaining in the fiscal year. It was the first time since the 2nd world war that the Japanese government had to take such action.
.
According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, Manu Daftary, who heads up the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund, says that folks should be 'loading up the pantry'. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs."
.
RICE SHORTAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES could possible endanger that government's stability. This article from Bloomberg paints a vivid illustration of the different sides involved in grain shortages. On the one hand, the price of rice is up 41% in the past year and rice futures last week had their biggest gains in seven years. On the other hand are the villages where families cluster together in shacks and are dependent on rice as the staple of their diets and are being priced out of the food markets.
.
This article in the Asia Times points the bony finger of blame directly at the U.S. "The global food crisis is a monetary phenomenon, an unintended consequence of America's attempt to inflate its way out of a market failure. There are long-term reasons for food prices to rise, but the unprecedented spike in grain prices during the past year stems from the weakness of the American dollar. Washington's economic misery now threatens to become a geopolitical catastrophe."
.

04.09.08

FOOD/WATER:

Bread lines in Egypt. Seven people have died in brawls in bread lines since the beginning of the year, according to the government owned Egyptian Gazette newspaper.
.
Rice shortages are appearing across Asia. In Thailand, farmers are staying awake in shifts all night to guard their fields. Riots in several countries.
.
Water shortages affect food, transit, security. According to the article, it takes a thousand tons of water to produce one ton of grain.
.
LEADING TO 'THE MARK?'
.
Heathrow Airport has quietly introduced compulsory fingerprinting and photographic profiling of passengers on domestic routes. The British Airports Authority says the profiling is needed because the new wing at Heathrow will have a single departure lounge for both domestic and international travellers, and the authority wants to prevent travellers from bypassing immigration checks by exchanging flight tickets once they through the check-in process. Another viewpoint on the issue was expressed by Dr. Louis Hosein of the London School of Economics, who believes that the government is trying to make routine fingerprinting appear acceptable in advance preparation for national ID cards.
.
In response to our own nation's coming Real ID, here's a comment from Texas Congressman Ron Paul: "Proponents of the REAL ID Act continue to make the preposterous claim that the bill does not establish a national ID card. This is dangerous and insulting nonsense."

Bookmark: The New Survivalism?

Bookmarking this article in the NY Times for future reference.
Duck and Cover: It's the New Survivalism, NY Times.
.
According to the World Bank, 33 nations face social unrest after food and energy costs rose for six straight years. Bloomberg News.
.
Food Crisis Being Felt Around the World. National Post. Riots in several countries, and countries worried about how they will feed their poor.
.
Global Food Shortages Could Continue For Decades. Marketoracle.co.uk. This article also contains a chart issued by the USDA showing declining acreage devoted to food grains, while at the same time grain inventories are declining and world population is increasing.
.
2008: The Year Of Global Food Crisis. Sundayherald.com (Scotland) special report. The increasing scarcity of food is the biggest crisis looming for the world, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program.
.
Go to google.com and type in 'food shortages 2008'. This is not a little story, even though it receives scant coverage in this country.
.
Laying in several months of food items that your family will actually eat is not only prudent, but in these days of price inflation for food items, is also a good investment. Gardening is not only good exercise and gets you outdoors, but the food you grow yourself is better than what you get in the stores.