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."