Daily Headlines

Barak: Fight For Israel's Existence Isn't Over Yet

The fight for Israel's existence that has been fought since the 1948 War of Independence is not over, Defense Minister Ehud Barak wrote in a letter to families of fallen soldiers on the eve of Remembrance Day Tuesday.Israel has and continues to face "challenges and struggles over our very existence here," Barak wrote. "That fight is not over and the price is very heavy."Even in its 64th year of independence, great challenges lie ahead of Israel but the state is doing everything to strengthen itself, the defense minister continued, pointing to "loyalty, perseverance and bravery form the basis of our strength and our ability to stand against every enemy, near and far."Addressing the bereaved families, Barak said that as defense minister he stands by their side and promised not to give up on the dream of peace.

UN To start deploying Full Ceasefire Force In Syria

UN leader Ban Ki-moon has decided the deployment of 300 ceasefire monitors in Syria can start next week even though the UN believes the crisis has now hit a "pivotal" moment, officials said on Monday.
President Bashar al-Assad's compliance with a cessation of hostilities "remains incomplete," Ban's political chief told the UN Security Council.
A UN Security Council resolution passed on Saturday gave Ban the duty to make an "assessment" whether it was safe for the 300 unarmed monitors to go.
"The decision has been taken" and the monitors will arrive in "phases" starting next week, deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey told AFP.
"Conditions are risky, but we believe the presence of UN observers will change the political dynamics on the ground," Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for Mr Annan, told AFP of the decision to start sending the monitors.

Iran In Full Control Of Strait Of Hormuz: IRGC Cmdr.

A high-ranking Iranian naval commander says the Islamic Republic is in full control of Strait of Hormuz, and not just supervising the strategic waterway.
In an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) television network on Saturday evening, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said the Persian Gulf littoral states aligned themselves with the Baathist regime and sought to strangle Iran’s oil exports during the Iraqi-imposed war on Iran (1980-1988). 
However, hegemonic powers soon realized that Iran, while providing regional security, has succeeded in monitoring the movements of the ships' and tankers’ from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman. We still are controlling the movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Mexico Preps Shelters As Volcano Roars, Spews Ash

The white-capped volcano that looms over Mexico City emitted a terrifying low-pitched roar Friday and spewed roiling towers of ash and steam as it vented the pressure built up by a massive chamber of magma beneath its slopes. Authorities prepared evacuation routes, ambulances and shelters in the event of a bigger explosion.
A week ago, the eruptions started growing larger and authorities slightly elevated the alert level for people living nearby.
Before dawn on Friday, the mountain moved into what appeared to be a new level of activity, spitting out dozens of ash clouds and shot fragments of glowing rock down its slopes while frightening the residents of surrounding villages with deep roaring not heard in a decade.
People in the village of Xalitzintla said they were awakened by a window-rattling series of eruptions. Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center said one string of eruptions ended in the early morning, then the volcano started up again at 5:05 a.m., with at least 12 eruptions in two hours.
"Up on the mountain, it feels incredible," said Aaron Sanchez Ocelotl, 45, who was in his turf grass fields when the eruptions happened. "It sounds like the roaring of the sea."

Big Brother's Next Target: Your Car

Many are quite concerned about Senate Bill 1813, a massive piece of legislation supposedly devoted to transportation issues.  Besides including a provision allowing the IRS the power to revoke passports belonging to those who are delinquent with tax debt in excess of $50,000, it appears that the potential law may be used to measure the size of your carbon footprint each time you get behind the wheel.  It's all because of a vague provision slipped into bill, which has already passed the U.S. Senate and is likely to be rubber-stamped by the House.

Known as the "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act," SB 1813 is self-described as "[a]n Act to reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes" (emphasis mine). 
The legislation would declare it mandatory for all new cars in the U.S. to be fitted with black box-like data recorders beginning in 2015.  Known as "Mandatory Event Data Recorders," the devices would be capable of monitoring your speed, driving habits, location, and distance traveled.  Removal of the device would be a civil offense.
Currently, newer vehicles are already equipped with powertrain and airbag control modules that, in the event of a crash, are able to provide law enforcement investigators with critical information when piecing together the cause of an accident -- so why does the government need to collect additional information?I suspect that eco-activists are behind this plan and were able to get this subsection attached to the bill, believing that, somewhere down the slippery slope, the Event Data Recorders could be used to monitor a driver's carbon footprint.
If you think my suspicions are overreaching, think again.  For years, the ultra green California legislature has been considering replacing the state's gas tax ($0.18 per gallon) with a fee for every mile traveled annually by each vehicle.  The mileage would be recorded by black boxes similar to those described in Senate Bill 1813.  California's Department of Motor Vehicles and Transportation Commission have also advocated this pay-per-mile scheme.  They've even suggested using the tracking data to financially penalize those who choose not to carpool.

And this wouldn't be the first time the feds have gotten into the carbon footprint measurement business.  As I explain in Eco-Tyranny, that's the intention of the federally mandated Smart Meter, which has likely been attached to your home in place of your old-fashioned, constantly spinning electrical meter.  Introduced in the Federal Energy Act of 2005, the Smart Meter measures your energy consumption minute-by-minute, and eventually will be connected to a device known as the Home Area Network, or "The HAN" as developers in the Silicon Valley refer to it.  The HAN will communicate with every electrical device in your home, including your Energy Star-approved appliances.  In time, the whole shebang will be hooked up to the coming Smart Grid, and your carbon footprint will be known to the second.  Eventually, a scenario like this will occur:It's a hot afternoon in July.  Your air conditioner is keeping the house cooled to 79 degrees; you're watching the ballgame on a 50-inch flat screen TV; and you're doing a load of laundry. A blip on a computer screen alerts an unseen bureaucrat that your home is consuming far too much energy, given demands.  Automatically, your thermostat will shift to 84 degrees, the TV will be turned off until evening, and the washer/dryer won't work again until after dark.Welcome to Smart technology. Senate Bill 1813 may well be the latest attempt to employ another component of Big Brother-style eco-tyranny.

Welcome to 1984. It's here and it isn't going away. In fact, such measures will only dramatically increase as we approach the Tribulation.