Monday, March 12, 2012
U.S. military unveil latest weapon a ray beam that makes the enemy feel quite hot
The US military have unveiled their infamous non-lethal weapon - an electromagnetic beam of fierce heat.
When the Active Denial System (ADS) is activated, it beams a high-frequency electromagnetic ray beam at a target up to one thousand metres (0.6 miles) away.
Mounted on a military vehicle for crowd control, the waves create a heat so uncomfortable the natural response is to flee.
Turn up the heat: Two versions of US Marine Corps trucks are seen carrying the Active Denial System - the non-lethal weapon uses directed energy and projects a beam of man-sized millimeter waves
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113529/U-S-military-unveil-latest-weapon--A-ray-beam-makes-enemy-feel-quite-hot.html#ixzz1ouUvPMy8
Mounted on a military vehicle for crowd control, the waves create a heat so uncomfortable the natural response is to flee.
Turn up the heat: Two versions of US Marine Corps trucks are seen carrying the Active Denial System - the non-lethal weapon uses directed energy and projects a beam of man-sized millimeter waves
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113529/U-S-military-unveil-latest-weapon--A-ray-beam-makes-enemy-feel-quite-hot.html#ixzz1ouUvPMy8
State Wants Iris scan to get medicine
A plan being proposed by three lawmakers in Colorado, Reps. Ken Summers and Tom Massey and Sen. Betty Boyd, would require consumers to submit to a biometric scan of their retina or provide a fingerprint in order to get medication.
The plan is HB12-1242 and is under consideration by the Colorado Assembly, which is deliberating the demand that “practitioners and PDOs (prescription drug outlets)” install and maintain “biometric scanning devices and to use those devices to obtain a biometric scan of a person’s biometric identifier, such as a fingerprint or retinal scan, and to submit the scan to the database.”
The pharmacies would have to “prior to prescribing or dispensing a prescription drug or dispensing a restricted over-the-counter substance … submit specified information to the [state] database.”
That information would include details about the drug and the doctor who prescribed it as well as the “name and address of the person receiving the substance.”
Officials with Colorado’s Independence Institute noted that the plan is in addition to another proposal regarding the existing “All-Payer Health Claims Database” which already allows officials to “collect whatever medical data [they wish] from every health care ‘payer’ in the state. … Fines may be levied on the noncompliant.”
“As if the APDB isn’t enough, Reps. Summers and Massey, along with Sen. Betty Boyd are sponsoring HB12-1242. Under that bill, you won’t be able to get prescription medications or controlled over-the-counter medications without providing a biometric identifier like a fingerprint or a retinal scan. Failure to comply would be a Class 1 misdemeanor, a crime as serious as the possession of child pornography or third degree assault,” said a commentary by Linda Gorman and Amy Oliver of the Institute.
“If requiring voters to show ID is an unacceptable infringement of rights, so is requiring people to choose between health care and personal privacy. Officials who fail to repeal the APDB enable the ongoing assault on individual liberty,” they said, citing the ongoing battle between concerned lawmakers who want voters to provide ID to protect the integrity of elections and judges who repeatedly have thrown out such requirements.
The lawmakers’ own description of their plan says the state would have to set up an “electronic system to monitor and store in a secure database” information about prescriptions.
The information that is collected would be stored by the state, and in addition would be used to raise alerts about medications that may “overlap.” Additionally, “The database may retain encrypted personal protected health care information in the case of electronic prescriptions if the only entity able to decrypt the information is the intended prescription drug outlet for delivery or dispensing.
“This section does not preclude practitioners and prescription drug outlets from retaining personal information about their patients that is collected and maintained in their regular course of business in compliance with applicable law.”
The Institute commentary noted that the APDB, now two years old, now is planning to privatize, and then “sell your health data to commercial interests at $50,000 a pop, and to charge providers for providing required data.”
“Medical privacy? They’e pretending about that, too,” the commentary aid. “CEO Phil Kalin recently wrote, ‘No identified data will be available in the datasets or reports we provide. Social Security numbers and personal health information will be stripped, a unique identified assigned.’ But he also wrote that ‘public health agencies want to understand patterns of disease diagnosis and treatment, and whether public education campaigns are followed by increased preventive services provided to patients.”
The commentary noted this observation from University of Colorado law professor Paul Ohm: “Data can be either useful or perfectly anonymous but never both.”
“In short, a database used to evaluate treatment efficacy and value must include all the data of a clinical trial. That means all of the information available to your physician, pharmacist, and hospital, and information about your personal habits, income, education, and family life,” the commentary warned.
“With all this data it won’t be hard to figure out, or steal, the identity of the unidentified married white female teacher who is 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, was born on Jan. 2, 1985, is married, has two children aged 5 and 7, had appendicitis treated at Poudre Valley Hospital 6 years ago, had her second child at Memorial Hospital North in Colorado Springs, had an abortion three years ago, is in therapy, contracted giardia on a trip to New Zealand, is on the pill, and lives in zip code 80908.”
The commentary warned that while data on paper in an office is hard to steal, “It becomes insecure when it is uploaded to an electronic database.”
The proposal is just the latest in an ongoing fight over medical records as Obamacare is being implemented. The federal plan is to require online records and has raised concerns among privacy advocates.
The Colorado lawmakers also specify the urgency of their proposal: “The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.”
WND
3 Charts On Not Buying The 'Global Recovery' Risk Rally
While 'good is good, and bad is better'-market continues to price a higher and higher strike price for Ben, Mario, and Xiaouchuan, the twin (d)evils of energy and food price inflation could be tamping their enthusiasm for their new-found experiment.
Critically, for all those 'hoping' for the pump to be primed and a self-sustaining recovery to take hold, we present three charts to rain on that parade.Whether the world's central bankers come back to the table is unclear, given their clear concerns at what they have done recently, but we suspect this is much more a 'when' than 'if' question and given the performance of asset and volatility markets, it seems this is more than priced in.
1. Global Developed Market (and Emerging for that matter) Economic Surprise Indices are all rolling over - Reality is not meeting Analyst/Market Expectations...
2. Energy Demand is dropping rapidly - suggesting that 1) global economic recovery is stalling (or magically growth has become energy independent), and 2) central bank intervention (and geopolitical tensions in their somewhat circular fashion) has led to demand destruction quicker than many would have hoped.
and 3. World Trade Volume growth continues to slide...
Zero Hedge
Christians have no right to wear cross at work, says Government
In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.
It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.
A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.
The Government’s position received an angry response last night from prominent figures including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
He accused ministers and the courts of “dictating” to Christians and said it was another example of Christianity becoming sidelined in official life.
The Government’s refusal to say that Christians have a right to display the symbol of their faith at work emerged after its plans to legalise same-sex marriages were attacked by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain.
A poll commissioned by The Sunday Telegraph shows that the country is split on the issue.
Overall, 45 per cent of voters support moves to allow gay marriage, with 36 per cent against, while 19 per cent say they do not know.
However, the Prime Minister is out of step with his own party.
Exactly half of Conservative voters oppose same-sex marriage in principle and only 35 per cent back it.
There is no public appetite to change the law urgently, with more than three quarters of people polled saying it was wrong to fast-track the plan before 2015 and only 14 per cent saying it was right.
The Strasbourg case hinges on whether human rights laws protect the right to wear a cross or crucifix at work under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
The Christian women bringing the case, Nadia Eweida and Shirley Chaplin, claim that they were discriminated against when their employers barred them from wearing the symbols.
They want the European Court to rule that this breached their human right to manifest their religion.
The Government’s official response states that wearing the cross is not a “requirement of the faith” and therefore does not fall under the remit of Article 9.
Lawyers for the two women claim that the Government is setting the bar too high and that “manifesting” religion includes doing things that are not a “requirement of the faith”, and that they are therefore protected by human rights.
They say that Christians are given less protection than members of other religions who have been granted special status for garments or symbols such as the Sikh turban and kara bracelet, or the Muslim hijab.
Last year it emerged that Mrs Eweida, a British Airways worker, and Mrs Chaplin, a nurse, had taken their fight to the European Court in Strasbourg after both faced disciplinary action for wearing a cross at work.
Mrs Eweida’s case dates from 2006 when she was suspended for refusing to take off the cross which her employers claimed breached BA’s uniform code.
The 61 year-old, from Twickenham, is a Coptic Christian who argued that BA allowed members of other faiths to wear religious garments and symbols.
BA later changed its uniform policy but Mrs Eweida lost her challenge against an earlier employment tribunal decision at the Court of Appeal and in May 2010 was refused permission to go to the Supreme Court.
Mrs Chaplin, 56, from Exeter, was barred from working on wards by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust after she refused to hide the cross she wore on a necklace chain, ending 31 years of nursing.
The Government claims the two women’s application to the Strasbourg court is “manifestly ill-founded”.
Its response states: “The Government submit that… the applicants’ wearing of a visible cross or crucifix was not a manifestation of their religion or belief within the meaning of Article 9, and…the restriction on the applicants' wearing of a visible cross or crucifix was not an ‘interference’ with their rights protected by Article 9.”
The response, prepared by the Foreign Office, adds: “In neither case is there any suggestion that the wearing of a visible cross or crucifix was a generally recognised form of practising the Christian faith, still less one that is regarded (including by the applicants themselves) as a requirement of the faith.”
The Government has also set out its intention to oppose cases brought by two other Christians, including a former registrar who objected to conducting civil partnership ceremonies for homosexual couples.
Lillian Ladele, who worked as a registrar for Islington council in north London for 17 years, said she was forced to resign in 2007 after being disciplined, and claimed she had been harassed over her beliefs.
Gary McFarlane, a relationship counsellor, was sacked by Relate for refusing to give sex therapy to homosexual couples.
Christian groups described the Government’s stance as “extraordinary”.
Lord Carey said: “The reasoning is based on a wholly inappropriate judgment of matters of theology and worship about which they can claim no expertise.
“The irony is that when governments and courts dictate to Christians that the cross is a matter of insignificance, it becomes an even more important symbol and expression of our faith.”
The Strasbourg cases brought by Mrs Chaplin and Mr McFarlane are supported by the Christian Legal Centre which has instructed Paul Diamond, a leading human rights barrister.
Judges in Strasbourg will next decide whether all four cases will progress to full hearings.
If they proceed, the cases will test how religious rights are balanced against equality laws designed to prohibit discrimination.
Andrea Williams, the director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “It is extraordinary that a Conservative government should argue that the wearing of a cross is not a generally recognised practice of the Christian faith.
“In recent months the courts have refused to recognise the wearing of a cross, belief in marriage between a man and a woman and Sundays as a day of worship as ‘core’ expressions of the Christian faith.
"What next? Will our courts overrule the Ten Commandments?”
Growing anger among Christians will be highlighted today by Delia Smith, the television chef and practising Roman Catholic, who will issue a Lent appeal on behalf the Church’s charity, Cafod, accusing “militant neo-atheists and devout secularists” of “busting a gut to drive us off the radar and try to convince us that we hardly exist”.
ICM Research interviewed an online sample of 2,001 adults between March 7 and March 9. Interviews were conducted across the country and results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
The Telegraph
Investors plump up their holdings as gold continues its surge upwards
Investors have increased their holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold for seven weeks in a row, leaving them with a record 2,408 tonnes valued at over $130bn (£83bn), according to data from Bloomberg.
Meanwhile 16 out of the 23 analysts surveyed expect the gold price to gain this week, with only one neutral – the most since mid-November. The gold price is already up 9pc so far this year, building on 11 years of increases.
The surge is being driven by speculation that the Federal Reserve could push through further quantitative easing, despite encouraging US jobs data.
"There's not an overwhelming sense that there's going to be great times ahead," said Jeffrey Sica, chief investment officer of SICA Wealth Management. "As long as the 'quantitative easing devaluating the dollar scenario' is present, it will support the price of gold."
In the same vein, the strength of the US dollar – which, historically, often moves in the opposite direction to the gold price – is seen by analysts at Deutsche Bank as representing the main risk for the gold price in the near term.
"However," they add, "the rise in oil prices, if it continues, will threaten to unravel the US labour market recovery which we would view as ultimately bullish [for] gold prices."
The Telegraph
Calls for Syria Regime Change Fuel Conflict - Moscow
Russia on Monday lashed out at the demands for regime change in Syria, support for the opposition, and calls for outside intervention, which only intensify the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the UN on Monday.
“The ill-considered demands for regime change, unilateral sanctions designed to cause economic difficulties and social tension in the country, pushing the opposition toward confrontation with the government… and even calls for military intervention - all of these are risky recipes that can only lead to the escalation of the conflict,” he said.
He also warned against any attempts to manipulate the UN Security Council in the context of the “Arab Spring.”
RIA Novosti
Global liquidity peak spells trouble for late 2012
Data collected by Simon Ward at Henderson Global Investors shows that M1 money supply growth in the big G7 economies and leading E7 emerging powers buckled over the winter.
The gauge - known as six-month real narrow money - peaked at 5.1pc in November. It dropped to 3.6pc in January, and to 2.1pc in February.
This is comparable to falls seen in mid-2008 in the months leading up to the Great Recession, and which caught central banks so badly off guard.
“The speed of the drop-off is worrying. This acts with a six months lag time so we can expect global growth to peak in May. There may be a sharp slowdown in the second half,” said Mr Ward.
If so, this may come as a nasty surprise to equity markets betting that America has reached “escape velocity” at long last, that Europe will scrape by with nothing worse than a light recession, and that China is safely rebounding after touching bottom over of the winter.
Stocks usually turn about two months before the real economy peaks, but not always.
Stephen Jen from SLJ Macro Partners said the world economy is weaker than it looks, with monetary stimulus losing traction in the West just as China, India, Brazil, et al, hit the buffers, constrained by inflation and their own credit woes.
“The risk here is that the credit cycles in emerging markets mature and start to deflate just as developed markets struggle with their own deleveraging process. We think 2012 will be a tough year for risk assets,” he said.
Monetary data for China is remarkable. Real M1 contracted in January, weaker than post-Lehman. The rate rebounded in February but only to zero.
It is too early to judge whether China really can deflate its property bubble with carefully-calibrated credit curbs, achieving a feat that has eluded very clever officials across the world over the last century.
But bear in mind that China has racked up loan growth of 87pc of GDP over the last five years - according to Fitch study that should be compulsory reading - compared to less than 50pc in Japan leading up to the Nikkei bubble, or in Korea before the 1998 crisis, or in the US before the subprime debacle.
We know from China Iron and Steel Association that steel output has dropped from 2m tonnes a day last year to 1.7m this year - with chilly implications for Vale and Brazil’s real, or BHP Billiton and the Aussie dollar.
We know too that R&F Properties in Guangzhou reported a 40pc fall in house sales over the first two months of the year, with a 22pc drop in price. Like others, I am watching the Confucian 'soft landing' with curiosity.
Monetarism is not an exact science. The latest global signal may prove a false alarm. But monetarists have had a good run during the Great Recession, and were quick to spot the turn-around in the US economy in mid-2011.
What they see now is that US money is losing its fizz. Both M1 and M2 have flattened so far this year, and even contracted slightly in recent weeks.
Meanwhile velocity has plunged, with the M2 gauge dropping below 1.6 last week for the first time since records began in 1959 (as shown in the chart from the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis below).
Nick Bullman from the consultancy CheckRisks said that should give pause for thought. “It’s terrifying that markets are rising given what’s going on in the real world,” he said.
Rightly or wrongly, the US Federal Reserve does not intend to do anything about this. Time is running out for Ben Bernanke before the US election season closes the political window on fresh stimulus, yet he gave no hint of largesse in his latest testimony to Congress. He fretted about inflation instead, causing gold to crash over $100 (£64) an ounce within hours.
Regional Fed hawks are in any case near revolt. Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher dismissed talk of more QE was “wishful thinking“. “It is not our job to prop up Wall Street,” he said
So the Fed is hunkering down even though Mr Bernanke himself warns that the US faces a “massive fiscal cliff” later this year as automatic tax increases come into force.
Across the Atlantic, a German temper tantrum has made almost it impossible for Mario Draghi to deliver any more magic at the European Central Bank. His €1 trillion (£837bn) blast of liquidity for banks under the 'LTRO' scheme - actually just €530bn in fresh money - has averted a collapse of the Latin banking systems and bought another lease of life for monetary union.
However, banks parked €827bn back at the ECB for safe-keeping last week. They are still slashing their balance sheets to meet the EU’s ill-timed demand for 9pc core Tier I capital ratios by June. What the Draghi Bazooka has done is to slow the pace of deleveraging, not stop it. This comes at a cost of big distortions to the credit system and structural subordination of private creditors.
The ECB’s January data showed that real M1 deposits were still collapsing at frightening rates across Europe’s arc of depression, with six-month falls of 12.9pc in Greece, 9.2pc in Ireland, 9pc in Portugal, 8pc in Italy. And remember, this is a leading indicator. Italy is already in a slump. Its industrial output has fallen 5pc over the last year. It faces a further fiscal squeeze of 3.5pc of GDP this year in the middle of a deep recession. Buona fortuna.
France’s Nicolas Sarkozy was quick to declare Europe’s debt crisis “solved” after the Greek deal. Such claims are jejune. He ignores the cancer eating EMU: the 1930s Gold Standard mechanism that imposes all the burden of adjustment on the weaker economies, trapping Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland in debt deflation, and trapping his own country in structural decline.
Europe’s policy-makers are implicitly relying on a fresh cycle of global growth to do their work for them, and lift Club Med off the reefs. If recovery flags again, the strains will become intolerable. With Spain’s youth unemployment already hitting 51.2pc, how much more will it take before the political fuse detonates?
For all the talk, the EU has not yet embraced fiscal union, debt-pooling, or budget transfers, or put in place a viable political structure to overcome the deformities of monetary union, or even diagnosed the problem properly. The Greek saga has been a long-drawn exercise in evasion.
The Telegraph
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