Free Republic

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) — Sometimes you stumble on stories. Thursday was one of those times. We were outside Veterans’ Memorial in Columbus reporting on early voting. I approached a man with an “ I just voted” sticker on his lapel to ask him whether he’d encountered any lines. The “lines weren’t bad” he said, with a broad smile. Lines were the last thing on Aaron Wheeler’s mind as he explained why he drove 600 miles back to his old hometown from Virginia, where he moved this month, to vote in what he called “one of the proudest days” of his...

(CNN) — Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary who sharply criticized President Bush in his memoir last spring, told CNN Thursday he's voting for Barack Obama. "From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping," McClellan told new CNN Host D.L. Hughley McClellan, a onetime Bush loyalist whose scathing critique of the president sent shock waves across Washington last spring, has long hinted he was leaning toward the...

President George W. Bush offered to host a summit on the global financial crisis and met Saturday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was expected to press the US leader for a bold relaunching of the international financial system. "I look forward to hosting this meeting in the near future ... so we can insure that this crisis does not happen again," Bush said after he welcomed Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso here for talks on the economic crisis. Just before the scheduled three-hour meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he backed the idea of a...

It would be an interesting feature of an employee’s first day: sign a contract, fill out a W-2 and roll up your sleeve for your microchip injection. Sounds like sci-fi, but it’s happened, and now a handful of states are making sure their citizens will never be forced to have a microchip implanted under their skin.

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 9 — At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity. Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens. Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background,...

The American Medical Association (AMA) has officially established a code of ethics designed to protect patients receiving RFID implants. The recommendations focus on safeguarding a patient's privacy and health, and are the result of an evaluation by the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) regarding the medical and ethical implications of RFID chips in humans, as well as a follow-up report recently released. The latter discusses the possible advantages and specific privacy and ethical issues of using RFID-enabled implantations for clinical purposes. Entitled "Radio Frequency ID Devices in Humans," the report is presented by Robert M. Sade, M.D.,...

Doctors could soon be storing essential medical information under the skin of their patients, the American Medical Association says. Devices the size of a grain of rice that are implanted with a needle could give emergency room doctors quick access to the records of chronically ill patients, the nation's largest doctors group said in a report. The association adopted a policy Monday stating that the devices can improve the "safety and efficiency of patient care" by helping to identify patients and enabling secure access to clinical information. These radio frequency identification tags (RFIDs) are already used by Wal-Mart and other...

JEFFERSON CITY — A dire, apocalyptic prophecy in the Bible's Book of Revelation is getting a new audience: state legislators. Several evangelical Christian groups say the federal Real ID Act, which will standardize state drivers licenses and link them to corresponding national ID numbers by 2009, represents the "mark of the beast," the devilish number 666 that is attached to the godless. The nearly 2,000-year-old passage is referenced along with the prophetic locusts, plagues, oceans of blood and rivers of fire found in the Bible. Soon after, according to scripture, the antichrist takes control of the world and Jesus Christ...

Excerpt - LITTLE ROCK --As state legislators line up against the U.S. government's attempt to standardize driver's licenses nationwide, some believe it is a beastly plot that will draw the world closer to the apocalypse. Their inspiration: a magazine dedicated to biblical prophecy. Their fear: national ID numbers given to residents are the mark of the beast, the 666 from the Book of Revelation. "The ramifications are horrendous," said Sen. Ruth Whitaker, whose resolution opposing the Real ID Act of 2005 has passed the Arkansas Senate. "If there is anything akin to Nazi Germany, it is this act." ~ snip...

This is incredible. Listen to the audio. After listening to this blatant phony and fool, I thought to myself: "And the Democrats and the Media dare to criticize Bush?" I would be monumentally embarrassed to be a Democrat after listening to this.

TOLLWAY giant Transurban is looking to expand its e-tag system to give customers cashless entry into Sydney car parks. Transurban will roll out an electronic tag toll system in Sydney similar to its Melbourne operation if it succeeds in its $1.26 billion takeover bid for Sydney Roads Group. The deal would leave Transurban in control of most of Sydney's roads, adding the M1 Eastern Distributor, the M4 and M5 to the M2 and M7 motorways it already operates. The acquisition would make Transurban the country's dominant toll road operator. It would use this base to deliver thousands of its e-tag...

A US company has launched a chipless RFID (radio-frequency identification) Ink that can be used to track both animals and humans. Visible or invisible Ink "Tatoos" can be applied to the skin and tracked by RFID readers positioned a few feet away. The Company, Somark...said it had successfully tested it's Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink product....

One day we will all happily be implanted with microchips, and our every move will be monitored. The technology exists; the only barrier is society's resistance to the loss of privacy Dec. 10, 2006. 08:46 AM KEVIN HAGGERTY SPECIAL TO THE STAR By the time my four-year-old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location in real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits. Most people anticipate such a...

Financial regulators on both sides of the Atlantic may not be able to resolve policy disputes through co-operation and the creation of a global regulator should be considered, according to Barney Frank, the senior Democratic congressman. The views of the man widely expected take over the chair of the House financial services committee if the Democrats retake the chamber stand in stark contrast to those of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial regulator that the committee oversees. Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC, has been at pains in recent months to highlight stepped-up co-operation with foreign regulators such as...

The Missouri Supreme Court struck down the state's new voter identification law Monday that would have required voters to show a photo ID at the polls. A lower judge ruled last month that the ID requirement was an unconstitutional infringement on the fundamental right to vote. The state Supreme Court agreed in a 6-1 opinion. The new law would have required voters to show a photo identification card issued by Missouri or the federal government before they could cast a ballot. Voters lacking the ID this fall would be allowed to cast a provisional ballot, but after that, only the...

As Serbian dailz "Novostz" is reporting, new law passed in parlament ingnited large religious debate and outrage in Serbia. Problem rosed when old ID card law from 2002. is posted on disscussion in parlament. Law sazs that new ID cards containing biometrical information and chip with all essential data of holder is obligatorz in next 3 zears. large number of Christian Ortodox church members rose against it claiming that "New ID cards are even worse than yellow ribbons that Jewish people were forced to ware during WWII" as priest Mladenovich said. Church high ranking officials are convinced, aldough not official...

VeriChip Corporation announced Monday that it is working with a hospital and an insurance provider to implant some chronically ill patients with RFID chips. Hackensack University Medical Center and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey are asking patients to volunteer for a two-year program that will test "personal health record modules" inserted just beneath their skin. The devices are about the size of a grain of rice and emit radio signals with individual identification numbers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved them for medical use. VeriChip also touts the potential for using the chips for identity verification...

No thread necessary today, just look at the calendar for tomorrow. Oh six of oh six of oh six-- The Devil is up to his tricks? To those who pretend That this is the end: by Wednesday we'll see if you're hicks!

666: Alarmed by tomorrow's date?By MALCOLM MAYHEW STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER More photosTuesday has some people scared sixless. More than just the sixth day of the sixth month of the year 2006, it's the date when day, month and year give us the seemingly deviant digits: 666. No other number, in the history of numbers, has caused such a stir and scare. Thanks to pop culture's interpretation of the biblical reference to the "number of the beast," June 6, 2006, is bringing new meaning to the phrase "day from hell." The Hollywood hyperbole is well-prepared: Tuesday will see the release of...

With June 6, 2006, rapidly approaching, authorities in Colorado and elsewhere are carefully watching to see if that date - 6/6/06 - spurs demonstrations or violent activity. They are aware that 666 signifies the Mark of the Beast or the Antichrist to some organizations and believe June 6 is a date that could trigger problems. "It's been a conscious question among some of our folks, so they've been on the lookout for something," said Lance Clem, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. "But they haven't seen anything." Even so, some local police are being vigilant. "The bottom line...