by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 27 July 2010

WEAVERVILLE, NC – You may have heard of the proposed formation of the North American Union (NAU) between the countries of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. But is this alleged union between the three predominate countries of North America and the adoption of a single currency called the Amero–or North American Dollar–fact or fiction?

The NAU is based loosely on the concept of the European Union. The formation of the NAU would be both for economic and political reasons. While the idea of forming a union between Mexico, Canada, and the United States has been discussed for many years, each of these countries deny that there are any real plans to execute the union and develop a common currency, the Amero.

The concept of a union between the North American countries has been proposed since the mid-19th century. This union would include North America, the countries of Central America, and South America. In 2003, following the 9/11 attacks on the United States, both the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, U.S. Council on Foreign Affairs, and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations formed the Independent Task Force of North America (ITFNA) to combine forces against future attacks against North America. In March, 2005, the ITFNA released a report calling for a deeper integration of NAFTA and the formation of a North American Economic and Security community by 2010.

The belief by many that the secret formation of the NAU was actually a reality was a hot topic of debate during the 2008 Presidential campaign and was the subject of various Congressional resolutions. However, the Republican Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, and others flatly denied any plans of the United States participating in the formation of the NAU. The release of a book in 2007 entitled: “The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger of Mexico and Canada” helped to increase the controversy surrounding the secret formation of the NAU by the participating governments.

The proposed currency, the Amero, like its European counterpart, the Euro, was considered for economic reasons as a means of stabilizing the balance of trade between Mexico, Canada, and the United States as well as offer a much stronger financial bases for North America. This currency was first proposed by the Canadian economist, Herbert Grubel, in 1999, the same year that the Euro became a virtual monetary unit. The ITFNA supported the idea of the Amero by stating: “In the long term, the Amero is in the best interest of all three countries.”

Whether you believe that the formation of the NAU and the adoption of the Amero is fact or fiction, there are many who believe that this formation will be preceded by the development of the United Socialist States of America (USSA). A failure of the USSA will inevitably lead the USSA to enter into an agreement with Mexico and Canada to form the NAU. I suppose we will have to wait and see what happens.

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by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 15 February 2010 @ 15:09 UTC

BRUSSELS – Two high speed railway trains collided head-on during rush hour traffic on Monday near the capital of Belgium about 10 miles southwest of Brussels.

The Belgian media has reported that the collision occurred in Buizingen, near Halle. The crash has left 11 dead and at least 55 injured. Officials of the Belgian National Railway told VRT radio that the death toll could be as high as 25.

Although it is unclear exactly what may have caused the crash, which occurred at 0830 local time, it appears that one of the trains failed to acknowledge a stop signal. There has been no confirmation that a third train may have been involved.

Local officials indicated that their current concern is evacuating all the individuals who may be trapped in the wreckage and any bodies that may be left behind.

Both the Eurostar and Thalys railways have suspended all train service in and out of Brussels until the wreckage can be cleared and the scene investigated. Thalys operates high speed service between Paris and London, but this line does not pass through Brussels and has not been affected.

Local witnesses to the collision indicated that the trains were traveling at relatively high speed when they collided head-on. The impact of the crash was so intense, said one eyewitness, that the front of the leading cars crashed deeply into one another forcing the trains to become elevated to the point that they severed overhead high power lines.

An amateur video of the aftermath of the crash has been obtained and posted in this article. The images show rescuers pulling the wounded from a car that has rolled onto its side. Several victims were placed on stretchers alongside of the track.



by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 24 December 2009 @ 15:49 UCT

WEAVERVILLE, NC – It was the best of times…it was the worst of times. Most of you may not know that I joined the ranks of the unemployed back in May, 2009 when I resigned my position as an IT professional with local government after 14 years of service. I resigned my position primarily because work started to have an adverse impact on my health.  My blood pressure was on the rise, and, for the first time in my life, I started to have daily headaches. The working environment was taking a turn for the worst as well as it was fast becoming a very volatile workplace situation in which to find one’s self.  Everyday was a challenge.

Well, it’s now the day before Christmas and I have been unable to find lasting employment.  I did find work in my career area back in mid-August, but I fell while mowing my lawn and wound up in the hospital for three days, undergoing surgery on my left leg for torn quadriceps to that leg, and then enduring weeks of physical therapy. As a result, I lost the employment opportunity that I had secured.

I did a lot of praying during this time period, asking God for guidance and for Him to show me the way in which I should walk. The message that I received from God and that I continue to receive today was that He was closing the door on my former career path and opening a new door for me in the future. He asked me to trust in Him and He would take control of my life and show me the way that I should go. He also said that he would take care of our needs and get us through the hard times. I have held true to my word and have prayed each day asking for continued guidance and support while I have waited for God to reveal the new chapter of my life that He has planned for me. God has continued to support me and my family and provide for all our needs. It’s truly remarkable.

In September, I was invited to attend and pitch a presentation in Brussels, Belgium for an organization with which I continue to be affiliated: The Internet of Things Council (IOTC). My wife and I made plans in November to travel to Europe in early December, and we traveled to Brussels and Amsterdam over the course of seven days. The conference was a total success and our European trip was a mini-vacation that we will remember for many years to come. Is this what God had planned for me? Will something truly remarkable come of this trip and overseas opportunity? This is yet to be revealed to me.

Was the European trip and the conference in Brussels, Belgium the new chapter that God said He was opening for me? I have to believe that it must have been connected with God’s plan for me. A lot of times what you think you’re going to get from asking God for guidance is not what you get. Why? Because, many times what we ask for is not what we necessarily need, but what we want. God knows what we need, and really doesn’t concern Himself with what we want. He provides for our needs, not our wants. I have to believe this is true and hold strongly to my faith that what results is what was meant to be for me. I know that what appears on the surface isn’t necessarily what is actually happening in the background. If my involvement in the IOTC in Brussels is to have some connection to my future plans through God, then it will come to pass. I must be patient and keep my faith.

I am not going to try to second-guess God in 2010. However, I’m also not going to try to create a new career for myself either. This is not what God wants me to do. So, what am I going to do?

My plans for 2010 are to get back into the ranks of the employed. I am NOT going to submit that polished resume to deaf employers anymore only to have it rejected or to simply not get any response. I’ve submitted that perfect resume to employment websites for the last time. No more! What I plan to do after January 1, 2010 is to just find a job that will pay the bills while I wait for God to fulfill his plans for me. In other words, I am going to fill out those applications for part-time or full-time jobs that will pay our monthly bills (fortunately we don’t have credit card debt) and will provide us with health insurance, which is quickly running out–as we are on the last three months of our COBRA that expires after March, 2010.

I’m still in school, working toward my PhD in IT Education, and I know that God wants me to continue pursuing this objective. Once I get my PhD–planned graduation is in 2012–things should start opening up to a brighter future and future career, if this is God’s plan. In the meantime, I will set my sights much lower to find a JOB not a career, where I will work in a semi-retirement scenario that will provide for our needs while not forcing me to take my work home each day.

Call me crazy, but my faith is strong, and I will follow God to the end because one can never go wrong in following God.

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by DAN CALLOWAY
Published on 22 December 2009 @ 20:15 UCT

WEAVERVILLE, NC – The year 2009 marks the 2009th year of the 3rd Millenium, 9th year of the 21st Century, and 10th year of the 2000s decade according to the Gregorian Calendar.  The year 2010 will be referred to as 2K10.  No one really knows for sure what 2K10 will bring, but let’s take a quick review of some of the more significant and memorable events that occurred in 2009.

This last year was designated as the International Year of Astronomy, which coincides with the 400th year of the first official sighting of the heavens with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication by Johannes Kepler’s Astronomia Nova in the 17th Century.  This last year was also declared the International Year of Natural Fibres by the United Nations General Assembly in recognition of the use of natural fibers, both from animal and vegetable origin, in wearing apparel and non-traditional industrial uses.

Other memorable and significant events that occurred in 2009 include: (1) President Obama was elected the 44th and first African-American President of the United States; (2) Israel completed its withdrawal of the Gaza Strip; (3) The Icelandic government and banking system collapsed; (4) A Russian and American satellite collide over Siberia; (5) The Taliban released a video of its captured Polish geologist, Piotr Stanczak, being beheaded; (6) The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur; (7) NASA’s Kepler Mission, a space photometer which will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida; (8) Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); (9) The second G-20 summit, involving state leaders rather than the usual finance ministers, meets in London, where its main focus is an ongoing global financial crisis; (10) The 21st NATO Summit is held, 60 years after the founding of the organization; (11) North Korea launches the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of—but no official reaction from—the United Nations Security Council; (12) UNESCO launches The World Digital Library; (13) The World Health Organization expresses concern at the spread of influenza from Mexico and the United States to other countries; (14) North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong, and the United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test; (15) Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board; (16) The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as “swine flu”, is deemed a global pandemic; (17) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reelected as the president of Iran; (18) NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998; (19) The death of the entertainer Michael Jackson triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief whose online reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes Internet traffic to potentially unprecedented and historic levels; (20) Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union; (21) The 35th G8 summit is held in L’Aquila, Italy; (22) The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; (23) At the G-20 Pittsburgh summit, world leaders announce that the G-20 will assume greater leverage over the global economy, replacing the role of the G-8, in an effort to prevent another financial crisis like that in 2008; (24) An 8.3-magnitude earthquake triggers a tsunami near the Samoan Islands; (25) The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro; (26) European astronomers discover 32 exoplanets; (27) The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council; (28) CERN restarts the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva, Switzerland that they had shut down on September 19, 2008; (29) Dubai requests a debt deferment following its massive renovation and development projects, as well as the late 2000s economic crisis, causing global stock markets to plunge; (30) The UNFCCC’s United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark; and (31) Astronomers discover GJ1214b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist and petition the general public to give this planet a new, non-scientific name.

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by DAN CALLOWAY
Published 17 December 2009 @ 20:14 UCT

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, spoke at the Copenhagen World Climate Conference on Thursday where she represented the United States’s position on global warming in reaching an agreement on greenhouse gas emissions by backing a proposal to create a global cache of money for developing countries that has been estimated to be worth roughly $100Bn a year within a decade.

senatorhillaryclintonThe European Union has also agreed to create a similar fund amounting to well over one-hundred billion Euros in support of developing countries in the next decade to assist those countries with the effects of global warming caused by humankind.

Shortly after her announcement, the global climate chief of the UN, Yvo de Boer, remarked that diplomatic and political pressures to come to an agreement on climate control by the end of the week were having dramatic effects on the talks themselves as they entered their final hours.

EU negotiators were battling to get the U.S. and China to come to an agreement on how they would monitor pledges to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, and Chinese vice foreign minister, He Yafei, was insistent on no foreign government interference into his county’s affairs.  However, He Yafei did compromise by stating that China would consider international exchanges on a voluntary basis with other countries on the monitoring of emission levels within their countries.

The two-week Copenhagen Conference is expected to wrap up on Friday, but the sessions could carry over into Saturday if negotiations are still being hammered out.

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