Another Sign of ‘Wars’ and ‘Rumors of Wars’?

What would you think if someone came into your classroom and starting taking hostages at gunpoint?  Recently, many students and faculty at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina were caught off guard during a live ‘mock’ hostage drill during a recent lecture on campus:

“Local College Causes Stir with Gunman Drill”
Here is a short intro to the article:

“Some Elizabeth State University students are upset after being almost scared to death by a recent safety drill on campus.On Friday, an undercover campus officer barged into a history class in the Moore building and held the class hostage. According to students, he even held a gun to the professor’s head! It was all part of an emergency alert system drill that the school was planning for months. Problem is…not everyone knew it was a drill.

Four days earlier, the school did begin sending out emails to students saying there would be some sort of emergency drill on Friday. It did not specify where or exactly what time the drill would occur. It also did not mention the nature of the drill.

Then, on Friday, a few minutes before it all went down, the school sent out an alert saying there would be an armed intruder in Moore building who would be detained by campus police. Again, it did not specify which classroom. However, only about half the campus has voluntarily signed up for the instant text alerts to their phones, so most people in that particular classroom, including the professor in that class, had no idea it was a drill.”

While most of us can understand the need for preparedness and safety, do drills like this really accomplish either of these things?  Or do they create trauma / psychological problems?  What are the effects of drills such as this?  Do they have to be run ‘live’ with students in order to work?  Is it right to subject innocent people to such actions?  If so, is it a small price we may all have to pay to protect our freedoms?

Can a case be made that through such drills, constant warnings through officials (and later quietly retracted) concerning attacks, and other things simply create a more fearful and panicked public?  Or do these things really help our communities, and keep us in a clearer frame of mind to deal with potential terrorists?

The Bible seems to refer to a time when ‘wars’ and ‘rumors of wars’ will crescendo so greatly that the earth will be desperate for a solution.  If that is so, who will the world seek?  Does our current civilization have a solid track record of finding good people to help us through crisis situations?  Or does it instead jump at almost any solution which appears promising in nature, no matter how solid (or lacking) its proof or foundation is?

Do drills like this make us more…or less…prepared in the event of an emergency?  Do they do more to calm, or create fear?

What do you think?

Canada, US to Further Integrate Military Resources?

What does it mean when one country’s military is openly allowed to enter another country to help provide additional resources? Does it matter? Or does it depend on the situation…a crisis, perhaps?

First posted on Friday, February 22nd 2008 on canada.com by David Pugliese and in conjunction with Canwest news service:

“Canada, US agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies”

Here are the first few paragraphs:

“Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militarys from either nation to send troops across each other’s borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.

Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.

The U.S. military’s Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.”

But wait…can our own military be used on civilians, ie ‘civil emergencies’….much less a foreign military? (What happened to Posse Comitatus? For more information about that, more information can be found –HERE–) (Extra bonus question: Can you find online which other nations had troops operating in our country to provide assistance? And…is that legal? If it is not, how is it allowed…And does it matter what our laws say anymore? Are there people who have to follow our laws, and people who are exempt in our country?)
But did you know…this is actually nothing new? Did you know that during the national emergency involving Hurricane Katrine in New Orleans, there were foreign troops that operated in the US in order to ‘assist’ the entire emergency effort? (Maybe that sounds too weird to be true? If so, please look at articles from the emergency, including this one entitled, “Mexican Troops Aid Katrine Efforts”. You can read it –HERE–)

What is happening? Is this revealing a gradual slipping away of national sovereignty? Is this showing a shift towards something such as a North American union? Or is this a perfectly legal, safe, and ’standard’ procedure to provide international assistance when deemed needed? (One question one might ask, though, if that is the case: who decides what constitutes a ‘disaster’ or that ‘assistance’ is needed (and what is and isn’t allowed?)? Also…who is in charge of these troops when they are in our country? If we are…We now have the right to command foreign military? (Do people do that to us, too, then?). And if not…are we allowing foreign military powers to work inside our country legally under their own authority?

Are we daily seeing a move towards merger, and the framework for a one world system of government and military? Do we see anything resembling what the Bible describes?

What do you think?