MAY UNITY PREVAIL ON EARTH
March 21, 2008
The Perfect Storm Series #15: The Mother/Father of All Compilations!
Hello everysoul!
The Mother/Father of All Compilations! What more can I say?...
Oh! I cannot recommend strongly enough that you watch both the 4-part interview The Road to Ascension with David Wilcock (Edgar Cayce's reincarnation and a truly A-M-A-Z-I-N-G young man) through http://projectcamelot.org/david_wilcock.html (Jumproom to Mars is great too!) as well as My stroke of insight (20 minutes) at http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229
Happy reading and viewing and networking!
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com
P.S. Your feedback is as always welcomed and may be included in a coming compilation - unless you prefer it is not. Circulating this compilation (or any part of it) and personally inviting your correspondents to subscribe to this list would also help enlarge the circle of people who have access to this material. Please include the following note and the URL address for the archived copy below along with your forwards, so others may have the opportunity to explore the original copy, if they so choose.
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STATS for this compilation: Over 36,400 words and 234 links provided.
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THE QUOTES
"Five years on, the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq has left a devastated country and people. While dictatorships always come with their unique problems - and Iraq was no exception and neither was it unique – prior to 2003, the majority of Iraqis had access to basic facilities, ranging from education, health, food and other basic infrastructure. Today, Iraqis have access to barely an hour of electricity daily, if they are fortunate; the cost of fuel has skyrocketed, despite Iraq being the second largest producer of oil in the world; potable water is lacking, resulting in a variety of illnesses through the consumption of untreated water; unemployment stands at around 40-60%; there is a severe shortage of basic medicines and health care; children's education has been severely disrupted, with an entire generation of psychologically traumatised children; there is a sharp increase in the number of widows, orphans and street children; and the displacement of thousands upon thousands of families, both internally and externally, is surely the greatest tragedy of the 21st century. The new government - if its a real government - has proved that it is incapable of protecting its citizens – the violence and bloodshed continue unabated, despite all claims to the contrary. Sectarian tension and distrust initiated by militias, which did not exist prior to 2003, have affected the livelihood of Iraqi society. Freedom of movement is impossible today. Bands of militia roam the streets, and safety and security for Iraqis is but a haunting memory. The perpetrators of this crime of such great magnitude, resulting in the loss of innocent lives and the loss of livelihood of an entire sovereign nation, must be held accountable and justice must be done. Contrary to popular belief that Iraq would disintegrate further if the occupation ended, as often stated by those who support this war of aggression, the occupation of Iraq must end before any real reconstruction and reconciliation can take place. Iraqis should be left to chart their own destiny, while they take their rightful place among the other nations of the world."
- Dr Salam Ismael - Doctors for Iraq - March 2008
"In his Nobel address, the great Lester Pearson said that poverty and distress - especially with the awakening of the submerged millions of Asia and Africa - make the risks of war truly greater. And I would like to add to that the risks of terror. AIDS creates a vacuum. And in that vacuum breeds despair. Despair is the next-door neighbour of anger, anger is the next-door neighbour of violence. Afghanistan was a haven for terrorists because it was a collapsed state. A senior White House official recently told me, 'we know there's another ten Afghanistans potentially in Africa.' You know what? It's cheaper to prevent the fires than to put them out. More than half a century ago in the wake of a World War that Canadians fought so hard to win, Canada understood that we would prevent the next World War only if we turned our enemies into allies and built a stable and secure world order. You did it. You helped prevent World War III and helped a lot of us in other parts of the world prosper in peace. Thank you. Today we need the same sort of vision for the developing world from Canada."
- Bono -- Taken from the transcript of a speech he gave at a Liberal Party convention in Canada in 2006 http://www.international.gc.ca/canada-magazine/issue21/20-title-en.asp
"An amazing speech - Regardless of what you think of Barack Obama, I strongly believe he hit the nail on the head in this speech. It is well worth listening to in its entirety, not for who is giving it, but for the common-sense approach to the issue that it lays out. I may not think of Obama as Progressive, but in this speech on this issue, he is. Regardless of who wins in November, this should be heard, and not in out-of-context soundbites or parsed through the mouths of talking heads."
- Daniel Stafford (aqmstaffo@mailbag.com) - You can hear through http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3511&id=12333-3199371-8b_ccb&t=548 or http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808A.shtml
"You are correct in assuming that the "behind-the-scenes" agencies within our government still drive on, regardless of who is president. In fact, it really doesn't matter at all in this day and age. The president is merely a symbol. An image set forth by the Cabal to give the civilians the feeling that the country is indeed ran by the people. That is FAR from the case. In all honesty, most of what the CIA, NSA, DOD, DHS, and most certainly the DII do is classified, even for the president. Why does he need to know? He doesn't. He is not the king. A huge band of men coordinating with each other to achieve their goals is more important than what one man has to say. Especially a man who isn't president because the people want him to be. Who is president, for a very, very long while, has not been our choice. It is the choice of the Cabal and the Illuminati. Very sad."
- Brigadier General Shadow - Taken from http://www.davedavies.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?pid=7514
"The costs of war so far are staggering: 4,000 young Americans killed, tens of thousands maimed... 1 million Iraqis killed, millions maimed... $562 billion in tax dollars stolen from our children... $3 trillion cost to our economy through veterans care, weapons replacement, higher oil prices, and the collapsing dollar. All that in just 5 years!"
- Larry Stell (lstell@glasgow-ky.com)
"Will November 2008 bring a meaningful change to America? Will getting rid of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney without impeachment or indictment really make a difference? Will a 600 billion dollar war/defense budget be cut in half and used for desperately needed domestic spending? Will the ninety-three billion dollars profits in the private health insurance companies--Ñthose parasitic intermediates between you and your doctorÑbe used instead for full health care coverage for all? Will Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus be restored to the people? Will torture stop? Will all students in public universities be able to enroll for free? Will the US national security agencies stop mass spying on our personal communications? Will the neo-conservative agenda of total military domination of the world be reversed? The answer to these questions in the context of the current billion dollar presidential campaign is an absolute no. Instead we have a campaign of personalities and platitudes. There is a race candidate, a gender candidate and a tortured veteran candidate, each talking about change in America, national security, freedom, and the American way. The candidates are running with support of political parties so deeply embedded with the military industrial complex, the health insurance companies, Wall Street, and corporate media that it is undeterminable where the board rooms separate from the state rooms. The 2008 presidential race is a media entertainment spectacle with props, gossip, accusations, and public relations. It is impression management from a candidatesÕ perspective. How can we fool the most people into believing that we stand for something? It is billions of dollars of gravy for the media folks and continued profit maximunization for the war machine, Wall Street, and insurance companies no matter who is determined the winner in November. We must face the fact that the US governmentÕs primary mission is to protect the wealthy and insure capital expansion worldwide."
- Peter Phillips -- Taken from An Election Without Meaning
"Ample evidence exists as well in the other major field of change, the economy, and I must be frank about this so you will be prepared when the full truth no longer can be hidden. As bleak as some publicly reported facets of the economy are, the facts are more serious. Any positive "spin" on the situation that can be mustered is designed purely to serve the interests of banks and multinational corporations that need you to keep borrowing and spending; however, spending cautiously in these days is only common sense and so is having a cash reserve immediately available. I hasten to speak about the "silver lining" in the international economy as reallocation of the world's wealth undergoes profound changes: The team of economists with integrity who will replace the corrupt ones have transition plans that will keep disruption to a minimum during the changeover process."
- Matthew -- Taken from his February 24, 2008 message
"At this stage, your life may seem entirely under your control and you cannot possibly imagine what could go wrong to such an extent as to toss your into a tumble and make you lose sight of any sense of familiarity around you and predictability in your life. Yet, what is inevitably coming cannot be stopped, but can only be mitigated and directed towards what will turn out to be a vast expanse of reharmonized, regenerated peaceful existence out of which a new cosmic civilization will emerge and a true paradise on Earth take hold and blossom. You must not concern yourself with the specifics of what is to transpire. What matters is that you start right now to empower your Self into becoming ever more the perfectly radiant expression of the magnificent divine soul that has ever been and will forever be your unique and absolute Reality."
- Taken from Co-Creating The Future of Our Choice
CONTENTS
1. Feedback to the Special Peace Vigil for Tibet
2. Tibet - Support the Dalai Lama
3. A message to the readers of the Earth Rainbow Network
4. Earth Proclamation (revisited)
5. Message from Diane -- 14 March 2008
6. Feedback
7. Unconditional Compassion
8. Important declaration to sign for the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights
9. One Down (Spitzer) - 100 More 911 Kingpins To Go
10. Eliot’s Mess
11. Elliot Spitzer and America's Ethical Perversity
12. What The Next U.S. President Should Do
13. Winter Soldier: America Must Hear These Iraq Vets' Stories
14. 2008 Election Horror Fantasy - A Primer for Inquisitive Minds
15. Project Camelot interviews Benjamin Fulford
16. China's mobile network a surveillance tool?
17. EU told to prepare for flood of climate change migrants
18. Rush for biofuels threatens starvation on a global scale
19. "Forest Liars" Campaign Launches
20. The Orion Project : Our Vision and Purpose
RISKS OF AN IMMINENT FINANCIAL BREAKDOWN
Which bank is going to follow the Bear? (March 15, 2008)
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3556815.ece
So who is next? As advisers to Bear Stearns struggle to find a buyer or funding in the next 28 days, Wall Street, the City and the financial district in Tokyo were scrabbling to find out who is the most exposed to Bear Stearns, either through loans or trading positions. Traders in all three centres were panicking even for those banks not directly exposed to Bear. They feared that the problems experienced at the stricken bank signalled that the credit crisis has deteriorated to a new level. CLIP -- HAL TURNER who has much more on this at http://www.halturnershow.com/ wrote "ANALYSTS WARN OF "BANK HOLIDAY"HAS NOT HAPPENED IN 75 YEARS, SINCE ROOSEVELT DECLARED A 4 DAY BANK HOLIDAY IN THE DEPRESSION This is EXTREMELY URGENT -- pass this info on immediately to all your friends, family, neighbors and others you care about. The collapse of U.S. Banks is VERY VERY near; people must prepare to survive without access to ATM's and banks. That means having cash money on hand to tie over for a week or two."
Fear-mongering or something to seriously consider? You decide...
More on this...
Wall Street fears for next Great Depression (16 March 2008)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/wall-street-fears-for-next-great-depression-796428.html
Wall Street is bracing itself for another week of roller-coaster trading after more than $300bn (£150bn) was wiped off the US equity markets on Friday following the emergency funding package put together by the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase to rescue Bear Stearns.One UK economist warned that the world is now close to a 1930s-like Great Depression, while New York traders said they had never experienced such fear. The Fed's emergency funding procedure was first used in the Depression and has rarely been used since.A Goldman Sachs trader in New York said: "Everyone is in a total state of shock, aghast at what is happening. No one wants to talk, let alone deal; we're just standing by waiting. Everyone is nervous about what is going to emerge when trading starts tomorrow."In the UK, Michael Taylor, a senior market strategist at Lombard, the economics consultancy, said on Friday night: "We have all been talking about a 1970s-style crisis but as each day goes by this looks more like the 1930s. No one has any clue as to where this is going to end; it's a self-feeding disaster." Mr Taylor, who had been relatively optimistic, has turned bearish: "It really does look as though the UK is now heading for a recession. The credit-crunch means that even if the Bank of England cuts rates again, the banks are in such a bad way they are unlikely to pass cuts on."Mr Taylor added that he expects a sharp downturn in the real UK economy as the public and companies stop borrowing. "We have never seen anything like this before. This is new territory for us. Liquidity is being pumped into the system but the banks are not taking any notice. This is all about confidence. The more the central banks do, the more the banks seem to ignore what's going on."Mr Taylor added that the problems unravelling at Bear Stearns are just the beginning: "There will be more banks and hedge funds heading for collapse."One of the problems facing the markets is that, despite the Fed's move last week to feed them another $200bn, the banks are still not lending to each other. CLIP
Bear fire sale sparks rout, Bush tries to calm (March 17, 2008)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080317/bs_nm/bearstearns_fed_dc;_ylt=AmllJSMyuH5adJ6KXhTGcZ6s0NUE
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fire sale of Bear Stearns Cos Inc (BSC.N) stunned Wall Street and pummeled global financial stocks on Monday on fears that few banks are safe from deepening market turmoil. Trying to assuage worries that the credit crisis is spinning out of control, President George W. Bush said the United States was "on top of the situation," but the sell-off intensified in the early afternoon.The U.S. Federal Reserve geared up for a deep cut in interest rates on Tuesday to blow money into the fragile financial system -- the latest in a series of rate cuts that has brought down borrowing costs by 2-1/4 percentage points and hammered the U.S. dollar to record lows. Staff at Bear Stearns' Manhattan headquarters were welcomed to work on Monday by a two-dollar bill stuck to the revolving doors -- a spoof on the bargain-basement price of $2 per share that JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) is paying for the firm. A hopeful Coldwell Banker real estate agent was hawking cheap apartments to employees who saw the value of their stock options go up in smoke. The combination of Bear Stearns' bailout and the Fed's offer on Sunday to extend direct lending to securities firms for the first time since the Great Depression highlighted just how hard the credit crisis has hit Wall Street.And it scared market players worldwide. "If you get a crisis of confidence in the wholesale banking space and something the size of Bear Stearns could go under, then people start to panic. You get a real fear factor," said Simon Maughan, analyst at MF Global in London. CLIP
America was conned - who will pay? (March 17 2008)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/17/economics.useconomy
The South Sea Bubble ended in riots as trust was lost. Wall Street also duped the public - Bear Stearns marks the moment when the global financial crisis went critical. Up until last Friday, it had been possible - just about - to believe that the worst was over and that things were about to get better. That pretence was stripped away when JP Morgan, at the behest of the Federal Reserve, stepped in when the hedge funds pulled the plug on the fifth-biggest US investment bank.t is now clear that no end is in sight to the turmoil, and the reason for that is that the Fed and the US treasury are no closer to solving the underlying problem than they were eight months ago. The crisis will only end when house prices stop falling and banks stop racking up huge losses on their loans. Doing that, however, will require the US government to intervene directly in the real estate market to end the wave of foreclosures. Ideologically, it is ill-equipped to take that step and, as a result, property prices will fall and the financial meltdown will go on and on.Ultimately, though, action will be taken because there will be political pressure for it. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising that there is not already rioting in the streets, given the gigantic fraud perpetrated by the financial elite at the expense of ordinary Americans. CLIP
Soft Shoe in Hard Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708I.shtml
Maureen Dowd, writing for The New York Times, says: "Everyone here is flummoxed about why the president is in such a fine mood. The dollar's crumpling, the recession's thundering, the Dow's bungee-jumping and the world's disapproving, yet George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly, tap dancing and singing in a one-man review called 'The Most Happy Fella.'"
Stocks decline after huge rally (Mar 19)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street;_ylt=As.hymR6y77jpBelIAZOZPWs0NUE
NEW YORK - Stocks pulled back sharply Wednesday, erasing most of the previous session's big gains as investors grew concerned about the possibility that banks remain vulnerable to further problems from soured debt. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 300 points after rising 420 on Tuesday. Some retrenchment was to be expected after the previous day's huge advance. But the decline also reflects investors' continuing uneasiness about the world's financial system and the U.S. economy. CLIP
Rescue Me: A Fed Bailout Crosses a Line (March 16, 2008)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/business/16gret.html
What are the consequences of a world in which regulators rescue even the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed helped create the titanic credit mess we are in? Will the consequences be an even weaker currency, rampant inflation, a continuation of the slow bleed that we have witnessed at banks and brokerage firms for the past year? Or all of the above? Stick around, because we'll soon find out. And it's not going to be pretty. Agreeing to guarantee a 28-day credit line to Bear Stearns, by way of JPMorgan Chase, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York conceded last Friday that no sizable firm with a book of mortgage securities or loans out to mortgage issuers could be allowed to fail right now. It was the most explicit sign yet of the Fed's "Rescues R‚ Us" doctrine that already helped to force the marriage of Bank of America and Countrywide. But why save Bear Stearns? "Why not set an example of Bear Stearns, the guys who have this record of dog-eat-dog, we're brass knuckles, we're tough?" asked William A. Fleckenstein, president of Fleckenstein Capital in Issaquah, Wash., and co-author with Fred Sheehan of Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve. After years of never allowing any of our financial institutions to fail, they have become so enormous that nobody will be allowed to sink beneath the waves. Otherwise, a tsunami would swamp the hedge funds, banks and other brokerage firms that remain afloat. If Bear Stearns failed, for example, it would result in a wholesale dumping of mortgage securities and other assets onto a market that is frozen and where buyers are in hiding. This fire sale would force surviving institutions carrying the same types of securities on their books to mark down their positions, generating more margin calls and creating more failures. Note: This excellent article should be read in its entirety by anyone who wants to understand the impending financial meltdown and the government's response to it.
Financial and Banking Cover-ups
http://www.wanttoknow.info/financialbankingcoverup
Bernanke Deep-Sixes the Dollar to Save Wall Street
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032008D.shtml
Contre Info writes: "In the absence of the authority and political courage required to cut to the quick, the Fed has been reduced to using expedients that - while allowing the extent of losses to remain concealed - postpone the moment of truth and compromise the dollar. To save Wall Street, Bernanke exports the crisis and stokes a global inflationary fever, risking a devastating boomerang: rejection of the dollar as the global reserve currency."
Dollars tough to sell on streets of Amsterdam (Mar 17, 2008)
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL1758265520080317
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands. "Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office." That's because the smaller currency exchanges -- despite buy/sell spreads that make it easier for them to make money by exchanging small amounts of currency -- don't want to be caught holding dollars that could be worth less by the time they can sell them. The dollar hovered near record lows on Monday, with one euro worth around $1.58 versus $1.47 a month ago.
Oil plummets on economy worries
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices;_ylt=As88gcVesmNTUPuRnKwzCf.s0NUE
NEW YORK - Oil prices plunged Monday, pulling back at least temporarily from record levels as investors feared that the financial crisis that forced the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. is a sign of deep economic trouble.Crude's plunge came even as diesel prices rose to a new record above $4 a gallon, and gas prices remained high. Diesel, used to transport the vast majority of the nation's goods, rose 1.3 cents to a national average of $4.002 a gallon Monday, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. The national average price of a gallon of gas, meanwhile, dipped slightly to $3.283 a gallon, but remains 73 cents higher than a year ago. Oil's steep decline — falling $4.53 to settle at $105.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — came hours after futures reached a new trading high of $111.80 on the Federal Reserve's move Sunday to lower a key interest rate by a quarter point. CLIP
Gas, oil rise to records as dollar falls
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
Gas and oil prices jumped again to new highs Thursday as the dollar weakened, although crude's advance was limited by fresh evidence of a U.S. economic slowdown.
Dollar's Clout Sinks Worldwide
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031308R.shtml
Alan Clendenning reports for The Associated Press: "Hit by a free fall with no end in sight, the once mighty US dollar is no longer just crashing on currency markets and making life more expensive for American tourists and business people abroad; its clout is evaporating worldwide as foreign businesses and individuals turn to other currencies."
Gold price fixed above $1000 barrier at London PM fix (March 17 - 2008)
http://www.ameinfo.com/150317.html
The gold price today fixed above the 'symbolic' $1000.00/oz mark reaching $1,003.50 at the London PM fix, after sailing through previously uncharted territory since the start of the year. (...) The World Gold Council identified the following short term reasons for the recent gold price rise: - Inflationary fears as a result, in particular, of high oil prices. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation; while its real value can vary in the short term, its purchasing power has remained stable over centuries. - Continued weakness in the dollar. Gold is a statistically proven hedge against fluctuations in the US dollar, the world's main trading currency. The dollar has lost 5% against the Euro since September 2007. - Unstable financial conditions in the light of recent and ongoing credit crisis. Gold is not matched by a liability. It can help to provide insurance against extreme movements in the value of traditional asset classes that can happen during unsettled times. These short-term factors have, however, occurred on top of longer-term movements in supply and demand fundamentals that have supported the rise in the gold price since 2001. CLIP
Gold price expected to hit $US1,100/oz (Mar 16)
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=468291
The spot price of gold is expected to surge as high as $US1,100 per fine ounce in the near term, as investors continue to pursue the metal to insulate themselves from the fallout from a softening US economy and volatile financial markets across the world. CLIP
Dollar Dips Against Euro Before Fed Rate Call
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808D.shtml
Agence France-Presse reports, "The dollar wobbled close to record low points against the euro on Tuesday as traders eagerly awaited an interest rate decision from the US Federal Reserve, analysts said."
The Fed's in a desperate race with spectre of collapse
http://tinyurl.com/2m2qv4
The Fed, with its latest $200bn offer of cheap cash, has provided yet more state aid for errant hedge funds and another Washington-backed bail-out for Wall Street bankers.
Roubini's Nightmare Scenario: A Vicious Circle Ending In A Systemic Financial Meltdown
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19531.htm
America is going broke and the rest of the world knows it. Bernanke is just speeding the country along the ever-steepening downward trajectory.
IMF tells states to plan for the worst
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee21ddbc-f08b-11dc-ba7c-0000779fd2ac.html
Governments might have to intervene with taxpayers' money to shore up the financial system and prevent a "downward credit spiral" from taking hold, the International Monetary Fund said
U.S. faces severe recession: NBER's Feldstein
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080314/usa_economy_feldstein.html?.v=1
The United States is in a recession that could be "substantially more severe" than recent ones, National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said on Friday.
Stocks tumble on Bear Stearns rescue news
http://tinyurl.com/ytlzhp
News that Bear Stearns Cos. was set to receive a financial rescue sent U.S. stocks into a freefall in early Friday trade, plunging the three major indexes more than 2% down before the market stabilized and moved off its lows.
Bear Stearns in Bankruptcy: Can You Feel Their Pain?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708J.shtml
Dean Baker writes for Truthout: "Why is the Fed, an agency of the government, using our tax dollars to keep Bear Stearns and its rich managers and shareholders above water? After all, the government supposedly doesn't have enough money to provide kids with health care and childcare, to guarantee families decent housing or to meet a long list of other needs. Why do we have the money to lend tens of billions of dollars to Bear Stearns at below market interest rates?"
Fears mount over US economy
http://tinyurl.com/2vfyoe
The US economy has been hit by a new series of setbacks, with a slump in consumer spending, another drop in the dollar and oil prices hitting a new record increasing fears of recession.
Recession Time
http://tinyurl.com/2cf4xe
How bad will this downturn get? No one can know because we've never experienced such a headlong slide in the housing market
Triple Shock to the Global Economy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708G.shtml
Le Monde's Eric Le Boucher elucidates the global economic crisis and attempts to find its silver lining ...
Tent city highlights US homes crisis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7297093.stm
The meltdown in the US mortgage market has led to record foreclosures and forced thousands from their homes. In few places is it worse than southern California, where the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani reports on an extreme consequence of the downturn, but one that some observers fear could grow.
Subprime Mortgage Watchdogs Kept on Leash
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708B.shtml
E. Scott Reckard, reporting for The Los Angeles Times, writes: "Freelance financial watchdogs who examined the paperwork on subprime home loans being sold to Wall Street had an inside view of the boom in easy-money lending this decade. The reviewers say they raised plenty of red flags about flaws so serious that mortgages should have been rejected outright - such as borrowers' incomes that seemed inflated or documents that looked fake - but the problems were glossed over, ignored or stricken from reports."
And then the "cherry on the cake"... again according to Hal Turner (who is often a fear-mongerer IMHO)... which means discernment is required to assess his claims below...
SPECIAL "CLOSED SESSION" OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSSED A LOT MORE THAN THE PENDING SECURITY SURVEILLANCE PROVISIONS LAST NIGHTS SESSION WAS ONLY THE FOURTH TIME IN 176 YEARS THAT CONGRESS CLOSED ITS DOORS TO THE PUBLIC - Word has begun leaking from last nights special, closed-door session of the United States House of Representatives.Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as was the publicly stated reason for the closed door session, they were also bluntly warned about: the imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by September 2008, the imminent collapse of US federal government finances by February 2009,the possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of the collapse, advance round-ups of "insurgent U.S. citizens" likely to move against the government, The detention of those rounded-up at "REX 84" camps constructed throughout the USA, the possibility of retaliation against members of Congress for the collapses,the location of "safe facilities" for members of Congress and their families to reside during expected massive civil unrest the necessary and unavoidable merger of the United States with Canada (for its natural resources) and with Mexico (for its cheap labor pool), the issuance of a new currency - THE AMERO - for all three nations as the proposed solution to the coming economic armageddon. Members of Congress were FORBIDDEN to reveal what was discussed and ABC News via WCPO web site at the link below CONFIRMS congress members were FORBIDDEN to talk about it! Several are so furious and concerned about the future of the country, they have begun leaking info. More details coming later today and over the weekend. SPREAD THE WORD!!!"
This closed session info is also confirmed at http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/congress-holds.html
House Goes Behind Closed Doors To Debate Surveillance Bill
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=1fde2498-d8c8-44f3-9c94-4a27f8407536
CAPITOL HILL (AP) -- The House has held a closed session for the first time in 25 years, discussing a hotly contested surveillance bill. Republicans had requested privacy for what they termed "an honest debate" on the new Democratic eavesdropping measure. The bill is opposed by the White House and most Republicans in Congress. Lawmakers were forbidden to disclose what was said during the hour-long late-night session. The extent to which minds were changed, if at all, should be more clear Friday, when the House is expected to openly debate and then vote on the bill. President Bush has vowed to veto the surveillance measure, saying it would undermine the nation's security. Bush opposes it in part because it wouldn't provide retroactive legal immunity for telecom companies that may have helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Video: Top Economist on CNBC: "Abolish the Fed" (11 min.)
http://tinyurl.com/ypj9pw
WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION
Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight (20 minutes) MUST WATCH!! - FASCINATING and very moving!!!
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. Recommended by Janine Fafard (janineyoga@racsa.co.cr) MANY OTHER SUBSCRIBERS ALSO RECOMMENDED THIS VIDEO!!
The Road to Ascension: David Wilcock (Part 1 to 4) ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING VIDEOS with Edgar Cayce's reincarnation!!! MUST WATCH! even it it's long... Check also his website at http://www.divinecosmos.com/
Watch the videos or read the transcripts through http://projectcamelot.org/david_wilcock.html or at
PART 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxQLiy7AHx8 (His personal amazing story)
PART 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bz9YPriDLo (Montauk Project, jump gate, time travel, 2012)
PART 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfr_Hj9LOa
PART 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq11frQ3R9A
Our interview with David Wilcock is part of our redirecting our focus toward the future of our planet in the years leading up to 2012. As the self-professed reincarnation of Edgar Cayce, he's a good person to start with. In some ways, we've approached David less in the traditional interview mode and more with the stance that all we at Camelot had to do was to place the camera there and the rest would take care of itself. And so it happened. David is extremely well-read, eloquent and dynamic and was able to hit the ground running. He launches into a saga of his own spiritual journey of self discovery, how he came to the realization of one of his past lives as Edgar Cayce, his meetings with members of the Black Ops community and ultimate introduction into the world of the Illuminati, his exposure to the Law of One, Ra material and his scientific investigations. Wrapping his own considerable channeling abilities into a vast and lucid review of the scientific basis for the coming changes around 2012, this interview promises to raise many questions and provoke great deal of thought in the viewer. CLIP Check also this picture of Edgar Cayce in 1910: http://www.writespirit.net/blog/archive/2006/11/12/story_edgar_cayce -- Pretty convincing! (he gives details on this from 40 minutes in the interview) and check also...
Interplanetary “Day After Tomorrow?” Part 1
http://www.enterprisemission.com/_articles/05-14-2004_Interplanetary_Part_1/Interplanetary_1.htm
The entire solar system - not just our one small planet -- is currently undergoing profound, never-before-seen physical changes. This paper will address and scientifically document a wide variety of significant examples, drawing from a host of published mainstream sources.We will also outline a new scientific model that, for the first time, coherently explains these simultaneous interplanetary changes via a fundamental “new Physics” - a Physics that predicts “even greater anomalies to come”… CLIP
The Science of Peace
http://www.divinecosmos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=305&Itemid=85
Is there a "consciousness field" of "radiant mind energy" that we all share? Is this field causing "Global Warming" on Earth… and similar effects throughout the entire solar system?Does the Field have any effect on DNA, including the ability to completely transform one species into another? Is such a 21st-century model of evolution actually happening to us… right now?Is this ‘Mind Field’ the ultimate answer to solving financial collapse, terrorism, violent crime and all manner of Earth Changes, leading to a true Science of Peace?
STUNNING SPACE SHIPS FOOTAGE (December 22, 2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkShCKiMHhI
The Infra-Terrestrials
http://www.drboylan.com/infraterrestrials.html
(...) The Infra-Terrestrials is a term which can be used to refer to advanced indigenous intelligent species here on Earth for a very long time, and dwelling by choice within the Earth or in domed cities at the bottom of the ocean. They are Species of Earth, originating from here. They did not migrate here from other star systems. (...) The Infras have taught that one day the Human Race will become a beautiful Race, and honored among the Stars. It has already begun. (...) Besides the Infra-Terrestrial Species noted thus far, there are two additional groups of Infra-Terrestrials: the Elfen Folk (Elves, Gnomes, Wee Folk, Dwarves); and, the Fairies; except that the fairies are not like Tinkerbell, with wings, but are the gentle floating Orb Folk. The wings in drawings of fairies were our ancestors' attempt to depict floating hovering beings to a simple people who could not otherwise understand how someone could be suspended in the air.
A MINUTE OF SILENCE ON THURSDAY, MARCH 20
http://bellaciao.org/fr/spip.php?article63080
Thursday March 20 is the exact anniversary of the attack on Iraq. Stop the War is asking all its supporters in colleges, schools, workplaces etc to organise and observe a minute of silence at midday for all those who have been killed in Iraq and in all of George Bush's wars. There will also be a protest outside Downing Street from 11.30 on that day.
Spring Equinox and Holi, Aries Solar Festival, Libra Full Moon Festival
http://www.satyacenter.com/spring-equinox-2008
"The High Tide" : The Ron Paul Revolution Continues (Posted March 13, 2008) MUST WATCH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3MLTvYBQy0
3D animation and motion graphics come together in a 60 second grassroots promo for Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Visit http://www.HighTidePromo.com for full res versions and more info. The High Tide could be a lifting anthem for the Ron Paul Revolution as it seeks ways to voice its message in the post-campaign era. The video features high quality 3-D animation and Dr. Ron Paul's voice. It's stunning imagery dramatically portrays the dark landscape of spreading wars and an unfolding economic wasteland that have resulted from bad policy. It carries also the spirit of freedom that Ron Paul hoped his campaign would rekindle-- and in many ways already has-- as people across the country are now sparking debate over scaling back government power and following constitutionally-based policies. Grassroots supporter Nate Evans (ArcFx, http://WeAreChange.org) donated months of work to put together the 3-D promo (click here for high quality) that will have to settle for underscoring the high-point of an unusual presidential campaign that has now receded from hopes of winning the GOP nomination. Nevertheless, the campaign succeeded in shedding light on the skewed policies of the phony candidates who shared the stage with him. His disenfranchisement in polls, electronic voting and media coverage demonstrated the manipulation over so-called free elections. Ron Paul recently conceded that "convention victory" had been lost, but that the fight would continue. “Many victories have been achieved due to your hard work and enthusiasm,” said Paul. “I don’t mind playing a key role in the revolution, but it has to be more than a Ron Paul revolution,” he said. Somehow, that is reflected in this animated video that transcends the mere man Ron Paul is individually and elevates instead the ideas and history his policy is based upon. So, what will be the high mark of the Ron Paul Revolution, in their campaign for the presidency? What is its the lasting impact, and in what form will it continue? Paul urges the continuation of meet-up groups, and even campaign races in effort to gain more delegates and take small victories where they are still available in the election, if only to stretch the political muscle for a future contest. “At the rate our economy is slipping, we will likely see the disintegration of the American empire,” said Paul. “Today’s events should be seen as a tremendous opportunity to change our country for the good.” The Ron Paul Revolution intends to make an lasting impression when it will march together in Washington. Which direction that will take us, is the next step.
Landslide Victory for Ron Paul in Missouri!! We can still do it! (March 16th, 2008)
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/42855
Today in Saint Charles County Missouri, the largest Republican County caucus in the state 111 of a possible 137 Delegates were elected for Ron Paul. The St. Charles Caucus was a landslide turnout for Ron Paul. The Republican Platform was amended to oppose the Patriot Act, The Iraq war, the Federal Reserve, Fiat Currency, the Global American Empire, the income Tax, Estate Tax, Mccain Fieingold, the National ID Card, The Real ID Act of 2005 and much much more. Kudo's to Ron Paul supporters in Missouri!!This was only one county in Missouri yesterday and it was happening all over the state. Please keep this bumped up...the GOP is freaking out and other states can do the same!! CLIP
New CONTEST - One Minute Shift - Lots of wonderful entires!
http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=greatshiftcontest
IF you have one minute to share your thoughts about how to make a positive change in the world and inspire others to do so, what would it be? You might demonstrate a key part of the solution, a change in consciousness or perspective or something that inspires us for the journey. If you had a single minute to share the single most important message you have with the world, what would it be? And can you make that message entertaining enough to create a shift in others? The Deadline was March 15th 2008 Especially recommended... MIRACLE OF THE HEART at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgbtFr2UchQ
Energy to Transform the World
http://tinyurl.com/2gjbjk
1-hour interview with Dr. Steven Greer on the free energy his group, AERO, hopes to release that will transform the world. Make sure to hear the whole thing. Recommended by Kathy Roberts (weerkhr@pacbell.net)
Illuminati Bloodlines of power part 1/31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amLDfAMnLVc
Recommended by Carol who wrote: "I send this link because this seems like such a comprehensive overview of historical facts without emotional baggage. This five hour presentation of alternative Hx in ten minute segments, which is different from other presentations in it's suggestions near the end as to what can we do to not support this process. The credits were not posted, but the narrator's voice sounds remarkably like Susan Sarandon."
'Creepy gnome' terrorises town (11 Mar 2008) (With a video) http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece
A TOWN in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night. The midget - which wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk - was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters. Teenager Jose Alvarez - who filmed the gnome - yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina. He said: “We were chatting about our last fishing trip. It was one in the morning. “I began to film a bit with my mobile phone while the others were chatting and joking."Suddenly we heard something - a weird noise as if someone was throwing stones."We looked to one side and saw that the grass was moving. To begin with we thought it was a dog but when we saw this gnome-like figure begin to emerge we were really afraid."Jose added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome. He said: “This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out - just like everyone else in the neighbourhood now."One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital.”
Chupacabra or ET? (Warning: This could be disturbing to some people!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18WypukatIs&NR=1
Optical Illusion - Is Seeing Really Believing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8nhPTYtiig
Sunday Funnies - The Last Picture I Ever Took
http://thetempest.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/sunday-funnies-the-last-picture-i-ever-took/
Happy Easter!
http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/381/Easter/Happy_Easter
More funny cartoons through http://www.jibjab.com/
5 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO
http://tahoestyle.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/5-things-you-never-knew-your-cell-phone-could-do/
John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Ron Paul (Feb 28) THIS 10 MIN 30 SEC VIDEO IS EXTREMELY MOVING!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/3/13/john-kennedy-martin-luther-king-and-ron-paul.aspx
You wouldn’t know it from watching the nightly news or reading the morning paper, but Ron Paul -- the presidential candidate who stands for health freedom in the United States -- is still in the running for the 2008 presidential campaign. By now you may expect that the mainstream media would censor their coverage, only featuring candidates that are accepted by the establishment, but the Internet has, so far, represented a place where freedom of speech, and freedom of ideas, has persevered.Well, this, too, may be changing. This YouTube video -- which shares words from some of the greatest leaders in U.S. history, including Ron Paul -- was actually censored, and removed, by YouTube. Watch it now, before it is censored further (This exceptional video is also available at http://xs2.lhi.is/~oskar05/ronpaul.wmv), and remember, if you agree with Ron Paul's message of freedom and liberty then JOIN THE CAUSE! CLIP - Ron Paul Still Running, Refuses To Support McCain - Video Added (March 11, 2008)
The Shocking Video Hillary Does NOT Want You To See! (Parts 1 and 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq8aopATYyw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMfUajhL24I
Amazing Sand Castles
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/3/8/amazing-sand-castles.aspx
Cool Ice photos (Keep clicking after #11)
http://www.hirmes.com/ice/
Amazing Spiritual Surrealism Art
http://www.rassouli.com/
Check especially The Power of Love at http://www.rassouli.com/PowerofLove.htm and VEILING OF THE SOUL at http://www.rassouli.com/giclee2.htm Recommended by Aradhana (info@aradhana.be)
911 In Plane Site
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF576aVtRzQ
Doomsday Plane - the Mystery 9/11 Plane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMK5bmdAEHc&NR=1
Anonymous Email From An Airline Mechanic (April 17 2005)
http://sonomachemtrails.blogspot.com/2008/03/anonymous-email-from-airline-mechanic.html
KNBC 'Toxic Sky' with Bill Moyer in 2006
http://sonomachemtrails.blogspot.com/2007/12/knbc-toxic-sky-with-bill-moyer-in-2006.html
KSLA Is U.S. Gov't. Secretly Testing Americans 'Again'? (Nov 2007)
http://sonomachemtrails.blogspot.com/search?q=ksla
Could a strange substance found by an Ark-La-Tex man be part of secret government testing program? That's the question at the heart of a phenomenon called "Chemtrails." In a KSLA News 12 investigation, Reporter Jeff Ferrell shows us the results of testing we had done about what's in our skies.
Hillary's surprise http://www1.yahoo.americangreetings.com/ecards/display.pd?prodnum=3139647&path=40935
Where the Hell is Matt? -- Amazing Trip Around the World in Less Than 4 Minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4
If you've ever had the desire to travel, but don't have all the money saved yet, you'll want to watch the awesome video, Where the Hell is Matt?, for inspiration. It's based on the travels of a video game developer who created a Web site so his friends and family could keep up with his many adventures around the world. The site became so popular during and after his long trip that a candy manufacturer paid for a second trip around the world last year, this time a six-month excursion encompassing 39 countries on all seven continents.I hope you'll enjoy watching this short trip around the world from your desktop, then be inspired to take a trip of your own to some beautiful place close by or far away.
Taxi to the Dark Side Must Watch Award-Winning Video Documentary (1 hr 18 min)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7553360276446246577
The film documents how Rumsfeld, together with the White House legal team, were able to convince Congress to approve the use of torture against prisoners of war. Taxi to the Dark Side is the definitive exploration of the introduction of torture as an interrogation technique in U.S. facilities, and the role played by key figures of the Bush Administration in the process.
The history of Hamas the elected govt of Palestine-Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJNNjYxkkKU
A SAD REMINDER OF WHAT HATRED (from whichever origin) CAN DO...
An Inconvenient Truth - A HARD-HITTING BRITISH NEWS REPORT ON MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISM IN THE UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0neqxLOhtN0&NR=1
Help End Poverty Without Spending a Penny
http://www.WantToKnow.info/051023microcredit
World's best-known protest symbol turns 50 (20 March 2008)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7292252.stm
It started life as the emblem of the British anti-nuclear movement but it has become an international sign for peace, and arguably the most widely used protest symbol in the world. It has also been adapted, attacked and commercialised. It had its first public outing 50 years ago on a chilly Good Friday as thousands of British anti-nuclear campaigners set off from London's Trafalgar Square on a 50-mile march to the weapons factory at Aldermaston. The demonstration had been organised by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) joined in. Gerald Holtom, a designer and former World War II conscientious objector from West London, persuaded DAC that their aims would have greater impact if they were conveyed in a visual image. The "Ban the Bomb" symbol was born. He considered using a Christian cross motif but, instead, settled on using letters from the semaphore - or flag-signalling - alphabet, super-imposing N (uclear) on D (isarmament) and placing them within a circle symbolising Earth.The sign was quickly adopted by CND. (...) And can its success be measured? Fifty years on, wars have continued to be waged and the list of nuclear-armed states has steadily lengthened. But the cup is half-full as well as half empty."There are many ways in which nuclear war has been prevented," says Mr Wittner. "The hawks say that the reason nuclear weapons have not been used is because of the deterrent. But I believe popular pressure has restrained powers from using them and helped curbed the arms race. (...) It is fascinating to know the meaning and history behind the symbol.As a Vietnam veteran, I never wore it during the war, only afterwards, next to my badges and medals, a peace sign. Only a soldier knows the true cost of peace.Every citizen of the world should live in peace. Every person in the world must play their part. In the words of the late, great John Lennon, "Give peace a chance"! Conrad, Atlanta, Georgia - USA
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China blankets Tibetan areas with troops (Mar 20, 2008)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080320/ap_on_re_as/china_tibet;_ylt=Al1RwZQjIT8nVoIqw0tTp9Gs0NUE
ZHONGDIAN, China - China blanketed restive Tibetan areas Thursday with a huge buildup of troops, turning small towns across a wide swath of western China into armed encampments. Beijing acknowledged that last week's anti-government protests had spread far beyond Tibet's borders and that police opened fire on protesters. It warned foreign tourists and journalists to stay away from a huge expanse of territory across four provinces.In an overture of peace, the Dalai Lama offered to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders, reiterating that he was not asking for Tibetan independence.China has repeatedly ignored calls for dialogue, accusing the exiled Tibetan leader and his supporters of organizing violence in hopes of sabotaging the upcoming Beijing Olympics and promoting Tibetan independence.Hundreds of paramilitary troops aboard at least 80 trucks were seen traveling along the main road winding through the mountains into southeastern Tibet. Others set up camp and patrolled streets in riot gear, helmets and rifles in the town of Tiger Leaping Gorge, a tourist attraction in Yunnan province bordering Tibet. CLIP
China Cracks Down in Tibet and Beyond as Protests Spread
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031608A.shtml
Mark Magnier writes for The Los Angeles Times: "The spread of protests from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, to neighboring communities and now Gansu province represents a crisis for a government eager to project an image of friendly confidence and cultural refinement in advance of the Beijing Olympics."
Tibet Governor Promises Harsh Consequences
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708L.shtml
The Associated Press reports, "Tibet's governor promised leniency to anti-Chinese protesters who turned themselves in before the end of Monday - and harsh consequences for those who don't - while troops fanned out to quell sympathy protests that have spread to three neighboring provinces."
China "Holds Tibetan Dissidents"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708A.shtml
BBC News reports, "Security forces in the Tibetan city of Lhasa are rounding up dissidents, exiled Tibetans say, as a deadline approaches for protesters to surrender."
To better understand what Tibetan people are now facing, watch the first 4 minutes of
END GAME: Official Movie Eugenics part 1 - VERY GRIM AND DISHEARTENING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veHhcxQjZ2w
Tibet and the Ghosts of Tiananmen
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808M.shtml
Bill Powell writes for Time: "It is still nearly five months before the Olympic torch is to be lit in Beijing, officially starting the 29th summer Olympics. But, diplomats in the Chinese capital believe that a high level game of chicken has already begun, one that has now turned deadly - first, in Lhasa, the capital of what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region, and now elsewhere, according to Tibetan exiles and human rights groups."
Simmering Resentments Led to Tibetan Backlash
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808B.shtml
Jim Yardley, reporting for The New York Times, writes: "Chinese leaders have blamed 'splittists' led by the exiled Dalai Lama for spurring violent protests in Tibet and orchestrating a public relations sneak attack on the Communist Party, as they gear up to play host to the Olympics Games this summer. But to many Tibetans and their sympathizers, the weeklong uprising against Chinese rule in Lhasa reflects years of simmering resentment over Beijing's interference in Buddhist religious rites, its tightened political control and the destruction of the environment across the Himalayan territory the Tibetans consider sacred. If there is a surprise, it may be that Beijing has managed to keep things stable for so long."
Worldwide Protests Over Tibet Crackdown
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808C.shtml
The Associated Press reports, "Protesters in Australia burned Chinese flags Tuesday and police arrested 50 activists in Nepal during renewed demonstrations against Beijing's crackdown on Tibet."
Iraq War's Cost: Loss of US Power, Prestige and Influence
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031608B.shtml
Warren P. Strobel of McClatchy Newspapers reports: "It was a decision that only President Bush had the power to make: At about 9 a.m. on March 19, 2003, in the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing of the White House, he gave the 'execute order' to begin Operation Iraqi Freedom, the US-led invasion of Iraq."
Five Years, and Counting
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908M.shtml
Dahr Jamail reports for Inter Press Service, "Devastation on the ground and largely held Iraqi opinion contradicts claims by US officials that the situation in Iraq has improved towards the fifth anniversary of the invasion Mar. 20."
Pope: Enough With Slaughters in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708R.shtml
The Associated Press reports: "Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul."
"War Made Easy": Media Lap Dogs Backed Iraq Mess
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908I.shtml
Susan Donaldson James reports for ABC News, "Sean Penn, the actor-director-turned-political-activist, narrates a new anti-war documentary that alleges U.S. presidents since Kennedy have manipulated the public to wage wars."
Five Years Into War, Soldiers Speak (19 March 2008) Excellent video interview!!
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908J.shtml
Washington - Today marks the fifth anniversary of the day President Bush announced from the Oval Office the "opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign" to invade Iraq. On that day, he invested the military with a great and grave responsibility. "To all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces now in the Middle East, the peace of a troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you," Bush said. "That trust is well placed." Five years later, more than 200 of those men and women joined last week in Silver Spring, Maryland, to reject that trust, to speak out against that mission and to invest their government with the responsibility to end it. During the Winter Soldier testimonies, they told their own stories of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the realities of life on the ground, not of the Oval Office. They told of the killing of civilians, the destruction of houses and farms, the mishandling of war dead, the use of illegal weapons, the dehumanization of the "enemy" and the pain that war has etched onto their own lives. Over the course of four days, from March 13 to 16, they testified against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They found them guilty. "We were not bad people," testified Cliff Hicks, a 23-year-old Iraq veteran, expressing the sentiment of many of his peers, who spoke of wrestling with guilt, shame and fear. "We were all good people in a bad situation, and we did what we had to do to get through." The event was in some ways a revival of the first Winter Soldier, in 1971, in which more than a hundred Vietnam veterans gathered to mourn their own acts of violence and speak out against the war that perpetuated them. Last week's Winter Soldier comprised the largest-ever gathering of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Like the Vietnam-era veterans, their aim is larger than the sum of their personal testimonies. They hope to play an integral role in ending the occupation, according to Kelly Dougherty, executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), the organization behind the event. CLIP Much more below in #13. Winter Soldier: America Must Hear These Iraq Vets' Stories
Mission Still Not Accomplished
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032008A.shtml
In an editorial, The New York Times writes, "It has been five years since the United States invaded Iraq and the world watched in horror as what seemed like a swift victory by modern soldiers and 21st-century weapons became a nightmare of spiraling violence, sectarian warfare, insurgency, roadside bombings and ghastly executions."
Why?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908R.shtml
Truthout contributor William Rivers Pitt says, "Five years in Iraq. That's 1,825 days since 'Shock and Awe' lit up the skies above Baghdad, all of which was captured live and in living color by unblinking CNN cameras with unobstructed views of the carnage."
Iraq War Protesters Take to the Streets
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908S.shtml
Michael Ruane, Sue Anne Pressley Montes, and Petula Dvorak of The Washington Post report: "Hundreds of antiwar demonstrators this morning tried to stop workers from entering federal government buildings, sat down in busy streets to block traffic, and staged a 'March of the Dead' parade from Arlington National Cemetery into the District to protest five years of fighting in Iraq."
A brave soldier testifies about what he saw and did in Iraq. (2 Videos)
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8795#video
"We were told we were fighting terrorism...The real terrorism was this occupation... I threw families onto the street in Iraq only to come home and see families thrown onto the street in this country in this tragic and unnecessary foreclosure crisis... Our enemy is not 5,000 miles away: they are right here at home." -- Michael Prysner
Casualty of War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908U.shtml
This week on Bill Moyers Journal, "former talk show host Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro on the true cost of war and their documentary, 'Body of War,' depicting the moving story of one veteran dealing with the aftermath of war."
The Wages of Peace
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708O.shtml
Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier write for The Nation: "The economic consequences of Iraq run even deeper than the squandered opportunities for vital public investments. Spending on Iraq is also a job killer. Every $1 billion spent on a combination of education, healthcare, energy conservation and infrastructure investments creates between 50 and 100 percent more jobs than the same money going to Iraq. Taking the 2007 Iraq budget of $138 billion, this means that upward of 1 million jobs were lost because the Bush Administration chose the Iraq sinkhole over public investment."
Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031908O.shtml
David M. Herszenhorn, of The New York Times, reports: "At the outset of the Iraq war, the Bush administration predicted that it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion to oust Saddam Hussein, restore order and install a new government. Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion and counting. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say that $1 trillion to $2 trillion is more realistic, depending on troop levels and on how long the American occupation continues."
US denies planning strike on Iran (MARCH 13, 2008)
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/13AAF1CB-4E92-4D6D-A232-635325A80887.htm
The US government has denied it is preparing to take military action against Iran before George Bush's term as president expires. Speculation has been growing since the US military commander in charge of Middle East operations resigned on Tuesday.The White House denied reports that Admiral William Fallon was quitting because of differences with Bush over Iran. A recent article in Esquire magazine said Fallon was opposed to the US using force against Iran over its nuclear programme. Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said Fallon had asked for permission to retire early because reports on the issue meant he felt he could no longer be effective. (...) While some consider it unlikely that Bush, as a "lame duck" president with only 10 months left to his term, would undertake such a major military action as an attack on Iran, there is precedent from Bush's own father. In December 1992, after the former president had already lost his re-election battle to Bill Clinton, George Bush sent thousands of US troops to invade Somalia on a peacekeeping mission. And just days before leaving office, the former president ordered a strike on Baghdad with 40 cruise missiles striking targets linked to Iraqi weapons development, an example of how the US president can order military action at any time. Over the past year, Bush and Dick Cheney, the vice-president, have ratcheted up the rhetoric against Iran, which says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. CLIP
MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/commissions.html
In the final hours before adjourning in 2006, Congress passed and the president signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA). In doing so, they cast aside the Constitution and the principle of habeas corpus, which protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. They also gave the president absolute power to designate enemy combatants, and to set his own definitions for torture. Habeas corpus isn't a fancy legal term. It's the freedom from being thrown in prison illegally, with no help and no end in sight. No president should ever be given the power to call someone an enemy, wave his hand, and lock them away indefinitely. The Founders made the president subject to the rule of law. They rejected dungeons and chose due process.We all know the difference between fairness and persecution. If we do not act immediately to fix the Military Commissions Act and restore our constitutional rights, basic protections like habeas corpus could be lost forever, and our country would become unrecognizable. CLIP
Globalization Bush-Style
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708F.shtml
Tom Engelhardt, writing for TomDispatch.com, says: "Imagine, for a moment, that you live in a small town somewhere near the Southern California coast. You're going about your daily life, trying to scrape by in hard times, when the missile hits. It might have come from the Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) - its pilot at a base on the outskirts of Tehran - that has had the village in its sights for the last six hours or from the Russian sub stationed just off the coast. In either case, it's devastating."
Eighteen Killed in Pakistan Missile Strike
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031708C.shtml
Zulfiqar Ali and Laura King, reporting for The Los Angeles Times, write: "A missile strike Sunday destroyed the compound of a suspected militant leader in Pakistan's tribal belt, killing at least 18 people, officials and local residents said. The Pakistani military disavowed responsibility for the strike in the South Waziristan tribal region, raising the possibility that it was carried out by US forces."
The horrible, honest reality of the American occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan like you haven't heard it before
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19536.htm
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan., features testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.
Iraq builds $1 BN high-tech border barrier (07 March 2008)
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20080307103412/lok103400080307
Iraq is about to award a $1 billion contract to build a high-tech perimeter around its border to prevent Al Qaeda terrorists entering the country. In an exclusive interview with Noozz, former Iraqi Minister of Communications and current Iraqi MP Mohammed Allawi revealed that Iraq is about to award a contract to foreign contractors to create a high-tech surveillance system along the country's borders to prevent intruders entering illegally."The first phase will involve securing the border with Syria. Ninety per cent of terrorist attacks in Iraq are by non-Iraqis and many of the terrorists come through the borders between Iraq and Syria," said Allawi."Technologies will include wimax [wide area wireless networks], sensors, cameras and other equipment capable of differentiating between animals, human beings and vehicles."According to Allawi, the border technology is to be provided by outside security consultants and designed to help the Iraqi authorities identify and apprehend terrorists such as Al Qaeda suicide bombers before they can enter the country.
Did Saddam Hussein Gas His Own People? (March 1, 2003)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1779.htm
No doubt, Saddam has mistreated Kurds during his rule. But it's misleading to say, so simply and without context, that he killed his own people by gassing 5,000 Kurds at Halabja. (...) there's reason to believe the story about Saddam "gassing his own people" at Halabja may not even be true. (...) "The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent — that is, a cyanide-based gas — which Iran was known to use. The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time." CLIP
"All the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19518.htm
Recently, the Boston Globe reported that the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) had set up an offshore company to hire close to half of the men and women working for KBR in Iraq as contractors. According to the report, this enables KBR to avoid paying social security, unemployment insurance and other taxes.
Ohio's Voting Machines Are Now an Official Crime Scene
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808E.shtml
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, reporting for The Free Press, write: "At least 15 touch-screen voting machines that produced improbable numbers in Ohio's 2006 statewide election are now under double-lock in an official crime scene. And the phony 'Homeland Security Alert' used by Republicans to build up George W. Bush's 2004 vote count in a key southwestern Ohio county has come under new scrutiny."
Native Americans on "Longest Walk 2"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031408H.shtml
Darrin Mortenson, writing for Truthout, says: "When northwestern Arizona's Hualapai Indians got in the way of the Anglos' westward expansion in the 1860's, US soldiers rounded them up, penned them in and forced survivors to march some 100 miles across the desert to a reservation far from white commerce. 'We became strangers to our own land,' said Loretta Jackson, the tribe's current director of cultural resources, who says the tribe now suffers a scourge of alcoholism and health issues, encroachment from rampant development and invasions of their sacred sites."
Israel makes another bid for F-22 jets
http://tinyurl.com/2hq3cj
In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear weapons, defense officials who will visit the US next week plan to ask the Pentagon to reconsider its decision not to sell Israel the F-22 fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
"I Came, I Saw, I Destroyed!" By Uri Avnery (16/03/08)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19550.htm
WHAT HAPPENED this week is so infuriating, so impertinent, that it stands out even in our familiar landscape of governmental irresponsibility. On the near horizon, a de facto suspension of hostilities was taking shape. The Egyptians had made great efforts to turn it into an official cease-fire. The flame was already burning visibly lower. The launching of Qassams and Grads from the Gaza Strip into Israel had fallen from dozens a day to two or three.And then something happened that turned the flame up high again: undercover soldiers of the Israeli army killed four Palestinians militants in Bethlehem. A fifth was killed in a village near Tulkarm. THE MODUS OPERANDI left no doubt about the intention. (...) That was not an attempt to make an arrest. That was an execution, pure and simple, one of those summary executions in which the Shin Bet fulfils the roles of prosecutor, judge and executioner. This time no effort was even made to pretend that the four were about to carry out a murderous attack. It was not claimed, for example, that they had anything to do with last week's attack on the Mercaz Harav seminary, the flagship of the settlers' fleet. Actually, no such pretense could be put forward, because the most important of the four had recently given interviews to the Israeli media and announced that he was availing himself of the Israeli "pardon scheme" - a Shin Bet program under which "wanted" militants give up their arms and undertake to cease resistance to the occupation. He was also a candidate in the last Palestinian elections.If so, why where they killed? The Shin Bet did not hide the reason: two of the four had participated in attacks in 2001 in which Israelis were killed."Our long arm will get them even years later," Ehud Barak boasted on TV, "we shall get everyone with Jewish blood on his hands." SIMPLY PUT: The Defense Minister and his men endangered today's cease-fire in order to avenge something that happened seven years ago. (...) The government which decided on the killing in Bethlehem undoubtedly intended to torpedo the cease-fire. Why does it want to do so?There are several possible kinds of cease-fire. The most simple is the cessation of hostilities on the Gaza Strip border. No Qassams, Grads and mortar shells on the one side, no targeted assassinations, bombardments, shelling and incursion on the other side.It is known that the army objects to that. They want to be free to "liquidate" from the air and raid on the ground. They want a one-sided cease-fire.A limited cease-fire is impossible. Hamas cannot agree to it, as long as the blockade cuts the Strip off on all sides and turn life there into hell - not enough medicines, not enough food, the seriously ill cannot reach appropriate hospitals, the movement of cars has come to an almost complete standstill, no imports or exports, no production or commercial activity. The opening of all border crossings for the movement of goods is, therefore, an essential component of a cease-fire. Our government is not willing to do that, because it would mean the consolidation of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. CLIP
Was the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19519.htm
There is a distinct possibility that the United States may have been involved in the actions leading up to Comandante Ríos' death. US Special Forces and Marines have been illegally engaged in counter-insurgency campaigns within the country of Colombia for years.
The $60 Million Dollar Hit Job: Government To Use A Guided Missile To Kill Secret Astronaut (February 16, 2008)
http://www.drboylan.com/hybridastronaut.html
Here is the inside account of a hybrid clone, created by the Cabal and placed aboard a spy satellite to operate its stolen extraterrestrial technology, then callously targeted to perish with the failing satellite. And his rescue. - Richard Boylan (...) his Star Wars Lite exercise is a public conditioning for a later full-scale Star Wars to repel a fake "alien invasion' staged by secret U.S. antigravity craft, and planned for later this year. CLIP
US pulls strings in deadly puppet show
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10497753
One of the main precursors for this attack was Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's cosy relationship with the United States. Uribe would not have done what he did in Ecuador had he not been fully backed up by the Bush Administration.
Afghanistan: Why Canada Should Withdraw Its Troops
http://tinyurl.com/yvtzyv
Many Afghans told us they consider the current military mission the same way as they consider previous invasions by British and Soviet military forces. We were reminded the invading forces in both those cases claimed to represent the best interests of Afghans.
Montreal 9/11 Truth asks: “Montreal, The Next Terror Target?” (March 20, 2008)
http://www.infowars.com/?p=936
"Montreal 9/11 Truth has just produced a documentary film exposing a networked video surveillance contract that the Montreal Transit System (STM) has signed involving a company with an alleged shady history and very close ties to American and Israeli intelligence services." This looks very well researched, with lots of original footage. Good job, Montreal 9/11 Truth. CLIP
'King of spam' pleads guilty, faces 26 years in prison (Mar 17, 2008)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080317/tc_infoworld/96019
San Francisco - The notorious spammer authorities dubbed "the king of spam" is facing a possible 26-year jail sentence after pleading guilty in Seattle on Friday to charges of fraud and tax evasion. Robert Soloway, 28, had already been found guilty of spam charges in several civil cases -- Microsoft won a $7.8 million judgment against him in 2005 -- but had avoided paying fines in those cases. The criminal charges to which he pleaded guilty on Friday followed his arrest in 2007 by the U.S. Justice Department. He was arrested on criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in May 2007. (...) While there have been hundreds of spam prosecutions in the United States, it is extremely rare for spammers to face criminal charges, and those involved in the matter say that Soloway's case could serve as a deterrent to other spammers. CLIP
Alvin Radkowsky, 86, Dies; Pioneer of Nuclear Energy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50224-2002Feb22?language=printer
(...) Dr. Radkowsky marketed his thorium method as a way to give nations the capability to generate energy while preventing them from using spent fuels to produce nuclear weapons. He pointed out that only minuscule amounts of plutonium, a byproduct of the uranium reactors, are needed to make a nuclear weapon."If we don't put a stop to conventional uranium cores now, nuclear terror will ensue, and the use of legitimate nuclear energy will be barred worldwide," he once said.The small amount of plutonium produced with the thorium method is "in an isotopic mix that is not weapons-suitable," said Thorium Power President Seth Grae. There is also half as much spent fuel, he added. Small-scale testing of the thorium process is now in effect at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. Grae said the earliest commercial usage in the United States would not occur until 2006. CLIP Recommended by Miriam Knight (miriamknight@comcast.net) who also recommended http://ir.thoriumpower.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=121550&p=irol-irhome
Carbon Output Must Near Zero To Avert Danger, New Studies Say (March 10, 2008)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/09/AR2008030901867.html
The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades. Their findings, published in separate journals over the past few weeks, suggest that both industrialized and developing nations must wean themselves off fossil fuels by as early as mid-century in order to prevent warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up sources of water worldwide. (...) Although many nations have been pledging steps to curb emissions for nearly a decade, the world's output of carbon from human activities totals about 10 billion tons a year and has been steadily rising. For now, at least, a goal of zero emissions appears well beyond the reach of politicians here and abroad. U.S. leaders are just beginning to grapple with setting any mandatory limit on greenhouse gases. The Senate is poised to vote in June on legislation that would reduce U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050; the two Democratic senators running for president, Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), back an 80 percent cut. The Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), supports a 60 percent reduction by mid-century. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who is shepherding climate legislation through the Senate as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the new findings "make it clear we must act now to address global warming.""It won't be easy, given the makeup of the Senate, but the science is compelling," she said. "It is hard for me to see how my colleagues can duck this issue and live with themselves." CLIP
The Monstrous Monsanto Universe
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031308EA.shtml
Le Monde's Dominique Dhombres reviews a new documentary, "Le Monde selon Monsanto" ["The World According to Monsanto"] that first aired on French television on Tuesday night: "The charge sheet is horrifying, inexorable and convincing."
US Organic Food Industry Fears GMO Contamination (March 12, 2008)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/12/7643/
Widespread contamination of U.S. corn, soybeans and other crops by genetically engineered varieties is threatening the purity of organic and natural food products and driving purveyors of such specialty products to new efforts to protect their markets, industry leaders said this week. A range of players, from dairy farmers to natural food retailers, are behind an effort to introduce testing requirements and standards for certification aimed at keeping contamination at bay. That goal is rapidly becoming harder, however, as planting of biotech corn, soybeans, and other crops expands across the United States.“Now there is a real shortage of organic grain for animal husbandry and dairy operations,” said Organic Consumers Association national director Ronnie Cummins. “People are having to be real careful.” Proponents of the plan are rolling it out this week at an industry meeting in Anaheim, California, seeking to get the entire organic and natural foods industry to agree on testing and standard certifications. Companies that get certified will be allowed to use a seal designating as much on their products. “We think we can keep the contamination from getting worse by putting safeguards in place so people who want to choose to eat organic products free of genetic contamination can do so,” said Michael Funk, CEO of United Natural Foods, which is backing the initiative. “The longer we delay … the more challenging it is going to be.” CLIP
Plan To Spray Toxic Biological Chemicals Over San Francisco Announced (March 11, 2008)
http://www.naturalnews.com/022816.html
(NaturalNews) People of the world, the US Government is planning to poison more than two million people, in California, using an untested biological "pesticide" this summer. The chemical to be sprayed is classified by the EPA as a "pesticide" and the plan is to douse cities with this chemical designed to stick on everything for 90 days or longer. This application is not a one time event, but will continue every 1-3 months for as long as five years. The pesticide to be sprayed is not designed to harm the light brown apple moth's who it is designed for, but merely to confuse its mating habits. While harmless to moths, the pesticide has been documented to harm humans. Side effects range from vomiting and flu like systems, to male and female reproductive cycle disruption. One child nearly died from the exposure, and some people have developed asthma from being exposed to this chemical concoction. It is cause for alarm that a chemical being labeled as harmless and "safe" even in minute doses, causes severe health effects in some people. The government is racing to cover up and hide the dangerous health effects so that they can continue their aerial spray plans this summer. Your attention and action on this subject is needed in the most important way. CLIP
Video: sports car that runs for a year on one tank of petrol (March 5, 2008)
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/geneva_motor_show/article3494301.ece
Making its European debut today, the sports car that only needs refuelling once a year. The makers of the Fisker Karma say that unheard-of level of fuel efficiency is entirely possible if you only drive the car up to 50 miles a day, using just the battery, and remember to recharge it at night. The car can go from 0-60mph in just six seconds and has a top speed of 125mph - although only in "sport" mode, when the juice kicks in to help power the engine. The four-door plug-in hybrid, launched today at the Geneva Motor Show, features a small petrol engine and a lithium ion battery pack which work in harmony to power the car using technology developed for secret US military reconnaissance vehicles. It also has an optional solar panel roof that helps charge the car and provide cooling for the interior cabin. Henrik Fisker, the chief executive of Fisker Automotive told Times Online: “It is a plug-in hybrid so you can plug it in at home like you plug in a cellphone or any electrical device and charge it overnight. Then you can drive the first 50 miles without using any gas. After that there is a gasoline engine that turns the generator that charges the lithium ion battery.”Mr Fisker, a Dane who designed the Aston Martin DB9 and BMW Z8, also claimed that his lithium ion battery used "different chemistry" to its rivals, giving it a much longer lifespan."We’ve solved the overheating problem and also the lifespan of the battery is over ten years. We’re going to be the first ones on the market with a plug-in hybrid with this configuration," he said. (...) The premium sports sedan will have a starting price of $80,000 (with an estimated cost of approximately £55,000 when it is made available in the UK) and initial deliveries of the Karma will commence towards the end of 2009 with annual production projected to reach 15,000 cars. The car is already sold out for 2009.
Government Reports Warn Planners on Sea-Rise Threat to U.S. Coasts (March 12, 2008)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/science/12coast.html
A rise in sea levels and other changes fueled by global warming threaten roads, rail lines, ports, airports and other important infrastructure, and policy makers and planners should be acting now to avoid or mitigate their effects, according to new government reports. While increased heat and “intense precipitation events” threaten these structures, the greatest and most immediate potential impact is coastal flooding, according to one of the reports, by an expert panel convened by the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences.Two other studies, both part of a multiagency effort led by the Environmental Protection Agency, sound similar warnings on infrastructure but add that natural features like beaches, wetlands and fresh-water supplies are also threatened by encroaching saltwater. CLIP
FRAGILE AND THREATENED Ecosystem will collapse if we fail to save butterflies, warns Attenborough http://omega.twoday.net/stories/4782033/
9 March 2008 - SIR DAVID Attenborough says Britain faces an "environmental catastrophe'' unless immediate action is taken to save the country's butterflies from extinction. The broadcaster is to launch a multimillion-pound campaign to preserve the insects, amid fears that large areas of the countryside will soon become butterfly-free. Five species have become extinct over the past century. Of the 54 remaining, more than three-quarters are in rapid decline. "This is an environmental catastrophe. Butterflies, once widespread, have been seriously affected by intensive agriculture, habitat destruction, pollution, and development,'' said Sir David. "That is worrying, not least because these declines indicate an underlying deterioration of the environment as a whole.'' CLIP
Glaciers Suffer Record Shrinkage
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031708EA.shtml
BBC News reports: "The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown."
Ancient Arctic Ice Is Melting
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031908EA.shtml
Reuters reports that "The thickest, oldest and toughest sea ice around the North Pole is melting, a bad sign for the future of the Arctic ice cap, NASA satellite data showed on Tuesday."
Britain and France Push EU to Look at Green Tax Plan
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031408EC.shtml
Reuters reports: "Britain and France pushed for the European Union to cut sales tax on green products on Friday even though the head of the European Commission voiced strong reservations about the idea."
Clearcutting the Climate
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031808EA.shtml
Writing for Truthout, Josh Schlossberg asks, "It may have taken decades, but could it be that the environmental movement has finally gotten the mainstream media, politicians and the American public to understand that protecting the environment doesn't just mean saving a favorite hiking trail or even some fuzzy critters, but is actually about the future of life as we know it on planet Earth?"
CEOs See Green Energy Policies Preserving US Jobs
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/031708LA.shtml
Nichola Groom of Reuters reports: "It's not often you hear executives from the biggest US industries and a Republican governor clamoring for stronger regulations on climate change. But that's exactly what they want."
Acid Seas - Balancing the Future
http://planetviews.com/evolution/
Coral Reefs, shellfish, crabs and even the Great Whales could all become extinct this century. Scientific reports from around the world state that Carbon Dioxide (CO2), already linked to climate change, is also altering the chemistry of the ocean. Carbon Dioxide gas dissolves in sea water, forming carbonic acid. The scale of this disaster is only just becoming clear. Scientists working on tropical coral reefs have predicted that the majority of the earth's coral reefs could disappear by the year 2050 and eventually face extinction. Even, now, many researchers are concerned that some of the microscopic sea life which form the basis of the food chain, may already be affected. Download the complete informational Flyer in pdf Format (3.2 MB ) Recommended by Estelle Myers (emyers20@scu.edu.au)
EMF-Omega-News 15. March 2008
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/4787063/
1.
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008
From: Ariel Ky gemstonedeva@yahoo.com">
Subject: Re: Special Peace Vigil For Tibet
Hi Jean,
I woke up this morning to a message from another ESL teacher here in China about what was happening in Tibet. So as I went into my morning meditation, I toned and meditated for the greatest good of all in the outcome of the situation. I connected with President Hu Jintao of China, who I have a shamanic link to, to support his decisions from the heart. I prayed for the people who have died and for a softening of the hearts of everyone involved.
While I was meditating, I invoked the love and prayers of everyone on a spiritual path around the world through the crystals which were activated the other day, both ones in the earth still and those that people have with them. Then I gave myself over to the beautiful energy that I was moving in on the spirit plane, and I saw the high mountains of Tibet. I could see that it is the spiritual heart of our planet and the lungs breathing on either side. I saw the planet being enfolded in loving golden energy.
So when I just received your message, I felt blessed that we are so connected and responding in virtually the same way about this situation. It corroborates what I have known all along, that we are in the same soul pod.
Have you started enjoying any spring weather in Quebec yet? I know that it comes later to your part of the world. I will never forget the beauty of the spring that I spent there on the plateau, the lilacs, the wildflowers, the steppe gardens of flowers, the stones... the faeries.
Ariel
AND MY REPLY WAS:
Dear Ariel
Thanks for sharing with me about this synchronous realization that we are being called to assist our sisters and brothers in Tibet in this current crisis, as well as encourage our Chinese ones to grow spiritually and rise above the past to become a driving force for peace on Earth. Imagine if they were to peacefully resolve this situation, granting a very large measure of autonomy to the Tibetan people, recognize their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as their rightful political leader, and initiate a constructive, open-hearted dialogue to help Tibet develop according to how its people want it to become, in a spirit of consensus-building, with the long-term goal of eventually granting them full control and complete sovereignty within their sphere of influence... Imagine how this could help them to, in turn, propose a similar rapprochement offer to their brothers and sisters of Taiwan who would most certainly wish to contribute in healing all past hurts and join, through a similar political arrangement, the Chinese motherland as equal and sovereign partners in their mutually assured future prosperity and peaceful, sustainable development...
One of the things that came to mind at the end of the meditation is that we have seen a number of instances in the past couple years where seemingly intractable conflicts have been resolved through patient dialogue and heart-openness rather than through resorting to brute force.
I've thought about how in Kenya the 2 men vying for the presidency decided to share power, thanks certainly in no small part to Kofi Annan's intercession, but perhaps also through our spiritual assistance as we had this situation as a Peace Vigil focus recently.
Many years ago the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa greatly helped South Africans to heal years of terrible discrimination and forge ahead as an ever more united people.
I'm sure if we were to carefully list all the examples where peaceful conflict resolution methods were thoroughly applied, we'd see that there are indeed many reasons to hope.
Imagine now if the United States of America, under a new bold leadership were to offer to the entire world to create a similar Truth and Reconciliation forum, to atone for and heal all past hurts, and create a new dynamics wherein its leadership would no longer depend on its military might but on its ability to manifest loving compassion and care for all humanity... Imagine the momentum such peace and caring-driven initiatives in China and in the US would spur around the world where the path of violence and repression would gradually give way to a path of spiritual balance, global harmony and peace throughout the world and within every single individual...
I'd say that such a vision, however overtly optimistic it may seem to be, is highly desirable and assuredly inevitable. Either we grow into a true cosmic civilization where Peace, Love and Harmony prevail, or we fail to reach critical positive mass for change and reap the dire consequences.
In the end, it comes down to what outcome you want to believe in. If we massively choose the former, then sure, enough, perhaps in fits and starts, but nevertheless, that's what shall prevail. And since I doubt anyone would want to choose the later, I trust and know our common future is VERY BRIGHT indeed...
Much Love to you Ariel
Jean
AND ARIEL REPLIED(in part)
As unlikely as it may seem that the hearts of the Chinese will soften and that they will change their stance in this matter, I agree that it could open a wondrous door to a beautiful future, especially if the U.S. were to follow suit. The atonement and reconciliation process is indeed a powerful one. I had a great ah-ha experience before my son was born when I was on a train from Paris to Chartres in 1985. I understood that no true progress could ever be made until as a people we had made amends for past wrongs and reconciled the harm that been done to others. It came to me in a graphic picture with symbols -- I wish that I still had it or could remember it. At the time, I felt that I had been given a great teaching in this matter.
---
"The uprising of the Tibetan people should signal the rising up of conscience in the Net reality of an all-connected global village waiting to be awakened. Please keep this in your Solstice prayers and meditations. Pray that Chinese leaders will seize the extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate true leadership of Good Will to everyone on Earth -- NOW -- before the Olympic "Good Will Games". They have shown the whole world that they are indeed an economic powerhouse. What an inspiration the Chinese will be to the whole world when they exemplify a spiritual Good Will powerhouse that is now willing to wake up, wise up, rise up and stand up for the FREEDOM OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE. If the Chinese want to win the hearts and minds of the Family of Man in our global village, that's how they'll do it!"
- Christopher Rudy, Director, Worldwide LOVE Foundation -- Full story at www.heartcom.org/TibetanUprising.htm
2.
Date: 18 Mar 2008
From: "Ricken Patel - Avaaz.org" (avaaz@avaaz.org)
Subject: Tibet - Support the Dalai Lama
Dear friends,
Tibetans have exploded onto the streets in frustration--call on China to respect human rights and enter dialogue with the Dalai Lama now: Sign the Petition!
After decades of repression under Chinese rule, the Tibetan people's frustrations have burst onto the streets in protests and riots. With the spotlight of the upcoming Olympic Games now on China, Tibetans are crying out to the world for change.
The Chinese government has said that the protesters who have not yet surrendered "will be punished". Its leaders are right now considering a crucial choice between escalating brutality or dialogue that could determine the future of Tibet, and China.
We can affect this historic choice--China does care about its international reputation. China's President Hu Jintao needs to hear that the 'Made in China' brand and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing can succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get his attention--and we need it in the next 48 hours.
The Tibetan Nobel peace prize winner and spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has called for restraint and dialogue: he needs the world's people to support him. Click below now to sign the petition--and tell absolutely everyone you can right away--our goal is 1 million voices united for Tibet:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/6.php
China's economy is totally dependent on "Made in China" exports that we all buy, and the government is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a celebration of a new China, respected as a leading world power. China is also a very diverse country with a brutal past and has reason to be concerned about its stability -- some of Tibet's rioters killed innocent people. But President Hu must recognize that the greatest danger to Chinese stability and development comes from hardliners who advocate escalating repression, not from Tibetans who seek dialogue and reform.
We will deliver our petition directly to Chinese officials in London, New York, and Beijing, but it must be a massive number before we deliver the petition. Please forward this email to your address book with a note explaining to your friends why this is important, or use our tell-a-friend tool to email your address book--it will come up after you sign the petition.
The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we must help them be heard.
With hope and respect,
Ricken, Iain, Graziela, Paul, Galit, Pascal, Milena, Ben and the whole Avaaz team
PS - It has been suggested that the Chinese government may block the Avaaz website as a result of this email, and thousands of Avaaz members in China will no longer be able to participate in our community. A poll of Avaaz members over the weekend showed that over 80% of us believed it was still important to act on Tibet despite this terrible potential loss to our community, if we thought we could make a difference. If we are blocked, Avaaz will help maintain the campaign for internet freedom for all Chinese people, so that our members in China can one day rejoin our community.
ADDENDUM ON MARCH 16:
In just 36 hours, 253,553 of us have supported the Dalai Lama's call for dialogue and human rights in Tibet. This is an incredible response--if each of us can get 4 more of our friends to sign the petition, we'll hit 1 million this week! Just quickly forward the email below to your friends and family with a personal note from you-
Here are some links with more information on the Tibetan protests and the Chinese response:
BBC News: UN Calls for Restraint in Tibet
Human Rights Watch: China Restrain from Violently Attacking Protesters
Associated Press: Tibet Unrest Sparks Global Reaction
New York Times: China Takes Steps to Thwart Reporting on Tibet Protests
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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.
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NOTE from Jean: I've recently made a suggestion to James S. (cedarflute@juno.com) whose contribution was included in a recent compilation - see #2 in http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/Archives2008/Veracity20.htm -- Here is a relevant excerpt from my email to him: "If you'd like to share insights about whatever you feel all subscribers would need to know at this point to better understand the dynamic of the planetary transition process in progress (including all that pertains to the cabal situation), based on your intuitive sense of it and on your direct contact experience with our space family, I'm sure this would be a wonderful contribution to everyone's thoughts and perceptions." And James replied (in part: "I was quite surprised at your request for me to share some information about my experiences and perceptions. Since this came about because of discussions about ETs and off-planet information, I have written about some of my "truths" about our space family and what I know their intentions are. (...) My life during the last 4 years has had little or no off-planet contact, but has been filled to the brim with Spiritual presence. The synchronicities and manifestations have been almost unbelievable. (...) Wishing you the best with your efforts for the good of the planet.... Jim"
So here is what he has kindly prepared for us:
A message to the readers of the Earth Rainbow Network
I am unknown to all of you. I am simply a soul experiencing an unusually interesting life on this planet as I pursue an increase in spiritual awareness and perhaps try to deliver a message now and then.
In truth, you often need not know anything about a messenger which delivers a message on spiritual matters to you. The important thing is to determine what are your personal feelings about the message you receive after a short meditation.
In a recent spiritual discussion with friends about one or more controversial messages in the ERN, one of my friends encouraged me to share my views with others. The focus of this discussion was life on other planets, messages received on Earth from "other planets", and the presence of "ETs" on our planet either now or in the future.
I feel strongly that many people have been misguided by our entertainment media and other sources of erroneous information about the true nature and intentions of any off-planet visitors who "might come to Earth." Therefore I will publicly share information which has become a "truth for me."
Do not accept my truths as truths for yourself unless your own inner feelings confirm they should be. With all messages about spiritual subjects, a subject which seems so intangible to many people, the only guide to determine which messages you wish to become "the truth" for you, is to consider only the message in meditation and be guided by your internal feelings. The views I share are truths to me at this time. Possibly some day a new truth will come which will replace one of them.
Seven years ago, my wife and I rather suddenly found ourselves being included into daily communications with "off-planet" entities who were working to help stabilize many areas of concern on our planet. This daily communication lasted about 8 months and during that time we were contacted by 8 or 9 different entities each concerned with helping some specific aspect of our planet.
We were asked to do many small tasks, most were related to using meditations and visualizations. Often it was to meditate immediately send specific types of energy to different areas or points on our planet. Each of them described the necessary details of how to accomplish each of the requests.
After only a week of these communications, I was totally convinced of their validity and the following is a statement of my truths about our off-planet friends that I now have because of that eight month experience.
There truly are "civilizations and life of conscious beings" on many planets other than Earth. Many if not all of these civilizations have a much higher degree of consciousness than we, have a far superior degree of "the physical world technology" than we, and they live life in a far greater peaceful and harmonious environment than we
They have a sincere desire to assist the souls on our planet as we raise our level of consciousness, and are willing to use their energy and resources to repair the excessive damage to our planet and it's environment. When they come, it will be in peace with no private agenda for their own benefit with one exception which is described as follows.
The planet Earth is an integral part of their Universe, a universe consisting of many planets, stars, moons, suns, etc., all of which are composed of energy particle masses in constant motion - a motion of rotation. The direction and speed of this rotation motion is highly coordinated from the absolute smallest particle to the very largest planetary object so that all physical matter stays in balance.
One of our off-planet sources told us they have watched us destroy the environment and ecology of our planet to the extent, that even if we focused our entire efforts worldwide to repair it, it would take longer than one hundred years to restore it, and they have said the planet in it's present condition cannot last that long. The continued existence of our planet is necessary to maintain the perfection of balance within this universe a balance which will also affect the planets on which they live.
If you have ridden in an automobile with the tire out of balance, you understand how one item out of balance affects the entire structure. Even if you have pushed a grocery cart with one wheel out of shape or with a wheel which is missing part of it's original designed shape, you can understand how the demise of our planet can affect their home planets.
It is certainly understandable why they have such an interest in the welfare of our planet. They mentioned their efforts to prevent the use of nuclear weapons on the planet and also to limit our use of nuclear energy for any purpose because of our "primitive" methods as well as the selfish state of mind that exists in our governments.
This is only one of the many reasons why they wish to help us. The primary reason is a feeling of responsibility. Many of the souls on the Earth do not understand that the statement "ALL OF US ARE CONNECTED AS A PART OF THE WHOLE" does not stop at the edge of our atmosphere. We are as connected to them as we are connected to each other and they understand this far better than we.
However, there can be no physical assistance from them to repair our planet until the present system of financial control within our societies has been totally abolished. If they were to come prior to that time, their efforts would be used by the currently wealthy controlling dark souls for their own selfish reasons and would hinder or even prevent our planet's ascension.
Due to the ever increasing rate of higher vibration energy of the planet, and the increased efforts in mankind for the overall advancement of spiritual awareness, there are more persons now than ever who can receive messages by telepathic means.
While most of the entities who are offering telepathic messages of assistance are working diligently to help advance our planet and all the souls on it, there are still others of dark energy who wish to keep the planet as it is. When entities of higher vibrations have information to share with our planet, they choose to work only with a person on our planet who also has a sincere desire to advance the state of spiritual awareness for all people with no self-serving goals.
The experience of interacting and having two way telepathic communication with the spiritual realm can be highly exhilarating and rewarding. As a result it is easy for a person receiving these messages to experience feelings of being privileged and having extra "power."
It's an often stated fact that it is very difficult for the average human being to see his/her own ego in action. If a person who is channeling messages from a positive minded spiritual entity allows his/her ego to control and influence the messages received, regardless of how long the communication relationship has existed, the diligent spiritual entity will stop using this channeler to deliver the messages.
Often in such situations, a spiritual entity of lower vibrational dark energy quickly takes advantage of these circumstances and steps in to send messages which support the channeler's ego. If the messages are accepted, the channeler quickly becomes a voice of corruption to delay the removal of the dark energy from the planet.
My personal experience in this was being active in a spiritually oriented group with the presence of a woman who had been a dedicated light-worker and had channeled highly detailed and accurate messages for the overall benefit of the planet for a period of at least four years. Rather suddenly her attitude showed a marked change and her messages seemed a bit vague and about two weeks later, she announced a new guide had come to her, stating that the personal guide which she had since birth was moving up to higher realms.
She gave the name of her new guide and the messages became increasing focused on her own interests with very little or no information on the welfare of the planet. One such message actually asked that more appreciation be shown on her behalf.
Two months later my guide told me "any association with this person will be irrevocably broken."
Once again, I repeat, regardless of a messenger's history and reputation, always consider how the message feels to you. We are now in a period of time when this principle is more important than ever. Any person who presents an unusual message which tends to place the channeler in some place of power or authority, could unknowingly have let a personal ego issue terminate the original source.
It is a truth to me that all off-planet teams which come to help us will work in coordination with the Galactic Federation. They can and will insure that enough people on this planet know they are coming and why they are coming to dispel any doubts and fear. I doubt they will actually need much in the way of assistance from us, other than our acceptance, our welcome, and our cooperation.
I believe Spirit will insure each of us will receive each and any message that we are intended to receive, if we are simply open to new information and welcome it. You will also receive many messages which will not benefit you. Their purpose is to give you the opportunity to learn discernment. If you received only the messages which you would be wise to accept, you could never learn to strengthen your internal guidance.
There are a great number of basically very loving and compassionate people on our planet who are still simply following misguided beliefs. Unfortunately, at this time on our planet, the people tend to advance faster spiritually from experiencing situations of fear and hardship, th