They still have another couple of months before this starts imploding. Things are very unstable and can move incredibly fast. I don't think the central banks are going to make a major policy error, but if they do, this could make 1929 look like a walk in the park
* * * * * *
I used to be in charge of the visa section at the CIA's Consulate in Jeddah. ... There for a year and a half I issued visas to terrorists recruited by the CIA and its asset Osama Bin Laden. ... Fifteen of the nineteen people who allegedly flew airplanes into buildings in the United States got their visas from the same CIA Consulate at Jeddah.
* * * * *
The horror of what is taking place in Iraq exceeds my worst fears five or six years ago (after Bush came to power). I am horrified at the disastrous mistake involved. Imagine the complete madness in trying to occupy a large Arab country in the middle of the Arab world, a culture we know precious little about, and who speaks a language only a handful of our specialists can speak, with armed forces which we have limited control of and with a large army of private soldiers .... The whole thing is a scandal ... a series of lies. I don't understand the motivation for the war, but suspect the real reason for the war, which one would suspect of a country which is a third oligarchy, a third plutocracy and a third theocracy, is that it simply is a profitable machine.
* * * * *
You brought us wars, and the bringer of war cannot bring peace and the bearer of corruption cannot spread wellbeing. Go away with your freedom and spread it among your own people, who suffer from your suppression. Spread peace among your own people who suffer from fear and hatred of others due to you. Get out of our land and it will be safe.
* * * * *
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
W . . . . The President
I usually rely on my news feed to bombard people with the news I find interesting. In this case I am making an exception, and with good reason. The article below is a devastating deconstruction of the psychology of our current President and one that I believe is extraordinarily accurate:
You can read the rest of the article here. Truly, we live in perilous times.
The true rule in determining to embrace, or reject anything, is not whether it
has any evil in it, but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are
few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially of
governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best
judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded. - Abraham Lincoln, June 20, 1848In defiance of his circumstances as an unpopular, lame duck president with a
minority party in Congress, George W. Bush pursues a sharply autocratic tone. He has intimidated both parties in Congress and violated the
Constitution. Through dissimulation and delay, he has forced the nations of the
world to conclude they must wait until his term ends to negotiate any serious
treaty on the imminent perils of climate change.A sort of thousand-mile stare has descended on the country. Frank Rich writes, "we
are a people in clinical depression" as a result of Bush's leadership. Perhaps, a more apt diagnosis would be "dissociation." Like a child or spousal victim of a psychological abuser, Bush's "victims" try to mentally compartmentalize him; they attempt to get on with their lives - even as he keeps on being abusive. You can hear the dissociation
when Congressional leaders talk about their inability to make Washington work as
it should.Some, including Daniel Ellsberg, who challenged the autocratic aspirations of Richard Nixon by releasing the Pentagon Papers, suggest Bush has already created a "presidential coup." Ellsberg has said, "If there's another 9/11 under this regime, it
means that they switch on full extent all the apparatus of a police state that
has been patiently constructed."
You can read the rest of the article here. Truly, we live in perilous times.
Friday, January 11, 2008
1/11 -- a (mostly) Shameful Anniversary
Let us take a moment today to reflect on the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It was opened 6 years ago today. From the moment that it opened it has been the shame of America and all Americans should be ashamed.The prison at Guantanamo is a repudiation of the ideals on which America was founded:
Do you read this as I do? Do our leaders? Don't they understand that America can conquer the world, not with the force of a gun, but with the force of our ideals. Unfortunately it is these very ideals that we are sacrificing by allowing the torture and indefinite detention of "enemy combatants" (whatever that means). We are giving the terrorists better PR than they could have ever concocted themselves. We are ensuring a vicious cycle of terror and war. But then perhaps that is really the point of it all anyway. It is said that "War is the health of the state" and in a situation of eternal war state power grows unchecked, and state power always grows at the expense of individual freedom.
* * *
I say it is mostly shameful because today is also the anniversary of the death of Robert Anton Wilson, a great man:
All hail Bob!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Gurdjieff, Scott Sonnon News
E-mail updates from Scott Sonnon. He has a new book and website for Prasara Yoga. Also he has started a special program called Scott Sonnon Core Cadre.
* * * * *
This year's All and Everything Humanities Conference has been announced (for those interested in Gurdjieff and his magnum opus "All and Everything"). Here is a schedule of what's planned:
Wish I could go but it's in England. There is also a new book out by Keith Buzzell a longtime student of the Work. It is called Man - a Three Brained Being and is published by Fifth Press.
Also, another long time Gurdjieff guy just published a new book on Carlos Castaneda called
The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda:
* * * * *
This year's All and Everything Humanities Conference has been announced (for those interested in Gurdjieff and his magnum opus "All and Everything"). Here is a schedule of what's planned:
---------------------------------------------------------
PROPOSED
PROGRAMME FOR A&E 2008
---------------------------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 12
8:30 PM - Informal Session: Getting to Know You
THURSDAY, MARCH 13
8:00 - Voluntary Sitting / Meditation
9:15 -
Opening Remarks
9:30 - Paper 1: Svend Louland - Second Body Obstetrics
10:45 - Coffee Break
11:15 - Paper 2: Will Mesa - Objective Conscience
12:30 - Lunch
2:30 - Seminar 1: Ch. 23, Fourth Personal Sojourn of
Beelzebub to the Planet Earth
3:30 - Coffee Break
4:00 - Seminar 1:
Continued
9:00 - Special Presentation: Dorothy Usiskin - Ego
FRIDAY, MARCH 14
8:00 - Voluntary Sitting / Meditation
9:30 -
Paper 3: Bonnie Phillips - Manifestations and Potentials
10:45 - Coffee
Break
11:15 - Paper 4: Bill Murphey - Immaturity
12:30 - Lunch
2:30
- Seminar 3: Ch. 4 of Meetings with Remarkable Men, Father Evlissi
3:30 -
Coffee Break
4:00 - Seminar 3: Continued
9:00 - Free Social
Evening
SATURDAY, MARCH 15
8:00 - Voluntary Sitting / Meditation
9:30 -
Paper 5: Ian MacFarlane - Neologisms in Beelzebub's Tales
10:45 - Coffee
Break
11:15 - Paper 6: Anthony Blake - Beelzebub's Tales, Enneagram,
Mathnawi
12:30 - Lunch
2:30 - Seminar 3: Ch. 24, Beelzebub's Fifth
Flight to the Planet Earth
3:30 - Coffee Break
4:00 - Seminar 3:
Continued
7:30 - Conference Banquet
SUNDAY, MARCH 16
8:00 - Voluntary Sitting / Meditation
9:30 -
Special Seminar: Being Partkdolg Duty.
10:45 - Coffee Break
11:15 -
Seminar 5: Where Do We Go From Here?
12:30 - Lunch
Wish I could go but it's in England. There is also a new book out by Keith Buzzell a longtime student of the Work. It is called Man - a Three Brained Being and is published by Fifth Press.
Also, another long time Gurdjieff guy just published a new book on Carlos Castaneda called
The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda:
The Life & Teachings of Carlos Castaneda demystifies what
Castaneda
sought to hide and delivers a detailed portrait of the forces
and
influences that drove him to become a Nagual, a man of knowledge
and
emptiness. Here, too, is a concept-to-concept comparison in which
the
primary source of Castaneda's ideas is uncovered--Gurdjieff's
Fourth
Way. Also explored are don Juan's true identity, the meaning
of
Castaneda's "jump into the abyss," the life of the Nagual and
the
strange sexual power games he played with his "witches." Included
in
full is the first reference to Nagualism, anthropologist
Daniel
Brinton's essay "Nagualism: A Study in Native American Folklore
and
History," written in 1894.
Albuquerque! Stove Gallery! Pajama Men! Go!
Some friends and family run The Stove Gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They will be hosting live comedy with the Pajama Men weekly in January and February. I would say more, but hey, the flyer really says it all:
Red LED Phototherapy
Some of the most fascinating advances in medicine in recent years have come in the form of new healing modalities that utilize energy to allow the body to heal itself. One of these that I am most interested in is Red LED phototherapy.
My interest in the particular subject was picqued when I first read about the NASA research done in this area (here and here). Basically the red LED light is unmixed with other frequencies. The cells of the body have light sensitive components which react strongly to light, particularly light in the red (660 nm) portion of the EM spectrum. Exposure to red light stimulates these cells and causes the cell to radically increase its energy production. In plants this results in faster growth and in humans one of the main effects is an increased rate of healing. The red light does not penetrate deeply into the body and so it is mainly useful in treating the upper layers of the skin. Infrared light penetrates more deeply into the body and may have similar effects.
Unfortunately the devices on the market are quite expensive, but after being inpired by this blog I decided to make my own red LED device and test it out. This is beyond theoretical for me, as I have a loved one who suffers from a chronic pain illness and I am hoping that a combination of red and infrared LEDs will prove beneficial and provide some relief.
It'll be my first go with a soldering iron so look out! I'll keep you posted on my progress.
My interest in the particular subject was picqued when I first read about the NASA research done in this area (here and here). Basically the red LED light is unmixed with other frequencies. The cells of the body have light sensitive components which react strongly to light, particularly light in the red (660 nm) portion of the EM spectrum. Exposure to red light stimulates these cells and causes the cell to radically increase its energy production. In plants this results in faster growth and in humans one of the main effects is an increased rate of healing. The red light does not penetrate deeply into the body and so it is mainly useful in treating the upper layers of the skin. Infrared light penetrates more deeply into the body and may have similar effects.
Unfortunately the devices on the market are quite expensive, but after being inpired by this blog I decided to make my own red LED device and test it out. This is beyond theoretical for me, as I have a loved one who suffers from a chronic pain illness and I am hoping that a combination of red and infrared LEDs will prove beneficial and provide some relief.
It'll be my first go with a soldering iron so look out! I'll keep you posted on my progress.
* * * *
I think I first read about it on rense.com
Some Thoughts on Politics from Robert Anton Wilson
From "The Illuminati Papers", a short piece entitled Dissociation of Ideas, 3:
"Marxists, and socialists generally, have a fine, piercing, brilliant vision of all the defects of the present Monopoly Capitalism.
There is no necessity for conservatives or libertarians to blind themselves to these defects which the Marxist so clearly sees. Such blindness may be popular with conservatives, and even with some libertarians, but there is no need for it. It is a habit of stupidity.
The conservatives, and the libertarians, have a fine, piercing, brilliant vision of the defects of totalitarian socialism, and of the diluted pseudo-democratic socialisms that are not quite totalitarian yet.
There is no need for radicals, or even for Marxists, to blind themselves to these defects that the conservative so clearly sees. Again, such blindness may be popular, but there is no need for it. Intelligence might be better than conformity to one's group.
Try to think of one or more alternatives to Monopoly Capitalism and State Socialism. While you're trying, endeavor not to concoct a blend of the two. Combining smallpox and chickenpox may not be the only, or the best, alternative to those diseases.
If you can't think of any alternatives, you might browse in some of the books where alternatives are suggested, e.g.: Progress and Poverty by Henry George; Economic Democracy by C.H. Douglas; The Natural Economic Order by Silvio Gesell; Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by Buckminster Fuller; Individual Liberty by Benjamin Tucker; The Green Revolution by Peter Maurin."
This quote seems very appropriate and to the point given the root of some of today's political debates. I'll have to check out some of the books he recommends.
"Marxists, and socialists generally, have a fine, piercing, brilliant vision of all the defects of the present Monopoly Capitalism.
There is no necessity for conservatives or libertarians to blind themselves to these defects which the Marxist so clearly sees. Such blindness may be popular with conservatives, and even with some libertarians, but there is no need for it. It is a habit of stupidity.
The conservatives, and the libertarians, have a fine, piercing, brilliant vision of the defects of totalitarian socialism, and of the diluted pseudo-democratic socialisms that are not quite totalitarian yet.
There is no need for radicals, or even for Marxists, to blind themselves to these defects that the conservative so clearly sees. Again, such blindness may be popular, but there is no need for it. Intelligence might be better than conformity to one's group.
Try to think of one or more alternatives to Monopoly Capitalism and State Socialism. While you're trying, endeavor not to concoct a blend of the two. Combining smallpox and chickenpox may not be the only, or the best, alternative to those diseases.
If you can't think of any alternatives, you might browse in some of the books where alternatives are suggested, e.g.: Progress and Poverty by Henry George; Economic Democracy by C.H. Douglas; The Natural Economic Order by Silvio Gesell; Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by Buckminster Fuller; Individual Liberty by Benjamin Tucker; The Green Revolution by Peter Maurin."
This quote seems very appropriate and to the point given the root of some of today's political debates. I'll have to check out some of the books he recommends.
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