And here it is:
Nonviolence in the Middle East: Obama’s Cairo Speech
By Starhawk
On Thursday, President Obama made his speech to the Arab world in Cairo, a speech that did what he does so well, expressing contradictions and nuances in clear, simple poetic language that calls on everyone to be better than we are. My first reaction, reading it, was “This speech makes us all safer, and does a better job of it than a thousand drone attacks or military forays.” By so clearly expressing respect for Islam, and knowledge of its history and contributions, he drains extremist venom of its potency.
Obama also tackled head-on the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian problem: Israel’s continued building of and support for illegal settlements. I suspect many people are still unclear on the concept of ‘settlement’: the word creates an image of a stalwart, noble outpost in the wilderness. In reality, settlements are more like gated suburbs plunked down in the midst of Palestinian territory, villages, farms and cities that have always been in Palestinian hands and that the Oslo agreements and the Road Map define as destined for a Palestinian state.
Settlements are created on land quite simply stolen—taken from Palestinian farmers and villagers with no compensation. In order to protect the settlements, Israel maintains military control over vast reaches of the Palestinian territories, builds a separate set of roads Palestinians are banned from, that carve up an already tiny land base into miniscule islands, separated by a network of checkpoints that make daily life for ordinary Palestinians untenable. Imagine if, in the U.S., everyone who lived in a suburb of Chicago or New York or San Francisco could only get into the center of the city by passing through a military checkpoint that might or might not be open each day, where lines might regularly back up for hours, where the soldiers might detain you on a whim or a breath of suspicion for hours or summarily place you in ‘administrative detention’ for months with no trial or appeal, where your land and home might be seized at any time by an occupying power. And this is in the West Bank, where conditions are relatively good. In Gaza, the Israeli’s have simply sealed the border, refused to allow in rebuilding supplies and many of the necessities of life, and turned the place into one giant, open-air prison.
It is in this context that Obama presses for a two-state solution. The positive alternative: one, democratic state in which all people have equal rights, regardless of religion, is so unacceptable to the current Israeli regime that they are attempting to make it illegal for anyone to suggest that Israel be anything but an explicitly Jewish state. The less positive alternatives are simply genocide of one or another of the region’s peoples, a horrific outcome whether the ultimate victims are Palestinians or Israelis.
A two-state solution cannot succeed if Israel continues to eat away at Palestinian land. It cannot succeed if the current settlements remain, with their network of exclusive roads, checkpoints and military control that make free movement impossible for Palestinians within their own territory. Netanyahu has proclaimed his intention to continue building and expanding settlements. If Obama’s speech signals a true commitment to reign him in, to use America’s enormous influence and power to constrain Israel’s destructive and ultimately self-destructive course, then we will have a slight hope of achieving some small measure of peace and justice in that region.
Obama also called on the Palestinians to renounce armed struggle and embrace nonviolence. Now, I’m a passionate believer myself in nonviolence. I share his assessment that a powerful, nonviolent movement could advance the cause of justice in a way that violence can never do. However, there is something disingenuous about the man who is ordering troops into Afghanistan and drones to bomb Pakistan telling another people ‘Violence is a dead end.’ I credit Obama with a distaste for violence and a strong preference for diplomacy, and truly, I like the guy. I think he’s a great leader in a rotten time, and a brilliant man of real integrity. But there’s no denying that, from the moment he took office, he’s had blood on his hands. For the powerful to demand that the less powerful renounce violence, without making the same demands on themselves or on their allies, is simply to say: “I reserve the weapons of death for myself and my friends.”
I would have like Obama to urge nonviolence on all of us: Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians alike. I would have liked him to at least acknowledge that
indeed, many Palestinians have chosen nonviolent means of struggle, that for years now, villages have resisted the confiscation of their land for Israel’s ‘security wall’ with peace camps, nonviolent demonstrations and civil resistance. He might have also mentioned that some courageous Israeli supporters regularly cross the line to stand with them and share the risks, along with internationals from groups like the Christian Peacemaker Teams, the International Solidarity Movement, the International Women’s Peace Service and more.
On Friday, the day after Obama called on Palestinians to practice nonviolent means of struggle, the Israeli army fired on the weekly demonstration in Ni’ilin, a West Bank village protesting the wall. Five people were shot with 22 caliber ammunition. Yousef Akil Srour, age 36, died from his wounds after being shot in the chest. Mohammed Mouslah Mousa, age 16, may be paralyzed. Three others were wounded but will survive. This is not an unusual response to the practice of nonviolence in Palestine—it is so common for Palestinians to lose their lives that it rarely even makes the news unless an international supporter is killed or wounded.
I’ve worked in that movement, I’ve trained Palestinians, Israelis and internationals in nonviolent resistance. I’ve stood in those demonstrations. There’s always a squirrely feeling in the pit of your stomach when you stand up against police and state power. But when that power is unrestrained, when you know that live bullets may thud into your body, that attendance at the protest may cost you a limb or your brain functioning, your freedom or your life, well, let’s just say the squirrels run Nascar races in your gut and your knees literally shake.
That people do take that risk is a cause for wonder and celebration of the human spirit. A few do so because they are Gandhi-like in their saintliness, but most are simply ordinary people who have come to believe that nonviolence is a more moral and a more effective means of struggle. They take that risk because they have seen small successes and slight glimmers of hope.
Obama has the power to increase that hope—hope is his trademark, after all.
The civil rights struggle in the American South succeeded because the nonviolent resistance of Freedom Riders and marchers and sit-ins caught the attention of the world and outraged a larger public opinion. Laws were changed, and the pressure of the Federal government was brought to bear.
For nonviolent resistance to succeed in Palestine, it needs the United States to exert its influence to restrain Israel’s disproportionate response to protest and its military assaults on Palestinian populations, to stop its incursions into Palestinian Territory and to end the siege of Gaza. It needs the support of global outrage that cannot be silenced by shrill cries of ‘anti-semitism’ every time Israel’s policies are challenged. Then we will also be able to silence the hoarse shouts of extremist propaganda, ground the rockets and still the hands of suicide bombers that menace Israel’s children, by bringing about a fair and just solution that can allow everyone in that region to live a life of dignity and freedom. Ultimately, justice is the true counter to violence, for only on a foundation of justice can peace be built.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Bring an End to 'Triple Evils’ by Abandoning War
Published on Sunday, April 5, 2009 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
by Kevin Martin and Leslie Cagan
Saturday marked the tragic anniversary of the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but also the anniversary of his “Beyond Vietnam” speech one year earlier. In that 1967 speech at the historic Riverside Church in New York City, one of the most inspiring anti-war speeches ever delivered, King decried the “triple evils” plaguing our country — “racism, extreme materialism and militarism.”
Were he alive, we believe King would urge President Obama to use his political and rhetorical skills to call on our people to cure these ills still so prevalent in our society. A first step would be ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq and, instead of sending an additional 21,000 troops, begin bringing home the troops in Afghanistan.
And20we humbly suspect that King would have been with us Saturday in Manhattan when we and other peace advocates marched to Wall Street to call for an end to war and corporate bailouts and for investing in our communities and human needs, environmental restoration and a green economy for all. Or as King so concisely phrased it, to “rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.”
Most of the people of this country, and around the world, want Obama to succeed. However, his escalation of the war in Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing occupation of Iraq, threaten to make a shambles of his domestic economic agenda, as well as his presidency, as the Vietnam War did to President Lyndon Johnson’s presidency.
Haven’t we had enough of war? We need to devote all of our energy and attention to addressing the global economic and climate crises, and to improving education, housing and health care in this country, not squandering $12 billion per month on the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Just as King said in 1967 about the Vietnamese people, the people of Afghanistan (and Iraq) today must see the U.S. as “strange liberators.” Unsurprisingly, the people of Afghanistan oppose an escalation of U.S. troops. An ABC News poll at the end of 2008 found that only 18 percent of Afghans support an increase in the U.S. military presence.
As to fighting terrorism, a RAND Corp. study releas ed last year found that only 7 percent of terrorist organizations end their terrorist activities because they are defeated by the use of military force. Sending more troops is not the way to combat the dangers of terrorism.
Obama’s announcement of his Afghanistan and Pakistan policy did include some positive initiatives, including increased support for regional diplomacy and economic aid to the two countries. Those should be the cornerstones of U.S. policy aimed at helping to end the strife in a desperately impoverished country that has known little respite from war in decades. We also need an overall foreign policy based on building real security through international cooperation and human rights.
More war is still not the answer, and until fundamental changes are made in U.S. foreign policy —- an end to blank-check support for Israel, an end to U.S. occupation and military bases in Arab lands, an end to threats to Iran, an end to the chimera of the “global war on terror” (or whatever they call it now), an end to hypocrisy on nuclear proliferation, and concrete steps to address legitimate grievances in the Arab and Muslim world —- whatever we do in Afghanistan or Pakistan, short of a massive occupation that would be immoral and we can’t afford, is doomed to failure.
The president’s domestic economic agenda —- investing in resolving pressing problems on jobs, health care, education, housing and climate change —-20is put at grave risk by our exorbitant (possibly over $3 trillion) and seemingly endless wars. We can’t afford to forgo the crucial investments we need to make our communities stronger. We simply can’t afford more war.
King observed in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech that the country’s commitment to a serious program of investment in human needs in the mid-1960s was “broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war.”
Can we afford to look back in 40 years and say the same thing about Obama’s domestic program and his presidency?
King’s words still ring, chillingly, across four decades, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Please join with us in calling for peace with justice, rather than an escalation of war. Join us in recognizing and acting on King’s “fierce urgency of now” as we “rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.”
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kevin Martin is executive director of Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund.
Leslie Cagan is national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
THE WORLD WILL NOT END IN 2012
THE WORLD WILL NOT END IN 2012
By Carlos Barrios
Carlos Barrios was born into a Spanish family on El Altiplano, the highlands of Guatemala. His home was in Huehuetenango, also the dwelling place of the Maya Mam tribe.
With other Maya and other indigenous tradition keepers, the Mam carry part of the old ways on Turtle Island (North America).
They are keepers of time, authorities on remarkable calendars that are ancient, elegant and relevant.Mr Barrios is a historian, an anthropologist and investigator. After studying with traditional elders for 25 years since the age of 19, he has also became a Mayan Ajq'ij, a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide, Eagle Clan.
Years ago, along with his brother, Gerardo, Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars. He studied with many teachers. He says his brother Gerardo interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.
"Anthropologists visit the temple sites," Mr. Barrios says, "and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination. .. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed. The indigenous have the calendars, and know how to accurately interpret it, not others.
The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years. The calendar that has steadily drawn global attention since 1987 is called the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij.
Devised ages ago and based on the cycle of the Pleiades, it is still held as sacred. With the indigenous calendars, native people have kept track of important turning points in history.
For example, the day keepers who study the calendars identified an important day in the year One Reed, Ce Acatal, as it was called by the Mexicans. That was the day when an important ancestor was prophesied to return, "coming like a butterfly. " In the western calendar, the One Reed date correlates to Easter Sunday, April 21, 1519 the day that Hernando Cortez and his fleet of 11 Spanish galleons arrived from the East at what is today called Vera Cruz, Mexico.
When the Spanish ships came toward shore, native people were waiting and watching to see how it would go.
The billowing sails of the ships did indeed remind the scouts of butterflies skimming the ocean surface. In this manner was a new era initiated, an era they had anticipated through their calendars. The Maya termed the new era the Nine Bolomtikus, or nine Hells of 52 years each.
As the nine cycles unfolded, land and freedom were taken from the native people.
Disease and disrespect dominated.
What began with the arrival of Cortez, lasted until August 16, 1987 - a date many people recall as Harmonic Convergence. Millions of people took advantage of that date to make ceremony in sacred sites, praying for a smooth transition to a new era, the World of the Fifth Sun.
From that 1987 date until now, Mr. Barrios says, we have been in a time when the right arm of the materialistic world is disappearing, slowly but inexorably. We are at the cusp of the era when peace begins, and people live in harmony with Mother Earth. We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition.
As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes.
All this, Mr .Barrios says, was foreseen via the simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars. "It will change," Mr. Barrios observes.
"Everything will change." He said Mayan Day keepers view the DEC. 21,2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy.
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world's spiritual traditions.
Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration.
This process has already begun, Mr. Barrios suggested.
"Change is accelerating now, and it will continue to accelerate. " If the people of the earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape, without having destroyed too much of the Earth, Mr. Barrios said, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way.
A Picture of the Road Ahead: From his understanding of the Mayan tradition and the
calendars, Mr. Barrios offered a picture of where we are at and what may lie on the road ahead: The date specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year 2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize this date, but they do not know.
The ones who know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping the tradition.
"Humanity will continue," he contends, "but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human."We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions, are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action. Many powerful souls have reincarnated in this era, with a lot of power. This is true on both sides, the light and the dark.
High magic is at work on both sides. Things will change, but it is up to the people how difficult or easy it is for the changes to come about The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992 was the beginning of the destruction of the material world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the transition phase by now, and many of the so-called sources of financial stability are in fact hollow. The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for them. They could crash globally if we don't pay attention. If the banks crash ... then we will be forced to rely on the land and our skills. The monetary systems will be in chaos, and we must then rely on our direct relationship with the Earth for our food and shelter.The North and South Poles are both breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean, especially near Cuba, is also going to rise.
A Call for Fusion: As he met with audiences in Santa Fe, Mr. Barrios told a story about the most recent Mayan New Year ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the people at the ceremony. He elder delivered a simple, direct message. He called for human beings to come together in support of life and light.
Right now each person and group is going his or her own way. The elder of the mountains said there is hope if the people of the light can come together and unite in some way.
Reflecting on this, Mr. Barrios explained: "We live in a world of polarity: day and night, man and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness need each other. They are a balance. Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want.
They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012.
"On the light side everyone thinks they are the most important, that their own understandings, or their group's understandings, are the key. There's a diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is competition, diffusion, and no single focus. As Mr. Barrios sees it, the dark side works to block fusion through denial and materialism. It also works to destroy those who are working with the light to get the Earth to a higher level.They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth World, the materialism. They do not want it to change. They do not want fusion. They want to stay at this level, and are afraid of the next level. The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It's too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness.This is what leads to fusion, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun."
Mr. Barrios said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element. Whereas the four traditional elements of earth, air, fire and water have dominated various epochs in the past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun: ether.
The dictionary defines ether as the rarefied element of the Heavens. Ether is a medium. It permeates all space and transmits waves of energy in a wide range of frequencies, from cell phones to human auras.
What is "ethereal" is related to the regions beyond earth: the heavens. Ether the element of the Fifth Sun is celestial and lacking in material substance, but is no less real than wood, stone or flesh. "Within the context of ether there can be a fusion of the polarities," Mr .Barrios said.
"No more darkness or light in the people, but an uplifted fusion.
But right now the realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are organized to block it.They seek to unbalance the Earth and its environment so we will be unreadyfor the alignment in 2012. We need to work together for peace, and balance with the other side. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing unity and fusion now, to confront the other side and preserve life, to be Ready for this Moment in History.
Mr. Barrios told his audiences in Santa Fe that we are at a critical moment of world history. "We are disturbed," he said. "We can't play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action. Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard, but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history."
Mr. Barrios offered a number of suggestions to help people walk in balance through the years ahead. "The prophesied changes are going to happen," he said "but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are. We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people to represent us who understand and who will take political action to respect the earth. Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It's very important to be clear about whom you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely. A lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have the mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots. We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything: people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun, for it is associated with the element ether - the realm where energy lives and weaves. Go to the sacred places of the earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work.
One simple but effective prayer technique is to light a white or baby-blue colored candle. Think a moment in peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the light of it on to the leaders who have the power to make war or peace. We Have Work to Do.
According to Mr. Barrios this is a crucially important moment for humanity, and for earth. Each person is important. If you have incarnated into this era, you have spiritual work to do balancing the planet. He said the elders have opened the doors so that other races can come to the Mayan world to receive the tradition.
The Maya have long appreciated and respected that there are other colors, other races, and other spiritual systems.
"They know," he said, "that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the whole world. "The greatest wisdom is in simplicity," Mr. Barrios advised before leaving Santa Fe. "Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way.
By Carlos Barrios
Carlos Barrios was born into a Spanish family on El Altiplano, the highlands of Guatemala. His home was in Huehuetenango, also the dwelling place of the Maya Mam tribe.
With other Maya and other indigenous tradition keepers, the Mam carry part of the old ways on Turtle Island (North America).
They are keepers of time, authorities on remarkable calendars that are ancient, elegant and relevant.Mr Barrios is a historian, an anthropologist and investigator. After studying with traditional elders for 25 years since the age of 19, he has also became a Mayan Ajq'ij, a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide, Eagle Clan.
Years ago, along with his brother, Gerardo, Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars. He studied with many teachers. He says his brother Gerardo interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.
"Anthropologists visit the temple sites," Mr. Barrios says, "and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination. .. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed. The indigenous have the calendars, and know how to accurately interpret it, not others.
The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years. The calendar that has steadily drawn global attention since 1987 is called the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij.
Devised ages ago and based on the cycle of the Pleiades, it is still held as sacred. With the indigenous calendars, native people have kept track of important turning points in history.
For example, the day keepers who study the calendars identified an important day in the year One Reed, Ce Acatal, as it was called by the Mexicans. That was the day when an important ancestor was prophesied to return, "coming like a butterfly. " In the western calendar, the One Reed date correlates to Easter Sunday, April 21, 1519 the day that Hernando Cortez and his fleet of 11 Spanish galleons arrived from the East at what is today called Vera Cruz, Mexico.
When the Spanish ships came toward shore, native people were waiting and watching to see how it would go.
The billowing sails of the ships did indeed remind the scouts of butterflies skimming the ocean surface. In this manner was a new era initiated, an era they had anticipated through their calendars. The Maya termed the new era the Nine Bolomtikus, or nine Hells of 52 years each.
As the nine cycles unfolded, land and freedom were taken from the native people.
Disease and disrespect dominated.
What began with the arrival of Cortez, lasted until August 16, 1987 - a date many people recall as Harmonic Convergence. Millions of people took advantage of that date to make ceremony in sacred sites, praying for a smooth transition to a new era, the World of the Fifth Sun.
From that 1987 date until now, Mr. Barrios says, we have been in a time when the right arm of the materialistic world is disappearing, slowly but inexorably. We are at the cusp of the era when peace begins, and people live in harmony with Mother Earth. We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition.
As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes.
All this, Mr .Barrios says, was foreseen via the simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars. "It will change," Mr. Barrios observes.
"Everything will change." He said Mayan Day keepers view the DEC. 21,2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy.
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world's spiritual traditions.
Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration.
This process has already begun, Mr. Barrios suggested.
"Change is accelerating now, and it will continue to accelerate. " If the people of the earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape, without having destroyed too much of the Earth, Mr. Barrios said, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way.
A Picture of the Road Ahead: From his understanding of the Mayan tradition and the
calendars, Mr. Barrios offered a picture of where we are at and what may lie on the road ahead: The date specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year 2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize this date, but they do not know.
The ones who know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping the tradition.
"Humanity will continue," he contends, "but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human."We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions, are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action. Many powerful souls have reincarnated in this era, with a lot of power. This is true on both sides, the light and the dark.
High magic is at work on both sides. Things will change, but it is up to the people how difficult or easy it is for the changes to come about The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992 was the beginning of the destruction of the material world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the transition phase by now, and many of the so-called sources of financial stability are in fact hollow. The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for them. They could crash globally if we don't pay attention. If the banks crash ... then we will be forced to rely on the land and our skills. The monetary systems will be in chaos, and we must then rely on our direct relationship with the Earth for our food and shelter.The North and South Poles are both breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean, especially near Cuba, is also going to rise.
A Call for Fusion: As he met with audiences in Santa Fe, Mr. Barrios told a story about the most recent Mayan New Year ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the people at the ceremony. He elder delivered a simple, direct message. He called for human beings to come together in support of life and light.
Right now each person and group is going his or her own way. The elder of the mountains said there is hope if the people of the light can come together and unite in some way.
Reflecting on this, Mr. Barrios explained: "We live in a world of polarity: day and night, man and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness need each other. They are a balance. Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want.
They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012.
"On the light side everyone thinks they are the most important, that their own understandings, or their group's understandings, are the key. There's a diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is competition, diffusion, and no single focus. As Mr. Barrios sees it, the dark side works to block fusion through denial and materialism. It also works to destroy those who are working with the light to get the Earth to a higher level.They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth World, the materialism. They do not want it to change. They do not want fusion. They want to stay at this level, and are afraid of the next level. The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It's too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness.This is what leads to fusion, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun."
Mr. Barrios said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element. Whereas the four traditional elements of earth, air, fire and water have dominated various epochs in the past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun: ether.
The dictionary defines ether as the rarefied element of the Heavens. Ether is a medium. It permeates all space and transmits waves of energy in a wide range of frequencies, from cell phones to human auras.
What is "ethereal" is related to the regions beyond earth: the heavens. Ether the element of the Fifth Sun is celestial and lacking in material substance, but is no less real than wood, stone or flesh. "Within the context of ether there can be a fusion of the polarities," Mr .Barrios said.
"No more darkness or light in the people, but an uplifted fusion.
But right now the realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are organized to block it.They seek to unbalance the Earth and its environment so we will be unreadyfor the alignment in 2012. We need to work together for peace, and balance with the other side. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing unity and fusion now, to confront the other side and preserve life, to be Ready for this Moment in History.
Mr. Barrios told his audiences in Santa Fe that we are at a critical moment of world history. "We are disturbed," he said. "We can't play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action. Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard, but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history."
Mr. Barrios offered a number of suggestions to help people walk in balance through the years ahead. "The prophesied changes are going to happen," he said "but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are. We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people to represent us who understand and who will take political action to respect the earth. Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It's very important to be clear about whom you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely. A lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have the mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots. We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything: people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun, for it is associated with the element ether - the realm where energy lives and weaves. Go to the sacred places of the earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work.
One simple but effective prayer technique is to light a white or baby-blue colored candle. Think a moment in peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the light of it on to the leaders who have the power to make war or peace. We Have Work to Do.
According to Mr. Barrios this is a crucially important moment for humanity, and for earth. Each person is important. If you have incarnated into this era, you have spiritual work to do balancing the planet. He said the elders have opened the doors so that other races can come to the Mayan world to receive the tradition.
The Maya have long appreciated and respected that there are other colors, other races, and other spiritual systems.
"They know," he said, "that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the whole world. "The greatest wisdom is in simplicity," Mr. Barrios advised before leaving Santa Fe. "Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Lost Years of Jesus
I'm sure the Orthodox Church thought they had that book buried a long time ago," Richard Bock told me as he handed over a copy of The Unknown Life of Christ. His interest in the lost years of Jesus began with this travel diary recorded in 1887 by Nicolas Notovitch, a Russian doctor who journeyed extensively throughout Afghanistan, India, and Tibet.
Dick Bock took the same tour in 1975 and produced a documentary film on the lost years. It includes impressive testimony by John C. Trevor, director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project, and a nuclear physicist named Ralph Graeber. But the most convincing evidence comes from a little Buddhist monk who appears halfway through the film.
"Lord Jesus..." The old man shows one particularly shiny tooth as he speaks. His voice is high, like a tiny child.
I remember the impact of seeing a character like that on camera. I looked at his dark face, his saffron robe, and all those grimacing gods with too many heads and arms and legs. And I wondered how such a man could whisper with so much reverence the holy name of Jesus.
"... Lord Jesus was in India during what are known as the lost years of Jesus," he reports.
Lost years? I called to mind the mimeographed chronology of my Sunday-school coloring book and marginal notes in a New Testament college text. He's right, I thought. The Bible records Jesus age twelve in the temple. Then age thirty at the river Jordan. That leaves eighteen years unaccounted for.
But in India? It was hard to imagine my carpenter-of-Nazareth Jesus bathing in the Ganges, for instance.
Sitting in the lotus posture. I pictured a country where over six hundred million people are still struggling to enter the twentieth century. (They ride painted elephants, don't they?) How can this strange little man possibly know whether Jesus Christ ever set foot in India?
"Lhasa." The monk describes inhospitable territory that is traversed by a solitary road leading to a Tibetan monastery. Here, he says, there are records originally written in the Pali language-"ancient scrolls," he explains, curling his blunt fingers as if to open the rigid parchment before my eyes.
"Near Srinigar in the Happy Valley of Kashmir we find the legend of an extraordinary saint known to the Buddhists as St. Issa," says the monk. "Events in the life of Issa closely resemble that of Jesus Christ, revealing what are thought to be the lost years of our Lord."
It was a surprise to me that Jesus could have spent half his life in the Orient. It was a surprise that I had never wondered where the Master was all that time. To me he was simply "about my Father's business," as Luke wrote.
But what surprised me most was that this Buddhist acted like he knew Jesus. Not so much historically or theologically. But personally. To hear him speak of "Lord Jesus"-it felt just like Christmas when it suddenly seems appropriate to think of the Mighty God in an intimate and deeply loving sort of way.
I'll never forget Richard Bock's documentary starring the little Buddhist Christian. It changed my image of Jesus-and it began to change my image of myself.
That's what I told Mr. Bock when I went to him for research. He said that he had shared the same experience.
Isn't it true, we agreed, that our outer search for the lost years of Jesus is reflective of something going on within each one of us. When we look to find truth in ourselves, we are encouraged "by coincidence or fate or God," as Bock put it, to search for the truth of Jesus' life.
When I began to read Dick's dog-eared copy of The Unknown Life of Christ, I realized that Notovitch had followed nothing more than a childhood hunch that there was something "majestically colossal" about India. His book tells of the startling discovery of the Issa legend-very much by coincidence, no doubt by fate, and most certainly by the hand of God.
It's a great story. The aristocratic Dr. Notovitch and his coolies. "Sahib, take the gun!"
It reads like an old Geographic, rich in the delightful minutiae of bungalows and centipedes, tinned goods, portly lamas, silence and wonder.
Notovitch wandered through the picturesque passes of Bolan, over the Punjab, down into the arid rocks of Ladak, and, "as curiosity led me," beyond the celebrated Vale of Kashmir into that inviolable secrecy of the Himalayas. Land of the Eternal Snows.
During his investigation of this "marvelous country," Notovitch learned that there existed in the library at Lhasa ancient records of the life of Jesus Christ. In the course of a visit to the great convent Himis, he located a Tibetan translation of the legend and carefully noted in his carnet de voyage over two hundred verses from the curious document known as "The Life of St. Issa."
The legend recorded by Dr. Notovitch appears to be a collection of eyewitness accounts, a book of tales told by indigenous merchants arriving from Palestine where they had happened to be on business during the controversial execution of a man known as the "king of the Jews." This type of word-of-mouth news service is still popular in the fantastic bazaars of Calcutta and Bombay.
One of the narratives tells of an Israelite by the name of Issa, "blessed by God and the best of all," who was put to death by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. Another detailed account traces the lineage of Issa and closely parallels Matthew's scrupulous chapter-one genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Notovitch never doubted the authenticity of these chronicles, diligently recorded in the Pali tongue by the Brahmanic and Buddhistic historians of India and Nepal. He determined to publish a translation of the Issa legend in at least one of the European languages and addressed himself enthusiastically to a number of respected ecclesiastics, "begging them to revise my notes" and give him an honest opinion.
Cardinal Rotelli opposed the publication of the legend for the ostensible reason that it would be premature. Meeting in Paris, Rotelli told Notovitch that "the Church suffers already too much from the new wave of atheistical thought." In Rome, Notovitch showed the Himis manuscript to a cardinal who was au mieux with the pope. "What would be the good of publishing this?" said the prelate. "You will make yourself a crowd of enemies. If it be a question of money which interests you..."
The cardinal did not succeed in bribing Dr. Notovitch. But to this day nobody has ever heard of St. Issa. I wondered why. (I would have loved to color Jesus riding a painted elephant.)
There was, as Notovitch put it, a "picturesque situation" at the Himis gonpa the day his caravan arrived. "The doors of the convent opened wide, giving access to some twenty persons disguised as animals, birds, devils, and monsters of every kind." It was a religious mystery play. Culture shock for a Russian orthodox.
"My head was in a whirl," Notovitch confessed. "Young men, dressed as warriors, came out from the temple. They wore monstrous green masks. Making an infernal din with their tambourines and bells, they gyrated round the gods seated on the ground…." The prolonged spectacle was rewarded by an invitation from the chief lama for a drink of "tchang" in honor of the festival.
Notovitch seated himself on a bench opposite the venerable lama. "What signification have all these masks, costumes, bells, and dances-?" he asked diplomatically.
The lama outlined for Notovitch a short history of Tibetan Buddhism, ending with a keen indictment of the priest class, so-called Brahmans, who had made the holy doctrine a matter of commerce. "Our first holy prophets, to whom we give the title of Buddhas, established themselves of old in various countries of the globe," he said. "Their preachings aimed before all at the tyranny of the Brahmans..." Here Notovitch seized an opportunity to broach the subject so near at heart.
For more of this fascinating article go to:
http://www.tsl.org/Masters/jesus/jesus01.htm
Dick Bock took the same tour in 1975 and produced a documentary film on the lost years. It includes impressive testimony by John C. Trevor, director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project, and a nuclear physicist named Ralph Graeber. But the most convincing evidence comes from a little Buddhist monk who appears halfway through the film.
"Lord Jesus..." The old man shows one particularly shiny tooth as he speaks. His voice is high, like a tiny child.
I remember the impact of seeing a character like that on camera. I looked at his dark face, his saffron robe, and all those grimacing gods with too many heads and arms and legs. And I wondered how such a man could whisper with so much reverence the holy name of Jesus.
"... Lord Jesus was in India during what are known as the lost years of Jesus," he reports.
Lost years? I called to mind the mimeographed chronology of my Sunday-school coloring book and marginal notes in a New Testament college text. He's right, I thought. The Bible records Jesus age twelve in the temple. Then age thirty at the river Jordan. That leaves eighteen years unaccounted for.
But in India? It was hard to imagine my carpenter-of-Nazareth Jesus bathing in the Ganges, for instance.
Sitting in the lotus posture. I pictured a country where over six hundred million people are still struggling to enter the twentieth century. (They ride painted elephants, don't they?) How can this strange little man possibly know whether Jesus Christ ever set foot in India?
"Lhasa." The monk describes inhospitable territory that is traversed by a solitary road leading to a Tibetan monastery. Here, he says, there are records originally written in the Pali language-"ancient scrolls," he explains, curling his blunt fingers as if to open the rigid parchment before my eyes.
"Near Srinigar in the Happy Valley of Kashmir we find the legend of an extraordinary saint known to the Buddhists as St. Issa," says the monk. "Events in the life of Issa closely resemble that of Jesus Christ, revealing what are thought to be the lost years of our Lord."
It was a surprise to me that Jesus could have spent half his life in the Orient. It was a surprise that I had never wondered where the Master was all that time. To me he was simply "about my Father's business," as Luke wrote.
But what surprised me most was that this Buddhist acted like he knew Jesus. Not so much historically or theologically. But personally. To hear him speak of "Lord Jesus"-it felt just like Christmas when it suddenly seems appropriate to think of the Mighty God in an intimate and deeply loving sort of way.
I'll never forget Richard Bock's documentary starring the little Buddhist Christian. It changed my image of Jesus-and it began to change my image of myself.
That's what I told Mr. Bock when I went to him for research. He said that he had shared the same experience.
Isn't it true, we agreed, that our outer search for the lost years of Jesus is reflective of something going on within each one of us. When we look to find truth in ourselves, we are encouraged "by coincidence or fate or God," as Bock put it, to search for the truth of Jesus' life.
When I began to read Dick's dog-eared copy of The Unknown Life of Christ, I realized that Notovitch had followed nothing more than a childhood hunch that there was something "majestically colossal" about India. His book tells of the startling discovery of the Issa legend-very much by coincidence, no doubt by fate, and most certainly by the hand of God.
It's a great story. The aristocratic Dr. Notovitch and his coolies. "Sahib, take the gun!"
It reads like an old Geographic, rich in the delightful minutiae of bungalows and centipedes, tinned goods, portly lamas, silence and wonder.
Notovitch wandered through the picturesque passes of Bolan, over the Punjab, down into the arid rocks of Ladak, and, "as curiosity led me," beyond the celebrated Vale of Kashmir into that inviolable secrecy of the Himalayas. Land of the Eternal Snows.
During his investigation of this "marvelous country," Notovitch learned that there existed in the library at Lhasa ancient records of the life of Jesus Christ. In the course of a visit to the great convent Himis, he located a Tibetan translation of the legend and carefully noted in his carnet de voyage over two hundred verses from the curious document known as "The Life of St. Issa."
The legend recorded by Dr. Notovitch appears to be a collection of eyewitness accounts, a book of tales told by indigenous merchants arriving from Palestine where they had happened to be on business during the controversial execution of a man known as the "king of the Jews." This type of word-of-mouth news service is still popular in the fantastic bazaars of Calcutta and Bombay.
One of the narratives tells of an Israelite by the name of Issa, "blessed by God and the best of all," who was put to death by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. Another detailed account traces the lineage of Issa and closely parallels Matthew's scrupulous chapter-one genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Notovitch never doubted the authenticity of these chronicles, diligently recorded in the Pali tongue by the Brahmanic and Buddhistic historians of India and Nepal. He determined to publish a translation of the Issa legend in at least one of the European languages and addressed himself enthusiastically to a number of respected ecclesiastics, "begging them to revise my notes" and give him an honest opinion.
Cardinal Rotelli opposed the publication of the legend for the ostensible reason that it would be premature. Meeting in Paris, Rotelli told Notovitch that "the Church suffers already too much from the new wave of atheistical thought." In Rome, Notovitch showed the Himis manuscript to a cardinal who was au mieux with the pope. "What would be the good of publishing this?" said the prelate. "You will make yourself a crowd of enemies. If it be a question of money which interests you..."
The cardinal did not succeed in bribing Dr. Notovitch. But to this day nobody has ever heard of St. Issa. I wondered why. (I would have loved to color Jesus riding a painted elephant.)
There was, as Notovitch put it, a "picturesque situation" at the Himis gonpa the day his caravan arrived. "The doors of the convent opened wide, giving access to some twenty persons disguised as animals, birds, devils, and monsters of every kind." It was a religious mystery play. Culture shock for a Russian orthodox.
"My head was in a whirl," Notovitch confessed. "Young men, dressed as warriors, came out from the temple. They wore monstrous green masks. Making an infernal din with their tambourines and bells, they gyrated round the gods seated on the ground…." The prolonged spectacle was rewarded by an invitation from the chief lama for a drink of "tchang" in honor of the festival.
Notovitch seated himself on a bench opposite the venerable lama. "What signification have all these masks, costumes, bells, and dances-?" he asked diplomatically.
The lama outlined for Notovitch a short history of Tibetan Buddhism, ending with a keen indictment of the priest class, so-called Brahmans, who had made the holy doctrine a matter of commerce. "Our first holy prophets, to whom we give the title of Buddhas, established themselves of old in various countries of the globe," he said. "Their preachings aimed before all at the tyranny of the Brahmans..." Here Notovitch seized an opportunity to broach the subject so near at heart.
For more of this fascinating article go to:
http://www.tsl.org/Masters/jesus/jesus01.htm
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Transcribed From RING OF POWER
Ring Of Power
Empire of the City
Amenstop Productions
Secret Rulers of the World-Present/Past #1
11/29/2008
About the Producer:
As a child, she had many arguments between her parents over her father’s ring, inscribed with “G”, a compass and square, and his membership and meetings with a secret organization. At a later age, years of intensive research led her to the identity, history and plans of a power “so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocking, so complete, so pervasive “ that even the known ‘leaders’ of the world are careful not to speak in “condemnation” of it.
(“power” quote from President Woodrow Wilson, 1913)
The 911 Attack on America looked so much like a formula action packed Disaster Movie that it had “Made in the USA” written all over it. The only difference is, it used real props and real people. It had Terrorist Villains, American Firefighter Heroes, fireball explosions, collapsing buildings, pedestrians chased by dust clouds and it even had a God Bless America music score. Well positioned camera’s shot the action packed drama from every conceivable angle.
Audio: Just the picture of the Helicopter landing and the President walking in…….19 Hijackers and Saudi Nationals……..he said that he didn’t believe that Osama Bin Laden…….no one has accused or blamed him formally…..city is confirming that some 265 firefighters are believed……None of us will ever forget this day…..(Bush “people that knocked these buildings down will hear all of us now……”) Now America Remembers. Sunday……
The timing, the title and the eary advertisement for Harvey Weinstein’s Lord of the Rings movie called the Two Towers was a prophetic and disturbing coincidence. Profits from the Two Towers movie were small change compared to the 911 Reality Disaster Movie which has become the World’s top grossing production of all time.
The only thing missing is are the 911 writer producer and director credits but it doesn’t take an Enron accountant to figure out who’s cashing in. During the first week the 911 producers made a spectacular fortune, just on the Stock Market alone. How? By knowing in advance that the stocks in Airline and Insurance Companies associated with the 911crash, would fall in value. Using that inside information they made negative bets on the Stock Market called Put Options.
Put Options are bets that a certain stock will fall in value by a certain date. It’s big risk gambling unless you’ve got inside information that can turn your bet into a sure thing. But that’s illegal if you get caught at it.
Put Option bets on the decline on 911 related Airline and Insurance stocks skyrocked by a whopping 600% just before 911, which means that somebody knew about the attacks before they happened. Who exactly were those somebody’s?
Merrill Lynch and HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, the Bank of America, weapons manufacturer Raytheon, the Lehman Brothers, General Motors, Swiss Re, Munich Re and AXA Re Insurance Company which owns 25% of American Airlines. These Insiders bought Put options through Douche Bank. Dialogue: “whose demanding clients trust Douche Bank to perform. Douche Bank. A passion to Perform”
(Corporate & Investment, Asset Management, Private Wealth Management.)
Fuzzy Comgard, the former executive director of the CIA just happened to be the manager of Douche Bank and so these profiteers from 911 were not Osama Bin Laden or his band of US trained Arabs, they were Blue Chip Israeli, US and British businessmen. Within the first week the 911 producers sucked up 40 billion in box office profits from US taxpayers who were hypnotized, terrorized and traumatized by the infinite reruns.
Male voice: Think of it as a Conspiracy Theory , true or false test.
A. When George W. Bush started his first Oil Company who helped fund it? Osama Bin Laden’s brother and Brother in Law. T or F?
B. After a Terrorist Bomb at a barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 19 Americans who got the multi million dollar contract to rebuild? The Bin Laden’s. T or F?
C. On the morning of Sep 11, 2001 who was in a meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington ? George Bush Senior and Osama Bin Laden’s brother. T or F?
Actually the answer could be D. All of the above because, believe it or not, as far fetched as they sound, each and everyone of those: The Bin Laden link to the Bush Oil Company, the Bin Laden construction contract after the terrorist bomb and the Bin Laden Bush meeting on 911 is true.
Many of the facts surrounding the events of 911 point to a cover up. Like the fact that the Bush ignored all of the advance warnings of the 911 attacks. Warnings from FBI agents like Colleen Rowley and from the famous Phoenix Memo were not only ignored, they were suppressed. FBI deputy director John P. O’Neill quit his job when his investigation of Osama Bin Laden was blocked. According to a September 24th News Week article, top Pentagon officials canceled their travel plans for 911 because of security concerns. While the American Public were sitting ducks all of America’s political, military and corporate VIP’s were kept out of harms way.
Two Moslems accused of the 911 hijackings took their flight training at Rudi Dekkers, Huffman Aviation School in Florida. Rudy Dekkers is linked to the CIA and drug smuggling through Careen Bear and Britain Aviation which shared the same small Venice airport with Dekkers.
The media report is that on the night before the attack, accused ring leader Mohamed Atta and two other Moslem hijackers got drunk, fondled naked dancers at a Florida strip club called Shuckums, forgot their business card and their Koran Holy book at the Bar, publicly bashed America and loudly boasted about impending bloodshed the next day.
Would devoted and highly secretive Muslim hijackers risk their planned mission by attracting so much negative attention. And why were they in Florida instead of Boston the night before their suicide flight?
On the early morning of September 11th 19 Muslim men, well known to intelligence and security agencies supposedly waltzed past security checks, boarded 4 passenger planes and turned them into deadly missiles, without even a hitch.
By 8:13 AM, flight controllers temporarily lost radar contact with American Airlines flight 11and reported a suspected hijacking. Even though Andrews Air Force Base is only 10 minutes from Washington, emergency response fighter jets took close to an hour instead of the typical 15 minutes to scramble and begin searching for the hijacked planes. By then it was too late.
President Bush already knew about the first Flight 11 that occurred at 8:46 AM when he sat down to chat with school kids at Booker Elementary School. It wasn’t until 9:05 AM that he was notified that a second plane: flight 175 had also crashed into the World Trade Center and that America was under attack.
Instead of being whisked to safety in this national emergency Bush nodded and continued chatting with the kids for another 20 minutes about a pet goat. While American Citizens were burning alive and leaping to their death’s from the smoking towers.
News reports: “flailing against the wind as they fell. Almost as if they had second thoughts. It was absolutely horrifying…..
Male voice: And you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder exactly what president George W. Bush knew about the attack and when he knew it. According to the official White House version it was at this moment in a Florida classroom that Bush learned the second plane had hit the World Trade Center and that the US was under attack. But here’s what George Bush, himself said three months later when asked about September 11th. “I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in and I saw an Airplane hit the tower. The TV was obviously on. I used to fly myself and I said ‘ now there’s one terrible pilot’ and I said ’that’s one terrible accident ‘ but I was whisked off there and didn’t have much time to think about it.”
Now wait a minute. George Bush was told about the second plane while he was inside the classroom so you just heard him describe seeing the first plane crash on the Television that day. But that’s impossible. Nobody saw the first plane crash on TV on September the 11th because the videotape on it didn’t surface until the next day.
Woman narrator: At 9:55 AM, president George W. Bush took off in Air force 1 with no escort or protection from fighter jets and circled around for the next hour. Why was the president’s plane airborne and unescorted for an entire hour while hijacked planes were roaming the skies?
The inexperienced hijacker pilots who took only a simulated flying course, reportedly flew the third hijacked plane, flight 77into a Top Gun 270 degree turn, bypassed the offices of the joint chiefs of staff and crashed into an insignificant part of the pentagon that was under renovation.
Emergency response Air Force fighter jets were finally airborne when a 4th hijacked plane, flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:06 AM. The media reported that passengers overpowered the hijackers but nearby residents saw US fighter jets overhead and gave eyewitness reports of debris falling from the sky. That debris was found 8 miles away, indicating that the plane had been shot down.
Within hours of the 911 hijacking a massive blame the Muslim campaign was launched by CNN and the media and continues to this day.
In less than 48 hours the names and mug shots of 19 accused Muslims were flashed across TV screens. If government investigators knew nothing how did they identify 19 Muslim men as the hijackers, so fast
Empire of the City
Amenstop Productions
Secret Rulers of the World-Present/Past #1
11/29/2008
About the Producer:
As a child, she had many arguments between her parents over her father’s ring, inscribed with “G”, a compass and square, and his membership and meetings with a secret organization. At a later age, years of intensive research led her to the identity, history and plans of a power “so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocking, so complete, so pervasive “ that even the known ‘leaders’ of the world are careful not to speak in “condemnation” of it.
(“power” quote from President Woodrow Wilson, 1913)
The 911 Attack on America looked so much like a formula action packed Disaster Movie that it had “Made in the USA” written all over it. The only difference is, it used real props and real people. It had Terrorist Villains, American Firefighter Heroes, fireball explosions, collapsing buildings, pedestrians chased by dust clouds and it even had a God Bless America music score. Well positioned camera’s shot the action packed drama from every conceivable angle.
Audio: Just the picture of the Helicopter landing and the President walking in…….19 Hijackers and Saudi Nationals……..he said that he didn’t believe that Osama Bin Laden…….no one has accused or blamed him formally…..city is confirming that some 265 firefighters are believed……None of us will ever forget this day…..(Bush “people that knocked these buildings down will hear all of us now……”) Now America Remembers. Sunday……
The timing, the title and the eary advertisement for Harvey Weinstein’s Lord of the Rings movie called the Two Towers was a prophetic and disturbing coincidence. Profits from the Two Towers movie were small change compared to the 911 Reality Disaster Movie which has become the World’s top grossing production of all time.
The only thing missing is are the 911 writer producer and director credits but it doesn’t take an Enron accountant to figure out who’s cashing in. During the first week the 911 producers made a spectacular fortune, just on the Stock Market alone. How? By knowing in advance that the stocks in Airline and Insurance Companies associated with the 911crash, would fall in value. Using that inside information they made negative bets on the Stock Market called Put Options.
Put Options are bets that a certain stock will fall in value by a certain date. It’s big risk gambling unless you’ve got inside information that can turn your bet into a sure thing. But that’s illegal if you get caught at it.
Put Option bets on the decline on 911 related Airline and Insurance stocks skyrocked by a whopping 600% just before 911, which means that somebody knew about the attacks before they happened. Who exactly were those somebody’s?
Merrill Lynch and HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, the Bank of America, weapons manufacturer Raytheon, the Lehman Brothers, General Motors, Swiss Re, Munich Re and AXA Re Insurance Company which owns 25% of American Airlines. These Insiders bought Put options through Douche Bank. Dialogue: “whose demanding clients trust Douche Bank to perform. Douche Bank. A passion to Perform”
(Corporate & Investment, Asset Management, Private Wealth Management.)
Fuzzy Comgard, the former executive director of the CIA just happened to be the manager of Douche Bank and so these profiteers from 911 were not Osama Bin Laden or his band of US trained Arabs, they were Blue Chip Israeli, US and British businessmen. Within the first week the 911 producers sucked up 40 billion in box office profits from US taxpayers who were hypnotized, terrorized and traumatized by the infinite reruns.
Male voice: Think of it as a Conspiracy Theory , true or false test.
A. When George W. Bush started his first Oil Company who helped fund it? Osama Bin Laden’s brother and Brother in Law. T or F?
B. After a Terrorist Bomb at a barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 19 Americans who got the multi million dollar contract to rebuild? The Bin Laden’s. T or F?
C. On the morning of Sep 11, 2001 who was in a meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington ? George Bush Senior and Osama Bin Laden’s brother. T or F?
Actually the answer could be D. All of the above because, believe it or not, as far fetched as they sound, each and everyone of those: The Bin Laden link to the Bush Oil Company, the Bin Laden construction contract after the terrorist bomb and the Bin Laden Bush meeting on 911 is true.
Many of the facts surrounding the events of 911 point to a cover up. Like the fact that the Bush ignored all of the advance warnings of the 911 attacks. Warnings from FBI agents like Colleen Rowley and from the famous Phoenix Memo were not only ignored, they were suppressed. FBI deputy director John P. O’Neill quit his job when his investigation of Osama Bin Laden was blocked. According to a September 24th News Week article, top Pentagon officials canceled their travel plans for 911 because of security concerns. While the American Public were sitting ducks all of America’s political, military and corporate VIP’s were kept out of harms way.
Two Moslems accused of the 911 hijackings took their flight training at Rudi Dekkers, Huffman Aviation School in Florida. Rudy Dekkers is linked to the CIA and drug smuggling through Careen Bear and Britain Aviation which shared the same small Venice airport with Dekkers.
The media report is that on the night before the attack, accused ring leader Mohamed Atta and two other Moslem hijackers got drunk, fondled naked dancers at a Florida strip club called Shuckums, forgot their business card and their Koran Holy book at the Bar, publicly bashed America and loudly boasted about impending bloodshed the next day.
Would devoted and highly secretive Muslim hijackers risk their planned mission by attracting so much negative attention. And why were they in Florida instead of Boston the night before their suicide flight?
On the early morning of September 11th 19 Muslim men, well known to intelligence and security agencies supposedly waltzed past security checks, boarded 4 passenger planes and turned them into deadly missiles, without even a hitch.
By 8:13 AM, flight controllers temporarily lost radar contact with American Airlines flight 11and reported a suspected hijacking. Even though Andrews Air Force Base is only 10 minutes from Washington, emergency response fighter jets took close to an hour instead of the typical 15 minutes to scramble and begin searching for the hijacked planes. By then it was too late.
President Bush already knew about the first Flight 11 that occurred at 8:46 AM when he sat down to chat with school kids at Booker Elementary School. It wasn’t until 9:05 AM that he was notified that a second plane: flight 175 had also crashed into the World Trade Center and that America was under attack.
Instead of being whisked to safety in this national emergency Bush nodded and continued chatting with the kids for another 20 minutes about a pet goat. While American Citizens were burning alive and leaping to their death’s from the smoking towers.
News reports: “flailing against the wind as they fell. Almost as if they had second thoughts. It was absolutely horrifying…..
Male voice: And you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder exactly what president George W. Bush knew about the attack and when he knew it. According to the official White House version it was at this moment in a Florida classroom that Bush learned the second plane had hit the World Trade Center and that the US was under attack. But here’s what George Bush, himself said three months later when asked about September 11th. “I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in and I saw an Airplane hit the tower. The TV was obviously on. I used to fly myself and I said ‘ now there’s one terrible pilot’ and I said ’that’s one terrible accident ‘ but I was whisked off there and didn’t have much time to think about it.”
Now wait a minute. George Bush was told about the second plane while he was inside the classroom so you just heard him describe seeing the first plane crash on the Television that day. But that’s impossible. Nobody saw the first plane crash on TV on September the 11th because the videotape on it didn’t surface until the next day.
Woman narrator: At 9:55 AM, president George W. Bush took off in Air force 1 with no escort or protection from fighter jets and circled around for the next hour. Why was the president’s plane airborne and unescorted for an entire hour while hijacked planes were roaming the skies?
The inexperienced hijacker pilots who took only a simulated flying course, reportedly flew the third hijacked plane, flight 77into a Top Gun 270 degree turn, bypassed the offices of the joint chiefs of staff and crashed into an insignificant part of the pentagon that was under renovation.
Emergency response Air Force fighter jets were finally airborne when a 4th hijacked plane, flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:06 AM. The media reported that passengers overpowered the hijackers but nearby residents saw US fighter jets overhead and gave eyewitness reports of debris falling from the sky. That debris was found 8 miles away, indicating that the plane had been shot down.
Within hours of the 911 hijacking a massive blame the Muslim campaign was launched by CNN and the media and continues to this day.
In less than 48 hours the names and mug shots of 19 accused Muslims were flashed across TV screens. If government investigators knew nothing how did they identify 19 Muslim men as the hijackers, so fast
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Dear LP Supporters
I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him.
The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving20a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries.
We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not even know, were offered reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model prisoner.
He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is generally done when you won't name your attackers; incidentally being only given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes. Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.
This attack on Leonard comes on the heels of the FBI's recent letter, prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit Leonard as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them, then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator.
It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage "it takes an Indian to catch an Indian". In 1978, they made an attempt to assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison with Leonard. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM.
When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He also began to speak on Leonard's behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his murder, Standing Deer confided with close friend s and associates that the same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and anything to do with him.
We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for the continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also seeking support from Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers.
The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make sure that nothing happens to him again!
Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional representatives and write letters, not email, to them. Do what you can to get the word out to insure that Leonard is receiving a dequate medical attention for his injuries.
I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this time to help. I don't know what else to do. Please Help!
Thank you
Betty Peltier-Solano
Executive Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
Also call and request Leonard be treated with dignity and respect.
Canaan Federal Prison
570-488-8000
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Trial for August 10, 2008 Civil Resistance Action at Fort McCoy
Trial for August 10, 2008 Civil Resistance Action at Fort McCoy
January 12, 2009 Joy First
On August 10, 2008 I participated in an action of nonviolent civil resistance at Fort McCoy. This was in conjunction with the Witness Against War Walk, an event organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence, walking 450 miles from Chicago to St. Paul for the start of the Republican Presidential Convention.
Fort McCoy is a military base where many of our young men and women are trained to be deployed to Iraq. The basis for our action was to bring a letter to the soldiers supporting them and advising them that they have the right to refuse deployment to a war that is immoral and illegal. About 50 people participated in the 3 hour walk from Tunnel City to Fort McCoy on August 10. Once at the main gate, 13 individuals chose to peacefully try to gain access to the base to deliver our message. We were arrested, processed, and released in about an hour or so.
On January 12, 2009 twelve of us were on trial at the U.S. District Court i n Madison, WI under Judge Stephen Crocker with a large number of supporters in the audience. Those on trial were Brian Terrell, Jeff Leys, Alice Gerard, Kryss Chupp, John Bachman, Gene Stoltzfus, Lauren Cannon, Ceylon Mooney, Eileen Hanson, Renee Espeland, Joshua Brollier, and myself. Kathy Kelly was also arrested, but she was in Egypt attempting to provide humanitarian aide to the people of Gaza under siege by the Israeli army. She had notified the judge by letter and her case will be reviewed when she returns home.
Originally we were charged under a Federal Statue for trespassing. For some reason, they were not able to charge us under that statue and the final charge was trespassing under a Monroe County Statue. Judge Crocker said this was no longer a criminal charge, but he was treating it that way so that we would have more rights and the burden of proof would be higher.
The U.S. District Attorney called four witnesses. The first witness was the Deputy Chief of Police at Fort McCoy, who described what happened that day. Then three officers who did t he processing on the day of the arrests took the stand. As in many cases of mass arrest for civil resistance, they identified us by our pictures taken at the time we were arrested. The whole process of identification was bogus. They went through looking at a copy of each citation attached to a picture of the person arrested. Judge Crocker asked the person who was issued the citation if they had any objections on this being entered into evidence. So when we said no objections, we were identifying ourselves. Nevertheless, the officers never pointed to us in the courtroom and said that is Joy First who was arrested at Fort McCoy, but only looked at the picture and identified the picture as Joy First.
After the prosecution rested, Jeff Leys made a motion for judgment of acquittal based on the fact that we were not properly identified. Judge Crocker denied the motion.
Judge Crocker explained that each defendant would have five minutes to speak. He said we could not use the necessity defense or international law, but rather than argue over what we wer e saying, he would just give us each our five minutes to say whatever we wanted to say and then he would make his ruling.
The statements made by the defendants were elegant and moving, but we also knew by the judge’s words that it was just an exercise in futility that would not really have any impact on the eventual ruling by Judge Crocker.
Brian Terrell said that he looked up the vision of Fort McCoy on the web and it said that they are the premier training center for America’s defense system. We brought our own vision, an alternative vision, to the base disrupting their mission of providing cannon fodder in Iraq. It was our legal and moral responsibility to go there.
Gene noted that the soldiers being trained there will be facing an incredible legal and moral dilemma. He said that he did not feel guilty and will accept the consequences./ SPAN>
Ceylon explained that he had been to Iraq twice and seen the effects of war. He works with soldiers who have come home and sees the long-term effects of war on them. What we did was not illegal.
Jeff introduced the letters we wrote and pictures of the action into evidence. He said he hoped that we would be in front of the judge again as we build the movement of nonviolent civil resistance.
Eileen declined to speak.
Alice said that she went there to speak to the soldiers. The pressure on the military is necessary and we did nothing wrong. It is the government that is violating the law.
I talked about all we have done to try to stop the war, and that we must and will continue this work. I noted that it is my First Amendment right and my obligation under Nuremberg to do this. Bush and company are the real criminals.
Renee asked the judge if anything she said would really make a difference. She spoke directly to the officers who had testified earlier beseeching them to see what they were doing in a different light. She noted that grave injustices are being done to the soldiers at Fort McCoy.
Kryss noted that laws are important, but when laws are used to protect institutions of injustice, she will follow God’s law. She sang “Finlandia”.
Josh said that20government exists by the people and for the people, for the common good, but it is sometimes used to hurt people. Not advising soldiers of what is really going on is illegal. He believes our actions were consistent with the spirit of the law.
John said he felt it was time to vote with his feet. The war was unpopular and undemocratic. When he was trying another case in northern Wisconsin, both the judge and prosecutor told him they were supportive of what he did.
Judge Crocker said that our right of free speech ends when we trespass. And he added, “Let’s face it. You all trespassed.” He said he had to find us guilty though he noted that it is wonderful that citizens will do what we did.
The maximum penalty for this charge was 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. The prosecutor recommended a $100 fine. J udge Crocker sentenced us to a $75 fine. In sentencing statements, a number of defendants said that their conscience would not allow them to pay the fine. Judge Crocker said he would check and see if the fine could go to a victim’s compensation fund rather than the general treasury which was more acceptable to some of the defendants.
For a newspaper report of the trial, see
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