As explained in the article Learning Careerism As A Moral Reward System; our society, specifically our education system teaches and prepared us for a careerist lifestyle.  Or simply put, working for money is considered success in our societies.

But not only does it teach us to work for currency.  Just as we are put down in school for having poor grades, in society we are put down and even ridiculed, almost as criminals, for having low paid jobs, and even more so for having no paid job at all.

This video shows how people are eager to help someone until people assume they are homeless, and that the homeless are also more eager to help people in need:

We live in a society where those with the most important jobs to our survival work long hours, often physically tiring and are not paid very much. There are only a few kinds of workers that we really need, farmers/food producers, construction/manufacturers, delivery, maintenance/repair, and public services such as hospital workers and good police.

As time goes on there is more automation, so there are less jobs available but more people and so more food, building, maintenance, healthcare, and so on is required.  However farmers are being paid less as time goes on, many selling their farms to get a different job, as their valuable work doesn’t even pay the bills.  Construction workers, store workers, repair services and delivery are often paid low or minimum wage.  Construction or farm work is much physically harder than sitting in an office trading stocks, yet those people are praised because they make more money.

There are often stories of fire-fighters and medical workers on strike because they are on a low wage or have poor quality working conditions, but these are the true heroes of our society, these people save us from death.  Farmers, medical workers and fire-fighters should be the highest rewarded and praised workers of society, not some of the least.

We should also give more credit to those who are building and maintaining places for us to live comfortably in.

It is shameful that the harder a job is, the less money the workers will make, and those who make the most money in society actually have the easier jobs and often work the least.

In our society even these workers that we require for survival are not made a priority, money is.  We are taught that if we work hard we can get a good job, and a good job pays well, most people still believe this and look up to those with ‘well-paid’ jobs and look down on those with a low paid job or those who are considered poor.

The truth is that in almost all cases the LESS-ethical the persons job, the more money they will earn.  We could consider the most ethical of all work to be charity work, helping those with less, yet most of this work is either volunteer work or paid minimum wage.  Those without jobs at all are looked down on, even when they volunteer to do charity work.  Looked down on by those who mess around with numbers to make bigger numbers (trading stocks and shares), or managers; people who make sure that other people work so that they can take a larger cut.

Our parents tried to teach us good ethics and morals, but then they told us to obey at school, which taught us that these twisted careerist ideologies were moral and ethical.

Those without any paid employment, often also without any debt are sometimes homeless, and our society also tells us that they are homeless because they are drug addicts or alcoholics, and therefore we should not help them, even though many of these people are not drug-addicts or alcoholics, and if they are, it is often a sickness that is created by the world they live in, they simply didn’t have enough money or got kicked out by an ex-partner.  Relationship breakdown and illness can happen to anyone.

So we have those who work very unethical jobs making ridiculously high amounts of money, those looked down on for having low paid work, even though it is physically more productive, those who are ridiculed for not having a ‘paid’ job or claiming some kind of state benefit, and then the homeless who cannot even apply for many kinds of state benefits or most jobs because they cannot complete the forms without a valid address, and often an email address or phone number; sometimes even the phone number must be a landline number, and of course to apply for a job most of the time these days a printed Résumé/CV is required.

Amnesty international reported that approximately 3.5 million people in the U.S. are homeless, many of them veterans.  It is worth noting that, at the same time, there are 18.5 million vacant homes in the country.

AP also reports that nearly 1 in 2 Americans have fallen into poverty.

CBS News reports that “According to a new report out this past week, poverty in America has reached its highest level since 1965″.

So as a whole this brings up a question, apart from a few specific careers, is paid work ethical?  How many ethical jobs do you know that are helping people to survive or live comfortably and are not profiting some corporation, or share holders, sat back, relaxing, watching the money you make entering their bank accounts.

When we do get paid, a high percentage of that money gets cut to go to government as income tax, however we give them another chunk of money from VAT, another tax, then depending on where you live there are multiple other taxes such as state tax, council tax, road tax, import tax, property tax, inheritance tax, and so on…

Click for larger image

This topic has become so big in recent years that it probably isn’t necessary to state this, but for those that are new to the subject, here goes!

The fluoride used in dental practices and in our water supply is not a chemical made in a laboratory and approved as a safe drug.  To understand fluoride further, we can look at it scientifically; technically the name fluoride is scientifically inaccurate.  Fluoride is a naturally occurring compound in nature but is not safe for humans in high dosages.

What must now be understood is when we are speaking about Fluoride from here on in this article, is that we are not just talking about a naturally occurring compound, nor is that compound good for our teeth.  We are referring to a chemical mixture that is sold under the name of Fluoride that contains a wide array of chemicals, putting this substance in category four of hazardous materials.  This is the highest and most dangerous rating a substance can receive.  The substance labeled “Fluoride” that we use in dental practices, toothpaste and water fluoridation is the hazardous waste substances caught in the wet scrubbers of the phosphorus industries.

This extremely toxic, hazardous chemical is illegal to dump and would cost companies a hefty price tag to properly dispose of, instead they are SOLD to cities and towns where they are then dumped into water supplies, legally.

Fluoride in our water and its actual chemical content is like many other shocking revelations that no one believed until it became a known fact that we were all being lied to and fooled for so long. It’s only a matter of time until it becomes common knowledge that the use of fluoride is doing nothing more than poisoning our bodies.

Facts:

Note: If these facts challenge your current beliefs on fluoride, then do research about this to see what resonates most.  These facts have become very clear, are well documented and now scientifically proven.

The chemical names of the main substances used in fluoridation practices are hexafluorosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride, often referred to as sodium fluoride.

It is illegal to dump the hazardous fluoride waste products  hexafluorosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride into water streams or rivers, it is even considered an act of terrorism to do so, yet it is legal and accepted as safe practice to add it to many of our water supplies under the guise that it is helping with dental hygiene.  This theory of helping with dental hygiene is built off of assumptions.

Roughly 99% of the water pumped through municipalities is not consumed through the mouth; most is used for showering, water crops and washing clothes.  Given these facts, most of it ends up in streams, rivers and oceans where this hazardous waste is destroying and contaminating our environment.  And what is consumed by us does nothing more than harm our bodies.

24 studies have shown a link between fluoride exposure and the lowering of IQ levels.  When you really think about it though, is it all that surprising that brain function is hindered by the consumption of an extremely hazardous waste product?

Fluoride is an unapproved drug being used in a highly illegal mass medication scheme.  Adding fluoride to the water supply is said to be voluntary for municipalities but the people never get a vote. The drug has not been approved by any drug agency and no one has been assessed for prescriptions.

Fluoride is so toxic and dangerous that it has the ability to eat through metal and concrete.  A fluoride spill requires the use of hazmat suits to clean up.

Photographs of Dental Fluorosis by Dr. Hardy Limeback and Dr. Iain Pretty, et al.

Water fluoridation is nothing more than the dumping of industries hazardous waste into people and our environment to avoid having to pay to dispose of the waste.  In fact they make a profit instead.

Drinking fluoridated water has never been scientifically proven to reduce tooth decay.

Research has found that fluoride affects normal endocrine function, causes kidney disease, bone weakness, dental fluorosis, cancer, lowering of IQ, calcification of the pineal gland, arthritis, immune deficiencies, skeletal fluorosis and much more.

Below is a video showing hidden camera images inside a fluoride facility.

What Can We Do?

Stop drinking fluoridated water. Use a filtration system in your home that filters out fluoride.  Most filters can also remove chlorine which is another harmful chemical.

Educate your doctors and dentists about where fluoride really comes from; the majority of the time those professionals are not trying to hurt you they just don’t know the truth behind the substance.  They are limited to what their education taught them and unfortunately the education system is funded and controlled by the companies who benefit from this.

Spread this information with others and your city politicians to put an end to water fluoridation.  Be neutral and open as you talk about this information with them so they will take you seriously; too often anger of the issue makes it seem like it’s not something worth looking into.

Watch and share this documentary about fluoride.

Sources:

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2012/08/04/do-you-still-believe-fluoride-is-good-for-our-teeth-read-this/

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/health/

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/11/toxic-fluoride-contaminates-iceland-volcanic-ash-and-is-killing-animals.aspx

http://www.naturalnews.com/030952_CDC_fluoride.html

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/02/05/is-your-dentist-drilling-for-dollars.aspx

http://www.greenfacts.org/en/fluoride/index.htm

http://www.fluoridealert.org/articles/50-reasons/

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/water/

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/dental-products/

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/fluorosis/

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/caries/

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/sources/

Robert Johnson | Business Insider

After repeatedly flying surveillance aircraft into disputed airspace with Japan, which made Tokyo scramble F-15s in response, China sent fighters of its own on Thursday into the East China Sea. 

A Friday press release out of China confirms the incident began when Beijing was flying a Shaanxi Y-8 on a “routine Thursday patrol” over the “oil and gas fields in the East China Sea.”

The fact that the aircraft was a Shaanxi Y-8 is interesting in that the Y-8 isn’t necessarily any one particular aircraft.

The Diplomat calls the Y-8 a transport plane, and it can be, but the aircraft has more than 30 variants. The Y-8 performs everything from Mineral Research, to Geophysical Surveying, to Electronic Warfare to Intelligence Gathering and one variant is simply an innocuous but lethal fully loaded gunship, with two heavy cannons and three heavy machine guns.

It’s the perfect plane for a game of cat and mouse because if the Y-8 ever received fire from Japan’s F-15s, China could simply maintain it was an unarmed transport model carrying troops, or the Y8-F model that carries only livestock.

In the meantime, the plane can perform all manner of sophisticated tests on the seabed floor, while eavesdropping on Japanese communications. China has been flying these planes consistently lately to surveil the contested island chain that’s supposed to hold billions in oil and gas reserves.

So, again, on Thursday Japan spotted aircraft in its Air Defense Identification Zone (above the islands) that it believed to be Chinese J-7 interceptors, along with some J-10 fighters whose combat abilities rival that of Western jets. Japan responded with two F-15s scrambled from Naha, Okinawa — just a couple hundred miles away. There are minor variations from either side about who sent what first, but all agree the aircraft met above the islands.

The Chinese planes scattered soon after, but this marked the first time China and Japan flung military assets at one another over the East China Sea island dispute. A line was crossed and staying behind it in the future will only be more difficult.

The U.S. assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell announced that he will be traveling to Seoul, and Tokyo. What he decides in Tokyo will filter south to Naha and the Japanese unit confronting the Chinese.

An interesting fact about Naha, aside from its proximity to the contested territory, is that while being fairly remote, it is also home to Alfred R. Magleby, a United States Consul General who holds a M.S. in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. This is appropriate, since the Naha Port (formerly Military) Facility is part of U.S. Forces Japan and the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is less than nine miles from where Japan’s F-15s scrambled.

It looks like the islands everyone’s talking about are a few dots in the middle of nowhere, but all of this is taking place close to the U.S. Consulate and a contingent of several thousand U.S. Marines whose former commanding general told Time in 2010: “All of my Marines on Okinawa are willing to die if it is necessary for the security of Japan.”

In the future, when responding to China’s fighter deployment, if Japan considers permitting its F-15 pilots to fire tracer bullets as warning shots against Chinese planes, it is now reasonable to assume that U.S. forces at Futenma may have an indirect say in that decision.

Firing tracers, which usually contain phosphorous or some highly flammable material, sends a line of light through the air like a laser. Tracers are usually loaded in about every tenth round to let gunners know where they’re shooting, but in this case they would be fired to show Chinese pilots they’re being fired upon.

An editorial in China’s state-run Global Times called this possibility, “a step closer to war,” warning a military clash is “more likely” while its people need to prepare “for the worst.” With a U.S. presence so close at hand to where these Japanese decisions are being made, and tactical practices employed, we can hope for at least a bit of immediate tempering.

The Chinese jets are likely flying from air base Shuimen, built east of the islands in Fujian Province, not too much farther from the islands than Naha, Okinawa. So both sides have assets equally within reach of the islands.

Satellite imagery of the base  came to light in 2009, and experts believe it was completed late last year.

The Taipei Times reported in May 2012 that J-10 combat aircraft, Su-30 fighters, and various unmanned drones were arriving at the base.

In addition to aircraft, experts believe Russian made S-300 long-range surface-to-air missiles ring the

airbase, providing some of the best missile protection in the world. The S-300 is comparable to the U.S. made Patriot missile recently sent to Turkey for its first line of missile defense against Syria.

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PL Chang | Energy Fanatics

This article is my most controversial article because it contains “forbidden knowledge” and evidence proving that the Controllers have infiltrated and distorted most systems in the world, including the religious, political, educational, and financial system. If you do not believe that there are people who want to control everything that you do and think, read this mind boggling article (contains visual proof) and then ask yourself why are they deceiving you.

If you do not know who the Controllers are, they are wealthy globalists who control society from behind the scene and pull the strings of politicians. A lot of the Controllers are high level bankers who are involved in secret societies. If you do not believe in secret societies, study organized crime and you should eventually come to the conclusion that they exist. Or you can read this groundbreaking book written by Dr. David E. Martin who was a US Congressional and EU Parliamentary policy adviser in global finance and ethics.

If we want to experience true freedom and world peace, we need to learn and understand how the Controllers think and study their systems of control so we can find ways to counter them. Otherwise, the Controllers will destroy our freedom and turn our planet into a prison. If this happens, our children and future generations will not have a future to look forward to.

The main goal of this article is to empower you by helping you understand the minds of the Controllers and their systems of control so that you can understand why they are so obsessed with the idea of controlling the world. After reading this article, you should understand why we cannot rely on our authorities to save us and why we need to be more responsible citizens. History has taught us that when we become irresponsible and take freedom for granted, we always get tyranny!

Why controlling religion and money are essential for enslaving our souls

Religion is the most effective tool to use to control the mass population at the mental and spiritual level. This is because most people have been conditioned to believe that religion is heavily influenced by the words of Creation (God). In order for the Controllers to control us, they need to weaken the spiritual power within us. This power is the loving energy that gives us thought, awareness and intelligence, which is also known as the soul/spirit.

The reason why they need to weaken our spiritual power is because when our spiritual power is strong it can help us see through their lies; therefore, it can free us from their controlling matrix. This is why people who are more spiritually awakened are usually the ones who are warning others about the Controllers’ dark agendas.

The end game of the Controllers is to create a worldwide catastrophic event so that they can manipulate the survivors into accepting their fascist one world government. To achieve this goal, they need to first control two things: money and religion. They have always been in control of money and religion to a large degree, but in the late 1700s their controlling empire was threatened by a generation of very brave men and women. Those brave men and women were the founders and builders of the country known today as the United States of America.

To make sure that the Controllers’ end game comes into fruition near 2012 and soon after, they need to destroy the US and what it stands for, which are freedom and liberty. They believe that once the US falls, controlling the rest of the world would become a lot easier. The Controllers knew that the US was too powerful to attack from the outside so they cleverly attacked it from the inside through stealth. In 1913, they achieved one of their greatest goals by creating a central bank in the US. This central bank, known as the Federal Reserve (Fed), is not a federal bank but a private bank owned by a small group of elite bankers. I like to refer to them as banksters because they are gangsters disguised in suits. You can read more about those banksters at this page.

The image of the dollar bill below is evidence that they have taken over the US financial system. If you study secret societies, you should have a general idea of what the Great Seal symbol stands for. The pyramid with the “all seeing eye” on top is one of their occult symbols of power. If you look closely at the pyramid, you should see 13 sections or stairs. The number 13 is a very important number in the religion of secret societies.

Controlling the US monetary system is essential for them to achieve their dark agendas because they can use it to steal real wealth from Americans and buy off their politicians and companies. To steal real wealth from Americans, they assign each American a social security number and force them to pay income tax which is against the Constitution. They have done such a great job of stealing American’s money that they got away with $15 plus trillions. To make matters worse, they enslave Americans through debt with their fractional reserve banking system. This system is what gives them the financial power to control the economy of the world.

Each time the Controllers print money to the US government, the fiat money is given to the US government as a loan plus interest. This is no different than borrowing money from a foreign country. It is important to know that most of the money exchange is done electronically. Another popular method that the Controllers use to steal real wealth from the American people is inflation which is nothing more than a hidden tax. For a detailed explanation why inflation is a hidden tax, please read this shocking article.

Many of the people who are in charge of the plan to overthrow the US government are part of controlling factions of secret societies. It is important to know that not all people in secret societies are bad. The good people in secret societies cannot conveniently leave their secret groups because it can cost their lives. According to Dean Henderson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Ethan Allen, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Brown, and Roger Sherman were all part of a secret society known as the Freemasons. The Freemasons is like a subgroup of the most powerful secret society of all, the Illuminati. The Illuminati has been around since the Sumerians and beyond.

The malicious faction of the Illuminati is responsible for distorting many of the original teachings of Jesheua, also known as Jesus. Many of the “holy books” found in modern religion were written by certain people who were part of secret societies or associated with them. This is why the biblical story of the birth of Jesheua is all based on astrology. In other words, December 25th is not the birth of the “son” of God but the birth of the “sun” of God that rises in the East and sets in the West.

As the winter solstice approaches from the Northern Hemisphere, the days become shorter and shorter until it reaches the shortest day of the year. Depending where you live on the planet, the shortest day of the year occurs on December 21st or 22nd. On this day the sun stops moving south for three days. Some ancient civilizations saw this as the analogy of the sun being dead for three days. On December 25th, the sun moves one degree north; therefore, it is said that the sun is reborn on this date. This one degree movement of the sun is very subtle but can be measured with very sensitive equipment.

I know the idea of the birth of Jesheua being a hoax may anger a lot of Christians, but if Christians want to truly achieve salvation, they must learn why the Controllers distorted Jesheua’s teachings so that they can separate the truths from the lies. We, the people of the world, need to understand that the same groups of people who gave us our modern banking system are the same groups of people who gave us modern religion.

If the previous three paragraphs are hard for you to believe, then please watch the video below. Be warned! This video contains shocking evidence that can put you in an emotional roller coaster ride. Viewer discretion is highly advised.

Religion The Greatest Story Ever Told (Zeitgeist)

Does the Pope agree with the video above?

Even though the video above shows great evidence that proves to a certain degree that religion contains distorted information or lies, a lot of us will still deny the fact that this video is telling us the truth. How about if a well-known religious leader tells us that there are some truths to the video. Would we believe it then?

One of the most well-known religious leaders is the Pope. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI has publicly announced that Jesheua (Jesus) was not born on December 25th, and that Christmas was based on a pagan solar festival.

As expressed at Telegraph.co.uk.

The entire Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation, the Pope has declared, as he claims in a new book that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed.

The ‘mistake’ was made by a sixth century monk known as Dionysius Exiguus or in English Dennis the Small, the 85-year-old pontiff claims in the book ‘Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives’, published on Wednesday.

“The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years,” the Pope writes in the book, which went on sale around the world with an initial print run of a million copies.

Do you notice that when it comes to these types of hot topics, they usually never admit that they are wrong? Instead, they tend to blame their errors on someone else so that they do not damage their credibility. These are the kind of leaders that we have running the world. Our political and religious leaders have lied to us in the past and they will keep lying to us until we become more responsible citizens. Do you now understand why we can never achieve true freedom and world peace until we become more responsible citizens?

One of the questions we should be asking our leaders is what else are you not telling us? I know for a fact that they are not telling us a lot of things because they know that once the truth comes out, their controlling empire will fall. This is exactly what is happening behind the scene. If we want their controlling empire to fall faster, we need to support the true patriots who truly care about our freedom and liberty. In other words, vote with your money and do not rely solely on the rigged voting machine.

We can vote with our money by buying organic and healthy food instead of the hazardous junk food that they created to destroy our connection to our souls. By buying organic food, they will have little choice but to support organic food. Another way to vote with our money is to stop watching news from the mainstream media (unless the corrupt leaders are removed), and read news from alternative media, such as projectcamelotportal.com, veteranstoday.com and stewwebb.com. These alternative media outlets are not financed by the Controllers and they are not afraid to expose the Controllers’ dark agendas. Support the true patriots and light warriors who truly care about your freedom and rights.

In one of my previous article titled “Forbidden Knowledge of the Federal Reserve Cartel: Part 1, 2 & 3,” I said that the year 2012 was a year of great change because the truth of what is truly going on in the world is going to come out sooner or later. Right now, some of the truth is starting to come out. One of them deals with the financial fraud committed by central banks throughout the world. Another one is going to involve the announcement of the existence of life beyond our planet. However, the announcement that there is life in outer-space may not happen for another few years. How fast this announcement will occur depends on if the people of the world are ready for it. The Vatican is already conditioning and preparing us to accept that there is life beyond our planet. You can read more about it at this website.

All major religions have been distorted by the Controllers

If you want to know who are behind a lot of the wars and destruction on our planet, follow the money and it will eventually lead you to religious institutions. They are some of the main entities that are financing and supporting many of the “evil” deeds throughout the world. One of these institution is the Vatican. The Vatican is not a holy institution because behind the scene they worship negative entities like Satan. These types of religious institutions are responsible for killing nearly 1 billion people since the time of Jesheua (Jesus).

It is important to know that all the major religions of the world have been distorted by the Controllers, including but not limited to Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. One of their main purposes of distorting religion is to manipulate us into thinking that the end of the world is coming. Another one is to disempower us. Even though the Controllers have distorted religion, there is a lot of great and truthful knowledge found in religion. The hard part is trying to separate the truths from the lies.

To manipulate us into believing their “End Times” prophecy, the Controllers brainwashed their children into supporting their doomsday plans, and then encouraged their children to brainwash their children to take actions leading to the fulfillment of their “End Times” prophecies. Therefore their doomsday plans are passed on from generation to generation so that each generation can fulfill their “End Times” prophecies. Many of us cannot comprehend how the Controllers’ dark agendas can survive for so long, but once you understand how they think and operate, then you should understand that their dark agendas are still alive and well today.

Nowadays we have many malicious secret societies running most of the systems of the world, including the religious, financial, educational, and political system. This is why there are so many dogmas found in religion and why our educational system is corrupt. This is also why the world’s financial system is a mess and why we are at the brink of another world war. During World War I and World War II, the Controllers almost succeeded in implementing their fascist one world government.

The Controllers are responsible for engineering most of the wars on our planet. They like to engineer wars to spread hatred and fear and make profits. They can make profits by financing both opposing forces in secrecy. The Controllers do not think like us. They think somewhat similar to that of a psychopath; therefore, they are very domineering and only care about themselves. The Controllers treat us like objects and value money more than our lives; thus, they do not show much remorse if we die.

Nowadays, the fight between the Controllers and the Resistance (the protector of freedom) is heavily concentrated in the US. Within the last century, the Controllers did an amazing job infiltrating the political, educational, religious, and financial systems of the US, a country that is quickly losing its freedom. The Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) are proof that the US has become very corrupt. The combination of these two laws allows the US government to spy on its own citizens and detain them without a trial.

Why the Controllers use modern religion to weaken our souls

One of the main reasons why the Controllers manipulate us with their ominous religious teachings is to weaken the connection to Creation (God) and our souls. By doing this, it becomes easier for them to take control of the power of our consciousness. Consciousness is the most powerful energetic force in our Universe because it contains the living codes that govern all things. By controlling our consciousness to a certain degree, they can also influence our thoughts which are essential for creating our experiences.

Most of us do not understand that the collective human consciousness is what creates our reality and that matter is focused into existence with our thoughts. Quantum physicists have known about this for decades. A lot of their theories and discoveries are being taken very seriously in the last 10 years because they are helping modern scientists explain how the Universe truly works.

If our thoughts create our reality, then why is it so hard to instantaneously manifest our thoughts into reality? The reason why we cannot immediately manifest our thoughts into physical manifestation is because we have not evolved to the point where we can take control of the thought manifestation process. Because of this, the thought manifestation process is managed by our subconscious. The distortions in our light bodies are also disrupting the thought manifestation process, making it harder for us to manifest our thoughts into reality.

Our individual thought may not feel very powerful in our current state of existence, but when we combine our thoughts with large groups of people, our collective thoughts become extremely powerful. When we focus our collective thoughts toward something, they speed up the manifestation process at an exponential rate. For this reason, the collective human thought is the most powerful manifestation force on our planet. The collective human thought also has amazing healing capabilities. Most of us do not realize that when we pray to Creation or some other divine being to heal our loved ones, we are actually doing the healing.

How the Controllers dumb us down using the educational system

After the Controllers took over the world financial system, they infiltrated the educational system. They did this by buying or financing certain schools and colleges. With unlimited money, they bribed some high level professors into joining their secret societies and then encouraged those professors to use their manipulative books. The schools and colleges that opposed them were restricted of government subsidies unless they agree to work with the Controllers. The Controllers were able to do this because a lot of politicians were bought off by them.

History and Science were the two subjects that the Controllers distorted the most. They distorted history to prevent us from discovering our true history. History tends to repeat itself; therefore, if we understand history, we can prevent the Controllers from manipulating us and infiltrating the systems of the world.

As for science, the Controllers took out a lot of the empowering findings in science because they knew that, if we became too educated in science, they would have a very hard time manipulating us. Plus, science can be used to prove that some of their ominous teachings are wrong. To make sure science can never be used against them, they use their controlling media and scientists to ridicule anyone who tries to challenge their paradigm. Because of this, they have slowly conditioned us to not question things. Conventional science is not really science anymore; instead, it has become like a religion.

The big secret that the Controllers do not want us to know

One of the greatest secrets of our human race that the controllers do not want us to know is how our consciousness and thoughts create our reality. If we ever become aware of our true powers, the Controllers will not be able to control us anymore. This is why the Controllers have used our power of consciousness and thought against us. They do this by spreading their disempowering teachings throughout the world, using their “holy books,” and religious and educational system, and other influential systems.

The Controllers have done such an amazing job of spreading their disempowering knowledge throughout the world that they have conditioned us to believe that we are slaves and powerless, and that Creation (God) exists outside of us. By believing their teachings, we become their slaves and they can manipulate us and steer our future the way they want. For example, one of the main goals of the controllers is to create a scenario that represents one of their prophecies known as the “End Times.”

Manipulating us to believe their “End Times” prophecy, our collective consciousness ends up creating certain events that support our beliefs. It is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. They also engineered many of the wars so that we will always have hatred toward other countries. Do you now understand why the world is such a mess? It is a mess because the Controllers have used the power of our consciousness and thought against us, creating a world full of fear and destruction instead of love and peace.

Many of the Earth changes are engineered by the Controllers

Most of us do not realize that many of the major Earth changes are not all caused by nature but are caused because of the Controllers’ scalar weapons, weather controlled technologies, and advanced particle accelerators. The use of these weapons can cause further damages to Earth’s biosphere, resulting in magnetic field shifts and Earth changes.

Below is an excerpt of one of my earlier articles titled “Is the World Going to End on December 21, 2012?”

There are many researchers and scientists claiming that earth changes related to the climate are caused by man-made carbon dioxide (CO2). This idea that man-made CO2 is the main cause of global warming is a hoax designed to tax us for merely breathing. If man-made CO2 is causing the Earth to heat up, then why are all the planets in our solar system heating up too? This is a question that many mainstream researchers and scientists shy away from because they are afraid of admitting that they are wrong. For more information on the subject of our solar system heating up, please visit LiveScience.com.

One of the major causes of earth changes is the dark rift. If you do not know what the dark rift is, it is a dense area in the Milky Way galaxy that has strong energetic particles. These particles can heat up our solar system and cause other strange phenomenon.

Most people do not realize that there are secret groups in certain governments that have very advanced scalar technologies. These technologies are so powerful that they can be used to manipulate the weather and even cause earthquakes. One of them is known as the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). One of the most well-known HAARPs is located in Gakona, Alaska.

As described at Haarp.net.

Put simply, the apparatus for HAARP is a reversal of a radio telescope; antenna send out signals instead of receiving. HAARP is the test run for a super-powerful radiowave-beaming technology that lifts areas of the ionosphere by focusing a beam and heating those areas. Electromagnetic waves then bounce back onto earth and penetrate everything — living and dead.

If you understand how HAARP works, you will realize that it has been used many times to manipulate the weather, causing droughts, floods, hurricanes, and even earthquakes. The way to tell when HAARP is used is to look for HAARP’s unique frequency signature which can be easily detected with the right equipment. HAARP can be used to facilitate earthquakes by adjusting it to generate ultra-low frequency (ULF) of roughly 2.5 Hz. For more information on how HAARP can be used to trigger earthquakes, please visit TheOldSpeakJournal.WordPress.com. For great visual evidences, please visit SinceDutch.WordPress.com.

The mass awakening is already causing the collapse of the Controllers’ empire

The mass awakening is one of the major reasons why the Controllers’ empire is falling apart. The mass awakening is causing a major shift in our consciousness; therefore, increasing our awareness and allowing us to see who are truly running the world. The only way the Controllers can achieve their dark agendas is to do them in secrecy. This is why it is important that we educate others about these topics so we can increase their awareness. Once enough people wake up, the right people in the right situations will take the necessary actions to stop the Controllers from destroying our lives and future.

We also need to share ideas with others instead of hiding our ideas because we do not want others to steal our ideas. Each one of us only have a small puzzle of the big picture. If we start sharing our ideas, it would be easier for us to see the big picture and find solutions to solve major problems of the world.

The last thing we need is for people to attack the messengers. Truly wise people would never attack the messengers. Instead, they will use their intuitions to help them discern the information and then do research to see if it is valid. On the other hand, ignorant people will attack the messengers because they think they already know everything about the subjects. Anger does not make a wise person; instead, it makes an ignorant person. When we attack the messengers, we are doing exactly what the Controllers want. The Controllers want us to fight each other so we are divided. Stop fighting and unite my fellow men and women!

The idea that there are wealthy Controllers who are controlling the world may sound like a bad dream, but if you understand who the real puppet masters are, you should understand how the Controllers are able to create such a successful controlling system. This last part is the most important part because it will help connect the dots by exposing who the real puppet masters are. In addition, it will unveil the true potential and history of the human race. Once you understand who the real puppet masters are, you should understand why humanity has such a hard time freeing itself from enslavement.

The true potential of the human race and its hidden history

The human race is a very ancient race with amazing potential. Its potential is so astonishing that when its body is fully activated, no technology (no matter how advanced it is) can compete with it. The secret to our hidden potential lies within our DNA. All human beings on Earth have at least 12 strands of DNA, not the two strands claimed by modern scientists.

The higher strands of our DNA exist beyond three dimensional space which is why modern scientists cannot detect them. Once they invent the right technology, they will discover the higher strands of human DNA. One important thing we need to know about human DNA is that it is mixed with extraterrestrial DNA. I know this sounds crazy but scientists of the Human Genome Project are actually claiming that this is true. You can read more about their claims at this website.

Scientists have also recently discovered that 90 to 97 percent of our DNA is “junk DNA.” They call it “junk DNA” because it does not seem to function. Our “junk DNA” holds the key to our history and true potential. When we activate our junk DNA, we allow high frequency energies that have amazing healing potential into our bodies. These types of energies can heal diseases, extend our lifespans, and activate certain hidden abilities within us, such as telepathy and clairvoyance. If we can activate our 12 strands of DNA, we will become immortals. This is one of the big secrets that the puppet masters of certain secret societies do not want us to know. To learn more about the secret of DNA, please read this article. To learn how we can become immortals, please read this article.

The biggest secret of the human race is that we have the potential to become gods. This is what the Controllers and their puppet masters fear about us the most. We do not feel like we have god-like abilities because we have not evolved enough to handle the true power of our consciousness. If we can heal our higher strands of DNA, taking control of the creation process of our reality will be like learning a language but easier.

The puppet masters of the Earth-based Illuminati

The people in the highest ranks of the Illuminati and the Vatican know about our true history and potential to a certain point, but they do not know as much as their puppet masters. The puppet masters of the Illuminati and other certain secret societies are the first groups of the fallen angels. I like to refer to them as the fallen angel elders. The fallen angel elders are one of the primary Christos Founders Races of our Universe. They are called fallen angels because they have deviated from their Christos Fields, causing them to lose their eternal life current and immortality. The fallen angel elders are nearly as old as our Universe. They are the ones who are truly calling the shots behind the scene.

The fallen angel elders who decided to stay on the path of Death Science have damaged their original energy template that governs their bodies beyond the critical mass point. This original energy template is also known as the Kathara Grid or the Tree of Life. It is the core energy template upon which morphogenetic fields, merkaba fields and other levels of identity are built. Think of the original energy template as the frame of a building and you should have a general idea of what it is. Because the fallen angel elders have damaged their original energy template beyond the critical mass point, it cannot be fixed; therefore, they have permanently lost the ability to become immortals.

We, human beings, are also fallen angels but we have not damaged our original energy template beyond the critical mass point. However, we are getting really close to the day that we may never be able to heal our original energy template. This is because the fallen angel elders and other fallen races have manipulated most of humanity into supporting Death Science teachings. The true nature of the systems of the Cosmos is based on Life Science teachings.

The paragraph below goes into detail explaining the difference between Life Science and Death Science. They are extracted from my book called Staradigm.

Most of our modern science is based on Death Science, which is why it supports black holes, wormholes and finite systems. There is nothing wrong with Death Science because it contains its own truth. But following the concept of Death Science will eventually lead to the death of a race and its planet, solar system and galaxy. This is why it is called Death Science. Our Milky Way galaxy is on the path of Death Science because it has a black hole in its center. The Milky Way galaxy used to be a natural galaxy because it did not have a black hole. The dying process of a galaxy takes billions of years to finish.

Reality fields that are based on Death Science have finite quantum energy; therefore, they are unnatural and have finite lifespans. These finite reality fields are known as phantom reality fields. A super massive phantom system, such as the Milky Way galaxy takes billions of years to die, giving the illusion that it has an abundance of energy. Keep in mind that the Milky Way is already a few billion years old.

The major cause of death of a galaxy is permanent critical mass energy distortion of its original energy template, causing a black hole to manifest at its center. This black hole will eventually consume all of the galaxy’s quantum energy and matter, including the souls who are bound to it.

The beings responsible for creating the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is the fallen elder races. They caused this black hole to occur with their advanced Death Science technology. A black hole will first pull in energy that has the most similar coding of the area that the black hole first emerged. For example, if we create a black hole on Earth, it will first pull in the energy of the Earth and her inhabitants. Even if we get on a spaceship and travel far away from the black hole, our energy is still linked to the space/time of Earth. As long as the black hole exists, it will keep sucking our energy.

The scenario above is very similar to what has happened to the fallen angel elders and certain fallen races. They have fallen so far that they have damaged their original energy template to the point where it is depleting their energy in a way that is similar to a black hole. This process also causes them to lose the incoming flow of energy from Creation and thus they become finite beings fueled by the limited supply of energy that remained in their energy templates. In simpler terms, their souls are dying and they are becoming more like soulless beings. The dying process of a soul can take millions of years.

The point of critical mass distortion of the original energy template is known as Anti-Christiac Merkaba. Merkaba fields are made of electromagnetic counter-rotating energy spirals. In simpler terms, they are like circulatory systems that supply us with the life force of Creation, giving us infinite lifespans.

The fallen races’ merkaba fields are basically consuming themselves until they reach a critical mass point. Once this point is reached, their merkaba fields will reverse their polarity. When this happens, the finite quantum that supports their existence will become more and more dense at its core until it implodes, causing them to return to space dust or background energy. This process is similar to how an unnatural star dies and implodes into space dust.

The main difference between us and the fallen angel elders is that they have permanently damaged their original energy template. In other words, they are permanently stuck on the path of space dust return. To slow down the process of space dust return, they travel to other living systems and try to steal the quantum of these living systems. Our solar system is one of the living systems that they are trying to steal its quantum. If they were truly immortal beings, they would not need to steal quantum from other living systems to feed them and their dying Milky Way galaxy.

The true meaning behind the biblical story of the Fall

I am not a big fan of religious books but many religious books do contain some truth. However, a lot of the truths are distorted in a way to manipulate us and prevent us from knowing the true meaning of their messages. In the Bible, it stated that the first human race created was immortal.

According to the Bible, the first two immortal human beings were Adam and Eve. It was not until they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they experienced death and disease. As a penalty for their sin, all human beings from that day forward will experience death. Many religious leaders suggested that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is an apple tree; therefore, Adam and Eve ate a poison apple. I will explain the true meaning of the poison apple in the next part.

The Bible was somewhat correct when it mentioned that Adam and Eve were immortals but they were not the only ones. When the human race was first created, they were 12 tribes. Those 12 original tribes of the human race were immortal angelic beings. They are our true ancestors. We human beings also have the potential to become immortal angelic beings because we have our ancestors’ DNA coding. I know all this stuff sounds crazy but when you study the science of energy and how it relates to matter, you should come to the conclusion that everything is energy and matter is like an illusion; thus, we are all energy or light beings.

The angelic humans were created to be guardians of their planet and helped fallen races fix their DNA so they can avoid extinction. Unfortunately, certain tragic events occurred that damaged their planet so severely that it caused a part of it to fall to our dimension. This event also caused some angelic humans to fall down to Earth. In the Bible, this event is known as the Fall. The tragic events that occurred before the Fall also mutated the angelic humans’ DNA, causing them to lose their immortality.

While on Earth, the angelic humans’ DNA mutated even more due to thousands of years of intergalactic/interdimensional wars with the fallen angel elders and their legions. Those wars caused major distortions in our planet’s energy fields. This is one of the reasons why we have the precession of the equinoxes, which is a slow wobble of the Earth’s axis. The distortions of our planet’s energy fields also caused major damages to the angelic humans’ DNA, causing more of their higher strands of DNA to turn off.

The angelic humans lost their immortality because they are energetically bound to their home planet. When a planet’s energy fields become distorted, they also cause distortions to the energy fields and DNA of all living things on that planet. By losing their immortality, they became more vulnerable to being manipulated and harmed by the fallen races.

Unlike the fallen angel elders, we human beings have not damaged our original template beyond the critical mass point; thus, we still have the potential to become immortal angelic beings again. However, time is not on our side because the fallen angel elders and other fallen races are working very hard to cause permanent damage to our original energy template. Once this occurs, our fate is set in stone and we will permanently be stuck on the path of Death Science or the path of fall.

The fallen angel elders are not immortal like what many Illuminati thinks and they are not all powerful. The fallen angel elders have the ability to shape shift into angels, demons, and any creature that they want but they are not all powerful. They are a dying race because they have been following the dark path for far too long, causing permanent damage to their original energy template. Because they know that they are going to return back to space dust or background energy, they are trying to take as many races as they can down with them. Unfortunately, we are one of the races that they are trying to bring down with them.

The path of Death Science or space dust return can occur in a loving and peaceful manner but the fallen angel elders do not want us to return back to space dust in a peaceful manner. They want to exploit and control us for their pleasure. This is what the 2012 drama is really about. At the deepest level, the 2012 drama is focused around the spiritual war for our souls. This is why we should take this drama really seriously. To learn more about Death Science and Life Science, please read this enlightening article.

Because the fallen angel elders can shape shift, they have tricked many new age teachers into thinking that they are communicating with real angels or enlightened beings. Many of the channeled information are being given to new age teachers by fallen races in disguised, not by enlightened beings. This is why most of new age teachings are based on Death Science.

New age teachers who teach about the Fibonacci golden mean spiral, the torus energy fields and finite systems are supporters of the fallen races’ teachings whether they realize it or not. The Controllers and the people who support the fallen angel elders should really think twice about what they are doing because the fallen angel elders are only using them to achieve their dark agendas. The fallen angel elders do not care about us (including the Controllers) because they see us as only objects to exploit.

The core meaning of the poison apple

The poison apple that they talk about in religion is an analogy of the torus energy field that surrounds a planet, body, cell, and atom in the Milky Way galaxy. Before the tragic event that caused damages to our energy fields, our energy fields did not look like a torus. Instead, they look more like a butterfly-shaped field. The torus energy field is a distortion of the natural butterfly-shaped energy field. This distortion restricts the natural flow of living energy of the Universe. As a result, the torus energy field is one of the major causes of death. The core structure that allows living energy to travel from Creation to the receiver is the Kathara Grid, also known as the Tree of Life.

The natural systems of the Cosmos have a process that expands and contracts that is similar to the breathing process. This natural process allows energy to flow in from Creation and back out to Creation. This allows energy to recycle itself so to speak. Because of this feature, natural systems of the Cosmos do not experience death because they are always being recharged with the loving energy of Creation. Unlike natural system, artificial systems like the torus energy field (poison apple) heavily restrict the natural flow of energy of the Cosmos, causing death to occur. This is the core meaning of the poison apple that many religions talk about.

The human race on Earth can reclaim its natural energy field by healing its DNA before the distortions in its energy field reach critical mass. To truly bring back our DNA to the level of angelic beings, we need to implement Life Science teachings into our spiritual practices. One of them is the Kathara Bio-Spiritual Healing System. If we are successful at activating all of our 12 strands of DNA, we will become immortal and more powerful than even the fallen angel elders. Do you now understand why the fallen angel elders have manipulated us into supporting Death Science without our knowledge? Death Science teachings cause distortions in the original energy template which prevent us from activating our higher strands of DNA.

Jesheua (Jesus) the 12th-level avatar

The last person who was able to activate his or her 12 strands of DNA was Jesheua. He achieved this when he was in his 30s, which is why the Bible talks about him becoming a light being before he left our planet. Jesheua was a spiritual teacher whose work I highly respected because his teachings were based on Life Science. When Jesheua was here, he taught people about unity, love, ascension, and natural systems. He also taught people not to worship an external Creation (God) because the true Creation exists within each of them.

When we worship an external Creation, we are giving our powers away; therefore, it disempowers us. External Creation worshipping is the false teachings of the fallen angel elders and other fallen races. Those fallen angel elders have fallen so far from Creation that all they care about are death and destruction. They are what most people refer to as demons, Satan or Lucifer. We do not need to fear the fallen angel elders because they are not immortals. If they were immortals, they would not need to steal energy from natural living systems to feed them and their dying Milky Way galaxy. Even though they are not immortals, we still need to understand what they are capable of doing.

The fallen angel elders’ understanding of the Universe is beyond what we can comprehend at our current level of evolution. Even though they have more knowledge than us, they are still bound to the Laws of the Universe. One of them is the Law of Creation. Any being who likes to create destruction instead of creation will eventually become extinct. The Laws of the Universe are inescapable. The people who are helping the fallen races should really think twice about what they are doing. All thoughts and intentions are known by the Universe and there is no escaping its laws.

The ultimate goal of the Intergalactic/Interdimensional Earth drama

The current drama that is unfolding quickly on Earth is like an illusion designed to help us and Creation evolve. This is the ultimate goal of the Earth drama. When we look at this drama from a higher perspective, it is like a play and everyone is assigned a role that he or she has agreed to play. This is why we cannot really hate our enemies because they are just playing their parts in the evolution of the Universe. I know this may sound harsh but the truth is not always easy to accept. The problem with the Earth drama is that it is at a point where if we do not turn it around, it could cause the extinction of the human race on Earth.

The Controllers are here to teach us lessons and we are here to teach them lessons. At the deepest level, the Controllers are a part of us that we are not consciously aware of. Many of us, including the Controllers, have forgotten who we truly are; therefore, we do not remember that we are one. If we want to truly learn our lessons and help the Universe and Creation evolve, we will need to forgive the Controllers. Forgiving them does not mean that we approve what they did to us. It just means that we have learned our lessons and it is time to move on. Fighting each other will only create more karmas; therefore, the Earth drama will never end.

Love is the key to heal all things; even the fallen races will eventually realize this. At the core of love are frequency and consciousness. To be more accurate, love is the state of perfect vibrational harmonization or the co-resonance of consciousness between all things. This eternal vibrational resonance of consciousness is what holds the Cosmos together. Whenever a civilization lacks love, the strength of its eternal vibrational resonance of consciousness weakens, increasing its risk of becoming extinct. Any race that lacks love for too long will eventually become extinct. There is no exception because love is the key to heal all things. If we want to truly be healed, we will need to understand what love is and spread love throughout the Universe.

Sayer Ji

With the flu season ramping up, many are looking to vaccination as a “preventive” approach.

Those who abstain are often accused of being uneducated, or worse, socially irresponsible.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

As it presently stands, it is not sound medical science, but primarily economic and political motivation which generates the immense pressure behind mass participation in the annual ritual of flu vaccination.

It is a heavily guarded secret within the medical establishment (especially within the corridors of the CDC) that the Cochrane Database Review, considered by many within the evidence-based medical model to be the gold standard for assessing the effectiveness of common medical interventions, does not lend unequivocal scientific support to the belief and/or propaganda that flu vaccines are safe and effective.

To the contrary, these author title="The Shocking Lack Of Evidence Supporting Flu Vaccines"itative reviews reveal there is a conspicuous absence of conclusive evidence as to the effectiveness of influenza vaccines in children under 2, healthy adults, the elderly, and healthcare workers who care for the elderly.

What is even more disconcerting is that only one safety study on inactivated flu vaccines has been performed in children under 2 (the population most susceptible to adverse reactions), even though in the USA and Canada current guidelines recommend the vaccination of healthy children from six months old.

Another alarming finding following the global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization in 2009, is that receipt of the seasonal flu vaccine among Canadians actually increased the rate of medically attended pandemic H1N1 infection.

Vaccines, therefore, may actually decrease resistance to viral infection via their immunosuppressive actions. View study.

Can Vaccination Replace Natural Immunity?

At the outset it should be acknowledged that there could be no medical justification for vaccination in the first place if it were not for the observation that periodic infection from wild type pathogens confers lasting, natural immunity.

In a very real sense periodic infectious challenges are Nature’s immunizations, without which the very concept of vaccination would make absolutely no sense.

The vaccination process artificially simulates and co-opts a natural process, generating a broad range of adverse unintended consequences, many of which have been documented here.

Vaccine proponents would have us believe that natural immunity is inferior to synthetic immunity, and should be replaced by the latter.

In some cases they even suggest breastfeeding should be delayed during immunizations because it “interferes” with the vaccine efficacy.

Sounds like naked economic incentives have trumped genuine, serious health concerns for the entire population, especially the very young, the elderly and the sick.

This warped perspective follows from the disingenuous standard vaccine researchers use to “prove” the “efficacy” of their vaccines.

The chemical kitchen sink is thrown at the immune system in order to conserve the expensive-to-produce antigen and to generate a more intense immune response – a process, not unlike what happens when you kick a beehive.

These chemicals include detergents, anti-freeze, heavy metals, xenotrophic retroviruses, DNA from aborted human fetuses (diploid cells) and other species, etc.

Amazingly, vaccine researchers and manufacturers do not have to prove the antibodies actually have affinity with the antigens they are marketed to protect us against, i.e. they do not have to prove “effectiveness,” only “efficacy.”

This semantic trick is at the root of how the world has been deceived into accepting interventions so dangerous that their risk, like nuclear power, is underwritten by world governments, not private insurers who know they would go bankrupt paying out claims to the injured.

Also, recent research indicates in some cases no antibodies are required for immunity against some viruses, running diametrically opposed to orthodox vaccinology.

Another point that can not be understated is that the trivalent (3-strained) influenza vaccines are incapable of protecting us against the wide range of pathogens which produce influenza-like illness:

Over 200 viruses cause influenza and influenza-like illness which produce the same symptoms (fever, headache, aches and pains, cough and runny noses).

Without laboratory tests, doctors cannot tell the two illnesses apart. Both last for days and rarely lead to death or serious illness. At best, vaccines might be effective against only Influenza A and B, which represent about 10% of all circulating viruses. (Cochrane Database).

It is therefore exceedingly clear that it is a mathematical impossibility for influenza vaccines to be effective at preventing wild-circulating strains of influenza.

Nutritional support, then, becomes the most logical and reasonable solution.

Immune Status Determines Susceptibility To Infection

The fact is that our immune status determines susceptibility. If the immune system is continually challenged with environmental toxicants, nutritional deficiencies and/or incompatibilities, chronic stress, influenza is far more likely to take hold.

If your immune system is strong, many infectious challenges occur, are met with an appropriate response, and often go unnoticed. In other words, it is not a lack of a vaccination that causes infection, rather, the inability of the immune system to function effectively. [Note: In some cases, we may become infected and the ultimate outcome is that we enjoy even greater immunity.]

While there are a broad spectrum of natural substances which have been studied for their anti-influenza properties, vitamin D deserves special consideration due to the fact that it is indispensable to produce antiviral peptides (e.g. cathelicidin) within the immune system, and can be supported for pennies a day.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2010, revealed that children receiving 1200 IUs of vitamin D a day were at 59% reduced risk for contracting seasonal Influenza A infection.

Moreover as a secondary outcome, only 2 children in the treatment group versus 12 for the control group, experienced an asthma attack.

There are actually a broad range of preventive strategies that are evidence-based, and available without prescription.

1) Echinacea Tea: J Altern Complement Med. 2000 Aug;6(4):327-34
2) Elderberry:  J Altern Complement Med. 1995 Winter;1(4):361-9.
3) American Ginseng:  J Altern Complement Med.  2006 Mar;12(2):153-7.
4) Green Tea: J Nutr. 2011 Oct ;141(10):1862-70. Epub   2011 Aug 10.
5) Probiotics: Pediatrics. 2009 Aug;124(2):e172-9.
6) Vitamin D: PLoS One. 2010;5(6):e11088. Epub 2010 Jun 14.

This article first appeared at GreenMedInfo.

Incoming search terms:

• flu vaccine shocking lack evidence (1)

He said: “They risk undermining trusted NHS services and could in time destroy the core public service ethos that sets our health service apart from others.”

Many private companies say the regulator would be right to introduce a tax exemption.

David Worskett, of NHS Partners Network, a firm which represents private firms in the NHS, said that "corporation tax and VAT are significant economic distortions and it would be extremely helpful to have them addressed by the government".

Last week it was revealed that more than 100 private firms will be paid by the NHS to treat patients as part of a major expansion of the private sector role in the health service.

Basic services such as physiotherapy and MRI Scanning will be provided by the firms.

But a report produced by former health secretary Andrew Lansley, said that private sector providers face costs “about £14 higher for every £100 of cost relative to an NHS acute provider.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We have always been clear that any income from private sources must benefit NHS services.

"We have commissioned Monitor to carry out their Fair Playing Field Review. Once it has been completed and submitted to the Department, we will consider how to respond."

The report’s findings will be shown to health secretary Jeremy Hunt later this month.

The Local Government Secretary stressed that “any decision about our future in the EU has got to be one clearly in the national interest”.

“If it’s in our firm national interest that we should remain in the EU – and I sincerely hope that is the case – then we should stay, but we shouldn’t stay at any price,” he said. “It shouldn’t be something that becomes a yardstick of some kind of new faith, it should be really about [if] it’s in the national interest.”

The Prime Minister has also said he does not want to leave the EU and on Sunday it was alleged that he was increasingly alarmed by the “mad” rhetoric of some back-bench Conservative MPs.

Mr Pickles’ comments came after Ed Miliband accused Mr Cameron of “sleepwalking us towards the exit door” of the EU. The Labour leader said that the Prime Minister’s position on Europe is “incredibly dangerous”.

Mr Miliband said that promising an in-or-out referendum is the “last thing we should do”.

However, some Labour figures have been publicly flirting with the idea of calling a referendum to “outflank” the Conservatives.

“It’s the wrong thing to do,” Mr Miliband said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. “It is not in the national interest.”

He added: “I think that it’s incredibly dangerous what David Cameron’s doing. I think he is essentially sleepwalking us towards the exit door from the European Union. The last thing we should do is start to say for some date five, six, seven years hence, let’s decide now to have an in-out referendum.”

Meanwhile, Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Treasury Secretary, said: “I just think that any responsible British politician should not be contemplating British exit from the EU, given how serious the consequences would be.”

To help fund the extra costs of the scheme, millions of workers with final-salary schemes, particularly in the public sector, will also have to pay more tax and the second state pension will be phased out in future.

Campaign groups accused ministers of a “con trick” by proposing a system which “offers nothing to existing pensioners”.

Ministers are expected to insist that at least nine in 10 people will be better off under the reforms. They also argue that to gain the benefit of simplifying the system it is acceptable to ask some people, particularly those with final-salary schemes, to contribute more towards the state pension.

In today’s article, Mr Webb says: “Beveridge’s original idea was for a single, simple, decent state pension, paid after a lifetime of National Insurance contributions. We have moved an awfully long way from that vision.” He adds: “Thanks to a complicated and divisive system introduced by the last government, millions of pensioners require top-up amounts to get their pension up to a decent minimum. However, this means that those with small amounts of additional savings often find themselves only slightly better off than someone who never bothered to save.”

Anyone who has worked for at least 30 years qualifies for a basic state pension worth £107.45 a week. Millions of people can then choose to “opt in” to a second state pension which can be worth up to £100 extra a week. A third group of people with final-salary schemes pay a lower rate of National Insurance, rather than receive a second state pension.

Those who have failed to save money for their retirement and have few assets can also qualify for means-tested pension benefits, which takes the total value of the state handout to about £142.70 weekly. This system is widely seen as unfair as those who have diligently saved are often no better off than those receiving means-tested support.

Under the reforms to be unveiled tomorrow, anyone who has 35 years’ of National Insurance credits, will receive a basic state pension worth at least as much as those currently receiving the means-tested top-up. By the time this is introduced in 2017 it will be worth about £160 a week.

More than 750,000 women, who have taken time out for caring responsibilities and are retiring between 2017 and 2027 will, on average, be £9 a week better off.

Overall, the reforms will be cost neutral to taxpayers as higher-earners will not receive a second state pension and those on final-salary schemes will lose their National Insurance discount.

Those who have already built up a right to a second state pension will receive it upon retirement, but they will not be able to make further contributions after 2017.

Pensioner groups criticised the plans for neglecting the current group of retired workers. Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said: “The reforms offer nothing to existing pensioners and leave many of them to struggle on lower pensions and a complicated means-testing system.”

Trade unions have threatened to undermine the plans that would effectively increase taxes for those with final-salary schemes. Brian Strutton, of the GMB union, said a flat-rate pension should be fairer, but warned of a “very serious consequence” from the plans.

The ruling is but the latest repudiation of claims from Obama supporters that Manning was treated fairly and justly

"With respect to Private Manning, I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are." - Barack Obama, White House Press Conference, March 10, 2011.

Since then, an internal investigation by the Marine Corps - which operates the brig in which he was held - found that Manning's jailers violated their own policies in imposing oppressive conditions. The Obama administration's own State Department spokesman, PJ Crowley, denounced the detention conditions as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid" and was then fired as a result. Amnesty International called for protests over Manning's treatment. The UN's highest torture official formally concluded after an investigation that the US government was guilty "of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning" and "that the US military was at least culpable of cruel and inhumane treatment in keeping Manning locked up alone for 23 hours a day over an 11-month period in conditions that he also found might have constituted torture" - exactly what I reported at the end of 2010.

Read More: Military Judge Recognizes What Many Progressives Denied: Bradley Manning Was Mistreated

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
January 9, 2012

On Wednesday during a press conference with attorney general Eric Holder, vice president Joe Biden said president Obama is considering taking “executive action” to restrict the Second Amendment rights of the American people.

“The president is going to act,” said Biden. “There are executives orders, there’s executive action that can be taken. We haven’t decided what that is yet. But we’re compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action that we believe is required.”

“As the president said, if you’re actions result in only saving one life, they’re worth taking. But I’m convinced we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm’s way if we act responsibly.”

In other words, according to the Obama administration and the Justice Department, if trashing the Constitution saves one life, it is worth it.

Issuing an executive action, unlike an executive order, does not modify a law. Executive actions, a Obama administration office told NBC News in October, concern “regulation, enforcement, statements of policy… and numerous other things.”

Obama, unlike his predecessors, “is not expanding executive power to meet the demands of an external crisis. Instead, he is counteracting a new pattern of partisan behavior – nonstop congressional obstruction – with a new, partisan pattern of his own,” Andrew Romano and Daniel Klaidman wrote for Newsweek prior to the election.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told Newsweek Obama will “work with Congress where we can – and then be willing to act where they won’t.”

Obama has already used executive action to instruct the ATF to conficate guns. In September, Obama’s Justice Department gave the ARF authority to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in controlled-substance abuses.” In other words, the agency now has the power to seize firearms from people not convicted of a crime or even charged with a crime.

In July, as the Fast and Furious scandal unfolded, Obama’s Justice Department devised new rules requiring border-state gun dealers to report large purchases of firearms made by individual buyers over short periods of time.

Source: http://www.infowars.com/biden-says-obama-to-use-executive-action-to-restrict-second-amendment/

Jurriaan Maessen
ExplosiveReports.Com
January 12, 2013

New Population Study: “(…) provide all sexually active human beings with modern contraception and backup abortion. The degree to which those steps would reduce fertility rates is controversial, but they are a likely win-win for societies.”

Prince Charles has openly expressed support for a recent population study by biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich, calling for drastic global efforts to reduce fertility worldwide. On the official website of the Prince of Wales, prince Charles commended Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s latest population study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society on January 8 of this year, calling among other things for globally provided “back-up abortions” to avert overpopulation catastrophe. The prince writes:

“We do, in fact, have all the tools, assets and knowledge to avoid the collapse of which this report warns, but only if we act decisively now.”

In their latest study entitled Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?, biologists Paul R. Ehrlich and his wife repeat their decade-long mantra, namely that global population growth is certain to collapse civilization as a whole- and only a concerted global effort to reduce fertility may avert the feared catastrophe. The report mentions that global population reduction is a monumental task, but they add:

“Monumental, but not impossible if the political will could be generated globally to give full rights, education and opportunities to women, and provide all sexually active human beings with modern contraception and backup abortion. The degree to which those steps would reduce fertility rates is controversial, but they are a likely win-win for societies.”

These words contain some drastic and draconian implications. In order to provide “back-up abortions” to women on a global scale, a worldwide population reduction strategy must be outlined and then enforced by all nations of the planet. The Ehrlichs concede that such a worldwide effort would not go down well with nations opposing abortions:

“Obviously (…) there are huge cultural and institutional barriers to establishing such policies in some parts of the world. After all, there is not a single nation where women are truly treated as equal to men. Despite that, the population driver should not be ignored simply because limiting overconsumption can, at least in theory, be achieved more rapidly. The difficulties of changing demographic trajectories mean that the problem should have been addressed sooner, rather than later.”, the Ehrlichs write.

Responding to countless recent studies showing that not overpopulation, but underpopulation seems to be an increasing problem, especially in Europe, the Ehrlichs state:

“That halting population growth inevitably leads to changes in age structure is no excuse for bemoaning drops in fertility rates, as is common in European government circles. Reduction of population size in those over-consuming nations is a very positive trend, and sensible planning can deal with the problems of population aging.”

They also write that besides change in the politics of demography, the educational system should also join the effort in a “symmetrical” manner, “moving towards sustainability and enhancing equity (including redistribution).” The scientific community must throw its weight behind the effort, the Ehrlichs say, especially to counter all religious counter-argumentation underlining the value of life:

“To our minds, the fundamental cure, reducing the scale of the human enterprise (including the size of the population) to keep its aggregate consumption within the carrying capacity of Earth, is obvious but too much neglected or denied. There are great social and psychological barriers in growthmanic cultures to even considering it. This is especially true because of the ‘endarkenment’—a rapidly growing movement towards religious orthodoxies that reject enlightenment values such as freedom of thought, democracy, separation of church and state, and basing beliefs and actions on empirical evidence. They are manifest in dangerous trends such as climate denial, failure to act on the loss of biodiversity and opposition to condoms (for AIDS control) as well as other forms of contraception. If ever there was a time for evidence-based (as opposed to faith-based) risk reduction strategies, it is now.”

Global population reduction and global redistribution of wealth. These things can of course only be accomplished through a concerted global effort or, as the authors declare “an unprecedented level of international cooperation.”:

“At the global level, the loose network of agreements that now tie countries together, developed in a relatively recent stage of cultural evolution since modern nation states appeared, is utterly inadequate to grapple with the human predicament. Strengthening global environmental governance and addressing the related problem of avoiding failed statehood are tasks humanity has so far refused to tackle comprehensively even as cultural evolution in technology has rendered the present international system (as it has educational systems) obsolete. Serious global environmental problems can only be solved and a collapse avoided with an unprecedented level of international cooperation.”

The two end this line of reasoning by regurgitating the neo-Malthusian mantra- which simultaneously harbors a veiled threat, namely:

“If people do not do that, nature will restructure civilization for us.”

After Prince Charles endorsed the conclusions of their study, Paul Ehrlich twittered “I wish our leaders were as far-sighted”, to which one of Ehrlich’s followers responded “Suicide on a grand scale needs reconsidering.”

Comments such as these show that morality is nowhere to be found in the vicinity of these neo-Malthusian characters. The fact that Prince Charles felt compelled to endorse the conclusions of this report only reaffirms that his lineage is still of the opinion that people are a scourge on the earth, or as his father Prince Philip stated, a plague:

Jurriaan Maessen
ExplosiveReports.Com
Januari 11, 2013

2013 World Economic Forum Report: “(…) a country or small group of countries precipitates an international crisis by moving ahead with deployment or large-scale research independent of the global community.”

In the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks report, the world is being warned that a “rogue nation” or individual could “hijack” global climate change for nefarious purposes. The report mentions several possible scenario’s, or X-factors, which could occur in the coming year, among which (page 57) a geoengineering nightmare, according to the report, “in which a country or small group of countries precipitates an international crisis by moving ahead with deployment or large-scale research independent of the global community. The global climate could, in effect, be hijacked by a rogue country or even a wealthy individual, with unpredict­able costs to agriculture, infrastructure and global stability.”

In sketching out this specter of doom, the World Economic Forum carefully omits the fact that the concept of global climate change has already been hijacked- in the 1960s, by megalomaniac control freaks who admittedly used the concept of man-made climate change to force the world to adapt draconian population control measures and other globally regulated strangleholds. Intead, the WEF rather sketches a James Bond-type scenario in which some goldfinger with v-shaped eyebrows in, say, Iran sends out fleets of airplanes buzzing around to inject the atmosphere with chemicals.

Because “the funding landscape for this kind of science remains spotty”, the WEF states that this “leaves a gap for unregulated experimentation by “rogue” parties. For example, an island state threatened with rising sea levels may decide they have nothing to lose, or a well funded individual with good intentions may take matters into their own hands. There are signs that this is already starting to occur.”

“Recent studies”, the report goes on to state, “suggest that a small fleet of aircraft could inject a million tonnes of sulphur compounds into the stratosphere – enough to offset roughly half of the global warming experienced to date – for US$1-2 billion annually.”

Indeed. In 2010 David Keith, director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, has proposed releasing engineered nano-sized discs in the earth’s atmosphere to “offset global warming”- and that for just $ 1 billion of your taxpayer-money annually.

“You could manipulate the Earth’s climate at large scale for a cost that’s of the order of $1 billion a year. It sounds like a lot of money, but compared to the costs of managing other environmental problems or climate change, that is peanuts.”, Keith told Nanowerk News.

Keith also made clear that mentioning the annual cost is not necessarily an argument pro or con, but an “indication” rather, “that risk, not cost, will be the deciding issue.”

Until now, scientists have mainly looked at injecting the volcano-mimicking sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere as a way to “get the maximum cooling benefit.” This new nano-particle proposal of spraying “levitating” engineered nano-particles in the atmosphere might have serious drawbacks,  Keith acknowledges:

“A downside of both these new ideas is they would do something that nature has never seen before. It’s easier to think of new ideas than to understand their effectiveness and environmental risks.”

On the upside, Keith says:

“(…) the distribution of engineered nano-particles above the Earth could be more controlled and less likely to harm the planet’s protective ozone layer.”

The risks that Keith is willing to take with the earth is illustrated by a speech he gave for TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design). Other speakers for TED have included Al Gore, Hans Rosling and Sir Ken Robinson:

Headline grabbing Swedish striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, has lashed out at two of the world’s best footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

­“Messi may have four Golden Balls, but I don’t have to get on a box to buy a chocolate bar in a vending machine,” Ibrahimovic is cited as saying by Argentinean Canchallena website. "As for Cristiano Ronaldo, he’s a privileged spectator, who only watches how Messi receives all his awards. He doesn’t deserve to be in the top three, there are at least ten people better than him."

1.69-meter tall Messi won his fourth straight Golden Ball award (given to the best footballer on the planet) on January 7.

The Argentinean’s Barcelona teammate, Andres Iniesta, and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo finished as the runners up for the prestigious prize.

Ibrahimovic, who didn’t make it into the top three this year, is well known for his temper and controversial statements.

The PSG star also called Man City player Mario Balotelli a “mediocre” player and made some revealing statements about former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, in his autobiography.

Dreamliner jet: new malfunctions of 787 ahead of high-priority review

On Monday, a maintenance worker found an electrical fire aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 scheduled for take-off from Logan. One day later another Japan Airlines flight bound for Tokyo was aborted at Logan Airport in Boston due to a fuel leak.

Oil was also discovered leaking from the left engine of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight operated by All Nippon Airways on Friday, the airline said, adding to the number of recent incidents involving the aircraft.

To date no technical difficulties have resulted in human casualties.

“Boeing is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers. We welcome the opportunity to conduct this joint review. Our standard practice calls on us to apply rigorous and ongoing validation of our tools, processes and systems so that we can always be ensured that our products bring the highest levels of safety and reliability to our customers,” according to official statement released by Boeing on Friday.

The plane is in use for temporary United Airlines flights between Chicago O'Hare and Houston. The Chicago-based carrier has five other 787s in domestic service.

LOT Polish Airlines plans to begin operating the region's first regular flight on a 787 between O'Hare and Warsaw, Poland, next week. That inaugural flight is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the airlines’ spokeswoman.

Since October 2011, when the 787’s first commercial flight occurred, Boeing has delivered 50 Dreamliners to customers around the world, the bulk of them to Japanese carriers.

The 787 aircraft is made of composite materials, using new technology to cut fuel consumption and provide a more comfortable flight experience for passengers.

Air carriers are seemingly pleased with upcoming savings and have so far given the plane their approval, as they ordered almost 850 jets despite the current chain of troubles with the aircraft.

The leak came from a fuel nozzle on the left wing that is used to remove kerosene, according to a Japan Airlines spokeswoman, who added that the cause of the incident was unknown. The aircraft is currently undergoing checks in Tokyo.

Friday’s decision by the American government to order a thorough review of Boeing 787 immediately followed a similar incident, which happened to another jet in Boston, when about 40 gallons of fuel spilled onto the airport taxiway due to a valve-related problem.

The review will not ground planes or halt production of new 787s, but will examine the plane's design, manufacture and assembly, according to US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"Through it, we will look for the root causes of recent events and do everything we can to make sure these events don't happen again," LaHood said.

At the same time US federal transportation officials backed the plane, saying that it was safe.

"We are confident about the safety of this aircraft," said Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta, adding that the FAA's priority in the review will be the plane's electrical systems. He said he would not speculate on how long the review would take.

The $32bln Dreamliner program has suffered several problems and setbacks over the years. The $200 million aircraft was delayed three years in making its debut due to design problems and supplier issues.

Before this week’s malfunctions, oil was discovered leaking from a generator on a Dreamliner engine last Friday at an airport in southern Japan, and a cracked cockpit window was discovered on another plane en route to western Japan, according to a spokesperson for All Nippon Airways.

On Monday, a maintenance worker found an electrical fire aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 scheduled for take-off from Logan. One day later another Japan Airlines flight bound for Tokyo was aborted at Logan Airport in Boston due to a fuel leak.

Oil was also discovered leaking from the left engine of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight operated by All Nippon Airways on Friday, the airline said, adding to the number of recent incidents involving the aircraft.

To date no technical difficulties have resulted in human casualties.

“Boeing is confident in the design and performance of the 787. It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers. We welcome the opportunity to conduct this joint review. Our standard practice calls on us to apply rigorous and ongoing validation of our tools, processes and systems so that we can always be ensured that our products bring the highest levels of safety and reliability to our customers,” according to official statement released by Boeing on Friday.

The plane is in use for temporary United Airlines flights between Chicago O'Hare and Houston. The Chicago-based carrier has five other 787s in domestic service.

LOT Polish Airlines plans to begin operating the region's first regular flight on a 787 between O'Hare and Warsaw, Poland, next week. That inaugural flight is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the airlines’ spokeswoman.

Since October 2011, when the 787’s first commercial flight occurred, Boeing has delivered 50 Dreamliners to customers around the world, the bulk of them to Japanese carriers.

The 787 aircraft is made of composite materials, using new technology to cut fuel consumption and provide a more comfortable flight experience for passengers.

Air carriers are seemingly pleased with upcoming savings and have so far given the plane their approval, as they ordered almost 850 jets despite the current chain of troubles with the aircraft.

'Marriagephile, not homophobe': Hundreds of thousands protest against gay marriage law in Paris (PHOTOS)

Police said at least 340,000 took the streets, with the organizers claiming the figure was closer to 800,000. Five specially chartered trains and 900 buses transported protesters to Paris ahead of the march.

Demonstrators carried placards proclaiming "Born of a man and a woman,", "'Marriagephile, not homophobe" and “A father, a mother for all our children”.

The protests have forged a rare coalition of Christian conservatives, Muslims, and center-right politicians opposed to the plans proposed by the Socialist government in the immediate aftermath of Hollande’s election victory last summer.

"This is an important test for Francois Hollande,” said Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the center-right UMP party.

­
The “marriage for all” law is not a mere formality, though many traditionalists have balked at words “woman” and “mother” being replaced by “spouse” and “parent” in official documents. When it comes into force by June, same-sex couples will have the same right to adopt children as heterosexual couples, although the president recently backed down on plans to provide state-assisted artificial insemination for lesbians.

The government has faced stiffening resistance on the legislation, with even moderate opposition accusing Hollande of foregoing public debate on the controversial issue. A similar protest in November attracted 100,000 people.

Polls show that just over half of French people still support gay marriage, but the endorsement has fallen by ten percent since the proposal was initially touted. Most, however, remain opposed to adoption by a gay couple.

The protesters, many of whom travelled from outside the capital, formed three columns that converged at the Eiffel Tower.

"We love homosexuals but a child must be born from a man and a woman, and the law must respect that,” said Frigide Barjot, the alter ego of comedian Virginie Tellene, the intentionally apolitical face of the protest.

Police said at least 340,000 took the streets, with the organizers claiming the figure was closer to 800,000. Five specially chartered trains and 900 buses transported protesters to Paris ahead of the march.

Demonstrators carried placards proclaiming "Born of a man and a woman,", "'Marriagephile, not homophobe" and “A father, a mother for all our children”.

The protests have forged a rare coalition of Christian conservatives, Muslims, and center-right politicians opposed to the plans proposed by the Socialist government in the immediate aftermath of Hollande’s election victory last summer.

"This is an important test for Francois Hollande,” said Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the center-right UMP party.

­
The “marriage for all” law is not a mere formality, though many traditionalists have balked at words “woman” and “mother” being replaced by “spouse” and “parent” in official documents. When it comes into force by June, same-sex couples will have the same right to adopt children as heterosexual couples, although the president recently backed down on plans to provide state-assisted artificial insemination for lesbians.

The government has faced stiffening resistance on the legislation, with even moderate opposition accusing Hollande of foregoing public debate on the controversial issue. A similar protest in November attracted 100,000 people.

Polls show that just over half of French people still support gay marriage, but the endorsement has fallen by ten percent since the proposal was initially touted. Most, however, remain opposed to adoption by a gay couple.

An investigation by Chubu into the status of spent fuel stored in the spent fuel pool from the Unit 1 reactor of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant found cracks and other deformations among the fuel rods.  The Unit 1 reactor is currently undergoing decommissioning work and the spent fuel was transferred to the Unit 5 spent fuel pool, and some of the damage is thought to have occurred during the transfer from one spent fuel pool to another.

Using a fiber-optic scope, workers inspected the fuel assemblies which had been transferred to the Unit 5 spent fuel pool in late January, and found new scratches, beyond damage that had been observed in 1994.

Prior to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Hamaoka nuclear power plant was considered by many experts to be the most dangerous nuclear power plant in Japan.  Both Hamaoka Unit 1 and Unit 2 are BWR Mark 1 reactors, and were permanently shut-down in January of 2009 due primarily to seismic concerns.  An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or higher is estimated 87% likely to hit the area within the next 30 years.

In 1994, workers detected radioactive materials in the Unit 1 spent fuel pool, and discovered a damaged fuel assembly was the source of the leak.  In April 1995, workers attempted to further inspect the spent fuel assembly and discovered that cracks had formed in the circumferential direction on one of the fuel rods in the damaged fuel assembly.   Each fuel assembly holds 60 fuel rods.

Chubu determined that water had infiltrated the interior of the fuel rods through the holes, which made the entire strength of the fuel rods weaker, leading to the cracks that appeared in the spent fuel rods.  The utility assumed that the tensile load endured by the fuel rods when the fuel was moved for inspection may have contributed to the cracking damage.  In 2005, workers at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant found the spent fuel pool had foreign matter in it.

Source: AT-S

Source: Chubu Electric

One of the two operational nuclear power reactors of Cernavoda nuclear power plant, the only nuclear power plant in Romania, was automatically shutdown Wednesday night by emergency system, according to Nuclearelectrica who operates the facility.  The cause of the shutdown has not been determined yet.

“Unit Two shut down on Wednesday evening, reasons unknown,” said Dumitru Dina, head of Nuclearelectrica, but did admit that some problems were found in the cooling system for the electrical generators.  The utility also indicated some disturbances were caused by failure of the logic relay control system.   A similar incident occurred in November 2012.

Source: Pravda

Source: EVZ

The Miyagi Prefectural government announced that cesium levels in rice grown in Kurihara had been found contaminated up to 240 becquerels of cesium per kilogram.  Kurihara is mostly farmland, mostly known for its rice fields, and small mountain ranges dispersed throughout. The prefectural government announced that it will prevent nearby rice farms from shipping their produce to the markets for sale.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the elevated levels of cesium may have been elevated due to the fact that the farmers plowed the fields without completely removing the weeds that had been growing, increasing the contamination levels in the soil.

Miyagi Prefecture has been one of the three most affected prefectures by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.  During the March 11^th earthquake, Kurihara was the only city to report a maximum value of 7 on the Japan Meteorological Agency Seismic Intensity Scale.

Source: JiJi Press

A press conference after the Sandy Hook shooting.

Note: I am replacing the series of articles “Symbolic Pics of the Month”  by a new series entitled “Thought of the Month”, where I’ll be sharing my views on various issues. I hope you’ll enjoy this new series of articles and, don’t worry, important symbolic pics will still be covered on this site.

2012 was a year that was sadly defined by strange deaths and horrible mass shootings. The media attention garnered by these events surpassed any other type of news last year, maybe even the American elections. Even now, the trial of James Holmes and the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting are making headlines across the world. In both cases, the perpetrators of the murders were instantly elevated to the status of celebrity and, in each case, the number of deaths they caused is attached to them as if they were sport stats. During the coverage of Sandy Hook, news sources continually referred to the massacre as the “second deadliest shooting in History” as if it was all a competition and, even stranger, as if he somehow fell short of #1. As news stations fed on death and despair the same way hyenas feed on animal corpses, the audience, the TV viewer, was, once again, brought face to face with the culture of death that defines our era, where shock, trauma, horror and entertainment intersect in a twisted and perverted matter. As an entire Nation is in shock, millions of people with mournful hearts stare at the ever-looping footage broadcasted by news stations during their “live coverage”, hearing to the same “information” being said again and again by different newscasters. In the end, another traumatic event is embedded in the collective unconscious and another horrific story further defines our era.

These countless hours of live coverage do bear a single positive aspect: They sometimes allow unfiltered information to end up on the airwaves – which sometimes provide a different perspective on a story and what comes to be known as the “official” version of it. For example, in the first hours that followed the Sandy Hook shooting, several news sources mentioned the arrest of a possible second shooter. These sources confirmed the arrest of an adult male wearing camouflage pants who fled into the woods right after the shooting. However, after the first hour or so of coverage, no word about this man ever surfaced again. No information about this individual has ever been reported by mass media. Who was he? Was he another shooter? An assistant? If he had nothing to do with the shooting, why was he chased into the woods and why didn’t we hear from him again? How come no camera caught his face?

Who is Adam Lanza?

Let’s say that Adam Lanza was the only shooter in this tragedy. Who is he anyway? Why is there only one eerie black and white picture of his face available?  How come there is little to no information about him, about his story, about his last whereabouts and so forth? Was he truly autistic or mentally ill? Aren’t there medical records about this? How come he was so efficient during the shooting? Aren’t there surveillance tapes available?

In the weeks following the shooting, these questions were only partially answered and things will probably remain that way. The official story appears to be established, a face was attached to the event and that’s pretty much what mass media will divulge to the public. When many basic questions surrounding an event remain unanswered, chances are, something is being hidden. Or something was fabricated.

Could both the Sandy Hook shooting and the Aurora shooting have been carried out by mind controlled patsies in order to push a dark agenda? Given the lack of transparency in both of these events, it is honestly quite difficult to NOT consider this option. In this age of spy satellites, Internet access, wireless communication and so forth, it is nearly impossible for authorities to not have any relevant information about Adam Lanza. However, for now, all of this will remain Top Secret and in the meantime, public attention has been shifted to a new agenda.

I personally do not have any exclusive information about Adam Lanza, but there are many hints pointing towards him being a product of Delta Mind Control programming – aka “Killer Programming”. He was apparently “off the radar” for several years (was he being programmed?), he was skilled with guns and was very calm and efficient while carrying out the massacre.

Synchronicities

Like all events that bear a somewhat ritualistic aspect, the Sandy Hook shooting is surrounded by strange synchronicities. For instance, several articles across the web mention that the words “Sandy Hook” are seen on a map during the movie The Dark Knight Rises. In the movie, the Sandy Hook island holds the Gotham stadium that super-villain Bane demolishes.

An area named “Sandy Hook” tagged as a “strike zone” during The Dark Knight Rises.

A strange fact is that a promo kit sent out to influential media industry individuals contained two items: A t-shirt and the map of Gotham City as seen in the movie.

The promo kit contained a t-shirt featuring Bane and the words “Fire Rises” along with a map of Gotham City including an island named Sandy Hook. Screen capture taken from FirstShowing.net.

On the map, we can clearly read that “Sandy Hook” is a “strike zone”.

That is certainly a strange connection between the Aurora shootings (which occurred during the premier of The Dark Knight Rises) and the Sandy Hook shootings. Is this all coincidence? Are the same people behind both attacks? Was this all preplanned? Are these “coincidences” actually synchronicities as defined by Carl Jung, which appear to materialize in order to highlight a layer of truth?

The Sandy Hook shooting also has an odd relationship to the movie The Hunger Games. As stated in the article  “The Hunger Games”: A Glimpse at the Future?, the movie basically portrays the ritual killing of young people taken from the masses in order to amuse and to appease the elite. Strange fact: the author of the story, Suzanne Collins, resides in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Aftermath

No matter what actually happened during these shootings, the aftermath will probably fit right into the elite’s plans. On a political level, wheels are already in motion to thoroughly modify the U.S Constitution’s Second Amendment, which protects Americans right to own and operate arms. While the U.S. Constitution used to be a sacred and untouchable document, it apparently now only takes one or two traumatic media events to allow severe violations of it. In the article about the  IRS Headquarters in Maryland, I noted that it is written right on the building “The Bill of Rights was not ordained by Nature or God. It’s very human, very fragile.”  That is what the powers that be believe. 9/11 lead to the Patriot Act and its violations of the 4th Amendment. Now we are seeing a great momentum against gun ownership rights. One of the elite’s major goals is to render the Bill of Rights obsolete … and it is currently happening.

On a deeper level, the mass shootings of 2012 forced our collective minds to further enter the elite’s “Videodrome“, where events taking place in set pieces tell the story of pure evil massacring innocence for no reason other than evil itself. Whether they realize it or not, the masses are participants in these rituals, as collective shock, sadness, anger and disbelief emanates out of every household in America, giving more power to these rituals and amplifying their impact on the world. In my article on the movie The Cabin in the Woods, I quoted the book Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare to describe the purpose of mass murders and their coverage by mass media. I believe the book is worth quoting again, as the Sandy Hook shooting appears to follow the same pattern.

“Of course, many serial murders are nothing more than the work of a single individual acting out a graphic horror movie he saw, or responding to powerful “psychotic” impulses for aggression and predation. But many other serial murders involve a cult protected by the U.S. government and the corporate media, with strong ties to the police. These murders are actually intricately choreographed rituals; performed first on a very intimate and secret scale, among the initiates themselves in order to program them, them on a grand scale, amplified incalculably by the electronic media. In the end what we have is a highly symbolic, ritual working broadcast to millions of people, a Satanic inversion; a Black mass, where the “pews” are filled by the entire nation and through which humanity is paganized, brutalized and debased in this, the “Nigredo” phase of the alchemical process.

The French adept Antonin Artaud, architect of the theory of the “Theater of Cruelty” with its transformative power, and the inspiration for the extreme sex-and-death media of our time, had this to say about the processing of the Group Mind: ‘Aside from trifling witchcraft of country sorcerers, there are tricks of global hoodoo in which all alerted consciousnesses participate periodically… That is how strange forces are aroused and transported to the astral vault, to that dark dome which is composed above all of… the poisonous aggressiveness of the evil minds of most people… the formidable tentacular oppression of a kind of civic magic which will soon appear undisguised.’

The issue of controlling humanity with esoteric words and symbols encoded within a play, a media spectacular or a ritual is one of the most difficult for people to comprehend. That is why most people are viewed with utter contempt as “cowans,” “the profane,” the “gentiles” and the “goyim” (cattle) by secret society initiates. “I think we are farmed,” Charles Fort said of humanity. It was Fort who also suggested that man deliberately invented the dogma of materialism in order to shield himself from the evidence of what was being done to him by means of psycho- spiritual warfare methods hyped by “coincidence,” symbolism and ritual.”
- Michael A. Hoffman, Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare

A soldier testing an exoskeleton prototype

The National Intelligence Council is a high-level agency best known for producing National Intelligence Estimates – forecasts predicting future trends and issues of the next fifteen years. These extensive reports are produced every election year and are directly delivered to the  incoming President between Election Day and Inauguration Day. The latest NIC report released on December 2012 is called Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds (read it here) and discusses several issues such as the decline of the role of the United States as a global policeman and the rise of non-state actors in world politics. It also mentions another key issue: A fast-paced race towards transhumanism.

“Human Augmentation” is indeed considered a key issue in the next 15 years as new technologies will allow all kinds of modifications “ranging from implants and prosthetics to powered exoskeletons, human augmentation enhancing innate human abilities”. These augmentations would be used on soldiers, workers and anyone that can afford them, giving them “super-human” powers and capabilities, whether it be on a physical or a mental level.

Some might say: “That sounds cool VC, what is wrong with that? Why do you always say that it is wrong”. I personally never described transhumanism as being “right” or “wrong”, I don’t make these kinds of judgement calls. I however do have facts about the issue. First, transhumanism is undeniably being actively pushed by mass media and promoted as something that is necessary and inevitable in the future; Second, it is a logical continuation of the Luciferian philosophy held by the world elite where godhood and immortality is meant to be achieved by humans by their own means. In fact, Max More, a leading transhumanist philosopher considers himself as a “Luciferian”.

“The Devil—Lucifer—is a force for good (where I define ‘good’ simply as that which I value, not wanting to imply any universal validity or necessity to the orientation). ‘Lucifer’ means ‘light-bringer’ and this should begin to clue us in to his symbolic importance. The story is that God threw Lucifer out of Heaven because Lucifer had started to question God and was spreading dissension among the angels. We must remember that this story is told from the point of view of the Godists (if I may coin a term) and not from that of the Luciferians (I will use this term to distinguish us from the official Satanists with whom I have fundamental differences). The truth may just as easily be that Lucifer resigned from heaven.”
- Max More, “In Praise of the Devil”.

Lastly, due to the prohibitive cost of “human augmentation”, transhumanism will only be available to the richest and most powerful people and the world (the world elite) and will created an even wider gap between the “masses” and the “elite”. The National Intelligence Council report states:

“The high cost of human augmentation means that it probably will be available in 15-20 years only to those who are able to pay. Such a situation may lead to a two-tiered society.”

This is why transhumanism is so heavily promoted in mass media. It will only be available to the richest people on Earth, creating a separate, “elite” class of “superhumans” and this concept needs to be accepted by the masses, even if it goes against its best interests. Through predictive programming using movies, TV and video games, the masses are “programmed” in perceiving transhumanism as an inevitability, as something that is bound to happen. That way, when it will actually happen, nobody will be outraged by it, it will be considered as something normal.

Here’s an article on the NIC Report.

U.S. spy agency predicts a very transhuman future by 2030

The National Intelligence Council has just released its much anticipated forecasting report, a 140-page document that outlines major trends and technological developments we should expect in the next 20 years. Among their many predictions, the NIC foresees the end of U.S. global dominance, the rising power of individuals against states, a growing middle class that will increasingly challenge governments, and ongoing shortages in water, food and energy. But they also envision a future in which humans have been significantly modified by their technologies — what will herald the dawn of the transhuman era.

This work brings to mind the National Science Foundation’s groundbreaking 2003 report, Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance — a relatively early attempt to understand and predict how advanced biotechnologies would impact on the human experience. The NIC’s new report, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, follows in the same tradition — namely one that doesn’t ignore the potential for enhancement technologies.

In the new report, the NIC describes how implants, prosthetics, and powered exoskeletons will become regular fixtures of human life — what could result in substantial improvements to innate human capacities. By 2030, the authors predict, prosthetics should reach the point where they’re just as good — or even better — than organic limbs. By this stage, the military will increasingly rely on exoskeletons to help soldiers carry heavy loads. Servicemen will also be adminstered psychostimulants to help them remain active for longer periods.

Many of these same technologies will also be used by the elderly, both as a way to maintain more youthful levels of strength and energy, and as a part of their life extension strategies.

Brain implants will also allow for advanced neural interface devices — what will bridge the gap between minds and machines. These technologies will allow for brain-controlled prosthetics, some of which may be able to provide “superhuman” abilities like enhanced strength, speed — and completely new functionality altogether.

Other mods will include retinal eye implants to enable night vision and other previously inaccessible light spectrums. Advanced neuropharmaceuticals will allow for vastly improved working memory, attention, and speed of thought.

“Augmented reality systems can provide enhanced experiences of real-world situations,” the report notes, “Combined with advances in robotics, avatars could provide feedback in the form of sensors providing touch and smell as well as aural and visual information to the operator.”

But as the report notes, many of these technologies will only be available to those who are able to afford them. The authors warn that it could result in a two-tiered society comprising enhanced and nonenhanced persons, a dynamic that would likely require government oversight and regulation.

Smartly, the report also cautions that these technologies will need to be secure. Developers will be increasingly challenged to prevent hackers from interfering with these devices.

Lastly, other technologies and scientific disciplines will have to keep pace to make much of this work. For example, longer-lasting batteries will improve the practicality of exoskeletons. Progress in the neurosciences will be critical for the development of future brain-machine interfaces. And advances in flexible biocompatible electronics will enable improved integration with cybernetic implants.

- Source: io9.com

This TV ad promoting Verizon’s Droid DNA phone is weird, cringe-worthy and also promotes something else: Transhumanism. Indeed, the ad does not only sell a smartphone. Not unlike movies and music videos, it normalizes the concept of “upgrading” humans by merging them with machines.

While most of us already entertain a somewhat unhealthy, dependent relationship with our cellphones, this ad makes things creepier by showing the device completely modifying the user’s body and genetic makeup. Yes, it is “only a commercial”, but all of the concepts behind it are real and will be available to a very rich and limited public very soon. Here’s the ad.

The ad takes place in some kind of transhumanist lab where the “Droid DNA Augmentation” process begins. Right from the start, we hear the usual vocabulary associated with transhumanism such as “augmentation”, “upgrade” and so forth. Many people believe that the human body is the most advanced machine on Earth. Not transhumanists.

When connected to the phone, the guy’s DNA makeup changes into a black, artificial, robotic DNA string. Was that included in his 3 year contract with Verizon?

Something is then shot right in the guy’s veins. Meanwhile, we hear “neuro-speeds increased to 4G”. Yes, they do love “shooting” or inserting things into our bodies under the guise of “its good for you” in order to better monitor and control us.

While scientists are supervising the procedure, we hear “brain upgraded to a Quad Core processor”. Really? Are our brains inferior to a Quad Core processor, a technology that will be totally obsolete in about 10 months? Didn’t know our brains were Pentium 4′s.

The ad ends with a purely transhumanist slogan: “It’s not an upgrade to your phone, its an upgrade to yourself”. Yes. And then, if they don’t like you, they’ll just re-format your Quad-Core processor brain and re-install a better version of you. Go transhumanism!

By JAMES WASSERMAN

Did Zanoni belong to this mystical Fraternity, who, in an earlier age, boasted of secrets of which the Philosopher’s Stone was but the least; who considered themselves the heirs of all that the Chaldeans, the Magi, the Gymnosophists, and the Platonists had taught; and who differed from all the darker Sons of Magic in the virtue of their lives, the purity of their doctrines, and their insist­ing, as the foundation of all wisdom, on the subjugation of the senses, and the intensity of Religious Faith?
– Zanoni, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other govern­ments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments’ plans.
– British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1876

Two very different views of secret societies are revealed in the quotations above. The first describes a spiritual brotherhood pledged to Wisdom and guiding humanity toward the realm of the Infinite; the second seeks to expose the machinations of power-seekers who cloak their manipulative agendas in darkness. In addition to spiritual and political secret societies, one could add criminal secret societies such as the Mafia, or even clandestine elite military units – neither of which will be discussed here.

All secret societies share certain fundamental themes. Membership is restricted to those who have an abiding interest in the subject. Thus, a spiritual group will attract people seeking more knowledge of a particular teacher or type of practice. The student is aware of the subject matter in advance and will approach the group for further instruction. More rarely, an individual may be “tapped” by the group because of a perceived affinity to its purpose.

In a political secret society, membership is restricted to those who share an ideological affinity with the goals the group represents. At the furthest end of the political spectrum, the mission will be revolution. Such a society will go to great lengths to defend itself. Generally there will be small semiautonomous cells working in overall concert but with cut-outs introduced at all levels to pro­tect other members from exposure or betrayal. This type of society is represented by a contemporary group such as al-Qaeda. The infamous Weathermen of the 1960s and 1970s had a sim­ilar structure. The clandestine revolutionary model was developed and perfected by Hasan-i-Sabah, leader of the Nizari Ismaili Order of Assassins between the late 11th and early 12th centuries.

On another political plane are ideological groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations, or participants in the World Economic Forum. Here we find leaders in politics, business, finance, education, and the media who may share a belief in the value of global solutions; are in high positions of authority and influence; and represent different levels of involvement with the inner circle of the group. Most members simply welcome the opportu­nity to associate with other well-known luminaries and are honoured by being offered membership or attendance privileges. Yet, the ideology at the highest levels of such groups supports a world government – to be adminis­tered by a class of experts and planners, entrusted with running centrally organised social and political institu­tions. Although members may be persuaded to add their considerable voices to certain transnational political and economic policies, they may not be as supportive (or even aware) of the long-range ambitions of the inner circle. While these groups quite often hold their meetings in secret, their membership lists are a matter of public record. It is the central agenda that is disguised.

Adam Weishaupt founded the Bavarian Illuminati in 1776. The Illuminati are perceived by many as spanning the chasm between the spiritual and the political secret society. Often credited (or blamed) for influencing the French Revolution in 1787, the Illuminati taught a doctrine of social and political liberation that hinged on the equal­ity of man, the embrace of rationalism, and the denial of crown and church as the legitimate institutions for the regulation of social and moral values. The bitterness of life in Europe at this time – when church and state monopolised resources and often acted in an irresponsi­ble manner toward the citizenry – created widespread resentment among all classes. While the views of the Illuminati may sound quite advanced for the time, the European revolutions they are believed to have encour­aged degenerated into brutal bloodbaths whose singular lack of moral compass was appalling.

Reprinted with permission from The Mystery Traditions: Secret Symbols and Sacred Art by James Wasserman (Destiny Books, 2005).

The above article appeared in New Dawn Special Issue Vol 6 No 6.

By DR KR BOLTON

There are numerous difficulties in trying to discern what among the proliferation of new or revived faiths might be regarded as working to usher forth a New Age based on eternal values, and those that work to establish the rule of malignant, matter-bound forces. The problem is that there are often superficial resemblances that occur between them. Even within the same occult orders, such as Freemasonry, there are a range of views that might be in opposition but are mistaken as being part of a single, all-embracing conspiracy. There is a tangle of terminology, groups, personalities, ‘Hidden Masters’, accusations and counter-accusations of black magic, and so forth. This article considers ways in which the positive and negative currents within the ‘New Age’ might be identified.

The Cycles of Rise and Fall

The school of Perennial Tradition regards traditional cultures, religions and spiritualities as sharing core beliefs, values of an eternal nature, on which are founded Civilisations and societies in their cycles of health. Hence, in the analogous cycles of cultures as far removed geographically and ethnically as the Japanese, Hindu, Norse, and Arabian, all will possess analogous beliefs in regard to social hierarchy, chivalric ethos, and a nexus that exists between the Divine and the temporal. In such a society one’s highest calling, whether as peasant or prince, is to work in accord with one’s cosmic duty, or what the Hindus call dharma. In such a society castes reflect the Divine order on earth: ‘as above, so below’, and degenerate into contending economic classes in the cycle of decline.¹

This cyclical view of history² is another shared featured of various Traditional cultures, expressed in the Norse,³ Hindu,⁴ Hopi oral lore,⁵ and many others. In our own era the German historian-philosopher Oswald Spengler provided empirical evidence for the cyclicity of cultures.⁶ The two primary Traditionalist exponents of cultural cyclicity in our era are Rene Guenon⁷ and Julius Evola.⁸ Esoterically, it is the cycle of life expressed in ‘The Wheel’ of the ‘Major Arcana’ of the Tarot, which is derived from the Medieval ‘Wheel of Fortune’ or Rota Fortuna depicted in Gothic Churches.⁹ 

Tradition, Anti-Tradition & Counter-Tradition

A glance at cultural cycles is necessary to identify the occult forces that work in the context of Tradition for a return to eternal values based on a reconnection with the Divine, and those that want to enslave humanity to matter. Again, recourse to Tarot symbolism is instructive. Here we see that the Counter-Tradition that stands behind Anti-Tradition, is in the esoteric sense, literally satanic. Paul Foster Case¹⁰ provides a meaning for ‘The Devil’ trump that is particularly relevant:

In its most general meanings, it signifies Mammon and thus big business, the conventions of society, the injustice and cruelty of a social order in which money takes the place of God, in which humanity is bestialised, in which war is engineered by greed masquerading as patriotism, in which fear is dominant. Students of astrology will have no difficulty in seeing how this corresponds to Capricorn, the sign of big business, and the sign of world fame.¹¹

In this one paragraph Case says much. He cogently differentiates the Traditionalist from the Anti-Traditionalist in what is an occult war. Case identifies the Counter-Tradition that controls Anti-Tradition as ‘Mammon’. Mammon infers something more than simply plutocracy; it is the spirit behind plutocracy. Plutocracy controls the present era. Oswald Spengler pointed out that Money rules in the epoch of decline of a Civilisation. It is not merely the temporal influence of Money which Spengler is referring to, but the spirit behind Money, or what Case calls Mammon. “The dictature of money marches on, tending to its material peak in the Faustian [Western] Civilisation as in every other.”¹² 

The other significant point raised by Case is the ‘bestialisation’ of humanity. In this trump ‘The Devil’ is depicted enchaining the human pair to matter. Like the ‘Devil’, the human pair is depicted with tail and horns. This is suggestive of the esoteric belief in cyclic regression rather than lineal progression, when humanity regresses from a higher state of Being, of a spiritual mode, descending ever more into a baser, material existence. Anti-Tradition is the agency for this decline and enslavement. The modern world is therefore, according to the Traditionalist perspective, not ascending upward toward the Godhead, nor toward manifesting the God within; but is in a downward spiral towards – metaphorically – ‘The Devil’ – the master of our base drives.

A problem of identifying who belongs to what arises because forces work behind the guise of Tradition, while they are in reality the initiates of Anti-Tradition and Counter Tradition, or what Aleister Crowley called the ‘Black Magick School’. The purpose of Anti-Tradition is that of subversion and the sowing of confusion to pave the way for Counter-Tradition. ‘Anti-Tradition’ was stated by Perennial Traditionalist scholar and initiate Rene Guenon to be “pure negation and nothing more.”¹³ In regard to Counter-Tradition there is a “counter-initiation,”¹⁴ representing a satanic current of those who seek the severing of the nexus between the terrestrial and the divine. Guenon wrote of this:

After having worked always in the shadows, to inspire and to direct invisibly all modern movements, it will in the end contrive to ‘exteriorise’, if that is the right word, something that will be as it were, the counterpart of a true tradition, at least as completely and as exactly as it can be so within the limitations necessarily inherent in all possible counterfeits as such.¹⁵

To Guenon the Counter-Traditionalist movements are void of spiritual content. This can be seen in the many movements and ‘orders’ professing a ‘tradition’ and having a mystical or spiritual façade, yet who expound a materialistic universal republic. This is why various esoteric orders can be seen to be promoting materialistic doctrines such as Marxism, and such Anti-Traditional dogmas as those expressed in slogans like “liberty, equality, fraternity,” to usher in the “reign of quantity.”¹⁶ Anti-Traditionalist movements and ideologies are only a means, and not the end. Guenon aptly uses the term “satanic”¹⁷to describe these currents.

Of these Counter-Traditions, Guenon states that they can never be anything other that a “parody,” an “inverted spirituality” involving organisations of “counter-initiation.”¹⁸ Guenon regarded these movements as being of supernatural origin, as satanic and believed that a figure analogous to the “The Anti-Christ” will manifest at the head of a world order.¹⁹

Guenon described the order which Counter-Tradition tries to impose by at first using the doctrine of “egalitarianism” as a means of overthrowing the remnants of Tradition and spirituality, after which will be erected in place of the divine hierarchies a “counter-hierarchy,” atop which sits an individual that seems analogous to “The Anti-Christ,” Guenon describing him as “nearest to the very bottom of the ‘pit of hell’.”²⁰

Of the numerous orders that were emerging, especially in France during the 19^th century, Guenon referred to them, regardless of their pretensions, as “anti-tradition.” One might say that they reflect the zeitgeist²¹ of the present epoch of Western decline. Guenon refers to the numerous orders that claimed to be “Rosicrucian.”²² Of these, the primary order is that of Freemasonry, from which much of the current “occult revival” derives, including cults purporting to represent a “New Age.” They are, in Guenon’s term, “counterfeits,” and as counterfeits are intended to be, often difficult to detect.

Profanation of Tradition

Eliphas Levi²³ was one of the primary theoreticians of the modern occult revival. Among Levi’s books, The History of Magic provides insights into the history, nature and influence of Anti-Traditional, Counter-Traditional and counter-initiatory currents. Levi was well-placed to offer informed opinion. He had been a prominent socialist propagandist, having been jailed for his views²⁴ and seems to have been a highly initiated Freemason.²⁵ However, Levi rejected socialism in favour of a conservative, monarchical position, and came to see Freemasonry as having had a noble tradition that had been “profaned” by Anti-Tradition. Having defended what he regarded as the genuine traditional and spiritual legacy of Masonry, Levi then posed and answered the question:

Now if Masonry is thus holy and thus sublime, we may be asked how it came to be proscribed and condemned so often by the Church?… Masonry is the Gnosis and the false Gnostics caused the condemnation of the true.²⁶

Levi contends that the Traditionalists were driven underground for fear of being associated with the “sacrilege” of the “false interpreters… the enemies of all belief and all morality”:

Masonry has not merely been profaned but has served as the veil and pretext of anarchic conspiracies descending from the secret influence of the vindicators of Jacques de Molay,²⁷ and of those who continued the schismatic work of the Temple. In place of avenging the death of Hiram²⁸ they have that of his assassins. The anarchists have resumed the rule, square and mallet, writing upon them the words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity – Liberty, that is to say, for all the lusts, Equality in degradation and Fraternity in the work of destruction. Such are the men whom the Church has condemned justly and will condemn forever.²⁹

Levi states that during the 18^th century,

A schism took place in illuminism:³⁰ on the one hand, the wardens of the traditions concerning Nature and science wished to restore the hierarchy; there were others, on the contrary, who desired to level all things by disclosing the Great Arcanum, thus rendering the royalty and priesthood alike impossible in the world. Among the latter, some were ambitious and unscrupulous, seeking to erect a throne for themselves over the ruins of the world. Others were dupes and zanies. The true initiates held with dismay the launching of society toward the abyss, and they foresaw all the terrors of anarchy.³¹

Levi is here referring to the Order of the Illuminati, founded in Bavaria in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, with the purpose of inaugurating a communistic universal republic; and similar cabals generally emanating from Freemasonry, including the French revolutionary Jacobin Club and Lodges that formed after the French revolutionary tumult from whence came the subversive creeds, including that of Karl Marx.

The revolutionary atheists, rationalists and humanists flocked to the Lodges during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, where they “worked the degrees” of the ancient Mysteries for their own counter-initiatory purposes. Of the type of profanation Levi referred to, we can state the following.

Philippe Buonarroti, the Italian exponent of the French Revolution, was initiated into Masonry in 1786. In 1808 he formed Les Sublimes Maîtres Parfaits. Buonarroti had a major influence on revolutionist Auguste Blanqui, and through his book Conspiration pour l’Egalité dite de Babeuf, suivie du procès auquel elle donna lieu he was also a seminal influence on the revolutions that erupted throughout Europe in 1848. Buonarroti also advised Mazzini and other revolutionaries in Italy.³²

Buonarroti had co-founded with Francois Babeuf, another significant revolutionist, the Society of the Pantheon, one of the first of the revolutionary secret societies to emerge from the French Revolution, believing the Revolution had failed; and he organised a group of ‘Philadelphe’ Masonry within the Lodge ‘Amis Sincères’. Dr. J M Roberts states:

What may be termed the first international political secret society, the Sublimes Maîtres Parfaits, was founded by Buonarroti, perhaps in 1808. Only freemasons were admitted to it. The Elect were aware that they were to work for a republican form of government; only the Areopagites knew that the final aim of the society was social egalitarianism, and the means to it the abolition of private property.³³

Marxism was the 19^th century culmination of this Anti-Traditional current of a long line of secret societies. Although numerous conspiratologists have written of the alleged role of the Illuminati in ‘hiring’ Marx to write the Communist Manifesto, via the League of the Just, reliable documentation is infrequent. However, there is scholarly evidence that Marx was part of the Anti-Traditionalist current. Blanqui organised the League of the Just, which was called the League of Outlaws by German exiles in Paris. This became the Communist League, and in 1847 this cabal asked Marx to write the Communist Manifesto. It is from Blanqui that the dictum now credited to Marx, the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” originated.³⁴ Marx was initiated into the Mysteries of Memphis-Mizraim Masonry. Prof. Mark Lause, a scholar of labour history,³⁵ writes:

…Certainly, the tangled history of freemasonry has largely mirrored the political and social views of those drawn to the craft, and some of those drawn to the more peculiar pseudo-Egyptian forms of the order reflected views that were accordingly distinctive.³⁶

The 18th century Cabalistic mystic Cagliostro founded the Rite of Memphis in 1779. He insinuated himself into the French Court, like Philippe de Lyon insinuated his way into the Court of the ill-fated Czar Nicholas II.³⁷

Lause cites I Nicolaevsky³⁸ as an authoritative source in stating “that the nineteenth century Order of Memphis actually did mask the ongoing revolutionary activism of French radicals both at home and abroad, strikingly so in the case of émigré circles at London.”³⁹ This confirms the statement by occult historian Lewis Spence, who in a laudatory entry on Cagliostro writes that the Mizraim Rite included the communistic doctrines of the Illuminati.

In 1785 Cagliostro was implicated in a scandal in the French Royal Court and exiled himself to England where he wrote revolutionary propaganda against the monarchy and declared that the French Throne would be overthrown. His 1786 ‘Letter to the French People’ declared prophetically that the Bastille would be stormed and the governor killed.⁴⁰ 

Spence states that Mizraim had been set up to subvert the traditional society of Europe and, significantly, received large financial backing:

There is a small question that the various Masonic lodges which he [Cagliostro] founded and which were patronised by persons of ample means, provided him with extensive funds, and it is a known fact that he was subsidised by several extremely wealthy men, who, themselves dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Europe, did not hesitate to place their riches at his disposal for the purpose of undermining the tyrannic powers which then wielded sway.⁴¹

London was the centre of revolutionary intrigue where political refugees from throughout Europe sought refuge and, with the help of English Masons, founded the Internationale.⁴² Masonry provided acceptance for diverse and radical views, and a model for a secret revolutionary structure. Lause writes of this:

In any event, if your declared purpose was something as radical as that of the Philalethes, the perfection of the human race, it helped legitimise the goal by describing oneself as an “Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry.”⁴³

Lodges were established in England and elsewhere, the most important being La Grand Loge des Philadelphes at London in 1851. Lause states that the Order of Memphis “fostered what became the International Association in March 1855 [and] provided almost all of the French members of the General Council of the later International Workingmen’s Association.”⁴⁴Another prominent socialist historian, Dr. Bob James, identifies as Masons Garibaldi, Mazzini,⁴⁵ Charles Bradlaugh⁴⁶and Karl Marx, stating this was “neither an accident nor an aberration.”⁴⁷

Crowley on the Schools of Black and White Magick

Aleister Crowley is perhaps the best example of how unclear can be the identification of Traditional, Anti-Traditional and Counter-Traditional currents.⁴⁸ Crowley claimed Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Illuminati, among the “saints” of his religion, Thelema.⁴⁹ However, the doctrines of Thelema and the Illuminati are polar opposites. Crowley, in contrast to the communistic doctrines of Illuminism, sought the establishment of a neo-aristocratic society: the revival of hierarchy.⁵⁰ It is notable that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the antithesis of communistic and liberalistic doctrines, is also a “Saint” of Thelema.⁵¹

Evola acknowledged Crowley as a genuine initiate of Tradition. Evola also regarded the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, under which Crowley served his magickal apprenticeship and which was a seminal influence on the modern occult revival as, “to some extent,” a successor “to those of an initiatic character.”⁵²Evola granted that Crowley’s system of Magick was drawn from Traditional initiatic practices: “It is certain that in Crowleyism the inoculation of magico-initiatic applications is precise, and the references or orientations of ancient traditions are evident.”⁵³

Why then did Crowley identify with Adam Weishaupt and the Illuminati, whose doctrines are antithetical to Thelema? Perhaps the reason is that Crowley took on a certain role when assuming the mantle of leadership of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) founded by Theodor Reuss, who was in the employ of the German secret service. Reuss is said to have revived the Order of the Illuminati by virtue of what he claimed to be family connections with the 18^th century cabal.⁵⁴He was an initiate of Martinist and Mizraim Masonry headed by ‘Papus’.⁵⁵He was also in contact in 1902 with Dr. William Wynn Westcott, a high initiate of Grand Lodge Masonry, head of the Societas Rosicrucia in Anglia and founder of the Golden Dawn.⁵⁶Reuss had influential international connections.⁵⁷As Dr. Richard Spence of the University of Idaho has shown, Crowley was involved with the British secret service at least from 1913, when he was acting for British interests in Moscow,⁵⁸and was called on during both World Wars.⁵⁹Reuss was obviously a valuable asset to the Germans, and Crowley was ideally placed to track him.⁶⁰ 

At any rate, Crowley’s identification of the White, Yellow and Black Schools of Magick show that the Illuminati and Freemasonry can be identified with the Black School or what Guenon called the Counter-Tradition and Anti-Tradition. Crowley explained that each School has its own “Hidden Masters.” While the Yellow School “stands aloof,” “the Black School and the White are always more or less in active conflict.”⁶¹The Yellow School regards the universe as “neutral.” The Black regards it as a curse and a sorrow.⁶²Hence we might summarise the three Schools of Magick in regard to their philosophy of life as being: Yellow: Neutral, Black: Negative, White: Positive.

Crowley, like Eliphas Levi and Guenon, saw Masonry as having been subverted by the ‘Black School’ and referred to English Masons as being “in official relationship with certain masonic bodies whose sole raison d’etre is anti-clericalism, political intrigue and trade benefit,” despite English Masonry supposedly eschewing such motives.⁶³These critical sentiments towards the subversion of English Masonry are not consistent with anyone who would be an adherent of Weishaupt and Illuminism, whose raison d’etre was anti-clericalism and political intrigue.

Crowley saw anarchism sweeping the world of the type that had been initiated by the Illuminati and other forms of Masonry during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Again, it can be seen that Crowley’s attitude was anything but Illuminist. “The last quarter of a century had swamped”⁶⁴ the monarchies, and for Crowley the world was poorer for it:

The world is seething from the dissatisfaction that springs from insecurity. Men can adapt themselves to pretty well any conditions, but when they do not know from one day to another where some fundamental principle may not be abolished in the interests of progress, they no longer know where they are. They tend to adopt the principles of the man who flits from one place to another… Civilisation has become a hysterical scramble for momentary material advantage…⁶⁵

Syncretic Religion and the Perennial Tradition

The centuries of subversion of Tradition by Black adepts and their dupes has caused a confusion of cults, religions, and spiritualities, most of which claim to offer humanity the path to peace and happiness, and even to Godhood. As has been indicated throughout this article, it is not an easy matter to determine the real motives of many claiming the mantle of the Ageless Wisdom.

There is an abysmic gulf between adherents of the Perennial Tradition and the Anti- and Counter-Traditions, yet they will often appear similar, because of the ‘counterfeit’ nature of the latter. The Perennial Traditionalist sees a commonality between faiths over expanses of time and space, the assumption generally being that they all derived from a primordial source and differ in so far as they reflect differences of ethnos, geography and historical circumstances. The Perennial Traditionalist will seek to maintain the distinctiveness of these faiths.

The Black adept, while masquerading as a Traditionalist, aims to amalgamate the world’s faiths into one new syncretic faith, the altar to which all humanity will be chained under the guise of ‘universal brotherhood’, preludes of which were the bloody Reigns of Terror in Jacobin France and Bolshevik Russia. Therefore, when a State’s secular politicians, who also happen to be adherents of the aim of a ‘new world order’, start talking about ‘inter-faith dialogue’, under the guise of ‘representing all religions’, and of ‘tolerance’, one should be suspicious.

Those who adhere to the Ageless Wisdom of many faiths eschew materialistic agendas. The World Forum of Spiritual Culture, formed on the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, brings together those who seek a new civilisation, in the aftermath of what they regard as a technical civilisation that is “anti-cultural.”⁶⁶Significantly, Nazarbayev is also a champion of a Eurasian geopolitical bloc⁶⁷ that would challenge the very possibility of a ‘New World Order’. Such a bloc could serve as the axis for a New Age founded on spiritual and cultural principles, and freed from the bonds of matter.

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Footnotes

1. J Evola, Revolt Against the Modern World, Inner Traditions International, 1995.

2. In contrast to the progressive-lineal, darwinistic view of history as a straight line running from primitive to modern.

3. Voluspa, reprinted in The Masks of Odin: Wisdom of the Ancient Norse, Elsa-Brita Titchenell, Theosophical University Press, 1985.

4. Bhagavad-Gita, Ch.9:8.

5. G Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods: A Quest for the Beginning and the End, Mandarin, 1996, 532-533.

6. Oswald Spengler, The Decline of The West, George Allen & Unwin, 1971.

7. Rene Guenon, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, Sophia Perennis, 2001.

8. J Evola, Revolt Against the Modern World, op. cit.

9. D Phillips, ‘Wheel’, Man, Myth & Magic, Purnell, 1970, Vol. 7, 3014-3015.

10. Case can be regarded as an adept of Tradition. He was initiated into the Golden Dawn, Crowley’s OTO, and in 1926 into 3º Masonry, and founded the Builders of the Adytum. His adherence was to the ‘Ageless Wisdom’. Lee Moffitt, Case Timeline, 26 September 1997, http://kcbventures.com/pfc/documents/timeline.pdf

11. John Foster Case, Oracle of The Tarot: A Course on Tarot Divination, Chapter 6, ‘The Major Trumps: 15. Le Diable’, http://tarotinstitute.com/free/Oracle2.pdf

12. However, Spengler also points out that at the cycle of decline – Kali Yuga, etc. – Money exhausts its possibilities and is met by a Traditional resurgence which he called “blood”: “the conflict between money and blood.” Oswald Spengler, op. cit., Vol. II, 506.

13. Rene Guenon, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, Sophia Perennis, 2001, 260.

14. Ibid., 261.

15. Ibid., 261.

16. Ibid., 271.

17. Ibid., 261.

18. Ibid., 267.

19. Ibid., 271-273. Guenon draws on both Islamic and Christian traditions here.

20. Ibid., 271.

21. ‘Spirit of the Age’ which, as Spengler, Evola and Guenon showed is, in the epoch of Western decline, materialism and the rule of money. This ‘spirit’ will be reflected even in movements intended to be in opposition to it. Hence as Oswald Spengler pointed out, Marxism is the mirror image of capitalism, both being doctrines of the materialistic zeitgeist. Oswald Spengler, op. cit. Vol. 2, 402, 464.

22. Rene Guenon, op. cit., 251.

23. The pseudonym of Alphonse Louis Constant (1810-1875).

24. J W Revak, ‘Eliphas Levi: Clergyman, Radical, Magus’, www.villarevak.org/bio/levi_1.html

25. Levi’s Masonic initiation can be construed from a comment he makes in The History of Magic (1860), indicating that he was an initiate of the 18º of Knight of the Pelican & Eagle & Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of Heredom. Levi writing: “Having attained by our efforts to a grade of knowledge which imposes silence, we regard ourselves as pledged by our convictions even more than by an oath… and we shall in no wise fail to deserve the princely crown of the Rosy Cross….” The History of Magic, Rider, 1982, 286.

26. Eliphas Levi, Ibid., 286.

27. Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, executed for heresy.

28. Hiram Abif, one of mythical architects of the Temple of Solomon whose murder Masons are sworn to avenge; a central motif of Masonic ritual.

29. Eliphas Levi, op. cit., 286.

30. By which Levi here means adepts of Gnosis; not the Order of Illuminati, the ‘schism’ among the adepts resulting in the formation of the Illuminati by “the ambitious and unscrupulous.”

31. Eliphas Levi, op. cit., 305.

32. Dr. John M Roberts, The Mythology of the Secret Societies, Secker & Warburg, 1972, 230.

33. Ibid., 266.

34. D Conway, A Farewell to Marx, Penguin Books, 1987, 146.

35. Lause specialises in the history of the labour movement. An associate professor of history at McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, University of Cincinnati, his faculty biography states that he “teaches specialised courses in American Labor History, Comparative Labor History, and the Age of Jackson… For years, he has presented his work or participated in panels at the Annual North American Labor History Conference at Detroit… and the centennial conferences on Eugene V. Debs and Henry George.”

36. M A Lause, ‘Walking Like an Egyptian: The American Destinies of a Revolutionary French Secret Society’; http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2004w23/msg00109.html

37. Philippe de Lyon was the protégé of Gerard Encausse, alias Papus, 33º Mason, who became Grand Master of Memphis-Mizraim, and the Grand Master of the Supreme Council of Martinist Masonry. Martinism had been founded in 1754 by Martinez de Pasquales who was, according to Bernard Lazare, an Illuminist who established Lodges of the Order in France. B Lazare (1894) Antisemitism: Its History & Causes, Britons, 1967, 153. Hence, there is a line of descent from the Illuminati to Memphis-Mizraim and Martinist Masonry. It is from this milieu, incidentally, that the Protocols of Zion might have emerged, rather than either as ‘Zionist’ records or a Czarist forgery.

38. According to Lause, I Nicolaevsky based his work on the origins of the Internationale on the records of the organisation: “Clearly, when Nicolaevsky found the manuscript records on this society a century later, he opened a window into a genuine revolutionary conspiracy with far-reaching influences.”

39. I Nicolaevsky, Secret Societies and the First International, The Revolutionary Internationals, 1864-1943, ed. Milorad M. Drachkovitch, Stanford University Press for the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, 1966, 37.

40. L Spence (1920), An Encyclopaedia of Occultism, Citadel Press, 1960, ‘Cagliostro’, 90.

41. Ibid., 92.

42. International Workingmen’s Association, which included the rival followers of Karl Marx and of the anarchist Bakunin.

43. M A Lause, op. cit.

44. Ibid.

45. The Italian revolutionaries.

46. With Charles Braudlaugh there is another intriguing example of England’s leading atheist professing the arcane Mysteries as a Freemason. Annie Besant, who assumed the presidency of the Theosophical Society and leadership of Co-Masonry, was a close colleague. J J Lewis, ‘Annie Besant – Heretic’, http://womenshistory.about.com/od/freethought/a/annie_besant.htm

47. Dr. Bob James is the Convenor and Co-ordinator of the Australian Centre for Fraternal Studies. He states of himself: “I make these claims on the basis of 25 years of research, of ten years or so as Secretary of the Hunter Labor History Society, and as organiser of a National Labor History Conference.”

48. Nicholas Roerich, the Russian mystic, is another significant example of a Traditionalist initiate with anti-Traditionalist connections, which included US President F D Roosevelt and Vice President Henry Wallace and Soviet luminaries Maxim Gorky, Education Minister Lunarchsky, and Foreign Minister Chicherin. Roerich aimed to create a pan-Buddhist geopolitical and spiritual bloc that would embrace parts of the USSR. He seems to have been a genuine initiate of the Perennial Tradition trying to resist those of the Counter-Tradition through his own high level diplomacy. See: M Pashkovsky, ‘Nicholas Roerich: Secret Agent of Hidden Masters’, New Dawn Special Issue No. 3, Winter 2007, 9-14.

49. A Crowley (1911), ‘Liber XV OTO Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae’, Magick, Samuel Weiser, 1984, 430. Appendix VI, ‘The Saints’.

50. K R Bolton, ‘Aleister Crowley as Political Theorist’, Crowley: Thoughts & Perspectives Vol. II, ed. T Southgate, Black Front Press, 2011, 5-28. Also: K Preston, ‘The Whole of the Law: The Political Dimensions of Crowley’s Thought’, ibid., 68-85.

51. A Crowley (1911), op. cit.

52. J Evola, ‘Aleister Crowley’, Crowley: Thoughts & Perspectives Volume 2, op. cit., 208.

53. Ibid., 212.

54. Reuss claimed in 1914 in his magazine Oriflamme to have ‘revived’ the Illuminati in 1880. It had been founded in Munich and called the Ludwig Lodge. It was from these origins that the OTO emerged.

55. Lady Queenborough, Edith Starr Miller (1933), Occult Theocracy, California: 1980, Appendix IV, 42-43.

56. Letters between Reuss and Westcott reproduced in: Lady Queenborough, ibid., Appendix IV, 8-35.

57. According to testimonials for Reuss reproduced by Lady Queenborough, he was commended by the Military attaché to the US Embassy in Germany, and in 1896 was recommend by the First Secretary of the Embassy in Berlin to be Berlin correspondent for the NY Herald. Central News Ltd. (London), United Press and many others accredited him as a journalist. Lady Queenborough, ibid., Appendix IV, 2-5.

58. Dr. R Spence, ‘The Magus Was A Spy: Aleister Crowley & the Curious Connections Between Intelligence and the Occult’, New Dawn 105, November-December 2007, 26.

59. Crowley, masquerading as an Irish republican, served British Intelligence during World War I by infiltrating a German propaganda coterie in the USA. That the OTO under Crowley’s leadership served as a means of keeping tabs on esoterically inclined German agents is indicated by the involvement of Hanns Heinz Ewers, a German agent in New York. R Spence, ibid., 27. As for Reuss, Spence states that this association may have enhanced Crowley’s credibility among German agents. Reuss had worked for the German secret service since the 1880s, when he infiltrated the Socialist League in London. Crowley maintained contact with Ruess during World War I. Interestingly Reuss went to Switzerland where he attempted to recruit exiled radicals via another occult order, the Anational Lodge and Mystic Temple, where Crowley’s Gnostic Mass was among the ceremonies (Spence, ibid., 28). Again we see an example of a crypto-Masonic order being used for political purposes. Crowley meanwhile denounced Reuss to New York authorities as a German agent.

60. Dr. Spence replies in this regard: “Basically, yes, I think your supposition about Crowley and Reuss is correct though the spying went both ways. The nagging question to me is Reuss’s exact connection to German Intelligence. He fits the profile of a spotter/recruiter and Crowley, with his connections… would have been a useful asset. From that vantage, Crowley could then funnel information back to his British handlers. The man who likely held the strings in all this was the eminence grise of pre-war British Intelligence, William Melville. In the 1880s and 90s, Melville had led Scotland Yard’s efforts against the anarchists, many of whom were German. He had informants among the German anarchists and it’s not inconceivable that Reuss was one of them. German and British Intelligence were generally very cooperative prior to 1900.” R Spence to K R Bolton, e-mail 10 September 2011. It could therefore be that both Reuss and Crowley were working against the anti-Traditional current, and that the crypto-masonic societies founded by Reuss were a means of subverting the subverters.

61. A Crowley, Magic Without Tears, Falcon Press, 1983, 66.

62. Ibid., 72-73.

63. A Crowley, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986, 697.

64. Ibid., 284

65. Ibid.

66. ‘World Forum of Spiritual Cultures’, New Dawn 126, May-June 2011, 7-8.

67. Régis Genté, ‘Kazakhstan or Eurasian geopolitics’, Le Monde Diplomatique, 18 November 2010, http://mondediplo.com/2010/11/18osce

DR. KR BOLTON has doctorates in theology and related areas, Ph.D. honoris causa, and certifications in psychology and social work studies. He has been widely published by the scholarly and broader media on a variety of subjects. He is a ‘contributing writer’ for Foreign Policy Journal, and a regular writer for New Dawn. Books include: Revolution From Above (London: Arktos Media Ltd., 2011), Stalin: The Enduring Legacy (Black House Publishing, 2012), ‘Introduction’ to Oscar Wilde’s The Soul of Man Under Socialism (Black House, 2012), with books pending on the conflict between tradition and counter-tradition, and psychopathy in Left-wing politics.

The above article appeared in New Dawn Special Issue Vol 6 No 6.

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Tens of thousands of trees have disappeared from parks and woodlands this winter across Greece, authorities said, in a worsening problem that has had tragic consequences as the crisis-hit country's impoverished residents, too broke to pay for electricity or fuel, turn to fireplaces and wood stoves for heat.

As winter temperatures bite, that trend is dealing a serious blow to the environment, as hillsides are denuded of timber and smog from fires clouds the air in Athens and other cities, posing risks to public health.

Read More...

In this occasional series, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today, Stephen Starr looks at technology that fires electronic-disabling microwaves — not warheads — and how it could change the face of war.

Q: Are there really microwave missiles?
A: Yes. A three-year, US$40-million project to launch Boeing Phantom Works’ Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) became reality in the Utah desert last October. The missile — launched from an aircraft before flying over its target — sends out electromagnetic pulses that are designed to disable any electronics in a wide area — destroying an enemy’s computers and communications without killing enemy soldiers or civilians. In the October test, the missile fired microwaves at a two-storey building causing all the electronics and computers inside to go dark. Even the cameras monitoring the test were knocked out.

Q: Wow. Is this new technology?
A: It’s been around for a while.The microwave pulse — similar to an electromagnetic pulse — can damage electrical equipment rather like what happens after a nuclear bomb explodes. Pulses were first detected in the 1940s, and even expected by scientists during nuclear detonation tests.

Q: What’s been the reaction to the test?
A: Boeing CHAMP program manager Keith Coleman was elated. “Today we made science fiction science fact,” he said. “This technology marks a new era in modern-day warfare.” Norman Friedman, a defence analyst and former deputy director of National Security Studies at the Hudson Institute, said, “It’s a very attractive idea. It’s a non-lethal weapon that could be extremely effective.”

The crescent moon greets sky watchers tonight in the western sky during twilight. Binoculars will show Mars very low above the horizon about an hour after sunset. Created with Stellarium

Two of our favorite sky objects are back. A fingernail crescent moon will scratch the sky at dusk and the space station begins another series of swing-bys  at  dawn.

Watch for the moon in the southwest during evening twilight. If you’re game for a challenge, use binoculars to find dim Mars about 7 degrees directly below the moon. Think of Curiosity up there poking around the rocks of Gale Crater in Yellowknife Bay. Can you believe it’s been there for 161 days already?

This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) shows the patch of rock cleaned by the first use of the rover’s Dust Removal Tool (DRT) on Jan. 6, 2013. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Last week the rover used its motorized, wire-bristle brush for the first time to dust off a rock in preparation for close-up inspection by the hand-lens imager and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). The APXS analyzes the elements that compose the rock by bombarding it with alpha particles (helium atoms) and X-rays and measuring what scatters back. Each element gives off its own distinctive energy fingerprint.

Expedition 34 crew members photographed an extensive blanket of stratocumulus clouds as they flew over the northwestern Pacific Ocean on Jan. 4, 2013. The cloud pattern is typical for this part of the world. The low clouds carry cold air over a warmer sea. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

Morning sky watchers again have the pleasure of tracking the International Space Station (ISS), now beginning a fresh series of passes before sunrise. Winter mornings make watching the space station easy compared to summer. With the sun rising so late, you can look for the station when you step out to pick up the paper or walk the dog. No getting up at 4 or 5 a.m. like you did during the summer months with its early sunrises and even earlier twilights.

The times below are for the Duluth, Minn. region. Check out times for your town at Spaceweather’s Satellite Flybys page or log in to Heavens-Above, where you can print out cool maps of the space station’s path in the sky. Look for the ISS to first appear in the west and travel east; a typical pass takes about 5 minutes.  It looks like a brilliant, steady yellow star on the move.

* Tomorrow Jan. 14 beginning at 6:55 a.m. High pass across the northern sky. Brilliant at magnitude -3.2
* Tues. Jan. 15 at 6:07 a.m. when it suddenly leaves Earth’s shadow in the western sky in Leo and travels across the top of the sky headed east. Brightest pass of the week at mag. -3.4
* Weds. Jan. 16 at 6:51 a.m. Nice pass across the northern sky
* Thurs. Jan. 17 at 6:03 a.m. Appears  suddenly out of Earth’s shadow halfway up in the northwestern sky moving east.
* Fri. Jan. 18 at 6:48 a.m. Full pass across the northern sky
* Sat. Jan. 19 at 6 a.m. First appears out of Earth’s shadow near the North Star moving east.

Closeup of the large sunspot region 1654 taken at 9 a.m. CST this morning Jan. 13, 2013 by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Solar storms or flares occur when powerful magnetic energy stored in the spots is explosively released.  Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

The sun’s been looking pretty hot this past week. Lots of flares, including a few rated as moderately powerful M-class storms, have been popping off in the large sunspot group 1654. I see today that the Kp index, an indicator of magnetic activity around the Earth, is starting to climb again – just a little. The space weather forecast doesn’t predict any auroras minor or major in the next three days, but that could change if 1654 continues firing off flares as it rotates to face the Earth more directly.

This image of the continental United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. City and highway lights, gas flares, wildfires and a bit of reflected moonlight are visible. Click for a huge version. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

Wherever we go, our lights go with us. If we were more thoughtful about choosing the right type of lighting fixtures, it wouldn’t be such a problem, but we’re generally not. Photos taken late last year by the Suomi NPP satellite of Earth at night show the human footprint in blazing garlands of twinkling orange lights strung along coastlines, cities and highways.

While the sight is beautiful on one level, it’s a disturbing waste of good energy. Much of the electric lighting seen from space spills upward to brighten the night sky instead of being directed at the ground where it’s needed.

Comparison photos of the Bakken oil fields region in the year 2000 before active drilling and in 2012 with drilling going full bore. The photo at left was made by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program; at right by Suomi NPP. Click to enlarge. Credit: NOAA, NASA

One of the most glaring examples of new light pollution shows up in the Bakken shale fields of northwestern North Dakota. Although one of the least densely-populated areas of the United States, the region has seen widespread oil-drilling and natural gas production in recent years. Most of the bright dots are lights associated with drilling equipment and temporary housing near drilling sites, but some are natural gas flares.

Closeup satellite image of lighting in the Bakken oil fields of northwestern North Dakota. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

Storage facilities and pipelines haven’t kept up with production, so the excess is burnt off in flares. This may sound like a bad idea, but it’s better than releasing it directly into the atmosphere. Methane is far nastier than carbon dioxide when it comes to the greenhouse effect.

Well-designed fixtures shield and direct light toward the ground. This example is from Manchester, UK.

While we all know lighting is necessary to carry on with tasks at night like driving home or picking up the kids at school, wisely-designed fixtures that contain the light in a box and direct it downward not only provide ample illumination, they also save energy, reduce glare and minimize light pollution of the night sky we all love.

Full moon on September 30, 2012 over the Persion Gulf. You can see both the lights of cities and highways as well as details of the landscape. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

Not all Earth lighting seen from orbit is manmade. Moonlight and aurora cast their natural hues across the planet’s skin, too. The Suomi NPP satellite captured a series of pictures showing dramatic changes in illumination of the Persian Gulf region between September 30 and October 15, 2012 when the moon waned from full to new phase.

With the moon at gibbous phase, the difference in lighting is quickly apparent. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

Notice that as the moon’s phase lessens, the cities become more obvious while the landscape darkens. To see all four panels showing the complete transition from full to new moon, click HERE.

The southern lights swirl over Antarctica in this satellite image taken on July 15, 2012. Look closely and you’ll see details in the ice shelf along the edge of ocean (top) lit up by the aurora. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon

We’ll leave you with the choicest image of all – the aurora austrinus or southern lights, counterpart to the aurora borealis. Suomi NPP captured this image on July 15, 2012 over Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land and the Princess Ragnhild Coast. At the time the continent was shrouded in mid-winter darkness with a waning crescent moon providing very little illumination. LIght from the aurora was bright enough however to reveal icebergs and the coastline.

If you like your skies dark, here are some outdoor lighting tips on reducing light pollution around the house. For more on the issue, I highly recommend a visit to the International Dark-Sky Association’s Frequently Asked Questions.

Artist impression of the rocky asteroid Apophis, named after an ancient Greek god who was the enemy of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Credit: ESA

99942 Apophis, a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun every 324 days, briefly raised a few hairs on the backs of astronomers after its discovery in 2004. Early orbital calculations gave it a 2.7 percent probability of striking Earth during a close flyby in 2029.

A later study of older photos that happened to include the asteroid helped to refine its orbit and eliminate the impact possibility that year. Unfortunately it also pointed to the chance for another potential strike in April 13, 2036.

During the 2029 flyby, it was predicted that Apophis might pass through a gravitational keyhole, a narrow region of space (just 1/2 mile wide in this instance) where Earth’s gravity alters the asteroid’s path in such a way as to set it on a future collision course. While remote, the possibility was enough to cause concern.

The orbit of near-Earth asteroid Apophis cycles within and near the orbits of the three innermost planets. Credit: NASA

Thanks to fresh data gathered when Apophis zipped 9.3 million miles from Earth this Wednesday Jan. 9, we can now breath a sigh of relief.

Astronomers used NASA’s Goldstone 230-foot radar dish as well as the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in New Mexico and Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii to track the asteroid and determine a very accurate orbit.

“With the new data … we have effectively ruled out the possibility of an Earth impact by Apophis in 2036,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. “”The impact odds as they stand now are less than one in a million, which makes us comfortable saying we can effectively rule out an Earth impact in 2036. Our interest in asteroid Apophis will essentially be for its scientific interest for the foreseeable future.”

Time exposure of Apophis on Jan. 8, 2013 near the time of its most recent approach to Earth. Credit: G. Masi and F. Nocentini

If you’re a catastrophist, don’t get too down about the news.  The April 13, 2029 appearance will be the closest flyby we’re aware of of an asteroid this big. On that date, Apophis will pass only 19,400 miles from the surface of Earth and shine brightly enough (mag. 3.5) to be visible with the naked eye from suburban skies.

Viewing conditions will be ideal in Europe, Africa and the Middle East observers with dark skies during closest approach on the 13th; U.S. observers won’t be as fortunate. When Apophis is nearest and brightest, the sun will still be up in the sky. The best views for the States will happen on the evening of the 12th, when you’ll see it in binoculars as a 7th magnitude point of light low in the southern sky. When darkness falls on the 13th in the U.S., you’ll need an 8-inch or larger scope to spot it.

Speed and proximity are behind Apophis’ dramatic change in brightness over such a short span of time. It tears by Earth at such a high rate of speed that it brightens and fades in hours instead of days or weeks.

Herschel’s 3-color view of Apophis during the asteroid’s approach on Jan. 5-6, 2013. During the latest pass, Herschel collected important information about the physical properties of the asteroid, which will help astronomers make refined predictions for the future trajectory of the asteroid. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/MACH-11/MPE/B.Altieri (ESAC) and C. Kiss (Konkoly Observatory)

Apophis was originally thought to be 885 feet across, but that number was refined this week when the European Space Agency’s orbiting Herschel Space Observatory made  a series of observations in infrared light during the asteroid’s approach. When those observations were combined with visual light data, scientists were able to come up with a more accurate estimate of it size. It grew! Apophis’ measures 1,066 feet +/- 50 feet across.

It’s also darker than previously thought which affects how much sunlight it absorbs. That in turn can lead to changes in Apophis’ orbit over time. Astronomers won’t be taking their eye off this monster rock anytime soon. You can read more about the findings HERE.

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Image Caption: Dream Chaser commercial crew vehicle built by Sierra Nevada Corp docks at ISS

Commercial test pilots, not NASA astronauts, will fly the first crewed missions that NASA hopes will at last restore America’s capability to blast humans to Earth orbit from American soil – perhaps as early as 2015 – which was totally lost following the forced shuttle shutdown.

At a news briefing this week, NASA managers at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) said the agency is implementing a new way of doing business in human spaceflight and purposely wants private companies to assume the flight risk first with their crews before exposing NASA crews as a revolutionary new flight requirement. Both NASA and the companies strongly emphasized that there will be no shortcuts to flying safe.

A trio of American aerospace firms – Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp – are leading the charge to develop and launch the new commercially built human-rated spacecraft that will launch Americans to LEO atop American rockets from American bases.

The goal is to ensure the nation has safe, reliable and affordable crew transportation systems for low-Earth orbit (LEO) and International Space Station (ISS) missions around the middle of this decade.

The test launch schedule hinges completely on scarce Federal dollars from NASA for which there is no guarantee in the current tough fiscal environment.

The three companies are working with NASA in a public-private partnership using a combination of NASA seed money and company funds. Each company was awarded contracts under NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Initiative, or CCiCap, program, the third in a series of contracts aimed at kick starting the development of the so-called private sector ‘space taxis’ to fly astronauts to and from the ISS.

Caption: Boeing CST-100 crew vehicle docks at the ISS

The combined value of NASA’s Phase 1 CCiCap contracts is about $1.1 Billion and runs through March 2014 said Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. Phase 2 contract awards will follow and eventually lead to the actual flight units after a down selection to one or more of the companies, depending on NASA’s approved budget.

Since the premature retirement of NASA’s shuttle fleet in 2011, US astronauts have been 100% reliant on the Russians to hitch a ride to the ISS – at a price tag of over $60 Million per seat. This is taking place while American aerospace workers sit on the unemployment line and American expertise and billions of dollars of hi-tech space hardware rots away or sits idly by with each passing day.

Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp seek to go where no private company has gone before – to low Earth orbit with their private sector manned spacecraft. And representatives from all three told reporters they are all eager to move forward.

All three commercial vehicles – the Boeing CST-100; SpaceX Dragon and Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser – are designed to carry a crew of up to 7 astronauts and remain docked at the ISS for more than 6 months.

“For well over a year now, since Atlantis [flew the last space shuttle mission], the United States of America no longer has the capability to launch people into space. And that’s something that we are not happy about,” said Garrett Reisman, a former space shuttle astronaut who is now the SpaceX Commercial Crew project manager leading their development effort. “We’re very proud to be part of the group that’s going to do something about that and get Americans back into space.”

Caption: Blastoff of SpaceX Cargo Dragon atop Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May, 22, 2012, bound for the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer

“We are the emotional successors to the shuttle,” said Mark Sirangelo, Sierra Nevada Corp. vice president and SNC Space Systems chairman. “Our target was to repatriate that industry back to the United States, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Sierra Nevada is developing the winged Dream Chaser, a mini-shuttle that launches atop an Atlas V rocket and lands on a runway like the shuttle. Boeing and SpaceX are building capsules that will launch atop Atlas V and Falcon 9 rockets, respectively, and then land by parachute like the Russian Soyuz capsule.

SpaceX appears to be leading the pack using a man-rated version of their Dragon capsule which has already docked twice to the ISS on critical cargo delivery missions during 2012. From the start, the SpaceX Dragon was built to meet the specification ratings requirements for a human crew.

Caption: Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on May 25, 2012 for grapple and berthing . Photo: NASA

Reisman said the first manned Dragon test flight with SpaceX test pilots could be launched in mid 2015. A flight to the ISS could take place by late 2015. Leading up to that in April 2014, SpaceX is planning to carry out an unmanned in-flight abort test to simulate and test a worst case scenario “at the worst possible moment.”

Boeing is aiming for an initial three day orbital test flight of their CST-100 capsule during 2016, said John Mulholland, the Boeing Commercial Programs Space Exploration vice president and program manager. Mulholland added that Chris Ferguson, the commander of the final shuttle flight by Atlantis, is leading the flight test effort.

Boeing has leased one of NASA’s Orbiter Processing Facility hangers (OPF-3) at KSC. Mulholland told me that Boeing will ‘cut metal’ soon. “Our first piece of flight design hardware will be delivered to KSC and OPF-3 within 5 months.”

Caption: Boeing CST-100 capsule mock-up, interior view. Credit: Ken Kremer

Sierra Nevada plans to start atmospheric drop tests of an engineering test article of the Dream Chaser from a carrier aircraft in the next few months in an autonomous mode. The test article is a full sized vehicle.

“It’s not outfitted for orbital flight; it is outfitted for atmospheric flight tests,” Sirangelo told me. “The best analogy is it’s very similar to what NASA did in the shuttle program with the Enterprise, creating a vehicle that would allow it to do significant flights whose design then would filter into the final vehicle for orbital flight.”

Now to the issue of using commercial space test pilots in place of NASA astronauts on the initial test flights.

At the briefing, Reisman stated, “We were told that because this would be part of the development and prior to final certification that we were not allowed, legally, to use NASA astronauts to be part of that test pilot crew.”

So I asked NASA’s Ed Mango, “Why are NASA astronauts not allowed on the initial commercial test flights?”

Mango replied that NASA wants to implement the model adopted by the military wherein the commercial company assumes the initial risk before handing the airplanes to the government.

“We would like them to get to a point where they’re ready to put their crew on their vehicle at their risk,” said Mango. “And so it changes the dynamic a little bit. Normally under a contract, the contractor comes forward and says he’s ready to go fly but it’s a NASA individual that’s going to sit on the rocket, so it becomes a NASA risk.

“What we did is we flipped it around under iCAP. It’s not what we’re going to do long term under phase two, but we flipped it around under iCAP and said we want to know when you’re ready to fly your crew and put your people at risk. And that then becomes something that we’re able to evaluate.”

“In the end all our partners want to fly safe. They’re not going to take any shortcuts on flying safe,” he elaborated. “All of us have the same initiative and it doesn’t matter who’s sitting on top of the vehicle. It’s a person, and that person needs to fly safely and get back home to their families. That’s the mission of all our folks and our partners – to go back home and see their family.”

Given the nations fiscal difficulties and lack of bipartisan cooperation there is no guarantee that NASA will receive the budget it needs to keep the commercial crew program on track.

Indeed, the Obama Administrations budget request for commercial crew has been repeatedly slashed by the US Congress to only half the request in the past two years. These huge funding cuts have already forced a multi-year delay in the inaugural test flights and increased the time span that the US has no choice but to pay Russia to launch US astronauts to the ISS.

“The budget is going to be an extremely challenging topic, not only for this program but for all NASA programs,” said Phil McAlister, NASA Commercial Spaceflight Development director.

NASA is pursuing a dual track approach in reviving NASA’s human spaceflight program. The much larger Orion crew capsule is simultaneously being developed to launch atop the new SLS super rocket and carry astronauts back to the Moon by 2021 and then farther into deep space to Asteroids and one day hopefully Mars.

Ken Kremer

Caption: Dream Chaser awaits launch atop Atlas V rocket

About Ken Kremer

Dr. Ken Kremer is a speaker, scientist, freelance science journalist (Princeton, NJ) and photographer whose articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have appeared in magazines, books, websites and calanders including Astronomy Picture of the Day and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center and lectures on both Human and Robotic spaceflight - www.kenkremer.com

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Active Region 1654 on the Sun’s western limb, seen by SDO on Jan. 11 (NASA/SDO/HMI team. Diagram by J. Major.)

Like an enormous cannon that is slowly turning its barrel toward us, the latest giant sunspot region AR1654 is steadily moving into position to face Earth, loaded with plenty of magnetic energy to create M-class flares — moderate-sized outbursts of solar energy that have the potential to cause brief radio blackouts on Earth and, at the very least, spark bright aurorae around the upper latitudes.

According to SpaceWeather.com, AR1654 “could be the sunspot that breaks the recent lengthy spell of calm space weather around our planet.”

The image above, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory earlier today, shows the structure of AR1654 upon the Sun’s photosphere — its light-emitting “surface” layer. Stretching many tens of thousands of miles, this magnetic solar blemish easily dwarfs our entire planet. And it’s not just a prediction that this sunspot will unleash a flare — it already has.

AR1654 came around the limb of the sun crackling with activity. Shortly after the probability of AR1654 releasing a flare was raised to 50% it did just that, letting loose with a burst of magnetic energy that was observed by SDO’s multi-channel cameras. Watch the video below:

Peaking at 9:11 UTC, this M1-class flare won’t have much more effect on Earth than perhaps some radio and GPS interference and maybe increased auroral activity. But AR1654 is still evolving and growing… and moving to face us.

In the meantime, solar astronomers and observatories like SDO are keeping an ever-watchful eye on this magnetic monster.

Keep up with the latest news here on Universe Today, on the SDO mission site and on spaceweather.com.

UPDATE 1/12: According to the NOAA, AR1654 has a 5% chance of producing an X-class flare, based on its current magnetic activity and alignment.

A sunspot is a magnetically active region on the sun that appears dark because it’s relatively cooler than the surrounding area—6,000ºF (3,300ºC) versus 10,000ºF (5,500º C). Sunspots are where solar flares are most likely to occur since the magnetic fields in these active regions can build up enough energy to break, releasing bursts of intense radiation into the solar system.

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NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities in 2011 by the company’s President Robert Bigelow. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The next addition to the International Space Station will likely be an inflatable module from Bigelow Aerospace. NASA announced today they have awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow to provide a new module for the ISS. “The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will demonstrate the benefits of this space habitat technology for future exploration and commercial space endeavors,” NASA said in a press release. This would be the first privately built module to be added to the space station.

“The International Space Station is a unique laboratory that enables important discoveries that benefit humanity and vastly increase understanding of how humans can live and work in space for long periods,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. “This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation.”

NASA will release more information about the agreement and the module next week, but previous reports have indicated the inflatable module would be used for adding additional storage and workspace, and the module would be certified to remain on-orbit for two years.
NASA has been in discussions with Bigelow for several years about using their inflatable technology.

In 2006 Bigelow launched their Genesis I inflatable test module into orbit and according to their website, it is still functioning and “continuing to produce invaluable images, videos and data for Bigelow Aerospace. It is now demonstrating the long-term viability of expandable habitat technology in an actual orbital environment.”

A second Genesis module was launched in 2007 and it, too, is still functioning in orbit.
Bigelow has said that even though the outer shell of their module is soft, as opposed to the rigid outer shell of current modules at the ISS, Bigelow’s inflatable modules are more resistant to micrometeoroid or orbital debris strikes. Bigelow uses multiple layers of Vectran, a material which is twice as strong as Kevlar. In ground tests, according to NASASpacefight.com, objects that would penetrate ISS modules only penetrated half-way through the skin of Bigelow’s modules.

On Friday night, Somali al-Shabab militants killed one French commando involved in the botched operation to rescue Denis Allex, who was taken hostage in Somalia about three and a half years ago.

Another commando has reportedly gone missing, according to French defense ministry.

At least five French helicopters and 50 troops were involved in the air raid on a house in the town of Bulomarer, nearly 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

"United States forces provided limited technical support to the French forces in that operation, but took no direct part in the assault on the compound where it was believed the French citizen was being held hostage," US President Barack Obama said on Sunday in a letter to Congress.

"United States combat aircraft briefly entered Somali airspace to support the rescue operation, if needed," Obama wrote, adding that "these aircraft did not employ weapons during the operation."

The US president stated that American forces, which participated in the operation, left Somalia by about 8:00 p.m. EST Friday (0100 GMT Saturday).

"I directed US forces to support this rescue operation in furtherance of US national security interests," Obama wrote.

On Saturday, al-Shabab said the hostage is alive.

"(Denis) Allex still remains safe and far from the location of the battle," al-Shebab militants said at a news release. "As a response to this botched rescue operation by the French forces, (al-Shebab) assures the French people that it will give its final verdict regarding the fate of Denis Allex within two days."

French defense ministry, however, said the secret agent was killed by the militants. "During the assault, violent combat took place. Denis Allex was killed by his captors."

The ministry added that some 17 militants were also killed in the incident.

GJH/MA

The PKK fighter was killed on Sunday when Turkish forces attacked his house in Nusaybin -- a city on the border with Syria.

The victim, whose identity has not been revealed, was a senior member of the PKK, Turkish media outlets reported.

On Thursday, three Kurdish women activists were killed in Paris.

The bodies of Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the PKK, and two other female Kurd activists were found with gunshot wounds in the head at Kurdish Information Center in the French capital.

On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the murder of the Kurdish activists was apparently over an internal PKK feud and thus an inside job.

The Turkish government condemned the killings, which the French Interior Ministry described as “an assassination.”

A group of demonstrators also gathered in front of the Kurdish institute in Paris on Friday to express outrage at the incident.

Reports said on January 9 that Ankara and the PKK had reached an agreement on a peace roadmap to end nearly three decades of hostility.

GJH/MA

US Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said the CV-22 Ospreys would likely be deployed at Kedena Air Base in the Okinawa prefecture, despite fierce opposition by islanders and warnings that any crash of the aircraft -- of extremely poor safety record -- could threaten the huge American military presence on the island, the UPI reported on Sunday.

During his visit to the US on Friday, Okinawa prefectural spokesman, Susumu Matayoshi, however, told Christopher Johnstone, the director for Northeast Asia at the US Department of Defense, that the prefecture would never agree to the planes' deployment.

During a news conference at the Pentagon on January 11, Donley said the US military was considering the deployment, but declined to provide details.

Pentagon afterwards issued a statement, saying, "Any deployment of the Air Force CV-22 to the Asia-Pacific region is years away...The United States has not notified the government of Japan about the CV-22 because we have not made a basing decision."

The US marines deployed 12 of their MV-22 Ospreys to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma last autumn and another 12 MV-22s are planned for deployment this summer.

Since its early years in 1990s, the aircraft has had multiple malfunctions and many accidents.

Opposition to the US military footprint in Okinawa is intense. The 1.4 million residents on the island have been demanding the Futenma airbase -- which sits in a densely-packed residential area -- to be moved off the island.

Okinawa has become known as the site of enduring tensions with US forces, and hence a lasting source of conflict between the two sides. Around half of the 47,000 US service personnel in Japan are based on the strategically-located island.

MN/HN

Posted by Breshvic on January 13, 2013

We’ve seen massive amounts of dark money in politics co-opt and buy our former democracy wholesale. This was especially clear in the post-Citizen’s United elections in the U.S., with special interests, corporations and/or lobbyists spending billions of dollars (that they otherwise argue they need to keep hold of with preferential legal and legislative treatment).

Wall Street, in particular, holds sway over the thinking in Washington, D.C. Our elected policy-makers are increasingly owned, or at least bought and paid for, in other words; whores. So they’re exercising their freedom of speech, and just as with their other shady deal-making, they tend to bet big. Wall Street gave big to the Democrats and Obama in particular in 2008. They gave to him early on before backing Romney as ‘one of their own’ in the financial sector.

But is there anything to the idea that their toxic objectivism is severely conservative nowadays? Open Secrets Blog, a great research site from the Center for Responsive Politics that was instrumental during the election, before and since, for exposing the flow of money from profiteering barons to pandering politicians. It seems they are, in fact, trending Republican:

According to the latest Center for Responsive Politics analysis, there has been a defined shift in campaign giving by commercial banks and securities and investment firms , which now heavily favor Republican candidates.

Picture:OpenSecrets.org

For the record, this is only a trend. A steep and extreme trend, but a trend nonetheless. This may be an artifact of being an election year, and it does appear that a similar amount was spent as in 2008, just not split between the two candidates and overwhelmingly for “their guy.”

Although, I personally don’t believe there is much of difference, since national politics is mostly a game where Republicans and Democrats play-fight for the public while betraying voters on a daily basis.

I highly recommend Open Secrets for your references, as they will shine light on corruption of any moneyed group or politician, regardless of their claimed affiliation.

• Attack comes just weeks after the brutal gang rape and murder of a student on a bus travelling through New Delhi
• Latest victim was abducted Friday night and driven to a secluded spot where seven men took turns to rape her, police said
  
• She was dumped near her in-laws village the next morning, where she reported the crime to police
• Local reports claim accused have already confessed to the crime in preliminary interrogations - a seventh suspect remains at large
  

By Damien Gayle

PUBLISHED: 04:38 EST, 13 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:37 EST, 13 January 2013

Six men have been arrested over the rape of a woman on a coach in northern India in an attack which has disturbing echoes of the gang-rape and murder of a student on a New Delhi bus just weeks ago.

The victim was travelling to her in-laws' home in Punjab on Friday when she was allegedly snatched and driven to a district bordering Amritsar, the Sikh holy city.

Five men joined the driver and conductor, who had taken her by motorbike to an unknown address, and took turns to rape the 29-year-old.

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Arrest: Indian policemen stand with six men, faces covered, suspected in a gang rape of a bus passenger

Early morning traffic in Amritsar, India, near where a 29-year-old woman was raped after she was abducted from a bus on Friday

They dumped her near her in-laws' village the next morning where she told relatives of her ordeal, police said.

'Six men have been arrested on allegations of having raped a 29-year-old woman... after forcibly taking her to an unknown location on the night of January 11,' local police officer Raj Jeet Singh said.

A seventh suspect is still on the run from the police, he added.

'The lady, after being kidnapped, was raped brutally throughout the night by the seven accused,' he said.

'After raping the victim throughout the night, one of the accused dropped her near her in-laws' house the next morning where she narrated the whole incident to her two sisters-in-law.'

Outcry: Activists on hunger strike in New Delhi last week in a protest against the gang rape and murder of a student in December. Six men have been arrested after a second woman was raped in north India on Friday

Freedom? An Indian woman holds a placard in a December 30 protest after the death of the 21-year-old who was recently gang-raped and murdered on a moving bus a fortnight earlier

Asked why she had not resisted when she was being taken by motorcycle to the secluded spot where she was attacked, Superintendent Singh said she was 'a bit mentally weak', the Indian Express reported.

The extent of the victims injuries had yet to be established, but an initial examination confirmed she had been raped, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

Local news services are reporting that the suspects have confessed during preliminary interrogations.

This Google Map shows the location of Amritsar, northern India, near where the woman was snatched

The attack is disturbingly similar to the December 16 gang-rape and murder of a 21-year-old student  in Delhi, where five men are on trial in a case that has fuelled anger across India over the treatment of women.

Partap Singh Bajwa, a local Congress Party politician, blamed the police for not enforcing stringent checks on buses operating in the state.

'It all happened due to laxity of police as they never bother to check out the buses moving on national highways during night time,' Bajwa told AFP.

Baying for blood: Members of India's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) take part in a candlelight march in Amritsar on December 30, 2012, after the cremation ceremony for the victim of the December 16 gang rape

Protesters across India have called for the police to be more vigilant and sensitive to the growing incidence of sexual assault against women, after details emerged of the New Delhi attack.

Police and prosecutors have outlined how the alleged rapists picked up the woman and her male companion in a school bus which they had taken for a joyride after drinking heavily.

The bus would have had to cross numerous police checkpoints at that time of night but at no stage was the vehicle pulled over by officers.

After getting into an argument with the woman's male companion, the group allegedly beat him up and raped the victim in the back of the bus while driving around Delhi for some 45 minutes.

They also sexually assaulted her with a rusted metal bar, leaving her with severe internal injuries, before hurling her from the vehicle.

She died in a Singapore hospital 13 days after the attack.

VIDEO The second gang rape victim speaks out as assailants are arrested 

• Temperatures in Lapland plummet to below -20C every winter

By Damien Gayle

PUBLISHED: 06:52 EST, 13 January 2013 | UPDATED: 15:15 EST, 13 January 2013

These beautiful photographs capture the frozen stillness of the forests of Lapland in deep winter.

The stunning scenes were captured by Finnish photographer Tiina Tormanen, who works nearby but was nevertheless blown away by the area's ethereal beauty.

Heavy snowfall and drifts completely mask the forests pine trees, making them look almost like glistening, shuffling figures making their way across the snowy wastes.

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Frozen: The snow-covered trees of Lapland's sub-Arctic forests in a picture taken by amateur photographer Tiina Tormanen. Temperatures in the region often plummet to below -20C, according to the Finnish tourist board

Ghostly: The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, hangs in the night sky over the frozen landscape

Extreme: Lapland's climate is characterised by snowy winters and temperate summers fed by the Gulf Stream

Shots taken during the day and at dusk show how the pale light of the northern sun barely warms the frigid forests, while nighttime shots show the Aurora Borealis hanging in the dark sky.

Largely situated within the Arctic circle, Lapland's climate is characterised by snowy, cold winters but relatively warm summers due to the Gulf Stream.

Annual temperatures range from a balmy 20C in the summer months, to a deep freeze in the winter that sees the mercury frequently plummet to below -20C.

The Sami people, the historic residents of Lapland, traditionally divide the year into eight seasons instead of four.

And you thought Britain was cold this week: The pale winter sun rises to shine weak light across the icy terrain

Cold: This shot taken from a high vantage point shows how the frozen forests extend as far as the eye can see

How many words for snow? Lapland's Sami people divide the year into eight seasons instead of four

Despite the clarity and clever composition of her shots, Ms Tormanen is merely an amateur photographer.

She works at a chef in a hotel close to the forests and captures the stunning scenery in her spare time.

'I work at a hotel and live the whole winter season at the top of fell, so I could easily take photos when the weather looks good.,' the 31-year-old said.

Ms Tormanen looks out across the frozen landscape: 'I like to take photos which I think have feeling, rather than being technically brilliant,' she said

Life in a cold climate: A closer look at the trees shows how they are coated in a thick layer of snow

Weird: But coated in the thick layer of snow they look almost like glistening, shuffling figures

'I keep all my photos as natural as possible, I only use natural light, and don't use a flash at all.

'I like to take photos which I think have feeling, rather than being technically brilliant.

'I think feeling what comes from picture is more important and it touches people's hearts

'Sometimes shots just come in seconds, if I'm lucky and I'm in the right place at the right time.

'I think trees are so beautiful, and important, like all living beings. There is so much magic in nature if you are ready to hear or see it.

'I think it's nice to show people this silent beauty, what is there, and to remind people how amazing this planet is, how much there is beauty in life itself.'

VIDEO Watch the northern lights in Finland. For more click here. 

• 23-year-old suffered massive internal injuries, brain damage and heart attack
• Mother, 46, spoke of some of her daughter's last words on her death bed

By Larisa Brown

PUBLISHED: 06:30 EST, 13 January 2013 | UPDATED: 15:11 EST, 13 January 2013

The mother of the young Indian woman who was fatally gang raped on a bus in New Delhi has called for the men who murdered her daughter to be hanged.

Speaking of the gang who beat her 23-year-old daughter so badly she died almost two weeks later in hospital, she said: 'My soul will never know any rest if the men who tormented my daughter are not hanged.'

The 46-year-old also spoke of how her daughter, a physiotherapy student, whispered to her on her death bed: 'Mama, I want them to be burnt alive.'

The Ravidas camp, pictured, is the notoriously lawless slum where four of the six accused by police in the Delhi gang rape case, are said to be from. The victim's mother has said she wants the men who killed her daughter to be hanged

On December 16 last year the woman was attacked by a group of men using a tyre iron as a weapon as she travelled on a bus home with a male companion following a trip to the cinema.

She suffered massive internal injuries, brain damage and a heart attack, dying in a hospital in Singapore 13 days after the attack.

Her brutal murder has sparked furor throughout India, with mass demonstrations for women's rights and calls for tougher rape laws.

The woman's mother, speaking to The Sunday Telegraph at her ancestral home in Medawara Kalan, in the northern state of Utter Pradesh, paid tribute to her daughter, saying: 'She was our life.

'I want only one thing. I want to see those animals hang.'

The female victim and her male companion boarded what appeared to be an ordinary private mini-bus after watching the film Life of Pi together.

Her male friend said a gang of six men aboard the bus - fitted with curtains and tinted windows - had planned to trap them.

Accusations: A Delhi police van, believed to be carrying the accused in the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman, enters a district court in New Delhi

Claims: Policemen report for duty at the court. A lawyer for three of the men accused of the brutal rape and killing of a 23-year-old woman claims his clients have been tortured into admitting the crime

Once on the bus, he was attacked and the 23-year-old was gang-raped by a group of allegedly drunk men, including the driver, who also violated her with an iron bar causing immense internal damage that lead to her death, he said.

The man, believed to be the only witness in the case, said he did his best to fight off the offenders.

The attackers eventually discarded the two of them by a roadside. 

Ten days after the incident the woman was flown from a hospital in India to an intensive care ward in Singapore, where it was hoped specialists might be able to save her.

By the time her parents were informed of the nature of the injuries and flown to be by her bedside in Singapore, she was barely able to speak, with much of her last communication being only in sign language.

Her mother added: 'When one of few things she said to me was: "Mama, I want them to be burnt alive".

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, handed over a cheque to the woman's family for 26,000 as compensation for their daughter's death.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav interacts with the media at the village of the Delhi gangrape victim

He also announced plans to build a hospital in the village, currently some 120 miles away from proper medical facilities.

But the woman's mother said she was not interested in compensation, only the death of the vile perpetrators.

Last week five men appeared in court charged with kidnap, gang-rape and murder of the woman.

A sixth defendant, believed to be 17, faces charges in a juvenile court.

Several of the accused came from the same notorious district of Delhi, a so-called 'slum cluster' called Ravidas Camp, which has a lawless reputation.

A lawyer for three of the accused has claimed his clients have been tortured and coerced into admitting the crime.

Manohar Lal Sharma told the BBC that one of the men had been tortured for 10 days.

Mr Sharma said he plans to represent bus driver Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh as well as a third man Akshay Thakur and they planned to plead not guilty.

Today marks the end of the formal Hindu morning period for the student, after 13 days of various prayers and rituals designed to let the soul pass peacefully to the next level of existence.