United Nations Declaration (Articles 1 - 30):

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Incoming UN chief names three women to top posts

Incoming UN chief names three women to top posts
Nigerian Minister of the Environment Amina Mohammed, seen in 2015, will be the UN's number two official (AFP Photo/Mireya ACIERTO)

Sustainable Development
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)


The Declaration of Human Freedom

Archangel Michael (Via Steve Beckow), Feb. 19, 2011

Every being is a divine and eternal soul living in a temporal body. Every being was alive before birth and will live after death.

Every soul enters into physical life for the purpose of experience and education, that it may, in the course of many lifetimes, learn its true identity as a fragment of the Divine.

Life itself is a constant process of spiritual evolution and unfoldment, based on free choice, that continues until such time as we realize our true nature and return to the Divine from which we came.

No soul enters life to serve another, except by choice, but to serve its own purpose and that of the Divine from which it came.

All life is governed by natural and universal laws which precede and outweigh the laws of humanity. These laws, such as the law of karma, the law of attraction, and the law of free will, are decreed by God to order existence and assist each person to achieve life’s purpose.

No government can or should survive that derives its existence from the enforced submission of its people or that denies its people their basic rights and freedoms.

Life is a movement from one existence to another, in varied venues throughout the universe and in other universes and dimensions of existence. We are not alone in the universe but share it with other civilizations, most of them peace-loving, many of whom are more advanced than we are, some of whom can be seen with our eyes and some of whom cannot.

The evidence of our five senses is not the final arbiter of existence. Humans are spiritual as well as physical entities and the spiritual side of life transcends the physical. God is a Spirit and the final touchstone of God’s Truth is not physical but spiritual. The Truth is to be found within.

God is one and, because of this, souls are one. They form a unity. They are meant to live in peace and harmony together in a “common unity” or community. The use of force to settle affairs runs contrary to natural law. Every person should have the right to conduct his or her own affairs without force, as long as his or her choices do not harm another.

No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give.

Every person shall retain the ability to think, speak, and act as they choose, as long as they not harm another. Every person has the right to choose, study and practice the education and career of their choice without interference, provided they not harm another.

No one has the right to kill another. No one has the right to steal from another. No one has the right to force himself or herself upon another in any way.

Any government that harms its citizens, deprives them of their property or rights without their consent, or makes offensive war upon its neighbors, no matter how it misrepresents the situation, has lost its legitimacy. No government may govern without the consent of its people. All governments are tasked with seeing to the wellbeing of their citizens. Any government which forces its citizens to see to its own wellbeing without attending to theirs has lost its legitimacy.

Men and women are meant to live fulfilling lives, free of want, wherever they wish and under the conditions they desire, providing their choices do not harm another and are humanly attainable.

Children are meant to live lives under the beneficent protection of all, free of exploitation, with unhindered access to the necessities of life, education, and health care.

All forms of exploitation, oppression, and persecution run counter to universal and natural law. All disagreements are meant to be resolved amicably.

Any human law that runs counter to natural and universal law is invalid and should not survive. The enactment or enforcement of human law that runs counter to natural and universal law brings consequences that cannot be escaped, in this life or another. While one may escape temporal justice, one does not escape divine justice.

All outcomes are to the greater glory of God and to God do we look for the fulfillment of our needs and for love, peace, and wisdom. So let it be. Aum/Amen.


Pope Francis arrives for historic first US visit

Pope Francis arrives for historic first US visit
Pope Francis laughs alongside US President Barack Obama upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, on September 22, 2015, on the start of a 3-day trip to Washington (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)


Today's doodle in the U.S. celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech on its 50th anniversary (28 Aug 2013)

'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'

'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'
The White House released this image, of the building colored like the rainbow flag, on Facebook following the supreme court’s ruling. Photograph: Facebook

Same-sex marriage around the world

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Merkel says Turkey media crackdown 'highly alarming'

Merkel says Turkey media crackdown 'highly alarming'
Reporters Without Borders labels Erdogan as 'enemy of press freedom'

Search This Blog

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Fire at Idaho nuclear lab mostly contained

Reuters, by Laura Zuckerman, SALMON, Idaho, Sat Aug 27, 2011

(Reuters) - Firefighters on Saturday gained control of a fierce brush fire that has raged for three days on the sprawling grounds of the government's leading nuclear research lab in the high desert of eastern Idaho.

By midday, fire crews at the Idaho National Laboratory had carved containment lines around 90 percent of the blaze, which has scorched about 50,000 acres of parched sagebrush and grasslands within the 890-square-mile complex.

"Right now, it's looking pretty good," lab spokeswoman Carisa Schultz said about the likelihood of the fire being extinguished by day's end.

The blaze, ignited on Thursday by a lightning strike, had prompted the evacuation of nearly 100 workers that evening from a facility used for processing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. That installation lies about 35 miles west of Idaho Falls, a city of roughly 57,000 people.

But personnel were allowed to return and lab operations as a whole resumed as normal the next day, lab officials said.

A 19-mile stretch of a state highway running through lab-owned lands west of the rural community of Mud Lake was reopened on Friday night.

Lab officials said one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion but no other injuries were reported.

No radiologically contaminated areas were breached by flames, and no airborne contamination has been detected during the fire by routine monitoring from either the state of Idaho or the U.S. Energy Department.

The only property damage noted was to some power poles on the complex, but electricity supplies to the facilities were not disrupted, lab emergency director Steve Dunn said.

"Risks to radiological facilities and important buildings at INL are manageable because of natural and constructed firebreaks, the predominant use of noncombustible construction materials and the presence of reliable water supplies and automatic fire suppression systems at the site," the lab said in a statement.

A separate, much smaller fire erupted on the northwest edge of the site earlier in the week, touched off by sparks from the bare rim of a blown tire dragging on pavement, but that blaze was confined to 100 acres before it was snuffed out.

Some 6,000 employees and contractors work at the Idaho National Laboratory, which houses three working reactors and is considered the Energy Department's top facility for nuclear research and development.

The blaze ranked as the largest of several that have charred tens of thousands of acres across Idaho and the Northern Rockies in recent days, including parts of Montana, Yellowstone National Park and northwestern Wyoming.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Tim Gaynor)


Related Article:

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.) New !

Saturday, August 27, 2011

CIA censors 9/11 book

RT.com, 26 August, 2011

CIA wants to censor a book about 9/11

One former FBI agent is finding out firsthand that freedom of speech isn’t something guaranteed to every American. Colleagues at the CIA are keeping him from printing some of his own personal accounts in an upcoming book about the 9/11 attacks.

In his upcoming book “The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against Al Qaeda,” Ali H. Soufan wants to write that the Central Intelligence Agency could have had a chance at keeping the September 11 terror attacks from happening. Soufan says that the CIA knew about two of the hijackers involved in the al-Qaeda plot, and while that information might have been of great interest to the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency withheld the crucial information.

Specifically, Soufan says that the CIA had detailed information on 9/11 hijacker Abu Zubaydah as early as January 2000 but neglected to act on it.

Also in his memoirs, Soufan writes detailed accounts of CIA interrogations tactics that he saw brutally executed firsthand by agents, which he were unnecessary and counterproductive. The agency is asking the author to remove the pronouns “I” and “me” from that chapter as if to discredit his personal accounts from specific incidents.

Unfortunately, Soufan’s stories might never make it to print if the CIA has their say. The former agent says that he is being told to take out key parts from his tales, and he believes it isn’t because of a national security scare, but because the CIA doesn’t want to be reflected poorly to the public.

As if that was even possible!

In a report released yesterday by The New York Times, Soufan’s attorneys that they received word that the CIA could end up “embarrassed” by the author’s allegations. Soufan responded to the Times that it is “ridiculous” that they are redacting so much material from his book, but that he will rally to have the information published in further editions.

Much of the material found in Soufan’s book has been available online and in print in the decade since 9/11, but the CIA says that doesn’t mean he can go ahead and talk about it. "Just because something is in the public domain doesn't mean it's been officially released or declassified by the U.S. government,” CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said in a statement.

Upon originally sending a proof of the 600-page manuscript to the Bureau, Soufan was told to prove that dozens of names listed in the document were not classified. He opted simply to substitute aliases for many of the names, but meanwhile the CIA sent the FBI a copy. Their response? Nearly 200 pages of suggested cuts.

With a deadline approaching, Soufan’s “The Black Banners” will hit the printing press this week, with the first edition using all of the cuts demanded by the FBI.



China supports Palestinians' UN bid: envoy

English.news.cn   2011-08-27 

RAMALLAH, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's special envoy to the Middle East, Wu Sike, said here Friday that his country fully supports the Palestinians' right to establish an independent state in a balanced manner and through peace talks.

"China supports the Palestinian people and their cause. We also support the Palestinians to get the United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state on the lands occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as capital," he told Xinhua in Ramallah.

The envoy said peace talks with Israel are the best way to reach a settlement, adding that gaining UN recognition is not an alternative to peace negotiations.

China supports a two-state solution -- Israel and an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security, he said, noting that he believes the current developments in the Middle East have a positive impact on the Palestinian cause.

"The Middle East witnesses many changes. People have many chances to participate in political life. The Palestinian cause is a main issue that attracts the attention of the Arab people," he said.

"The recent meeting of the Arab League Peace Initiative Follow- Up Committee in Qatar assures the Arabs' support to the Palestinians' bid for full UN membership," he said. "This will help the Palestinians gain more international support."

The Palestinians say they will approach the UN in September to get full membership of the world body as peace talks with Israel have long been deadlocked, a move disapproved by Israel and the United States.

Wu expressed his appreciation of the reconciliation deal signed between Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and Hamas movements in Cairo in May.

"This move will help the Palestinians to have more countries on their side," he said.

Wu said his Middle East tour was taking place at an important moment as the region is witnessing crucial changes, stressing that China respects the choices of the peoples.

"The Arab peoples are able to make their own decisions toward development," said the envoy.

He also said the ties between China and the Arab countries are based on strong foundations, regardless of the changes taking place in the region.

Wu met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials Tuesday, the first day of his ongoing Middle East tour.

This was Wu's second visit to Palestinian territories this year, after which he will travel on to Israel, Egypt and France.


Related Article:


Friday, August 26, 2011

Loyal Dog won't leave fallen Navy Seal





During funeral of Navy Seal hero Jon Tumilson, his loyal dog Hawkeye lays down with a sigh near his casket.

Jon Tumilson, a Navy SEAL, was one of 30 Americans killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 6 when a rocket-propelled grenade took out a U.S. Chinook helicopter. He was mourned at a service in Rockford, Iowa, attended by 1,500 family members, friends--and Hawkeye, Tumilson's dog.

The Labrador retriever was such an important part of Tumilson's life that the friends and family of the San Diego resident called the dog his "son."

When Tumilson's friend Scott Nichols walked to the front of the room to speak, Hawkeye followed, Today.com reports. "As Nichols prepared to memorialize his friend, Hawkeye dutifully laid down near the casket."






Sunday, August 21, 2011

The X-Conference: Untold History of the Disclosure Project - Steven Greer MD LIVE







The Untold History of the Disclosure Project - The X-Conference is pleased to welcome Physician and Exopolitical Activist - Dr. Steven Greer MD.

The X-Conference is produced by X-PPAC (Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee) and The Paradigm Research Group, who's mission is to educate Congress, the Press and the Public about the Government imposed "Truth Embargo" and to bring about formal acknowledgment by the U. S. Government of an Extraterrestrial presence engaging the Human Race - Full Disclosure. UFOTV is pleased to present all of the presentations that were given by all the invited speakers at each of the X-Conference events over the years.

We apologize for the commercials during this online presentation. As stated on our main channel page, the advertising revenue from this program helps to cover the heavy production costs of putting on the on-going X-Conference events.


Saturday, August 20, 2011

Moody's managers pressured analysts: ex-staffer

Reuters, by Sarah N. Lynch, WASHINGTON | Fri Aug 19, 2011

(Reuters) - An ex-Moody's Corp derivatives analyst said the credit-rating agency intimidated and pressured analysts to issue glowing ratings of toxic complex, structured mortgage securities.

In a 78-page letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, William Harrington outlined how the committees that make the ratings decisions are not independent and how managers often intimidated analysts.

"The management of Moody's, the management of Moody's Corporation and the board of Moody's Corporation are squarely responsible for the poor quality of previous Moody's opinions that ushered in the financial crisis," he wrote.

"The track record of management influence in committees speaks for itself -- it produced hollowed-out (collateralized debt obligation) opinions that were at great odds with the private opinions of committees and which were not durable for even a short period after publication," he added.

Harrington's August 8 letter, which was sent in response to a 517-page proposal by the SEC on credit-rating regulations, raises similar issues that are already at the heart of a Justice Department probe into McGraw-Hill's Standard & Poor's.

"We cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance Moody's places on the quality of our ratings and the integrity of our ratings process," said Moody's Corp spokesman Michael Adler. "For that very reason, we have robust protections in place to separate the commercial and analytical aspects of our business, and our ratings are assigned by a committee -- not by any individual analyst."

The Justice Department has been looking into what S&P analysts wanted to do with ratings during the financial crisis, and what they were told to do, according to one source familiar with the matter.

A second source has said the department also has been investigating Moody's in connection with structured product ratings during the crisis, although the exact focus on that probe is unclear.

Earlier this year, a U.S. Senate panel led by Michigan Democrat Carl Levin found that Moody's and S&P helped trigger the financial crisis after the two rating agencies gave overly positive ratings to toxic mortgage-related products and then later downgraded those ratings en masse.

Last year's Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul law tightens regulations for raters, including improving the transparency of the methodology used and curbing potential conflicts of interest. The SEC in May issued a proposal seeking comments on many of the Dodd-Frank provisions on rating agencies.

Harrington, who said he worked as an analyst in the derivatives group from 1999 until July 2010, said he thinks that if the SEC's proposed rules had been in place in 2002, they would still not have gotten to the heart of the problems at Moody's.

"Many of the proposed rules still give more license to the management of Moody's to step up its long-standing intimidation and harassment of analysts, to the detriment of opinion formation," he said.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky)

Related Articles:




Friday, August 19, 2011

Super rich still making money in crisis

Reuters, by Christopher Vellacott, LONDON | Fri Aug 19, 2011

A man sits with his computer at a furniture and chinaware booth during
 the Summer Fair in Moscow July 4, 2010. The fair, a spin-off of the
 Millionaire Fair, showcases luxury goods and services.
(Credit: Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)

(Reuters) - Financial advisers to the world's richest people report some of their top clients have continued to make money throughout recent market turmoil by harnessing sophisticated investments out of reach to mainstream punters.

With equity markets plunging, most investors have suffered losses to their pension funds and portfolios, but those able to meet the multi-million dollar investment thresholds of private equity and some hedge funds are coming out ahead.

"You've got so many investment opportunities that are open only to very rich people," said one London-based financial adviser specialising in ultra rich investors.

"The super rich are doing very well. They're getting good advice, they're getting access to stuff that other people don't have access to," he said.

Certain investment vehicles, such as hedge funds, can thrive at times of market stress because they are able to use risk management tools such as derivatives and make short-selling sales that make money when an asset price falls.

Some big name hedge funds such as Brevan Howard, Man Group's AHL and Winton have continued to make gains for their investors during recent market volatility.

However, because some of the trades made by the funds can involve higher risks, and in the case of short selling theoretically infinite potential losses, regulators often place them off limits to small investors.

"There seems to be a moral argument against shorting, but from a purely practical point of view it leaves (hedge funds) in a better position to manage volatility," said portfolio strategist Johannes Jooste of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, part of Bank of America Corp.

"It still remains the domain of the kind of client that can write a million dollar ticket or more ... From a regulatory point of view, the industry is not allowed to put the intermediate or the novice client into a hedge fund."

The fact that the super rich can write cheques for millions of dollars also means they have exclusive access to the few real estate assets where prices are still rising, such as the central London residential property market.

While property prices around the world drop or stagnate, according to upmarket property consultant Savills, house prices in the smartest areas of central London are set to be up 8 percent this year.

"London is driven by the international buyer. They are after the trophy assets. Once you get out of the top end, it's a little more tricky, because people are dependent on mortgages and borrowing," said Philip Selway, head of the global property wealth team at broker Knight Frank.

Selway added that a couple buying a London property earlier this year were the first British clients he had seen for three years.

London commercial property is also proving a popular investment with the ultra wealthy. British private bank Coutts, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, plans to launch a commercial property fund in October open only to clients worth 10 million pounds or more.

"A lot of clients like the idea of being invested in high quality West End assets," said Julian Lamden, a client partner in Coutts's private office division, which caters to the bank's richest clients.

Earlier this year Citigroup raised 330 million pounds via its private bank for a commercial property fund managed by Threadneedle, mainly from tycoons and rich families in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

As U.K. Releases UFO Files, Former UFO Project Chief Apologizes For 'Spin And Dirty Tricks'

Huffington Post, Lee Speigel, Aug 17, 2011

This image from 2004 was taken of the town hall in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
 When the image was developed, it revealed what appears to be a flying 
saucer in the sky (right side of image). A senior government image analyst
 ruled there was insufficient information to determine what the object was.

As the British National Archives continues to release UFO-related documents, the former Ministry of Defense (MoD) UFO Project chief is openly admitting to being part of what he claims was a U.K. policy of ridiculing UFO reports and the people who reported them.

The U.K. made public 34 previously-classified files, totaling about 9,000 pages of documents covering the years 1985 to 2007. For three of those years, 1991 to 1994, Nick Pope was in charge of the official MoD office.

"What's abundantly clear from these files is that, while in public we were desperately pushing the line that this was of no defense interest," Pope told The Huffington Post. "We couldn't say 'There's something in our air space; pilots see them; they're tracked on radar; sometimes we scramble jets to chase these things, but we can't catch them.' This would be an admission that we'd lost control of our own air space, and such a position would be untenable."


WATCH:





"Every time we got a report from a pilot, we were checking the radar tapes. So it was an interesting sleight of hand. We were telling the public we're not interested, this is all nonsense, but in reality, we were desperately chasing our tails and following this up in great detail," he added.

One file reveals how officials were afraid to be embarrassed if the public learned that UFO research was hindered by a lack of funds and higher priorities.

Another case, from 2007, took place in the vicinity of the Channel Islands and involved a small commercial aircraft.

"The pilot and several of his passengers saw a UFO, which they said was essentially a mile long," Pope recounted. "And several other pilots saw it, but said, 'We're not going to report this.' And here's the great little get-out-of-jail-free-card for the MoD: Just by a matter of maybe a few hundred meters, it turned out that this was in French air space, so MoD was given this little get out to say, 'Well, it happened in French air space, so it's not an issue for us.' Clearly, that was an absolutely outrageous abrogation of responsibility."

A file from 1993 (while Pope was chief of the UFO Project) describes how European Union funds had been wasted on a report that included a theory that aliens had established a base in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

It turns out that Pope may have been directly involved with this case.

"I'm a little bit apologetic about this because obviously, when I was in MoD, I had to play this game myself. To really achieve our policy of downplaying the UFO phenomenon, we would use a combination of 'spin and dirty tricks.'

"We used terms like UFO buffs and UFO spotters -- terms that mean these people are nut jobs. In other words, we were implying that this is just a very somewhat quaint hobby that people have as opposed to a serious research interest."

But Pope said the ridicule policy went much further than that.

"Another trick would be deliberately using phrases like 'little green men.' We were trying to do two things: either to kill any media story on the subject, or if a media story ran, insure that it ran in such a way that it would make the subject seem ridiculous and that it would make people who were interested in this seem ridiculous."


WATCH:



Pope further admits that he may have been the one who drafted actual MoD statements that contributed to the ridicule policy.

"If it was my words, then I apologize, I'm very sorry for that. I believe in open government and freedom of information. I believe that the UFO phenomenon does raise important defense, national security and air safety issues, and if I helped kill any initiative on that, I'm deeply sorry."

Some U.K. cases were apparently easier than others in trying to make them seem non-credible. Like the file that describes UFOs reported at the June 2003 Glastonbury Music Festival.

"It was very easy to find an incident where something is seen at an event like a rock concert," Pope noted. "You don't even need to say a thing without the public or media perception being that drugs and alcohol might have played a part. It was all part of the way in which we spun the subject, to try and discredit it."

Despite the thousands of pages of documents released -- with one final batch of files yet to come, sometime early next year -- Pope concedes there's still no written evidence confirming alien visits to Earth.

"Not just yet -- there's no spaceship-in-a-hangar smoking gun. However, there are plenty of sightings that I think show that we're dealing with more than just aircraft lights and weather balloons."

The latest 34 U.K. UFO files can be downloaded free of charge for the next month at the National Archives website.


Related Article:



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Standard & Poor's mortgage ratings investigated by US

Justice department investigation started before credit rating agency downgraded US this month

guardian.co.uk, Julia Kollewe,  Thursday 18 August 2011

S&P was among the ratings agencies whose top ratings for bundles of
troubled mortgage loans sparked the global financial crisis.
Photograph: Reuters

The US justice department is investigating Standard & Poor's rating of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.

The New York Times reported the investigation began before S&P, the nation's largest credit ratings agency, cut the US's highly prized AAA credit rating earlier this month.

The justice department has been asking about instances in which the agency's analysts wanted to award lower ratings on mortgage bonds but may have been overruled by other S&P business managers.

It is unclear whether the investigation also involves the other two credit ratings agencies, Moody's and Fitch.

During the boom years, the ratings agencies made bumper profits as they awarded top ratings to bundles of troubled mortgage loans, which made them appear less risky. The agencies have been heavily criticised for failing to anticipate problems with the mortgages, which triggered the global financial crisis.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Rick Perry threatens Ben Bernanke

RT.com, 16 August, 2011, 20:15

Rick Perry (Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFP)

Only two days officially into his run for president, Texas Governor Rick Perry is already picking out opponents to tackle on the way to the White House. Enemy number one: The Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke.

Perry had some harsh words for Bernanke while speaking in Iowa on Monday. In a speech given in Cedar Rapids yesterday, Perry suggested that perhaps a little down-home Texas justice is what’s necessary to whip Bernanke and the Fed into shape.

“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what you all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas,” Perry said.“Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous – or treasonous in my opinion.”

That practice of printing more money is what the Fed calls quantitative easing, and experts suggest that they will offer up a third round of paper-printing this year in order to lower borrowing costs. Perry says that with two attempts at quantitative easing thus far unable to save an economy in dire straits since the recession subsided in 2009, one more go will only make matters worse.

“We’ve already tried this,” Perry said in Cedar Rapids. “All it’s going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket and we cannot afford that. We have to learn the lessons of the past three years that they’ve been devastating. The President of the United States has conducted an experiment on the American economy for almost the last three years, and it has gone tragically wrong and we need to send him a clear message in November of 2012 that new leadership is coming.”

From there, Perry was quick to offer more quips against President Barack Obama, calling into question the commander in chief’s own affinity for America.

Upon launching into a soliloquy about his passion for his country, going as far as to call himself a candidate “that’s in love with America,” Perry was prompted with whether or not he thought President Obama was also a patriot that loved the USA.

“You need to ask him,” responded the Texas governor.

It was only this past Saturday that Perry formally announced that he would be running for the GOP nomination for the presidency in 2012. That same day, voters in the Ames Straw Poll cast enough votes for Michele Bachmann to take the way, followed by Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty.

 Related Articles:

Perry says he doesn't believe in global warming


"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..)Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.) New !











Monday, August 15, 2011

Hello World: Israel is Out-Classing You in Civil Disobedience

Tech Crunch, ROI CARTHY, 14 Aug 2011

In the four weeks since the social protests have begun in Israel, hundreds of have been killed, dozens of women have reportedly been raped, a number of children tortured, and countless districts have been looted. The authorities have imposed a complete lock-down on all cellular networks. All access to Facebook and Twitter has been blocked. Little information is going in, or out.

Except the absolute, complete opposite.

The social protests in Israel began 4 weeks ago with a national outcry over the rising price of basics such as cottage cheese. They then snowballed into a full-blown national movement by way of a simple act by a then unknown young woman. The act? Striking a tent in Tel-Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard in portest of high apartment rental costs.

A single tent became the heart and soul of the movement whose main gripe is that the middle-class is bearing the brunt of an imbalanced budgetary spend. “The People Demand Social Justice” is the key chant.

The protests are local, scattered all across Israel, drawing hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Big name musicians volunteer to headline these protests. Barricades and PA systems, all donated. People talk about the movement at every cafe, over every lunch, at every business meeting, at every family dinner.

There have been a few skirmishes with the law. Small stuff though… For example, small groups of protesters were arrested by the police for blocking roads and were released without charges within a day.

Small potatoes aside, it’s been four weeks and zero acts of the barbaric, non-discriminatory violence we’ve seen across the middle east, and even in the UK. No shots fired. No stores looted. No form of communication has been shut down. In fact, not only have the Israeli police and army not taken any role other than safeguarding the protests themselves, they have even been applauded, literally, by hundreds of thousands for their efforts.

While in neighboring countries regimes are slaughtering the opposition, in Israel we have complete free speech to criticize our politicians and leaders. As I’m typing this, on the TV is Israel’s version of SNL doing a parody skit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mishandling of the situation (they have him wearing a red t-shirt with Che Guevara on it). YouTube mashups featuring the PM’s soundbites? Posted below for your scrolling convenience. Professional-level videos advertising the protests? Also, posted below.

Sorry Shervin, no need for your curation and retweeting on this one, the Israeli people are doing A-OK. Really, look:

The backbone of the movement has unquestionably been Facebook, via pages, and events, and of course Twitter, via the #j14 hashtag. A revolution needs a site, right? Right.

At this point there’s no guessing which people will next rise-up and demand political and social change. The world is not what it used to be before Tahrir. I wonder though how many of these future civil disobedience movements will be modeled upon Israel, where technology and love trumped violence.







In Jerusalem, scholars trace Bible's evolution

"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


Tiny Israel  among  their  neighbour countries in transition

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Tough for gay members to return to full military

Associated Press, by JULIE WATSON,  Aug 13, 2011

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Former Air Force officer Michael Almy's five-year battle to get back into the military after being discharged for being gay is still far from over despite the end of the policy that halted the decorated war veteran's 13-year career and left him curled up on his bathroom floor, crying.

The repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" coincides with the most competitive time in recent history to get into the military because of the sluggish economy, and the Defense Department says it has no plans to give priority to those discharged for being gay, even if they still meet the military's age limits, fitness standards and cutoffs for time out of service.

Many, like Almy, a 41-year-old former Air Force major, see the only way back to active-duty as being through the courts.

He and two other discharged officers - one from the Air Force officer and one from the Navy - are suing the Justice Department to demand they be reinstated, and they hope a federal appeals court will help their efforts by upholding a lower court ruling last year that declared the law unconstitutional.

Activists believe if the ruling stands it could open the legal doors for a class-action suit or settlement for many of the nearly 14,000 military members discharged under the nearly 18-year-old policy that prohibited the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but required discharge of those who acknowledged being gay or were discovered to be engaging in homosexual activity.

"The sad truth is repeal really does nothing for people thrown out of the military," Almy said. "There is no restitution, no reparations, no special personnel process to help those to get back in the military who were thrown out."

Almy said he never admitted to the military he was gay, but was discharged under the policy in 2006 after a service member snooped through his emails on a government-issued computer in Iraq when Almy's deployment there ended.

Almy testified for the Log Cabin Republicans at a trial last year. U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips temporarily halted the policy after the trial, declaring the law violated the constitutional free speech and due process rights of gay military members.

Shortly before being honorably discharged, Almy was recognized as one of the top officers in the Air Force for his leadership skills in running an exemplary unit that helped maintain control over the vast majority of Iraq's air space during the war.

Even after his discharge, his wing commander formally recommended to the Air Force promotion board that he be promoted to lieutenant colonel, ahead of his peers, because of his outstanding performance, according to his testimony under oath.

Almy estimates his discharge cost him $1.5 million in retirement benefits, the amount he says he would have received if he had been allowed to complete his 20 years in the service.

Dan Woods, an attorney for the Log Cabin Republicans, said if the lower court ruling is upheld by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals it could bolster the cases of thousands of former service members, like Almy, who "are still suffering the collateral consequences of being discharged under this unconstitutional law."

"A lot of people lost opportunities for promotion, a lot people might want to re-apply but can't because now they're too old," Woods said. "Those people ought to have the right to use our case to try to get their discharged status changed, or to try to get reinstated, or try to get back pay."

Woods said the Obama administration wants his case dismissed because it does not want "to deal with some 14,000 people making claims for back pay and reinstatement. That's really what it's about."

Justice Department officials declined to comment. DOJ attorneys have argued in their court filings that the lower court made its decision before the repeal process began and that repeal of a statute invalidates such constitutional challenges.

The 9th Circuit will hear arguments from both sides Sept. 1 at a hearing in Pasadena, Calif.

The law is scheduled to be abolished Sept. 20. But if the policy's fallout is still having an impact on people's lives then the court could still rule on the constitutionality of the case, said Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Irvine's law school dean.

For Almy, the victory of repealing the policy has been bittersweet as he celebrates for today's gay service members while struggling to get back the life he feels was stolen from him. "To get back on active duty is really next to impossible without the lawsuit," he said.

The Defense Department has said that the negative re-entry codes on the discharge paperwork of those kicked out under the policy will be waived, and that applicants with honorable discharges will be treated like other prior service applicants and accepted based on need. But that need is dwindling.

Traditionally, the military services bring in prior-service recruits for certain specialties, but even those positions are far fewer today, said Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez. The percentage of prior-service members among the active-duty recruits has dropped from 5 percent to 3 percent.

All military branches are at full capacity as people flock to the military for jobs or choose to stay in longer. With budget tightening and the expectation the Afghanistan war is winding down, the branches plan to trim their numbers.

The Army is looking to cut 22,000 starting in October after getting a temporary surge in troops in 2009, while the Marine Corps plans to slim down from 202,000 down to 186,000 in the next few years.

The Navy will cut 3,000 officers in the next few months because the promotion lines are so clogged "there is no place for anybody to go," Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, told The Associated Press. The Air Force at the same time is going to start letting go several hundred of its 9,000 officers.

Jenny L. Kopfstein said she applied in March to be a Navy attorney but was turned down.

The former decorated Navy officer from San Diego, who has testified three times about her 2002 discharge, said she doesn't know if she was rejected because "don't ask, don't tell" is still in place or because there were no positions available for her.

She's going to try again in the fall but time is running short for the 36-year-old to meet the military's age limits. If she doesn't get in, Kopfstein said she might become a civilian lawyer who works with the military or another kind of government attorney.

Almy said he is not ready to let go of his dream.

"This is what I had dedicated all my life to doing," said Almy, who followed in the footsteps of his father and uncles, all former Air Force officers. "That's where my heart is. That's what my passion is - to be an officer, a leader in the Air Force. I miss the missions, the camaraderie, the esprit de corps."

"I never had a desire to do anything else when I was growing up, and I still don't to this day," he said.

Gay Pride 2011 - "Dutch Military Boat"
(Photo: RNW)

Gay Pride 2011 - "The Police Boat"
(Photo: Willem Sluyterman van Loo /NOS)


About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man 
– Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”


"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  New !