Seven Chilling Facts About Retirement in America That Should Make Obama Tremble Before Cutting Social Security and Medicare

Tuesday, 09 April 2013 12:46 By Lynn Parramore, AlterNet | Report

We are headed for a catastrophic retirement train wreck. A Wall Street-driven financial crisis has stripped millions of people of things like jobs, pensions and home equity that were supposed to deliver a dignified retirement after a lifetime of hard work. The crisis has also provided certain interests the opportunity to make false claims about the unaffordability of vital social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare that help the 99% make it. These opportunistic Raiders of Your Lost Retirement do not give a hoot if you starve in your golden years this is about money to them. American financiers hate Social Security, for example, because they want to push us toward private retirement accounts on which they can charge fees. A large swath of the wealthy does not like Social Security and Medicare because they do not like to pay taxes.

You might think Obama would be on the side of the citizens on this one. But it seems that the President will officially propose this week to cut Social Security and Medicare as part of his annual budget, despite the fact that this move would be economically irresponsible, socially disruptive and morally repugnant. Here are seven things that should make Obama tremble before he dares to announce such a betrayal of the American people.

1. Retiring on thin air: In a recent report by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), we find that a whopping 57 percent of American workers have managed to put away less than $25,000 for retirement less than the one years annual income for the median American adult. In 2008, that number was 49 percent, and the problem is getting worse every year. Half of American workers are either not too confident or not at all confident that they will be able to make ends meet in their retirement. In her must-read New York Times op-ed, economist Theresa Ghilarducci doesnt mince words or numbers. She estimates that close to half of middle-class workers will be poor or near poor in retirement and reduced to living on a food budget of about $5 a day. That wont even buy a decent bag of cat food.

In the face of this bleak picture, the President appears to be poised to propose a cut to Social Security in the form of a chained CPI a way of calculating annual cost of living increases that does not keep up with the actual costs senior have to pay. Economists including Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, have discredited chained CPI. Baker warns that it can cost retiring 65-year-olds the sum of $650 per year, and that number can leap to twice that amount once seniors reach 85.

2. Pension perils: American workers like pensions better than higher incomes, more vacation time and bigger bonuses. And its no wonder: retirees with pensions have far more income security than their pension-less counterparts. In 2011, one out of three older adults enjoyed some form of pension, but thatnumber has been shrinking for decades. Since 1985, 84,350 pension plans have vanished. Corporate pensions have gone the way of the dodo bird and the precious few private pensions that remain are in jeopardy. Public pensions are the targets of cynical austerity hawks who use the excuse of state and municipal budget crises that have little to do with pensions (and much to do with Wall Street) to make war on workers retirements.

This puts an added strain on retirees, and we dont yet know how catastrophic its going to be because many affected by the pension killing-spree will not retire for many years. But we surely know this: pensions have been a vital part of retirement that have kept retirees afloat, and without them, more will sink into poverty.

While were on the subject, it may interest you to know that the President will receive a pension that will start at around 200k per year after his second term, and it will go up from there. Thats just the beginning other perks include travel, office expenses, and so on. And yet he is preparing to make it more difficult for those Americans without pensions to survive. Something wrong with this picture?

3. The 401(k) catastrophe: Its high time to face it: the 401(k) experiment, which started in the 80s, has been a complete disaster. 401(k)s dont even come close to providing the retirement security promised to workers. To expect Americans to morph into finance experts who can evaluate mutual funds and stockmarket choices may be one of the most absurd legacies of the last three decades. And, as Helaine Olen outlines in her book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, people trying to save for retirement have become a prime target of hustlers who push mutual funds with hidden fees and needless charges which pile up and rob the contributor of hard-earned money.

And lest we forget, Enron, like many other companies, put strong pressure on employees to invest in the companys stock. Result? Many employees lost most of their life savings when the company blocked workers from selling its stock held in 401(k) accounts, just as the stock price was taking a downward plunge.

401(k)s are volatile, complicated, expensive, and inadequate. Social Security, on the other hand, is simple, fiscallly sound, and prudently managed.

4. Political games dont wash: Social Security raiders tell us that the program needs to be fixed, with very little to back up their claims. There is nothing wrong with the program now, so they forecast and lets remember how good these same people were at forecasting the financial crisis some kind of future crisis.

Here are the facts: According to the trustees of the Social Security trust fund there might be a shortfall in revenues against predicted claims in 2033 ifeconomic growth is not good. You could reasonably argue that a tweak ought to be made a couple of decades down the road when we actually know how things stand, like making the rich pay Social Security taxes on the money they make over the current low ceiling of just over $100,000.

There is no justification for doing anything now, and the raiders know it. So they make things up. Economists Thomas Ferguson and Rob Johnson note this in their article, From New Deal To Raw Deal: The Real Economics Of Cutting Social Security. They observe that Peter Orszag, the former head of the Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget, who now works at Citigroup, has admitted that Social Security has nothing to do with any budget crisis:

The first yellow flag is Orszag’s frank acknowledgment that Social Security features barely at all in any putative budget short fall: Social Security is not the key fiscal problem facing the nation. Payments to its beneficiaries amount to 5 percent of the economy now; by 2050, they’re projected to rise to about 6 percent.

Orszag knows the truth, but because he is aligned with the interests of financiers, he comes up with a stunning justification for making cuts:

As Orszag frankly confesses, even though Social Security is not a major contributor to our long-term deficits, reforming it could help the federal government establish much-needed credibility on solving out-year fiscal problems.”

In other words, politicians have to cut Social Security not because it has any negative impact on the budget, but to prove to the markets that they can. Hows that for logic?

5. Americans oppose cuts: The American people have made it abundantly clear that they do not want Social Security and Medicare cut. And yet the President has made your retirement a bargaining chip in budget negotiations with Republicans, smuggling the cuts through the customs of specious arguments about the need to govern and so on. Lets call this what it is: immoral. The social insurance that provides hard-working Americans protection against financial and health calamities should not be a bargaining chip any more than civil rights should be a bargaining chip. The dignity of our elderly, not to mention the health of our children and vulnerable citizens who rely on these programs to live, are part of the fundamental structure of a decent society and are essential to our economic prosperity. How, for example, is a person at peak working age to remain fully productive when she has to care for elderly parents who cant make ends meet?

A more cynical view of whats happening is that Obama is paying off his wealthy donors. A political scientist I know warned me when Obama was elected the first time that he would do very little on financial reform because Wall Street had always been one of his major funders. That same political scientist warned me this time around that Obama would make cutting entitlements a priority in his second term for much the same reason: a coalition of big business interests supported his reelection, and this is what they want in return. If Obama goes through with these cuts, he will have spelled out for all those who supported him exactly who he represents.

6. Means-testing Medicare is discredited: Reports say that Obama will propose to cut $400 billion from Medicare over the next decade. One idea that may appear in his plan is means-testing, a notion that has long been the golden dream of those who hate Medicare and Social Security because it tends to diminish political support for the programs.

A few months back, when a lot of Democrats and liberals were touting means-testing, I decided to ask several prominent economists, including a Nobel Prize-winner, to explain to me what they make of it. Please turn your attention to: 6 Reasons Joseph Stiglitz and Other Top Economists Think Means-Testing Medicare and Social Security Is a Destructive Idea. Their conclusion: means-testing is nothing more than a back-door strategy for taking away benefits earned by hard-working people. As Stiglitz explained, it undermines progressive values by going against notions of fairness and shared citizenship while promoting the false idea that Social Security and Medicare are welfare, which they arent. As James Galbraith explained, these programs are not charity; they are social insurance.

We dont means-test public education, Stiglitz told me, because we believe that we want people to have the same opportunities and we lose out on that with means-testing. Shouldnt that go for dignified retirement and adequate medical care in old age? Stiglitz thought so.

Healthcare costs are a terrible problem, but not because your grandmother receives benefits. The problems stems from monopolistic conditions in the insurance industry, ridiculously high prices for drugs charged by pharmaceutical companies, and a fee-for-service system that encourages doctors to charge for expensive and unnecessary services. If politicians were really interested in addressing rising healthcare costs, they would deal with those issues.

7. Women at risk: Woman were instrumental in getting Obama elected, and yet he is proposing to throw them under the bus. As Manisha Thakor points out, women live longer than men and need more support in old age. Thakor notes that recently, ABC World News Tonight anchor Charlie Gibson reported that when it comes to healthcare, male retirees required $170,000, while female retireres had to come up with $240,000. And yet how are they going to find this money when they retire with two-thirds of the assets of men?

Saving is particularly difficult for women because they still do more housework and have added childcare and eldercare responsibilities compared. Plus, they also earn less than their male counterparts. Proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare will mean that more women will sink into the mire of poverty. Much has been said of the GOP war on women. How sad and cynical for a Democratic president to join them.

Lynn Parramore

Lynn Parramore is an AlterNet contributing editor.

(You can read the original story and many more important stories ignored by the mainstream press at Truthout-click the link below-

http://truth-out.org/news/item/15624-seven-chilling-facts-about-retirement-in-america-that-should-make-obama-tremble-before-cutting-social-security-and-medicare )

Farmers and Consumers vs. Monsanto: David Meets Goliath

Monday, 08 April 2013 11:39 By Tory Field and Beverly Bell, Other World | Report

“Down with Monsanto” reads a banner as thousands marched for food sovereignty in Haiti, March 22, 2013. (Photo: Tequila Minsky © 2013)Bordering an interstate highway in Arkansas, a giant billboard with a photo of a stoic-looking farmer watches over the speeding traffic. Hes staring into the distance against the backdrop of a glowing wheat field, with the caption Americas Farmers Grow America. Its an image to melt all our pastoral hearts.

Until we read the small print in the corner: Monsanto.

The maker of Agent Orange, Monsantos former motto used to be, Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible. Today its tag line is Committed to Sustainable Agriculture, Committed to Farmers. Its website claims the company helps farmers be successful [and] produce healthier foods while also reducing agriculture’s impact on our environment. It even boasts of the corporations dedication to human rights.

Behind the PR gloss is a very different picture. Via Campesina, the worlds largest confederation of farmers with member organizations in 70 countries, has called Monsanto one of the principal enemies of peasant sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty for all peoples. Via Campesina members also target Monsanto as a driving influence behind land grabs, forcing small farmers off their land and out of work. The agribusiness giants also contribute to climate change and other environmental disasters, outgrowths of industrial agriculture.

Together with Syngenta and Dupont, Monsanto controls more than half of the worlds seeds. The company holds more than 650 seed patents – most of them for cotton, corn and soy – and almost 30% of the share of all biotech research and development. Monsanto came to own such a vast supply by buying major seed companies to stifle competition, patenting genetic modifications to plant varieties, and suing small farmers. Monsanto is also one of the leading manufacturers of genetically modified organisms [GMOs].

Monsanto has filed more than 140 lawsuits against 400 farmers and 56 small businesses for alleged violations of contract or GMO patents. One such case is currently under consideration in the Supreme Court. Farmers have been sued after their field was contaminated by pollen or seed from someone elses genetically engineered crop [or] when genetically engineered seed from a previous years crop has sprouted, said the Center for Food Safety.[i] In total, the company has won more than $23 million from these suits. The multinational appears to investigate 500 farmers a year, in estimates based on Monsantos own documents and media reports.[ii]

In Colombia, Monsanto has received upwards of $25 million from the U.S. government for providing Roundup Ultra in the anti-drug fumigation efforts of Plan Colombia. Roundup Ultra is a highly concentrated version of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide, with additional ingredients to increase its lethality. Local communities and human rights organizations have charged that the herbicide has destroyed food crops, water sources, and protected areas in the Andes, and has led to increased incidents of birth defects and cancers.

On March 26, siding once again with corporations, President Obama signed into law a spending bill with a Monsanto Protection Rider. This requires the government to allow GMO crops to be planted before an environmental and health assessment is completed. This means that crops may be planted with the permission of the USDA even if it is not known whether they are harmful.

One Goliath, Many Davids

Farmers and activists are not sitting idly by.

Via Campesina launched a global campaign against Monsanto on International World Food Day in 2009, with marches, protests, land occupations, and hunger strikes in more than 20 countries. The coalition continues organizing international days of action against the company and agribusiness in general. Via Campesina has kept the spotlight on Monsanto at its global protests, such as the 2012 UN Climate Change Conference in Bangkok.

One of the rejections of Monsanto occurred in the small village of Hinche, Haiti in June, 2010. There, thousands of farmers burned Monsanto seeds. The Haitian Ministry of Agriculture had given Monsanto permission to import and donate 505 tons of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds. Its a declaration of war, said Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, director of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP). The importation of massive amounts of hybrid seed threatens the traditional, regionally adapted seed stock of Haiti, as it does in many other countries. Hybrid seeds also cause a cycle of dependence, with farmers buying them from Monsanto each year rather than relying on local markets or their own saved seed. In an open letter, Jean-Baptiste called the entry of the seeds a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds, and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.[iii]

The same day as the protest in Haiti, activists in Seattle gathered in solidarity. They burned Monsanto seeds in front of the headquarters of the Gates Foundation, which is promoting GMO seeds in Africa. In Montana, the home state of Monsantos world headquarters, activists dressed in lab coats and Tyvek to demand that Monsanto seeds of dependency be kept out of Haiti. In Chicago, a Haiti support group did not have Monsanto seeds, so they burned Cheetos instead. The Organic Consumers Associations network sent more than 10,000 emails protesting Monsantos donation to USAID and President Obama. African-American farmers in Mississippi mobilized letters to the White House, too.

Around the world, farmers and activists have long taken it upon themselves to destroy Monsantos GMO crops. Groups have cut down or pulled up fields of corn, potatoes, rapeseed, and other crops, sometimes laying them at the entryways of government buildings where they are demanding anti-GMO legislation. In 2003 in the state of Paraná in Brazil, activists uprooted plants at one of Monsantos experimental labs. They went on to file and win a land reform claim, and then started their own agroecology university on the site.

In the U.S., the Organic Consumers Association has spearheaded the Millions Against Monsantocampaign, demanding that the company stop intimidating small family farmers and forcing untested and unlabeled genetically engineered foods on consumers. The campaign works to unearth information about Monsantos practices, push legislation to limit corporate power, and disseminate research and action items through its extensive network. Occupy Monsanto has also held a number of actions around the country. This week, starting April 8, groups from around the country are gathering in Washington, D.C. for Occupy Monsantos eat-in at the FDA, demanding GMO regulation and an end to corporate influence in food policy.

In 2012, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association gathered enough signatures for a ballot initiative (Prop 37) in California to mandate labeling of products containing GMOs. Their hope was that forcing companies to label in California, the eighth-largest economy in the world, would prompt countrywide labeling. Companies poured money into defeating the measure, the largest donors being Monsanto (about $8.1m) and DuPont (about $5.4m). Also donating millions were companies that own major organic labels like Kashi (Kellogg Company), Horizon (Dean Foods), Odwalla (Coca-Cola), and Cascadian Farms (General Mills). The measure failed by a tiny margin, causing the anti-GMO movement to redouble its efforts. Labeling laws have been proposed in more than 20 other states and are currently under consideration by legislators in Vermont and Washington.

In 2011, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association together with 82 other plaintiffs, including agricultural associations, seed companies, and farmers brought a lawsuit against Monsanto in Manhattan federal district court to establish protections for organic farmers whose crops are contaminated by GMOs. The court ruled against them, but the plaintiffs appealed and are currently awaiting a ruling.

Back in the rural Haitian town of Hinche on March 22 of this year, the same peasant farmer group that had burned Monsanto seeds held another demonstration. Holding banners reading Down with Monsanto, they demanded an end to corporate tyranny of agriculture. Allies from many countries in Latin America, North America, Europe, and Africa joined them in that dusty town, recommitting themselves to a world with food and seed sovereignty.

Notes

[i] Andrew Kimbrell and Joseph Mendelson, Center for Food Safety, Monsanto vs. US Farmers, 2005.
[ii] Center for Food Safety, Monsanto vs. US Farmers, Nov. 2007.
[iii] Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, group email, May 14, 2010.

Download the Harvesting Justice pdf here, and find action items, resources, and a popular education curriculum on the Harvesting Justice website. Harvesting Justice was created for the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, check out their work here.

Beverly Bell

Beverly Bell has worked for more than three decades as an advocate, organizer and writer in collaboration with social movements in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the US. Her focus areas are just economies, democratic participation and gender justice. Beverly currently serves as associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and coordinator of Other Worlds. She is author of “Walking on Fire: Haitian Women Stories of Survival and Resistance” and of the forthcoming “Fault Lines: Views Across Haiti’s Divide.” She is also a member of Truthout’s Board of Advisers.

Tory Field is an organizer, farmer, and Research & Education Coordinator at Other Worlds.

Tory Field

Tory Field is an organizer, farmer, and Research & Education Coordinator at Other Worlds.

You can read the original article, and many others on important topics the lamestream news ignores at Truthout-click the link below

http://truth-out.org/news/item/15601-farmers-and-consumers-vs-monsanto-david-meets-goliath

Monsanto vs. Mother Earth

It’s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all — our food! But if we can pressure key European countries to slam the patent door shut on their destructive plans, we can stop this attack on our food. Help build the biggest food defense call ever by clicking here:

It’s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all — our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.

But we can stop them from buying up Mother Earth. Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands — where opposition is already growing

Touchez pas au Xingu – Deté yaki diot Xingu

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7 Things You Need to Know about GMOs | Rodale News

7 Things You Need to Know about GMOs

The new GMO OMG documentary aims to disclose what labels try to hide.

By Leah Zerbe

Eating GMO corn, soy, and canola is like being involved in a scientific experiment.

The average person may not know what the term GMO means but is certainly eating GMOs, and probably at every meal. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are created when scientists take DNA from one species and insert it into another in a way that would never occur naturally. It’s a complicated process, but award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Seibert aims to explain how chemical companies have quietly overtaken our food system, flooding it with unlabeled GMO ingredients, in the new GMO OMG documentary. It debuts this week at the Yale Environmental Film Festival.

Here are 7 takeaway messages from the film:

#1. GMOs are everywhere.
Almost all of the corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets grown in this country are genetically engineered to either produce a pesticide within the plant or survive being drenched in weed-killing chemicals. (Usually the weed killers would kill the plant, but by tinkering with the plant’s natural DNA and inserting foreign genes, plants can withstand chemicals like Roundup.)

About 165 million American acres have been planted with GMO crops that likely wind up in everything from 80 percent of the processed food on store shelves to the sweetener you add to your morning coffee. You wouldn’t know it, though, because in America GMOs aren’t labeled. (The only certain exception is organic foods; organic standards ban the use of GMOs.)

GMO OMG Trailer from Compeller Pictures on Vimeo.

#2. America’s keeping secrets.
China, Russia, and about 60 other countries require labeling if a food contains GMO ingredients. Despite efforts on state and federal levels to require labeling in the U.S., at present GMOs do not have to be labeled here. And that leaves most U.S. consumers in the dark.

During the 2012 election, the megacorporations that produce both the GMO seeds and the chemicals used on GMO crops spent $45 million to defeat a labeling law in California. If GMOs are so safe, as the corporations say they are, then what’s there to hide?

#3. GMOs have never been properly tested for long-term health impacts.
If GMO products are allowed on store shelves, they must be safe, right? Not the case.

The studies used for government approval of GMO crops are conducted by the very same corporations that create the seeds. Can you say conflict of interest? These studies generally are short-term and aren’t reviewed by other scientists. The raw data used for approval generally isn’t shared with the public. There are no independent, long-term studies investigating how this new genetic experiment affects human health, although some emerging research suggests the genetically altered foods could cause organ damage and food allergies.

#4. Chemical companies control what’s on your plate.
Three corporationsMonsanto, Dupont, and Syngentacontrol 53 percent of the proprietary seed market. They also create the chemicals used on the seeds, a huge moneymaker. Since their biotech seeds are used to grow food for most of the cows, chickens, and pigs in the U.S., these corporations control most of the food Americans eat.

#5. GMO technology can’t outsmart nature.
Using billions of gallons of pesticides a year has created “superbugs” and “superweeds,” pests and plants that have outsmarted GMO technology. (The same type of thing happens when we overuse antibiotics; hard-to-kill superbug infections occur.) In short, a technology that promised to help farmers is now causing never-before-seen pest problems, and ones that call for even greater chemical use. There are now more than 500 species of bugs resistant to pesticides, and global pesticide use has increased from 200 million pounds in 1945 to 5.1 billion pounds today.

#6. GMOs aren’t necessary to feed the world.
While biotech companies are making a fortune selling the GMO seed-chemical package, they’re focused on greenwashing the technology as the only possible means to feed the world. That theory’s been debunked by numerous studies and reports, including ones from the United Nations. The Rodale Institute’s 30-year farming systems trial found that while GMO crops may produce increased yields during the first few years under perfect conditions, organic methods produce similar yields over the long haul. In fact, during years of drought, organic outperformed chemical agriculture.

In actuality, GMOs threaten food security. As more farmers turn to the same variety of seed to grow, other traditional (also called “heirloom” or “heritage”) seeds are going extinct. These seeds hold the genetic diversity that could offer traits to ward off diseases and better adapt to climate change in the future.

#7. Haiti would rather burn GMOs than plant them.
Did you know Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, chose to burn tons of GMO seeds donated by Monsanto after the earthquake rather than plant them for food? To the Haitians, the GMO seeds were a threat to their very existence as farmers. GMO seeds are patented, so farmers aren’t allowed to save seed from their harvest to replant the next year, something that’s been the cornerstone of farming for centuries. Once you buy into the GMO way of farming, you’re bound to buy the chemicals and the seeds every year. In the GMO OMG documentary, farmers called it a “capitalistic enterprise,” adding that Monsanto doesn’t protect the environment, improve the quality of food, or protect life.

Eating organic is the best way to avoid GMOs because the certification makes it illegal to use GMO seeds or chemical pesticides. For more ways to keep GMOs off the menu at your house, read How to Avoid GMOs.

http://www.rodale.com/gmo-omg-documentary?cm_mmc=TheDailyFixNL-_-1258626-_-7_Things_You_Need_Know_about_GMOs_text

The Oracle Report Tuesday, April 9, 2013

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO RECORDING FOR 4/4/2013 REGARDING CHINNAMASTA

Balsamic Moon Phase – Moon in Aries

Once in a great while, there is a confluence of things that are perfect for making a wish. Today is that day. How beautiful.

I would love to end the post there but two other things need to be kept in mind at the same time we are enjoying Chinnamasta’s energy combined with the archetypal energy of Eris (if you haven’t listened to the audio recording posted above, I go into detail about the month ahead beginning with tomorrow’s New Moon, which has effectively already entered):

1) Do not let your guard down. Remember that Illuminati/Archontic forces always take advantage of any strong astrological reference to Eris and most especially the Eris Point (22 degrees of Aries, 22 degrees of the ecliptic; this also includes the opposite point,of 22 Libra). If I accomplish nothing else in my life, I will have succeeded if the relevance of this degree is remembered. This means we see the dual acts of war and aggression, chaos and strife/acts of valor, protection, and guidance at the macro-level of the collective of humanity. At the micro-level of our individual lives, we see dual acts of anger, rejection, and neglect/ acts of deep commitment, expression of the power of love within the relationship, and intense bonding. Take in the good parts of the spectrum (because they are being amplified by Chinnamasta) but be aware of the potential for any kind of strike at any time now. Don’t rely on the first story that comes out about anything. A second side will emerge. There are always two sides with Eris.

2) Take yourself out of the swirl as much as possible. By this I mean let the real world of the matrix do what it is going to do and don’t feed in. Don’t try to control anything right now. The keyword is contain, not control right now. Eris energy will not tolerate control in any way other than the discipline of a warrior. Contain your awareness in the legion of Eris and Chinnamasta.

As always, find beauty; but this time don’t forget to make a wish.

http://www.oraclereport.com/

The Lemurian Connection Inelia Benz

Here is a copy of my latest article which you can find online at: http://ascension101.com/en/home/ascension-blog/75-april-2013/336-the-lemurian-connection.html. Enjoy 🙂

The Lemurian Connection

I have been contacted by different people, groups and collectives throughout my life. Some of them are human, some are not. One thing to remember is that we all have a right to CHOOSE the nature of communication we have with others. Whether others are other humans, organizations, or other species. We choose whether to engage with the other person or species or not, and how we engage. I choose to engage with all beings at the essence of our human basic building block, the level of joy/light/love. If others don’t like it, then they can move their engagement and communication elsewhere.

This article is aimed at showing a time line of the contact and information I have had with one particular species, the Lemurians. Whether we believe that the Lemurians exist or not, an exercise of looking at their culturally allocated existence in our subconscious mind, will be of benefit to our own personal evolution. So I invite you to look with me. I am only 99% certain they exist, because I have not experienced them at a physical level. Yet, they appear to be very, very real in every other sentient sense. No one has ownership of Lemurian “real” information. This has to come from YOU. If you are interested, it is you who needs to engage at a personal level, not through someone else.

I have chosen to share this with you now, because it is an evolving process, a growing awareness and connection that is happening at a global scale. The reason, from what I can gather, is that we (the human species) were, and will be, Lemurians to a large degree. They are not Gods, or saviors, they don’t consider themselves above us, below us, or better or worse than us. They are here, and always have been here, and are our brothers and sisters. They want to collaborate. Why? Because we are Gaia, and they are Gaia. Because we are of the same essence, and live as the same planet.

There is a lot of mystery, mysticism, legends, and data regarding the Lemurians on the internet today. Most of this has been colored and interpreted by the person receiving the communication, having the personal contact, or the culture coloring what and who the Lemurian’s are through religious or social beliefs. It is important to realize that my own experience, delineated below, will also contain my personal filters and “stuff”, and as it is a developing communication, it is lacking in many areas.

Timeline

In 2011, between March and August, I had the first conscious “contact” that was telepathic in nature. The name Lemuria (or people of Mu?) came in (I feel the name Lemurian is not quite accurate?). I did a small amount of research and found lots of things about them that did not resonate on the internet. But there was an energetic “line” that was consistent. Something that said, “group of higher vibration, more aware, more able, clean living, equal society, no dark/light duality”.

The telepathic contact I received in 2011 was that they wanted to share something. When I went into it, I felt a great sadness at a split on the plane that had happened many thousand years ago. The sadness and pain and having to “allow it to happen” due to free will of those who wanted to stay in a dark/light duality, was overwhelming.

Families were split, many chose do die and be reborn in the lower vibrational Earth so that they could carry the energy and light forth through the ages, as human beings. Others simply wanted to experience dark/light. The separation of the “collective mind/soul/spirit” was extremely painful.

At the time of the telepathic contact, the early part of 2011, I did not understand why they were showing me this. It seemed irrelevant.

In August 2011, I was basically taken out of the matrix and while I was away, a split happened in the human collective between those who wanted to stay asleep and those who want a more empowered and awakened reality. You can read more about it in the article “Spaceship Eart and You are the Captain”. When I returned into the matrix, I felt the pain of the split, it was many times worse than what had been shown to me by the Lemurians. The intensity was because I experience life, for all purposes, as the human collective. So, when this collective split into two, it felt like my “body” had been ripped apart into two pieces. It took me a few weeks to recover. And I understood that their sharing was to prepare me for what was about to happen.

The Lemurans continued to contact me telepathically, the wanted to meet, they wanted to collaborate. But I could not understand exactly why, how, or what they wanted. I knew that they could materialize if they so chose, and suggested they manifest at my front door and come in for a cup of tea. They did not, and I think it might be because they are being monitored by the human military. But I could be wrong. It also could be a tool of empowerment. If we are able to go to them, then we have broken through any filters that were placed in our awareness and capacities in order for us to have a limited physical experience. Almost like “we are here, and it is you who choose not to see us, so choose to see us”, type thing.
Soon after that, a person who had been a total stranger came up to me and gave me a crystal she had been carrying in her purse for reasons she did not know. She’d had it for many years and that day placed it in her purse, and when we met, she knew the crystal was meant for me.

As I was not able to get much information from the Lemurians directly, and could not understand how to meet them in the physical plane, I put them out of my mind.
A while after that, another random person gave me a Lemurian crystal that they had been carrying for years. These crystals were given by people to whom I had not mentioned Lemuria before our meeting.

I could feel the Lemurians trying to communicate several times, but I was unable to get clarification on their purpose or agenda, or plan, or form of collaboration.

On a trip to Mount Shasta, I scanned for their vibrational signature (they are very distinct), and was not able to detect it.

On a trip to Oregon, a friend of mine “coincidentally” had an old friend of hers staying at her place and she told me that this friend had an experience which I had to hear.

Her friend went on to tell me all about a first hand encounter with Lemurians in Mount Shasta a couple of decades earlier or so. She was totally genuine. She had met them physically, at Mt Shasta, had been in their land, come out, and not been able to find the entrance again. It was years before she learned that they were known in the area, and what people called them.

I will often feel the Lemurians in my field of attention, they have a very distinct energy signature, but I have not been able to connect with them fully or physically.

On the 13th of October 2012, I was in Barcelona Spain, giving a public talk to several hundred individuals.

After the day talk, I met and greeted everyone who wanted to hug. Among these individuals was a woman who told me she was a dimensional caretaker of Montserrat, a mountain nearby. I cannot recall if she mentioned Lemurians or whether she called them by another name, or at all. I told her that I would meet her there the next day as I was going to go visit the place before my flight back.

My trip to the mountain did not happen the next day, I had gotten confused and it was actually scheduled for the day after, the 15th. So the chances of meeting her were minimal.

As soon as I arrived, I felt the distinct energy signature of Lemurians. My daugher was cold, so we went into a cafe to get some hot drinks, and this caretaker was “coincidentally” standing inside the cafe.

I grabbed her by the arm, and the entire group climbed the mountain to do a connection exercise with the Lemurians. It was very energetically clear, but not much information came through apart from validating the caretakers position and gratitude for her life’s work.

We rushed to the airport.

This weekend, I was at an event in Southern California, and just before arriving, I kept trying to remember the name “Lemurians”, as I felt they needed to be mentioned.

There was a gifted channeler there, Nora Herold, and she channeled them for a few minutes.

As I sat there, I felt the room for their presence, and it was very strong. It felt “home” like, warm, familiar, caring and loving. They also had some urgency in our collaboration, conversation, communication.

Again, I felt that we needed to make physical contact somehow, but did not know how.

A few days ago I decided to sit down and do some research. I had a skype meeting with a collaborator who is highly intuitive and as we started talking about Lemurians. After our meeting was over, I opened my email box, and saw that there were several emails from a couple who have written a book, in which they mention me in several places. The book has no relation to Lemurians, but as I had not heard from this couple for a long time, and the emails had come in at the same time as I had been talking about the Lemurians to my friend and collaborator, I decided to go out on a limb and ask them if they knew anything about Lemurians. As it happens, both of them have an amazing connection to the Lemurians. A connection that is quite unique on the planet. They have since sent me various articles, and resources, and have also sent me a book, with a huge amount of information.
Some of the information gave me further clues on the Lemurian timeline in my life, which is not so new apparently.

• When I was a teenager, I was guided to search for and study Saint Germain, I was not able to find anything of significance and dropped it. But he did come up again and again throughout my life. There appears to be a big connection, and mention, between Saint Germain and Lermurians.
• In my twenties, I was guided to learn about Madame Blavatsky, again, I looked into her, and loved her energy, but did not see the connection. In my 30s she popped up again, but I did not see what it was that I was meant to get from her body of work. She covers Lemuria quite extensively apparently.
• I was also guided to look into the work of Edgar Cayce, but again, nothing “relevant” was found. Again, he mentions them in a couple of recorded readings for people.

The common thread on all these individuals are their mention of Lemuria. And the thread was seen for the first time when reading through the material I received this month.
The connection is something I am actively working on at the moment. It almost feels like they are reeling us, the human collective, in. Pulling us “back” to them. But not in a patriarchal, savior way. Instead in a way in which a friend smiles enthusiastically and waves hello from across the street.

There is a sense of urgency on their wanting to communicate, and there is a resistance in my part. The nature of the energy that I am resisting, is the “belonging”, or “ownership” to any particular species, race or collective being on, or off planet. It is important not to “align” myself to any one group or species, because if that was to happen, then “otherness” gets activated. Yet, when I process this resistance (which is ultimately “fear”), I drop into BEING a larger collective than just the Human collective.
And I can’t help thinking to myself. Perhaps it is part of our expansion of awareness, when we become more than just Human beings.
In the meantime, I have been spending time every day, more than once, simply sitting in a location and daydreaming of sitting with and being in that free connection and communication space. The past two days it has been raining there a lot. In the daydream. So, I sit in the rain. The area is green, beautiful, dark clouds and rain covering everything. It is warm and pleasant. When the rain subsides for a little while, I can see the shiny droplets hanging on the petals and leaves around me. I will simply sit there for now, and I will keep you posted as to what happens next.

Coming up in May, I will be leading a open teleconference call to connect with the Lemurians. You will receive the date, location and time in this Newsletter subscription.

Thanks for reading!

Inelia Benz