3,300 year old city to be wiped off the map

3,300 year old city to be wiped off the map
Feb 03, 2015 12:49pm PST by gjohnsit

The city of Rafah has survived the invading armies of Assyria, Greece, and Rome, among others. It has outlasted Napoleon’s armies, the Mamluks, the British, and the Ottoman Empire, just to name a few.
Before this year is out, Rafah will cease to exist.

The city of Rafah, which has been a part of Egypt since the pharaonic period, is to be removed from the map; its residents relocated to the imaginatively named, yet-to-be-built city of New Rafah.
Rafah is located in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt’s northeast, straddling the border with the Gaza Strip. It is home to thousands of families, all of whom will be forcibly relocated under plans to create a “buffer zone” on the border.

Just a week ago, the plan was todemolish 1,220 houses. The Egyptianmethod of enforcement was as simple as a forced confession.

With little warning, police notified residents that they would clear the area, and said they would forcibly seize the property of those who refused to comply.
Though journalists are forbidden in Egypt’s troubled easternmost governorate, images trickled out of families bearing bundles of clothes and belongings looking on powerless as army bulldozers destroyed their homes.

But soon the Egyptian government decided that these methods were too, how shall we say, respectful of human rights.

The entire border city of Rafah is to be levelled to the ground, Egyptian authorities have announced. “The establishment of a buffer zone requires the complete removal of the city. In fact, it will be completely destroyed,” said Abdel Fattah Harhour, governor of North Sinai, to which Rafah is administratively affiliated.

Soon, Rafah will be gone. What won’t be gone is all the intractable political problems of the region that is causing its destruction.

4:19 PM PT: On a tangent, I think its worthwhile to recall what sort of military dictatorship Egypt currently has in power.

The Rabaa massacre of Aug. 14, 2013, was Egypt’s Tiananmen Square. Egyptian security forces killed at least 817 people on a single day at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square alone, and more than 1,000 when including the number of casualties across Egypt. It was the biggest mass killing of civilians in modern Egyptian history. The butchery did not take place under the cover of darkness, or in a remote corner of the country, but in broad daylight in Cairo…
The killing was done by Egypt’s Central Security Forces and Special Forces in close coordination with the Egyptian Armed Forces, with few if any reported defections or refusals to open fire. Security forces began firing on civilians around 6:30 a.m., and over the course of 12 hours they continued emptying rounds of live ammunition into crowds of men, women and children who they had entrapped, despite repeated promises of a “safe exit.” This was not a brief killing spree that ended as suddenly as it began, or the panicked response of threatened conscripts in the fog of battle. One year later, not a single official has been held accountable.

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/03/1362071/-3-300-year-old-city-to-be-wiped-off-the-map?detail=email

What is action? | Charles Eisenstein

One thing I love about the present time is how SO many people are aware. So many people have awakened or are in the process of doing so. Those who have been doing this for decades are no longer feeling like lone voices in the wilderness of colonized post industrial dystopian society.

So much that got me labeled as crazy, ignored, mocked, shunned etc for most of my life has now become central to global intellectual discourse. People are coming together to learn, grow and actively solve the truly huge problems facing humanity and our beautiful planet.

I’m so grateful! It’s also a novel but wonderful feeling to be a part of the zeitgeist, thinking about and discussing the same range of issues and ideas.

I bet a lot of you are also feeling this sense of amazement and relief- “I’m not alone!”. We are all facing these big problems together.

I have long appreciated Charles Eisenstein’s perspective and writing. I think his essay today is particularly relevant to the theme of Spirit In Action.

I started this blog to share my perspective that spiritual growth and political activism are both necessary but not sufficient to solve the vast mess our species currently faces.

I hoped others would appreciate the idea. I also hoped I would meet people who share this perspective, which seemed somewhat unpopular with both groups(spiritual seekers and political activists), except for Starhawk, ReClaiming Covens, a lot of Native activists, and a scattering of others from various other groups.

I believe that when enough people act decisively on both sides (ie personal/internal spiritual work along with political activism, collective action) the seemingly intractable problems of our age will rapidly become solvable.

If you search for Charles Eisenstein on this blog there is a link to his book Sacred Economics free to read online, or download. A full internet search on him should provide a veritable feast of interesting stuff.
Blessings,
ohnwentsya

What is Action?It seems that a few people misread my catalog of the “jaded activist’s” dismissals of various tactics as my own personal disapproval of those tactics. That was not my intent. I especially value the tactics that disrupt the governing stories of our society, and unravel the narratives that underlie oppression and ecocide. The point I was trying to make is that for any “action” one proposes, there is always a reason why it won’t work, why it won’t be enough, why it is a drop in the bucket, why it won’t bring deep enough change… why it is all hopeless. Personally, of all the tactics I enumerated, I tend to favor civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action the most highly, but even petitions and orderly, permitted protest marches can sometimes be useful. Just setting the record straight here: Charles is not telling everyone to sit at home “being the change.” On the other hand, I also want to expand the scope of what we consider to be “action.” Conditioned by the ideology of instrumental utilitarianism, which values actions according to their calculable, measurable outcomes (and which is the essential mindset of the investor), we tend to value the big visible actions more than the private, invisible ones that actually take just as much courage, or even more. For every big-name climate activist out there, there are a hundred humble people holding society together with their compassion and service. I cannot emphasize this point enough. I refuse to accept a theory of change in which the humble grandmother taking care of a terminally ill little boy is doing something less important for our future than, say, Bill McKibben. This is one of my core beliefs: that every act sends ripples out through the matrix of causality; that every act has cosmic significance. Yet I am not offering these small acts as substitutes for political engagement. I believe that a well-rounded person will engage on many levels, and that when the moment comes, the courage cultivated on the intimate level will translate into the courage to step in front of the riot police. Both come from the same place. According to our personal qualities and life circumstances, different kinds of action call to us at different times. I want to expand our understanding of what “action” is, to support people in trusting this call. Because our deep mythology valorizes certain kinds of actions, we are often left with the feeling that we are not taking significant action. Furthermore, even those who attempt the actions that are most strongly validated by our dominant theory of change often feel like they aren’t doing enough. Is the state of the environment better or worse than it was 40 years ago? Is transnational finance stronger or weaker? How about the military-industrial complex? The agrochemical industry? Many activists are coming to believe that more of the same is not enough; that we need to act from a different place — and that requires inner work and interpersonal work. i think many common tactics used by environmentalists and political progressives are actually counterproductive — not because they are insufficiently clever, but because they encode some of the same deep worldview from which ecocide and oppression arise as well. I won’t go there now though. When someone focuses on one level of service to the exclusion of the rest for too long, the result will be a growing dissatisfaction and a desire to grow. One way that growth happens is through the broadening of the scope of one’s vision: for example, to learn about the web of economic and political relationships that is driving ecocide, or to become aware of oppression within one’s own organization, or to recognize one’s own self-delusion, sanctimoniousness, or violence. As we grow, the natural object of our care grows too, and there may be a shift in what calls to us. Someone unaware of climate change isn’t going to do anything to stop climate change. I think the discomfort that some of the commenters have expressed with the idea of sitting in retreat (and believe me, their discomfort echoes my own) comes from two sources. One is the feeling I referred to above, that “I’m not doing enough.” I’m not doing enough and I can’t do enough and perhaps if I make myself uncomfortable enough about it, I can goad myself into greater efforts. The second is the natural discomfort that arises when the time to grow, to move, to expand is upon us. I suspect I am not the only one who is in the Space Between Stories, not the only one who feels the call to deeper and more effective service. Nor am I the only one who doesn’t have a clue what that looks like. The caution I am offering (to myself mostly) is not to temporarily alleviate that discomfort by reflexively adopting familiar or prescribed kinds of action, just so I can assure myself I’m doing something. Maybe something new wants to emerge. Maybe I need to stop all this traveling and speaking. Maybe that’s getting in the way of my next step. Maybe I need to get my hands in the soil more. Maybe I need to drop my knowledge for a while and learn something radically new, which will then integrate with my old knowledge in ways I cannot imagine.

On not understanding “Charlie:” Why many smart people are getting it wrong

As one of those American liberal intellectuals who got it wrong by believing my local newspaper-i think it’s very worthwhile to share this. Even though I grew up in a household where French was regularly spoken, I have never been to France or heavily exposed to modern French culture.

I’m disturbed by my own train of thought when I saw this magazine as promoting the climate of racism and repression that so many immigrants face in France. As this article points out; it’s all too easy to see ourselves as more open minded than we really are.
Blessings,
ohnwentsya

On not understanding “Charlie:” Why many smart people are getting it wrong
Jan 11, 2015 12:00pm PST by tekno2600

Many smart people are getting a flawed picture of Charlie Hebdo. They are concluding, based on simplistic and misleading analysis, that many of the magazine covers and cartoons promoted racist views. In fact, as I will show, some of the covers elaborately lampooned racist views of right wing parties, likeFront National, by imitating some of their imagery, inserting snarky comments, and even posting mock party logos next to the images. Therefore, it would be clear to pretty much any French readers that they were making fun of these things. However, people unfamiliar with the details of this rather elaborate satirical humor are now pulling these images off the internet and claiming them as evidence that Charlie Hebdo promoted the very racist views that they were in fact lampooning. So, I think it is important that we set the record straight.

To be clear, I am not giving Charlie Hebdo unqualified support for everything that have ever said (though I would defend their right to say it), but it does look like many of the cartoons are actually saying the exact opposite of the racist, sexist, and/or Islamophobic messages that people unfamiliar with the magazine are claiming.

Here are a few things you may not know. I will start with a little bit of background information. Some people may think that information about people’s personal lives is irrelevant to this issue. I happen to disagree. I think knowing a little about the people involved does matter. If you disagree, fine. You can take this for whatever it’s worth. First,

the deceased editor, Charb, “was a Communist and his girlfriend’s parents were North African.” She is also chair of the French Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination Commission.

So, while that information by itself doesn’t prove anything, those facts might at least lead you to ask a few questions about the narrative that Charb is a right wing racist, Islamophobe, and/or misogynist. His partner’s name is Jeannette Bougrab.

However, some people have been pointing to certain images or text on the magazine covers that do look provocative or offensive. Unfortunately, they are often just using google translate to interpret them, because most of the critics don’t appear to be very familiar with French language or culture, much less French political humor or day-to-day controversies. Therefore, I have seen many people proclaiming that the magazine is right wing and racist, when even a simple wikipedia search quickly finds that the magazine’s stated goals were actually to

“[reflect] all components of left wing pluralism.”

So, what is happening here? This takes a bit of analysis and discussion, so let’s take a look below the La grande fleur de Kos et liberté.

First of all, here is a good general discussion of several aspects of the Charlie Hebdo racism controvery.

There are also some good articles here, from Vox:

Charlie Hebdo: Its history, humor, and controversies, explained

Charlie Hebdo and its biting satire, explained in 9 of its most iconic covers

I think many, though perhaps not all, of Charlie Hebdo’s biggest controversies are cases of what I call Onion Fail. You know, like that one time when Iranian state media quoted an article from The Onionthat said Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama, or that other time when North Korean media quoted a story that said Kim Jong-Un Named the Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012. Quoting a satirical magazine is risky business, especially if the magazine is in another language or requires some understanding or the politics or culture of another country. Satire is about mockery. So, clearly, instead of actually praising Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong-Un, they are actually ridiculing them. Simply reporting a word-for-word translation of these farcical articles is going to get the intended message exactly backwards. You’d think the part about Kim Jong-Un having abs to rival Matthew McConaughey’s would have been a tip off, but alas, one of the truly boundless qualities of the universe is the ability to kiss ass and the willingness to receive it.

Some people counter that even in a satirical magazine, they still know racism when they see it. But, not if the authors are actually saying the opposite of what you think they are saying. Take the often cited example below regarding Boko Haram. This has been claimed as a clear example of racism, but that claim is lacking several logical connections. First of all, the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram are not in France receiving “allocs” or family welfare payments, and even if they are eventually rescued from Boko Haram, they are unlikely to ever be in France. Some people have claimed that the French cartoonists are making an anti-immigrant statement by saying, of course they will all end up in France and on welfare. But, that is dubious at best…actually, it’s flat out false. First of all, the girls are from Nigeria (a largely English-speaking) not Nigere (a largely French-speaking country). So, that may be one point of confusion. Some of them may speak French, some may not. Now, of course, not all immigrants to France are French-speaking, though French-speaking Africans would probably have a much easier time of it. But, the idea that they are automatically connected to France or the welfare system doesn’t make much sense.

So, what is the disconnect here? The magazine cover is actually mixing two unrelated stories. This “news mixing” process was a common practice used on Charlie Hebdo covers to create their jokes. Many people are now trying to speculate about the meaning of these cartoons, but their interpretations may not be even close to what the cartoonists intended. To further explain how big this disconnect is, let’s look at some of the discussion coming from a French perspective about what Charlie Hebdo was really saying.

Here are a couple of comments from the previously mentioned online discussion forum that make the case that people may be completely misinterpreting the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

“This cover is a double snipe in classical Charlie style, both against Boko Haram and our right wing, NOT against the sex slaves or “welfare queens”. To misunderstand that shows complete ignorance of French press and the left wing / anarchist tradition of Charlie.”

Another commenter echos similar sentiments.

“Charlie Hebdo is known for being left-wing attached and very controversial, and I think they wanted to parody people who criticize “welfare queens” by taking this point-of-view to the absurd, to show that immigrant women in France are more likely to be victims of patriarchy than evil manipulative profiteers.”

Perhaps not everyone agrees with these interpretations, but there does seem to be a general consensus among most of the commenters in this forum who were most familiar with Charlie Hebdo and French politics that the magazine was not a right wing racist publication and that foreigners are in fact misinterpreting these images. As one of them puts it:

“The reality is, Charlie Hebdo is a far left, pro-immigrant publication, of which many contributors have been members of anti-racist organizations.”

As mentioned above, one factor that definitely may contribute to confusion about Charlie’s cartoons is the “news mixing” style frequently employed by the magazine. Often unrelated images are mixed to make a provocative joke. It does not necessarily imply that the two things are equivalent. For example, the following picture show the French Prime Minister, pictured as an ISIS fighter with a knife, preparing to “execute” a cabinet minister who has just been sacked. Obviously, none of this implies that the Prime Minister is literally affiliated with ISIS or that the cabinet minister has been killed. It is just a joke, and it is common in satirical magazines around the world. However, when outside people are unaware of the context, it can be easily misinterpreted.

Here is one final example that I think is perhaps the clearest illustration of the point I am trying to make in this diary. This was the image I was referring to in the beginning of the article when I said that Charlie often elaborately lampooned the views of right wing racist parties in France.

As you will see, someone in the Twitterverse has cited the image as an example of racism and has blasted it out under #JeNeSuisPasCharlie. The image shows a cartoon depicting Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who was born in French Guiana, as a monkey. An open an shut case of racism, right? Actually, au contraire.

There are a number of glaring problems with the claim that this anti-racist cartoon is actually pro-racist. First, note that it is drawn by Charb himself. As mentioned in the beginning, his girlfriend was of North African decent and is also chair of the French Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination Commission. So, it might seem a little strange for him to be promoting a racist image.

Second, look at what the text says: “Rassemblement Bleu Raciste.” This is a parody of the slogan “Rassemblement Bleu Marine,” which is used by Marine Le Pen’s Front National. Also notice the tricolor flame next to the image. That is a mock up of the party’s logo.

This cartoon came out following a controversy in which a politician from Front National shared a photoshopped image on Facebook that showed the Justice Minister as a monkey. The Charlie cartoon is doing a parody of this and saying Front National is racist. Ironically, some people outside of France are using it to say Charlie Hebdo is racist.

I think there are still many issues that can be discussed regarding Charlie Hebdo, including their tone, tactics, and willingness to offend. Perhaps not everyone agrees with their approach. They often didn’t worry about political correctness or niceties in how they expressed their views. Some of them were of the opinion that to be too politically correct, especially when it comes to making religious figures free of ridicule, would ultimately harm the cherished secular nature of the French state. But, what I think is clear is that many, if not all, of the images I have seen cited as evidence that Charlie is racist are incorrect and have actually gotten the message precisely backwards.

I would like to conclude by honoring free speech, in all it forms, and say that perhaps the Charlie Hebdo massacre is a warning for Americans–and especially liberal Americans–that we may not be quite as free and tolerant as we think. In many ways, freedom of expression is more strongly protected in countries like France. I have relied heavily on discussions from French commentators to write this article and I owe them a debt of gratitude. One of these people, an American who grew up in France, had some particularly insightful commentsthat I would like to excerpt from to provide some closing thoughts:

“I don’t think Americans in particular appreciate how intellectually free French culture is. Their thought is an open space populated by fewer sacred cows.One of the levels of freedom they have that we Americans often don’t is a strong respect for others’ privacy and a tolerance of intellectual independence. They seem tolack the overwhelmingly moralizing, missionary tonethat suffocates American political debate just when it starts to get interesting. Also, you are allowed to defend your opinions without placating others. I feel they do a better job with respectful disagreement. As US culture polarizes and inequality increases here, Americans risk becoming a people ever less capable of this.

Just because we think it offensive and we are not free enough to publish it doesn’t mean it has the intent that weascribe to it, or that in France people should also lack the freedom to publish it.”

Perhaps I break with some on the Left when I say this, but if I had to chose between political correctness and free expression, even if it may be offensive, then Je suis Charlie. I’d rather be politically incorrect and even offensive than to be beholden to a moralizing and missionary set of speech restrictions, or to unspoken taboos that certain subjects are off limits.

1:00 PM PT: Looks like the diary made it to the Rec List. Thanks everyone. I look forward to well-informed discussion on this topic. Thanks so much.

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c̓əsnaʔəm: The City Before The City | Museum of Vancouver

So many bloggers and readers in the blogosphere are here because we want to help build a better world (” a world that works for everyone”). I believe that one of the best ways to do that is to develop an intimate and thorough understanding of the worlds that came before this one, and how this greed driven catastrophic mess came about.

First Nations in Canada and indigenous societies worldwide represent what I call “the elder cultures”. By this I mean the cultures that grew up, that existed in most cases for thousands of years-sometimes for many thousands of years. These people adapted not only to their physical environments but to the spiritual environment and the human temperament. They understood how people are and why so the psychological and moral structures of these elder cultures are very effectively designed to manage humans problems both human problems of behaviour and adaptive problems due to environmental instability and change.

We’ve had all that stolen from us by the insidious process of colonization. Luckily for us, the elder cultures most successful at resistance to colonization are still here-they haven’t been erased and paved over with lies, half truths and disinformation-despite ongoing attempts to do so!

Exhibits like this are a precious resource not only for learning about the people whose land you are living in and on, but for starting to learn how to live successfully. Colonized culture-otherwise known as modern, mainstream or “western culture” does not teach us or even allow us to live successfully. It’s designed to create and perpetuate human dysfunction.

For those who live near Vancouver, and everyone who can travel this should be a really fascinating exhibit. For the rest of us, there is also a blog that can be found at the link below.
Blessings,
ohnwentsya

c̓əsnaʔəm: The City Before The City | Museum of Vancouver

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) connects people with the city, people with ideas, and people with each other. The MOV also explores the continuous transformations of our city. Vancouver has grown up on unceded Coast Salish territory. It is therefore fitting that an exhibition featuring c̓əsnaʔəm, an important ancestral village of the Musqueam First Nation, be the first story of our Vancouver history galleries. c̓əsnaʔəm, known to archaeologists variously as the Eburne Midden, Great Fraser Midden, and Marpole Midden, recently made headlines when ancient burials were uncovered through urban development and the Musqueam strove to protect them. This collaborative project aims to generate public discussions about heritage and Indigenous history, and to raise awareness of the significance of c̓əsnaʔəm for the Musqueam people and for Vancouver.

The curatorial premise of this project is simple: the bone, stone, and shell objects from c̓əsnaʔəm, which have survived thousands of years, are great catalysts for conversations about the relationship between Indigenous and settler societies in Vancouver. They are reminders of the connections between the history of colonialism, and the continuum of Musqueam culture. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Art, Historical and Scientific Association of Vancouver (MOV’s predecessor) undertook excavations at the Marpole Midden and removed over 1,500 “artefacts” for the museum’s displays, discarding others. The presence of these objects or “belongings” as this exhibition calls them since they were, in fact, personal possessions and ancestral remains in the museum’s collections point to an unsettling history. The museum constructed a story about Vancouver’s past that distanced and excluded the Musqueam, viewing the village as an ancient forerunner to Vancouver instead of as a place of ongoing significance to Musqueam. This exhibition re-examines the historical collection and display practices of the museum itself within this context of colonialism.

The exhibition asks, whose home is Vancouver? How have newcomers claimed Vancouver as their own? How do the Musqueam understand their lengthy connection to this place? Generations of families have lived at c̓əsnaʔəm and other areas in the territory for thousands of years. The exhibition evokes this concept of home through design components that reference a Coast Salish longhouse: a site of residence as well as of political, economic, and ceremonial activities. For the Musqueam, home is much more than a physical space; it is what connects individuals to a much broader web of family relationships and territory.

Oral traditions and Indigenous languages are a central vehicle of cultural expression and identity and play an important role in the exhibition. Visitors are invited to pronounce hən’q’əmin’əm’ words, view an animated version of a Musqueam story, and “meet” several community members through a series of recorded interviews. Displays incorporating 3D digital modelling allow visitors to visualize the context in which cultural objects were used. Visitors can also participate in association games and activities designed for families. Throughout this exploration, visitors are invited to reflect upon Vancouver’s history. As Musqueam cultural advisor Larry Grant explains, “c̓əsnaʔəm: the city before the city aims at ‘righting history’ by creating a space for Musqueam to share their knowledge, culture and history and to highlight the community’s role in shaping the City of Vancouver.”

http://www.museumofvancouver.ca/exhibitions/exhibit/c%CC%93%C9%99sna%CA%94%C9%99m-city-city

YES! Magazine Highlights 28 November, 2014

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PEACE & JUSTICE PLANET NEW ECONOMY PEOPLE POWER HAPPINESS yesmagazine.org Police Violence Is Not Inevitable: Four Ways a California Police Chief Connected Cops With Communities “A critical look at any institution with as much power and authority invested in it as the police is probably a good thing.” READ MORE » Mentally Ill People Often Face Violence From Police—But These Cities Are Trying to Fix That Crisis Intervention Teams train police officers to understand mental illness without resorting to violence. READ MORE » “I’m Scared to Be a Black Male Walking Down the Street”: Seattle Teens on Why They Skipped School for a #Ferguson March “We all just left class. As soon as 11:00 came, we stood up and walked out of class. Together as one.” READ MORE » #Ferguson Thanksgiving: A Former Slave Proposed the Holiday 55 Years Before Lincoln. Why His Version Matters Today “For some, racial inequality and fear are raw realities every day, and anything inspiring in American history rings false and remote. For others, the call to reflect on injustice feels like a personal accusation. But we are caught in this history together.” READ MORE » Why It’s OK to Be Angry on Thanksgiving Quite often it is our darker side that illuminates the best part of us, that brings us to where we need to be. READ MORE » Photo Essay: At a Half-Mile-Long Table, Chefs, Farmers, and Volunteers Feed a Neighborhood for Free In St. Paul, Minnesota, artist Seitu Jones wanted to start a community-wide conversation about food access and food justice—and where better to talk than over a good meal? READ MORE » Undercover University: Palestinians Study Up in Israeli Prisons More than 40 percent of Palestinian males have spent time in Israeli prisons. The schools that operate within are increasingly important. READ MORE » When the City Turned Off Their Water, Detroit Residents and Groups Delivered Help Grassroots action has backed down the city’s aggressive water shutoffs. READ MORE »

M

New post on HighHeartLife – November 17 through 21, 2014 Update | Denise le Fey

This is beautiful. Denise, like Aisha and others this week is so reassuring to me.

We are all experiencing varying levels of this newness, disorientation, feelings of struggle or discomfort. It’s not you-it’s not me-it really is the Spirit of the Age moving us all in new ways.

For me, it has been a lot of practice in simply accepting where I am in each moment; learning to laugh at the unkind, criminal and just plain mean instead of taking it personally; learning to flow with the energy moment to moment-ie eat when hungry, sleep when tired, rearrange to do list when sleeping overtakes the schedule for days in a row.

It’s like the energy these days is a teacher from a kung fu movie-if we don’t learn to be in the moment, it gets progressively more uncomfortable until we have that “aha!” moment.

But the best thing has been this growing awareness of all of you and our collective connection across all the old boundaries of time, distance, language, age, political and religious beliefs etc.

It feels like the collective consciousness of Earth is waking up. As I send my prayers, reiki and intentions out toward comfort, healing, safety and peace for all those in danger zones whether of war, illness or climate problems; others are also doing so and the energies take on a life and mission spiraling out from us, multiplying-and like the butterfly wings and the hurricane-creating something far beyond our individual abilities to do.

Conversely, I also feel the energy spiraling in from those who pray for healing for the ill, bringing me new hope for my own individual future.

As the old saying goes-The Goddess is alive, and magic is afoot!;-)
Blessings to you all,
ohnwentsya

November 17 through 21, 2014 Update by Denise A brief note about some of the different NEW energies I’ve felt from around November 17 through today, the 21st. The image I used above looks much like how it has felt to me; extra bright, intense and very different. Tomorrow the Sun enters Sagittarius and there’s a New Moon at 0° Sagittarius 7′ which […] Read more of this post Denise | November 21, 2014 at 1:51 PM | Tags: adapting to 5D Spherical consciousness, ascension flu, cosmic energies arriving, DNA evolution,dreaming while awake, head pains & pressures, hearing inner ear ringing,multidimensional reality, November 2014 ascension symptoms, seeing nonphysical beings and energies, seeing nonphysical lights, seeing with eyes closed, solar energies | Categories: Ascension Symptoms | URL: http://wp.me/p3TaTL-IJ

Bernie Sanders Shatters The Big Keystone XL Lie: Pipeline Will Cause US Gas Prices To Go Up

Sen. Bernie Sanders is telling the American people what the supporters of Keystone XL don’t want them to hear. The pipeline won’t create jobs, but it will cause the price of gas to increase in the United States.

Video:

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/07/bernie-sanders-shatters-big-keystone-xl-lie-pipeline-oil-prices.html

Lobbyist secretly taped revealing all of the right-wing’s dirty tactics to energy execs

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Lobbyist secretly taped revealing all of the right-wing’s dirty tactics to energy execs
Nov 04, 2014 1:05pm PST byWalter Einenkel

NYTimes put together a piece on a recording of Richard Berman soliciting millions from energy industry execs, back in June.

The company executives, Mr. Berman said in his speech, must be willing to exploit emotions like fear, greed and anger and turn them against the environmental groups. And major corporations secretly financing such a campaign should not worry about offending the general public because “you can either win ugly or lose pretty,” he said.“Think of this as an endless war,” Mr. Berman told the crowd at the June event in Colorado Springs, sponsored by the Western Energy Alliance, a group whose members include Devon Energy, Halliburton and Anadarko Petroleum, which specialize in extracting oil and gas through hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. “And you have to budget for it.”

Berman didn’t know he was being secretly taped by one of the executives at the meeting. The executive found Berman’s presentation offensive.

A transcript of the hour long power-point presentation can be found here. But here are just a couple of the comic book type quotes from the first ten minutes:

Concerning the ACA:

…And so we put this ad in the New York Times,and basically said, “Hey, you ought to be concerned about the health care bill.” But, we didn’t really say “why”. All we said is “seniors might have to pay more money”, or “your premiums might go up”, but there wasn’t any fact here. So this is an attempt at creating public opinion about something. Kind of soft top-line.

About “being on the offensive”:

…we’ll take the labor unions for example. I am well known for going after the labor unions for a thousand different reasons. And people say, “Well, what’s your offense?” I say, “I get up every morning and I try and figure out how to screw with the labor unions. That’s my offense.”

Attacking minimum wage:

We’re not experts and so you don’t want them [the general public] trying to be experts. But if you put enough information out there and say, “Well it could go to $10.10, but you could also lose a lot of jobs, the Congressional Budget Office says you can lose a lot of jobs.” And again, we got a lot of ads on this thing.You get in people’s mind[sic] a tie. They don’t know who is right. And you get all ties because the tie basically insures the status quo.

On using repetition to create “common knowledge“:

That’s common knowledge. And that comes from people hearing something enough times from enough different places, people repeating it to each other, that you reach a point where you have solidified your position.If we can solidify the position on drilling, fracking, etc. We have achieved something the other side cannot overcome because it’s very tough to break common knowledge.

It’s very tough to break first opinions. You know the guy that gets to make the first opinion, the first impression, has a huge advantage because people don’t want to admit they were wrong the first time.

If you have some Alka-Seltzer or some Tums, and a strong constitution, read some moreDr. Evil dialogue from Mr. Berman:

Things like:

• Playing “hardball” and diminishing people’s moral authority the way you would if you were “attacking Mother Teresa.
• How wealthy kids who help fund “left-wing” activism have lost their way.
• How the public doesn’t have “the time or the brain to understand initiatives.”
• Owning and running the websites that are sourced in attack ads.
• Using humor when you are attacking someone or something in a nasty way.

And the always classic:

• Gay jokes about public figures.
  

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