OIL, SUGAR, SHALE AND PROFITS

What do oil and sugar have in common? The answer is simple, addiction. Americans are addicted to sugar and oil. Americans have reached pandemic levels of obesity on sugar through its insidious use in virtually every food product and oil has led to an addiction to complacency. Unfortunately, our addiction to oil is fueled by short-sighted politicians and those who seem to have a vested interest in keeping hooked on this dwindling, climate altering product.

WASHINGTON (AP, 7/30/08) - President Bush is turning up the heat on congressional Democrats over offshore oil drilling…Bush says if Americans care about the price of gas, "then we better get after finding some supplies of oil and gas."
Critics worry about blackened beaches and argue that any extra oil is years away from hitting the market. They also say oil companies should use the leases they have first.

In addition to this push from the White House, Presidential hopeful John McCain is also a supporter of searching, drilling and mining for more oil. States once avidly opposed to off-shore drilling are beginning to cave into the unquenchable American thirst for oil as prices at the pump, while having backed off a little for the moment, are still double what they were a year ago. To make matters even worse, we want to ravage the west to get oil from shale. But as the Denver Business Journal said recently, “Since the 19th century, we in the West have been trying to extract oil from the vast oil shale riches that lie under our feet. It’s no easy task, and past efforts have failed miserably. Commercial oil shale development would require not only immense financial investments but also an undetermined quantity of (scarce) water from the Colorado River basin and the construction of several multibillion-dollar power plants.” To make matters even worse it is said that producing fuel from the shale would add some 21% to 47% more greenhouse gasses than conventionally produced fuels. It is further noted that production of oil from shale would require massive amounts of water from the Colorado River, a system already under immense pressure just to meet drinking demands. And according to both government and environmental sources, any added supply would not even hit the market until somewhere around the year 2030. What is the point? Increased oil demands from places like China and India will more than consume any increase in production, doing nothing to alleviate gas prices, but doing everything to increase oil company profits.

Speaking of profit, Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest profit from operations ever by any U.S. corporation. Hess Oil reported a 62% jump in second quarter profits and both Shell and BP recorded a 33% increase in profits. It is obvious that increases at the pump have nothing to do with increased costs of production but everything to do with profit. While record profits are made, the average person is sinking deeper and deeper into debt, small businesses are closing and we are nearing a state of economic depression.

If the billions upon billions of dollars scheduled to find and produce more oil were spent on renewable energy resources, our energy problem would be solved and not just delayed. Those in power and those seeking power must push hard to end our addiction to oil. It is running out and the cost to squeeze out the last few drops from the planet are not worth the environmental costs and the effort will accomplish nothing. Too few are making money and too many are losing money in our continued addiction to oil. Any candidate I choose for upcoming elections needs to have a program that focuses on ending this oil addiction pandemic. Keep in mind, off-shore drilling and shale oil are only placebos, and placebos are made from sugar.

THE LOST BOOK OF NOSTRADAMUS: PART III

The Wheel of Fortune, the Wheel of Ezekiel and the wheel from Nostradamus all address the same basic issue. The wheel shows that thoughts precede physical manifestation. The wheel speaks to cycles, rotations, karma, what goes around comes around and the fact that the thoughts of today, produce the reality of tomorrow. The wheel is also the symbol complete manifestation.

The original Wheel of Fortune has four symbols in each corner: man, an eagle, a bull and a lion. The center of the wheel, according to Eliphas Levi, “represents the First Unity whence all motion originates.” It is the point of all potential. The eight spokes of the wheel, the number eight, represents man which radiates from the center, indicating the source of what we are. The four symbols in the corners represent the name of God. And the implication that man emanates and is an extension of the God power. In Hermetic lore, the serpent actually represents light and its form is reminiscent of DNA and vibration. The Tarot image original has these symbols supported by clouds, indicating the spiritual support of all that there is. As a whole, the wheel speaks of the many cycles; seasons, night and day, life and death and what follows comes from what precedes, a time to sow and a time to reap.

The Wheel of Nostradamus is different. I have said in previous articles that Nostradamus was initiated into the Tarot Mysteries. He would have known the proper symbolism for the Wheel of Fortune. Where does he differ and why? The first point to be made is that the Nostradamus wheel is not supported by the clouds, spirit, as is the case in the Tarot. The images in the background are of cities, earth and man made structures. Here he shows that man still has a sense of superiority and is focused on the material plane and all of its issues and concerns. Within the wheel, Nostradamus portrays a time setting. It has nothing to do with the 9/11 and the destruction of the Twin Towers. It speaks of a time in which there are modern cities, spacecraft and jets. The message is for our current era. These images are within the confines of the wheel indicating that this time period is still trapped in the cycles of life and death and therefore subject to what those concepts imply. The message also deals with the fact that what lies within the wheel, is subject to the forces and events that surround the wheel.

In place of the eagle in the top right, he has a rooster. The rooster, or cock, has a long history, symbolically speaking. In most cultures, the rooster was a solar symbol indicating the triumph of light over darkness, illumination. To the Celts the rooster was a symbol of the underworld. During the middle ages the rooster became a Christian symbol for the readiness of the return of Christ and the last judgment of humanity and the hopeful overcoming of evil. What is interesting is that the rooster replaces the eagle. The eagle is the symbol of the soaring spirit, our higher nature, higher truths, and a movement beyond the yoke of the material to a closer connection with the Creator. What Nostradamus implies is that at this point in our history, we are not yet at the point of soaring as the eagle, but rather we are still caught up in the good versus evil, Christ will come and save us mind set.

In Christianity the peacock is both a symbol of immortality and human vanity. Nostradamus has one foot of the peacock on the hour glass. We are being told that the time of human vanity and the time of waiting for some kind of salvation will come to and end in this era. This does not mean there will be a “second coming” as promised by religious institutions. It means that the idea of such a belief is coming to an end. It is only human vanity to think that some god has singled man out for special treatment.

“Quetzalcoatl, called Kukulcan and Gugumatz among the Mayans, was not merely an historical figure to the Ancient Mexicans but he was a figure that united spirit and matter. The quetzal bird represented the spiritual urge to take flight and transcend the bounds of corporeal existence and the serpent represented being grounded in physical reality to the rhythms and cycles of nature.” (NEXUS 2006). Nostradamus knew the meaning of the plumed serpent. He also knew that the serpent symbolized wisdom and higher vibrations. He further knew that the story of Quetzalcoatl fortold the destruction of the Mayan civilization and an eventual return of truth and light. The man with the plumed headgear is Quetzalcoatl. Note the cross on the pant leg. Was it not the Christian zeal that destroyed the Central American civilization? So here we have two references to a return of something. Of importance is that the feathered man holds the serpent. Is he putting the serpent on the wheel, or taking it off? In the true Tarot the serpent is descending on the left side of the wheel; widom descending into matter. In the Nostradamus image, the serpent is ascending. The serpent’s head is looking west; symbol of the end of day, sunset, the end of what has gone before.

The next different symbol is the phoenix. The phoenix is the symbol or rebith and transformation. It goes through the cycles that are representative of this Tarot key. Fortunately, the phoenix is rising. Again, the allusion to change and transformation in our time. Note also that it rises from the ball and looks with disdain at the crown.

The bottom figure is a prince or king or leader who wears the royal purple. The prince has lost his crown. He is attempting to clean the blue ball, the earth. This represents the current efforts of ineffective leaders to sweep the planet of its ills. The lost crown indicates that the efforts are to no avail. Does this sound familiar? From one end of the globe to the other; from one major issue to another, world leaders have been unable and unwilling to address major societal, environmental and political concerns.

Some of the meanings of the Lion are obvious: strength, cunning, pride, voracity, power, primal instinct and rulership. The Lion is also the symbol of Christ consciousness, the sun, and also greed. The Lion has a crook around an image of the Pope. An image that reveals the inner nature of the Church’s thirst for power with a head and crown but a body of a dog, ready to scavenge off the fears of the unsuspecting. The Christ symbol, the light of Leo, the sun, is attempting to control the symbol of religious authority. So who is the man that is pulling on the tail of the Lion? The clue is on his back. There we see an “X,” the original cross that precedes that of Christianity, a cross of suffering and pain. To either side of the cross are two pillars. For those familiar with the esoteric and masonary, you will understand that it is the intitated who are trying to return the lion to its proper place on the image. In Roman numerals, the “X” equals the number 10, which is the Tarot number for the Wheel of Fortune. But it is something more. The “X” is symbolic of 2012 when the earth and our solar system “crosses” the galactic plane, the end, or beginning, of a new cycle for the planet and all that dwells thereon. It is said that “all that is hidden will be revealed.” The current surge in spiritual thought, orchestrated by mystical organizations, is leading the way to a great tranformation. The New Age, Now Age, The Secret, Waking God, and other events and books represent an explosion of re-kindled ideas of the true and divine inner nature of man. Notice that the figure is not attempting to stop the Lion in its efforts to subdue dogma. It merely seeks to return the Lion to its proper place in the circle and cycle of time. Notice that the color of the serpent and the pants of the mystic are green, the colors of love and healing.

And now we come to the arm extending from the top right. Many say that it is the hand of God. This is not correct. The arm extends from the position in the Tarot reserved for man. This is not the physical man, but rather the spiritual man, the higher self, super consciousness. The arm emerges from a cloud, a symbol of spirit. The cuff is of royal color and holds a crook that extends to the center of the wheel. The connection of the arm to the center reveals man’s connection to the divine. But what is the arm attempting to do? Higher human consciousness is attempting to break, alter, or change the current cycle. A cycle filled with ruinous dogma, fear, greed and confusion.

What is Nostradamus telling us? He speaks to our current time in history. He tells us that the world is in chaos. Our leaders are ineffectual, religion has lost its purpose and that a great transformation is nearing. He indicates that the transfomation is not the result of a mythical “second coming,” but rather must stem from the higher thoughts of man; a man that reconnects mentally with the center of all that is in order to break our cycle of destruction and ignorance. The time is getting getteing close. And, as the Hopi have said, “it is we who we have been waitng for.”

ARE G8 LEADERS TAKING US DOWN A PATH OF DESTRUCTION?

The G8 leaders are leading us down a path of destruction all in the name of money, oil and power. The recent meeting between United States, Japan, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada claimed to make headway in response to mounting concerns and evidence at the rapid pace of global climate change. According to the AP:
The G-8 endorsed cutting global emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2050 and called for emitters to set midterm reduction targets.
Advocates seeking deeper commitments lamented that the countries did set ambitious midterm targets for emissions cuts by 2020.
"At this rate, by 2050 the world will be cooked and the G-8 leaders will be long forgotten," said Antonio Hill, spokesman for Oxfam International, a confederation of organizations that work on climate change, poverty and other causes. "Rather than a breakthrough, the G-8's announcement on 2050 is another stalling tactic," he said.
DEB RIECHMANN,Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, July 9

This is a clear case of politics and special interests taking precedent over science, logic and even compassion. All legitimate scientific data indicates that the pace of climate change is happening much quicker than predicted by most computer models. Mere by reading news reports on sinking island nations, the destruction of coral reefs, increased severity of storms, and growing droughts are clear indicators that doing little to alter our impact on the environment for the next forty years is not a plan of action, but rather a plan of global suicide. Take a look at the recent report about Russia:
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Global warming will sow destruction across Russia and ex-Soviet states, a report said on Tuesday after the world's richest countries issued targets on harmful emissions that environmentalists criticized as too soft

"We must understand that damage caused by climate change is here and now rather than a problem in the distant future, in distant lands," WWF's director in Russia, Igor Chestin, said in a statement alongside the report.
"There's a lot at stake, including our health and even our lives."
Aalok Mehta aboard the C.C.G.S. Amundsen

The comments were made concerning the growing concern over the thawing of the Russian Tundra and its effect on everything from food production to collapsing infrastructure. From the National Geographic News (June, 20, 2008) we read:
Arctic warming has become so dramatic that the North Pole may melt this summer…Models predict that the regions will see temperature increases roughly three times as quickly as the rest of the globe because of an effect known as ice albedo feedback, which occurs when highly reflective ice gives way to dark water.

And, according to AP writer H. JOSEF HEBERT (Jul 8, 2008), “ Seeking to downplay the effects of global warming, Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed to delete references about the consequences of climate change on public health from congressional testimony, a former senior EPA official claimed Tuesday.” Perhaps this is an issue that questions whether or not the world governments should tell the people that an asteroid is about to hit the planet and kill everyone. Do people have the right to know or should we avoid panic and just let it happen without any announcement?

Everyone should be asking the question, “Why the delay in action?” Why are the world’s leading nations afraid to take strong and immediate action to dramatically stem the climatic onslaught now predicted by most major scientific leaders? Things are happening in our solar system, on the Sun and on our planet that will alter human history. While we may not be able to change cosmic events, we can certainly prepare the world for major change. Business as usual can no longer be acceptable practice. Only a few short years will determine if there is anything to the prophecies surrounding 2012. But it is clear today, that things are changing. Why are our politicians stuck in neutral? Whose interests do they serve? Perhaps the internet group “Humanity on Trial.ning.com” should consider indicting the G8 leaders?