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 22 Nov 2002 @ 23:08
The Chalice or the Blade: Choices for our Future
By Riane Eisler
History as conventionally written has been literally the story of men. But if we re-examine our past, taking into account the whole of our history, a very different picture emerges.
People all over the world are today questioning matters that only a few generations ago were generally seen as "just the way things are." Everything, from politics and economics to sexual and family relations, is being re-evaluated. People are even reexamining the roles and relations of the female and male halves ofhumanity. And when people ask, "what does it mean to be a woman?" and "what does it mean to be a man?" They put at issue the most fundamental assumptions about our species and its future.
This questioning of "givens" -- particularly the stereotypical roles and relations of women and men--is not accidental. It is symptomatic of what systems theorists call a period of social disequilibrium a time when fundamental or transformational systems change can occur.
But transformation from what to what? What kind of a social system are we moving toward? What kind of system are we struggling to leave behind? And how does today's struggle over gender roles and relations relate to all this?
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 17 Nov 2002 @ 03:37
From: Riane Eisler 1987 The Chalice and the Blade:
Riane Eisler THE GAIA TRADITION AND THE PARTNERSHIP FUTURE:
AN ECOFEMINIST MANIFESTO
THE LEADING-EDGE social movements of our time-the peace, feminist, and ecology movements, and ecofeminism, which integrates all three-are in some respects very new. But they also draw from very ancient traditions only now being reclaimed due to what British archaeologist James Mellaart calls a veritable revolution in archaeology. These traditions go back thousands of years. Scientific
archaeological methods are now making it possible to document the way people lived and thought in prehistoric times. One fascinating discovery about our past
is that for millennia a span of time many times longer than the 5,000 years conventionally counted as history -prehistoric societies worshipped the Goddess of nature and spirituality, our great Mother, the giver of life and creator of all.
But even more fascinating is that these ancient societies were structured very much like the more peaceful and just society we are now trying to construct. This is not to say that these were ideal societies or utopias. But, unlike our societies, they were not warlike. They were not societies where women were subordinate to men. And they did not see our Earth as an object for exploitation and domination. In short, they were societies that had what we today call an ecological consciousness: the awareness that the Earth must be treated with reverence and respect. And this reverence for the life-giving and life-sustained powers of the Earth was rooted in a social structure where women and "feminine" values such as caring, compassion, and nonviolence were not
subordinate to men and the so-called masculine values of conquest and domination.
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 15 Nov 2002 @ 20:05
Our hear is crying out to us to listen to it...to stop ignoring those uncomfortable feelings. The biggest challenge facing us individually and as a race is not the threat of war, nor environmental degradation, but to come from our hearts..but first we must understand what our heart actually is/does.
Our heart is more than a pump. Researchers are discovering what mystics throughout the ages have known and in these trying times when there is so much fear, anger, and hatred around, its our challenge to realise there we also need to understand just how our heart works and the effects it can have in our lives... for futher info go to www.heartmath.org
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For centuries, the heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom. At the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) Research Center, we are exploring the physiological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain, thereby influencing information processing, perceptions, emotions and health. We are asking questions such as: Why do people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other positive emotional states in the area of the heart and what are the physiological ramifications of these emotions? How do stress and different emotional states affect the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, the heart and brain?
Over the years we have experimented with different psychological and physiological measures, but it was consistently heart rate variability, or heart rhythms, that stood out as the most dynamic and reflective of inner emotional states and stress. It became clear that negative emotions lead to increased disorder in the heart’s rhythms and in the autonomic nervous system, thereby adversely affecting the rest of the body. In contrast, positive emotions create increased harmonyand coherence in heart rhythms and improve balance in the nervous system. The health implications are easy to understand: Disharmony in the nervous system leads to inefficiency and increased stress on the heart and other organs while harmonious rhythms are more efficient and less stressful to the body's systems.
More intriguing are the dramatic positive changes that occur when techniques are applied that increase coherence in rhythmic patterns of heart rate variability. These include shifts in perception and the ability to reduce stress and deal more effectively with difficult situations. We observed that the heart was acting as though it had a mind of its own and was profoundly influencing the way we perceive and respond to the world. In essence, it appeared that the heart was affecting intelligence and awareness.
The answers to many of our original questions now provide a scientific basis to explain how and why the heart affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance and personal effectiveness. Our research and that of others indicate that the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex, self-organized information processing center with its own functional “brain” that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs, and ultimately determine the quality of life......read a small history of heart research More >
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 5 Nov 2002 @ 00:13
There are TWO articles here, both are on oil, the second is an interview with the world's formost expert on oil and the oil business.
The Unseen Conflict
War Plans, Backroom Deals, Leverage and Strategy -- Securing
What's Left of the Planet's Oil Is and Has Always Been the
Bottom Line
by Michael C. Ruppert
© COPYRIGHT 2002, Michael C. Ruppert and FTW Publications, www.copvcia.com all rights reserved. May be reprinted or distributed for non-profit purposes only.]
Oct. 18, 2002, 17:00 PDT (FTW) -- What started out as a blitzkrieg, the Bush agenda for the invasion of Iraq is now producing a world picture that can only be described with one word -- confusing.
It is becoming apparent that outraged world opinion, guided by shrewd public relations efforts of foreign governments (including Iraq), has thrown a curve ball to the ush military plan for a pre-election invasion and occupation
But one curve ball is not a strikeout. The continuing military build up, more frequent air strikes, and the risky covert deployment of combat troops in supposedly neutral regions shows the degree of Washington's commitment to war. These troops are going to be used. Russia, France and hina are only stalling for time, hoping to cut the best backroom deals possible. They're perhaps also hoping that the American Empire will make a fatal mistake or a delay will break Bush's political, popular, and economic support.
Wall Street's 500-plus point rally on the two days of
shameless congressional votes authorizing the use of force
last week clearly signaled what world leaders have known for
some time, and what the American public is seriously beginning to grasp -- the whole thing is about Iraqi oil.
The Associated Press ran a story yesterday indicating that the U.S. had been overwhelmed by global opposition to the invasion of a country second only to Saudi Arabia for its known oilreserves. Iraq is capable of quick production increases even if Saddam tries to destroy his oil fields, as former CIA director James Woolsey recently acknowledged. The story's lead sentence read, "Facing strong opposition from dozens of nations, the United States has backed down from its demandthat a new U.N. resolution must authorize military force if Baghdad fails to cooperate with weapons nspectors, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday."
However, a Reuters story released hours later clearly indicated that the U.S. was playing hardball behind the scenes. "Iraq's main opposition group says a post-Saddam
government would review existing oilfield development deals
with French and Russian companies and could favour U.S. firms instead.
"Sharif Ali Bin Al Hussein, spokesman for the main Iraqi opposition group the Iraqi National Congress (INC), told Reuters in an interview that his group would open the oil sector to all companies, including the U.S. majors. "'We would have to review all contracts which have been signed by this regime to make sure it is in the interest of the Iraqi people and not just for Saddam Hussein,' Hussein said."
Nobody is asking who controls the INC. It's a given. The stakes are incredibly high for Russia. Major press organizations are now acknowledging what FTW has been saying for months. The Bush objective is to drive the price of oil down and simultaneously drive a stake through OPEC, forestalling a further and perhaps catastrophic crash in the U.S. economy. News analyses from Pravda to Fox News have foreseen that a successful U.S. invasion will result in crude oil prices of between $12 and $16 per barrel. Oil currently consts $30 per barrel. That would destroy Russia's economic recovery as it sells hand over fist its own diminishing reserves -- oil that is more expensive to produce and of a lesser quality than Mideast crude, while prices are at $30. Iraq owes Russia $7 billion in debt from the Soviet era.
And on Aug. 19, Russia and Iraq signed a $40 billion infrastructure development deal, which, as reported in the Tehran Times, saw a team of Russian engineers on their way to what may soon be targets of U.S. bombing raids.
Both Russia and France have development interests in major
Iraqi oil fields. The Reuters story reported, "Although
[France's] TotalFinaElf has no contract, it has been earmarked by Saddam's government to develop the Majnoon and Bin Umar fields with reserves totaling 26 billion barrels. [Russia's] Lukoil has signed a contract for the 15 billion-barrel WestQurna field."
The back room deals and implied threats are getting hot and
heavy. On Sept. 5, the Asia Times reported that Russia was
considering an expensive trans-Siberian pipeline to service
China. This would compete with post-9-11 pipeline deals that have been negotiated to send Caspian and Central Asian oil through Afghanistan for the Chinese market under U.S. control.
As FTW noted last month, the World Bank has opened offices in Kabul to facilitate the financing of the U.S.-backed projects. Russia's move may not be much of a threat because Russian oil is inferior to Caspian oil. Also, Russia has long passed its peak of production, which means that as time passes it will be increasingly expensive to produce. The message is clear, however, and a coalition of nations opposed to U.S. Imperial behavior could pull it off.
In the meantime Stratfor, a geopolitical analysis firm, reported that the U.S. is quietly offering a quid pro quo to Russia in the form of a trade off. If Russia will sanction the U.S. invasion, the U.S. will allow Russia a free hand in
Georgia to deal with Chechen and Islamic rebels and presumably a piece of the profits from the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project that just broke ground. It seems like a very little quid for a lot of pro quo.
And in Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal
made a second about face on Monday and once again categorically withdrew any Saudi support for the U.S. war. the timing was possibly influenced by a Council on Foreign
Relations (CFR) report released today that was exceptionally
critical of the Bush Administration for not cracking down on
Saudi Arabia's extensive financial ties to al Qaeda. The CFR
investigation, directed by Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, CEO of
American International Group (AIG), was chartered by the CFR
to be an intelligence analysis of terrorist financing.
Greenberg, a staunch Israeli supporter, is well qualified for this task. In 1996 Bill Clinton floated his name to replace John Deutch as the director of central intelligence.
Greenberg and AIG have been connected by FTW in previous
investigations to suspected money laundering through the
Arkansas Development Financial Authority and to the drug
trade. AIG's San Francisco legal office recently employed the wife of convicted Medellin Cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder.
The CFR criticism of Bush is significant for many reasons.
First, it signals that the CFR is anxious to pursue an agenda that will likely result in the demise of the Saudi kingdom and the division of that country, with the U.S. simultaneously occupying both Iraq and the oil producing regions of Saudi Arabia. FTW predicted this scenario last month.
The significance of a move that would give the U.S. military control of 36 percent of the world's oil is not lost on the rest of the world and it suggests the presence of a much deeper reality. So flimsy are the Bush Administration's frequently changing justifications for war that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jay Bookman wrote a Sept. 29 editorial called "Pax Americana," in which he openly called the U.S. an empire. "The official story on Iraq has never made sense," Bookman wrote. "The connection that the Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such flimsy evidence." He continued to make the point that the administration had no Iraqi exit strategy because it didn't intend to leave. Period. His premise seemed to be, 'Hey, let's stop kidding ourselves. We are an empire and we should go out and act like it.'
But perhaps the most critical element of the post-9-11 landscape, which is made clear by the CFR report, is a sense
of urgency held by major financial players. As FTW has been
saying for a year now, the only way both the urgency and the
frenzy and the near desperation of these moves to carve up the world's oil can be explained is with one simple concept: the world is starting to run out of oil.
Coming cataclysmic global oil and natural gas shortages are
about to become very real, certainly within the next two
years, to everyone on the planet. Those countries that have
access to what oil remains will survive and dominate and those that do not will atrophy and disintegrate. This is a deadly game of musical chairs. It is the kind of unspoken crisis that would compel the U.S. Congress to worship Caligula's horse, forget the Constitution and international law, and sell out completely.
Many have almost worshipped the progressive, seemingly
unassailable credentials and leadership of Sen. John Kerry
from Massachusetts, who is a possible 2004 Democratic nominee for the White House. However, many have charged him with being a privileged member of an elite ruling class. He was educated at Yale and belonged to the secretive Skull and Bones Society, of which both Bush presidents are members.
What one believes about Kerry's background is not significant. What is significant is that he voted for the use of force resolution last week without even a whimper. That vote was noticed and so were many others.
These are strange times. Yesterday's announcement by the State Department that North Korea has a nuclear weapons program is troubling for two reasons. First, it raises all of the obvious questions about whether, if the U.S. isn't really concerned about oil, it will now drop all Iraqi plans and go invade Korea instead. They seem to be closer to building a bomb than Iraq is. But secondly and perhaps most importantly is the fact that, as reported by Stratfor, Pyongyang told the Bush Administration about the nuclear program two weeks ago. Why didn't we hear about it then?
Stratfor suggests that reason is a pending summit between the U.S. and China where one country might be traded for another. But instead it is likely the announcements earlier this year that the two Korea's might unite scares the White House infinitely more. What, then, would be the need for massive U.S. troop deployments in the former South Korea, right next to China?
And isn't it also strange that a number of pipeline plans involving both U.S. and Russian companies that might go
around China and make oil marketable to Japan and South Korea seem to pass through North Korea? Go figure.
We are already being prepared for the Bush Administration's
fallback position if it cannot get the war it wants, when it
wants it. Yesterday, CIA director George Tenet sounded the
clarion call in the last public hearing of the Joint
House-Senate Intelligence Committee examining the 9-11
attacks. "Al Qaeda has reconstituted itself--It is capable of multi-theater operations." Tenet made no bones about the fact that another major attack -- one that will be very convenient for the White House -- is on the way.
The Oct. 12 bombing of a nightclub in Bali that killed many
Australians has not seemed to impact widespread anti-war
sentiment among the people down under. That might well be an
omen for the outcome of the next terrorist attack in the U.S.
We now know that Bush et al knew enough about the last one to prevent it but did not. It has already been shown that
CIA-linked members of the Pakistani intelligence service
helped to fund it; that five of the hijackers received flight training at U.S. military installations; that no fighters were scrambled in time to do anything; and that President Bush lied when he said he had no idea that planes could be used as weapons.
We know that it is a state secret as to whether the
intelligence agencies told Bush what we now know that they
knew.
I hope that this government fully understands how numerous, well-informed, now-seasoned and capable citizens will be watching an attack this time, and how quickly the worldwide networks that have formed in the last year will expose the first scintilla of untruth in the government's actions. I hope this government understands that the "sleeping giant" of the American people is beginning to stir and unite with peoples all around the world who are already awake.
But, as my dear friend Catherine Austin Fitts loves to say,
"Those who win in a rigged game get stupid." And that is
perhaps the most frightening thing of all.
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 3 Nov 2002 @ 20:54
What the American Flag Stands For
by Charlotte Aldebron - aged 12
The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying when the weather is bad. The flag has to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie all over the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.
School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge loyalty to justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promise that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth.
Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag's real meaning remains.
Charlotte Aldebron, 12, wrote this essay for a competition in her 6th grade English class. She attends Cunningham Middle School in Presque Isle, Maine. Comments may be sent to her mom, Jillian Aldebron: aldebron@ainop.com
Read her speech at the peace rally.....
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 3 Nov 2002 @ 19:05
No man enters into physical life cept through the body of woman, for SHE is the birther/giver of life.
Woman as sacred is not something that is historically presented to us in our religious stories. Indeed SHE has been historically presented as evil, the cause of mans sins. For millions of women throughout our world SHE is persecuted simply because SHE is female. In China they kill girl babies, now there are not enough women for the men to marry, so little regard for the female do they have.
In the East SHE has to be covered from head to foot, simply because men see her as the temptress, as wanton sexuality, yet who is it who has Harems, and multiple wives. Women are made to account for the males un accountability, for his own lust that he cannot control, she must be made to cover herself.
All over this world women are classed as inferior, and although this is changing and threatening men’s' absolute control, She nevertheless is often subject to his abuse. Yet NO man comes into physical life without first coming through women. SHE is the creatix, the GODDESS.
women and men are complementary to each other, yet our religious story does not present that, and so an insidious duality and dysfunction arises in the minds of men, and a sorrow sits in the hearts of women, for she is tired of contorting herself to some male defined way of being, SHE is tired of living in a male defined world that is fast taking us as a race to the brink of social and environmental chaos.
SHE forgets she is the life giver, SHE forgets she has a powerful place and powerful voice in the world
SHE forgets that the feminine principal is the active principal of love, nurture, compassion and peace
SHE forgets that she has a Name
....WOMAN.....SHE.....HER...SISTER
SHE forgets that she is sacred,
SHE forgets that she is powerful, strong and wise
SHE does not recognise that men fear her if she was to remember all these things
SHE does not understand that in order to keep her in their world and at their whim, she must not remember who she is, and they will try every mental and emotional trick in the book to keep her from escaping and finding her most sacred and powerful self
Yet the time has come for men to understand his loss, for that is what happens when he denies the sacredness of women, when he demeans her, he looses his opportunity to know love, wisdom and joy.
SHE is the mother of the world
SHE is the great cosmic mother in the flesh, and although she has forgotten herself, and although she acts tough to be in the mans world.....deep inside of her there is a growing awareness, an incoherent niggle that SHE is sacred, that she is strong, and that she does belong
SO ARISE SACRED WOMAN AND SPEAK YOUR WORDS OF WISDOM IN THESE, OUR TURBULENT TIMES SO THAT MEN MAY HEAR AND UNDERSTAND, THAT YOU HAVE AWOKEN TO YOUR SELF and that you are ready to stand in complementary partnership with him, that he need not fear you any longer nor keep you oppressed via your own ignorance. Give him the opportunity of understanding your compassion, to see your wisdom and feel the strength of your convictions so that he may choose to stand beside you and not in front of you.
This is an exciting time in history
GATHER THE WOMEN.........a international call for all women....read more here.... More >
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 3 Nov 2002 @ 18:42
This is the age of transfromation, an age of awarness, and an age of awakening, the age of conscious action. Welcom to part 2 of TRUTH, JUSTICE and WISDOM.
Ever wondered in this insane, yet potentially awesome world of ours, how other Nations give their consent to war, despite objections and protests form their own citizens... well this is how daddy Bush did it in the first war on Iraq, so I guess the road has been paved for Jnr.....read this article by John Pilger More >
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 2 Nov 2002 @ 20:01
Greetings everyone.
Who are or what is truth justice and wisdom.... well long ago they were three goddess, or the three fates..but today however, they have been forgotten in favour of greed, aragence and war. However the return of the feminine essence in the form of these three most overlooked goddess is returning...not just in women, but in men..in humainity as a whole....
She the symbol of JUSTICE is returning, with her she will bring TRUTH and together they will inspire WISDOM to stand with them.
Today in our world, every ordinary individual is forced to be accountable for their actions, no matter how small, whether it be avoiding paying your taxes, or runing a red light or driving without a current license...what ever it is there is someone to enforce some law whereby you will be forced to be accountable AND responsible for your actions.
However this is not so the further up the chain you go. Those in power who hold positions of influence have committed crimes against humainty in our name.
Under the guise of whatever office they hold they have got away with crimes that you and I as ordinary citizens would not. We need to understand the unlevel gobal playing field we are living in. We need to understand more about the people we are calling president..indeed the people behind the president need to be revealed for all to see and made accountable for their actions to their peers, (us) in a court of law, just as you or I would be.
Corporations and Industry who continue to use the rest of our world to their own advantages, will also stand accountable.
I will attempt to bring to you various articles over the course of the coming weeks in which you can see for yourself the extent of the actions of these so called leaders.
To do so is the ultimate form of love for humainty, for make no mistake it is a deep seated love for all life that these people need to be exposed and made accountable..and it is up to each and every one of us to expose the deciet and usher in the goddess of TRUTH JUSTIC AND WISDOM
Thus if we raise our voices from a point of knowledge and stand united, we may just be able to usher in a world where we can all live in harmony without fear of exploitation by our own governments.....
As an aside, for those of you who do not beleive in conspiracy theories...realise that for the past 20 or 30 years many if not all the conspircay theory's have become FACT...ONE the definitons of fact is...undeinable, often unpleasant TRUTH...with this in mind read Part 1 in this on going action. We can remain ignorant no longer. More >
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 31 Oct 2002 @ 22:01
Eco-Economy Update 2002-15 Please share with a friend or colleague.
For Immediate Release
Copyright Earth Policy Institute 2002
October 31, 2002
FUEL CELL-POWERED CARS HITTING THE ROAD AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
[link]
Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts
On April 2, 2001, Ballard Power Systems, the world leader in fuel cell
production, announced a sale of $16 million of fuel cell modules and
support
services to the Honda Motor Company. In September and December, 2001,
Ballard concluded two agreements with Ford Motor Company to provide $66
million of the same fuel cells and services.
The fuel cell economy is developing much faster than expected, as the
competition among companies intensifies. This momentum in developing
clean
sources of electricity for vehicles, as well as homes and businesses,
holds
the promise of a cleaner energy future, bringing us one step closer to
an
eco-economy. More >
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"Someday, after we have mastered the waves, the tides and gravity, we will activate the energies of LOVE, and for the second time in history we will have discovered fire"
Piere Teilohard de Chardin
"The world is a dangerous place to live - Not because of the people who are evil - but the people who don't do anything about it "
ALBERT EINSTIEN |
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