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 5 Feb 2005 @ 21:21
I'm posting this although I know that very few really care at all. If this were not true it would be shown in our progression and way of life, and history would not have repeated itself in such detail.
So many say they care, and love, and send the highest benefit and love to all, but their actions and psychic vibrations show that it is all a facade and nothing more than an ego boosting, image saving tactic...NOTHING more, NOTHING less.
Yeah I am sure I will get a lot of flack for saying this, and the article that follows will be ignored, because the evolution/progression of the human species and the planet earth surely pale in comparison to the egos that will stand up and defend their right to be liars.
*******
Vietnam 1967 & Iraq 2005: using elections to justify criminal wars
By Bill Van Auken
5 February 2005
Voters turned out in unexpectedly high numbers, defying terrorists in an act of collective bravery that marked a historic triumph in the struggle for democracy and a turning point in the long and bloody US military operation thousands of miles from American shores.
Iraq, January 2005? No, this was the story pitched by the government and the US media to the American public more than 37 years ago after the people of South Vietnam went to the polls in an election engineered by Washington to legitimize its imperialist intervention in that country.
While the differences between Vietnam and Iraq are many, the similarities between the way in which Washington organized, manipulated and exploited elections in both countries to further its own strategic aims are all too evident.
“US encouraged by Vietnam Vote,” was the headline of the New York Times September 4, 1967, the day after the ballots were cast.
“United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of the turnout in South Vietnam’s presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.”
Washington and its puppet regime claimed an 83 percent turnout among the 5.85 million South Vietnamese registered voters.
“The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the national election,” the Times added.
The day after the vote, the administration of US President Lyndon Johnson hailed the election as a “major step forward,” declaring that the South Vietnamese people had expressed their democratic will and “deserve our support.”
Substituting the word “Iraq” for “Vietnam,” the same news stories, editorials and speeches could have been dusted off this past week and reused virtually unchanged.
In her incisive 1972 book on the US intervention in Vietnam, Fire in the Lake, Frances Fitzgerald commented on the way in which the Johnson administration and the media presented the Vietnamese election to the American people:
“The message, as received by the American public, was that the United States was generously bringing all the virtues of its own political system to this underdeveloped country, that it was creating a democracy to win the Vietnamese people away from Communist totalitarianism. So clear was the message that none of the distinguished Americans arriving to view the elections remembered that the embassy and the Ky government agreed to elections in the first place only under the threat of defection of the entire northern half of the country and total anarchy in Saigon.”
Once again, the parallels are striking. While Bush basks in the reflected glory of the turnout at the Iraqi polls, virtually no one in the media bothers to recall the unpleasant fact that Washington agreed to the election only under duress. It was organized in order to defuse a full-scale uprising by the Shiite population, whose principal religious figure, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, had demanded a popular vote. Initially, the US administration planned on installing its stooge Ahmed Chalabi and similar CIA operatives in power. Later, occupation authority chief Paul Bremer hatched a plan for a handpicked US council to form a government.
Having been forced to hold such an election—both in Vietnam and Iraq—the US administration turned it into a propaganda vehicle designed to suppress the mounting popular opposition at home to American military intervention.
Which of these two elections represented a greater travesty is a hard call. In Vietnam, the vote was run under the combined thumbs of the US military—whose numbers were climbing toward the half-million mark—and the corrupt and repressive South Vietnamese military junta of Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky. Prospective candidates deemed to be communists or “neutralists” were barred from running.
In the end, despite these tight controls, the US-backed generals failed to win a majority of the vote, securing a plurality only through frenzied last minute stuffing of the ballot boxes. Opposition candidates who protested the election as illegitimate were jailed.
While the results of the Iraq vote are yet to be announced, the process is if anything even less legitimate. Held under a military occupation resulting from an illegal war of aggression, the organization of the vote is itself the continuation of a war crime. It was prepared without any semblance of an election campaign in which rival programs were put before the Iraqi people. Even the names of the bulk of the candidates were kept secret until the day ballots were cast.
And, as even the US media cannot conceal, the process was largely boycotted by the Sunnis, who make up 20 percent of Iraq’s population and have played the central role in Iraqi political life for over a century.
More fundamentally, it is inherently impossible for a people occupied by a foreign power that exercises an unrestrained military dictatorship to make anything approaching a democratic decision.
There is no doubt that in Vietnam, as in Iraq, people turned out to vote for their own reasons. In both countries, one of the principal motivations was the conception that the election could somehow lead to the end of the killing and the withdrawal of US occupation forces.
In Vietnam, any popular illusions on this score were quickly dashed. As Fitzgerald noted in her book, “However they voted, whatever they said, the generals and the Americans would continue to rule the country. Rather than ‘train them in democracy,’ the elections of 1966-1967 convinced the Vietnamese that elections were useless as a means of settling political conflicts.”
Needless to say, the same will prove true in Iraq. Washington has poured some $300 billion into its war and occupation. It has created a series of structures and appointed a collection of stooges to assure itself a tight grip over the country’s economic and political life—and above all its huge oil reserves—no matter what the outcome of the vote or the decisions of the national assembly that emerges from it. It is not about to relinquish this control.
What followed the Vietnam election and the Johnson administration’s claims of a “major step forward” is instructive. Within less than five months came the Tet offensive of January 1968. The coordinated attacks by Vietnamese liberation fighters against cities and towns as well as US bases across the country came as a shock to the American public and forced Johnson to withdraw his name from nomination for reelection that year.
It also gave rise to a vast intensification of the war. This included the CIA’s Operation Phoenix, which killed anywhere between 20,000 and 70,000 suspected members of the National Liberation Front together with their families and neighbors and the murderous bombing campaigns in both the North and the South, including the use of napalm, Agent Orange and other chemical weapons.
There is every reason to expect that the Iraqi elections will be followed by a similarly bloody escalation of US attacks. There is already open discussion within the US national security establishment of launching a Phoenix-style campaign of wholesale assassinations as a means of suppressing the mounting popular resistance. And the use of air power against the hostile population has grown increasingly indiscriminate.
The elections are no more a signal of US success in Iraq than all the other “turning points” previously cited by the Bush administration, from the fall of Baghdad to the end of “major combat operations,” the capture of Saddam Hussein and the installation of the supposedly “sovereign” Iraqi Interim Government headed by the CIA asset Iyad Allawi.
The killing will continue until US imperialism’s colonial venture is defeated by the Iraqi people’s resistance and the independent struggle of American working people against the war and those who conspired to wage it.
See Also:
WSWS replies to letters on Iraq’s election and the US occupation
[4 February 2005]
The American media and the Iraq election
[2 February 2005]
The Iraq election: a travesty of democracy
[27 January 2005]
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The WSWS invites your comments.
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World Socialist Web Site
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 26 Dec 2004 @ 18:53
How Do I Explain the Path I Have Chosen?
I am writing this to explain, via a question, what my life has become,how it has evolved, the meaning of this to me and ultimately to everyone on this planet. The question in it's full length would read: How do I explain the path I have chosen in this life, on a planet that does not acknowledge the importance of the soul, consciousness, and the true meaning of why we are here?
Where do I even begin to explain such a phenomena? I'll start with the decison I made 4 years ago that would change the course of my life and,in all honesty, I did not realize it's implications at the time. It was on December 18, 2000 that I left all I knew and loved dearly..... my family, friends and home. In my ignorance and participation in the world consciousness I thought I was leaving merely for the possibility of a new relationship with a man, who had the same focus and interests in life, and that I only knew through the internet and phone conversations. I had the presence of mind at the time to know he was truly on the spiritual path I so longed for, but I didn't see or know just how life changing that would be. I also couldn't fathom just how much I would learn in the next 4 years, making it impossible to ever go back.
Through most of this incarnation on earth, I was always on a search for more than what life/society seemingly had to offer. If one looked at my life they would have thought it was complete in all it's aspects. I had a kind, good and loving husband, two wonderful children that I love more than life itself, and a career that I felt a passion for. Then what could possibly be missing and worth searching for? At the time I didn't know exactly what it was, I only knew that deep down within my soul, something was amiss, something just wasn't quite right.
There was really nothing offered by the world that could fill this empty void within me. I couldn't explain it myself. Now I see that we play so many "roles" in life. We are taught so many misguided beliefs and values, the results of which are our heads being filled with programming, beliefs and standards. The truth of the matter is that we are being led down a dark and ugly alley with no way out except from within. Almost everything that the societies of the world covet are leading us into a place of despair, a place that has no value on our true essence, the soul, and a place that leaves us in a cycle of karma with no end.
Most words have lost their true meanings and impact... and karma is one such word. It has come to mean something you must experience, correct or change from past lives or past deeds in this life. There is rarely talk of truly changing your karma and how to do that. For example, if you killed someone in another life, you may be killed in this life or must improve the karma with love in some way in order to improve or change it. How can one change their karma if they are living life after life and day after day in the same way with the same values?
The true meaning of the word, comes from the Natural Law of Karma, which is cause and effect, pure and simple. To every action there is a reaction. Every deed, focus, thought, act and intention has an effect on the world via the unified field at large. What you focus on, you become. These are not trivial words, these are Truth***. Focus on building your ego/image and that is what will be done. Believe all that is spoon fed to you from the day you are born, without question, and you will probably lose your naturally logical mind and all/most sanity. Does that sound extreme or judgemental? Then I suggest you take a moment to contemplate what I just wrote objectively for a moment. As you do this be aware of the feelings in your body, for in this way you will see how apparently and fundamentally true the statements are and that the focus of most cultures is just wrong! (You may actually feel tension and/or fear upon reading the words, but this your body's way of telling you that there is something to fear, not something to ignore.) These worldly goals and focuses do very little for the soul, which is our true essence and most of the world operates according to false beliefs, assumption, focuses and faith. It therefore appears that the whole world is sane and I am insane. This could not be further from the truth, although in a world gone crazy, the sane person will be the one believed quite mad.
Let me reiterate some things I have written in the past. A few quick examples of the many "programs" we are taught....
We are taught to live a life led by "schedules". We get up at a certain hour, we eat meals at designated times, we attend school, we go to work.
We strive to make a "better life" through prestige, image, possessions.
We are taught that we can't "make" it without an education (which is mostly only memorization of other peoples ideas, and not a true expansion of consciousness, creativity, learning or progression).
We watch images on television that tell us how to think, dress, act, when to laugh, when to cry, and that in the long run shorten our attention spans.
We are told by the media what is going on in the world (in about 60 seconds) or to put it more bluntly, we told by the media what they want us to know and believe about what is going on in the world.
We are told that our bodies are just "machines" that can be changed and/or cured via surgery and medicines, that usually kill more than heal.
We follow religious beliefs, rituals and traditions as if they are the Truth without question. We celebrate "holidays" through obligation because the culture we live in tells us to do so. (I have always wondered how Christmas has anything do with Christ really). Where is it written that Christ told us to have Christmas trees and spend more money than most of us can afford to celebrate His Coming. What has Santa Claus got to do with the teachings of Christ? Where in the frenzy of "holiday shopping and joy" do we acknowledge and live by the principles He tried to impart to the world? And my final question...how many truly live the life that Christ lived and emulated in any remote way?
To put it bluntly our spirits have been dying a long slow death, and it is done so meticualously, that we don't even realize it, or quite honestly, we don't want to realize it. That is just too much for most minds to look at and admit. We have strayed so far from our true essence that to see the changes that need to ocurr and/or admit how far we have strayed, is just too scary and too life (style) threatening.
Let me go on to say that to most who know me, I look quite insane or "evil" because I broke many of societies rules and guidelines. I left my children and I cheated on my husband. Although my children were not babies anymore, I abandoned them none the less.
I was so confused and frightened that I went outside of myself to search for another soul that would understand, and therefore "betrayed" my husband. In reality, my only betrayal was in not telling the truth as it happened. If I had been of sane mind, pure intent and best benefit for all, I would have been upfront with my husband at the time instead of sneaking around with another man. If I had the presence of mind and crystal clear clarity, I would have explained to my children that I had to leave to save my soul, even it meant pain and anguish for all involved. But I didn't have the clarity, honesty and straightforwardness that was needed. Therefore, I kept up my image for as long as I could and then I ran.
Let's pause here for a moment and ask this important question.... are any of these things ( clarity, honesty and straightforwardness) valued in our society? Isn't it true that image is all that matters and therefore why search for the Truth or the true meaning of life? Many even believe that there is no truth to find. The ultimate excuse for not living by truth is the cliche': There is "your" truth and there is "my truth". This has baffled me to a point of frustration and anger, because if there is no such thing as Truth then there is no such thing as a lie. What a ludicrous idea and concept! Sorry folks, but I cannot imagine a universe operating as it does on such misguided precepts. I have been through many discussions in the past concerning this topic and the conclusion I always come to is that just because humans don't see or know the truth, in no way means or implies that it doesn't exist. Humans are not the beginning and end of knowledge and wisdom. The Universe would operate quite well (and possibly better) without them.
So now how do I convey to you what I have learned? How many will take any of this seriously based on my past and because of miguided beliefs. How do I pour into these words the passion, yearning, and ultimate need to stay on this path?
These past 4 years have been more difficult than I can explain. I have felt the agony, yes agony, of being separated from my children. In a society that cares mostly for image, how would it have been possible to explain to anyone, the despair and anguish I felt before leaving my young adult children, (and all that was familiar) even though I loved them dearly? How do I explain to them or anyone the importance of soulic growth and awareness in a world that cares my very little or nothing for such things. Even the most spiritual people I have met are not truly practitioners because the focus of consciousness expansion, soulic evolution, Truth, higher states of love and clairy are not their first priority in life. If it were the most important aspect of their lives, they would NOT spend MOST of their time in pursuit of career, education, notoriety, money, posessions etc. The bottom line is that if one is absolutely honest about the population's focus, it can be stated that most people care predominantly about how much money one makes, what kind of career one has, how one looks, and how many degrees one has etc. Then there is the facade of how one does seemingly acts of kindness and goodness when the intent and feeling behind these acts betray them, because if they really were out to do the highest benefit, one would only feel love and positivity. Another question begs t9 be asked..how can one "act" happy and/or nice, no matter what is going on inside themselves? It always seemed to me that everyone had the answer except me. They could laugh, work, do countless activities regardless of what turmoil was churning inside. They always "acted" in a positive way, but the feeling space around them felt downcast, nervous, angry, and/or a bit chaotic.
This all important focus for "image" is apparently true for if it wasn't, there would NOT be the need for so many medications to keep up the "facade". There is a treasure trove of meds for every ailment from high blood pressure to depression and "mood stabilization". This charade goes on to say that acting happy or nice is considered having a positive attitude, when in truth it is just dishonest. It is all really a negative attitude because the truth is being ignored, therefore avoided, and that is really a definition for a negative attitude.
The intent/feeling emanating from a person is another thing never or rarely discussed, the true feeling and the psychic vibe that is continuously and constantly felt. If one takes the time to notice, it is very obvious when a person is putting on an act to look good or appear aggreeable and forthcoming. Just listening to the tone of a voice reveals volumes. Again, it is image...as long as you look good, act in a correct manner and say the correct things, then you are a "good person". It matters not how the space or the energy coming from a person/people feels. This is rarely, if ever, talked about and never discussed to any true resolution. Being real means being part of the crowd, accepted on the basis of false images and dishonesty. I know this will bring up protests from many, but say what you will, the truth won't change because you don't like it. Some will say that "psychic vibe" doesn't really exist, and to them I say then it is obvious that you have never felt love from or for another person, never felt the "tension" in the air during an argument and/or never had the courage to face and acknowledge all that you truly feel.
I have also felt guilt and despair at destroying a marriage and hurting a man I loved for many years. This coupled with the yearning to be near my kids, has also slowed me considerably on this path, but the path of the spirit only follows Truth. The path (Truth) really doesn't care how one feels, if one is uncomfortable or if one's life is totally disrupted. It is still the truth regardless of what it implies or how it disrupts one "comfort zone". In other words, following a path of spiritual progress and evolution and not materialism, ego, consumerism etc. is what is desparately needed for your soul, no matter how uncomfortable, scary, painful, disruptive, confusing, etc it is.
I still have a tendency to fluctuate between soul and ego. I still fall into the ways of the world and don't see with clarity and respect for what is true. This ocurrs less than before and I come out of it more quickly then in the past, but it is part of the inertia that still exists within my karma here on earth. Inertia is also a natural law that states (somewhat) that a moving object will continue to move in a certain direction unless a force of greater or equal intensity will change it. Old ways/habits/beliefs/modes/thoughts etc have inertia. Unless you are deliberate and focus on change, the inertia will stop you from making any true and lasting change. Action does speak louder than words. Affirm all you like, state what you intend to do all you like, think about what you want to do all you like, but unless you DO it, take action every minute making the necessary changes, and continue to do it until the inertia is overcome, nothing will change permanently.
I have fluctuated and teeter tottered between the ways of the world and the spiritual path for four years now. I have felt as one living in between two worlds. I had all the excuses for going off the path, such as....
I must right the wrongs I have done in hurting my family,
I am a mother first and therefore must return to my children, my remorse and sadness is so strong, I cannot go on in this way,
No one will understand or want to talk to me therefore I have to stay the way I am/was,
If I don't live in the way the world says I should, how will I survive?
I can't take the way people look at me or think of me because of what I have done and the way I live,
The spiritual path is not as much fun as activities that most people enjoy (this is the lamest excuse, I tried going back to watching tv, having trivial conversations, going out to comedy/dance clubs and/or other such activities and I always felt empty and regretful after.
The bottom line of the truth is that my soul has been awakened and brought into awareness and no matter how hard I try, I can't go back, because I see the futility of it and want to experience higher levels/states of love, clarity, expansion and wisdom. Whenever I try to return, I feel intense fear, pain and discomfort. I then ask these fundamental questions....If I don't do this, who will? If I don't do as I say, then I am a hypocryte and dishonest, therefore how can I convey these important truths to anyone else? How can I help anyone if I am not whole within myself? I just read in a book by Lynn Andrews that one cannot change or enlighten anyone if they are at the same level of consciousness as the people they are helping. If one is at the same level of consciousness, then they will only mirror them. If I only speak of the soul and the true purpose of life and don't practice it in every action, thought and deed to the best of my ability, (focusing on this over all else) then how can I be an example and transmit this knowledge to anyone else. This isn't a part time job, or hobby or pasttime...this is what life is all about.
I am reminded of the movie, "What Dreams May Come", if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Briefly, it is about the love of a couple and how their souls and love continues after death. The husband (Robin Williams) dies in a car accident and subsequently his wife ends her life through suicide. Robin Williams is in "heaven", or higher state of consciousness, when he receives the news of Annie's death. She is stuck in a lower plane of consciousness and doesn't even realize she is dead. She is miserable in a dark, damp place that resembles her home on earth and cannot see a way out. Robin goes to her, traveling through many planes of consciousness to "rescue" her. She doesn't recognize him because he is in a higher plane of awareness and she can't see "UP". Therefore he decides to stay with her, lowering his state of consciousness so that she will recognize him, throughout eternity. This decision brings him down into this lower plane of awareness bringing with it fear and pain, and ultimately erases all the knowledge on the higher planes from where he just came. Therefore, he falls into the despair that she lives in, forgetting all else and seeing no way out. My point is this: The state of consciousness one is in, will determine how much one knows, Sees and learns. If you are in a lower state, you will not have the clarity or height to truly See. One can intend into place the quest for higher/more expansive knowledge, but in a lower state of consciousness there is a good chance they won't see the potential at all. This is the state of planet earth today in relation to human consciousness. It is at a level where it does not even see the potential of the spirit/essence and therefore doesn't strive to change. Humans (most) believe that this is the way it is and there is no other way. This couldn't be farther from the truth, it is only the level of awareness that we find ourselves in, here on this planet at this time. It is NOT true throughout the cosmos and it is not the intent of God***** or what we are here to do.
But again I feel lacking in my explanation of this. I cannot convey to the reader the importance and truth of this, I can only intend to express it to you and hope that someone will take this seriously enough to make changes and look deeper into it. Your soul knows the truth of all this, your mind, which is stuck in false beliefs, false values, false knowledge, false standards****, is key to what is holding you back at this moment. You are also stuck in the consciousness/awarenss level of the world mind*, a lower vibration that holds one back from Seeing and knowing higher states. As long as one lives and follows what the rest of their peers, family, countryman, religious sects etc believes, then they are aligned with that group mind** and it's level of consciousness and will have a difficult time seeing any other way. Those are the two things holding you back....NOTHING ELSE!
Now you may want to ask me...what have you accomplished? What have you learned? To write all I have learned would take numerous pages filling volumes of books, (perhaps in future articles) but I will tell you this. I have Seen why we are here and I have Seen what my true essence is. I have experienced raising the consciousness within myself and the immediate area and Seeing/feeling the difference without a doubt. I have seen my true essence and know the potentials therein. I have felt love that was higher and more intense than ever felt before. This was a pure soulic love that cannot be felt within the lower consciousness of the human consciousness. (to just name a few)
I have often felt unworthy of such feelings and Seeings, but this is what our soul knows, it is only our minds that keeps us from this knowing. This was NOT my imagination, it was real and it is true. If more people focused on such things, we could change the world. This is NOT my ego talking. I don't feel more important, superior or falsely elated. I am only expressing to you my experiences and thoughts in the hopes that it will awaken some spark within you to take action and change the course of your life resulting in the evolution of your soul.
The person who has changed my life and lead me onto this path is Matthew Webb, the founder and author of The World Mind Society. I have had the priviledge of living with him and experiencing all/most of what he has seen and written about. I have run from him and the path more than I care to admit. Many would say that I am putting him on a pedestal and/or I am brainwashed, and/or I belong to a cult. Believe what you like, I know what I have Seen, experienced and what my soul yearns to do. I have contemplated, meditated, journaled, gone on visionquests, walked in the woods and on the beach. I have silenced the chatter in my mind. I have had debates with myself on which way to live, and I tried over and over again to go back to the way I used to live. I have listened to the feelings in my body and the messages from within and it all comes to the same conclusion. Live the life you are meant to live, get out of the karma you have incurred and let your spirit soar to heights no human has possibly ever experienced here on earth.
Other arguments that people will bring up in relation to staying on the path with Mat is that I am just afraid to be alone, or your ego is hurt because you are not with him. I have delved into all those feelings and yes they have been true in the past and yes there is still some inertia and truth to those statements. But I am exerting equal or greater force to change that inertia. Because what is love? Is it the ownership of another person? Does it mean that just because you feel love for someone that you have control and ownership of that person? If you truly love another, you want the best benefit for that person, under any circumstance. I want to be with Matthew when he ascends to higher consciousness and breaks through the low vibration of this planet, which he has done and has shown me on many ocassions. I want to be an integral part of assisting him and he assisting me to reach such heights, because I know this is of highest and best benefit for him, me, the planet and the cosmos. This conclusion did not come quickly or easily. This is the conclusion of my soul and I had to tell my mind to take a chill pill and shut up in order to come to it.....it took four years...and it is still evolving and progressing, but I am finally freeing myself more and more from the level of human consciousness (world mind) and experiencing the heights that our souls are here to accomplish. This cannot be expressed fully in words, these must be experienced!
Contrary to popular belief, NOT everything is as it should be. It is that way because of our intentions, focus, inertia, karma and actions. We truly do have the power to heal ourselves, live cooperatively throughout the world, have a high vibration that naturally enlightens us with love, clarity and knowledge. It does NOT have to feel the way it does now in our everyday lives. Positivity can be a natural way of being, not a forced way of thinking. Good/pure intention can prevail and not be of a selfish or competitive nature. A popular notion on this planet is that we must stay "busy" to keep our minds active and stay young. Well, there would be nothing to "busy" ourselves with because we would always be busy with new knowledge, higher states of love and clarity and the potential to always go higher and to know more. What could be more exciting and more important to do?
As I said, I have had the priviledge and honor to live with Matt and gain from his focus, knowledge, clarity and intention. Why I have been the one to do this, I don't know, but I do know that I See his soul and know what it is he is striving to do. I strongly suggest that you read the articles in his World Mind Society Library at: [link] seriously. Read one article at a time, meditate on it, contemplate it and DO IT! This is all the knowledge you or anyone will ever need. As a suggestion, start with The Perpetual Raising Series, then Lessons of the Soul, then go wherever your soul leads you. I implore you to take the information seriously and not as you would any "new age" articles found on the web. This is not "channeled" by some obscure Archangel, alien or Being. All the writings are based on experience and are NOT theory. We are blessed that there is a Soul here on earth that lived his life doing, Seeing, experiencing and writing about what is the only important and relevant focus there is. Read about group mind, world mind and what consciousness is.....have you ever thought of these things before? After reading bring your awareness onto these important aspects of life. They are indisputable. The only reason it is never mentioned is because it is not focused on. The knowledge is there for all of us, if only we would stop our foolish whims and ways and take the time to look. What could be more important? Your job? School? Watching TV? I say quit your job, quit school and learn what is most important, in fact the only important things. You say you can't? You have a mortagage to pay, have to eat, the price of living is too high? My answer to that is that there are many places to live that are less expensive, there are different more practical lifestyles, sell your house and get on with what your soul wants you to do. If you need more information on doing this then read "The Survivalists Guide for the New Millenium" a book in the WMS library.
It takes courage and clarity to change one's life in such a manner, and I know all too well from experience, the pitfalls, the fears, the guilt, the pain of doing it. But I also know the rewards and these are universal throughout the cosmos. These are the potential of every soul on this planet, if one has the clarity and courage to pursue them. These are what the purpose of life is all about, it is not mysterious and there is NOTHING more important to do. By living and doing such things, you help others to lift out of their doldrums and have the potential to do it also.
All paths have their bumps and detours. The bumps of the spiritual path is inertia. The detours are the ways and the level of the world mind/consciousness. At times it may seem hard and hopeless, but once you get through each pitfall, you see the Light at the end of the tunnel and your soul knows joy, peace and a love that cannot be described in words...it must be experienced. The choice is yours....tell your mind to chill, listen and just observe the beatings of your heart and the voice of your soul. and.....if nothing else, have the courage to read the articles in The World Mind Society.
Sandi Hunter spellscaster9@yahoo.com
**Quoted definitions from the glossary on The World Mind Society: [link]
**Group Mind: A phenomena and principle of nature that is the joining of constituent elements of consciousness into cohesive systems, whose whole is geometrically greater than the sum of its parts. The synthesis of member minds in a psychic alignment, which acts in entity-like fashion above and beyond those members. See earthmind and world mind...
Group Mind Principle: A group mind is that synthesis of Energies, Awarenesses and Intents of component individuals into an expanded whole, that is geometrically greater thatn the sum of its parts, as factored by the number and level of consciousness of its comprising individuals.
also can be found in The Group Mind Series in The World Mind Society Library
*World Mind: The planet wide group mind of humanity as a species. The currently ego-based collective consciousness of humanity, whose focus is primarily upon unnatural aims. (also explained in The Perpetual Raising Series, Part 3.)
Earthmind: The group mind conglomerate entity of the Earth, as a sum total. The residing consciousness of the Earth whose composition is synthesis of all natural plants, animals, minerals and atmospheric elements, not including the majority of humanity. That intelligent and guiding consciousness of our planetary body, which has coordinated the evolution of biological forms and natural phenomena.
Consciousness: The primary causal force in all universal action and manifestation. That ultimate cause in nature, composed of Energy, Awareness and Intent, which is responsible for the ways and means by which all forms are generated...See God.
*****God That all pervading universal force in and of all things which coordinates evolution. The universal Will behind all manifestation, natural laws and phenomena, composed of Energy, Awareness and Intent. The collective group mind intelligence of the manifest and unmanifest cosmos, composed of consciousness.
***Truth: That which is universally and at all times the determining basis for the reality of existence. Factuality, that which exists regardless of view point or relative opinion. The essence of natural law and its principles.
****See The Software of the Mind Series
Now let me ask you this: Where else on this planet can you find such fundamental, practical and clear definitions of such terms? What could be more important to learn or know about? I implore you to save your soul and start reading, applying, focusing and feel free to ask questions via email.... More >
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18 Oct 2004 @ 14:52
WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq
US soldiers mutiny over “suicide mission” in Iraq
By James Cogan
18 October 2004
On October 13, 19 soldiers from a US supply unit in Iraq refused to drive seven unarmoured fuel tankers along roads to areas near Baghdad where resistance attacks on convoys are almost a daily occurrence. According to the wife of one of the soldiers, the troops viewed the orders as a “suicide mission”.
The soldiers involved are members of the Army Reserve 343rd Quartermaster Company. It is based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, but has personnel from Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina and Mississippi as well. The unit arrived in Iraq in April as part of the 13th Corps Support Command—a 15,000-strong formation responsible for logistics and supply. Almost 90 percent of its troops are National Guardsmen or reservists and 26 have been killed thus far.
According to information given by several of the soldiers’ families to the Mississippi newspaper, the Clarion-Ledger, the 343rd had been involved in attempting to deliver an aviation fuel shipment on October 12, but had been forced to return to their base at Tallil, near Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, because the fuel was contaminated. They then received orders to join a larger convoy taking supplies north to the US base at Taji, a town on the northern outskirts of Baghdad where numerous US troops have been killed or wounded in resistance ambushes or roadside bombs.
The orders outraged the unit. They were tired. The fuel-laden trucks they were driving were unarmoured and not capable of more than 40 miles per hour. Several of the vehicles had mechanical problems, raising the prospect of breakdowns in the middle of hostile territory. They had also been informed that the convoy would not be escorted by infantry in humvees or helicopter gunships.
In the early hours of October 13, 19 members of the platoon refused to show up at the convoy point of departure. They were read their rights, removed from their barracks and confined in tents at the Tallil base.
The incident involving the 343rd may never have reached the light of day if not for the actions of several soldiers and the Clarion-Ledger, which published the first story in its October 15 issue.
An anonymous officer rang Jackie Butler, the wife of Staff Sergeant Michael Butler, on the morning of October 14 in Mississippi. She told the Clarion-Ledger: “I got a call from an officer in another unit early morning who told me that my husband and his platoon had been arrested on a bogus charge because they refused to go on a suicide mission. When my husband refuses to obey an order, it has to be serious.”
Sergeant Larry McCook rang his wife in Mississippi early Thursday morning to let her know that he had been detained. She told the Clarion-Ledger: “He told me that three of the vehicles were deadlines [classified unsafe]... not safe to go into a hotbed like that.”
Private Amber McClenny, 21, rang her mother, Teresa Hill, in Alabama at approximately the same time and left a message on the answering machine outlining what had happened. She stated in the message: “They [the military] are holding us against our will. We are now prisoners... I’m not even supposed to be using the phone.”
Her mother told the Clarion-Ledger: “They knew there was a 99 percent chance that they were going to get ambushed or fired on. They would have had no way to fight back.”
The publicity surrounding the mutiny forced the US military to issue a carefully worded statement. The soldiers, the statement said, had raised “some valid concerns” which some “chose to express... in an inappropriate manner, causing a temporary breakdown in discipline”. The military has denied any of the soldiers have been arrested and has stated that all 19 have returned to duty. The unit has reportedly been stood down for two weeks to carry out maintenance on its vehicles.
Brigadier General James Chambers, the commander of the 13th Corps Support Command, told a press conference: “Based on our investigations other actions may be necessary.” Two investigations have been announced, but the mutiny has been dismissed as an “isolated incident”.
The incident, however, is of considerable significance. It is the first reported case of overtly rebellious conduct by a group of US troops. Whatever the immediate trigger, it is a reflection of the broad anger, frustrations and discontent among American military personnel. Thousands of soldiers have no ideological commitment to the occupation of Iraq. They see no reason to be killed or maimed in a war they know is unjustified and illegal.
The actions of the 343rd testify to the increasing preparedness of rank-and-file troops to defy their commanders. In recent weeks, soldiers have used media interviews to publicly denounce the war and the Bush administration. (See: “Discontent rife in US military ranks”.) In all likelihood, these events are just the tip of the iceberg.
Every reason that was given by the Bush administration for the invasion has been proven to be a lie. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and no responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the US. Above all, soldiers are confronted everyday with the fact that Iraqis totally oppose the occupation and want the foreign troops out of their country. They are not fighting against a handful of “terrorists”, but against a nation-wide guerilla resistance that has the sympathy of most Iraqis. More than 80 attacks take place against occupation forces every day, with supply convoys being a prime target.
Far from bringing “liberation” and “democracy”, the occupation has turned Iraq into a living hell, in which the function of American soldiers is to intimidate and repress the population. While soldiers in units like the 343rd are risking their lives in unarmoured trucks, companies like Bechtel and KBR are profiteering from multi-billion dollar contracts and are preparing to loot the country’s oil resources.
The mutiny in Tallil will have sent shockwaves through the US political establishment and military command. The turn from a draft army to today’s volunteer army was made following the experience of the Vietnam War, where the growing opposition among American soldiers to being forced to fight a criminal colonial war led to the disintegration of morale and discipline. The rebellious sentiment within the military was a contributing factor in the defeat of US imperialism.
Now, less than 18 months into the occupation of Iraq, a similar process is beginning in the ranks of volunteer units. Every day they face the reality of policing an unpopular occupation. Soldiers are aware that the majority of the American people do not support the war and want the troops brought home.
The central question is the development of a broad political movement in the United States and internationally demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all US and foreign forces from Iraq, against the position of both the Republicans and the Democrats. That is being taken forward by the Socialist Equality Party campaign in the 2004 elections.
See Also:
The SEP 2004 Election Website
Support the Socialist Equality Party in the 2004 US elections
[20 September 2004] More >
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 24 Sep 2004 @ 13:49
WSWS : News & Analysis : North America
CBS admits being duped over Bush National Guard memos
By Patrick Martin
24 September 2004
The so-called “memo-gate” affair—the use of apparently fabricated documents as part of a CBS News report on President Bush’s National Guard service during the Vietnam War—has been the occasion for much media hand-wringing, as well as harangues from the right wing about alleged liberal bias on the part of CBS and anchorman Dan Rather.
The moralizing of media pundits about a decline in journalistic standards is perhaps the most repulsive aspect of the affair. What standards? The American media is among the most corrupt and subservient institutions in the world.
Night after night, the network news programs pump out lies, most of them supplied verbatim by spokesmen for the US government. The slaughter of the Iraqi people is “liberation.” The torture of prisoners is the result of a “few bad apples.” Rising poverty and insecurity at home are “economic recovery.” An election in which the choice is restricted to two right-wing multimillionaires is “democracy.”
To hang CBS for credulously accepting fabricated memos is like indicting Enron for failing to pay parking tickets. It is the least of the network’s sins. Rather and company may have been fed phony documents, but the basic story is obviously true and hardly disputed. Bush, who today postures as an intransigent wartime leader, sought to escape military service in Vietnam and received privileged access to the National Guard due to the political connections of his wealthy family.
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WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq
US Congress hails Washington’s Iraqi stooge
By Bill Van Auken
24 September 2004
The degradation of the US political process found grotesque expression Thursday in the joint session of Congress convened to pay homage to Ayad Allawi.
Congressmen and senators as well as members of the Bush cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff repeatedly leapt to their feet in standing ovations as the “interim prime minister” of Iraq proclaimed his commitment to “freedom and democracy,” and praised the US occupation as the country’s liberation and a decisive blow in the “worldwide war against terrorists.”
The news media, with very few exceptions, treated Allawi deferentially, accepting his status as a visiting head of state and quoting him at length on the policies of his government.
Allawi’s visit was marred by one minor detail: his right arm was in a cast, providing for awkward moments as Democrats and Republicans reached out to shake his hand following the speech. More >
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 15 Sep 2004 @ 14:33
From wsws.org
US media covers up American war crimes in Iraq
By Barry Grey
15 September 2004
Every day, US military forces in Iraq are attacking civilian populations in a calculated effort to drown a growing popular insurgency in blood. But one would hardly know the dimensions or brutality of the atrocities being carried out in the name of the American people from the sparse and sanitized coverage provided by the major press and broadcast outlets that purport to disseminate “the news.”
The US media—owned and controlled by a handful of huge corporate conglomerates—play an indispensable role in the mass murder of Iraqi men, women and children. Together with the Bush administration and the two major parties of US imperialism—the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate John Kerry, no less than their Republican rivals—the media are complicit in a crime against humanity of immense proportions, one that dwarfs any crimes committed by the various political leaders who have been targeted for destruction by the American ruling elite in recent years: from Panama’s Noriega, to Serbia’s Milosevic, to Saddam Hussein himself.
One can stare at the 24-hour cable news networks from sunup to sundown and get no sense of the carnage in towns and cities from Baghdad, to Fallujah, to Ramadi, to Hilla in the south and Tal Afar in the north that is left in the wake of US rockets, bombs, tank shells and sniper rounds. The evening news reports of the major networks provide at most a fleeting image of the death and destruction, inevitably hedged with absurd avowals from the US military that “precision” attacks were carried out against “terrorist” and “anti-Iraqi” targets.
As for the press, one day’s front-page report of US helicopter attacks on unarmed civilians or air strikes against urban centers is eclipsed the next day by the latest hurricane threat or new poll numbers on the upcoming election—an election in which no discussion of the legitimacy of the US subjugation of Iraq or the real war aims behind the bogus ones used to promote the war is permitted.
No country’s media is more cowardly, or more artful in churning out the official line and excluding any serious criticism or analysis, than that of the USA. It would be absurd to hold up the British media as a model of conscientious and objective reporting, but even there, articles occasionally appear that provide some insight into the reality of the situation in Iraq.
The Guardian newspaper, for example, on Tuesday carried an eyewitness account on its front page of the American helicopter attack on unarmed Iraqis that occurred Sunday in central Baghdad. Thirteen Iraqis were killed and dozens were wounded when US copters repeatedly fired rockets into a crowd that had gathered around a disabled American armored vehicle on Haifa Street, near the Green Zone that houses the US and British embassies and the offices of Washington’s puppet government.
For the benefit of our readers around the world, and especially in the US, we give here some excerpts from the chilling and tragic account provided by Guardian columnist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who was himself wounded while covering the US assault.
Abdul-Ahad describes at least four separate rocket strikes by American helicopters against the unarmed Iraqis—documenting that the helicopters returned several times to fire on those seeking to remove the dead and wounded from the first missile strike.
“When I was 50 m away I heard a couple of explosions and another cloud of dust rose across the street from where the first column of smoke was still climbing,” he writes. “People started running towards me in waves. A man wearing an orange overall was sweeping the street while others were running. A couple of helicopters in the sky overhead turned away.”
He runs for cover, and then: “A few seconds later, I heard people screaming and shouting—something must have happened—and I headed towards the sounds, still crouching behind a wall. Two newswire photographers were running in the opposite direction and we exchanged eye contact.
“About 20 m ahead of me, I could see the American Bradley armoured vehicle, a huge monster with fire rising from within. It stood alone, its doors open, burning. I stopped, took a couple of photos and crossed the street towards a bunch of people. Some were lying in the street, others stood around them. The helicopters were still buzzing, but further off now.”
The reporter continues: “I felt uneasy and exposed in the middle of the street, but lots of civilians were around me. A dozen men formed a circle around five injured people, all of whom were screaming and wailing.”
Abdul-Ahad’s belief that the presence of so many unarmed civilians afforded protection from a further US strike was shattered in short order. “I had been standing there taking pictures for two or three minutes when we heard the helicopters coming back. Everyone started running, and I didn’t look back to see what was happening to the injured men. We were all rushing towards the same place: a fence, a block of buildings and a prefab concrete cube used as a cigarette stall.
“I had just reached the corner of the cube when I heard two explosions. I felt hot air blast my face and something burning on my head. I crawled to the cube and hid behind it. Six of us were squeezed into a space less than two metres wide. Blood started dripping on my camera but all that I could think about was how to keep the lens clean. A man in his 40s next to me was crying. He wasn’t injured, he was just crying.
“I was so scared I just wanted to squeeze myself against the wall. The helicopters wheeled overhead, and I realised that they were firing directly at us.”
The helicopters moved away, and the reporter went back onto the street to record the carnage and help the wounded and dying. Then: “More kids ventured into the street, looking with curiosity at the dead and injured. Then someone shouted ‘Helicopters!’ and we ran. I turned and saw two small helicopters, black and evil. Frightened, I ran back to my shelter where I heard two more big explosions.... I reached a building entrance when someone grabbed my arm and took me inside. ‘There’s an injured man. Take pictures—show the world the American democracy,’ he said.”
It is hardly necessary to point out that no major US media outlet has taken note of the Guardian’s damning account of Sunday’s bloodletting in the center of Baghdad. Most US newspapers on Tuesday relegated to their inside pages news reports of yet another round of US air and artillery attacks on Fallujah, carried out Monday.
The Iraqi Health Ministry said 20 were killed and 39 wounded in the strikes. Aljazeera reported that those killed included the driver of an ambulance and six passengers, whose vehicle was struck by a jet-fired missile near the northern gate of the city. “Every time we send out an ambulance, it gets targeted,” the director of the Fallujah hospital told the Arab newspaper.
Aljazeera also reported that US missiles destroyed three homes in the city’s al-Shurta neighborhood, American shells hit a market place, and US tanks fired on homes in the al-Jughaivi neighborhood near the city’s northern gate.
The Washington Post, in a page-19 article, noted the attacks on Fallujah neighborhoods and the ambulance fatalities, but reported without comment the official US line that the attacks were directed against a “suspected hideout” of associates of Abu Musab Zarqawi. It printed the Goebells-like handout from the US military: “Based on the analysis of these [intelligence] reports, Iraqi Security Forces and multi-national forces effectively and accurately targeted these terrorists while protecting the lives of innocent civilians.”
The New York Times ran a front-page commentary focused not on the death and suffering being inflicted on the Iraqi people, but rather on the danger that the US military’s bloodletting against insurgent towns could backfire. It warned of the “classic dilemma faced by governments battling guerrilla movements: ease up, and the insurgency may grow; crack down, and risk losing the support of the population.”
This description is itself a cynical deception, as the Times well knows. The very fact that the US feels obliged to step up the slaughter and target civilian populations testifies to the fact that Washington and its stooge government are hated and despised by the Iraqi masses. Talk of a risk of “losing the support of the population” is an attempt to maintain the myth that the anti-US resistance is the work of a small minority of Baathist “hard-liners” and foreign terrorists, and the equally absurd claim that the US is in Iraq to establish “democracy.”
In reality, the US media’s disinformation operation is among the most striking and significant expressions of the collapse of American democracy.
See Also:
A daily toll of US atrocities in Iraq
[14 September 2004]
US military launches bloody attacks on rebel strongholds in Iraq
[11 September 2004]
The US sinks deeper into the Iraqi quagmire
[7 September 2004]
New York Times and Washington Post remain silent on murder allegations against Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi
[19 August 2004] More >
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