Quotes About Meditation and Yoga

""We tend to think of meditation in only one way. But life itself is a meditation. –Raul Julia

A good meditation, even when it is interrupted by occasional nodding, is much more beneficial than many outward religious exercises. –Johannes Tauler

My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel. –Edward Abbey

Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted — in body, mind, and heart — and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow — or we begin to flow more in our lives. – Cybele Tomlinson

""I mean the whole thing about meditation and yoga is about connecting to the higher part of yourself, and then seeing that every living thing is connected in some way. –Gillian Anderson

If we know the divine art of concentration, if we know the divine art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite the inner world and the outer world. –Sri Chinmoy ""

 
""Meditation is painful in the beginning but it bestows immortal bliss and supreme joy in the end. –Swami Sivananda

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. –B.K.S. Iyengar

No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation. –Walter Bagehot

Mindful meditation has been discovered to foster the ability to inhibit those very quick emotional impulses. –Daniel Goleman

My workout is my meditation. –Kyle MacLachlan

When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath. –Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. Meditation is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being. –Sogyal Rinpoche

Meditation is the soul’s perspective glass. –Owen Feltham

Sleep is the best meditation. –Dalai Lama

Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. –Bhagavad Gita

Meditation is such a more substantial reality than what we normally take to be reality. –Richard Gere

Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it.  Yoga is universal… But don’t approach yoga with a business mind looking for worldly gain. –Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation. –Milarepa

To perform every action artfully is yoga. –Swami Kripalu ""

 All Favorite Quotes Can Be found in the Rest of the Article:

http://ecosalon.com/50-quotes-on-meditation-amp-yoga/

 

Discovering the Akashic Records is Your Cosmic Collective Consciousness Gnosis Reality: Thought, Word, and Action Manifest Lexicon

 Akashic Records Gnosis Reality

""A theosophical term referring to an universal filing system which records every occurring thought, word, and action. The records are impressed on a subtle substance called akasha (or Soniferous Ether). In Hindu mysticism this akasha is thought to be the primary principle of nature from which the other four natural principles, fire, air, earth, and water, are created. These five principles also represent the five senses of the human being.

Some indicate the akashic records are similar to a Cosmic or collective consciousness. The records have been referred to by different names including the Cosmic Mind, the Universal Mind, the collective unconscious, or the collective subconscious. Others think the akashic records make clairvoyance and psychic perception possible.

It is believed by some that the events recorded upon that akasha can be ascertained or read in certain states of consciousness. Such states of consciousness can be induced by certain stages of sleep, weakness, illness, drugs, and meditation so not only mystics but ordinary people can and do perceive the akashic records. Some mystics claim to be able to reanimate their contents like they were turning on a celestial television set. Yogis also believe that these records can be perceived in certain psychic states.""

""Certain persons in subconscious states do read the akashic records. An explanation for this phenomena is that the akashic records are the macrocosm of the individual subconscious mind. Both function similarly, they possess thoughts which are never forgotten. The collective subconscious gathers all thoughts from each subconscious mind which can be read by other subconscious minds.

An example of one who many claimed successfully read the akashic records is the late American mystic Edgar Cayce. Cayce did his readings in a sleep state or trance. Cayce's method was described by Dr. Wesley H. Ketchum who for several years used Cayce as an adjunct for his medical practice. "Cayce's subconscious...is in direct communication with all other subconscious minds, and is capable of interpreting through his objective mind and imparting impressions received to other objective minds, gathering in this way all knowledge possessed by endless millions of other subconscious minds." Apparently Cayce was interpreting the collective subconscious mind long before the psychiatrist C.J. Jung postulated his concept of the collective unconscious. A.G.H.""

Reference:

Shepard, Leslie A., ed.
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 3rd ed.
Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991.

Stern, Jess.
Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet.
New York: Doubleday, 1967.

SOURCE: The Mystica

The Book of Life

""The Akashic Records or "The Book of Life" can be equated to the universe's super computer system. It is this system that acts as the central storehouse of all information for every individual who has ever lived upon the earth. More than just a reservoir of events, the Akashic Records contain every deed, word, feeling, thought, and intent that has ever occurred at any time in the history of the world. Much more than simply a memory storehouse, however, these Akashic Records are interactive in that they have a tremendous influence upon our everyday lives, our relationships, our feelings and belief systems, and the potential realities we draw toward us.

It is no exaggeration to state that the computer has transformed (and is still in the process of transforming) the entire planet. Whether it's technology, transportation, communication, education, or entertainment, the computer age has revolutionized the globe and the ways in which we understand and interact with one another. No segment of modern society has gone unaffected. The amount of information now stored in computer memory and crossing the Internet highway daily is literally unfathomable. And yet, this vast complex of computer systems and collective databases cannot begin to come close to the power, the memory, or the omniscient recording capacity of the Akashic Records.

The Akashic Records contain the entire history of every soul since the dawn of Creation. These records connect each one of us to one another. They contain the stimulus for every archetypal symbol or mythic story which has ever deeply touched patterns of human behavior and experience. They have been the inspiration for dreams and invention. They draw us toward or repel us from one another. They mold and shape levels of human consciousness. They are a portion of Divine Mind. They are the unbiased judge and jury that attempt to guide, educate, and transform every individual to become the very best that she or he can be. They embody an ever-changing fluid array of possible futures that are called into potential as we humans interact and learn from the data that has already been accumulated.""

""Information about these Akashic Records “ this Book of Life“ can be found in folklore, in myth, and throughout the Old and New Testaments. It is traceable at least as far back as the Semitic peoples and includes the Arabs, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Babylonians, and the Hebrews. Among each of these peoples was the belief that there was in existence some kind of celestial tablets which contained the history of humankind as well as all manner of spiritual information.

The first reference in Scripture to some unearthly volume is found in Exodus 32:32. After the Israelites had committed a most grievous sin by worshiping the golden calf, it was Moses who pleaded on their behalf, even offering to take full responsibility and have his own name stricken "out of thy book which thou hast written" in recompense for their deed. Later, in the Old Testament, we learn that there is nothing about an individual that is not known in this same book. In Psalm 139, David makes reference to the fact God has written down everything about him and all the details of his life “ even that which is imperfect and those deeds which have yet to be performed."""

""For many individuals this Book of Life is simply an imagery symbol of those destined for heaven and has its roots in the custom of recording genealogical records of names or perhaps early census taking. Traditional religion suggests that this book – either in literal or symbolic form – contains the names of all those who are worthy of salvation. The Book is to be opened in connection with divine judgment (Dan. 7:10, Rev. 20:12). In the New Testament, those redeemed by Christ are contained within the Book (Philippians 4), those not found in the Book of Life will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.


As an interesting corollary, in the ancient world, a person's name was symbolic of his or her existence. According to Sir James George Frazer, author of The Golden Bough "one of the most extensive volumes on world mythology" there was such a bond between one's name and one's existence "that magic may be wrought on a man just as easily as through his name as through his hair, his nails, or any other material part of his person." In ancient Egypt, to blot a name out of a record was equivalent to destroying the fact that the person had ever even existed.""

Original Cover of Edgar Cayce's Book "The Akashic Record"

""Closer to our current era, a great deal of contemporary information on the Akashic Records has been made available by both reputable psychics and modern-day mystics – individuals who have somehow perceived beyond the limits of three dimensions. According to H.P. [Helena Petrovna] Blavatsky (1831-1891), Russian immigrant, mystic, and founder of the Theosophical Society, the Akashic Records are much more than simply an account of static data which may be gleaned by a sensitive; instead, the records have an ongoing creative stimulus upon the present:

Akasha is one of the cosmic principles and is a plastic matter, creative in its physical nature, immutable in its higher principles. It is the quintessence of all possible forms of energy, material, psychic, or spiritual; and contains within itself the germs of universal creation, which sprout forth under the impulse of the Divine Spirit.
 - Alchemy and the Secret Doctrine

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the Austrian-born philosopher, educator, and founder of the Anthropomorphically Society possessed the ability to perceive information beyond the material world: a "spiritual world" which was just as real to him as the physical world was to others. Steiner claimed that the ability to perceive this other world could be developed, enabling an individual to see events and information every bit as concrete as the present:""

""...man can penetrate to the eternal origins of the things which vanish with time. A man broadens his power of cognition in this way if he is no longer limited to external evidence where knowledge of the past is concerned. Then he can see in events what is not perceptible to the senses, that part which time cannot destroy. He penetrates from transitory to non-transitory history. It is a fact that this history is written in other characters than is ordinary history. In gnosis and in theosophy it is called the "Akasha Chronicle"...To the uninitiated, who cannot yet convince himself of the reality of a separate spiritual world through his own experience, the initiate easily appears to be a visionary, if not something worse. The one who has acquired the ability to perceive in the spiritual world comes to know past events in their eternal character. They do not stand before him like the dead testimony of history, but appear in full life. In a certain sense, what has happened takes place before him. - Cosmic Memory

    "Upon time and space is written the thoughts, the deeds, the activities of an entity "as in relationships to its environs, its hereditary influence; as directed" or judgment drawn by or according to what the entity's ideal is. Hence, as it has been oft called, the record is God's book of remembrance; and each entity, each soul "as the activities of a single day of an entity in the material world" either makes same good or bad or indifferent, depending upon the entity's application of self towards that which is the ideal manner for the use of time, opportunity and the expression of that for which each soul enters a material manifestation. The interpretation then as drawn here is with the desire and hope that, in opening this for the entity, the experience may be one of helpfulness and hopefulness.""

     - Edgar Cayce reading 1650-1

Related Links:

    Edgar Cayce
        Book of Life - Akashic Records
        Akashic Records/Book of Life
        Edgar Cayce Twentieth Century Psychic
        Edgar Cayce - Association for Research & Enlightenment  (A.R.E.)
    The Golden Bough - Sir James George Frazer

Cosmic Memory

""In terms of contemporary insights, perhaps the most extensive source of information regarding the Akashic Records comes from the clairvoyant work of Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), Christian mystic and founder of A.R.E. For forty-three years of his adult life, Edgar Cayce possessed the uncanny ability to lie down on a couch, close his eyes, fold his hands over his stomach, and put himself into some kind of an altered state in which virtually any type of information was available. The accuracy of Cayce's psychic work is evidenced by approximately one dozen biographies and literally hundreds of titles which explore various aspects of his information and the thousands of topics he discussed.

When asked about the source of his information, Cayce replied that there were essentially two. The first was the subconscious mind of the individual for whom he was giving the reading and the second was the Akashic Records.

Most often, when giving a reading which discussed a person's soul history and his or her individual sojourn through space and time, Cayce would begin with a statement such as, "Yes, we have before us the records of the entity now known or called _________." In discussing the process for accessing these records, Edgar Cayce described his experience as follows:""


    ""I see myself as a tiny dot out of my physical body, which lies inert before me. I find myself oppressed by darkness and there is a feeling of terrific loneliness. Suddenly, I am conscious of a white beam of light. As this tiny dot, I move upward following the light, knowing that I must follow it or be lost.

    As I move along this path of light I gradually become conscious of various levels upon which there is movement. Upon the first levels there are vague, horrible shapes, grotesque forms such as one sees in nightmares. Passing on, there begin to appear on either side misshapen forms of human beings with some part of the body magnified. Again there is change and I become conscious of gray-hooded forms moving downward. Gradually, these become lighter in color. Then the direction changes and these forms move upward and the color of the robes grows rapidly lighter. Next, there begin to appear on either side vague outlines of houses, walls, trees, etc., but everything is motionless. As I pass on, there is more light and movement in what appear to be normal cities and towns. With the growth of movement I become conscious of sounds, at first indistinct rumblings, then music, laughter, and singing of birds. There is more and more light, the colors become very beautiful, and there is the sound of wonderful music. The houses are left behind, ahead there is only a blending of sound and color. Quite suddenly I come upon a hall of records. It is a hall without walls, without ceiling, but I am conscious of seeing an old man who hands me a large book, a record of the individual for whom I seek information.""

     - Reading 294-19 Report File

""Yes, we have the body here, and the record as has been made and as may be made with the will as exercised, and the condition irrespective of the will's influence or effect as has been created. We have conditions that might have been, that are, and that may be. Do not get the three mixed up or crossed purposes of either.""

304-5

""Once given the record, Cayce had the ability to select the information which would be most capable of assisting the individual at that time in his or her life. Frequently, a reading might suggest that only a selection of the available material was being provided, but that the individual was being given that which would be "most helpful and hopeful." Additional insights were frequently provided in subsequent readings once an individual had attempted to work with and apply the information which had been given previously.

As a means of perhaps alluding to the fact that the Akashic Records were not simply a transcription of the past but included the present, the future, and certain probabilities as well, in reading 304-5, Cayce began the reading with a curious statement.

When discussing the Book of Life, he stated it that it was "The record of God, of thee, thy soul within and the knowledge of same." (281-33) On another occasion (2533-8) Cayce was asked to explain the difference between the Book of Life and the Akashic Records:""

Q. [What is meant by] The Book of Life?
A. The record that the individual entity itself writes upon the skein of time and space, through patience; and is opened when self has attuned to the infinite, and may be read by those attuning to that consciousness...
Q. The Book of God's Remembrances?
A. This is the Book of Life.
Q. The Akashic Records?
A. Those made by the individual, as just indicated.

2533-8

""The Edgar Cayce readings suggest that each of us writes the story of our lives through our thoughts, our deeds, and our interactions with the rest of creation. This information has an effect upon us in the here and now. In fact, the Akashic Records have such an impact upon our lives and the potentials and probabilities we draw toward us that any exploration of them cannot help but provide us with insights into the nature of ourselves and our relationship to the universe.

There is much more to our lives, our histories, and our individual influence upon our tomorrows than we have perhaps dared to imagine. By accessing information from the Akashic Records, the universe's computer database, much might be revealed to us. The world as we have collectively perceived it is but a faint shadow of Reality.""

SOURCE: Dolphin Healing Hands

""The word akashic comes from the ancient Tibetan words "aka meaning place, and "sa" meaning unseen in the sky. When the soul emerges from the source (or the creating life force, or God), it begins its pre-destined travel through time and space. Along its travels, it incarnates many times, growing spiritually and at the same time, fulfilling its purpose.

The soul emits energy with every thought, action or event that it engages in during its incarnations.

This energy leaves a permanent energetic blueprint. This blueprint is in the form of a multi dimensional holographic recording of the actual events, thoughts, feelings and actions of life that the soul experienced. This hologram is a continuous cinematic display that continues through time and space. These hologram recordings are the akashic records. Because every activity of the soul leaves its energy blueprint, the history of the whole universe is recorded in this hologram - including the history of our past lives and present life. This is the akashic record of our life.""

""The akashic records are in the Hall of Records, located in the akashic plane of the universe, an etheric plane, one of the 7 planes. These planes are distant energy fields that we can access through the depths of our minds. Our inner mind can access them because we, along with these fields, are made up of the same cosmic energy. However, it takes work and training from the slower 3 dimensional physical reality we are in today to access the higher vibrational frequencies of these states of reality. Brief experiences of intuition are subconscious forms of momentary awareness of our akashic records (without us aware of the "viewing")leading us to making the right choice or decision (if we follow our intuition).

The akashic records are a very complex existance for us to understand. There are higher and lower akashic records, each storing different aspects of universal history.""

Added by Matthew James At 9/19/2007 05:48:00 PM

SOURCE: A Light in the Darkness

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/44cosmic_wisdom/02files/Akashic_Record.html

Your Soul's Journey  ~  The Akashic Records

""The Akashic Records are metaphorically described as a library but also likened to a universal computer or the 'Mind of God'.  The Akashic records are the DNA of the universe. They are the soul's journey over time, so every thought, word, and deed is registered. Each soul has its own Akashic record, and there are collective records of all souls and all journeys.

If you look up the word Akashic you will find it defined as an ancient Sanskrit (Hindu) word that means ‘air’, ‘space’, or ‘aether’.  Many will say it is a concept found in ancient  spiritual beliefs around the globe, while skeptics say there is no real evidence of that, and It is more likely a fairly recent adaptation, a concept that was popularized in the theosophical movements of the 19th century  and onward into what we know as the New Age movement  of the 20th century.""

""Many books refer to these records or files; even in the Bible there are references to a similar concept - The Divine Book or God’s Book of Divine Memory.  Michael Newton wrote about the Book of Life and described it as a sort of library; Edgar Cayce talked about the Akashic Records or the Hall of Records and stated that when he went into trance to heal someone, he acquired the information he needed from the individual’s subconscious mind and their Akashic Records.


Cayce said each person is held to account after each life and 'confronted' with their personal Akashic record of what they have or have not done in life. The idea is comparable to the Life Reviews that Near Death Experiences go through, as well as past life regression journeys. The vibrational records of each individual soul and its journey are contained here, making it a profound spiritual resource for consciousness development and expanded spiritual awareness.

In the later years of his career Carl Jung wrote that the collective consciousness was the source of the connection between all human beings, it is of a collective, universal and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals.  The records have  also been referred to by different names including the Cosmic Mind, the Universal Mind, the collective unconscious, or the collective subconscious.

It is believed by some that the events recorded upon that akasha can be ascertained or read in certain states of consciousness. Such states of consciousness can be induced by certain stages of sleep, drugs, trance, and meditation.  Therefore, not only mystics but ordinary people can and do perceive the akashic records.

More recently, Ervin Laszlo has written several books about what he calls The Akashic Field, an energetic collective consciousness that is part of us and part of the universe we live in, where all thoughts, words, and deeds are held in a vibrational state, available to be tapped into by anyone who is open and spiritually aware.  He writes about Akashic Experiences and includes spiritually transformative experiences such as a Near Death Experience, a spontaneous past life recall, talking to guides and angels, precognitive readings and/or channeled readings in this category.""

""Is it a library, a defined space, an energetic concept, or a flow of consciousness that is like a web connecting all of us to each other?  Is it a Hall of Records, God’s Book of Divine Memory, where all our thoughts words and deeds are carefully noted and written down  for later reference?  Is it a state of being, a state of mind that could allow each of us, if approached the right way, can tap into and see our Soul’s Journey throughout our times here in Earth School?

The first time I journeyed to the Akashic Records I was following a guided script read by another person.  It was deep and intense and today all I can remember is a small round table and a postcard with the names of my 3 daughters on it.  The next time I journeyed there I found myself in a library in basement  of a castle or a church (stone walls, ancient, but dry and whitewashed).  The gate to the library was closed and it had a huge lock that was rusted shut. The attendant was a cranky teenage elf lad who was silent and moody.  Inside was a very comfortable chair and shelves and shelves of leather bound books that appeared to go on indefinitely. It was a guided journey and the facilitator may have given me some of this imagery.  SInce then I have been through Life Reviews, mine and other’s, and it felt very similar.  I have touched the web that connects us all to each other and it was like being in that dimly lit library. I get the impression that like so much in this realm of potential and possibilities we call human life, it is what we make of it.  We, as co-creators, write books and share our experiences and learn from each other, on so many different levels, in so many different systems and images.  As long as we connect, as long as we share our stories, and keep the light going, maybe that's all we can do.  And, maybe that is  enough. ""

 

Preparations for the Journey

""Obviously, the journey to the Akashic Records is not a physical one - which makes it somewhat more difficult for people who have never tried it. The best thing about all of this is you don’t have to have special gifts (like a psychic ability) to access the celestial hall of records because anyone can do it.  Some psychics seem to directly access at least the surface of the akashic plane. However, from the physical plane, it is not possible to go very deeply into it. Accessing the akashic plane is not really what your lessons are about on the physical plane, and you are not designed for it. The akashic records appear to you as a literal record of things exactly as they occurred that can be replayed and looked at from different angles: each person experiences an event differently, and all those experiences are recorded.""

""What follows is a short list of guidelines that you must remember when learning how to access the Akashic Records.

1. Believe completely that you can learn how to read the Akashic Records with your own natural abilities. Believe that the learning process can be mastered by anyone, regardless of age and belief systems.

2. Be prepared to ‘unlearn’ concepts and long-standing beliefs that may hinder you from accessing the Akashic Records. Material beliefs really do not apply to the spiritual plane, or any other plane of existence except perhaps the physical plane that we inhabit.

3. Reading the Akashic Records is a type of spiritual discipline that cannot be mastered overnight. Be respectful of what you are trying to learn and avoid being haphazard with what you are doing.

4. If you are by nature skeptical, it would be helpful if you can practice a bit of restraint when it comes to setting limitations on what one can achieve with spiritual disciplines. Sometimes, too much skepticism can act as a blinder that can prevent you from seeing what you should have seen - especially when you are accessing the Akashic Records.

5. Be open to perspectives that may not align completely with human rationality or human knowledge.

6. Revive your willingness to learn and beat obstacles as they come.""

http://www.gatekeeperguidance.com/your_souls_journey__the_akashic_records

Nuclear Level Asteroid Rock Blasts North America Into Ice Age 13,000 Years Ago

A controversial new idea suggests that a large space rock exploded over North America 13,000 years ago.

""The blast may have wiped out one of America's first Stone Age cultures as well as the continent's big mammals such as the mammoth and the mastodon.

The blast, from a comet or asteroid, caused a major bout of climatic cooling which may also have affected human cultures emerging in Europe and Asia. Scientists will outline their evidence this week at a meeting in Mexico.

Their impact theory shouldn't be dismissed; it deserves further investigation -- Jeff Severinghaus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The evidence comes from layers of sediment at more than 20 sites across North America.

These sediments contain exotic materials: tiny spheres of glass and carbon, ultra-small specks of diamond - called nanodiamond - and amounts of the rare element iridium that are too high to have come from Earth.

All, they argue, point to the explosion 12,900 years ago of an extraterrestrial object up to 5km across.

No crater remains, possibly because the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which blanketed thousands of sq km of North America during the last Ice Age, was thick enough to mask the impact.

Another possibility is that it exploded in the air.

Climate Cooling

The rocks studied by the researchers have a black layer which, they argue, is the charcoal deposited by wildfires which swept the continent after the explosion.

Clovis hunting points, Center for the Study of the First Americans The Clovis people developed an advanced stone tool technology The blast would not only have generated enormous amounts of heat that could have given rise to wildfires, but also brought about a period of climate cooling that lasted 1,000 years - an event known as the Younger Dryas.

Professor James Kennett, from the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB), said the explosion could be to blame for the extinction of several large North American mammals at the end of the last Ice Age.

"All the elephants, including the mastodon and the mammoth, all the ground sloths, including the giant ground sloth - which, when standing on its hind legs, would have been as big as a mammoth," he told the BBC.

"All the horses went out, all the North American camels went out. There were large carnivores like the sabre-toothed cat and an enormous bear called the short-faced bear."

Professor Kennett said this could have had an enormous impact on human populations.

Population Decline

According to the traditional view, humans crossed from north-east Asia to America at the end of the last Ice Age, across a land bridge which - at the time - connected Siberia to Alaska.

The Clovis culture was one of the earliest known cultures in the continent. These proficient hunter-gatherers developed a distinctive thin, fluted spear head known as the Clovis point, which is regarded as one of the most sophisticated stone tools ever developed. Archaeologists have found evidence from the Topper site in South Carolina, US, that Clovis populations here went through a population collapse.

But there is no evidence of a similar decline in other parts of the continent. The Clovis culture does vanish from the archaeological record abruptly, but it is replaced by a myriad of different local hunter-gatherer cultures.

Jeff Severinghaus, a palaeoclimatologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, told Nature magazine: "Their impact theory shouldn't be dismissed; it deserves further investigation."""

http://www.viewzone.com/iceage.html

 America got "nuked" in 12,500 BC!

""Traditional history tells us that the first people who entered North America came across the Bering Sea, from Asia, and migrated South to the continent around 12,000 BC. But this date has often puzzled archaeologists who place the migration in South America to a much earlier date -- around 32,000 BC. How can these two dates be so far apart?""

""Since no traces of the Homo habilis or the Homo erectus could be found in America, Archeologists conclude that America must have been settled by the Homo sapiens sapiens about 12,000 years ago There are 4 main migration-hypothesies:

A) People came via the BERING SRAIT from Sibiria to Alaska;
B) People from SIBIRIA crossed the Northern Pacific and landed on the American coast;
C) People from POLYNESIA crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed either in Northern or Southern America;
D) People from EUROPE crossed either the Atlantic Ocean or came via Russia and Sibiria to America.

So far there is only evidence for the Bering Strait Theory (A).

Recently, scientists have started questioning the methods used to date artifacts and strata in the earth that support this early (12000 BC) date. The traditional method, Carbon-14, has been used with confidence since it is based on well known principles of physics. But while the method may be well understood, certain natural phenomenon may have interfered with the sites in the Northern Hemiphere and caused the readings of Carbon 14 to be inaccurate. Specifically, scientists now believe that a nuclear explosion or a similar event could have changed the chemistry of Carbon 14 thousands of years ago, throwing off the real dates by thousands of years!

A pattern of unusually young radiocarbon dates in the Northeast has been noted by researchers and this indicates that the entire Great Lakes region (and beyond) was subjected to particle bombardment and a catastrophic nuclear irradiation that produced secondary thermal neutrons from cosmic ray interactions. The neutrons produced unusually large quantities of 239 Pu and substantially altered the natural uranium abundance ratios ( 235 U/238 U) in artifacts and in other exposed materials including cherts, sediments, and the entire landscape. These neutrons necessarily transmuted residual nitrogen (14 N) in the dated charcoals to radiocarbon, thus explaining the anomalous dates.

The evidence from dated materials

Scientists investigated a cluster of especially young radiocarbon dates concentrated in the north-central area of North America. For example, at the Gainey site in Michigan a 2880 yr BC radio-carbon date was reported, while the thermoluminescence date (a different dating test) for that same site is 12,400 BC!

Other anomalous dates were found at Leavitt in Michigan, Zander and Thedford in Ontario, Potts in New York, Alton in Indiana, and Grant Lake in Nunavut. The Grant Lake Paleoindian site is most remarkable because its 160 BC age is fairly young, while adjacent and deeper samples give ages of 1480 to 3620 BC.""

""Archaeologists often date material according to the known dates for the layer in which it is found. Deeper levels are usually older than the layers near the top. When measurements contradict this rule (i.e. older layers are on top of younger layers) it indicates that something has happened to the material being measured, making it appear much younger than it really is. This is especially true if there is no other evidence that the layers have been disturbed or upturned, as with some geological event like an earthquake of tectonic plate movement. This is just what scientists found in the area around the Great Lakes.

The evidence from particle bombardment

Large quantities of micrometeorite-like particles appear to be concentrated near the boundary between the two layers that have conflicting dates. This suggests that some atmospheric event was responsible for the changes in C-14, and thus the dating errors.

These particles can be separated with a magnet and are identified by the presence of chondrules and by visual evidence of sintering and partial melting. The particles, dissimilar to common magnetites, are found in association with a high frequency of "spherules." Also, total gamma-ray counting of sediment profiles in the various locations invariably showed increased radioactivity at the boundary of these conflicting layers of sedement.

In other words, whatever happened to alter the Carbon-14 was produced in the atmosphere, was extremely hot and radioactive.

The tiny spherical particles were heated at an extremely high temperature during their high-speed entry into the atmosphere. The depth of penetration into the sedement layers implies that these particles entered with substantial energy. Simulations estimate a velocity of about 0.4 kilometers per second.

The evidence of this event is highest at the Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana sites and decreases in all directions from this region, consistent with a widespread catastrophe concentrated over the Great Lakes region. The nearly vertical direction of the tracks left by particle impacts at most sites suggests they came from a distant source (from space) and was not an atmospheric phenomenon near the Earth.""

The evidence from uranium and plutonium

""If a large cosmic-ray bombardment impacted the earth and irradiated the prehistoric landscape with thermal neutrons, the 235 Uranium/238 Uraniam ratio would be changed; 239 Pu would be produced from 238 Uranium capturing an extra neutron, followed by the decay of 239 Uranium. Neutrons colliding with nitrogen (1.83 barns) would create 14 C in exactly the same way 14 C is normally produced in the upper atmosphere, necessarily resetting the radiocarbon dates of any organic materials lying near the surface on the North American prehistoric landscape -- including charcoals at Paleoindian sites -- to younger values.

In other words, intense cosmic radiation from space would produce a bombardment of Carbon-14 atoms on the surface of the Earth. Since C-14 is lost over time, a higher C-14 reading would indicates a younger specimin while a lower C-14 level means an older specimin. This bombardment would cause an artificially higher reading of C-14 atoms when material was being tested and would result in a much younger age estimate.

But scientists also learn about what caused this bombardment by examining the Uranium 235 in the sedement. Compared to U-235 in surrounding area, the ration of U-235 under the region of the bombardment contained about 78 percent as much 235 U as the controls and later-period artifacts, suggesting substantial depletion. The depletion is caused by a bombardment of neutrons; therefore this depletion of 235 U necessarily indicates that thermal neutrons impacted these artifacts and the surrounding prehistoric landscape.""

http://www.viewzone.com/paleonuke.html
 

International NEOShield Gravity Tractor Beam Project Aims to Protect Earth From Rogue Asteroids

""The vast majority of NEOs are nothing to worry about — they're either small enough that they burn up before impact or are on a trajectory that misses Earth altogether. However, an estimated 19,500 NEOs between 100 and 1,000 meters in size are largely uncharted and could cause serious damage if they were to hit. These impacts only happen about once every 2,000 years, but even an asteroid only 10 meters wide can release as much energy as an atomic bomb on hitting Earth.

In order to prevent larger impacts, NEOShield is working on better tracking these objects, and is researching the most widely-discussed deflection methods, particularly two that have already been looked into by major space agencies. The first, a "gravity tractor," would send a spacecraft to hover near the asteroid and pull it off course. The second is a "kinetic impactor," which would fire a large projectile to nudge the asteroid on a path away from Earth.""

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/30/2757936/international-neoshield-project-near-earth-object-asteroid-protection

Anonymous Warns Followers Against 2012 ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) International Treaty Which is Essentially the New SOPA and PIPA Ten Fold

""Anonymous has turned its head towards an international treaty that could pose more threat than the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the US Congress, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

The written agreement, however, has already gathered its own growing list of critics, with several ministers in Europe hesitating to attach signatures and the European Green Party considering it dangerously critical to human rights.""

 ""According to ACTA, media rights owners will have the authority to set fines they deem proper for copyright infringement.

Last November, the European Green Party said, “ACTA also allows for the monitoring of internet users without initial suspicion” and added, “the handing over of their personal data to rights holders on the basis of mere claims and the transfer of this data even to countries without adequate data protection, all of which is in clear conflict with legal guarantees of fundamental rights in the EU”.

While still continuing to show support for anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA campaigns and the successive shutdowns of file-sharing websites such as Megaupload and Filesonic, hacker group Anonymous now wants its followers to take caution and oppose ACTA.

“‘Internet censorship is wrong’ #Anonymous #ACTA,” said a tweet from the @AnonymousIRC account, while @Anonyops added, “This way to the world war web. Single file, please. #SOPA #ACTA #FBI”.""

http://socialbarrel.com/anonymous-warns-followers-against-acta/31142/

""ACTA is the latest anti-counterfeiting scheme to gain the attention of Internet freedom fighters from the Free Software Foundation to the Anonymous hacktivist collective, many of whom compare it to America's controversial SOPA legislation.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is the most prominent current threat to Internet freedom, according to its opponents, now that the furor over the Stop Online Piracy Act has died down following a major Internet blackout last week that led U.S. lawmakers to pull the controversial bill.

As such, the Web is focusing all of the momentum from its historic victory in the fight over SOPA and the companion Protect IP Act into derailing the current international negotiations over ACTA, despite the fact that a number of the world's countries -- including the U.S. -- have already signed the treaty. But opponents fight on, as the treaty is not yet in force, as some countries including the European Union have yet to sign it.""

""A proposed agreement that would create an international framework and set of standards for enforcing intellectual property rights, ACTA creates a voluntary legal regime that countries may choose to join. It creates a governing body outside of the United Nations and other international institutions, allowing for copyright and intellectual property cases to be adjudicated across national lines without having to contend with conflicting national laws and legal schemes.

The treaty is similar to SOPA and PIPA in that all three would create new laws aimed at reducing Internet piracy, but that opponents including Google, Wikipedia and Reddit believe would quash innovation, limit online freedom and infringe on First Amendment rights. As such, many of the opponents of the SOPA and PIPA acts have gotten involved in the fight to derail the ACTA treaty.""

""Preliminary negotiations on the ACTA treaty took place in the mid-2000s, and a signing ceremony was held on Oct. 1, 2011, in Japan. The United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea signed the treaty, while the European Union, Mexico, and Switzerland declined to sign but indicated that they plan to do so in the future.

Poland announced last week that it will sign the treaty on Jan. 26, drawing the ire of Polish groups opposed to the law, including representatives of the Anonymous collective. The opposition groups have threatened to stage a Web blackout that day similar to the SOPA blackout if the Polish government goes through with the signing. On Sunday the hacktivist collective shut down the Polish prime minister's Web site in order to demonstrate its opposition to ACTA, Poland's TheeNews.pl reported.

One major critique of the treaty is that almost all of the negotiations on ACTA have been done behind closed doors, and without the benefit of WikiLeaks the public would have very little information about the treaty's contents.

The nations privy to the negotiations contend that it would have benefits for the rule of law, ease of resolving international copyright disputes and intellectual property protections.""

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/286319/20120123/acta-treaty-2012-sopa.htm

""The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement.[1] It would establish an international legal framework for countries to join voluntarily,[2] and would create a governing body outside international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.[1][3] Negotiating countries have described it as a response "to the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works."[2] The scope of ACTA includes counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet.[4] Groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) oppose ACTA,[5] stating that civil society groups and developing countries were excluded from discussion during ACTA's development in an example of policy laundering.[6]

Opponents have argued that the treaty will restrict fundamental civil and digital rights, including the freedom of expression and communication privacy.[7] "The bulk of the WTO's 153 members" have raised concerns that treaty could distort trade and goes beyond the existing Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.[8] Opponents also criticize ACTA's removal of "legal safeguards that protect Internet Service Providers from liability for the actions of their subscribers" in effect giving ISPs no option but to comply with privacy invasions.[9] According to an analysis by the Free Software Foundation, ACTA would require that existing ISPs no longer host free software that can access copyrighted media, and DRM-protected media would not be legally playable with free or open source software.[10]
 

ACTA was first developed by Japan and the United States in 2006. Canada, the European Union and Switzerland joined the preliminary talks throughout 2006 and 2007. Official negotiations began in June 2008, with Australia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Singapore joining the talks. Apart from the participating governments, an advisory committee of large US-based multinational corporations was consulted on the content of the draft treaty,[11] including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America[12] and the International Intellectual Property Alliance[13] (which includes the Business Software Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, and Recording Industry Association of America).[14] The treaty calls for the creation of an "ACTA committee" to make amendments, for which public or judicial review are not required. Industry representatives may have "consultatory input" to amendments.[15] A 2009 Freedom of Information request showed that the following companies also received copies of the draft under a nondisclosure agreement: Google, eBay, Intel, Dell, News Corporation, Sony Pictures, Time Warner, and Verizon.[16]

ACTA first came to public attention in May 2008 after a discussion paper was uploaded to Wikileaks.[17] After more leaks in 2009 and 2010 and denied requests for disclosure by groups such as Doctors without Borders, IP Justice, the Canadian Library Association, and the Consumers Union of Japan,[18][2][19] the negotiating parties published an official version of the then current draft on 20 April 2010.[20] In June 2010, a conference with "over 90 academics, practitioners and public interest organizations from six continents"[21] concluded "that the terms of the publicly released draft of ACTA threaten numerous public interests, including every concern specifically disclaimed by negotiators." A group of 75+ law professors signed a letter to President Obama demanding that ACTA be halted and changed.[22]""
 

""The final text was released on 15 November 2010,[23] with English, French, and Spanish published on April 15, 2011.[24] A signing ceremony was held on 1 October 2011 in Tokyo, with the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea signing the treaty. The European Union, Mexico, and Switzerland attended but did not sign, professing support and saying they will do so in the future.[25][26] Article 39 of ACTA states countries can sign the treaty until 31 March 2013. European Parliament reportedly has the final decision over whether the treaty is dismissed or enacted.[27]

Poland announced on January 19 that it will sign the treaty on January 26, 2012.[28] A number of Polish government websites, including that of the President and Polish Parliament, were shut down by denial of service attacks that started January 21, akin to protests against SOPA and PIPA that had happened two days previous.[29][30]""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement

2012 CME Sun Flares - A Perfect Storm of Planetary Proportions: The Approach of the Solar Maximum is an Urgent Reminder that Power Grids Everywhere are More Vulnerable than Ever to Geomagnetic Effects

""Luminous fingers of intense red, green, and violet light flicker and pulse across the northern and southern skies like a vast cosmic conflagration. Within minutes, millions of people are tweeting, texting, and blogging about the wondrous sight. But then the sky turns a deep blood red, and fascination turns to panic.

Linked to the celestial spectacle are enormous fluctuations of the magnetic field in Earth's magnetosphere, which are causing immense flows of electric current in the upper atmosphere over much of the planet. Those huge currents disturb Earth's normally quiescent magnetic field, which in turn induces surges of current in electrical, telecommunications, and other networks across entire continents. Streetlights flicker out; electricity is lost. A massive planetary blackout has occurred, leaving vast swaths of North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia without power.

Within a few months, the crisis has deepened. In many areas, food shortages are rampant, drinking water has become a precious commodity, and patients in need of blood transfusions, insulin, or critical prescription drugs die waiting. Normal commerce has ground to a halt, replaced by black markets and violent crime. As fatalities climb into the millions, the fabric of society starts to unravel.""

""Of course, no geomagnetic storm has ever wreaked such global havoc. But the last time we had a truly powerful storm was in 1921—decades before developed economies became utterly dependent on electrical infrastructure. The doomsday scenario described above is based closely on the warnings of numerous government panels and industry studies I've participated in during my more than 30 years of investigating the problem that extreme space weather poses to power grids. A 2008 U.S. government report prepared for the Federal Emergency Management Agency put the yearly financial impact of such an event at more than US $1 trillion. And like other reports before and since, it predicted catastrophic damage not just to electricity grids but also to oil and gas pipelines, undersea communication cables, telephone networks, and railways. Repairing that critical infrastructure would take months or even years.

Now is a good time to consider the awesome and cyclical tempestuousness of our star: Solar activity tends to occur in cycles that peak in frequency and intensity every 11 years, and the next peak is expected later this year or early the next. To be sure, not every peak—also known as a solar maximum—brings a killer storm; the last notable one occurred in March 1989. It took down Quebec's entire grid within seconds, leaving 6 million customers without power for 9 hours. A later surge in the storm destroyed a large transformer at a New Jersey nuclear plant and nearly took down U.S. power grids from the mid-Atlantic through the Pacific Northwest.""

WORSE AND WORST


By comparing data from the geomagnetic storm in March 1989 [top] with magnetometer readings taken during the May 1921 superstorm, the author has estimated the intensity and geographic reach of the 1921 event [bottom]. The colored regions show the intense geomagnetic field disturbances caused by the eastward electrojet—a large electric current that builds up in the atmosphere—over North America. Not only was the 1921 storm more intense than the 1989 storm, but it had a much larger geographic foot-print. Unfortunately, no data exist to depict the 1921 storm’s much larger westward electrojet, but it would have engulfed much of the planet.

Source: Andrea Grygo/Storm Analysis Consultants

""But that geomagnetic storm was not so bad, it turns out. A recent forensic analysis I did of historic storms, including the planetwide event in 1921 and an even bigger one in 1859, strongly suggests that Earth has been lashed by superstorms up to 10 times as powerful as the 1989 event. The bad news is that it's likely—certain, even—that such a storm will happen again. And when it does, it will be one of the worst disasters in recorded history.

From where we sit, the sun seems quiet enough. And yet it is constantly bombarding Earth with electrons, protons, and radio through X-ray waves. The charged particles are ejected from the star's upper atmosphere and carried through space at a clip of 300 to 400 kilometers per second, arriving at our atmospheric doorstep about four days after leaving the sun. Under normal circumstances, this solar wind produces only negligible effects on Earth.

Occasionally, though, the sun erupts violently, emitting solar flares or throwing out coronal mass ejections consisting of billions of tons of charged particles. At such times, the solar wind blows considerably harder, at speeds of over 2000 km/s, organized into strong magnetic fields and with particle densities and temperatures an order of magnitude higher than normal. When it hits Earth's upper atmosphere, the solar wind connects with and expands Earth's magnetosphere, including the long tail-like portion that streams out from the nighttime side of the planet. This magnetotail swells and elongates until it becomes unstable and breaks in two.

The part of the magnetotail that's no longer attached to Earth drifts off into space, while the rest snaps back violently, like a broken rubber band. In the process it forces plasma back into Earth's upper atmosphere, where a large current of more than a million amperes—called an electrojet—builds up at an altitude of about 100 km and produces brilliant auroras. In average-size storms, this electrojet extends only over the globe's higher latitudes, like a halo circling one of the poles. But during very large storms, such as those in 1989 and 1921, it can also reach down to the lower latitudes, where most of the world's population and its infrastructure dwell.

That's not the only means by which the sun can upset Earth's geomagnetic balance. Coronal mass ejections that are big enough can collide directly with Earth's magnetosphere, releasing enough energy to collapse it on the daytime side of the planet from more than 64 000 km to less than 25 000 km in just a minute or two. The solar wind can buffet the magnetosphere, creating giant electromagnetic waves, much as hurricane winds kick up surf on the ocean. At lower latitudes, space weather can set off geomagnetic activity of a lesser intensity but longer duration, which can be as damaging to electric grids near the equator as other types of storms can be at higher latitudes.

But how does all this space weather cause damage down on the ground? It's a multistep process. First, the intense magnetic field variations in the magnetosphere induce electric fields and currents over large areas of Earth's surface. In turn, this geoelectric field creates what are known as geomagnetically induced currents, or GICs, which flow in any available conductor, including high-voltage transmission lines, oil and gas pipelines, railways, and undersea communications cables. These interconnecting networks essentially act as giant antennas that channel the induced currents from the ground. Hit with a 300-ampere GIC, a high-voltage transformer's paper tape insulation will burn, its copper winding will melt, and the transformer will fail, either right then and there or in the future.""

Source: Peter Warner/Storm Analysis Consultants; Map: John MacNeill

""Lights Out: A simulation of an extreme geomagnetic storm at 50 degrees geomagnetic latitude shows a widespread collapse of the power grid in the eastern and northwest portions of the United States, which together have a population of more than 130 million people. The black lines indicate extra-high-voltage transmission lines and major substations. The red dots indicate the locations and magnitude of the geomagnetically induced currents that would flow across the network. In this scenario, more than 300 large EHV transformers would either fail or suffer permanent damage.

High-voltage power grids are designed to withstand the loss of any single important element, such as a substation transformer, and then recover within a half hour or so. For a terrestrial storm like a hurricane or a tornado, this approach works well. But a severe geomagnetic storm covering an entire continent would cause multiple failures all at once. During the first 30 seconds of the 1989 storm, the Quebec grid experienced 15 simultaneous failures—and the unsurprising result was a province-wide blackout. And that storm, remember, was far from the worst Earth has seen.""

""It took scientists a while to make the connection between something happening on the sun and something happening on Earth. Given the separation between the two events of hours or days and 150 million km, maybe that's not too surprising. The first person to begin connecting the dots was a British amateur astronomer named Richard Carrington, who while doing daily sunspot observations saw a huge "white light" flare on the sun on 1 September 1859. This flare was both preceded and followed by incredible bloodred auroral displays that engulfed the planet from the poles to the tropics.""

So What Does All This Really Mean For Problematic CME's Reaching Earth's Power Grid?

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/the-smarter-grid/a-perfect-storm-of-planetary-proportions/0

*Now a State of Separatists Address* People's State of the Union is Gone. Interests of Citizens No Longer in Hand, Facilitating An America Built Upside Wrong. Control Freaks.

""It is imperative that we stand up for our liberties and freedoms.  If we don't defend them now, eventually they will be gone for good.

The following are some examples of how our rights are under attack in America today....

The federal government has become absolutely obsessed with monitoring everything that Americans say.  This chills free speech because it gives people the feeling that there is always somebody "watching".""

 

"" It has recently been revealed that the Department of Homeland Security plans to monitor social media outlets on the Internet.  If you use the wrong "keywords" or if you are a key "influencer" on the Internet, there is no doubt that someone from the federal government will be keeping tabs on you.

The following comes from a recent RT article....""

Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms.

Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”

""In particular, the powers that be seem to have become absolutely fascinated with Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

As I have written about previously, the Federal Reserve has decided to start monitoring social media sites and blogs in order to keep track of what is being said about them.

And as a recent Fox News article detailed, the Department of Homeland Security is also developing such a system....""

Though still in development, DHS is looking to establish a system for monitoring "forums, blogs, public websites and message boards." The idea is to gather and analyze publicly available information, and then use that information to help officials respond to disasters and other situations.

""So why do they have to spend so much time, energy and money keeping track of what we are all saying on the Internet?

Why don't they just let us be?

One would think that the federal government has bigger problems to deal with at this point.

Unfortunately, this trend toward endlessly snooping on American citizens is not likely to reverse any time soon.""

""So could what you say on the Internet get you labeled as a "trouble-maker" or as a "potential terrorist"?

Recently, Barack Obama signed a new law which allows the U.S. military to arrest "potential terrorists" on U.S. soil, hold them indefinitely without trial and even ship them off to Guantanamo Bay for endless "interrogation" sessions.

The insanity of this new law was detailed in a recent article by Henry Blodget....""

The reason this law is horrifying is not that terrorists deserve to be handled with kid gloves. They don't. The reason it's horrifying is that, without due process, it is too easy for the government to just declare someone a terrorist who isn't actually a terrorist. It's too easy, in other words, for government employees to do what everyone else does: Make mistakes.

If you don't think it's possible for the government to mistakenly assume that someone is a terrorist who isn't, read this story by Lakhdar Boumediene, who was just held as a terrorist by the U.S. government in Guantanamo for 7 and a half years. At Guantanamo, Boumediene says he was tortured for not telling his U.S. captors what they wanted to hear--that he was a terrorist. He was only eventually freed after his case went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruled that it might be a good idea to ask the government to present the evidence that led it to believe that Boumediene was a terrorist (the government didn't present any).

""Sadly, according to Obama this new law just reaffirms what he already had the power to do.  In his signing statement, Obama stated that he already had the authority to arrest American citizens, hold them without trial and ship them off to prison camps.

Of course that would come as a complete shock to the original drafters of the U.S. Constitution, but very few Americans seem concerned with what the U.S. Constitution actually says these days.

Now there is a new bill before Congress that would even give the federal government the power to instantly strip individuals of citizenship if they are suspected of being “hostile” to the United States.""

""It is known as the Enemy Expatriation Act, and you can read this new bill for yourself right here.

According to the bill, you can be stripped of your U.S. citizenship for “engaging in, or purposefully and materially supporting, hostilities against the United States.”

So what does it mean to "materially support" hostilities against the United States?

Does simply criticizing the government fall under that category?

Unfortunately, when you have a law that is really vague it gives authorities the leeway to do pretty much whatever they want.

At least we still have the Internet where we can communicate with one another and share all of this information, right?

Well, maybe not for long.

As I have written about previously, a new law under consideration by Congress would permanently change the Internet forever and could potentially silence thousands of important voices.  That is why we must stop SOPA.  It is a horrible law which could be used to brutally censor the Internet.

Some of the biggest names in the Internet community are speaking out against SOPA.  For example, a recent CNN article contained some stunning quotes about SOPA from one of the co-founders of Google....""

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has been outspoken against the efforts.

The bills "give the U.S. government and copyright holders extraordinary powers including the ability to hijack DNS (the Internet's naming system) and censor search results (and this is even without so much as a proper court trial)," Brin wrote last month on his Google+ page as Congress was considering the measures. "While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don't believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world."

""Everywhere you turn these days, our liberties and our freedoms are being attacked.  There is a relentless assault on everything that it means to be an American.  No matter how hard you try, it just seems like you can't get away from it.""

""For example, many of us have been so disgusted with the TSA that we simply do not fly anymore.

Well, the TSA is not content to just monitor airports anymore.  Now they are bringing their own special brand of "security" to thousands of other locations across the country as the Los Angeles Times recently detailed....""

The Transportation Security Administration isn't just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.

"We are not the Airport Security Administration," said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. "We take that transportation part seriously."
The TSA's 25 "viper" teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response — have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.

""So even if you never fly again, there is still a good chance that you will get the "rubber glove treatment" from a TSA "viper team" at some point.

Without a doubt, this country is slowly becoming a giant prison.

And one group that gets targeted by the government almost more than anyone else is Christians.  In America today, there is a war against Christianity.  The Christian faith is being attacked in hundreds of different ways, and under the Obama administration this attack has only just intensified.

There seems to be an obsession with pushing Christianity out of every single shred of public life in this country.  For example, family members were recently banned from bringing Bibles to wounded veterans at Walter Reed National Medical Center.  The following is from a recent CNSNews article....""

In a Sept. 14 policy memorandum, Col. Chuck Callahan, chief of staff of Walter Reed National Medical Center, banned family members from bringing Bibles and other "religious items" when visiting wounded military personnel at the facility.

""Thankfully, this policy was later reversed after a tremendous national outcry, but there are dozens and dozens of other "policies" like this that have not been reversed.

They say that we still have "freedom of religion" in this country, but there is a non-stop effort to push it into a box that is getting smaller and smaller with each passing day.""

""Our 2nd Amendment rights area also being brutally assaulted.

Restrictions on gun owners keep getting tighter and tighter and tighter.  Things have gotten so bad that now even gun manufacturers don't even know what is legal and what is not.

The following comes from a recent article in the Washington Times....""

Despite overseeing an industry that includes machine guns and other deadly weapons, ATF regulations for the manufacture of weapons are often unclear, leading to reliance on a secretive system by which firearms manufacturers can submit proposed weapons for testing and find out one at a time whether they comply with the law, critics say.

The ATF recommends that manufacturers voluntarily submit weapons for case-by-case determination. But those judgments are private and, it turns out, sometimes contradictory. Critics say nearly identical prototypes can be approved for one manufacturer but denied for another.

""But it is not just the federal government that is becoming incredibly oppressive.  We are seeing state and local governments all over the country also move in the direction of totalitarianism.

Here are just a couple of examples that have been brought to my attention in recent days....

*Up in Massachusetts, police were recently sent to collect an overdue library book from a 5-year-old girl.

*In St. Louis, a proposed law would make it mandatory to spay or neuter all cats and dogs and would make it mandatory to microchip all cats and dogs.

When you step back and look at the bigger picture, a clear trend emerges.""

 ""As 2012 began, over 40,000 new laws went into effect all over America.  Some of these new laws are good, but most of them are about restricting the liberties and freedoms of individual Americans.

We have become a nation of control freaks.

In the final analysis, we don't have any absolute rights anymore.  Instead, what we have are "privileges" that are being systematically stripped away.

But this is not how America was supposed to be.

We were supposed to be the freest nation on the face of the earth.

So what in the world happened to us?""

Article Released Jan 9, 2012 The Opening Argument is Certainly Worth Additional Reading...

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/rights-in-the-new-america-you-dont-get-any-rights