'Yabba Dabble Doo: How Aleister Crowley Introduced the Iconic Gray Alien'

" ... Then, there is the interdimensional theory. Although this theory is rather another obvious deduction, and has been around in generic forms for a while, in his brilliant and epic book, Supernatural, Graham Hancock makes an almost inarguable case that the traditional, psychedelic plant-induced shamanic visions and experiences, fairy lore, and now modern abduction/alien scenarios stem from and share the same root, a kind of trance-induced, other channel of reality, in which these same gray-beings have won the starring roles.

What is even more intriguing is that within the story of what could be the very first modern, recorded appearance of this same entity, he is clearly described as an interdimensional being, with no pretenses of alien origins. In this story, there are other ideas that fit within Hancock's theory, such as the use of a meditative trance, drug induced, for purposeful contact (as in shamanism) with the otherworld.

In 1917-1919, the occultist Aleister Crowley was living on the Central Park West area in New York City, with what would be one of his many female companions, Roddie Minor. During a hashish and opium induced trance, Ms. Minor described to Crowley her rich visions. It is important to note here, that many of the narratives and articles which tell of the ensuing experiences, referred to as The Amalantrah Workings, are somewhat quick to dismiss Ms. Minor's visions. ... "

" ... with all this rich symbology within Minor's visions, it isn't surprising that Aleister Crowley took it seriously. He was quite experienced and actively engaged in exploring alternate and astral realms, and considered them, as do all the ancient shamanic cultures and many modern enthusiasts and researchers, to be "real." It is said he also recognized components of earlier "workings" (magickal practices) within her reports, so decided to conduct more formalized, regular sessions with her, culminating in what is known as The Amalantrah Working.

Amalantrah was a character within Minor's original visions, which became somewhat of an oracle channeled rather conversationally directly between Minor (and sometimes, others) and Crowley. Questions were asked and answers received, and much symbolic information gathered. From these sessions, Crowley drew a portrait of an entity which tangibly appeared, finally called "LAM."

Although there is a wealth of precise occult information concerning all the information gathered in the Amalantrah Working, the mythology and general narratives describing it generally follow the thought that Crowley opened up a magickal portal that allowed this entity LAM, others like him and their representational consciousness into the modern world.

It is also usually reported within such narratives that although Crowley made certain to close that opened portal, the rather bumbling occultists L. Ron Hubbard and Jack Parsons (the founders of Scientology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, respectively) perhaps accidentally reopened it by the introduction of their own magickal endeavors, called the Babylon Working (much to Crowley's disgust.)

That the Babylon Working took place in 1946-just one year before the modern UFO era would be ushered in with Kenneth Arnold's famous saucer sightings, and the Roswell announcement adds to its idea of opened portals and alien entities. ... "

http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1107/dabbledoo.html

kultcha vultcha: homage to semidravsky

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060959/plotsummary
Two teenage girls, both named Marie, decide that since the world is spoiled they will be spoiled as well; accordingly they embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world about them. This freewheeling, madcap feminist farce was immediately banned by the government. Written by Fiona Kelleghan

White House supplied various options to consider for an unstable Pakistan

Bush handed blueprint to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal

" ... The man who devised the Bush administration's Iraq troop surge has urged the US to consider sending elite troops to Pakistan to seize its nuclear weapons if the country descends into chaos.

In a series of scenarios drawn up for Pakistan, Frederick Kagan, a former West Point military historian, has called for the White House to consider various options for an unstable Pakistan.
These include: sending elite British or US troops to secure nuclear weapons capable of being transported out of the country and take them to a secret storage depot in New Mexico or a "remote redoubt" inside Pakistan; sending US troops to Pakistan's north-western border to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida; and a US military occupation of the capital Islamabad, and the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan if asked for assistance by a fractured Pakistan military, so that the US could shore up President Pervez Musharraf and General Ashfaq Kayani, who became army chief this week. ... "

 

~ Read more... ~

so's not to say: "I regret not having stood up and said something"

Love, Constitutional Style: A True March For Democracy

Sunday Dec 2nd, 2007

If we love our country as we say we do, we should be JOINING this man, right now, if not on the road, than in everything we can do from our warm homes (and mind you, John’s starting out in single-digit at best temps here in New England, the birthplace of American democracy ‘cos the South didn’t want it, where a HUGE 15 inch storm’s about to lay in):

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont — He’s got waterproof, size-11EEEE New Balance sneakers, a bright yellow poncho and a plan. He’s got outrage in his heart, a Web site in his name and much of his retirement savings sunk into his cause.

John Nirenberg, a 60-year-old Ph.D., author and academic, plans to walk from Boston to Washington, D.C., to confront House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in hopes of persuading Congress to take up the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

He’s no activist, he says. He’s not sure he’ll make a difference. But he’s going to try.

On Sunday, he’ll hit the road from Faneuil Hall, walking 15 miles a day until he gets to Capitol Hill, making symbolic stops at the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall and Trenton, N.J., as he makes his way to the U.S. Capitol.

Wearing a “Save the Constitution, Impeach Bush and Cheney,” sandwich-board style sign, he hopes to rally support for an issue Pelosi has said is no longer on the table.

“This is about satisfying my conscience. I just don’t want to be the guy who says in five years that I regret not having stood up and said something.

~ Link ~

 

Nader: 'The Lost Art of Family Traditions'

27 Nov 2007

CommonDreams.org

by Ralph Nader

They are free, valuable, personal and too often not mentioned or used. I speak of the insights, wisdom and experiences of families over several generations.

Now that Thanksgiving weekend is over, how many families recounted some of their traditions for their children and grandchildren to absorb and enjoy? It is highly probable that electronic toys, music and videos received more than a little attention over those four days.

That is a problem. Many youngsters are spending about 50 hours a week watching screens-television, video and computer-for the most part as spectators or engaged in trivial pursuits such as endless text messaging or fiddling with their Facebook profile.

Yet in the overall picture of family upbringing, it is what families do together, participate with one another and their friends or relatives in their neighborhood that significantly shape character and personality.

Earlier this year, I wrote a book called THE SEVENTEEN TRADITIONS about how my mother and father raised their four children in a small factory town in Connecticut during the Thirties, Forties and Fifties.

The seventeen traditions marked the ways we were raised-learning to listen, how to think independently, how to learn from history and from our siblings, how to work, care for our community, respect our parents and relish simple enjoyments needing our engagement, for example.

The reaction to this book from around the country was uniformly positive, making this the only book I have written that everyone loves.

Why? Besides the helpful sayings and problem-solving ways of my parents (such as getting us to eat right) the book was well received because these pages often resonated with their own family memories and made people more aware of their great-grandparents, grandparents and parents at their best.

Sadly, the transmission of these best sayings, insights and experiences are not being set down, notwithstanding the plethora of recording equipment. Pictures galore, yes. But my sense in speaking with hundreds of people, during my book tour is that recognition of these family gems is not often accompanied by their being written or recorded for transmission to the next generations.

It is too easy to procrastinate and then, suddenly it is too late for granny or grandpa and this priceless inheritance is lost forever to the children and grandchildren.

Coming from the forebears or ancestors, these traditions mean a great deal for these youngsters and even more when they grow older. The same wisdom, song, poetry, proverb (my parents disciplined us with proverbs, not believing in corporal punishment) coming from other sources is just not as memorable, repeatable or meaningful.

Mother and father raised two girls and two boys who enjoyed civic activity. They taught us the tradition of civics and how to form our civic personality of resilience and critical thinking by the force of their own example. They regularly participated in community activities enhancing justice, safety (eg. from floods) and charity.

Today, the commercialization of childhood by hundreds of companies saturating children directly with advertisements for things and programs which are generally not good for them-junk food, violent and salacious programming and so forth-has undermined parental authority and taken advantage of the days when parents are away commuting to and from work.

Yet, it is the family structure which is indispensable to a strong, self-confident people that relates to community and work with a resourcefulness that places important civic values over the relentless drive for profits or commercial values.

Every major religion many centuries ago warned its adherents not to give too much power to the merchant classes. The stomping on other societal values by powerful greed caught the attention of the early prophets more through daily observation than through revelation.

For some months, we have asked families all over the country to send us a tradition or two-an insight or experience-to get the ball rolling for preserving their own family collection. The website for such examples is Seventeentraditions.Com.

Jo wrote us recalling that during the 1960s and 1970s, she and her husband had a rule for their daughter that “she could not have anything she had seen advertised on TV, because the price of an advertised product would be inflated to pay for the advertising that made her want it in the first place…. The lesson was one of both cost-consciousness and awareness of advertising manipulation.”

As a teaching prod and a discussion starter, this tradition of Joy’s family came filled with thought-provoking, peer group resistant, health advancing benefits. The vast majority of products advertised for children on television are easily avoidable or replaceable once critically appraised.

So, send us a “best practice” or a penetrating insight from your family history for placement on Seventeentraditions.Com. Have this holiday season be the occasion for starting up these wonderful and helpful recollections to enrich and protect the family from the corrosive and damaging predatory forces which surround families from so many directions.

In the book, I recount one day when, at age ten, I came home from classes and my father asked me: “Well, Ralph, what did you learn in school today, did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?”

Need more be said?

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book is The Seventeen Traditions.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/27/5461/

Public sentiment for impeachment expands

By John Kaminski and Gary Higginbottom, Brunswick Times Record, Brunswick, Maine

The percentage of Americans favoring impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney is approaching the percentage who favored impeachment of President Nixon in 1973-74.

Public opinion has reached this high level even before Congress has started any impeachment investigation of the Bush-Cheney administration. The public is way ahead of Congress, suggesting that it is time for the U.S. House of Representatives to move forward with the impeachment process.

In October 1973, a Gallup Poll results showed only 28 percent favored Nixon's impeachment and removal from office. That was after a summer of well-publicized Senate Watergate Committee hearings.

Just nine months later, the day before Nixon resigned, nearly two-thirds of Americans believed there was enough evidence for an impeachment trial, and 55 percent thought Nixon should be removed from office.

That is how drastically opinion shifted once Congress acted and revealed the full extent of Nixon's abuses of power.

Now, without any impeachment investigation by Congress, we already see the public's desire for impeachment action approaching the level that led to Nixon's departure from office.

Now, 55 percent of Americans believe that "President Bush has abused his powers as president, which rise to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution," and 34 percent believe he should be removed from office.

For Vice President Cheney, 52 percent believe he committed impeachable offenses, and 43 percent believe he should be removed.

Perhaps most telling is that 64 percent of Americans believe that President Bush has abused his powers, and 70 percent believe that Cheney has done so. Polling was conducted by American Research Group Inc., on Nov. 9-12.

Maine people feel much the same way. According to a recent poll by Critical Insights Inc., 40 percent of Maine adults say they favor "the U.S. House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney," and 38 percent against President Bush.

Not surprisingly, Maine Republicans and Democrats differ substantially on this matter. Among Maine Democrats, 58 percent favor impeachment proceedings against Cheney, and 54 percent against Bush.

One in six Maine Republicans favors impeachment proceedings against Cheney, and one in eight against Bush.

Maine independents are about evenly split on the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney.

By any historic gauge, the nation clearly believes that we have a major problem with our president and vice president, although the Democrats in control of Congress have refused to even start an impeachment investigation. They are dismissing the sizable portion of citizens calling for Congress to act as the Constitution directed to keep presidential power under control.

The Constitution gives Tom Allen, Mike Michaud and Congress the tool of impeachment to address the problem that a majority of Americans now recognize. This impeachment tool is designed to keep our rulers' power in check — to prevent drifting into a situation of absolute power by an individual or a small controlling group.

Impeachment is the tool being demanded by 43 percent of Americans who not only recognize the problem, but even call for the drastic action of removing Cheney from office.

House Democratic leadership is acting in a timid and irresponsibly political fashion. Likely, they want to keep the Republican executives in power and all Republican politicians "on the ropes" until the 2008 elections. Or perhaps they misguidedly believe that there are more important activities for Congress than heeding this historically strong demand to address these obvious abuses.

Whatever the motivation, Democratic congressional leaders continue to shirk their oaths of office by allowing the executive branch to ignore laws and plan expanded warfare without congressional authorization.

Public opinion and Constitutional responsibility are commanding congressional Democrats Tom Allen and Mike Michaud as strongly as in Nixon's day.

Will they recognize the strength of public sentiment and the dire condition of our nation and take the required corrective action of impeachment investigation? Or will they choose to ignore the call and allow present and future presidents to control the people and their representatives — an authoritarian power that the Constitution directed Congress to prohibit?

John Kaminski is a Topsham resident and chairman of Maine Lawyers for Democracy. Gary Higginbottom is one of the founders of the Maine Campaign to Impeach.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/29053

bargain: 164 euros per day to lease Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicles

" ... Greece plans to sign a 60-month lease of more than a hundred German-made tanks to replace ageing armoured vehicles

YES, and it’s only 164 euros a day. No, this is not an ad for the newest super-luxury SUV, although it could be. And what an SUV it would be too!

The price quoted refers to the price offered to the Hellenic Army for leasing more than a hundred Marder 1A3 Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicles (AIFV) for 60 months. The offer comes from leading Germany-based weapon system manufacturer Rheinmetall.

Even though leasing is well-established in civilian industries throughout the world, it has never before been adapted for weapon systems.

A recent example is the German army’s NH90 transport helicopter pilots’ training centre.

Based on this experience, the Rheinmetall Defence Group of Companies is officially announcing the submission of a leasing proposal for 164 Fully Operational Armour Infantry Fighting Vehicles MARDER 1A3s to the Greek government.

According to the company, “the vehicles are fully operational, immediately available (Turn Key) to the Hellenic Army and may be used either within the Greek territory or outside the Greek borders, whenever the Greek government desires, without any political, operational, functional or legal restrictions whatsoever.” ... "

http://cyprustribune.com/politics/the-goverment-is-renting-tanks/

'Impeachment as a remedy'

Impeachment Must Happen

"...Elections will not prevent a president Clinton from declaring you an enemy combatant and shipping you off to Guantanamo. They won't prevent a president Obama from sweeping up Americans and holding them indefinitely on his word alone. They won't prevent a president Guiliani from illegally and immorally murdering millions of Iranians for no legitimate reason. They won't prevent a president Romney from seizing your home and assets because he alleges you are impeding operations in Iraq. It won't prevent a president Thompson from exempting himself, his entire administration and his political supporters from the rule of law. It won't prevent any president from leaving the nation unprotected by ignoring or rewriting the intelligence to suit his or her political agenda. Elections won't guarantee that anyone you elect to lead or represent you has to tell you, the congress or the judiciary the truth.

Under the Constitution, we have the right to know if our elected leaders are doing their jobs or abusing the power of their office.
When serious allegations are made, it is our right to have public investigations that are immune to state secrets and executive privilege. We have a responsibility as citizens to act on that information.

There is no more important work for congress to do. You cannot build anything on a weak foundation. Unscrupulous men and women have damaged the very foundation of our nation; the Constitution which is the very bedrock upon which the order and legality of our nation rests. These same people have suspended the rule of law by which we govern ourselves. They assert that the government is theirs to do with as they wish. We cannot let that stand.

The genius of the Constitution is that it contains the remedy for its own healing, it's own restoration. That remedy is impeachment. Not elections. Impeachment..."

~ read full post ~