Mariam Mokhtar on Gaddafi & Najib

Najib's own violent record and Gadaffi: 
Pot calling the kettle black!

Written by Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Crime Minister Najib Abdul Razak [sorry, Mariam, I just can't acknowledge this pink-lipped poltroon as our Prime Minister] is rather disingenuous to tell Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to refrain from using violence against protestors who are opposed to his rule.

He said, “We believe that he should not use violence. What is important for us is to take into account the aspirations of people... The system should be legitimate, it has to be based on support of people.”


Najib was speaking to AFP during his visit to Istanbul and said that the people in Arab and north African countries were giving “a clear sign of their demand for change and reform” and that those governments would have to acknowledge this.

He said, “The constitutional and political reforms that would be effective should be able to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of people, particularly the young people”.

Najib stressed that change in the region should be peaceful.

If only he would heed his own words.

When asked to comment about a possible uprising in Malaysia, Najib said that he was unperturbed as he had no concerns about a possible uprising happening in Malaysia as elections here were “quite free and fair” and that support for the government support was increasing.

Does Najib truly believe that vote-buying and rigging as well as manipulation of voters does not happen here?

But if Najib was not worried about events in the middle-east, why has there been a media blitz with various ministers saying that none of the rebellions will happen here?

The day after Egypt fell, Najib denied claims that there were parallels between Egypt and Malaysia. A few days ago, Minister for Information, Communication and Culture Rais Yatim told Malaysians to ignore Opposition propaganda to hold protests like those in Arab countries. Soon after, Deputy Prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that upheavals in the middle-east would not happen in Malaysia.

The more they protest, the more they betray their true feelings.

A few days ago, the British press claimed that Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi threatened to unleash mob rule as he pledged to “cleanse Libya house by house” until he crushed the insurrection seeking to sweep him from power.


In his most chilling speech of his 41 years in power, Gaddafi threatened death sentences against anyone who challenged his authority and in a diatribe lasting over 75 minutes, declared that “I will fight to the last drop of my blood”.

Najib’s ludicrous statement to tell Gaddafi not to use violence against the protestors is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

At the 61st Umno General Assembly in October 2010, Najib asked the near-hysterical delegates, “Are we willing to hand our beloved Malaysia to the traitor of race and country?” They in turn responded with shouts of “No. No.”


However, Najib’s most despicable statement then was, “Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya.”

His ensuing speech was riddled with hostility. It encouraged fear and apprehension. His words taught Malaysians all about envy and hatred.

With his violent past, Najib has the gall to tell Gaddafi to refrain from using violence.

Furthermore, how does he explain the police use of water cannons, chemical-laced sprays, police batons, tear gas, arrests, physical intimidation and assaults against peaceful protestors in his own homeland?

What is the point of Najib telling Gaddafi off?

When we asked Najib about the government’s alleged purchase of small arms – pistols, sub-machine guns, stun-grenades and more – from underground sources in the overseas black markets, he kept quiet.

When we demanded to know if these arms would be used by Umno Youth, who are suddenly embarking on paramilitary training, he did not reply. (Khairy Jamaluddin has just completed his parachute training.)

When we questioned him about the need to recruit 2.6 million Rela volunteers by mid-year, he again maintained silence.

courtesy of Johnny Ong

Vote for Dr Jekyll and get Mr Hyde!

Clooney says women, drugs rule him out of politics

LOS ANGELES, Feb 24 — Actor George Clooney will play a flawed presidential candidate in his latest movie, but he has again rejected the notion of running for politics in real life.

"I didn’t live my life the right way for politics, you know," the Oscar-winning actor told Newsweek magazine in a cover story about his humanitarian work in Sudan.

“I fucked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth,” said Clooney, who has twice been declared People magazine’s sexiest man alive.

Clooney, 49, said a smart political campaigner would "start from the beginning by saying, ‘I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let’s talk about issues.’

"That’s gonna be my campaign slogan: ‘I drank the bong water.’”

Clooney, who won an Oscar in 2006 for his supporting role in Syriana, gave a similar rejoinder in 2007 to suggestions that he should run for the US Senate against Republican Mitch McConnell.

Clooney, a political liberal, was named a United Nations messenger of peace in 2008 for his efforts to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

He told Newsweek his job in the region was to "amplify the voice of the guy who lives here and is worried about his wife and children being slaughtered."

"And if he finds me and asks, ‘You got a big megaphone?’ and I say ‘Yes.’ ‘You got a decent-size mountain to yell it from?’ ‘Yeah, I got a pretty-good sized mountain.’ ‘Will you do me a favor and yell it?’ And I go ‘Absolutely.’"

Clooney is currently working on the movie The Ides of March about an idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate who gets a crash course in dirty politics. Clooney will direct and star in the film, and he co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Reuters

George Clooney seen with hot date Sarah Larson

In the last couple of years, several people have asked me why I won't bite the bullet and get into politics. Roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty, so to speak, instead of just shooting verbal peas at what seems to be a never-ending procession of political pinheads.

When I read the Reuters piece on George Clooney, it struck me as the perfect statement on everything that has gone wrong with political reality since humans began living together in villages, then towns and cities.


Clooney comes across as a perfectly candid chap. He doesn't waste his breath on platitudes and refuses to mince his words. Indeed, a man like George Clooney is precisely the kind of public figure who will serve his community with verve, vitality and veracity.

He has made more than enough money with his enormous talent as an actor, and certainly doesn't crave celebrity status anymore after a massive overdose of it. What makes a man like George Clooney a natural-born leader is simply that he commands attention and respect, and can be trusted to be true to himself. Nobody in the habit of faking feelings and living on the surface gets to be an actor as accomplished as Clooney.

So he openly admits to enjoying a robust sex life with a multitude (or at least a series) of partners. With his screen idol looks and his urbane savoir-faire, which red-blooded woman would forego an opportunity to explore a bit of intimacy with George Clooney? While it's wonderful to believe that a guy like Clooney could remain exclusively married to his childhood sweetheart and never once succumb to temptation, it's far more realistic to accept that superstars are the closest thing humans have to a living pantheon of quasi-divine beings.


And humans possess deep cellular memories of the glory and honor of being chosen as consorts of deific beings (whether or not these beings can facilitate immaculate conception or if they are actually fallen angels can be the focus of another rambling discussion).

When presidential candidate Bill Clinton was accused of having smoked pot in college, his lame response was: "I didn't inhale." Yeah, and I suppose he didn't come in Monica's mouth either. And she didn't swallow, so it's all okay, folks. Yup, I had my hand in the till, but I didn't grab any money!

Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are evolutionary keys. Anyone who pretends they never indulged cannot be trusted or entrusted with decision making - because they're either compulsive liars or just utterly lacking in curiosity, imagination, and the spirit of adventure. Those who never consciously break any rules must never be allowed to become lawmakers, because it's clear they take rules way too seriously and therefore haven't a clue what life is all about.


Having said this, I'm reminded that every time a prominent politician is forced to quit, it's almost always because of some sex scandal. Only occasionally do we hear of some big shot resigning because he or she was caught with bulging pockets (read offshore numbered accounts). The ones who arrest, torture and murder dissidents with impunity invariably vow to fight till their last drop of blood - and can be toppled only when at least 2/3 of the population can't stand it anymore and take to the streets.

You've heard it said that people get the government they deserve. Considering how provincial people's minds are, even in the digital era, when the pettiness and triviality of their daily preoccupations can be broadcast to all and sundry via facebook status updates, is it any wonder that we inevitably end up voting liars and hypocrites into public office? As for me, I would rather see honest men and women in administrative positions who are not ashamed of who they truly are - and who feel no need to airbrush their public images.

Being honest is a lifelong habit, folks. Once you get used to being a True One whose inner and outer personalities are aligned, you're much more inclined to deal with criticism without feeling threatened. If you realize you've made a serious mistake, you immediately apologize and take steps to rectify the problem. And if your error has massive repercussions, you slap yourself hard on the forehead and gracefully resign.


It's entirely up to us, folks. If you insist on passing negative judgment on those of us who are honest and real - who have no interest in camouflaging our private behavior with expensive public relations exercises - then you have effectively ensured that you will forever be led around by the nose like helpless beasts of burden.

In short: if you feel you deserve an honest government, get honest with yourself first!

Still My Guitar Gently Weeps...

Lovely birthday suit, George! (photo: Richard Avedon)

George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle," Harrison was a devotee of Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience, to include Eastern thought and practices.

Following the band's break-up, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." [Wikipedia]



Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe her now

Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me

Don't want to leave her now
You know I believe her now

You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
You stick around now it may show
I don't know, I don't know

Something in the way she knows
And all I have to do is think of her
Something in the things she shows me

Don't want to leave her now
You know I believe her now





I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you.

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
No one alerted you.

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all...
Still my guitar gently weeps.



We were talking
About the space between us all
And the people
Who hide themselves behind a wall
Of illusion,
Never glimpse the truth,
Then it's far too late
When they pass away.

We were talking
About the love we all could share
When we find it
To try our best to hold it there
With our love,
With our love
We could save the world,
If they only knew.

Try to realize it's all within yourself
No-one else can make you change;
And to see you're really only very small,
And life flows on within you and without you.

We were talking
About the love that's gone so cold
And the people
Who gain the world and lose their soul.
They don't know,
They can't see,
Are you one of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself
Then you may find peace of mind
Is waiting there.
And the time will come when you see
We're all one, and life flows on
Within you and without you.

[This birthday tribute is especially for my dear friend Arakah who, on a recent visit from Singapore, confessed she had never heard of George Harrison and hardly knows any Beatles songs.]

Alex Grey and the Mind Parasites

Extracted from a fascinating 19-minute podcast published by Jonathan Zap at ZapOracle...

Alex Grey was in a loft in Boston where a colleague of Timothy Leary had given a group of 15-20 people, most of them quite inexperienced, LSD. Alex took a double dose. The social environment of Alex’s trip was extremely chaotic - some people were laughing uncontrollably, some were vomiting, some were groping other people, and there was no one who was managing the chaos.

Alex began to have an out-of-body experience, and found himself hovering above the weirdness of what was going on in the loft. On some different plane he saw deities drinking from a pool of “electric milk” a “vast lake of timpani,” of “vibrating energy.” Alex described the vision as follows:

“I had a vision of the group soul of humanity as a perfectly circular pool of intense living light. All around the rim of the milky pool were a complex variety of sexual rites, a metaphor for all social interaction. Translucent Hindu deities swooped over the group taking the excessive energy of the shimmering pool and passing through the group as ecstasy and pain. I saw that the reason we were all brought together was to provide a psychic energy feast for the Gods and Goddesses. I saw my heart as the axis of karmic, earthly, and universal energies, transected by and uniting the polarities of male/female, birth/death, good/evil, and love/hate. To maintain a balance of forces we all fed both Deities and Demons.”

This visionary experience eventually became the masterpiece: Demons and Deities Drinking from the Milky Pool.


A Vision of the Top of the Food Chain


The demons and deities were feeding from a pool of “vibratory energetic milk” created from human activities of all kinds, though Alex used sexual coupling to represent human activities in general. I suggested that that the couplings were visual shorthand of human energetic transactions of all kinds and Alex responded enthusiastically to that description. Apparently, the deities were drinking from a vibratory pool of the energetic metabolism of the species so that through the pool they were drawing energy from the entire species.

A reductive way of describing Alex’s vision is to say that it represents the very top of the food chain. The painting, however, is much more than that; it is a revelation of the human form transcending the food chain. Transcendence does not mean removing or floating above something. What you transcend is still present, and the transcendent state includes that which is transcended while new vistas of awareness are added.


Alex’s paintings are “forbidden seeing” - revelations of what is hidden but that the species desperately needs to see. Conventionally we see ourselves as the top of the food chain, but Demons and Deities… reveals this as a delusion convenient to those who harvest our energy. Another realization about this painting is that it is a classic illustration of the alchemical principle of “as above, so below.” We see the same range, if more polarized, of darkness and light amongst the deities at the cardinal points of the mandala as we do in the human couplings that form the perimeter. And there was also a similar dark/light range in the chaotic loft where some people were acting out dark compulsions while Alex was receiving this transcendent vision.

Sexual Chi as Food Source


Alex’s artistic decision to represent all human activities by a range of sexual couplings was no random choice. Sexual chi is a potent energetic food that can be harvested by human parasites and predators and possibly other types of parasites and predators. Orgasms can be viewed as energetic flowers blossoming in the collective human energy field.

The couplings are arranged in a kind of circular spectrum from loving couplings to atavistic, sadistic-looking couplings. Benevolent entities appear to be feeding off the energy of the loving couplings and demonic entities, one of which looks like a devouring vagina, are feeding off of the degraded (sex as a metaphor for power) couplings.

Orgasms, which are energetic eruptions into, and interpenetrations with, the collective human field, vary from the ecstatic unions of loving soulmates to the sadistic ejaculations of rapists. The couplings that Alex depicts in this image can be viewed as a circular spectrum of these possibilities oriented to the cardinal points of a mandala where there are also associated deities.

A Carnival of Lost Souls


The background of Alex’s vision is also interesting and instructive. He was in a chaotic boundary-dissolving experience with a group of people who were predominantly strangers. Socially dense environments of strangers and substances mixing together are likely to default to lowest-common-denominator factors of social parasitism/sexual predation/chaotic acting out of fragmented personalities - what I sometimes call a carnival of lost souls.

Everything depends on who are the particular people in a group that is having a boundary-dissolving experience or ritual. Naïve people frequently forget this. Such people think the ritual is what matters and take all comers, but this can be a disaster!

Generally, I think it unwise to have boundary-dissolving experiences (such as sex and/or hallucinogenic trips) with people you don’t know and wouldn’t trust with your life, because you are trusting your life with them. There are, of course, exceptions to everything and a visionary as great as Alex Grey was able to rise above the experience and receive a powerful vision about human energy and the entities that harvest it. (Though I have a feeling he wouldn’t choose to be in another such chaotic situation.)

Otherwise, I caution people about doing things such as going to a rave with a sketchy vibe redolent of prowling sexual agendas (in other words, almost any rave) and opening themselves to the toxic energy by taking a boundary-dissolving substance. Unless you want to internalize a carnival of lost souls it is probably unwise to blow yourself wide open in an setting of trance-inducing music/lighting and stoned people, many of them on the prowl for parasitic sexual encounters.

An Ancient Gnostic Text on Parasitic Abduction


The power of this image is that it shows those who harvest our energy, and yet at the center of the image is the human empowerment that occurs as we awaken to the food chain. The ancient Gnostics had similar visions and called the harvesting deities the “Archons” (see: A Gnostic View of Mind Parasites). Also, notice how closely the scenario described below parallels a modern alien abduction experience.

(The following ancient Gnostic text is excerpted from the superb metahistory.org website. Here’s the link to the full article.)

LISTEN TO JONATHAN ZAP'S PODCAST HERE.

Alex Grey (left) with Jonathan Zap at Cosm, in New York City

Paintings by Alex Grey

For more background on Alex Grey, go here!

Love Poems by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco, 1999
All rights reserved

The Moment Before

I want to touch
the sharp taste
of the moment in between
the second just before
the place where
the breath catches
in anticipation.

It's the scent of heat held in the air
between two mouths
reaching for each other, hungry.
The shine of moisture on slightly parted lips
just before
it melts into
the wetness of the other.

It is the skin that tingles
waiting
fine hairs at attention
reaching
aching.
It is the places that have not yet been touched
but know they will be.
It is the smooth, quivering paleness
of the inner thigh
as the outer is stroked and kneaded.
The muscles of the abdomen tightening
the back arching slightly
begging
come here
quickly
slowly.

There, in that moment
do not take your eyes from mine.
I am here
awake

I am
reaching
to be
met.

Do not touch me and keep your soul
out of your fingertips.
Die into me
or do not come into me at all.
Ever after is in this moment
happily or not.

Sacrifice the daydream.
Dare to hold the desire
for a great love.

Be with me.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer © 1995
from Dreams of Desire
All rights reserved.

Oriah’s life has focused on inquiry into the nature of the sacred and the mystery of how we co-create meaning for our lives. Raised in Northern Ontario, she was at home in the wilderness ceremonies and earth-based teachings of the First People’s, eventually teaching and sharing what she learned. A mystic by nature and training, in the shamanic tradition she is seen as a dreamer, one who works to help create a story of the people that will contribute to peace and a passion for life. Her daily practice includes ceremonial prayer, yoga and meditation. A graduate of Ryerson University’s social work program and a student of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, she has facilitated groups and counseled individuals for over thirty-five years. Oriah has written seven books, including the bestseller The Invitation (HarperONE, San Francisco, 1999) based on the much-loved poem of the same name. She has two grown sons and lives in Toronto, Canada.

Oriah's homepage | Oriah's blog

[Brought to my attention by Lady Gugu]

ENEMIES OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE!

Abdul Gani Patail, the slimiest Attorney-General Malaysia has had to endure.

Look at these faces closely, folks. Some you already know, only too well - like the Famous Anus pictured right, pretending piety while oozing semen and lying through every orifice...

A few you wouldn't recognize even if they were sitting next to you on the train. If overzealous investigating officer DSP Jude Blacious Pereira (below, left) wasn't in uniform, would you recognize him on the street? Why are the Malaysian police going all out to convict one guy for "consensual sex" - while thousands of serious crimes, including the cold-blooded murder of foreign nationals, continue to remain unsolved?

They all have one thing in common: their involvement in the obscene plot to put Anwar Ibrahim back behind bars over a nonsensical charge of sodomy - in the hope that with Anwar locked away, the opposition coalition called Pakatan Rakyat will lose its impetus to replace Barisan Najis as the government of the day in Malaysia.

The statutes against anal and oral sex are a relic of Victorian era colonial rule. Whereas in Britain these statutes have long fallen into disuse and died a natural death, in Malaysia they have been dusted off and abused, twice, to persecute one particular individual - a charismatic political figure named Anwar Ibrahim, whose greatest crime was to challenge the extended dictatorial reign of Mahathir Mohamad, who became prime minister in 1981 and only stepped down on 31 October 2003 under pressure from his political party, Umno.

Anwar Ibrahim has the dubious distinction of being the only Malaysian to be publicly humiliated by accusations of pederasty, and forced to endure tortuous and twisted mock trials presided over by kangaroo judges - like the late unlamented Augustine Paul and the gormless Zabidin Mohd Diah (pictured left).

Anwar was also imprisoned for 6 years and an insidious attempt made on his life while serving out his sentence through gradual arsenic poisoning. All this occurred under Mahathir Mohamad's watch - and the same old shit is happening again to Anwar Ibrahim under Najib Razak's insufferable crime ministership.

Dr Seah Lay Hong, government forensic chemist, seems less concerned with the truth
than keeping her job...

And we the public seem capable of only watching this perverse abuse of the law and shaking our heads in utter disbelief.

We owe it to ourselves - and our own posterity - to stop this gross mockery of rule of law and massive insult to our intelligence. In approximately one month, the mock trial of Anwar Ibrahim (Phase Two) will grind to an inevitable conclusion. Solicitor-General II Yusof Zainal Abiden (above, right), leads the prosecution with an inquisitorial fervor totally inappropriate to the frivolity of the alleged offence, and the grotesquely shady circumstances surrounding it.

After all, Saiful the Accuser stated in open court that he visited the then deputy prime minister, Najib Razak, and his egomaniacal wife Rosmah Mansor, at their private residence a couple of days before lodging a police report against Anwar. Najib himself was forced to admit as much during a press conference on 3 July 2008. This fact alone is enough to cast an opague shadow of serious doubt over the entire political charade.

If we allow this illustrious son of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, to be imprisoned again for a completely anachronistic "crime" - and it's absolutely irrelevant whether or not the accusation leveled against him has any basis whatsoever - then we as citizens of this nation fully deserve to be mentally shackled, morally deformed, and condemned to neverending BN mismanagement unto forever.

Najib Razak and his obnoxious spouse Rosmah Mansor, 
Red Queen of Putrajaya. Goodbye... begone... and don't come back!

Effects of Pluto in Capricorn (2008–2024)

By Stella Woods

When Pluto, planet of death, transformation and rebirth was discovered in February 1930 in the sign of Cancer, the Western world was in upheaval. The Wall Street financial crash had ruined millions of people and fascism was on the rise in Europe. Scientists were in the early stages of developing the atom bomb and people felt their very survival was under threat. The principle of Pluto is that something infinitesimally small can have an effect out of all proportion to its size.

As Pluto moves through each of the zodiac signs, it challenges the status quo in the area of life relating to that sign, ruthlessly removing outmoded beliefs, systems or institutions. On the 26th of January, 2008, Pluto moved into earth sign Capricorn after twelve years in fire sign Sagittarius and will remain there until 2024. Pluto’s transit through Sagittarius has brought us the Internet and information revolution, international terrorism, the concept of the global village and an awareness of worldwide environmental issues.

Capricorn rules business, work, government, authority and institutions. So what changes do we need to make in these areas of life over the coming decade?

The war on terrorism, drugs and immigration has provided an unprecedented opportunity for authorities to remove human rights and freedoms and impose strict controls. National security has become the new mantra - airport searches; ID checks; imprisonment without charge; deportation; travel restrictions and the list goes on. Corporations are imposing ever more unrealistic targets and working conditions on their employees. Many fear further repression and a police state.

I believe there will be a backlash and rebellion against all this control as Pluto moves through Capricorn, with people refusing to conform, leaving the system and insisting on the ethical use of power. Scandals and corruption in government and large corporations will come to light and the reputation of many of our cherished institutions will be tarnished. In fact many old forms of government and ways of doing business are likely to disappear altogether.

Those who have been in positions of power and used it wisely will have the opportunity for further success or promotion, while those who have misused power will meet their downfall. We can also expect that an international cross-cultural elite of extremely rich and powerful people will wield enormous influence, with much of this action taking place behind closed doors.

Astrologer Adrian Duncan believes the Shanghai World Financial Center, due for completion in 2008, is a quintessential symbol of the move of Pluto into Capricorn. The design of the super tower mirrors the glyph for Pluto with a circle cradled into a curved V form rising up through its 95 storeys. Duncan believes the Shanghai building also symbolizes the shift of economic power from the West to the East, with the destruction of the New York World Trade Center paving the way. The exporting of jobs from Western countries to Asia has empowered our Eastern neighbors and could easily signify the beginning of the end for life in the West, as we know it.

By the time Pluto enters Aquarius in 2023-24, humanitarian concerns will be firmly on the agenda. The doctrine of survival of the fittest will give way to a leveling process. Perhaps we could we create a better, more peaceful world over the next decade by taking personal responsibility and showing that we need fewer rules and regulations from the outside world. As long as we continue to project responsibility onto authorities, the police state will rise to the occasion to provide the discipline we unconsciously desire, keeping us in constant fear and taking away our human rights.

[First posted here 29 January 2008]

DAVID ICKE: October 2010 interview

David Vaughan Icke (born April 29, 1952) is an English writer and public speaker best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world". Describing himself as the most controversial speaker and author in the world, he has written 18 books explaining his position, dubbed New Age-conspiracism, and has attracted a substantial following across the political spectrum. His 533-page The Biggest Secret (1999) has been called the conspiracy theorist's Rosetta Stone.

Icke was a well-known BBC television sports presenter and spokesman for the Green Party, when he had an encounter in 1990 with a psychic who told him he was a healer who had been placed on Earth for a purpose. In April 1991 he announced on the BBC's Terry Wogan show that he was the son of God, and predicted that the world would soon be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. The show changed his life, turning him practically overnight from a respected household name into an object of public ridicule.

He continued nevertheless to develop his ideas, and in four books published over seven years - The Robots' Rebellion (1994), And the Truth Shall Set You Free (1995), The Biggest Secret (1999), and Children of the Matrix (2001) - set out a moral and political worldview that combines New-Age spiritualism with a passionate denunciation of what he sees as totalitarian trends in the modern world.

[Wikipedia]

The suspense is almost unbearable...

Which side will win? Will they declare a permanent truce and get on with living? Can there be an easy truce when justice has been denied so long, and so many heinous crimes committed against the powerless?

Long-buried fears return to haunt us... and hunt us! Do we seriously want change... or is the prospect of real change too frightening?

Only the ego fears non-existence.

I am Existence Itself.

And Non-Existence is the shadow I cast.