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 Harmonic Healing
By Stephan A. Schwartz
From the earliest times we seem to have known intuitively that the directed mind and human spirit have the power to bring healing to oneself and others. All religions and spiritual paths honor the power of Therapeutic Intent. Now laboratory and clinical research in dozens of studies has confirmed this belief scientifically. The work has demonstrated that everyone has the power to heal. The Healing CD combines a respect for the ancient traditions as well as the insights of science to take you on an inner-voyage that will show you how to link to the greater whole and activate your power to heal.
Use Harmonic Healing once a week, or more often if needed, to heal yourself, and to send healing to others.
Click here for details and ordering information. |
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| Wednesday, 11 December 2013 |
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The Devolution of the Seas
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| We keep being warned, and we keep ignoring the warnings, so we are going to live with the consequences. |
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ALAN B. SIELEN - Foreign Affairs |
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Of all the threats looming over the planet today, one of the most alarming is the seemingly inexorable descent of the world’s oceans into ecological perdition. Over the last several decades, human activities have so altered the basic chemistry of the seas that they are now experiencing evolution in reverse: a return to the barren primeval waters of hundreds of millions of years ago.
A visitor to the oceans at the dawn of time would have found an underwater world that was mostly lifeless. Eventually, around 3.5 billion years ago, basic organisms began to emerge from the primordial ooze. This microbial soup of algae and bacteria needed little oxygen to survive. Worms, jellyfish, and toxic fireweed ruled the deep. In time, these simple organisms began to evolve into higher life forms, resulting in the wondrously rich diversity of fish, corals, whales, and other sea life one associates with the ... |
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U.S. Needs Millions More to Complete Afghanistan’s ‘Pentagon’
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| This and the next story are so immoral they almost take one's breath away. One out of five children in the United States go to bed hungry. We do not have universal healthcare. Our schools are in shambles. But there are untold billions for war and "nation building" in nations other than our own. You'd think we would be ashamed, but shame about thoughtless callous programs that punish people already sorely reduced no longer seems to play any role in our society. |
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TIM CRAIG - The Washington Post |
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KABUL -- The Afghan 'Pentagon” being built here is a sprawling symbol of U.S. generosity.
The American government has already spent about $107 million - double the initial estimate - on the five-story Defense Ministry headquarters, which will include state-of-the-art bunkers and the second-largest auditorium in Kabul.
The Afghan National Army sustained heavy casualties in the recent fighting season. But Post Kabul bureau chief Kevin Sieff says there's cautious optimism about the ANA's performance as the U.S. accelerates its troop reduction.
The Afghan National Army sustained heavy casualties in the recent fighting season. But Post Kabul bureau chief Kevin Sieff says there's cautious optimism about the ANA's performance as the U.S. accelerates its troop reduction.
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority sign a long-delayed pact for a $500 million desalination project.
One week before his wedding, Masiullah Hamdard stepped on the bomb that changed everything.
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Fleet of Planes From $486 Million Program for Afghan Security Forces Scheduled to Be Destroyed
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| This is what the insane wars of Bush and Obama have resulted in. How can this be justified? I find this disgusting. |
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HANQING CHEN - The Daily Beast |
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6 planes, part of a half billion dollar US funded program, are scheduled to be destroyed in Afghanistan. After being given to the Afghan military, the planes were deemed unusable and have sat parked on a runway.
While the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan winds down the price tag for waste in the funding for the Afghan Security Forces continues to rise.
The most recent evidence of mismanagement emerged during Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko’s recent visit when he found 16 C27A aircrafts waiting to be destroyed at the Kabul International Airport.
Part of a 486 million dollar U.S. program to provide refurbished aircrafts for Afghan Security Forces, these planes are the latest in a long line of U.S.-funded equipment that never made it into the hands of Afghan forces before landing in line for disposal.
'I saw these planes sitting dormant on ... |
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By George, Britain’s Austerity Experiment Didn’t Work!
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| Yet another story of the failure of austerity policies. The dominant economic philosophy of the Theocratic Right since Ronald Reagan has repeatedly been shown to be a failure. Yet, so far as I can tell, none of these failures have had the slightest effect on wretched Rightist corrupt political prostitutes in the U.S. House of Representatives. We have become a fact-free culture. |
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JOHN CASSIDY - The New Yorker |
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George Osborne, the patron saint of austerity enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic, was in the House of Commons on Thursday, reveling in the fact that the U.K.’s economy is finally growing again, and claiming that 'Britain’s economic plan is working.” Delivering his annual Autumn Statement-he was a bit late-the Chancellor of the Exchequer pointed to forecasts from the quasi-independent Office for Budget Responsibility, which point to G.D.P. growth of 1.4 per cent this year and 2.8 per cent in 2014.
For Britons who have been laboring through more than five years of recession, or near recession, that is welcome news. By some measures, the U.K. has been through a worse slump than the one it experienced during the Great Depression, and now, at last, it appears to be over. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the economy has expanded for three quarters in ... |
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Welcome to Gasland: Denton, Texas Residents Face Fracking Impacts From EagleRidge Energy
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| This is what it is like to live in a region where Fracking is going on. Would you like to live like this? |
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JULIE DERMANSKY - Truthout |
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In Denton, Texas, 40 miles northwest of Dallas, residents and students at the University of North Texas are getting a free course in what it’s like to live in the middle of a fracking field.
Although Denton officials created an ordinance mandating that fracking sites be at least 1,200 feet from homes, sites with gas wells already in place are exempt from the new rule. Some are less than 200 feet away from homes. Since Denton is full of existing drill pads, many find themselves living in the shadow of a fracking installation that exposes them to chemicals, noise and bright lights.
Rebekah Hinojosa, a student at the university, is no stranger to industrial pollution. She grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, near the U.S./ Mexican border, home to two Superfund sites.
Still, Hinojosa had a rude awakening when she learned the university permitted fracking ... |
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| Tuesday, 10 December 2013 |
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Study: America’s Culture Economy Is Doomed
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| Further evidence of the growing coarseness of American culture. It amazes me how our society's absolute commitment to placing profit above all other considerations is destroying the quality of people's lives, and that it is happening almost without a whimper. It is Biblical -- all we lack is the golden calf. |
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TOM JACOBS - Salon |
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Pretty much every sector of the economy was battered during the great recession, but the artistic and creative community suffered more than most. And, at least as of two years ago, there was little sign of recovery.
That distressing news is contained in a report released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts. It finds that, for 2011, 'the value added from arts and cultural production accounted for nearly 3.2 percent, or $504 billion,” of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a common gauge of economic activity.
That figure was in the 3.5 to 3.7 percent range in the first half of the 2000s. It dipped to 3.2 percent in 2009, and has been stuck there ever since.
That still represents a significant slice of the overall economy. In 2011, two million Americans were employed in the arts ... |
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Study Links Arctic Melting, Extreme Weather
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| The melting of polar ice is going to have massive and egregious effects on our lives. So get prepared, because nothing is going to be done to effectively remediate this process. |
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Voice of America |
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WASHINGTON -- As ice at the North Pole disappears at an alarming rate, researchers are finding a link with recent bouts of extreme weather.
A new study suggests rapid warming in the Arctic may be altering weather patterns across the Northern Hemisphere.
But skeptics say the case is far from proven.
An 'unbelievable amount of change” is happening in the Arctic, says Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. Just half as much area is covered by ice compared to 30 years ago.
'And if you take into account the thickness as well, we’ve lost almost three-quarters of the volume of the sea ice,” she said.
Melting ice, heat waves
At the same time, the Northern Hemisphere has seen some unbelievable weather in the last decade: Record-breaking heat waves and droughts in North America and Europe, and devastating floods in East Asia, to name a ... |
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EPA Sued Over Bees
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| Beekeepers having to sue the EPA. This report gives us further evidence, if such were needed, that corporate profits, and the corruption of our government, trumps all other considerations, including the destruction of the key to successful agriculture -- the bees -- upon which the wellbeing of all humanity depends. |
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JULIAN HATTEM - The Hill |
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Beekeepers are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its approval of a chemical they say kills honey producers.
The pesticide sulfoxaflor is 'highly toxic” to bees and other insects, the groups say, and could be contributing to broader declines of bee populations around the world.
'This case is really quite simple: bees are getting wiped out, and yet the EPA rubber stamped another bee-killing pesticide,” said Earthjustice attorney Greg Loarie in a statement on Friday. 'EPA failed the beekeeping industry and all of us who rely on a sustainable food supply by refusing to consider threats to pollinators from this new pesticide.”
Bees are necessary to pollinate a range of agricultural crops, and benefit as much as one-third of all food and beverages.
Since 2006, scientists have worried about a sharp decline in bee populations, known as colony collapse disorder, which some have blamed on ... |
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Tech Giants Team Up In Anti-snooping Effort
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| If you read this report closely you realize this is happening because of citizen action. |
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JON SWARTZ - USA TODAY |
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SAN FRANCISCO - Silicon Valley foes have become frenemies.
Torched by disclosures that the National Security Agency routinely tapped into their data and spied on people and businesses, some of tech's biggest names have banded together to form what is essentially an anti-NSA coalition.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo head the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, announced late Sunday, to rein in the vast tentacles of the NSA and - perhaps - salve the worries of privacy-conscious consumers.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Larry Page and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo wrote an open letter to Washington, D.C., in which they "urge the U.S. to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law."
"The security of users' data is critical, which is why we've invested so much in encryption and fight for transparency around government requests for ... |
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How NSA Mass Surveillance Is Hurting the US Economy
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| Here is another aspect of the unintended effects on the U.S. economy because of the rise of the American surveillance state. |
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TREVOR TIMM - Electronic Frontier Foundation |
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Privacy may not be the only casualty of the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance program. Major sectors of the US economy are reporting financial damage as the recent revelations shake consumer confidence and US trade partners distance themselves from companies that may have been compromised by the NSA or, worse, are secretly collaborating with the spy agency. Member of Congress, especially those who champion America’s competitiveness in the global marketplace, should take note and rein in the NSA now if they want to stem the damage.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that AT&T’s desired acquisition of the European company Vodafone is in danger due to the company’s well-documented involvement in the NSA’s data-collection programs. European officials said the telecommunications giant would face 'intense scrutiny” in its bid to purchase a major cell phone carrier. The Journal went on to say:
'Resistance to ... |
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| Monday, 09 December 2013 |
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An Effective Eye Drug Is Available for $50. But Many Doctors Choose a $2,000 Alternative
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| This, more than any story I have read in years, shows the absolute corruption and immorality of American healthcare. The ACA does very little to change this. It is simply not possible to have a genuine healthcare system when profit is more important than health. Until we acknowledge that America will always be second class when it comes to the wellness of its people. |
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PETER WHORISKEY and DAN KEATING - The Washington Post |
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The two drugs have been declared equivalently miraculous. Tested side by side in six major trials, both prevent blindness in a common old-age affliction. Biologically, they are cousins. They’re even made by the same company.
But one holds a clear price advantage.
Avastin costs about $50 per injection.
Lucentis costs about $2,000 per injection.
Doctors choose the more expensive drug more than half a million times every year, a choice that costs the Medicare program, the largest single customer, an extra $1 billion or more annually.
Spending that much may make little sense for a country burdened by ever-
rising health bills, but as is often the case in American health care, there is a certain economic logic: Doctors and drugmakers profit when more-costly treatments are adopted.
Genentech, a division of the Roche Group, makes both products but reaps far more profit when it ... |
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One Industry Terrified of Solar Power
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| In this report you see explicitly what I have saying for several years: The utility companies like the petroleum and coal companies will, with a few exceptions, as this report spells out, do everything in their power to block non-carbon decentralized energy. In spite of all that non-carbon energy is the trend that will prevail, so this is good news. |
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TRAVIS HOIUM - The Motley Fool |
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For decades, the utility monopoly in the U.S. has been an investor's dream. Companies could generate a guaranteed return on assets, protecting profits year after year with little fear of competition.
But the solar industry has suddenly thrown a wrench in that model. The centralized power model is predicated on having the utility own, or buy, power and then distributing it to customers. Solar allows customers to be the generators and even to sell power to the utility, which is known as distributed solar.
This is an incredibly disruptive model, and now that solar energy is cost-efficient for homeowners, it's spreading across the country like wildfire. SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY ) and SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR ) have made $0 down solar leases possible, and solar loans are available for homeowners as well. As costs fall, the solar industry becomes more and more attractive to homeowners, which puts ... |
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Graphene Is Going to Change the World
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| Here is a good report on a technology that is likely to change the world. |
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BRENT MATSALLA - The Guardian Express |
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Graphene is the world’s lightest and strongest material and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado has just realized that it is going to change the world as we know it.
Researchers at the Institute have recently devised a method of generating the extremely thin material on copper film. As rare-earth-metals become more and more expensive and scarce, graphene might provide the solution to a myriad of technologies.
Some uses of graphene range from the inclusion in electronics, sensors, and solar cells to increasing speeds of the Internet, and medical technologies. The reason the thin material is just making an appearance now, is due to it being too difficult to produce in the thin layers required. That is, until the NIST researchers made their huge discovery.
To create the extremely thin layer of graphene, the NIST team used a two-step process. First, copper ... |
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From Cloud Computing to Solar Paint, Electrical Industry Changes
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| Here is some more good news about the shift to decentralized non-carbon energy. In spite of the sabotage by carbon interests, the corrupt government and all the rest, this is the trend that will win out. But since we are a country that only considers profit to be important, the transition will be much more painful and disruptive than it need be. It's a shame that we can't form a coherent national policy to achieve this transition. |
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DIRK PERREFORT - newstimes.com |
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DANBURY -- When it comes to innovation in the electrical business, Paul Dinto is leading the charge.
"The changes that are going on right now are revolutionizing the trade," said Dinto, president and founder of Dinto Electric, one of the largest commercial, industrial electrical contractors in the state. "It's amazing what you can do these days."
From solar energy producing paint to computer clouds, jumps in technological advancements mean increased opportunities in the electrical industry.
When Dinto started the company in 1987, he had about 20 employees and about $2 million worth of contracts. Dinto said he started the current fiscal year with about 185 employees and more than $107 million worth of work under contract.
"Electrical work has seen more growth than any other trade," said Dinto, the recipient of this year's Cecil Previdi Award given out annually by the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce ... |
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SolarCity, Using Tesla Batteries, Aims to Bring Solar Power to the Masses
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| More on solar, the speed of this trend is picking up. |
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KEVIN BULLIS - MIT Technology Review |
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Today, SolarCity-a company that’s grown quickly by installing solar panels for free and charging customers for the solar power-announced a new business that will extend that model to providing batteries for free, too. SolarCity is a rare success story for investors in clean technology, and its business model has sped the adoption of solar panels.
The batteries could help businesses lower their utility bills by reducing the amount of power they draw from the grid. They could also help address solar power’s intermittency, which could prevent it from becoming a significant source of electricity. The batteries are being supplied by Tesla Motors, whose CEO, Elon Musk, is SolarCity’s chairman.
Other solar companies have failed in recent years. But SolarCity’s business model has helped it grow quickly. It had a successful IPO a year ago, and its stock price has risen from its IPO price of $8 to over ... |
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