The Shock Doctrine by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and Alfonso Cuaron

I listened to an hour long interview with Naomi Klein on Democracy Now. She provides just too many facts to be ignored by any thinking person. The connection between the development of electric shock treatment of psychiatric patients and the use of the same techniques by the CIA and other military personnel is truly bone chilling. It's application to entire societies based upon Milton Friedman's philosophy of economic shock theory is diabolical. If you have ever wondered where the NeoCons and right wing think tanks derive their modus operandi AND their driving motivation, look no further than Milton Friedman. His ideas and policies and so diametrically opposed to anything remotely socially responsible, compassionate and healthy for godsake, there should be no wondering any longer about why the world run by the Neocons is currently so disasterous for the well-being of our planet and the human race.

But back to the inception of the shock treatment, in the case of individuals. I cannot fathom how any human being could perpetrate this type of treatment on any other sentient being. People are "shocked" (how apt) by the action of Michael Vick in his treatment of dogs; how much more people would be and SHOULD be shocked, if they only knew what goes on between people, behind the cover of "liberation" or "coup d' tat" or "war on terror".

I'm ordering Naomi Klein's book from Amazon. I urge everyone to at least familiarize themselves with the facts, the HISTORY she presents. It's OUR history; OUR generation's legacy.

With all of this going on in the background, covertly......no wonder so many of us were hippies. We sensed the calculated evil, yes I will say "evil" of the "establishment" and we rebelled. By "establishment, I don't mean Leave it to Beaver, Ward and June; I mean the sequestered cabals deciding on Viet Nam, funding the CIA, Black Ops, right-wing coups of democratically elected govts, political assasinations, you NAME it.

I wish people would WAKE UP once again, where are the hippies now? Come out, come out wherever you are! Please.

Autumn Equinox

Ahmadinejad at Columbia

What a tempest in a teapot! So President Ahmadinejad is invited to Columbia to speak. The President of Columbia, Lee Bollinger catches a ton of heat from Americans who say it is wrong to provide a forum for a "terrorist" such as Ahmadinejad. Bollinger defends his actions and in his ten minute diatribe against Ahmadinejad which was by way of introduction (how rude) he innoculates himself against criticisms of lack of patriotism etc. Which was noted by Ahmadinejad immediately when he stated that Iran wouldn't invite someone to speak and then let loose a ration of criticism up front in order to prejudice the student audience beforehand. Touche'. I mean really, Ahmadinejad IS so out there, in many ways, that intelligent people should be able to listen to his point of view and fairly easily determine that this guy is not 100% credible. Didn't Bollinger trust the Columbia student body that much? My sense is that he really laid the insults on heavy in order to help his own PR image, rather than to influence the Columbia students. But that's just me.

What I found interesting in reading the account in both the NY Times and the Press TV of Ahmadinejad's speech was that when asked if Iran really wanted the destruction of Israel, he answered that Iran loves all people and wanted to live in peace and currently DOES live in peace with Jews. At first blush, we Americans might immediately doubt this, as we're taught to do by our own media, based on the slant of Middle East news which is our steady diet from the MSM. However if we scratch the surface we might find this, as I did on Press TV website. News story from September 3, 2007:

Iran to build Jewish cultural center
Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:25:06


Iran is to build a huge cultural-sports complex for the Jewish community, which evinces respect for and fair treatment of minorities.

Iranian Housing and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Saidi-Kia along with the representative of the Jewish community in Parliament Morris Motamed broke the ground of the 3300-square-meter complex in Tehran on Tuesday.

“The followers of divine religions live under a single flag in Iran and enjoy the freedom the constitution has granted them,” said Saidi-Kia.

“Establishing such centers can create a strong sense of solidarity in Iran. It will encourage unity and prosperity,” he maintained.

Morris Motamed, for his part, stated that the complex will be inaugurated in two and a half years and will cost 30 billion rials ($3.2 million).

Today, Iran's Jewish population is the second largest in the Middle East after Israel.

HJF/TE/AA

© Press TV 2007. All Rights Reserved.


Did you catch this part: Today, Iran's Jewish population is the second largest in the Middle East after Israel.


What does that tell you? With the incentives given out by the Israeli government to potential Jewish settlers, if the social climate for Jews was so untenable in Iran, would this be the case?

Yes, Ahmadinejad is treading on thin ice when he says that the Holocaust is a "theory" which must be studied further and he is totally whack for saying "We have no gays in Iran, not one." But the point that Iran would like to destroy Israel and hates the Jews, I think is hugely over-stated by the West and Israel. That point is absolutely critical. On the basis of that belief, the nuclear threat we imagine is posed by Iran is what would send us to war against them. Because we believe they WANT the destruction of the Jews and if they possessed nukes, they would nuke Israel in a first strike.

We need to pay attention to what is really going on in Iran. We need to pay attention to more sources than our own, Western-slanted media. Is it unpatriotic these days to even READ news from Middle East news outlets? What are we afraid of?

I offer this from Press TV website, "About Us" section:

About Us

PRESS TV is the first international Iran-based news network to broadcast in English on a round-the-clock schedule.

Our Tehran-based headquarters is staffed by media professionals from around the world. PRESS TV has an extensive network of bureaus located in the world’s most strategic places.

Goals

PRESS TV offers broad news coverage, specifically focusing on the Middle East.

PRESS TV dares to tackle the controversial global news agenda and broadcasts cutting-edge documentaries with political, social and economic contents.

PRESS TV’s goal is to present a deeper analysis of current affairs, aiming to show the other side of the story.

Our Vision

1- To break the global media stranglehold of western outlets.
2- To bridge cultural divisions pragmatically.
3- To highlight the versatility and vitality of political and cultural differences, making up the human condition.

Personally, I can't find much to disagree with here. I especially like #3 in "Our Vision". How about you?

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran........can we do it to the soundtrack of a Beach Boys song at least?

I was driving home on Friday after work, and heard a "debate" on the local SF radio station about whether or not, we should bomb Iran. While I am now used to this actually being presented as a serious idea, and with a straight face by pundits and news agents, what particularly blew my mind into tiny glass shards, was that the talk show host had JUST FINISHED interviewing Wayne White, Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute an expert on Iran, who had clearly stated, based upon his serious study and review of the current situation, that bombing Iran would be disasterous. Disasterous. Yet, Gil Gross, talk show host, (and let's not forget, comedian) asked the general public to call the show and weigh in on whether or not we should rain destruction on Iran in a first strike.

What is the point of this exercise? Is it to illustrate the point that Americans are so ignorant of what it means to actually study and research other cultures and political climates? Is it to demonstrate and flaunt a feeling on the part of many Americans that it's patriotic to distrust and dismiss evidential facts when presented by "intellectuals" rather than politicians or military?

I mean, just the other day we were being told we need to listen to General Petraeus' assessment of what the facts are on the ground in Iraq and that we should also listen to what the glorious leader Bush has to say about his "beliefs" about Iraq. So, it's listen to Petraeus' cherry picked stats and Bush's political shilling for the neocon party line, but dismiss and behave as if we never heard it, the detailed and factual account from a man who STUDIES another culture (Iran) for a living!

I have heard from another source, OTHER than Wayne White that the younger generation in Iran is in the majority, in fact that 52% of Iranians are under 25 and they are very dissatisfied with Ahmadinejad's regime. They lean toward secular rule, they want iPods and cell phones, computers and other items which are iconic of the younger generation, worldwide. If we wait five minutes, this generation could shift everything in Iran to a position which would be much more "user friendly" to the West. Bombing Iran would serve to throw the younger generation in Iran into the arms of the rightwing of the country, for the sake of national solidarity. Isn't that obvious? Have we learned nothing of 9/11? Does our memory not serve to provide us with images of Americans banding together, regardless of political party? Do we not recall the sudden solidarity we all felt toward a common enemy?

Jaysus! I can't believe we would be so stupid as to ignore the advice and concerns of a veteran middle eastern scholar in favor of the kneejerk uninformed reactionary sentiments of Americans who can't be bothered to crack a book or a website or even a policy paper on such a complex subject. Yeah, let's poll Joe Average American to determine our next foreign policy maneuver in the middle east hotbed of potential nuclear destruction. (Let's not forget, Israel has nukes).

All I know is that as I listened to my fellow citizens calling in to the program stating that they believe we should "nuke 'em" (this AFTER Wayne White's extensive report advocating diplomacy) the tiny glass shards of my blown mind began to circulate through my bloodstream sending tiny points of pain throughout my being.

Makes me wanna holla, makes me wanna shout "Beam me up Scotty!" Or maybe just beam me down to Mexico......where i can be an ex-Pat as I watch the American citizenry talk each other into another pointless, stupid, horrifically immoral war.

When will we ever learn?

Happy Autumn Equinox

The Secret....get anything you want? Wish for it? Try wishing to be a NY Knick

Ongoing discussion on a listserv regarding the bestselling book/DVD "The Secret". If you haven't heard of it, you need to get off the Space Station and arrange transport back to Earth, soon.

Anywho, here's my take in a conversation I'm having, once again with my buddy Tony:

HI Tony,

You say that perhaps we simply open up our awareness
of events that may further realization of our goals.

Yes, I agree! You open up opportunites to take
action toward making what you are constantly mentally
dwelling upon, happen.

I could wish all I like, to become a star player on
the New York Knicks basketball team, and do all of the
mental exercises the Secret advises and it aint gonna
happen baby! :-))

You and I as ballerina and basketball player could
start a theatre of the absurd, however.

Once, I was in need of $40 to pay a bill that I had
overlooked. I was a single mom at the time and money
was tight. The very day, a Saturday, wherein I
became aware that I needed the money right away, a
check for $40 arrived in the mail. It was a check
from a company I'd worked for a year previously and
during an audit they apparently caught an error in
which they had shorted me on a paycheck by the amount
of $40.00.

Now, the Secret folks might have me believe that I
"manifested" the $40 check out of the Universe. If
so, did that mean that early in the morning, before I
realized I had to pay that bill immediately, that the
Post Office did NOT have possession of that check?
Did it mean that once I "thought" about the $40, it
....POOF.... sprang into existence right inside the
mail bag of my mailman? Or could it be that the $40
bucks was on its way to me anyway, regardless of
whether I thought about it or not?

The term "there is no such thing as coincidence" is
meant to imply that everything is happening for a very
important reason and people, places and things are
coordinated to come together for the spiritual benefit
of ME. The folks who talk about "there is no such
thing as coincidence" seem to me to be overlooking a
TON of incidents where there is absolutely nothing
remarkable going on.

For example, last night I went to the gas station and
filled my car with gas. There were several other
foks there simultaneously filling their car with gas.
Coincidence? Likewise I was at the grocery store
and many others were shopping there as well,
coincidence?

It seems to me that events are deemed to carry
supernatural weight when what occurs happens to
correspondence to what we've been thinking about.
Events are just as random as they ever were, but when,
coincidentally we were just happening to be
considering something mentally and an associated event
occurs, we immediately jump to the conclusion that it
was MEANT to be! We run into a friend we were
thinking of earlier in the day....suddenly the
intersect of thought/event MEANS something
supernatural!

I think it's all a bit superstitious. But I could
be wrong.

:-)

Trudy

Tasered at Florida University.."Step out of line, the man come and take you away."

You better STOP children, what's that sound, everybody look what's goin' down.

I don't know about you, but I am outraged about the tasering of that student, Andrew Meyer, for supposedly "resisting arrest" when cops tried to pull him away from a microphone. Naomi Wolfe has a great column on HuffPo describing this act as a harbinger of what is to come, as our society is "closing" as she says.

People are not paying attention! One incident here, another development there, it is the drip-drip of Chinese water torture, slowly getting American people accustomed to agregrious trespasses on our civil rights. But connect the dots! Blackwater shoots at Iraqis as basically target practice.....did you know that Blackwater is a private mercenary army in Iraq which is recruiting American soldiers OUT of the US Army? They pay about three times what the US Army pays and they don't have to answer to the Military code of Justice. They don't need Congressional approval to fight in wars and they can be deployed by PRIVATE CITIZENS. Maybe soon they'll be coming to a theater near you. Connect this to the gazillions of dollars Halliburton has made off the war in Iraq and it starts to become clear that the US Pentagon is a figurehead institution or soon will be, but a figurehead in cahoots with the private mercenary contractors.

Now the State is tasering kids at universities for speaking past their time limit at political forums. If this kid was criticizing Kerry for not being SUPPORTIVE of George W. Bush, would he still have gotten tasered? I'm going to be posting the video shortly, judge for yourself whether this act in Florida was over the top, and while viewing it, try to place yourself in the situation with those cops, under those circumstances and imagine what it would be like.

I hope we start seeing bumper stickers "Don't taze me Bro!" For What It's Worth

Bowl of Saki (Don't let it get you down, it's only castles burning....)

I've been hearing so much lately about the private contractors in Iraq, Blackwater and Halliburton, the companies on board with the perpetrators of the "Shock and Awe" theory. It started way back in the 1950's in Universities and psychology departments and psychiatric hospitals. After listening to an hour segment on "Democracy Now' yesterday, I felt seriously disheartened, which is a common danger for those who truly pay attention to what is bubbling beneath the surface of things. The slimey muck from which such ideas as "water-boarding" and suspension of Habeus Corpus arise. Sigh....

Today in my inbox, however I received a reminder not to become heavy-laden by the woes I witness. Because I know so many who tread each day between disgust and hope, I offer this:


To become cold from the coldness of the world is weakness, to become broken by the hardness of the world is feebleness, but to live in the world and yet to keep above it is like walking on the water.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

The spiritual path is easiest if there is not something pulling one from behind; and that force is the life in the world, one's friends, surroundings, acquaintances, and one's foes. Remain, therefore, in the world as a traveler making a station on his way. Do all the good you can to serve and succor humanity, but escape attachment. By this in no way will you prove to be loveless. On the contrary, it is attachment which divides love, and love raised above attachment is like a rain from above nourishing all the plants upon the earth.

There is only one thing that helps us to rise above conditions, and that is a change of outlook on life. This change is made practicable by a change of attitude. .. For a Sufi, therefore, not only patience to bear all things is necessary, but to see all things from a certain point of view that can relieve him for that moment from difficulty and pain. Very often it is one's outlook which changes a person's whole life. It can turn hell into heaven, it can turn sorrow into joy. When a person looks from a certain point of view, every little pin-prick feels like the point of a sword piercing his heart. If he looks at the same thing from a different point of view, the heart becomes sting-proof. Nothing can touch it. All things which are sent forth at that person as bullets drop down without every having touched him.

What is the meaning of walking upon the water? Life is symbolized as water. There is one person who drowns in the water, there is another who swims in the water, but there is still another who walks upon it. The one who is so sensitive that, after one little pin prick he is unhappy throughout the day and night is the man of the first category. The one who takes and gives back and makes a game of life is the swimmer. He does not mind if he receives one knock, for he derives satisfaction from being able to give two knocks in return. But the one whom nothing can touch is in the world and yet is above the world. He is the one who walks upon the water; life is under his feet, both its joy an its sorrow.

Verily, independence and indifference are the two wings which enable the soul to fly.

To become cold with the coldness of the world is weakness, and to become broken by the hardness of the world is feebleness, but to live in the world and yet to keep above the world is like walking on the water. There are two essential duties for the man of wisdom and love; that is to keep the love in our nature ever increasing and expanding, and to strengthen the will so that the heart may not be easily broken. Balance is ideal in life; one must be fine and yet strong, one must be loving and yet powerful.

- posted to SufiMystic

A Strange Circularity

I sometimes have correspondence with an old, dear friend named Tony who happened to belong to a "spiritual" group where I also was a member. This group had a teacher, a good man, a decent fellow, but someone with whom many became disillusioned as a spiritual guide or leader. The disillusioned folks left the group but many still maintain contact with one another, because we DID have a strong bond of love which survives to this day.

Recently, on a very small listserv moderated by a Catholic monk (a VERY dear fellow!) Tony and I had the following exchange. Tony had some observations that are representative of those that many of us have had, following our engagement with spiritual groups of one type or another. I responded and the correspondence is what follows:



--- Tony said:

I was looking up all the remarkable URL’s out there
so kindly provided by
Monk and I had this rather strange thought.

There is so much information and advice out there
about spirituality, the
spiritual search and spiritual practice.

There is masses of information on how to discipline
the mind, meditation
practice, spiritual practice, academic tomes on
mysticism to be read, dating
back to Grecian times.

Trudy said:

A dazzling array yes? I used to find myself totally
kerbobbled by reading a variety of spiritual books and
essays by teachers. Not only is there a plethora of
information, much of it is contradictory! Pity the
poor spiritual seeker who really wants to get the
spiritual gold nugget, but must sift through mountains
of verbal silt. Ack!


Tony:

I was also wondering about Mother Theresa’s inner
life that her recently
published letters reveal.
Searching for God who appeared to have left her.

Trudy:

*Now this is a very interesting case.
Publicly, M. Teresa was an icon of faith and deep
personal love for God. Privately, she suffered
tremendous doubts even to the point of doubting the
very existence of God; beyond simply doubting if she
were worthy enough to feel/receive God's love or
tangible presence.

What is boggling to me is that the Catholic Church
with it's pantheon of saints;( I mean this church is
nothing if not a Hall of Fame for saintly folks who've
really immersed themselves in the life of Spirit)
couldn't come up with anything better than the weak
responses from the priests with whom M. Teresa had
correspondence. These people have a treasure trove
of spiritual literature from some truly great and
insightful saints like Teresa of Avila, St. John of
the Cross, St. Francis, Meister Eckart, for godsake!
Why didn't they suggest that poor M. Teresa read the
thoughts and experiences of some of these other folk,
who like her, had experienced dry spiritual spells,
dark nights of the soul etc.......the spiritual desert
as it were? Is the Church THAT out of touch with its
own history and stellar clergy? Can't fathom this
one.

Tony:

I was reminded of my friend who had joined a gym.

She said that her goal was to get really fit.

I asked her about sport and physical activity. Did
she play any sport? No
she did not.

Was she engaged in any physical activity like
dancing tramping,
mountaineering, that required a level of physical
fitness beyond ordinary
everyday activities?

No she was not.

I was puzzled by this.

Then I realized what was puzzling.

She was engaged in getting fit, in order to get fit
to go to the gym.

There is the saying, “It is better to travel
hopefully than to arrive”.

Does all this spiritual practice, spiritual
discipline, all this searching
about just make for a more interesting search?

Trudy:


* For many I believe it certainly does.
For more serious others, I believe it does for awhile
and then they realize the fruitlessness of the
"search' per se. Being bereft is a benefit, if you
will, of the unfulfilling search. Once you get to
that place, you have the opportunity to question your
assumptions. You have the opportunity to questions
your beliefs altogether and perhaps for the first
time, take a virgin, pristine look at simply what IS.
Unencumbered by a set of beliefs or assumptions,
perception can shift. Maybe even, a person can get
out of verbal mind, and have a somatic experience of
Reality, hmm?



It seems to get folk better at searching.

If one had actually found what one was looking for
wouldn’t the search be
over?

Has the spiritual search become more important than
finding anything?

Or is it that one is not particularly happy with
what one has found?

Trudy:

*I think for a lot of people, this is
exactly the case. Death of cherished beliefs can be
hard for many and the risk is that they become so
disenchanted, SO disillusioned that they become bitter
and cynical, RATHER than becoming more wide open with
the bittersweet philosophical approach to life of "I
don't know."

My two cents.

Love,
Trudy



Tony

Buddha of the Day

Happy Sunday Everybody!

The Petreaus/Crocker Show

Last night I listened to more Wag the Dog b.s. from George Bush and then the weak response from the Democrats. These Democrats are a pack of what my dad used to call, "weak sisters". I would much rather have heard a fiery comeback from Barack Obama, than the measured, calm, droning words of, wow.....I can't even remember the name of the Democrat who gave the response on TV.

I DO remember watching clips of Petreaus and Crocker testifying to Congress. Most memorable was Petreaus' response to Senator Warner when asked "Do you think remaining in Iraq will make America safer?" Petraus "I really don't know..."

Ashtavakra Gita

There is no being or non-being,

no unity or dualism.

What more is there to say?

There is nothing outside of me.

- Ashtavakra Gita

Thanks for the Rescue!

For Those Who Don't Necessarily Accept the "Official" Story

http://www.ae911truth.org/

Architects and Engineers website. Check it out.

Arctic Ice, Size of Florida Gone in a Week

At the Montessori school in which I teach, we talk to the children about our Earth, the continents, the oceans and we even engage in a project using clay to form the layers of the Earth. They learn about the inner core, outer core, mantle, crust; they love molding those tiny Earths which they then cut in half to expose all of the layers. But the thing that fascinates them most is when we take blocks of ice and make a huge ice bath and place toy polar bears, seals and whales in and around the "North Pole". They understand that this is free floating ice and NOT a continent and they really love talking about it.

What do we say now? Do we even tell them that the "North Pole" Arctic Ice is disappearing? Do we say that soon their beloved polar bears will no longer have a habitat? Not sure yet what to say to the children, but it is important for us as adults to be aware. So here's to awareness, and for godsake, if you haven't already, see Al Gore's movie and also "Eleventh Hour", Leonardo Di Caprio's new production.


Arctic Ice Continues Record Melting
Arctic Ice the Size of Florida Gone in a Week

By CLAYTON SANDELL
Sept. 10, 2007 —


An area of Arctic sea ice the size of Florida has melted away in just the last six days as melting at the top of the planet continues at a record rate.

2007 has already broken the record for the lowest amount of sea ice ever recorded, say scientists, smashing the old record set in 2005.

Currently, there are about 1.63 million square miles of Arctic ice, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. That is well below the record of 2.05 million square miles set two summers ago and could drop lower before the final numbers are in.


North Pole's Ice Disappears

In just the last six days, researchers say 69,000 square miles of Arctic ice has disappeared, roughly the size of the Sunshine State.

Scientists say the rate of melting in 2007 has been unprecedented, and veteran ice researchers worry the Arctic is on track to be completely ice-free much earlier than previous research and climate models have suggested.

"If you had asked me a few years ago about how fast the Arctic would be ice free in summer, I would have said somewhere between about 2070 and the turn of the century," said scientist Mark Serreze, polar ice expert at the NSIDC. "My view has changed. I think that an ice-free Arctic as early as 2030 is not unreasonable."

Sea ice melt will likely reach the absolute minimum in the next few days as temperatures at the North Pole cool and refreezing begins.


Worldwide Climate Implications

Melting sea ice, unlike land-based glaciers like the ones in Greenland and elsewhere, does not raise sea level. But it does play a major role in regulating the planet's climate by affecting air and ocean currents.

"It will shift some of the weather patterns in ways that we are just beginning to understand," said Robert Correll, a scientist who chairs the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and is also the climate change director at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington, D.C.

Correll said that white sea ice also acts as a mirror at the top of the planet, reflecting much of the sun's energy back into space. As it melts, it reveals darker water that absorbs more energy from the sun -- further warming the ocean in a process scientists call a "feedback."

"If there is no ice, the ocean is going to continue to heat, and that is going to accelerate the global warming process," said Correll.


In coastal villages throughout the Arctic, less sea ice also means less protection from wind and waves that erode the shoreline. Less ice also means less habitat for animals like polar bears and other marine animals.

Last week, the United States Geological Survey issued a report that found if the ice continued to decline at the current rate, two-thirds of the world's polar bear population will disappear by 2050.

"Our results do give me some concern," said Steve Armstrup, a Polar Bear Project Leader with the USGS. "In Northern Alaska, where I've been working for these years, there may not be polar bears. So as Polar bears go, that probably reflects to a great extent a lot of things that are happening to other organisms in the Arctic system."


Northwest Passage Opening

The melting ice is also opening up the fabled Northwest Passage, long-sought by explorers and shipping companies as a short cut between Europe and East Asia.

Historically, that debate has been largely theoretical because the passage has been frozen and impassable. But in August, satellite images showed the passage has now become more navigable than ever, fueling a hot debate between the United States and Canada over who should control it.

At a summit last month in Montebello, Canada, the leaders of the two nations expressed their disagreement.

"Canada's position is that we intend to strengthen our sovereignty in the Arctic area, not only military, but economic, social, environmental and others," said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"We believe it's an international passageway," President Bush countered a moment later.

The latest satellite image shows a clear, wide path running through the Arctic that has major implications for global commerce.

For example, ships that must currently go around South America's Cape Horn because they are too big to traverse the Panama Canal could save about 10,000 miles out of their shipping route.

The passage also saves about 5,000 miles when shipping between Europe and Asia.


Canada, the United States and Denmark are also competing for resources as melting Arctic ice reveals potential deposits of oil and gas.

A mini-submarine placed a Russian flag at the North Pole last month in a symbolic claim to that country's share of Arctic resources.

Environmental groups worry that increased traffic through the Arctic could put the natural resources in jeopardy if there is an oil spill or other disaster in the remote region.

Failed System, Failed State

I heard someone on the radio read this editorial from the Golden Jackass website. It is a website maintained by Jim Willie CB. I thought it was so comprehensive and so enlightening as to the current financial situation in the USA that I thought to share it with you all. I will link to Jim's website in Favorites, if you'd like to check him out. He's a sharp cookie.

Here is (most of) Jim's Auguest 30th editorial:

TRIBUTE TO KURT RICHEBÄCHER. [who died this week] He was a valued colleague and an inspiration to my newsletter. Our week together in Cannes will forever be etched in my memory.

Amusement is my response when other writers call me or my work 'extremist' as Claude Cormier recently has. He is a topnotch analyst out of Quebec, whose work is respected and admired. He himself cites extreme events, like comparisons between the United States and Argentina, in the decimation of the middle class amidst prolific inflation and financial sector foul play. Labels are not kind, but my job is to analyze the extreme situation on a host of fronts. To be honest, the label is taken here as an extreme compliment, since it means my perceptions are squarely on target. Additional extreme observations can be detailed, which points to systemic breakdown. The US financial system shows signs of failure, the USEconomy suffering deeply in association. If one were to list the extreme events and factors in the last few years, reaching a climax nowadays, the recitation would flow over into several dozen pages.

As an important US holiday approaches (Labor Day), a reflection is in order of the extremely dangerous footing we find our nation in, and the predicament that a nation of laborers finds itself in. Workers find their situation extremely tenuous, especially in light of the corporate sell-out of the American worker in favor of Asians, aided by USGovt incentives and Wall Street cheers. Our workers became accustomed to the betrayal during the 1980 decade with the Pacific Rim powered by the Asian Tigers. Why cannot economists see that a decade of Vietnam War inflation, a Johnson-Kennedy Guns & Butter agenda, and USDollar benefit from high Volcker interest rates (leading to Plaza Accord to bring down the US$), resulted in a colossal cost to the US Middle Class and workers??? They took more blows with the 1990 NAFTA betrayal, as Mexican assembly plants cropped up across the border. The current Chinese and Indian outsource movement is yet another betrayal to the American worker. Outsource the job, enjoy the lower cost to the corporate profit margin, and send the US employees into the street, especially if they are near retirement with pensions.

Let us all celebrate Labor Day, marred by a skein of betrayals. What is needed is a national program to put Americans to work. Instead, we fight an endless winless war abroad, in support of private syndicates who profit heavily. How about a national mandate and high priority initiative to rebuild the US bridges, access roads to major cities, tunnels, railroads, sewer pipes, water pipes, natural gas pipes, crude oil pipes, airports, and port facilities? And yes, forbid Halliburton and other connected crooks to participate in any and all bidding? FDRoosevelt initiated numerous plans. Why not now? High speed trains are common in France, Germany, and Japan, soon to China. The US lags badly.

In fact, one can conclude that the US is morphing into a bizarre Third World nation with a powerful military and a banking system well equipped to abuse the power extended from printing unbacked money marked as the world reserve currency. Reflection at holiday time brings front and center thoughts of how insistence on placing the Iron Triangle (Pentagon, Defense firms, Lobby firms) in the catbird seat has contributed mightily to the weakening of the USEconomy, the undermine of the American worker, and slow bleed of the US Middle Class. That portion of the federal budget receives almost no debate, no accountability, no prosecution for fraud.

WAGES & PENSION DESTRUCTION
In the last 30 years, the inflation adjusted wage per adult has fallen by 30% to 35%, inflicting great hardship on the family structure. A household needs to enjoin three wage earners, but such is impractical since most offspring are reckless spenders, not effective workers, and since Uncle Charlie (as in the television show My Three Sons) do not fit the mold anymore. It is next to impossible to put one's savings to work without engaging in high jinks gambling. Entire pension funds were killed in the 2000 stock bust. Outside of TIAA-CREF, where academic and many institutional pensions are managed, some hefty losses were inflicted. The advent of 1% official Treasury yields enticed many pension managers to take risks which are biting deeply into future retirement income. This all seems wicked and extreme. In fact, the details of the entire national financial and economic landscape seem like out of a futuristic science fiction novel with little basis in sanity. The incredible part of the story seems to be that few smart folks cite the extreme nature of it all. The US financial system, the USEconomy, the global economy, the US$-based banking system, they are all on the brink. Asset-backed bonds have nuked the banking industry. The housing decline puts the USEconomy at grave risk. The global economy leaves Asians and Persian Gulf nations owning enough US$-based debt so as to jeopardize US sovereignty. Call me an extremist. If others do not see the extreme precariousness of the situation, they are compromised, unaware, sleepy, or corrupted.

FRAUDULENT STATISTICS AS BASE
The 2000 tech telecom stock bust provided an earthquake across both the financial sector and the general economy. An official recession was admitted and acknowledged, late. That means Gross Domestic Product growth fell below minus 5%, since the USGovt gimmicks build in exaggeration by over 4% at least. That fact alone sounds extreme, especially in view of additional distortions, like the Consumer Price Index claimed at 3% when it runs closer to 11%. Extreme gimmicks remove rising components. And then the unemployment rate is claimed at 4% to 5%, when in reality it is more like 9% when those without jobs are counted, using data released by the same spin doctors at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Productivity would be negative if not for the same gimmicks on hedonic adjustments which assist the GDP. They got caught with bogus statistics last summer, on the relationship between productivity and import prices. You cannot import productivity! Distortions in the compass readings are skewed to the extreme, to such a degree that monetary and economic policy cannot remotely be adequate in response to current conditions. The gulf between official statistics and reality seem extreme.

UNFIXABLE UPSIDE DOWN ECONOMY
In the wake of the great 2000 stock bust came another even greater extreme. In bizarre yet desperate fashion (hidden), the Greenspan Fed encouraged a housing bubble in order to save its own reputation. The USEconomy could not afford a recession, with all the inherent debt liquidation. So a myth of an Asset Driven Economy was promoted. That seems extreme for any central bank. Imagine proclaiming as healthy, valid, and with firm foundation an economic dependence on assets (housing & stocks) pushed higher by inflation!!! A strong economy would rely upon business investment, production, income growth, and sensible spending, not the lunatic retail mania that we find the USEconomy dependent upon. Almost 30% of all new jobs created since 2002 have been tied to the housing construction bubble. Some call it a boom, but in my view just another absurd bubble. Imagine instilling a dependence for economic growth on a non-producing asset like a house, instead of a manufacturing plant where value can be added with intellectual capital and jobs created. That is a cockeyed extreme. Imagine the extreme structural imbalance of having 70% of the USEconomy derived from consumption, led by retail. Here a graph displays the extreme clutter of retail chains within the US landscape. This 7-fold greater retail footprint of the US consumption over European footprints is absurd. This is a ridiculous extreme.


INDICATORS & PRIORITIES
Then we saw a stock market reach new nominal highs, set records, as an economic boom is heralded. All pure extreme nonsense, since the USDollar fell by roughly the same 15% to 20% as the stock market indexes rose. Hence, purchasing power of one Dow share or one S&P500 share has been preserved. That is a wash, not a boom. One might even ask why the S&P stock index is part of the US-based Leading Economic Indicators, when over 30% of profit from such firms is derived from outside the USEconomy. The recent Cisco Systems quarterly report highlighted this effect, strong business abroad, weak at home. The US Federal Reserve in the meantime has made official statements incessantly referring to their fears of price inflation, when what they really mean is the USDollar might fall to such low levels that imported price inflation would threaten the entire USEconomy. They fear a backlash from exported inflation, soon importing it! So the USFed cannot talk about the US$ currency exchange rate directly, yet its policy can easily cause a rout on the USDollar with all its price inflation consequences. That puts the USFed in an extreme box.

MUSICAL CHAIRS & HOT POTATOES
The aftermaths of extremely incompetent economic guidance and planning, combined with irresponsible heretical banking policy, have led to an utterly unfixable housing crisis and mortgage finance debacle. This mess has years for dust to clear! The entire non-government bond market has fallen into a situation difficult to adequately describe. How about comparisons to a human body suffering from seizures from bubbles in its arteries (from inflation of assets, then deflation) but also beset by constipation from fraudulent asset-backed bonds (like mortgages and associated leveraged CDO bond derivatives)? Sounds about right, but again, quite an extreme situation. With the threat to money market funds, whether insured or not, the entire banking system seems to be at risk of proper function. Musical chairs come to mind, which demand players to find a seat when the music (credit flow) stops. Hot potato comes to mind, much like the Drexel Burnham plight, which demands players not to hold the acidic worthless bonds. My claim is that all subprime mortgage bonds are worth under 25 cents of par value, and ALL Collateralized Debt Obligations with dominant subprime mortgage bonds are totally worthless (as in 100% loss). Actually, the CDO bond losses are much greater than 100%, sure to bite deeply into the value of other assets of good value, like gold and crude oil contracts. To me, the banking situation is on the ropes, an extremely dire picture.

WALL STREET JUNK
With most Wall Street firms facing junk bond status downgrades according to Credit Default Swaps on their corporate debt, yet enjoying wonderful investment grade debt ratings, we have more extreme corruption in the banker brokerage system. Conversations with foreign analysts strongly indicate a global perception of institutionalized fraud and dishonesty in the US financial sector. In my view it spans almost its entire spectrum. No, not all corporations engage in fraud. But every suite in the US financial sector house contains prevalent fraud. This is utterly extreme, but not surprisingly, as a consequence to the Green Light given to deceit and swindle with the USDollar no longer backed by gold. The end of a fiat currency game is replete with extremes. Gigantic bailouts are part and parcel of the extreme resolutions.

GIANT VEILED BAILOUT
The size of the mess, from housing and mortgage bond bubbles, is an order of magnitude larger than the lunatic LongTerm Capital Mgmt mess in 1999. Expect a larger bailout, especially since it is denied vigorously. Worse this time though, since confusion will abound. Questions remain unanswered. Did the USFed accept mortgage bonds offered only by Wall Street firms? Or only major banks? Major banks seem listed as big beneficiaries so far. Was the injection of $30 odd billion of funny money, otherwise called counterfeit funds in private sectors, a secret Wall Street bond bailout disguised poorly? Methinks yes. This seems extreme.

GLOBALIZATION BACKFIRE
The global economy seems like a rubber band stretched far past its specifications for usage. Labor arbitrage sends jobs to Asia. In return they own vast tracts of US$-based debt securities. The US workers lose their jobs in droves. A giant step backward has taken place on product safety and quality. The end game seems to be trade sanctions, scuffles over currency manipulation, blame game, market ambushes, and lost sovereignty. Globalization sounds good, but in practice it results in dislocation, conflict, and chaos, more extremes.

RAMPANT DENIALS OF REALITY
Denials have been so broadly uttered by banking and economic and financial market leaders, that your heads should spin. It becomes easier to make sense if you conclude that every denial is wrong, and the louder the denial, the more serious the effect. Now Premier Bank in the Kansas City area is on the ropes, a Fed Reserve Bank. Like with a drunk, why ask if Uncle Jack is a drunk, if his behavior and life does not scream of alcoholism? Contagion of subprime mortgages to other debt securities is evident. Spillover to the real economy is evident, but not total, yet. Borrowing for consumption is impossible anymore. The housing recovery is a mirage. Housing sales and prices are nowhere near the bottom, as July existing home inventory shot up to 9.6 months supply! The denials form an Orwellian backdrop where the system intends to deceive, to lie, and to misguide, so as to retain power and to keep the Middle Class impoverishment process intact. What is missing is the recognition that past denials of important concepts have almost all been incorrect. No learning seems to result in Wall Street, just ongoing compromise and deception.

MERGER OF STATE & CORPORATION
The diabolic yet accepted merger of state and corporate interests is preached as something beneficial, a movement to keep America strong, to meet foreign competition and even aggression. Nonsense! The merger invites fraud and extreme profiteering, if not roll the carpet to a totalitarian state. What extreme drivel. My experiment has resulted in one person out of 30 adequately citing what fascism is!!! The merger, called the Mussolini Fascist Business Model, is the penultimate in inefficiency and the ultimate framework for colossal theft with near zero prosecution. The Goldman Sachs reduction from 9% to 2% in the gasoline weight of the GSCI commodity index serves as best understandable evidence of such fraud. Did GoldSax short the gasoline futures before the decision to cut the weight by 7%? Of course, since if not, people would lose their jobs for a missed opportunity to profit.

LATEST DENIALS ON RECESSION
The permitted aristocratic fleecing inside financial markets is unspeakable, and surely extreme. The latest denials have been reformulated into key questions. IS THE USECONOMY HEADING INTO RECESSION ??? IS THE US FEDERAL RESERVE GROSSLY OUT OF TOUCH ??? The answers in my opinion are YES and YES. The USEconomy is furiously addicted to easy credit, which has been curtailed. The home equity easy access wellspring has run dry. What an easy call recession is! Look for more extreme statistical distortion to prevent an official admission of recession. New infusions of liquidity will in all likelihood assist the friends of the powerful groups, not the rank & file, not the run of the mill banks. Recent USFed injections went to the major banks, almost without exception. The US Federal Reserve is led by a university professor who has never run a business, never managed a financial account, never even worked in either, let alone worked in the private sector, but did serve as an apprentice on the Fed Board itself. Such does not instill confidence or adequately prepare for the job of leading the US Politburo of central planner look-alikes. Fortunately, his endless drivel about 'inflation expectations' has ended. Reality will pull him at his leg, maybe the short arm.

NATIONALISM & FEAR
Then we have a mania of fear and political fixation on terrorism. In my estimation, the USGovt, the USMilitary, and the shadowy groups who bear alphabet soup on unmarked lapels instill 1000 times as much fear in my life as any Moslem lunatic in a faraway land. When a youngster with a relatively undeveloped brain, it was an easy call for me to conclude the Warren Commission was a whitewash in the wake of the JFKennedy assassination. One can learn of unnatural deaths, with some investigation, for all who stood on the Dallas Grassy Knoll. A similar whitewash is my conclusion for the 911 Commission in the wake of the World Trade Center attack. A scad of 30-year Treasury Bonds issued before the 1971 departure from gold-backed USDollars were stored in the WTC vaults. And a scad of financial records pertaining to the JPMorgan & Enron case were stored in the third building. A scad of engineering professors have challenged the official reports, citing mere laws of physics. Are such engineers enemies of the state? The Nazis developed what was called Reich Physics back in their day, so that science would salute the fascist regime. Other scientific disciplines followed suit. Even Robert Fisk casts much doubt on the truth beyond the 911 events in The UK Independent editorial dated 25 August 2007. He is their Middle East correspondent. He outlines numerous questionable facts and seeming contradictions. My view is simpler. A syndicate took control of the White House since 1982, marred by a certain event, which pursues a secret agenda and a clandestine business. Enough.

When Habeas Corpus is suspended, when internment camps are completed on US soil, when torture is debated as justified, when pre-emptive attack is debated as justified, when confiscation of personal assets can be ordered in response to obstruction of a war whose cause was mostly faked, when unchecked executive decrees flow like a river, my fears are mainly directed within the 50 states and their federal commandants. This is an extreme situation leading potentially to a veiled military dictatorship. All precedent points to the Fascist Business Model leading in parallel to a fascist government regime. A lot of effort is going into this unpublicized plan, probably not an idle exercise. It seems extreme.

INSTITUTIONAL DISTRUST
The degree of public trust in US institutions is at rock bottom. The level of foreign distrust has never been greater, which likely will result in continued vengeance taken against both the USDollar and its traded vehicle the USTreasury Bond. That retribution could turn extreme. Over 70% of Americans do not trust their own Congress, the representatives who sit in their stead. They seem grotesquely compromised, bought and paid. The 2006 midterm election mandate by the people has been ignored. The war commission report and its recommendations have been ignored. Over 70% of Americans do not trust their own Military to accurately and honestly report the status of the Iraqi War. Probably a higher proportion of Americans regard Wall Street as liars, parasites, con men, and fraud artists. The entire nation appears at extreme crossroads. As though the Untied States were not in enough trouble with systemic tremors, take a look south of the border for an even bigger nightmare unfolding. It is sure to spill over into the US back yard.

Mother Teresa's Doubts and Angst

I purchased yesterday a copy of the latest Times magazine with Mother Teresa on the cover. The cover story is the about the new autobiography just released entitled "Come Be My Light" written by confidants of Mother Teresa. As many now know, the book contains a series of letters in which Mother Teresa wrote of her feelings of spiritual emptiness, spiritual dryness and a heart and soul bereft of comfort.

I have to say as I read this story and the descriptions of her many dark years, I couldn't help but reject all of the spritual "dark night of the soul" explanations that the Church and others are putting forward. Likewise I couldn't agree with Christopher Hitchens' (author of newly released book "god is not Great") assessment that Teresa had early on realized that the entire Christian doctrine was false and that she carried on nonetheless; a supreme hypocrite. These explanations don't meet the test of Occam's razor in my view.

No, what I came away with was the distinct feeling that here was a woman who was in the throes of a deep and prolonged depression. Her notes, her letters sound exactly like the thoughts and descriptions of flat and deadened affect that are hallmarks of clinical depression. She tells of feeling as if OTHERS have the love of God for them, that everyone is loved but that she, somehow feels cut off from all love, joy, acceptance. That also, is a classic sensation of depression.

What is amazing is that she carried on with her work, despite these emotionally debilitating, dare I say, symptoms? I have great sympathy for Mother Teresa, for I too, have had a depression lasting from 1995-1997 which I myself, attributed to a "spiritual" crisis. For two years I believed that I too, had been cut off from the Presence of the Divine and all that entails in the form of joy, relatedness, peace, vigor, love of Life etc. I tried to pray my way back, meditate my way back, read spiritual self-help books, went on retreats and so on. It wasn't until my doctor said to me "I have watched you struggle for two years, more than any other patient I've had, won't you now, PLEASE try some anti-depressants, just to see if they might make a difference?" I had been fighting him for two years because I was sure, dead to rights, that it was a SPIRITUAL problem and I did not want drugs. I just needed to be a better devotee! I just needed to pray harder! At this point, however, I gave in, because I finally was exhausted and bereft of any other hope. Within three weeks time, I was, as they say back to my "old self". I regained my appetite, I was sleeping well, I felt connected to my friends and family, I was laughing again, I was optimistic again; I was fundamentally happy. I said to my doctor "So all along what I was suffering was an imbalance in brain chemistry??!" He said "It looks that way, doesn't it?"
I took the anti-depressants until 2001.

I can't help but wonder, what would have happened to Mother Teresa had she seen a psychologist or a psychiatrist? Most likely she would not have accepted a medical diagnosis, as her entire frame of reference WAS of the religious and spiritual world.

It was difficult for me to accept the idea of being on anti-depressants, as spiritually inclined woman. At one point, in the beginning months I consulted with a minister in the Ananda Church to which I belonged and told her that it felt strange to be on drugs and if it was "unspiritual" to rely on them rather than on the Divine alone. She looked at me and asked "Do they help you to be a better mother? A better wife? A person who can function and be present in the world?" I nodded yes and she said "Then I would look on those meds as the bloody Eucharist! A GIFT from God to you!"

I wonder what Teresa's life could have been like, had she perhaps also had a similar "gift from God". At least long enough to notice that she was connected, included, and in her heart, at peace.

Thank you, thank you Luciano Pavarotti!

Luciano Pavarotti has died at the age of 71. What a beautiful gift he shared with the world. My husband and I have a video of him singing in one of the "Three Tenors" appearances on PBS and it is an all time favorite.

He had the voice of an angel and had the capability to move me (and millions) to tears.

Thank you Signore Pavarotti, and once again, bravo!! Bravo!!

Luciano Pavarotti - Ave Maria - Schubert

Cheney Instructs Fox News, Wall Street Journal to Sell Iran War

God, I feel sick over this because I do believe it 100%. We are going to be at war with Iran within a year's time. Cheney has it all figured out. Read all about it here in the New Yorker magazine. A story from August 31st. Read it and weep.

The New Yorker
August 31, 2007

Test Marketing

If there were a threat level on the possibility of war with Iran, it might have just gone up to orange. Barnett Rubin, the highly respected Afghanistan expert at New York University, has written an account of a conversation with a friend who has connections to someone at a neoconservative institution in Washington. Rubin can’t confirm his friend’s story; neither can I. But it’s worth a heads-up:
They [the source’s institution] have “instructions” (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don’t think they’ll ever get majority support for this—they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is “plenty.”
True? I don’t know. Plausible? Absolutely. It follows the pattern of the P.R. campaign that started around this time in 2002 and led to the Iraq war. The President’s rhetoric on Iran has been nothing short of bellicose lately, warning of “the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.” And the Iranian government’s behavior—detaining British servicemen and arresting American passport holders, pushing ahead with uranium enrichment, and, by many reliable accounts, increasing its funding and training for anti-American militias in Iraq—seems intentionally provocative. Perhaps President Ahmedinejad and the mullahs feel that they win either way: they humiliate the superpower if it doesn’t take the bait, and they shore up their deeply unpopular regime at home if it does. Preëmptive war requires calculations (and, often, miscalculations) on two sides, not just one, as Saddam learned in 2003. When tensions are this high between two countries and powerful factions in both act as if hostilities are in their interest, war is likely to follow.
It’s one thing for the American Enterprise Institute, the Weekly Standard, et al to champion a war they support. It’s another to jump like circus animals at the crack of the White House whip. If the propaganda campaign predicted by Rubin’s friend is launched, less subservient news organizations should ask certain questions, and keep asking them: Does the Administration expect the Iranian regime to fall in the event of an attack? If yes, what will replace it? If no (and it will not), why would the Administration deliberately set about to strengthen the regime’s hold on power? What will the Administration do to protect highly vulnerable American lives and interests in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world against the Iranian reprisals that will follow? What if Iran strikes against Israel? What will be the strategy when the Iranian nuclear program, damaged but not destroyed, resumes? How will the Administration handle the international alarm and opprobrium that would be an attack’s inevitable fallout?
If this really is a return to the early fall of 2002 all over again, then I’m fairly sure that no one at the top of the Administration is worrying about the answers.
Postscript: Barnett Rubin just called me. His source spoke with a neocon think-tanker who corroborated the story of the propaganda campaign and had this to say about it: “I am a Republican. I am a conservative. But I’m not a raging lunatic. This is lunatic.”

Mother Teresa FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE 2: DESTENI

I plan to write about Mother Teresa, but in the meanwhile, a friend sent this to me via a small listserv to which I belong. Great timing and a compelling message. I sincerely do hope this is Mother Teresa's realization. Check it out!

The Greening of the Pope!

On September 2, the Pope addressed a crowd of Italian youth about the need to 'save the planet'. He even chose to wear green vestments as a sign of his commitment. Now, if he would just endorse Al Gore for US President, it might help to draft the Inconvenient One into the race! ;-) Regardless, I have to post this story as I often chide the Catholic church but there are some things they do that I consider to be right on, and this is something in that category.

LORETO, Italy - Pope Benedict, leading the Catholic Church’s first “eco-friendly” youth rally, on Sunday told up to half a million people that world leaders must make courageous decisions to save the planet “before it is too late.”

“A decisive ’yes’ is needed in decisions to safeguard creation as well as a strong commitment to reverse tendencies that risk leading to irreversible situations of degradation,” the 80-year old Pope said in his homily.

Intentionally wearing green vestments, he spoke to a vast crowd of mostly young people sprawled over a massive hillside near the Adriatic city of Loreto on the day Italy’s Catholic Church marks it annual Save Creation Day.

More than 300,000 of them had slept on blankets and in tents or prayed during the night. Organizers said they were joined by some 200,000 more people who arrived from throughout Italy on Sunday morning.

“New generations will be entrusted with the future of the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of development that has not always protected nature’s delicate equilibriums,” the Pope said, speaking to the crowd from a massive white stage.

'Alliance between man and earth'
Making one of his strongest environmental appeals to date Benedict said: “Courageous choices that can re-create a strong alliance between man and earth must be made before it is too late.”

The two-day rally the Pope closed with a Sunday morning mass was the first environmentally friendly youth rally, a break from past gatherings that left tonnes of garbage and scars on the earth.

A participants’ kit included backpacks made of recyclable material, a flashlight operated by a crank instead of batteries, and color-coded trash bags so their personal garbage could be easily recycled. Meals were served on biodegradable plates.

Tens of thousands of prayer books for Sunday’s mass were printed on recycled paper and an adequate number of trees would be planted to compensate for the carbon produced at the event, many in areas of southern Italy devastated by recent brushfires.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively “green.” It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change.

Last month Benedict said the human race must listen to “the voice of the Earth” or risk destroying its very existence.

Loreto is famous in the Catholic world for the “holy house of the Madonna” a small stone structure purported to be where Mary grew up in the Holy Land and where she was told by an angel she would give birth to Jesus although a virgin.

According to popular legend, it was “flown” by angels from the Holy Land in the 13th century to save it from Muslim armies.

Re: Jesus loves you

Happy Sunday and all that. This simple little video summarizes my take on the entire Christian belief system. Have a look and listen here.