Critical Breakthrough: Study Overturns Theory of ‘Junk DNA’
Stephen: This is really, really big news. It invalidates much of what we have been told about the percentage of our DNA that scientists had supposedly already worked out was ‘junk’ It isn’t!. Just another of the truths that is tumbling down – and out! Thanks to Zenyep.
The international Encode project has found that about a fifth of the human genome regulates the 2% that makes proteins
By Alok Jha, science correspondent, The Guardian – September 5, 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/05/genes-genome-junk-dna-encode?in...
Long stretches of DNA previously dismissed as “junk” are in fact crucial to the way our genome works, an international team of researchers said on Wednesday.
It is the most significant shift in scientists’ understanding of the way our DNA operates since the sequencing of the human genome in 2000, when it was discovered that our bodies are built and controlled by far fewer genes than expected. Now the next generation of geneticists have updated that picture.
Stephen: This video by BBC Medical Correspondent Fergus Walsh is the best I’ve seen that explains it all really easily (it also has some very nice graphics!):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19202141The results of the international Encode project will have a huge impact for geneticists trying to work out how genes operate. The findings will also provide new leads for scientists looking for treatments for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and Crohn’s disease that have their roots partly in glitches in the DNA. Until now, the focus had largely been on looking for errors within genes themselves, but the Encode research will help guide the hunt for problem areas that lie elsewhere in our DNA sequence.
Dr Ewan Birney, of the European Bioinformatics Institute near Cambridge, one of the principal investigators in the Encode project, said: “In 2000, we published the draft human genome and, in 2003, we published the finished human genome and we always knew that was going to be a starting point. We always knew that protein-coding genes were not the whole story.”
For years, the vast stretches of DNA between our 20,000 or so protein-coding genes – more than 98% of the genetic sequence inside each of our cells – was written off as “junk” DNA. Already falling out of favour in recent years, this concept will now, with Encode’s work, be consigned to the history books.
Encode is the largest single update to the data from the human genome since its final draft was published in 2003 and the first systematic attempt to work out what the DNA outside protein-coding genes does. The researchers found that it is far from useless: within these regions they have identified more than 10,000 new “genes” that code for components that control how the more familiar protein-coding genes work.
Up to 18% of our DNA sequence is involved in regulating the less than 2% of the DNA that codes for proteins. In total, Encode scientists say, about 80% of the DNA sequence can be assigned some sort of biochemical function.
Scientists know that while most cells in our body contain our entire genetic code, not all of the protein-coding genes are active. A liver cell contains enzymes used to metabolise alcohol and other toxins, whereas hair cells make the protein keratin. Through some mechanism that regulates its genes, the hair cell knows it should make keratin rather than liver enzymes, and the liver cell knows it should make the liver enzymes and not the hair proteins.
“That control must have been somewhere in the genome, and we always knew that – for some individual genes – it was an element sometimes quite far away from the gene,” said Birney. “But we didn’t have a genome-wide view to this. So we set about working out how we could discover those elements.”
The results of the five-year Encode project are published on Wednesday across 30 papers in the journals Nature, Science, Genome Biology and Genome Research. The researchers have mapped 4m switches in what was once thought to be junk DNA, many of which will help them better understand a range of common human diseases, from diabetes to heart disease, that depend on the complex interaction of hundreds of genes and their associated regulatory elements.
Researchers at the forefront of the Encode project explain its findings. Video: Nature
“Regulatory elements are the things that turn genes on and off,” says Professor Mike Snyder of Stanford University, who was a principal investigator in the Encode consortium. “Much of the difference between people is due to the differences in the efficiency of these regulatory elements. There are more variants, we think, in the regulatory elements than in the genes themselves.”
Genes cannot function without these regulatory elements. If regulation goes wrong, malfunctioning genes can cause diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, psoriasis and Crohn’s disease. Errors in the regulation of a gene known as Sonic Hedgehog, for example, are thought to underlie some cases of human polydactyly in which individuals have extra toes or fingers.
Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith, of Cambridge University, said: “They also have important implications for the growth and development of embryos and foetuses during pregnancy. These are the kinds of elements that make your tissues and organs grow properly, at the right time and place, and containing the right kinds of cells.”
Encode scientists found that 9% of human DNA is involved in the coding for the regulatory switches, although Birney thinks the true figure may turn out to be about 20%. “One of the big surprises is that we see way more [regulatory] elements than I was expecting,” he said.
The project has identified about 10,000 stretches of DNA, which the Encode scientists have called non-coding genes, that do not make proteins but, instead, a type of RNA – the single-stranded equivalent of DNA.
There are many types of RNA molecule in cells, each with a specific role such as carrying messages or transcribing the DNA code in the first step of making a protein. However, the 10,000 non-coding genes carry instructions to build the large and small RNA molecules required to regulate the actions of the 20,000 protein-coding genes.
The results have already shed light on previous, massive studies of genetic data. In recent years, scientists have compared the genetic code of thousands of people with a specific disease (such as diabetes, bipolar disorder, Crohn’s disease or heart disease) with the DNA code of thousands of healthy people, in an attempt to locate mutations that could account for some of the risk of developing that disease.
These so-called genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified scores of locations in the DNA that seem to raise a person’s risk of developing a disease – but the vast majority are nowhere near protein-coding genes. That makes sense if regions previously thought of as “junk” are actually vital for controlling the expression of protein-encoding genes.
Indeed, there is a big overlap between the locations identified by GWAS and the regulation switches identified in Encode. “When I first saw that result I thought it was too good to be true. We’ve done the analysis five different ways now and it still holds up,” says Birney.
Understanding some of these regulatory elements could help explain some of the environmental triggers for different diseases.
Crohn’s disease, for example, is a long-term condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system and affects up to 60,000 people in the UK, but scientists cannot fully explain why some people suffer from it and others do not, even when they all have the genetic mutations associated with an elevated risk. One hypothesis is that the disease could be triggered by a bacterial infection.
“Maybe there’s a place in the middle of nowhere [in the DNA], not close to a protein-coding gene, that if you have one variant you’re more sensitive to this bacterium, if you have another variant you’re less sensitive,” says Birney. “So you get Crohn’s disease probably because you have the more sensitive type and that particular bacterial infection occurred at a time when you were vulnerable.”
The Encode consortium’s 442 researchers, situated in 32 institutes around the world, used 300 years of computer time and five years in the lab to get their results. They examined a total of 147 types of tissue – including cancer cells, liver extracts, endothelial cells from umbilical cords, and stem cells derived from embryos – and subjected them to around a hundred different experiments, recording which parts of the DNA code were activated in which cells at which times.
The current and future phases of Encode will prove useful not only for scientists, but also for those who want a more personalised approach to medicine in the decades to come. “We’re in an era where people are starting to get their genomes sequenced. With Encode data we could start mapping regulatory information,” says Snyder.
This means that the individual differences in people’s diseases can be more effectively targeted for treatment. “Diseases have been defined by the medical profession observing symptoms,” says Dr Tim Hubbard of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge. “[But] we know, for example, that breast cancer is not one disease but there’s multiple types of breast cancer with all sorts of different mechanistic processes going wrong.
“A given drug only works in about a third of the people you give it to, but you don’t know which third. A lot of that is related to genomics, so if you knew the relationship between a person’s genome and which drugs work for them and which ones they shouldn’t take because it gives them side effects, that would improve medicine.”
Understanding exactly how each type of cell in the body works – in other words which genes are switched on or off at different stages of its function – will also be useful in future stem cell therapies. If doctors want to grow replacement liver tissue, for example, they will be able to check that it is safe by comparing the DNA functions of their manufactured cells with data from normal liver cells.
Birney says that the decade since the publication of the first draft of the human genome has shown that genetics is much more complex than anyone could have predicted.
“We felt that maybe life was easier beforehand and more comfortable because we were just more ignorant. The major thing that’s happening is that we’re losing some of our ignorance and, indeed, it’s very complicated,” he says.
“You’ve got to remember that these genomes make one of the most complicated things we know, ourselves. The idea that the recipe book would be easy to understand is kind of hubris. I still think we’re at the start of this journey, we’re still in the warm-up, the first couple of miles of this marathon.”
Glossary
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid is the chemical that stores genetic information in our cells. Shaped like a double helix, DNA passes down from one generation to the next.
RNA: Ribonucleic acid is a type of molecule used in making proteins in the body.
Genome: The complete genetic makeup of an organism, which contains all the biological information to build and keep it alive.
Gene: A stretch of DNA that tells a cell how to make specific proteins or RNA molecules.
Enzyme: A molecule that promotes a chemical reaction inside a living organism.
Stem cell: A biological master cell that can multiply and become many different types of tissue. They can also replicate to make more stem cells.
Flora Malein
9/07/2012
Critical Breakthrough: Study Overturns Theory of ‘Junk DNA’
“Sign That Document!” St. Germain Addresses the Continental Congress
Valerie Donner channeled St. Germain yesterday (Sept. 6, 2012). NESARA is beginning to work its way into the banks behind the scenes and St. Germain provided an impetus for NESARA many centuries ago with his World Trust.
The anniversary of the worst act of treason in American history – the attacks of 9/11 – is coming up. That event was designed to forestall the NESARA Act from being signed that day.
The American elections are coming up as well and St. Germain played an important role in founding the United States, much more than is indicated by the story that follows.
For all these reasons and more, I’d like to repost one of my favorite stories – the story of how St. Germain inspired the hesitant signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Robert Campbell’s famous account is followed by St. Germain’s alleged actual speech.
THE MYSTERIOUS ROSICRUCIAN WHO WAS FATHER OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
http://www.ascension-research.org/Father_of_the_American_Republic.html
“Little seems to have been known concerning this old gentleman; and in the materials from which this account is compiled, his name is not even once mentioned, for he is uniformly spoken of or referred to as ‘the Professor.’ He was evidently far beyond his threescore and ten years; and he often referred to historical events of more than a century previous just as if he had been a living witness to their occurrence; still he was erect, vigorous and active—hale, hearty and clear-minded, as strong and energetic every way as in the prime of life.
He was tall, of fine figure, perfectly easy, very dignified in his manners, being at once courteous, gracious and commanding. He was, for those times, and considering the customs of the Colonists, very peculiar in his method of living; for he ate no flesh, fowl or fish; he never used for food any ‘green thing’, any roots or anything unripe; he drank no liquor, wine or ale; but confined his diet to cereals and their products, fruits that were ripened on the stem in the sun, nuts, mild tea and the sweet of honey, sugar and molasses. [ Editor's note: The Comte de Saint Germain's same abstemious behavior regarding food was well documented in Europe.]
“He was well educated, highly cultivated, of extensive as well as varied information, and very studious. He spent considerable of his time in the patient and persistent scanning of a number of very rare old books and ancient manuscripts which he seemed to be deciphering, translating or rewriting.
These books, and manuscripts, together with his own writings, he never showed to anyone; and he did not even mention them in his conversations with the family, except in the most casual way; and he always locked them up carefully in a large, old-fashioned, cubically shaped, iron-bound, heavy oaken chest, whenever he left his room, even for his meals.
He took long and frequent walks alone, sat on the brows of the neighboring hills, or mused in the midst of the green and flower-gemmed meadows. He was fairly liberal—but in no way lavish—in spending his money, with which he was well supplied. He was a quiet, though a very genial and very interesting member of the family; and he was seemingly at home upon any and every topic coming up in conversation. He was, in short, one whom everyone would notice and respect, whom few would feel well acquainted with, and whom no one would presume to question concerning himself—as to whence he came, why he tarried or whither he journeyed.”
“By something more than a mere coincidence, the committee appointed by the Colonial Congress to design a flag accepted an invitation to be guests, while at Cambridge, of the family with which the Professor was staying. It was here that General Washington joined them for the purpose of deciding upon a fitting emblem. By the signs that passed between them, it was evident that General Washington and Doctor Franklin recognized the Professor, and by unanimous approval, he was invited to become an active member of the committee. During the proceedings which followed, the Professor was treated with the most profound respect and all his suggestions immediately acted upon. He submitted a pattern which he considered symbolically appropriate for the new flag, and this was unhesitatingly accepted by the six other members of the committee, who voted that the arrangement suggested by the Professor be forthwith adopted. After the episode of the flag, the Professor quickly vanished; and nothing further is known concerning him.
“Did General Washington and Doctor Franklin recognize the Professor as an emissary of the Mystery School which has so long controlled the political destinies of this planet? Benjamin Franklin was a philosopher and a Freemason—possibly a Rosicrucian initiate. He and the Marquis de Lafayette—also a man of mystery—constitute two of the important links in the chain of circumstance that culminated in the establishment of the original thirteen American colonies as a free and independent nation. Dr. Franklin’s philosophic attainments are well attested in Poor Richard’s Almanac, published by him for many years under the name of Richard Saunders. His interest in the cause of Freemasonry is also shown in his publication of Anderson’s Constitutions of ‘Freemasonry.
“It was during the, evening of July 4, 1776, that the second of these mysterious episodes occurred. In the old State House in Philadelphia, a group of men were gathered for the momentous task of severing the tie between the old country and the new. It was a grave moment, and not a few of those present feared that their lives would be the forfeit for their audacity.
In the midst of the debate a fierce voice rang out. The debaters stopped and turned to look upon the stranger. Who was this man who had suddenly appeared in their midst and had transfixed them with his oratory? They had never seen him before, none knew when he had entered; but his tall form and pale face filled them with awe. His voice ringing with a holy zeal, the stranger stirred them to their very souls. His closing words rang. through the building, ‘God has given America to be free!’
As the stranger sank into a chair exhausted, a wild enthusiasm burst forth. Name after name was placed upon the parchment: the Declaration of Independence was signed. But where was the man who had precipitated the accomplishment of this immortal task—who had lifted for a moment the veil from the eyes of the assemblage and revealed to them a part at least of the great purpose for which the, new nation was conceived? He had disappeared, nor was he ever seen or his identity established. This episode parallels others of a similar kind recorded by ancient historians attendant upon the founding of every new nation. Are they coincidence, or do they indicate that the divine wisdom of the ancient mysteries still is present in the world, serving mankind as it did of old?”
And here is what purports to be his actual speech from http://www.ascension-research.org/Sign_that_Document.html
Signing the Declaration of Independence
(St. Germain is in the back, the only man pictured in a hat. This same portrait appears on the $2 bill.)
Sign That Document!
The following is taken from Washington and His Generals: or, Legends of the Revolution by George Lippard, published in 1847. The signers of the Declaration of Independence sat in Independence Hall at Philadelphia, contemplating losing their heads or being hanged. Their courage wavered. The document sat there unsigned. An extraordinary catalyst was needed to move them to action. An unknown man rose and gave an electrifying speech. He disappeared soon after.
By signing the Declaration, all were guilty of high treason under British law. The penalty for high treason was to be hanged by the neck until unconscious, then cut down and revived, then disemboweled and cut into quarters. The head and quarters were at the disposal of the crown.
No wonder they wavered! No wonder they discussed back and forth for days on end before signing the document that carried so grave a penalty. An old legend dramatizes the story of the one who galvanized the delegates and gave them the courage to sign that document.
But still there is doubt–and that pale-faced man, shrinking in one corner, squeaks out something about axes, scaffolds, and a–gibbet!
“Gibbet!” echoes a fierce, bold voice, that startles men from their seats–and look yonder! A tall slender man rises, dressed–although it is summer time–in a dark robe. Look how his white hand undulates as it is stretched slowly out, how that dark eye burns, while his words ring through the hall. (We do not know his name, let us therefore call his appeal)
THE SPEECH OF THE UNKNOWN.
“Gibbet? They may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land–they may turn every rock into a scaffold–every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, and yet the words on that Parchment can never die!
“They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds, and yet from every drop that dyes the axe, or drips on the sawdust of the block, a new martyr to Freedom will spring into birth!
“The British King may blot out the Stars of God from His sky, but he cannot blot out His words written on the Parchment there! The works of God may perish – His Word, never!
“These words will go forth to the world when our bones are dust. To the slave in the mines they will speak – hope – to the mechanic in his workshop–freedom–to the coward-kings these words will speak, but not in tones of flattery. No, no! They will speak like the flaming syllables on Belshazzar’s wall–
THE DAYS OF YOUR PRIDE AND GLORY ARE NUMBERED!
THE DAYS OF JUDGMENT AND REVOLUTION DRAW NEAR!
The Original Declaration of Independence
“Yes, that Parchment will speak to the Kings in a language sad and terrible as the trump of the Archangel. You have trampled on mankind long enough. At last the voice of human woe has pierced the ear of God, and called His Judgment down! You have waded on to thrones over seas of blood – you have trampled on to power over the necks of millions – you have turned the poor man’s sweat and blood into robes for your delicate forms, into crowns for your anointed brows. Now Kings – now purpled Hangmen of the world – for you come the days of axes and gibbets and scaffolds – for you the wrath of man – for you the lightnings of God!–
“Look! How the light of your palaces on fire flashes up into the midnight sky!
“Now Purpled Hangmen of the world–turn and beg for mercy!
“Where will you find it?
“Not from God, for you have blasphemed His laws!
“Not from the People, for you stand baptized in their blood!
“Here you turn, and lo! a gibbet!
“There–and a scaffold looks you in the face.
“All around you–death–and nowhere pity!
“Now executioners of the human race, kneel down, yes, kneel down upon the sawdust of the scaffold–lay your perfumed heads upon the block–bless the axe as it falls–the axe that you sharpened for the poor man’s neck!
“Such is the message of that Declaration to Man, to the Kings of the world! And shall we falter now? And shall we start back appalled when our feet press the very threshold of Freedom? Do I see quailing faces around me, when our wives have been butchered–when the hearthstones of our land are red with the blood of little children?
“What are these shrinking hearts and faltering voices here, when the very Dead of our battlefields arise, and call upon us to sign that Parchment, or be accursed forever?
“Sign! if the next moment the gibbet’s rope is round your neck! Sign! if the next moment this hall rings with the echo of the falling axe! Sign! By all your hopes in life or death, as husbands–as fathers–as men–sign your names to the Parchment or be accursed forever!
“Sign–and not only for yourselves, but for all ages. For that Parchment will be the Text-book of Freedom–the Bible of the Rights of Man forever!
“Sign–for that declaration will go forth to American hearts forever, and speak to those hearts like the voice of God! And its work will not be done, until throughout this wide Continent not a single inch of ground owns the sway of a British King!
“Nay, do not start and whisper with surprise! It is a truth, your own hearts witness it, God proclaims it.–This Continent is the property of a free people, and their property alone. [17-second applause] God, I say, proclaims it!
“Look at this strange history of a band of exiles and outcasts, suddenly transformed into a people–look at this wonderful Exodus of the oppressed of the Old World into the New, where they came, weak in arms but mighty in Godlike faith–nay, look at this history of your Bunker Hill–your Lexington–where a band of plain farmers mocked and trampled down the panoply of British arms, and then tell me, if you can, that God has not given America to the free?
[12-second applause]
“It is not given to our poor human intellect to climb the skies, to pierce the councils of the Almighty One. But methinks I stand among the awful clouds which veil the brightness of Jehovah’s throne. Methinks I see the Recording Angel–pale as an angel is pale, weeping as an angel can weep–come trembling up to that Throne, and speak his dread message–
“`Father! the old world is baptized in blood! Father, it is drenched with the blood of millions, butchered in war, in persecution, in slow and grinding oppression! Father–look, with one glance of Thine Eternal eye, look over Europe, Asia, Africa, and behold evermore, that terrible sight, man trodden down beneath the oppressor’s feet–nations lost in blood–Murder and Superstition walking hand in hand over the graves of their victims, and not a single voice to whisper, “Hope to Man!”‘
“He stands there, the Angel, his hands trembling with the black record of human guilt. But hark! The voice of Jehovah speaks out from the awful cloud–`Let there be light again. Let there be a New World. Tell my people–the poor–the trodden down millions, to go out from the Old World. Tell them to go out from wrong, oppression and blood–tell them to go out from this Old World–to build my altar in the New!’
[11-second applause]
“As God lives, my friends, I believe that to be his voice! Yes, were my soul trembling on the wing for Eternity, were this hand freezing in death, were this voice choking with the last struggle, I would still, with the last impulse of that soul, with the last wave of that hand, with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember this truth – God has given America to the free!
[13-second applause]
“Yes, as I sank down into the gloomy shadows of the grave, with my last gasp, I would beg you to sign that Parchment, in the name of the God, who made the Saviour who redeemed you – in the name of the millions whose very breath is now hushed in intense expectation, as they look up to you for the awful words – `You are free!’”
[9-second applause]
O many years have gone since that hour–the Speaker, his brethren, all, have crumbled into dust, but it would require an angel’s pen to picture the magic of that Speaker’s look, the deep, terrible emphasis of his voice, the prophet-like beckoning of his hand, the magnetic flame which shooting from his eyes, soon fired every heart throughout the hall!
The work was done. A wild murmur thrills through the hall.–Sign? Hah? There is no doubt now. Look! How they rush forward–stout-hearted John Hancock has scarcely time to sign his bold name, before the pen is grasped by another–another and another! Look how the names blaze on the Parchment–Adams and Lee and Jefferson and Carroll, and now, Roger Sherman the Shoemaker.
And here comes good old Stephen Hopkins–yes, trembling with palsy, he totters forward–quivering from head to foot, with his shaking hands he seizes the pen, he scratches his patriot-name.
Then comes Benjamin Franklin the Printer. . . .
And now the Parchment is signed; and now let word go forth to the People in the streets–to the homes of America–to the camp of Mister Washington, and the Palace of George the Idiot-King–let word go out to all the earth–
[snip]
This reading is taken from the book Washington and His Generals: or, Legends of the Revolution by George Lippard, published in 1847.
President Obama’s Re-election Part of the Golden Age Master Plan
Groundbreaking 9/11 Truth Events in New York, California and Maryland, September 8-12
Stephen: Richard Gage, the Founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth is my special guest on The Light Agenda special edition 9/11: 11 Years this Wednesday at 6pm PST.
By Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth – September 7, 2012
Five days of exciting and informative events are planned across the country for the 9/11 11 year anniversary this year, beginning in New York City on September 8 and culminating at the University of Maryland on September 12.
In addition, there will be 9/11 events happening throughout the country, including local screenings of the new 1-hour version of our groundbreaking documentary, 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out, which has just been uploaded to YouTube!
One of these local screenings will be at the annual 9/11 Truth film festival in Oakland, CA, organized by NCA911Truth.
The University of Maryland seems dedicated to also enlighten their academic community about what really caused the destruction of the Twin Towers and WTC Building 7, as they are bringing in AE911Truth founder Richard Gage, AIA to speak to 200 students on Sept 12. See below for more details.
These street actions, film festivals, and 9/11 symposiums will bring AE911Truth together with 9/11 experts, government whistleblowers, influential activists and media sources that are calling for a new 9/11 investigation. Join us and tell your friends!
New York City, September 8-11
The events in New York City begin with street actions at Ground Zero on September 8, where activists will distribute DVDs, 9/11 Investigator newspapers, WTC evidence cards, and other 9/11 Truth materials to the public. See GroundZero911.com for details.
On September 9, Gage will be one of the featured speakers, along with Experts Speak Out psychologist Robert Griffin, CIA whistleblower Susan Lindauer, investigative reporter Wayne Madsen, broadcast journalist Joe Calhoun, and activist Frank Morales, for How the World Changed After 9/11: A Symposium of Critical Thinkers, the third annual 9/11 Truth conference in New York City.
AE911Truth will be delivering a new presentation at this event called Finding the Hero Within: Lessons from a 9/11 Whistleblower. It will accent the character development of the new “emerging patriot” who is called upon to relentlessly pursue and speak the truth about 9/11.
“We are very excited to give the new talk that we will soon be bringing to students around the country,” Gage said. “Thanks to a few of our gracious donors, campus activities directors from coast to coast will see the 10-minute preview of this new presentation at regional college speaking conferences this fall, and we anticipate that they will decide to bring our newly packaged and vital message to their universities.”
Gage we will also be introducing and screening our 15-minute documentary “Solving the Mystery” with Ed Asner starring in the power-packed short about World Trade Center 7. This will occur at yet another unique 3-day New York event in the history of 9/11 events, “Pause / Press Play” at the Kraft Center. Other film makers and speakers such as Penny Little, creator of “9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey”. The event is all about healing from the tragic events of 9/11. To that end we will be also screening the trailer of our new documentary 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out, which will be pre-viewed and discussed in the topic “We Need the Truth in Order to Heal” on 9/10/12 at 4pm. We will be emphasizing what can be done in order to promote long-lasting healing with this critical information.
New York City will also host the 1st annual Off the Radar Film Festival, which runs from September 8-11 and culminates on the anniversary with a screening of the Final Edition of our Experts Speak Out at the Walker Stage. Gage will introduce the film and answer questions from the audience following the showing of the film, as he has throughout the recent 32-City World Premiere Tour of Experts Speak Out.
Date/Time /City /Event /Venue
September 8 - Noon-6 p.m. New York City, NY Street Action at Ground Zero Corner of Vesey St and Church S
September 9 -1-8 p.m. New York City, NY How the World Changed After 9/11: A Syposium of Critical Thinkers Walker Stage
September 10 – 4 p.m. New York City, NY Screening of Solving the Mystery of WTC 7 Kraft Center
September 11 – 7 a.m.-noon New York City, NY Silent Vigil at Ground Zero Corner of Vesey St and Church St
September 11 – 8 p.m New York City, NY Off the Radar Film Festival: Screening of Experts Speak Out Walker Stage
September 11 – 2-11p.m. Oakland, CA 9/11 Truth Film Festival Grand Lake Theatre
September 12 – 7 p.m. College Park, MD Finding the Hero Within: Lessons from a 9/11 Whistleblower University of Maryland, Nyumburu Cultural CenterThe events in New York City are being organized by Mike Figa, Les Jamison, Derek Brose of Houston Free Thinkers and other 9/11 Truth activists who are dedicated to educating others.
Mike Figa expects these anniversary activities to draw scores of people. “The symposium will seek to go beyond 9/11 and look at the larger picture,” he explained. “I feel that the general public is getting more receptive to criticism of the official myth and less reactionary toward the 9/11 Truth message. The more people reached with these events, the better.”
More details about the anniversary events in New York City may be found at GroundZero911.com.
Oakland, California, September 11
Supporters of AE911Truth on the West Coast are encouraged to attend the 9/11 Truth Film Festival in Oakland, California, on September 11.
Experts Speak Out will make its Oakland debut at this festival, which will be held at the Grand Lake Theatre from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. The event also includes a panel headlined by 9/11 researcher Peter Dale Scott and Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips of Project Censored. Bonnie Faulkner, who hosts the KPFA radio show Guns and Butter, will serve as the emcee.
More information is available at SF911Truth.org.
College Park, Maryland, September 12
The University of Maryland will welcome Gage on September 12 for the kickoff of the AE911Truth College Speaking Series at the Nyumburu Cultural Center. Architecture professor Garth Rockcastle, FAIA, will participate in a panel discussion as one of our featured skeptics to question Gage following the presentation.
This event is being organized by undergraduate student Mo Farsh, the leader of the United Youth Movement, an on-campus student group. “It is important that we practice freedom of speech, regardless of the controversy it might spark,” Farsh said. “We believe that it’s essential to face the facts about 9/11 and decide for ourselves, and this event makes that possible.”
President Obama’s Re-election Part of the Golden Age Master Plan
Yesterday (Sept. 6, 2012) we posted Matthew Ward’s comment that “it’s essential that the Obama presidency continues. This has nothing at all to do with politics in that country or any other! It has everything to do with the Golden Age master plan!” (1)
Almost every other year, Matthew has posted his message much close to Sept. 11, 2012 – 9/11. But this year, with the Democratic nomination convention coming up, Matthew posted it prior to that event.
Now the President has won the nomination of his party, a circumstance that was probably never in doubt and, according to the Company of Light, must win the election in November.
Matthew stated that “the highest universal council chose as a major player a soul with highly evolved spiritual status, ancient wisdom and world leadership experience in many lifetimes. That soul is Barack Obama.” (2)
Other, more mainstream sites will look at the evidence of voting records and political alliances, but our evidence here comes from the views of ascended masters, galactics, and celestials. Nowhere else perhaps is this evidence considered than the various 2012 Ascension blogsites and certainly the mainstream media can be counted on not to take notice of what we say here. Of that we can be sure.
But we take notice of it. What do the galactics say about the evolved soul named Barack Obama who has labored for the past four years against an avalanche of abuse and spin and still has held his vision for America and the world?
In his speech President Obama cited Abraham Lincoln and the two Presidents have at least one thing in common: both faced a high degree of unpopularity by the end of their first term. President Lincoln was despised by many. President Obama faced an avalanche of bad publicity and lack of support from the earliest years of his presidency, as soon as it became apparent, I believe, that he wore a white hat instead of a dark hat.
The opposition to the President goes right back to his earliest days in office, Matthew tells us.
“From his beginning days in office, Obama has been confronted with powerful opposition to his godly vision for his country and a world at peace, and while never wavering one iota from his ultimate intentions, he has had to make compromises and interim decisions that are not in consonance with his vision, with messages from his soul.” (3)
Matthew noted the toll this has taken on the President:
“President Obama has been up against the darkest of the dark ones ever since he took office, and even though his light has not diminished one iota, the stress of relentless opposition to what he wants to accomplish for Earth and all of peoples has noticeably taken its toll.” (4)
Matthew explained the nature of the opposition that President Obama faced.
“While opposition to Obama’s direction from the Republicans in Congress en masse and some members of his own party too is public knowledge, the power behind the dissension—pressure from the Illuminati global web-work—is not. Except for readers of our messages and those from other sources within the light, it is not known that the vociferous and rancorous disagreements within the US government are not as they appear to be, a stubborn partisan bloc or inflexible ideological differences—it is the influence of the light and of the darkness being played out on the United States government stage.” (5)
In July 2012, Matthew foretold the re-election of President Obama and said that we had agreed to it before we incarnated.
“President Obama will be reelected, and this is no more a matter of politics now than it ever was. Often we have told you that the Golden Age master planners requested this soul from a highly evolved civilization to come to the planet specifically to fill one of the most strategic positions during this phase of Earths’ ascension out of third density and entry into fourth. And all of you agreed with this when you enthusiastically chose your own roles in this lifetime.” (6)
Hatonn, Mathew’s galactic colleague, told us in October of 2010 that President Obama and his family was protected and that the President knew of the Ascension timetable.
“Obama now knows we have him covered and he can proceed without fear for his family’s safety and his own. Media report what they are told, of course, but the truth is, now that he knows Earth’s ascension timetable, he’s negotiating with powers that be either personally or via safe communication channels to shut down Illuminati strongholds in his country, Europe and the Orient.” (7)
More recently, Matthew revealed something of those who stood around the President, protecting him. And those who threatened him. What he said may shock some people.
“We also have spoken about the formidable opposition to Obama’s endeavors to bring about greatly-needed reforms in his country and to achieve peace in the world. What we didn’t disclose before is that light warriors came from his homeland to protect him and his family from the band of dark reptilians, also from another planet, that the Illuminati hired to kill the Obamas.
“This shows the extent of the dark ones’ fear that this president would end their long reign, and they are right. Very soon they will have no more means to buy assassins, members of Congress or multitudes of lobbyists—then all will see the light in Obama and herald his wise leadership and actions toward world unity.” (8)
Matthew’s opinion of the President is shared by SaLuSa, who in May called Barack Obama “a great soul of the Light. He is already taking actions that will aid our allies in bringing the Cabal to answer for their crimes.” (9)
Geoffrey West, on An Hour with an Angel on March 5, 2012, asked Archangel Michael if President Obama was still aligned with the Divine Plan. AAM answered: “Yes, he is. … He is your star brother, and we suggest that you trust him. There is a bigger plan afoot.” (10)
Matthew Ward in his January 2012 message spent the bulk of it explaining the President’s position vis-a-vis the Illuminati:
“Some doubt that Barack Obama is the highly evolved light being that we and other messengers in high stations have told you he is, and he is perceived as following in the footsteps of the Illuminati. You will see for yourselves the truth of what we have said, but because his role in your world is of paramount importance, we shall speak about his position vs the Illuminati agenda. …
“Without the power of any Illuminati behind him, Obama could not have risen to become the Democratic party’s nominee, the essential first step to his election as president, and this was known to the master planners of Earth’s Golden Age. The soul who embodied as Barack Obama, the souls who would back him many years later, and all of you who clamored to participate in Earth’s ascension process knew that too, but none remembers.” (11)
The Arcturian Group last year told us that “your president is an evolved being, but he is not being allowed to bring through many of his enlightened ideas at this time, but he will.” (12)
SaLuSa also explained to us in January of 2011 that President Obama’s best work lay ahead of him.
“President Obama is surrounded by the dark Ones but nevertheless able to make some progress, and will continue to lay down the foundation for his final years of office. His best work is still to come and he is well aware of his destiny to lead the people out of the darkness. He is a highly spiritual soul, and will with our help and protection work with us to speedily transform your experiences, into ones of happiness and release from the draconian laws that rule your lives.” (13)
In late 2011, SaLuSa congratulated those who continued to support the president and assured us that he would blossom once the interference of the dark ones was eliminated.
“Dear Ones, you are wonderfully loyal to those you respect and we are pleased that many still hold President Obama in high regard. That is in spite of continual attempts by the dark Ones or those who do not understand his position, to show him in a bad light.
“Be aware that he is a great Being of Light, who is having to play a role that requires him to ‘play’ along with the dictates of those who advise him. He has achieved a degree of success even although he has faced opposition all along. He needs your continued support and love, and you will see him blossom and take charge once he can fully implement his own policies without interference.” (14)
With the top leaders of the Illuminati either in containment, under arrest, sequestered or removed from the planet, we can expect President Obama before too long to take charge of his government in a way that he’s been unable to do so far. When he does, I think we can look forward to seeing the great and evolved soul he is, something that we’ve only seen so far in flashes.
Footnotes
(1) Matthew’s Message, Sept. 1, 2012, at http://www.matthewbooks.com/mattsmessage.htm
(2) Loc. cit.
(3) Matthew’s Message, Dec. 17, 2009.
(4) Matthew’s Message, Aug. 11, 2011.
(5) Matthew’s Message, March 29, 2010.
(6) Matthew’s Message, July 4, 2012.
(7) Hatonn to Steve Beckow through Suzy Ward, Oct. 15, 2010.
(8) Matthew’s Message, July 4, 2012.
(9) SaLuSa, May 11, 2012, at http://www.treeofthegoldenlight.com/First_Contact/Channeled_Messages_by_Mike_Quinsey.htm
(10) Archangel Michael in An Hour with an Angel, March 5, 2012, at http://the2012scenario.com/world-disclosure-day/what-role-are-the-angels-playing/a-renaissance-of-integrity-transcript-of-archangel-michael-in-an-hour-with-an-angel-march-5-2012-2/.
(11) Matthew’s Message, Jan. 4, 2012.
(12) Arcturian Group, March 19, 2011, at http://www.onenessofall.com
(13) SaLuSa, Jan. 5, 2011.
(14) SaLuSa, Nov. 14, 2011.
John Ward – Greek Crisis – New Poll Puts Nazis In Third Place – 7 September 2012
Yes, it’s another another triumph for the Troikanauts
If he is to avoid near annihilation at the next election in Greece, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos must decouple himself from the Samaras Government. And if it doesn’t want a surging Nazi Party, then Athens itself must decouple itself from the Berlin-Am-Brussels gravy train. These are the lessons from the latest opinion poll to emerge from Greece yesterday.
Capitalizing on growing social unrest over record unemployment, resentment against immigrants, rising crime, and planned new government austerity measures, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has jumped into third place in popularity among Greek political parties, overtaking the once-dominant PASOK Socialists. According to a new Pulse survey, Golden Dawn, which won 18 seats in Parliament in the June 17 elections with 6.97% of the vote, now has 10.5 % while PASOK lags far behind on just 8%.
In the 2009 elections, Golden Dawn polled just 0.29% of all votes cast. So the staggering joint achievement of the bondholder-Brussels ECB-IMF alliance has been to boost the Nazi share of the vote by 3500%. Given the rapid rate at which any sense of liberal democracy in the EU is disappearing, perhaps this is entirely apt.
TheCriticalPost – Brian Sidler – Barack Obama’s Speech At DNC (Transcript) – 7 September 2012
“(Lucas: I am not chosing for candidates I report to let you see what it is that is going on, left or right, republican or democratic. For me the system is broke and “corporation USA” should be rebuild to its rightful status over the state USA and be honouring unalienable rights from the people, period. But as you know, have your opinion on things and make up your own minds. )
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Michelle, I love you. The other night, I think the entire country saw just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, you make me so proud…but don’t get any ideas, you’re still going to class tomorrow. And Joe Biden, thank you for being the best Vice President I could ever hope for.
Madam Chairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination for President of the United States.
The first time I addressed this convention in 2004, I was a younger man; a Senate candidate from Illinois who spoke about hope – not blind optimism or wishful thinking, but hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty; that dogged faith in the future which has pushed this nation forward, even when the odds are great; even when the road is long.
Eight years later, that hope has been tested – by the cost of war; by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock that’s left us wondering whether it’s still possible to tackle the challenges of our time.
I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me – so am I.
But when all is said and done – when you pick up that ballot to vote – you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace – decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come.
On every issue, the choice you face won’t be just between two candidates or two parties.
It will be a choice between two different paths for America.
A choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.
Ours is a fight to restore the values that built the largest middle class and the strongest economy the world has ever known; the values my grandfather defended as a soldier in Patton’s Army; the values that drove my grandmother to work on a bomber assembly line while he was gone.
They knew they were part of something larger – a nation that triumphed over fascism and depression; a nation where the most innovative businesses turned out the world’s best products, and everyone shared in the pride and success – from the corner office to the factory floor. My grandparents were given the chance to go to college, buy their first home, and fulfill the basic bargain at the heart of America’s story: the promise that hard work will pay off; that responsibility will be rewarded; that everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules – from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, DC.
I ran for President because I saw that basic bargain slipping away. I began my career helping people in the shadow of a shuttered steel mill, at a time when too many good jobs were starting to move overseas. And by 2008, we had seen nearly a decade in which families struggled with costs that kept rising but paychecks that didn’t; racking up more and more debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition; to put gas in the car or food on the table. And when the house of cards collapsed in the Great Recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their homes, and their life savings – a tragedy from which we are still fighting to recover.
Now, our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last thirty years:
“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.”
“Deficit too high? Try another.”
“Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”
Now, I’ve cut taxes for those who need it – middle-class families and small businesses. But I don’t believe that another round of tax breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs to our shores, or pay down our deficit. I don’t believe that firing teachers or kicking students off financial aid will grow the economy, or help us compete with the scientists and engineers coming out of China. After all that we’ve been through, I don’t believe that rolling back regulations on Wall Street will help the small businesswoman expand, or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. We’ve been there, we’ve tried that, and we’re not going back. We’re moving forward.
I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one. And by the way – those of us who carry on his party’s legacy should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or d
wictate from Washington.
But know this, America: Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future. I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country – goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real, achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation. That’s what we can do in the next four years, and that’s why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States.
We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we’re getting back to basics, and doing what America has always done best:
We’re making things again.
I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they’d never build another American car. Today, they can’t build them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on top of the world.
I’ve worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs back to America – not because our workers make less pay, but because we make better products. Because we work harder and smarter than anyone else.
I’ve signed trade agreements that are helping our companies sell more goods to millions of new customers – goods that are stamped with three proud words: Made in America.
After a decade of decline, this country created over half a million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years. And now you have a choice: we can give more tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants and train new workers and create new jobs here, in the United States of America. We can help big factories and small businesses double their exports, and if we choose this path, we can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. You can make that happen. You can choose that future.
You can choose the path where we control more of our own energy. After thirty years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade, cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. We’ve doubled our use of renewable energy, and thousands of Americans have jobs today building wind turbines and long-lasting batteries. In the last year alone, we cut oil imports by one million barrels a day – more than any administration in recent history. And today, the United States of America is less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in nearly two decades.
Now you have a choice – between a strategy that reverses this progress, or one that builds on it. We’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration in the last three years, and we’ll open more. But unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.
We’re offering a better path – a future where we keep investing in wind and solar and clean coal; where farmers and scientists harness new biofuels to power our cars and trucks; where construction workers build homes and factories that waste less energy; where we develop a hundred year supply of natural gas that’s right beneath our feet. If you choose this path, we can cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and support more than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone.
And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet – because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They’re a threat to our children’s future. And in this election, you can do something about it.
You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.
For the first time in a generation, nearly every state has answered our call to raise their standards for teaching and learning. Some of the worst schools in the country have made real gains in math and reading. Millions of students are paying less for college today because we finally took on a system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders.
And now you have a choice – we can gut education, or we can decide that in the United States of America, no child should have her dreams deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling school. No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t have the money. No company should have to look for workers in China because they couldn’t find any with the right skills here at home.
Government has a role in this. But teachers must inspire; principals must lead; parents must instill a thirst for learning, and students, you’ve got to do the work. And together, I promise you – we can out-educate and out-compete any country on Earth. Help me recruit 100,000 math and science teachers in the next ten years, and improve early childhood education. Help give two million workers the chance to learn skills at their community college that will lead directly to a job. Help us work with colleges and universities to cut in half the growth of tuition costs over the next ten years. We can meet that goal together. You can choose that future for America.
In a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose leadership that has been tested and proven. Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead.
Tonight, we pay tribute to the Americans who still serve in harm’s way. We are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made this country safer and more respected. We will never forget you. And so long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as you’ve served us – because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they need when they come home.
Around the world, we’ve strengthened old alliances and forged new coalitions to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. We’ve reasserted our power across the Pacific and stood up to China on behalf of our workers. From Burma to Libya to South Sudan, we have advanced the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians and Muslims and Jews.
But for all the progress we’ve made, challenges remain. Terrorist plots must be disrupted. Europe’s crisis must be contained. Our commitment to Israel’s security must not waver, and neither must our pursuit of peace. The Iranian government must face a world that stays united against its nuclear ambitions. The historic change sweeping across the Arab World must be defined not by the iron fist of a dictator or the hate of extremists, but by the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people who are reaching for the same rights that we celebrate today.
So now we face a choice. My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly.
After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy – and not al Qaeda – unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp. You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally. My opponent said it was “tragic” to end the war in Iraq, and he won’t tell us how he’ll end the war in Afghanistan. I have, and I will. And while my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even want, I’ll use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work – rebuilding roads and bridges; schools and runways. After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building right here at home.
You can choose a future where we reduce our deficit without wrecking our middle class. Independent analysis shows that my plan would cut our deficits by $4 trillion. Last summer, I worked with Republicans in Congress to cut $1 trillion in spending – because those of us who believe government can be a force for good should work harder than anyone to reform it, so that it’s leaner, more efficient, and more responsive to the American people.
I want to reform the tax code so that it’s simple, fair, and asks the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 – the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president; the same rate we had when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history, and a lot of millionaires to boot.
Now, I’m still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles of my bipartisan debt commission. No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I never will.
I refuse to ask middle class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire’s tax cut. I refuse to ask students to pay more for college; or kick children out of Head Start programs, or eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor, elderly, or disabled – all so those with the most can pay less.
And I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the care and dignity they have earned. Yes, we will reform and strengthen Medicare for the long haul, but we’ll do it by reducing the cost of health care – not by asking seniors to pay thousands of dollars more. And we will keep the promise of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it – not by turning it over to Wall Street.
This is the choice we now face. This is what the election comes down to. Over and over, we have been told by our opponents that bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the only way; that since government can’t do everything, it should do almost nothing. If you can’t afford health insurance, hope that you don’t get sick. If a company releases toxic pollution into the air your children breathe, well, that’s just the price of progress. If you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my opponent’s advice and “borrow money from your parents.”
You know what? That’s not who we are. That’s not what this country’s about. As Americans, we believe we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights – rights that no man or government can take away. We insist on personal responsibility and we celebrate individual initiative. We’re not entitled to success. We have to earn it. We honor the strivers, the dreamers, the risk-takers who have always been the driving force behind our free enterprise system – the greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world has ever known.
But we also believe in something called citizenship – a word at the very heart of our founding, at the very essence of our democracy; the idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another, and to future generations.
We believe that when a CEO pays his autoworkers enough to buy the cars that they build, the whole company does better.
We believe that when a family can no longer be tricked into signing a mortgage they can’t afford, that family is protected, but so is the value of other people’s homes, and so is the entire economy.
We believe that a little girl who’s offered an escape from poverty by a great teacher or a grant for college could become the founder of the next Google, or the scientist who cures cancer, or the President of the United States – and it’s in our power to give her that chance.
We know that churches and charities can often make more of a difference than a poverty program alone. We don’t want handouts for people who refuse to help themselves, and we don’t want bailouts for banks that break the rules. We don’t think government can solve all our problems. But we don’t think that government is the source of all our problems – any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame for our troubles.
Because we understand that this democracy is ours.
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government.
So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens – you were the change.
You’re the reason there’s a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix who’ll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can’t limit her coverage. You did that.
You’re the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought he’d be able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is about to get that chance. You made that possible.
You’re the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she’s ever called home; why selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love; why thousands of families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely: “Welcome home.”
If you turn away now – if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible…well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make for themselves.
Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only you have the power to move us forward.
I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed – and so have I.
I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President. I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs. If the critics are right that I’ve made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them. And while I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, “I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.”
But as I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about America. Not because I think I have all the answers. Not because I’m naïve about the magnitude of our challenges.
I’m hopeful because of you.
The young woman I met at a science fair who won national recognition for her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter – she gives me hope.
The auto worker who won the lottery after his plant almost closed, but kept coming to work every day, and bought flags for his whole town and one of the cars that he built to surprise his wife – he gives me hope.
The family business in Warroad, Minnesota that didn’t lay off a single one of their four thousand employees during this recession, even when their competitors shut down dozens of plants, even when it meant the owners gave up some perks and pay – because they understood their biggest asset was the community and the workers who helped build that business – they give me hope.
And I think about the young sailor I met at Walter Reed hospital, still recovering from a grenade attack that would cause him to have his leg amputated above the knee. Six months ago, I would watch him walk into a White House dinner honoring those who served in Iraq, tall and twenty pounds heavier, dashing in his uniform, with a big grin on his face; sturdy on his new leg. And I remember how a few months after that I would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded warriors on a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun the hard path he had traveled.
He gives me hope.
I don’t know what party these men and women belong to. I don’t know if they’ll vote for me. But I know that their spirit defines us. They remind me, in the words of Scripture, that ours is a “future filled with hope.”
And if you share that faith with me – if you share that hope with me – I ask you tonight for your vote.
If you reject the notion that this nation’s promise is reserved for the few, your voice must be heard in this election.
If you reject the notion that our government is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election.
If you believe that new plants and factories can dot our landscape; that new energy can power our future; that new schools can provide ladders of opportunity to this nation of dreamers; if you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote this November.
America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise that now. Yes, our path is harder – but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer – but we travel it together. We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless these United States.
San Quentin College Program
Home > San Quentin College ProgramSan Quentin College Program
The College Program at San Quentin is the central project of the Prison University Project. It provides 20 courses each semester in the humanities, social sciences, math and science, as well as intensive college preparatory courses in math and English. Over 300 students at San Quentin are currently enrolled. All faculty in the Program work as volunteers.
The College Program at San Quentin is an extension site of Patten University, an accredited independent university in Oakland, California. Because no state or federal funding is available for prison higher education in California, the Program is supported entirely by the Prison University Project through donations from individuals and foundations. Students in the Program pay no fees or tuition. All textbooks and school supplies are provided by the Prison University Project; the bulk of all textbooks are donated by the publishers.
College Program courses are offered Sunday through Friday, afternoons and evenings, as well as on Friday mornings. Almost all meet at least twice per week, for at least two hours per class meeting.
During the day all students hold full-time jobs inside the prison, for which they earn approximately $25/month. On average, students take two classes per semester. At this rate, most students take approximately 3½ years to complete the Associate of Arts degree. While over 100 men have so far completed their A.A. at San Quentin, many more frequently parole before completion and continue their studies on the outside.
Republicans Cry About Lack of "Civility" at Dem Convention
Predictably, the Romney campaign and its apparatchiks at Fox News accused the Democrats of lacking "civility" during the first day of their convention. RNC chairman Reince Priebus called the Democrats "classless" for showing a 1994 video of Ted Kennedy debating (and embarrassing) a decidedly more liberal Mitt Romney.
Boo-hoo.
You know who shouldn't be lecturing the Democrats about civility? The people who gave us swift-boating, the Southern Strategy, the outing of Valerie Plame, Birthers, Reverend Wright videos around the clock, "Obama pals around with domestic terrorists," the exploitation of 9/11, comparing a triple amputee Vietnam veteran to Saddam Hussein, the booing of a gay soldier, and the party that sported Purple Heart band-aids at the 2004 convention to mock another decorated Vietnam veteran, John Kerry, who was wounded in combat. And no one on the floor of the Democratic convention hurled peanuts at an African American camerawomen, shouting, "This is how we feed the animals."
Yes, the Democratic speakers unapologetically jabbed Romney for having a Swiss bank account and for being a shameless prevaricator. They criticized his policy proposals for being the usual Reaganomics claptrap we've heard during every election and, accurately enough, how the same policies caused the recession. There's a difference between taking fair shots at an opponent and the reprehensible tactics routinely exercised by the Republicans.
I totally get it: since the dawn of history, politics has always been about rigorous debate, passionate arguments, salient framing and rhetorical aggression. That's not incivility. That's politics. But the Republicans always appear shocked whenever the Democrats bring their A-game to political contest, and then they hilariously lean on this well-worn "civility" crutch with full knowledge that the party's PR wing, AM talk radio and Fox News Channel, has made a fortune in cash and ratings by calling the president a communist, a traitor and a "little black man child."
The Democratic Party finally and thankfully stood up for its values and, most noticeably, its position on social issues. The party was unafraid to feature leaders from NARAL and Planned Parenthood on the stage. Various speakers talked repeatedly about reproductive rights, civil rights, LGBT rights and the role of government and how "we the people" ought to lend a hand to those who have nowhere else to turn. Core liberal values. Likewise, the party made it clear that Mitt Romney and the Republicans are the enemy of these values. And they are. They've pledged to repeal all of the advances in these areas upon arriving at the White House. Last night, an actual undocumented worker named Benita Veliz -- an illegal immigrant, the latest brand of "evildoer" -- spoke at the convention. On top of that, right-wing lightning rod Sandra Fluke spoke during prime time and thanked the Democrats for "amplifying" her voice in spite of brutal attacks from Rush Limbaugh and others who not only lied about her testimony to Congress but publicly and relentlessly slandered her reputation for weeks, calling her a "slut."
Tell me again about civility, Republicans.
Frankly, I think this notion of taking a firm stand on core values hit really close to home for the Republicans who've nominated a candidate whose positions change by the day, interspersed with universally debunked lies. Simply put: Romney and Ryan don't seem to stand for anything -- you know, other than doing the exact opposite of President Obama.
On the same day when American voters were talking about powerful speeches from the First Lady and Julian Castro, The Nation reported that the increasingly shaky and awkward Paul Ryan actively lobbied the Obama administration for money from Obamacare, specifically for a community healthcare center in Racine. The Affordable Care Act provides $9.5 billion for health centers and $1.5 billion for a series of brand new centers, and Paul Ryan wanted a piece of the action while demonizing Obamacare's "reckless spending" and how it's a "government takeover." We've heard this before. Ryan also requested money from the dreaded stimulus while voting against it and while using it as a cudgel to utterly skull-bash the president's agenda.
But I suppose I'm not being civil by pointing out Ryan's obvious lack of integrity, say nothing of the top of the ticket whose home planet eradicated integrity centuries ago while purging itself of emotions and authenticity during the final epoch of the Alpha Centauri Interstellar Conundrum.
So the contrast between a strong Democratic Party and a flaky, unstable, flip-floppy Republican Party has prompted the GOP to spend the week whining and pooping its big boy pants about how the Democrats are being so mean. For a Republican Party dependent upon lies and intellectual dishonesty, the truth really hurts.
Cross-posted at The Daily Banter.
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Valerie Donner: A Message from the Master St. Germain | The 2012
A Message from the Master St. Germain
By Valerie Donner – August 29, 2012
http://www.thegroundcrew.com/channeled_messages.htm#straight
I channel Mother Mary once a month. She and St Germain are close. (She was Mary, Jesus’s mother, and St. Germain was Joseph, her husband.) He had an incarnation as Merlin, William Shakespeare, Sir Frances Bacon, Leonardo Da Vinci, and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
He precipitated, actually appeared, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He represents freedom and the I Am Presence. He also brought forth the Violet Flame for transmutation. He named this country Iamerica but the “ I” was dropped to America. St. Germain speaks after Mother Mary in these classes. He loves the United States and continues to be involved with the governance of America.
This time St. Germain (who loves to play with words and can be funny) spoke the following:
Greetings, I am Saint Germain. I almost thought I wasn’t going to get any time tonight so Mary is graciously letting me speak with you shortly. How are you doing? Did Mary say something that stopped your comments? I’ll have to speak with her afterwards. So there are some pretty interesting showdowns coming up, particularly in your government. You know I’m a lover of the stage, but I’ve never seen so much upstaging in any political campaign.
“Staging up, staging down, posturing here and posturing there,
They practically show their underwear.
Some are right, some are wrong,
But heaven forbid don’t make it into a song.
Sick and tired, sick and tired, for all these things they should be fired!
Speech writers and lobbyists – people who get paid for the silliest.
Notions and potions and all sorts of bad deeds coming together
Just making me want to recede and change the weather.
Who’s telling the truth and who isn’t?
I’ll make my speech and let them know the truth and that’s that!
I’m so tired of dealing with some of this and some of that!
I really don’t have the patience of Mary.
I have a much shorter fuse and I sometimes let it go.
I told the people in D.C., with whom I’m quite familiar,
That if they don’t start shaping up they’re gonna start seeing a lot more of me.
We have a divine plan and we’ve planted LOTS of thoughts,
But over and over the whole system rots.
I’m sorry to get on my soap box but I just have to be poetic
Because that’s how I feel and that’s where I can do the most.
I love to play with words and sometimes make a toast, so here I go.
Do you want a toast?
I think it’ll be more like a boast.
I put them all up there and I called them all forth and said: How many more lies do you have?
Can you walk the line – the straightforward line,
Like the sobering truth that may not be so sublime?
Can you stand up to the Light and really be true?
To come forth and shine a new hue…?
I speak to your hearts and ask you to purify and sanction your hearts,
And to clarify that you work for the people instead of yourselves.
And for that I’ll even give you some elves!
We’ll give you all the help you need,
It’s time for you to do some good deeds.
But if you can’t walk the straightforward line we need to ask you to turn around and leave.
We need you to leave your office and never forget that you are withholding from those who believed in you, who trusted the government, and who stand up for freedom.
It is time now for you to stand on your soapboxes and see it through their eyes.
Stand for the truth, the Light,
Because you are the mighty, you are the ones who have to be right.
There are only a few of those who aren’t really icky,
But you’ll make life too sticky.
Just hear my words and purple will transform you.
So there you are, hanging on the clothes line, embarrassed.
Can’t you see their faces? We washed all the dirty laundry, and we still have a few more things to do to improve their places.
I’m telling you now that the whole of it is right in front of us.
We don’t need ill deeds, we don’t need service to self, we need good people who are here and are all around us.”
Yeah, I got on my soapbox and had a lot of fun but in the long run I mean it.
I don’t just speak for myself, I speak for our Creator, angels and others.
