[Warning: some links contain images of strong graphic content]

I've intended to write this post for quite a while now; I tried during this time to find a way to encapsulate my thoughts in an elegant and intelligible manner, that would do justice to the subject at hand. Alas, I must accept my limitations, and just write what's on my head.

This next Sunday —July the 5th— Mexico will celebrate the elections to select the members of Congress, as well as the members of the states' local congress and the municipal presidents.

Usually, these sort of elections don't bring too much attention —not like the presidential elections, anyway. But now things have changed: a new interesting development has surfaced that has spawned quite a bit of controversy.

This new development is a call to annul the vote. And it was quickly disseminated and promoted thanks to the most powerful political instrument the world has ever known: the Internet.

Several blogs and Youtube videos quickly appeared and were sent to e-mail accounts, calling the citizens to either leave their ballots empty, to strike the entire ballot with a big cross, or to write the name of a fictional candidate —someone like Withered Hope, for example (more on that later).

Soon enough, the newspapers and the TV networks began to talk about this new movement. Who were these people calling for a boycott of the electoral process? What did they want? What party or secret organization was supporting it under the table and to what end?

The answer was both simple and startling: the 'annulist', as they were now being called, were no one but simple good-natured citizens that were tired and fed-up with the way the political class conducted their business. They were angry to see that the politicians were completely incapable of reaching agreements with other parties, except when it involved calling for a raise in their salaries and economic benefits. They were annoyed of the constant bombardment of stupid political ads attacking from every front —the streets, newspapers, radio & TV— that cost millions of dollars (yes, DOLLARS) and yet say nothing but empty promises and silly jingles. They were disappointed that, after 9 years of the so-called "new Democracy" in which the country was now living, nothing fundamental had really changed; from the old days when we were governed by the "Revolutionary family" (the PRI) and the government functioned under the premise of an absolutist Presidentialism, to the new savage multi-party olligarchy, the only palpable change was that there were more hands eager to grab a slice of the pie... nothing more.

Not surprisingly, the representatives of the parties began to decry and ridicule the call to annul the votes. They launched attacks and counter attacks: the parties from the left denounced the ruling party from the right of being behind the movement, and the right-side parties accused the left of the same thing; they warned the citizens that a blank or annulled vote didn't carry any particular weight in the election's outcome, according to the current laws; that the message they intended to send would not be clear enough; and lastly, that a vote annulled would be like giving a blank check to the old PRI, that would surely used their old dirty tricks to buy enough votes to reclaim the power they —seemingly— lost after they lost the Presidency in 2000.

Even the Catholic church began to condemn the movement! So you see, when you have ALL the members of the top hyerarchy scared, then you know you must be on the right track...

On Friday June 5th —exactly one month before the day of the election— a letter I wrote was published on the Reforma newspaper, and included on the special section of the first pages. To my disappointment though, it was heavily edited; so here I'm including the translation of the uncensored version of my letter (the text in bold marks the edited paragraphs):

A Second PRI?

Several political & social actors are raising their voice against those citizen movements promoting the annulled or blank vote.

Some of them are warning us that an annulled vote is automatically translated into a vote supporting the PRI, which still relies on its old methods of the "hard" or corporative vote.

Recently our First Lady, Doña Margarita Zavala, invited us all to vote for the PAN so it could achieve a majority in Congress, which would enable it —they say— to finally unblock the political, fiscal & energetic reforms that our nation so desperately needs .

So, the ruling party (PAN) acknowledges that the only way to overcome the lack of consensus and the poor disposition to reach agreements in the echelons of power, is through an absolute control that overshadows any attempt to block the decisions made by the Executive branch.

But then again; doesn't this sound exactly like the way the PRI used to operate before the power switch of 2000?

Is it just that the only way to finally defeat the PRI is... with A SECOND PRI?

Sorry, but I just don't buy it anymore. And since I am sick & tired of the multi-party olligarchy making us believe that they are the undisputable owners of the game board —since they are the ones that have ruled illegal the candidacy of independent citizens— and therefore we have no choice but to play by THEIR rules, I join those who say "No", and for the moment my candidate in the next elections will be Withered Hope.

It is very likely that annulling our vote next July will be nothing more than a symbolic act. But in the history of the world, all great changes always begin in such a manner; and it is always the people —not the rulers— the ones who infuse POWER to symbols.

Miguel Romero

...Yes, I admit it: I was in a Fawkes-like state of mind at the time ;-)

That very same day I read an awesome editorial written by Jacobo Zabludowsky —Zabludowsky is arguably the most important Mexican newsman of the last decades; if we were to compare him with someone, think Walter Cronkite, and this is NOT and exxageration— supporting the annullist movement. Here's a brief excerpt from that article:

Let it be observed that [the annulled vote] is not the same as an abstention. It is a form, a legal way —because it's not forbidden— to cast a vote. It is a vote that express a will to inffluence in order to change. They [the government] will declare it null. That's the point. This declaration will become the birth certificate of a manifestation that, no matter how small, no one will be able to ignore. It will be registered in the acts. We are voting. We are the ones of the annulled vote. We have no shepherd for we are not sheep. We are the neighbors of September 19th, 1985

Not only that, but the next weekend my sister informed me that she had heard the radio program of Don Jacobo that last Friday, and he mentioned and praised my printed letter! Ho cool is that?? :-D

You guys might be wondering, what's with that date Sept 19 1985? Well, it happens to be a very important date in the modern history of Mexico; for that is the date when we suffered the big one: a 8.1 monster earthquake that toppled dozens of buildings, and decimated the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. And the relevance of that date is not because of the natural catastrophe, but because of what the catastrophe provoked: while the government was still confused and still trying to find their dicks inside their pants, it was the citizens that got organized and conducted most of the rescue operations; volunteers that bravely donated their time and even risked their lives in the desperate effort to liberate the few survivors trapped among the rubble, that toiled fr hours without rest, sweating, crying and laughing when they worked the miracle of giving a fellow human a second birth from the bowels of the earth.

It is my opinion that two events determined the social transition that ensued the arrival of Democracy in Mexico: 1 was the massacre at Tlatelolco in 1968, because it showed just how far the ruling class was willing to go in order to preserve their grip on the nation. The other was the earthquake on 1985, because it showed us that we can show solidarity and accomplish great things without the supervision of the government —it showed us just how useless they really are.

It is my hope and belief that a third event is coming. And it will begin next Sunday, when a small but significant portion of the citizens cast their vote as a sign of protest and a demand for true change.

We do not kid ourselves; we know that this is but the first of many steps, but to let things as they are is to concede defeat. We know that we desserve better.

I cannot end this post without mentioning a very interesting link between Art & the real world in this story. I'm talking about a book written by the Nobel laureate José Saramago in 2004, Ensaio sobre a Lucidez (Essay about Lucidity); a novel that deals with a nameless city in which most of the citizens cast a blank vote in the elections, provoking the fear & indignation in the highest spheres of the government, unable to comprehend the nature of such an unexpected behavior.

Are the events developing in the real world (Mexico) somehow influenced by this work of fiction? Is it possible that this next election can be used as an experiment in human consciousness?

Perhaps what I wrote turns out to be accurate, and the symbol of the blank vote will be infused with enough power to provoke a much needed social change, somehow bringing a world that only lives as an idea into our normal reality. If that is the case... are we not talking about a magical ritual?

This IS a ritual. We are killing our vote, offering it as sacrifice, so that out nation can have a brighter future. Better than to use the old methods of spilling blood, if you ask me...

I wish I could tell you how the book ends, but I'm afraid I haven't finished it yet. I also do not know what will happen in 4 days. I guess we'll have to wait and see :)

At the risk of overloading the readers, I would like to provide a link to my expanded and updated essay titled "Seeing Red: Will Betelgeuse Go Supernova in 2012?" http://www.theorionzone.com/betelgeuse_s...

Includes Amanita muscaria!

Regarding BBC report on John Hill, a.k.a. Muab Dib and his harmful and insensible 7/7 conspiracy theory:

http://theoriginalnycfreeadviceman.blogs...

Back in 1982, when I was 33 years of age, Britain was at war with Argentina over the invasion of the Falkland Islands.

I am not here to discuss the rights or wrongs of that political issue, but to tell a tale about something that happened at that time which may be of interest to some of you.

I was working in a government computer department, and doing shiftwork, days one week and evenings the next.

I was sitting at a VDU one night, and suddenly heard a large "whine" in my head. Past experience had taught me that this was a sign that some sort of communication was being made to me, but I could only discover what if I asked the right question and the only response would be an emotional one.

This day the whine wasw louder and longer in my head, although no-one else heard it. I tried asking questions about my family and other other people I knew but the level of emotion and sound remained the same. It was only when I asked if it was to do with our service people in the Falklands that things changed, and suddenly I was filled with grief, wantede to cry, and found it hard to control myse3lf.

My friend and colleague sitting next to me realised something was wrong and arranged for me to go to the staff room and rest. I told her and my shift lead what had happened, and it was only because it was clear I was truly upset that the shift leader didn't laugh in my face when I said, "Something has happened to our people in the Falklands, something dreadful, I feel only despair and grief".

After half an hour I was feeling well enough to return to work, although the knowledge that I was imagining things had got around the rest of the team.

This occurred at 6pm. The males in the team always went to the pub for the meal break whilst the females remained at the workplace eating prepared sandwiches and playing cards.

The men returned very quickly, far too early, and we women queried why they had come back so soon. Their faces were very serious. The shift leader said that they had heard the 9pm news and they told us about the two ships, the Sheffield and the Exeter, being bombed by Exocet missiles, burning furiously with a loss of life and serious injuries.

The 9pm news was the first news bulletin in Britain to give out this news, so how did I know at 6pm that something had happened?

I later learned that the government had been informed by microwave communications at around 6pm of the incident, so it is possible I picked up this signal somehow, but how could I have discerned what the message was when it was clear I did not get a precise message only an emotional response to my mental questioning.

Could it be that microwave communication works on a different level within our brains to what is normally accepted? Or was something else at work, some sort of invisible angel trying to give me a message?

Any thoughts on this would be welcome as 27 years later I am still not really sure what happened to me that night.

Visit

http://www.sotoman.info/freethinking/ind...

The Termination of the James Randi Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4C_tSMqS810/Sb...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZj...

http://phoenix-from-the-wasteland.com/bl...

My humble suggestions as to connect with your spirit and destiny

Has anyone read this book?

The Inner Light Theory
of Consciousness

by Steven W. Smith, Ph.D.
California Technical Publishing
ISBN 0-9660176-1-7 (2001)

Here is a short overview, which I am quoting:

Look around and concentrate on what you experience. Perhaps it is a warm summer day and you are sitting on an outdoor patio. You see a deep blue sky and smell the fragrance of the flowers in bloom. Wind blowing through the branches of a nearby tree provides a soothing melody. You feel the texture of these papers in your hands, and can still taste the last sip of your beverage. Of course, your experience will be different; you may be in a university library, at your desk at work, or relaxing on the couch in your home. You may be smelling the fragrance of flowers, the sweetness of newly baked cookies, or the lingering odor of disinfectant. You undoubtedly will be experiencing many things from your five senses, plus an introspective view of your mind's operation. These are the things you perceive, and are therefore the things that define your reality.

But now imagine that you suddenly awake and realize it was only a dream. The things you had been experiencing can now be seen from an enlightened perspective. Before you awoke, you justifiably believed that the sights and sounds you experienced were genuine, originating in an external physical universe. The tree, papers, and patio seemed more that just your perception of them; they were real objects with an independent existence. Or so you thought. But now that you are awake you have gained a greater knowledge, the knowledge that your previous reality was not genuine. The things that you had been perceiving exist only in your mind, and nowhere else.

The lesson here is extraordinary: the low-level activity of the brain is capable of placing its high-level activity into an artificial reality. We know this for a fact; it is clearly demonstrated to us each night as we dream. It is undeniable that the machinery to accomplish this feat is present in each and every human brain. The nature and extent of this "subreality machine" remains for us to determine; but one fact is indisputable, it is there.

The Inner Light theory takes this a step farther, asserting that this "subreality machine" is also activated during our waking hours, just as during our dreams. The unconscious processes that create our dream reality, also create our waking reality. This is not to suggest that the external physical world is an illusion. On the contrary, when we are awake and perceive an apple, we have every reason to believe that the universe contains such an object. However, we do not, and cannot, experience the physical apple directly. The best we can do is to capture clues about the object's nature. These clues come in the form of light photons, sound waves, molecules of various chemicals, and mechanical interactions. These are the physical principles that underlie our five senses, resulting in neural signals being sent to our brains. These indirect clues are all we know about the physical universe, and the only things we can know about it.

But of course, our conscious perception of an apple is nothing like photons, sound waves, or neural activity. We see an apple as red, feel it as smooth, and taste it as sweet. This is our introspective experience, because this is the representation that the subreality machine has created for us. Our unconscious mental processes fused the multitude of sensory data into the thing we recognize as an apple. Everything that we are conscious of has been created in this way. Our consciousness exists in this inner reality, not the physical world. When we are awake, the inner reality is constructed to mimic our external surroundings. When we dream, the inner reality exists on its own, without regard for anything outside of our brains. But either way, all we can consciously experience is the inner reality created for us by the subreality machine in the brain.

In groundbreaking work, The Inner Light Theory of Consciousness explores the evidence for this remarkable claim, from the structure of the brain, to the very way we perceive ourselves and the world around us.

As a person who has used technology of one kind or another in office work for more than 40 years I think I am experienced enough to comment on such a question.

Recently I listened to my husband and mentally disabled son playing chess (jointly) with someone else over the internet. THey were also using a computer chess programme to guide them with their moves.

Now both my husband and son are very capable chess players, and I have to say that if they were part of a chess club would be star players. However, I listened as they took the nmove the chess programme gave and then looked at why such a move had been made. Yes, they did learn some new situations through this, but it also encouraged them to expect help from another source in deciding what move to make. They stopped working out for themselves the possible move.

This may seem to be quite insignificant in many instances. especially as they have both taught themselves chess to a high standard without computer guidance, but for new people just beginning to learn chess this is not the way to learn, especially when they are supposed to be playing a human being, not a computer.

Unfortunately, far too many chess games played over the internet have human players using computers to help them with the game and their ratings.

Ah but it's just a game, someone may say, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Young people especially are being encouraged to use a computer for the least mental calucation, and rely on it for making decisions. This does not encourage mental agility within the thinking processes and teaches that they are not capable of working it out for themselves but must rely on others or a machine with their choices.

Yet it is people with these attitudes which are being placed in our higher postions of authority and decision making, and if they are relying on being told how to think, how to decide, then it does not bode well for society, and certainly takes away a mental independence that used to exist within the human brain.

I am not specifically cleverer than others, in fact I am quite average in many ways, especially as I am getting older and my brain is deteriorating just like other parts of my body, but I do still remember the regular rote learning of the multiplication tables, the recitations I had to learn, the various little rhymes and songs which encompassed many rules of grammar or scientific principles. These were the backbone of the learning process.

In the past shop keepers could calculate in their heads the total cost of the goods people bought, today the young people in these same roles have a calculator by their side as they find it difficult to calculate mentally two figures together and come up with a total.

When it comes to adminstrative or call centre procedures there are a set of regulations that must be obeyed at all costs and if a situation arises that these procedures don't cover people are unable to deal with the problem. They are not taught how to think for themselves, or truly understand the system so that where appropriate the system can be sidestepped to a different part of the procedures and so enable an outcome to be achieved.

People are thinking like machines, but have a very limited understanding of what their own brains can do, and have been encouraged to believe that machines are better than humans. This is not the case. The machines are only as good as the information the humans put into them, and if the humans make mistakes when doing this so will the machines. Also, the machines are built to do one main function, which they do pretty quickly, however, humans are built to do many thinks similtaneously so I consider humans to be far superior in that sense than machines.

Meanwhile, we must start accepting that humans can think in many ways just as well as machines, and in some instances even better. Perhaps because we have two parts to our brain, similar to two processors working in tandem and maybe able to do two or more tasks at the same time.

We are also quite small, compact, in our physical development considering the range of tasks we can do.

I remember reading an article about a Japanese company which decided that it would be economically more viable to change back from a robot controlled factory to a human controlled one. The reason given was that it took too long to reprogramme successfully all the robots for a new product. Humans on the other hand are more adaptable and learn the tasks more quickly, saving time and money and getting a new product on the shelves sooner so bringing income into the company far quicker. One up for the humans I think.

White (biligaani) married to half navajo woman who has employed many navajo men including onew man who may have beena skinwalker according to navajo men treated for sickness after after working with him. Whitw man treated him honestly but there is some medicine way that are beyond "white" undertanding. We need help, husbnd is VERY SICK, modern medicine can not cure hm, cus there is a conflict that is not healed by white man only my our elders. There is something old that is making him sick... somehwere on the reservation there is a medicine man that know what it is, it is not in four norners, I have been told that in a dream. Please someone in our new ways...please tell me...alexia

This is almost as unbelievable as Fort's proverbial fishmonger!

The sources report that the Tasmanian Attorney-General Lara Giddings said the drugged-up wallabies had been found hopping around in circles squashing the poppies, creating the formations.

The strange occurrence, revealed in a State Government Budget Estimates hearing, purports to have solved campfire legends about mysterious crop circles that appear in northern Tasmania's poppy paddocks.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,256...

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/200...

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story...

As an aside, if the wallabies have taught us anything, and I'm sure they haven't, it's that Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally grown opium for the pharmaceutical market. About 500 farmers grow the crop supplying the market with about 50 percent of the world's raw material for morphine and related opiates. Might explain a few things about the place to us mainlanders ...