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http://benjaminfulford.typepad.com/benjaminfulford/

The UN, the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union are all doomed

The shift of the global financial center of gravity to Asia means that the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank and probably the European Union are all doomed institutions. This is already beginning to manifest itself in the form of increasingly desperate high-level phone calls from these various institutions asking for Asian money. They are being told no because all of these institutions are corrupt and have inflicted pain and suffering on many people around the world.

We will need to replace these institutions with entirely new ones to be built from scratch. The Chinese would like to have a new United Nations to be headquartered in Laos. It is also likely that many arbitrary colonial borders will be redrawn as a part of this move.

Hong Kong is going to replace the City of London as the world's main financial center.

The Chinese have also already replaced the World Bank as the world's biggest helpers of developing nations. An entirely new institution is going to be set up in Japan to replace the IMF.

The Western countries will be increasingly marginalized and cut off from the global flow of trade until they stop their endless, mindless war-mongering. However, once the West purges its body politic of the evil cabal that infected it, it will use its still superior technical and scientific might for the greater good of humanity and the planet. The uncorking of all the suppressed scientific knowledge will trigger the start of an age of wonder and discovery.

Also, since we do not know what is out there in the universe, the West's superior military ability will be used to protect the planet in the case of any emergencies.

Soon, we are all going to be living on a much nicer planet.

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http://news.scotsman.com/odd/Big-Bird-aims-to-promote.5866430.jp

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From: Public Diplomacy Network <http://url.gaia.com/blog/diplo%40zahav.net.il>

Big Bird aims to promote peace in Gaza

By ROB CRILLY in Jerusalem

28/11/2009 - BIG Bird, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch have taught
countless generations of children how to count, recite the alphabet and
wash their hands.

Now their creators are hoping a Palestinian version of Sesame Street will
be broadcast in Gaza to help teach Arab children there the importance of peace.

It is the latest example of so-called "Muppet diplomacy". In Kosovo,
puppets show how Serbian, Albanian and Roma children can all get along and
a version in Northern Ireland - Sesame Tree - is trying to break down the
religious divide.

A Palestinian version has already been broadcast in the West Bank but has
not been shown in Gaza. Instead, children there watch a TV station run by
the Islamist group Hamas featuring cartoon animals and puppets that declare
their hatred of Jews.

Gary Knell, president of the Sesame Workshop, the educational organisation
behind the popular series, has travelled to Israel and the Palestinian
territories to try to persuade donors to back his plans. "We want very much
to be on the air in Gaza. There's an enormous population of kids who have
been through an extremely difficult situation this past year especially who
could benefit from the show," he said.

Researchers at the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme found that
two-thirds of children showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Link:
<http://news.scotsman.com/odd/Big-Bird-aims-to-promote.5866430.jp>http://news.scotsman.com/odd/Big-Bird-aims-to-promote.5866430.jp

WEST POINT CANDLELIGHT VIGIL SET FOR OBAMA AFGHANISTAN WAR SPEECH~ JOIN
CODEPINK AND OTHERS!

A candlelight vigil is set for Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 5:30 pm in the
downtown public park in Highland Falls NY at the intersection of Main
Street (Route 218) and West Point Highway, just south of West Point's
Thayer Gate, to protest the escalation of the war in Afghanistan is to be
announced that night at West Point at 8 p.m. by President Barack Obama.

Please bring candles and flashlights (in case of wind or rain). We want to
create an ocean of light in Highland Falls. Speaking will begin at 7 p.m.;
speakers will be announced.

The vigil is sponsored by Orange County Democratic Alliance, Peace Action
of New York State, WESPAC and World Can't Wait.

There will be carpooling from Westchester County coordinated by WESPAC. If
you need a ride, please call: (914) 449-6514.

See you there! Stand for Peace!
Dana Balicki, Campaign Manager, CODEPINK

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http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2844&Itemid=2


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...I am struck by the phrase...

...Graveyard of Empires...

...interesting...

From: Michael Moore [mailto:http://url.gaia.com/blog/maillist%40michaelmoore.com]
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 2:31 AM

Subject: An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point
tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather
than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president.
Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you
could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in
you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young
people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You
will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians
are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are
going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a
civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other
way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's
what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade
China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have
fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the
press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed
services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam
to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of
WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday
(Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade
Afghanistan! " Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they
probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has
his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan' s nickname is
the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a
call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have
Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you
an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men
and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the
breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full
throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never
think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil
will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The
heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't
have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and
your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending
more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they
understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in
a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in
Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living
in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to
believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it
so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any
of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more
throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful
and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of
the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon
you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation
will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding.
That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But
we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and
over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there
and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into
Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters.
They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar
is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million
troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would
still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television
because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself
that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by
abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and
the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they
want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they
will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need
homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and
daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not
send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them,
that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while
American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory
have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our
name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations
who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in
(but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as
hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of
thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured
mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much
change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop
the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation
that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan
civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of
our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do
this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
mailto:MMFlint%40aol.com
MichaelMoore. com

P.S. There's still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at
202-456-1111 or email the President.

Join Mike's Mailing List | Join Mike's Facebook Group | Follow Mike on
Twitter | Become Mike's MySpace Friend

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Black Author wins The Matrix Copyright Infringement Case

This little known story has met a just conclusion, as Sophia Stewart,
African American author of The Matrix will finally receive her just due
from the copyright infringement of her original work!!!

A six-year dispute has ended involving Sophia Stewart, the Wachowski
Brothers, Joel Silver and Warner Brothers. Stewart's allegations,
involving copyright infringement and racketeering, were received and
acknowledged by the Central District of California, Judge Margaret
Morrow presiding.

Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City for the past
five years, will recover damages from the films, The Matrix I, II and
III, as well as The Terminator and its sequels. She will soon receive
one of the biggest payoffs in the history ofHollywood, as the gross
receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars.

Stewart filed her case in 1999, after viewing the Matrix, which she felt
had been based on her manuscript, 'The Third Eye,' copyrighted in 1981.
In the mid-eighties Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed
by the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works..

According to court documentation, an FBI investigation discovered that
more than thirty minutes had been edited from the original film, in an
attempt to avoid penalties for copyright infringement. The investigation
also stated that 'credible witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came
forward, claiming that the executives and lawyers had full knowledge
that the work in question did not belong to the Wachowski Brothers.'

These witnesses claimed to have seen Stewart's original work and that it
had been 'often used during preparation of the motion pictures.' The
defendants tried, on several occasions, to have Stewart's case
dismissed, without success.

Stewart has confronted skepticism on all sides, much of which comes from
Matrix fans, who are strangely loyal to the Wachowski Brothers. One
on-line forum, entitled Matrix Explained has an entire section devoted
to Stewart. Some who have researched her history and writings are open
to her story.

Others are suspicious and mocking. 'It doesn't bother me,' said Stewart
in a phone interview last week, 'I always knew what was true.'

Some fans, are unaware of the case or they question its legitimacy, due
to the fact that it has received little to no media coverage. Though the
case was not made public until October of 2003, Stewart has her own
explanation, as quoted at aghettotymz. com <http://aghettotymz.com/> :

'The reason you have not seen any of this in the media is because Warner
Brothers parent company is AOL-Time Warner.... this GIANT owns 95
percent of the media.... let me give you a clue as to what they own in
the media business... New York Times papers/magazines, LA Times
papers/magazines, People Magazine, CNN news, Extra, Celebrity Justice,
Entertainment Tonight, HBO, New Line Cinema, DreamWorks, Newsweek,
Village Roadshow and many, many more! They are not going to report on
themselves. They have been suppressing my case for years.'

Fans who have taken Stewart's allegations seriously, have found eerie
mythological parallels, which seem significant in a case that revolves
around the highly metaphorical and symbolic Matrix series. Sophia, the
Greek goddess of wisdom has been referenced many times in speculation
about Stewart. In one book about the Goddess Sophia, it reads, 'The
black goddess is the mistress of web creation spun in her divine
matrix.'

Although there have been outside implications as to racial injustice
(Stewart is African American), she does not feel that this is the case.
'This is all about the Benjamins,' said Stewart. 'It's not about money
with me. It's about justice.'

Stewart's future plans involve a record label, entitled Popsilk Records,
and a motion picture production company, All Eyez On Me, in reference to
God. 'I wrote The Third Eye to wake people up, to remind them why God
put them here. There's more to life than money,' said Stewart. 'My whole
to the world is about God and good and about choice, about spirituality
over 'technocracy' .'

If Stewart represents spirituality, then she truly has prevailed over
the 'technocracy' represented in both the Terminator and the Matrix, and
now, ironically, by their supposed creators.

Stewart is currently having discussions with CBS about a possible
exclusive story and has several media engagements in the near future to
nationally publicize her victory.

June 13th 2004. Sophia Stewart's press release read: 'The Matrix &
Terminator movie franchises have made world history and have ultimately
changed the way people view movies and how Hollywood does business, yet
the real truth about the creator and creation of these films continue to
elude the masses because the hidden secret of the matter is that these
films were created and written by a Black woman...a Black woman named
Sophia Stewart. But Hollywood does not want you to know this fact simply
because it would change history. Also it would encourage our Black
children to realize a dream and that is...nothing is impossible for them
to achieve!'

Greg Thomas, Editor

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...

Martian landscapes

Since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been orbiting Mars, currently circling approximately 300 km (187 mi) above the Martian surface. On board the MRO is HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. Collected here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years, in either false color or grayscale, showing intricate details of landscapes both familiar and alien, from the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars. I invite you to take your time looking through these, imagining the settings - very cold, dry and distant, yet real. (35 photos total)
Intersecting swirling trails left by the earlier passage of dust devils across sand dunes, as they lifted lighter reddish-pink dust and exposed the darker material below. Also visible are darker slope streaks along dune edges, formed by a process which is still under investigation. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
2An eroded crater in a larger plain with a scalloped appearance near Pavonis Mons. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
3Part of the Abalos Undae dune field. The sands appear blueish because of their basaltic composition, while the lighter areas are probably covered in dust. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
4A portion of the Martian South Polar Cap, showing stratified layers exposed by a long process of sublimation. More information here. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
5Exposure of Layers and Minerals in Candor Chasma. This image shows a cliff along a light-toned layered deposit in Valles Marineris. Erosion by wind has carved V-shaped patterns along the edges of many of the layers. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
6Avalanches on Mars' North Polar Scarps. Material, likely including fine-grained ice and dust and possibly including large blocks, has detached from a towering cliff and cascaded to the gentler slopes below. The cloud is about 180 meters (590 feet) across and extends about 190 m (625 ft) from the base of the steep cliff. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
7Pathfinder spotted on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The bright spot visible at lower left is the Mars Pathfinder Lander, its ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags visible. NASA's Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997 and continued operating until September 27 of that year. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
8Victoria Crater at Meridiani Planum. The crater is approximately 800 meters (about half a mile) in diameter. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. NASA's Mars rover Opportunity explored this crater and its walls in 2006. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
9Close-up of tracks made by NASA's Mars rover Opportunity in the soil near Victoria Crater. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
10Linear dunes in the north polar region of Mars. Polygons formed by networks of cracks cover the substrate between the linear dunes and may indicate that ice-rich permafrost is present or has been present geologically recently in this location. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
11Scalloped sand dunes in the southern hemisphere of mars, displaying seasonal frost on the south-facing slopes, which highlights some of the regular patterns, as the frost forms only on parts of the ripples. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
12This image shows lineated valley fill and lobate debris aprons in the Deuteronilus Mensae region. Many of the valley floors in this region exhibit complex alignments of small ridges and pits often called "lineated valley fill". The cause of the small-scale texture is not well understood, but may result from patterns in ice-rich soils or ice loss due to sublimation (ice changing into water vapor). More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
13A large barchan (crescent-shaped) dune, in a region where some dunes have been observed shrinking over several years. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
14The edge of an approximately 6 km diameter crater in the southern hemisphere, laced with gullies leading down to the crater floor. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
15Dunes in a crater in Newton Basin that are eroding or covering a more coherent rock structure below. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
16The south polar region of Mars is covered every year by a layer of carbon dioxide ice. In a region called the "cryptic terrain," the ice is translucent and sunlight can penetrate through the ice to warm the surface below. The ice layer sublimates (evaporates) from the bottom. The dark fans of dust seen in this image come from the surface below the layer of ice, carried to the top by gas venting from below. The translucent ice is "visible" by virtue of the effect it has on the tone of the surface below, which would otherwise have the same color and reflectivity as the fans. Bright streaks in this image are fresh frost. More information here. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
17An impact crater on the south polar layered deposits. This is a small, approximately 330 meter (360 yard) diameter impact crater. The polar layered deposits on Mars are believed to be very young because there are no large craters on them and very few small craters. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
18Rocky mesas of Nilosyrtis Mensae region. Phyllosilicate (clay) minerals have been detected in this region by imaging spectrometers on the Mars Express and MRO spacecraft, and these minerals are of great interest in the search for evidence of life on ancient Mars. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
19Gullies, streaks, ripples and dust devil tracks on Russell Crater Dunes. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
20A 4 km diameter feature near the edge of the south polar residual cap. The bright areas in this image are covered by carbon dioxide frost, and the "swiss cheese" terrain typical of the south polar residual cap covers much of the imaged area. The dark walls of the circular depression do not have as much frost on them, and are fractured in a polygonal pattern. Apparently the surface of the walls has been extensively modified by thermal expansion and contraction of water ice. It also appears that the "swiss cheese" terrain of the residual cap has buried the floor of the circular depression, as well as the terrain surrounding the feature, making it difficult to infer the origin of this depression. More information here. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
21HiRISE catches a dust devil blowing across the Martian surface east of the Hellas impact basin and south of Reull Vallis. The diameter of this dust devil is about 200 meters, but at the surface it is probably much smaller. Based on the length of the shadow in this image, the dust devil is on the order of 500 meters tall. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
22Erosion of the south polar residual ice cap, with exposed strata in pits surrounded by cracked polygonal features. More information here. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
23Light-toned layered deposits along the floor of Becquerel Crater, an impact crater in Arabia Terra. The deposits consist of stacked, repeating layers which consistently appear to be only a few meters thick. The surface of the deposits also appears to be cracked into blocks a meter or so in length. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
24Defrosting dunes in the north. In northern winter a seasonal polar cap composed of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) forms in the north polar region. This cap covers a vast sea of dunes at high northern latitudes. In the spring the ice sublimates (evaporates directly from ice to gas) and this active process loosens and moves tiny dust particles. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
25Dunes line a valley floor in Ladon Valles, an outflow channel forming a segment of a larger system that heads in Argyre basin to the south and eventually links up with the larger Ares Valles outflow channel to the north. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
26A small impact crater, surrounded by ejecta, is filled in with rippled sand on the floor of Ritchey Crater. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
27Fuzzy-looking landscape near Tharsis Montes. Some parts of this image may appear out-of-focus at first. However, sharper-looking features such as the visible craters show that the fuzzy look is not an artifact of the image, but rather indicative of an extremely smooth surface. That smoothness is due to a thick layer of dust blanketing the landscape. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
28A Sample of flows and other landforms in Icaria Planum. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
29A sawtooth pattern in carbon dioxide ice in Mars' south polar region. More information here. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
30A valley in Elysium region volcanic rise. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
31A small crater partially buried in wind-blown ejecta from a much larger crater (below, out of frame). More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
32A large outcrop of layered rock in Aureum Chaos, an area that has apparently collapsed, leaving a region of irregular knobs and hills. Unlike many of the knobs, the light outcrop shows distinct, nearly horizontal layers. This may indicate that it was deposited after the collapse of the Chaos. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
33A gully along the inner wall of Western Hale Crater, shadowed by a raised crater rim. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
34Gully-like features in a transition zone between plain and dune field. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #
35A small impact crater, pitted knobs, and a criss-cross mesh of dust devil trails across the martian surface. More, or see location on Google Mars. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) #

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