PAGE VII: More musings of an Amer. Indian woman/Celtic Crone.
Continued from Page VI. I suggest you read from the top of the page down, and the pages from last to first.
*I like the title of Crone. It would be easier to just say Woman, but I prefer Crone. A Crone can be any age toward middle age and beyond recalling that in the days of the Ancient Druids when the term was most commonly in usage, the average life span was only to about 45; therefore, she is merely a mature woman with wisdom and the powers of nature. Just thought I would clarify in case someone was visualizing me as a bent and wrinkled old woman with next to no hair and a very big cane. LOL Well, I do have a cane, but it was my daddy's so I'm not using it... yet! He made it himself from a knarled grape vine. Should I need one that one will most surely be my choice, which would most surely fit the image of a Crone. LOL I do indeed hope I keep most of my hair.... *shivers* stereotypical imagery!
* Red is for my correction with proof reading. Violet is my Guide Waban. Black is just me... well, sometimes with the intuition of my Spirit Guide, Waban. In fact, I think a lot of the time. Sometimes I wonder where I am getting this information. I believe it, but most I have never tried to articulate. So I think I get a lot more help than not. Thank you, Waban.
*Oh, Waban refers to me as Peachbird. It's an Indian named given to me long ago. It comes from the Chippewa Nation in Michigan. The Peachbird is the large Country or Horned Owl like we have in Texas. These Owls look brown and beige, but when in flight you can see the under wing and the belly is really a golden orange color. They also haunt the Peach Orchards (among other fruits) of Michigan searching for small prey. Waban says it is a name I have used in many reincarnations.
*Spiritual Subject Matter: Read it if you will, believe it or not… I do not care for it is not the thoughts of my mind of that I am quite sure. But the words are thought provoking and ring true for me. I trust Waban completely without reservation. So I leave it as it is. To be a clear channel is to trust the words that come through you for there is no other way to explain it only that you know the difference between those words and your own. And I do...
*I frequently move through entries on Politics or other secular topics and then back again to Spiritual insight with my Guide, Waban. '@v@'
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March 3, 2012
I am not having the same kind of experience with my parallel lifetime as I was. Now I can make the transition, but it is not nearly so easy or so vividly real. I suppose that if I make a steady practice it might become so. I believe that I understand the process enough now that it is not needed. But I will probably “check in” on my other self from time to time… especially realizing that I might enter that lifetime primarily after I cross over from this one. It’s a very different way of thinking of the afterlife. Recall the cogs on a wheel analogy? Interesting that my personality wheel might turn from this one at death to that… and that I would have an entire set of memories from that lifetime to perhaps digest and understand. It is a philosophy that I have not heard espoused before and one I will contemplate.
Peachbird, yes, you are right. It is not a common description of the afterlife, but it is a very valid one. Not the only one… but a very valid after death experience for many. Just as your husband in that life time died and then returned later in the same life so it will appear to you if you could see from our perspective. Existence is not nearly understood as it should be. But there are those like you who are awakening to the truth. There is no death per se… only life experiences for growth of the Soul personality and Gestalt. And this you will be completely aware of in your after death experience… as well all on your Earth experience.
There are many who are crossing over from your side of reality to this one due to natural disasters… Earth Changes, if you will. It will help mightily if people have this knowledge… this belief system. When one leaves the body in a disaster or accident there is often terror connected with the experience that hinders the Soul personality from adapting to the new situation. Understanding this spiritual world view would eliminate much of that trauma allowing the personality to adapt much more quickly and needing much less aid from others in that process. If you are expecting the possibility, you may move smoothly through the process with the least amount of trauma. The more rapidly you can adapt, the quicker you can move into other experience/s that will aid in your growth. And as you evolve you carry your fellow Soul travelers along with you. Win/Win situation… *merry grinning*
It is important that the greatest number of people be prepared for different after (so-called) death scenarios as we can provide. There are no streets paved with gold, no pearly gates, no St. Peter waiting to judge you. The reality is very different. We have touched on one experience that might present itself to the individual. There are many, many more. And we are prepared to help you experience them physically so that you can enlighten mankind. For the time has come when large numbers of people question whether or not there is an afterlife. The fact is that heaven and hell is sounding like faery tales to many who have no other expectation for after death experience, dear Bird. Many feel an emptiness that needs to be filled with more reality than mankind has been prepared to accept until now. What with the advancement of Earth Changes, mankind needs to be prepared. And that is part of your and our purpose, dear Bird… to enlighten.
You may read this, Dear Readers, and say that it is impossible. But it does not matter whether or not you believe it, having heard it… you will not be in total shock or denial at what awaits you. As well, you do not have to worry how many people receive your message, Bird. We have the Hundredth Monkey Theory that we have espoused before and that many of your readers already know. When a mass number of individuals hear the message, it will become common knowledge and not shocking in the least. So it is not necessary that you have thousands of readers at all. And with this we shall stop for now…
We are well pleased, Bird. Return later for a proof read and revision session.
I Am Waban…
February 20, 2012
Yes, Bird, your husband in that other life time is the same as the one from this lifetime. In fact, he was both. When he died in WWI, he left you a young widow. Fate had it that you were brought together again. You are what some in this life time like to call Soul Mates. You have shared many, many life times together and you hold great love one for the other.
WWI, Waban? I thought this life time was paralleling the other at the same time as this one?
Peach Bird, these lifetimes are parallel, but they are happening at different times in history as you know it. I know that you find it confusing that Trisha in that lifetime is very similar to you. And she has similar taste as you do here. As well, your husband there is very much like your husband in this lifetime when you first met. He is the same Soul. And yes, he was with you twice in that lifetime. His death in WWI was not foretold, but it came about nonetheless. He was injured so severely that he would have been a cripple had he lived, and that was not the plan for your lives together. Therefore, he died; then returned later.
I know you are thinking, “How can that be?” He would not have time to be born again and then to be older than you when you meet years later. But so it is. Anything is possible as all time is NOW. You only have need of linear time in this dimension of existence. But you can and do go back and forth in a life time. Why so strange that you should be able to create an entire lifetime since there are so many alternative realities. The only important thing is that you learn and grow. And just as siblings in the same family have different memories of their past, so can such as we.
Some of your confusion is that you have been seeing through eyes of today into another reality. You were not prepared for the historical time difference. Recall that very early on we spoke of the aspects of a persona as though they were cogs on a wheel and that wheel turns and meshes with other wheels like those of a clock. Each one of those aspects shares similar characteristics with all the other as they are merely aspects of the same soul personality. There are many of these soul personalities all from the same Soul Gestalt. The wheels turn, the personalities move in and out of existence sometimes many, many times at once. You might see these aspects as one personality as it progresses through one life time as you are experiencing this lifetime. On the other side of this reality, you will see all the aspects of your Soul experience as they weave in and out of their diffferent personalities.
If you look back at your past, you are not the same person you were at say, ten years. Nor are you the same as you were at twenty one… or thirty eight. And yet, you know that it is you no matter how different. This is the same instance. You are you here, but as you have discovered, you are also there just as vividly. Your husband is just as loving and caring there as he was here. Your love for each other grew and changed over the years. The same is true with your alternative aspect in that other reality. Your love has not changed, it has merely grown. And the growth in large part is due to the fact that you did lose each other, and then found one another again. That is why he says things that your late husband said or did. He is one and the same, though he does not recall that fact. He has a whole set of different memories that are just as valid and just as real as his lifetime here with you. And the two of you will come together again, though you are alone in this lifetime.
Regaining your relationship with your husband there is balanced and expanded from the experience of this life time as well as the life altering experience of losing your husband there as well. And there are many other lifetimes where you experienced losing each other. All of these come together to make you a different individual than you would have been with only one life time. You experience reincarnation in many different time frames through history as you know it. And it is very common that you will move back and forth between these periods as well, you may very well experience more than one lifetime within one. Just as your husband experienced two different lifetimes in the one with you, so have you and everyone for that matter. The learning… the growing… that is all that matters. And that is always possible in so many fashions that you cannot even imagine! And until you have learned all there is to learn from the reincarnation progression, you will continue to experience it as this was your choice.
Once you have learned all there is to know from reincarnation; then you will begin another kind of existence. And it will be just as valid and stimulating as life is to you now. There are so many different paths to take to the Source. And that Source is the pinnacle of your Soul Gestalt.
I hope that is clearer to you now, Bird? Take some time, then return and proof read. We are well pleased. I Am Waban.
Thank you, Waban. Yes, I do have a clearer understanding. I hope that I have allowed your expression to be as clear to our readers as it is to me right now. I am pleased if I can allow myself to express for you properly. ~ ‘@v@’~
February 18, 2012
Now, I have added the last comments made the 13th on the new relationship. I gave some space between then and now to see where things have led. In the past days I have gone back and forth between these two realities, staying mostly in this one. I have been filling my days with activity. But when I am still it is very easy to slip into that other space. I have to use a conscious effort, but it takes only seconds. I am reminded of an experience before my husband died.
We had our house up for sale, and we were planning to move to Montana when it sold. We were drawn to the Missoula Valley area. I did not like cold weather, but we were told that we should make that move. Suddenly it seemed that things simply completely changed. I went to my hypnosis session eager to see what I should be planning for when I was told that we should take the house off the market that something had changed. I was then shown five different death experiences. Each time I died in a different reincarnation. I saw a brief portion of the reality, and then went straight into the death experience. It was not what I was expecting nor was my hypnosis guide expecting what I was shown. After the experiences she asked why I was being shown this. Waban told her, through me of course; that something had changed and it was important for me to understand about death and dying. I was told to forget about selling the house. I went home and I explained what I had been shown which was how very easy it is to die. It is so simple that it is like slipping a letter out of an envelope. It looked as simple as moving slightly to the side within the body, then merely sliding right out. I told my husband. In fact, I told all the members of my family and friends of the experience. It seemed it was something important that needed to be shared.
Late summer of that year, we had a hurricane. It was as though something had changed with that storm. It was the first time that I became one with a storm for one thing. But later I was to recall that it was before the hurricane that I was shown the death and dying experiences. The beginning of the next year, my husband went to an auctioneer school. He was gone for about 2 wks. Those were torturous days and nights. When he came home, it was as though something had changed. We were desperately holding onto each other. The separation had been miserable. Only weeks later, my husband dropped dead in the wee hours of the morning from a heart attack. It was like the fabric of my life had been ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds.
Now I can compare that to this experience I am having now with the alternative reality. Once again I am being shown something so vital that I must experience it… actually feel it in order to understand it and explain it. This is important because Waban’s words must filter through my mind and my belief system as well as knowledge so that he can put forth these ideas to our readers. I have no background in science. I have never been interested. I believe it is why... well, one of the reasons I have to experience this in the way that I have.
As easy as it was to leave this world through the window of death, so it is to change focus from one reality to another one. It is as though I am focused here. I am living this my world completely. I can see and feel my life with no interruptions or intrusions from any other. It’s like remembering a dream that I recall that other life. But… when I turn my attention there and away from here, suddenly here is gone and there is only there! I am as completely focused into that reality as I am here. The difference is that I can choose to go there or not. Once I make the conscious decision to go there… it is done and I am there. And… when I am there I have no thought of here. But, while I am here, I can recall there just as though I have remembered a very vivid dream. And when I need to be back here, it is as though I, here and now, can call me back instantly.
So, the point I believe is that it is that simple. When I die, I will as easily leave this realm as I have left to go into that other reality. Waban says that when I die, I will most likely go straight there. He also said that I will have the opportunity to live that life, act as a guide for that woman I see as myself, or enter into another reincarnation when I am ready. Those are decisions that will have to be made.
Right now in that life, we have just returned to our home in California. No one knew we planned to be married while we were gone, because we did not know ourselves. The last episode I saw we had just called friends to let them know we were back. The couple had plans to go out already; we were invited to go along. We accepted and my husband asked if we could invite another couple to come along as well. Plans were made, and we were all to meet at a popular night club.
I recall that my husband dried my long softly curling black hair and brushed it out. It fell almost to the small of my back. We dressed and he approved or chose every garment that went on my body, and I liked it. Sometimes he would say that I was like dressing a big Barbie Doll, and he loved it… and I would say I loved it too; because I did. He had wonderful taste that just suited mine. I recall that this night I was wearing tight black pants, high black heels tied with a loose fabric bow in the front of the ankle. He pulled a transparent red, dark red, blouse with open spaces down to the elbow length of the arm. Over that he pulled an embroidered black lace collar that buttoned on the shoulders of the blouse with satin buttons like a little vest that did not open down the front. It all had the look of say, the 1920s. It was all very expensive and unique in style. The blouse and vest ended just over my hips with the red blouse being several inches longer than the black lace. I was gorgeous, if I do say so myself.
He has dark blonde hair, deep set blue/green grey eyes like my husband in this life time had. He has a cleft chin, and angular features with a dimple in one check. He has a big toothy lopsided grin, very handsome and sexy. Once we were both finished dressing, he had me stand next to and sort of in front of him and look in the mirror. Even in the very high heels, I am still only chin level. He was wearing jeans, a silverish grey silk t-shirt and very dark grey sports jacket. We looked great together. And he was very well pleased. I am always pleased when he is happy. He laughed and told me that I looked good enough to eat! LOL Which started us laughing and wrestling about whether we should call the evening off and just go back to bed! It was fun and cute. Of course, we decided to go for the evening.
Once at the club, everyone was stunned that we were married. Like any club, it was noisy and fun and we drank and talked and danced. As women will do, we made off to the restroom at one point. Once inside, one of the women asked how I got him to marry me. I said that I did not “get” him to marry me. He asked because he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. And I love him, so I said yes for the same reason. I was offended. Both women were quick to pacify me. They hardly knew me. They said the reason they were so shocked was that he had dated someone for almost three years, and she could never get him to commit to even calling themselves seriously dating though they were monogamous. They were merely surprised since we had only known each other for a couple of months… or so we said, there was implication that we might be lying about that and that he had known me before the other relationship ended. I assured them that was not the case. Then as we started out the door, a woman stepped out of one of the stalls. Both my companions seemed totally surprised and they exchanged embarrassed and quick greetings. It was the woman he had been dating they told me after we had left the restroom. I had guessed as much by the way they were acting. She obviously wanted us to know that she had heard our conversation. For what reason, I cannot say. I would not have come out if our roles were reversed.
When we met the men at the table, I asked my husband to dance with me, and I told him about the exchange. He was concerned if I was okay. I was concerned for the other woman. I felt sorry for her, and I did not know exactly what he would think or what we should do as a result of the incident. He said, he would not avoid meeting her, but he would not do it intentionally. He said he was sorry she had to learn that way, it was cruel, but that was not my fault. He said neither he nor we had done anything wrong. We fell in love and got married. And he had not been seeing her for over 6 months before he met me. He was totally attentive to me as he always was.
She was very thin and blonde. I was thin, but curvy with a rounded hips and bosom without much fat on my body. I was not angular any more than I am in this life. In fact, I look very much the same at her age. The exgirlfriend was like a little skeleton to me with skin stretched over her bones. We were about the same height with her a bit taller than I. He said she was his type, until he met me. He said he didn’t know what his type really was until he met me. More of that kind of newly wed love struck kind of conversation between us. We literally doted on each other! LOL It’s rather like a faery tale romance now that I think about it. We are just very, very happy.
I’m not going to go into such details about the relationship from this time forward, because it serves no purpose. I just want you to understand a little of how every vivid and real it is… how I can be totally there. I am living it, I am feeling it; I can touch it, taste it, smell it, and hear it. It is as real as this lifetime. Only it is such a joy because I am with the love of my life. It is a wonderful thing to think that when I die I have the option of going into this life time as I have created it. And that we all have these kinds of options. It may not be necessary for me to experience this life so vividly after this, but if that is the case; then I shall be terribly disappointed. I want to say, “so is life”… because so it is. Now I know it, I can trust it. And I can tell you that you can trust it.
Very well said, Peach Bird! Very well said indeed, and yes, this is how and why you have been blessed with this experience. As the experience is real for you, then you can make it real for our readers. We are very well pleased. Now rest, little Bird, and proof read another time. Good evening.
I Am Waban.
February 13, 2012
I’m trying to keep a running record here of the progress I am making in the alternative reality discussed in my last entry. At this time, I am married to the new man in my life who reminds me of my late husband. In many ways he is more like him than the man I married who seemed to embody my late husband’s personality. I’m wondering; however, if he is actually the man I have married. Let’s see if I can make this clearer.
In the alternative reality that Waban says I am expressing with my late husband I was under the assumption that the man who died in Viet Nam was my husband for this lifetime, and that I had met another man who reminded me of him. I’m truly wondering now if the first man was my late husband at all. I find it strange that I have little memory of what he looked like, and I had no children with him. I am now married to the man who is so much like my husband in this reality. As I stated, he seems to be taller and thinner than my late husband, but otherwise very much like him. I’m not sure if he is so much taller or if I am actually shorter; strange such physical things to contend with in explanation of differences between realities. The difference in our height is more accentuated. In any case, I do believe that I am now married to the man who was my husband in this reality. It was a whirlwind kind of thing as I stated before almost like love at first sight. And now we are married. I have met his family who bear no resemblance to his parents in this lifetime. I like them very much. They feel familiar, but not as I would say an exchange for the ones in this life time I am experiencing now. We are both the oldest of our siblings. In this lifetime, my husband was an only child. In that one he has a couple of brothers and a sister.
We went to visit his family for Christmas. On the trip there, he asked me to marry him, and I said that I would. We were going to pick out my engagement ring there, but his grandmother gave him her wedding ring which had been handed down through generations. It was beautiful and I felt honored to have it. On the spur of the moment, we just decided to get married while we were visiting. I phoned and told my family, who seemed to be my parents in this lifetime. My siblings seemed to be the same, though I have not seen them yet. The last experience I had was on a plane flying to meet my family with my new husband. We are very happy.
I spent a lot of time going back and forth over the decision to visit his family before mine. They are much farther away than my family. So we decided to go straight there and then stop by my family on the way back. We seemed to be staying about a week in both places. It’s like details in actions are more important than actually where or who, if that makes any sense. I cannot say how far we have had to fly, but it seems a very long distance, and it is very cold there. Perhaps somewhere in Canada, I’m not sure! They do speak a different language, and I believe French is it. So that might be understandable, if they are French Canadian. That seems crazy to say, but it is true. The interaction with the people is clear, but who, where and when not so much so. Names are also difficult, but he does call me by a nickname that is similar to my name now; but not the one I most commonly use.
I’m not sure of the reason for the connection with this lifetime yet. Right now we are just so much in the middle of new love for each other. We talk of our families and we speak of starting a family, but we want to be settled and have sometime together first. It’s almost a bit scary for me to think of starting a family. And I can see how that might be with the experience in this lifetime. It may be that I am afraid of the experiences that I have to expect and their connection to this lifetime. Time will tell.
February 12, 2012
In the new relationship, we are just married. We are very happy at this phase in the relationship. I am not going to say a lot about it at this point. We are leaving Quebec, Canada, which is his home. He and his family are French Canadians. I'm eager to learn his language. His grandmother gave us her engagment ring, which was handed down in his family for many generations. It is beautiful; and somehow seems very important. We married there so that I would have duel citizenship. We plan to marry in the States for the same reason, so that he will have duel citizenship as well as our children. Somehow all of this seems very important. My parents live in Texas, but he and I will live in California where he works. I'm really just feeling my way around at this time. It seems like there is a chance that we will be living in Pennsylvania. I have strong connections with these states in this lifetime. I'm just trying to pay attention right now to find the true connections to this lifetime.
My connection in this lifetime to Canada is limited. I dated a guy very briefly from Quebec right out of highschool, but nothing came of it. I wonder if there was something that was supposed to be more important about that relationship. I know he was very taken with me right away, but I was not that enthusiastic about him. Why I don't know, he would have been a very good candidate for a husband! LOL Jesus, one never knows the connections. I'm just trying to see the links for now as this is something that Waban says is important to help me understand the multidimensional nature of reality; and by so doing aid in my ability to express it here.
Okay, enough for today. Waban is not coming through, and I am tired! LOL My house is cold. Tomorrow, I will have to phone for furnace check to see what is going on. Oh, one other point before I forget. I am not so sure if my new husband is taller than my late husband or if there is just more difference in our heights. In other words, it could be that I am shorter in that reality compared to this one. There was only about 7 inches difference in height with my husband in this life time. There seems to be more like 10 inches in the new one. That could mean that I am shorter and he is taller as well. I have always liked men who are taller. I think it is a security thing. LOL Like genetic memory to a time when the mate was also the protector. okay, nevermind... I need a break... I've been on the computer for several hours twitting and the like.
February 8, 2012
Well, I have read and corrected words misspelled or poorly expressed in the last two entries. I do recognize exactly what Waban is trying to explain. And it is true that I have been consciously going back and forth between two diffferent realities. This has never happened to me before, so it is pretty amazing. I have to wonder how many times when I felt I was making up a fantasy for my own entertainment was I actually picking up and expressing and learning through an alternative reality.
I'm not going to go into details about this alternative reality except to say that it is a much younger expression of me now. Where as I am a widow with grown children in this reality; I am much younger in that reality. I am still a widow, but a younger one than now. It appears that my husband died in Viet Nam in that reality while here it was after. Where as we had three children before he died, in this alternative reality we had none. I have already seen that I will be having my children with the new man I am falling in love with. The strange thing is that we have the experience of falling in love at nearly first sight as though we have known each other forever. As I am moving in and out of that reality I am beginning to realize that the new man in my life is much like my husband. He is taller and thinner, but has similar looks and body build. I look much like myself only with very long black hair. In this life time, I never had my hair much longer than past my shoulders.
An interesting aside is that this new man is frequently saying things that my husband has said or expressed in a way that he would have. It catches me off guard. And sometimes he seems as surprised as I. Once when we almost lost each other, he said that he could not stand to "lose me again." He had not lost me before, we just met more or less. And we almost missed each other. Had he not found me when he did, we would never have known how to find each other.
After my husband died so young I sought all kinds of avenues for comfort and understanding. And then when my daughter died, I had to start all over. I worked with regression hypnosis, and I talked to metaphysical workers. I saw many different lifetimes where one or the other of us died young leaving the other alone. I went to Am.Indian gatherings and spiritual teaching situations as well as metaphysical seminars. This strenghtened my spirituality which did help me to cope. But something I recall was how many times I was told in one way or another that my husband was coming back to me. I thought "walk-in" perhaps, of course, as that was about the easiest metaphysical explanation for such a thing. I asked, but frequently the messenger seemed as unsure of the meaning as I.
Now as this is happening to me, I believe that I was being prepared that I would be experiencing in this very life time a renewed relationship with my late husband, who was the love of my life, I might add. Neither those who said those words to me or I knew that this could happen. But it is. This seems to me to be a reinforcement of the validity of my experience. I was told that something like this would happen, and it is; but not in the least as I could ever have imagined. The very fact that it is happening validates the purpose of this experience. My husband is coming back to me, but not in a way that I could ever have dreamed. And, I understand now the nature of this duel reality... the multidimensional expression of an Alternative Reality. I'm really just trusting this and seeing where it will lead me... us.
February 6, 2012 p.m.
What our Peachbird has been expressing for the last few weeks is the multidimensionality of her true nature as a personality construct from a Soul Gestalt. She is shifting back and forth between two of these realities in which she is physically focused at this time. But at her own command, she is making the shift into the other reality as well as back into this one as you know it. The other reality is just as real as this one, and she is learning this from her personal experience. When she is focused into this reality, it is her entire focus. But when she is in that reality the same is very true. She is visually expressing as well as physically so. She feels the sensations that she is experiencing. This is not like a book she is writing or reading. Now the complicated part is that she is aware of the other reality at the same time as she is focused in either reality. Should an emergency arise, she would be very readily available to cope with whichever reality it appears. And she is doing that as well as working on this website. Right now she is aware of the other reality that is close enough to be touched with her mind in an instance. The more our Bird learns to express her true nature, the more she will accomplish on all levels for our purpose here and her Soul Growth.
Now, as stated before there is a bleed over. As she is in this alternative reality, she is still maintaining the functionality of this reality. And as well as she is functioning in that other reality, she is maintaining the physicality of this focus. This is what all of you do, but our Bird is learning this first hand so that we may express it to you in the clearest possible transmission. Should I have presented this material before she had experienced it first hand with full memory of the experience there would be some time to allow her to accept these ideas as real or even posssible. She would be questioning if she were influencing the transmission in some way for good or bad. As she has accomplished these goals she can allow me to speak through her mind and fingers without feeling a need to accept or judge the concepts. She understands full well at this time what I am expounding upon and she is not in the least put off by the material. This, since last night.
At times I am here in the moment with our Bird, at others I have been in the moment in the dream state. Recall I said that we would begin work on her dream reality. I am not a part of Peachbird’s mind. I Am a part of her Soul Gestalt, however. And I can reach her in a kind of energy transmission much like electricity coursing through an electrical line. There are times when the transmission is easier than others say as in a storm. And there are times when I can more easily transmit information to Peachbird in the dream state. I am not always available to our Bird any more than she is available to me at all times. I cannot for example break into her consciousness while she is visiting with her family. She is much too focused into her reality for that to happen. I can, however, come through when the needs are met mentally and physically as I feel it is important and we have so agreed.
Just now, Peachbird has come home from going out to dinner with her mother. From the time she left her door and stepped into her car I was flooding her consciousness with these very writings. As she came in, removed her jacket, and changed into something more comfortable; I was already simply inundated her mind with this information. At one point, she laughed and said, “Okay, let me get to the computer and we will get this information online!” She found it humorous because she has not had this experience to this degree yet in her reality here. We want this experience to be a pleasant one for our Peachbird, otherwise, this task would be far too difficult to expect of her or anyone for that matter.
All time is now on this side. You are experiencing in an expanded Moment. You can go back and forth within this duality between the focus of your attention and personality as well as carry on the same experience in your alternative reality. Peachbird is experiencing this at present and she is enjoying the experience without reservations or worry. We are well pleased. When she leaves this reality as all must, she will move directly into the other reality. She will continue to experience there while her Soul Personality is reviewing and experiencing other realities. It is very simple from our perspective here, though for most of you it is very difficult to wrap your mind around. Of this we suggest you do not worry. The more you read these entries which are moving forward and at the same time repetitively speaking to your mind in such a way that it becomes more understandable over time.
Peachbird recognizes this as the way in which Medicine men and women within her Indigenous Culture teach. She calls it double speak. That is as good an example as any other. The Elder speaks words that have meaning within themselves, and still those same words have other meaning that is not so obvious to the consciousness of the listeners. But as you learn to listen, you also learn to recognize this other information that is flooding into your mind at the same time or later. Thus, we say, “Aho, I understand you, I agree with you, or I hear you.” I say, “We” because I have been a medicine person in many incarnations as has Peachbird. This is why she recognizes such things intuitively.
The importance is that you realize that you are learning on many different levels just as our Peachbird is becoming aware. You are multidimensional personalities expressing in many different realities at the very same time as you express here in this one. And you are learning and growing along with your entire Soul Group over time as you know it, but over here, in the fullness of a fluid moment.
There now, Peachbird. We have accomplished our goal, and you have done very well. Take a break from this information until you have allowed your mind to relax into other activities. We are well pleased, dear Bird.
I Am Wabon.
From Political issues to Spiritual Matters:
February 6, 2012 a.m.
For some entries our Peachbird has been exploring her political leanings and as that was her interest, we did not feel the necessity of interrupting her thought patterns although as you will learn we were much involved in them. Time here is so much more subjective than there that it is not fair to impose our abilities upon her. We have all the time in the world. And for that matter so does she as do all of you.
We have been working with altered states of consciousness, by we, I mean Peachbird and myself. She as always has a running story in her mind which is part of what she considers her fantasy world. I Am working to help her realize that it is much more than a fantasy world and more a touching into other realities in which she is experiencing as this one is on going. All of you continually do this. In the dream state there is a reality that is as real as this one that you think of as your only experience. But there are also many different reincarnational lives in progress as well as alternative realities with particle personalities to your present incarnation. When this life for our Bird ends, she will assess this and all her other lives. She may work as a guide for some of her alternative realities, and then she may very well delve into another reincarnation. These things will be decided when the time is right. And so it is with all of you depending on your level of development.
Right now what I want to make my dear Bird realize is that she is very well making an alternative reality as she day dreams. Of late, she has been very vividly living through these alternative realities as though she is making them up as she goes. She goes back and forth over the scenes, past, present and future in your way of expressing reality. She comes to a certain point and she cannot go beyond that until she has gone back and reinforced or slightly changes the drama that has gone before. This is distinctly because all time is now, and time is very subjective on this side of the veil. What our Peachbird does not necessarily realize at present, but will directly is that she is creating an alternative reality, an alternative Peachbird who is very similar to who she is here and now and yet very different.
Several nights she of necessity made a drive of about 15 miles round trip. The entire trip both to and from her destination was occupied with her running fantasy. In fact, it was so real that she had no consciousness of actually driving though she was very aware of the highway and was even driving defensively. She can recall those things that a good driver does, but more what she recalls is the so called thought fantasy. Just as she types here and I am allowed to express myself through her mind and her fingers on the key board, so it was with the trip. It was a lovely night with little traffic, and she was perfectly aware of both driving and expressing in the alternative reality for lack of a better word. Only she was much more aware of the running story with images in her mind than the driving.
This is a very big leap in her spiritual growth. She has found a way of touching into her inner reality. I’m speaking of her use of the inner senses, this being her true reality. She has discovered that she is much, much more than she thought she was as herself here and now experiencing this reality. She has discovered what everyone is capable of doing, and that is experiencing the inner reality which is linked to alternative realities, reincarnational existences and the Soul Gestalt itself. This is a magic leap of consciousness… a very difficult place in which to find oneself. Our Bird has discovered who she truly is for the first time, the maker of her existence and those others that influence this one. She has gone beyond just the woman she knows herself to be in this reality. And this is a difficult thing to explain without being able to experience it yourself. In fact, until you do it is very difficult indeed.
Our Peachbird here knew all that I am speaking of quite well through her readings, studies, and our work with her on this side. But she had not actually brought it into her reality. Now though, she is aware of an alternative reality that she is creating. She is the Actor, she is writing the play and she is on the stage of another life. And it is as real as this one. And she has learned that she can switch back and forth between the two realities as readily as she can change her focus from typing here for us and then moving to the music videos she loves so much or reading a book and watching her favorite TV shows. And she is learning that whichever reality has her focus is the dominate reality.
She is quite an amazing creature! LOL And we are very proud of her and her development. Please do not allow yourself to believe that she is suddenly becoming schizophrenic. One does not become schizophrenic, one always was so. But there is even validity to that reality. Except that true schizophrenics have experienced some mind shattering events in their lives most usually involving severe abuse. Peachbird has not done so. She is merely at a different level of development.
For years, our Bird has been allowing her consciousness to merge with everything in Nature. She becomes one with a tree and then through that all trees, she is aware of the life force in all things. She speaks to the Thunder Beings as she calls them and the rain stops; this is not because she is magic but because she is capable of making herself one with those elementals so that she can influence their behavior in a right way. She could not for example, set your house on fire with a lightening bolt. *LOL* (We do have a sense of humor over here as well as there.) She speaks to animals in the way of a Nature Woman. She visualizes what she would say or do, and then she allows herself to become one with that creature. There is a barking dog in her neighborhood. She pets him and talks to him in her mind, and he becomes peaceful. Our Bird is very sensitive to all creatures and humans.
As she types this she is smiling, because she is aware of what I am presenting along with her reaction to it. Mostly she has been thinking of other things, even ‘imagining’ the other reality that she is developing. The beauty is that we are working in perfect sync just as we did when she drove to the Drug Store and back focused much more on the story in her mind than on the driving process. She says that she types on auto pilot, so there are often silly little errors where her mind is ahead of her words… or in this case, my words. She is typing on auto pilot for me and thinking of other things at the same time. There is a movie on her TV that vaguely captures her attention much in the same way the other reality captures her attention. But, she is very aware of the switch to the other reality. She is causing the change of her focus. And, she is aware of the all the things around her in a different way than usual. And that is because her world has simply greatly expanded in scope and in actuality.
This is why it was very important for her to have lost her job, which was actually the best thing for her on all levels. But for this spiritual development it was imperative that she have the time to focus and change her awareness. And, this she has done. Everything that she needs to make this possible has been provided. And, everything that has happened to her in her lifetime here has been to this end. We are well on the way to a totally different awareness. Now we must work on the dream state for that reality is as important as this one. We have purposely focused on this present growth spurt to the exception of all others.
Now, Bird, do not trouble yourself with this. You can as always come back to this for proofreading and to allow yourself to accept what we have typed here. But I know that you are well aware of that which I speak, and you will not be surprised because you are the experiencer. So as always it helps to put a little space between the work and the checking of the work. LOL It appears you drank too much coffee, Bird, and that is what has you awake so late. No worries… you have the time to catch up on your sleep this has been more important, and I am glad that we finally have had the time to get this typed so that you will not lose the importance of what you have been doing for the past few weeks in this regard. The long drive while you were preoccupied with the lifetime in your mind was the reality that you are experiencing and this was the reality that you were dreaming! Does that make sense, Bird! LOL I am very sure that it does.
I Am Wabon.
AltarNet - I found this powerful explanation of the way in which Fox 'News" influences politics. And I believe it to be true. I have watched Fox to see what they do, and this is exactly what I have seen. I always try to keep up with the opposition. I readily admit that I am a Liberal Democrat with Progressive leanings. In fact, I believe I am more Progressive than otherwise. But, who needs labels.
I do hope that my readers will think about these issues and I believe be able to recognize many of these techniques when faced with them. It is not what you know that hurts you, it most surely is what you do not know. '@v@'
14 Propaganda Techniques Fox 'News' Uses to Brainwash Americans By Cynthia Boaz, TruthOut.org
Posted on July 2, 2011, Printed on February 3, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/151497/14_propaganda_techniques_fox_%27news%27_uses_to_brainwash_americans
There is nothing more sacred to the maintenance of democracy than a free press. Access to comprehensive, accurate and quality information is essential to the manifestation of Socratic citizenship - the society characterized by a civically engaged, well-informed and socially invested populace. Thus, to the degree that access to quality information is willfully or unintentionally obstructed, democracy itself is degraded.
It is ironic that in the era of 24-hour cable news networks and "reality" programming, the news-to-fluff ratio and overall veracity of information has declined precipitously. Take the fact Americans now spend on average about 50 hours a week using various forms of media, while at the same time cultural literacy levels hover just above the gutter. Not only does mainstream media now tolerate gross misrepresentations of fact and history by public figures (highlighted most recently by Sarah Palin's ludicrous depiction of Paul Revere's ride), but many media actually legitimize these displays. Pause for a moment and ask yourself what it means that the world's largest, most profitable and most popular news channel passes off as fact every whim, impulse and outrageously incompetent analysis of its so-called reporters. How did we get here? Take the enormous amount of misinformation that is taken for truth by Fox audiences: the belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that he was in on 9/11, the belief that climate change isn't real and/or man-made, the belief that Barack Obama is Muslim and wasn't born in the United States, the insistence that all Arabs are Muslim and all Muslims are terrorists, the inexplicable perceptions that immigrants are both too lazy to work and are about to steal your job. All of these claims are demonstrably false, yet Fox News viewers will maintain their veracity with incredible zeal. Why? Is it simply that we have lost our respect for knowledge?
My curiosity about this question compelled me to sit down and document the most oft-used methods by which willful ignorance has been turned into dogma by Fox News and other propagandists disguised as media. The techniques I identify here also help to explain the simultaneously powerful identification the Fox media audience has with the network, as well as their ardent, reflexive defenses of it.
The good news is that the more conscious you are of these techniques, the less likely they are to work on you. The bad news is that those reading this article are probably the least in need in of it.
1. Panic Mongering. This goes one step beyond simple fear mongering. With panic mongering, there is never a break from the fear. The idea is to terrify and terrorize the audience during every waking moment. From Muslims to swine flu to recession to homosexuals to immigrants to the rapture itself, the belief over at Fox seems to be that if your fight-or-flight reflexes aren't activated, you aren't alive. This of course raises the question: why terrorize your own audience? Because it is the fastest way to bypasses the rational brain. In other words, when people are afraid, they don't think rationally. And when they can't think rationally, they'll believe anything. I see this example today as the GOP telling us that we must have border safety. Illegal Aliens are taking over. We do have border safety. And let me assure you that there is not nearly the influx of Hispanics into our school system. After Bush made his historic (to me anyway) trip to Mexico for a week, the President of Mexico handed out flyers telling his people how to get here and then how to stay here once they were here. I only heard mention of this fact a couple of times on the news, and I wondered why no one else seemed to be making the connection besides myself! After that infamous visit, we would have immigrant students come into the school around about the end of October as soon as the crops were harvested in the Texas Valley. Parents would then come to the larger cities to find winter work. By the time I left there was no influx of students. Our student population stayed about the same all year.
2. Character Assassination/Ad Hominem. Fox does not like to waste time debating the idea. Instead, they prefer a quicker route to dispensing with their opponents: go after the person's credibility, motives, intelligence, character, or, if necessary, sanity. No category of character assassination is off the table and no offense is beneath them. Fox and like-minded media figures also use ad hominem attacks not just against individuals, but entire categories of people in an effort to discredit the ideas of every person who is seen to fall into that category, e.g. "liberals," "hippies," "progressives" etc. This form of argument - if it can be called that - leaves no room for genuine debate over ideas, so by definition, it is undemocratic. Not to mention just plain crass. Fox has attacked President Obama as a non-citizen. They demand his long form birth certificate, and even though they got it; they still continue to bring up the issue like it is somehow false. Obama was born in Hawaii. Both his parents were attending college there. When they finished their education, his father went home to Kenya. His mother did not. The President was only a couple of months old when this happend. He did not meet his father until he was 10 or 12 in Hawaii while living with his grandparents. As one might guess, he resented him for having left them. So the month long visit was not a very good one. They have accused him of being Muslim instead of Christian despite the fact that there is no evidence that he ever attended a Muslim Masque in his life. I could go on and on, but I think everyone can readily think of other examples.
3. Projection/Flipping. This one is frustrating for the viewer who is trying to actually follow the argument. It involves taking whatever underhanded tactic you're using and then accusing your opponent of doing it to you first. We see this frequently in the immigration discussion, where anti-racists are accused of racism, or in the climate change debate, where those who argue for human causes of the phenomenon are accused of not having science or facts on their side. It's often called upon when the media host finds themselves on the ropes in the debate. Another perfectly good example of this is the Right to Work Bill. It sounds like American citizens have the Right to Work. It is something good for you. Well, that is not the true meaning. What the Bill actually says is that all government employees give up their right to bargain or even negoiate with their employers. They give up the right to question a firing or a hiring. It does break the unions to the point that they can be of little service to the people. What amazes me is that people cannot see that it starts with Teachers, Firemen, Policemen, and then it will move to everyone. And we see that happening already in the State of Arizona. Right to Works means you give up your rights so that you will have to work for whatever the boss wants to pay you, and you have no recourse whatsoever. Another example of this is the way Mitt Romney is figthing for tax cuts for the wealthy while saying that Obama is practicing cronyism. Quite the contrary. Obama is fighting to lower middle class taxes and increase the taxes of the super rich, that one percent who are making obscene profits while paying half the taxes of a secretary or teacher. The GOP candidates call this Class Warfare. Since when do the Billionaires of the world have to feel persecuted? They most surely are NOT the job makers. In fact, they have voted themselves huge tax breaks through their lobbyists to take their jobs to third world countries like China and India were people can be made to work horrible hours for little pay. A $1.50 a day for 12 - 16 hrs shifts are not unheard of at all. China has people jumping off buildings because of their work conditions for so little pay.
4. Rewriting History. This is another way of saying that propagandists make the facts fit their worldview. The Downing Street Memos on the Iraq war were a classic example of this on a massive scale, but it happens daily and over smaller issues as well. A [case in point] is Palin's mangling of the Paul Revere ride, which Fox reporters bent over backward to validate. Why lie about the historical facts, even when they can be demonstrated to be false? Well, because dogmatic minds actually find it easier to reject reality than to update their viewpoints. They will literally rewrite history if it serves their interests. And they'll often speak with such authority that the casual viewer will be tempted to question what they knew as fact. A fine example of this is the way the GOP is saying that Pres. Obama is responsible for the economic mess we are in. When as a matter of fact, 3.7 million jobs have been added
since he came into office. The GOP just keeps saying the opposite despite the fact that it is not true. But if you do not check, you believe. When it smells like a falsehood, I want to find the source of the bad aroma! And I most usually do easily enough.
5. Scapegoating/Othering. This works best when people feel insecure or scared. It's technically a form of both fear mongering and diversion, but it is so pervasive that it deserves its own category. The simple idea is that if you can find a group to blame for social or economic problems, you can then go on to a) justify violence/dehumanization of them, and b) subvert responsibility for any harm that may befall them as a result. A current example of this is the blame game of Blacks. Newt Gingrich says Blacks have no model for a work ethic. His solution is to put Black children to work cleaning schools, a really ludirous suggestion. Newt talks as if Black people are the only ones drawing food stamps when in actuality Whites use food stamps much more than any minority. In this day with jobs being shipped over seas, food stamps in my estimation is the soup lines of the Great Depression.
6. Conflating Violence With Power and Opposition to Violence With Weakness. This is more of what I'd call a "meta-frame" (a deeply held belief) than a media technique, but it is manifested in the ways news is reported constantly. For example, terms like "show of strength" are often used to describe acts of repression, such as those by the Iranian regime against the protesters in the summer of 2009. There are several concerning consequences of this form of conflation. First, it has the potential to make people feel falsely emboldened by shows of force - it can turn wars into sporting events. Secondly, especially in the context of American politics, displays of violence - whether manifested in war or debates about the Second Amendment - are seen as noble and (in an especially surreal irony) moral. Violence become synonymous with power, patriotism and piety. Example for me is the way the GOP candidates are saying they will go back to war in the Middle East that Obama took us out too soon, when in actuality, he followed Bush's purposed time limit for the war. And he brought home our military. I do not hear of violence in Iraq. But I do hear the People of other Middle Eastern countries fighting for a democratic form of government. Another example of how this works is the constant telling of the tale that Obama has weakened us by bringing home the military and asking for cuts in the military budget. We right now have to strongest military in the world, In fact ten times stronger than the nearest of country. Not even China has a military like we do. Of course, China has so many people that they are expendible. But I do not think that will ever come to be problem because we have the air power. When one nuclear bomb can destroy the world, why do we need massive amounts of them. What do we think we can do, explode us right into space to another world. I don't think so. It is purely fear mongering!
7. Bullying. This is a favorite technique of several Fox commentators. That it continues to be employed demonstrates that it seems to have some efficacy. Bullying and yelling works best on people who come to the conversation with a lack of confidence, either in themselves or their grasp of the subject being discussed. The bully exploits this lack of confidence by berating the guest into submission or compliance. Often, less self-possessed people will feel shame and anxiety when being berated and the quickest way to end the immediate discomfort is to cede authority to the bully. The bully is then able to interpret that as a "win." My example in this regard is negative example. I could site many incidents of this bullying technique, but instead I want to site its failure. When Jon Stewart was on Fox, he literally took down the interviewer. I will have to search out his name. I don't think it was Glen Beck, but the other guy that is like him. Damn, I can see his face clearly. I'll look for it.
8. Confusion. As with the preceding technique, this one works best on an audience that is less confident and self-possessed. The idea is to deliberately confuse the argument, but insist that the logic is airtight and imply that anyone who disagrees is either too dumb or too fanatical to follow along. Less independent minds will interpret the confusion technique as a form of sophisticated thinking, thereby giving the user's claims veracity in the viewer's mind. Here again, I think of the military argument. Remember how Bush could say or do anything about the war in Iraq and if you disagreed, you were painted as UnAmerican! Best example I can think of right off hand.
9. Populism. This is especially popular in election years. The speakers identifies themselves as one of "the people" and the target of their ire as an enemy of the people. The opponent is always "elitist" or a "bureaucrat" or a "government insider" or some other category that is not the people. The idea is to make the opponent harder to relate to and harder to empathize with. It often goes hand in hand with scapegoating. A common logical fallacy with populism bias when used by the right is that accused "elitists" are almost always liberals - a category of political actors who, by definition, advocate for non-elite groups. Oh, yes, everyone of our GOP candidates are trying to paint themselves as one of the people. I think Mitt Romney is a fine example. He bets $10,000 on a hypothetical argument. He has bought blue jeans probably for the first time in his life. He claims he was afraid of a pink slip. The man is obscenely wealthy, and yet he is fighting to keep his and his cronies tax rates cheaper than a secretary. Then he twists around and says Obama is guilty of cronyism.
10. Invoking the Christian God. This is similar to othering and populism. With morality politics, the idea is to declare yourself and your allies as patriots, Christians and "real Americans" (those are inseparable categories in this line of thinking) and anyone who challenges them as not. Basically, God loves Fox and Republicans and America. And hates taxes and anyone who doesn't love those other three things. Because the speaker has been benedicted by God to speak on behalf of all Americans, any challenge is perceived as immoral. It's a cheap and easy technique used by all totalitarian entities from states to cults. Yes, we see continually. It is easier to have people worried about prayer in school and burning flags than to focus on the real issues. The constant argument that this is a Christian country and that somehow Christians are being persecuted. Newt Gingrich has gone so far as to say that Pres. Obama is threatening the Christian Religion. That somehow he is attacking our core religious beliefs when he is truly a Christian and has always been so. His Mother was like a White hippie girl over educated, but she was dedicated to taking care of people, fighting for better conditions. She was like a peace core lady here, there over the world. Barack Obama was raised by his White grandparents who were devote Christians. Now when do people believe that he converted to Islam? Did his Kenyan father brainwash him in the month or so that he saw him as a child? I doubt that. Obama was a child, and he felt his father had deserted both him and his mother. He did not visitu Africa until after his father's death.
11. Saturation. There are three components to effective saturation: being repetitive, being ubiquitous and being consistent. The message must be repeated cover and over, it must be everywhere and it must be shared across commentators: e.g. "Saddam has WMD." Veracity and hard data have no relationship to the efficacy of saturation. There is a psychological effect of being exposed to the same message over and over, regardless of whether it's true or if it even makes sense, e.g., "Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States." If something is said enough times, by enough people, many will come to accept it as truth. Another example is Fox's own slogan of "Fair and Balanced."
Fox news is adept at this one and so are the GOP candidates. They repeat the same lies over and over again knowing that if they keep telling you long enough and you don't check on them because you trust them; you will be indoctrinated into believing their nonsense. And it works.
12. Disparaging Education. There is an emerging and disturbing lack of reverence for education and intellectualism in many mainstream media discourses. In fact, in some circles (e.g. Fox), higher education is often disparaged as elitist. Having a university credential is perceived by these folks as not a sign of credibility, but of a lack of it. In fact, among some commentators, evidence of intellectual prowess is treated snidely and as anti-American. The disdain for education and other evidence of being trained in critical thinking are direct threats to a hive-mind mentality, which is why they are so viscerally demeaned. I most surely see this in action as a teacher in a way that the general public might not. If you are chanting sayings like "no child left behind" as an excuse for the testing that is going on in schools regardless of the subject matter being taught, then you are dumbing down the students. A population that is not educated is an easy population to control! It is more difficult for an uneducated individual to see through the types of things discussed here. This is not saying people are stupid. I know many individuals who are not highly educated who are very intelligent. But I also know that it is much easier for them to be susceptible to these techniques. If there is one thing I learned for higher education it is the ability to look at any argument from every angle. I can whip out a 30 page paper in a day with research and give you a really good insite into what it really means in words that anyone can understand. I'm not bragging, it is just a fact. That takes practice and the trained ability to approach any topic from a neutral position and figure out the meaning. You must be well practiced at finding many different sources of material both pro and con and finding the core knowledge available and then what it truly means. I'm over educated and I know it, but it serves me well.
13. Guilt by Association. This is a favorite of Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart, both of whom have used it to decimate the careers and lives of many good people. Here's how it works: if your cousin's college roommate's uncle's ex-wife attended a dinner party back in 1984 with Gorbachev's niece's ex-boyfriend's sister, then you, by extension are a communist set on destroying America. Period. If the pastor of your church ever said anything that could be constured to have a negative connotation, you grab it by the horns and twist it until it is nothing of what it was. Lots of examples when Pres. Obama was running; the pastor of his church, Acorn, and the fact that he worked with poor communities as did his mother. None of that business said anything about the President. It could not be proved, but it was said over and over again until people believed it to be true. Newts' Sal Alinska comparision covered in detail in the 14.
14. Diversion. This is where, when on the ropes, the media commentator suddenly takes the debate in a weird but predictable direction to avoid accountability. This is the point in the discussion where most Fox anchors start comparing the opponent to Saul Alinsky or invoking ACORN or Media Matters, in a desperate attempt to win through guilt by association. Or they'll talk about wanting to focus on "moving forward," as though by analyzing the current state of things or God forbid, how we got to this state of things, you have no regard for the future. Any attempt to bring the discussion back to the issue at hand will likely be called deflection, an ironic use of the technique of projection/flipping. Who the hell is this Saul Alinsky who is proported to be influencing everyone from the President right down to over educated me. I have about 12 years of higher education behind me, and I never heard of the man! Here from Wikipedia:
Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 – June 12, 1972) was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing, and has been compared to Thomas Paine as being "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left."[4] He is often noted for his book Rules for Radicals.
In the course of nearly four decades of political organizing, Alinsky received much criticism, but also gained praise from many public figures. His organizing skills were focused on improving the living conditions of poor communities across North America. In the 1950s, he began turning his attention to improving conditions of the African-Americanghettos, beginning with Chicago's and later traveling to other ghettos in California, Michigan, New York City, and a dozen other "trouble spots".
His ideas were later adapted by some U.S. college students and other young organizers in the late 1960s and formed part of their strategies for organizing on campus and beyond.[5] Time magazine once wrote that "American democracy is being altered by Alinsky's ideas," and conservative author William F. Buckley said he was "very close to being an organizational genius.
Now as a community organizer, Obama may have been aware of him. That was most surely not my direction. I majored in studio art and art history, then for my masters program I chose Art Education and the history of education. I went in circles and took much more than needed because I purely wanted the knowledge. After reading this brief biography, I would say Sal Alinsky was a decent example to follow, but whether or not Obama did is not proven except that Newt Gingrich pulled it out of his knowledge of history. Which is even more scary, because he knows these techniques very well and deliberately uses them. This is a man that is capable of Hitler like characteristics though he has compared Obama to Hitler. ~
In debating some of these tactics with colleagues and friends, I have also noticed that the Fox viewership seems to be marked by a sort of collective personality disorder whereby the viewer feels almost as though they've been let into a secret society. Something about their affiliation with the network makes them feel privileged and this affinity is likely what drives the viewers to defend the network so vehemently. They seem to identify with it at a core level, because it tells them they are special and privy to something the rest of us don't have. It's akin to the loyalty one feels by being let into a private club or a gang. That effect is also likely to make the propaganda more powerful, because it goes mostly unquestioned.
In considering these tactics and their possible effects on American public discourse, it is important to note that historically, those who've genuinely accessed truth have never berated those who did not. You don't get honored by history when you beat up your opponent: look at Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln. These men did not find the need to engage in othering, ad homeinum attacks, guilt by association or bullying. This is because when a person has accessed a truth, they are not threatened by the opposing views of others. This reality reveals the righteous indignation of people like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity as a symptom of untruth. These individuals are hostile and angry precisely because they don't feel confident in their own veracity. And in general, the more someone is losing their temper in a debate and the more intolerant they are of listening to others, the more you can be certain they do not know what they're talking about.
One final observation. Fox audiences, birthers and Tea Partiers often defend their arguments by pointing to the fact that a lot of people share the same perceptions. This is a reasonable point to the extent that Murdoch's News Corporation reaches a far larger audience than any other single media outlet. But, the fact that a lot of people believe something is not necessarily a sign that it's true; it's just a sign that it's been effectively marketed.
As honest, fair and truly intellectual debate degrades before the eyes of the global media audience, the quality of American democracy degrades along with it.
Dr. Cynthia Boaz is assistant professor of political science at Sonoma State University. She is also vice president of the Metta Center for Nonviolence and on the board of Project Censored and the Media Freedom Foundation. Dr. Boaz is also a contributing writer and adviser to Truthout.org and associate editor of Peace and Change Journal.
© 2012 TruthOut.org All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/151497~
February 1, 2012 http://youtu.be/VlZkm9hoFlc Sen. Reid talks Deficit
I have added a short article below about the subject of this entry.
I know that I make reference to this book frequently, but I believe that Upton Sinclair’s, "The Jungle", should be ‘a must’ reading for all high school history students. The book makes the case for the importance of keeping unions in this country viable. But more than that, it illustrates in a way a history book or teacher cannot the extent of the problem back in the good ole days the Republican Party is advocating a return. I feel sure the Tea Party members have never read nor even heard of this book, and I would challenge anyone of them to read the book then rethink their stance of a smaller government with no regulations and no collective bargaining rights! Getting the government out of our lives is not the answer to our current problems. The breaking of the unions is a case in point as a symptom of what the GOP is advocating.
Ronald Reagan, the Great White Leader of the Republican Party, began the process of breaking the unions during his reign… ahem… during his administration in 1981 when he broke the Air Traffic Comptrollers Union. Shortly after he took office he fired about 12,000 federal air traffic controllers who went on strike thus beginning the Republican movement to break the unions. As a symptom of that continued effort we have the “Right to Work” bills coming forward across the country a state at a time. Wisconsin is now in the process of recalling a Governor over this Union breaking bill. And now the Republicans in the Arizona state senate have introduced a package of bills on union busting that make Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker look like a pro union man.
Arizona already has a “right to work” bill that severely diminishes the role of unions, though they still have a seat at the bargaining table for pay and benefits negotiation. The new bills would outlaw collective bargaining for public employees completely and that would include police officers and firefighters. Part of the package of bills would outlaw automatic payroll deductions for union dues and compensation for employees for union work. What these new republican laws will do is stamp out what few union rights remain. They will completely do away with collective bargaining rights. And as the unions for public workers go so soon will all the others.
What’s happening in Wisconsin and now in Arizona is only a symptom of the problem. We are dealing with a Republican Party that is working steadily to destroy the rights of workers across this country… not just unions, but the rights of workers in general. At the same time they are pushing steadily to deregulate everything on a horrendous scale in the name of cutting back the federal government.
This brings me to another topic I feel strongly about and that is education. We have been dumbing down our educational standards for decades. In fact, I would hazard the suggestion that it has been happening since the Civil Rights movement when segregation was ended. Instead of bringing the African American students up to the level of the white students, the standards were lowered so that it would be easier for them to “catch up.” What this meant was that the white students did not have to work so hard to get the good grades they had been receiving. The nature of children is to do what they have to do and little more. Few are actually motivated to push ahead on their own.
2011: Exxon’s total profit was $41.06 Billion or $1300 every second… and they cannot afford to pay 30% Tax rate like the rest of us? Pays estimated 17.6% in taxes
Arizona: Worse than Wisconsin!?! By Kelli Long
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Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:22 PM EST
In the letter Arizona Governor Jan Brewer handed to President Obama during their now infamous encounter on the tarmac in Phoenix, she wrote:
"I'd love an opportunity to share with you how we've been able to turn Arizona around with hard choices that turned out to be the right ones…
You can be the judge of whether Jan Brewer's "hard choices" have been "the right ones" so far. But the latest choice Brewer's Republican Party has made is unquestionably the wrong one for workers in her state.
Republicans in the Arizona state senate have introduced a package of union busting bills that make Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker look pro-union.
The bills were introduced Monday night, and they would:
-Outlaw all collective bargaining for public employees, including police officers and firefighters (The WI law exempted public safety workers)
-Outlaw automatic payroll deductions for union dues.
-Outlaw the compensation of public employees for union work.
Arizona is ALREADY a so-called "right-to-work" state, which means unions have a severely diminished role. But they still have a seat at the bargaining table. They can still negotiate pay and benefits for members, to a certain extent. But these new republican laws stamp out the few remaining union rights. They will completely do away with collective bargaining.
Arizona Senate Minority Leader, democrat David Schapira said of the legislation: "It looks like an all-out assault on the right of workers to organize."
But the radical legislation isn't enough for Governor Jan Brewer. She wants to take the destruction of state workers' rights a step further. Governor Brewer wants public employees to give up employment protections, such as the right to appeal if they are fired or demoted, in return for a 5% raise.
January 30, 2012
This morning I have awakened to the knowledge that the head of the RNC has compared President Obama to the Italian Captain of the Cruise Liner that went aground. I am appalled. I have heard and seen such disrespect for President Obama that I am stunned. I expect it from FOXnews, but I do not expect it from the Head of the RNC. Such blatantly ignorant comments are simply unconscionable. The GOP has become so vitriol in their comments that I can hardly believe that people anywhere in this country would be listening, much less believing this nonsense.
From the day President Obama was elected he started receiving death threats. Before he even got in office, death threats! There is only one reason for this form of hatred and that is prejudice. The Pres. has worked tirelessly for the middle class with little support from his own party in congress and nothing but obstructionism from the other side of the aisle. The “just say no” Congress has blocked his every effort.
I believe that he tried the first couple of years to work with the other side. What he got for his efforts was nothing… just nothing. The main goal of the GOP was and is to get Obama out of the White House at all costs. And the right seems willing to follow them to their own destruction. The GOP wants more tax cuts for the wealthy. That is their entire plank! That’s it; tax breaks for the job makers! The rest is smoke screen. And I see people I consider intelligent believing their propaganda. Where are the jobs they have been making for the last 10 years? I can tell you easily… they are in third world countries like India, Mexico, and China. They are not making jobs in the U.S.A. that is for sure. And yet people want them to continue their trickle down economics where the only people who profit are the so called job makers! The trickle down is right into the pockets of the 1%.
Mitt Romney is the 1%. He is running as and for the 1%. Newt Gingrich is a kook… seriously, the man is delusional. Moon stations? For God’s sake, a moon station is part of his platform. But still Newt is for tax cuts for the 1%! What is so hard to see about that stance? For the last 10 years we have been giving tax breaks to the 1%, the so-called job makers! And God knows they have made jobs… in third world countries that is!!! And they have made record profits in fact obscenely record profits to the tune of over 200%! What have they done for the middle class? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! The middle class is shrinking at appalling rates. And I hear and see people acting like they are not aware of the mess we are in and who is at fault! These same people are ready to vote for more of their own demise!
The biggest issue is jobs… jobs and restoring the middle class. Rick Perry has the record for most jobs; of course, Texas is the largest state in the Union after Alaska. Perry has made low end jobs just like the Right to Work states. Right to Work means right to give up your rights so that you can work for whatever they want to pay you… with or without benefits. You have given up your bargaining rights so you cannot question these things.
Fact: 0.06 job growth between 2001 -07 during the Bush administration. Can anyone say they were better off during the Bush administration? I don’t think so. Things have been steadily going down hill for the middle class since Clinton’s administration. We are quickly becoming nonexistent. And still people do not see the writing on the walls. Pres. Obama bailed out the Auto Companies with the GOP fighting tooth and nail, Romney saying to just let them go bankrupt. Well, Obama did not let them go bankrupt, now GM is once again the top rating Auto Co. in the world and tens of thousands of people did NOT lose their jobs! Who was right? Who was wrong? This should be pretty obvious. Pres. Obama made millions of jobs with the bail out for the auto industry. The GOP tried to block him. Thankfully they failed.
Pres. Obama brought the troops home from Iraq, but not before finding and killing Osama bin Laden! His military and foreign policies are amazing. And yet, most believe what FOXnews tells them, and that is that he is some kind of terrorist himself! There has been an orchestrated campaign by the GOP to discredit Pres. Obama from the day he was elected until today from denying his birth certificate to claiming he is a Muslim extremist.
In all my years of watching elections, I have never seen such political ugliness. I have watched the slow deterioration to this level through the last few elections. Now it has reached an unprecedented level of ugliness. Our politics seems to be deteriorating to that of a 3rd world country. And that is exactly where our politics have been leading us… to that of a 3rd world country. If People do not wake up and see the handwriting on the wall, we are all doomed to losing the Democracy of our Founding Fathers.
Right now we are living under a Corporate Dictatorship, but in name only. Big money is running this country. And the GOP is merely a front for that very entity. President Obama has been fighting for the rights of the middle class. I hope the middle class will have enough sense to fight for him!
I’m too tired to do more right now, but I’m going to put this up anyway… with more to follow.
January 18, 2012 (proof read and added to 1/20/12)
Okay, I have been so ill with the flu that I have not been able to bring myself to come here and comment of the latest political news. I am actually appalled at some of the things I am hearing.
Let’s start with the Keystone Pipeline purposed from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast, which looks like Houston, Texas (4th largest city in the US) on the maps shown on the news programs (most recent map looks like Dallas, not surprised as that is where our most famous oil man, Bush Jr. lives). There is a lot of news about the possibility that Pres. Obama plans to veto the bill despite the fact that it is attached to the tax renewal bill. I have recently learned that he did veto the bill due to lack of time to vette the issues. Nebraska Governor, for one, refuses to allow the pipeline to cross his state. This does indeed require that we revisit this issue soon. I'm quite sure the GOP will not let it rest. I hope Pres. Obama can stand his ground on this one.
As an AmerIndian, I am very aware that we are in the middle of Earth Changes aka Climate Changes… not just mild changes, but in many cases extreme measures. That pipe line will pass through major Flood Plains, Tornado Allies, and Wild Fire Zones. Over that vast expanse of the long pipe route there are Earthquake Fault Lines and the possibility of Volcanoes in other areas. Let’s not forget to mention the Nuclear Power Plants along the route. Our Big Business planning sites have proven to take little of those things into consideration when making their designated sites for major projects. As an example, we have Nuclear Power Plants built on Earthquake fault lines all across this country! And that is a fact.
The very idea that this would be a true job creator is another fallacy. It will take years merely to drill the gas line. It will be done with the fracking (aka, hydraulic fracturing or industrial gas drilling) technique, a method that is a dangerous way of getting oil and gas and a shortsighted energy strategy. It’s poisoning our air and water all across the country already and on its way to jeopardizing the health of millions more Americans. I just learned that the northern part of Texas just experienced a 3.2 earthquake coincidentally near a fracking area. We can find a better way… one that protects our health and gives us clean, safe energy sources that never run out. (just heard that Obama has created over a million jobs in this areas or these are at the very least the potential to do so, I only caught part of this commentary) Along with the unprecedented gas drilling boom has come troubling reports of poisoned drinking water, polluted air, mysterious animal deaths, industrial disasters and explosions. These situations are called Fraccidents (so frequent that they even have a name for it). Check out this website for more information.
http://earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/fracking-gone-wrong-finding-a-better-way?gclid=CLSfhb-t2q0CFWhjTAodZUHOnQ
As well let us consider the benefits of this pipeline; jobs are the major argument coming from the Right. The GOP claims it will make tens of thousands of jobs. This is false. It will create no more than 5000 jobs and more nearly only about 2500, those mostly in Canada, in short term construction work. Then we will be at the mercy of Canada for bargaining rights to said product.
The major beneficiaries of the Keystone Pipeline will be the Oil Companies. And they have powerful Super Pacs and Lobbying machines. As we well know, the GOP is run by the Major Corporations in this country, and Big Oil is right there amongst them.
Much more sensible to make jobs in the Solar and Wind industries as these are clean as well as long lasting methods of supplying energy and jobs. Many more jobs would be created using these methods for our energy needs. This country is perfect for both Solar and Wind. Compare our resources for such to other countries who are building these methods far in advance of the USA. And we are talking of jobs that would benefit the people in the job market. Let us consider infrastructure all across this country for a job maker. This is something we desperately need. You will not hear any of these suggestions from the GOP. Because these ideas will benefit the majority of Americans, NOT just the major oil companies.
As an AmerIndian, we have a responsibility to the Earth Mother. I am acutely aware of these facts as the Elders have prophesized the Changes to the Earth that we are already experiencing. Only a person with their head buried in the sand could dispute this fact. These Changes are not going to get better. As a matter of fact, they will continue to worsen. We have only just begun this process.
The Earth Mother is a living organism. She lives and breathes. And She has survived many, many complete annihilations of her surface and the People who crawl upon Her back. What does an animal do when it is covered with vermin and we are little more than that to this Planet? It will submerge itself in water to drown them, and it will roll in dirt to smother them out. The Earth Mother is doing these things. Plus She can burn her surface without damage to Her being and freeze other areas to kill the vermin on her back. Droughts will starve them out. She can crack open Her surface and swallow up the vermin. She can spew Her hot blood across the Earth as molten lava. And she will do all these things of this I can assure you. And would you pause and think of these things, I know that you cannot but acknowledge that She is doing so already. And these measures are coming quicker and closer together than ever before. Elders have said that in the end it will be like rolling up the surface of the Earth Mother to start again anew. This our sciencists have proven. I take this to mean that the Earth Mother may rotate upon Her axes changing the entire surface of the Planet.
There may be no time to turn back the clock on these Earth Changes, but we can at least not add to them. To hasten our demise is insanity. And yet there are those who refuse to think beyond the Almighty Dollar. These ones will be destroyed just as well as all of the innocent vermin on the back of the Earth Mother. It is sad to say, but true. We are at a turning point in the history of mankind. We can either continue on our path and disappear as many other cultures have done or we can wake up and begin to accept that we are the ones who will become extinct, not the Earth Mother. She will survive as she has survived for millions of years. She is nearly infallible. We can not say the same of ourselves.
Traditional Indian peoples all across this land “dance to hold up the sky.” We dance to save the People… not just my culture, but all who live upon the surface of the Earth Mother.
Now these are things that have been taught my people forever. We are remnants of destroyed cultures, and we as a People all over this world (Indigenous Peoples) recall the history of this planet in a way that science or history does not completely understand yet and may never. But when these stories passed down from generations to generations are compared to the science and history of the World as we know it, one must admit that there is a knowledge buried deep within these ideas that are steeped in the true ancient history of the Earth Mother. Not the recorded history that we know, but the history of those who have walked the very path that we walk now on this Planet as we know Her today.
Am I preaching doom and gloom? Call it what you will. These things are facts, not speculations. And I pray that we wake up and try to change our ways… if it is not already too late. Despite the fact that I am a well educated woman, I am also a woman of the People. So I carry that knowledge within me. When I hear an Elder allude to these matters, my inner being tells me that it is true.
For now this is it on that subject.
But I want to address briefly the issues of racism in the GOP. And the double talk that we are hearing from the candidates. These people are appealing to the basest nature in humanity. And I am again appalled. How far have we come as a People that respects all within our Culture? There are more white people on welfare and food stamps than blacks, and yet Newt Gingrich continues to insult a minority that has struggled to bring them to where they are. Gingrich wants black children to work as janitors. Yes, by all means, lets fire their parents and put 30 or more children in charge of cleaning schools. And let us allow Newt to "herd" them (Newt and Paul seem to assume that they are little more than animals/sheep lost in a pasture of plenty off the government teat.) through the school for this cleaning process. The man is ludicrous in his pandering to the Right. And he may actually reap what he sows in this regard. Not all white people believe that black children are little more than animals to be treated as such.
Ron Paul accuses 13 year old black boys of being no more than thugs who should be treated like adults when they err. I taught in an inner city middle school. Let me assure you that some of these 13-14 year old boys aren’t even as tall as me. Many of them look more like elementary school kids than middle school due to poor diet. To characterize them as thugs who are only planning to steal from the whites is ludicrous. They are much more likely to believe that white people do not want them to get ahead. I fought to assure them that white people are too concerned with their own lives to worry or care if they pull themselves up by their boot straps, go to school and follow their dreams. There are, of course, those who are willing to break the law; but there are also those amongst whites as well and all peoples. I’m really frightened of rhetoric that is so inflammable. The extreme right fears black revolt, and if they continue to travel this road of insult and injury; they might get it. And they will have no one to blame but themselves.
Mitt Romney is a wealthy man, in fact, one of the wealthiest in the world. He has no understanding of the middle class at all. He is part of the 1% that is making money hand over fist at the expense of the lower classes. Right now he has said that he believes he pays around 15% of his income in taxes while a middle class or poor individual pays 35% and more. And the last thing he wants to do is raise taxes on the wealthy! The job makers will take their jobs elsewhere if not given corporate welfare! Well, my question, where are the jobs that the job makers have made with all the tax breaks they have received since the beginning of the Bush dynasty? We know where they are… third world countries. And I don’t think we need allow them more tax breaks to make MORE jobs overseas or to speculate with! I, for one, am sick of this double standard being crammed down the throats of the Right wing without their knowledge it appears! The GOP has this "keep them pregnant, barefoot and ignorant" attitude, and it shows in everyone of their policies. Why do I care about the Right wingers receiving false information? Simple, they are part of the over all population. As long as there are those who fall for these Snake Oil Salesmen and their false wares, the longer it will take for us to have real change in this country.
I must add another note here: Hermain Cain was drummed out of the GOP race for his sexual indiscretions. While Newt Gingrich is receiving applause for his! What is this double standard? Gingrich asking his first wife for divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery so that he could marry a woman with whom he had been having an affaire. Right after his second wife was diagnosed with MS with the doctor saying not to upset her, he asks for an open marriage so that he could carry on an affair of 6 years in the open! Now he has married this woman. I hope she does not become ill! She may learn that her husband has been having an affair with another woman. Oh, I forgot, she doesn't care what he does or anyway so he told his 2nd wife. And the Right? Newt says he is appalled that his past would be subject to scrutiny. He surely was not defending Cain for the same behavior. He appeared not to be appalled in the least that there was an overwhelming condemnation of the man.
I’m just recovering from the flu, so this is draining me. I will proof read at another time as Waban is often known to advice. I will let a little time pass between that process and the immediate goal of getting a rough draft on paper… or type. ;)
January 10, 2012 (proof read with no changes)
Now, Bird, I think you will find when you have the time that there will be little repairs with proof reading of the material below at a later time. LOL Relax now... you have done well... and though this last entry was about you; you did an excellent job of being a clear channel. You merely did not listen much and allowed it to flow through you, because you did not feel invested in the subject matter... and that was a good thing. You must allow yourself to feel that way about all entries. You did not feel invested because it was personal to you as opposed to the type of spiritual information about the nature of reality that we are imparting, to you a weighty subject. You fear that you might be inhibiting that information in some way; therefore, it is difficult at times for you to just let go and let it be what it is. I find this amusing in a way. You would allow me to say whatever I choose about you personally without concern. LOL
You do not need to be concerned about what we send through you otherwise, Bird. You know this well. It will always be for your highest good and for that of your readers. Consciously, you know this, yet on another level you have some fears. I do indeed hope that we will elevate those misgiving completely in the very near future so that you can allow yourself to be the best channel that you can be for we know your devotion to doing so.
We also know that you have been having expanded awareness in the dream state. This is not an accident or a mere coincident. Pay attention, Bird... pay attention. *smiling broadly*
I Am Waban... I could just as easily say, We are Waban... and it would be just as apt. We are your Guides and Teachers on the other side. I speak for a collective of Guides and Teachers, a collective not unlike that of each of your readers.
January 8, 2012 (proofread with minor changes)
4.9 Million children with pre-existing conditions will lose medical care coverage under a Republican President who will repeal Obamacare! And I will lose mine as well, so much for the compassionate GOP.
I deal with chronic depression and a mild bi-polar condition, pre-existing conditions from before I lost my job due to budget constraints within the school district. Fine arts teachers are expendable. I loved my job, but I don't want to go back. I realize now that the stress of my job in an inner city school added greatly to my mental condition. I'm doing very well now with less meds. Even my diabetes is improving. Stress simply plays havoc with the human body.
Peachbird, it was for your highest good that your job came to an end. You had invested much, much too much of your time and energy into a job that was becoming deteriorating to your health... a job where your benefit was not appreciated.
You were an asset to your school that they did not appreciate in the last few years. It is even now that they are recalling the difference in the way things were while you were there on that end of the main floor nearest the office. You kept order pretty much by your own commanding presence, and your high expectations, and the fact that the students respected you. They knew how much you cared even though they would fight you at times. Now those same students who remain at the school recall that you lost your job due to so-called budget constraints. And it was budget constraints indeed. A new teacher would not have earned the higher amount that you required. You did not choose to leave and the students knew it. When next fall came around, the school hired another art teacher. Those students ran rough shod over that teacher in large part because they resented that they had taken your job and given it to another. She could not handle what you had handled for 12 years, and soon left.
As well the administrators did not appreciate what a large influence you had over the 6th graders entering middle school for the first time. You had most of them in your art classes and you taught them how to be in school or any public place in a right way. You taught them a new self respect for themselves and their school that was much needed. By influencing those 6 graders you set the ground work for the rest of their time at that school and beyond. The administrators thought they were the biggest influence on the children and resented anything you tried to do beyond your job as art teacher. Your influence over the children was mostly felt by outsiders visiting in your classroom. They could see easily that you were a major force for well being in that school. And they praised the art work you displayed all up and down the halls; and they praised you highly to your students.
One person can make that kind of difference. And that was your purpose there. You did make a difference that will be felt by an entire generation of students from that school. You had given enough of yourself to that purpose. And it reached the point that the administrators and some of the teachers resented you for whatever you accomplished there. They wanted all the credit to go to the African American teachers as they were the majority. They did not think that anyone else should be seen as making a difference that they could not, especially not a "white face" for that is how they saw you. By your age alone and experiences in education, you were a driving force within the student body even though there were many times that those same teachers/administrators tried to put a barrier between you and those students.
Now they begin to see and to know. But they do not even now want to admit the truth. What you gave those students was a different view of the world. You opened their minds to what could be without prejudice and hard work coupled with high self esteem. They grew to trust and respect that you were there only for them. And that you had their highest good at heart. You taught them to control their emotions where others did not. They did not use profanity in your room and you would not tolerate fights; therefore, they did not behave in that manner for you. You taught them that they were their finest work of art… a work of art in progress… and that they should never give up on themselves. You would have made a wonderful principal, but your job was done there. An entire generation was impacted by your love and caring of that you can be sure and extremely proud.
And we on this side of your reality are very proud of you, Peachbird. We want you to feel the love that is yours. We want you to now continue this new avenue of teaching… this time for the good of all who will listen.
I Am Waban…
This was a personal message for our Bird, but all can learn from the words spoken.
January 7, 2012 (proof read)
Just watched the Republican Debate and I most surely cannot say there was a true front runner! It was like a 3 ring circus from where I was sitting… well, maybe a 6 ring circus.
Ron Paul did get a barb in when Gingrich said that his father was serving in Viet Nam during Viet Nam War that struck a cord with me personally. He said as explanation for not going in the service that he was married with one child. Paul said that he was married with 2 children when he was drafted, and he went. I have heard repeatedly that men who were married with children were not being sent to Viet Nam. My husband, a sailor, was married to me. We had one child, and I was pregnant with the second. And he went. And he was sent to be attached to a group of Marines taking them and their supplies up and down the Da Nang River. That was a nightmare for me. Romney avoided the draft by going to France as a missionary. Those poor French, they really needed missionaries during the Viet Nam War!
Pretty much Romney had little to worry about. He looked rather presidential, but made little sense to me; but of course, none of them make much sense to me. One is fighting for Theocratic Pope (Santorum), the other (Romney) is fighting for a Corporate Dictatorship. Romney wants to crack down on China. I guess he forgets that we owe China 3 trillion dollars for a war his Republican President started on credit, because he cut taxes for the wealthiest among us. Perry wants to go back to war in the Middle East AND cut taxes more. Paul wants deregulation until there is nothing left but a Corporate State.
Not one of them has a sensible plan to put people back to work. All they can suggest is more tax cuts for the wealthy and a Right to Work Bill. Said bill will put more people out of work by ending bargaining rights so that workers will work for nothing, with no benefits, and no safety regulation. No one could sensibly talk about the economy, because they are too busy thinking of the wealthiest 1% and turning us into a third world country. But they surely have strong ideas about Gays from marriage to adoption, contraception, and abortions... and Christianity under attack. It was more of the old pleas from before. Santorum says Obama is making war on Christians… aaa… I might as well stop! This is a joke… but I'm not laughing!
Obama will have a field day with these bozos… any one or all of them! He will chew them up and eat them for lunch! As some one said on Twitter, "The Obamas are probably picking out the White House China for next term!" I think that was Michael Steele! LOL
Continued from Page VI. I suggest you read from the top of the page down, and the pages from last to first.
*I like the title of Crone. It would be easier to just say Woman, but I prefer Crone. A Crone can be any age toward middle age and beyond recalling that in the days of the Ancient Druids when the term was most commonly in usage, the average life span was only to about 45; therefore, she is merely a mature woman with wisdom and the powers of nature. Just thought I would clarify in case someone was visualizing me as a bent and wrinkled old woman with next to no hair and a very big cane. LOL Well, I do have a cane, but it was my daddy's so I'm not using it... yet! He made it himself from a knarled grape vine. Should I need one that one will most surely be my choice, which would most surely fit the image of a Crone. LOL I do indeed hope I keep most of my hair.... *shivers* stereotypical imagery!
* Red is for my correction with proof reading. Violet is my Guide Waban. Black is just me... well, sometimes with the intuition of my Spirit Guide, Waban. In fact, I think a lot of the time. Sometimes I wonder where I am getting this information. I believe it, but most I have never tried to articulate. So I think I get a lot more help than not. Thank you, Waban.
*Oh, Waban refers to me as Peachbird. It's an Indian named given to me long ago. It comes from the Chippewa Nation in Michigan. The Peachbird is the large Country or Horned Owl like we have in Texas. These Owls look brown and beige, but when in flight you can see the under wing and the belly is really a golden orange color. They also haunt the Peach Orchards (among other fruits) of Michigan searching for small prey. Waban says it is a name I have used in many reincarnations.
*Spiritual Subject Matter: Read it if you will, believe it or not… I do not care for it is not the thoughts of my mind of that I am quite sure. But the words are thought provoking and ring true for me. I trust Waban completely without reservation. So I leave it as it is. To be a clear channel is to trust the words that come through you for there is no other way to explain it only that you know the difference between those words and your own. And I do...
*I frequently move through entries on Politics or other secular topics and then back again to Spiritual insight with my Guide, Waban. '@v@'
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March 3, 2012
I am not having the same kind of experience with my parallel lifetime as I was. Now I can make the transition, but it is not nearly so easy or so vividly real. I suppose that if I make a steady practice it might become so. I believe that I understand the process enough now that it is not needed. But I will probably “check in” on my other self from time to time… especially realizing that I might enter that lifetime primarily after I cross over from this one. It’s a very different way of thinking of the afterlife. Recall the cogs on a wheel analogy? Interesting that my personality wheel might turn from this one at death to that… and that I would have an entire set of memories from that lifetime to perhaps digest and understand. It is a philosophy that I have not heard espoused before and one I will contemplate.
Peachbird, yes, you are right. It is not a common description of the afterlife, but it is a very valid one. Not the only one… but a very valid after death experience for many. Just as your husband in that life time died and then returned later in the same life so it will appear to you if you could see from our perspective. Existence is not nearly understood as it should be. But there are those like you who are awakening to the truth. There is no death per se… only life experiences for growth of the Soul personality and Gestalt. And this you will be completely aware of in your after death experience… as well all on your Earth experience.
There are many who are crossing over from your side of reality to this one due to natural disasters… Earth Changes, if you will. It will help mightily if people have this knowledge… this belief system. When one leaves the body in a disaster or accident there is often terror connected with the experience that hinders the Soul personality from adapting to the new situation. Understanding this spiritual world view would eliminate much of that trauma allowing the personality to adapt much more quickly and needing much less aid from others in that process. If you are expecting the possibility, you may move smoothly through the process with the least amount of trauma. The more rapidly you can adapt, the quicker you can move into other experience/s that will aid in your growth. And as you evolve you carry your fellow Soul travelers along with you. Win/Win situation… *merry grinning*
It is important that the greatest number of people be prepared for different after (so-called) death scenarios as we can provide. There are no streets paved with gold, no pearly gates, no St. Peter waiting to judge you. The reality is very different. We have touched on one experience that might present itself to the individual. There are many, many more. And we are prepared to help you experience them physically so that you can enlighten mankind. For the time has come when large numbers of people question whether or not there is an afterlife. The fact is that heaven and hell is sounding like faery tales to many who have no other expectation for after death experience, dear Bird. Many feel an emptiness that needs to be filled with more reality than mankind has been prepared to accept until now. What with the advancement of Earth Changes, mankind needs to be prepared. And that is part of your and our purpose, dear Bird… to enlighten.
You may read this, Dear Readers, and say that it is impossible. But it does not matter whether or not you believe it, having heard it… you will not be in total shock or denial at what awaits you. As well, you do not have to worry how many people receive your message, Bird. We have the Hundredth Monkey Theory that we have espoused before and that many of your readers already know. When a mass number of individuals hear the message, it will become common knowledge and not shocking in the least. So it is not necessary that you have thousands of readers at all. And with this we shall stop for now…
We are well pleased, Bird. Return later for a proof read and revision session.
I Am Waban…
February 20, 2012
Yes, Bird, your husband in that other life time is the same as the one from this lifetime. In fact, he was both. When he died in WWI, he left you a young widow. Fate had it that you were brought together again. You are what some in this life time like to call Soul Mates. You have shared many, many life times together and you hold great love one for the other.
WWI, Waban? I thought this life time was paralleling the other at the same time as this one?
Peach Bird, these lifetimes are parallel, but they are happening at different times in history as you know it. I know that you find it confusing that Trisha in that lifetime is very similar to you. And she has similar taste as you do here. As well, your husband there is very much like your husband in this lifetime when you first met. He is the same Soul. And yes, he was with you twice in that lifetime. His death in WWI was not foretold, but it came about nonetheless. He was injured so severely that he would have been a cripple had he lived, and that was not the plan for your lives together. Therefore, he died; then returned later.
I know you are thinking, “How can that be?” He would not have time to be born again and then to be older than you when you meet years later. But so it is. Anything is possible as all time is NOW. You only have need of linear time in this dimension of existence. But you can and do go back and forth in a life time. Why so strange that you should be able to create an entire lifetime since there are so many alternative realities. The only important thing is that you learn and grow. And just as siblings in the same family have different memories of their past, so can such as we.
Some of your confusion is that you have been seeing through eyes of today into another reality. You were not prepared for the historical time difference. Recall that very early on we spoke of the aspects of a persona as though they were cogs on a wheel and that wheel turns and meshes with other wheels like those of a clock. Each one of those aspects shares similar characteristics with all the other as they are merely aspects of the same soul personality. There are many of these soul personalities all from the same Soul Gestalt. The wheels turn, the personalities move in and out of existence sometimes many, many times at once. You might see these aspects as one personality as it progresses through one life time as you are experiencing this lifetime. On the other side of this reality, you will see all the aspects of your Soul experience as they weave in and out of their diffferent personalities.
If you look back at your past, you are not the same person you were at say, ten years. Nor are you the same as you were at twenty one… or thirty eight. And yet, you know that it is you no matter how different. This is the same instance. You are you here, but as you have discovered, you are also there just as vividly. Your husband is just as loving and caring there as he was here. Your love for each other grew and changed over the years. The same is true with your alternative aspect in that other reality. Your love has not changed, it has merely grown. And the growth in large part is due to the fact that you did lose each other, and then found one another again. That is why he says things that your late husband said or did. He is one and the same, though he does not recall that fact. He has a whole set of different memories that are just as valid and just as real as his lifetime here with you. And the two of you will come together again, though you are alone in this lifetime.
Regaining your relationship with your husband there is balanced and expanded from the experience of this life time as well as the life altering experience of losing your husband there as well. And there are many other lifetimes where you experienced losing each other. All of these come together to make you a different individual than you would have been with only one life time. You experience reincarnation in many different time frames through history as you know it. And it is very common that you will move back and forth between these periods as well, you may very well experience more than one lifetime within one. Just as your husband experienced two different lifetimes in the one with you, so have you and everyone for that matter. The learning… the growing… that is all that matters. And that is always possible in so many fashions that you cannot even imagine! And until you have learned all there is to learn from the reincarnation progression, you will continue to experience it as this was your choice.
Once you have learned all there is to know from reincarnation; then you will begin another kind of existence. And it will be just as valid and stimulating as life is to you now. There are so many different paths to take to the Source. And that Source is the pinnacle of your Soul Gestalt.
I hope that is clearer to you now, Bird? Take some time, then return and proof read. We are well pleased. I Am Waban.
Thank you, Waban. Yes, I do have a clearer understanding. I hope that I have allowed your expression to be as clear to our readers as it is to me right now. I am pleased if I can allow myself to express for you properly. ~ ‘@v@’~
February 18, 2012
Now, I have added the last comments made the 13th on the new relationship. I gave some space between then and now to see where things have led. In the past days I have gone back and forth between these two realities, staying mostly in this one. I have been filling my days with activity. But when I am still it is very easy to slip into that other space. I have to use a conscious effort, but it takes only seconds. I am reminded of an experience before my husband died.
We had our house up for sale, and we were planning to move to Montana when it sold. We were drawn to the Missoula Valley area. I did not like cold weather, but we were told that we should make that move. Suddenly it seemed that things simply completely changed. I went to my hypnosis session eager to see what I should be planning for when I was told that we should take the house off the market that something had changed. I was then shown five different death experiences. Each time I died in a different reincarnation. I saw a brief portion of the reality, and then went straight into the death experience. It was not what I was expecting nor was my hypnosis guide expecting what I was shown. After the experiences she asked why I was being shown this. Waban told her, through me of course; that something had changed and it was important for me to understand about death and dying. I was told to forget about selling the house. I went home and I explained what I had been shown which was how very easy it is to die. It is so simple that it is like slipping a letter out of an envelope. It looked as simple as moving slightly to the side within the body, then merely sliding right out. I told my husband. In fact, I told all the members of my family and friends of the experience. It seemed it was something important that needed to be shared.
Late summer of that year, we had a hurricane. It was as though something had changed with that storm. It was the first time that I became one with a storm for one thing. But later I was to recall that it was before the hurricane that I was shown the death and dying experiences. The beginning of the next year, my husband went to an auctioneer school. He was gone for about 2 wks. Those were torturous days and nights. When he came home, it was as though something had changed. We were desperately holding onto each other. The separation had been miserable. Only weeks later, my husband dropped dead in the wee hours of the morning from a heart attack. It was like the fabric of my life had been ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds.
Now I can compare that to this experience I am having now with the alternative reality. Once again I am being shown something so vital that I must experience it… actually feel it in order to understand it and explain it. This is important because Waban’s words must filter through my mind and my belief system as well as knowledge so that he can put forth these ideas to our readers. I have no background in science. I have never been interested. I believe it is why... well, one of the reasons I have to experience this in the way that I have.
As easy as it was to leave this world through the window of death, so it is to change focus from one reality to another one. It is as though I am focused here. I am living this my world completely. I can see and feel my life with no interruptions or intrusions from any other. It’s like remembering a dream that I recall that other life. But… when I turn my attention there and away from here, suddenly here is gone and there is only there! I am as completely focused into that reality as I am here. The difference is that I can choose to go there or not. Once I make the conscious decision to go there… it is done and I am there. And… when I am there I have no thought of here. But, while I am here, I can recall there just as though I have remembered a very vivid dream. And when I need to be back here, it is as though I, here and now, can call me back instantly.
So, the point I believe is that it is that simple. When I die, I will as easily leave this realm as I have left to go into that other reality. Waban says that when I die, I will most likely go straight there. He also said that I will have the opportunity to live that life, act as a guide for that woman I see as myself, or enter into another reincarnation when I am ready. Those are decisions that will have to be made.
Right now in that life, we have just returned to our home in California. No one knew we planned to be married while we were gone, because we did not know ourselves. The last episode I saw we had just called friends to let them know we were back. The couple had plans to go out already; we were invited to go along. We accepted and my husband asked if we could invite another couple to come along as well. Plans were made, and we were all to meet at a popular night club.
I recall that my husband dried my long softly curling black hair and brushed it out. It fell almost to the small of my back. We dressed and he approved or chose every garment that went on my body, and I liked it. Sometimes he would say that I was like dressing a big Barbie Doll, and he loved it… and I would say I loved it too; because I did. He had wonderful taste that just suited mine. I recall that this night I was wearing tight black pants, high black heels tied with a loose fabric bow in the front of the ankle. He pulled a transparent red, dark red, blouse with open spaces down to the elbow length of the arm. Over that he pulled an embroidered black lace collar that buttoned on the shoulders of the blouse with satin buttons like a little vest that did not open down the front. It all had the look of say, the 1920s. It was all very expensive and unique in style. The blouse and vest ended just over my hips with the red blouse being several inches longer than the black lace. I was gorgeous, if I do say so myself.
He has dark blonde hair, deep set blue/green grey eyes like my husband in this life time had. He has a cleft chin, and angular features with a dimple in one check. He has a big toothy lopsided grin, very handsome and sexy. Once we were both finished dressing, he had me stand next to and sort of in front of him and look in the mirror. Even in the very high heels, I am still only chin level. He was wearing jeans, a silverish grey silk t-shirt and very dark grey sports jacket. We looked great together. And he was very well pleased. I am always pleased when he is happy. He laughed and told me that I looked good enough to eat! LOL Which started us laughing and wrestling about whether we should call the evening off and just go back to bed! It was fun and cute. Of course, we decided to go for the evening.
Once at the club, everyone was stunned that we were married. Like any club, it was noisy and fun and we drank and talked and danced. As women will do, we made off to the restroom at one point. Once inside, one of the women asked how I got him to marry me. I said that I did not “get” him to marry me. He asked because he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. And I love him, so I said yes for the same reason. I was offended. Both women were quick to pacify me. They hardly knew me. They said the reason they were so shocked was that he had dated someone for almost three years, and she could never get him to commit to even calling themselves seriously dating though they were monogamous. They were merely surprised since we had only known each other for a couple of months… or so we said, there was implication that we might be lying about that and that he had known me before the other relationship ended. I assured them that was not the case. Then as we started out the door, a woman stepped out of one of the stalls. Both my companions seemed totally surprised and they exchanged embarrassed and quick greetings. It was the woman he had been dating they told me after we had left the restroom. I had guessed as much by the way they were acting. She obviously wanted us to know that she had heard our conversation. For what reason, I cannot say. I would not have come out if our roles were reversed.
When we met the men at the table, I asked my husband to dance with me, and I told him about the exchange. He was concerned if I was okay. I was concerned for the other woman. I felt sorry for her, and I did not know exactly what he would think or what we should do as a result of the incident. He said, he would not avoid meeting her, but he would not do it intentionally. He said he was sorry she had to learn that way, it was cruel, but that was not my fault. He said neither he nor we had done anything wrong. We fell in love and got married. And he had not been seeing her for over 6 months before he met me. He was totally attentive to me as he always was.
She was very thin and blonde. I was thin, but curvy with a rounded hips and bosom without much fat on my body. I was not angular any more than I am in this life. In fact, I look very much the same at her age. The exgirlfriend was like a little skeleton to me with skin stretched over her bones. We were about the same height with her a bit taller than I. He said she was his type, until he met me. He said he didn’t know what his type really was until he met me. More of that kind of newly wed love struck kind of conversation between us. We literally doted on each other! LOL It’s rather like a faery tale romance now that I think about it. We are just very, very happy.
I’m not going to go into such details about the relationship from this time forward, because it serves no purpose. I just want you to understand a little of how every vivid and real it is… how I can be totally there. I am living it, I am feeling it; I can touch it, taste it, smell it, and hear it. It is as real as this lifetime. Only it is such a joy because I am with the love of my life. It is a wonderful thing to think that when I die I have the option of going into this life time as I have created it. And that we all have these kinds of options. It may not be necessary for me to experience this life so vividly after this, but if that is the case; then I shall be terribly disappointed. I want to say, “so is life”… because so it is. Now I know it, I can trust it. And I can tell you that you can trust it.
Very well said, Peach Bird! Very well said indeed, and yes, this is how and why you have been blessed with this experience. As the experience is real for you, then you can make it real for our readers. We are very well pleased. Now rest, little Bird, and proof read another time. Good evening.
I Am Waban.
February 13, 2012
I’m trying to keep a running record here of the progress I am making in the alternative reality discussed in my last entry. At this time, I am married to the new man in my life who reminds me of my late husband. In many ways he is more like him than the man I married who seemed to embody my late husband’s personality. I’m wondering; however, if he is actually the man I have married. Let’s see if I can make this clearer.
In the alternative reality that Waban says I am expressing with my late husband I was under the assumption that the man who died in Viet Nam was my husband for this lifetime, and that I had met another man who reminded me of him. I’m truly wondering now if the first man was my late husband at all. I find it strange that I have little memory of what he looked like, and I had no children with him. I am now married to the man who is so much like my husband in this reality. As I stated, he seems to be taller and thinner than my late husband, but otherwise very much like him. I’m not sure if he is so much taller or if I am actually shorter; strange such physical things to contend with in explanation of differences between realities. The difference in our height is more accentuated. In any case, I do believe that I am now married to the man who was my husband in this reality. It was a whirlwind kind of thing as I stated before almost like love at first sight. And now we are married. I have met his family who bear no resemblance to his parents in this lifetime. I like them very much. They feel familiar, but not as I would say an exchange for the ones in this life time I am experiencing now. We are both the oldest of our siblings. In this lifetime, my husband was an only child. In that one he has a couple of brothers and a sister.
We went to visit his family for Christmas. On the trip there, he asked me to marry him, and I said that I would. We were going to pick out my engagement ring there, but his grandmother gave him her wedding ring which had been handed down through generations. It was beautiful and I felt honored to have it. On the spur of the moment, we just decided to get married while we were visiting. I phoned and told my family, who seemed to be my parents in this lifetime. My siblings seemed to be the same, though I have not seen them yet. The last experience I had was on a plane flying to meet my family with my new husband. We are very happy.
I spent a lot of time going back and forth over the decision to visit his family before mine. They are much farther away than my family. So we decided to go straight there and then stop by my family on the way back. We seemed to be staying about a week in both places. It’s like details in actions are more important than actually where or who, if that makes any sense. I cannot say how far we have had to fly, but it seems a very long distance, and it is very cold there. Perhaps somewhere in Canada, I’m not sure! They do speak a different language, and I believe French is it. So that might be understandable, if they are French Canadian. That seems crazy to say, but it is true. The interaction with the people is clear, but who, where and when not so much so. Names are also difficult, but he does call me by a nickname that is similar to my name now; but not the one I most commonly use.
I’m not sure of the reason for the connection with this lifetime yet. Right now we are just so much in the middle of new love for each other. We talk of our families and we speak of starting a family, but we want to be settled and have sometime together first. It’s almost a bit scary for me to think of starting a family. And I can see how that might be with the experience in this lifetime. It may be that I am afraid of the experiences that I have to expect and their connection to this lifetime. Time will tell.
February 12, 2012
In the new relationship, we are just married. We are very happy at this phase in the relationship. I am not going to say a lot about it at this point. We are leaving Quebec, Canada, which is his home. He and his family are French Canadians. I'm eager to learn his language. His grandmother gave us her engagment ring, which was handed down in his family for many generations. It is beautiful; and somehow seems very important. We married there so that I would have duel citizenship. We plan to marry in the States for the same reason, so that he will have duel citizenship as well as our children. Somehow all of this seems very important. My parents live in Texas, but he and I will live in California where he works. I'm really just feeling my way around at this time. It seems like there is a chance that we will be living in Pennsylvania. I have strong connections with these states in this lifetime. I'm just trying to pay attention right now to find the true connections to this lifetime.
My connection in this lifetime to Canada is limited. I dated a guy very briefly from Quebec right out of highschool, but nothing came of it. I wonder if there was something that was supposed to be more important about that relationship. I know he was very taken with me right away, but I was not that enthusiastic about him. Why I don't know, he would have been a very good candidate for a husband! LOL Jesus, one never knows the connections. I'm just trying to see the links for now as this is something that Waban says is important to help me understand the multidimensional nature of reality; and by so doing aid in my ability to express it here.
Okay, enough for today. Waban is not coming through, and I am tired! LOL My house is cold. Tomorrow, I will have to phone for furnace check to see what is going on. Oh, one other point before I forget. I am not so sure if my new husband is taller than my late husband or if there is just more difference in our heights. In other words, it could be that I am shorter in that reality compared to this one. There was only about 7 inches difference in height with my husband in this life time. There seems to be more like 10 inches in the new one. That could mean that I am shorter and he is taller as well. I have always liked men who are taller. I think it is a security thing. LOL Like genetic memory to a time when the mate was also the protector. okay, nevermind... I need a break... I've been on the computer for several hours twitting and the like.
February 8, 2012
Well, I have read and corrected words misspelled or poorly expressed in the last two entries. I do recognize exactly what Waban is trying to explain. And it is true that I have been consciously going back and forth between two diffferent realities. This has never happened to me before, so it is pretty amazing. I have to wonder how many times when I felt I was making up a fantasy for my own entertainment was I actually picking up and expressing and learning through an alternative reality.
I'm not going to go into details about this alternative reality except to say that it is a much younger expression of me now. Where as I am a widow with grown children in this reality; I am much younger in that reality. I am still a widow, but a younger one than now. It appears that my husband died in Viet Nam in that reality while here it was after. Where as we had three children before he died, in this alternative reality we had none. I have already seen that I will be having my children with the new man I am falling in love with. The strange thing is that we have the experience of falling in love at nearly first sight as though we have known each other forever. As I am moving in and out of that reality I am beginning to realize that the new man in my life is much like my husband. He is taller and thinner, but has similar looks and body build. I look much like myself only with very long black hair. In this life time, I never had my hair much longer than past my shoulders.
An interesting aside is that this new man is frequently saying things that my husband has said or expressed in a way that he would have. It catches me off guard. And sometimes he seems as surprised as I. Once when we almost lost each other, he said that he could not stand to "lose me again." He had not lost me before, we just met more or less. And we almost missed each other. Had he not found me when he did, we would never have known how to find each other.
After my husband died so young I sought all kinds of avenues for comfort and understanding. And then when my daughter died, I had to start all over. I worked with regression hypnosis, and I talked to metaphysical workers. I saw many different lifetimes where one or the other of us died young leaving the other alone. I went to Am.Indian gatherings and spiritual teaching situations as well as metaphysical seminars. This strenghtened my spirituality which did help me to cope. But something I recall was how many times I was told in one way or another that my husband was coming back to me. I thought "walk-in" perhaps, of course, as that was about the easiest metaphysical explanation for such a thing. I asked, but frequently the messenger seemed as unsure of the meaning as I.
Now as this is happening to me, I believe that I was being prepared that I would be experiencing in this very life time a renewed relationship with my late husband, who was the love of my life, I might add. Neither those who said those words to me or I knew that this could happen. But it is. This seems to me to be a reinforcement of the validity of my experience. I was told that something like this would happen, and it is; but not in the least as I could ever have imagined. The very fact that it is happening validates the purpose of this experience. My husband is coming back to me, but not in a way that I could ever have dreamed. And, I understand now the nature of this duel reality... the multidimensional expression of an Alternative Reality. I'm really just trusting this and seeing where it will lead me... us.
February 6, 2012 p.m.
What our Peachbird has been expressing for the last few weeks is the multidimensionality of her true nature as a personality construct from a Soul Gestalt. She is shifting back and forth between two of these realities in which she is physically focused at this time. But at her own command, she is making the shift into the other reality as well as back into this one as you know it. The other reality is just as real as this one, and she is learning this from her personal experience. When she is focused into this reality, it is her entire focus. But when she is in that reality the same is very true. She is visually expressing as well as physically so. She feels the sensations that she is experiencing. This is not like a book she is writing or reading. Now the complicated part is that she is aware of the other reality at the same time as she is focused in either reality. Should an emergency arise, she would be very readily available to cope with whichever reality it appears. And she is doing that as well as working on this website. Right now she is aware of the other reality that is close enough to be touched with her mind in an instance. The more our Bird learns to express her true nature, the more she will accomplish on all levels for our purpose here and her Soul Growth.
Now, as stated before there is a bleed over. As she is in this alternative reality, she is still maintaining the functionality of this reality. And as well as she is functioning in that other reality, she is maintaining the physicality of this focus. This is what all of you do, but our Bird is learning this first hand so that we may express it to you in the clearest possible transmission. Should I have presented this material before she had experienced it first hand with full memory of the experience there would be some time to allow her to accept these ideas as real or even posssible. She would be questioning if she were influencing the transmission in some way for good or bad. As she has accomplished these goals she can allow me to speak through her mind and fingers without feeling a need to accept or judge the concepts. She understands full well at this time what I am expounding upon and she is not in the least put off by the material. This, since last night.
At times I am here in the moment with our Bird, at others I have been in the moment in the dream state. Recall I said that we would begin work on her dream reality. I am not a part of Peachbird’s mind. I Am a part of her Soul Gestalt, however. And I can reach her in a kind of energy transmission much like electricity coursing through an electrical line. There are times when the transmission is easier than others say as in a storm. And there are times when I can more easily transmit information to Peachbird in the dream state. I am not always available to our Bird any more than she is available to me at all times. I cannot for example break into her consciousness while she is visiting with her family. She is much too focused into her reality for that to happen. I can, however, come through when the needs are met mentally and physically as I feel it is important and we have so agreed.
Just now, Peachbird has come home from going out to dinner with her mother. From the time she left her door and stepped into her car I was flooding her consciousness with these very writings. As she came in, removed her jacket, and changed into something more comfortable; I was already simply inundated her mind with this information. At one point, she laughed and said, “Okay, let me get to the computer and we will get this information online!” She found it humorous because she has not had this experience to this degree yet in her reality here. We want this experience to be a pleasant one for our Peachbird, otherwise, this task would be far too difficult to expect of her or anyone for that matter.
All time is now on this side. You are experiencing in an expanded Moment. You can go back and forth within this duality between the focus of your attention and personality as well as carry on the same experience in your alternative reality. Peachbird is experiencing this at present and she is enjoying the experience without reservations or worry. We are well pleased. When she leaves this reality as all must, she will move directly into the other reality. She will continue to experience there while her Soul Personality is reviewing and experiencing other realities. It is very simple from our perspective here, though for most of you it is very difficult to wrap your mind around. Of this we suggest you do not worry. The more you read these entries which are moving forward and at the same time repetitively speaking to your mind in such a way that it becomes more understandable over time.
Peachbird recognizes this as the way in which Medicine men and women within her Indigenous Culture teach. She calls it double speak. That is as good an example as any other. The Elder speaks words that have meaning within themselves, and still those same words have other meaning that is not so obvious to the consciousness of the listeners. But as you learn to listen, you also learn to recognize this other information that is flooding into your mind at the same time or later. Thus, we say, “Aho, I understand you, I agree with you, or I hear you.” I say, “We” because I have been a medicine person in many incarnations as has Peachbird. This is why she recognizes such things intuitively.
The importance is that you realize that you are learning on many different levels just as our Peachbird is becoming aware. You are multidimensional personalities expressing in many different realities at the very same time as you express here in this one. And you are learning and growing along with your entire Soul Group over time as you know it, but over here, in the fullness of a fluid moment.
There now, Peachbird. We have accomplished our goal, and you have done very well. Take a break from this information until you have allowed your mind to relax into other activities. We are well pleased, dear Bird.
I Am Wabon.
From Political issues to Spiritual Matters:
February 6, 2012 a.m.
For some entries our Peachbird has been exploring her political leanings and as that was her interest, we did not feel the necessity of interrupting her thought patterns although as you will learn we were much involved in them. Time here is so much more subjective than there that it is not fair to impose our abilities upon her. We have all the time in the world. And for that matter so does she as do all of you.
We have been working with altered states of consciousness, by we, I mean Peachbird and myself. She as always has a running story in her mind which is part of what she considers her fantasy world. I Am working to help her realize that it is much more than a fantasy world and more a touching into other realities in which she is experiencing as this one is on going. All of you continually do this. In the dream state there is a reality that is as real as this one that you think of as your only experience. But there are also many different reincarnational lives in progress as well as alternative realities with particle personalities to your present incarnation. When this life for our Bird ends, she will assess this and all her other lives. She may work as a guide for some of her alternative realities, and then she may very well delve into another reincarnation. These things will be decided when the time is right. And so it is with all of you depending on your level of development.
Right now what I want to make my dear Bird realize is that she is very well making an alternative reality as she day dreams. Of late, she has been very vividly living through these alternative realities as though she is making them up as she goes. She goes back and forth over the scenes, past, present and future in your way of expressing reality. She comes to a certain point and she cannot go beyond that until she has gone back and reinforced or slightly changes the drama that has gone before. This is distinctly because all time is now, and time is very subjective on this side of the veil. What our Peachbird does not necessarily realize at present, but will directly is that she is creating an alternative reality, an alternative Peachbird who is very similar to who she is here and now and yet very different.
Several nights she of necessity made a drive of about 15 miles round trip. The entire trip both to and from her destination was occupied with her running fantasy. In fact, it was so real that she had no consciousness of actually driving though she was very aware of the highway and was even driving defensively. She can recall those things that a good driver does, but more what she recalls is the so called thought fantasy. Just as she types here and I am allowed to express myself through her mind and her fingers on the key board, so it was with the trip. It was a lovely night with little traffic, and she was perfectly aware of both driving and expressing in the alternative reality for lack of a better word. Only she was much more aware of the running story with images in her mind than the driving.
This is a very big leap in her spiritual growth. She has found a way of touching into her inner reality. I’m speaking of her use of the inner senses, this being her true reality. She has discovered that she is much, much more than she thought she was as herself here and now experiencing this reality. She has discovered what everyone is capable of doing, and that is experiencing the inner reality which is linked to alternative realities, reincarnational existences and the Soul Gestalt itself. This is a magic leap of consciousness… a very difficult place in which to find oneself. Our Bird has discovered who she truly is for the first time, the maker of her existence and those others that influence this one. She has gone beyond just the woman she knows herself to be in this reality. And this is a difficult thing to explain without being able to experience it yourself. In fact, until you do it is very difficult indeed.
Our Peachbird here knew all that I am speaking of quite well through her readings, studies, and our work with her on this side. But she had not actually brought it into her reality. Now though, she is aware of an alternative reality that she is creating. She is the Actor, she is writing the play and she is on the stage of another life. And it is as real as this one. And she has learned that she can switch back and forth between the two realities as readily as she can change her focus from typing here for us and then moving to the music videos she loves so much or reading a book and watching her favorite TV shows. And she is learning that whichever reality has her focus is the dominate reality.
She is quite an amazing creature! LOL And we are very proud of her and her development. Please do not allow yourself to believe that she is suddenly becoming schizophrenic. One does not become schizophrenic, one always was so. But there is even validity to that reality. Except that true schizophrenics have experienced some mind shattering events in their lives most usually involving severe abuse. Peachbird has not done so. She is merely at a different level of development.
For years, our Bird has been allowing her consciousness to merge with everything in Nature. She becomes one with a tree and then through that all trees, she is aware of the life force in all things. She speaks to the Thunder Beings as she calls them and the rain stops; this is not because she is magic but because she is capable of making herself one with those elementals so that she can influence their behavior in a right way. She could not for example, set your house on fire with a lightening bolt. *LOL* (We do have a sense of humor over here as well as there.) She speaks to animals in the way of a Nature Woman. She visualizes what she would say or do, and then she allows herself to become one with that creature. There is a barking dog in her neighborhood. She pets him and talks to him in her mind, and he becomes peaceful. Our Bird is very sensitive to all creatures and humans.
As she types this she is smiling, because she is aware of what I am presenting along with her reaction to it. Mostly she has been thinking of other things, even ‘imagining’ the other reality that she is developing. The beauty is that we are working in perfect sync just as we did when she drove to the Drug Store and back focused much more on the story in her mind than on the driving process. She says that she types on auto pilot, so there are often silly little errors where her mind is ahead of her words… or in this case, my words. She is typing on auto pilot for me and thinking of other things at the same time. There is a movie on her TV that vaguely captures her attention much in the same way the other reality captures her attention. But, she is very aware of the switch to the other reality. She is causing the change of her focus. And, she is aware of the all the things around her in a different way than usual. And that is because her world has simply greatly expanded in scope and in actuality.
This is why it was very important for her to have lost her job, which was actually the best thing for her on all levels. But for this spiritual development it was imperative that she have the time to focus and change her awareness. And, this she has done. Everything that she needs to make this possible has been provided. And, everything that has happened to her in her lifetime here has been to this end. We are well on the way to a totally different awareness. Now we must work on the dream state for that reality is as important as this one. We have purposely focused on this present growth spurt to the exception of all others.
Now, Bird, do not trouble yourself with this. You can as always come back to this for proofreading and to allow yourself to accept what we have typed here. But I know that you are well aware of that which I speak, and you will not be surprised because you are the experiencer. So as always it helps to put a little space between the work and the checking of the work. LOL It appears you drank too much coffee, Bird, and that is what has you awake so late. No worries… you have the time to catch up on your sleep this has been more important, and I am glad that we finally have had the time to get this typed so that you will not lose the importance of what you have been doing for the past few weeks in this regard. The long drive while you were preoccupied with the lifetime in your mind was the reality that you are experiencing and this was the reality that you were dreaming! Does that make sense, Bird! LOL I am very sure that it does.
I Am Wabon.
AltarNet - I found this powerful explanation of the way in which Fox 'News" influences politics. And I believe it to be true. I have watched Fox to see what they do, and this is exactly what I have seen. I always try to keep up with the opposition. I readily admit that I am a Liberal Democrat with Progressive leanings. In fact, I believe I am more Progressive than otherwise. But, who needs labels.
I do hope that my readers will think about these issues and I believe be able to recognize many of these techniques when faced with them. It is not what you know that hurts you, it most surely is what you do not know. '@v@'
14 Propaganda Techniques Fox 'News' Uses to Brainwash Americans By Cynthia Boaz, TruthOut.org
Posted on July 2, 2011, Printed on February 3, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/151497/14_propaganda_techniques_fox_%27news%27_uses_to_brainwash_americans
There is nothing more sacred to the maintenance of democracy than a free press. Access to comprehensive, accurate and quality information is essential to the manifestation of Socratic citizenship - the society characterized by a civically engaged, well-informed and socially invested populace. Thus, to the degree that access to quality information is willfully or unintentionally obstructed, democracy itself is degraded.
It is ironic that in the era of 24-hour cable news networks and "reality" programming, the news-to-fluff ratio and overall veracity of information has declined precipitously. Take the fact Americans now spend on average about 50 hours a week using various forms of media, while at the same time cultural literacy levels hover just above the gutter. Not only does mainstream media now tolerate gross misrepresentations of fact and history by public figures (highlighted most recently by Sarah Palin's ludicrous depiction of Paul Revere's ride), but many media actually legitimize these displays. Pause for a moment and ask yourself what it means that the world's largest, most profitable and most popular news channel passes off as fact every whim, impulse and outrageously incompetent analysis of its so-called reporters. How did we get here? Take the enormous amount of misinformation that is taken for truth by Fox audiences: the belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that he was in on 9/11, the belief that climate change isn't real and/or man-made, the belief that Barack Obama is Muslim and wasn't born in the United States, the insistence that all Arabs are Muslim and all Muslims are terrorists, the inexplicable perceptions that immigrants are both too lazy to work and are about to steal your job. All of these claims are demonstrably false, yet Fox News viewers will maintain their veracity with incredible zeal. Why? Is it simply that we have lost our respect for knowledge?
My curiosity about this question compelled me to sit down and document the most oft-used methods by which willful ignorance has been turned into dogma by Fox News and other propagandists disguised as media. The techniques I identify here also help to explain the simultaneously powerful identification the Fox media audience has with the network, as well as their ardent, reflexive defenses of it.
The good news is that the more conscious you are of these techniques, the less likely they are to work on you. The bad news is that those reading this article are probably the least in need in of it.
1. Panic Mongering. This goes one step beyond simple fear mongering. With panic mongering, there is never a break from the fear. The idea is to terrify and terrorize the audience during every waking moment. From Muslims to swine flu to recession to homosexuals to immigrants to the rapture itself, the belief over at Fox seems to be that if your fight-or-flight reflexes aren't activated, you aren't alive. This of course raises the question: why terrorize your own audience? Because it is the fastest way to bypasses the rational brain. In other words, when people are afraid, they don't think rationally. And when they can't think rationally, they'll believe anything. I see this example today as the GOP telling us that we must have border safety. Illegal Aliens are taking over. We do have border safety. And let me assure you that there is not nearly the influx of Hispanics into our school system. After Bush made his historic (to me anyway) trip to Mexico for a week, the President of Mexico handed out flyers telling his people how to get here and then how to stay here once they were here. I only heard mention of this fact a couple of times on the news, and I wondered why no one else seemed to be making the connection besides myself! After that infamous visit, we would have immigrant students come into the school around about the end of October as soon as the crops were harvested in the Texas Valley. Parents would then come to the larger cities to find winter work. By the time I left there was no influx of students. Our student population stayed about the same all year.
2. Character Assassination/Ad Hominem. Fox does not like to waste time debating the idea. Instead, they prefer a quicker route to dispensing with their opponents: go after the person's credibility, motives, intelligence, character, or, if necessary, sanity. No category of character assassination is off the table and no offense is beneath them. Fox and like-minded media figures also use ad hominem attacks not just against individuals, but entire categories of people in an effort to discredit the ideas of every person who is seen to fall into that category, e.g. "liberals," "hippies," "progressives" etc. This form of argument - if it can be called that - leaves no room for genuine debate over ideas, so by definition, it is undemocratic. Not to mention just plain crass. Fox has attacked President Obama as a non-citizen. They demand his long form birth certificate, and even though they got it; they still continue to bring up the issue like it is somehow false. Obama was born in Hawaii. Both his parents were attending college there. When they finished their education, his father went home to Kenya. His mother did not. The President was only a couple of months old when this happend. He did not meet his father until he was 10 or 12 in Hawaii while living with his grandparents. As one might guess, he resented him for having left them. So the month long visit was not a very good one. They have accused him of being Muslim instead of Christian despite the fact that there is no evidence that he ever attended a Muslim Masque in his life. I could go on and on, but I think everyone can readily think of other examples.
3. Projection/Flipping. This one is frustrating for the viewer who is trying to actually follow the argument. It involves taking whatever underhanded tactic you're using and then accusing your opponent of doing it to you first. We see this frequently in the immigration discussion, where anti-racists are accused of racism, or in the climate change debate, where those who argue for human causes of the phenomenon are accused of not having science or facts on their side. It's often called upon when the media host finds themselves on the ropes in the debate. Another perfectly good example of this is the Right to Work Bill. It sounds like American citizens have the Right to Work. It is something good for you. Well, that is not the true meaning. What the Bill actually says is that all government employees give up their right to bargain or even negoiate with their employers. They give up the right to question a firing or a hiring. It does break the unions to the point that they can be of little service to the people. What amazes me is that people cannot see that it starts with Teachers, Firemen, Policemen, and then it will move to everyone. And we see that happening already in the State of Arizona. Right to Works means you give up your rights so that you will have to work for whatever the boss wants to pay you, and you have no recourse whatsoever. Another example of this is the way Mitt Romney is figthing for tax cuts for the wealthy while saying that Obama is practicing cronyism. Quite the contrary. Obama is fighting to lower middle class taxes and increase the taxes of the super rich, that one percent who are making obscene profits while paying half the taxes of a secretary or teacher. The GOP candidates call this Class Warfare. Since when do the Billionaires of the world have to feel persecuted? They most surely are NOT the job makers. In fact, they have voted themselves huge tax breaks through their lobbyists to take their jobs to third world countries like China and India were people can be made to work horrible hours for little pay. A $1.50 a day for 12 - 16 hrs shifts are not unheard of at all. China has people jumping off buildings because of their work conditions for so little pay.
4. Rewriting History. This is another way of saying that propagandists make the facts fit their worldview. The Downing Street Memos on the Iraq war were a classic example of this on a massive scale, but it happens daily and over smaller issues as well. A [case in point] is Palin's mangling of the Paul Revere ride, which Fox reporters bent over backward to validate. Why lie about the historical facts, even when they can be demonstrated to be false? Well, because dogmatic minds actually find it easier to reject reality than to update their viewpoints. They will literally rewrite history if it serves their interests. And they'll often speak with such authority that the casual viewer will be tempted to question what they knew as fact. A fine example of this is the way the GOP is saying that Pres. Obama is responsible for the economic mess we are in. When as a matter of fact, 3.7 million jobs have been added
since he came into office. The GOP just keeps saying the opposite despite the fact that it is not true. But if you do not check, you believe. When it smells like a falsehood, I want to find the source of the bad aroma! And I most usually do easily enough.
5. Scapegoating/Othering. This works best when people feel insecure or scared. It's technically a form of both fear mongering and diversion, but it is so pervasive that it deserves its own category. The simple idea is that if you can find a group to blame for social or economic problems, you can then go on to a) justify violence/dehumanization of them, and b) subvert responsibility for any harm that may befall them as a result. A current example of this is the blame game of Blacks. Newt Gingrich says Blacks have no model for a work ethic. His solution is to put Black children to work cleaning schools, a really ludirous suggestion. Newt talks as if Black people are the only ones drawing food stamps when in actuality Whites use food stamps much more than any minority. In this day with jobs being shipped over seas, food stamps in my estimation is the soup lines of the Great Depression.
6. Conflating Violence With Power and Opposition to Violence With Weakness. This is more of what I'd call a "meta-frame" (a deeply held belief) than a media technique, but it is manifested in the ways news is reported constantly. For example, terms like "show of strength" are often used to describe acts of repression, such as those by the Iranian regime against the protesters in the summer of 2009. There are several concerning consequences of this form of conflation. First, it has the potential to make people feel falsely emboldened by shows of force - it can turn wars into sporting events. Secondly, especially in the context of American politics, displays of violence - whether manifested in war or debates about the Second Amendment - are seen as noble and (in an especially surreal irony) moral. Violence become synonymous with power, patriotism and piety. Example for me is the way the GOP candidates are saying they will go back to war in the Middle East that Obama took us out too soon, when in actuality, he followed Bush's purposed time limit for the war. And he brought home our military. I do not hear of violence in Iraq. But I do hear the People of other Middle Eastern countries fighting for a democratic form of government. Another example of how this works is the constant telling of the tale that Obama has weakened us by bringing home the military and asking for cuts in the military budget. We right now have to strongest military in the world, In fact ten times stronger than the nearest of country. Not even China has a military like we do. Of course, China has so many people that they are expendible. But I do not think that will ever come to be problem because we have the air power. When one nuclear bomb can destroy the world, why do we need massive amounts of them. What do we think we can do, explode us right into space to another world. I don't think so. It is purely fear mongering!
7. Bullying. This is a favorite technique of several Fox commentators. That it continues to be employed demonstrates that it seems to have some efficacy. Bullying and yelling works best on people who come to the conversation with a lack of confidence, either in themselves or their grasp of the subject being discussed. The bully exploits this lack of confidence by berating the guest into submission or compliance. Often, less self-possessed people will feel shame and anxiety when being berated and the quickest way to end the immediate discomfort is to cede authority to the bully. The bully is then able to interpret that as a "win." My example in this regard is negative example. I could site many incidents of this bullying technique, but instead I want to site its failure. When Jon Stewart was on Fox, he literally took down the interviewer. I will have to search out his name. I don't think it was Glen Beck, but the other guy that is like him. Damn, I can see his face clearly. I'll look for it.
8. Confusion. As with the preceding technique, this one works best on an audience that is less confident and self-possessed. The idea is to deliberately confuse the argument, but insist that the logic is airtight and imply that anyone who disagrees is either too dumb or too fanatical to follow along. Less independent minds will interpret the confusion technique as a form of sophisticated thinking, thereby giving the user's claims veracity in the viewer's mind. Here again, I think of the military argument. Remember how Bush could say or do anything about the war in Iraq and if you disagreed, you were painted as UnAmerican! Best example I can think of right off hand.
9. Populism. This is especially popular in election years. The speakers identifies themselves as one of "the people" and the target of their ire as an enemy of the people. The opponent is always "elitist" or a "bureaucrat" or a "government insider" or some other category that is not the people. The idea is to make the opponent harder to relate to and harder to empathize with. It often goes hand in hand with scapegoating. A common logical fallacy with populism bias when used by the right is that accused "elitists" are almost always liberals - a category of political actors who, by definition, advocate for non-elite groups. Oh, yes, everyone of our GOP candidates are trying to paint themselves as one of the people. I think Mitt Romney is a fine example. He bets $10,000 on a hypothetical argument. He has bought blue jeans probably for the first time in his life. He claims he was afraid of a pink slip. The man is obscenely wealthy, and yet he is fighting to keep his and his cronies tax rates cheaper than a secretary. Then he twists around and says Obama is guilty of cronyism.
10. Invoking the Christian God. This is similar to othering and populism. With morality politics, the idea is to declare yourself and your allies as patriots, Christians and "real Americans" (those are inseparable categories in this line of thinking) and anyone who challenges them as not. Basically, God loves Fox and Republicans and America. And hates taxes and anyone who doesn't love those other three things. Because the speaker has been benedicted by God to speak on behalf of all Americans, any challenge is perceived as immoral. It's a cheap and easy technique used by all totalitarian entities from states to cults. Yes, we see continually. It is easier to have people worried about prayer in school and burning flags than to focus on the real issues. The constant argument that this is a Christian country and that somehow Christians are being persecuted. Newt Gingrich has gone so far as to say that Pres. Obama is threatening the Christian Religion. That somehow he is attacking our core religious beliefs when he is truly a Christian and has always been so. His Mother was like a White hippie girl over educated, but she was dedicated to taking care of people, fighting for better conditions. She was like a peace core lady here, there over the world. Barack Obama was raised by his White grandparents who were devote Christians. Now when do people believe that he converted to Islam? Did his Kenyan father brainwash him in the month or so that he saw him as a child? I doubt that. Obama was a child, and he felt his father had deserted both him and his mother. He did not visitu Africa until after his father's death.
11. Saturation. There are three components to effective saturation: being repetitive, being ubiquitous and being consistent. The message must be repeated cover and over, it must be everywhere and it must be shared across commentators: e.g. "Saddam has WMD." Veracity and hard data have no relationship to the efficacy of saturation. There is a psychological effect of being exposed to the same message over and over, regardless of whether it's true or if it even makes sense, e.g., "Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States." If something is said enough times, by enough people, many will come to accept it as truth. Another example is Fox's own slogan of "Fair and Balanced."
Fox news is adept at this one and so are the GOP candidates. They repeat the same lies over and over again knowing that if they keep telling you long enough and you don't check on them because you trust them; you will be indoctrinated into believing their nonsense. And it works.
12. Disparaging Education. There is an emerging and disturbing lack of reverence for education and intellectualism in many mainstream media discourses. In fact, in some circles (e.g. Fox), higher education is often disparaged as elitist. Having a university credential is perceived by these folks as not a sign of credibility, but of a lack of it. In fact, among some commentators, evidence of intellectual prowess is treated snidely and as anti-American. The disdain for education and other evidence of being trained in critical thinking are direct threats to a hive-mind mentality, which is why they are so viscerally demeaned. I most surely see this in action as a teacher in a way that the general public might not. If you are chanting sayings like "no child left behind" as an excuse for the testing that is going on in schools regardless of the subject matter being taught, then you are dumbing down the students. A population that is not educated is an easy population to control! It is more difficult for an uneducated individual to see through the types of things discussed here. This is not saying people are stupid. I know many individuals who are not highly educated who are very intelligent. But I also know that it is much easier for them to be susceptible to these techniques. If there is one thing I learned for higher education it is the ability to look at any argument from every angle. I can whip out a 30 page paper in a day with research and give you a really good insite into what it really means in words that anyone can understand. I'm not bragging, it is just a fact. That takes practice and the trained ability to approach any topic from a neutral position and figure out the meaning. You must be well practiced at finding many different sources of material both pro and con and finding the core knowledge available and then what it truly means. I'm over educated and I know it, but it serves me well.
13. Guilt by Association. This is a favorite of Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart, both of whom have used it to decimate the careers and lives of many good people. Here's how it works: if your cousin's college roommate's uncle's ex-wife attended a dinner party back in 1984 with Gorbachev's niece's ex-boyfriend's sister, then you, by extension are a communist set on destroying America. Period. If the pastor of your church ever said anything that could be constured to have a negative connotation, you grab it by the horns and twist it until it is nothing of what it was. Lots of examples when Pres. Obama was running; the pastor of his church, Acorn, and the fact that he worked with poor communities as did his mother. None of that business said anything about the President. It could not be proved, but it was said over and over again until people believed it to be true. Newts' Sal Alinska comparision covered in detail in the 14.
14. Diversion. This is where, when on the ropes, the media commentator suddenly takes the debate in a weird but predictable direction to avoid accountability. This is the point in the discussion where most Fox anchors start comparing the opponent to Saul Alinsky or invoking ACORN or Media Matters, in a desperate attempt to win through guilt by association. Or they'll talk about wanting to focus on "moving forward," as though by analyzing the current state of things or God forbid, how we got to this state of things, you have no regard for the future. Any attempt to bring the discussion back to the issue at hand will likely be called deflection, an ironic use of the technique of projection/flipping. Who the hell is this Saul Alinsky who is proported to be influencing everyone from the President right down to over educated me. I have about 12 years of higher education behind me, and I never heard of the man! Here from Wikipedia:
Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 – June 12, 1972) was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing, and has been compared to Thomas Paine as being "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left."[4] He is often noted for his book Rules for Radicals.
In the course of nearly four decades of political organizing, Alinsky received much criticism, but also gained praise from many public figures. His organizing skills were focused on improving the living conditions of poor communities across North America. In the 1950s, he began turning his attention to improving conditions of the African-Americanghettos, beginning with Chicago's and later traveling to other ghettos in California, Michigan, New York City, and a dozen other "trouble spots".
His ideas were later adapted by some U.S. college students and other young organizers in the late 1960s and formed part of their strategies for organizing on campus and beyond.[5] Time magazine once wrote that "American democracy is being altered by Alinsky's ideas," and conservative author William F. Buckley said he was "very close to being an organizational genius.
Now as a community organizer, Obama may have been aware of him. That was most surely not my direction. I majored in studio art and art history, then for my masters program I chose Art Education and the history of education. I went in circles and took much more than needed because I purely wanted the knowledge. After reading this brief biography, I would say Sal Alinsky was a decent example to follow, but whether or not Obama did is not proven except that Newt Gingrich pulled it out of his knowledge of history. Which is even more scary, because he knows these techniques very well and deliberately uses them. This is a man that is capable of Hitler like characteristics though he has compared Obama to Hitler. ~
In debating some of these tactics with colleagues and friends, I have also noticed that the Fox viewership seems to be marked by a sort of collective personality disorder whereby the viewer feels almost as though they've been let into a secret society. Something about their affiliation with the network makes them feel privileged and this affinity is likely what drives the viewers to defend the network so vehemently. They seem to identify with it at a core level, because it tells them they are special and privy to something the rest of us don't have. It's akin to the loyalty one feels by being let into a private club or a gang. That effect is also likely to make the propaganda more powerful, because it goes mostly unquestioned.
In considering these tactics and their possible effects on American public discourse, it is important to note that historically, those who've genuinely accessed truth have never berated those who did not. You don't get honored by history when you beat up your opponent: look at Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln. These men did not find the need to engage in othering, ad homeinum attacks, guilt by association or bullying. This is because when a person has accessed a truth, they are not threatened by the opposing views of others. This reality reveals the righteous indignation of people like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity as a symptom of untruth. These individuals are hostile and angry precisely because they don't feel confident in their own veracity. And in general, the more someone is losing their temper in a debate and the more intolerant they are of listening to others, the more you can be certain they do not know what they're talking about.
One final observation. Fox audiences, birthers and Tea Partiers often defend their arguments by pointing to the fact that a lot of people share the same perceptions. This is a reasonable point to the extent that Murdoch's News Corporation reaches a far larger audience than any other single media outlet. But, the fact that a lot of people believe something is not necessarily a sign that it's true; it's just a sign that it's been effectively marketed.
As honest, fair and truly intellectual debate degrades before the eyes of the global media audience, the quality of American democracy degrades along with it.
Dr. Cynthia Boaz is assistant professor of political science at Sonoma State University. She is also vice president of the Metta Center for Nonviolence and on the board of Project Censored and the Media Freedom Foundation. Dr. Boaz is also a contributing writer and adviser to Truthout.org and associate editor of Peace and Change Journal.
© 2012 TruthOut.org All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/151497~
February 1, 2012 http://youtu.be/VlZkm9hoFlc Sen. Reid talks Deficit
I have added a short article below about the subject of this entry.
I know that I make reference to this book frequently, but I believe that Upton Sinclair’s, "The Jungle", should be ‘a must’ reading for all high school history students. The book makes the case for the importance of keeping unions in this country viable. But more than that, it illustrates in a way a history book or teacher cannot the extent of the problem back in the good ole days the Republican Party is advocating a return. I feel sure the Tea Party members have never read nor even heard of this book, and I would challenge anyone of them to read the book then rethink their stance of a smaller government with no regulations and no collective bargaining rights! Getting the government out of our lives is not the answer to our current problems. The breaking of the unions is a case in point as a symptom of what the GOP is advocating.
Ronald Reagan, the Great White Leader of the Republican Party, began the process of breaking the unions during his reign… ahem… during his administration in 1981 when he broke the Air Traffic Comptrollers Union. Shortly after he took office he fired about 12,000 federal air traffic controllers who went on strike thus beginning the Republican movement to break the unions. As a symptom of that continued effort we have the “Right to Work” bills coming forward across the country a state at a time. Wisconsin is now in the process of recalling a Governor over this Union breaking bill. And now the Republicans in the Arizona state senate have introduced a package of bills on union busting that make Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker look like a pro union man.
Arizona already has a “right to work” bill that severely diminishes the role of unions, though they still have a seat at the bargaining table for pay and benefits negotiation. The new bills would outlaw collective bargaining for public employees completely and that would include police officers and firefighters. Part of the package of bills would outlaw automatic payroll deductions for union dues and compensation for employees for union work. What these new republican laws will do is stamp out what few union rights remain. They will completely do away with collective bargaining rights. And as the unions for public workers go so soon will all the others.
What’s happening in Wisconsin and now in Arizona is only a symptom of the problem. We are dealing with a Republican Party that is working steadily to destroy the rights of workers across this country… not just unions, but the rights of workers in general. At the same time they are pushing steadily to deregulate everything on a horrendous scale in the name of cutting back the federal government.
This brings me to another topic I feel strongly about and that is education. We have been dumbing down our educational standards for decades. In fact, I would hazard the suggestion that it has been happening since the Civil Rights movement when segregation was ended. Instead of bringing the African American students up to the level of the white students, the standards were lowered so that it would be easier for them to “catch up.” What this meant was that the white students did not have to work so hard to get the good grades they had been receiving. The nature of children is to do what they have to do and little more. Few are actually motivated to push ahead on their own.
2011: Exxon’s total profit was $41.06 Billion or $1300 every second… and they cannot afford to pay 30% Tax rate like the rest of us? Pays estimated 17.6% in taxes
Arizona: Worse than Wisconsin!?! By Kelli Long
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Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:22 PM EST
In the letter Arizona Governor Jan Brewer handed to President Obama during their now infamous encounter on the tarmac in Phoenix, she wrote:
"I'd love an opportunity to share with you how we've been able to turn Arizona around with hard choices that turned out to be the right ones…
You can be the judge of whether Jan Brewer's "hard choices" have been "the right ones" so far. But the latest choice Brewer's Republican Party has made is unquestionably the wrong one for workers in her state.
Republicans in the Arizona state senate have introduced a package of union busting bills that make Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker look pro-union.
The bills were introduced Monday night, and they would:
-Outlaw all collective bargaining for public employees, including police officers and firefighters (The WI law exempted public safety workers)
-Outlaw automatic payroll deductions for union dues.
-Outlaw the compensation of public employees for union work.
Arizona is ALREADY a so-called "right-to-work" state, which means unions have a severely diminished role. But they still have a seat at the bargaining table. They can still negotiate pay and benefits for members, to a certain extent. But these new republican laws stamp out the few remaining union rights. They will completely do away with collective bargaining.
Arizona Senate Minority Leader, democrat David Schapira said of the legislation: "It looks like an all-out assault on the right of workers to organize."
But the radical legislation isn't enough for Governor Jan Brewer. She wants to take the destruction of state workers' rights a step further. Governor Brewer wants public employees to give up employment protections, such as the right to appeal if they are fired or demoted, in return for a 5% raise.
January 30, 2012
This morning I have awakened to the knowledge that the head of the RNC has compared President Obama to the Italian Captain of the Cruise Liner that went aground. I am appalled. I have heard and seen such disrespect for President Obama that I am stunned. I expect it from FOXnews, but I do not expect it from the Head of the RNC. Such blatantly ignorant comments are simply unconscionable. The GOP has become so vitriol in their comments that I can hardly believe that people anywhere in this country would be listening, much less believing this nonsense.
From the day President Obama was elected he started receiving death threats. Before he even got in office, death threats! There is only one reason for this form of hatred and that is prejudice. The Pres. has worked tirelessly for the middle class with little support from his own party in congress and nothing but obstructionism from the other side of the aisle. The “just say no” Congress has blocked his every effort.
I believe that he tried the first couple of years to work with the other side. What he got for his efforts was nothing… just nothing. The main goal of the GOP was and is to get Obama out of the White House at all costs. And the right seems willing to follow them to their own destruction. The GOP wants more tax cuts for the wealthy. That is their entire plank! That’s it; tax breaks for the job makers! The rest is smoke screen. And I see people I consider intelligent believing their propaganda. Where are the jobs they have been making for the last 10 years? I can tell you easily… they are in third world countries like India, Mexico, and China. They are not making jobs in the U.S.A. that is for sure. And yet people want them to continue their trickle down economics where the only people who profit are the so called job makers! The trickle down is right into the pockets of the 1%.
Mitt Romney is the 1%. He is running as and for the 1%. Newt Gingrich is a kook… seriously, the man is delusional. Moon stations? For God’s sake, a moon station is part of his platform. But still Newt is for tax cuts for the 1%! What is so hard to see about that stance? For the last 10 years we have been giving tax breaks to the 1%, the so-called job makers! And God knows they have made jobs… in third world countries that is!!! And they have made record profits in fact obscenely record profits to the tune of over 200%! What have they done for the middle class? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! The middle class is shrinking at appalling rates. And I hear and see people acting like they are not aware of the mess we are in and who is at fault! These same people are ready to vote for more of their own demise!
The biggest issue is jobs… jobs and restoring the middle class. Rick Perry has the record for most jobs; of course, Texas is the largest state in the Union after Alaska. Perry has made low end jobs just like the Right to Work states. Right to Work means right to give up your rights so that you can work for whatever they want to pay you… with or without benefits. You have given up your bargaining rights so you cannot question these things.
Fact: 0.06 job growth between 2001 -07 during the Bush administration. Can anyone say they were better off during the Bush administration? I don’t think so. Things have been steadily going down hill for the middle class since Clinton’s administration. We are quickly becoming nonexistent. And still people do not see the writing on the walls. Pres. Obama bailed out the Auto Companies with the GOP fighting tooth and nail, Romney saying to just let them go bankrupt. Well, Obama did not let them go bankrupt, now GM is once again the top rating Auto Co. in the world and tens of thousands of people did NOT lose their jobs! Who was right? Who was wrong? This should be pretty obvious. Pres. Obama made millions of jobs with the bail out for the auto industry. The GOP tried to block him. Thankfully they failed.
Pres. Obama brought the troops home from Iraq, but not before finding and killing Osama bin Laden! His military and foreign policies are amazing. And yet, most believe what FOXnews tells them, and that is that he is some kind of terrorist himself! There has been an orchestrated campaign by the GOP to discredit Pres. Obama from the day he was elected until today from denying his birth certificate to claiming he is a Muslim extremist.
In all my years of watching elections, I have never seen such political ugliness. I have watched the slow deterioration to this level through the last few elections. Now it has reached an unprecedented level of ugliness. Our politics seems to be deteriorating to that of a 3rd world country. And that is exactly where our politics have been leading us… to that of a 3rd world country. If People do not wake up and see the handwriting on the wall, we are all doomed to losing the Democracy of our Founding Fathers.
Right now we are living under a Corporate Dictatorship, but in name only. Big money is running this country. And the GOP is merely a front for that very entity. President Obama has been fighting for the rights of the middle class. I hope the middle class will have enough sense to fight for him!
I’m too tired to do more right now, but I’m going to put this up anyway… with more to follow.
January 18, 2012 (proof read and added to 1/20/12)
Okay, I have been so ill with the flu that I have not been able to bring myself to come here and comment of the latest political news. I am actually appalled at some of the things I am hearing.
Let’s start with the Keystone Pipeline purposed from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast, which looks like Houston, Texas (4th largest city in the US) on the maps shown on the news programs (most recent map looks like Dallas, not surprised as that is where our most famous oil man, Bush Jr. lives). There is a lot of news about the possibility that Pres. Obama plans to veto the bill despite the fact that it is attached to the tax renewal bill. I have recently learned that he did veto the bill due to lack of time to vette the issues. Nebraska Governor, for one, refuses to allow the pipeline to cross his state. This does indeed require that we revisit this issue soon. I'm quite sure the GOP will not let it rest. I hope Pres. Obama can stand his ground on this one.
As an AmerIndian, I am very aware that we are in the middle of Earth Changes aka Climate Changes… not just mild changes, but in many cases extreme measures. That pipe line will pass through major Flood Plains, Tornado Allies, and Wild Fire Zones. Over that vast expanse of the long pipe route there are Earthquake Fault Lines and the possibility of Volcanoes in other areas. Let’s not forget to mention the Nuclear Power Plants along the route. Our Big Business planning sites have proven to take little of those things into consideration when making their designated sites for major projects. As an example, we have Nuclear Power Plants built on Earthquake fault lines all across this country! And that is a fact.
The very idea that this would be a true job creator is another fallacy. It will take years merely to drill the gas line. It will be done with the fracking (aka, hydraulic fracturing or industrial gas drilling) technique, a method that is a dangerous way of getting oil and gas and a shortsighted energy strategy. It’s poisoning our air and water all across the country already and on its way to jeopardizing the health of millions more Americans. I just learned that the northern part of Texas just experienced a 3.2 earthquake coincidentally near a fracking area. We can find a better way… one that protects our health and gives us clean, safe energy sources that never run out. (just heard that Obama has created over a million jobs in this areas or these are at the very least the potential to do so, I only caught part of this commentary) Along with the unprecedented gas drilling boom has come troubling reports of poisoned drinking water, polluted air, mysterious animal deaths, industrial disasters and explosions. These situations are called Fraccidents (so frequent that they even have a name for it). Check out this website for more information.
http://earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/fracking-gone-wrong-finding-a-better-way?gclid=CLSfhb-t2q0CFWhjTAodZUHOnQ
As well let us consider the benefits of this pipeline; jobs are the major argument coming from the Right. The GOP claims it will make tens of thousands of jobs. This is false. It will create no more than 5000 jobs and more nearly only about 2500, those mostly in Canada, in short term construction work. Then we will be at the mercy of Canada for bargaining rights to said product.
The major beneficiaries of the Keystone Pipeline will be the Oil Companies. And they have powerful Super Pacs and Lobbying machines. As we well know, the GOP is run by the Major Corporations in this country, and Big Oil is right there amongst them.
Much more sensible to make jobs in the Solar and Wind industries as these are clean as well as long lasting methods of supplying energy and jobs. Many more jobs would be created using these methods for our energy needs. This country is perfect for both Solar and Wind. Compare our resources for such to other countries who are building these methods far in advance of the USA. And we are talking of jobs that would benefit the people in the job market. Let us consider infrastructure all across this country for a job maker. This is something we desperately need. You will not hear any of these suggestions from the GOP. Because these ideas will benefit the majority of Americans, NOT just the major oil companies.
As an AmerIndian, we have a responsibility to the Earth Mother. I am acutely aware of these facts as the Elders have prophesized the Changes to the Earth that we are already experiencing. Only a person with their head buried in the sand could dispute this fact. These Changes are not going to get better. As a matter of fact, they will continue to worsen. We have only just begun this process.
The Earth Mother is a living organism. She lives and breathes. And She has survived many, many complete annihilations of her surface and the People who crawl upon Her back. What does an animal do when it is covered with vermin and we are little more than that to this Planet? It will submerge itself in water to drown them, and it will roll in dirt to smother them out. The Earth Mother is doing these things. Plus She can burn her surface without damage to Her being and freeze other areas to kill the vermin on her back. Droughts will starve them out. She can crack open Her surface and swallow up the vermin. She can spew Her hot blood across the Earth as molten lava. And she will do all these things of this I can assure you. And would you pause and think of these things, I know that you cannot but acknowledge that She is doing so already. And these measures are coming quicker and closer together than ever before. Elders have said that in the end it will be like rolling up the surface of the Earth Mother to start again anew. This our sciencists have proven. I take this to mean that the Earth Mother may rotate upon Her axes changing the entire surface of the Planet.
There may be no time to turn back the clock on these Earth Changes, but we can at least not add to them. To hasten our demise is insanity. And yet there are those who refuse to think beyond the Almighty Dollar. These ones will be destroyed just as well as all of the innocent vermin on the back of the Earth Mother. It is sad to say, but true. We are at a turning point in the history of mankind. We can either continue on our path and disappear as many other cultures have done or we can wake up and begin to accept that we are the ones who will become extinct, not the Earth Mother. She will survive as she has survived for millions of years. She is nearly infallible. We can not say the same of ourselves.
Traditional Indian peoples all across this land “dance to hold up the sky.” We dance to save the People… not just my culture, but all who live upon the surface of the Earth Mother.
Now these are things that have been taught my people forever. We are remnants of destroyed cultures, and we as a People all over this world (Indigenous Peoples) recall the history of this planet in a way that science or history does not completely understand yet and may never. But when these stories passed down from generations to generations are compared to the science and history of the World as we know it, one must admit that there is a knowledge buried deep within these ideas that are steeped in the true ancient history of the Earth Mother. Not the recorded history that we know, but the history of those who have walked the very path that we walk now on this Planet as we know Her today.
Am I preaching doom and gloom? Call it what you will. These things are facts, not speculations. And I pray that we wake up and try to change our ways… if it is not already too late. Despite the fact that I am a well educated woman, I am also a woman of the People. So I carry that knowledge within me. When I hear an Elder allude to these matters, my inner being tells me that it is true.
For now this is it on that subject.
But I want to address briefly the issues of racism in the GOP. And the double talk that we are hearing from the candidates. These people are appealing to the basest nature in humanity. And I am again appalled. How far have we come as a People that respects all within our Culture? There are more white people on welfare and food stamps than blacks, and yet Newt Gingrich continues to insult a minority that has struggled to bring them to where they are. Gingrich wants black children to work as janitors. Yes, by all means, lets fire their parents and put 30 or more children in charge of cleaning schools. And let us allow Newt to "herd" them (Newt and Paul seem to assume that they are little more than animals/sheep lost in a pasture of plenty off the government teat.) through the school for this cleaning process. The man is ludicrous in his pandering to the Right. And he may actually reap what he sows in this regard. Not all white people believe that black children are little more than animals to be treated as such.
Ron Paul accuses 13 year old black boys of being no more than thugs who should be treated like adults when they err. I taught in an inner city middle school. Let me assure you that some of these 13-14 year old boys aren’t even as tall as me. Many of them look more like elementary school kids than middle school due to poor diet. To characterize them as thugs who are only planning to steal from the whites is ludicrous. They are much more likely to believe that white people do not want them to get ahead. I fought to assure them that white people are too concerned with their own lives to worry or care if they pull themselves up by their boot straps, go to school and follow their dreams. There are, of course, those who are willing to break the law; but there are also those amongst whites as well and all peoples. I’m really frightened of rhetoric that is so inflammable. The extreme right fears black revolt, and if they continue to travel this road of insult and injury; they might get it. And they will have no one to blame but themselves.
Mitt Romney is a wealthy man, in fact, one of the wealthiest in the world. He has no understanding of the middle class at all. He is part of the 1% that is making money hand over fist at the expense of the lower classes. Right now he has said that he believes he pays around 15% of his income in taxes while a middle class or poor individual pays 35% and more. And the last thing he wants to do is raise taxes on the wealthy! The job makers will take their jobs elsewhere if not given corporate welfare! Well, my question, where are the jobs that the job makers have made with all the tax breaks they have received since the beginning of the Bush dynasty? We know where they are… third world countries. And I don’t think we need allow them more tax breaks to make MORE jobs overseas or to speculate with! I, for one, am sick of this double standard being crammed down the throats of the Right wing without their knowledge it appears! The GOP has this "keep them pregnant, barefoot and ignorant" attitude, and it shows in everyone of their policies. Why do I care about the Right wingers receiving false information? Simple, they are part of the over all population. As long as there are those who fall for these Snake Oil Salesmen and their false wares, the longer it will take for us to have real change in this country.
I must add another note here: Hermain Cain was drummed out of the GOP race for his sexual indiscretions. While Newt Gingrich is receiving applause for his! What is this double standard? Gingrich asking his first wife for divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery so that he could marry a woman with whom he had been having an affaire. Right after his second wife was diagnosed with MS with the doctor saying not to upset her, he asks for an open marriage so that he could carry on an affair of 6 years in the open! Now he has married this woman. I hope she does not become ill! She may learn that her husband has been having an affair with another woman. Oh, I forgot, she doesn't care what he does or anyway so he told his 2nd wife. And the Right? Newt says he is appalled that his past would be subject to scrutiny. He surely was not defending Cain for the same behavior. He appeared not to be appalled in the least that there was an overwhelming condemnation of the man.
I’m just recovering from the flu, so this is draining me. I will proof read at another time as Waban is often known to advice. I will let a little time pass between that process and the immediate goal of getting a rough draft on paper… or type. ;)
January 10, 2012 (proof read with no changes)
Now, Bird, I think you will find when you have the time that there will be little repairs with proof reading of the material below at a later time. LOL Relax now... you have done well... and though this last entry was about you; you did an excellent job of being a clear channel. You merely did not listen much and allowed it to flow through you, because you did not feel invested in the subject matter... and that was a good thing. You must allow yourself to feel that way about all entries. You did not feel invested because it was personal to you as opposed to the type of spiritual information about the nature of reality that we are imparting, to you a weighty subject. You fear that you might be inhibiting that information in some way; therefore, it is difficult at times for you to just let go and let it be what it is. I find this amusing in a way. You would allow me to say whatever I choose about you personally without concern. LOL
You do not need to be concerned about what we send through you otherwise, Bird. You know this well. It will always be for your highest good and for that of your readers. Consciously, you know this, yet on another level you have some fears. I do indeed hope that we will elevate those misgiving completely in the very near future so that you can allow yourself to be the best channel that you can be for we know your devotion to doing so.
We also know that you have been having expanded awareness in the dream state. This is not an accident or a mere coincident. Pay attention, Bird... pay attention. *smiling broadly*
I Am Waban... I could just as easily say, We are Waban... and it would be just as apt. We are your Guides and Teachers on the other side. I speak for a collective of Guides and Teachers, a collective not unlike that of each of your readers.
January 8, 2012 (proofread with minor changes)
4.9 Million children with pre-existing conditions will lose medical care coverage under a Republican President who will repeal Obamacare! And I will lose mine as well, so much for the compassionate GOP.
I deal with chronic depression and a mild bi-polar condition, pre-existing conditions from before I lost my job due to budget constraints within the school district. Fine arts teachers are expendable. I loved my job, but I don't want to go back. I realize now that the stress of my job in an inner city school added greatly to my mental condition. I'm doing very well now with less meds. Even my diabetes is improving. Stress simply plays havoc with the human body.
Peachbird, it was for your highest good that your job came to an end. You had invested much, much too much of your time and energy into a job that was becoming deteriorating to your health... a job where your benefit was not appreciated.
You were an asset to your school that they did not appreciate in the last few years. It is even now that they are recalling the difference in the way things were while you were there on that end of the main floor nearest the office. You kept order pretty much by your own commanding presence, and your high expectations, and the fact that the students respected you. They knew how much you cared even though they would fight you at times. Now those same students who remain at the school recall that you lost your job due to so-called budget constraints. And it was budget constraints indeed. A new teacher would not have earned the higher amount that you required. You did not choose to leave and the students knew it. When next fall came around, the school hired another art teacher. Those students ran rough shod over that teacher in large part because they resented that they had taken your job and given it to another. She could not handle what you had handled for 12 years, and soon left.
As well the administrators did not appreciate what a large influence you had over the 6th graders entering middle school for the first time. You had most of them in your art classes and you taught them how to be in school or any public place in a right way. You taught them a new self respect for themselves and their school that was much needed. By influencing those 6 graders you set the ground work for the rest of their time at that school and beyond. The administrators thought they were the biggest influence on the children and resented anything you tried to do beyond your job as art teacher. Your influence over the children was mostly felt by outsiders visiting in your classroom. They could see easily that you were a major force for well being in that school. And they praised the art work you displayed all up and down the halls; and they praised you highly to your students.
One person can make that kind of difference. And that was your purpose there. You did make a difference that will be felt by an entire generation of students from that school. You had given enough of yourself to that purpose. And it reached the point that the administrators and some of the teachers resented you for whatever you accomplished there. They wanted all the credit to go to the African American teachers as they were the majority. They did not think that anyone else should be seen as making a difference that they could not, especially not a "white face" for that is how they saw you. By your age alone and experiences in education, you were a driving force within the student body even though there were many times that those same teachers/administrators tried to put a barrier between you and those students.
Now they begin to see and to know. But they do not even now want to admit the truth. What you gave those students was a different view of the world. You opened their minds to what could be without prejudice and hard work coupled with high self esteem. They grew to trust and respect that you were there only for them. And that you had their highest good at heart. You taught them to control their emotions where others did not. They did not use profanity in your room and you would not tolerate fights; therefore, they did not behave in that manner for you. You taught them that they were their finest work of art… a work of art in progress… and that they should never give up on themselves. You would have made a wonderful principal, but your job was done there. An entire generation was impacted by your love and caring of that you can be sure and extremely proud.
And we on this side of your reality are very proud of you, Peachbird. We want you to feel the love that is yours. We want you to now continue this new avenue of teaching… this time for the good of all who will listen.
I Am Waban…
This was a personal message for our Bird, but all can learn from the words spoken.
January 7, 2012 (proof read)
Just watched the Republican Debate and I most surely cannot say there was a true front runner! It was like a 3 ring circus from where I was sitting… well, maybe a 6 ring circus.
Ron Paul did get a barb in when Gingrich said that his father was serving in Viet Nam during Viet Nam War that struck a cord with me personally. He said as explanation for not going in the service that he was married with one child. Paul said that he was married with 2 children when he was drafted, and he went. I have heard repeatedly that men who were married with children were not being sent to Viet Nam. My husband, a sailor, was married to me. We had one child, and I was pregnant with the second. And he went. And he was sent to be attached to a group of Marines taking them and their supplies up and down the Da Nang River. That was a nightmare for me. Romney avoided the draft by going to France as a missionary. Those poor French, they really needed missionaries during the Viet Nam War!
Pretty much Romney had little to worry about. He looked rather presidential, but made little sense to me; but of course, none of them make much sense to me. One is fighting for Theocratic Pope (Santorum), the other (Romney) is fighting for a Corporate Dictatorship. Romney wants to crack down on China. I guess he forgets that we owe China 3 trillion dollars for a war his Republican President started on credit, because he cut taxes for the wealthiest among us. Perry wants to go back to war in the Middle East AND cut taxes more. Paul wants deregulation until there is nothing left but a Corporate State.
Not one of them has a sensible plan to put people back to work. All they can suggest is more tax cuts for the wealthy and a Right to Work Bill. Said bill will put more people out of work by ending bargaining rights so that workers will work for nothing, with no benefits, and no safety regulation. No one could sensibly talk about the economy, because they are too busy thinking of the wealthiest 1% and turning us into a third world country. But they surely have strong ideas about Gays from marriage to adoption, contraception, and abortions... and Christianity under attack. It was more of the old pleas from before. Santorum says Obama is making war on Christians… aaa… I might as well stop! This is a joke… but I'm not laughing!
Obama will have a field day with these bozos… any one or all of them! He will chew them up and eat them for lunch! As some one said on Twitter, "The Obamas are probably picking out the White House China for next term!" I think that was Michael Steele! LOL