Nov 26, 2010

Mr. Deity on Good, Evil, and David Caruso



This was just the kind of chuckle I needed this morning. Mr. Deity figures out how to let himself off the hook for all the evil in the world.


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Nov 24, 2010

New James Arthur Ray Offer: Health, Wealth, and Vitality!



Hat tip to the Salty Droid for the most recent addition to the James Arthur Ray audacity files. A while ago I posted on Ray's inability (unwillingness?) to reimburse people for seminars he never gave... due to the whole baking people to death in a sweat lodge fall-out.

Am I the only one who sees some irony in someone offering to "mentor" people in "Harmonic Wealth®" because he can't afford to pay them back the money he owes them?

As the Droid points out, nowhere in the email is it explicitly stated that accepting the offered program voids your right to sue for, or in any other sense expect, recompense for the canceled events. For that information you have to look at the disclaimers page which is about as clear as most legalese. The Droid, being an attorney, has helpfully zeroed in on the relevant passage to make that clearer. Unfortunately, I doubt the majority of Ray's students read the Salty Droid.

Anyway, here's the text. All emphases and bracketed commentary are mine. As you can see I have ignored spelling and grammatical errors such as might ordinarily be designated with a "sic"... mostly in the interest of time. 

Subject: Thank you for your patience

I’m writing because you invested in at least one (if not multiple) postponed events with JRI; and I truly understand how it must be frustrating or at the very least disappointing. Thank you so very much for your patience and understanding during a difficult time.

Do you think it’s possible to maintain true Harmonic Wealth® in the darkest and most difficult time you’ve ever faced? I can assure you that it is; and while I’ll never suggest it’s easy… it is possible.

I realize that, just like me, many are going through very tough times in our world right now; and if you’re in a challenging situation like I am, I can certainly relate to what you’re dealing with at a deeper level than I ever could before. [Now, I'm a big believer in the path of the "wounded healer." My clients know me to be a deeply flawed, work in progress. But I also make it a point not to make grandiose claims or promise results like health, wealth, and relationships beyond your wildest dreams. In Ray's case, I think the kindest reading of this most recent pitch is to say, those who can do and those who can't teach.]

Not only am I the same teacher and mentor you chose to help you, but through this difficult time I’ve developed an even broader understanding of how to help you through the greatest of life-challenges. If you’re facing difficulties, I promise you’re not alone; and I want to help you in the best and most powerful way that I can.

So, I’ve taken a lot of time for reflection in the last several months; and I’ve developed a way for you to learn better, faster, and more consistently than ever before.

What I have to offer you is by far the most valuable program I’ve ever developed. Unlike a two to five day event that often fades over time with very little follow through, this program is ongoing and consistent… for six months. And it provides more direct access to me than I’ve ever allowed in the past. [Yeah. Those events that you shelled out thousands of dollars in prepayments for weren't really all that good. THIS is so much better. Lucky you that those crappy, forgettable events were canceled!]

It’s called the Mentoring Event… and here’s how it works:

First, you’ll receive multiple lessons from me in mp3 format, including an extensive downloadable workbook that’s directly related to all these specific lessons. All of my teachings and live events are grounded in the principles taught in these lessons; and I’ve learned so much more over the last year.

In this comprehensive package you’ll learn:
  • How to gain the physical strength and vitality that you truly deserve… [says the former owner of a stash of steroids that would make a German body-builder blush]
  • How to let go of past limitations and breakthrough to new levels of achievement…
  • How to build habits of thoughts, feelings, and actions that guarantee you create the results you desire in all areas of life..
  • The three secrets of compensation and how to guarantee maximum returns immediately…
  • The seven internal drivers that cause you to take action, and how to get moving in the right direction fast…
  • How to understand and master the six keys of influence to use with all those you contact…
  • How to vanquish procrastination once and for all…
  • The single most important factor for visualizing that most students (and teachers) don’t know…
  • How to create powerful relationships and partnerships…
  • The keys to living a truly wealthy, happy and fulfilled life…
  • And much more! As you’re probably aware, in this convenient streaming format you can download the lessons to your iPod, and take them with you wherever you go.

As we discussed earlier, we’ve all had a very difficult year; and understanding these principles has been a life-saver during the most difficult times I’ve ever faced. I trust it will do the same for you.

I’m confident that these lessons and principles with transform your life–no matter what you’re facing–if you’ll just make the commitment to truly study and dive deep with this information and allow it to become internalized within you.

And by the way… I promise you’ve never experienced learning and transformation in the all new way I’m about to share with you!

So now, for the best part of all… the Mentoring…

For 26 straight weeks (that’s a full six months) you’ll receive a never before released lesson and an important assignment–directly from me–to complete each and every week. [Why six months? Well, his trial is set to start on Feb. 14 and to run for 3 1/2 to 4 four months. After which he may or may not be in prison.]

But don’t worry you won’t be alone, because once each week you’ll join me by streaming video, again with never before released material, where I’ll take that week’s lesson to greater depth and detail… so that you truly learn, understand, retain, and apply these strategies into every single area of your life.

In addition the audios of these video mentoring sessions will be recorded and available via mp3 as well… so you can listen to them again and again.

Each week you’ll also receive an additional workbook, designed specifically for you by me, with assignments to complete for that week–new things to think–to feel–to notice–and to act upon–so you’re guaranteed to put what we’ve explored and learned into constant action in your life. [Yes. James Ray will actually tell you what to think and feel. He really just said that.]

Furthermore, at least once each month, , we’ll have a live Q&A call during which any questions you may have will get answered; and we’ll clarify any points that aren’t 100%clear for you. Here’s where you make the jump from just “knowing about” something to truly knowing it and owning it.

And yes, these calls will be recorded and archived as well… for your continued repetition and use.

Remember when I said this program was ongoing and consistent?

Well, these lessons continue every single week for six months!

You’ll learn how to specifically define and prioritize the actions that bring the fastest results and much more!

Now I’m sure you’re aware of what you invested with JRI to attend the events for which you enrolled. But, I really want to over-deliver for you since you’ve been so very patient and understanding… and this is one way I can do it. Thank goodness for the internet or this would never be possible.

When you consider:
  • The amount of personal mentoring and teaching you’ll receive…
  • All of the training materials…
  • Mentoring video’s from me each and every week with never before released information and insights…
  • mp3 lessons of all the principles and lessons, all the weekly video mentoring sessions, and all the live conference calls…
  • Specific weekly assignments, exercises, and workbooks directly from me, with the practices that guarantee results…
  • Monthly conference calls, for you to get all your questions answered…
  • Lifetime free access and membership to review these materials again and again…
  • All the personal time and attention for six months…

I’m hopeful that you’ll see how this provides tremendous life-changing benefits; and is extremely more valuable than what you originally invested in.

Think about it, the event(s) you originally signed up for were a few days long and that was it. With the Mentoring Event I’ve added much more value to this than the sum total of all the others combined. [In case you missed it, the events you originally "invested" thousands of dollars in would have been inferior crap. You are lucky -- LUCKY I SAY -- you can't get your money back.]

For example, at those events, you were in a large room with hundreds of other people and chances are that the closest you’d get was seeing me on stage. With this event you’ll have direct mentoring as well as personal telephone contact for six months. And now you won’t have to travel… which makes it easier and much more cost effective for you to participate.

I just want to share with you again how much I appreciate you choosing me as your teacher and mentor; and how very grateful I am for your patience and understanding during the last year. Providing this Mentoring Event experience is the absolute best and most powerful way I can continue to help you.

I encourage you to take a moment and consider what your life will be like after six months of consistent daily/weekly/monthly learning and application? How different will your thoughts, feelings, and actions be after more than a six month intensive? How different will your results be… for the rest of your life! [And how different will James Arthur Ray's life be in six months? Will he be in prison?]

Oh, and please remember that I’ll be recording all these lessons, videos, and calls and storing them on line; and you’ll have the lifetime free access to reference them again and again. Remember repetition is the second law of learning and transformation.

This new Mentoring Event is something that will forever transform your life. I know what this information has done for me over the years, [Yes. You too can end up broke and facing manslaughter charges!] and for countless others; and I’ve learned so much more that I’m excited to share with you.

I truly hope you’ll allow me to help you get the life-changing information you want and need… and put it into practice like never before.

Let me help you make the next year the very best year of your entire life thus far. [Even though next year Ray himself will be on trial for manslaughter and possibly in prison he can pretty much guarantee that all his little proteges will be doing GREAT!] Click the “enroll me now” button below and let’s get started. I’ll look forward to helping and mentoring you really soon.

Much love and respect,

James Arthur Ray

By my rough count, Ray uses the word "me" thirteen times in that email. Yes, the beauty of the mentoring program is that it allows for the much coveted personal contact with Ray. Whereas, by his own admission, most people only got to see him on stage at his high priced events. Personal contact has always come at a premium at Ray's seminars to the extent that it had the effect of infantilizing participants and creating a state of emotional dependency.

Another aspect of the Harmonic Wealth seminar that Lorena found unsettling was how James Ray would have people stand in line, waiting to talk to him. He would be up on stage in a chair and they would get to stand next to him for about two minutes and talk to him. This is consistent with reports from other attendees of various James Ray seminars that he uses tactics specifically targeted at regressing participants to an emotionally younger age, thus increasing feelings of emotional dependence. Obviously this is not a 100% fool proof method or anything; it is merely one aspect in a combination of techniques aimed at breaking down participants mental resistances.

According to Melinda Martin, not even his employees were allowed to talk to him.

"James was on a pedestal, and he lived in Beverly Hills, and he very, very rarely came to the office," Martin told "Nightline." "And when he would come to the office, he was very quiet and didn't really talk to anyone. And when we would all have group dinners, he would have his assistants next to him. He didn't really like to interact with the rest of his employees."

But now, thanks to the lucky break of having all these prepayed events canceled, his devoted followers can have something that's almost, kinda, sorta, in a notional way, like real face time with the man himself. Bonus!

It occurs to me that one of the problems with making yourself such a vaunted commodity, above and beyond what you teach, means that you had better remain a topnotch product; a living, breathing example of the value you promise. And... umm... how say... Seriously?!!




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Nov 19, 2010

Iconoclasts, Stigmata Martyrs, and William Henry



I have previously expressed my amusement that so many of the greatest proponents of the ten commandments consistently violate the second. The most devout Christians I've known through the years have surrounded themselves with religious imagery. They bow and pray before crosses. They also wear them. Catholics, in particular, are heavily invested in statues of saints and the Blessed Virgin, some of which are believed to have healing properties and even exude divine unction. (Yes. In many cases it turns out to be a coating of air-born cooking oils most likely caused by frying a lot of zeppoles but we don't need to go there.)

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.

The bottom line: Most Christians -- and Catholics in particular -- are idolators. The prohibition in the second commandment was probably a reaction against Egyptian practices and useful for stamping out pagan practices as Christianity expanded. And as I've pointed out previously, the iconoclast movements have long since been abandoned by Jews and Christians, making the second commandment a sort of vestigial relic.




I was ruminating on this irony just yesterday while I was in the shower. (I do a lot of my best thinking in the shower.) And I was wondering what real underlying motivation it could possibly serve to strip people of their freedom to express their spirituality in art or to appreciate some of these magnificent images. This new article by William Henry had me contemplating the issue again this morning. In it he discusses the legend of St. Francis of Assissi receiving the gift of stigmata through contemplation of images of the crucified Christ, beginning with a Byzantine image.

The likely source for this linkage is THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE DESIRE OF A SOUL, written by Thomas of Celano soon after the death of Francis.  Thomas recounts Francis’s vision of Jesus speaking to him from the Byzantine image of a crucified Jesus at San Damiano, a dilapidated church near Assisi. Christ is alive on the crucifix. His eyes are wide open, as if contemplating his ascension, which is portrayed just above his head. The voice from the crucifix commanded Francis to “go rebuild My house.” As a result of this vision Francis went about repairing the church at San Damiano and reforming the Catholic Church.

Thomas says soon after the vision (which is thought to have occurred in 1205) Francis’s body began to change. “From that time on, compassion for the Crucified was impressed into his holy soul. And we honestly believe the wounds of the sacred Passion were impressed deep in his heart, though not yet on his flesh.

It is clear that Thomas believed that the seeds of the stigmata were planted in Francis’s gentle heart at the moment the Crucifix spoke and would later manifest/germinate in his body as the stigmata after Francis’s encounter with Jesus as a seraphim. But that happened later.

St. Catherine of Siena also attributed her stigmata to a crucifix.

Art, especially sacred art, has extraordinary, even supernatural, power. Saint Catherine of Siena received the stigmata from a crucifix. I saw our Lord fastened upon the cross coming down towards me and surrounding me with a marvelous light...Then there came down from the holes of his blessed wounds five bloody beams, which were directed towards the same parts of my body: to my hands, feet, and heart. This was how, according to legend, Saint Catherine of Siena described receiving the stigmata.




Art is one of the most powerful and immediate ways to depict core mythologies and archetypes. And myth has the ability to, as Joseph Campbell put it, make us "transparent to the transcendent." Campbell gives one explanation of this experience in Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation. Here, he may as well be speaking directly of the experience of these two saints and their merging with Christ.

Now, when you have a deity as a model, your life becomes transparent to the transcendent, so far as you realize the inspiration of that god. This means living, not in the name of success or achievement in the world, but rather in the name of transcendence, letting the energy come through.

This, at least, is how I experience spiritual artwork. I have always had a certain fondness for religious art and iconography. But as my spiritual path has deepened, so has my love for images of angels, gods, goddesses, the Buddha, and, well, many other things in heaven above and on the earth below. In part it is due to my study of sacred geometry -- and the proper use of these geometries in art is also a powerful psychic trigger -- but my response to the art itself is far more intuitive and emotional. I am at times utterly transported by images of angels. As I explained in my Christmas message last year, I have been moved to a kind of reverie that causes me to lose chunks of time while gazing at lawn ornaments in Target. Do I bow down and worship these idols? No. But then I don't bow down and worship anyone or anything... which puts me afoul of Christianity for entirely different reasons.




The experience is of one of merging with an idealized, dare I say mystical, state expressed through these archetypes. While these "peak" states are not dependent on images, symbolism in art is a powerful mover. It is not surprising that churches and other religious structures are full of it or that all those second commandment ignoring Christians surround themselves with it.

This also suggests another reason for the attempt to suppress religious iconography in the finished Bible and the ensuing iconoclast movements: The suppression of the mystical experience itself. The experience of personal transcendence has always been suspect within organized religion and at times violently suppressed. William Henry often points to the genocide of the Cathars as one such example. The execution of Joan of Arc is yet another example of the church persecuting one who "pierced the veil" -- only to rethink it and canonize her long after she was dead. Such is the difficult relationship between organized religion as spiritual authority and the personal revelations of practitioners that can result from religious experience. Only some of these experiences can be recast as fitting into orthodox beliefs; the rest become heresy.

The experience of the ascension process has been ruthlessly suppressed both in Biblical stories and by the Christian Church. Two of the best examples of this have been repeatedly referenced by William Henry: The destruction of the Tower of Babel and the "fall" of Adam and Eve. Both of these myths refer to the raising of kundalini. Towers, as I've stated previously, are symbols of the spine. (See here and here.) Babel means "gate to God." Trees are also used to symbolize the spine and in the case of Eve's "temptation" it is fairly obvious, as a serpent is in the tree. Trees also connect heaven and earth. Both of these stories are about humans being banished from paradise; from the realm of the gods or ascended beings.




As Henry points out in this article, the Seraphim, ascended beings, are also depicted guarding the gate to paradise. But many images of the Seraphim provide important clues to our own ascension process. As per Henry, the word Seraphim means "winged and/or fiery serpents." In other words, the fully ascended kundalini. They are suggestive of the merkaba with its whirling, counter-rotating fields. And in many of these images, they are covered with eyes, suggestive of the awakened pineal gland.

So many graven and other images of heavenly processes are filled with such symbolism. Art like this actually wakes us up and we can't have that now can we.




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Nov 17, 2010

Watching California

I noticed when I opened my start page last night that there were two more minor quakes centered in Baja California, Mexico. I have earthquake feeds on my start page. It has seemed to me for a while that there has been a sharp uptick this year in California quakes, particularly centered in Baja, where a big 7.2 quake shook the entire region last spring. So I did a bit of googling to see what I could find. I found that there's been a sharp uptick in Baja centered quakes this year. Here is a graph:




As per my recent post, I am increasingly concerned about the potential for major quake activity in California. I also noticed this morning that there was 3.2 in LA in the wee hours. It seems like every time I look at my feeds, something is rumbling in the California area. There is a school of thought that says that lots of minor quakes relieve pressure and reduce the chances of a larger quake. I'd like to think that this is so and that the stomach turning pressure I feel about that area will be relieved through a series of 3 point quakes. But if this guy is right, all these little tremors are more likely predictive of an impending quake of some magnitude. Sometimes quakes actually up the pressure on other fault lines and cause more quakes, as indeed happened following the big Baja quake. As they've recently discovered 50 more fault lines in California, that could be another point of concern.

I'm not a seismologist. I'm just a psychic who has been very troubled by what I'm picking up in readings and dreams. I'm not saying the big one is necessarily on its way. I'm saying the system is blinking red and to please, please pay attention to your preparedness, animal behavior, and your own instincts and intuition.


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Nov 15, 2010

Tipping Point Update



Those who were waiting for drama yesterday were probably disappointed. Those of us who were looking for clues to significant events that could cause a couple of months worth of falling dominoes, less so. In terms of news reports, what jumped out at me yesterday was a ratcheting up of concern about Ireland's economy which appears to be imploding. It feels an awful lot like what happened in Iceland but with more of that pulling of a thread that starts to unravel a much larger tapestry kind of urgency. So I'd keep an eye on what happens there. Maybe it's because I still feel that the economic component to the tipping point is primary. But that's just me. I can't speak for Time Monks Clif High or George Ure. They speak well enough for themselves. Ure has posted his take on what events fall under the umbrella here:

Did the ‘tipping point’ begin on Sunday morning? Yes.  Not only did we have lots of release language surrounding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma/Myanmar, but there was the release of  Paul & Rachel Chandler who had been held by Somali pirates for 388 days.

Then – almost exactly on schedule – time-wise – we’ve had a big outburst of earthquakes in the area south of Yemen and northeast of Djibouti.  And no, we’re not talking 2′s and 3′s.  This is an area which hasn’t been seismically active and in the past 30-hours it has suddenly popped off – not with one or two - but with 40 quakes on the USGS site.

Meantime, in Indonesia, the Child of Krakatau (Krakatoa) has been active every five minutes

Ure goes on with a laundry list of natural disasters and economic gasps, including Ireland's collapse and the larger international economic factors that are swirling around it. Taken as a whole, it actually is rather dramatic. Ure also touches on the failure of the recent G20 to produce substantial agreements on key issues. Among the more concerning things I've been watching over the past week, as we were holding our collective breath, is the possible move away from the dollar as the international reserve currency.

At the center of the crisis is the vast decline in the global economic position of the United States, which has shattered the foundation for the restabilization and expansion of capitalism that followed the Depression and World War II. This is reflected starkly in collapsing confidence in the dollar and the currency system anchored by the US currency.

On Monday, World Bank President Robert Zoellick stunned governments and central bankers by proposing that the G20 consider a radical revamping of the world currency system. He suggested that the role of the dollar as the supreme reserve and trading currency be ended and that it be supplanted by a new system involving the dollar, the euro, the yen and the Chinese renminbi. He further proposed that the new structure use gold as an indicator of currency values.

This was a tacit acknowledgement that the system that has prevailed for the past 65 years is no longer viable and that there is no national currency that can replace the dollar as a world reserve currency.

The near-zero interest rate policy of the US Federal Reserve has flooded financial markets with cheap dollars, resulting in a staggering decline in the value of the dollar on world currency markets. The dollar has fallen by 13 percent against the Japanese yen so far this year. Just since last June, it has dropped 18 percent versus the euro. Weighed against a basket of currencies, the dollar is down 8 percent since late August.

In other words,  much as predicted in several webbot reports, the dollar is continuing to die. A bit more detail on this and on China's move's against US currency can be found here.

The Fed's controversial decision to take on a second round of "quantitative easing" sent Obama to the G20 with a very weak hand, with critics here and abroad voicing concern over what looks to be completely reckless fiscal policy. So any hope of the G20 shoring up our position pretty much evaporated last week. Neither the US nor the rest of the global economy gained much stability to absorb fresh shocks like the one coming out of Ireland.

Mostly, I think what we're dealing with right now is a shattering of illusions, including illusory systems like the global economy. Or, more specifically, an acceleration in that collective disillusionment. It also seems like the erosion of edifices is escalating. The junta in Myanmar -- or what many of us still prefer to call  Burma -- is one. Troublesome truths seem to be slipping out all over the place, from Bush's cavalier acknowledgment that he personally authorized torture, to the revelation that the CIA gave Nazi war criminals safe harbor, to the WM3 finally being granted an appeal after 17 years of denials. Perhaps that's what the release language period will be comprised of; one secret after another coming to light as the overarching structures lose their grip on the levers of power.


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Nov 7, 2010

Something Wicked This Way Comes



I've posted on a couple of predictions this year that I, personally, find concerning. My concern is growing. I might even say that it's reached critical mass on a couple of these; partly because of external affirmation and partly because of my own psychic impressions and reactions to shifts in earth energy. The first is the tipping point predicted by Time Monk Clif High and his webbot technology. The second is the possibility of major earthquakes in California.

As far as the tipping point is concerned, we are in it. Clif High's most recent report has expanded the time-line of the plateau period from Nov. 8-11 to Nov. 5-14. He has also revised his assessment of it to something much more akin to what I was getting from the outset; which is to say that he, too, now expects it to be largely financial. (A change from his war with Iran prediction.) What he describes sounds like a rapid acceleration of the "death of the dollar." (High's recent interview on Veritas was posted in the YouTube player. It has been pulled. I hope to replace it as soon as it becomes available on YouTube again. In the meanwhile, it will available through, I think Friday, here.)

The primary reason for the spike in my own concern is the things I am seeing, feeling, and otherwise experiencing. The past few months seem to have flown by at an accelerated speed and I am not the only person who has experienced them this way. August and September I'm calling Augtember and October was a blur. For my part I've been battling illness and injuries of one form or another throughout, mostly affecting my digestive system. Currently, I am incapacitated by a pulled muscle in my ribs. The thing is I don't know how I did this and I don't remember doing it. But the injury itself is quite real and quite debilitating. I don't really know why I'm so physically affected by earth changes and massive shifts in the collective consciousness. I only know that I am and that the past few months have filled me repeatedly with a sense of foreboding.

Over these past several months, in addition to a sense of ennui -- a perpetual boredom with current issues and events -- I have also been experiencing profound feelings of nostalgia. Vivid snapshots and sense memories of the past keep surfacing going all the way back to childhood. Most are pleasant, some wistful, and still others periodically reduce me to tears.

I have also been getting some clearer psychic impressions that are, at the very least, intriguing. I won't go into all the nitty gritty but there are some things that I've been shown that indicate to me a massive event of some kind. One is that I was recently pulled, rather forcefully and dramatically, to a power spot I sometimes visit when I'm in the area. There was a feeling of intense, heavy darkness that I had to move through to get there that I've never experienced in the area before. After I'd parked, I asked my guides what was going on and I was told, "the end of the world." After that I was shown a new gridwork being laid; a sort of fabric of light. I took from this that one world was ending while the next was beginning. This may be a seamless transition from one template to another or something involving dramatic upheaval. As of now, I'm more inclined towards the latter interpretation. I also don't know if this transition refers to the current "tipping point" scenario or if it's tied to some of the later events we'll be facing.

The other thing I was told at that time was that "the earth would give up one of her secrets." I feel that this ties directly to the "tipping point." My sense of the coming events is that they will involve a major financial shake-up with global implications. But also that there will be some sort of revelation of some government (or government connected) secret. In other words there may be a scandal related to all of this. In the very long Veritas interview, Clif High also refers to a major, emotional shock. Unlike him, I think that shock may be based in this previously hidden information; not just new events.




Last spring I expressed my concern over some predictions of major quakes in California. Over the past month, that concern has intensified based on things I've been seeing and experiencing. My concern is over both the San Diego area -- which has been extremely and unusually seismic, with numerous quakes apparently still issuing from an epicenter in Baja, Mexico -- and the San Francisco area. A friend of mine recently posted that she felt a 3.7 in Long Beach. When my husband traveled to the San Diego region in September, I became violently -- and I mean violently -- ill. I can't say for sure that it had to do with the potential for quakes and I did not sense that he was in any real danger at that time. I did note that shortly before he left there was another significant Baja centered quake that was felt throughout the San Diego region and into Yuma, Arizona, which was also one of the stops on his trip.

I have also seen images of San Francisco that have disturbed me. Much of this is in private readings so I cannot go into detail. But a recent dream intensified my concern. It involved symbols I associate with the opening of energy vortexes and led me to a fictional Inverness Avenue in Manhattan. (I spent most of the dream inexplicably unable to find the 9th St. Path Station in NYC.) When I googled up Inverness, I learned that among other associations, there is an Inverness in Marin County which is close to the San Andreas fault. There is also an Inverness Council in Manhattan, which is an investment firm, so that would be another way to read that -- as being tied to the coming financial upheaval. There was also an issue of theft in the dream, which would make sense if it was a financial thing.

Also in the Clif High interview posted in the player is some discussion of more solar discharge related quake and volcanic activity pending for January. What I'm seeing may be associated with that. But I just want to, again, urge my beloved friends in California to please prepare for the possibility of something very disruptive that could happen at any time.


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Nov 5, 2010

Major Victory for the West Memphis Three



Finally! A sane decision from an Arkansas court. And the first ray of sunlight in a dark, legal tunnel that has stolen half the lives of three men and failed to find justice for the deaths of three little boys. In a unanimous decision, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled for evidentiary hearings to be scheduled for Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley.

As explained here, attorneys sought a new trial for the three men a couple of years ago with evidence including DNA results that completely excluded the West Memphis Three but implicated the stepfather of one of the slain boys. Judge David Burnett, who has the rare distinction of having dismissed multiple appeals on this case which he himself officiated, predictably dismissed the DNA and other evidence.

In a December 2009 article in the Arkansas Law Review, David S. Mitchell Jr. examined Burnett's denial of Echols' appeal for a new trial, under a statute passed by the legislature in 2001. That law provided a way for persons convicted of a crime to bring before a court new evidence produced by testing methods that were not available at the time of his trial.

Mitchell wrote that Burnett's interpretation of the statute “eviscerated its purpose” and thereby “failed to meet the Arkansas Legislature's goal of accounting for the ability of new technology to accomplish the mission of criminal law — to punish the guilty and exonerate the innocent.”

It would seem the High Court agrees, ruling that the DNA evidence must be considered and delivering a stern rebuke to Burnett.

Echols' attorneys called Thursday's decision a "landmark victory" and praised the high court for allowing Echols to pursue his claims of innocence. Prosecutors sought to limit what evidence could be introduced under the state's DNA law, which the Legislature passed in 2001 to give inmates an avenue to pursue exoneration.

. . .

The Supreme Court rebuked Circuit Court Judge David Burnett for not holding a hearing on the DNA evidence before rejecting Echols' request for a new trial in 2008. Burnett had ruled that the crime-scene DNA evidence - which shows no trace of Echols or the two other men convicted of the murders - was legally inconclusive and not enough to prove innocence.

"While there is a significant dispute in this case as to the legal effects of the DNA test results, it is undisputed that the results conclusively excluded Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley as the source of the DNA evidence tested," the court wrote Thursday.

The High Court also weighed in on the issue of possible juror misconduct

In a surprise move, Chief Supreme Court Justice Jim Hannah wrote that the issue of jury bias also can be considered.

Legal observers predicted the high court would stay clear of the issue of jury misconduct because jury deliberations are considered secret.

. . .

That evidence was the confession of Misskelley, who has been described as borderline mentally retarded. Misskelley was interrogated for 12 hours and later recanted and refused to testify against Echols and Baldwin.

Reece, a former Arkansas Supreme Court law clerk, said the jury misconduct issue alone should be enough for a Circuit Court judge to grant a new trial.

That was certainly my reaction when I read about jury foreman Kent Arnold's active advocacy for prosecution based on excluded evidence. The account of attorney Lloyd Warford, whom Arnold had retained to defend his brother in a sexual molestation case, describes a juror who used passive deception to be placed on the jury for a case he'd already made up his mind about. Arnold expressed frustration at the ineptitude of the prosecutors and insisted the excluded confession should be available to jurors. He also dismissed Warford's explanation of false confessions and how they typically occur with  mentally handicapped defendants. He used his role as foreman to do the job he thought the prosecutors were failing so miserably at; convincing the jury to convict.

As prosecutors continued with their case, jurors realized they didn't have fingerprints, hairs, blood, semen or saliva linking the defendants to the crime.

Warford said: "Eventually, Kent said this prosecutor has not done his job and that if the prosecution didn't come up with something powerful the next day, there was probably going to be an acquittal."

Arnold vowed: "If anyone is going to convince this jury to convict, it is going to have to be me."

Arnold asked Warford for tips on swaying a jury. When Warford told Arnold he couldn't discuss that, Arnold quipped: "What if I pay you to tell what I need to say to get this guy?"

The role of the jury foreman is yet another example of the glaring failure of jurisprudence that took place in West Memphis, AK. Let's hope this marks the turning of the tide and that some sort of justice will finally be done.


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