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Michael Andrews - June 4, 2009 9:37 AM

Report indicates solar cycle has been impacting Earth since the Industrial Revolution

Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation. Skeptics, though, argue that there's little hard evidence of a solar hand in recent climate changes.

Now, a new research report from a surprising source may help to lay this skepticism to rest. A study from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland looking at climate data over the past century has concluded that solar variation has made a significant impact on the Earth's climate. The report concludes that evidence for climate changes based on solar radiation can be traced back as far as the Industrial Revolution.

Past research has shown that the sun goes through eleven year cycles. At the cycle's peak, solar activity occurring near sunspots is particularly intense, basking the Earth in solar heat. According to Robert Cahalan, a climatologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center, "Right now, we are in between major ice ages, in a period that has been called the Holocene."

Thomas Woods, solar scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder concludes, "The fluctuations in the solar cycle impacts Earth's global temperature by about 0.1 degree Celsius, slightly hotter during solar maximum and cooler during solar minimum. The sun is currently at its minimum, and the next solar maximum is expected in 2012."

According to the study, during periods of solar quiet, 1,361 watts per square meter of solar energy reaches Earth's outermost atmosphere. Periods of more intense activity brought 1.4 watts per square meter (0.1 percent) more energy.

While the NASA study acknowledged the sun's influence on warming and cooling patterns, it then went badly off the tracks. Ignoring its own evidence, it returned to an argument that man had replaced the sun as the cause current warming patterns. Like many studies, this conclusion was based less on hard data and more on questionable correlations and inaccurate modeling techniques.

The inconvertible fact, here is that even NASA's own study acknowledges that solar variation has caused climate change in the past. And even the study's members, mostly ardent supports of AGW theory, acknowledge that the sun may play a significant role in future climate changes.

Michael Cohen m.cohen@(removed).com

In regards to my previous article I have been inundated with emails, mostly of a positive nature from readers noting that my version of events gels with theirs. Some have been sceptical or downright negative. I should clarify that by 'Invasion' I do not mean an 'Independence Day' scenario.

The bottom-line reality is that the world stands at the cusp of open first contact and gradual admittance by major governments of definitive knowledge of alien presence on earth is literally days away. And that is fact. Disclosure, however, will be gradual. In fact it is already occurring.

Over the next few days these events will occur:

* NASA will finally admit that it has 'some evidence' that aliens might be monitoring earth and that it is seriously researching the UFO incident.

* There will be an admittance by another government agency or relevant organization that there is reason to believe that some signals that have been picked up by radio telescope are probably of alien origin

* The government of a major European nation will outright admit having knowledge of UFOs visiting our planet.

We are living in very exciting times. Yes, many are fearful of what open contact might mean, however, others look to the very near future with anticipation and intense curiosity. We are about to discover things about ourselves and the universe that are going to completely alter our very sense of being and existence.

Dick Eastman
6-6-9

From JoAnn Castiglione To Dick Eastman Looks like Raytheon was in: http://www.bushstole04.com/911/911_guidance.htm Automated Precision Satellite Guidance Of 9/11 Type Aircraft Largely Possible Just Before Attacks - United Airlines Boeing Aircraft, Along With UPS And NASA 757s And 767s Utilized During Pre-9/11 GPS Tests - Raytheon/FAA Controlled GPS Satellite Navigation Array Activated 13 Months Before 9/11 Attacks - October, 2001 Pilot Override System Envisioned Use Of Satellite Auto-Navigation Concept And Communications Termination Because information collected after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 has raised questions about the alleged ability and motivation of the people accused of piloting Boeing 757 and 767 planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, speculation has since lingered regarding the covert use of technology to precisely self-navigate all 4 airliners into targets that day. Government and aviation industry publications shed light on the development and implementation of pre-9/11 state-of-the-art systems capable of facilitating precise automated navigation of the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft used during the 9/11 attacks, to a given destination. "WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) is an extremely accurate navigation system developed for civil aviation. Before WAAS, the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) did not have the potential to provide horizontal and vertical navigation for approach operations for all users at all locations. With WAAS, this capability is a reality ... WAAS provides service for all classes of aircraft in all phases of flight - including en route navigation" http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_uni... Just 13 months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, the WAAS GPS satellite array was activated by the FAA and operated by "Raytheon" on a preliminary basis. AMENDED VERSION: Wide Area Augmentation System Signal Now Available August 24, 2000 "WASHINGTON, DC - After a successful 21-day stability test of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) signal in space, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared that it is now available for some aviation and all non-aviation uses ... The system demonstrated one to two meters horizontal accuracy and two to three meters vertical accuracy throughout the contiguous United States ... Raytheon will operate the system for the FAA on a continuous basis" http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=5249 One member having served on Raytheon's Special Advisory Board is "Project for the New American Century" signatory Richard Armitage. http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/0900/ijpe/pj52bios.htm Only 3 weeks after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a patent was applied for regarding a system that would override pilot control from an autopilot equipped aircraft and redirect such an aircraft to a predetermined destination via pre-programmed autopilot settings. This patent cites the Differential Global Position Satellite research and development conducted by Honeywell and NASA during the mid-1990s. ""A method for ... deactivating on-board control of the autopilot system; directing the autopilot system to fly the aircraft to a landing." "One optional feature of the invention disables the aircraft's communications equipment." http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=... Honeywell's Differential GPS Satellite Landing System July/August, 1995 "The Honeywell team participated in Boeing's Category III-b flight test evaluation program in July and August of 1995. NASA supplied the 757 aircraft and flight test facility. Boeing supplied the pilots, ground crew, maintenance, flight test personnel and performed the aircraft modifications for the flight tests. The flight tests were accomplished at NASA's Wallops Island, Virginia, flight test facility. A total of 75 Category III-b automatic landings were accomplished during this phase of flight testing. The autopilot used the DGPS to guide the aircraft to a landing and ... performance data of these flight tests showed that the Honeywell DGPS landing system achieved the predicted system accuracy of one to two meters." http://www.bluecoat.org/reports/Lewison_96_DGPS.pdf Getting To The Point In Pinpoint Landing October, 1994 "A high-performance navigation system used primarily for automatic aircraft touchdowns promises centimeter-level landing accuracy.During a four-day period in October 1994, the idea was put to the test on Runway 35 at NASA's Crows Landing Flight Facility in California. Using signals from orbiting GPS satellites and the ground-generated pseudolite signals, 110 autopilot-in-the-loop landings of a United Airlines Boeing 737 were completed." http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff1998/t2.htm FAA/Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center Partnership December, 1998 "Ohio University's Avionics Engineering Center recently developed and successfully flight-tested technology that increases the availability and accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS) ... This technological breakthrough is the result of a 5-year aviation research grant provided by the FAA to the Avionics Center to design, implement, and test an advanced prototype GPS-based approach, landing, and surface movement guidance system ... Pilots from United Parcel Service (UPS) flight tested the new architecture in October 1994, using a UPS Boeing 757, completing a total of 50 automated landings. During those tests, researchers integrated Differential Global Positioning System into the Boeing 757 autoland system." http://www.tc.faa.gov/logistics/grants/success/OU.pdf FAA, ATA, UPS Test New Satellite Technology August 13, 1999 "In the Atlantic City tests, a "UPS Boeing 767 flown by company pilots will perform 40 approaches down to as low as 25 feet above the runway. The pilots will fly some approaches manually; others will be coupled to the aircraft's autopilot. The LAAS and GPS signals will be processed by equipment specially installed aboard the 767 for these tests. LAAS can tell pilots where their aircraft is to an accuracy of less than one meter, and the system can be used in all visibility conditions. It complements the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) that the FAA is now developing and acquiring." http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=5052 On September 7, 1998, it was announced that American Airlines and United Airlines selected Honeywell's new GPS capable "Pegasus" Flight Management System (FMS) for use in their Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. http://www.aviationnow.com/shownews/farnday1/pressr15.htm http://www.honeywell.com/sites/aero/Flight_Management_Systems3 _C1997B88E... "A flight management system or FMS is a computerized avionics component found on most commercial and business aircraft to assist pilots in navigation, flight planning, and aircraft control functions. It is considered to be composed of three major components: FMC (Flight Management Computer), AFS (Auto Flight System), and Navigation System including IRS (Inertial Reference System) and GPS." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_management_system NORAD Had Drills of Jets as Weapons April 18, 2004 "In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating ... hijacked airliners used as weapons ... NORAD, in a written statement, confirmed ... "Numerous types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked aircraft "". http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-18-norad_x.htm

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Stunned families watched as more than 20 UFOs buzzed over awestruck Britain Sunday.

The lights in the sky lined up in a flying formation before disappearing upwards into space.

One close-encounter snap was taken by quick-thinking engineer Paul Slight, on his mobile phone at about 10:30 p.m. local time.

He was coming home from a day out cycling with friends in Lincoln, eastern England, when they spotted the lights in the sky.

The eerie extra-terrestrial crafts were hovering in the night sky over the town, moving in different directions before eventually shooting straight up into the atmosphere.

In a series of stunning images taken over five minutes, Paul, from Lincoln, captured the objects together and even flying in an apparent formation.

Paul, 54, said: "There were 26 of them at first, dodging and darting in between each other like they were playing a game.

"After that, seven more arrived from the right hand side and weaved through the crowd of lights like strange kinds of aircraft. After five minutes of moving around, the flickering yellow objects hung in the air for a second then shot off into the sky and disappeared."

By Kurt Heine

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization’s pandemic alert scale should consider the severity of diseases instead of just the geographic spread, an advisory committee said today.

The Geneva-based WHO within days will declare the first influenza pandemic in 41 years, according to people familiar with the United Nations agency’s plans. WHO’s International Health Regulations Committee urged the agency “to introduce severity assessments in any future announcements of pandemic phase changes,” WHO said today in a statement.

Swine flu, also known as H1N1, is entrenched in North America, Australia and Chile. WHO says 21,940 cases, including 125 deaths, have been reported in 69 countries. In most cases, the illness causes symptoms no more serious than seasonal flu. Raising WHO’s six-step pandemic scale to its highest level might spur some countries to restrict travel or ban public events -- measures unneeded for swine flu.

“There was a broad consensus on the importance of including information on severity” in deciding whether WHO should raise the pandemic alert to the highest level, WHO said in the statement.

WHO also urged that countries keep monitoring for unusual outbreaks of flu-like illness and continue for now to produce vaccines aimed at controlling the seasonal flu, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kurt Heine in New York at Kheine1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 5, 2009 20:41 EDT

Fears that low turnout and gains by far right will be repeated across the EU

By Claire Soares and John Lichfield in Paris

Saturday, 6 June 2009

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party won 17 per cent of the vote in the European elections in the Netherlands

ED OUDENAARDEN / EPA

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party won 17 per cent of the vote in the European elections in the Netherlands

The first killer punch of the European election campaign was struck yesterday by the maverick Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, who scooped 17 per cent of the vote and almost a fifth of his country's seats in the European Parliament running on a populist, anti-immigrant, law and order agenda.

The Dutch result, released two days early – before most Europeans had even cast their votes – sent jitters around a continent fearful that a miserably low turnout will help extremists on both the left and right.

Mr Wilders, refused access to Britain as a rabble-rouser earlier this year, has perfected a form of tolerant intolerance with his Freedom Party and its smartly-suited, middle-class, anti-Islamic and "pro-liberal" values. While the Christian Democrats of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende managed to keep hold of the largest share of the votes (albeit with the loss of two seats and a mere three-point lead), the Freedom Party romped home in second.
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The platinum-blond maverick shot to international prominence for branding the Koran a "fascist book" and releasing a film, Fitna, which depicted Islam as inherently violent. "This is fantastic, a great day for the people who crave another Netherlands, another Europe," declared a triumphant Mr Wilders who won four of the 25 seats up for grabs. Having beaten the Labour party, the other main bloc in the Prime Minister's coalition, into third place, he claimed the government no longer had a mandate. "The cabinet should step down, the sooner the better," he told Dutch television, although analysts said that was wishful thinking.

In another worrying sign from this founding EU member, turnout in the Netherlands was reported to be down to 36.5 per cent for Thursday's poll, three points lower than the 2004 elections. With that in mind and with the majority of the 27 member states still to vote this weekend, European leaders urged people to the polls. "Everyone must understand that Europe is very important to daily lives," the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, pleaded.

At European Commission headquarters in Brussels there was anger that the Dutch, in clear breach of the rules, released their results before most of the continent was able to vote. It did "not comply with the spirit" of the EU vote, said spokesman Amadeo Altafaj Tardio. But the low turnout and the resurgence of extreme parties are expected to be familiar themes when the official results start coming in from the rest of the continent tomorrow night.

With the exception of Britain, Ireland and Spain – where those in power are expected to get particularly bloody noses – most ruling parties can expect to follow the Dutch pattern, seeing their support siphoned off by the extreme flanks but managing to eke out a limp endorsement from the electorate.

Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany, President Sarkozy in France and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Italy will escape the battering which seems certain for Gordon Brown and the Irish PM, Brian Cowen.

Europe-wide trends towards the left and right, pro or anti-Europe, will be difficult to discern. Most national campaigns, in so far as they have stirred popular or media interest at all, have been fought on national themes. Even the low turnout has no Europe-wide explanation. In some countries, such as Poland, it reflects a vague contentment with the EU; in other countries, such as Greece or the Netherlands, there's growing disenchantment.

Here is the great European paradox. European voters complain that the EU is too distant and too abstract; the more power their elected representatives in Brussels and Strasbourg are given, the more the voters shun the European elections. In 1979, turnout was nearly 62 per cent. In 2004, it was 45 per cent. Yet the European Parliament has acquired considerable new powers to amend European legislation. The newly elected assembly will – unless Irish voters reject the Lisbon Treaty again – become virtual co-legislators with governments across the spectrum of EU policy and law-making.

Country by country: How battle shapes up

*Germany: Like Gordon Brown, Chancellor Angela Merkel has campaigned as a "safe pair of hands" for hard times – only she has succeeded. Interest in the election has been low, but Ms Merkel's coalition is forecast to win up to 39 per cent of the vote, despite severe recession and a German habit of turning left, or to extremes, in times of difficulty.

*France: President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP will top the poll with about 25 per cent, after stressing law-and-order issues and opposition to Turkish membership. However, the widely forecast meltdown of the divided main opposition party, the Socialists, has failed to materialise. The great winner may be Daniel Cohn Bendit, the student leader in the May protests of 1968, whose ecological, pro-European list may sneak into third place.

*Italy: Despite revelations about his friendship with a teenage girl, and a very public "no" vote from his wife, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will probably top the poll. The centre-left Democrats, founded only two years ago, have failed to impress, even with the recession.

*Poland: The centre-right party of the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, (Civic Platform) is expected to take over 40 per cent. The Eurosceptic Law and Justice party of the President, Lech Kaczynski, and his twin-brother Jaroslaw, the ex-prime minister, is forecast to score only 30 per cent. The great paradox will be the turnout. More than 80 per cent of Poles say they are content with EU membership; less than 20 per cent may bother to vote to prove it.

John Lichfield
news source: independent.co.uk

Bill BonnerProvided as a courtesy of Agora Publishing & The Daily ReckoningJun 4, 2009

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Actually, we've seen so much already that it's hard to believe there's more coming. But there's sure to be more... and we have a feeling it will be worth the wait.
Yesterday, for example, GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It couldn't pay its bills. GM was once the strongest corporation on the planet. But it has been around for nearly 100 years. Heck, everything wears out eventually... even a '55 Chevy.
"Obama Nationalizes GM," says a triumphant headline in France's La Tribune.
Triumphant?
Yes, according to the papers, Obama may have been handed the keys to GM... but the old jalopy is worn out. The French say the whole US economic model is ready for the junkyard. More on the French... and the French model, in our other article...
First, let's stick with the USA.
The Dow rose 221 points yesterday - to 8,821... Investors think the worst is over.
Everything is going up. Copper is up 65% so far this year. Oil is up 53%. Soybeans are up 22%. Stock markets are up about 30% worldwide. And gold is 12%. In this company gold is a laggard!
Copper has risen so much, say the papers, because China is buying all it can get. What it is doing with the stuff we don't know; maybe it is stocking up at what it believes are low prices.
Maybe it is hedging its bets. China has the biggest pile of Treasury bonds in the world - $768 billion of them. That's 768 billion reasons to worry. Because each T-bond is denominated in dollars... and while everything else is going up, dollars are going down. Yesterday, the dollar touched a new low against the euro for this year - at $1.42.
T-bonds are down too - minus 5% for the year. It would not be at all surprising for the Chinese to be stockpiling oil, gold, copper and all the other inflation hedges they can get. Their dollar-denominated bonds may go down... but their commodities and gold would go up. Overall, they'd come out even. You can also hedge your own nest egg with commodities.
Yet this week, Mr. Tim Geithner - the big banks' main man in Washington - is in China trying to reassure the Chinese that America takes its financial obligations seriously. That's something we never expected to see either. America may have the strongest economy on earth. But if the commies stop financing it, we're out of business.
So Geithner is in China, hat in hand, like a major debtor called into the bank president's office. Geithner, of course, has no choice. He has to go... and say what he has to say. He will use all the right words. He will show the appropriate seriousness... he will smile when it is called for... and put on a grave face when he needs to.
The trouble is, there's little he can do to help the Chinese. They want him to protect the dollar and the bond market. That's something he can't do.
"It will be helpful if Mr. Geithner can show us some arithmetic," said Yu Yongding, a former advisor to the Chinese central bank.
Yes, we'd like to see that arithmetic too. How do you add $1.75 trillion in deficits... pay for it with funny money from the Fed... and still come out even on the value of the dollar? There's no arithmetic we know of that works in the Chinese favor. Right now, the numbers, and the logic of the situation, are telling us that feds aim to create inflation. Instead of trying to keep prices under control, they're trying to get them to go up. That's yet another thing we didn't expect to see!
The US government is less concerned with protecting foreign lenders than it is with getting the US economy back to its old E-Z money ways. Cheap money is what people want. Cheap money is what the feds are trying to give them.
Today - will wonders never cease! - the US is pushing its phony money all over the world. The Chinese, meanwhile, are champions of financial integrity. Just wait until they give up on US bonds... then, we'll really see something we ain't seen yet!
Jun 3, 2009 Bill Bonneremail: DR@dailyreckoning.comwebsite: The Daily Reckoning

By Ted Twietmeyer
6-5-9

Some years ago, I postulated that irregularities in time and reality (which are often experienced by people everywhere on Earth) were the result of time jumps. Most people that experience something highly unusual often write it off to their imagination, a freak of nature or some other explanation. This allows them to rationally explain and justify the experience they have had. Perhaps many strange unusual events really didn't happen. But we'll look at some events so strange and bizarre they deserve a close look. There may be a common denominator at work that has until now has gone largely unnoticed by most. It's also possible that a jump in the simulation also causes a jump in time. If there is no matter present in space there can be no passage of time.
Many astute readers have written me over the past years to tell me of their experiences. One reader thoughtfully took the time to describe what happened when they exited an interstate. It was a typical cloverleaf design interchange where the exits loop around, usually upward to an overpass bridge. However, they vehicle's four occupants entered this and found that the loop had no exit.
Below is a copy of a recent email. All names of the participants and sender have been removed. The email appears to be credible so I have included it here as one example:
"Four of us piled into a car - all experienced drivers and observers. We had been traveling on a highway and we needed to exit, so we got onto "an exit ramp" that appeared as one of those that completely curls around and downward in a circular fashion. We were "allowed" onto that ramp, but there was no way off of it. We could neither get back onto the highway we had come off of, nor even follow a new route.
At first we thought it was the driver's fault and we laughed at that; but then we all began to pay attention as this happened over-and-over-and-over. Then the jokes about being caught in the Twilight Zone started - These four people believe that they have embarked on a road trip to their particular destination; but in fact they have entered the Twilight Zone!
You see, it was now a closed circle with no apparent entrance or exit. Normal laughter turned into hysterical laughter and we knew that what had happened was not explainable and normal. None of us wanted to put this down in a report - for sure. None of us even wanted to think about again.
We estimated that we were on that closed circle for 30 minutes, but it may have been as much as 45 minutes."
In the above example, it may very well be that the simulation of the local world in their reality was delayed briefly while the exit was being constructed. A time jump would not really explain what they were seeing. If the vehicle's occupants had jumped back in time to when the ramp was being constructed then dirt, Earth moving equipment, workers and orange safety cones and construction equipment would have been seen ­ but this did no happen.)
When they were stuck in a loop perhaps the exit to the loop had not yet been fully constructed in time for them to see it and use it. In computer parlance, the simulation was running behind and took some time to catch up to what the people on the loop needed. Doesn't this sound like an ordinary computer multi-tasking system being brought to its knees? Perhaps this is what 2012 is really about ­ the program shuts down. What becomes of us suddenly takes on an entire new meaning. And yet 2012 could come and go and nothing might happen. After all ­ human beings change plans on the fly and so could the reality controllers.
Consider this - when no one is around to see animals in the forest, just HOW do we know the animals are still there? Is there any way to prove this? Even setting up a camera proves nothing, since the reality controllers would know a camera was running there and provide animals for it.
Think about driving through a heavily wooded state like Pennsylvania in the winter. The trees are bare of leaves, and you can easily see the rocks on the ground protruding through white show. It is commonly thought that the nearly endless woods in states like Pennsylvania have deer, bears and millions of other wild animals.
Yet from any highway do you see the animals in the forests or woods walking around? In theory you should see them everywhere. Why? Perhaps our reality controllers have decided that when we are at a certain distance from wooded areas (or even the oceans and lakes) animal life-form "programs" are not required and do not need to be generated for us to see. Distant life-forms are not relevant to make the surrounding environment convincing for our reality, and no processing time would logically be wasted on creating them. This hypothesis also brings into question the concept of "hunter's luck" in finding game, too. It also complicates theories about just who God really is, too.
Some recent advanced science I have been doing attracted the attention of the reality controllers when two real men in black approached me at LaGuardia airport baggage claim area in April 2009. (See http://www.rense.com/general85/enco.htm for the detailed MIB dialog.)
Apparently when something is accomplished that might pull the curtain back to expose the controllers will not go unnoticed - and it may be challenged. Perhaps only by entering the simuworld (our world) can they talk to the participants (us) to find out more. There may be limits to what they can see and hear from outiside the simulation.
In another article, I described the experience we had seeing a pixelated, non-electronic highway sign on Dec. 24th, 2008 (We never have used alcohol or drugs.) On a huge, 20ft. high expressway sign on Rt.15 South in Pennsylvania we saw the sign digit pixelate exactly at the location that should be showing the number of miles to the exit. It changed from rapid, unreadable pixilated blocks to the correct digit 2 just as we were passing it. The pixilation was very much to what you see with an over-enlarged JPEG image, which starts to show the tiles that are the base of JPEG images. The pixilation we saw that night was the same green color of the highway sign's background.
I've revised my time jump theory to include the possibility that instead of time jumps, what we actually see is reality being constructed or de-constructed as needed for the benefit of humans to see in a given locality. This makes our computer technology look more backward than an abacus.
This theory has implications in all fields of science including astronomy. It brings into question everything we see in the heavens with our eyes, instruments and telescopes. What if what we see out there is put there for our edification? What about UFOs? It even brings into question something even more intriguing - is our nearest star is really what we think it is? And what of high energy physics searching for ever elusive particles like the Higg's Boson? Do these really exist?
There is no real way to know for certain what is real and what is not, except to look for "hiccups" in the simulation like the highway sign event. Surely events similar to this have happened to countless others, but most have likely dismissed it as a figment of their imagination. If more than one sane, sober observer sees an abnormal physical event it adds a higher level of credibility to the observation.
If any information in this theory relates to or correlates to the work of others this is unintentional. The data presented here (with the one exception as noted) is my own.
Ted Twietmeyer
tedtw@frontiernet.net

By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday the United States was deeply hated in the Middle East and told U.S. President Barack Obama that "beautiful" speeches alone would not improve its image in the Muslim world.

Speaking on the same day Obama was due to give a major speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the hatred felt towards America could not be changed with "slogans" but that different U.S. action was needed.

In a break from the policies of his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama is offering improved ties with the Islamic Republic if it "unclenches its fist." Iranian leaders say they want to see a real shift in the policies of their old foe.

"The nations of this part of the world ... deeply hate America because during many years they have seen violence, military interference, rights violations, discrimination ... from America," Khamenei said in a televised speech.

"Even if they give sweet and beautiful talks to the Muslim nation ... that will not create a change," said Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure with the final say on all matters of state. "Nothing will change with speeches and slogans."

He spoke at an event in Tehran to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

He also called Israel, which Iran does not recognise, a "cancerous tumour in the heart" of the Muslim world.

Obama's speech later on Thursday is aimed at more than 1 billion Muslims across the world but choosing Cairo underscores his focus on the Middle East, where he faces some of his biggest foreign policy challenges.

WEST SPEAKING "SOFTLY"

Obama wants to build a coalition of Muslim governments that will back his efforts to revive stalled Middle East peace talks and help the United States curb Iran's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West says is to build bombs.

"If you (Muslims) see that the Western world is talking more softly to you it is the result of public awareness and resistance in the Islamic world," Khamenei said.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power, has repeatedly described Iran's nuclear activities as a threat to its existence and neither it nor Washington have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row.

Khamenei accused the United States, which Iranian leaders often refer to as the "Great Satan" guilty of "global arrogance," of lying about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"The Iranian nation has repeatedly announced that it does not want nuclear weapons ... keeping nuclear arms would create a big danger and trouble and even if they pay us we do not want it," he said.

Khamenei said the United States had occupied two Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

"The terrorists kill one, two or ten people ... but you kill 100 or 150 people," he said, referring to a rising civilian death toll as foreign and Afghan troops battle Taliban insurgents.

(Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Alison Williams)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.

By Webster Tarpley6-4-9

The budget crisis in California and most other states plus the bankruptcy and collapse of the US auto industry are signals that the United States and the world are sinking into an economic depression of awesome destructive power. Who should pay for this depression? Clearly the Wall Street, Chicago, and San Francisco bankers and speculators who caused the crisis must pay. There are limitations on what any state can do, but we here in California can and must take a stand for a real economic recovery. We must grab the attention of the corrupt Sacramento and Washington politicians and start to lead this country out of the crisis. We therefore demand:
1. No layoffs of state employees. Restore and maintain vital services at all costs. Maintain the electricity grid, police, fire, highways, public health, education, and restore water deliveries to California farmers. We solemnly remind Governor Schwarzenegger and all state officials that deliberately depriving civilians of food, clothing, shelter, and medical care under whatever pretexts constitutes a high crime against humanity under the Nuremburg precedents of 1945. Austerity measures that lead to needless deaths will be vigorously punished under these precedents.
2. 1% California Tobin Tax on derivatives and speculation. California needs revenue, but the average person is overtaxed already. The biggest untapped income stream in California is financial speculation. Most Californians pay almost 9% in a regressive sales tax, but bankers and hedge fund operators pay nothing, zero, nada, on their massive daily turnover of derivatives, options, futures, stocks, bonds, foreign currency, and other speculative paper. Surely these financial interests should pay their fair share to meet this crisis. We must therefore impose a Tobin tax or Securities Transfer Tax (STT) of one percent (1%) to be paid by the broker on all financial transactions in this jurisdiction. Bankers will howl and threaten to leave the state, but few will cut themselves out of the world's eight largest economy. Another mass of largely untapped wealth is represented by the foundations. A special 10% surtax on the assets and endowment of all foundations in the state should be established for the duration of the crisis.
2. Stop all foreclosures on California primary residences, farms, businesses, transportation, and any other activity providing production or socially necessary services, for five years or for duration of this depression, whichever is longer. If you throw a family on the street, you go to jail. Human survival must take precedence over debt service claims, and only ongoing businesses pay taxes. Repayment obligations can worked out after the depression has been defeated. Special emergency measures are needed to house families which have already fallen victim to foreclosure and who are now at risk in new tent city Hoovervilles across the state.
3. Set a 10% upper limit on California interest rates. To relieve pressure on debt-strapped families, we must revive anti-usury legislation. Before Volcker era at the Federal Reserve, most states maintained an upper limit, generally about 10%, on all interest rates. This 10% limit must now be re-imposed in the context of a tough re-regulation of credit card practices. This will provide a much-needed respite for family budgets, which have too long been looted by predatory credit card and other lenders.
4. Operation Clawback for the TARP. Treasury Secretary Geithner and Federal Reserve boss Bernanke are in the process of transferring an incredible $13 trillion in public funds to zombie banks and bankrupt financial companies as part of a doomed effort to prop up the doomed $1.5 quadrillion derivatives bubble. The California Attorney General must take the lead in mobilizing state governments across the country to demand that the $700 billion bailout (TARP) be declared unconstitutional, clawed back from the derivatives financiers, and used to keep states solvent and maintain vital services. We must especially target the bailout money given to the bankrupt hedge fund AIG and then paid out to foreign bankers involved in AIG derivatives deals, including Société Générale of France and Deutsche Bank of Germany (almost $12 billion each); Barclays of Britain ($8.5 billion); and UBS of Switzerland ($5 billion). These $37 billion would go a long way towards fixing the California budget. Geithner has refused before the House Appropriations Committee to bail out cities and states. But if JP Morgan and Citibank are too big to fail, then California is too. If Geithner does not reverse course, the California congressional delegation must take the lead in impeaching Geithner. In the meantime, the California AG should start seizing the California assets of these foreign derivatives bankers and apply these funds to the state deficit.
5. Force the Federal Reserve to open a special 0% emergency Main Street lending window for productive businesses large and small, including farming, construction, manufacturing, infrastructure, scientific research, and mining, down to the local restaurant, supermarket, repair shop, taxi company, trucking firm, or dry cleaner. So far Bernanke has been offering cheap credit only to banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, credit card companies, and other non-productive interests. It is high time that useful production got access to no-cost federal credit to put people back to work. Such a program can represent the first step towards the necessary nationalization of the Fed. If Bernanke tries to sabotage this measure, he too should be targeted for impeachment.
6. Fight the depression by building an ultra-modern super speed north-south Pacific maglev railway from San Diego to Los Angeles and San Francisco and on towards Portland and Seattle. A coastal maglev line would be a permanent addition to the capital stock of our state, and an enhancement of the productivity of labor. China and Japan are building maglev, but the US has lagged behind, so California must take the lead in a pilot project for modern non-polluting mass transit in this country, getting our people out of the endless traffic jams on the freeway. If the Fed can be forced to issue the necessary loans, use those. If not, issue state bonds that average people can buy with the added perk that they can ride free on the maglev. Multiply the economic development power of the proceeds by setting up a state-owned California Development Bank to outflank the zombie bankers with 1% loans for in-state high-tech productive infrastructure only, starting with the Pacific maglev. Get control of the California auto plants idled by GM, Chrysler, and Ford and reconvert them to build equipment for the maglev line, putting jobless auto workers back to work. Then sell California maglevs worldwide.
7. Bankers and politicians can choose between cooperating with these reasonable measures and a general debt moratorium or payment freeze on all bonded debt of the state. If we have to choose between payments to bondholders and the lives and welfare of California residents, we will not hesitate. After the Jackson-van Buren Panic of 1837, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana all defaulted, and they all seem to have survived. California will too. Our wealth is in our world-class trained work force, not our credit rating.
8. General strike based on this program against Schwarzenegger and any other politician proposing layoffs or cuts in vital services. California still has militant unions among teachers, nurses, and other public employees, but if they do not fight now, they risk being crushed in the depression. It is time for the labor movement and its allies to take up this struggle with mass strikes which all persons of good will are called to join. Any politician refusing to fight for these demands, starting with Pelosi, Boxer, and Feinstein, should be ousted.
Webster Tarpley, author of Surviving the Cataclysm, June 3, 2009

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar is "seriously overvalued," mostly against the Chinese renminbi and some other Asian currencies, according to a new study published on Wednesday.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think tank, said the majority of the 29 currencies it studied need to appreciate against the dollar, with a large rise especially needed by the Chinese currency.
"The principal counterpart to the overvalued dollar is the undervaluation of the Chinese renminbi, which would have needed to appreciate about 21 percent on a weighted average basis and about 40 percent against the dollar to achieve equilibrium," said the study by economists William Cline and John Williamson.
Investor flight to the dollar safe haven since last year has pushed the U.S. currency up by about 10 percent, which on top of an estimated overvaluation of about 7 percent a year ago made for an overvaluation of about 17 percent by March this year, the study said.
But the dollar slid to its low in 2009 on June 1 against the euro and a basket of currencies amid optimism the prospect of a global economic recovery boosted riskier assets.
Despite the dollar's recent slump, the study said the currency remained "substantially overvalued."
Cline and Williamson said economic imbalances caused by the deficit and overvaluation of the dollar over the surplus and undervaluation of the Chinese renminbi posed systemic threats.
"It is important that as the world emerges from the current crisis these imbalances be corrected," they said.
To rebalance the global economy, Cline and Williamson argued China should change its peg from the dollar to a basket of currencies. Alternatively, China should resume the upward crawl of the peg against the dollar.
"Unfortunately, the most recent evidence points in the other direction, as the policy over the past several months of keeping the renminbi unchanged against the dollar has remained intact, despite the dollar's reversal toward a declining trend subsequent to its peak in early March."
"China has again begun to ride the dollar down," they added. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Andre Grenon)

By: Tyler Durden Monday, June 01, 2009 3:57 PM

Ran across this article posted in Jumping In Pools. Not sure how credible it is, but allegedly Barack Obama will provide the blueprints for the B-2 stealth bomber to China in exchange for $50 billion in debt relief. According to author Richard Hogarty:
According to the Administration, this proposal will help the United States resolve its debt issues. They point out their belief that the B-2 bomber is "strategically obsolete", according to a source in the White House Press Office. In addition, the source claims that the Chinese would be unable to create their own functioning stealth bomber fleet for "at least eight years."American allies Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea are very wary of the proposal. Koo Syi, a geopolitical analyst from South Korea, points out that this technology could be passed to China's allies. This was the case when Chinese nuclear technology was transferred to Pakistan and North Korea. According to Koo, Obama has rendered US allies' opinions as "irrelevant."While this proposal is controversial, it is not being presented to Congress, where it could meet with stern opposition. Instead, the State Department has been informed to assisted the Defense Department with the transfer of materials.A little skeptical here as frankly $50 billion is less than a drop in the bucket of Chinese Treasury holdings which are easily well over $1 trillion. The economic impact of this transaction would be negligible to zero. On the other hand, if this ends up being true, it is quite frightening, as it merely demonstrates, aside from all the scary geo-political considerations, just how bad of a dealmaker our President is.In other China-related news, Reuters reporting that Tim Geithner's soothing words from his Beijing whirlwind tour that "Chinese assets are very safe," drew loud laughter from the audience.
"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting scepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.Alas, laughter is more and more the traditional response when other economies consider the sustainability of the ongoing economic fiasco developing before our eyes (and this author's response to the continued market manipulation).

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. private employers chopped more than half a million jobs in May, signaling job conditions remain tough and dashing some hopes the economy was not deteriorating as rapidly as thought, a report on Wednesday showed.
U.S. companies axed 532,000 jobs last month, though this was fewer than the revised 545,000 jobs lost in April, according to the ADP National Employment Report.
The April figure was originally a decline of 491,000.
The median forecast of economists surveyed by Reuters for the ADP Employer Services report, jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, was for a loss of 520,000 private-sector jobs in May.
The ADP job reading is seen as a predictor of the government's monthly payroll figure. The Labor Department will release its May employment report at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.
The median forecast for the government payroll figure was a decline of 520,000 in May, compared with a 539,000 drop in April.
(Reporting by Richard Leong, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Infowars
June 4, 2009

FBI operative Hal Turner has been arrested for inciting violence, according to The Hartford Courant. Turner allegedly incited Catholics to “take up arms” and singling out two Connecticut lawmakers and a state ethics official. He was arrested by state Capitol police in Connecticut.
In 2008, Turner was exposed as an FBI operative.
Turner was charged in a warrant with inciting injury to persons or property and will be presented in a New Jersey courthouse today for extradition to Connecticut.
Remarks on Turner’s blog “were a reaction to the recent controversy over a bill that would have changed the way the Roman Catholic Church is governed, taking power away from church officials and turning it over to lay members. It was pulled in mid-March following an outcry from Catholics across the state and questions about its constitutionality,” according to the newspaper.
“It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally. These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die,” commentary on Turner’s blog stated. “If any state attorney, police department or court thinks they’re going to get uppity with us about this, I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down, too.”
Turner promised to publicize the home addresses of the Connecticut officials Wednesday night, but was taken into custody before that could happen.
Hal Turner is no stranger to controversy and has issued threats in the past.
In 2005, he publicized the names of three federal court judges. He posted the judges’ names and addresses on his Web site. “We may have to ASSASSINATE some of the people you elect on Nov. 7! This could be your LAST ELECTION CHANCE, to save this Republic… Sorry to have to be so blunt, but the country is in mortal danger from our present government and our liberty is already near dead because of this government. If you are too stupid to turn things around with your vote, there are people out here like me who are willing to turn things around with guns, force and violence. We hope our method does not become necessary,” Turner declared on the website.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
On April 4, 2008, Turner encouraged violence against Lexington, Massachusetts school superintendent Paul Ash for establishing a new curriculum supporting gays and lesbians. “I advocate parents using FORCE AND VIOLENCE against Superintendent Paul B. Ash as a method of defending the health and safety of school children presently being endangered through his politically-correct indoctrination into deadly, disease-ridden sodomite lifestyles,” Turner wrote. He went on to provide Ash’s personal information, including his address.
Turner claims to be a white supremacist and nationalist. He advocates antisemitism, including rounding up and killing Jews. He has also advocated assaulting and killing African-Americans.
Hal Turner’s arrest feeds into the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to conflate Second Amendment advocates, “antigovernment” activists, and veterans with white supremacists. As Infowars reported today, the DHS and “terrorism experts” are attempting to portray those maligned by the DHS as dangerous terrorists in league with al-Qaeda and a demented Islamic “thinker” who has proposed launching an anthrax attack on the White House.
In 2008, Turner was exposed as an FBI operative. “Hal Turner, rising in fame as the most blatant hate talk radio host, self-proclaimed neo-nazi, antisemite, racist who hinted at the need to eradicate Jews — turns out to have been fronting a typical FBI COINTELPRO sting operation,” writes Richard Evans. Hackers managed to gain access to his forum server and revealed correspondence with an FBI agent who was apparently Turner’s handler.
The FBI is notorious for subsidizing, arming, directing and protecting the Klu Klux Klan and other so-called right-wing groups under COINTELPRO in the late 1960s and early 70s.

Policymakers Have Created A Perfect Storm
By Paul Craig Roberts
6-3-9

Economic news remains focused on banks and housing, while the threat mounts to the US dollar from massive federal budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. Earlier this year the dollar's exchange value rose against currencies, such as the euro. UK pound, and Swiss franc, against which the dollar had been steadily falling. The dollar's rise made US policymakers complacent, even though the rise was due to flight from over-leveraged financial instruments and falling stock markets into "safe" Treasuries. Since April, however, the dollar has steadily declined as investors and foreign central banks realize that the massive federal budget deficits are likely to be monetized. What happens to the dollar will be the key driver of what lies ahead. The likely scenario could be nasty. America's trading partners do not have large enough trade surpluses to finance a federal budget deficit swollen to $2 trillion by gratuitous wars, recession, bailouts, and stimulus programs. Moreover, concern over the dollar's future is causing America's foreign creditors to seek alternatives to US debt in which to hold their foreign reserves. According to a recent report in the online edition of Pravda, Russia's central bank now holds a larger proportion of its reserves in euros than in US dollars. On May 18 the Financial Times reported that China and Brazil are considering bypassing the dollar and conducting their mutual trade in their own currencies. Other reports say that China has increased its gold reserves by 75 per cent in recent years. China's premier, Wen Jiabao, has publicly expressed his concern about the future of the dollar. Arrogant, hubris-filled American officials and their yes-men economists discount Chinese warnings, arguing that the Chinese have no choice but to support the dollar by purchasing Washington's red ink. Otherwise, they say, China stands to lose the value of its large dollar portfolio. China sees it differently. It is obvious to Chinese officials that neither China nor the entire world has enough spare money to purchase $4 trillion of US Treasuries over the next two years. According to the London Telegraph on May 27, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank president Richard Fisher was repeatedly grilled by senior officials of the Chinese government during his recent visit about whether the Federal Reserve was going to finance the US budget deficit by printing money. According to Fisher, "I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States." US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has gone to China to calm the fears. However, even before he arrived, a Chinese central bank spokesman gave Geithner the message that the US should not assume China will continue to finance Washington's extravagant budgets. The governor of China's central bank is calling for the abandonment of the dollar as reserve currency, using the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights in its place. President Lyndon Johnson's "guns and butter" policy during the 1960s forced president Richard Nixon to eliminate the gold backing that the dollar had as world reserve currency, putting foreign central banks on the same fiat money standard as the US economy. In its first four months, the Obama administration has outdone president Johnson. Instead of ending war, Obama has expanded America's war of aggression in Afghanistan and spread it into Pakistan. War, bailouts, and stimulus plans have pushed the government's annual operating budget 50 per cent into the red. Washington's financial irresponsibility has brought pressure on the dollar and the US bond market. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke thought he could push down interest rates on Treasuries by purchasing $300 billion of them. However, the result was to cause a sharp drop in Treasury prices and a rise in interest rates. As monetization of federal debt goes forward, US interest rates will continue to rise, worsening the problems in the real estate sector. The dollar will continue to lose value, making it harder for the US to finance its budget and trade deficits. Domestic inflation will raise its ugly head despite high unemployment. The incompetents who manage US economic policy have created a perfect storm. The Obama-Federal Reserve-Wall Street plan for the US to spend its way out of its problems is coming unglued. The reckless spending is pushing the dollar down and interest rates up. Every sector of the US economy is in trouble. Former US manufacturing firms have been turned into marketing companies trying to sell their foreign-made goods to domestic consumers who have seen their jobs be moved offshore. Much of what is left of US manufacturing--the auto industry--is in bankruptcy. More decline awaits housing and commercial real estate. The dollar is sliding, and interest rates are rising, despite the Federal Reserve's attempts to hold interest rates down. When the Reagan administration cured stagflation, the result was a secular bull-market in US Treasuries that lasted 28 years. That bull market is over. Americans' living standards are headed down. The American standard of living has been destroyed by wars, by offshoring of jobs, by financial deregulation, by trillion dollar handouts to financial gangsters who have, so far, destroyed half of Americans' retirement savings, and by the monetization of debt. The next shoe to drop will be the dollar's loss of the reserve currency role. Then the US, an import-dependent country, will no longer be able to pay for its imports. Shortages will worsen price inflation and disrupt deliveries. Life for most Americans will become truly stressful. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

Mass Contacts. Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

A new book details the history of a mysterious group of human looking extraterrestrials that established underground bases in Italy and met with local residents between 1956 and 1978. The author of Mass Contacts, Stefano Breccia, is a well regarded Italian UFOLogist with an electrical engineering background who has taught at several Italian and foreign universities. He investigated the Amicizia (Friendship) case over a period of several decades during which he got to meet and question many of the primary witnesses. In the book, Breccia includes the testimony of Bruno Sammaciccia, a highly qualified Italian scholar with degrees in psychology and psychiatry, and author of 160 books. Sammaciccia’s testimony contains his claims of direct physical contact with extraterrestrials over several decades. Leading Italian UFOlogist, Dr Roberto Pinotti wrote the Preface to the book and acknowledged his own decades long knowledge of the Friendship case, and the extensive evidence supporting it. Some of the many photos taken of UFOs and extraterrestrials in the Friendship case rank among the best quality ever taken. In terms of its overall impact, number of participants involved, and documentary evidence compiled, Mass Contacts is the most astonishing case of human extraterrestrial contact in modern history.

In the Preface, Dr Pinotti describes his amazement at overhearing his university professor talking about extraterrestrials while taking his final doctoral exam at the University of Florence in 1969. Upon approaching the professor and telling him of his interest in UFOs, the Professor asked Pinotti: “Are you aware of the underground alien base near Pescara and of its logistics.” Pinotti said it quickly became apparent that his professor belonged to the secret fellowship “which had been created in order to help the aliens in their enterprises on our planet.” Pinotti was able to confirm that “a group of human looking aliens from far away stars had built a huge underground structure along the shore of the Adriatic sea.” It was only with the passing away of Sammaciccio in 2003 that Pinotti decided to come forward to reveal his own knowledge of the case: “because in his will there was the request that his story be made known, without causing problems to anyone, I acknowledged that [it] was my duty to contribute to the truth, as much as possible.”

The story of Mass Contacts began in 1956 when Bruno Sammaciccia and two friends met with two mysterious individuals who said they were extraterrestrials. One was over 8 foot tall while the other was just over 3 foot. Sammaciccia and his friends, initially skeptical, were eventually taken into a large underground base where they saw more of the alleged extraterrestrials. They also saw their children being educated, some of the advanced technologies they used, and their space ships. Finally convinced that they were really having physical contact with extraterrestrials, Sammaciccia and his friends began to help the extraterrestrials. They began with material support by arranging for truckloads of fruit, food and other material to be transported and unloaded at an extraterrestrial base. Eventually, two truckloads of supplies were being delivered every month to bases in different regions of Italy where Sammaciccia and his assistants lived.

Sammaciccia describes the various people involved in the case and who had direct meetings with the extraterrestrials. The individuals involved grew over time as Sammaciccia assisted the extraterrestrials in helping prepare humanity for the reality of human looking extraterrestrials from other planets. Breccia said that he personally met and interviewed almost 80 people who worked with or met the extraterrestrials. Most were in Italy, but others were from other countries that also had been exposed to the same group of extraterrestrials. Many of the extraterrestrials could easily blend into human society and even take normal jobs when necessary. The Friendship case helps confirm the accounts of a number of American contactees and whistleblowers that human looking extraterrestrials have blended into human society and have walked among us.

Sammaciccia finally described a violent conflict between two factions of extraterrestrials trying to influence humanity’s development and future. While his ‘Friendship’ faction promoted cosmic unity and ethical development, the other faction promoted technological development at all cost. This led to periodic violent clashes between the factions. Eventually, the underground bases of Sammaciccia’s extraterrestrial friends was destroyed in 1978. Survivors had to leave the Earth but promised to return at a future time when humanity was ready for a more ethical future of humanity interacting with extraterrestrials.

Sammaciccia’s astounding story sounds like an episode from Star Trek, but it is well supported by documentary evidence, some of Italy’s finest UFO researchers, and first hand witnesses of the events described. Some of the witnesses were leading statesmen, scholars and high society figures from Italy and Europe. Breccia includes a number of prefaces and statements by witnesses detailing the extensive number of people involved in the Friendship case. The English version of the book, however, suffers from poor translation, unnecessary coverage of other cases, and lacked a table of contents and index. Also, the cover does not do justice to the profound material in the book. Despite these limitations the book is highly recommended reading. It provides an excellent summary of the extensive evidence of extraterrestrials having secretly lived and interacted in Italy over a twenty two year period. As more material and witnesses emerge in Italy and other countries, the Friendhip case may be what finally confirms the reality of extraterrestrial life.

[Event Notice: Prof Stefano Brecia will be speaking about the Friendship case at the upcoming Earth Transformation Conference on the Big Island of Hawaii (January 7-12, 2010).The conference features 12 international speakers discussing healing, new science, consciousness and extraterrestrial contact.]

By Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 9:25 AM on 02nd June 2009

Whipped into fantastical shapes, these clouds hang over the darkening landscape like the harbingers of a mighty storm.

But despite their stunning and frequent appearances, the formations have yet to be officially recognised with a name.

They have been seen all over Britain in different forms - from Snowdonia to the Scottish Highlands - and in other parts of the world such as New Zealand, but usually break up without producing a storm.

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Stunning but undefined: The clouds loom over the skies of New Zealand - but unfortunately words can't describe this dramatic vision from the heavens

And some experts believe the stormy weather phenomenon deserves its very own classification.

Experts at the Royal Meteorological Society are now attempting to make it official by naming it 'Asperatus' after the Latin word for 'rough'.

If they are successful, it would be the first variety of cloud formation to be given a new label in over half a century

'It is a bit like looking at the surface of a choppy sea from below,' said Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, who identified the cloud from photographs sent in by members.

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Dramatic: The ribbons across the sky look like a 'choppy sea viewed from below'

'We try to identify and classify all of the images of clouds we get in, but there were some that just didn't seem to fit in any of the other categories, so I began to think it might be a unique type of cloud.'

He added: 'The underside of the clouds are quite rough and choppy. It looks very stormy, but some of the reports we have been getting suggest that they tend to break up without actually turning into a storm.'

The Royal Meteorological Society is now gathering detailed information for the days and locations where the asperatus clouds have been seen in an attempt to understand exactly what is causing them.

Officials will then apply to the UN's World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva to have the new cloud type considered for addition into the International Cloud Atlas, the system used by meteorologists across the globe.

Professor Paul Hardaker, Chief Executive of the RMS, said: 'There would probably need to be quite a lot of heat around to produce the energy needed to generate such dramatic cloud formations.

'They are quite dark structures so there must be a lot of water vapour condensing in the cloud.'

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Skies over Scotland: This scene from Perthshire could help confirm the new 'Asperatus' classification

The media has been touting whatever good economic news it can find. But the truth is economic recovery is nowhere in sight

• 
• • Dean Baker
  • guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 June 2009 21.30 BST
  • Article history

Last week we got a whole series of bad reports on the state of the economy. New and existing home sales both remain near their lowest level for the downturn, as house prices continue to drop at the rate of 2% a month. New orders for capital goods, a key measure of investment demand, fell by 2% in April. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders were still down by 1.5%.

On Friday, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index fell by more than 5 percentage points from its April level, approaching its low for the downturn. The employment component of the index did hit a new low.

These reports might have led to gloomy news stories, but not in the US media. The folks who could not see an $8tn housing bubble are still determined to find the silver lining in even the worst economic news.

For example, National Public Radio told listeners that the new home sales figure reported for April was up from the March level. While this was true, the April figure was only 1,000 higher than a March level that had just been revised down by 5,000. April new home sales were 4,000 below the sales level that had originally been reported for March. USA Today touted a "surge" in durable goods orders, which was also based on a sharp downward revision to the prior month's data.

The media have obviously abandoned economic reporting and instead have adopted the role of cheerleader, touting whatever good news it can find and inventing good news when none can be found. This leaves the responsibility of reporting on the economy to others.

Any serious examination of the data shows that recovery is nowhere in sight. The basic story of the downturn is painfully simple. We have seen a collapse of a housing bubble which has devastated the construction sector and also caused consumption to plunge.

The construction sector is suffering from the enormous overbuilding during the bubble years. Measured in months of sales, the inventories of both new and existing homes are close to double their normal levels. This inventory will ensure that construction remains badly depressed at least through 2010, if not much longer.

The plunge in house prices has sent consumption plummeting. The problem is not consumer attitudes, as many commentators seem to believe. Rather, the reason that most homeowners aren't buying a lot right now is the same reason that homeless people don't buy a lot of things: they don't have the money.

The decline in house prices since the peak in 2006 has cost homeowners close to $6tn in lost housing equity. In 2009 alone, falling house prices have destroyed almost $2tn in equity. People were spending at an incredible rate in 2004-2007 based on the wealth they had in their homes. This wealth has now vanished.

Housing is weak and falling. Consumption is weak and falling. New orders for capital goods in April, the main measure for investment demand, is down 35.6% from its level a year ago. And, state and local governments across the country, led by California, are laying off workers and cutting back services.

If there is evidence of a recovery in this story, it is very hard to find. The more obvious story is one of a downward spiral, as more layoffs and further cuts in hours continue to reduce workers' purchasing power. Furthermore, the weakness in the labour market is putting downward pressure on wages, reducing workers' purchasing power through a second channel.

Happy talk will not turn this economy around. The economy needs more demand, which can only be provided by another larger dose of stimulus from the federal government. There are easy, quick and effective ways to boost the economy with additional stimulus.

First, let's give more money to state and local governments so that they don't have to lay off workers, cut back services and raise taxes. This should be a complete no-brainer since this spending will immediately boost the economy.

The government could also provide a large boost to the economy by jump-starting healthcare reform with an employer tax credit (e.g. $2,500 per worker) for firms who do not currently provide coverage. This could quickly get us to near universal coverage as Congress works to restructure the system to contain costs.

It could also provide a $2,500 tax credit to employers for giving workers paid time off. This should both increase demand in the economy and provide workers with more leisure and flexibility at the workplace.

There are other ways in which the government could quickly generate new demand, but these will not be seriously discussed until there is more general recognition that additional stimulus is needed. At some point it will be impossible to conceal the bad news and Congress' attention will return to stimulus. But the media's reality defying happy talk on

By Tom Hoggins, Video Games Correspondent in Los Angeles
Published: 2:04PM BST 02 Jun 2009

E3 2009 opened with a bang in Los Angeles as Microsoft announced new technological developments and a formidable video game line up for the Xbox 360.

Well, what a start to E3 2009 that was. After last year's tedious, scaled-back conference, which one industry friend said resembled 'a car boot sale', Microsoft's glitzy pre-show media briefing was the perfect way to say “E3 is back.” Steven Spielberg was there, a super shiny Audi R8 adorned the back of the stage under bright lights and dry ice. Even Paul and Ringo showed up to mumble something about the new Beatles Rock Band before shuffling off again, clearly somewhat bemused by what us crazy kids get up to these days.

So the showbiz was most definitely back. But most importantly, Microsoft showed off a phenomenal line up of Xbox 360 exclusive titles and, of course, unveiled the new motion sensing technology 'Project Natal''.

Natal is a motion sensing camera and voice recognition system that completely does away with the need for any type of controller. The technology is certainly impressive, but how it is translated into enjoyable gaming experiences will be the real acid test. The preview reel we were shown threw us images of 'lifestyle' families trying out various types of games. Xbox head honcho Don Mattrick described the video as the 'vision' for the new tech, rather than games in development. We saw fighting games, shooting games, driving games all translated into body movements captured by Natal's camera.

A lot was said about the traditional controller being the 'biggest barrier to entry' for video games. But it shouldn't be forgotten that a gamepad offers an incredible amount of dexterity when creating games. With, Natal, it's going to take an incredibly talented developer to make a video game that offers the same depth as many 'traditional' titles. The tech can be as impressive as you like but, without the right direction, the games could end up as fun but ultimately shallow experiences. From a 'core' gamer's point of view, that's exactly what has blighted Nintendo's Wii since its launch.

This is where Lionhead's new project, Milo, comes in. Demonstrated by Lionhead director Peter Molyneux, Milo is an 'emotional AI' character, with whom you interact and talk to using Natal. Depicted as a young boy in a lush countryside, Milo can recognise an individual person, talk to them and even interpret emotions via tone of voice. A video showed a young lady standing in front of the screen, talking with Milo even passing a drawing 'through' the screen, scanned in by Natal's camera. The conversation and interaction flowed seamlessly. Which is, of course, where the suspicion sets in. If Milo works as well as the video suggested, then he is a staggering breakthrough in artificial intelligence. The video was clearly scripted, so it will be fascinating to follow Milo and find out just how well the so-called 'emotional AI' works under scrutiny.

The potential of Milo and the Natal technology is sky-high and it will be intriguing to find out what developers can make of the new tech. The danger of it being a novelty is a concern, despite the fantastic technical achievement, but conceptually the technology could be yet another step to making video gaming appeal to 'everyone', a word that was thrown about with gleeful abandon during the presentations.

Despite the grand unveiling of Natal, for me the real highlight was the exceptional Xbox 360 exclusive line-up. The conference hall rumbled with the explosions and gunfire of several more 'traditional' action games. First person shooters Halo 3: ODST and Modern Warfare 2 looked brilliantly thrilling, while the enigmatic and elusive survival horror Alan Wake also had an impressive showing. Since it was last seen, Ubisoft's long-delayed Splinter Cell Conviction has had a complete makeover and its brutal, Jack Bauer-esque, stealth action made it my early candidate for best game of the show.

Microsoft have opened E3 2009 with a fantastic showing, setting the bar and daring Nintendo and Sony to match them. With Sony rumoured to be unveiling its own new controller technology, it looks to be a fascinating match up. And of course, you underestimate Nintendo at your peril. There's no doubt, E3 is back with a bang.

news source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/