Dear Friends,

This Earthpulse Flashpoint is intended to address some of the issues this generation is facing together. Over the last fifteen years I have investigated and reported on the "dark-side" of technology, energy issues, politics and other matters that impact us all. In the midst of this work I have also attempted to find another way through our shared history in the making, by shining a light on truth. In the middle of all the chaos there are opportunities for illumination and transformation. Carefully considered change in the directions we take can serve our individual interests while also creating an improved shared reality. We can remain optimistic in the face of a lot of negative daily news because there are real opportunities. It is time for action and not passivity. There is an increasing number of people who are rising out of the ashes of their apathy, recognizing who they are, and taking action because now the results of leaving it to others is obvious. The intention of this Flashpoint is to stimulate greater discussions and perhaps a change in the shared path we are on.

Fear is Not The Answer

In talking with friends and many readers of Earthpulse Flashpoints we agree that fear has worked its way into every aspect of our individual and collective lives. The economy, health care, education for the next generation, wars, and every other kind of worry has only served to keep the population in a low-level-sustained state of fear and stress. These are roots to disaster.

Fear and stress lead to physical and mental health issues and problems that come from the stunted capacity of the mind when the brain is aroused by fear. It is impossible to reach our higher states of awareness, intellect, creativity or consciousness as human beings in a state of fear and stress - this reality is supported by the scientific facts and supports the mandate that we should "have no fear". Scientific observations of the brain through the use of EEG, MRI and other methods have shown clearly that we cannot reach these important mental states in conditions of stress.

Life is about transcending our current conditions and reaching our highest potentials, something that cannot happen in a condition of fear. Recognition of what drives us as well as what impacts us are the first steps in regaining our natural human potentials at all levels. Taking steps to enhance our potentials while inhibiting the interference of outside influences is also possible by increasing our knowledge and individual interpretation of the reality around us.

Ask the right questions - consider the nature of each communication, and ask if the so-called "news" even matters. Look at Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS and ask how much of what is called "news" first of all is "news". Then ask, of the "news", how much of it is real information that matters to us, really matters to us. Freedom of the press is not about spreading fear, increasing ratings, keeping advertisers, serving the interests of boards of directors, propping up political parties, or other special interests - Freedom of the Press is about maintaining an informed population so that government can be kept in check. It is about assuring vigorous public debate on all significant issues.

Reflecting on the changes my generation has seen over the last fifty years we have moved in many wrong directions. Directions that were transforming in their inception, but were unfortunately not supportive of a republican form of government and failed to safeguard individual liberty and freedom. Some call it conspiracy; others see it as an idle population too preoccupied with other aspects of life to see what was happening and act against the creep that subverts liberty. Some think it is the result of a failure to transfer generational knowledge as it relates to true liberty and understanding the political mechanisms for maintaining freedom. Yet others believe it is because of the "dampening" of the human spirit by oppression delivered by any number of sources that have pressed us into submission. Yet many others believe that if we can reach our individual potentials we will then recognize increasingly greater possibilities and reverse this dangerous degeneration into fear. We can rekindle our individual light and ignite a larger flame among us. We do not need to wait - the work begins with each of us acting on what we believe is right and true.

Pointing out a few issues might be useful in putting some of this in context. A big part of the change has been the manipulation of political systems and ultimately you and me. It doesn't matter the issue, it doesn't matter the political party, interest group, religious organization or commercial enterprise - they all pursue politics for their own self-interests often using fear to move us their way. They are rarely concerned about individual interests as they affect our daily lives. Distraction using the latest results of some focus group, a poll or a test-marketing program facilitates the next indoctrination by whoever is pushing something. This is the pattern that has emerged. It no longer matters the merit of an issue, a comprehensive program or a sane approach to public policy, in the public's interest, it is about results no matter how obtained. Without the public being interested in politics it will continue to work against our interests and further restrict our freedoms. The institutions of our government should be turned to serve our interests, as citizens and not be our adversary.

Why be involved? Government through taxation, as a part of the economy, consumes nearly 50% of all of our incomes when we consider our own direct tax payments and then consider all of the things we consume that include paying for someone else's taxes as part of the costs of goods and services. The thing we spend the most money on as individuals - is government. We complain about government yet pay it the biggest portion of our incomes and yet do more to regulate our child's weekly allowance than we do making our political leaders accountable. We are no longer free men and women we are slaves to government, paying for the policies of government when those policies are set by special interests with access to politicians and not by individuals. We need to initiate a new movement back to the principles that founded our nation, to be as a light to the rest of the world.a government by the people, of the people and for the people.

Our individual and national collective experience needs some reflection and redirection if we are to preserve liberty and freedom. It all begins with individual actions of free people rather than surrendering in fear. There are many forms of slavery but they all share common charicteristics the most fundamental of which is they strip us of our "individual will" to conform to the will of others. Free will and choice is the foundation of our natural rights as human beings and when others seek to control people, through fear and manipulation, they inflict on our humanity the greatest injustice.

Privacy, Education and the Air Waves

Our educational systems and institutions create significant impacts and consequences that cannot be thought of in the context of the old models and ideas that initiated these institutions. These organizations are often used to push new propaganda and create conformity. At the same time attacks on personal privacy are well known and continue to occur with seemingly no end in sight.

Public education is dominated by special interest groups that influence every aspect of education while student test scores continue to decline and dropout rates increase. From the production of textbooks to teacher's organizations, from political to corporate interests, all are vying to control the perceptions of the next generation through public "education". The purpose of public education is not to prop up old ideas, the status quo or create new propaganda driven fictions. Education is about the intellect and capacity of the next generation so that children can reach their highest potentials not just learn how to stand in a box and conform to the special interest shaped information.

Modern electronic communication is not about informing the public, but has been reduced to manipulation of public opinion, "reality" and "disaster" themes that charge us up but fail in most instances to lift us up. Communications has changed and how people acquire their knowledge has changed. We have more access to real information possible through the Internet and other sources greater than any time in our history.

We can almost look into the brain of the world through the Internet. In fact some even make predictions about the world based on the analysis of the "chatter" on the world-wide-web. By looking at the "chatter" predictions are being made that are increasingly accurate. There was even a government program that looked at this in reverse and found that by manipulating public sentiment one could drive the outcome - change the future.

The fact is as we gain the ability to store, sort and analyze data we increase our personal footprints in a world of data. Who owns our data? It is a basic question for a modern democratic republic and its answer is based on property and privacy rights. Information has value and is property. Though the use of data we are manipulated and herded into directions we might otherwise not go. The answer is we each own all of our individualized data and it should be protected not exploited. Understanding who owns our medical records, transaction records, cable channel information, internet searches, phone call networks, bank records, credit card information, credit reporting agency records and on and on and on.is each of us individually.

The direction of the world-wide-web according to a PBS special called The 22nd Century - World Wide Mind is that the web will literally evolve in the future to connect all people's minds on earth. Contemplate this for a moment, in light of any concept of freedom and liberty and the gift of connectivity becomes a curse. The fact that the mind and consciousness itself can be so easily manipulated by external means for the wrong reasons has been the subject of much of my writing including the book Controlling the Human Mind. When we consider these issues personal privacy takes on a whole new meaning. In the 21st Century freedom of thought will be recognized as the basic battlefield of liberty.

What most people focus on is the idea that monitoring and controlling thoughts and ideas is the problem. While it is a problem it is not the biggest problem. What we have attempted to show is that controlling and monitoring is not where the issue ends it is only a symptom of the problem. We often confuse the symptoms with the underlying problem. The biggest discovery made by the researchers in the fields of consciousness and the mind is that we are much more than we know. We have what are called "anomalous" human capacities; these are mysterious capacities that show up in some people- what some call ESP while others refer to these capabilities as the gifts of the spirit.

Imagine what a fully engaged human being might look like? Imagine what happened when some "intelligence officer" in some government program discovered that the human mind's programming could be overwritten, modified or conversely, an individual's true potential unleashed. The attack on freedom is now waged on several fronts but the most devastating may prove to be the attempt to kill our potential, our birthright as created human beings - created in the image of a Creator. This generation will see our "anomalous" capacities emerge as an outcome of our technology and reflection of our creative ability and birthright. We will also have to learn how to be responsible and accountable for what we create - something people continue to stumble over.

In Earth Rising - The Revolution and in the book Earth Rising II the late James Roderick and I examined the state of several technologies as they related to personal privacy, information technology, bioengineering and several other areas. Most of the predictions we made in those books have come to pass and others are still to be realized. We wrote those books to show the direction we are headed and much of that work has been used to show clearly were it has now gone. Over 800 sources were examined in these titles and thousands more considered when the books were written. The only thing lacking was the right kind of "disaster" to divert the public's attention and usher in the new agenda. In each disaster the vulnerability we each face causes the mass of people to succumb to the latest "extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds" being fostered on us - thereby limiting our ability to act and think clearly. Remember we cannot reach are highest levels of consciousness when we are in a condition of fear and stress. In the wake of the panic created by the events of September 11, 2001 we can all see and the fear continues to be fostered. It has shifted a bit from the terrorists fear agenda of the last administration to healthcare and the economy for the current team but the results are the same increasing fear.

Different groups - same problems. My brother Mark is now a member of the U.S. Senate and recently I went to see him and do some work in Washington D.C. on behalf of some of the groups I support here in Alaska. Mark has a lot of challenges as a conservative democrat and we know he will navigate carefully. After 30 years being away from the inside track of D.C. politics I am shocked by what I have seen. So much of Washington has been appropriated by special interests that there is rarely more than a one minute photo opportunity to see your representative unless - unless you represent some larger special agenda. This reality translates into the loss of our republic. Those elected, and entrusted to safeguard the public have bought into this misguided situation. Instead legislators have yielded to special interests at the expense of sound public policy and at the same time cut themselves off from the public they are elected to serve.

Forging a new way through the politics of this generation where rumor and hot button emotion driven hogwash passes for information is the challenge. Maintaining our calm in the midst of the storm is possible and outcomes can be changed. We are not alone. The good news is that there are millions of well-intentioned people working toward change in millions of individual ways. It is not a collective organized event in the traditional sense it is the collective result of actions taken by individuals. It is in each individual's trying that great things are achieved.

Personal privacy can be addressed in new legislation that considers modern individual property rights and define "personal information" as personal property owned by the individual and not those who collect the data. Retention time for all information should be limited to assure its destruction or transfer to the owner after very limited holding periods and highly restricted uses.

Compulsory educational institutions need to be examined and changed to provide greater competition among providers to assure that there is maximum choice in the indoctrination of our children and their preparation to deal with the world. Parents need to have the authority to make these decisions and not government!