More Than 53% of Your Tax Payment Goes to the Military

If you’re like me, now that we’re in the week that federal income taxes are due, you are finally starting to collect your records and prepare for the ordeal. Either way, whether you are a procrastinator like me, or have already finished and know how much you have paid to the government, it is a good time to stop and consider how much of your money goes to pay for our bloated and largely useless and pointless military.

The budget for the 2011 fiscal year, which has to be voted by Congress by this Oct. 1, looks to be about $3 trillion, not counting the funds collected for Social Security (since the Vietnam War, the government has included the Social Security Trust Fund in the budget as a way to make the cost of America’s imperial military adventures seem smaller in comparison to the total cost of government).  Meanwhile, the military share of the budget works out to about $1.6 trillion.

That figure includes the Pentagon budget request of $708 billion, plus an estimated $200 billion in supplemental funding, called “overseas contingency funding” in  euphemistic White House-speak), to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, some $40 billion or more in “black box” intelligence agency funding, $94 billion in non-DOD military spending, $100 billion in veterans benefits and health care spending, and $400 billion in interest on debt raised to pay for prior wars and the standing military.

The 2011 military budget, by the way, is the largest in history, not just in actual dollars, but in inflation adjusted dollars, exceeding even the spending in World War II, when the nation was on an all-out military footing.

Military spending in all its myriad forms works out to represent 53.3% of total US federal spending.

It’s also a budget that is rising at a faster pace than any other part of the budget (with the possible exception of bailing out crooked Wall Street financial firms and their managers). For the past decade, and continuing under the present administration, military budgets have been rising at a 9% annual clip, making health care inflation look tiny by comparison.

US military spending isn’t just half of the US budget. It is also half of the entire global spending on war and weaponry.  In 2009, according to the venerable War Resisters League, US military spending accounted for 47% of all money spent globally on war, weapons and military preparedness.  What makes that staggering figure particularly ridiculous is that America’s allies–countries like France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Japan–account for another 21% of the world’s military spending. Fully 12 of the top-spenders among big military-spending nations are either allies of the US, or are friendly countries like Brazil and India. That is to say, America and its friends and allies account for more than two-thirds of all military spending worldwide.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/13-4

SaLuSa 16-April-2010

Every soul is being given the opportunity to resolve any outstanding karma, and since you are in your last lifetime on Earth some of you are living hectic lives. Karma is normally worked out when the best conditions present themselves, and do not necessarily occur in the life immediately after the one in which it was incurred. It is a major factor that determines your life plan, and more often than not is related to personal relationships. Each of you sets out in life looking for happiness and fulfilment, but often there is disappointment. Dear Ones, if you have failed to succeed in some aspect of your life, consider that it was planned and intended to give you lessons that are of value to you. After all, nothing that is important to your life plan happens by chance.

At our dimensional level we have long overcome the need for karma, and if we make the wrong choices we recognise them and make amends immediately. For us personal relationships are based on love and respect for each other. We recognise our Oneness with all that is, and acknowledge the divine essence that all life carries. Our caution concerns decisions that are made that effect many souls, such as our involvement with your future. The outcome is not always clear, but based on our experience and ability to read the future probabilities we are confident that little can go wrong. When an advanced civilisation intervenes with one that is still evolving, much care is necessary to ensure that it does not interfere with their path of evolution.

On Earth, at almost every turn you have decisions to make and you are prone to build up karma. However, once you understand the purpose of life and acknowledge the fact that you are all One, you will approach life with a greater understanding. It is not necessarily bound up in religious beliefs, as sometimes these can have the opposite effect by isolating you from other people. Again such souls are working out their karma through such experiences, and in the scheme of things every experience adds to your total consciousness, accumulated through all of your lifetimes.

When you finally ascend you may be absolutely certain that you have succeeded in overcoming duality, and you will truly be looked upon as a Master. You are amongst the bravest of souls to have honed your spiritual awareness, by going through each experience in person. You may wonder what happens to those memories of the negative ones, as many have left you scarred for life. Please be aware that as your consciousness rises, you will set aside such memories and eventually only recall your triumphs and successes. You cannot in fact carry the lower vibrations into the higher levels, and that is the Law. Whenever you carry heartache and sadness, know that it will not remain forever and that the energies of love and happiness will replace them.

Life can seem cruel and very unfair, but remember that you have created your own reality. You cannot escape the Universal Law, but in no way are these in the form of punishment. In fact behind them is the great energy of Love and Light that is the life force of All That Is. Your progress is in your own hands but as we often remind you, the pathway you chose is one that you have decided upon. That is in accordance with the freewill you have been granted, so that you are not restricted in your choices. However you are not expected to necessarily know exactly what is the best path to take, and there are always greater Beings of wisdom and understanding that will guide you if you ask. Even now, although we are fully conscious Beings we consult them if we are uncertain as to the best course of action. Bear in mind we are dealing with the future of planets and their civilisations, just as we are with you. It is a great responsibility and care must be taken when decisions are made. At this time you stand at the gateway to Ascension, and once the changes commence that will bring it into being, they must take you to it with as little inconvenience as possible. Clearly in view of the massive changes to be made, we want it to go smoothly and it is why our plan is reviewed quite often. The timing must be right and we will not move until it is seen to be certain that it will succeed.

When you think about the worldwide problems that exist, and the extent of the changes that are coming know that it is quite an undertaking even for us. However, we have unlimited resources and have complete confidence in our ability to deliver the plan. Once we can openly visit you, your doubts and frustrations will disappear, as you will quickly realise that we are the Creator’s representatives on a divine mission. Your future is tied in with the total upliftment of the Universe, and you are as important as any other part of the plan.

Your participation in the changes requires no more than your dedication, in visualising the happiness and joy they will bring to all life upon Earth. Stay in the Light and live your life to your best ability, as if you had already ascended. Spread love and harmony wherever and whenever you can, and allow any negativity to pass you by. You cannot fight it by approaching it at the same level of vibration, but you rise above it and surround it in love. This way you will be contributing to the overall vibration of the Earth, and indeed you will be helping lift it even higher. You will find that the more you think and act in the Light, the easier it will be to maintain your place at the higher level.

Remember Dear Ones that you are party to the cleansing of Earth, and it is your responsibility to do all you can to reverse the damage that has occurred over many years. We are of course doing our part although you may not necessarily be aware of exactly what we are doing. Much of our work goes unannounced, and it will not take place openly with your knowledge until we are able to work in unison with each other. Mother Earth continues to rumble away, and is waiting to finish her own preparations for Ascension. It is therefore becoming important that she is allowed to complete it very soon. There are reasons related to your safety that are holding back any increase in the cleansing operation, which must be completed in readiness for Ascension.

I am SaLuSa from Sirius, and bless you all and surround you in Light. May you be touched by it, and your consciousness awakened to a higher level than previously. Many higher Beings are also focussing their Light upon Earth, and it increases with your ability to ground it.

Thank you SaLuSa.

Mike Quinsey.

Source: http://www.treeofthegoldenlight.com/First_Contact/mike_quinsey/channeled%20messages/April%202010/salusa__16april2010.htm

Embarrassing Vatican letter hailing bishop who hid predator priest

As a tide of previously confidential Catholic Church documents about child sexual abuse by priests has risen over recent weeks, the Vatican has been able to say that none of them was a “smoking gun” proving it had instructed bishops to cover up the scandals. This defense looks thinner than ever with the posting of a 2001 letter by Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos congratulating (yes, congratulating!) a bishop for not only hiding a self-confessed serial abuser but earning himself a criminal sentence for doing so. For more on the 2001 case, click here.

This amazing letter, in which Castrillon Hoyos promises Bayeux Bishop Pierre Pican he will be presented as a hero to all Catholic bishops around the world, exudes the arrogant atmosphere of Church superiority that victims say they have had to battle against for years to have their grievances taken seriously. It puts forward the incredible argument that a bishop, because he has a kind of “spiritual paternity” for priests under him, is equivalent to a father who is not obliged to testify against his son. It even cites Saint Paul and the Second Vatican Council as supporting this view.

My news story on the letter translates the main (and quite explicit) quotes from the French original. The Golias story on it (in French) is here – and its PDF copy of the letter is here.

pican

Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2010/04/16/embarrassing-vatican-letter-hailing-bishop-who-hid-predator-priest/

Reason for war in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan,…

Apart from the oil and money related reasons for going to war , another reason and probably the most important reason, the stargate rings. These rings allow us HUmans to travel intergalactic.

This StarGate ring was found in the rubble while building a Palace. This StarGate is in a Palace in Iraq. They are starting to find rings like this all over. War FOLLOWS STARGATES Yemen, Sudan, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan. Anunnaki War Lords want control of these StarGates. This picture is REAL it came from KOS.

A 2nd garbage patch: Plastic soup seen in Atlantic

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Researchers are warning of a new blight at sea: a swirl of confetti-like plastic debris stretching over a remote expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

The floating garbage — hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents — was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands.

The studies describe a soup of micro-particles similar to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a phenomenon discovered a decade ago between Hawaii and California that researchers say is likely to exist in other places around the globe.

“We found the great Atlantic garbage patch,” said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.

The debris is harmful for fish, sea mammals — and at the top of the food chain, potentially humans — even though much of the plastic has broken into such tiny pieces they are nearly invisible.

Since there is no realistic way of cleaning the oceans, advocates say the key is to keep more plastic out by raising awareness and, wherever possible, challenging a throwaway culture that uses non-biodegradable materials for disposable products.

“Our job now is to let people know that plastic ocean pollution is a global problem — it unfortunately is not confined to a single patch,” Cummins said.

The research teams presented their findings in February at the 2010 Oceans Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon. While scientists have reported finding plastic in parts of the Atlantic since the 1970s, the researchers say they have taken important steps toward mapping the extent of the pollution.

Cummins and her husband, Marcus Eriksen, of Santa Monica, California, sailed across the Atlantic for their research project. They plan similar studies in the South Atlantic in November and the South Pacific next spring.

On the voyage from Bermuda to the Azores, they crossed the Sargasso Sea, an area bounded by ocean currents including the Gulf Stream. They took samples every 100 miles (160 kilometers) with one interruption caused by a major storm. Each time they pulled up the trawl, it was full of plastic.

A separate study by undergraduates with the Woods Hole, Massachusetts-based Sea Education Association collected more than 6,000 samples on trips between Canada and the Caribbean over two decades. The lead investigator, Kara Lavendar Law, said they found the highest concentrations of plastics between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude, an offshore patch equivalent to the area between roughly Cuba and Washington, D.C.

Long trails of seaweed, mixed with bottles, crates and other flotsam, drift in the still waters of the area, known as the North Atlantic Subtropical Convergence Zone. Cummins’ team even netted a Trigger fish trapped alive inside a plastic bucket.

But the most nettlesome trash is nearly invisible: countless specks of plastic, often smaller than pencil erasers, suspended near the surface of the deep blue Atlantic.

“It’s shocking to see it firsthand,” Cummins said. “Nothing compares to being out there. We’ve managed to leave our footprint really everywhere.”

Still more data are needed to assess the dimensions of the North Atlantic patch.

Charles Moore, an ocean researcher credited with discovering the Pacific garbage patch in 1997, said the Atlantic undoubtedly has comparable amounts of plastic. The east coast of the United States has more people and more rivers to funnel garbage into the sea. But since the Atlantic is stormier, debris there likely is more diffuse, he said.

Whatever the difference between the two regions, plastics are devastating the environment across the world, said Moore, whose Algalita Marine Research Foundation based in Long Beach, California, was among the sponsors for Cummins and Eriksen.

“Humanity’s plastic footprint is probably more dangerous than its carbon footprint,” he said.

Plastics have entangled birds and turned up in the bellies of fish: A paper cited by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says as many as 100,000 marine mammals could die trash-related deaths each year.

The plastic bits, which can be impossible for fish to distinguish from plankton, are dangerous in part because they sponge up potentially harmful chemicals that are also circulating in the ocean, said Jacqueline Savitz, a marine scientist at Oceana, an ocean conservation group based in Washington.

As much as 80 percent of marine debris comes from land, according to the United Nations Environmental Program.

The U.S. government is concerned the pollution could hurt its vital interests.

“That plastic has the potential to impact our resources and impact our economy,” said Lisa DiPinto, acting director of NOAA’s marine debris program. “It’s great to raise awareness so the public can see the plastics we use can eventually land in the ocean.”

DiPinto said the federal agency is co-sponsoring a new voyage this summer by the Sea Education Association to measure plastic pollution southeast of Bermuda. NOAA is also involved in research on the Pacific patch.

“Unfortunately, the kinds of things we use plastic for are the kinds of things we don’t dispose of carefully,” Savitz said. “We’ve got to use less of it, and if we’re going to use it, we have to make sure we dispose of it well.”