September, 2009
Japan's next prime minister might be nicknamed "The Alien" for his prominent eyes, but it is his wife who claims to have had a close encounter with another world. "While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," Miyuki Hatoyama, the wife of premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama, wrote in a book published last year. "It was a very beautiful place and it was really green." Yukio Hatoyama is due to take office on September 16 following his Democratic Party of Japan's historic election win last week. Miyuki, 66, described the extraterrestrial experience, which she said took place some 20 years ago, in a book entitled Very Strange Things I've Encountered.

Yukio Hatoyama, 62, isthe grandson of a former prime minister. Miyuki, also known for her culinary skills, spent six years acting in the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theatre group. She met the US-educated Yukio while living in America. With the nation apparently hungry for change, Japanese people are getting set to welcome a quirky first lady.
Al Jazeera Laura Kyle reports on Japan's flamboyant future first lady.

June, 2009

NASA Bombing of the Moon may create conflict with ET's, UFO's

Sunday, 21 June 2009

The planned October 9, 2009 bombing of the moon by a NASA orbiter that will bomb the moon with a 2-ton kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile wide deep crater as an alleged water-seeking and lunar colonization experiment, is contrary to space law prohibiting environmental modification of celestial bodies. The NASA moon bombing, a component of the LCROSS mission, may also trigger conflict with known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon as reported on the moon in witnessed statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and in witnessed statements to NSA (National Security Agency) photos and documents regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon. If the true intent of the LCROSS mission moon bombing is a hostile act by NASA against known extraterrestrial civilizations and settlements on the moon, then NASA and by extension the U.S. government are guilty of aggressive war which is the most serious of war crimes under the U.N. Charter and the Geneva Conventions, to which the U.S. is subject. The U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. has ratified, requires that “ The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.” 98 nations have ratified and 125 nations have signed the U.N. Outer Space Treaty. NASA’s LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission The NASA LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission, which departed on Earth on June 18, 2009. According to one report, “Flying over the moon's southern hemisphere, LCROSS will use its high-precision instruments, as well as close-up images of the terrain gathered by the lunar orbiter, to seek out a crater just shallow enough and dark enough to be a prime bombing target. “There, acting as what the Ames team calls its "shepherding spacecraft," LCROSS will guide an empty Centaur rocket weighing two tons toward its target. The rocket will crash into the crater at 5,600 mph, creating a new crater - perhaps as large as 5 miles wide. The crash is scheduled to occur Oct. 9.” The two-ton Centaur rocket qualifies as a space-based kinetic weapon. The reason alleged by NASA for the mission is that “the [LCROSS} probes will map possible landing sites and search for water sources that could be used by a future lunar colony.” According to NASA, “The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. The impact will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.” U.S. astronauts, NASA employees, Soviet scientists, NSA confirm the extraterrestrial presence on the moon There are confirmed reports of an extraterrestrial presence on the moon, both from U.S. astronauts who have visited the moon, from NASA employees, from Soviet scientists and observers of the NASA moon visits, and from witnessed NSA (National Security Agency) reports on a moon based on the far side of the moon. One report states that, “In a 2006 television documentary, ‘Apollo 11: The Untold Story,’ Buzz Aldrin admitted for the first time publicly that the astronauts saw UFOs on their trip to the Moon, but they were not allowed to discuss this information on the live audio feed to NASA. He stated that he felt it would have caused a ‘panic.’” Other research on witnessed corroboration of U.S. astronaut sightings of an extraterrestrial presence on the Moon states, “According to hitherto unconfirmed reports, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after their historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. I remember hearing one of the astronauts refer to a "light" in or on a carter during the television transmission, followed by a request from mission control for further information. Nothing more was heard.” “According to a former NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets picked up the following exchange: “NASA: What's there? Mission Control calling Apollo 11... “Apollo: These ‘Babies’ are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You wouldn't believe it! I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out there, lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They're on the Moon watching us! “In 1979, Maurice Chatelain, former chief of NASA Communications Systems confirmed that Armstrong had indeed reported seeing two UFOs on the rim of a crater. ‘The encounter was common knowledge in NASA,’ he revealed, ‘but nobody has talked about it until now.’ “Soviet scientists were allegedly the first to confirm the incident. ‘According to our information, the encounter was reported immediately after the landing of the module,’ said Dr. Vladimir Azhazha, a physicist and Professor of Mathematics at Moscow University. ‘Neil Armstrong relayed the message to Mission Control that two large, mysterious objects were watching them after having landed near the moon module. But his message was never heard by the public-because NASA censored it.’ “According to another Soviet scientist, Dr. Aleksandr Kazantsev, Buzz Aldrin took color movie film of the UFOs from inside the module, and continued filming them after he and Armstrong went outside. Dr. Azhazha claims that the UFOs departed minutes after the astronauts came out on to the lunar surface. “Maurice Chatelain also confirmed that Apollo 11's radio transmissions were interrupted on several occasions in order to hide the news from the public. Before dismissing Chatelain's sensational claims, it is worth noting his impressive background in the aerospace industry and space program. His first job after moving from France was as an electronics engineer with Convair, specializing in telecommunications, telemetry, and radar. In 1959 he was in charge of an electromagnetic research group, developing new radar and telecommunications systems for Ryan. One of his eleven patents was an automatic flights to the Moon. Later, at North American Aviation, Chatelain was offered the job of designing and building the Apollo communications and data-processing systems. “Chatelain claims that ‘all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of extraterrestrial origin-flying saucers, or UFOs, if you want to call them by that name. Every time it occurred, the astronauts informed Mission Control, who then ordered absolute silence.’ He goes on to say: “I think that Walter Schirra aboard Mercury 8 was the first of the astronauts to use the code name 'Santa Claus' to indicate the presence of flying saucers next to space capsules. However, his announcements were barely noticed by the general public. “It was a little different when James Lovell on board the Apollo 8 command module came out from behind the moon and said for everybody to hear: 'PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.' “Even though this happened on Christmas Day 1968, many people sensed a hidden meaning in those words." Former USAF U.S. Sgt. Karl Wolfe, a Disclosure Project witness, describes photos, documents of extraterrestrial bases on the dark side of the moon that he witnessed at the NSA (National Security Agency), in the 1960s. One report states that “Sgt Wolfe was working with Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia in 1965. There, he was assigned to the lunar orbital project with the National Security Agency where he met an airman who confided in him that they had discovered bases in the far side of the moon.” Sgt Wolfe’s Disclosure Project testimony, in which he states that he is willing to testify under oath before the U.S. Congress, can be seen in the video below. google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); One account states, “The airman told him (Wolfe) that all of the NASA photographs were sent to Langley, where they were enhanced, and eventually made into photographs to be sent to and studied by the different branches of the military. He was also told why security was of the utmost importance at the lab on this particular day-recent enhanced imagery had clearly shown structures on the far side of the Moon. These structures were definitely not created by natural forces-they were made by intelligent beings. “’We discovered,’ the airman said, ‘a base on the back side of the Moon.’ Wolfe was in no way prepared for what he had just been told. When he airman saw Wolfe nearly shaking in disbelief, he reiterated: “’Yes, a base on the dark side of the Moon.’ “Although Wolfe had not actually been told that some alien intelligence had made the aforementioned structures, who else could it have been? Although Russia had flown unmanned vessels around to the far side, no landing had been made, and the resources and technology needed to build a station there were far beyond that of Russia at the time. Had they made a landing on the Moon, the entire world would have known about it. And Wolfe knew America was still years from a Moon landing. “His anxiety reached a new level. He was looking at, and being told about, something that he should not have seen or known about. He was actually afraid of being arrested and a court martial. He only wanted to finish his job, and get out of there, and forget the whole incident. He would finish the repair he was called to do, but he could never forget what he had seen that day at Langley. He would tell not a soul for 30 years. “His release from the military also required that he not leave the United States for five years. This was a condition of his security status. He also was sworn to not reveal anything he had seen while performing his duties in the military. Wolfe would eventually put a report on what he had seen on video, which is now available on the Internet. There have also been several ex-NASA employees who have come forward telling of their experiences in air brushing structures out of NASA photographs of the Moon.” NASA’s lunar bombing violates Space Law and must be stopped NASA’s use of a 2-ton empty Centaur rocket as a kinetic weapon violates space law in multiple ways and must be stopped, in flight or in lunar orbit, which the LCROSS lunar orbiter reaches on Tuesday June 23, 2009. The bombing of the moon with a kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile crater is a per se violation of the U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. has ratified, irrespective of its being designed as part of an experiment related to lunar colonization. The U.N. Outer Space Treaty (Article III) provides that “States Parties to the Treaty shall carry on activities in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, in accordance with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations.” The Moon Treaty (Agreement Governing The Activities Of States On The Moon And Other Celestial Bodies (1979)) addresses and bans the specific activity bombing of the moon carried out unilaterally by the U.S. The Moon Treaty prohibits disruption of the environment of the Moon. The LCROSS bombing constitutes a disruption of the delicate balance of the lunar ecology. Article 7 of the Moon Treaty states: Article 7 of the Moon Treaty “1. In exploring and using the moon, States Parties shall take measures to prevent the disruption of the existing balance of its environment whether by introducing adverse changes in that environment, by its harmful contamination through the introduction of extra-environmental matter or otherwise. States Parties shall also take measures to avoid harmfully affecting the environment of the earth through the introduction of extraterrestrial matter or otherwise. “2. States Parties shall inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the measures being adopted by them in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article and shall also, to the maximum extent feasible, notify him in advance of all placements by them of radio-active materials on the moon and of the purposes of such placements. “3. States Parties shall report to other States Parties and to the Secretary-General concerning areas of the moon having special scientific interest in order that, without prejudice to the rights of other States Parties, consideration may be given to the designation of such areas as international scientific preserves for which special protective arrangements are to be agreed upon in consultation with the competent bodies of the United Nations.” Although the U.S. has not ratified the Moon Treaty, 13 nations have, and it can be construed as a relevant international standard of what constitutes “international law” under the U.N. Outer Space Treaty. Is NASA’s LCROSS bombing of the moon a camouflaged attack or attempt to impose moon sovereignty by the U.S.? There is witnessed evidence, through the testimony of UASF SGT Karl Wolfe and through the statements of U.S. astronauts, NASA employees, former Soviet scientists that the U.S., and its agencies NASA and the NSA has had scientific evidence that the moon has extraterrestrial civilizations and present settlements on it for more than 40 years, since the 1960s. The U.S. has not attempted any public, peaceful diplomacy with the civilizations on the moon. In fact, the U.S. has imposed an embargo on public knowledge that settlements and an extraterrestrial presence exist on the moon. What is touted as a scientific experiment – the bombing of the moon – may in reality be an attempt to impose de facto U.S. sovereignty on the moon. Article II of the U.N. Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. has signed, states: “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.” Moreover, the LCROSS bombing of the moon may be an intentional hostile act by the U.S. (which has know the moon is inhabited for at least 40 years by other civilizations), a kind of “shot across the bow” to mark turf against other intelligent civilizations on the moon. The U.N. Outer Space Treaty prohibits non-peaceful activities on the moon. Article IV states, “The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.” NASA’s LCROSS bombing of the moon must be stopped, while the lunar orbiter is in orbit, before the bombing occurs on October 9, 2009. Twitter Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Centre, to stop LCROSS bombing If you are interested in stopping NASA’s LCROSS bombing, please write Pete Worden, Director of the NASA Ames Centre, which oversees LCROSS. You can twitter Worden at http://twitter.com/worden. http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/7216/56

March 2009
March 5, 2009

Secretary Steven Chu Editorial in USA Today
Washington, D.C. – This morning's edition of USA Today includes the following editorial from Energy Secretary Steven Chu highlighting President Obama's plans to develop and deploy new energy technologies that will put Americans to work, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and address the global climate crisis:

Research pays for itself: Investments in clean energy will unleash innovations, create jobs

By Steven Chu

To lift our economy and put Americans back to work, President Obama is making a major investment in clean energy.

Clean energy is the best opportunity we have to create jobs today and launch the industries of tomorrow. It's also critical for our security — to reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil — and to save our planet from the potentially devastating effects of climate change.

We have begun the transformation to a clean energy economy through the president's economic recovery plan. And to truly rise to this challenge, President Obama has pledged to invest $15 billion a year to develop and deploy the next generation of renewable energy technology here in America.

As history has shown repeatedly with science funding, this investment will pay for itself many times over. Americans will save far more on their energy bills than we spend on research.

At a time of economic crisis, this bold action is absolutely necessary.

Meeting our energy challenge will require a partnership between government and private sector companies, but the government must lead.

With a network of 17 national laboratories and researchers at 300 colleges and universities, the federal government knows how to do this work. Public investment in research has been critical to developing everything from hybrid-vehicle batteries to lifesaving cancer treatments.

As we have in the past, we will work with the private sector to take breakthroughs on energy from the research lab to the manufacturing plant to the retail store.

We will move with the greatest speed, transparency and accountability because we cannot afford to fail. We will post our progress on Recovery.gov so you can know how your tax dollars are being spent.

With these investments, we will unlock the true potential of solar and wind energy. We will develop advanced biofuels and learn to use coal in a clean way. We will make highly fuel-efficient cars and trucks. And those are just the technologies we already know about.

This strategic investment in clean energy will unleash the innovations that will power our economy for years to come.

Media contact(s):
(202) 586-4940


February 2009

February 24, 2009 Fox News

Ron Paul clearly identifies the divide between American Patriots such as himself and Dennis Kucinich and the global elite which they talk about as wanting to re-define the next monetary system in their own interests.


2-15-09 Al Jazeera
The jatropha tree is being harvested to create biofuel in Kenya. The product can be used to fuel anything from aircrafts to cookers and the new industry is being billed as a way out of poverty for many of the country's poor. However, a lot of land is needed to create the fuel. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege reports from Kitui in eastern Kenya.

WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN (this will also be posted on the activism page)
The new 111th Congress is now in session we need a new agricultural hemp farming bill, or an amendment to a bill, to allow farmers in the U.S. to once again have the opportunity to grow this valuable agricultural crop.

Please write to your Congressional representatives and ask them to consider introducing a bill, or an amendment to a bill, similar to H.R. 1009, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007.

The message that you will send to them is specifically written to educate their staff, who actually read and reply to letters and emails from constituents, about agricultural hemp. Thank you very much for taking the time to write! full article> http://www.drbronner.com/industrial_hemp.html

February 2, 2009 Bush Designates New Marine Sanctuaries Written by Alex Newman

With just two weeks left in office, President Bush designated almost 200,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean as a national monument using powers granted by the Antiquities Act of 1906. The new marine "monument," an area about the size of Spain, is the largest protected area of ocean ever established, breaking a previous record also set by Bush in mid-2006, when he decreed 140,000 square miles in Northwest Hawaii off-limits using the same authority.

Taken together, the new protected areas from American Samoa to the Mariana Islands to the Rose atoll are larger than Texas. The new status of the area means it will be closed to commercial and most recreational fishing, mineral exploration, waste dumping, under-sea mining, oil drilling, and virtually all other uses, though snorkeling and a few other recreational activities may be permitted with a permit from the federal government. full article http://www.goodnewsdaily.com/show_story.php?ID=9116

January 2009

Ecuador: President condemned for uncontacted tribes policy 30 JANUARY 2009
http://www.survival-international.org/news/4150

India: Tribe forms human chain to keep British company off sacred mountain 29 JANUARY 2009
http://www.survival-international.org/news/4152

Peru: Anglo-French oil company faces billion dollar headache in Amazon 26 JANUARY 2009

http://www.survival-international.org/news/4125

Brazil: Indigenous delegation travel down Amazon to World Social Forum 23 JANUARY 2009
http://www.survival-international.org/news/4108

January 27 2009 BBC NEWS | Americas | Bolivians 'back new constitution'

"Brothers and sisters, the colonial state ends here," President Morales, an Aymara Indian, told crowds in front of the presidential palace in La Paz after results emerged. "Now Bolivia is being re-founded," he said. "Here we begin to reach true equality for all Bolivians." > full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7849666.stm

January 24, 2009 The 10 Commandments to save the planet By Evo Morales, Bolovian's 1st Indigenous President

Consume only what is necessary, avoid extravagance, waste, luxury and the desire to get rich.

President Evo Morales told the United Nations that in order to save the planet, we must eradicate the capitalist model, and the North must pay its ecological debt. This was the first of Ten Commandments presented by the leader during the inauguration of the VII Indigenous Forum of the United Nations during a long speech that received high acclaim by those who attended the annual encounter.

Morales Ayma proposed ten commandments to save the world, life and humanity that require: respect for the earth, renouncing war, bilateral relations without imposition, clean energy and a rejection of bio-fuels, access to basic services, prioritizing local production, promotion of cultural diversity and living well through communitarian socialism in harmony with Mother Earth.

The President affirmed that there are two paths for humanity, life and planet earth; either we recover a way of living that is in harmony with Mother Earth and life, or we continue on the path of capitalism and death. Morales insisted that the only way to save the world is to end the way of thinking which foments individualistic egotism, and the thirst for profit.

The enormous effects of climate change are not a product of human beings in general, rather the result of the existing capitalist system that is inhuman and predicated on unlimited ;industrial development;. For this reason I feel that it is important to stop the exploitation of human beings, and end the plunder of natural resources;, said the head of state. ;If we want to save the planet, we have to eradicate the capitalist model and the North must pay its ecological debt rather than the countries of the Global South and rest of the world paying external debts.
> full article with second through tenth commandments
http://www.newhumanist.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104:the-10-commandments-to-save-the-planet&catid=30:bolivia&Itemid=46

For a related Article: Ecuador establishes world's first bill of rights for nature http://www.celdf.org/Default.aspx?tabid=538


Obama administration first 100 days to promote antigravity technology The first 100 days of an Obama administration promise a number of bold initiatives aiming to reinvigorate the U.S. economy and restore America’s international image. Key personnel in the Obama administration have been appointed to implement and ensure the success of such initiatives. Among these initiatives is the anticipated release of classified technologies based on antigravity propulsion principles that can revolutionize the energy and aerospace industries. Obama’s National Security Advisor, retired Marine General James Jones, will feature prominently in the releases of antigravity technologies and associated initiatives.

* Note * Anti-gravity is based on Free Energy, if Obama is planning to release Free Energy like I think he is the world will never look the same in a year.


Dec 2008
Charter 08 and political change in China Written by uln on December 25th, 2008

Barely two weeks after the publication of the Charter 08, it has already become old news, lost in the indifference of Western media (with notable exceptions), and erased in China by the cold intervention of the censors. I want to examine here the importance of this document and give some more thought to it and its possible impact. There is one line in Charter 08 which concentrates in my understanding the essence of the document:
“Human Rights are not bestowed by a State. Every person is born with inherent rights to Dignity and Freedom. The government exists for the protection of the Human Rights of its citizens.”
This principle, inspired in the long tradition of the Enlightment and the famous 18th century Declarations, is at the heart of the matter. Should these rights apply to China, or are they just an interference of foreign ideas in Chinese affairs? This mostly unspoken debate that rages today in China is putting in doubt the universality of Human Rights, and questioning it in view of the singularities of the Chinese culture. Of course, this line of argument does not resist the minimum intellectual scrutiny, but it’s marketable to avid patriots. One doesn’t need to put many brain cells in contact to see that the entire ideology of Maoism -or today’s wild capitalism for that matter- are also based on foreign ideas. And that great Ideas, like print and paper, cure to cancer or Human Rights, belong to Humanity. One of the most influential political thinkers of the Enlightment, who inspired the precursors of this Charter, wrote 3 centuries ago: “I am a man before being French. For I am necessarily a man, but French only by accident.”
This Charter is up to now the boldest effort in mainland China to speak out for the Universality of Human Rights. Its influence, directly or indirectly, will no doubt be decisive at the time when these questions will have to be seriously debated by the Chinese government. Whether this happens in turbulent 2009 or many years later, China will be in debt with those 303 brave men who dared to stand up for their ideas.

A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field

12.16.2008

+ Play Audio | + Download Audio | + Email to a friend | + Join mailing list Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics. "At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction." The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance. Right: One of the THEMIS probes exploring the space around Earth, an artist's concept. [more] "The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible." The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft. Above: A computer model of solar wind flowing around Earth's magnetic field on June 3, 2007. Background colors represent solar wind density; red is high density, blue is low. Solid black lines trace the outer boundaries of Earth's magnetic field. Note the layer of relatively dense material beneath the tips of the white arrows; that is solar wind entering Earth's magnetic field through the breach. Credit: Jimmy Raeder/UNH. [larger image] The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. "We've seen things like this before," says Raeder, "but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind." The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north. "To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic," says Sibeck. "When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I'm trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west." Sign up for EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery Here is why they can't believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth's magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet's magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth's magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a "northern IMF" and it is synonymous with shields up! "So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead," says Sibeck. "This completely overturns our understanding of things." Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits. The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event." Sibeck agrees. "This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years." A video version of this story may be found here. For more information about the THEMIS mission, visit http://nasa.gov/themis

TAMPA (Nov 24th, 2008) - An unusual cloud formation had drivers all over Tampa Bay looking up Monday morning. People peered skyward to discover an alien looking hole in otherwise uniform high clouds. Several FOX 13 viewers e-mailed photos to the station, asking what caused the strange formation, which appeared before 8 a.m. over Old Tampa Bay or eastern Pinellas County.



September 2008

Al Jazeera English - Sept 15, 2008

There hasn't been a day like it in decades.

The value of investments across the world are shrivelling, billions of dollars disappearing from markets.

The world's financial controllers, the European Central Bank for example, and even the US president are trying to stop the "economic avalanche".

The big question now - are all the analysts, investors and governments ready to say the word that they've until now considered taboo: RECESSION.


September 2nd, 2008

Three members of the "Democracy Now!" staff including host Amy Goodman were arrested in St. Paul this week while trying to cover police movements on the streets outside the studios where they've set up during the Republican National Convention.

The two producers were handcuffed put in jail and charged with felony riot charges; Goodman, trying to find out what happened to her people, was arrested and charged with obstruction and interference with what she called "a quote 'peace officer.'

They were part of the 284 people arrested on the streets of St. Paul Monday by police.

August 2008

Fox News - August 11, 2008

By what strange reason do we attribute the finding of a actual bigfoot during this period in Earth's history? To ready us for the notion that these things that people tease about have a basis in reality perhaps?