It's a Bird It's a Plane

I was in a heated conversation today with a woman who, by all educational standards, is considered very smart. She earns a 6 figure income, has her Bachelors in education and travels extensively. One would believe that she is worldly, having acquainted herself with many cultures. I thought so, which lead to the false impression that she was also a great thinker.

Our conversation was on my favorite topic, aliens. It's not exactly the most confrontable issue, and not always well received. The reason it came up was because of an incident which took place at her office. She stated that she'd been sitting at her desk responding to a few emails at about 9 in the morning, and suddenly realized that 3 hours had slipped away. It was already a quarter after twelve. This piqued my interest. So I suggested she check into it, that it could be a sign of some abnormal condition. And, of course she wouldn't have anything to do with that idea, sure that because of her healthy lifestyle, she was immune from all possible mental or physical problems. When I asked if anything like it had ever happened before, she pondered, “Hmmmm. Yeah, quite a few times, now that I think of it”. I suggested the theory of missing time, where somehow she was taken, made to experience something, made to forget that it happened, and finally lost the frame of time in which it occurred. It was merely a suggestion, posed quite frankly as bait to see how far I could go with the subject. But, I found myself once again in a familiar place, listening to the rantings of the sightless.

My first question to a nonbeliever is, are we alone in the universe? It seems pretty scary to imagine that we are. I get a bit paranoid thinking of us, like ants, sitting on a small mound of rock in an immense, dark expanse of space with other lifeless rocks and a fiery mass called the sun and who knows what else further out in the distant universes lounging around with nothing to do but wait for our death. Why do other planets exist? Were they created to fuel the poetic, artistic nature in man. Or are we so 3 dimensional that we can't begin to fathom the many greater expressions of God outside this mere planet we live on and therefore only believe what we can see? We'll, by the same token, since you can't see me over this strange wireless connection of optics and cyberspace, I should be no real than aliens or ghosts. I must not exist.

My friend believes that the idea of aliens was a fabrication to appease the imaginative natures in humankind. She believes that we are bored and need to believe that there 's more to the stars than what we see through a telescope. While that may be true, how does one disregard all of the evidence even as far back as writings on ancient cave walls. Were they making it up as well?

Here's my take after reading a few books, watching some videos, and basic history. Aliens do exist. They are not here to take our planet away but they are here to insure that when this wonderful mass called Mother Earth goes berserk in the near future, there will be designated humans remaining to replenish the earth.

So what does that mean? I watched a series of videos that tell the story of a coming mega planet called Planet X. It's presently on the outskirts of our solar system but it's causing mass disturbances on this planet right now. In a matter of years, specifically 2012, it's projected that our planet will come under major cataclysms so intense that it will leave few of us behind. Their thoughts are that our government is preparing safe locations, maybe even at distant planets, to take chosen healthy people that can repopulate the earth after this apocalypse. Governments are presently testing for the brightest, healthiest people. How is this being done. Think for a moment about alien abductions. My take is that this is a joint venture and that aliens are aiding in this process. It brings to mind all that I've read about the Rapture, although it's God that does the taking.

Watch the series of videos for yourself. Planet X

I do invite further discussion on this subject and the series of videos. I once had another perspective on the fate of our planet, from the writings of Zecharia Sitchin and infamous Marduk from “The Tenth Planet”. We'll just have to see, won't we?

Our Polar Bears

Greenpeace, the environmentalists, have been on a diligent campaign to save the polar bears of the North Pole. They filed a lawsuit against the Bush Administration because it failed to meet the January deadline for including polar bears, per the Endangered Species Act (ESA). So how does one make a government follow the law?

Putting polar bears on the endangered species list is no drop in the bucket. It costs an average of $400,000 to list. Back in 2003 the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (3)announced that they wouldn't have the funds to meet the obligation of 32 animals proposed for this list. Yet, Congress continues to give itself pay raises. The money to fund the protection of these animals must be skimmed from the salaries of those who usually take the most.

Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wisconsin, who every year stands up against pay increases, said that with the economy still weak and many Americans finding it hard to make ends meet, it was "the wrong time for Congress to give itself a pay hike."

"This automatic stealth pay raise system is just wrong," he added.
CNN.com/INSIDE POLITICS

Worse, President Bush is pushing for historically higher military spending on the war in Iraq. It already costs us over 500.5 billion dollars and he's asking for another 28 billion. Where will it come from? Today, right now, what could we do with the $28,000,000,000? Besides invigorating our own economy, putting people into jobs and not on the streets, it could certainly do a lot for the environment, save the polar bears and our own future.

The bigger problem is that polar bears are dying at a great rate. They've resorted to cannibalism, as the broken ice caps hinder their mobility, forcing them to feed among themselves.

What is wanted and needed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to create an environment that will protect these animals. It requires making changes, passing laws, and great sacrifices by our government as well as you and I. We're all at fault and we have a chance to make it right.

Cooties in our Restaurants

Germs. We touch them. We inhale them. We swallow them. Over decades we continue to learn how to combat illnesses due to germs, and we even know how to avoid them. But there's always some new virus to rear it's ugly head and cause a stir. Germs will always be around.

I just watched a video on the findings of a microbiologist who said that lemons used in restaurant drinks have the potential of making you sick. She said that the sliced wedges that often adorn ice tea and other drinks carry anything from fecal bacteria to Staph infections. It's obvious that food handlers aren't washing their hands. But this isn't anything new. Cooties have always been around. The problem is that there are many new ugly contaminants in our progressive world, and they're killing us (2). There must be a way to avoid having the public become ill because of unsanitary food preparation due to negligence. Here's a simple solution: Wash your hands!

Fifteen years ago my son was in kindergarten. I’d volunteered one day as a teacher's assistant and observed something that disturbs me still this day. As much as I’ve always told my own kids to wash their hands before eating, it was a horror to watch a class full of 5 year olds being escorted from the dirty playground directly to the school cafeteria. Between runny noses, dirt, and shared toys, this was a hot spot for illness. No wonder kids are often sick. The simple solution was to have all of them wash their hands before eating.

There are hand sanitizers on the market that are more effective than soap and don’t require water. My local Trader Joe's and Cost Plus both keep Purell sanitizer bottles at the cash registers, aware of the high risks of germs while handling money. I applaud them. Restaurants, schools, and institutions that serve food should be the leaders in this approach rather than the losers affecting the populous. It's time that the FDA mandate the use of such products as well as advise that sinks be placed outside of employee restrooms. What better way to see good hygiene in action?

And once again, as smart and well advised as we believe we are, why hasn't this been implemented already?

Home Schooling

How can this be true? I received in the mail a commentary regarding a ruling that just came down from a California Appeals Court. In a nutshell it said that it’s illegal in California for a parent to home school a child if the parent is not a certified teacher.

Kids who are home schooled achieve higher test scores, according to a recent report published by the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). The reasons for home schooling will vary widely but for some it’s a reaction to the rising crime rate in the classrooms and generally because of inferior education. Many colleges don’t accept these children with home education. I believe it’s because of the policies which require formal education as a prerequisite. If they're getting good grades, why does it even matter?

My take on this is that there are people in high places who wish we stay ignorant and substandard. In such conditions we are easier to mold, manipulate, and destroy. So far they’ve done a good job of it, trapping our culture into an era of brain dead button pushing robots. My next venture might be to get my teaching credentials and open a home school. Follow my lead.

Daylight Saving Time

Yesterday was a glorious day. I woke up early and got out of the house. The sun was radiant, the air was crisp, and it smelled of flowers with just a hint of coffee and sweets. I love mornings like these. They remind me that life is good in spite of the ugly conditions that sit at the edge of our personal realities. On this occasion, it inspired me to put it in words.

Connected

Bare foot,
Mud between my weathered toes,
Sun upon my caramel frame where dust and dew alight,
Look at me,
Spinning,
In one congruent circular dance,
My skirt afloat as whispers lift its subtle folds of gold and blue,
Join me here,
This space.

I laugh,
When touched by wisdom and hit by vision,
Lifting my spirit through echoes of sound to praise and honor
That which I cannot see,
Or touch,
While bound by flesh.
Yet,
Comfort is and joy remains
In faith of this sweet mystery.

I kiss,
Joining,
Stretching energy from here to there,
Lips to flesh a conduit,
Love rolling divinely over space and time
To child and friend.
So kiss me in your warm bare feet,
And dance upon this place,
While blindly go
No flesh I see,
Just spirit beauty space.