"I believe cats to be spirits come to earth.
A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through."
__Jules Verne

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"The recent economic downturn has had a ripple effect into most businesses, including those in the psychic/astrological consultation sector. Most people are cutting back on life's little extras and are spending their money more consciously. Are psychic consultations considered a necessity, or are they considered entertainment? The long-standing debate has rolled for years, but in any case, the need for intuitive experts has seemed to spill over even into the pool of skeptics. More and more people are looking for a light at the end of the tunnel, and the current state of the economy has prompted psychics and astrologers to pull out their intuitive calculators since career and finance questions now trump love and romance queries.

The business of being a psychic or an astrologer during tough economic times is nothing new. Wealthy people regularly consulted the ancient pythia, or oracles, of Delphi to ensure that their personal finances would remain intact. Money, to most seekers of the ancient oracles, was a source of power. The biblical story of Joseph, the famed dream interpreter, shows us that even ancient Egyptian Pharaohs relied on psychic services during tough economic times. One night, Pharaoh had disturbing dreams that even his court magicians and augurs could not interpret. The word of Joseph's abilities to decode dreams got back to Pharaoh, who called for Joseph's expertise in solving his dream dilemma.

Joseph listened to the Pharaoh's dream about seven fat cattle feeding in a meadow, and how seven lean ones came and ate them up. Pharaoh also had a dream of seven ears of good corn on one stalk, and how seven blighted ones sprang up and devoured the good ears of corn. Joseph told Pharaoh that the dream predicted seven years of feast that would be followed by seven years of famine. Joseph suggested that the Pharaoh place someone in charge of the land that would take care of the gathering and storage of food in preparation for the upcoming years of famine. Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph's advice that he elevated the former prisoner to his second-in-command and Joseph was put in charge of the future food holdings for all of Egypt. When the predicted famine came, only Egypt had enough food stored up (including enough to sell to other countries, making for a nice profit).

J.P. Morgan, noted financier of the twentieth century once said,
“millionaires don't have astrologers, but billionaires do.” Morgan had an astrologer by the name of Evangeline Adams. She successfully predicted the Windsor Hotel fire in New York City, the stock market crash of 1929, World War II, the deaths of King Edward VII and opera singer Enrico Caruso, and her own death.

The street corner fortune-telling parlors, psychic telephone lines, and metaphysical workers, all who may have been previously dismissed by the mainstream, are now the most sought after commodity on the market.
As our financial markets have soured, many people are looking for their own personal Yogi in hopes of finding a better future ..."

Full story via llewellyn.com

I believe that the most valuable service I can provide for my clients during good times or bad, is a heightened sense of their own personal power. In my experience, the first rays of light at the end of any tunnel tend to be spiritual and they emanate from within ourselves.

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"What you can do (yourself) to stop animal abuse and factory farming:
As a consumer, you have an arsenal of weapons that you can use to help stop factory farming. We will name a few.

Stop factory farming by what you eat. Maybe the most important means at your disposal: stop giving money to factory farming by no longer buying meat and other products from factory farming. Stop factory farming by what you eat.

Don't eat foreign animal products. Welfare objections stick to imported animal products. Why would a country overproduce and deplete its natural resources? This cannot go hand in hand with a balanced and animal-friendly way of working. By the way, this mainly goes for Holland. With Dutch products, you should select ecologically responsible (biological) products. For instance, prepare meals without meat (more often). Ideas for vegetarian dishes can be found for instance at the Vegetarian Union.

Products from biological farming are a good alternative for factory farming.
A strange phenomenon is that people are prepared to make healthy and responsible meals at home, but seem to forget this principle at school or at work. Apparently there's not the time, the will or the possibility to stop and consider the origin of their food there. Make clear that you want responsible foods in the company restaurant or cafeteria, which doesn't come from factory farming but is ecologically (biologically) responsible.

Don't buy from companies that don't care about animal rights. In general: you can use your economic power and show companies that for this reason you do not wish to make use of their products and services. Don't open accounts with banks that give out loans to companies in factory farming. Don't buy from supermarkets that don't offer ecological products. If you want to invest or save money, consider green investments. Check out our information on quality marks to see which companies do or don't consider animal rights.

During local, provincial and national elections, vote for a party or candidate who speaks out against factory farming. Approach political parties and ask them about their viewpoints regarding factory farming. Many Members of Parliament can also be reached through e-mail. Read party programs. If your party hasn't got an animal-friendly program. Select one from the list that does. Political parties have to bear their responsibility for animals as well. Look under "taking action" for examples of writing actions.

Protest against permits for factory farms. If factory farms want to settle near you or want to extend their stables, there are possibilities to stop them from getting permits. Local departments of environmental organizations can help you (often free of charge), for instance by giving legal advice. For names and addresses, look on the page with national and local action groups. It is often possible to do something against companies that already have permits, if you can prove that you are really troubled or bothered by them ..."

More information via animalfreedom.org

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"Championed for over 10 years by the late Senator Edward Kennedy, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) is a federal bill that would phase out the common practice of constantly feeding antibiotics to food animals when they aren’t sick.

Large-scale livestock and poultry producers have become overly reliant on antibiotics. By keeping animals on these drugs all the time, factory farms can become ever more overcrowded and unsanitary while circumventing the disease outbreaks that these poor conditions ordinarily would produce. Therefore, curbing the use of antibiotics may prove to be an incentive to raise animals using more humane and sustainable methods.

This is not only an animal welfare issue, however: it is also an issue of human health. Scientists agree that the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is contributing to the increase in antibiotic-resistant human diseases. These illnesses are especially costly and difficult to treat.

Visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center online to email your U.S. senators and representative urging them to support and cosponsor the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. You may use the same link to read about this legislation in greater depth."

via aspca.org

"Antibiotic resistance is a growing crisis. The overuse of antibiotics in both human medicine and animal agriculture contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections that are costly and difficult to treat. Moreover, the burden of antibiotic resistance is borne by the most vulnerable in our society: children, the elderly, and those with already weakened immune systems, such as people undergoing chemotherapy or persons with HIV/AIDS. But while doctors are actively curtailing unnecessary uses of antibiotics in human medicine, operators of CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) continue to use vast quantities of these priceless drugs every day in the feed and water of animals that are not even sick ..."

More information via ucsusa.org

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"Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power vested in it; a liberty to follow my own will in all things, when the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man."
__John Locke

"... whenever the Legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence. ...
[Power then] devolves to the People, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty, and, by the Establishment of a new Legislative (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own Safety and Security, which is the end for which they are in Society."
__John Locke

"The Care therefore of every man's Soul belongs unto himself, and is to be left unto himself. But what if he neglect the Care of his Soul? I answer,
What if he neglects the Care of his Health, or of his Estate, which things are nearlier related to the Government of the Magistrate than the other? Will the magistrate provide by an express Law, That such an one shall not become poor or sick? Laws provide, as much as is possible, that the Goods and Health of Subjects be not injured by the Fraud and Violence of others;
they do not guard them from the Negligence or Ill-husbandry of the Possessors themselves."
__John Locke

" Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation,
a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other."
__John Locke

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"Tell me what you feel in your room when the full moon is shining in upon you and your lamp is dying out, and I will tell you how old you are, and I shall know if you are happy."
__Henri Frederic Amiel

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"Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if those for the dead were forbidden. At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to him?

I believe in Purgatory. Mind you, the Reformers had good reasons for throwing doubt on the 'Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory' as that Romish doctrine had then become ...

The right view returns magnificently in Newman's DREAM. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer 'With its darkness to affront that light'. Religion has claimed Purgatory.

Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'? Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleaned first.' 'It may hurt, you know' - 'Even so, sir.'

I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don't think the suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more ... The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.

My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am 'coming round',' a voice will say, 'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be Purgatory. The rinsing may take longer than I can now imagine. The taste of this may be more fiery and astringent than my present sensibility could endure. But ... it will [not] be disgusting and unhallowed."

__from 'Letters To Malcolm: Chiefly On Prayer' by C.S. Lewis, circa 1963

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via dailymail.co.uk

Clever, but nowhere near as brilliant as Wallace and Gromit's contraptions, IMO.

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"U.S. forces are being increased by 21,000, to 68,000, bringing the coalition total to 110,000. About 9,000 are from Britain, where support for the war is waning. Counterinsurgency theory concerning the time and the ratio of forces required to protect the population indicates that, nationwide, Afghanistan would need hundreds of thousands of coalition troops, perhaps for a decade or more. That is inconceivable."
__George F. Will

"Eight American soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings in south Afghanistan on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, making October the deadliest month for American troops since the Taliban was ousted in 2001.

The deaths come as the Obama administration is considering whether to send tens of thousands more soldiers to the U.S.-led international force here that already numbers 65,000 American troops and 40,000 allied soldiers drawn mostly from Europe and Canada. Rising casualties have made the war increasingly unpopular in the U.S. and among its allies.

Tuesday's deaths occurred during "multiple, complex" bomb strikes that also killed one Afghan civilian, the U.S. military said in a statement. Several troops were wounded and evacuated to a nearby medical facility, the military said. No other details were immediately available.

Taliban attacks have grown in sophistication in recent months, causing a spike in coalition deaths. Every month since June, Afghan insurgents managed to kill at least 70 coalition soldiers, and Tuesday's attacks bring October's coalition tally so far to 68 – of those, 55 were Americans. Most of these deaths have been caused by bombs that are detonated on the path of military convoys and patrols ..."

Full story via wsj.com

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