At 2:46 pm on a Friday afternoon in March last year, residents in the prefecture of Fukushima in Japan were jolted by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake centered off the Pacific coast at a depth of approx 15 miles. Almost immediately, three of the six reactors which were in operation at that moment in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant - located on the eastern shore of Honshu Island - automatically shut down as a result of the shaking.

The plant automatically switched to its backup diesel-fueled generators to supply the uninterrupted electric power required to keep the plant's reactors cooled. Approximately one hour later, a 46 foot tall tsunami wave swept over the seawall between the Fukushima plant and the Pacific Ocean, flooding and disabling the backup generators and washing away their fuel tanks. The seawall had been designed to withstand a 19 foot wave and was considered sufficient to protect the plant from the worst possible tsunami that could ever happen.

We know now that within days, fuel rods in three of the reactors melted and breached the reactor containment structures designed to keep radioactive material from escaping into the environment, though nothing of the sort was revealed at the time. We are still not certain how much airborne radioactive contamination escaped.

There were violent explosions and multiple fires at the plant which some observers now indicate were far more serious than how they were initially portrayed. There were, and continue to be, unspecified large releases of extremely contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean, but no data on what the results of that might be. It took several months for TEPCO, the Japanese utility company running the plant, to publicly admit the severity of the accident. There have been repeated 'explanations' that downplayed, understated or outright ignored the risks to the public and hid the reality of what was actually happening at any given time.

Here we are, New Year's Eve 2011, and a whole lot of folks on this planet believe that the World is going to End - one way or another (again) - sometime in December of the coming year: 2012. All I can think is "Geezus! Here we go again!"

Back in 1996 and 1997, there was the Hale-Bopp Flopp that resulted in the mass suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate Cult. I was out there at the time desperately trying to convince people that most of what was flying around the internet was a load of Horse Hockey, and all I got for my trouble was flamed and defamed. But I was right.

Then, there was the Millennial Madness that was gaining steam in 1999. By this time, we had a website and I wasn't just doing battle on discussion lists, so I published an article in November of that year trying to calm things down a bit. Things were so weird then that even my cousin, who was (at that moment) an aerospace engineer employed by NASA, told me in full confidence that things WOULD get squirrely because there was a flaw in computer dating systems and the global computer systems would glitch up in unpredictable ways, causing chaos. Not even that happened! Anyway, the take-home message of my article at that time was pretty clear:

Over the course of 90 minutes, Laura and Ark answer questions from the audience at their day-long, World Trade Center, Barcelona conference, October 15th 2011. As always, many fascinating topics were covered and vital information conveyed.


Happy Holidays To All.

The reader should probably be getting the idea by now: the approach SOTT.net takes to the Cassiopaean Experiment really is a case of 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. One question asked, or one answer given, is often enough to inspire a whole line of research leading to data and conclusions that might only be tangentially related to the original question. That's the whole point: discovery, and in that sense, the data in the Cs transmissions is more like the thread of Ariadne than a book of 'Divine Revelation'. The clues given lead those interested to take up the search through a vast labyrinth of information and 'disinformation' to what I like to think of as the heart of the matter: those areas of study that are not only highly relevant to coming to an understanding of the human condition and the nature of the cosmos, but which are also closely interrelated and always seemingly one step beyond what is currently accepted as 'common knowledge'. In other words, one mystery reveals another, then another. It's a never-ending journey of discovery, which is what I think lies at the heart of science and mysticism. Anything else, like the belief that 'we finally know all there is to know on this subject', only leads to intellectual stagnation and the death of curiosity. As we like to say around here, there's no such thing as free lunch... nor infallible texts.

For those curious to know, the research inspired by the Cs experiment has led the SOTT team to many of the topics that we focus on. Without them, and the life experiences that we surely wouldn't have had if not engaged in this project, we probably never would have learned what we have about the history and danger of cometary catastrophe, the electrical nature of the universe, psychopathy, ponerology, polyvagal theory, and separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the vast number of 'conspiracy theories' on the market. Or at least, it would have taken us a lot longer. After all, all of these fields have their respective authorities and advocates, those scientific mavericks who have come to the conclusion all was not right in their particular field of study, whether in history, politics, psychology, ufology, astrophysics, meteorology, or any other science. But this is usually done on their own, disconnected from the bigger picture and how to tie it all together. Often a lifetime of research will go into this process, with the downside that other possible areas of research are left untouched. (Witness researchers into the paranormal who deride 'conspiracy theories', or '9/11 conspiracy theorists' who deride ufologists.) But we try to bring as many of them as possible together, to give as comprehensive as possible a view of reality as we can. One of these areas, the one I'll deal with below, has to do with genetics, and the possibilities inherent in that mysterious building block of life: DNA.

This year, as I bear witness to the quickening changes in our world, I find that I also can't ignore the various reminders of the holiday season. I face an interesting conundrum as I attempt to walk the line of allowing those around me the free will to celebrate carelessly as if all is well while knowing it is not.

This situation gave rise to thoughts of Christmas traditions as we know them today and how they began. What's the story behind the Christmas tree? Going a step further than Virginia O'Hanlon, I wondered if Santa was really an actual person. In short, why is Christmas - Christmas? Perhaps with some digging, we can get a bit closer to the truth.

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.... There is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we must be most aware of change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." -- William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice from 1939--1975

Ever since the US Senate approved the infamous FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act I have been in a very pessimistic mood. A few days ago there was hope that Obama would veto it - not because the man and his lawyers had concerns about the beating that civil and human rights would take thereby, but because the language would "challenge or constrain the president's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the American people"; in other words, because the authority of the president could somehow be limited (God forbid). Now that slim hope is gone; Obama has withdrawn the threat of veto and nothing stands in the way of an iron boot kicking any of us, American or not, all the way to Guantanamo Bay.

Could it be any worse than that? The situation was bad already with Bush and his gang of neocons pushing the envelope on shredding the U.S. Constitution. Remember how naive we were to entertain the idea that a change of administration would put all that draconian nonsense to an end? That Barack Obama really was about "Change" and would put things to right that had gone so wrong under the Bush Administration? Some people still hold on to that hope because they genuinely believe that the United States is an essentially democratic country which works on solid principles of morality and justice, even if now and then it gets sidetracked. Surely good-looking, well-spoken Barack would make things right, yes?

As someone who was born and raised south of the border, I always found the myopic belief of the American people in their institutions and government quite alien to my own experience. In my country people also believe in democracy and justice, but only as principles that hopefully can be materialized one day. The overwhelming majority is naturally distrustful of their government, thanks to its long history of corruption and the social inequalities that come with it. Likewise, they are distrustful of the US government which so much likes to get involved in the affairs of other countries. In contrast, the American culture that reached me through the mass media portrayed people quite proud of their government and the military. (The military! Where I come from the military is only thought of in the most derogatory terms when, at 17-18 years old, you are trying your best to avoid military service, and you would certainly be considered to be out of your mind or in desperate need if you chose a military career.)

When I was younger this American pride produced in me a mixture of admiration and jealousy. Later, as I got better acquainted with politics and American intervention, I regarded this attitude with puzzlement and contempt. In recent years I have felt mostly sorry for the ignorance most US citizens are forced to live in, and admiration for those precious few who can see the true nature of their authorities and have the courage to speak up, and who have taught me so much. I have also tried to understand that many Americans, having enjoyed excellent living-standards for generations, never got bitten by the consequences of the corruption, greed and imperialism of their leaders.

Until now, that is.

There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom

"Do They Know It's Christmas Time" by Band Aid

After a recent Christmas carol service, I got chatting to a local farmer who dropped into conversation something that not only alarmed me in regards to the corruption in the commercial food industry, but also just how vulnerable we are to the profiteering of the 'food' producing multinationals:

When you buy a roasting beef joint from one of the major chains in the UK, were you aware that the beefy part is sourced locally but the fat around it - essential for cooking the roast - is flown all the way over from Brazil, cut up and slapped around it before sale?

The reason for this, I'm told by the farmer who has full knowledge of these absurd practices, is that the large supermarket chains squeeze local farmers by insisting that the fat content of the procured meat must be below a certain level. In doing so they greatly reduce the price at which meat is purchased for the supermarket shelves. It would stand to reason that the pressure would also encourage the use of hormones/feeds/varieties that produce lower fat carcasses. If I understood correctly, the consumer ends up paying a similar price for the beef that's been transported locally and the fat that's been shipped halfway around the world.

Now, I don't know, how it can be cheaper for the supermarkets to import the fat from Brazil, perhaps it is a by-product from some food-processing monolith. This isn't uncommon, as we know, in the globalized planet in which we now live. For their Christmas dinner, undiscerning consumers will enjoy turkey from Brazil and dog salmon from China. However, what really concerns me is just how little we are told about where our food comes from and what's in it. We are unwittingly part of the world's largest experiment and in this example we don't know whether the Brazilian fat comes from cows fed on GMO's or not. The likes of Monsanto are using their vast wealth and lobbying power to obfuscate important information that rids us of the freedom to make choices that could save our lives.

Here we are, almost at the end of the year 2011. After eight and a half long years, millions of lives lost, leaving a country visibly unrecognizable from 2003, trillions of dollars gone, Obama has called an end to the Iraq war, so that must be it then?


How it all began

After the 9/11 attacks, spun by the Powers That Be (PTB) as "terrorist attacks" by Muslim extremists, the War on Terror™ began. As a 'subwar', the invasion and occupation of Iraq was initiated after the governments of US and UK accused Iraq of employing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that it imposed a threat to their "sovereign nations". Of course, the claim that Iraq was harboring WMDs was later completely dismissed and no such weapons were ever found. After the questionable capture and execution of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the Western governments began justifying their occupation of Iraq as "bringing democracy" to the country.

Now, almost nine years later the US army are exiting the country after being asked to leave by the Iraqi government for several years. One would assume that if the Iraqi government wasn't so adamant that the US leave Iraqi soil, the US would probably never leave. But this "leave" is only on the surface and most likely a political stunt by the Obama administration before the 2012 presidential elections; so as to state that Obama actually ended the war. But in actuality the US has no intention of leaving Iraq and they are most definitely maintaining a presence there.

In an exclusive interview with Sott.net, political analyst and intrepid journalist Ignatious O'Reilly went on record to say that, based on years of personal observation, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is an "invented person, who is in fact the product of a mediatic experiment of mass perception and has historically been a puppet of the Israel lobby. He has also been a member of the non-Reality based community and as such cannot be said to exist in the full sense of the word. This is the most plausible explanation for Gingrich's other-worldly declarations of late."

"I do have an alternative theory", Mr O'Reilly stressed, "but it involves parallel universes and Bizarro Worlds where wrong is right, black is white, and predator drones are fluffy bunny-rabbits, but I am still waiting on the informed opinion of my contacts at the Large Hadron Collider Particle Accelerator facilities".

Mr O'Reilly added unapologetically: "Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes." However, O'Reilly left open the possibility of a friendly settlement with Gingrich by pointing out that he had no ill feelings towards the former Speaker. "I don't have much anger to spare on a daily basis - I usually spend it all on public transport - so I choose to reserve whatever I have left for real people. Being angry at Newt would be like being angry at the Eiffel Tower or the color blue. In fact, I am thankful for the amusement that such a character can bring me every time he opens his mouth and releases jewels of nonsense capable of inspiring dadaist artists back into the creative process. Heck, I like Barney the Dinosaur too for similar reasons, and he also can hardly be called a person!"

And so it begins... with news of the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with the help of a Predator spy drone. The unmanned Predator B drone was called from an Air Force base in North Dakota (along with Highway Patrol, a SWAT team, a bomb squad and deputy sheriffs) to locate three men accused of pinching some cows. Yes, that's right, cows.

To some it may sound like a neat way to track criminals, but I'm not sure they fully understand the implications that the forthcoming rapid deployment of drone technology in 'civilian' skies will have.

Drones have been developed and designed not to track American cow thieves but primarily for military applications on the battlefields of imperialistic aggression. The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases and it has already built 60 bases around the world for its unmanned, remotely controlled killer drone warplanes. With more bases under construction, defence contractor behemoths like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are competing for slices of the big fat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) pie. These companies can look forward to the profit windfall that the increasingly likely and long-planned military incursions into Syria and Iran will bring. They are now also exploiting new local markets that over-hyped illusory threats of domestic terrorism will bring to their balance sheets.

It's almost as if the contractors are colluding with Government and media to ensure they have a lucrative future for their shareholders...