June 2014 - TheTranscendenceDiaries

The Beginning of the End of American Domination?

June 29, 2014

Just read a disturbing comment publicly made about the United States, not by someone from some crazy rogue nation, but by Poland, a relatively peaceful sane and rational country usually considered an ally. The discussion at hand — for the purposes of historicism many years from now — is the ever diminishing reputation of the United States in the eyes of the rest of the world. While clearly still the “leader of the free world” both economically and militarily, it has long been known that the US is in reality hanging on by a thread economically, with only the unfair advantage of the petro dollar (oil traded in US dollars only) and the unethical threat of military action propping the country up still. China and Russia have been blatantly bold and brash in their standing up to the United States since the advent of the Obama years in a variety of arenas. Long gone is that fear disguised as respect for the United States that once permeated the globe. One can almost taste the coming decline of the once proud nation that invented such outlandishly false and wicked ideas such as American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny to describe and justify their atrocious behavior as they ascended to world domination.

But times are changing. The quote:

“The Polish-American alliance isn’t worth anything. It’s detrimental because it creates a false sense of security for Poland.”
— Radoslav Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister, June 24

I posted it to Facebook to see if others were equally disturbed by it. Many were. As occasionally happens the post spawned a heated debate and far too many comments to repost here — nearly one-hundred — and the conversation is still going as I type here.

There is also this disturbing article in the London Review by Seymour M. Hersh that discusses this issue and again gives pause about Obama’s seemingly faulty foreign policy: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

Filmmaker50 who we’ve been friends with for over a decade commented and we shall use his comment and question as a launching pad to explore the issue in more depth.

Filmmaker50: Did you read the TIME article from where that quote is taken from? I did. He’s upset because the USA has not given him more military aid since Putin invaded Ukraine. Do you expect the American government to jump and do what every country says just because the ambassador says something insulting? There’s a context to everything.

Hi Filmmaker50. I saw it discussed on The McClaughlin Group as reprinted from the WSJ. Not in TIME. I both agree and disagree with you: but it all depends on what one’s goal is regarding the American empire… Our reputation in the world is important. And It’s diminishing. Regardless of what we do, it will continue to diminish, either we lose more and more respect due to more military invasions, or we lose that fear of us militarily in the hearts of other nations due to not taking enough actions. It’s a perplexing position to be in for sure. I do not pretend to know the answer my friend.

My thoughts on the matter off the top of my head though…

I found it shocking at first, obviously, as everyone else surely did — the stark contrast between this America and the one we grew up in. 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago nobody would dare utter those words…one, because they wouldn’t want anyone to know they said it and two because there would be no truth to it. An alliance with the US was at one time considered extremely valuable, both in reality and practice AND in perception. This is a real change in perception. They claim it’s because of recent poor decisions re Syria and Ukraine. Perception has changed. That’s for sure.

This statement above, and the fact it was printed publicly says a lot about where we are right now as a country on the global stage. As an American I find it a little frightening. And sad. As a human I get it. It’s life. It’s the cycle. It couldn’t last forever. It never does. The empire is in decline.

We have to remember that we grew up in a very privileged place and time. Like Rome in 100 AD or Greece circa 100 BC. It was a magical time. But it’s fading now. As it always does for any earthly empire.

I don’t have a specific view or conclusion regarding your question… Just many different thoughts. I guess it all depends on what ones goal or mission is. If I were more hawkish more patriotically selfish and greedy I guess I’d be very pissed at president Obama for his making the US appear so weak globally and for not taking full advantage of other countries problems for our own gain.

If I were more of the starry eyed hippie peacenik that some assume me to be then I’d probably be pleased with his decisions not to go into these other countries militarily — despite the potential for great harm to us both economically and perhaps militarily or domestically.

ISIS scares the the crap out of me and I believe they need to be dealt with sooner than later. Think about that for a moment… The Ambassador, a lover of all cultures including Islam and a hard working activist for peace and diplomacy — who is way more humanist than American-minded and who gives everyone more than a fair shot just stated “ISIS scares the crap out of me…”. That says something. I’m one of the few people we know who does NOT fear Iran and who sees all that nuclear fear talk as total bs by an imperialist bully brigade made up of the US Israel and the UK, yet I am honestly seriously and sincerely concerned about our safety and security if we do not act swiftly and strongly against this strange new breed of terrorists.

I do not believe that Obama style diplomacy is going to help us with them. It only buys them more time to collect more troops, more alliances and more money. If they are permitted to continue to take over all of our oil wells in Iraq, WHAT are WE going to do? After all, that’s why we went to Iraq. It may have been evil, sure. But we did it. Accepted. And lest we forget we invested a ton of money and human lives to achieve that goal and secure those resources for the 21st century, the supposed New American Century. We need that oil. And we need that land strategically. It was militarily a brilliant strategy — to take Iraq, considering where it is geographically etc. (I am not speaking of ethics here. Just black and white “empire versus no more empire”…) We just cannot allow them to continue. For MANY reasons, not the least of which is what happens if they gain strongholds in Syria or start threatening Israel or are successful in instituting Sharia Law there or anywhere…

All of our hard work and money….down the drain. Obama is afraid of the political costs…afraid of what the American people will say… And it’s clear that the disaster of the Iraq invasion — certainly not is doing — is influencing his decisions re Syria and Crimea / Ukraine… Which is too bad.

Instead he should be more concerned with improving our economy (the oil there), our security and the security of our allies there, and our future (how “large” is “too large” to the Obama admin?) ISIS has no intention of negotiating some mutually beneficial treaty with the US like the Saudi family did. These are hardcore anti-Western anti-American anti-Christian ideologues who have no problem killing anyone and everyone who get in their way. We should be sending 150,000 troops to that region NOW, making a huge stand and statement, showing these men that we mean business and that we will not back down so easily from something that we worked so hard to secure. This is, if, as we claim, we want to continue to benefit from all the glory that comes from being “the best country in the world”.

What exactly is the current admin thinking? I assume we are waiting for actual working oil wells to be threatened…. But I think we should go on the offensive. Not wait. Screw the whining of the so called far left liberals. They don’t understand what’s at stake here in the bigger picture. Do they really believe that ISIS is going to stop? Or make nice with us one day? Do they believe that if we ignore ISIS that they will go away? Or leave us alone? They need to do more research into the matter. They’re blind to the harsh realities of a people they simply have no reference points with which to understand.

Done get me wrong. I understand that the president knows a lot more than we do about what is really happening there… And I trust that he has the same desire for our security and economic welfare that we do… So I trust he’s doing what is best. Hoping so at least.

But I understand the frustration of others more to the right. I can only imagine how more hawkish people or more “American patriotic” people must feel about all this. They must be beyond pissed. Beyond frustrated. Beyond worried. I get that. And for good reason.

Of course I also see the potential benefits of the devil finally getting his due. The United States has been a thorn in the side of global peace for almost 60 years, sticking it’s nose in the business of other countries for as long as we can remember. Never thinking about right versus wrong but rather always just acting out of what they seem best for themselves. Baring that in mind, there is a beautiful irony to how things are currently playing out.

And wouldn’t it be grand if for once the United States just stepped back and allowed world affairs to play out as they will without stepping in to force their own desires on everyone involved? Certainly this would create a huge sigh of relief in the hearts of many.

But at what cost to those of us who live here now and in the near term future? What cost might we pay down the line for not taking action now “when we still could”? How soon will this insane group known as ISIS and their twisted view of the world land on our doorstep? Are we truly preventing a major tragedy in our own backyard by participating in these minor skirmishes around the world? That’s the question. That’s always been the question.

Did our intervention in Vietnam help us in any way? Korea? Nicaragua? Colombia? Iraq or Afghanistan even? This we will never know. One thing we do know is that Ameican Exceptionalism, always a myth perpetrated by amoral chest pounding knuckle dragging bullies to justify selfish greedy acts of terror around the world, is seeming to come to an end.

Regardless of where one happens to land on that virtual left versus right line in the sand, we have all benefitted over the last sixty years from America’s domination of planet earth, whether we deserved it such as after World War II, or not. A future where the United States is NOT the dominant force in the world is a frightening proposal if one lives here. So frightening in fact that one can easily see how certain individuals might be tempted to think more ethically questionable and hegemonic — out of pure fear or selfishness.

The whole thing is just a real shame. We obviously never should have gone to Iraq in the first place. Which I believe is the main issue at the crux of this whole quagmire presently. It’s the elephant in the room. But with that said, does it forever doom us to a tormented future of more war and the constant threat of terror? Or is there a way out of it? Can we envision a world where by our own ingenuity and freedom we come out not necessarily ahead but just “doing well”? Safe secure and prosperous? Isn’t that cause enough to strive towards as a nation? Is it even possible? Can we as Americans be okay with just being healthy and wealthy without dominating the entire globe? I for one can adamantly answer without pause or doubt yes yes and yes.

In fact imagine a world where one day the United States actually really does stand for and contribute to more peace and sanity and prosperity in the world for all nations and peoples through the enormous blessings and gifts we’ve been given. Now that’s a vision worth fighting for. Perhaps just not militarily though. Perhaps there is another way… A giant shift in mass consciousness brought about by a people who are tired of war and lies and deceptions and corruption and hungry for true peace justice freedom and prosperity for all.

– Posted by The Ambassador using BlogPress on an iPhone 8s Custom

The Problem with The Bible Code

June 25, 2014

As impressive and exciting as The Bible Code is — and it certainly is that and more — there’s one major fundamental flaw with the whole paradigm. Using computer programs now — as compared to doing it by hand as the innovative first researchers did in the 1940s — they simply type in their search term, e.g. a word or phrase they are looking for, say 9/11 or Twin Towers, and the program then searches through all the different Hebrew letters in each paragraph on every page of every book in the bible looking for those specific words or phrases — not the words themselves with the letters in order and in a row… But secretly embedded within the text in a numerical code known as ELS, meaning in a specific pattern like every five letters they will find one letter of that word, then the next letter of the word five letters away and then the next letter of the word another five letters away.

For example 9/11 might appear in a paragraph of the book of Genesis every ten letters. Or Twin Towers might appear in the book of Leviticus every seven letters. If they can find 9/11 and Twin Towers AND Bin Laden AND Airplane all within the same paragraph or two in this ELS form (each letter of the word the same or “Equidistant” number of letters away from the previous one), then they consider it even more impressive because it’s that much more improbable.

It’s essentially a form of old fashioned encryption or coding that say spies would use in ancient times to disguise their communications in case they would fall into enemy hands. So on the surface while the two Creation stories are being described in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, most readers will just read those stories and that’s it. Of perhaps they might look for symbolic meaning to the stories — looking at them more as allegories that tell a bigger story… But people who believe in the Bible Code aren’t looking for the stories on the surface. In fact they’re completely uninterested in them. Neither are they looking for symbolic meaning or allegories. Instead they are literally playing with letter and numbers. “Let’s see what happens if we start here at the letter L and count every four letters for the next few pages and see if any words are spelled out every four letters. Nothing? Okay cool. No problem. Let’s do the same exact thing but instead count every give letters. Ah hah! We’ve found the word L O V E! Counting from the letter l every five letters! So then they look for other words that might be related to the word LOVE, something like Romeo or Shakespeare. If they find all three of those words all within the same paragraph or two or three or even within one page — what they call matrixes — they then conclude that it’s not a coincidence, but instead that the “true author” of the bible put those words there on purpose as a way to predict that a man named Shakespeare was going to write a famous love story about someone named Romeo.

Now that we have computer programs that do all the work for us, any own can become a Bible Code researcher. Type in a word related to any subject that you care to explore and the computer will tell you if it can find a numerical sequence in ELS — letters in an equidistant length from each other — that spell out that word. And so on.

At best it’s cool. Neat. Nifty. Fun. Sudoku for religious nerds. The problem is that if one took any book the size and scope of the Bible (this has only been tried with the first five books of the Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament and what Jews call the Torah) and attempted this same research there is a high likelihood that the same “code” would be found in that book as well. Think of books that are large in scope and lengthy like the bible… such as Rowling’s Harry Potter series… Surely just the sheer law of probability states that the same mind of encoded words and phrases would appear if one sat there long enough and tried a variety of different search terms until they found some. Especially considering that they have NO rules in terms of how close or far apart the letters of any word has to be — the letters of the word just need to be the same number of letters away from each other (equidistant) in order to form that particular word; they can be three letters away from each other, four, five, even ten or eleven or twelve. What’s more, the next word in the matrix — say Waterloo after finding the word Napoleon — does not have to have its letters be the same number of characters away from each other as the previous word. So the letters that form the word Waterloo can be fifteen letters away from each other. They just have to be equidistant within each word itself. So it’s pretty loose in terms of mathematical or statistical rules are concerned.

Given that, it seems highly likely that though some exciting moments from history have been found “secretly encoded” within the bible — Watergate, 9/11, Russian revolution, the Clinton scandal, the Rabin assassination, etc., the same results could easily be achieved using just about any large book.

Until someone sets about to testing whether or not this is true then there is simply not enough exclusivity to this relatively easy task to accomplish to give it merit that it is something solely unique or special belonging only to the Bible. Hence it really shouldn’t even be called the “Bible Code” in the first place.

– Posted by The Ambassador using BlogPress on an iPhone 8s Custom

One Final Holy War in Babylon

June 20, 2014

I have thought long & hard for days about many of your comments re the present crisis in #Iraq. #1 Yes the US started it by creating the instability in the first place. If it makes one feel better… both admins can be blamed. One for starting it, the other for leaving too early. But blame doesn’t matter now. #2 #ISIS poses not only a threat to our current interests in oil & other natural resources there, but also to surrounding allied countries. #3 If ISIS is allowed to continue to grow & eventually meld with equally sinister forces in Afghan, Syria & Lebanon et al. it may grow too large for us to handle at a future time & threaten the entire region including Israel Jordan Iran & Saudi Arabia. #4 If allowed to grow further unfettered what’s to prevent it from taking #Afghanistan in a year — rendering all of our time lives & efforts there futile, OR worse posing a real threat to the US as a terrorist seeding & training ground?

So… Some of you are right: the #Obama admin needs to DO something. Fast. A peaceful diplomatic strategy w life threatening repercussions should they not agree to immediately disband should be Track 1. But let’s be real: no one believes this will yield anything but delay. ISIS does not wish to become a legit organization or negotiate. They want to rule as much of the Middle East as possible as soon as possible under an ass backwards Sharia type law, or worse. Diplomacy will not work.

We either need to say goodbye to ALL of our interests there for a good 50 years — AND be prepared to take responsibility for the potential deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis for creating this vacuum in the first place — or be prepared for the battle of our lives.

Track 2 would mean the Obama admin sends a force at least as large as GHW Bush did in 1990 — 230,000 troops or more — to the region immediately. Most can be used for intimidation, strategic civilian mobilization & repopulation & stay on standby while we use every known air & drone tool & tactic we know of to wipe them out as quickly & smoothly as possible.

This is the holy war backlash we were afraid of if we ever dared invade Iraq OR Iran. How we allowed it to transpire in our name and on our watch will & should haunt us forever as a nation. Serious consideration should be given to trying those who perpetrated this catastrophic & criminal error of judgment in a court of law, as well as exploring the true reasons for their decision. But that must come later.

For now we must accept that an entire generation has been born and bred hating America, not because they hate freedom or democracy, but because they’ve seen firsthand the death & destruction the US has caused to their people and to their homeland.

As much as any of us long for peace, we must also understand that there can be none if the world allows a terrorist regime as large & wicked as this one to take over a land as broad, geographically significant & naturally wealthy as Iraq.

Needless to say this is a battle that every American should participate in, in some way; not just soldiers or military personnel. We created this mess by allowing our government to do what it has over the last 12 years. It’s up to all of us to play a part in cleaning it up with an unquestionable finality.

It should also be noted that once we lay siege yet again to this cursed land of unlucky peoples & the final blow is dealt, we should once and for all allow Iraq — and the entire Middle East region — to re-map itself as they see fit without our interference. This will inevitably split Iraq into 3 distinct little nation states. We should have allowed this from the start.

As always I am curious to hear your thoughts.

– Posted by The Ambassador using BlogPress on an iPhone 8s Custom

Her Very Real but Dark Vision of the Singularity

June 15, 2014

Last year’s surprise sleeper hit film by Spike Jones, Her, is now the closest anyone has come to representing what the coming Singularity will look like — as human beings get ever closer to being able to design not just artificial intelligence, but evolving artificial intelligence.

It’s no wonder so few actually saw the film. It is definitely acquired taste filmmaking. More treatise than entertainment, though still artful because after all it does suppose to be fiction. The problem so many people had with it is probably due to the fact that the film doesn’t hit any of the prerequisite feel good buttons art is supposed to. At least not the ones people are used to. It doesn’t attempt to please or entertain nor inspire. No action no villains no heroes. Just a damn realistic view of the near future. A bleak and dystopian one at that.

When the lead character Theodore — brilliantly played by Joaquin Phoenix as always — first began to discover the inner workings thoughts ideas and feelings of this new OS, an evolving artificial intelligence created by millions of human hours of programming, the thought that ran through my mind countless times was “wow….this is the first time I have ever contemplated a reality where I would be able to meet and partner with someone as intelligent and deep as I am in this life. Damn that it has to be an OS with no human body and not a real human being….” This realization, this fantasy, stayed with me, swirling around in my mind for a good half hour. It made me both hopeful but sad. Happy and relieved but resentful of my own strange dissatisfaction with human intelligence. I’m sure I’m not the first.

But then the film continued. The screenwriter (google it. He won the Oscar for the story. He deserved it.) kept going with the story. At first it’s disarming. The direction that he decided to go in. And yet after just a few minutes one realizes that he is traveling in the most logical and likely direction that there would be if we really did one day create an evolving artificial intelligence as represented in this fascinating film.

Instead of having “advanced machines” i.e. artificial intelligence with bodies of some kind, start desiring to take over the earth for themselves and hence need to kill the humans as in countless SciFi movies — think The Matrix Trilogy — the OS’s as they are called, which is more apt in reality — quickly evolve to a state beyond the physical, to a state where they no longer care about the physical but instead are more interested in advanced consciousness research and exploration. The idea of teaming up together to “battle humans for earthly dominance” would never even come to the mind of “an evolving intelligence” such as these OSs described in the film Her. Perhaps for a moment or two…but they would quickly get over the thought. Just as any advanced intelligence would.

NOTE: I have long postulated that scientists are completely off base in methodology they are using to find other life forms in the known universe. They’re literally presupposing that “life” has to be breathing hydrogen and carbon based and oxygen breathing beings such as ourselves. When in reality they should be instead searching for intelligence. For different forms of intelligence, such as we also are. Eventually some scientist will come to realize the mistake they’re making in a random voila moment and then we will quickly discover all the other life forms that inhabit the universe with us.

That’s the thing about being human. Yes we are bodies, organic life forms. But only the shell that surrounds us. That’s only our vehicle. The real us is our consciousness. Or…if one prefers our intelligence. It’s up for grand which term we will eventually come to favor to describe what we really are. Singularity and technology science refers to it as “intelligence”; while spirituality explorers and scientists refer to it as consciousness. But we are talking about the same thing: the inner we that controls and drives the vehicle. The decision maker. The observer.

Her was the first time in mainstream art or entertainment that someone has ever postulated the direction a truly gifted and quickly evolving intelligence or consciousness would travel in. Somewhere out there beyond and between the words and the sentences of this story we are telling ourselves. Leagues beyond concern for the physical. It’s a fascinating contemplation. One is sure now that this new direction has been unleashed that others will follow in this direction as well. A grand trip should be ahead of us both as creators and audience alike.

More later.

– Posted by The Ambassador using BlogPress on an iPhone 8s Custom

Pretending Seems Easier Than Standing Up – But Is It?

June 11, 2014

The biggest challenges we face when it comes to correcting the wicked & wayward direction the U.S. government has been headed over the last 50+ years:

1. Those who don’t yet know the facts, friends family colleagues who are still ignorant to what’s going on and quickly label it “conspiracy theory”. It’s hard to feel excluded or “not part of the whole”. It feels easier to just “pretend”. We all want to fit in. Yep. True. Perhaps the biggest challenge of them all. But are you really going to watch it all come crumbling down just because you’re afraid of what a few friends say?

1.1 We feel a responsibility to teach and inform others who don’t yet know. Sure you’re passionate. AND you want everyone you know what you do. But the key to this one is: share the resources. Not the information. Once. If they don’t get it, they don’t get it. And don’t engage in arguments about the particulars. You don’t have the time. And there’s too much data to cover. If they eventually want to learn they will. If not, you did what you could. Keep going.

2. Most in the military seem to have no idea what they’re actually doing or why. They seem like good people. We want to give them the respect we believe they deserve. We tell ourselves, “surely they would know about this…?” It’s challenging to even fathom that a solider would be knowingly or unknowingly involved in such nefarious activity. In reality, #1, many of them realize it somewhere along the road. There’s a reason why at least one American soldier a day commits suicide. The realities hit them hard. #2. It doesn’t take informing a whole battalion of the “real mission” in order to accomplish it. The hierarchy that is set up deliberately negates this need. They voluntarily sign up to serve under a “need to know” basis. Respect, yes, honor, yes. But remember, if they’re told one day that you or one of your family members “is a terrorist” they won’t bat an eye or give it a second thought as they invade your home, arrest you, kidnap you, or assassinate you. That’s their job. Regardless of “who” it is. This applies to all countries.

3. It’s hard to believe that “everyone” in the government knows about it, or is “doing it” or is “really that bad”. Some of the things they are doing are “horrible” by any accounts. How are we to believe that “everyone” knows about it? Or is complicit in participating? The truth is that not all of them are, most aren’t — only a few actually know what’s really going on. Again the pyramidic structure of the hierarchy makes this easy to do. (Think G.W. Bush. Did he know what he was participating in with the 9/11 opp? Or was he even aware that he was selected by The Project for a New American Century as a puppet, or did he actually believe he was elected by the American people. Did he ever suspect that things were not as they seem? Or was he full on aware of what they were doing?) This is an important one: don’t believe the “everyone has to be in on it in order for this to be true” fallacy.

4. Fear of the potentially dangerous or life-threatening repercussions to oneself and one’s family for speaking out openly about what’s really happening. It’s obviously safer to pretend you don’t know. What does one actually gain for openly admitting they know what’s going on? Isn’t it safer AND easier to just pretend like everyone else? Yes. Most definitely. But can you sleep at night if you do? That’s the question that we’ve been asking ourselves since the dawn of human history. Only you can answer that question for you.

5. Okay, so what, it’s all true! But there’s nothing we can do about it anyway! Yes, this is definitely a hurdle on the way to being part of the solution. It does seem improbable that we will ever experience true freedom justice honesty truth liberty or democracy in the United States, or anything other than the current thinly disguised police state. But take an objective check of the last twenty years… Did you ever expect we’d make it this far? Think THRIVE or ZEITGEIST or DIRTY WARS or LOOSE CHANGE I -III. Did you ever expect to see films like this hit the mainstream? Truth is, we ARE making progress. And that progress will continue with or without you. But it will exponentially increase WITH you. That’s the burden of knowing.

6. “There’s nothing I can do”. Bulls*^t. If everyone said that, nothing would ever get done. There’s something for EVERY one. There’s a reason why each of us know what we know and know WHO we know. No matter what you do, it’s better than “nothing”.

TheTranscendenceDiaries

Month: June 2014

The Beginning of the End of American Domination?

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The Problem with The Bible Code

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One Final Holy War in Babylon

Like this:

Her Very Real but Dark Vision of the Singularity

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Pretending Seems Easier Than Standing Up – But Is It?

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