TheLeaderInside.com

This is a special edition of the blog. I didn’t want to wait until Thursday to get this out to you. If anything was ever further proof of how the mainstream media is working overtime to feed all of us a bucket-load of B.S. and vile fear/hate-mongering in order to sway voter opinion, this is it. This is just one more awful example of the Big Picture I keep talking about.

Depending on whether you live in a co-called “swing-state” or not, you may, or may not, have received this terrible DVD being sent out by The Clarion Fund. (The Clarion Fund is an organization working to get Republicans voted into office. So, even though this mailing doesn’t purport to be from the Republican Party, that party has not come out with a statement of censure denouncing this action by The Clarion Fund, either. I sent the copy of the DVD that was mailed to me to the Republican Headquarters in Dayton, Ohio this morning.)

Here’s the story …

Over the past week, thousands of copies of Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West — the hate/fear-mongering, anti-Muslim documentary are being distributed by the millions in swing states via DVDs inserted in major newspapers and through the U.S. mail — were also distributed by regular mail here in Ohio. I got mine two days ago. The timing of the DVD distribution corresponded to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

This past Friday, September 26, 2008, a “chemical irritant” was sprayed through a window of the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, where 300 people were gathered for a Ramadan prayer service. The room that the chemical was sprayed into was the room where babies and children were being kept while their mothers were engaged in prayers. This, apparently, is what the scare tactic political campaigning of John McCain’s supporters has led to — so-called Americans perpetrating a terrorist attack against innocent children on American soil.

I read this story in the Dayton Daily News, one of the many newspapers who distributed the DVD via an insert in the paper delivered to their subscribers. As I read the news article about this vicious attack, I couldn’t help but notice the “matter of fact” manner the reporter related the information. I know, it was “just a news story” — but this was the same paper that sent this awful DVD out to it’s readers, calling it “just an ad”. I understand the papers were paid to distribute the DVD.

Could it be that the DVD was the catalyst for someone making the decision to commit such an awful act of violence against innocent people? Is it more than a coincidence that these two events happened so closely in time?

As I did more research about this act happening here in my own community, I came upon an article written by Chris Rodda, a Huffpost blogger, where she relates an email she received from a friend of the mother of two children who were in that room being gassed. Here’s a copy of that email, written the day after the attack occurred, she quoted with permission.

“She told me that the gas was sprayed into the room where the babies and children were being kept while their mothers prayed together their Ramadan prayers. Panicked mothers ran for their babies, crying for their children so they could flee from the gas that was burning their eyes and throats and lungs. She grabbed her youngest in her arms and grabbed the hand of her other daughter, moving with the others to exit the building and the irritating substance there.

“The paramedic said the young one was in shock, and gave her oxygen to help her breathe. The child couldn’t stop sobbing.

“This didn’t happen in some far away place — but right here in Dayton, and to my friends. Many of the Iraqi refugees were praying together at the Mosque Friday evening. People that I know and love.

“I am hurt and angry. I tell her this is not America. She tells me this is not Heaven or Hell — there are good and bad people everywhere.

“She tells me that her daughters slept with her last night, the little one in her arms and sobbing throughout the night. She tells me she is afraid, and will never return to the mosque, and I wonder what kind of country is this where people have to fear attending their place of worship?”

“The children come into the room, and tell me they want to leave America and return to Syria, where they had fled to from Iraq. They say they like me, … , and other American friends — but they are too afraid and want to leave. Should a 6 and 7 year old even have to contemplate the safety of their living situation?

“Did the anti-Muslim video circulating in the area have something to do with this incident, or is that just a bizarre coincidence? Who attacks women and children?

“What am I supposed to say to them? My words can’t keep them safe from what is nothing less than terrorism, American style. Isn’t losing loved ones, their homes, jobs, possessions and homeland enough? Is there no place where they can be safe?

“She didn’t want me to leave her tonight, but it was after midnight, and I needed to get home and write this to my friends. Tell me — tell me — what am I supposed to say to them?”

The presidential campaign edition of this terrible Obsession DVD was produced and being distributed by the Clarion Fund, and carries the endorsement of the chair of the counter-terrorism department of the U.S. Naval War College, using the name and authority of an official U.S. military institution not only to validate an attack on the religion of Islam, but to influence a political campaign.

This is one of the most appalling things I’ve ever seen happen in a political campaign. I feel strongly, that the McCain campaign, and John McCain himself, have a moral obligation to publicly censure the Clarion Fund; to denounce the inflammatory, anti-Muslim message of Obsession: and to do everything in his power, and the power of his campaign, to stop any further campaign activities by his supporters that have the potential to incite violence.

This is exactly the kind of terrorism that both parties here in the USA claim to be fighting against.

Please help me to circulate this blog to the people you know. We need to see information like this get into the hands, eyes, and ears of more people, so they can see what we’re up against, and hopefully, find ways to stop this sort of thing from ever happening again. As I’ve said so often in these articles, the media won’t do it, so it’s up to us. I did a search this morning and only found links to the story in the local Dayton paper.

It makes me wonder, how widely would a story like this be known if it happened at a school or a Christian church? I have a feeling the content of this blog post wouldn’t be news to you, as I’ll bet this is!

I should also put in my disclaimer here. I am not a Muslim, but obviously, I do not support any act of violence against any nation, people , or religion. I promote peace.
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Namaste!

I share these words for you in closing — remember these words …

“Be happy now, my dear friends. Today is all we have. Be good to one another. Take comfort in whatever spirituality you are so inclined (or not), and learn to be happy despite your circumstances. Follow your path; pursue your dreams. Work hard, love your family be generous and forgiving. Do it today, while you still have the flicker of life, for one day your own candle will dim.”

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
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Big Picture – What’s the Real Story?

““Finance is the art of passing currency from hand to hand until it finally disappears.”

~~~ Robert W. Sarnoff

First — to all my loyal readers — an explanation! It’s been eleven days since I last wrote an article for this blog. What happened was that on Sunday, September 14, 2008, my area of Ohio got hit by a “Perfect Storm” that took out our electric power until the 19th. There are still nearly 40,000 people without power. (For more details about the storm, please email me and I’ll send you more information.) It has taken me until this morning to get back to posting another article.

My plan as I ended the last article was to write about the collapse of global and environmental systems around the world. However, it looks like the financial collapse, or crisis, or whatever name you decide to give it, has moved into the forefront.

I’ve done some research about it over the past couple of days and have some information to pass along to you. This will be a long post, but I hope you’ll take the time to read it. It’s quite educational — and disturbing.

What is the Big Picture that has led to the financial collapse here in the USA? I learned it has to do primarily with “The Giant Pool of Money“. What does our housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make huge mortgage loans to thousands of people with little or no employment or other sources of income? Using various sources of information, I found that much can be explained by looking at the “Giant Pool of Money” and how it got too hungry for its own good.

How does the collapse of the huge Wall Street firms and Federal Housing companies tie into the family that had to lose their home to foreclosure? What made the banking system feel they could just forget all the basic rules of sound banking? I was in the banking business for over 25 years and I’m still scratching my bald head. The bankers aren’t the only ones to blame — the borrowers played a role as well. Everyone was involved in imprudent lending practices.

It all starts with the “Giant Pool of Money” I mentioned above. Most people don’t think about it but there’s this huge pool of money out there, which is basically all the money the world is saving. Insurance companies saving for a catastrophe, pension funds saving money for retirement, the central bank of England saving for whatever central banks save for — all the world’s savings. And the total in this Giant Pool is about 70 trillion dollars! All the money spent and earned in every country on earth in a year is LESS than 70 trillion.

Where did all this money come from? All sorts of poor countries got very rich selling us stuff like TVs, computers and oil. You know who they are — China, India, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, etc. They made a lot of money and banked it. China, for example, has over a trillion dollars in its central bank, and they needed places to invest it. The problem was they were running out of good places to make those investments.

So, they looked at Wall Street and found residential mortgages. Hmmm, not bad — 7 to 9 percent returns. Cool! Except, the “Giant Pool” guys don’t want to mess with the individual people and their mortgages. So, Wall Street to the rescue! They go to the bankers and ask them to bundle up a bunch of individual mortgages and sell them to Wall Street. Wall Street takes those bundles and sells shares in them (Mortgage-backed Securities) to the “Giant Pool” guys — and those guys love them!

The Giant Pool guys developed an insatiable thirst for these securities. They wanted more and more of them (I think it’s called GREED!) The Wall Street guys were running out of mortgages, so they encouraged the bankers to accept riskier loans. Bankers began to break the rules and people who had no business getting loans were now getting them. All people had to do was lie to the banker and get the loan. Bankers weren’t asking for proof — they just made the loans and sold them to Wall Street – who sold them to the Giant Pool. Loans were getting riskier and riskier, but it didn’t bother anyone because housing prices were on the rise. The asset had a higher value than the risk. Still cool!

In late 2006, strange things started to happen. Housing prices were still increasing — loans were still being made to people who shouldn’t get them — but incomes began to level off. More and more jobs were leaving the USA and going to other countries. Layoffs were on the increase. People began to default on their loans. Housing prices began to drop. More and more people were getting out from under their mortgages, either by defaulting or selling. More homes came on the market with fewer buyers to purchase them, which drove prices lower and lower.

So, in an effort to keep the “money-ball” rolling, the smaller banks started borrowing money from the bigger banks so they could keep buying loans to sell to Wall Street. However, Wall Street began to see potential trouble and stopped buying the shares in mortgages. The little bankers are now sitting on bad mortgages they can’t sell, and also huge loans of their own they can’t pay back, and some of them have to shut their doors. Everyone in this chain of greed is in the same boat. The paper they were buying and selling is of little value. The borrowing done to fill their greed is unable to be paid back. The house of cards begins to crumble.

All the bankers who lied to people — all the people who lied to bankers — they all end up losing. All those mortgage-backed securities are worth less than half their value — some of them are worth nothing. The “Giant Pool of Money” invested in these securities is now worth less than half of what it was originally. The other half is gone — forever. Now the guys at the “Giant Pool” won’t touch anything that isn’t 100% safe. That need for complete safety has trickled down throughout the world markets so the ability for anyone to borrow money, business, government, or individual has dried up world-wide.

Everything is just kind of crappy. And not just in housing or banking but for the economy as a whole. It’s barely growing — it might even be losing ground. There aren’t a lot of new businesses or new jobs. Unemployment keeps creeping up. We’re just sort of stuck, in neutral, for a while.

The sad note on which I end this very long post is that now our President wants us, the taxpayers of this country, the people who have already been hurt by the greed of the big banks, big governments, and big corporations, to shoulder the burden and pay for a bailout with our own tax dollars. The ultimate slap in the face. The Bush administration is trying to ram this through in only 72 hours by claiming there will be dire consequences if we don’t pass the bailout exactly as written.

Once again they’re using fear to scare Congress and the American people into submission.

That’s the “Big Picture” of our financial crisis.

I hope you’ll call your Washington people and tell them to say “NO!” — to find another way.

There’s more to come next week. Come back and help us to continue this important conversation. Invite your friends. We need many more people to be listening and sharing.
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On a softer note after this rant …

There’s something else I’d like to pass along to you. I’ve been a member of the Spiritual Cinema Circle for several years. This membership has been a wonderful pleasure. Each month I get a DVD with a full-length feature film and 3 shorter films, and they’re mine to keep and share with family and friends.

This month it stars Michael Douglas as he digs for love and buried treasure in the feature film, King of California.

Yes, from our friends at Spiritual Cinema Circle, comes King of California, a quirky, fascinating, and original movie starring Academy Award® winning actor Michael Douglas. Douglas plays Charlie, whom we meet as he is released from a mental institution, although it’s not quite clear whether he is “cured.” Waiting for Charlie at home is his teenage daughter, Miranda, played by the gifted young actress, Evan Rachel Wood. Any hopes Miranda has for a return to normalcy, however, are immediately dashed as Charlie enlists her in a hunt for Spanish treasure. The Don Quixote-like quest results in a dig beneath the local Costco. The loving, confrontational, and extremely complex father-daughter relationship between Charlie and Miranda is tested and strengthened throughout the film, culminating in a surprise ending.

Also, we have: Monsoon (Short Film): Beautifully shot in Mumbai, India, this film asks how we can honor and respect our loved ones’ wishes, even if they are contrary to our own.

And …Tocar Y Luchar (Short Film): An incredible story in a time when turning a country around seems almost impossible — here’s proof that it’s not.

Plus … Detour (Short Film): In this intriguing short film, Julia intends to leave the traffic jam of her life behind until she meets a strange character who gives her a new perspective.

Receive King of California and the 3 great short films free (plus nominal shipping fee), by visiting Spiritual Cinema Circle at this link:

Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial

– be sure to do this before October10.

Here are some video clips so you can get a glimpse of what’s being offered:

Enjoy the films,

I know I sure do — they’re a bright spot in every month.

“Spiritual Cinema Circle is providing a great service to those who want to evolve and be entertained at the same time.”

~~~ Deepak Chopra

Start your Free Trial Today By Clicking Here:

Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial

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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

~~~ Buddha

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“Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.”

~~~ Buddha

Namaste!

I share these words for you in closing — remember these words …

“Be happy now, my dear friends. Today is all we have. Be good to one another. Take comfort in whatever spirituality you are so inclined (or not), and learn to be happy despite your circumstances. Follow your path; pursue your dreams. Work hard, love your family be generous and forgiving. Do it today, while you still have the flicker of life, for one day your own candle will dim.”

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
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[tags]peace, inner self, inner peace, Buddhist Belief, Buddhism, Buddhist, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, hope, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life, new story, Big Picture, Mother Earth, sustainability, compassion[/tags]

Big Picture – Fear or Hope?

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

~~~Albert Einstein

Today’s post will probably get me in a whole lot of trouble. I hope it doesn’t, but there’s a good chance it will. This is being written on the morning of the seventh anniversary of the disaster that is now called by two numbers — 9/11. To this day I still honor and weep for those who lost so much as a result of the horror that was perpetrated on this country by the terrorists known as Al Qaeda. The act committed on 9-11-01 by those terrorists was an act of outright murder of over 3,000 innocent people.

What’s going to get me into trouble with this post is my take on what our country has done about 9/11. We have become a country so focused on fighting terrorism that we’ve brought ourselves to the brink of disaster. In my honest opinion, we messed up. Sure, because of 9/11 there were new precautions needed, and we instituted them. There were new barriers needed, and we put them in place. Those are all good things and they were necessary. What bothers me is that 9/11 made us forget about the values our country was founded on. Thanks to poor information, whether it came from the Pentagon or it came from the White House, the information was such that we made some very serious mistakes. Those mistakes have cost us dearly. Our mistakes have put our country completely out of balance, not only here at home, but in the world as well.

Throughout these past several articles focusing on the Big Picture, I’ve been ranting about how our political and corporate leaders have been feeding us the rhetoric of the worst of what we are and can be. We’ve been fed the message of fear over and over again. We’ve not only convinced ourselves that we’re brutal and greedy, we’ve convinced the rest of the world as well. We’ve also convinced the world that we’re not very smart.

It’s not that we didn’t have enemies on 9-11-01, we did. We still have them today and we’ll still have them on 9-12-08. What we did do is we created a new enemy that day — ourselves. We allowed ourselves to be convinced that we had to resort to a new way of thinking about the world. We allowed our leaders to destroy our global brand — “Where anything is possible for anybody!” We’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that we need to live with a motto of fear, rather than hope.

I say, “No More!”

We need to cease listening to the old stories. We need to take back our country. We need to be telling the world the story of who we truly are — of what the Big Picture really is.

We’re into the final throes of what could be the most important election cycle this country has ever known. It’s about whether we’re a 9/11 country or a 9/12 country. Whether we’re a country that operates from a place of fear or a place of hope. We need to reunite ourselves around the common purpose I’ve been discussing in these articles, rather than what we’re doing now, which is to unite ourselves around a common enemy.

Our common purpose needs to be as it always was — we are a giving and loving people who have the same hopes, dreams and desires as the majority of people in the world. We need to keep our common purpose in mind as we make decisions about who our next leaders should be. Do we want leaders who will continue to focus on fear, greed, violence and distortions as our purpose, or do we want leaders who will be focused on who we are and what we stand for in the world.

Fear or hope?

Thankfully, you still have the choice in our country. For me, I’m going to choose hope because I believe the other choice will lead to a disaster from which we won’t be able to recover. I believe choosing hope will give us a country led by leaders who will look forward, rather than backward. My hope is that those of you reading this blog will look forward with me and pass these message forward to your contacts and ask them to do the same.

A friend of mine who lives in the United Kingdom passed along an article about how the rest of the world feels about our coming election. It’s in the BBC news of September 10, 2008, and the title of the article is, “Obama Win Preferred in World Poll”. Yes, outside our own country the people of the rest of the world favor the candidate of hope by a four-to-one margin.

Isn’t that interesting?

Do your part and help to spread the word.

There’s more to come next week. Come back and help us to continue this important conversation. Invite your friends. We need many more people to be listening and sharing.
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“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

~~~ Buddha

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I meditate every day to help keep me sane in this crazy world we live in. Those glimpses we get of peace, love, acceptance and happiness when we’re meditating will soon grow into more than glimpses if we keep practicing. Keep those feelings alive. A meditation can be as simple as one, deep, conscious breath. When something happens in one of your moments to cause you to suffer, just stop and take one of those breaths and remember, “This too shall pass!” Another thing that is wonderful, especially at certain times of the year, is to have a fresh flower where you work. Just stop from time-to-time and look at it — don’t label it — don’t judge it — just be with it for a couple of moments. It really does work. I’m looking at mine as I write this.

“Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature”

~~~ Gerard de Nerva

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“Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.”

~~~ Buddha

Namaste!

I share these words for you in closing — remember these words …

“Be happy now, my dear friends. Today is all we have. Be good to one another. Take comfort in whatever spirituality you are so inclined (or not), and learn to be happy despite your circumstances. Follow your path; pursue your dreams. Work hard, love your family be generous and forgiving. Do it today, while you still have the flicker of life, for one day your own candle will dim.”

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
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In my meditation I often use what I believe is a powerful aide to deep meditation. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” – then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels.
(5) It is the proven path to finding the peace, love and compassion within all of us –

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution
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[tags]peace, inner self, inner peace, Buddhist Belief, Buddhism, Buddhist, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, hope, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life, new story, Big Picture, Mother Earth, sustainability, compassion[/tags]