THE PALEOLITHIC DIET

I NTRODUCTION TO THE PALEOLITHIC DIET

Dr. Ben Balzer, family physician

There are races of people who are all slim, who are stronger and faster than us. They all have straight teeth and perfect eyesight. Arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression, schizophrenia and cancer are absolute rarities for them. These people are the last 84 tribes of hunter-gatherers in the world. They share a secret that is over 2 million years old. Their secret is their diet- a diet that has changed little from that of the first humans 2 million years ago, and their predecessors up to 7 million years ago. Theirs is the diet that man evolved on, the diet that is coded for in our genes. It has some major differences to the diet of "civilization". You are in for a few big surprises.

The diet is usually referred to as the "Paleolithic Diet" referring to the Paleolithic or Stone Age era. It is also referred to as the "Stone Age Diet", "Cave Man Diet" or the "Hunter-Gatherer Diet". More romantic souls like to think of it as the diet that was eaten in the "Garden of Eden" and they are correct in thinking so.

The basic principles of the Paleolithic Diet are so simple that most high school students can understand them. Within 15 minutes from now you will grasp the major elements. At the technical level, Paleolithic Diet Theory has a depth and breadth that is unmatched by all other dietary theories. Paleolithic Diet Theory presents a fully integrated, holistic, comprehensive dietary theory combining the best features of all other dietary theories, eliminating the worst features and simplifying it all.

All major dietary components are covered- (i.e. vitamins, fats, protein, fats, carbohydrates, antioxidants and phytosterols etc). This is for the simple reason that it is the only diet that is coded for in our genes- it contains only those foods that were "on the table" during our long evolution, and discards those which were not. Have you ever wondered why almost everybody feels the need to take vitamin supplementsat times, or why so many people feel the need to "detoxify" their system? There are very real reasons for this that you will soon understand. Now, come with me, I’d like to share the secret with you...
Basics of the Paleolthic Diet

For millions of years, humans and their relatives have eaten meat, fish, fowl and the leaves, roots and fruits of many plants. One big obstacle to getting more calories from the environment is the fact that many plants are inedible. Grains, beans and potatoes are full of energy but all are inedible in the raw state as they contain many toxins. There is no doubt about that- please don’t try to eat them raw, they can make you very sick.

Around 10,000 years ago, an enormous breakthrough was made- a breakthrough that was to change the course of history, and our diet, forever. This breakthrough was the discovery that cooking these foods made them edible- the heat destroyed enough toxins to render them edible. Grains include wheat, corn, barley, rice, sorghum, millet and oats. Grain based foods also include products such as flour, bread, noodles and pasta. These foods entered the menu of New Stone Age (Neolithic) man, and Paleolithic diet buffs often refer to them as Neolithic foods.

The cooking of grains, beans and potatoes had an enormous effect on our food intake- perhaps doubling the number of calories that we could obtain from the plant foods in our environment. Other advantages were soon obvious with these foods:

· they could store for long periods (refrigeration of course being unavailable in those days)

· they were dense in calories- ie a small weight contains a lot of calories, enabling easy transport

· the food was also the seed of the plant- later allowing ready farming of the species

These advantages made it much easier to store and transport food. We could more easily store food for winter, and for nomads and travelers to carry supplies. Food storage also enabled surpluses to be stored, and this in turn made it possible to free some people from food gathering to become specialists in other activities, such as builders, warriors and rulers. This in turn set us on the course to modern day civilization. Despite these advantages, our genes were never developed with grains, beans and potatoes and were not in tune with them, and still are not. Man soon improved further on these advances- by farming plants and animals.

Instead of being able to eat only a fraction of the animal and plant life in an area, farming allows us to fill a particular area with a large number of edible plants and animals. This in turn increases the number of calories that we can obtain from an area by some 10 to 100 fold or more. Then followed the harnessing of dairy products, which allow man to obtain far more calories from the animal over its lifetime than if it were simply slaughtered for meat. Dairy products are interesting as they combine a variety of components- some of which our genes were ready for and some not. Whist cows milk is ideal for calves, there are several very important differences between it and human milk. For example, the brain of a calf is only a tiny fraction of its body weight whereas humans have very big brains. Not surprisingly, cows milk is low in critical nutrients for brain development, particularly omeg 3 fats.

Paleolithic Diet buffs refer to the new foods as Neolithic foods and the old as Paleolithic Diet foods. In simple terms we see Neolithic as bad and Paleolithic as good. Since then, some other substances have entered the diet- particularly salt and sugar, and more recently a litany of chemicals including firstly caffeine then all other additives, colourings, preservatives, pesticides etc.

Grains, Beans and Potatoes (GBP) share the following important characteristics:

· They are all toxic when raw- there is no doubt about this- it is a fact that no competent source would dispute- they can be extremely dangerous and it is important never to eat them raw or undercooked. These toxins include enzyme blockers, lectins and other types. I will talk about them in detail later as they are very important.

· Cooking destroys most but not all of the toxins. Insufficient cooking can lead to sickness such as acute gastroenteritis.

· They are all rich sources of carbohydrate, and once cooked this is often rapidly digestible-giving a high glycemic index (sugar spike).

· They are extremely poor sources of vitamins (particularly vitamins A, B-group, folic acid and C), minerals, antioxidants and phytosterols.

Therefore diets high in grains beans and potatoes (GBP):

· Contain toxins in small amounts

· Have a high glycemic index (ie have a similar effect to raw sugar on blood glucose levels)

· Are low in many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytosterols- ie they are the original "empty calories"

· Have problems caused by the GBP displacing other foods

As grains, beans and potatoes form such a large proportion of the modern diet, you can now understand why it is so common for people to feel they need supplements or that they need to detoxify (ie that they have toxins in their system)- indeed both feelings are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, we don’t necessarily realize which supplements we need, and ironically when people go on detoxification diets they unfortunately often consume even more Neolithic foods (eg soy beans) and therefore more toxins than usual (perhaps they sometimes benefit from a change in toxins). More detail on these issues follows in subsequent pages.

The essentials of the Paleolithic Diet are:

Eat none of the following:

· Grains- including bread, pasta, noodles

· Beans- including string beans, kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, snow-peas and peas

· Potatoes

· Dairy products

· Sugar

· Salt

Eat the following:

· Meat, chicken and fish

· Eggs

· Fruit

· Vegetables (especially root vegetables, but definitely not including potatoes or sweet potatoes)

· Nuts, eg. walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almond. Do not eat peanuts (a bean) or cashews (a family of their own)

· Berries- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc.

Try to increase your intake of:

· Root vegetables- carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, Swedes

· Organ meats- liver and kidneys (I accept that many people find these unpalatable and won’t eat them)

Expect some minor tuning problems- don’t worry, you can deal with them:

· It will take some time for your body to adjust to the changes after all these years. There is a huge surge in your vitamin intake. There is a huge decrease in your toxin intake.

· Start with breakfast for few days, as this is the easiest place to start as most people eat it at home, and it tends to be the least Paleolithic meal of the standard 3. For weight loss you will eventually need to reduce your carbohydrate intake, but ignore this initially as most people have high carb intakes and this can continue for the first few days that you are on this diet. If you reduce too quickly then you may fell unwell. Then move on to lunch or dinner for a few days and then to all 3 meals. If you work, you will often find it easier to take your lunch to work.

· Keep reading more about the diet- and read it again. Remember, there are many dietary myths that will need to be unlearned. Particularly, please read the section on fats several times. Knowledge on fats has exploded over the last decade and there is a realization in mainstream nutrition that omega 3 fats are critical to good health. It is very important to ensure that you have an adequate intake of these. The low fat diet craze of the 90’s was well intentioned but many people "threw out the baby with the bath-water"- most people reduced omega 3 fat intake as well as other fats, and sometimes even increased omega 6 fats. There is now a realization that the low fat diet theory of the 90’s doesn’t often work (it has about a 6% success rate like most other diets) and that the vast majority of the Western population need to increase their omega 3 intake and decrease their omega 6 intake. Even if you don’t end up on a Paleolithic Diet, you will benefit from a better appreciation of fats.

Technical Aspects:

12,000 years ago the ice planet Earth thawed out as the last Ice Age came to an end. The great glaciers melted, carving enormous plains across the continents and the planet became green again. The seas rose some 400 feet (120 metres) (incidentally unfortunately drowning most of our archeological heritage). The plains flourished and savannah, prairie and forest sprang up. Grazing animals spread onto the plains, followed by hunting animals and amongst these last were the greatest hunters of all- humans. Humans, being omnivores, have the ability to eat both plant and animal foods. That is a major advantage as the number of creatures that can live in a particular habitat depends entirely on how much energy they can obtain. To make a crude example- imagine you are breeding monkeys on 100 acres of land and the only edible plant there is bananas. If you double the number of banana plants, then you can double the number of monkeys on the land.

You might instead introduce apple trees and have the same effect. The number of monkeys would depend entirely on how many calories they could obtain from the environment. The carrying capacity of the habitat for a species depends on how many calories the species can obtain. Humans are no different. They have a major advantage in being able to eat both plant and animals foods thereby harvesting enormous amounts of calories from the environment. Humans learnt to cook grains, beans and potatoes and increased further the number of plant food calories they can obtain from the environment- probably doubling it in most habitats, and even more on grasslands.

The reason why grains, beans and potatoes store so well is simply because of the toxins that they contain. The enzyme blockers put them into a deep freeze, stopping them from sprouting. The lectins and other toxins are natural pesticides and can attack bacteria, insects, worms, rodents and other pests (and humans too of course).

ANTINUTRIENTS- YOUR KEY TO BAD HEALTH

You probably already know a lot about nutrients- macronutrients (fats, protein and carbohydrates and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytosterols etc). Now it's time to meet the rest of the family....... We all know that foods contain a variety of nutrients. There is less awareness that many foods contain small amounts of potentially harmful substances. These are toxins, as they have toxic effects. They are normally called "antinutrients" by the scientific community as toxins sounds too alarmist. Antinutrients are very real and for over 100 years research has been done on them- but it is generally only appreciated by a small group of specialized scientists. Antinutrients have an incredible range of biological effects. As you have probably already guessed, the vast majority and highest levels of antinutrients are in Neolithic foods like grains, beans and potatoes. The Paleolithic diet has incredibly low levels of antinutrients compared to the usual modern diet. I believe that this is the number one advantage of the diet.

Textbooks on antinutrients read like books on what not to eat- Neolithic foods are the most prominent. Professor Irvin Liener published one of the most famous of these books in 1980. In the first chapter he points out that when we started cooking inedible plants, new toxins entered the diet for the first time. Ironically, he wasn’t trying to promote Paleolithic diets- his aim was to help agricultural scientists more safely feed the world on grains, beans and potatoes.

It’s a technical subject, and I’ll do my best to make it clear to you.

Consider our friend, the apple. When an animal eats an apple, it profits by getting a meal. It swallows the seeds and then deposits them in a pile of dung. With some luck a new apple tree might grow, and so the apple tree has also profited from the arrangement. In nature as in finance, it is good business when both parties make profit happily. Consider what would happen if the animal were greedy and decided to eat the few extra calories contained within the apple seeds- then there would be no new apple tree to continue on the good work. So, to stop this from happening, the apple seeds contain toxins that have multiple effects:

* firstly, they taste bad- discouraging the animal from chewing them

* secondly some toxins are enzyme blockers that bind up predators digestive enzymes- these also act as "preservatives" freezing the apple seed enzymes until sprouting- Upon sprouting of the seed, many of these enzyme blockers disappear.

* thirdly, they contain lectins- these are toxic proteins which have numerous effects. They act as natural pesticides and are also toxic to a range of other species including bacteria, insects, worms, rodents and other predators including humans .

Of course, the apple has other defenses- to start with it is high above the ground well out of reach of casual predators, and it also has the skin and flesh of the apple to be penetrated first. Above all though is the need to stop the seed from being eaten, so that new apple trees may grow.

Now, please consider the humble grain. Once again as a seed its duty is mission critical- it must perpetuate the life cycle of the plant. It is however much closer to the ground, on the tip of a grass stalk. It is within easy reach of any predator strolling by. It contains a good source of energy, like a booster rocket for the new plant as it grows. The grain is full of energy and in a vulnerable position. It was "expensive" for the plant to produce. It is an attractive meal. Its shell offers little protection. Therefore, it has been loaded with toxic proteins to discourage predators- grains are full of enzyme blockers and lectins. You may be surprised to learn that uncooked flour is very toxic- please don't try eating it as you become very sick. And yes, I don't recommend al dente pasta (if one must eat pasta at all).

Beans too are full of enzyme blockers and lectins. Potatoes contain enzyme blockers, lectins and another family of toxins called glycoalkaloids. Glycoalkaloids (GA) unlike lectins and enzyme blockers aren't destroyed by cooking, even deep-frying. GA are particularly high in green or injured potatoes, which must never be eaten even if trimmed heavily and well-cooked. Many people have told me that they eat small amounts of raw potato- this is a dangerous habit and it should be discouraged very strongly.

These toxins in foods are commonly referred to as antinutrients. Let's learn some more about them:

Enzyme Blockers: These enzyme blockers are abundant in all seeds including grains and beans, and also in potatoes, serving to hold them in suspended animation and also acting as pesticides. Most commonly they block the enzymes that digest protein (proteases), and are called "protease inhibitors". They can affect the stomach protease enzyme "pepsin", and the small intestine protease enzymes "trypsin" and "chymotrypsin". These small intestine enzymes are made by the pancreas (it does a lot of other important things besides making insulin). Some enzyme blockers affect the enzymes that digest starch (amylase) and are called "amylase inhibitors".

When GBP are cooked, most of the enzyme blockers are destroyed, but some are not. In human volunteers and in animal experiments high levels of protease inhibitors lead to increased secretion of digestive enzymes by the pancreas. This is because the body can sense that the enzymes have been knocked out and orders to pancreas to make more. Even if the effect of GBP based foods is only a small increase in pancreatic enzyme secretion, over many years it all adds up to a lot of extra work.

They are effective poisons- rats cannot gain weight if they have substantial amounts of enzyme blockers in the diet. As far as their preservative action is concerned, I need only to remind you that the potted grains in the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs were still viable and sprouted after thousands of years locked away.

Grain eating birds have evolved digestive enzymes that are resistant to grain protease inhibitors. Lectins (Haemagglutins)................ Meet Hannibal

Lectins are natural proteins that have a large variety of roles. They are amongst the most

fascinating and stimulating of all biological compounds, and I have no doubt that they play a major role in many "unexplained " diseases. I think of them as "Hannibal Lectins" as they remind of the devious criminal mastermind in the shock horror movie "Silence of the Lambs.' Lectins are like master code-breakers. The cells of our bodies are studded with receptors which are like code pads to ensure stimulation only under the correct circumstances. Lectins have the ability to crack these codes and stimulate the receptors causing a variety of responses- covering basically the full repertoire of the cell and even tricking the cell into doing things it normally cannot do.

They also have a knack for bypassing our defenses and "getting behind the lines", and then they can travel all over the body causing harm. They can, for example:

--strip protective mucus off tissues,

--damage the cells lining the small intestine- disrupting the microscopic fingers called villi and microvilli,

--get swallowed whole by the small intestine cells ("pinocytosis")

--bind to cells including blood cells causing a clot to form (hence they were initially called "haemagglutins")

--make a cell act as if it has been stimulated by a hormone-

--stimulate a cell to secrete a hormone

--promote cell division at the wrong time

--cause gowth or shrinkage of lymphatic tissue ("outposts" of white blood cells)

--cause enlargement of the pancreas

--cause cells to present codes (HLA's) that they normally should not use

--cause cell death (apoptosis)

Lectins break down the surface of the small intestine, stripping it of mucus and causing the cells to become irregular and leaky. Some lectins make cells act as if they have been stimulated by insulin. Others cause the pancreas to release insulin. Others cause immune cells to divide in the wrong way, causing growth of some white blood cells and breaking down the control of the immune system. Others cause cells to present the wrong codes (HLA's) on their surface, tricking the immune system into thinking that intruders have been found and activating the immune system inappropriately- thus leading to "autoimmune disease" where the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system.

Autoimmune diseases are incredibly common and increase every year that a person gets older. A disordered immune system also has a much harder job recognizing and attacking the real intruders- invading germs and cancer cells (you may have heard that scientists think that most people generate many cancer cells in a life time but that the immune system cleans most of them up).

It is not known whether lectins can cause cancer- this is one of the most important questions in medicine today. They certainly affect colon cells in the test tube. I feel that they are likely candidates as they can stimulate abnormal cell growth and they also cause disorder in the immune system.

Lectins have many other roles besides defending seeds. For example in beans, lectins act like a glue to enable nitrogen-fixing bacteria to bind to the roots of the plant. Many important lectin families are found in animal tissues, but as we are carnivores, we have evolved to be able to deal with these- just as birds that live on grains have evolved to be resistant to grain lectins.

It is ironic that the lectins were discovered more than 100 years ago and yet so many questions remain unanswered- the same was true of the immune system until the 1980’s. I hope that there is more research done into lectins as they hold a whole world of disease mechanisms of which most of the medical community is blissfully unaware.

Exorphins:

Exorphins are food chemicals that have morphine-like activity. They are found in dairy products and wheat. Our body has its own natural morphine like substances that are called endorphins. Endorphins work by stimulating a type of nerve cell surface receptor called endorphin receptors. Endorphins are very important in controlling pain and addictive behaviour.

Exorphins also act on endorphin receptors and may stimulate them or block them. It is logical that exorphins may therefore affect chronic pain and also affect addictive behaviour.





Additional Reading Suggested by Bill Lauritzen:
The Omega Plan
Paleolithic Prescription

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price

Nutrition and Evolution by Crawford and March

PaleoDiet by Loren Cordain

Syndrome X by Gerald Reaven
The Miracle of Fasting by Paul Bragg








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Gore Vidal

An American Icon: Gore Vidal on Italy, Iraq - and Why He Hates George Bush

Why is it so dreadful to live in America, I asked.

"We have been deprived of our franchise," he says. "The election was stolen in both 2000 and 2004, because of electronic voting machinery which can be easily fixed. We've had two illegitimate elections in a row ...

"Little Bush says we are at war, but we are not at war because to be at war Congress has to vote for it. He says we are at war on terror, but that is a metaphor, though I doubt if he knows what that means. It's like having a war on dandruff, it's endless and pointless. We are in a dictatorship that has been totally militarised, everyone is spied on by the government itself. All three arms of the government are in the hands of this junta.

Naomi Klein

You Break It, You Pay For It

What Does Love Mean?

When the satisfaction or security of another person becomes as significant to one as one's own, then a state of love exists. So far as I know, under no other circumstances is a state of love present, regardless of popular usage.

- Harry Stack Sullivan

This one is rich, in so many ways.

Love....

The Ragged Wood

by William Butler Yeats

O, hurry, where by water, among the trees,
The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,
When they have looked upon their images
Would none had ever loved but you and I!

Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed
Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky,
When the sun looked out of his golden hood?
O, that none ever loved but you and I!

O hurry to the ragged wood, for there
I will drive all those lovers out and cry
O, my share of the world, O, yellow hair!
No one has ever loved but you and I.

Save The Internet

YouTube - The Death of The Internet?

The Plague

The New York Observer's MondoWeiss: At U.S. Naval War College, Scholar Likens Iraq to Plague

http://216.70.73.119/mt/mt-tb.cgi/entry/at_us_naval_war_college_schola

A very favorite band

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,1795948,00.html

American Monarchy

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | America's problem is again a usurping king called George

America's problem is again a usurping king called George

Bush's determination to impose his own reading of new laws amounts to a power grab and subverts the US constitution

Martin Kettle
Saturday June 17, 2006
The Guardian

Imagine a country with a different kind of monarch from the one we are used to. Forget the nation-binding human monarch whom Archbishop Rowan Williams praised so deftly this week. Imagine instead a monarch who, like many of Elizabeth II's ancestors, routinely reserved the right to override laws passed by the legislature, or who repeatedly asserted that the laws mean something they do not say. Imagine, in fact, King George of America.

Article continues
On April 30 the Boston Globe journalist Charlie Savage wrote an article whose contents become more astonishing the more one reads them. Over the past five years, Savage reported, President George Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws that have been enacted by the United States Congress since he took office. At the heart of Bush's strategy is the claim that the president has the power to set aside any statute that conflicts with his own interpretation of the constitution.

Remarkably, this systematic reach for power has occurred not in secret but in public. Go to the White House website and the evidence is there in black and white. It takes the form of dozens of documents in which Bush asserts that his power as the nation's commander in chief entitles him to overrule or ignore bills sent to him by Congress for his signature. Behind this claim is a doctrine of the "unitary executive", which argues that the president's oath of office endows him with an independent authority to decide what a law means.

Periodically, congressional leaders come down from Capitol Hill to applaud as the president, seated at his desk, signs a bill that becomes the law of the land. They are corny occasions. But they are a photo-op reminder that American law-making involves compromises that reflect a balance between the legislature and the presidency. The signing ceremony symbolises that the balance has been upheld and renewed.

After the legislators leave, however, Bush puts his signature to another document. Known as a signing statement, this document is a presidential pronouncement setting out the terms in which he intends to interpret the new law. These signing statements often conflict with the new statutes. In some cases they even contradict their clear meaning. Increasing numbers of scholars and critics now believe they amount to a systematic power grab within a system that rests on checks and balances of which generations of Americans have been rightly proud - and of which others are justly envious.

The Bush administration has often been charged with unilateralism in its conduct of foreign affairs. But a similar disregard for the rule of law underlies this domestic strategy. Article 1, section 1 of the US constitution states: "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." Section 7 says that if the president refuses to sign a law, the Congress can override him. But Bush has never vetoed a bill. Instead he signs bills into law and then unilaterally redefines them his way.

The contrast between the rhetoric of the public ceremony and the self-authorisation in the later signing statements is large. Take, for example, the renewal of the USA Patriot Act on March 9. In the signing ceremony Bush stressed that the law had been a bipartisan effort involving Congress and the White House. In the subsequent signing statement, however, he states that he does not feel bound to report to Congress (as the act requires) and would "withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties".

Or take the contrast after Bush signed an overwhelmingly supported congressional bill last year outlawing the torture of detainees. On the face of it the new law was explicit, strengthening what Bush described as "values we hold dear" and extending a domestic ban on torture to cover US actions around the world. But the signing statement on December 30 carefully undermined that claim. It asserted that "the executive branch shall construe [the law] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president ... as commander in chief," adding that this approach would "assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the president ... of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks". In other words, circumstances might arise in which torture might still be authorised.

The Bush White House did not invent the presidential signing statement; it goes back to the 19th century. But the frequency and ambition of Bush's signing statements go far beyond his predecessors. Whereas earlier presidents issued signing statements of a highly specific nature, those of Bush are repeatedly broad and unspecific. Above all, they make claims to enhanced executive power that impinge on profound issues of liberty such as torture or wiretapping.

Too late in the day for comfort, Bush's approach is coming under greater scrutiny. In February the bipartisan Constitution Project warned of "the risk of permanent and unchecked presidential power". Last week the American Bar Association announced an independent inquiry into the practice. A powerful article in the New York Review of Books by the veteran writer Elizabeth Drew has also given the subject higher saliency.

To their credit, even some Bush supporters are alarmed. If Bill Clinton had done what Bush is doing, the Republican senator Chuck Hagel has pointed out, Congress would be up in arms. If Bush were to bequeath the powers he claims to Hillary Clinton, the right would soon go berserk with indignation at the threat to American values. Which is why the most pertinent comment so far on the president's strategy has come from the anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist. He told Drew: "If you interpret the constitution's saying that the president is commander in chief to mean that the president can do anything he wants and can ignore the laws, you don't have a constitution: you have a king."

It is not anti-American to warn about what Bush is doing. On the contrary, it is profoundly pro-American. In 1776 Americans issued their declaration of independence. They demanded a new form of government in place of the "repeated injuries and usurpations" to which they had been subjected. In the long list of grievances that followed, the first was that King George had "refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good". That suddenly has a contemporary ring. Now, as then, America's problem is a usurping king called George.

martin.kettle@guardian.co.uk

Humans beings, in their normal cognitive state, have a limited capacity for attention.

The Bleeping Herald

Inattentional blindness is the inability to perceive aspects in a visual scene if they are not being deliberately attended to. In other words, if you’re not looking for it, you don’t see it.

The Role of the Elder

Robert L Moore, PhD - The Role of the Elder

The Role of the Elder

Elders are disappearing all over our planet. Men that use to carry the eldership of the tribe or
community are now alcoholic, in major depression, committing suicide, or on golf courses - or all
the above.




Our crisis is understandable. It is clear what is going on and why. No longer do we have a problem
about figuring it out. But this is not recognized. On the contrary, we have all these people in
leadership positions in every walk of life - especially those who have to do with the legal system,
criminology, and public administration - who think they can explain this crisis without any reference
to male initiation or maturation. It is impossible. It cannot be done. You cannot even identify the
problem without looking at male initiation, and you surely cannot fix it.





So what time is it?




It is a time when men have abdicated their responsibilities as elders wholesale. We have all these
self-righteous men all over the country who want to put all the young warriors in prison forever
and throw away the keys because the young warriors are criminals, "they cannot be helped." This is
the situation we face: Men, so called men, who will not face their own shadows, will not face up to
the reality of their abdication. They are willing to witness the destruction of the lives of thousands
upon thousands of young males all over the world. That is where we are and that is what we face and
that is what time it is.




What is needed?




A brotherhood, what used to be called an order. Now what kind of order do we need? We do not
need another regressive, tribal masculine brotherhood. We do not need another SS. Why not? They were
organized. They knew how to use technology. They knew how to get men committed unto death and how to
make men proud. What was the problem? They had a racist, tribal, demonic vision. They made the fatal
error that our forebears have repeatedly fallen into. For thousands of years we have not been able to
make the unity of our species the basis of our vision. We have made the same mistake over and over.
We have taken magnificent young warriors and offered them a bogus vision - a demonic, racist,
non-inclusive vision to serve and die for.




We need magnificent young men, middle-aged men and older men serving a vision worthy of them. We
need to take that Warrior energy, that which is very likely the most noble thing in the male soul,
and bring it into the service of an inclusive, non-racist, non-sectarian, non-cultic vision about a
world of justice and peace. We need to warn men against repeating the error of our forefathers
in accessing wonderful masculine energy and then using it to serve a tribal, often racist, vision.
In the United States, we have so many men today, fine men, who have been seduced into joining right-wing,
racist militias. The only elders and guides they have are men who have no other vision except to
repeat the errors of the past.





We need an international network of men to hold up a vision worthy of all these magnificent young
males, red and yellow, black and white. We need to have that vision lifted up and nurtured. But we
do not need to simply put out a vision. We need more than a vision. We need an order, a brotherhood,
that is willing to do what is necessary to steward that vision and to provide the containment that is
necessary for initiation into such a comprehensive vision.




We do not need an organization that simply provides a place for men to go through their mid-life crises
and leave. Instead we need an organization which will take young men and power him up and introduce him
to how magnificent he is and the nature of the male heritage which is his.





We need an organization that, when he hits the white water of life at forty, will have men in it that
love him, and will help him understand what is happening to him.




We need an organization that, when he gets into his fifties and sixties and starts running into some
health problems, will be there for him and will help him understand ways in which he is still strong,
maybe even stronger than he was when he was physically strong.




We need an organization that will love men while he is dying and be there for him while he is dying.
We need an organization that he trusts to carry on the work that he was committed to after he is dead
and buried. We need an organization that will help that man's family bury him.





This is an inter-generational vision. Is this new? This is the way men used to do it. This is the
way it used to be done in the tribes. And what do we need in order to offer such leadership for
men in community? We need a group of men that know how important initiation is. That know what happens
to men when they do not get it. A group of men that are doing their best to be inclusive across economic
classes, across religions, across races - a new kind of warrior and potentially a new kind of
brotherhood.




So the question is very simple. Could it be that you have a wider mission? Are you the man that
we long for or shall we look for another? Are you that man who desires to be a man and be part
of that Order - the inclusive Order, the non-racist Order, the non-classist Order, the non-sexist
Order, the committed Order that we long for? An Order willing to steward an inclusive masculine
initiation?




Could it be that in the twenty-fifth century, some elder historian is going to be telling stories,
where he might say that it came to pass that in the early years of the new millennium a small band
of men of different races, from different walks of life, woke up. They looked around and they saw
what time it was, and knew how desperate the situation was, and how bad the odds were that they
could do the work that needed to be done. Nevertheless, they said yes to the challenge. Children,
though we cannot remember their names, we are eternally grateful to them.







References:



Moore, R. (1997). Masculine initiation for the 21st century: The global challenge. The New
Warrior Handbook.



Moore, R. (2001). The archetype of initiation: Sacred space, ritual
process, and personal transformation. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris Corporation.



The Quartet of Books: The King Within, The Warrior Within, The Magician
Within, The Lover Within.

A Picture

Gmail - gmface.jpg

Homegrown Terrorism?

CBC News: Lawyers for bomb plot suspects upset over publication ban

Galati called the timing of the arrests suspicious and accused security officials of trying to influence members of Parliament, who will soon vote on whether to extend the Anti-terrorism Act, which became part of the Criminal Code in December 2001.

The MPs will soon vote on extending the law, which gives police the power to arrest people and hold them without charge for up to 72 hours if they're suspected of planning a terrorist act. It also makes it easier for police to use electronic surveillance in their investigation of certain offences.

Galati also alleges that the arrests were meant to sway this week's planned Supreme Court hearings on the constitutionality of the legislation.

Thuleheim - Wanderings of a Wise Woman

As she says, "Live deliberately"

Was the 2004 Election Stolen? BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

Rolling Stone : Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

This is an absolute must read.

The Temple of The Body Sex in an Anti-Erotic Age

Every day we could choose to be intimate rather than distant, bodily
rather than mental, acting thoughtfully from desire instead of from
discipline, seeking deep pleasures rather than superficial
entertainments, getting in touch with the world rather than analyzing
it at a distance, making a culture that gives us pleasure rather than
one that merely works, allowing plenty of room in our own and others’
lives for the eccentricities of sexual desire, and generally taking the
role of lovers rather than doers and judges.

© 2002, Thomas Moore

http://www.careofthesoul.net/commentframe.htm

One of my favorite writers, Thomas Moore, always comments eloquently on the human condition.

Shamanism and the Spirits of Weather

Ariel: Photographer

“Shamans understand how to harness the power of imagination. Sometimes called 'co-creation,' shamanic visioning is a technique that can be used to obtain your true desires. What the universe delivers will be tied to your personal belief system of what is possible."

www.arielphotography.net/

Go to the website and check out this person's work. It is amazing and beautiful.

Voodooo baby

And Stevie Ray omigod
YouTube - Voodoo Chile～Stevie Ray Vaughn

Jimi Hendrix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53asrNBElEo

YouTube - Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZHFunVK8S0

Jimi Hendrix

Great video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53asrNBElEo

In No Bars to Manhood, Dan Berrigan wrote:

"Of course, let us have peace," we cry, "but at the same time let us have normalcy, let us lose nothing, let our lives stand intact, let us know neither prison nor ill repute nor disruption of ties ... " There is no peace because there are no peacemakers. There are no makers of peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison, and death in its wake.

From a column by Ray McGovern in a Truthout/Perspective.
It is something I have wondered about for a while now. What is it going to take to get to the next level of our outrage? So that finally we can bring an end to the barbarity that swirls around us on a constant daily basis.
Peace Ivanther