Tropical Weather & Oil Price Forecast

The 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast from the National
Weather Service calls for a 50 percent probability of a
near-normal season; a 25 percent probability of an above-normal
season and a 25 percent probability of a below-normal season.
Forecasters say there is a 70 percent chance of having 9 to
14 named storms, 4 - 7 of these could become Hurricanes,
including 1 - 3 Major Hurricanes (Categories 3, 4 or 5).

Although a very "quiet" year so far - I believe there will be 
several Tropical Storms and 3+ Major Hurricanes (Category 3+)
that will form.

I believe at least 2 (more likely 3) of these Major Hurricanes will
move into the Gulf of Mexico bearing toward the Northwest Florida
Panhandle. Some will then move across the Gulf of Mexico and
impact the Texas and or Western Louisiana coastal regions.

I believe at least 1 of these storms will impact the rich oil / gas
producing areas in the Gulf of Mexico, causing traders to create an
increase (perhaps sharp) in the price of oil and gas.

As with anything, the future is not set in stone. I hope these
events do not come to pass and if they do, they have a minimal
disruptive impact.

4 Lessons For Life

With everything going on in the world, coupled with personal trials and challenges we all face daily it is hard to make sense of everyday life. How can we move forward in a peaceful state with chaos all around us? I have found the following 4 lessons for life to be extremely helpful.

Compliments of Byron Katie.

1. Don't dwell on the past. The mistakes you have made in life are wonderful. Someday similar circumstances may allow you to use the wisdom you have gained from past decisions or behavior. There is pain in the past. Why continue to endure this pain when life is happening all around you?

2. Don't dwell on the future. It pays to have a plan. You might even be foolish not to have insurance and a retirement program. But to worry about things that may never come to pass creates needless pain. There is pain in the future.

3. Dwell on the present. If you spend each day doing what you know is right, everything will be okay. Moreover, the doors of opportunity will present themselves, and you will be prepared to recognize and open them. This is not be to be confused with the frivolous proverb, "Live for today, tomorrow may never come." You have a job to do so get it done. Learn the practiced art of recognizing the essence of living by appreciating the human senses. Work becomes music.

4. There are really only 3 types of business.
Your business.
Other people's business.
God's business.
The wisdom of knowing the difference allows you to realize the reasons behind why you get involved with situations in daily life.

When practiced, these are truly life changing rules to live by. For the record, I am still working on all of the above and I am a "work in progress".

What is Evil? Does Absolute Evil Exist?

The short answer is that absolute evil does exist but only temporarily. In other words, absolute evil has no absolute or permanent existence.

The key to understanding this mystery, which has confused numerous seekers over the ages, is to understand the two basic forces of creation, namely the yin and yang, or the masculine and feminine. Everything is created through an interaction of two forces. The important point in this context is to understand that the two basic forces of creation are not in opposition to each other. The two basic forces are complementary, meaning that they do not have opposite or mutually exclusive qualities. Instead, they have complementary qualities. They are two sides of the same coin, and they supplement each other.

Some religions teach that God forms one polarity which is good and that there must be another polarity which is the opposite of God, namely absolute evil. These religions tend to make it seem like evil is just as necessary as good and that only the interaction of the two forces will create a world. This is a very subtle and for some people very pervasive idea. However it is a lie. In fact it is an absolute lie perpetrated by absolute evil.

When God created this universe, God defined a set of principles, or laws, that guide the evolution of this world. Certain beings decided to rebel against not only God’s laws but also God’s intent to create the universe. Therefore, these beings set themselves apart from God and God’s creation. The essential understanding is that when you rebel against God’s law and set yourself apart from God, you do not create something that forms an opposite polarity of God. In other words, evil has not suddenly become a necessary part of creation.

God’s creation evolves through a harmonious interaction of the two complementary forces, namely the active and passive, the masculine and feminine. Neither of these forces are evil. Both of these forces are absolute good and they are not in opposition to each other or to the basic purpose of creation.

Absolute evil, therefore, is a force that has set itself apart from and stepped outside of the basic polarity that creates the universe. Absolute evil is a force made of beings who have said, “We want no part of God’s creation.”

What you need to understand is that evil can never form a polarity with God. Everything is created by an interaction of two polarities. When they come together, they do not oppose each other or cancel each other out. Instead they complement each other and through their harmonious union create something that is different, that is more, than the original state.

If you were to take absolute good and put it together with absolute evil, there would not be creation. Absolute good and absolute evil are not complementary forces; they are mutually exclusive. If you put the two together, absolute evil will disappear instantly, as the darkness disappears when you turn on the light in a room. Absolute evil is simply an absence of absolute good, and therefore it has no existence of its own. It cannot continue to exist in the presence of absolute good.

When certain beings rebelled against God’s law, they essentially stepped outside of God’s universe. They cut themselves off from God, and therefore they no longer receive energy directly from God. This is not because God hates these beings or wants to punish them. God simply defined laws for how a being with free will receives energy. When you violate those laws, when you refuse to plug your light into the socket, you can no longer receive the energy.

So what has happened is that certain spiritual beings cut themselves off from God. These beings cannot receive energy directly from God, yet they cannot continue to exist forever on their own energy. In other words, when these beings cut themselves off from God, they had a certain amount of God’s energy. God did not take that energy away from them but allowed these beings to create their own world as being apart from God. These beings could create their own world, but they could only use the energy they had at the beginning. They could not receive more without coming back into alignment with God’s law and vision.

So when the rebellious souls started running out of energy, they had to find a way to steal energy from those who can still receive energy directly from God. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of planet Earth had descended into a lower state of spiritual awareness, and this allowed certain dark beings an inroad into this planet and into the consciousness of humankind. The dark beings have since then created numerous schemes designed to cause human beings to distort the pure energies of God so that the dark beings can steal the energy and continue to exist. The dark beings are like vampires that suck the lifeblood, God’s energy, from human beings.

In their attempt to gain control over the inhabitants of Earth, the dark beings have used many clever schemes. As part of this effort, they have created a number of philosophies that seem to justify their existence. One of these philosophies is the idea that since everything must have an opposite, there must be something in opposition to God. Therefore, absolute evil must be a necessary part of creation as the opposite polarity of absolute good. As I have attempted to explain above, this is a lie.

Absolute evil does not form a polarity with absolute good. Absolute evil is not a necessary part of God’s creation. Absolute evil is a consequence of the fact that God gave all of his sons and daughters the gift of free will. When you have free will, you can take one of two approaches. You can recognize the fact that in order to create anything that is sustainable, God must define certain laws which insure the sustainability of the universe. You can realize that these laws are not a restriction of your freedom. Therefore, you can choose to exercise your free will within the context of God’s laws. This has two advantages. By following God’s law, you have the security that you will always have a stable platform for your creative expression. In other words, you cannot suddenly do something that will destroy yourself or the entire universe. At the same time, you still have unlimited opportunity to express your individuality and creativity within the context of God’s law.

The other option you have as a consequence of free will is that you can choose to completely and absolutely rebel against not only God’s law but God’s intent to create. Because God has given you free will, God allows you to make that choice. However, consider the mechanics of making that choice. You are essentially saying to God, “I will have nothing to do with you.” Because God respects his own Law of Free Will, God will not only allow you to make that choice, but God will also take the consequence of that choice. The consequence is that God will leave you alone, and when God leaves you alone, you are completely cut off from God.

God will never violate your free will. In other words, when you have cut yourself off from God, you will remain cut off from God indefinitely, unless you change your original choice and say, “God, I want to come home.” Contrary to how certain dark forces have portrayed God, namely as an angry and judgmental Being, God has no anger and no judgment of dark forces. Such beings can, at any moment, choose to change their original rebellion against God. The moment they express their sincere intent of coming back to God, at that moment God would be perfectly willing to help them do so.

Unfortunately, when a soul cuts itself off from God, it inevitably begins to build an image of God that is out of touch with the divine reality. Therefore, such beings cannot understand or accept the unconditional love of God. They project their own qualities of conditionality, relativity, anger and judgment upon God. Therefore, they do not fully accept that they have the option of coming back to God. As a result, they continue to attempt to justify their original decision to turn away from God. In doing so dark forces also attempt to make human beings accept that evil is a necessary part of creation. They want to make human beings accept that absolute evil is as vital for creation as absolute good, and therefore it is acceptable to align yourself with absolute evil.

Many souls on planet Earth are fooled by these subtle lies. This is not because these souls are evil, or because they have rebelled against God. It is largely because most people on planet Earth have descended into a lower state of spiritual awareness in which they do not understand God, especially the unconditional love of God. Therefore, many souls do not believe that they are worthy of God’s love. They think God is angry with them and that God will judge them harshly. They think they are sinners who are not worthy of coming back to God. Therefore, if you are not worthy to come back to God anyway, why not simply align yourself with the dark forces who tell you that it is actually OK to do whatever you want and that God’s law is a restriction of your freedom.

When Jesus walked the Earth 2,000 years ago, He made an extremely important remark [quoted from Proverbs 16:25]. Christ said, “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” The dark beings have attempted to promote the idea that the world is created from two opposite forces, namely absolute good and absolute evil. They have attempted to create the impression that there are two viable roads and that both roads lead to the same end result. In other words, the true goal is to get back to union with God, but you can attain that goal in two different ways. You can choose the high road or the low road, and these dark forces want you to believe that both roads ultimately lead to the same result. This is another subtle and pervasive lie.

When you align yourself with absolute good and express your free will within the context of God’s law, God will give you more life, more energy. This is expressed in the parable of the talents. The servant who had multiplied his talents was given more in return. If you align yourself with absolute evil, then God will respect your free will and leave you alone. The result is that you will not receive more energy from God. Therefore, you will gradually spend the energy that you have. Eventually, you will run out of energy and there will be nothing left. There will be no more energy, and therefore there will be no more you. You will simply disappear. Your soul will be erased as if it never existed.

Right now the dark forces can argue that by using black magic you can gain power and energy. This is true because there are still many human beings on planet Earth who are receiving energy directly from God. In other words, there is still energy which can be perverted by black magic and therefore stolen by dark forces. However, if this perversion of energy continues until it reaches a critical mass, then the entire planet could be cut off from God’s energy. At that point there would be no more energy coming from God, and therefore the planet and all dark forces upon it would quickly self-destruct.

When God created this universe, he made you a promise. He promised you that if you would align yourself with his laws, he would guarantee you a stable platform for your creative expression. It all goes back to the old question, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” Will you serve absolute good and therefore attain life and absolute reality. Or will you serve absolute evil and therefore ultimately self-destruct.

Re-posted with permission and Fair Use Notice

The Flame

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”

Future Prediction: Healthcare Crisis

Future Predictive Forecast: The Health care system in the US will undergo a dramatic change and will not resemble its present form in the near future. Quality Health care will also become much harder to get in the US, with many hospitals, clinics and doctors simply shutting their doors. They will close as a result of a toxic combination of depressed economic conditions, ideological differences and increased governmental regulation.

A prelude?

Freedom of Choice Act
This is language excerpted from the bill introduced in the 110th Congress, which died in subcommittee. Its sponsor says he will refile the bill this congressional session:

— (a) Statement of Policy — It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

— (b) Prohibition of Interference — A government may not deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose to bear a child; terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

— (c) Civil Action — An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a civil action.

From the St Louis Times - March 6, 2009:

A proposed bill promising major changes in the U.S. abortion landscape has Roman Catholic bishops threatening to close Catholic hospitals if the Democratic Congress and White House make it law.

The Freedom of Choice Act failed to get out of subcommittee in 2004, but its sponsor is poised to refile it now that former Senate co-sponsor Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office.

A spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the legislation "is among the congressman's priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather than later."

FOCA, as the bill is known, would make federal law out of the abortion protections established in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade ruling.

The legislation has some Roman Catholic bishops threatening to shutter the country's 624 Catholic hospitals — including 11 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis — rather than comply.

Speaking in Baltimore in November at the bishops' fall meeting, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a Chicago auxiliary bishop, took up the issue of what to do with Catholic hospitals if FOCA became law. "It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions," he said. "That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil."

But even within the Catholic community, there is disagreement about the effects FOCA might have on hospitals, with some health care professionals and bishops saying a strategy of ignoring the law, if it passes, would be more effective than closing hospitals.

Ilan Kayatsky, Nadler's spokesman, said he anticipates that the bill's other original sponsor, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will introduce FOCA in the U.S. Senate. "We expect it to be more or less the same bill with some minor tweaks," Kayatsky said.

Boxer's office declined to comment.

Rep. William Lacy Clay, a Roman Catholic, and Rep. Russ Carnahan — both St. Louis Democrats — were co-sponsors of the legislation. Neither responded to requests for an interview. Bishop Robert Hermann, acting head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, was unavailable for comment.

In its last incarnation, FOCA defined abortion as a "fundamental right" that no government can "deny" or "interfere with." That language, FOCA's opponents warn, would help overturn abortion restrictions such as parental notification, laws banning certain procedures and constraints on federal funding.

Some abortion rights groups say a friendlier Congress and White House makes FOCA less of a priority for them, and they say religious conservatives who oppose abortion rights are using FOCA as a scare tactic.

"Anti-choice groups know that there are not enough votes to move the Freedom of Choice Act, yet they continue to engage in a divisive campaign demonizing FOCA to distract the public from their opposition to birth control and accurate sex education," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

The nation's Catholic bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of FOCA and Obama's abortion-rights positions. In the days before the November elections, one called Obama "the most committed" abortion-rights supporter to head a presidential ticket since Roe. Obama had promised during his campaign he would sign FOCA if he were elected.

Along with the 11 Catholic hospitals within the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Catholic Health Association of the United States says there are another seven in the St. Louis area within the borders of the Belleville and Springfield, Ill., dioceses.

According to the CHA, Catholic hospitals make up 13 percent of the country's nearly 5,000 hospitals, and employ more than 600,000 people. CHA says one of every six Americans hospitalized in the United States is cared for in a Catholic hospital.

Not all bishops or Catholic health care professionals see closing down hospitals as a realistic option. Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., a member of CHA's board of trustees, wrote on his blog last month that "even in the worst-case scenario, Catholic hospitals will not close. We will not comply, but we will not close." Instead, he advocated a strategy of "civil disobedience."

Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of CHA, said in an interview that she did not believe the language in the most recent version of FOCA — despite its definition of abortion as a fundamental right — would force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. But she also said that if it did, the church would look to the historical example of racial segregation as a model for civil disobedience.

"From the other side we hear consistent talk about being pro-choice," Keehan said. "If FOCA passes, the concept of being pro-choice will not be incompatible with our position — our choice would be not to participate."

Seven of the 11 hospitals in the Archdiocese of St. Louis are run by SSM Healthcare. In a statement, the company said it opposes FOCA "because it attempts to increase access to abortion and remove restrictions to abortion."

If FOCA were to become law, it continued, "We do not believe our Catholic hospitals would be forced to participate and we would advocate strongly for our right of conscience to refuse to provide abortion services."

While the Catholic Church has been most vocal on the FOCA issue, it's not alone. As Obama prepared to take the oath of office in January, the National Right to Life Committee warned its members that congressional Democrats were poised to work with the new president "to push an expansive pro-abortion agenda."

"The pro-life movement," the organization declared in its monthly newspaper, "is bracing for battle."

Pam Fichter, president of Missouri Right to Life, called FOCA "a top priority" for her group, which is working to pass a resolution in both houses of the Missouri Legislature that urges Congress to reject FOCA. The resolution has passed the Missouri House and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate, and Missouri Right to Life is holding its Pro-Life Action Day in Jefferson City on Tuesday .

FOCA opponents have been discouraged by two moves made by Obama's administration in recent weeks. In January, the administration repealed a Bush policy that restricted federal dollars for international groups that perform or promote abortion overseas.

And this week, Obama nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Sebelius is a Roman Catholic who has been chastised by Kansas City, Kan., Archbishop Joseph Naumann for her positions supporting abortion rights. Naumann called Sebelius' nomination this week "troubling."

After Sebelius' nomination, HHS hinted that it would soon repeal another Bush administration rule — enacted in December — that allowed health care professionals to opt out of providing abortion or birth control procedures on moral grounds.

In order to combat what its sees as inevitable, the Catholic Church launched a "Fight FOCA" postcard campaign aimed at Congress in January. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., who participated in an anti-FOCA rally last month at St. Anthony's Catholic School in Sullivan, said he has received "thousands" of postcards over the last month including "a stack 2 feet high" Wednesday.

"People have worked 30-some years to protect the rights of the unborn and FOCA would undo many of their efforts," Luetkemeyer said.

Keehan said shutting down Catholic hospitals would tear the fabric of the American health care system.

"Catholic health care plays such an important role in communities across this nation," she said, that Americans are "not going to sacrifice their health care facility, which employs so many, cares for so many, and has been part of their community for many years by forcing them to do abortions."

Energy - Where do we get it in the Future?

Here is a current chart of the US Energy Consumption by source. Keep in mind that we are required to import 70% of our Oil from foreign sources.

What happens to our energy if those sources are suddenly unavailable due to natural disasters, war, financial collapse, change in governments, terrorist attack, ect.?

More to come......

Getting to the Truth