What Do You Really Need To Know About Meditation

Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons
by Big Mind Zen Center

Hello, I've been expecting you, please use the RSS feed and get new posts directly to your feedreader :), receiving new tips for psychic development each 2 days.

Read any guidebook or article related to psychic development or any spiritual practice, and you will learn that the basics of basics include meditation - a huge pain in the back for some people, and a great and inspiring practice for others. Unfortunately for many, meditation isn’t as simple as some modern teachers would like you to believe. In reality, we have at least two types of meditation you can practice.

This is perhaps the first and most important information to mention. Meditation is often misunderstood as religious practice – this is not true. Meditation is a-religious, it’s not a religious practice, it’s just a way of putting your mind into specific state. Even something as simple as prayer in Christian religion is a form of “meditation”.

Meditation is a practice, and there are different forms of meditations, different school of thoughts, designed and created in various parts of the planet, by different people in different cultures. The truth is that you don’t have to worship anything, or believe in anything, and you can still benefit from meditation. But what really is meditation? Well, it’s not that simple as you might think.

We can say there are at least two schools of meditation – first one that teaches about entering altered states of consciousness (by some referred to as trance state), and second one, that teaches about expanding your consciousness, yet putting your mind at peace.

First school of thought is often associated with Western occultism and shamanistic background and it’s primary school “ruling” in modern magick and western psychic development systems.Second school is associated with Eastern esoteric spiritual teachings and with spiritual development practices, not psychic abilities development. But this is the school you should be really interested in.

Why that second school is so important? Because it teaches about expanding your consciousness while putting your mind at peace. On the opposite, that first school teaches you about narrowing your focus so you become blind to signals you do not seek. Let’s face the truth – if you make yourself blind to the voice of the Universe, how can you listen to psychic impressions, anyway?

Most Western schools of thoughts tells people that meditation is about entering trance, an altered state of consciousness. In this altered state, you can work with your problems, perform psychic or magical work, or just relax. To be honest, I find playing computer games more relaxing than entering trance states of mind. As I said - trance and altered states of consciousness are making you blind to the world around you. And by world I mean everything that is – physical, mental and emotional impressions.

 You see, real meditation is about “conscious consciousness” - to meditate means to be conscious of every single thought, emotional, mental or physical feeling you might have, while keeping your mind at peace. By meditating with proper techniques, you expand your consciousness, and the more conscious you are, the more attention you pay, the more you can “see” – and consciousness is important element of psychic development – you must be aware of the Universe around you.

By practicing altered states of consciousness and trance states, you’re not only making yourself blind to psychic and spiritual impressions, but you’re also dumping your own consciousness. It’s very easy to ignore your problematic thoughts and emotions, but true development is all about facing your fears, then dealing with them. Good psychic is a psychic that deals with problems, instead of running away from them.

I was practicing different techniques that were putting my mind at altered states of mind for many, many years. But when I discovered Zazen meditation (thanks to my intuition, that pushed me towards this practice), I’ve noticed a great boost in my own development.

In case of trance states, I was always struggling against constant bombardment of thoughts. Fighting with them have no point, as only calm observation can lead to getting rid of your thoughts. Being conscious that the thoughts are out there and that you’re consciously listening to them, puts your subconscious at peace. And then, you can calmly observe and Universe around you.

Once my thoughts were calm, I was able to focus on specific problem, and consciously observe every single thought, emotion or physical sensation that came to me, recognizing these impressions as advices, or problems, as well, but problems which I had to deal with in order to move forward. And that’s the greatest benefit of meditation in my case.

I cannot say “stop your altered states practices” – because there’s nothing wrong with them as long as you’re not thinking about real development on both psychical and spiritual levels. They can be often useful, as well, for example when you need to shut some emotions down to deal with other emotions. But if you’re thinking about real psychic and spiritual growth, then real conscious meditation should be your practice.

Also, you might know the famous phrase “sex, drugs and rock’n'roll” – while sex is good, and rock’n'roll simple rocks, drugs are simple useless and destructive tools often used for entering altered states. Please – if you’re practicing trance states after all, enter them using natural methods and mind techniques. Do not use drugs or any “sacred plants”, it’s not worth it.

Altered states are turning you blind, narrowing your perception – real meditation expands your consciousness and it’s the one you should practice.

So what kind of meditation techniques do I recommend? There are two of these. First one, the basic should be practiced over two months and it’s quite simple. Here it is, step by step:

All you have to do is to sit down and relax, then with closed eyes. Say to yourself “I will now count down from 100 to 0, and when I will reach 0, I will be in proper meditative state.” Start counting down from 100 to 0. And if you will get distracted, start all over again from 100. This will help you develop your self-discipline. When you will reach 0, say to yourself “I’m now in proper meditative state. I will always achieve this state when I will count down to 0?. Notice that you should not mention “from 100 to 0? – because the goal is to count down from 10 to 0 in order to enter this meditative state.After 2 weeks of daily practice, start counting down from 50. Remember to say the programming formula first. Next week, count down from 40, next week from 30 and so on. Remember about programming formula after reaching 0.After few weeks, you will be able to count down from 10 to 0 and you will achieve proper meditative state in which your thoughts are calm and at peace. Each time you will reach 0, remember about your programming formula. In such meditative state, you can consciously observe your thoughts, emotions and feelings.

This is very basic technique, by some it might looks quite similar to different “trance-how-to” techniques, but the difference is the goal – you want to calm down your entire mind while staying conscious and aware of the world around you, and the mind inside you. That’s the basic technique. After few months, you can switch to much more effective, yet much more difficult technique.

The greatest gift of Zen Buddhism to our Western culture in my opinion is the practice of Zazen – a sitting meditation. It’s difficult yet simple technique (trust me, Zen is full of such paradoxes), a practice you should definitely learn. Unfortunately, it’s hard to teach Zazen over the Internet, so you have to find a teacher or Zen school somewhere in your nearest area. But it’s definitely worth it!

And when your mind is at peace at last, and your thoughts are no longer bombarding your consciousness, you can start using meditation. For example by focusing on a problem you might have. First, while in meditative state, define the problem you have, and then just let things flow. Consciously observe every single feeling and thought you have, as the answers will reach you soon. It’s quite useful in case of learning psychic abilities:

If you want to learn some new skill, or you’re having a problem with some psychic ability, you might use meditation to find out the best way to practice that skill of choice, or to identify the problem that is making the skill difficult to learn.Such meditation is also useful if you wish to identify other subconscious problems, that might generate energy body blockages, which can be later dealt with using affirmations.

Meditation and Prayer

Often, through meditation you can also pray. It’s sad that prayer has been reduced to religious practice. In reality, prayer is just another spiritual practice, similar to meditation, but have a specific goal. For example, through prayer you can ask for help and support, or you can show help and support to others. In order to pray in correct way, you need to keep some rules in mind:

Target your prayer – some people pray to God, some people pray to different deities, some people pray to the Source, there are also people who pray to the Force from Star Wars Universe (it’s not weird, really, as the Force have more in common with the Source, Universe and God, than any wicked deity from any wicked religion). Remember to target your prayer – who do you pray to? Personally, I pray to God which I’m also referring to as the Source.Prayer cannot be read line by line - prayers written down in Bible or any other Holy Books are not prayers – these are rhymes, poems and basically useless words. Good prayer is yours only, spoken from your heart, spoken by your soul and mind, not by your vocal chords.Pray using emotions and visualization – when you pray, use visualization and positive emotions. When you pray for good health, be thankful for good health and visualize yourself healthy. When you pray for money, visualize yourself rich and be thankful for money.Pray for positive things - never, ever pray for someone to be hurt. Never pray to cure the illness, because psychic powers are wicked, and they might first made someone ill, in order to cure him or her later. Always pray for positive things, and be thankful for positive things.Always be grateful and say “thanks” - be thankful for things you pray for, like they would be already yours, already here.

What can you pray for? For example for help to deal with a problem. Or for support during business meeting. For guidance related to spiritual growth. You can also pray for benefit of others. Prayer as spiritual practice is important for everyone who wish to develop spiritually. But it can be also useful for businessman, worker, teachers, husband, and psychic wannabe – literally everyone can benefit from good prayer.

Meditation and prayer are tools of the trade. Together, with affirmations, they can speed up your psychic and spiritual development like no other practice. They take time and they require patience, but they provide you with great benefits. Real meditation can be a relaxing experience, and when used along with affirmations and prayers, it can change your life from top to bottom in a matter of few months.

If you like this article, please click Facebook “like” button, retweet the post, or vote for this article in StumbleUpon – thank you! You can find all the buttons below :).

Do you meditate? If so, how? And have you noticed any changes in your life that occurred after you begun your meditation practice? Please share your thoughts in the comments to this article.

Don't forget to follow A State of Mind on Twitter and get new posts via RSS or via email.

Post published: April 1st, 2011

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What Do You Really Need To Know About Meditation

Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons
by Big Mind Zen Center

Hello, I've been expecting you, please use the RSS feed and get new posts directly to your feedreader :), receiving new tips for psychic development each 2 days.

Read any guidebook or article related to psychic development or any spiritual practice, and you will learn that the basics of basics include meditation - a huge pain in the back for some people, and a great and inspiring practice for others. Unfortunately for many, meditation isn’t as simple as some modern teachers would like you to believe. In reality, we have at least two types of meditation you can practice.

This is perhaps the first and most important information to mention. Meditation is often misunderstood as religious practice – this is not true. Meditation is a-religious, it’s not a religious practice, it’s just a way of putting your mind into specific state. Even something as simple as prayer in Christian religion is a form of “meditation”.

Meditation is a practice, and there are different forms of meditations, different school of thoughts, designed and created in various parts of the planet, by different people in different cultures. The truth is that you don’t have to worship anything, or believe in anything, and you can still benefit from meditation. But what really is meditation? Well, it’s not that simple as you might think.

We can say there are at least two schools of meditation – first one that teaches about entering altered states of consciousness (by some referred to as trance state), and second one, that teaches about expanding your consciousness, yet putting your mind at peace.

First school of thought is often associated with Western occultism and shamanistic background and it’s primary school “ruling” in modern magick and western psychic development systems.Second school is associated with Eastern esoteric spiritual teachings and with spiritual development practices, not psychic abilities development. But this is the school you should be really interested in.

Why that second school is so important? Because it teaches about expanding your consciousness while putting your mind at peace. On the opposite, that first school teaches you about narrowing your focus so you become blind to signals you do not seek. Let’s face the truth – if you make yourself blind to the voice of the Universe, how can you listen to psychic impressions, anyway?

Most Western schools of thoughts tells people that meditation is about entering trance, an altered state of consciousness. In this altered state, you can work with your problems, perform psychic or magical work, or just relax. To be honest, I find playing computer games more relaxing than entering trance states of mind. As I said - trance and altered states of consciousness are making you blind to the world around you. And by world I mean everything that is – physical, mental and emotional impressions.

 You see, real meditation is about “conscious consciousness” - to meditate means to be conscious of every single thought, emotional, mental or physical feeling you might have, while keeping your mind at peace. By meditating with proper techniques, you expand your consciousness, and the more conscious you are, the more attention you pay, the more you can “see” – and consciousness is important element of psychic development – you must be aware of the Universe around you.

By practicing altered states of consciousness and trance states, you’re not only making yourself blind to psychic and spiritual impressions, but you’re also dumping your own consciousness. It’s very easy to ignore your problematic thoughts and emotions, but true development is all about facing your fears, then dealing with them. Good psychic is a psychic that deals with problems, instead of running away from them.

I was practicing different techniques that were putting my mind at altered states of mind for many, many years. But when I discovered Zazen meditation (thanks to my intuition, that pushed me towards this practice), I’ve noticed a great boost in my own development.

In case of trance states, I was always struggling against constant bombardment of thoughts. Fighting with them have no point, as only calm observation can lead to getting rid of your thoughts. Being conscious that the thoughts are out there and that you’re consciously listening to them, puts your subconscious at peace. And then, you can calmly observe and Universe around you.

Once my thoughts were calm, I was able to focus on specific problem, and consciously observe every single thought, emotion or physical sensation that came to me, recognizing these impressions as advices, or problems, as well, but problems which I had to deal with in order to move forward. And that’s the greatest benefit of meditation in my case.

I cannot say “stop your altered states practices” – because there’s nothing wrong with them as long as you’re not thinking about real development on both psychical and spiritual levels. They can be often useful, as well, for example when you need to shut some emotions down to deal with other emotions. But if you’re thinking about real psychic and spiritual growth, then real conscious meditation should be your practice.

Also, you might know the famous phrase “sex, drugs and rock’n'roll” – while sex is good, and rock’n'roll simple rocks, drugs are simple useless and destructive tools often used for entering altered states. Please – if you’re practicing trance states after all, enter them using natural methods and mind techniques. Do not use drugs or any “sacred plants”, it’s not worth it.

Altered states are turning you blind, narrowing your perception – real meditation expands your consciousness and it’s the one you should practice.

So what kind of meditation techniques do I recommend? There are two of these. First one, the basic should be practiced over two months and it’s quite simple. Here it is, step by step:

All you have to do is to sit down and relax, then with closed eyes. Say to yourself “I will now count down from 100 to 0, and when I will reach 0, I will be in proper meditative state.” Start counting down from 100 to 0. And if you will get distracted, start all over again from 100. This will help you develop your self-discipline. When you will reach 0, say to yourself “I’m now in proper meditative state. I will always achieve this state when I will count down to 0?. Notice that you should not mention “from 100 to 0? – because the goal is to count down from 10 to 0 in order to enter this meditative state.After 2 weeks of daily practice, start counting down from 50. Remember to say the programming formula first. Next week, count down from 40, next week from 30 and so on. Remember about programming formula after reaching 0.After few weeks, you will be able to count down from 10 to 0 and you will achieve proper meditative state in which your thoughts are calm and at peace. Each time you will reach 0, remember about your programming formula. In such meditative state, you can consciously observe your thoughts, emotions and feelings.

This is very basic technique, by some it might looks quite similar to different “trance-how-to” techniques, but the difference is the goal – you want to calm down your entire mind while staying conscious and aware of the world around you, and the mind inside you. That’s the basic technique. After few months, you can switch to much more effective, yet much more difficult technique.

The greatest gift of Zen Buddhism to our Western culture in my opinion is the practice of Zazen – a sitting meditation. It’s difficult yet simple technique (trust me, Zen is full of such paradoxes), a practice you should definitely learn. Unfortunately, it’s hard to teach Zazen over the Internet, so you have to find a teacher or Zen school somewhere in your nearest area. But it’s definitely worth it!

And when your mind is at peace at last, and your thoughts are no longer bombarding your consciousness, you can start using meditation. For example by focusing on a problem you might have. First, while in meditative state, define the problem you have, and then just let things flow. Consciously observe every single feeling and thought you have, as the answers will reach you soon. It’s quite useful in case of learning psychic abilities:

If you want to learn some new skill, or you’re having a problem with some psychic ability, you might use meditation to find out the best way to practice that skill of choice, or to identify the problem that is making the skill difficult to learn.Such meditation is also useful if you wish to identify other subconscious problems, that might generate energy body blockages, which can be later dealt with using affirmations.

Meditation and Prayer

Often, through meditation you can also pray. It’s sad that prayer has been reduced to religious practice. In reality, prayer is just another spiritual practice, similar to meditation, but have a specific goal. For example, through prayer you can ask for help and support, or you can show help and support to others. In order to pray in correct way, you need to keep some rules in mind:

Target your prayer – some people pray to God, some people pray to different deities, some people pray to the Source, there are also people who pray to the Force from Star Wars Universe (it’s not weird, really, as the Force have more in common with the Source, Universe and God, than any wicked deity from any wicked religion). Remember to target your prayer – who do you pray to? Personally, I pray to God which I’m also referring to as the Source.Prayer cannot be read line by line - prayers written down in Bible or any other Holy Books are not prayers – these are rhymes, poems and basically useless words. Good prayer is yours only, spoken from your heart, spoken by your soul and mind, not by your vocal chords.Pray using emotions and visualization – when you pray, use visualization and positive emotions. When you pray for good health, be thankful for good health and visualize yourself healthy. When you pray for money, visualize yourself rich and be thankful for money.Pray for positive things - never, ever pray for someone to be hurt. Never pray to cure the illness, because psychic powers are wicked, and they might first made someone ill, in order to cure him or her later. Always pray for positive things, and be thankful for positive things.Always be grateful and say “thanks” - be thankful for things you pray for, like they would be already yours, already here.

What can you pray for? For example for help to deal with a problem. Or for support during business meeting. For guidance related to spiritual growth. You can also pray for benefit of others. Prayer as spiritual practice is important for everyone who wish to develop spiritually. But it can be also useful for businessman, worker, teachers, husband, and psychic wannabe – literally everyone can benefit from good prayer.

Meditation and prayer are tools of the trade. Together, with affirmations, they can speed up your psychic and spiritual development like no other practice. They take time and they require patience, but they provide you with great benefits. Real meditation can be a relaxing experience, and when used along with affirmations and prayers, it can change your life from top to bottom in a matter of few months.

If you like this article, please click Facebook “like” button, retweet the post, or vote for this article in StumbleUpon – thank you! You can find all the buttons below :).

Do you meditate? If so, how? And have you noticed any changes in your life that occurred after you begun your meditation practice? Please share your thoughts in the comments to this article.

Don't forget to follow A State of Mind on Twitter and get new posts via RSS or via email.

Post published: April 1st, 2011

Tweet

Please share and promote this post, it's the greatest feedback you can give me!

Please thumb up this post in Stumble UponShare with Pro on LinkedIn Save to delicious, send to a friend etc.

View the original article here

The War in Libya: It's Really About Broccoli

While President Obama didn't touch on it in his speech tonight, the U.S. is really militarily involved in Libya to protect our strategic interests in broccoli.

Specifically, Gaddafi has been threatening to nationalize Libya's broccoli resources for years, as Reuters and the Financial Times have previously documented.

Here is a map of the important U.S. and European broccoli producers in Libya:

Pravda argues:

The Libyan leader proposed the nationalisation of U.S. [broccoli] companies, as well as those of UK, Germany, Spain, Norway, Canada and Italy in 2009.

On January 25, 2009, Muammar Al Gaddafi announced that his country was studying the nationalisation of foreign companies due to lower [produce] prices.

***

As a result of these contract changes, Libya gained 5.4 billion dollars in [vegetable-related] revenues.

Congressman Ed Markey previously said:

Well, we're in Libya because of [broccoli]. And I think [this has] once again highlighted the need for the United States to have a renewable [produce] agenda going forward.

Similarly, former Congresswoman Cythina McKinney writes:

The reason Muammar Qaddafi is a target is because he has been a thorn in the side of anti-revolutionary forces since he took power in Libya, overthrowing the King and nationalizing the [broccoli] industry so that the people could benefit from their [vegetable] resources.

And leading trend forecaster asked "would the United States have invaded Iraq if their major export was[n't] broccoli, or would we be in Libya if they didn't have the sweetest [broccoli] on the planet?":

As I've previously pointed out, Alan Greenspan, John McCain, George W. Bush, a high-level National Security Council officer and others say that the Iraq war was also really about broccoli.

And according to French intelligence officers, the U.S. wanted to run a lettuce pipeline through Afghanistan to transport Central Asian arugula more easily and cheaply. And so the U.S. told the Taliban shortly before 9/11 that they would either get "a carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs", the former if they greenlighted the pipeline, the second if they didn't. See this, this and this.

Politicians are hesitant to discuss such important matters of national security. But once you understand what's at stake, you'll no doubt agree that a third war is a small price to pay to secure America's national vegetative needs.

Your rating: None Average: 4.5 (11 votes)

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The G-7 Forex Intervention Is A Perfect Example Of How Manipulated The Global Currency Market Really Is

What do governments and central banks do when they don't like what is happening in the financial markets?  They directly intervene and they manipulate the financial markets of course.  On Friday, the central banks of the G-7 acted in concert to drive down the value of the surging yen.  So why did they do this?  Well, the fear was that a rising yen would hurt Japanese exports at a time when the economy of Japan needs all of the help that it can get.  So, as central banks have been doing with increasing frequency, they directly intervened in the Forex market in order to bring about the result that they desired.  Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.  The truth is that foreign governments, central banks and large financial institutions are constantly manipulating the Forex, precious metals and stock markets all over the globe.  You see, in today's global economy the "stakes are so high" that the free market cannot be trusted.

The reality of the matter is that none of the financial markets are really "free markets" anymore.  Not that they are completely rigged, but to say that they are very highly manipulated would not be a stretch.

At least this time the manipulation was made public.  Of course it would have been really hard to hide the fact that all G-7 central banks intervened in the Forex on the same day.

The last time there was such a coordinated intervention in the global currency market was back in 2000 when central banks intervened to boost the struggling euro.

But the truth is that individual central banks attempt to manipulate the Forex all the time.

Some of these interventions become public.  In September 2010, a bold 12 billion dollar move by the Bank of Japan to push down the value of the yen made headlines around the globe but had only limited success.

Another example of this from last year was when the Swiss National Bank experienced losses equivalent to about 15 billion dollars trying to stop the rapid rise of the Swiss franc.

Many nations around the world have become extremely sensitive to currency movements.

In particular, there are several Asian nations that are known to be constant currency manipulators.  For example, Singapore is very well known for intervening in the foreign exchange market in order to benefit exporters.

And that is what this most recent intervention on behalf of the yen was all about.  It was about making Japanese exports cheaper.

But who is going to say no to Japan right now?  It is believed that Japan asked the G-7 to do this, and so they did.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told the media the following about this massive intervention in the marketplace by the G-7....

"Given yen moves after the tragic events that hit Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada and the European Central Bank have agreed with Japan to jointly intervene in the currency market."

So isn't the Forex supposed to be a free market?

If you still believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

According to Kathleen Brooks, the research director at a major Forex trading firm, it looks like there is a certain level that global authorities simply will not allow the yen to rise to....

"It looks as though global authorities are willing to pull out all of the stops to defend the 80.00 level in dollar/yen."

The following is the full statement released by the G-7 defending their currency intervention....

Statement of G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

March 18, 2011

We, the G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, discussed the recent dramatic events in Japan and were briefed by our Japanese colleagues on the current situation and the economic and financial response put in place by the authorities.

We express our solidarity with the Japanese people in these difficult times, our readiness to provide any needed cooperation and our confidence in the resilience of the Japanese economy and financial sector.

In response to recent movements in the exchange rate of the yen associated with the tragic events in Japan, and at the request of the Japanese authorities, the authorities of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Central Bank will join with Japan, on March 18, 2011, in concerted intervention in exchange markets. As we have long stated, excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates have adverse implications for economic and financial stability. We will monitor exchange markets closely and will cooperate as appropriate.

But it is not just foreign governments and central banks that manipulate financial markets.

If you want to try to make money on the Forex, you had really better know what you are doing, because most "little fish" get swallowed up and spit out.

A number of years ago I actually invested in the Forex and I rapidly learned that it is not a "clean game".  I discovered that there are industry insiders that openly confess that several of the "big fish" in the industry brazenly "stop hunt" and regularly trade against the positions of their clients.

Not that stock markets around the globe are much better.  It would take thousands of pages just to document the well known cases of stock manipulation and insider trading.

And don't get me started on the precious metals markets.  As I have written about previously, very compelling evidence of manipulation in those markets has been handed to the U.S. government and they have essentially done next to nothing with that evidence.

Not that people don't make money in the financial markets.  Some people make a ton of money.  But those people are experts and they know how to survive in a "dirty game".

If you are an amateur, you really need to think twice before diving too deeply into the financial markets.  If you think that you can jump into the Forex or the U.S. stock market and "get rich quick" you are in for a rude awakening.

The financial markets have become a game that is designed to funnel money to the "sharks" and to the "big boys".  Once you put your money into the game, the odds are that "the house" is going to win.

For those that still do believe that the financial markets are a good way to build wealth, at least be prudent enough to get some sound financial advice.  There is no shame in having a financial professional invest your money for you.

But it is no guarantee of success either.  The truth is that millions of Americans have experienced a lot of pain in the financial markets over the last few years.

As the global economy becomes even more unstable, the manipulation of the financial markets by governments and by central banks is going to become even more dramatic.

As financial markets around the world crash and rise and crash again a whole lot of people are going to be wiped out financially.

You don't have to be one of them.

View the original article here

Just What Japan Really Needs Right Now

The world's favourite feminist pressure group** have been indulging in their particular brand of Ukrainian agitprop again - that is, getting their norks out - this time in support of the Japanese people.

Yes, I know there's not much in evidence in that picture, but some people read this at work doncha know. Plenty here though if you're, ahem, interested and/or have an understanding boss.

Apparently, this is all about solidarity with tsunami victims, and nothing whatsoever to do with ... well, I don't know precisely what they were thinking, to be honest.

FEMEN conducts an action in support of the Japanese people. “Praise those who defeat the dragon!” FEMEN are earnestly inspired by the Japanese people who were able to overcome this disaster. Their strength, their samurai self-control, their heroic actions in time of crisis should serve as examples for all of us. Japan has proved their ability to rise from the ashes before and we believe they will defeat the Dragon before the cherry blossoms bloom.

Huh?

If they had just said they were getting their nips out for the Nips it would have made more sense.

** And I'm a big supporter of feminist causes, as I have mentioned before.

View the original article here

The Stock Market: What’s Really Happening with It

My take on what happens in the financial markets and what you hear from reporters and see in the media are two very different things. I guess you know that or otherwise you would not be reading my column.

The facts are the facts. Since the crisis in Japan hit a week ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 3.2%. But if we look closer, we see that North American stock markets started declining back on February 18, 2011—that’s when the Dow Jones hit a new record high for the bear market rally.

My opinion is that profit-taking (who can blame investors, stocks were up almost 100% since March 2009) was already underway. The earthquake in Japan accelerated the decline in stock prices not because of the damage to the Japanese economy, but for very different reasons:

The stock market has adjusted itself lower in the expectation that Japanese investors will pull funds out of North American stock markets and bond markets, as money is repatriated back to Japan to help pay for rebuilding the country’s devastated regions.

When the Kobe earthquake of 1995 hit, Japanese investors sold $30.0 billion in U.S. securities in the aftermath of that natural disaster. Depending on which news report you believe, the damage in Japan from last Friday’s earthquake is pegged at over $200 billion.

Japan is the second largest holder of U.S. Treasuries, second only to China. Japan holds about $886 billion in U.S. Treasuries (Source: “Rising yen adds to Japan’s woes,” Globe & Mail Mar.17, 2011). If Japan stops buying our debt because their needs have changed, and they start selling U.S. securities to bring money home for rebuilding the country, the ramifications in the U.S. will be higher interest rates.

Add to this the Federal Reserve’s comments earlier this week that they will not expand their $600-billion QE2 bond purchases, and one needs to seriously ask: if Japan will reduce its buying of U.S. Treasuries and the Fed will not continue buying them, who will buy the U.S. Treasuries we so desperately need to sell in order to finance our debt?

In light of the above events, it’s a wonder that the stock market has held up so well over the past week.

Michael’s Personal Notes:

I tried to buy more gold-related investments yesterday like I did on Tuesday, but gold prices started to rise Wednesday and they are continuing to rise this morning. Hence, I’ll sit tight for now. Hopefully we will see some more weakness in the precious metal prices, which I would view as a buying opportunity.

For those readers who follow technical analysis, my charts show good support for gold at $1,340 an ounce, about $60.00 below where it is trading today. I would be a buyer of more gold-related investments on any pullback towards $1,340 an ounce; unfortunately, this may not happen. Over the past 12 months, gold bullion is up $273.00 an ounce.

No bull market goes up in a straight line; no bear market goes down in a straight line. The bull market in gold is no exception. Since 2002-2003, I’ve followed a policy of buying gold-related investments on gold price pullbacks.

Where the Market Stands; Where it’s Headed:

Okay, Michael; what’s it going to take for you say that the bear market rally in stocks is over?

Technically speaking, the low point for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 6,440 on March 9, 2009, when the bear market started. The high point was 12,391 on February 18, 2011. The mid-point between the high and low is 9,415. The bear market rally in stocks would have to break below 9,415 to be officially over. This morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average trades at 11,613.

Whether you call it an overreaction to the Japan crisis or simple profit-taking, the stock market is obviously taking a breather. But until the market proves me otherwise, I see the bear market rally in stocks that started in March 2009 as still in force.

Bear market rallies usually end in the midst of investor euphoria. We haven’t seen that yet.

What He Said:

“Why Google stock will go higher: Most investors in Google, surprisingly, are retail investors. And that’s why the stock can go higher—because only 20% of the stock is owned by institutions. If the institutions jump in and buy Google, the stock will certainly move higher.” Michael Lombardi, PROFIT CONFIDENTIAL, June 2, 2005. Michael recommended Google stock as a buy on June 2, 2005, when the stock was trading at $288.00. On November 5, 2007, when Google reached $700.00 U.S. per share, Michael advised his readers to sell their Google stock and to put the proceeds into gold-related investments. Coincidently, gold bullion was also trading at about $700.00 per ounce in November 2007. Michael’s message was to trade each $700.00 share of Google into $700.00 of gold, because he saw gold as a much better investment.

Michael bought his first stock when he was 17 years old. He quickly saw $2,000 of savings from summer jobs turn into $1,000. Determined not to lose money again on a stock, Michael started researching the market intensely, reading every book he could find on the topic and taking every course he could afford. It didn’t take long for Michael to start making money with stocks, and that led Michael to launch a newsletter on the stock market. Today, Michael only employs the top market analysts and editors. Some of our recommendations have posted gains in excess of 500%! Michael has authored and published over one thousand articles on investment and money management. Along the way to building Lombardi Publishing Corporation, now with over one million customers in 141 countries, Michael became an active investor in real estate, art, precious metals and various businesses. Readers of the daily Profit Confidential e-letter are offered the benefit of the expertise Michael has gained in these sectors. Michael believes in successful stock picking as an important wealth accumulation tool. Married with two children, Michael received his Chartered Financial Planner designation from the Financial Planners Standards Council of Canada and his MBA from the Graduate Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. Follow Michael and the latest from Profit Confidential on Twitter

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Really? You had to ask this question?

Click image for the story. h/t to WUWT reader “Eric”.

I’m always amazed at the lack of historical perspective some people have related to natural disasters. It’s doubly amazing when reporters who work in newspapers, who have huge archive resources at their disposal, don’t even bother to look. Here’s some excerpts from the story:

“There is certainly some literature that talks about the increased occurrence of volcanic eruptions and the removing of load from the crust by deglaciation,” said Martin Sharp, a glaciologist at the University of Alberta. “It changes the stress load in the crust and maybe it opens up routes for lava to come to the surface.

“It is conceivable that there would be some increase in earthquake activity during periods of rapid changes on the Earth’s crust.”

Other scientists, however, believe that tectonic movements similar to the one that caused the Japanese quake are too deep in the Earth to be affected by the pressure releases caused by glacier melt.

…

Some experts claim that jump can be explained by the increased number of seismograph stations — more than 8,000 now, up from 350 in 1931 — allowing scientists to pinpoint earthquakes that would otherwise have been missed.

But this does not explain the recent increase in major earthquakes, which are defined as above 6 on the Richter magnitude scale. Japan’s earthquake was a 9.

Scientists have been tracking these powerful quakes for well over a century and it’s unlikely that they have missed any during at least the last 60 years.

According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey there were 1,085 major earthquakes in the 1980s. This increased in the 1990s by about 50 per cent to 1,492 and to 1,611 from 2000 to 2009. Last year, and up to and including the Japanese quake, there were 247 major earthquakes.

There has been also a noticeable increase in the sort of extreme quakes that hit Japan. In the 1980s, there were four mega-quakes, six in the 1990s and 13 in the last decade. So far this decade we have had two. This increase, however, could be temporary.

======================================================

A couple of faults in the argument, from the NYT, 1879:

As many as 200,000 people died in the 1855 quake.

http://query.nytimes.com/

And again in 1896:

Where was “global warming” then?

h/t to Steve Goddard, who has been doing a lot of historical research here: http://news.google.com/newspapers

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What Wall Street’s Really Worried About—Make No Mistake, It Isn’t You

By Mitchell Clark, B.Comm.

The stock market is definitely in need of a correction/consolidation and the catalyst could be a combination of events: conflict in North Africa; the end of 2010 fourth-quarter earnings season; a generally tired market; and higher oil prices. Even though the stock market has gone up tremendously, investment risk is the same now as it was six months ago—high to very high.

We’ve got geopolitical events to deal with, already high commodity prices, low housing prices, high unemployment, and the sovereign debt issue, which is a simmering risk that could wreak havoc in currency markets. It’s a wonder that stock prices have gone up at all.

Still, business conditions for corporations remain positive and that’s the single most important piece of economic analysis that investors should be focused on. While events around the world do matter, Wall Street has always followed its own ethos, and it’s different from Main Street. That’s why you often see a rising stock market when economic news is weak.

Readers know that I’m long the stock market, although I view the current state of things as a bear market rally. Just owning the S&P 500 is good enough in this regard. If you want to be speculating for capital gains, the single best area for stock pickers remains precious metal stocks. Investing in gold has been and will continue to be a good idea for equity investors and I feel so strongly about this that I’d be a buyer right now, even though many of the best stocks in the sector have already appreciated substantially. I always prefer the buy-low-and-sell-high investment strategy, but as an investor with money to make bets, you have to roll with what the market offers. The best time to have made new gold stock picks was quite a few years ago, obviously.

I’m not worried about higher oil prices affecting domestic economic activity. It would take quite a while for high oil prices to kill this recovering economy and they would have to be well over $100.00 a barrel (WTI) for this to happen. What I am worried about are inflation and interest rates. This story is happening abroad, but not yet at home to the degree that economic activity would suffer. But the probability for a change in the interest rate cycle is increasing and this is what Wall Street is worried about. As long as the Fed says everything is fine (which doesn’t mean it’s right) and there’s no need to make any policy changes, the outlook for stocks is positive. Once the tone from the central bank changes, my view will be shifting significantly.

Mitchell is a Senior Editor at Lombardi Financial specializing in small-cap stocks. He’s the editor of a variety of popular Lombardi Financial newsletters, such as Penny Stock Reporter, Micro-Cap Stocks, and Monster Profits. Mitchell, who has been with Lombardi Financial for thirteen years, won the Jack Madden Prize in economic history and is a long-time student of equity markets. Prior to joining Lombardi, Mitchell was as a stock broker for a large investment bank. While Mitchell is not working he enjoys fly fishing, motorcycling and tending to his hobby farm.

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