Showing posts with label revelations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revelations. Show all posts

Friday, April 4, 2014

Vote-Fraud Activist: NC Revelations Will Lead to Prosecutions

Jay DeLancy, executive director of the Voter Integrity Project of North Carolina, says steps must be taken to crack down on voter fraud after his state said it had identified tens of thousands of possible cases.

“We do have to analyze it carefully, but let’s get it right now. There are about 36,000 people with first name, last name and date of birth all match [those of registered voters in other states], and these aren’t just registered, these are people who registered and voted in November 2012, so these are dual voters,” he told Newsmax TV’s John Bachman and J.D. Hayworth on “America’s Forum” Friday.


“Now the question is, is it a close match? Is it an exact match? Well, of those, about 675 of them actually gave the last four [digits] of their [Social Security numbers] that matched. Now what the left is doing is running around saying, ‘oh the rest of them, their socials didn’t match.’ That’s a lie.”


Story continues below video.



The discovery of the potential matches came after the Republican-controlled state legislature passed a law last year that called for the cross-checking of the state’s 6.5 million voters against a database containing information for 101 million voters in 28 states. The state’s election board must now investigate the roughly 36,000 voters whose first names, last names and dates of birth suggest they voted in two states.


Research has shown that the incidence of people having the same first name, last name and date of birth is far higher than commonly thought, according to MSNBC. 


The probability of people having the same first name, last name, date of birth and last four digits of a Social Security number is drastically lower, but an investigation last year into similar allegations of voter fraud in South Carolina revealed that most such prospective matches were due to clerical errors by poll workers and DMV employees who incorrectly matched names to social security numbers.


While the investigation is being conducted, DeLancy said it is critical the state legislatures around the country pass stringent measures to reduce the likelihood of voter fraud and voter ID theft.


DeLancy said he thinks the investigation will bear out his worst fears.


“There will be a great deal of criminal prosecution on this one for sure,” he said.


Related Stories:


© 2014 Newsmax. All rights reserved.




Newsmax – America



Vote-Fraud Activist: NC Revelations Will Lead to Prosecutions

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Snowden Makes Unscheduled Appearance At TED: “The Biggest Revelations Are Yet To Come”

At The Daily News Source, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us (See this article to learn more about Privacy Policies.). This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by The Daily News Source and how it is used.


Log Files


Like many other Web sites, The Daily News Source makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user"s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.


Cookies and Web Beacons


The Daily News Source does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.


DoubleClick DART Cookie


  • Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on The Daily News Source.

  • Google"s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to The Daily News Source and other sites on the Internet.

  • Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html.

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on The Daily News Source send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.


The Daily News Source has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.


You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. The Daily News Source"s privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.


If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browser"s respective websites.



var addthis_config = "data_track_clickback":false,"data_track_addressbar":false,"data_track_textcopy":false,"ui_atversion":"300";
var addthis_product = "wpp-3.5.9";



Snowden Makes Unscheduled Appearance At TED: “The Biggest Revelations Are Yet To Come”

Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Starfield Revelations


The Starfield Revelations


By Jon Rappoport


February 9, 2014


www.nomorefakenews.com


Barack Obama and his allies have done everything they can to bring more people into the US medical system. Changing that system has never occurred to these politicians.


Like much of America, they accept the cliches and slogans about American medicine. “It’s the best in the world.” “People are being denied treatment.” “We must take care of our citizens.”


How about this far more accurate slogan: “Let’s force more Americans to die in the care of doctors.”


The American healthcare system, like clockwork, causes a mind-boggling number of deaths every year.


On July 26, 2000, the US medical community received a titanic shock, when one of its most respected public-health experts, Dr. Barbara Starfield, revealed her findings on healthcare in America. Starfield was associated with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.


The Starfield study, “Is US health really the best in the world?”, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, came to the following conclusions:


Every year in the US there are:


* 12,000 deaths from unnecessary surgeries;


* 7,000 deaths from medication errors in hospitals;


* 20,000 deaths from other errors in hospitals;


* 80,000 deaths from infections acquired in hospitals;


* 106,000 deaths from FDA-approved correctly prescribed medicines.


The total of medically-caused deaths in the US every year is 225,000. That’s 2.25 MILLION deaths per decade.



The Starfield paper can be downloaded freely (as a .pdf) from here (via http://www.drug-education.info via en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Starfield). The paper is fully cited as Starfield B. Is US health really the best in the world?. JAMA. 2000; 284(4):483-4. Dr. Barbara Starfield’s wiki page is here.



This makes the medical system the third leading cause of death in the US, behind heart disease and cancer.


The Starfield study is the most disturbing revelation about modern healthcare in America ever published in the mainstream.


On the heels of Starfield’s astonishing findings, media reporting was rather perfunctory, and it soon dwindled. No major newspaper or television network mounted an ongoing “Medicalgate” investigation. Neither the US Department of Justice nor federal health agencies undertook prolonged remedial action.


All in all, those parties who could have taken effective steps to correct this situation preferred to ignore it.



On December 6-7, 2009, I interviewed Dr. Starfield by email. Here are excerpts from that interview.


What has been the level and tenor of the response to your findings, since 2000?


The American public appears to have been hoodwinked into believing that more interventions lead to better health, and most people that I meet are completely unaware that the US does not have the ‘best health in the world’.


In the medical research community, have your medically-caused mortality statistics been debated, or have these figures been accepted, albeit with some degree of shame?


The findings have been accepted by those who study them. There has been only one detractor, a former medical school dean, who has received a lot of attention for claiming that the US health system is the best there is and we need more of it. He has a vested interest in medical schools and teaching hospitals (they are his constituency).


Have health agencies of the federal government consulted with you on ways to mitigate the [devastating] effects of the US medical system?


NO.


Since the FDA approves every medical drug given to the American people, and certifies it as safe and effective, how can that agency remain calm about the fact that these medicines are causing 106,000 deaths per year?


Even though there will always be adverse events that cannot be anticipated, the fact is that more and more unsafe drugs are being approved for use. Many people attribute that to the fact that the pharmaceutical industry is (for the past ten years or so) required to pay the FDA for reviews [of its new drugs]—which puts the FDA into an untenable position of working for the industry it is regulating. There is a large literature on this.


Aren’t your 2000 findings a severe indictment of the FDA and its standard practices?


They are an indictment of the US health care industry: insurance companies, specialty and disease-oriented medical academia, the pharmaceutical and device manufacturing industries, all of which contribute heavily to re-election campaigns of members of Congress. The problem is that we do not have a government that is free of influence of vested interests. Alas, [it] is a general problem of our society—which clearly unbalances democracy.


Can you offer an opinion about how the FDA can be so mortally wrong about so many drugs?


Yes, it cannot divest itself from vested interests. (Again, [there is] a large literature about this, mostly unrecognized by the people because the industry-supported media give it no attention.)


Would it be correct to say that, when your JAMA study was published in 2000, it caused a momentary stir and was thereafter ignored by the medical community and by pharmaceutical companies?


Are you sure it was a momentary stir? I still get at least one email a day asking for a reprint—ten years later! The problem is that its message is obscured by those that do not want any change in the US health care system.


Are you aware of any systematic efforts, since your 2000 JAMA study was published, to remedy the main categories of medically caused deaths in the US?


No systematic efforts; however, there have been a lot of studies. Most of them indicate higher rates [of death] than I calculated.


What was your personal reaction when you reached the conclusion that the US medical system was the third leading cause of death in the US?


I had previously done studies on international comparisons and knew that there were serious deficits in the US health care system, most notably in lack of universal coverage and a very poor primary care infrastructure. So I wasn’t surprised.


Did your 2000 JAMA study sail through peer review, or was there some opposition to publishing it?


It was rejected by the first journal that I sent it to, on the grounds that ‘it would not be interesting to readers’!


Do the 106,000 deaths from medical drugs only involve drugs prescribed to patients in hospitals, or does this statistic also cover people prescribed drugs who are not in-patients in hospitals?


I tried to include everything in my estimates. Since the commentary was written, many more dangerous drugs have been added to the marketplace.



The Matrix Revealed



INTERVIEWER COMMENTS:


This interview with Dr. Starfield reveals that, even when an author has unassailable credentials within the medical-research establishment, the findings can result in no changes made to the system.


Many persons and organizations within the medical system contribute to the annual death totals of patients, and media silence and public ignorance are certainly major factors, but the FDA is the assigned gatekeeper, when it comes to the safety of medical drugs.


The buck stops there. If those drugs the FDA is certifying as safe are killing, like clockwork, 106,000 people a year, the Agency must be held accountable. The American people must understand that.


As for the other 119,000 people killed every year as a result of hospital treatment, this horror has to be laid at the doors of those institutions. Further, to the degree that hospitals are regulated and financed by state and federal governments, the relevant health agencies assume culpability.


It is astounding, as well, that the US Department of Justice has failed to weigh in on Starfield’s findings. If 225,000 medically caused deaths per year is not a crime by the Dept. of Justice’s standards, then what is?


To my knowledge, not one person in America has been fired from a job or even censured as result of these medically caused deaths.


Dr. Starfield’s findings have been available for ten years. She has changed the perception of the medical landscape forever. In a half-sane nation, she would be accorded a degree of recognition that would, by comparison, make the considerable list of her awards pale. And significant and swift action would have been taken to punish the perpetrators of these crimes and reform the system from its foundations.


The pharmaceutical giants stand back and carve up the populace into “promising markets.” They seek new disease labels and new profits from more and more toxic drugs. They do whatever they can—legally or illegally—to influence doctors in their prescribing habits. Many studies which show the drugs are dangerous are buried. FDA panels are filled with doctors who have drug-company ties. Legislators are incessantly lobbied and supported with pharma campaign monies.


Nutrition, the cornerstone of good health, is ignored or devalued by most physicians. Meanwhile, the FDA continues to attack nutritional supplements, even though the overall safety record of these nutrients is excellent, whereas, once again, the medical drugs the FDA certifies as safe are killing 106,000 Americans per year.


Physicians are trained to pay exclusive homage to peer-reviewed published drug studies. These doctors unfailingly ignore the fact that, if medical drugs are killing a million Americans per decade, the studies on which those drugs are based must be fraudulent. In other words, the whole literature is suspect, unreliable, and impenetrable.


Jon Rappoport


The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29thDistrict of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com




.



Jon Rappoport’s Blog



The Starfield Revelations

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

​Privacy as last line of defense: Snowden’s revelations changed the world in 2013



Annie Machon is a former intel­li­gence officer for the UK’s MI5, who resigned in 1996 to blow the whistle. She is now a writer, public speaker and a Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.




Published time: December 31, 2013 14:50

Demonstrators hold placards supporting former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden during a protest against government surveillance on October 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. (AFP Photo / Mandel Ngan)


When asked if Edward Snowden deserves to be the Man of the Year, and I have been many times, my answer has to be a categorical, resounding, “Yes.”


Sure, it has been an eventful year and there are a lot of contenders. But the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden stands out for me for three key reasons: his personal and conscious courage, the sheer scale of his disclosures and the continuing, global impact of what he did. Purely because of his actions, we, the world’s citizens, are now able to have a discussion about the nature of our civilization and potentially call a halt to the frightening slide into a global surveillance dystopia.


For the actions of Snowden have indeed laid bare the fact that we are living in a global crisis of civilization. To date it is estimated that we have only seen about 1 percent of the documents he disclosed – the merest hint of the tip of a monstrous iceberg. What further horrors await us in 2014 and beyond?


The personal risk


First of all, there is the personal aspect. Snowden has said that he does not want to be the story, he wants the focus to remain on the information. I respect that, but it is worth reminding ourselves of the scale of sacrifice this young, just 30-year-old man has made. He had a well-paid job with a consulting firm in Hawaii servicing the US National Security Agency, good career prospects and an apparently happy relationship. All this he threw away to alert the world to the secret, illegal and dystopian surveillance system that has stealthily been smothering the world.


But Snowden faced far more than merely throwing away a comfortable professional life. Over the last few years the US government, apparently learning well from its former colonial master the UK about the art of crushing of whistleblowers, has been waging a war against what it now deems the “insider threat” – i.e. persons of conscience who speak out. President Obama has used the Espionage Act (1917) to persecute and prosecute more whistleblowers than all previous presidents in total before him.


This is indeed a “war on whistleblowers.” John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer who refused to participate in the torture program and then exposed it, it is currently languishing in prison; Thomas Drake, an earlier NSA whistleblower, was threatened with 35 years in prison; young Chelsea Manning was maltreated in prison, faced a kangaroo court, and is currently serving a 35-year sentence for the exposure of hideous war crimes against civilians in the Middle East. So the list goes on…


So not only did Edward Snowden turn his back on his career, he knew exactly the sheer scale of the legal risk he was taking when he went public, displaying bravery very much above and beyond the call of duty.


The intelligence apologists in the media have inevitably shouted “narcissism” about his brave step to out himself, rather than just leak the information anonymously. However, these establishment windbags are the real narcissists. Snowden correctly assessed that, had he not put his name to the disclosures, there would have been a witch-hunt targeting his former colleagues and he wanted to protect them. Plus, as he said in his very first public interview, he wanted to explain why he had done what he had done and what the implications were for the world.


The disclosures


The sheer scale and nature of the disclosures so far has been breathtaking, and they just keep coming. They show that a vast, subterranean surveillance state that has crept across the whole world, unknown and unchecked by the very politicians who are supposed to hold it to account. Indeed, not only have we learned that we are all under constant electronic surveillance, but these politicians are targeted too. This is a global secret state running amok and we are all now targets.


Only on Sunday, Der Spiegel reported more egregious examples of how the spies bug us: hardware hacks, computer viruses and even microwave wavelengths attacking both our computers and us. Perhaps tinfoil hats might not be such a bad idea after all….


The implications


Snowden’s disclosures have laid bare the fact that the internet has been thoroughly hacked, subverted and indeed militarized against the people. The basic freedom of privacy, enshrined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, has been destroyed.


Without free media, where we can all read, write, listen and discuss ideas freely and in privacy, we are all living in an Orwellian dystopia, and we are all potentially at risk. These media must be based on technologies that empower individual citizens, not corporations or foreign governments, and certainly not a shadowy and unaccountable secret state.


The central societal function of privacy is to create the space for citizens to resist the violation of their rights by governments and corporations. Privacy is the last line of defense historically against the most potentially dangerous organization that exists: the state.


By risking his life, Edward Snowden has allowed us all to see exactly the scale of the threat now facing us and to allow us the opportunity to resist. Every citizen on the planet owes him a debt of gratitude.


Therefore there is no ‘balance between privacy and security’ and this false dichotomy should not be part of any policy debate.


The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.




RT – Op-Edge



​Privacy as last line of defense: Snowden’s revelations changed the world in 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Most of the UK Media Concertedly Ignore Snowden Revelations, Under Government Pressure






December 30, 2013 by POPEYE  
Filed under Media Fail




(FEDERALJACK)   Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who’s been channeling revelations from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, lashed out at the mainstream media for turning a blind eye to the governments’ violations. He made a key-note speech at a hackers conference in Germany.





Federal Jack



Most of the UK Media Concertedly Ignore Snowden Revelations, Under Government Pressure

Monday, December 16, 2013

Astrology and the Four Horsemen of Revelations

Astrology and the Four Horsemen of Revelations
http://www.wakingtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Flickr-Four-Horsemen-Waiting-For-The-Word-300x157.jpg


Flickr - Four Horsemen - Waiting For The WordJennifer Asad, Contributor
Waking Times


The story of the four horsemen is found in the Revelation of John, which scholars believe was written in 95 AD. They did not carbon date it. It is given this date because the author alludes to a numbers of kings who had come and gone. It was more likely written during the period of the compilation of the bible around 325AD.


There is something very strange and unique about Revelations that needs closer examination.


The ancients imagined the sun as riding through the heavens in a chariot. The Greek sun god Helios rode his chariot across the heavens drawn by four horses, as did the sun god Apollo. It was once common knowledge that the four horses represented the four seasons and this is what they represent in Revelations.


Each season bursts forward in a certain zodiac sign at “cardinal points”. The cardinal points once occurred in Taurus for spring, Leo for summer, Scorpio for fall and Aquarius for winter (one zodiac sign back due to the precession of the equinox). The cardinal points are also the two equinoxes (spring & fall) and two solstices (summer & winter).These cardinal points is the origin of the symbol of the cross.


If the compilers of the bible had understood that what they had in Revelations was really astrology sweetly wrapped in Christian salutation, it probably would never have seen the light of day.


They did not recognize that the author prophesied the churches corruption and downfall. They did not recognize themselves as the Great Whore of Babylon who rides the Beast.


In creating the Roman-Catholic Church, they joined government with religion and created a Church-State. This conglomerate entity is not the US as some have supposed because the US was purposefully founded on separation of church and state to avoid this very prophecy.


The church officials were very picky about what they included in the final compilation of writings that makes up the bible we have today. They rejected many articles, especially those that did not conform to their doctrine. For example, the Book of Enoch (written in Aramaic and Hebrew in 300 BC) was considered blasphemous because it describes the fall of the Watchers; angels who came unto women and fathered the Nephilim (giants). Yet they left 1 Samuel 17:41 where David killed the giant Goliath.


Not knowing how to interpret Revelations, but concluding that the visions must be from a prophet of God, possibly even the disciple John, the compliers stuck it in the back in the 11th hour, much to our delight today.


Being the last book of the bible, Revelations is a beautiful finale of astrotheology and it undeniably unmasks (much like a Rosetta stone) the presence of astrology in our established religion. It starts by the writer identifying himself as John, with the implication that he is the disciple John (a Jew, yet written in Greek?). He gives a Christian salutation then acknowledges the churches, as did the earlier Christian writer, Paul. It then switches into a beautiful astrotheological thesis and ends with another Christian salutation. What we have is a message written in the language of astrology for those who can understand. It also carries a warning for those living in perilous end-times due to the astrological phenomena of the 24,000 year -Great Year- of the precession of the vernal (spring) equinox.


The first indication that we have entered the realm of Astrology is that while Paul wrote to 10 or more churches, the author of Revelations mentions only 7. The numbers 7 and 12 are significant to astrology because there are 7 planets and 12 constellations. Planets are considered the hosts of heaven.


So, let’s look at the beautiful piece of astrotheology that has come to us today, so carefully and unwittingly preserved by the Catholic Church.


Revelation 4:6-8


And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion (Leo) and the second beast like a calf (Taurus) and the third beast had a face as a man (Aquarius) and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle (Scorpio).



Scorpio is the only constellation that has three signs, the scorpion, the eagle and the phoenix, the symbol of transformation and spiritual rebirth. The eagle more likely represents the sign of Aquila, which means “eagle” and is also in that region.


These 4 beasts are the four fixed signs of the Zodiac. At these points the season is fixed. Spring is fixed in Taurus. Summer is fixed in Leo. Fall is fixed in Scorpio and winter is fixed in Aquarius. Seasons occurs in three phases. Each season has a startup phase called cardinal, its middle is called fixed, and its decline is called mutable. This cycling has been compared to an airplane. A lot of energy is required for a plane to take off (cardinal,) the plane coasts along (fixed,) and then the plane declines (mutable). Ancients used the analogy of horses.


After we are introduced to this strange creature, the Lamb appears and opens a seal. The Lamb is the zodiac sign of Aries; which for many ancients actually began the new year. Then, each of these four beasts announces one of the four horsemen in turn.


The horses represent each of the four cardinal months or start of the seasons. The riders represents the four fixed months of the season. Together they are the four horse-men.


The four beasts also represent the four Ages of man called Veda Yugas that are equivalent to the Golden age, Silver age, Bronze age, and Iron age. The Satya Yuga is man’s Golden age. Tetra Yuga the Silver age. Dvapar Yuga the Bronze age and Kali Yuga the Dark age.


Due to cosmic influences, based upon our location in the universe as our sun drags us though the cosmos upon its elliptical path, man suffers long periods of intellectual and spiritual deficiency during the Dark ages, where his capacity for comprehension slowly diminishes. Yet, at other times based upon location and beneficial energy, during the Golden ages man’s intellectual and spiritual capacity increases. Some believe that we are leaving the dark ages and that entering Aquarius turns us back towards a Golden age. I don’t agree with this. It is my contention that we are moving below the galactic plane, not above it. Aquarius is a winter month and is ruled by Saturn; a malevolent planet of fear and control. We are already seeing the effects of Saturn with the militarization of our police force and the hammering on our head of the word terror.


Rev, 6:1


And I saw when the Lamb (Aries) opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. 



The first horseman sounds almost regal. He is unique in that he represents both the season of spring and a savior-hero, hence the white horse and crown. The word Herod, as in King Herod, translates as “Hero’s song”. The hero’s song is the story of triumph and struggles as our hero (the sun) transverses the wheel of the zodiac.


The first horseman rides a white horse, always associated with the good guy. He wears a crown and carries a bow. He rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. The word crown is from the Latin root word corona. A crown originally meant to represent the golden rays of the sun and associated the ruler with the power of the sun and authority to rule. The rider wears the crown because the sun is ‘exalted’ in Aries and in this house he is called the “conquering sun”. He arose from the dead, the dead of winter, to save us. He is after all, the light of the world.


The first horse is cardinal spring in Aries, and the rider is fixed spring in Taurus. Our hero, the sun, has conquered the dark and cold of winter with its warmth and life giving energy in spring. The world is renewed.


The rider has borrowed the bow from Sagittarius the centaur, a half horse, half man creature. In the constellations, Sagittarius follows after Scorpio. The centaur has turned around and points his arrow at a star called Antares, which is at the “heart” of the scorpion that gives the sun the “kiss of death”. A scorpion’s sting is in the shape of a pair of lips. This is where Judas (Scorpio) betrays Jesus, the sun, with a kiss before he goes to his death during the winter solstice in Capricorn (the goat). The bow symbolizes that he plans to conquer death. He will be resurrected.


The artist painted the rider with feet of clay. The reference of clay feet comes from the book of Daniel. The king had a dream which Daniel interpreted. The dream was of a statue that represented the four Ages of man; the Golden age, the Silver age, the Bronze age, the Iron or Dark age.


Daniel 2:32


The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.



The rider in the painting presented here wears a golden crown, a suit of silver and bronze, with feet of clay. The artist again alludes to the four horsemen being in reference to the Ages of man, in case you missed it.


Rev 6:3


And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 6:4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. 



The second horseman rides the face of the earth on a fiery red horse carrying a sword to take peace from the earth. The Greek word that was used for red is “purros” or “pyros,” meaning the color of fire. The normal Greek word for red is “eruthros” so the word chosen (purros) is a more specialized term to suggest fiery flickering of reds, oranges, and yellows of a flame.


The second horse is the cardinal summer in Cancer, and the rider is the fixed summer in Leo. The fiery color of the horse represents the heat of summer where emotions run high and if unbridled leads to war and strife (the sword) and takes peace from the earth.


The summer solstice occurs in Cancer June 21st when the sun is straight overhead during the longest day of the year. But the sun still rules the sign of Leo and always will. For our ancestors, the heat of the sun in summer became like a devouring lion. The lion may be courageous and brave and the king of the jungle, and all, but this sign’s negative aspects are the heat of passions and emotions. All signs have positive and negative aspects.


Rev 6:5


And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; see thou hurt not the oil and the wine”. 



The third horse is cardinal fall in Libra, and the rider is fixed fall in Scorpio. While Aries represents 6am and daylight (white horse) on the zodiac clock, Libra represent after 6pm and night (black horse). The scales represent Libra and the sun’s fall below the equator as it heads towards its death at the winter solstice.


Scales represent the fall equinox where there is equal length of day and night. There are 6 months above the equator and 6 months below. One pan of the scales represents the 6 months above (positive & life affirming) and the other pan represent the 6 months below (negative & life effacing). In this painting there is really only one scale; a serious lacking, a famine, which this horseman is said to represent. This horseman is told to measure the wheat and barley and hurt not the oil and wine; meaning be very judicious with your food storage. If ancients had not reserved enough food by this time of the year, they could easily starve to death in the winter months ahead. 


Next comes the forth horsemen of Death followed closely behind by Hades. The word Hades has mistakenly become synonymous with the relatively new concept of a Christian fiery hell. The Greek word Hades means the cold, dark underworld; a shadowy, gloomy Netherworld cut off from God. Hades is the lower, outer regions of heaven where Saturn is.


Rev 6:7


And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword (second horseman), and with hunger (third horseman), and with death (fourth horseman), and with the beasts of the field.



The fourth horse is the cardinal winter in Capricorn, and the rider is the fixed winter in Aquarius. The sun hypothetically dies on the cross every year during the winter solstice December 21st. The sun rises from the dead on December 24th.  The sun is born at the spring equinox March 21.


The fourth horseman of Death kills with all the negative aspects of three of the preceding horsemen. He kills with the sword given to the second horseman representing Leo with his unrestrained passions and emotions. He destroys with hunger, which represents Libra, the third horseman. And he destroys with the beasts of the field. He does not kill with the more positive (spring) first horseman on the white horse.


The constellations have been called the beasts of the field, save for Aquarius the Divine man. The word zoo and zodiac comes from the Latin Zodiacus, or Greek Zoidiakos, and means little animals. This is to say that not only is man destroyed by the negative aspects of Leo with uncontrolled passions, and with Libra whose scales tip us below the equator in a type of spiritual deficiency, but man is destroyed by all the beasts of the field, by all the negative aspects of each of the zodiac signs.


The next image helps explain the cardinal and fixed signs of spring, summer, fall, and winter that represents the horse and rider of Revelations. To help visualize the description, the face of a bull, lion, eagle, and man has been placed on the rider.


4 horse 1


Notice that the forth horseman (Age of Aquarius), where originally occurred the winter solstice, is below the galactic plane in a region considered the underworld. This is hades where Saturn fell or was “cast down” and where this planet rules. The sun “dies” in this region during the longest night of the year. Remember, with Ages we move counterclockwise through the zodiac. In other words, the Age of Pisces, which we are leaving as we move though the galactic plane, is followed by the Age of Aquarius, and the Age of Aquarius is followed by the Age of Capricorn.


In the painting, the first horsemen is actually turned back to shoot his arrow at the heart (star Antares) of the rider of the black horse (Scorpio) across the way. The scorpion plans to betray the sun with a kiss. During the winter solstice (marking the longest night of the year) the sun does not appear to move in the heavens for 3 days. The ancients took this to mean that the sun had died. Then, the sun begins to move across the horizon again and the days begin to get longer. Our hero has conquered death.


Each of the 4 beasts has 4 faces upon their body. Each body represents a Great Year (approx. 24,000 years). The 4 faces represent the 4 Ages within that Great Year, which are the 4 fixed signs of the zodiac (“without turning”). They are called “fixed” because these signs do not appear to move. The idea of four prior world creations agrees with other ancient peoples who say that the world has been destroyed and recreated many times. The Aztec and Navajo say we are in the fifth world and it could be true for them. The Maya agrees with Revelations in that we are in the fourth world and headed for the fifth. As you know, in Revelations this world is destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth appear in the heavens; all astrological.


The scroll in Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelations is Revelations itself!


The theme of Revelations is a carry-through of the visions and prophesies of Ezekiel and Daniel. They share a common thread of the four beasts and each was given a prophetic scroll. Ezekiel was told to eat the scroll, which was sweet as honey in his mouth, and to go prophesy to the house of Israel. Daniel was told to seal up his scroll till the time of the end when knowledge would be increased and people ran to and fro.


In Revelations 10:10 the writer is instructed to take a “little book” and eat it. It is sweet as honey in his mouth but turns bitter in the stomach. But it is Revelations 22:10 that demonstrates that this is indeed the same scroll of Ezekiel and Daniel; “Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near”.


Ezekiel 2:9 Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.


Ezekiel 3:1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. 4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.


Daniel 12:4 But thou, o Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book (scroll,) even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel 12:9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.


Revelations 10:10 I (John) took the little book from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again before many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” 22:10 “Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near”.



Ages move counterclockwise though the zodiac.


The following scripture shows the similarity of Ezekiel’s vision and that of Revelations.


Ezekiel 1:5 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the form of men, 6: but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7: … they went every one straight forward, without turning as they went. 10: As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man in front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle at the back.


In the painting provided, the first horseman stomps a king, a bishop, and a Jewish scribe underfoot as buildings representing great societies fall in ruin around them.


Collapse of governments, the fall of the Catholic Church and weather related catastrophes are depicted in Revelations as signs of the end times. Geological records show that periodic global destruction has come upon the earth. These happen at galactic crossings.


It is certain that the writer of Revelations, versed in ancient astrology, knew exactly what events would portend the end of the Age (of Pisces). The writer would have known about the 24,000 year, Great Year that marches out the rise and fall of man from the dark ages to the golden ages and back again. He knew that the destruction of the world was cyclic and just like it had happened before it was destined to happen again.


Revelations is a time capsule of astrotheology that has survived under the most extraordinary circumstances. Whoever wrote and successfully orchestrated its inclusion into the holy bible was absolutely brilliant.


What about the zombies!!! 


4 horse 2


I was as surprised as anyone to see that an artist painting in the 1880s would add what we today are calling zombies. A crazed man gnaws on the arm of another man, literally eating him. So what does scripture say about the “walking dead”? As we all know, there is a fad today about Zombies. It makes you wonder just how this movement got started.


Revelation 20:13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.


Ephesians 5:14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”


Daniel 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.


Isaiah 26:19Your dead will live. Their corpses will rise. Those who lie dead in the dust will wake up and shout for joy, because your dew is refreshing dew, and the earth will revive the spirits of the dead.


John 5:28 Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice


John 5:29 and come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.


Obviously, more research needs to be done regarding the biblical subject of the dead rising. But suffice it to say that many people who are spiritually dead walk among us already. These people are scary because they are capable of doing anything and they are the ones to worry about during trying times. They, the Zombies, the walking dead, are the ones who will rape, pillage, and plunder. They will riot, murder, and loot. The spiritually dead are pretty scary folks. Even our government and military are preparing for what they openly call, the Zombie Apocalypse. These military exercises are to prepare for coming civil unrest, with citizens viewed as the Zombies.


Sometimes the writings sound like they are talking about a great spiritual awakening where those who were spiritually dead awaken and walk among “them,” with the word “them” being the spiritually dead.


You might have looked around at society today and felt that a lot of people are indeed spiritually dead so the idea of them awakening to some form of enlightenment would be a good thing.


But, maybe there is something more to the idea of the dead actually rising that we don’t understand. It could even be those that have destroyed their brain with drugs yet still live, for example the meth epidemic sweeping across America.


Helios relief sculpture from the Britannica Online for Kids .For more on the Great Year see article Tarot Wheel of Fortune and Astrology http://www.scribd.com/doc/130103168/Tarot-Wheel-of-Fortune-and-Astrology


Helios, the Greek god of the Sun, rides his chariot drawn by four horses in a relief sculpture from the ancient city of Troy. Helios was believed to ride his chariot from east to west each day accounting for the path of the sun. Notice the 4 horses representing the seasons. The rays behind his head represent the sun.

~~ Help Waking Times to raise the vibration by sharing this article with the buttons below…


Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,


Category: Contributors, Culture, History, Literature, Religion, Society




Waking Times




Read more about Astrology and the Four Horsemen of Revelations and other interesting subjects concerning Health and Lifestyle at TheDailyNewsReport.com

Monday, July 22, 2013

NSA revelations reframe digital life for some







In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott looks up at a visual he uses while hosting a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott looks up at a visual he uses while hosting a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott speaks at a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott, left, helps a computer user who did not want to be identified during a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, Kyle Maxwell, center, left, talks with Michelle Klinger, right, during a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, Kyle Maxwell, center, talks shares a laugh with others during a monthly Cryptoparty in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)













Buy AP Photo Reprints







In Louisiana, the wife of a former soldier is scaling back on Facebook posts and considering unfriending old acquaintances, worried an innocuous joke or long-lost associate might one day land her in a government probe. In California, a college student encrypts chats and emails, saying he’s not planning anything sinister but shouldn’t have to sweat snoopers. And in Canada, a lawyer is rethinking the data products he uses to ensure his clients’ privacy.


As the attorney, Chris Bushong, put it: “Who wants to feel like they’re being watched?”


News of the U.S. government’s secret surveillance programs that targeted phone records but also information transmitted on the Internet has done more than spark a debate about privacy. Some are reviewing and changing their online habits as they reconsider some basic questions about today’s interconnected world. Among them: How much should I share and how should I share it?


Some say they want to take preventative measures in case such programs are expanded. Others are looking to send a message — not just to the U.S. government but to the Internet companies that collect so much personal information.


“We all think that nobody’s interested in us, we’re all simple folk,” said Doan Moran of Alexandria, La. “But you start looking at the numbers and the phone records … it makes you really hesitate.”


Last month former government contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing that the National Security Agency, as part of its anti-terrorism efforts, had collected the phone records of millions of Americans. A second NSA program called PRISM forces major Internet firms to turn over the detailed contents of communications such as emails, video chats, pictures and more.


Moran’s husband, an ex-Army man, already was guarded about using social media. Now she is looking through her Facebook “friends” to consider whom to delete, because she can’t know what someone in her network might do in the future. Moran said she’s uneasy because she feels unclear about what the NSA is keeping and how deep the agency’s interests might go.


In Toronto, attorney Bushong let a free trial of Google’s business applications expire after learning about PRISM, under which the NSA seized data from Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and AOL. Bushong is moving to San Diego in August to launch a tax planning firm and said he wants to be able to promise confidentiality and respond sufficiently should clients question his firm’s data security. He switched to a Canadian Internet service provider for email and is considering installing his own document servers.


“I’d like to be able to say that I’ve taken all reasonable steps to ensure that they’re not giving up any freedoms unnecessarily,” he said.


Across the Internet, computer users are talking about changes small and large — from strengthening passwords and considering encryption to ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif.


Information technology professional Josh Scott hosts a monthly Cryptoparty in Dallas to show people how to operate online more privately.


“You have to decide how extreme you want to be,” Scott said.


Christopher Shoup, a college student from Victorville, Calif., has been encouraging friends to converse on Cryptocat, a private messaging program that promises users they can chat “without revealing messages to a third party.” Shoup isn’t worried that his own behavior could draw scrutiny, but said the mere idea that the government could retrieve his personal communications “bothers me as an American.”


“I don’t think I should have to worry,” he said.


Cryptocat said it nearly doubled its number of users in two days after Snowden revealed himself as the source of leaks about the NSA’s programs. Two search engine companies billed as alternatives to Google, Bing and Yahoo are also reporting significant surges in use.


DuckDuckGo and Ixquick both promise they don’t collect data from users or filter results based on previous history. DuckDuckGo went from 1.8 million searches per day to more than 3 million per day the week after the NSA revelations came to light. Ixquick and sister site Startpage have gone from 2.8 million searches per day to more than 4 million.


Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of DuckDuckGo, said the NSA programs reminded people to consider privacy but that government snooping may the least of an everyday computer user’s concerns. DuckDuckGo’s website warns of the pitfalls of Internet search engines, including third-party advertisements built around a user’s searches or the potential for a hacker or rogue employee to gain access to personal information.


Potential harm is “becoming more tangible over time,” said Weinberg, who is posting fewer family photos, dropping a popular cloud service that stores files and checking his settings on devices at home to ensure they are as private as possible.


At Ixquick, more than 45,000 people have asked to be beta testers for a new email service featuring accounts that not even the company can get into without user codes, spokeswoman Katherine Albrecht said. The company will levy a small charge for the accounts, betting that people are willing to pay for privacy. As computer users grow more savvy, they better understand that Internet companies build their businesses around data collection, Albrecht said.


“These companies are not search engines,” she said. “They are brilliant market research companies. … And you are the product.”


Representatives for Google, Yahoo and PalTalk, companies named in a classified PowerPoint presentation leaked by Snowden, declined comment. Microsoft, Apple and AOL officials did not return messages. Previously, the companies issued statements emphasizing that they aren’t voluntarily handing over user data to the government. They also rejected newspaper reports indicating that PRISM had opened a door for the agency to tap directly into companies’ data centers whenever the government pleases.


“Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a blog post.


It’s not clear whether big Internet companies have seen changes in how their products are used. An analysis released this month by comScore Inc. said Google sites accounted for two-thirds of Internet searches in June — about 427 million queries per day.


In Tokyo, American expat Peng Zhong responded to the spying news by swapping everything from his default search engine and web browser to his computer’s operating system. Zhong, an interface designer, then built a website to help others switch, too. Called prism-break.org, the site got more than 200,000 hits in less than a week after Zhong announced it on social networks.


Since then, Zhong said he’s seen numerous people talking online about their own experiences in changing their computing habits.


“It’s a start,” he said.


___


Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia


Associated Press




U.S. Headlines



NSA revelations reframe digital life for some

NSA revelations reframe digital life for some







In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott looks up at a visual he uses while hosting a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott looks up at a visual he uses while hosting a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott speaks at a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, information technology professional Josh Scott, left, helps a computer user who did not want to be identified during a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, Kyle Maxwell, center, left, talks with Michelle Klinger, right, during a monthly “Cryptoparty” in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)





In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo, Kyle Maxwell, center, talks shares a laugh with others during a monthly Cryptoparty in Dallas. Across the Internet, users are talking about changes small and large, from using more encryption and stronger passwords to much more extreme measures such as ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/LM Otero)













Buy AP Photo Reprints







In Louisiana, the wife of a former soldier is scaling back on Facebook posts and considering unfriending old acquaintances, worried an innocuous joke or long-lost associate might one day land her in a government probe. In California, a college student encrypts chats and emails, saying he’s not planning anything sinister but shouldn’t have to sweat snoopers. And in Canada, a lawyer is rethinking the data products he uses to ensure his clients’ privacy.


As the attorney, Chris Bushong, put it: “Who wants to feel like they’re being watched?”


News of the U.S. government’s secret surveillance programs that targeted phone records but also information transmitted on the Internet has done more than spark a debate about privacy. Some are reviewing and changing their online habits as they reconsider some basic questions about today’s interconnected world. Among them: How much should I share and how should I share it?


Some say they want to take preventative measures in case such programs are expanded. Others are looking to send a message — not just to the U.S. government but to the Internet companies that collect so much personal information.


“We all think that nobody’s interested in us, we’re all simple folk,” said Doan Moran of Alexandria, La. “But you start looking at the numbers and the phone records … it makes you really hesitate.”


Last month former government contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing that the National Security Agency, as part of its anti-terrorism efforts, had collected the phone records of millions of Americans. A second NSA program called PRISM forces major Internet firms to turn over the detailed contents of communications such as emails, video chats, pictures and more.


Moran’s husband, an ex-Army man, already was guarded about using social media. Now she is looking through her Facebook “friends” to consider whom to delete, because she can’t know what someone in her network might do in the future. Moran said she’s uneasy because she feels unclear about what the NSA is keeping and how deep the agency’s interests might go.


In Toronto, attorney Bushong let a free trial of Google’s business applications expire after learning about PRISM, under which the NSA seized data from Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and AOL. Bushong is moving to San Diego in August to launch a tax planning firm and said he wants to be able to promise confidentiality and respond sufficiently should clients question his firm’s data security. He switched to a Canadian Internet service provider for email and is considering installing his own document servers.


“I’d like to be able to say that I’ve taken all reasonable steps to ensure that they’re not giving up any freedoms unnecessarily,” he said.


Across the Internet, computer users are talking about changes small and large — from strengthening passwords and considering encryption to ditching cellphones and using cash over credit cards. The conversations play out daily on Reddit, Twitter and other networks, and have spread to offline life with so-called “Cryptoparty” gatherings in cities including Dallas, Atlanta and Oakland, Calif.


Information technology professional Josh Scott hosts a monthly Cryptoparty in Dallas to show people how to operate online more privately.


“You have to decide how extreme you want to be,” Scott said.


Christopher Shoup, a college student from Victorville, Calif., has been encouraging friends to converse on Cryptocat, a private messaging program that promises users they can chat “without revealing messages to a third party.” Shoup isn’t worried that his own behavior could draw scrutiny, but said the mere idea that the government could retrieve his personal communications “bothers me as an American.”


“I don’t think I should have to worry,” he said.


Cryptocat said it nearly doubled its number of users in two days after Snowden revealed himself as the source of leaks about the NSA’s programs. Two search engine companies billed as alternatives to Google, Bing and Yahoo are also reporting significant surges in use.


DuckDuckGo and Ixquick both promise they don’t collect data from users or filter results based on previous history. DuckDuckGo went from 1.8 million searches per day to more than 3 million per day the week after the NSA revelations came to light. Ixquick and sister site Startpage have gone from 2.8 million searches per day to more than 4 million.


Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of DuckDuckGo, said the NSA programs reminded people to consider privacy but that government snooping may the least of an everyday computer user’s concerns. DuckDuckGo’s website warns of the pitfalls of Internet search engines, including third-party advertisements built around a user’s searches or the potential for a hacker or rogue employee to gain access to personal information.


Potential harm is “becoming more tangible over time,” said Weinberg, who is posting fewer family photos, dropping a popular cloud service that stores files and checking his settings on devices at home to ensure they are as private as possible.


At Ixquick, more than 45,000 people have asked to be beta testers for a new email service featuring accounts that not even the company can get into without user codes, spokeswoman Katherine Albrecht said. The company will levy a small charge for the accounts, betting that people are willing to pay for privacy. As computer users grow more savvy, they better understand that Internet companies build their businesses around data collection, Albrecht said.


“These companies are not search engines,” she said. “They are brilliant market research companies. … And you are the product.”


Representatives for Google, Yahoo and PalTalk, companies named in a classified PowerPoint presentation leaked by Snowden, declined comment. Microsoft, Apple and AOL officials did not return messages. Previously, the companies issued statements emphasizing that they aren’t voluntarily handing over user data to the government. They also rejected newspaper reports indicating that PRISM had opened a door for the agency to tap directly into companies’ data centers whenever the government pleases.


“Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a blog post.


It’s not clear whether big Internet companies have seen changes in how their products are used. An analysis released this month by comScore Inc. said Google sites accounted for two-thirds of Internet searches in June — about 427 million queries per day.


In Tokyo, American expat Peng Zhong responded to the spying news by swapping everything from his default search engine and web browser to his computer’s operating system. Zhong, an interface designer, then built a website to help others switch, too. Called prism-break.org, the site got more than 200,000 hits in less than a week after Zhong announced it on social networks.


Since then, Zhong said he’s seen numerous people talking online about their own experiences in changing their computing habits.


“It’s a start,” he said.


___


Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia


Associated Press




Business Headlines



NSA revelations reframe digital life for some