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The 1982 book HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, speculates that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a female child. Mary Magdalene and the child fled to southern France after the crucifixion where the descendents of Jesus eventually established the Merovingian Dynasty (447-751) in France and were protected by a secret society called the Priory of Sion. It further asserts that the Roman Catholic Church attempted to eradicate the remnants of the Merovingian Dynasty and their guardians, the Knights Templar, during the Inquisition (1184-1834). In 1998, a book titled THE TEMPLAR REVELATION, by Lynn Pickett and Clive Prince, agrees with the above scenario and claims that the Knights Templar was a secret organization protecting the true account of Christ (married to Mary Magdalene who fled to France with Jesus' child, etc.). It also delves into the Priory of Sion and identifies its succession of Grand Masters, including Victor Hugo, Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci. According to Pickett and Prince, Leonardo Da Vinci was often contracted to do paintings for the Roman Catholic Church but, as the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, was actually a secret foe of the church, thus he included subtle clues in his works to champion his sentiments. For example, in Da Vinci's famous painting of The Last Supper (Jesus and the 12 disciples), the disciple to Jesus' right is clearly a woman, supposedly to signify Mary Magdalene as equal to the other disciples and close to Jesus. The lack of a wine goblet at the table is considered to be a clue that the Holy Grail is not an object at all but rather the holy bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Using these two publications as a source of reference, author Dan Brown wrote a novel (fiction) in 2003 titled THE DA VINCI CODE, which became a bestseller, about a conspiracy by the Catholic Church to suppress the true story of Jesus Christ (the holy bloodline through Mary Magdalene) and Da Vinci's attempt to expose the truth. The novel's hero (professor of religious history) stumbles upon the true story of Jesus after he discovers a dead body in a French museum. He, along with the granddaughter of the head of the Priory of Sion, must escape an assassin from a devout Catholic sect attempting to suppress the truth, the discovery of which would destroy the foundations of Christianity. It's basically a suspense/thriller with a theoretically-historical religious theme. THE DA VINCI CODE was subsequently made into a movie by Columbia Pictures, directed by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks. Needless to say, since it has a religious theme that questions popular beliefs, there was plenty of righteous indignation over this film. By their very nature, religions are divisive. They separate the "true believers" from the "heretics" by demanding a blind faith and loyalty of their particular beliefs, and consider all others to be unenlightened (inferior). Unfortunately, all too often, religions worship the messenger and ignore the message. History is replete with violence in the name of religion. Arabs and Jews have been clashing for centuries. During the Holy Crusades and the Catholic Inquisition, many thousands were tortured and/or killed. In Ireland, it was Catholics against Protestants. In Africa, Muslims attacked Christians. In Tibet, Buddhists were slaughtered. And so on. These days, Islamic extremists are compelled by their religion to murder non-Muslims. Even a cartoon in a Danish newspaper causes bloody riots in various Islamic nations. In certain countries ruled by Islamic law, a Muslim who converts to another religion is subject to the death penalty. There's no end to religious bigotry. Faith is an act of trust in the unknown -- one person's faith is another person's version of self-righteous ignorance. And when a person's faith inspires hatred and leads to bloodshed, it becomes a form of insanity. In the end, all we can do is follow our own spiritual path, respect other points of view and protect ourselves from deranged fanatics. If you resent the premise of THE DA VINCI CODE, you can get angry and attempt to force everyone to adopt your belief system -- or you can embrace the virtue of tolerance and forgiveness. Who knows, it may even be correct. ___________ Quote for the Day -- "The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days." Lao Tzu ___________ Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and the spirit of Red Sonyah. ___________ - -
Somewhere around 500 BC, a brilliant Greek mathematician and philosopher named Pythagoras was walking along a street in Croton when he came upon a man abusing a dog. He demanded a halt to the mistreatment by proclaiming that the dog was the soul of a friend, claiming he was certain of it when he heard the dog's voice. Pythagoras believed in metempsychosis -- the passing of the soul at death into another body, either human, animal or plant. Scholars and philosophers such as Plato, Arthur Schopenhauer Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Jung, Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein, Jorge Luis Borges, Erwin Schrodinger and Sigmund Freud also believed in metempsychosis. This doctrine is prevalent in Eastern religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Druzism, as well as ancient Greek philosophy, Celtic religion, ancient Druids, Wiccans, Theosophy, Spiritism, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Rosicrucians and many other belief systems. The human soul is an advanced stage of the evolutionary process. This individual spirit (human soul) has the capacity to advance beyond the present form of a 3-dimensional creature in a Third Density plane of existence. Higher levels (dimensions) can be reached by the soul through the advancement of individual purity and benevolent intention (a unity consciousness). When an animal (such as a dog) develops a sense of self-awareness it has the potential to advance into human form in a subsequent earthly life. Domestic animals develop a sense of self-identity when exposed to loving, caring human beings. They may overcome their natural instincts to blend in with the human experience around them. Thus, the domestic animal actually advances in a spiritual manner. The most intelligent life-form on Planet Earth is the whale. Dolphins are next. Unlike a human being, a dolphin brain functions at 100 percent. There are human beings on this planet who actually believe that animals have no feelings, no emotions, no intelligence. They chain their dog to a tree and ignore its existence the bulk of the time. China hosted the 2008 Olympic Games. In an effort not to offend civilized human beings arriving in China for the event, 112 designated Olympic restaurants were ordered to remove dog meat from restaurant menus until after the civilized human beings had returned to their civilized countries. The Beijing Catering Trade Association blacklisted the restaurants that failed to cooperate, however they made an exception for dog meat "for medicinal purposes." Dog has been eaten in China for at least 7,000 years. It is sometimes referred to as "fragrant meat" or "mutton of the earth." An estimated 300,000 dogs are killed in China annually and processed for meat. Some of it is exported to Korea. Chinese factory farms import large, docile breeds, particularly St. Bernards, which are then cross-bred with local dogs, and raise them under horrendous conditions, grouped extremely tightly in stacked cages. Rather than simply killing the dog for processing, they slowly torture it to death over a long period of time, claiming the adrenalin rush gives the meat more flavor. A dog is a domestic animal whose main purpose in life is to love and please their human companions. It may also be a potential human being. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog thinks I am. ___________ Quote for the Day -- "No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses." Herman Melville ___________ Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where animals are people too. ___________ - -
Do you have no life and can prove it mathematically?
Are you in the habit of destroying things just to see how they work?
Do you assume people around you yawn because they don't get enough sleep?
Can you translate a foreign language into octal and binary?
Have you ever calculated how much you make per second?
Are the experts at Circuit City unable to answer any of your questions?
Can you explain the Doppler Effect and Plank's Constant to a third grader?
Do you have a pet named Einstein or Galileo or Newton or Pythagoras?
If you answered "yes" to at least 87.5 percent of these questions (7 out of 8), chances are you're an ideal candidate to become an engineer.
Not only do you need to think in math to become an engineer, but there are special requirements if you plan to do it in the South. One of my highly unreliable sources managed to steal a copy of the engineering licensing exam from a southern state. At the risk of being deported back up north, I've revealed some of the questions.
1) A 2-ton dump truck with a full load of horse manure is traveling at 35 mph on a typical Arkansas county dirt road. As it reaches the peak of a high hill the brakes fail and it begins an unimpeded descent down a slope with a 17% grade. Exactly halfway down the slope it reaches 52 mph. How much time will elapse before it reaches the bottom of the grade and what are the odds it will strike a vehicle with a working muffler along the way?
2) A man and a woman own a house on 2.7 acres in the West Virginia hills. They have two mules, seventeen cats and five grown boys: Billy Joe, Billy Bob, Billy Joe Bob, Merle and Earl. Can each of their boys put a mobile home (70 X 14) on the property and still have enough room for their electric appliances to sit out front?
3) There are five dead cars in the front yard of a house in a damp hollow along the lower end of a muddy creek in east Mississippi. There's a southern exposure and a dozen chickens loose in the yard. The '48 Packard, '52 Olds, '53 Chevy, '55 Ford and '58 Pontiac are in a random pattern and on blocks. Which car will rust out first?
4) A moonshiner in north Georgia operates a still at a capacity of 35 gallons of shine per hour. Assuming a daily mean temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit and an average humidity of 64 percent, how many 1962 Chevy Camero radiators are required to condense the product?
5) A front porch, 8 feet wide by 19.6 feet long, is constructed of 2x8 black oak planks on 4x4 hickory struts spaced 12 inches apart across a field rock foundation that rises 3.4 feet above a red clay surface in South Carolina. When the porch collapses, how many hound dogs will be killed?
6) What is the smallest limb diameter of a dogwood tree that will support a 12-pound possum?
7) Two woodcutters in Louisiana harvest 3.6 acres of trees. The plot is 78 percent oak and 22 percent hickory. The density of the trees in the plot is 388 per acre. The average oak diameter is 13.7 inches and the average hickory diameter is 11.1 inches. One woodcutter has a chainsaw that operates at 2,400 RPM and the other chainsaw operates at 2,800 RPM. How many 12-ounce beers will be consumed before the plot is cleared?
8) If every old refrigerator in south-central Alabama vented a charge of R-12 simultaneously, what would be the percentage decrease in the ozone layer?
9) At a variable reduction rate in the gene pool of 6.7 percent per generation, how long will it take for a town in Tennessee of 4,200 people or less to breed a country-western singer.
A person with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
A person with an accounting degree asks, "How much did it cost?"
A person with a liberal arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"
Becoming an engineer isn't easy -- in the South, it takes a special possum-and-grits type mentality to qualify.
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Quote for the Day -- "Scientists dream about doing great things -- engineers do them." James A. Michener
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Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where beavers build better dams than the Army Corps of Engineers.
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I lived in southern California in 1975-1987. One night I watched a local TV report about the remains of giants discovered on Catalina island (just off the coast of L.A.) in the late 19th century. They were 7 to 9 feet tall, with red hair and had a double set of teeth. Their skulls were up to 6 times larger than a normal human skull. In the 1800s, the remains of a similar giant was found on Santa Rosa Island, another coastal island near Santa Barbara. He also had a double row of teeth. It is one of the many items of weirdness that has found a permanent home in my cranial data base.
Surprise, surprise -- these ancient giants are found in many places globally.
In 1833, near San Luis Obispo, California, soldiers were digging a gunpowder pit and discovered the skeleton of a man 12 feet tall, surrounded by stone axes, carves shells and blocks containing numerous unknown symbols. He had a double row of upper and lower teeth.
In 1883, near Mandan, North Dakota, a 100-acre cemetery was discovered filled with bones of a race of giant humans.
In 1888, in St. Paul, Minnesota, seven skeletons were discovered, 7 to 8 feet tall.
In 1891, near Crittenden, Arizona, a 12-foot giant skeleton was unearthed, along with a huge stone coffin which contained a carving indicating the man had six toes.
In 1898, two brothers, H. Flagler Cowden and Charles C. Cowden, were scientists doing an archeological dig in Death Valley. They uncovered the fossilized remains of a human-like female, 7.5 feet tall. Her canine teeth were twice as long as a modern human. They also found remains of prehistoric camels and an elephant-like creature with four tusks.
In 1911, an 8-foot mummy with red hair was discovered in Lovelock Cave, California.
In 1931, near lovelock, Nevada, several huge skeletons were found in the Humboldt lake bed. An 8.5 foot skeleton was wrapped in a gum-covered fabric similar to an Egyptian mummy. Another skeleton was almost 10 feet tall.
In 1932, the Supervisor of the Lincoln National Park in White Sands, New Mexico, found human tracks (which included human instep imprint) in gypsum rock, 22 inches long and 10 inches wide.
In 1947, a retired doctor from Ohio discovered several mummified bodies, 8 to 9 feet tall, in caverns in the desert region south of Death Valley. They were dressed in medium length jackets and trousers extending slightly below the knees. The texture of the material was made from an animal skin unknown today. Also discovered within the cavern complex were household utensils and stoves which apparently cooked by radio waves. According to an Associated Press account of this discovery, the doctor claimed that in one of the caverns "was the ritual hall of the ancient people, together with devices and markings similar to those now used by the Masonic Order."
In 1965, a perfectly preserved skeleton was found under a rock ledge along Holly Creek, Kentucky. It measured 8 feet, 9 inches in length, with long arms, huge hands and the skull was 30 inches in circumference..
This is just a small sampling of giants roaming the earth in ancient times. Numerous Native American legends also speak of these giants and generally considered them hostile enemies. For example, the Sioux Indians told tales to Buffalo Bill Cody about how these ancient giants would run down the buffalo.
Skeletons of giant size, 7 to 10 feet, have also been found in Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Caucasus Mountain region.
The true history of Planet Earth is fascinating, complex and largely unknown. But that's okay because too much knowledge can cause the brain to explode.
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Quote for the Day -- "When the war of the giants is over, the war of the pygmies will begin." Winston Churchill
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Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and the spirit of Red Sonyah.
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March 25, 2012 -- William Todd, age 24, was riding a Greyhound Bus from his home in Kentucky, where he is a wanted fugitive. During a layover in Nashville, Tennessee, he decided to spend some time in the Music City amusing himself.
3:05 AM -- Todd breaks into a business -- he steals a shotgun, a revolver, a Taser and a T-shirt -- he shoots up the place and sets it on fire, burning it to the ground.
3:30 AM -- Todd encounters four people leaving a local bar -- he holds them up at gunpoint -- he Tases one of them, pistol whips another one, steals all their cash and credit cards.
3:40 AM -- Todd carjacks a taxicab at gunpoint -- he heads to Wal Mart where he uses the stolen credit cards to purchase some items.
5:00 AM -- Todd heads downtown -- he spots a law office on Union Street and breaks in -- he ransacks the place, defecates on a desk and smears feces on law degrees hanging on the wall.
6:00 AM -- Todd enters the nearby Hotel Indigo -- he goes door to door, pretending to be a female housekeeper, robbing hotel guests -- he holds a Canadian couple at gunpoint, stealing $600 -- at some point while in the hotel, he shaves his head.
9:00 AM -- Todd crashes his stolen taxicab in a parking garage.
11:00 AM -- Todd hails another taxicab, holding the driver at knifepoint -- he orders the driver to take him to Opry Mills Shopping Mall
11:30 AM -- Todd exits the taxi cab -- police soon arrive -- Todd is found hiding in a water cooling unit, up to his neck in liquid.
Congratulations to you, William Todd -- 11 felonies in 9 hours -- you have achieved a perfect score on an Idiot-O-Meter.
"I've had all that I wanted of a lot of things I've had...
And a lot more than I needed of some things that turned out bad...
I got sidetracked in El Paso, stopped to get a map...
Went the wrong way in Juarez with Juanita on my lap...
Went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene..
Wondering why I'm wanted at some town half way in between...
Wanted Man in Albuquerque, Wanted Man in Syracuse...
Wanted Man in Tallahassee, Wanted Man in Baton Rouge...
There's somebody set to grab me anywhere I might be...
And wherever you might look tonight you might get a glimpse of me...
Wanted Man in California, Wanted Man in Buffalo...
Wanted Man in Kansas City, Wanted Man in Ohio...
Wanted Man in Mississippi, Wanted Man in old Cheyenne...
Wherever you might look tonight you might see this Wanted Man."
(Wanted Man -- lyrics by Bob Dylan)
Looking back on all the stupid things I did in my life, I now feel cleansed.
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Quote for the Day -- "Sometimes I am two people -- Johnny is the nice one -- Cash causes all the trouble -- they fight." Johnny Cash
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Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee, and the ghosts of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
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On March 27, 2012, it was announced that Jane Fonda will play the role of Nancy Reagan, wife of the late President Ronald Reagan, in an upcoming film titled THE BUTLER, a historical drama about the life of Eugene Allen, who worked as a butler in the White House under eight presidents.
Jane Fonda, also known as Hanoi Jane, was a radically outspoken liberal opponent of the Vietnam War, whereas Ronald Reagan was a conservative proponent of defeating the expansion of global communism. Naturally, this has sparked an uproar in certain quarters.
Seven years ago, I wrote a newspaper column about an incident involving Jane Fonda which incited many conservative readers, particular military veterans, who responded to my piece with much anger and venom.
In April 2005, actress Jane Fonda, age 67, was in Kansas City signing copies of her new book titled MY LIFE SO FAR when a 54-year-old Vietnam veteran named Michael Smith approached her and spit tobacco juice in her face.
After being arrested for disorderly conduct, Smith said he considered his actions to be a "debt of honor."
Vietnam was once a colony of France called French Indochina. In 1945, a Communist activist named Ho Chi Minh proclaimed independence from French rule by quoting passages of the American Constitution and began a guerilla warfare movement against the French Provisional Government.
When Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, he sent military aid to the French in order to prevent a communist takeover of the region.
After an eight-year struggle in which a total of 400,000 men on both sides perished, France pulled out of Vietnam in 1954. An agreement, called the Geneva Accord, was reached whereby Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel with Communists to the north and non-Communists to the south.
True to their cause, the Communists in the north soon wanted to reunite the country into a single Communist entity. Concerned with the expansion of Communism, the USA began shipping military supplies and training a South Vietnamese Army.
Eventually, a bloody confrontation erupted.
The subsequent Kennedy and Johnson Administrations sent American troops into Vietnam, greatly escalating the conflict over the next decade.
The Vietnam "conflict" was never declared a "war" by congress. Apparently they didn't want to alarm the American public that there was carnage taking place on the other side of the world and we were smack dab in the middle of it.
It was an abrupt turning point in American history. Our country suddenly became divided by ideology -- war is required to maintain freedom versus war is wrong and unnecessary.
One point of view held that the world was slowly and methodically being taken over by Communism and Vietnam was the place where freedom lovers would make their stand. Communism is the enslavement of humanity. It is an insidious system whereby the people serve the government, rather than the government serving the people, and does not allow any political recourse for change, short of revolution. Those under the rule of a collective society become virtual prisoners of an omnipotent government that dictates roles and results. Those who cherish individual freedom vehemently oppose such oppression.
This is a valid viewpoint -- those who understood the dire consequences of Communism attempted to put a stop to it and Vietnam was the battleground of the day.
The other point of view was that war is wrong, especially this corrupt war. The military-industrial complex loves to build weapons of war and occasionally yearns for a place to utilize them. Vietnam was a nice little country half way around the world -- a good place to start a "limited" conflict. The spook industry (CIA, etc.), where the ends justify the means, spends a great deal of resources covertly manipulating events -- this was certainly true in Vietnam (including assassinating South Vietnamese political leaders who wouldn't follow the USA line).
This is also a valid viewpoint -- those who were appalled by the USA being the self-appointed global police force, deliberately initiating bloody conflicts around the world, wanted to put an end to what they perceived as an unnecessary war, based on unwarranted fear and corporate profits. Plus, American interventionism also generates much negative global reaction toward the USA.
In essence, both sides had a valid point of view and both sides underestimated the consequences.
The Vietnam Conflict affected everyone of that era. I was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966-68 during the Vietnam Conflict and it took another year after I was discharged just to get back to where I was before I was drafted. I had a friend who lost a foot in Vietnam and knew a couple of guys who died over there. We all paid a price.
Yes, there was a valid reason for the conflict.
Yes, there were multiple valid reasons for opposing it.
Jane Fonda was opposed to the Conflict and was extremely outspoken about it, including her infamous trip to North Vietnam in an attempt to bring attention to the adverse consequences of war.
"To be a revolutionary you have to be a human being -- you have to care about people who have no power." Jane Fonda
Opposition to war is obviously a positive attitude. But when the Hitler's and the Communists of this world attempt to overpower you and impose their will upon you, war is a preferable option than allowing yourself to be overrun by tyranny. The price of freedom is the endless struggle against those who wish to take it from you.
Jane Fonda has since apologized for some of her actions but remains steadfast in her opposition to our involvement. Whether you agree with her or not, she is courageous in her convictions. She took a gob of spittle in the face and took it in stride, understanding the motive behind the attack and choosing not to press charges.
Spitting on Jane Fonda only makes whoever spit on her look like a fool. It's an act of cowardice that dishonors everything our country stands for, including the freedom to think for yourself and the freedom to express your views. When you disagree with your government you have an obligation to speak up.
Jane Fonda will forever be haunted by her actions decades ago. She's either hated or admired, depending on your point of view. But even some of those who hate her also respect her for her courage.
As for reprisals, she was married to Ted Turner for 10 years -- that alone should to be punishment enough for her past deeds.
"Ted needs someone to be there 100% of the time. He thinks that's love. It's not love -- it's babysitting." Jane Fonda
There were a few incidences during the 1960s when soldiers returning from Vietnam were spit upon by protestors of our military presence in Vietnam. This is beyond absurd and highly offensive. Our gallant young men and women in the Armed Forces put their lives and limbs on the line under the assumption of preserving freedom. They do not choose who or where or when to fight, they simply do their duty to protect the primary objective of a free society -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Spitting on soldiers is an insult. Their function is to serve and protect the citizens. There is much madness and evil in this world, requiring armed units to defend the principles of freedom.
Spitting on Jane Fonda is an insult. The function of protest is to bring forth alternatives to government actions. Imagine a world without protestors -- a world of sheep, blindly following government dictates while quietly toiling like worker bees. In North Korea and elsewhere, those who protest are confined to labor camps or exterminated. I prefer to live in a world where protest is allowed, regardless of the message or the messenger.
To many, Jane Fonda went beyond proper protest protocol when she went to N. Vietnam and called our leaders "war criminals." You don't have to embrace the message or the messenger -- but you do need to protect the right to non-violent protest.
All war is evil -- but sometimes there is no choice.
However, sometimes war is simply a manufactured exercise to make rich men richer.
This world is not run by governments -- it is run by those who control governments. This includes international bankers who profit from both sides of war, many of which they also have a hand in creating. The ruling elites, who control monetary systems and media, empower political leaders who will do their bidding. They manipulate events behind the scene to satisfy their lust for wealth and power. The more conflict they can generate, the closer they will be to creating a One-World government (under the guise of ending conflicts), with them in control of the entire planet.
And at the very top of the Pyramid of Power is an "unknown, invisible" Force that controls the elites. But that's a topic for another time.
There is courage in war and there is courage in trying to stop it -- voices of protest must be heard.
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Quote for the Day -- "It is forbidden to kill -- therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." Voltaire
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Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where spitting is a competitive sport.
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Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at the University of Leicester in England, has collected data from more than 100 studies around the globe and created a list that ranks 178 countries on the basis of happiness -- the subjective perceived well-being of the populace within each country.
Participants in the various studies, some 80,000 people worldwide, were asked questions relating to satisfaction with life and personal happiness. According to Professor White, "a nation's level of happiness was most closely associated with health levels, followed by wealth, and then provision of education."
Believe it or not, the top 20 happiest nations are:
1) Denmark
2) Switzerland
3) Austria
4) Iceland
5) The Bahamas
6) Finland
7) Sweden
8) Bhutan
9) Brunei
10) Canada
11) Ireland
12) Luxembourg
13) Costa Rica
14) Malta
15) The Netherlands
16) Antigua and Barbuda
17) Malaysia
18) New Zealand
19) Norway
20) The Seychelles
Some of the more prominent nations with large populations and/or significant global influence include:
23) USA
35) Germany
41) England
62) France
82) China
90) Japan
125) India
167) Russia.
And at the bottom of the list:
176) Democratic Republic of the Congo
177) Zimbabwe
178) Burundi.
As expected, the smaller nations tend to be the happier ones -- less people, less problems.
Large countries with a multi-cultural populace have more internal conflict -- it's difficult to accommodate a wide variety of views.
Obviously, freedom wasn't a significant factor in this study. The countries at the top of the list are highly socialistic where taxes are burdensomely high and the government operates a multitude of social services.
In a collectivist society, people become dependent upon government thereby lowering individual initiative, causing economic stagnation. It also diminishes the pride and joy of personal accomplishment.
It's not too surprising that a social psychologist would consider "well-being" factors as the primary elements of happiness. But to many people, individual freedom is far more important than a government handout.
Weather certainly wasn't a major consideration either. Six out of the top seven nations are Nordic countries near the Arctic Circle where the air is cold, the nights are long and everyone drinks vodka just to stay warm.
In 2004, a liberal friend of mine was so upset with the Bush administration he decided to move to Finland because they have all sorts of government benefits. He also indicated he wanted to teach his sons to be self-sufficient.
When I pointed out that Finland had a high incidence of depression and the highest suicide rate in the world, he argued it was genetic. When I mentioned that socialism was the opposite of self-sufficiency, he growled at me. When I told him the search for happiness was one of the main reasons for unhappiness, he told me to eat dirt and die.
I don't think he ever did move to Finland, but don't know for sure. Our friendship ceased when it became apparent he was a blithering idiot. Wherever he landed, I'm certain he feels entitled to the earnings of others -- after all, that's what self-sufficiency is all about.
The USA is far from perfect. But it's big enough, from sea to shining sea, to explore until you find your niche, be it the backwoods of Arkansas, the lakes of Minnesota, the mountains of Colorado, the desert of Arizona, the beaches of Florida, the hills of Tennessee, the expanse of Alaska, the islands of Hawaii, the shores of Carolina, the big sky of Montana, the bayous of Louisiana, the bustle of New York, or the fantasy of California.
You can live a happy life in the USA. There are plenty of lifestyles to choose from; or you could end your pursuit of happiness and just be happy. If you can't find happiness within yourself, you won't find it elsewhere.
Besides, if you were happy every day of your life, you wouldn't be human – you'd be a game show host.
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Quote for the Day -- "Mystical references to society and its programs to help may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats." Thomas Sowell
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Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where happiness is an inside job.
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Vince Foster was born in Hope, Ark., and had been a childhood friend of Bill Clinton. Later, he worked at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock with Hillary Clinton. When Bill Clinton became President of the United States, Foster became White House Deputy Council and overseer of various Clinton legal entanglements. On July 23, 1993, six months after Bill Clinton became President, Vince Foster told his secretary he would be right back and walked out of his office. Foster's sister and her daughter were to arrive from Little Rock later that day, and the three of them were planning to tour the White House. That was the last time Foster was seen alive. Several hours later, Foster was found dead in Fort Mercy Park just outside of Washington D.C. in a Virginia suburb. In spite of countless suspicious circumstances, the death was subsequently ruled a suicide. Those who ruled it a suicide would have you believe that Vince Foster drove to a park he had never been known to visit, parked his car, hiked several hundred yards from the parking lot (without a trace of park dirt on his shoes), sat down on the damp ground (there was dew on the ground at the time of death), put a revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Why not just kill himself in his car or sitting on a park bench or in his own home? Even though Foster supposedly placed the barrel of the gun in his mouth, there was a lack of blood at the scene, no skull fragments and no fingerprints on the gun. Even if he had died instantly, his heart would have remained pumping blood out of the wounded area. There was only a trickle of blood from the mouth and nose but one of the trickles appeared to have flowed upward, suggesting the body had been moved prior to discovery. Gunshot residue was found on Foster's palm, not the back of the hand which would have been consistent with the body positioning. Perhaps it was on the palm because he was trying to repel an attacker. Neither of Foster's hands was on the handgrip when the weapon was fired. The U.S. Park Police had legal jurisdiction of the case. Before they could arrive to seal Vince Foster's office for evidence, Margaret Williams (Hillary Clinton's Chief of Staff) carried several boxes of papers out of Foster's office. Bernard Nussbaum was also seen searching Foster's office. When the Park Police arrived, Nussbaum showed them Foster's briefcase, opening and upending it to demonstrate it was empty. This is the same briefcase where Foster's supposed suicide note turned up, three days later, torn into 28 pieces with one piece missing, completely void of fingerprints and containing no signature. It read as follows: "I made mistakes from ignorance, inexperience and overwork. I did not knowingly violate any law or standard of conduct. No one in The White House, to my knowledge, violated any law or standard of conduct, including any action in the travel office. There was no intent to benefit any individual or specific group. The FBI lied in their report to the AG. The press is covering up the illegal benefits they received from the travel staff. The GOP has lied and misrepresented its knowledge and role and covered up a prior investigation. The Ushers Office plotted to have excessive costs incurred, taking advantage of Kaki and HRC. The public will never believe the innocence of the Clintons and their loyal staff. The WSJ editors lie without consequence. I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport." It doesn't exactly read like a suicide note. And how do you tear a note into 28 pieces without leaving a fingerprint? Furthermore, it was declared to be a forgery by three of the world's leading handwriting experts: Professor Reginald Alton (manuscript authenticator), Ronald Rice (chief handwriting expert for the American Board of Forensic Examiners) and Vincent Scalice (certified handwriting examiner). There are many other disturbing inconsistencies that seem to suggest foul play. For example, Vince Foster was well over 6 feet tall, yet his car seat was in the forward position, suggesting being driven by a much shorter person. Even though Foster's pockets were thoroughly searched by investigators at the scene, the car keys could not be found, yet the keys later turned up at the morgue. The positioning of the body and lack of damage to teeth from the .38 recoil are inconsistent with suicide. And so on and so on. With so much contradictory evidence, one would expect his longtime friend and boss, the President of the United States, to insist upon further investigation. To the contrary, a rather puzzling event took place -- on July 21, the very next day after the "suicide," Bill Clinton retained David Kendall, a prominent criminal attorney. The ghost of Vince Foster does not haunt Fort Mercy Park – it haunts a nation that believes in justice. ___________ Quote for the Day -- "It depends on what the word is is." Bill Clinton ___________ Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and the ghost of Jerry Parks. ___________ - -
In 1970, a U.S. Athena missile was fired from a location in Utah, scheduled to land in the White Sands Missile Base in New Mexico. It went 900 miles off course, without apparent explanation, and crashed in the Sonora Desert in Mexico, over a hundred miles south of the Big Bend area in Texas. A few years later. a Saturn booster rocket used in the Apollo program broke up over the same area. The U.S. military sent a team of engineers to investigate the area, which starts some 25 miles north of the tiny community of Ceballos, Durango. One of the first things the engineers discovered was that it was impossible to transmit radio waves in the impacted area -- walkie-talkies and portable radios would not work, television signals could not be received in the scattered neighboring ranches, microwave or satellite signals failed to penetrate. Even airplanes flying over the region experienced instrument malfunctions. Apparently, some sort of magnetic force stifles radio waves in the region. Thus, it became known as the Zone of Silence -- some 1,500 square miles of uninhabited flat terrain, loaded with thorny desert plants, infested with poisonous snakes and containing bizarre animal mutants. For example, insects and tortoises are known to grow to three times normal size. The tortoises have no tail. Centipedes are a foot long with purple heads. And it is the only region where cactus grows in specific shades of purple and red. In the 1800s, scattered farmers attempted to eke out an existence in this region whereupon they became aware of the "hot" stones that fell nightly from the sky. Apparently, the Zone of Silence is a magnet for meteorites. There is a famed "field of meteorites" area containing millions of meteorites scattered everywhere. In the 1950s, a significant meteorite crashed in the vicinity. According to researchers, it contained material as old as the universe. On February 8, 1969, the largest meteorite ever found on Earth (the size of a Buick) crashed into the Zone of Silence. This meteor is known as the Allende Meteorite. The 1970 U.S. military team of engineers discovered the area to be a hot bed for meteorites. The soil contains significant magnetic ore, possibly due to eons of meteorite bombardment from above. Plus, the mountains that surround the Zone of Silence also have various uranium deposits. The Zone of Silence lies south of the 30th parallel, just north of the Tropic of Cancer -- the same latitude as the Bermuda Triangle and other bizarre planetary anomalies. Ancient ruins have been located in the Zone of Silence but archeologists have been unable to determine the age and exact purpose of these structures, which were possibly utilized as an astronomical observatory. Furthermore, there have been discoveries of six-mile long man-made platforms, a man-made hill in the shape of a pyramid, and carved stone statues of animals. Not surprisingly, the Zone of Silence is also a Mecca for UFO activity. In 1976, a huge rectangular UFO passed over the town of Ceballos, witnessed by virtually everyone in town. The same year, a photograph was taken (by a tourist) of a UFO that had landed on a hill within the Zone of Silence. Travelers through the Zone of Silence have reported seeing strange lights maneuvering at night, floating motionless, changing colors, then taking off at great speed. Other witnesses who have spotted these mysterious lights at night have discovered vegetation the next day that appeared to have been burned by fire. Encounters of mysterious beings have also been reported within the Zone of Silence. The most typical personal encounter has been with Nordic types -- a common UFO entity that is 6 to 7 feet tall, with long blond hair and blue eyes. In UFO terminology, they are often referred to as Pleiadians. Reportedly, two months before the U.S. Athena missile crashed into the Sonora Desert, Wernher von Braun (premier U.S. rocket scientist) made a visit to the Zone of Silence, creating speculation that the missile may have been purposely fired into the Zone of Silence to give U.S. personnel an excuse to enter the Zone for some undisclosed purposes (such as exploration or experimentation). The U.S. military even built a special railroad spur into the Zone to haul away the remains of the rocket, tons of magnetic dirt and perhaps other items. Life is a mystery. You can accept it as is, leading to the bliss of ignorance -- or you can explore it, leading to the next mystery. "Hello darkness my old friend... I've come to talk with you again... Because a vision softly creeping... Left its seeds while I was sleeping... And the vision that was planted in my brain... Still remains... Within the sound of silence." (lyrics by Simon & Garfunkel) If you want to explore a true mystery, spend your next vacation in the Zone of Silence. Leave your cell phone at home, keep an eye out for snakes and be very polite to seven-feet blond Nordics. Welcome to the Twilight Zone. ___________ Quote for the Day -- "It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears." Rod Serling ___________ Bret Burquest is the author of 8 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY, ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS and PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee, within the Zone of Raccoons. ___________ - -
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