2012 Hype?

USA Today recently published an article about the recent flurry of speculation surrounding December 21, 2012, which is the date the Mayan “Long Count” calendar is set to end. Many people believe it will be the ‘end of the world’, while others scoff at this notion. Some say it’s just the end of a cycle; others predict a change of consciousness, and see it as a positive change. Still others expect catastrophe. What’s interesting, notes USA Today, is that “Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars. On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that ‘whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time,’ Joseph writes.” (Note the 11:11…) There are so many books and TV specials being created around 2012 one can hardly keep track. Even Hollywood is getting into the action; director Michael Bay is planning a film called "2012: The War for Souls", based on Whitley Strieber’s book.

One of the chapters my book discusses the strange reoccurrence of a ‘destruction by fire’ in many belief systems – it’s mentioned in more than a dozen books of the Bible, as well as in the Koran, the Zand i Vohuman Yasht (Zoroastrian scripture), The Final Signs of Qiyaamah, the Norse Ragnarok, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Ipuwer Papyrus, and by other Native American and medieval prophets. An asteroid? Polar shift? The return of the 10^th planet, Nibiru? Misuse of HAARP? Or maybe the eruption of a super volcano, or a massive solar flare? Could it have something to do with this coming alignment? It should be noted that other prophets set the date for the ‘apocalypse’ around 2018 or 2019. Still others, such as Nostradamus, give us a few more thousand years.

It is widely known, at least amongst conspiracy theorists, that the government has long had several survival plans in the case of world catastrophe – called Alternatives I, II and III, developed by the secretive Jason Society which was formed by President Eisenhower in 1957. Do they know something we don’t know? Or are they just being prepared for anything?

I have no answers; just a great interest and wonderment at the idea of it all. I’m also careful not to blindly follow the crowd; I prefer to test it against my own spirit, which has clearly alerted me to some coming monumental change – and yet not panicked me, either. Whether natural or man-made, things certainly seem to be setting up for a fall, if you just read the headlines these days. I won’t be surprised if the end really does come in 2012 – spiritually I’m prepared for that. But I won’t be too surprised if nothing happens at all: if we’re too hyped up for 2012 and nothing happens, it could be a classic case of boy crying wolf. Something even bigger could be on the horizon, and we wouldn’t pay attention anymore.

Operation Northwoods

Journalist James Bamford summarized Operation Northwoods in his April 24, 2001 book Body of Secrets thusly:

Operation Northwoods, which had the written approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro, thus giving Lemnitzer and his cabal the excuse, as well as the public and international backing, they needed to launch their war.^[11]

(From Wikipedia, where you can find lots more info and links on Operation Northwoods. )