Francois Gautier:

“Conversions in India by Christian missionaries of low caste Hindus and tribals are sometimes nothing short of fraudulent and shameful. American missionaries are investing huge amounts of money in India, which come from donation drives in the United States where gullible Americans think the dollars they are giving goe towards uplifting “poor and unducated Indians”. It is common in Kerala, for instance, particularly in the poor coastal districts, to have “miracle boxes” put in local churches: the gullible villager writes out a paper mentioning his wish: a fishing boat, a loan for a pukka house, fees for the son’s schooling… And lo, a few weeks later, the miracle happens ! And of course the whole family converts, making others in the village follow suit…

American missionnaries (and their Government) would like us to believe that democacry includes the freedom to convert by any means. But France for example, a traditionally Christian country, has a Minister who is in charge of hunting down “sects”. And by sects, it is meant anything that does not fall within the recognised family of Christianity – even the Church of Scientology, favored by some Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise or John Travolta, is ruthlessly hounded. And look at what the Americans did to the Osho movement in Arizona, or how innocent children and women were burnt down by the FBI (with the assistance of the US army) in Waco Texas, because they belonged to a dangerous sect…

Did you know that the Christianity is dying in the West ? Not only church attendance is falling dramatically because spirituality has deserted it, but less and less youth find the vocation to become priests or nuns. And as a result, say in the rural parts of France, you will find only one priest for six or seven villages, whereas till the late seventies the smallest hamlet had its own parish priest. And where is Christianity finding new priests today ? In the Third World, of course! And India, because of the innate impulsion of its people towards God, is a very fertile recruiting ground for the Chrurch, particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Hence the huge attention that India is getting from the United States, Australia, or England and the massive conversion drive going on today.

It is sad that Indians, once converted, specially the priests and nuns, tend to turn against their own country and help in the conversion drive. There are very few “White” missionaries left in India and most of the conversions are done today by Indian priests. Last month, during the Bishop’s conference in Bangalore, it was restated by bishops and priests from all over India, that conversion is the FIRST priority of the Church here. But are the priests and Bishops aware that they would never find in any western country the same freedom to convert that they take for granted in India ? Do they know that in China they would be expelled, if not put into jail ? Do they realize that they have been honored guests in this country for nearly two thousand years and that they are betraying those that gave them peace and freedom ?

Hinduism, the religion of tolerance, the coming spirituality of this new millenium, has survived the unspeakable barbarism of wave after wave of Muslim invasions, the insidious onslaught of Western colonialism which has killed the spirit of so may Third World countries and the soul-stifling assault of Nehruvianism. But will it survive the present Christian offensive ? Many Hindu religious leaders feel that Christianity is a real threat today, as in numerous ways it is similar to Hinduism, from which Christ borrowed so many concepts (see Sri Siri Ravi Shankar’s book: ” Hinduism and Christianity”).. It is thus necessary that Indian themselves become more aware of the danger their culture and unique civilisation is facing at the hands of missionnaries sponsored by foreign money. It is also necessary that they stop listening to the Marxist- influenced English newspapers’ defense of the right of Christian missionaries to convert innocent Hindus. Conversion belongs to the times of colonialism. We have entered in the era of Unity, of coming together, of tolerance and accepting each other as we are – not of converting in the name of one elusive “true” God. When Christianity will accept the right of other people to follow their own beliefs and creeds, the only will Jesus Christ’s Spirit truly radiate in the world.”

fished out an old piece of mine, “Hanky Panky at the Counting House” (2006, Dissident Voice) in response to one commenter at this blog who claims I haven’t displayed enough evidence in my posts of my supposed prescience on the subject of Goldman Sachs.

[Also see, “Playing Monopoly In Charm City” (June 2005) about the housing bubble and derivative scam; “Why It’s Time to Sell Goldman” (June 2006) Goldman’s corrupt octopus-like hold over the markets (the investment report on which the piece is based goes into detail about Goldman’s role in the GSE’s, Fanny and Freddie. That was submitted to Agora as a special report in August 2006, but was only sold in March 2007).

“Malcolm Gladwell Checks In at the Hotel Kenneth Lay-a” (April 2007) (about Goldman’s role in Enron, and Corzine’s and Rubin’s corruption; I read Gladwell’s piece as signalling an imminent market disaster).

I only go over the details of the story again, because, if I don’t, it’s revised.

The spin is endless. Hired trolls go out daily and twiddle wiki, the blogs and the comments this way or that. They post misleading links. They trash the targets du jour of the MSM; they create alternative fiction to dazzle newbies…. and the result is incredible damage to any kind of accurate public memory.

Without an accurate public record, naturally, analysis or prescription also becomes inaccurate. And ultimately futile. Which is where we are in the game.

Be that as it may, while rereading this old piece, I noticed quotes from Ron Paul on gold that answer some of my own recent questions about him. They reassure me some.

If the man is posturing, as many have claimed, and as I have lately been fearing, he’s got to be one of hell of an actor. These words of his sure look like prescient warnings to any objective reader.

Meanwhile, take a look at this Zerohedge piece from March 2010 (some four years after I wrote “Hanky Panky”). It quotes exactly the same speech by Ron Paul and talks about Gordon Brown selling British gold at the bottom of the market. That’s an accusation circulated on the right that I referenced in 2007 in this blog post as well as in this post, London bomb hysterics, anti-terror laws, and Gordon Brown’s resume (June 29, 2007).

[Note: My wordpress software keeps a record of all my posts and every change made to them, so I have documentation for my claims about them. In contrast, Blogger and many other web tools and sites do NOT keep records, and it’s possible to game or even make up posts retroactively. I suspect that’s what’s been done on certain well-regarded blogs that shall remain nameless….]

Hanky-Panky At the Counting House (Dissident Voice, June 6, 2006):

“What’s the deal with Bush’s new honcho at the Treasury? Replacing John Snow as Secretary (effective Tuesday, May 30) is Henry (Hank) Paulson, who is CEO of Goldman Sachs. Among Wall Street’s capos, that makes Paulson capo di tutti capital markets and the speculator-in-chief of our speculation driven economy, the main manipulator in a manipulated market.

It means that the chicken coop is directly in the paws not just of any egg-sucking fox but a Bengal tiger in its prime. Really, why not invite the Cali drug cartel to run the DEA while we’re at it?

Servicing the Public

The story goes that Paulson was reluctant to leave his lucrative post for government service. After all, at Goldman he makes about $38.8 million a year (with $154,000 tossed in for a car and driver, just in case he can’t afford them on his own). And he has a 4.58 million-share stake in the company worth nearly $700 million. Why would he want the piddling 171,900 bucks that the Treas. Sec. makes except for the satisfaction of public service? Why indeed. (1)

We could point out uncharitably that the quantity of filthy lucre a person brings to the table is no guarantee that he won’t be wanting more. And we don’t mean the chump change that the Secretary takes home. We’re talking about the untold influence that comes from being at the helm of the global capital markets. And we hear that that was the cruncher in the deal. President Bush assured the Sachs man that unlike others before him he would get to play more than second fiddle.

This is not the first time the firm has supplied high priced bodies for high office — Robert Rubin, a former trader, Clinton’s man at Treasury, being the most notable till now. Public service might better be called public servicing.

Goldfingers

Of course, Goldman, whose shares fell 1 percent on the news, got as much from Paulson as it gave. The 137-year-old private partnership went public in 1999, but under Paulson still managed to turn in first quarter earnings of $10.34 billion in total revenues. As much as half — yes, half — of the net from that was then steered to compensation. Last year, that came to about $11 billion or half a million per employee. Of course, the actual split is not nearly so egalitarian with about 15% or $1.5 billion going to the 250 partners at the top while the bottom rung of the talent, junior analysts out of college, get $70,000 apiece in base salary. (2) That’s aside from the bonuses and stock options with which management rewards its lucky self. A worthy compensation for providing liquidity to the markets, right?

Actually, it’s a nice demonstration of the anomalies of modern capitalism, where the capitalists — the shareholding public — get shafted by their overpriced workers — the technocrat managers. While Paulson and the partners have raked it in, Goldman stock has just outpaced the S&P and Dow since the firm went public.

The public gets shafted another way too.

The usual business of investment banks is buying shares in block from companies — at a discount — and then selling at a slight mark-up, pocketing the difference. Block trading is the bank’s return for bringing liquidity to the market, since on its own a new company would not easily find buyers for its shares. The markup is most profitable in things like bond trading and commodity trading — the trading of agricultural products like oil, sugar, and coffee, and metals like silver, platinum, and gold — where the traders at the desks rake in big money for their firms. Naturally, they develop complex strategies to maximize their profits; naturally, this proprietary trading — as it’s called — contributes the lion’s share of revenues to the firm; and naturally, it also creates incentives to exploit investors for it can — and does — influence the firm’s buy/sell recommendations on stocks.

These recommendations, made by the firm’s analysts, are supposed to be a professional service that allows the public to invest wisely, but in practice, they tend to get the public to play into whatever strategy the bank’s traders are pursuing at any point. If the traders want to pick up a stock cheap, the analysts can downgrade it and cause panic selling. If the traders want to sell high, the analysts can pump it up and create a frenzy of buying. In short, the analysts are shills for the casino; the traders are the professionals with the house edge on their side; and the mom and pop investors are naïve marks whose losses can be counted on to keep finance professionals in their high-rolling lifestyles.

That’s the gambling den whose boss now also has his hands on the money pump at the Fed. What gives?

Hank’s Pranks — Number One

According to the official spin, Paulson has been brought in — as a Wall Street heavy — to loan some gravitas to the uphill task of chatting up the dollar. Years of massive trade deficits, mushrooming debt, irresponsible monetary policy at the Fed, and insanely wasteful expenditures on defense and space boondoggles have finally made the almighty buck as credible to the globe as a televangelist in a brothel. For a few years now it’s been in a swoon, investment legends like Warren Buffet and Jim Rogers swearing they no longer feel a pulse.

But with creditors — especially central banks — all around the world holding dollars, any sudden loss of faith in the currency could well trigger a financial panic that would cause chaos. A strong dollar keeps the global paper game going. On the other hand, a weak dollar helps US trade deficits. Caught between debt and devaluation the Feds have plumped for a game of deceit, chatting up the economy and the currency in public while privately preparing insiders for the decline. Last year, surprise, the dollar strengthened if it did not actually flex its pecs, erasing half its losses against the backdrop of continuing tight money policy and higher interest rates in the US (versus the euro area and Japan). The dumping of the EU’s Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands also stiffened a few rickety vertebrae in the greenback’s spine. It must have been just a touching coincidence that this also gave corporations a convenient window — courtesy of Congress — to repatriate earnings in stronger dollars.

Then just as soon as the stronger dollar got every one to let down their guard and go lock up some good CD rates, the powers that be suddenly let fly that they had no objection whatsoever to a weak buck. And the greenback proved the point with a nasty six week slalom downhill this spring, weakening against possibly everything but the Zimbabwe dollar and sending the traditional financial safe-haven — gold — to heights last seen in the ‘70s.

Now, however, it’s summer — the traditional time for a slump in the markets. Gold, like the rest, has fallen sharply. And its fall wasn’t helped any by the bloodthirsty buzzards at sundry counting houses around the globe rushing out to deliver the coup-de-grace. Dollar oversold, they tsked. We want a strong dollar, added former Treasury Secretary Mister Snow-Job. Euro too strong, scolded the commissars in the Eurozone. Commodity bubble, clucked the Wall Street-Walkers — probably as definite proof as you will ever get that commodities will be in the mother of all bull runs for the next ten years.

That leaves buck-holders in a quandary — how do you move out of USD when everything else looks stretched to the point of no return? Stocks, real estate, commodities, metals — right now they all look like the fat lady . . . about to sing.

And that’s the point. You don’t. You keep clutching paper while the Fed makes soothing noises for as along as it takes for the shift to happen. Then when the insiders are ready, the dollar flutters down — or sinks like a rock. It scarcely matters which. The point is the government will at that point devalue its debts, stiff its creditors, and transfer the pain of its own financial misdeeds to savers unwise enough to have hung on to their dollars instead of trading them in for hard assets. And who better to pull off this massive act of chicanery except a Goldman CEO with a proven track record of financial sleight of hand?

Hank’s Pranks — Number Two

The unofficial theory is naturally a lot juicier, although described by even sworn enemies of paper currency as conspiratorial. Still, it’s managed to rear its head in the Wall Street Journal, so it can’t be all wet. Here is what widely respected libertarian Congressman Ron Paul had to say on Feb 14, 2002:

“While the Treasury denies it is dealing in gold, the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) has uncovered evidence suggesting that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, operating through the Exchange-Stabilization Fund and in cooperation with major banks and the International Monetary Fund, have been interfering in the gold market with the goal of lowering the price of gold. The purpose of this policy has been to disguise the true effects of the monetary bubble responsible for the artificial prosperity of the 1990s, and to protect the politically-powerful banks that are heavy invested in gold derivatives. GATA believes federal actions to drive down the price of gold help protect the profits of these banks at the expense of investors, consumers, and taxpayers around the world.

GATA has also produced evidence that American officials are involved in gold transactions. Alan Greenspan himself referred to the federal government’s power to manipulate the price of gold at hearings before the House Banking Committee and the Senate Agricultural Committee in July, 1998: “Nor can private counterparts restrict supplies of gold, another commodity whose derivatives are often traded over-the-counter, where central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise. [Emphasis added] (3)

More specifically:

Gold is borrowed by Morgan Chase from the Bank of England at 1 percent interest and then Morgan Chase sells the gold on the open market, then reinvests the proceeds into interest-bearing vehicles at maybe 6 percent.

At some point, though, Morgan Chase must return the borrowed gold to the Bank of England, and if the price of gold were significantly to increase during any point in this process, it would make it prohibitive and potentially ruinous to repay the gold. (4)

In plain English, the strong dollar policy that put the sizzle in the stock market under Clinton was made possible only by manipulating the gold market to keep prices low. The low interest rates which kept the economy on the boil went hand in hand with low gold prices. Investment banks used the low rates to borrow gold from the central banks and sold them short (short selling being the technique of selling assets you don’t actually own in the hope of buying back at a cheaper price because you anticipate a fall in the price). This allowed the banks to make billions from a market rigged to take the risk out of their shorting. And it kept the dollar pumped up. And who was the architect of this strong dollar policy? Why, none other than Robert Rubin of Goldman Sachs — one of the bullion banks most implicated in the gold fixing scenarios.

So, the appearance of another Gold-man at this critical moment is all the proof the gold cartel theorists need that more manipulation is in store to keep the dollar up, gold down, and the bullion banks from losing their . . . er . . . shorts. (5)

And if this seems conspiratorial, consider what Paul Mylchreest, investment analyst at Cheuvreux, top ranked for its research in Western Europe and part of Credit Agricole, the largest bank in France says today, “Central banks have 10–15,000 tonnes of gold less than their officially reported reserves of 31,000. This gold has been lent to bullion banks and their counterparties and has already been sold for jewellery, etc. Non-gold producers account for most and may be unable to cover shorts without causing a spike in the gold price…” (6)

Or what the Wall Street Journal itself wrote about what took place in the seventies:

Worried the falling dollar was undermining its anti-inflation efforts, the Carter administration announced a multi-part support package on Nov. 1, 1978: The Treasury would use gold sales and foreign borrowing and draw on its reserves with the International Monetary Fund to defend the dollar. At the same time the Federal Reserve raised its discount rate a full point. (7)

And that was in the ‘70s, when there was no credible alternative to the dollar, India and China were sleeping giants, Russia was still the Soviet Union, and the United States was not threatening to nuke the Middle East.

How bad is the situation?

[A]s of June 2000, J.P. Morgan reported nearly $30 billion of gold derivatives and Chase Manhattan Corp., although merged with J.P. Morgan, still reported separately in 2000 that it had $35 billion in gold derivatives. Analysts agree that the derivatives have exploded at this bank and that both positions are enormous relative to the capital of the bank and the size of the gold market.

It gets worse. J.P. Morgan’s total derivatives position reportedly now stands at nearly $29 trillion, or three times the U.S. annual gross domestic product. Wall Street insiders speculate that if the gold market were to rise, Morgan Chase could be in serious financial difficulty because of its “short positions” in gold. In other words, if the price of gold were to increase substantially, Morgan Chase and other bullion banks that are highly leveraged in gold would have trouble covering their liabilities. (8)

That was 2000. This is 2006.

So long as gold remains a mere relic . . . a yellow reminder of what used to be money . . . no harm done. Unless something absurd happens, that is. Something absurd like, say, gold doubling to $573 an ounce inside 5 years. If that happened, then the ‘carry trade’ of borrowing gold to invest in paper could become a very expensive way to bankrupt the entire global financial system. (9)

This spring gold hit over $700. And that’s why the hanky-panky is likely to begin in earnest now.

Lila Rajiva is a freelance writer in Baltimore, and the author of the must-read book The Language of Empire: Abu Ghraib and the US Media (Monthly Review Press, 2005) She can be reached at: lrajiva@hotmail.com. Copyright (c) 2006 by Lila Rajiva

NOTES

(1) “Good as Goldman: Bush drafts Hank to bat third,” Daniel Gross, Slate, Tuesday, May 30, 2006.

(2) “Please, Sir, I Want Some More. How Goldman Sachs is carving up its $11 billion money pie,” Duff Mcdonald, New York Metro, Dec 21, 2005.

(3) Speech of Congressman Ron Paul, U.S. House of Representatives, February 14, 2002, www.house.gov/paul

(4) “All That Glitters Is Not Gold,” Kelly Patricia O’Meara, Insight Magazine, March 4, 2000.

(5) According to GATA, the cartel includes J.P. Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the U.S. Treasury, and the Federal Reserve

(6) “How Central Banks Have Kept Gold Down,” Adrian Ash, Money Week, February 9, 2006.

(7) “As Dollar Weakens, Hidden Strengths May Stave off Crisis,” Wall Street Journal, January 17 2005.

(8) See Note 4.

(9) See Note 6.

Karen Kwiatkowsky at LRC:

“Tomasky refers repeatedly to hipsters. I remain confused as to who or what these “hipsters” are, this purported class of people in America who have been sucked in by Ron Paul’s rhetoric or slick and polished delivery. That may be because Tomasky is specifically aiming his ire at droves of defecting young democrats who are attracted to Paul’s small government and no nation-building message. Could it be the young statist clinging to the outdated and self-destructive liberalism of Clinton-Obama nanny state is upset to find himself in the political wilderness, increasingly abandoned by his peers and pals? The very trees and shrubs in the forest seem to be singing, “Come down from that socialist tree, Tom-fraidy-cat, and join the Ron Paul revolution!”

I’m just saying.

It’s worthwhile to explain one last spear weakly tossed by the clearly exhausted Tomasky in his [somewhat entertaining] hit piece. He writes, “The idea of virtually no state is just silly,” and he seems to think Ron Paul advocates this concept. The Paul proposal to save a trillion dollars in one year and his “Restore the Republic” economic plan are nowhere near no-state, or even small state. With $15 trillion in debt, and over $70 Trillion in unfunded state liabilities – Ron Paul seems to be saying cut some unneeded federal spending in order to SAVE the state and allow it to make good on its promises to the old, the middle aged, and the young. Frankly, many young people are about ready to expatriate, and give up on saving the republic. In this way, Dr Paul is pro-state. I have to admit, I’m on the fence as to what to advise my own children – stay and take a chance the American republic can survive, or leave and start anew much as my great-great-great-great-great grandparents did.

Tomasky longs for the day when he no longer has to think about “this pestilential little locust.” This particular statement comes on the heels of a mini-tirade about the nature of the free market, capitalism, and how government would be just fine if it wasn’t corrupted by …uh.. well… people. The great unwashed, the gritty competitive and living world of humanity – always so hard to rule from the central planner’s roost, the serfs and knaves always so ungrateful for their naked king. Tomasky is a sliver of intelligentsia, that as Hayek once observed, “need not possess special knowledge of anything in particular, nor need he even be particularly intelligent, to perform his role as intermediary in the spreading of ideas.”

Yes, Tomasky is exactly that kind of functionary – limited in knowledge, not particularly intelligent, performing his role. And if I may be so bold, he’s shaking in his boots because Obama will be the last American socialist dictator-in-chief if Ron Paul and his great and growing army of patriotic, passionate, small-government constitutionalists get their way.”

Comment:

Karen Kwiatkowski hits back at Michael Tomasky’s bizarre anti-Paul rant.

Look, I have my doubts about voting for Ron Paul….or, rather, about voting at all. I think a bigger message would be sent if no one voted.  But my worries about Paul are entirely different from Tomasky’s or even Wendy McElroy’s. They worry, from a left-liberal perspective, that Paul is too much a Republican and not enough a libertarian.

I worry that he’s too much a libertarian and not enough a Republican (on certain issues). I wish he’d take a stronger stance on corruption, corporatism,  Zionist fanaticism and an irresponsible public culture (a stonger rhetorical stance, I mean. I don’t advocate legislating those issues). 

In short, I respect the very things most people hate about Ron Paul (his “Republican” and traditionalist positions)….

And fear the very things that make him popular (his “libertarian” anti-police state/antiwar positions).

This is not because I am pro-war or pro-police state. Of course not. I abhor both.

But while Tomasky and McElroy worry that he’s anti-Semitic and racist, I worry that he’s an ardent Zonist  whose peacenik positions make him the right man for the moment when the American globalist phase of empire folds and the Israeli globalist phase begins.

The king (in DC) is dead, long live the king (in Tel Aviv..,,,,or Jerusalem).

They worry that he’s too cozy with corporations. I fear he’s too cozy with the financial sector and middlemen, many of whom are anti-capitalist technocrats and managers who’ve manipulated the gold community and the gold price itself in pursuit of their globalist ambitions. 

They fear he’s stupid.  I fear he’s too clever by half.

They think he’s a rube. I think he plays dumb like a fox.

They call him a batty uncle.

I fear he’s a pragmatist under the rhetoric of an ideologue and that his anti-imperial positions conceal the long-term agenda of the globalists.

Or, that he’s willing to let himself be used by more pragmatic people, because he believes that is the only role he can play. Maybe it is the only role any one can play.

For what other reason would Forbes write so glowingly about Ron Paul? Steve Forbes is a signatory of the Project for a New American Century and on the board of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, both strongly neo-conservative outfits. 

For what other reason would Ron Paul embrace a former AEI ideologue and documented foreign agent-lobbyist, Bruce Fein?

Has Fein seen the light and renounced his career greasing the palms of Congressmen? Has Forbes changed his mind about hitching American empire to the Israeli cockpit?

I don’t see it. But then it’s hard to to know what really goes on behind the public rhetoric of politicians.

One thing I do know though is that Ron Paul has made a lot of the right enemies.  And they’re coming at him from every direction. For me, that’s a good sign. So I wait, hopefully, to see the statesman emerge from behind libertarian absolutism.

Ron Paul might be the wrong man for the job, but, on the merits, he is still a better man than anyone else in the running and doesn’t deserve the public sliming.

But then he probably doesn’t deserve thoughtless adulation either..

Ron Paul: (hat tip to LRC)

A policy of Mutually Assured Respect would result in the U.S.:

Treating other nations exactly as we expect others to treat us.

Offering friendship with all who seek it.

• Participating in trade with all who are willing.
• Refusing to threaten, bribe or occupy any other nation.

Seeking an honest system of commodity money that no single country can manipulate for a trade advantage. Without this, currency manipulation becomes a tool of protectionism and prompts retaliation with tariffs and various regulations. This policy, when it persists, is dangerous and frequently leads to real wars.

Mutually Assured Respect offers a policy of respect, trade and friendship and rejects threats, sanctions and occupations.

This is the only practical way to promote peace, harmony and economic well-being to the maximum number of people in the world.

Mutually Assured Respect may not be perfect but it’s far better than Mutually Assured Destruction or unilateral American dominance.”

Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda:

Swami Vivekananda, late in the year l895 wrote in a letter to an English friend, “Mr. Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am to go and see him next week to get this new mathematical demonstration. In that case the Vedantic cosmoloqy will be placed on the surest of foundations. I am working a good deal now upon the cosmology and eschatology of the Vedanta. I clearly see their perfect union with modern science, and the elucidation of the one will be followed by that of the other.” (Complete Works, Vol. V, Fifth Edition, 1347, p. 77).

Here Swamiji uses the terms force and matter for the Sanskrit terms Prana and Akasha. Tesla used the Sanskrit terms and apparently understood them as energy and mass. (In Swamiji’s day, as in many dictionaries published in the first half of the present century, force and energy were not alwavys clearly differentiated. Energy is a more proper translation of the Sanskrit term Prana.)

Tesla apparently failed in his effort to show the identity of mass and energy. Apparently he understood that when speed increases, mass must decrease. He seems to have thought that mass might be “converted” to energy and vice versa, rather than that they were identical in some way, as is pointed out in Einstein’s equations. At any rate, Swamiji seems to have sensed where the difficulty lay in joining the maps of European science and Advaita Vedanta and set Tesla to solve the problem. It is apparently in the hope that Tesla would succeed in this that Swamiji says “In that case the Vedantic cosmology will be placed on the surest of foundations.” Unfortunately Tesla failed and the solution did not come till ten years later, in a paper by Albert Einstein. But by then Swamiji was gone and the connecting of the maps was delayed.

The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla’s Understanding of Free Energy

An Article by Toby Grotz

Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia – Southern Autumn of 1997

Abstract …

Nikola Tesla used ancient Sanskrit terminology in his descriptions of natural phenomena. As early as 1891 Tesla described the universe as a kinetic system filled with energy which could be harnessed at any location. His concepts during the following years were greatly influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda was the first of a succession of eastern yogi’s who brought Vedic philosophy and religion to the west. After meeting the Swami and after continued study of the Eastern view of the mechanisms driving the material world, Tesla began using the Sanskrit words Akasha, Prana, and the concept of a luminiferous ether to describe the source, existence and construction of matter. This paper will trace the development of Tesla’s understanding of Vedic Science, his correspondence with Lord Kelvin concerning these matters, and the relation between Tesla and Walter Russell and other turn of the century scientists concerning advanced understanding of physics. Finally, after being obscured for many years, the author will give a description of what he believes is the the pre-requisite for the free energy systems envisioned by Tesla.

Tesla’s Earler Description of the Physical Universe

By the year 1891, Nikola Tesla had invented many useful devices. These included a system of arc lighting (1886), the alternating current motor, power generation and transmission systems (1888), systems of electrical conversion and distribution by oscillatory discharges (1889), and a generator of high frequency currents (1890), to name a few. The most well known patent centers around an inspiration that occurred while walking with a friend in a park in Budapest, Hungry. It was while observing the sunset that Tesla had a vision of how rotating electromagnetic fields could be used in a new form of electric motor. his led to the well known system of alternating current power distribution. In 1891 however, Tesla patented what one day may become his most famous invention. It is the basis for the wireless transmission of electrical power and is know as the Tesla Coil Transformer. It was during this year that Tesla made the following comments during a speech before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers:

“Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point in the universe. This idea is not novel… We find it in the delightful myth of Antheus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians… Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic.? If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic – and this we know it is, for certain – then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature.” [1]

This description of the physical mechanisms of the universe was given before Tesla became familiar with the Vedic science of the eastern Nations of India, Tibet, and Nepal. This science was first popualized in the United States and the west during the three year visit of Swami Vivekananda.

Vedic Science and Swami Vivekananda

The Vedas are a collection of writings consisting of hymns, prayers, myths, historical accounting, dissertations on science, and the nature of reality, which date back at least 5,000 years. The nature of matter, antimatter, and the make up of atomic structure are described in the Vedas. The language of the Vedas is known as Sanskrit. The origin of Sanskrit is not fully understood. Western scholars suggest that it was brought into the Himalayas and thence south into India by the southward migrations of the Aryan culture.

(Lila: This is the now discredited Aryan invasion theory, which European scholars promoted, since it originated the Aryans in the West)

Paramahansa Yogananda and other historians however do not subscribe to that theory, pointing out that there is no evidence within India to substantiate such claims. [2]

There are words in Sanskrit that describe concepts totally foreign to the western mind. Single words may require a full paragraph for translation into english. Having studied Sanskrit for a brief period during the late 70’s, it finally occurred to this writer that Tesla’s use of Vedic terminology could provide a key to understanding his view of electromagnetism and the nature of the universe. But where did Tesla learn Vedic concepts and Sanskrit terminology? A review of the well known biographies by Cheney, Hunt and Draper, and O’Neil [3], [4], [5], reveal no mention of Tesla’s knowledge of Sanskrit. O’Neal however includes the following excerpt from an unpublished article called Man’s Greatest Achievement:

“There manifests itself in the fully developed being , Man, a desire mysterious, inscrutable and irresistible: to imitate nature, to create, to work himself the wonders he perceives…. Long ago he recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the Akasha or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never ending cycles all things and phenomena. The primary substance, thrown into infinitesimal whirls of prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the motion ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance.”

According to Leland Anderson the article was written May 13th, 1907. Anderson also suggested that it was through association with Swami Vivekananda that Tesla may have come into contact with Sanskrit terminology and that John Dobson of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers Association had researched that association. [6]

Swami Vivekananda was born in Calcutta, India in 1863. He was inspired by his teacher, Ramakrishna to serve men as visible manifestations of God.

(Lila: It is this Ramakrishna Paramahansa, whom Western scholars like Wendy Doniger and her students, have attemtpted to discredit through reductionist psycho-sexual studies of a kind that would never pass muster if the targets were Christian. We must guess that the recent attacks on the most prominent practitioners of Hinduism have to do with a concerted effort among some Western secular (read, militant atheistic) individuals to demote Hinduism).

In 1893 Swami Vivekananda began a tour of the west by attending the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago. During the three years that he toured the United States and Europe, Vivekananda met with many of the well known scientists of the time including Lord Kelvin and Nikola Tesla. [7] According to Swami Nikhilananda:

Nikola Tesla, the great scientist who specialized in the field of electricity, was much impressed to hear from the Swami his explanation of the Samkhya cosmogony and the theory of cycles given by the Hindus. He was particularly struck by the resemblance between the Samkhya theory of matter and energy and that of modern physics. The Swami also met in New York Sir William Thompson, afterwards Lord Kelvin, and Professor Helmholtz, two leading representatives of western science. Sarah Bernhardt, the famous French actress had an interview with the Swami and greatly admired his teachings. [8]

It was at a party given by Sarah Bernhardt that Nikola Tesla probably first met Swami Vivekananda. [9] Sarah Bernhardt was playing the part of ‘Iziel’ in a play of the same name. It was a French version about the life of Bhudda. The actress upon seeing Swami Vivekananda in the audience, arranged a meeting which was also attended by Nikola Tesla. In a letter to a friend, dated February 13th, 1896, Swami Vivekananda noted the following:

…Mr. Tesla was charmed to hear about the Vedantic Prana and Akasha and the Kalpas, which according to him are the only theories modern science can entertain…..Mr Tesla thinks he can demonstrate that mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am to go see him next week to get this mathematical demonstration. [10]

Swami Vivekananda was hopeful that Tesla would be able to show that what we call matter is simply potential energy because that would reconcile the teachings of the Vedas with modern science. The Swami realized that “In that case, the Vedantic cosmology [would] be placed on the surest of foundations”. The harmony between Vedantic theories and and western science was explained by the following diagram:

BRAHMAN = THE ABSOLUTE

MAHAT OR ISHVARA = PRIMAL CREATIVE ENERGY

|PRANA and AKASHA = ENERGY and MATTER

Tesla understood the Sanskrit terminology and philosophy and found that it was a good means to describe the physical mechanisms of the universe as seen through his eyes. It would behoove those who would attempt to understand the science behind the inventions of Nikola Tesla to study Sanskrit and Vedic philosophy.

Tesla apparently failed to show the identity of energy and matter. If he had, certainly Swami Vivekananda would have recorded that occasion. The mathematical proof of the principle did come until about ten years later when Albert Einstein published his paper on relativity. What had been known in the East for the last 5,000 years was then known to the West. (Lila: there is very much more to this story, since Einstein, like Edison, was also a plagiariser, taking his work from his wife, as well as from Poincare)

Brahman is defined as the one self existent impersonal spirit; the Divine Essence, from which all things emanate, by which they are sustained, and to which they return. Notice that this is very similar to the concept of the Great Spirit as understood by Native American cultures. Ishvara is the Supreme Ruler; the highest possible conception of the Absolute, which is beyond all thought. Mahat means literally the Great One, and is also interpreted as meaning universal mind or cosmic intelligence. Prana means energy (usually translated as life force) and Akasha means matter (usually translated as ether). Dobson points out that the more common translations for Akasha and Prana are not quite correct, but that Tesla did understand their true meanings.

(Lila: I wonder if Tesla, like Nietzsche, knew far more than is usually cedited about Eastern science, cosmology and religion, which had been introduced into the West by scholars like Max Muller. I submit that this influence has been buried or minimized out of chauvinism and ignorance, if not active malice)

The meeting with Swami Vivekananda greatly stimulated Nikola Tesla’s interest in Eastern Science. The Swami later remarked during a lecture in India, “I myself have been told by some of the best scientific minds of the day, how wonderfully rational the conclusions of the Vedanta are. I know of one of them personally, who scarcely has time to eat his meal, or go out of his laboratory, but who would stand by the hour to attend my lectures on the Vedanta; for, as he expresses it, they are so scientific, they so exactly harmonize with the aspirations of the age and with the conclusions to which modern science is coming at the present time”. [11]

Tesla and Lord Kelvin

William S. Thompson was one of the prominent scientists and engineers of the 1800s. He developed analogies between heat and electricity and his work influenced the theories developed by James Clerk Maxwell, one of the founders of electromagnetic theory. Thompson supervised the successful laying of the Trans Atlantic Cable and for that work was knighted Lord Kelvin. Kelvin had endorsed Tesla’s theories and proposed system for the wireless transmission of electrical power. [12] FootNOTE- Grotz PACE

Tesla continued to study Hindu and Vedic philosophy for a number of years as indicated by the following letter written to him by Lord Kelvin.

15, Eaton Place

London, S.W.

May 20, 1902

Dear Mr. Tesla,

I do not know how I can ever thank you enough for the

most kind letter of May, 10, which I found in my cabin in the

Lucania, with the beautiful books which you most kindly sent

me along with it: -“The Buried Temple”, “The Gospel of

Bhudda”, Les Grands Inities”, the exquisite edition of

Rossetti’s “House of Life”, and last but not least the

Century Magazine for June, 1900 with the splendid and

marvelous photographs on pp. 176, 187, 190, 191, 192, full of

electrical lessons.

We had a most beautiful passage across the Atlantic, much

the finest I have ever had. I was trying hard nearly all the

way, but quite unsuccessfully, to find something definite as

to the functions of ether in respect to plain, old fashioned

magnetism. A propos of this, I have instructed the

publishers, Messrs. Macmillan, to send you at the Waldorf a

copy of my book (Collection of Separate Papers) on

Electrostatics and Magnetism. I shall be glad if you will

accept it from me as a very small mark of my gratitude to you

for your kindness. You may possibly find something

interesting in the articles on Atmospheric Electricity which

it contains.

Lady Kelvin joins me in kind regards, and I remain,

Yours always truly,

Kelvin

Thank you also warmly for the beautiful flowers [13]

Tesla and Russell

Walter Russell was one of the most accomplished artists, sculptors, writers and scientists of this century. His periodic chart of the elements accurately predicted the location and characteristics of four elements years before they were discovered in laboratories. These are now known as Deuterium, Tritium, Neptunium, and Plutonium. Russell apparently entered into a heightened state of awareness after being struck by lightning. He began several weeks of drawing and writing about the basic nature and make up of the physical universe. Russells’ family finally called the family doctor to determine if Russell should be committed to an mental institution. The doctor, upon seeing the results of Russells weeks of work, said that he did not know what Russell was doing, but that he definitely was not mad.

Although the exact time and occasion of their meeting has not yet been determined, Nikola Tesla and Walter Russell did meet and discuss their respective cosmologies. 14 Tesla recognized the wisdom and power of Russells’ teaching and urged Russell to lock up his knowledge in a safe for 1,000 years until man was ready for it. [15]

The Appearance of Free Energy

Or Why Free Energy has not yet Happened

Comments, Possibilities and Socio Economic Implications

Although Tesla did not accept many of the tenants of relativity and quantum theory and never made the connection between matter and energy, he did recognize the possibility of free and unlimited energy as demonstrated by the following statement.

Can Man control [the ] grandest, most awe inspiring of all processes in nature?…If he could do this, he would have powers almost unlimited and supernatural… He could cause planes to collide and produce his suns and stars, his heat and light. He could originate and develop life in all its infinite forms….[Such powers] would place him beside his creator, make him fulfill his ultimate destiny. [16]

We see that Tesla is asking a question, speculating, searching for an answer. If Tesla had developed free energy sources or learned how to manipulate space time and gravity, during the time of his most public and productive years, (up until about 1920), he would have had answers to those questions.

Tesla’s most misunderstood invention is popularly known as the “Death Ray”. It was simply a particle beam weapon which he proposed in 1937 and was fabricated under contracts with Alcoa Aluminum and the English and Italian governments. [17] It used electrostatic propulsion techniques and similar devices are being developed today by the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) and the US Army Strategic Defense Command. [18]

So we see that mankind has not yet harnessed the infinite power of the universe as envisioned by Nikola Tesla. The question remains, why not?

Free energy devices, if they are feasible, are not about smaller faster microcircuits or a bigger better mouse traps. This is a technology which may revolutionize the socio-economic status quo on planet Earth. At this moment the big pie is unevenly divided. One quarter of the population on this rock, the third stone from the sun, consumes three quarters of the yearly resource output. As one can easily deduce, from a brief study of world affairs, there are about three billion people who have just about had it with this scenario. There are wars starvation and strife in every nook and cranny of the planet. So what do we do about it?

Spaceship Earth Needs A Flight Plan

Either we divide the pie more evenly or we make the pie larger. The first option requires that our standard of living must fall so that the standard of living in the third world may rise. The second option allows us to maintain our standard of living while we help raise the standard of living of under privileged nations. This we must do. It is our destiny. It is our responsibility. It is our final test.

Thirty thousand people starve to death every day on this planet, most of them are children. Nations fight nations, war is part of our lives. What drives our economy in the western world, allows us to enjoy a high standard of living, a life of leisure compared to our neighbors south of the imaginary line called a border? Many answers both economic, social, political, and spiritual can be given. We do know that the standard of living that a nation enjoys is directly related energy consumption.

Energy drives the economies of nations and Tesla’s life long goal was to make electric power equally available to all people any where on this planet. He continued to promote his plan for the wireless transmission of power in the yearly interviews he gave on his birthday as late as 1940. [19] Electrical power allows on site processing of raw materials. Electrical power can run pumps from water wells in areas affected by drought. Electrical power delivered to the poverty stricken areas of the world can make the pie larger, can help bring about the needed economic equality which is our birth right.

Why hasn’t power been made equally available to all people and nations? Why haven’t the much touted free energy devices described by Tom Bearden, John Bedini, Bruce DePalma, and others ever materialized? Perhaps because “easy things are seldom done for the same reason that impossible things are rarely done: no one will pay for anything believed to be easy or impossible”. [20] Perhaps because when we talk about power there is more there than one would initially visualize. What we are talking about is personal power, national power, planetary power, karmic power and the power of love.

The sages tell us that in order to enjoy power we have to let go of power, to overcome ourselves. As an example this author can describe one of his recent experiences. After a very successful symposium celebrating the 100th year after Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States 21, a non profit corporation, 501(c)(3), was formed specifically to encourage and pursue research into the inventions and discoveries of Nikola Tesla. Two years later, after a second symposium, several of the founding members approached the board of directors with a proposal to validate Tesla’s claim that wireless transmission of power was possible. Board members suggested that permission be obtained from the FCC, an environmental impact statement be filed with the EPA, and we should go form “our own non profit corporation”. It was also decided that since there was no procedure to cover research, the organization could not be involved.

Another goal of the organization had been to establish a museum to be named the Nikola Tesla Museum of Science and Technology. We proposed that since 60 -70 billion dollars are given away to non profit organizations annually, we had as good a chance as any other organization for obtaining funding, for a museum or research. We reasoned that:

“Since only 16% of the museums in this country are science museums, this museum in honor of Nikola Tesla will help educate the public in technological areas. With the need for economic revitalization of industry in Colorado, 1986is the time to begin supporting the scientific education of our region. With the current statistics showing that the United States is falling behind the world technologically, the effort to educate the public is becoming more important, and the surge of public awareness of Nikola Tesla’s inventions makes him an appropriate namesake for a science and technology museum.” [23]

The board moved to table our proposal indefinitely.

What had happened? Of the 15 – 20 people that had started the organization only four remained as part of the governing body. Three of those members were opposed to research. The collective mind of the board of directors had become the antithesis of the momentum Tesla had gained in his lifetime. Unlike the independent inventor and businessman, the board was now composed of members who were bureaucrats and paper pushers for Fortune 500 companies. Tesla was a vegetarian, the board members all ate meat. Tesla did not ask for permission to be inventive and strike out on bold new adventures, the board needed approval from higher sources. The dichotomies were endless.

Tesla’s visions have been delayed for 89 years. The squabbling started with Thomas Edison, J.P. Morgan and Nikola Tesla himself.

(Lila: Please note the role of J P Morgan, and the inveterate plagiarizer and intellectual thief, Thomas Edison)

24 It continues to this day. Perhaps the reason for the delay of wireless power transmission or free energy devices lies even deeper within the human psyche. Is it possible that we could compare the Tesla story to a biblical story? Bruce Gordan thinks so. In Gordan’s analysis Tesla’s attempt at building a prototype magnifying transmitter parallels Genesis 11:1-9. [25]

“The message; human curiosity and technological derring-do makes God nervous; God demolishes project, confounds language”. Gordan further outlines the the scenario as follows:

“When everything is perfect, the right time shows up.” [26] This is equivalent to saying, “Absolute knowledge in the hands of one whose heart is not yet tender, would be a terrible weapon. [27] We might postulate that technological developments do not occur until the planet is ready. The recent examination of the theory of Gaia credits the Earth with an intelligence. “Thousands of years ago, by means of seeing, sorcerers became aware that the Earth was sentinent and that its awareness could affect the awareness of humans.” [28] By implication of reciprocity the reverse could be true. The group or collective unconscious is still struggling with the result of quantum and relativity theory. We as a race were ready for nuclear power, every thing was perfect and the right time showed up. Soon we will have put the technology to good use or abandon it to insure our survival as a species.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT IT

FREE ENERGY: CREATING AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Wireless transmission of power and free energy have not happened yet, perhaps we aren’t ready, perhaps the Earth isn’t ready. Pogo said it best, ” we have met the enemy and it is us.” In the Jungian view of collective unconscious, things happen when the time is right, we get what we agree to. We need a flight plan. And that plan must realize that:

WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE

OVERCOMES

THE LOVE OF POWER

THERE WILL BE PEACE

[Source; Girls Lavatory, Boulder High School, Boulder, Colorado]

Described as “Post Industrial, neo-technical, teen-age graffiti.”

“So astounding are the facts in this connection, that it would seem as though the Creator, himself had electrically designed this planet….”

Nikola Tesla describing what is now known as Schumann Resonance (7.8 Hz) in “The Transmission of Electrical Energy Without Wires As A Means Of Furthering World Peace”, Electrical World And Engineer, January 7, 1905, PP 21-24.

Footnotes …

1. Ratzlaff, John, Tesla Said, Tesla Book Company, PO Box 1649, Greenville, TX 75401, 1984.

2. Yogananda, Paramahansa, Autobiography of a Yogi, Self Realization Fellowship,, 3880 San Rafael Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065, 1985.

3. Cheney, Margaret, Man Out of Time, Prentice Hall, 1981.

4. Hunt, Inez and Draper. Wanetta, W., Lightning In His Hand, The Life Story Of Nikola Tesla, Omni Publications, Hawthorne, CA, 1981.

5. O’Neal, John, J., Prodigal Genius, The Life Of Nikola Tesla, Ives Washington, Inc., 1944.

6. Anderson, Leland, personal communication. See also Anderson, L.I., and Ratzlaff, J.T., Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, 936 Industrial Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94303, 1979.

7. Nikhilananda, Swami, Vivekananda, The Yogas and Other Works, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York, 1973.

8. Nikhilananda, Swami.

9. Dobson, John, personal communication.

7. Dobson, John, Advaita Vedanta and Modern Science, Vedanta Book Center, 5423 S. Hyde Park, Chicago, IL 60615, 1979.

10. Nikhilananda, Swami.

11. Burke, Marie Louise, Swami Vivekananda in the West, New Discoveries, The World Teacher, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, India, 1985, p. 500

12. Grotz, T., “Artificially Stimulated Resonance of the Earth’s Schumann Cavity Waveguide”, Proceedings of the Third International New Energy Technology Symposium/Exhibition, June 25th-28th, 1988, Hull, Quebec, Planetary Association for Clean Energy, 191 Promenade du Portage/600, Hull, Quebec J8X 2K6 Canada

13. From the personal collection of L. Anderson.

14. Russell, Lao. personal communication.

15. The University of Science and Philosophy, Swannanoa, Waynesboro, VA 22980, (703) 942-5161.

16. First written by Tesla on May 13, 1907, for the “Actors Fair Fund”, text transcribed from an A.L.S. in the collections of the Bakken Library of Electricity in Life. The article later appeared in the “New York American”, July 6, 1930, pg. 10.

17. Tesla, Nikola, The New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media, Proceedings of the Tesla Centennial Symposium, Grotz, T. & Rauscher, E., Editors, 1984.

18. Turchi, P.J.,Conte, D.,Seiler, S., Electrostatic Acceleration of Microprojectiles to Ultrahypervelocities, “Proceedings of the Seventh Pulsed Power Conference”, June 12th-14th, Monterey, California, Jointly Sponsored by the DOD, DOE, and the IEEE Electron Devices Society.

19. “Death Ray for Planes”, New York Times, September 20, 1940.

20. Pawlicki, T.B., Exploring Hyperspace, 848 Fort Street, Victoria, B.C., Canada, electronic book on floppy disk, 1988, (Log onto the TESLA BBS at (719) 486-2775 for copy of ASCII text files)

21. Broad, William J., “Tesla a Bizarre Genius, Regains Aura of Greatness”, New York Times, Aug. 28th, 1984

22. Deleted

23. Grotz, T., & Sheppard, J., The Nikola Tesla Museum of Science and Technology submitted to the Board of Directors December 12th, 1986. [Available as an ASCII text file on the TESLA BBS (719) 486-2775]

24. Cheney, Margaret, Tesla, Man Out of Time, Prentice Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1981.

25. Gordan, Bruce, private communication, 1988.

26. Arguelles, Jose & Lloydine, personal communication.

27. Hercules, Michael, The Circle of Love, published by the author.

28. Castenada, Carlos, The Power of Silence, Further Lessons of don Jaun, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987, Pg. 120.

FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT TESLA

TESLA BBS: This is a full featured computer Bulletin Board Service for access to information about current research and the life and times of Nikola Tesla. A subsection of the Colorado Mountain College BBS, it may be contacted using a computer and 300/1200/2400 baud modems at (719) 486-2775.

The Tesla Memorial Society The Tesla Coil Builders Association

% Nicholas Kosanovich % Harry Goldman

453 Martin Road RD #6 Box 181

Lackawanna, NY 14218 Glenns Falls, NY 12801

(716) 822-0281 (518) 792-1003

The Tesla Book Company High Voltage Press

PO Box 1649 PO Box 532

Greenville, TX 75401 Claremont, CA 91711

(214) 454-6819

About the Author…

Mr. Toby Grotz, President, Wireless Engineering is an electrical engineer and has 16 years experience in the field of geophysics, aerospace and industrial research and design. While working for the Geophysical Services Division of Texas Instruments and at the University of Texas at Dallas, Mr. Grotz was introduced to and worked with the geophysical concepts which are of importance to the wireless transmission of power. As a Senior Engineer at Martin Marietta, Mr. Grotz designed and supervised the construction of industrial process control systems and designed and built devices and equipment for use in research and development and for testing space flight hardware. Mr. Grotz also worked for the public utility industry installing mini computer based pollutant measuring data acquisition systems in fossil fuel power plants and as a results engineer in a nuclear power plant. Mr. Grotz organized and chaired the 1984 Tesla Centennial Symposium and the 1986 International Tesla Symposium and was president of the International Tesla Society, a not for profit corporation formed as a result the first symposium. As Project Manager for Project Tesla, Mr. Grotz aided in the design and construction of a recreation of the equipment Nikola Tesla used for wireless transmission of power experiments in 1899 in Colorado Springs. Mr. Grotz received his B.S.E.E. from the University of Connecticut in 1973.

John Daily at OilPrice.com:

“Every now and again, one reads an editorial that stops the reader in his tracks.

On 8 December, with the headline “War Inevitable To Tackle Indian Water Aggression,” Pakistan’s Urdu-language Nawa-e Waqt, issued such a screed.

Nawa-e Waqt bluntly commented on India’s Kashmiri water polices and Islamabad’s failure up to now to stop New Delhi’s efforts to construct hydroelectric dams in Kashmir, “India should be forcibly prevented from constructing these dams. If it fails to constrain itself, we should not hesitate in launching nuclear war because there is no solution except this.”

Potential nuclear war over water rights – such sentiments ought to light up switchboards from New Delhi to Washington.

Needless to say, the fact that both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers is cause for concern.

Nawa-e Waqt is a privately owned, widely read conservative Pakistani Islamic daily with a circulation around 125,000 and is heavily critical of the U.S. and India. To put Nawa-e Waqt’s circulation in context, consider that the conservative Washington Times has a current estimated circulation of 50,000.

So, what has the editorial board of the Nawa-e Waqt so excited?

Indian dam building in the disputed area of Kashmir. Compared with much of South Asia, Kashmir has many rivers and relatively few people.

Bashir Ahmad, a geologist in Srinagar, Kashmir commented grimly about the Indians’ future intentions, “They will switch the Indus off to make Pakistan solely dependent on India. It’s going to be a water bomb.” A more dispassionate report by America’s Senate last February offered still a similar assessment, noting, “The cumulative effect of (the dam) projects could give India the ability to store enough water to limit the supply to Pakistan at crucial moments in the growing season” before concluding that dams are a source of “significant bilateral tension.”

How many dams and hydroelectric reports? The Senate report counted 33 hydroelectric projects in the border area, a number that Pakistani analysts nearly double to 60, which according to the state’s chief minister, Omar Abdullah, will add an extra 3,000 megawatts to the national power grid by 2019.

Pakistan’s vulnerability is underwritten by the fact that, like Egypt it exists around a single great river, although the Indus is nearly twice the Nile’s size when it reaches the sea. The Indus provides water to over 80 percent of Pakistan’s 54 million acres of irrigated land, via a canal system largely built by the British.

A further potential diplomatic tar-pit is that Afghanistan plans to build 12 dams on the Kabul river with a combined storage capacity of 4.7 million acre-feet, which Pakistan frets will further diminish the Indus water supply, quite aside from the fact that Indian support for these dams will increase India’s hydro-influence in the region.

The Kabul River Basin (KRB) is the most important river basin in Afghanistan and contains half the country’s urban population, including the city of Kabul. While New Delhi has not directly confirmed its support for the facilities, the proposed hydroelectric projects represent one of India’s largest assistance interests, with $1.3 billion invested in infrastructure projects.

So, is there any way out before the missiles fly?

The 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan can not only assist in easing tension, but provide a template for developing an Afghan-Pakistani agreement on the Kabul river. The treaty, which has survived three wars, explicitly outlines how both India and Pakistan can use cross-border rivers and deals in particular with the tributaries flowing from Kashmir to form the Indus.
 
The IWT is considered one of the world’s most successful trans-boundary water treaties, as it addresses specific water allocation issues and provides unique design requirements for run-of-the-river dams, which ensure the steady flow of water and guarantee power generation through hydro-electricity. The IWT also provides a mechanism for consultation and arbitration should questions, disagreements, or disputes arise.

All foreign governments interested in avoiding further military conflict in South Asia should impress upon both New Delhi and Islamabad the ongoing value of their 51 year-old water agreement and urge them to resolve their conflicts within its framework.”

The Bovine

(hat-tip to Karen De Coster, LRC blog)

From Kimberly Hartke:

December 6, 2011–Washington, D.C.– Independent filmmaker Kristin Canty announces today that her film is being screened next week for members of Congress, and the shocking new food documentary was invited back for an encore run at Chicago’s prestigious Gene Siskel Film Center. This summer’s theatrical releases in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, and Boston garnered critical acclaim, and grassroots interest spawned 150 community screenings around the country.

The film opens in Chicago on Saturday, December 10 through the 12th, for one show daily, with a final show on Thursday the 15th. See Gene Siskel Center website for showtimes. The Congressional screening event will take place on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, December 13, 5:30 pm in the Orientation Theater North. U.S. Citizens are encouraged to invite their Congressman and Senator to see the film (find your Representative: http://www.house.gov find your Senator: http://www.senate.gov.

Farmageddon, The Unseen War on American Family Farms, vividly conveys the stories of numerous farmers who found themselves on the wrong side of government food policy. It is hard to imagine our government using S.W.A.T. raids to deal with misdemeanors, nor is it easy to fathom agents of the law seizing valuable farm products and equipment, particularly in cases where there is no proof of harm. This movie enables audiences all across America to come face to face with harsh realities of farm life in our modern day.

Filmmaker Kristin Canty says, “I am very grateful to the Gene Siskel Center for bringing the film back. We had a number of sold out shows in our brief run there this summer. Now more Chicagoans will have the opportunity to see the film!”

Canty’s film project may also have an opportunity to influence public policy. The gravity of the plight of small farmers has gotten the attention of our politicians in Washington, D.C. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D, ME) and Ed Perlmutter, (D, CO), and Congressman Ron Paul, (R, TX) are sponsoring the Congressional screening of Farmaggedon on Capitol Hill. Pingree, who is also an organic farmer, wants her colleagues to see the devastating effects regulatory policies are having on small American farms.

Pingree serves on the Agriculture Committee and recently introduced H.R. 3286, the “Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act”, which reforms agriculture policy to give consumers greater access to local foods, and gives farmers more opportunities. The bill is co-sponsored by 60 of her colleagues in the House, and has also been introduced in the Senate.

Kristin Canty is a member of the nutrition education non-profit, The Weston A. Price Foundation, as well as, The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, whose work defending the rights of farmers and consumers to direct trade inspired the film. Visit the film’s website: FarmageddonMovie.com.

And now, from a report on the New York City screening of Farmageddon, by Laurel on Health (source for lead picture):

“Last week I attended an NYC screening for the new documentary Farmageddon. From the film website: “Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent ac-tion, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.” The movie is very well done and it’s focuses on an important issue that we all need to know more about—the unseen war on family farms.”

David Gray:

1. Math and Ethnocentrism

The study of mathematics in the West has long been characterized by a certain ethnocentric bias, a bias which most often manifests not in explicit racism, but in a tendency toward undermining or eliding the real contributions made by non-Western civilizations. The debt owed by the West to other civilizations, and to India in particular, go back to the earliest epoch of the “Western” scientific tradition, the age of the classical Greeks, and continued up until the dawn of the modern era, the renaissance, when Europe was awakening from its dark ages. This awakening was in part made possible by the rediscovery of mathematics and other sciences and technologies through the medium of the Arabs, who transmitted to Europe both their own lost heritage as well as the advanced mathematical traditions formulated in India.

George Ghevarughese Joseph, in an important article entitled “Foundations of Eurocentrism in Mathematics,” argued that “the standard treatment of the history of non-European mathematics is a product of historiographical bias (conscious or otherwise) in the selection and interpretation of facts, which, as a consequence, results in ignoring, devaluing or distorting contributions arising outside European mathematical traditions.” (1987:14)

Due to the legacy of colonialism, the exploitation of which was ideologically justified through a doctrine of racial superiority, the contributions of non-European civilizations were often ignored, or, as Joseph argued, even distorted, in that they were often misattributed as European, i.e. Greek, contributions, and when their contributions were so great as to resist such treatment, they were typically devalued, considered inferior or irrelevant to Western mathematical traditions.

This tendency has not only led to the devaluation of non-Western mathematical traditions, but has distorted the history of Western mathematics as well. In so far as the contributions from non-Western civilizations are ignored, there is the problem of accounting for the development of mathematics purely within the Western cultural framework. This has led, as Sabetai Unguru has argued, toward a tendency to read more advanced mathematical concepts into the relatively simplistic geometrical formulations of Greek mathematicians such as Euclid, despite the fact that the Greeks lacked not only mathematic notation, but even the place-value system of enumeration, without which advanced mathematical calculation is impossible. Such ethnocentric revisionist history resulted in the attribution of more advanced algebraic concepts, which were actually introduced to Europe over a millennium later by the Arabs, to the Greeks. And while the contributions of the Greeks to mathematics were quite significant, the tendency of some math historians to jump from the Greeks to Renaissance Europe results not only in an ethnocentric history, but an inadequate history as well, one which fails to take into account the full history of the development of modern mathematics, which is by no means a purely European development.

1. Vedic Altars and the “Pythagorean theorem”

A perfect example of this sort of misattribution involves the so-called Pythagorean theorem, the well-known theorem which was attributed to Pythagoras who lived around 500 BCE, but which was first proven in Greek sources in Euclid’s Geometry, written centuries later. Despite the scarcity of evidence backing this attribution, it is not often questioned, perhaps due to the mantra-like frequency with which it is repeated. However, Seidenberg, in his 1978 article, shows that the thesis that Greece was the origin of geometric algebra was incorrect, “for geometric algebra existed in India before the classical period in Greece.” (1978:323). It is now generally understood that the so-called “Pythagorean theorem” was understood in ancient India, and was in fact proved in Baudhayana’s Shulva Sutra, a text dated to circa 600 BCE. (1978:323).

Knowledge of mathematics, and geometry in particular, was necessary for the precise construction of the complex Vedic altars, and mathematics was thus one of the topics covered in the brahmanas. This knowledge was further elaborated in the kalpa sutras, which gave more detailed instructions concerning Vedic ritual. Several of these treat the topic of altar construction. The oldest and most complete of these is the previously mentioned Shulva Sutra of Baudhaayana. As this text was composed about a century before Pythagoras, the theory that the Greeks were the source of Geometric algebra is untenable, while the hypothesis that India could [corrected] have been a source for Greek geometry, transmitted via the Persians who traded both with the Greeks and the Indians, looks increasingly plausible. On the other hand, it is quite possible that both the Greeks and the Indians developed geometry. Seidenberg has argued, in fact, that both seem to have developed geometry out of the practical problems involving their construction of elaborate sacrificial altars. (See Seidenberg 1962 and 1983)

1. Zero and the Place Value System

Far more important to the development of modern mathematics than either Greek or Indian geometry was the development of the place value system of enumeration, the base ten system of calculation which uses nine numerals and zero to represent numbers ranging from the most minuscule decimal to the most inconceivably large power of ten. This system of enumeration was not developed by the Greeks, whose largest unit of enumeration was the myriad (10,000) or in China, where 10,000 was also the largest unit of enumeration until recent times. Nor was it developed by the Arabs, despite the fact that this numeral system is commonly called the Arabic numerals in Europe, where this system was first introduced by the Arabs in the thirteenth century.

Rather, this system was invented in India, where it evidently was of quite ancient origin. The Yajurveda Samhitaa, one of the Vedic texts predating Euclid and the Greek mathematicians by at least a millennium, lists names for each of the units of ten up to 10 to the twelfth power (paraardha). (Subbarayappa 1970:49) Later Buddhist and Jain authors extended this list as high as the fifty-third power, far exceeding their Greek contemporaries, who lacking a system of enumeration were unable to develop abstract mathematical concepts.

The place value system of enumeration is in fact built into the Sanskrit language, where each power of ten is given a distinct name. Not only are the units ten, hundred and thousand (daza, zata, sahasra) named as in English, but also ten thousand, hundred thousand, ten million, hundred million (ayuta, lakSa, koti, vyarbuda), and so forth up to the fifty-third power, providing distinct names where English makes use of auxillary bases such as thousand, million, etc. Ifrah has commented that

by giving each power of ten an individual name, the Sanskrit system gave no special importance to any number. Thus the Sanskrit system is obviously superior to that of the Arabs (for whom the thousand was the limit), or the Greeks and Chinese (whose limit was ten thousand) and even to our own system (where the names thousand, million etc. continue to act as auxillary bases). Instead of naming the numbers in groups of three, four or eight orders of units, the Indians, from a very early date, expressed them taking the powers of ten and the names of the first nine units individually. In other words, to express a given number, one only had to place the name indicating the order of units between the name of the order of units immediately immediately below it and the one immediately above it. That is exactly what is required in order to gain a precise idea of the place-value system, the rule being presented in a natural way and thus appearing self-explanatory. To put it plainly, the Sanskrit numeral system contained the very key to the discovery of the place-value system. (2000:429)

As Ifrah has shown at length, there is little doubt that our place-value numeral system developed in India (2000:399-409), and this system is embedded in the Sanskrit language, several aspects of which make it a very logical language, well suited to scientific and mathematical reasoning. Nor did this system exhaust Indian ingenuity; as van Nooten has shown, Pingala, who lived circa the first century BCE, developed a system of binary enumeration convertible to decimal numerals, described in his Chandahzaastra. His system is quite similar to that of Leibniz, who lived roughly fourteen hundred years later. (See Van Nooten)

India is also the locus of another closely related an equally important mathematical discovery, the numeral zero. The oldest known text to use zero is a Jain text entitled the Lokavibhaaga, which has been definitely dated to Monday 25 August 458 CE. (Ifrah 2000:417-1 9) This concept, combined by the place-value system of enumeration, became the basis for a classical era renaissance in Indian mathematics.

The Indian numeral system and its place value, decimal system of enumeration came to the attention of the Arabs in the seventh or eighth century, and served as the basis for the well known advancement in Arab mathematics, represented by figures such as al-Khwarizmi. It reached Europe in the twelfth century when Adelard of Bath translated al-Khwarizmi’s works into Latin. (Subbarayappa 1970:49) But the Europeans were at first resistant to this system, being attached to the far less logical roman numeral system, but their eventual adoption of this system led to the scientific revolution that began to sweep Europe beginning in the thirteenth century.

1. Luminaries of Classical Indian Mathematics
   Aryabhata

The world did not have to wait for the Europeans to awake from their long intellectual slumber to see the development of advanced mathematical techniques. India achieved its own scientific renaissance of sorts during its classical era, beginning roughly one thousand years before the European Renaissance. Probably the most celebrated Indian mathematicians belonging to this period was Aaryabhat.a, who was born in 476 CE.
In 499, when he was only 23 years old, Aaryabhat.a wrote his Aaryabhat.iiya, a text covering both astronomy and mathematics. With regard to the former, the text is notable for its for its awareness of the relativity of motion. (See Kak p. 16) This awareness led to the astonishing suggestion that it is the Earth that rotates the Sun. He argued for the diurnal rotation of the earth, as an alternate theory to the rotation of the fixed stars and sun around the earth (Pingree 1981:18). He made this suggestion approximately one thousand years before Copernicus, evidently independently, reached the same conclusion.

With regard to mathematics, one of Aaryabhat.a’s greatest contributions was the calculation of sine tables, which no doubt was of great use for his astronomical calculations. In developing a way to calculate the sine of curves, rather than the cruder method of calculating chords devised by the Greeks, he thus went beyond geometry and contributed to the development of trigonometry, a development which did not occur in Europe until roughly one thousand years later, when the Europeans translated Indian influenced Arab mathematical texts.

Aaryabhat.a’s mathematics was far ranging, as the topics he covered include geometry, algebra, trigonometry. He also developed methods of solving quadratic and indeterminate equations using fractions. He calculated pi to four decimal places, i.e., 3.1416. (Pingree 1981:57) In addition, Aaryabhat.a “invented a unique method of recording numbers which required perfect understanding of zero and the place-value system.” (Ifrah 2000:419)

Given the astounding range of advanced mathematical concepts and techniques covered in this fifth century text, it should be of no surprise that it became extremely well known in India, judging by the large numbers of commentaries written upon it. It was studied by the Arabs in the eighth century following their conquest of Sind, and translated into Arabic, whence it influenced the development of both Arabic and European mathematical traditions.

Brahmagupta

Born in 598 CE in Rajastan in Western India, Brahmagupta founded an influential school of mathematics which rivaled Aaryabhat.a’s. His best known work is the Brahmasphuta Siddhanta, written in 628 CE, in which he developed a solution for a certain type of second order indeterminate equation. This text was translated into Arabic in the eighth century, and became very influential in Arab mathematics. (See Kak p. 16)

Mahavira

Mahaaviira was a Jain mathematician who lived in the ninth century, who wrote on a wide range of mathematical topics. These include the mathematics of zero, squares, cubes, square-roots, cube-roots, and the series extending beyond these. He also wrote on plane and solid geometry, as well as problems relating to the casting of shadows. (Pingree 1981:60)

Bhaaskara

Bhaaskara was one of the many outstanding mathematicians hailing from South India. Born in 1114 CE in Karnataka, he composed a four-part text entitled the Siddhanta Ziromani. Included in this compilation is the Biijagan.ita, which became the standard algebra textbook in Sanskrit. It contains descriptions of advanced mathematical techniques involving both positive and negative integers as well as zero, irrational numbers. It treats at length the “pulverizer” (kut.t.akaara) method of solving indeterminate equations with continued fractions, as well as the so-called “Pell’s equation (vargaprakr.ti) dealing with indeterminate equations of the second degree. He also wrote on the solution to numerous kinds of linear and quadratic equations, including those involving multiple unknowns, and equations involving the product of different unknowns. (Pingree 1981, p. 64)

In short, he wrote a highly sophisticated mathematical text that proceeded by several centuries the development of such techniques in Europe, although it would be better to term this a rediscovery, since much of the Renaissance advances of mathematics in Europe was based upon the discovery of Arab mathematical texts, which were in turn highly influenced by these Indian traditions.

Maadhava

The Kerala region of South India was home to a very important school of mathematics. The best known member of this school Maadhava (c. 1444-1545), who lived in Sangamagraama in Kerala. Primarily an astronomer, he made history in mathematics with his writings on trigonometry. He calculated the sine, cosine and arctangent of the circle, developing the world’s first consistent system of trigonometry. (See Hayashi 1997:784-786) He also correctly calculated the value of p to eleven decimal places. (Pingree 1981:490)

This is by no means a complete list of influential Indian mathematicians or Indian contributions to mathematics, but rather a survey of the highlights of what is, judged by any fair, unbiased standard, an illustrious tradition, important both for its own internal elegance as well as its influence on the history of European mathematical traditions. The classical Indian mathematical renaissance was an important precursor to the European renaissance, and to ignore this fact is to fail to grasp the history of latter, a history which was truly multicultural, deriving its inspiration from a variety of cultural roots.

There are in fact, as Frits Staal has suggested in his important (1995) article, “The Sanskrit of Science”, profound similarities between the social contexts of classical India and renaissance Europe. In both cases, important revolutions in scientific thought occurred in complex, hierarchical societies in which certain elite groups were granted freedom from manual labor, and thus the opportunity to dedicate themselves to intellectual pursuits. In the case of classical India, these groups included certain brahmins as well as the Buddhist and Jain monks, while in renaissance Europe they included both the monks as well as their secular derivatives, the university scholars.

Why, one might ask, did Europe’s take over thousand years to attain the level of abstract mathematics achieved by Indians such as Aaryabhat.a? The answer appears to be that Europeans were trapped in the relatively simplistic and concrete geometrical mathematics developed by the Greeks. It was not until they had, via the Arabs, received, assimilated and accepted the place-value system of enumeration developed in India that they were able to free their minds from the concrete and develop more abstract systems of thought. This development thus triggered the scientific and information technology revolutions which swept Europe and, later, the world. The role played by India in the development is no mere footnote, easily and inconsequentially swept under the rug of Eurocentric bias. To do so is to distort history, and to deny India one of it’s greatest contributions to world civilization.

Works Cited

Hayashi, Takao. 1997. “Number Theory in India”. In Helaine Selin, ed. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 784-786.

Ifrah, Georges. 2000. The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. David Bellos, E. F. Harding, Sophie Wood and Ian Monk, trans. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Joseph, George Ghevarughese. 1987. “Foundations of Eurocentrism in Mathematics”. In Race & Class 28.3, pp. 13-28.

Kak, Subhash. “An Overview of Ancient Indian Science”. In T. R. N. Rao and Subhash Kak, eds. Computing Science in Ancient India, pp. 6-21.

van Nooten, B. “Binary Numbers in Indian Antiquity”. In T. R. N. Rao and Subhash Kak, eds. Computing Science in Ancient India, pp. 21-39.

Pingree, David. Jyotih.zaastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981, p. 4.

Seidenberg, A. 1962. “The Ritual Origin of Geometry”. In Archive for History of Exact Sciences 1, pp. 488-527.

______. 1978. “The Origin of Mathematics”. In Archive for History of Exact Sciences 18.4, pp. 301-42.

______. 1983. “The Geometry of Vedic Rituals”. In Frits Staal, ed. Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986, vol. 2, pp. 95-126.

Unguru, Sabetai. 1975. “On the Need to Rewrite the History of Greek Mathematics”. In Archive for History of Exact Sciences 15.1, pp. 67-114.

Staal, Frits. 1995. “The Sanskrit of Science”. In Journal of Indian Philosophy 23, pp. 73-127.

Subbarayappa, B. V. 1970. “India’s Contributions to the History of Science”. In Lokesh Chandra, et al., eds. India’s Contribution to World Thought and Culture. Madras: Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee, pp. 47-66.

Floyd Abrams in the Wall Street Journal on Wikileaks:

“In 2010, WikiLeaks released more than 77,000 confidential U.S. military reports from Afghanistan, which included the names of over 100 Afghan sources of information, placing them at risk of retaliation by the Taliban. This was followed, just a few months ago, by WikiLeaks’ release of the full texts of over 251,000 confidential U.S. diplomatic cables, many containing the names of individuals who had sought and been promised confidentiality.

As summarized in London’s Guardian newspaper, “several thousand [documents were] labeled with a tag used by the U.S. to mark sources it believes could be placed in danger, and more than 150 specifically mentioned whistleblowers.” References were, as well, made to “people persecuted by their governments, victims of sex offenses and locations of sensitive government installations and infrastructure.

Comment

I’ll defer to the judgment of editors who’ve gone through all the material and are in touch with government sources. But frankly, if you are an informer against your own country (“Afghan source of information”), the better word for you would be “collaborator”…. and the character (and fate) of collaborators isn’t usually an edifying one. Not even the fact of their being on “our” side makes that better.

The rest, I agree, should have been redacted.

But, did Assange intentionally release that information? Or did a lot of it just end up on the site because it hadn’t first been vetted?

Next. What rights do governments have to pronounce on privacy when their routine conduct involves surveillance (Echelon, NSA programs that monitor satellite and cell phones, for example)?

Robocalls to cell phones billed to the phone owner might be on the agenda:

“The innocent-sounding “Mobile Information Call Act” would allow all sorts of nuisance calls to cell phones, eating into customers’ costly minutes, Sen. Chuck Schumer warned Sunday.

“The floodgates would be open to telemarketers, who could call you on your cell phone during breakfast, lunch, dinner, no matter if you’re at home, at school, at the office,” said Schumer, who vowed to fight the legislation proposed by House Republicans.

Schumer didn’t mention that the GOP bill’s sole Democratic co-sponsor was a fellow New Yorker — Rep. Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn).

Towns and the entire House Energy and Commerce Committee already got an earful at a recent hearing when consumer groups blasted the bill.

Brooklyn residents interviewed Sunday said the legislation was a bad idea.

“What politician in his right mind would support this?” asked John Berigan, 44, of Park Slope, who uses his cell phone for his real estate business.

“There’s no one in the general public who would want this. “It would seem that some lobbyist in Washington has gotten to [Towns],” he said.

Current law bars telemarketing calls to cell phones unless the customer has given approval. The proposed change would allow prerecorded “informational” calls to be made to cell phones without consent.”

Comment:

Repeat. You would be billed for nuisance and junk calls from strangers. Not to mention the incredible attack on privacy this involves…and the cybercrime it’s bound to enable.