Friday, 28 September 2001
1. WORLD PEACE: IF YOU CAN'T DONATE $1 BILLION, HOW ABOUT A LOAN?
Major newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post,
carried a full page ad on Sunday from the Endowment Fund for World Peace.
The ad called on "the world's wealthiest" to come up with $1B for world peace:
"There must a few peace-loving billionaires who can raise the money in one day".
But in view of the urgency, the ad says, if some deep-pocket would just advance
the money, the Endowment would repay the advance from donations of little schmucks
like us. So who are these people, and what are they proposing to do with the money?
This morning they held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
The first speaker was John Hagelin, string theorist (PhD physics, Harvard '81), perpetual
presidential candidate of the Natural Law Party, and follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Hagelin explained that right now an elite corps of 40,000 Yogic Flyers is training in
India to "generate a powerful, scientifically-proven unified consciousness field" that
will give us permanent world peace. He was followed on live satellite hook-up by the
Maharishi himself. In a rambling, at times incoherent speech, the Maharishi warned,
"President Bush doesn't know science, he's uneducated, ignorant and following the
path of failure...the solution is with me."
2. LEVITATION: THE "SCIENCE" OF YOGIC FLYING
It's a measure of how seriously the current situation is taken that two years ago
Hagelin offered to end the violence in Kosovo with a mere 7,000 Yogic flyers
(WN 9 Apr 99).
He had come to Washington, DC with his proposal and in the most bizarre press
conference in the history of the Press Club, he actually gave a demonstration
of Yogic flying. Mattresses were spread right there on the floor, and 12 fit-looking
young guys seated themselves in the lotus position. The audience was cautioned to
make no sound as they meditated. After a few minutes, one of them suddenly levitated.
Well, he didn't exactly float, mind you, just sort of popped up a couple of inches and
thumped back down. Then another levitated, and another, till the scene looked like corn
popping. There was nothing to suggest they didn't follow parabolic trajectories.
My guess is they were suddenly contracting their gluteus maximus. It must be hard work.
They were soon panting heavily.
3. THE BUSH ENERGY PLAN: COULD IT SHOW UP IN THE DEFENSE BILL?
The Republican House passed an Energy Bill that is much beloved by industry.
It includes hefty subsidies and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But the Democratic Senate is behind in appropriations and there has been talk of
bundling several bills together to speed things up. With that cover, Sen. James
Inhofe (R-OK) is prepared to submit the entire energy bill as an amendment to the
Defense Appropriations Bill to slip it through. Unless the Democrats are asleep,
he will fail.
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