Jesus: Openness is the Key to Growth. Channelled by John Smallman, July31, 2013. http://wp.me/p1B8dY-fF

John’s reading of today’s post can be found here: http://johnsmallman2.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2013-07-31-jesus-audio-blog-for-wednesday-july-31st.mp3

Humanity’s arduous journey home to Reality is almost done as the energies that are assisting you approach their peak intensity. They will then move you onwards into an energy realm that will sustain you in a totally new and inspiring way.

You have been in the process of preparing to integrate with this new (to you) realm for the last several decades, and a part of that preparation has been to encourage and enable an enormous increase in your awareness of the interconnectedness – in fact, the Oneness of all that exists.

Your modern scientific research has been responsible for a vast expansion of knowledge that has led to a much-needed collective decision to question and then reassess many of the premises on which all your belief systems are based – religious, political, sociological, psychological, educational, medical, and even scientific – and bring about essential changes to them and to the way in which the knowledge they offer is interpreted.

Knowledge is a vast field of information to which, as humans, you have only very limited access. The main reason for this has been because, as Divinely created immortal beings, you were endowed with boundless knowledge, but in your present state of severely limited-conscious intelligent awareness, to allow yourselves full access to that knowledge could lead you to engage in activities that could, and probably would, cause even more devastation and cataclysmic damage to Gaia than you have managed to achieve so far. And that would be in the best interests of no one at all!

So, to evolve spiritually, as is humanity’s collective intent, and to become once more the guardians of the planet – your reason for being present on Gaia at this point in her evolutionary cycle – it is essential that you let go of your egoic and arrogant need to be in control of the energies that guide the planet and your own development, and also your emotionally misguided beliefs that you are the wisest and most intelligent beings ever to have existed anywhere within the known universe. Obviously, not every human believes this – nevertheless, arrogance is a common defensive behavior reaction that many resort to when they sense that the belief systems with which they identify are under attack or in danger of being superseded.

Humanity is evolving spiritually from a state of unquestioning acceptance of what their culture tells them is the truth, to a level where so-called truths, on the human stage, are questioned and investigated. This is an essential step in your awakening process.

When discernment sets in, anything of value can be retained while discarding any nonsensical dogma that has become attached to these philosophies over the ages, but which still demands unconditional doctrinal adherence, even though they have become manifestly corrupted and misinterpreted. Openness is the key to growth, to evolution, because that encourages people to investigate premises that have been taken for granted and to re-evaluate them in the light of new knowledge.

You are in the process of opening your hearts to the Divine field of Love surrounding you, and as you do so that Love engages with you and helps you to see more clearly the ingrained beliefs and fears which have ruled you for so long. This growing awareness of your limitations is a great step forwards because it allows you to look beyond them to see if they truly are limitations or if they are just convenient defenses that you established in order to avoid facing your fear by venturing into the unknown.

The boundaries of your present environment have long outgrown their usefulness, and it is time for you to move beyond them. The Love enveloping you and encouraging you to share and extend It is assisting you in this. Every time you allow Love to guide your thoughts, words, or actions, you get uplifting feedback in the form of sensations of peace, of satisfaction, because Love knows Itself as One and therefore recognizes Itself in everyone with whom you interact, and It shares that knowledge with you as feelings of the appropriateness of your engagement.

A loving presence brings peace and the possibility of fruitful engagement to any situation, as many of you are discovering. Awareness of this is spreading rapidly because so many are choosing daily to engage lovingly instead of fearfully, and then are mightily emboldened by the results they experience.

All the great teachers, mentors, and mystics who chose an Earth life as humans in order to wander among you and share their knowledge and wisdom have told you that Love is the key. Love is joyful, accepting, enthusiastic, comforting, and inspiring, as divinely intended.

When you make Love your constant companion you can deal with any situation in which you find yourselves. When you are suffering or in pain, accepting and sharing Love lightens your burdens and those of the ones with whom you are in contact, or even in conflict! It is the opposite of defensiveness and withdrawal, which focus on the unreality of separation, and which are then used as an excuse for remaining uninvolved or withholding compassion, thus further emphasizing that sense of separation which has been dividing humanity against itself for eons.

Love is flooding the environment in which humanity is presently experiencing life. Engage with It whole-heartedly and reap the rewards that It offers you in every moment. Do not wait until tomorrow, until you feel better, until someone who has offended you apologizes, because if you do that you will just continue to wait and joy will elude you. Be loving now. It is very easy because it is your nature. Just choose to engage only lovingly – because that is to choose joy.

Your loving brother, Jesus.

Update for the Spiritual Hierarchy and the Galactic Federation as received by Sheldan Nidle, July 30, 2013 – http://paoweb.com/sn073013.htm

Right now, new monetary systems are coming into being, and with them come edicts announced by new governance, including revelations about a cover-up of truly staggering proportions. As you can imagine, these announcements will change your reality exceedingly, and we are here to be your loving guides during this most amazing transition….

1 Imix, 4 Pop, 10 Caban - Selamat Balik! We return with more news! First, a belated Happy New Galactic Year to everyone! This is the year of 10 Caban, a galactic year that is mostly reserved for inner and outer discovery. It prompts you to learn more about who you really are and to look at your native abilities in a new light, and it is these energies that are now becoming most prevalent in your reality.

You are embarking on a period of manifestation and discovery about what you think Life is all about and hence, what kind of world you wish to live in. The coming prosperity and new governance are to kick-start this process of self-exploration. However, what you discover about yourselves at first will merely afford you glimpses of the magnificent truth of your real Inner Self.

As Spirit begins this unveiling with you, you will learn how your outer world reflects and stimulates the growing expansion of your inner experience. The new year of 10 Caban will indeed be loaded with all kinds of new and stimulating adventures. Just to begin with, personal debt will end and you will be thrown into a world of prosperity. You will become able to meaningfully interact with your new governance, which will sincerely seek your input and truly wish to serve you. This, of itself, will be a big adjustment!

All across your globe, much is coming into being. Those who have been working in secret to bring about new governance have won a series of legal battles, opening the way to replace your corrupt regimes with new governance charged with restoring people-oriented policies. Gone will be the supremacy of the power-hungry elitists and of an untouchable corporatocracy intent on driving your globe into ruin. As you know to your cost, these dark coalitions imposed illegal amounts of taxation and debt to control and enervate you, and the purpose of the new governance is to rectify this unlawfulness and free you from decades of debt slavery.

There is to be a new hard-currency system which will end the manipulation and oppression of a fiat-currency system. This fiscal ‘dry-rot’ will be transitioned rapidly to global currencies that are backed by precious metals, and your new governance is to support and promote not only the hard-currency system but also the beneficial social programs which accompany it. As these nuts-and-bolts aspects roll out, your rapid inner growth will enable you to partner meaningfully with government, to formulate and then oversee the changes you wish to see in your quickly transitioning world.

You are entering upon a period of great learning. In galactic societies each one is an honored and treasured individual. Each is a unique and irreplaceable piece of the whole, and this is an identity that you will need to adapt to. Government does not stand above the people; rather, it is an instrument to be used to uphold and facilitate the welfare of each person.

Admiralty Law (the law of the conqueror), which prevails at present, will give way to Common Law, which comes from the people. Common Law is made up of those practices and traditions which have proved, over time, to work well among people, and this is what gives those appointed to authority a moral compass to guide their deliberations and actions. As this conceptual changeover takes place, your role is to observe your new administration in action and then ensure that it keeps to the direction you give it. You possess a divine standing as a person of consequence. You are a sovereign entity who is part of a highly motivated collective, and as such you have a responsibility to ensure that resolutions agreeable to all are reached. Your saying, “Government is not a spectator sport” is most fitting here.

Involvement in these changes will furnish your growing consciousness with many areas of hands-on education. You will discover a true, compassionate morality that is to be wholly indiscriminate. You will find how important it is to maintain the joy and wonder of your own uniquely evolving society; also, that governing yourselves is a truly divine operation of great complexity, requiring the informed participation of, or supervision by, each member. The preservation of your sovereign rights and ensuring that Common Law is properly administered is a most sacred task which you will have much more time for once prosperity gives your lives stability and releases your potential.

Bear in mind that your levels of consciousness will be rising rapidly and your outlooks and perceptions will change greatly. You will also have available to you Beings from different lineages who have come to help you during this massive transition, as many of you may become a bit confused or upset by how much is changing. This is why you will have individual mentors at your side to explain and reassure.

Namaste! We are your Ascended Masters! We come to discuss our perspective on what is happening across your globe as these events will deeply affect your ascension process. And of course, this is our area of expertise. New governance will be the result of a new monetary system, which is to reset itself by switching over to hard currencies. This operation will also bring about a global currency reevaluation.

These two developments will swiftly bring down the present debt-based currency system that is backed by the present governments. Our numerous associates are ready to inaugurate the new Basel III financial system which in turn initiates new governance. These new governments will end debt slavery, wealth inequality, and set up economic policies to undergird the great prosperity that prepares Gaia’s populace for first contact and Spirit’s desire to return you to full consciousness. It also enables us to come to you openly and talk freely about the universal truths long disguised by the major philosophies that lie at the core of religion on this sacred orb.

Our task is to inform you about the spiritual changes that your global society is going through. As most of you are aware to some degree, your world is moving away from the outlooks and concepts that you are familiar with, towards attitudes and knowledge that can seem quite foreign at first. This opening-up of your worldview is what Spirit intends. We are to help you reconceive the beliefs that were taught to you as you grew up; this means changing concepts that you have accepted as ‘facts.’

This will include introducing you to new spiritual terminology which will be unburdened by layers of muddled thought and which was given to us by Heaven long ago. We have only mentioned your societies’ founding myths in passing, but the time has come to recount these tales fully and truly so that you can comprehend their meaning without the fog of ambiguities. Long ago, your dark overlords took these stories and altered them in order to sway your emotions in certain ‘useful’ directions, and we intend to bring your compass back to true north, thus enabling you to align with the truth about who you truly are.

We the Ascended Masters are to be your lodestar, pointing the way clearly out of your present mess toward a glorious new world, one which you can already sense out there, waiting for you. As Beings literally hurtling toward full consciousness, you need detailed information about what full consciousness means. We have many gifts of wisdom to give you, which will provide the criteria by which to assess what is happening. Heaven is using her divine abilities to reconstitute you and all the world around you, and we have come to be your spiritual guides and to reassure you about what may appear to be a very strange series of happenings.

Right now, new monetary systems are coming into being, and with them come edicts announced by new governance, including revelations about a cover-up of truly staggering proportions. As you can imagine, these announcements will change your reality exceedingly, and we are here to be your loving guides during this most amazing transition.

Today, we talked about what is about to happen. The next period is to be one of sudden, huge change. We intend to be able to announce to you shortly what first contact is all about. Your spiritual, space, and Inner Earth families are ready to appear among you and transform your reality forever! Know, dear Ones, that the countless Supply and never-ending Prosperity of Heaven are indeed Yours!

Understanding and Sharing Abundance

[31Jul2013]

On our planet, money is a tool that basically decides what we’re able or unable to do.

Money determines the level of sovereignty and freedom we’re able to enjoy, and it seems that the few who’ve amassed the world’s wealth have done so in an effort to instate classes and keep themselves above the rest of the general public.

In the new paradigm we’re building, it’ll be important for us each to restructure our views of money and abundance, and by us each, I mean the entire world.

Money is something that’s meant to be shared by all. The concept of everybody sharing the wealth and resources has been given scary labels like “socialism”, but despite any fearful connotations that could be given to sharing, it’s what we’re meant to do in this time.

I’m certainly not the first person to say this. The concept of sharing and working together to keep ourselves and our planet sustained is beginning to be picked up on by more and more people who are responding to the growing awakening.

How we feel within will dictate the abundance we experience in our Lives. To speak from my own experience – at the time of writing this, my family and I have little more than five dollars to our name. We lost three Newsletter subscribers just today, but despite all of this, I feel like a millionaire within.

The unparalleled sense of spiritual and physical liberation I’ve been able to experience is providing all the abundance I need. Eventually, as I become inspired to increase my drive to work for humanity and my physical or monetary abundance catches up with how I feel within, money troubles will be things of the past.

To be honest, money troubles are already things of the past for me. I’ve long grown to recognize that true unhindered abundance comes from within, and the resulting personal benefits I’m able to experience are massive.

Perhaps I’ll laugh myself into financial oblivion enjoying the personal and spiritual abundance I feel within, but such an outcome seems quite out of resonation with what I’m feeling. I never quite realized that a growing perception of the realms of spirit would herald personal abundance and liberation unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, but now that I’m here, I have to say that I don’t want to leave.

This amazing year of 2013 has opened me up exponentially to ideals and deepened perceptions that see me personally liberated and free from worries or concerns regarding my fate. It helps to know that we’re endlessly looked after by spirit, but in this fast paced and unforgiving world, for some people that just doesn’t seem to be enough.

Having properly communicated the personal and abundance-related liberation I’ve been able to enjoy, I’d now like to address the inequality purposely fed on our world as it stands today. This goes back to the need for us to begin sharing the wealth, and perhaps humanity would learn quite a lot about working together if we were to, say, return to the barter system tomorrow.

The “every man for himself” attitude and mode of thinking has been the established means to Live by for generations, and has seen the few remain ahead and the many struggle to make ends meet. When coming to find an unbounded sense of personal and financial liberation, one begins to understand how much of a distortion it is to collectively Live in such a manner.

This is in part why our planet has remained held back from the glorious future we’ve been hearing about. Humanity as a whole still exists under divisive ways of Living, and for our new paradigm to manifest, we must collectively cultivate the Divine qualities and adhere to the Golden Rule.

The Golden Rule is especially relevant to the idea of sharing our abundance with all. I’ve had times where my wife and I struggled financially and were helped out by generous friends or family who were able to help, and I’ve also experienced abundance to the point of being able to help others who asked for assistance.

I’ve had to ask for rides from family in the past, and I’ve also given rides and turned down gas money if the person didn’t have much to their name. To me, this is an example of the new paradigm in action: helping when we can and seeking nothing in return, beyond the personal satisfaction of knowing we were able to assist.

Warren Buffet’s son recently wrote a spot-on piece for the New York Times about billionaires throwing large sums of donation money at various causes and looking generous in the public spotlight, while the unequal system of classes churns on and the problems don’t really get solved. (1)

He mentioned that plenty of “foundation money” could be used to begin building a new system that works for everybody and sees no man lacking abundance, but we’ll see how many billionaires pick up on that idea.

The referenced article really resonated with me because it expressed the ideal of helping others if we’re in a position to, without seeking anything in return.

Personally, I await the time when there’s more than enough to go around and as I’ve discussed with my wife, were our little family to somehow fall into great financial abundance before widespread change or disclosure comes about, every bit of what we wouldn’t need would be given to others.

Right off the bat, I can think of almost ten Lightworker blogs or organizations who could always use financial assistance. And that’s beyond the struggling Lightworkers who’d potentially email asking for assistance.

The pervading idea I’ve head in my head lately is that if the personal abundance I’m feeling within somehow grew to be matched with financial abundance before the most widespread changes began, I’d become a free-flowing conduit for financial assistance.

The Lightworkers and organizations I can think of offhand would receive routine and large donations to keep their efforts going.

Organizations like the Nova Earth Foundation and Fix the World would be running as smoothly as ever if I had any say-so. The Galactic Free Press and so many other countless Lightworker blog sites and forums would receive generous, routine and happy contributions, and it’d feel good to know I was able to assist financially.

The most satisfying element of the assistance I’d give, beyond the fact that I’d be able to give it and Live easily myself, is that I’d display the new paradigm in action. I’d display the principle of looking after others instead of trying to stay ahead, and I’d recognize that I was granted more than I ever needed for the purpose of giving the rest back.

I can’t count the number of discussions I’ve had with my wife over this subject in the past few months.

I, like many of you, am more than ready to see the new paradigm come about and to begin displaying it in everything I do. An aspect of doing so will be recognizing that even if we experience an easy and free-flowing financial existence, others struggle on a daily basis.

I know one person in particular who works harder than three of me combined, yet had their house recently foreclosed on and struggles to get by. Where’s the value of hard work there?

The principle of working hard and getting to enjoy Life because of your hard work is thrown out the door on a world whose citizens feed into a system of financial inequality, without thinking to help those around them who struggle. Hard workers especially deserve a free-flowing financial existence, just as we all do.

In wrapping this article up, I want to stress the importance of not hinging one’s perception of personal liberation on one’s physical situation. If your finances are dipping below your comfort level, recognize that you’re still a liberated and sovereign being of spirit who’s in full control of your destiny in every moment.

Shift your vibrations around if needed, to match the personal abundance we all deserve to feel. Being able to feel it myself, I can honestly say that beyond the desire to feed and shelter my family and enjoy a comfortable enough existence, I don’t need anything else. This, my friends, is why any surplus abundance I receive would be given back to you.

Wes Annac – Abundant, happy, and in control of my fate.

WesAnnac.com

AquariusParadigm.com

Contributing Editor: The Golden Age of Gaia

Footnotes:

(1)- “Peter Buffet: The Charitable Industrial Complex” at:

http://aquariusparadigm.com/2013/07/30/peter-buffet-the-charitable-industrial-complex/

sage: What a novel idea! Money’s not the only way to be of service to others; time, energy and good ideas are also valuable. I reckon we’ll be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing in the near future.

By Eleanor Goldberg, Huffington Post – July 29, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/l3t3a7v

Instead of handing over a big fat check, Toyota decided to share its expertise with a New York food bank to help the non-profit serve more people, more efficiently.

The Food Bank for New York City, the country’s largest anti-hunger charity, was initially skeptical when the car company approached it with an offer of “kaizen,” that’s the Japanese term for “continuous improvement,” The New York Times reports.

But once Toyota sold the non-profit on its gift – the tool to which the company credits its success – it was able to help the non-profit turn around its operations.

For one, Toyota’s engineers helped reduce the wait time for dinner from 90 minutes to 18.

Instead of having clients stream into the cafeteria 10 people at a time, the company recommended that diners take a seat just as soon as one becomes available. Toyota also set up a waiting room where diners could pick up trays and designated one employee whose job is to scour the dining room for an available space.

Toyota has “revolutionized the way we serve our community,” Margarette Purvis, the chief executive and president of the Food Bank, told The Times.

The auto company’s innovative contribution comes at a time when corporations are, across the board, looking for ways to help without only opening up their wallets, the International Business Times reports.

According to Peter Panepento, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s assistant managing editor, corporate giving jumped 2.7 percent last year, but he said companies aren’t interested in making huge increases on the donation front.

“Companies aren’t willing to make big investments in philanthropy given the insecurity with the economy,” Panepento told the IB Times. “They’re doing a lot of in-kind gifts and encouraging volunteer programs among employees. I would say that we’re expecting the trend of incremental small increases in giving to continue this year throughout 2013.”

But this isn’t Toyota’s first foray in giving nonprofits a boost in a creative way.

Earlier this month, the company succeeded in providing 1 million meals for Hurricane Sandy victims while also raising an incredible amount of awareness.

In July, the company released the six-minute documentary, Meals Per Hour, a project that showed how Toyota helped improve food delivery after the storm and invited viewers to get involved in the initiative. For every view the film received, Toyota provided a meal to a storm victim in need.

“Being part of Meals Per Hour has been an amazing experience for me,” George Flowers Jr. wrote on the Meals Per Hour site. “My team is now feeding more people, in less time with waaaaay less headaches.”

Julian Assange in London, where he has given his reaction to the conviction of Bradley Manning on espionage charges. Photograph: Juan Passarelli/AP

sage: It is a sad day when a whistleblower like Bradley Manning comes under such persecution for allowing the public to see the truth of inhumanity and war crimes going on off the mainstream media’s radar; adding insult to injury, is the guilty verdict on 19 counts with a possible 130+ years in jail. And there seems to be no hue and cry about it, at least not like the overblown Zimmerman trial verdict.

But at least two people seem to be on the side of journalistic and democratic freedoms: Julian Assange (Story 1), Senator Chuck Grassley (Story 2) and Antiwar Editor John Glaser (Story 3) who, in their individual roles, speak out for whistleblowers, and Bradley Manning in particular.

Story 1 – Julian Assange: Conviction of Bradley Manning a Dangerous Precedent

The Guardian – July 31, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/l4dey4f

WikiLeaks founder criticises findings of military court and treatment of ‘heroic’ US soldier

Julian Assange has attacked the conviction of US soldier Bradley Manning on espionage charges, calling him a hero.

Speaking inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London, the WikiLeaks founder said the conviction by a military court set a dangerous precedent.

The Australian, who has been inside the embassy for over a year to avoid extradition to Sweden, said he took no solace from Manning’s acquittal on the most dangerous charge of aiding the enemy.

The US solider, who admitted leaking confidential documents to WikiLeaks, was convicted of 19 charges.

Assange said he expected Manning to appeal against the decision.

Assange said the only victim in the case had been the US government’s “wounded pride”, adding that Manning’s disclosures had helped spark the Arab Spring.

“This was never a fair trial,” he said.

He criticised the treatment of the US soldier since his arrest in 2010, saying he had been stripped, kept isolated and in a cage to “break” him.

The sentencing process will begin on Wednesday but Assange said there were two appeals within the US justice system as well as the supreme Court.

“WikiLeaks will not rest until he is free.”

Assange said the aiding an enemy charge was absurd, put forward as a red herring to detract from the other charges.

He described the soldier as the best journalistic source the world had ever seen, uncovering war crimes in Iraq which he maintained had led to the removal of US troops from that country.

Assange said the only just outcome would have been acquittal on all the charges, saying conviction was a “clear abuse” of the first amendment and Espionage Act in the US.

He described the actions of Manning as “unquestionably heroic”.

‘Patron saint of whistleblowers’ US Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Story 2 – Senator Proposes National Whistleblower Day on Same Date as Manning Verdict

Russia Today – July 30, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/mktfblz

The idea might not win approval with the rest of the Senate, but Republican lawmaker Chuck Grassley has put in a resolution for a new commemorative holiday for the United States – National Whistleblower Appreciation Day.

“Anything we can do to uphold whistleblowers and their protection is the right thing to keep government responsible,” said Grassley, who is famous for personally aiding whistleblowers in their battles against rule-breaking officials. “If you know laws are being violated and money’s being misspent, you have a patriotic duty to report it.”

The choice of 30 July, the date suggested in the proposal, made jointly with Democratic Senator Carl Levin, is not accidental. It marks the 235th anniversary of what was one of the earliest whistleblowing regulations implemented anywhere – by the Founding Fathers in the Continental Congress in the midst of the Revolutionary War.

“[I]t is the duty of all persons in the service of the United States, as well as all other the inhabitants thereof, to give the earliest information to Congress or other proper authority of any misconduct, frauds or misdemeanors committed by any officers or persons in the service of these states, which may come to their knowledge,” said the bill, resolved on July 30, 1778.

The violations that gave birth to the legislation are eerily reminiscent of those exposed this millennium in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

Continental Navy commander-in-chief Esek Hopkins

In 1777, the crew of the warship Warren complained that the commander of the entire Continental Navy, Commodore Esek Hopkins, treated captured British soldiers in “the most inhuman and barbarous manner.” Congress suspended Hopkins, upheld their complaint, and when the disgraced commander-in-chief sued the whistleblowers for libel, it gave internal data to be used in the case. The defendants won a resounding victory.

Although Hopkins’ political unpopularity may have had something to do with the vigor which Congress supported the case against him, the legislation produced as a result was a landmark.

Grassley himself is a towering figure in US whistleblowing history.

In 1986, the Iowa Senator authored a significant strengthening the False Claims Act – which has allowed the government to claw back nearly $30 billion dollars in money it was cheated out of by contractors – increasing rewards for individuals who reported unscrupulous companies.

Grassley also co-authored the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act, which prevented government organizations from retaliating against those who reported misdeeds. This decade, Grassley worked on an amendment to each of these key pieces of legislation.

Already half-jokingly known as the ‘patron saint of whistleblowers’, Grassley could now have his own day in the calendar – providing senators agree with the initiative.

Unlike past times, when much of the whistleblowing concerned private corporations, and indisputable government violations, in the current political climate, considering that Bradley Manning’s verdict also fell on the same day, and Edward Snowden remains at large, the proposal is loaded with political symbolism.

But Stephen M. Kohn, the Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center, says that whatever opinions people hold about these specific cases, the practice is essential for a functioning democracy.

“The Senate Resolution calls attention to the fact that our nation’s Founding Fathers strongly supported whistleblowing, even in time of war, and even when the whistleblower allegations threatened to embarrass high-ranking officials.

“The action of our Founding Fathers sets a benchmark for evaluating how our current leaders treat whistleblowers,” said Kohn.

And this one from Stephen…

FORT MEADE, MD – JULY 30: U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning (R) is escorted by military police as arrives to hear the verdict in his military trial July 30, 2013 at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Story 3: Bradley Manning Revealed Crimes Far Worse Than the Ones He Supposedly Committed

By John Glaser, Editor at Antiwar.com – July 30, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-glaser/bradley-manning-revealed-_b_3678734.html

WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him, that of aiding the enemy. But the 20-something other charges, including espionage, have stuck and could land him a sentence of more than 100 years in prison.

In the media world, even national security hawks like The Daily Beast’s Eli Lake concede that Manning’s leaks had “a lot of public benefit.” But very few have argued Manning should go free.

Did Manning break the law? According to the letter, yes he did. But since when did we presume to hold people in government accountable to the law?

The Bush administration lied to the American people in order to justify the war crime of attacking Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. That crime qualified, in the words of the Nuremberg Tribunal, as “the supreme international crime differing only from other crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” Trillions of dollars and the death and suffering of millions of people were the consequences of that crime.

The Bush gang also secretly ordered warrantless surveillance of Americans’ domestic communications without involving the courts, a blatant violation of both constitutional and statutory law. And don’t forget the setting up of a worldwide torture regime that directly violated longstanding international law as well as domestic law, specifically a Convention against torture, passed by Congress and signed by Ronald Reagan, which specifies that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever… may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

Yet, nobody but the most marginal voices in our politics ever dared to suggest the Bush administration should be prosecuted according to the letter of the law.

Many of these types of crimes have extended into the Obama era as well. The Obama administration’s penchant for secret legal interpretations of when the Bill of Rights applies and when it doesn’t conflicts with basic principles of the rule of law.

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, recently committed perjury when he lied to Congress about whether the National Security Agency collects information on American citizens, a federal crime as it turns out. He issued an apology, but otherwise faces no consequences.

In the U.S., there are crimes the government approves of and those it doesn’t. Contrast Bradley Manning’s punishment, for example, with that of the commander in charge of the torture at Abu Ghraib. Manning was subjected to abusive detention and faces more than a hundred years in prison. Col. Thomas M. Pappas, who oversaw the brutal torment of hundreds of detainees got an $8,000 fine.

Bradley Manning’s leaks revealed crimes far worse than the ones he has supposedly committed. The Collateral Murder video shows the sickening slaughter of a group of people in Iraq, including journalists and rescuers.

One State Department cable revealed to the world for the first time that U.S. special operations forces raided a house in Iraq in 2006 and summarily executed one man, four women, two children, and three infants — all shot in the head. Although Phillip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, brought the incident to the attention of then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Bush administration failed to respond.

Manning’s leaks also revealed the fact that the Obama administration colluded with the Yemeni dictatorship of Ali Abdullah Saleh to execute a secret war without the consent of Congress and systematically lie about it. Yet Manning, who blew the whistle on this criminality, is the only one facing legal prosecution.

The lopsided nature of our legal system is well-known to any close observer of American politics. The law is for the powerful to defy with impunity, and for the weak to be punished with.

History, at least, will look very kindly on the actions of Bradley Manning and harshly on the crimes of the overlords he challenged. The real task is for Americans to get to the point where the country — and its government — is ruled by law, and not by men.