Enbridge lies to you.

Enbridge is acting in typical 'big oil' fashion. Invent a debate, then skew it. This is classic deception, and in perfect correlation with Stephen Harper and the 'economy trumps everything' philosophy. Will people die over this debate? Possibly. Protests will be large, both side have irreverent resolve, and both sides will not give in as they share the commonality of believing their cause is dire. Conservative supporters see oil as fuel for a strong economy and a means to healing society's calamities, First Nations supporters see oil as fuel for destruction of the natural world and a means to creating deeper calamity.

In the end judgment is left to the children, both current and unborn. If history is any indication, the children will place culpability upon us just as we have placed culpability on our great-grandparents for the societal mistakes of their time (eg: residential schools, denying Jewish immigration to Canada during Nazi rule, corporate hegemony, imperialist foreign policy, etc etc), yet it seems we are indifferent. It seems we don't really care what happens after we are dead. Whether we are in the ground or in some ethereal after-life we don't seem to mind if future humans suffer. It doesn't seem to matter to us that generations after us will suffer from the decisions of our dead hands. It's almost like we believe so devoutly in the Gods of economics that we can create human life and then die peacefully so long as the dollar is doing well...

And so we relinquish our personal conviction to Harper and Enbridge with the deluded belief we are not immoral or unethical.

But what is actually happening here? We are empowering ourselves to be deceived by allowing ourselves to be ignorant, and Enbridge knows this and is capitalizing on it. In the same way many oil companies finance studies which yield their desired results and then claim that climate change is still debatable, Enbridge is misrepresenting the opinions of First Nations people as a means to eroding the environmentalits' solidarity.

It's a classic divide and conquer technique that has worked to oil companies' advantage for decades. Check it out:

Read this first.

Then read this.

...and for more info:

'On the Line' trailer from Frank Wolf on Vimeo.

We Can Hallucinate Colors at Will

Basically what this study has shown is what many philosophers and psychologists already know: our experience of the world around us is a product of what we choose and/or desire rather than a product of what actually is. The world is a product of us rather than us a product of the world, that is, in our experience. As such, we can believe anything we want about our world and it will become a reality... maybe that's why we have such strange traditions or incoherent religions...

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Certain People Can Hallucinate Colors at Will

By TRACI PEDERSEN Associate News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on December 4, 2011

Some individuals have the ability to hallucinate colors at will, according to scientists at the University of Hull. The research — centered on a group of people already known to be ‘highly suggestible’ during hypnosis — was conducted by the university’s department of psychology.

Less suggestible people — people less likely to respond to hypnosis — were also included in the study as a control group.

During the study, participants were told to look at a series of monochrome patterns and try to see the color in them. They completed this task under hypnosis and without hypnosis; both times, suggestible subjects reported that they were able to see colors, while individuals in the non-suggestible group were not able to hallucinate color.

Through an MRI scanner, participants’ reactions to the patterns were also captured; this allowed the researchers to keep track of the differences in brain activity between the suggestible and non-suggestible subjects. In the suggestible subjects only, there were significant changes in brain activity in areas of the brain responsible for visual perception.

“These are very talented people,” said Professor Giuliana Mazzoni, lead researcher on the project. “They can change their perception and experience of the world in ways that the rest of us cannot.”

Changing one’s experience at will can be a very useful ability. Studies have already shown that hypnotic suggestions are effective for blocking pain and increasing the effectiveness of psychotherapy.

It was assumed that hypnosis was a requirement for these effects to occur; however, the new study suggests that this is not the case. Even though hypnosis does seem to intensify the participants’ ability to see color, the ‘suggestible’ subjects were also capable of seeing colors and changing their brain activity without the help of hypnosis.

The MRI scans showed clearly that although it was not necessary for the participants to be under hypnosis in order to perceive colors in the tests, it was evident that hypnosis increased the ability of the subjects to experience these effects.

“Many people are afraid of hypnosis, although it appears to be very effective in helping with certain medical interventions, particularly pain control. The work we have been doing shows that certain people may benefit from suggestion without the need for hypnosis,” said Dr. William McGeown, who was also a contributor in the study.

The study is published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.

Source: University of Hull

CSIS supports torture. WTF?

CSIS head urged government to fight ban on information obtained through torture