The human race is growing beyond the need for our five senses. We no longer need eyesight or a sense of smell and a sense of taste is so passé. Why do I say this? Well, it is simple really if we are to buy into the reasoning of liberalism and socialism and we are to believe that every human being is equal in every single way to every other human being on the entire planet no matter what; then we do not need our five senses anymore, because we are denying them.

Why tax the human brain with all the five senses and all the sensory perception coming into the mind if we are simply going to deny all that we see, smell and taste. If all humans are equal in every human endeavor possible known to mankind then we no longer need the Olympics, the Tour de France or the British Open. Because we are all equal and no one has to feel bad for being inferior and there is no reason to work too hard to accomplish anything.

If human beings are not going to try to accomplish anything or worry about the forward progression of the species then there is really no need to do anything; why get out of bed? And if human beings are not going to get out of bed there is no reason to worry about what you see, what you smell or what you taste, as it is totally irrelevant.

Why bother taking in all this information if we're just going to deny everything we see, smell or taste. Liberalism is nice because it alleviates people from having to do anything, succeed at anything or better them selves or humanity as a whole. Liberalism is great and we may as well evolve past our five senses, as they are no longer needed if we have already decided that everything is the same.

It is a known fact that the average intelligence level in the United States of America is dropping. Of course is also an interesting fact that we are changing the intelligence tests and the scale. By definition intelligence or IQ tests are generally grated on a curve and the mean average would be 100. Why are intelligence levels dropping in the United States of America of the greatest nation ever created in the history of mankind?

Well, some say it is because we have so many laws that people do not need to think anymore or plan ahead. Instead they entrust their government to do everything for them. They believe just because they take tests or get a license to do a certain job that they are considered an expert or somehow more qualified than someone else to do it? The fact is that only 5% of the people in any industry are really experts and the rest are just doing the job because the job needs to be done and they need people to fulfill it.

Whenever we see downturns in economies and sector rotations in various industries we note that 5% of the people are still working and doing quite well and all the rest of the people who were merely taking up space end up needing to find a new job and complaining that they lost their job and it is not fair. Well, life isn't fair obviously and had they concentrated on their work and done the very best they could have they could have they would have possibly made it to the top 5%, but instead they tried to cruise through life and therefore they were no longer needed when the economy changed and there were fewer jobs needed in that sector.

Those people who become self-sufficient, have high self-esteem and work very hard to be the best at everything they can do seem to be able to do just about anything with very little training. That is to say they learned very fast and seldom need massive amounts of ongoing education to perform the tasks needed of them in their jobs. But there are fewer and fewer these people around today. And some say is because the average intelligence level is dropping. It may be, but I also believe there's a problem with work ethic among human beings and middle class societies and I believe that is the real problem.

Past life experiences have become a commonplace in our culture, particularly among the ‘new age’ crowd. Skeptics rightly note that far too many people are claiming to have been noteworthy historical figures, or are being told by psychics that they have been someone famous and easily recognized from the past. This strongly suggests that there may be a great deal of self-delusion and flimflammery going about.

Information that might bear out many claims regarding past lives is typically unavailable or unconvincing and we must listen to such accounts with an open heart and open mind because regardless of the truth of someone’s account of a past life they deserve respect and our due consideration at the very least. Often they may have some cryptic message to impart which, once understood, may prove valuable either to their audience or to themselves.

What is the mechanism by which we are able to recall or relate to past life events?

One theory maintains that past life memories are inherited through our DNA, but I think the metaphorical use of the concept of DNA as a way to make past life experiences appear to be scientific may be flawed.

The model of spirituality which sets the context for reincarnation describes each of us as an eternal spirit. Our eternal spirits are said to choose incarnations for the purpose of growth and experience. Our eternal spirits stand outside of space-time as we are familiar with it; our linear concepts of time do not apply when referencing our eternal souls, therefore from the point of view of our spiritual essence all of our incarnations take place concurrently. Any division in time or space between these lives is something our limited conceptual skills apply to these phenomena, and this warps our understanding of the subtle reality underlying the nature of our various incarnations.

From the spirit point of view all of our incarnations are in the present moment. So those of our alternate lives which we may describe as being in either the future or the past are equally real.

Quantum physics has demonstrated that all of creation is intimately interconnected, such that a change in state of any single part results in a change of state in all parts instantaneously, no matter how far apart the parts may be in space-time. This is because at the most fundamental level all parts are but aspects of a single entity. These connections between every part of creation transcend the limits of space-time and are able to share information.

When considered in regard to our understanding of quantum physics our past or future life experiences are more likely to arise from direct communication between two incarnations of a trans-mediumship nature, rather than from an inherited memory. Unfortunately, it remains impossible to clearly state whether these two incarnations share a common soul or spirit. They could be entirely unrelated to a common soul and still communicate. However, it seems likely that we would have a better chance of accessing other lives which share our soul in common because we would naturally have an affinity for such. Therefore many experiences of past lives may be genuine, while many more may be examples of clairvoyance or mediumship.

The memory argument still has one leg to stand on. The vast majority of experiences in which other lives are related to our own seem to flow in only one direction in regard to time, from the past to the present. The accounts of future lives are rare or nil unless we consider that prophecy may be based on experiences of future lives.

However, the memory theory regarding how we learn about our past life experiences may only have arisen because of our limited experience in discourse upon these matters. Our ability to talk about anything is limited to the concepts we hold in our minds. Since we have a strong belief in the concept of time as a linear experience which can only move from past to future, and because we have a conceptual model for memory that may be used to explain how our minds apprehend information, it is natural for our culture to have evolved a belief system based on memory to explain how we can relate with our other lives’ experiences.

If we discard the memory theory which appears to be an artifact of how our minds and cultures work rather than a genuine explanation of the mechanics of relating to past lives then the way is open to consider whatever communications we may receive from our future lives.

An adaptation of Greek trilogy “Oresteia” by Aeschylus, “Mourning Becomes Electra” is a marvelous play of modern literature by an American playwright Eugene O’ Neill. It deals with the dark psychology of characters, their hidden emotions, fears and deprivations embedded in the subconscious, unfulfilled desires, bleak grudges and revenge motif. Its three parts are called

· Home Coming
· The Hunted
· The Haunted

Parallel to its counterpart ‘Oresteia’ that contains “Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumendies (furies)”, the later is the story about curse on the ‘House of Atreus’, and it revolves around the aftermath of the abduction of the most beautiful and famous Helen at the hands of Paris the prince of Troy.

“A thousand ships were launched to teach a lesson to Troy”, Agamemnon, brother of Helen’s husband Menelaus, goes with the Greek expedition to wipe out Troy. His wife Clytemnestra, the sister of Helen, in the absence of her husband, takes for her paramour Aegisthus. In a course of time Agamemnon returns, along with Cassandra, the sister of Paris and daughter of Priam. Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murder Agamemnon, his daughter, Electra, prays for the return of her brother Orestes who had been out of the country long ago. Orestes comes back and slays Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. For this crime of matricide, he is pursued by Eumendies (furies) but after a long wandering is cleansed of his sin with the help of Athena (goddess of wisdom). This Greek legend, echoes through the corridors of centuries and invests O’Neill’s story with its agony and gloom. The Greek classical atmosphere and the sense of doom, hang over the play from the very start. In this play General Ezra Mannon comes back from Civil War after the victory of his side, and is murdered by his wife Christine with the help of venom supplied by her lover, Captain Brant. In Greek story, Clytemnestra assassinates her husband because he had sacrificed their daughter, Iphigeneia at the altar of Artemis (goddess of hunt and moon) in order to get favourable winds for their fleet. While in this play Christine kills Ezra because she did not love him and wanted to marry Ezra’s cousin Brant. Thus both these tales hinge on the theme of crime and punishment. Lavinia Mannon, daughter of Christine and Ezra stands for Electra, she is tall, flat breasted, angular and imperious in manner, extremely fond of her father and fiercely jealous of her mother. While Ezra was fighting in the Civil War Christine had been having an affair with Captain Adam Brant, unconscious desire to have Adam for herself leads Lavinia to demand that Christine give up Brant or face a scandal that would ruin the family name. Unable to go on living with a husband she loathes, Christine plots with Adam to poison Ezra when he arrives. At the time of his death, Lavinia enters the room; her father tells her that her mother had given him a poison pillet instead of his heart medicine. Shocked at the cruel truth she vows to avenge her father’s death. When her brother Orin (who stands for Orestes) comes back, wounded and distraught, from the war, she gives an account of tragic occurrence, insinuates the dark vigor of revenge in his mind, puts a seed of hatred in his heart, waters it with tears, nurtures through sighs and sobbing, until the flowers of agony blossom and fruit of vengeance ripens. At first Orin refuses until she proves her mother’s guilt by a ruse. Blaming Adam for the murder, Orin goes to Adam’s ship and shoots at him, when he reveals to his mother, what he has done, she kills herself. After the saga of revenge is over, Orin and Lavinia then close the Mannon’s mansion and voyage to the South Seas. Lavinia now blossoms into a replica of her voluptuous mother; she plans to marry and start a new life, agrees to the proposal of her former lover Peter, but loves Adam subconsciously and cries out to Peter, ‘Take me, Adam.’ The name of Adam slips from her tongue.

On the other hand Orin hounded by his guilt, threatens to reveal the Mannon’s misdeeds and tries to extort from Lavinia a promise never to leave him, but in her anguish she rebukes him bitterly and ruthlessly drives him to suicide. Now convinced that the Mannon blood is tainted with evil, she resolves to punish herself for her family’s guilt, orders to throw out all the flowers, to lock the doors and withdraws into it forever.

Even before Orin’s death the road was open for her to marry Peter and lead a blissful life, but mourning becomes Electra (Lavinia). Like a proud Mannon, she rejects the love of Peter and resigns herself to a life of tragedy, of loneliness and shuts herself up in the haunted house of dead Mannons. Her last act of self-sacrifice makes her one of the greatest tragic figures of literature. She is a woman who deserved love, she loved Peter and hopes to find solace and leave the haunted house by marrying Peter, but strong, as her craving for love and happiness is, she nips it in the bud after Orin’s death. Afterwards she discards all idea mirth and accepts the life of a recluse in the haunted house. She felt guilty of having goaded Orin to his death and wants to expiate her sin, by self-abnegation, when she says.

As we watch the trials and tribulations of the human species one has to ask why they kill themselves. For all of the written recorded history we see fighting and wars. Chaos and controversy, power grabs, Machiavellian Tactics seem to be the way of the human race.

They fight over gold, women, territory, water, cities, oil, gems, religion, politics and they trade in human flesh, diamonds, guns, drugs, arms, oil and currency to secure these things and yet if they would rather join in a common cause and cooperation they could get so much further faster, but alas each time this appears to be working they seem to fall out and start fighting again and then just like Carl von Clauswitz predicts in his book; On War, reciprocal responses ensue and escalate and the battles are remembered for generations one onto the next, but way? Why does mankind kill his own?

Do you think that the Fighting will ever Stop; Indeed, knowing the Human Race probably not? There just seems to be no chance of promoting long-term peace. What is wrong with such an intellectually advanced species, that they feel the need to continue these innate characteristic of the reptilian brain? Surely thru nurture and education we can help these humans understand why wars produce no long-term winners for the human race.

I would like to thank you for spending some time with us at AmericanMafia.com. Before we get started I'd like to update our records. May I have your current address, phone number, description of your car and a current close-up photo. Seriously, it is a privilege to have you with us. And as police officer it is indeed a honor to interview a law enforcer whose courage, skill and success in the war against organized crime are legendary and whose movie about his life, Donnie Brasco, has a permanent place as one of the legendary mob films and of course stars Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.

Congratulations on the release of your latest book, The Way of the Wiseguy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Though it certainly doesn't read like one, it's like a textbook, or better yet, a field manual about the mobster mentality. And written from the inside! With a lot of tense moments, shock and humor. Definitely a lot of funny moments in your experiences. I got a real kick out of the wiseguy who visited you on the Donnie Brasco set to ask a favor for his kid, a budding actor. And it's facscinating how, as The Way of the Wiseguy details, your law enforcement career continued with dangerous undercover roles in the Mafia despite that fact that you were in hiding from a $500,000 contract on your life as a result of Donnie Brasco. Why don’t you start by telling us a little about your life before the FBI. Where did your interest in a law enforcement career come from?

Joe Pistone: I grew up around wiseguys on the streets of Paterson, New Jersey, but I never got involved with them. I always worked all kinds of blue-collar jobs: in construction, in bars, driving tractor trailers. But for some reason, I had this idea that I could be an FBI agent. There were no cops in my family, and no role models who suggested I get into law enforcement. It was just this thing of mine. My first government job was with the Office of Naval Intelligence, investigating drug, theft, and espionage cases. Then I passed the FBI’s entrance exams and became a special agent in 1969. Very quickly, my specialty became clear: undercover.

RP: How did the assignment to infiltrate the mob happen? Was it something you were working on more yourself, as opposed to an assignment? And how was the specific Bonanno crew chosen as a target?

JP: The job to infiltrate the Bonanno crime family started out as a six-month operation and ended up lasting about six years. I talk all about the beginnings of this operation in my new book The Way of the Wiseguy.

RP: Where did the name Donnie Brasco come from? It’s got a nice ring to it but isn't exactly dripping with algio olio. You were penetrating a La Cosa Nostra crew, mostly Italian-Americans. Why not Vinny Tagliatelle, Geno Badalamenti or Nunzio Giacolona?

JP: I heard the name in a book or movie somewhere and remembered it at the start of the operation. It sounded like a good enough name, and it worked out for me in a previous undercover operation busting up a truck hijacking ring. But most of the Bonanno wiseguys called me Donnie the Jeweler anyway.

RP: You have highly praised Johnny Depp for his portrayal of you. In the movie, Donnie Brasco’s FBI role blurs and he becomes dangerously close with Lefty Ruggiero, played of course by Al Pacino. Did the movie embellish this friendship?

JP: I was very close to Lefty and his family. If he wasn’t a killer and a complete criminal, he would have been a good guy. I spent many hours with Lefty just shooting the shit about all kinds of things. Ate dinner at his house. But in the end I was not sorry about helping put him or any of the others in jail. After all, if any of them, including Lefty, knew I was with the FBI, they would have put two in my head without thinking twice.

RP: Set straight what happened to Lefty. The movie makes it look like his murder was inevitable.

JP: We picked up Lefty on other charges the day after my identity was revealed. If we didn’t do it, he would have surely been whacked. He spent a few years in prison and after he got out he died of a heart attack.

RP: What happened when you were pulled out of the Donnie Brasco role? And talk about edge-of-the-seat suspense? Were you actually that close to having to whack someone? If so, did you have a plan B?

JP: By the time the Bureau decided to pull me out, I had been proposed to become a member of the Mafia – the only federal agent ever to infiltrate the family to that level. The Bonannos did want me to make a hit, and I was probably a day or two away from doing so, though I never would have carried it out, no matter what the circumstances.

RP: Who were the men killed as a result of having been duped by Donnie Brasco? How did you feel knowing that your role contributed to their murders? And how did the mob further deal with this unprecendened penetration of their secret society?

JP: A few wiseguys were hit very soon after Donnie Brasco was uncovered, and there’s no doubt that it was their connection with Donnie that got them whacked. The way they were murdered shows this, and I give the details in the book.

RP: Tell us about the CD that's included with The Way of the Wiseguy.

JP: The CD includes the content of several surveillance tapes that were recorded during the Donnie Brasco operation. They are conversations between myself and Lefty Two Guns Ruggiero discussing a sit-down that took place with the Bonanno crime family regarding me, my identity, and my life. If the wiseguys ever knew that I was recording these conversations, I would have been whacked. These tapes provided damaging evidence in court that helped put these guys away.

RP: In Way of the Wiseguy you mention how mobsters love Mafia movies. Tell us about this.

JP: There’s a whole section in the book called "Why Wiseguys Love Donnie Brasco" that says it all…. But these guys don’t go around talking like they do in "The Godfather" moives. You won’t hear them quoting Shakespeare or even speaking in complete sentences half the time. When you hear the audio tape between Lefty and me, you’ll hear how disjointed the conversations can be.

RP: Many people ask if the Mafia is dead. Do you still keep tabs on La Cosa Nostra? What is your take on their current status?

JP: Sure I keep involved and remain interested and aware of what’s going on. And I can tell you that the Mafia has clearly changed for the worse. The "organized" part of organized crime became a shadow of what it once was. But it’s not dead and probably never will be. There’s a chapter in the book called "Old Wiseguys, New Wiseguys" that talks all about the current state of the mob.

RP: Joe, you're success is multi-faceted. I thank you for being with us at AmericanMafia.com. This interview will be no doubt be a hit. No pun intended. And we will feature it for months to come. I encourage readers to check out The Way of the Wiseguy which is available through the AmericanMafia.com-Amazon.com bookstore and of course Donnie Brasco, the book and movie are also available. Joe, I wish you success with The Way of the Wiseguy and all your future endeavors.

JP: Thank you. I’ll be touring through the US and Canada at the end of April and hope to see a lot of fans and interested readers while I’m on the road.

I recently returned from an extended trip to Washington DC, where I accompanied my mother who is a state officer in the Daughter’s of the American Revolution (DAR). She was attending the annual Continental Congress. The DAR is a fantastic service organization that is dedicated to the betterment of all Americans. Each member can be traced back to a descendent from the Revolutionary War.

Ever since our early school days, we have all seen grand pictures of impressive monuments in DC dedicated to our founding fathers. These pictures have become so well-known that they instantly spark thoughts of patriotism, freedom, and our national identity. One could almost say that we are so used to these images that we take them for granted.

Imagine my awe-inspired emotional gasps when visually consuming these very same American icons for the very first time in person! I have traveled many places in my life; however, Washington DC had never really been on my “must see” list. When given the opportunity this summer, I certainly agreed to go, but wasn’t overly eager. But while walking down the streets, I found myself with an overwhelming feeling of being impressed and amazed at all of the beautiful, stately, and HUGE symbols of America. I was instantly struck again with the notion that we do live in the greatest nation on earth and that we enjoy unprecedented freedoms and we should thank God everyday.

I don’t mean to alienate or ignore my international friends and associates. I’m sure that everyone feels the same way towards their own country. I’ve been to many of them and have loved their own great attributes.

It was during this time of patriotic reverence that I had the great fortune to spend the 4th of July afternoon at Mount Vernon, wandering through the house and gardens of our first president George Washington. That evening, I sat with 500,000 other revelers on the Mall for the fireworks extravaganza. As the booms and explosions of bright colors lit the sky in kaleidoscope fashion, and the spirited music keeping perfect time with each new flare, it hit me with meteoric intensity that this day 230 years ago made everything we know today possible.

Our lives, our families, friends, homes, and even our businesses exist today because of the heroic sacrifices of our forefathers. The financial successes we savor are possible because of the freedoms so gallantly fought for and won.

As of the July 2005 estimates, there are approximately 83.05 million Pilipinos living in the country. Compare that to the 2000 census wherein is was estimated that there were 76.50 million of us living in the country, that means that in the last five years our population has increased by 6.55 million people. That’s twice the rate of population increase over the same period of five years compared to Malaysia and Thailand.

In Metro Manila alone, there are some 11 million Pilipinos living in the 636 km2 area occupied by the metropolis, that’s 17,751 people per km². Here in Cavite, there are 2,063,161 people as of 2000,(5th largest in the country) with 1,590 per km² (the highest in the country) all that people living in an area of 1,297.6 km² which is the 9th the smallest(!) in the country and last I heard, more and more people are moving in to the province from neighboring Manila and other provinces. Soon enough, true-blooded Caviteños would be far outnumbered by

Clearly, ours is a population on the rise, in fact figures from the National Statistics Office indicate that as of the year 2000, three (3) babies were born every minute nationwide. With all these mouths to feed-in a manner of speaking, where would we put them, where would get the food to feed them and what other resources would they consume? The question that really begs to be answered is, ‘Is there enough for everyone?’

Fortunately, the Philippines has been blessed with a remarkable abundance of natural resources. The Philippines ranks 2nd in the world for gold endowment (grams per ton), 3rd in copper and 6th in chromite. The Philippines is also a known producer of minerals worldwide ranking 8th in the production of gold, 9th in Chromite and 10th in copper. We have a coastline that is twice that of the United States of America with seas teeming with very diverse marine life. Our forests are among the most highly diverse and unique in the world. Our lands are among the most fertile and most suited for agriculture due to the volcanic nature of out geography.

Unfortunately, these resources are fast being depleted, destroyed, and over exploited due to population and economic growth demands. What’s more distressing, is that foreign corporations are getting the lion’s share of some of our most valuable and vital of natural resources. Corporate mining let loose by the flawed Mining Act of 1995 has resulted in destruction of water bodies, health deterioration, cropland ecosystem destruction, and deforestation. In 1903, there were more than 21 million hectares of forest in the Philippines more than half of the total land area of the whole country. Today, less than six million hectares of forest is left. Logging operations, mining activities and land development projects have all contributed to the alarming rate of forest destruction in the Philippines. Its effects are even more troubling; soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, disruption of water cycle and displacement of Indigenous Peoples’ communities.

Our booming population has demanded lands be converted to agricultural use however, globalization and the rising trend of land use conversion which has been targeted for industrial, commercial, recreational and residential uses are mostly irrigated agricultural lands. This has threatened the country’s food security and has added more pressure to the ecosytem due to the added pollution and resource consumption by industrial, commercial, recreational and residential demands and activities. The end result is appalling, reduced soil quality, emergence of species resistant to these chemicals, pesticide poisoning, genetic erosion, and decimation of hundreds of indigenous rice varieties with the use of HYVs

I could go on and tell more about the state of our rivers, lakes and other water resources but I believe that what I have expounded upon above is enough to paint a picture, a gloomy yet alarming picture of our country’s environmental and its natural resources’ status. Both of which are placed at high levels of stress even destruction by our booming population and insatiable thirst for material wants, comforts, and commercial mindset. All made worse by our unsustainable practices and loathesome attitude towards mending our ways and adopting a new and sustainable mindset which would then be expressed in concrete practices.