---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nancy Roof <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 8:32 AM Subject: Kosmos | Threats to Democracy and more To: Recipient <[email protected]> Kosmos Newsletter * Creating the New Civilization for the Common Good * February 19, 2014 <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534972> *SUBSCRIBE: print <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534973> or digital <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534974> Buy current issue here <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534975>* Dear Friends, This week we bring you some alarming news concerning threats to democracy in the US and worldwide. It is hard for most Americans to realize that our country's longstanding position as the world's leading democracy is in danger. When three reports converge, it is time to wake-up. Freedom of the press, the foundation of democracy, is fast declining in the US. *State of Power 2014* tells the story of corporations in collusion with governments increasing their power at the expense of the people. And finally the threat to our privacy and freedom from pervasive forms of surveillance. There is good news, as well, with the announcement of the New Story Summit to take place in September 2014 at Findhorn. We are excited to be part of this Summit. In addition, we bring you Part Four of the Collective Presencing Series that has been so popular with our readers. It describes the generative nature of "We-Space" at the subtle levels. Enjoy and learn together. Warmly, Nancy <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=535082> GARDEN HARVEST AT FINDHORN *ANNOUNCING THE NEW STORY SUMMIT* "For people, generally, their story of the universe and the human role in the universe is their primary source of intelligibility and value...The deepest crises experienced by any society are those moments of change when the story becomes inadequate for meeting the survival demands of a present situation." *By Thomas Berry, Dream of the Earth* Already oversubscribed, Findhorn Foundation will host a summit from 9/27-10/3/2014 offered as a gift to the world and based on the Gift Economy, with such notables as Charles Eisenstein, Satish Kumar, Elisabet Sahtouris and more. Fortunately, *Kosmos* signed up in time and will be participating in this extraordinary event. We will keep you informed. Preview the New Story Summit Brochure<http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=535082>. <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534977> PRESS FREEDOM *WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2014: US plummets to #46.* By Reporters Without Borders Can there be democracy without freedom of information? An alarming decline in freedom of the press for the US, is based primarily on information and the First Amendment being sacrificed for national security and surveillance--in particular the pursuit of Private Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden. Also sited, is the Department of Justice's seizure of Associated Press phone records. China (175th) continues to jail dissident bloggers and journalists. See the color-coded Freedom of the Press Worldwide Map<http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534977>for 2014. <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534978> WALL STREET *STATE OF POWER 2014* By The Transnational Institute in collaboration with Occupy.com This Report exposes and analyzes the principal power-brokers who have caused financial, economic, social and ecological crises worldwide. "Unless we know which elites control our wealth and resources, understand how they influence political and social processes, and can identify the systems, structures and policies by which they maintain their power, TNI believes our hopes for advancing social and environmental justice are slim." *Kosmos* especially recommends Hilary Wainwright's article: *State of Counter-Power - How understanding neoliberalism's cultural underpinnings can equip movements to overthrow it.* Read the State of Power 2014 Report<http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534978>. <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534979> SURVEILLANCE IN THE US *INTERNET FREEDOM AND COVERT SURVEILLANCE* By Michael Gurstein "Given the possibilities of total electronic surveillance (in the immortal words of General Alexander, the current head of the NSA--Total Information Dominance)--and the absence of any effective controls on the use of surveillance information for whatever purposes, the possibilities (and temptations) for the misuse of this information are effectively overwhelming. Those with access to this information are in a position to put this information to use for national or corporate economic advantage, for political manipulation, for individual targeting, for blackmail or personal manipulation and even when used as a mechanical input into drone warfare as a substitute for judge and jury in the rendering of the most potent of judgments and penalties--that of death." Read the riveting Internet Freedom and Covert Surveillance<http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534979>article here. <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534980> LIFE IS AN UNFOLDING CREATIVE EVENT *COLLECTIVE PRESENCING - PART FOUR | The Circle of Creation: Building Capacity for Generative Collective Action in Service of Life* By Ria Baeck and Helen Titchen Beeth "As we pursue the interweaving and interpenetration ever deeper and wider, we come to realise that life is an unfolding, creative event that we can learn to participate in, more consciously and intentionally, together. This journey has brought us, the authors, to a point where we live life as continuous action research, in a dance of constant learning with the abundance of feedback from each step we take--in a reciprocal relationship with a living universe. Far from being dry and heavy academic research, it is an irrepressible curiosity about what more is possible..." Read Part Four of Collective Presencing<http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534980>. <http://www.kosmosjournal.org/CampaignProcess.aspx?A=Link&VID=50108458&KID=204200&LID=534981> MARTHA GALLAHUE (right) *LETTER FROM KOSMOS SUBSCRIBER MARTHA GALLAHUE* "As a long time subscriber, I am writing to let you know about the practical benefit of reading your fine magazine *Kosmos*. In searching for a topic for a Platform Talk, which I am hired to do monthly in an ethical culture society in Maplewood, NJ, it occurred to me that I might use the magazine as a launch... In Maplewood, we invite volunteers to speak to our spiritual mission, to celebrate the comprehensive interdependence of all life. We hold that all life is sacred and our duty is to find human expression for that through the greatest moral imperative right relationship... So I decided to speak about *Kosmos* as an expression of our human opportunity to identify with all life in the universe..." 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