Much speculation circulates about the reasons behind the resignation of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on February 28. Benedict released this statement that says it was due to health and age, and reveals that the former Pope was simply too weak to properly bear the burdens of leading a global religious following.

“…in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” the statement reads.

Seems rational. Considering the usual age of those given the Papal title, around 62. With Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI elected at the age of 78, it’s surprising that it has been so long since a Pope has thrown up his wrinkled hands in exhaustion. Around 600 years, in fact.

All that rationality has not stemmed the tide of conspiracy theories, which are in rare form. The beliefs range from the old sex-scandal, to the classic Illuminati pulling strings behind the scenes, to Benedict being ousted as a Nazi.

The sex scandal comes from the fact that the then-Pope was said to have received two red leather-bound texts full of the findings of the internal investigation into the sex-crime accusations. It is claimed that the same day the books hit his desk, the Pope gave his two-week notice.

While Pope Emeritus, born Joseph Ratzinger, was forced into the Hitler Youth to survive in Bavaria during WWII, there is no evidence that he has any ties to the Nazi party, nor has he supported them politically. Benedict’s father was, in fact, known to be an opponent of the Nazi regime.

Another theory floating around is that a man known as “The Black Priest” is really behind all the Vatican’s decisions, as he controls both the Church and the Illuminati. This “priest” is said to be Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who also leads the Society of Jesus. Busy guy! It is apparently Kolvenbach who chose to step down, which meant that his counterpart, or possibly underling, Pope Benedict, must do so as well.

There is little to no evidence of any of these conspiracy theories bring true, and the Vatican routinely asserts the facts at every meeting and conference. Their representatives are well practiced at this, since there have accusations of secret dealings, secret societies, and general misconduct throughout the history of the Church. Until the day where no more secrets are kept and the inner world of all organizations is open to the public, there will be mutterings of scandal and the ways shadow rulers are bringing about the New World Order.

Image Courtesy : Catholic Church (England and Wales)

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The Day of Judgment came and went, and while we were all supposed to have been obliterated, most of us made it to the next day.  We did lose a few -not everyone made it – but whether that was the result of Judgment day is another thing.

After the false prediction that the world would end last month by Harold Camping, who runs the Christian network, Family Radio, many may have their doubts about the world ending anytime soon. Camping has a different opinion.

In fact he’s going for strike three; Mr. Camping has made another prediction, Oct. 21, will be the day of destruction; the last day mankind will ever walk this earth. Camping finds several verses from the Bible to support his predictions and reasoning.

The book of Revelation 9: verse 5, “and to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.”

He justifies his false prediction by saying it was “an invisible judgment day,” he claims it was a spiritual experience, on a special broadcast on his radio series, ‘Open Forum.’

“It won’t be spiritual on Oct 21,” Camping said. “The world is going to be destroyed all together, but it will be very quick,”

This was not the first time that Camping mis-calculated the worlds destruction.

Back in 1994 he predicted the world would end on Sept. 6 of that year. According to his show Camping gets his prediction from hidden prophecies in the Bible that he interprets, using a mathematical system he created.

To add to the false alarm, and the anger many people have because they gave up everything. Camping has no intention of giving any money back to those who contributed to his bogus Doomsday movement.

Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, and Taiwan are among the countries; that have the 66 stations Family Radio in the world. Camping raised over $80 million from donations over the past five years, and according to an IRS filing, the non-profit radio station is worth $72 million. Camping might not be that crazy old guy that some may have deemed him to be.

According to Camping’s theory, during the five months after the Rapture (May 21.)  The people who didn’t ascend to heaven will go through a series of natural disasters. Does that sound familiar? No, well tell that to the families whose homes and lives have been destroyed by recent tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes and wildfires. Based on a report uploaded in early June by the National Weather Service, there have been 1,475 tornadoes  this year.

The day after the false prediction Sunday, May 22, one of the single deadliest tornados in modern history, hit the city of Joplin, Mo. ,it left an estimated 151 people dead, NWS reported.

There are western wildfires, flooding, and severe weather reports from all over the world.

Harold Camping may have his dates mixed up, but he might be on to something. However it should be kept under consideration that the Bible also says in the book of Matthew 24: verses 36-37: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

lev radin / Shutterstock.com

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El Chupacabra, the infamous vampire creature first discovered in the mid-1990’s, is not real, according to one expert.  Well-published writer and skeptic Benjamin Radford, author of several books on monsters and paranormal phenomena and managing editor of the journal The Skeptical Inquirer and LiveScience columnist, has released what he says to be definitive proof that El Chupacabra is not real, but rather a forgotten memory from the 1995 sci-fi film Species.

The bipedal alien-like creature was first spotted in Puerto Rico in 1995 when two goats were found drained of all their blood. Since then, El Chupacabra, Spanish for goat sucker, has turned up in many different iterations from Mexico to Florida to Texas, whenever livestock turn up dead.

Radford reported noticing a strong resemblance to the alien/human hybrid in Species to the alleged vampire creature.   When he spoke to El Chupacabra’s first reported victim Madelyne Tolentino, he asked her if the thing that she saw could have been inspired by the film. She admitted that she had seen the movie in the weeks prior to making her description.  “You can make a direct connection between the film hitting theaters, her seeing the creature in the film, seeing it in the street, making the report and entering the public conscious,” Radford said.

After speaking with Tolentino, Radford went on to the other reported sightings, none of which were described nearly the same as the original. One farmer in Texas even managed to shoot a predator he believed to be El Chupacabra but DNA tests revealed it was a coyote with a severe case of mange.   “By the mid-2000s, anything weird was being called El Chupacabra,” he said. “Mangy coyotes. Dead raccoons. Even a dried fish in New Mexico, which looks nothing like El Chupacabra.”

Other skeptics have also pointed out that if El Chupacabra were real, they would need a lot of food.  If they were vampires, you would expect to find more blood-drained carcasses than the sporadic findings throughout the years.

Not all are convinced of Radford’s theory though.  A resemblance to a movie character is hardly “definitive proof” as Radford advertised. Radford defends his theory against that argument.  “The question then becomes which is more likely, the astronomical chance that this creature looks exactly like the one from ‘Species,’ or that the film is just where she got the depiction?”  Radford questioned.

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A man in North Carolina claims to have captured the elusive Bigfoot on video in a short clip.  Thomas Byers purports to have filmed the 5 second clip in Rutherford County last Tuesday.

According to Byers’ website, he and a friend were driving along a highway when “we both observed a large upright brown furry animal between six and seven feet tall come up out of the field beside the road and then it ran across the road in front of the pick up truck we were in.”  Byers describes the short encounter.  He reports that both he and his friend jumped out of the truck.  Byers had a small video camera and was able to capture Bigfoot, or he refers to it—Knobby—as it ran across the road in front of the truck.  He said he continued to watch the creature run up the side of a small mountain.  He also maintained that while filming it, Knobby turned its head toward him and growled at him.

Although amazing, the clip shows a distorted image of something running.  It is unfortunately very blurry and difficult to tell if the creature is real or someone in an ape costume.  And we all know the Bigfoot legend has a shady history of faked footage.

Byers is no skeptic though.  He talks about the experience on his site.  “It was at one point only 15-20 foot from me and it happened so fast and shook me up so bad that I really didn’t understand what I had seen until it was up the side of the mountain and out of sight.”  He goes on to talk about Bigfoot’s personal hygiene, or lack thereof.  “One thing I know is the smell of it was horrid. It smelled like a cross between road kill and a skunk. And it did not like the fact that I was there on the road with it. In the video you can hear it snarl or growl at me as it crosses the road.”

Real or fake?  Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory.  Check out the video on his website and weigh in below.

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The King of Pop, Michael Jackson was allegedly chemically castrated through the use of hormone pills at an early age to combat acne. A French scientist have put forward this claim in a newly released thesis that tries to explain why the American superstar had such a delicate voice.

Dr. Alain Branchereau, a vascular surgery professor who works at the Timone of Marsella Hospital, situated at the south of France, has stated that Michael Jackson suffered a chemical castration without realizing it when he was between 12 and 20 years old. Dr. Branchereau new book is titled ‘The Voice Secret’.

The doctor, who never met the famous artist in person, told a journalist from the daily Le Parisien, that he base his research on several documents including the autopsy report. This, he explained, was to support his thesis with facts that would make his conclusion more than probable.

It was the “amazing texture” of Michael Jackson’s voice that caught Dr. Branchereau’s attention, because he was able to reach one octave tone more than some successful tenors.

The doctor claims that just a few sopranos, such as the Greek born Maria Callas, are able to reach three octave tones. Dr. Branchereau says that the hormone pills that the artist took during his youth could have narrowed his larynx.

In his biography, the King of Pop confessed that when he was young, he suffered from a severe form of acne. Although only for a short period of time, the French doctor has used this information to confirm that Michael Jackson had in fact consumed the product which is believe to have caused his voice.

Moreover, the drug is also suspected of making his bones grow abnormally which is by Jackson was taller and had bigger extremities than the rest of his family.

Apparently it was Michael’s manager, who at that point was his own father, who told the artist to use the drug. It was believed that the severe case of acne was about to ruin the young performer’s career or at least damage his image.

Despite the claim that Jackson only used the drug for a short period of time, the doctor believe that it had affected the artist’s larynx so much that the result was permanent and provided Jackson with his signature angelic voice, a trade which is usually only bestowed a type of singers called ‘castrati’ – meaning people who have been castrated to maintain a clear, boy’s voice.

The macabre nature of the findings aside, the doctor assured that the singer “had normal genitals and he was able to have sex as the ‘castrati’, however they deprived him of his childhood and his adolescent that obviously caused him psychological problems.”

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A North Carolina resident held an expedition in early March in search of Big Foot.  Rick Lunsford believes he spotted the elusive creature 30 years ago and wants to find him again.  “I’m really looking for evidence, and looking for people to go with me,” Lunsford said prior to the search.

Bigfoot has been described as an ape-like creature that lives in forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.  Bigfoot is thought to be large, hairy, bipedal humanoid.  Bigfoot sightings have been reported in every U.S. state except Hawaii, according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, a national group that investigates such reports. The evidence to date has consisted largely of witness reports, plaster casts of footprints, and fuzzy images.

Lunsford went on an expedition on March 5th to search for evidence in the small town of Wilbar, located in the northwestern portion of the state.  Lunsford came forward last year about his story.  He said he saw the creature back in late August or September 1978, when he was 20 years old.  He described Bigfoot as being somewhere between 6 and 8 feet tall and as “broad as a refrigerator.”  Its arms were bowed out. It had dark hair, 3 or 4 inches long, on its arms. It gave off a terrible odor, he said.  But what he remembers most vividly, he said, were the creature’s dark, round eyes and oval head.

Lunsford filed a report last year with the BFRO about his encounter. Including Lunsford, the organization’s website lists 64 Bigfoot sightings in North Carolina, most of them near the Tennessee border.”People have lived up here all their lives and never knew it existed up here,” Lunsford said. “I’ve heard some more stories since I came out with mine.

It is unknown if anything was found on the planned expedition.

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There is an alternative theory that suggests the United States government is building internment camps which will be used to detain U.S. citizens for reasons unknown.  The theory gained more traction last year when TruTV’s program “Conspiracy Theory”, hosted by former governor Jesse Ventura, devoted an episode to the proposed camps.

The episode, entitled “Police State” examined the plans and procedures in place by the government for declaring martial law. The show investigates new law enforcement “fusion centers” and FEMA sites that may be in control of rumored internment camps for rounding up U.S. citizens who are deemed a threat to national security.  The real conspiracy is the network’s response following the episode.   The episode which originally aired on November 12 has since been erased.  There is no mention of it on TruTV’s website any longer.  It has not been re-aired on the network, has been removed from the second season episode list, and the show itself and all bonus clips associated with the episode are gone from TruTV’s website.  Simply erased.

Radio host Alex Jones was on that episode with Ventura and the cast.  People associated with the program have acknowledged that unnamed powerful people did not want this revealing episode to air, according to Alex Jones.  Executive producer of the show, Michael Braverman admits “that he had information that there were powerful forces that wanted the show off the air”.   It was also reported that “men in suits” were seen going through Ventura’s trash.  Alex contacted Ventura who stated he was aware that “Police State” had been pulled due to pressure from within the government.

Some people believe that the network and allegedly, the government’s reaction to it may be an indicator that Ventura got a little too close to the truth.  It is like a real life X-Files story.  There is proposed legislation, H.R. 645 that would authorize FEMA centers.  The measure also lists a provision that the camps can be set up to “to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security” and is the main impetus behind the conspiracy theory.  However, the bill was never voted on and has not been re-introduced in the new Congressional session.  Despite that, the conspiracy theories around FEMA camps lives on.

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A new TSA screening procedure, introduced late last year, has continued to outrage Americans over what some suggest is a violation of civil liberties.  Disgruntled passengers have been sharing their stories of humiliation and lawmakers are starting to hear the complaints.

The new body scanners have also been referred to as “porno scanners”, because the images displayed reveal the passenger as nude.  These body scanners have caused many people to feel concerned over privacy issues.  Transportation Security Administration states that the scanned images are blurry and black and white.  They report that the images are never saved.  However, the body scanners are able to save and send pictures. There are also health concerns.  The body scanners deliver a low level of radiation to passengers.  It is believed that they deliver 20 times more radiation than what was originally reported.  Although the chance of developing skin cancer from the body scanner is very low, it would be higher in children and people with gene mutations.  There are currently 134 body scanners at 38 airports in the United States.  This year, TSA expects to add 1,000 additional units at airports all over the country.

For those that opt out of the scanner or for health reasons cannot use the scanner, the individuals must submit to an “enhanced pat-down.”  These pat-downs seem worse than the porno scanners.  TSA agents run their hands up and down passengers’ legs and into the groin area.  Women’s breasts are pinched and groped.  Those are the techniques that TSA admits to.  Passengers claim that some TSA agents actually put their hand down individuals’ pants.  TSA claims that same-sex agents take a passenger into a private screening room for the pat-downs but many passengers say this isn’t true.

Lawmakers have been reacting to the public outrage.  In New Hampshire, a Republican state representative has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to touch or view someone’s private parts without their consent.  In California, the district attorney in San Mateo County, Steve Wagstaffe, has stated he would take any complaints about the enhanced pat-down seriously.  Wagstaffe has said that if his office receives any complaints about the screeners touching in an inappropriate way with “sexual or lewd intent,” he will prosecute.  There have been other local and state efforts that have gotten nowhere.

TSA maintains that the procedures are necessary. A statement from TSA chief John Pistole said, “All pat-downs are done professionally and are designed to detect hidden explosives that could bring down a plane. Only a small percentage of passengers end up needing them. Pat-downs have long been one of the many security measures TSA and virtually every other nation has used in its risk-based approach to help detect hidden and dangerous items.”

The body scanners are also used on children.  Last year, a 12 year old girl was leaving Tampa with a friend and her friend’s parents.  The body scanner was used on her.  The girl was traumatized when she returned to her home in Baltimore.  In England, the body scanners are not allowed to be used on passengers under the age of 18 because it violates child pornography laws.  Many sexual assault victims also have a difficult time flying any more.  They must choose between allowing a person to see them naked or be pinched, groped, or prodded.  The extra security is not working either.  Just recently, a Jet Blue passenger was allowed to go through security with three box-cutters in his carryon luggage.  That is right, box cutters—the very weapon used during the 9/11 hijacking.

TSA is violating passengers for no apparent reason.  It doesn’t make us safer.  It may provide the illusion that we are safer but in the long run, we are not.

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We are all familiar with the white lines that can be seen criss-crossing the sky on most clear days.  Air traffic has long left behind their white mark.  Conventional wisdom is that condensed and frozen airplane exhaust account for the trails, known as contrails.  But, many people believe that some of the trails are not typical airplane exhaust but something more sinister known as chemtrails.  And even if you dismiss the chemtrail argument, there has been much more lines in the sky since the 1970’s.  And that isn’t good news either.

The chemtrail conspiracy theory purports that some trails that are left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for an unknown purpose by the government.  The existence of chemtrails has repeatedly been denied by government agencies and scientists around the world who maintain the trails are just contrails.  The United States Air Force insists that the theory is a hoax which “has been investigated and refuted by many established and accredited universities, scientific organizations, and major media publications”.

Supporters of chemtrail theory have different ideas about why the chemicals are being sprayed.  Some speculate that the purpose of the chemical release may be for solar radiation management, population control, weather control, or biological warfare/chemical warfare and claim that these trails are causing respiratory illnesses and other health problems.  Proponents of the chemtrail theory say that chemtrails can be distinguished from contrails by their long duration, asserting that the chemtrails are those trails left by aircraft that persist for as much as a half day or transform into cirrus-like clouds.  According to the U.S. Air force, contrails are the result of normal emissions of water vapor from piston engines and jet engines at high altitudes in which the water vapor condenses into a visible cloud. The rate at which contrails disperse depends on weather conditions and altitude.  In very humid conditions, the contrail may last a while.  If the air is dry, the contrail will scatter quickly.

In 2001, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a measure that would have permanently prohibited the basing of weapons in space, and he listed chemtrails as one of a number of exotic weapons that would be banned.  The bill died in committee and no further mention of chemtrails appeared in Kucinich’s subsequent attempts to enact a Space Preservation Act.

Scientists believe that contrails have increased since the 1970s, primarily because of a change in the atmospheric pressure pattern known as the Arctic Oscillation. It influences weather in northern, middle and high latitudes.  Climatologists suggest that the change may be related to global warming.

Whether the white lines of cloud are chemtrails or contrails, the increasing number is something to be worried about.  If our own government doesn’t kill us, then our own pollution will.

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A new study published in JAMA investigated the harmful effects of cell phones on the brain.  The conclusion is less than clear.  People have been debating the effects of cell phones since they were first introduced.  There have been scientists and citizens who feel cell phones pose a significant threat.  There are also those who believe we have other things to worry about.

Investigators from the National Institute of Health conducted a study on 47 healthy adults.  The researchers put cell phones to both ears and conducted PET scans of the brain (an imaging technique that measures metabolic activity in the form of glucose consumption) with both phones deactivated, and with the phone adjacent to the right ear activated, in random sequence. Activation of the right cell phone was in mute mode so that participants were blinded to the intervention.

The study found three key points which will do nothing to resolve the cell phone controversy, at least for now.  First, researchers found that whole brain metabolic activity was unaffected by cell phone activation. Second, brain metabolic activity directly adjacent to an activated cell phone was significantly increased. And third, the researchers have no idea what, if any, clinical significance this has.

It is interesting that brain metabolic activity increases with a cell phone but it is not known if that is bad or not.  It is well known that radio-frequency waves penetrate human bodies, and we now know they activate brain activity, but there is no clear evidence they harm us in the process.   The published data, based on many studies and observations in hundreds of thousands of people, remain open to interpretation. One study in the Netherlands examined the issue in over 400,000 people, and found no evidence of harm.  A meta-analysis in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, however, concluded there was possible evidence of increased risk of brain tumors from extended cell phone use demonstrated in studies least subject to bias. Of course cell phones have only been used by a large portion of the population for a decade or two, so certainly more long-term research is needed.

For now, I guess, the cell phone debate will continue with the microwave debate.  All those radioactive waves may turn us into the Hulk someday.  Or maybe not.

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This year marks the ten year anniversary of the horrific events that have come to be known collectively as “9-11.”  On September 11, 2001- the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil was carried out.  The official story, which emerged rather quickly, was that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were the masterminds behind the attacks.  It seemed to make sense and the explanation allowed Americans to have someone to blame.

In the months following the attacks, more questions about the official explanation began to appear.  The 9-11 “truthers,” as they are often called, range from those that believe the government knew about the impending attacks and chose to ignore it to those that believe the attacks were an inside job, with the U.S. government carrying out the attacks in order to justify a war in the Middle East.  The attacks also allowed the Bush administration to decrease civil liberties by passing legislation such as “The Patriot Act” and, more than likely, helped Bush win a second term.

Truthers point to a variety of different events on that day that they believe is reason to be skeptical about the official story.  They note that the Pentagon attack happened over an hour after the attack on New York City and point out that there was no response from Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away.  Hani Hanjour, the supposed pilot of that plane, failed as a Cessna pilot on his first flight in a Boeing but was somehow able to execute a difficult aerobatic maneuver to strike the Pentagon.  The attack on the Pentagon hit the just-renovated side, which was largely empty and opposite from the high command. There is also considerable debate on the famed flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.  Many family members and loved ones received last minute phone calls from passengers on that plane.  Did cell phones work on planes in 2001?  I tried to turn on my cell phone many years later on a plane and it did not work.  The scattering of debris found over the field has always suggested that the plane was shot down, not driven into the ground.  Truthers maintain that the buildings in New York City were brought down by controlled demolition and not by the planes that crashed into the buildings.  Even the staunchest believer in the official story questions why building #7 was destroyed, even though it was not hit by a plane that fateful day.

Although, there are plenty of other questions and inconsistencies that truthers point out when debating 9-11, those are the major arguments.  The government has attempted to define the 9-11 truthers as part of a fringe movement, but a large part of Americans have some doubt of the official story.  The truth movement has websites devoted to the conspiracy, books, and movies.  One famous documentary about 9-11, Loose Change , is highly critical of the official explanation and offers a thorough critique of the official explanation.  The movie, in its entirety, can be viewed on YouTube.

Whether you believe that bin Laden was responsible or not, questions surrounding the tragedy should not be dismissed or taken lightly.  Our country often attempts to vilify anyone who questions the government or official explanations.  But, it shouldn’t be that way.  We should not blindly follow any person or any explanation, because we are not sheep.  And if history has taught us anything, government is not infallible and has committed much more evil acts than what 9-11 truthers believer.

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