Frank nodded murmuring, "Sometimes truth is presented to us in the most unlikely of scenarios. Those who've spent their days with the trivial materialistic banalities of life, are deadened and their consciences are seared. They are absent any deep knowledge of the ancients. An elaborate hoax has been perpetuated, where humans are bred and raised, to believe they lead existences as if nothing has happened (or is happening). You see it's a battle of the wills. To set the people free, whose minds are enslaved, you must first break free from the boundaries within your own mind."

"It is imperative that that the masses be kept distracted and warring amongst themselves thus oblivious to the truth. Life in the Matrix is not real life. There is a supreme negative intelligence running the Matrix. It outsmarts people into thinking they are living life and getting ahead (successful in the Matrix) when they are really asleep, dying and lying dormant in the vat with the life being sucked out of them. In the movie this life is human electromagnetic energy - in the real world that 'life' is our spiritual energy - our very souls. Look around at the trash that passes for news and a generation of youngsters unable to read, having no reference to history, totally absorbed in a world of technological games of violence and mayhem. Where are the philosophers, the great thinkers, the artists, poets, writers or great symphonies of our age? Our factories and mills, and great auto centers, lie echoing and rusting, as the populous dons prison uniform, Home Depot aprons and Wal-Mart blazers to earn a living.

"Why create this illusion? This could be due to several reasons: Humans no longer wanting a physical world prefer to live in the Matrix, thinking they are creating a perfect world, since they can't cope with the physical world they live in. They prefer the blue pill, and thus remain forever asleep and unaware of their great potential and power. You will recall in the movie that during the war between the machines (our technological age) the humans torched the sky and blacked out the sun. This I fear will soon be upon us."

As I left the Villa and passed various gentrified restaurants and theaters: I noted the patrons in the Sport's Bar (yuppies) in their numbered football jerseys, screaming at the huge plasma screen that covered one wall. Next door, theater goers were wining and dining in elegance - back from their hectic money making on Wall Street. The street was hushed in a golden glow from the newly erected antique lampposts, as a few of the homeless gathered together for warmth in the pocket park. The benches had all been removed to discourage any sleeping or respite for those outside the city gates. I felt like an alien, a keeper of a great secret, that none would believe. Entering the darkened parking garage I recalled the words from Jeremiah: "I set watchmen over you saying 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet'." I was familiar enough with Scripture to know that God sets watchmen on the walls of a nation when there's impending danger - to announce that the enemy is coming.

I didn't see Frank for the next few weeks. When I finally happened on him at the soup kitchen. He was distraught that his glasses had been smashed by a bunch of bored rich kids, in the McDonald's parking lot, scattering his important papers and stomping on his glasses. I spent the next week contacting various agencies to see if I could secure help in replacing them. As usual, these places which received tens of thousands in government monies (grants) were of no help. I ended up taking Frank to Pearle Vision to replace them myself. Frank it must be understood had extremely bad eyesight. His glasses resembled the bottom of a coke bottle. With his matted hair/beard, and three layers of clothing, held together by a rope belt, he was a sight to behold in the perfectly appointed waiting room. Patrons ahead of us immediately moved to the far side of the room. The doctor was at first hesitant to examine Frank fearing that this "seeming" wild man might attack him. When I took him aside and explained the situation he was nice enough to deduct $100.00 from the cost.

I caught up with Frank the next Friday night at the Villa. Fridays were particularly hectic and the place was packed. Teresa was begging for quarters for the juke box. I handed her two dollars worth. Joe had left his easy chair and was playing cards with a bunch of WWII veterans, while Martha slouched in a corner with her Bible kept muttering, "The end is near, you're all bound for hell." I joined Frank in a back corner where he sat alone going over his maps and news articles. He seemed agitated and ignored me for the first hour. Finally he pushed some clippings towards me and said, "Read these." It was a clipping from the Wall Street Journal, dated November 13, 1997. It stated,

I sat there thinking of the hurricanes of monumental proportions we've witnessed these past years. Before 1987, there was only one disaster, the cost of which exceeded $ billion in insured losses. Since 1987, however, numerous others have occurred, including the Tsunami (Indonesia), Katrina, floods in Europe, and massive ice/snow storms. When in doubt I always refer to the tried and true, "follow the money."

With Katrina, much valuable real estate was freed up for speculators, and the future drilling of gas and oil. Katrina was the costliest and deadliest hurricane in the history of the U.S. (estimated $81.2 billion). I remember quite distinctly, that when President Bush arrived in devastated (it looked like Hiroshima) Mississippi (homes hundreds of years old disappeared), his first remark was: "This is the most powerful weapon I've seen." I recall thinking - what an odd remark to make in reference to what is reported as a 'natural disaster.'

Not widely reported, except for the Wall Street Journal, Sept 8, 2005, was the fact, that it was mostly African - American neighborhoods of New Orleans that were under water, with their inhabitants (those who survived), scattered across the country. The article went on to report that the predominately white and affluent area streets were dry. Private security guards (Blackwater) were dispatched to keep the homes safe. I found it particularly interesting, in the midst of such suffering and death, that the elite who'd stayed behind remarked, "Now New Orleans is ready to be rebuilt - the city won't simply restore the old order. The new city must be very different with better services and fewer poor people."

The valuable coastline of Mississippi, meantime, was peopled with the working poor and the shanty towns of African - Americans. The first thing that the Mississippi legislature did, under the direction of Governor Haley Barbor, was to enact "emergency legislation" that would permit the riverboat casinos to move on shore. These were the first buildings constructed in the new Gulf gentrification.

Sipping on my beer, and supplying Teresa with more quarters to keep her happy, I could relate to the quandary that Frank found himself in - and perhaps the reasons for his supposed mental breakdown? Who would believe an evil of such diabolical proportions, that would render hundreds of thousands of people homeless (or dead) for the sake of an agenda that saw a gentrified sustainable Utopia (absent the poor - useless eaters)? Who would believe, that in the quest for ever greater regions, holding valuable resources, that whole populations would be washed out to sea?

As Frank rummaged through his briefcase (absent a handle) for a pamphlet from the UN; I gazed around at the roomful of shipwrecked humanity that surrounded me. Martha was snoring with her Bible held tight in her chapped hands, while the pinball machine, with its carnival lights and bells, sounded the trumpet that the "end is near." The cheap string of multi-colored Christmas lights, strung behind the bar, had the appearance of a spider on crack, who'd tried in his muddled mind, to weave some cheer for those in steerage. Teresa was swaying back and forth, twisting her stringy blond hair, singing along with Patsy Cline, "If I could see the world through the eyes of a child what a wonderful world this would be - There'd be no trouble no strife just a big happy life with a bluebird in every tree."

Frank pushed a torn, coffee stained pamphlet titled, "Basic Facts About the United Nations - 1994" across the table and said, "Read this little gem." On the inside of the front cover the pamphlet enthusiastically recounted some of the agreements the UN had negotiated with nations of the world, so that we might have a better world to live in! Under '1977' the UN Treaty listed as its second noteworthy accomplishment, The Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques. It stated, "The ENMOD Convention prohibits the use of techniques that would have widespread long - lasting or severe effects through deliberated manipulation of natural processes and cause such phenomena such as earthquakes, tidal waves, and changes in climate and weather patterns."

I sat there reflecting on how we all know how seriously any treaties /agreements the UN enacts (ha) are adhered to; besides the fact, that this treaty does not forbid political leaders from using these Weather Warfare weapons against their own people! Coming outside the narrow realm of our own thinking, and pushing aside the barriers to sane rational reasoning, its not hard to imagine that all this media hype (Inconvenient Truth) of a global catastrophic meltdown, and increasing storms, would be blamed on a polluting world etc. (not that pollution isn't a big problem - mostly by corporations and our defense department). It certainly (these unheard of catastrophic storms) would help to depopulate whole countries and displace multitudes. Ah - but who in the Matrix would believe?

I pulled out a book from amongst his pile called The Coming Global Superstorm. Frank chuckled and said "The propaganda has been set in place for years. Here you have a warning by these two nut cases ( Strieber - Bell) writing a scary and convincing message of how humankind has so polluted the environment that the world's weather is about to react by taking a 'ferocious' turn. It reads like an Orson Wells - War of the Worlds, only we're fighting the weather instead of Martians. They present an 'imagined' sequence for a catastrophe - threatening a possible 'extinction event' for humans or at least for a great number of them. There are some who would like to see the world population culled of 4 billion + useless cattle, so as to make things more manageable."

The news clipping Frank used as a booker was a "prophetic" warning from Ruth Montgomery, an occultist, besides being the past President of the prestigious Press Club - it read: "This global catastrophe, the Guides claim, will cleanse the earth of pollution and evil people and will usher in the long awaited New Age of a thousand years of peace."

Frank explained that there were many adherents (especially in high places) to a New Age and a New World Order, in which an imagined paradise will be restored. "Over and over," he went on, "In New Age literature you see the repeated theme that balance can only be achieved through a dramatic destruction of the offending civilization; but once the old civilization (minus the chosen few of course) is gone, balance can be restored."

Frank rummaged through a pile of emails that he'd received at the library, where he spent a great deal of time. "Look at this hogwash they're sending around trying to prepare people for some nonsense of 'The Thing from Outer Space: Please prepare yourselves for unimaginable destruction in the weeks ahead. We have a sort of tsunami approaching us, and the impact on the infrastructure is inestimable. It's not a death cloud, it's more like a band of energy. In terms of visibility, you will see the effect translated into stormy weather. The sun will also darken, giving the impression that less light is reaching the earth, whereas we will be experiencing the consequences of solar winds. Satellite transmissions will also begin to suffer. Nobody knows if some areas will be more severely hit than others? We're trying to think in terms of something equivalent to hundreds of hurricanes racing along the surface of the earth simultaneously.' "

We sat there quietly watching the patrons at the bar, oblivious to anything outside the needs of their daily lives (as most people). Frank whispered, "They'll have their tsunami but it won't be from outer space." I replied, "Frank, who would believe us - who is there to tell? Neither one of us knows or has any connections to anyone of influence. Heck Frank, look around us, who would suspect that we have been shown the future?" Frank laughed and said, "Let's celebrate our anonymity - how about buying me a big mug of ice cold draft beer?" This was auspicious as Frank never drank. The hours passed as we sat there in the warmth and laughter of those we felt most at home with.

There were no masked people in this place, and besides Martha, no airs of pretentiousness or superiority. Frank sipped his beer and sighed, "There's nothing to do - people are not ready to be unplugged as they've become so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.

When this cataclysmic event has ended Zion is where the party will be - the last human city deep underground, near the core, you might even see it." I sat there thinking of the massive bunkers that had been built over the years, costing multi billions for the continuance of government (COG) - and couldn't help thinking that the bastards who meant to create this Global Tsunami meant to keep themselves well protected, as the earth was "cleansed of pollution and evil people." How ironic I mused - if instead they find that they've built their own elegant tombs?

It must have been close to midnight when the winds started. There was an eerie howl as if some wounded demon had been unleashed from hell. The place grew strangely silent as we watched the restaurant signs being blown down the street --- the lights flickered, with the melancholy lament of Patsy Cline the only sound to be heard........I'm looking for that lonely street, I've got a sad, sad tale to tell, I need a place a place to go and weep.........Frank grabbed me by the hand and - We sat

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