THE YEAR OF ETHICAL CLEANSING

 It's a historic day on the calendar today, so why not write about it at 11:00 a.m. on 11/11/11. I'm exactly 24 minutes late as I write, but I think that's close enough.

Most predictions and opinions concerning 11/11/11 are based on or rooted in its mathematical uniqueness as a number.

11*11*11: There are three possible scenarios:

1. Something good happens— There is absolutely no scientific basis for this belief. There are no known logical premises for this belief. The belief that something good will happen is based solely on spiritualism, faith, and/or innate optimism. This belief is not necessarily a bad thing; we don’t know everything; the probability is not zero.

2. Nothing happens— This is the most likely scenario. Just because an unusual date number sequence occurs doesn’t mean that something extraordinary will happen. Usually it’s a non-event.

3. Something bad happens— There is absolutely no scientific basis for this belief. There are no known logical premises for this belief. The belief that something bad will happen is based solely on pessimism of reality. This belief is not necessarily false; after all, things are generally/usually a mess. The probability is not zero.

What I am about to write is coming from a place that many are coming from today, it's a place of amazement that so many events have taken place this past year that are too coincidental not to acknowledge. First of all you have the more recent event yesterday  of the firing of Joe Paterno as the head football coach  at Penn State University, as a result of his involvement with Jerry Sandusky, the former coach who has been indicted on child sexual abuse charges . Charges related to improper or unethical behavior. As predicted by the Mayan Prophecies, in 2011 we would see the 9th wave of the prophecies, which is all about ETHICS.

Well, whether you are a believer in the prophecies or not, the events of the past year are too coincidental to be ignored.

It started with the "Arab Spring" where dictators accused  of corruption and  unethical behaviour were overthrown.  It began in Egypt and continued throughout the Middle East to Libya. In America it's the Occupy Wall Street Movement, accusing the rich of being greedy, corporations and banks of being corrupt and unethical in their treatment of the 99%.

Just last week, a trusted White House advisor and former governor of New Jersey, John Corzine was accused of unethical behaviour. MF Global collapsed into bankruptcy Monday, and Corzine has since hired a criminal defense attorney amid an FBI investigation into the disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars in client money. MF Global’s implosion, which came after Corzine made a big, risky bet on European debt, revived memories of the 2008 banking crisis and the ruin of the much bigger Lehman.

As Corzine, 64, stepped down as chairman and CEO, he said he felt “great sadness about what has transpired at MF Global.” Corzine, who ran the investment firm Goldman Sachs years before joining MF Global, said his resignation was voluntary and called it “a difficult decision.”

Regulators said more than $600 million in client money is still missing. They said MF Global apparently moved the money out of client accounts within days as the company’s cash dried up.

 He set out to create a mini-Goldman Sachs. In the end, he built a mini-Lehman Brothers.Former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s resignation Friday from the securities firm he led capped a week of high drama and swift failure.

A Canadian billionaire faces a broad assortment of charges including corruption, conspiracy to corrupt and acquiring and transferring criminal property in connection to bribes paid to acquire aluminum-making materials for U.S, aluminum magnate Alcoa Inc.
The FBI is examining whether the firm’s actions amounted to a crime, two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press this week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The New York Post reported that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in New York City is also investigating.

On Oct. 26th A Canadian billionaire with ties to powerful business and world leaders, including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, was arrested in Britain and is facing corruption charges.

Victor Dahdaleh, 68, former president of the Canada-U.K. Chamber of Commerce and a McGill University benefactor, is alleged to have paid bribes to officials of an aluminium company in Bahrain between 2001 and 2005. Police allege that the payments were in connection with contracts with U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa Inc., for supplies of alumina shipped to Aluminium Bahrain, a smelting company with a majority state ownership. Dahdaleh, who was born in Jordan and holds dual Canadian and British citizenships, has denied any wrongdoing."Mr. Dahdaleh believes the investigation into his affairs was flawed and that he has done absolutely nothing wrong," his lawyers said in a statement Tuesday.

"He will be vigorously contesting these charges at every stage, confident in clearing his good name."The U.K. Serious Fraud Office, a British government department responsible for investigating and prosecuting serious and complex fraud, filed the charges against Dahdaleh on Monday. They include corruption, conspiracy to corrupt and acquiring and transferring criminal property.

The agency says in a news release that they launched the investigation in July 2009 with assistance from London Police Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit and in co-operation with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Swiss authorities. Dahdaleh has been released on bail and is to appear in court on Oct. 31.

According to his official website, Dahdaleh is the owner and chairman of Dadco, an investment, manufacturing and trading group with operations around the world. He is the governor of the London School of Economics and sits in the board of trustees of a number of non-profit organizations, including Clinton's foundation, where he's also listed as a donor.

And so it goes on and on and as we approach the end of 2011 there might be more. For want of a better term, 2011 is looking a lot like the year of "ethical cleansing".

And  2012 , according to the Mayan calendar ends on December 21st 2012 – but why are so many people afraid of this date?  What is the big deal?

The end of the Mayan calendar means either the end of the earth or doom for the human race.  The level of cataclysm depends on the person, but the idea is that the end of the Mayan calendar is a bad thing.  The ideas used to support this theory are wide and wild – everything from Nostradamus predictions to the NASA solar maximum warning.  Recent credence includes the increasing instances of natural disasters.

The end of the Mayan calendar means birth and renewal.  There will not necessarily be any kind of “event” – cataclysmic or otherwise.  There will just be a new age for mankind and the earth.  The Mayan writings seem to support this theory the most.  There have been previous ages according to Mayan mythology and there is to be a fifth age beginning at dawn on December 22nd 2012.

I say, let's go with the new age theory, and then perhaps all of this "ethical cleansing" makes sense.

Before you can begin a new belief sysetm you have to let go of an old one. And so both individually and collectively we have to let go of any past actions that have not served us well, and that includes relationshps with people who are not ethical.

I personally have done that, and perhaps you might want to look around you as well, and then see who's hand you want to grasp on the night of December 22nd.