Insulation, Radiant and Vapor Barriers - Cellulose attic insulation

I have virtually no insulation in my attic and I need to tackle this before the cold sets in. I decided to go with the dry blown in cellulose for my attic. There are two issues that I can see right now. First being that there is a mess of wiring in a pile up there. Its not knot and tube wiring, but its not modern romex either, probably 50s to 70s wiring. Its hard to describe, but think of the mess of wiring most houses have behind their entertainment centers (as I sit here in the LR looking at my TV wiring through the cabinet ;) ). Its not tacked down to the rafters, just in a "rat's nest" in the corner.
I have yet to examine it throughly for cuts and splices, but if it is clean, it is OK to blow the insulation over the pile of wiring?
The second question is, I do not have any soffet vents, just the a gable vent on each side. Will I still need to set a barrier between the blown insulation and the roof (where it meets the floor)?

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/insulation/ins_01.html

This website should get you started.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_central/home_clinic/1275281.html

This website illustrates how to get the lower vents in an attic to achieve "Adequate free venting."

As far as the electrical wiring is concerned, you are better off re-wiring before insulating. If you don't and you have a problem with the wiring after insulating, your present problem with wiring would look like nothing in comparison.

There are thousands of houses that have gable ends but no soffit vents that have no problems at all. If you can get the soffit vents in, then all the better.

I would definitely try to figure out the wire situation before you bury them.