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Bush's War & High Fuel Prices

Bush made a TOTAL mess for the next president to resolve, if he can. We're still in Iraq because, after creating that mess and wasting hundreds of billions of dollars, Bush had no clue How to get out of Iraq! So, he's leaving it for the next guy who will be blamed for Bush's mess.

The Iraqi War is also to blame for most of our domestic higher prices. It's made flying and traveling expensive and extremely inconvenient. It's made nearly all prices for everything much higher. All due to higher oil prices. The terrorists of 9-11 succeeded in their goal--they've lowered the quality of life in America dramatically. Many Americans won't admit to that.

On the one hand, we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Homeland Security, paying higher prices for everything, and going through all the hassles of traveling...as a result of 9-11. On the other hand, we're paying billions to continue to help fund terrorist acts such as 9-11. How does that make any sense at all? Come on, Americans, get your heads out of those dark holes between your waist and your knees!

Many Americans also won't admit that we're actually helping to fund terrorism everywhere. We contribute the most. How? Every time we fill up on fuel for our vehicles, each time we fly, each time we demand more goods to be delivered. High oil prices is forcing us to pay high prices for everything. We grumble and moan about it but WE DON'T LOWER OUR DEMAND for the oil. We are insatiable and we won't settle for less. OPEC counts on our major contribution to their bank accounts and Americans are determined not to let them down.

How's that for food for thought? Americans should wake up and see things as they are. Stop wasting so much fuel. Our lifestyle is that of a totally spoiled nation. We demand our luxuries and we waste so much of our resources. Our lifestyle is bad for the economy and bad for the environment. But we just are NOT willing to do what we need to do. We need to take stock of our own individual waste and we need to demand our politicians begin NOW--TODAY--to do what they need to do to clean up our act! Our politicians will do nothing significant or constructive unless we demand it. And we won't demand it if it will mean we'll have to give up our wasteful ways or at least cut down on it significantly.

So, fellow Americans, stop complaining about high prices. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Our Cities are Deathtraps! Our children's futures are in serious jeopardy!

Why are they Deathtraps? Because nearly every city worldwide is built in a geologically unstable location. Oh, it may be stable for decades, or even centuries. But we KNOW that sooner or later, a devastating recurring natural event will occur--earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes, fires and wildfires, etc. And yet, we continue to expand these cities year after year. We continue to pack in even more people year after year. We create huge skyscrapers to squeeze in ever more people. Cities are the epitome of high density living.

We consider cities to be exciting and vibrant places to live. Should the natural disaster occur, thousands--hundreds of thousands or even millions--of people will die with no quick and easy way to leave the cities. Cities are built to take in thousands and thousands of people. They are NOT built or planned to allow fast and easy egress from the cities. Skyscrapers in the cities are another layer of the deathtraps. People will pay up to millions of dollars to live in uppermost floors of these skyscrapers. When a disaster strikes, they will be even more vulnerable than those at ground level if that's possible.

Why do humans put themselves in jeopardy daily and on a routine basis? Top reason: Denial. Second reason: They expect their government at all levels will "take care" of them if anything happens. Third reason: Natural disastrous events may have a long-term recurring period so they feel "safe." Fourth reason: They're feeding their enormous egos. These people put themselves in jeopardy, knowing the liklihood of a disastrous event, and these people will cry the loudest when disaster does strike. They will expect everyone everywhere to have sympathy and provide all the help and support they most definitely will need if they survive.

Because, people, these natural events WILL happen. It isn't merely Probable; it's a Certainty. The only uncertainty is: When will it happen? What happens in our cities will affect everyone everywhere.

We, as a specie, continually put ourselves and our futures in jeopardy. We feel that everything we do is an Acceptable Risk as long as our actions provide us with pleasure and comfort...today. Acceptable, that is, until it happens. Then we react as though we were blindsided. We ask, Why didn't our government foresee this? Why didn't our government provide more security? Why doesn't our government provide more help? We put the blame for our huge misfortune upon everyone and everything else. Even then, we Do Not accept the responsibility for our predicament on ourselves. WE PUT OURSELVES IN JEOPARDY with the expectation that someone else (everyone else?) will solve our problems.

For instance Climate Change aka Global Warming. We ALL KNOW that humankind is hurrying it along. True, it's a naturally recurring event in the Earth's history. But the Earth takes hundreds and thousands of years, sometimes millions of years, to phase in and out of these global events. In this particular instance, our human actions are accelerating the change. Humans have very very short lifespans; we may very likely Not Survive a global climate change. But, in spite of all the warnings and information, we are individually doing extremely little or nothing to at least try to avert or slow down this change. We do not want to give up our voracious use of all natural resources. We do not want to change our lifestyle to the extent we need to. We'll do a teeny tiny negligible bit and be proud of our personal effort. We assume and expect our governments can and will do the rest. We will not admit to ourselves that our "governments" are merely people just like us, who think just like us. We pass off our personal responsibility. We expect that someone else will "do something."

We'll buy a vehicle with a higher gas mileage, we'll put in a solar water heater, we'll recycle our glass and paper waste. Then we sit back on our collective asses and pat ourselves on our backs, proud of our effort. This doesn't help at all. Why not? Because when we have a fuel-efficient vehicle, we just drive more. When we have solar energy providing our power, we'll just use even more energy. We will NOT practice true beneficial lifestyle changes. We will NOT give up our electronic toys, our ego-boosting acquisition of material goods, we will not lessen our production of waste. In every area, we voraciously consume any and all natural resources. Our population growth rate negates any minor efforts we individually practice. We will NOT adjust our lifestyles to any significant degree.

We continue to create and consume even more toxic waste. We continue to clear our forests on a devastating scale--the forests that play a major role in providing all life with oxygen. We see and live the signs of climate change--more intense storms and weather patterns. We ignore them. We tell ourselves it's only temporary. If it gets worse, the government will do "something." We won't give up our vehicles. We will not cut down on our waste. We will not cut down on our use of any natural resource. Instead, we continue to burn energy at unprecedented levels. We continue to create, produce, and consume products that are toxic to our environment; that contributes to greenhouse gasses such as many if not all of our electronic gadgets, tools, and toys. Just consider all of the batteries we consume every day for each and all of our electronic stuff. We call it progress. We call it fun. And we continue to want ever more of them.

The environmental quality is steadily and rapidly deteriorating. We see and experience the weather changes, we are constantly reminded that our actions are driving climate change to accelerate ever faster every year everywhere! We, all of us, still refuse to alter our lifestyles to the degree we need to slow and adapt to climate change.

Being specific, our most pressing and serious problem is our uncontrolled and irresponsible population growth! Our ever-burgeoning population worldwide increases our depletion of natural resources exponentially. We profess to love "our children" and yet we're doing everything we can to ensure they have no habitable world and quality lifestyle in which to live their lives. We're causing the problems they'll need to face and solve. We tell ourselves that environmental groups will not "let" "It" happen and we go on our merry though extreme wasteful lifestyles way. How can Anyone say they love their children and not do anything? How can anyone today say that children are precious and our hope for the future? We're creating tremendous and extremely serious problems for them to solve in order to maintain our "quality" lifestyle today. As parents and responsible people, we are not living up to our responsibilities and our promises. Many of us, too many, are not even admitting that there are problems and that we are the creators of those problems.

I am so disappointed in the human race. We do not practice what we preach.

In the end: We will reap the disastrous and well-deserved results of our actions and lack of action today. But we are asking our children to pay for our lack of responsibility. Shame on us!

Save The Honey Bees!

Yet another problem created by the human species. Honey bees that have survived and pollinated our plants are disappearing and haven been for nearly 30 years! Scientists predict that in the U.S. alone by the year 2035, there will be no more honey bees if we can't find out how to stop their dying en mass at their current rate. Honey bees makes possible 30% of all the food we eat. If we can't find a way to stop CCD (colony collapse disease), our grandchildren and all the children thereafter will never know what a fruit tastes like, may never see many of the flowers and trees we enjoy today.

The scientists around the world don't know the exact causes of CCD. But I can put forward a very probable and likely cause--human pollution of the environment, our huge numbers forcing farmers to expand food production in quantities to feed the ever-growing population. In some areas of the world, there are no more bees--where bees have become extinct due to heavy uses of chemicals to produce more food.

Some of the proposals to help solve this problem involve genetic engineering to produce more hearty and disease-resistant bees. From my point of view, that may just be a short-term fix for this huge problem. Genetically engineered bees could cause even more unseen and possible more serious problems for human food production. One such huge failure was the creation of the Africanized Honey Bees.

This huge and serious problem I feel is a direct result of human activity and our insatiable appetite for ever more of everything. In trying to fill this demand, famers, ranchers, manufacturers, corporations, and governments will do anything and everything they can--without doing extensive research in the possible consequences of their actions. It seems that people are only interested in what works "right now" with no thought of what the end result could be. Reference: DDT and other chemicals used in the production of food.

We humans seem to do things just because we can; with no thought of what the long-term consequences may be. Our attitude seems to be: If it causes a problem down the road, we'll work on the problem at that time.

Is it any wonder that my low opinion of human endeavors seem to drop ever lower? All of the hallmarks of our "high quality of life" today have caused, are causing, and will continue to cause all of the problems we have today. We are not satisfied with hastening severe climate changes, we're attacking our very survival from all fronts: we're destroying our oxygen-producing forests around the world, we're killing all of our wildlife by destroying the environment they need to survive, we're not slowing down in pollution of the air we breathe or the water we drink. It seems that humans are commiting mass suicide just by the nature of our wants and desires and our lifestyles.

Presidential candidate Obama proposes establishing $150B over 10 years dedicated toward the problem of global warming/climate change. I say, ONLY $150B? Bush spent IN EXCESS of $800B in just a few years on the war in Iraq!!!!!! Over $800B with no beneficial result whatsoever and no honorable end in sight!!!!!!!!!

C'mon, people of the U.S., wake up and look at what we're doing! Don't count on the politicians to solve our numerous and serious problems. Politicians do nothing that doesn't benefit themselves. The american public needs to become more active and vocal in getting their political representatives off their butts and actually earning their pay.

Our superficially 2-party system is a fallacy; we actually have just a 1-party system. Democrats say that Republicans cater to the wealthy and the corporations. Republicans say that Democrats create too many welfare programs. In reality and actuality, each party depends on the other party to do their part to keep the money pouring in. The Republicans' job is to keep the wealthy happy enough to contribute hugely to their campaigns to remain in office. The Democrats' job is to do just enough "welfare work" to keep the working class and poor happy enough to go on working. Neither R nor D really care enough to do what's right for humanity. Their job is to keep the money pouring in today and damn the future! If their inaction today creates serious problems in the future, then, in their minds, "let the future politicians" solve those problems.

All of the billions of words mouthed by the candidates, the parties, the media, the voters during each election year...all of those words mean absolutely nothing! Nothing they promise ever comes to fruition. They may make teeny tiny dents in their promises but that's as far as it ever goes except in those instances where the american public really gets pissed off on a particular issue. Then the politicians respond with just enough action to placate the public...but only temporarily. The politicians never actually really solve any problems.

I am so disappointed in humans and human nature. I am especially disappointed in americans. What they say and what they actually do are so vastly different.

Do we know what we're doing?

I'm watching a documentary on TV about alternative energy sources. In this show, they focus on two possible sources of energy to feed our insatiable demand for ever more energy to power all of our needs and desires for pleasure and comfort. These two sources are: the oceans of the world and in particular, the Gulf Stream; and geothermal energy.

Scientists, researchers, and governments (in this instance, the USA) are actively working on these "solutions." We may be able to do it...but SHOULD we do it just because we can? In this show, I don't see them addressing the very real dangers to our world that could be the end result of their solutions.

The Gulf Stream is one of the most important entity on our planet. It plays a very major and necessary role in helping to keep our climate stable to enable us to survive liveable temperatures and to grow our foods. They discuss all of the problems of building, placing, and using giant turbines at the bottom of the ocean to use the power of the Gulf Stream to provide huge amounts of electricity for human use. They don't discuss or address the possible long-term impact this project may do to the Gulf Stream. We are already messing with the Gulf Stream's ability to be viable through our hastening of global warming.

As for geothermal energy, that would eventually provide a "renewable" clean energy source that could provide us with energy for thousands of years, they believe. However, this would involve drilling very very deep holes (in pairs: one to take water down, one to bring steam up) into the earth's crust. Maybe this may seem like just a tiny pinprick into the earth but they've already experienced the creation of small earthquakes in the proximity of these geothermal plants. One spokesman states that that's no problem. If "we created them, we can stop them." Oh, really?? We are all-powerful, are we?

Now consider this, if the few plants they build are successful, what do you suppose will happen? Eventually, there will be millions of these plants all over the world with millions and millions of holes dug deep into the Earth's crust. Do they not think or even consider what that would do to our Earth's crust? A few shouldn't hurt except maybe the people in the immediate vicinity of these plants where the earthquake events would increase and possibly over time increase in intensity as well. What would happen with multi-millions of these extremely deep holes throughout our crust? We already experience approximately half a million earthquakes a year around the world. Would we escalate that number to billions? Because, don't kid yourselves, as our population grows exponentially, so will our need for ever more energy.

Why can't our common sense and intelligence grow and keep pace with our increased use of technology? We are like the 2-year-old child who can learn to strike a match but not know of the dire consequences of starting an uncontrolled fire.

These people--scientists, researchers, inventors, governments--are focusing ONLY on finding more energy sources before the oil runs out and...it IS running out.

From my simple layman's mind, logic, and reasoning, I see only 2 viable sources of clean and renewable sources of energy that won't have a negative impact on our world. Those sources are solar and wind. Why don't these people merge all of their separate pet projects and focus on solar energy to begin with? We know it works. We can make it work better and cheaper and cleaner than anything else available to us. We don't know everything we need to know about how our climate works or about plate tectonics to mess with it without causing problems to our environment that we may not know of until it's too late (such as our use of oil and coal).

Our wanton and irresponsible and ignorant use of oil and coal in just the last 150 years have put us in this predicament of global warming. Our mentality has been: we can do it, why not do it? If it causes any problem down the road somewhere, we'll fix it then. The reality is, we created a huge problem with global warming and our efforts to date is negligible in slowing it down or getting anywhere near solving the problem. But we think we can control man-created earthquakes and possibly changing the properties and flow of the Gulf Stream?

We know global warming is causing all the ice of the world--the Antarctic, Greenland, the huge glaciers--that we depend on for our drinking water and maintaining our stable climate to melt, faster and faster EVERY YEAR! And still there is not enough interest to garner serious efforts from the governments and peoples of the world to try to solve this problem of how to slow down and/or eventually stop the melting of our ice!!! Messing with the Gulf Stream and other ocean areas and the Earth's crust worldwide will only add to the already very serious problem we have now. We are not seriously addressing that problem.

People, we are only treading water and are slowly losing ground. Maybe if we begin losing ground faster, we would take all of these problems more seriously. Will we become believers and problem-solvers only when the waters reach our chins????

Need another example of our arrogance? We know that black holes are some of the most powerful energy sources in the universe but we don't know very much else about it. So, what do our scientists want to do? They want to create their own tiny black hole believing they can control it and it won't cause any harm. Just how do they know this when they don't know much about how a black hole works? It's back to our arrogance. If we can do it, why don't we do it? Where is our common sense? Where are our priorities? What needs are we fulfilling that we would risk destroying our world? Are we so bent on satisfying our greed for energy and the goods it can provide our pleasure and luxuries that we would risk commiting genocide, not just for us but for All Life on Earth?

Why are we so arrogantly stupid and greedy to the point of self-destruction? If we're extremely lucky and if we can learn to be a responsible species, maybe, just maybe humankind can last a tiny percent of the time that dinosaurs existed. Why are we so hell-bent on shortening that time by millions of years? Why are we so damned arrogant in our belief that we can control nature? Our experience has shown that we indeed CANNOT control nature. Someone once coined the the phrase: Doing the same thing over and over again with the same (undesired or destructive) results is pure insanity. Are we then insane?

Matters that Break My Heart!

At the top of this list: The cruelty, abuse, and indifference of humanity toward all other animal life. A pathetic few make small efforts to try not to be...myself included. The problem is so huge it overwhelms me. It also severely diminishes my respect, patience, and compassion for humanity. Even indifference toward domestic animals and wildlife breaks my heart. Animals DO NOT deserve our cruelty to them. Life is violent and cruel enough for them and for us. Why do we make it worse?

But we, with our "intelligent" but non-compassionate brains, use and abuse all animals that share this planet with us. We are the only ones who kill for pure pleasure...or greed...or to fulfill or fill some empty need or part of ourselves. We have pets more out of love for ourselves than of love for them. Oh, we love them but we love more what they do for us. They fulfill a need in us that we cannot fill any other way. This is not always beneficial to them.

We use them as prey in hunts. We use them as display in zoos and aquariums to earn money. We use them to exercise our god-like desires in control and genetic engineering in breeding them. We use them in experiments to produce products that benefits only us. We tell ourselves we're helping them, we're conducting research in order to save their species, we're imprisoning them in tiny cages (zoos and aquariums) to educate people in order to save the animals, we force them to live unnatural lives by using them as pets or work animals. We justify all of these inhumane human behaviors in our minds. We pat ourselves on the back for our ineffectual and insignificant efforts on their behalf, we earn money and bolster our egos by forcing them to perform for us for our pleasure. We do not give them the respect they deserve as fellow animals sharing the same planet. We elevate our own needs over the needs of any and all animals.

Second on my List: Humanity's cruelty and irresponsibility to humanity. This is the only world on which we can live. For all we know or will ever know, we are the only living things in the entire huge universe. There may be other life "out there," but for all intents and purposes, we will Never encounter them. Our species, our world and all we know, could very well be long gone long before we ever know for sure.

Why then, in this short existence of life and our planet, do we practice such cruelty and indifference to all life on our planet? Nothing is safe from humans--not anything we can see, hear, touch, smell, or sense. If we can destroy something, we'll find a way to do it and a reason to do it. We'll even destroy other humans. We'll do it all even if it means we are also destroying ourselves. It seems as though our (humans) only reason for being is to be pleasured today in any and every way we can think of.

Why are humans so selfish and blind? We are at our basic level extremely selfish. We put our desires and needs above all other. We even include many of our desires and wants as Needs in order to satisfy our greed for ever more pleasure and material possessions. And to bolster our meager unimportant egos. We pursue and try to fulfill all of our desires in order to give our lives some kind of meaning.

We will NOT accept that Life Has No Meaning. Life just IS. We should enjoy it and share it with all other life. We should not use life in order to satisfy our own insatiable greed for pleasure. All life is here for only a VERY short time. We should learn and strive to make life pleasurable for everyone and everything--not just our own insignificant selves. We are NOT more important that other lifeforms. We are no more nor no less important than the bee that stings us...or the tree that shades us and provides us with the oxygen we need to survive. Why is our Arrogance so apallingly ferocious. Why, above all, do we use our brains to think of and justify our violent and negative actions toward each other and our world?

Third heartbreaker on my List: Humanity's need for dominance over each other and violence toward each other. Our history is filled and overflows with extreme violence. Throughout our entire history, we have killed each other in the hundreds of millions. We garner our identities as individuals and as nations and we garner our heroes from acts of extreme violence! We always have, we always will. Our species is TOO WEAK and we lack the desire and determination to fight this desire.

That's why every nation has a military force. Deep down, we are afraid of each...we want to dominate everyone else. As long as there is a military presence, there WILL NEVER BE PEACE. As long as there is a military presence, we will find reasons and means to have yet another war. There has never been peace among humans. There have only been respites from wars. We use these respites to build up our military and weapons, to wait for the next opportunity to declare war on each other. Our greatest heroes throughout history are the men and women who have been the most efficient or voracious killers. We justify their actions and reasons for all their killing. We call them patriots, defenders of the realm, heroes. But the bottom line is that they were killers, they were prepared and willing to kill on command. That is the ultimate mission of any and all military forces--to kill on command and without question.

Fourth on my List: Humanity's inability or lack of desire, conviction, and honesty to learn to enjoy and share life and this planet without violence. After many thousands of years and with all of our brash talk about it, we are no closer today than we were in the beginning to learning how to live peacefully with everything and everyone. We pride ourselves on all the things we've learned to do and accomplish. BUT, we've failed in the one thing that means anything: We have not learned to live peacefully; we have not learned to stop hurting each other and everything else. In all the thousands of years we've existed, the one thing we've always done best and with great gusto is to DESTROY. What does this tell us about humanity?

Have you wondered about the Meaning of Life?

These as are my personal views and opinions about the Meaning of Life.

First of all, there is NO meaning to life. Life just IS. The Entire Universe is life--everything you see, hear, touch, feel, or smell, animate and inanimate, self-aware or not self-aware. We, everything, are made of the same elements no matter where in the Universe we happen to be or in what form we currently exist.

From the moment of creation in any form, we are already on our way to our next creation into another life form. No one and nothing is exempt from this process--from the largest sun to the tiniest microbe. Every element in this Universe is continually and repeatedly recycled ad infinitum. Our form from one existence to another depends on which elements are mixed together, which compatible elements happen to be in the same place at the same time of recreation.

Being self-aware does not make humans special. Our existence is as temporary as any other existence and we, too, are recycled without exception.

I believe there are trillions of worlds throughout the Universe with life forms that are self-aware. We will never meet them in our present life form. Our current life spans, and theirs, are way too short-lived to make that possible. The distances between worlds with self-aware life prohibits us from ever meeting. Besides, we may not be in the same stage of evolution at any point in time. We are separated not merely by distance but also by time.

There are quadrillions of galaxies out there, maybe even more. Each galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars. Hundreds of millions of those stars have planetary systems. And maybe, on just one planet among those millions of planets, there might be life as we know it though not necessarily self-aware life.

From the moment of creation of each form of life, each is on its way to the next recycling of elements.

For life as we enjoy it today, as humans, about all we can do is to create our own little worlds and try not to hurt anyone or be hurt by anyone in our lives. Our current form is so short-lived, we should not waste any of its time on anything hurtful to us or anyone near us. We should make our own "world" pleasant and loving while we are here and aware. In our next form, we may be water or air...or part of a star...or maybe even a new life form! But chances are, we won't recognize or know anyone in that life that we know in this life.

Life or Nature is not a pleasant peaceful existence. Life itself is a very violent state of being. In order for life to be, we must destroy other life around us, just as the wind and water destroys the rocks and the mountains. Nothing but our basest elements survive each existence. Those elements are our "souls" so to speak. They always exist. They always coalesce and combine with other elements to form yet another wonderful life form. Some people call that reincarnation; others call it evolution. I call it Recycling.

Try not to be myopic. Don't look at this particular existence as the epitome of life. It is not. Each creation, each form is something new and wonderful. All that of which we are aware will undergo the same transformation. That is a certainty. So be kind and tender and loving with all you encounter...plants, animals, rivers, mountains. In your next existence, you may become a part of them or they of you. It therefore makes sense for all of us to treat all we encounter with great respect and care.

This is what I believe: Life has no great meaning. Life just IS. Whether or not we are happy with our present lives depends absolutely on how we live it...on our own decisions and actions...and NOT on anyone or anything else. Enjoy it...but NOT at the expense of anyone else's enjoyment of their own lives.

Maybe if we're good in this stage of our existence, we'll be recycled as part of a Star! Stars are what creates everything necessary for life. They can destroy us...but without them, we could not exist. We cannot exist without the elements they create, the elements that are an intrinsic part of everything that exists, including life. Stars, then, are the epitome of life; not humans. Humans in and of themselves contribute nothing to anything other than ourselves except when our basest elements are reused to create something else. And not because we want to be reused, we just are. Along with everything else, we have no choice in the matter.

In and of ourselves, we are just a hair above insignificant. It is only when we merge with other basic elements do we become useful at all. Have you ever stopped to think about the impact mankind has on our whole environment? We do much more damage than you can imagine. Our beneficial impact on the environment? Almost nil. We use our reasoning and the tenets of a god we created to justify our actions and to absent ourselves from blame for all the destruction we do. That can only mean that, deep within us, we ARE aware of our negative actions. We just don't want to do anything differently.

If anyone can think of or know of ANY beneficial impact mankind has had on our environment--and I don't mean our paltry token half-hearted water-treading efforts of late, please let me know what they are. Because I just can't think of any and I don't know of any...EVER. Could it be that this stage of our existence is the hell or at the very least the purgatory to which all religions refer?

Why are the Earth's governments so proud of the Weapons of Mass Destruction that they invent?????

Haven't they yet realized that these weapons of which they are so proud are MEANT to KILL OTHER HUMANS? Why are we so distrustful of each other? Why do we HATE each other so much that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year to create and maintain ever more of these hateful inventions?

Why can't these governments see that there are so many other extinction dangers that we need to address? Why are they creating even more of them? How can any of them be so PROUD of their own destructive powers? They should, instead, be deeply ASHAMED of themselves for always thinking of ways to kill millions of people with the least effort in the quickest time. This is nothing of which anyone should be proud.

We maintain national military forces for the specific mission of killing thousands and millions of other humans. I don't care how they want to dress it up (patriotism, freedom, etc.)...it is still the MURDER of millions of humans; of humans they don't even know!

Supposedly, we are the most intelligent species ever to walk this planet. Why then aren't we using this intelligence to find ways of living peacefully together...of solving common dangers to the human race? Why are we using this "intelligence" to kill other humans? And for such stupid, stupid reasons: skin color, religion, language, politics, jealousy, greed, ignorance, apathy, arrogance, conceit.

Maybe the Human Race deserves to be the next major species to go extinct. We are certainly trying our best to make sure it happens. It seems we don't want to wait for an asteroid or a comet to hit us...or for the sun to finally die out...or for other natural occurrences to annihilate us. It certainly seems that we want the honor for ourselves. WE want to be the ones to eradicate the human race.

All peace talks between nations never work because each side goes into it with distrust and dislike or even hatred for the other side. So it doesn't matter what anyone says at these talks, no one will agree to anything. These people are playing the "My penis is larger than yours" game. Each side wants to be the Victor; which means someone has to be the Loser. These king-of-the-mountain games never work. That's why Peace Talks never work. The people setting up and attending these Talks already have their minds made up before the Talks are even scheduled. They put on a good show for the press and the public and their respective countries but it's ALL TALK and NO HONOR or ACTION. Each member of the Peace Talks knows before they even leave their countries that they will not agree to anything the other side has to offer.

Sometimes (more often lately) I am so ashamed of being human. It seems, judging from the history of every nation in the world, that as soon as humans realized they could think, the first thing they wanted to do was to kill other humans. We've been doing that ever since then.

I DON'T BELIEVE THAT THE HUMAN RACE HAS THE INTELLIGENCE NOR THE DESIRE TO STOP KILLING HUMANS. We'll probably keep trying (bio-terrorism, nuclear terrorism, economic terrorism, techno-terrorism) until we succeed. No nation is exempt from this utter stupidity. Every government with its own military fosters this stupidity. Call it National Defense, Patriotism, or whatever pretty-sounding words you want to use...it's still the ugly act of the murder of millions of humans.

Our human history shows that there has NEVER BEEN a government who sincerely desired or desires peace or who had the Courage to fight for peace without fighting a war, without killing anyone. Our human mentality and past performances have proven that time and again all the way back to when we began to walk on two feet and began "using" our brain.

Will we ever learn to truly achieve Peace without killing anyone? To have Peace only after killing millions is not truly Peace. It's just the Intermission Between Wars. Humans are Warmongers. True, there is a very small percentage of humans who want Peace. But even they agree that wars must be fought to get Peace. Isn't that the Ultimate Oxymoron?

In the Grand Scheme of All Things, the human lifespan (as individuals and as a species) is so very short-lived. Why do we spend any of that precious time trying to shorten it even more?

...and isn't that a crying shame?!

The Most Dangerous People

The Most Dangerous People in ANY community are Corrupt Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Law Enforcement Agencies--from the local level all the way up to the federal level.

These people are dangerous because they use their public offices and privileges to their own benefit under the guise of "protecting" and "caring" for the general public. It's difficult if not impossible to oust them because they cover for each other. Even the "straight" or "honest" members of these communities will cover for them and this makes them just as culpable.

The general public has no defense against and from them. The people who can and should do something about it don't have the courage nor the moral outrage needed to oust these crooked people. Instead, they turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to these criminals. By doing this, they help in the cover-up of these situations. They help to keep it from public notice. They make it possible for the dishonest and crooked to thrive.

Is there no man or woman in our political or judicial system with enough moral and physical courage to expose these people? Sadly, to date, there is not. Will there ever be? I believe the chances are very low.

Whistle-blowers don't fare well because they don't get the help nor the protection they need and deserve. The so-called "honest" politicians, bureaucrats, and law enforcement people should band together to get these criminals off the public payroll and into prisons.

Aren't there any honest and moral community leaders out there--anywhere?

Post Traumatic Stress or Personality Disorder????

Did you all know or are you aware that the administration and the military are screwing the soldiers in the middle east war just like they screwed the soldiers in Viet Nam?

To discharge any of our soldiers with a medical problem, specifically Post Traumatic Stress, they would have to pay for the soldiers' treatment. To avoid paying any money for this condition, they are discharging thousands of our men and women with a finding of Personality Disorder, a less than honorable discharge and no need to pay for their medical treatment. These soldiers have to pay for their own treatment and most of them cannot.

The administration (Bush) keeps sending our soldiers into battle, using them up, and then throwing them out without any hope for help when they become damaged because of what they experienced. Even those that can somehow qualify for medical "care" by the VA do not receive the best care. Here in the Phoenix area, the VA hospital has been cited more than once for providing substandard care to the vets. I don't doubt it's happening in many of the VA facilities. That's because our government is not providing the VA with what they need to provide quality care.

So, what has Bush been doing with those HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS that he's spent since he started this war against the better judgment of the UN? Why wasn't/isn't there enough to care for our damaged vets...vets who went to Bush's war at his command? Where do you think all that money went? How can anyone spend that much money in just such a short period of time? Scientists estimate there are more than 200 billion stars in the Milky Way. What Bush spent on his war is the equivalent of more than TWO BILLION DOLLARS for each of those stars. Look up at the stars on a clear night and try to comprehend just how much money that is! And the administration cannot and will not use any of it on so many of our vets who really need and deserve the medical care.

Why does anyone still support Bush and his administration? And he's getting away with it. He won't even have to resolve the problems he created. He's leaving office (and we'll all be providing him with the best medical care for himself and his wife for the rest of their lives) and he's leaving the entire mess he created for the next man to clean up. He won't be held accountable for all the damage he's done. He's getting away clean.

And I place some of the blame for his actions and the results of his actions on the people who voted for him and supported him and still support him. Where the hell do they have their heads? Up some dark hole in the lower part of their anatomy where Bush is?

I just had to get this off my chest. It really pisses me off that there's only a little bit of this on the daily news. They spend a lot more time on the ones who come back healthy or physically injured (call them heroes) but the ones with injuries in their mental health are ignored and thrown aside to fend for themselves. When they even deign to mention these vets, the media just glosses over it quickly and get on to the next story...inane superficial stories such as the latest chapter in Britney Spears' life or the Super Bowl. Why aren't they digging deeper into the stories of these unfortunate vets who believed their country and their president would look out for them?

Is this due to administrative policy? I believe so. Bush is arrogant and ambitious. He makes boasts and promises he doesn't keep. He lies. And the American people buy it, accept it, and do nothing about it. Didn't they try to cover up the truth of the death of pro football player Pat Tillman? Then it leaked out that he was killed by "friendly" fire. Or what about the prisoner abuse and torture policy at Abu Ghraib? The administration covers up any stories that would reflect badly on them. Reminiscent of the administration during Viet Nam.

We allow our president to send hundreds of thousands of our young people to war even when there is no viable reason for a war and then to desert them when they need help the most. How many vets were destroyed and swept aside and glossed over and forgotten by the presidency both in Viet Nam and in Iraq and Afghanistan and who knows where else?

Why aren't the American people angry about this? Why aren't the families of our soldiers angry? Why aren't they demanding that Bush and his military own up to their responsibilities and help all of our soldiers at any cost? Why aren't the Commanding Officers, the Generals and other senior officers standing up for their troops? I can only surmise that we no longer have leaders in the military who care about the soldiers and are maybe planning a political career for themselves by being Yes Men for Bush and his cronies.
The war in Iraq is not benefiting the US. It won't matter who runs Iraq when the US and Allies leave. Iraq will just revert to the kind of government they've always had. And all of our dead and injured will have died and suffered for no reason other than to get Bush his 2nd term in office. He has no compassion, no tact, no foresight, and no common sense. He just bulldozes his way through with his white house powers. He's an egomaniac to the extreme. He created a humongous mess in Iraq, then couldn't figure out a way to get out of there with honor, without looking like an ass. So for years, he continues to send more of our young people there, wasting their lives and so much money that could be better used on real world problems such as climate change and the genocide in Darfur. When all the killing and cruelty they see in Bush's war damages their mental health, Bush throws them out without fanfare or a second thought, without compassion and without appreciation for what our soldiers lost. He withholds funds to provide them with the mental health care they deserve and earned. Just ONE BILLION of the SIX HUNDRED FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS that he's spent on his useless war would have been a small price to pay for our vets' service at his behest.

Between an immoral Clinton and numbnuts Bush, I've lost all respect for our presidency and the people who elected each of them TWICE!!!

What is Heaven?

Do you believe in god? Do you believe in heaven? What do you picture in your mind's eye when you see yourself or your loved ones in heaven after they've died? Are you or they running around in white robes with a horde of other people in white robes? Are you and they cavorting around basking in the glow of god's love? Does everyone have wings or are wings reserved for the "special ones?" What do you see beyond that? Are there relationships in heaven? Or is there no need for relationships between people? Do people eat? Is everyone loving and happy and peaceful? Is there no fighting for anything because no one needs anything and everyone loves everyone else? What would that be like, do you suppose? Would that make you happy? Would you like to live that way for all eternity? What would there be to look forward to? More of the same? What does "being with god" really mean? What would it be like?

Maybe heaven is literal. Such as when we look up into the heavens and see all those stars and galaxies and other "heavenly" bodies. It looks peaceful...but it isn't. It's like here on Earth. Look around you. Seems pretty peaceful, doesn't it? Then you watch the evening news...rampant with war and crime stories going on all around the world every day every moment. Then take another look around you...there is conflict everywhere with everyone...those little flashes of irritation, aggravation, impatience, frustration, even anger at times. That's life. That's how it is in our own little world, in our neighborhood, in our state, in our country, on our world. And that's how it is throughout the cosmos.

This is my idea of what heaven is...

Everything in the entire known and unknown universe is made of the same material. This material is made up of many different elements. Each form in the universe consists of different combinations of these elements. All the elements continually reacts with all the other elements they encounter. Elements break down, each has its own lifespan depending on its makeup. After it breaks down, it never disappears. Never. Instead, it mixes and combines with other elements to create new forms. If you can't imagine this, think of all the modern things we've "invented." Plastics, for instance. We used the elements that are available and we mixed them with other elements and we have plastic. It consists of all the same elements but in different combinations. We take cotton balls and silkworms and we make fabric. All of our modern inventions is exactly what's going on throughout the universe...only on a much smaller scale.

I believe that when our current physical body dies, its elements combines with the Earth's elements. For the next hundreds or thousands of years, we will become rocks or sand or water but we will still be a part of the planet. Then in millions or billions of years from now when the Earth itself reaches the end of its lifespan, we will become a part of another form. Maybe it will be as part of the next star or comet or be the seed of another conscious lifeform on another new world. Then for the next millions or billions of years, that's what we'll be.

We will literally become a part of the heavens. We do live on forever. We are in "heaven." We will never be bored. We will continue to Be, continue to evolve. There is no boundary to what we can be or will be. That is all left to chance...to what other elements are present at the time our current elements are ready to be reformed. We may not be reformed into a conscious form but we will be reformed. We will always exist. Nothing in the universe really dies. Nothing disappears into nothingness. The universe wastes nothing.

I believe that this is what awaits us. Evolution for us is to finally become, in actuality, a part of the Bigger Picture. And it doesn't matter whether or not we're good or evil in this tiny and very temporary part of our existence. That's of no consequence in the larger scheme of existence. But it IS important to our current existence. So each of us should just learn to appreciate that during this portion of our existence we are actually conscious of being. And we should make it as nice as we can for all the people in our lives including those we don't know but who also live in our world. We should not waste any of our short existence making life miserable for anyone else. What would be the point? Break everyone down to their base elements and we're all made of the same stuff and that includes plants and animals and rocks and water and anything else you can think of. The only difference is in our appearance. All rocks look different, similar but different.

So, in this sense, life never ends. We will return to heaven...literally. I believe that Carl Sagan was and is right. We ARE the stuff of stars. We ARE related to everything we see and don't see. We ARE a part of everything.

This is my religion. This is what my intelligence and my logic tells me. This is what makes sense. To believe in anything supernatural doesn't make sense. To be supernatural means to be outside and apart from the universe. For me, that cannot be unless there is another, larger universe existing on an even more unbelievable timescale. That would mean there are universes within universes unto infinity. But then, that wouldn't be bad either. It's a heck of a lot better than the idea of heaven and hell which is such a shortsighted and limited way of looking at life. The idea that we either go to hell and burn in agony forever or go to heaven and frolic aimlessly with silly smiles on our faces forever is not very appealing to me. I rather look forward to becoming a part of the Bigger Picture, a part of the beautiful heavens I see whenever I look up into the night skies. I LIKE being a part of all that...now and forever.

Which future would you prefer?