No Pollyana

Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, the Bible, et al

2009-01-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

Watching all of the TV documentaries lately concerning dire predictions of mankind's future, I see where all the experts who are analyzing the Bible's Book of Revelations, Nostradamus' Quatrains, and all the other prophesies from the perspective of religion, science, and the occult...they all miss and don't ever refer to, not even once, the Major Reason we are heading into a future full of catastrophic events!

I've seen it coming on for over 20 years now. All of our political, climatological, and social problems stem from Only One Major Source. That source is the uncontrolled, irresponsible, and exponential growth of the worldwide human population. Check out the U.S. and World Population Clocks.

As our population grows, we need more food, more fuel, more of everything. As resources around the world dwindle, we begin to have more conflicts and wars. As the population grows ever faster, we create even more pollution that produce all the greenhouse gases that is accelerating global warming. As the world population grows, all of these problems become more acute.

But there is no one in any position of leadership in any area of our lives (political, religious, social) who has the courage to voice the real problem of overpopulation of our planet. Overpopulation is depleting the resources we need to survive. Overpopulation is the root cause of the coming global warming and climate change. But there is no one with any influence at all who has the Courage to voice and focus on this problem.

For me, one of the most effective thing we can do is to bring our world population growth to a drastic Minus Population Growth Rate. Zero Growth won't help. We need Minus Population Growth for at least 10 years. A period of 20 years would be even better. We need mandatory birth control worldwide.

Of course, along with cutting our population growth, we still need to stop burning fossil fuels and begin using alternative more viable energy sources such as solar and wind power among others. We'll still need to go into at least a 90% recycling mandate worldwide. For instance, manufacturers of goods cannot sell anything without first establishing a viable recycling program for the goods they intend to sell. We need to drastically cut down on waste production. We need to require Environmental Impact Statements on all goods manufactured that is offered for sale or distribution to the general public, to consumers. They should be required to establish a program to recycle and reuse their products when their products are no longer usable. They should not be allowed to produce anything that will end up in the trash or landfills.

The consumer, the general public, should also be required to cut back drastically on the amount of trash they produce or face stiff fines and/or penalties for repeat offenders.

Make it illegal to use any vehicles or products that require fossil fuel. We need to do this cold turkey. It's the only way manufacturers and governments will develop alternative fuel sources quickly.

But over and above all of this, the world population growth should be brought down to a Negative Population Growth for at least one or two decades. How can this be done? By attrition and by mandatory birth control. Such as: For every 100 people who die, only 10 births can be allowed. And this needs to be done on a worldwide basis.

Any business/corporation who profits from manufacturing or selling any product that uses fossil fuel in creating the product or to use the product should be made to spend 50% of their profit in the research and production of viable economical alternative fuel sources.

Politicians should be required to produce quarterly reports and proof of their actions in the areas of pollution clean-up and research of alternative fuel.

All of this sounds too drastic? Of course it is. But we need to institute drastic measures to stave off very-near-future catastrophes. We need to put the world's future and mankind's future way above profits and political gain. Everyone will need to do his part--from the rich and powerful to the poor and needy and everyone in between. No person can be exempt. World leaders will need to lead by example.

Not do-able? If we say it isn't do-able, then it isn't do-able. Whatever happened to the Can-Do Attitude? That's what it will take on the part of everyone everywhere. We cannot allow religious leaders to mandate birth rights. We should not be bringing in more new life when we cannot promise them a livable world. That would be utterly and totally irresponsible and cruel. We all need to be more responsible in what we do on a daily basis. We all need to forego immediate pleasures and luxuries and focus on what we each can do to ensure a livable world for ourselves and our future generations.

We created this crisis. We should be the ones to resolve it. It should not be left for our children to resolve. We have no more time for talks and research. WE HAVE TO BEGIN DOING...NOW!

TV Show, Kids Behind Bars Documentary

2009-01-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

I think this show was to elicit sympathy and compassion for these young violent criminals. Many people believe youths should not be tried and sentenced as adults even though they committed adult crimes and were just as deadly as any adult criminal.

I believe these youths Should be tried and sentenced as adults, especially if they're violent.

However, I believe the law should go one step further: The law should also hold the parents of these youths culpable and sterilize them so that they won't produce anymore offspring.

In many cases, the "fathers" of these youths were in the picture ONLY at the time of conception and the "mothers" raised these youths on her own. DNA tests should be done on the young criminals to determine who their fathers are.

This situation in which the crime rate of youths is rising and increasing is also the fault of society. We allow anyone to have children, even those people who do not have the moral turpitude, strength of character, financial responsibility, strong sense of civil responsibility, and in many cases, the intelligence and/or desire to raise children.

Why is that? To own a vehicle, we require owners and drivers to take a test to show they understand the laws of operating a vehicle. We require them to show financial responsibility by showing proof of vehicle insurance. We do this in many other areas of our everday life. Why not require the same of people BEFORE they produce children?

Allowing people who are ill-equipped to raise children to have children at will shows a total lack of social responsibility by society at large. We are permitting children to be brought into an environment that is cruel. They grow up without love, without guidance, in many instances they are starving for affection, for food, for shelter, for their own place in a world that doesn't seem to care. And we wonder why the youth violent crime rate is rising.

2008-09-24T03:15:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Bush's War & High Fuel Prices

2008-07-09T07:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-06-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-05-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

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?????

2008-03-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

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????

2008-01-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-01-02T00:44:00.000-07:00

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?

Miracles

2007-12-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Have you taken the time lately to look around and marvel at all the miracles there is? I'm not saying that these miracles are god-created.

Our planet Earth is the biggest miracle of all. That it's here and is the way it is is a miracle. All of the events of nature that caused it be as it is today is a miracle. But we don't react to it or treat it as a miracle. Our world is fragile and so delicately balanced and yet we continue to interfere with the way it works. Each time we do, there are devastating results--either immediately or later. We have nowhere else to go and still we trash this miracle we live on. True, the Earth can repair itself...eventually. Whatever devastation or catastrophe it experiences, it can in most cases repair itself. The thing is, it can take hundreds or thousands or even millions of years for the reparation, depending on the level of destruction to its environments. Humans don't have the luxury to wait until the reparation is completed. Our lifespan is so very, very short. Our constitution will not premit us weather utter devastation to the planet.

When will we begin to see and appreciate this miracle planet? When will we begin to treat it with the respect it deserves in order to maintain what we need to survive?

Another miracle is life. Again, we don't treat it with the respect it deserves. Life is precious in that it's all we have. We don't get a 2nd chance. There is no more life once we lose this one. Why do we squander it? Why do we try to take it away from others who think or look differently than we do? Isn't there something else more beneficial to our own lives that we can do rather squander even a moment on trying to diminish or destroy the lives of others.

We are here today in our present condition strictly through chance--billions of circumstances over billions of years. And yet, we take some of the precious time we have and we use it to make someone else's life miserable when we should be using all of our precious time enjoying the time we have. Using our time to make someone else's time and life more pleasurable and nicer would be a more intelligent thing to do. Any time we spend trying to prove that someone else is not as worthy of quality life as we are is most certainly time wasted.

Why can't we all learn to share this planet and all its good things with everyone else?

The miracles of this planet and life were not created by god. It is the miracle of random circumstances--a very long chain of them. We are here by chance. We've evolved into a world that is a paradise for life as we know it. It's like winning the biggest lottery ever! Our time here and the relative peacefulness of our planet today is fleeting. We should not waste it.

Random Thoughts and Comments

2007-12-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

On Pollution: Brita water filters TV commercial begins with a peaceful mountain stream devoid of people. The voice-over begins to say that "if everyone lived here" they wouldn't need the Brita filter. Then the scene changes to an urban area and says "but we don't" therefore we need the Brita filter. Such folderol! If "everyone lived" where the mountain stream is, we would still need Brita filters because we will have polluted that mountain stream as well and very quickly. Everywhere there are humans, the water is polluted...and the air...and the ground. We have develop technology so that we can survive amongst our pollution which grows as the human pollution grows.

We are even polluting the space around our planet with hundreds (thousands?) of satellites and space junk leftover from all space missions. We don't know yet what the negative ramifications of all of this stuff will be. We haven't given it any thought. We just do things because we can. We don't use the brains we have to ensure what we do today will not irrevocably harm us in the future. Instant gratification and huge profits are all humankind seems to be interested in. Today, we are all so utterly dependent on electronics and technology that we have made ourselves absolutely vulnerable should our technology be made inoperable. Nearly everything on the planet, every country's infrastructure, all financial, medical, communication, government, entertainment, and social systems could be destroyed--come to a total standstill and create utter worldwide chaos--in one catastrophic incident either natural or manmade. We have put all of our eggs in one basket and provided no protection whatsoever to safeguard the basket. But we'll go down happy with all of our cell phones, credit cards, computers, vehicles, and all the trappings of the modern good life to keep us happy...for now. So Enjoy while you can.

On Climate Change: There are still millions of "unbelievers" out there; people who say that humans have no effect on climate change. After all, they say, the planet has gone through periods of global warming and climate changes throughout the eons. Of course it has. The only difference is that, with the exceptions of the Siberian volcanic and the asteroid extinction events, the planet's climate changes have been gradual in human terms--taking hundreds or thousands of years. The unbelievers further say that human pollution and activities are "far less" or negligibal when compared to the pollutants put out volcanoes for instance. What they don't realize or won't admit is that the human contribution is considerable and ADDS to the natural greenhouse gases making climate changes happen faster than it would if the human element is removed. Climate change is happening faster every decade. It won't take thousands of years this time; it won't even take hundreds of years. It will take decades and we can already see it. On the weather news today in the USA: The East is warmer than usual; the West is colder than usual. How many times have you heard these phrases in the weather news? Hotter, Colder, Wetter, Dryer, Worst, etc. That's due to climate changes. How about the disappearing forests and food production of the world due to weather changes? The Amazon is drying up in some areas, desert areas are expanding, food production around the world is in deep s--t, the Greenland ice sheet and Antarctic ice sheets and glaciers are melting faster than many scientists predicted 10 years ago! There are places in Greenland that are turning green again for the first time in thousands of years. Greenland plays a very important part in climate change--it can stop the ocean conveyor belt in the Atlantic. This feature impacts the entire world's weather systems. Hurricanes, tornadoes, sea level rises, droughts, monsoons--will all worsen and become more catastrophic events happening more frequently. Today's older generation may not live to see it come to fruition but our children will and our grandchildren are the ones who will have to fight for survival in the world we leave them. But the unbelievers don't care. They want to continue driving their hummers and SUVs constantly and needlessly, connect all of their electronic toys and gadgets 24/7, light up their homes like xmas trees. They see nothing wrong in continuing to pollute the waters and air and creating unacceptable amounts of greenhouse gases. They'll just go on "living the good life" as is and leave an unlivable world for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. These are people who profess to love their families but will not sacrifice or cut down on their current luxuries and wastefulness for their families. After all, they won't be here to live it, will they?

On the Catholic Church: I was raised to be a "good" catholic; to take the church's word at face value. And I did...until I began to read and study their history. The catholic church has one of the bloodiest histories in civilization: the Inquisition, the Crusades, their missionaries to newly discovered lands in the days of exploration. They murdered millions of people (including children) in the name of their beneficient and loving and forgiving god. They pillaged and stole from everyone with the excuse that the victims were heretics and enemies of the church. They began their to amass their incredible wealth during their deadly campaigns as warriors of god. Today, they owe alligence to no one/no country, they pay no taxes anywhere, they continue to rake in untold wealth from christians around the world. Much of this wealth is from people who can ill afford it. They give nothing back to any of the communities in which they have setup shop. Their churches are merely centers for funds gathering and contributions. Their priests are the fund raisers for the church. With all their wealth (they own properties and lands in many countries world-wide), when a parish needs a new church or a new school, it's the priest's job to organize his parishoners to raise the funds to build it. The church has more than enough to build thousands of churches, schools, and hospitals but they never use it. The parishoners pay for the building which then belongs to the church. The pope and the church today are strictly political. They preach godliness only enough to keep the money going to the vatican. The priests pay lip service to the welfare of the people's souls as per vatican edicts. No, I no longer believe in the church, specifically the catholic church. I see no evidence of their love for anyone outside the church. The catholic church today is the wealthiest entity the world has ever had or ever will have and they accept the least responsibility for the people they're supposed to care for. After all, they're only responsible for the safekeeping of the people's souls, not their worldly bodies. And what is the soul? Who discovered it? I think the men of god created the idea of a soul as a means to control the masses of people who are deathly afraid of the idea that there is no life after death. These men of god, past and present, are the supreme con artists of all time. All the other religions have jumped on the bandwagon. They know a good thing when they see it and why should the catholics have all the wealth? They rule on the promise of threats--in particular, the threat that your "soul" will die and you will not live again in the kingdom of god if you don't acquiesce to their teachings and edicts. You'll go to hell. How loving and forgiving and beneficent is that?

On Wars: In war, there are no Good nor Bad guys. Everyone who participates in a war is Bad if they have to be anything. Wars are meant to kill people--as many and as quickly as possible. There should be no rules. This is not a game. Maybe if wars are fought without rules, there would be fewer or no wars and more talks and compromises. Rules of war enable wars. Politicans play at war as though it were a game they can win. No one wins in a war. Everyone loses. But, hey, how else could we have heroes? How else could large corporations amass wealth faster? How else could politicians line their and their pork buddies' pockets under the guise of "patriotism" and "national security" all the while having the people cheer them on? Wars are notorious events for the greedy to obtain wealth and power. Else why would so many world leaders support wars? They just have to be sure they declare war in a way that their countries would approve. Humans have been killing each other since their inception. When they developed brains, the first thing they did was to devise ways to kill more efficiently to ensure they get a larger piece of the pie if not the whole pie. We still do that today. Governments are always so proud of their new super weapons. They'll spend more on that than they would even consider to feed the hungry or heal the sick. The politicians will spend more time, money, effort on military might than they would to the quality of life for the average citizens of their respective countries. After all, providing health care to poor families won't make you rich or a hero like bombing half a country and killing thousands of people would. All you have to do to garner their support is First to scare the shit out of them. Then they'll willingly give up their children's health so that the country can wage war and kill thousands of people to keep them safe. Where are the priorities? Whatever happened to the concept of compassion and compromise beyond the token efforts that are designed to fail to ensure we can go to war against each other? Of what use is the brain we're so proud of having when we don't even use it to live peacefully with everyone? The only "enemy" of humans is us, the humans on this planet. We cause and always have caused more harm and damage to ourselves and every other lifeform than any natural cause ever could or has or will. Our only reasons for this are twofold: Fear of dying (kill or be killed) and Greed for more of everything.

Conclusion for this post: I used to be a pollyanna, an optimist. I believed the church and the politicians and the heroes. Through personal observations, reading history and the news, I no longer am optimistic about mankind. We're like a cancer--rampantly destroying everything good and healthy that we need to survive. We show no compassion for each other if our skin color is wrong, or we're from a different country, or our god has a different name, or our language is different, or...too tall...too fat...too homely...and every other filter we can imagine to distance and separate and elevate ourselves from and over those around us. We're constantly thinking of reasons to go to war, to harm, to kill, to subjugate other humans.

Bush's Boast & Threat re Terrorism: On 9-11, Bush boastingly "put all terrorists on notice that he will be going after them" and "will stop terrorism worldwide." He's totally failed in his boast. He's done nothing! Just look at today's news...or any day's news. He made TWO boasts and threats on 9-11. He was going to get Osama Bin Laden and he would stop terrorism wherever it existed. What a laugh! After his first few months of failure to do either, he started the war in Iraq to distract the americans and the world from his dismal failure. I don't know if anyone else has noticed: He no longer mentions either Bin Laden nor the terrorism still running rampant. He thinks no one notices his utter failure to make good on his threats. He's just a damn jerk politician like his father.

So, no, I no longer have faith in humankind. We don't, have never, learned from our mistakes. We've only learned to make better, more efficient killing weapons and to follow men who are willing to use them at the drop of a hat for their own political agendas.

Is the Bible real? Is Santa a good thing?

2007-12-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Why do so many people--religious leaders, anthropologists, archaeologists, etc.--spend their lives trying to prove the bible is real? There is no way they or anyone can ever do that. So what if they find ancient cities mentioned in the bible? That doesn't make the stories real at all. It would be as the fictional novels of today that mention cities, countries, buildings, landmarks, and events that are easily recognizable to most of us. Just because there is a New York or London or Big Ben or a 9-11, does that make the fictional novel a real story of real people? Of course not. It remains a work of fiction. That is what the bible is. The bible is a collection of stories written by man, edited and censored by man, published by man. It is a book whose purpose is to influence people to live in a certain manner that would make them more manageable. Stating that it is the work of god (an idea which is another of man's ingenious creations) is a way to give it credibility and to influence masses of people to live a particular lifestyle "if they want to go to heaven." This promise is given on fear of eternal damnation for the unbelievers. They offer no proof of anything; instead they came up with another ingenious idea--anything that can't be proven MUST be taken on faith. They intimate that to question the existence of a god is tantamount to blasphemy. Many religions preach that god is a benevolent and loving and forgiving god. If that were true and he could truly create life, why would he create life that is dependent on such violence? That in order for lifeforms to survive, they must kill other lifeforms. Wouldn't you think that an omnipotent and loving being would create life to be loving for all--humans and animals alike? The life "he" has given us, if there is a "he", is a life that will never know peace. Just read of any time in history or the news of today, any day, we will always be as we were, as we are. Humans are too afraid of each other to ever have peace. For Peace to ever happen, each and every person needs to accept that every other person on this planet is our equal and should be treated with as much respect as we treat ourselves. Each and every person needs to care about all life and not hold humans more deserving of life than the other animals who live here with us. That's the kind of world a real god would have created; not the kind of world we have.

Now on to the Santa myth...

I don't believe that telling children the story of Santa and perpetuating the myth of Santa is a good thing. Children are told that Santa keeps 2 lists of children: the Naughty and the Nice lists. They are further told that Santa will bring a gift to Nice and Good children. For the children who are in families that can afford to support the Santa myth, it may look like a good thing...on the surface. But the children quickly learn that they DON'T need to be nice to get gifts. They learn that all they need to do is ask for things; they don't need to be good. They develop wrong values. As for the children who do not have families that can provide them with a Santa; they learn very quickly that being nice doesn't get them anything. Therefore, they must not be nice; they must be bad and unworthy because Santa brings them nothing. So, how can the Santa story be a good thing? I see no benefit from it.

Most toddlers are afraid when they are taken to see and sit on the lap of a shopping mall santa. I know my son, nieces, and nephews were. And I've seen other little children cry at the thought of going up to him. They did, however, like santa from afar. These santas are generally big men who are loud and oftentimes smell badly. I believe that if malls want to have a santa, they should have a little person in the role of santa and more little people to play the elves. Little children can relate better to little people than to a giant santa. And, yet, I've never seen a single department store or shopping mall or hospital santa who wasn't a big man with a loud voice. Of course, this is only if you really need to have a santa in the first place.

Why not teach the children about family and love during the holidays and take the focus away from santa and gifts? My son, nieces, and nephews actually liked our family gatherings while they were growing up. As parents and adults today, they still do. When my son was a teenager, friends and strangers would ask me how I got my son to go anywhere with me so often. Their own teenagers preferred going with their friends and had to be dragged to family gatherings. I asked my son why he came to our family get togethers instead of going out with his friends. His answer? "I can always go out with my friends but I want to see my cousins and my aunts and uncles." He had many friends but he preferred to spend the holidays and birthdays and general family gatherings with me and the family. Today, when I talk with my nieces and nephews on the phone, they always end it with "I love you, Aunty." They all grew up knowing it was Mom and Dad who got the presents, not santa. In the years when money was scarce, not having gifts was no big deal. They still enjoyed the company and love of their cousins, aunts and uncles and had fun singing and playing games together. When I was a kid, adults stayed separate from the kids at family gatherings. In my generation, adults and children stayed together and did nearly everything together. Children could have their own time together...whenever they wanted and not because they had to. Being with the adults was their choice more often than not. It was better, much better. Today, they're raising their children the same way...with a strong love of family.

I do not believe in an omnipotent god but I do indeed believe in love and family. I don't believe in life after death; I believe in the here and now. I don't believe in the occult as fact as most humans do. Gods, spirits, angels, witches, magic, reincarnation, luck...those are all stuff of the occult and superstitions created by man. I believe in people and human nature, the good and the bad of people. I believe each person makes his own choice as to which path his life will take. Each person creates his own heaven or hell by his choices. It isn't the "mysterious ways of a god" that decides a person's fate. As parents, it is our ultimate responsibility to teach our children to have the utmost respect for themselves and for every other person they encounter throughout their lives, to have a healthy respect for ALL life and not just to certain people we like and choose. To do less is to fail our children and create problem adults who will, in turn, have problem children. Though many disagree, parents ARE responsible for how they children turn out. Many young people today mistakenly equate Fear with Respect as though the two actions are interchangeable. They think that if someone is afraid of them, then that someone is showing respect. Where in the hell did they learn that cockamamie idea? True respect is wanting for the other person the same things you want for yourself. Simple as that.

Peace on Earth?

2007-12-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

As long as there is life...wherever there is life...there will never be peace. If Peace is defined as a "lack of violence," there can never be peace. Life itself is inextricably tied now and forever with extreme violence. Extreme violence defined as death and killing.

Life cannot exist without violence. All life is food for all other life. In order to survive, all life must kill and devour other life.

I include all things in the known Universe as life--planets, stars, galaxies, all we can see and cannot see. Even these must face violence in order to survive. Violence IS Life! Nothing can survive without violence.

Humans may tell themselves they are the epitome of life; but we are not. We are not exempt from the Laws of Life. Violence is an innate part of each of us. As a species, we are no different than any other species. We say we are because "we are aware of ourselves." But who's to say that other lifeforms are not aware of themselves? Who's to say they have no language, no feelings? All life has the strongest of all traits--self-preservation. We are no exception.

There is No Purpose to Life other than to Just Be. It doesn't matter whether or not one lifeform can think. All lifeforms give way, sooner or later, to other more dominant lifeforms. It's a fact of life. It's the way life is. It isn't the way we would like life to be, but it is the way life is.

I don't believe in a god...a supreme being. Why? Because if there was a god and he is onmipotent, he is also flawed. He is not the beneficent and loving being many want to believe him to be. If he is, why would he create life to be so violent? Does it give him pleasure to see so much life being destroyed endlessly and infinitely? Must life suffer so violently in order to "earn" his "love?" What sort of being does that?

Our species are also very superstitious...in all things. Even those people who deny they are, are. We believe in spirits, gods, ghosts, demons, angels, the hereafter, heaven, hell, luck, all things supernatural. All those things are superstitions created by us. Why? To control the masses, to manipulate the masses...and to avoid admitting to ourselves that we are no different than the ground we walk on. We fear death so much that we grasp at any straw to convince ourselves that "when our bodies die," our "souls" do not. Death is merely a cessation of conciousness. We will all cease. There is nothing that can be done about it.

I'm not afraid of dying, I just want to cease without pain.

However, I have to admit that humans Are an Anomoly; we don't contribute anything beneficial to life other than our own. We are not a part of the food chain. We take from the food chain but we don't reciprocate as all other lifeforms do. Instead, we are more like the cancer cells that invade a body with humans as the cancer and the Earth as the body. Our only purpose seems to be to proliferate uncontrollably and indiscriminately and, in doing so, destroy all the healthy cells of the body. We are also the AIDS virus, destroying the Earth's ability to heal itself.

Our world, which encompasses the entire cosmos, is self-perpetuating. Everything we see, hear, smell, touch, or feel (and everything we can't) is recyclable material. Everything is being recycled over and over again ad infinitum. In that sense, I guess you could say we do live forever, that there is life after death. We just aren't recycled back into this particular lifeform.

There is a finite amount of material in the entire cosmos. In order for new forms to be created, older forms must be destroyed so their material can be re-used.

Someday, without a doubt, there will be no more humans on Earth. Humankind will end. Whether from without or within, I don't know. But it will end in order for other new life matter to be created. This is the Fate of everything, both animate and inanimate.

I guess the only thing to do is to enjoy your life while you're here and don't expect anything more. Because when you're recycled, chances are, you won't remember anything of this life. Our current conciousness is only temporary; it's only for the moment. It doesn't continue after our bodies and brains die. There is no need for it to continue.

All I have said is neither good nor bad...it just is.

The most that any of us can hope for is for our own end to be peaceful. On that thought, I hope that everyone I know and love and care for will die peacefully in their sleep when their time comes.

Stop the Holiday Frenzy!

2007-12-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

Why do so many people go bananas when it comes to the holidays? Why do they max out their credit and add to it? Have they forgotten what the holidays are supposed to be about?

The holidays should be a time for Love and Family; not material goods.

What's wrong with buying gifts throughout the year for everyone on your list whenever you feel they deserve it or to show that you care? Why wait for the holidays, then go broke trying to BUY something for everyone just to be buying something?

Contrary to what most people would like to admit, the holidays are NOT the happiest time of the year. People, especially children, become almost greedy. Rather than learning that this time of year is to celebrate love and family, they see it as a time to get all the material goods they can possibly get from their parents and family. That's what they've been taught to expect. They don't have to earn anything; just ask for it at this time of year.

Many people are very depressed by the holidays. Suicide rates go up. More people go to the emergency room during the holidays than at other times of the year because of more stress, overeating, and drinking too much alcohol.

Why not give them gifts throughout the year whenever you want to show them you appreciate what they're doing and how they're doing? Gift-giving and -receiving will be appreciated more. And you won't go broke buying gifts that aren't appreciated nearly as much as when they receive a gift for no special occasion.

So why not begin a New Tradition? Show your appreciation of your family and friends throughout the year and keep the holidays for strengthening family love and friendship? Instead of picking the name of a "homeless" or less fortunate child off a tree at the mall and buying them a toy or other thoughtless gift, why not invite a homeless family home to share a good dinner? After all, you don't know the child you're buying for. You don't know what they would want or need. You don't know anything about them except that they have a lot less than you do. Maybe they would rather have a warm bed in a safe place and food to eat than some useless toy. Maybe they would rather be a part of a happy family even for a little while, singing carols around a tree and having dessert. Ever think of that?

No Pollyana?

2007-12-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

What does "No Pollyana" mean? Well, it seems that just about all blogs are "pollyana" blogs--they just publish things and ideas the bloggers think blog readers would like. All of the goody-goody, "fun" topics that do not portray what the bloggers are really like or what they really feel. I found myself succumbing to that train of thought, too. In fact, I have a couple of blogs where I do just that--I write only about the nice things in my life that I believe would not offend anyone or make anyone "think" badly of me.

It seems that everyone wants to portray the life they wish they had or to embellish their lives to make it more interesting to strangers. No one admits to or wants to talk about character failings, human failings, in our world today. Maybe most people feel that if they don't acknowledge it, it really isn't there.

Here, in this one blog, I'll say what I feel about the negative things in life and my thoughts about them. These are things I feel many people also feel but don't voice them for fear of offending someone or making someone angry or think badly of them. These are the sort of thoughts that most people usually keep to themselves. I don't say them to hurt or offend anyone. These are simply how I see certain things about life, things I believe in or don't believe in, things I feel, my perspective of things I see, hear, or read about. This is my Journal of what some may call my dark thoughts. Everyone has them. I don't care who you are or what you do, you have dark thoughts...thoughts you don't feel you can voice to anyone you know...because they may take it "personally."

I'm 65 years old now. I've observed human nature throughout the years. I've lived through rough times and good times. My life has been pretty much the same as most other people. But, I've seen the disintegration of character and morals in people in all walks of life, at every age, all over the country. I've seen the dark side of human nature and, like most of you, I've tried to ignore it as inconsequential. But it isn't...inconsequential. It's very significant. It permeates all of us in every area of our lives and we're destroying ourselves. All the while, we tell ourselves that the quality of life is getting better, that we have a bright future, that "things will work out"...even if we do nothing about it. "Somebody" will solve all the problems we ourselves create as individuals, groups, nations.

No Pollyana...

I used to be a pollyana personality. I believed in the goodness of man, in hope for the future. How naive I was for most of my life.

to be continued...