For two decades, leading up to the millennium, global
demand for food increased steadily, along with growth
in the world’s population, record harvests, improvements
in incomes, and the diversification of diets. As a result,
food prices continued to decline through 2000.
But beginning in 2004, prices for most grains began to
rise. Although there was an increase in production, the
increase in demand was greater.
Food stocks became depleted. And then, in 2005, food
production was dramatically affected by extreme
weather incidents in major food-producing countries. By
2006, world cereal production had fallen by 2.1 percent.
In 2007, rapid increases in oil prices increased fertilizer
and other food production costs.
As international food prices reached unprecedented
levels, countries sought ways to insulate themselves
from potential food shortages and price shocks. Several
food-exporting countries imposed export restrictions.
Certain key importers began purchasing grains at any
price to maintain domestic supplies.
This resulted in panic and volatility in international grain
markets. It also attracted speculative investments in
grain futures and options markets. Perhaps as a result,
prices rose even higher.
Subsequently, food commodity prices appeared to be
stabilizing. But prices are expected to remain high over
the medium to long term with devastating consequences
for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
7 Jun 2014
ATOMIC ENERGY
The UN and the nuclear age were born almost
simultaneously. The horror of the Second World War,
culminating in the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, brought home the need to address the
nuclear issue. By its first resolution, the General
Assembly established the UN Atomic Energy
Commission to deal with the problems raised by the
discovery of atomic energy. And a landmark address by
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953,
“Atoms for Peace”, led to the establishment in 1957 of
the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA).
Today, 439 nuclear power reactors produce
approximately 16 per cent of the world’s electricity. In
nine countries, over 40 per cent of energy production
comes from nuclear power. The IAEA, an international
organization in the UN family, fosters the safe, secure
and peaceful uses of atomic energy and helps ensure
the use of nuclear technology for sustainable
development.
Under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons ( NPT ), the IAEA conducts on-site
inspections to ensure that nuclear materials are used
only used for peaceful purposes. Prior to the 2003 Iraq
war, its inspectors played a key role in uncovering and
eliminating Iraq’s banned weapons programmes and
capabilities. In 2005, the Agency and its Director
General, Mohamed ElBaradei were awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy
from being used for military purposes and to ensure that
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the
safest possible way.”
The UN Conference on Disarmament, the sole
multilateral negotiating forum on disarmament,
produced the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty ,
which was adopted in 1996. The Office for
Disarmament Affairs promotes nuclear disarmament and
non-proliferation. The Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space produced the 1992 Principles on the use
of nuclear power sources in outer space . The UN
Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
reports on the levels and effects of exposure to ionizing
radiation, providing the scientific basis for protection
and safety standards worldwide.
Addressing the danger of nuclear terrorism, the UN has
also produced the Convention on the Physical Protection
of Nuclear Material (Vienna, 1980), and the International
Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism (2005).
simultaneously. The horror of the Second World War,
culminating in the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, brought home the need to address the
nuclear issue. By its first resolution, the General
Assembly established the UN Atomic Energy
Commission to deal with the problems raised by the
discovery of atomic energy. And a landmark address by
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953,
“Atoms for Peace”, led to the establishment in 1957 of
the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA).
Today, 439 nuclear power reactors produce
approximately 16 per cent of the world’s electricity. In
nine countries, over 40 per cent of energy production
comes from nuclear power. The IAEA, an international
organization in the UN family, fosters the safe, secure
and peaceful uses of atomic energy and helps ensure
the use of nuclear technology for sustainable
development.
Under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons ( NPT ), the IAEA conducts on-site
inspections to ensure that nuclear materials are used
only used for peaceful purposes. Prior to the 2003 Iraq
war, its inspectors played a key role in uncovering and
eliminating Iraq’s banned weapons programmes and
capabilities. In 2005, the Agency and its Director
General, Mohamed ElBaradei were awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy
from being used for military purposes and to ensure that
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the
safest possible way.”
The UN Conference on Disarmament, the sole
multilateral negotiating forum on disarmament,
produced the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty ,
which was adopted in 1996. The Office for
Disarmament Affairs promotes nuclear disarmament and
non-proliferation. The Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space produced the 1992 Principles on the use
of nuclear power sources in outer space . The UN
Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
reports on the levels and effects of exposure to ionizing
radiation, providing the scientific basis for protection
and safety standards worldwide.
Addressing the danger of nuclear terrorism, the UN has
also produced the Convention on the Physical Protection
of Nuclear Material (Vienna, 1980), and the International
Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism (2005).
BOKO HARAM
Boko Haram is the Islamic sect that have
emanated from the northern part of Nigeria
agitating for cancellation of western
education in Nigeria and also to make Nigeria
and Islamic country. They are the Islamic
fanatics that are using religious to carried out
their destructive plans on the innocent
Nigerians.
Boko Haram is the Islamic groups that started
carrying out their evil intension and action
on Nigerians since late last year their first
place of operation was Bauchi state police
stations, second was outside Eagle square
Abuja after last year independence
celebration, thirdly was the bomblast on
united Nations office in Abuja killing about
twenty- six expatriates.
Boko Haram, the Islamic fanatics that came
from the northern Nigeria has become a
serious threat to the security of lives and
properties in Nigeria, Boko Haram groups
does not know what they want because what
they are saying can never be possible as long
as this great nation is concern, the
cancellation of western education and making
Nigeria an Islamic country will be practically
impossible. Boko Haram groups activities and
operation is a threat to the national security,
also their operations does not give peace,
harmony, unity and love a place or chance in
this country.
emanated from the northern part of Nigeria
agitating for cancellation of western
education in Nigeria and also to make Nigeria
and Islamic country. They are the Islamic
fanatics that are using religious to carried out
their destructive plans on the innocent
Nigerians.
Boko Haram is the Islamic groups that started
carrying out their evil intension and action
on Nigerians since late last year their first
place of operation was Bauchi state police
stations, second was outside Eagle square
Abuja after last year independence
celebration, thirdly was the bomblast on
united Nations office in Abuja killing about
twenty- six expatriates.
Boko Haram, the Islamic fanatics that came
from the northern Nigeria has become a
serious threat to the security of lives and
properties in Nigeria, Boko Haram groups
does not know what they want because what
they are saying can never be possible as long
as this great nation is concern, the
cancellation of western education and making
Nigeria an Islamic country will be practically
impossible. Boko Haram groups activities and
operation is a threat to the national security,
also their operations does not give peace,
harmony, unity and love a place or chance in
this country.
REFUGEES
A peaceful and prosperous world is one in which people
can feel safe and secure in their homes, with their
families and in their communities. It is a world in which
they can feel confident in their country, their culture and
in the family of nations and peoples on our common
planet.
Sometimes, for economic or other personal reasons,
people choose to leave their homes, to begin and new
life in a new location. For better or worse, these
decisions are made as a matter of conscious choice.
But when nature intervenes in the form of natural
disasters people's homes are washed away, blown
away, or shaken to the ground, uprooting entire
communities. When war or civil unrest ravages a
community, masses or people are forcibly displaced or
simply flee to protect life and limb. At the extreme, they
are left with only two options: death by privation,
assault or genocide, or life in exile. One need only think
of those forced to flee the violence in Darfur to glimpse
the severity of their need.
This is the plight of the refugees and the internally
displaced today. In 2010, the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR)
counted 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide
—the highest number since the mid-1990s. This
included 27.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs),
15.2 million refugees and 983,000 asylum-seekers. Of
the 15.2 million refugees, 10.4 million were under
UNHCR’s responsibility, and 4.7 million
were Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East ( UNRWA ).
More than 26 million people—10.4 million refugees and
15.6 million IDPs— were receiving protection or
assistance from UNHCR at the end of 2009, one million
more than in 2008.
By 2010, UNHCR had identified some 6.6 million
stateless persons in 60 countries. Yet it estimated that
the overall number of stateless persons worldwide could
be far higher, at around 12 million.
Unfortunately, conflict and natural disasters continue to
take their toll on such persons. But their lot is much,
much better than it might have been, thanks to the
commitment of the UN family to help them return to
their homes, and to protect and sustain them until their
return becomes possible.
When their homelessness results from conflict, UN
peacekeepers are often there to protect the camps in
which they must live. When they are left without access
to such basic necessities as food, water and sanitation,
the UN family provides it. When their health is
endangered, the UN system sees to its protection.
Much of this support is provided through the United
Nations humanitarian action machinery. The Inter-
Agency Standing Committee ( IASC), through its “cluster
approach”, brings together all major humanitarian
agencies, both within and outside the UN system, for
coordinated action. UNHCR is the lead agency with
respect to the protection of refugees and the internally
displaced. With the International Organization for
Migration ( IOM ), it is the lead agency for camp
coordination and management. And it shares the lead
with respect to emergency shelter with the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
UN bodies actively involved in this cluster approach
include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations ( FAO ); the United Nations Development
Programme ( UNDP); the United Nations Children’s Fund
( UNICEF ); the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ); the World Food
Programme ( WFP); the World Health Organization
( WHO ); and the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights ( OHCHR).
AGEING
The world is in the midst of a unique and irreversible
process of demographic transition that will result in
older populations everywhere. As fertility rates decline,
the proportion of persons aged 60 and over is expected
to double between 2007 and 2050, and their actual
number will more than triple, reaching 2 billion by
2050. In most countries, the number of those over 80 is
likely to quadruple to nearly 400 million by then.
Older persons are increasingly seen as contributors to
development, whose abilities to act for the betterment of
themselves and their societies should be woven into
policies and programmes at all levels. Currently, 64 per
cent of all older persons live in the less developed
regions — a number expected to approach 80 per cent
by 2050.
To begin addressing these issues, the General Assembly
convened the first World Assembly on Ageing in 1982,
which produced a 62-point “Vienna International Plan of
Action on Ageing ”. It called for specific action on such
issues as health and nutrition, protecting elderly
consumers, housing and environment, family, social
welfare, income security and employment, education,
and the collection and analysis of research data.
In 1991, the General Assembly adopted the United
Nations Principles for Older Persons , enumerating 18
entitlements for older persons — relating to
independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment and
dignity. The following year, the International Conference
on Ageing met to follow-up on the Plan of Action,
adopting a Proclamation on Ageing . Following the
Conference's recommendation, the UN General Assembly
declared 1999 the International Year of Older Persons .
Action on behalf of the ageing continued in 2002, when
the Second World Assembly on Ageing was held in
Madrid. Aiming to design international policy on ageing
for the 21st century, it adopted a Political Declaration
and the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing .
The Plan of Action called for changes in attitudes,
policies and practices at all levels to fulfil the enormous
potential of ageing in the twenty-first century. Its
specific reommendations for action give priority to older
persons and development, advancing health and well-
being into old age, and ensuring enabling and supportive
environments.
PEACE AND SECURITY
Saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war
was the main motivation for creating the United
Nations, whose founders lived through the devastation
of two world wars. Since its creation, the UN has often
been called upon to prevent disputes from escalating
into war, or to help restore peace when armed conflict
does break out, and to promote lasting peace in
societies emerging from wars.
The Security Council, the General Assembly and the
Secretary-General all play major, complementary roles in
fostering peace and security.
Over the decades, the UN has helped to end numerous
conflicts, often through actions of the Security Council
— the organ with primary responsibility, under the
United Nations Charter , for the maintenance of
international peace and security. When a complaint
concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the
Council's first action is usually to recommend to the
parties to try to reach agreement by peaceful means. In
some cases, the Council itself undertakes investigation
and mediation. It may appoint special representatives or
request the Secretary-General to do so or to use his
good offices. It may set forth principles for a peaceful
settlement.
When a dispute leads to fighting, the Council's first
concern is to bring it to an end as soon as possible. On
many occasions, the Council has issued ceasefire
directives which have been instrumental in preventing
wider hostilities. It also deploys United Nations
peacekeeping operations to help reduce tensions in
troubled areas, keep opposing forces apart and create
conditions for sustainable peace after settlements have
been reached. The Council may decide on enforcement
measures , economic sanctions (such as trade
embargoes) or collective military action.
According to the Charter , the General Assembly can
make recommendations on the general principles of
cooperation for maintaining international peace and
security, including disarmament, and for the peaceful
settlement of any situation that might impair friendly
relations among nations. The General Assembly can
also discuss any question relating to international peace
and security and make recommendations, if the issue is
not currently being discussed by the Security Council.
Pursuant to its “Uniting for Peace” resolution of
November 1950 ( resolution 377 (V) , the General
Assembly may also take action if the Security Council
fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a Permanent
Member, in a case where there appears to be a threat
to or breach of the peace, or act of aggression. The
Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a
view to making recommendations to Members for
collective measures to maintain or restore international
peace and security.
Two of the General Assembly’s six main committees are
involved in matters of peace and security. Besides the
First Committee which is concerned with disarmament
and related international security questions, the Special
Political and Decolonization Committee deals with a
variety of political subjects not dealt with by the First
Committee, including decolonization, Palestinian
refugees, human rights, peacekeeping, mine action, outer
space , public information, atomic radiation and the
University for Peace .
The Charter empowers the Secretary-General to "bring
to the attention of the Security Council any matter
which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of
international peace and security". One of the most vital
roles played by the Secretary-General is the use of his
" good offices " – steps taken publicly and in private that
draw upon his independence, impartiality and integrity
to prevent international disputes from arising, escalating
or spreading.
was the main motivation for creating the United
Nations, whose founders lived through the devastation
of two world wars. Since its creation, the UN has often
been called upon to prevent disputes from escalating
into war, or to help restore peace when armed conflict
does break out, and to promote lasting peace in
societies emerging from wars.
The Security Council, the General Assembly and the
Secretary-General all play major, complementary roles in
fostering peace and security.
Over the decades, the UN has helped to end numerous
conflicts, often through actions of the Security Council
— the organ with primary responsibility, under the
United Nations Charter , for the maintenance of
international peace and security. When a complaint
concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the
Council's first action is usually to recommend to the
parties to try to reach agreement by peaceful means. In
some cases, the Council itself undertakes investigation
and mediation. It may appoint special representatives or
request the Secretary-General to do so or to use his
good offices. It may set forth principles for a peaceful
settlement.
When a dispute leads to fighting, the Council's first
concern is to bring it to an end as soon as possible. On
many occasions, the Council has issued ceasefire
directives which have been instrumental in preventing
wider hostilities. It also deploys United Nations
peacekeeping operations to help reduce tensions in
troubled areas, keep opposing forces apart and create
conditions for sustainable peace after settlements have
been reached. The Council may decide on enforcement
measures , economic sanctions (such as trade
embargoes) or collective military action.
According to the Charter , the General Assembly can
make recommendations on the general principles of
cooperation for maintaining international peace and
security, including disarmament, and for the peaceful
settlement of any situation that might impair friendly
relations among nations. The General Assembly can
also discuss any question relating to international peace
and security and make recommendations, if the issue is
not currently being discussed by the Security Council.
Pursuant to its “Uniting for Peace” resolution of
November 1950 ( resolution 377 (V) , the General
Assembly may also take action if the Security Council
fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a Permanent
Member, in a case where there appears to be a threat
to or breach of the peace, or act of aggression. The
Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a
view to making recommendations to Members for
collective measures to maintain or restore international
peace and security.
Two of the General Assembly’s six main committees are
involved in matters of peace and security. Besides the
First Committee which is concerned with disarmament
and related international security questions, the Special
Political and Decolonization Committee deals with a
variety of political subjects not dealt with by the First
Committee, including decolonization, Palestinian
refugees, human rights, peacekeeping, mine action, outer
space , public information, atomic radiation and the
University for Peace .
The Charter empowers the Secretary-General to "bring
to the attention of the Security Council any matter
which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of
international peace and security". One of the most vital
roles played by the Secretary-General is the use of his
" good offices " – steps taken publicly and in private that
draw upon his independence, impartiality and integrity
to prevent international disputes from arising, escalating
or spreading.
AIDS.
In 2011 the world commemorated 30 years of AIDS and
the AIDS response.
In June 1981, scientists in the United States reported
the first clinical evidence of a disease that would later
become known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
or AIDS. Its cause, the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV), was identified in 1983. Thirty years later the AIDS
epidemic has spread to every corner of the world and
more than 60 million people have been infected with
HIV.
HIV is found in the bodily fluids of a person who has
been infected - blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast
milk. It can be transmitted through unprotected sexual
contact. It is also spread among people who inject
drugs with non-sterile injecting needles, as well as
through unscreened blood products. It can spread from
mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast
feeding when the mother is HIV positive.
Over the ensuing decades, the rate of infection soared
dramatically, as did the rate of fatalities. But
eventually, new antiretroviral treatment began to extend
the lives of those who were infected. More than 5
million people had access to antiretroviral treatment in
2009, which has reduced AIDS-related deaths by more
than 20% in the past 5 years.
Also in the past ten years at least 56 countries have
either stabilized or reduced new HIV infections by more
than 25%. New HIV infections have been reduced by
nearly 20% and new HIV infections among babies have
dropped by 25%—a significant step towards achieving
virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of
HIV by 2015.
The UN family has been in the vanguard of this
progress. Since 1996, its efforts have been coordinated
by UNAIDS — the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS. The Programme is co-sponsored by 10 UN
system agencies: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP , UNFPA,
UNODC , the ILO, UNESCO , WHO and the World Bank .
In 2000, world leaders set specific goals to stop and
reverse the spread of HIV at the General Assembly’s
Millennium Summit. A 2001 special session of the
General Assembly expanded on that. Heads of State and
Representatives of Governments issued the Declaration
of Commitment on HIV/AIDS which set out a series of
national targets and global actions to reverse the
epidemic. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria was created in 2002. And in 2006, the
Assembly held a high-level review of progress made
since its special session, adopting a 53-point Political
Declaration on the way towards universal access to HIV
prevention, treatment, care and support services.
ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER SCANDAL
Talk about déjà vu. Once again the party out
of power is demanding an investigation. To
which the administration responds: (a)
There's nothing to investigate because, (b)
we've already investigated and explained it,
(c) too much time has been wasted on it as it
is, (c) the country has more pressing
problems that need our attention, and (d) any
or all of the above. Or, to put it in more
concise fashion: Move on, there's nothing to
see here.
Nothin' doin', says the loyal but insistent
opposition, aka the Republicans in the House.
Yes, there have already been seven different
investigations in addition to 13 hearings on
what happened before, during and after the
bloody massacre at Benghazi, which took the
lives of four brave Americans. Jay Carney,
the White House press secretary, wasted no
time counting them all up, and noting that
none of them had hit pay dirt.
But that was before a smoking gun was
discovered in the form of an email from a
political operative at the White House laying
out the administration's cover story for its
mouthpieces to repeat--a version of events
that fell apart once there was enough time to
examine it. So let's start Investigation No. 8.
Besides, the GOP has a fighting prosecutor to
lead the next investigation, and he doesn't
care how many reams of documents the
administration released about Benghazi while
holding back the key one. "I'm not interested
in summaries, I'm not interested in
synopses," says Trey Gowdy, a congressman
from South Carolina who's been chosen to
captain the GOP team this time around. "I'm
interested in access to the documents . . . and
I'm not interested in whether the appropriate
questions were asked in the past."
To which Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip
in the House, responds in his always eloquent
way: "That's baloney."
I can identify. I've been there. It was another
scandal in another year, another decade,
another century, a whole other era. That
scandal was dubbed Watergate, after the
apartment building where the headquarters
of the Democratic National Committee had
been burglarized, raising questions and
setting off demands for an investigation. I
was writing editorials at the time in that key
listening post, Pine Bluff, Ark., and it all
sounded like baloney to me.
Week after week, month after month, our
editorials in the Pine Bluff Commercial pooh-
poohed the whole idea that the White House
was involved in some nefarious conspiracy to
cover up the truth. But then we -- and the
country -- learned that the attorney general
of the United States, the Hon. John N.
Mitchell, who was married to a Pine Bluff
belle, character, and heavy drinker named
Martha Beall Mitchell, had been lying about
Watergate all along. And even more
surprising, at least to me, Martha had been
telling the truth.
The scales fell from my eyes. Why, it hadn't
been baloney after all. The Pine Bluff
Commercial would sponsor a nationwide
drive to erect a monument to Martha, and I
was proud to lead it. People all over the
country sent in their little $5 and $10 checks
to help build it. Blessed are the poor. These
folks had believed Martha all along. It was
both embarrassing and cleansing to be have
been proved wrong, and I was grateful to
her.
I can still hear echoes of that old scandal in
this new one. Some of the lines don't seem to
have changed much at all: "After 12 weeks
and two million words of televised testimony,
we have reached a point at which a
continued, backward-looking obsession with
Watergate is causing this nation to neglect
matters of far greater importance to all of the
American people. We must not stay so mired
in Watergate that we fail to respond to
challenges of surpassing importance to
America and the world. We cannot let an
obsession with the past destroy our hopes for
the future." -- Richard M. Nixon, Address to
the Nation, August 15, 1973.
I had a friend back then, Steed Joyce, who
after years of keeping track of supplies at the
Cotton Belt railroad, decided to go off and
became an Episcopal priest. He tried to warn
me not to put my trust in princes, specifically
R. Nixon and his minions. To commemorate
my folly he sent me a beautifully calligraphed
scroll in the perfect Hebrew script he'd
learned in seminary. It's a copy of Verse 1,
Chapter 8 of the Book of Nehemiah: And all
the people gathered themselves together
before the water gate . . . Steed, now the
Reverend Mr. Joyce, had thoughtfully penned
the Hebrew words for Watergate, Shaar
Hamayim, in red. So I couldn't miss them.
I've still got that little piece of Scripture, now
preserved in a simple black frame, hanging
on my office wall where I can see it every
day. Just in case I'm ever again tempted to
dismiss talk of a White House scandal as
baloney.
of power is demanding an investigation. To
which the administration responds: (a)
There's nothing to investigate because, (b)
we've already investigated and explained it,
(c) too much time has been wasted on it as it
is, (c) the country has more pressing
problems that need our attention, and (d) any
or all of the above. Or, to put it in more
concise fashion: Move on, there's nothing to
see here.
Nothin' doin', says the loyal but insistent
opposition, aka the Republicans in the House.
Yes, there have already been seven different
investigations in addition to 13 hearings on
what happened before, during and after the
bloody massacre at Benghazi, which took the
lives of four brave Americans. Jay Carney,
the White House press secretary, wasted no
time counting them all up, and noting that
none of them had hit pay dirt.
But that was before a smoking gun was
discovered in the form of an email from a
political operative at the White House laying
out the administration's cover story for its
mouthpieces to repeat--a version of events
that fell apart once there was enough time to
examine it. So let's start Investigation No. 8.
Besides, the GOP has a fighting prosecutor to
lead the next investigation, and he doesn't
care how many reams of documents the
administration released about Benghazi while
holding back the key one. "I'm not interested
in summaries, I'm not interested in
synopses," says Trey Gowdy, a congressman
from South Carolina who's been chosen to
captain the GOP team this time around. "I'm
interested in access to the documents . . . and
I'm not interested in whether the appropriate
questions were asked in the past."
To which Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip
in the House, responds in his always eloquent
way: "That's baloney."
I can identify. I've been there. It was another
scandal in another year, another decade,
another century, a whole other era. That
scandal was dubbed Watergate, after the
apartment building where the headquarters
of the Democratic National Committee had
been burglarized, raising questions and
setting off demands for an investigation. I
was writing editorials at the time in that key
listening post, Pine Bluff, Ark., and it all
sounded like baloney to me.
Week after week, month after month, our
editorials in the Pine Bluff Commercial pooh-
poohed the whole idea that the White House
was involved in some nefarious conspiracy to
cover up the truth. But then we -- and the
country -- learned that the attorney general
of the United States, the Hon. John N.
Mitchell, who was married to a Pine Bluff
belle, character, and heavy drinker named
Martha Beall Mitchell, had been lying about
Watergate all along. And even more
surprising, at least to me, Martha had been
telling the truth.
The scales fell from my eyes. Why, it hadn't
been baloney after all. The Pine Bluff
Commercial would sponsor a nationwide
drive to erect a monument to Martha, and I
was proud to lead it. People all over the
country sent in their little $5 and $10 checks
to help build it. Blessed are the poor. These
folks had believed Martha all along. It was
both embarrassing and cleansing to be have
been proved wrong, and I was grateful to
her.
I can still hear echoes of that old scandal in
this new one. Some of the lines don't seem to
have changed much at all: "After 12 weeks
and two million words of televised testimony,
we have reached a point at which a
continued, backward-looking obsession with
Watergate is causing this nation to neglect
matters of far greater importance to all of the
American people. We must not stay so mired
in Watergate that we fail to respond to
challenges of surpassing importance to
America and the world. We cannot let an
obsession with the past destroy our hopes for
the future." -- Richard M. Nixon, Address to
the Nation, August 15, 1973.
I had a friend back then, Steed Joyce, who
after years of keeping track of supplies at the
Cotton Belt railroad, decided to go off and
became an Episcopal priest. He tried to warn
me not to put my trust in princes, specifically
R. Nixon and his minions. To commemorate
my folly he sent me a beautifully calligraphed
scroll in the perfect Hebrew script he'd
learned in seminary. It's a copy of Verse 1,
Chapter 8 of the Book of Nehemiah: And all
the people gathered themselves together
before the water gate . . . Steed, now the
Reverend Mr. Joyce, had thoughtfully penned
the Hebrew words for Watergate, Shaar
Hamayim, in red. So I couldn't miss them.
I've still got that little piece of Scripture, now
preserved in a simple black frame, hanging
on my office wall where I can see it every
day. Just in case I'm ever again tempted to
dismiss talk of a White House scandal as
baloney.
NUDISM
It has been customary for all, except for the occasional
infant, to have their genital area and buttocks covered
when in public. Females over a few years of age are
normally expected to also wear coverings over their
nipples. Decades ago, men were required to wear tops,
even at the beach. Recently, thong bathing suits, which
expose almost the entire buttock area, have changed
our concept of acceptable clothing in many areas of
North America. Some jurisdictions allow women to go
topless.
Naturists believe that if weather, location and laws
permit, activities such as sports, swimming, hiking and
relaxing in a social environment can be enjoyed without
the necessity of wearing clothing. " Naturism is not the
exploitation of nakedness, exhibitionism, a religion, or a
cult...Naturists accept and admire the beauty of the
human body as it is, regardless of age, gender or form."
1
Some people oppose social nudity (also called nudism
and naturism) and would like to criminalize it even if it
is confined to private naturist resorts. Some feel that
nudity, when practiced within a family, is a form of child
sexual abuse. Many people feel awkward when a
woman breast-feeds her infant in public. Topless
women can be arrested in most of North America, even
though the practice is generally accepted on European
beaches.
infant, to have their genital area and buttocks covered
when in public. Females over a few years of age are
normally expected to also wear coverings over their
nipples. Decades ago, men were required to wear tops,
even at the beach. Recently, thong bathing suits, which
expose almost the entire buttock area, have changed
our concept of acceptable clothing in many areas of
North America. Some jurisdictions allow women to go
topless.
Naturists believe that if weather, location and laws
permit, activities such as sports, swimming, hiking and
relaxing in a social environment can be enjoyed without
the necessity of wearing clothing. " Naturism is not the
exploitation of nakedness, exhibitionism, a religion, or a
cult...Naturists accept and admire the beauty of the
human body as it is, regardless of age, gender or form."
1
Some people oppose social nudity (also called nudism
and naturism) and would like to criminalize it even if it
is confined to private naturist resorts. Some feel that
nudity, when practiced within a family, is a form of child
sexual abuse. Many people feel awkward when a
woman breast-feeds her infant in public. Topless
women can be arrested in most of North America, even
though the practice is generally accepted on European
beaches.
6 Jun 2014
BULLFIGHTS
Each year, more than 40,000 bulls are barbarically
slaughtered in Spain’s bullrings. Most foreign visitors
who witness a bullfight never wish to see one again.
They are repulsed, disgusted and saddened by the
cruelty of the spectacle.
At best, the term “bullfighting” is a misnomer, as there
is usually little competition between a nimble sword-
wielding matador (Spanish for “killer”) and a confused,
maimed, psychologically tormented and physically
debilitated bull.
One of the biggest supporters of bullfighting is the
tourist industry. Travel agents and bullfight promoters
portray the fight as a festive and fair competition. What
they do not reveal is that the bull never has a chance to
defend himself, much less to survive.
Bulls are intentionally debilitated by various means,
such as having sandbags dropped on their backs.
Drugging is also very common. A study conducted by
scientists at Spain’s Salamanca University found that
20 per cent of the bulls used for fighting are drugged
before they step into the ring. In a sampling of 200
bulls, one in five had been given anti-inflammatory
drugs, which mask injuries that could sap animals’
strength.
Another common practice is to “shave” bulls’ horns by
sawing off a few inches. Bulls’ horns, like cats’
whiskers, help the animals navigate, so a sudden
change impairs their coordination. Shaving is illegal, so
the horns are sometimes inspected by a veterinarian
after a fight. In 1997, the Confederation of Bullfighting
Professionals – which includes Spain’s 230 matadors –
went on strike in opposition to these veterinary
inspections.
In a typical bullfight, the bull enters the arena and is
approached by picadors – men on blindfolded horses
who drive lances into the bull’s back and neck muscles.
This impairs the bull’s ability to lift his head. They twist
and gouge the lances to ensure a significant amount of
blood loss. Then banderilleros enter on foot and proceed
to distract the bull and dart around him while plunging
banderillas – bright sticks with harpoon points on their
ends – into his back. When the bull has become
weakened from blood loss, the banderilleros run the bull
in more circles until he is dizzy and stops chasing.
Finally, the matador appears and, after provoking a few
exhausted charges from the dying animal, tries to kill
the bull with his sword. If he misses, succeeding only
in further mutilating the animal, an executioner is called
in to stab the exhausted and submissive animal to
death. The dagger is supposed to cut the animal’s
spinal cord, but even this can be blundered, leaving the
bull conscious but paralysed as he is chained by his
horns and dragged out of the arena.
If the crowd is happy with the matador , the bull’s ears
and tail are cut off and presented as a trophy. A few
minutes later, another bull enters the arena and the
sadistic cycle starts again.
It is a very cowardly event. The matador has the choice
to be there – the bull does not. From the moment he
enters the ring from the dark alleyway where he is kept,
the bull doesn’t stand a chance. He may be weakened
by beatings with sandbags, have the muscles in his
neck cut in order to prevent him from lifting his head up
all the way, be debilitated with laxatives, have his horns
shaved or have petroleum jelly rubbed into his eyes in
order to alter his ability to judge distance.
slaughtered in Spain’s bullrings. Most foreign visitors
who witness a bullfight never wish to see one again.
They are repulsed, disgusted and saddened by the
cruelty of the spectacle.
At best, the term “bullfighting” is a misnomer, as there
is usually little competition between a nimble sword-
wielding matador (Spanish for “killer”) and a confused,
maimed, psychologically tormented and physically
debilitated bull.
One of the biggest supporters of bullfighting is the
tourist industry. Travel agents and bullfight promoters
portray the fight as a festive and fair competition. What
they do not reveal is that the bull never has a chance to
defend himself, much less to survive.
Bulls are intentionally debilitated by various means,
such as having sandbags dropped on their backs.
Drugging is also very common. A study conducted by
scientists at Spain’s Salamanca University found that
20 per cent of the bulls used for fighting are drugged
before they step into the ring. In a sampling of 200
bulls, one in five had been given anti-inflammatory
drugs, which mask injuries that could sap animals’
strength.
Another common practice is to “shave” bulls’ horns by
sawing off a few inches. Bulls’ horns, like cats’
whiskers, help the animals navigate, so a sudden
change impairs their coordination. Shaving is illegal, so
the horns are sometimes inspected by a veterinarian
after a fight. In 1997, the Confederation of Bullfighting
Professionals – which includes Spain’s 230 matadors –
went on strike in opposition to these veterinary
inspections.
In a typical bullfight, the bull enters the arena and is
approached by picadors – men on blindfolded horses
who drive lances into the bull’s back and neck muscles.
This impairs the bull’s ability to lift his head. They twist
and gouge the lances to ensure a significant amount of
blood loss. Then banderilleros enter on foot and proceed
to distract the bull and dart around him while plunging
banderillas – bright sticks with harpoon points on their
ends – into his back. When the bull has become
weakened from blood loss, the banderilleros run the bull
in more circles until he is dizzy and stops chasing.
Finally, the matador appears and, after provoking a few
exhausted charges from the dying animal, tries to kill
the bull with his sword. If he misses, succeeding only
in further mutilating the animal, an executioner is called
in to stab the exhausted and submissive animal to
death. The dagger is supposed to cut the animal’s
spinal cord, but even this can be blundered, leaving the
bull conscious but paralysed as he is chained by his
horns and dragged out of the arena.
If the crowd is happy with the matador , the bull’s ears
and tail are cut off and presented as a trophy. A few
minutes later, another bull enters the arena and the
sadistic cycle starts again.
It is a very cowardly event. The matador has the choice
to be there – the bull does not. From the moment he
enters the ring from the dark alleyway where he is kept,
the bull doesn’t stand a chance. He may be weakened
by beatings with sandbags, have the muscles in his
neck cut in order to prevent him from lifting his head up
all the way, be debilitated with laxatives, have his horns
shaved or have petroleum jelly rubbed into his eyes in
order to alter his ability to judge distance.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The environmental movement is a movement that
pushes for the conservation of natural resources and the
passing of legislation that promotes environmentally
friendly behavior. Those who support the movement
advocate sustainable management of resources as well
as taking responsibility for the welfare of the
environment through public policy and personal
participation in efforts to preserve the earth and its
resources.
This movement can be traced back the 19th century
when protectionists such as John Muir wanted to set
aside land for its own sake. In order to do so, he
founded the Sierra Club, one of the largest
environmental groups in the United States. He also
founded Yellowstone Park, the world's first ever national
park. Around this time, Gifford Pinchot also proposed
managing natural resources for human use. Thoreau, a
well-known poet, also was very concerned about
environmental protection and wrote the poem Walden
about the wildlife that he saw from his cabin.
Varying Environmental Movements
There are several primary foci in the realm of the
environmental movement. The conservation movement
seeks to protect natural areas for hunting, fishing and
trapping. Environmental conservation is another process
that involves pollution control, reforestation and
recycling. The Ecology movement is a newer movement
and involves analysis and improvement of the
interactions of humans with the earth and its resources.
The anti-nuclear movement is a relatively new
movement in environmentalism that involves the
prohibition of nuclear technology on the grounds that it
causes damage to plants and animals on the earth.
Environmental reactivism is a term that refers to a
staunch opposition to technology, such as harmful
pesticides and water additives. Adding fluoride to the
water system, for example, can lead to problems in fish
populations. The NIMBY movement, which stands for
Not in My Back Yard, is one that illustrates the public
outcry against potentially harmful plants and centers
being installed in neighborhoods.
Environmentalism has quickly become a concern on the
community level. Many churches and local groups now
have programs to support environmental issues. They
may collect recyclables for donation or they may even
volunteer to spend a weekend picking trash out of local
creeks and streams. Some groups also go door-to-door
spreading information on greener ways of living and
reducing one's consumption of valuable fuels and
resources.
In the last several years, a form of environmentalism
called radical environmentalism has arisen. This
movement is based on activism and pushes for a
change in government policy in an effort to change the
way people live and consume resources in their daily
lives. Radicals often cite religious reasons for their
beliefs and suggest a reconsideration of policies as deep
as capitalism and globalization.
pushes for the conservation of natural resources and the
passing of legislation that promotes environmentally
friendly behavior. Those who support the movement
advocate sustainable management of resources as well
as taking responsibility for the welfare of the
environment through public policy and personal
participation in efforts to preserve the earth and its
resources.
This movement can be traced back the 19th century
when protectionists such as John Muir wanted to set
aside land for its own sake. In order to do so, he
founded the Sierra Club, one of the largest
environmental groups in the United States. He also
founded Yellowstone Park, the world's first ever national
park. Around this time, Gifford Pinchot also proposed
managing natural resources for human use. Thoreau, a
well-known poet, also was very concerned about
environmental protection and wrote the poem Walden
about the wildlife that he saw from his cabin.
Varying Environmental Movements
There are several primary foci in the realm of the
environmental movement. The conservation movement
seeks to protect natural areas for hunting, fishing and
trapping. Environmental conservation is another process
that involves pollution control, reforestation and
recycling. The Ecology movement is a newer movement
and involves analysis and improvement of the
interactions of humans with the earth and its resources.
The anti-nuclear movement is a relatively new
movement in environmentalism that involves the
prohibition of nuclear technology on the grounds that it
causes damage to plants and animals on the earth.
Environmental reactivism is a term that refers to a
staunch opposition to technology, such as harmful
pesticides and water additives. Adding fluoride to the
water system, for example, can lead to problems in fish
populations. The NIMBY movement, which stands for
Not in My Back Yard, is one that illustrates the public
outcry against potentially harmful plants and centers
being installed in neighborhoods.
Environmentalism has quickly become a concern on the
community level. Many churches and local groups now
have programs to support environmental issues. They
may collect recyclables for donation or they may even
volunteer to spend a weekend picking trash out of local
creeks and streams. Some groups also go door-to-door
spreading information on greener ways of living and
reducing one's consumption of valuable fuels and
resources.
In the last several years, a form of environmentalism
called radical environmentalism has arisen. This
movement is based on activism and pushes for a
change in government policy in an effort to change the
way people live and consume resources in their daily
lives. Radicals often cite religious reasons for their
beliefs and suggest a reconsideration of policies as deep
as capitalism and globalization.
ABORTION LAST RESORT?
Abortion involves terminating a pregnancy by the
removing or expelling of a fetus or embryo from the
uterus. This is sometimes due to the death of the fetus;
however, it can also result in the death of it. Abortion is
a very controversial topic because its frequency of
occurrence, legal, cultural and religious status varies
extensively in different regions of the world. There are
many high-profile groups that champion either pro-
choice or pro-life, and such organizations bring up a
host of issues to further their often political agenda. In
the United States, pro-life groups favor greater legal
restrictions on abortion, or even the complete
prohibition of it. They argue that a human fetus is a
human being with a right to live, so abortion is similar
to murder. In contrast, pro-choice groups argue that a
woman has certain reproductive rights, especially the
choice on whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term.
One of the most common reasons why some women
want to have an abortion is because they have the
desire to delay childbearing because they themselves
are young. Other reasons include not wanting to stop
work or schooling and/or because of financial or
relationship instability. These reasons are consistent
across numerous countries, including America. Most
abortions that occur in the United States are obtained
by women of a minority race because they are having
higher incidences of unintended pregnancies. In
developing countries, women have the additional
concern of health risks and complications that occur as
a result of unsafe practices in medical settings.
Some abortions happen because of societal pressures.
This occurs to when there is little social support, when
a specific gender of a child is preferred or when
governments enforce population control, such as
China's one child policy. It is suggested that sex-
selective abortion could account for disparities between
the birth rates of male and female children in some
countries. Many countries in Asia like China, South
Korea and India have cultures that prefer male children.
When abortion occurs because of societal pressures,
women sometimes have to resort to unsafe practices
because the legalized healthcare route is not an option.
As a result, countries that have restrictive abortive laws
have more women that seek unsafe abortions. Unsafe
abortions occur when they are performed by individuals
without adequate medical skills or in an unhygienic
environment. Such situations occur globally, and result
in about 70,000 maternal deaths and 5 million maternal
disabilities per year.
Currently, laws regarding abortion are diverse and differ
by states in the U.S. Some states have a 24-hour
waiting period before an abortion can be carried out and
require that information regarding fetal development is
given out. The abortion debate also focuses on whether
laws should be passed mandating that the pregnant
woman has the consent of others, especially if the
woman is a minor.
removing or expelling of a fetus or embryo from the
uterus. This is sometimes due to the death of the fetus;
however, it can also result in the death of it. Abortion is
a very controversial topic because its frequency of
occurrence, legal, cultural and religious status varies
extensively in different regions of the world. There are
many high-profile groups that champion either pro-
choice or pro-life, and such organizations bring up a
host of issues to further their often political agenda. In
the United States, pro-life groups favor greater legal
restrictions on abortion, or even the complete
prohibition of it. They argue that a human fetus is a
human being with a right to live, so abortion is similar
to murder. In contrast, pro-choice groups argue that a
woman has certain reproductive rights, especially the
choice on whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term.
One of the most common reasons why some women
want to have an abortion is because they have the
desire to delay childbearing because they themselves
are young. Other reasons include not wanting to stop
work or schooling and/or because of financial or
relationship instability. These reasons are consistent
across numerous countries, including America. Most
abortions that occur in the United States are obtained
by women of a minority race because they are having
higher incidences of unintended pregnancies. In
developing countries, women have the additional
concern of health risks and complications that occur as
a result of unsafe practices in medical settings.
Some abortions happen because of societal pressures.
This occurs to when there is little social support, when
a specific gender of a child is preferred or when
governments enforce population control, such as
China's one child policy. It is suggested that sex-
selective abortion could account for disparities between
the birth rates of male and female children in some
countries. Many countries in Asia like China, South
Korea and India have cultures that prefer male children.
When abortion occurs because of societal pressures,
women sometimes have to resort to unsafe practices
because the legalized healthcare route is not an option.
As a result, countries that have restrictive abortive laws
have more women that seek unsafe abortions. Unsafe
abortions occur when they are performed by individuals
without adequate medical skills or in an unhygienic
environment. Such situations occur globally, and result
in about 70,000 maternal deaths and 5 million maternal
disabilities per year.
Currently, laws regarding abortion are diverse and differ
by states in the U.S. Some states have a 24-hour
waiting period before an abortion can be carried out and
require that information regarding fetal development is
given out. The abortion debate also focuses on whether
laws should be passed mandating that the pregnant
woman has the consent of others, especially if the
woman is a minor.
THE MESSIAH WITHIN
The concept of the Messiah is a divine archetype or
aspect of God that exists at the very heart of our being.
The role of Mythic Hero and World Saviour is a latent
potential that lies within all of us.
Here we explore a recurrent theme that is found in most
of the world's great faith traditions and also forms an
integral part of the prophesies of the World's religions.
In the world of religion there are few concepts which are
able to excite such passion from the faithful or else
elicit such disdain from secular people. What we are
talking about here is the idea of the expectation and
future coming of a special person who will play a
decisive role in the unfolding of the events of the
prophesies and in bringing about of their full realization.
This expected or chosen one is given many different
names by the different religions of this world. To Jews
he is the Messiah, to Muslims he is the Mahdi, to
Christians the Second Coming, to Hindus the Kalki and
to Buddhists he is the Maitreya. Also Zoroastrians await
the Saoshyant and even Taoist/Confucian scriptures talk
of the coming of the Future True Man. It is however
reasonable to suppose that all these different names
and titles are really referring to the same person. If we
take it as our starting point that all world religion is
really worshipping the same God and asking after the
same truth, then all the world's prophesies are coming
from the same source and so are really describing the
same set of events and circumstances. Therefore all the
World's religions all really waiting for the same person.
So this person has the role of acting as the catalyst and
instigator of the events prophesied. There follows a
discussion and an interpretation of the prophesies for
this long awaited person. I should mention here that for
clarity and succinctness I'll use the term Messiah or
else 'The Expected One' to mean all the other epithets
as well. That is, instead of Messiah or 'Expected One',
one might equally substitute the name Mahdi, Second
Coming or Maitreya etc. with equal standing and also
with the same meaning.
First I'll answer a question concerning the expected one
that I am often asked or else I am sometimes led to in
my discussions with people in this sort of thing. The
question is this, 'Is the Messiah[or Expected One], going
to be a single person or is it going to be a collection of
people?'. The best and most practical answer to this
question is to suppose that it's going to be a large
collection of people all working towards the realization
of the prophesies. That is, to suppose that everyone has
the Messiah, Mahdi or Christ within them and that it is
through a collective effort that the role of the Messiah is
fulfilled. One of the roles of the World Saviour is to save
the planet. There is these days in the present age,
definitely a planet to be saved and obviously one person
isn't by himself or herself going to save the world. So
therefore it has got to be a group effort involving
millions of people and more. With this interpretation of
the prophesies, the Messiah is therefore seen as an
archetype or essential aspect of our innermost being
which can be activated and brought to the surface of
our consciousness. It is like a dormant potential that
exists within us all, which may under certain conditions
be awakened and incorporated into our being. That is, if
we choose, we may express through our actions the
attributes of the Messiah and take on his roles in our
lives. Through this exercise, in a sense we are
manifesting the divine and also personifying a powerful
aspect of God. We become the preserver of life and the
creator of a new world. However this interpretation of
the prophesies for the Messiah also leaves open the
possibility for a single person or a small group of
people, to play some critical role in the unfolding of the
prophesies. At the same time, this person(s) is not
acting not alone but in concert with a large segment of
humanity; with the common aim of saving the planet
and bringing about peace on Earth.
For the rest of this section I'll be talking in the singular
purely for the sake of conformity with common usage of
terms. So when I say 'Messiah', I really mean
'Messiahs'. Now, we turn to examining the descriptions
of the 'Expected One' contained in the various scriptures
of world religion. Who and what is this person? What is
his role? and what is his meaning in relation to the
prophesies?
When we examine the prophesies and read what they
have to say, we may gain a composite picture of what
the Messiah is all about. What the scriptures seem to
be describing is a peace bringer and unifier of mankind.
Also he is a bringer of justice and arbiter of disputes. So
for example in the Bible we have the following passages
from Isaiah...
' He [The Messiah] shall judge between the nations, and
shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more ' - Isaiah 2:2-4
'The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and
might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord...' - Isaiah 11:2
And in the scriptures of Islam we find in the holy text
called the Nahjul Bhalaga...
" The Imam who will create a world state will make the
ruling nations pay for their crimes against society. He
will bring succor to humanity. He will take out the
hidden wealth from the breast of the earth and will
distribute it equitably amongst the needy deserving." -
Khutba 141
In the ancient and influential religion of Zoroastrianism,
the expected one is known by various names. For
example he is called the Saoshyant which means
'Victorious Benefactor' and he is also known as the
'Astavat erata', which means 'World Renovator'.
Finally the one who's coming has long been prophesied
is also a world teacher and revealer of important truths
and ultimate mysteries. In Buddhist scriptures the
Maitreya is so described...
' I am not the first Buddha [ awakened one ] who has
come upon the Earth, nor will I be the last. In due time
another Buddha will rise in the world, a holy one, a
supreme enlightened one, endowed with auspicious
wisdom embracing the universe, an incomparable leader
of men, a ruler of gods and mortals. He will reveal to
you the same eternal truths, which I have taught you.
He will establish his law [ Religion ], glorious in its
origins, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal
in the spirit and the letter. He will proclaim a righteous
life wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim.
His disciples will number many thousands, while mine
number many hundreds. He will be known as Maitreya .'
- Buddha Gautama
And also prophesies in Islam about the Imam Mahdi say
the following...
"He will teach you simple living and high thinking. He
will make you understand that virtue is a state of
character which is always a mean between the two
extremes, and which is based upon equity and justice.
He will revive the teaching of the Holy Qur'an and the
traditions of the Holy Prophet after the world has
ignored them as dead letters.... He will protect and
defend himself with resources of science and supreme
knowledge. His control over these resources will be
complete. He will know how supreme they are and how
carefully they will have to be used. His mind will be free
from desires of bringing harm and injury to humanity.
Such a knowledge to him will be like the property which
was wrongly possessed by others and for which he was
waiting for the permission to repossess and use." -
Nahjul Balagha, Khutba 141, 187
Generally what the prophesies are describing is a potent
agent of change and transformation. Someone who
comes along to address our deepest human yearnings,
concerns and fears. In a sense he is a symbol who
represents our desires for a better world and a happy
outcome for the current world situation. He acts like a
beacon, giving people the hope that one day in the
future all the wrongs of our human condition will be
rectified and that the struggles of daily life will be
shown to be ultimately meaningful.
aspect of God that exists at the very heart of our being.
The role of Mythic Hero and World Saviour is a latent
potential that lies within all of us.
Here we explore a recurrent theme that is found in most
of the world's great faith traditions and also forms an
integral part of the prophesies of the World's religions.
In the world of religion there are few concepts which are
able to excite such passion from the faithful or else
elicit such disdain from secular people. What we are
talking about here is the idea of the expectation and
future coming of a special person who will play a
decisive role in the unfolding of the events of the
prophesies and in bringing about of their full realization.
This expected or chosen one is given many different
names by the different religions of this world. To Jews
he is the Messiah, to Muslims he is the Mahdi, to
Christians the Second Coming, to Hindus the Kalki and
to Buddhists he is the Maitreya. Also Zoroastrians await
the Saoshyant and even Taoist/Confucian scriptures talk
of the coming of the Future True Man. It is however
reasonable to suppose that all these different names
and titles are really referring to the same person. If we
take it as our starting point that all world religion is
really worshipping the same God and asking after the
same truth, then all the world's prophesies are coming
from the same source and so are really describing the
same set of events and circumstances. Therefore all the
World's religions all really waiting for the same person.
So this person has the role of acting as the catalyst and
instigator of the events prophesied. There follows a
discussion and an interpretation of the prophesies for
this long awaited person. I should mention here that for
clarity and succinctness I'll use the term Messiah or
else 'The Expected One' to mean all the other epithets
as well. That is, instead of Messiah or 'Expected One',
one might equally substitute the name Mahdi, Second
Coming or Maitreya etc. with equal standing and also
with the same meaning.
First I'll answer a question concerning the expected one
that I am often asked or else I am sometimes led to in
my discussions with people in this sort of thing. The
question is this, 'Is the Messiah[or Expected One], going
to be a single person or is it going to be a collection of
people?'. The best and most practical answer to this
question is to suppose that it's going to be a large
collection of people all working towards the realization
of the prophesies. That is, to suppose that everyone has
the Messiah, Mahdi or Christ within them and that it is
through a collective effort that the role of the Messiah is
fulfilled. One of the roles of the World Saviour is to save
the planet. There is these days in the present age,
definitely a planet to be saved and obviously one person
isn't by himself or herself going to save the world. So
therefore it has got to be a group effort involving
millions of people and more. With this interpretation of
the prophesies, the Messiah is therefore seen as an
archetype or essential aspect of our innermost being
which can be activated and brought to the surface of
our consciousness. It is like a dormant potential that
exists within us all, which may under certain conditions
be awakened and incorporated into our being. That is, if
we choose, we may express through our actions the
attributes of the Messiah and take on his roles in our
lives. Through this exercise, in a sense we are
manifesting the divine and also personifying a powerful
aspect of God. We become the preserver of life and the
creator of a new world. However this interpretation of
the prophesies for the Messiah also leaves open the
possibility for a single person or a small group of
people, to play some critical role in the unfolding of the
prophesies. At the same time, this person(s) is not
acting not alone but in concert with a large segment of
humanity; with the common aim of saving the planet
and bringing about peace on Earth.
For the rest of this section I'll be talking in the singular
purely for the sake of conformity with common usage of
terms. So when I say 'Messiah', I really mean
'Messiahs'. Now, we turn to examining the descriptions
of the 'Expected One' contained in the various scriptures
of world religion. Who and what is this person? What is
his role? and what is his meaning in relation to the
prophesies?
When we examine the prophesies and read what they
have to say, we may gain a composite picture of what
the Messiah is all about. What the scriptures seem to
be describing is a peace bringer and unifier of mankind.
Also he is a bringer of justice and arbiter of disputes. So
for example in the Bible we have the following passages
from Isaiah...
' He [The Messiah] shall judge between the nations, and
shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more ' - Isaiah 2:2-4
'The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and
might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord...' - Isaiah 11:2
And in the scriptures of Islam we find in the holy text
called the Nahjul Bhalaga...
" The Imam who will create a world state will make the
ruling nations pay for their crimes against society. He
will bring succor to humanity. He will take out the
hidden wealth from the breast of the earth and will
distribute it equitably amongst the needy deserving." -
Khutba 141
In the ancient and influential religion of Zoroastrianism,
the expected one is known by various names. For
example he is called the Saoshyant which means
'Victorious Benefactor' and he is also known as the
'Astavat erata', which means 'World Renovator'.
Finally the one who's coming has long been prophesied
is also a world teacher and revealer of important truths
and ultimate mysteries. In Buddhist scriptures the
Maitreya is so described...
' I am not the first Buddha [ awakened one ] who has
come upon the Earth, nor will I be the last. In due time
another Buddha will rise in the world, a holy one, a
supreme enlightened one, endowed with auspicious
wisdom embracing the universe, an incomparable leader
of men, a ruler of gods and mortals. He will reveal to
you the same eternal truths, which I have taught you.
He will establish his law [ Religion ], glorious in its
origins, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal
in the spirit and the letter. He will proclaim a righteous
life wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim.
His disciples will number many thousands, while mine
number many hundreds. He will be known as Maitreya .'
- Buddha Gautama
And also prophesies in Islam about the Imam Mahdi say
the following...
"He will teach you simple living and high thinking. He
will make you understand that virtue is a state of
character which is always a mean between the two
extremes, and which is based upon equity and justice.
He will revive the teaching of the Holy Qur'an and the
traditions of the Holy Prophet after the world has
ignored them as dead letters.... He will protect and
defend himself with resources of science and supreme
knowledge. His control over these resources will be
complete. He will know how supreme they are and how
carefully they will have to be used. His mind will be free
from desires of bringing harm and injury to humanity.
Such a knowledge to him will be like the property which
was wrongly possessed by others and for which he was
waiting for the permission to repossess and use." -
Nahjul Balagha, Khutba 141, 187
Generally what the prophesies are describing is a potent
agent of change and transformation. Someone who
comes along to address our deepest human yearnings,
concerns and fears. In a sense he is a symbol who
represents our desires for a better world and a happy
outcome for the current world situation. He acts like a
beacon, giving people the hope that one day in the
future all the wrongs of our human condition will be
rectified and that the struggles of daily life will be
shown to be ultimately meaningful.
REINCARNATION
There is a view of the nature of Eternal Life that is
common to all the Worlds Great Religions though, more
often than not, censored, suppressed or else kept
hidden.
This section deals with one of the eternal questions of
life, that is 'What happens when I die?'. Closely related
questions are 'Is there a soul?', 'Is there an afterlife?'
and 'What is the nature of the soul?'. I hope to provide
the reader here with answers to these timeless
questions.
So what is the truth about eternal life? To the Atheist or
the Materialist, the whole idea of life after death is an
absurdity. To them it might seem like some invention
designed to deal with the fear of death, or some fantasy
that allows religious people to better cope with the
passing away of loved ones. The debate between those
who believe in eternal life and those who dismiss the
idea of it, has been going on throughout history. The
kinds of people who deny the reality of eternal life will
often also have materialist assumptions. That is they
will usually suppose that our existence is based on our
physical bodies with nothing else being in existence
apart from the material Universe. They will find it
impossible to see how anything of what we are can
survive after our bodies have stopped working and
decayed away. Or else they'll counter the idea of eternal
life with the objection that it is something which can
never be proven. In another section of this website I
show how the truth about eternal life actually works
(See Nature of Reality section) and I also show how
indeed it can be proven (See Everyone is God section).
Here I shall present the common truth about eternal life
that is found at the mystical heart of all world religion
namely reincarnation. And I also show how it is that in
religions not normally associated with reincarnation,
such as Christianity, the truth has been censored, made
heresy and then suppressed.
The religiously minded believe and have believed
through the ages, all sorts of different stories
concerning the details of the passage of the soul. Most
Christians and Muslims of this world believe in the idea
of 'resurrection'. That is after death we return to life
with the same physical bodies that we had during our
lives on Earth. This 'resurrected' body will then inhabit
for all eternity either some sort of paradise i.e. Heaven
or else will be condemned to some sort of Hell. Often it
will also be believed that we may meet again deceased
friends and loved ones, who will also be similarly
physically reconstituted in this imagined afterworld.
Another version of the afterlife believed by people of the
Mormon faith holds that when a good Mormon dies then
he or she will become a god of a new universe and
inhabit a planet of their own along with their spouse or
spouses. Then eternity is spent in a state of bliss
producing star children who are the new souls for the
new lives that will inhabit the new universe in which the
perfected Mormon has become God. This is what is
implied by the much quoted aphorism invented by one
of the early presidents of the Mormon church which
goes 'As man is, God once was and as God is, man
may become.'
However there is another widely held belief about
eternal life which is common to the mystical heart of all
world religion. This is the well known but not universally
believed idea called reincarnation or the transmigration
of souls. At first it may seem that this is an idea which
is exclusive to the Eastern religions such as Hinduism
or Buddhism. However when we examine the other
religions more closely then we find one of two things.
Firstly that the idea of reincarnation has either been
once prevalent but then later suppressed. Or else
secondly we discover that reincarnation is believed by
the mystics at the heart of their respective religions and
also by the members of certain esoteric sects within
World religions that we don't normally associate with
reincarnation. We when study closely all the main
religions of this world, then we find that the idea of
reincarnation occurs again and again.
It is true that there exists in the Worlds religions many
different and conflicting ideas about eternal life. But it is
when we examine the history of the World's great
religions and understand how doctrines become
changed for political ends, that we see how truths and
in this case truths about eternal life may be suppressed.
I will be showing how in the case of Christianity, the
idea of reincarnation was quite systematically made
heresy and banned even though it was a widely held
belief in the early church. Also in world religion, it has
often been the case that important and ineffable truths
have often been communicated through the invention of
fantasies and simplistic stories that the common people
could more easily grasp. That is, religious truths are
often two tiered. There is the actual truth for the
mystics and the more esoterically minded followers of
religion, i.e. the kinds of people more deeply involved in
religion and also more interested in knowing about
matters of life after death; then there are the fairy tales
and stories of miracles which are created to capture the
imaginations of the laity and common folk. These would
be the majority of the followers of their respective
religions, who don't actually want to spend a lot of time
thinking about the true nature of eternal life but are
looking for reassurance and a view of the afterlife that
they can easily digest and absorb. Hence we have
popular stereotypes of what eternal life is, such as
heaven being a place in the clouds or else some other
plane of existence where we go spend the rest of
eternity with our deceased friends and loved ones.
Scenarios such as these are useful fictions which
through history have served a necessary purpose.
However when taken literally they don't stand up to
critical analysis and deflect attention from the real truth
about the nature of eternal life, which is reincarnation.
Therefore I will show how this has been the case in
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Also I'll show that in
all these three major religions, reincarnation has been a
central and integral aspect, even though this is
sometimes in the background or else is hidden for
various reasons.
I'll now go through some of the major religions of the
world and discuss the idea of reincarnation in relation to
these main faiths. Firstly we'll discuss the religious
traditions which are not commonly associated with
reincarnation. To start I will discuss judaism,
christianity and islam in this order which reflects the
order in which they first emerged. I will show that the
belief in reincarnation is or has been an important
aspect of all these three faiths. Later on I'll be dealing
with Hinduism and Buddhism. We'll deal with these two
faith traditions last mainly because the idea of
reincarnation is a central belief in both, therefore the
case for the importance of reincarnation in these two
religions is very straight forward and easy to make. Also
because the idea of reincarnation is commonly identified
and closely associated with both Hinduism and
Buddhism, the case for reincarnation in both these faiths
is a less interesting one to make. Anyway... we now
examine the idea of reincarnation in some of the major
religions of the world.
common to all the Worlds Great Religions though, more
often than not, censored, suppressed or else kept
hidden.
This section deals with one of the eternal questions of
life, that is 'What happens when I die?'. Closely related
questions are 'Is there a soul?', 'Is there an afterlife?'
and 'What is the nature of the soul?'. I hope to provide
the reader here with answers to these timeless
questions.
So what is the truth about eternal life? To the Atheist or
the Materialist, the whole idea of life after death is an
absurdity. To them it might seem like some invention
designed to deal with the fear of death, or some fantasy
that allows religious people to better cope with the
passing away of loved ones. The debate between those
who believe in eternal life and those who dismiss the
idea of it, has been going on throughout history. The
kinds of people who deny the reality of eternal life will
often also have materialist assumptions. That is they
will usually suppose that our existence is based on our
physical bodies with nothing else being in existence
apart from the material Universe. They will find it
impossible to see how anything of what we are can
survive after our bodies have stopped working and
decayed away. Or else they'll counter the idea of eternal
life with the objection that it is something which can
never be proven. In another section of this website I
show how the truth about eternal life actually works
(See Nature of Reality section) and I also show how
indeed it can be proven (See Everyone is God section).
Here I shall present the common truth about eternal life
that is found at the mystical heart of all world religion
namely reincarnation. And I also show how it is that in
religions not normally associated with reincarnation,
such as Christianity, the truth has been censored, made
heresy and then suppressed.
The religiously minded believe and have believed
through the ages, all sorts of different stories
concerning the details of the passage of the soul. Most
Christians and Muslims of this world believe in the idea
of 'resurrection'. That is after death we return to life
with the same physical bodies that we had during our
lives on Earth. This 'resurrected' body will then inhabit
for all eternity either some sort of paradise i.e. Heaven
or else will be condemned to some sort of Hell. Often it
will also be believed that we may meet again deceased
friends and loved ones, who will also be similarly
physically reconstituted in this imagined afterworld.
Another version of the afterlife believed by people of the
Mormon faith holds that when a good Mormon dies then
he or she will become a god of a new universe and
inhabit a planet of their own along with their spouse or
spouses. Then eternity is spent in a state of bliss
producing star children who are the new souls for the
new lives that will inhabit the new universe in which the
perfected Mormon has become God. This is what is
implied by the much quoted aphorism invented by one
of the early presidents of the Mormon church which
goes 'As man is, God once was and as God is, man
may become.'
However there is another widely held belief about
eternal life which is common to the mystical heart of all
world religion. This is the well known but not universally
believed idea called reincarnation or the transmigration
of souls. At first it may seem that this is an idea which
is exclusive to the Eastern religions such as Hinduism
or Buddhism. However when we examine the other
religions more closely then we find one of two things.
Firstly that the idea of reincarnation has either been
once prevalent but then later suppressed. Or else
secondly we discover that reincarnation is believed by
the mystics at the heart of their respective religions and
also by the members of certain esoteric sects within
World religions that we don't normally associate with
reincarnation. We when study closely all the main
religions of this world, then we find that the idea of
reincarnation occurs again and again.
It is true that there exists in the Worlds religions many
different and conflicting ideas about eternal life. But it is
when we examine the history of the World's great
religions and understand how doctrines become
changed for political ends, that we see how truths and
in this case truths about eternal life may be suppressed.
I will be showing how in the case of Christianity, the
idea of reincarnation was quite systematically made
heresy and banned even though it was a widely held
belief in the early church. Also in world religion, it has
often been the case that important and ineffable truths
have often been communicated through the invention of
fantasies and simplistic stories that the common people
could more easily grasp. That is, religious truths are
often two tiered. There is the actual truth for the
mystics and the more esoterically minded followers of
religion, i.e. the kinds of people more deeply involved in
religion and also more interested in knowing about
matters of life after death; then there are the fairy tales
and stories of miracles which are created to capture the
imaginations of the laity and common folk. These would
be the majority of the followers of their respective
religions, who don't actually want to spend a lot of time
thinking about the true nature of eternal life but are
looking for reassurance and a view of the afterlife that
they can easily digest and absorb. Hence we have
popular stereotypes of what eternal life is, such as
heaven being a place in the clouds or else some other
plane of existence where we go spend the rest of
eternity with our deceased friends and loved ones.
Scenarios such as these are useful fictions which
through history have served a necessary purpose.
However when taken literally they don't stand up to
critical analysis and deflect attention from the real truth
about the nature of eternal life, which is reincarnation.
Therefore I will show how this has been the case in
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Also I'll show that in
all these three major religions, reincarnation has been a
central and integral aspect, even though this is
sometimes in the background or else is hidden for
various reasons.
I'll now go through some of the major religions of the
world and discuss the idea of reincarnation in relation to
these main faiths. Firstly we'll discuss the religious
traditions which are not commonly associated with
reincarnation. To start I will discuss judaism,
christianity and islam in this order which reflects the
order in which they first emerged. I will show that the
belief in reincarnation is or has been an important
aspect of all these three faiths. Later on I'll be dealing
with Hinduism and Buddhism. We'll deal with these two
faith traditions last mainly because the idea of
reincarnation is a central belief in both, therefore the
case for the importance of reincarnation in these two
religions is very straight forward and easy to make. Also
because the idea of reincarnation is commonly identified
and closely associated with both Hinduism and
Buddhism, the case for reincarnation in both these faiths
is a less interesting one to make. Anyway... we now
examine the idea of reincarnation in some of the major
religions of the world.
NATURE OF REALITY
The great Ontological riddle concerning what is the true
Nature of Reality is solved by the ultimate truth that a
persons real identity is God. Together with some recent
discoveries from the world of mathematics, namely the
Mandelbrot set, we can finally make the case for
Idealism or the idea that all existence is consciousness.
In this section we discuss what is the nature of reality.
Essentially what we'll be doing is showing how it is
that Idealism or the idea that existence is really
subjective, can work in practice. Or to put it another
way I am going to show how it is that all existence is
really consciousness.
This point of view stands in opposition against the
alternative and more widely held view concerning the
nature of reality which is called Materialism. This is the
belief that existence consists of physical matter. It
supposes a material reality and a physical universe
upon which the subjective world of consciousness is
based. The belief in Materialism is presently the
dominant view of reality in the World today. However
there are good reasons to suppose that the idea of
Materialism may be inherently flawed. These reasons
derive from lines of inquiry within philosophy and also
some results obtained from the field of quantum physics
within science, which studies the sub-atomic basis of
material existence. For instance, some of the greatest
philosophers of all time namely Descartes, Berkeley and
Kant have all come to the same conclusion that we can
never have certain knowledge of the physical World and
that we can only really know the subjective world i.e.
our consciousness. Therefore the idea of Materialism is
flawed from the outset, for it tries to reduce something
that we do have certain knowledge of, namely our
conscious subjective states, into something we can
never really know with any certainty as being truly
existent, i.e. the physical world. Moving along to the
world of science, one of the great physicists of the 20th
century namely John Wheeler, who worked with Albert
Einstein, summed up what quantum mechanics was
telling us about the nature of reality in one sentence, he
said 'There's no out there, out there.' This statement is
meant to suggest that our belief in an external and
independently existing physical reality is one which is
being undermined by results from quantum physics.
So having outlined some of the problems inherent with
idea of Materialism, what I'll do here is to take Idealism
as our starting assumption and show how it is that
existence is really consciousness. In so doing we'll be
describing an alternative view of reality that also
provides answers to some of the biggest puzzles in
science and philosophy today. It is also a way of
looking at the nature of existence that confirms what
the founders of the World's great religions and the great
mystics have been telling us all along. That indeed
there is an existence above and beyond the physical and
temporal. Also that it is this higher super reality which
generates the appearance of an external world and the
illusion we call physical reality. I shall explain how this
illusion works so that it can clearly be seen that indeed
all existence is consciousness and furthermore that all
consciousness is really one consciousness. This one
consciousness can rightly be called God, the ultimate
source and ground of all being. So even though this
section is called 'The nature of reality', it can just as
easily be called 'The nature of God'. This is because
God is the ground of all reality, and all the reality that
we perceive and are aware of, is really a series of
manifestations of the ultimate reality that is God. When
we consider reality in its completeness then inevitably
we arrive at the divine. Total reality is God and to truly
understand the nature of reality as we know it is also to
understand the nature of God.
Idealism or the idea that the nature of existence is really
consciousness, has always had its adherents throughout
the course of human history. However all the while, the
trouble with the idea of Idealism has been that it has
been impossible to argue convincingly and compelling
the case for it. The reason why this is so is because in
the past, the difficulty with the idea of Idealism has
been how to explain the nature of the material world.
It's all very well to say that all existence is really
subjective or is made up of consciousness, but the
problem then is to provide an explanation for the
objective world and the external physical universe. In
response to this question, in the past, the only answer
that Idealists have been able to come up with is to say
that the physical world of matter is somehow illusory
without any further explanation of why the illusion of
physical reality is so convincing. Obviously there is
'something' behind the appearance of the external
physical world, but there has been an explanatory gap
as to what this 'something' is. However the situation
has changed and this has been brought about by a
recent discovery in mathematics and also an invention
from the world of computer science. What these
discoveries or inventions give us are the necessary
conceptual stepping stones and metaphors, which
enable us to finally explain the truth behind Idealism.
They provide us with insight into what is behind the
exquisite beauty, detail and complexity that we find in
the universe and also allow us to grasp the role of
consciousness in the overall scheme of things.
So what are these new additions to humankind's
knowledge that better allow us to understand the nature
of existence. The first of these is the discovery of fractal
mathematics and in particular the Mandelbrot set. The
second is the invention and widespread use of virtual
reality computer environments. I discuss both of these
things in turn and relate how they enable use to
understand the nature of reality and the relationship
between consciousness and the external physical world.
Nature of Reality is solved by the ultimate truth that a
persons real identity is God. Together with some recent
discoveries from the world of mathematics, namely the
Mandelbrot set, we can finally make the case for
Idealism or the idea that all existence is consciousness.
In this section we discuss what is the nature of reality.
Essentially what we'll be doing is showing how it is
that Idealism or the idea that existence is really
subjective, can work in practice. Or to put it another
way I am going to show how it is that all existence is
really consciousness.
This point of view stands in opposition against the
alternative and more widely held view concerning the
nature of reality which is called Materialism. This is the
belief that existence consists of physical matter. It
supposes a material reality and a physical universe
upon which the subjective world of consciousness is
based. The belief in Materialism is presently the
dominant view of reality in the World today. However
there are good reasons to suppose that the idea of
Materialism may be inherently flawed. These reasons
derive from lines of inquiry within philosophy and also
some results obtained from the field of quantum physics
within science, which studies the sub-atomic basis of
material existence. For instance, some of the greatest
philosophers of all time namely Descartes, Berkeley and
Kant have all come to the same conclusion that we can
never have certain knowledge of the physical World and
that we can only really know the subjective world i.e.
our consciousness. Therefore the idea of Materialism is
flawed from the outset, for it tries to reduce something
that we do have certain knowledge of, namely our
conscious subjective states, into something we can
never really know with any certainty as being truly
existent, i.e. the physical world. Moving along to the
world of science, one of the great physicists of the 20th
century namely John Wheeler, who worked with Albert
Einstein, summed up what quantum mechanics was
telling us about the nature of reality in one sentence, he
said 'There's no out there, out there.' This statement is
meant to suggest that our belief in an external and
independently existing physical reality is one which is
being undermined by results from quantum physics.
So having outlined some of the problems inherent with
idea of Materialism, what I'll do here is to take Idealism
as our starting assumption and show how it is that
existence is really consciousness. In so doing we'll be
describing an alternative view of reality that also
provides answers to some of the biggest puzzles in
science and philosophy today. It is also a way of
looking at the nature of existence that confirms what
the founders of the World's great religions and the great
mystics have been telling us all along. That indeed
there is an existence above and beyond the physical and
temporal. Also that it is this higher super reality which
generates the appearance of an external world and the
illusion we call physical reality. I shall explain how this
illusion works so that it can clearly be seen that indeed
all existence is consciousness and furthermore that all
consciousness is really one consciousness. This one
consciousness can rightly be called God, the ultimate
source and ground of all being. So even though this
section is called 'The nature of reality', it can just as
easily be called 'The nature of God'. This is because
God is the ground of all reality, and all the reality that
we perceive and are aware of, is really a series of
manifestations of the ultimate reality that is God. When
we consider reality in its completeness then inevitably
we arrive at the divine. Total reality is God and to truly
understand the nature of reality as we know it is also to
understand the nature of God.
Idealism or the idea that the nature of existence is really
consciousness, has always had its adherents throughout
the course of human history. However all the while, the
trouble with the idea of Idealism has been that it has
been impossible to argue convincingly and compelling
the case for it. The reason why this is so is because in
the past, the difficulty with the idea of Idealism has
been how to explain the nature of the material world.
It's all very well to say that all existence is really
subjective or is made up of consciousness, but the
problem then is to provide an explanation for the
objective world and the external physical universe. In
response to this question, in the past, the only answer
that Idealists have been able to come up with is to say
that the physical world of matter is somehow illusory
without any further explanation of why the illusion of
physical reality is so convincing. Obviously there is
'something' behind the appearance of the external
physical world, but there has been an explanatory gap
as to what this 'something' is. However the situation
has changed and this has been brought about by a
recent discovery in mathematics and also an invention
from the world of computer science. What these
discoveries or inventions give us are the necessary
conceptual stepping stones and metaphors, which
enable us to finally explain the truth behind Idealism.
They provide us with insight into what is behind the
exquisite beauty, detail and complexity that we find in
the universe and also allow us to grasp the role of
consciousness in the overall scheme of things.
So what are these new additions to humankind's
knowledge that better allow us to understand the nature
of existence. The first of these is the discovery of fractal
mathematics and in particular the Mandelbrot set. The
second is the invention and widespread use of virtual
reality computer environments. I discuss both of these
things in turn and relate how they enable use to
understand the nature of reality and the relationship
between consciousness and the external physical world.
SYRIA'S TWIN JIHAD
On both sides of the religious divide,
Lebanese militants have relied on similar
arguments to justify what they perceive as a
never-ending war of convictions, which poses
great dangers in a region where self-
identities are shaped by belief instead of
citizenship.
On this cold morning, a cortege of vehicles
headed by a car covered in coloured flower
arrangements drives through the busy streets
of Dahieh – a bastion of Shiite Hezbollah –
surrounded by militants carrying
Kalashnikovs.
Every few minutes, a staccato of gunfire is
followed by ululations, as men dressed in
fatigues wave the yellow banners of the Party
of God. "Labayka Ya Hussein", says one
militant, invoking Hussein whose martyrdom
is a widely spread symbol among Shiites.3
What appears like a wedding procession is in
fact the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter killed
in Syria. Surprisingly, the funerals of Shiite
Hezbollah fighters bear a striking
resemblance to the "martyrs' weddings" of
Sunni jihadists organised in Palestinian
camps in Lebanon or Jordan, during which
confectionery and juices are generously
distributed.
The strong similarities between funeral
processions of Sunni and Shiite fighters killed
in Syria and staged as celebrations underline
the converging views on jihad of the two
groups, at odds since the beginning of the
Syria war in which Sunnis support the
rebellion and Shiites fight alongside the
regime of President Bachar Assad, a member
of the Alawite community, a Shiite sect.
For both Shiite and Sunni jihadists, the fight
in Syria was initially motivated by the desire
to protect their fellow coreligionists. "We
fight to defend the children and women being
slaughtered by the Assad regime," said Abu
Horeira, a Lebanese jihadist from Tripoli who
fought in Qussayr. In April 2013, Sayed
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, relied
on a similar analogy, promising to defend the
Lebanese Shiite inhabitants of Al-Qusayr:
"We will not abandon the Lebanese residents
of Al-Qusayr."
As the battles in Syria increased in intensity,
the political discourse of jihadists in Lebanon
further polarised, with religious motivations
coming to the fore. "Religious arguments are
often used to appeal to the masses," says
Shiite cleric Sayed Hani Fahs.
Lebanese sheikhs on both sides of the divide
have relied on religious text to provide a
rationale for their call for Jihad, which is
mentioned over 150 times in the Quran, the
sacred book of both Sunnis and Shiites.
"Jihad in Syria is an obligation for all
Sunnis," said Salafi Sheikh Omar Bakri, in a
previous interview. While Hezbollah has not
officially called for jihad, fighters such as unit
commander Abou Ali have reported that
"everyone who goes to fight in Syria has
received a taklif sharii (a religious
command)."
Militants from the capital Beirut, the Bekaa
and Tripoli, both Shiites and Sunnis, have
answered the call to fight in Syria. "Early this
year, at least 100 ( Sunni) men from North
Lebanon were killed in Qalaat al Hosn, in
Homs," said a military source speaking on
condition of anonymity. They belonged to
Jund al Cham, an al-Qaeda style organisation.
On the other hand, security estimates point to
the involvement of over 5,000 Hezbollah
fighters in Syria. A source close to the
militant organisation believes that at least
500 of its members have been killed in Syria.
"My place is secured in heaven if I die ( in
Syria) and my family taken care of," says
Abou Ali, who has been deployed several
times in Qussayr, Qalamoun and Damascus.
Abou Ali , like many other fighters from
Hezbollah, argues that he is defending his
community, his religious beliefs and his sect's
dignity.
Sunni and Shiite religious narratives used in
the Syrian war are reminiscent of an enmity
over 14 centuries old. In several speeches,
Hezbollah figures have revived fears rooted
in the events that led to the Sunni/Muslim
schism, invoking the protection of Shiite
religious shrines, namely that of Sayyeda
Zeinab, to justify their involvement in Syria.
Zeinab was the daughter of Imam Ali, who is
revered by Shiites, and Fatima, who was the
daughter of prophet Muhammad.
"There is no better satisfaction than dying
fighting to protect the religious shrine of Sit
Zeynab," says another Hezbollah fighter on
condition of anonymity. This discourse has
been reinforced in many Shiite minds by
scenes of beheading perpetrated by rebel
groups.
In a recent interview with a Free Syria Army
fighter on the Lebanese border of the Syrian
Qalamoun region, the fighter , a secular man,
admitted that rebels often resorted to this
tactic to make "an example of traitors",
regardless of whether they belonged to
regime forces or to Hezbollah. For Shiites
nonetheless, these beheadings are a stark
reminder of the beheading of Hussein,
Zeinab's brother, during the Battle of
Karbala.
Religious ideology has served as a magnet for
both Shiite and Sunni fighters willing to give
up their life for the Syrian "religious" cause.
A recent report by the International Centre
for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at
King's College in London put the number of
foreign Sunni jihadists at about 10,000. The
same can be said of Shiite fighters fuelling
the war in Syria, which has attracted Shiites
from Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
According to Michael Knights, an expert from
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
(WINEP), a think tank that was spun off from
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), there are between 800 and 2,000
Iraqi Shiites in Syria which, including
Hezbollah, would put the number of Shiite
fighters at no less than 6,000 militants.
Armageddon ideology used in the Syria
conflict has fanned Shiite-Sunni fires in
Lebanon as well as across the region.
Reducing the conflict there to a battle within
Islam, as portrayed by jihadists on one side
and by Hezbollah on the other, could portend
a greater conflict that would wreak havoc in
region where the Muslim divide runs deep,
and religious identities prevail over
nationalism.
Lebanese militants have relied on similar
arguments to justify what they perceive as a
never-ending war of convictions, which poses
great dangers in a region where self-
identities are shaped by belief instead of
citizenship.
On this cold morning, a cortege of vehicles
headed by a car covered in coloured flower
arrangements drives through the busy streets
of Dahieh – a bastion of Shiite Hezbollah –
surrounded by militants carrying
Kalashnikovs.
Every few minutes, a staccato of gunfire is
followed by ululations, as men dressed in
fatigues wave the yellow banners of the Party
of God. "Labayka Ya Hussein", says one
militant, invoking Hussein whose martyrdom
is a widely spread symbol among Shiites.3
What appears like a wedding procession is in
fact the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter killed
in Syria. Surprisingly, the funerals of Shiite
Hezbollah fighters bear a striking
resemblance to the "martyrs' weddings" of
Sunni jihadists organised in Palestinian
camps in Lebanon or Jordan, during which
confectionery and juices are generously
distributed.
The strong similarities between funeral
processions of Sunni and Shiite fighters killed
in Syria and staged as celebrations underline
the converging views on jihad of the two
groups, at odds since the beginning of the
Syria war in which Sunnis support the
rebellion and Shiites fight alongside the
regime of President Bachar Assad, a member
of the Alawite community, a Shiite sect.
For both Shiite and Sunni jihadists, the fight
in Syria was initially motivated by the desire
to protect their fellow coreligionists. "We
fight to defend the children and women being
slaughtered by the Assad regime," said Abu
Horeira, a Lebanese jihadist from Tripoli who
fought in Qussayr. In April 2013, Sayed
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, relied
on a similar analogy, promising to defend the
Lebanese Shiite inhabitants of Al-Qusayr:
"We will not abandon the Lebanese residents
of Al-Qusayr."
As the battles in Syria increased in intensity,
the political discourse of jihadists in Lebanon
further polarised, with religious motivations
coming to the fore. "Religious arguments are
often used to appeal to the masses," says
Shiite cleric Sayed Hani Fahs.
Lebanese sheikhs on both sides of the divide
have relied on religious text to provide a
rationale for their call for Jihad, which is
mentioned over 150 times in the Quran, the
sacred book of both Sunnis and Shiites.
"Jihad in Syria is an obligation for all
Sunnis," said Salafi Sheikh Omar Bakri, in a
previous interview. While Hezbollah has not
officially called for jihad, fighters such as unit
commander Abou Ali have reported that
"everyone who goes to fight in Syria has
received a taklif sharii (a religious
command)."
Militants from the capital Beirut, the Bekaa
and Tripoli, both Shiites and Sunnis, have
answered the call to fight in Syria. "Early this
year, at least 100 ( Sunni) men from North
Lebanon were killed in Qalaat al Hosn, in
Homs," said a military source speaking on
condition of anonymity. They belonged to
Jund al Cham, an al-Qaeda style organisation.
On the other hand, security estimates point to
the involvement of over 5,000 Hezbollah
fighters in Syria. A source close to the
militant organisation believes that at least
500 of its members have been killed in Syria.
"My place is secured in heaven if I die ( in
Syria) and my family taken care of," says
Abou Ali, who has been deployed several
times in Qussayr, Qalamoun and Damascus.
Abou Ali , like many other fighters from
Hezbollah, argues that he is defending his
community, his religious beliefs and his sect's
dignity.
Sunni and Shiite religious narratives used in
the Syrian war are reminiscent of an enmity
over 14 centuries old. In several speeches,
Hezbollah figures have revived fears rooted
in the events that led to the Sunni/Muslim
schism, invoking the protection of Shiite
religious shrines, namely that of Sayyeda
Zeinab, to justify their involvement in Syria.
Zeinab was the daughter of Imam Ali, who is
revered by Shiites, and Fatima, who was the
daughter of prophet Muhammad.
"There is no better satisfaction than dying
fighting to protect the religious shrine of Sit
Zeynab," says another Hezbollah fighter on
condition of anonymity. This discourse has
been reinforced in many Shiite minds by
scenes of beheading perpetrated by rebel
groups.
In a recent interview with a Free Syria Army
fighter on the Lebanese border of the Syrian
Qalamoun region, the fighter , a secular man,
admitted that rebels often resorted to this
tactic to make "an example of traitors",
regardless of whether they belonged to
regime forces or to Hezbollah. For Shiites
nonetheless, these beheadings are a stark
reminder of the beheading of Hussein,
Zeinab's brother, during the Battle of
Karbala.
Religious ideology has served as a magnet for
both Shiite and Sunni fighters willing to give
up their life for the Syrian "religious" cause.
A recent report by the International Centre
for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at
King's College in London put the number of
foreign Sunni jihadists at about 10,000. The
same can be said of Shiite fighters fuelling
the war in Syria, which has attracted Shiites
from Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
According to Michael Knights, an expert from
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
(WINEP), a think tank that was spun off from
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), there are between 800 and 2,000
Iraqi Shiites in Syria which, including
Hezbollah, would put the number of Shiite
fighters at no less than 6,000 militants.
Armageddon ideology used in the Syria
conflict has fanned Shiite-Sunni fires in
Lebanon as well as across the region.
Reducing the conflict there to a battle within
Islam, as portrayed by jihadists on one side
and by Hezbollah on the other, could portend
a greater conflict that would wreak havoc in
region where the Muslim divide runs deep,
and religious identities prevail over
nationalism.
4 Jun 2014
EVERYONE IS GOD
What has always historically been the unbelievable truth
has today finally become the inescapable truth. What in
the past could only be spoken of in parables can now
be spoken directly and what in the past could only be
described in part can now be described more fully.
This section deals with the idea that a person's real
identity is ultimately God. Or put another way it is to
say that when a person truly experiences herself or
himself as God, then this is not some illusion. Rather
the experience of becoming God is to see things as they
really are. It is the discovery of our true nature and the
realization that it is material physical existence that is
really illusory. When we see beyond the appearances of
'normal' physical reality then we are no longer trapped
in the delusion that we are our physical bodies. We see
that our real identity transcends the material. So
instead of seeing ourselves as a person trapped in a
physical body, gazing out upon a vast impersonal
universe; instead we come to understand that we are
God living through a person gazing out and reflecting
upon itself, that is the Universe, that is God.
Many people are familiar with the idea of the 'Christ
within'. In Hinduism's premier holy text the Bhagavad
Gita we have the 'Krishna within', and the Koran tells us
that Allah is 'closer than your jugular vein'. The
Buddhist scriptures talk about the Buddha within and
correspondingly the Adi Granth, which is the Sikh holy
text, describes that 'the one God is all pervading and
alone dwells in the Mind'. Though many religious people
know the idea that God is to be found within them, they
imagine that somehow a small and divided piece of God
is inside them or perhaps that all it means is that there
is some aspect of God within us. However other
passages in the scriptures of the World's religions also
clearly state that God is indeed within us, but also that
God is undivided, indivisible and always one. For
instance this idea is clearly stated in the Bhagavad Gita
in the following passage...
'Although the Supersoul [i.e. God within], appears to be
divided, He is never divided. He is situated as one.' -
Bhagavad Gita Chap 13, verse 17
Also the idea that God is an indivisible unity, forms one
of the central tenets of the so called monotheistic
religions i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is
confirmed in what is referred to in the Bible as the
greatest commandment, also known as the 'schema',
which begins like this...
'Hear O Israel, the lord your God the lord is One...' -
Bible, Deuteronomy 6:4
So it is always the oneness and totality of God that is
to found within each and every one of us. This is the
mystery of the 'all in all', an idea that is expressed
several times in the New Testament and also one that
is found in the Bhagavad Gita, as the following passage
demonstrates...
'The man whose self is disciplined in yoga, whose
perception is the same everywhere, sees himself in all
creatures and all creatures in himself.' - Bhagavad Gita
6:29
Also related to this idea of the 'all in all' or the idea
that within a person is to be found all of existence, is
the mystery of the kingdom of Heaven. For it is stated
in the Bible that this is to be found inside you, as
described by Jesus in gospels. As it says in the
Gospels...
"The kingdom of God does not come with your careful
observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is' or 'There it
is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." - Bible,
Luke 17:21
has today finally become the inescapable truth. What in
the past could only be spoken of in parables can now
be spoken directly and what in the past could only be
described in part can now be described more fully.
This section deals with the idea that a person's real
identity is ultimately God. Or put another way it is to
say that when a person truly experiences herself or
himself as God, then this is not some illusion. Rather
the experience of becoming God is to see things as they
really are. It is the discovery of our true nature and the
realization that it is material physical existence that is
really illusory. When we see beyond the appearances of
'normal' physical reality then we are no longer trapped
in the delusion that we are our physical bodies. We see
that our real identity transcends the material. So
instead of seeing ourselves as a person trapped in a
physical body, gazing out upon a vast impersonal
universe; instead we come to understand that we are
God living through a person gazing out and reflecting
upon itself, that is the Universe, that is God.
Many people are familiar with the idea of the 'Christ
within'. In Hinduism's premier holy text the Bhagavad
Gita we have the 'Krishna within', and the Koran tells us
that Allah is 'closer than your jugular vein'. The
Buddhist scriptures talk about the Buddha within and
correspondingly the Adi Granth, which is the Sikh holy
text, describes that 'the one God is all pervading and
alone dwells in the Mind'. Though many religious people
know the idea that God is to be found within them, they
imagine that somehow a small and divided piece of God
is inside them or perhaps that all it means is that there
is some aspect of God within us. However other
passages in the scriptures of the World's religions also
clearly state that God is indeed within us, but also that
God is undivided, indivisible and always one. For
instance this idea is clearly stated in the Bhagavad Gita
in the following passage...
'Although the Supersoul [i.e. God within], appears to be
divided, He is never divided. He is situated as one.' -
Bhagavad Gita Chap 13, verse 17
Also the idea that God is an indivisible unity, forms one
of the central tenets of the so called monotheistic
religions i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is
confirmed in what is referred to in the Bible as the
greatest commandment, also known as the 'schema',
which begins like this...
'Hear O Israel, the lord your God the lord is One...' -
Bible, Deuteronomy 6:4
So it is always the oneness and totality of God that is
to found within each and every one of us. This is the
mystery of the 'all in all', an idea that is expressed
several times in the New Testament and also one that
is found in the Bhagavad Gita, as the following passage
demonstrates...
'The man whose self is disciplined in yoga, whose
perception is the same everywhere, sees himself in all
creatures and all creatures in himself.' - Bhagavad Gita
6:29
Also related to this idea of the 'all in all' or the idea
that within a person is to be found all of existence, is
the mystery of the kingdom of Heaven. For it is stated
in the Bible that this is to be found inside you, as
described by Jesus in gospels. As it says in the
Gospels...
"The kingdom of God does not come with your careful
observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is' or 'There it
is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." - Bible,
Luke 17:21
GLOBAL CONSPIRACY
We'll now talk about another major issue in relation to
the Coming One World Order. It concerns the distinct
possibility that all of humanity is being brought together
into an all encompassing and planet wide tyranny. This
is a serious problem if the entire human race is brought
under the control of a tiny self serving minority at the
expense of individual freedoms and the greater good of
the majority. The modern economic system is one where
the rich tend to become even richer and further
consolidate and extend their economic power through
the exercising of political power. In a world where
political power is increasingly self serving, gained
through financial power and used for financial gain, then
certainly it is true that economic power also buys
political power. It would appear that we are perhaps
heading towards a corrupt One world tyranny, headed by
a dynastic elite, who may one day have total control
over the Political, Judicial, Economic, Law enforcement
and Military institutions of the entire World; perhaps
even key Religious ones as well.
This may seem the stuff of conspiracy theories but
without a doubt economic and political advantage is
gained through unscrupulous and devious means which
have to be kept secret from the wider public. For
example, through the creation of wars accompanied by
lucrative sale of arms and/or financing of these
conflicts; through the over throw of foreign governments
followed by the installation of 'friendly' regimes and
also through the formation of secret societies and
cabals which serve the interests of its members at the
expense of non members and the common good.
However it is true that a part of the human makeup is a
certain fixation on power, influence and status. And
certainly humans spend a lot of time, energy and
resources to come up with ways and means to gain
power over other humans. So if we take this human
tendency, extrapolate it to a global scale and take it to
its logical conclusion, then it is not unreasonable to
conjecture that there are those who, if given the
opportunity, would like to rule the World. Also given that
the World is gradually becoming one economically and
politically integrated unit, together with all the
ingenious, corrupt and conspiratorial means through
which power may be obtained, extended and
consolidated; then an evil self serving world tyranny is
definitely a distinct possibility.
the Coming One World Order. It concerns the distinct
possibility that all of humanity is being brought together
into an all encompassing and planet wide tyranny. This
is a serious problem if the entire human race is brought
under the control of a tiny self serving minority at the
expense of individual freedoms and the greater good of
the majority. The modern economic system is one where
the rich tend to become even richer and further
consolidate and extend their economic power through
the exercising of political power. In a world where
political power is increasingly self serving, gained
through financial power and used for financial gain, then
certainly it is true that economic power also buys
political power. It would appear that we are perhaps
heading towards a corrupt One world tyranny, headed by
a dynastic elite, who may one day have total control
over the Political, Judicial, Economic, Law enforcement
and Military institutions of the entire World; perhaps
even key Religious ones as well.
This may seem the stuff of conspiracy theories but
without a doubt economic and political advantage is
gained through unscrupulous and devious means which
have to be kept secret from the wider public. For
example, through the creation of wars accompanied by
lucrative sale of arms and/or financing of these
conflicts; through the over throw of foreign governments
followed by the installation of 'friendly' regimes and
also through the formation of secret societies and
cabals which serve the interests of its members at the
expense of non members and the common good.
However it is true that a part of the human makeup is a
certain fixation on power, influence and status. And
certainly humans spend a lot of time, energy and
resources to come up with ways and means to gain
power over other humans. So if we take this human
tendency, extrapolate it to a global scale and take it to
its logical conclusion, then it is not unreasonable to
conjecture that there are those who, if given the
opportunity, would like to rule the World. Also given that
the World is gradually becoming one economically and
politically integrated unit, together with all the
ingenious, corrupt and conspiratorial means through
which power may be obtained, extended and
consolidated; then an evil self serving world tyranny is
definitely a distinct possibility.
THE NEW AGE AND OCCULT
With the abandonment of many of the traditional
religious beliefs held by a great many of the people it is
natural, considering the spiritual needs humans have,
that new ideas should emerge to take their place. The
past few centuries have witnessed a rapid proliferation
in the number of new religious movements, sects and
cults. The weakening hold that traditional religious
institutions have had over people as a direct result of
the challenge of Scientific Rationalism, has led to
opportunities for new world views and beliefs to
flourish. While from the time of the Enlightenment
onwards, many have opted for an Atheistic Secular
Humanist outlook, at the same time many others have
rejected this world view absent of spirit and devoid of
God. Instead this longing for an alternative spirituality
has led to the popularity of the New Age, the Occult and
other spiritual movements in the form of fringe cults.
There is diversity here that is myriad and would
comprise things like Theosophy, Mormonism,
Scientology, Moonies, Witchcraft, Wicca, UFO cults,
Satanism to Magic, Fairies and Crystals energies. While
benefit may be derived by some of the adherents of
these sorts of beliefs, at the same time all that glitters
isn’t gold. While religion and the spiritual outlook has
always involved a degree of suspension of disbelief, and
an openness to unexplained mysteries taken on faith,
some of the ideas making the rounds on the New Age
circuit or the world of Cults, lend credence to statement
by the writer G.K. Chesterton who famously said that,
‘When a man stops believing in God then he doesn’t
believe in nothing, he believes in anything’.
Also, a flaw in the whole New Age enterprise is that due
to its rampant commercialism and fixation on material
gain, there is a tendency for the prophets of the New
Age to tell people what they want to hear rather than
what they need to know, in order to sell more books,
workshops and merchandise. All too often New Age
gurus are less interested in freeing the Spirit, rather
more focused on liberating the contents of peoples
wallets.
Taken together these spiritual problems of the present
age, i.e the falling away from religion into Atheism, the
emergence of Religious Fundamentalism and the
degeneration of spirituality into certain aspects of the
New Age and the world of Cults, can be seen as a
general decline in World Religion. The age of reason and
the rise of Secular Humanism has brought with it an age
of spiritual darkness, as characterized by the process of
Secularization, the rise of Religious Fundamentalism,
Cults and fringe Sects; along with the superficiality, not
to mention the crass commercialism of the New Age.
religious beliefs held by a great many of the people it is
natural, considering the spiritual needs humans have,
that new ideas should emerge to take their place. The
past few centuries have witnessed a rapid proliferation
in the number of new religious movements, sects and
cults. The weakening hold that traditional religious
institutions have had over people as a direct result of
the challenge of Scientific Rationalism, has led to
opportunities for new world views and beliefs to
flourish. While from the time of the Enlightenment
onwards, many have opted for an Atheistic Secular
Humanist outlook, at the same time many others have
rejected this world view absent of spirit and devoid of
God. Instead this longing for an alternative spirituality
has led to the popularity of the New Age, the Occult and
other spiritual movements in the form of fringe cults.
There is diversity here that is myriad and would
comprise things like Theosophy, Mormonism,
Scientology, Moonies, Witchcraft, Wicca, UFO cults,
Satanism to Magic, Fairies and Crystals energies. While
benefit may be derived by some of the adherents of
these sorts of beliefs, at the same time all that glitters
isn’t gold. While religion and the spiritual outlook has
always involved a degree of suspension of disbelief, and
an openness to unexplained mysteries taken on faith,
some of the ideas making the rounds on the New Age
circuit or the world of Cults, lend credence to statement
by the writer G.K. Chesterton who famously said that,
‘When a man stops believing in God then he doesn’t
believe in nothing, he believes in anything’.
Also, a flaw in the whole New Age enterprise is that due
to its rampant commercialism and fixation on material
gain, there is a tendency for the prophets of the New
Age to tell people what they want to hear rather than
what they need to know, in order to sell more books,
workshops and merchandise. All too often New Age
gurus are less interested in freeing the Spirit, rather
more focused on liberating the contents of peoples
wallets.
Taken together these spiritual problems of the present
age, i.e the falling away from religion into Atheism, the
emergence of Religious Fundamentalism and the
degeneration of spirituality into certain aspects of the
New Age and the world of Cults, can be seen as a
general decline in World Religion. The age of reason and
the rise of Secular Humanism has brought with it an age
of spiritual darkness, as characterized by the process of
Secularization, the rise of Religious Fundamentalism,
Cults and fringe Sects; along with the superficiality, not
to mention the crass commercialism of the New Age.
GLOBAL TERRORISM
We are faced with the problem of Global Terrorism which
has been called the shadow of the process of
Globalization. As the world is becoming one place, so it
is that the effects of terrorism have global effects. Also
it may be understood that the causes of this global
terrorism are likewise global in nature, with disaffected
individuals and groups caught up in ideologies of global
scope and participating in causes that transcend
international and even inter-continental barriers. We see
this particularly in the Muslim world, where issues in
Palestine, Bosnia, Afghanistan or Iraq can mobilize
people on the other side of the world to want to make
interventions. This process is followed by international
powers such as the United States, which in order to
protect its people and economic interests, is compelled
to make its own global interventions to counteract
perceived threats and in the process perhaps
exacerbating the problems these measures were
designed to remedy in the first place.
has been called the shadow of the process of
Globalization. As the world is becoming one place, so it
is that the effects of terrorism have global effects. Also
it may be understood that the causes of this global
terrorism are likewise global in nature, with disaffected
individuals and groups caught up in ideologies of global
scope and participating in causes that transcend
international and even inter-continental barriers. We see
this particularly in the Muslim world, where issues in
Palestine, Bosnia, Afghanistan or Iraq can mobilize
people on the other side of the world to want to make
interventions. This process is followed by international
powers such as the United States, which in order to
protect its people and economic interests, is compelled
to make its own global interventions to counteract
perceived threats and in the process perhaps
exacerbating the problems these measures were
designed to remedy in the first place.
OIL, GAS AND URANIUM AT ITS PEAK
A serious problem looming over the horizon is that of
fuel shortages due to the peaking in production and
subsequent decline in output of three of the Worlds
most important energy sources, that is Oil, Gas and
Uranium Ore. The Worlds output of all these
commodities is described by what’s known as the
Hubbert Curve, which describes how the output of each
of these energy resources will peak at a certain point in
time but thereafter production of the commodity go into
terminal decline. At the same time the World demand for
the same commodity will either grow or remain constant
thereby producing a supply shortfall, pushing up prices
and producing a state of scarcity for that resource. This
can lead to Political instability, Economic problems and
even War when countries use force of arms to try to
secure their energy supplies. The dates for these
eventualities are around 2010 for Peak Oil, though some
commentators think we have already got there. The
estimates for the time of Peak Gas range from around
2020 to 2030 and that for Peak Uranium at around 2025
to 2035.
fuel shortages due to the peaking in production and
subsequent decline in output of three of the Worlds
most important energy sources, that is Oil, Gas and
Uranium Ore. The Worlds output of all these
commodities is described by what’s known as the
Hubbert Curve, which describes how the output of each
of these energy resources will peak at a certain point in
time but thereafter production of the commodity go into
terminal decline. At the same time the World demand for
the same commodity will either grow or remain constant
thereby producing a supply shortfall, pushing up prices
and producing a state of scarcity for that resource. This
can lead to Political instability, Economic problems and
even War when countries use force of arms to try to
secure their energy supplies. The dates for these
eventualities are around 2010 for Peak Oil, though some
commentators think we have already got there. The
estimates for the time of Peak Gas range from around
2020 to 2030 and that for Peak Uranium at around 2025
to 2035.
WATER SCARCITY
A problem that is related to Global Warming concerns
the availability of water resources to the worlds people.
It has been estimated by the United Nations that due to
population growth, pollution and global warming the
average persons water supply will be cut by a third over
the next 20 years. This would be a major inconvenience
in the developed and industrialized countries but in the
Third World where 90% of the water supply is used for
agriculture, the consequences will be disastrous. Even in
Australia which at the time of writing this, is in a
drought that has lasted 6 years, is facing the ruin of
large swathes of its agricultural industry. It has been
said by strategists that in the future wars will be fought
over water, this most essential of requirements for
sustaining life. For instance, King Abdullah of Jordan
has said ‘future potential conflict in our area is not over
land, it is over water.' It is a certainty that the problems
deriving from water scarcity will increase sharply over
the years to come.
the availability of water resources to the worlds people.
It has been estimated by the United Nations that due to
population growth, pollution and global warming the
average persons water supply will be cut by a third over
the next 20 years. This would be a major inconvenience
in the developed and industrialized countries but in the
Third World where 90% of the water supply is used for
agriculture, the consequences will be disastrous. Even in
Australia which at the time of writing this, is in a
drought that has lasted 6 years, is facing the ruin of
large swathes of its agricultural industry. It has been
said by strategists that in the future wars will be fought
over water, this most essential of requirements for
sustaining life. For instance, King Abdullah of Jordan
has said ‘future potential conflict in our area is not over
land, it is over water.' It is a certainty that the problems
deriving from water scarcity will increase sharply over
the years to come.
GLOBAL WARMING
Another major problem that looms on the horizon and
one that probably is already upon us and exerting its
effects, is the phenomenon of Global Warming. It can be
argued endlessly whether Global Warming is man made
or whether it's a naturally occurring phenomenon,
however the empirical evidence certainly shows that
Global Warming is indeed occurring. This is made
manifest in the melting glaciers and polar ice caps, the
increase in hurricane activity (with category 4 and 5
hurricanes, the most intense, doubling in frequency over
the past 50 years), changing rainfall patterns and of
course the actual increases in measured surface
temperatures.
The majority verdict of the scientific community points
towards the notion that Global Warming is at least
partly man made and brought about through the
emissions of so called green house gases such as
methane and carbon dioxide, which causes the earths
atmosphere to retain more heat. Also based on
computer climate models, it is projected that Global
Warming will continue with potentially dire
consequences for vast numbers of people living on this
planet. These predictions vary with some scenarios
describing temperature rises of 1 or 2 degrees
centigrade coupled with sea level rises of 80cm or so.
Other models predict temperature rises of 3 to 5 degrees
centigrade coupled with sea level rises of 7m! At the
extreme end we find truly doomsday scenarios where
the earths atmosphere is changed to such an extent
that it becomes similar to that of the planet Venus, with
surface temperatures way above the boiling point of
water, that is 250 degrees celsius together with
sulphuric acid rain. Though seemingly far fetched, the
world renowned scientist Stephen Hawking cited this
scenario as a distinct future possibility.
Even without considering these future predictions we are
already being affected by climate change in a way that
is detrimental to human life and well-being. It is
estimated that over 27,000 died as a direct result of the
2003 freak heat wave that was experienced over
Western Europe. Those that died were many the very
old and the very young. The deaths that have resulted
from crop failures in The Third World, brought about as
an indirect consequence of climate change, may number
into the millions. Hurricane Katrina which a few years
ago hit the Southern coastal city of New Orleans in the
USA is estimated to have killed over 1000 people.
one that probably is already upon us and exerting its
effects, is the phenomenon of Global Warming. It can be
argued endlessly whether Global Warming is man made
or whether it's a naturally occurring phenomenon,
however the empirical evidence certainly shows that
Global Warming is indeed occurring. This is made
manifest in the melting glaciers and polar ice caps, the
increase in hurricane activity (with category 4 and 5
hurricanes, the most intense, doubling in frequency over
the past 50 years), changing rainfall patterns and of
course the actual increases in measured surface
temperatures.
The majority verdict of the scientific community points
towards the notion that Global Warming is at least
partly man made and brought about through the
emissions of so called green house gases such as
methane and carbon dioxide, which causes the earths
atmosphere to retain more heat. Also based on
computer climate models, it is projected that Global
Warming will continue with potentially dire
consequences for vast numbers of people living on this
planet. These predictions vary with some scenarios
describing temperature rises of 1 or 2 degrees
centigrade coupled with sea level rises of 80cm or so.
Other models predict temperature rises of 3 to 5 degrees
centigrade coupled with sea level rises of 7m! At the
extreme end we find truly doomsday scenarios where
the earths atmosphere is changed to such an extent
that it becomes similar to that of the planet Venus, with
surface temperatures way above the boiling point of
water, that is 250 degrees celsius together with
sulphuric acid rain. Though seemingly far fetched, the
world renowned scientist Stephen Hawking cited this
scenario as a distinct future possibility.
Even without considering these future predictions we are
already being affected by climate change in a way that
is detrimental to human life and well-being. It is
estimated that over 27,000 died as a direct result of the
2003 freak heat wave that was experienced over
Western Europe. Those that died were many the very
old and the very young. The deaths that have resulted
from crop failures in The Third World, brought about as
an indirect consequence of climate change, may number
into the millions. Hurricane Katrina which a few years
ago hit the Southern coastal city of New Orleans in the
USA is estimated to have killed over 1000 people.
A PLANET IN PERIL
It is generally acknowledged that in the World today
there are potentially calamitous problems relating to
environmental destruction, resource depletion, global
warming and over population. The natural resources of
this planet, its forests, fisheries and crop lands are
already being used at such a rate that is unsustainable.
We are already using the planets renewable resources
faster than what the planet can replenish. This trend is
related to the ongoing and accelerating process of
species extinction and the destruction of natural
habitats such as the tropical rainforests, whole ocean
ecosystems, rivers and coastal wetlands. This gradual
destruction of the earths biosphere, its animal and plant
species together with their complex webs of self
sustenance, is certainly set to continue as human
population growth and increased economic activity
imposes more pressures on the planetary ecosystem.
The worlds population at an estimated 7 billion people
today, is projected to grow to over 10 billion people as
early as 2050. This is coupled with massive growth in
economic activity lead by the surging economies of
China and India and further boosted by economic
growth in the rest of the World as well. If the Planet is
already struggling to cope with the demands placed
upon it by the human race currently, when we also
factor in these other considerations, then certainly we
are heading for some interesting times. The United
Nations Environment Programme and the World Wildlife
Fund for Nature issued a joint report in 2000 that said,
'The World's seas, fresh waters, forests and croplands
are being exploited at such a rate that nothing will be
left by 2075'. Also food shortages and food price hikes
that were experienced by the World in 2008 may be the
shape of things to come.
ONE NATION IS STILL POSSIBLE
My wife and I currently are on a book tour
by bus through several states, and I have
been struck by the number of people who
already have read "One Nation," but also by
the large, enthusiastic crowds whose
constituents include all political parties.
People are concerned about our future as a
nation and the poor prioritization of issues
by our leaders, to put it mildly.
We wrote "One Nation" to convince our
fellow Americans that "we the people" are not
enemies and that our strength is derived
from unity and common sense, which should
be ubiquitous. The real enemies are the
forces that are constantly trying to divide and
conquer. They create divisions based on race,
gender, age, education and, especially,
income. It is important that we discuss who
the purveyors of division are and what drives
them to seek a radical alteration of the
American way of life.
We discuss the tools used to manipulate the
populace into feeling that they should be
offended so easily by words, while diverting
their attention away from the real issues that
desperately cry out for a solution. One of the
major keys to avoiding manipulation is
knowledge. Our system of government was
designed for people who could easily
understand the issues and vote intelligently
based on knowledge, rather than blindly
following political leaders who are often
enshrouded with less than honorable motives.
One of the book's major themes is that
knowledge is a formidable enemy of
falsehood and a formidable ally of truth.
There are specific steps that each of us can
take, such as reading about something new
for a half-hour every day for a year. Such a
simple move will profoundly change the life
of the reader and will vastly increase their
effectiveness as an involved and responsible
citizen.
In today's world of widely disseminated
information, a person rapidly can become
knowledgeable in a variety of areas,
regardless of his occupation.
The greatest concerns of the people we are
encountering on the road revolve around the
future of their children and grandchildren as
we continue along the path of government
growth and escalating expenditure of
taxpayer money, essentially ensuring that
future generations have lives characterized
by significantly reduced economic freedom.
The lessons are abundant in America and
throughout the world regarding the
consequences of prolonged fiscal
irresponsibility. Also, historical records are
replete with accounts of the self-destruction
of nations, driven by national debt. Many of
our leaders are complacent about our
precarious financial state because people
seem more interested in reality television and
sporting events than in our imminent
financial collapse. Once again, history
informs us that national leaders seldom
recognize and act upon economic warnings
before disaster occurs.
I think the majority of the American people
know we are rapidly approaching the fiscal
cliff, and they are concerned but not
panicked. It is not too late for people of all
political stripes to put partisan bickering
aside and join forces to combat the
unsustainable debt that threatens our future.
It also is not too late for responsible voters to
notice which leaders refuse to seriously
engage in such endeavors and remove them
from office.
It doesn't matter to me that those who despise
my warnings will say I'm only promoting my
book and trying to make money. From their
perspective, they are probably incapable of
understanding motives that would differ from
theirs. Regardless of what they say, November
2014 will bring perhaps the most
consequential midterm elections in history.
Combined with the elections of 2016, "we the
people" will determine whether traditional
American values and traditional
interpretations of our Constitution are
important to us, or whether we prefer to
continue down the path of ever-increasing
government control of everything, including
our lives. Books such as "One Nation: What
We Can All Do To Save America's Future"
will, by the grace of God, ensure that we go
into that election process with our eyes open.
Not only are there no enemies among us, but
we can and must come together to recapture
the values that made us an exceptional
nation. We must use our intellect and energy
to unleash the most powerful economic
engine the world has ever known. Then we
must concentrate on opening the pathways of
personal empowerment to the millions of
Americans who feel forgotten. Instead of
restraining them in positions of dependency,
we must provide clear pathways to self-
improvement. We can help those who have
made mistakes that make it difficult for them
to pursue an education by providing a
reasonable amount of money for day care.
By demonstrating true compassion as dictated
by Judeo-Christian values, we can make
America a place of dreams and success for
everyone. We must remember that freedom
is not free, and all of us must be involved in
its maintenance.
by bus through several states, and I have
been struck by the number of people who
already have read "One Nation," but also by
the large, enthusiastic crowds whose
constituents include all political parties.
People are concerned about our future as a
nation and the poor prioritization of issues
by our leaders, to put it mildly.
We wrote "One Nation" to convince our
fellow Americans that "we the people" are not
enemies and that our strength is derived
from unity and common sense, which should
be ubiquitous. The real enemies are the
forces that are constantly trying to divide and
conquer. They create divisions based on race,
gender, age, education and, especially,
income. It is important that we discuss who
the purveyors of division are and what drives
them to seek a radical alteration of the
American way of life.
We discuss the tools used to manipulate the
populace into feeling that they should be
offended so easily by words, while diverting
their attention away from the real issues that
desperately cry out for a solution. One of the
major keys to avoiding manipulation is
knowledge. Our system of government was
designed for people who could easily
understand the issues and vote intelligently
based on knowledge, rather than blindly
following political leaders who are often
enshrouded with less than honorable motives.
One of the book's major themes is that
knowledge is a formidable enemy of
falsehood and a formidable ally of truth.
There are specific steps that each of us can
take, such as reading about something new
for a half-hour every day for a year. Such a
simple move will profoundly change the life
of the reader and will vastly increase their
effectiveness as an involved and responsible
citizen.
In today's world of widely disseminated
information, a person rapidly can become
knowledgeable in a variety of areas,
regardless of his occupation.
The greatest concerns of the people we are
encountering on the road revolve around the
future of their children and grandchildren as
we continue along the path of government
growth and escalating expenditure of
taxpayer money, essentially ensuring that
future generations have lives characterized
by significantly reduced economic freedom.
The lessons are abundant in America and
throughout the world regarding the
consequences of prolonged fiscal
irresponsibility. Also, historical records are
replete with accounts of the self-destruction
of nations, driven by national debt. Many of
our leaders are complacent about our
precarious financial state because people
seem more interested in reality television and
sporting events than in our imminent
financial collapse. Once again, history
informs us that national leaders seldom
recognize and act upon economic warnings
before disaster occurs.
I think the majority of the American people
know we are rapidly approaching the fiscal
cliff, and they are concerned but not
panicked. It is not too late for people of all
political stripes to put partisan bickering
aside and join forces to combat the
unsustainable debt that threatens our future.
It also is not too late for responsible voters to
notice which leaders refuse to seriously
engage in such endeavors and remove them
from office.
It doesn't matter to me that those who despise
my warnings will say I'm only promoting my
book and trying to make money. From their
perspective, they are probably incapable of
understanding motives that would differ from
theirs. Regardless of what they say, November
2014 will bring perhaps the most
consequential midterm elections in history.
Combined with the elections of 2016, "we the
people" will determine whether traditional
American values and traditional
interpretations of our Constitution are
important to us, or whether we prefer to
continue down the path of ever-increasing
government control of everything, including
our lives. Books such as "One Nation: What
We Can All Do To Save America's Future"
will, by the grace of God, ensure that we go
into that election process with our eyes open.
Not only are there no enemies among us, but
we can and must come together to recapture
the values that made us an exceptional
nation. We must use our intellect and energy
to unleash the most powerful economic
engine the world has ever known. Then we
must concentrate on opening the pathways of
personal empowerment to the millions of
Americans who feel forgotten. Instead of
restraining them in positions of dependency,
we must provide clear pathways to self-
improvement. We can help those who have
made mistakes that make it difficult for them
to pursue an education by providing a
reasonable amount of money for day care.
By demonstrating true compassion as dictated
by Judeo-Christian values, we can make
America a place of dreams and success for
everyone. We must remember that freedom
is not free, and all of us must be involved in
its maintenance.
POPULAR NONSENSE
"Young people are exploited!" "Income
mobility is down!" "Poor people are locked
into poverty!"
Those are samples of popular nonsense
peddled today.
Leftist economist Thomas Piketty's book
"Capital in the Twenty-First Century" has
been No. 1 on best-seller lists for weeks (with
400 pages of statistics, I assume "Capital" is
bought more often than it is read). Piketty
argues that investments grow faster than
wages and so the rich get richer far faster
than everyone else. He says we should impose
a wealth tax and 80 percent taxes on rich
people's incomes.
But Piketty's numbers mislead. It's true that
today the rich are richer than ever. And the
wealth gap between rich and poor has grown.
Now the top 1 percent own more assets than
the bottom 90 percent!
But focusing on this disparity ignores the fact
that over time, the rich and poor are not the
same people. Oprah Winfrey once was on
welfare. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton was a
farmhand. When markets are free, poor
people can move out of their income group.
In America, income mobility, which matters
more than income inequality, has not really
diminished.
Economists at Harvard and Berkeley
crunched the numbers on 40 million tax
returns from 1971-2012 and discovered that
mobility is pretty much what The Pew
Charitable Trusts reported it was 30 years
ago.
Today, 64 percent of the people born to the
poorest fifth of society rise out of that quintile
-- 11 percent rise all the way into the top
quintile. Meanwhile, 8 percent born to the
richest fifth fall all the way to the bottom
fifth. Sometimes great wealth makes kids lazy
and self-indulgent, and wrecks their lives
Also, the rich don't get rich at the expense of
the poor (unless they steal or collude with
government). The poor got richer, too. Yes,
over the last 30 years, incomes of rich people
grew by more than 200 percent, but
according to the Congressional Budget Office,
poor people gained 50 percent. That growth
should matter more than the disparity.
Piketty's data reveal times in our history
when income inequality decreased: during
world wars and depression. Do we want
more of that ?
It's right to worry about the plight of the
poor, but not everything done in their name
really helps them -- minimum wage laws, for
example.
I've had hundreds of employees whom I paid
nothing: student interns. Unpaid internships
were allowed for years, because it was
understood that interns learn by working. My
interns learned a lot. Many went on to
successful careers in journalism. One won a
Pulitzer Prize. Many said they learned more
working for me than at college (despite
$50,000 tuition). They benefited and I
benefited. Win-win.
So for years government ignored Labor
Department rules that decreed unpaid
internships legal only if an employer gets "no
immediate advantage" from the intern.
Geez, who wants that? Of course I got an
advantage from my interns. That's why I
employed them!
Recently, President Barack Obama's Labor
Department announced it would enforce the
internship rules, and some interns sued their
former employers, claiming internships were
"unfair." Charlie Rose forked over a quarter
of a million dollars. Word spread, so now
unpaid internships are vanishing.
Some people say it's good that unpaid
internships are gone, because they are unfair
to poor people, who can't afford volunteer
work. But getting rid of opportunities does
nothing to help anyone. Employers lose and
students lose.
Difficult as it can seem to make your own
way in this world without a phony
government promise that you'll be taken care
of, or that every job will pay at least $15 an
hour, success happens when markets are
relatively free. Individual initiative creates
new things, companies, job opportunities --
whole new ways of life -- that make the world
better for all of us.
Government "help" ends up doing harm.
Leave people free -- both as workers and
employers -- to pursue opportunities they find
worthwhile, and we will prosper in ways
government planners could never imagine.
mobility is down!" "Poor people are locked
into poverty!"
Those are samples of popular nonsense
peddled today.
Leftist economist Thomas Piketty's book
"Capital in the Twenty-First Century" has
been No. 1 on best-seller lists for weeks (with
400 pages of statistics, I assume "Capital" is
bought more often than it is read). Piketty
argues that investments grow faster than
wages and so the rich get richer far faster
than everyone else. He says we should impose
a wealth tax and 80 percent taxes on rich
people's incomes.
But Piketty's numbers mislead. It's true that
today the rich are richer than ever. And the
wealth gap between rich and poor has grown.
Now the top 1 percent own more assets than
the bottom 90 percent!
But focusing on this disparity ignores the fact
that over time, the rich and poor are not the
same people. Oprah Winfrey once was on
welfare. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton was a
farmhand. When markets are free, poor
people can move out of their income group.
In America, income mobility, which matters
more than income inequality, has not really
diminished.
Economists at Harvard and Berkeley
crunched the numbers on 40 million tax
returns from 1971-2012 and discovered that
mobility is pretty much what The Pew
Charitable Trusts reported it was 30 years
ago.
Today, 64 percent of the people born to the
poorest fifth of society rise out of that quintile
-- 11 percent rise all the way into the top
quintile. Meanwhile, 8 percent born to the
richest fifth fall all the way to the bottom
fifth. Sometimes great wealth makes kids lazy
and self-indulgent, and wrecks their lives
Also, the rich don't get rich at the expense of
the poor (unless they steal or collude with
government). The poor got richer, too. Yes,
over the last 30 years, incomes of rich people
grew by more than 200 percent, but
according to the Congressional Budget Office,
poor people gained 50 percent. That growth
should matter more than the disparity.
Piketty's data reveal times in our history
when income inequality decreased: during
world wars and depression. Do we want
more of that ?
It's right to worry about the plight of the
poor, but not everything done in their name
really helps them -- minimum wage laws, for
example.
I've had hundreds of employees whom I paid
nothing: student interns. Unpaid internships
were allowed for years, because it was
understood that interns learn by working. My
interns learned a lot. Many went on to
successful careers in journalism. One won a
Pulitzer Prize. Many said they learned more
working for me than at college (despite
$50,000 tuition). They benefited and I
benefited. Win-win.
So for years government ignored Labor
Department rules that decreed unpaid
internships legal only if an employer gets "no
immediate advantage" from the intern.
Geez, who wants that? Of course I got an
advantage from my interns. That's why I
employed them!
Recently, President Barack Obama's Labor
Department announced it would enforce the
internship rules, and some interns sued their
former employers, claiming internships were
"unfair." Charlie Rose forked over a quarter
of a million dollars. Word spread, so now
unpaid internships are vanishing.
Some people say it's good that unpaid
internships are gone, because they are unfair
to poor people, who can't afford volunteer
work. But getting rid of opportunities does
nothing to help anyone. Employers lose and
students lose.
Difficult as it can seem to make your own
way in this world without a phony
government promise that you'll be taken care
of, or that every job will pay at least $15 an
hour, success happens when markets are
relatively free. Individual initiative creates
new things, companies, job opportunities --
whole new ways of life -- that make the world
better for all of us.
Government "help" ends up doing harm.
Leave people free -- both as workers and
employers -- to pursue opportunities they find
worthwhile, and we will prosper in ways
government planners could never imagine.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: INCOMPETENT OR INTENTIONAL?
Even Democrats are beginning to yell
“incompetence!” And it’s a nightly refrain on
FOX News. Certainly we are seeing signs of
incompetence in the deplorable VA scandal.
And the rollout of ObamaCare was a world-
class case of “glitch.” Inquiring minds are still
asking what became of a half billion dollar
investment in Solyndra. That “green energy”
company went belly up. The fact that many of
its organizers were Obama contributors
should not attract any congressional
oversight, of course. Nothing to see here,
folks, just move on (dot org).
The other administration woes—from Fast &
Furious to Benghazi are even more troubling.
A proper investigation may tell us whether or
not vets died awaiting care at VA hospitals.
But we already know that Americans died
because of administration missteps in Mexico
and Libya.
So, for those inclined to yell INCOMPETENCE,
there is plenty to yell about. Still, it might be
wise to pause and reflect: Is competence
really the winning issue that some pundits
think it is?
The 2012 campaign for president was run
largely on the basis of executive competence.
Candidate Mitt Romney was famous for his
start-up of Bain Capital, for rescuing the 2002
Winter Olympics, and for running a taut ship
as Governor of Massachusetts. He may have
stumbled with Joe Sixpack when he said he
“liked to fire people” who don’t perform, but
there was an aura of quiet competence
circling all the bright young folks who rallied
to Mitt’s campaign apparat.
Most impressive, perhaps, was their high-tech
plan for voter turnout. After all, voter turnout
is everything in politics. Long before
Abraham Lincoln stepped on the debate
platform with Democrat Stephen Douglas,
Lincoln the Whig politico was giving
campaign workers lessons in turning out the
vote for his party in Illinois.
Team Romney promised a state-of-the-art
computer-driven voter turnout effort that
would be far more advanced than anything
seen before. They called their plan Project
ORCA. It was a humorous dig at the Obama
turnout effort. The president’s team called
their computer program Narwhal.
On Election Day, November 6, 2012, ORCA
beached itself early in the day. The much-
vaunted computer program crashed. Fearing
leaks, the Romney team failed to test ORCA
before the critical day. It was perhaps the
most spectacular failure in the history of
presidential politics.
By contrast, Mr. Obama’s Narwhal swam
smoothly through calm seas to a thumping
victory. A businessman friend of mine, who
is highly tech savvy, related to us the story of
his lawyer daughter. She voted in Northern
Virginia at 1 pm. At 1:40 pm, she got a text
message from the Obama campaign listing all
her friends on FaceBook who had not yet
voted. The Obama team asked our young
advocate, politely, to text her friends and
encourage them to vote.
This is a cautionary tale. Critics can go on
and on about this administration’s
incompetence. We should be aware, however,
that the left will use these charges as
examples of the unfairness of President
Obama’s critics. They have never been
willing to give our first black president a fair
shake, Mr. Obama’s supporters are saying.
Barack Obama has been supremely competent
in the one great thing that matters to liberals:
Getting and keeping power. Don’t forget, it is
in ruling over us that liberals live and
breathe and have their being.
Let’s also remember that “competence” was
the great watchword of that other
technocratic Massachusetts governor, the
smooth and efficient Michael Dukakis. In
1988, he promised “competence not
ideology.”
Vice President George Bush countered that
competence will get the trains there on time,
to be sure, but it doesn’t let you know where
the trains are going. Bush ran a tough
campaign based on values and principles, a
campaign that accentuated the differences in
governing philosophy. He blasted Dukakis as
a “liberal.” He carried forty states. (That was
the last campaign where a candidate openly
claimed to be liberal. Now, they are all
“progressives.”)
Conservatives need to tell Americans where
they want to take the train. They should be
strong in saying that ObamaCare must be
repealed. They should not shy away from
social issues, but should learn how to
communicate the pro-life and pro-marriage
positions more effectively.
My friend Gary Bauer has wisely pointed out
that the NBCNews/Wall Street Journal polls on
people and the economy show that none of
the Republicans’ economic issues can
command a majority. The best of the GOP’s
planks garners less than 40% of the
electorate.
I agree with most of those conservative
economic positions. But too voters don’t.
Twelve years of miseducation and sixty years
of media misinformation have taken their
toll. By dumping social issues and stressing
only economic issues, the Republicans can
assuredly carry 37% of the vote---which is
what President George H.W. Bush got in 1992
against that New Democrat, Bill Clinton.
Barring misfortune, President Obama will be
in office until January 20, 2017. He is daily
increasing his powers. He had already issued
forty-one substantive changes to ObamaCare.
These changes were not approved by
Congress. Nor were they adjudicated by the
Supreme Court. Nonetheless, he holds the
power and he issues his diktats. And the great
bureaucratic machine rolls on over us all. In
wielding that vast power, in daily seizing
even more power, Mr. Obama’s competence
is unequaled.
“incompetence!” And it’s a nightly refrain on
FOX News. Certainly we are seeing signs of
incompetence in the deplorable VA scandal.
And the rollout of ObamaCare was a world-
class case of “glitch.” Inquiring minds are still
asking what became of a half billion dollar
investment in Solyndra. That “green energy”
company went belly up. The fact that many of
its organizers were Obama contributors
should not attract any congressional
oversight, of course. Nothing to see here,
folks, just move on (dot org).
The other administration woes—from Fast &
Furious to Benghazi are even more troubling.
A proper investigation may tell us whether or
not vets died awaiting care at VA hospitals.
But we already know that Americans died
because of administration missteps in Mexico
and Libya.
So, for those inclined to yell INCOMPETENCE,
there is plenty to yell about. Still, it might be
wise to pause and reflect: Is competence
really the winning issue that some pundits
think it is?
The 2012 campaign for president was run
largely on the basis of executive competence.
Candidate Mitt Romney was famous for his
start-up of Bain Capital, for rescuing the 2002
Winter Olympics, and for running a taut ship
as Governor of Massachusetts. He may have
stumbled with Joe Sixpack when he said he
“liked to fire people” who don’t perform, but
there was an aura of quiet competence
circling all the bright young folks who rallied
to Mitt’s campaign apparat.
Most impressive, perhaps, was their high-tech
plan for voter turnout. After all, voter turnout
is everything in politics. Long before
Abraham Lincoln stepped on the debate
platform with Democrat Stephen Douglas,
Lincoln the Whig politico was giving
campaign workers lessons in turning out the
vote for his party in Illinois.
Team Romney promised a state-of-the-art
computer-driven voter turnout effort that
would be far more advanced than anything
seen before. They called their plan Project
ORCA. It was a humorous dig at the Obama
turnout effort. The president’s team called
their computer program Narwhal.
On Election Day, November 6, 2012, ORCA
beached itself early in the day. The much-
vaunted computer program crashed. Fearing
leaks, the Romney team failed to test ORCA
before the critical day. It was perhaps the
most spectacular failure in the history of
presidential politics.
By contrast, Mr. Obama’s Narwhal swam
smoothly through calm seas to a thumping
victory. A businessman friend of mine, who
is highly tech savvy, related to us the story of
his lawyer daughter. She voted in Northern
Virginia at 1 pm. At 1:40 pm, she got a text
message from the Obama campaign listing all
her friends on FaceBook who had not yet
voted. The Obama team asked our young
advocate, politely, to text her friends and
encourage them to vote.
This is a cautionary tale. Critics can go on
and on about this administration’s
incompetence. We should be aware, however,
that the left will use these charges as
examples of the unfairness of President
Obama’s critics. They have never been
willing to give our first black president a fair
shake, Mr. Obama’s supporters are saying.
Barack Obama has been supremely competent
in the one great thing that matters to liberals:
Getting and keeping power. Don’t forget, it is
in ruling over us that liberals live and
breathe and have their being.
Let’s also remember that “competence” was
the great watchword of that other
technocratic Massachusetts governor, the
smooth and efficient Michael Dukakis. In
1988, he promised “competence not
ideology.”
Vice President George Bush countered that
competence will get the trains there on time,
to be sure, but it doesn’t let you know where
the trains are going. Bush ran a tough
campaign based on values and principles, a
campaign that accentuated the differences in
governing philosophy. He blasted Dukakis as
a “liberal.” He carried forty states. (That was
the last campaign where a candidate openly
claimed to be liberal. Now, they are all
“progressives.”)
Conservatives need to tell Americans where
they want to take the train. They should be
strong in saying that ObamaCare must be
repealed. They should not shy away from
social issues, but should learn how to
communicate the pro-life and pro-marriage
positions more effectively.
My friend Gary Bauer has wisely pointed out
that the NBCNews/Wall Street Journal polls on
people and the economy show that none of
the Republicans’ economic issues can
command a majority. The best of the GOP’s
planks garners less than 40% of the
electorate.
I agree with most of those conservative
economic positions. But too voters don’t.
Twelve years of miseducation and sixty years
of media misinformation have taken their
toll. By dumping social issues and stressing
only economic issues, the Republicans can
assuredly carry 37% of the vote---which is
what President George H.W. Bush got in 1992
against that New Democrat, Bill Clinton.
Barring misfortune, President Obama will be
in office until January 20, 2017. He is daily
increasing his powers. He had already issued
forty-one substantive changes to ObamaCare.
These changes were not approved by
Congress. Nor were they adjudicated by the
Supreme Court. Nonetheless, he holds the
power and he issues his diktats. And the great
bureaucratic machine rolls on over us all. In
wielding that vast power, in daily seizing
even more power, Mr. Obama’s competence
is unequaled.
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