Currently, our planet is home to around 6.5 billion people. As most people know, the difference in living standard between the large majority of world citizens and the tiny minority of the ultra-rich is staggering.

Capitalism, of course, allows for this difference. It holds out the carrot of riches to the have-nots. It preaches that ‘If You Work Hard, You Can Have It All’. This is nonsense of course and is merely a  ploy to ensure that the ultra-rich get richer while the bulk of humans either struggle or starve. However, the question I want to raise in this post is: How many people can our world support?

Population projections suggest that by 2050 the world population will be 9.5 billion, nearly a fifty percent increase. Of course this figure is difficult to prove conclusively because there could be many things happen in the next 42 years. We could have a nuclear war or global warming could destroy the world’s food and water supply. We could have a major epidemic of a deadly virus or we could be hit by an asteroid, etc. The possibilities both real and unknown are many and they are all unpredictable.

However, if we can avoid these kinds of catastrophes, then, given steady improvement in health care and standard of living across the world, we could see the world quickly becoming over-run with humans until we reach the point where the planet’s resources simply cannot support so many people especially given their ever-burgeoning demands.

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According to Reuters, President Carter, ex-President of the United States, while in Egypt, has described what the Israelis are doing to the people of Gaza (starving them) as part of an intense blockade as both a ‘CRIME AND AN ATROCITY’.

Finally, someone of note, someone from the high echelons of the American political establishment, has come out and told the truth about Israel. I never thought I’d live to witness it! I applaud Jimmy Carter for telling the truth even though he knows it will not be appreciated by either Israel or Bush’s Administration  or most of the American people who are pro-Israeli or completely apathetic.

It will not be appreciated by the American arms manufacturers either, the ones who supply copious amounts of arms to Israel. It will not be appreciated by the pro-Israel American media or the pro-Israel American churches who largely support anything that Israel does or the pro-Israel lobby groups and think tanks in America. It will not be appreciated by the American military either because Israel is an important part of their hegemonic planning, a strategic outpost in the Middle East.

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Today, AOL carried this headline on an article which dealt with some aspects of recent fighting in Gaza. The use of the words ‘gunmen’ and ‘soldiers’ struck me as interesting and possibly politically slanted.

It’s interesting in our current world of spin how words can be used to paint a picture that perhaps deliberately distorts the truth, that is intended to advantage one side in a conflict, that simplistically divides issues into the goodies and the baddies. Take the word ‘gunman’. The image conjured up by that word for me suggests an unshaven, brutal, uncouth, amoral murderer, one who has no compunction about killing everyone who opposes his evil agenda, men, women, children, the lot!

‘Soldier’, by contrast, has very different connotations and denotations. One imagines the cream of a country’s youth turned out in resplendent uniforms, young people of high principles and patriotism, ones who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect their country, men who would never, but never, harm women and children even if they were on the enemy’s side, men who would always fight honorably and show compassion.

The reality of course is very different.

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This week, in America, Emperor Bush, a Methodist, and Emperor Benedict (ex-Cardinal Ratzinger), a Catholic, will meet. They both lead large empires one of which is a few score years old, the other thousands of years.

Bush, a militarist, leads an imperialist empire of 300 million people, one that boasts the world’s most powerful army. Benedict, a pacifist, leads a religious empire, one that boasts more than one billion adherents. Based upon people numbers, Benedict is superior. Based on nukes, Bush is.

Both Emperors were elected, Bush by the American people (with the help of the Courts) and Benedict by a Conclave of Cardinals, but there the similarity ends. Benedict is there for life unless he loses the plot whereas Bush, fortuitously, can only serve two terms (assuming he doesn’t declare martial law and stay on, that is). Benedict is carefully following the conventions of the Church whereas Bush is ignoring the conventions of the American Constitution and the wishes of both the Senate and the Congress and many of the American people.

Both Emperors have influence all over the world. America has military bases in many countries and the use of others. It has many countries on its payroll and it supports amenable despots and Kings in other nations. Bush is quietly attempting to reduce the world’s population via bombs and missiles.

The Catholic Church also has its tentacles all over the world. Through its priests, its hierarchy, its infrastructure, its wealth and its theo-trickery, it completely controls the lives of its flock. People obey the Papal edicts and run their lives accordingly. Over-population is one of the results of its no-contraception, anti-abortion ideology. And that some of its flock starve while the Princes of the Church live in luxury doesn’t cause a ripple of concern among the faithful.

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I have, over a long period of time, suggested that the status quo that prevails in our Western society may not be desirable, beneficial or conducive to a peaceful world. Strangely, nearly everywhere I venture this view I strike opposition.

For example, in recent times, I have suggested that the American Constitution, given the current reality of George Bush and the fact that democracy in America is fast disappearing, must be flawed. Yet there is almost total resistance by most Americans to accepting this proposition. Their Constitution for them is hallowed ground, untouchable. I have suggested that the power of religious institutions should be reduced and encountered similar opposition. Materialism is bad yet most people, victims of clever advertising, continue to embrace it despite global warming. And so it goes on. People, generally speaking, are highly resistant to change!

Upon reflection, the root cause of the swell of opposition to any change in the status quo may well be caused by the imitative beginnings that most humans experience. From the moment a baby comes home from hospital it is encouraged to imitate. In the first instance, it copies its parents. Regardless of the quality of the parents the child will copy them and will be rewarded for excellence in copying and, in most cases, punished for not complying. So it learns to say simple words and is given heaps of smiles and hugs. Eventually, it learns to do its business on a potty then a toilet much to the relief and approbation of its parents. With smiles, hugs, plus scowls and smacks, it learns to eat properly, to be respectful of parents and adults, and not to pull the hair of or pinch other children or siblings. All these basic things are necessary of course.

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Reuters carried this story yesterday and it’s one that is intriguing, like most things that happen in America. Down in Florida, where the brother of Emperor Bush resides and was the Governor, they’ve just approved a law which allows people to take their handguns to work!

Yes, in Florida, when you pack your lunch box you also need to pack your weapon so that you can face another day at work. Of course there’s good reason. It’s entirely possible that, while driving to work in your BMW, you could be involved in an armed attack by some knife-wielding hood or gang of terrorists. You need to grab the gat out of the glove box and, acting like Bruce Willis, fire off a fusillade of bullets, give fair warning that you’re not someone to be trifled with. Entirely right and proper too.

Of course, there is a limitation on the gun issue. Assuming you make it to work, you have to leave your weapon, not at the bar in the boardroom where drinks are served on a Friday night, but locked in your car in the company car park. This stops one’s desk becoming untidy with Smith and Wessons lying about all over the place and even the possibility of twin six guns being attached to the Gucci belt that holds up executive trousers. But just imagine meeting at the coffee machine and eying off each other’s weapons or having a secretary say softly to you, "I just love your weapon, Big Boy!" Control your imagination, please!

Now the right to bear arms has been enshrined in the American Constitution ever since they had muzzle loaders. Yes, the founding fathers thought that a man wasn’t a man unless he had his trusty shooter by his side, whether that be a rifle or a revolver. It’s hard to imagine what kind of society they thought that America would eventually become but it’s obvious they thought the outcome wouldn’t be good and a gun would be necessary to survive it! And they were right!

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In Vienna, according to Reuters today, a Cardinal is involved in a controversy about a homoerotic painting. It was painted by an Austrian artist called Alfred Hrdlicka and the subject matter details a homosexual orgy at the Last Supper.

Now, given the content of my last post concerning religions, I thought this post would raise some interesting issues about the clash between the theological world and the animal world (yes, humans are animals) which might be worth discussing. Further, the topic also involves homosexuality which, in many societies, is a very contentious issue.

To a few details: the painting was hung in an religious art collection in Vienna’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. An angry Cardinal, upon sighting it, ordered it to be  taken down. He, Christoph Schonborn, has subsequently released a statement in which he said among other things:
"- art inspired by biblical subjects is something to be welcomed, even if the artists themselves are atheists.
- Hrdlicka is one of Austria’s most notable living artists.
- In spite of the fact that he claims to be a communist and an atheist, he nevertheless has a burning interest in the Holy Bible, and has personally admitted that he has a great longing for faith…has dealt with biblical subjects all his life, especially with the suffering of Christ.
- I therefore explicitly regret that a work of this kind was exhibited without my knowledge."

So there you have it. The Church welcomes art from atheists. They can detail contentious issues but not too contentious, please! It’s interesting to me, the conflict that the Church (or any other Religious Institution) has when dealing with earthly reality and science.

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While perusing the internet this morning and reading many articles I was struck by one on Dissident Voice (see link in sidebar) called No Checkpoints In Heaven written by Ramzy Baroud. In a moving account, he detailed the miserable life of his father and his subsequent death while entirely separated from his family. It seemed somehow to connect with a perceptive comment about the stark differences between Christian principles and actions written by Demonstorm which you can read on my post entitled Please Help Us To Stop The Killing. I’ll leave you to read the article and the comment.

I believe that both strongly support the following statement: institutionalized religion, no matter which one, completely destroys the capacity of ‘believers’ to think and act rationally. By believers, I mean those who mentally and emotionally take on board the fantasies expounded by all religions: the life after death bit, the existence of a God and Heaven and Hell, the notion of sin, the idea that prayers will be answered, the idea that religious prelates and Religious Institutions have magical knowledge and influence with some Almighty who supposedly made them and the world, etc.

The negative impact of belief on the thinking process is something I know something about. You see, I was swept up by religious belief during my teens and early twenties and fully embraced the whole fantasy, yes, I did. I carried a Bible around in my pocket, prayed earnestly, bore witness whenever I could (bore being the operative word), thought seriously about becoming a minister of religion, etc. Yes, folk, I’d been born again. I was saved. I was going to heaven. Hallelujah! Shame about the non-believers or those of other faiths.

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As the Olympic torch makes its way across the globe, protests aimed at China are becoming more strident, more violent. It’s rather ironic really given what the spirit of the Olympics is supposed to be about: peace wasn’t it? You’ve heard of it, haven’t you?

I realize that China’s human rights record is not that crash hot but, dare I say it, neither is the record of some other notable nations, ones that claim to believe fervently in freedom and democracy. Yet people from these nations seem to be lining up to protest at China’s crackdown in Tibet. I just saw some of them being arrested in Britain and being roughed up by the police during the process.

Yet, strangely, protesters, who come from all kind of races and minority groups, are often silent about many other hot spots in the world where other groups of people are being killed and injured and their rights are being trampled upon. Why the inconsistency? Why are some people worth protesting about while others aren’t? Who decides which lucky group gets the coverage?

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Though America, via its current deranged, imperialist leadership, could soon create circumstances which will inevitably lead to the end of our world, it does have a nucleus of people who, given the right environment, could turn the country around. Understanding this, surely we who live in the free world must try to help America to save itself because, in so doing, we will save ourselves.

I use the term ‘free world’ deliberately because, currently, America is not free in the normal sense of the word. Its citizens are under observation by the state and their freedoms are being curtailed; its seriously unintelligent President is acting more and more like a tyrant everyday; its politicians don’t represent the people but their own self-interest and/or that of religious and corporate lobby groups; those in Congress and the Senate are profiting mightily from the wars they keep initiating and supporting, etc.

So how can we from the free world assist those decent Americans who deplore what their country has become and where it is headed? I have listed four points that, if implemented, will bring pressure to bear on the American Government. How it would react to this pressure is unknown but, if those who’re pulling America’s strings can see that the game is up and that the rest of the world is prepared to stand up to them, chances are that they’ll back off. This would hopefully give time for badly needed changes to be made to the American political system which in turn would hopefully lead to a more representative, peaceable government. The four unranked points are:

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