I’m convinced that the above image clearly shows how best to ruin this world. It is an old image, one that, like religion, has been around for centuries. The monkeys admonish us to hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil. Of course, these entreaties are all predicated on the fact that evil exists.

Perhaps the monkeys’ admonitions are not such a good thing. Perhaps evil that is ignored can fester and grow. Let’s take a few examples starting with say the family. There are families where unpleasant things take place, things like child molestation, alcoholism and domestic violence. The monkeys’ admonition pressures the family members to say nothing, to cover things up, to pretend nothing is happening in order to protect the family name, to avoid shame. The result is that we do not know just how much aberrant behaviour is occurring within families. It can only be guessed at.

At a community level, unpleasant things also take place. There are drugs, binge drinking, rapes, even murders and unexplained disappearances. People are often loathe to get involved as witnesses or informers about these things because there might be retribution against them or their family. So, often, people pretend that nothing has happened or is happening. And so the community closes ranks and evil continues and proliferates.

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I was rather distressed this morning to find on BBC News that Ethiopia is facing starvation again. Small children were held up, their limbs hanging limp like bits of rope.

For most of my life there have been similar harrowing pictures. They come and go like the seasons.  The problems that were there scores of years ago are still there. People die and those that survive breed like rabbits then crops fail again and more people die. It’s like perpetual motion.

But now we have the worrying spectre of global warming hanging over us which suggests that starvation will not be confined just to Ethiopia and a few other similar places. No, the change in weather patterns could create a world with continuing terrible weather events like tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, etc, all of which will impact negatively on food production. If there are more people than food then the results are predictable. People will kill to get food for themselves and their children.

Global warming not only has implications for food but for the progress of the greed-based capitalist system. Continue reading →

Sometimes, when I look at Israel, I wonder whether it is the manipulator or whether it is being cleverly manipulated.

The question can be raised as to whether the U.S. is manipulating Israel so that it has a militarily strong but subservient partner in the middle of the oil-rich Middle East or whether Israel, via its many  influential and wealthy Jewish string-pullers (as highlighted in the last post), is manipulating America in order to further its own fanatical ambitions? Then another possibility is that, behind closed doors, they are in perfect synchronisation, like a Great White shark and a rapacious sucker fish.

Israel’s recent threat via Mofaz to bomb Iran itself, a threat which followed soon after the gushing, green-light speech of Obama, was at best contentious and at worst, an act of ridiculous bravado. Added to that, problematically, we have Olmert, already facing criminal charges, threatening to raze Gaza. Then we have Netanyahu, who surely rivals Satan himself for evil, waiting in the wings to grab control of the Knesset and wage war against all and sundry in order to fulfill the fanatical dream of a Greater Israel. It is a very dangerous scenario indeed.

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Anyone who has followed the fortunes of America under George Bush over the last seven plus years must scratch their heads sometimes and wonder who or what is actually running the world’s military superpower.

The first cab on the rank would seem to hold the President. He, as Bush has shown, has enormous power which, given the fact that power corrupts, would seem to be rather problematic. He can, it seems, override the decisions of both the Congress and the Senate thereby spurning the wishes of the peoples’ elected representatives. As Commander in Chief, working with the Pentagon, he can initiate wars on dubious pretexts, press red buttons, etc. Intelligence and maturity is not required to occupy this position though being amoral or in show business or talking frequently to some god helps.

The second cab on the rank would carry the duopoly of the Democrats and the Republicans. These two parties are mainly filled with wealthy representatives of political dynasties like say the Bushs and the Clintons or wealthy political opportunists of which America has a plentiful supply. When you look at the differences between these two parties…well, suffice to say that there are many more similarities than differences. When Americans vote, largely they are given a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

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When Obama spoke so eloquently about ‘Change’ after he won the nomination, he seemed to me to be a man who would bring real change to American politics and foreign policy, who would put the broom through its political system, who would turn America from a nation of hegemonic warmongers into a respected, peaceful ‘Beacon On The Hill.’

So what does he do within hours of clinching the Democratic nomination for President? He delivers a speech to AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Council), one that solidly links America to occupying, imperialistic, militaristic Israel both now and into the future.  Funny, isn’t it? The more things change the more they stay the same.

Al Jazeerah reports on his speech today and it makes sickening reading. They say that he stated that the bond between Israel and America was ‘unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable forever’ and that he, Obama, was a ‘true friend of Israel.’ He stated that ‘Jerusalem had to remain the capital of Israel’ and that ‘it must remain undivided.’ He further stated that he would ‘never compromise on Israel’s security.’ Predictably, he was given a standing ovation by the Jewish audience who must’ve thought all their Christmases had come at once!

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David is just taking a short break from his website and will be back in a few days.

UPDATE: 3/6/2008. Hey, guys and gals, I’m back! Sorry about the interruption. A simple medical test last Friday ended up involving me visiting three different hospitals and staying in two. It was a whirling merry-go-round of stress and apprehension which didn’t finish until this morning.

The results were inconclusive but at least they didn’t suggest anything seriously untoward. Back to the drawing board again, I guess. My conclusion: we humans are such fallible creatures and medical science is amazing but it has a long way to go.

I don’t feel up to doing a post today but tomorrow is another matter. You’ve been warned!

Cheers.