Friends, a story out of the U.S. (where else?) caught my eye this morning.

It appears that Travis, a 10 years old, 80 kg chimpanzee who lived with a family and who could use the toilet, drink wine from a glass, dress himself and had appeared on many an advertisement, went berserk and ripped the face off a woman who was visiting his owner. The police eventually shot the animal and, mortally wounded, it retreated to its bedroom where it died. The owner claimed he was like her own son!

Of course, cases where pets suddenly turn on their owners (or their owner’s children) are numerous and dogs seem to account for many of them. It seems that the genetic inheritance that all creatures carry can, at times, kick in and suddenly a beautiful pet can become a potential killer.

Humans, like all living creatures, carry a strong genetic inheritance too! They can, if the circumstances are right, become savages as the headlines each night will attest. People are stabbed, bashed, shot, raped, thrown off bridges and cliffs, run down with cars, poisoned, you name it, humans do it!

Sometimes it’s done on a mass scale. In Gaza recently, 1300 defenseless people including over 400 children were massacred by State sanctioned killers who, at no risk to themselves (hence their negligible casualties) enjoyed their every minute in the killing fields.

Instinct is the skeleton in the cupboard, the elephant in the room, the thing that is not often talked about, the dark aspect of our behaviour that we prefer to ignore.

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Male photograph changed due to female complaints!

There were no complaints about this photograph from males!

Friends, a photograph of a female torso conveys many things to many people (as does the male torso added 24hours later).

The lower one can be seen as a motherhood statement, a picture of a female who, potentially, is ready to and capable of giving birth.

To most males, regardless of age, it is a provocative image which gets their hormones going at mega-speed. All they they can think of is: impregnate, impregnate, impregnate!

To lesbians, it is a come-on, an invitation to chase hard, to seduce, to possess, to enjoy the fleshy delights that are clearly there but may not be available.

To homosexuals, it is a complete turn-off.  The female body holds no allure for them. It is a thing that generates disgust, even horror.

To children, it represents mother, the one who cares, who patches up their scratches, who dries their tears, who packs their lunchbox, who kisses them at the front gates, who, in some cases, waits at the front gate for them to return home.

To womens’ magazines, it represents a chance to sell skin cosmetics, or to promote breast enhancements, or to sell uplift brassieres or slimming methods or medications, or ways to increase female sexual pleasure.

To mens’ magazines, it offers titillation, a suggestion of lust, sensual pleasure, lasciviousness, orgies, insatiable carnal delights, abandonment.

To feminists, it suggests that women are sexual slaves, housekeepers, childminders, domestics,  inferior partners, used goods.

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Friends, as a child I had a fascination with ghost ships. I read many books that recounted how, during voyages, sailors claimed to have seen them sailing by during the eerie night hours.

The wonderful painting shown above captures the scene perfectly: a fully rigged ship moving through dark waters towards an unknown destination with no humans on board. It’s enough to send a shiver down the spine. But perhaps the painting has a more prophetic message.

Perhaps, all too soon, given the number of calamities that are facing our species, there will be no humans at all and all the oceans of the earth will be filled with silent ghost ships that will pass each other on voyages that have no end.

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Friends, as one of those who is struggling to be a neo-human, the thought occurred to me that one’s attitude to war is a tipping point, one that clearly shows where you sit on the savage – neo-human spectrum.

I, like you, during my childhood, was brought up to think that war was a necessary thing, a patriotic thing. There was no message sent to me that war was disgusting, that it achieved nothing, that it reduced those who took part in it to the level of savages, that it involved rape and torture, that it involved the death of innocents, that it  included massacres, that it involved massive destruction and huge loss of life to say nothing of the terrible injuries and mental suffering that went on for decades for soldiers and civilians alike.

No, war was presented to me as something wonderful, something exciting, something where men with God on their side did amazingly brave things, fought for King and country against evil superior forces with great ferocity, were given Medals of Valour, took part in military parades with mass bands. As a child, I romanticized about being an air ace, one who shot down hundreds of the enemies’ planes or I became a frogman who planted explosives under the hull of enemy warships or I single-handedly attacked enemy bunkers and was victorious.

Of course there were plenty of films around that showed a romantic picture of war and, at school, we had assemblies that glorified wars, that suggested that they were something to be proud of especially if you happened to be part of the winning team. And the idea that Empires were good and war was necessary to protect them was inculcated into our young, unsuspecting minds.

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The wise always read the fine print!

Friends, you can imagine the horror I experienced when I read about this report today. My whole world nearly collapsed. I had to take to my bed, swallow aspirins, apply cold compresses to my aching head.

Yes, the U.S., the country whose greed and lack of proper financial regulation propelled the world into recession in the first place, is complaining that their strategic interests are increasingly in jeopardy according to a report issued by 16 U.S. intelligence agencies (now I know some of you will smile when you see the words America and  ‘intelligence agencies’ in close proximity but please be polite!).

The shocking Report, according to Reuters, stated, “The financial crisis and global recession are likely to produce a wave of economic crises in emerging market nations over the next year.  A wave of  ‘destructive protectionism’ was possible as countries find they cannot export their way out of the slump.” That such emerging market nations might suffer starvation was obviously not worth mentioning.

But here’s the worrying part: “Time is our greatest threat. The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests,” the report said.

Now, high on my list of priorities is protecting the strategic interests of the U.S. as shown in the above image (pretty, isn’t it?). It should be everyone in the world’s top priority of course. I mean, if the U.S. is not topdog, where would we be?

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Friends, do you feel as though you are trapped and you can’t escape?

This is how I feel at the moment. Like many people, I am trying to escape from the heavy debris of my life, trying to get out of the trap that I have been caught in for many decades, trying to make some sense of my life and the world.

I’m trying to break away from habitual thinking routines, trying to clear my mind of preconceptions, of indoctrination, of faulty education, of lies so that I can look for alternatives, try to find a better way to live for myself and my fellows.

I can see that the world is caught in a terrible bind. This is because humans won’t face the reality that the way the world is run is wrong, that the values we have are wrong, that our economic and political systems are a disaster, that our education system is badly flawed. Not only won’t they face that reality but those who rule us won’t change things because they are reaping the rewards of the flawed systems.

So we teeter between the twin horrors of global warming and nuclear war yet nothing is done because we feel we are caught, that the system can’t be changed, that we are powerless, just like the trapped person shown in the photograph.

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Smart bombs, loaded and ready to go! Surely smart bombs is an

oxymoron.

Friends, it seems to me that our world is caught in a terrible rut. The current rationale for solving problems seems to be two-fold as the title suggests. It’s as if no other possibilities exist.

The U.S. is currently trying to revive its capitalist system, one that, like Sharon, has been in a coma for many months. It is determined that its capitalist system will survive even if it has to be force-fed with trillions of dollars which either come from taxpayers or are borrowed hence further adding to its massive debt.

The ‘rationale’ behind the injection of funds appears to be that capitalism is the perfect system and that markets ultimately solve all problems even if, currently, the market seems to have failed completely and many people, who were wealthy, no longer are! No matter. Capitalism is the perfect system for the Robber Barons. In good times it enables them to make billions while damaging the planet and ripping off the bulk of the world’s people.

Then the second string in the bow is the strategy of, if you can’t solve a problem by throwing truckloads of money at it, bomb it out of existence! As evidence of this we not only have Afghanistan and Iraq but we hear that America has been secretly working with the U.K. on the manufacture of nuclear bombs.

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Friends, the Israelis, those peaceable folk who have been occupying or putting under siege the Palestinians for sixty years, are having an election. They have four main contenders who are vying to hold the top job. They are:

Tzipi Livni, 50

Foreign Minister and Kadima leader. Protégée of Ariel Sharon who was briefly a Mossad agent in her youth. Has staked her appeal on a cleaner politics and talks with the moderate West Bank Palestinian leadership over a two-state solution. Like Barak, has not ruled out military option on Iran. A hawk on Gaza, publicly opposed to idea of a negotiated end to the Gaza war, saying Israel’s role is to “fight terror” not to talk to its perpetrators.

Ehud Barak, 66

Defence Minister and Labour leader. Prime Minister 1999-2001 and a much-decorated ex-military chief of staff. He went further than predecessors towards a two-state solution but blamed Yasser Arafat for the collapse of the Camp David talks. Favours an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with Hamas if possible and was quicker than PM Ehud Olmert and Livni in seeking halt to Gaza operation. More sceptical than either about negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Benjamin Netanyahu, 59

Leader of main right- wing opposition, Likud. Prime Minister 1996-99. Strong opponent of Oslo accords and 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, over which he resigned from Sharon government. Says Gaza military operation not complete and that Hamas regime must be ended. Against territorial concessions to Palestinians and says Iran must “not be armed with a nuclear weapon”. Says options “include everything that is necessary to make this statement come true”.

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Friends, gripped by a 45 degree heatwave in the south, Australia has experienced the worst bush fires in its history. The Reuter’s photograph shows part of the inferno.

The casualty figures stand at 181 and is expected to rise as more bodies are discovered and as some of those who are critically injured with horrific burns pass away. There is a high probability that some of the fires were deliberately lit!

At least a thousand homes are thought to have been destroyed though, in some areas, fire authorities still can’t get in to see the full extent of the destruction. Ironically, in the north of Australia, severe floods are being experienced with people being swept away and drowned. Australia certainly is a land of contrasts.

Fortunately, where I live escaped the devastation and, luckily, in New South Wales, thus far, no one has been hurt and no homes have been lost but the drama is not yet over. Much of NSW, Victoria and South Australia is drought declared so that the potential for further bush fires is high. All it needs is the right combination of high winds, high temperatures, low humidity and the current catastrophe could be repeated many times over. As well, there are many fires still burning in inaccessible places.

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Friends, there has been a lot of speculation over the past few years about who is actually running our world. Some people strongly claim it is this group or that country and argue strongly and convincingly that they are right. The possibilities however appear endless.

Some folk have said it is imperial America who has an ambition to control the world for its own benefit. Others have maintained that it is Jewish people particularly the Zionist ones who want to be in control and, behind the scene, perhaps are. Then there are those who claim that capitalists and corporations are both manipulating and destroying the world so they can reap undreamed of profits and live like Royalty. Then others say that the armament manufacturers who profit from endless wars and the militarists whose careers depend on conflict are in cahoots.

Then some claim that professional politicians, driven by right-wing or left-wing fanaticism and using massive propaganda, are driving the world ship. Then there are suggestions that the Catholic Church is a big-time player in the power stakes while others claim the new Christian Evangelists and an assortment of Rabid Splinter Sects are pulling the strings. Of course, accusations that Muslims have designs upon the world also have credence with some.

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