Friends, people like you who are aware and informed can’t help but be concerned about the current state of our planet.

What with swine flu now on our horizon along with the current economic and financial crisis, the strong possibility of nuclear warfare via Pakistan or Israel, erratic weather, wars raging in many places, terrorism, famine, the melting of icecaps, cancer, refugees flooding across the world… I’m sure you can add to this depressing list as well as I can.

The people in the image had somewhere to escape to (well, at least some of them did).

We don’t! Our planet is all we have. There is nowhere for us to hide.

How many people realize this? Five percent? Ten? Fifteen?

Our leaders are blind, incompetent and self-serving.

The rich and the religious call the tune.

What can we, the people, do?

Protest? Rebel? Revolt?

Any ideas?

The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse.

Friends, quite often there is a great deal of argument about whether or not saying something negative about Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians is anti-Semitic. I thought I’d clear the matter up!

Israel claims it is a secular nation but a video message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which conveyed his blessing on the 61st Day of Independence, says a few things that seem to blur the lines between the so-called ‘secular’ state and the religion which is followed by those Jews who live in Israel and those who support it so generously. Consider the following:

“The sharp transition between the silence of memorial day and the joy of independence day is not simple, but precisely at this clear moment, the full meaning of the existence of the state of Israel becomes apparent, the dream of generations of our people, the safe haven for which we have prayed and hoped, for generations upon generations of Jews.”

“I want to congratulate you, Israel’s citizens, on this day for the victory of our collective dream, a victory of the spirit, a victory of faith, a victory of persistence, hope and work. Thanks to all these, we have surmounted enormous obstacles. We rose from the depths of death and ovens; we came together from west and east and embarked on a path to life and resurrection. We revived our ancient language, we took the Hebrew language from the scriptures and brought it into our daily lives, our schools, our universities, our culture and science, and we also never forgot the scriptures,” Netanyahu enthused.

Now, I don’t know about you but these two paragraphs from the Prime Minister suggest to me that Israel is clearly not a purely secular nation. Perhaps it’s better described as a quasi-theocracy given the influence of the Jewish religion over every aspect of its life, indeed its rationale. Israel is Jewish! The two things are inseparable. But there’s more!

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Friends, the swine flu epidemic, which may end up as a pandemic, has brought the ghouls out of their lairs.

Yes, shares in companies which make anti-viral drugs have soared as the financial ghouls of the world seek to capitalize on the possibility that the world might be plunged into a catastrophe which could kill millions. And shares in tourist-oriented businesses have plunged as travel becomes more hazardous. Yes the ghouls are getting out of airline shares as fast as they can. “Go viral,” they shout as they vote with their wallets.

Not being a ghoul, I find it difficult to imagine what goes on the minds of humans who seek to make money out of the deaths of other people. Let me think. What else might be profitable? Mmmmmm. What about coffin makers? Now there could be a growth industry. What about grave headstones? That could well be a goer. What about hearses? Car manufacturers who make such things could make a motza. They might even designed hearses that hold more than one person and offer discounted rates. What about opening up a chain of cemetaries with a section for mass graves?

No more of this. It’s too depressing!

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Friends, the Gabriel I’m talking about is not the one who occupies Heaven and has wings. I’m talking about the ‘angel’ Gabriel Strautman who is an economist from  Brazil, who is featured today on Al Jazeera.

My Gabriel has said some interesting things about the World Bank and the IMF! I have listed a few of his observations and have reflected upon them (but I would urge you to read the whole article).

He stated clearly that the institutions created from Bretton Woods (World Bank, IMF), which took effect in 1959, had a clear mission: “That was to create the basis of development of capitalism in the global south and to impose a mechanism of economic domination through creating debt.”

Well now, that is surely a contentious mouthful. It means that people set out to use debt to ensure economic domination of countries in the Southern hemisphere and the rise of capitalism. These people came from rich capitalist countries from the Northern Hemisphere. Shock, horror!

Another observation he made is: “One of the big problems with the IMF and World Bank is they are anti-democratic institutions. Those who put one dollar in have one vote. But if I give more money, I have more votes. It gives more power to rich countries. And that is why those organizations are at the service of the rich countries.”

Well, can you believe it?

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Friends, there is real irony in this ‘cheeky’ image.

There are contradictions too.

Can you work out what they are?

Behind the humor there is sadness. For many.

What does this photograph say to you?

Friends, this photograph shows one example of perpetual motion. The Mother feeds the child. The child grows up, eventually gives birth, then feeds its child. The cycle is repeated all over the world generation by generation.

There are around 6.5 billion people in the world at the moment. The numbers keep increasing especially in poor countries where, in many places, there is not enough food to go around.

The world is already badly polluted or poisoned: the air, the soil, the oceans. Global warming is creating havoc across the planet. Extreme weather events occur more and more.

Across the globe, countries already compete for scarce resources. Wars are fought, deals are done by avaricious corporations, the strong prevail over the weak who respond with terrorism.

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These children are disappointed with the U.N. Racism Conference.

They learned that some adults believe in ‘good’ racism (by Israel)

and ‘bad’ racism (that engaged in by the West’s enemies).

They also learned that politicians throw temper tantrums

(like walking out if someone dares to speak the truth).

They are bewildered by the world that adults have created.

All they want is a happy, peaceful childhood,

one free from killing, fear and tears!

A recent picture of me dissenting!

Friends, Australia, that dry country at the bottom of the world, has decided to follow the lead of America and not attend the U.N. Summit on Racism.

Now, as you all know, Australia, under John Howard, slavishly followed America into Afghanistan and Iraq despite the protests of its citizens. Then we had a change of Government, one from conservative to liberal but, unfortunately, the slavishness still continues.

The reasons given for our non-attendance (besides our traditional American arse-licking) are as follows:

- the forum might become anti-Semitic.

- Israel, where a race of people who claim to be the Children of God live, might be criticized.

Besides Israel and America, Italy and Canada have declined to attend and other countries which have strong, pro-Israeli sentiments or lobbies are still considering their options. A key Israeli objection is that the UN committee managing the conference is chaired by Libya, with vice-chairmen coming from Iran, Pakistan, Cuba, Russia, Indonesia and Turkey (all but one is Muslim – isn’t that terrible?).

Now, as an Australian citizen, I protest the action of my country. Why?

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I don’t know about you, friends, but I find the world I now live in to be very troublesome and confusing. I scan the headlines daily looking for some sign that we are moving in this direction or that but I can find nothing that is clear. Instead there are numerous signs and most of them are contradictory!

The economic and financial crisis is still here apparently despite some rises on stock markets and a couple of banks reporting profits. Gurus report different forecasts: some gloomy, some filled with optimism. Some business experts suggest we are at the bottom and buy, buy, buy while others claim we ain’t seen the bottom yet, not by a long way. The strong regulation regime that was to be set in place is still in a twilight zone while politicians foot-drag for fear of upsetting the wealthy and/or because they don’t know what to do.

Unemployment continues to grow while interest rates continue to fall making life impossible for self-funded retirees. First home buyers in Australia get a grant of $21,000 and they are queuing up in their thousands to buy and take advantage of the low interest rates which is actually driving up prices hence canceling the advantage of the grant.

The global warming debate goes on and the world seems to be equally divided there as well. Views range from the end of the world is nigh to claims that the whole thing is a fabrication and nothing is happening that hasn’t happened a thousand times before. Country after country is claiming they can’t introduced greenhouse gas measures because that might cost jobs and the television is still filled with advertisements for gas-guzzling cars and SUVs.

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Surely this can’t be happening! It must be a trick photograph.

Perhaps there is hope after all!

Perhaps.