Sustainable Society?

SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY?

Imagine the kinds of changes that need to be made to put a stop to the constant destruction of our environment. Pollution-free power generation would be a reasonable start. Limiting urban traffic to Public Transit or electric “smart cars” between 6 AM and 6PM would not only cut greenhouse emissions in half, but would double the capacity of existing roads and bridges. We could create a “no-fly” zone over the entire country (except for emergencies), ending the thick jet trails across the clear blue sky in the name of travel vacations. We could prevent more oil spills by refusing to allow oil tankers to sail across the oceans. To put it plainly, a “sustainable society” cannot continue to devour nature’s resources at an ever-increasing rate, turning our world into a barren and desolate garbage dump in the quest for a “higher standard” of living. But even if we stopped the destruction of the “rain forests”, abolished raw sewage, and found safe disposal for chemical and nuclear waste, we wouldn’t have a “sustainable society”.

Although pollution is a serious issue, the real destruction of society comes from inner decay. While disrespect for nature has obvious consequences, our total disregard for fellow human beings threatens the very existence of society itself. Why is it so hard to empathize with the suffering of others around the world? Farmers in North America are not that much different than farmers in China, Europe or the Middle East. Carpenters and laborers work to build bridges and homes in every corner of the planet. Every child needs food, water and shelter no matter where they are born. How can we justify threatening ordinary people in other countries by sending heavily armed troops instead of offering help? The answer is simple - our minds have been poisoned by propaganda and bigotry, and our thinking has become dazed and confused by the power of mass media.

From the dawn of time, con artists calling themselves “experts”, “leaders”, and “teachers”, have basked in popular attention as they spread wild speculations and ignorant ravings across the globe. This is the major threat to a “sustainable society” – the insidious pollution of our hearts towards others. I believe that the current spin and rhetoric of  mainstream media is the most toxic form of waste, and that human governments cannot continue to encourage the mass production and sales of deadly weapons, threatening to drop bombs and kill people for “world peace”. It’s a no-brainer.

The Cyprus Experiment

THE CYPRUS EXPERIMENT

What can we learn from Cyprus? A new bailout method is replacing the unpopular taxpayer grab that has worked well up until now. European finance ministers have come up with a plan to divide banks into “good” and “bad” (perhaps they draw straws, or roll dice) and salvage the one by shifting the deposits and liquid assets to the first while loading all the toxic debt onto the other. In a bold move to secure a prosperous future, 60% of the deposits over 100.000 euros will be collected in a one time savings tax called the “Mandatory Stabilization Contribution” (MSC).

It's too bad that ordinary Canadians can't get ahead of the curve somehow, and begin to move all of their savings and make all of their deposits into a local Credit Union account, removed from the stormy uncertainty of the teetering global economy. That way, when the Federal Reserve of the United States finally allows interest rates to rise, (causing an eruption of hyper-inflation and the inevitable tsunami of bankruptcies and lay-offs, leaving behind the desolation of crushed stock markets around the world), we can breathe a sigh of relief and continue on a local scale of commerce. When our elected representatives start pounding on their desks and vote unanimously to bring in the MSC as the salvation for our precious charter banks, we can politely shake our heads, herd these ravenous dinosaurs together and cheer as they stampede into the pages of history.

Communication Problem

THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM

“I told them that we might get a massive earthquake that would cause a giant tsunami and wipe out the backup generators! They just wouldn't listen – all they were interested in was the cost of the changes. It was an election year, I think,” the stately Japanese lawmaker was pouring out his exasperation to the other four men gathered in front of the throne. “Why didn't they listen?”

“I hear you, man,” replied Moses, “When I came down from that mountain the first time, they were putting the finishing touches on a huge golden calf, bowing and scraping in holy reverence. It made me so mad I smashed the Commandments and started cursing. After all those miracles, they didn't want to hear 10 simple rules to live by without the constant frustration and bitterness. If it hadn't been for my brother, I wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of a rewrite! In the end, the lawyers took over anyway, so it was all for nothing.”

Jesus cleared his throat, “I had the same problem in my day – they weren't able to hear a word I spoke, so I told stories, and learned to delegate. I simplified your list down to the Golden Rule to make it easier for them, but that didn't work. In the end they tried to get rid of me and ignore what I was saying. A few years later, my people were running around pretending to be “special” and getting themselves martyred, so I finally gave up!”

A swarthy fellow in a brilliant white turban shook his head. “I didn't have any better luck with my followers. I thought it would be a good idea to pack explosives in their Idols and blow them up to make the point. Trouble is, everyone got the idea that God liked blowing things up, and they started designing guided missiles and nuclear weapons. If there is any way they can confuse themselves, they'll find it.”

A fat, grinning oriental man laughed and said, “You all give them too much credit. They'll never listen to the truth. I got all my followers to make little statues of me, so when they go through the whole worship thing, I will always have the last laugh!

100% Pro-Life and 100% Pro-Choice

100% PRO-LIFE, 100% PRO-CHOICE

To clarify the emotional controversy surrounding abortion, I think we need to put the debate in context, and stop trusting Supreme Courts to resolve the issue. The following is a larger perspective of the whole debate, addressing three separate problems with the possible choices for solutions.

1.)  Unwanted Babies

a) After birth, every unwanted child can be raised in an institution. (A poor choice, as evidenced by the infamous neglect found in many of these organizations around the world).

b) In the first trimester, the fetus can be aborted without risk to the mother, killing the child before it takes its first breath. (A poor choice, causing endless debate over the exact moment that a fertilized egg becomes a human being. This question is becoming extremely murky in light of the ever increasing capabilities of scientists – if a fertilized egg can be incubated outside of the womb, how is that different from premature babies?)

c.)After the baby is born, couples who either can't or don't want to go through childbirth can adopt him or her as their child. (A good choice, providing that both prospective parents realize that God has a parental interest that supersedes theirs.)

2.) Unwanted pregnancies.

a.) Surgical procedures. (Often irreversible.)

b.) Medication , condoms. (Not always 100% effective.)

c.) Masturbation. (Addiction can cause “spiritual blindness”.)

d.) Abstinence (Takes discipline and self-control)

3.) Unwanted sexual advances.

a.) Stoning to death. (A barbaric method of an ancient society.)

b.) Progressive jail sentences for offenders. (ineffective and costly.)

c.) Warnings to viewers on pornographic movies. (ineffective but cheap.)

d.) Permanent banishment for all sexual predators and complete forfeiture of all profits from the sale of sexually explicit material.  (Sexual crimes wound the victim permanently so the punishment needs to be permanent.  Voyeurism provides no benefit for society and deserves no financial reward.)

What is TRUTH?

WHAT IS TRUTH?

“Many years ago, a good friend assured me that “the Truth” would set me free. It sounded good, but I was immediately confronted with the problem of deciding what was truth – everyone I talked to seemed to have their own individual version, and I had to decide who and what to believe for myself. Today, years later, I finally have an answer that I am satisfied with.



“For most children, “Truth” is whatever their parents and teachers tell them it is. They accept whatever they are taught partly because they are helpless (and questioning the “wisdom of the elders” can often be dangerous), and partly because they naturally trust the adults around them that seem to know so much about everything. Instead of worrying too much about what is true and what isn’t, kids copy all the different styles of communication, from the tone of voice to body language and facial expression, and learn how to argue effectively – how to use sarcasm and insults, how to assign blame, and how to change the subject smoothly in the middle of the conversation, so that when they grow up, “Truth” can be anything they say it is.



“If they learn to be very convincing, they can become top – notch salesmen, or (on the other side of the law), successful con - artists. With dedication and training, they might turn out to be prominent religious preachers or high – powered lawyers. If they attend the right colleges, they have a chance to move up in the field of politics. Like it or not, it’s just the way the world works, and it boils down to this:



“You can fool SOME of the people ALL the time. You can fool ALL of the people SOME of the time. With a decent propaganda machine and a few loyal supporters, you can fool MOST of the people MOST of the time, and get democratically elected to run the country. I personally believe that nobody can fool GOD about anything – not even for an instant! THAT is Truth.”



The violence and confusion in the world would quickly disappear if everyone stopped believing in the artificial intelligence of human origin, and recognized that the rest of the universe is not just a “random explosion” of energy, but a precise, orderly creation ruled by the real intelligence of its creator.

Guns and Safety

GUNS AND SAFETY

The debate about regulating gun ownership goes on and on, and the more heated it gets, the less likely it becomes that there will ever be a resolution. Here are a few suggestions for “background checks”, “second amendment freedoms”, and “assault weapons ban” that could form a basis for agreement.

“Background checks” - When someone wants to buy a gun, instead of relying on complicated, expensive, security investigations (and creating a vast government bureaucracy of paperwork and enforcement officials), or trusting in “expert opinions” by “designated” psychiatrists on a person's mental health (which can often vary from expert to expert), there are really only two questions that need to be answered:

1. Have you ever fantasized about being judge, jury and executioner and holding the power of life and death in your hands?
2. Have you ever acted on this fantasy?

Answering “no” to either question would be an outright lie (unless they hunt for food, and only shoot something that they intend to eat), since they are seeking to buy a gun. Justifying a “yes” answer by the fear of rising crime rates or claiming the right to protect themselves from others who both fantasize and act on this same dementia is perpetuating the spiraling violence caused by guns – nobody wants to be the last person on the block to own a weapon. The only solution is to reclaim the equality of individuals that has been obliterated by the ownership of lethal weapons, whether that means everyone owning a gun, or nobody owning a gun. It is the same impasse to global disarmament – either every country should have nuclear weapons or no country should have them. Having the “freedom” to arm yourself takes away the freedom of others to live in a safe environment.

“Second amendment freedoms” - Perhaps there is a possibility of creating a “gun-free” zone and a “mandatory-vigilante” zone by relocating the security fence separating Mexico from the United States to surround the border of Texas, and anyone that demands the freedom to own guns can relocate to the Lone Star State, while the rest of the continent can direct local police forces to lock up their own guns and then ask peacefully for the population to freely turn in their weapons, without penalty. After a specified time, the military would have to be given a mandate to collect the remaining weapons (even if they have to pry them from the cold dead fingers of their owners). The brave men and women in the military have been busy disarming rebels in other countries around the world, and I think that it is only right that we should reap the benefits of their efforts here at home. After all we employ them.

“Assault weapons ban” - As for the manufacture and sale of “assault” weapons, a hunter uses a gun like a fisherman uses a fishing rod, and it's not that hard to distinguish a fishing rod from a boat load of dynamite, even though they can both be used for fishing!

It's Not the Economy, Stupid

IT'S NOT THE ECONOMY, STUPID

Anyone who has worked in a restaurant knows that the amount of food scraped into the garbage in one night could feed the homeless for a week. The question is not how to increase production, but how to share the wealth equitably. Daily we are bombarded with images from around the world that demonstrate the vast excesses of some, intertwined with the desperate poverty of others. The present system is rooted in secrecy and greed, not in “economy”, and is perpetuated by ordinary people operating on blind faith in the international religion that we call money.

Money itself is not evil – it is a way of specializing in the workplace, organizing the efforts of individuals to make life easier for everyone, but has become a tool of deception and a weapon of dominion in a giant board game that has fostered conflict and misery throughout history. Today's currencies are simply empty promises of corrupt institutions, but the vast majority of mankind still “believes” they have value. The only real value is the confidence that we place in them.

The only way to restore the usefulness of money is to set a standard of decency in it's creation and distribution, like cleaning a swimming pool after millions of gross children have polluted it. A line needs to be drawn. Working to meet our own needs, (and the needs of our families) is a healthy, natural and mature instinct, but enterprises like drugs, weapons, extortion, slavery, religion, fraud etc. cannot be rewarded with the same currency that is used for benign endeavors. Only after the financial system is cleansed from the present perversion, and there is some truth to the old adage that “crime doesn't pay”, can we talk about “economy”. Unfortunately, that would mean that a huge percentage of current “jobs” would disappear!