The sheep and the wolves, the people and the government

A NATION OF SHEEP WILL BEGET A GOVERNMENT OF WOLVES.



An intellectual, also an alpha male, has two options in life. Either side with the wolves and enjoy life eating the sheep, or side with the sheep and suffer like Jesus Christ. Most intellectuals choose some point in between on this scale. I highly respect the few ones who side with the sheep and forego all the benefits of being a wolf.

Blood on Israeli leaders hands, cold blooded massacre

Israel today killed more than 200 Palestinians in air raids. This is a real David and Goliath battle, but this time Goliath is the Jewish people. Shame on the Israeli government. How could a people who had been persecuted under Nazi regime just half a century ago do the same thing to other people???

Israeli leaders should be put on trial in the international court of justice for war crimes against humanity.

Increase other workers' salaries, don't decrease the 3 giants' salaries

Thanks George Bush. The salvation package for the 3 big auto giants came with strings attached: reduce the salaries of their workers to the level of the salaries foreign owned manufacturers pay their workers. How about asking them to pay their workers Indian or Chinese salaries???

Instead of asking the foreign owned companies to increase their workers salaries to the level of the union workers, the US government expects the big 3 to reduce their workers' salaries. Now that is the government of people for people and by people. How about asking the management class in these big 3 to cut their salaries to the level of their workers' salaries and then distribute the huge amount that is gained through that cut through the workers??? But no, of course, that is sacrilege. The only way to save the big 3 is to cut the meagre salaries of union workers.

Let the big three go bankrupt

I don't believe in capitalism. But in the situation that now the three big auto find themselves, I think the best road to pursue is bankruptcy. Let them go bankrupt. Out of the ashes of these corrupt slow monsters will rise small and efficient and powerful new companies with new ideas for the future of transportation. They should not sustain these giants on their death beds and let them live artificially.

capitalists trying to disband the unions under the guise of fighting the crisis

Capitalists are at it again. So the reason for the falling of the house of cards in the automobile industry is only the unions, not the stupidity and greed of the bosses who awarded themselves multi million dollar bonuses.

Even in the middle of such a huge and devastating crisis, they are still after their nemesis, the proletariat and the wage earners. I say:

1. We have to thank Unions. Without the strong unions in auto industry, that can gain good benefits and salaries for the workers, the other industries will be more aggressive in cutting wages and benefits. At least with these unions, other workers can always point at their benefits and ask for the same from their bosses. That is the reason the whole capitalist class hates the big unions and wants to get rid of the auto workers unions.

2. General public, instead of hating and being jealous of the auto workers salaries and benefits should ask for the same from their own industries. This is the name of the game for the capitalists, make other workers angry about why they are getting that high salaries and push them to demand that "they" should get as low as us. While the rational thing is to ask that "we" have to receive as much as them, not that they have to be like us.

Socialism in Nature

When you look at nature, you notice that every complex living organism is actually a socialist state of cells. Cells gather together and work for each other. Every human body is the perfect ideal of socialism. One for all and all for one. Every cell works for the benefit of others and gives, and every cell benefits from the other cells in the community. It is heavily regulated. If cells become selfish and want to run a capitalist system in our body, we won't last for one minute.

Human societies are large complex organizations of living beings. They can only be at their best efficiency when they are socialist, like any other complex organism, like ants and bees societies.

Thoughts on the capitalit crisis

The governments all around the world have interfered heavily in the markets to save the system. They have bought shares in banks and effectively nationalized some big financial institutions. The libertarians and Republican right calls it the advent of socialism. Nope, it is not. It is socialism for the fat cats and the rich. Because when things calm down and the good times arrive again, all this nationalized institutes will be returned to the capitalist owners, not the people who paid with their taxes to save them.

Again, the so-called invisible hand of the market was given the invisible finger. Again and again and again it is proved that the markets can’t regulate themselves and lassaiz fair economy does not work.

We regulate driving. We regulate food producing. We regulate construction and building. We regulate health care. We have regulations for how to make chocolate and baby foods and clothes and beds. But when it comes to economics, they say no, we don’t need regulation, we have to deregulate and let the invisible hand take over. Well, sorry, everything needs regulation and without that things run amok. An important affair like economy needs regulation and if it is deregulated the greedy financial institutions will drive it into gutter.

Thoughts on the current caplitalist crisis

The Republicans in US are howling about socialism. As if the American government is turning into a socialist government. Yes, it is true that however they put it, they have effectively NATIONALISED the mortgage firms and the AIG and other firms they are bailing out, but no, this is not socialism, because the moment the markets improve and there is a whiff of profit in the air, they are going to sell them back to the private sector, to the same fat cats that bankrupted these institutions.

What happens is: They socialize when they lose, they privatize when they gain. Socialise to spread the loss to the general public, privatize when the institutions are profiting.

The question is: Why should the average American pay for the mistakes of the fat cats? Let them die over their own mistakes. Why should they be bailed out by the tax payer money? The economy won't get worse if they pay for their own mistakes!

Yes, they want us all to believe that this is the end of civilization, the disaster of the century, etc. And the media are always happy to oblige and make a mountain out of a mole hill. Not only because most of media belongs to them anyway, but also because this is the business of the media, to make mountains out of mole hills, otherwise they won't sell.

If they manage to convince us all that this is the end of the world and the greatest disaster in the human history, yes, then we will ask our politicians and representatives to vote for the bailout. So it is in their interest to paint a really gloomy picture, whilst it is not as bad as they want us to believe it is. I would say, no, let them sink in their stinking ships, they brought it upon themselves, and now they have to pay. They should not be saved by the taxes of the poor people who have not had any responsibility in the this fiasco.

I would say, just for once, don't believe in their lies. Yes, it is bad, but bad for THEM, not bad for us. Let them pay for their greed.

Wall Street Saved by poor taxpayers money, business as usual

Well, well, well, Republicans and Democrats both voted to save Wall Street firms again. Did we expect anything else? Not me. It is business as usual in the heart of capitalist world. Taxpayers money is used as usual to foot the bill for saving the bungling big firms. They are allowed to gamble with other people's money, to lose billions of dollars, to pay themselves hefty bonuses, and whenever they push the firms over the brink and into the abyss because of their intense greed, the government is there to save them. So, why should they care? Why do we expect them not to repeat the same mistakes again and again. When there is no punishment, when there is always government waiting there to be called to save you, why should you care how much money you lose through your greedy acts, especially that it is other people's money, not yours.

Will the American government ever put a penny into public health care or free education in the university? NO, of course not. It is a free market man! Government is not supposed to help the public in a free market, it only helps the fat cats. But when the fat cats need money, yes, we are there to pay you a trillion dollar out of the same poor people's money. So it is only free market for the poor people, who are left to drawn without any help.

The fall of Lehman-Brothers and the stupidity of the so called financian geniuses of Wall Street

Lehman Brothers joined the other giants of wall street falling one after the other after the mortgage crisis, and yet, you think these rocket scientist geniuses of the financial markets will never make a mistake. What is the difference between these and every other Joe in the street then. They were taken by the same market exuberance in the mortgage markets and before that in the tech bubble like any other person. And yet, they keep rewarding themselves with seven figure bonuses and play these risky games with other people's money and each time it is the small shareholder and mortgage taker that has to pay the price.

Wall Street is all a sham, there is not an ounce of brain in that whole corner of the street in New York.

scientists are the real prophets

Scientists are the real prophets of this world and their work is the real miracle. If ten million people pray for a rock to move an inch, it does not move a micron, but if one people uses his brain and moves the rock, it will move to the top of a mountain. Religion can't do anything for the people, it is the science that is the true miracle. From TVs to Cell Phones to cars and planes, we see the results of this miracle all around us and yet we still believe in religion instead of science.

stupid society yet still worth living in

For an intellectual, the human society is mostly illogical. The wars, the fights, the people using drugs and drinks and cigarettes. One sometimes wants to just escape the society and live like a hermit. But then, without this society we could not live longer than 40 years. Without this society we could not have health care. Without this same society we would live hungry and dirty most of our lives. So at the end of the day, existence of such an imperfect thing is better than no society of human beings.

Ugly Billboards

As a city planner I find it abhorring that the cities let all these huge commercial billboards go up anywhere in the city. Just look at the Dundas Square in Toronto. It makes the city really ugly. I believe there should be some regulations limiting the use of billboards in the cities.

What is Your Ideal Utopia- Part 2

* In my ideal Utopia, the human population on earth won't be more than a few million. Billions of people is too much for this poor planet, we are destroying the environment and the ecosystem totally and we are growing fast. God knows what are we going to do to the planet when our numbers are even more than today.

What is important in a population is the quality of it not the quantity. A few million Israelis have managed to beat 100 million Arabs for 50 years. Less than 100,000 Athenians established the whole foundation of arts and science of the western civilization.

* In my ideal Utopia all the manual jobs are done by robots. Human beings are free for the first time in history to focus on creative pursuits. If the economy of a robotised society is structured correctly, there won't be any poverty, and most things will be available to all free of charge.

*In my ideal Utopia education is totally free for all levels of education up to Ph.D. If we believe that the brain of the people in a society is the most valuable property of that society, we have to be ready to invest as much as we can on these brains, and that is impossible without free universal education up to Ph.D. level for everybody.

* In my ideal Utopia, the celebrities are scientists, writers, artists, philosophers, not Paris Hiltons and pop and rock and hip hop singers and Hollywood stars. The media will make them famous and naturally the public will follow where the media goes. In my Utopia, the teenagers want to be like a famous scientist or writer, not a gangster rap singer.

* In my ideal Utopia, people work out of a love of co-operation and helping each other. Nobody works for greed. People get the highest pleasure out of seeing their fruits of labour helping others and the society, not out of loading gold coins and having larger estates and luxury cars.

* In my ideal Utopia, everybody receives a minimum wage enough to sustain a decent way of life. Having a decent salary, even if people don't work, is a human right. Everybody will have at least a one bedroom house, and has access to complete free health care. When people have enough to live by, they won't fight for a morsel of food and lots of back stabbings and revenge and hatred and envy will disappear.

robots and hopeless optimists

I think I am a hopeless optimist. I see a future where robots do all the manual labour and for the first time in its history mankind is free from manual labour and left to do the real creative work. But then, when I read in the papers how military/industrial complex is enthusiastically pursuing soldier robots, I understand that I again have been too optimistic about this animal called homo sapiens. Of course, how could I forget, we are first going to use these robots to kill each other, and then will think of better uses for them.

Pope and death

We humans know inherently and in our genes that after death there is nothing. There is no after life. Our genes know it very well, and they enforce this reality on us, despite all our beautiful beliefs about life after death. Fear of death has made us build all these religions and fairly tales about a beautiful after life. But, deep down, we all know these are just what they are, fairy tales for children.

We cling at life, we resist dying by all means. Even popes try to live even one day longer if they can. They use the most advanced technologies to survive and live. If anybody among humans would believe in the fairy tale, it must be the religious leaders. But.... they fear it like anybody else. If they really believed in the fairy tale, if they believed they are going to paradise and to a better life after death, they would not try so hard to survive. With the first symptoms of a fatal disease, they would say: No, please don't ask doctors and hospitals to help me. I would prefer to die sooner because I am sure I will go to a better place! Have you ever seen one of them do that???

Aliens, Us, and Chimpanzees

If an alien race visits the earth, I don't think they will differentiate much between us and our keen chimpanzees. We are not that different! What they will report to their home planet is that among all the other animals on this planet, they have found one species that is a tool maker and has managed to build pretty advanced tools. This animal tends to be social and gathers in large groups, but apart from that is not much different from other members of its branch, the primates. It is conniving, predatory, vicious, selfish, greedy. It tends to spend most of its time fighting other members of its species over resources and is very brutal towards any living thing, including its own kind.

Internal Opposition, US and Rome

Christianity was the internal opposition against Imperial Rome's excesses and corruption. Not all Romans approved and supported the imperial order. There was always a great opposition inside Rome and by some Romans against the imperial order. Christianity was one form this opposition expressed itself. Gradually, when the Imperial power was waning, this internal opposition helped to collapse Rome. We see the same thing now in US. It is not that all Americans support the vehement capitalist-imperialist policies of their country. A great number of open minded and intellectual Americans oppose their government's policies. Blacks, university intellectuals, writers, artists, many Hollywood celebrities, and many other groups are among the opposition. They are not yet strong enough to challenge the powers to be, but sooner or later, the story of Christianity and Rome will be repeated in US.

Tibet, China and the protestors

There are lots of protests worldwide over the state of Tibet and Chinese oppression there now that they are taking the Olympic torch city to city. One thinks, would these people protest so much if Tibet was free but China was still a dictatorship oppressing its own people? I don't think so. One wonders! Are Chinese people not as important as Tibetans? Is a government allowed to oppress its own people as much as it wants, without facing any opposition abroad? Why nobody talks about the plight of the Chinese dissenters inside China? Aren't they human?

Sometimes at least, ask what I can do for my country and community!

Human societies are a lot like human body, or any other multi-cell living organism. It is true that cells benefit from living together, but it is not possible for cells to live together if they don't contribute as much as they benefit from this community. Each cell has learnt this simple fact, through billions of years of evolution, that in order to survive in a community of cells, you have to help them as much as you benefit from their help. You have to limit your selfishness and work for the common good of the community.

If every cell tries to get, and not to contribute, the body will not last for one moment. Cancerous cells are like selfish humans who don't contribute to their society and think that the society is there just for them to milk it and get rich quick. Cancer cells kill the body, and in the process, themselves.

Unfortunately many of us in our yet primitive societies have not learnt that we have to contribute to our community if we want to survive. Perhaps we can compare anti-tax neo-cons to cancerous cells. What they preach is that it is good to fleece the society and fill up your pockets in the market, but you don't have any duty towards it when it comes to paying taxes, which is paying back to the body you have been benefiting from.

Stalin, a product of Lenin! Lenin, a product of the Tsars!

I am reading a book titled "Young Stalin". It is by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I have found within the book's pages a totally different man from whom I thought Stalin was. On the one hand most biographies of Stalin are written by his enemies in exile, so can't be impartial. On the other hand, the only biographies with a positive attitude towards this dictator were written only in his lifetime in Russia and are wildly partial and off the mark. We should not forget that after his death Stalin was denounced by his own party so there were no biographies about him published later in Russia. Therefore it is hard to find an impartial book about him. Fortunately this book tries to be that, although it is more negative than positive. The author exhibits all the symptoms of a person who has not lived through similar times and is writing about a man and a time he can't FEEL anything about. I can, however, understand every word, since I have lived through similar times and can feel every moment of the young Stalin's life. I can understand why he did what he did, at least before he became the blood-thirsty dictator he was.

It is fascinating to think what would have happened to Stalin if he had lived in a different time. I try to imagine him in Canada in our time. At most, he would have been a Jack Layton, leader of the NDP. If the Bolshevik coup had been crushed and defeated, he would have been a martyr, or at least an old revolutionary émigré with lots of stories to tell about his adventurous life. He would never have become the Stalin we know now. His life would not have been much different than the life of all the Russian revolutionaries deported after October, or the life of Spanish Civil War heroes after the defeat of the Spanish government by Franco.

What made him STALIN, the worst dictator in history, was the October Revolution. Without Lenin, there could not be a Stalin. Stalin is the natural product of Lenninism. He is the legitimate son of Lenin's brutal Civil War and dictatorship. But we can't understand Lenin without understanding the suffocating dictatorship of the Romanovs and Tsarist Russia. Without that dictatorship, Lenin could not have succeeded in bringing about the October coup. The population would not be ready to tolerate so much brutality. Other parties have tried, after the October, to copy it in other countries, but where the situation was not ready, they were all defeated. German communists tried hard to have their own revolution in 1918 and 1919 but were defeated because German society was more advanced and less brutal at the time. Even British communists tried their hand at revolution in the 1920s, but it was a farce because people would just not accept a bloody revolution.

So, I believe, if we trace the roots of Stalinism, at the end of the day the blame rests with the Tsars and their stupid, backward regime. The same thing can be said about the Islamic Republic in Iran. Yes, they are brutal. But you can't blame it all on them only. Without the brutal, murderous dictatorship of the Shah, Khomeini could not have achieved success and come to power.

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I agree that Stalin could not do what he did without Lenin, but I also believe it was not necessary to be so brutal. There is no logical reason for the necessity of Stalin's extreme brutality. Russia would still become an industrial country, no matter what political system it had. Many other countries went through the same phase without any blood. IT WAS NOT NECESSARY. It was illogical and evil. It can only be explained by Stalin's personality. I believe if other members of the Bolshevik party had ruled Russia instead of Stalin there would not have been such blood bath. Even if Lenin had survived and ruled, he would not expose his fellow contrymen to such a brutality and at least not killed his own party members. Mao was a brutal communist, but he killed much less of his own party members than Stalin did, in a much larger and more populous country.

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CAPITALISM, OR GOVERNMENTAL CORPORATE WELFARE SYSTEM

Bear Stearns downfall and purchase by JP Morgan proves again the hollow claims of capitalists about Laissez-faire economy and the rule of government in it. At times of prosperity when the greed rules supreme, their economists claim that the government should be as small as possible. It should not interfere in the affairs of the market and must let capitalists shave the public as much as they want to fill up their pockets and own 10 estates instead of only 1. Any attempt at wealth redistribution is faced by hollers of interference. NO, it is not good for economy. NO, the government should not interfere at all and should let the economy run its course.

But look at Bear Stearns comedy now. The moment the excess greed turns into the economic storm and the ships start sinking left and right and centre, then the same capitalists turn to the government, with caps in hands, for survival. The same government which was "BAD" and was not supposed to touch their pockets, now has to save them out with "tax payer's" money. The same people, who were not worthy enough as human beings to share in the prosperous times, are now expected to pay out of their pockets and through their taxes to save out the capitalist's companies and corporations.

Women and Men

I watch the pigeons on my balcony. I always used to think these are real romantic birds. Look how deeply they kiss each other. Then I watch more closely and the reality sinks in. They are not kissing, what happenes is as simple as this: The female is getting food from the male. Exactly like how a chick gets food from the parents, she pushes her beak into the males' open beak, and the male regurgitates the food to her. Instantly after she gets some food, she lays down and lets the male have his way and f... her. So no food, no sex, as simple as that. No kissing, just a simple payment.

But when you look deeper into why they do that, you understand the evolutionary reason for this behaviour. In pigeons, it is the male that feeds the chicks once they get older. The female stops feeding them when the chicks are a few weeks old, and it is the poor male that has to feed the chicks. And by getting food(or begging food) from the male, the female is actually TESTING him. She wants to know if this guy is "giving" enough to be willing and ready to share his food. The line of thought is: if he feeds me, then he will feed my chicks too.

Do the females in our species act differently?
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It is not only men who love porn? Women enjoy porn. But porn for women is different from men. Women's porn are the romantic novels and movies consumed by them in huge quantities. For them, it functions exactly as visual porn functions for men.

HUGE MARKETS BEGET DICTATORSHIP AND CORRUPTION

In a country with a huge population, the market is huge. In such a country, the capitalist system can reach the height of its power because of the size of the market. The money and consequently power tends to concentrate in fewer and fewer hands and in the long-run the political system becomes a corrupt plutocracy and democracy dies. In Such a society the gap between rich and poor becomes wider and wider until the system collapses from within. A very good example of such a system is ancient Rome, or the successive empires in China built on the back of millions of peasants. Each empire ruled for a few hundred years and was thrown into anarchy and chaos and fell in a peasant revolution. A modern version is US, where the capitalist and corporation lobby has become so powerful that the legislature just can't pass any laws to narrow the gap and the poor become poorer everyday despite the huge wealth of the country.

If a country is small and has smaller population, the market in not large. As a result, the capitalists in that country can never gather enough money to be able to influence the political system at will. An example of such a country is Canada, or Scandinavian countries, or Switzerland. Democracy in such countries lasts longer and is more vibrant because there is not enough concentrated money to influence it. The lobby power of small capitalists can never compete against the will of the people. These countries tend to have a more just and socialist system and the gap between rich and poor is smaller.

McCaine Killing Innocent Vietnamese

Everyone these days mentions Senator McCain and his heroic spell in Vietnamese jails. But nobody, not even one person that I know, not even one journalist, asks the very simple question: ‘Senator, why did you end up in Vietnamese prisons in the first place????’

Did they come to the US and snatch you from your cozy big house? Did they invade your country and arrest you while you were fighting against their invasion? Did they kidnap you from your military base? Or were you bombarding innocent civilians—Vietnamese children, women and men, when they shot your plane down and captured you as a war criminal? What were you doing over Hanoi? Were you defending democracy and human rights against fascism, or were you expanding American imperialism by bombarding the civilian population in Hanoi?

If I were present at one of the campaign speeches, I would stand up and ask these questions, instead of asking about what happened to McCain in the Hanoi Hilton.

I would pick up the mike and ask him, ‘Senator McCain, would you please explain to me what you were doing at the time they shot you down? Senator McCain, what were your feelings when your bombs burnt, maimed and killed innocent children and civilians? Senator McCain, as a practicing Christian, have you ever asked for God's forgiveness for the crime of killing these people? Senator McCain, have you ever, even once in your life, woken up at night sweating and thinking of the innocent people who were killed with your bombs? People who had not attacked US, who were sleeping and working in their own country, while you had invaded theirs!

Why we should not expect intelligent beings in the universe

One of the latest books I have read was “A Brain for All Seasons” by William H. Calvin (University of Chicago Press- 2002). It is about the evolution of humans. I want to share some reflections on this book,

It is interesting that in 4 billion years of history of life on this planet, intelligent beings, humans, have only been around for not more than 100,000 years, which compared to that long history is just but a second. By intelligence I mean the grasp of language and the production and understanding of concepts like Arts and Philosophy and artefacts and machinery.

Bipedal apes appeared in Africa around 5 to 6 million years ago, but up to 100000 years ago they were not much more advanced than chimpanzees and gorillas. Intelligence and a big brain with capacity for thinking, memorizing the past and planning for future, appeared in one small and isolated group of these mammals only by chance. Life can and could have gone on this planet for the remaining billions of years without any intelligent beings appearing on the scene. We humans are just a chance event, not a necessity.

Some say higher intelligence is necessary for the survival of the species. But that is nonsense. In the battle of survival, bacteria and cockroaches have been much more successful than most bipedal apes, bacteria have been around for more than 2 billion years, and cockroaches for around 300 million years, and nobody could consider these animals as intelligent and thinking. Even our closest siblings in animal kingdom, chimpanzees and gorillas, have been around as long as the humans and very successful in adapting to their environment.

What I want to point out here is that higher intelligence is just a chance win in a lottery and not a necessity in evolution. And from that I conjecture that intelligent life in universe must be extremely rare and sparse, not as some sci-fi fans believe, abundant. Even if by any chance another intelligent being has appeared in another remote corner of this universe, how successful can it be in the game of survival. Apart from all the environmental changes that can bring about the doom of the intelligent animals; in the millions of years before they achieve a civilization through a slow start, at the end, even if they survive and build a civilization, they themselves can strike the death blow. In our case, who knows how longer we human beings are going to survive on this planet. By piling up weapons of mass destruction(and I am not talking about one saddam Hussein here, but the real culprits, the sole superpower ) we might very possibly annihilate ourselves in a world war(and not only ourselves, but perhaps the whole planet), because our animal brains are still ticking wrapped in a tribal and herd level, while our weapons have come a long way from sticks and stones, and will be deadlier and more advanced by the day. We might destroy our own civilization and our own race in a world war, and this destiny can befall many other intelligent beings in other planets; if there are any out there at all. Higher intelligence, the one we humans own, most probably, is just a very rare by-product of evolution, a dead-end alley, a one in a million lottery win, and not a necessary stage or a tool for survival. Life has managed without it up till now and can manage to the end, when our planet is going to perish in the formidable glow of a dying sun.

Buy, Buy, Buy ... to save the capitalist system

A recession is looming, and what does Mr. McGunity tell us to do? To buy! Two days ago he advised all Ontarians to go to malls and buy, buy cars, buy houses, buy stuff.

This is capitalist system. Pure and simple. A system based on consumption, not on taking care of real human needs. Buy, buy, buy until you consume the whole planet, and turn it into plastics and metals and junk. Like a virus that attacks the body of its host and destroys it. This is a system that is based on planned obsolescence, a system that loathes merchandise that last for a long time. Any product in this system should not last more than a few years, otherwise the whole system will crash. They have the "Fashion" in everything, in clothes and cars and computers, etc. They change it every year so that the last year's merchandise is ugly this year and you have to replace them.

Is a system that will collapse if people stop heavy consumption a reasonable and rational system? Of course not. The production system should not be based on greed, but on real human needs, without excesses of totally unnecessary consumption.

And remember: George Bush told Americans the same thing after 9/11. People were scared and not shopping, and he told them to go and shop, otherwise the system will collapse, and right now he is going to legislate laws to pay every American some money to go to the store and buy stuff.

Don't they see how crooked and unstable the system is? Of course they see it, but greed is a stronger motive than reason in human beings.

Death and Man

Life is a stupid, aimless, chemical compound, like water, like salt, like any other crystal. It is inherently tragic, because it is meaningless and it ends in death. Every life is tragic, but human lives are more, because we are the only animal who knows that it is going to die and yet tries to live like there is no death. We go around our daily business with great enthusiasm, we battle for better life, for money and riches and love and sex and pleasure as if we are eternal. We deny death to ourselves. Death is always for others. Even if we try to understand death, our cells deny it and push us forward in this journey. Like a computer that is programmed to work endlessly and can't escape it's program, we run endlessly on the path to death and often forget to enjoy the beauties of the road.

And yet, at the end of the day, even Rockefellers and Genchizes of this world die and don't carry any of that wealth and power with themselves to the other world. Even they get the same as the next homeless guy at the corner of the street, a few feet of land 6 feet under for their bones. So why do they heave and try so hard and put so much stress and fear and anxiety and sorrow upon themselves while they know it is all useless? Why don't they take it easy like a fakir in India? What do they get out of all this anxiety and stress at the end of the day?

And yet.....

EUROPEAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY PAYS

Linda McQuaig article in Toronto Star about the benefits of social democracy

Reflections on church and Christianity

A few days ago, a friend invited me to their church and I sat through the whole mass. These are some of the thoughts that passed my mind:

1. How much cruelty and tribalism resides underneath the bible. The sermon was about Moses and how he let the Israelites pass through the red sea "and then the sea came together and drowned hordes of Pharaohs soldiers". Didn't those soldiers have wives and children like Israelites? Shouldn't they be pities, left to their own resources after the death of their fathers and brothers? No, god does not care about that. God is a "tribal" god! He only cares for the Jewish tribe. For him, like any other tribal guy, people from other tribes are not considered human, they are subhuman, even less than their own sheep and cattle and can die in anyway.

2. I look around, see some disabled people there. Why are you, of all people, here??? To thank god who has created you like this, who has inflicted perpetual pain and suffering on you? What is there to thank him for? One of my friends used to wonder about gay people who try hard to be accepted into the church and wage lengthy campaigns for that. He used to say: For what? To go to church to thank god to have created them as homosexuals and denied them one of the greatest pleasures of life which is the love and touch of the opposite sex?

3. they line up to have the wine and bread. Isn't it a totally tribal custom? The tribe's witch giving all sorts of strange things to people to eat and telling them it is the blood of that deity and this god? Weren't the Romans, and actually all prmitive tribes also, practicing these ceremonial sacrifices and drinkings of blood and flesh? Christianity has just changed it by a thin veneer of a religious story. Funny thing that Mormons have changed the wine into water and have water in their churches.

4. Thank goodness I don't need to accompany everybody else in singing the silly songs and standing and sitting every few minutes. Why can I do this, because millions of people have sacrificed their lives in the past hundreds of years so that I can sit there without having to follow the crowd and pretend that I believe and not afraid for my life.

5. The building is large but deserted. It has definitely seen better times, when everybody used to attend the chruch or at least pretended to believe and attended. There are a miserable small number of people here. I think of the power and glory of the church before. Alpha males at that times, used to be attracted to the church because of it's power and money, and as usual, wherever alpha males are, you can expect cruelty and deceit and war and torture and churches did not leave anything to imagination in that department. But now that they can't attract people and money, they are devoid of alpha males, here I can just see some weak soles smiling perpetually. Boy, I can smell the minister's smelly breath from here in the first row.

Immigration and Democracy

Most immigrants do it for financial reasons, not democracy and freedom. Give them enough money in their autocratic countries, and they won't move one step out. It is a rare immigrant that does it to flee dictatorship. When they come to the new democratic destination, they just strive for money and prosperity, they don't take part in the political process. That is sad but true. The risk the target country takes is that if it accepts too many of these immigrants, it might get flooded with people who don't care who rules them and what system is in power, as long as they can make a living. This will put democracy at risk.