[Mb-civic] London bombings

[Cheeseburger]

Re:  London bombings




CheeseComment:



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.in this case a proof that globalization can work, that divisions among
people according to religion, ethnicity, language, can be overcome through a
commitment to common purposes among people living in close proximity.
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There remains 2 sides to the concept of "globalization" from what I gather,
on the one hand, The Ideal, The Dream, The Concept (of Harmony), on the
other hand, the continued exploitation of the world's countries,
populations, and resources "in the name of compassion" brilliantly led by
those who got us into this cesspool of disunity to begin with.


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London must be the way of the future, of an urbanized internationalized life
in the 21st century, for if not, our world will likely succumb to hatred,
violence, and despair on our very crowded planet.
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Someone put a post up here, a long time ago, which put forth the concept
that the above statement will not occur, but rather just the opposite, that
in the face of burgeoning world population, problems, dwindling resources,
etc, millions of people will eventually be scrambling for any "rural" piece
of dirt they can set a tent up on just to escape the same projected "urban
blight" that post referred to.  While I do not profess to actually know
which of the 2 concepts will literally occur in the future, I have a
tendency to not understand how the price for "not succeeding to create a
smoothly working urbanized internationalized life" is definitely going to be
"hatred, violence, and despair".


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Tony Blair showed true leadership yesterday when he declared that the work
of the G8 summit in addressing poverty and global climate change was now
more important than ever, that the terrorists would not deflect the work of
the political leaders in addressing deep economic and ecological problems
that gravely threaten the planet and that stoke the violence and conflicts
of our times. George Bush spoke well when he declared that an ideology of
compassionate concern for the world’s poor would triumph over an
ideology of hate. Both men owe the world this much, and yesterday they
delivered. Their war in Iraq was gravely misconceived and dangerous; their
words yesterday were highly constructive and extremely important.
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Personally, I could never lower myself to write such slop about those 2, or
several other, "great world leaders".  Such "praise", at least for Bush,
remains not only unwarranted, but a continuing catalyst to propel such a man
who, at least here in America, has fashioned a system to make the poor more
poor and the rich Gods, if they are not already.  I, personally, don't seem
to have very much admiration for very many "world leaders" these days, G8,
etc etc etc, seeing as they got us into all this crap to begin with.  I also
don't think I would describe "the Iraq war" as "gravely misconceived and
dangerous".  While that is a pretty good description of it, it remains a
giant Understatement of the actual situation, as American G.I.s continue to
come back in body bags, and one-hundred thousand Iraqi Civilians remains
buried somewhere underneath the dirt.


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We are not, thank goodness, in World War III as some of America’s
hotheads have believed since September 11. To believe such is to risk making
it a tragic reality.
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I'll agree with him on that 100 percent.  In "America", we've already
crossed that distinction long ago.


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In truth, our struggle is not of one culture against another, but a struggle
for our common survival on a fragile planet threatened by too many weapons,
too much environmental destruction, too much extreme poverty and disease,
too many young unemployed men in the Middle East deprived of hope and
dignity, too many fundamentalist misconceptions in a world that has been
built by science which can be harnessed by ignoramuses and psychopaths. The
cell phone can be both the creator of global connectivity and the detonator
of urban mayhem.
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More agreement coming from Cheese.



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We are surely in store for many more shocks ahead: terrrorist attacks,
massive droughts and other extreme climate events caused by manmade climate
change, disease pandemics, and more. Yet we are also more equipped than ever
before, with our great wealth and technology, to confront these challenges.
Our biggest threats are not psychopaths but also our own ignorance and lack
of will. If the G-8 commitments to Africa and climate change are watered
down today by “political realities,” for example, we will pay a
very heavy price for this neglect in the future.
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Prepare yourself for the worst.  On the whole, the "wealth and technology"
remain firmly in the grasp of those who got us to this dismal point to begin
with.  I have serious doubts if their Global Compassion will ever be able to
catch up to their unending greed and lust for Power and Glory.  The
"People's" surely might, but, then again, the People still do not control
the Majority of Earth's "wealth and technology", no matter how many dreamers
are sitting out their thinking they do.



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Our world is complex and non-linear. It is as unpredictable as yesterday
morning’s bombings.
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I will have to disagree with that one.  This world appears to become more
Predictable with each passing moment.


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We must be smart, smarter even than yesterday, to overcome the risks that we
face. A war on terror is needed, but only as part of a broader war on
poverty, intolerance, environmental degradation, and injustice which fuel so
much global instability. The greatest answer indeed that the world’s
leaders assembled at Glenneagles can give to yesterday’s criminal
attack is a shoulder-to-shoulder commitment to address the pressing concerns
of poverty, injustice, and environmental destruction in an open, just, and
meaningful way.
Unquote
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Good sentiments.  Good direction pointing.  Good advice.  Again, though, he
is advising people who created this to begin with.  If they will actually
listen, that will truly be a miracle.  The last time I watched a "great
world leader" perform a "miracle", in recent times, was just about Never.
One can only hope they are struck by a bolt of light on the road to Damascus
and suddenly do a complete 180 degree turn and actually change their ways.
This, as always, remains the crossroads where Hope and Reality collide with
nothing more than brute force.  Throughout history Hope has usually
consistently been the one taken off the playing field in an ambulance.



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I am in the UK at the moment visiting family + friends. My No2 daughter, who
had been evacuated from the underground at Kings X caught a bus to continue
to work. Within a few minutes another bus a few blocks from her blew up,
anihilating, maiming and eviscerating many of those on board. But for the
grace of God (?), luck (?), chance(?),destiny (?)my family and I have been
spared an unbearable horror. The age old question "Why me? Why should I have
been spared when others were not?" Is obviously in one's mind.

I am, though, proud of the british today. Our legendary phlegm/sang froid
shows us at its best at times like this, just as 9/11 brought out the best
in New Yorkers. I hope that we do not allow these fiends to change the sort
of people we are and judging by the way normality has returned to London
today I do not believe that they will . I think we might be asking
ourselves, however, even if our Dear Leaders do not appear to be (asking
themselves), just why these people hate us so much. All this stuff about
their doing it "because they hate freedom" is starting to wear a little
thin.

Al Baraka
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The recent post by William Rivers Pitt entitled something like "Why we need
wars" put up here by Mha Atma seems to explain it all quite thoroughly.

We create our "enemies" because we need them to prop up our economies, our
militaries, our etcs, and we need the facility to also then "run out and
destroy them" so we can keep The People on the edges of their seats, stuck
in darkness eternally, one rung away from oblivion, paying our taxes into
the gluttonous beast's stomach willingly until the end of time.

Not "The People", but, still, as it has always been, those handfuls of
people at The Top who continue to run "The People" and their business and
resources and any hopes of Unity, Peace, Sanity straight into the ground to
Hell, with no reprieve, at a nice tidy profit of course to themselves.

I have a great tendency to agree with Pitt's assessment of the entire
Situation.  And that most people on this planet don't even see a chess
board, much less realize the role they are playing each day.

On another note, I am so very sincerely glad your daughter is allright.




Cheeseburger

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