Necessary Illusions…

“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.” – Noam Chomsky

It amazes me how little we care to know about what’s really going on around us…

There are more than 65 million people living in farmville – a make-believe game on facebook where pink cows give strawberry milk and where, on any given day, about 27 million people are busy growing make-believe crops and raising make-believe alien animals…ask any one of the farmville residents how many nails are needed to finish the barn for their zebra-striped horse and they’ll have the exact number at the tip of the tongue…but ask someone if they know anything about the deluge of bailouts, rescues, and stimulus packages being approved by their politicians, and you’re guaranteed to either get blank stares or a nonchalant response like the one I got: “…yeah, this is all because of the stupid people who bought houses they couldn’t really afford and as a result bankrupted the world…so, we had to bail them out…” – really??…well, I guess if you believe that pink cows give strawberry milk, then this view of current affairs isn’t so far fetched…

So how does this happen? How is it possible that the masses are so conveniently kept in the dark about so many things happening around them??

If you spend just a little less time feeding alien cows on farmville and just a bit more time in the real world, you might just stumble upon the life and work of Ivan Pavlov – and especially his extensive research on what is known today as TMI – or transmarginal inhibition…and will quickly understand how it is possible for an elite few – who, by the way, don’t graze around on farmville at all and choose instead to control the ‘real’ food producing land on this planet – to create a state of confusion and of constant fear to effectively render the masses passive, apathetic, and submissive…

…and this is but one observation…there’s a lot more than just simple transmarginal inhibition at play here – but this is a good start…

I won’t dwell on Pavlov’s work on transmarginal inhibition or on the fear-mongering, bigotry, hatred, prejudice, and confusion perpetrated by those elite few in positions of authority and power – political, religious, and otherwise…but will recommend that you do your research if you care about your existence on this planet…

Essentially, with a focus towards dividing and conquering, the masses are bombarded with conflicting information, misinformation, and disinformation – effectively rendering the critical mass impotent and confused…

Why?

Simple: …POWER!…power for it’s own sake…

What?

Exactly! In order for one to really comprehend the concept of ‘power for it’s own sake’, one needs to adopt the psycopathic mindset of this pathological system that will never be able to accumulate enough power to satisfy itself…again, I won’t dwell on this and will recommend you spend a bit more time researching how we’ve engineered our societies over the years – look at the birth and spread of dogma – dig into the history of contemporary politics and economics – and find out what concepts like ‘globalization’ really mean…if you care, that is…

Contemporary global institutions – governments, corporations, organized religion, institutions of learning – all reflect the pathology of the psychopath…if you dig a little deeper, you’ll quickly realize how everything we’ve been conditioned into believing and accepting as the framework of our world, belief system, existence, and (gasp!) hereafter; is but a necessary illusion – a necessary illusion engineered to sustain the foundation from which the psychopath can exercise maximum control…and believe me, you won’t have to dig too deep to start seeing things that weren’t there when all you did was scratch the surface…start digging for the truth – if you care, that is…

The pathological system requires the critical mass to take a particular path that is to the advantage of the psychopath in control – this is always the case – therefore: the economic meltdown – and the subsequent public money payouts to private enterprise coffers, the fear we have of each other – and the accompanying hatred we have towards each other, the unnecessary wars, tension, chaos, exaggerated claims of epidemics forcing mass inoculations etc. – didn’t all happen by mere chance – and those who contribute to it (and participate in it) day to day, for the most part, have no clue of what they are doing…the pathological system takes advantage of basic human weaknesses like greed and avarice while the psychopath carefully manoeuvres the ignorant…look closely and you’ll see links – very strong links between what seem to be disparate events and elements…and if you dig deep enough, you’ll see clearly what this path is that the psychopath wants the critical mass to take…do your research – if you dare, that is…

So, what can I do about it?

Well, for those mass-protesting, using violence, and employing aggressive action against the status quo; I would recommend they step back and re-think the whole thing – this is exactly the reaction the pathological system seeks from the masses to give it the justification it needs to impose martial law and civil repression - critical to the success of the next phase of its masterplan of control…violence and aggression will only bring about more violence and aggression…

For the rest of us: get educated on what’s really going on around…spend less time fertilizing make believe crops and more time engaged in the real world…remember that the pathological system depends on the psychopath to remain completely anonymous and out of sight of the masses - exposing the psychopath effectively crushes the agenda – because the agenda is baseless and depends simply on the blind compliance of the ignorant…if we choose to not be ignorant, then the tail can no longer wag the dog…

“Everybody’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: stop participating in it.” – Noam Chomsky

Think about this for a bit…

Start caring…if you dare, that is…

- The Ranting Dream

Why do we dwell on the past?

I choose to live in today – as I believe everyone should…therefore, in essence, I would not change a single thing about myself or my past experiences.

The wealth of knowledge and experience acquired over the years have shaped me into who I am today - and I like the person that I am…

Would I do things differently today? – definitely! – a lot of things, in fact…that is the ‘lesson’ learned in this equation – would I want to turn the clock back to do it ‘right’ – definitely not!!

The whole idea behind the 20/20 hindsight philosophy is not to turn back time or to cry over the proverbial ’spilt milk’ – but to learn and grow – and there is no learning or growth without experience…how, pray, are we expected to experience joy in its essence if we have no understanding of sadness? I love problems – because in them (and due to them) I find solutions…and finding solutions is what I do best….

Are there any regrets? Sure there are! I’d be a total hypocrite if I claimed otherwise…but these ‘regrets’ are what will allow me to make better choices and more intelligent decisions going forward…within these ‘regrets’, I find the strength, courage, and confidence to be what I aspire to be - and if I chose to turn back time and ‘erase’ these ‘regretful experiences’ then I’d be depriving myself of the opportunity to become ‘better’ – since I’d have eliminated the very benchmark against which I would measure my ‘betterment’…

We seek solace in regressive dogmas – wishful thinking – oh, I wish I had done this or that…

Some of us have even developed expertise at invoking ‘divine’ intervention – O God! fix my obesity while I finish this tub of chocolate covered peanuts – if we are in trouble, it’s God’s fault – if we are unhealthy, it’s God’s choosing – everything from our education, health and well-being, financial success, peace, happiness – all of this is sourced from ‘God’ – and if it fails to make an appearance, then it’s that ‘pain-in-the-***-sleepy-head’ up there who’s refusing to listen to our pleas – we have no ownership of our destinies – He chooses our successes and failures – we dwell on what we don’t have (or wished we had) instead of focusing our energies and intentions in the direction that we should be heading to acquire that which we truly desire for ourselves (beyond our animalisitic desires) and the world we live in…and organized religion, as we know it today, – or the ‘business’ of organized religion, if I may — is awesome at creating and feeding this nonsensical brainwashing environment that makes it easy for us to shift the responsibility (and the blame) for everything on the Almighty God — I digress…

Coming back to my point about regressive dogmas – we waste time dwelling on the past because it is easy to blame God or lady-luck or something other than ourselves for our mistakes, shortcomings, and lack of whatever we feel is scarce in our lives – sadly, in that, we lose focus of our successes too; and end up learning nothing from our experience…nothing!!!

If I dig into memory, it is for the sole purpose of being mindful of what ‘did not work’ for me in the past — so that I can better formulate my response to challenges going forward…if I have erred or trespassed, there is recourse – not just regret – regretting something and not doing anything about it is, in my humble opinion, plain foolishness…there is recourse…

For the longest time, I blamed everything under the sun (and beyond) – from Julius Kambarage Nyerere to my ancestry for not being blessed with some of the opportunities that my peers had in the pursuit of knowledge and education — but the day I made a commitment to myself that I would spend the rest of my productive life working towards ensuring that no other child who desires education would ever regret (like I did) ‘not’ getting ‘the opportunity’; is the day ‘I grew up!’…

- The Ranting Dream

Why are we afraid of everything?

“Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.”
(Marianne Williamson)

Look around you…everywhere, everyone is afraid of everything…

Heck, we’re even afraid of each other – look carefully and you’ll see the politician exploiting society through fear, observe intently and you’ll see the employee shaking in his boots when in the presence of his boss – we’re afraid of change, we’re afraid of death, we’re afraid of the wealthy, we’re afraid of insects, we’re afraid of losing our jobs…we’re afraid of being ourselves…

Why?

“The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think. We do this because we’re afraid…”
(Richard Bach)

Essentially, most of our phobias trace their roots back to a handful of ‘basic’ fears (adapted from Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’ - 1937):

1. The fear of poverty
2. The fear of criticism
3. The fear of ill health
4. The fear of loss of love
5. The fear of old age
6. The fear of death

I will not dwell on the ’causes’ of fear in this rant, but will briefly explain each of these ‘basic’ fears as I identify with their manifestation on this planet…

Out of the fear of poverty, I am the indecisive, indifferent, procrastinator, not willing to stand up for what is right out of the fear of losing what I have accumulated in life – why challenge the powerful, when being subservient to them is so rewarding materialistically? Let someone else make those hard decisions, I will seek the shortest path to overnight riches, then compromise all my values to make sure I am able to hold on to these riches forever…I will live beyond my means just to ‘fit-in’ with the neighborhood – after all, I can’t let anyone know that I have ‘less’ than them…and if someone does have ‘more’ than I do, I’ll be jealous, envious, critical, and spiteful; in the hope that some of my negativity will rub off on their luck and they will eventually have ‘less’ than me…most importantly I will be in constant search of something or someone to blame for my lack of success – ultimately it is God’s responsibility to make sure that I have ‘more’ than anyone else I know on this planet – and if I don’t have it yet, then it’s all God’s fault!

Out of the fear of criticism, I will agree with everyone on everything – after all, I want everyone to ‘like’ me…I will pretend to be someone I am not, because I can’t afford to be rejected by my peers…I will not be truthful or sincere about anything and will never allow anyone to point out any faults or shortcomings in me, even if it means fabricating stories to cover my backside…I will live beyond my means, because I can’t accept anyone being ‘better’ than me…I will imitate others, and will suppress my own true identity; that way, I will have more friends…I will compromise, deceive, even destroy someone else – if that is what is needed to protect my ego!

Out of the fear of ill health, I’m constantly seeking ‘quick-fixes’ for daily inconveniences – I will happily believe in the ‘shaman‘ if he says he can cure my cancer by blowing ashes into my left ear…I will eat ant-crap twice a day everyday because someone on the internet said that it will keep my sinuses healthy – in fact, I’ve started an ant-farm in my house to collect as much crap as I can for myself…I will use the excuse of ill health to get away from obligations at work – my kids can fall sick, my uncles and aunts can die – whatever it takes to be excused from something I have not been able to complete on time…and most importantly, I will binge on alcohol and drugs (prescription or otherwise), because when under the influence, I don’t feel any pain – and when I don’t feel pain, I can’t be sick!

Out of the fear of loss of love, I will be obsessively protective of my other half, my friends, my kids, my family…I will not allow anyone I know to have any ‘close’ friends other than myself, and I will dictate where they go and who they associate with…I will be jealous and suspicious of everyone that talks to or comes near me…they only want to take my happiness away from me…I will pretend to be everything that I am not, if that is what it takes to make people want to be friends with me…I will find faults with everyone else, because only I should matter – everyone and everything else is ‘defective’ – and I will do whatever it takes to prove that!

Out of the fear of old age, I am always dressed like my 18 year old child…I will spend my entire life savings on ‘lifting’ any signs of aging off my person…I will use my age as an excuse when convenient, but for the most part, I will live in denial of my true age…if age brings with it any physical limitations, I will let it affect my psyche – and will spend the rest of my living years in misery; complaining about everyone and everything – and, out of spite, I will make sure that no one else around me is blessed with a moment of peace or happiness…I will resist change, and will make sure that anyone who reminds me of my age is crushed beyond recognition!

Out of the fear of death, I will do whatever I can to ‘cheat’ time – because for as long as I can stop time (or slow it down), I can prolong my life on this planet…and I truly believe that time will wait for me…I will lead a life of apathy and indifference: why take risks and tension and shorten my life? I will pay ridiculous sums of money to ‘charlatans‘ and ‘fortune tellers’ just to find out exactly what tomorrow has in store for me; so I can deflect any mishaps headed my way by being proactive and ready for them…I will live in denial of the fact that death is a reality – and if someone I know happens to pass away, I will lose my rest and sleep for months…I will hold on as tight as I can to my material accumulations – I have heard that the more you attach yourself to this world, the harder it is for the soul to ascend to it’s true abode!

Why are we so afraid?

I have ranted on fear earlier – we’re afraid of failure, we’re afraid of success, we’re afraid of living, we’re afraid of dying…

STOP IT!

Stop being so afraid of everything – and especially stop being afraid of each other – don’t be afraid of other human beings just because they have more ‘material’ wealth than you, or are in positions of ‘authority’, or because they are more ‘attractive’ in your perspective, or because they seem to have more ‘qualifications’ on paper than you do — to hell with all that!

Assert yourself, believe in yourself, stand up for yourself and your values – don’t let others manipulate your existence by exploiting your insecurities and fears – no one can ever be ‘better’ than you because you are from a unique mold…stop being afraid of yourselves – stop being afraid of your own capacities and capabilities – get out of your damp, dark ‘boxes’ and experience the infinite potential of your existence – don’t waste your time in fear and doubt…

“…you are from within the totality of existence, and contain within you that same totality…shift that paradigm, don’t wait for it!”
 

How do we stop being so afraid???

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
(Dale Carnegie)

“Fear is a habit; so is self-pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. You can eliminate all of these negative habits with two simple resolves: I can!! and I will!!”
(Author Unknown)

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”
(Marie Curie)

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
(Mark Twain)

“Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be — because you only have one life and one chance to do all the things that you want to do.”
(Britta Fiksdal)

“To be a star, you must shine your own light, walk your own path, and do not worry about the darkness, for that is when stars shine brightest.”
(Author Unknown)

Think about this for a bit – then get off your backsides and do something about it!!!

- The Ranting Dream

The ownership rant…

“What you resist, persists. If you take ownership and deal with things that are bothering you; then, in the very process of dealing with them they very often will go away.”
- Author Unknown…

A strong opponent of micro-management, I usually take a beating when those that I entrust with managing themselves fail to take ownership of their actions.

My commitment to my team is always that of being an enabler for them – their ultimate escalation resource, the buck always stops with me; however, I want my team to empower themselves – to make their own decisions and mistakes – to take control of the work they do – and I watch from a distance making sure (as best as I can) that we don’t ‘fail’…

In all of this, I stay away from babysitting the team – and, while always available, I stay out of everyone’s way while work is being done – if I perceive a high-impact error or misjudgment, I jump right in and help as best as I can by offering to steer the ship away from catastrophe – again, I only ‘offer’ my assistance and support and allow the team the opportunity to send me back to my little corner – but for the most part, I thrive on letting my team bring out their very best in everything we do…

Sadly, it doesn’t always work in my favor – for the most part, I have a fabulous team – intelligent, capable, motivated, effective, efficient, and probably some of the best attitudes in all of Canada – so I really cannot complain about the odd hiccup here and there…but because there is such a high level of empowerment within the team, almost everything that is touched is of the highest impact – so one little mistake, and we pay the ultimate price…

So I thought I’d rant a little bit and generalize about my humble take on ownership and how this concept of ownership can go a long way in ensuring continued success for any team that is structured like ours…

I truly believe that everyone has the best of intentions at all times – but those who stand out from the crowd are those who take ownership of their actions – they are the ones who make confident decisions, who refuse to ‘drop-the-ball’ or ‘pass-the-buck’, who thrive on challenges, who radiate leadership – they are the ones who think about the consequences of their action (or inaction) before deciding on their response to any challenge, task, or situation…

…not responding (or worse: procrastinating) is nowhere in their vocabulary…

What I respect most about those who take ownership of their actions is that they don’t just own it when it is headed on the sure path to success – even when dealing with abstraction or with the knowledge that there will be no victory or that someone (most likely themselves) will take the heaviest of blows before it is all over; they refuse to back down and continue owning the situation until the very end…

Because of that ‘integrity’ of character, even in the worst of situations, those who take ownership ’shine’ – because their integrity, sincerity, honesty, and credibility carry a lot more weight and value than the little ‘defeats’ here and there – the team knows that these are the folks who have the capacity and capability to win the biggest of battles…

Here’s a little guideline from my own humble experience that helps me maintain that ‘balance’ as I continue to take ownership of everything I touch:

1. Stay on top of everything you own – break them down into manageable chunks, then decide which chunks need urgent attention and give them priority. I use Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrant methodology quite a bit – try it…

2. Deal with personal issues (home, family, health etc.) right away and directly. These will definitely get in the way if not addressed immediately. At the core of the ownership mentality is the clarity of focus, and the control over your emotions – and if you are preoccupied with personal issues, there is no way you will be able to manage anything out there…

3. You don’t necessarily have to do every little thing yourself – learn to delegate. Decide on what can be easily delegated, and follow up on a regular schedule to make sure it is taken care of. Careful with the follow up – too much and too little of it can both have damaging consequences…

4. Invest the time to analyze your performance – and generalize what you learn with the team – I try to do that everyday…I learn from the team, and I share valuable lessons of my own with the team – ownership is much easier and more fulfilling when you influence others to take ownership, and use the energy and motivation from others to take ownership yourself…

5. Don’t blame anyone or anything – it is always your problem, your mistake, your issue, your challenge, your situation – even if it is obvious as to who ’screwed’ up, it doesn’t matter – the person who ‘owns’ everything, owns the good and the bad and the ugly – without exception!

6. Remember that Adidas slogan: “Impossible is Nothing” – etch that into the fabric of your attitude…

7. My favorite chant: “Begin with the end in mind” – when you have that focus, a definite plan is not far away – and when focus and planning come together, confidence follows – before you know it, you will be owning the beginning and the end and everything in between…

8. Practice ownership – this is a tough one – I’ll leave the interpretation of this up to you…I’m on a roll with sports apparel slogans today – as Nike says it best: “Just Do It!”

“The instinct of ownership is fundamental in man’s nature”
- William James (1842 – 1910)

- The Ranting Dream

What does poverty mean to you?

A lot of people I know are jumping on the ‘eliminate global poverty‘ bandwagon – because it’s cool…

“Let’s collect blankets and used clothes and ship ‘em off to Afghanistan. Then let’s make those poor souls pose for the camera wearing my ‘donated’ apparel, so that I can show-off to my friends that I am fighting global poverty“

Power to you…if that is your perception of reality – power to you!

Allow me to vent for a bit:

…please don’t send damaged and soiled junk to someone just because you have the need to get ‘rid of it’…

Giving lip-service to ‘fighting poverty’ is not an opportunity for the rest of us to collect ‘brownie-points’ from some dude way up in the heavens somewhere…don’t even go there…

Neither is our perception of ‘poverty’ anywhere near the harsh reality that it really is…

We choose to oversimplify and stereotype the affliction of poverty to fit a certain ‘mold’ because we are too afraid to face up to the brutality that it is…in fact, many of us even look down on the underprivileged – yes we do!…

Here is what poverty really looks like:

“Poverty goes beyond lack of income. It encompasses economic, social, and governance dimensions. Economically, the poor are not only deprived of income and resources, but of opportunities. Markets and jobs are often difficult to access, because of low capabilities and geographical and social exclusion. Limited access to education affects the ability of the poor to get jobs and to obtain information that could improve the quality of their lives. Poor health due to inadequate nutrition, hygiene and health services further limits their prospects for work and from realizing their mental and physical potential. This fragile position is exacerbated by insecurity. Living in marginal conditions with no resources to fall back on, shocks become hard or impossible to offset. The situation is made worse by the structure of societies and institutions that tends to exclude the poor from participating in decision-making over the direction of social and economic development.”
- Global Poverty Report, G8 Okinawa Summit, July 2000

Some stats before the rant:

1. “There are still around 1 billion people living at the margins of survival on less than US$1 a day, with 2.6 billion—40 percent of the world’s population—living on less than US$2 a day.” – page 25 of the 2007 Human Development Report (HDR) by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

2. “More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.” – Ibid

3. “The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.” – Ibid

4. “…26,500-30,000 children (under the age of 5) die each day due to poverty. And they die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” – adapted from UNICEF statistics, 2006

5. “Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.” – State of the World’s Children, UNICEF, 1999

6. “Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.” – State of the World, Issue 287, New Internationalist

7. “1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)” – 2007 Human Development Report (HDR) by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

8. “Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.” – Ibid

9. “Number of children in the world: 2.2 billion…Number of children in poverty: 1.0 billion (half of the world’s children, folks – HALF of ALL the innocent children in the world!!!) – State of the World’s Children, UNICEF, 2005

10. “The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.” – The World’s Richest People, Forbes, 2007

11. “For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.” – Based on World Bank data (March 3, 2008)

12. “The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.” – Debt – The facts, Issue 312, New Internationalist

13. “20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.” – 1998 Human Development Report (HDR) by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Here’s the ‘kicker‘ – straight from page 37 of the 1998 Human Development Report (HDR) by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP):

- Amount of money spent on COSMETICS in the US (annually): $ 8.0 billion
- Money needed to make sure EVERYONE in the world receives basic education (annually): $ 6.0 billion
- Money needed to ensure EVERYONE in the world has access to clean water and sanitation (annually): $ 9.0 billion

or this one – same report, same page:

- Amount of money spent on ICE-CREAM consumption in EUROPE (annually): $ 11.0 billion
- Amount of money spent on PERFUMES in the US (annually): $ 12.0 billion
- Money needed to provide reproductive health for ALL women in the world (annually): $ 12.0 billion
- Money needed to ensure EVERYONE in the world has access to basic health-care and nutrition (annually): $ 13.0 billion

and if your heart has not already sunk – same report, same page:

- Money spent on PET FOOD in the US and EUROPE (annually): $ 17.0 billion
- Money spent on CIGARETTES in EUROPE (annually): $ 50.0 billion
- Money spent on ALCOHOLIC DRINKS in EUROPE (annually): $ 105.0 billion
- MILITARY spending around the world (annually): $ 780.0 billion

Why is this important???…after all, aren’t these ‘underprivileged’ types not where they are because of their own doing??? Lazy, superstitious, backward, ignorant, fanatics…

Not really! - there is some validity in the argument that poverty is more a state of mind and attitude than anything else – but the affliction of poverty runs much deeper than that - and the perpetrators are none other than the ‘privileged‘…

“Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world have resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. In addition, developing nation governments are required to open their economies to compete with each other and with more powerful and established industrialized nations. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bottom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources. This has increased poverty and inequality for most people. It also forms a backbone to what we today call globalization. As a result, it maintains the historic unequal rules of trade.”

“Inequality is increasing around the world while the world appears to globalize. Even the wealthiest nation has the largest gap between rich and poor compared to other developed nations. In many cases, international politics and various interests have led to a diversion of available resources from domestic needs to western markets. Historically, politics and power play by the elite leaders and rulers have increased poverty and dependency. These have often manifested themselves in wars, hot and cold, which have often been trade- and resource-related. Mercantilist practices, while presented as free trade, still happen today. Poverty is therefore not just an economic issue, it is also an issue of political economics.”

“Around the world, 27–30,000 children die every day. That is equivalent to 1 child dying every 3 seconds, 20 children dying every minute, a 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every week, or 10–11 million children dying every year. Over 50 million children died between 2000 and 2005. The silent killers are poverty, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.”

“People are hungry not because of lack of availability of food, or “over” population, but because they are too poor to afford the food. Politics and economic conditions have led to poverty and dependency around the world. Addressing world hunger therefore implies addressing world poverty as well. If food production is further increased and provided to more people while the underlying causes of poverty are not addressed, hunger will still continue because people will not be able to purchase food.”

“We often hear leaders from rich countries telling poor countries that aid and loans will only be given when they show they are stamping out corruption. While that definitely needs to happen, the rich countries themselves are often active in the largest forms of corruption in those poor countries, and many economic policies they prescribe have exacerbated the problem. Corruption in developing countries definitely must be high on the priority lists, but so too must it be on the priority lists of rich countries.”

“The UN World Summit for September 2005 is supposed to review progress since the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all Member States in 2000. However, the US has proposed enormous changes to an outcome document that is to be signed by all members. There are changes on almost all accounts, including striking any mention of the Millennium Development Goals, that aim for example, to halve poverty and world hunger by 2015. This has led to concerns that the outcome document will be weakened. Developing countries are also worried about stronger text on human rights and about giving the UN Security Council more powers.”

“While the world is globalizing and the mainstream media in many developed nations point out that economies are booming (or, in periods of downturns, that the current forms of “development” and economic policies are the only ways for people to prosper), there is an increasing number of poor people who are missing out on this apparent boom, while increasingly fewer people are becoming far wealthier. Some of these facts and figures are an eye-opener, to say the least.”

(From the Global Issues Website)

Wake up my dear friends – and smell the mocha java…

The poor are only going to get poorer because the rich can only get richer if the poor get poorer…and the rich want to get richer at any cost…

Those used, soiled, torn, blankets are an incredible show of compassion and humanity – and power to you for taking the time and making the effort – but that’s all they are – a show!!!

The CIVIL SOCIETY paradigm must root itself deep within the fabric of our existence if we are to take on the affliction of global poverty head-on! Stop the lip-service…get real!!!

Thank you for allowing me to vent…

- The Ranting Dream